#sorry i actually enjoy all the meta episodes

[spaceorphan18]

The Lady Whistledown Papers : 1x01 - A Diamond of the First Water (Part 1)

An Introduction

Dearest Gentle Reader... ;)

Well, okay, looks like there a good handful of you for this idea! Yay!

I did want to preface this with a couple of notes first, though if you want to skip to the show meta, head straight for the 'read more' below...

My intention with this project is to explore the individual stories as well as the romantic relationship between Penelope Featherington (who is my favorite character on the show) and Colin Bridgerton. So, I'll be looking at every episode of the entire show and kind of go through their character arcs with a fine tooth comb. The first two seasons I plan on batching scenes together while Season 3 might end up almost scene by scene because it is so rich and dense with story.

The whole point is that I enjoy meta and media analysis and breaking down stories and looking at stories from every angle possible. I am usually pretty positive, but that doesn't mean even my favorites are not exempt from a critical eye from time to time. And I'm not hesitant to explore character, story, and production flaws when discussing things. I do, however, try to remain respectful.

While this is primarily Pen and Colin focused, I'll probably still end up opinioning on other things I like as well (and do have respect for other characters and ships on the show).

The only book I've read is The Duke and I. I don't plan on doing any book to tv analysis, but I do hope to get through Romancing Mister Bridgerton before I get to Season 3 so I can point out Easter Eggs.

I'm also no historical scholar. So, probably won't be doing any kind of historical analysis either. Sorry.

I'm a multi-fandom blog, and have lots of projects I'm working on, so I plan on rotating through them. Plus, I have a full time job and family and friends, which means please be patient as I work on the project. It's a labor of love! But maybe a slower one. <3

Not here to discuss the actors', creators', crew, etc's personal lives. While I may put in a tiny BTS tidbit I've picked up, I have no intention or desire to talk about anything but the story.

I always enjoy talking with you guys about things, my meta is only one interpretation of what's going on, and I'm always open to discussions! However, I block or ignore any kind of wank, so please be civil. :)

Tag : the lady whistledown papers (in case you want to follow along or black list it away)

Okay, let's dig into some meta!!

Episode 1 : A Diamond of the First Water (Part 1)

So, it may be something that's easily forgotten or overlooked, but the very first thing we hear when we open the show is Lady Whistledown's voice -- which of course, is really Penelope. Since it's the delightful Julie Andrews doing the voice, it doesn't really feel like it's an 18yo girl's commentary about life in the rich part of London society in the early 1800s, but here we are. It's all done to build a bit of mystery around Lady Whistledown.

But what I think is more fascinating is the fact that the show opens -- not with the Bridgertons but the Featheringtons. They are our starting point. They are our dysfunctional family unit that we may closer resemble in our own lives that we get to peek in on before heading over to the esteemed, charming, and seemingly perfect Bridgertons.

The Bridgertons might be the protagonists of the show -- but Lady Whistledown and (by extension) Penelope Featherington is our framing device. She sets up the world, gives us the expository layout of the land and gives us an insight into the world. So it makes sense that we're starting in Penelope's home -- the person, like the audience, who gets to look into the Bridgerton home, but not actually be a part of it (yet).

When we open, we get a great introduction to the Featheringtons, and in a quick few shots - learn a lot about of them.

First of all, the narration -- while I'm not going to take note of every single narration throughout the whole show, it is important to remember that it's Penelope who is ultimately speaking. And when we open the show -- the first thing she does is blast her own family.

Why? Because it's her only way to push back. Look at what's happening in this scene? Prudence is being forced into the tightest corset ever imaginable as Penelope (and Phillipa) look on in horror. Penelope is still young (she is 18yo) and is being thrust into the market earlier than she wants so that her mother can have all of her daughters out in society at the same time.

Unlike what we'll find over at the Bridgerton family household, the Featheringtons are ruled by a seemingly iron fisted mother who only wants her daughters to marry rich so she can retain her lifestyle and place in society while her father is uninterested in anything other than himself.

Later in season 3, she'll mention that this particular issue is her first issue. So, it's no surprise that she starts writing just as she's coming into society. It's her way of coping and her way of expressing herself. But, I'll also remind everyone, while she is incredibly savvy at her craft, she's also still so young, and not entirely aware of the power she's going to wield.

As for Pen herself -- she's genuinely concerned about her older sister. We don't get a sense of their dynamic yet, but at least we get to see Penelope's kind hearted nature. Prudence looks like she's being down right tortured by her 'tasteless, tactless' mama. And nothing about this is appealing to Penelope.

(As an aside -- this also sets up a couple of things for the show -- for one, throwing us into the historical nature of the show, as well as adding a slight bit of comedy to the over-the-topness of Portia's insistence. The show is telling us that, yeah, there are crude and unpleasant things going on, but we're not taking ourselves too seriously, so neither should you.)

Next, we shift over to the Bridgerton household, but I want to point out something first... Notice how the Featherington door knocker from earlier was much more adorned and intricate? The Featheringtons are more concerned with status and money and appearing as if they're better off than they really are, while the Bridgertons don't need nor want to show off in the same way. It's a neat little detail.

Also, the bee imagery for the Bridgertons always is amusing. Symbol of death there ;) In case you were wondering - the Featherington symbol is the butterfly.

So, it's important to note that the Featheringtons are the next door neighbors of the Bridgertons, and it's of no surprise that Penelope would, after disparaging her own family, turn her attention to the family that has captivated her most of her life.

Okay, I kind of love these paintings as an introduction to the Bridgertons. (Are there ones for Gregory and Hyacinth?) I think it's a fun touch to the whole historical setting of the show. And it makes them look as if they're these frozen, idyllic pictures and who are not exactly real. Which is great when combined with the Lady Whistledown dialogue going on how wonderfully attractive they are - because it sets us just slightly apart from them.

Like I said above - Penelope is on the outside, and as we move in, so are we, but we get to finally move in to see real people behind the paintings. (Also - omg, the look on Eloise's face is priceless and I love it)

Also. A+ casting, guys. I really believe they're all related. ;)

I also love the juxtaposition that when we first hear the Bridgertons talking, unlike their perfect, picture-esque counterparts in the paintings, we get Eloise complaining. (Look, I love Eloise a lot -- and she's the third in this crazy triangle, so we'll be talking a bit about her, too.) We also get a bit of chaos as the camera descends the stairs, with Gregory running around them and the banter between the sisters.

It's all great, quick character set up as each of the Bridgerton siblings gets a little beat in this sequence.

And... we get our first glimpse at Colin!

And here's the thing about Colin. He's the third son. Anthony may not be around at the very moment, but he's very much a father figure to a lot of them and is in a different place being the oldest and actual Lord of the Estate. His role is much different. And then there's Benedict - who is that second in command while Anthony is away. Benedict, though is the artsy one and the experimental one and is a bit more aloof in nature. Which brings us to Colin... Who doesn't have the same set in stone sense of purpose Anthony does nor the happiness of just floating through life the way Benedict does.

And so, this scene has a couple of tidbits to kind of illustrate his place in this huge household. He's says he'll go get Daphne (who is currently hiding out in her room, and whom everyone has been arguing about). Colin does like having purpose, and does like to help whenever he can.

And then there's his banter with Benedict about how he's better liked by Daphne than him. It's a great little moment, not only the show again allowing to us to know that we should not be taking this historical show too seriously, not only showing us the beloved sibling antics (which -- i really love all the sibling dynamics in this show), but also showing that Colin has a bit of a cheeky side, and isn't afraid to bring a bit a levity to the situation when he can.

Also, a tiny tidbit in relation to the book, Colin and Daphne (being close in age) are rather close in the book. We don't necessarily see it in the show due to the nature of wanting to highlight Anthony more, but I feel like these lines are a little nod to that, too.

Of course, then, Eloise screams at the top of her lungs, which is a moment I still laugh at. I love that while Benedict's jaw is dropped, Colin is entirely amused by her, as I'm sure she livens the entire household up.

We get both households coming out of their houses, and we get this sweet little moment where we see that, not only are they neighbors, but Penelope and Eloise know each other and are friends.

I love that Penelope is so overjoyed to be looking over to the Bridgertons that she kind of freezes in excitement and has to be ushered along.

Also as the camera pulls back, we see Eloise reading a Lady Whistledown pamphlet! The first time we see someone do so!

You guys remember Disney's Sleeping Beauty? There's a moment when they enter the castle the three good fairies are announced. The dude who announces the Featherington sisters reminds me of that -- introducing Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather! (Don't even come at me, it's my favorite Disney movie)

Anyway... we get LW's narration that this is a pivotal moment for London society at the time -- when the girls are presented to the Queen and enter the marriage mart. Basically, it's a coming of age for young women. And while Prudence might have the most embarrassing moment by fainting (I mean - who's to blame her, really) Penelope looks so awkward going out there -- before her time, really not emotionally ready, and just not graceful in the way that the other girls, including even her sisters, just are.

Okay, so it's not really our first Polin moment, but there is a pseudo moment buried in here.

But first - I want to acknowledge that Penelope, feeling out of place, and at ill-ease with her surroundings, throws a glance over to Eloise. I love Eloise's truly perplexed look as she watches her friend go through something that neither of them really want -- as if trying to grapple how any of this is real. Penelope and Eloise's bond is incredibly important to both their characters and the show (and is something I enjoy as much as I love all the Polin).

As for Colin standing over there in the corner... No, there's not really anything to pull out here. But! There is going to be a moment in season 3, when Colin is writing in his journal, where it's clear that he's thinking about this moment, and describing watching her as she heads towards the queen. It's a cute callback to this moment, and even if we don't really see it -- it's still there. He's still noticing her, even if it's very, very subtly.

LW continues her narration about how important the Queen's opinion is of the ladies of society, and how important it is to make a good impression. But fascinatingly, Penelope is too busy looking at the ceilings and being in awe of her surroundings to really take notice of what the Queen is doing. She's a bit, understandably, shocked. (and another great comedic moment as Portia kind of knocks her back into focusing.)

It's great for setting the atmosphere of the show, but also allowing us, through Penelope, to take in our surroundings and be in awe of what we're witnessing.

It's also, I'll add, to be an awkward contrast to when Daphne comes in and is completely flawless in her entrance. Penelope is our side character. She's not our main character. And main characters are supposed to have a level of perfection to them. (Or so we're been accustomed to believe.) I think one thing I'm happy to see on the show is that, while we're still going to get a lot of romance story tropes, the show does try to dismantle a few of the stereotypes as we go along.

Also, two quick smaller notes... we don't really get to see Colin's reaction to Daphne -- Anthony and the sister are too in the way, and he doesn't have much of a discernable reaction when we do see him. And, the narration makes note that Daphne is going to burn quickly, which honestly made me laugh a little.

And.... that takes us up to the credits! Which is where I'll be stopping for now. Since this is the first episode and an introduction to the world, there's actually lot of both Penelope and Colin in it, so there's a lot to go through... stay tuned ;)

[beelzeballing]

actually i dont think ive posted my thoughts on ofmd s2 overall here yet have i?

ok here goes: i think it had incredibly high highs, and at some parts i genuinely enjoyed it more than i did the first season, episode 6 being peak imo. however, it had equally abysmal lows with some glaring writing-, tone- and pacing issues that all came to a head in the finale.

i once read someone say that, if you ever feel like a finale ruined the whole story, maybe you should take another look at the story. there were most likely cracks and problems all along, and the finale did nothing besides dashing the hope that these would perhaps be addressed later. very rarely do genuinely well written stories go completely off the rails in the finale and ruin the whole thing.

i think this is applicable here in some ways, SPECIFICALLY in regards to edward. good god edward was a MESS this season, and it's so sad because i loved the starting point! the kraken era was absolutely terrifying and iconic as FUCK but... they shouldn't have leaned so hard into the drama and trauma of it all. don't get me wrong, i loved that it did. it's one of my favorite parts of the season and i'm so glad we got it. but if they wanted this arc to work with the overarching plot as they wrote it, they would've had to lighten up the tone here CONSIDERABLY. had they played the kraken era for comedy then sure! edward's bad youtuber apology would've been funny. his fast redemption would've been less jarring. the lack of consequences less disturbing. but as it stands in the show, this arc is too dark to function with the later episodes.

i feel like they wanted to have their cake and eat it too here. they wanted the gritty drama of ed coming off the hinges entirely but also didn't want to deal with the aftermath of such a heavy arc in their silly pirate romcom. be that due to time constraints and budget cuts or because they were simply unwilling to, doesn't really matter in the end. the result is the same either way: a very tonally messy season with some accidentally troubling implications regarding abuse.

and mentioning troubling implications regarding abuse; izzy. my poor, poor izzy... his arc was absolutely glorious. i liked izzy the second he showed up in s1 and i was absolutely EATING this season up in that regard. and i think in this case, they genuinely did fuck it all up in the finale with that one stupid choice:

choosing to kill izzy was the DUMBEST thing they couldve done here.

ive talked about this over and over and over again. ive reblogged so many meta posts. and still i am left absolutely flabbergasted by how stupid of a decision this was. the fridging, playing at the fallen woman trope, killing the beating heart of the season and the character who delivers what is essentially a thesis statement, killing off the character whose arc is about coming to terms with his disability, having him die in edward's arms, comforting him and apologizing after an entire season of finding community and love outside of edward, the absolutely godawful pacing of it all, the extremely easy and obvious solution of just having IZZY become the new captain of the revenge to mirror s1 and hammer home how much he has developed since then in one go... i could go on. and i have. it was a stupid writing decision, completely fucked the tone and pacing of the finale and took away attention and time from things that really would've deserved a better wrap up (lucius and black pete deserved better)

now. the whole prince ricky & zheng plot line... yeah that shit sucked ass, sorry. they bit off more than they could chew here. i honestly think those are the arc words of this season:

✨️ bit off more than they could chew ✨️

right off the bat: i think he was good as a concept. bringing in a foil for stede who just doesn't Get It as stede does could've made for very good comedy and drama (and to be fair there is some of that). but that shit got away from them extremely quickly. nothing about how he's implemented past his first episode works, and i think this is very specifically because he's mostly played as the comic relief in his debut episode. making this completely bumbling fool, who gets his nose hacked off on his first job, the main villain of your entire season is... definitely a choice. idk. he didn't work for me at all.

ok wow mentioning shit getting away from the writers. this definitely got away from me. this was supposed to be a short lil post. well. i guess tl;dr i loved this season but jesus christ there was a lot wrong with it. if you want to hear more thoughts. ask box is open. be my guest. i have more to say so even if you dont ask i might add more to this at some point but im tired and have work tmrw.

[watchingblsnowandforever]

Why We Are isn't just a fluffy no-plot show

I just read this post by @twig-tea, which honestly is a very well written, thought out post and I'd recommend giving it a read, it brings up many pertinent questions.

Having said that, I want to make just a small interjection as someone who really enjoyed We Are. This isn't just a biased view of why We Are is good - it has quite a few faults too. [can't even write a post without- *grumbling* so sorry my cat was prancing all over the bed threatening to pee] Where was I- yes. What I'm trying to say through this post is that We Are is queer in it's own right and while it might not match up to some of the greats of our time (Bad Buddy) it does resonate with a lot of queer people (including me.)

I myself asked @desi-yearning why I liked We Are. I was rewatching the show so at the time it was a sort of rhetorical question, but then I really thought about it. Why do I like We Are? The answer I arrived it is not as simple as I'd though it be (that it's a good fluffy show).

I am out and proud as a fluff enjoyer. I know angst reflects real world struggles and what queer people have to go through on a regular basis. I don't like angst but the why is a story for another time. Historically though, it's not that I've never watched angst or enjoyed it (I entered the bl world with KinnPorsche so-) but it's more a personal choice.

Now, coming to We Are specifically, I was actually skeptical all the way till episode 5 or 6, I think. I don't remember specifically what happened, but by ep 8 I was hooked.

All that rambling aside, here are the reasons why I think maybe We Are isn't just a no-plot fluff show:

Fans are actually leaning towards high stakes shows. GMMTV usually pretty accurately represents the wants of the bl-fan demographic (they have to, to earn the most profit) and it has slowly been turning towards ansgty, hard "real-world" (though this time with all the fate stuff and tarot cards it's more "we have nothing else to produce please give us your money") shows (whether they are well done or not, however, is another question altogether). I know that's a bit of an assumption but from meta on tumblr too, I get the same feeling. Therefore, We Are was a bit of a dark horse. P'New himself said, in almost all interviews that he never expected We Are to be commercially successful, he just made it because he wanted to. So... why?

Couple pairings. I have a LOT of beef with GMMTV. Much of it stems from their couple pairing strategy. While I do have my favourite pairing(s) (and I hate it because it means those capitalist idiots have been successful in their matchmaking scheme), I absolutely detest them overworking these pairings to produce commercially successful shows that are actually hollow. We Are, however, introduced a new pairing that was, by some, even more loved than the 'main' couple. For me, personally, I actually had very little idea about the other pairings too. I had seen PondPhuwin in NLMG but it was a high-angst show that made me queasy and I did not look further than what the show gave me. I had seen AouBoom as side couples but had hardly paid them any mind more than to maybe say "oh they're cute". I had seen WinnySatang in MSP and a couple more sides but I wasn't entirely convinced by that either. I only learnt more about them during or after the show, so they had less than nothing to do with me watching We Are. Alternatively, MLMU Th was disappointing for me, and I love GeminiFourth. When I watch a show, I do pay attention to the pairings, but that's not the only thing that can carry a show for me.

Friendship. This is a big one. I'm in college. Friendship is a very big, very important part of college/uni. I've never had many friends and honestly did enter college mentally prepared to go through all four years alone. But then I made friends. I just- they are so important to me. I know I'm maybe not as important to them as they are to me but I know they'll help me out when I ask. So when I saw this little show about friendship as a central point, I embraced it hard and cried about it at night. If you peel off the few outer layers, at it's core, it's all about friends. And that just got to me. It was more found family adjacent which is also a soft spot of mine. It's about not taking friendship for granted, about cherishing what you have, about putting your friends first, and always being there for them.

Queer representation. We Are examines overused tropes in a new light. Big example of this is how Peem/Phum could have very easily turned into a dark, toxic relationship. Even a few years back, it would have. But it didn't. We understood why Phum was the way he was. And Peem was never for a moment shown to be anything but his equal or tolerating any of his bullshit (even during the slave era he made it abundantly clear to Phum that this was wrong and if he really didn't want to, he wouldn't be doing it. He specifically told Phum to not let Peem's friends know because Peem knew, with absolute certainty, that if they found out, Phum would be buried alive). He even called Phum out multiple times. Moreover, it is also a story about queer groups, about queer friendship, specifically. I think bls don't show that enough. Even through the hard times, we do sometimes have people to support us, be it just one fellow queer or a whole group. It is also about acceptance of self and acceptance of love. Another thing that really got to me was the friends-to-lovers arc of ChainPun. I've often had crushes on my friends, and I've either confessed long after, when I didn't like them anymore, or never confessed at all. That shit is hard. In 12th grade, I had a very embarassing crush and most of my friends knew about it, so that trope was very cathartic for me. However. I did want Phum's relationship with his estranged father to be better explored. I don't like how easily they blow that away. It has been a pattern (mentioned in the linked post) and while I love my accepting parents/guardians, I do think we do also need homophobic ones. To change older generations' mindset, I think it's better to show them initially as conservative and harsh but slowly become accepting near the end of the series because they realize that if they continue their behaviour they might just lose their loved ones for good. (Homophobic parents is also very close to my heart but I have a complicated relationship with it.)

No plot. We Are does have an idiot plot, i.e., it's character driven. But I don't think it's entirely devoid of an overarching plot/storyline. Every character does play out a little bit of plot that plays into a bigger picture. Every character has a place, a purpose. Comparing the beginning to the finale, we see the characters have changed not just due to character development, but also as a result of the characters around them and the circumstances they were placed in. And all of these characters are tied together, somehow.

I have no idea if all that makes any sense, but yeah, that's my take on it.

This post was actually sparked off by a few questions that came up after I read the post linked in the beginning; can't queer people be happy? Despite all the struggles and the suffering, can't they have a home to come to? Does queer rep always neccessarily have to be angsty with a barely-happy ending? Does our love always have to be bittersweet?

If you've read this far, thank you so much for giving my rambling a chance! =D

Please rest your eyes for a moment and remember to hydrate <3

Here, have a donut 🍩

[trutrustories]

STUDY IN LOKI ROMANCE Part 1: Ouroboros

Since we're only a few days away from the last episode, I decided to COUNT DOWN everything we´ve got so far ( that can be interpreted very easily as romantic ) and discuss what the actual fuck is going on with second season. Because even though I shipped lokius practically from S1E2, I absolutely did NOT expect this kind of development. (Not that I´m complaining) Warning: This is gonna be LONG post, lots of screenshots, lots of SPOILERS, lot of "oh-my-god-they-so-cute" language, and little bit of meta. I originally thought that this post would be everything at once, but since I have just too many screenshots this time around, I´ll have to split it. so every post will be one episode. Color coding means:

IIIIIIIIII = anything, that coud potentialy be just acting choice.

IIIIIIIIII = everything else (tzn.: whatever was written, and/or carefully prepared by filmmakers. )

side note: I already wrote, about how amazing it is, that Mobius is unable to fight but fights anyway and how beautifuly, and ridiculously brave he is HERE. But this is about Loki/Mobius interactions, so I´ll try my best not to talk about THAT. (Even when I´m really happy, that s2 continues with this formula and Mobius is still his completely defenseless while aggressively brave self. I love him, btw.)

Soooo EPISODE 1, le´t go: 1)"Mobius It´s me!" few second in and we have slowmo chasing scene with detail on Loki, and Mobius and then THIS Loki´s heartbreaking look on his face here.

2) "Tell me, you recognize me!" (Loki trying to desperetly find Mobius, and then running towards him) Also If this Time slipping didn´t triggered anything external, but It´s just his own, unlocked power - I honestly don´t know, how they will explain that - does that mean, that he unknowingly unlocked this power, because he was send by Silvie into the past, and then he was simply desperete and Mobius couldn´t recognized him so his body reacted by time slipping to place and time, where Mobius would know who he is???

3) this very unexpected exhibition of touches (meaning Mobius practicaly glueing himself to Loki for this entire section)

I´m sorry, but my man here is like "no, I´m not about to let you have a personal space. NOT. AN. OPTION. let me hold you some more" xD

4) This scene in in an elevator first of all, that was a second time, he slipped and was RIGHT back with Mobius, the very next second. secondly: Mobius being scared for Loki and insisting he needs immediate help thirdly: Loki reassuring Mobius, It´s not that bad.

also this "we just had sex in a cabin" shot:

and lastly...

Big thanks to the film crew for this shot to give us an idea just HOW MUCH OF AN UNUSED SPACE was in the elevator! 👌

5) Mobius and Loki talking to OB. being perfectly coordinated team and smoothly working together, while standing on a same spot, but in a completely different time.

poetry... just poetry!

6) Distressed God and his Happy Face just so we know: how long is it, since their reunion? Because I would swear that not even five minutes ago Loki was in state of complete panic, and look at him now:

Look at him smiling, enjoying view at struggling mobius 💚

few minutes with this man, and HE forgets all about his trauma and just vibing.

me too, Loki. Me too 🥲

btw, this thing over here?!!!!

7) bickering, like married couple, part 1

8) "Mobius if I don´t make it back" and "You´ll make it back". What was it, what where you about to say Loki? It sounded important! next time TALK FASTER!

9) Mobius risking his life SKIN for loki and refusing to give up on him.

10) Loki saves Mobius in an epic fashion and they end up in a hug: also they roll around the floor together

I mean... this whole scene was absolute TOP! So yeah. That was a first episode. before the premiere I was litteraly hoping, that I will see our Loki and our Mobius together at least ONCE, before first end credits. I actually couldn´t believe my own eyes, holy shit!

[santacoppelia]

An angelic meta.

Ok. I'm starting my 13th rewatch of season 2, and Episode 1 made me think about the nature of angels. Not in a theological way (well, maybe a little), but in the narrative.

Before this episode, we have only met angels as they are now. I mean, we have seen Aziraphale through the ages, but the other angels we saw during season 1 (Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, Sandalphon, Anderson [sherlockian joke, sorry]) we have mostly seen them in the present age. They are mostly jerks, rigid, uptight, righteous, full of themselves, they can be cruel and sometimes downright malicious (yup, Michael and Sandalphon, I'm talking about you, utter pieces of...)

But the first minutes of season 2 present us with not 1, not 2, but THREE angels in their "factory setting" status (yup, that's sort of a reference to the fanfic with the same title, if you haven't read it, go check it on AO3). In the first 30 minutes of the season, we would also get to know Muriel, the lesser angel we've met so far.

We find out that angels can be:

Full of joy and awe

Tender

Honestly, genuinely surprised

Full of curiosity and wonder

Openly loving (that "You are funny, I love you!" gets me every time)

Enthusiastic

Generous

Naïve (infinitely naïve, even when being jerks. That's what makes some of their misconceptions, misdirections and prejudices so much fun)

This, I would say (and this is where I bring Theology into the equation) is how Divine Grace looks like. For Catholics, "grace" depends on the intermediation of the Church (one of the bones I actually had with the lot before leaving), but when you talk about angels... Well, they are created to be in full contact and awe with Divine Grace in a natural way (because they are created immersed in that grace, perfect, and they get blessed by acting in order to follow that loving nature towards God... and if they resist that nature is when and why they fall). Thomas Aquinas explained this in extenso (and my best friend, who is a Medievalist, Philosopher and fan of Thomas Aquinas has explained this to me in a 15 minute long audio, so I'm more confident about what I'm writing now, ha)

Well, now let's leave the theological bit behind. What piqued my interest was, as a matter of fact, watching Jim/Gabriel enjoying hot cocoa. We can oppose his joyful discovery to a couple of moments:

Gabriel's reaction during season 1, episode 1, when he finds Aziraphale enjoying sushi. "Why do you eat that?" and his face of disgust when thinking about "ingesting things" vs. the happiness of his experience, at every level, when he feels and tastes the cocoa (the mouthfeel, the taste, the heat, finally arriving at his stomach). He grows so fond of cocoa that it is his comfort thing for the rest of the season.

Aziraphale's first experience with food in "A Companion to Owls" (the Job minisode). At first he has the same old attitude we have seen on angels about human food: it is somewhat disgusting... But after he tries it, he discovers the huge pleasure it gives him and he goes wild with it. The love of food and the pleasure of eating exquisite things is still one of his defining traits.

But I would also put out a little note about how Aziraphale was, since the beginning, somehow conscious about the possibility of "falling from grace". If Angel! Crowley had been immersed in the creation of galaxies and stars, Aziraphale had been involved in the creation of Earth and humans. If I understood most of what my personal theologian explained to me about how the notion of "grace" had to be questioned and reinterpreted around how humans can have free will but also achieve grace, and what did that mean for the angels... Well, it redefined everything (the one who started asking all those "silly questions" around the Theology of Grace was Augustine of Hippo, and Thomas Aquinas had to rework ALL of the ideas around angelic grace using Aristotle to justify many things... And that how they came to be known as Fathers of the Church for Catholicism).

So... Angels in their "natural" state are joyous, cheerful, naïve, full of wonder and curiosity. Something (The Great War? Maybe... But maybe something before that) showed them distrust, made them rigid, self-righteous and simply... awful.

Where does this leaves my second favorite angel, Muriel? Well, they are still that sort of angel: that is one of the best things we found about them in this season, and why most of the fandom has already adopted them as our sweet child of divorce. So, she is still full of Divine Grace, and ingenuity.

This word, I believe, will become an interesting characteristic during season 3. Why? Because I'm not a native English speaker 😂. As such, it is more evident that ingenuity has a double meaning: both being an ingenue (naïf), but also being inventive, talented and witty (even wise). I offer a couple of contrasts too, to build up on this idea:

They had been called "dim" by The Metatron. I've already talked about how this is his "fatal flaw": he is underestimating his opponents and expecting everything to be predictable, but ingenuity usually beats predictability (Crowley is also a master of this)

Another character we saw during season 2 that was full of ingenuity: Shax. Yeah, she is not the sharpest tool in the shed, and she is cunning... But that's because she embodies those both sides of the idea! She is ingenuous and still asks Crowley for cues about how to work on Earth, but she is also ingenious and is always planning schemes for her own benefit (even when they blow up in her face). Also, she was the first one to determine that Gabriel had to be in the bookshop, even when she couldn't see him or detect him, and was so certain as to launch an attack.

I've rambled a lot, and I'm now a bit peckish. Do with this information what you like!

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Hello. I've been binge reading your meta post an I loves all of it. I have one question, though I don't know if you had the same question or not. If you had I'm sorry feel free to ignore this but if you hadn't, this is my question. Many people said Adrien as sentimonster is a good plot and the other said it's also good metaphor for abuse children. But what do you think about the senti plot? Is it necessary? And what do you think the writer is trying to achieve with the plot if Adrien doesn't even allowed to know about what he is?

Thank you! I'm glad that you've been enjoying my rambles! I don't think I've touched on those aspects of the sentiplot, so here goes!

Is it Necessary/What's The Goal?

I don't think that the sentiplot is even remotely necessary. My two cents is that it reads like something that was added relatively last-minute in order to add some cheap drama to draw the plot out because they didn't have enough content to organically fill seven seasons. Part of the reason that I'm comfortable saying that is because we've seen the writers do this type of move many times before. I don't wanna get too into the weeds on this, but a good example is the love triangles with Luka and Kagami.

Luka and Kagami are never treated as real alternate love interests. They're just road blocks on the love square highway that allow for seasons three to end on a cliff hanger. The fact that season four opens on two episodes meant to reassure the audience that Lukanette and Adrigami are doomed to fail is proof of this. No one is actually supposed to ship those ships. There's no Team Luka vs Team Adrien. It's just cheap drama.

The other reason that I feel comfortable calling the sentiplot cheap shoehorned drama is because the sentiplot has no teeth. A big reason why I refused to believe that it was going to be a thing was because it's an extremely serious plot that has no place in a Y-7 show. The wielder of raw destruction can have his free will overwritten at any time! The show has made jewelry theft a common teenage past time! This is bad!

And yet, once it's introduced, it goes nowhere. Gabe gives the most lackluster commands humanly possible and Nathalie undoes every one of them before they have a chance to meaningfully impact the plot. The biggest fallout of the sentiplot was that the Adrienette kiss got delayed a bit. How terrifying.

If the sentiplot had the weight it deserved, then it would have destroyed Adrientte in a big, dramatic fashion. Gabriel would have commanded Adrien to date Kagami and Tomoe would have done the same for Kagami re Adrien. But that's too serious, so we don't even get Gabe telling Adrien to break up with Marinette. He just tells Adrien to not see her and Marinette never has any clue that something went wrong there because Nathalie undoes the command two minutes later.

The Sentiplot's and Emilie

You may have read the previous section and thought, "But wait, doesn't the sentiplot give an explanation for why Emilie used the peacock? Didn't we need that?"

No, we didn't. Felix's little play and Gabe's memory of the night they used the peacock both heavily imply that no one knew that the peacock would kill you. It's why Felix exists! His father did not willingly give his life to have a kid and neither did Emilie. It was an unknown side effect.

Imo, it would have actually been better if Emilie hadn't used the peacock for such obviously selfish reasons. I mean, is anyone really saying, "Oh no, the rich lady used forbidden magic (and possibly killed some people?) to get a designer baby, then faced unexpected consequences! How awful for her! She didn't deserve that!"

Wouldn't it have been a far more interesting and complex story if Emilie used the peacock because she wanted to help someone else? If she was an unambiguously good person who suffered for doing the right thing or even just a morally gray thing? Wouldn't that make Gabriel's quest feel more righteous and less like a temper tantrum by a rich, entitled white guy who used his wealth in a morally dubious manner and paid for it?

The Sentiplot as an Abuse Metephor

I don't think that the writers meant for the sentiplot to be an abuse metaphor. In fact, I sincerely hope they didn't because it's a terrible one! Or, at least, a depressing one.

Abuse - especially childhood abuse - is something that sticks with us. A lot of victims will be forever scared by what they went through. But just because they bare scares doesn't mean that they're trapped by their abuse and can never break free. This is true even if the abuse caused mental health issues like PTSD or CPTSD, conditions that can never be cured because you know what they can be? Controlled and mitigated to the point where the victim is no longer ruled by their condition.

There's also the fact that abuse victims - especially child abuse victims - can and often do reach a point where their abusers no longer have any power over them. I have personally seen a child abuse victim go thought the process of realizing that their parent is just another adult now. All the power that the parent once held is gone. The child doesn't depend on them for food and shelter anymore. If the abuse starts up again, then the child can just get up and walk away.

That's not true for a sentimonster. Sentimonsters don't grow up and get more agency/power. At any point, their abuser can get ahold of their amok and override their free will, taking away the sentimonster's freedom even if the sentimonster is on another continent! There is no means of true escape.

No abuse victim will ever be that powerless. Abuse victims can escape abuse and they do have true free will. Sentimonsters will always be sentimonsters.

Is the Sentiplot Good?

No. It's too serious for a kids show. In fact, now that it's canon, here's my two cents: all of the sentikids are massive liabilities to the team who need to give up their miraculouses immediately because they can never be truly trusted. Felix has shown us time and time again how easy it is to steal an amok and replace it with a fake, so we must always assume that the sentikids are compromised because to assume otherwise is to invite the miraculouses to fall into the wrong hands. It's just not worth the risk to trust a senti.

Along the same lines, the love square should never be canon unless Marinette gives up Guardianship because Adrien is a liability to the safety of the miraculouses even if he didn't wield on himself. The only way to get around this issue is to use the wish to make the sentikids human, but Gabe failed to even do that one kindness for his son, so here we are. Season six will either drive this point home by having Lila use the amoks to mess with Adrien or it will drop the sentiplot forever, proving just how cheap and poorly thought out it was.

Other issues I think I've already addressed in other posts, but that are still a problem that make the plot bad:

a sentimonster's creator defines the sentimonster's worth, thus there being no issue with Felix making sentimonsters and then killing them or the heroes destroying them, but it would somehow be wrong if we did the same thing to any of the sentikids

any command you give a sentimonster can be overwritten and sentimonsters can't resist even if they know they're being controlled, so there's truly no hope to free them

giving your leading lady anxiety issues and a boyfriend whose free will is constantly in jeopardy is cruel and unusual punishment

an insane number of lore issues like why is it impossible to destroy other sentimonsters, but Adrien can be destroyed in akuma fights? Cataclysms are pure destruction! It makes no sense that akumas can do what a cataclysm can't. And is Adrien able to die a natural death? What happens to his amok when he does? Will his children be able to be controlled by his amok too since they're part of him?

the lore around Gabe & Emilie finding the miraculous makes no sense and should not be possible. That's another rant, though.

[rapha-reads]

Doctor Who does Gay Sci-Fi Bridgerton

and Shonda Rhimes babes I hope you've been taking notes because THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC, I'm shaking.

Oh. My. Stars. I can't remember the last time a Doctor Who episode had me actually stop the episode in the middle of it to go scream in a pillow and jump all around the room because the emotions were too much? And then I was literally kicking my feet up and squealing face in my hands? That was. I need a minute.

Ruby living her best life teaching 19th century proper British ladies some rebellion while the Doctor is off flirting with an outer-space roguish bounty hunter had me in stitches and also definitely reminded me of Eleventh and River rocking on while the Ponds were having drama behind, albeit with a Doctor that's sooooo much better at flirting and also accepting his feelings.

Like, really, Doctor, you just met the guy. Admittedly, Jonathan Groff is one hell of a tall glass of awsome, but still, I think it's the first time the Doctor falls for someone so fast and actually recognises the feeling for attraction? Rose took two season, even River took countless awkward (for him, River was enjoying flustering him) meetings, before he realized what was happening, Thirteenth was better at it but she was hurting so much she always kept Yaz at arm's length... Ninth was great at the flirting but characteristically not great at the feelings and admitting part. Twelfth definitely didn't care about it all and only had Clara and Missy in mind. Pre-Time War Doctors, maybe? Though if I remember the War Doctor's comment during the Tenth/Elisabeth's wedding, "that" (flirting and falling for people and relationships and the whole of it, I guess) didn't use to happen (and I'm not as familiar with Classic Who as I'd wish but I know there are quite some ships involving the Doctor, some of them queer ships too, but they're more subtext/fanon than canon).

... Sorry, I'm thinking out loud. Where was I? Ah, yes.

What a brilliant episode. Very meta too, with the cosplay and Susan Twist, and soooo very queer, RTD definitely said "it's 2024, time to get with the times and those who don't like it can cry me a river" and I adore that. Man, I hope Rogue comes back.

[dodginglife]

Under the Skin Season 2 Subjective Overview - Meta?

+ a little attempt at du cheng x shen yi drabble in the end for welcoming me here so warmly

+ beware of spoilers for the finale I warned you

Every time I finish the second season (if any) of a show, I am hoping there will be no third one no matter how much I enjoyed it (I am not a traitor I swear). Typically, the odds of solid expansion fall dramatically, and there are not many examples that can be called truly successful. The story just eats itself like ouroboros, failing to bring anything new to the table. However, in this series, there is no consecutive plot, as it is mostly centered on cases, so it may work out; the ending is quite unexpected too. Nonetheless, I love skillfully completed piece more than any possibility of continuation.

Let's start with the negative points first, as they turned out more extensive.

1. Shen Yi is too reckless and egocentric. Everybody (except husband Du Cheng) seems to be okay with him violating every possible protocol. As far as I am concerned, no one in the team takes any action until Cheng-dui says so, only the troublemaker himself. That's so messed up the show even had to remind him that he has to ASK for permissions, that he is a police officer and most importantly a SUBORDINATE with (presumably) a bunch of responsibilities, including for his own life (bulletproof vests and guns are for the big boys obviously). I can assume it would not have been so interesting to watch if it had been otherwise, but it is quite strange to justify such behavior with artistry. And yes it was done for the plot. Even Du Cheng gave up in the end (I should not have tried to limit your talent), leaving me disappointed, while Shen Yi himself apparently admitted the problem long ago, not denying anything (You are the center of my circle, preventing me from flying away). Finally the verbal recognition our captain deserves, well done Shen-laoshi!

Still he has some professional qualities. Take for example how unbiased he is. Whether it is Mr. Genes or Cheng-dui, he does not hesitate to dig up the truth. Sorry baobei for thinking you may side with someone other than Du Cheng, my bad. This biology guy is a walking fucking robot after all.

2. Lack of personal stories. Li Han taking almost an entire episode was a daring move, but it was worth it. That's exactly when the bridge between an imaginary on-screen hero and a real person made genuineness the final destination (not including the excellent work of secondary actors, of course). We also got to know Yan (even if it is his daughter) and He a little, and can add Jiang Feng's cute courting to the list, but as I have already said, it seemed not enough. The police side of the characters overshadowed them as individuals, and at one point the neverending slideshow of murders ended up being boring and exhausting.

3. The process of Shen Yi's understanding of the criminals' true motives seemed extremely unproblematic and thus unrealistic, even more so than in the first season. A number of deductions came up too quickly, forcing me to think he is the only one able to crack the first nut—the show's desperate to accentuate this—which is actually far from reality. Moreover, Ao Li's case revealed that reasoning and intuition combined are not enough to predict anything accurately, making the success of Shen Yi's artistic interrogation course largely a question of pure luck (heads up to episode 13), desperate confidence (20), or simple stubbornness (everything coming after 20). The talent is here, no doubt about that, but he clearly had a hard time turning it into a deliberate strategy, for some reason almost completely ignoring the need to consult with teammates or report on progress/plans (he did both fewer times than he should have had).

4. The decision to leave the culmination between the leads for the very end was not such a good idea either (as well as making it so hella theatric), although it is still important for thrillers to boast an intense buildup. The first season did it at the beginning to introduce the characters—I get it—but this is no less important element that kept the viewers on the hook. I imagine the veterans, like me, who are familiar with the story, waited for more details as Shen Yi was obviously hurt greater than it was shown if he burned all his works (not to mention multiple drowning attempts). It is as if he is only living to prove himself useful. All in all, the delay took way too long. This is the same problem I had with Taiwanese First Note of Love—Sea's story was brief and lacked introspection even after the final episode.

And here we are, still with almost nothing about Shen Yi or his past, thank you very much, please rewatch season 1 instead. What darkness is he talking about non-stop (besides the cases being emotionally demanding)? That he may have turned into a murderer? Yeah but what about the prerequisites? I guess they decided to leave it behind together with Lei's case. Or maybe there is not much to it and we are all being too dramatic. Giving the ending, if there is a season 3, I really hope it will explore both of them more. The Shen Yi from 7 years ago appeared for a reason I suppose.

Speaking of the things I liked, it will obviously be acting, cinematography, new forms of art used, and thought-out plot. That's it folks!

P.S. When bros say such deep and emotional lines romantic dramas could never.

The drabble is below - please enjoy!

Du Cheng believed he has been expressing his concerns—both with his mouth and through actions—in a way that is impossible to misinterpret. Direct and authoritative, he strived to make sure his efforts end in nothing but successful, tangible results. Many thought he wasn't good with words, but in reality, he always knew what to say to those dear to him.

Don't make hasty decisions.

Why can't you explain to me what you want to do?

What if I've arrived even a moment later?

I could not take it if you are wrong at least once.

Don't push yourself too hard.

The deeper you dive in, the more painful it will be to surface.

I would try to understand.

Aren't you sleeping well again?

I can't guarantee I will always make it in time.

I've never doubted you.

However, it seemed that Shen Yi's genius yet too head-in-the-clouds brain simply could neither accept nor comprehend the care and support directed at him so straightforwardly. Without exaggeration, such a genuine unmasked fear for his life reflected in Du Cheng's usually steady eyes seven days a week made him open up to a feeling unknown to humanity.

Not everyone has a committed person by their side.

The usual shallow smile glued to his face was like a ballistic vest, protecting him against every worried look, distressed voice, and shaky hand landing on the shoulder as if it were bullets. He never bothered to wear body armor or carry a gun for the missions though, ready to meet any raw damage head-on. Damn, he only recently stopped considering the mere surviving a terrifying outcome.

Constantly taking refuge in baggy clothes, he appeared approachable yet so distant and painfully calm no one could have possibly spotted even a slight hint of other emotions on this beautiful, aristocratic face if it wasn't for the sake of acting. He was bold, cocky and highly independent, but at the same time in ghostly, barely readable need of a strong anchor he eventually managed to find.

Du Cheng had no expectations whatsoever, okay? It was obvious that sensual little tête-à-tête filled with palpable gratitude for keeping Shen Yi grounded would have no particular effect in the long run. He still happened to catch a couple bullets, pass out right on the street from extreme fatigue, and even get kidnapped again. The last straw that almost drove Du Cheng crazy was him hardly emerging from a week-long coma.

He thought, Don't you want to live? Why would you leave me behind like this after all we've been through? Talk to me, get angry, smash some canvases after all. Show me what I can, I would try to patch up.

They have never been targets really, it's just that Shen Yi's nature could not resist kissing the danger passionately enough to feel the familiar metallic fluid smearing his lips like wine red paint. He got too involved, sympathetic, obsessed. Everyone in the department had glimpses of a savior complex, but Shen Yi... Du Cheng often wondered if he blamed himself for not preventing two world wars despite not even being born at the time.

Three months have already passed since the artist's official semi-retirement. Du Cheng recalls dozens of nights he spent persuading this stubborn gremlin to continue the work in the beloved branch on a freelance basis, namely at home under state-of-art surveillance, before he started to perceive every incident as his personal responsibility, not just those resulting in murder. He was of no use in physical operations anyway, though Du Cheng made sure he finished several self-defense courses. Fortunately, Shen Yi decided to focus more on his classes and even return to art, albeit gradually. He still draws portraits and visits his friends at the police station every weekend, but as the dark veil of guilt is long gone after a series of quite challenging therapy sessions, he can breathe fully at last, laying out one painting after another in his studio like dominoes.

Turns out people do change, and now every time Du Cheng opens the door to their apartment facing two cats that lean in closer to him so happily—one in his large shirt almost reaching knees and the other with fish toy in its mouth—he is confident this personal victory of his has secured not only the present, but also a major part of their joint future.

He zoned out for God knows how many hours once again. Du Cheng found Shen Yi sitting on the floor against the sofa and drilling the lounge room's bare wall with his eyes as if he was an experienced construction worker or the head of a designer department. The sun's morning rays have already reached his pale cheeks, stained chaotically with oil paint...

“I thought we agreed on not keeping things bottled up,” Du Cheng says, coming down too and clasping hands on the bent knee for support instead of relying on the piece of furniture like the artist. “What's on your pretty mind this time?”

Shen Yi almost jumps out of his skin—he himself clearly does not remember switching off so deeply.

Face softening, he blinks and looks at Du Cheng. As he opens his mouth to reply, he yawns heavily, making the captain chuckle and instinctively sway back a little. Next thing Du Cheng knows he loses the balance and falls on the back with a thunk, hands waving in the air before the impact.

After a single silent second comes the joyful laughter from both men, who gaze lovingly at each other cementing the moment into memory.

“I looked miserable as hell just now, didn't I?” Shen Yi asks after they calm down. “I was actually thinking about the before and after,” he adds melancholically, probably recalling years of self-doubt, search for a place in the world, and fear to accept the consequences. With the look locked on his hands and a little shy smile showing through, he admits, “I never knew my life—not my art—was worth so much until I shared it with you.”

This is the first time Du Cheng struggles to find a fitting answer. Instead, he reaches out and takes Shen Yi's hand to press a gentle kiss to the small palm.

“I hope your gifted hands won't mind another wave of inspiration,” he eventually whispers heatedly in the artist's ear as he lifts him by the hips in one easy move and carries back to bed.

I adore him so much it aches my heart, Du Cheng hears in his head.

Maybe the captain indeed is bad with words, but whatever's coming next, he is ready to remind Shen Yi to take it easy as many times as he needs.

[intrulogical]

Janus is my fave but Remus is a close second. I find it so interesting how he's the character who's the hardest to get a read on by faaaar. It's actually the reason why I've been looping forbidden fruit so much (alongside it being a bop), because I wanted to try and understand his mindset better.

Something that really jumped out at me is that the very first lines, even before he introduces himself as the duke, are about Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit and gain knowledge/self awareness at the price of sinning and eventually dying. He then really goes on about Thomas learning to know himself and how everyone already sins and dies anyways (so it's not like taking a bite from the forbidden fruit will change anything except the gaining of self awareness).

I think that regardless of whatever specific goals Remus has, he's overall guided by the value of wanting to give people knowledge and self awareness, desiring to dig up everything buried and repressed and bring it to light.

We can see in wtit how that seems to be his main purpose as well. All of the intrusive thoughts he gives Thomas betray an underlying anxiety about loneliness and being abandoned by Nico (or maybe the anxiety about being alone is what caused him to latch onto Nico - it's Virgil that ended up pushing Thomas towards Nico after all - but now he's terrified that Nico will ditch him). Remus is trying to bring those issues to the surface to have Thomas begin to work through them in a way, except Logan (with all of his good intentions and care for Thomas) keeps providing distractions and those distractions - as much as they help alleviate the symptoms - allow Thomas to keep repressing the thoughts.

Honestly, the more I think about it the more I love the double meaning of the title of the episode. Thomas isn't really working through his intrusive thoughts and trying to process them. He's working while he has intrusive thoughts, as if he's working through loud and annoying music he has to simply grit his teeth and endure.

...that was a ramble and a half, sorry. I've been really desperate for someone to talk about the series with XD

OH MY GOD, THIS IS PERFECT

i've always loved remus and his role of self-awareness. i always perceived his role as intrusive thoughts to be somewhat of an alarm clock— his general Presence means there's something that thomas is ignoring. i LOVE the idea that remus is connected to self-recognition because we have to remember he is forbidden THOUGHTS. not emotions, THOUGHTS. i kind of see him as a parallel to logan in a way, where they both dispense truths about thomas' way of life, but because they're so harsh and rooted in the reality thomas wants to ignore, they both get ignored. i could go in detail but i'll probs save it since this is technically not a remus logan post

if you need more wtit analysis by the way, @orbmanson7 has some for wtit that i really like! u can go enjoy some juice there. never feel bad about sending me asks like this (or even messaging!) bc i LOVE talking about sasi meta. i sometimes pop into orb's dm's at random just to entertain another thought i have 😭

[welcometololaland]

911 lone star tag game

thank you @tellmegoodbye for creating this tag and for tagging me 💜 sorry it took me so long to get to it. thanks also to @lemonlyman-dotcom @rmd-writes @liminalmemories21 @freneticfloetry

@chicgeekgirl89 @thisbuildinghasfeelings for the tags and @howtosingit and @captain-gillian mentioning my name, unfortunately for you i have taken that as a tag.

When did you first start watching Lone Star? Who or what introduced you to the show?

someone (it may have been @three-drink-amy) was yelling about the proposal in a group chat somewhere and i was stuck at home, injured, completely unable to walk, miserable and hating life...so I opened a YouTube video to see what the fuss was about. and then i watched all 3 seasons over the next 2 days.

Which season is your favorite?

three

Who is your favorite character? (Bonus: If you answered TK or Carlos, who is your favorite besides them?)

if you'd asked me a year ago, i might have had a different answer, but now (after over a year of almost exclusively writing carlos), i think it has to be him. i just think that i understand carlos a lot better than i used to. aside from tarlos...it's a hard toss up between grace and paul.

Top five episodes. Go!

you don't write 9 fics about push unless you really love push, so it's 3 x 04 every day for me. i'm actually sick for the pilot (1 x 01). i love a good origin story. my three others would be 3 x 13, 3 x 07 and a fight to the death between 3 x 18 for the proposal and 4 x 16 for soulmates.

If you could pick any character to be given a "begins" episode, who would it be and what would that episode look like?

i think the logical choice is nancy, because we really don't know a lot about her. the more she is on the screen the more i am starting to really enjoy her as a character and i'd like to know more. i'm also obsessed with getting as much reyes family backstory as i can. i'm CONVINCED tia lucy has to turn up somewhere. i need to meet that queen.

What is a scenario or storyline that you would like to see in season 5?

total cop out answer for me - i have no hopes because every time i start clowning i get the fear i might curse it. i'm just here for the ride, kids.

What do you think is going on in this still?

see answer above - i think the obvious answer is something about gabriel's death/the murder investigation but i'm not counting my chickens before they hatch or whatever the saying is. (also, they could def be trolling us and it's some scene in which tk is hangry and carlos is calling up the pizza place around the corner to ask where their order is because it's been 50 minutes and how long does a pizza really take?)

We all know about the elusive 5x05 spicy scene that has been teased, so what is your prediction for how it could possibly top 1x02?

it's no secret that i prefer sexy scenes when there's more at stake - a frantic hook up is hot but i prefer anything with feelings upon feelings upon feelings. so i hope whatever it is, it's emotional.

Where was the Tarlos honeymoon in your mind?

i wrote a whole fic about it, so it's hard to go against my own narrative. but i assume somewhere in texas. it definitely wasn't the under the tuscan sun remake carlos had apparently been dreaming about (but i hope they get there one day).

Shoutout one of your favorite fan creations.

there's actually too many to mention, and somehow even though i've only been in this fandom for coming up two years, i feel like i'm a relic 😂 i have so many personal favourites that have come across my dash (a lot of them due to fic/fandom rec friday which i miss with all my heart). but i do want to say that if you create for this fandom in any capacity, whether that is art, fic, gifs, vids, metas etc., your creations are such a gift. every single one adds something that the fandom didn't have before and makes us as a collective all the richer 💜 also, i think it's important to acknowledge the importance of the members of the fandom who are readers or beta readers, or even casual observers. everyone i've come across on this site or in the ao3 comments or discord has such unique experiences and personalities and adds so much flavour to this fandom! so thank you for being here! and thanks to @tellmegoodbye again for giving me an excuse to just ramble on about that.

an open tag because i'm very late, but if you haven't participated, please consider this a tag for you 💜

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

https://www.tumblr.com/caramel-ribbons/720001793861533696/i-just-watched-avatar-for-the-first-time-all-the?source=share

what do you think of this post? i found it kind of.. weird, in the way it talked about her relationship with team avatar compared to her relationship with zuko

It started out okay, turned into a train-wreck REAL fast.

I can understand being annoyed at how people will make fun of something like Katara bringing up her mom a lot, especially if these people don't do that for any other character when they ALL bring up their traumas a lot, but the way it quickly escalated into "Actually, Katara was right in telling her brother he didn't love their mom like she did" was honestly one of the most disgusting things I've read by anyone in this fandom - which is saying a lot.

Also, once again the complete bullshit claims of "The Gaang and Aang in particular never try to be there for Katara, emotionally, like she was for them."

Considering this person mentioned disliking videos that frame the entire show as just Katara being a bitch towards poor, friendzoned nice guy Aang, I would not be surprised if they let this dumb edits drastically affect how they see completely innocent Kataang moments as being something they weren't OR that they had already read Zutara "metas" (aka wildly out of character fanfic) and formed their opinion on these dynamics looooong before they actually watched the show.

People really gotta stop focusing on what the FANDOM does when they are talking about how CHARACTERS behave towards each other. Yes, some fans are sexist and hate Katara for the "crime" of being a female character - that does not mean the Gaang forced her into the role of being their mom/caretaker/therapist.

Sokka is CONSTANTLY trying to be useful the group. Toph learned to open up and clearly enjoyed spending time with Katara, even if it was to do things she did not want to do at first (you TRY dragging Toph to a spa and have people touch her feet after she explicitly said that was the one thing they were not allowed to do. See how fast you get crushed by a rock).

And Aang - oh my God, AANG. That boy was all about trying to make Katara happy from day one. They played together, he offered to go with her to the Northern Water Tribe so she could become a pro-waterbender, would always apologize to her whenever he did something wrong, explicitly told her she gave him hope (mirroring how she had hope the Avatar would save the world), was in complete awe after she literally brought him back to life, fucking blew up a factory with her, and tried to stop her from making a big mistake and sacrificing what was left of her innocence by killing a (admitedly AWFUL) man - yes, Zutarians, NOT letting your friend do something they'll regret IS being a good friend and thinking of what's best for them, sorry not sorry.

THE WHOLE REASON Katara is so emotionally attached to Aang and wants to be there for him whenever he needs anything is because HE ALLOWED HER TO BE A KID AND HAVE FUN AGAIN.

You'd think so called "Katara fans" would be able to understand such a simple concept that she verbally explains to us IN THE FIRST DAMN EPISODE!

Anyone that claims Aang didn't love and support Katara just as much as she did him is either misremembering the show, in deep denial, or just flat out lying to you.

[itooaminthisepisode]

Hi, me again (sorry if this is annoying), but I was wondering if you had any advice on writing fanfics. Cuz i just started, and im having a hard time properly expressing the characters' head space. Or writing dialogues that i feel like the characters would actually say. Again, feel free to ignore this if it's annoying.

not annoying at all don't worry abt it!! glad to help out an aspiring writer!!

and honestly it might sound cliche but my best advice is to read!! see what your favourite fic authors are doing and take note of what you really like about their fics. is it the way they describe emotions? is it their sense of humour? i find that reading a fic with this in mind helps me understand what i want to see in my own fics!!

also, it might sound a little odd but find out what tense you best like to write in. i always used to write in past tense because it's what i was taught, but when i started writing for the house fandom i switched to present tense and it feels SO much easier for me - it feels like i'm actually there, so i can better describe the scene. it might not be the same for you, but i would recommend trying to write a few snippets in different tenses to see what works best!

another thing i would recommend is reading meta posts about your fandoms, specifically character analysis. that certainly helped me when i was stuck with characterisation! alternatively, you could watch an episode or two (or read it or whatever other media your fandoms are) with the express goal of noting down their motivations for doing things. getting to the fundamentals of why a character reacted a certain way, or what made them say a certain thing, is immensely useful.

and one of the best pieces of advice i can give: write what YOU love. don't write something because you think it'll be popular, or because other people like it - write for yourself and yourself alone!! i cannot stress enough how much this mindset helped me. a few years ago i used to get so burned out whenever i tried to write, because i was trying to appeal to the masses with my ideas. all that ended up happening was me getting stressed as hell and never publishing any of it. but now that i'm writing things that i'm interested in and that i enjoy, the process is much easier because i'm genuinely having fun :D

also: don't worry if you think it's 'bad.' it doesn't have to be perfect - it's fanfiction! you're putting it out on the internet for free, and that's incredible in its own right!! plus, i guarantee you that someone out there is going to love it no matter what. try not to compare yourself to other authors either, even if you have an idea similar to someone else - i know it's easier said than done, but comparison is the mind killer. this comic genuinely helped me so much with this:

people will be delighted to see your work!! and don't be afraid to write things that are weird or freaky or a bit out of the box. there's an audience for everything - write for yourself first and foremost, but oftentimes you'll be able to find other people who love the same tropes and ideas and headcanons that you do, and it's great to find a little community where everyone can uplift and support each other :)

hope this wasn't too rambly and i hope it helps!! good luck in your writing endeavours!! <3

[serendertothesquad]

Seren's Studies: Odd Squad UK -- "A Tour of Odd Squad" Episode Followup, Part 2

Part 2 of this very meta episode continues! Who's the adult without any children villain? Find out below the break!

It's like they realized we've gotten so few songs sung in the franchise that they're paying people back with interest for it.

odd squad tour

doesn't sing an odd squad song and instead just gives us the end

God- sh- e- what the hell, Rob?!?!?!

Ohhhh...so the guy was a red herring.

That...changes things. Doesn't change my opinion about the episode all too much, but I don't know, I'd say they got me pretty good.

Funny how I mention "Into the Odd Woods" and then a few episodes later we get clowns pie-ing themselves in the face.

Y'know...just like Omar.

Putting aside the fact that Opie seems to have smartened up considerably in between "The New Ozzie" and this episode...I do like how this episode is taking the "villain dresses up in obvious clothing" cliche and turning it on its head by having the villain wear completely normal clothing so they'll be disguised.

It's almost like...they might be aware of the cliche. Hmmmm...

Or likewise, that villains actually are criminals because real-life criminals do not dress in ridiculous getups.

For a second, my mind went deep into the gutter and went, "If he serves them food and one of them has an allergy to that food..."

But no. No. Not for this episode.

"You've led me right to the Power Room."

"And you'll have to get through us first!"

"A few small children? Ha, don't make me laugh!"

MS. ELECTRIC!!! ELECTROCUTE HIS ASS!!!!!

...I'm sorry, that was the first reference that popped up into my head. Bro got electrocuted somewhere down the line though.

Okay, we get it, it is meta, and they loved it.

"Always have a villain on the tour."

Or in actuality, "If you have not stepped foot in a birthing room and laid down and popped out a child, or supported someone popping out a child, then welcome to the Odd Squad Superfan Tour, my name is Opie, and let's begin!"

And your credits for this episode. My guess is that these episodes combine both segments' credits together in the same run -- hence why we have other characters not seen here in this episode. I...can't believe it took me this long to realize that, lol.

(On the plus side, someone's getting a lot of mileage out of LGBTQ+ triangle villain this season. They're giving a "fuck you" to critics and going hard.)

---------------------------------------------

Overall, this was an okay episode with a mix of good and bad things. Wasn't really what I was expecting, unfortunately, but I did very much enjoy the red herring. If this episode really is some kind of a jab at adult fans of the franchise...it's not really a good one. This franchise has done better jabs at that group of people, and quite frankly I don't take kindly to shows that make jabs at the whole of the periphery demographic instead of, say, just creepazoids within the demographic.

But naturally, this is a Rob joint. And the last Rob joint I did a followup on wasn't too good either. So I wasn't expecting anything crazy stellar. But this episode could have been so much better for being a part of a 10th-anniversary series, and instead what we got was...nothing really of substance beyond an Oscar mention, like that makes it okay. And the meta stuff. That too.

In essence, this plot is basically what you hire fans to write. And frankly, I could probably pull it off better than Rob did. Anyone in the fandom could pull it off better than Rob did. There's a challenge for ya.

Next up on the block will be "Club 37", which, if I'm not mistaken, features unicorn Rainbow Dash. So I'm gonna become even more insufferable with all the MLP references! Huzzah!

Seren out!

[trutrustories]

STUDY IN LOKI ROMANCE

Part 3: 1893

Since we're only a few days away from the last episode, I decided to COUNT DOWN everything we´ve got so far ( that can be interpreted very easily as romantic ) and discuss what the actual fuck is going on with second season. Because even though I shipped lokius practically from S1E2, I absolutely did NOT expect this kind of development. (Not that I´m complaining)

Warning: This is gonna be LONG post, lots of screenshots, lots of SPOILERS, lot of "oh-my-god-they-so-cute" language, and little bit of meta.

I originally thought that this post would be everything at once, but since I have just too many screenshots this time around, I´ll have to split it. so every post will be one episode. Color coding means:

IIIIIIIIII = anything, that coud potentialy be just acting choice.

IIIIIIIIII = everything else (tzn.: whatever was written, and/or carefully prepared by filmmakers. )

side note: I already wrote, about how amazing it is, that Mobius is unable to fight but fights anyway and how beautifuly, and ridiculously brave he is HERE. But this is about Loki/Mobius interactions, so I´ll try my best not to talk about THAT. (Even when I´m really happy, that s2 continues with this formula and Mobius is still his completely defenseless while aggressively brave self. I love him, btw.)

EPISODE 1 HERE EPISODE 2 HERE

Episode 3, here we go:

22) matching suits part 2 anyone, who work on those costumes: I want to kiss you all!

23) Another exhibition of touches:

the challange name is: "how close we can get, before we sink into each other"

24) "And they lived happily ever after..." They had some lokius fan in the editing room, I´m telling ya! This retro movie style transition... THAT is my roman empire...

like seriously? what is the purpose of this? I can´t wrap my head around it. someone just thought that it is really crucial to end this scene with two of them in a circle. OK.

but WHY?

It was LITTERALY used only once! (I´m sorry, but as someone, who works as an editor, this just driving me crazy 🤒🫠)

25) Loki and Mobius enjoying popcorn:

I have several things to say here:

ever heard about when one person is "forced" to have fun for the first time, and to try new things by the other person, and he´s protesting and is all about work and serious matters, but secretly loves it and is visibly relaxed and happy? - Because I´m sure this is some bloody romantic comedy trope, that everyone have seen about hundred times!

"Oh look, you have a piece of food on the chin, let me just…"

I know I already said this somewhere, but, this is the moment, where in my language suddenly (completely randomly) switched from formal way of speaking to each other to intimate way of speaking to each other. (I´m Czech, btw, and I have no idea, what happened in that recording studio but it had to be interesting)

26) Also... Bickering like married couple (part 3)

27) "You know sometimes I forget, that you are one of them... Blows my mind!"

Mobius being Loki´s fan.

Also yeas. Loki is one of them. God. And Mobius is a small, normal dude. JUST A HUMAN. Analyst, even! And they´re eating popcorn together.... also Loki will do whatever Mobius wishes

28) another "let´s be as close as we physically can" challange

Loki can´t keep only eye on him. he needs hands, because reasons

29) Mobius supporting Loki in using magic...

... or I should say Loki using Magic, whenever Mobius wishes, because...

"Will you handle this please?" "Gently!"

And on top of that... not him, explaining, what just happened, to the public, by: "The amazing Loki, everyone! He´ll be here all week! 🥳🥳🥳"

who the heck asked, Mobius? stop showing off with your magical boyfriend

30) Victor/Ravonna - the most transparent mirror ever:

THIS scene? Are you kidding? Ravonna running towards Victor: "Mr Timley! are you okay? And Mobius running practicly at the same time towards Loki with: You allright?" and both helping their man up on their feet?! IN SYNC! this is too much.

WTF

31) THE BIKE THIS. this is the most GREENLY green point, I can think of. Someone had to have this vision. This idea. And put it in to screenplay. Someone had to find the bike. Someone was shooting this. Camera is moving around them. And they were all like GREAT idea, let´s have them riding tandem bike while chasing Ravonna and Timely, that makes complete sense! (even when we have Loki chasing Brad USING MAGIC one episode back) anyway... ever heard about "let´s do this crazy stupid thing - absolutely not - and then they do the thing" trope?

32) Loki going with Mobius, not even thinking about it anymore.

And to think, that I was expecting something like S01E03 (Lamentis episode)! Once again, I wasn´t prepared for amount of Lokius content I was actually served. What a surprise! 🤯

[xylathesilkwing]

played the Time-Breaker DLC! confusing and both enlightening experience- spoilers under the cut below! It is my feverish ramblings and not professional at all, enjoy

-SAM LAAAAKE I thought you were evil Mr Lake but I only had you for a moment I miss you come back

-JESSEEEE JESSEE jessse hi. hi Jesse (insane)

-no fr though Petri Alanko confirmed that the music that plays during Tim (Shawn?? Jack?? I’m gonna say Tim) and Jesse’s introduction was supposed to be a 1:1 recreation of the music that plays in Quantum Break with Jack and Beth, and I just think that’s neat (going feral)

-the insane scribbling on the whiteboard in the trailer resembles the scribbling the real (original? currently dark place) Tim’s notes:

and since I think it’s confirmed that the DLC episodes are just attempts at Alan Wake trying to escape the dark place, did he see the OG notes and go “oh yeah, I could probably write something with that”? Did he predict what Tim would write that without ever meeting him? Is the multiverse real??

-also, “red headed woman” in both images. obviously in the DLC it’s Jesse, and probably is the same in the actual game (especially with the polyhedrons) but it’d be so cool if he also remembered Beth or those other versions he had seen

-this image alone down below?? listing off names??

obviously we’ve got Jesse, plus Dylan (Faden? possibly her brother?) and someone named Savage, but we’ve also got Lisa, Elisa and Liz being nicknames for Elisabet/related to it. Just sayinnn Beth could be part of that tooo (delusional) (hasn’t finished quantum break yet)

-anyways we continue

-the ocean view hotel is so freaky cool in this world??? The clocks leading you to different rooms, the FBC being present and posting notes on doors and cannonly being there, plus the ENEMIES? I’m afraid of the shadows in Alan Wake’s playthrough but these were also pretty freaky

-JESSEEE I’m sorry I’m just genuinely so insane about her im glad she returned

-while I can’t remember the name of the place she works for, i find it pretty funny she still works for a concealed/unknown agency involved with secret forces. went from supernatural events to the multiverse girl

-the time-sea-whatever outside?? insane. cool. wicked awesome

-“and another version of me got super powers” and it’s her lifting a forklift!! Love the control references, especially the Alien Guardian Angel one.

-“as you say, characters in a video game” METAA

-okay I had to put this here but Tim/Jesse shippers.. I see you. like I’m an avid Jessily shipper but genuinely I see the appeal

LIKE? Obviously this is most likely an homage to the fan theories of Jesse and Tim being echoes of Beth and Jack, but it’s also so interesting Alan-wake wise. I could probably make a separate post for this but like- imagine you’re Jesse and you’re seeing all these versions of a man some variant of you loved die gruesome deaths, and you’re feeling these feelings that aren’t actually /yours/, it’s. I’m insane it’s so freaky and cool and sad and ARGH

And for Tim!! your other versions were trying to find this girl and when you get there you realize that the feelings you feel for her aren’t actually yours either! just some version of you and some version of her that probably didn’t work out! I’m gonna go insane!

-the arcade game sequence was INSANE and I love it so much. I wish we saw more of that universe

-the universe with all the empty time-core-thingies?? insane, freaky, perfect.

-THE VOID? THE TEXT?

-okay so I might be weird for this but instead of thinking about The Master of Many Worlds I thought about the red headed woman I’m so sorry. definitely got caught off track but the way her name is LIS like the names list?? and she’s a DANCER? <—— I’m a dancer

-it was so freaky when all the text and numbers turned into Alan Wake at his desk?? but also so meta and cool?? insane DLC

-awesome DLC! North Star is my favorite so far but tbh this one was super meta I loved it

[unleashthegoats]

Hey y'all! Loved the new episode, and wanted to chip in on one of the later points - videogames, especially in relation to the "Grey" Jedi concept. Knights of the Old Republic II really did some irreversible damage in that regard, as much as I love the game (though I prefer the first one). Kreia is one of the most central characters in regard to shifting morality debates in Star Wars (in universe and from fans alike) imo, and I'd honestly be super interested in hearing you three cover either or both of the games in the podcast, although I understand that's highly unlikely since none of you have played them. But she is extremely relevant to this topic because she preaches about neutrality and that there's more than just ~dogmatic thinkings of light and dark~, and your relationship with her suffers if you are kind and altruistic and get too rooted in the light side and she's like...one of *the* characters that kind of gets credited with developing a "grey" philosophy in-universe? But people always bring her up as if she's this great point of sensible consideration and not actually, as it turns out, a master manipulator trying to purge the Force from the galaxy (or something like that at least? It's been a while since my last playthrough lol) that lies to you all the time to get you to do what she wants (because she was so crazy bananas both the Jedi and the Sith said "no thank u :)" - well, with a bit more nuance but you get the gist). Really, it's a bit like people falling for Palpatine's anti-Jedi points all over how they talk about her philosophic arguments without bringing that up. But yeah, I thought you might be interested in that. Also, I think KotOR might be what people meant with being able to unlock Dark Side powers as a Light sider but you are absolutely correct that it's a mechanics vs story issue (especially since some powers are indeed alignment-locked AND making dark side choices does impact the character (apart from story, ending and relationships to your party members). It's a bit of a simplistic gimmick, of course, but the further you get into the Dark Side on the alignment, the more it's visible - sickly skin colour, cracks in the skin and flesh, your eyes change...stuff like that. I don't think using Dark Side powers actually pushes you further down the alignment, but the intent is obviously not for Light Siders to mix and match however they like).

Anyway, I'm so sorry for rambling on for so long, but I thought you (or someone, at least :D ) might appreciate that additional info. Keep up the good podcasting! :)

OUR FIRST ASK! I'm so glad you're enjoying the podcast, thank-you so much for listening to us ramble on for an hour once a month!

This is all really interesting! I've read a few metas about the Star Wars video games and the characters within them which is partly why I chose to briefly include them in the episode (and also because I am familiar with Jedi: Survivor which has its own "dark side" mechanic for the main character that was relevant to the discussion). Aside from Jedi: Survivor, I wasn't necessarily referencing any one specific video game, I assume it's probably a thing that's come up more than once.

As far as my reaction to Kreia goes, just based on your description of her, the idea of there being "too much light" just isn't how Lucas's own worldbuilding worked. It's clearly trying to hit on the idea of "balance" being equal amounts of light and dark usage, as opposed to balance being acknowledging darkness EXISTS (in yourself and in the universe) in order to keep yourself from acting on it. There just isn't a way to be "too light" or something like that, there's never "too much" kindness and compassion and selflessness in the world. In this sense, the video games are just going to fall into the same category as the rest of legends and EU stuff, in that they often just do their own thing based on their own interpretations of Star Wars, but it doesn't mean it actually fits with what Lucas himself was trying to get across about the philosophy of the Force and the Jedi in his own stories, and that's primarily what we're using as a base to discuss Star Wars from.

If any of us ends up playing KOTOR, we can certainly try to bring it up more often. I don't think we have any plans of doing more video game stuff currently, but if the KOTOR remake ever comes to pass, maybe I will!

-Mod Sugar