#so of course now i watched all of the s7 episodes

[bronx-bomber87]

Hello my wonderful Fandom and readers. :) I feel like I blinked and this season was done. When in reality we've had it for a little over five months with one break. How can five months feel so short and a hiatus feel so damn long? Speaking of hiatus's looks like we're in for our third one in a row that'll be lengthy. Unless you are new to the fandom then God Speed for your first one haha Just kidding. They aren't fun but we always get through them together. It is unreal though. We're waiting streaming show lengths of time between seasons.

To quote Tim in this episode. Back in my day it was a 4 month wait and we got 22 eps and couple long breaks LOL We haven't gotten that since s5 which is wild to think about. Feels like a lifetime ago. This is our new reality I suppose. Since the streaming numbers for both s6 and s7 were out of this world good. Which is amazing btw. So proud of this show. So because of that, they wanna capitalize on that continued success by doing the same for s8. No breaks and a long wait. S5 had amazing numbers as well but it didn't have a writers strike to delay it or alter it's course. I assume it'll be 18 again.

I knew that strike might change everything especially when they started the mid season idea for this s7. *sigh* Such is life fandom. We'll make it though. We always do. Since it'll be mid season my in-depth's will start later then the summer most likely. Since there isn't a rush. Gonna give myself 2-3 months to decompress from the season before I head into those. Like them to line up with the premiere. Maybe I'll get the itch to add to my master list and do them sooner. We shall see. But let us focus on this finale and get started.

7x18 The Good, the Bad and the Oscar

We start off with Lucy getting introduced to her new squad. When her new team says they're the 'Dream Team' something felt off. I wasn't sure what though. Then we roll into Lucy on shift. Taking ALL THE DAMN CALLS. She’s Lincoln-300 now. I don't hate it. No more 7-Adam call signs for her. For now anyways. I fully believe she won't be night shift forever. But that's neither here nor there right now.

That new call sign will take some getting used to for sure though. The night shift is so busy it's insane. Also full of BS calls. Not one ended with her needing any back up. Which is good considering her team is sleeping.....Lucy is noticing a pattern and asks for updated GPS on her team. They're all in one spot and haven't moved.

Did love hearing 'Sergeant on deck!" That's right baby she's a Sergeant. Lucy rolls up and chews them out before heading back to her car. What a crappy roll of the dice she got in a team. It'll be interesting to see how this develops in s8 for her. I would love to watch her whip this team into shape. Flex those new Sergeant skills of hers.

Poor Lucy is so sad and bummed when she arrives home. Saying it's 'Wine o Clock' for her LMAO. She’ll get this team in line I'm sure of it. Just growing pains at first. Always is when you get a team for the first time. Celina asks a "Roomie question.'" Wondering if Tim is going to be around more? Celina just assuming Tim is going to be over all the time now. That they need to work out water heater situation. baha I'm hoping they’ll mostly be at Tim’s when they reunite and not at Lucy’s as much tbh. I love how simplistic Celina's thinking is. She's a Sergeant. Tim is a Sergeant. No more obstacles. Problem solved.

Lucy does not view it that way though. Saying they had a lot of other problems. I mean yes that is true. That's why you originally broke up for sure. But the Tim Bradford before you now, Lucy, is someone who’s mostly healed, who is more open, and more at peace with himself than he’s ever been. Which is why they need to have that serious convo. Which leads us to Lucy's reply. Telling Celina they need to have a serious conversation before they do "Anything More."

Celina replying back 'Ok... Well what are you waiting for? *mic drop* Celina Juarez you are an absolute gem. Does crack me up how she backs up as she says it. Knowing a sleep deprived Lucy might take a swing at her. lol Thing is. Lucy has no answer for her. It's not Tim holding that particular train up Lucy. That man has been wanting to have this convo since 7x06.... You know her face it almost reminds me of when Tamara asked Lucy why she’s waiting with Tim in 5x12. The same Oh. huh…face.

Bestie time has arrived and I'm a happy girl. Angela giving Tim shit saying he could find the time of he wanted to. I mean.....She’s right babe…You could. I love her straight up 'That''s a lie.' Can't throw lame excuses down at Angela Lopez's feet. She’ll spot the holes in it instantly and won’t hesitate to call you out Timothy. It's why we love her as your best friend. Gotta love Celina and Angela in these opening scenes. Doing the Lord's work ladies. haha A giddy Chenford fandom thanks you for your service. Tim is still gun shy nonetheless. It's the same hesitation he’s had all year with respecting her boundaries.

She refuses to hear his BS though and makes him take action. Tim's ‘Of course I want to.’ my heart Fandom. He doesn’t want to pressure her. Wants to be respectful of what he did back in 6x06. Breaking her heart and being the one responsible for it. He carries the weight of that with him everywhere. Every day really. Which is amazing to see I will say. Even at the end of the season, it still means so much to see him take responsibility for what he put her through. The severity in which he treats it. Means everything to watch.

This kind of content was but a pipe dream when I was writing stuff up post 6x06. To watch it come to life on screen is so satisfying. His growth has been outstanding this year to say the least. I could write a novel on this man this season but I won't. For now...lol Angela is understanding but letting him know if he doesn’t go for it. He’s gonna break her heart all over again…They’re both stuck in a holding pattern. Angela is trying to nudge him into ending it. Like I said last episode. I was more than happy to watch Tim be the one to fight for her. Angela has ignited a flame in him and I'm not mad about it.

When Miles was all excited to tell Tim he's dating I felt the danger zone coming. I didn't know why but he felt far too chummy about this. They've come a long way since the premiere don't get me wrong. But this was SOOO out of line it actually pissed me off. I haven't felt annoyance towards Texas in a long time. This one didn't sit right with me. The blatant disrespect is what bothered me the most.

Will say Miles saying that was very Aaron of him in the worst way possible. What I mean to say is it was very bold of him. Like how Aaron was with Tim. The friggin balls to even say that though... He was definitely getting too comfy. It was giving me 5x07 vibes. Except, unlike Aaron, he’s completely in the wrong here. Aaron had a point he doesn’t. You’re lucky you’re not dead Jesus Christ Texas.

Tim rips him a damn new one though. Resetting their power dynamic real frigging quick. As he should. God it’s sexy as hell if you ask me. Holy shit. *fans self* You tell em babe! It’s one thing to joke around. It’s another to bring up Lucy and his relationship. Not only that but disrespect Tim in that same breath. What were you thinking Miles?

This was the biggest no no he’s done in quite awhile. That is still an open wound and you hurt him Miles. Also Tim is very on edge about his future with Lucy. This was the worst timing. Disappointed my dude. I have to say. If looks could kill Texas would be dead. That was not a good idea. I’m a little pissed for Tim myself. That’s my boy and you don’t say that kind of shit to him. He still has struggles with loving himself. This is poking at that IMO. Just because he's more of a healed person doesn't mean he's going to take this disrespect. Especially on a personal level.

Oooh he’s pissed. Just look at that unrelenting glare. Holy fuck, Miles you really stepped in it my dear. You can see the absolute regret stained on his face though. Knowing he's lost some of the ground he's gained over the last five eps or so. You can also see how he doesn't want to lose Tim's respect. Like a child who's been scolded and deeply regrets it. It's the final stare Tim throws his way that gives me chills. You really brought back some old school Tim with that comment. Deserved though my friend deserved.

I'm the same way as Tim as a leader in that regard. While I mostly lean towards Lucy and her empathetic approach I pull from Tim too. Respect is the top of my list as well. To insult that is to cut deeper than any other offense. Especially Tim who we all know regards honor and respect so very highly. I think it was good Miles got this knock back into place. He hasn't earned that spot in Tim's life yet and he needed to be reminded of such. You are not Lucy or Angela bub. That was never going to end well for you...

We return to Lucy struggling to find any kind of slumber during the day. So she opens her phone to text her person. But she is hesitant to actually send anything. Just like Angela did for Tim. Celina got the wheels moving in Lucy's head about TIm. Wanting to reach out for that talk but not finding the words. Gah them both opening their phones and wanting to text at the same time. My god damn heart.

You can see his thumbs shake wanting so badly to type something. The way he looks away and tries to gather the courage to text her. Eric’s out here killing the game again. Containing multitudes with a single expression. Just as he's about to text something friggin Miles interrupts it. Ugh. It is cute how he's trying to make amends with almonds Tim likes though.

Unfortunately for him Tim is not in the headspace to receive his amends. He looks so upset with himself that he didn’t text her. Breaking my heart. No one does emotions better than Eric holy shit. King of expressions. Breaking my heart with just a look. He’s being so transparent, not even Miles can miss it. Which is what prompts him asking if he needs a minute? Tim being in a gruff mood with him cuts him to the quick with this reply. You tried Texas lol

Can we just talk about how Tim lights up the moment he see's Lucy? Just look at that man the moment she steps off that elevator. Lucy smile at the ready for her the moment she see's him. That man is so love with her. It continously blows me away how transparent he is this year. Just straight puppy dog in front of others. How times have changed. How soft this man has become this season. I will never be over it.

I adore her asking what advice Tim gave first? So cute eyeing him while she says this. Jesus, the heart-eyes these two are throwing around as Lucy gives Miles advice is unreal. It's very cute though. Like they're reliving their first (and second "first") date. I cannot.

It's a mixture of heart eyes and little bit of eye sex. I'm in awe of these two. How can two people exude so much chemistry just looking at each other? Eric and Melissa are pure magic. We truly could not be luckier that we have these two manning this ship of ours. Makes me emotional in the best way.

Celina can blatantly see what they're throwing down. She is playing Cupid in this moment. Wanting them to connect and talk, since they're being subtle as a hammer in their flirty looks. God bless her for dragging Miles away. She's the real MVP this ep. We love you girl. haha

Tim is SOOO eager to spend some time with her. Look at him being the one to break the cycle. Asking her if she can hang out Wednesday? Wants to catch up with her. Her new team interrupts their nice moment though.

What I love is even though they get interrupted he make’s sure she can. Doesn't let it fall to wayside. He's determined to find some time with her. Not make excuses in doing do. *heart clutch* She tells him she is in. Then it is heart eye nation up in here. Population: two.

Watching Lucy be a bad ass Sergeant is quite delightful. So proud of our girl. I loved her rounding her troops up. Yelling at them to get their asses in gear. They hop right to it. No question and follow her immediately to aid Miles. Then after she's done that calls Miles as she leads the calvary toward him. Asking him where he is and giving him a game plan in the process.

Look at her go. BAMF mode has been activated. Giving me Metro-Tim vibes with how she led her team and Texas. Tim would be so damn proud of her Sergeant skills in this moment. I sure as hell am. She looked comfortable af at the helm like that. I hope this is the turn-around she needs for her team in s8.

There is so much to unpack in this final scene it's unreal Fandom. First off I have to gawk at this man in a blue henley and jeans. Your girl is drooling. A lot. That man in my fav color and a tight shirt? *fans self.* Feral Caitlin has been activated and happy to ogle. Lord have mercy, this man does things to me, and I’m completely here for it. The giving season has been very kind to me Tim-wise. *drinks ice water.* I'm a happy camper.

Second he’s making all her favorites. He clearly put so much thought into this morning of theirs. I'm sure Celina was more than amenable about letting him in early lol He for sure spent an exorbitant amount of money on this to impress his girl too. Like I said last episode he knows everything about her. There is no one who knows Lucy Chen better than Tim does. He can't help when it's anyone else but Lucy? He'll crush that all day long. Also what an incredibly thoughtful thing to do for her. To cook all her favorites. Like Lucy says below she won't have to cook for a week now. It's so sweet.

I said this in s5 and the early half of s6. That Tim is a 10/10 BF to Lucy. The man is so thoughtful in everything he does for her. In the gifts he gave her and ways he cherishes/supports her. In awe of how he takes care of her. He's so excited to take care of her in this way too. The perfect lead up to the convo he wants to have. Tim is radiating happiness from the moment she walks in. His Lucy smile never fades throughout the entire scene. That cute laugh of his with Lucy's joke made my heart skip a bit. He's so happy to be here sharing this moment with her. He's also a little proud of himself for knowing and presenting said favs. Good job love.

Honestly this is a taste of what her future could look like if you ask me. Coming home from a hard shift, and having Tim there to love and support her. To have food ready for them and to talk about their day. In this instance to talk about them. The beautiful thing is with post-therapy Tim he wants to tackle the hard convos now. Is thrilled to finally hash all of this out. I love him telling her to go relax while he takes care of their meal. It's so sweet I'm diabetic. Lucy's face is precious.

She's trying not to get too excited but it's obvious she is happy he is there taking care of her. Also continuously taken aback (in the best way) with this new open Tim she is seeing. Still leaves her reeling. Me too Luce. I love his nervous start. You can hear it in his voice. How he repeats himself a bit. Saying 'so' twice. Trying to gain his footing in this convo. Eric you kill me in the best way. Once he starts he's off to the races though. I'm so proud of him. Telling her he's been thinking the last few months. About everything that has gone down with them.

About whatever it is that they've been doing. Between the hook ups and the potential convos they'd have once she passed. I just adore him thinking on this so much. You know he has been mulling on this since 7x06 really. That's what kick started everything for him. Because it was Lucy who went for it in that moment. Not him. Which got his 'serious talk' brain going. Saying now that all that happened it's time for them to talk. And god that is accurate. We've been waiting for this moment all damn season.

I love this puppy of a man still respecting her with his next line. Saying he never assumed anything about their future. Wants to make sure she knows that. Oh Tim Bradford I love you so much. We hear Lucy give a faint 'Mm.' Which prompts Tim to keep going. Because now that he's started there is no stopping him. Which I love. This has been built up in him for months. He has been dying to have this convo with her. You can tell in his inflection during this portion. Tim saying all the things she’s been waiting to hear. Hell we’ve been waiting to hear too. Oh my lord. I seriously had dreams about a moment like this. There's a great line from 5x18 where Lucy says they're in a 'Beautiful place.'

Tim is in a beautiful place right now as a character and I'm so happy I could cry. Idk that anything has deeply hurt me as much as 6x06 did. It's been a very long time since a ship rocked me like that. I think the last time I was that deeply hurt by a show was my first ever show in Alias. My first ever ship. I won't go into why. Gonna date my ass with this but it was a finale in s2 that scarred my shipper heart for life. IFYKYK. Even twenty-two years later that scene when I re-watch that series still hurts. That'll be 6x06. for me with this show. My point being is it's what makes this scene so god damn cathartic to watch unfold. I was sure she was asleep by this point, but that didn’t make his growth any less satisfying to watch and listen to.

Hearing Tim say he knows the damage he did. He's known most of this year but to hear him openly tell her wrecks me in the best way possible. Telling her after a lot of therapy he finally knows why. Letting her know how effective it's been for him. He's hitting all the boxes for this convo. Letting her know he's been putting in the work. To fix what's been broken inside him. Once again just crying over here everyone, at him saying all this. That she can trust him when he says that he'll never hurt her like that again. He won't. I know he won't. Tim says her name then that line. I'm dead. I'm legit posting from the grave at this point. This scene had me reeling in the best way.

I love him speaking his piece and then getting adorably nervous about the next part. Saying if they were to get back together then they need to take the next step. I've thought this since before s7. I knew this was going to be the rebuild, redemption and next steps for them this season. That after all this growth there was no way just 'dating' was going to be enough. It needed to be headed somewhere serious. A place they were blasting towards before 6x05 happened to them. Moving in together. They basically lived together from the moment they started dating anyways. Only right when they reunite that's where they land. To pick up where they left off now that all this work and healing has occurred.

I love his sweet smile as he wrings his hands turning the corner. His gorgeous Lucy Smile radiating out of him. He's nervous but so very excited as he presents this idea. It reminds me of his giddy smile from 5x08 when he asked her out. Wanting to let her know he is ALL IN. Wants to give them a real shot. Tim wants to move in with her. This is HUGE. He wants this to be their next step if they reunite (They will don't worry) This man loves her so much and just poured out his entire heart for all of us to see. We know what future he wants with her. Also I wouldn't be opposed to having more of Tim's place with her moving in. That would be a glorious upside to it. Eric fought so hard for that set. It should be used like crazy. Can't think of a better purpose.

Also let's note how Lucy couldn't sleep the entire episode. Not a wink. Then she comes home to Tim taking care of her. Not only that but being the emotional support he's been all year. Building her up and being her steady anchor. He's her safe harbor again. Lucy felt safe in every aspect around him again. This scene reflects that with her falling asleep. This a huge win for us. When Tim said 'That was a good try.' It was an incredible try Tim. Incredible. The tender placing of the blanket and the sweet kiss on her head. I'm dead once again. His hopeful 'To be continued.' has me squeeing. This man isn't going to give up just because she fell asleep. We are headed to wonderful happy things in s8 I just know it.

Season Wrap-This season has been crazy good. It was a Wildcard in the best way. I legit didn't expect more than half the things that went down. I keep calling it the giving season because it truly was. And not just for my feral Tim needs lol Although those particular needs were well met. So many reasons i listed over the season and will again in my in-depth. Kudos to Eric for how he portrayed Tim this entire season. He has been masterful. Tim was still his usual grumpy self at his core BUT he changed. He was more emotionally open and gave advice. To NOLAN. To JOHN FRIGGIN NOLAN. Not only did he give advice he was actually happy to. And the kicker was it was on relationships. He used his failings with Lucy to help him.

It wasn't just Lucy he was soft with either. It was everyone around him. He was more emotionally available to everyone around him. It's why he and Miles ended up in the place they did in their dynamic. Also need to give Kudos to Melissa this year as well. She played the conflicted side of it so well this season. You could see her slowly melt from 7x01 on up. Mixed in with a deep hesitancy to let Tim all the way back in. Did this just by her body language alone and incredible facial expressions. She too was incredible at portraying that in Lucy this season. We are so very blessed with the leads we have for this couple Fandom. It's not a secret how much I loved this season. I can see why it was one of Eric's favorites. That was easy to see further we went.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little sad they weren't back together at the end of the finale. But I'm not mad about it. I know some may be upset about this and frustrated. I get it. I do. But to me this season was about rebuilding them from the ground up. The deeper we got the more I saw that vision. I commend the writers for their mature slow burn. It's what they needed to get from 6x06 to where this season ended.

There was an interview way way back. I can't remember when it was. I wanna say pre-7x06. It was with Lis and Melissa. Where Melissa was asked how we would feel at the end of the season for Chenford. She said the fans would feel like they were left hanging. And that has stuck in my brain all season long. I guessed there was a good chance we would have a cliffhanger alluding to a reunion. Which we got.

Now this will be a long hiatus. Very long. Won't have those bad asses above on our screen for awhile. But the future is crazy bright for them. I feel it. I mean he wants to live with her. He thinks that’s the next proper step. To have her move into HIS HOUSE. Have it be THEIR HOUSE. They could be a little patch work family with Kojo. This man is going to give it another 'try' and Lucy is going to say yes I know it. We're going to get our proper talk. This episode surrounded around Nolan and that's ok it should. He is the main character after all. So there wasn't a lot of time left for a proper scene after Tim's catharsis and pledge to never hurt her again.

We didn't have enough time for her reaction and such. Would've felt rushed. A friend and I were talking about how this ending was Alexi keeping us on the hook. (I mean I'm always on the hook for them lol)That all he has to do in s8 is reel us in LOL That's what's on the other side of this hiatus Fandom. Getting reeled in. We're gonna get there. I guarantee you. But for now yeah the wait sucks but I am beyond amped for s8. Gonna be amazing I promise. Till then I shall see you all in my reblogs I do of sets and when I eventually start up my master list in-depth additions later this year.

I'll post when I'm ready to start those up. Probably wont be early summer like I had planned with mid-season premiere and all. But I'll let you all know when they are coming. Thank you as always for the support I was given this year. The likes, comments (love these) and reblogs. You are the reason and fuel for why I do this. It's so much fun to do first thoughts and do the season together. No doubt I'll do this again for s8. :)

~~~~~~

Side notes

My Millennial brain exploded at Celina explaining dating terms to Miles. Like WHY lol WHY is this dating now?

'Back in my day we went to bars' LMFAO I love you Timothy Bradford. Never change my love. Not everyone meets the love of their life on the job sweets.

Love some Harper and John goodness I will say. They were a huge part of the reason I loved s2 so much. I've missed the good duos and ensembles and this year delivered with that.

Sure I’m supposed to care about Monica but I don’t....Sorry lol I would be more fascinated if it was Oscar they cut the deal with tbh. He's terrible but god damn if I don't love it every time he shows up. He is right up there with Rosalind. RIP.

Lastly proud of myself for dodging spoilers like a god damn ninja. It wasn't easy. So frustrating that the finale got leaked. After all the cast and crew did to keep this season locked down. Heard it was accidental while that may be true sure that person was wicked fired lol

[helioptilie]

I truly think if I had watched the Buck, Bothered and Bewildered live it would’ve taken me out

[sunflowerdigs]

Writers generally write plots in order to take a character from point a to point b. For instance, for Buck's bisexual discovery episode, rather than thinking "I'm going to have Buck meet this hot pilot and see what happens", Tim probably thought "I want Buck to come out as bisexual. How do I believably do that?"

People keep saying that if 911 is going to move forward, it needs to start bringing on new blood and integrating it into the cast. Well, this season, Ravi has been spotlighted multiple times. But in order to bring on someone new, someone else has to leave or fall back a bit. Technically, Tim could move one of the younger characters to another shift, but I doubt any of the younger actors want their screentime cut. However, Peter has stated that he's not into doing all the stunts anymore (and he looked super miserable shivering under a towel shooting the cruise line story) and that he might want to spend less time shooting generally. After all, he's getting a nice, fat producer cut now. He could probably shoot part-time and still make the kind of money he wants, and that would free up some budget for another character.

Additionally, unlike all of the other characters, Bobby has options that would keep him within the world of the firefam and would give 911 the opportunity to explore new parts of the first responder world. He is senior enough to run or be nominated for a senior position in LAFD, one that operates more behind the scenes, structuring budgets, communicating with news outlets, creating trainings, etc. That's a whole new world for the show. It keeps Bobby in the mix enough that we could occassionally see him show up at the firehouse for dinner, but creates a much less demanding shooting schedule for Peter.

But Bobby would never go for that. He would have to retire and then get bored. So, the question becomes "How do we take Bobby from gung-ho fire captain to someone who voluntarily gives up his post?" After all, s7 ended with him finding new energy for the job. A near-death experience like the one with the car pile-up wouldn't cut it. Because Bobby has faced those multiple times over the course of the series and hasn't considered giving up. It just wouldn't be believable to the audience and wouldn't be dramatic enough to cause the kind of shake-up that Tim wants to do. So, what would be?

Well. What if Bobby and everyone Bobby loves had to think he was dead for multiple days? What if the audience had to think that? What if viewers and the firefam had to watch Athena and her children (including Clifford) grieve him? If Bobby came back after something like that, absolutely, both the audience and the firefam would buy his wanting to finally retire. Especially if you throw a dream house into the mix? And Bobby suddenly desperately wanting to live as he's dying? Folks may end up messaging Tim on Facebook demanding that Bobby retire RIGHT THE FUCK NOW.

So. That's just some food for thought as to why Tim might do a death and resurrection. Additionally, whenever any character has a drawn out near-death experience it gives the writers permission to make big character shifts very quickly as characters process their grief. Characters are allowed to look at their lives, realize tomorrow is not promised, and choose things they may not have before the death. Those changes are even more believable if the audience has to mourn the character who almost dies with the characters experiencing a shift. So. You know. If, say, the show was going to have a character, I don't know, recontextualize his relationship with his best male friend and realize that choosing him would be choosing joy? Or if another character who had never stood up for a leadership position before were to suddenly want to do that? A major death that the audience felt alongside those characters might ease those transitions.

Think about it.

[bellshazes]

lately ive been going crazy bc like for the longest time i was convinced "he loves me he cares he does" was insane bc there is noooo way they talked abt bdubs saying he loves me in his lost episode or that etho would've done it on purpose so it's some sick cosmic accident. and i still think that's true but it's actually insane to watch s7 and see that they almost never interact and the rare times they do are brief and deeply weird. i think etho telling about how he wished bdubs' eyes to be bigger is like, the third or fourth time in s7 they so much as talk about each other. prior to that they had background asynchronous end rod trading, x's fishing armor stand minigame tourney match etho v. joe, and etho's failed assassination attempt for docm. mayyybe also the stargazers song/thwarting, but that's still negligible. and then you have third life and etho is obsesseddddd with annoying bdubs instead of hanging out at his own house. and then yeah there's more with the mycleium resistance bet leading to shade-e-ees training (& pink hoodie revival).

then it's s8 and they're wanting to do a horse course. and there's a new death game and they partner and it's just like old times and they never communicate and they know each other well enough to fuck it all up. and THEN, from then on, after the horse course and the subsequent double life jealousy and the s9 cohabitation and s10 where they are just always always up in each others' business complimenting and critiquing each other and they hang out substantively just because they are friends and it's always coming up. well just shoot me now i guess

[cyborgsara]

Buck and Tommy are endgame and Buddie is dead as a doornail. In this essay I will - (no but really there's an essay under the cut lol)

No one's gonna read this but here I go:

So I decided to take my shipper goggles off (mostly, I still love them sue me) and go back to watching as GA member, starting from s7. And it's certainly interesting to see things in different perspective.

Firstly Buck's storyline with Tommy was definitely tied to Eddie from the start. Yes he wanted Tommy and only Tommy but up until the Madney wedding I think they could have gone either way if they actually wanted to do Buddie. Like to me the bachelor party is the break off point. Tommy and Buck weren't that serious yet and if anything were to happen between Buck and Eddie it would have happened there I think.

There was the Buddie karaoke scene and a lot of things were cut from the episode and it also struck me as very odd the way Eddie was sassing Tommy at the bachelor party. I don't know how these things are filmed but in my mind since this was LFJ's "last" episode from his 4ep contract they could have gone the route of "Tommy was just the first and very passionate and fun but not a long term partner for Buck" so you know Tommy shows him the ropes and dips and that opens the door for Eddie to have his gay awakening and then Buddie becomes the canon ship. Add to this they could have done a storyline where something happened at the bachelor party that made Eddie question if his feelings were just platonic etc etc. (Eddie is also surprised Tommy is gay but doesn't seem to be surprised about Buck so that leads me to believe he knows Buck's been flirting with guys for a long time. The "go for the title" kitchen scene also reads to me as Buck is flirting with Eddie but Eddie is not reciprocating it and just kinda scoffs about it.)

None of that happened tho and looking back on in now, to me that seems like the cut off point for Buddie.

If we look at Bucktommy on the other hand they are living a romcom. We don't see a lot of them in s7 but after the wedding episode it's mentioned that they are still together and Buck seems the happiest he's been in a long time. We also get the stamp of approval from Bobby and a little teasing from Henren to show us that they are actually going pretty strong and the found family is glad about the relationship.

I also think Tommy was ready to try for a full relationship from the first date before it got ruined. After he realized Buck hasn't actually dated a man before he probably course corrected to try to be the best first male relationship for Buck and conditioned himself to not take it too seriously. But he hadn't met anyone like Buck before. He gained a perspective into who Buck is through their second chance coffee date and he was baffled by his speedrun through coming out and actually wanting him to go to a wedding where all his most important people will be attending. I personally think Tommy was extremely hesitant but also so awestruck by Buck that he just made sure Buck actually want's to go with him "are you absolutely sure", and when Buck said yes he thought fuck it I'll make the best of this for however long I have it. So he is content to just go along for the ride even when he doesn't think his relationship with Buck is that serious or that it has an expiration date.

So they have their cute little dinner dates and talk a little bit about their pasts but the tone is still very light and the conversations never really go that deep because one or both of them just want to bask in the happiness of the relationship.

But then Buck has a whole meltdown about his relationship that he doesn't even tell Tommy about and overcorrects with the moving in thing and that's when we gain the insight into Tommy. He is not just this cool pilot guy, he has a hell of a lot of baggage and is a runner, so that's what he does. Even though their breakup hurt like hell (which is partially to blame for all the shit that came afterwards) it was necessary for their story or relationship to have any kind of real merit compared to the other main couples.

Watching the last episode I was actually 70% sure we wouldn't see Tommy and that the "leaks" was another scam to make the bucktommy shippers look stupid for believing it. If I had only watched as GA before it aired I probably would have expected it more but that was the reason why I went back and watched the episodes for what they were. And that leads me to believe that Tommy and Buck are it for eachother. A lot fo things are still up in the air but their story is at such a delicious point right now where we just wanna know more! We know they both care about eachother (love confession around the corner???) we know about everything that Buck has gone through but we still have so much to learn about Tommy. I'm not at all concerned about Tommy's comment about him being Eddie's competition. No matter how he meant it, it's Buck's feelings about Eddie that really matter here. And he isn't pining for Eddie. He isn't in love with Eddie. Eddie is his brother and best friend. I'm very curious to see if they'll address Tommy's comment on tonights episode and what Eddie's take on it will be. But I'm not worried that either Buck or Eddie is pining for the other.

Ofcourse I can't say I'm 100% sure about them being endgame but from this point on people aren't gonna care about another potential relationship for Buck because; intentional or not Tommy is IT for Buck. You can't make a more perfect LI for him if you made them in a lab. And buddie isn't happening, that ship has sailed (see the reasons above and also RG doesn't want to do it). So from this point on if the creators want GA to care about Buck's romantic life in any capacity, it's Tommy or nothing.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk, peace out!

[thetommoway-oioii]

Rant Time™ !!!

so i recently became invested in the 9-1-1 universe. not gonna lie I started with lone star because tk and carlos kept popping up all over my feeds everywhere with their wedding pics and of-fucking-course I immediately looked up the show because I'm not gonna pass up any canon queer rep?? hello!! anyway this ain't about tarlos. after I was done with lone star I started interacting with stuff from that fandom and came to find that one of the characters from the main show recently came out as bi and boy oh boy was I excited as fuck. two days later I'm starting my 9-1-1 binge. I knew absolutely nothing about the characters, storyline or the show except what I saw in the crossover episode and I was so pleasantly surprised that there's already canon queer rep present from the beginning of the show!!! (shout out to henren and michaeldavid absolute legends)

anyway I keep getting sidetracked, what I'm here to rant about is how fucking dumb some of the new watchers like me are?!! I had no idea how this t*mmy person was because all I knew was a gif of him kissing buck. you can imagine my surprise when I first saw him in the flashbacks and found out what an absolute dickwad he used to be?!?! and I could not believe that buck was gonna kiss this dude in the future. there was no fucking way. either there was gonna be a huge redemption character arc or something or he'll have a fuckin twin or something cause no chance they're setting future buck up with this asshole.

anyway lo and behold s2 comes around and in comes eddie diaz with this big brown eyes and slutty tank top and of course I knew who eddie was. come on now be for real. I might have not been a part of the fandom before but there's no way you can exist on tumblr and not know who eddie and buck were. and like any other shipping-prone fan, I thought people were setting buddie up based on subtle sterek-esque subtext but imagine my surprise when slowly throughout the show they became deancas-esque obvious. the connection they developed, the trust, the bond. how they found home and family and sense of belonging and safety in each other. how eddie and chris and buck himself baby trapped himself. I was so sure that buddie would eventually become canon in s7 because there's no other way right. maybe the the whole BT thing was some weird profound realization moment for buck or something.

back to the point. what I'm mad about is how the new watchers are completely Ignoring clear signs of buddie and on top of that shaming or right out calling the buddie shippers crazy all the while blindly supporting a character that is clearly a Major Fucking Dickwad from the beginning. making excuses like he was figuring himself out in the past or he's canonly queer while eddie clearly isn't. as if T*mmy figuring himself out excuses him being a shit person or the literal fact that just because eddie has not come out yet he's not queer. buck was straight UNTIL he came out as bi. anyway that's mostly all I wanted to say. yes I started the show because of a BT kiss gif but once I actually watched the show, it was easy to figure out what was right in front of me.

I urge new watchers like me to take the time and really understand and watch the show and not just look at it from face value or consume information through social media osmosis.

[pumpedsheep8015]

I swear I saw somewhere on here someone talking about how much hermitcraft has grown and changed and the growth of Mumbo and the before/after of grian joining the server but I can't find it so I'll do it for myself.

Basically during the before Grian hermitcraft (keep in mind I only started watching in s7 because YouTube recommended the last episode of Grian's season 6 so this may be wrong) but during this time (s5 and before) hermitcraft was moreso a server full of different people doing their own thing away from everyone else and only a few collabs and server wide events were more rare. The hermits felt more like coworkers than friends.

After Grian joined hermitcraft started to change, more server wide events, the hermits start hanging out with eachother more, someone is always in the background of another's video. Part of this is also the change in style, Hermitcraft was trying something different with how they divided up the map and were making eachother live closer during s6. If you watch evo from grian's perspective you can see how he's very isolatey, same with Mumbo before grian joined hermitcraft.

Mumbo is my best example for this change. Before Grian joined Mumbo was more isolated and focused on doing things alone mainly (from what I know) and stayed more in his base. After Grian joined Mumbo very slowly started getting more out there in terms of how he interacted with the others. During s6 he mainly interacted with Grian and later in the season Iskall, barely coming around more for the war. During s7 he stays around Grian and Iskall, not really coming towards the whole server until Mumbo for Mayor. During s8 he has all of Boatem and interacts with Scar and Grian and Gem (a little bit) and he's a bit more out there. I won't count s9 since he was barely in it. But during the life series he definitely picked bigger groups than he's normally shown in. And now in s10 we have him talking a lot with Iskall and occasionally Ren and actually getting into the whole server wide events stuff.

Of course this could be attributed to any hermit but Mumbo's is the most obvious (as far as I'm aware) because he was more isolatey than most hermits even before Grian came around.

[dotthings]

Finally!!! Some light and hope returns to S7. Made it through the Casless stretch to 7.17.

Some thoughts on Dean and Cas:

Dean's quest to save Sam leads him back to Cas. The mysterious breeze (we know who that is) shows Dean the taxidermy guy's card, and he tells Dean about Emanuel.

"Screw Cas" -- because Cas knocked down Sam's wall and then abandoned them, by dying, or so Dean thought, so Dean's still angry and hurt. Trying not to care, but he still cares

Oh the staring when they are face to face again. Dean cannot seem to stop staring at Cas. That's not me being poetic with a headcanon exaggeration, that's what's on the screen, I didn't make the rules.

Dean watches Daphne and Emanuel a little bit like how Cas watched Dean and Anna kiss. Less furtive. But the open-eyed wounded baby seal longing sense of wonder on Dean's face is stabbing me in the heart.

"What's your issue" -- how much time do you have Emanuel? Okay, in simple terms, Sam needs help. But the things Dean doesn't say is you!! you are my issue I loved you and you betrayed me and then died and I'm not okay I didn't want to lose you and I'm still mad but glad to see you again and I'm a mess and I've been angry grieving, that's my freakin' issue!!!

The golden-amber light washing over Dean and Emanuel's faces in the car. Light washing over Dean with Cas's return, first invented in S7.

Dean's treading carefully. He wants Cas back, he also doesn't want to disturb Emanuel's peace. And Dean's still upset and hurt and angry and not over it but also he's glad to see Cas again. Dean's going through it. And Dean can open up to Emanuel in ways he's not ready to with Cas. "You're angry...he betrayed you." "Yeah, well, he's gone....I used to be able to just shake this stuff off. You know. Whatever it was. Might take me some time but I always could. What Cas did--I just can't, I don't know why." YES I WONDER WHY THAT IS WHY DOES IT MATTER WHY DOES IT CUT SO DEEP "Well, it doesn't matter why." "Of course it matters." "No. You're not a machine, Dean. You're human." THERE IT IS. After a series of characters telling Dean to suck it up and deal, Emanuel is the one who looks at him and sees Dean's vulnerability and humanity and says it's okay. Some part of Cas is Emanuel, even if he has amnesia, it's instinct, it's things Cas wouldn't be able to open up and say, not at this point, but that he believes. Cas sees Dean even if he doesn't know himself right now.

"Now picture Crowley with his hands on harmless little amnesia Cas" -- soooo interesting how Meg tries to play Dean's worry for Cas into inveigling what she wants. She knows some things.

Dean's pissed at the idea of Meg using Emanuel and turning him back into "an angel sized weapon." He wants to do this carefully. He needs Emanuel to fix Sam, but he doesn't want Cas harmed or his peace shattered. This is Dean trying to let Cas rake leaves.

Dean also seems incredibly annoyed by Meg sidling up to Emanuel and trying to flirt. Protective. Jealous even.

"You just met yourself. I've known you for years." The way that's worded. Dean doesn't just say "I already knew you." He says for years. They've been through a lot. It's like Dean is feeling all of it.

Dean is finally persuaded, for Sam's sake, to let Emanuel break out the angel mojo, but he's reluctant. Knowing what this could do to Cas, the pain he'll experience if his memories return.

That SPN used Turn Into Earth by the Yardbirds, which was the band who became Led Zeppelin, for a music video montage of Cas's memories returning, where Dean is prominently featured in 98% of the images. ACTUAL THINGS SPN CANON DID. Making a Destiel fanvid and stuck it in an episode. Okay.

Where did Dean's anger fly off to? "If you remember then you know you did the best you could at the time." He doesn't think Cas is a bad guy. "Don't defend me." -- Cas has always taken responsibility for his screw ups. Always. And takes a lot on himself to atone. That is how the character has been and he's like that all the way through. And he comes back to fix it.

Dean pulling Cas's trenchcoat out of the trunk of the junker of the week and handing it to Cas. Dean kept it!!!! He didn't just stick it in storage, he moved it from junker to junker, for months, keeping the last piece of Cas Dean had left with him and Sam. The ep that aired isn't even as sentimental as the cut scene--the dialogue we saw in a promo "something in me always knew you'd come back"--yet it's unhinged enough as it is!!!!

"I should never have broken your wall, Sam. I'm here to make it right." Cas always tries to make it right.

Dean doesn't know what's going on as Cas walks over to Sam, and asks "Cas, what are you doing" a bit alarmed. Dean wanted Cas to fix Sam, and they both at first Cas could with just a touch to rebuild the wall, but the wall's crumbled. And there's only one way--for Cas to absorb Sam's Lucifer hallucination. It's Cas's decision, and it's done before Dean can even try to stop it. While Dean of course is glad Sam is okay--that's not how Dean wanted to get there.

At the time it seemed a bit cold that Sam and Dean parked mentally ill Cas at the asylum and left--we'd only just gotten Cas back on the show and he gets shoved off screen again. But there are contractual things--Misha was signed for a 4 ep arc. Looking at it in-story, Dean says he's worried they can't protect Cas, with all that's out there, between Crowley's demons and the leviathans, and Dean says they should leave Cas where he's safe. Watched over by one of their former enemies--but Meg is the only resource they've got who can do it and she's at least playing at being an ally and she does seem to like Cas. It's again Dean's version of letting Cas rake leaves, keeping him safe.

[lemotmo]

https://www.tumblr.com/lemotmo/780937270099378176/i-didnt-even-realize-some-of-this-q-you-liked?source=share

First I have to say that i love your blog and i also love Ali's answers, they are always a nice read and i love when there's a new one popping up.

Now i'm going to preface this by saying that i love Bobby and Athena as characters, because i do. But i'm starting to get sick and tired of them taking up the majority of the spotlight.

As Ali said, they've had like six storylines each while the rest of the characters sit in the back twiddling their thumbs. And it's starting to affect this series badly.

To put thing into perpective, i've been rewatching 911 with my boyfriend and we just finished Sob stories.

(Btw, on a rewatch season 7 was actually awful except for a few episodes. Getting through it, especially the back half of the season, felt like a chore at times. Tim is lucky most people watch this show weekly, because he fumbled S7 real bad.)

Now to S8. The Brad storyline, while i was pissed that it dragged out so much when i first watched it, i enjoyed a lot on the rewatch. My boyfriend too. It's a fun storyline and a nice change of pace with Bobby, since a lot of Bobby storylines are doom and gloom. However i'm still pissed that we spent so much time with Brad when we could have advanced on the Eddie storyline or given any other character some spotlight.

Either way, after Sob stories, my boyfriend (who is not a stan and watches this show because i'm obsessed, so he would be closer to a member of the regular audience) told me that he was getting tired of Bobby, Athena and Maddie taking the spotlight time after time, while other character like Buck or Eddie (or Hen or Chimney) get barely anything.

So this is not a problem that we have because we stan a character o another, it's a problem that even someone who is not as invested has noticed.

A lot of people who watched Lone Star started hating Owen Strand, partially because Lone Star quickly became the Owen Strand show. Everything was about him and the rest of the characters barely got anything.

I would say Bobby and Athena are much more likable characters than Owen Strand but, by making Bobby and Athena take so much of the spotlight, Tim is making the audience grow tired of them. And if he is not careful some people might start to resent the characters.

We desperatly need a change. Less grandiose two parter storylines and more character driven ones. Less Bobby, Athena and Maddie and more Buck, Eddie, Hen and Chim. More interactions between the 118 members. Less Bobby and Athena and Maddie ndes, they are starting to get repetitive. Even the Chim nde feels repetitive because a virus, AGAIN?

Like i LOVE this show, so of course i'm going to critizice it and of course i want it to do better. This is a problem that needs to be adressed if we want 911 to last longer.

I haven't seen Lone Star so I can't compare to Owen Strand, so I can't comment on that.

But the rest of it? YES! To all of this!

Loving a show doesn't mean that you can't critizice it. I agree.

All of this is why I think that the whole Bobby funeral thing is some kind of red herring and this isn't going to be about him after all. The man has been through enough and narratively speaking it doesn't make any sense.

Like you said, it can't all be about Bobby. They have to take a break from this pattern. So my Buck nde theory fits right into that. Just saying...

Thank you for the lovely compliment about my blog. 🤗

[saveahorserideaneddie]

if they’re legitimately planning on hitting us with someone in the hospital within the first 3 episodes of the season that doesn’t scream good things to me….

that’s a midseason finale/season finale thing, especially when bobby was just in the hospital for 2 seconds

i could see it being used as them bringing vics to the hospital (also we know the hospital set from s7 was a staging area last season which could be the same for now) or someone being reckless on a call and one of the other firefam yelling at them (like maybe eddie gets hurt not too badly but enough to get stitches or something and maybe hen is the one to yell at him bc buck is too distraught over it and hen knows what he’s going through bc she’s lost a child before, but she knows that it won’t donsny good to get yourself hurt over it or something like that) but if they’re actively putting someone in a dire enough situation that lands them in the hospital already in the first 3 ish episodes (judging on how they’ve only been shooting a couple weeks they can’t be that far into the season yet) it doesn’t give me good vibes of where they’re going with stuff if they wanna waste time and resources on something so (imo) lackluster

i don’t want the front half of the season to be a coma dream/hallucination… being a season opener is such low stakes bc there’s no “are they going to be okay??” bc of course they are… they’re not gonna kill off a main in the first couple episodes. it’s why, for me, the cruise ship arc fell a little flat because there was absolutely no way they were going to kill bobby or athena in the season opener…. people would quit watching the show if they did bc that casts a pall over the whole season that people aren’t going to want to watch.

so if someone ends up in the hospital, not only are there low stakes, but it’s opening the possibility of a coma dream/alternate universe situation (which is once again just copy/pasting a past plotline rather than coming up with something new) and it only serves to delay them actually committing to buddie canon even more…

not to mention that IF it were something intended to lead to buddie canon…. like i said before it would be so low stakes and rehashing of the lightning strike arc which would, again, be so low stakes and wouldn’t make that moment much of a desperate moment of “i thought i was going to lose you” (like maybe it would to the characters obv but we as an audience wouldn’t feel that bc again NO SHIT THEYRE NOT GONNA KILL OFF A MAIN 2 EPISODES IN so it loses that tension at least for me) maybe if they had done something in earlier seasons to set a precedent of “there’s a real chance that we are going to kill off this person” it would have a different impact, but the backlash the show would receive from actually killing off a main character in the first couple episodes would be too much of a risk this late in the game; so again it loses all of the stakes

imo it would just basically be almost a mockery of all the previous near death experiences in previous seasons that had all the promise and potential of leading to buddie canon yielding no results and it wouldn’t hold the emotional impact that i would want to have from seeing these characters hurt… it’d feel like such a waste of my time to once again be subjected to watching them get put through shit with barely any catharsis.

and it also gives them this opportunity to dangle buddie over our heads again if they went the “coma dream” route and had them being a couple or something so they could be like “see we technically gave you guys buddie in the show so we don’t have to commit to it anymore!”

the thing with previous season openers (earthquakes, tsunami, damn break) there was a sense of urgency to those situations that made the characters feel like they were both in dnager while simultaneously being okay in the kong run bc they never actually ended up seriously injured— most of the narrative tension and drama came from the unsure feeling of how they were going to get around this, and from the amount of civilians dying in the disaster/the impact those civilian deaths have on the firefam. (Even in the tsunami, we knew Buck and Chris weren’t going to die, but the tension and the emotional investment cane from actually seeing them reacting to the tragedy rather than just… one of them gets hurt and gets put in the hospital and ohhh so sad are they gonna make it???) the focus wasn’t on if they were gonna die or not, it was on how are they going to make it out of this if that makes sense; and putting someone in the hospital immediately at the start of the season doesn’t carry that same weight that these season openers need, and it would leave me as an audience member feeling like i just watched a character i love lay in a hospital bed for a few episodes and then they were fine.

yes, we knew buck wasn’t gonna die in the lightning strike arc bc ofc they aren’t going to kill off buck, but the tension came in the form of how late in the season it was, and everything that had built up to that point so far in s6 in his development. If the strike had happened in the first episode, that arc would bot have had the emotional intensity it did in canon because there was no build up.

overall, i know i’m in a low percentage of fans w this mindset but i’m kind of over the random out of nowhere trauma they put the firefam through, especially when it goes nowhere… 7x9/7x10 are prime examples of thst where they built up this whole “is bobby going to be okay” thing around the last couple episodes and then he was fine within like 15 minutes.

i don’t want them wasting their time on throwing people into comas or life threatening emergency room visits (especially this early in the season) when they have too much they need to fix narratively after s7 fucked everything up in the last episode. the beginning of the season needs to be focused on getting gerrard out of there, breaking up bt, showing tommy getting some kind of satisfying comeuppance for his awful behavior, as well as getting eddie out of this mental rut that they’ve fallen back on yet again rather than giving eddie actual development (yadda yadd smth about s hamster wheel).

i don’t want them doing another coma dream bc we already saw that in canon and it went nowhere. i don’t want eddie getting hurt and chris coming back 2 episodes in bc then what the fuck was the point of 7x10? how is that going to be him growing and moving past this mental stronghold on his past if we’re just gonna have his son come back so quickly?

i don’t want them keeping eddie on this hamster wheel of being the mental unstable one when we’ve seen this focus on him over and over and over… what was the point of his “development” in s6 of moving on and saying goodbye to shsnnon and then ripping her back out of the grave to dance her body around again if it’s not gonna finally be over and done with? chris coming back so quickly and eddie getting hurt is not a solution to that problem and it’s shitty storytelling to try and backtrack on a plot that was so forced to begin with.

and doing that through a low stakes hospital stay with a possible coma dream within the first couple episodes seems like both a cop out, and an opportunity to delay the character development they keep insisting eddie needs before he is “ready” for buck (which i have feelings on that point of view but that’s a whole different post worth entirely)

anyway, sorry for the rant. i just had that sitting on my chest and needed to get it out there… i hope this all makes sense ik sometimes brain to words filter is ehh but 🤷

[bronx-bomber87]

Hello lovely fandom and happy Wednesday. We are cruising along with 6x09. Can't believe we're already on the second to last ep. Not a ton of Chenford or Tim in this one but what we do get is GOOOD. It's an all around good episode though. Let us begin.

6x09 The Squeeze

Recap of 6x06-6x08 got me all in my feels before this one even starts. Poor Tim killing me right off that bat. Always be floored by Eric and his ability to convey so much with a look. How it just makes me wanna hug his hurt away. No wonder Lucy always pulls him in for hugs. How could she not? I’m sure he hasn’t even begun to process how he feels. It’s a lot what just happened to him. It all unfolded in the blink of an eye.

Someone who he used to work closely with killing himself in front of him. Doing so because he’s a dirty cop. Not only that but taking all his secrets with him. Only thing Tim got out of it was Dr. London being dirty too. Grey shows up to the scene and startles Tim out of his thoughts. He debriefs Wade letting him know Mad Dog confessed to being dirty. That he believes Blair to be apart of it as well. Now we all know he didn’t mention her by name.

BUT it was pretty damn implied. With the awkward interactions in the hospital and the rooftop scene. Wade asks if he used her name specifically? Tim tells him no….But it was clear she was who M.D. was speaking of. Grey reminding him to be careful of accusing without any evidence. As amazing as his cop gut is that’s not evidence unfortunately. Loving the hat on Wade btw. Very fitting.

It’s not too long before the accusatory Detective Pearson shows up. Not loving him from the jump. Couldn't stand him for couple reasons. One because douche bag just comes off him in waves. Two the way he comes at Tim makes me wanna knock him on his ass. This guy coming in way too hot for my liking. Far too eager to pin this on Tim.

Makes my protective Sicilian side emerge and she’s not happy. I do love Grey being quick to Tim’s defense. No one better to have his back in this moment. Lucy would be great of course. But Wade is the superior in this moment so his 'back off ' holds more water. Gotta love this man. Always protects his people.

Wade can tell Pearson wants to have a slam dunk case against Tim. It’ll further his career to get such a high-ranking officer tangled in a dirty mess. It's why Grey tells him as such. Ugh. What a schmuck. Kudos to the actor though. I instantly dislike him so well done sir LOL The way Tim watches the body get wheeled away breaks my heart. Damnit Eric you’re too good at your job. Expressing so much in that look I just want to hug him. But that’s Lucy’s job later…

We join Celina officially moving in. This will be an interesting dynamic for s7. Especially after they get back together. I’ll be intrigued how that is all handled... But I’m getting way too ahead of myself. It's hard not to when we don’t know anything. It’s easy to daydream and speculate about the unknown. Anyways John is there and sadly not as a friend but to check in on Celina. She says he’s just making sure she’s not late for her shift.

Nolan commenting would reflect poorly on him and his performance review is coming up. Not selfish at all John….His review should be ‘Needs work.’ But we all know how I feel about him as a teacher. He asks Lucy how she is? I don’t think he expects the epic rant he receives. I mean she has healed some but not nearly enough. Her words sounding like she’s trying to convince herself. Makes me sad. Doing her best to flip all this upheaval into a good thing.

Our girl feels really lost in her life right now. All the turmoil that I don’t know she’s really dealt with. I think part of her having Celina move in is she doesn’t have to deal with it as much. To not have to be alone and sit in her feelings. Because I am the the same way. If left alone too long with my thoughts they eat at me. This scene just being more proof she hasn’t dealt with much of it at all IMO. I know the prevailing theory of the season for Lucy was she was alone. Isolated. I mentioned this in my mini too.

I think a lot of the isolating is self inflicted. Her and Tim are very alike in how they handle emotional distress. At an arms length and solo. Other than Jackson, Tim is the only one she’s really allowed close to her. Tamara yes but that's always been more maternal and not like what she has with Tim. And even him she doesn’t tell everything to and vice versa. It’s very in character for her to do this. I know people thinks because she’s bubbly, optimistic and outgoing this isn’t the case. But it is. Just like how people who are depressed don’t come off that way. When there a signs of it despite their ‘happy or sunny’ demeanor.

She was isolating herself before the breakup even occurred. Rewatching this season she was doing so from the very jump of s6. Their fight in 6x01 being proof of that isolation. She felt herself overloading and shoved him away with her accusation. That was just the start. 6x04 and her rash decisions with Jeff Budny is a huge one as well. She didn’t include the one person she should’ve in that ep. It's how we ended up in that hospital room with her. I’ve said this many times before. But her and Tim are quite alike in how they handle their emotions.

Tim’s is showcased more especially this season. It's easier to detect. If you're really looking you can see her's. Lucy’s were screaming through out this entire season as well. She is a control freak just like Tim in the way she shuts people out. Even her person couldn’t get in and vice versa. They have the same fatal flaw. It’s why their lack of communication became their downfall. Our girl has as much growing to do as Tim does. I’m hoping all this is a setup for s7 for her. To me her explosion here is an example of her not dealing fully with what happened still. Shall see how s7 is handled for her. I'm hopeful.

Their convo is interrupted by Angela calling Lucy. First off I love her looking out for Lucy. Just like she does with Tim. There was a great parallel set for this and 2x12. Angela providing comfort to them both when the other is in distress. Our on-screen cheerleader for them both and I love it sfm. Even knowing what a weird place they’re in, she knew Lucy would wanna know from her than anyone else. We love you Angela Lopez. You’re a real one.

She also knows Lucy well to tell her right off the bat he’s ok. You know her heart stopped when she began that sentence. We watch Lucy instantly go into wifey mode. Both in her body language and tone of voice as Angela explains. How she turns her back to the others when it’s about her person. Needing a moment to herself as she absorbs this information.

Melissa crushing it in this scene with everything she does. From closing her eyes taking in the severity of this situation. To the concerned wifey tone she switched to quickly. We all know she has a million and one thoughts rushing through her brain right now. Mainly was he ok? Does he need her? The worry for him settling into her soul and growing rapidly by time the call ends. Once Angela hangs up she finally turns around and updates them. Concern flooding her tone.

The wifey vibes continue when John gets a call shortly after. Tim has called him to be his union rep. (Only reason he would ever call Nolan in a personal matter...) We watch as anxiety all but pours out of Lucy. Worried wifey mode has activated and it’s not going away. Despite everything they’ve been through. Everything he’s done. Her number one instinct is worry and concern for him. It's deeply rooted. It's who she is.

She loves him so much still. That is written all over this scene and her reaction. That instinct to be there for him coursing through her like a powerful current. I love her stopping Nolan before he goes. The worry seeping out of her tone. Asking how he sounded? Nolan just replying ‘Tight.’ Which is apropos for Tim in situations such as this tbh. The reason she asked this was that she could gather everything she needed to know about his state of mind from that information alone.

When she hears Nolan’s reply her worry increases tenfold. Melissa is killing me in the best way in this scene. Props to her and Eric once again for this season. I can't praise them enough honestly. It hurt so much but hot damn if they weren’t giving their A game and more every single episode. Holy hell. Not that they don’t always. Just with such limited episodes they did really good with the material. Writing was superb for them. They rose to the occasion and then some.

Tim is so anxious waiting for Nolan it’s making me anxious. He is wound so damn tight right now. Not that I blame him but we can feel the anxiety just seeping out of him. The tapping of his feet, hands, and whole body is tense before Nolan arrives. He pops right up the minute John enters the room. He doesn’t look at all prepared for what Tim is about to thrown down at him.

Nolan tries to ask him questions but Tim doesn’t have time for it. Immediately let's him know what’s going on. That they’re going to want to hang this on someone. Now that Mad Dog is dead their scape goat is gone. All that is left is Tim. He’s STRESSED they’re going to hang this around his neck. That he needs Nolan to take over the investigation. I said this in my mini and I'll say it now.

My first thought was I don’t trust Nolan with this….That I wouldn’t have chosen him to spearhead this whole thing. But Tim doesn’t have a ton of options atm. So he’s gotta go with what he’s got. And that happens to be John Nolan right now. He asks Tim who to investigate? Tim tells him to look into Blair London the rookie police department shrink.

That he’s been seeing her and so has Aaron. That he thinks she had leverage on M.D. and that’s why he jumped. I wanna pause here and say how proud I am of Tim in this moment. Look at him reaching out for help this time. Not trying to quarterback this alone. Handling this completely differently than how he handled Ray. Not isolating himself and trying to figure this out solo. He’s going through the proper channels this time. Not wanting to do a OP and segregate himself from everyone.

To say it sucks Dr. London is dirty is an understatement. Because my greatest fear would be what she does in this episode. BUT I am forever grateful to her in the same vein. Because despite her being dirty she truly helped Tim in short time he had her. Look at the growth in this moment right now. I’ve said this many times already but I truly hope we continue his therapy journey. The results are astounding and I need more of this growth. It’s just like Chenford ship crack to me. Tim growth is my other drug of choice haha Give it to me writers LOL

We see Pearson is under Dr. London thumb. (Monica’s really) It leads up to this next scene that makes my blood boil. I hated watching this scene the first time and I didn’t love it any better second time around. It makes me sick to my stomach to watch unfold. How Pearson comes after Tim like a dog with a bone. The way he uses Dr. London to solidly his reasoning makes me all kinds of angry. I'm seeing red.

I HATE them using his sessions and twisting them for their own gain. It was like I said earlier this was my biggest fear of her being dirty. This right here. Gotta commend Danielle Campbell though. She does a really good job in this scene. Even though this was her idea you can see the conflict raging in her. Because she is the one who convinced Tim to go to therapy. For pure reasons actually. To help him out. Which she did. We know that’s why she’s under Monica thumb.

She used her need to help people against her. That she is only doing this because she is being coerced. Doesn’t excuse a damn thing, but explains her hesitation and almost tortured look in this scene. Especially when Pearson comes at Grey. Accusing him of favoritism. Saying he cares more about that than this city. You can see the restraint on Wade's face not to knock this punk out. How very dare you come at him and Tim like this. Makes me wanna rage so much.

This scene right here is why love Angela Lopez so much. That fiery passion she has for those she loves. How she is unwaveringly loyal to those she holds dear. Tim being that person in this moment. Not gonna lie that’s why I love this moment so much. Calling her husband. Love her of her life to chew him out to defend her brother. Her first instinct just like Lucy is to protect him.

To make sure if he’s charging Tim that she better know first. Hot damn Angela. Tell us how you really feel. haha This man is so lucky to have this fire ball in his corner phew lord. Telling Wes she stands by Tim a thousand percent. That he’s family. Ugh my heart. Gonna make me cry. I love their friendship so much. Give me more of them in s7. Their dynamic is fantastic and I need far more of it in my life.

We arrive at the best part of the episode. After nearly fifteen minutes filled with tension…We need this hug as much as these two do. My god. I adore her being so attuned to him. Lucy sees him and knows she needs to go to him. She can see how tense he looks. The clench in his jaw very evident. Her look damn near mirroring the worried look she had in 5x19. That same longing look to reach out to him surging through her. Worried Lucy is a fav of mine and we got to have that a lot in this episode.

This time she doesn't stop herself and we all love her for it. She worries about him, regardless of the state of their relationship. It’s what drives her to go after him before his elevator closes. That magnetic pull she can’t explain nor describe. All Lucy knows is she needs to be near him and comfort him. That even from afar she can tell he needs her. As I said earlier Lucy is so attuned to Tim and what he needs. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.

To say Tim is shocked when she keeps the elevator from closing is an understatement. Not only that but stopping it so they aren’t interrupted. Wanting to ensure they have a moment alone. Even when she says to be clear she’s still mad. That this doesn’t change anything. He’s still clueless as to what is going on here. You can see it all over his face above. He has zero idea why she is in here right now.

Because in his mind there is no way she’s thinking about him. Let alone wanting to be there for him in this moment. Which breaks my heart. The last thing he ever expected was for her to care for him. Or about him in any way shape or form. Also the 4x09 vibes coming off this hug had me losing my friggin mind. This hug is everything. It showcases their bond, the intimacy that still exists between them, the vulnerability has me reeling and how they are each other’s safe place still. *happy sigh*

The way she pulls him in reminiscent of the 4x09 hug. Tim standing there not expecting this moment of comfort and getting it. It’s the way she draws him into to hide in her arms. Just like she did in ‘Breakdown.’ I’m fine….Only difference in this hug from that one is the way he just melts into her arms. The face smoosh into her shoulder. Once again mirroring that infamous hug. We watch all that anxiety and stress just drain out of him. The tension he was carrying into the elevator leaving his body once he's in his happy place. Closing his eyes and surrendering to the comfort she brings him.

He immediately wraps his entire body around her. Melding into her. Easily falling into this hug and her arms. Like two puzzle pieces that are meant to be together. Fitting back together so effortlessly after time apart. Encasing her back in his hands and snuggling in for good measure. Clinging to her like she is his emotional life raft. Because. Well she is. Holding her as close as he physically can. Cherishing this moment. Because I’m sure he never thought he would experience this again. Holding her in his arms like this. Feel her comfort and love.

These two make me insane in the best way. Also let me once again point out Tim's growth. He didn’t even try to fight her like he’s done in the past. He sees this for the gift that it is and absorbs this moment. Savoring it really. The peace you can see on his face floors me. Eric at it again. You can tell this is first time in long time he’s felt whole. This hug is beautiful on some many levels. You can feel the raw emotion coming out of them both.

The concern that’s been building up in Lucy since this morning coming out in waves. She is tucked in TIGHT to him. Clinging to him as much as he is clinging to her. I'm not ok. You can hear the immense worry in her voice as she asks him if he’s ok? Despite everything she felt the draw to be there for him. The way she looks like she can finally breathe as she asks him that question is EVERYTHING.

We get some good hands hands hands in this hug. I can’t stop staring at her thumbs in that gif either. The soothing way she is running her thumbs up and down on his back and arm. Methodical in her soothing of him. Gah I cannot you guys. Her remarkable empathy shines through in this moment. This was a balm my soul needed so much. That all of us needed. We all know how much our boy longed for this.

Can't get over her face pressed so tightly into his neck. Doing this, as she asks him what she’s been dying to since she received that phone call. Like she couldn’t breathe until she knew the answer to this question. Look at the concern on her face when she does. I’m reeling and sobbing. Lucy looks on the verge of tears herself. Their hearts are just starting to mend in this glorious hug. You can feel it. Ours too.

No one does hugs like our ship does. They’re always top tier goodness. Holy hell. They’re just breathing each other in. Calming one another down. The anxiety that was raging in both of them cooling down to a simmer in this embrace. He has melted into her like butter at this point. Reveling in the comfort and empathy she's providing him. The way he says ‘I am now.’ Reminiscent of 5x21 and their phone call in the alley. How he wasn’t ok till he heard her voice.

Song remains the same in this moment. He wasn’t ok until now. Until she had her arms wrapped around him for this hug. Didn’t know he was holding his breath till she released it for him. It’s how he sways with her and sinks even further into her arms. Smooshing his face even farther into her shoulder. It’s so sincere his reply back that I am just a puddle of emotion. He’s so vulnerable in this moment with her.

Letting her know he wasn't ok until she was there. Imma scream at how much I love this growth in him. If there was any more doubt in Lucy’s mind of his feelings for her, this hug and his reaction to it should clear that right up. That is a man who is still so in love with her. Letting her know he wasn’t alright until she came and found him. I’m not crying you are…. Find you a person who knows what you need when you need it. Even when you’re not in the best place. That’s Lucy Chen for this man. Reigniting him falling in love with her all over again in this moment.

Lucy picking up on this growth reflects in her reaction back. Gah it’s the way she tightens her arms around him after she hears this. Closes her eyes and tries to bring him even closer. Trying to wrap him up in her arms even tighter. Absorb any stress he is carrying right now. The sheer relief written all her face. The way she shuts her eyes knowing he’s ok because she is there. *sobs*

Just melting into this man as she holds him as close as she can. Clinging to him as much as he is to her. I’m not ok in the best way. I remember thinking this hug would feed my soul into the hiatus. Just gonna scream into a pillow how much I love this moment. Their chemistry is insane and with a hug? Even more so my god. We are blessed to have a ship where our hugs are this amazing.

I love this faraway shot of their hug. They are in-sync as they part. How do they do that? We can see how deeply entangled they are. Nary an inch between them. You can see how they were just clinging onto each other for dear life. Look at Tim’s arms/hands. How gentle and intimate his are placed.

Having her as close as he can. It’s the hand gently wrapped around her lower back that has me losing it. It’s just so intimate I can’t get over it. Lucy is retuning the favor in kind. She too is just as intertwined as he is in this moment. Arms clinging to him and her face buried in his neck. Their chemistry on massive display here.

You’d think the hug alone would be enough to make me squee to death. Lucy follows it up with fixing his collar. I’m dead. The most wifey move of all moves. Reminded me of the lint picking from 5x12. Such an intimate coupley thing to do. I’m losing my damn mind over it. Wife energy coming off her in waves. Just seemed so automatic and natural when they part.

Also she touches her arm before reopening the door. She can’t keep her hands off him and I’m here for it. Tim looks like he’s going to cry in that elevator. I also love Tim putting his hands in his pockets right after. Because if he doesn’t he’ll never let her go. They’ll never get off this elevator. He could've stayed in that hug all day.

Basked in the comfort she had to give him. So he puts his hands immediately in his pockets after they part. Ugh my heart. They miss each other so much and this hug is screaming that. Also screaming how they didn’t miss a beat. How natural and wonderful it was. *happy sigh* This hug giving me true hope for the first time.

They re-open elevator to find Angela and Harper waiting for them. They look like they’ve been caught. Like they didn’t just have this deeply emotional embrace. The looks they share before Lucy leaves are LOADED. The expression on Angela’s face... She knows they interrupted something. I adore her saying she can get him extradited if he needs it. Love this woman so much. We know just like Lucy she is willing to do anything for this man.

Makes my heart so happy. All these women in his life want is to support and protect him. You can tell Angela wants to be tagged in so badly. Tim telling her won’t be necessary. He didn’t do anything wrong. That she had his back last time. He has different forces at play this time. Adore her saying 'Different isn’t me.’ Not it’s not ha Sadly last of Tim for this ep. *pouts*

Another telling scene for Lucy. Really really need s7 to clear these things up for her. Because despite being wonderfully empathetic human to Tim. She is still lost in life and not sure who she is. I NEED UC and some other things clarified for her next season. I really do. Just because she’s amazing at UC (and she is) doesn’t mean it’s her path. I do love this scene because it’s just Lucy being Lucy.

Having EIGHT covers ready to go. Our little nerd in action here. I adore it so much. It’s the most Lucy Chen thing she could do. Telling them it takes twelve off duty hours to grow. I love her so much. It’s not a mystery why Tim is so damn gone for her. Their faces as she explains cracks me up. Tim wouldn’t be shocked in the least. Hell I’m sure he was there while she was growing some of them.

The detective line is just another stab at our hearts though. Hoping for clarification and goodness for her career in s7. Manifesting it. As much as I need their reconciliation.(and I need it bad) I need her path resolved just as much tbh. For her to find her purpose and grow. Because once her and Tim do this. That reconciliation is gonna be even sweeter because of it.

I will say I was impressed with Nolan. Enjoy this it won’t last ha He handled investigating Blair really well. Rattling the cages of the potential dirty cops she was seeing just by showing up to her office. I forgot seasons 1-2 Nolan was a good cop. He just got really annoying after s3. LOL Also roping Smitty in was hilarious. He was already there for the food so might as well use him.

It’s the first time in what feels like a long time I enjoyed John. He enlists Nell too to help him with data from dispatch. Maybe it’s Bailey that makes him extra irritating to me. Lmao Sorry Jenna....lol Anyways quite the miracle Nolan pulled off in this ep getting me to like him. Not only that but commend him on the job he’s doing. Helping out Tim in a major way and I can’t deny that.

Nolan’s plan works out like gang busters. He went to her office to rattle a dirty cop into revealing himself. Pearson does it perfectly. Losing his mind about finding out they were in Mad Dog's apt. Like I said earlier I commend John on his work in this. Had Tim’s back and then some with his investigation. If they wrote him like this more wouldn’t dog on him so much lol

The other part that is so great is Grey. He is a papa bear ready to devour anyone messing with his work kids. This part was so cathartic to watch after earlier. Watching him dismantle Pearson like the schmuck he is. Was sick of him stomping around the station. Acting like he can just be top dog when he's really on a leash.

Rubbed me the wrong way being disrespectful to Tim and threatening Wade. Watching him attack Nolan/Celina is Grey's final straw. Puts that turd in his place. We watch him visibly shrink as Grey tears him a new asshole LOL All but telling him to stay in his own lane. Get em’ Wade! Nolan putting together the connection of Pearson and Blair due to this. Was fun to watch them piece this together.

Scenes like this give me agita like no other. My heart was beating in my chest for her. Lucy did a really good job despite the toy. Unfortunately it’s one of those loud musical ones. That not only gives away her position. But possibly her cover in the process. He find it’s on the floor. Looking menacing af. This man gives me the creeps on so many levels. I hated this mission for her on so many levels.

Unfortunately they’ll need her going back into the house. Now that Monica is in play it’s crucial she is there. Especially with Batista investigating who tried to kill her. Lucy is worried they’re going to blow her cover faster with her involved…But it’s a risk they have to take. If Tim knew about this he would be feral. Oh Feral Tim how I miss you. I need more 2x11 feral Tim in my life. That's a wishlist for s7 I suppose.

The ep ends with Nolan making a deal I’m not sure he can make lol But he was good in this episode so I’ll give him a pass. You can see how panicked she is. I am impressed John got her on this bench I will say. Getting her to almost spill her guts to him. Saying she didn’t think anyone would get hurt. That's what they all say....

I will say I missed Tim a lot in this ep after he was gone. That's my man. But it was a good episode. Reminded me of what a good ensemble cast we have as a whole. That's all she wrote for this one.

As always thank you to everyone for reading, liking, commenting and reblogging these means more than you’ll ever know. Shall see you all in the finale with 6x10 :)

~~~

Side notes-non Chenford

We get more insight in how Dr. London is being leveraged. Of course it’s a Monica connection because she is the absolute worst….

It’s great to see Pearson get nailed to the wall at the end of the ep. Prick.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s7 episode 18 "brand x" thoughts

we are BACK, after watching a banger episode the last time that we met! will tonight’s be just as good? 

reading the episode description… we are dealing with another deadly insect? we really need to do something about the bugs in this universe. i’m generally anti-pesticides for the sake of the environment, but…

“a tobacco company’s research lab”… is this gonna have something to do with the mythical morely’s cigarettes? does CSM have some sort of stake in their company that finances all of his influence? and most importantly, will scully be here today? 

(post-episode thoughts: this was a pretty good episode- i love ones where skinner is in trouble so he calls up his most special agents to save the day, and i love whump hand-holding, and i love scully's kinda slicked back hair here, and of course i ADORE when she gets to be a doctor... but that bug lung vacuum is gonna go down as one of the most DISGUSTING things i have ever seen with my eyeballs!

i would like to think this episode played a role in smoking rates drastically falling and they need to do an evil bug that lives in elfbars next to defeat my generation's epidemic)

let’s gooo...

we open on some fog. or perhaps smoke, given the connotations of the episode. yes, it is indeed smoke, but not from a cigarette- it is coming from a chimney. an old brick chimney from an old house in north carolina. it’s nearly 10 at night and a cop is here. scratch that, this dude might be FBI. the perimeter is clear, he says. 

oh! skinner is also here inside the old and fancy looking house. he wants a check every ten, so you had best get him that. skinner wants these people to be comfortable and for their minds to be at ease. aw. skinner... he's doing his best to be a gentleman. just please stay away from the windows and doors, he asks.

this woman is NOT pleased, and asks if she needs to get permission to go to the bathroom- she's a prisoner in her own home. “ma’am, i apologize for the imposition, but it’s my job to protect you” <- don’t be mean to him!!!!!! it’s the FBI’s top priority to keep these guys safe. 

she asks for how long they will protect them, then she begs jim (later revealed to be known formally as dr. scobie) not to testify, saying it isn’t worth it- these people are powerful. but jim says he must. so she goes to bed. jim starts to cough. suspiciously.

skinner will be right outside the door if jim needs him. more jim coughing. he sets his glass of water down. there is something in it, i can’t see, it’s dark… UGH, BUG?

fuck, i always forget how gross the bug episodes are. and again, it is worth noting simply how many of them we have had!!

it’s now 4 am, and the nameless wife is waking up. jim is not beside her. she knocks on the bathroom door, which has the light on. she can’t get in and yells for mr. skinner.

and he’s here to burst in. apparently, jim is a dr. scobie. skinner tries to pry the door open, but it seems jim is laying dead on the floor!

AUGH. HIS FACE IS GONE... OHHHHHH, NO. JUST BLOOD AND SKULL. AHHHH. NOPE. 

skinner sits on the floor, defeated, while someone holds the screaming wife.

poor skinner. he is always in these sort of situations. 

intro time….. get spooky with it!!!! we get a very short intro today!!

the agents arrive in a north carolina rental. i know this because their license plate says “first in flight” <- yay, details!

skinner is on the phone, saying he will have answers, and that he was in another part of the house when the Incident occurred, when in walk his favorite agents. 

“rough night?” “shaping up to be a rougher morning” aww, skinner :(

OHHHH, dr. scobie WAS working with morley tobacco!!!! he was a research and development biochemist who would be giving testimony against his former employer right now- if he were alive.

“testimony concerning what?”, asks scully, her face and necklace glowing in the light of the window. god, she's beautiful.

no one knows the specifics on what he had to say about his research- but it is obviously stuff that would look bad for morley, bad enough to kill over. he received death threats. and skinner was tasked with keeping him safe.

BLEUGH, he hands scully a photo of scobie's peeled off skull as he says no one knows what exactly killed him, and even SHE is disgusted, which is how you know it’s bad. 

skinner is stressed as FUCK- they’re going up against one of the biggest corporations in america, the director wants this case closed ASAP, and so he called his bestest agents. it does make my heart flutter a lil bit. he can trust them to get things done! ... even though they don't find answers THAT often. still. if anyone could, it would be them!

scully is on autopsy duty. mulder is poking around the house- he finds no ashtrays, which he remarks is very strange for a tobacco company employee. and he, too, is looking very pretty today.

could be the hit was high profile to spook off any other witnesses. that seems the obvious explanation.

skinner wants to speak with scobie’s supervisor, a dr. peter voss. “you mind if i tag along?” “no” <- LMAOOOO, mulder is grown man asking to tag along. but skinner said he could :D

mulder finds the weird bug in dr. scobie's water glass. which could mean nothing!

let us journey with skinner and mulder off to morley tobacco headquarters, which is a giant building. they ask to see dr. voss and their badges do not get them access. skinner shows his again, LMAO 

when some guy says he can help them! “daniel brimley, head of corporate security” <- hmm. i don’t trust the guy! he definitely is hiding something. he says everyone is very sad about dr. scobie’s passing and mulder asks “really?”. he claims no one was happy with scobie's choice to testify against the company, but the timing couldn’t have been worse, and says he will take them to dr. voss.

scobie’s wife is named joan, which we learn because someone wants to give their most sincere condolences to her. it’s dr. voss. and when they ask him to please tell what jim was going to say, a lawyer says dr. voss cannot do that, as it would violate his employment confidentiality clause.

oooo, there’s tea: while dr. voss claims scobie was his friend for 14 years, he demoted him 5 weeks ago. and again, the lawyer says he cannot answer why that is.

skinner says if one more non-answer happens, he’ll get a warrant and search the whole building (yay, cut through the red tape!), which prompts the meeting to end. but before dr. voss can leave, mulder tosses him the bug he must have fished out of the water glass. gross! and asks him what that is.

it is a tobacco beetle, says dr. voss. huh, who knew. he claims there are tons around here. LMAO, the lawyer asks where he’s going with that and mulder says he can’t tell him- it’s confidential. BAHAHAA, he’s such a pain in the ass

who is pulling in? with a license plate that says “BOOT2LIP”. wait, no. it says 8002LTP. HOW DID I READ THAT SO WRONG, LMAOOOO. i was wondering wtf that could possibly mean since a public declaration of being a bootlicker seems in poor taste. oh, that is really funny, i have to leave that in.

it’s dr. voss! coming to his MANSION!! he ponders as he pulls into the garage. but someone approaches him!!! who is this random man?!! he claims he has run out of smokes. and that he and dr. scobie had “an arrangement” <- oh, what does THAT mean? and now he says the arrangement goes over to voss since scobie is no longer around. 

voss gives him a bunch of cigarettes, but the guy says it won’t hold him, and everyone is acting funny around him, telling him not to talk, to stay away. well. he’s been working on his own theory as to how scobie died. who is this random guy and what does he know?!!!! why do the cigarettes buy his silence!!!

creepy as fuck.

scully is cutting into a brain- it always amuses me how we see these things from the reflections in her glasses- when mulder emerges with a bad pun and a skinner in tow. ew, scobie's tissue damage from his mouth goes into his lungs. she says it’s not from a chemical reaction- his airways have been reamed out. idk what she means by that, and it doesn’t even matter. but she knows what killed him: hypoxemia. the inability to transfer oxygen from the lungs to the bloodstream. i learned a new word today!

but he wasn’t a smoker, right?

he basically choked to death. mulder says maybe it wasn’t a homicide. and he asks, did you find any of these? (shows her the beetle) “a bug?” <- LMAO

“well, it’s a tobacco beetle, yeah” but! she says she didn’t find any.

skinner is incredulous, but mulder insists that the bug is what they should investigate based on the reaction from voss

cigarette guy is smoking and watching a black and white war movie. someone next door tells him to STOP SMOKING, to which he replies “america, man!” and claims he’ll get him kicked out. imagine that i'm making a face of great disgust.

the neighbor starts to cough��� cough up BLOOD… and his body thuds to the floor!!!

is this cigarette guy the bug summoner???

eugh, the dead neighbor is SURROUNDED by bugs who are crawling all over his face, and i just cannot bear to look as they EAT HIM. HELLLLLL NO. why does it keep zooming in!!! we can’t possibly zoom in more!!!!

skinner flicks a bug away as they investigate the crime scene, and AUGHHHH, it’s so disgustingggg. scully says he died the same way as scobie did- but he’s no whistleblower, just some rando.

mulder is picking up more bugs, saying these guys did it. also, i think the audio isn’t quite syncing up with their lips, which is not a problem i have ever noticed before.

there was a window in scobie’s bathroom the bugs could have escaped from, he insists. scully says it’s a long shot... but maybe the bugs could have bacteria, and maybe they spread it to other people in the building. time to go knock on some doors!

(i like how she doesn't entirely rule his theory out even if she thinks it is crazy, but comes up with a way it could be possible and then investigates accordingly. i love when she does that. one of my many favorite things about her)

the audio seems better now. and mulder knocks on the door of cigarette man, who welcomes him in. he says he knew the neighbor’s voice, because he yelled a lot, saying he smoked too much. “e pluribus, uh….” 

he lights up while mulder notes he doesn’t seem too surprised his neighbor is dead. his name is darrel weaver, btw. ohhh, now weaver’s asking about reward money. mulder bites his lip. says the FBI appreciates voluntary cooperation. and weaver says he’s drawing a blank. mulder hands him his card. so he knows something...

scully calls up an entomologist she knows in the area- queen! i wonder who else she knows. i wonder how she met an entomologist. i wonder about the last entomologist they met- bambi.

mulder is off to investigate something else: voss’s place. his wife and daughter answer the door. but then he comes out. mulder tells him this other guy died the same way as scobie. what’s that got to do with me, asks voss. mulder shows him the beetle and then voss pretty much just RUNS AWAY.

girl… why is he cooking up flesh eating beetles at the tobacco company!!!

he watches mulder leave from behind the blinds. then his phone rings. it’s brimley!!! he wants to know what mulder wants. voss says he should come forward. it’s gone on long enough. brimley says he ought to think about what really matters to him… and tell him where he can find weaver.

how did this random guy get the bugs? brimley says it was his mistake, and he will clean it up. 

ooo, the bug scientist scully knows is examining a captive bug. saying it doesn’t make sense! skinner is also here and wants to know what she means by that. it’s a tobacco beetle, but a weird one. looks different. could it be from genetic engineering? could it be transgenomics, asks scully?

who looks so beautiful….

the entomologist says that it is widely known tobacco companies are pouring money into changing the tobacco plant to make it hardier, change the flavor, add or subtract nicotine… super tobacco could create super bugs. could they hurt people? this is what scully wants to know.

voss is knocking at weaver’s door- he says he’s just a guinea pig. what does THAT mean? then voss shuts the door behind him. saying he has to leave town. voss hands him $4,000 in cash, which weaver says is a start. but he won’t leave. he has money, and he has plenty of “coffin nails”. 

voss says the company will kill him before they let him expose them. “sounds like a darrel weaver problem to me” <- okaaaay... this guy is super weird

brimley is in weaver's apartment building… watching.

skinner is here with scully and AUGHHHH, she's cutting open the other dead guy’s lung, and it is FILLED with maggots! no wonder skinner was avoiding looking down.

mulder comes in, and there’s something endearing about her saying hey and asking where he’s been while she pokes around a maggot-filled lung. he’s been trying to get a look at the files on morely over at the justice department. and when she tells him to take a look at the maggot lungs, he makes a HORRIFIED FACE, LMAOOOOO, and then a bunch of more disgusted faces.

so the larvae grow in the lungs. bug facts with scully is a cherished segment on this blog. but mulder starts to cough. HE COUGHS UP BLOOD!!! you had best believe scully grabbed his hand and investigated!!!!

ohhhh,,,, how will they save him from the lung bugs??

so you talk to weaver and you get lung bugs? maybe?

the poor man is intubated, with a machine sucking larvae out of his lungs, which is one of THE most disgusting things i have seen on this show. watch as they get sucked up the tube and into a little container. poor scully is watching. and skinner is outside.

he wants to know how he’s doing, so she explains they’re using a suction technique, and they’ve got some luck- but there could be dozens more eggs in him for every larvae they suck out. SO DISGUSTINGGGG

so they’re only buying him some time. she thinks he inhaled them. OHHH, must be from weaver lighting up in front of him?? so voss might be next… or did he not fully light up in front of him?? and how many other cigarettes have the eggs in them?! is the whole world going to get infected with lung bugs?

both mulder and scobie weren’t smokers. maybe they were around someone who was, says scully, who looks so beautiful in her scrubs as she proposes the origins of mystery lung bugs.

skinner and some agents are here to burst into morley headquarters. he hands the lawyer the search warrant. and the lawyer says wellll, voss still can’t tell you anything! skinner calls him a son of a bitch and says this is about saving lives. fuck him up

voss says that is what they were trying to do- save lives. and he speaks despite the lawyer saying he shouldn’t. they were trying to make a safer cigarette- they recruited test smokers, made focus groups, and there were no problems… until a few months in. four test subjects became one as the others died. which was what dr. scobie was going to testify about. he got infected from monitoring the test group. who’s the fourth, asks skinner. and then he bursts into weaver’s place. 

brimley is wrapped up in a gag in his apartment, choking on what i assume will be bugs. LMAOOO, skinner’s face as they crawl out of his mouthhhhhh, NASTY!

weaver took voss’s car and lights up one of his last buggy cigarettes at a gas station. hmm. bad idea. then goes in to buy something- presumably more cigarettes. the clerk says no smoking. he puts some of the cash from voss in his pocket and the arguing stops. 

but the sheriffs are here. when the clerk turns, weaver is gone.

scully approaches mulder in his hospital bed, holding his hand. he whispers “it must be bad”. AWWW :( mulder... :(

they’re looking for weaver to figure out why he has lung bug immunity and try to use it to save him. but poor mulder is wheezing and his monitor is going off. scully demands the doctors call the code. and there is a BUG!! in the mask they put on his face!!! nasty!!!!

she watches from outside his room- he’s stabilized, and the bugs are blocking the flow of blood. she won’t let them crack his chest to perform surgery- he's too weak, he’d die in the table. she says to wait. 

skinner is going to voss’s house- his wife can’t reach him. then skinner’s going in to the labs at morley. his gun pulled out among the plants.

voss is rocking on the floor, weaver behind him here for the test cigarettes. skinner has him at gunpoint. weaver says he’ll let him do whatever he wants because “you need me to save your boy” <- OHHHH... "your boy" is CRAZY

weaver says voss is onto something with his research- the first car killed a bunch of people before they perfected it. “mr. weaver, i will shoot you” “no you won’t” he lights up. everything is so still and so tense. he says they’ll write papers about him. he could be the cure for cancer. “you ain’t gonna shoot me”

LMAOOOO, BET. skinner can and will shoot your ass. they wheel weaver in and steal his blood to see what is so special about it. scully notices his fingers are yellow. and asks for 30 milligrams of something fancy. it's nicotine! she thinks it could save mulder's life!

two weeks later, mulder is back at work, typing stuff up. oh, but he still can’t really talk :,( poor boy had bugs in his lungs!!!! morley has subpoenaed all their files, and darrel weaver is in the hospital at a prison. nicotine was keeping him alive- it killed the bugs. but nearly it also nearly killed the mulder. 

ohhhh, he bought a pack of morley's on the way to work. scully is like... girl… don’t do it. oh, her faaaaace. she was gagged. she sounded so SCARED when he showed her them. and the glaaaare. and he tosses them out. smoking ended.

skinner is waiting in his office. mulder says he’ll be right up. he leans in to look at the cigarettes in the garbage. 

the end.

dun dun DUUUUUN.

oh, poor mulder... although i do wonder why he went straight for the cigarettes instead of a nicotine patch. seems like a much easier choice. but, still! the poor guy! has to sweat out all his cravings for weeks since they gave him so much! i guess it would be weeks, anyway. idk anything about this stuff. hopefully scully can keep him company while he goes through withdrawals. hopefully he can resist the temptation. DO NOT BECOME THE ENEMY.

i still refuse to believe that CSM is his father #sorry there is no evidence!!!

we have seen mulder smoke before (upon learning his dad was involved with secret government alien stuff in fellow travelers), and scully smoke once before (she was really mad in syzygy when the universe was backwards). she tried to that time she was drugged in las vegas, but frohike didn't let her because he is an ally. maybe when they did it just those times it didn't get addicting or something, but since he had so much this time to keep him alive, it was really hard.

there were bugs in his lungs... lots and lots of them. so maybe they gave him the nicotine, the bugs all died, and then they could suck them up??

that is genuinely so disgusting. i am taken aback by how nasty that is as i type it, and i have been thinking about how gross it was the whole time i have edited this. the writers said we need to make smoking supremely uncool and viscerally nasty. bugs in your lungs.

not a bad episode! someone pointed out the vaguely yellow smoky glow throughout the whole thing, and i noticed that as well- nasty. people used to smoke a lot more. i realized that in passing, but then they were in a hospital in an earlier episode- i think in one breath- and i saw the cigarette machine in the background. and i was like... damn. that is crazy for so many reasons. a HOSPITAL? people LIVED LIKE THAT?

wild. it's a miracle the whole world didn't explode. WAIT, lmao, where's that post that is like "spontaneous combustion numbers sure have gone down since smoking lost popularity"

anyway, everyone say thank you to doctor scully for harnessing the power of science to once again save mulder, something she is so good at doing. and she was holding his hand... it was so sweet :( and she was NOT going to let him start smoking!!! she was gonna kick his ass!! that is friendship!!!

lots that could be said about the villain of the week being Big Tobacco and the real monster being corporate greed. but that is an essay for another time. right now, it's time to think about holding hands in the hospital. and poor whump-stricken mulder and his traumatized voice. oh, the sad and pitiful man! and i shall try to push lung bug vacuum from my mind with little success.

these guys are always having the most batshit injuries. remember when they got cocoon'd in s1? when they had crazy amounts of salt in their body from the boat that made you old? when they both had separate alien viruses in them for varying lengths of time- her in FTF, him from exposure to the purity in the gulag so they had to cut it out of his brain, and that other time he had to get frozen in the arctic- wasn't that from the green alien blood goo or something? scully having cancer and god knows what performed on her when she was abducted and in a coma? on top of all of the "normal" gunshot wounds, broken bones, stabbings, etc these fuckers have endured? i know doctors HATE them. i hope they have THE best insurance. damn.

[iamyouknow-yours]

So I've been rewatching Buffy with my friends and 1 of them is watching for the first time.

Buffy S3 ep 2 is actually just so bonkers /neg

Spoilery rant

Like you have this 16 year old girl who has been under so much goddamn pressure and not allowed to tell her mom about it and her boyfriend lost his soul and started emotionally torturing her and killed someone she cared about and she knows she has to kill her (ex) boyfriend now and again she still can't tell her mom. When she tells her mom an abbreviated version, her mom is just so unsupportive and unhelpful. And yeah Giles is nice about it. And so is Willow. But Xander really fucking isn't.

And then she gets accused of murder and the cops are trying to arrest her and she's just trying to save the world AGAIN. And her rat of a principal expels her from school.

And then she finally tells her mom what's going on and Joyce fucking kicks her out of the house???? What the fuck!!!!!!

And then Xander doesn't warn her that Willow is trying the spell again to restore Angel's soul. And so she gets no warning. And his soul comes back and he's him and she's missed him so much and she has to kill him to save the world. And she runs away because she doesn't know what to do. She doesn't have a home or a school and she knows 1 out of 2 of her best friends is going to be glad Angel is dead.

And so she runs away. And lives on her own which is terrifying and hard and she gets sexually harassed.

And then she comes back 3 months later and they're all fucking mad at her?????????? Her moms best apology is like you dumped all this stuff on me and didn't give me time and I'm sorry I'm not perfect???? NOT PERFECT???? You kicked your child out the house lady!!!!! I don't know if I like Joyce honestly. Especially after the episode Ted.

And Xander is a fucking asshole of course he fucking is. But even Willow is avoiding her. And is mad at her. And yeah they're teenagers too but like have some compassion god damn.

And Giles is doing the best honestly. Except for not hugging her. He gets her back into school which okay cool. I mean honestly I don't know why they bother but whatever lol. And he like isn't mad at her which wow you have some compassion for the child thank you. But he doesn't stick up for with the others. Which is wild.

And yes. I know that none of them know everything that happened to her.

And I know that at 15 which is only a year younger than them, I did lash out at my best friends when shit happened and I wasn't the best version of myself. But if my best friend or my daughter or my daughter figure in the case of Giles, had been missing for months I wouldn't need to know why. I would assume it was a horrible traumatic reason and that she wasn't okay.

Her friends and Giles know she had a "fight" with her mom I think. They definitely know the cops were after her. And they know she had to fight Angel even if they don't know what happened.

And Joyce knows she kicked Buffy out and about the cops and maybe the Scoobies filled her in on the rest. So like ??????

Fills me with rage

Idk if it's more so than the S7 episode. You know the one. But I think so because in this she's still a minor.

Ugh

[rosstrytobe]

Thinking if in s7 epidose 1, Chris was forshading just in part Eddie love life there are some points that are really interesting:

1) The first girl that Chris brings at home, eating pizza and playing videogames is Penny, a blonde girl that he met at math class (as Eddie told to Buck) and Eddie say that he doesn’t get if it was a date because it seems to him that they were just hanging out as two male friends do (👀👀). Even though from the scene we know Christopher and Penny are smiling so they both are enjoying this date. Even though Eddie can’t see it because he was behind them and watching them afar

Now, It's pretty obvious who they are referring to because videogames and pizza is what Buck, Eddie and Christopher did from the past 6 years. Penny is blonde as Buck and him and Eddie smiled everyday when they are with each other because they enjoy their time with each other

The math class also is a methaphor because in the past seasons we saw that neither Eddie and Buck knows anything about math until Buck died and when he came back he knew all the answears and he was a jenious at math. That brought them to their first poker date night togheter as Chris and Penny dated because they met in math class. Even though neither of them knew it was a date

Eddie watching Chris from afar it can be also a methaphor of the fact that now he can’t see what he have with Buck because he doesn’t think that what they do is romantic coded or anything but then Buck line came and it's very important because Buck is the first one who are saying that there is just ONE CASE where there's underlying sexual tension and Eddie face to that was speechless. Almost as he got what Buck said but he doesn’t want to think about it. So what Eddie did? He just change the subject

Because if we think about it, in episode 5, Eddie didn’t think Buck and Tommy was interested in each other in a romantic way. Also, Eddie didn’t think Tommy was gay in the first place and it freak Eddie out a bit but then he just proceed to support his best friend because nothing will ever change his bond with Buck. As he tried to change the topic and talking about something else. But then at the bachelor party Eddie couldn’t hide his feelings and from his expression is pretty obvious is jealous of Tommy

But what Eddie did in next episode? Instead of understand why he was a little mean to Tommy he put himself in an emotional cheating relantionship with a copy of his dead wife (💀💀). Again, he's trying not to think about it and putting that feeling away. Changing the subject

2) The second girl Chris was talking to, she was a black hair girl who we don't even know her name (👀👀). As we don't know Marisol last name. And the first thing we see about her is her jealous towards Penny because Chris was two timing her. As now Eddie is doing it to Marisol with Kim. And if Tim wasn’t jocking with the Vertigo post, we know Marisol (the nun) will break Eddie illusion to bring back Shanon on his life and of course they will break up in the end (😍🥳)

3) Buck talked with Christopher of why he was seeing more than one girl and how it was wrong for his sake. Christopher answer that he doesn’t care about them because he knows they will leave him in the end as his mom did. Eddie heard them and later he give his son the Shannon letter and with that. It seems Christopher have his closure with his mom (We don't know it yet until the last two episodes airs)

Now, from Ryan interview we know Buck is going to meet Kim and I think if that's so. Then Buck would try to tell Eddie how it is wrong for his sake and his relantionship with the nun (lol) as he did for Christopher. But I think also, that as Christopher didn’t listen to him. Eddie won't listen to Buck either. Because Eddie is still missing Shannon in some ways and seeing her in Kim face made him again romanticed his marriage with her. When we know the memories he played weren’t happy ones but where we saw there were problem in their marriage. Problems in wich Shannon asked Eddie to divorce him before dying

But as Christopher have found his way to close that chapter with the letter. Kim is the key to Eddie to have that closure with Shannon and realize why he can’t commit to any women he's been with or have what he though he had with Shannon. Because he have to go deep into himself and understand something he didn’t understand before (as his sexuality or his feelings for Buck)

[localfanbaselurker]

First time watching Voltron: Legendary Defender and documenting my thoughts

This is Season 4

S1-2 | S3 | S5 | S6 | S7 | S8 |

———————————————————————

<this one is going to be shorter, as I have only recently finished this season, and the grief is still fresh (lol), so the thoughts are only just starting to simmer. strap your asses in>

Pre-Season 4 Thoughts

-> Keith joining the blades is going to be a huge plot device, I feel

-> PLEASE for the love of CHRIST let that poor little girl find her brother and father. If they are dead dreamworks better be ready to catch these hands

->I’ve heard people claim this is the “last good season”, but i stay strong 💪 and will watch till the end

->wouldn’t the paladin switch not make sense now? Cus shiro is back as the black paladin and it makes no sense for Lance to be red like it originally had? If anything, he should’ve gone back to blue, and Allura to red, because Allura is very accepting/encouraging of shiro’s role as leader. I guess they didn’t wanna do it all over again. But I digress 🤷‍♀️

->im gonna miss my Pookie (🤍❤️🤍)

Post-S4

->do they do this every two seasons?? Have an epic battle where they have a big preparation and say it’ll 100% end the war but it doesn’t and something crazy happens after they win and it sets up the next season??

->FUCK YEAH PIDGE GOT HER BROTHER BACK IM SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP 💪💪🔥🔥‼️‼️‼️🙏🙏🙏🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️

->^genuinely cried so hard during this scene. would’ve cried more if I wasn’t recovering from the initial shock.

->^cried during this one too, but it was happy tears. I could actually just do a whole reaction post to this episode alone. (if you want me to js say so in the rbs/replies)

->the callback to s1! “color-coded of course, because what are we? animals?” AHHH! I’m going insane I love these siblings sooooo much

->okay I’ll stop gushing over them now

->^only valid reaction to meeting Allura. Homegirl is beauty incarnate

->I LIED. im not sorry im never shutting up about them. SHE SHOWS HIM AROUND THE CASTLE AND TELLS HIM EVERYTHING AND EVERY DETAIL AND SHES SO EXCITED CUS SHE JUST GOT HER BRO BACK AND IS JUST RAMBLING ABOUT HER NEW HOME AND ALL THE COOL STUFF SHES BEEN DOING AND HES JUST LISTENING AND IS SUPER EXCITED WITH HER AND ITS SOOOO AMAZING AND ADORABLE AND I COULD DIE

->AND THEN HE TELLS HER HOW THEIR DAD WOULD BE SO PROUD IM DYING IM LITERALLY DEAD STOP.

->AND AND AND THEY WERE ALL WORKING TOGETHER W HUNK TO MAKE THE GALRA TRACKER THING AND THEY WERE BEING SO COOL WITH EACH OTHER AND BEING NERDS TOGETHER AND AND AND AJEUWNDUWJEBEURBDGWUDKAODHD

->okay. ive calmed down. i am normal and can be trusted to simply watch a show.

->^Get his ass, Zarkon. I needed his smug ass to be humbled so bad. Only time I will agree w Zarkon fr.

->i do NOT like Lotor. Can you guys tell already??

->THE SCENE WHERE THEY TRIED TO GET MILKSHAKES AND WERE SHOCKED TO FIND OUT THAT YOU NEED TO MILK A COW STOP.✋ 😭. My high-score on the giggle-meter went up by 300%

->bro I SWEAR shiro looks different. there’s just something about him. the hair gets a pass cus how good of a haircut can you give yourself in space, yk? but that nose scar is definitely a different shade #notmyrodrickshiro

->THE VOLTRON SHOW.

->^Just. That entire episode. It’s getting a whole post actually I need to yap about it.

->^her armor is colored in a way which makes it look both pink and red while making it look like a trick of the light in a way to symbolize that she is acting as keith yet while being a paladin herself and that being unknown in the public eye and showing how they have to cover that up, any suspicion being thrown as a trick of the light. Oh vld animators ily 🫶

->on another note tho why do they always draw lance and shiro to have 30 pounds of ass. what.

->loved when those lesbians decided to take down lotor. Queen shit 💋 we stan 🙇‍♀️🙏

->Lotor is so stupid and pathetic and annoyingly smug and sus and admiral-zhao-y and I hate him but he’s SOOO FREAKING HOT and I can’t hate him completely because he’s so attractive but that just makes me wanna hate him more. He’s a walking red flag but the flag is heart-shaped and honestly idk what to do w that.

->^WHAT. stop. honestly that’s the real reason he was banned from the empire my ass would not want that fucking FREAK within a 30 light year radius of me either

-> while s3 was the klance season, s4 is apparently the allurance season, they have a lot of sweet moments. (granted all started by lance but still, you can almost see allura swooning)

->^pookie. what are you doing… pookie.. no. stop. i don’t like where this is going…

->^POOKIE NO. STOP. ✋ STOP. SAY SIKE RN.

->^oh thank fuck for Lotor.

->^^wait what. why Lotor.

->^^^heartbreaking: worst person you know doesn’t something good for once.

->he definitely wants something out of this. I don’t trust him.

These are thoughts I’ve had compiled for some time now. I will continue to post my thoughts on the tag “laura’s first vld”

I finished this season on 06/30/24. I am on S5E3 as of today (07/06/24)

[weltonbmarsland]

1, 4, 13, 29 for the in n9 asks please <3

Thank you for these, darling!

1. How did you know the show? Back in... I guess it must have been... 2015? The ABC (public broadcaster) here in Australia was playing s1 and s2 IN9 eps late on I think it was a Tuesday night. I was randomly happening upon them over a few weeks, but definitely recall seeing A Quiet Night In, The Harrowing, and the first four eps of s2 as they went to air. I knew Steve and Reece, of course, because I'd been watching them in all manner of things since 1999 - "Ah yes, the League Of Gentlemen and Psychoville blokes in their latest thing..."

4. Which episode made you officially 'a fan'? This is a deeper question than I first thought it was! Thing is, after seeing those 6 eps from the first two series as they aired here, I then didn't see any IN9 until last year, after a torrid period of family stuff (sickness and death and more sickness and rosters for caring and stuff stuff stuff) and the way I approached the by-then-8-series (and I don't know why I decided at the time to do it this way, but I did) was that I watched the then-8 series backward but in order for that series - if that makes sense (and if probably doesn't). So. I started with s8 and watched it e1 to e6. Then watched s7, e1 to e6. Then s6, 1-6. Then s5, et cetera, all the way back in that way until I'd watched everything back to the start. Weird way to do it, I know. *shrug* So which ep made me officially a fan? I think I'll have to say Merrily, Merrily. In this weird backward-by-series way I was watching, it was the 7th ep I saw and they'd been knocking me down with some bloody great things in s8 (Mother's Ruin! The Last Weekend! [my partner hovering in a doorway for the bathtub scene saying "They're from League Of Gentlemen, yeah? They are SUCH good actors!"]) but Merrily, Merrily is an episode of television I find just SO profoundly moving. Even before it gets to all the big stuff about grief and disconnection and regret and tragedy that it does. The thing that really fucking got to me in this episode? That first stunning drone camera shot from way up high as the pedalo moves out from the smaller bit of lake into the bigger, wider bit of lake. I burst into tears, just looking at that, not even knowing what was to come up story-wise. Just that tiny craft with those vulnerable friends on that wide expanse of water - so deeply, profoundly affecting. I think that'll have to be the moment I officially got fannish about it all. And *then* after working my way back all the way to A Quiet Night In again (after having now experienced 8 series of brilliance in reverse order), I remember (re)watching Reece in his burglar outfit and thinking "Benjamin Denton! Look at you!" There was no going back from that.

13. Your favourite plot twist? Tricky! They're all so brilliant. These talented fuckers. I'm gonna go with the end of The Devil Of Christmas, 'cos I remember my stomach lurching at that and just truly feeling... wrong. Visceral story telling. Remarkable television.

29. Did you recommend in9 to people irl and what's their reaction? I've been insufferably proselytising about IN9 this past year. Lots of good reactions. Practically everyone's liked it. (some people I tried telling about it had already seen it and gushed back at me) But the reaction I recall most is one-of-my-mates-Steve (there are multiple Steves, so he's one-of-the-steves), who watches an inordinate amount of horror movies because his wife is a horror genre specialist movie reviewer/commenter... We were sitting opposite each other at a table in a pub and I'd just rec'd IN9 with my go-to spiel of "Imagine if Tales Of The Unexpected was done by half of The League Of Gentlemen..." and Steve went very quiet and serious and put his hands onto the table and leaned forward with an almost traumatised look. "The League Of Gentlemen?' he said. "That is the most disturbing fucking thing I have ever fucking seen." Husband of a horror specialist! :D :D