#tension was fantastic

[itbeleeeee]

Spoilers for Bodyguard under the cut

"Great work, mate."

"It wasn't just you mate, we all fell for it."

"Thanks to you David... Some say you should get a medal. Others reckon you should be kicked off the force. We'll see... But first, David, there's something you need more than all of that."

And then they send him to therapy.

I'M SORRY. THAT IS HOW THIS ENDS. THAT. THAT??????? Holy fuck. We just spent an hour, traumatizing a man who was previously traumatized, being 100% convinced that he suited himself up with a bomb because he was the inside man the Whole Time when he 1) had a bloody head, how did he get that if he suited himself up? Why would he do that? For what reason 2) the police officers were convinced it was the one police lady, a day previous?

There is just so much buffoonery. Idk maybe I'm dumb and like the character or Richard Madden himself too much to have a clear head, but holy fucking shit the leaps and bounds these people have to go to convince themselves that Budd is the inside man are the sizes of goddamn football stadiums. And then they just... move on?????? Idk about everyone else but I would have sued ever officer that was in that park to the goddamn moon and back for emotional distress. Then spend that money on going to the Bahamas for a well-deserved vacation with the fam, and then therapy. After that? Look for a calm mind-numbing data-entry office job so I could spend the rest of my dull life in goddamn fucking peace.

Anyway Richard did an AMAZING job holy sweet mother of jesus that was so goddamn tense. His jaw muscles were working very hard and I respect the hell out of the guy---he absolutely deserved the Golden Globe he got for this, my god. You could really tell he was going through agony 90% of the time, and I totally understand never taking a job like this again. Nicely done homie.

[stardustvalentine]

kyoutani DOESN’T dance 😤⚾️

[travelingtwentysomething]

I need to know if literally anyone else has seen any of the interviews for Gladiator 2 press, and if you've noticed any tension between the cast? Especially between Paul Mescal and Joseph Quinn and possibly Pedro Pascal because I have a theory that Joseph Quinn "stole the show" you know, and this was supposed to be Paul's big moment as the star of the movie. And maybe he didn't like it and is being petty about it or something behind the scenes?

I watched an interview with Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington for Vogue and Denzel said he learned to be humble from Paul and Paul looked like he couldn't look Denzel in the eye when he said that. And I feel like Joseph has been taken off some of the press even though I know he's shooting for Marvel, but it seems like they're really not putting them together on purpose. Also saw some sort of promo with Paul and Pedro where Pedro said something like I hate that it has to be said but Paul is amazing in this or something to that effect, and there was some tension. And it was right after the premiere when everyone started talking about how Denzel and Joseph Quinn stole the show. I also saw an interview with Mescal and Fred Hechinger where Paul said they had good energy today but if it was yesterday it would have been thumbs down energy, and then I saw interviews with Joseph and Fred paired up that were from the day before, and the way Fred looked when Paul made that comment made me think that that was some sort of negative comment against Joe. Am I reading too much into this? Am I making this up? I just feel like I see some sort of tension and I'm reading it because my intuition lighting up like a klaxon.

Did you see that interview where they were all together and playing that friendship quiz game and Joseph said that Pedro said Joseph was his favorite actor and Pedro said that he "said that he was special and that can mean many things" and Joe looked kind of sad and then Pedro kind of got in his way and blocked him from the camera for the rest of the next portion of the interview, like maybe there's a issue with Pedro and Joe or something, or Paul and Joe and maybe Pedro's in the middle of it all? I'm just so confused about all of this but I just am sensing the tension.

This has been a random rant. If anyone is sensing what I'm sensing please comment on this I need to know that I'm not crazy or if I am whatever

[5mary5]

I feel like I'm intruding in on something

And they were roommates

[sabradaz]

is anyone else super appreciative of the fact that when the doctor finally decided to settle down and spend the rest of his life with someone, that person was his platonic bestie Donna Noble? with the exception of Donna and Bill, the doctor has mostly had at least some kind of romantic tension (either unrequited or otherwise) with each of his companions. and yet, the companion he finally stops with is one of the two who had no romantic feelings for one another at all.

i just think it’s lovely 🥰

[tatzelwyrm]

Love that Wolfwood keeps calling Vash Spikey even when Vash is just a mass of wings and feathers.

Wolfwood: Spikey!

"Spikey":

[bestworstcase]

I have a question about some of your Salem thoughts

If Salem is 110% certain that she can take down the Gods (assuming that's her goal since we don't actually know), why wouldn't she communicate her plan to Oz? Especially if she truly doesn't want anyone to die like you say. Oz would jump at the bit if Salem said "Hey I want to stop fighting" since that would mean their shadow war would stop. I really don't think Oz likes the Gods either, and even if he's afraid of them, if *Salem* is that confident she can stop them (she's far from an idiot), I'm sure he'd at least hear her out (which would tell Salem a LOT).

If she's that confident and truly doesn't want to fight, why wouldn't she tell Oz her new plan? And why would she kickstart her plan by attacking the kingdoms/Academies? Surely she could find a way to steal the Relics without flat out attacking them (like sending in double agents to take the Maiden powers)? Like... she would've known she'd get people killed, including children and innocent people. Even if she did damage control (which I think is just strategic, why bother going after people if she's focusing on the Relics? She's not gonna waste precious time and resources), she surely knew people would get caught in the crossfire.

Don't get me wrong, I like what you bring to the table!! Your posts are thought provoking and unique. But I can't see Salem being somehow secretly good. I don't think the show is setting her up that way, and I think she's a fantastic villain, so from my own perspective, doing that kind of twist would be a disservice to her character. I don't think she's inhuman or a complete and total monster who should go, but she's definitely not a good person especially if she can't communicate that she supposedly doesn't want people dead. She seems to be an "the ends justify the means" kind of person, and the show I think has stated that that isn't a good mindset i.e. Ironwood.

Sorry, I rambled and completely strayed from my point 😅 I don't mean to be mean if I come across that way. I hope my ask is interesting or thought provoking though :P

my position is that salem is right, not that she’s secretly good—that is an important distinction. i think she sees the gods clearly for what they are, thinks the divine ultimatum repulsive and unjust, wants remnant to be free, and believes that humanity is transcendent over their creators; she also, quite plainly, does not have any compunction about doing whatever it takes to achieve her ends and while i do think she is still fully capable of and driven by love, she is so TERRIFIED of being hurt again and so CERTAIN that no one could ever care for her that when she does care for someone else it comes out in very, very twisted and often cruel ways. she’s not good, she’s not nice, she’s just right.

equally the heroes are good but not right, because they have yet to really grapple with the premise of the divine mandate (that humanity as it exists right now does not deserve to exist) or their own role in upholding it (their immediate goal is survival, but when they envision the ending of this war they imagine salem driven back and the relics squirreled away again in hope of at best everlasting stalemate). the point of structuring the narrative this way is that neither side can get to the proverbial good ending alone; they need to work together, salem’s ends with the heroes’ means.

like. she’s evil. lol. that’s not in question and i think it goes without saying that she is doing evil things so i don’t feel the need to make a “but she’s still evil though” disclaimer every time i try to tease out what’s going on in her head. notice how my reaction to salem razing vale was OH GLINDA LAYS SIEGE TO THE EMERALD CITY, WE’RE REALLY IN IT NOW and not, like, shock or dismay that salem would do such a terrible thing. brgdfjs

(i DO think she has mostly been trying to avoid ozma and not reciprocating the shadow crusade against her prior to about fourteen years ago and that she isn’t about wanton destruction or killing for the sake of it; and in that sense i think she’s not as bad as the general fanon reading. but that comes with the territory of thinking she has actual reasons for doing what she does as opposed to being, like, a genocidal lunatic.)

anyway. to your questions. the short answer is she’s just as scared of oz as he is of her.

“but he’s the good one!”—think about this from her perspective for a minute. set aside your opinion of her and oz, presuppose for the moment that i’m correct on her motivations, and consider what everything ozma’s done in the last few thousand years looks like to her.

she knows that the gods were monsters. she witnessed them slaughtering the whole world and she saw how little it mattered to them after. she was alone for millions of years, and then hated and feared for thousands of years because she didn’t look human. all that suffering because the gods are punishing her for praying to them. yes?

then ozma returns to her, somehow. he doesn’t explain how or why—maybe he tells her he just doesn’t know—but that’s alright. what matters is that he’s here. he asks what happened to her, and she tells him the truth: the gods ended the world. cursed her. killed everyone. she was alone for so long. (maybe not the whole truth: there are things she’s afraid to say, because the gods did it all to punish her, and it’s her fault, and she’s so scared that he’d despise her if he knew everything. the only reason for her to fear ozma would reject her is if she blamed herself. you don’t hide things out of shame if you don’t feel ashamed of them.)

they learn each other again. fall in love all over again. things are finally okay. they fix up her house. they’re happy together. one day ozma tells her that he’s worried about how divided people are. she wants so badly to make him happy; she would move mountains for him. salem herself has no interest in ruling over people as a god—if she did, she wouldn’t have been living alone in a rotting shack in the middle of nowhere—all that enthusiasm is for him. to support what he wants.

they build a following, found a prosperous kingdom, start a family. four children! how long do you think they were married—ten years? twenty? and the whole time, the whole time, ozma was keeping these secrets from her. that the god of light, who’d condemned her to eternal suffering for praying to his brother, who’d shown utter indifference to the deaths of millions, had sent him back to redeem humanity FROM HER SINS, from what SALEM did. that the point of all this is cleansing humankind of her defiance and inviting THAT MONSTER to remnant to judge whether this world deserved to be subjugated under the brothers’ tyranny again or else be put to death.

imagine how she must have felt when ozma finally told her the truth, knowing that the first thing she told him was that the gods ended the last one. imagine the sickening realization that their whole marriage is built on a lie, because she would never, ever, ever have agreed to help him unite the world if she had known what he sought to unite them for, and ozma knew she never would. that he deceived her! manipulated her into serving the will of a god she knows to be a monster!

and even then—even to the very end—she loved him enough to try. she was willing to forgive all of that and figure out a way to move past it together, and the only thing she asked was that he walk away from his task of submitting this world to the judgment of THAT MONSTER. and he wouldn’t do it.

there’s a gap we don’t get to see, in between ozma backing away from her and salem catching him leaving with the girls, but we can infer that ozma walked out of that room and salem didn’t. imagine how she felt. ten years, twenty years, however long it was, and he was lying to her through it all, and he left her with hardly a moment’s hesitation when she refused to help him enact THAT MONSTER’S retribution against herself. because that is, ultimately, what this is all about; humanity is found guilty by association with her.

imagine how she felt. used. worthless. duped. like a fool for ever trusting him. did he ever love her at all, or was that a lie, too?

when she caught him in the hallway later that night, they both attack each other in the same instant. ozma remembers her attacking him first, but their volleys meet in perfect symmetry and right before salem throws her first bolt of magic, her eyes flicker down in surprise as she tracks the motion of his staff (which we see in the previous shot)—salem remembers him attacking her first.

because they were both so tense and scared and angry at each other that they snapped in exactly the same moment.

their battle is so intense they blow up the castle, and when the smoke clears, salem is a pile of ash. ash! he incinerated her! imagine how enraged you have to be to burn someone to ash. that level of fury, of absolute hatred of her, is literally burnt into her memory as the last thing he did to her before she managed to kill him, inextricably twisted around the guilt and unbearable grief she feels for her children.

he’s dedicated all but a handful of his lives since then to getting rid of her. finding a way to destroy her. (how far is he willing to go? what would happen if salem tried to move on, find community and solace somewhere far away from him? would he come after her? would he follow his god’s example and go after the people she cared about to punish her? is she willing to risk that he might?)

do you think salem understands why ozma did any of this? she doesn’t. she doesn’t get the luxury we do of jinn narrating his side of the story and showing us the anguish he felt, wanting so desperately to be with salem but eaten alive by terror of dooming the world for his happiness. she doesn’t know.

all she knows is how he treated her: the secrets, the deception, the manipulation, the immediate and absolute rejection when she told him no, the explosively violent anger at the end, then centuries upon centuries systematically erasing her from history and enforcing her exile whilst searching for the relics he needs to summon his god for the final judgment. which she knows will inevitably end in the annihilation of the whole world and yet more torture for her with no hope of reprieve, because if all of this was not enough to satisfy the god of light’s grudge against her for, again, just praying to his brother, nothing ever will.

salem feels about ozma now the way blake felt about adam. why did he lie to her, why did he use her, why does he keep coming back, why won’t he just LEAVE HER ALONE, hasn’t she suffered enough, hasn’t she been punished enough, when will it be enough—and intertwined with that, she is being EATEN ALIVE by the conviction that no one could ever truly care about her or feel for her or want to help her or think that she deserves help or even just see her as a person, because if ozma—ozma, the one who saved her from her father’s tower, who knew her and loved her before all of this happened—if ozma thought her so worthless that he would rather serve a god who ended the last world and promises to condemn this one too than suffer her to exist at all in this world, why the fuck would anyone else be any different?

thousands of years later, she still flies off the handle when anyone lies to her. (except cinder. but cinder is always the exception, to every rule.) there’s a reason she recruits the kind of people she does—desperate, broken, angry people starving for something she can promise to give them if they make themselves useful to her—and it’s because she does not believe that she can get anything better than strictly transactional relationships with people who have literally nothing and nowhere else to turn. and when she actually cares about someone? she fights herself tooth and claw over it because she desperately doesn’t want to open herself up to more heartbreak. look at how erratic and cruel she is with cinder.

it’s not rational. salem is smart and very, very tactically shrewd but she is making all of her plans and all of her choices from the assumption that she is and will always be alone in this, because she is unlovable, because she is worthless, because she is the reason this world is damned. and she’s terrified of ozma because to her everything he does suggests that his conviction and dedication to the god of light has never wavered. she cannot see his doubt. she cannot see his misery. she cannot see how much he misses her and desperately wants to make amends. all she can see is that he’s zealously guarding the relics and spreading his god’s word and training children to fight and die in the name of keeping her exiled.

why doesn’t ozma just go to her and tell her he wants to make amends? because he’s terrified she’ll never forgive him and terrified that he’ll damn the world to annihilation if he follows his heart. they’re the same. they’re exactly the same.

but this is also what makes it so possible—even easy—for salem to undergo a villain-to-hero arc, because the only thing that needs to happen is a spark of real hope. that someone, anyone, could really care about her. like. the things she says in her soliloquies about the transformative power of hope? “even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change,” and “it’s true that a simple spark can ignite hope, breathe fire into the hearts of the weary…”—that’s her. one small reason to hope. that is all she needs to change.

she doesn’t want to be razing kingdoms to the ground or cutting a bloody path through children to get those relics. she is willing to do it because she truly, genuinely, from the depths of her soul believes that it’s the only way to free herself from the torture she’s been subjected to for millions of years. she’s driven to this by desperation. she won’t keep doing it if she’s given a reason to feel less desperate.

but she does need to be given a reason, first. she’s hemorrhaging. this is why the winnowing of her inner circle and the split between everyone else in vacuo versus salem + cinder + summer in vale is important; Those Two are the ones she cares about—technically we don’t know for sure regarding summer yet, but the level of trust she has for the lieutenant holding beacon is suggestive—and that being reciprocated is what ignites her hope.

[gothteddiesdotcom]

crazy how people can argue that porn completely destroys how you view sex and people but people will die on their feet saying that completely unrealistic depictions of romance and love and mysterious perfect strangers in romance media have absolutely no effect whatsoever on how they view the world

[littlespoonevan]

the thing about romcoms is just- it's never meant to be 'is it believable?' but instead 'do you believe it?' do you believe these two characters are actually falling in love with each other??? do you believe their chemistry??? do you believe whatever obstacle is thrown in their way is legitimately something that might keep them apart for a time and not something that could be solved with one conversation?? do you believe that they believe they need to fake date for this very specific reason??? do you believe the reason why they're 'enemies' at the start, no matter how silly a misunderstanding it may be??? do you believe the grand romantic gesture fits the characters and is actually how one character would show their love to the other?? like!!!! it's about empathy and authenticity and feeling what the characters feel so strongly that even if it's a trope or a cliché it doesn't matter because you believe it

[uefb]

New edit :)

Back on my "Leta-and-Newt-have-a-complicated-relationship-and- both-are-fascinating-characters-despite-the-fact-Leta-pretty-much-only-exists-in-the-films-to-further-the-Scamander-brothers'-character-arc" sh*t.

I think Leta gets the short end of the stick, especially in fandom, and I adore her.

[crabussy]

being a system can be really fucking hard and it comes with a lot of challenges and struggles but man?? I fucking love my headmates. I don't know what I'd do without them and my life is better because they are in it.

[best-enemies]

I've reached season 5 on my CSI rewatch and I'm a few episodes past "Swap Meet", where a woman is murdered after attending a swing party with other couples from the neighbourhood. Near the end of the episode there's a moment that made me jump from my seat:

(Grissom walks up to Sara and takes the seat next to her. He's holding two cups. He hands her a cup of tea.)

[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - BRASS' OFFICE]

Erin Brady: Everybody fantasizes about other people. (She glances at Grissom.)

Even you, Mr. Grissom. A neighbor, a friend ... girl at the office.

[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - HALLWAY]

(The door opens. Paul Brady walks out of the hallway. Erin Brady walks out into the hallway. Sara is sitting in the hallway chair watching them. She watches as they meet and kiss.)

(Grissom walks up to Sara and takes the seat next to her. He's holding two culps. He hands her a cup of tea.)

LIKE!!!!!!!

Right after Erin ends her sentence with 'girl at the office', the first time Sara and Grissom meet again, he brings her tea. This might be an innocent interaction but to me it seemed like a nod to this relationship they have where both are into each other, know about the other's feelings, but can't/won't do anything about it (although Sara has kind of given Grissom an ultimatum). I don't know if it was intentional - I'm guessing it is, because I picked it up immediately. I might or might not have squealed in delight.

[v7n5]

I feel very obliged to make this one public service announcement: the ABO Laloward au written in Chinese that’s ongoing on ao3 is Damn.Good. You all should turn on your Google translate and read it immediately.

[taniushka12]

pitch alan wake to me? 👀

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

alan wake is a horror/action game from 2010 about the titular character alan wake, a writer with some serious case of writer's block (🍻), who goes on vacations with his wife alice to this lovely little cabin in the middle of a lake, next to a town in the middle of the woods, Bright Falls. Before the day ends, however, alice is attacked by an unseen force that drags her to the bottom of the lake, alan diving in right after....

next thing you know BAM you (alan) apparently crashed your car on the road, you have no memory whatsoever on how you ended up like that, your wife is still missing and (!!!) strange people (and birds) engulfed in shadows are stalking you and attacking you AND (???) you're finding these pages scattered around the forest not only detailing events that are happening, or Will Happen, but also are apparently written by YOU 🫵 AND NOT ONLY THAT, but at the end of the first episode you find out that you've been missing for an entire week, having zero memories of that week either, and oh that cozy little cabin i mentioned? doesnt exist. there hasn't been a cabin at the lake in forty years

gameplay wise is a p standard shooter ig where you point a flashlight at the enemies with right click and shoot em with the left when the darkness around em dissipates, simple enough, but the Real deal (after the story of course, with its twists and turns and very interesting characters too and a Handful of antagonists that i havent mentioned) lies in the collectibles: you're not only looking for the pages of your manuscript, but you can also find stuff like radio shows! which are a charming look to the town's inner life imo, or Night Springs episodes, twilight zone esque shorts that you can find here and there. example:

THERES ALSO music made by real life band poets of the fall, playing as fictional band old gods of asgard, that you can find in game :) (example 1, example 2) (you also meet the aforementioned band, two old brothers who are epic, honestly)

[whiteshipnightjar]

the kristin scott thomas and sophie okanedo power bob off is a genre of its own and i’m here for it

[phostas]

What is the gayest musical ever and why is it Death Note the Musical