#this is why season two sucks

[eemoo1o-animoo]

Me: Lee-dee-dee *happily analysing episode one of season two* Lee-dee-dee, dee-dee...

Alois: *tipping his juice* Hannah, clean this up for me.

Me: *audibly* Oh, for fuck’s sake, how’m I meant to analyse this?

[elpeadro]

Part 1: The Good Ending

Part 2: The Bad, Tragic Ending

If the writers wanted CaitVi to be their canon OTP so bad, they had two ways of going about it…sike there was a secret third ending all along!

THE DISJUMBLED, TONAL MESS OF AN ENDING WE GOT:

Despite the pacing and dialogue issues of the first three episodes, I have nothing bad to say about Act 1’s ending. Caitlyn’s corruption arc, while extremely rushed in getting to this point given where her characterization was at in season 1, reaches its climax as we see just how far she has fallen: being willing to shoot a child, lashing out and hitting Vi, saying some incredibly bigoted things toward Vi, and, the pièce de résistance and one of my favorite scenes in the entire show, becoming the dictator of Piltover as the enforcers and Noxians beat their chests in salute to her. When Ambessa drapes that cloak over her shoulders and Caitlyn thumps her fist against her chest, it feels like the birth of a monster - and I mean that in the best way possible.

And she is a monster…except her actions are mostly confined to two music montages in episodes 3 and 4 and then shuffled off to the side for Warwick in Act 2 and the Machine Herald War in Act 3.

Just as it is a major problem when she goes from naive and priviledged, but good-hearted S1 Caitlyn to “let’s commit war crimes against a civilian population” S2 Caitlyn in the span of the Heavy is the Crown + Hellfire montages, it is even more a problem when the near-entirety of her dictator era is confined to the Paint the Town Blue montage. Because while I would begrudgingly accept the former being rushed to set up the latter’s payoff, the writers don’t pay it off.

At the end of episode 3, Caitlyn ascends to dictatorship. At the beginning of episode 4, she is questioning Ambessa, the justifications for martial law, and Maddie even suggests she could reinstate the council and remove herself as dictator. Can you say ‘jarring’?

That’s not how this works! You don’t write a good character having a fall from grace into a villain arc, then fast forward through the lowest and worst points of said arc. It’s like they made her a dictator just for the flavor it would give her character combined with the angst of her and Vi breaking up. Which, that’s bad writing process to begin with, but it’s especially bad when the writing has her BECOME A FASCIST DICTATOR.

You absolutely cannot evoke the political imagery of fascism only to not follow through on it. It is a conscious, deliberate choice to write and animate the end of episode 3 and the opening montage of episode 4 as they are presented.

In the Paint the Town Blue montage, we see: 

banners with the Kiramman crest being hung up all over the city

security checkpoints for Zaunites with armed enforcers standing watch

a prison with watchtowers and tall, barbed wire fences

enforcers acting as riot police (complete with riot shields)

Zaunites throwing Molotovs at said riot police

unarmed Zaunites running from armed enforcers

a Zaunite prisoner being photographed standing against a wall with a bag over their head (I really want to point this one out)

an enforcer stepping on the head of a Zaunite who is already laying on the ground and being handcuffed by another enforcer

Zaunite rebels hiding in a boarded up shop from armed enforcers

Zaunite prisoners being marched forward with their hands behind their heads

an enforcer beating someone

a line of Zaunites kneeling with their hands cuffed behind their backs as an enforcer beats another prisoner

Caitlyn being framed in shadow with a brooding, sullen look

graffiti of Jinx as a revolutionary figure waving a blue flag

In short, a dictator’s regime putting up propaganda posters and symbols, political repression by the state, mass imprisonment, police brutality, civilian resistance against an authoritarian state, and people rallying around a revolutionary symbol. And don’t forget the opening of episode 3 where we hear the recording of Cassandra Kiramman say “the people of the Undercity deserve to breathe” only for Caitlyn to immediately go “umm actually no they don’t; time to weaponize toxic, carcinogenic smog against them and revoke the most basic of human rights.”

(Side note: “Paint the Town Blue” as the song for this montage doesn’t feel right, tonally. A bit too energetic and idk, peppy? This is a montage showing an oppressed group of people being brutalized by a fascist state. Maybe go for something somber and/or horrifying? Or something that makes viewers sick from how angry they are at the sight? Just a thought.)

If the writers were going to do something with all of this, then they did a good job - song choice notwithstanding. 

The problem is they don’t. Not a single character confronts Caitlyn over the atrocities she committed.

When Vi sees her - the woman who broke her heart, who betrayed her, who became a dictator and stepped on the necks of Vi’s people for a year - she’s more annoyed and mad at Caitlyn for attacking her on accident than she is for, I don’t know, THE WHOLE DICTATOR THING? Season 1 Vi would’ve let Caitlyn absolutely have it, if not outright fought her for what she did to Vi’s city.

In what is one of the most stunning bits of character assassination I’ve seen, Jinx APOLOGIZES to Caitlyn for killing her mom.

Ekko got written out of the story to where he never interacted with Caitlyn this season, because if he was giving her shit in season 1, then he would’ve let her absolutely have it, even harder than Vi did.

Sevika got written out of the story entirely after episode 4.

Jayce never comments on it once he gets back.

Mel never comments on it once she gets back.

The writers try to trick us with Vi and Caitlyn’s argument in episode 8, and then Caitlyn’s one-sided venting to Jinx in the jail cell about how they can never repay their crimes, but those are both so weak and half-assed.

We never see Caitlyn realize the weight of her crimes. She needed to have a scene where she “wakes up” and is horrified at how far she’s fallen and all the terrible things she’s done. We don’t get that. She’s already woken up and questioning things when we see her for the first time in episode 4. Nor does she suffer from the guilt of said crimes. Again, I’m going to complain about the blatant Macbeth reference in her part of the intro credits, because how do you deliberately evoke fucking MACBETH for a character who undergoes a villain arc and commits these horrible actions only to not have her crumble under the weight of her sins…you know…like what happens in Macbeth.

So Caitlyn isn’t held accountable either externally or internally. This wouldn’t be a problem if handled properly. A villain doesn’t have to be held accountable nor realize they’re a bad person to be an effective, satisfying character.

The problem is the tone of everything that comes after the opening of episode 4.

It’s almost like the writers are actively trying to have Caitlyn commit as few on-screen, bad actions as possible during her dictator era. Really all she does is threaten Singed with the prison cells she has deemed too inhumane to use. (Oh yay! She hasn’t been as awful as she could have been). After that, she immediately flips back to Vi’s side to help save Warwick, has a very surface level argument so people can say “but Vi did call her out”, “wins” Vi’s affections over Jinx and has sex in a jail cell with Vi going down on her (that sex scene could be its own post god I hate it), gets to be one of the good guys in the war without any pushback, and gets her happy ending with Vi.

The framing of all of this, both textually and by word of God via the authors, is simply incompatible with the weight of her crimes. 

The jail cell scene is presented as Vi and Caitlyn reconnecting and finally coming together, complete with a happy pop song - ignoring Vi’s sister being clearly suicidal and Vi certainly having trauma from spending 7 years in prison where the warden beat her enough times that he didn’t bother keeping count, to say nothing of Caitlyn not having earned Vi’s trust and intimacy. (Also, Vi couldn’t have gotten any pleasure or attention? They couldn’t have taken it to an actual bed?)

The way Vi talks about herself going behind Caitlyn’s back is unhealthy and toxic. (“I went behind your back (for my sister, who has committed far less heinous crimes than you, who just watched the kid she sorta adopted die right in front of her and is now a mental wreck, after you locked her up using your unilateral power as dictator of Piltover.)”)

Vi being very, very emotionally fragile and in no way composed enough to have sex is ignored. (It shouldn’t have to be said, but if someone is this close to having a breakdown and has already punched the wall until their knuckles are bruised, you absolutely should not have sex with them when they’re in such a vulnerable state.)

The “I’m the dirt beneath your nails” line is framed as cutesy and romantic, when that’s actually a horrible, demeaning thing for someone who is a member of the oppressed class to say about herself when her partner is a member of the oppressor class and quite literally was a dictator that violated the human rights of people like Vi, called them animals, and said their blood made them this way.

And most importantly, Caitlyn never has to confront the fact that she became a dictator and did all of these terrible things while in power.

Which, I truly cannot believe I am having to say this, but if you aren’t going to touch on the fact that a protagonist went down a dark path and became a fascist dictator, DON’T WRITE HER BECOMING A FASCIST DICTATOR.

(Or you embrace the tragic, toxic nature of leaving that stuff unaddressed, as discussed in part two.)

TL;DR: the ending CaitVi got is framed as a happy ending, except Caitlyn didn’t put in any of the work for it to be anywhere near a happy, healthy relationship, so it comes across as hollow, forced, and tonally off.

[cawsket]

The moral of the arcane season two act three is that if you're suicidal you should just go ahead and kill yourself

[barrygeuse]

s2 of arcane was a major disappointment to me all things considered. it was gorgeous and i can't deny that; i fully enjoyed watching it, but its plot was overcrowded and it completely abandoned everything that happened in s1. silco and vander's sacrifices, the fight for zaun's independence.. it was all completely undermined by the war. countless lives lost and for what? we got a glimpse of what zaun and piltover could have been, but in our timeline everyone was fighting the arcane and ambessa rather than the oppressive piltover. it wasn't about the undercity and topside anymore. it just felt kind of nothingburger to me which was disappointing considering how much the first season elicited emotion

[poppytuft]

the bear s3 spoilers

below the cut! thinking about claire and stuff we saw this season re: carmy/syd/the restaurant/donna, just finished the season so itll be a mess and also im comin in way too hot on this so my bad

sometimes...... sometimes i believe you guys are all watching different tv. im not sure how this season didnt feel like a direct through line from s2?? and im not sure WHY everyone is SO MAD about claire LITERALLY "haunting" this season. girl. come on. we need to have a sit down talk about how the berzatto generational trauma is the real meat of this show (this will make sense, just trust me). thats the MAIN EMOTIONAL POINT. syd's relationship with her dad, marcus and his mom, richie and evie, even tina and louie are all examples of parental relationships that are tender, sweet, supportive, etc. these are INTENTIONAL!! by creating these relationships we see PLAINLY how fucked donna is and how much she fucked up all of these kids. thats why "ice chips" was such a FANTASTIC episode. there was SO MUCH unpacked, so much revealed, so much worked through with sugar and her but at the end of the day she's still learning how to unlearn all of this horrific narcissistic bullshit. SHES STILL UNLEARNING THOUGH. thats where fucking DONNA of all people sits right now——somehow, she's learning how to heal. EVERYONE IS LEARNING. that's also what is so important about that episode.

now lets look at carmy. in "ice chips" we are LITERALLY told about how each berzatto is born: mikey fighting against the idea of being alive at all, nat into a quiet, soothing room, and CARMY is fucking born into EVERYONE SCREAMING and ARGUING and FIGHTING. we are BLATANTLY told that all carmy has ever known is HELL and all he's ever known how to communicate is through exploding. this is so violently against what we also know about his personality from childhood in "fishes" (anxious growing up, arts-oriented, had a hard time making friends). now, he works a violently stressful job, processing the trauma from both his mother (and chef fields [joel mchale], realistically) through the high-stress environment.

NOW. ENTER CLAIRE.

HOW is she not fascinating to you all. we don't see her whole story (because the bear, duh) but we are given just enough pieces here to put together that her story runs parallel to carmy's. how are you not getting this. walk with me.

claire. glasses, nerdy, quiet, sweet, girl next door. family friend! cute, but considered mid for a long time by everyone at school, but suddenly the berzatto men all badger carm, "oh she got a glow up, oh shes looking for you, she wants to see you," etc etc etc. what happened in between?

she finds herself. she finds the stressful thing she LOVES, which is the hospital. her job is objectively more stressful than carmy's (illustrated by that scene earlier in the season but i forgot the episode, where claire talks about the girl who got her shit wrecked by the glass table), and while we don't have an exact understanding of what her home life was like, we understand that her and carmy both have a level of internal anxiety that thrives on the stress of their careers. HOWEVER, claire does it because she loves it. carmy just doesn't know how to stop.

this is what makes claire feel like "peace" to carmy——because her high-stress job is a choice, an active choice she is making because it fulfills her. it's not to prove her dead brother wrong, or to honor his own legacy, or to prove that dickbag boss wrong, or to leave a mark on the world, or to make her own life worthwhile, or to prove that she doesn't need anyone else. she genuinely enjoys helping people even when the days are stressful, or scary. he's obsessed with this. he wants to know how she does this. every day she leaves that stress at home——and he wants to learn how to do that too.

claire is VITAL to this season and to understanding carmy's stress——and how far back he is in his healing process. it should only become more and more apparent, as we see characters like tina (the beef/the bear became vital to her success/development as a chef AND person, both for the people AND her love of food), marcus (not hiding his grief, but using it to help rationalize how much his mother loved him and wanted to be surrounded by people that love him), and richie (finding a purpose through service/expo and understanding he can start over again) push through their own traumas and struggles to become better people. if donna can be not only present at sugar's bedside during labor, but WELCOMED at this point in the show, it makes carmy's inability to heal all the more present. claire is an important part of this puzzle: she helps us see a window into a world where carmy is balanced emotionally, but unbalanced professionally, because he has no idea how to make the two coexist.

however, the idea that he can be balanced emotionally at all is so fucking enticing——with the help of someone who experiences stress in the same way as him (and who is familiar with his familial trauma), he has the opportunity to grow up and move on from his family trauma and wounds perpetuated by the industry he works in.

on the flip side of this....... his inability to process any of this is starting to impact syd. and frankly, that's some bullshit. his lack of communication, inability to community build/trust ANYONE, and his violent stubbornness is pushing her into the same space that he was in under chef fields, in a much slower, more subtle manner, and for slightly different reasons. her panic attack at the end of the season could read in two directions to me: her stress over the responsibility of changing so many people's lives has boiled over once she remembered that the beef once was truly great (hey five star review on the fridge!), OR, she realizes how much she isn't in it for the food. fuck a Michelin star: she wants to cook with her family. chef terry says at the end of "forever", in the garage with carmy, that she's so grateful she got to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, where she wanted, with the people she wanted to do it with. sydney is so close to having those things at the bear——but carmy's dysfunction is keeping it just out of arms reach. the two of them are now on opposite sides of the approach from last season: syd dying for a star, and carmy dying to cook for the woman he loved. now, carmy is hungy for recognition again, desperate to prove something, and sydney is remembering (thanks to the conversation with other chefs during the ever funeral service) why she loved cooking in the first place. so this leaves us to wonder: should she stick it out? for the people? or make something of herself? is she carmy, or is she terry? i guess we will just have to see.

all this to say: every character is connected. the bear is a show about family, found and blood, and the choices we make for, with, and because of the people we love, for better or for worse. food is only the center of it, because it's the center of all of our lives. you can't hate claire without understanding where she sits in the web of the berzatto family. and really, you can't hate her if you understand what her presence means for carmy, for syd, and the restaurant as a whole.

[high-guardian-herbs]

So, this took longer than I expected because I kept changing the background and colors and all

Also, my finals are near so I’m going to disappear once again lol (pray for meeee)

[somebluemelodies]

merry christmas, feliz natal, feliz navidad, joyeux noël, happy holidays, or just an overall good day to you if you're not for the celebration! the qsmp live gave me the kick of inspiration i needed, so here's a gift from me to you :> sending all the love to each and every one of you <3 missing all the sillies, whether we got the chance to meet them or not :'D also this is a smidge long sorry not sorry

He doesn't even realize he'd fallen asleep until he's suddenly once again aware of the warmth enveloping him from either side, a quiet rumble reverberating from the weight laying against his chest.

Cellbit's eyes open, but he doesn't bother to lift his head yet, only lifting a hand to start to try and wipe the sudden onslaught of sleep away as he takes in his surroundings.

The castle is dim as always, especially at night, but the shadows are less defined than usual with the tall fir tree several feet away in front of the couch, decorated with twinkling white string lights and a myriad of baubles, icicles, and garland.

(Of course, the kids had chosen one of the tallest trees they could find. Puppy eyes had been used to try and persuade acquisition of the tallest tree they'd found, but even the castle only had so much room in it.)

(The two parents won't admit how close they came to caving nevertheless. Especially Roier.)

The castle still smells like a festive concoction of chocolate, cinnamon, and other spices from their baking session that evening. A bit of a strange combination, but it makes the atmosphere warmer. Homey. Everything feels a little lighter.

Underneath the tree lies quite the assortment of presents; he can't help but be a little surprised that they managed to get them in place without disturbing the trio of hatchlings sleeping a few feet from them, practically sprawled on top of each other.

Wrangling them all - well, wrangling half of them, really - to sleep had been a bit of a hassle with all the excitement coursing through their veins at the prospect of tomorrow, but if there was something that Cellbit and Roier had become somewhat of experts in throughout their time on the island, it was wearing out wild hatchlings.

Because when those kids crashed, they crashed. And sure enough, as soon as they'd managed to settle them down, they were out like lights. Roier had had to drape a couple of blankets over them, because they insisted in staying on the floor.

(They'd been convinced they'd be able to stay awake! Ha!)

(They might've been handfuls sometimes, but they were cute ones.)

The only hatchling who wasn't in on the pile, Cellbit redirects his attention to, sprawled out against his chest, eyes hidden from sight by her mop of white hair.

Cellbit smiles to himself, carefully brushing some of her hair out of her face and fighting a chuckle as the rumbling purr grows louder. She'd been in the pile earlier, but ever the clingy one of her siblings...

(Ah, well, she's been Cellbit's shadow from the get-go; who is he to deny her of that?)

(And then he's purring. Goddamnit.)

"No mames, wey, I have two cats on top of me, eh?" Roier's voice, playful despite the fact he's clearly still half-asleep, reaches his ears. "Increíble."

Cellbit rolls his eyes, and without looking back, makes a half-hearted attempt to reach back and smack his husband. "Who invited you?"

Roier laughs, moving one arm wrapped around Cellbit to grab his hand with ease. "Es broma, es broma. Brincadeira."

The investigator finally cranes his neck to look at the spider-hybrid, carefully shifting to see him better without jostling the hatchling still atop his chest. When their eyes meet, Roier's smile grows, a mischievous glint to his dark eyes the dim light only enhances. "Kind of."

Cellbit shoots him a look, and he only laughs again. This time, though, the sound of his husband's laugh ever so contagious, watching the way his eyes crinkle fondly at the corners, he starts to smile, shaking his head amusedly. "Idiota."

Roier gasps. "Ay, you want to kiss me with that filthy mouth, gatinho? No fucking shot, man. Unbelievable."

Cellbit finally laughs, pulling his hand from Roier's to poke his cheek. "I don't see you complaining, guapito, no?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." The spider-hybrid moves his hand to Cellbit's face, tipping it up just enough more for him to tilt his own head down and connect their lips.

The cat-hybrid hums, both of them starting to smile into the kiss as their eyes close.

(If he tries hard enough, he can ignore the fact the purring has grown in volume yet again.)

(Damn his stupidly handsome husband and his idiotic charisma.)

When they finally pull apart moments later, Roier presses another quicker kiss to his lips before doing what Cellbit had done before, surveying the sleeping hatchling on top of them as well as the rest of the room. "I guess none of us could stay up."

Cellbit huffs amusedly, taking the opportunity to rest readjust his head against Roier's chest. "No Papai Noel for you, eh? And here I thought you were so excited to see him."

It's Roier's turn to smack him lightly and Cellbit's turn to laugh. "Ya, mi amor," the former chastises, but the fondness is practically dripping in his tone. His hand moves from Cellbit's face to nestle in his hair, scratching gently at the base of his right ear, and any response Cellbit has dissipates right on his tongue.

(Oh, motherfucker.)

(Roier clearly isn't ignoring it. Of course he isn't. Smug bastard.)

He melts deeper into Roier, eyes fluttering shut again as sleep once again prepares to consume him. He hears the spider-hybrid chuckle, but he doesn't have the capacity to retort anymore.

(If only he could see the warmth in those dark eyes. The painfully immense, sickly sweet fondness for the man he has the greatest pleasure of calling his husband.)

(God, how lucky are they?)

"Staying here tonight, eh?" Roier asks.

Cellbit hums in acknowledgement, nodding his head slightly. He feels Roier's other arm, which has been settled over both him and their sleeping daughter, shift, subconsciously securing. Roier hums as well, falling silent for another few moments before he speaks again, voice softer. "Cellbo?"

"Sim?" The investigator's eyes open, landing on the cuddle pile of conked-out hatchlings.

"Feliz Navidad, gatinho."

His eyes travel to the clock in the room, displaying past midnight. Perfect timing.

He smiles, feeling Roier's hand settled over his on their hatchling's back lace their fingers together. "Feliz Natal, guapito. Te amo."

There's a kiss pressed into the top of his messy hair. "Eu te amo."

Save for the dual set of gentle purring still rumbling into the room, it falls silent. Unconsciously, they melt deeper into each other, press closer together, but this time, they're both aware of the way they start to drift off.

(Mildly inconvenient spot be damned - God only knows they're probably about to be at least a little stiff in the morning - it made the kids happy, it made them happy, so who are they to complain about it?)

(As long as they're together, after all. That's all they'll ever need.)

[overtake]

Some f1 fans cannot handle being reminded that this is a competitive sport, not daycare. Sometimes people have to do things that will hurt a driver’s feelings, seem unfair, or piss off other competitors when there’s points and millions of dollars on the line. You can still be disappointed and upset without acting like the decision made on objectively sound sporting reasons requires a trip to the hague. If you cannot handle that this sport is not actually hair braiding and gentle parenting when push comes to shove, you might enjoy another hobby better.

[giftedeath]

if ur a jungian shadow truther like me, s6 ep13 dead things is such a good culmination of all of her trauma ( + also her fear of becoming faith ) reflecting back at her through spike. this is probably an episode where we see buffy the lowest she's ever been ( suicidal, thinks her friends hate her bc she's not who she used to be, thinks she killed an innocent woman, her father figure's gone who's not even her /real/ father , who disappeared a long time ago, she's living and she doesn't wanna be, etc. ) and then there's spike who's literally representing all of that, who's saying ' it's fine it was an /accident/ you're not bad, and i got rid of the body for you. i did it, my hands are dirty, you're clean, you're fine. i'm evil and i'm the monster and you're still the good slayer ' and not only is it all about spuffy, and buffy hating herself so much but only feeling anything around spike, the shame of it bc she thinks its wrong even though it's the only thing that feels good, and hating him bc she hates herself bc he is everything that she's always been, or at least always has been capable of being. but it's also so about fuffy too, bc in this episode she really thinks that she's killed someone, and it's something that buffy has always been so strictly against. she can't just kill people bc she has that power, she has to use her power responsibly, can't give into the hedonism, bc then she'd be faith. we already saw that struggle in season three, but now it's coming back but it really is rearing its ugly head this season !! and more detrimental, bc it was always a fear and now it's a reality. and its worse too because faith spiraled into it, she had no one, had nothing, all she had was the trauma of being a slayer. and buffy doesn't understand that's also true for her. all she thinks about tho is how, even with all of my friends, even with all of this love and support, i'm still like this. i still ended up like her, and i don't even have a good excuse for it. its sad its so sad but its also so good , its so ... its why season six is so good

[the-lesbian-orpheus]

ONLY ONE??? WHAT DO YOU MEAN ONLY ONE 😭

[cringefaecompilation]

idk guys but i think "black lady making a parody campaign of an overrated kid's book written by a transmisogynist where they mock the original book and its writer at every given venue and it barely feels like the original" is not nearly equatable to "white guy making a joke about an asian trans woman having a dick in her intro, immediately calling attention to it by laughing at his own joke, and not developing that poor trans woman as anything more than a mildly antagonistic force/love interest for another trans person"

[chronological-knight]

starting season 6 of tmnt 2003 I am SO excited

[kneworder]

did you watch tua s4 and if so what did you think :3

yeah i watched it

[lastoneout]

See people always point to 'The Naked Now' as the point when Wesley was made a Mary Sue but they ignore the fact that said episode was not only the THIRD episode of the VERY FIRST SEASON but was a fucking catastrophe of writing that was so universally hated it's been memed to hell and back by fans AND other Star Trek writers, and thus I simply do not think it's fair to judge any of the characters based on how they behaved within it.

So I'm sorry, if you wanna convince me that Wesley is a Mary Sue I'm gonna need you to give me, at the very least, some evidence gathered after season two.

[seventh-district]

sighs and collapses and disintegrates into the wind

[cinnabeat]

watching hbomberguys rwby video rn and very annoyed by the idea that the whole dust intro and dust shop robbery scene is poor writing