#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.

[mayandjuly1811]

I DISLIKE HUNTER'S FAVORITISM

Lilith is so based for this. Hunter gets special treatment from not only in the Emperor's coven but also in the entire show, crew and fandom.

The crew also loves the idea of giving him more trauma and focus. During livestreams and talk shows, there are always questions about him, even more than King - one of the main characters.

In the show, many point out that the first letters of the episodes in which he appears with the Hexsquad is an acronym for H-E-A-L (Hunting Palismen, Eclipse Lake, Any Sports in A Storm, Labyrinth Runner). It means the Hexsquad, even Luz, the main character, is a plot device for his arc. I also knew that Hunter was written to stay at the Owl House after the whole event of Hollow Mind. Imagine him staying with the main characters of the show, having them comforting him, center around him. It will be the same with how the Hexsquad is written to be centered around him as his support system again, specifically Gus and Willow. Undoubtedly, the show intended to make him one of the main characters so obviously that it isn't subtle anymore.

- Luz: the main character of the show. In season 2B, Hunter replaces Luz as their new best friend in the trio. Like seriously? Even though Luz is dating Amity, she can still have spare time for her friends. But the writers don't care, so Hunter will have more time with Willow and Gus. It paints Luz in a bad light as someone who throws her friendship away once she finds love. It's OOC of Luz. Never thought a main character could get such bad writing treatment.

The nightmare sequence is also unreasonable. While others’ resentment towards Luz sounds more logical, Hunter's isn't, at least to me. I don't get why the writers wrote Luz thinking Hunter get mad of her like this “I lost him helping you.” Who helps who actually? He came to Luz's place first. He was the one asking Luz for help and not the other way around. He literally ran away first and intended to face Belos alone despite Luz's calling. Even though Luz is self-blaming, her interaction in the nightmare sequence with Hunter makes no sense.

- Next is Amity: I was expecting Amity to have more screen time with Willow, since I'm not satisfied with how their friendship is written. But alas, if Luz, the main character, doesn't even have any episodes ever since Hunter appears, how could Amity - a side character - can?

The writing flaw is obvious in her rekindled friendship with Willow. The way Amity views Willow's strength is negatively retconned. In Understanding Willow, she says that she didn't think of Willow as weak. In the next episode, she even cooperates with Willow and Luz to compete against Boscha. Grudgeby is a dangerous sport, and Boscha is a tough competitor who has won several cups. Obviously, Willow proves her strength there, shows her magic and even scores the last goal. Amity sees it all. In season 1, it's going in the right direction, Amity acknowledges that Willow isn't weak and even cooperates with her. She never tries to stop Willow from competing with the excuse of thinking her weak. But in Labyrinth Runner, she gets done dirty so bad. The writers intend to show that she's overprotective of Willow and wants to protect her, but by what way? Trying to make up for the times when she can't stand up for Willow in the past? No, by underestimating her. This makes no sense compared to how she's written in season 1. This scene, when Amity says that the guards are tough, and not anyone can stand up to them, her lines can be added up like “Willow, you just got kidnapped by them and I'm worried about you. I faced the Scouts before, and they were quite tough, so I got thrown down the pit by one.” It would be better than writing her as underestimating Willow's strength! Oh and I hate the irritating scene “Good luck, Willow”. They could have just written Amity asking Willow if she was okay.

Why Amity is retconned like that? I strongly believe that Amity is flanderized as someone who underestimates Willow's strength to uplift Hunter, who admires and appreciates her strength despite only meeting her once. I already saw “Willow forgives Hunter faster because he sees her as strong while Amity sees her as a weakling.”

- Willow: Any Sports in a storm is supposed to be a Willow's episode but it's a Hunter's one apparently. Willow is written to be hard-working, determined and strong from the start of the episode with her dream of being the first Flyer Derby captain. But it gets overshadowed by Hunter's new friendship and interaction with the group. From the middle till the end, there's barely any scenes of Willow being recognized as a good captain. There's no scene at least like other teammates praising her for her leadership and planning. And there's no scene of her interpersonal emotions like “I did it” or her fathers being proud of her. She wishes to be good at Flyer Derby and follow in her fathers’ footsteps. It's never mentioned again. It's not about her, it's only about developing Hunter and the ship tease Huntlow. Instead of writing how her newfound confidence and captain leadership are recognized, her old wound “half-a-witch” is brought up to develop Hunter and Huntlow, even though it's not the SAME thing Hunter and Willow have in common!! Hunter gets the spotlight in the Flyer Derby team, from praising, encouragement to the photo taking. He's the centre in the photo, just like how everyone is focused on his slow typing at the end of the episode.

Willow is also retconned as a forced girlboss stereotype from dragging Hunter when they first met to being insensitive of his trauma. Like why did she get done so dirty? Especially in Thanks to Them, Willow comforts Vee quite well. She said Vee didn't have to go to the museum if she was still afraid. But it's not the same in For the Future when she tries to comfort Hunter by bringing a Flapjack's photo right after he lost his palisman.

- Last but not least, Gus. Labyrinth Runner is a Gus episode that gets overshadowed. The breathing technique is something special in Gus and Willow's friendship. But it's used to develop Hunter again. It's used to develop his and Gus's friendship, and his relationship with Willow.

Gus, who has been friends with Willow for years, can't recognize the real Willow while Hunter can. It's reasonable if Willow gets scared of Hunter. Also, that he thinks Willow doesn't get scared of him isn't entirely convincing to me. Even though Willow isn't utterly scared, she would at least be wary of him. He kidnapped her and others, locked them up, took their Palismen and took them away from their families. He saved them at the end, but what they've been through was very traumatizing. Willow is insecure about her strength. Not to mention it doesn't make any sense when Hunter sees how Willow doubts her strength and calls herself half-a-witch. He stirs up her insecurity and how can he think she isn't afraid of him? Yet in Labyrinth Runner, he is written to be more understanding of her strength more than Gus?

If Hunter knows that the illusion isn't Willow, Gus should have known as well. Gus is the master of illusion, and he can't even recognize an illusionist? Also, his best friend? They could have written that Gus recognizes Willow through the breathing technique, which is the only thing they knew to solidify their friendship more.

In Labyrinth Runner, both Amity and Gus are done dirty in this episode in order to make Hunter outshine them. And most of all, Huntlow. Hunter is written to be more understanding and appreciating Willow's strength more than Gus and Amity, so Huntlow would be more convincing.

- Season 3 has only three episodes but more than half of the screen time is about Hunter, playing the main character role just like Luz. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks Hunter's possessed scene and killing Flapjack are unnecessary. How does it benefit his character and the plot? Hunter can still defy and fight Belos without being possessed. The only effect from this is his ability to do magic and going through more trauma. According to what the crew says, they like to give him trauma. It makes me think that they're too focused on him and make him have more screen time and attention than others.

- The writer gives him too much trauma yet they can't handle it right. Hence, they shouldn't have added that in the show, especially in a cancelled one. In For the Future, Hunter has to shove his grief down to comfort Willow. Gus is sidelined like usual in favor of Hunter and Huntlow. He knows about Hunter's secret, what Belos did and it traumatizes him a lot, but his feelings are never mentioned during season 3. Oh great, it's only brought up again when it has something to do with Hunter.

- Why can only Hunter reach out to Willow when she has a breakdown? Why is Gus trapped and further away from her? And if I thought it can't get any worse, Willow only says thank you to Hunter then holds his pinky. What about Gus? He tried to comfort her too. Willow first met Gus when he was having a mental breakdown, she comforted him and understood him. That's the start of their friendship. It will be much more meaningful when Gus plays a more important part in helping Willow by the same breathing technique she taught him. Even though Willow and Gus usually stay together, their friendship is written on such a surface-level despite having a lot of potential.

- Willow and Gus are considered as the most powerful characters in the group. But the writers say “no, let Hunter shine”. First minute, both Willow and Gus are confident that they can take down Kikimora, but later, Hunter has to come to the rescue. Like, I'm not saying Hunter can't save her or Willow is weak but it doesn't fit right in this moment. Willow has just got her comfort and confidence back, yet she doesn't get to have the moments to show her strength and power. Give me Willow and Gus’s power combo that defeats Kikimora satisfyingly, not just boasting about their power, but failing and then getting rescued by Hunter. It feels like their power is nerfed out so Hunter has a chance to show off his new power (even though he's already done that).

- Lastly, Flapjack tattoo, another sign of Hunter favoritism to me, so feel free to agree to disagree about this. Tattoo is one of the most noticeable traits on one's body.

It's ingrained on the skin and noticeable on the characters’ designs. How on earth everyone else has to have the tattoo of his Palisman? I get that they want to respect Flapjack, but this seems like Hunter has main character favoritism in the show. The group doesn't even bond with Flapjack that much. They can show respect for the Palisman in other ways, making a carving, album and so on. If they tattooed it, it's mostly because of Hunter. I still prefer Luz to have flowery tattoos or something else related to her father. And I prefer others having their tattoos of their own Palismen rather than Hunter's.

- Not only the Hexsquad but another side character also suffers from this, Alador. In Clouds on the Horizon, Alador shows his clear doubt towards Hunter. It makes perfectly sense because he was the Emperor's right-hand man, everyone is doubtful of him, including people at Hexside. They even intend to send him back to the coven. But when Alador doubts him, instead of explaining himself like he has with the Hexside teachers and students, he chooses to criticize Alador. "At least I didn't build him an army." That's a weak counterback. Did Hunter forget that he was the one coming to the Blight factory and inform that Belos wants the Abomatons exclusively?Belos is the most powerful person on the Isles, so both Odalia and Alador can't defy him and can only build the Abomatons only for him. They can't sell their invention to others anymore. It's hypocritical of Hunter to say that to Alador when he was in the same position like them, unable to defy Belos's power and demand. Instead of saying that "I'm leaving Belos" "I'm not going back to him." "I realized he wasn't like how he actually is" to counter Alador's doubt, Hunter criticizes Alador for also helping Belos with such a weak counterpoint. People only attack others personally when they run out of excuses in an argument. The writing of their interaction makes no sense, and intends to make Hunter the victim and Alador the bad guy. Unfortunately, I only saw how hypocritical Hunter is.

In short, the favoritism in Hunter's writing did damage to other characters' writing, including Luz, the main character. He is written as the most sympathetic character, while some characters are nerfed and OOC to make him outshine them. If the show is written like that, no wonder the fandom centres around him too much and put other characters down in favour of him.

[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?)

[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.

[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.

[hexedwinchester]

Supernatural missed the mark with Demon!Dean

Demons have been on the show from season 1 so we just know how crucial they were to the show as a whole and the varied story arcs. So when Dean's eyes flashed back at the end of season 9, I was on the edge of my seat. Season 10 just wouldn't arrive any sooner. Imagine my disappointment when they turned him into an egoistical, narcissistic frat boy who couldn't keep it in his pants.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't about Jensen, in fact he did well as Demon!Dean. Remember he had his fair share of playing a villian in My Bloody Valentine and the Red Hood (voice acting) in Batman: Under the Red Hood. So given, the right motivation and cues, i felt Jensen would have made Demon!Dean work. Unfortunately, the show runners and writers probably didn't recognise and tap into this and sadly that arc only last 3 episodes.

Now, the disappointment continued as those three episodes barely gave us anything (besides of course sweet, sweet Sam Whump). Who cares what dynamics he had with Crowley or about Cold getting a revenge? Seriously, Cole was so irrelevant. Why was he there? Cole, who?! Nobody, that's who! No, I would have traded that for more scream time (lol i meant screen time but the typo was so good, I decided to leave it) between Demon!Dean and Sam.

In a way, I'm glad that it didn't last longer because the pissy, frat boy Demon!Dean was weak and lame. Having said that, credit should be given where it's due and I loved those amazing moments of Demon!Dean manipulating Sam or threatening to bash his skull in with a hammer (hey, I'd wanna nail Sam too just in the same context that Jensen meant in the blooper lol) or how indifferent he was about Baby. That was cold and we needed more of that.

One of the reasons that I often see the show runners give as to why Demon!Dean didn't last longer was they couldn't have Sam and Dean on different pages. Ummm.. yeah you could! And that would have been delicious. I would have loved it if the show explored the cruelty of Demon!Dean, make him a complete asshole to Sam, to others. Then have him form an unruly alliance with Sam but always keep the viewers guessing whether this version of Dean could ever be trusted (not, of course!). Pretty sure Jensen would have manifested that on screen really well. And how on earth didn't he explore his powers as a demon?! Like c'mon, you are making a lethal hunter into a demon, a demon with the Mark of Cain and the First Blade and you want me to believe he took long vacations with Crowley sipping margaritas, singing off note Karaoke like bitches in a bachelorette party? GTFO!

Demon!Dean's physical appearance was nice, the hair was great, the red shirt (oooohh la la) was a nice touch but it was still very much Dean. Something different would have been nicer. Now coming to his character, I wanted Demon!Dean to be sketchy, untrustable, cheeky, menacing and someone who was scarier than Cain. I wanted him to be a complete psychopath who clawed off the antipossession tattoo from his chest with his bare hands (fanfic spoilers: yeah, it's gonna be in Brother Mine). But instead we got a yapper. Like c'mon, less talking more torturing! Speaking of, OG Dean was Alastair's protege in Hell for God's sake. How did they not lean into that??? Hmmm??

The mark should have been a character of its own, whispering, twisting Dean into something darker. Death Eater's mark anyone? Yeah! Something on those lines. The mark should have thirsted for Sam's blood. Dean should have thirsted for Sam's blood. And of course the popular headcanon: Demon!Dean should have fed Sam demon blood and then let him rot in the bunker being flung across like God intended. But none of that and that's where they missed the whole crux of Demon!Dean arc.

In a nutshell, I feel we didn't see the extent of Dean's corruption as a Demon

[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.

[givingblood]

Feeling stupid bc other than it being rushed as fuck, I didn't think it was bad? Kinda doubting myself rn

Don't stress dude you have the popular opinion, a lot of people agree with you.

I just feel like we spent a lot of time with characters we had already explored (silco Felicia vander) and characters we don't really have any reason to know (kino), we got black rose for no reason, I feel like Mel could have been such a great push back against Ambessa, let her outfox the wolf, let her be the mediating voice for Caitlyn rather then creating Maddy to pat Cait on the back and say "Ur a good person x"

Maddy has no value and having Caitlyn sleep with someone regardless of how little she seemed emotionally invested feels like lazy shock value, if Maddy was used as a stand in to show that Caitlyn is doing everything she can to stop thinking about Vi then I'd see it as a characte development but it wasn't, she was just there and then she wasn't.

Caitlyn was so under utilised, I thought I was going to see this new arc, where she decends into a form of jinx derangement, where she gets lost in her fear of jinx and have her slowly start to unravel the wool that Ambessa placed over her eyes, but that's not what we got. Caitlyn followed Ambessa around, and turned on her seconds after running into Vi. Also, the blue eye samurai part rubbed me the wrong way and by the trailer I think we are seeing hand to hand combat with Ambessa and God, please give my girl her rifle... please.

Vi, my sweet angel, I was told by the show runners that this was going to be her season, we are going to see her at her lowest, explore who Vi is when she has no one to protect, but we literally did not get that at all. Within minutes of seeing Jinx she is back on buddy terms, they have playful banter and they are cuddling Warwick. Vi was not given any development, she was just given a dog to protect instead.

Also, Vi was hit in the face twice by the people who deserved to be slapped and that upsets me just because lol.

Isha is lazy to me, she was given to Jinx to be a stand in for her younger self because writing Jinx as someone who has to come to her own senses by taking accountability is just not something the writers could do apparently. We needed a physical embodiment of her former self to get her to care about her actions and she was used to develop Jinxes empathy while the lives of the people Jinx ruined (vi, caitlyn, sevika, the undercity) crumbles around her.

Viktors arc felt like I was watching a different show, it felt uncanny, unlike Arcane and any time he went into his weird cosmos I cringed, Skye being there drove me crazy too, this girl meant nothing to Viktor, she didn't even call her by her first name. They were colleagues, and she had unrequited feelings.

Mel and the black rose felt like they threw Mel in a hole (literally) for 2 eps and brought her back because ??

Where is Sevika? Where is ekko? Where is heimerdinger?

((( I fucked with Jayce this act tho, he kept his word and he's seen the horrors, he's recalibrated to Heimerdingers perspective and it was a journey for him, he came back to fix his mistakes and he looks great doing it)))

I have so many feelings and I'm not the best at articulating them in a way that captures exactly what I'm talking about so I'm sorry if you didn't get much out of this.

It had an emotional weight to it because Arcane always delivers visually and musically, I swear if arcane directed a scene where I dropped my sandwich on the ground they could make that a masterpiece and the audience would be balling their eyes out, they know how to create atmosphere.

Arcane is the best show I've ever watched, I will always recommend it to people, and by the sound of it everyone else loved it, they got what they wanted and I'm so happy for them.

I think I just had my expectations through the roof because season one was a masterpiece.

Act 3 this weekend and the end of arcane, I'm nervous and I truly hope we all end up happy.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Big fan of you and your blog 👋🏼 you have such great analysis on everything ❤️

Do you really think Tommy will be gone before the mid season finale? Don't you think there's a chance he'll be there the whole season like Taylor? I'm sure he's not staying but what if Tim decides to give him more screen time for the plot?

I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Hey Nonnie

I'm so flattered you enjoy my blog and find my analysis interesting! I don't know what to do with having a fan - how exciting - I've never had one before 🥰🥰🥰

I really really do think Tommy will be gone before we go on mid season hiatus and he definitely won't be there all season like Taylor was. The Taylor lasting an entire season was created by a variety of things going on all at once - JLH was going on maternity leave, which left a gap in things that they needed to do something with and the network was actively blocking the show from telling the story it wanted to tell, so they were forced into a situation that they tried to make the best of, and tried to do something different with - the entirety of season 5, but especially the first half, was a mess from a production perspective - they reshot a pretty sizeable chunk of ghost stories and lots of discussions were going on behind the scenes and Tim had also stepped back as a show runner (because he was throwing his toys out of the pram because Fox wouldn't let him tell the story he wanted to!) Fox didn't really want to fund the show and didn't really care about it. Things are very different now were on abc - the network is really excited about the show and are giving Tim and the writers room the freedom to tell the story they want to - hence the fact we got Bi Buck last season and as the 100th episode no less.

The other aspect to this is that I don't think Tim is all that impressed with LFJ's behaviour - there are rumours that he has apparently been difficult on set and refused to play some scenes out how they were written. He was also making all those cameo's and making borderline to definitely not ok comments on other platforms. He's clearly damaged his standing in the industry and I think it likely that he won't get much work come his way from the disney studios going forward!

The show clearly took action on the sm front as he went entirely silent for the entirety of the summer and even now his sm presence is next to non existent - unless its been carefully curated on the 911 sm platforms. This is very likely because they are managing him and his access (even to the point of ensuring he isn't taking pictures and video when on the lot so he can't post to his pages). We've also had only the 1 singular tv interview outing for Lou - with Oliver (because he couldn't be trusted alone as much as the fact that its Bucks arc) which is a clear indicator of things - because this was a pretty big thing when it happened - for not just bi representation, but for the queer community more widely - this is prime time network tv showing someone coming out later in life - thats perfect fodder for

My impression (very much from the outside of things but based on what I've seen and experienced over the years) based on some of the things Tim said both at the end of s7 and the beginning of s8 (which should always be taken with an entire vat of salt!) is that he has made some changes to his plans for the show - because he decided to get rid of Tommy earlier than he had intended to when s7 was still airing.

The impression I was getting from the subtext of what he's been saying, is that he had plans for the bt arc which were a bit more substantial that would've lead to a bt break up sometime in the last 2 episodes before going on mid season break. But we're now in a situation where its looking like he'll be gone by roughly half way through 8a (well it would've been half way through had he not made the plane emergency in to a 3 parter rather than a 2 parter) and that other storylines have been shifted around to accommodate this.

so yeah - I don't think there is any risk of Tommy being given more screen time for plot purposes - Tim is clever enough to have figured out how to reduce it without it impacting the story he wants to tell. So trust the process and just know it won't be much longer (and I'm sure Oliver will be the one throwing the biggest party when he's gone!)

I hope you've had a wonderful day as well 💜

[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.