#this season is even more hard to color than s1

[aemondstark]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON: "A Son for a Son" 02.01

[youryurigoddess]

The summer that was never supposed to end

You’ve probably noticed how in Good Omens 2 Crowley’s eyes are brighter, more saturated, as if glistening with liquid gold. We’ve already covered his hair. And it’s not only the visual aspect of him — even in objectively stressful conditions, Crowley appears mature and put together, way cooler and more protective than before. Even his faults are heavily romanticized in the past and present scenes, reminding of the S1 body swap, when Aziraphale projected his love to him on the way he played the demon in Hell.

It’s not just the demon. The whole season is more vibrant, bolder, filled with sunshine. Just like a summer that was never supposed to end. Like a memory of a loved one seen through the eyes of someone who thinks of them every day until the end of the world.

S2 seems ridiculously saturated, whimsical, and full of red and gold, just like a certain demon. Aziraphale not only painted his bookshop in his image, but literally colored the whole world in Crowley’s colors. It was such lush and saturated and blooming with warmth and hazy light.

It’s either that all the newest events are just another memory seen through a certain angel’s eyes, or said angel actively made it appear this way — as in, his feelings grew so strong that they’ve started to warp the reality around him. And it’s a well-known fact that Aziraphale has a tendency to affect his surroundings, either unconsciously, when his presence in the bookshop literally lightens up the sky seen through its windows, or very much consciously, when he takes over the position of a master puppeteer and manipulates people with or without the help of his miracles.

S1 was more dramatic and apocalyptic, but not particularly gray — at least not as much as the color grading typically used in portrayal of similar apocalyptic narratives. S2, at least as seen through Aziraphale’s own La Vie En Rose lens, is vibrant and saturated. And those colors drastically fade in the heavenly light of the elevator during the credits, suggesting that they won’t be as visible in the course of S3.

But I don’t want to ramble about the apocalypse sandwich and the three-act structure here, so let’s circle back to S2.

Good Omens 2 was really set in a summer that was never supposed to end. But it did, autumn crept in, and there was no chance of hearing the nightingales sing. They all had left by the time an angel and a demon finally kissed.

In the most literal sense: the very last nightingales usually migrate from the UK to their wintering grounds in Sub-Saharan Africa in the first days of September.

Aziraphale was right that nothing lasts forever — and the passage of time on Earth is marked by subtle details invisible to the immortal eyes.

The main thing about autumn migration is how sudden and hard to predict it is. The birds start disappearing gradually, often without notice, until at some point they are no longer here. Much like the angel leaves the bookshop — their shared nest — to spread his wings and fight.

And it was basically announced on the poster.

Can you see the migratory formation of birds up in the sky? It looks like Aziraphale is the last one to get off the ground and fly.

[skyler10fic]

In the Tyler Family panel, Billie recalls the 2000s fashion as a strange time in fashion history but loved Idiot's Lantern, and they agree Jackie would have shared Rose's clothes to be the Cool Mom. 🤣

Shawn says he was surprised to be asked back at first since his character died, but it made sense for him to come back in a multiverse story.

He says it was easy to come back and Camille adds it's the quality of writing makes it easy because you know who you (the character) are at that point because you can trust the writers are guiding it.

Billie says she struggles with how much she didn't understand how it was going to take over her life before s1 airs. Before social media, even though everyone hated it and the idea of her doing it, but it wasn't the constant stream of trolls the new actors have to hear about now with social media. She says with RTD, Julie, and Phil, there was so much confidence and joy, it was easy to believe it would be good.

Camille says her neighbors and friends were surprisingly fans. She didn't realize how many people she knew who loved it and knew about it.

They talk about how cold it was filming the Cybermen. Billie says her jaw locked because it was so cold!! The trick to getting through them was "youth" and she doesn't do night shoots anymore if possible because of that experience.

Camille talks about how Jackie "grew a pair" lol

Billie: "She's a boss!

Camille: "It's Russell, really."

Billie: "No, it's you!"

Love that Jackie's speech and situation in Love and Monsters got a shout-out. Especially going off on Elton for taking advantage of her: "Many people can relate to that moment, I think."

Talking about Pete not being the perfect husband:

Billie: "Why did they break up again?"

Shawn: "Because I died!"

Billie: "I forgot!!!" 🤣

They banter so well! Total family vibes between them all.

Fun moment where Shawn thought Billie was saying "old Pete" when she was saying "alt Pete!" Lol

Rose having the "rose-colored glasses" taken off: Billie says many can relate to realizing their parents are flawed people, and things are more complicated than you thought.

Camille says the Tylers spoke a language people understood, making something fantasy into a relatable story that was relevant to the audience.

Mod jokes that Rose "parent trapped them" across multiple universes!

Billie talks about how she enjoyed the overall romance and human element of their series, as opposed to the more sci fi feel in other later seasons.

Camille says Chris's intensity helped launch the reboot, but David's "Labrador" energy was different and special too to keep it going.

Billie says there was a totally different energy after they knew it was a success, allowing for more playfulness with David's Doctor and in general on set.

Billie says she always thought there was something complex about the romance with the Doctor, it's weird for a 19 year old to just take off in a box, and maybe wasn't written with Chris but it was there in spirit, and then was written in more explicitly in their relationship with David. Hard to keep that intensity of awe and adoration platonic! Camille adds the chemistry between them was a big element as well.

Billie says it was always a thrill to get the script, eager to read the script as soon as she got it to see what new world they were building with each episode. She says she didn't want to go to set when shooting Tooth and Claw because she was riveted reading the Doomsday script! Haha

Billie says the costume tricks can help body language shifts when changing character, like with Rose possessed by Cassandra, the push-up bra helped develop a unique physicality for the previously (literally) flat character!

Camille says they got in trouble for talking a lot because they got on so well!

Billie says she loves the new episodes, especially the dance numbers and theatrics now, and that's exactly where the show should go. "It's super fun again." Sitting down and watching a family show with the kids, an event for everyone to watch together.

Camille said it was good but it would be better if the Tylers were there! 😁

They love Ncuti as well. Excellent casting.

Billie praises RTD's heart and rooting for all walks of life. Everyone can feel represented. Camille says he is so good at pulling heartstrings and "that's what we want as Doctor Who fans." They also love his joy but also his power if they are being unkind. He defended the actors from stupid questions from the press and "told it like it was" when he needed to be the man in charge.

[sexiestwerewolf]

my new Ninjago OC!

more information ↓

I haven't come up with a name for him yet bc I suck at those but I've got a backstory

- He was outcast by his species before the merge because of a reason I haven't fully flushed out yet (thinking of making it so that he can't do any shapeshifting at all and making it an entire allegory), but he deals with a lot of feelings of inadequacy because of this and he thinks he's failed as an Oni

- he was outcast before March of the Oni and was lost between realms trying to find a way back home to the first realm without the power of the darkness to guide him. essentially the realm crystal is the EASIEST way to travel realms but it isn't the only way, and he spent a lot of years alone

-When the merge happens he's forced to live in a world he doesn't understand at all and a lot of people during this time are struggling to figure things out. He manages to find a job at Chen's Noodle House and starts to enjoy the life as someone who serves food so eventually he leaves with enough money saved up and opens up his own restaurant

- I like the idea of someone gaining weight when they're happy bc he used to be really emaciated and could barely eat even 3 times a week due to how hard it was to survive but now he's got a healthy relationship with food and his body and he's generally a pretty sound guy and pretty mature considering things. It doesn't look like he's fat in the image but from experience an apron will hide a lot of that lol

- He does a lot of introspection and his outlook on life is that "it's complicated and messy but at least it's life," and he usually looks at things from a realistic perspective while hoping for the best.

-He still gets irrationally angry at a lot of things though and often he'll find himself taking it out on inanimate objects and then he'll feel bad about it afterwards. He doesn't do it a whole lot in front of people, especially customers, but if he's comfortable around you you'll see him swearing and breaking things (usually with his claws on accident) a lot more

- Meets Lloyd a few weeks after the merge when he just started his job at Chen's and initially Lloyd is weary at first because yk he's an Oni and Lloyd had subconsciously associated Oni with bad and everything wrong in his life, but [name I haven't come up with yet] is essential to something Lloyd is trying to figure out so they need to interact and Lloyd figures out through sheer power of being exposed to something that HEY you dumb idiot your ancestry isn't evil or bad

- He had severe issues for awhile with meeting people's expectations and he constantly ran himself ragged trying to keep himself in multiple places at once. He felt like he had to depend on only himself for a while because of the fact he let down his Oni tribe and because of the fact he lived so long in isolation away from others. When he's hired by Skylor he burns himself out within the first week because he doesn't take a break except to go home and sleep.

- Y y y es this is meant to be an OC shipped with Lloyd but they're both demisexual here bc I will always make my favs be on the ace spectrum no matter what

-Hes 21 when the merge happens and by the events of s1 he's 27 (2 years older than Lloyd). He was outcast by the Oni when he was 15 years old (around the events of season 1)

-fun fact, Oni still have pupils in my hc you just can't see them very well. they're kind of like the changelings from mlp where they do have pupils once you look closely but they blend in so well with their irises that you can hardly see them. most Oni eye colors are red, purple, or blue. some are occasionally orange, yellow, and pink. [name I haven't come up with yet] has purple eyes

- he has so much fur/hair (think kind of like mohair on a goat) that he has to stuff a lot of it in his shirt and then use pins to hold it in place and he spends like 30 minutes each day just combing it

- he works out every other day to help clear his mind and to calm himself down but Oni are naturally pretty big anyways and really strong

- despite the fact he knows how to cook he has the worst appetite known to man and will not hesitate to eat the nastiest things ever. I like to think that anytime Lloyd gets offered gross food (as he's somehow done a lot in the show) he pretends to "steal" it but he does genuinely enjoy every single food he comes across and it's not just something that comes from his life of being outcast it also comes from his Oni biology. Though, he seems to be a lot more inclined to eat certain things even for an Oni

if it's not poison, it's food!

- has abnormally large ears for most Oni and he can hear slightly better than most people. it's also another reason why he stretch himself too thin while working when he first started because he believed everything he heard needed his attention and he was constantly trying to get to multiple places and do many tasks all at once

okay now imma go to bed hehe this was actually really fun

-has a better work/life balance in the future at the very least lol so dw

-has digitigrade feet! they're not very exposed bc he wears baggy pants all the time but if you look down you'll see he's never wearing any shoes and his paws are just out

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

Do you think that Aegon was whitewashed this season? As in, they realised they went too far with him in s1 and wanted to rectify it in s2 at the expense of other characters, mostly aemond and alicent. The problem is, you can't retcon everything. He is still a bully and rapist in show canon, but for some reason they now want to downplay it and focus on his incompetence, but also on him wanting to make something right while constantly being undermined by his family. I can't even enjoy such a confusing arc because it's inconsistent and manipulative. Also, it seems they wanted to nip Aemond's popularity and propping up Aegon at his expense apparently worked. It's true that TGC is extremely likeable, he was even in s1 when they wanted to show his character as a drunken rapist who doesn't understand consent, and he is now when they want to show Aegon as a tragic victim of his traitorous and unsupportive family. However, it's not enough to rely on actor's talent and charm when the writing is all over the place. Finally, I must say that I'm really disappointed with the green fandom, I even had to left their sub on Reddit because of the hate they constantly throw at Alicent and even more, Aemond. Like someone on other blog said, they never turned on Aegon after s1, they were relentlessly stanning him and blamed everything on the writers, but now won't do the same for aemond. Seriously, Aegon stans behave identically as Daemyra stans and that is something. It's sad because I've liked both since s1 but it's a fact that the green side of the fandom is much harsher and unjust to aemond, it's enough to check out the mentioned subreddit and some blogs here to get the picture.

Hello!

I think that Aegon's character was not so much whitewashed as used for a very unsavory purpose which was to make other Green characters, especially Aemond and Alicent look bad (here is the link to a post where I expressed my opinion on that matter). In order for that to work there was not a lot of actual embellishment needed - Aegon's story is a compelling and a tragic one as it is. The problem, however, lies in that the writers did their damnedest to use the most touching and relatable aspects of his arc to the detriment of other characters - who were supposed to love, cherish and support him.

As for the fandom reactions, I have always had an impression that among the hardcore TG supporters sympathies for Aegon run wider and deeper than for Aemond anyway. IMO there is a combination of various reasons at work here: him being the leader and the beating heart of his faction (in the book, that is), his incredible character journey, the way Tom's charm and charisma fill even the underdeveloped and kind of warped show version of Aegon with color and life (if we're talking about the adaptation) - and/or the simple fact that someone likes one character more than the other, sometimes even without being able to name a reason for it.

The thing is - while it doesn't sit right with me when people are not willing to cut one character some slack and at the same time cut the other (their favourite one) all of it - I can't really judge the favoritism per se: we are all human after all. What I do have hard time stomaching is the fans (in that case Aegon's - or more precisely exclusively or heavily prevalently Aegon's fans) being unnecessarily vicious about it.

As someone who loves both Aegon and Aemond, I for that exact reason have always felt disheartened by seeing fans of one Targtower brother shitting on the other one (or even worse, the fans getting personal with each other). Over the two years of being in the Tumblr fandom I have seen a number of posts made by Aemond's fans where they bashed Aegon by downplaying his good qualities and heavily focusing on the negativity ("useless drunk", "atrocious bully" etc) - and obviously have never agreed with them (to put it mildly) and am not about to start agreeing now. But - even in comparison with that - not even the amount of the posts but the intensity of the hate Aemond has been getting from Aegon's supporters is something else. And the worst part is that some of the posts I saw positively reek (sorry, I can't use any other word here) of schadenfreude. Guys, I understand the anger and frustration about having your character being heavily mistreated by the writers (which is exactly what happened to Aegon in season 1) - in fact I was right there with you when it happened. But now, when the exact same thing is happening to other character, maybe you can recall just how much it sucked and hold yourself back a little? Yes, Aemond is being brought down in great part by the script having him treat Aegon horribly, so your current lack of love for the former is understandable. But in season 1 the same was happening in reverse (although to a considerably milder degree - brotherly bullying, as shitty as it might be, doesn't equal an attempt on one's brother's life) - and in spite of some Aemond fans tearing Aegon to shreds in their blogs I personally saw far more people who like Aemond still expressing their irritation and outrage about the way Aegon was written in season 1. I am not trying to shut anyone up - but is making an effort to show some understanding and compassion for your fellow Greenies so much to ask? HotD has all but destroyed the Greens as a team and a family - but the fans don't have to (if you ask me - should not) mirror that atrocity.

[bizlybebo]

VIXENNNNNN!!! Before I return to the dishwasher I have a question. What are your PD boys + Ashe headcanons. Appearances? Idiosyncrasies? Anything? Please 🙏

HEHEHEHEHEHE HIIIII IT’S 3:30 AM HERE (4AM BY THE TIME IVE TYPED THIS ALL OUT) BUT AAAAA I CANT NOT ANSWER THISS !!!!

okok here’s some off the top of my head:

-Dakota’s got a lisp + a bit of a hard time speaking overall. However, it also means he places a lot of importance on what people have to say since those willing to listen to him even if he takes a second are ones he wants to hear from the most, if that makes sense

-Ashe is naturally blonde. She’s got the exact same hair color as Mark, but she bleaches it. She also has green eyes like her dad, but she inherited her mother’s complexion and facial features (also her mom was hispanic. trust i’m bizlybebo).

-Vyncent’s not a huge fan of haircuts on Prime (loud environment + the icky thing where all the hairs get caught on your shirt), so for most of season 1, Tide took care of his hair. Without Tide to really take care of it during season 2, it grew out significantly. William and Dakota take turns trying to braid it now.

-Since Fauna’s pretty cloudy (as far as I remember), Vyncent’s not used to a lot of direct sunlight. He goes to the beach once on Prime and gets sooo sunburnt cause he Doesn’t Get the concept of sunscreen entirely.

-Dakota’s the shortest. This one’s literally canon but I personally like to think that PD in order from tallest to shortest is: Vyncent, Ashe, William, then Dakota. Will’s still like a good head or so taller than Dakota

-Vyncent is scared of multiple household appliances. He has beef with ceiling fans and toasters especially.

-William gets the tetris effect but for like solving mysteries. Whenever he’s really sleepy he starts rattling off random criteria or a synopsis of his general surroundings/anything he notices under his breath.

-Ashe, oddly enough, is the member of PD who goes the most all out for Christmas/holiday season. She loves decorating and making cookies and everything, since it’s her first opportunity to do it with friends and family again in a long time.

-It feels like everyone on here is saying this which makes me so happy cause it’s so real but: Southern William. ouugigohiifih it’s so real to me.

and then some rapid fire ones:

-William has ehlers-danlos. trust

-Dakota Cole freckles. you agree

-Scenemo Ashe and emo William. You agree

-Dakota is terrified of spiders (scooby doo jumps into Ashe’s arms), Ashe is the kind of person to take the spider outside, William just kinda freezes and decides it’s the spiders house now, and Vyncent probably fucking eats spiders

-William does specific makeup to make himself look more alive/masculine (tboy William real. trust)

-William and Ashe are both the kind of person to have one (1) hoodie they constantly wear and basically nothing else.

-Ashe makes kandi and made PD matching bracelets during s1 (smiles. don’t think about Dakota accidentally breaking it during s2 and how bad he’d feel)

-Vyncent collects jewelry (elf brain likes shiny shit or something) but doesn’t wear it often. He just. Keeps it on him and pulls it out to look at it sometimes all proud of it

-Dakota “accidentally” leaves his flannels in Ashe’s dorm all the time when he visits her so he has an excuse to come back. Ashe gives him one back and suddenly two more appear

-Williams actually very beautiful/handsome he literally just gets no bitches because he’s Like That.

[thestrangestthing89]

Catching up on some of the behind the scenes stuff. My take on what we have seen so far...

Mike having a similar look to season 1 is so good for him. I think it shows he is more comfortable with himself. He's going back to his roots when he was the character everyone loved. So I think we will get a more authentic Mike and Paladin Mike back right off the bat.

I like the blue polo with the yellow collar. And it looks like his jacket is a little green in the video with him and El (like a sage green/greyish green color). It reminds me a bit of the color block polo he was wearing in S3 which makes me wonder if Will is going to have a matching one this season too.

Mike and El's relationship closely resembles Nancy and Steve's. El broke up with him with the From El letter and he knows this. I've written about this a lot so I'm not going to get into it here, but the fact that at the end of S4 shows a 2 day time jump and after this point Mike and El aren't even talking and they are rolling their eyes at each other is meant to indicate that something happened with them during that time jump that wasn't good.

The fact that S5 seems to pick up a couple years later (judging by El's hair) I think is further proof that they already filmed part of S5 back when they were doing S4. The part that picks up right where S4 ended I think was already done. So I think this is where we will get to see a clarification of what exactly happened during that 2 day jump and get confirmation that Mike and El broke up already.

Their relationship was defined as being immature and made both of them feel badly about themselves. They were already at a point where they wanted it over so there is no reason narratively why that needs to drag out over 2 years when neither of them is happy.

Especially considering Mike's new look where he is dressing more like himself. They have established for 2 seasons that Mike isn't himself when he is with El. So him acting more comfortable and looking more like himself all points to him and El having broken up a while ago. He had time to figure out what was authentic for him already over a time jump.

I think Mike and El's conversation has more to do with reestablishing a friendship. They didn't communicate well when they were in a relationship and El dismissed Mike's feelings a lot (the conversation about bullying being one of those times), so I think it's possible they drifted apart during the couple year jump because I think it's hard for Mike to trust her. I saw people comparing it to the train track conversation back in S1 and I think that's accurate. That conversation was meant to indicate the first time Mike started seeing her as a friend (even though they really didn't reach an understanding here the way he thought). But I think this time it actually will establish a real friendship in a way that was different than before.

I do think think it's likely Mike and Will are together at this point in the beginning of S5. But either way I think a lot of this conversation with El has to do with Mike telling her how he feels about Will and them being honest with each other for the first time.

Mike and El have very few one on one scenes together. I think I can count on one hand the amount of conversations they have had where it was just the two of them and a group wasn't around them. To me, this indicates that this conversation is actually important. Unlike a lot of their other conversations where they weren't communicating well or they weren't acting like themselves. But I think in keeping with the pattern the show has always had, this is likely the last one on one scene with them until the end of the season. They tend to not interact much in the middle of every season so I would be surprised if there was much more content with just the two of them.

This scene is very platonic just based on their body language. They aren't close or acting in any romantic way. And again, the fact that they seem comfortable indicates that they have had time to reflect on their relationship and heal from it. Mike is never comfortable around El in S3 or S4. He is never comfortable with her touching him or being close with her. So the fact that he is here, is further proof to me that it's already over. He isn't pretending anymore (I think he was done with this by the end of S4).

Another thing that makes me think they haven't spent much time together over a jump of a few years is Mike directly telling Will in S4 that he wished he spent less time with El and more with him. He already made the mistake of not spending time with Will and regretted it. He isn't going to do that again. So I think it's possible that he has been spending more time with Will to make up for it and ended up pulling away from El. And this conversation in S5 is meant to be an acknowledgement of that and the fact that he can have a romantic relationship with Will and a platonic one with El at the same time. Two people he has been struggling to have a relationship at the same time with since pretty much the beginning of the series.

Very curious to see what Will's look is because I don't think it's a bowl cut. I always thought that hairstyle was meant to indicate him holding on to his childhood and all of his trauma. If he has a new look I think it's a good hint that not only is he more comfortable with himself but that him and Mike are already together at the beginning of S5. The show has already established that the two of them are only comfortable with themselves when they are together. Mike being true to himself is a good thing. It shows he learned and grew from his immature behavior in the past few seasons. I would be surprised if Will's look doesn't indicate the same based on where his character arc left off at the end of S4.

[gnomeniche]

EDIT: i have remade these refs!

i’ve said that these humanizations Are Not Just for normal au and i meant it. i thought it would be fun to make slightly different designs for them based on whether they’re in the webseries (season 1) or the tv series (season 2) because i love doing design variations more than literally anything else. also this is an opportunity to make even cleaner refs for these designs now that i’ve pinned down the shapes of these guys better.

i'm kind of using the idea that the two series happen sequentially. nobody remembers, but there's still some stuff subconsciously carried over. my basic guidelines: the s1 versions are restrained in palette and have a more "conventional" clothing style. the s2 versions include more colors (esp the students' favorite colors), are a little more roughed up, and have Ever So Slightly more "rebellious" aesthetics (red's torn jeans, yellow's ear piercings, duck's open shirt).

headcanony shit

red's face got messed up when he tried to unplug the world in DREAMS. it persists even across replacements because it happened During the reset. also as a bonus note his hair is in yarn braids! i just simplify em.

yellow is allowed to pierce his ears now that a lot of his dad's metaphysical presence in this world has (seemingly?) faded (this is only Half a joke). also i gave him green pupils bc i like the idea that the black and green in his eyes swap places for other yellow.

duck was trying hard to be the smartboy in the lessons in s1. but dying so much (+ esp the traumatic punishment death in FOOD) left such an echo on his soul that he has subconsciously gone FUCK being put together it's my whore era. and he is so valid for this.

[violasghost]

Thoughts on Emily in Paris S4, Part 2

S4, Part 2 Spoilers below....

Although S4 part 1 was much happier for Emily and Gabriel, it was inevitable that they had get past the love triangle between Emily, Gabriel, and Camille. Unfortunately for Gabriel’s sake, he failed to successfully balance his relationships between the two females masterfully. So instead of an essay style review, thought I would break it down character by character.

Gabriel: Where to begin with him? This guy is all over the place. He’s always been wishy washy, but even moia who has been a fan of Emily x Gabriel pairing since S1 was a little disappointed in him. So, he can spend Christmas with Camille’s family for a couple days, but can’t hop on a plane to Chicago? Despite Camille’s family place being closer to his restaurant, it was kind of a weak excuse. As far as the skiing incident, I understand that he was in-between a rock and a hard place with wanting to protect Camille’s fake baby, but Camille had mentioned that she was an expert skier, and she was certainly not in any peril but in a split second, he leaves the inexperienced Emily in the dust. Despite Camille’s family plotting against Emily and Gabriel as a pair from the beginning, Gabriel illustrated Emily’s worst fears, that he cares more for Camille/baby than he does about Emily, even when Emily was scared. And yes, sometimes people make mistakes and had there been a sincere apology and Gabriel going after Emily after she left, perhaps there would be some grace given, but he pretty much let Emily leave without much argument and then he shut her out for the remainder of the season. He really is shit at communication. I’m kinda on team Emily after that breakup. Gabrielle needs to earn her back if he ever wants a chance again.

Emily: Although Emily is far from perfect, I felt for her when she was all alone on Christmas and then ran into Alfie who had clearly happily moved on. (I’m glad for Alfie by the way. He deserved a happy ending.) I get that Emily not learning to be fluent in French is part of a schtick because we arrogant Americans expect everyone to speak English, but I think being in Paris for more than a year (right?), she should be more fluent in French by now. That said however, I did think it was unfair that Gabrielle at his low point criticized her flaw for not ever speaking to him in French when she was already down. Emily’s fatal flaw however is that she tries to gloss over all of her feelings and she never really takes time to process. It probably would have been healthier for her to be alone for awhile, but that would be boring TV I guess. One small sign of growth however, I’m glad she did not tell Genevieve about the available apartment, and I liked that she told Camille that she no longer tried to plan too far into the future. I think Emily is no longer wearing the rose-colored glasses and is starting to realize that life is messy and rather than planning everything out, she is trying to carpe diem more.

Camille: I know she’s got a huge fandom on Tumblr but I still think she’s kind of a selfish biyatch. She wants Gabriel, then she doesn’t, so she ruins Emilys relationship with Alfie, and then Emily and Gabriel get together and Camille decides she wants to ruin that relationship because her relationship with Sofia didn’t work out. And she never really came clean about her lying about her fake pregnancy. Might have made a difference in preserving Emily and Gabriels relationship had she told Gabriel weeks or months earlier when she found out that she was not actually pregnant and has been carrying on a ruse for some time-but she doesn’t care about that or being held accountable for her actions. Personally not sure someone who is so selfish should be a mother, but if she winds up being a single mom, she’s going to learn some hard lessons. That is unless she tries to hook Gabrielle again due to his desire to also raise children.

Genevieve: That girl is trouble. I’m predicting it right now. If there is an EIP S5, she’s going to try to take over Emily’s life, ‘Single-white female-style.’

Sylvie: That woman is forever fabulous, but not sure what’s going on with her and her Laurent. It was odd that he took off so quickly leaving Sylvie to deal with his offspring. I don’t blame Sylvie for playing the field again, but think there are some things that she likely needs to tell Laurent. It felt like this season, Emily was rubbing off on Sylvie so perhaps Sylvie will want to keep things more black and white with her work life and relationships, which might not be a bad thing since Sylvie didn’t seem all that thrilled to learn that Laurent went to NYC on numerous occasions to hook up with Genevieve’s mom. Also like that Sylvie is turning into a type of mentor for Emily. Love their ever-evolving relationship.

Mindy: I’m very happy that Mindy stuck to her guns and found some success. Thought that Nicola was turning over a new leaf early on, but it looks like he chose to be cruel like his father instead. Although I hope Mindy can still find her way back to Emily since they are so close and their relationship is the true heart of the show.

Luc & Julien: Love those two. My favorite moment was when Julien told Genevieve that Emilys desk was warm enough. Glad someone put her in her place. I imagine next season they are going to have to wrestle with her two-faced antics again.

Marcello: He seems like a gentleman and a nice distraction for Emily. But if there is a S5, I predict an unhappy end for him. Reading in-between the lines he’s pretty perfect, but perhaps almost too-perfect. I’m wondering why he was so rigid in not wanting to discuss business with someone he claimed to care about, and why he was unwilling to agree to come to Paris to see Emily again. Although now she is in Italy so there is not an issue, but predict that should Emily want to return to Paris it looks like he would not be willing to make the commute.

Whew, so this turned out to be a longer review than I thought, but it was an entertaining season. I do wish however that just once, showrunners wouldn’t be afraid to invest in a romantic couple without having to break them up all the time. Romance can be interesting in a committed relationship as well. Anyhow, hoping they get a S5 and Emily gets her happy beginning too.

P.S. BTW, hate that Netflix is now running ads during the shows. Such bullsh*t that even if you pay, they still run the ads. Not a good move for Netflix IMHO. Hope they don’t lose a bunch of subscribers this way.

[my-jokes-are-my-armour]

His home is them

I loved this season that we see Jaskier part of the found family. Weird uncle Jaskier 😊. But there is a point that seems recurrent in S3, but that roots in S1 and S2 : Jaskier doesn't have a house and doesn't seem to want one. He never speaks about his family, only places to go.

The wandering bard

The Book!Jaskier (lets give him his english name for practical reason - Dandelion) is a travelling bard also but he seems to enjoy city's comfort way more than Netflix one. Like, Jaskier is at ease in cities with all the comfort he wants and so, but way more adaptive to all kind of fields. Also in his design, he feels more like a wandering bard.

Dandelion is more like Valdo kind of wandering bard in his appearance, with bright colors. He adapts surprisingly well to tougher moments and places, but to the court environment also. Jaskier can do that too (S1) but to the point where we find him in S3, like not anymore. He barely remembers how to act in front of a prince.

When we see Valdo, we can see glimpse of the former Jaskier pursuing fame, in his sofisticated outfits in S1, yet even the Jaskier back then was not afraid of not been clean all the time. By the end of the mountain episode, he had durt on his face and his outfit, and didn't seem to bother much. What mattered to him was his friend.

But after the mountain, Jaskier turns into a more adventurous person on his own. And the contrast with Valdo is more visible.

Valdo has a rich doublet, very clean clothes and hairdo. Everything is for parade. Jaskier has rich clothes too and some jewellery but he is more in a kind of free style and his trousers and boots have clearly seen many roads. His outfit is now more practical.

No fixed home

This is something that come across several times in S3 (vol 1 to date).

First Vespula throws him out of her home. Before the reconciliation. Still it's her place. A recurring one, as Geralt knows where to find him. On a side note, I guess Vespula is one of his muses, as she throw his music sheet out of the window. So he is probably composing at her place.

But then, still with Vespula, she jokes giving him bad titles for other countries because he is having affairs everywhere. So he is still wandering the Continent, even with her as an anchor.

When Radovid proposes him to become Redania's royal bard, he laughs. "No, a staid life at court is not for me". Later when he chooses to accept the proposal in exchange of Rience death, he grins while saying that he could maybe settle there.

But why does he say he could stay at one place ? It's clearly not for Radovid at this point. He is intrigued but has not fallen for him yet. The answer is : if Redania welcomes his found family then this is where he belongs 😭.

The found family is his home

Since S1, being with Geralt seems his natural habitat. As long as he is with him, he seems thriving. Also Geralt is a wandering man himself, a hard life for a soft boy but going everywhere, anywhere, is kind of his thing, innit ?

Sleeping outside, no problem. Washing in a lake, no problem. Going to the hunts, or near, no problem. As long as he is with Geralt...

We also see him trying to bound with Geralt's world, the dwarves, the others witchers... But it doesn't work at first.

In S2, we see him opening his heart to Yennefer. They are still frennemis but there is respect and acceptance, deep down. And she learns that he is a true friend.

This season, we see him earning respect from Yarpen Zigrin, like he has become strong enough to run into battles and help those who need. He is no warrior but he has a knight heart.

But most of all, we see how he has bounded with Ciri. The last member of the found family. He can't protect her like Geralt or Yennefer, with magic and swords. But he protects the last glimpses of true childhood she has left. He doesn't cary the gloom accompanying her destiny. He sees her like she is without any judgment over her capabilities and powers. She is just a little girl who needs her laugh and ray of sunshine. And he gives that to her without restrictions.

His home is where his White Wolf goes. His home is where his mama Witch need his shoulder. His home is when he can make his pocket sized Princess giggle and smile.

[ca-suffit]

you've mentioned several times that its racist that the fandom keeps talking about how lestat's version is the real version and louis isn't telling the truth about his own abuse, and believing the white character over the black character. that makes sense to me if iwtv was a standalone work, but in the books where the characters are all white, that's literally what happened. anne rice retconned the shit out of iwtv. book louis did overexaggerate a lot to make lestat out to be awful, and book lestat's version is the true version.

if your argument is that the show making louis black causes racist undertones by making him out to be the unreliable one, yeah, that makes sense too. delainey's recent interview basically said that a lot of the racial implications during the trial that the fans are seeing isn't something that was discussed by the showrunners, so it checks out that there are ripple effects of making louis black that they didn't consider. but why are parts of the fandom racist for essentially just saying that they're looking forward to something that they know is supposed to happen next?

I wanna preface this by saying thank u for coming here to ask things in a way that's not screaming in my face about anything. I appreciate that a lot.

to ur first question tho, it's bcuz the show is not the books. this was not a colorblind casting. ppl need to consider race and potential personal racial biases when talking about the show.

louis is still supposed to be unreliable and fucked up in a lot of ways. we're seeing that on screen, it's not a secret. the part that makes this racist is when fandom isn't even taking time to hear his story at all for whatever it is *now.* ppl don't care about him or claudia. ppl are dissecting "maybe" bruises on lestat and applauding him for standing up to a homophobe in an episode where claudia dies. she's barely a footnote to most of the fandom, right alongside louis, and those have been the majority of our storytellers for the last 2 seasons. u can look forward to something coming while also respecting what's happening now and nobody much is doing that part. and it's entirely bcuz it's black ppl telling the story.

ppl are happily poking holes in louis and claudia's trauma to tell everyone that lestat isn't that bad and the "real" story is coming. the *show* is not saying there's *any* version that's more true than the others. I doubt it's ever going to. that is the difference. it's the fandom's insistence that nothing matters except lestat's story (the white guy). most of that reasoning being bcuz they're uncomfortable that whiteness and lestat as a character are being judged and talked about through black and brown characters now. he's also shown harming these characters. when fandom responds to that, ppl are just told nobody can feel feelings bcuz didn't u know he's got trauma, this is gonna be retconned, it's all lies. what is so hard about just letting the story exist as it is and letting a lot of mostly fans of color feel any feelings about it? IWTV the book existed for almost *a decade* by itself before TVL was published. let the story be told and stop rushing everyone thru it. it's not racist to explore louis' character and know this story is flawed in ways; it's racist to look at it and just say "who cares lol?"

delainey's recent interview basically said that a lot of the racial implications during the trial that the fans are seeing isn't something that was discussed by the showrunners, so it checks out that there are ripple effects of making louis black that they didn't consider.

I'm not trying to sound mean here at all, but I don't think u understand how intentional all of that was placed there. just like lestat's slave catcher scene in S1 and being the embodiment of patriarch / slave master, this was not somehow an accident. they don't want to admit to it, for whatever reason (maybe delainey just literally didn't want to be the one answering such a big question like that as a young, black actress), but I promise u this amount of detail related specifically to slavery / lynching didn't happen unplanned. these are not book details, these are things the show created itself.

the show itself is not doing anything racist with the story changes. lestat breaks into loumand a little too much for no reason but otherwise they've done a rly good job? but there's never been much of any series to do this as well as IWTV has done, so ppl used to colorblind casting and never seeing whiteness depicted like this before are going to struggle a lot.

[smoozie]

...life series ace attorney au?

colour me intrigued.

I've already explained the jist of it here and expanding on some defense/prosecutor duos I enjoy here

I am so excited to talk abt this!! Feel free to ask more questions! I'm using this ask as an excuse to talk abt design ideas regarding the lawyers!

Starting off with Gem, whose design I've already finished!! She has a similar silhouette to Apollo's angsty Dual Destinies design with her (green) jacket over her shoulders because of the shawl(?) In her hc10 skin and witch skin. I gave her a white button up with a yellow tie since a lot of her skins have yellow/gold accents. I also gave her a corset because of the corset for her empires skin (now sure what season, I haven't watched her empires u-u). I've given her a single glove as a reference to her hc10 skin and to Athena's single glove, since I think Athena and her share some fun similarities. Finally she has some grey pants (Capcom give these lawyer women pants!!) And brown dress boots.

Unfortunately, Gem's design was the easiest for me! I'm trying to keep the defense side relatively simple as you'll notice in aa they tend to be (rip Athena). I don't want everyone in a basic suit tho so I am trying to mix things up a bit. Would love some suggestions! As for the others, I have some ideas

Scott's S1 Empires skin is actually perfect! It's that multicolored tunic that could easily be depicted as a suit jacket with a white dress shirt underneath. Could be fun to mess around with what kind of shirt he's in or a neck accessory besides a tie. Other than that I haven't got much for him. Ace attorney lawyers also tend to be strongly color coded, so a multicolored suit may break that aa feel, but uh it's more fun <3. I may end up playing around with the colors anyway.

Mumbo's design is actually the easiest. I had more fun with Gem, hence why she was done first, but Mumbo is already wearing his ace attorney suit design lol. I kinda want to play around with it a bit more, but I may end up settling on his self imposed aa design.

Scar has an extremely unique problem for me where he actually has too many fun lawyer-adjacent skins. Particularly his hc8 and limited life skins. They are both very iconic to me but would be difficult to actually mesh into one deisgn. Additionally I ADORE the color pallette of his secret life skin (og, but red is good too) but I'm not sure if I could include it. Altogether Scar is the hardest!! If I pick one route I feel like I'm losing so many possibilities! And I don't want to just copy one skin of his, like Gem I want their to be numerous references to different skins. May have to study the aa wiki defense attorneys to get some better in-universe outfit ideas.

I've been having some trouble with Grian as I wanted to include his iconic sweater without breaking the prosecutor vibe. The prosecution tends to have more wild or whimsical (see Nahyuta) designs. However, I think Grian may end up on the more simple side of the prosecutor spectrum, Edgeworth is a more simple prosecutor anyway and Grian is Edgeworth-adjacent. Come to think of it tho, his poultry man skin looks stupidly similar to Gregory Edgeworth. Could do smth with that maybe hmmm.

Etho's design is actually pretty straightforward from his skin. And he only has one to work with haha. What I'm picturing looks a lot like Godot's outfit, he even has a mask on lol. I'm probably gonna try to make it pretty unique, but it is hard to resist the urge to just turn those sleeves into a button up and that green into a suit vest.

Joel is one I'm trying to play around with more. I've perused his skins and haven't had any stand out as super lawyer-y. His default is fun enough to work with tho! Gem's comment of his weird vest thing as a corset is making me consider giving him a corset (he and Gem can match!). I'm trying to distinguish him from Shrek as much as possible while still keeping recognizable elements from his default. All in all I think he'll be fun.

CLEO oh BOY am I excited for Cleo. I'm thinking a lot of Franziska's silhouette with Cleo, focussing on extravagant sleeves, particularly relating to that blue dress skin of Cleo's. I'm also thinking of Nahyuta's detailing. Cleo's skins, to me, give the perfect amount of inspo without spelling anything out. I'll probably stick to her usual color pallette, but playing around with her 80s skin colors could be fun! Cleo is very exciting for me!

Finally, Pearl. When it comes to Pearl's design, her top aa influence is Barok van Zieks. I adore his cape and would really like to use it as a reference to scarlet Pearl. I also really like his soldier-esc getup underneath it, and while I wouldn't go as heavy handed with it, I am tempted to take some bits. I also really like Lana Skye for Pearl as a design reference, but mostly for her sprites. Pearl will not be crazy corrupt like her, but I would like to draw some parallels

[invisiblerambler]

I just finished season 3 of The Bear! What did you absolutely love and also what did you absolutely hate about/from this season?

okay so I've written multiple posts about what I loved about this season, but it seems like everything I loved everyone else hated.

one of the biggest things is the way Syd, Carmy and Marcus all represent different reactions to trauma.

Carmy is taking it out on himself, but that radiates outward. He is not allowed to be anything less than excellent and neither is anyone else around him.

Syd is/was/continues to be deeply affected by Carmy leaving her alone. Her fear of failure and the ongoing trauma of being a part of exactly the type of environment she wanted to leave. Her reaction to that is to take it all inward. She absorbs everything and every part of the environment this season, and it isn't until 9 and 10 we see her crack.

Marcus's reaction is obviously similar to Carmy. He just wants to channel it into the work, but there's a catharsis that isn't present with the other two. He is repurposing his trauma as Syd and Luca talk about at the Ever funeral.

The messiness and the rawness of this season really struck me. It feels so real to the way you can experience long-term trauma and C-PTSD. Like Carmy wasn't recovered at all when he left New York, but everything since has just repeatedly opened that wound.

I know the timeline for the season is really messy but if the entire season is from his recollection than it makes sense because these things happened before he got there and obviously trauma affects your memory.

It's hard for me to fully express what I liked about this season because everything I enjoyed was so visceral. The first time I watched it I was mad at the ending, but as it washed over me I was more able to see how painfully and carefully constructed it was.

This show is just so well-drawn in it's exploration of trauma, I could go on about it all day.

As far as what I hated, can I say the overall response. That's me being cheeky, but I could feel the expectations management problem. They told you it would be a different show, and it was! There's such a retconning that S1 and 2 are similar, but they're really not they're shot and edited very differently and have wildy different color palettes. But other than that, I can't really say I hated anything. Like I said this season feels so close to me. That's not to say it's beyond critique, and I have seen some reasonable criticisms. Maybe the cameos in the finale could have been a little tighter. I understand giving everyone their time, but I agree it kind of killed the momentum.

I think there just needed to be a modicum more editorial oversight on those. Just like one or two less cameos, one more Syd/Luca/Carmy interaction.

I wouldn't even say that's something I hated, just something that kind of broke the reality of the show a little bit.

Also this is me being cheeky again but I wish they had played end of beginning by DJO lol. I have such a special place in my heart for that song and I think it could have provided an insight on what Syd could have been thinking throughout the season.

Anyways, sorry this is so long and mostly praise, but this season is too personal for me to have a lot of tangible criticisms.

PS I am take it or leave it about the Faks I get the criticisms but realistically their subtraction wouldn't have added more arcs for other characters because there were already plenty of character arcs.

[evendumbo]

A response to this thread because comment word count is just...

The people have spoken. It wasn’t just Ted and Rebecca that crashed and burned, it was Ted Lasso itself. Before S3 ended, I decided they were doing something exciting and unique with the sitcom genre. But the show wasn’t as good as I thought it was, I was projecting based on my view that S1 was genuinely excellent and about half of the eps in S2 were very good. ("Rainbow" remains in my top 3.)

When I take off my rose-colored sunshades that I borrowed from Ted to look at the show more honestly, there were a few things I liked in S3 (Jamie’s near-perfectly written transformation, more Trent, Higgins’ and Barbara's one-liners, the cute triangle animation detour, and Juno’s performance despite so-so writing) but, dear lord, the story arc of S3 was just a poorly conceived HOT MESS OVERALL:

the total pointlessness and waste of precious story time that is Zava

the disrespectful destruction of my beloved Roy Kent

the awkward way it tried to make boat guy and Jack happen

the lack of follow through with Sassy

the flat take and pointlessness of Shandy, a rare woman of color on the show

the randomness of Michelle making a deeply unethical, emotionally fucked up choice of dating their couples therapist on the low

the iffiness of Nate’s arc (an understatement bc I heart Nick Mohammed)

Hannah’s usual stellar performance was also undermined by the writing bc it disappeared crucial context for her acting choices

even Jane Payne could have been more than a silly, emotionally punitive character given the bit of insight into her character at the end of “Beard After Hours”

The fact that they continued to both weirdly signal and then drop the ball on a Ted & Rebecca romance in S3 cut the deepest, but I see now that it was also just par for the course for the hotmessification of Ted Lasso that was S3. (Don’t @ me antis, the T/R platonic friendship writing also fell flat.)

Ted Lasso was a pop culture rocket that shot up super fast and probably way too high, then the pressure was on, then there seemed to be some painful personal fallout in the background along with the usual industry fuckery, and then the irritating season 4 will they/won’t they tension. It probably should have been predictable that all that weight would eventually break it apart.

So, I’m not sure if we wasted two years. But another way of thinking about it is that we can affirm our emotional investment in early Ted Lasso, while allowing the writers the grace to make the above regrettable errors that sadly pissed away the rich creative opportunities of S3. It was largely a bad season of television — good people who work hard can produce bad art, and then have bad faith, defensive reactions to fair questions.

Realizing this has allowed me to feel less resentful and more empathetic. With time and luck, this might eventually lead to a different emotional orientation to this weird little heartbreaker of a show.

[buckybarnesss]

I think one of the best things later seasons did was force Scott to become more mature than the kid he was in s1 and s2. For example, Liam.

Yes, he's an OBVIOUS parallel to being bitten without consent, and his fear of turning into a monster is even bigger than Scott's sometimes, but Scott now an alphaz KNOWS how to deal with it, and how to support him.

Mellowing Derek down and making him more of a team player concerned about the kids FIRST was also a good move.

this ask is so topical. forgive my star wars comparisons but i've been watching ahsoka.

i often consider the derek --> scott --> liam storyline to be comparable to that of a master and padawan relationship in a lot of ways. all their knowledge becomes your knowledge. the teacher's failures are the student's lessons.

i'm not the biggest fan of the last jedi but there are some really great moments especially the scene between luke and yoda.

"the greatest teacher failure is" and "we are what they grow beyond" applies heavily to the story of derek hale, scott mccall and liam dunbar.

the show even places a lampshade on this kind of connection early on when stiles makes the yoda joke in heart monitor.

all throughout season 1 derek is desperately trying to protect scott to varying levels of success. derek doesn't want scott to become him but derek is also clouded by anger and self-hatred at his younger self for his perceived failures and sins. scott despite his huge, glaring issues with male authority figures does learn from derek but it takes him a while to recognize that. derek is a convenient target for scott's anger at what happened to him.

their fear, their anger, their resentments are what they have to grow beyond with each other and that doesn't happen till around season 3.

season 3 even shines a spotlight on how young derek was a lot like scott.

visionary is one of the most important episodes of the entire series and does a lot of heavy lifting for the lore of the universe, the narrative of the season, the backstory of the hales, the relationships between characters -- like it's a juicy episode if only the fandom stopped taking peter and gerard's words as unadulterated truth.

it also gives us the most obvious parallel between derek and scott. i think it's pretty obvious they wrote the paige storyline knowing allison's fate. they wanted this parallel on purpose.

paige is bit without her consent and derek has to mercy kill her to spare her the slow and painful death the rejection of the bite is putting her through. derek did not do anything bad here. this was an act of compassion but it deeply traumatized and hurt derek.

while i do not believe derek's eyes changed color due to any sort of killing an innocent nonsense as peter suggests symbolically derek's innocence died with paige. it left a physical mark on him. she is there every time he shows his eyes. he carries her with him.

allison in contrast to paige has agency in her choice. she willingly goes to save lydia and even ignores lydia's warning. she chooses to save isaac which leaves her open to being stabbed.

allison does not suffer a slow, painful death like paige. scott holds her in comfort and hears her last words.

allison's body wasn't removed and abandoned to be chalked up to an animal attack. scott gets held by his mother, isaac is taken in by chris whereas derek was left alone in the cellar and left to flounder in grief ripe for the picking by kate argent.

so much of derek and scott's relationship is about reflection. they see each other like one only sees their flaws in a mirror. it's why their goodbye in smoke and mirrors is so important. it's acceptance, it's thank you, it's i'm sorry and it's goodbye and good luck.

scott and stiles are a better version of derek and peter. they are less toxic but they have their issues. scott and stiles have a hard time with communication but there's co-dependency.

this brings us to liam dunbar. liam is a precious nugget but liam has derek's anger issues and scott's fear of becoming a monster.

if stiles and scott are a better version of derek and peter than liam and mason are a better version of all them.

it is liam who is able to overcome derek and scott's failures.

liam is able to reconcile with theo.

liam makes the effort to make peace with corey.

liam doesn't lose his first love.

liam overcomes derek and scott's failures and learns lessons from their mistakes.

with liam there's a lot of reprised beats that show how far these characters have come. teen wolf subscribes to george lucas's maxmum:

scott bites liam without his consent but scott doesn't leave him like peter did him. scott tries to support him through the transformation even going as far as to try the whole "the bite is a gift" and "we're brothers now" on for size.

argent comes not to harm them but he saves them.

liam is the best of scott and derek.

derek even gets to gloat a little and have his obi-wan watching anakin deal with ahsoka moment

he is delighted.

we rightfully rip into teen wolf for it's failures but one thing about the show that i think it did fairly well was demonstrate how the entire narrative revolves around generational trauma.

the derek, scott and liam relationship is an excellent example of it.

people say that scott doesn't grow as a character which is a lie. you don't have to like the trajectory of his character arc but he does have one. the show is about him growing up. it's about these kids dealing with the grief and trauma of their lives including that of growing up.

derek was stuck in his grief and anger for a long time. he had lost so much. derek's storyline i think isn't so much a growing up arc but rather one of choosing to live not just survive. scott forced him to confront the anger he carried at his younger self. to realize he was just a child and no one protected him.

derek had a choice.

derek is also a product of peter's lessons and teachings. i think he grapples with some of this in s2 where we see derek in his quote villainy era unquote.

instead derek chose to be a protector and he evolves. he is not peter. he is not kate. derek is not a monster others wanted him to become.

instead he inherits the gift of his mother and sister becoming more at peace with himself.

he is the person that paige loved and accepted. he is deserving of stiles's loyalty and affection.

but he can scare some kids on halloween as a treat.

[mermaidsirennikita]

honestly i do think they're skipping him again and they will do her season before his...they seem to be setting her up more, they've cast her first husband and we saw set photos of them departing for their honeymoon. meanwhile we've heard nothing about his love interest....again.

I don't know how legit it was because it was just a graphic on my dash, but I saw something with the episode summaries for s3 and the mention of That Guy was basically like "he searches for a purpose" and like. He's been searching for a purpose THE ENTIRE TIME. That has been HIS WHOLE PLOT. The writers also seem to be searching for his purpose?

And I mean, to be fair, Netflix is a cruel mistress and for all anyone knows s4 will be the last for this show. Even if it does huge numbers; it's not cheap, it will eventually wear out its welcome, and I imagine that a lot will depend on how this next season does in terms of viewership.

Buuuut I don't think Shonda wants it to end on 4, and she's doing the play (and I don't know how well this play works in this day and age, but I still personally feel like she's a TV maven of a different era in some ways) of setting up long-term future stuff. Otherwise... why even have that character's husband subplot be an actual... subplot? She's been offscreen most of the time. They could've easily been like "and she was off in Scotland where she met her husband isn't that great", and if they ever got to her season... You deal with it then. Which is what the books did, basically. There was no OBLIGATION to have this be a subplot.

I mean, I just think that That Guy is a very thorny character for the writers. Because the actor has his fans in the fandom. But he was undoubtedly used to queerbait in the s1 promo, sorry! The whole *shocked and confused but Intrigued* face when he opened a door on two men embracing... in the trailer? Please.

So there's that, but beyond it I also think that his story is exceptionally hard to adapt within the framework of the show's promotional wokeness (that's not me shading wokeness, it's me shading how that show does it) and plot structure. Because you keep that story, and you cast a woman of color, and she's basically a slave. Before a white man saves her. Or you cast a white woman, and then that gets backlash. You could always just... rip the plot to shreds and do something almost entirely new, which they obviously aren't against. But I think it would have to be ripped up even more than they already rip things up, if they wanted to cast a woman of color. And if they DID do TSPWL as s4, I feel like they'd feel pressure to do so, as they'd have two white pairings in a row before then.

(And that feels so weird to write, because I really hate that That Show has created a weird dialogue surrounding race with its casting... but I mean, let's be real, that IS the dialogue. That's the place they've put themselves in.)

It feels like they kinda wanna buy time while they figure it out lol. Or maybe he'll be s4! Maybe all the people on my TL are right and they've cast his heroine!

But it seems.... much more certain that they've cast The Doomed Husband. And I mean, WHWW was always my favorite book in that series, sooooooo. I also think that a lot of it just depends on what Shonda is vibing with. It SEEMS like she vibes with the heroine of WHWW this season. I've never gotten the sense that she cares about That Guy lmao