#the writers and show runners didn't care about him

[worldsokayestdragon]

so I never learned my lesson about getting attached to supernatural characters that aren't Sam and Dean so Jack became my late in the game new favorite and I am outraged by how badly the narrative treated him!

truly the most heinous shit happens to him constantly, and it's never even about his character development or story arc because the writers don't care enough to give him his own arc. like I said on that other post season 13 is entirely about traumatizing as much as possible as fast as possible (because that's the only way they know to make characters interesting) while also using him to advance the plot with all the apocalypse world Lucifer vs. Michael round 2 stuff.

then in season 14 the overarching plot is so weak and all over the place that it barely even feels like they're using him for that so much as hurting Jack to hurt Sam and Dean and Cas. he gets sick so they have to go through the pain of losing a child. it's discussed in those terms way more than how Jack feels about it is brought up. he gets brought back with the Lilly Sunder spell so they'll have to grapple with whether risking his soul to save his life was the right call. they say they're going to let him decide but the whole situation with the empty makes it so he doesn't really have any options while also letting them set up Cas dying/destiel confession in what should be an episode about Jack.

him choosing to burn out his soul to kill Michael and save the others could have been a big moment for him, but the way they wrote him up to that point made it a little unclear if he fully understood how dangerous loosing his soul could be (which I mean is fair. his only reference for someone without a soul is Donatello who was always nice to him, Jack wasn't born yet for soulless Sam or Amara leaving a bunch of soulless people around, and he was in apocalypse world when Donatello went crazy. he's physically 18ish and chronologically 2 so as much as he's a smart person and not actually a baby you can't really expect him to have the best understanding of consequences and his own mortality. him not fully getting the risk could also be interesting for his character but they didn't commit to that either, they just had him say he got it while repeatedly using his powers and never seeming all that concerned about it.) the show focuses so much more on the Winchesters and Cas being worried and guilty about his soul than having Jack react to or deal with that loss.

and then he kills Mary. the one thing he was always afraid of, the one thing he never wanted to do, was hurt his family. and the writers made him lose control for one second and kill one of the most important people in his life and break the hearts of all the other people he loves. and again it's all about hurting Sam and Dean to drive them to try and contain or kill him, while also driving a wedge between Dean and Cas. like of course, of course, that's devastating for Sam and Dean, I'm not trying to minimize that. but even after Jack gets his soul back his trauma and grief around it are never addressed. even his guilt is only touched on so far as it's the motivation for him sacrificing himself for them again. directly afterwards when talking to Rowena and imaginary Lucifer he's horrified and maybe not sad or guilty exactly (no soul) but he obviously understands the magnitude of what he did. but then for some reason when he's talking to Sam and Dean in Jack in the Box he's very casual and dismissive, all like well it was an accident, anyway let's move on. that scene is really the only time he acts like a lot of the other soulless characters. for the most part he seems to understand emotions and morals much better than anyone else without a soul, and almost feel a little even if it's not the same as someone with a soul. (I think the angel grace mitigates some of the effects of not having a soul. angels don't have souls but do have the capacity to feel and tell right from wrong. Jack tells Donatello that he feels different but doesn't feel nothing, and I think that's because the emotions coming from the grace are different than the ones from a soul and it takes practice to identify and develop them to be as strong as what he was used to.) it feels like between Mary acting pretty out of character during her last scene and Jack being so weird about it when he talks to the boys I suspect Chuck was supposed to have been meddling before he actually showed back up, but they never outright say that. regardless they fridged Mary Winchester for the second time and forced Jack through his worse nightmare because they needed to motivate Dean with pain.

his second death was explicitly meant to punish the rest of team free will. Dean couldn't and wouldn't kill Jack, so Chuck did it to hurt his dad's. they wouldn't play his little game so Jack had to die so they'd learn their lesson about defying him. even when he was dead his corpse gets puppeted around to hurt the others. like I also like belphegor as a character, he's bitchy and funny, but narratively making him possess Jack's body was just a way to hurt Cas specifically. (Sam and Dean were way less bothered. maybe the whole casifer situation had numbed them a bit to the horror of working with something evil that has your loved ones face for the greater good.)

then when he comes back it's all "kill yourself to save the world" which is a pretty common plot point for supernatural, but it's also "die to absolve your sins, it's the only way Dean will ever forgive you" which I find significantly more fucked up. and then that plan fails, and Cas dies so Jack loses the only parent who never gave up on him, and then he becomes God.

and Jack becoming god is like...it doesn't really work any of the themes of the show, and it also is the worst way to end his story. he's always been powerful, but he's only ever cared about that in as much as his powers can help his family. when he loses them he's upset because he can't protect the people he loves anymore, not because he isn't special or whatever. all he wants is to be with the people he loves without having to worry about his powers hurting them. and the end they came up with for his story is to get a massive power boost and have to leave his family so he can "be everywhere" or whatever. it's so dumb!

this post got super long, and I'm sure that people have already said all of this better than me, but it's driving me nuts. I just love Jack so much, he's such a good character, and supernatural has so many instances of wasted potential, but Jack's story could have been amazing if there were more than three or four episodes that treated him as an actual character instead of a plot device or a prop for other characters stories.

[god-i-hope-so]

You know anon who replied to my post about Buck. I'm a proud biracial person so you certainly won't see me, a BT shipper, be against an interracial couple. I see racism, even when it's subtle, I see when people are vague posting about race being a problem. And I've never seen a BuckTommy fan make a racist post about Eddie being Latino, not even make an allusion to it. Never. I'm not saying there's not a single BT racist fan, you'll find trash anywhere, but here on Tumblr, I have yet to see it.

Eddie is not a problem for BuckTommy shippers, he's not a menace to the ship, he's not in the way of anything. And him being Latino has been used by BoBs themselves since the beginning as an excuse to hate on Tommy, the ship, and us. We don't fucking care about Eddie being Latino, it's a non thing for BT shippers. We're not white supremacists with an agenda. Meanwhile, the moment we dared to like Buck being with Tommy, we were under Buddies/BoBs constant harassment. Because they didn't get their ship canon. And the hate and violence has been insane. The homophobia/queerphobia. The misogyny. The ageism. The racism against actual people in the fandom. And it created tensions we never asked for.

We never asked for anything except maybe to see a queer arc for Buck. We never ask for Buddie to not be canon. We never asked for Tommy to come back. We only hoped they'd give the fans queer Buck. Then we just went with what the show gave us, some liked it, some not. No one except the show runners and the writers knew what would happen and had the power to make it happen. None of us, whatever we ship, will change what people are PAID to do on a TV show.

All the rest? It's your interpretation, just like we all have. It's valid but not canon. Tommy acting like Taylor and being dismissive of Buck's feelings? Your interpretation but it's not canon. I'm currently rewatching the show for the first time and I see so many moments when Eddie is not a good friend to Buck. Not a bad friend, just not a good one. And I don't need theories about him being a supposedly closeted gay to just accept that those characters are written to be realistic, so they're not perfect. Eddie using his friendship with Buck to hit exactly where it hurts and tell him he's exhausting? Oh it was bad, but Eddie was pissed. So you know, it was a realistic and emotional response. It doesn't mean I started a hate campaign against him and his fan. First because it's a fucking TV show, but most of all, it's not important. It's part of the story and that's it. Sit back and enjoy, then join the fandom to make your ship thrive in fanon. No need to hate anything or anyone.

(oh and yes, BuckTommy has many names! Not always practical but it's not like it affects your life, isn't it?)

[greenqueenhightower]

ls it just me, but despite the fantastic fantastic acting from Emma D'arcy and Harry Collet, I couldn't cry? And if there were any tears welling my body wouldn't let them out because I felt like I was being to forced by the writing to care about them? And usually I cry super easily, I'm a sensitive baby. But like I'm just utterly bored of everyone on TB!!!

People compare them to the Starks but I don't see it? The Starks were incredibly interesting! Rhaenyras sons seem to be just culled from a Disney Family Movie.

I initially started leaning TG only because I couldn't find any ounce of sympathy or understanding for Alicent's situation that much, I didn't really even care for her. Now I just can't stand how obviously biased the show runners are with how they fucked up blood and cheese. It also ruined the opportunity to make TB actually interesting! Why are they so afraid to make the greens sympathetic?? I'm sooo utterly bored of TB!!!!!!!!!

Rhaenyra is a plain Mary Sue, I hate when people compare her to Daenerys. None of her children are interesting and I just absolutely despise Daemon and have NO idea why women simp for him.

Every time Alicent and especially her children come up on screen I'm just extremely intrigued. I cannot say the same for any character on TB. The only saving grace for TB is my love for Emma D'arcy but that's about it.

Anon, you expressed my exact thoughts!

I love Emma and Rhaenyra's character could have been so interesting if it was not framed as the character you should be rooting for "just because". Her narrative as a rightful ruler of Westeros is skewed and uninteresting because everything was handed to Rhaenyra on a silver platter.

I ADORE the greens because they are fighting tooth and nail with themselves, their imperfections, their outside influences, society's norms, pressures from centuries of indoctrination, and others' manipulation. Rhaenyra is fighting against what exactly? She would be more interesting to me if she was more flawed like you said, more eager to go out there and claim her rights, and less keen on being miss-goody-two-shoes for the viewers. Daemon is interesting because precisely he is so evil and horrible.

I also did not cry at all at this episode which is a shame because B&C is one of the worst, if not THE WORST event that GRRM has ever written and we got a minute of some reimagination of it. I wasn't at all pleased with how the writers and producers treated it and I was so disappointed at how they portrayed Helaena and did not give way to her grief and suffering. Let's see if they do so in episode 2.

TB are definitely not the Starks, and I'm glad the show does a poor job with TB's revered and immaculate portrayal because it would upset me if they tried to replace or replicate the Starks.

I'm also extremely intrigued by Alicent, Aegon, Aemond, Helaena, Otto, Larys, and Criston, and they are the main reason I will be watching S2 this summer.

[nomoreusername]

The Fandom Versions of TMR Characters

The TMR fandom is amazing. It has a significant number of great people. It has some very talented editors and writers.

However, like every fandom with a good following, it has its issues. One of its worst ones is honestly one of the most obnoxious things one can have in my opinion.

It has awful mischaracterization. It's less of completely changing a character's personality and more of going off one trait and making that all that they are.

It feels like Thomas gets portrayed as an idiot who only asks questions or doesn't ever listen to anyone. He also gets called overrated even though he's the main character of the series.

We first get introduced to him when he's a Greenie with no memory (except for his name in the books). Of course he’s going to want to know what is happening to him. The Glader's start out revealing very little to not intimidate the Greenie's which has to be frustrating. While it is clear he wants to figure almost everything out throughout the series, that's a very human trait. He’s also definitely not stupid. WCKD/WICKED picked him to work with them because they saw something in him. He is incredibly intelligent and quick on his feet. A lot of the time, he’s given no notice to make a decision. He just has to make it. Whether it's running into the Maze to save Minho and Alby, having to decide whether or not to go through with Newt’s note, or going back to the place that started all the pain and torture, he wasn't truly given time to prepare for such important and life-changing decisions. Despite this, he always did his best to make them.

Newt probably has the worst fanbase. I love him as a character. He’s been through so much and is still doing his best to keep everyone in line and afloat which is extremely admirable.

The problem is that people water his character down. They’ll treat him as though he isn't a Second-in-command, the second longest surviving Glader, a suicide survivor, and resilient to the most dangerous situations.

Newt is not someone who would need protection. If anything, he was a protector. He would have to do things such as banish Gladers (his friends), to protect the other ones. He was a Runner before he got a limp. He stood up to Thomas in the movies when he thought he was just being paranoid, showing that even though he does love his friends, he isn't afraid to confront them if he thinks they are wrong. The way he still remains loyal to the people he loves when he does though, is another trait that deserves more acknowledgement. He went out of his way in the movies to hide that he was slowly dying in front of everyone’s eyes and losing his mind just for Minho. He never expected to make it but didn't care. In the books, he lied to his friends about being taken to protect them from himself. He’s so strong, self aware and beautifully written.

Minho is sarcastic and does have witty comebacks. However, he’s so much more than that.

He was the Keeper of the Runners. For around three years he was not only doing the most deadly job, but training others to do it as well. He wasn't allowed to have fear or be weak in the Maze. Not when the cost would have been his life. Something more complex about him is the way he covers up his actual emotions. During Chuck's death in the movies everyone else is allowing their tears to fall. However, he closed his eyes so he wouldn't cry. Whether it's because he doesn't want to cry in front of people or just doesn't want to cry is uncertain, but both are painful to think about. Another thing about him is very subtle character development. When he first gets caught in the Maze, not only does he give up at first, he at one point leaves Thomas and Alby behind, showing his intense desperation to live despite him wanting to stay realistic. In the last two movies we don't see any other instances of him being willing to accept defeat or leaving others behind. While he may have been given the tag ‘the leader' it isn't something that could ever or should ever be denied about him.

His bond with Newt is also something that honestly deserves more recognition. From the way he dropped to his knees in the movies to how Thomas didn't tell him how he really died due to how much the two cared for each other, they are nothing less than platonic soulmates.

Gally gets a lot of hate. He’s seen as angry and ‘that character who killed Chuck’. In a lot of ways though, I think he's one of the most logical, relatable, and realistic characters.

While some people think he just randomly hated Thomas and Teresa, that's not at all true. In the movies, he seems civilized with him when they first meet. While his action of shoving him before he could go into the Maze may have seemed performative, the fear was most likely needed for Thomas to grasp the gravity of the situation. He can also be seen shaking hands with Thomas in Greenie night after the fight. In the books, he went through the changing. He was stung so he got some of his memories back the way Alby did. He told Thomas that he recognized him from those which was why he was suspicious towards him. His concerns were valid. Everything did change after Thomas and Teresa, and a lot of Gladers ended up dead. At one point, they had both worked for WICKED/WCKD. Something was up with them, the exact way he said there was. If someone came to my home and changed everything I knew I wouldn't trust them either. He cared for the Gladers and wanted the people he lived with for years to stay safe and be alive. He didn't want to just kill Teresa and Thomas. He wanted things to go back to how they were in a sense. He was afraid of leaving his home. He was afraid of change, the way so many people are.

He didn't kill Chuck. He would never hurt Chuck. In the books, WICKED had both him and Chuck under their control. In the movies, he was stung, meaning his actions did not belong to him. Even then, he was not aiming for the sweet kid. He was aiming for Thomas, who in his mind at the time, was one of the ones who had started him and his friends years of pain and suffering.

Movie Aris is my favorite. He is very sweet but the way people will describe him as innocent is wrong.

I do consider him and book Aris two different characters. So for now, this is strictly about him in the movies.

He’s seen alone when we first meet him. His friends are gone, and people are talking about him like a circus animal so it makes sense why he wouldn't want to be around anyone. He’s generally quieter than a lot of the main characters so he can get mistaken for just a background character. However, he literally got everyone out of WCKD. He never got any recognition for saving them, but he still did. When he does open his side of the door for everyone to get out there is at least one unconscious, previously armed guard on the ground, with his weapon now being held in his hand. This shows that he is capable of taking care of himself despite his at first glance passive demeanor. He knows to break the control pad to buy everyone time and books it. What must be less than an hour later, he’s helping take down Cranks with a single bat, also showing quick thinking from the way he knows to trip them so they could focus on getting away. Not to mention, he’s doing all of this after finding out his friend (and possible lover) is going to die. On a lighter note, we see his face light up and how much he talks with Sonya and Harriet when they all meet again, showing that he's not afraid of speaking to others. He just has a few and specific group of people he feels comfortable actually talking with, which is literally just being an introvert.

All of those are why he is not innocent or in need of saving. He knows how to look after himself and others.

That's just the basics of The Maze Runner fandom's mischaracterization problem.

[nalyra-dreaming]

I can't stop thinking about how IWTV spent a LONG TIME in pre-production hell until it only actually got made VERY SUDDENLY once Anne Rice died. I think there's a correlation.

Those of us who have been around long enough to remember what Anne Rice was like about Lestat know she was hyperfocussed on him much more than any of the other characters.

I think this affected production. I think she might have been indecisive and controlling, and possibly unable to fully commit to letting a team play with her vision. I think that would have really ground casting and other creative processes to a standstill. I don't know, I just know how it felt.

I remember READING ABOUT a Vampire Chronicles series for about ten years or so and thinking it would never happen because she'd never let anyone have Lestat as fully as is necessary for a series unless she was show runner herself, but that wasn't going to happen because she was a writer, not a show runner, she was old, and she couldn't decide on how to best do her characters justice, and didn't trust anyone else.

- (maybe understandable, given as she originally wouldn't watch the IWTV movie, and QotD was objectively an awful adaptation) -

I stopped caring because I didn't think it would ever happen, and if it did I expected it would be the Lestat Show and nobody else would be more than supporting cast.

Aaaaaaaand then pretty much as soon as she was dead it seems like they SUDDENLY got greenlit for everything, like yes start rolling, Sam come out of hiding, period change is approved, 1900s NOLA go go go!!!

I'm asking because I genuinely don't know what Anne Rice ever knew of the actual series, and I feel like the long pre-production period was kind of tied to her not being entirely down with it?

Hey!

Soooo... Anne knew. Christopher knew / knows, too.

Both likely signed an NDA I would assume.

This show has a history, as you point out, and I talked about it (ages ago) here (with links):

(Do read @cbrownjc's excellent addition that is linked in there, too!)

And this history likely resulted in an NDA when AMC bought all rights... and did not use Christopher's script. Imho.

So Anne knew I bet, and if she hadn't been so (fatally) ill then, she would have come to adore the show I think. Because, as you know, she also hated the movie, and the casting, and and and... and ultimately, she loved Tom Cruise's Lestat. And so on.

I mean, it was a very personal thing for her - as we all know she modeled them on herself and Stan and Michele... and throughout the years and the decisions wrt fandom and fanfiction and so on that always came through.

Anne knew, unfortunately she died just when they started filming.

But, you know... I bet, if she were here, she would see it as a handover of Lestat to Sam. Because everybody keeps saying he is possessed, and I can only agree :))))

[reignof-fyre]

If Daemon really, truly was Maegor come again like Otto and team green really thought he was, Viserys' reign would have been a lot shorter, just saying.

Because Viserys didn't have a dragon or a son, only a daughter. And if Daemon truly was Maegor come again and wanted the throne as badly as the show writers think he did, he'd have no qualms about being a kinslayer or usurper.

But he didn't. He supported Viserys in the ways he could: as a soldier. He did his job as Commander of the City Watch, gelded rapists, cut off the hands of theives, executed murderers....but this is too much? This is a medieval world where prison time does. Not. Exist.

Also, Daemon only lost his potions on the small council because of Otto. Otto was the one to tell Viserys that Daemon was doing his job incorrectly, so Viaerys fired him. He was then given the post as LC of the City Watch, and he did his job effectively.

Otto claimed it was overly brutal and harsh, but the punishments actually fit the crimes of the time period. And Daemon spent a lot of time in the bowls of Flea Bottom and the smallfolk loved him, and he cared for them. So of course he's gonna go overboard to look after them. He wasn't called Lord Flea Bottom and Prince of the City for nothing.

Also, Daemon gathered an army and used Caraxes to support Viserys' claim at the Great Council, and at this time Daemon likely believed Viserys would have a son. He wasn't supporting Viserys cause it would bring Daemon himself close to the throne, he did it because Viserys is his brother and he loved him.

The show runners of hotd have truly, absolutely done a disservice to the character of Daemon because he is both good and bad, light and dark, the epitome of an anti-hero and morally grey protagonist. The show has made him into some sort of villainous caricature who twirls his villain moustache and cackles weirdly.

It's utterly ridiculous they looked at Daemon from F&B and thought...that is a villain and a villain only.

He's not. He's a morally grey anti-hero who does bad things for what he believes as good reasons and for his family and the people he loves most.

[queenvhagar]

One thing that irked me was Alicent speaking highly of Viserys. He did so many awful things to her, and was a lousy dad to their children. I wish they would just let her be free of that man.

Also for some reason the show runners have been trying to say he was one of the best kings ever. He literally is the cause of the entire war. He thought he was above the law and named his daughter as heir knowing a full on war would break out

Shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the text by the writers. This war resulted because Viserys was a weak king. His avoidance of conflict might have made him peaceful but it did not make him wise. He knew a succession crisis was brewing and dangerous politics were at play, and he didn't care or dare enough to do anything about it. His legacy is weakness and failure.

[missfreija]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you for the compliments mwah! hugs!

[loustat-0]

About rooting for Loustat . I don't know how to say this but at this point, I love loustat from the books more than AMC version because their first flight together was so romantic in the queen of the damned and now the has destroyed that beautiful romantic scene forever . Because if they come to it in future seasons it will always be traumatic for Louis remembering what happened the last time and it will also be horrifying to Lestat too . I will never forgive Rollin for accepting this storyline . This changes something fundamental in loustat relationship forever . 😓

As much as I 100% agree with you on " never forgiving Rollin Jones for accepting that storyline for Loustat " but I can say that in my opinion they can modify this traumatic experience for both of them in future seasons if they care .

FIRST of all : as you mentioned too their relationship is forever . And they can last forever if they don't commit suicide . So who knows what will happen in years between them ? Who knows if they will ever try something new and forgive each other or not ? This traumatic experience is somehow similar to their loss of Claudia . But in the books they heal from it eventually , they find a way even though she still remains apart of their souls .

Second : that scene creates another layer on their relationship that if it's worked on then it will heal too and they will grow out of it or maybe make a beautiful memory out of later . For example if the show runners are smart enough they can still make Louis trust Lestat again by making Lestat be the one who teach him how to fly and if Louis was about to fall again Lestat catches him everytime until Louis does it his own . And then Louis likes Lestat catching him too much that he insists on Lestat flying them . They are lovers and as lovers they need to finally heal each other's wounds from each other . This is another thing that they should handle together and who knows they won't forgive each other eventually ? I'm sure they will do that .

Third : my only worry is that unfortunately it seems like the writer and show runner don't know exactly why they wrote that drop scene in 1x5 because even revisiting it didn't have any meaning other than Louis still hates Lestat for it and Lestat hates himself for it and that this is something really big in their relationship . They gave them a very unnecessary layer in my opinion . But I also want to trust them one more time and let myself think that maybe they gave this layer to their relationship on purpose so that them getting out of their trauma and healing together about this horrible thing will cause their relationship grow more beautifully . Their love would mature more than the books .

[buddiebeginz]

I wanted to bring up something I haven't seen anyone else talk about recently and that's the fact that Oliver and Ryan are two (presumably) straight actors who are playing two characters who will likely come out as queer soon. The reason I bring this up is because in the past I've seen people hate on straight actors who play queer roles. Saying that lgbtq roles should always go to lgbtq actors and that it's not right for straight actors to play those parts. As someone who is bisexual I strongly disagree with this. While I absolutely think we need more queer rep both on an off screen I think roles should always go to whoever is best for the part. I don't want to live in a world where actors are required to disclose their sexuality before they can't even go up for a part. Plus this kind of thinking also gives people on social media motivation to attack actors who haven't disclosed their sexuality (if you know the show Heartstopper you likely know what I'm talking about).

Like I get that a lot of the discourse around this kind of stuff comes from a good place. From people just wanting to make sure that our stories are being told correctly and with care and also wanting to see people who truly understand those stories play those parts. And also to see queer actors get opportunities they often don't get because even our stories get told by straight actors sometimes.

Still as an older millennial I've been watching queer media for years and years. Some of the best lgbtq media I've watched had straight actors playing gay roles. Queer as Folk is one of my all time favs. Most of the cast were straight but the show runners/writers were gay so the stories never felt disingenuous. I also never felt like the cast was just playing a part for a paycheck. They always felt like they were trying to tell these stories with as much care as possible, in fact it feels like they cared about their time on that show in some ways even more than a lot of their other roles.

I can't imagine anyone else playing Buck or Eddie besides Oliver and Ryan. They are what make Buddie so captivating and the biggest reason why we are all so invested. Chemistry like theirs is like lightning in a bottle it doesn't come along on every show and it wouldn't be there if they didn't care about the stories they were telling.

I know that most of the Buddie fandom wouldn't hate on Oliver and Ryan but I just needed to rant about this because I'm sure I'll see people bring this up at some point on twitter when this storyline starts to unfold. I just wish people would realize that an actor doesn't have to live an experience to tell it well that's what the job is. And you can tell when Oliver in particular talks about the show how much it matters to him that he tells Buck's story with authenticity even more so now that Buck is likely to be coming out.

As someone who is bi I can't tell you how important it will be if when that happens. Having a character like Buck who is a little older and fits into a lot of the heteronormative stereotypes come out will be huge and I know Oliver is the best person to tell this story.

Same with Ryan and Eddie. Even more so in some ways because if we do get a coming out story with Eddie we'll get to see an older Latino man figuring out his sexuality and having to deal with all of the cultural and familial pressures than could bring. Queer rep respecially for characters of color isn't something we get a lot of in mainstream media but even less for a character like Eddie and if it happens it will be incredibly important. Ryan has already proved how much he cares when telling Eddie's story especially with things like his ptsd and being a veteran so I know he'll put the same love into a coming out story for Eddie.

[kepnerandavery]

Bridgerton season 3 (part 1) review

Thoughts on polin this season:

I stand corrected, people. I loved Penelope and Colin this season. I found the writing of those two as individual characters and a couple (on the show) to be mediocre before, but my god, it's like they jumped straight out of the fourth book this season. It's like I finally got to meet book Penelope and Colin (especially Colin). And the chemistry of the leads really surprised me too. I don't know what was going on before this season, but they are great together now. The writing/portrayal of the personalities of the two characters and their connection was spot on, and I honestly have no notes. I wish they had kept this same essence since the beginning, but I get why they were saving this until their season. As I expected, the execution of the translation of this season and couple from the book to screen was the best out of all three seasons. I wish the past two couples got the same attention and treatment (specially kanthony), but alas, there's nothing to be done about that. RMB is my fourth favourite book in the series, but this season is honestly my favourite. The dialogue, costumes, locations, aesthetic of the sets, and even the silent moments between the leads were so poignant. And this season made it clear how a show having a female show-runner can impact it so positively.

Now, on to the other things:

I really liked how they handled Penelope and Eloise's friendship and its fallout this season. Their friendship was written more subtly and with care this season and resembled the one in the books for the first time ever for me. And how they both changed as individuals by the absence of the solace the two of them found in each other in the past as they stood against the confoundedness and cruelty of society was written so well.

Kanthony were adorable and really cute and it's such a shame that we got so few scenes of them. At least they are together and happy.

I hate how they keep making a mockery of Benedict's character. It's clear that he should have already met Sophie and gotten his story cause his character feels lost among everyone else, but the poor boy is still smiling, so that's something I guess. I just wish they would for once properly focus on his love for art and improvement of his talent instead of his little dalliances. It's almost like the writers think that he has no other values/interests beyond that. I feel like the writers are so much better at handling Eloise's character and preparing her for her season than they are at writing Ben's. For god's sake, they should at least give him a best friend, or further build his relationship with one of his siblings or Violet to give his character some substantiality.

Eloise was really great this season and seemed so much more mature and grounded. Her costumes were immaculate too. I just wish we had seen her bond with Francesca more cause they're really close in the books.

As for Francesca, I'm sorry, I didn't like how her character or story was written this season. She was never meant to be this.. idk... plain and quirky? (no one come at me cause I'm a book Fran apologist). After watching these four episodes I feel like Ruby had a better grasp on Francesca's character than Hannah does but it could also have something to do with the very bland writing. But then again, most of what we know of Fran is from WHWW and she is more mature in it, so like polin, her character could also get major development later on as she gets older. But I don't have high hopes for that. And dare I say, I also didn't like how John was written either. He was always way more confident and outgoing in my mind (I also expected them to cast an actor of a larger build and screen presence to play him). But I do see how this version of him suits the new version of Fran. But all in all, neither of them were this particular in my imagination. I hadn't had any hopes for the adaptation of Michael's character since last season came out, so this is literally the nail on that coffin for me. At this point, I'm very desensitised to being let down by this show and prefer to be pleasantly surprised, so who cares.

The soundtrack was great (though nothing can beat season one's in my opinion). But Snow On The Beach playing in episode four at the exact moment it did was really poignant and sweet so it's my favourite song they used this season (so far).

Favorite quote:

"Eros and Psyche battling it out." "What you are trying to say, Miss Cowper? Are they not old friends?" "The oldest of friends, really. Ever since the Featheringtons moved in across the street." "Across the street from the Bridgerton house?" 😭 (argghhh! why is that the cutest thing? whoever wrote that deserves a raise!!!)

Suffice to say, I'm very excited to see how the rest of the season is written. I hope they handle the whole LWD thing with care too.

[geekthefreakout]

So, I've been having this thought.

Crowley, perhaps post-bookshop divorce, is sitting in a pub or a coffee shop and the server calls his name, but they say it wrong.

They pronounce it like with the "ow" sound, like in Supernatural. And Crowley, mildly miffed, is like "where did you get that from?"

And the server is a Supernatural fan and explains that there's a demon named Crowley-like-owl-not-crow who helps stop the apocalypse.

And Crowley is like "imagine that. That's weird. Say more."

And the server explains a bit. How SPN!Crowley is this demon who is aware that should the big fight happen, he won't be counted among the winners regardless of which way it goes, and he just wants the world to keep on as it is, so he joins forces with the Winchesters and their renegade angel to stop it. He becomes King of Hell after to fill the power vacuum (and here GO!Crowley gives a bitter scoff) and he is both a villain and a hero and sometimes neither of those things.

Crowley inquires more about the angel, Castiel, and the server enthusiastically describes him. They remark that Crowley(spn) and Castiel have a fun dynamic, because they hate each other but also have to work together, because they're in love.

Crowley looks dumbfounded, and of course the server can't know why, but they do clarify that they are in love with Dean, not each other. Dean being a stand-in for humanity, of course, which is how the show runners wanted you to see it.

"But then at the end they FINALLY let Cas be all the way gay for Dean. Like, a decade of subtext and queer baiting denial, and FINALLY with 2 episodes left in the whole show, they let Cas tell Dean that he cares about humanity because he cares about Dean. Like, he actually gets to tell him he's in love with him."

A pause.

"Well, and then he gets sucked directly to Turbo Hell, so. That sucked. It went canon in THE most homophobic way possible, which is kind of on brand for the show--"

"Turbo hell?????? What is that, the tenth circle?"

"Oh, the place that angels and demons go when they die. The Empty. They don't get an afterlife, they just sleep forever and dream about the bad stuff. It's pretty awful, but Cas gets rescued from their off screen by the end so at least that's something-"

"What about the demon?"

"Oh, Crowley-like-owl? He got killed off for good at the end of season 12."

Crowley-like-crow stares through his sunglasses and the server elaborates again. For some reason, they haven't been called to other tables for anything the entire time they've been speaking.

"It was a good death, I think. He died to save the boys and trap Lucifer in another dimension- it's complicated. But he got to say that he actually hated being King of Hell, and he hated Lucifer, and he got to go out on a good deed. I think the actor was tired of the writers playing around with the character's arc. Walking back development, never committing to what they wanted to do with him... And that led to Crowley being kinda inconsistent and underappreciated. So he asked to be killed off and he walked away from the show."

"Huh. Shame, that."

"Yeah, everyone missed him. There are some characters that I REALLY wish he'd gotten to meet. And I also wish that he got a little more love."

"He was a demon. Love's not exactly in their repertoire."

"It's not supposed to be. It was, though. Cas practically invented free will because he loved Dean. And I guess Crowley also didn't fit into the mold God had set for him, either."

"I suppose God's Plan is... Ineffable in the show."

"I mean. Kinda at first? But the last season God is fully the bad guy."

"WHAT??"

Anyway, Crowley watches Supernatural and has no idea if he hates it or not. He probably does. But somehow, Crowley-like-owl and Castiel and their often unappreciative charges make his heart ache. He deliberately notes all the ways that Castiel is nothing like Aziraphale, thank you very much. He supposes he's glad that Adam never turned either of them into action figures.

He watches and he tries not to wish Aziraphale was watching with him.

[blade-liger-4ever]

Just saw this last night, and HOO-BOY, I LOVED IT!

So, I won't really get into the plot, at least for now, because I just gotta get the cast talked about first.

The casting of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is perfect! Pierce Brosnen nailed Chiron, and I get the feeling he would have stolen more scenes if he'd had more screentime (the moment he said "Are you kidding? This is the best part", he became one of my favorite background characters.) The kid doing Percy made me really like the character; I never read the books until recently, and even then I skipped straight to the second arc where the Romans are involved, but even with this current book where Percy is a POV character, I did and do not care for him as much as Movie Percy. Kid was great, ten outta ten acting.

Annabeth struck me as far more interesting in the movie than the books. Heck, even before I read from her viewpoint she didn't interest me at all; in the movie, she's rather arrogant and snobbish, but it works in the character's favor and makes her far more compelling. The actress did great, and props to her for endearing Annabeth to me: that was a feat.

Grover was THE BEST of the trio, I will not take criticism. He protected Percy, took everything in stride, and figured out what they were dealing with on the fly easily - all without being Mr. Perfect and still being humorous (e.g. when they leave Medusa's severed and sunglasses-laden head in the hotel sink, Grover responds, "Guys, really? I cannot pee with her staring at me." Top notch comedy, I need more films with this actor.)

Sean Bean was good as Zeus. I don't have much to say about his part, honestly; he wasn't there much, but 1 he made Zeus tolerable, and 2 he had the most presence out of all the actors, with Kevin McKidd being a close, and I mean close, runner up.

Speaking of, Kevin McKidd, AKA Fenn Rau from Star Wars Rebels (and the big draw of this film for me), was. Absolutely. AWESOME.

And he only really had ten minutes in the film!

Seriously though, he played Poseidon so well. You could tell he was thousands of years old, still in his prime, and resisting every instinct to run over, hug Percy, and never let him go when they were within a hundred feet of each other. Even when all you could get from him in the movie was his voice, the care and urgency for his son's safety carried through beautifully.

The other actors - Hades, Persephone, the mortal actors in the background - they were all equally great. They made the characters likable, despicable, or somewhere in between. Bravo, people!

And then there's the second draw of this film for me: Jake Abel as Luke, son of Hermes, and the true lightning thief.

If there was ever anything that showed how much wasted potential the writers of Supernatural had when consistently throwing Jake Abel out the window after having him appear like six times in the show, this film was it.

He made Luke funny, likable, and mischievous, garnering the love of the audience, and then broke the hearts of those who liked him when he turned around and revealed he was an angry, hurt young man who wanted to overthrow the Olympians and take over in their stead in order to "right" their wrongs of being neglectful jerks (the only one who wasn't actually completely neglectful on purpose was Poseidon. My guy was trying his hardest to stay in touch with Percy and did everything he could to help him out.)

Jake Abel, I'm sincerely sorry you never got the next four films that should have come after Sea of Monsters, and even more sorry that you got so dissed in Supernatural. Consider this post of mine a letter of apology.

Okay, plot discussion time - well, at least the gushing of how it was handled.

So, setting up the whole war between the Olympians actually doesn't strike me as horribly handled. Yes yes, there's more "concrete" reasons for it in the book, but for the public who have never heard of these books, it's not all that farfetched. I mean, public opinion of Hades is always bad (I'm sorry Hades, you really don't deserve that rep), Poseidon doesn't particularly care for drama, and his mood tends to switch on a dime, and Zeus? Please, we all know how much of a jerk-butt he is. Be honest: Is it really all that hard to believe Zeus declaring war if his master bolt isn't returned in two weeks? And as for him jumping to the conclusion of Poseidon's son stealing it - just look at the opening scene of the film. The way Poseidon got physical that fast, and moments before was practically spitting venom at Zeus for banning him from seeing his son, it's no wonder Zeus thought Poseidon would've done something to make Percy steal it from him.

Now before you come at me, let me put it this way.

Think of yourself in Zeus' mindset. You're a capricious jerk, who won't take the blame, don't care for your offspring at all, and are constantly at odds with your brothers over power/territory struggles. Using your kid is gonna be as natural as breathing to you, so why wouldn't you assume your brothers would do the same? Hmm?

Now, the family and school drama was done excellently as well, especially that moment where one of the kids at the school grabs another and slams him against a locker while Percy and Grover make tracks. Gabe was perfectly detestable, and it was immensely satisfying to see Grover wallop his butt. The race to Camp Half-Blood was done well, although the Chevelle didn't deserve that fate (I will, however, accept the obvious fact that it only got dinged up and lost the hood. A modern day car would have exploded on impact with the ground and sent shrapnel everywhere.)

The scenes with the camp were good, especially how it was quickly yet subtly established that everyone there had lived there for some years and were already pros at combat and other physical activities. Hades' entrance was great, the progression across the country was well-paced, and Luke's help throughout was done neatly and in a manner where the audience only got a glimmer of resentment from him before the bolt was found in the shield.

Speaking of, the scene in the Underworld is severely underappreciated. The effects were grand, the acting well-done, and the positioning of the Underworld in Hollywood is genius on many levels.

The fight scene in Manhatten was good, though I confess Luke's aerial combat was a bit spotty at the beginning. Otherwise it was great, and the first show of Percy's powers was magnificent. No joke, that CGI and other effects are gonna hold up for another thousand years.

Olympus was beautiful, quite honestly, and I love 1 the sheer difference in scale they showed between the humans and the Olympians, and 2 how Poseidon "sheds" water to shrink and appear more normal. More effects that are spectacular and underrated.

The last scene - the return to camp and training - not much to say, other than that it felt really organic, natural, and beautiful. All in all, a great film that's unfairly hated on.

Okay, now for some personal gushing on my part.

So, I'm sure you guessed by now that I was here for Kevin McKidd, mostly because I knew him first in Star Wars Rebels. This is my first time watching him onscreen, but it was amazing and captivating on his part. Not only did he make me believe that he was the Greek god of the seas, but he made me feel Poseidon's pain of not being with Percy and his desire to connect with him, and he certainly made me believe that Poseidon would do anything in his power to help Percy, no matter what loophole abuse he had to commit lest raising Zeus' ire.

As for the dynamic itself, I'm so so happy.

I love how Poseidon risked so much to physically be at the museum while Percy was across the street from him, just to make sure that he could both warn Percy completely and see him in case something went wrong. And although it's a sore spot for the fans, I love how Chiron shows Percy his own little home at Camp Half-Blood, and outright states that Poseidon built it for him. Just Percy, no one else; that's like a father making a specific room for his son, and the fact that they allowed Poseidon to be shown to love Percy more than anything through little things like that is enough to make me burst in happiness.

I loved how Poseidon guided Percy to the water to heal him and give him a second wind in Capture the Flag, and that he woke up Percy and refused to let him be lulled back into the Lotus Eaters' trap until he was sure Percy was back to his senses and able to get out on his own. And when Percy's in the hall of Olympus, Poseidon is practically begging Zeus, his younger brother, to let him speak with Percy, because he knows a chance like this won't arise again for a while. And the sheer relief in his face when Zeus allows it, man, I could've died at that.

The talk between father and son, it was beautiful. It makes sense that Percy has some remaining resentment toward Poseidon for leaving, for not kicking out his stepfather, and the fact that Poseidon doesn't even hold it against him is wonderful. The moment he explains why he couldn't see Percy, and the second Percy realizes the law forbidding the Olympians from seeing their children had been passed because Poseidon loved him so much he was abandoning his duties is golden. And Poseidon telling him that he was always watching Percy and helping him as best he could, and how he promised to always be there for Percy, even in his thoughts and dreams - beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

And the icing on the cake? You remember that I mentioned a training round at camp at the end? It's between Percy and Annabeth, and they're on a hill, but guess what can be seen below the hill?

The lake.

Where Poseidon can watch his son training, and has an easier time of making contact with him.

This movie is a masterpiece, and if you're not a fan of the books and have never seen it before, please, go give Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief a watch! You won't regret it!

[andreal831]

I know you like bonenzo, but what are your thoughts on Carenzo?

I loved their banter throughout season 5, and in season 6 I fell in love with them and was really disappointed when they didn’t ever get together. Enzo is actually my favorite Caroline ship, as Matt was just bad for obvious reasons, Klaus hurt her multiple times (you could honestly call it abuse) and she used him all the time, and I just found her and Stefan extremely boring. I actually liked her and Tyler together, but too much damage was done for them to ever end up together imo.

Also do you think you’ll continue with TGW outtakes? If so, would you consider writing some extra scenes with Elijah, Hayley, and Astra while they were in France?

I adore platonic Carenzo.

If the writers hadn't been so determined to sideline Bonnie and prioritize Damon, Steroline and Bonenzo could have been such a fun group. Enzo and Stefan would have annoyed each other but they would have put up for it for Caroline and Bonnie. I wish they would have continued Stefan and Bonnie's friendship from the early seasons rather than giving it to Damon. It always seemed more realistic for me. Also, Enzo's loyalty to Damon and hatred of Stefan never made sense to me. Honestly, Enzo and Stefan could have bonded over being betrayed by Damon. Enzo just decides to forgive Damon for abandoning him and killing his love and blaming Stefan for everything??

I personally never wanted Caroline and Enzo to be romantic. They bonded during a time where Caroline really needed a friend and Enzo stepped up. It is one of the reasons I love Enzo's character. Enzo was the character they wanted Damon to be. He did a lot of bad (even terrible) things but was striving to be a better person and actually made himself a better person. I would have been fine with them writing Damon off and brining in Enzo for better storylines than they gave him. I also just love Michael Malarkey.

I am a huge advocate for platonic relationships. It's fine to ship people, but not everyone who gets along needs to be romantically invovled. Although I do definitely see why people ship them. But I liked that Caroline and Enzo grew to care for each other but never needed to make it romantic. And honestly, Caroline needed just friends. I feel like the writers were matching her up with anyone she came in contact with. Stefan was gone for five seconds and they had Enzo flirting with her. I wanted the show to focus on friendships/family more than the ships at times.

My favorite ships for Caroline are Steroline and then Forwood. I love friends to lovers. Nearly all of my favorite ships are. Both Steroline and Forwood had that great foundation before they started dating. They were each other's best friends. To me Steroline was always endgame. The way they fought for each other and looked out for one another was great. Forwood is a close runner up and would have been endgame had Klaus not gotten in the way for no reason. Tyler didn't deserve anything Klaus put him through. I think they could have found their way back to each other but they had both already moved on by the time the dust settled.

I did actually like Matt and Caroline at times but they were both just in emotionally fragile spots when they dated. But they were a cute high school relationship. I don't consider Klaus and Caroline a relationship -- it was just straight abuse.

I know I went on a lot of side tangents, but thanks for the ask! I don't talk about TVD nearly enough.

I am continuing TGW Outtakes! I'm also already writing scenes of them spending the weekend in Paris. There will be lots of wine, art, and kissing. I am just writing very slowly now that we are near the end of the story. There are so many lose ends to tie up.

[ride-thedragon]

I'm so tired of defending his ass

but it needs to be said the Daemon who leaves King's Landing with Nettles is not the Daemon who marries Rhaenyra on Dragonstone.

He has lost 4 kids that he either made or helped raise. His family is feeling the brunt of that grief. He lost a brother at the start of the war as well, his last immediate family member.

His wife is actively isolated in her grief.

A young girl who just lost her home and a friend is also grieving. They have shared grief over Jace and are sent away from anyone else they can connect to during such a tumultuous time in their lives. They literally have to depend on each other each day to search for Vhagar.

In the show, I don't think that Daemon, known reactionary and emotional man, will handle it well. He still hasn't processed his brother's death from the way he reacted to the news about it.

(Thinking Alicent committed regicide to crown her son while his brother was a visual representation of the fates from Hercules cutting the thread of life/ Choking Rhaenyra for rightfully implying that had her father trusted him as heir he'd have known the prophecy)

So, I don't think that well established characterization is going to change. He's grieving, he's going to continue doing it throughout the war, and when his wife isn't trusting him or going through their shared grief with him (completely justifiably) he's going to turn to someone we know is alone in her grief during the war when he's sent away with her.

Her isolation is juxtaposed with Addam's in the narrative because where he has Corlys, she has no one to go through the exact thing with.

I don't think she'll turn away from someone she can relate to in that moment.

I think there's a misguided attempt to devalue his characterization in Episode 10 in the fandom, and while I understand it because of ships, I don't think it's a good thing. It's only going to serve to disillusion viewers who ship Daemon and Rhaenyra currently into not caring for the setup, and if the writers pay the slightest bit of attention, which they seem to do, they'll push hard to make everyone understand that this is not happily ever after, or a fairytale with a perfect ending of dying as one's lover calls.

Writers , especially ones who have domain over ASOIAF lore, are going to break your hearts to draw thematic parallels to the original series. And because a lot of you seem to glide past simple themes, they'll need to double down to get their point across.

(They already had to in season one, and some of you still didn't get it. Like Nyra not being a man is the reason she's so readily usurped or Daemon not being rational in grief or Alicent stuck in a perpetual cycle of abuse that she's been conditioned to not escaped and perpetuate to others.)

This is not a fight for your favorite ship. Write fanfiction. Stop fighting character development and developing themes.

Stop making hard to hate Daemon because of misinterpretations and attempts to defy characterizations. I just want a safe space to hate him and love the women he'd have been with. (Lady Rhea safe space).

I'm not known for my Daemyra love by any means but I do understand why people like it and I'm not one to go out of my way to hate on it. (Nettles love isn't Nyra hate)

But I feel like the narrative about the show runners ruining Daemyra by doing the Nettles plotline is over done and not fair to people who like her, Daemon or their relationship. The show runners have made it very clear who this man is and fortunately have shown his selfish actions along with his good ones to show his nature.

(Laena was never the issue. Rhaenyra isn't going to be the issue. There's a common thread.)

Me to Targ / ASOIAF men.

[danieljradcliffe]

What was wrong with it? The only thing I didn’t like was that Carlos went from saying how bad the Rangers were as an institution in the previous episode but then he was suddenly okay going off and taking the law in his own hands the next as if he’s also not under an institution that facilitates white supremacy and his very act of wanting to take the law in his own hands is exactly what is wrong with people in his profession

I'll put this under a read more because apparently my opinion is vv unpopular.

Wyatt/Judd storyline: I know this is a ridiculous drama show and I shouldn't take it seriously but... as someone who works in the healthcare system and has spent a large portion of my career in rehab....... this was just the most disability!saviour bullshit. Judd taking Wyatt home to try and rehab him, himself? Not having Wyatt have his own autonomy in that? Wyatt not being told by physicians (even though he is an adult, with capacity) about his prognosis? Wyatt requires long term, specialized rehab with professionals who are experts in their field? I don't know this entire plot line rubbed me so wrong.

Robert/Owen storyline: We didn't know Robert well enough for this to be as "heart breaking" as the writers intended. So much valuable time in these episodes was dedicated to this but as a viewer I felt disconnected from what was happening. And for the final moments to go to that (very triggering death scene) over a hopeful, joyful moment of Tarlos on their honeymoon was a fucked-up choice.

Gabriel: I wonder if there will come a day when writers recognize that you don't need to kill off characters to advance other character's storylines. A much more impactful (and less lazy) way to move Carlos' progression forward would have been to keep Gabriel alive and have them work through their issues. Growth, healing, communication. Isn't that so much more beautiful and poignant that a shocking and traumatizing death that was simply used for shock value? On a similar note, what the hell was the point of the Reyes sisters? I wish he stayed an assumed only child. The rehearsal dinner was full of characters we didn't know or care about (save Tarlos, Owen, and Gabriel/Andrea).

Tarlos: There literally wasn't a conversation between them at their own wedding....... They were in the background for the entirety of the reception. We got literally 6 seconds of a honeymoon. Tim fucking cut all of the scenes they used to promo the wedding that we all went feral over. How much more was probably filmed that we didn't get? And for what? All of 4.18 TK felt like a prop just there to further Carlos' arc. For Carlos to again end up LYING and DECEIVING "the love of his life." This arc may have worked if it was spread out for an entire season. But to try and shove it into half an episode? It felt incredibly rushed and the writing felt sloppy. All the rhetoric of Tarlos and the viewers' "earning" the wedding. Why can't they be happy after everything? Why can't we enjoy their wedding without having to earn anything? They use Tarlos to advertise and promote and when it comes down to it the show runners don't deliver and delete half their scenes and pretend they care about "representation."

Queer characters and queer viewers deserve authentic and happy plot lines that are not OVERSHADOWED by trauma and grief. I truly would have rathered they postponed the wedding until season 5 rather than thrown it on at the end like they did. It didn't feel right. Where was the joy they promised? Nothing could've made up for what we went through prior.

But none of the ABOVE even mattered when it came down to the wedding because as a viewer, I was fucking reeling from watching Gabriel's needless death that I didn't even process what I was seeing. They tainted the wedding for fucking ever. I've rewatched the vows but I can't even fully invest in them. While it was airing, I wanted to turn it off. I didn't want to watch. I was stunned, numb, and angry. Those emotions are now what I relate to the supposed "Tarlos Wedding" episode. It may have been better honestly split into 2 weeks so that the viewers could process and prepare.

Anyways... that's a little bit of what I'm feeling.

Sidenote... For anyone who has experienced the loss of a parent (I have and i think that's what made this ep so hard for me), my ask/inbox is always open. Your feelings are valid and I hope you're all taking care of yourself after last night.