#that episode is cruel on the psyche

[the-gayest-show]

Me when I have 1000 thoughts about The Character and several critiques but then I remember it's a kids show

[inbarfink]

Thinking about the kinda blurry lines between Simon Petrikov and the Ice King’s identities again. Because I feel like the Winter King really is a fascinating case study of just how complex the situation can be.

Because the Winter King is a Simon/Ice King who found a way to get rid of the Madness and Sadness of the Crown by forcing it into someone else while keeping all the Magic to himself. And by doing so he regained some sense of his old Simon Petrikov identity - but at the same time he became an irrevocably different person.

Because the Madness and Sadness of the Magic Crown don’t work, like, totally separate from Simon’s brain, I think. Like, the whispers of the secrets of the ice and snow are probably entirely from the Crown. But then there’s the most iconic expression of Ice King’s Madness - the Princess Kidnappings. 

Simon might’ve described the Candy Queen as having the Crown’s Madness projected into her. But romantic obsession and kidnappings have been established as a mad reflection of Simon’s psyche ever since the episode that first established Simon's existence.

So it’s not just the Magic Crown’s Madness projected into Peebles. Candy Queen’s behavior is probably not indicative of, like, how PB would act if she put on the Crown herself. It’s specifically Simon Petrikov’s brand of Madness and Sadness that has been shoved into her head. 

And losing Betty will always make Simon very Sad and maybe a little bit Mad, the thing the Crown did was exaggerate and twist these emotions until he’s kidnapping sapient blobs of slime in hope they’ll marry him. You can’t fully separate Ice King’s mad obsession with princesses from Simon’s love for Betty. So it’s no wonder that when the Winter King artificially rid himself of one, he also lost the other.

And in general, so much of Ice King's Madness and Sadness was fueled by Simon's loves and his regrets - and so when they are truly wiped away, we are left with a very happy and very sane Simon who is utterly callous, cruel and selfish. One who has lost so much of what made him Simon Petrikov in the first place, maybe even more than he ever did as Ice King.

The Magic Crown drove Simon crazy, that’s true. But the particular way he turned crazy was based on his specific psyche and personality. And so Ice King always had that little hint of Simon hidden in him and now, no matter how ‘normal’ and ‘sane’ he is - Simon will always have a bit of Ice King in it. And without it… well, he won’t be much of the Simon we know and love.

[dykedvonte]

Why do you think did Curly let Jimmy go before the crash? I've seen the theory Curly briefly thought about crashing too but didn't expect Jimmy to go through with it

I generally believe it was shock and a bit of denial.

It’s the sort of thing where Curly knew Jimmy enough to know he blows up at things but he never would’ve expected him to go through with something so crazy. He gives Jimmy way too much benefit. It’s just his nature and the dynamics he has with Jimmy. They have a stable relationship as friends but it’s stabilized by the unhealthy toxic aspects that keep him in it. He’s like this with Anya, taking the gun is something he really shouldn’t have kept off the record, so is Swansea’s feigned hostility toward Daisuke. He doesn’t want to get people in trouble and doesn’t want to believe anyone would cause trouble other than to themselves. He’s a very lenient man.

I think the words were hollow in his head. Said but not really meant like all the times Jimmy lashes out and says something cruel to him or others. He never means it, if he did why would he still be Curly’s friend? Curly’s head wasn’t in the right space in that moment, he just got through panicking with Anya and if the sound design is anything to go by, was panicked and preoccupied going to confront Jimmy. I mean, the flash of the warning signs before he runs back are identical to the dissociative episode of sort he has when going to talk to Jimmy to do his Psyc eval.

There is this sort of assumption in fanon that Curly was the idealic person for the job and simply failed. None of them were the idealic people to be there, it’s Curly’s entire concern with the ladder he chose. I see more interpretations of him being purposefully ignorant where I see him as just always looking the wrong way or not in a place where he can see it. There’s something different about seeing something than being told about it in the human mind. It may just be the psych student in me but Curly def has some sort of cognitive dissonance just like Jimmy but when it comes to his role as a Captain vs who he is.

They blur in his head to where if you ask him if he was acting as a Captain or a friend or himself to his crew he couldn’t answer. Not with confidence even if he did. There are many times we see that Curly himself is not in the right headspace to lead the Tulpar and that’s outside of anything with Jimmy. He’s spacey, he’s not sleeping, he’s deeply unhappy with himself and life. It’s why there’s believability he crashed the ship. Maybe the others saw it, or maybe Jimmy heard enough of it to spin it in a way that made Curly seem suicidally depressed.

So the tdlr is I think it wasn’t so much letting Jimmy go, more so not seeing the severity of what he was allowing to transpire. In his mind it’s just another one of Jimmy’s bluffs, cruel words, off words but just words. Jimmy rarely ever acts, why would he now? Maybe he’s never seen it because Jimmy hides those actions? Either way, he just never thought he’d really do it.

[julieverne]

Okay so

Maura Isles would never have gotten rid of Bass.

In season 1 we see him in the first and last episodes. She's so worried about him that she takes his heavy ass to work instead of leaving him with his usual sitter. She shields his body with hers (from memory) and he saves her life (she'd have been found if she wasn't crouching to check on her tortoise).

She calls him buddy. She calls him sweetie.

He's her only friend prior to season 1, where Jane and Maura start tentatively friending. He's a misunderstood stand in for her own psyche, for her own maladjusted attempts to fit into society.

She's had him since he was a baby. They grew up together; they both appear to be in their thirties. She's had him for life.

An aside here; I have a bird nearly my own age that I've had for fifteen years. I am disabled and considering giving her up for her sake but finding her a home is difficult because she hates other birds, and fostering her out is hard because people keep carnivores and she also hates men. Recently she started self-canabalising due to my heath condition reducing the amount of time I could spend with her. But I know how much work she is, and how hard it is to find someone who gives parrots the amount of attention they crave. I love her, and if I could give her to a good home I would consider it for her sake. But for mine? Her sweet fluffy face floofing out in scratch anticipation, her little chicken chuckles and honks and sneezes, her little beak taps on my arm before she clambours up it - these fill my days and I would be bereft without her. I suffer, when I travel, because I keep my heart in that bird.

So the insinuation in Jan Nash's season 5 of Rizzoli and Isles that Maura has sufficient human contact and no longer needs her lifetime companion is just rude, on behalf of both Maura and fans of the show.

The assumption that Bass, a house tortoise, with one/two caretakers (the sitter and Angela would also be familiar to him) would adjust to being in a zoo - okay, fine, Maura's working hours are terrible and she's never home, and she's not the most affectionate person with anyone but Jane and sometimes Jo, but to insinuate that simply because he's not a mammal that he has no feelings or routine - that shoving a tortoise into a muddy puddle and not talking to him - is an appropriate way to treat an animal that has been a family member for three decades - is disingenuous.

As for Maura allowing it to happen? She's settled in Boston, she has a permanent house guest that is familiar with him, and she's not the kind of cruel person to abandon something she loves on a whim. The only reason she'd have given him up - and this should have been mentioned in canon - was that he was having behavioural issues, from hormonal to boredom, that he was too large for Maura to safely handle - he's a hecking chonk even at the start - or that something about her home was found to be damaging to tortoise habitation (backed by several sources and cited in professional scientific articles).

Maura loves fiercely and often. She feels abandoned - by her birth and adoptive parents, and Bass was there to see her through, on the nights Jane wasn't there.

Considering Bass was only seen in three episodes of the show (Pilot, When the Gun Goes Bang Bang Bang, Killer in High Heels), the production cost would have been nil if they'd never had him onscreen again. Jo was also only in a handful of episodes, and dog actors are expensive, but dogs don't live as long, so they could have written her out any way other than 'we found her owners after Jane spent five long years bachelor bonding with her dog', but Jane's the kind to give up on people and things, so it's not as hurtful.

Maura has internalised her octracisation by society and harboured it in a tortoise. People don't understand tortoises. She too is misunderstood, so she vibes with Bass on a surface level, but after so many years, he deserved better than 'the zoo'.

Anyway that's my mini Bass thesis I'm tired.

And I added some pictures because he's actually very cute.

There's a thing about people who aren't neurotypical; we bond with things the average person considers ugly, emotionless or cumbersome, because we're often considered those things. Maura sees herself, the outcast Queen of the Dead, in Bass. And being abandoned herself, she would never abandon him.

[sepublic]

You know a dynamic I’d love to see more of? Willow and Odalia.

Because Odalia is directly, intentionally responsible for all of Willow’s trauma; As was Alador, but he seems to be more of an enforcer like Amity was, not making that decision because he’s apathetic about the situation in Escaping Expulsion and even holds Odalia to her word. So while he went along (and I’d like to imagine Willow having VERY mixed feelings on him for a while), Odalia made that decision to begin with.

Boscha already bullied Willow, she didn’t need Odalia to tell her to and we have no indication there was any order; But I imagine it wouldn’t have hit so hard to have Amity as a friend to defend her. But to have Amity leave her, reinforcing Boscha’s assertions of Willow being Half-a-Witch? And then becoming friends with Boscha, just to show she’s found someone better, that person who hurt her? It must’ve made the pain felt tenfold.

And we see how years of loneliness and cruelty genuinely wore on Willow’s psyche, becoming legitimate trauma that she struggled with until the penultimate episode of the series! And all because of this adult singling out this child specifically, deciding she’s not good enough. It’s so cruel to target and even threaten her to their daughter. What are these grown-ass rich people going after a lower-class kid for?!?!?

When Odalia sees the photo that Amity has, it’s not just Luz she’s taking issue with, it’s also the presence of Gus… and Willow, who was specifically forbidden from the start. So it also comes back around to Willow in a way, and her friendship with Amity returning, a promise we see come through in S2B.

How does Willow feel to see these adults come after her, all over again?! Amity promised to stand up to Boscha, but not her own abusive parents; That’s something Willow couldn’t even do with her loving dads, it’s no wonder she didn’t expect that from Amity. She must’ve been reorienting a lot of feelings towards Amity, knowing she did care, was coerced, felt she was protecting Willow and in a way she was! She was protecting her future, but then so was Harvey and Gilbert. And it still frustrated Willow deeply to have these people choose that over Willow’s actual happiness.

But amidst beginning to forgive Amity, Willow was also reorienting her feelings towards the Blight parents; Because while she might’ve thought of them as having an influence on Amity’s decision, now she knows they directly chose and forced it for her. In their presence, Willow reverts back to the same, meek insecurity she has around Boscha and Amity back when she was a bully. But outside of that, now Willow has to handle this newfound rage and resentment, because what’s wrong with you, that you have to go after me then and even now?!? All this time there’s been this looming specter she’s just never known about until now.

Odalia and Alador are right here, doing the same thing all over again. At least with Alador, Willow is there to see how he doesn’t actually care, which I imagine would contribute to forgiveness in the long run. But Odalia is insisting upon it and won’t let it go years later. And seeing Odalia actually follow through on that years-long threat towards Willow, as Amity feared, must’ve felt insane; The loaded gun she never knew was there finally went off.

Now Willow has to grapple with the consequence she agreed with Amity to face, and she’s not going down without a fight! She’s getting that reconciliation with her first friend and her future in a school she loves, and Willow musters up that courage when she sees Odalia getting into Luz’s head, making that call to find their own way to Odalia’s face.

Thankfully, Amity followed through on her word even more than she promised; She helped Luz, Gus, and Willow get back into school, Amity and Luz did most of that work for her. And it’s nice to not be the one supporting people or handling it by herself for once.

And I think of how Willow must’ve felt when Odalia no longer had any power over her, that the specter of the Blights no longer did; Nobody to fight, just… reconcile with. And Willow sees Alador do it with Amity, so maybe she feels more charitable towards him, enough to consider it as a future option. Willow resolves Hermonculus as another tormenting adult in her life, shoving it in his face that she’s not just good enough as a student but better than him even!

And when she found out Odalia was holding her kids hostage, I bet Willow found a little vindication in the opportunity to supplant her. So when it became apparent just how low Odalia was, being willing to aid in genocide under the delusion of benefiting from it, I wonder how surprised Willow really was, if she retroactively felt more threatened, or wasn’t going to be afraid any longer.

Nor would Amity and Alador, the latter of whom would become more sympathetic to Willow’s eyes. The satisfaction that must’ve come from seeing Odalia’s source of wealth collapse before her despairing eyes, when wealth was what she did all of this for, including targeting Willow… That must’ve coalesced into just grim pity for a woman who threw away everything to have it all. This was the one who did Willow so much pain?! In the end, Odalia was nothing to her now, Willow had more important things to worry about, like her friend.

Not to mention, I think of how Odalia would’ve had a confrontation with the kids in the finale, before it got cut presumably for time, and to make room for Camila to take her place. Better call in the end, but I can only imagine Willow seeing Odalia again by her lonesome, trying to go after another kid but thankfully failing. And after resolving the trauma Odalia started years ago, Willow decides to just smash her with a giant vine. Repeatedly.

I think Willow hates Boscha —and even Hermonculus— more due to dealing with direct bullying for years, because Boscha kept choosing to attack her even when nothing was at stake for her; Odalia at least left Willow alone once she got what she wanted, she wasn’t trying to be personal… Boscha and Hermonculus are definitely more personal enemies to her than Odalia, who is Amity’s abusive mother.

That said, I’d have loved a moment of Willow confronting Odalia and getting to be personal about it, at some point in S2 or S3; Odalia made it personal from the start, she singled Willow out. She’s been an enemy of the Parks, I can only imagine how Gilbert and Harvey felt if Willow ever cleared to them why she’s reconnected with Amity, how that happened. If Hooty was still aware even as a puppet, how good did it make Gilbert feel to crush Odalia beneath his weight and become a burden for her to struggle with?

For the other kids, there’s a connection; That’s Amity’s mom, Gus’ dad was friends with her, Hunter technically worked with her for a bit. But just as for Luz, for Willow it is only ever adversarial. Odalia took a while to single Luz out when she learned she was Amity’s girlfriend and not just part of a group of rabble, but these two genuinely dislike each other specifically, and it’s so unbalanced the nature of this dislike.

And if you really want to get speculative, what if Blight Industries is the reason why Abominations are considered more lucrative than Plants? Given the coven’s use of Abomatons, it could be a metaphor for STEM being used for military purposes… Which also means that Odalia’s ‘entrepreneurial’ take on Alador’s work led to Willow having to struggle in a track she hated, and be bullied by Hermonculus and Boscha because she was a fish on dry land. And if she ever makes that connection to Odalia, then it doesn’t matter if it wasn’t personal and indirect, not after the birthday incident…!

[allgirlsareprincesses]

A Tale of Two Disguises: Fairy Tale Motifs in Bridgerton Season 3 (Part 1)

It’s Polin Season! In the midst of this Friends to Lovers renaissance and rewatching the Carriage Scene™ for the 847,000th time, I find that I MUST give the fairy tale meta treatment to our beloved Bridgertons. Not only did the show explicitly relate its central couple to the Eros and Psyche myth, but there are a number of other fairy and folk tale motifs scattered throughout the season.

While we only have the first four episodes so far (Shonda, you cruel, cruel tease!), it seems clear that the theme of the season is disguise. Our leading man and lady have both put on masks to protect them from society, but those are slowly being peeled away as they draw closer together. I would argue that aside from Cupid and Psyche (ATU 425), the story also relies heavily on Cinderella (ATU 510), both romances in which the true self is revealed.

To begin with, Colin arrives back in town with a flirtatious new swagger, but apparently no intent to actually court a mate. In this way, he is very similar to the mythical Cupid, who is described as:

“that winged lad, the naughty child who has been so spoilt that he despises all social restraint. Amed with flames and arrows he flits in the night from house to house. He severs the marriage-tie on all sides; and unchastised he perpetuates endless mischief.”

Now I hear you, you’re saying that sounds nothing like Colin! And yes, but the point is that he has no qualms about flirting with one lady after another (or bedding prostitutes), metaphorically slinging Cupid’s arrows everywhere he goes, because that is the role he believes he must perform. The point of his character in Apuleius’ narrative is that Cupid has power over gods and men, to make them fall in love with one another, but he himself is never prey to such feelings.

UNTIL. His mother, Venus, tells him to make the beautiful Psyche fall in love with a monster. In some versions, simply the sight of Psyche is enough to make Cupid fall in love. In others, he accidentally pricks himself with his own arrow when he sees her, thus becoming the victim of his own schemes.

Similarly, Colin agrees to help Penelope find a husband, but soon finds that he himself has fallen in love with her. There is even a subtle reference to this when he gifts Gregory the bow and arrows. In the shot, Gregory turns with the bow pointed directly at Colin. He is in the sights of Cupid’s bow, about to be hit with his own weapon!

Once Cupid has fallen for Psyche, she is borne upon the wind to his palace, where she is served by invisible servants and her new husband visits her only in darkness when she cannot see him. By these means, he keeps his true identity hidden, leading Psyche to eventually question whether she has indeed married a monster. In her fear, she brings an oil lamp to his bed, and when she sees that he is in truth the handsome god Cupid, she accidentally drops hot oil onto him. Thus injured, her husband awakes into the realization that she has betrayed his confidence and uncovered his identity.

Similarly, Colin is concealing his true self behind the mask of the rake, hiding his desire for emotional intimacy even from Penelope. Not easily fooled, she writes as Lady Whistledown questioning whether this is in fact his true self. Once their “lessons” begin, Colin rather scandalously invites her into his home (his palace), a place that only intimate family members should be allowed. He then asks her to imagine invisible guests and musicians, just like Cupid’s invisible retinue.

Then, Penelope discovers his diary, just beside the lamp as Psyche also discovered Cupid’s true self. The shadow husband thus revealed, Colin appears and is furious at Penelope’s apparent betrayal. He knocks over the lamp and is injured by the shards of glass, just as Cupid was injured by drops of oil. This wounding is a critical part of animal husband tales, where the heroine approaches him with “flame and steel,” painfully stripping away his mask or animal skin so that it is impossible for him to hide from her.

Typically, at this point in the tale, the husband would flee, but Colin stays. There is still another betrayal yet to come with the revelation of Penelope’s alter ego, however, so I would not be surprised if we yet saw Colin retreat from her in pain, even temporarily. Further, the betrayal typically happens as a result of the bride’s lack of faith in her husband, so Penelope will need to learn to fully trust Colin as well.

The Cupid and Psyche tale is of course explicitly referenced in the dance performed at the Queen’s ball. To the extent that the dance is a retelling, it seems to focus on the ending of the tale, when Cupid awakens Psyche from a deathlike sleep and then raises her to Olympus, where she becomes a goddess as well. This then is where we are headed: the revelation of Penelope’s secret may cause her to fall into a metaphorical death state (maybe the fainting scene in the trailer?), but Colin’s love will ultimately lift her up to her rightful place among the gods.

Another interesting feature in Apuleius’ story is a moment when Cupid’s mother Venus offers a reward for the capture of Psyche, in punishment for wounding her son:

“Ho, if anyone can produce in person, or give information as to the place of concealment of a certain runagate princess, a slave-girl of Venus, Psyche by name, let him hie to Mercury the crier at the rear of the Murtian Sanctuary, and receive by way of reward seven times a Kiss of Bliss and once a Kiss honeyed-beyond-measure by the interjection of her alluring tongue.”

Basically, Venus places a bounty on Psyche. And WHO in the Bridgerton cast has explicitly associated herself with Venus? None other than Queen Charlotte, whom we know from the Part 2 trailer will be offering a reward for the identification or capture of Lady Whistledown. In the tale, Venus plays the role of an avenging goddess who is enraged both by insults to her family and by romances that occur without her approval and orchestration. Once again, this sounds exactly like Queen Charlotte, so expect her to play that destructive goddess role throughout much of the season.

While animal husband tales focus on the revelation of the true man behind the beastly disguise, Cinderella tales center around the exposure of the true bride. A typical Cinderella story includes the following:

Persecuted heroine, usually by family

Help or helper, usually magic

Meeting the prince, usually with true identity disguised

Identification or penetration of disguise, usually by means of an object

Marriage to the prince

Throughout all three seasons of Bridgerton so far, we can clearly see Penelope being persecuted by her family, with her wicked mother and two foolish sisters easily fulfilling their quintessential roles.

As for the helper, Penelope has had several, but her most notable is Madame Delacroix, who both assists her caper as Lady Whistledown and then also supplies her with her transformative new wardrobe. In this way, she fulfills the role of the Fairy Godmother to Penelope’s Cinderella.

Meeting the prince of course is somewhat different since Colin and Penelope have known one another for years. Still, it is true that Penelope’s full identity has been disguised, since she has hidden her role as Lady Whistledown from him and the rest of the Ton.

Identification or penetration of the disguise has not occurred yet, in my opinion, but it likely will in Part 2 of Season 3. In the book, Colin follows Penelope and discovers her secret, and it may be that something similar occurs in the show. It’s unclear yet as to whether there may be an object involved, although if there is, I suspect it may be an issue of Whistledown itself, or perhaps the pen she uses to write it. Further, Eloise is heard in the trailer giving Penelope a midnight deadline to tell Colin the truth, just like how Cinderella's magical disguise will fall away at midnight.

And of course, we know we’re headed toward the eventual marriage with the prince! But meantime, there are a number of other familiar features of the Cinderella tale, not least of which are Penelope’s three separate flights from three balls. She runs first from Lady Danbury’s Four Seasons Ball, then again when her arrangement with Colin is revealed, and a final time after Debling turns her down. In some versions of the fairy tale, Cinderella actually does attend three different balls, fleeing from each one before midnight and only losing her slipper on the last one.

Of course, while she leaves behind no shoe, Colin races after Penelope each time, and finally catches her carriage on the last one, kneeling before her and confessing his feelings. This, like the relation to the mythical Cupid, leans on Hunter/Huntress motifs common throughout folklore. Often, one lover will chase after the other, and then they will trade places and the hunter will become the hunted. And only very rarely do these lovers come together as equals in the end.

So I will end there for now! Cannot WAIT for Part 2, after which I will try to update this with any new observations!

[philtstone]

thinking about those holmes stories where a completely vulnerable person (often a young woman) is the victim of genuinely horrible cruelty and holmes’s response upon solving the case is like. coolly threatening the perpetrator with bodily harm. and obviously as the holmes analogue shawn spencer is not nearly strong or cool enough to bend an iron poker in half with his bare hands blah blah blah. How Ever in a perfect universe we would have gotten one (1) psych episode where the client is innocent enough and the crime cruel enough that instead of getting the police involved shawn and gus systematically gaslight the perp into genuinely fearing for his life. alternatively there is a smash cut to the dude hanging from a flagpole by his underwear in the middle of town and no one can ever figure out who did it

[tinfoil-jones]

Hey what would happened if Stan didn't cut their twin bonds? (You know the angst potential is big lol)

Let's first look at the reason Stan severed it; he didn't want Ford to feel what dying felt like. But lets say the twin bond didn't manifest last minute like it did in the story - the reason it manifested in the first place is because Stan asked Bill to tell Ford that he loved him if he ever asked about him (Caryn told Ford later on that to manifest the bond you had to remember how much you love the other person). But maybe this time he didn't humour Bill at all and just ignored whatever Bill was saying.

Ford would have had a massive panic attack for somewhere between 5-12 minutes, it would have stopped abruptly once Stan's heart started again, but he definitely would have been shaken up because he didn't have a history of panic attacks and he hadn't been doing or thinking about anything particularly stressful at that moment.

This time he would have listened to Caryn's full phone call instead of hanging up on her because he wanted to ask her if he'd ever had episodes like that when he was young, and he supposed he could bear having to listen about whatever harebrained scheme of Stanley's she was about to tell him about.

But she tells him through tears that Stanley died in a car accident and please Stanford won't you go to his funeral, Shermie can't make it and your father can't handle it.

One of the things the twin bond gives them is the ability to uncannily know when that the other is still alive, even in face of all evidence otherwise.

Ford refuses to believe Stan is dead, he cannot be swayed even though he can't properly explain why (because he didn't know the twin bond was a thing). So he refuses to go to the funeral on principle.

If anything this just makes Ford mad, because he comes up with a theory all on his own that clearly Stan must've faked his death so internally he's like Really Stanley, you faked you own death? Did you do it for sympathy? Did you hope I'd show up to your funeral and sob all over the place like some soap opera? Your tricks and manipulation won't work on me.

There's two branches from here; one where Stan does come to Gravity Falls, and one where he does not. This is because there's two unconfirmed theories on why he even came to Gravity Falls; either his broken end of the twin bond was trying to drag him over to it's other half, or the weirdness magnet of Gravity Falls drew him in because as someone who died but came back, and also having a Bill-shaped imprint on his psyche, Stan is an anomaly.

First branch: Let's assume it's the weirdness magnet that brought Stan to Gravity Falls. Just like in the story, Ford comes across him. But instead of planning on initially ignoring him, Ford goes full-on angry and aggressive. So he goes over to Stan and starts demanding why would he ever fake his own death, how could he be so selfish and cruel to do that to their Ma and Shermie. It's not like Ford himself was hurt (in the grieving sense) because again, he always knew Stan was alive. An Amnesiac Stan is just standing there confused as to why this guy is yelling and screaming at him, but his fight/flight/flee response doesn't kick in because as shown before, Stan subconsciously associates Ford with safety and would never assume Ford was going to hurt him in any way.

But this time, he's wrong; Ford does. He throws a punch or something at his midsection because Stan is 'playing dumb' and when Stan crumples over, he doesn't get back up because Ford failed to realize until he looks at his fist and see's it covered in blood that Stan was already injured, and Ford just made it a lot worse (because at the start, Stan had three stab wounds and was implied to have enough blood loss to warrant a blood transfusion).

Now Stan is in the hospital and Fords been arrested for assaulting and hospitalizing a man, and no amount of "wait he's my brother" is getting him out of county jail. Once Stan wakes up, he's going to freak out and run from town entirely, never to be seen again. He'd experience a sense that whatever he was looking for, he can never have (he could only handle rejection so many times without his memories), so he gives up being a wandering vagabond on Earth and probably reaches out to Rick again, and settles down somewhere in space because again, Stan actually had a pretty decent thing going on in space.

Ford would be released from county jail because it's not like the victim is going to press charges seeing as he fled from the hospital, and now his guilt and confusion is just mingling with the anger that didn't go away. So as he usually does, he absolves himself of fault (burying his own guilt and sense of loss deep down where he can just pretend it doesn't exist) and goes back to how his life was before, except now his entire family thinks he's crazy because he insists that Stanley never died so Shermie probably has an even more distant relationship with him than he originally did and the mystery twins never get sent to him. So this time around, he never feels the need to bring Fiddleford back into his life, and his only consistent friend is Bill Cipher who is never forced to respect Fords boundaries and limitations.

Stan would probably be living as a space / multiverse outlaw for about thirty years, and would die for real around the same time the OG series would have started because luck runs out and trouble catches up to you eventually. And then fifty-seven year old Ford, still a lone researcher, gets another panic attack, and when it ends he's hit with the realization, this deep knowing, that Stan is actually dead this time. This time he would ask his no-boundaries-respecting-ass muse what that was about, and since this is the first time Ford ever directly asked Bill what happened to Stan, Bill finally tells him what really happened thirty years ago and Ford is horrified because his brother was legitimately an amnesiac and he chased him away forever.

Second Branch: In this one, the only thing that kept Stan in their dimension / planet in the first place wasn't the weirdness magnet, but his broken bond trying to find it's other half. Without that broken bond, Stan never would have left Rick's side.

And there's no point in getting upset with Bill because… well, he doesn't have a Get Out of Pact Free card, so Bill is just going to continue to drink up his pain because pain is hilarious to Bill and well you didn't care for forty years Fordsy why be upset now?

And not leaving Rick's side would end in disaster because it's like Stan said, he and Rick would either kill each other or get each other killed. And in this case, they go off on some dumb adventure that ends the both of them around the same time Stan should have appeared in Gravity Falls, and Ford goes through the whole 'oh-god-Stan-is-dead' panic attack again. And again, he questions Bill who tells him what actually happens, so everything that just happened in the above scenario is speedrun, except now Ford can spend the rest of his life being sad about Stan instead of being mad about it like he was in the above scenario. Because Bill said it himself, Ford would be haunted if Stan died.

So yeah, Stan severing the bond was the best-case-scenario. The 'moral' of the story I guess you could call it, is Stanford and Stanley learning how to love each other again, or at least seeing selfless acts of love from each other.

Stan severing the twin bond was a selfless act of love on his part. His greatest fear and worst nightmare was dying alone and yet, without hesitation, still chose to sever the only connection he had because he didn't want Ford to suffer.

[loving-family-poll]

Ultimate Incest Tournament - Round 2

Propaganda under the cut:

Hikaru/Kaoru:

notable for actually leaning into the incest thing because twincest was their entire schtick while working at the host club

the twincest ship that defined a generation. taking the bait seems obvious when their performance gimmick for club guests is to fawn over each other and play up the affection tenfold, but it just gets better when you learn that for most of their lives they didnt have other friends and really only had each other until joining becoming members of the host club. so on top of being willing to flirt in public for attention, they're also codependent as hell <333

They're twins. They sleep in the same bed. They pretend to be in forbidden love to bait fujoshis but are maybe also in forbidden love for real. They were in high school before they met a single person who could tell them apart. They were devastating to my middle school psyche

Rick/Morty:

INCEST ICONS!! They've somehow got a MAJORITY of their fans on one of the most popular shows on TV to root for a guy who is CLEARLY sexually abusing his grandson ~subtextually~, but also sometimes ON SCREEN, and it's hilarious and fucked up, and Morty would kill anyone who tried to take his grandpa away <3

they're codependent in so many universes, they've gotta be fucking in a few

They get married!!!!! It's right there!! I wish I had more coherent thoughts about them but just. They. It's awful. It's abusive. It's twisted and cruel. It's a comedy duo. It's the best thing either have going for them. Rick will never fully respect Morty. Morty will never fully respect Rick. I want them to run away together. They're Something

the power dynamic is crazy! Morty's deeply lonely at the start and his grandfather takes advantage of that, rick pulls the kid out of bed, out of school, whenever he wants and gets him to do whatever he wants, covers up their activities, threatens and endangers and inflicts pain upon morty with intent and cruelty. he shapes morty according to his needs, the entire show is about the space adventures of an old man and his 14 year old grandson and you just gotta wonder, isn't it fucked up that this guy's sidekick and best friend and life partner is a kid? and it is!

Since morty is traumatized on the daily rick sometimes takes his memories, he controls what morty can remember (and therefore who he gets to be), the memory gun is just sci-fi gaslighting i say. and there's transdimensional travel and at one point it's revealed that ricks from different dimensions work together to "breed" mortys, ensure they're born (clone a bunch of them too) because a morty by nature is loyal and forgiving and makes the perfect partner that's easy to manipulate, easy to use. i will forever think of the "bred for forgiveness" line as perverted horrifying incest bait<3

Also one time they were hosts for alien parasites and they fell in love and made out and in the Very First episode rick gets morty to stick giant seeds (that rick needs for an experiment or smth) up his ass to smuggle them through security. they had some kind of dragon soul bond orgasm together. my point is it's borderline incestuous abuse and it's crazy that they imply these characters are tied together cosmically.. if they are it's rick holding their red string of fate like a leash

they are together (sometimes romantically/sexually, sometimes not explicitly so) in EVERY universe there is canonically a club on the citadel called The Creepy Morty. Miami Morty has an R tattooed on his asscheek they love each other they hate each other they cant stand being together they cannot be separated Rick loves grooming Morty. like. he has literally pushed Morty into comitting genocides and conditioned him into becoming desensitized to all kinds of sexual and violent things. Rick keeps a memory vial of Morty's entitled "virginity" Rick C137 (the main one in the show) has sacrificed his life to save Morty

[euphreana]

The Shape of Truth - Chapter 12: Slay Something

Masterpost

-

“Can you hear me, Ambrosius?” The Director called.

Somewhere in his mental fog, Ambrosius tried to snap to attention.

“Yes Director!” he responded.

“What’s wrong? Are you having another episode?”

Ambrosius took a deep breath, trying to focus. He was behind a desk in a waiting room. Nimona had gotten him here. At least, she’d gotten him here in his head. He knew Nimona wasn’t real, so if this wasn’t completely a dream, he must have hallucinated the morning’s events, in whole or in part. And apparently he’d escaped the psych ward in the process.

The Director’s voice came from around the far corner of the room.

“Put down the weapon and come out. No one’s going to hurt you.”

Ambrosius’s grip on the small crossbow tightened. Was The Director’s voice real? Or was it his brain playing tricks on him again? Everything around him had felt real, but so had his past day with Nimona, and that had been fake.

He looked down at Nimona next to him, still wrapped in electrified netting. She was still in a half-formed, dog-like state, twitching on the floor. He wanted her to be real. He wanted that more than anything. She was his link to a world where Ballister was innocent. Given the option, he’d choose it over cruel reality. If only…

“I want to get out of here.” He called over top of the desk. “Let me leave with Nimona. I won’t make any accusations. Just leave me alone.”

“Nimona? Your imaginary pink friend?” The Director replied, “Ambrosius, you have responsibilities to The Kingdom. You can’t be off playing make-believe with an imaginary monster!”

“She isn’t a monster!” Ambrosius had a knee-jerk reaction to the word.

“She’s consumed your mind - she’s a threat to who you are meant to be. If that isn’t a monster, what is?”

Ambrosius shuddered as he realized The Director was right.

Nimona, still twitching, looked up at Ambrosius with her single eye.

“dOn’t LiSten tO heR…” her voice came out guttural, almost like a growl.

The Director continued.

“Let it go, Ambrosius. Kill it if you have to. Think of your family - it’s what your father would have wanted.”

Ambrosius shut his eyes as a torrent of guilt washed over him. He’d avoided this topic in his therapy sessions for a reason. His father would have wanted a lot of things - things Ambrosius had failed at all his life. Expected to excel in classes? Ballister had been better than him. Expected to marry some blond-haired, blue-eyed woman? He’d fallen in love with a black-haired, dark-skinned man. The only expectation he’d ever actually succeeded at was keeping his hair bleached since childhood, and even that wasn’t by his own doing.

The Director’s voice broke into his thoughts.

“Kill the monster, Ambrosius. You were meant to be a hero, not a lunatic.”

Ambrosius couldn’t think. He could feel the disappointment weighing on him. So many failures. It didn’t matter how hard he tried. It just happened, piling on year after year. Now here he was, completely snapped. Withdrawing into his world with Nimona wouldn’t fix things. He wanted to be better. He didn’t want to keep failing. He needed to end this madness.

He looked at the crossbow in his hands. It was a knight’s weapon, and since he was a knight…

The electrified netting keeping Nimona down was only pulsing lightly now, but she was still too weakened to tear it off. The tip of the crossbow pressed against the side of her skull. Her single eye widened as she looked up at Ambrosius.

“nO…” she whispered, tears welling up in her eye. “pLease don’t be liKe thiS…”

Ambrosius closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to do this. He wanted this hallucination to be over. He wanted to go home and take his meds and pretend this mess had never happened. He was good at pretending. Too good…

The sound of the crossbow going off resonated from behind the desk.

“It’s done.” Ambrosius called, voice heavy.

The Director was smiling now.

“Very good. Now place the crossbow on the desk and step away from it.”

Ambrosius stood on wobbly legs. He set the crossbow on the desk. The Director stepped around the corner.

“Come to me, child of Gloreth.” She said warmly, holding a hand out to him.

Ambrosius stumbled forward. The moment he took The Director’s hand, knights swarmed out from around the corner, charging past him, crossbows at the ready. Ambrosius glanced back to see them carefully surrounding the desk he’d hidden behind. Strange…

The Director pulled his hand to lead him away.

“Don’t mind them.”

A knight’s voice broke in.

“It’s gone!”

What was gone? The crossbow was still on the desk.

Another knight spoke.

“Seal off the area! We can’t let it get away!”

What were they talking about? It was almost as if…

The Director interrupted his thoughts.

“You’re seeing things again, Ambrosius. Come. Let’s get you help.”

Something in the back of Ambrosius’s head started going off. Hadn’t the Director acknowledged the knights’ existence a moment ago when she’d told him to ignore them?

Just then, the sound of wood splintering filled the room as something pink exploded from the desk, shattering it to pieces. Knights were knocked to the ground or flung against the walls as an enormous eel grew to fill the room,

The Director tugged on Ambrosius’s hand, trying to pull him away. Ambrosius wondered why she was in a hurry. It wasn’t like she could see his hallucinations...

The pink eel let off a burst of electricity, zapping the knights it had pinned down.

“How do you like them apples?!” Nimona grinned.

She turned to the solid window at the side of the room and rammed her head against it. The glass shattered. Ambrosius smiled. As he’d hoped when he’d fired the crossbow into the floor behind the desk, Nimona had recovered from the net and was free, even if it all was just in his head. No one needed to know his imaginary friend was alive.

He turned back to The Director. She was looking past him, terrified. Ambrosius turned to see what she could possibly be looking at. The only thing there was Nimona…

Nimona shrank back down to a human and hurried to the gaping hole in the wall.

“Come on!” she gestured to Ambrosius.

The Director’s grip on his hand tightened.

“Ignore her.”

Ambrosius blinked.

“Ignore… who?” He looked from The Director to Nimona and back again. They were definitely looking at each other. “Can you see her?”

“No.” The Director said flatly, trying to keep the edge out of her voice.

That was an obvious lie. Ambrosius loosened his grip on The Director’s clinging hand. Either he was flat-out dreaming - and no one needed to know what happened in his dreams - or Nimona was really there. And it didn’t matter which was true, he knew what he wanted.

He yanked his hand from The Director’s grip and made a stumbling dash towards Nimona. Nimona grabbed his hand and they both hurtled through the window, shards of glass slicing at them as they pushed through. Leathery wings sprouted from Nimona’s back as they went into freefall. She grabbed Ambrosius before going into a dive, gathering speed before shooting off between buildings, leaving the hospital far behind.

The Director stood in the gaping hole in the hospital wall, watching the duo disappear from sight. She turned to the knights sprawled around the room who were just beginning to recover themselves.

“Find them.” The Director said bitterly. “Nobody rests until they’re found and that monster is slain!”

Next

[amildlyspookydeer]

ok im making this just because i feel insane and need to hear from someone who watches the show and has caught up

miraculous ladybug season 5 episode 13

then a pause

then he SENDS HER TO SUPERHELL (SPACE)

is there anything in the rest of the season that addresses this gay joke psych moment or do they just leave it at this? i don't mean them being vague and hinting at it very loosely like in the past or the creator vaguely confirming their romantic interest on twitter. this is a very specific psych out moment that feels cruel and i'm feeling frustrated tbh

[pistatsia]

I also wasn’t a fan of ness backstory but would love to hear your personal opinions on why you didn’t like it as much?

I HAVE SO FUCKING MUCH TO SAY-

T/w for excessive amount of hate and oversharing lmao

Well, in the beginning I'd like to say that I grown up in some shitty circumstances which resulted in me having some, uhhh, Ness-classical problems so I may be biased here 😭 Rather not "may" but "will". How can I continue to relate to him when he's like that. Like that's not a representation I wanted. Where's emotional deprivation? Where's emotional abuse? Where's his unsuccessful attempts to get his parents and siblings love because no, lol, no 7 yo child will just accept that he's outcast and be ok with that. He should have tried to adjust to them, he should have tried to reach them, satisfy, do at least something for them to care about him BECAUSE THAT'S HOW CHILD PSYCHE WORKS. And where else would he get this people pleasing towards Kaiser if not from the family? Kids need love for survival, it's not optional. It's a need. They can't just say "oh yes my parents and siblings are stupid I'm going to be alone from now on!".

Okay, now in the order.

First of all, we get the scene of Ness mother saying him he should cure his finger himself, even comforting him while saying that with her "chance of you dying from it is incredibly low". Bad words, bad phrasing, bad everything, it's like to say "dentist just gonna use this drill to take your rotting teeth off" to a kid but still - it's not direct scolding or hate. It's bad, but care. And like, yes?? It was quite a normal parental behavior, even if not really sensitive? You can't be near your kid all the time, they should know how to help themselves because one day you WON'T be there for them. It's a normal way of raising a kid if you don't want for him to grow up weak-willed and helpless. Bad way to approach that, but still. She even mentions that he shouldn't bother her with every LITTLE cut - she'd care for him instantly with something serious. Since we get this flashback from Ness from his following age, we can conclude that he still cherishes that memory as something which hurt him deeply and which was incredibly cruel from his mother to say, forming his personality. And that's… At least strange.

I mean, I also have a story when I cut my finger really deep as a 5 yo and my dad said smth like "go and spit on it and don't bother me" but I won't say it was turning point in our relationship lol But it was valuable in addition to all of other fucked up shit. Otherwise I wouldn't have remembered it at all.

I'm not saying that my experience is the only relevant but child's psyche, especially with some predisposing towards anxiety and personality disorders, has basically the same algorithms. Because till the transitional age child is like a clay, not having it's own form yet. He just adjusts to his family and surroundings.

Memories like that are the ones which CAN be turning points but ONLY in addition to other. They can't be, like. Definition of how your relationship were. It's one small insignificant episode.

Reaching the next scene - Ness reading his book and asking his brother and sister AGAIN about some magical something. Do I need to say that any kid would be irritated if their younger sibling will go and whine around about something you don't like, and again again and again when you have not once said that "that's nonsense I don't like"? It's a normal reaction for kids. They're not grown adults to control their each and every action understanding Ness fragile psychology.

Also, I mean- he got that fantasy book from somewhere, right? He is little kid ~6 or 7 yo, I believe there's few ways for kid to get one. Even if it was gifted by his grandparents or family's friends, or taken from the school library, it's not that his parents have teared the pages from this book. He reads it quite calmly, not hiding - and even demonstrates it to his siblings. His parents allowed him to read such books. No one was REALLY against him reading about something he liked. Not understanding, yes, being bad emotionally repressed family, yes, offending him in some way, probably not really caring, but… It's not that bad as Ness tries to show, at least from the side of his mother and siblings.

Secondly - snowman 💀. Lol, Ness, sorry but have you heard about Rin + Sae drama? About Barou and his little sisters because of which he probably has this obsessive compulsive thing with cleanliness? I love my little brother deeply, but for god's sake he was awful as a kid, the type that will put the hand in the fire and in socket just because I said "you can't do it it's dangerous". Even if we really got along despite the different attitude towards us from our parents, we still fought, and screamed, and got scandals over the laptop. It's a normal part of growing up with siblings.

Not just normal, but obligatory.

And… Ness' brother and sister actually tried to get along with him till some point, even if in their own way. They tried to make him fit into their world because somehow, but they loved him, and wanted him to be more or less happy and near them. They couldn't understand his passion for magic, they couldn't realize - but they had their parents as example, and they knew that while two of them fit into their parents world, Ness doesn't. And thus both magic book scenes and snowman one were a normal reaction from young kids - Ness irritated them, being too loud, and speaking some nonsense because of which they couldn't play and research together, all three of them. That wouldn't be a normal reaction from grown ups, but once again - they're kids. Siblings. Destined to ruin each other's things lol

Thirdly - no one with dirty hands should enter the house, go and wash them. ????? How is that even??? Maybe they'll also ask him to take his shoes off in the wardrobe? The cruelty of parents.

His mother even explains him why he should wash the hands before coming in. Like- I don't want to dig into psychology of two-frames character, but she looks incredibly emotionless and deathly tired. She has three kids and work at home for god's sake. And she STILL finds time to explain Ness how sounds and snow works, probably trying to comfort him somehow. She loves him, just as she loves her other kids - she tries to comfort him in her own way.

Should she have had three children if she didn't feel the need to take care of their every issue, including emotional? No. Does she cut down her children and husband when they offend Ness? Also no. Is it possible to understand her? Absolutely yes.

Through his dad indeed is a jerk lol but I feel that he's not really present in the family? It's usually her and Ness and his siblings. Imagine having a full ass house, in which she works full-time, three 5-9 yo one of whom is constantly injuring himself, and with two others probably fucking up their experiments and her work as well without her husband around. Like…

And the fact that Ness doesn't analyze anything at all, placing himself in a victim position not trying to understand that world doesn't revolve around him and other people don't understand him by default and act the way they think is right and good for him, is, uhhh. Note that "understand" doesn't mean "forgive". It's just about a critical view to the world.

Aaand regarding the kainess flashbacks… I can't say anything because it was just bland and stupid.

Overall I got a feeling that this was just lazy writing with cute kids fanservice so we'd be more invested in the last game with PXG. I mean, those scenes with milk, shower and oversleeping? I can imagine there any other pairing in blue lock - nagireo, bachisagi, kunigiri, etc etc etc. There's nothing special, nothing unique for us to actual feel something towards kainess. It's just a template into which familiar faces have been substituted - and totally OOC.

No toxic dynamic, especially the codependent one kainess have, works like THAT at the start. Even at the sugary period when one non-self-aware manipulator instinctively tries to bend other to himself being nice and everything. Ness behavior towards Kaiser also makes no sense - those things are ALWAYS growing from experience. From the need to please your parents, to try to track your every word, walking on a thin ice.

But Ness never shown such things in his flashbacks, never taking back from telling each and everyone about magic and him being a football player. Then where did this attitude got from? Just from loneliness? It still doesn't work like that THIS HIGH like to the level of enduring physical pain and alcohol in the face.

I low-key hope that Ness is unreliable narrator, so we actually DO NOT see the way his real relationship with Kaiser were at this time. We see only memories and impressions, and his memory saving only good from them - thus it may (PLEASE) happen that from Kaiser's POV it will be totally different.

The last thing about kainess I SOMEHOW liked (because I'm sure it wasn't intentional writing from Kaneshiro) is the way Ness reacts to Kaiser choking. Because he pays no reaction to it - and no real friend/lover would react like that for the sight of your dear person suffering. He doesn't care about Kaiser as of Kaiser - the thing I suspected from the beginning but didn't really liked because that's so predictable and dull. He doesn't even know about Kaiser's habit of choking himself. He doesn't really worry about Kaiser - he worries only about his idol, which he doesn't see a human behind. This was a fun thing to think about prior to this chapter because of the potential of angst from Kaiser's side who'd feel how this "love" is synthetic to the core, but I'm not sure I'd love to see this in the manga. But at least this would be yes, realistic, logical and painful, especially in that "Yoichi's magic" and naked king theme.

The only thing I really 100% liked without any whining from my side was that "undescribable feelings/undescribable sadness" frame because lmao 🤝🤝🤝 At least here you get it Ness. This frame is engraved in my memory.

At this point I feel that I dislike backstory not because it was necessary bad or stupid, but because I hate the thought of Ness turning out being so… Flat. So ridiculously touchy, so stubborn for no reason like a ram since a very childhood, so lacking critical thinking skills. So limited, so self-centered (which is visible even in that Kaiser choking himself scene).

Such a completely uninteresting character, predictable and causing only indifference towards himself.

[missfreija]

You have to love the hypocrisy of the show acting as though being a pimp is so much better than being a slave owner; like it isn't still human trafficking, and as though in that time and place, black women wouldn't have suffered the most from it. It's a seriously disgusting thing to pretend that it's this cutesy, morally fine thing to do: if they're fine with Louis being a sex trader, than they should have been fine with portraying the actual story of the books - he's meant to be a passively bad person. The story is about evil deserving empathy. It would be different if they used the fact that he's a pimp to explore the fact that he's always profited off of human lives and was passively evil in life, that would have been different (though that's exactly what the books do, so it still would have worked with the original story and then the show might have been good), but it was used as a way to make Louis a morally fine uwu baby. I fucking hate it. It's disgusting for the show runners to pretend sex trading is okay and doesn't harm people, it's dishonest to pretend the show is a discussion about the legacy of race in America without actually discussing the way in which black women suffered as a result of misogynoir and how they were sexualised and their sexual exploitation was ignored (but we all know how the show feels about black women given what they did to Claudia), and it's ridiculous to pretend that it's a gothic story when it veers away from the moral complexities inherent to the gothic genre. It's a poorly written, malicious, badly developed show with subpar actors, and I hate how popular it's become. It feel as though it's defiling the legacy of the books. And apparently Marius is a pimp now too. I hate even engaging with it, but I had to vent. I hope it gets cancelled as soon as possible and the fan base dies down, in the meantime, I'll try to enjoy the books and the circle of book fabs that remain here. Of which your blog is a wonderful example. Love to you, hate to AMC.

I absolutely agree with every single word lol. As a woman and as a iwtv fan i am disgusted by the treatment of women in this show, but apparently the show writers and the majority of audience don't care about women representation, neither black nor white. Also the fact that they portrayed the sex workers (in the few scenes where they appear) as 'relaxed' women that seem to have a friendly attitude towards Louis (who in this show possesses a strong ambition for business) is weird and gives to the viewer a distorted view of reality. The narrative focused a lot on the issue of racism, so why not showing briefly the suffering of black prostitutes? Because the male gaze doesn't want to recognize it? I don't know. And don't get me started on the other female characters.

What happened to Claudia was completely avoidable and unnecessary and still rj opted for this version and said that the r4pe was 'a horrible thing that happened to her, but it has toughened her up'. I guess it is a self-explanatory sentence. I can't even imagine how SA victims felt while hearing him say it. It completely downplays the trauma of SA and implies that women get something positive out of it. I felt that episode and the scene in one of the first episodes where Louis burns the tapes of the '70 interview (the book….) were disgustingly disrespectful towards Anne Rice and her fans.

Last year I got into a heated argument with some show fans on twitter because they kept reiterating that 'at least prostitution gives more freedom to women/people than slavery', 'louis is a good pimp, he treats his girls with respect', 'he defends the prostitutes from cruel men' , 'at least he didn't enslave my ancestors unlike book louis', it was annoying and i was astonished of reading all their statements, very misogynistic.

Regarding pimp Louis: not only this is a way to avoid probing into the character's psyche/moral (and not include one of the most important themes of the novel), but it is a way of de responsabilize (and deny) the past. Louis is a man of his time and, with an accurate work of writing, it would have made sense to contestualize his privileged position and explain what it meant for him to be in charge of a plantation, it would have been interesting to show what it meant to be a landowner and slave owner at the time and the consequences of his actions reflected on his slaves, maybe introducing some of them into the narrative in a more concrete way (or do the same with the pimp/brothel storyline in the show, because it's equally evil), since it is a topic basically not explored in the book. But the showrunner decided that nowadays one should not represent these issues on tv and you have to disregard the past. It is extremely hypocritical.

And it's awful that for this reason they chose another historical setting, changing century and not addressing the fact that there were just as many issues in 1910/20 as well; apparently for the writers the XX century was a historical period with minor social problems where no difficulties existed (aside from racism, it was pretty much the most prominent theme in s1). And I doubt that the reconstruction of the New Orleans society of the time is faithful lol (and where is the voodoo?). All this imo denotes great laziness in the writing.

And clearly this series does not belong to the gothic genre, it's more a teen drama. Beyond the surface level thrills, the gothic literature holds a profound mirror to the complexities of human psychology that here are totally absent. I also doubt that the show writers did extensive research on the figure of the vampire in literature.

We were all eagerly waiting for the cancellation of this garbage that is NOT iwtv/tvc and the immediate disappearance of the show fandom ahahah but unfortunately it has been renewed for s3 😔

Thank you for the compliments mwah! hugs!

[themattress]

Random thoughts based upon this post.

As the beta build of Pokémon: Black/White shows, there was originally a difference in Ghetsis' characterization. He originally was supposed to lean way more heavily into the self-righteous religious hypocrite mold: he truly did believe Pokémon training and the whole system around it being evil and wrong, raised N to believe the same, preaching against it in public, and sought to have it abolished by conquering the world and instituting his own system that hypocritically was far more harmful to people and Pokémon but Ghetsis is deluded into thinking it's good and just since he thinks he is good and just. In the finished product, Ghetsis has shifted toward being more of a politician than a pastor; he doesn't actually believe in the system as a moral wrong and only fools others into thinking it is to advance his own agenda: seeking to take over the world to satiate his insane narcissism.

Now of course there is a debate going on if the Ghetsis we could have gotten was better, or if the one we got is preferable. Proponents for the former say it would have made Ghetsis both more interesting and more frightening, which is fair enough - after all, the most frightening version of Ghetsis is the Pokémon Adventures manga version that re-incorporates the religious quality into his character even if largely as motifs rather than anything fundamental. Where I draw the line are those who also say that the beta version would have been better because having a villain who doesn't actually believe in the morality of what they're preaching somehow cheapens/betrays/ruins the story and its message / undermines N as a character.

I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it: this is bullshit.

First of all, let's purely focus on beta Ghetsis. His character archetype can be done very well, as I have noted with Disney's Frollo and Emperor Belos / Phillip Wittebane. The problem is...

....Well, just read that beta dialogue again!

"I will not yield although I am surrounded by the forces of evil!"

"How befitting for I, the hero of justice who will rule the world!"

"Why, why, WHY? Why does everything go the evildoers' way?"

It's just "I'm good, you're all evil!" over and over and over again.

What made the likes of Frollo and Belos work, beyond better-written dialogue, is that we actually get insight into their psyches, we are shown why they hold their hypocritical and extremist views and why they have a psychological need to double down on it when faced with adversity and opposing viewpoints. Frollo spent his life trying to be the most pious religious devotee there could possibly be, and doubles down when faced with realities that contradict this position. Belos murdered his brother over his religious beliefs, and now must double down to avoid admitting he was unjustified in committing the mortal sin of fratricide.

Ghetsis in the beta build doesn't feel like that sort of character. He feels like a strawman, namely of the PETA types who have long attacked the Pokémon franchise over the training and battling system. It's literally a character sharing that exact moral stance, framed in a religious way, who is themed name-wise, design-wise, and action-wise after the Devil. An embodiment of evil yelling that everyone else is evil while doing evil. He feels less like Frollo and Belos, and more like Oliver Crangle from the Twilight Zone episode "Four O'Clock".

And with that said, I turn back to the Ghetsis we have. Not only is the deceptive, cruel, narcissistic politician angle more realistic and relevant than ever given our current real life political situation, but he still succeeds in the exact same contribution to the story and its message / N's character as his beta counterpart: he is the moral's antithesis. He represents inflexible intolerance, the refusal to stop seeing things in black and white terms and accept other points of view. He may not believe in the Pokémon liberation cause he espouses, but he still does believe in himself. He's perfect, he's always right, he's the strongest and smartest and best-suited person to rule the world and dictate what everyone else does. The larger point wasn't him raising N to believe in Pokémon liberation, it was him raising N to be that same sort of person...and N ultimately not becoming it. N still retains many of his Pokémon liberation-based beliefs; what he no longer does is try to force them upon others and not consider others' beliefs on the matter. He is open to a dialogue on the matter, which is the exact opposite of Ghetsis who feels like there's no need for a conversation on anything because he believes he already has all the answers...and suffers a mental breakdown when he is unable to enforce those answers on other people and make them bow to his genius.

So as to where I stand on the matter: I'm glad that we ended up with the Ghetsis we did.

[firecrackerhh]

When you consider that Stolas basically stopped taking his meds suddenly, (something you SHOULD NOT DO) as someone who once didn’t take my anti-anxiety meds for two days (I was at my grandmothers and I ran out, had another bottle at home, thank god I was going home that day) the people making fun of Stolas for being extremely upset and emotional are disgustingly cruel and they should get their faces beaten into the fucking dirt.

They cry that calling Stolas’ medication “happy pills” somehow discourages people from taking their medications but they’ll fucking make fun of someone who’s clearly suffering from withdrawals??? I hope a semi truck runs you over and you’re nothing but a stain on the pavement.

Hope this bitch runs out of her antipsychotics and has such a fucking episode they have to get put in a fucking psych ward for 6 months. Where the fuck does this bitch get off talking like this?

“He should suffer for his actions!”

Yeah? SO SHOULD YOU!

[chizups]

That one time Dina was a rebel

Dina wasn't exactly being treated kindly by her commander, certainly not at the start. Jacob used his methods on her just like he did on everyone else, with the correction that the girl, who had recently been brainwashed, had trouble processing her own thoughts and was quick to grab onto any that Jacob threw at her: if Jacob said she had nowhere to go, then she had nowhere to go, and if Jacob said he was good and everyone else were bad, then that was the absolute truth. The only order Dina always ignored was to leave Jacob alone, or more accurately, to leave him alone when he needed her company the most. Until a certain point.

Jacob experienced his episodes irregularly and not that often. After all, he had something to focus on and take his mind away from the horrors of the past. To the horrors of the present. But that clingy Dina Sommer had already brought him to his senses two or three times and prevented him from attempting to shoot himself, remembering for the future that her commander was capable of shooting not only at sinners, but also at his own head, if given an opportunity. Seed's feelings about his rescue were quite ambivalent: on one hand, he remained alive and deep down was glad that someone was there to pull him out of the nightmare when it came too close, but on the other hand, his life that was not cut short once again promised the return of nightmares, and he did not want to thank Dina for this at all. And this reluctance, among other things, pushed him to involve Carrot not only in watching over the caged prisoners, to whom she brought water from time to time, but also in torturing them, sometimes killing them in quite cruel ways. She mostly observed the process, and although she faithfully carried out the orders given for participation, she did not appreciate Jacob's attempt to break her psyche at all.

Soon after, Dina took the status of a lost girl, who was difficult to find even within one location. It was difficult mainly for Jacob, who was now unaccustomed and uncomfortable, constantly demanding that his subordinates find his Carrot. Of course, she did not run away, and sooner or later would come to her commander's call, but she was obviously detached, answered dryly, mostly saying "Yes, sir" and "No, sir", which caused a certain feeling of superiority in Jacob, but more disappointment, which he did not expect of himself.

The ephemeral feeling of victory over his carrot's girlish cheerfulness, of control over the situation, disappeared during the next PTSD attack. The voices in his head started talking, then screaming, that stupid song started playing, knocking the ground out from under his feet. Jacob alone in the room collapsed, his knees collided with the floor, but the feeling of falling did not disappear. The sounds turned into a cacophony, it became terribly and unbearably painful, so much pain... but where? There was no chance Jacob would be able to endure more of it now! Regaining control seemed like a distant, unrealizable dream, nothing would ever be good, it would not get better ever again, he had to stop everything now. He reached for his holster, clicked the clasp and

felt nothing inside.

!

He felt around the case and inside of it with his fingers, patted his clothes without looking, then his eyes darted around in search of salvation that was no longer needed: with the gradual coming of awareness of where Jacob's pistol could have gone, he himself did not notice how the cacophony in his head ceased. The voice of his comrade-in-arms no longer bothered him - Seed was focused on a question of a different kind. The absence of such familiar equipment was enough to snap him out of it. He even grinned to himself, rubbing his face with his palms: how couldn't he have noticed what she had stolen...

The search for the pistol did not last long: together with Jacob's rifle, it was tied to the flagpole high enough that it was out of reach, as was the end of the rope that would help lower the firearm back to the ground. Dina was standing nearby, supposedly busy with ammunition, but she quickly noticed Jacob in the yard, and it became crystal clear that she was waiting for the outcome of the situation that she had created herself. Relief flashed across her face, a slight smile from seeing her commander alive and well, but as soon as she realized that Jacob was also looking at her, she made an effort to return to her mask of indifference. Despite her resentment towards him, she still tried to help, even if she wasn't by his side...

Seed gathered everyone in the yard around the flagpole, which now held his trusty weapon hostage, swinging it from side to side as if in mockery. Dina, of course, came over, and Jacob pointedly grabbed her shoulder, tugging with force. Not very hard, though, more for the sake of showing his disapproval of her rebellious action to others. He also made his soldiers feel ashamed: under their very noses, a skinny short girl managed to leave their commander's personal weapon swinging in the wind, and either they were accomplices to this outrageous act, or they had missed it, which also did not do them credit. In any case, punishment would not be long in coming. They didn't participate, no, sir! Dina did it all by herself! Would she get in trouble now? Jacob would not explain, only confirm.

Later, being alone with Dina, Jacob pressed her against himself. He did not find the strength to ask for forgiveness, or perhaps he did not consider it necessary.

"Your rebellious act was taken into account. I heard you."

The idea of ​​turning Carrot into a Stick that would beat the backs of the sinners was not crowned with success and was discarded forever.