#to contrast the bad fit between mary and john.........

[magdaclaire]

comphet omega!mary thinking that what's "wrong" with her is that she wants another omega and that's why her relationship with john (beta with a chip on his shoulder about it, so basically an alpha with performance issues) isn't working, but now in her modern era, an alpha that happens to be a woman makes her feel like an omega for the first time? come on. nuanced comphet even. i'm shaking her in a box

so why isn't there a bunch of sapphicnatural femslash omegaverse. this is the origin of omegaverse fandom. where is the nuanced secondary gender dyke discussion. where is the intersex girldick. please

[squidproquoclarice]

What do you think of the missions for Beau and Penelope?

So if I remember right, this was an optional mission strand, and much like Rains Fall and Calderon’s later, something that initially could come across as just another Stranger for Arthur to help actually becomes very vulnerably illustrative of his inner self.  (Even if he isn’t making verbal confessions of things in this one like those other two.) The Penelope and Beau missions emotionally revolve around Arthur’s own confused, blighted romance with Mary Linton.  Forbidden “Romeo and Juliet” romance?  Check.  Opposite sides of some kind of social fence?  Check.  Overbearing, controlling, and disapproving families?  Check.  Longing to escape but fear of doing so?  Check.  The vibes and driving factors are so similar it’s pretty obvious that R* intended to evoke that aspect of Arthur’s life with these missions.  The fact he has no other in-game romance, and even his closest friendships don’t have this same vibe, makes it an even easier correlation to pick up on. We already know by the first mission point in Chapter 3 that Arthur had a youthful romance that didn’t work out, that he and Mary still feel some pull even fifteenish years later, that it’s still acutely painful for him, and that his “not measuring up” and family disapproval played a big part in it.  Then we get Beau and Penelope for a while, and then in Chapter 4, we get more of Arthur and Mary and find out more context there.  And Mary asks him to run away with her.  He’s tempted, but he declines.  Because there are people who still need him.  He can’t just leave.   Then in Chapter 6 we get the end of Beau and Penelope’s story.  They run away together to Boston, presumably to their happily-ever-after, and Arthur helps make it happen.  And I feel like as he watches them leave, he’s hoping that their love survives and they have a better ending than him and Mary.  Because he knows, even before that letter arrives, that they have no future.  Even without the TB, I think he’d know it by now.  He knows they could never run away together and have it work out, though you can’t just stop feelings on a dime so it still breaks his heart when she writes him to finally say that they can’t do this anymore, that it’s bad for both of them (and she’s right, and you can tell it’s breaking her heart to write that letter). Beau and Penelope do have a few things that are different from Arthur and Mary that mean they have a happy ending.  For one, they very clearly admire each other.  They praise each other as people openly to Arthur, and in ways that seem to prove true when we actually meet the other person.  That’s very much opposed to Mary and Arthur’s bickering and uncertainty and resentment of “You’re a snob who condescends to me”/”You just seem to revel in doing the wrong thing”.  Because admiration and even being in love isn’t enough.  You have to like and respect someone, to truly know them rather than a perfect image you’ve made of them, and trust them.  And both sides have to do so.  There has to be equality.  There can’t be one person who practically worships the other and one who sort of looks down on the other, or both people feeling an attraction but disliking each other as people so that there’s that conflict between that idealized romantic fantasy and the reality. And Arthur has a problem there, because we see with multiple people that he’s prone to idealize and put some people on a pedestal and think he’s not good enough for them, or else having to step up and be the reliable "big brother”/leader/mentor half of the equation.  It’s very, very notable that he doesn’t readily relate to people as equals.  It’s typically either a matter of how he needs to step up to protect and guide them, or else how he’s hopelessly too much beneath the image he has of them.    That’s part of why I really love R*’s writing on his friendship with Sadie, because that equality of seeing each other as flawed but fundamentally good is there, so he can have the humor and vulnerability and trust that he can’t with Mary and others, and he can accept Sadie’s praise of him as a good person like he can’t from others because he knows she truly knows him.  It’s a pretty glaring contrast in personality fit and that ability to be seen and be vulnerable that he’s laughing and joking with Sadie within thirty seconds of leaving camp as opposed to Mary criticizing with his dry sense of humor, or else being either super-serious-in-charge or put-you-in-your-place-snarky as he is with other people in the gang.  And it really makes you wish that he had that partnership and comfortable ease with more people, because he needs it.  It feels like he’s pretty much there with Javier pre-Guarma, which probably feeds into his Chapter 6 conflict with Javier.  Seeing someone he trusted that much wandering into Micah’s group has to hurt, and ergo the kind of angry, lousy comment about how they should have left Javier on Guarma.  He expected better from Javier, because if he’s seeing the truth about Dutch now, why doesn’t the equally loyal (but probably a little bit of “a better man than me” sentiment there) Javier?  He doesn’t see that his few solid allies at the time have much easier choices than Javier: John sees Dutch having left him to hang among other things and very reasonably doesn’t trust him, and Sadie and Charles both have a much easier decision because as relative newbies to the gang and being there out of pragmatic “I don’t have anywhere else to go so this will do for now” rather than being fanatically loyal to Dutch, they can walk away.  And Charles actually does that, quite rightly, by peacing out before the end to go with the Wapiti and be with a community we see he truly loves and belongs to, and bidding farewell to a whole bunch of bullshit that frankly isn’t his to handle.  Even if the Epilogue tries to walk that self-assertion back pretty hard, unfortunately.  The other big difference is that Beau and Penelope have absolutely nobody in their horrible families they care about anymore.  Thus they can easily leave them behind to run away together.  Mary may suggest running away on impulse, but we know she’s fiercely protective of her little brother Jamie.  From their very disparate ages (late teens/early twenties and early thirties), it’s quite likely that Mary was both sister and mother to him.  I doubt she could easily leave him to the bullying of their father, and especially after knowing how naive and vulnerable he is after the Chelonians.  Arthur, of course, has many people he loves and desperately wants to protect and get to safety.  Even by that point in Chapter 4, he may be seeing Dutch more clearly and starting to put a little distance there, but he can’t abandon the rest of his family. They may talk about running away together briefly, but like much of their relationship, it’s a romantic fantasy that can’t stand up to the reality of each other and their lives, and they both know it. And so Beau and Penelope also serve to show us, and Arthur, that it’s not a forbidden romance that’s the issue with him and Mary.  Those can work out, because this one does.  He can’t use the excuse that it’s them against the world any longer, try to apply Dutch’s, “It’s not my fault, it’s society” logic.  Which means he has to take a good look at himself and that relationship and admit that it can’t work because of who they are as people, and because of the people that they love and still need to protect.  At the end of the day, there’s just not enough there that’s true reality rather than delirious fantasy for them to possibly sacrifice almost everything to be together.  They couldn’t do it when they were kids, and they can’t do it now.  And that’s not wrong of either of them.

[transsexualhamlet]

the problem with sherlock and watson (yuumori)

Feel free to ignore honestly this is a giant opinionated and not well informed ramble but yeah here it is for those of u that follow me for some reason, this is probably pretty controversial so yeah feel free to scroll past

also spoilers for anime onlys, we’re almost there though

So I’ve been Thinking about these two recently, and yeah, to be fair I’ve literally never read or watched any other adaption of sherlock, so I’m just speaking as to what I can tell, but yeah. I’m not sure at this point if it’s really a complaint or just an observation, but I do have some slightly confounded observations about how things are different from what I expected with them.

Mostly my Confounded Observation is just... Watson is straight?! I don’t mean in a literal way, he definitely has Bi Wife Energy TM but... you know, he’s comparatively straight.

Of course, I understand why the author might want to make sure watson doesn’t really get in the way of sherlock and liam (which is honestly hilarious but understandable) and for the purposes of the story it does make sense, but it’s... you know, again I haven’t consumed literally any other sherlock content so I wouldn’t know but from what I’ve heard watson’s always a flaming homosexual and well, it’s not like this series lacks for those, but?? 

It’s not just that he’s straight in the sense of his sexuality, it’s that... he’s a straight character in the sense that he’s like, normal? Kind of overly normal? I was kind of expecting more out of him, to be honest, and to see him just be like, a functional human being who seems to be doing totally fine in all ways? That... I don’t know, it’s kind of weird. Especially in contrast with Sherlock, who as everyone can tell is violently not doing just fine.

Since this part of the manga will be covered in the anime soon, I think this is timely, but I feel like this is just made painfully obvious when the shit goes down between him and sherlock.

Speaking on the nature of their relationship here, it’s weird. Because you know, the author is clearly going sherliam endgame (istg if they don’t just make it official i cant take this anymore) and I support that lmao, they’re like my favorite dynamic- but yeah, it’s obviously different from the other adaptions, where, you know, sherlock and john are ambiguously gay people.

Like, it’s honestly comical how in this series that is significantly gayer than every other one that watson is so clearly a Heterosexual Man honestly

But Sherlock still, clearly isn’t, and I think there is something to be said about how he feels about John, though of course in the end he... obviously chooses Liam. (and considering John’s kind of ass character in this version, he was right to do so)

I mean, just look at them.

We’ve got this obviously autistic obviously gay man who is violently codependent with this mild mannered british dude. Sherlock’s feelings for this guy are complex, and they’re clearly very different from the ones he has for Liam, but they’re certainly there. Sherlock clearly has no idea of romance, no idea of the boundaries between platonic and romantic relationships (and neither do I, but,,, yeah) and I think what Sherlock feels for Watson is like a queerplatonic relationship, but like.... not reciprocated?? 

It’s so weird for this to be the case, but it so clearly is? In the part where they explore that, it goes into how, like... Sherlock doesn’t really know how to function without Watson, dude’s holding up his entire mental health without even really doing anything, and Sherlock feels fucking awful when he is no longer Watson’s like, #1 person. The fact is, the same thing is going on with him, though they’ve existed like this for years it’s clearly not going to work anymore- Sherlock is basically having to choose between him and Liam, and you know what he’s gonna do. But it’s still an awful feeling for a bond that strong to break.

The thing about it really is that for Watson the tie was never that strong in the first place. Watson is so... without conflict in his character. And this is something that actually honestly bothers me. He’s so lawful good it’s infuriating. He’s steady, he’s calm, he’s rational and he’s emotionally mature, he can manage himself fine and care for everyone he needs to. He’s doing just fine even though Sherlock is caught up in this ridiculous murder drama, and that’s what makes the relationship so... I don’t know, off in this version.

Sherlock needs Watson, and Watson cares about Sherlock, but not nearly to the same extent, and he’s like. Not really doing it right? For someone who’s been with him for presumably years at this point, Watson doesn’t really feel like he knows Sherlock all that well. And that sucks that that’s the truth. 

In every other story with friendship/romance tropes like this, the characters have conflicts like this, but when one person thinks the other doesn’t care for them that way, they’re wrong. It’s like oh no, I’m a burden, I’m being clingy, he’s got a life to get back to and I don’t, I’m too much, he’s better than me etc... those are things Sherlock’s type of character tell themself, but the catch is that’s not actually the case, they’re just Mentally Ill. Having that just... be true in Sherlock’s case is kind of heartbreaking, as much as it’s clearly for the Sherliam agenda.

The problem is just that Watson here is just so lawful neurotypical that he just doesn’t really get Sherlock. He’s got this strict moral code, and he kind of makes it a problem to Sherlock. He says all the things that Sherlock would expect everyone to say, but it’s not what you’re supposed to say, you know? He’s all like murder is bad stop doing that I won’t be your friend if you shoot people we don’t do that >:(, be civil be nice stop putting yourself in danger Don’t Do Drugs etc etc. You know, of course that’s sensible information, but it’s... not what he needs to fucking hear? That’s like the school counselor going hey guys, just say no :D THAT DOESN’T WORK. And you’d think that Watson would get this by now? All it’s doing is hurting him more. It’s genuinely making me dislike Watson, and that’s not something I want to do.

I think it works for the purposes of this specific narrative, because they don’t want to create problems with Watson being left behind, they want to say that he’ll be fine on his own so that it will all work out fine. And yeah, of course I want that, I don’t want there to have to be conflict of sacrificing John’s emotions for Liam, but I feel like they didn’t have to sacrifice John’s character for him. 

This series could have a Watson who cares deeply about Sherlock and has some weaknesses and conflicting emotions about him without them being romantic. We haven’t seen how Watson dealt with Sherlock’s “death” yet, I don’t think, but... I don’t really like the thought that this Watson would honestly be fine. He’d be sad, he’d be mad, but he’d get over it and get on with his life and is objectively in a better situation without Sherlock. Yeah, I just... don’t like that.

I want to see a Watson who understands Sherlock. Isn’t that what he’s supposed to be? I want to see a Watson who cares for Sherlock so much that he has to make hard decisions, that he has to make the wrong decisions sometimes, that he has internal conflict because of it. I want a Watson who gets that Sherlock is nothing without him, who gets what’s going on with him and Liam, who’s trying to help him and keep him on track and maybe failing. I want a Watson who’s genuinely conflicted about leaving Sherlock for Mary because he knows it will hurt him, who worries about his ability to take care of everybody, who shows his problems from you know, being in a literal war, who wonders how to portray Sherlock in his books. We can have that without losing Sherliam, man. He doesn’t have to be Hideyoshi Nagachika (god, no one needs to go thru that shit), he just has to have at least a bit of emotion, bro. I want to see a Watson who’s struggling with what to do. Like. Even once. 

Instead we have this. This dude who is just... a nice, rather clueless guy who helps out sometimes and who’s just a bit too much of a rule follower to fit into a story like yuumori.

Sorry to just complain on main here I just think he was done a bit dirty here and it’s bothering me, if u have thoughts or info about other portrayals feel free to hmu i have become a bIT hyperfixated

[corkcitylibraries]

Cork History | Devils and Demons: the witch trial held in Cork in 1661

by Michael Lenihan

Lithograph by William Held

One of the very few witch trials ever to take place in Ireland was held in Cork Courthouse on 11 September 1661. This was the trial of Florence Newton, a Youghal native who was accused of witchcraft. The court case concerning these alleged supernatural events was presided over by judge Sir William Ashton. Unfortunately, the original trial records no longer exist, but we are fortunate that an edited version exists which was published in a rare pamphlet entitled Saducismus Triumphatus. This pamphlet, subtitled Full and Plain evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions in two Parts, was written by John Glanvil and printed in London in 1681. According to a witness for the prosecution namely, Mary Langdon, this strange story began during Christmas 1660 at the house of John Pyne in Youghal. The accused Florence Newton asked Langdon for a piece of beef which was being cooked at the time and which she duly refused. A week later things came to a head when Florence kissed Mary Langdon violently and said Mary,” I pray thee, let thee and I be Friends. 

One month later, Mary started seeing apparitions and she endured fits and trances which resulted in her vomiting up needles, pins, horse-nails, stubs, wool and straw. She also claimed that small stones would hit her on the head, shoulders and arms and fall to the ground and vanish. Sometimes she would be transported to the top of the house and laid on a board between 2 beams. It was also recorded that when Florence Newton was committed to prison Mary’s fits stopped. Another witness Nicholas Stout was called to give evidence and the thorny question of a witch being unable to recite the Lord’s Prayer was raised. Newton was unable to say all the prayer especially the words "and forgive us our trespasses”. She was asked why, and she said that she was old and had a bad memory. 

John Pyne the householder also gave evidence that his servant Mary Langdon fell into the most violent of fits, especially, if reading her bible. The bible would be struck out of her hand and thrown into the middle of the room. During the trial Florence Newton implicated others such as Goody Halfpenny and Goody Dod but she quickly withdrew these allegations when threatened with torture using the water experiment. Many other witnesses were called, and the evidence became more extreme as she was also indicted for bewitching to death one David Jones by kissing his hand through the prison gate. This trial demonstrates that Florence Newton had little hope of being declared innocent as the local community had rallied against her. 

The outcome of the trial remains unknown but considering the weight of evidence against her she could have been convicted and punished by either hanging or burning although no details of her execution have ever come to light. It should also be noted that Florence was an elderly woman and the stress, and the mental strain of the trial could have ended her life. Thankfully Ireland under the 1586 Witchcraft Act had only ever had 4 witch trials whilst Scotland exceeded 1,500 where the majority of the accused were found guilty and executed. The largely Gaelic speaking population did not fear witches as they were not associated with Satan or seen as harmful to humans as conceived by their culture. In contrast Protestant settler communities were often associated with superstitions and demonology which goes someway to account for the Youghal witch trial.

[aion-rsa]

Scarface’s Tony Montana vs. Michael Corleone: Which Al Pacino is the Boss of Bosses

https://ift.tt/3haJ9K7

Scarface hadn’t been made when Pete Townshend’s 1974 song “The Punk and the Godfather” came out, but The Godfather certainly had. The Who’s anthem was a musical allegory about the rock scene, but the lyrics might as well be interpreted as a conversation between Michael Corleone and Tony Montana. Possibly right before they rumble.

Al Pacino played both men in both movies, and in each film, he begins the story as a punk. But in The Godfather, at least, he grows into the establishment. Michael becomes don. Tony was a shooting star on the other hand, one on a collision course with an unyielding atmosphere. Both roles are smorgasbords of possibilities to an actor, especially one who chased Richard III to every imaginable outcome. Each are also master criminals. But which is more masterful?

The obvious answer would seem to be Michael Corleone because he turned a criminal empire into a multi-billion-dollar international business, and lived to a ripe old age to regret it. Cent’anni, Michael. Tony Montana doesn’t live to see the fruits of his labor, but his career in crime is littered with the successes of excess.

Montana is a hungry, young, loose cannon, just like real-life’s “Crazy” Joe Gallo, who went up against the Profaci family in the street fight which Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola used as inspiration on The Godfather. Gallo stand-in Virgil “The Turk” Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) did a lot of damage while he was trying to muscle in on Don Vito Corleone’s territory, selling white powder. Montana leaves a larger body count in the wake of his cocaine empire career. 

Scarface is Pacino’s film. The whole movie is about Tony Montana and his meteoric rise through money, power and women. The Godfather is a mob movie, crowded with top rate talent in an ensemble case, but it belongs to Marlon Brando. While Michael inherits the position by The Godfather, Part II, he shares Godfather roles with Robert De Niro there, and people come away feeling a little sorry for Fredo. Michael isn’t the focus of an entire film until The Godfather, Part III, and by then folks were only distracted by his daughter. Tony Montana owns the screen from the moment it opens until his last splash in the fountain under the “World Is Yours” sign. The picture was his.

Making Your Bones on First Kills

Pacino brings little of the wisdom of his Godfather role to Scarface’s title character. This is by design. Every crime boss has to make his bones. In mafia organizations, real and cinematic, the button men on the street are called soldiers. And every soldier has to go through basic training before they’re ready to earn their button. Michael gets assassination training from his father’s most trusted capo, Pete Clemenza (Richard S. Castellano) before he goes out to enjoy the veal.

Scarface doesn’t give us many details of the crimes Tony was involved in while still in Cuba, so he makes his cinematic bones executing General Emilio Rebenga in the American detention camp for Cuban refugees. The two scenes are polar opposites in all ways but suspense.

When Michael is sitting at the dinner table with Sollozzo and Police Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden), he lets Sollozzo do all the talking, easing him into comfort before pulling the trigger. Tony barely lets Rebenga get a whimper in during his first onscreen hit, which plays closer to an execution. Tony covers the sounds of his own attack with a chant he himself begins. It is a brilliant overplay, especially when compared to another scene that resembles The Godfather, with Tony killing a mid-level gangster and a crooked cop towards the end of Scarface. 

A major difference between the two roles is best summed up in a line Tony says in Scarface. He learned to speak English by watching James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. Montana comes from the Cagney tradition of broad gangster characterizations. In The Godfather, Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) asks Michael if he’d prefer Ingrid Bergman. The young soldier has to think about it. This is because Pacino is miles removed here from Bogart, who played Bergman’s lover in Casablanca. Pacino’s two gangster icons approached their criminality differently, and Pacino gets to play in both yards.

Pacino remains on an even keel in the Godfather films, but gives a tour de force of violent expression in Scarface, which burns like white heat.

The Handling of Enemies and Vices

In Scarface, Pacino gets to be almost as over the top as he is in Dick Tracy. His accent would never make it past the modern culture board at The Simpsons, but he pulls it off in 1983 because he says so. Pacino bullies the audience into believing it. It’s that exact arrogance which makes us root for Tony Montana. We don’t want to be on his bad side. But the chilled reptilian stare of Michael Corleone is a visual representation of why Sicilians prefer their revenge served cold.

Michael is diabetic, and is usually seen drinking water in The Godfather films. Sure, he has an occasional glass or red wine, and possibly some Sambuca with his espresso, but Michael always keeps a clear head. Tony, not so much. He makes drunken scenes at his favorite nightclubs, and not only gets high on his own supply, but gets so nose deep in it he develops godlike delusions of superheroic grandeur.

Montana is impulsive, instinctive, and decisive. Tony kills his best friend Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) immediately upon finding him with his little sister Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). Michael waits until his sister Connie (Talia Shire) is on a plane to Tahoe before he has her husband killed in a hit years in the planning. Later Michael hangs his head silently as the shotgun blast which kills his brother, Fredo (John Cazale), echoes in the distance.

Tony, meanwhile, continues yelling at Sosa’s right-hand man long after his brains are all over the automobile’s interior.

Clothes Make the Man

Tony is written to be charismatic. Even coked out of his mind, he’d be a better fit in Vegas with Fredo’s crowd than with wet blanket Michael in Tahoe. Tony sports white suits, satin shirts, and designer sunglasses. Michael accessorizes three-piece ensembles with an ascot. This isn’t to say Michael had any issues with getting somebody’s brains splattered all over his Ivy League suit. 

Designed by Theadora Van Runkle, Michael preferred dupioni silk. That’s smart. The dark navy wool chalk-stripe suit Tony wears in his death scene was designed by Tommy Velasco and carries the class of a tuxedo. It was after 6pm. What do you think he is, a farmer?

“I’m the guy in the sky, flying high, flashing eyes. No surprise I told lies, I’m the punk from the gutter,” Roger Daltrey belts out on “The Punk and The Godfather.” This is exactly against the no-flash advice Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia) tries to impart on his young protégé in Scarface. Tony was raised not to take any advice other than his own. He also ignores his consigliere’s advice on several occasions. When Manny reminds Tony the pair of them were in a cage a year ago, the rebel gangster says he’s trying to forget that, he’s going after the boss’ girl. 

“I come from the gutter,” Montana proudly contends. “I know that. I got no education but that’s okay. I know the street, and I’m making all the right connections.” 

By contrast, Michael attended Dartmouth College and then dropped out to join the Marines after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Michael is both intelligent and well-connected, loosely modeled on Joseph Bonanno and Vito Genovese. He also accepts the wisdom of his father, who most closely resembled “The Prime Minister” of New York’s Five Families in the 1950s, mafia boss Frank Costello.

The Better Family Man

Pacino’s Don Michael Corleone has access to all his family’s connections, stretching back to the old world. He learns to expertly pull the strings of powerful men, like his father did, but as he grew, he bent. Michael is friends with senators, meets with the President of Cuba, has money in the Vatican, and confesses his sins to a Pope. Michael was insulated throughout his childhood and criminal career. If Tony gets in trouble, he has to get out of it himself, or with the help of a handful of low-level operatives.

Michael is the family rebel, risking his life and getting medals for strangers. He also gets to be both the prodigal son and the dutiful son. He gets the fatted calf and pays the piper. He even tips the baker’s helper for the effort. Michael comes back to both of his families, crime and birth, with a vengeance. He is there for his father the moment he is needed. Michael is the better family man. Tony’s mother is ashamed of him, and he completely ruins his sister’s wedding. Michael’s family means everything to him, and while he still manages to lose them, he actually maneuvers his two families well over rough waters for a very long run.  

Tony Montana is the rebel’s rebel. Even before he tosses off his bandana at the dishwasher job to make a quick score, we knew. He was born bad, in the cinematically good way. This also makes Montana a natural at crime. In The Godfather, Michael has it in his blood as a Corleone, but has his heart set on college, a straight career, and a shot to bring his whole family into the American Dream, which for Montana only exists as a wet dream.

Tony never gets past the hormonal teenage phase of his love of America. He wants to love his new country to death. He is turned on by the dream. He wants to take it. Not earn it. No foreplay necessary, as he claims his latest victim’s wife as his own.

Managerial Skills

Michael is pretty good with his underlings, when he’s not having them garroted on the way to an airport or advising them to slit their wrists in a bath. He promises Clemenza he can have his own family once the Corleones relocate to Las Vegas. He lets Joe Zaza (Joe Mantegna) get away with murder as the guy he sets up to run his old territory in The Godfather, Part III. Michael doesn’t keep turncoats like his trusted caporegime Tessio (Abe Vigoda) around for old times’ sake, and he doesn’t suffer fools at all. It may seem he cuts Tom Hayden (Robert Duvall) loose a little fast, and without warning or due cause. But if he was a wartime consigliere, he would have seen it coming.

While Tony Montana may have a competitive and fast-tracked entry program for new workers (“hey, you got a job”), he’s also the guy who shoots his right-hand man Manny for marrying his sister. Tony exacts a brutal and dangerous revenge for the death of his friend Angel Fernandez in the Miami chainsaw massacre, but doesn’t lift a finger when his cohort Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham) is hanged to death from a helicopter by drug lord Alejandro Sosa (Paul Shenar). Michael does have a tendency to have his soldato kiss his ring, but he’s not entirely a .95 caliber pezzonovante.

Read more

Movies

Scarface: Where Tony Montana Went Wrong

By Tony Sokol

Movies

The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone Proves a Little Less is Infinitely More

By Tony Sokol

One of the most important skills a boss must exhibit is how to delegate, and Corleone is a minor Machiavellian master at his delegation. He whispers orders from behind closed doors. Tony is more hands-on. The only reason he tells Manny to “kill that piece of shit” Frank is because he’s already humiliated his former boss into a shell of a real man.

Montana is in the trenches with his soldiers and sets standards by example. He shoots a guy on a crowded Miami street in broad daylight. Montana is a born triggerman and only reluctantly delegates the duty. He has 10 bodyguards when Sosa men raid his mansion fortress. He takes the invading force with one little friend, an M16A1 rifle with a customized grenade launcher. But it sure doesn’t help the employees getting murdered outside.

A Handle on Finances

We don’t know what kinds of criminal activities the Corleone family were involved in between 1958 and 1979. Still, Michael had proven himself a traditionalist and a bit of a prude, so he spends most of his career shaving his take from harmless vices and avoiding drugs, which he sees as a dirty business. But through whatever means, by The Godfather, Part III, Michael has earned enough capital to buy himself out of crime.

Michael gambles successfully on Wall Street, keeps the Genco olive oil company going, and invests in hotels, casinos, and movie studios. He’s got to be pulling in a billion dollars a year in legitimate business. He makes enough to pad the coffers of the Vatican, and his share of Immobiliare stocks pulls in another $1 billion.

Tony looks like he’s earning about $15 million a month. But it doesn’t look like he puts much stock in his future. He makes no investments, only purchases. His only visible holding is the salon his sister works in. But we also have to take into account that he built his empire from scratch. Michael inherited his. And while the head of the Corleone family can blackmail a U.S. senator with a tragic sex scandal, Montana fares no better than Al Capone with tax evasion.

Who Would Win in a Mob War?

Scarface is as violent as the 1932 Howard Hawk original. Blood is a big expense, and 42 people are killed in the 1985 film. It came out amid other over-the-top action blockbusters like First Blood and the contemporary reality of the South American drug trade. So, it would seem, the film has far more violence. But they are easily matched.

The Godfather has a horse’s head, Scarface has a chainsaw. Michael’s brother Sonny (James Caan) gets machine gunned to smithereens at the toll booth, Tony blows the lower limbs off his would-be assassins at a nightclub. Omar is lynched in a chopper, the upper echelon of the mob is taken out by helicopter fire in The Godfather, Part III. Tony and Michael each get to kill a cop.

Both mob figures survive assassination attempts. Michael loses his wife Apollonia in Sicily in a car bombing meant for him. He also avoids the trap Tessio sets at the meeting with Emilio Barzini (Richard Conte), on his turf, where Michael “will be safe.” Tony lives through his initial professionally ordered hit, as well as being saved by Manny from certain death by chainsaw.

While Michael Corleone is able to take care of Barzini, Victor Stracci, Carmine Cuneo, and Phillip Tattaglia – the leadership of the five families – at the end of The Godfather, Tony Montana can only put up a good fight. The Corleone family would win in a protracted war against Montana’s cartel, but there is a possibility Tony would have outlived Michael while the battles raged. Expert swordsmen aren’t afraid to duel the best in the field, but they’re scared of the worst. 

As far as crime tactics and strategic villainy, Michael Corleone plays a game of chess. Tony Montana plays hopscotch. He wins by skipping cracks in the street, but he only rises as far as the pavement.

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[drinkthehalo]

Macro perspective on each Lymond book

I've been listening to the Lymond Chronicles audiobooks, which has given me a different perspective than reading them. With audiobooks, you’re less inclined to stop and dive into the details, to look up an interesting word or obscure historical fact; instead you get swept along with the larger arc of the book.

So, I thought it would be interesting to look at what each book is about from a macro perspective.

Spoilers for the entire series follow.

The Game of Kings

In genre, it's a mystery told in a historical adventure style; it asks the question "Who is Lymond?" and gives us a ton of contradictory clues, then finally reveals the truth - in a psychological sense by stripping away Lymond's defense mechanisms and revealing the human being underneath, as he breaks down in the dell, "the guard was down... every fluent line and practised shade of Lymond's face betrayed him explicitly"; and in a narrative sense via the trial, which examines each "clue" we received throughout the story and tells us what it really meant.

Thematically, it's mainly about "serving honesty in a crooked way" - that morality isn’t simple and that sometimes you need to break the rules to do the right thing.  Nearly all Lymond’s acts are apparently bad things done for a goal that is actually good. We see the theme also in Will Scott (who learns that the world is more complicated than the "moral philosophy" he learned in school) and the various characters who help Lymond, breaking the rules of society by aiding a wanted outlaw (Christian, Sybilla, the Somerviles). 

It is also about the balance of looking out for self vs the obligation to the greater society - Lymond is not completely selfless (after all, he is back in Scotland to clear his own name), but when forced to choose, he always chooses the greater good above his own goals. He is contrasted with Richard, whose great mistake is to put his obligations to Scotland at risk in pursuit of his personal vengeance, and Margaret Lennox, who is purely and grotesquely out only for herself.

The historical context is part of this theme, as we see the various border families playing both sides between England and Scotland, with the heroes being those who ultimately stand up for Scotland, even as we understand that some have no choice but to profess one thing while doing another.

Queens Play

In genre, it's a spy novel; thematically, it's about what Lymond will do with the rest of his life. The question is asked explicitly several times (most obviously, "You have all your life still before you." / "The popular question is, for what?") It's important that Lymond loses his title at the start of this book; he has to figure out who he will be without it.

The main characters all represent possible paths Lymond could take -

O'Liam Roe, who sits back and laughs at the world with detachment, while abdicating all responsibility to use his mind and position to change the world for the better.

Robin Stewart, who loses himself in bitterness about the ways the world has been unfair to him, and in fixating on how he deserved better, fails to take any action to improve himself.

Oonagh, who works passionately to change the world for the better, but whose ideals have become corrupted because she has attached herself to a leader who is more out for himself than for their cause.

And of course Thady Boy and Vervassal, two extremes of himself that Lymond tries on, and (by the end of the series) must learn to reconcile.

The recurring imagery of the first half is the carnival, the masks, the music, the parties, and our hero in danger of losing himself amidst the debauchery. In the second half the imagery every time Lymond appears is of ice, the ultra-controlled, hyper-competent version of Lymond at risk of losing himself by denying his artistic soul. (There’s a wonderful essay here that explores these motifs.)

In the end, Lymond comes to the conclusion that he must not withdraw into detachment or bitterness, that he must find a way to make a positive difference in the world, but that he also must not attach himself to a powerful figure who may be more out for themselves than for Scotland (ie, his refusal to attach himself to Marie de Guise). This sets up the creation of his mercenary army in the next books, as a way he can exercise independent influence in the world.

The Disorderly Knights

This book couldn't be more relevant to the world today. It's a portrait of cynical hypocrisy in pursuit of power; it lays out step by step the tactics of propaganda and manipulation used by despots to build up themselves and tear down their rivals: pretend to be pious, accuse of others of your own crimes, tear down straw men instead of engaging in real debate. It tells us to "look at his hands"; what matters is what a leader actually does, not what he professes to believe.

It shows us how leaders use charisma to manipulate, and, in showing the battle between Gabriel and Lymond for Jerott's loyalty, shows how Lymond takes the harder and more ethical path, by refusing to use his charisma to seduce (a lesson learned from his experience with Robin Stewart) and instead guiding Jerott to come to his own conclusions by means of rational thought instead of hero worship.

At every level the novel advocates for tolerance and internationalism, and against petty sectarianism, as Lymond questions whether the Knights of St John are really any better than the Turks, and as he tries to get the Scottish border families to abandon their feuds in favor of the greater good of the country.

In terms of genre, it’s a pure adventure novel. I never get bored of the masterful action sequences with the battles in Malta and Tripoli, and the extraordinary duel at St Giles in the end. (Also in terms of thematic imagery, there is some crazy S&M shit going on in this book, with Gabriel and Joleta's sadism and Lymond's self-sacrificial masochism.)

I love Disorderly Knights so much. It is nearly perfect - well structured, thematically coherent, witty, fun, breathtaking, and heartbreaking.

Pawn in Frankincense

In genre, this is a quest novel. In several places it explicitly parallels The Odyssey.

In theme, it explores -

Do the ends justify the means? How much sacrifice is too much? Lymond gives up his fortune, his body, and his health; Philippa gives up her freedom and her future; we are asked often consider, which goal is more important, stopping Gabriel or saving the child? We even see this theme in Marthe's subplot, as she gives up the treasure, her dream to "be a person," to save her companions. Perhaps the most telling moment is right after Lymond kills Gabriel; despite all his claims that Gabriel’s death mattered more than the fate of the child, he’s already forgotten it, instead playing over and over in his mind the death of Khaireddin. If you do what is intellectually right but it destroys your soul, was it really right?

The other big theme is “nature vs nurture.” What is the impact of upbringing on how people turn out? In its comparisons of Kuzum vs Khaireddin, and Lymond vs Marthe, it seems to fall firmly on the side of nurture.

It’s also a kaleidoscope of views on love, with its Pilgrims of Love and their poetry, and the contrasting images of selfless, sacrificial love (Philippa and Evangelista for Kuzum, Salablanca for Lymond, Lymond for Khaireddin, perhaps Marthe for Lymond as she helps him in the end) with possessive, needy “love” (Marthe for Guzel, Jerott for Marthe or Lymond, arguably even the Aga for Lymond).

This novel is also a tragedy. Its imagery and the historical background complement the themes by creating an atmosphere lush, beautiful, labyrinthine, overwhelming, and suffocating.

The Ringed Castle

I have to confess this is my least favorite, in large part because I find the historical sequences (in Russia and in Mary Tudor's court in England) go on way too long and have only tangential relationships to the themes and characters.

It seems to be primarily about self-delusion as a response to trauma.  Lymond spends the entire novel trying to be someone he isn't, in a place he doesn't belong, because he is too damaged to face reality. (His physical blindness as a manifestation of his psychological blindness; the sequences at John Dee's, surrounded by mirrors, forcing him to see himself.) 

Lymond convinces himself he can build a wall around his heart to block out all human connection, that he can be a “machine,” but despite his best efforts, he cares for Adam Blacklock and develops a true friendship with Diccon Chancellor. And of course, by far the most important moment is after the Hall of Revels, when Lymond's heart unfreezes and he suddenly sees one thing VERY clearly. (And then tries, desperately, to escape it.)

The only reason I can think of that the book lingers so long on Mary Tudor (so boring omg) is the parallel with Lymond, her false pregnancies as a manifestation of her desire to see the world as she wants it to be, and her failure to see reality as it is. Ivan of Russia also is a parallel: delusional, unable to trust, and dangerous. Their failures, and the failure of Lymond's Russia adventure and relationship with Guzel, tell us that you cannot hide from reality forever.

The book spends so long painting the backdrop of 16th century Russia that it makes me think that Dunnett got too caught up in her research and needed a stronger editor, although there is also a parallel with Lymond in the idea of Russia as a traumatized nation struggling to establish itself, and of course, Lymond subsuming his need to deal with his own issues into a goal of building a nation.

It's also about exploration, about the intellectual wonder of discovering that there is more to the world, as we learn about Diccon Chancellor and the Muscovy Company. It’s wonderful imagery, but I struggle to how this fits coherently into the overall theme of the novel, and am curious how others reconcile it.

I like the idea of this book more than the reality. If you’re going to do to your hero what Dunnett did to Lymond in “Pawn,” there has to be consequences. But hundreds of pages of our hero in such a frozen state is difficult to read.

That said, the Hall of Revels is one of the best things in the series, and I’ll always love this book for that.

Checkmate

Checkmate is about reconciliation of self and recovery from trauma, as Lymond is forced (kicking and screaming) to accept who is and what he's done, and to allow himself to love and be loved. Philippa is his guide, as she discovers the secrets of his birth, understands his childhood, hears his tales of all the terrible things he's done, and loves him anyway. As far as genre, this is definitely a romance.

There are villains in this book (Leonard Bailey, Margaret Lennox, Austin Grey) but they're all fairly weak; the true antagonist is Lymond himself. From the beginning, he could have everything he needs to be happy (he's married to the woman he loves, and she loves him back!); his true struggle is to stop running from it (by escaping to Russia or committing suicide) and to break through his own psychological barriers enough to allow himself to accept it.

The primary parallel is with Jerott and Marthe, who also have happiness almost in their grasp, but never manage to achieve it.

The heritage plot looms large and is (IMO) tedious; it's so melodramatic that it takes some mental gymnastics to get it to make thematic sense to me. It ultimately comes down to Lymond's identity crisis and childhood trauma. His “father” rejected and abused him, so he based his identity on his relationship to his mother, but his suspicion that he is a bastard means he lives in terror that he doesn’t really belong in his family and that, if his mother isn’t perfect, he is rotten. (I love him but, my god, it is juvenile. The only way I can reconcile it is that his fear about the circumstances of his birth is really just a stand-in for his self-hatred caused by his traumas.) He also continues to struggle with his envy that Richard was born into a position with power and influence that Lymond has spent the past six books struggling to obtain, and that Lymond’s terrible traumas (starting with the galleys) would not have happened if he had been the heir. The discovery that he actually IS the legitimate heir is what finally snaps him out of it, since his reaction is to want to protect Richard, and this also reconciles him to Sybilla since protecting Richard was her goal too.

There are some other parts of this book that I struggle to reconcile (Lymond's inability to live if he can't have sex with Philippa; the way the focus on heritage seems to undercut the nature vs nurture themes; that no one but Jerott is bothered by Marthe's death, which undercuts some of the most moving moments in "Pawn”; and I mostly just pretend the predestination and telepathy stuff didn’t happen). On the other hand, I do sort of love the way this book wholeheartedly embraces the idea that there is no human being on earth who will ever be as melodramatic as Francis Crawford.

In terms of the historical elements, in addition to providing the narrative grounding for the character stuff to play out, it sets up the idea that Scotland has troubles coming up (the religious wars, the betrayal of the de Guises) and that Lymond needs to go home, let go of France and Russia, and focus on Scotland where he belongs. I’m sure there is also some political nuance in the fact that our Scottish hero, after spending so much time and energy in France, ends up with an English wife.

The conclusion in the music room is perfect - it brings us back to the amnesiac Lymond who innocently played music with Christian Stewart, to Thady Boy whose songs made the cynical French court weep, and fills the “void” Lymond described to Jerott where there was no prospect of music. The aspects of himself are finally reconciled and he has a partner to share his life with.

I am curious what others see as the macro / thematic big picture meanings of these books. :)  And if anyone can find the key to make “Ringed Castle” and “Checkmate” make more sense to me...

[traincat]

why do you consider andrew garfield the best peter parker?

So obviously different people are going to have different reactions to different performances and portrayals, and all opinions here are my own, but if I’m going to be honest, I think Andrew Garfield has one very important lead on the other live action portrayals of Peter Parker that puts him in a whole other playing field: Andrew Garfield openly identifies as Jewish. While Peter isn’t hardline canonically Jewish, there’s so much Jewish coding within the character, who was created by Stan Lee, a Jewish creator, and envisioned as coming from Forest Hills, Queens, a famously Jewish neighborhood, that I don’t feel this can be ignored. Andrew Garfield spoke about recognizing that Jewishness within the character and for me it really shows in his performance and how he chose to approach it. It’s understated and subtle and it’s done in a way a non-Jewish performer mostly likely wouldn’t know how to either recognize within the character or be able to portray with the skill of someone who recognizes those little cultural tics because they share them. (Jake Johnson, who voices Peter B. Parker, is also half Jewish, and Chris Pine has Jewish ancestry.)

There’s also his physical appearance, which sounds shallow, but it’s not necessarily about the hotness factor: he’s very spider-y on screen in the costume, and his movements are visually interesting. Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man always comes off somewhat stodgy to me, which is partly problems with watching a movie with older special effects, like in the scene where he’s swinging with Mary Jane and it’s very obviously a mannequin in the costume. This isn’t the fault of the actor, but it also doesn’t help my enjoyment of the franchise when for me so much of who Spider-Man is is communicated through physical actions. Tom Holland, on the other hand, has a small stature that is only emphasized by the cinematography in the films he’s appeared in. (I suspect this is a big part of why some people like him so much, but it doesn’t work for me.) Andrew Garfield doesn’t come off like the tallest guy in the world, but he has a definite physical presence on screen. He also has the most distinct facial features of the three. Both Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland have fairly conventional features for Caucasian men. I’m not saying either is bad-looking, just that there’s not much with either of their faces that’s particularly stands out in a crowd of other pale brunet actors in blockbuster films, which is a stark contrast to Andrew Garfield’s thick brows, larger nose, and more prominent facial features. Obviously Peter’s been drawn in various art styles over the years, but all of my favorite versions have had very prominent eyebrows and distinctive facial features:

(Amazing Spider-Man #44)

(ASM v2 #49 – fun fact, this and the above panel were illustrated by a father and a son, John Romita Sr and Jr. They both bring great faces to Peter and have done some of my favorite Spider-Man arcs.)

(ASM #129)

(The Amazing Spider-Man (2012))

(The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014))

I also find Andrew Garfield the best at acting through the mask – again, Tobey Maguire was a little hampered by the effects of the time, but Tom Holland’s depiction isn’t helped by the animated mask lenses and the character constantly taking off his mask. For me, that demonstrates either an unwillingness by the studio to trust him to carry the character through masked scenes, like their adaptation of the rubble scene from Amazing Spider-Man #33, or a lack of faith in the audience. @jaig-eyes just posted a great piece of meta about Spider-Man and animated the mask lenses and I completely agree with it. 

It’s not entirely about Andrew Garfield as an actor, though – in my personal opinion, The Amazing Spider-Man movies are the most enjoyable Spider-Man movies. The Raimi movies were very good at taking iconic characters and storylines and compressing them, but they did it in a way that’s far less interesting to me than the source material they’re adapting off. Homecoming and most likely Far From Home are more concerned about fitting into the MCU as a larger puzzle piece than they are about representing Spider-Man as a solo superhero. Neither of those things are inherently bad, but I’m not interested in either of them as much as I am in watching films made by people who clearly love the Spider-Man mythos and characters and who were interested in trying to cram as much interesting detail into their adaptation as they could and in taking risks that were interesting but not inorganic. Again, this is subject to personal interpretation, but those are just my feelings about it. I like having a movie series where I can point at things and go “oh, and that’s from this issue, and that’s from there,” etc, and I feel like TASM did that much more interestingly than either other live action film series. The script, direction, and acting all brought a real self-assuredness to their Peter that’s lacking in the other two versions, and I like that confidence and find it much more in line with 616 Peter as a character. 

The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in particular, also did something very specific that made the movies click for me: they really, really cared about setting them in New York. Raimi’s movies use New York landmarks, like the Flatiron building for the Daily Bugle, but they look very sanitized. Homecoming, on the other hand, filmed almost nothing in Queens, and the plot took Peter out of New York for a significant chunk of the movie. Likewise, Far From Home is going to feature a European vacation. TASM and TASM2 on the other hand are very New York films. They love the skyline, they love the buildings. Peter’s webslinging is not only a method of transportation but also a depiction of the relationship between himself and the city. TASM2 filmed 90% in New York State, and their Times Square scene is one of my favorite scenes depicting Times Square ever because it really gets the frenetic energy. It’s a series that wants to be in New York and that understands that Spider-Man is a very specific love story on top of everything else: it’s about Peter and this very specific, very real city with a very real personality.

(Amazing Spider-Man #667)

If the actor can’t make me feel that specific love story or if the production is uninterested in it or unsuccessful in portraying it, they’re never really going to be a great Spider-Man pieces in my opinion. This is where both TASM/2 and Into the Spider-Verse triumph for me: they’re movies that love New York and Spider-Man’s connection to it. I need him to feel rooted in it, and I believe that with Andrew Garfield’s Peter and in the creative choices the TASM/2 creative team made with the films. 

At the end of the day, though, I like Andrew Garfield’s performance the best just because I like it the best – I could probably argue all day and not change the minds of people who like the other actors better, just like they could argue all day and not sway me at all. 

[writtenbyhappynerds]

Unit 5- Twins Are Very Stupid

    If you haven’t taken the Exam 1 quiz for Fanfiction 101 go do that!! That quiz covers material from the first four units: Rules for the Universe, Formatting, Face Claims, and Names. Everything from this unit onward will be a part of Exam 2.

    Much like cliches in regular fiction, there are a plethora of cliches that exist in fanfiction. Some are specific to certain genres, some are on a wider scale as a whole. For this unit we are going to dissect common themes and ideas first based in specific genres (re: fandoms) of fanfiction and then open the floor up to widespread cliches as a whole. We’ll start with Twilight.

    In Twilight, the biggest cliche we see is Bella Swan having a sister who is, “not like her sibling at all!” This isn’t original. It isn’t creative, and 9/10 times the unique sibling is a lot like Bella Swan they just talk more than her. Regardless of your feelings towards Stephanie Meyers and her books, what this shows me is a writer who is uncertain of how to approach the quiet, observational, internalized thinking of Bella Swan as a character. It also shows me a writer who believes loud is the complete opposite of quiet and because someone shouts their opinions more boisterously than the next girl, that makes them unique. Neither statement is true. Imagine Bella Swan’s sibling really being the complete opposite of her. Like, imagine Bella’s little sister in Seattle doing coke off a stripper’s asshole. You can’t. So don’t say that she’s the opposite. She isn’t, and that’s ok. Siblings can have common interests and like the same thing, and your OC is not a bad one if they are similar to Bella Swan. A better contrast to Bella Swan would be an OC that’s athletic. Bella Swan from the get-go is described as someone who is not an athlete, doesn’t spend time in the sun, and likes to be by themselves. A sun-kissed volleyball-playing little sister would be more contrasting to Bella Swan than someone who is again, her but louder.  

    In BBC’s Sherlock the biggest cliche the Editor and I have seen is Sherlock having a twin sister who is also a detective. Now in Unit 3: Face Claims, we discussed that Sherlock’s sibling shouldn’t be the voice of reason or conscience while also doing the exact same thing as him. This still stands. If Sherlock has a twin, that twin shouldn’t be seen as “the good one” or “the nice one” when they shoot the same things, break into the same places, and act just as manic as he does. It isn’t consistent. The twin should not be a carbon clone that is smarter and prettier and gets along with everyone else. That’s not a character, that’s a Mary Sue that solves crimes. There are 10,000 jobs in the world, and the best way to break the monotony of Sherlock’s twin is to make her something that isn’t a detective. Make her her own person. For example, Sherlock could have:

    A twin sister who works as a crime statistician for the government. She’s been given a cushy office she doesn’t deserve because of Mycroft and she tries to call her brothers once a week. They don’t necessarily answer. She needs to use criminal trends to track where Moriarty will be so Mycroft can have him arrested and interrogated.

    A sister who went to school for law, and became a powerful and wealthy corporate attorney. Sherlock paid off everyone in a mile radius? She paid off everyone in a 5-mile radius. She makes sure his bills are paid, his fridge is stocked, and that he and John are happy without either of them knowing. She uses her knowledge of the law to find holes in Baskerville’s policies that would allow Sherlock and John to sneak in.

    A twin sister who’s a mom of two and likes to paint. She teaches at the local college and babysits her neighbor’s kids when she’s out. Mycroft is the godfather of both of her kids, and she likes to crochet when she has the time (she never does). She needs to figure out why the painting is a fake and what book fits the cipher.

    My point is that Sherlock can have a twin. I don’t care, and that doesn’t trigger me like it triggers the Editor (I think she just has something against twins). Sherlock’s twin should have a personality of their own. The cliche in this genre is Sherlock having a twin that’s essentially, “genius but better.” If you make her exactly like him you limit the potential to make a story that’s compelling. You also break the rules of the universe, as you’ll have to go back and rewrite all the episodes to include her. Don’t do that to yourself.

    In Supernatural, The big cliche is the boys having a teenaged Winchester sibling and/or a guardian angel. Bonus points if Cas is the guardian angel. I’ve also seen a lot of ‘Sam Winchester’s Guardian Angel’ and if that’s you after all the things that character has gone through you need to be fired. These ones just don’t make sense. They break the rules of the universe and make the cast have to bend over backward just for the character to exist. The original work should not be broken to fit your narrative. You have to make your prompt work in their established universe. Unfortunately, teenaged Winchester siblings do not work. There is not enough of a time gap between what we know about the story and this prospect to fit a 16-year old child. The same stands for Dean Winchester’s child. It doesn’t fit, so don’t try and force it to fit. You can have a teenaged hunter be significant and interact with the Winchesters without them being blood. By forcing them to be blood you go against one of the main themes of the show: Family don’t end in blood. Stop making Bobby Singer’s child OCs, or Cas’s, or Sam’s, or another illegitimate John Winchester child because we already have one who spent god knows how many years in hell. Instead, John Winchester could have family he’s estranged from. An older sister or brother who left the Winchester house after they turned 18 and never looked back. You could create a new pair of hunters, an OC who runs the halfway house for Hunters. Garth stepped in as Bobby when he died. Who stepped in for Jo and Tess? There are more options and much more creative options than pigeonholing one specific cliche.

    Moving on, in the same vein of not needing an OC to be bound to the cast by blood, Hermione/Harry/Ron’s twin sister is a huge cliche. Sometimes the Hermione twin sister is also, “not like her sister at all,” a phrase that usually means, “also brilliant, but more attractive and funnier.” The origin of these OCs, however, is minuscule to the fact that they always either end up dating Draco Malfoy or are in a love triangle and/or square, where all the boys in Harry Potter (Cedric Diggory, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Dean Thomas, and Draco Malfoy) are in love with the OC. As a matter of fact can we just get rid of love triangles altogether? They’re exhausting and not realistic. They don’t add enough to the story to make it meaningful, and an OC should have a story that’s more compelling than “which boy am I going to end up with?” Also, usually, these stories tell you in the title. I’m talking about the [Fred x reader], [Draco Malfoy x Reader] titles, though the same is true for any writer who puts [Love Interest x OC] in their title. What is the point of a love triangle my guys? What are you doing? We already know before we even read the first chapter who the main character is going to end up with, so why bother wasting our time with a love triangle?

    The other Harry Potter cliche, is the youngest Weasley sibling who is a girl. This is a huge no-no and should be stricken from the record entirely because, once again, it breaks the rules of the universe. We know from the Harry Potter books that Molly Weasley wanted and craved a daughter and kept having kids until she got one. This is why Ron is the least loved, as he was the last boy in the family before Ginny, as said by the Horcrux in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows “Least loved always, by the mother who craved a daughter. Least loved now by the girl who prefers your friend” (Rowling 375). What this means, is that if you make an OC who is the youngest Weasley sibling, and a girl, you completely go against the desires and intentions of Molly Weasley as well as devalue and undercut the importance of Ginny Weasley- her tokenism as the only girl is tied to the significance of being the first and last daughter Molly Weasley ever had. Without that, with another girl there is no need for Ginny Weasley, and as we’ve discussed numerous times here: Your OC should never replace a member of the cast. What is acceptable, however, is Ginny Weasley having a twin sister, or even being a triplet. If you are sold on a youngest-girl Weasley fanfic, make them a twin or triplet of Ginny. If you go above or below her you break the rules of the universe. They have to stay on her level. In addition, please see Unit 4: Nameberry.com to properly name your Weasley sister OCs, as they have to fit the style and vibe of being named after nobility. Moving on.

    The next handful of cliches don’t apply to any particular genre. Every genre is equally guilty of having these cliches, and what we’re going to do is use some works for specific examples of these cliches, but know that they apply to everyone; not just the work we’re referencing.

    If a character is marketed as a strong and capable badass who is independent and a boss and kicks ass and takes names, they should not turn into a wimp because their love interest wants to “protect” them. “Protection” as a whole is such a cliche. It’s in practically every story. If a character has been described as strong and has up until this point kicked a lot of ass, that character will not break down and destroy all the character development they just made for the sake of a love interest. A character who is described as strong will also not let their love interest try and stifle them like that. “Protection” is overused, and unless the character is going to crumble like a daisy at first blood or is living in a war zone, they can handle it themselves.

    Again… We’ve all seen Pretty Little Liars. It’s almost funny how many cliches came from that show and book series. Let’s talk about evil twins. I don’t just mean evil in the Alison DiLaurentis way where she stole her sister’s identity and had her carted off to inpatient treatment, I also mean evil in that they are everything their cast member sibling is, but superior. This is evident in so many siblings and twin fics. The evil twin is usually better at everything than the cast twin, and systematically destroys the cast member’s life for fun. Now, I’m not saying this isn’t a valid plot point. What I am saying is you can’t make the evil twin better at everything than the cast member twin. That’s not realistic, and it negates the need for a struggle. A villain is not a more intimidating adversary because they’re better at everything than the hero. An evil twin is not scarier or more frightening as a villain because they can do 3 flips into a punch while the hero only can do 2. Also if the villain is so wonderful and so much better how is it realistic when the hero defeats them? It isn’t. “The same but better” shows me as a reader that the writer is uncomfortable with character creation, and making stakes that mean something or seeing their character struggle.  Not only will it make the OC more realistic, but it will make the story more fun to write.

    A writer uncomfortable with the struggle is another cliche we see often. It takes the form of characters who are perfect, who hit every step just right and have the best comebacks all the time. We as people fail and fall down, and characters are meant to be a reflection of us that we can relate to. An audience won’t relate or root for a character that always accomplishes their goal. It actually makes the character boring because, we know they’re going to do what they set out to do so why bother reading? Characters are allowed to have flaws. Those flaws, and seeing consequences for those flaws are what make a character compelling, and for every positive attribute that a character has we should see 1-2 flaws that reflect that attribute. For example, in my own original work Trapped, the main character is an alien on a planet that is thousands of years ahead of Earth in technology, intellect, and scientific advancements. One of these characters is an upstart student training in one of the top labs to be a doctor. He has people working underneath him, and he’s clearly achieved. His work ethic is incredible and he is dedicated to his field. However, his dedication has cut him off from his family- their relationship is strained to the point where one of his siblings entered the same field just to catch a glimpse of him. He is afraid to be emotionally vulnerable because he has to have the answers to all these questions. He doesn’t know how to relax, because he’s always at work and this has cost him a life outside of the lab. He gets annoyed easily because he thinks fast enough to see the answer and becomes frustrated when he has to work with other people. We’re going to revisit this in the next unit, but a character without flaws is a boring character because the flaws are what allow us as readers to do our own analysis and find a deeper meaning in someone as a whole.

    Our final cliche is the ire of the Editor’s existence. It is twins who are separated at birth or end up in foster care that magically find each other at the start of the story. I also kind of hate this cliche, because again, we’ve all seen The Fosters or is it Switched At Birth? I don’t know, and I don’t really care. If you have a character who is taken from their actual family, you need to double-down and commit to the issues that OC would have. That character wouldn’t show up on someone’s doorstep and magically be taken into the family as one of their own. Life doesn’t work that way. The foster care system is a horribly broken system (at least in the US it is) and that character many times won’t have access to that. In the US, for that information to be given there needs to be reciprocated interest in both the fostered child and the biological parent (usually the father). In divorce proceedings, the courts will almost always give the child to the mother unless the mother has a severe strike against her that would make her unfit to keep a safe environment for her child (prison time, drugs, etc.). The courts really dislike the idea of taking a baby away from its mom, which means that fathers rarely get custody of the child, and a non-blood relative even less than that. When the child is underage, the biological parent can’t show up on a doorstep and demand to see their child. They need to go through the courts and express a desire in having a relationship with their child. The child would then get an advocate, who would speak for them in court and make sure their wishes (to see or not to see their parents) are expressed. The foster system is messy and wrong and sometimes cruel, and if you are going to write switched at birth or foster-twin stories, you need to do your research on the judicial system. It isn’t just showing up on a doorstep with a birth certificate. It’s gritty and messy and if you want it, you have to take in it all.

    Next week we are going to talk about realism, and how to really capture both the voices of cast members, as well as realistically write living scenarios. Remember to take Fanfiction 101 Exam 1 if you haven’t yet, and everything from this unit until Crossovers will be on Exam 2.

References:

Joanne Rowling. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Scholastic, 2007.

[fallingin-like]

november 23

the real folk blues by @annawrites [requested by @allforthebee]

see which other fics i’m reviewing this month! / my review request post!

this absolutely amazing and captivating fic that has the foxes as space bounty hunters and neil who is, as usual, and exceptionally skilled runaway. set away some time to read this fic as soon as possible, because once you start, you won’t be able to put it down until you finish.

this is such an entertaining, fun fic and you did an amazing job at balancing the softer moments with intense, action-packed scenes. at all times i was fully immersed in the story, you handled everything so well. i’m always a fan of your writing, so it’s not a surprised that i had a wonderful experience rereading this.

bits that stood out to me:

”counting stars has become a habit, something to subdue the memories” ah this is really cute and i can totally imagine canon andrew, lying on the roof of some building counting stars instead of trying to sleep

”renee cracks a chicken bone smile in the corner of her mouth” i have never heard this phrase before but i love it!

”there’s a collective intake of breath - andrew, who remembers every single bounty ever placed, can’t remember it ever being this big” for some reason, i love when this kind of thing happens. it feels so cool, knowing someone wants that character that bad and gets me excited for what kind of skills the hunted person has, to be able to evade the people looking for them (reminds me of john wick lol)

”nathaniel wesninski alias neil josten is a hacker, con artist, engineer and pilot” BLESS HIM FOR BEING SO CAPABLE AND SKILLED

matt’s infamous bell peppers and beef with no beef!!! that’s funny and i think about it surprisingly often

”renee pulls up a few more photographs of neil wesninski on the hologram screen. she deals them out like cards until they fan out in a neat timeline of faded hoodies and various iterations of the same polished smile, a mouth sharpened to cutting perfection… the eyes, in contrast, look consistently hunted” holograms and just this space tech is SO cool. i love seeing how the foxes view neil before they meet him. it’s interesting how many sightings they have of him, but also how blank he seems, when we all know that there’s so much personality under that surface

”the ISSP are a bunch of corrupt, incompetent idiots” LOL

”’tone down the optimism, day,’ andrew drawls. ‘we might start overestimating our chances’” agh i love your characterization of all of these characters and this is a great example of why! and i like that you used drawls, it feels very andrew-like

”andrew waggles his fingers lazily in the air” yeah this is andrew

woah i have never seen the art for this fic (i guess because i have the fic downloaded and i just read that version instead of going on ao3, the pictures must not have downloaded) but it’s great!

gasp, i love the idea of the foxes Dressed Up

ALLISON BEING BANNED FROM PLAYING!! “her former alias - lady luck, also known as poker alice” oh this is great. for some reason, them having reputations like this really excites me

”it’s in my blind spot” ANDREW this is so funny

ahhhh i can’t believE you added the “better luck next time” line in!!

okay so the whole action part of this scene is so intense, love andrew throwing the poker chip as a diversion, and neil pretending to give up for a moment before ACTIVATING HIS ARMED SHIP AND SHOOTING EVERYONE. ugh, hearing about neil being so good at what he does (steering, hacking, while taking off his jacket) makes me love this scene so much

”vowels rolling like a pair of dice” this is so good on its own, but paired with the casino scene that precedes it? stunning

”kevin values his ship, and his life, in that order.” i can imagine. i wonder, is there competitive racing in this au? i can imagine kevin being obsessed with that

thank goodness riko is dead, one less thing (on a list of many things) to worry about. whoop and i see that easthaven has passed, good.

KEVIN DAY WITH A METAL ARM AND A TRANSMITTER PLATE THAT COVERS HIS TATTOO YEAH

oh dang limb regrowth tech in this au? wild

”’minyard and the monster, how lovely to see you again.’ neil greets him through the once more hijacked comm. they’ve been playing this game for weeks now, racing each other across the milky way like starved lovers. even allison is starting to run out of lewd jokes” i find it so interesting hearing about this relationship that’s being built between them even though they basically never meet in person, the joking from neil’s side

these hints of andrew’s eye mods are really great, i definitely didn’t notice them as much as i should have when i first read this fic, but every time after that, i appreciate little details like these more and more

RENEE WITH A KATANA YES PLEASE

”andrew shakes off the last dregs of sunday sleepiness that cling to his lips like the skin on warm milk. neil wesninski might have become a game by now, but the malcolms still mean business” ohhh boy, even knowing what comes next i get nervous hearing this. i love the contrast between the softness of what sundays mean with the conflict to come, especially when you jump right into the action

”renee pants, her voice cool and slippery like broken tiles amid the crackle of static” oh i love this description

LOL i can’t believe that andrew got matt’s dessert rations and gets to invite neil to be a part of their crew

”missions are slow and neil’s face keeps showing up on big shot, though not for lack of people trying to hunt him down.” i don’t know why but i really like this!! you go, neil!

oh oh thank you so much for the way that you describe neil alone on his ship, his hoodies, gloves, “one sad-looking sock”, “the one sock he’s wearing has holes”, talking to himself, “yet he’s still inexplicably trying to shield his robots from andrew’s gun” so cute!

”eyes like the gleaming insides of a wire in the dark” this!!!!

the! cats! neil made his robots cats!!

NEIL HACKING INTO THEIR COMMS I LOVE HIM

”neil is like a live fish under his hands, constantly wriggling and sliding out of his grip, fingers twitching back toward his abandoned project like flies caught in a spiderweb” ahh squirmy neil is super cute, “neil shivers under the touch like he’s not used to being touched at all” this doesn’t surprise me. even if i didn’t have an idea of what his childhood might have been like (with mary and nathan, i imagine there was not very much affection), he’s probably been alone for so long, when would the last time someone would have touched him? i don’t think i would be able to handle it

ahh barefoot neil is always cute

SCARS no matter how many fics i read, i always love moments when neil’s scars are revealed

NEIL RUNNING LAPS IN HIS TINY SHORTS AROUND AND AROUND AHH

”neil slinks into the room late, looking tousled and a little sticky around the edges like he’s just woken up from a nap. he freezes when he sees andrew, stuck standing right in the middle of the projection, and only moves when dan throws a cushion at him” your writing actually paints scenes in my head which for me, a person really bad at visualizing things, is really impressive. it makes the experiences of reading exponentially more interesting, and doesn’t happen that often.

renee as praying mantis!! what a perfect nickname. is she religious in this au as well? i can’t remember if any religions even exist in this au (whoops i know nothing about cowboy bebop)

”she looks stiff and faded like old newspaper in the light of the kitchen lamps” what a gem of a sentence

me: sees the nickname gorilla and gets excited because i know some action is going to go down

”the three of them would just  about reach his head if renee sat on andrew’s shoulders and lifted neil up” THIS IS AMAZING. i mean, andrew and neil are tiny but they are not that tiny

”andrew begins tonelessly, tracing patterns into neil’s skin” if we ignore the fact that andrew is telling a terrible terrible story, this is so soft

”his breathing is viscous now, like syrup in his lungs. his left eye aches and the corner of his mouth twitches painfully into the ghost of a manic grin. he bites his tongue and it tastes like the word please” i am speechless but i really wanted to acknowledge this sentences lakjsdf

NEIL WINNING THE BET ABOUT BEING ABLE TO STEAL THINGS FROM THE VENDOR AND ROBBING THE MAN JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING. uGH you do such a good job of integrating humour like this into your story and having it fit the tone and pacing of the fic effortlessly.

excuse me how is it possible that you followed such a lighthearted scene with something so devastating as andrew explaining his past to allison and neil and have it still flow??? “because… i did not mean for you to get hurt” ANDREW YOU’RE SO GOOD

”he’s smoking outside and watching the dusk unfurl like an exotic flower when there’s a crash inside the store” this description is so gorgeous

what in the world, andrew i don’t even know how to describe you. he really just helps catch the robbers with his headphones on while choosing things to buy, killing a dude, then checking out, no big deal???? i understand neil’s attraction to him a little bit more now…

andrew and renee sharing clothes is now canon, please and thank you

oh no, lola is Bad News, especially when it comes to threatening neil’s family

NEIL PACKING ANDREW’S LEATHER JACKET AHH

”the bebop crew are basically overgrown children and react very well to the little sugary rewards for good behaviour” yeah this is very true haha

”’your blatant flirting woke me up,’ matt grins weakly. ‘can i have a lollipop too, neil?” i remember this whole scene so well, the second the infirmary was mentioned i knew it was lollipop time. matt, is basically how i feel right now HAH

woah wymack taking care of bonsai trees? i didn’t know i needed that in my life so badly. just like neil and the twins, so tiny :’)

uhm so, the tape that nicky sent to andrew? it’s actually making me cry (which is super rare for fics) “i hope you know that i love you”, “things aren’t so easy at the moment, and maybe they still aren’t easy for you watching this ten years from now, but i’ll always be there for you, and for aaron, too. i hope that one day we can be a family. happy birthday, my little piyoko, don’t eat all the cake by yourself!” i love this so much, and it makes me so sad and happy. this nicky is so good, and as much as i think andrew needed to see this, i think that i needed to read this more. thank you

nicky calling the twins his little piyokos, his lucky birds ;-;

the reunion scenes are so good, i really don’t think i can write anything that sufficiently describes how i feel. the way that nicky acts, the new relatives, older aaron, it all feels so right, so real.

andrea minyard deserves her own bullet point

neil just goes and makes all the police ships crash by controlling them remotely just for andrew to be hit by a moon rock?!?!?

”something irritatingly warm rises and swells inside andrew like yeast dough and he plunges his fists into it and kneads it into submission, twists it until all that remains is sticky, frothy anger” and “andrew sits down on a crate and prods at the yeasty mass still fermenting in his insides. the sudden bloating of anger has subsided to the usual starchy nothingness, but there’s a sugary residue of unease that he doesn’t want to examine any further right now” as much as i adore your jokes and beautiful descriptions of scenes, sentences like these ones that blow me away completely are why you’re one of my favourite fanfic authors. these are the kinds of sentences that i carry with me even after i am finished reading

”i can’t decide if you two are more like toddlers or like an old married couple… either way, it’s really bizarre to see andrew having feelings other than hate and destruction” LOL

thea is the coolest person ever

”kevin makes a noise like a dying dog” me too, kevin

NONONONONO ICHIROU AND JEAN AND EASTHAVEN

thank goodness neil is here

apparently i am very fond of the words “juice pack” and think it is cute. why? i also do not know

huh, riko naming his identity kevin king?? feels… not good

oh boy, lola is back

ANDREW CAN PICK OPEN HIS HANDCUFFS THANK YOU FOR THIS

is it bad if i am happy that all these people are dying (proust, lola, etc.)

NEIL AMPUTATES NATHAN’S HAND WITH A CLEAVER WHILE HE’S HOLDING A CLEAVER AND THEN KILLS HIM LDKSJFLK

oh dang, it’s stuart (i trust him)

andrew’s eye! thank goodness, because although it kind of sucks, it also Really Does Not Suck

”it’s stiff and awkward and neil quickly wriggles out of it. kevin must be really shaken up, because he tries andrew next. andrew waits passively until he’s close and then steps to the side at the last moment, smothering his amusement in a cough when kevin walks straight into the wall with open arms. serves him right for thinking even for a second that andrew would let him” LOL i love you, anna, so so much

money!! woohoooooo (or should i say woolonghooo okay sorry that’s like the world’s worst pun)

BELL PEPPERS AND BEEF WITH ACTUAL BEEF AND NO PEPPERS YES! what a great way to bring things full circle, even though it’s small

sweet dumplings filled with fruit? i am intrigued

THE SHIRT

i can’t not acknowledge the bit with the key, neil is too clever for his own good

we finally get to see bee! ugh i love the relationship between bee and andrew

”they may be marks of destruction, but they are still andrew’s; still proof of his existence” yeah (like a good yeah)

interesting about andrew’s memory not being as good without his left eye. does he have eidetic memory in this au? maybe it’s better if he doesn’t

i remember the first time i read this fic, in startling detail. this fic was so good then, and it has been just as good, if not better, every time i have reread it

it’s kind of embarrassing, but one of the things that i remember distinctly (among a lot of other things) is the noodles! reading this fic never fails to make me want to eat instant noodles

so one thing about me is that i am actually really bad at visualizing things. when i read stories, i can never imagine what a character looks like, i just see the feature that is being highlighted at the moment, and the second that sentence ends, that image is gone. like i just have a magnifying glass to someone’s face but i can’t piece together the parts. it makes it so that i often struggle with the visualization of stories. but something about your writing makes it easy for me to pictures scenes happening. everything is so vivid, and real (hence, the instant noodle cravings lol) and i love that so much. it’s so special.

the flow of this fic is amazing, the characterization is incredibly authentic and really helps with carrying the plot. you integrated lighthearted scenes with pure angst and awful things (easthaven) and i’m honestly curious as to the cowboy bebop episodes you took inspiration from. this fic was so well written, you are so skilled at introducing characters, locations, plot points, although i’m not familiar with this universe i wasn’t confused at any point. you explained everything without me noticing. this was just a breathtaking fic. thank you so much for writing this!!

[radiosteve]

Need Your Loving Tonight Ch. 7

Summary: After about a year of bassists coming in and out of the band, you and the boys may have found the perfect person to fill the position. The only issue is, you might have a teeny little crush on him. What will happen when he is formally invited to join Queen?

Note: Get ready for more John in the future! As always, the italicized part is the reader’s thoughts. The photo is one that I found on google. I do not own any rights to it. If you want to be added to the taglist send me a message or an ask and I’ll add you!  

Warnings: Slight angst/anxiety

Pairing: Roger Taylor x Reader, John Deacon x Reader

Words: 3.1k+

May 21, 1970

 A cool breeze blew in through the curtains draped around the living room window as you sat on the couch across the room. The brisk May weather was a stark contrast to what you were used to in New Jersey, but you liked it. It was almost reminded you of the fall weather back home, which was one of the few things you missed. You even considered making a quick trip back home, without telling your parents of course. The plan was all set in your head. You’d fly back after the summer term ends, stay with a girl named Karen that you worked with at the surf shop and spend every day stretched out on a towel at the beach. It was such a nice fantasy, but you definitely couldn’t afford the plane ticket right now and you had far too much going on with school and the band. 

 That was one of the reasons why you were currently spending your Thursday night curled up on the sofa with your economics textbook instead of at auditions with the boys. A little voice in the back of your head was concerned about missing a session of auditions, but another part of you just brushed it off and told you that there was no way they would find a bassist tonight. Your eyes shifted back onto the page in front of you, still stuck on the same lines from before, just continuously reading them over and over. The issue wasn’t that you didn’t economics, it was more so the fact that you were much more mathematically inclined and didn’t enjoy academic reading. You read the same words on the page once more as your head wandered off. It was almost as if your brain and your eyes were no longer connected. 

 But then the phone rang and suddenly the broken link between the two fused itself back together. An unprecedented call at 10pm on a Thursday night wasn’t necessarily creepy or unsettling, it was just odd. Your hand fumbled across the side table, reaching for the phone as it bellowed out the loud noise. Sally was trying to sleep because she had a test in the morning, and you were sure that she would not enjoy having a ringing telephone pull her from her slumber. You finally managed to grip the phone and bring it up to your ear.

 “Hello,” you answered lowly, trying to be courteous to your sleeping roommate on the other side of the wall.

“Y/n, you’ll never believe it. We found a new bassist,” Brian’s voice rushed through the receiver, excitement evident in his tone.

 “That’s great Bri,” you closed the textbook in your lap and pushed it off to the side, too focused on what Brian was saying to care about economics anymore. Of course, they find a new band member at the one audition I don’t attend. 

 “His name is Mike. He’s rather good on the bass and seems like a decent chap,” you could feel Brian’s energy pulsing through the phone, only making you dread missing the audition even more. You liked to think that you were part of the band and therefore had a say in who gets in. And in a way you were part of the band. You were extremely close to all of them, you were there from the very beginning, and you helped manage all the finances for them. Granted, you didn’t actually contribute to the music aspect very much, but it still felt weird to miss out on such a big step. Adding a new member to the band meant a shift in dynamic entirely and you weren’t too sure how that would work. “Y/n? Are you still there?” the sound of Brian’s voice echoed over the line, bringing you back to the conversation.

 “Sorry, I just spaced out for a second. I’m still here,” your voice was quieter now, but you couldn’t seem to raise it. “He sounds great Brian.”

 “Yeah, he’s alright,” Brian was still clouded with that sense of joy and wonder that coincided with something like this. “Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you,” you felt your stomach drop. One big change was enough, please don’t add anymore. “During auditions, the boys and I got to talking and we’ve decided to change the name of the band. We’re going to be called Queen. Freddie came up with it and we all quite liked it,” Brian rambled on, but you barely registered the rest of the words that fell from his lips. Queen. Now that’s not bad.

 March 1, 1971

 From the night Brian called you with the news almost a year ago, you had begun to invest all of your spare time into the band. Something about the name Queen, along with the ensemble of members, just spoke to you, and you knew they would turn out to be something special. Especially with Freddie’s songwriting and vocals. They truly were one of the most unique groups you’d ever seen. There was only one issue that stood out throughout the first year of ‘Queen’. The bassist. The first bassist, Mike, was a great player and all-around good guy. But his vision for the band didn’t quite align with the others. That’s how it had been with most of the other replacement bassists too. You could tell that the boys were starting to get frustrated. It’s hard to play shows and feel like a true band when you have a new bassist every couple months.

 Oddly enough, you were more of a constant presence around the band than their own bass player at the time was. You stayed close to the boys, trying to soak up every last ounce of fun before you had to scatter off into the real world at the end of March. You were graduating in a few weeks and the job hunt was getting more serious. It was scary to think about. Every decision you make from here on out could have serious consequences that effect you for the rest of your life. Brian tried to calm you down when you brought it up to him, but he didn’t really understand. He had the band to rely on and if that didn’t work out, he could just go back to school.

 Sometimes you would think back to that night in April a few years ago and just lose yourself in the endless possibilities that could have happened if you had chosen to go to a different school. For one thing, you probably wouldn’t be living in England, that’s for sure. But you brushed it off, knowing its best not to dwell on the past, and you know that going to Imperial was one of the best decisions that you’ve ever made. How else would you have met the wonderful Brian May? And who knows what state the band would be in without you. Would they even be together? You could only hope.

 As your last term went on, your intensity to find the perfect job did too. Right now, you were mainly looking at jobs in finances and all that fun stuff. Roger would tease you from time to time about the idea of such a mundane job, but you just brushed it off. It’s something you enjoyed, so why not pursue it? 

 Ever since the night you and Roger slept together, things had been a little off between you. The two of you acted as if everything was perfectly fine, but hidden underneath there was still some undiscussed tension. Brian noticed the slightly awkward eye contact or the way you always seemed to move away from Roger when he came close, but he avoided bringing it up to you. He knew it would only unearth unwanted memories. However, in some weird way, your friendship with Roger remained unaffected, or at least improved slightly. You started to grow more comfortable with him again and even went back to smoking by the window of Brian’s flat with him, just with a little more distance. You still had some unresolved feelings for him, but you figured it was best to push them away rather than act. The two of you continued with your normal act of playfully teasing one another, and you even managed to get Freddie to join in on messing with Roger. 

 You and Freddie got even closer once he joined the band, and he even introduced you to his girlfriend Mary. The two of you always managed to make trouble backstage or at afterparties. You grew so close that Freddie hardly ever let you miss a show, rehearsal, or even audition. And that was how you got sucked into sitting in on a session of bass auditions with the boys sometime in February. You had stopped going to auditions after they found someone to replace Mike, but Freddie practically begged you to help with this one. 

 Brian picked you up before heading to the empty music hall at the college. You brought three different textbooks with you in an attempt to finish some of your readings while you were confined to the blank walls of a lecture theatre. A few people came to audition, but no one seemed to really stick out. You had primarily been focused on reading before a tall boy with wavy, long brown hair came in. It was as if you couldn’t look away from him no matter how much you tried. Unfortunately, a certain blonde drummer across the room had the same issue with you and took notice of your fixation on this new bassist. The bass player introduced himself as John Deacon and promptly shook hands with everyone. His fingers may have lingered on yours a bit, either that or you imagined it. 

 John was an excellent musician, even Roger reluctantly agreed with that. And despite his somewhat shy and giggly demeanor, John fit in quite nicely with the group. After he left, you all looked around at each other and knew you had just found the new bassist for Queen. 

 In the beginning of March, Brian had invited everyone over to his flat so that they could formally induct John into the band. You had arrived early to help Brian prepare for company. Even though it was just the boys coming over, Brian wanted to make it nice and have some homemade snacks. He recruited you to help him make fresh brownies, despite how juvenile it may have seemed. 

 “Brian,” you called out his name from the kitchen sink, where you stood washing dishes. 

 “Yes, love,” Brian popped up from behind a lounge chair where he had been dusting.

 “You did set a timer for the brownies like I asked, didn’t you?” Brian’s face turned a slight shade of red as he realized that he hadn’t. Your eyebrows raised as you saw him leap towards the oven and pull it open to see the brownies in perfect condition.

 “Oh, thank god. I thought they were going to burn,” Brian took the brownies out and set them on the stove top before returning to the living room to finish dusting. You chuckled under your breath at how worrisome Brian seemed to get over such small details before returning your attention back to the dishes. After a few minutes, Brian came up behind you and leaned down enough to rest his head on your shoulder. You giggled at the feeling of his curls brushing against your ear.

 “What are you doing?” you asked as he continued to rest his head on you. 

 “I wanted to say thank you. Not just for helping me out today, but for all of your support. I know it’s been a lot of work over the years and I really appreciate all of your help with the band. And I’m sure the boys do too. If you weren’t around to help us we’d probably be disbanded by now in all honesty.” Brian looked at you as he spoke, his head still glued to your shoulder. “It means so much to me. I couldn’t have asked for a better best friend. I’m really glad that you fell asleep next to me in that Astronomy lecture,” Brian chuckled before standing up and walking back to the living room as you groaned. 

 “I’m never going to live that down, am I?” 

 “Never in a million years,” Brian reaffirmed as the door opened to reveal John, Roger, and Freddie. “There you all are. Thought you got lost on the way over,” the three of them all sat scattered around the living room as you dried off your hands.

 “Of course not darling, we were just waiting on Rog here to come pick us up. He took his dear old time,” Freddie gave Roger a pointed glare before relaxing into the couch. 

 “Would have been here sooner but I had this girl over and I just could not get her to leave. She was quite the talker,” Roger responded with a smirk as his tongue poked out to lick his lips. You could have sworn that you saw his eyes dart to yours as he spoke but there was no way to know for sure. Instead you just rolled your eyes and watched as Brian brought over the tray of brownies. You sat down on the couch next to Freddie as John sat in the chair opposite of you.

 “Anyways, we’re all here now so we can get started,” Brian said before sitting in the space on the couch next to you. Brian cleared his throat before speaking again and your eyes trailed over, landing on John. You were enamored by him, and that fact that he was super sweet definitely helped. From the two or three times that you’ve met him now, John seemed so bashful and there was something that pulled you in and attracted you to him. He was observant and you could tell, that’s why he was so quiet. Everything about John made your heart race and your stomach fill to the brim with butterflies. It had been a long time since you had felt like that. “So, John,” Brian looked up from his hands that sat folded in his lap and scanned over everyone’s face before landing on John’s. “We’ve talked about it, and we’d all like to formally invite you to be the band’s new bassist.”

 “Really?” John squeaked out, although you couldn’t tell whether it was out of excitement or shock. “I mean that’s great; I’d love to. As long as I’m still able to do my schoolwork. I’ve still got a few years left before I can graduate and get my degree.” You let a smile take over and spread across your face as John spoke. It’s kind of cute that he still wants to prioritize school over the band. Then the smile slid off your face upon remembering how much younger John is in comparison to you. Three years really isn’t that much of a difference when you’re older, but at your age it seemed like an eternity. Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait a little bit to make a move then. If I make a move.

 Your small existential crisis was quickly interrupted by the boys who were now all standing and shaking hands. It wasn’t until after they all sat back down that Roger leaned over and grabbed a brownie from the tray. He looked you directly in the eye as he took a bite, and you turned your gaze in a different direction. You have no clue what Roger’s intentions are, but god he’s doing a great job at making you feel warm and embarrassed. 

 “I’m gonna go outside and smoke for a bit. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” you stood up, grabbing your lighter and cigarettes from your bag. The boys all nodded, continuing their conversation and eating more of the brownies you and Brian made. The light breeze from outside felt nice against your heated skin as you puffed along, watching the cars pass by in front of Brian’s building. You heard the door swing open, pulling your focus away from the busy cars. Your head snapped back to the direction of the street after seeing who it was. 

 “What is it love? Not in the mood to see me?”

 “Just trying to smoke in peace, that’s all,” you brought the cigarette to your lips, trying to give yourself an excuse to ignore him and not talk. 

 “Me too,” Roger held up his own box of cigarettes and playfully shook them in front of you. He put one between his teeth, lighting it up as he moved closer to stand next to you. “How do you feel about John?” Roger’s words were muffled by the smoke as he turned to you.

 “What? What do you mean?” Does he know that I think John is cute? Is that why he’s out here? Is he mad at me because of it? 

 “What do you think of John as the band’s new bassist? He’s quite different from the rest of us. But I think he’s pretty good. Could be the missing piece to the band,” Roger shrugged as he continued to talk, and you couldn’t help but notice how nervous he seemed to be. You just assumed that the nerves stemmed from his worries about the band’s future, but in reality, Roger’s jitters came from standing so close to you. 

 From the first night he saw you after you two had sex, Roger felt like a huge strain was put on the relationship he had with you. You didn’t seem very comfortable being alone with him anymore, and he could definitely understand why. This was the closest he had been to you since that night. As soon as you left his flat that morning after, Roger had kicked himself for it over and over. He let his stupid fears take over and dictate his actions. It was as if he decided to listen to the doubts in his head instead of the affirmations from his heart. If someone were to ask him what his biggest regret was, he’d probably lie and say something dumb like buying something that was too expensive. But really, he knew that his biggest regret would always and forever be you. He should have never rejected your request to go on a date, because now things were different and would probably never be the same. 

 “I hope he lasts,” you spoke quietly, but your words were still loud enough for Roger to hear over the roar of engines and horns coming from the road. 

 “Yeah?” he looked into your eyes, swimming in every inch of color as you nodded at his response. “Why’s that?”

“You said it yourself, Rog. He could be the missing piece.”  

Taglist: @Retromusicsalad @bohemiansweede @deaconsroger @queen-crue @ohtheseboysilove @Queeniesteiins @kemeryyyy @onceuponadetectivedemigod @ixchel-9275 @luvborhap @ziggymay @deakysmisfire @rogertaylorsfalsettogivesmehives @briarrose26

[loopy777]

whats your thoughts on Venom, the green goblin and doctor octopus, the three characters who are generally held up as spidermans archenemies? which one do you think has the best potential as spidermans definite enemy if they were written perfectly, and which series do you think had the best portrayal of each of them respectively?

If I had to crown THE Spider-Man Archnemesis, I would have to give it to Green Goblin. Doc Ock is the oldest, and the first to both defeat Spider-Man and make him consider quitting, but ultimately Norman has taken more from Spidey, gotten more personal in their conflict, and created more of a legacy for the mythos. Sorry, Otto.

That said, I don’t really like designating a single archnemesis for Spidey because Norman hasn’t completely dominated the field. Ock runs the Sinister Six, Spidey’s big Villain Team and one of the best Villain Teams in all of superhero comics. (And let’s face it, the Legion of Doom is bigger only because DC characters got more media exposure for a long time and Superman’s villains are so good that Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Bizarro lift up the likes of Solomon Grundy and Cheetah when they’re all on a team together.) Venom has the whole Evil Knockoff thing going and a unique and terrifying ‘stalker’ gimmick that puts him in a special class, not to mention how he directly overpowers or counters all Spidey’s abilities.

And, honestly, the whole ‘Goblin’ gimmick is kind of arbitrary and has nothing to do with spiders. Clowns and bats don’t have a direct relation, but at least they’re opposites in terms of color and purpose, so Batman and Joker kind of seem like twisted rivals. Goblins and spiders are only linked in that they’re both kind of Halloweeny, but Spider-Man has little to do with Halloween or spooky stuff, anyway. But I better cut this line of thought off before I start explaining how Spider-Man shouldn’t be Spider-Man at all and him being Frog-Man would make just as much sense and then we wouldn’t have to deal with pictures of icky spiders in all Spider-Man media.

But yeah, Norman Osborne is still indisputably a cut above the others.

Ock is really just a typical mad scientist with a robot-arm gimmick that allows him to directly fight with Spider-man. He’s well-written and constructed, granted, and I love how his arrogance contrasts with Peter’s humility, how they’re such opposites in terms of empathy, and how different their paths become after science-based accidents that granted them unusual powers. Bendis’s “Ultimate Spider-Man” comics nicely honed in on this theme, and I also appreciate how both Stan Lee’s prose story in the unrelated “Ultimate Spider-Man” short story collection (...it’s a title Marvel loves to reuse for some reason) and John Byrne’s attempted origin revision linked the irradiated spider to the explosion that created Ock. All great villains should be dark reflections of their heroes, but while Ock has gotten some great stories that make him a top-tier villain, he still offers little storytelling potential beyond his mad scientist archetype. Now, I know what comics-readers are thinking at this point: Yes, I did read the original “Superior Spider-Man” run and I think there’s some real potential there, but honestly I feel like it was under-served by Dan Slott’s pacing and foibles. And I haven’t seen an adaptation of it yet that I think really fulfills the possibilities. But the idea is great, so maybe Otto will get his chance to level up his rivalry with Spider-Man.

Venom’s problem is that he’s a little too focused on his revenge on Spider-Man. The stories where he stalks Spidey, wandering into Peter’s life to fold laundry with Aunt May, popping up to have a surprise tussle with Spidey just to throw him off-balance, etc- Those are great and make Venom seem super-scary, especially since Spidey can’t beat Venom in a fight without some kind of edge or gimmick. But all Venom wants is revenge on Spidey, so after he’s failed a few times to get it, what do you do with the character? He’s not scary if he keeps failing. The original idea was to have the symbiote pass on from Eddie Brock and take on other hosts, and that might have opened the door for some new kinds of stories. I know this was eventually implemented 20 years later, with the original Scorpion getting to be Venom for a while, and symbiotes becoming a whole Thing with a bunch in various colors, but I didn’t read any of those stories and they don’t seem to have left much impression on the general Spider-Man fandom. Ultimately, it was chosen to ‘redeem’ Eddie Brock and make Venom into an “anti-hero” (for a definition of the term that means “protagonist who kills people but doesn’t have to worry about that whole ‘consistently laid low by their fatal flaw’ thing”) which did sell a bunch of comics in the 90′s and set up some tension-filled team-ups with Spidey. Nice idea, if implemented in a really shaggy way, but -- again -- what do you do after that? Venom/Eddie isn’t really a compelling lead who you can keep telling stories about. (Yes, I saw the Venom movie. It has like two minutes of amusing material and two hours of boring dreck, and none of it is memorable.) And making him evil again runs into the same problem as having left him evil in the first place. Venom was a good idea whose time came and went, and perhaps someone will find a way to make him fresh again. But until then, I think he gets by more on his visuals than anything.

The Green Goblin, in contrast, has a lot going for him in terms of storytelling potential. He’s a mad scientist, a wanna-be crime boss, a dark shadow of his civilian identity looking for revenge and/or illicit thrills, and personally has that ongoing personal hatred/rivalry for Spider-Man. That offers a whole bunch of storytelling paths, all of which have been taken and proven fruitful over the years. And that’s without getting into how Norman Osborne is the father of Peter’s best friend Harry, a flawed father figure to Peter in his own right, a ruthless millionaire industrialist before Lex Luthor gave it a try, and another dark reflection of the paths Peter could have taken in both aspects of his life. Even when Norman is dead, his legacy continued to be felt for 20-odd years with how Harry fell from grace. You can even link Norman to his spin-off the Hobgoblin; just Norman’s equipment getting passed on created another enduring villain. And, again, that’s without even looking at Norman’s murder of the one-time romantic lead Gwen Stacy being the event that ended the Silver Age of comics. Norman Osborne is just plain a truly great, versatile villainous character who has managed, despite being almost 60 years old, to still maintain an “Oh, no!” impact among Spidey fans when he shows up. Sure, there have been bad stories about him, and some over-exposure at times, but that hasn’t diminished his impact or ongoing potential.

As for portrayals, I’m overall a fan of the 90′s animated series and their takes. That show really petered out after a few seasons, but it introduced Ock with a bang and got a lot of mileage out of him. Venom got to do the whole scary stalker thing, and then the show put him on a shelf until his ‘redeeming’ death to avoid over-exposure, so that worked out fairly well. And while it’s odd how Kingpin and Hobgoblin took over most of the Green Goblin’s role in Spider-Man’s stories, what we did get of Norman was good, and the performance that went into the Green Goblin really sold the weird psychology of the character. Those three villains definitely got a chance to shine in this series, even if Green Goblin was under-used.

I also think the Sam Raimi movies overall did a good job. Green Goblin was perfect- aside from the costume. Willem Dafoe utterly nailed every aspect of the character, right down to the body language, and the movie did a good job condensing his rivalry with Spider-Man into a single movie. As for Doctor Octopus, I’m of two minds about how he got a sympathetic backstory and characterization. On the one hand, it made him a more compelling character and Alfred Molina danced nicely between the human side and the villainous side. On the other hand, though, Ock has classically never really been sympathetic; he’s an utter monster in behavior, and the insertions of bullying in his backstory have never changed that. Venom is the only one I think didn’t really get a chance in these movies; I like this version of Eddie Brock (really!), but he barely got an opportunity to be Venom and you can tell no aspect of the character really inspired the storytellers.

Spectacular Spider-Man, naturally, did a good job. I think this version of Green Goblin is the best of them all; I even got my DVD set signed by Steve Blum! Ock was also done well, getting to be the Master Planner as well as leader of the Sinister Six, although I don’t think I quite buy the timidity they gave the character before the accident. Similarly, I didn’t buy Eddie’s fall from grace as Peter’s best friend; one episode he’s upset because Peter’s blowing him off for hanging out, and the next episode he’s nearly killing Mary Jane just to mess with Peter. You might as well just start with Eddie being a monster, like the Raimi movie did.

I also think Bendis’s Ultimate comics did well by all three characters. I’m not really a fan of Goblin-Hulk, but Norman’s impact was fully in effect (even if we had yet another toothless homage to Gwen Stacey’s death with Mary Jane getting thrown off a bridge and surviving), and they fit him well into the Super-Soldier Arms Race aspect of the setting. Ock got some really great use, including an arc of character development and ‘redemption’ that still managed to allow him to be an arrogant monster to the end. Venom was under-used, but this might be the best ever interpretation of Eddie Brock and obviously inspired the Raimi version, and I love the origin of the symbiote here and how it tied to Peter’s father. My only complaint is that after that first great story, Bendis didn’t seem to quite know what to do with Venom; the video game and its comic adaptation seemed to be setting him up for more, but that didn’t come to anything.

So, those are my thoughts. As a Spider-Man fan, I think I’m spoiled for choice in picking an achnemesis. Despite the little flaws that keep Ock and Venom from topping the Green Goblin, they’re still heavy-hitters as comic book villains and could run the game in the rogues gallery of most other superheroes. But Spidey has one of the best sets of villains in the business, so that’s not surprising.

[letmeletmetrashyourlove]

Lucky Pt. 2

Part One HERE

Author’s Note: Part two WOOOO!

Although I somewhat promised Roger some alone time, we hadn’t been able to find it yet. With me going to work every day and with him either practicing or playing a gig every night, it always ended with us hanging out with the boys.

Not that I minded, I had managed to fit into the group just fine and had made quick friends of Freddie’s girlfriend, Mary. She took me shopping and threw a bunch of clothes at me while I was in the waiting room. I couldn’t exactly afford most of what she suggested I try on, so she was nice enough to use her employee discount to help me buy a denim skirt that was far more revealing than anything I normally wore.

Roger was coming out of his shell a bit more. Not so bashful now that he had figured out I would be sticking around. He gradually became more handsy, from an arm around my shoulder to around my waist to tucked into my rear pocket. His hand always holding mine or resting on my knee.

The relentless teasing from the boys kept up, which I adored. Roger, not so much. Every time Roger tried to pull me aside, we’d somehow end up back with the group, chatting and drinking to our heart’s content. Freddie had decided to call me Lucky. Roger must’ve revealed what I told him that morning I caught him leaving coffee for me, but Freddie played it off as me being their ‘lucky charm’.

It seemed that not long after I came to their show for the first time they started booking more gigs. I, of course, told Freddie it was because of his recent arrival that they grew more popular. But he denied it in a rare streak of humbleness.

I kept telling myself that one of these days I would wake up early enough to surprise Roger with coffee, but it never worked. No matter how early I woke up, there was a coffee at my doorstep. Every morning for the past two weeks. But not this morning. I checked as soon as I rolled out of bed. When I found it wasn’t there, I grabbed my purse off the table by the door and slipped on my sneakers before running to the elevator. I looked a mess, my hair sloppily piled on top of my head, a red imprint on my cheek from where I had been resting on my hand, and my oversized pajamas that had mysterious stains on them. Probably from chocolate and pizza sauce. As I entered the cafe, a familiar head of blonde hair came out from the crowd of people in line, two coffees in hand.

        “Dammit, Roger!” I shouted, probably louder than I should have.

His eyes fell on me as he jumped in surprise,

        “What!? Christ, you scared me!” He hollered, holding the cups out from his body as coffee sloshed out onto the pristine white tiles of the coffee shop.

        “I’ve been trying all week to beat you down here and I thought I had finally done it.” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.

His eyes lit up as a bright smile grew across his face as handed me my coffee,

        “Sorry, love. Snooze ya lose.” He took a sip from his own coffee before wincing once he realized it was still scalding hot. He offered his arm to me, which I gladly took as we made the short trek from the cafe back to our apartments. We both paused outside our respective doors, leaning against the frame.

        “So, you surely can’t be waking up this early every morning just to buy me coffee,” I said, humming as I took my first sip.

        “And what if I was?” He quipped, tilting his head. Despite it being the early hours of the morning, he had a bright gleam in his eyes.

        “You’d be an idiot. Which you might be, regardless.” I retorted, running a hand through my hair in an attempt to smooth out the inevitable cowlicks that had formed from sleeping on my face.

He rolled his eyes as he tucked his free hand into his front pocket. His gaze shifted from me to his feet,

        “What? You up so early because you’re on the way home from a girl’s place?” I asked, only half joking.

He laughed, shaking his head,

        “Why would I go anywhere if my girl’s place is right next door?”

Ugh. Smooth. Disgustingly smooth. I tried to disguise the inevitable blushing of my cheeks by staring at my own feet and letting out a laugh. I shook my head before meeting his gaze again. It was filled with warmth and adoration as his tongue poked out between his teeth,

        “I’m studying biology. I have classes in the mornings. Which, I’m going to be late for.” He noted, glancing at his watch. He rushed forward to press a kiss to my temple before he opened the door to his apartment, grabbed his bag, and headed towards the elevator. I watched him go, offering me a bright smile as the doors closed.  

I was starting to wonder if keeping this job was worth it. Sure, I couldn’t afford to not have it, but not having a job had to be better than being slowly driven to insanity by an egomaniacal boss.

I trudged down the hallway to my apartment. My boss kept me three hours longer than he was supposed to and I doubted that I would see any extra pay for it. As I pulled out my keys, I spotted a note on the door scribbled on the back of a receipt.

                              The Star at 9. See you there -R

My watch told me it was already 8:30, and The Star was all the way across town. Roger had a terrible habit of not telling me about his gigs until the last minute. Although, some of the time, he didn’t know until the last minute either. Freddie was always going to bars and essentially begging the owners to let them play.  

I entered the apartment, taking off the shabby plaid skirt and matching jacket to replace it with the significantly shorter denim skirt Mary picked out and a plain white tee shirt. I snagged my jacket and the scarf Charlotte made me off the coat rack before heading down the hallway once again.

With Roger, I felt like I never had a moment to breathe, and I couldn’t love it more. It was fast-paced and somewhat reckless, a stark contrast from what it had been like before. While running back and forth to work constantly was getting the bills paid, it was exactly fulfilling.   

I hailed a cab and spent the next thirty minutes in traffic, and then the next fifteen trying to give the guy directions before I finally decided he was incompetent and that I could just walk the rest of the way. That was a decision I quickly came to regret as the skin on my legs was starting to go numb from the cold wind.

I made it, though, sighing in relief when I walked into the overcrowded bar and felt the heat surrounding me. The band was already playing, and I could see that nearly all the boys had their eyes scanning the crowd for me, except for Brian who was too busy giving eyes to some chick that was dancing off to the side of the stage.

I muscled my way through the crowd and to the front, letting out a whistle loud enough to catch their attention over the music. John did I little spin around while he played his bass, mouthing something to Roger along the lines of ‘I told you she’d come’. Roger replied with a sneer before his eyes met mine.

They were more than halfway through their set by the time I got there, I had heard it what seemed like thousands of times before and had the line up memorized. I mindlessly bopped around to the music through the remaining songs, hoping it would warm me up a bit. I cheered the loudest when they were finished and took their bow.

Roger immediately bounced off the stage, reaching his hand out for mine, but I was quickly shoved out of the way by a few of his fans. I staggered to the side as he tried his hardest to hide his annoyance as he talked to the girls.

        “Oh my god, Roger, you’re like soooo good at the drums, do you think you can teach me?” One of them slurred, making him laugh.

        “Not tonight, doll, sorry.” He retorted, squeezing between the girl and the stage to get to me. He pulled me into a hug, pressing a kiss to my temple. I blushed at the sudden show of affection, pulling out of the hug to look at him. A smile was plastered on his face as he grabbed my hand and started off in the bar's direction.

        “What’s got you in such a good mood?” I questioned, pinching his cheek.

He scrunched up his nose as he swatted at my hand,

        “Wasn’t sure if you were gonna make it. Glad you did.” He replied, reaching down for my hand. He led me over to the bar, hollering an order at the bartender before resting his elbow on the bar and staring over at me. He gave me a proper once-over, looking me up and down.

        “Hey, loverboy! Eyes here.” I snapped in his face, moving my fingers up to my eyes.

        “Sorry… That’s just… I’ve never seen that skirt before.” He replied.

        “You like it? Mary picked it out for me. She’s got such a good eye for this sort of thing.” I said, toying with the hem of the skirt.

        “Yeah, yeah, I’d say so.” He nodded enthusiastically, tongue swiping over his lower lip.

I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the fact he was ogling me like a piece of meat. Though I couldn’t say I didn’t enjoy the attention. The bartender set the drinks on the bar beside him and Roger murmured a thank you before handing me a beer and taking a swig of his own.

        “How was work?” He asked, a genuine interest in his tone.

        “I’m would strangle my boss if I didn’t need the money,” I replied, taking a drink from my own bottle.

        “That bad, huh?” He asked.

        “Mhmm.” I hummed as I turned around to face the crowd, wanting to forget my shitty day, not talk about it.

        “Where’d everybody go?” I questioned, scanning the crowd as I took a sip from my drink.

        “Who cares? They’re big boys, they can take care of themselves.”

        “I just wanted to make sure Brian found that girl he was eye fucking while he was on stage,” I muttered against the rim of my bottle, making Roger laugh. I spent the next few minutes people watching, admiring how everybody moved with the music, watching the private conversations that began in the middle of the dance floor before moving off to the side. Suddenly, there were hands on my hips, hooking their fingers through the belt loops of my skirt and yanking me backward. My body slammed into Roger where he stood behind me, making me lose my balance for a moment. I grabbed at his hands where they rested on my waist to steady myself.

        “Hey!” I exclaimed, louder than I had intended to. A few of the men sitting at the bar glanced up from their drinks with an annoyed glare. I mouthed an apology as Roger tucked his head into the crook of my neck, nuzzling into my hair,

        “What’re you doing?” I laughed, bringing a hand up to rest on the back of his head to scrunch the loose waves in his hair.

        “You just smell really nice.” He replied, inhaling deeply and pulling me even closer against him, his thumb slipping under the waistline of my skirt.

I was about to whisper a warning to watch his hands before he lost them, but it was then that I noticed the burning gaze of a few women from a table not far from the bar. It was the girl Roger had avoided earlier and some of her friends. They sneered and whispered back and forth to each other before laughing. I didn’t have to hear them to know they were talking about me. I suddenly felt self-conscious.

Roger must’ve felt my body tense because he brought his hands to wrap around my midsection and gave me a jostle.

        “You okay?” He murmured in my ear.

I nodded quickly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and taking a large gulp of my drink. His hands dropped from my stomach and fell back to my hips before turning me around to face him.

He grabbed me by the cheeks and made me look at him. I attempted a smile, but it fell flat.

        “You’re not okay.” He concluded, scanning the crowd for any clue as to what was going on. His gaze shifted over my shoulder where the girls sat.

        “Hi, Roger!” One of them called in a sing-song tone.

        “Alright, come on. I’ve got shitty beer at my place, no need to drink it here.” He concluded, grabbing my drink and setting it down on the bar before placing his hand on my lower back and leading me out.

The ride in the taxi was awkwardly silent, Roger’s hand on my knee, thumb tapping to the beat of whatever song the driver had playing. Thankfully, the traffic on the way home was much better than on the way out. When the car stopped in front of the apartments, Roger pulled out a wad of cash, handing it to the driver before helping me out of the cab. He intertwined his fingers with mine, leading the way into the building and to the elevator.

        “You shouldn’t be worried, you know.” He murmured, glancing over at me and squeezing my hand.

        “Worried about what?” I asked, squeezing his hand in return. His gaze was softer than normal as he pulled my hand up to his mouth to press a kiss to it.

        “Anything.”

Instead of asking him to elaborate on what he meant, I simply nodded, glad to have some reassurance. The elevator opened and Roger led the way to his door, taking his keys from his pocket and unlocking it. He stepped in first, hand still in mine as I stayed out in the hallway.

        “Coming in?” He asked, giving me a gentle tug towards him as in invitation.

        “Yeah.” I smiled.

After he helped me shrug off my coat, he asked if I wanted a drink. I politely declined, taking in the sight of his apartment. It was tidier than I would’ve expected except for a few empty beer bottles on the coffee table. He returned a moment later with a beer in his hand,

        “Make yourself at home.” He said as he popped the cap off his beer and tossed it into the trash can by the counter.

Despite the two of us being unable to keep our eyes and hands off each other for the past few weeks, I suddenly felt uncertain. Almost every night he had asked me to come in and I said no. It was more than abundantly clear he wanted me here, so why did I feel so small and out of place? I had been standing motionless long enough for him to take notice and cock an eyebrow at me. I needed to at least do something other than stand around looking like a moron. My eyes continued to scan the apartment before they landed on his drum set. My mind harkened back to the bitchy girl at the bar,

        “Can I do the classic drunk girl move?” I questioned, grabbing his beer from his hand and taking a swig before handing it back.

        “Was that it?” He asked, noting that my red lipstick had stuck to the rim of the bottle before he took the last gulp.

I picked up one of his drumsticks from where they sat atop the snare drum. He let out a chuckle when he realized what I was doing.

        “Oh my god, Roger. You’re like soooooo good at the drums.” I mocked the girl we had seen in the bar earlier, “Can you show me how to play?”

He threw back his head and laughed before coming up behind me to sit on the stool. Whether it was the alcohol or just a burst of confidence, I couldn’t say, but he grabbed me by the hips and pulled me back to sit on his lap. His knee rested between my legs, my skirt riding up my thigh. We both pretended not to notice as he placed the other drumstick in my hand.

        “Okay, so,” He instructed, wrapping his arms around me and grabbing me softly by the forearms. The sensation of his breath across the back of my neck sent shivers down my spine and spread goosebumps across my skin. I silently prayed that he didn’t notice as he explained every part of the drum kit. He nudged my foot with his to rest on the pedal for the bass drum. He placed one hand in position over the snare and the other in position over one of the cymbals. His grip moved from my forearms to rest across my lower stomach, holding me steady on his knee.

        “Just pick a beat and alternate.”

I cautiously tapped the cymbal before giving the slightest tap to the snare, making him chuckle.

        “Hit it like you mean it.” He laughed in my ear.

I hit the cymbal the slightest bit harder, making him scoff.

        “What? I don’t want to wake up Charlotte.”

        “She’s 97 years old, I doubt she can even hear anymore.”

        “Oh no, she hears everything.” I told him, “One time I dropped my shampoo bottle in the shower and she called the landlord to come unlock my door because she thought I had fallen in the shower and cracked my head open.”

        “Really?”

I nodded,

        “If you ever notice the landlord looking at me weird, it’s because he burst in on me showering and singing Aretha Franklin at the top of my lungs.”  

He let out a full-bodied laugh,

As if on cue, there was a knock on the front door. Roger’s gaze met mine with shock for a moment before we both burst out laughing. I clasped my hand over my mouth,

        “If she knows I’m in here, she’ll kill you,” I uttered, only half joking.

        “Kill me? Why me?”

        “She thinks you’re a slut,” I replied, trying my hardest to say it with a straight face before letting out a laugh.

He laughed even harder at that, his face turning bright red. The knocking came again, making Roger groan as he placed his hands on my hips. He stood up, steadying me on the floor before making his way to his front door. He glanced out the peephole before looking over his shoulder and rolling his eyes at me. I stepped out of sight for a moment as he opened his door.

        “Hi, it’s Charlotte rig-” He began, but was cut off by the older woman.

        “What’s so funny in here?” She questioned.

Without even being able to see her, I knew her posture. Hands on her hips, one hip jutted out and her glare peeking out from behind her thick-framed glasses.

        “I uh… I have a friend over.” He replied,

        “Where?”

Charlotte wasn’t all there, and who could blame her? She was 97 years old and widowed by World War II, she didn’t have any children either. She had kind of adopted me, which I loved her for. But when I wasn’t around, she needed a way to keep busy. And her way of keeping busy was knowing an obscene amount about other people’s lives, whether or not she really knew the person. Roger wasn’t the only victim of the scrutiny, only the most recent.

        “She’s uh-” He began, only to be cut off once again.

        “She?”

        “Yes, she’s... in the bathroom.”

Silence fell for several moments and I hoped that Charlotte had dropped it and was getting ready to leave. That was until I remember that I draped my coat and the scarf her had given me over the couch in direct view of the front door. She must’ve noticed it at the same time,

        “Y/N!?” She shouted, her voice striking fear into my heart. Not fear that she would hurt me, no. Fear that she would be disappointed in me.

I grabbed the dish towel that hung on the oven door and pretended to be drying my hands with it to add credibility to Roger’s fib as I rounded the corner, not wanting her to think I was avoiding her.

        “Hey, Charlotte! What’s going on? Do you need something?”

She shot me a disapproving glare as she turned to go back across the hall into her apartment. She glanced over her shoulder once more before she closed the door behind her, followed by Roger closing his door. I felt a slight pang of guilt knowing I had upset her, but I quickly forgot it when Roger spoke up,

        “Where were we?”

He beckoned me back towards him by patting his thighs, an invitation to sit on his lap once more. I tossed the towel onto the kitchen counter before joining him. This time he was a little more insistent when I sat down, holding me a closer than before.

I once again alternating tapping the snare and the cymbal, finally somewhat getting my rhythm.

        “There you go.” He encouraged, tapping his foot to the beat and gently thrumming it against my thigh.

I continued to tap the beat before adding in the bass drum, tapping my foot on the pedal every so often. I became so engrossed in what I was doing that I hardly noticed his fingers toying with the hem of my skirt, although when I finally did, I played it nonchalant. It wasn’t until he was sliding it up a little higher that I took one of the drumsticks and smacked him on the hand with it.

        “Ow!” He whined, recoiling.

        “Don’t wanna prove to Charlotte that you’re a slut, do you?” I joked, turning over my shoulder to look at him. We were nose to nose, our breaths ghosting over each other’s skin. His gaze shifted from my eyes to my lips as he leaned in to kiss me. The drumsticks dropped from my hands, tumbling to the floor and rolling across it until it hit my foot.

The angle was awkward, his teeth knocked against mine making us both pause to laugh. I make it easier on him, I stood up from his lap and turned around so I was straddling him. My skirt pushed up even higher than before, much to his delight as he took a handful of my thigh. His other hand rested below my jaw, holding me against him. I clasped his face with both hands, both of them trembling slightly. We both pulled away breathless, eyes studying each other’s faces for a reaction. His eyes were half-lidded as he stared at me, running a hand through my hair. His chest rose and fell heavily as he stared at me, hand still massaging my thighs. My lipstick had smeared all over his mouth and I was certain it had smeared all over mine as well.

I wanted nothing more than to stay in that moment forever, but as his hands traveled up the back of my shirt, I quickly realized that this was probably a bad idea. If Charlotte was right in saying he had a new girl in here every other night, maybe I was just another one of those new girls. Another notch in his belt. I let out a sigh, licking my thumb and bringing it up to his mouth. I wiped away the lipstick before my gaze met his.

        “I should go.” I murmured. I wanted him just as much as he wanted me, but I had to know he wasn’t just going to dump me after getting what he wanted.

His expression was like a child you had just told that Santa wasn’t real. His entire face dropped as he stared at me.

        “Why… Was that… Was that not okay… or?” His hands quickly came to rest on my lower back rather than roving all over like they had been doing before.

        “No. No, Rog. It was great, really. I just… I mean… work tomorrow and uh… I’ve still got some chores to do before I go to bed an-”  It wasn’t entirely the truth, but it wasn’t a lie either.

        “Yeah, yeah. Okay.” He breathed, his grasp moved from my thighs to my lower back, rubbing it up and down, “I won’t keep you.”

I felt bad for leaving, but Charlotte was always right about people and I had no reason not to trust her judgment here. I retreated from his lap, straightening my skirt as I stood up. He handed me my jacket and scarf after I had slipped my boots back on.

        “Thanks for the uh… lesson.” I nodded towards the drum kit.

        “My pleasure.” He replied, tucking his hands into his front pockets as I made my way towards his door.  His gaze rested on his feet as I opened it.

        “Hey, Rog?” I called.

He perked up at the sound of his name, stepping closer to the door. I pressed a kiss to his cheek, reassurance I would be back.

        “Night.” I murmured.

        “Night.” He returned.

Just as I opened the door to my apartment, I heard the deadbolt on Charlotte’s come undone. I let out a sigh, preparing myself for the bombardment I was about to receive. I thought about stepping into my apartment and slamming the door, but then I would never hear the end of it.

But to my surprise, the deadbolt clicked once again, telling me she had changed her mind. Whether that was a good sign or a bad sign, I didn’t know, but I was thankful I wouldn’t be dealing with her interrogation tonight.

[mst3kproject]

1009: Hamlet, Prinz von Dänemark

I spent a buck-fifty Canadian to download this movie. There’s not much you can get for a buck-fifty Canadian.  One sour soother, maybe, or a chipped coffee mug from a garage sale that has a photo of somebody else’s grandparents on it.  So now you know how much Hamlet is worth.

We all know the story of Hamlet, whether we wanted to or not. King Hamlet of Denmark was murdered by his brother Claudius, who then married Queen Gertrude and stole the throne.  We can’t be having that, so the king’s ghost appears to his son, Hamlet Jr, and tells him he must take revenge.  Junior then spends the whole rest of the play wandering around pondering the afterlife and battering his girlfriend Ophelia before finally running Claudius through during a climactic duel during which pretty much everybody else dies, too, except for the ones who were already dead.  Nobody has ever given me a convincing explanation of why these people have names like Horatio and Laertes instead of Svend and Rolf.

I’m definitely not going to try to review Hamlet itself, Shakespeare’s play, because I don’t know a damned thing about Hamlet.  I deliberately went out and murdered those brain cells with alcohol immediately after writing my final exam.  Instead I’m going to have to talk about this movie in itself, how it fares both as a film and as a retelling of this story.

That second point is a big one.  Hamlet has been done, a lot, and as the bots point out with their sketch about their all-percussion version, it’s really hard to do anything unique with it anymore.  If you’re an acting troupe who wants to give it a try, that’s cool because it means people will get to see live theatre, but if you’re making a movie you really need to bring something new to the table.  An interesting interpretation, an actor or director that people really want to see, an unusual setting or time period, something like that.  This Hamlet has none of that.

I am reasonably sure that what the movie is trying to do is to look like a stage play, much as The Magic Voyage of Sinbad was trying to look like an opera.  Sinbad pulled it off with extravagant sets and operatic bombast.  By contrast everything in Hamlet, from pillars to thrones to flights of stairs, looks like it’s made out of concrete.  There is very little music, which somehow makes the whole thing feel even more doom-and-gloom-y than Hamlet already does.  The costumes go for a semi-fantasy look somewhere between Elizabethan and medieval, which is very stagey, and the effect is heightened by the fact that most of the characters never seem to change their clothes. The actors don’t look comfortable in them, though, which means they look uncomfortable in their characters as well. Queen Gertrude in particular looks like she’s too worried about damaging her gown to move easily in it, and the giant chain around Claudius’ neck is absurd.

Adding to the impression that the movie was shot in somebody’s basement, it’s lit very pootly when it’s lit at all.  A lot of shots are quite dull, lit in a way that shows where things are but doesn’t create mood or drama.  The film is in black and white and the characters wear black, or at least colours so dark you can’t tell the difference, which leaves night shots (such as the one where Horatio and the guards are chasing after the king’s ghost) looking like a bunch of heads floating around.

It is, of course, very difficult to judge a dubbed performance. The actors we’re watching appear to be going for a sort of heightened melodrama, part of the idea that we’re meant to feel like we’re watching a stage play.  The dub actors, on the other hand, don’t seem to have gotten the memo.  A lot of them mumble, particularly Maximilian Schell as Hamlet, which is really weird because he’s dubbing himself.  Sometimes they manage to make the Shakespearean English sound very natural, but that often jars with the physical performances.  I have no idea what sort of accents some of them think they’re doing. There are a few who don’t seem to be trying to do an accent at all, while others sound like they’re aiming for British (because it’s Shakespeare?), German (because the movie’s German?) or Damn Worwelf.

Most of the actors are kind of bland-looking, and those who stand out do so because they look weirdly wrong for the parts they’re playing.  Polonius with his little mustache looks like a physics teacher who feels naked because he’s not wearing a necktie.  He’s also dubbed by John Banner, so if you keep hearing this is so klandinkto! every time he speaks… that’s why.  If Hamlet himself looks familiar, it may be because Maximilian Schell was Dr. Reinhardt in The Black Hole, or maybe it’s because he looks a lot like the guy in Atlantic Rim that I referred to as MacGuyver. He’s a very fine actor who won an academy award for Judgment at Nuremburg, but he’s way out of place as Hamlet.  His Hollywood good looks and crooked little smile make it feel like he’s trying to play Hamlet as a dashing heartthrob.

For all that, there are a couple of moments in this movie that I quite like.  The scene in which Hamlet is nodding and smiling to the wedding guests while the Too Too Solid Flesh soliloquy begins in voiceover is quite nicely done.  It gives you a very visceral sense of this man who is forced to bottle up his anger and grief.  I also like that during the Murder of Gonzago scene, the camera focuses not on the players but on the audience reaction.  Claudius and Gertrude smile at each other when the players talk about love, and then grow uncomfortable as the play condemns re-marriage.  Ophelia’s embroidery is an attempt at symbolism, the arum being a popular funeral flower.  Too bad it’s so in-your-face that it loses all subtlety.

On the whole, though, Hamlet is just dull.  The spartan, ugly sets and dark costumes offer us very little to look at, and in some of the darker scenes there’s almost nothing to see at all. The physical and dub performances don’t match, and neither hold the attention.  Watching it feels like a two-hour slog through a tarry morass of depression.

I kind of wonder what the purpose of this movie was supposed to be. It was made for TV in the sixties, and I guess it was an attempt to capitalize on the Germans’ love of Shakespeare – because Germans do definitely love Shakespeare, sometimes considering themselves to have a better claim on him than England because unlike the English, they respect him.  More Shakespeare plays are performed in Germany every year than in England, and in the leadup to World War II the Nazi regime tried to get rid of him, couldn’t, and had to settle for picking and choosing which translations were ‘German enough’ for them (this always reminds me of the joke about Hamlet being better in the original Klingon).

If this is the case, I would like to know what the Germans who saw this movie in its original broadcast thought of it.  Sixty-year-old reviews of made-for-tv movies in foreign languages are hard to find even online, so I honestly have no idea.  I know that people who have seen this English version hate it, and I have a hard time imagining it being much better in German even when you love Shakespeare unconditionally.  The fact that the Germans do love Shakespeare just makes it seem that much more likely that they’d consider this dreary pork-filled version an insult to him.

It’s also interesting to think about what made the Best Brains pick this one out as an MST3K project.  The movie is definitely bad, and in its own way it fits right in with a lot of the black-and-white crap from the Joel era that tries so hard to be important and just ends up being depressing.  Yet the source material remains as something a lot of people would consider untouchable (the Germans being high on that list… although Shakespeare himself, purveyor of fine penis jokes to Her Majesty the Queen since 1591, would probably be totally okay with the MST3K treatment.  He must have heard way more vicious audience commentary).  My guess it was something they considered a challenge to themselves, in the same way as RiffTrax tackled Casablanca just to see if they could do it.  The Amazing Colossal Transplanted Sci-Fi Channel Episode Guide entry on the episode is kind of interesting, as Kevin mentions the feeling that they had to be funnier than usual in order to live up to the play’s legend.

My high school English teachers (the same ones who inflicted The Most Dangerous Game on me) insisted that Hamlet is a play which should make you think.  I’m pretty sure this is not what they meant, but the thing I’ve always found myself thinking about while watching or reading it is the idea of marrying one’s brother’s widow.  The church of the time said that this was equivalent to marrying one’s own sister (Claudius indeed calls Gertrude our sometime sister) and frowned upon it most heavily, and this would have been common knowledge in Elizabethan England because it was Henry VIII’s excuse for divorcing Catherine of Aragon and marrying Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth’s mother (never mind that he’d also fucked Anne’s sister Mary).  By portraying this as villainous behaviour, Shakespeare was sucking up to the Queen, emphasizing that her mom’s marriage was way more legit than Catherine’s.  Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[travllingbunny]

The 100 rewatch: 1x01 Pilot

I’m a new fan of The 100, who first binged it last year, August to November. This is my first full rewatch of the show. I was planning to start it anyway and finish it before the season 6 premiere on April 30, and when I saw that Fox Serbia was airing a rerun (Monday to Friday, 40 min. after midnight, with repeats the next day), starting on 1st February, it was a great opportunity to start my rewatch in HDTV on my beautiful new TV. I decided to do write-ups and tag other fans on SpoilerTV website, as I did when I was first watching the show. But my posts turned into full blown essays. So, finally, after over a week, I’ve realized: Why don’t I post them on my Tumblr blog, too? I’ll copy my write-ups of the first 7 episodes, and then I’ll post my rewatch posts after I watch each episode. (The next one, 1x08, is on Monday’Tuesday.)

Spoilers below for all 5 seasons of the show. I go of on a tangents and make a lot of references to future events.

Rating: I'd give the Pilot 4/10, maybe 4.5/10 if I'm generous.

Episode opens on Clarke's voiceover. The first mention of how Ark came to be. There were "12 nations" with stations in the beginning, 97 years earlier, and the current Ark is "one station forged from the many". Which begs some questions: how did they manage to make everyone on the Ark speak English (and in American accents), why are they so culturally uniform? Did they try to do it by force? And why did big powers like China and Russia go along with it? But world-building has never been this show's strength. The opening scene shows Clarke drawing, and focuses on her father's watch. Some facts I had forgotten - the cells on the Ark were called "Skybox". Clarke says she is turning 18 in a month. This means she turned 18 sometime in late season 1 and was about 18 and a half year old in season 4. In season 5, she should be about 24 and a half year old. Abby is the first other major character to appear. Abby to Clarke "Your instincts will tell you to take care of everyone else first, like your father", stressing that this is the similarity between Clarke and Jake. "I can't lose you, too, I love you so much" First appearance of Jaha - on the video played to the Delinquents on the dropship. The kids comment: "your dad's a dick, Wells". Yes, he is. "If we knew for sure the Earth was survivable, we would send others. You are being sent down because your crimes have made you expendable". Oh god, he's awful. He became a more enjoyable character in season 4, just because of his interactions with other characters, but he's always been an a-hole. Jaha tells the kids to go to Mount Weather, explains what it is and that it has supplies for about 300 people to survive for 2 years. I had completely forgotten that there were so many Mount Weather references. This was clearly a storyline that was planned from the beginning. The first casualties on the show - 2 Delinquents who imitated Finn's stupid behavior on the dropship, but, unlike him, were killed when the ship crash-landed. When they land, it turns out they landed on a wrong mountain, instead of Mount Weather, due to a technical error. Who knew that this was the luckiest thing that ever happened to them? Clarke and Wells later insist that the kids should go to MW ASAP and find supplies. Every time someone in the episode talks about Mount Weather and says things like "We have to find Mount Weather to survive", it's so ironic now. No, you need to run as far from Mount Weather as possible. Run, run, fast, and don't turn back. At the end of the episode, they try to cross the river, and Jasper even finds a Mount Weather sign. In retrospect, they are so lucky they did not go through with it, after Jasper got speared, but who was to know? Kane looks so young compared to his season 5 self. And it's funny to see early Kane, who was kind of a bad guy. He's so pessimistic and insisting on ruthless solutions as necessary, a total opposite of where his views end up later. But the one consistent trait is that he's always been so stubborn about sticking to whatever course of action he thinks is best, and even naive about it. At this point, he's all about sticking to the rules. And here's Shumway, who seems to want the culling to happen even more than Kane does. I never understood what the supposed difference in policy was between Diana and Jaha. Diana was claiming to be fighting for the rights of the underprivileged? But Shumway is working for her, and wants the culling to happen, Jaha and Kane are intending for the culling to happen... What's the difference? They're all the same. Shumway is also the one to tell Kane about Bellamy's shooting of Jaha - and Kane says they have a traitor. Shumway close-up, he says nothing. Foreshadowing. Scene between Kane and Abby near the end of the episode. Kane says he's the only one willing to do what needs to be done so they survive. Abby: "That's the difference between us, Kane. I choose to make sure we deserve to stay alive." Ironic how they'll end up switching positions during the Dark Year. But then Abby starts hating herself over what she has become. The thing I liked best about the Pilot the first time was that it was really good at explaining the premise and getting a lot of info across, without clunky exposition. Oh god, about half of the Pilot was sooo cheesy. Most of the scenes with kids on Earth are so teen-soapy. That's why I initially preferred the stuff on the Ark (but then a few episodes later, I felt the exact opposite). Especially 90% of Octavia's lines in the Pilot are so cringey,I remember I only found it to be 'just OK' at the time I first watched it, good enough to keep watching, but I only got hooked around 1x05 when it started losing most of its CWness. But now, after having seen the rest of the show, the tone is so weird - so teen-soapy. I guess the first time, I expected the show to be like that, because of the channel it's on - a teen-soap take on post-apocalyptic SciFi. The pop songs and the scenes with kids enjoying the Earth were so corny but I guess they were meant to be, to make the contrast bigger when something bad suddenly happens, like Jasper getting speared at the end of the episode. Or that mutant deer, that was a good scene. Funny that we never get to see any of the scary nature stuff again. What happened to the man-eating water snake? The show pretty much forgets all of that later, because we get human antagonists on Earth. I also probably blanked out a lot of the cheesy teen-soapy stuff the first time, because I wasn't interested, since I didn't even remember some of it. All the potential pairings and flirtations that went nowhere now seem so random and funny. They were clearly just throwing anything to the wall to see what sticks. Who remembers that Octavia used to have a thing for Finn in the Pilot and said "Finn is mine" to Clarke, and he briefly flirted with her? Then there was Jasper's crush on Octavia, but that one actually did last a bit longer in season 1. The show really seemed to be trying to make Finn the main heartthrob. Of course, Finn's main interest was flirting with Clarke non-stop and following her around all the time. The fact he started hitting on her immediately in the dropship really makes him look bad now (whether or not that was initially intended - since they probably still hadn't planned for Raven's character to exist.)

And look, here's Kelly Hu as Kane's girlfriend/Abby's best friend, who was clearly supposed to be one of the mains, and then completely disappeared without explanation after the Pilot. Kelly Hu was even in the main credits for the Pilot, right after Bob Morley, who was credited 6th - after Eliza and Paige and Thomas McDonnel and Eli Goree and after Marie. Which pretty much fits their screentime in the Plot. I doubt they were expecting Bellamy to become the male lead, Finn and Wells were clearly treated as the male leads. Speaking of Bellamy - AARGH, that terrible slicked-back hair! My eyes, my eyes!!! I remember now why I had such mixed feelings about him in the Pilot, unlike others who said they hated him. I mean, he was clearly meant to be seen as an antagonist at this point, but most of the things he says about the privileged and the elite on the Ark is true. I still think that the Ark leaders were the first villains introduced on the show. They sucked. Even if we weren't supposed to see them as villains, and even if some of them later changed and developed (Kane). I wasn't sure how much of what Bellamy said was just him using that rhetoric to manipulate the kids. but the first time he says "let the privileged do something for a change", he said it before he learned about the wristbands. So, some of that anger was sincere. (And it was certainly justified.) A bit later we see Bellamy listening carefully and formulating a plan as Clarke is explaining to the kids that the wristbands are transmitting their life signs to the Ark. 

I don't know where the later idea of Bellamy as a completely hotheaded guy who can't act in a strategic or manipulative comes from. One of the first things we saw him do in the show was manipulate a bunch of younger people into something that would help him not get caught and executed by the Ark leaders, so he could stay and protect his sister. That's what he's doing for the fist few episodes. The first kids he convinces to take the wristbands off and make others do the same are Murphy and John Mbege. It's funny that Mbege's role was at this point almost as big as Murphy's. We still haven't seen Harper or Miller.

So many scenes of conflict between Bellamy and Wells in this episode. It seems like they probably meant for that dynamic to be an important one going forward, with the two of them as foils. "See you on the other side". Oh, god. Those lines will never be the same. It's actually Finn who said it first when he was about to cross the river by rope, but then Jasper went first to impress Octavia, and said that line for the first time. And here comes the spear. "We are not alone". Well, duh. But Clarke had to say that line for a very Lost-like ending to the Pilot. Geez, I can see how this bunch of clueless, silly kids with no weapons, fooling around, looked like such a dangerous invading force to the Grounders who saw them. Yes, the season 5 comparison between them and the heavily armed mass murderers from Eligius who immediately tried to kill the first people they ran across, was soooo apt... *sigh*.

[elizabethrobertajones]

Hey Liz, question: why do you think this fandom got so protective of terrible women? Both Mary and Rowena are awful, selfish people with exactly 0 character development, and yet they somehow became precious protect at all cost? Are we so starved of representation? I don't get it. For me it's Jody and Donna all the way.

Heya. Well first of all “the fandom” seems to haaate Mary so you must be thinking of the weird narrow circle of people who actually enjoy her character like me and all the peeps I filtered out in season 12 who weren’t being awful about her to follow and support. >.> Aka “the fandom” if I had to generalise my impression of raw numbers, IS the reason why the people who like Mary are protective of her. Because there’s stuff like spnconfessions posting someone saying “I want Mary and Kelly to be stabbed hundreds of times at the end of the season” which… yiiiikes.

Rowena is more popular in my impression but then she has a charismatic actress who embedded herself in fandom immediately (she liked some of my Rowena meta and spec back in season 10!), and was always presented as a “villain” (although she has NEVER been a big bad of a season, always just along for the ride and almost ALWAYS in chains or captured) so at least it was not like she was living down anyone’s expectations except Crowley. 

ALSO it’s not a competition or an either or. I love Jody, and Donna, and Linda Tran, and Mary, and Rowena and Kelly Kline, and all the other characters who’ve passed over our screen. People probably get bored of me saying this but I *like* the show and its characters and its storylines until they give me strong reasons not to like them, and I don’t approach fictional characters with hostility or unless there’s a very strong personal aversion, a reaction as if I knew them in real life or they represent things FROM my real life. 

Even when they are written to be dark or messed up or bad people, if they’re fleshed out and there’s a good reason or a point to it all in the story, then I like it. I don’t need characters to be good and pure all the time for them to be worth my love, or why the heck would I like the Winchesters, right? 

I’m just trying to say, I think I have a different attitude to these characters than you do, because I see that the show has done some great things with them, including developing them a LOT, and they’re really interesting characters to me. 

I now have 3 fics on my Ao3 which have or are entirely from Mary’s POV because I find her a fascinating mess. I feel like I grew up knowing the mythology about her and only got to meet her as a real human last year, and I loved that she was human and real, as promised in the flashbacks but never given a chance for us to SEE. 

And Rowena is not a character I think anyone needs to DEFEND (except in the sense of omg stop putting her in chains or killing her off when she’s inconvenient) because she’s utterly in control of herself, her image, her goals, and yet she has a vulnerability and a pain to her dark past which makes her interesting. The more we learn about her the more we learn about how she became what she is when we first meet her, and 12x11 for me did some AMAZING stuff with Rowena that finished the process of making her softer and more friendly in that she’d forged a better alliance with the Winchesters and we saw her and Dean utterly vulnerable around each other, which makes for incredible character development. We were only just starting to get a real idea of the woman behind the appearance she makes of herself, but it’s been hinted all along how hard she had to fight to get what she wanted, and how she gravitates towards comfort and being looked after and using her power to get it because of how poorly she was treated? She’s much easier to sum up in a paragraph, while I’ve written pages and pages and pages about Mary in both meta and fic, but that doesn’t mean she’s less developed, she just has a smaller overall legacy in the show as when she comes back it will only be her 4th season to Mary’s overarching importance to *13* seasons.

And… UGH. I just rewatched 10x09 recently and it’s SO INTERESTING. I remember all that meta from the time, about Rowena paralleling John, her bad parenting to his, and she comes back now almost as a precursor to Mary, trying the waters with bringing Crowley’s mum back into his life to see how that all goes over, his disappointment, the way she DELIBERATELY manipulates him, makes him need her again, until he casts her out, their back and forth, their conviction to the end that they should have been the one to kill the other… Their revenge story… Crowley just wanting to know WHY she was such a bad parent, Rowena loving another boy but not him as a son, so it’s the utter opposite of “family don’t end in blood” - that their only tie IS their blood and they mutually loathe each other because of it. Because they can’t be rid of each other because of it… I mean it’s the dark mirror to Mary coming back in the sense that Rowena is absolutely unapologetically a bad parent when she returns. That Crowley, softened up by the last couple of seasons, seriously struggles with her return… The Crowley and Rowena stuff in season 10 is actually really interesting, even if some of it is pretty ridiculous in execution, the point of having it there is fascinating, especially when you marathon through and then join it up to season 11. 

None of that is meant to say Rowena is good, or stanning for her is, like, advocating her awful parenting as a pinnacle of goodness. It’s just saying, she’s a terrible person but a fascinating character, and why wouldn’t we enjoy her being fun and evil and unapologetic for that on our screens, just as much as we might like Jody being patient and kind and the sort of gentle, understanding motherly pinnacle of “good” mothers on the show. 

And Mary is WONDERFULLY in the middle of that. I don’t know if people are having issues with her just because they have issues with their own mothers or because of expectations that the show was deliberately subverting that people just didn’t gel with and so came at her all from the wrong angles expecting her to be domestic and to bring peace rather than conflict, but Mary is a *startlingly* good female character on the show, and she exists in the space between Jody, the pinnacle of being a “good” mother, and Rowena, the blatant “bad” mother, but as soon as Mary strays from being the pure saintly victim image that we had for 11 years, even the flashbacks never changing her position as a victim of the narrative despite trying to give her some more personality and just making her spunky on top of being pure, rather than deepening her… 

I mean one of my BFFs who hasn’t been watching the show so much lately really hated the idea of Mary coming back because she sees the boys as too old to be treated as “the boys” and Mary’s purpose to only be to heal and to protect them, and why would the show bring her back to deal with their mommy issues, it’s just too late, too little, how can you ever patch her back into their lives and fix everything? They’re too OLD to deal with their mommy issues.

And that’s literally the antithesis of what season 11 was doing: what it ACKNOWLEDGED was the issue with bringing Mary back, that she can’t be a nurturer, can’t do a fresh start on their issues. Can’t just make it all better by being there and putting band aids on their knees and tucking them into bed. They weren’t raised with that. They can’t RETROACTIVELY get it from her because it’s not age appropriate and they have developed as people.

And for the first time, Mary is allowed to just exist and wander around the Bunker and cut her hair and wear hunter-y clothes instead of that freakin’ nightgown, and UPSET them by not fitting in because there’s the way it feels like she SHOULD have been aka kissing boo boos, and the way they know she CAN’T be that because it’s weird but they still missed out on it, and the way she is how she is for real after only ever having images and dreams and conjured djinn versions or fake Heaven versions or people wearing her face, and so on and so on. Just a real flesh and blood woman who was manipulated literally to heaven and back by outside forces, trying to deal with losing *everything* over and over, and being presented with her weird family of adult sons and attached angel, clearly nursing depression and a total lack of direction and connection… 

I mean people connect with Mary for some pretty obvious reasons about motherhood and loss and depression all of which are represented in her weird situation with metaphorical links to real life feelings. Imagine she had post natal depression about Sam and look at season 12 again and *bam* she’s 100 miles deep and it huuuurts. I haven’t even had a baby let alone this entire analogy but I can see it right there in her story. I don’t need to RELATE directly to find it interesting? And there’s so much more about her beyond this one random thing I just picked up as an example. Imagining being in her shoes and then imagining how Sam and Dean have talked about her and seen her as the casual viewing audience is a STARK way to put her story in contrast to make sense.

Like, if you just allow Mary to be her own person with her own story and motives, there’s so much in there, that you don’t get if you just look at her like she could have been something to Sam and Dean that she wasn’t and immediately write her off as just as bad as Rowena - who is also far more complex than just a bad mother. If it’s these characters not living up to idea motherhood that makes you hate them that’s something you have to get over to see WHY people might like them, for the same reasons people can like flawed messed up non-mother characters. 

I mean Mary in season 12 functionally has a similar arc/intro to the story as JACK does, the same conflict about finding themselves in this world, the same drive to make it right, and Mary’s dealing with the PAST she’s fucked up, and Jack’s dealing with immediate present fuck ups and the weight of expectations of his FUTURE fuck ups that everyone wants him to do this that and the other… But Jack immediately got a ton of adoring fans and I would say fandom seems to lean pro-Jack, while it’s generally anti-Mary, despite the fact they have had very similar, parallel struggles to integrating into the world and dealing with expectations/problems.

But Jack is a cute as a button baby son for the fandom who can be easily forgiven for everything, and Mary is its flawed, messy mother. And you clearly seem to have the same knee jerk reaction that Good Mothers are characters to be rewarded and loved for their kindness and strength and flaws in acceptable amounts that do not harm their ability to parent well and be supportive and present. And Bad Mothers apparently can’t even be enjoyed as an interesting villain-but-not-bad-guy like Rowena who is out for herself unapologetically - a confidence trait that people CAN and should admire in obviously less “murder a bunch of people because they’re in the way” quantities to aspire to if they need a just a pinch of Rowena in their lives. And Mary who was a VICTIM in the narrative until 12x01, I have to repeat, and on earning her narrative freedom, aka not doomed by Heaven, and seen only through Sam and Dean’s eyes but allowed to be herself, abruptly goes in others’ eyes from sweet mother mary to being utterly ruined and the worst character. Because she couldn’t parent her ADULT sons while *grieving* her baby sons and husband, who not only is dead but she has to come to terms with what her death, her fuck up, did to him and did to her sons.

Season 12 HAS to be viewed through Mary’s POV when the episodes are about her, and she HAS to be given full compassion as a POV important character like you would do for Sam and Cas and Dean and now Jack, and Jody and/or Donna when they’re on screen, or Claire and Alex in their episodes. I mean 9x19 is from Alex and Jody’s POV. There are a couple of Winchester scenes but the emotional storytelling is ALL on Alex and Jody, to the point of them having all the opening and closing scenes, while Sam and Dean appear like outsiders to them. This same thing is used on Mary a few times - making us look at Sam and Dean from her eyes. 

12x03, also by Berens - because he’s amazing at this sort of thing - makes us look at them this way. It sets up how Sam and Dean *are* to Mary with the horrifying baby in the crib and the little ghost boy. Her lost children. And Sam and Dean blanking her out of working the case by accident because they’re so much more efficient with modern tech. Letting her solve it with old fashioned tech and application of heart. We see Mary’s entire process in this episode that leads to her leaving. It’s *beautiful*. Please go watch that episode from Mary’s POV.

(And enjoy Rowena being an unapologetic badass in the background :P) 

I am literally begging if you don’t understand and hate Mary in season 12 to try it again from her POV and be less precious about Sam and Dean and how much value she has determined only by how well she mothers them. 

I mean dammit I’m just gonna rec my own fic I wrote after 12x14 because I think it explains how I view Mary sympathetically and as a complex character without apologising for or defending her, just caring about her story and trying to understand her, more effectively than any meta I could write.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/10143074

But also just rewatch 12x01, 12x03, 12x06, 12x09, 12x14, 12x21 and 12x22 from Mary’s POV, even just her important scenes. Pause the episodes after she does stuff you struggle with and ask yourself how SHE would feel based on HER history if you’re having trouble getting into it. Remember how she saw Dean and Sam in 12x03 in the metaphors of the cursed burnt out baby boy and the lil ghost child because that DIRECTLY links to 12x22′s dream sequence. You’re going to see her suicidal, lost, confused, desperate to fix the mess she made… And ultimately in 12x23 she is vindicated for her deal with the AU being based on it NOT happening, and she’s the point from which it all came. Remember 4x03 Mary at that point, how she was an innocent victim as much as anyone else, being funneled into being “John and Mary, husband and wife” JUST because Heaven wanted it. How she’d already been raised as a hunter by her strict father and wanted to be FREE. How she has been un-free, how even her idea of freedom was all a manipulation by both heaven and hell, that she was a baby factory for the both of them. That her deal was for that freedom, but as poisoned as everything else that ever happened and her death in 1x01 is the punishment for trying to be free.

Remember that bringing her back sets her free but also takes away *everything* from her, including Sam and Dean, and leaves her with only her identity as a hunter to fall back on. And then they take away that too.��

Remember that Mary is as messed up as her boys, who we LOVE for being messed up, complicated human beings, and that her goodness as a mother is just one aspect of her character, but not the defining one we’re supposed to like her for.

Remember that all the images of Mary we see between season 2-6 are manipulations and lies and extrapolations in 2x20 of how DEAN feels about what Mary is/what he WANTED her to be, and the only real Mary we saw that whole time was the one in 1x09, who was as defensive of her boys as she was in season 12, and whose only real words were to APOLOGISE to Sam for what she’s done, a character arc she can’t pick up again from her POV until SEASON 12, even if it’s been thrice resolved for Sam. That her dying thoughts were knowing she’d doomed Sam. That she only understood her deal when it was too late and she was pinned to the ceiling. 

Remember that the reason she seems to be a bad mother in the story in season 12 is because they WANTED her to be that way, because they’re FREEING her of the image of what she was for 12 long years. They’re turning her into a real character. That it’s a calculated breakdown and DEVELOPMENT of her character beyond being a 1 dimensional saintly dead mother, whose fleshed out backstory made her more and more a tragic victim of circumstance and took away all her agency, her memories, and the last time we see her in 5x13 she is parroting the “angels are watching over you” line in a way that gives you the sickest dread of dramatic irony, as in that context it is about how her sons are about to DIE for this if the angels get their way. She’s helpless. She’s the buttmonkey of the apocalypse. 

Whatever else you feel about season 12 and Dabb and all, there was a huge effort from all the writers who touched her story - ALL of them - to free her and take this weight from her, to tie her into the current arc while respecting how the past would CRUSH her. And they DID crush her. And within that crushing, when exactly was she, the most emotionally scarred and messed up Winchester on the playing field that year, supposed to be a good mother to Sam and Dean when that definition seems to include selfless sacrifice and giving more of yourself? She thought that’s what she was doing with the BMoL, and it destroyed her all over again. It literally carved her out and left her empty. More people got hurt because she tried to do something to make it right. And she lost herself in the process. It’s not a subtle metaphor. Or how it was resolved with honesty and bringing the family back together. 

… You can probably tell we got an esspresso maker for Christmas by the length of this reply. Just… Argh, no. Mary is one of the most fascinating female characters and fuck the idea she has to be a good mum to be a good character or that we can only like the most pure characters. If she had been a good mum in season 12 she would have been PAINFULLY boring and flat and under-used. What would you have DONE with her? installed her in the Bunker to do nothing more than provide comfort at the start and end of each episode, and sometimes come along on safe easy hunts? Need to be rescued in all the dramatic moments because she couldn’t fuck up and cause something herself ever? She can be rescued NOW because she fucked up enough last season it’s a different aspect of her character to be in this position. Which she kinda got herself into by PUNCHING LUCIFER IN THE FACE. 

And if you can see Mary how I see her, then suddenly all her heart and kindness is there, she’s wonderful, she’s complex, she’s just fundamentally broken and messed up and had her own issues with Sam and Dean that came from this, that were explored and addressed FROM HER POINT OF VIEW, and helped her from HER OWN PERSPECTIVE to overcome the first hurdle of being reintegrated into the story. 

Just… give her a chance to be human. Everything you say you can’t see in her is right there when you do.

[daresplaining]

So proud of Danny in the Defenders... He was my favorite. His fights were a huge improvement from his show, I loved them all! What do you think about Danny this season?

    Danny was a rockstar in this show. As Daredevil bloggers, we’re contractually obligated to say that Matt was our favorite… but well… we loved every second of Danny’s journey, and the wait for Season 2 is going to be very long indeed. We really enjoyed the fights in Iron Fist, but we agree that they were awesome in The Defenders– particularly with the addition of those glorious Luke/Danny tag-teams! If you don’t mind, we’re going to take this as an excuse to do a deep dive into Danny’s Defenders arc.

    (First: his haircut is excellent. We liked the longer hair too, but this would be much easier to uh… *cough* fit under a mask. Eh, Marvel?)

    In some of the earliest pre-Defenders interviews, Finn mentioned that Danny would be the one member of the team who really knew what was going on, and would be a driving force behind the team-up– and this ended up being very much the case. Of all the protagonists, Danny comes into this fight with the most pain and the most context and the biggest personal investment in achieving victory. Matt lost someone he loved to the Hand, and we’re certainly not disregarding that grief, but Danny lost his entire home– or at least, he believes he did– and he blames himself.

    The question of whether K’un-Lun has actually been destroyed is toyed with throughout The Defenders, and while we likely won’t find out the truth until Iron Fist Season 2, the important factor here is what Danny believes. His character arc in his solo show followed his desperate struggle to sort out his identity– as Danny Rand in the first five episodes, as Iron Fist in the next five, and as a balance of both in the final three– and now, he views this time spent in conflict as having cost him everything. We know, of course, that this was beyond his control, and so it’s upsetting to watch him get tortured anew by guilt. We can compare his nightmare about K’un-Lun in Defenders Episode 1 to his relentless PTSD-fueled flashbacks to the plane crash in Iron Fist. The trauma of watching his parents die, while obviously not gone, has been superseded by the trauma of losing his adopted family and home. And once again, just as he did as a ten-year-old, he is reacting to compensate for this loss. We see at the beginning of The Defenders that his life and purpose have become simplified and focused. He is no longer questioning. He is no longer conflicted. He no longer believes he can afford to be. He has one goal, to the exclusion of all else. He’s the Iron Fist, and he’s taking down the Hand no matter what.  

    (A whole separate post could be written on the contexts in which he introduces himself as Danny vs. as Iron Fist, but we’ll get back to that.)

    Another side effect of this new sense of purpose is isolation. Danny needs to complete his mission himself, and doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt. Colleen, as someone who has been on this journey with him for a long time at this point, and who has her own self-imposed mission to destroy the Hand, is the only ally he wants. As Colleen points out later in the show, Danny is on a subconscious search for a family. But having lost his last two, and having been betrayed by nearly everyone since first returning to New York, he starts the show hesitant about the idea of acquiring new allies. Colleen, in contrast, is eager for help and sees this isolation as a problem. With Danny cutting himself off from the rest of the world, he is becoming locked in a spiral of depression and putting himself in danger. It’s interesting to then watch them reverse positions on this topic as the show progresses.

    This mission leads to Danny and Colleen’s discovery of the Chaste stronghold in NYC, a hint of their connection to K’un-Lun, and– most importantly– the fact that they too have been wiped out. Yet another failure, in what is now looking more and more to Danny like a battle he is destined to lose. This is the absolute worst possible moment Luke could have strolled into his life and started protecting someone working for the Hand.

    Luke is defending a suffering kid from what looks like a random assault. Danny is fighting someone he assumes is a Hand warrior, possibly the very person who slaughtered the Chaste. He is out for blood– and Luke does nothing but unknowingly exacerbate the situation.

    (Oh no.)

    (OH NO!)

    The sheer size of the misunderstandings in Luke and Danny’s early interactions makes them painful to watch, but also great character moments. This fight, for Danny, is an embodiment of his entire battle with the Hand so far: seemingly futile, and exposing just how weak and ineffective he is. Nothing he tries works, and the enemy just. Keeps. Coming. Not only that, but Luke is standing in the way of his one hope for finding answers: Cole. All things considered, it’s a testament to Danny’s self-control that it takes him as long as it does to wallop his future BFF with the Iron Fist.

    While we’re on the subject of Danny in this fight, we wanted to take a second to highlight this badassery:

    Danny’s agility and untouchability is a trademark of his fighting style in the comics, and it’s his usual strategy for fighting big bruisers like Luke, so we loved seeing it showcased here (and we wish he’d used it more)!

Luke: “Your playin’ jack-rabbit ain’t gonna save you forever, punk!”

Power Man #48 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Francoise Mouly

    Once Claire vouches for Luke not being Hand, Danny agrees to meet with him– and while obviously wary at first (again: Danny has had a terrible history of trusting people he shouldn’t), he warms up to Luke amazingly quickly. He clearly respects and admires Luke for what he’s heard about him from Claire, and for his fighting ability– and yes, probably also because of True Love™ (platonic or otherwise, depending on how you personally read this relationship). The writers know what the fans want, after all.    

    (Ed Brisson, the writer for the current Iron Fist series, once referred to their dynamic as (to paraphrase) “the guy with the most powerful punch, and the guy who can take that punch”, so we appreciate this exchange. We’re gonna try really hard to not veer too far into Heroes for Hire Happy Land in this post, since we’re focusing specifically on Danny, but this seemed worth pointing out. There will be plenty of time for Heroes for Hire Happy Land later…)  

    This scene also introduces something we see several times in the show, usually with Luke– which is Danny’s eagerness to share the details of his origin story. He becomes noticeably happier when talking about K’un-Lun and acquiring his powers, and it’s really endearing.

    (D’aw. That’s how we feel about Shou-Lao too, Danny.)

    One of our favorite exchanges in the entire show, in fact, is in Episode 6: when Luke makes fun of Danny for this, then realizes he’s hurt him, feels bad, and offers to sincerely engage. Danny’s relief and gratitude is palpable and it’s a great moment in their budding friendship. In fact (and we’ll get back to this), it’s possibly the most important moment between them from Danny’s perspective– proof that, despite the betrayal of trying to keep him out of the war, Luke does actually care about him. It’s a small gesture, but a powerful one, since Danny doesn’t have many people like that in his life anymore.  

    Also, as far as we can remember, Danny never actually mentioned shoving his hands into Shou-Lao’s heart in Iron Fist, so we love that that detail was included here. It’s important! And yes… it hurt like heck.

Danny: “I plunged my hands into it, as hard as I could, again and again. You can’t imagine how that hurt… It was hotter than any furnace, but after ten years of preparation– after all the others who’d tried and failed– how could I stop?”

Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1 #75 by Mary Jo Duffy, Kerry Gammill, and Christie Scheele 

    Anyway, we read this urge several different ways. First, Danny is really proud of being the Iron Fist– and he should be. The guy singlehandedly killed a dragon, and being K’un-Lun’s Immortal Weapon is a huge honor. He talks again and again, in both Iron Fist and in The Defenders, about how this was something he earned through hard work and dedication. It’s his greatest accomplishment– something that has defined his life. This also means that it’s key to understanding who he is. Danny is finally able to fully embraced his identity and status as the Iron Fist, as we discussed earlier, meaning that he now sees this as the most important fact about him. He wants new people to understand him, and telling them his origin story is a quick and easy way to get at the core of who he sees himself to be at this point. It’s also proof of his credentials. He’s the Iron Fist– he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to this magic ninja stuff. It’s telling that during the team’s first conversation at the restaurant, Danny seems to expect Matt to know about the Iron Fist legacy as well, since he has prior knowledge of the Hand. (Joke’s on you, Danny– Matt failed his Chaste training.)

    Most importantly: it’s something he just doesn’t get to talk about much, since he doesn’t have many friends (yet!) and most people don’t believe him. And it’s heartbreaking for his life and title and home to be continually scoffed at, but he keeps trying anyway. Now that he thinks he’ll never see K’un-Lun again, he is probably extra desperate to reflect on happy memories of his time there. Since he returned to New York, the only person who has sincerely been interested in connecting with him in this way is Colleen. He needs more friends he can chat with about kung fu and dragons! He needs more people in his life who actually care about him as a person!

    And finally, of course, it’s for anyone who didn’t watch the previous Marvel Netflix shows– but that’s beside the point.

    This scene also, of course, gives us Luke and Danny’s other fight– which is even more painful than the physical one. We could pick this apart line by line, since it is loaded with nuance, but it boils down to Luke fundamentally misunderstanding the situation. The points he makes to Danny make perfect sense based on his personal background and the extent of his knowledge. They’re excellent, socially relevant points. However, they betray a lack of awareness of what’s actually going on in the show, and the fact that Luke doesn’t know anything about Danny yet. And Danny is blindsided by his accusations, since they’re so far removed from the real situation.  

    Danny spent most of his life without money, then had a fortune he wasn’t interested in unceremoniously dumped on him, so this whole conversation is understandably surreal for him. He sees the Hand bearing down on New York and threatening the only other home he has, while Luke just sees a kid whose life is in danger and whose family is suffering, and these personal investments in the situation cloud their abilities to see each other’s perspectives. And boy, does that hurt to watch. This is also the introduction of Danny’s main role within the team-up: as someone who understands the Hand better than any of the others, and tries to keep all of their individual agendas from getting in the way of what really matters.      

    It’s also key to point out the difference between Colleen (who also worked for the Hand) and Cole. Danny now understands, via Colleen, how the Hand can sucker good people into joining them by not revealing their sinister deeds until ensuring loyalty. Colleen was with the Hand for years, yet had no idea her faction was involved in criminal activity. But Cole was right in there, disposing of dead bodies. Danny has every reason to assume he had at least some sense of how bad his bosses were.

    …And this is the point where Danny finally snaps, which is no big surprise. It cuts right into his own feelings of guilt. But Luke would have no way of knowing how out of line this is.

    This is an upsetting scene for H4H fans (one of us had to take a minute to calm down during our first watch-through), but it’s also a key turning point in Danny’s Defenders character arc. Having hit a wall in his battle with the Hand, Luke’s comments provide him with a fresh perspective on the situation– and a new idea about how to continue the fight. He realizes, in fact, that he needs to reach outside of his Iron Fist identity, to which he has so tightly clung since the beginning of the show, and make use of his Rand resources.        

    As Colleen rightly points out, and despite whatever “entitled rich kid” stereotype Luke might have imagined, this is not his world, and he is stepping way out of his comfort zone. But he goes for it anyway, his fighting spirit renewed. He even makes the ultimate sacrifice and puts on a suit and tie!      

    (Get ‘em, Danny!)

    Having spent so long trying to reconcile his two identities, this is a hugely important moment– in which Danny uses his civilian identity as a weapon to further his mission as Iron Fist.

Danny: “I need to face this as Danny Rand. I’ll need every asset of my father’s most precious gift to me… this mighty, undying corporation… and every last dollar of its lifeblood… and all the power that buys. You want a war, Hydra? Fine. You’ve got it.”

Immortal Iron Fist #3 by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja, et al.   

    As we hope he learns in future seasons through his continued exploration of the Iron Fist legacy, all Iron Fists (at least, in the comics) are unique, and their lives, careers, and even power-sets are shaped by their individual differences. There isn’t a set template for being the Iron Fist, and it is possible– necessary, even– to be an Immortal Weapon without losing every other part of your identity. Danny has gone from negotiating the two sides of his life and being buffeted by the chaos this generates, to zeroing in on his fight with the Hand to the exclusion of everything else– and this moment is a great step in what will hopefully be a journey toward a comfortable middle ground. Yes, the writers needed to get him to Midland Circle so he could take part in the team-up, but it’s also a cool character moment. Also, look at that smirk. You go, Danny.  

    But all of this aside, Colleen is right, Danny is not a businessman. And he knows it. However, he also knows how to approach combat, and is very good at acting confident, as we saw in his fights in Iron Fist. It’s clear he’s faking his way through his business-y speech to the board at Midland Circle, but that’s not the point. This is his official declaration of war. He needs the Hand to know that the Iron Fist is coming after them, and he needs them to think he has the upper hand. By strolling right into the center of their operation, he is metaphorically giving them the finger and letting them think he doesn’t feel threatened by them.

    At the same time, he is placing himself in a position of weakness. For the first time since the beginning of the show, he is completely isolated– and for the first time, he is confronted face-to-face with the reality of what, exactly, he’s up against.

    Alexandra shows up to derail him, belittle him, and emotionally destabilize him. She goes in for some space invasion and forced physical contact to assert dominance (she does the same thing in the restaurant, and to Elektra). Heck, she even sits right up on the conference table to throw in a little additional disrespect. And she meets Danny’s declaration with one of her own: that the Hand doesn’t feel threatened by him either. Danny doesn’t back down, of course, but once again the Hand is presenting a serious challenge to him – and this time he’s facing them all by himself.  

    We are sadly no longer able to make GIFs from Netflix (and kudos to the GIF wizards who still manage it), but Danny is so angry here that he’s twitching. The core members of the Hand use the apparent destruction of K’un-Lun as a psychological weapon against him throughout the show, and each time it’s heartbreaking to watch him fight to keep his composure. It’s a testament to his self-control that he manages it here– though the emotional turmoil stemming from this, alongside everything else Alexandra throws at him in this scene (her blasé attitude, the fact that she doesn’t want to kill him yet, the fact that she’s killed previous Iron Fists…), may be why he experiences a chi malfunction right before Luke arrives.    

    Team-up stories are always going to undermine the power of individual characters’ narratives. Were this Danny’s solo show, he would likely have found a way out of this situation on his own, and it would have been awesome. But then we wouldn’t have gotten this:  

    (Chi blockage: cured!) …so we’re not complaining. As it stands, the effectiveness of this team-up convinces Danny that maybe acquiring more allies isn’t such a bad idea.

    Tracking the Hand all over the world didn’t work, searching for the Chaste didn’t work, confronting their leaders and attacking their “legal” base of operations didn’t work… Now, Danny eagerly throws himself into a new strategy that seems like it might yield results. It’s heartening to see that in the midst of all of his pain and frustration, he still maintains that characteristic optimism. Just because all previous efforts have failed doesn’t mean this one will, and he is positively chipper throughout his early interactions with the other three. He believes that now, at last, he has found a way to beat the Hand, and thus his hope is restored. It’s a relief for him to have more allies to rely on, and he is fascinated to run into other superpowered warriors, awed by them, and eager to work alongside them.

    (These are only a few examples, of course– Danny is perpetually geeking out over the other three throughout the show.) Despite his history of betrayal and his previous belief that he couldn’t get others involved, he sets his heart on this team-up and almost instantly attaches himself to Luke, Jessica, and Matt. He doesn’t even get involved in the argument about Matt hiding his face– he trusts him anyway (neat detail: he doesn’t even look at Matt’s face post-reveal until after Matt introduces himself). It’s enough for him, in this moment, that he’s found a group of friends who are able and willing to fight the Hand alongside him. He verbally defends their honor to Alexandra, and (big surprise) is smitten with Luke in particular.  

   Now that the situation has escalated and Luke sees what’s really going on, and after their effortlessly badass partnership at Midland Circle, the two of them have put aside their grievances. Now, Danny goes into the same hi-I’m-going-to-keep-talking-to-you-until-you-become-my-friend mode with Luke that he did with Colleen when he first met her.

    Luke in turn provides Danny with protection and moral support later in this scene, when Alexandra starts getting aggressive. Danny is still subconsciously looking for a family, and in addition to their ability to kick serious ninja butt, these guys seem to him like prime candidates.  

    The restaurant scene is an emotional high point for Danny for another reason as well: Stick.  

    We had high hopes for Danny and Stick’s interactions, and all of them were met. Stick exhibits a respect for Danny’s rank (moreso than we were expecting, in fact, but not too much– he’s still Stick, after all) that is in neat contrast with his interactions with everyone else. Danny, in turn, is delighted to meet someone of Stick’s calibre who– most importantly– has information! Not only that, but Stick is connected to K’un-Lun in a positive way, which automatically puts him at the top of Danny’s list of people to hang out with.

    This, however, is coupled with Danny’s renewed feelings of distress about how much information was withheld from him while he was in K’un-Lun (which is also true in the comics. This is mostly due to 616 K’un-Lun’s massive amount of political intrigue, which we’re dying for the show to cover). The fact that the Chaste existed to work alongside the Iron Fist, and Danny didn’t know about them, and now most of them are dead, is a killer bombshell for Stick to drop on him at this moment. Danny is therefore desperate to learn everything he possibly can to make up for this intel gap, and is eager to hear what Stick has to say.

    We enjoy the contrast here with Matt– and the fact that Danny gets annoyed at Matt’s disrespect and dismissal of Stick’s intel. Danny has finally found someone who knows what’s going on and who is just as invested in this fight as he is, not to mention someone with a personal connection to his home, and dammit, he wants to listen!

    Danny’s delight in his new allies does not last, of course, and it ends the minute he is transformed into the show’s MacGuffin (thing for the protagonists and antagonists to fight over). With the revelation that the Hand need the Iron Fist in their possession in order to achieve their aims, the team tries to do the absolute worst thing that could possibly be done to Danny in this context: prevent him from fighting.          

    (Exhibit A: A rare image of Luke Cage telling Danny Rand to calm down. Only a handful of these exist in the world, so take a good look. We’ve talked before about the temperament switch in this version of the dynamic duo, and this summarizes that change perfectly. It’s fascinating, and we can’t wait to see how it plays out as their friendship continues to develop. When they do Good Cop/Bad Cop… will Danny be the Bad Cop? How wild would that be?!)

    This is a brilliant narrative wrench to throw into Danny’s story arc, since it’s pretty close to his worst nightmare. The only meaning he has in life right now, the only way he will ever be able to reconcile the pain Iron Fist Season 1 left him with, the only way he will be able to avenge K’un-Lun, is to take down the Hand. He is a warrior, this is his job, the enemy is winning, and his friends want to prevent him from fighting. He’d probably prefer it if Stick just tried to kill him, instead of being locked up and rendered helpless. The emotional horror of being blocked from fulfilling his mission is coupled with the frustration that comes with the fact that he is right and the audience knows it. The Hand want him on their side or out of the fight completely. Danny, more than anyone there other than Stick, knows how sneaky and deceptive and manipulative the Hand can be, and now he sees their influence tearing his dream team apart, and these people he thought were his allies are refusing to listen to him. He sees his hopes for victory unraveling in front of him, and nothing he says makes any difference! We’d start punching too! We’re getting stressed and frustrated just writing about it!

    Plus, Danny is being betrayed by people he thought he could trust… AGAIN. Still reeling from the series of massive betrayals he suffered through in his solo show, his willingness to trust in the good intentions of the people around him is once more coming back to hit him in the face. A good chunk of the anger and frustration he experiences in this scene is likely aimed toward himself, for once again becoming emotionally attached to the wrong people. Of course, the others are acting in what they think are Danny’s best interests, but given all of these factors, there’s no way Danny doesn’t see this as yet another betrayal.

   This is the face of a guy who has lost everything, has just been stabbed in the back for the hundredth time, has at maximum two people in his life he can trust… maybe two-and-a-half, and who just had to chi punch someone he cares about. A serious contender for most heartbreaking moment in the show.

    And of course– big surprise– this ends up being a mistake. Tying him up and trying to hide him only makes it easier for the Hand to get their hands on him. To add injury to more injury, Stick is killed in the process (R.I.P. gone too soon), and Luke is poisoned– two things Danny was rendered powerless to prevent. This leads into his third, and possibly most interesting, confrontation with Alexandra.

    After dangling the image of K’un-Lun’s ruins in front of Danny throughout the entire show, Alexandra now switches tactics and reveals her own emotional connections to his lost home. This comes alongside her cryptic assertion that Danny “saw what [he] wanted to see” when he returned to K’un-Lun. “Wanted” seems like a strange word to use in this situation (”expected” would make more sense), but once Danny discovered that the Hand was real during his solo show, and after all of Davos’s warnings, there was unquestionably a part of him that feared he’d return to find it gone. This, alongside the Hand leaders’ sincere desire to go back to the city themselves, makes a pretty strong case for it having not actually been destroyed. We likely won’t learn the truth until Season 2 of Iron Fist, but the hope is there. Danny, for his part, remains seemingly unaffected by this attempt at a personal connection. He doesn’t trust anything the Hand have to say, and probably assumes Alexandra is just messing with him. He has become too jaded to hope that he’s wrong about K’un-Lun, and too angry to care if the Hand share his love of the city. They’re evil jerks regardless, and now that he’s in their grasp, he can’t afford any moment of weakness or shred of doubt.

    After Alexandra’s premature death (hopefully this means no one will call Matt “the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen” ever again!), Danny falls into Elektra’s hands and the two weapons finally get their rematch. We wrote a post about the fact that Danny never lost any of his physical fights in Iron Fist, and so getting beaten by Elektra in the beginning of The Defenders likely left a big impression on him. We were hoping the Black Sky might end up being an Immortal Weapon, and while this was neither confirmed nor denied, she is still essentially treated like one by the Hand. This creates some fascinating parallels and contrasts between Elektra and Danny.

    Danny, via his emotional connection to K’un-Lun and the strong sense of duty he finally has the capacity for since sorting out his identity tangle, is a willing weapon. He serves and honors his city because he loves it and knows how much he owes to it (stay tuned for the Matt parallel!). Elektra, via her history of negative experiences with servitude and her desire for control of her own destiny, is an unwilling weapon. Her status as a tool of the Hand is a prison she was forced into, and from which she has finally managed to escape. She sees Danny’s loyalty as weakness; he sees her rebellion as unfaithfulness. At the same time, Danny completely supports people betraying the Hand, so his comments about her lack of loyalty may just be attempts to get under her skin. Only having his experiences to go on, he doesn’t understand that this wouldn’t bother her– just as Elektra doesn’t understand that Danny has no desire to be “free” of his masters the way she does. In this moment, neck-deep in his mission and standing in the presence of something created by another Iron Fist, his loyalty and resolve are stronger than ever.  

*Ahem*

    (They made “Sweet Christmas” work. They could’ve let Danny keep his K’un-Lun expletives. Come on.)

    A solid argument could be made that Danny actually could read the writing on the door, but just didn’t want to reveal that information to Elektra. The idea of an Iron Fist writing an important message in a K’un-Lun-specific dialect brings to mind Book of the Iron Fist from the comics, which is written in a language only Iron Fists can read. However, we also know that Gao was able to decipher the door, and Danny being unable to would tie into the continuing theme of his getting left in the dark by his masters in K’un-Lun.

    (This is just a really nice shot.)

    When her attempts to relate to Danny and win him to her side fail, Elektra falls back on the same old tactics everyone else has been using against him– his weak spot regarding K’un-Lun.  

    Having been taunted about this throughout the entire show, again and again fighting to keep his emotions in check, and feeling no closer to avenging the city… Danny finally snaps. At this point in his story arc, after everything he has been through, he is more emotionally raw than ever. The framing of this moment almost makes it seem as though he summons the Iron Fist without thinking about it– which indicates a dangerous loss of control, and is something that usually only happens in extreme situations.

Danny: “My hand–?! It’s glowing, the power of my chi surging thru my body… almost as if my instincts have realized what my mind has not–”

Iron Fist vol. 1 #11 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and D. Garfield

    The final battle with the Hand is, for us, the weakest part of Danny’s Defenders arc, in which his story suffers for the sake of facilitating the team-up. After all of his defeats, face-to-face with the Hand, defending K’un-Lun’s legacy and standing in the skeleton of a freaking dragon, Danny should have been the one to finally triumph and take them down. Instead, he gets rescued, and isn’t even involved in blowing up Midland Circle. Danny has earned the right to spearhead this victory, and that right is taken away from him. As it stands, his mission to find closure and cement his status as the Iron Fist will have to wait until his solo show.

    By the end of The Defenders, however, Danny has achieved one of his goals: he has started to build a new family for himself. His one-on-one bonding scene with Luke while tied up, and fighting side-by-side with all three of them, cleared up his residual anger about their getting him into this situation in the first place and proved that these are people he could actually have a future with. This bond is strengthened by the fact that Matt, in what Danny understands to be his dying moments, entrusts him with an important mission.  

   Of all of the protagonists, Danny is the least emotionally connected to New York City. Yes, he was born there, but it’s not his home. Believing K’un-Lun to be gone, he is now adrift. Like Colleen, he is looking for an anchor, and with the Hand threatening NYC, he was able to somewhat transfer his feelings of duty over to this new city now facing the same fate.  

    He sees Matt give his life to save his home– something he understands all too well– and through observing that love and spending the show fighting for New York himself, Danny starts to forge a connection to it. He respects Matt’s sacrifice, and in having Matt’s mission transferred to him, he is given something new he can devote himself to. His final shot, silhouetted on a rooftop and wearing an outfit reminiscent of his current costume in the comics, mirrors Matt’s standard hero pose. We’ve talked before about Iron Fist as a “professional” hero– someone whose job just happens to align with that lifestyle. The first time Danny is referred to as a superhero in the comics, he’s shocked, in fact, because this had never occurred to him. The same is true of MCU Danny, which makes it extra exciting that he has now– to a degree that we can only guess at the moment– taken over Matt’s role as a superhero.

    This should not derail his continuing identity quest. Being the Iron Fist is at the core of who he is, and in many ways, his origin story is far from over. For this reason, we doubt that he will actually become Daredevil, as he did for a while in the comics. But with the Hand having been taken down, a new place to call home (at least until the K’un-Lun situation is sorted out), budding friendships (and possibly a future partnership with Luke?!), Danny’s life is looking, overall, much better than it was at the beginning of the show. 

    We cannot wait to see where he goes from here.