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narutakijune · 3 years ago

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About ATLA Relationship Arcs

So, this is me, finally trying to write some meta after lurking in my little tumblr corner for months! Hi!

Although I’ve tried to tag properly, if you are a Kat*anger and just want to enjoy your favourite couple in peace, this might not be the post for you. I am not trying to bash characters but I do have a lot of critical stuff to say about the writing.

Anyway, you have been warned and here is my story about my personal first Atla experience: I watched the show this year for the first time, and after the end of Book 1 I decided to look up spoilers, because after what happened to Yue, I wanted to make sure that Zuko and Iroh would be ok. So I knew what was going to happen: Kat*ang endgame and absolutely no Zutara at all. Still, by the end of Book 3, I was convinced that I had read wrong - that there would be an epilogue with a different ending or at least that Aang would only get together with Katara post-show- in that Korra series or something - because anything else wouldn’t make sense- right?

….

After I got over my shock and surprise, I went online and found out about that decade-long aggressive passionate ship war and how even the showrunners got involved.

And then I really worried that I might have missed a few points. Apparently ”Aang and Katara were the DNA of the show”, according to the creators themselves, and “Zutara could never have happened”.

Another popular anti-ZK argument I found was: Why do you always go on about Katara and Zuko? Just look at Zuko and Aang! They are the hero/ anti-hero and each other’s foils, their relationship is much more meaningful!”

So I tried to find out what it was that I apparently couldn’t see.

(Another disclaimer: I love analysing stories (like many Zutarians apparently) and this will get long and rambly. If you get bored to tears when people start talking about “narrative structure” you will probably not like this.)

Talking about narrative structure, I do believe that, in order to let your story, your characters and their relationships really shine, a good basic structure is important. There should be a recognizable development and individual parts of the story that build upon each other and lead to consequences and change, until there is a completed arc - because it is all about the journey that takes you to a satisfying ending, right? So that’s what I tried to do, with my personal Kat*ang vs. Zutara take, I tried to look at the structure and development of their relationship arcs.

The argument that threw me off track for a while is that compared to Aang and Zuko, Zuko and Katara’s relationship is not supposed to be that relevant for the plot. After all, Zuko is the foil, the anti-hero, the deuteragonist to Aang, who is the hero protagonist.

This is all true of course. But then why is it that in every finale, Zuko’s main opponent (and later ally) is not Aang but Katara? Why is it that their sun/moon, red/blue, fire/water dichotomy is so obviously highlighted?

I think one reason why Zuko and Katara are paired off so frequently in the story - as opposite elements, as opponents and as allies - is that they BOTH are Aang’s deuteragonists. While Zuko also acts as antagonist and Aang’s foil/mirror, Katara takes over the more traditional deuteragonist role of confidant / best friend/ narrator.

Protagonist Aang is what connects them, although they are on opposite sides: Both need Aang because he represents their hope to save their world. Very simply put, Katara protects him, so he can make the world a safer place again, and Zuko wants to capture him, so he can go home and be safe again. That rivalry between them is already established in the first episode, even before they meet each other: Katara, who hopes that the Avatar will return (as she tells everyone in the intro), and Zuko, who seems to be obsessed with finding him for more sinister reasons.

And just to make sure, I am not talking here about the characters’ feelings and emotions! This is just about the abstract roles they have been assigned within the narrative.

When regarding Zutara’s special connection to Aang and their rivalry with each other, it makes absolute sense to stress their “same but different”ness as well, visually and metaphorically: Red and blue, fire and water, sun and moon, arguably Painted Lady/Blue Spirit, and, when you put into account their story arc, also Oma and Shu.

With this basis, which puts them together and sets them apart simultaneously, their relationship already becomes very dynamic and interesting, even before you consider any romantic potential.

And here’s another thing, Zuko and Katara also have their own story arc within the main plot. Although they don’t have many scenes together before Zuko joins the Gaang, when they do meet there is always a new shift in their relationship and in quite a few cases their interactions are important for the main plot as well. If you just look at their “end fights” at each book’s finale, there is an obvious and consequential build-up, like any decent story arc should have:

Book 1 starts with Zuko as the powered-up enemy and Katara as the weak newbie waterbender. Both are battling over Aang. At the end of Book 1, they are finally established as equally powerful fighters but still fundamentally different (You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun!)

In CoD at the end of Book 2 happens the next step: they realize that they are not different at all! But Aang still doesn’t represent the same for them and they end up on opposing sides of the war again.

In the Book 3 finale, when Zuko has completed his own (anti-) hero's journey and Aang represents the same “hope” for both of them, they do not only join forces: Their “same but different”- traits make them such a uniquely suited match that they are even able to save each other’s lives during their fight with Azula (who in turn happens to be Katara and Zuko’s antagonist/mirror/foil).

And in addition to their own story arc they even get an individual recurring theme, which also appears in every book whenever their relationship status changes: The lost mothers, especially Katara’s mother.

In Book 1, Katara’s necklace (the symbol of Kiya) plays not only a major part in two of Zuko’s capture attempts, it is the reason for their very first one-one one encounter in the story.

Their first friendly connection in COD in Book 2 happens because they start talking about their mothers. And in Book 3, their final reconciliation (sealed with a very cathartic hug) happens after their life-changing trip which is, of course, all about Katara’s mother.

Again, I am not even trying to analyse their characters and motivations within the story - there are many metas that have already done that much better, more detailed and with screenshots. This is just dry structure and tropes and themes. But I think people recognize and connect with a well-structured arc, even subconsciously, which is one of the reasons that makes Zutara such a compelling couple. They complete and contrast each other, their relationship dynamic constantly changes, builds up, falls apart, reconnects. Such a setup is the perfect playground for a lot of creative takes on what-ifs and alternative scenarios and of course, shipping them romantically is extremely tempting - think of all the possibilities! It’s no wonder that the Zutara fandom is still so active decades after the end of the show. And it’s also no wonder that the Zutarians are known for “over-analysing everything”. You can only over-analyse if there is anything that gives you enough food to analyse to begin with. Which brings me to

KAT*ANG

I just go right to the top and take the quote from Br*yke themselves:

Kata*ng was in the DNA of the thing from the start…. [Zutara] was just dark and intriguing.

If you read this quote and then start watching the show, I would (grudgingly) agree that:

Aang and Katara understand and complement each other really well. Aang gives her the chance to have fun and go on adventures and in turn, Katara is his fiercest supporter from the very beginning, something that he really needs after he lost all his people AND has to find out that the world thinks the war is sort of his fault. In turn, the journey to the North Pole is as important to Katara as it is to Aang, because it is her dream to learn waterbending properly. That’s what she literally says when Sokka & Co try to banish Aang: (Sokka: Where do you think you’re going? Katara: To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole.) In that way, they are friends who give and take equally and are equally taken care of. They even have the last Airbender/ last Southern Waterbender status that connects them. The few times they have a fight, Aang does something in the end to redeem himself (perform some heroic feat) and Katara sees that she is right to believe in him.

Aang has this very sweet crush on her and it will be very sweet and wholesome when Katara will return his feelings at the end of their adventure after he has hit puberty. On the other side, there is also some heavy shipbaiting with Zuko: I save you from the pirates. The betrothal necklace. June and her excellent shipping taste. But in the end they are enemies, they barely know each other and, come on, it would be too dark and intriguing! There is no real threat against friends to lovers Kat*ang, the soft heart of the story. It’s very straightforward and there are a lot of simple “the hero saves the day” scenes for Aang but that’s fine! It’s not really my kind of ship but that’s not the point, it works for the story they want to tell.

End of Book 1.

In my - probably harsh- opinion, everything you really need to know about the Kat*ang relationship has been told by this point. If you want to be really mean, already by Book 1, episode 3.

That explains maybe why many (not all! but many) pro-KA arguments sound as if their shippers have not watched Book 2 and 3 at all. The Book 1 synopsis also perfectly sums up Bry*ke’s quote above. But then Book 2 and 3 are still there and I don’t know what happened but it seems as if they somehow decided that the Kat*ang story does not need any new and lasting input. Maybe because they were afraid that too much new development and change would stray too far away from their original Kat*ang vision. But there are still 2 more books and more adventures and Kat*ang somehow has to be kept apart until the finale.

So the tension in their potential romance is based largely on the question whether or not Katara will return Aang’s feelings. In general I don’t have a problem with that will-she-won’t she-technique. It works well in books where the love interest is not a POV or in shows/ movies where the love interest is not one of the main characters. But Katara is not only the female lead but also arguably the narrative voice of the whole story! As a result, this kind of writing makes Katara look as if she doesn’t have any agency in their relationship, which is not surprisingly a very popular anti-KA criticism.

Additionally, since her dream - learning waterbending - has been fulfilled by the end of Book 1, the relationship work becomes a bit one-sided. Of course Aang is the hero and his journey is the heart of the story. But in order to highlight their special connection it would have helped to give Katara another personal agenda, which Aang could have supported in some way. She is still the last Southern Waterbender and he the Last Airbender but this is not really explored in the Kat*ang relationship. And her other personal agenda, her mother, is already reserved for the Zutara arc.

Instead, in Book 2 and 3 the Kat*ang story is somehow all over the place. Of course there is new conflict and a few romantic scenes as well. But obstacles are either introduced too late or just dropped when not needed anymore, conflict is not resolved and their flirty, romantic moments never lead anywhere- and if they do, they lead to more conflict that is not resolved (yes, I am looking at you, EIP Kiss!).

Take for example Katara’s very sudden argument that they cannot be together now because there is a war going on. We hear her saying that for the first time in the very last episode (EIP) before the 4-part finale. That is too late to have any impact! That she has these kinds of thoughts was never even alluded to before. Not once.

Or the pattern Aang runs away/ is flaky - Katara is upset - Aang comes back and does his hero thing - Katara is relieved. In regards to their relationship arc, nothing changes here between Book 1 and the finale, only the stakes for Aang’s heroic performances get higher.

Or Katara being the one who is able to calm Aang down when he cannot control the Avatar state (which, in my personal opinion, is neither romantic nor healthy). This is also connected to the problem with the seventh Chakra, that Aang needs to let go of his attachment for her. I will be angry forever with how they wasted this for a possible relationship development! That Aang has to decide to either do his duty or save his forever girl (because let’s be fair, he did try to let go and only ran when he had the vision of Katara in danger) - that’s a fantastic setup!

But no, it doesn’t have any real consequences for Kat*ang at all. Instead there were only half-baked attempts – Aang does lie about his failed practice with Guru Pathik but the ultimate reason why his chakra is blocked is Azula, not his decision to run. Aang does try to let go of Katara for a little bit but then Azula shoots him. Nothing in Book 3 shows any change in his feelings that could have been a result of his instant let-it-go. If anything, he gets weirdly obsessive - which could have been used as a side effect of his blocked chakra but – again, no, nothing happens.

I suspect the whole thing was just introduced to create temporary drama for poor Aang, but it is never explained why Katara holds him back, what aspect of the attachment is blocking him or what would happen if he did let her go. Maybe they tried to make a statement about how love is more important than Avatar rules – which would have been fine but it’s also never properly explored. Instead, as soon as that plot point becomes inconvenient it’s simply dropped like a random rock™.

Compare all that to the Zutara arc, where both characters’ feelings about each other are always very much in the open, and where every interaction causes lasting effects in their relationship. Yes, it is unfair to compare that to Kat*ang, because up to the end of Book 3, Zuko and Katara almost never meet, while Aang and Katara spend almost every episode together – of course they cannot do meaningful things all the time. But on the other side, with Kat*ang, there would have been a great chance to show a subtle, gradual build-up instead.

It also doesn’t help that the Zutara arc seems hellbent on sabotaging every romantic moment Aang is allowed to enjoy:

There is Kat*angs first maybe-kiss in the dark before the background of the Oma and Shu legend. But it does not lead anywhere. Instead, Zuko and Katara almost reenact the legend itself in the Book 2 finale as two real enemies to almost-friends, including a glowy rocks-backdrop and the right costume colours, just so nobody misses the message.

In Footloose The Headband, Aang and Katara have a really sweet dance together, and everybody can see how they almost intuitively know each other's moves. This could be a great hint on how well they will fight together in the finale. But is it plot-relevant? No, because the final tag team is Katara and Zuko! While Aang gets paired off with random rock™.

Then there is Aang’s riding off to battle- kiss in DotBS, which Katara is not even allowed to enjoy, because keeping her feelings vague is apparently more important than character development at this point. It is the only romantic moment that gets mentioned again, but in a way that sinks the former cute and wholesome ship into the deep ocean, and the reason is - Aang is jealous of Zuko!

If all of this was only done for the sake of shipbaiting, then it really went out of control at some point.

In the end, the showrunners still had their reasons to choose Kat*ang, maybe because that corresponded more to their own vision, and there are still enough people out there who agree with them. Which is absolutely fine! In the end, what matters most is how you personally connect to the characters and nobody needs to defend their personal taste. But the typical anti-ZK claim, that all the Zutarians with their crazy analysis and rambling meta essays are reaching and delusional and that they desperately try to construct something that isn’t there, is not only a very lazy argument but simply not true.

And I’d claim that in spite of the canon choice, Zutara is technically the better written relationship. By far.

#zutara #antikataang #anti kataang #anti-kataang #atla critical #atla writing critical #long post #atla meta

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dustbunny105 · 3 years ago

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Simpatico, RodiDrift, and BumbleBlades for ship bingo? :3

Woo! Tackling theses in order:

So, the funny thing about Simpatico for me is that I was heavily invested in it at the end and their interaction was one of the few things I really enjoyed about the finale but I was genuinely incapable of caring about it for most of the time I was reading MtMtE, lol. Brainstorm having an intense, platonic colleague-crush was just too relatable to me. Also I was sort of obsessed with Brainstorm's tragic taste re: Quark, to the exclusion of any other romantic prospects for him. Something made me start to develop an interest in them as a couple riiight around the mutiny, which nearly killed said interest until we got to see more about what the real situation was back on the ship, at which point the realization that they had completely different ideas of wtf had happened and how that would impact their relationship smacked me back and forth across the face and I was just in it. The Mederi fiasco made it weird for a hot minute-- on the one hand, the potential implications of the Quark construct were highly appetizing and so was the sparkester scene but the recollection that Brainstorm used to try to reach Percy was so obnoxious (I guess the bantz were just too important to not undermine the respect Percy had developed for Brainstorm??) that it legit almost killed it dead for me, lol. BUT I got over and I enjoyed them for the brief rest of the series. I honestly have rarely thought about them since, though, and I'm not sure why since they both went out on a high note and had a lot of interesting stuff left to explore.

NOW, THIS IS WHERE MY FEELINGS LIVE. This is how I know it's not just my general disconnect from MtMtE/LL that keeps me from bothering much with Simpatico anymore, because I think of these two sometimes and wanna cry. Which is also funny because I feel like I only started getting retrospectively invested in them at the point when their relationship was the least interesting to me, lol. Like they're both such glorious messes of unresolved trauma and bad coping mechanisms and they can bring out the best and the worst in each other that way and, Idk, the way they treat each other specifically feels like such a close view of the ways they're both bad at peopling in general? I'm not finding the right words but that's the feeling, for sure. And the thing is I think I've said before that I could've been just as happy with them as an endgame ship as with them having had something that just didn't work out and they're past it but I think I actually wouldn't have been happy with them as endgame just because their reconciliation gave me roughly the end result I wanted without the work I wanted to be put into it? And I say roughly because there were times that their new dynamic just felt like a less aware version of the old dynamic, Idk. I dunno, I guess the idea was that it was supposed to be a more genuine reflection of their genuine affection for each other but it just missed the mark for me. Anyway, yeah, I love them a lot but that love is wrapped up almost entirely in a part of both their lives I'm happier seeing them moved past. Which is more what I meant by marking that I like it platonically here, as opposed to being open to a purely platonic read on Simpatico still.

Yas!! Y'know, I'm only just now realizing that I never read Blades's interest in Bumblebee as platonic the way I did Brainstorm's in Percy for so long and I really don't know why. Maybe IDW gave me certain expectations that were not being met. In any case, yeah, I am all the way on Team BumbleBlades. Or, well, I am actually open to other potential Blades ships sometimes but I chose the OTP square anyhow because I simply cannot care about Bumblebee's romanic prospects outside of developing a return interest in Blades. Probably a byproduct of not caring or barely caring about his shows, lol. I do love his appearances in Rescue Bots, though, and would've liked to see him appear more often (even though I appreciate that he didn't) because I do love his interaction with Blades and really would have liked to see it further developed. My love for this ship is easily the least conflicted of the three, haha. Granted, my standards for Rescue Bots are different than my standards for MtMtE/LL, not because I think the former is beneath the latter in any way but simply because it did not have to go as hard as it did but it did. Plus, entirely different tone, so. Anyway, yeah, I love them a highly disproportionate amount because of that, lol, and probably also because Rescue Bots didn't disappoint me the way MtMtE/LL did. In fact, the only thing I don't like about this ship-- namely, the apparent one-sidedness of their friendship-- is entirely down to the limitations of the story each of their shows was telling and so I simply can't be bothered to dwell on it. I am still pretty disappointed that Blades never got to make the jump to RiD, mind, dunno what made Blurr so special...

#transformers #mtmte #simpatico #driftrod #rescue bots #bumbleblades #rescue-ram

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telemna-hyelle · 3 years ago

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Zelink Day Drabbles #5: TWILIGHT

So, I know this isn't the most popular Zelink ship out there, but it is near and dear to my heart. It's pretty much the first Zelink I shipped (thanks to Super Smash Bros. I would rewind the bit when Link thinks Mario's killed Zelda over and over because it made my tiny little ten year old heart flutter). Mayyyybe I shipped Spirit Tracks first, but it's right around the same time period. And Twilight Princess was the first Zelda game I played outside of BOTW and a little Age of Calamity, so again, near and dear to my heart.

No offense to Midna, I like Midlink just fine, but Zelink IS my OTP forever, and the fact is... at the end of the game Midna isn't around any more.

I like to think that Link and Zelda, who have had similar experiences, find understanding in each other that would be hard to find anywhere else. And in understanding, they grow closer and closer... so yeah. That's the basic idea of where this drabble is coming from.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

TWILIGHT

“There’s a saying,” Zelda mused as she looked out her library’s window at the streaks of gold and orange and blue across the sky, “About feeling a… strange sort of sadness when dusk falls. Have you heard it?”

Link laughed quietly, folding his arms across his chest. “Yeah, I know that saying.”

She and Link often spent time together, these days, well, when Link wasn’t out and about venturing across the land, driving out monsters and making sure the rebuilding was going smoothly. It started with Zelda asking the Hero for advice, since he had become intimately familiar with Hyrule and its people during their travels. After a while, however, they started spending more and more time together, taking solace in the company of someone who truly understood. Now, two years post the Invasion, Zelda would even hazard to say they had become close friends.

A thought came into her mind, then, and she turned to look at the hero, arching one delicate eyebrow inquisitively. “What do youfeel at twilight?”

Link turned to face her as well, tipping his head to one side thoughtfully. “Why d’ya ask?”

“Well…” Zelda pressed one hand to the glass, feeling the faint chill through the silk of her glove, and stared out past her muted reflection to the glorious spread of colors across the sky. “… after what happened, after what the Twilight did to my country, I would have thought the time of day would… bring back unpleasant memories. That I would feel hate at the reminder.”

She could feel his eyes upon her, his gaze both searching and gentle. “And?” he prompted, his voice soft.

Zelda could see the lips of her reflection turn up into a bittersweet smile. “When I see the twilight, all I feel is…. Sad, I suppose. Zant hurt the Twili just as much as he hurt us, and now there is no hope for reconciliation.”

The princess looked over to meet the Hero’s calm blue gaze, which seemed to be full of emotions she couldn’t quite decipher. “So I was wondering, Hero… what do you feel when dusk falls? After all, Zant hurt you much more than he did I.”

“Hey, none of that now, Princess,” Link said, and nudged her shoulder gently with his own. “Sure, Zant did a lot of things that hurt me,” And his eyes grew dark and shadowed at the thought, “But what you went through—I don’t know if I coulda done that. So don’t compare yourself to me, all right?”

After a long moment, Zelda tipped her head in acquiescence. “Very well.” She paused, before gently nudging his shoulder back. “Now, will you answer my question?”

The corner of Link’s mouth twitched into a grin at the gesture, but he quickly returned his attention to the gilded hues of the sky without. “I guess… if’n I had to put into words, I’d say it’s… well. It reminds me of all the stuff I lost, and all the hard times I went through, but…” His hand found it’s way to the back of his neck, rubbing sheepishly. “It also reminds me of all the friends I made along the way. If it wasn’t for the Invasion, I wouldn’t have met Midna. Or any of my other friends. I probably wouldn’t have explored Hyrule and seen so many wonderful things, and…”

He risked a glance in Zelda’s direction, his eyes somehow both earnest and hesitant. “And I wouldn’t have become friends with you.”

At that, Zelda smiled. It was just a little smile, but it seemed to embolden him, for his voice strengthened, and he reached one hand up and laid it on the glass, next to hers.

“So I guess what I’m trying to say,” he said softly, “Is that I think it’s a little sad, like you. Because it does remind me of all the bad times. But it also reminds me of all the good things that happened, too. So,” And here he turned his gaze away from the dusk outside, and looked at Zelda instead.

“I also think it’s beautiful. Though,” He stopped again, and swallowed hard, shifting nervously; but he was not the bearer of the Triforce of Courage for nothing, so he firmed his jaw and soldiered on. “It’s not as beautiful as you.”

And in that moment, as they stood before the window in Zelda’s library, bathed in the gilded shades of twilight, they looked at each other, and the Hero held his heart in his eyes.

And in that moment, Zelda realized that in the two years since Ganondorf’s defeat, she and Link had become something even closer than friends, and she was glad indeed.

#november 3rd is zelink day #zelink appreciation day #loz #loz twilight princess #tp zelink #zelink my beloved #link #zelda #tellie writes stuff #my fanfic tag

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whitleyschn33 · 4 years ago

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Not Everything Can Be Wiped Away With A Hug

Or why I’m not happy with Weiss and Whitley’s reconciliation.

Whitley and Weiss haven’t had a great relationship. From the first time we see him, the two are shown to not be comfortable with each other. Weiss’ tone when they meet is one of dismissiveness and wariness, even if the conversation ends on a technically hopeful note. As the show goes on, every interaction the two have is riddled with tension. Weiss accuses him of wanting her loss of status, Whitley gets angry and bites back. Whitley stops by her room to ask if she wants anything and twist the knife, Weiss asks if he’s jealous and slams the door in his face. When Weiss comes back at the party, she does everything she can to brush him off, clearly annoyed, while Whitley talks about what he’s been up to since she’s been gone. Weiss laughs when Whitley gets splashed with wine, Whitley storms off in a huff. Then Weiss comes back during the... siege(? I don’t know what to call this failed attempted at a Fall), commanders the house, shoves a weapon in Whitley’s face, sends him to his room like he’s a child, and then doesn’t acknowledge him again until he calls Klein. At which point she hugs him and all tensions disappears from their relationship.

See what’s missing here? We have point A of massive hostility between the two with both parties having grievances with the other and point B of both parties having found a balance in their relationship. What’s missing is a strong connection between those two points. What’s missing is the meat of the actual arc, something between set up and pay off, and that’s ultimately the problem with their reconciliation. It wasn’t worked for, at least on Weiss’s end. There was no effort for any of their grievances to be addressed, talked about, and worked through. There was no point where they took the grievances that had been brought up and had the characters discuss or react to them in any meaningful way. It just fell into their laps - or rather, it fell mostly into Weiss’s lap. That’s the short version, anyway. Let’s discuss the long version.

In Volume 7, Weiss and Whitley’s relationship is tense, Weiss clearly annoyed and dismissive of her brother for being a snot towards her, and Whitley angry that Weiss ignores him and abandoned him to their neglectful/abusive parents. In episode 7, though, Willow flat out tells Weiss why Whitley acts the way he does to her. Willow gives us Whitley’s motivations - that he’s hurt and resentful towards Weiss. This is the set up for a reconciliation; Weiss has been given insight into Whitley’s point of view (had it literally shoved in her face), and has the chance to contemplate it so as to be able to find common ground later.

Plot stuff happens, and the two are separated as Weiss deals with all that until Weiss needs a place to lay low. Armed with new information on Whitley’s disposition, Weiss...

Whitley: Oh, you’ve picked a fine time to--

Weiss interrupts by pointing Myrtenaster at him, and he looks at the blade in fright.

Weiss: Not. Another. Word. We’re coming in.

Whitley steps aside and groans as Ruby’s group walks into the manor.

...threatens him after saying 7 words. Not even words of “you can’t come in” or anything to suggest he won’t let them in but, “oh great, this is a wonderful~ time to drop by”, venting frustration. Weiss doesn’t try anything else before shoving a weapon in his face (the face of an unarmed, defenseless, civilian minor that physically can’t stop her from coming in anyway) and forcing her way inside.

Whitley: Things are already bad enough after what you did to father, now you want us to harbor fugitives too? Our family has a reputation.

He crosses his arms in annoyance. Blake, having set Nora down on the floor, looks at him.

Blake: That’s what you’re worried about? Your reputation?

Whitley: I’m just saying that we’ve already lost all the house staff, and Mother locked herself in her room.

Weiss: Maybe you haven’t figured out what’s going on, Whitley, but we’re busy trying to save Atlas.

Whitley continues to vent his frustration. Jacques, Whitley’s only source of familial attention, has been taken away by Weiss (”what you did to Father”), the staff has all vacated the estate (most likely a combination of their employer being carted away in the back of a military truck and then all hell breaking loose in Mantle and Atlas airspace), and Willow, the only other human being in the mansion, has locked herself in her room for several hours, up to almost 24 hours (I’m honestly lost on the timeline of this volume with how much it flip-flops between night and day, and I can’t be bothered to rewatch these episodes).

Whitley has been left completely and utterly alone, and Weiss comes back not for him, but to use his resources to hide herself and her friends, all of which are wanted by the military. I don’t know what Atlesian policy is, but harboring fugitives is a crime punishable with prison sentences in the US, dependent on what the fugitive is charged with. She’s forcing him to risk being arrested and imprisoned for her crimes, after destroying his family’s reputation with Jacques’ arrest and causing everyone to vacate the manor and leaving him utterly alone (the way he follows up Blake’s response with “I’m just saying we’ve already lost all the house staff” makes me think he’s tying those two things together. With Jacques’s arrest, their reputation is falling, and everyone’s jumping ship, starting with the house staff. Any other family allies the Schnees might have legally and politically are likely to follow suit to save their own skin (ah, societal politics of the rich). Harboring fugitives and Whitley and possibly Willow arrested as well? The Schnees are sunk, dead in the water. They’re not getting out of that, they’ll be left to the dogs.). And how does Weiss respond?

Weiss: Maybe you haven’t figured out what’s going on, Whitley, but we’re busy trying to save Atlas.

How in the absolute hell is he supposed to come to this conclusion? No, really, tell me. He knows two things: one, he knows there’s some kind of Grimm threat in the heatless Mantle and hovering around Atlas based on the news - maybe; we don’t know how much the news has reported about how bad it is outside of that one Mantle broadcast and how much Whitley has kept up with the news (he seems the type to absorb in as much information as possible, but he may not have been watching every waking second) - and two, he knows his sister and her friends have pissed off the military and are marked as fugitives. There is no way for him to know that the group of fugitives are doing anything to help Atlas, especially when he has no way to know what’s going on and what Weiss+co are up to. Weiss’ comment does nothing but imply that he’s too wrapped up in his own stuff to see the big picture, when he doesn’t have the knowledge that there’s even a big picture to look at. Rather than trying to reach out and reason with Whitley, Weiss snaps at him and treats him like he’s being self absorbed and shallow. His life is falling apart, he’s been left behind again by staff and his mother, and Weiss doesn’t just not respond to it, she gets mad at him for it. It’s Ruby that has to step up and tell him that they just need a place for their friend to heal and then they’ll leave (which turns out to be a bold-faced lie, but that’s another post).

Whitley relents then, and asks what they want him to do. Weiss then tells him to “go to his room”. Let’s set this up - we don’t know how old Whitley is, but we can guess based on Weiss’s age. Weiss is 19, and Whitley is likely 2 to 3 years younger, as he seems a bit older than Oscar but most likely more than a year younger than Weiss. That makes Whitley at least 16 years old, possibly 17. Whitley is either just a year younger or the same age as Ruby, the girl Weiss is blindly following as a leader. Whitley is not a child. A minor, probably, but not a child (I consider “child” to be 12 and under, and minor to be 13 - 16/17 (depending on what the age of maturity is in Remnant, which I’ve always considered to be 17 based on Beacon admission ages) btw to clarify). Yet, Weiss tells the boy that she has no legal or emotional authority over that’s about the same age as her leader to go to his room, treating him like he’s a petulant child. She doesn’t want to have to deal with him, so she shunts him aside - makes it clear that she’s not going to break his isolation, she wants him out of her way. Alone.

The relationship between Weiss and Whitley was already tense and hostile, but this pushes that to the next level. Before, it was hurt feelings and snipping - valid hurt feelings on both sides - but this has escalated it. Physical threats of violence, forcing him into committing a possible felony, and then dismissing him like he’s a child shows a lack of respect for Whitley, and is the exact opposite of working towards reconciliation. I wouldn’t be surprised if Whitley’s anger and resentment towards his sister grew after this; that would be my reaction.

“But wait!” You might be thinking. “That’s not really fair to Weiss - she’s worried about Nora who’s possibly dying and about being followed by Atlas’ military. She just wants to get under cover as fast as possible and then get to helping Nora! She’s stressed and tense, it makes sense that she’d be brusque to Whitley; we shouldn’t judge her so harshly.” To which I say - character is the choices you make under pressure, not when everything is just fine. Weiss resorting to the threat of violence immediately against someone she knows is no threat when faced with a tense situation where some diplomacy and respect would go a long way, it’s not a good look for who she is as a person. But alright, let’s play that game. Weiss is too worried about Nora to deal with Whitley at the moment. She gets Nora to bed, starts treating her as best she can, and then...

Nothing. Weiss doesn’t speak to Whitley again until he calls Klein for Nora, presumably a day later (once again, I’m not entirely sure. They arrive at what I believe is sunset, Amity happening that night, then the sun rising or setting in Midnight (?) and in War it’s night again as Klein arrives, so I think that this has to be the next night but it’s extremely difficult to tell and causes a crap ton of plot holes, thanks a lot CRWBY (I might skim through each episode to put together just how broken the timeline is)). That’s 24 hours where Weiss didn’t decide to ask Ruby or Blake (who I would have thought would be the one to have the most first aid knowledge of the three with her militia group experience) to watch over Nora for a few minutes while she seeks out Whitley to talk to him. 24 hours where she didn’t choose to apologize for threatening him, or go to talk to him about what’s going on, or follow up on Willow’s request, or ask if their mother is even alive still if she’s been locked up drinking for over a day, probably 2 (again, the timeline is fucked up). That’s not “I’m rushing and being harsher than I normally would out of concern for my friend”, that’s “I don’t regret or care about how I’ve treated my brother; I don’t see any reason to reach out to him” (And as side note - if Weiss had gone to see Whitley earlier, letting him know just how bad of shape Nora was in, Whitley might have called Klein earlier. By talking to her brother, Weiss could have gotten Nora the help she needed sooner, but she didn’t).

This is the next conversation Weiss and Whitley have after she threatens him and sends him to his room. I know I spent far too long breaking it down, but that was just one incident, the only one between between Willow telling Weiss to not forget Whitley and their hug.

Weiss: You called Klein?

Whitley: That girl needs a doctor. (turns away from Weiss) I didn’t do it for you.

Weiss: I know. That’s why it means so much to me.

Whitely gasps as Weiss steps forward to hug him. After some hesitation, he sighs and embraces her back. Weiss gasps when she and the others hear an explosion from outside.

That’s it. That’s their reconciliation. After this point, Whitley shows no anger towards Weiss or brings up his issues with her, so we’re meant to think that this is it, the Weiss-Whitley reconciliation is over.

Now, on Weiss’s side, I could see this putting Whitley in her good graces (maybe). Weiss’ grievances with Whitley boil down to hurt feelings over him being a snot about her loss of inheritance and being annoying. Whitley was being a jerk about it when he came around in V4E9 to twist the knife, but we know why he did that (he was pushing his own situation in Weiss’s face, a “see how you like it, being stuck here alone like I was” type thing), Weiss does get an explanation for it later from Willow, and at the end of the day, that’s all he did. He didn’t betray her, act against her, try and get her in trouble with Jacques - he didn’t do anything to her. Gloating at the role reversal is petty, yes, but it’s not like Weiss doesn’t attempt to fire right back, and it’s not like she wasn’t plenty rude to him when accusing him of wanting it to happen. Weiss mentions “you never liked me” in V4E7, but we never get anything more specific than that, and implies that he was just bitter and snippy with her like he is in V4E9. Theoretically he could have been an absolute terror before, but since we’re never shown any of this or given any examples, it’s difficult to factor in anything Whitley may have done before V4 as a piece of Weiss’ attitude towards him. Point is, since I’m starting to ramble, is that ultimately Whitley hasn’t done anything but hurt Weiss’s feelings, and him calling a doctor for Nora purely because Nora needs one feels like it might be enough to put Whitley in Weiss’ good graces, even if it raises some uncomfortable implications - that Weiss only extends her love and affection when Whitley does something she likes and can revoke it if he does something she doesn’t (like make a light joke).

On Whitley’s end, though, this scene is an absolute mess of an ending. At the end of Volume 7, Whitley is angry and resentful towards Weiss (and Winter) for abandoning him to abusive and neglectful parents, and then arresting Jacques, taking away his only source of attention and dealing a huge blow to their family’s status. In Volume 8, Weiss comes back, threatens him physically, dismisses his concerns, treats him like a child by sending him to his room, and leaves him alone again until he does something she likes. At no point does Weiss do anything that would make his attitude towards her shift to the better; in fact, she does things that should only further alienate him. Why is Whitley no longer mad at her? Because she gave him a hug? That doesn’t change that she still (from his point of view) abandoned him without a second thought, blamed him for things he didn’t do, threatened him with a weapon, forced him to harbor them, and then talked down to him and pushed him aside when she didn’t want to deal with him - abandoning him again. Weiss has done nothing to make Whitley any less resentful. She hasn’t acknowledged how she’s hurt him, they haven’t discussed why he was so hurt by her leaving, there’s been no attempt for the rift between them to be mended. Weiss just hugs him, and somehow that makes everything better. I didn’t realize that Whitley was so completely starved for affection that a hug makes him forget everything leading up to it - a hug that he initially backed away from.

He has his hands raised defensively, he starts backing away, and his expression is completely shocked. His posture is completely stiff, his arms falling to his side and hands clenching into fists. He’s clearly not comfortable with this initially, before giving in with a sigh and hugging Weiss back - giving in and giving Weiss what she wants.

Weiss is happy with him now, so Whitley can’t be upset. Weiss gives her approval, Whitley has been useful to her, so Whitley is “redeemed” in the eyes of the characters and the audience. What Whitley wants, what Whitley feels, what motivates Whitley? They don’t matter now that Weiss cares about him again. They aren’t discussed, they don’t continue to effect how Whitley acts and views Weiss, Weiss has forgiven him, so Whitley isn’t allowed to still be pissed with Weiss. Weiss didn’t have to do anything to reconcile with her brother, she doesn’t have to be humbled or acknowledge her own role in this dysfunctional relationship. She got to treat him with violence and like a child, and then hug him and act like everything is forgiven when by all reasonable logic, Whitley should be pushing her away, repeating that he didn’t do this for her and to back off.

Weiss didn’t work for this; Weiss didn’t earn this. Whitley’s own emotions and motivations were stripped away to let her get her brother on her side without her having to confront her own mistakes, because RWBY refuses to let its main girls make mistakes.

This isn’t the first time this has happened in RWBY, far from it. This isn’t even the only example of this happening with Whitley. Next episode and a few later, they do the exact same thing with Whitley and Willow! Whitley starts episode 8 rightfully pissed at his mother; she’s left him completely alone for two days straight to drink in her room, being less than useless, straight up neglectful. This anger carries on when she tries to call him, him turning to the door as the Hound approaches with anger. During the Hound attack, Willow grabs onto him, and he lets him. That makes sense, both of them were extremely frightened by this Grimm unlike anything they’d ever seen. What doesn’t make sense is that in episodes 11 and 12, Willow is still hanging onto him. I haven’t watched episode 11 for personal reasons (RWBY’s pissed me off), but I’ve seen the screenshots.

Willow’s holding onto him like she’s showing him off with pride. It’s a cute image - but why is Whitley allowing it? Why is Whitley not pulling away? Whitley was rightfully angry at his mother for neglecting him, for leaving him emotionally and mentally, right up until the Hound attack. Now, I know what you’re thinking; Willow saved his life. They killed the Hound together. Something like that, it can being people together. I agree - and I would even buy that being the spark for Whitley giving his mother another chance if there had been any kind of scene or even conversation on screen where we get to see this transition from rightfully anger at a drunk neglectful mother to a son giving a proud mother another chance at being his mother. It would have been incredibly easy to slip in, too! Like, and I’m just spitballing here -

Willow after the Hound is killed: Are you alright, Whitley?

Whitley: Oh, so you suddenly care. That’s nice to know.

Willow: I have always cared -

Whitley: Then you haven’t ever shown it! Whitley gets visibly angry. You’ve done nothing but leave me alone in this house with him while you drown yourself in your wine. You haven’t cared about me since I was 7 years old! Stop acting like you’re my mother! Whitley starts walking off.

Willow: Whitley - ! Willow reaches out for Whitley and stops him I - she deflates - You’re right. I have been a horrible mother. I’ve left you alone, all this time, and if I had been even slightly more drunk tonight, you might have been killed. ...I might have lost you for good, and it would have been my own fault. I’m sorry...

Whitley: He pauses, and falls silent.

Willow: ...Please. I almost lost you tonight, and I don’t want to lose you to something I can fix. Is there anything I can do? Can I... Can I get a chance?

Whitley: .....he turns back to Willow, taking a deep breath, and looks up at her. ...One chance. You can’t - You can’t fix all of this, but... Whitley looks away ...I’ve wanted you back for 9 years. I don’t want to lose you either if I might get you back.

Willow: Willow looks surprised, before giving him a weak smile and pulling him into a hug. Thank you, Whitley. And I am so, so proud of you.

Whitley: Whitley stiffens with surprise, looking at his mother with shock, but returns the shaky smile and hugs her back.

One minute for this conversation, and I would be completely on board with Whitley and Willow seeming to reconcile as well. The same goes with Weiss, except a longer conversation.

If Weiss and Whitley had had even one talk where they both admit their faults and failings, apologize to each other, and agree to try again, I would be all on board with this Schnee family reconciliation. As it is now, though, with how it’s been written in the show, neither Weiss nor Willow have had to work to repair their relationships with Whitley; Whitley’s anger has just been wiped away. They set up the potential for reconciliation between Weiss and Whitley, between Willow and Whitley, acknowledging why Whitley is angry with both of them, but rather than have any of the characters take that knowledge and use it to reach out to Whitley, the writers skip all of that and let the characters treat Whitley however they want until they end up reconciled with one act. A single summon is treated like it makes up for years of neglect. A single hug because Whitley was useful to Weiss is treated like it makes up for abandonment, disrespect, and threats of violence. They don’t, and the lack of respect the writers’ have for the emotions of a male abuse victim sickens me.

#rwby #rwby8 #whitley schnee #weiss schnee #willow schnee #man this got long

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bookofmirth · 3 years ago

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Due to your love for Lucien, I figured you could help me out since you probably know more about him than I do. I'm trying really hard to grapple with how a Lucien & Vassa story would unfold. Let's entertain the idea for a sec pretty please.

We know Vassa has to return to Koschei at some point. In the meantime, she's cursed with turning into a firebird by day and human by night. Either Koschei has to be dealt with at the beginning, which doesn't seem likely if he's indeed the final boss or at the end, in which Lucien & Vassa will share their POVs with Vassa being in bird form half the time, unless Sarah opts to only share Vassa's POV when she's human.

Lucien has ties to the Autumn Court, Human lands, Day Court & Night Court. That's a lot to unpack in one book which means some of these issues need to happen in ACOTAR5 to balance everything out and leave room for Vassa and Lucien to become a thing as well. Though it pains me to say this since I believe this issue deserves Lucien's POV, but is it possible the Autumn Court business could be handled in ACOTAR5?

Vassa doesn't have anything to really do with the Day Court so it's weird to see why she would leave the human lands. I suppose if Lucien's true parentage is revealed, he could ask her to tag along to see if daddy Helion can break her curse.

Omg, I totally forgot about the spring court. Yeah, that needs to be handled too and I'm not sure how Vassa will tie into it unless she's there for support. Lucien will still be dealing with the aftermath of the mating bond rejection (I think it's important we get his POV on it). Ugh and there's the problem with Vassa's mortality.

It's all soo confusing I feel like I'm being played. I genuinely believe there are people who ship these two but man, writing this all down and trying to make sense of it hurts my head. 😅

Hi!

The major issues that I see Lucien needing to deal with are:

His paternity/learning he's heir of Day or becoming HL?

The mating bond

Reconciliation or an apology with Tamlin - at the very least he needs to hand the reins back over.

As a side thing, I think he will help Vassa get free. But since Koschei has much bigger fish to fry than just Vassa, her becoming free seems more like a free gift with purchase. A bonus on the side of everyone defeating the Big Bad.

I think what you are getting at, overall, is why/how would a vucien/vassien/whatever plot make sense. tl;dr - it wouldn't. Not with everything that you have shown still needs to be dealt with. Of course sjm could pull a 180 and change everything, but...

I don't have anything against people who ship it. Ship whatever, I don't care. I just don't think it's likely to happen in canon. People have been into it since Lucien smiled that one time in acowar, but it's never been a big ship. I don't blame people for jumping on it if they feel like it would fit what they want, I just don't think anything will come of it!

Vassa has little to nothing to do with anything going on in Prythian, in any court, and so if she were to get a supporting character/love interest POV, what would it be? Her cheering other people on, people who do have a larger stake in those issues? She's human. She's one of the mortal queens. She has something going on with Jurian, from what we can tell, and Jurian is surely fed up with the fae. It makes sense for her to stay on the Continent and regain her queenhood and break her curse. None of those things would fit with Lucien, who is High Fae and immortal and eventually will be a High Lord on another land mass. Could it happen? Sure. Will it? I'd bet my original acotar hardcovers that it won't.

Re: the Autumn Court, it's possible that the issue with Beron is dealt with in the next book. The issue with Beron is political, not necessarily personal. That means that Azriel could do his spy thing, helping Eris, perhaps working out his issues with the Illyrians in the meantime (much in the same way that Nesta had to deal with, or started to, her feelings about her father).

But as a result of all of that conflict, the truth of Lucien's paternity could come out.

All of the stuff going on in Autumn only affects Lucien peripherally because he has zero plans of becoming HL of that court. It's kinda like watching other family members squabble over an inheritance you know you have no hope of getting. Amusing and it will affect you somewhat, but at the end of the day your life won't be any different. Until someone spills the beans à la Gossip Girl.

So that's the part that most affects Lucien in Autumn, the fact that Beron isn't Lucien's father. To me, it that would make more sense for him to deal with that having the third person close narration focus on Lucien, rather than having it tell us how someone else is watching the situation. If it is revealed in acotar5, then in acotar6 (when I think he will be the LI), we would watch him deal with that information.

That would also leave Vassa/Koschei for the last book. It would make sense for the HL stuff to get resolved before they have to deal with Koschei because I get the sense that all the High Lords are going to need to band together to defeat him. That will be kinda difficult when you have Eris standing in the background plotting Beron's demise. Just kill him in acotar5, then have everyone, including Eris as new High Lord of Autumn, come together to cooperate in acotar6.

I still don't see Vassa being a big part of that book as one of 2 main characters because Koschei's plans don't revolve around her, just like Azriel's entire life doesn't revolve around Elain. Even if there was an entire book dedicated to taking Koschei down, like I said, Vassa isn't the reason why they are doing that. She is just one of his unfortunate victims. There are bigger issues, like... the Dread Trove and the destruction of Prythian. Bigger issues than one mortal queen who was betrayed.

I do wonder if - hear me out - while more stuff about Koschei is revealed in the next book, Vassa becomes free sooner? It was the mortal queens who traded her in on some bargain, right? And we still need to deal with the remaining three who are living. Perhaps we will learn what they want, how they are helping Koschei, and why they sold her out? I could see that happening like a secondary or even tertiary plot, sorta like the feysand pregnancy was in acosf.

I honestly have no idea if that answered your question haha! I haven't really put much thought into what will happen with Vassa because I don't see her as a major player in the future.

#acotar #acosf #lucien vanserra #vassa #ask #anon #acotar5

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ryttu3k · 4 years ago

Text

I want to have them all on Tumblr, so. Here are my reaction posts, in order, for Resolution of the Daleks and season 12, part 1!

Resolution of the Daleks

Thoughts on Doctor Who - Resolution! Spoilers, obviously!

Okay, negative first, just to get it out of the way. Doctor Who, I really appreciate that you consistently have queer minor characters and queer couples. Just super casual and all, as it should be. Now can you please stop killing off half of said couples? Angstrom's wife, Frankie, now this young guy? It's really not cool.

Don't think the voiceover worked. I feel the prologue would have worked better with just visuals.

Again, Yaz didn't have much to do. The Doctor got a ton of action, Ryan and Graham both had significant interactions with Aaron, Yaz was... just kind of there. I'm hoping that when the show comes back in a year, now that Ryan has largely dealt with his issues, Yaz will get more attention?

UNIT was killed by Brexit?! Fuckin' rude!

Okay, on to the positive!

The Dalek was, frankly, fucking scary. Despite knowing that the Doctor would beat it, obviously, it caused huge swathes of damage and racked up a... rather high body count. Like it felt like a proper threat. Also, its ability to stop the TARDIS tracking it and stuff. Lin's terror felt extremely genuine and it was just nice and horrific overall, like - if it wasn't for the Doctor, it would feel like a genuine threat to the entire Earth.

(Also, it shut down the wifi. On New Years Day. What a monster!)

Oh man that Dalek laughter. Creepy as fuck. The Doctor dragging it in via hologram to dare it to laugh in her face? Fucking iconic.

"I've learned to think like a Dalek." Oof.

Doctor vs Dalek. Not just the physical aspect, but the mental part - the Doctor recognising the seriousness of it, but also having that element of cockiness ("Oh, mate") because, frankly, she's dealt with bigger threats. She's right when she points out that the biggest problem will be if regular humans try to engage it!

Elements of Dark!Doctor when she asks the team - almost desperately - if she gave it enough chances, if she was nice enough. Because the Doctor can get fucking scary around Daleks and she knows it. She's nice. She's friendly. But she's also the Doctor, and the Doctor has done some really damn questionable things to stop the Daleks, and she knows that. Fantastically done and I still desperately want some proper Dark!Doctor.

Really liked the parallels between the Doctor using scrap to make her sonic screwdriver, vs the Dalek using scrap to make its armour. The Doctor makes a tool, the Dalek makes items of war. Of course, well, the Doctor is probably more dangerous just with a swiss army sonic than a Dalek blaster...

I love how the whole, "Dads are complicated... so I've heard" bit could refer to either the loom thing or the Doctor having actual parents or the Doctor being a shitty dad themself XD

Graham was so excited to show off the TARDIS! Like he's just going, "How cool is this?!"

There were some legitimately funny moments! Graham's chair, "I suppose... we'll have to have a... conversation?", "Junkyard chic"... UNIT was killed by Brexit like that's so awful but. But in a kind of funny way.

Okay, now the unsure. Ryan, Graham, and Aaron. Ryan and Graham have sorted out their issues - but Aaron is still such a big overshadowing part of it that it's a bit of a shock when he comes back in. As someone with a similarly shit biological father, I was completely empathising with Ryan in the coffee shop conversation. And I do understand why they wanted reconciliation, so they showed Aaron as acknowledging his bullshit and Ryan ultimately choosing to forgive and save him.

But it's just... not that easy. It's not all going to be perfect just because they stopped a Dalek together. Aaron's neglect hurt Ryan really badly, and it just felt... too easy? Like it helped that Aaron was genuinely contrite, and that he had that good stepfather talk with Graham, but just... yeah, not sure how I feel about it, honestly.

The Doctor's first words to him being, "You weren't at Grace's funeral. Ryan waited for you, you let him down" were so, so good. Like the Doctor is just going "fuck you I'm his father now". Like tbh I think she was 100% prepared to yeet him off the TARDIS and be done with it. Like damn don't emotionally hurt one of her crew.

Some wonderfully savage lines, though. The Doctor's, "You're almost making up for your parenting deficit!"; Aaron and Ryan's, "Is that how you talk to your dad?" "I don't know, he's not been around"; Graham's fucking smirk when Ryan pointedly calls him 'Gramps'.

I did see a suggestion that would have made it much better - instead of the Dalek capturing Aaron, it captures Ryan. First, it ups the threat in the mind of the Doctor and Team TARDIS - this isn't some dickhead, this is one of them. And instead, it's Aaron who reaches out to Ryan, Aaron who risks his life, Aaron who has to come through for Ryan, instead of the other way around. Also would have tied in beautifully with, "Family isn't about DNA, or a name. It's about what you do, and you haven't done enough."

Also, 'srs tech skillz'. With a Z. Doctor why.

In conclusion, I am going to fight Nigel Farage for killing UNIT.

Spyfall part 1

Current response to Doctor Who: making a near-literal SDKFJHGSDASDKFH sound, grabbing a cushion, nearly throWING THE CUSHION.

More intelligent commentary when my brain comes back online.

Okay. Am calm. Am good! We're good.

MAJOR SPOILERS for Doctor Who: Spyfall, part 1!

So yeah I actually literally screamed (kind of... scream-laugh-holy-shit-yes). Like, even before Dhawan finished speaking the, "Or should I say spy... Master?" line because of the way he had said 'spymaster' in full in the line before and there's nothing that grabs my brain like that one word in that one context. It wasn't quite as mindblowing as the Utopia reveal, since, let's face it, it's only been a season since we last saw that magnificant arsehole, but still.

(Actually, since I didn't watch Twelve's run, the last time I saw them was exactly a decade ago in The End of Time, broadcast New Years Day 2010. And I still fucking cry over, "Get out of the way." So. That may have been why I literally screamed lmao)

I mean. It's the Master. I can't not. They're my favourite jerk. This is probably slightly concerning.

Anyway. Comments!

The good

Episode was just flat-out exciting. It reminded me both of the Three and Ten eras, a bit? Fun gadgets, fancy suits, and what ends up being a giant game! Did start wondering when they were talking about spies and codes and stuff. It's basically a puzzle that's been set up for the Doctor to solve. Plus, the way she was pretty much enlisted into it! Thirteen and Dhawan!Master might end up having a more Pertwee-Delgado-esque dynamic, maybe? I would be down for that!

(My introductory episode to the Master was The Mind of Evil. Let's just put it that way XD)

"I'm her best enemy." <3

I mean, in retrospect, isolated house full of high-tech stuff and a wall full of books about the Doctor... oh honey. Long, looong game of playing Spies and Conspiracies just for, apparently, the sheer funsies of it. Oh, honey. They're such a disaster and I love them.

The reveal scene, Jodie's acting. The way she just... freezes and hunches in on herself. She's been hiding her past more than other Doctors have in the past, and suddenly, here is her past!! Right here!! Laughing and joking and right there in front of her! And she's just like, "Ohhh shit, I was not ready to have this conversation again..."

Yasmin and Ryan's dynamic. I do like that they split up the usual combos of Thirteen-Yasmin and Graham-Ryan for once, because I do like seeing the way they play off each other! It makes them feel more cohesive as a group. I liked Ryan trying to comfort Yasmin after her experience.

Post-reveal, I'm now wondering if the weird zappy forest thing is the Master's TARDIS? Something to do with changing and processing DNA into something else? Something based around neurons, with the electric travelling system? Am also wondering what happened to Yasmin while in there, since she seemed to be processed in some way, and I'm wondering if she had part of her DNA rewritten as well - or maybe if she's been replaced entirely, like she's currently piloting an alien version of her own body while her actual self is still in there. They did already do that with Flesh!Amy, though.

Once this arc is over, I think Thirteen is definitely going to have to sit down and tell the Fam who the hell she actually is. Graham is having some serious questions, and the Master was definitely egging that on, pre-reveal.

How much do I love that even in a tux, the Doctor still has the culottes and boots? A lot, that is how much. Also, how much do I love the Doctor in a suit and on a motorbike? A lot, that is how much.

"I've had an upgrade." <3

Thirteen playing Snap. It's okay, Thirteen, you still win my heart <3

"Worst! Uber! Ever!!"

"Kisses!" Yes, we know ;) They've been texting! Someone write me a WhatsApp chat fic with plenty of subtext and double meaning, I require it. Also, memes. You know it's true. The Master isn't a Time Lord, they're a Meme Lord.

"Everything you think you know is a lie." Season hook? :o

The hmm

Main concern is how they're handling the Master's characterisation? Last we saw, they were so ready to jump the Doctor ship. Now it's back to games. Kind of wondering if that means the Master is just at the point of being resigned that they and the Doctor just don't work and so is going back to games because at least it makes them happy, but I'm happy to wait until next week to see how things play out!

Did see a suggestion that this is the Master from one of the alternate universes (or at least that seems to be the general consensus on why there were multiple maps), so not actually necessarily the same version as Missy. Alternatively, this could actually be a pre-Missy version! Maybe between Simm!Master and Missy, since we never actually see that regeneration?

Actually, if this is the one immediately before Missy and this two-parter ends with the Master regenerating and we actually do get Thirteen and Missy together on screen I may cry.

(Like I'm aro-ace and agender but I'm still so gay for both of them. There is no word other for this emotion other than 'I'm gay'.)

I kind of wish someone had double-checked the name of the company because VOR running the world is. Is. "Right now, VOR is more powerful than most nations." Just. *pinches bridge of nose* Like okay you know how we say 'oh yeah just google it' 'yeah I googled it' are they really gonna say 'yeah I just VO

'I'm going to V

I can't say it. I can't.

Apparently the Australia scenes were filmed in South Africa. Kind of assumed it wasn't really Australia as soon as I saw actually greenery in the background h e h.

Highkey wish I could have seen Missy and Thirteen together. Dhawan!Master is very fun so far but. Missy and Thirteen. See comment above about the Master's characterisation!

...ABC are you really going to keep to Thursday night broadcasts even after the UK switches their Sunday nights / our Monday mornings? Well that's a good way to guarantee I'll be watching them online first! I was happy to wait twelve hours or so so I could watch it with Mum, but like hell I'm going to wait three and a half days!

In conclusion, am dead, send help, is it Monday morning yet?

Spyfall part 2

Thoughts on Doctor Who: Spyfall, part 2!

GALLIFREY LOOOOORE.

Oh man I'm hyped. We got a teeny teaser to the Timeless Child way back last decade but now we may actually get to see what the fuck is going on. And hell, if nothing else, at least the discovery is being teased to be so devastating it did undo Missy's characterisation. If this incarnation of the Master is after her, at least. Still not necessarily anything to suggest that. The Master will likely be recurring over this season, so we'll find out more, at least!

God, the Master is so fucked up. Like. He's seen something apparently so massively traumatic that he had to destroy his own planet and legitimately does look broken by it? Unless he was acting, but I did not get that impression from the message at the end. And the only way he can think of to get the Doctor's attention is to start his old tricks? Not sure if it's better or worse for him to be pre-Missy tbh.

It's just... such an interesting dynamic. Also I really want to read into the whole... scene where the Master asks the Doctor to kneel and call him 'Master' in front of everyone - then, when she does (defiantly! Stubbornly!), he... kneels to be at the same level as her. Like, "I'm going to play these BDSM-esque power games with you but when it comes down to it, I still consider us equal."

Anyway the Master is def a service top.

This comment from Tumblr user upslapmeal:

"'why would it stop? I mean how else would I get your attention’ what did I say about the Master being like a cat knocking things off shelves"

I mean. Yeah.

"Contact." Old school.

The Companions! They get a capital C because they were rad as hell. I love them all deciding that what they do next is: carry on to save the world. Like they're all heroic af without the Doctor and it's so good.

"Don't make me do a soft-shoe shuffle!"

And questioning at the end, oooh man. There are some Implications there, yeah. They've found out some surface information, yes, but no real hint at the deeper trauma. And given what this coming season is hinting at, I strongly suspect we will indeed be getting that deeper trauma and maybe even Dark!Doctor. Gallifrey does tend to bring it out of them...

The whole on-the-run thing seemed to definitely be a callback to Sound of Drums. Uh, what's that going to do long-term? Send out a worldwide message saying, "Sorry, our bad, they're fine"? I mean, last time that happened... okay, Jack was already with Torchwood and so is used to Not Really Existing, but Martha definitely couldn't go back to fuckin' medical school. She ended up at UNIT and then went independent. They did not return to their normal lives.

Barton: needs a goddamn punch. He killed his mother what the fuck. On the plus side, at least he seems to have thoroughly destroyed his career? Be interesting to see if he reappears later, you don't go from the most powerful person on the planet to massive pariah overnight without Repercussions.

On to our guest characters! I hate to brag but I guessed who Ada was as soon as I heard her first name and saw her outfit. I mean the computers theme was already there, who else would she be? :D And I admittedly didn't know who Noor Inayat Khan was except in passing, but still. Little upset about the erased memories (Donna ;_; ), but I can see why the Doctor did it and like... this way, I'm glad they were able to avoid the implications of, "Ada only developed computing because she had already seen the future." Like people said that with Rosa Parks even though the Doctor said explicitly to only ensure there were enough seats filled and the act itself was all Rosa, so they may have wanted to play it safe.

I... really want to comment on how Ada definitely was crushing on the Doctor (and really, who wouldn't?), but she was a real person so I shall avoid those implications. (But really though!)

Doctor how many times have you been in someone's liver. This is some Magic School Bus Inside The Human Body bullshit and I love it.

Doctor's recording: "First of all, you're not gonna die! Second of all, don't talk back to the screens, obviously I'm a recording and I can't hear ya. Third, don't panic. Especially you, Graham."

Graham, panicking: "I'M NOT PANICKING!"

Doctor's recording: "Yes, you were! And I did just say, don't talk back to the screens!"

Graham: "????!?!!"

I want an entire series of the Master having a really infuriating seventy-seven years on Earth. Please.

Comments on continuity issues regarding that, "It's worse than Jodrell Bank!" "Did I ever apologise for that?" "No." "Good." exchange XD;; Like people are going, "Continuity error!! It was the Pharos Project, not Jodrell Bank!!" and like. Pharos was a project. Jodrell Bank is an observatory. You can do projects at observatories. Also, you can refer to projects by location, too. Am I referring to the Canberra Deep Space Communication Project or Tidbinbilla Station? Both! They refer to the same thing! In the Whoniverse, they likely did the Pharos Project at Jodrell Bank, and just had some lighthearted bantz about that time where the Master killed the Doctor, no biggie.

So, onwards to... an apparently unrelated episode for next week! Also, the Kassavin? Still there. Like. The Master only gave suggestions. They still have all those agents everywhere! They're still ready to act! And yeah, now they have the Master in their hands, so... I wonder if they'll make the Timeless Child a long, ongoing arc, and have the much more immediate threat of the Kassavin as the season finale?

Orphan 55

Thoughts on Doctor Who - Orphan 55!

...whew.

First thought: anvilicious, but some anvils need to be dropped, because, uh, have you seen the world lately.

It feels like quite a brittle episode? Even beyond the immediate tension of 'there are large angry creatures trying to kill everyone', there's just this sense of... like, tension. There's the tension between Benni and Vilma, which at first is kind of a sweet tension then becomes a life-threatening and sad tension. There's the tension between Roger Parslow Silas and his dad, with Silas not being taken seriously (although I do think him running out while they're in life-threatening danger is a bit much). The obvious and major tension between Bella and Kane that drives the whole episode, yes.

And there's also the tension amongst Team TARDIS! The episode starts with the Doctor still in Some Kinda Way about last week, and I felt a bit of tension between Yaz and Ryan? She seemed rather unimpressed by Bella, at any rate. I do like how organic the relationship between Ryan and Graham feels, at least. "It ain't the aliens that are gonna kill me, it’s worrying about you!"

Set and costume building, I felt, was kind of... eh? I liked how Tranquility itself looked, but the tunnels looked Very Generic, and some of the looks I felt didn't really work. Silas and his dad's green hair just looked very obviously fake, and I saw a description of Hyph3n-with-a-three looking like a cross between a Jellicle Cat and John Candy in Spaceballs (which... yeah, honestly). And I'm not sure about the Dregs, although I did initially have the thought that whatever the original inhabitants of the planet were, they must have been humanoid was amusingly accurate...

"I just pulled this out of a friend of mine! >:("

"Oh! ...We do not make any judgments on our guests and fully support any way you choose to enjoy yourself here at Tranquility Spa! ^_^;;"

"... ... ...It wasn't recreational! o.O"

God you could feel Hyph3n-with-a-three's embarrassment...

"If I had crayons and half a can of Spam, I could build you from scratch!" Excuse me I am at least Tofurky.

Also a logical issue on the whole journey to find Benni, because frankly, it just wasn't... sensible. Okay, bring a kid. Father of the year right there. Okay, bring an old woman. Granted, she could have insisted because it was her man-friend they were looking for, but surely she would have known she would slow them down? Her 'heroic sacrifice' felt very wasted, because dammit, she could have survived if she had stayed in the Dome where it was at least a bit safer!

"At least three eighths of a plan, right here! ...Two eights. I'll be honest, all I've got is the letter 'P'..."

So the Doctor is almost at the point of passing out from oxygen loss but hang on, let her first indulge her curiosity...

The sheer existence of orphan planets is very depressing. The sheer fact that there's at least fifty-five is very depressing.

There's an interesting comment about how straight after discussion of the reveal, the first shot of the preview is the Statue of Liberty. Very Planet of the Apes! (No apes next time, just Tesla vs Edison!) Also feeling a strong connection to Midnight (stunning resort on dangerous planet with a very personal enemy), and I saw a comment about Thirteen unintentionally The-End-Of-The-World-ing the Fam (and making a connection between 'very angry trees' and the Forests of Cheem). Bit of Ravolox. Bit of... fuck what was it... Curse of Fenric.

Although, we know that the Earth will eventually be consumed by the sun, and it was done in a way that was like... it was its time. This was not its time, was a colossal fuck-up on a planetary scale (and the Doctor continues to be 'eat the rich'), but it's also only one potential future. Which is good, because that got dark. Even more than The End of the World, even more than Utopia, even more than fuckin' Frontios, because this is the near-future. The shots we saw of the destruction were modern day! That was the Dome of the Rock you saw getting bombed!

"Be smarter than what made you." PAGING THE GOVERNMENT...

Going to put it on a solid... maybe 7/10? Some really good elements in there, but also some clunkers, and unfortunately not a patch on the same writer's It Takes You Away, which was one of the strongest of the last season.

Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror

Thoughts on Doctor Who - Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror!

Opinion before episode: man, Tesla's cool. Opinion after episode: man, Tesla is fuckin' cool! :D That was a well-done personality-based historical, absolutely - I think it's my second-favourite personality-based historical only to Rosa (there are other pseudo-historical based ones set in the past that I love, but they're not personality-based; the Human Nature duology is a good example).

But yeah, Tesla just came across as a really, really cool character. Genius and he knew it, yes, and the real Tesla did have some questionable views (sexism, mostly), but otherwise the archetypal Idealistic Genius who wants to change the world for the better. Contrast with Edison, who was... a businessman. With, like, a really punchable face. Still pretty intelligent, but... very, very punchable. I've read about the Tesla-Edison feud before and always sided with Tesla, and let's face it, so did the writer XD

Good mix of character combinations - with a lot of characters, it's easy for someone to get sidelined, but this managed to handle Thirteen and the Fam, and Tesla, Dorothy, and Edison, pretty well. There were some neat combinations, like Ryan and Dorothy bonding over the sense of adventure, and Graham and Edison's confrontation; I also really loved the whole conversation between Thirteen and Tesla on the joy of just... creating. There's actually a very nice overlap between arts and sciences.

Antagonists - not bad? I feel a lot of people were expecting the Racnoss, and there was such a similarity that I would have liked at least a throwaway line about how the Skithra were related or something. Ooh man she definitely brought out Dark!Doctor, though. Teleporting the queen back to the ship, specifically so she can be fried? I mean, she might have survived it. Might. And just that fantastic little change of expression when the queen asks the Doctor if she's ever seen a dead planet before! Whittaker pulled that one off.

There's a very interesting compare and contrast between the Skithra and Edison, I found. Thirteen has her speech about how once the Skithra are gone, they won't be remembered. Caput. Forgotten. They left nothing behind. Compare and contrast to Edison, who was openly accused of using other people's work, but who's able to learn from his mistakes, end on an even(ish) setting with Tesla, and who does get remembered. Which kind of stings, honestly, if you look at Tesla's actual history.

Like. Apparently that, "The man just didn't understand the American sense of humour," line was an actual historical line, according to Tesla's own records. The absolute main reason for the difference in fame and recognition is that Tesla was a genius who didn't know how to market. Edison was a marketer who could invent a bit. So in conclusion Edison is a dick and Tesla needs more respect, the end.

Favourite lines and scenes:

Tesla: "Is - is this your own design?" Thirteen: "I made it! Mainly out of spoons! :D" Tesla: "You're an inventor! :D" Thirteen: "I have my moments." Tesla: "I knew it! So you... so, you can understand how it feels, you know, when you have an idea, and - and to make it real. I don't think there's any greater thrill!" Thirteen: "I couldn't agree more." Tesla: "You... you spoke of aliens. People here laugh at the very idea." Thirteen: "But not you." Tesla: "Well, apparently I'm not like other people. It can be difficult, you know, to feel no one else sees the world the way you do. It's like you're, uh..." Thirteen: "...out of place."

Graham: "Yeah, still. I bet you'd jump at the chance to have him back working for you, wouldn't ya?" Edison: "Yeah?" Graham: "Yeah!" Edison: "How d'you figure that?" Graham: "'Cause I had a supervisor like you at my old depot. And men like you don't pay a bloke that much attention unless you think there's a payout comin'."

Thirteen: "I wouldn't go killing me and Yaz. 'Cause Yaz... can tell you what this is." Yaz: "It's a camera!" Thirteen: "Bingo!" *FLASH!*

Edison: "I couldn't figure it out either." Tesla: "The internal dimensions transcend the external." Thirteen: *GRIN* Edison: ._.

Thirteen: "You do realise, it's killing Edison that they want you and not him? ;D"

Graham: "Don't worry. This ain't our first rodeo!" Ryan: "We've never been to a rodeo." Graham: "...you're not helping, Ryan..."

Thirteen: "And what are you queen of, exactly? A stolen ship and second-hand guns? A queen of shreds and patches. You're not a ruler, you're a parasite." Queen: "And what are you? So clever, stealing onto my ship, taking what I claim as mine. But where has it got you? No weapons. No armour. No escape. Just the desperate hope you might change my mind." Thirteen: "No, we are way past that. I gave you your chance." Queen: "A chance to be like you?" Thirteen: "A chance to evolve. But you were too stupid to take it. When you die, there'll be nothing left behind - just a trail of blood and other people's brilliance. No one will even know you existed."

(Side note: I love that this speech was actually in front of the companions. They're starting to see that things are Not Okay.)

Thirteen: "Don't give up." Yaz: "Whatever anyone says." Tesla: "Well, let them talk. The present is theirs. I work for the future... and the future is mine."

Favourite incorrect lines:

Thirteen and Tesla, firing at the ship: "VIBE CHECK!"

Fugitive of the Judoon

I'M GONNA... NEED A HOT MOMENT TO PROCESS THAT...

WELL I. UH. OKAY.

lmao I'm serious I don't even know where to begin.

Uh, some very disorganised comments on Doctor Who - Fugitive of the Judoon!

I squealed when I heard Jack's voice then saw him in the flesh. I gasped audibly when 'Ruth' broke the glass. I yelped when we saw the buried TARDIS. I MAY HAVE SCREAMED A LITTLE WHEN 'RUTH' INTRODUCED HERSELF.

(Also can we talk about her outfit. That was on point.)

I'm getting a very... very early vibe? She didn't know what the sonic screwdriver was, and that was introduced with Troughton. Since we saw the Hartnell-Troughton regeneration, she must be pre-Hartnell? Maybe a Doctor whose memories were rewritten to the point that they thought the Hartnell incarnation was the earliest? Not to mention that was a pretty old-school-looking TARDIS!

Alternatively, maybe between Troughton and Pertwee? Either option has some inconsistency - if she's post Troughton, she should have known what the sonic was, although it admittedly did look very different. Plus, her TARDIS is already its police box shape, which was implied to have set in the junkyard. Also, we never actually do see the regeneration between Two and Three, and it could explain why Gallifrey was after her - she escaped after her trial after The War Games!

Definitely early, though.

Alternatively alternatively, Thirteen actually does say 'time is swirling around me'. Maybe an alternate timeline. Something to tie back to the Timeless Child?

"I've lived for thousands of years, so long I've lost count. I've had so many faces. How long have you known me? You don't know me. Not even a little bit."

That wasn't just aimed at the companions. I feel that was aimed at the Doctor themself.

(Related: the response from the fam was flat-out beautiful. Doesn't matter who she was or who she'll be. They know her now, and they love her.)

Just. Wow. Wow.

Really cool note from Twitter - disguised name was Ruth Clayton. Ruth = 'friend, companion'. Clayton = 'of the Earth'. She literally named herself 'friend of the Earth'.

"You're probably a bit confused right now."

I mean. Yeah. Confused and intrigued and what.

"Don't do points! I do points! Points are my thing!"

Jack. Jack. Smooching Graham, hitting on all the companions, getting into Shenanigans! The Lone Cyberman - I wonder if that's a totally different crisis that isn't even related to the current Gallifrey-Timeless Child one? The more important part is Jack's presence - the presence of another time traveller with a... unique relationship with the universe. The actual warning could be a red herring, but Jack showing up anywhere in the first place is a sign that something is happening with time?

Orphan 55 had a timeline that may or may not have been the 'real' one. Being only a potential future kind of doesn't work with what we know of established DW continuity, so I'm liking the 'alternate timeline' theory, maybe?

Ryan: "I liked him. Kind of cheesy."

Yaz: "But good cheesy."

Thirteen, smiling: "That's Jack."

Graham just standing there going, "He kissed me tho? ...Wasn't bad, actually."

"Is she safe?" Jack, honestly, is she ever safe?

"When she needs me... I'll be there." Oh yeah, he's so coming back later this season.

Also, Judoon, chameleon arch, the Master, Jack - getting big season 29 vibes here and that's a big thumbs up for me because that's my favourite season. We just need Martha to make an appearance now!

...hehe honestly, between Jodie's entire existence, and now, in the span of five episodes, introducing Dhawan!Master, Gat, and now Jo Martin as the first black female Doctor, and reintroducing Jack, one of the most overtly and openly queer characters on the series, the 'Doctor Who is too PC!' bunch are going to be so mad XD

"A platoon of Judoon... near the moon." / "Look at you, your platoon of Judoon near the... that lagoon..."

Man. The close-up in the very first shot of the watch. Nice tie-in.

"The Doctor never uses weapons!" "I know! Shut up! >.>"

Where do the Kasaavin come into play? Is this something they've done by integrating themselves throughout time and space? Maybe they're fraying the fabric?

My mind is blown. I can't wait for the rest of this season :D

[Part 2 - Praxeus to The Timeless Children]

#doctor who #companion love #best enemies #long post

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sometimesrosy · 5 years ago

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6.12 Adjustment Protocol rewatch

okay here we go.

Watching Clarke pretend to be Josephine while possessed Madi threatens to kill them all, and she’s got to put on that callous act was terrible. But then she managed to delay Echo’s execution by saying she wanted to be there for Simone’s awakening which was clever. Abby threatens to kills Russell for killing Clarke, and he’s like “yeah, I thought I wouldn’t leave the path (path what path?) until I killed my family in the first eclipse, so I believe you.” I’m thinking, like granddaughter like grandmother.

Meanwhile Murphy is playing both sides to get immortality but also manage to save his people. Doesn’t manage to save Echo. But he lives another day to keep on scamming the rest.

Then Bellamy outside the compound chomping at the bit ready to change the plan because he can’t stand there doing nothing and Octavia is the reasonable one telling him to have faith.

Sheidheda tells Raven he knows what she’s doing and will kill the child if she does it, meanwhile Russell is going to kill her with bone marrow extraction so Abby takes the nightblood serum so they can take the bone marrow from her. “Like mother like daughter,” Jackson says. In walks Clarke and she hugs Abby and everyone is stunned and relieved, and she say she. needs Raven to open the shields but Raven says no, she can’t leave Madi or sheidheda will kill her. And Clarke is like, good no. Okay, we’ll use Ryker. She’s be Josephine and persuade him. I really like the Raven and CLarke interaction here even though it’s focused on Abby and Madi. Raven’s sorrow at Josephine and relief at Clarke being alive was real and refusing to leave Madi, although Clarke was trying to be pragmatic, is a sign that Raven has grown in her moral development that so often sacrificed others for her pragmatism, and this time she was like, no. I have to do the right thing and save THIS child. Of course Clarke agreed. And when she went off to save them all, Raven was like, damn right, back where she belongs, saving our asses. I’ll take care of the fam and save Madi. Because it really felt like she was part of the family there. Caring for Abby, for Madi, and. believing in Clarke once again. I guess it makes Jackson the big bro.

So Ryker’s dead and Clarke’s smart so she grabs the minddrive and plans to coerce his mom to open the shield and still pretending to be J. Why don’t they suspect her? IDK. Is she that good?

Raven finding out Emori and Murphy are the next primes was interesting. She was disappointed in Emori. I still think they had a poly thing for a while. BUt that is not analysis, that’s headcanon. Whatever happened on the ring stays on the ring.

Then Gabriel flips when he finds out all the primes are coming back and he crashes their plan. NOW Bellamy wants to be reasonable. lol. I guess Octavia’s pep talk worked.

The scene where Clarke marches into the bar with Echo, Miller and Gaia hiding and grabs Priya to get the shield, she makes up a story about Ryker losing his nerve and Echo’s like, we can’t let them leave and attacks, takes out the guards (Delilah’s mom smacks one over the head, too!) and then Priya is running and Clarke clotheslines her. AWESOME. And Echo is like, “I knew it!” Because Echo never lost faith in Clarke or stopped believing in her. She understands Clarke because they have so many similarities. More than Bellamy even, Echo has been on Clarke’s side (probably because she has no hurt feelings about what she’s done.) Echo and Clarke hug and I loved to see it. Y’all are completely unfair to Echo as a character, mischaracterizing her because she’s the opposing ship. This whole stan/anti thing sucks. SORRY. little fandom rant. I apologize. Moving on. Gaia didn’t believe. She’s like How are you here? Miller and Echo are just like, of course she’s here, she’s Clarke. duh.

OH Abby and Raven reconciled. Abby admits that bodysnatching for Kane was wrong, all she wanted was him back, but now that she got Clarke back, she understands Raven was right. And RAVEN is like, I’m sorry I’ve been judging you so unfairly, you’re human. And here we have character development revelations that we’ve been waiting for. Abby says you may not be my daughter but you’re my family, solidifying their mother/daughter type relationship and the hug. YAY! Reconciliation and apologies and understanding hurrah!

I should have known.

In comes Russell and Memori. Abby is like, “I know how scared you are but betraying your friends isn’t the way to do it.” He says, “believe it or not this is good for you too.” And honestly, he is trying to save them. And if Bellarke’s plan hadn’t worked, what they do would be the best option. But as it is, it’s just a backup and it does help their plan eventually.

And then Russell asks for Abby’s help. And then Abby gets suspicious. And he tells her he has all the primes he needs. And this is so sick.

His rationale is “I killed your daughter, and because you will ask me to pay for that murder, I am going to kill you too.”

That is NOT eye for an eye. He can’t even stick to his own twisted morality.

Jackson for the first time gets violent and hits a guard but the other guard takes him down while another holds Raven. Abby is given the shot and falls. The last thing she sees is her daughter Raven, her son Jackson, and then she starts flashing through Jake, Kane, and Clarke growing up. Before she’s dead.

I hate Russell. There’s no way he’d be my favorite villain.

Russll vs Gabriel. “Without death life is meaningless.” But the resurrections are done. Nothing more powerufl than the truth. “You’re wrong, faith is.” He thinks seeing all their gods will make them have faith again.

The alarm goes off too soon ruining the plan. Gabriel. You messed up.

Gabriel can’t even kill Russell. “You never had the stomach to be a god.” WHY do gods have to kill people? Russell you suck.

Oh the primes. Murphy and Emori look so damn good. Honestly. They look beautiful.

The shield goes down and Bellamy says “I told you she’d do it,” and Octavia is like what? And then elbows him and laughs. What a great tiny moment that shows they have gotten back to their relationship. Not perfect, but THEM. Well done.

Bellamy takes Priya to tell the truth to the Sanctumites and it’s sad, admitting that they weren’t one with the primes and they weren’t gods, just humans with technology, needing their bodies to live forever. Then Russell, the demon, gasses everyone and they go psychotic. The parents killed Priya which was fitting. But Clarke and Gaia go to save Madi and Echo leads earthrku and COG into the machine shop where she was imprisoned. The action has less meaningful stuff to the narrative, I find. But fun.

Oh Clarke, they do the rotating camera until she sees Abby. Jackson and Raven are crying and Clarke is overcome. Almost. Gabriel draws her attention and she yells at him about her broken heart and his treachery. It was very kind of him.

Stupid Simone is like “well at least you have closure.” WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT WOMAN?

Then they need Raven because they have no pilot since they killed the Lees and Simone puts a gun to Madi’s head. Russell’s about to throw Gaia to the wolves but Clarke saves her by saying they’ll need her to get onto the ship.

Open to shot of Indra guarding the door with armed guards as it opens to Simone, Russell and Clarke!Josephine holding guns to the heads of Madi, Raven and Gaia on their knees.

Russell is SUCH a villain. Nothing redeeming about him except for his looks and dignified appearance and that is not enough. And Simone is heartless. I suppose they are the Head and Heart of that generation. Simone was a shadow of Abby, and in the end, the shadow swallowed her.

@linzzmorgan100 @wolfheartgirl @braindeadkat @kattitudereads @beholdmysparkle @elspethelfgordie @theatre-steph @franklyineedcoffee @iishallbelieve

#the 100 #liveblog #rewatch

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by-mana · 4 years ago

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Commissions Redux

Hi Folks!

This has been copied from my main blog and cleaned up a bit, since I’m trying to separate the fan stuff from the main to keep something like a semblance of an order. Commissions are therefore moved from Mana-chan’s Corner to here. They are still open and perfectly free, just read the rules, please. In case you wish to support me, you can do either of these things:

» Leave a Tip

» Buy Me a Coffee

As I am currently jobless (thank you Corona) every bit is appreciated.

» Full Update

For a long time I didn’t take any commissions because the fandoms and pairings I have inspiration for is a limited fraction of my active fandoms (i.e. the fandoms I engage with via reading fic, commenting, enjoying content, reblogging, etc.) and I didn’t want to disappoint.

Recently, in an unexpected strike of utter genius (which only took me like... 5 years to work out), I had the epiphany to compile a list of fandoms+pairings I’d be more than happy to write as you desire.

» Commission Rules/FAQ. Please read before commissioning.

» For full list of available fandoms/genres click below.

» Fandoms

» The Untamed | Mo Dao Zu Shi

The most recent fandom, also the one that currently dominates my mind.

Including: CQL, Novel, Movies. I haven’t read a lot of the source material, but I’m intending to and I already did some research. For now I think I prefer a mix of canons.

» Pairings

» Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian

» Jiang Cheng & Wei Wuxian (mostly gen, but I believe I could do something sexual/romantic as well, but please ask first if you have any specific ideas)

» Jiang Cheng/Wen Qing (please read the rules)

» Jiang Cheng/Wen Ning (tentative)

» Nie Mingjue/Wei Wuxian

» Nie Mingjue/Lan Xichen (tentative, though I mostly see myself as writing them on the side)

» Any version of the 3zun (same as above)

» Lan Xichen/Wei Wuxian

» Jin Zixuan/Wei Wuxian

» Specific Canons / Prompts

The Untamed basically exploded over my head and didn’t leave me alone. In the past few months a few plotbunnies developed which I’d all love to write at one point. You can chose to prompt me either of these or pick any general prompt, or anything you’d like to read, as long as it aligns with what I can write.

» The First Witness

Genre: Case Fic, Modern AU, Canon retell, Drama, Tragedy, Romance, M/M

Pairings: WWX/LWJ

Includes: Forensic Medical Examiner Wei Wuxian, Inspector Lan Wangji, Single Dad Wei Wuxian, Wei Sizhui / Wen Yuan, the dead ones are dead, Badass Grandmother Baoshan Sanren, Yunmeng Bros Reconciliation, Businessman Jiang Cheng, Murder Mystery, Pining, Getting Together, HIV positive character, past off-screen rape (mentioned only). It’s basically what it says, a canon retell wrapped in a modern day case fic. It was the first thing that I had inspiration for.

» Nurse Wei Wuxian slice of life Modern AU

Genre: Modern AU, slice of life, recovery, drama, tragedy, adoption, M/M, hurt & comfort, getting together, romance, fluff

Pairings: WWX/LWJ

Includes: pediatric nurse Wei Wuxian, pediatric nurse MianMian, elementary school teacher Lan Wangji, pediatrician Lan Xichen, intense care nurse Jiang Yanli, intense care doctor Wen Qing, teacher’s aide Wen Ning, Yunmeng reconciliation, only some are dead, Wen family+WWX living together.

Premise: Former convict Wei Wuxian, fresh out of nursing school, applies for a job at Dr. Lan Xichen’s pediatric practice. Lan Xichen (who sometimes takes pro bono foster children abuse cases) isn’t quite sold on the idea of a former felon turned nurse attending to already traumatized children, but upon interview decides to give WWX a chance. Not only does he never regret it, it turns out it’s to be the best decision he’s ever made, not only in regards to his practice. Meddling ensues, love blossoms, truths are revealed, happy end. Probably the fluffiest story on the list.

» ABO Yunmeng Shuanjie Fake Marriage AU

Not what you think. Does not involve pseudo-incest (at least not for a long time, haven’t decided on the end results yet). First ABO I’ve ever considered writing, but all the more exciting, since I know now what I want of it.

Pairing: WWX/LWJ (temporal, non-endgame - so far, platonic), WWX & JC (gen, ruling partners)

Includes: fake marriage, extra marital affair, male pregnancy, abo (mostly non-traditional, I think?), not actual pseudo incest, adoption, canon divergence, not everybody dies, Wen Chao being a monster, sexual assault (interrupted), golden core loss, NO golden core transfer, misunderstandings, complicated political situations, the Wens are saved and live in Lotus Pier, a-Yuan is still adopted, “sometimes love is not enough”

Premise: shortly after concluding the studies at Cloud Recesses LWJ starts courting WWX. Engagement is discussed between the two clans, but the Wen indoctrination and the burning of the Cloud Recesses gets in between. When LWJ refuses to lie in order to save WWX from Wen Chao’s assault, JC steps in and pretends to be the one engaged to WWX to save his brother from a forced bond. To prevent this from being debunked and to ensure a future marriage (which will now be more challenging to achieve, given the state of Cloud Recesses), LWJ and WWX mate and bond in the Xuanwu cave. Then Lotus Pier is sacked, JC loses his golden core, the Jiangs are dead and the Yunmeng siblings flee for their lives, find refuge in Yiling, etc. Plays out as in canon except they find out WWX is pregnant and transferring the golden core would cause an abortion. WWX still says do it, but changes his mind in the last minute, leading to JC finding out about his plan upon waking up and remaining coreless. They flee to Meishan and marry to protect WWX’s reputation (since a marriage would now be impossible for a long time on both sides - Gusu and Yunmeng, AND JC needs WWX more than ever and WWX is not abandoning his little brother) Sunshot happens, WWX invents the control tower & still saves the Sunshot campaign. The sixteen years that follow are utter chaos.

» Nie Mingjue/Wei Wuxian arranged marriage AU

You know what this is inspired by.

Pairing: Nie Mingjue/Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian (unfullfilled, for a long time)

Includes: arranged marriage, some characters die, Nie Mingjue dies but later, revenge, wwx adopts a-yuan, canon divergence, slow burn, learning to love, the Wens live, political intrigues, wwx and nhs teaming up against jgy

Premise: To save the Wens and himself from qi deviation Wei Wuxian marries Nie Mingjue (in spite of being in love with LWJ). Slowly some truths are revealed and feelings blossom but some tragedies cannot be prevented. NMJ realizes the feelings that are between WWX and LWJ, but they both marry regardless. Later WWX realizes that NMJ is similarly in love with Lan Xichen. With time they learn to love and respect each other, NMJ learns about what WWX did for JC, WWX learns clarity to play for NMJ when JGY nearly succeeds killing him (WWX suspects but he has no proof). NMJ still dies (disappears) and widower WWX spends the next decade or so seeking revenge and searching for his husband’s body so that he can rest in peace. It’s all very bittersweet, but there’s a happy ending.

» Hakuouki + Extended Universe

The longest active and steadiest fandom. I know exactly what I’ll write and what not.

Including characters from: Urakata, Toki no Kizuna, the most recent overhauls (Kyoto Winds, Edo Blossoms). I’ve seen all three anime seasons, played a few routes of Kyoto Winds and read some walkthroughs. I’m not completely done with all of them, but I’ll take the time to research if the commission demands it.

» Pairings

» Harada Sanosuke/Nagakura Shinpachi (I lovingly refer to them as my naval battle cruiser)

» Harada Sanosuke/Shiranui Kyou

» Shiranui Kyou/Takasugi Shinsaku

» Kondou Isami/Hijikata Toushizou (tentative)

» Hijikata Toushizou/Saitou Hajime (tentative)

» Nagakura Shinpachi/Saitou Hajime

» Saitou Hajime/Toudou Heisuke

» Yukimura Chizuru/Sen-hime

» Ibuki Ryuunosuke/Kosuzu (please read the rules)

» Specific Canons / Prompts:

I’ve had a number of inspirations for this, which I’ve never written, but would love to delve into. You can chose to prompt me either of these or, of course, pick a general prompt.

» Fabulous Family Series

The one in progress, you can check it out on AO3. You can prompt me in this, if there’s something you’d like to read.

Pairings (current and planned): Harada/Nagakura, Kondou/Hijikata, Okita/Chizuru (casual), Heisuke/Saitou, Takasugi/Shiranui, Chizuru/Sen-chan, Ibuki/Kosuzu, Ibuki->Saitou (one-sided crush), Saitou/Chizuru (temporal)

Tags: adoption, modern AU, lgbtq+ issues, M/M, genderfluid character, disabled character (future), teenage pregnancy (future), slice of life, sexual assault (future), child abuse (future reveal), romance, ace/aro character, casual sex, underage sex,

» Gender Swap AU

Main Ship: Harada/Nagakura

Side Ship: Ibuki/Kosuzu

Summary: Sannan secretly tests a version of his experimental Ochimizu on a few of the captains. The result is that the new day dawns with some drastic changes to their bodies that have nothing to do with white hair, glowing eyes or bloodthirst, but with a whole other set of complications.

Premise: Original story was supposed to be about Shinpachi developing and unexpected attraction to Sano, them “experimenting” together and Sano falling pregnant. While the others manage to turn back to their original bodies, Sano doesn’t and it is all very complicated. Eventually he does (after giving birth), but instead of it being a good thing it just makes things more complicated. In the end, he choses to live in a female body instead of death and marries Shinpachi. Would include trans issues, gender dysphoria, friendship vs. love, the nature of attraction, respect, feminism and female issues. I wanted to write it as a multi-chapter, but never got around to it. But I’d love to put it out there in any form I can.

» Prince of Tennis

Tentatively putting this down as one of my oldest fandoms. I never wrote for it as cosistently as with other fandoms, but a few years back I rp-ed it for quite a while and could probably still write for it, if the pairing’s right.

Including: ShinTeniPuri characters up to Pirates and Black Holes (I haven’t read much further, but I’ll probably catch up at one point? I always do.)

» Pairings / Characters (mostly Shitenhouji and Higa centric)

» Oshitari Kenya/Shiraishi Kuranosuke

» Oshitari Kenya/Chitose Senri

» Oshitari Kenya & Oshitari Yuushi (gen, ask me about cest)

» Shishido Ryou/Oishi Shuuichirou

» Oshitari Yuushi/Kikumaru Eiji

» Oshitari Yuushi/Hirakoba Rin (this relates to that rp)

» Kai Yuujirou & Hirakoba Rin (both gen and slash)

» Kite Eishirou/Hirakoba Rin

» Watanabe Osamu/Sakaki Tarou

» Higa gen

» Shitenhouji gen and casual relationships (ask me about specific ones)

» Hara Tetsuya/Taira Yoshiyuki

» Mori Juuzaburou & Hara Tetsuya (mostly gen, but I probs could do casual slash as well)

» Ochi Tsukimitsu/Mori Juuzaburou

» Marui Bunta/Hara Tetsuya (you will never get this, but it derives from that rp I did and would still def write it if people are interested)

» Tango Pair (Sanada Genichirou/Atobe Keigo)

» Specific Canons / Prompts

Most of what I had in my head has faded but a few things remained. Of course you can also come with your own prompt at me.

» College AU, future fic

Premise: Everyone has grown up and moved on. The Oshitari cousins are now rooming together, both studying medicine at Tokyo University. They’re upper neighbors with Shishido Ryou (paedagogy) and Oishi Shuuichirou (medicine), who both miss their doubles partners, but have seemingly moved on from their middle school days and broken hearts. No such thing can be said about Kenya, who can’t get over his break up with Shiraishi following their graduation, or Yuushi, who seems to hold secrets of his own.

I haven’t developed much for this, most of it are scattered ideas, but I’d love to explore it. I’ve thought of some pairings for it, but none of them final. It would also leave a lot of room for casual stuff or one-night stands. It’s actually an ideal prompt premise, from that standpoint.

Pairings (at start, no necessarily final): Oshitari Kenya/Shiraishi Kuranosuke (past), Oishi Shuuichirou/Shishido Ryou (current), Oishi Shuuichirou/Kikumaru Eiji (past), Shishido Ryou/Ootori Choutarou (past), Oshitari Yuushi/Kikumaru Eiji (current, secret),

» It takes two to Tango / Tango towards Destruction

An old fic that was supposed to be a series which I never finished, but could pick it up and remaster it. It’d be a nostalgia project.

Pairing: Tango Pair

Premise: Atobe’s father finds out about him and Sanada dating and threatens to disown him if they don’t break up. In the original Atobe runs away, but I’m thinking now he simply might not take it seriously enough and then it would escalate. He ends up moving in with the Sanada family. Your typical rich boy loses everything and struggles through poverty, finding meaning, building a life for himself, coming off age.

» One Piece

A fandom older than even TeniPuri it’s been with me the longest. Unfortunately it doesn’t inspire me anymore the way it used to, but I’d still be able to write some things for it, if the right muse struck me. I kinda want to. Nostalgia, you know.

» Pairings

» Zoro/Sanji

» Ace/Zoro

» Ace/Sanji

» Luffy/Law (tentative, like, I ship them hard but I don’t know if I’d be able to write something for them? Oh but I’d like to try)

» Mihawk/Shanks

» Mihawk & Zoro & Perona family dynamics

» Zeff & Sanji adopted family dynamics

» Usopp & Yasopp gen

» Izo? I’d like to try an Izo.

» Canons

» Canonverse

Set in the original canon of the fandom.

Including (not limited to): backstory - past canon, present canon, future fic (please specify), canon divergence

» Modern AU

Including (not limited to): no powers, modern with magic (potential, please ask), slice of life, mystery, case fic, ‘job AU’ (coffee shop, doctors, idols, etc., please specify/ask)

» Sci-fi AU

Including: original sci-fi canon, Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, Dune (tentative), Hyperion (tentative), for everything else ask. I know a lot of sci-fi, but not enough lore for each of them to set a story in. I might be interested but it'd necessitate research.

» High Fantasy AU

Including (not limited to): original fantasy canon, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Witcher, but overall I’d prefer if you ask about this. I haven’t read/seen a lot of the most recent and popular franchises (mostly because I’m writing my own high fantasy and don’t want it to be too influenced by other things, and someone already told me it sounds like Game of Thrones, so that one’s a big no. Sorry...)

» No Powers, other than modern AU

Including (not limited to): everything that doesn’t fall under the modern AU list, but has no powers in it, i.e. historical AU (specify time & culture), future AU (near & far), cyberpunk dystopia (possibly), post-apocalyptic (possibly). I don’t write zombies.

» Superpowers / Hero AU

Including (not limited to): X-Men, Avengers, Wildstorm Universe, original superhero canon

» Genres

I do mostly serious stuff, like drama, tragedy, intrigues, arranged marriage, tragic backstory, etc. I like to put my characters through a lot of suffering. I always joke that it’s very easy to spot my favorite character by the amount of torture I put them through. I feel that it makes the happy ending weigh even more. Sometimes I even prefer a bad ending, if it gives the story more meaning (I mean, imagine LotR trilogy have a happy ending. It would totally take away all the development and the lessons the characters went through.) I wish I could write light stuff but so far I have not succeeded. I use a lot of sarcasm and irony though?

My shorter fics tend to be fluffy and sweet rather than funny, if full of playful banter and teasing. Relationships are usually depicted in a naturalistic rather than romantic way (I’m ace/aro myself, and I have lots of opinions about the nature of love and attraction, and how a functioning relationship ideally looks like and it tends to seep into my writing). Instead of traditional romance I like to write a non-traditional one. Slow burn, instead of love on first sight. Learning to love instead of falling hard. But it also depends on the pairing. I can write most things if I put my mind to it, so don’t hesitate to prompt me and I’ll let you know whether it works for me or not.

I’m not shy of dealing with child abuse, assault, suicidal ideation, trauma, disability and other difficult topics in my writing, so if you wanna request any of these or something similar I’m a-okay with it, as long as you discuss it with me. I’m not knowledgeable in everything so it’s likely I’ll need to do research, but I’m more than alright with it. Honestly, it’s very probable that I’d love to try.

» Kinks

I’m okay with most stuff. Where I draw the line is the really hardcore stuff like scat and kinks involving feces, some forms of humiliation, zoophilia, necrophilia, mutilation, stuff like that.

I’m alright with both dub-con & non-con (although I refuse to depict is as normalized, or glorified), bondage, s&m, dom/sub, light bdsm (ask me about the harder stuff. I’m not against it, I’m just not always in the mood or right mindset for writing it), omorashi (tentative, ask me), daddy kink, breath play, age play, spanking, verbal humiliation, dirty talk, edging, come eating, orgasm denial,... all the good stuff.

#commission me #fandoms #genres

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themackenzies · 5 years ago

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Thoughts on 5.01 - ‘The Fiery Cross’

WARNING: This review is mostly negative, very long, and also contains spoilers for episode 5.01 and the books Drums of Autumn and The Fiery Cross.

This episode was all just too sappy and cheesy. I didn’t really get ‘Fraser Family Feels’ or even ‘MacKenzie Family Feels’ to the extent that I thought I would, or should, considering this was a very hyped premiere episode featuring the wedding of my favorite Outlander ship! I finished rereading The Fiery Cross in January and was so excited for Season 5, but was underwhelmed with this episode. Even though I was disappointed, I will definitely be giving Season 5 another chance and plan to keep watching. (I didn’t care for the first couple of episodes of Season 4 either.)

First of all, I watched the episode with my sister and her husband. She was a show-only fan and then started reading the books, and she’s currently reading Drums of Autumn. So, she knows that I love Roger and Bree, but doesn’t really understand why...yet. (I’m hoping she falls in love with Roger like I did when I read Drums, but she’s a very busy person and doesn’t have a lot of time to read, so it will be a while before her verdict about bookRoger is in!)

Watching and discussing the show with her just makes it all the more obvious how much I mentally fill in gaps and inconsistencies in the show with my knowledge from, and love of, the books. We also rewatched the Season 4 finale right before watching the premiere - the difference in tone between the two episodes, watching them back to back, was stark. They really did a complete 180 from Season 4 in a lot of ways, which apparently worked for a lot of fans, but it did not work for me. It’s like they took all my least favorite parts of previous seasons and crammed them all into one episode and magnified them. I’m going into details under the read more about what I liked and didn’t like. But, overall, I thought this episode was fussy and boring.

Costumes and Hair

Brianna’s wedding dress was beautiful and I loved it. I’m simultaneously glad and peeved that they released all those wedding photos ahead of time. It was nice seeing all the HQ images, so we could see details of the dress (Like the tartan underskirt, which is not visible at any point in the episode!). But, at the same time, it would have been nice to be surprised. This episode was kind of boring to me, probably because I had already seen the dress and other details ahead of time. If I hadn’t, it would have been fun to notice all the details while watching the episode. Roger looked nice, but I gotta say, I really miss the beard. Rik’s face looks a little strange without it and my brother in law commented that he looked “cold” without it, haha! Rik looks great in all the season 5 promo interviews and photos with the long hair and beard. I’m hoping that he’s able to continue growing his hair out and doesn’t have to wear a wig for Season 6.

Speaking of wigs...I am so glad Jamie’s bangs are gone! Jamie looks so much better! I am finding him almost as attractive as he was in Season 1. But, I feel like Claire’s and Bree’s wigs are worse this season! Their curls are so defined and unnatural looking. And I didn’t like Claire’s elaborate hairdo for the wedding, with it all piled up on her head and all these tight curls hanging down. Claire’s wig looked much better in later scenes, like when she’s braiding it before bed, and when she’s in her surgery seeing patients the next day.

The Wedding/The Gathering

I knew going into this episode, based on promo for this season, that they would be doing some kind of wedding/gathering combo at Fraser’s Ridge. But, I felt like they did a poor job of explaining this, as well as the time jump, and setting it up for the show.

To prepare writing this review, I quickly jotted down a few notes, so I wouldn’t forget and one of my thoughts was:

Where did all these people come from? They didn’t make it clear that this was The Gathering...it seemed like everyone was there for The Wedding, and then stayed for a couple days. But, like, who are these people?

I don’t really feel like rewatching the episode, and maybe this was addressed in Claire’s voiceover at the beginning. I remember her talking about the settlers helping to build the house, but this was a lot of people...strangers. Was this an impromptu gathering? Did all these people really show up just for Roger and Bree’s wedding and then stick around? It seemed like Jamie’s decision to put on the kilt and do the fiery cross and call up the militia was a spur of the moment decision brought on by Tryon showing up at the wedding uninvited and expressing his disapproval at Jamie’s letters. But if it was spur of the moment, how did they get not one, but two, elaborate crosses built?

The wedding ceremony itself was fine, but I did miss the intimacy of the wedding in the book. Maybe intimacy isn’t the right word, because they were surrounded by a ton of strangers at the gathering. But, it felt intimate. This did not. It felt kitchy, kind of theatrical, and way too fancy!

The (Fancy) Big House

Speaking of fancy...The big house is way too grand. It feels like a completely different show, and not in a good way. Season 1 felt so down to earth and authentic and gritty. And this is just pretty for pretty’s sake. I had seen photos of the Big House in promo before this episode, and I’m probably on record in some DMs as saying that I didn’t really mind that the house was so big or grand, but actually seeing it in the episode? It irks me. The wedding was too fancy and the house was too fancy. And it struck me, as Jamie is leaving the house the next morning, and is stopped by Tryon for a convo about militia stuff, that Jamie is wearing fancy clothes. And I thought, “Book Jamie would be out there with those other settlers with his sleeves rolled up helping to build, or farm, or whatever.” It really feels like the Fraser’s won the lottery or something, because I don’t get how else they could have accumulated so much wealth in such a short period of time. There’s supposed to be this huge disparity between the way they live and the way Jocasta lives. And the only way Jocasta lives the way she does is because she owns slaves. I am just so completely irked by how opulent the Fraser lifestyle seems to be now. It’s so nonsensical that it really prevented me from enjoying the episode. Yes, it’s pretty, but pretty without reason, purpose, or sense.

L.O.V.E. and BROG

Roger is my favorite character. I love him, and am rooting for him and Brianna to be happy and together in the show. But, I think it feels a little strange to go from the drama at the end of last season to this nearly perfect couple in season 5. I was really hoping there would be some flashbacks to show their reconciliation and all that really great relationship stuff that happens with them at the end of Drums. But, I guess they really are sticking with this massive time jump. I’m happy that they’re happy. But, this wedding didn’t feel earned. It kills me to say that. I don’t think Roger needs redemption, but I do wish they had given him and Brianna a chance to hash everything out. I think the time jump does a huge disservice to these characters and their relationship, and I think the writers needed to do a lot more legwork to get Roger and Bree from where they were at the end of Season 4 to where they were in this episode. Their relationship doesn’t all of a sudden become more believable if you give them a fancy wedding.

I was looking forward to hearing Roger sing again, but I didn’t like the L.O.V.E. song. I read or heard in an interview or article at some point that a couple of the songs Rik sang for Season 5 were difficult, and out of his register. I think this was probably one of those songs. I was not impressed by Rik’s performance and I think it was an odd, cheesy song choice. I also didn’t care for the love montage during this song. It felt like something out of a completely different show. My sister didn’t like this montage either, and commented that she wished they had kept the wedding night about Roger and Bree. She also found it strange that Bree doesn’t mention to Roger what she overheard about Stephen Bonnet, and she feels it’s really hard to root for them because they’re still not communicating!

While reading the books, I always tend to chalk up this lack of communication to a combination of Bree’s private personality and a PTSD response, where she’s built up these walls and doesn’t share her feelings. And in the books, when we’re in Roger’s POV, he notices when Bree is being a bit withholding, and so the reader knows that he knows Bree isn’t doing okay. But, in the show, we don’t have any of this internal dialogue. So, it just looks like Bree is hiding things from Roger, but we don’t know why. I like the little comforting hug Roger gives Bree, I think he does notice something is off with her, but I think there needed to be some kind of dialogue here, where Roger asks what’s wrong, and he comforts her and sings to her after she’s confided in him. This is one of those moments that wouldn’t have bothered me if I had watched it by myself, because I know these characters so I know what they both must be thinking and feeling. But I can understand how a show-only watcher would be frustrated.

Blood of my Blood

I was so excited when I heard Roger doing the blood vow to Jemmy in that promo video, that I started drafting a post about how powerful this moment is in the book. I was going to pat the show writers on the back for listening to all the Roger fans who were disappointed it was left out of season 4. BUT...oh boy, this was just another disappointment. Jamie has made, like, 3 or 4 disparaging remarks about Roger in this episode. He’s the one person on Fraser’s Ridge who needs to see and hear this vow...and he’s not there. Is Roger relying on Brianna telling Jamie what he did? Or is Roger going to march up to Jamie in the next episode and tell him? Brianna has been defending Roger this whole time, she doesn’t need to see this, but Jamie does. This is yet another example of the writers shoehorning things from the books into the show in ways that lose their impact and meaning. This is supposed to be a demonstration of loyalty and love. He literally says “I claim thee as my son before all men” and yet, he does the vow in the privacy of their own cabin. Jamie is all about duty. When he makes a vow, he keeps it. Roger, completely of his own accord, is speaking Jamie’s language with this vow. This blood vow in the book is so powerful, because it’s Roger speaking directly to Jamie.

I saw Roger’s eyes shift from the baby to Jamie. Jamie stood beside Brianna with that utter stillness that so frightened me—straight and still as a stick of dynamite, with a lit match laid a hairsbreadth from the fuse.

The flame of Brianna’s head moved slightly, looking from one to the other, and I saw what she saw; the echo of Jamie’s dangerous stillness in Roger. It was both unexpected and shocking; I had never seen any resemblance between them at all—and yet at the moment they might have been day and dark, images of fire and night, each mirroring the other.

MacKenzie, I thought suddenly. Viking beasts, bloody-minded and big. And saw the third echo of that flaming heritage blaze up in Brianna’s eyes, the only thing alive in her face.

I should say something, do something, to break the awful stillness. But my mouth was dry, and there was nothing I could say in any case. Roger’s reached his hand toward Jamie, palm up, and the gesture held no hint of supplication.

“I don’t imagine it pleases you any more than it does me,” he said, in his rusty voice, “but you are my nearest kinsman. Cut me. I’ve come to swear an oath in our shared blood.”

I couldn’t tell whether Jamie hesitated or not; time seemed to have stopped, the air in the room crystallized around us. Then I watched Jamie’s dirk cut the air, honed edge draw swift across the thin, tanned wrist, and blood well red and sudden in its path.

To my surprise, Roger didn’t look at Brianna, or reach for her hand. Instead, he swiped his thumb across his bleeding wrist, and stepped close to her, eyes on the baby. She pulled back instinctively, but Jamie’s hand came down on her shoulder.

She stilled at once under its weight, at once a promise of restraint and protection, but she held the child tight, cradled against her breast. Roger knelt in front of her, and reaching out, pushed the shawl aside and smeared a broad red cross upon the downy curve of the baby’s forehead.

“You are blood of my blood,” he said softly, “and bone of my bone. I claim thee as my son before all men, from this day forever.” He looked up at Jamie, challenging. After a long moment, Jamie gave the slightest nod of acknowledgment, and stepped back, letting his hand fall from Brianna’s shoulder. — Drums of Autumn, Chapter 66, Child of My Blood

Lines that made me cringe and/or shake my head and/or roll my eyes

Please note that I haven’t rewatched the episode, and I haven’t seen the script posted online yet, so these lines have been reproduced from my memory, and may not be word-for-word accurate.

“I will always be your wee girl”

I feel like this line is infantalizing Bree and I don’t like it. I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t like when Jamie infantalizes Bree. I just don’t understand this aspect of their relationship. Maybe because it’s so different from my own relationship with my father. I feel like the show has really leaned into Bree being “Da’s little girl” more so than the books do. Brianna’s had a baby, and I feel like Jamie should be somewhat excited about Brianna being wed because he thinks she needs a husband to provide for her and Jemmy (He tries to marry her off to Young Ian in Drums!). Jamie has reservations about Roger, but not the wedding itself, and I just don’t understand Jamie being all like “Bree is growing up too fast” which feels like a very modern sentiment - wanting your kids to stay kids.

“This is maybe not the wedding you imagined as a wee girl”

This line was actually adapted from the book, but it’s Roger who says it, not Jamie. In the book it makes sense, because they’ve been living in tents at The Gathering for weeks, they’re all tired and ready to go home, it’s autumn and cold and rainy. It’s a genuinely rustic, outdoor, fireside wedding. Roger, feeling self-conscious about the fact that their wedding is not going to be a grand affair and its not going to be anything like a wedding would have been like in the 1970′s, makes the comment. It’s a great call back to their handfasting in Drums.

“Your aunt’s told Father Donahue he can hold the weddings in her tent. That’ll be a help.” “Brrrr!” Bree hunched her shoulders, shivering. “Thank goodness. It’s no day to be getting married under the greenwood tree.” A huge chestnut overhead sent down a damp shower of yellow leaves, as though in agreement. Roger looked a little uneasy. “I don’t imagine it’s quite the wedding you maybe thought of,” he said. “When ye were a wee girl.” Brianna looked up at Roger and a slow, wide smile spread across her face. “Neither was the first one,” she said. “But I liked it fine.” Roger’s complexion wasn’t given to blushing, and his ears were red with cold in any case. He opened his mouth as though to reply, caught Jamie’s gimlet eye, and shut it again, looking embarrassed but undeniably pleased.

In the show, it’s Jamie who says it. Bree is a pragmatic person who, in the books, didn’t even want Roger to get her a new ring, so this wedding doesn’t feel like something Bree would have wanted. Also, the line doesn’t make sense because the wedding in the show is FANCY. There are flower arrangements, and a wedding band, and a reverend, and a hardwood platform for the ceremony, and it’s at their home, and everyone’s decked out in their Sunday Best, and where did all those wood benches come from, and how did Claire get such expensive jewelry. This is just one of the many times where the writers shoehorn something into the show from the books in a nonsensical way.

“Like Father like Son”

I hated this line so much. I read about it in the Radio Time’s review of the episode, and was hoping I wouldn’t mind it as much in context, but I still hated it. It seriously seems like a mean tweet, and I can’t believe they had JAMMF say it, on screen, in canon. And, again, it doesn’t make sense. Because Roger hasn’t been complaining or crying or “wailing” at all in the episode. I kind of wonder if Jamie is meant to be equating Roger’s singing to “wailing”? I don’t know. Either way, it’s mean, poor writing.

A Few Favorite Moments

I’ll end on a high note and give you a few of my favorite moments from the episode.

Hands down my favorite moment in the episode was when Germain ran up to Roger, and did a little hop, and said “Congratulations Uncle Roger!” And then when he says the line about hair ticks, it cracked me up because it looks like he glances behind Rik, probably to his parents or a crew member, for the line! The kid they got to play Germain is adorable - I love his dimples! I have a feeling all the kid actors are going to be a consistent favorite for me this season.

I also really liked all the line dancing after the wedding - it felt very fun and jovial, and I liked the score playing during it.

Finally, I loved how emphatically Claire defends Roger every time Jamie made one of his snarky comments. Especially their conversation towards the beginning of the episode when Jamie says something about doubting Roger’s love for Brianna and Claire says “He’s here and he loves her.”

So that’s it. Sorry this review is so negative. I debated whether to post a review or not, but decided to go ahead and get these thoughts out there. I’m hoping for a better episode next week.

#outlander #outlander season 5 #outlander spoilers #season 5 #ep the fiery cross #episode review

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calliecat93 · 5 years ago

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Top 5 Things That I Disliked ABout RvB: Singularity

(Top 5 Likes Post Link)

Well, it’s been about four months since RvB17 concluded. The shortest season in the series thus far, RvB17 has had overall very positive reception with good humor, compelling drama, and nice character development. I enjoyed it… but I would be lying if I said I loved it unconditionally. And I’d be lying even more if I said that it was better than the sadly often derided S16. The season has its pros and it has its cons, as every season of the show does. The cons this time probably annoy me more than some due to what I like and dislike, so that’s important to know before going further into this post.

So, it’s time for another Top 5 Likes/Dislikes about the recent RvB season! Now normally I do this shortly before the upcoming season, so why am I doing this now and not when RvB18 starts? Well, I’ve had a lot of these on my mind for a while, and after completing a recent rewatch, I want to go ahead and get it all out. To compensate, when RvB18 does roll around I’ll likely do a post about the past three seasons, and maybe some other stuff like what I’d like to see. And of course, as always, this is just my opinion and I will be as fair as possible, so take everything that I say with a grain of salt.

Anyways, let's get the part that I always hate doing done first: the Top 5 Dislikes.

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I hate being negative. I really, really do. Overall, S17 was a very enjoyable season and I liked it in spite of its flaws, as I do with most media that I get into. But I do have issues, more so than I did 15 and 16, and I do want to talk about them. Most of you who’s followed my blog probably already know them, but I’m gonna try to be more detailed about why I disliked it. So we’ll start with something nit-picky, and work our way up. So let's get started with...

#5. Execution of the time travel/The Everwhen

This one is probably the most minor, but the whole thing just… confuses me. So for those unaware, the Everwhen is essentially a giant time portal that allows you to possess your past self at any point in time. This is… not a bad concept at all. It’s a really cool one and they use it to great effect by going to various points in the show’s history. Then using the past variations of Halo also makes us more invested since we recognize those periods. And while I wish we got to see more moments in those periods that we didn’t see, the few that we got in Episode 5 with Wash and Carolina was very well done. I only have two real issues with the Everwhen. First being an excuse for the mass amount of nostalgia banking, but at least it served a purpose… well, the Freelancers did. The Mercs were totally unnecessary. But that can easily just be a me thing and I get that it made a lot of fans happy, so I won’t harp on it. The other reason though is the reason why it made this list.

The execution is confusing as Hell when you really think about it.

First, how does this exist? I guess we’re supposed to believe that Chrovos made it, which I guess that I can buy. But aside from a line in Episode 1 about how the Reds and Blues time period was the backswing that caused the paradox, there isn’t really anything about how this gateway suddenly exists. Which presents another problem, the Reds and Blues inside it. Okay, so the paradox happened and it messed their memories up. That I understand… but why are they having deja vu in the past?! Shouldn’t they have been like Wash was? In some period where they did and didn’t break time? I get that they were in the middle of the paradox while Wash had been in the present, but in that case, how did they get knocked back to the past? At first, I assumed that Chrovos put them there, which would have made sense in order to keep them out of the way. But that’s never said. The implication is that they just got put there randomly, but because of Wash’s state, it really doesn't make any sense for them to be there.

But I think I get why it was like this. On The SHizno Podcast, Jason explained how the original pitch was that the Reds and Blues were going to be in a simulation of Blood Gulch that Chrovos put them in. Think S9 when Epsilon was in the Memory Unit… which it being too similar is one of the reasons why that plan got rejected. It probably explains why they used Halo 2 Anniversary in the S16 finale if the simulation plan was still in effect when Joe wrote it. But that would explain why they were in the past and having memory issues while Wash wasn’t. And it being a simulation is what I thought it was... until Huggins was able to move through it without going through the portal, which made everything even more confusing. As much as I get being too similar to S9, I can’t but feel that it would have been the better move and not given me a headache over how this stupid Everwhen worked. Because it being a simulation and not the actual timeline made a heck of a lot more sense.

Ultimately, this is Number 5 because as I said, it’s nitpicky. Time travel is a mess no matter how it’s utilized, so I’m pretty lenient on it because thinking about it too hard is painful and not worth it. Plus it may just be my own stupidity confusing me. Still, it DID bother me and it made Episodes 7 and 8 especially a pain in the ass to watch through. But since again it’s overall more nitpicky, I’ll leave it at Number 5.

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#4: The Simmons Labyrinth

Yeah, we all knew that this was going to be on here. What’s left to be said that I haven’t talked about already? I think we all know why this was hated. First, it isn’t funny. I mean don’t get me wrong, the delivery of the joke was fine, but the joke itself sucked and made no sense for Simmons’ character. Say what you want about Grif’s Labyrinth, whether you saw it as good or terrible, but at least it made sense for his character. Simmons… is afraid of aliens cutting off his private parts. I’m…. fairly sure that RvB has done a joke like that before, and it was likely better there. Plus it didn't fit the tone. All the Labyrinths, even Grif’s, were portrayed as either serious or at least uncomfortable for the victim. I guess they wanted something to lighten the mood, but… it failed. Badly. It just took me out of it until we got back to Carolina’s. Even knowing Jason’s original plan of the alien being Simmons dad, while that would have been more impactful, still would have been treated as the final cut was and still would have taken me out of it.

What could have been done instead? IDK. Could have had Simmons relive one of his many embarrassments in high school. Could have been focused on the test anxiety that made him fail and get shipped off to Red Boot Camp. It could have been one of the many traumas that his dad inflicted on him, like being forced on the women’s volleyball team or something. All of those are still lighter than some of the other Labyrinths and could have had a comedic edge, but it still tells us something about Simmons and would make sense for him. I… am still trying to figure out how what we got fits Simmons at all or tells us anything about him. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

The reason that this is Number 4 is because the scene was ultimately brief and Simmons didn’t exactly have a major role up to that point. It was incredibly stupid and not funny, but IDT it ruined his character or anything. Plus at this point, I and many others have gone on about it and there is really nothing left to say until we see what happens in the future. Jason seems to be aware of the critiques, and I imagine that others behind the show would also be aware by now. Maybe it'll be taken into account in future seasons and they’ll finally give Simmons the attention that he deserves.

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#3. Huggins

Ho boy, I’ve been waiting to let this out since the season ended. So for those who were reading my blog when S16 was airing, you know that Huggins was one of my favorite parts of said season. She was likable and fun, her friendship with Grif was adorable and helped his character massively, and she was just a bundle of joy who made me smile every time that we saw her. Her death, while I knew even then it was likely a fakeout, was a huge shock and had me praying that it being a fakeout was correct. Which it was! I was so happy… until we saw how she was actually handled this season.

Personality-wise, Huggins was fine. Her being able to go through time made sense and was even referenced in S16. But… well, she’s used to discovering that Black Holes lead to the beginning of time, goes through time to find the paradoxes that Genkins made, and… that’s it. In other words, Huggins was nothing but a damn plot device. I have a problem with character shafting, but this one was just unfair. Maybe Jason couldn’t think of anything else to do with her? Maybe her VA wasn't available for much? Maybe they didn’t have the budget to animate since Miles did say that they had a slightly smaller budget at RTX? IDK. There’s any number of reasons why, but it was annoying nevertheless. I mean Huggins only appeared in THREE EPISODES, and the first was only at the very end. After Episode 8, she just… disappeared.

There’s a lot of reasons why I hated this. First, just dropping a character like that despite her clearly being important and prominent is an insult to the character. I have issues with how the Reds and Blues were shafted aside from Donut, Wash, and Carolina, but at least they were still around. Huggins leaves to go find paradoxes in Episode 8 and then is gone. Last we hear of her is in the finale from Donut. But the bigger issue is that, if you remember, she was understandably angry at Grif for deciding to go with the plan to save Wash, even though he knew what would happen. It happened and… there’s zero reconciliation. None. Yes, Grif was happy to see her. Yes, he clearly felt remorseful. Yes, he did apologize. But Huggins never really forgave him, saying that she can't be mad at him at the moment because of the larger picture. But it was pretty clear that, while not enraged, she was still unhappy with him… and they don’t allow the two to talk? At all?! After everything in S16, we couldn’t get closure on that?! Really?!

That was what pissed me off. It pissed me off for Grif’s character, but trust me I’ll be going more into that shortly. But for Huggins, it pretty much just says ‘yeah, we are only bringing this character back for exposition and nothing more’. I know many hated S16, but Huggins was easily one of the factors that people enjoyed. I enjoyed it. As I said, her and Grif’s relationship was easily my favorite part of it and I still enjoy rewatching all of their interactions. IDK if she’ll be back in later seasons. I really hope so because, at the very least, she and Grif should reconcile. But even so, she deserved better than what she got. She was a good character, and she deserved better than what she got. I shouldn't be wondering if her remaining dead would have been a better alternative afterwards. I really shouldn’t. So… hopefully future seasons can maybe fix things, but for now, this remains a major problem for me.

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#2. Grif Character Shafting

In general, Season 17 had a BAD case of character shafting. Now it’s a huge ensemble cast, so not everyone is going to be able to get attention. I wasn’t that upset that characters like Sarge, Caboose, and Simmons (even if that doesn’t excuse his Labyrinth) not getting much attention because they had already been more lowkey in this story arc. I didn’t mind it with Tucker wither since he got PLENTY of attention with Chorus. Hell, I honestly wish that they kept Wash and Carolina more lowkey because they ALWAYS get the majority of the focus, but for S17’s story it’s understandable why they would so I can forgive it. But you should probably NOT shaft a character who has been one of the central focuses in an ongoing story arc and still had a ton of character development that had to be wrapped up.

You know… like Grif.

Yeah, I won’t lie. While I thought that Grif acted IC and everything… they really dropped the ball with him. I wouldn’t mind that much had S15 and 16 not happened. Those are two seasons that gave Grif a ton of character development. He was essentially the main protagonist in S16, the one most involved in the plot despite how much he tried not to, and began resolving his issues. He went from doing everything in his power to avoid the plot, to openly confronting it and even rejecting the pizza that he had wanted so bad. He was the only one who knew what was about to happen after openly being mocked by Genkins, and despite his best efforts, he failed to stop it…

...and this got aBSOLUTELY NO FOLLOW UP? WHAT THE HELL?! THat’s like if, after Season 11, Tucker acted like none of the events during S11 affected him and didn’t grow as a leader and a soldier. It would come off as super weird since 12 followed the aftermath of S11 and would have been a huge disservice to the character and his development. That’s how it felt here with Grif. At first, it looked like they may show stuff since Grif DID believe Donut at first. But he had to ignore it since Donut isn’t allowed to be listened to. When he got his memory back, everything should have been hitting him then and there. There should have been more anger and probably some guilt about how even when he tried, he still failed and now they have even more bullshit to deal with. But they just… bizarrely ignore it.

I wouldn’t say that Grif regressed, but the fact that there is NO follow-up to his development in a storyline that allowed said development to begin with is a disservice. I get it, they only had 12 episodes and Donut and Wash were the more important. I understand that. And hey, S18 could follow up on it. But there still should have been something. Maybe the reveal about him lying about the enlistment was supposed to be that. Which I did like that… but that was not enough imo. He didn’t reconcile with Huggins. There’s no follow-up about how he failed to stop the paradox. Even for someone as lazy as Grif, we should still be seeing some emotions there. His Labyrinth, while I ultimately don’t hate it and I do see how it can apply to his character, probably should have been something stronger like being stuck back on Iris with the volleyballs mocking him or something.

Character shafting does have to happen in an ensemble cast. But Grif should NOT have been one of them. IDK how they could have incorporated him better while still keeping everything intact, but it’s still frustrating. Again, maybe S18 can provide something. I hope that at least Grif is allowed to reconcile with Huggins and realize that he should actually talk about his issues because I do think that his scene with Kai was an important moment for him. Whether you like to hate the retcon, it makes sense for his character to run away and he’s actually offering to talk about it. Okay, it’s more for Kai’s sake than his own, but he’s still willing to talk about his feelings, which is not something that I could have seen him done without his S15 and 16 development. Hence why I think that is S18 has him be more willing to talk to say Kai or Simmons and about how much S15 and 16 really did affect him instead of trying to brush it aside by calling himself hateglue, he can have a complete character arc. But as far as S17 goes, there’s no excuse for it and was a big problem for me.

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Honorable Mentions

Aka, the things that annoyed me, but not by much or I didn’t feel were bad enough to add onto the list.

Tucker not taking responsibility/talking to Wash: It was his idea to go and save Wash despite knowing the consequences, so he’s as guilty as Carolina imo. There should have been more focus on that, and about him reconciling with Wash and accepting what had to happen. The fact that they had zero interaction was bizarre tbh. But it isn’t as big of a deal as other things, so I kept it off. Consider this Number 6.

Character shafting: I hated it, and everyone outside Donut, Wash, and Carolina felt wasted. But it’s already a huge cast, so it was bound to happen and Grif’s was the one that manly pissed me off. So I spared it.

Nostalgia banking: That’s a me thing, so I didn’t feel it was fair to add it, especially since it overall did serve a purpose.

Carolina guilt trips need to die: I forgive it here because it worked for the story and was well executed. But... writers, you’ve done Carolina guilt trips since at least S10. It’s lazy and boring now. Come up with something new for her. Let it die.

Donut being ignored: Mainly, I think they played it up too much. DOnut displayed no noteworthy flaws in this season, and pretty much everything revolved around him. On rewatch, this was annoying and made him seem better and more important than everyone else. That’s unfair. But after all the years where he got shit treatment, he earned it honestly, so I forgave it.

And that’s it! So onto Number One!

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I thought long and hard about what Number One could be. Grif Shafting almost made it, but again the finale scene did actually make me happy. As such, I had only one real option left…

#1. The 12 Episode Count

Imo, this is I think the cause of many of the problems with S17 that I have. This should not have been a 12 episode season. 15 maybe, like last time. But not 12. Now there’s any number of reasons that they decided to go with that. Miles did say at RTX that they had a slightly smaller budget, so maybe they just simply couldn’t afford to do more than what they were able to do. Maybe they just thought that 12 episodes wrapped up the story and that there was no need to exceed that number or try to avoid stressing themselves and others out more. Production is hard and not cheap and you’re not going to be able to do everything that you want or even need to be able to do. As such, I’m not angry at them for deciding this since most likely, they had to work with what they had available.

That being said, it is still a problem. A 12 episode season has both its pros and its cons. With the pros, they were able to keep an overall steady pace and focus on what needed to be focused on without having to extend it or cram in filler. But the cons are you have to cram in as much as possible with limited time and put aside the things that aren’t as important. Grif wasn't as important as the other things. Huggins wasn't as important as the other things. They didn’t have time to elaborate on all the time travel, so they did as much as they could and then focus on the story. And Simmons Labyrinth was just a bad idea and would have still sucked even with a longer episode total, so nothing to say there.

My point is, while I do think that 12 episode seasons could work for RvB, they probably shouldn't have done it in the middle of a story arc. Again, they might not have had a choice, but it’s still an annoyance. The first half was fine and the best of the season. But the second half felt much more rushed and overstuffed. Episodes 7 and 8 shoved in exposition and it came across as more confusing than informing. Donut forgave everyone FAR too easily and it didn’t feel like they genuinely felt sorry after being called out. Which made the moment where he did call them out feel slightly less impactful. Only slightly, Then we rush through fixing the paradoxes and The Labyrinth within like four episodes, which when watching all the episodes together really makes it and the ending feel really anti-climactic. It’s like they shoved a ton of character stuff within like ten minutes, but we don’t get to explore it naturally. A problem that I think 15 episodes would have helped solve, but 12… it just… was not enough.

If they do go with 12 episodes again, I think it’ll work better since they’ll have a new story arc that they cal plan properly for. They didn’t have that luxury here. That, on top of Joe having to leave and Jason having to take over writing duties. Which is another annoyance. IDK the circumstances obviously and not to diminish Jason, but Joe should have been allowed to finish his own damn story, the fans' opinion on if he was good or not be damned. But again for all I know he chose to walk out, so I’m not going to go any further than that. Considering what they did have, the fact that they did make a good product is to be admired. But there’s still a lot of problems imo. Ones that I think that the episode count ultimately caused most of. As such, it is the thing that I dislike about RvB17 the most.

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Again, this is only my opinion. There was a lot that I did like about RvB17, and when I write the Likes post I’ll gladly talk about them. That being said, I do think that this wasn't as good as 16 and IDC how many people think I’m insane for saying that. It had story issues, character issues, and the second half was ultimately just a mess. A fun mess, but still a mess. No, IDK how any of these could have been done better and IDT it’s so bad that it can’t be amended in later seasons. But overall, these issues did damper my enjoyment and things that I hope to see improved in the future.

Okay! Dislikes are done! Thank God! Now I can do the happy stuff! Hopefully, the Likes post will be ready in a few days. But thank you all for reading, and I hope that you enjoyed~

#rvb #rvb reviews

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kyluxtrashpit · 7 years ago

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2017 Fic Recap

I’ve seen some people doing this and, well, I’m spending new year’s alone with my cat, so why the fuck not?

Total wordcount: 89 245 words, which is, holy fuck I’m impressed with myself. That’s a novel, right?

Beasts of a Feather, 7321 words, posted Jan 8

This fic is aggressively self-indulgent and though it got the least attention out of anything I posted this year, it’s still very dear to me

Make Me Whole, 4217 works, posted Jan 30

This was a KSK prompt before the blog went defunct and god, it’s like everything I love. Hurt/comfort, hair washing, and sex with feelings

Worthy 1799 words, posted Feb 22

Based on a KHK prompt, this was my first attempt at real ‘hard’ kylux. Despite this being a hate ship and having read some beautifully fucked up dynamics myself, I was always vaguely nervous about actually writing it like that. I really enjoyed it though and I still think it turned out nicely

...no one can here you scream, 2515 words, posted Apr 13

This was for the Kylux Eggstravaganza and as someone who is very anxious about events and almost always chickens out, I’m pretty impressed I actually did it. I don’t know why the facehugger prompt was the one that caught me. To this day, it is a mystery to me. The least sexual oviposition fic out there lmao

Powerless, 6148 words, posted Apr 18

Another KHK prompt and I hate to toot my own horn, but I love this fic. In terms of one-shots, it’s also the one that got the most attention. It was my first time trying a dynamic where Kylo was more confident in the bedroom and knew what he wanted and I really think it worked. It was a really fun one to write too

Hey Baby, Can You Bleed Like Me?, 11 599 works, posted Jul 4

Yet another KHK prompt and if Beasts of a Feather was self-indulgent, this one takes the cake on it. I really intended it to be like half the length it ended up being, but writing about fucked up people falling in love is literally why I’m in this ship. It’s why I’ve ever shipped anything at all. I’m mentally ill myself and writing this fic was a fucking exorcism in the best way possible. Another one that also got a lot of great feedback, which helped a lot too. Seriously, if someone asked me which fic of mine they should read if they can only read one, I’d say this one, every time

Demonstration, 5922 words, posted Aug 7

I swear, I do actually write original ideas sometimes, but this was a KHK prompt as well lmao. Another first, this one being a foray into true crack. It involves space AO3, Hux being extra af, Kylo enjoying himself a little too much, and traumatizing the crew of the Finalizer via public sex. Very public sex

Lessons in Intimacy, 3294 words, posted Aug 23

This one actually isn’t a prompt! Unbearably soft and another self-indulgent fic. Touch-starvation is another favourite topic of mine, both to write and to read, and I just love hard people being soft with each other. It’s cute. I really liked writing it

Fractured, 37 136 words, completed Nov 11, first chapter posted Sep 9

This fic is my fucking pride and joy of this year. I’d been picking at it as a WIP for about a year prior to posting the first chapter. I don’t do a lot of long, chaptered fics partially because I’m bad at plots that are that long and partially because I left one abandoned once and I still feel bad about it lmao. But I really wanted to tell this story and I really wanted to do it before TLJ came out, and I actually pulled it off. I’m stupidly proud of that. It’s the longest, most complex, and most ambitious fic I’ve ever written, and tbh I think of it almost as a spiritual successor to a fic I wrote in my previous fandom (it was about solitary confinement). The structure was weird and hard to work with, but it’s my baby and I’m stupidly proud of it. Also, not to toot my own horn again, but I think I handled Snoke abusing Kylo better and more interestingly than Rian Johnson did lmao

Nightmares, 5297 words, posted Dec 6

My first foray outside of kylux and I went straight for benpoe angst. I quite like benpoe, but I find it most intriguing for the angst potential, which is what I did here. It’s an idea that had been poking at me for months before I actually sat down and wrote it. I must say, I got some of the most satisfying comments of the year on this one lmao

What You Need, 1962 words, posted Dec 18

Lmao I actually started this one before even seeing TLJ as I saw some spoilers. It’s just porn. There’s no real deeper stuff behind it. I saw some people despairing that Hux’s characterization was ruined and needed to be completely reimagined after TLJ and I was like, welp, not on my fucking watch lmao. I also just really wanted to see Kylo bent over the throne

Quid Pro Quo, 1935 words, posted Dec 22

This was... an odd fic lmao. I feel like there’s a lot of underlying emotions that I couldn’t get into because Kylo has the emotional self-awareness of a sea sponge, but they’re definitely there. Idk I just wanted something resembling reconciliation post-TLJ and then the sleeve knife thing happened and suddenly I had no control over my fingers lmao. It did really, stupidly well though, especially for a T rated fic in the kylux fandom, so there is that I suppose

What have I learned?

Honestly, I think what I’ve learned is something I already knew, but was bad at practicing before. And that’s honestly to just write what you want to and not worry about how people are going to react to it. The majority of my fics this year were incredibly self-indulgent and not only did people love them, but I loved writing them. This was my most productive year since I started writing fics back in 2014 (and before that, when I was like 14 and writing reader-insert Gundam Seed fic on quizilla lmao) and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. I also think my skills in general are improving, both from practice and being in such a talented fanbase. And seriously, the kylux fandom is still as amazingly generous as when I first started here. I’ve never had this much loving feedback directed at me before

Oh also I had set a real goal last year of trying to respond to comments more and I actually did do it! I still don’t get them all, but I’ve been doing a really good job of responding to the majority of them. So good job, me! Now I just need to keep it up and maybe try to stop sounding like a robot when I do lmao

Goals for 2018?

Right now, I’m not sure... I have 3 main WIPs I’ve been pecking at, plus some other bits and pieces I’m paying less attention to, but I think everyone is feeling a little out of sorts after TLJ. Because we got new content, but now what do we actually do with that new content, you know? I’m not 100% sure what to do and I need inspiration and direction. I wrote a ridiculous amount of KHK prompts this year, so maybe that’ll be my ticket haha. But I suppose my main goal is just to continue writing, to continue pushing my own limits like I did with Fractured, and to keep enjoying myself while doing it. Because really, what does any of it matter if I’m not having fun?

#kylux #WOW this is like... really stupidly long #I didn't actually realize how much I'd written this year #if you included WIPs and the drabbles and prompts I've posted on tumblr I might be at closer to 100k #which is fucking mindblowing tbh #I love every single one of you people who've been reading and enjoying and encouraging my nonsense #here's to another year of fucken hating kylux lmao #shut up nerd #my fic #fuck it I can put this in my writing tag if I want to #text #long post #tlj spoilers #for the bottom ones

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drunklander · 7 years ago

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Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 309

*puts Lonely Island on repeat* Shipnanigans are here!

I was originally kind of not looking forward to the second half of the season because this part of Voyager is absolutely batshit bananas. But then I was wicked underwhelmed by the part of the season I thought I would love.

So fuck it. Bring on the ridiculousness.

I like this episode. But only if I try to watch it pretending like the first part of the season didn’t happen... Because if I watch it with the other episodes in mind, I just get mildly ragey that we skip over the important emotional work Jamie and Claire still have to do in favor of fluff followed by another separation. And yeah, I love fluff. I love secksi times. I love Fraser snuggles. But the jump from the end of ep. 308 to the start of ep. 309 leaves me salty that we’re yet again asked to headcanon the reconciliation between Jamie and Claire. *side eyes the similar jump between ep. 207 and ep. 208* Whatever.

Get your towels ready it's about to go down. Everybody in the place hit the fuckin’ deck. But stay on your motherfuckin’ toes. We runnin’ this, let's go.

New credits! And the title card... Take a good hard look at the motherfuckin’ boat.

Ok this opening bit. Like Jamie was an asshole for the last two episodes. Claire never actually got to tell her side of things. She basically was like nope, I don’t think I even want to be here. But now it’s like all good, she’ll go on this 18th century sea voyage to find Jamie’s nephew. For real? They couldn’t have made a handful of tweaks last week and the beginning of this week so she could say she was going because she wanted to be with Jamie and keep working on their relationship? And Jamie’s apparently never going to apologize for being a massive piece of shit toward her? They do a good job over the course of the episode of showing them together but still with the insecurities and stuff, but jumping from where they were on the cliff to where they are in this episode makes me side eye the show like whoa.

And yes, I know that she’s really going on the ship because she wants to try to make it work with Jamie, but geez, let her say that. Let her tell him that he’s been a dick to her but she knows he has it in him to be not-shitty and she’s going because she thinks he can be better than he is in the last couple episodes. I don’t know why it bothers me so much when they make us fill in the blanks ourselves on stuff that seems definitely important enough to actually show. And then make it seem like we’re dumb or bad fans or something for wanting to actually see things instead of just headcanoning them in, because that’s how this production team rolls.

Replacement Rupert and Angus just aren’t the same as the originals. Like no one can replace Rupert and Angus, but like, I can’t bring myself to give a crap about these randos?

For real though, Claire’s inner monologue is probs like yeah, never thought I'd be on a boat. It's a big blue watery road...

And I get her 20th century scoffing at superstition, but like, girl. You’ve been in trouble for being a “witch” enough times now that c’mon. Don’t act like you don’t understand what’s going on with the sailors.

Marsali is my everything. I love her. I love her so much.

As much as I want Jamie to stand up for Claire, I do like that Fergus does it. Because Jamie, my dude, you deserve everything Marsali’s throwing at you.

Claire’s “No. You don’t.” as she drags Jamie away is also my everything.

Oh hey, a trunk of clothes! Got some swim trunks, and some flippie-floppies. But not a nautical themed pashmina afghan in sight. Welp. Can’t have everything.

I know it’s supposed to be sweet that Jamie wouldn’t let anyone get rid of Claire’s clothes. And a nice inverse to Frank burning her clothes. But I’m still just kind of chuckling because it’s not like he ever saw them? What with him living in a cave and then prison and then Helwater and then with Laoghaire. But whatever.

“Would you care to dine with me this evening? We drinking Santana champ, cause it's so crisp.” This captain is seriously the human equivalent of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Like dude. You’re the captain of the ship and you’re just like welp. Can’t do anything about the men. They’ll do what they’re gonna do. It’s not like I’m the one in the position of authority or anything.

High fives to Fergus for calling Jamie on his bullshit revisionist history.

Although it’s kinda icky that Jamie knows all of the girls who Fergus has banged? And also fuck him for being super chill about Fergus banging tons of girls but so fucking uptight about Marsali and Bree. I know, I know, it’s a different time. That doesn’t make him not a hypocrite though.

Slash Jamie’s the last person who should be lecturing *anyone* about the importance of honesty right now. But whatever. No real consequences for lying soooo... *pretends the last few eps haven’t happened*

Yi Tien Cho convincing Jamie to do acupuncture is also my everything. Seriously, I know I had a *rull* low bar for how that character was going to be changed, but I’m really, really loving him.

I for real can’t wait for more of Claire and Marsali. Like yeah, Jamie’s marital status *was* Claire’s business, and Jamie hadn’t been living with Laoghaire and the girls for ages so Claire also wasn’t really breaking up a family or anything, but I really like that Claire just lets Marsali’s comment slide. Like call Jamie out on all of his bullshit, please, but Marsali’s a teenager whose life was thrown through a loop and I feel like trying to talk to her when she’s in this kind of mood isn’t going to get anywhere. So by just being like “well the whore should get the bigger bed, shouldn’t she” it’s like telling Marsali that she’s not going to be cowed by the snark and also that she doesn’t need to justify her place in Jamie’s life to a rando. Like she’s not going to concede power by trying to explain herself to Marsali.

But for real, I love Marsali.

I honestly don’t get Jamie’s aversion to Fergus and Marsali though. Like they’re not making the age difference a thing in the show. And Jenny’s fucking kids have apparently been married and spitting out babies since they hit puberty. Like I get it makes for some tension with Laoghaire, but who gives a fuck? She hates them all already?

Claire and Yi Tien Cho are my favorite pair that I was not expecting to like so much. But like her being genuinely interested in his story and him being open with her, which is probably the first time he’s gotten to talk like that with anyone since he got to Scotland, is so great.

Oh. Another VO. Cool. It’s basically like I'm on a boat motherfucker take a look at me. Straight flowin’ on a boat on the deep blue sea. Bustin’ five knots, wind whippin’ out my coat. You can't stop me motherfucker cause I'm on a boat.

Ok this insecurity in Jamie about hurting Claire’s feelings about the tea and acupuncture is adorable. Asshole Jamie’s insecurity of the past few episodes wasn’t. He was just an asshole.

And also, broseph, this is the kind of secret it’s ok to keep. Small, insignificant, adorable. The other one, not so much.

“My return has been confusing and frustrating. But it’s never been a question of whether I love you.” Confusing and frustrating is putting it a bit mildly, Claire, but apparently we’re done having real talk and Jamie doesn’t have to own up to being a fuckwad. Bqhatevwr. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m 1000% here for the fluff in this episode. I just have to pretend they actually did more of the hard convos in order to get to where they can have the fluff again.) And I’m pretty sure it *literally was* a question of whether you loved this Jamie, Claire. We all know you loved the old Jamie. But like, the whole thing on the cliff was literally about whether you loved the new Jamie. Y’know. The thing they never bothered addressing beyond the question being asked. Because lol nothing matters, fans can headcanon it and if they don’t they’re whiny and #badfans.

Whatever. *actively doesn’t think about past episodes* Here for pincushion heart eyes. Lookit how cute they are.

Cause of death: Claire telling Jamie about reading Bree Goodnight Moon.

And I love them talking about the moon like with the science of men flying there and the folk tales of the man in the moon representing each of them. They’re gonna fly this boat to the moon somehow. Like Kevin Garnett, anything is possible.

“You miss her.” “Terribly.” Glad they’re highlighting Claire still feeling the loss of what she gave up to come back to Jamie. Still salty at his non-reaction to learning about his kid. And even here, like one line from him about Bree to let Claire know he loves her too? Or thinks about her too? To let Claire know she’s not alone in missing Bree? Please? No? Ok.

Here for the cuddles. I want the fluff. Believe me, I am trash for the fluff. I just wish again that the fluff felt more earned because they’d actually come to an understanding about where they stand with each other rather than just glossing over the hard part of coming back together. They showed the angsty set up then skipped the resolution and went straight to the fluff.

Whatever. Back to pretending the last few eps didn’t happen. Give me all the fluff. It’s fucking wonderful. I love fluff. I am a broken record.

I feel like the gif of Claire saying “that’s insanity” is going to come in quite handy...

Jamie going to save his dude like fuck land, I'm on a boat, motherfucker. Fuck trees, I climb buoys, motherfucker. I'm on the deck with my boys, motherfucker. And no one is gonna mess with his Ardsmuir boys.

Really reaching to fit some of these lyrics in and I’m not at all sorry.

The way they chant Jonah is def the angry mob way to chant it, but in my head I def kept being like Jo! Nah! Jo! Nah!. Like pumping someone up at a sports thing or something. You’re doing it wrong, brain.

I have a lot of feelings about Yi Tien Cho giving up his story and letting it go before he wanted to in order to save Jamie and his men. Yi Tien Cho really is the best of them.

And honestly Jamie telling the captain to let YTC speak is maybe the most decent thing he’s ever done for the man.

And then the papers fly off in the wind and I realize that I give not a single fuck about the actual plot of this episode.

But Claire saying thank you to Yi Tien Cho is so much more than just thank you for quelling the fight. Like this guy just told the story of his life, of where he’s from, and now he needs to give it up. And she recognizes and respects and appreciates what it’ll cost him to give it up since she too is from a place the fuckers on the ship couldn’t possibly understand. And he did it for this group who, as he so passionately said, thinks the worst of him. I have so many feelings about Claire and Yi Tien Cho, guys.

They kept in the ship quickie! I def thought they were going to cut it! Bless them for keeping it. Blesss. Same feelings about the rest of the fluff still apply, but this show is probs always going to pull stuff like this so I clearly just need to get over it and accept the fluff I’m given like a #goodfan.

Jamie’s like believe me when I say, I fucked a mermaid.

(I swear, I *hated* the line last week when Jamie said Jenny would sooner believe Claire was a mermaid than from the future, but at least it means the most ridic lyric in the fucking song fits perfectly.)

And Jamie being cute about Claire’s hair. Awww.

I hate the king of men line. Hate it. Hate that the production is so fixated on that. And that they think it’s cute to keep including their weird in-jokes in the show itself.

But whatever. Snuggle time! Yay for snuggles! Embrace the fluff! Forget your issues with the show! Stop being a sourpuss!

Oh snap, the British are coming! Never thought they’d see the day, when a big boat comin’ their way.

RIP Lt. Babyface. Long live Capt. Babyface!

Yay for Claire telling Jamie about her oath. And yay for Jamie actually getting it and respecting what she needs to do. It’s like ep. 306 Jamie again with the whole respecting Claire’s calling thing. So like, we should just ignore ep. 307 Jamie? Because he was an asshole about it.

Oh man, next week is gonna be rough, isn’t it. *All* the puking. This ain't Seaworld, this is real as it gets.

For real though if the puking noises next week are like the brothel noises in ep. 306, I’m going to just watch on mute or something with the closed captions because it’s over the top, show.

Ok if Thomas Leonard is Capt. Babyface, I guess that makes Elias Pound Midshipman Fetus.

Oh man the cook being all like I'm flippin’ burgers, you at Kinko's straight flippin’ copies. Don’t fuck with Claire when she’s in Dr. Claire mode, my dude. You will not win that fight.

Yeah. If I pretend like this episode is the first one of the season, I like this episode. I’m kind of pissed that the show managed to make me salty about fluff. I love fluff, why you make me salty about fluff, show? And now I just want a goddamn fluffernutter.

And since I’m ignoring everything that could have been up until now, it doesn’t bug me that Jamie and Claire are separated...again. Because lol nothing matters.

Fucking give me all the badass Dr. Claire you have, show.

She’s on a boat motherfucker, don't you ever forget.

#*#drunj!der yells about outlander #outlander starz #outlander 3x09

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trudirose1 · 8 years ago

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@whoneedsherwhenyouhaveus @tubofskippy @ferengifangirl @gastonsbiceps

In this post , I was saying that I love post-movie fics where Gaston survives, Lefou is angry and hurt at his betrayal, and Gaston is sorry and has to really work to earn his forgiveness and rebuilt that trust.

So, here are some recs for that trope. :)

La Rose Cachee http://archiveofourown.org/works/10450602/chapters/23069298

In this fic, Gaston dies in the fall. Agathe sees his body and thinks to herself that he totally deserved it, and she’s just going to leave. But then she senses someone nearby (Lefou, obviously) who is worried about him and looking for him, and she’s so surprised that she reaches her mind out further and is amazed to find that Lefou LOVES him. She can’t imagine how such an undeserving, selfish, narcissistic man earned anyone’s love, but there it is. So she decides to give him a chance, just for Lefou’s sake. She does a spell that bring him back to life, but only for two weeks. She tells him that someone truly loves him, and he has two weeks to figure out who it is, and awaken the answering love in his own heart that he’s been denying. :) If he succeeds, the spell is permanent and he gets to live. If he fails, the spell expires in two weeks and he dies.

Since he’s an oblivious moron, he goes to Lefou and says “There’s a woman out there who loves me - you have to help me figure out who it is!” Lefou is conflicted because although he’s obviously glad Gaston is alive, he’s also VERY angry at Gaston for betraying him in the battle. But since Gaston’s going to die without his help, he reluctantly helps him, but he also doesn’t want to get sucked back into that unhealthy relationship. So he’s trying to protect his heart. Meanwhile, Stanley likes Lefou, and Lefou is trying to move on with him because that IS a healthier relationship, but it’s hard when Gaston is RIGHT THERE. And Gaston is hurt that Lefou is angry at him and being kind of cold to him, and he feels bad, and he’s jealous that Lefou seems to be warming up to Stanley. So it’s lots of good stuff, and Gaston definitely is NOT let off the hook for what he did to Lefou and is going to have to work hard to get him back. It’s incomplete, but very promising so far. :)

An Opportunity Curse

http://archiveofourown.org/works/10616724/chapters/23479338

This one IS complete, and it’s SO adorable and sweet and satisfying. In this one, Agathe curses Gaston to be blind and mute until he can learn to love someone and earn their love in return. (The author said that she decided to make Gaston mute because it would force him to shut up and LISTEN for once in his life! :) ) He’s also injured from the fall, but not lethally (he has a broken leg and stuff like that). In this one, Lefou isn’t cold and angry, just really hurt and sad at what Gaston did, and feeling like he can’t trust him and that he deserves better than how Gaston treated him. So he’s hesitant to help him, but Gaston is really helpless and needs help, and he does love Gaston, so he helps him and takes care of him. Gaston comes to realize how totally amazing Lefou is and how much Lefou has done for him that he never appreciated, and he IS really sorry, and realizes he loves Lefou. But he can’t TALK, and he can’t write a note because Lefou is illiterate, so it’s a struggle, and there are misunderstandings. But it’s a REALLY sweet, adorable story.

Howl

http://forallthesebooks.tumblr.com/post/160647594883/howl-chapter-one-btb-2017-fic-pg-13

( EDIT: “Howl” is now also on AO3 here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11186157/chapters/24974799 )

This one isn’t solely a shipping fic - there’s a lot of cool plot stuff going on and lots of characters included. But it is SO AMAZING and everyone needs to go read it RIGHT NOW! In this fic, the wolves in the forest are really werewolves under the control of an evil female werewolf. She finds Gaston dying, and turns HIM into a werewolf and makes him part of her pack. At first, he’s just living as a wolf, with very primitive animal thoughts, and in a way it suits him, because he’s always been very primal and physical-oriented and not really thought-oriented. But then he comes across Villeneuve and remembers who he is, and is horrified at what he’s become, and he wants to escape and go home. But it’s hard, not only because of the evil female werewolf, but also because after being a wolf for so long, he’s become more animalistic and is losing his humanity (much like the Beast in the original 1991 film).

Meanwhile, Lefou is grieving Gaston’s supposed death, but also very conflicted, because he’s angry and hurt that Gaston betrayed him, and he never got any closure on their relationship - he never got to confront Gaston angrily over what he did, or tell him they’re not friends anymore, or conversely, have Gaston explain and apologize. So he has a lot of conflicted feelings, and he’s grieving. But little by little he’s coping, and Stanley is being very sweet and comforting and wanting to have a relationship with him, and Lefou isn’t quite ready, but he hopes he will be soon.

So Gaston escapes and heads back to Villeneuve, hoping Lefou will help him. It’s still in-progress, but the author writes both characters SOOOO well, and since she emphasized so much how angry and hurt Lefou is, and since it’s tagged “eventual Gafou,” I trust her to do a great job with Gaston’s redemption and their reconciliation. :)

Now, I have another fic to rec that is NOT in this trope and isn’t even Gafou, but I still want to rec it and I’ll explain why:

A Change in Me

http://archiveofourown.org/works/10549674/chapters/23299810

Now, this is a Stanfou fic, and not only that, it’s an AU where there’s no Beast and none of the castle stuff happened at all. So why am I reccing it? Because I swear, this fic, above all that I have ever read, does the most AMAZING job of really exploring the dynamics of Gaston and Lefou’s friendship in all its psychological complexity - the good aspects, the problematic and unhealthy aspects, the reason they both need each other, the ways they’re NOT good for each other...it’s just the most amazing and realistic and in-character characterization I’ve ever seen.

The premise is that Gaston is depressed over Belle’s rejection, so Lefou is doing everything he can to keep his spirits up, but it’s hard because he’s drinking a lot and is spiraling out of control. Stanley sees this and says to Lefou “You’re always taking care of him. But who takes care of YOU?” So gradually, they start having a secret affair. All these years, Lefou and Gaston have obviously been close friends, but Lefou has also been in love with Gaston and pining for him and just living for little moments of affection like Gaston tousling his hair, or throwing an arm around him, etc. But now, with Stanley, he has someone being truly loving to him, and caring about HIS needs, and he can finally have a real sexual relationship, and it’s really great.

But at the same time, he’s still trying to take care of Gaston, and he has to keep this secret. And Stanley doesn’t understand “this weird thing you have with Gaston” and resents the time Lefou spends with him. So he’s really torn between the two of them. But Lefou feels like Stanley can’t understand all the GOOD things about his relationship with Gaston, who protected him from bullies when they were younger and in the war when they were older, and brought him on adventures and made his life so much more exciting, and gave him confidence, etc. There IS a lot of good there, even though there’s also a lot of unhealthy problematic aspects too.

Eventually Gaston finds out about Lefou and Stanley’s affair, and is jealous and upset and violent, and does something bad that makes Lefou really angry and say he never wants to see Gaston again. And here’s the thing I REALLY love: what Gaston did was very bad, and Lefou is right to be angry...but the author also shows Gaston’s POV and WHY he acts this way, and has a great deal of empathy for him. Gaston is NOT a villain here - he’s a deeply insecure, needy, depressed, emotionally immature person who covers up his issues with narcissism and a veneer of confidence. He’s been raised to believe that sadness and fear are “weak” and “unmanly,” so he’s not allowed to feel those things - so when he DOES feel those emotions, they get converted into rage, which is the only negative emotion he’s allowed to feel. Plus, he has a lot of internalized homophobia. He’s a total mess, but you can’t help empathizing and feeling sorry for him, even while not letting him off the hook and making it clear that what he did was Not Okay.

So now Lefou is gone, and without him, Gaston is totally lost and devastated. There’s one line I particularly love: “He had never realized before what a role LeFou had played. He had never even stopped to think about how vital LeFou’s presence was, because -- he’d just always BEEN there. It had never occurred to Gaston to consider his importance, just as it had never occurred to him to stop and think about how great it was that AIR existed. It was just a part of things. LeFou was a part of things. And now...he wasn’t.” Oh, the feels!

So, yes. Super-insightful exploration of Gaston, Lefou, and their relationship, all the good and all the bad. Go read!

#gafou #gaston #lefou #fanfic recs

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