#the resolution of that *storyline

[aliferousdreamer]

so that's it huh

[chintzwife]

fuck cressida cowper i guess? feminism for the main characters but mean bitches in ugly dresses are less women bc they wear their hair too tight and high. anyway sending this desperate spinster off to be abused by her relatives in wales is a narrative victory

[baifengxis]

i don't like being negative about things but this is really just constructive criticism (that no people who make the show will see so it might be useless but anyway ksdkfsdg) i love 23.5 very very much but they tried to fit too many storylines into only 12 (so far 10) episodes and some resolutions just feel so...underwhelming...and it'd be much better to just not do them, for example, this whole thing with aylin and ton was just...not it, it wasn't really addressed and it just left a bitter taste for everyone, plus aylin had trouble talking anyway, we could've had her opening up anyway and use the extra time for aylinluna scenes that for whatever reason went missing today (bcs there was basically nothing and they went to eat in luna's house but we never see that? okay plus no make up scene or anything), also don't get me wrong but there's kinda too much time focusing on supporting boys, it's fine for them to exist and have cute little stories (even tho at this point i really don't know why ton exists but anyway) but i felt like they had so much time and lines in this episode, time and lines that were taken from the MAIN girls but anyway that's gmmtv i guess, so anyway all of this plus how fast the ongsasun conflict escalated and i get it, they're teenagers they do dumb things, i guess the conflict is eventually ongsa being insecure anyway but...we could've spent more time on those things rather than extra storylines that went nowhere and i just felt this issue a lot in this episode

so anyway my love for the show remains and i still believe it's the best thai gl we have so far, but i wanted to share my thoughts that i guess other people share too

[mendokayalways]

people hating on tilly is so strange to me because what I saw was two adults who expressed their honest emotions and then respected each others' boundaries because they care about each other - its called healthy communication gang. tilly shouldn't have swallowed her feelings and benedict did not owe her to stay in a closed relationship. and neither of those things happened.

[cryingpariah]

Urpi smiling at watching her son-in-law with the Seraphim. She smiles seeing him ruffle Gryphon's hair when he gets an answer right on his math worksheet. She smiles seeing him wipe Gabriel's nose at dinner because the little peanut always gets a runny nose when he eats curry. She smiles seeing him put Nemo to bed with his little stuffed lion.

But Crocodile feels deep guilt whenever he catches this because he couldn't do the same for Luffy and he's worried about Urpi resenting him for that.

“You seemed trouble dear, is everything alright?”

She was making that face again, the picturesque look of warm motherly concern and understanding. Crocodile didn’t know if he deserved to be looked at like that.

He had seen her with the boys, with Dragon, anyone she comes into contact with comes out the other side..better. Warmer. Loved. She understood every one of the Gabriel and Gryphon's nonsensical games. Nemo loved her immediately and refused to leave her arms once in them. He had heard story after story from Dragon about her endless kindness and genuine nature. She was the perfect parent for crying out loud!

And Crocodile….

He met her eyes now, lined with wrinkles and patience before loosing a heavy sigh.

“I was just…wondering is all.”

She smiled, crossing one leg over the other and resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

“Wonder away dear, but don’t be scared to ask either.”

Was he so blatantly obvious or was mind reading some secret Shandian talent she had never deigned to share?

“Alright you caught me. It’s just…aren’t you upset with me, Mrs Urpi?”

An owlishly expression of surprise crossed her face. Her eyes looked around the room a little, as if she was trying to find where the question had even come from.

“Dear I can assure you I am most certainly not upset with you. I apologize if I gave you that impression-“

Crocodile surged forward in his seat, his voice rising and his one good hand gesturing at nothing.“With all due respect Mrs Urpi, let us drop the niceties. I am no child, please speak your mind and be honest: you can’t possibly tell me you aren't angry when you see me with the boys acting like a perfect father when Luffy-“

Losing his steam he slumped back into his chair, staring at his lap in shame. “There’s no way you don’t see me as a failure.”

A silence blanketed them, the echoing of the grandfather clock feeling like a gong.

He stood up, shame swirling in his gut. He'll apologize and then make himself scarce until the end of her visit. He'll-

“Crocodile.”

He looked up (he felt like he did that a lot with her) to see her patting the other half of the couch she laid on pointy. The message was clear and received. He shuffled his way over. For a moment neither of them spoke.

“When I first found out I was pregnant I was terrified.”

He glanced at her in surprise. What is she..

“I hadn’t been feeling well the last couple of days but I had just it was something I ate. I went to the doctor and I’m sure you can guess what they told me. I was happy but I also felt so distant from it all. I never envisioned myself as a mother, hell there was a point in my life where I never thought I’d make it twenty.”

“The pregnancy itself was fine, it was even fun at times but every moment of quiet had terrible thoughts creeping in. I couldn’t connect with my baby, I couldn’t do the one thing I was just supposed to naturally do and I felt like a failure.”

Crocodile was astounded, he had always felt so othered by pregnancy and birth stories and how the mothers had felt such joy and love but this..

“When Dragon was born I felt blessed but also completely undeserving. Every milestone he didn’t hit on time I believed was my own failing. I could barely eat or sleep, I didn’t even shower. I was paranoid and frantic. I watched him almost obsessively but balked at times when he got too close. I thought I was ruining him, that Nika himself was trying to tell me I wasn’t fit to be a mother.”

He didn’t know who reached out, all he knew was his hand was so tightly grasping hers and he felt every word that spilled from her lips like a sucker punch. In five minutes she had made him feel more seen and understood than he had in nearly twenty years and it was as gratifying as it was overwhelming.

“I-I don’t understand..why are you..”

She turned to him, her eyes and smile equally watery. She loosed her hand from his, using it to caress his back as she pulled him close.

“My dear Crocodile, I will never blame you for making your choice then nor do I blame you for choosing differently now. To overcome what you have..I cannot imagine such strength. I just wanted you to know that you never have been alone in your fears. It does not mark you as weak. I want you to remember that I am so very proud of you.”

Oh.

They didn’t speak more than that, they didn’t need to. Her gradually wetter shoulder and back spoke volumes. Had she known he was so close to tears? Is that why she tugged him into this hug, to allow him the appearance of keeping his dignity by hiding it behind her? It definitely didn’t matter but with the doubts and worries of being secretly resenting washing he had to think of something right?

[un-pearable]

no offense but i think when critiquing jay’s (and let’s be real all of the OG four ninja’s) behavior in the pilots and early seasons, a lot of people ignore that the cultural context and attitude about misogyny and especially misogyny in children’s media is VERY different today than it was in the late 2000s/early 2010s

[mikhailoism]

for the most part i do really enjoy the cruise arc, what gets me is how excited athena was at the end of s6 for it and s7 makes her do a complete 180 😭 i just thought it would have been so fun for them to just "disappear" and tell everyone after they've already left or as athena suggested not all ... like 118 gets to work and surprise bobby's taken a vacation and hen's in charge with no warning. also would've have added to the angst of the cruise ship disasters bc no one knows where they are ... how would hen realize something was wrong this time ...

and this just allows for the initial bathena scenes to be more fun and silly and romantic enjoying their honeymoon

[tallest-tiptoes]

i just love watching maya and carina working together. four people and not a single one thinking about using a phone to communicate instead of screaming at a door was something though

i’m not a big fan of legal storylines but i’m so glad carina finally has her own arc. i do hope it won’t interfere with the adoption process because that’s just doubling the legal stuff and no thank you

maya and carina holding their son was really cute, especially when he wasn’t a doll

[frodho-slaggins]

Eric Kripke's capacity to write endlessly compelling gay romance on accident is matched only by his incapacity to write compelling gay romance on purpose

[clegfly]

‘Puter mari can’t read rooms. Or screens I guess

[imreallyloveleee]

the season 2 finale of the americans is WILD

[pupstim]

Q!Characters and RP perspective with slight meta flavoring

But I just love that the islanders immediately got a new mystery and Bad is there to help. He's helping even though he doesn't have too, even though they broke his heart yesterday by putting him in jail without a trial or even a chance to explain his side and no one listened to him! BUT HE'S STILL HELPING, STILL LETTING THEM IN HIS HOUSE! Just uuuuugh, I'm not over yesterday but seeing Bad interacting with everyone because of the mystery and they're all just going along with it, Both parties being wary of one another, poking jabs and just subtle threats, I love it despite how much it hurts. Trust has been broken but they all care too much for one another to not help each other out.

now meta flavoring but I absolutely adore what the CC's and admins are doing, cc!Bad got dogpiled by fans and was about to just back out of the politics and stuff and I feel this is a good way to just... let Bad play. He was in his element yesterday, he had so much fun and I think we all had fun watching him! This lets him kick off a villain arc if he wants or just be on the run and just get back into doing whatever the ehck he wanted! And now there's an island wide mystery going on and Bad's still on the run but at the same time sinking his teeth into this mystery like all of us. It's been a lot of fun watching the last few days I'm so proud and happy for what these guys are cooking up

[narniangirl1994]

While I think the 'thank you' and 'fuck you' speech Ted gave his mom worked in the context of their relationship - seeing as he was thanking her for the loving and supporting things she did over the years while expressing his hurt over the other ways in which she hurt him, I do NOT think it worked in the context of Jamie and his dad.

Jamie saying he'd want to say both fuck you and thank you to his own dad - likely because he believes his dad's abuse is what gave him the drive to succeed in football - might make sense for his character to feel, but should not have been backed up by the narrative like it was.

Between Ted's line last season about successful people often having dads who were hard on them and the bits in this episode of Jamie forgiving and reaching out to his dad, the narrative genuinely seems to be saying the abuse Jamie experienced helped make him the athlete he is today.

And that interpretation really bothers me. Especially because you see it in other shows and real life.

Just like the line "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," a lot of people seem to think hardship and abuse makes people stronger/more motivated. But in reality, abuse tends to hinder people on their life journey - not the other way around - by making them more scared/anxious, doubtful, sad, blinded by anger, isolated, etc.

Take it from someone with perfectionism that stems in part from my own childhood experiences and anxiety, I think that has caused me more issues than it has helped me over the years. Even though I've always been decently 'successful' at certain things (ie: school, work), I really wonder if I could have actually accomplished more - or at least accomplished the same things without the extra struggles/stress - if I wasn't constantly worried about having to be perfect.

Jamie being a prick to his teammates (because he felt like he needed to be tough to get his dad off his back) was even shown to be detrimental to his team's success and his individual success as a player. And Jamie's fear over his father's presence and criticism both at Wembley and at the Manchester City stadiums were shown to make him more distracted and prone to errors.

It was once Jamie started working with his teammates, accepting guidance from others, and receiving their unconditional support, that he grew and improved as a player. Hence why this was the first year he made the national team. He's got plenty of talent and it's quite possible he would have had the drive, just from something else, if his dad didn't abuse him. I could easily see a desire to play alongside his hero (Roy) or make his hometown proud serving as helpful motivators for him growing up.

But even if Jamie WAS a worse player or never got this far without his dad's abuse motivating him...who cares? You can't tell me he wouldn't have been a much happier, healthier person without that abuse in his life. So the idea so many narratives and real life people push that there is a silver lining to abuse or that abuse is solely responsible for someone's success is a harmful one that seems to imply abuse is worth it in a way or that abuse victims should be grateful for the good that came out of it.

It's one thing to want to thank a complicated parent for the good that they did bring to your life even if they also brought some bad. But it's an entirely separate thing to thank a complicated parent specifically for the objectively terrible things they did to you, just because it may or may not (most likely did not) have the side effect of making you more successful.

I really wish writers would put a little more thought into narratives that would seem to support this idea. It just really takes away from so many other positive - or frankly more realistic - messages they could go with instead.

[strandbegins]

as much as owen strand’s innate need to be the center of attention annoys me sometimes. other times it really is so absurd it circles around and comes back to funny. what do u mean the main plot of the episode is investigating the kidnapping of a little girl and the b plot is that owen strand cannot stop having sex with hot women and now he’s on raya. and he saves the little girl in a high speed car chase that gets him a second date.

[apocketfullofhobbits]

can't stop thinking abt how the fact that declan mattered so little to his father that the asshole couldn't even be bothered to keep the memories of the day his son was born was supposed to make up for declan's whole shitty childhood

like hey kid u know what u just weren't worth the pain. do u feel better abt it now.

[ingo-ingoing-ingone]

Imagine if Ingo shows up again. He's the Looker of the Legends Game. In search of his origins.

Fandom has a habit of making Ingo extremely passive with being eternally bound and in debt to the kindness of the Pearl Clan for saving him and the Duties as Sneaslers Warden. And they have Emmet as the active role ready to do anything and challenge everything to get Ingo back.

But imagine this:

after meeting the Protag in Hisui and battling them a few times memories start showing up more. We've seen it firsthand of him remembering Emmet and Chandelure and in a way Gear Station. Eventually these memories and mysteries will cause restlessness in him. Restlessness and curiousity. And at some point he can't just sit by here in Hisui. There are clearly no ties to his mysterious past here. So he bids goodbye to the people who saved him, gives up his duties as a Warden and at he Battle Ground and sets out into the world; trying to find the answers to his past, to himself and his home. There are risks but they are worth taking, he knows that.

And a Train that sits motionless on tracks will get rusty. He needs to move forward on his tracks to find his home station. Or at least answers.

I know it basically goes against the whole narrative of passive Ingo but I quite like the idea of Ingo starting to travel. Looking for himself and his past. Becoming active. Wishing to find the home he can't remember. Because his heart knows there is someone waiting for him.

hope it's ok to share these thoughts. Especially since they are so controversial. But I'd love something like this.

I tend to like both takes of Ingo: both waiting for a change and also striking out to find his home

I wouldn't exactly call it being passive, per se. Depictions range from him being depressed (which really does sap your energy) to simply not knowing what to do. Some subconscious instinct could tell him to stay put.

Staying put, if you are lost, is safer and increases your chance of rescue after all.

(Don't discredit the works and opinions of other people, I know you probably didn't mean it but it feels a smidge rude here. I also could just be bad at reading the tone)

But I do like the idea of him getting home on his own too. I think it would be interesting, but I'd rather read it as a fic than have to wait for that many years for games to come out. I wouldn't want them to rush it bc that's inhumane to gamedevs and makes for shitty games, but respectfully lol I do not want to wait that long for a plot

Plus he'd have to figure out the whole time travel element to it, which would be fairly difficult plot-wise

So personally I'd just rather they reunite them already :,)