#to make shows with disabled characters TnT

[newkittypoom]

im not blind but i hope no one clowns on last twilight

[cesium-sheep]

wah wah wah I love a sign of affection so muuuuuuuuch TnT if you like shojo manga At All you have to give it a try, it is absolutely top tier no questions. plus while it didn’t come up a whole lot in this volume because yuki was mostly with people she already knows well, I still feel really positive about the way they’re handling her Deafness (disclaimer that I am hearing and disabled so I only know what comes into the disabled circles rather than having direct experience). like two guys are flirting with her while she’s waiting for itsuomi, but she doesn’t know they’re talking to her. one of them tries to get her attention by grabbing her arm, thinking she’s being rude, and itsuomi sweeps in like “hey dumbass that’s not a bluetooth that’s her hearing aid. it’s just like your glasses.” actively using the normalization of corrective lenses.

and I also love love love the way suu morishita handles ““““relationship drama”“““ (they did this in shortcake cake too) - they actively steer away from the miscommunications and the secrets and all that shit, and instead show characters giving each other the benefit of the doubt, being honest, and just. trusting one another. they actively set up the potential for a big blowup misunderstanding where oushi sees ema dragging itsuomi off, which he absolutely could exploit to drive a wedge between itsuomi and yuki, knowingly or otherwise. but he actively takes the time to sit down and think to himself that he’s just looking for an excuse to make itsuomi the bad guy and does not tell yuki about it. and then itsuomi tells her himself the moment they start a conversation anyway! I adore the way they write relationships. I struggle a lot with remembering names in general, and often don’t actually know who’s credited for the books I enjoy, but suu morishita is such a good team that I absolutely know their shared pen name (and will espouse the virtues of their works at the slightest opportunity).

[real-american]

Supernatural: A dedication to its memory and how the show changed my life

Fifteen Years. 15 years and over 300 episodes of the greatest show on TV. 15 years of joy, heartache, tears, fun and inspiration; and for me, 15 years, two marriages one divorce, two tattoos and a show that brought me the love of my life. Supernatural has impacted us all on so many levels. I could easily write a 15 page academic paper on the seasons, the meanings behind each season and all the little things that made the show so great. Things such as the music, the brothers Winchester, the family dynamic, and the beautiful 1967 Chevy Impala (my dream car should I win the lottery. Black four door version of course). I could go on about each major and minor character, how they impacted the show and what each of them meant to me and the fans but this is not what this is about. This post is about how Supernatural changed my life and how it impacted me.

First a few housekeeping things to address regarding the final season and the series finale. I thought the pre finale show was excellent but definitely could have been longer and included more. However I do understand they only had 42 minutes or so to cram 15 years of memories and characters in so I understand they had to only hit the highlights. They should do a longer version for the Blue Ray 15 season collectors set which I'm sure they will make and that I am definitely getting. Regarding the final season, I thought it was excellent. My wife, who is also a big fan of the show (more on her later) didn't think it was as good as other seasons but enjoyed it none the less. The ending was good sort of expected with the two boys ending up in heaven together, but I was surprised they killed Dean in the sort of nonchalant way they did. Sort of anti climactic for the greatest hunter in the world. The final speech to Sam was heartbreaking and heartfelt and I loved it! I also loved the symmetry of how Sam's son Dean also gave him permission to leave this world as Sam gave (original) Dean all those years later. I'm glad they didn't show who Sam's wife was and she was just left as a mysterious place holder. Originally I thought maybe they should have had him with Eileen but in retrospect the way they did it was better and honestly I'm not sure if she (or the other AU folk) were even brought back with the rest of the world. Maybe someone can clear this point up for me. I was really surprised they didn't do the "carry on my wayward son" beginning but I soon figured out before it even happened they were going to do it in the end of the episode which turned out to be much better. All in all I give the last season an A- and the finale and how it ended an A+ Again there is a lot to say about the final season, the final episode, and all the seasons but I will leave that analysis to other people. This is about what the show meant to me specifically about how it helped me through my darkest days and ushered in my brightest of days which I am living now. This is that story.

I wasn't with Supernatural from the very beginning. The show premiered in 2005 and I honestly hadn't heard anything about it or did I know anything about it for a few years. I came off active duty from the Marine Corps in June of 2005 and after fighting my beloved country's wars for a few years I was out of the loop on many things. I first came across Supernatural on TNT catching a re run here and there but with no real interest and only getting bits and pieces of the story. In 2010 I met my first wife and was a casual fan at this point seeing enough re runs on TNT to get a general idea of the storyline for the first few seasons but again only as a casual fan. At this point of my life I was also falling down a dark hole. My alcoholism which is a result of my PTSD from my combat service started to get really bad. I was drinking more than most people could handle but as my father was, highly functional. This led to me staying with and eventually marrying my first wife which was a bad idea. She cheated on me constantly and probably didn't even really love me. We were also polar political opposites (you can figure out my political viewpoints from the rest of my blog) and not compatible really in the least. Why I ever stayed with her and married her is beyond me at this point in my life. So there I was drinking my life away in a bad relationship and trying to figure out how to manage my life. Then Supernatural came on Netflix and I decided to give it a real shot. This decision changed my life.

I quickly caught up on the first six seasons and started watching the show live starting with season 7. I was hooked. I loved everything about it. Dean and Sam, Cass the car, the brotherly love, the monsters, the angels, everything but I still didn't know how this show would impact me in the end. I continued to drink myself to death getting unhealthier fatter and no longer resembling the fit Marine I once was. I was in a constant haze drinking an entire bottle of whiskey every night to drink away the pain of my bad marriage and the pain of not being loved and cheated on by my wife. Supernatural was the one bright spot in my life.

In 2014 I finally divorced my wife but this was only the first step. I continued to drink and destroy my life causing me to get fired from my job. Fortunately I was hired on back into government work making much better money and with having no wife and no kids was finally able to live a little better financially but I was lonely and alone except for the alcohol. I continued to find refuge in the bottle but also in Supernatural. I watched every episode as it came on, re watched all the old episodes, blogged and facebooked about it to the point that I am sure I was annoying the one or two friends that I had. The rest of my life was a blur. Get up, stumble into work drunk or hungover, go home sick and jonesing for my next drink, bottle of whiskey till one in the morning, a few hours of sleep and starting the whole cycle back over. I was fat, ugly on the outside, ugly on the inside, and a bad human being. My drinking got so bad I destroyed my liver and was medically discharged from my job but was given retirement for all my years of service to the federal government. So now I was 33 retired with a pension and VA disability and really nothing to do but sit at home drink whiskey and watch TV. I had no love in my life, one or two close friends who didn't like being around me anymore because of my drinking, and my family was worried but couldn't get through to me. Even after my father died of alcohol abuse in 2015 I still continued down my destructive path. Finally in February of 2017 I was hospitalized and was told I would be dead in less than a year. I truly believe I was touched by God at this point because I went home dumped out three bottles of alcohol and never touched the stuff again to this day.

Now I had to learn to relive my life all over without alcohol. I started to exercise and lose weight (90 pounds in 5 months) I went back to church, and I started to try and find love again and of course needing distraction and something to occupy my mind I dove deep into Supernatural. I re watched and re watched again all the old episodes, I poured myself into analysis of the plot lines and characters, I got tattoos on my arms (the demon trap and the anti possession symbol), I obsessed with everything Supernatural. It helped me stay sober. When I wanted a drink I would watch an episode, when I was feeling lonely I would go hang out with Sam and Dean. When I wanted to give up I took refuge in the Impala. I became a super fan. So far Supernatural got me through my divorce, was my bright spot in my alcoholic haze, and helped me stay sober when I first gave up my demons. I cheered harder during the happy moments of the show and cried harder in the sad ones. I was an emotional wreck and my feelings only seemed to come out while watching the show. Although I had quit drinking, got rid of my toxic ex wife and started to improve my life, I was still not happy. I was alone and lonely but Supernatural came to my rescue once again.

Throughout 2017 and the first part of 2018 I managed to be in two relationships. I poured myself into them grasping at them as if they were my reward for turning my life around and ignoring all the signs that they were not good relationships. I was still learning to relive my life as a sober person. I never integrated back into society after I left the Corps in 2005 and finally I was doing so but it was a hard journey. Inevitably those relationships failed and I was utterly heartbroken each time, but Supernatural was always there through the good times and the bad. When my heart was broken I would go find refuge in my favorite show forgetting about my problems and trying to help Sam and Dean solve theirs. Finally in May of 2018 I decided to try and find love again. This time it would be different and this time it was Supernatural that helped me get there.

As part of my recovery and daily routine I started to eat at my local diner everyday. Everyday from about July 2017 to the present time in this story I would go in, order 2 eggs over easy, hash browns, sausage, and toast. Everyday I would sit in the same spot at the counter (counter 6 was the name of the spot) order the same thing and even had my own special coffee mug. I knew everyone who worked there by name and they all knew me by name. They knew my order and had it ready for me when I came in. It felt like a magical place, a place that would forever change my life. There was one waitress/cook that I didn't see very often. She mostly worked the night shift but occasionally I would see her if I was there later in the day than usual or if she occasionally worked a morning shift. I was drawn to this woman. About the middle of May in 2018 I decided to maybe try and work up the courage to ask her out. I would always look for her when I went in hoping she was working that day hoping she wasn't too busy so that I could exchange a few words with her and hoping she would even notice me. Then one day in July I went in and she was there. I said hello and ate my breakfast but we didn't talk much. When I was paying for my meal the other gal working there asked  what my plans were for the day and I said oh nothing much just gonna go home and watch Supernatural. Then she turned around. The woman I had been trying to talk to, the one I wanted to ask out, Michelle was her name. She said, "I love that show I'm watching season 13 on DVD right now". I perked up a smile came across my face. Nervously I said, "oh cool yeah its my favorite show" Michelle nodded and turned back to work, I went to my car got in and smiled. I knew how I was gonna break the ice now next time. A few days later on my daily visit to the diner I went in a little later than usual. It was about 3 in the afternoon. It was dark and gloomy, raining, and cold. It felt like a Supernatural episode. It felt like a 67 Impala should have been in the parking lot and two good looking hunters should be in the corner on a laptop researching their current case. It felt like a magical moment. Turns out I was the only customer in the whole place. It was just me the waitress and Michelle who was cooking that day. They took my order without asking as the usually did and I could already see Michelle had already started cooking it. She finished and brought it to me herself. We exchanged a look and a feeling of confidence I have never had in my life overcame me and I said to her, "So are you enjoying season 13?" That is how it all began we started talking about the show. How we started watching it who our favorite characters were, how much we loved this season or that one. The conversation was seamless. We got into other get to know you topics around our conversation about Supernatural and it was like we were old friends talking about a show we loved. Eventually I got up and went to pay the waitress and she turned to go back to the kitchen in the back. Feeling an opportunity slip away I said "hey Michelle, maybe we should go get some dinner some time and watch some Supernatural together". I held my breath. She would surely smile and politely say no. She probably gets asked out all the time by the customers, beautiful woman that she is. Then she smiled and said "sure that would be great" I must have smiled so big and my heart skipped 10 beats! I got her number which she wrote on a order ticket and the rest they say is history. Ten months later I wrote ,"will you marry me" on the back of that order ticket and gave it to her at counter 6 at the diner where we met, where we first started talking about Supernatural, where my life finally changed for the better forever, and she said yes! We were married two months later on our one year anniversary and we just watched the final episode together yesterday. We both had tears, we both smiled when Sam and Dean, soulmates, were finally together at the end because we both know how it feels to be with each others soulmate. We held each others hand and said goodbye together.

Supernatural has forever changed me. It has been with me through every major event in my life over the last 15 years. Through the dark times, through the hard times, and finally through the current happy times. I guess it is ok that Supernatural is over now. I no longer need it. I have my wife, my Michelle, my soulmate. I am finally happy. I have Sam and Dean's permission to move on and they have mine. Good bye Winchesters. Good bye and thank you. You have taught me to carry on and find my peace when I'm done, and to cry no more. This is but one man's story, one of so many. How many lives has this show changed? How many people have found comfort in the adventures of Sam and Dean? I'm not sure the answer. Too many to count I would wager. 15 years and 300 episodes of the greatest show ever on TV. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  

[mittensmorgul]

I love Eileen. And I love Saileen. I love that they introduced a character with a disability and made Sam happy But I agree with a lot of what you say about Saileen. They’re NOT canon. Yeah, they very well could be. But as of now, they aren’t. They seem more like a “will they/won’t they” relationship rather than a real established relationship. And with everything with Chuck and his control over her... idk. I love hearing what ppl think about it but they need to let you have your opinions

Thank you for this, seriously. I just feel like I’ve been pressured into seeing it differently. And I’m sorry for that, honestly! I wish I could see it as a purely cute, happy, no complications relationship. I wish I could see the parallels to destiel as direct mirrors instead of “spot the difference” mirrors.

I love Eileen as a character, and have seen potential for her to have a relationship with Sam since 11.11. It seemed like the show was seriously considering that in 12.17. And then the show proved they weren’t... Yes I was fully on board the “she can’t actually be dead because that was stupid and terrible” train back then. I was for a good long while afterward. (lol read my fic Winchester 275, with fun happy saileen!) But eventually, when it becomes obvious that the characters have moved on, we have to move on and see reality, too.

But after the show made her return a direct tool of manipulation by Chuck, and after she herself has expressed that because of that, BECAUSE Chuck’s interference in “writing Saileen” into the show as a romantic plot, when she questions what is real, she’s talking specifically about her relationship with Sam. If that wasn’t the case, if Chuck’s plot for her had been about ANYTHING else, I wouldn’t have so much difficulty with the state of Sam and Eileen’s relationship now. But Chuck specifically brought her back to romance Sam.

When Eileen says she doesn’t know what’s real, she specifically means between her and Sam. Between 15.06 and 15.09, Sam repeatedly denied they were like that (when Dean teased and then talked seriously to him about their obviously developing relationship based on what he’d seen of their interactions, and lampshaded by Dean himself as him viewing their interactions through the lens of his own personal issues he was struggling with at the time, having literally projected his own feelings onto their relationship). And I understand the desire to see Sam happy, to see him find a relationship like this. But I will always want that relationship for him to be real, of his own choosing, and with someone who can freely consent to it. And I want the same for Eileen, too. 

I’m doing my level best to look critically at what Chuck wants, at the plots and situations that he specifically engineers, and asking myself why. He’s been Gabriel-level manipulative/trickstery, Lucifer-level “smashing his own toys,” and Michael-level “monster apocalypse ftw,” and Raphael level “it just needs to be over.” I just watched Mystery Spot on the TNT loop, so maybe that’s why I’ve got Gabriel on the mind here, but I’m betting this week’s episode will have some heavy Gabriel style callbacks. What is the truth? What’s their own choices and what have they been “tricked” into believing was their only choice?

As long as Eileen feels that she had no choice in anything that happened between her and Sam, I’m gonna be eternally grateful that Sam had his foot on the brakes regarding their interactions to the point they learned of Chuck’s manipulation. Because it could’ve gone a hell of a lot worse if Sam had jumped into a romance with her, you know? Imagine if he had taken her up on her proposition in 15.07, only to have her doubt if it was even her choice after the fact? That would’ve been so, so much worse. For both of them.

The narrative has at least left them with POTENTIAL. Eileen could reexamine her whole relationship with Sam and decide she really does have feelings for him that are her own, completely untainted by Chuck’s interference. But I really need that to be her freely-made choice. Sam could welcome her back with open arms, ready to proceed with a relationship on their own terms, to build something real between them. If they’d consummated the relationship while Eileen was being controlled/used by Chuck, it wouldn’t even be a potential. Or maybe it would, but there would’ve always been that specter of what had happened to her hanging over the relationship, leaving them both to question if it was actually real or only based on what Chuck had pushed them into, you know? For however cute the potential of their relationship is or could be, it’s not founded in their own free will.

I completely understand why some people refuse to question Eileen’s feelings for Sam, rather than just questioning which of her actions are “real.” If Eileen hadn’t specifically been brought back for a “romance plot” with Sam, I don’t know if she would’ve doubted her feelings for him, either. They did have a history of friendship, at the very least, before Chuck’s incredibly specific plan for her unfolded in s15. We WANT good things for Sam, we want him to be happy, to find someone to love and be loved by in the way he really deserves, and has wanted for a very long time, but heck I can’t stop hearing Charlie’s voice in 8.20 here:

Sorry you have zero luck with the ladies

I need for any relationship that Sam chooses for himself to defy that statement, not to be burdened by Chuck’s incessant campaign of destroying Sam’s love life  over and over again for his own personal entertainment. He uses Sam’s hope as a weapon against him, just like we saw in 15.09. Two of Sam’s biggest character arcs for the entire series have involved his perception/understanding of reality, and hope vs hopelessness. That is, what gives Sam hope, and what strips it from him. It’s been a key metric for him in every season, and it directly affects the choices he’s willing to make, and possibly more importantly, what he’s personally willing to sacrifice.

At this moment, I’m watching Jus In Bello, and this is... exactly the plot of this entire episode. This is Sam’t plot through all of Kripke Era, throughout Chuck’s original apocalypse arc. This was Ruby’s entire purpose in the narrative: romance Sam to manipulate him into Doing The Thing. In 3.12, it’s framed around Sam’s hope vs hopelessness against the army of demons surrounding them. It’s framed as “not having a choice,” and then working together to “find another way.” Only for Ruby to show up at the end of the episode after they think they’ve succeeded, to inform them that because of their choice, everyone they’d been trying to save was now dead. And it was STILL a manipulation on a bigger level of the narrative that won’t be proven out until the end of s4 and Ruby’s Grand Reveal moment as Lucifer rises.

THIS IS A BIG ISSUE FOR SAM, and dismissing it all for the sake of smushing his face together with Eileen’s is... at the very least, a wee bit problematic. 

Obviously, Ruby was conscious of this deception from the start. She was planted with the knowledge of what she had to accomplish, and willingly participated in Sam’s manipulation. Eileen... wasn’t complicit in ANY of the manipulation, at least not consciously. I’m not attempting to frame Eileen as evil here, but just as much a victim of Chuck’s plotting as Sam was.

If Eileen didn’t feel this way herself, if she didn’t directly question and doubt her own feelings for Sam, she wouldn’t have left. She left for HERSELF. I can’t even imagine being in her position here, you know? Saved from the torment of Hell, given a tiny bit of hope for the future (still with the question of whether her soul was still doomed to Hell when she eventually died again, or whether she got a clean slate and could enter Heaven eventually, LITERALLY ALSO BECAUSE OF CHUCK). Only to discover that her second chance had been provided by Chuck because he cavalierly intended to use her AGAIN, not for her own sake, but to drive Sam’s “plot.” Romance-loss-manpain-angst-hopelessness-”Butch and Sundance” lather rinse repeat. That’s Chuck’s plot, and in leaving, whether she sees that bigger picture or not, Eileen has chosen not to participate in it. Not to let herself be used by that plot.

Eileen had her agency stolen from her by Chuck’s BMoL storyline, and she spent three years in Hell because of it. At this point in the story, leaving to regain that lost agency was the best thing she could’ve done FOR HERSELF. And Sam, of all people, who had his agency stolen from him when he was 6 months old and fed demon blood, can understand that.

If Sam and Eileen are meant to be, they BOTH need to come to that decision for reasons other than “Chuck wants to hurt us with each other for plot reasons.” And as important as Eileen as a character is for representation, she’s also elevated herself to another important level in the narrative: She chose HERSELF. She chose her own life and freedom. She chose to walk out of the story and refused to be used by it.

If Eileen comes back to the story again, it will truly be because she CHOSE it for herself. Her entire life up to 11.11 had been the same sort of “revenge narrative” that the Winchesters had endured. She got her win, and then was faced with the question (posed to her by Sam) of what she was going to do next. When we next see her, in 12.17, we see that she has apparently continued her life as a hunter. She’s drawn into helping with an “all hands on deck” situation, in finding Dagon and Kelly Kline, and then her involvement in that hunt directly leads to her death in the most awful and ableist way possible-- literally hunted down by Chuck’s “big bad threat” of the season, to drive Sam and Dean into Chuck’s ever-narrowing maze of choices leading up to their confrontation with Lucifer in 12.23 (and Cas’s death by Lucifer’s hand, and everything that followed... including Dean’s formal complaint of a prayer to Chuck himself in 13.01. I mean, given Chuck’s favored story, he must’ve been wringing his hands with glee at Dean’s hopeless suffering in early s13, you know?). 

I need to go back to Sam’s experiences with the BMoL himself. In Sam’s ongoing, lifelong issues that I’ve been tagging as “Sam vs Reality” for years now, the weapon of torture that Toni Bevell used to manipulate Sam... was specifically a fake/drug-and-torture induced romance plot. After 12.02 aired, please recall the abject horror of the entire fandom over the rape by deception plotline between Sam and Toni-- after spending the entire hellatus wondering if Toni was being set up with a “love at first stab” redemption arc in much the same way Cas had in s4. For folks that hadn’t been in the fandom during the post-s11 hellatus, this seemed to be a serious potential, until 12.02 burned that notion to the ground. Eileen’s suspicious return to the narrative in s15 rang alarm bells in my head for this exact reason.

I need people to understand why I feel so viscerally uncomfortable with Sam and Eileen’s relationship as it stands in s15. Everyone has the absolute right to find their relationship cute, or truly romantic, or to hope that they are endgame together. But I also think I have the absolute right to feel wary of it, considering all of this ^^. 

Plus, to me, all of this *IS* the interesting character stuff we’ve all been here for all these years. We’re all giddily engaging with Dean’s long-standing issues with anger, abandonment, fear, self-worth, and identity coming to fruition in s15. Even the most die-hard destiel shippers haven’t ignored the deep underlying character arcs of both Dean AND Cas as their relationship is finally being defined, clarified, and hopefully resolved in the narrative. Do we not owe at LEAST that much to Sam, and his character’s underlying issues? Because I think that’s what the narrative is pushing us to examine here.

And as you said, I also see it as a potential relationship. Yes, one with a LOT of potential based on their chemistry. As things stand after 15.09, there’s every reason to think that Eileen could come back, could accept the offer Sam made with that kiss. I saw it as him laying a potential foundation, his way of saying “maybe it wasn’t real up to this point, but we could choose it if that’s what you wanted, too.” I also see it as up to Eileen herself if she can lay that baggage down and begin building a relationship based on mutual choice, understanding, respect, affection, and potentially love and romance. If Eileen is Sam’s endgame love interest, to me it would necessitate their choice to give a future together a shot. It would be a beautiful new beginning in life, for both of them, rather than the culmination of more than a decade of emotional relationship issues that Dean and Cas are facing, you know? There is a difference, and equating the relationships on a surface level is fine, but the presumption that we’re supposed to just accept that the two relationships are equal in terms of underlying emotional context is... at least a little disturbing to me, because ^^^^^^.

Heck, I think I’ve officially emotionally wrung myself out typing about all of this again, but I appreciate having the space to actually work through my own feelings about all of this, too.

[blodreina-noumou]

Tagged by: @blodkihci and @spyecho - tysm!!! I have already done this, but I watch a thousand TV shows, so I’ma do it again!

MY SHOWS (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER) :

The 100

The Good Place

Cloak and Dagger

One Day at a Time

The Dragon Prince

Under a cut, since it’s long!

QUESTIONS:

1. who is your favorite character in 2?

The cruelty of this question. The impossible task. I cannot choose, I love Team Cockroach all equally. 

Wait, no, that’s a lie. Chidi. It’s Chidi. I love my surprisingly jacked, anxious, moral philosophy professor above almost all else.

2. who is your least favorite character in 1?

Of those who are still alive...Clarke and Bellamy, lmao. Before Abby and Kane kicked it though, they topped that list. Easily.

3. what is your favorite episode of 4?

Oh man, that’s really tough, too. I think the season finales are all up there. Elena’s family dancing with her at her quinceañera, when her dad abandons her, still makes me cry so hard. Penelope saying, “I’ve got you,” which is what her mom said to her earlier in the season, when Penelope couldn’t sleep without her husband around and she broke down in front of Lydia. That generational strength of women. The way Schneider and Leslie come in, because they’re family too. And don’t even get me started on the second season finale, there’s dozens of perfect moments, and the ending always gets my waterworks going in the best possible way.

If you haven’t watched One Day at a Time, what are you even doing??

4. what is your favorite season of 5?

The second season is really good, because by then, everyone is established and the story is clear. Plus the goddamn baby dragon is there, no longer in his egg, and he is the best. Him and Bait really help guide you through the pain and emotional turmoil.

God I need to rewatch The Dragon Prince again, it’s soooo good. Criminally underrated.

5. who is your favorite couple in 3?

I mean, that’s obvious, right? TnT, Tyrondy, The Divine Pairing. My sweet babies, Tyrone and Tandy.

6. who is your favorite couple in 2?

Cheleanor forever 💖

7. what is your favorite episode in 1?

That’s really tough, it’s such a long show now, and there are so many highs, and so, so many lows. My knee-jerk reaction is still “Spacewalker” I think. The reveal/retcon that Raven is the badass, spacewalking rebel, and Finn was her sweet and supportive boyfriend, combined with that heartbreaking twist at the end - it’s not just the best episode of The 100, it’s maybe one of the best episodes of television, ever. A true gem amidst a whoooole lot of garbage.

8. what is your favorite episode of 5?

This is mostly hard because I binged it super fast...

I think it must be “Heart of a Titan” - the one where Prince Callum reads the letter his step-father left him, and there are so many reveals so quickly. It’s a really emotional, beautiful episode.

9. what is your favorite season of 2?

The first season is really good. It’s a solid piece of television and the reveal at the end is perfect. But I think most of the best episodes happen in season two and three. It’s a tough call.

10. how long have you watched 1?

About three years now. I started when s3a was airing, so I watched the fandom burn itself to the ground while still getting through s1 and s2, lmao.

11. how did you become interested in 3?

I saw a lot of gifs about it and I got curious. People who liked Runaways said Cloak & Dagger was good too. Plus, Olivia Holt is a goddamn stunner, and Aubrey Joseph is beautiful. I’m pretty shallow, at the end of the day.

12. who is your favorite actor in 4?

Justina Machado, who plays Penelope. Everyone is amazing, but she’s an incredible lead.

13. which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

Ugggggh, this is sooo tough. It’s not The 100. Honestly it’s probably The Good Place. It’s amazing how a show about death and the afterlife and hell and can be my happy place. 

The Dragon Prince is so, so good though, more people need to watch it.

14. which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?

Welp, The 100 has six seasons, Cloak & Dagger has two. Do the math. (Also I haven’t seen the second season of Cloak & Dagger still...)

15. if you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

Honestly, Penelope. I relate so much to her, with her struggles with PTSD, depression, and anxiety - except she’s a hardworking, determined, badass mother who has overcome so much, and will continue to, because that’s who she is. I admire her a lot, and aspire to that, deep down. (Less the motherhood part, but meh.)

16. would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

I think a really funny episode could be made where Tandy and Tyrone are inserted into the world of ODAAT and have supernatural shenanigans and the show finds a way to explain them away. Plus, there’s only one degree of separate between C&D and Runaways, and Ariela Barer guest starred on ODAAT. It’d be a very silly episode, probably not canon - maybe some sort of coma/concussion episode with Elena, so she can Ariela can guest star and Carmen can return again?

That’s the one and only way I can envision it. It wouldn’t work in reverse. ODAAT cannot exist in the world of C&D.

17. pair two characters in 1 that would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple

I saw someone make a very compelling argument for Octavia and Murphy on this very survey, once. I don’t exactly ship it, but I could see it working. They’re both kind of outcasts, who rose in rank abruptly within their societies, after a long time being underdogs (to middling results.) They’re both jaded, sarcastic, edgy, and super beautiful in somewhat unconventional ways. Interestingly, they’ve rarely interacted on-screen, from what I can recall. But I think they’d make a fun, badass outsiders kind of couple. This is assuming Emori is not with Murphy anymore, for whatever reason.

18. overall, which story has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

I have to go with The Dragon Prince. C&D is good, but TDP is like, life-changing. It’s so dense, yet so lighthearted. There’s incredible, organic, natural representation of different skin tones, of people with disabilities, of blended families, of LGB characters. It raises interesting ethical questions, and provides you with some really fascinating, well-developed antagonists. It has an “epic quest” feel while also being a personal, intimate story driven by its characters and its setting in a believable way. Plus, it always finds lighthearted ways to include humor, adorable animals and moments, and romance. 

It’s a perfect show.

19. which has the better theme music, 2 or 4?

Definitely The Good Place. It has such an iconic score, a very simple and memorable theme. I like ODAAT’s, it’s fun and energetic, but TGP’s manages to capture a lot about the show’s vibes in like, six notes.

Tagging: @bombshellsandbluebells @blodkru @johnmurphysreddit @twinzmoon @awesomenell65 @diytavias @captainwilldameron @dylanobrienisbatman and anyone else who sees this and wants to steal it! I’ve absolutely lost track of who’s done this and who hasn’t, so please feel free to ignore it, for any reason.

[junker-town]

Cody Rhodes and Brandi Rhodes stun wrestling world, leave AEW

Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Months or rumors left us with a shocking conclusion.

Cody Rhodes was integral to the formation of AEW, and arguably the most important public figure at getting the promotion off the ground. However, there had been recent speculation that he was growing increasingly unhappy with his role inside the promotion. Both Rhodes and AEW rejected these rumors, but they now appear to have some teeth. On Tuesday, AEW announced that Cody Rhodes and Brandi Rhodes who was an on-air personality and the company’s chief branding officer, were both leaving the company.

Thank you Cody and Brandi Rhodes pic.twitter.com/tkDvVpnrrE

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) February 15, 2022

The news of their departure has led to rampant speculation Rhodes could return to WWE ahead of WrestleMania, where the former AEW executive would be a huge boon for a company in need of name recognition for their biggest show of the year. It’s a curious move, especially after Rhodes left WWE to work in Japan and eventually form AEW, as well as the fact he’s taken numerous public shots at WWE on AEW programming, particularly during the first few months of the promotion.

It’s unclear exactly why Rhodes would leave now, but his role and popularity within AEW has been waning for much of the last year. Cody never managed to re-capture the magic of his first marquee matches in the promotion, including a legendary performance against his brother Dustin at Double or Nothing in 2019, widely regarded as the match of the year in any promotion. Since that time his character and story within AEW never connected with fans in the same way, quickly turning into Rhodes being booed whenever he’d make an appearance. Initially the belief was that it would prompt Rhodes to turn heel (become a “bad guy” in wrestling parlance), but Rhodes was resolute that he wanted to remain a fan-favorite — despite the audience being firmly against it.

This culminated in late 2021 when Rhodes controversially won the TNT Title in a move reviled by fans. It felt as though there was absolutely no direction for Rhodes, and he became more of a foil for other wrestlers to claim he was a benefitting from nepotism as a way to fuel their own stories, rather than elevate anything Rhodes was doing. Cody would quickly lose the belt back to reigning champion Sammy Guevara, at a time it was rumored Rhodes was not working under a contract, but rather a handshake deal.

We’re left with a rather nuanced situation. Cody and Brandi Rhodes were unquestionably vital in getting AEW off the ground, but as the promotion took hold and began signing new, popular talent, their role (particularly Cody’s) became diminished. His importance as an in-ring performer felt like more of an obligation than a plan, and there was nothing compelling really keeping him as a staple of the company’s TV or pay-per-view programming.

Questions abound, especially considering that on paper Cody is still an executive vice president of AEW. Brandi was hugely influential in not only building AEW as a brand, but by forming partnerships with KultureCity, a nonprofit working with those who have sensory disabilities, as well as forming “AEW Heels,” an online community for women wrestling fans.

Regardless of what happens next, the ongoing war between AEW and WWE is going to take another fascinating turn, especially if Cody Rhodes returns to the sports entertainment juggernaut.

[juliethebibliophile]

The Librarians is the Most Important Show on TV....and It Needs to Stay on TV

Hello friends! Let me start by saying, as I hope you’ve heard, that The Librarians Season 4 has had a schedule change again! The first 6 episodes will now air in doubles! So December 13th, 20th and 27th will air two episodes each! Make sure to set your DVRs Accordingly!!!!

Now, onto the point of the post. This is the second time TNT has changed the schedule for the 4th season. There’s something fishy going on here and I don’t like it!!!! Pair that with how Dean was pushed to make the show darker for S3(of course the last line of S3 was such as jab at that that it’s not even funny but I digress), how long it took us to get S4....it’s clear TNT might be trying to manipulate the ratings.

But I, a fervent lover of The Librarians, know that we, the dedicated fans, will not let that happen!!!!! So how do we do this? FILL social media with Librarians posts during the episode. Tag TNT, tag the show accounts, I mean SWARM TNT with our love. But again, that’s not the point, I’m just gonna say that on every post to make it well known.

There is a reason why I’m campaigning so hard for this. The Librarians needs to stay on TV. It is, and I’m phrasing this more strongly than I normally do...the most important show on television. Let’s talk about that.

I have said it 100 times and I’ll say it again....The Librarians changed my life. Absolutely transformed it. Without it, I would not have the level of self-confidence that I now have. Without it, I would’ve spent my freshman year in bed hating my life rather than making happy memories despite my depression. Without it, I may never have been able to make peace with changing my major from theatre to education...a change that set my life in the right direction.

And there are reasons why. No other show on TV, at least that I’ve seen, behaves like The Librarians. Most every show has nerdy quirky characters sure, but they’re always the butt of the joke. Their personality is made fun of to the point where....we’ve just sort of come to accept it as a society. We don’t see it as wrong in any way simply because it’s not malicious and tbh....that’s kinda fucked up.

The characters in the Librarians are super super smart, super nerdy, outcasts, and quirky and eccentric in any way that a person could be so. And it’s never made fun of. Like never. And if it is, it’s rare, happened before the characters knew each other well, and is contrasted with validating monologues that I cannot even begin to describe in terms of beauty.

Where else on TV do you get this? Where else do we have a romantic relationship between an eccentric person and a not as eccentric person where there’s no teasing, and instead explicit speeches about loving each other for who they are? Where else are quirks never made out to be flaws? Where else on TV do characters just get to be the way they are without outlier characters who are “normal” making fun of them? Answer....not many places.

And you know what, beyond that, the quirkiness of the characters is just how I connect. But like....this show is so diverse in every way. And every character gets to be loved. Like really, seriously loved for who they are. No stigma whatsoever. I mean, let’s take a look at some of our main characters.

Ezekiel Jones, A POC who is obnoxiously self-confident and just loves himself so wholeheartedly? But at the same time he learns that he can love other people too.

Cassandra A bisexual(as far as we know rn, she’s expressed interest in both a man and a woman), disabled, neurodivergent woman who is all kinds of eccentric and adorable and no joke about her being annoying has ever come close to being made. She’s also a survivor of mental abuse and neglect by her parents.

Jacob Stone, another abuse survivor(yes we have 2-he was canon mentally and physically abused and arguably neglected as well) who literally had such a bad situation that he felt he could never trust anyone. He loved, but he didn’t trust. That dude learns to trust, lets go of connections to his father that held him back.....like MY DUDES

Said two abuse survivors have been given a special relationship on the show that some argue is romantic and everyone agrees that they are very close friends. They openly talk about what they went through on screen, multiple times, and help each-other overcome their personal pasts.

Oh and then there’s Eve motherfucking Baird who DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HER. She’s your typical tough-girl who like to kick ass and prefers a jumpsuit to a dress....or SO YOU THINK. Because yes she’s all that but she’s also really really emotional, and flirty, and really smart in her own right and from a lot of her backstory we can kind of surmise she was also an outcast/ “quirky” kid. I love her. I love her so much

Flynn Carsen, an arguably neurodivergent man who is pretty much the most eccentric out of all of them. He has a lot of abandonment issues and we see the real effects of those issues in his life and relationships. And he makes mistakes. But he’s constantly reminded that even though the mistakes he makes are not okay, that the people who love him understand that said mistakes are a result of his issues and that they love him for who he is.

So what I’m saying here is.....PROMOTE THE LIBRARIANS. EVERYONE NEEDS TO WATCH THE LIBRARIANS.

Seasons 1-3 are on Hulu and that’s unfortunately the only streaming service where they’re available right now. But seriously, if you can....go watch that shit. THE LIBRARIANS DESERVES SO MUCH LOVE.

[frasier-crane-style]

Black Lightning 1x01

Well, it’s a CW superhero show about black people. So at least you can��t accuse it of false advertising.

-Just in case you thought this was, like, TNT or something, the first ten minutes hint at a love triangle and feature a bangin’ club scene. But they do hold off on a gratuitous six-pack shirtless scene until late in the episode.

-Whenever someone says that a series is mature or adult, it’s code for having a lot of scenes where someone pours themselves a glass of whiskey or bourbon or something, then drinks it soulfully. If you added a lot of scenes like that to Tiny Toons, it would count as prestige television. (I kid, I kid. There’s also a scene where someone smokes reefer.)

-Black Lightning has his own I’m Gonna Git You Sucka theme rap that plays when he does something cool, which walks the line between fun and cheesy. I can’t help but think it’s gonna get dated soon if this is one of those CW shows that runs for twelve seasons. “Black Lightning’s back!” Yes, we know, it’s been a decade. He wasn’t here in the first place for that long!

-I get that they’re trying to be topical with political protests and police brutality, but a protest march against a specific gang? I’ve heard of general anti-crime/stop the violence type marches, but this seems a bit over-the-top for a pretty ‘real world’ show. 

-Why do we need a bratty teenager in this? They’re always just there to do stupid bullshit that causes conflict. Like, not only is Vanessa dumb enough to go to a club literally named after a crime syndicate, but while there, she is abducted at gunpoint and nearly forced into prostitution. Her response? “Why are you making such a big deal about this?” Yeah, no teenager in history is that vapid (and no, show, I’m not gonna count you saying that she was traumatized off-screen).

-And it’s not like this is such a lighthearted show that characters just shrug off this kind of thing, because we see Anissa at the very end traumatized by her experience. So I guess Jennifer is just weirdly shallow as a person?

(-Maybe it’s some karmic balance for Jefferson’s ex-wife being understanding and supportive of him going back into action when their daughters are in danger instead of making a big to-do about it. Someone gotta hold the ball.)

-Although I did think the whole plot about BL having to rescue his daughters was pretty contrived (is this guy determined to prostitute Jennifer because he’s still under orders to or does he just feel slighted? If we have to put his daughters in danger to get BL into action, why not do something with Anissa being so political and vehemently anti-100?) and unoriginal (again, is having to rescue your kids from the bad guys really any different from having to rescue your girlfriend?). Hopefully now that the whole thing has served the purpose of getting BL back into costume, we can move on to something better.

-Was I following things wrong, or did Black Lightning say he’d killed Tobias Whale while Tobias Whale said he’d killed Black Lightning? Because that’s got to be a wacky chains of events that would lead to them believing that of each other.

-I doubt ‘Harriet Tubman’ is the kind of nickname a modern teenager would come up with. “Yeah, Bill over there is a total poonhound, so we call him Benjamin Franklin!”

-I probably owe the old comics a read, but I haven’t gotten to it yet, so not much to say about canon--other than that it’s a bit unfortunate that one of the themes here is, obviously, the evils of judging people based on skin color and then the big villain is the five thousandth evil albino in pop culture. Like, there’s never a sassy gay albino friend, they’re always preternaturally determined assassins and shit. Well, there was a wacky comic relief albino in The Princess Bride, but he was evil comic relief. He helped torture Wesley!

-This is more of a nitpick, but casting James Remar as Jefferson’s fatherly crime-fighting mentor, when he played pretty much the exact same role in the hugely popular Dexter within recent memory, kinda takes me right out of the story (although I get why they’d cast him, he’s fine actor, probably a lot of fun to work with, not complaining about Remar as a performer). I kept expecting him to say something about Jefferson’s dark passenger.

(Black Lightning: Say WHAT, honky?)

-For a guy who’s characterized as pretty consistently peaceable and thoughtful in his civilian life, Black Lightning has a pretty ‘shoot first, ask questions never’ mentality when he suits up. He seems to have a ‘shit happens’ approach to his no-kill policy (surely, when you’re wearing bulletproof armor, there’s no need to use someone as a human shield!), blasts an unarmed john (albeit one who is visiting a brothel with unwilling sex workers), and blows up a police car for no reason. Yeah, I get that it’s supposed to be cathartic after the racial profiling in the pre-credits, but in the second instance, the (different) cops are after anyone who was involved in the Club 100 shootout and he was involved (to put it mildly). I know, I know, it’s standard superhero procedure to avoid getting arrested by knocking out cops, but going the extra step of blowing up their car for doing their job seems petty. Imagine if in The Dark Knight, Batman disabled the SWAT team trying to arrest him and then said “HOW DARE YOU COME AFTER ME!?” and broke all their cell phones or something.

-So, maybe Pierce’s characterization just is that he’s a pacifist by day, unleashed rage monster by night, but that seems pretty far afield of the character and a little cliched to boot. Haven’t we seen the put-upon goody-two-shoes who lets it all out as his alter-ego enough times?

-It’s weird that the old ‘lame’ suit looks actually pretty good, while the new one looks overdesigned and clunky, with cheesy light-up bits. Also, the Kingsman are not going to be happy to find out what James Remar is doing with their secret hide-out when they’re not there.