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constellationguy · 3 months ago

Text

Another Perspective

Episode two

"Text": regular talking

'Text': regular thinking

"Text": Saiki talking telepathically

'Text': Saiki thinking

ATTENTION! You might want to rewatch episode two of The Disastrous Life of Saiki K before reading to fully understand the events.

Previous episode

Summary: Episode 2 in L/N Y/N's perspective.

CRASH

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” “Was that a meteor?”

‘Nope just Kusuo trying to put the ball away,’ thought Y/N exasperated.

“Alright losers listen up. We’re playing dodge ball!” Coach Matsuzaki announced. However class 2-3 did not seem too amused at the thought of playing dodgeball, they’d rather be doing something else.

“HEY QUIT COMPLAINING! Let’s give it everything we’ve got! So what if it’s childish? It’ll be fun to relive our youth! Let’s go out there and dodge till we drop!” Hairo announced convincingly.

‘Damn, and here I thought we were going to do something else,’ Y/N thought a little glum, Saiki also agreed with this thought.

“Well if Hairo really wants us to then I guess” “Ya we gotta give it a shot right?” Soon enough the collective opinion of the class turned from annoyed to eager positivity.

“Who wants to be on my team?” Most on the class raised their hands and shouted along with enthusiasm. “We’ll decide the teams with rock paper.” Matsuzaki announced.

“Alright! We’re gonna win this thing!” “YAAAAA” ‘I have a feeling this is gonna be a bit overdramatic even for my taste,’ “I have a feeling you’re right,” Saiki said to Y/N. “Being on Hairo’s team beats the alternative right?” ‘Guess so’ Y/N thought back to Saiki.

“We’ll start with a jump ball.” And with that the game is on! Hairo immediately grabbed the ball yelling enthusiastically and got Takahashi out.

“YA WE GOT ONE OUT!” Hairo’s team gave him numerous high fives in their excitement. “Getting one player out is worth that much excitement? And how is he sweating so much already? We just started.” “Hairo’s his own little sports anime, it’s best you just roll with it” Y/N said back to Saiki.

“Hey there Saiki. We’re taking you first!” The student threw the ball but Saiki did nothing to catch or block the ball from hitting him.

“Hold it Saiki! Were you actually trying to get hit by that ball?” Saiki nodded. “For real? Well. Hey where you going? You’re not out. Face safe rule.” Hairo smiled at Saiki, he could not smile back. Now Saiki has to throw the ball, uh oh.

“Saiki give it all you’ve got!” Hairo yelled. ‘Ya I don’t think so. I’d like my classmates to still have skin by the end of class.’ Y/N thought.

Y/N could tell that Saiki was obviously freaking out but eventually he landed on throwing the ball at Nendo. The throw happened to turn out more like a calm pass to Nendo though.

“What the hell kinda wussy ass throw was that?! This isn’t a game kid, it’s serious put some heart into it!” ‘Ouch that was harsh. You tried your best Kusuo, don’t worry about it too much.’

“Hey now buddy! Thanks for going easy on your boy but right now we’re supposed to be enemies.”

“Did you really go easy on him cause he’s your friend?!” ‘No part of that is true’

“Alright. They don’t call me Nen the dodgeballer for nothing! Take that! And that! Bam! Boo ya! Two fa!” “Wow he took out 6 players at once!” “The paper team only has two guys left!” Conveniently and not so conveniently Y/N was gotten out by Nendo but Saiki stayed in the game.

“Obviously I’ve gotta save my pall for last. Which makes you my next target captain. Dodge ball!!!!”

“AAAAAA” ‘okay here’s the dramatics, I’m not really into sports anime’s but this is entertaining enough,’ ‘try being in the sports anime’ Saiki thought back to Y/N. ‘right. Sorry Kusuo,’.

Just as Hairo was lining up to catch Nendo’s ball, Saiki got in the way and the ball hit him instead, shocking everyone.

“Hey don’t give up now! We’re still in this! LETS GO!” Surprisingly Hairo had enough time to make that short speech and also catch the ball before it hit the ground. ‘Okay now that was impressive’.

“Oh no! Hairo’s knee is busted!” “That means Saiki is the only one left on team paper!” The he shocked and annoyed faces Saiki was making was gold to Y/N, maybe playing dodgeball wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Looks like this is it for me. I entrust this ball to you. I know that you’re hiding something Saiki. You’ve got a power deep inside you that’s you’re not using. What’s stopping you? Now’s the time. I want to see you let loose and unleash” he paused to vomit sparkly blood. “Help us Saiki. You’re our only hope.” He puked sparkles again.

“Yo Saiki, I believe in you!” “We’re counting on you Saiki!” “Kick their butts Saiki!” ‘You have got to be kidding me!’

‘Kusuo’s thinking hard about his next move. Whatever it is, I hope it turns out in his favor.’ Y/N thought a little worriedly.

This time when Saiki threw the ball it turned out to be a spin ball. This shocked the class and brought his likeability up.

“Finally it’s my turn to show you what I’ve got. Do you have any idea what that means for you Saiki? I means that you’re in big trouble.” Kaido grabbed the ball extra confident. ‘By that face Kusuo is making, I bet he was banking on getting out, guess that plan failed.’ Y/N couldn’t tell if they should feel bad for Saiki or a little amused at the situation he’s in.

“Here’s my meteor spark genocide ball!” Kaido then made a rather pitiful noise when letting go of the ball. Saiki caught the ball with pretty much no effort.

Saiki then threw the ball to out field to bring a player in but he put a little too much power into it, which sent the class into hysteria.

“Sorrrrry, Buddy!!!” Saiki braces for Nendo’s ball and was hit. “Iiiiiiii’ve got it!” Hairo was suddenly in the game again. “Just in time” ‘I kinda feel bad for Kusuo but that face is priceless!’ Y/N tried to not laugh at Saiki’s misery.

“Saiki I saw the spirit you put into that throw. It’s really moved me!” Hairo was crying! “I’ll handle things from here!” Hairo managed to get a few outs until the score was even.

“Sorry but your little come back ends here. I won’t be dropped as easy like those puny whimps.” “Ya me neither,” “Fine! Let’s finish this thing. Bring it!”

When Nendo threw the ball Hairo was unable to catch it, but Saiki came to the rescue and gently threw it back to Hairo. “No! You take it.” Hairo threw the ball back to team rock and got Nendo and Kaido out in one throw.

“Saiki is so amazing!” “Nice job Saiki!”

“Buddy! That was a really great match man!” Nendo hugged and cried to Saiki and the class’s adoration for Saiki quickly dissipated.

—————————————————————————

“WHAT? Manako said yes?!” Class 2-3 was filled with conversations on love and relationships. In the middle of the classroom sat Saiki and Yumehara, and it was clear she had a crush on him.

Y/N was only a few seats behind the two and knew that today was going to be interesting for Saiki and fun for them. Yumehara’s blush was evident and Y/N could tell that Saiki was reading her thoughts and wasn’t very unamused at their contents.

In Yumehara’s first plan she tried to make a meet-cute, but Saiki flipped over her and used his powers to put all her papers back neatly into her hands. Y/N was at the end of the hall and had the best view possible to this event, and boy was it entertaining.

In Yumehara’s next plan she dropped her handkerchief next to Saiki, but this plan was ruined by Y/N themself. Yumehara didn’t notice but Y/N was walking right behind her and when she dropped the handkerchief Y/N picked it up, “Hey Yumehara! You dropped this.” Y/N announced.

‘I know Saiki was meant to pick this up but I couldn’t resist throwing a wrench in her plans! Sure it may be a little mean but she’s my source of entertainment for today, she’s being a little too interesting for me to let slide,’ Y/N thought only feeling slightly guilty. Unfortunately Y/N’s thoughts were accurate and when they gave her handkerchief back she had a very obviously dejected expression, “how interesting,” Y/N smirked.

Undeterred Yumehara continued on her mission to get the attention of Saiki. But unfortunately for her, all of her plots were ruined by either an unamused Saiki or an overly enthusiastic Y/N.

For Yumehara’s final plan she tried to wait for Saiki so they could share his umbrella but before that could happen the rain suddenly stopped. Yumehara was feeling solemn but quickly found a new boy, but at the other side of the entrance Y/N was waiting for their boy, Kusuo.

“I think you had a little too much fun messing with her,” Saiki said to Y/N. “Maybe so, but I couldn’t have her stealing you away from me.” Y/N said jokingly. “Who else am I going to make massive amounts of sweets for?,” Y/N continued. “No one,” Saiki replied quickly. “That’s what I thought. Now let’s get home, I’ve got macrons with our names on them!”

—————————————————————————

In the L/N residence it was a normal and quiet afternoon. Y/N was making coffee jelly and was preparing to make their mango smoothie, all was well.

‘Ever since the neighbors have stopped fighting Kusuo has been able to come over more often. I hope he and his parents are doing well.’ But suddenly they were thrown out of their thoughts my a harsh CRACK from next door. ‘I know this is non of my business but I swear if they start fighting again,’ Y/N thought exasperated.

It was quiet for about an hour until a BAM was heard, again from the Saiki residence. ‘Okay what the hell. Is Kusuo in a bad mood or something, sheesh,” Y/N thought while sipping on their smoothie.

“Hey,” Saiki suddenly teleported in front of Y/N, giving them quite the scare. “I know we’ve been friends for forever but damn, give me some warning Kusuo! Anyway what was all that noise about?”

“My parents wanted some help moving furniture,” “Oh? Alright, well there’s freshly made coffee jelly in the fridge for you. I had a feeling you’d be over here sometime this weekend. Enjoy,” Y/N smiled at Saiki. “You’re a genius,” Saiki said dreamily while walking towards the fridge.

—————————————————————————

“Hey, you missed Kongo getting chopped by Mr. Hatakeyama at the front gate,” Saiki said to Y/N who was already spacing out at their desk.

“WAIT WHAT?! Nooooooo, why did I get here early for once?!” Y/N pouted.

“Beats me,” Saiki shrugged.

—————————————————————————

Next episode

#saiki fic #kusuo saiki x reader #the disaster of psi kusuo saiki #saiki kusuo #kusuo saiki #saiki kusuo x reader #saiki x reader #the disastrous life of saiki k #saiki no psi nan #saiki k #x gn y/n #x gn reader

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gwenyn28 · 16 days ago

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The relationship of it all...

Or „why you shouldn’t close on Buddie after episode 5”

“The relationship between Buck and Tommy was so present this episode. They sure are a thing. I am convinced Tommy will be Buck’s endgame.”

A few of us might have read stuff similar to that. Some people might even agree though still being Buddie fans while also feeling disappointed and starting to question things, maybe even closing on “our” ship.

So, bear with me, saddle up and let’s get into that whole relationship thing and how this episode was not “closing worthy” at all. Disclaimer: I already posted this on twitter and since there were a lot of people interested in what I had to say, I decided to take the leap and post it here as well, even though certain people might find it... I also edited the text slightly, putting some thoughts others had in to make if feel complete.

First of all, a short callback to my post about screenwriting I did a while ago. Remember I said that “everything shown in an episode, on screen, is intentional” and there is this “show, don’t tell” rule. Keep that in mind all the time. Because the portrayal of Buck’s and Tommy’s relationship really has a lot to “tell” when you look at what is “shown”.

All in all, we had like six scenes with Tommy present this season:

the birthday party in episode 1

the hospital scene with Buck’s dislocated shoulder

him and Tommy at the loft

Buck, Eddie and Tommy with the boils the next morning

the hospital scene for Denny’s surgery

the cemetery at the end

The last five have all been in episode 5 and that was a lot of screentime compared to what we have seen in prior episodes.

Concerning this season, Tommy had barely a minute of screentime in episode 1. This included two lines he had to deliver at the birthday party scene. One, when Buck complained about Gerrard and the other one was when Buck and him hid behind the couch for the surprise.

There is no need to dive deeper into these two lines and the meaning of them because this could fill a completely different post. So, let’s just roll with him being there in that scene. And I am honestly not surprised about that.

Episode 1 was needed to show him to remind the audience that Buck is still bisexual (and no, it was not just a phase!) and yes, he is still in a relationship with a man. This scene was to pick upo where we left Buck in season 7 and to bring everyone who might have forgotten about it up to date.

Episode 1 did not only do that with Buck and his story, they did this with all the other characters as well. So the audience was reminded of Bobby’s and Athena’s house being burnt down, the whole Mara/Ortiz drama, that Chris left for Texas, Gerrard being the Captain of the 118 and so on. So, Tommy-wise he had to be there so that the audience would also remember Buck’s current situation – bisexual and in a relationship.

All in all, the narrative purpose of that episode was to show were we have left the characters in the season 7 finale and to introduce the opening emergency with the plane/bee-nado to start the new season.

It worked.

And Tommy had served his purpose concerning Buck.

Now, let’s move on to the next episodes.

It would have been an easy thing to include him in episode 2 to 4 as well. Not necessarily in a physical form because that would mean screentime for him and therefore less screentime for others when the focus should be on them (like Athena landing a damn plane on a highway).

But there are other means to include a character from a purely storytelling perspective. All the characters, mainly Buck since he is in a relationship with Tommy and/or Eddie since Tommy and him are supposedly friends, could have mentioned him.

For example:

Buck could have talked about being on a date with Tommy randomly on the way to a call or when they were cleaning the engines or whenever. He could have slipped in a sentence or two about meeting up with Tommy before or after shift.

Eddie could have done that as well because they are friends and might have gone to watch another fight, work on a car or do stuff they did in 7x04.

Buck could also have called him for advice with the plane emergency since Tommy is still a pilot. Yes, he is able to fly a helicopter and that is not a plane but he still works at Harbor which is the air support unit and he might have some knowledge or he might know someone who has.

These are just a few examples that could have established the importance Tommy has for Buck (and maybe also for his friend Eddie) in the episodes when there was no time or place to show him physically.

But, and that is the important part here to put the focus on, the writers decided against it. We almost forgot that Tommy existed AND that Buck is in a relationship with him.

I can already hear people saying that the focus was not on Buck and his story in these episodes so it was not important to mention him or to have Buck (and Eddie) talking about him. Yes, I might agree with that. That could be one reason for not including him in any way.

So, let’s simply ignore episode 2, 3 and 4 and put the focus on episode 5 in which Tommy WAS included in a physical way with a lot of lines and screentime. Because Buck is a main character and including his current love interest seems to be important for the plot and this probably has to mean something.

But before we dive into WHAT it could mean, let’s just take a little break. Because I might have a question to ask that has not necessarily to do with Tommy.

It is more about tv shows in general, especially how relationships are portrayed on screen. Because, how do you think the writers would do that? Remember. “Show, don’t tell”. I think we can agree that, following this rule, there should be a certain level of connection and intimacy (not necessarily in a sexual way) be shown through understanding, words and physical contact.

That is exactly what the writers would do. To establish a relationship, to show the development as a couple. They would show certain things on screen. So that the audience notices (or maybe just remembers) that these two people are in a relationship with each other and that there are romantic feelings between them.

It won’t be enough just to state that they are boyfriends. It cannot be as simple as that. Because if it is just voiced once, it might get overheard. And let’s be honest, in an ensemble show with so many main characters and storylines next to each other, so many things happen and the focus shifts ever so often. So, in this case the “show, don’t tell” rule should and has to be used. Show the relationship with little or sometimes even bigger things to keep the reminder up. That is important especially for newer relationships the audience is not used to yet. So, that it will always be in the back of their minds that these two people are a thing.

To anticipate the conclusion of the following explanations: The things described here did not happen with Buck and Tommy in this episode at all. On the contrary.

But, let’s break it down to each scene.

I will try to point out the things that could have shown their connection. That could have been about them as a couple so that the audience is given the “relationship reminder”. And then I will look at what was given us instead.

In the hospital with Buck’s dislocated shoulder

Tommy could have hurried to the hospital because even though the injury is not lethal, it is still his boyfriend that is in the hospital and he should be with him because he cares about him and is worried.

entering the room with a relieved sigh that Buck is indeed kind of okay, giving him a half-hug not to jostle his shoulder, leaning down to peck his lips, cheek or even kiss his head

sitting down onto the bed next to Buck, holding his hand while Buck explains what has happened

nodding along to Buck’s word’s, maybe teasing him a little bit in a playful way for the weird assumption of being cursed

sharing that important moment between just the two of them

What we got instead:

them NOT being alone because Eddie is there the whole time: To show the connection between Buck and Tommy they could have made Eddie leave after Tommy arrives with something like “thanks for looking after Buck until I could be there for him”. But the writers didn’t. Eddie was there with them the whole time, finishing Buck’s sentences and commenting on his antics with a fond look, being included in the conversation and not making a move to leave Buck and Tommy on their own.

Tommy not being in a hurry to get to the hospital: He stated that he left after his shift ended and he changed out of his uniform before being on his way to the hospital. Both these factors show that he seemed not to have been in a rush, that he took his time to get changed and ready, probably also taking a shower that would delay his arrival at the hospital. This could be interpreted as him not being seriously worried about Buck. Not like a doting and caring boyfriend would be, slightly stressed that his partner is at the hospital, not really taking the time to get ready because of being worried about the other. His thought only with Buck, to get to him asap. This slightly off behavior is even more obvious because there is a direct comparison to Eddie who we see being there in his LAFD shirt, straight after work (or maybe even going with Buck to the hospital straight from the call) and who stayed with him even though Buck is not seriously injured.

Tommy telling Buck that he heard about the “corpse incident” and that he was laughing with his co-workers about it. And yes, I get it. It is kind of funny and something that seems to happen to the 118 a lot. I am sure they are the talk of the day every time at all the other stations. And I get that Tommy thinks this is funny and that he would laugh about it. But there is no need to TELL his boyfriend that he was laughing about him with his co-workers. We saw Buck’s reaction to that. He looked kind of sad and hurt.

Eddie and Tommy laughing about the curse: Both of them were making fun of Buck and his assumption that he is cursed. But there is a huge difference between the two of them. Eddie knows Buck for six years. They are best friends. He knows what Buck can take concerning teasing and mocking him. He knows about the other’s boundaries. I mean, remember him making a joke about the tsunami and lightning. So, him laughing at Buck and the thought of being cursed can be seen as normal friendship behavior between the two of them. They are close enough to know how to take these jokes. While on the other hand, there is Tommy who knows Buck for just a few months. He has no clue what kind of jokes Buck can take and their relationship is not shown on screen (!) that they already have that deep connection to make this kind of jokes. So, it looks a bit mean to a. burst out laughing in front of Buck and b. tell him that he laughed with his co-workers about it as well.

the Visitor’s badge: Tommy wears a visitor’s badge while Eddie has none which could imply them being on a different level. That while Tommy is just a visitor Eddie is more important and more like a pillar of stability and just there. That he, compared to Buck’s boyfriend, does not need a badge because the hospital stuff knows him and that he is allowed to be in there.

Tommy needing Eddie’s “explanations” (for example the “Sergeant Grant” – “Bobby’s wife”) because he is not involved enough to know about these things in Buck’s life which is especially a bit weird because we remember him being at the cruise ship rescue where Bobby and Athena were rescued and he played a part in that.

no intimacy between the two people in a relationship at all: There was no real greeting. Just a “hey” and “thanks for coming”. Nothing that screams “THEY ARE A COUPLE!”. No kiss, no hug, no real touch. Tommy barely touched Buck’s knee for a second and that’s it. The whole conversation he was standing in front of the bed, unmoving, his hands to himself.

To sum this up. In this scene Tommy seemed more like a slightly concerned friend visiting another friend at the hospital who got injured somehow. Nothing in that scene was showing THEM being a couple and THEM being in a relationship. On the contrary. Not to put on any shipper googles but Eddie seemed more like a partner in that episode, the doting and caring boyfriend, than Tommy because the audience realizes that he has been there the whole time, sitting with Buck even though he is not badly injured, keeping him company and listening fondly to Buck’s weird assumptions.

You might argue that some of these points mentioned above might be a bit far-fetched. And okay, I give you that. I even said it myself that some things might be interpreted in a certain way. But since it is just my interpretation, let’s kind of put these things aside and break it down to the essential stuff.

Namely, what could have shown that Buck and Tommy being the ones in a relationship in that scene. It is kind of obvious – a. them being on their own with Eddie either leaving or not being there in the first place and b. them showing at least some kind of intimate connection with a touch or a greeting kiss.

But, nothing happened at all. Like I said. They looked more like friends than a couple in that scene.

Now, compare it to other established couples on the show. Remember Chim being injured and sick on his wedding day? Maddie was sitting with him. They had an emotional talk, they held hands, touched and kissed in the end. Now look at the scene with Buck and Tommy where Tommy did nothing like that. He was just there.

On to the next scene then.

Buck and Tommy at the loft

Buck’s shoulder was injured but the rest of his body was okay. So, he could have sat in his bed, complaining about the injury while Tommy coming up the stairs with medicine and food, listening to him.

Tommy could have sat down next to Buck so that he could pull Buck close, them cuddling up together and maybe another small kiss shared to show how much he cares for Buck.

Buck being on a deep dive about the corpse: we could have seen Tommy smile fondly at him, slowly closing the laptop and telling Buck to get some rest because he needs it. Because he is worried about his well-being.

Buck rambling about Billy’s background and Tommy sitting there, listening to him the whole time, chiming in with a comment or two and maybe even giving some input himself

They could have shared either the bed or couch with each other.

What we got instead:

Buck sitting in an armchair and Tommy taking the couch. I get why they might not have shared the couch because it is not that huge and they are both big guys. But Buck’s bed is perfectly fine. And Buck isn’t incapable of walking upstairs. So, instead of showing them sharing a bed they slept separately on the couch and the armchair. One might say that it was a doctor’s order that Buck had to sleep in a sitting position. But, and that is the important part: We don’t know about any doctor’s orders who could suggest that. Yes, it might be a thing. But a. 911 is not known for their medical accuracy (Buck should have worn a sling and not have leant on his former dislocated shoulder on the bed as well) and b. the writers have to assume that not everyone in the audience knows about that so they should have mentioned it. But none of that happened. So, the audience remembers them not sharing the bed or couch and being distant.

Tommy telling Buck to shut the computer down: He said he should stop being on his laptop. Buck then replied “five more minutes” and Tommy replied “you already had your five minutes”. This sounded more like an exchange between an adult and a kid (“Pleeeease, just five more minutes, I don’t want to go to bed yet!”) than between two people in a relationship.

Buck rambling and Tommy falling asleep: We know about Buck’s ADHD brain and how he can deep dive into topics he is interested in. The “curse” being one of them. So, while he lists all these facts and why he thinks that he is cursed and all the background for Billy - what is Tommy doing? He lays down on the couch, pulls up the blanket and turns off the light. It can be seen as “I don’t care what you are talking about, I am tired, let’s go to sleep.” It gives a very dismissive and condescending impression how Tommy acts towards Buck.

While Buck continues to talk, we can hear Tommy’s voice getting quieter, indicating that he falls asleep on him, not trying to stay awake to listen to his boyfriend who really seems to be concerned about being cursed. Yes, you could say that the curse is stupid and fake. But you usually indulge your partner’s weird antics, you listen to them and try to push them slowly in the direction you want them to go. Like “go to sleep” without them feeling like an idiot

Again, there was no PDA. No kiss, no hug, not even a proper goodnight.

There were probably a few more smaller things that could have been mentioned but I think the ones above are enough to get it. This scene didn’t really give boyfriend/relationship vibes as well as the hospital scene before. You could see Tommy here again as just a friend who takes care of another friend. But not his romantic partner.

Yes, the stuff above might be seen as “make up scenarios” and too much influenced by “fanfiction”. But let’s be real. This stuff is what keeps the audience invested in a relationship. Watching them being cute together. Seeing their shared touches and intimate moments. People start to relate to them and root for them. Because they start to love them on their screens, their dynamic as a couple.

But what we have seen here doesn’t really tell anyone to root for them as a couple. Because they ARE NOT portrayed as a couple at all. Compare it to the end of the episode when for example Maddie and Chim look at Jee’s Halloween pictures. They are cuddled up on the couch together, they are close, they laugh together. Or Hen and Karen with their kids, sharing moments and glances and touches.

Now look back at the scene with Buck and Tommy and you will spot the difference. It is visible for the audience that the relationship between them is different than the ones the established couples have. And you cannot explain it with them being in a new relationship. Because in episode 5 they are already together for around half a year maybe. So at least some intimacy and shared moments could be shown. They are not five, they are grown-ups. Kisses and touching should be on the menu for them.

Before I get on to the next scene let’s have a short callback to the hospital scene and the non-existent PDA there. You could try to explain that back at the hospital was none because they were in a public setting. Eddie was there and the hospital staff. Okay. But what about the loft then? What about this scene here? They were on their own, nobody there. Just them. They could have shared some touches or kisses. But the writers decided not to make them kiss, hug, cuddle up or touch at all.

Like I said. Remember. Things are intentional in a tv show and stuff shown on screen usually has a deeper meaning and a subtext. And so does stuff NOT shown.

Next.

Buck, Tommy and Eddie with the boils

Honestly, I am not sure what else they could have shown us here instead of what they did. So, I will just point out a few things and not diving too deep in the what could have been.

We know Tommy is a firefighter and a helicopter pilot. Therefore, he has some basic medical training concerning injuries. He probably has seen a lot of stuff because he was also in the army. But still, he did not even dare to touch Buck.

When he first spots the boils, he jumps away from Buck, not daring to get too close to him. As if he is afraid that the stuff could be contagious. He does not even react properly when Buck asks for his phone. Buck has to repeat himself with a slightly raised voice before Tommy hands him his phone because he is too engrossed in staring at Buck’s face and the boils on them. And while Buck stares at his image, Tommy continues to stare at his boyfriend from a distance.

Yes, people might say that it is completely relatable that Tommy does not want to touch Buck and that he wants to keep a safe distance, not daring to get too close. And I agree. If you look at the situation as if it happened in real life. But this is different. This is a tv show. There, something is just contagious if the writers want it to be contagious. They decide and you cannot compare it with what would be in the real world. In a show, on screen, when a person has a skin condition or any other disease, their beloved ones do not think twice about it. They care about the person they love. They want to be close, no matter what. They do not think about not touching them or whatever. This is also a means to show how deep a connection between two characters are. That even if one of them is sick the other cares and loves them enough to risk being sick as well.

Now, when we look at the scene with this background knowledge? We can question how strong Tommy’s feelings towards Buck really are and where they stand concerning the state of “I love you to the core, no matter what”.

The difference between Tommy and in this case Eddie again is also very clearly shown concerning this. For one, the writers decided to let Eddie be the person to help Buck. Not Maddie, his sister, who is a nurse or Chim or Hen who are both paramedics. No, it is Eddie, again, who is being put in between Buck’s and Tommy’s relationship.

We have already seen them act differently in the hospital scene and this difference is here in this scene as well.

While Tommy does not dare to get too close or even touch Buck, Eddie is the one in the end to treat Buck’s boils. He stands close and even dares to touch Buck after treating him without his gloves for the bet. We might not have seen the handshake (even though we know it is there due to the stills we got before the episode aired). But it is implied that they touch because we can see Eddie reaching out for Buck’s hand to shake it. And since later on Eddie pays Buck for losing the bet, we know that Buck has agreed on it. Therefore, they probably shook hands.

Another difference in Tommy’s and Eddie’s behavior towards Buck is that Eddie might make fun of Buck. But in the end, no matter how many times he laughs about the absurdity of a curse being responsible for the boils, he tries to be helpful. He offers an explanation (stress induced), tries to calm Buck down that it has nothing to do with a curse and assumes that it will be probably gone the next day, hence the bet.

During all of that Tommy is just sitting there, being absolutely unhelpful, just chiming in with unwanted comments. Like comparing what has happened to Buck with an “accountant cousin” who also gets gross boils when they are stressed. Buck is rightfully offended by the word gross and asks if Tommy thinks that he is gross as well which makes Tommy realize that this was the wrong thing to say.

Another point that should not be forgotten is that... until that moment when Buck is treated Tommy seemingly has no clue why Buck has been in the hospital in the first place. Why he had a dislocated shoulder. Eddie says something about him slipping on a pumpkin and Tommy is like "Oh, you have never told me. That is how that happened? See, there you have your explanation." referring to the rotten pumpkin seeds as a cause for the boils. This is such a dissonance in their relationship. Why did Buck not tell him how that happened? And more importantly, why did Tommy not ask? He took Buck home and was with him the whole evening and did not bother to ask for once? And before people say "but what if...?" No. Remember. We can just work with what we have seen on screen. And the audience sees that they spend time together but either Buck did not want to tell Tommy or Tommy did not ask.

These things, this behavior, showed again that they are not really connected at all. And the audience might question what kind of behavior that is because they are supposed to be in a relationship, right? Again, Eddie looks more like a partner here than Tommy, treating him, getting close, touching him, knowing about his injury, trying to be helpful.

The Denny hospital scene

Buck is concerned about Denny being injured; he is worried. Tommy could talk to him, to distract him.

They could hold hands or Tommy having an arm around Buck’s shoulder.

Tommy and the rest of the 118 family waiting here could talk with each other to show that Tommy is included and accepted as Buck’s partner, one of their own, and that Tommy is concerned about Denny’s well-being since we know how much they all care for the 118’s kids.

What we got instead:

Them just sitting next to each other without any PDA after Tommy brought the two of them coffee. Their shoulders just touch because they sit on these small chairs. It is kind of obvious if you compare it directly with Bobby and Athena who sit behind them. An established couple. Also, close and holding hands, talking to each other. Being connected through their shared concern for the kid.

When Tommy came back with the coffee, he kind of scolded Buck with “stop picking” and Buck replied “I am not picking” which, again, sounded more like an adult talking to a child than two people in a relationship.

The group chat message: Tommy isn’t included in the group chat which shows that he is not really close to the “family” (which was already indicated by Eddie’s comment about “Bobby’s wife” earlier on). Not that every partner has to be in there, but all the established couples are. We see that Chim, Eddie, Buck, Bobby AND Athena (who is not part of the 118 but Bobby’s wife) get the message. Tommy is left out, showing that he is an outsider.

The other thing with the group chat is: Tommy already did that twice in season 7 already. He talks about the importance of the 118, the found family and what they mean to each other. And back then and now it could be read as pure jealousy. That he is not that close to them but wishes to be. It seems to be more important for him to point out what a great connection they have than to show empathy and real concern for people Buck cares about. Like Bobby eventually dying in the season 7 finale and now Denny in surgery. Both times he switches instantly to his own feelings, his view on the 118 in general, not supporting his partner and his concerns and worries.

We see it again that Tommy seems not to be in tune with Buck and they aren’t acting like a couple. No touches, not tuning in to Buck’s feelings and worries. He is, again, just there.

So, last but not least…

The cemetery

Them standing next to each other. There would be no need to hold hands because this is a cemetery and it could be weird to show PDA. But at least stand next to each other.

Tommy chiming in with some words for Billy’s eulogy to show that he still might think this curse thing is stupid but indulging in Buck’s weirdness about it

Them leaving together, holding hands and sharing an understanding and meaningful look.

What we got instead:

Buck having a monologue about the dead body (that is also a montage for the other characters, showing Eddie being alone with the words “Truth is, I can’t imagine anything more painful than going through life alone.”) while Tommy stands there a few feet apart from him. We know he was already weirded out and not too eager to touch Buck due to the boils and him maybe being scared that this thing could be transmitted. But like I said before. Stuff is just contagious if the writers want it to be. And loved ones do not usually care about it anyway. So, him standing a few feet apart? Why other than to show that they are still not on the same level.

Buck calling Tommy out for not kissing him: He tells Billy’s grave that Tommy does not want to kiss him due to the boils, the curse, and being gross. Tommy might deny it instantly but the show does not support his statement that it is NOT like that. He can deny it all he wants but Buck points out that they have not kissed and the audience has not seen one kiss between them at all throughout the whole episode. So, the impression that is left with the audience is that Tommy might really not have kissed him because he was disgusted. And what kind of behavior is that from a partner in a loving and promising relationship?

When Buck leaves the grave with the words “Yeah, and lift the curse” he doesn’t look back and waits if Tommy will follow. He could have waited and taken Tommy’s hands to walk to the car together. But he left, not a second glance or checking in if Tommy really follows.

Tommy being against the curse the whole time and thinking it was stupid. But in the end, he also muttered a “please lift the curse” towards the grave. This might have been just for the fun of it. So, okay, I won’t put too much emphasis on that even though you could interpret it as well in a certain way.

I think there is no need to really break this scene down in detail because I talked a lot about the stuff for the other scenes that happened here as well. Them being distant and not touching at all, not showing a physical and intimate connection.

Yes, Buck might have called him his boyfriend in that scene. But honestly, that was the first time he said it and that was the only thing that could lead an uninformed viewer to the conclusion that they are in a relationship with each other and not just friends. And I said it already. It is not enough to say things once or maybe twice. You have to show it so that everyone watching the show gets it.

~*~

So, all in all… To finally conclude the stuff I wrote here.

TV shows usually show the audience that people are in a relationship by giving the people hints about it. Touches, glances and other stuff. Not because the audience is stupid or has no clue about what is going on. It is more to remind them and keep them entertained. And that they would start to be invested and root for the couple, especially if it is a newer one. They would show that this relationship is sweet and nice and something to like.

But with showing none of that and sometimes even showing the complete opposite the writers made it pretty clear that this is not it.

Yeah, I can see people rolling their eyes at my “make up scenarios” and takes about the PDA in particular, explaining that Tommy is probably not that kind of guy for these things. That he is more mature and reserved. And yes, you might be right. He could be. But, and that is the important part here. We don’t know about that. The audience doesn’t know about this part of Tommy’s character. If he is a touchy guy or not. It was never stated in the show because it wasn’t relevant until now. So, we have to go with what we see on screen and what is told through the actions here. And that is that Tommy and Buck show no affection in their relationship, that often their connection looks more like between casual friends than between a couple. And that the usual indicators for a couple’s behavior aren’t portrayed in this relationship.

If you look at all these scenes I mentioned above and how they showed Tommy and how he acts towards Buck, it is not really boyfriend-coded.

He makes fun of him that borders on being just mean. Unlike Eddie he does not have years of knowing each other under his belt so that he would know how much teasing and mocking Buck can endure. Tommy acts slightly grossed out by Buck’s look and he acts more like a parent towards his child in the loft and later at the hospital with his scolding condescending tone. There is no loving connection between the two of them due to touches or something similar.

Therefore… this relationship might be in a situation right now that is quite okay. But we can see that this cannot stay like that in the long run. To make it last, to make it into an “endgame” one, the writers would need to invest more time and especially more hints and development so that they can be easily compared with basic stuff the already established couples show.

Kisses. Touches. Hugs. Glances. An understanding for each other. Listening to each other. And so much more.

But right now, we might have seen Tommy in a lot of scenes this episode. But none of his scenes with Buck gave away that this is couple behavior and this is something for the future. So, there are just two options. Either they develop that relationship so that the audience (not the fandom!) can also relate to them as a couple and start to root for them or they break them up because it stays as underdeveloped as Buck’s other relationships before.

Last words?

If you read all that and thought about it, it is quite obvious that the relationship between Buck and Tommy might seem okay on a surface level and Buck also calling Tommy his boyfriend for now. But storytelling wise, from a writer’s point of view? It is not a good one because it is lacking so much connection that on screen relationships usually have.

So, calling it “endgame” now and that they are so happy with each other? I doubt it. A lot has to happen to make it more believable. Because right now (and yes, this might be the shipper’s googles talking) Buck has still more chemistry and connection with his best friend Eddie than his on screen boyfriend Tommy.

#911 abc #911 on abc #anti bucktommy #season 8 #season 8 analysis #buddie #season 8 episode 5 #relationship analysis

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multicohn · 1 month ago

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summary: y/n teaches her boyfriend how to roller-skate

warnings: none

pairing: fem! reader x non-idol! jay park

genre: drabble?, short, fluff

author note: originally i had thought about writing sunghoon ( since ice skating and roller skating are different ), but i was watching some old en ‘o’ clock episodes and decided on jay instead

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

y/n happily tugged her boyfriend towards their friend group that were waiting in line for skates. when she originally brought up the idea, he had been hesitant, but was eventually convinced as they weren’t many people at the rink they went to.

and she was right.

aside from their large friend group that had been integrated due to them dating, only a few others were on or around the rink — most being couples. heesung had easily taken to the rink, not that any of them were surprised, riki and jungwon struggled a bit, but the others were fine.

and jay?

oh, her jay.

he had tried to stand up, but immediately slipped and landed back on the chair. y/n bit her lip to stop herself from laughing before pulling up her boyfriend who gripped the table.

“hold onto to me” y/n stumbled backwards a bit, but she managed to keep her balance as jay held onto her

despite their table only being five feet away, making it to the rink was a difficult task. jay ignored their friends teasing words and laughter as y/n struggled to make him let go of her waist.

“you need to hold my hands!”

“i prefer holding you like this”

eventually, jay let go and tried to put his hands onto her shoulders, but slipped forward and they both fell down.

“sorry”

“it’s alright”

unlike, heesung. y/n had been similar to her boyfriend when she first started skating; always slipping over and brushing herself so much that many became concerned that something might have been happening behind closed doors, but in reality, it was just y/n trying to getting better at skating.

jay crawled towards the barrier and hoisted himself up as y/n skated over after easily getting up herself. she had offered to help jay up, but he out right refused saying — “we’ll just fall again” so he crawled and avoided his friends who were acting like they were going to try and run him over, but avoided colliding with him at the last moment.

y/n was thankful no one could hear the amount of curses that left his mouth due to the loud music.

“alright, grab my hands” he did as he was told, but bent forward awkwardly

“stand up, straight”

jay followed her every command silently.

as their friends and other random people skated around them, jay kept his focus on y/n’s eyes instead of his feet. she gently guided him around the rink before slowly trying to pull her hands away, but his grip tightened every time she did.

“you’re doing great” he perked up at her words and pulled her closer to him. y/n raised an eyebrow as his hands gripped her shoulders

“i got a good teacher” she smiled and placed her hands on his waist, slowly brining him into a kiss as they slowed down

but, then he slipped and their heads clashed together instead of their lips.

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lulublack90 · 5 months ago

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Prompt 11 - Pirate

@wolfstarmicrofic June 11, word count 774

Previous part First part

"It wasn't until you were on top of me, inches from my face, and you'd dipped your head that I realised why I'd been a bit obsessed with you," Sirius said, before Remus had even fully sat down. "Like the second I saw you I just felt good, you know?" Remus nodded.

"Yeah, same," He admitted. Then, for some unknown reason that only the impulsive part of his brain knew, he blurted out. "I thought you were beautiful," He froze, eyes bulging as he realised what he'd just said. He felt the heat rising in his cheeks. He tried to duck his head, but Sirius caught it with his hands.

"You're beautiful too," His words ghosted across Remus's lips and he shuddered. They didn’t talk much after that.

That night Remus listened as Sirius padded across the cabin and slipped into James’s bed. He cracked an eye open and watched as they hid under James’s duvet, whispering and giggling as quietly as they could.

At breakfast the next morning, after they'd made full use of their first dibs cards, Dumbledore announced that they would be creating rafts after lunch.

“So please make sure you are properly attired as we will be heading straight to the lake after you’ve eaten.”

Remus looked down at the swimming trunks laid out on his bed. He thought about faking being sick to get out of it. All the adults there knew about his illness, so it wouldn’t take much. Sirius came in wearing black trunks with a skull and crossbones across the front and back in the style of a Jolly Rodger. He furrowed his brow at the still fully clothed Remus before his eyebrows shot up in understanding. He turned away and fished through James’s drawer, pulling out a t-shirt that would drown Remus but also had a skull right in the middle of it. It even had long sleeves.

“Put this on and we can match.” He smiled confidently. “And if anyone says anything, just say you burn easy.” He grabbed up Remus’s trunks and started to prod him towards the bathroom to get changed.

“But what about my legs?” Remus pleaded. The scars had faded some, but you could still see the silvery lines where the glass had torn them up. When he was five, he'd had his first episode, and he’d fallen on the glass coffee table at his grandparent's house and had a seizure on the shards. He’d been in shorts and a t-shirt. They’d been his first scars. Little did that young boy know that they’d soon have a collection of friends join them as the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with him.

“Your legs?” Sirius’s eyes went wide and vulnerable. He swallowed and held the leg of his trunks up. “Then we can match.” And there on Sirius’s soft thigh were dozens of scars, criss-crossing the skin.

“Sirius, I,” He started, but Sirius waved his concerns aside.

“If anyone says anything, James and I will sort them out,” He promised. Remus went into the bathroom and got changed.

“Stunning,” Sirius proclaimed, smacking a kiss on his lips and pulling him towards the door. “Come on, let’s go build a raft.”

The raft-building tools included blue barrels, wooden planks and rope. They were expected to find the best way to get them together and paddle them across the lake.

“We’ve done this before,” Peter whispered to Remus, conspiratorially making Remus grin. He was feeling good, no one had said anything about the scars on his legs or the long-sleeved t-shirt he was wearing.

He and Peter brought the supplies to James and Sirius as they masterfully worked together, seeming to read each other’s minds to build a perfect raft.

They clambered on one at a time to check the knots were secure. Sirius and James paddled out and the raft held. They did a few more tests and were happy with its sturdiness. By this point, the Slytherin team had finished theirs as well.

Sirius jumped to his feet.

“I am a pirate king!” He cried boldly, jumping to his feet and making the raft bob violently. “Hurry men, I wish to board that ship and claim it as my own!” He pointed at the Slytherin raft, where the greasy-haired boy Snape and the ever charming Mulciber were arguing over how to attach the barrels better. Before Remus could say anything, James put an oar in his hands and they started forward. “Avast ye mangy curs, your boat be mine now!” Sirius called to them with a terrible glee in his eyes. Remus shook his head and kept rowing.

Next part

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a-mel0n · 3 days ago

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Having “slept” (slept for 2 hour intervals the entire night because this episode made me feverish and gave me a constant urge to vomit) on it, I can firmly say that this is one of the stupidest fucking decisions 9-1-1 has ever made. This is on par with Hen spending a whole season studying to be a doctor only to drop it right at the finish line and The Lucy Kiss.

At the very least, you knew — you had a gut feeling — that they wouldn’t give up on Paramedic!Hen. You knew in your soul that Buck and Taylor were already doomed and the Lucy Kiss just broke the camel’s back.

But this?

Buck and Tommy were good. They were on track to say their “I love you”’s and have actually new storylines. During the breakup scene, at no point during or before the actual breakup did I think a breakup was even a possibility. While I was texting a friend during the episode, I said the following, which I think sums up most of our thoughts:

They had a whole new character set up, that had interesting dynamics with the existing cast and insecurities that could be proven wrong, especially by Buck. What was the point of bringing up Tommy’s “lack” of daddy issues? What was the point of the group chat scene and his yearning for a family if you’re not going to commit to it? Instead, they finally made Tommy a plot device, and they did it by putting out a scene that’s the equivalent of shooting someone with a sniper rifle from five miles away.

The worst part is: This breakup is fucking out of character. I’m aware that… certain people thought Tommy and Eddie were out of character last episode, but this is what an out of character interaction looks like.

Tommy, since being reintroduced, has been established as a fantastic communicator. The only reason he and Buck ever got together in the first place was because Tommy came to Buck’s loft to clear the air in 7x04. He makes it clear during the coffee date why he ended their first date. He’s the one who initiates the dinner conversation in 7x10 and gets Buck to open up about his fears of losing Bobby.

So. Why in the EVER LOVING FUCK was he silent about seeing their relationship as a short term one? Completely ignoring the Henren deleted scene where he says he’s going at Buck’s pace, that scene is now firmly non-canon, Season 7 Tommy would have NEVER led Buck on like that. Hell, 8x01 and 8x05 Tommy would have never led Buck on like that.

The Tommy shown in the final… what, seven minutes of 8x06? Wouldn’t have accepted Buck’s invitation to Madney’s wedding. His job was done! He got Buck to “discover his sexuality.”

This entire episode felt like a slap in the face to the people who are invested in this relationship, it feels like a slap in the face to Lou, who was excited about Tommy and this storyline, it feels like a slap in the face to the general audience, because there were no obvious indications that a breakup was ANYWHERE near Bucktommy’s future.

I very sincerely hope that this is either a temporary break up, or the reaction from the GA and fandom gives the team input that they massively fucked up here and they pivot the storyline over the course of the midseason break.

As for me? I don’t think I’ll be watching the series live anymore. I might catch up on the series once it goes on it’s midseason break, but right now? I just… I can’t. I can’t put any more energy into a show that clearly doesn’t care about progressing their character. (Seriously, what the fuck, Oliver?)

This week has been awful from start to finish.

#bucktommy #911 abc #911 #tommy kinard #evan buckley #911 spoilers #long post #i guess? kinda?#911 discourse

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mistyresolve · 2 years ago

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| One Thing You Love - Simon “Ghost” Riley x Reader

Word Count - 1.1k

Summary - Simon is no stranger to nightmares and the fear and panic that follows. He has a routine and has developed tricks to aid them. Especially when they plague you at night.

Tags/Warnings - Fluff, Explicit Language, Depictions of Panic Attacks and Night Terrors, Mentions of Childhood Trauma,

A/N - Imagine being loved by someone like him!!!

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An invisible hand reached into his sleep and pulled him from sleep just in time to see you bolt up from the sheets, clawing at the air. Hair sticking to your forehead and tears staining your face. You gasped out unintelligible words, reaching for someone, anyone to help you. Simon was already moving and was kneeling beside you immediately.

The first time you had had an episode it was absolutely terrifying for him. He had been jolted awake from you thrashing against his arm, blubbering incoherently. At first, he thought he had accidentally done something to hurt you. Until you called out for your mom, begged her to “make it stop”. He felt completely useless, he didn't know what to do. Flicking on the lamp he had tried shaking you awake and calling out your name.

When you finally woke up you were inconsolable. He stayed up till dawn with you as you cried.

This time he knew what he had to do, he had done it so many times that he moved almost mindlessly. Cautiously, he moved to sit behind you, legs on either side of you and arms wrapping around you. He grasped your wrists gently and crossed them over your chest, applying just enough pressure to the embrace. He leaned back against the headboard slowly, pulling you back with him.

You struggled against him, breaths coming in short uncontrollable bursts, "Wait. No. I'm - I'm sorry," You sputtered.

Simon felt his shatter at the words. You've never and refused to tell him what your dreams were about but he had his theories. He would never asks you, he was waiting for you to tell him. He knew about what had happened in your childhood home. What would be said there, to you, done to you. What they would do to you when they caught you using you “out of line”. You'd told him about it, once. And only once did you speak freely about it. He’d felt sick to his stomach.

"Shhh, it's only me. I'm here." He whispered into your ear as softly and calmly as he could.

"Simon," he loosed a breath at the sound of your broken voice, you were awake. You stopped your struggling but you were still in panic in his arms. Eyes wild and unseeing.

"Name five colours." His own voice quivered with anger. He had sworn to himself that if he ever saw your parents. He wouldn't hold back. He'd fucking kill them. He would burn them to ashes. He would pack the years of torture and pain you endured into one night. He’d become a nightmare for you.

When you didn't say anything he pulled you even closer, "Think of the rainbow, Darlin"

"Green."

"Good. Four more,"

"Orange. Red." Each word was a struggle between your gasps for breath.

"Green."

"You already said that one. Two more."

"Yellow, and blue."

"Now, tell me four weekdays." Simon stares off at the door to the hallway. He was ready to protect you against the world.

"Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday." You said in one breath.

"Slower." He lowered his voice and you had to strain to hear him. You obeyed, slowly repeating the weekdays to him.

"Three foods." He leaned his head down on your shoulder, the smell of his shampoo invading your senses. Breath by breath you returned to your body, to the hollowness in your chest, to the throbbing headache. Your fingers ached too, and when you look at them you realize your bone-crushing grip on his arms. Immediately you let go, leaving behind little angry red fingerprints. Your finger nimbly danced along the markings. He pressed a small kiss to your jaw as if to tell you "It's okay".

"Grapes. Chicken. And..." You paused for a second, thinking. "Does chocolate count?"

He rubbed wide, slow circles into your shoulder, "Oh, of course. Two things you hate," His questions need increasingly more thought, effectivly distracting you. He had looked at how to deal with panic attacks and nightmares and how to help someone come down from one, and he was pulled every trick he knew for these moments. Took notes on his own nightmares and demons. On what helped soothe his panicked heart.

"Mushrooms," you scrunch your nose. He chuckled softly, the sound rumbling in his chest and against your back. He loved them.

"And being damp, not wet but not completely dry either,” you considered for a second, “Like when you get caught in the rain."

He hummed in agreement, "And one thing you love."

Your eyes dropped to the arms wrapped around you, the fingers rubbing slow circle on your skin. Warmth rolled from the man behind you and into your chilled lungs. His smokey bourbon scent. You thought of the shared whispers at nights before falling asleep, the early mornings and their lazy kisses. The chilly walks to the park, and the laughter.

You pulled your arms free of his, "You," You leaned your head back on his shoulder, then half turned to face him, catching his face in your hands. He leaned into your touch, eyes falling shut. "I love you, Simon Riley."

A rare boyish smile graced his lips and then those incredible dark eyes found yours. "I love you too," then he moved you so you'd be facing him entirely. “Do you wanna talk about it?" He offered his full attention. You shake your head, you never said yes. He always asked though.

Leaning your head on his shoulder you savoured the silence for a minute, just feeling each other's presence. He ran his hand up and down your back.

"I'm sorry I keep doing this to you," You admit sheepishly. A fat warm tear slipped down your cheek. He pulled away from you.

"I am yours, and my purpose is to protect you. I would be fucking useless if I wasn't there for you. Don't ever be sorry. We all get nightmares." He tilted his head to the side as he wiped the tears from existence, then placed a warm kiss where it once was. Then another kiss for your nose, your cheek. He hovered over your lips. "I will always be here for you." He closed the distance. The kiss was sweet and tender, and your chest squeezed at your bleeding heart. His hand slid into your hair, tilting your head to the side to deepen the kiss. The remaining fear from my nightmare was pushed to the back of my mind.

He pulled away, his thumb rubbing your bottom lip. He settled you back into the bed, you cuddled into his chest and him caging you in. He placed one final kiss to your temple. "Get some sleep, okay."

You nodded your eyes already drifting shut, his warmth and steady breath lulling you back to sleep. Your last thoughts before falling way to sleep were of him. Of how you'd had gotten so lucky as to steal him for yourself.

Masterlist ❤︎ Tag List Form

A/N - for the fellow ghosties who get nightmares 🤍

Tag List - @thychuvaluswife ❤︎ @shuttlelauncher81 ❤︎ @lostinsideourminds ❤︎ @v1naco ❤︎ @konig-breedme ❤︎ @wolfyland07 ❤︎ @dog55teeth ❤︎ @cumbersome-robes ❤︎ @meaganjean ❤︎ @purplefishingline ❤︎ @ddioriez

#simon riley #simon ghost riley #simon ghost riley fanfiction #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley x reader #simon riley imagine #simon riley x you #cod #cod ghost #cod fanfic #MW2 #mw2 x reader #ghost mw2 #MistyGhosties

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gars-weaponeer · 6 days ago

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Today in: Clones that deserved better!

Issue #1

-SCORCH-

Scorch belonged to the clone commando Delta Squad from the beloved videogame "Republic Commando", which came before the Clone wars series aired.

Along with his companions: Sev, Fixer and Boss. Scorch was the demolition expert of the Squad and the one with the most heart and sense of humor, arguably the one with the most personality. You could easily compare him to Hardcase or Wrecker, having a similar archetype. He, along with Sev, became a fan favorite thanks to his charismatic writing.

If you have NOT played Republic commando, I totally recommend it. You can currently find it on steam or switch and it's a very fun game to play if you are a Clone wars fan.

Delta squad appears in the Clone wars series only for a short cameo and only Boss got a short speaking line. So it was more than obvious that RC fans would want to see more representation of the beloved characters.

Then we got the Bad Batch...

I don't know who this guy is... but this is not Scorch.

I do understand they needed a face for the commando leader of Tantiss and they did not want to miss the opportunity to gain some nostalgia points with a beloved Republic Commando character. (I could rant hours about how The Bad Batch did all commando clones dirty by reducing them to novelty storm troopers, but that's a rant for another day.) But did it HAVE to be Scorch? Considering the "personality" this TBB-Scorch has, I think Fixer or even Boss could have been an arguably better pick. But since Scorch was a fan favorite he was the one chosen, and he was also the one BUTCHERED for it.

TBB-Scorch has little to no personality and what little we manage to see it drastically different from the Scorch in the video game and that's very disheartening to see for a fan of the character.

Having a model with the painted armor is not enough to give fans the representation they deserve. Specially when it comes to a character with a recognizable personality.

It would be like having Fives suddenly be a cold and loyal trooper that will do anything Pon Krell did without questioning. Or have Wrecker suddenly be the background character that had no speaking lines and was only there to guard the door.

Or have Echo disappear for an amount of episodes when he could-- oh wait....

This "character" could easily be replaced by any other commando with a cool looking armor and it wouldn't change a thing other that fans pointing and saying "OMG I KNOW THAT GUY!"

(I'm not even sure his name is even mentioned... but take that with a grain of salt, I might be wrong. I need to re-watch the third season of The Bad Batch for the third time. )

Sure, we could argue that there is a reason to why Scorch is the way he is in TBB. Maybe he was brainwashed like the CX Clones or Maybe the trauma of loosing his companions, his brothers he was born and raised with since a pod and with whom he experienced a lot of things together, made him a cold, empty husk... but if that was the case, SHOW US THAT!

Scorch could have easily been a good counterpart to Crosshair. They are both Commandos (in a sense) and they both lost their brothers in traumatic ways (allegedly). But while Scorch gave up and became a mindless follower of the Empire, Cross woke up and refused to be brainwashed like the rest.

I know I'm being too harsh.

After all, it's somehow noticiable that TBB was left unfinished. My theory is that Disney decided to pull the plug and was "nice" enough to give the project one last season. But all the ideas and all the stories they clearly wanted to tell were not going to fit on one last season, so a lot of it was cut and rushed.

It is sad, and I would have loved to see what plans they originally had. Maybe they had more plans for the commandos, maybe Scorch had a bigger role or an explanation to his loyalty towards Hemlock and the empire.

Or Maybe he was just painted in to get Republic commando fans to watch The Bad Batch.

We might never know...

Overall...

It's kind of sad that was all the representation we got of these beloved characters.

I know their stories are in "Legends" and many Legends characters have been changed for the sake of canon.

But there is Changing, and then there is Butchering.

And I think Scorch, and the Delta Squad, deserved way better.

#my rants #clone wars #the bad batch #star wars the clone wars #sw the clone wars #tbb #clone commando scorch #tbb scorch #star wars #delta squad

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j4gm · 1 year ago

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SPOILERS!!! REFERENCES AND EASTER EGGS IN F&C ep. 9: CASPER & NOVA (1 of 2)

I hit the image limit so this post will be in two parts.

These last two episodes feature traditional Adventure Time title cards with intro credits, which is something the others haven't had.

There is a butterfly floating above Fionna when she enters the "Land of Ooo". The same thing happened to Cake when she entered Ooo, and to Simon later on, but this butterfly doesn't have a face on it like those. This is our first hint that something is wrong.

The Betty statue in the background of this shot is on top of a four-faceted object that sort of resembles Glob's helmet; an item that she used to gain her magic powers in You Forgot Your Floaties. Also in this shot are several gnome fairies from The Enchiridion and Billy's Bucket List, and of course Mrs Cupcake and genderswapped Chocoberry. Mrs Cupcake has appeared before but I think Chocoberry is a new design for this episode.

This is our first and only look at what Hunter Wizard would look like. Mostly the same as his main universe counterpart.

This species of dragon first appeared in Memories of Boom Boom Mountain and has been in several subsequent episodes. I'm not sure who the giant cyclops is. It could be a genderswap of the cyclops from Another Way, or perhaps the rock giant from Five More Short Graybles.

Lots of the text in this scene is hostile. There is this sign behind the counter, of course, but lots of the books on the shelf also have violent names.

This series loves giving us extremely fucked up Simons.

This background character looks like Phlannel Boxingday. It would be hilarious if that was the case, considering he is widely assumed to have been a disguise of Princess Bubblegum rather than his own character.

This might be genderswapped Tiffany. She's wearing Tiffany's pink shirt under her jacket. Maybe she has a masculine name in this universe.

We get a better look at the newspaper from the first episode, featuring Betty. It also features the fake butterfly from the dream which feels like a bad omen.

Marshall Lee's t-shirt features the cake pop from Princess Bubblegum's rock shirt, first seen in What Was Missing.

The Lich first mentioned being a Scholar of GOLB in the episode Whispers. In this episode it is confirmed that he has been working towards his goals in GOLB's name. But it doesn't seem like he's actually had any line of communication with GOLB this whole time. GOLB doesn't seem to appreciate The Lich's efforts to wipe out all life; and now that GOLB is fused with Betty, they certainly don't.

The Lich rips off Billy's skin to reveal his skeletal form, which is the same as it was in Escape from the Citadel, complete with the metal plate on his ribcage.

GOLBetty turns the Lich into a tetronimo, implying that all of the tetronimoes surrounding them were once powerful beings who defied GOLB; perhaps they are even all alternate versions of The Lich.

Shermy and Beth! This episode incorporates a lot of the extra lore that writer Steve Wolfhard published shortly after the release of Come Along With Me. It canonises the fact that Shermy and Beth are rebels who oppose the tyrannical rule of Gibbon, who is Charlie's future son from Daddy-Daughter Card Wars. This place is the Pup Kingdom, which is featured in the Come Along With Me title sequence and is a central part of Wolfhard's 1000+ lore.

These are the same kinds of soldiers as seen in Graybles 1000+ when Cuber interrupted the space wedding. In that episode, you only got a very brief glimpse of their jowls. This episode makes it more obvious that they are pups.

All of these pups in the windows are designs from Steve Wolfhard's "Every Pup Has a Power" series of drawings. They once had superpowers, but their powers were extinguished by Gibbon.

This is Jake's favourite mug from the episode Puhoy, and the house in the snowglobe is Tree Trunks' house.

There is a Shermy plush in this pile of junk. There might be some other recognisable stuff in that pile too. I think the popcorn machine is from something but I can't remember what, and the pool toy might be a reference to the Lub Glubs from Beautopia.

This is our best shot of the Pup Kingdom, with its space elevator.

Beth is a revolutionary communist confirmed.

Shermy Simon shouts breadballs, an expletive that he previously used in the episode Simon & Marcy.

The clouds in Fionnaworld are shaped like GOLB blocks while Simon is in the presence of GOLB. We also get a better look at all the glitched out buildings, like that door that leads nowhere.

I think the creature next to Gunter in this advert is a yeti from the show Summer Camp Island, which a bunch of Adventure Time alumni went to work on after the original show ended.

There is a poster for Super Porp, a fizzy grape juice introduced in the episode Dark Purple, along with their mascot Cheryl.

Jake is on these packages in one of the shops.

The Library looks incredible now. In the original show, only the top part with the dome could be seen sticking out of the ground. Either the ground has eroded away to reveal the rest of the structure, or the library has been greatly expanded over time.

Turtle Princess is dead and apparently a robot took over her empty shell and continues to work as a librarian. These are the first gun-books we've seen that also function as actual guns.

These are the pagelings from the episode Paper Pete. They're much larger than they used to be. They don't have many books left to protect these days.

Casper & Nova mention lodging in the seaside town of Scandia on their quest to find the crown. This is a reference to the fact that Simon and Betty found the crown in Scandinavia, as mentioned way back in Holly Jolly Secrets.

I hit the image limit! Link to the second part.

#adventure time #fionna and cake #easter egg posts

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usamifriends · 1 month ago

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IDOLiSH7 Anime vs Game Comparisons

First Beat - Episode 2

Trigger TV Appearance

Both in the anime and game, our first introduction to Trigger is through a TV appearance that Tsumugi and Banri (and Takanashi papa in the anime) watched together. BUT! The anime didn't include the fact that Tsumugi is a trigger fan. :(

Tsumugi says their songs are cool, and all three have them has this aura to them.

In the anime, Takanashi papa is the one that says all three are good at dancing and that Tenn caught the attention of some Broadway directors. But in the game, Tsumugi says all of this.

i7 First Meeting with Kinako

This part was completely skipped in the anime, which is understandable.

In the game, when Tsumugi announces their first live, Kinako suddenly jumps in!

Mitsuki: “So you’re called Kinako, huh! How cute~” Mitsuki asks if he could hold Kinako and Tsumugi says yes.

Iori: “What’s so cute about this fluffy and disgusting thing…”

Riku: “You’re being all sarcastic? But Kinako is cute, right?”

Mitsuki asks if Riku wants to hold Kinako too, but Riku says no (because of fur)

Group Picture

The interactions are a bit different!

In the anime, Iori says, “Wow, Nanase-san, you’re so wonderful. So cool.” to tease Riku says he likes superheroes. In the game, Riku was worrying about his bed hair, and Iori says that line in response to Riku’s worries. He’s basically trying to just get things moving hahahah

In the game, when Nagi tells Mitsuki not to hide and Mitsuki says “I’m not hiding. I’m just short”, Nagi adds, “Oh! You need secret boots.” (In English) To which Mitsuki responds, “Shut up! You lanky beanpole!”

Yamato catches Sogou looking a bit worried that his face will be on a website and tries to ask him about it but Sogou just dodges.

When Tamaki says, “If only Mikki was taller…” and Mitsuki responds, “I’ve been praying for that since I was five!”, Tamaki apologizes immediately. In the anime, Iori tells Mitsuki to calm down. Yamato teases Mitsuki. And Tamaki only apologizes after Sogou tells him to.

Their Favorite Things

Discussion of their favorite things goes a bit differently too!

Mitsuki talks about how he likes Zero and wants to be like him. But in the game, he adds that it would be nice if he could meet Zero one more time after he becomes an idol.

Nagi is much more flirty! In the anime, Nagi says he likes beautiful women and that all women are beautiful. But in the game, he adds that beautiful women = someone like you (Tsumugi). He says the "All women are beautiful" line a bit after that. Also, instead of Nagi talking about Magical Kokona, Tsumugi brings it up after noticing his phone strap.

Iori's response is cuter in the game~ When Tsumugi asks him about the things he likes, he goes, "... Things that I like... ...This will be listed on the website, right? Then, I like sleek and stylish things. Sleek and stylish stationery."

Passing Out Pamphlets

The difference in direction is very interesting in this part. While passing out pamphlets, there were some girls who called Riku "cool". In the anime, he excitedly tells his other teammates that they called him cool, but in the game, he sounds relieved that they called him "cool". Then, when Sogou affirms Riku, saying that Riku is cool and should be more confident in himself, Riku says, "I grew up around someone so amazing, so I'm not used to getting this kind of attention." The whole conversation had a more serious tone than the one in the anime.

Side Story I - Trigger

Side story I starts with Trigger before they went on TV. We see Ryuu and Gaku joking about Ryuu's tan lines.

Then, Tenn comes in the room, and the atmosphere changes because Gaku and Tenn just fought. They fight again while talking about it. As usual, it's about how Tenn acts so differently on vs. off camera. Gaku accuses Tenn of pandering to the audience.

Suddenly, Tenn's tone completely changes. He says, "Gaku... I've danced and sang together with you. And those were the best times. That's why I trust you and am grateful to you. I am relying on you. Do you not understand my feelings?"

Gaku replies bashfully, "Tenn... It's not like that... I'm also... umm... very grateful to you..."

Tenn: "Now that's what you call 'pandering', Mr. Yaotome Jr."

Of course, Gaku explodes.

Tenn believes that being friendly with Gaku in front of the audience is his duty as an idol group member.

Ryuu forces them to apologize to each other and shake hands by threatening to send letters to their parents (Yaotome president and Kujou) LOL.

Side Story II - Iori

Side story II is about Iori's thoughts in becoming a manager along with Tsumugi.

Mitsuki gets back after failing another audition. Iori tries to comfort him and says, "Don't be discouraged, nii-san. Most people in this world just have no taste." (WHEEZE)

Iori tries to give some suggestions to Mitsuki. He knows that Mitsuki doesn't like being called "cute", but he thinks that Mitsuki can appeal more to his appearance next time. He looked into recent idol trends and found that attractive male idols are popular these days, so he made a profile that panders to that trend a little.

Mitsuki snaps, "Iori, I really appreciate your support and how you always try to help me out. But I don't want you to go so far as to make strategies for me. Why do you care so much? You're so great, you can do anything—use that amazing brain of yours for yourself! If you do that, I’ll be here to help you with everything I’ve got. Please, just leave me alone! I will make my own dreams come true. I want to take this challenge on with who I really am, no tricks involved. I appreciate your feelings, but I don't like being told what to do. "

Iori apologizes. He is in shock.

We get to hear Iori's thoughts later that day. Iori knows that he has a real talent for presenting. He knows how to organize things in a way that really grabs people's attention. In a world flooded by information, it's very difficult to get people to pay attention to "good things". Sometimes, you just need to use some tricks to get people to realize that something is good.

Iori's dream is to be able to help those people with "good things" to shine so that others can recognize their true talents.

The side story cuts back to their first live. Iori recognizes Tsumugi's skills as a producer and is blown away by Riku's singing. During this live, he becomes determined to make the world see IDOLiSH7.

The story ends with i7 eating a meal together. Takanashi papa treated them to sushi with his own money.

Nagi calls wasabi a "green demon". Mitsuki says that wasabi completes sushi and soba. But Riku and Tamaki (and me) agree with Nagi. They also doesn't like wasabi and think it's fine even if wasabi didn't exist.

Mitsuki teases them, calling them childish.

Tamaki comments that Iori was STARING at Riku the whole time during the live (as he should). Yamato also noticed it. Iori gets embarrassed.

Riku asked, "Really? Why? "Were my boxers showing?" Iori says, "If that were happening, I would pull you by your sleeve." Riku asks again for the reason, and Iori says that it's because he's worried Riku might mess up.

Yamato says listening to Riku moved him. Sogo agrees with Yamato. Riku is so happy he gets teary. As they talked more, he even has trouble speaking because he was crying. Mitsuki tries to calm him down, but Mitsuki is also crying. (Ahh I'm getting emotional too)

Tamaki assumed that people were done eating, so he was going to eat the rest by himself. Yamato wacks him away LOL

Iori thinks to himself that Riku is so good but Riku lacks confidence. Iori approaches Riku to talk to him. Riku asks, "Did I do something wrong again? You get angry easily, so I thought I did something wrong again. If it's nothing then fine..."

Iori got reminded about his brother's reaction and realizes that his way of speaking tends to put people on the spot. So even though he means well and he really wants to help people shine, people have a hard time receiving his words and advice. He notices that both Mitsuki and Riku react positively to the manager, so he decides that it would be best for him to work together with the manager.

#idolish7 #re experiencing i7 #First Beat

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heyclickadee · 5 months ago

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A couple things:

1. The thing is, I actually don’t really think we’re done with the bad batch, for a variety of reasons. There’s too much unresolved, for one thing, and “end of this chapter with these characters” is not how anyone says, “We’re never touching this again.” I really do think we’re getting an immediate follow up with more of a focus on Rex and Echo, but that the rest of the bad batch will still pop in from time to time, giving all of them a chance to round out the last little bit of their stories and character arcs—because they are all just a little bit undercooked. (For example: Crosshair doesn’t even get lines after Tantiss, and the last thing he says about himself takes him from implicitly to explicitly suicidal. The hug is beautiful and cements his place as part of the family, but we never get a moment where he forgives himself or no longer believes that he deserves to die. His redemption arc is magnificent, but it needs that last little push to feel fully resolved).

And, for another variety of reasons, I actually do still think we’ll be getting Tech back in one way or another. So much of what is left unresolved in TBB forms a chalk outline around a Tech-shaped void, for one. The writers aren’t committed enough to have come up with a decent reason for why he had to go in the first place—stakes does not cut it and is actively undermined by never treating it like a character death—for another. They were, at the very least, not committed enough to actually kill him. Tech is the only character in a show that loves making us watch who doesn’t die on screen, and the only one who’s “death” moves nothing forward and is never treated like an actual death. And we have no definitive proof he actually died, for another. (Even if he was CX-2—CX-2 got “killed” two other times on screen and popped up five minutes later each time like a daisy. If you do that you’re going to have to burn the body and scatter the ashes for me to think he’s dead, impalement or no. Besides, you can’t definitively kill a main character via subtext. You still have to be clear and direct.) And Tech has too many callback lines and potential survival foreshadowing for someone to never tug on them at some point, for another. You’d have to kill me to keep me from doing something with, “Better late than dead.” Basically, tl:dr, I think Tech will come back someday, whether they have plans or not.

Because I can’t really get on board with the idea that The Bad Batch was just always badly written. I can’t agree with that. It was never perfect, of course, but it was always remarkably well written and thematically consistent for 46 straight episodes and then tripped on the chalk of the finish line. Besides, I’ve never seen bad writing that was perfectly set up amazing writing if all they did was one simple thing—ie, follow through with what they set up. It’s not that the ending is bad, it’s that it’s bad in this particularly insane way. If it was just normal bad, I’d have dropped The Bad Batch like a rock by now and done my best to forget I’d ever watched it. But because it’s bad like this—basically, a non-ending that resolves nothing but Hunter’s Cut Lawquane arc, Rampart (which was good, actually), and the problem of Hemlock continuing to draw breath (which was just the last major obstacle in Hunter’s Cut Lawquane arc, so it’s not even a separate thing) and answers NO questions—I’m obsessed.

And I can’t get behind the idea that The Bad Batch ending is like this and that we got shorted a Tech return because they got shorted a season. I’ve seen many serialized animated shows that got shorted a season or more, and what every one of them did was cut out everything they could in the middle so that they could get to the resolution they wanted, squash the originally planned last season’s arcs into the actual last season—not leave those arcs undone and the resolution out. The only way them being shorter a season works as an explanation for all of this is if the creative team found out season three was the last at the same time we did. And even then, the solution there would have been to take out five minutes of fight scene and replace it with five minutes of resolving everything in the short and stupid but still THERE way.

For example: Give Wrecker and Crosshair one line each after Tantiss that tells us what they’re going to do. Unmask CX-2 as Tech after spearing him (or don’t spear him) and add one line where Hunter says he’s recovering and that it’ll be a long road, but they won’t give up on him. Or! If you don’t want to bring Tech back in the short and stupid but there way, add a line to the epilogue where Hunter tells Omega, “I see Tech when I look at you sometimes. I don’t want to lose you the way we lost him,” which seems like a no brainer, or, “Tech would have been so proud of you,” which is absolutely a no-brainer if you actually want to close things out for Tech. Tech would still be gone, but at least it’d be resolved, and that’s all short, simple stuff you could add to the very last episode to make it feel finished. If you’re shorted a season or even a few episodes, you cut everything that doesn’t matter, you do whatever you can to get your story resolved—unless you have somewhere else to put it. Which, given how open Star Wars canon is and how heavily it relies on recontextualization, is a very real possibility here.

What I think may have happened here is that The Bad Batch ended up being the first part of a longer story that had to be artificially cut in half. Whether it was always planned that way, whether it was something that unexpectedly happened partway through the production of season three, or a secret third option (the creative team set things up to to be resolved in three seasons but always wanted to do a longer version, but the longer version (in the form of another show) didn’t get greenlit until they’d already written most of season three, so all the payoff got schlorped over to that follow up show while the payoff stayed in this one, leaving us, the audience, with this incredibly unsatisfying mess of a finale in the meantime while whoever is in charge of announcing shit at Lucasfilm doesn’t see the problem). Put a pin in CX-2, slap something that looks like a happy ending on the rest, resolve nothing, do it all in the next thing.

(Slight sidebar: If it turns out that the reason we didn’t get Tech back is because something went horrifically wrong during the writer’s strike—basically, the finale got hit with extreme budget cuts and the script patched by AI—I think we’d still get Tech back. Tech in the first two seasons was something of a writer blorbo, and no one is leaving their blorbo dead over that. That’s a good way for them to bring back their blorbo and have that blorbo murder the hell out of a thinly disguised CEO insert.)

And if that’s what we’re looking at—well, okay. I can see wanting to give certain things (especially a Tech return) more time. If this is what’s happening I actually think it will be more satisfying in the long run, from a story perspective, anyway. I’ll be able to live with that.

That said….

2. If that’s the case—if what we’re looking at is a story artificially split in half one way or another and we are getting a Tech return and the rest of the resolution eventually in an immediate follow up, something that will ultimately work really well in the long run—that doesn’t mean I think it works now. Right now, it’s awful, from every angle. We don’t know for sure that anything else is coming, it makes for a deeply unsatisfying story right now because the “ending” we have is all we have to go on, and it’s unnecessarily stressful for most everyone but especially the autistic fans who relate to Tech.

And the thing is, if Tech were neurotypical? I don’t think we’d really be question the idea that he could still come back eventually. He’s a clear writer favorite to the point that they basically gave him the entirety of season two, except the two Crosshair episodes, great lines and moments in other character’s episodes, and they apparently liked using him so much that either CX-2 was Tech or they physically couldn’t stop themselves from writing and animating Tech in a season he wasn’t in. Killing off one of the writer faves and the fan favorite in order to bring them back later is something that happens. But it’s something that hits differently when that writer and fan favorite is also the only canonically autistic character in the franchise.

Which. Is I think where we run into a problem. You see, I never really got the impression that the creative team ever thought of Tech as The Autistic One. Does that mean I think the didn’t write him as autistic? Of course not—they absolutely did, and did so intentionally. What I mean is that that wasn’t the sum total or even the primary way in which they thought of him, otherwise I think we would have ended up with a terrible Sheldon-Cooper-esque. Instead, the Tech they wrote, and the Tech we got, is just a guy. A really amazing guy who’s noticeably different and autistic AF, but treated like any other character. And on the one hand, great! I know people have a lot of different ideas about this, but I personally want writers to deal with autistic characters that way—to just write us like we’re people. And if what they’re doing is bringing Tech back later and on a longer timeframe than what we expected—also great. It means that all the ambiguity, hinting, and complete and total lack of processing or closure makes sense, because that’s how you write a fakeout death. That’s textbook how you write a fakeout death. But—but—

The flip-side of just treating Tech like any other character and, perhaps, playing a long game with “killing” him off and bringing him back later like someone would do with a fan favorite, if that’s what they’re doing, is that you end up in the situation that we’re in right now. The interim situation where it feels like Tech’s sacrifice was never given the weight it needed to feel final or meaningful, where we’re given no closure and no opportunity to let go, where we DON’T know if anything is coming next even if we do get hints, where Tech got dropped, where nothing makes sense, and where the autistic fans in the audience who relate to Tech feel like Star Wars kicked them in the face and told them that they don’t belong here.

So.

I want this to be a long game, and I do think this could, one, be a situation where they team is having to work around some kind of corporate shenanigans to play that long game, and; two, could end up being a fantastic story that I love even more than the version I wanted.

But even if I’m right and that is the case, I also hate that this is where we’re at in the here and now, that it’s hurt people as badly as it has, and think that they should never do anything like this again, because the game stopped being fun a long time ago.

tl;dr: I don’t think we’re done yet, I think this is part of a longer story, I think we’ll get Tech back at some point whether it was planned or not, but I also hhhaaaaaatte the current situation and think it’s been mishandled.

#the bad batch #tech lives #no I really do think they’ll bring him back eventually #if only because no one actually seems happy about this #and also it’s the smart business move #does that mean I think where we’re at is okay?#nnnnnnooooooooooo #this still sucks #if we do get him back I swear I’m writing another letter to Lucasfilm #‘great! love it! love seeing him back! NEVER DO THIS AGAIN.’

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welcometothejianghu · 9 months ago

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Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 民国奇探/My Roommate is a Detective.

My Roommate is a Detective is a 2020 drama about the Jazz Age shenanigans of a terrible OT3: a useless noodle boy, a spoiled journalist girl, and a handsome thug-turned-cop, who together solve Agatha Christie mysteries in 1920s Shanghai.

I mean, seriously, have you ever wondered what Hercule Poirot would be like if he were a 6'2" Chinese rubber man? If he had a long-suffering sugar daddy from the wrong side of the tracks and a spunky sugar mommy who owned their shared apartment? The answer is, it would be a laugh-out-loud-funny series about a ridiculous and charming assortment of weirdos solving only slightly believable murder mysteries in charming period clothing.

This is another one of those shows where I'm kind of shocked at how not well-known it is, except I'm not, because I can see exactly the problems that keep fandom from descending on it like horny little vultures. Nonetheless, I think it's a good time that more people would enjoy if they gave it the chance. Here's five reasons why you should:

1. Equal parts smart as heck and dumb as butts

On the one hand, especially given its tone and tenor, this show has many surprisingly clever turns and thoughtful moments, carried along by some talented actors. On the other hand, [.gif of a guinea pig in a rollerskate being pushed merrily down a hallway]

This show is not a complicated intellectual exercise. It's an action comedy about a goofy sleuth, a rich-girl reporter, and the cop who should be the straight man in this trio, except he's as much of a goober as the other two are. If the promotional tableaus are giving you real "cover of a Clue box" vibes, you've understood the kind of pastiche it's pulling off.

The mysteries are preposterous. They're all the kind of thing that exemplify the Doyle line about how, when you've eliminated the impossible, whatever's left has got to be the answer, no matter how ding-dang improbable it may be. You know the type: tons of overly elaborate setups, unbelievably perfect timing, coincidental long-lost relatives, people hallucinating right and left. They're also very short -- most full cases take only 2-3 episodes to introduce, investigate, and resolve, even when interspersed with the larger goings-on in these weirdos' lives. The DramaWiki page for the show lists 23 separate arcs over 36 episodes, so you do the math.

And yet, it's way more thoughtful and clever than its doofy little setup would indicate. Its attention to detail surprised me on more than one occasion. Add to that a bunch of solid performances from an ensemble of real characters, and what you get is definitely more substantive than a junk-food waste of time. You can't turn your brain off while watching it, but you sure can turn it down, and that's great.

It also doesn't hurt that everyone is super attractive and wearing great outfits. The whole show's worth it for the wardrobes.

2. THE GIRL

Fuck the haters, fuck everyone, I am going to climb right up on my little soapbox and tell you all why Bai Youning is awesome.

She is insane. She's a troll. She's a clever little monster. Every other character's response to her is, oh my god, you are literally the worst. And she is! She has been spoiled beyond belief by her incredibly rich Crime Dad, and she has learned to leverage her uwu just a widdle girl status to get her whatever the hell she wants. She simply cannot hear it when someone says the word "no." She will look her future sister-in-law in the eye and point a loaded gun at her own head without blinking. Every ball she has is made of brass.

She's hardly perfect. During the course of the show, there are some times where her entitlement runs face-first into the brick wall of reality. She's not nearly as good at her chosen career path as she's been told (mostly by the people who get paid to tell her she's good). She's rarely prepared to deal with the consequences of her actions, especially when she can't just throw money at the problem.

So she learns, and grows, and changes. She's always going to be a stubborn bitch, but she can become a stubborn bitch with a more accurate conception of her relationship to the world around her.

She's actually a really good romantic foil for Lu Yao, who is equally stubborn and spoiled and obnoxious as hell. It is a pure brat4brat relationship, where each one thrives on comically enraging the other. What this means, though, is that when they actually start showing one another some vulnerability, it's really sweet.

Now: I'm pretty sure that you could not have made a female character in her position that everyone did not hate, no matter how cool you made her, because that is the fate of all girls who theoretically keep the two boys from kissing. (More on that next point.) If she were less outgoing and friendly, she would've been hated for being too cold. If she were less headstrong, she would've been hated for being a pushover. If she weren't as into the boy, she would've been hated for being frigid. I know the "god forbid a woman do anything" meme is a joke, but ... man, god forbid this girl do anything. She gets a level of hate entirely disproportionate to what she's actually like. As I said with Eom Dada, it's not always sexism, but sometimes, yeah, it's sexism.

(Real talk: Her character is also fighting both how she's definitely not written as well as the boys are and how the plot sometimes needs her to be artificially stupid and jealous for Straightness Drama Reasons, so that's a legit problem on a structural level. Also, she's dubbed by someone else and the boys aren't, which gives her voice an annoying not-quite-there quality that's hard to ignore. The deck is stacked against her real hard even before she steps onscreen.)

So here's my advice: Go into this show wanting to like her. Embrace her terribleness as a positive, intentional quality. Don't be mad at her for straightening up an endgame that was never going to be gay, even without her. Welcome her contributions to the chaos. Realize that she is exactly as entertainingly irritating as her boys are.

Truly, this is a story of three terrible people in love. They're all just awful, and you wouldn't want to be in a room with any of them for longer than you had to. Left to right up there, Bai Youning is spoiled and self-absorbed, Lu Yao is arrogant and lazy, and Qiao Chusheng is suuuuuch a fucking cop. If you're into the kind of dynamic that can only be described OT3: You All Deserve One Another, then this one's perfect for you.

3. Do you really miss '00s queerbaiting?

Like, really? Are you just super-nostalgic for being able to see the showrunners go, ha ha, girls, we know you're watching and we know you want these cute boys to kiss, which they never will -- but what if we pretended for just this one scene??? Do you just carnally ache for that with every fiber of your being?

Yep.

Now, why am I calling the occasional really gay moments between these two gentlemen "queerbaiting" and not "bromance"? Because these moments are a) obviously intentional, b) completely sporadic, and c) never spoken of again.

For example: There's a scene (which you can see a gifset of here) where the two of them are at a restaurant frequented by the cop, who brings a lot of ladies there on dates. When the waiter points this out, useless noodle boy says, I'm his date. The waiter looks mildly surprised by this, the cop says not to listen to his bullshit, and that's the end of it. The scene moves on. There is no further discussion of this comment. It does not affect their relationship.

That's the essence of queerbaiting: that little on-purpose nod to the homoerotic tension between the two, in a way that isn't a joke but also isn't not a joke, and either way is never going to happen. (In fact, the show is going to go out of its way to make sure that ship gets sunk, so, uh, get your fanfiction lifeboats ready for that.)

A true queerbaiting move is something that should make a difference in a relationship, but doesn't. It should make a difference that our cop is so comfortable in the noodle boy's personal space that he invades it at will. It doesn't. It should make a difference that noodle boy keeps getting real weird every time the cop has a date with a girl. It doesn't. Those are some real romantic moves the two of them keep pulling, and then nothing comes of them.

I had this show sold to me as being incredibly shippy, to the point of being even more so than its censored-BL contemporaries. And ... well, it is and it isn't. It has textually gayer individual moments, but it is much less pervasively gay. It's clear from the start that it's going to throw all its actual relationship points into its canon het romance. When it comes to these boys, the show is toying with you. It knows you want to see those boys smooch, just as much as it knows (and it knows you know) they're never gonna.

How you feel about this is entirely up to you -- and indeed, it may be a dealbreaker on the whole drama for you. If you are inclined to pitch a fit when your ship does not become canon, you'll be happier somewhere else. If, however, you see this as a delightful opportunity to do whatever the hell you want with the situation as it is presented, all the while enjoying little moments of startlingly blatant homoeroticism between two handsome dudes, well, here you are!

(I mean, if you want my take on it, what needs to happen is that the cop and the girl need to fuck while the useless noodle boy watches with asexual bisexual interest, and then they all need to snuggle with the noodle boy in the middle so they can both annoy him appropriately, but your mileage may vary.)

4. The multicultural extravaganza!

1920s Shanghai had a lot going on in terms of cultures and languages, and this show actually does a fair job of representing that.

By now, I've seen a number of shows set during this era, and they all at least acknowledge the international nature of the city -- usually by mentioning the French Concession and having a handful of evil Japanese characters. However, this is the first time I've seen a show go to such lengths to actually show so many non-Chinese characters onscreen, even to the point of making one a recurring character supporting the main squad.

Salim is the best. Whatever he is being paid, it's not enough. He's Qiao Chusheng's right-hand man, which means he is also the dude who most often has to put up the main trio's bullshit. (The actor himself is also a dude with a pretty cool backstory, which is another great layer.) He's sharp, he's loyal, he's patient, and he looks great with his shirt off. He's got it all!

Other non-Chinese characters include a white Jewish art collector (I'd issue a warning for period-typical antisemitism, except … honestly, it's mostly just confused), a sadistic priest who maybe is supposed to be Italian, a completely different priest who [last episode spoiler], and three whole sinister white dudes behind it all.

It's not just the world coming to China, though! A large number of the Chinese characters are said to have spent significant time outside of China, whether for business or for schooling. Near the end, when some characters are discussing moving away from Shanghai, they consider a number of foreign cities as potential destinations.

Here's a delightful detail: When Lu Yao and his sister speak English, they're dubbed by actors with posh British accents who sound like native (or near-native) English-speakers. This makes perfect sense, because both of the siblings did a lot of their schooling in the UK. When Bai Youning speaks English, she's dubbed by someone who speaks English very well but also has a noticeable Chinese accent, which makes perfect sense for her character's background. And Qiao Chusheng never speaks English at all, because he's a street tough who has no reason to know more than three words.

...This is also kind of weird to say about something literally made in China, but go with me on it: Everything's kind of got that Art Deco Orientalist vibe to it. It looks like China's idea of what Britain's idea of China during that period would have looked like. The result comes across less like what 1920s Shanghai would actually have looked like, and more what an ad for 1920s Shanghai would have looked like. It's a fascinating aesthetic, and more so for how it's mostly pretty subtle. The show isn't some visual extravaganza, but it's always very nice to look at, and I appreciate that in a show.

5. A wonderful horrible protagonist

A lot of mystery-themed prestige television involves an asshole genius detective who gets away with being a dick to everyone because he's sooooo smart, while all his long-suffering friends and colleagues spend a lot of time doing damage control for him because, sigh, he's an asshole but we need him, genius excuses all dickhead behavior, we'll always make exceptions for him because he's just ever so special. (Watch histrionic sage hbomberguy's video on Sherlock if you're unfamiliar with the trope.)

Lu Yao is an asshole genius detective, but one who winds up spending most of his time being an asshole to a) people who deserve it, or b) his horrible friends who will be assholes right back at him. When he is awful to the people who don't deserve it, the show smacks him pretty hard on the nose for it and makes him apologize.

This is a show where you'll figure out pretty quckly if you'll love it or hate it, because if you love Lu Yao, you'll love it, and vice versa. He carries most of the show himself, with his goofy charm and his incredibly bendy slenderman body and his ability to make the one competent person he knows both protect him and give him money.

Like so.

For my own part, I find him intensely charming, and I think a lot of this has to do with Hu Yitian's ability to play him as an affectionately bullyable weenie who needs to get shoved in a locker for his own good. He's the worst, and it's comically endearing instead of offputting because at the end of the day, he really does have a good heart. He's just also lazy as heck and disinclined to do anything that he does not want to be doing, and really, aren't we all?

As I alluded to in point 3, he comes across as real asexual. He's just not that interested in sex, and he is in fact pretty uncomfortable in situations where he finds himself the subject of someone else's sexual desires. He's perfectly capable of romantic feelings! I mean, not only does he get Bai Youning as a love interest, we actually meet one of his ex-girlfriends. He's just not partciularly horny about them -- which is even more noticeable as a sharp contrast to how extremely horny Qiao Chusheng is for just about everyone, but this exasperating little dork in particular.

(Like seriously, 90% of the time, Chusheng is about to explode with sexual frustration at Lu Yao's skinny oblivious ass.)

This isn't to say you couldn't get Lu Yao into bed, because you absolutely could, and he'd probably have a good time. You'd just have to remove all distractions from the room, lest his ADHD ass wind up running off to solve a crime mid-coitus.

Twiggy little nightmare man. Garbage-animal boy. Love him.

sidebar: A word about the ending

I'm going to be vague and talk about general vibes instead of specific events, but you should still skip this section if you want to remain completely unspoiled. Jump to the picture of Chusheng holding the sledgehammer.

Okay, so, a lot of people do not like the ending, and I'm including myself in that number. I honestly don't know if they got rushed and had to wrap everything pretty last-minute, or if they thought they might get a second season out of it and were leaving things open-ended accordingly. Either way, it's incredibly unsatisfying.

I think there's a clue that the show didn't actually want to end this way, and it's not actually in the text of the show itself. Every episode, between the last scene and the start of the credits, you get to see a couple still frames from the episode (usually some of the queerbaity ones). After the very final shot of the series, you get two images: the boys hugging goodbye, and Chusheng's upset face. That's not a resolution! That is at best a "to be continued..." ending!

But no, that's it. That's all, folks.

It's not quite an ending so bad it ruins the rest of the show, mostly because it doesn't feel finished, so it's less like you're watching a car being deliberately driven into a wall because someone thought that was the best route to take, and more like you're watching someone leave a car on the railroad tracks because they figured they'd have time to move it later.

As far as I know, there has been no noise made about a second season. These 36 episodes are the entirety of the narrative. It had the distinct misfortune to start airing in March 2020, which wasn't exactly prime time for planning sequels, and that seems to have been that. (There is a 2022 show called Checkmate that stars the two main guys in extremely similar roles, also adapting Agatha Christie stories, but it's apparently pretty meh? Somebody else who's actually seen it, go ahead and weigh in here.)

I'll say that if you turn off the episode right after Lu Yao gets out the handcuffs, you'll save yourself the worst of it the awkward and unsatisfying moments (though I'm impressed at your willpower to stop watching something five minutes from the end). That's not all of it, though. Structurally, there are several situations rushed to a resolution and loose threads left flapping untied in the breeze. I guess stopping before the last five minutes simply saves you the hope that it'll pull a good ending out of the fire, because it won't.

And let's be real: The more you hate Bai Youning and her romance with Lu Yao, the more you'll hate the ending. (Not that liking those elements will necessarily make you like the ending, of course, because I'm a fan of hers and I still think the ending is butts.) The ending is already like a pair of uncomfortable shoes; if the het romance especially makes you grind your teeth, the ending becomes a pair of uncomfortable shoes that also have a rock in them. A lot of the comments online indicate plenty of people dropped the show when they learned the het romance would be endgame. It's a pretty common dealbreaker.

Oh well. Bring on the fanfic, I say! Those of us who are used to taking a sledgehammer to canon are unafraid.

Smash it, baby.

Still want to see some of these mysteries?

Both iQiyi and Viki have the answer to your sleuthing!

It's not a perfect show -- as evidenced by my digression about the ending -- but it's a lot of fun. If you can handle the occasional foible and some eyebrow-raising moments, you're in for a good time with some attractive people that occasionally tastes very gay.

Every roommate crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man

#my roommate is a detective #民国奇探 #rec post #i made this

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