#this is a whole lotta ramble that's not particularly focused or pertinent. just a lot of brain dumping

[welcometogrouchland]

ive thinking about luz getting its-a-wonderful-life'd for ages and somehow!! never connected it to a christmas special! galaxy brained takes yet again!! (but seriously... luz getting to see her positive influence via showing how literally everyone would be Six Feet Under if it werent for her is so ridicously in brand for toh i need it)

Aw thank you lol. If I ever find the og post I was thinking of when I made the "it's a wonderful life" comparison I'll rb this with a link but til then this one breaks down all the individual things that would be absolutely wack on the boiling isles w/o Luz in good detail though it's a bit old, for anyone who's curious.

But yeah it's like. especially appealing to me as a Christmas special because like you said, it's so on brand for toh. It's in keeping with the spirit of the boiling isles and the shows whole ethos, bc they never play these things straight!

The crew loves to show us the most unglamorous fairytale possible and while I've yet to properly watch it's a wonderful life in it's entirety (I honestly watched very few movies for Christmas this year lol) that feels true to the spirit of that movie. A happy ending but not without immense suffering first (which is also the direction I think this show is going in, based on what Dana's said about her feelings on happily ever afters).

It's also fun to me because I love the way Luz and Belos act as character foils (with Belos being a warped, absolute worst version of Luz in a sense) and @/jess-the-vampire did art of Philip as scrooge in a Christmas Carol (w/ the collector as the ghost of Christmas past, Caleb as Christmas present, etc) and it made me realize (by way of Luz and Belos parallels syllogism) that those stories are sort of. Idk not inversions of each other but pair nicely together as contrasts.

One guy goes through a series of events that mold him into the cruel person he is today, as a reflection of his flawed society, and he is forced to see the consequences of his actions or else he'll die alone and unmourned. A different guy goes through immense suffering, a reflection of his flawed society, but is saved by being shown all the ways he's changed things for the better and is given a renewed sense of purpose and life.

Idk it's neat to me! If toh ever did a Christmas special (if the mouse would let them) it'd have to go in one of those directions, and since I think canon is obviously not gonna pull a scrooge-esque redemption for Philip, it's a wonderful life-ing Luz just feels right <3