#stolas moment

[punkymaysnark]

This man is literally crying harder over being poor than he is about not being able to call his daughter anymore.

[goldsnek]

In need of comfort...

[angelshizuka]

"But this transactional thing we have... it's not right anymore. It hasn't been-- it never was."

HELLUVA BOSS 2.08 - The Full Moon

[impsandstars]

Vivienne, will you please just let this boy get out what he needs to say.

[miyakuli]

Sam Haft is feeding us very well :')))

[starrymoonjourney]

I love (and still can't get over) the fact that despite Stolas being absolutely exhausted, and after everything that happened in FM and AT between them, he answered with the most sincere "Always"

[birdy-babe]

I’m so glad Stolas has Blitzo right now

Despite everything that happened between the two of them, I think Blitzo is the most perfect person Stolas could have next to him right now.

And not only because he loves Blitzo and finds happiness and comfort in Blitzo- but Blitzo might be the only one to truly TRULY understand what Stolas is going through. He knows what it’s like to instantaneously have your entire life ripped apart, to, in a span of minutes, lose your home, family, friends, and any sense of security you may have.

He knows what it’s like to have that- and have it all be his fault. (We know it’s not REALLY either of their faults but that’s the way they feel, that’s where the blame is inevitably put).

Blitzo is going to understand the pain, the loss, the mourning, the guilt, the self-hatred, the desperation.

He’s going to be the person he wished he had after the fire.

[petitprincess1]

"You're gonna die alone, Blitzo!"

"I'll fucking die alone if this goes bad!"

[romancemedia]

Stolas and Octavia Family Photos - Official Artwork

[ovelitta]

coping through doodling soft mornings

[zombie-bait]

Full Moon

Ok so I don’t normally post about Helluva Boss but the newest episode touched on an interesting concept I haven’t necessarily seen represented in media. Back when I was on Twitter (derogatory) a few years ago there was this now deleted viral thread where someone discussed how their struggles with mental health affected their relationship with their partner and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. 

This is such a good, short example of how anxiety and depression can play tricks on you. It becomes so easy to envision yourself as a nuisance, a constant burden to those closest to you because they cannot possibly genuinely enjoy your company, right? But in doing so you create this arbitrarily cruel version of the people you love, people who would otherwise never behave like this outside of your own mind.

It's mean. Because your mind wants to be mean to you under these circumstances. It wants to put everyone else's emotions and desires above yours, both in worthiness and validity. And that starts bleeding into your understanding of other people, especially those you care about.

Now. Helluva Boss.

"Can I get a fucking MINUTE to think after everything you put me through you pompous rich ASSHOLE? Treat me like one of your little butler imps, you can’t just dismiss me like that! I mean, you royal fucks think you can do this every time, like you can just play with our feelings because we’re smaller and not as important. Well I’m not letting you, BITCH! Let’s go!" - Blitz

I find it really interesting how Helluva Boss decided to approach this conflict between Stolas and Blitz. Obviously, the difference in power matters. It's the underlying tension of their entire relationship and their lives. Stolas is burdened by the mountain of expectations thrust upon him from a very young age while Blitz is constantly reminded that he can NEVER be part of that world, that he is "smaller and not as important" not just in Hell's hierarchy but in his own life and family. Stolas very literally has power over Blitz (through the grimoire, the arrangement, his position in society) and Blitz uses their relationship as an excuse to reverse those roles. But that power dynamic, in one form or another, never truly goes away. And for Blitz, it's a lot easier to paint Stolas as this manipulative symbol of power and himself as nothing more than Stolas' plaything. It's easier to be angry than to be vulnerable and accept that someone might care about him.

"Dismiss" is the keyword in that quote. All that Blitz has been able to process is that Stolas has decided to end the relationship that they have. He feels ls like a choice has been taken away from him so he lashes out because he's not ready to emotionally tackle what the rest of Stolas' offer might entail. If Stolas hates him, just wants to play with him, then he is justified in his anger, his self-destruction, his isolation. If the world is mean, you're "allowed" to be mean back.

But

In that moment he forgets that Stolas is someone he actually cares about. Someone he's known for way too long and clearly wants to keep in his life, no matter how reluctant he can be to admit it. Someone who is not innately cruel or manipulative but sad and desperate for connections in a lot of the same ways that Blitz is. And Blitz immediately sees that he's miscalculated something.

Somewhere along the way the fictional version of Stolas that he's allowed himself to be mad at and the real one that he's not ready to admit he cares about have merged into something real that he has actual power over. Stolas can get hurt and Blitz can be the one who does it. He has once again allowed his greatest fears (which Stolas so frequently symbolizes) to co-opt his loved ones, to give him an "out" even though he didn't actually want one in the first place.

I'm definitely not the first person to say this but I think this is an example of the miscommunication trope done right. Their individual struggles are what cause them to be unable to connect during this conversation or to even have a proper conversation in the first place. There is no convenient misunderstanding or third party fabricating this rift. Both of them have preconceived ideas of what the other one is thinking but those ideas are flawed and rooted in self-hatred. They also both shutdown in their unique ways when the conversation starts heading in the direction they'd feared it would.

Blitz and Stolas work because they're both fucked up in similar ways, because they want similar things. That's the same reason why they're uniquely designed to hurt one another. A fear of rejection and a yearning for happiness. To borrow a quote that has been used by literally everyone from Spiderman to Evangelical preachers, "hurt people hurt people."

anyway, I really liked this episode.

(twitter thread screenshots sourced from this reddit post)

[spicylove4ever]

Was this the moment he realized he was not going to see his daughter again?

[humanlikeanyother]

Did edgy 13 year old wrote this?

[angelshizuka]

"I would rather be dead than live life without you by my side." "I can't live life without you by my side."

HELLUVA BOSS 2.11 - Mastermind

[anthurak]

I've seen a fair bit of discussion so far on how the old power dynamic and imbalance between Blitzo and Stolas has been effectively flipped after the events of Mastermind. With Blitzo now being the popular, socially-well-regarded figure and Stolas now looked down on, along with Stolas now being the one to be reliant on Blitzo.

But the funny thing is, I think 'flipped' doesn't even fully cover this new dynamic between them. Because, quite ironically, Stolas is now actually even MORE reliant on Blitzo than Blitzo ever was on Stolas.

Like yeah, Blitzo very much relied on Stolas for his livelihood through much of the show up to now. Blitzo simply could not run his human-murder-business WITHOUT Stolas's grimoire and the transactional relationship that came with it. If Stolas were to ever dump Blitzo and permanently take back the book, then Blitzo would certainly lose his current business.

But only his current business.

As we saw in Ghostfuckers, Blitzo was actually running what seems to have been a decently successful assassin-gig in Hell for some time even before getting the Grimoire from Stolas and starting up I.M.P. proper.

Loosing I.M.P. would certainly be devastating to Blitzo and the others, but they would at least still have OPTIONS. They probably could go back to their old Hell-based assassination business. Sure, it probably would still be a major downgrade, but it would at least pay the bills.

As for Stolas on the other hand; right now Blitzo is quite literally ALL THAT HE'S GOT. Without Blitzo, Stolas has NOTHING. No home, no money, no livelihood, no friends*, no family, NOTHING.

In the past, Blitzo was extremely reliant on Stolas.

Now, Stolas is ENTIRELY reliant on Blitzo.

--

*Well, he probably still has at least one other friend, as we saw this episode, but Stolas likely doesn't know that yet.

[miyakuli]

Ok sorry I'm gonna open the wound again but

Do you realize that when Stolas said he wanted to end their deal, Blitz didn't get angry but implores him bcs of the book.

But AFTER getting the crystal, his anger explodes because Stolas talks to him about feelings.

He could have got angry right away bcs it would ruin his business, or just take the crystal and don't bother about the rest, but no, he lashed out because the poor guy thinks Stolas is joking with his feelings, and it affects him because HE CARES FOR HIM. And he refuses to believe Stolas or anyone could love him so it HURTS HIM.