#the difference is that tyler is saying all of this to undermine their confidence

[warmchrysanthemum]

Don't just leave that in the tags, it's great!

Maybe all the things you thought made you you aren’t really…you. Barbie (2023) / Fight Club (1999)

[blurry-fics]

Chapter Four

Realize That It’s Gone | Series Masterlist

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1901

Author’s Note: Another chapter! I don’t really have much to say this time around, so I hope you enjoy it :) (picture credit)

Man, Y/N was gorgeous.

She was sitting a few feet away from me on the blanket, rolling a raspberry idly between her fingers. Her eyes were squinted slightly as she looked out towards the distant skyline of Columbus, one hand raised near her temple to block some of the sunlight that was shining down on the two of us. I bit down on my lip in an attempt to stop smiling like a total idiot.

It wasn’t working out so well.

“Did I tell you about that wedding that I went to a couple weeks ago?” Y/N asked, breaking the silence that had formed between us.

She turned to look at me before finally popping the raspberry she had been holding into her mouth. Her eyebrows raised slightly, waiting for my answer.

I shook my head, “I don’t think so.”

Her mouth curled up into a smile as she looked to the sky for a moment. “It was crazy.”

“What happened?”

I grabbed a chip from the bag sitting near my knee and dipped it in some guacamole. It crunched loudly between my teeth.

“Do you remember my cousin Ben?”

I thought for a moment. “Tall guy, dark hair, always wears the same Metallica sweatshirt?”

“Yes, that one.”

“Ok, I remember him.”

Y/N’s smile grew wider, “You’re not going to believe this. Basically, he came to the wedding with this girl, ok? He told everyone that they were dating and they acted like a couple the entire time, but then at the reception they got into an argument and the girl told everybody that they actually weren’t together. He faked the entire thing to impress my family!”

“He faked having a girlfriend? Did the girl know about the plan?”

“Yes, and it gets better. Along with her admitting the entire thing was fake, she confessed that she had been in love with him the entire time, so now they’re actually dating.”

I reached up to run a hand through my hair. Y/N was now fiddling with the edge of the blanket, pulling at a few loose threads. She was still smiling.

“That sounds like something straight out of a movie.”

“It was. My other cousins and I could hardly believe it.”

There was a pause in the conversation, mostly because I couldn’t think of anything to say. I tensed up a little as Y/N reached past me to grab the cooler, lightly brushing my arm as she did so. She grabbed a drink and popped the top open.

“Ok, enough about me. I want to hear more about tour,” she said, meeting my eyes.

My eyebrows raised, “Tour? You know most of what happened.”

“Oh, come on.” She nudged me slightly. “I’m sure you haven’t told me everything.”

Well, there was always the fact that I was head over heels in love with her. But what if she didn’t feel the same anymore?

“I swear I’ve told you most of the exciting stuff that happened, already. Other than that, we just worked on Vessel when we had free time.”

Y/N’s eyes widened in shock. It took me a moment to realize that I had slipped up about the album name, which was still supposed to be kept secret.

“Vessel?” she asked, trying to hide the smile on her face.

I rubbed a hand along my forehead, but was unable to keep myself from matching her giddy smile. “Yeah, that’s the name of the next album. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.”

“Tyler!” she gasped. “That’s amazing!

I shrugged, looking down towards the blanket, “It’s just an album name.”

“Just an album name? Ty, this is your first album with a label! It has a name! And songs! And soon enough it will have album art and music videos and a tour, too.”

My mouth curled up into the slightest hint of a smile. “We’re actually going to shoot a music video in a couple of weeks.”

Y/N sighed and dramatically fell back onto the blanket, throwing one of her arms over her forehead to protect her eyes from the sun.

“I’m beginning to think that you were lying about telling me everything about tour,” she laughed. Her eyes were squinted as she looked towards me from beneath her arm.

“In my defense, you’re not supposed to know any of that information.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Promise?” I raised my eyebrows.

“You can always trust me, Ty,” she smiled. “I promise.”

She held her free arm out to me, pinky extended. With a slight shake of my head, I locked my pinky with hers. I tried not to laugh too much at the childish gesture, even though I knew Y/N’s reason behind it was sincere.

“Does it feel weird to finally be back in Ohio?” she asked.

I reached over and picked idly at some blades of grass near the edge of the blanket. “Yes and no. The weirdest thing is being in the new apartment with Josh.”

“Because you’re not used to having a roommate?”

“I guess. And I’m just not used to the area. It sucks not having the thai place down the street anymore,” I smiled.

And being so far from you.

“I’m sure there are plenty of good restaurants around your new place. We can make an adventure out of trying all of them,” Y/N grinned, obviously pleased with her idea.

I nodded, “I would like that.”

“But you’re glad to be back?”

“Of course I am. As much as I love tour, Ohio is always going to be home for me. Not to mention that now I get to spend time with you and not be separated by a phone screen,” I laughed, giving Y/N’s arm a nudge.

Maybe Ohio wasn’t the place that felt like home.

“I’m glad that you’re back, Ty,” she smiled. “It was hard not having you around these last few months.”

“I know what you mean, but we don’t have to worry about being apart right now. Not for awhile, at least.”

I tried to smile, but it came out awkward and lopsided. It wouldn’t be long before management would be setting us up for another tour, and a bigger one at that. Three months would turn into four. Then five. Maybe even six.

I didn’t want to think about being away from Y/N for that long.

She must have noticed that I was starting to space out, because she sat up and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Hey, happy thoughts, Ty. You just got back, let’s focus on that right now.”

I nodded, angry with myself for letting my mind run away with itself.

“You’re right. Can you pass me the raspberries?”

Y/N reached over and grabbed the little plastic container that held what was left of the raspberries.

“Sorry, I ate a lot of them,” she laughed, grabbing another and popping it into her mouth.

“No worries. I think it’s only fair considering I devoured most of the chips.”

Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed as she grabbed the chip bag and looked inside. I scratched at my nose, hoping I wouldn’t look too suspicious.

“Ty!” she giggled. “I wanted some chips and guac, too.”

“There’s still some left!”

There was a pause in the conversation as she grabbed a chip from the bag and scooped up a large glob of guacamole. I slowly made my way through the raspberries, scrunching my nose when the occasional one was too sour for my liking.

“Hey, speaking of your new apartment,” Y/N said. “When do I get to see it?”

I shrugged, “Whenever you’re free. I can talk to Josh and see when he’s going to be out, if you want it to be just the two of us.”

“I don’t really care. Having a chance to finally get to know Josh would be pretty cool, considering you two are going to be together a lot more often now.”

I ignored the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach and kept talking. She just wanted to get to know Josh a little better. That was all.

“Ok, I can talk to him and figure out when he’s free, too.”

Y/N smiled, “Awesome. I’m excited to see your new place.”

“I’m excited for you to see it, too,” I said, forcing a smile.

“Look at that dog!” Y/N suddenly gasped, pointing out towards a golden retriever that was running around in the grass.

Her face lit up as she watched the dog running around, making her look even more beautiful than usual, if that was possible. When she turned to me with an excited smile on her face, I couldn’t help but match it. The discomfort in my stomach seemed to melt away as I looked at her.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “What were we talking about?”

I shrugged, “Nothing important.”

Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment, but she didn’t press the topic. Instead, she grabbed another chip and turned out towards the Columbus skyline. That alone was enough to make my heart skip a beat.

Who knew that I could be so in love with someone?

*     *     *

Josh was sitting on the couch as I arrived home, eating something out of a bowl. He paused the show that he was watching and turned to look at me, his blue hair sticking up at all angles.

“Hey,” he smiled. “Did you have fun with Y/N?”

I was unable to stop my own smile. “Yeah, I had a really good time.”

“Things weren’t awkward or anything?”

“Not at all. It’s like we were never even apart.”

“That’s fantastic.”

“Yeah. I’m just gonna head to bed, though. I’m still exhausted from tour and want as much sleep as I can get.”

“I don’t blame you. I can barely keep my eyes open to watch this movie,” Josh said, gesturing to the TV with his spoon.

“Good luck,” I laughed, already halfway down the hall to my room.

I kicked my bedroom door closed and collapsed onto my bed. Outside my window, the sun had finally disappeared behind the horizon. The last bits of light were finally fading from the sky, casting long shadows across the floor of my room.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get myself to stop thinking about Y/N. Even though things had seemed normal between us, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was different. Maybe she was being more distant. Or was I being more distant? I wouldn’t be having this train of thought if something didn’t feel off.

No, I was probably just overthinking it. My mind was still exhausted from tour and looking for any little way to undermine the confidence I had gained about my feelings for Y/N over the last few months. She had liked me for years, a few months apart wasn’t going to suddenly make all of that disappear.

My eyes slowly fluttered closed as I began to relive memories from high school. All the basketball games that Y/N had come to and supported me at. Late night drives where we drank milkshakes, blasted music, and drove down backroads much faster than we should have been. Summer days spent in her den with the fan pointed directly at us while we lazily played our twentieth round of Mario Kart.

Before I knew it, I was asleep.

*     *     *     *     *

Taglist

@faceofcontvsions​ @ohprettyweeper​ @tylersheavydirtysoul​ @topownsmyheart​ @schrodingersjustine​ @heythereitm3​ @leam-2001​ @breadbinishigh​ @wearebxnditos​ @iguessimsatan @harishaanne​ @5secondsofmoxley​ @patdsinner33​ @littlerachelbee​ @iamnotawasteofspace​ @nostalgic1975​

[neonstatic]

Everything wrong with 13RW

Firstly, the premise of the source book is distasteful and it should've never become a full show with 13 episodes of 1 hour each season.

The creators contacting health professionals to get advice on how to handle the themes in the show and ignoring ALL of the advice shows the little care given for “spreading a message” or “starting a conversation” (more like starting a controversy).

Now onto the points in which the show failed to convey a positive message in both season 1 & season 2.

I recommend watching this video for short indications on why the show does more bad than good.

And before anyone says anything, I am mentally ill and I study psychology so jot that down.

SEASON 1

Sensationalism of suicide

As a vehicle for vengeance (thru tapes)

As a tool to gain attention

The tapes are treated as words of truth and justice

If the tapes are ever criticized, it is done by characters featured on the tapes, which serves to delegitimize such opinions since they're the "bad guys" of the story

Act of committing suicide blamed on others (esp bad when the 11 persons’ wrongdoings cannot be equated in most cases)

Most people didn't deserve a tape:

Jessica cut ties with her over a misunderstanding

Zach emptied her encouragement mailbox (and quickly stopped after being called out) and she thought he threw away a personal letter she wrote him (this tape is extremely unwarranted)

Courtney claimed Hannah came onto her because she was afraid to be outed as lesbian but in the end, the photos and rumours affected them both anyway

Ryan published a poem of hers without her consent; disrespectful but not ill-intended

Clay walked away after she insisted for him to leave her alone (this tape is extremely unwarranted)

Sheri knocked down a sign and left Hannah out on the street because she didn’t want to call 911, which “caused” the death of a student (this tape is extremely unwarranted)

Those who deserved a tape (debatable in some cases):

Justin, for making up lies about her and spreading a revealing picture of her

Alex, for cutting ties, objectifying/publicly humiliating and submitting her to harassment in school

Bryce, for spreading a revealing picture of her and raping her

Marcus, for misleading, harassing and humiliating her in public

Tyler, for stalking and spreading pictures of [Courtney and] her

Mr Porter, for his very poor handling of her obvious distress

Hannah's story is no fair representation of real life

Technically, she’s a victim of social bullying (damaging someone's social reputation & lying and spreading rumours) but...

She's esp a victim of circumstances made by the creator - she's a fictional character whose purpose is to be a martyr in her story; in the real world, things would have played out much differently

Hannah tries to reach out once then gives up and justifies this bc the school counsellor didn't come running after her when she stormed out (again assuming ppl are mind readers)

Graphic rape scenes with the potential to trigger viewers - even those who aren’t survivors (replayed numerous times throughout the show as flashbacks)

Graphic and extended suicide scene (goes directly against professionals’ guidelines but screw vulnerable viewers I guess?)

Finality of suicide forgotten by the structure of narration = Hannah’s omnipresent even though she's literally dead, which grossly undermines the consequences of suicide

Adults portrayed as clueless and unable to help (not a good idea to put in teenagers’ head)

SEASON 2

Vague mention of mental illness

Implying anxiety runs in Hannah's maternal side but not diving into it

Sky being diagnosed with bipolar although there was no extensive portrayal of her symptoms (since she wasn’t onscreen for long) and immediately disappearing from the show while she’s the only character going through professional therapy and recovery (smth they would have rly benefited from showing)

Trivializing mental illness for plot use

Clay hallucinating Hannah - acknowledged but not addressed for being a serious psychotic symptom

Minors in sexual situations (too many times!)

Graphic scene of a brutal sexual battery (entirely for shock value, it didn’t have to be shown this way and you can't tell me otherwise)

Conflicting message regarding drug use

Severity of addiction (Justin getting clean then relapsing)

Recreational use (minors doing molly for fun... instead of marijuana which is less risky in comparison)

Trivializing school shooting

Advertisement tool (last episode of S1 heavily hinting at it)

Teased several times throughout the season

Blatant reference to Columbine

Not going through with it - worse move ever…

Irresponsible guide on how to approach an impulsive armed person

From a storytelling POV

Hannah the martyr

Hard to sympathize with when the tapes serve to exact vengeance more than it serves to explain how she felt and why she did what she did, making her manipulative at best

The fact that she was a bully herself in the past

(Plus being “shown” how Hannah was would've been better than being “told” how she was by other characters)

Overall terrible attempt at creating a suicide victim / mentally ill person ppl should sympathize with, the last thing the mentally ill needs is to be related to a character that is so easy to dislike

Clay as a main character

Lost his value since the story's progress doesn't rly depend on him (even tho we're forced to follow him)

Character development: he gets real snappy and no one calls him out? Increasingly unlikable

(Not that he was that likeable by the end of S1… spreading a naked picture of Tyler? #WelcomeToYourTape)

Tyler and his arc

Attempt at explaining the possible cause of school shooting? Failed.

Most school shooters aren’t victims of bullying, in fact many (if not all) are associated with hate groups like white supremacist, misogynists, etc.

Had plenty of reasons to commit suicide over mass shooting (and I don’t mean it in a ‘suicide can be justified’ sense but tbh besides his interest in guns, he’s never depicted as aggressively angry or remotely prone to violence)

Could've brought attention to male depression and male suicide far better than Alex’s story

Technical POV

Very lacking warnings. There should be hotlines at the end of every episode not at the beginning. Self-righteousness and superficial philosophy in both dialogue and narration show the shallowness and pretentiousness of the directors.

The show is presented as an objective representation instead of a media to consume and dissect and judge for oneself = in other words, the morale is laid out for you. Putting up content so shocking most of your target audience cannot watch for fear of being triggered is irresponsible. Trigger warnings don't solve that. Shooting implicit scenes and not explicit scenes is what protects viewers and still conveys the message.

Message

The show is depressing; there's barely any positive outcome. Every character is helpless to their situation. It would benefit greatly of some comic relief.

“We should be careful what we say to people.” Only when it comes to Hannah, everyone else we can be harsh to, apparently. “We should care more for people.” (True, but you can’t love depression away.) “We have power over nothing.” "We can't change anything.” “Adults don't understand us.” “We can't confide to anyone.” “We can't trust anyone.”

Seriously it's a fkg downer. This show highlights all the problems but gives no solution. You expect your audience of teenagers to figure it out for themselves? You expect your audience of teenagers to go out of their way to "start a conversation" with their parents over some sensationalist teen drama show? You must be kidding me. (Do you know how a conversation about 13RW goes? “I loved the show!” “I didn’t.” The end.)

Final note

The directors should have inserted a segment after each episode (or every couple) with the actors themselves discussing what happened to/between the characters and how it could have been handled better. If you want to act like your show is a PSA, treat it as such.

[porgthespacepenguin]

first thoughts about episode 11

So a few hours behind most people, I have finally watched episode 11 and … what a ride!

First let’s start off by comparing what I had predicted earlier on with what actually happened:

The eye injury Michael inflicted on Voq in episode 2 ended up super important (Correct)

Voq revealed (Correct)

Voq fighting against mirror!Voq (Correct)

Lorca being revealed in the same episode (Wrong)

Ash/Michael going down in flames (Correct)

Ash vs. Voq being the only prime vs. mirror showdown (Wrong)

4/6 isn’t too bad a score, and the episode honestly exceeded my wildest hopes (which I keep low on purpose). I am happy to get stuff wrong as long as it’s better than I anticipated! And it was.

And I admit I’m pretty proud of figuring out the eye injury was important, as it was what almost immediately clued me in to Ash being Voq and I have not seen it discussed anywhere else (if someone else did figure it out as well, feel free to comment and I’ll amend my post).

Now onto the analysis. Beware, this is not a meta, just some ideas after watching the episode a few times.

Ash/Michael – welcome to tragedy, population: us

Forewarned is forearmed: the show definitely did warn us, though not in so many words, that this could only end in tears. Regardless, witnessing Ash and Michael’s relationship crash and burn was beyond painful.

I wrote in my earlier meta that I didn’t believe that Ash/Michael could come back from all this. I stand by my opinion more than ever after episode 12.

First and foremost, there is the fact that as soon as Voq got his memory back (and therefore his full agency) he made his choice, in full conscience.

And that choice was to murder Michael.

Let that sink in for a while.

He chose to murder her in cold blood.

Worse, if mirror!Saru hadn’t intervened, he would have gone through with it and succeeded. It was only because of Michael showing kindness to Saru earlier on that she didn’t die.

Later on in the episode, Voq shows no remorse. No regrets. Not even a hint of internal pain.

To me, more than anything, this highlights that their relationship is dead in a romantic sense.

You can come back from a lot of things – lies, double-crossing, even betrayal – but attempted murder without a hint of remorse or regret is more than a line crossed.

Especially as they are an established relationship, not two adversaries on a battlefield (I would not hold their first fight in episode 2 to the same standard, for example – that was a clearly different situation).

If the show did walk that back, and put them back together, I don’t think I could continue watching. I liked Ash/Michael but after watching episode 11, I’m out.

Some people have speculated that Michael could potentially find mirror!Tyler and pick up the relationship with him instead. I see many issues with this:

Assuming there is even a Tyler…

And his mirror!version is not a racist jerk…

Michael did not have feelings for Tyler, she had feelings for Tyler/Voq…

And just picking up a spare right after losing the original guy feels a bit… cheap?

I know, I can hear some of you saying: wait, aren’t you the one who wrote that long boring meta about how Lorca had a past relationship with mirror!Michael?

Yes, I am. And I stand by it, by the way. I truly think it would be really lovely storytelling to have Lorca finding his lost love in another universe after tragedy struck (and if Michael hadn’t been sentenced to life in prison, to a literal “future full of misery”, I’m not sure he would have interfered at all – just a gut feeling).

When it comes to Michael and Ash, trying to replace the original guy (who attempted to murder you) with a lookalike equipped with a better personality is problematic to say the least.

It would cheapen their actual relationship (past or not, it did exist!) and totally erase Voq from the equation, leaving us to wonder what purpose this whole arc served. Unsatisfying on so many levels, so that’s a  pretty firm no from me.

In the future, what will happen with Voq?

Until we go back to the prime!universe, probably not a whole lot. Michael might have to face him again to come to terms with some things, though.

Once we are back, from a story perspective Voq will have to resume his own narrative arc, which means potentially breaking out with L’rell and going back to the Klingons.

Perhaps a resolution to the war can then be found before the end of season 1 but it would necessitate a time jump: no way can we go believably from murderous fanatic Voq to “humans are not so bad” Voq in 2 episodes.

We might get there eventually, if his experiences as Ash can bring him the same wisdom mirror!Voq displayed. But again, this type of character development takes time.

Before we move on… in hindsight all of Tyler’s declaration of love and protection sound pretty hollow right about now. And yes, I’m bitter about it on Michael’s behalf.

Michael deserves better, dammit.

Michael/Lorca

The agony booth scene

So much to unpack here, it almost deserved its own post.

Before anything else… poor Gabriel. I mean look at him. He needs a hug and a stiff drink, is what he needs.

So, the agony booth scene. They are both standing. Lorca looks like hell, he is shaking and barely holding together. Importantly, this has stripped away a lot of his defenses. He is not in control the way he usually is, not anymore.

Michael is conflicted about what to do with the rebel base. Lorca’s response is immediate, do what you have to do and bomb them if you have to.

Now I have seen some people react to this as confirmation of Lorca being evil or being out to grab the throne for himself.

But let’s keep a few things in mind:

Lorca is familiar with the Empress, and he correctly foresees the fact that she will be mightily displeased at her orders not being followed. Michael is taking a huge tactical risk by being merciful, and it ends up having huge consequences.

Even if he is not affiliated with the rebels, it doesn’t follow that he would not be leading a rebel Terran faction of his own. As far as we have seen, the rebel group led by Voq doesn’t seem to have any Terran members. It would be fairly logical that there would be dissent within the Terran ranks beyond the non-human resistance.

The conversation that follows is pretty amazing. This is one of the first time we see Michael inspire Lorca, pulling him toward her idealism and Starfleet morals and away from the mirror universe’s darker, more ruthless standards.

After all, wasn’t that explicitely one of the reasons he chose her?

You chose to do the right thing, even at great personal cost.

That moment, all the way back in episode 3, made me certain that Lorca isn’t evil.

Dark? Maybe. Morally grey? Sure.

Evil? No.

I mean let’s be logical about this. If I were a villain intent on committing a villainous plot, I wouldn’t go ahead and specifically pick a person with a strong moral compass to help me with it. They would of course try to thwart me at every turn. It would make zero sense.

Ah, penguin, I can hear some people say, but what if Lorca needs her, specifically, to access the Empress? Wouldn’t he recruit her and then manipulate her into doing his bidding then?

Sure. So let’s take a detour to “How to manipulate someone 101”:

Destroy your victim’s self esteem

Use gifts and favors to create a feeling of obligation

Isolate them from their support system: family, friends, romantic attachments

Denigrate their achievements

Undermine their self confidence

Punish the victim for perceived transgressions

Right. And in contrast, so far Lorca has:

Helped her rebuild her confidence on her own (contrast the start and beginning of episode 3, it’s such an amazing change)

Given her a job and a place aboard a starship again, while avoiding her gratitude as much as possible

Helped her maintain or rebuild her support system: mounted a rescue for Sarek (family), gave her Tilly as a roommate (who was the only one good hearted enough to look past Michael’s transgressions and befriend her), and kept his opinion to himself concerning her relationship with Tyler (though he was undoubtedly jealous)

Praised her for her strategic mind and her strong sense of morale

Encouraged her to take pride in herself (“You did well, Burnham. You should be proud.”)

Trusted her with the most important missions

Ignored at least one transgression that could have landed her in the brig (that fight they had on the bridge in episode 9)

I’m sure I’m forgetting things but you get the idea.

Honestly, if he needed her only as a tool, it would have been much smarter to keep her under his thumb with her confidence broken. Look how pliable she was at the start of episode 3.

(Again, I do think that the fact that Georgiou is the Empress is significant, and that having Michael on his side against her is a tactical advantage – but that’s not the whole of it, by a long shot.)

Anyway, moving on.

Michael sweetens the deal by adding the part about finding out how the Fire Wolf leads his coalition, but essentially it all boils down to:

She appeals to his moral sense

She asks him not to force her to commit such a terrible act

And it works. Partly because after so much torture, Lorca’s defenses are way down. But I think it’s mostly because of Michael’s ultimate secret weapon: she says please.

Seriously.

She says please, and… that’s that.

Just like with the Sarek rescue mission, Lorca just gives in and makes an illogical tactical decision (which, I might add, results in the Empress coming straight for them at the end of the episode).

Visually, I don’t have much to say beyond the extensive use of choker shots. Those are very often used to create emotional intimacy and tension, as I’ve mentioned many times before. This is not a shot you’d use for people who are not developing a strong relationship of some sort (be it friendship or romance).

And finally… Lorca’s “Hurry back. Please.” just kills me.

That’s not an order. That’s a plea.

The meeting room scene

Their second scene together is quite different. Lorca is looking a little better, while Michael seems shattered by her recent betrayal.

By the way. I love how Michael (who is a tough cookie) is psychically exhausted after 3 days in the mirror!universe and how much reflection (pardon the pun) she is doing on it.

Hopefully it will help mitigate her anger at Lorca when she finds out he is from the mirror!universe too (and has spent his entire life there without turning into a human-shaped demon spawn like the rest of the Terrans). At this point, overthrowing the Empress is starting to look like a moral imperative.

Lorca informs her they have to stay longer, for reasons that are both tactically sound and highly convenient, because I’m pretty sure he plans to face the Empress at some point (though probably not right there and then).

There also a lovely little morsel I wasn’t expecting: Lorca sounds jealous. He can’t bring himself to say “liked” or “loved” (that little pause is very telling) and when he says “Tyler”, you can tell he truly wanted to say “what’s his face”.

As an aside, I think he only noticed Michael’s partiality for Tyler in the previous episode, when Ash had a panic attack in the worker bee. I don’t think I mentioned it in my main meta, but I adore the way Lorca manages to sound at once gruffly protective (“You can relax too. He’s safe.”) and jealous despite himself.

Moving on.

Michael just can’t take it anymore, she’s scared, and she just admits it to him, leading to this amazing exchange:

“I don’t think I can survive this place alone.”

“You are not alone, Michael. We will survive this place… together.”

And then Lorca takes her hand. This is the first touch we have seen him initiate with her. It’s also the second time he calls her Michael, and that’s not a coincidence.

Not Michael Burnham, not Burnham, not Specialist Burnham.

Just plain Michael.

Right there and then, Lorca is not being her captain. He’s just being a man, comforting a woman.

Even more importantly, @trashywestallen made a brilliant point in one of our discussions, which I hadn’t noticed until she pointed it out.

This scene is meant to be the mirror of the scene in episode 10 when Ash reaches for Michael’s hand during their discussion in the mess hall.

Both Ash and Lorca are on seated the left, while Michael is sitting on the right. (Very quick aside, the man on the left/woman on the right is imagery commonly found in classical paintings, with the Arnolfini portrait commonly cited as an example.) Both contacts are initiated by the man.

That’s where the similarities end, because everything else is inverted.

In the scene with Ash and Michael, the camera zooms in on their joined hands but very noticeably, the shot is obstructed by a teacup.

Contrasting this with Michael and Lorca: their hands are in plain view. There is even a shot with the light streaming in from behind through the window and onto their joined hands.

Another major difference: Tyler grabs Michael’s hand possessively to reassure himself. Lorca lays a calming hand over Michael’s to reassure her.

Ash takes Michael’s right hand with his right; Lorca covers Michael’s right hand with his left. Symbolically, this is hugely significant. The left hand is the hand (or arm) a gentleman or a knight would use to escort his lady: keeping the right hand, his sword hand, free to defend her.

Lastly: Ash asks her to let him handle things on his own; Lorca says they will figure it out together.

Point taken, I guess?

Everything else

Stamets! I am pretty glad to have been wrong about there being only one twin encounter. Go save your love, Paul. (Though mirror!Stamets freaks me out a little).

Empress Georgiou is utterly terrifying. I love it.

Michael lying to spare Saru (while Saru lies to spare her) is just lovely. Also interesting to note she is willing to lie for a good cause (not unlike other people I could name…)

Michael’s kindness to mirror!Saru coming back to save her is almost karmic.

Mirror!Voq was awesome. Wise, strong, everything a leader could be. Unfortunately, that means prime!Voq is the evil twin. Bummer.

Mirror!Sarek, who’s met Michael all of 5 minutes, is more validating and full of praise than our own Sarek. Seriously, dude, you’re going to have to step up the dad game, presto.

[sinrau]

Government watchdogs, Democratic lawmakers, and pro-democracy advocates declared it a “ Friday Night Massacre” for the U.S. Postal Service after news broke in a classic end-of-the-week dump that Louis DeJoy—a major GOP donor to President Donald Trump and the recently appointed Postmaster General—had issued a sweeping overhaul of the agency, including the ouster of top executives from key posts and the reshuffling of more than two dozen other officials and operational managers.

According to the Washington Post:

The shake-up came as congressional Democrats called for an investigation of DeJoy and the cost-cutting measures that have slowed mail delivery and ensnared ballots in recent primary elections.

Twenty-three postal executives were reassigned or displaced, the new organizational chart shows. Analysts say the structure centralizes power around DeJoy, a former logistics executive and major ally of President Trump, and de-emphasizes decades of institutional postal knowledge. All told, 33 staffers included in the old postal hierarchy either kept their jobs or were reassigned in the restructuring, with five more staffers joining the leadership from other roles.

Already under fire for recent policy changes at the USPS that mail carriers from within and outside critics have denounced as a sabotage effort to undermine the Postal Service broadly as well as disrupt efforts to carry out mail-in voting for November’s election amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the moves unveiled late Friday were viewed as an overt assault on democracy and a calculated opportunity to boost Republican’s long-held dream of undercutting or privatizing the government-run mail service while also boosting their election prospects in the process.

“Another Friday night massacre by this administration—and this time dealing another devastating blow to our postal service,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) “The American people deserve answers and we’re going to keep fighting for them.”

Scanlon was among more than 80 congressional lawmakers who sent a letter to DeJoy earlier in the day expressing “deep concerns” about operational changes he has made for mail carriers that have delayed deliveries and lowered standards.

“It is vital that the U.S. Postal Service not reduce mail delivery times, which could harm rural communities, seniors, small businesses, and millions of Americans who rely on the mail for critical letters and packages,” the letter stated. “Eliminating overtime and directing postal workers to leave mail on the floor of postal facilities will erode confidence in the Postal Service and drive customers away, resulting in even worse financial conditions in the future.”

As Common Dreams reported earlier Friday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren was among those who signed the letter and also called for DeJoy’s efforts to be investigated by the Inspector General of the USPS. Since 2016 alone, DeJoy has donated more than $2.5 million to the Republican Party and candidates. In 2020, prior to his appointment as Postmaster General by the GOP-controlled board of governors, DeJoy had already given approximately $360,000 to a Super PAC supporting Trump’s reelection.

As the Post notes in its reporting, the reshuffling of top managers and executives—as well as a hiring freeze and push for early retirements—”worried postal analysts, who say the tone of DeJoy’s first eight weeks and his restructuring have recast the nation’s mail service as a for-profit arm of the government, rather than an essential service.”

In a video posted to Twitter, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oreg.) characterized DeJoy as a “political crony” of the president’s and also denounced the brazen efforts now on display as a “Friday Night Massacre” scenario:

Appearing Friday afternoon on Capitol Hill, DeJoy brushed off accusations that he is acting as a political bag man for Trump. “While I certainly have a good relationship with the president of the United States, the notion that I would ever make decisions concerning the Postal Service at the direction of the president or anyone else in the administration is wholly off-base,” DeJoy said.

But outside critics like Walter Shaub, former head of the Office of Government Ethics and a fierce critic of Trump’s behavior as president, said the latest move should be seen as nothing less than a direct effort by DeJoy to exploit his authority at the Postal Service to further the president’s political interests and reelection prospects.

According to Brian Tyler Cohen, a liberal commentator and podcast host, “Congressional Democrats need to do something about this” immediately.

“If we wait until October/November, it’ll be too late,” said Cohen. “Trump is actively sabotaging the election under our noses—this isn’t theoretical, it’s happening RIGHT NOW.” Cohen said this situation should be treated like a “fucking five-alarm fire” and said action must be taken by both lawmakers and the U.S. public without delay.

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), chair of the House subcommittee which has oversight for the USPS, said what DeJoy is trying to pass off as simple organizational restructuring is actually “a Trojan Horse” designed to destroy one of the nation’s most trusted and valued institutions from within.

Connolly on Friday night called it, “Deliberate sabotage to disrupt mail service on the eve of the election—an election that hinges on mail-in ballots.”

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