#trevor is absolutely wrong for ian | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gardenerian · 4 years ago

Note

Do you think that Ian's bipolar disorder is portrayed accurately?

hello and welcome to loaded fuckin question hour with mel! actually, ty for asking this anon, it's been a while since i talked about this. lemme add my usual disclaimer here - i can only speak to my own experience/opinion/understanding. anyone else is welcome to chime in.

the short answer is......... yeah? mostly? it's complicated?

you know what, this is me and there is no short answer. sorry 'bout that.

so. largely yes and here's why:

there's a wide range of symptoms present. we see differences in how it manifests in monica vs ian - and how their personalities map onto that. ian might act in a way that seems out of character, but he's still ian. i can't tell you how important that is.

ian (and probably monica as well) tends to lean towards hypo/mania when he's off his meds or when they weaken, etc. especially with monica in s2 and ian in s4/s5, they shine here. the relentlessness of it. the need to move and feel and rage and indulge and make and do and destroy. and i like that it's not always euphoric mania, bc it usually doesn't feel that way to me. the agitation and impulsive reaction is kinda my wheelhouse there. the psychosis - i kinda can't thank cam enough for that portrayal.

i wish the depressive symptoms were a little more nuanced sometimes, but... the crash is real. and it can turn on a dime. the absolute lead in your veins. the feeling of grief you can't explain, like you can't even speak it. the varying levels of self harm. and i think ian's s6 depression is incredibly accurate as well. he's listless in a way that feels very familiar.

and the moments of lucidity, where he can tell something's wrong but can't name it, or he's afraid to. monica has it, too. they scare themselves. and the fear everyone else feels. unflinchingly real.

with that comes the feelings of shame, before and after his diagnosis. the idea that he can't trust himself or his brain, that he needs help, that something was wrong the whole time - even when he was feeling good. the fact that it's forever and it's cyclical. coming to terms with his actions, forgiving himself, reckoning with himself. fucking up, trying again. setback after setback, redemption after redemption.

the journey with meds - knowing you need them, staying on them, finding the right ones. HEALTHCARE!!! what resources do you have access to? what care can you afford? if his hospitalization had been a better experience, how could the journey have been different? and the self-medicating... i would have liked more on this! but we see it plain as day from him and monica.

the way his whole body changes? from s3 where he's sturdy and confident to the end of s5, where he's hunched over, thin, and shaking. it can absolutely wreak havoc on your body. he even starts to hold himself differently in the s8 episode. and i'll never shut up about cam's eyes.

the strain on your relationships - the breakup, the tensions with his siblings, the trevor of it all, moments with sue and rita. it changes your perception of yourself, and influences how others see you. even if they don't mean to, and even if they're kind about it, it's there. THEN you are hyperaware of how you think others might be seeing you - paranoia definitely comes through with ian.

ian has his own journey with the disorder, but so does his family. they each come to understand what it means and how it affects ian. it's less of a death sentence than they assumed it was with monica. they kinda make peace with that experience and turn their focus to their brother. and mickey! from not needing the list to recognizing triggers!!!! he does so much. he learns so much.

and one thing i think is incredibly special is the idea of kinship. ian does not want to be viewed as monica, but he still understands her in a way the others don't. he loves her in a way they perhaps can't. it's not just about the disorder, but it brings them back together. he fears her and distrusts her - but still, he loves her. my bipolar family members, though i have fraught relationships with them, are huge parts of my heart. my bipolar mutuals.... deeply special bc they see me and i see them. i always wonder what monica must have felt about ian's disorder. (we know how she felt about medication, but.... more about what happened when he called her from prison, please?)

and then we have... not always? or not in the way i'd like and here's why:

it sometimes feels like the disorder disappears until they need it for a plot point. it’s about the episodes a lot of the time. bipolar is largely managed with medication and lifestyle maintenance, but even when i'm stable (whatever that means), it still impacts my moods. i still feel everything so much all the time and i am aware of it every single day. stable means something different to everyone - my baseline still leans toward depressed. 7x03/11x04 do show that you can have off days without it being a full-blown episode. idk how they would have worked that into the show more, bc it doesn't do much for the ~storylines~ but it would show us more about ian. plus - what is his treatment method? what about the work? is he only on meds? (it seems so, but i'd love more about how he figured out what works for him...) we see such a journey with him accepting the diagnosis but then he comes out and says 'i have it under control' and i'm like!! how!! tell me more please!!!!!!

on that note, the meds thing. i love that they show ian taking his meds casually. but every time he gets a little off kilter, they jump to the meds question immediately. sometimes symptoms slip through, sometimes you have little cycles - and that does not mean that your meds are off or that you have to rush to the clinic every time. idk, it doesn't come up that often (it may be more of a fic thing? i have a lot of fic things.) but i noticed it in the deleted scene and was like asldfjkdhasfasd

the s8 storyline bothered me not bc he went off his meds or that he had an episode... but bc it was made into a mockery. look at this wacky shit ian is up to! it's so superficial. we are made to read between the lines about ian and his headspace and it! is! lazy! religious delusions are quite common, and i kinda think it makes sense for him, but the genesis (lol) of it is not fleshed out well at all. we even see some religious imagery right at his s5 break but... we didn't see ian in here at all. delving into his hero complex and actual motivations, his awareness of himself, when he stopped the meds, WHY the message spoke to him.... it could have been really powerful, actually.

it's like. they decided halfway through that he was gonna be manic or something. i can (and did!) meta my way through it and look for the rise but... GOD. we got no explicit confirmation that he was off his meds until that trial? we wouldn't even need that, actually, if they just gave us more of his perspective. i got NOTHING from looking at ian. s4/s5 gave us more glimpses of his headspace and how he notices it sometimes (not enough, but more), but s8.... there's nothin. cam did what he could - those eyes! - but it was just flat. which.... for a manic episode.... yikes.

the SCALE of it sometimes bothers me. yes! these episodes can be deep and long and destructive like we see with both monica and ian. of course. but like... so often, when they get manic or depressed, it's always🚨crisis level, real quick🚨 like steal a baby, do some porn, blow up a van, ruin thanksgiving, become totally catatonic, etc. and again! it can absolutely get like that!! bipolar gets worse as it goes untreated! but they definitely employ it for the drama and little else.

like. for me, episodes are dangerous and i have to catch them of course, but just bc i'm manic or depressed doesn't mean it's going to get to that level every single time, even if i'm off my meds. i've done 🚨🚨🚨 stuff, but more often than not, i go totally inward when i'm having an episode rather than act out. this is just my experience, of course. just- this is a LONG WINDED way of saying that idk, yes the crisis moments are realistic as hell, but i personally can't relate to the frequency of them. if that makes sense?

SO: yes. accurate. but... maybe exaggerated in some places? and put through the lens of shameless which distorts a lot of things. absolutely exacerbated by the gallagher family circumstances, history, ethos, and (lack of) resources....

🗣 SHUT UP MEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#sorry about this oh god oh my god #i like to talk about this but it's also really difficult #i'm just too close to it rn to discuss with any sense of cohesion #and once again: my experiences and thoughts are not universal #if anyone has any thoughts or wants to chat further please add on or msg me #suddenly feeling very vulnerable gonna go for a walk #mental health tw #mania tw #psychosis tw #depression tw #self harm tw #quick question how insane does this make me look on a scale of 1-100000 #wall of text to end all walls of text #things mel didn’t have to say: all of this

117 notes · View notes

dreamylyfe-x · 4 years ago

Note

Your trevor meta is making me realize how weird it is that the writers and cast were so insistent that mickey wasn't coming back, because I don't think theyve ever really known what to do with ian's story without him. They put him in these lukewarm relationships and tell us they're so much better and healthier, but then have ian straight up admit that he still loves mickey and nobody else has made him feel the same way. How do they set that up and then have him go back to trevor? They set up ian moving on with "I'm not that person anymore" and follow up with season 8. It's like okay...who he is now is gay Jesus? Lmao. He's always been the shows forgotten middle child and after they wrote mickey off "for good" they could have taken him in a million directions but they chose one so shitty it basically made cam leave lmao. Sometimes it feels like fan insistence kind of forced mickey back but in actuality, the seasons where he's gone just hammer home that he was always the inevitable end to ian's story. So bizarre how little the showrunners understand their own story sometimes.

Ok. I’m going to be a little more Doylist here than I usually am, because we’re talking about what the writers are thinking. And I’m also going to take this opportunity to share this fascinating article from the AV Club in 2016: When Fan Engagement Goes Wrong. Everyone beware, it contains significant spoilers for The 100. But it’s also largely about Gallavich, the fact that online promotion of Shameless leaned hard into the popularity of the couple, and were up against it when Noel left. I’ll quote:

“[Supervising Producer Shelia] Callaghan’s choice to be honest and straightforward when engaging with fans is admirable, and yet also on some level futile. She can’t tell them exactly why Fisher chose to leave, she is (logically) unwilling to spoil future storylines outright, and she can only speak her own mind as part of a collaborative process over which she holds only some influence. So while many fans respect her effort to maintain the connection to this now marginalized community, others attack, reinforcing that attempting to manage these situations is a full-time job that no one has been properly trained for.”

This article links some tweets and the one I find the most interesting is this one:

“But the actor left. So...what to do? Have them just break up?? Felt way less true to me than a forced separation!”

That tweet is from Krista Vernoff, who wanted to convey that they tried really hard to come up with what they do with Ian now that he’d lost Mickey. And I’m sure they did try really hard. And.... People hated it. Mostly.

Here’s what I think, based on what I’ve read and the interviews I’ve seen, on deleted tweets and Tumblr rumours and YouTube clips: The show didn’t want Mickey to leave the canvas. At all. Noel wanted more money. The show could not come up with both that money and the money they needed for everyone else. The show let him go. And hoped they could solve the creative problem their budgetary problem had dumped in their lap.

I actually think Ian’s story in season six is decent. I miss Mickey, of course. I find the last scene with him really painful -- but it’s not painful because the show is trying to diminish him. They write and then cut together a scene where Mickey is DEMONSTRATIVELY still deeply in love with Ian. He’s carved his name in his chest. He is looking at Ian like he’s the most beautiful creature ever given breath. And Ian can barely meet his gaze. They tell us Mickey is being sent away for 16 years but when we see the last of Mickey Milkovich in season six I think “God, this is so sad. They love each other so much and this is so fucked up.”

I do NOT think “We are NEVER EVER EVER getting back together.”

The show always knew what it had with Ian and Mickey. They leaned into it promotionally. They gave meaty storylines to the characters, particularly given that Ian was the fourth lead on a family dramedy built around six children. John Wells replaced Aaron Sorkin on The West Wing. He knows how hard it is to follow a phenomenon.

The more I think about it, honestly? I don’t think they tried. I think they knew that they couldn’t bring in Mickey Milkovich, the sequel in season six, so they brought in Caleb. And maybe they meant for him to be a LITTLE more viable than he was... but I think there’s a pretty good chance they were just throwing something at the wall to see if it stuck, while being fully aware that the important storyline in season six was getting Ian from despair to a fulfilling career. Caleb was just there as a catalyst.

Season seven if more interesting, because Trevor is brought on and it’s very much... “Hey, let’s do something new. Let’s bring on a transmasc character and put him into a relationship with Ian and explore those complications.”

“Great! Put it up on the board!”

“Also. Let’s call Noel Fisher’s people and see what we can work out because we can do better with Mickey’s send off and people are yelling at me on the street about it.”

Quite honestly, these are not equal tasks for his writer’s room. You have one story -- Create a whole ass new character. The only thing we know is that he’s trans. Figure out the romance from there. You have six episodes to get them together as an established couple.

Then: Bring back the well-established and beloved character for an epic romantic two-episode arc where he reunites with his true love and they run away together and then ultimately realize it cannot be, and say goodbye and it all feels like I Will Always Love You should be playing in the background. They actors worked together for five years. They have a great professional partnership. They like working together. They have a ton of history so there’s lots of juicy subtext. The longing and sexual tension comes pre-established. See what you can do.

HOW do you make both those things work out so that they are equal? You need lightening to strike. And that already happened on How I Met Your Mother. They squandered their good luck and now there is none left for Shameless. I do not disparage Elliot Fletcher at all when I say that for Trevor and Ian to really work he’d have had to have come with scorching chemistry with Cam, rich material that really gave them a good opportunity to build rapport between the characters, and A wizard standing by to cast spells in the wings. They had SIX episodes, a pretty average connection between the actors, and the “these are the LGBTQ+ people in your neighbourhood” scene.

I just can’t believe that someone with as many years of TV writing under his belt as John Wells has expected that to work. He hoped the Trevor story might be good, and was certainly going to break some ground in terms of telling trans stories. And the Mickey story was going to be the highlight, because he knew people wanted it and he also knew that they’d had something pretty special to start with. Which is why people were yelling at him at Comic-Con. I DO think he hoped it might placate fans a bit. But... he wasn’t going to completely close the door on Mickey this time, either.

So... I don’t really think the show every intended to write Mickey off “for good”. I think they wrote him off “for now, and we’ll see what happens...” -- and they did that with Karen, Shelia, Jody, Steve and Fiona, too. They only brought a few of those people back... They brought Mickey back three times. They ended Gallavich FOUR times. Noel is in ever season except eight. I don’t think they wanted Mickey gone -- but I KNOW the fans also made it pretty hard for them not to know his value, so absolutely I think that played a role. But when you create something people love and you get that lightening in a bottle like they did with this story, I think writers are always going to be excited to get that back. They like praise! They like people to be excited about their show. And Gallavich was always one of the things that got people excited about Shameless.

I think they also wanted Gay Jesus to be a great story. But that’s why the lightening in the bottle is so valuable. You can’t just get it anywhere.

#asks #I hope this answered the question #I am honestly so interested in the behind-the-scenes efforts to make season 7 work #and I do think they wanted Gay Jesus to be a great story #and instead... Cam quit #because no #writing is hard #shameless season 7 #shameless season 6 #shameless season 8 #shameless without mickey #thanks for asking!#God I hope that was an answer #Gallavich meta

184 notes · View notes

gallavictorious · 4 years ago

Note

8 and 20 for the ask meme please?

8. Unpopular Gallavich opinion.

I belive I've made my stance on them getting their own place (DO NOT WANT) and Ian having a beard (DO NOT WANT) pretty clear, so for something else...

I don't think Mickey going into Kash and Grab was his way of flirting with Ian, and I don't think he had any idea that Ian was gay before 1x07. I know this is a popular headcanon, and it's perfectly fine and valid (this is absolutely not a criticism of it or the people who embrace it!), but I neither see it nor find it appealing. I also think Ian was absolutely lying when he told Mickey he'd wait for him in 6x01, and the fact that he – in the end – never really moved on doesn't change the fact that he tried to do so. (I would like to add that I don't blame Ian for this, even though my heart breaks for Mickey.) It should be said, though, that I cannot promise that I won't change my mind on these things – given time, my perception and preferences may change. ... you know what, these aren't new either. Sorry.

Oh! The writers doesn't actually hate Gallavich and aren't deliberatedly trying to screw them over just because they're homophobic and/or mad at the fans.

20. If there was a Gallavich spinoff, what would you like to see?

You know, I think I could have merged these two questions into one because I'm not actually sure I'd want to see a Gallavich spinoff at all, and I suspect that might be a rather unpopular opinion. XD Don't get me wrong: I will always want more of them and will be heartbroken to say goodbye, but I have a nagging suspicion that a spinoff focused on them primarily would – more or less by necessity – go in one of two directions: either the main focus is on their relationship and the emotional ups and downs of it, or the relationship is a sort of stable baseline for external plots. For me, the emotional ups and downs and their connection is the main draw so that's what I want to see, but I fear that if it's the sole focus, it would be... too much. It'd end up being watered down and wrung out. (See: Supernatural, which had Sam and Dean go through the same emotional beats over and over and over again in an endless cycle of angst, and after a while it just gets cheap. Well, to me it did – if you loved it to the very end, I'm glad for you! Liking things are always more fun.)

But I mean... it's not like these boys don't still have a few things to work out, so if it's just for a season or two and have a well-defined arc and plot... Sure. Sign me up. And let's be real, if there were a Gallavich spinoff I'd watch the hell out of it. What I'd actually like to see, though...

I want them on the South Side. As long as it is literally next door to the Gallagher house, they can have their own place. All the other siblings, as well as Kev and V, would be recurring characters. Oh, I want Raymond to be a regular! And José! (How and why and doing what? No one knows! But they will be there and I will be happy!) Mandy will be an occasional guest star, and Trevor will make an appearance. (I keep having this vague idea about Ian and Mickey ending up doing some sort of pro bono security gig for something that Trevor has a hand in arranging, protecting young LGTB+ people one way or another? It will be fun!)

As for actual plot... yeah, no idea. Maybe revolving around their firm, which develops into specific security gigs of a pretty challenging and fun nature, a little like 'monster of the week' but with security gigs? A little Leverage style? Uh. It's not a developed idea.

I want them to be stable and happy and comfortable, but I really do not want them to settle into some stereotypical notion of middleclass bliss. Give me some chaos, a lot of hard edges, and a love that isn't cotton-candy and roses but still real and strong and tender. No kids, though I'd very much like for them to talk about it, if only because it'd make for some great conversations about their past and how it has informed their thoughts on family and children. They could pick up a stray teenager – during one of their jobs! - and that would be kind of fun, I think.

Basically, though, I'd prefer Shameless S12 over a Gallavich spinoff. Preferably a S12 with great storylines for all the characters, and lots of family moments – and lots of screentime for our favourity boys, of course.

#dear darling nonnie #you are the absolute sweetest for sending me this ask #thank you for indulging me #sorry it took me a little while to get back to you #and i'd would like to make it perfectly clear that it's always fine to send me asks for mememes even though i haven't actually reblogged 'e #asks

13 notes · View notes

marzgaperez · 5 years ago

Text

Ian Gallagher: S3 versus S10

Gifs by @thisfeebleheart

Gif by @sickness-health-all-that-shit

How did we get here?

Long story short, Ian has been through a lot of shit over the years. That’s not to say that Mickey hasn’t as well, and it’s not to dismiss the way Mickey and the Gallagher siblings have tried to help Ian. For a brief but painful trip down memory lane, please continue...

I was rewatching S3 just for the angst of it all and stumbled upon the scene where Ian is talking to Lip about Mickey’s impending nuptials, back before our quite confident and madly-in-love ginger found out the hard way that love doesn’t always win. In that early phase of his budding relationship with Mickey, Ian didn’t need many reassurances from his hard-to-crack but softening-on-the-inside Southside thug. He knew in his gut that Mickey had feelings for him. And the above S3 scene occurred after that brutal beat down he instigated with Mickey in the abandoned courtyard.

Ian is absolutely convinced (and quite naive) that he and Mickey can somehow overcome the insurmountable forces keeping them apart, as long as they are together. He believes it in his heart of hearts and goes to Mickey, giving it everything he has to stop the wedding.

Gif by @mickeygifs

Mickey can’t give Ian what he wants, and we know why (aka, Terry will kill him). Even Ian knows why, but he believes so much in what they have between them, he’s blind and hopeful, and I know he would have stood by Mickey and tried to protect him. But the entire situation DESTROYS Ian, and he enlists in the Army too soon and for all the wrong reasons.

And likely, these events contribute to his bipolar manifesting, along with his failed stint in the Army, which was his dream, even before Mickey came along. And with all that went the boy who saw a world of possibilities, a world that made sense.

Once Ian leaves the Army, he falls into a topsy-turvy world under the influence of his reckless mother. He essentially prostitues himself and uses illegal substances to self-medicate. His bipolar disorder goes undiagnosed and untreated. Thank fuck Mickey realizes he can’t live without Ian, and knowing he’s somewhat responsible for what’s happened, goes to find him. We are given (almost) two beautiful and gut-wrenching seasons of Ian and Mickey reconnecting. Eventually, Mickey (and the Gallagher siblings) recognize that Ian is sick and try to get him help.

Enter Sammi and Monica (and BTS drama, broken contracts, and reshoots), but regardless, we see Ian begin to doubt that he is worthy of Mickey’s love and that he fears destroying his boyfriend’s life, rather than enriching it, though Mickey knows better. So much so, Ian breaks up with Mickey, and we all die.

Mickey gets ripped away from him (no need to debate that here - it’s awful all around), and Ian (miraculously) starts to find his way, including a career he loves, a few other dudes he’s lukewarm about, and eventually has the opportunity to escape to Mexico with Mickey and have all the time in the world together, which has never been afforded to them. But Ian doesn’t go.

Maybe it’s fear of his MI going unchecked, and he doesn’t want to hold Mickey back. Maybe it’s not wanting to give up the stability he thinks he’s finally achieved. Maybe he’ll miss his family too much. Maybe he’s just being selfish. Or a combination of all of the above. Truth be told, I wanted to see the eternally optimistic Ian from S3 emerge and make a run towards felices para siempre with Mickey, but that Ian was long gone.

Season 8 happens, Monica dies, Trevor sucks, and Ian’s life unravels. In his darkest hour, Mickey is there for him again, having sacrificed the freedom that Ian was so happy to see him achieve when he successfully crossed the border.

Mickey gave up everything for Ian. Again! Again?!? Does he deserve it? Plenty of people say no, though Mickey could give two shits - he loves his man. But the pressure! Oh, the pressure! Living in a tiny cell together, probably not dealing with their own shit, nor their unresolved relationship issues. At least not very well.

And to top it all off, Ian finds out that he’s getting released first - another turn of events he probably figures he doesn’t deserve and is willing to forfeit for Mickey’s sake.

I’m rambling now, and too lazy to recap some of the S10 foolishness, but I do want to point out how vulnerable and open Ian has tried to be with Mickey this season. I hate that he broke Mickey’s heart at the courthouse and that him checking on Mickey’s feelings came across as insensitive and a slap in the face. I believe he meant well, and I can understand why he is where he is, so far from that boy with all the love in his heart and dreams for something better - for him and Mickey - after everything that life (and the show) has thrown at them.

Gif by @mickeygifs

S3 Ian was shocked, shocked at this turn of events. He really believed he could convince Mickey to stay with him.

Well, S10 Ian, it’s time to go get your man! 😘

#gallavich #gallavich meta #ian gallagher #mickey milkovich #wishing them a happy engagement

331 notes · View notes

alolanrain · 5 years ago

Note

How would you picture Ash’s rivals in the Wrong Kinda Au

* I did both main and lesser rivals.

Gary would be a lot harsher to Ash because of not only for what ever he had against Ash but because Ash also had fallen in love with the “unlovable” pokemon which made him even more weird in his eyes. Though he couldn’t really say anything too rude to Ash or else Ku would actively been on his ass the milliseconds Gary wasn’t in Ash’s field of vision.

Ritchie was still the same but a bit less friendly because Ku had lashed out at Sparky the moment it saw the Pikachu. Ash just thought it was a misunderstanding because he’s never seen Ku do that before to another Pokémon, he had a stern talking with Ku because he could only attack like that in battle or unless it, Ash, or any other Pokémon on the team was in mortal danger. Ku has sulked hard and it would still feint an attack at Sparky when both humans weren’t looking.

Tyson wasn’t as close as he was with Ash and the Hoenn gang because he didn’t end up saving them from the flock of Murkrow because Ku had one shot the bird Pokémon easily. Though he was about to help before the ghost Pokémon started attacking. Ash is a mystery to him because most dark/ghost/poison type mains are very dark and gritty, but Ian Instead he’s very bright and friendly. His Mimikyu makes up for the dark and gritty though.

Paul and Ash have a bit more of as strained rivalry because Ku keeps inhalating Paul’s four whole Pokemon. But other than that its the same as in the Anime.

Morrison was very weary of Ash and his very overpowered, almost Godly, Mimikyu. Especially since it had it out for literally everyone but Ash and it’s team mates. He was definitely on the receiving end of multiple glares and half ment aborted attacks from the ghost Pokémon. Though he still made fast friends with Ash.

Barry is very put off by Ku, he tries to be nice but the ghost Pokémon is just not having it with him. Their not really rivals but more acquaintances at best. Mostly because Ku still tries to swipe at Barry when he starts trying to fine people and it because a weak Shadow Claw attack when he tries and fine Ash.

Conway doesn’t understand Ash, he and his Mimikyu are very unpredictable in battle and outside of it as well. Conway really doesn’t know, and doesn’t really trust Brock and Dawns words, if Ash’s sunshine behavior is a ploy of some kind or if he’s really just that nice. It also doesn’t help that there is barely any kind of information know about Mimikyu’s so Ku is a very big plot hole to his plan when he battles Ash.

Nando is honestly the same as he is in the anime. He’s calm and very polite and is the only trainer since May that Ku doesn’t bat at. Though Ku is very interested in the harp Nando carry’s and plays on.

Tobias is very threatened by Ash’s Mimikyu, his team, and Ash himself. Dawn and Brock are nothing but tiny shadows to Ash’s glory shining sun in Tobias’s mind. Mimikyu ended up knocking out both Darkrai, Latios, and another two more Pokémon on Tobias’s team before personal bowing out of the rest of the fight. Ku had only pushed to battle Tobias first was because it wanted to set a warning to the man. Ash’s next Pokémon, a Dusknoir names Michael of all things, had a bit more trouble feinting his last two Pokémon but it did succeed. Tobias was eliminated in shame and his ego absolutely ruined. It also doesn’t help that all his mythical and Legendary Pokémon he was able to catch/buy off the black market/obtain in another way were taken out of his PO Box’s and the Darkrai and Latios stolen off his own belt without him looking. Later Ash had to have another conversation with Ku but he couldn’t really be mad since Latias ended up now having a new little brother in the end.

Bianca likes Ash the same as in the anime, though she is a bit more calm because Ku had accidentally let out a weak shadow ball in her direction when she came crashing into Ash the first time. Though she couldn’t fault the Pokémon because she did scare it. Her and Ash are fast and easy freinds.

Stephan is a bit more weary of Ku but not as much as Ash. For a trainer to easily command and take complete unrelenting control of any battle like Ash does scares Stephen. it’s really Iris and Cilan that he’s friends with but he won’t tell the black haired trainer that to his face.

Cameron is very curious of Ku and doesn’t really back down when Ku uses it shadow claw to pap the boys intruding face away like a Persian would to a toy. Cameron sees Ash as one of his rivals just like he does in the anime and they share the same friendship.

Trip could never seem to win against Ash and Ku, since Zekrom couldn’t really do what it did to Pikachu in the anime Ku retained its strength and power. Though the ghost Pokémon did vow to kick the dragon type legendary in the face when they meet again and ended up actual level to do it during the Victini incident. Ash actually ends up disliking Trip a lot more than he does in the Anime, if that’s even possible, and ends up not wanting to become rivals with Trip. Though Trip does kinda force it into Aah because of how easily Ku keeps taking down Trip’s whole team every time they cross path and battle.

Virgil isn’t really a Rival but Ku still hates the poor sod and his Eeveelution team.

Tierno and Trevor like Ash but end up kinda becoming more of Clemont and Serena’s rivals more than Ash’s. They like Ash but Ku ends up scaring them just a bit.

Sawyer is now the third person Ku willingly won’t bat at and is one of Ash’s main rivals instead of a side rival like he is in the Anime. Ash is able to easily show that all Pokémon are lovable and that there isn’t an inherently bad Pokémon type out there. He kinda becomes like a little brother to Ash and both Ash and most of his Kalos team adores him and really enjoys the company Sawyer brings.

Alain is very interested in Ash as a trainer more than Ku. like yeah he’s very surprised Ku took down his mega Charizard without really trying but Ash is just more interesting than the ghost type Pokémon. He sees Ash more as a Rival then a stepping stone and is ended up swaying into the group more and more until he’s kinda adopted in and now he’s traveling with Ash and the Kalos gang. He’s also very interested in how Ash immediately doesn’t trust Lysandre or the Lysandres Labs no matter how many good stories and how Alain and Mairin sing their praise about the man. Alain ends up finding much, much sooner then later ago it Lysandres plan and just how evil he and the Labs are.

Kiawe takes a much longer time to trust Ash since he doesn’t see Ash a lot day to day since he lives on Ula’ula with Kahuna Nanu and Acerola. It’s takes about until A Guardian Rematch for Kiawe to even start truly trusting Ash. (Note: Ash takes the Ula’ula grand trial and the Akala grand trial before taking Hala’s) even then Kiawe doesn’t trust Ku with anything.

Hau is literally just the same as the anime but Ku especially hates the boy because of its Alolan Richu. Hau doesn’t take it to heart at all since Ash really likes him and that’s all that matters. Richu does and it’s takes someone else from both teams to get the two to just fucking stop for at least a few minutes.

Gladion is very intrusive like he was in the beginning of the anime and Ku and Ash don’t like that at all. Ku ends up being the meanest it’s been in a very long time and stashing away Silvally in its poke ball on Ula’ula island in the back of Tapu Bulu’s temple. All parties don’t know how in the absolutely fuck Ku was able to do that without Ash noticing it, but Ku did and doesn’t regret it one bit. It takes to actually disobeying Ash after years when it comes to battling Gladion. The ghost type hates the trainer on a barely lesser level then Tobias and is not afraid to cause pain of Gladion tries to dig a second time into Ash’s past with Gods and the likes.

56 notes · View notes

ace-of-d1am0nds · 11 months ago

Text

yk what. no. it’s about time i went on my trevor rant. this fandom does him so fucking dirty.

let’s talk about the moment he told ian to get over monica being a shit. first of all before i get absolutely shit on. he said a fucked up thing. sure. but everyone conveniently decides to ignore the fact that ian said some transphobic shit first, outing him, and claiming about 5 minutes of said transphobia was just him “giving him shit”. and yea monica sucks ass and ian has the right to grieve it but trevor saw that ian was getting worked up and using monica as an excuse to change the subject and project his anger into smo else. y’all baby-fy ian to the point y’all think he can’t do anything wrong and it’s not a good look. trevor had every right to lash out (although however unhealthy it may be) after multiple acts of transphobia and the dismissing of his problems

but what really fucking pisses me off is the way this fandom acts about trevor’s reaction to ian’s mania. and again. before i get shit. i have bipolar. i recognize the necessity of receiving help even when u don’t want it. what i’m not going to agree with is the fact that everyone thinks trevor should have GOTTEN BACK WITH IAN and coddled him while he was starting something cult adjacent after having cheated on him. trevor was running a youth center. his job and livelihood was to keep the teens safe. and we all clearly saw that this spiral was not going to end in his teens safety. everything about the argument that trevor “just didn’t understand ian’s bipolar” or “he was so insensitive to his bipolar” HIS JOB IS TO PROTECT THESE TEENS NOT BE IANS BF WHEN THEY WERENT EVEN TOGETHER ANYMORE

sorry for yelling. just because he’s not mickey doesn’t mean y’all get to act the way u do about him

#idek what to tag this so i don’t get shit on #trevor shameless #that’s the only one i’m gonna use i think #yapping

6 notes · View notes

jeanmoreaux · 5 years ago

Note

ok since u were just talking abt trevor / ian & mickey in ur tags im gonna just go off for a second! the scene where trevor tells ian to just move on bc monica apologized always kind of made me ? bc he's literally a social worker for lgbt teens in crisis like.. it seems like he should be able to understand complicated relationships with parents and understand why ian cant just "move on"

yeah, you’re absolutely right! it’s actually quite baffling how insensitive he is about the issue considering his professional background. he should be aware of the fact that some parent-child relationships are more complicated and emotionally charged than others, and that issues within these relationships sometimes can’t be soothed, let alone resolved, with an apology. his “move on” comment in this situation always rubbed me the wrong way bc it feels like he doesn’t even attempt to see things from ian’s perspective ir sympathized with his situation as a survivor of parental neglect & abuse.

#thank you so much for the ask!! i never even considered this until now! it’s quite a great observation #i was always really confused why he kinda took monica’s side in this scene #like i mean he should be aware that he doesn’t know how complicated ian’s relationship with his mother is #yet he’s out there acting all self-rightous like he’s got any authority to judg the situation #his first concern as a boyfriend should be ian’s emotional well-being and not monica’s #i’m still on s6 in my rewatch so my memory of the episode is a bit fusy #but i think he apologizes afterwards #and i think i really appreciated that he did that and realized he was kinda stepping out of line #but as i said i might not remember correctly #answer #mish watches shameless

3 notes · View notes

suits-of-woe · 5 years ago

Note

Hi! Favorite portrayal of Edmund? Favorite Shakespearean king or queen? Favorite Shakespearean comedy? Favorite portrayal of Goneril? Thank you, love!

Thank you for asking!! I always appreciate your questions so much!

Favorite portrayal of Edmund?

Okay I’m gonna cheat and do two, because Edmund is a character I have so many specific ideas about that I’ve never quite seen a portrayal I thought totally got it right. I feel like actors tend to either not lean enough into the emotional, conflicted, sympathetic elements of Edmund or they get that right but never get that any of that smug delightfully self-aware villain energy that makes Edmund so fun to watch.

So in the first category, I have to go with Pedro Pascal in the absolutely legendary Broadway production I saw this spring starring Glenda Jackson. He was absolutely heart-wrenching, even playing against a fairly so-so Edgar, his death honestly had me shaking with a hand pressed over my mouth and in general he just really captured the stress that Edmund is under so brilliantly. He had a great rapport with the sisters (and they got very sexy in that production, oh man) but my one complaint was his character rarely seemed to be enjoying himself. It was odd watching him in Game of Thrones as Oberyn Martell because that character was all the unapologetic boldness and charisma and sex appeal I expect to see from Edmund in certain moments, but in the play that just wasn’t what he went for.

For the second category, I’ll go with one of the first Edmund performances I ever saw, Philip Winchester from Trevor Nunn’s King Lear (2008) starring Ian McKellen. Unlike Pascal, he was so obviously having fun in his soliloquies, smug and amused and wonderfully charming and cynical. His chemistry with both sisters is electric, and he’s got a bit of a temper too which I really enjoyed, this was really the portrayal that first made me fall in love with the character. That said I think he was a little too in the vein of self-aware monologuing villain sometimes, and didn’t come across nearly as conflicted and sympathetic as I would’ve liked, so his turnaround at the end of the play fell a bit flat for me. So yeah, still hoping to see that perfect Edmund who manages to balance both someday!

Favorite Shakespearean comedy?

So...I was gonna say Measure For Measure, which is probably my favorite of the plays classified as comedies in the Folio. But then again it’s hard to think of a play that’s less funny and happy than Measure, I’m pretty sure King Lear is funnier and happier than Measure. And then I was thinking of The Winter’s Tale but mostly for the first half and basically I think I’m proving my point that I maybe hate happiness SO I’m gonna try to pick an actual classic non-problem play, non-romance comedy. Which is Twelfth Night. While Hamlet introduced me to the wonderful world of Shakespearean queer theory, Twelfth Night really cemented it for me, which was honestly a huge step in me realizing just how wonderfully applicable these plays are to the modern day. Viola is just such a great heroine, she’s just so genuinely likable, and she’s funny and she can be tragic and she’s just so easy to root for and so many of her scenes are just jam-packed with incredible lines. And just in general that play has just a great ensemble, I love Orsino in all his melodramatic glory, the ethereal and melancholy Feste, endlessly loyal but badass Antonio, Olivia who might be one of my favorite female romantic leads in the canon, Malvolio who’s so easy to hate until it goes too far and the poignant notes of grief and trauma that run under this play really hit home. It’s just such a solid comedy, and while there’s no one character I’m super attached to in particular, I love the play as a whole.

Favorite Shakespearean king or queen?

Henry VI!!! My baby boy. Ironically he’s probably one of the worst kings in Shakespeare, but I love him so much. I’m actually writing this between reading chapters of The Shadow King right now haha. I just have so much sympathy for him, both in Shakespeare and in history. In a world of increasingly ambitious, fiery, corrupt political rivals he’s this little island of peace and mildness and genuine kindness. But he’s also such a horrible study of how wrong that can go when the world is violent and constantly in chaos. He manages to remain uncorrupted, but that almost ends up being as much a blessing and a curse. And in general I just think it’s so interesting to think about the kind of impact it must have on a person to be king before you can walk or talk or even know what such a title means. I feel for him so deeply.

If I had to pick a favorite queen, it would probably be Gertrude. She’s a character with a million questions behind her, but I’m intrigued by her relationships with almost every character in that play, especially Claudius. I’ve seen Gertrudes who become viscerally disgusted by him after 3.4, refusing to even get near him, and I’ve seen Gertrudes who are still very much in love with him after that, who aren’t so much evil as just genuinely moved on and willing to pay the price for happiness, whatever it may be. There’s just so much you can do with her, I find her endlessly fascinating, especially in a play that’s so lacking in female characters.

Favorite portrayal of Goneril?

Okay for this I have to go hands down with the Glenda Jackson Broadway production again, still can’t believe that that was a real thing I got to see. Elizabeth Marvel was an absolutely brilliant Goneril in that show, a complete powerhouse who managed to be wonderfully sympathetic and amazingly badass at the same time. She killed 1.4, showing just enough emotion to absolutely break me, and in general her relationship with Albany was a joy to watch, especially in 4.2, where she followed up an intense full-on sex scene with Edmund where she totally let loose with one of the most intense portrayals of their argument I’ve ever seen -- she seemed half unhinged, but half like she was finally, finally feeling free. And all the while she was sweeping around in floor-length capes and killer heels and was just always such a presence onstage, she was such a joy and one of the highlights of that show.

#mine #asks #king lear #twelfth night #3 henry vi #hamlet

7 notes · View notes

discyours · 6 years ago

Text

I finished watching the latest season of Shameless and it’s reaffirmed to me how terrible this show is at LGBT representation so I’m gonna complain about it. Spoiler warning, obviously.

Okay so first of all, Ian and Mickey were one of the best parts of this show. I’m not a gay man so my opinion on this is not that valuable, but as far as I know it was very well received by the gay community. Their relationship was as raw and as realistic as everything else that’s good about this show. How uncommon is it, even now, for media to show that guys like Mickey can be gay? How uncommon is it for them to show a genuine connection between growing up being shaped by an environment like Mickey’s and the way he deals with his sexuality, rather than just creating a character that never took on any part of their upbringing because they were simply too camp to fit in. The way Mickey and Ian both felt about their sexuality very much shaped their relationship at the start of it, but it grew from there. The writers didn’t make the mistake of making the relationship about the fact that it was gay. Neither character was killed off, the relationship was very on-and-off but wasn’t intentionally cut short, and they didn’t shy away from showing on-screen affection while also (in my opinion) not coming off as fetishistic either. Mickey and Ian was everything that is usually done wrong done right, and unfortunately the only real example of that on this show.

The Kash storyline actually came before Mickey, but I wanted to start this post off with a positive example so I didn’t sound too salty. I have mixed feelings about how realistic this one was, and since I’m not a gay man I really don’t think it’s my place to state whether it was or not. But one thing is for sure; it wasn’t positive. I mean, it’s an affair between a seriously underage Ian (I think he was around 15 in the first season?) and his significantly older, married with children employer. Kash is also middle-eastern so this story fed into both homophobic and racist stereotypes.

In season 2 Ian sleeps with yet another married man: Ned/Lloyd (Jimmysteve’s father). Lloyd is even older than Kash (likely 50s/60s) while Ian is still underage. Lloyd describes his sexuality as “anything that walks” meaning this isn’t actually bad gay representation, but terrible bi representation.

Jumping ahead to season 6 (after Ian has been working in a gay club and had many hookups, but no real relationships aside from Mickey so nothing worth mentioning), Ian started dating Caleb, a black firefighter. Caleb turns out to be HIV positive but the show (in my opinion) handles it extremely well, making it a point that it’s possible to manage it with medication to the point where you can’t transmit it to anyone. It was a genuinely great, healthy relationship, until they decided to make Caleb cheat with a woman. Again, terrible bi representation, and once they’ve broken up the experience leads to Ian attempting to have straight sex too. It’s something a lot of gay men go through so I don’t think it was necessarily bad to add it to the show, but I do take issue with that even being needed as a plot device to show that Ian is truly gay, as that’s the way a lot of society views homosexuality too.

Shortly after this, Trevor is introduced. Like I said, I’m not a gay man so my opinion on all of the former was of limited value, but I am a trans man and dear fucking god I hated Trevor’s story. Trevor is the embodiment of a character whose only defining trait is that they are LGBT. He’s overly sensitive to anyone not being immediately understanding about trans issues, and his relationship with Ian infuriated me. Trevor was offended that Ian lost interest upon finding out that he was trans, and the show made it seem like he was in the right for it. Ian apologised and they end up dating. They end up fucking. All this right after having shown that Ian tried to sleep with the opposite sex and absolutely hated it. Pure virtue signaling and my personal annoyance that every trans person in Trevor’s friend group was shown to be an “SJW snowflake” who had to introduce themselves with their pronouns is worthless next to the genuine harm that was done by showing that gay men can and totally should sleep with the opposite sex as long as they’re trans.

I don’t even want to move on from that because of how genuinely terrible it is, but let’s do so anyway because there’s more. Further building on the pattern of terrible bi representation, there was the minor season 1/2 character Jasmine. She’s married but unfaithful, and her showing interest in women is seen as a part of her being so “free spirited”, if you can call it that.

The “throuple” between Kev, Vee and Svetlana is another example. This post is getting long but I mean, for god’s sake can this show have a single bi character that isn’t super promiscuous if not a fucking unicorn? Every bi woman who’s ever used dating apps deserves to be mad at this storyline.

Now for the thing that actually got me to write this post; the lesbian representation in this show. The first lesbian we see is Bob/Roberta, in season 1 and 2. She’s a literal stereotype as an extremely butch truck driver, dating a woman who is generally presumed to be straight. She and Monica try to take Liam away on the basis that he’s black and needs a black parent. Just like with Kash, this is doubly negative representation. She’s a minor character and all she does is “turn” a character by being so butch, and try to steal a fucking baby.

In early season 9 this stereotyping stunt is repeated. Debbie meets Alex, another black woman so butch that she’s introduced as someone who’s passing as a man. Alex makes Debbie question her sexuality (though Debbie is later revealed to be bi, she wasn’t at this point so this was still falling into the “straight woman is ‘turned’ by an ultra-butch lesbian” trope) and they move in together right away. When they have lunch together after an argument, Alex spends hours talking about all of her exes, eventually reaching a point where Debbie can’t take it anymore and leaves.

Also introduced in season 9 is Carl’s girlfriend, Kelly. When this character was introduced it was immediately obvious to me that she was coded to seem like a lesbian. She's the daughter of an army officer and plays softball, and just about everything about the way she looks and acts seemed gay. I initially thought that they made this character date Carl to kill any suspicions of her being a lesbian before they could begin, but then they actually turned “queer baiting” (not my term) into a plotline. They made her character flirt with Debbie, made Debbie try to “steal” her from Carl (again, a bi character not respecting established relationships), and very much hinted at a relationship happening. The preview for season 9 episode 13 showed them kissing, and they still ended that story with her being straight and apologising for accidentally leading Debbie on.

I’ll throw in an honorable mention to Lea Delaria’s very brief appearance as a character so minor I can’t even remember what it was called; Lip’s potential AA sponsor; another ultra-butch stereotype, and an asshole. Oh and there was the whole gentrification plotline, where a bunch of rich lesbian couples (you guessed it, stereotypes!) moved into the southside. And Ford’s exes that Fiona met when she went bowling, which were barely actual characters and more of a joke about how gay they looked and how Ford clearly had a type. With Kelly being revealed as straight, the closest this show has ever gotten to a lesbian character that took actual part in the plot beyond being a stereotype was the lesbian couple in Fiona’s apartment building, and they still had one of them sleep with a man (off-screen, luckily) as a Totally Necessary Measure to get pregnant.

Shameless was genuinely one of my favourite shows and it wasn’t too hard to look past most of this at first, considering so many characters are terrible people anyway. But I can’t ignore the flaws at this point. This goes beyond comedy and I’m almost angry that Shameless has ruined itself for me just by being homophobic.

#OP #shameless #shameless US #LGBT representation #ok to reblog #long post #this post is non-exhaustive btw I'm 99% sure I've forgotten a few things

28 notes · View notes

gardenerian · 3 years ago

Note

Like.. we all know cheating is bad and it sucks that Ian cheated on Trevor for the fact that cheating is bad.

But Ian cheating on Trevor WITH MICKEY is like

cheating bad but YES I FUCKING KNEW MICKEY WAS STILL THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE GODDAMMMN. WHO WAS HE TRYING TO FOOL THAT HE WAS OVER MICKEY AND THAT MICKEY WAS NO GOOD FOR HIM. CALEB AND TREVOR WHO??

*ehem* cheating 👎🏼👎🏼

listen. listen. i am probably in the minority here in that i don't dislike trevor in the way i dislike caleb. i think trevor's a nice guy. he's cute, he does good work, he's fun. i like his s7 presence a lot. i kinda think that's how ian feels about him too? he's not head over heels or anything, but he's nice to be around. ian likes him, he's into him!

but when mickey appears, trevor just disappears from my brain... and ian's. i feel bad about that. ian has to consistently remind himself that he has a boyfriend 😭 as magnetic and undeniable as they are, ian makes a pretty active choice there. trevor's like a blinking light in the back of his mind in 7x10/7x11 - there are moments when he's lit up and present, there are moments when he's not there at all. and it's wrong!!! trevor would be well within his rights to kick ian's ass to the curb and tell him off, and i would support that!!! i wish to god he'd done that instead of whatever s8 was 😤 but yeah, god..... a moral dilemma for people who dislike cheating. but an absolute delight in every other way.

#lauren's gorgeous set reminded me of this ask #also sorry this has nothing to do with your ask but #i struggle with ian's boyfriends #bc while i wish they let him be single for a while #given what he is going through #i don't hate that he sees people when mickey's gone #they didn't know noel would be back #so like i don't want ian alone forever #....it's a complicated emotion #i just wish it had been done better they should have called me #whew #mel answers

21 notes · View notes

miss-musings · 6 years ago

Text

The Good & Bad of NBC: or, Why “The Blacklist” is everything that’s wrong with TV, and “The Good Place” is everything that’s right (SPOILER EDITION)

(Written Oct. 2018… pre-S6 of TBL and mid-S3 of the Good Place.)

NOTE: THERE WILL BE MAJOR SPOILERS OF BOTH SHOWS. DO NOT PROCEED UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN THEM BOTH!!!!!!!

In case you haven’t, there is a spoiler-free version of this post here.

(Author’s note: So, if you’re reading this you may or may not have read the other version first. If you have, I’m basically going to be going over the same material with the same structure, with some of the text basically copy/pasted from the first version. But, where I held back on the spoiler-y details before, I’m now going to be going all out. I’ll reiterate: PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS VERSION UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN BOTH SHOWS!!! Thank you.)

For any of you unfamiliar with my content, I’ve been analyzing different aspects of The Blacklist for the past few years, including calling attention to what I believe are flaws in its plotlines and characterizations.

This April, I happened upon The Good Place on Netflix and absolutely gobbled it up. I watched all of S1 in pretty much a single day; S2, in a similarly short time frame. Now, I’ve probably seen every S1 and S2 episode at least four times, and I’m watching the S3 episodes as they air on NBC before The Blacklist returns in January for its sixth season.

Now, it’s definitely not fair to compare The Blacklist and The Good Place. The former is an hour-long (44 minutes/episode) crime drama procedural that has had 22 or 23 episodes per season in five seasons. The latter is a half-hour (22 minutes/episode) ‘genre’ comedy set in the afterlife that has 13 episodes per season in three (ongoing) seasons.

So, TBL has an approximate 4,840 minute run-time, and TGP’s is approximately 858 minutes (including all of S3).

That means that The Blacklist’s overall runtime is almost SIX times the length of The Good Place.

Even so, both of these feature prominent TV actors, including Emmy Award winners James Spader and Ted Danson, respectively; both center on a relationship between a 30-something white woman and an older white man(whether that relationship is romantic, platonic or pseudo-familial is debated by fandoms of both shows); and both of these are NBC shows.

So, while it might not be exactly fair to compare these two shows, I’m going to do so anyway, because I feel like where the Blacklist struggles, The Good Place shines as a quality television program.

Now, don’t think for an instant that The Blacklist is a completely worthless show or that The Good Place doesn’t have its flaws. There are good and bad aspects of both shows, but I’m going to be comparing the two by focusing on three key things that make a TV show compelling:

Plot Progression

Character Interactions

Character Development

1. PLOT PROGRESSION

I think anyone who’s seen the Blacklist will tell you that this show’s plot is convoluted AF. In S1, it seemed like the show was setting Berlin up to be the show’s overarching Big Bad. But, then he gets killed off in S2 while the Cabal takes the forefront. The Cabal kinda hangs out until the end of S3, really, and then gets mostly forgotten until Ressler kills Hitchen in S4. And, Mr. Kaplan becomes Red’s enemy because she was once Liz’s nanny????

This show is so fucking weird.

It continues to frustrate me that all of the show’s major plot developments/revelations come during a mid-season or season finale, or a season or mid-season premiere. The Blacklist’s plot structure continually revolves around the idea of ‘sweeps week,’ when the network tries to boost its ratings by promising major reveals and developments during certain time frames.

Why not space some of these things out more instead of giving us what is essentially filler? We go along for the ride week after week, hoping to get clues or developments to the overarching story, only to be frustrated at the world’s slowest drip ever.

I feel like the first part of S5b really fell into this trap. It reveals to the audience shortly after Keen’s return that Ian Garvey is a dirty cop. And then we wait like 4-6 episodes (I don’t remember exactly how long) until Liz realizes this too. Jeez. Why drag it out so long?!?!

Now, I will say that the decision to kill Garvey in 5x19, rather than the season finale was a good idea. As it breaks the mold of having to wait until the (mid)season finale for the Arc’s Big Bad to finally bite it.

But, while that might’ve been a small victory, it still doesn’t make up for all the times this show has thought it was pulling the rug out when all it was doing was being predictable AF.

Between Liz “dying,” Kaplan helping her, Kirk being her stepdad, Mr. Kaplan being the one coming after Red, Tom dying, Liz trying to trick Red into revealing his secret by playing like she’s in danger and needs him to rescue her, the bones being the Real Reddington, etc... it continually frustrates me that folks here on Tumblr predict everything that’s going to happen with pinpoint accuracy. It makes the show boring and rote. (Not the folks on Tumblr; more the fact that this show’s plots are so predictable.)

Conversely, the Good Place – per the show’s creator Mike Schur – centers on the idea of subverting expectations. Based on the pilot’s premise, you might assume that the finale will be Eleanor revealing that she doesn’t belong in the neighborhood. But, Schur and his writing team have said multiple times that they focus on trying to make each episode end with a cliffhanger, and doing those big reveals or developments earlier in the season than the audience expects.

As Schur (or maybe some other writer or exec) recently said on the Good Place podcast, 2x09 “Best Self – where the crew leaves the Good Place to head to Bad Place HQ – feels a little like a season finale, despite the fact that there were three more episodes left in S2.

The Blacklist, IMO, also suffers from overdramatic promotions that sometimes make it seem like each episode is going to have some shocking development, when in fact, you could probably skip it and not really miss much (unless it’s a premiere or finale).

I feel like I remember the S2a promos about Liz hiding Tom in the boat, which of course, everyone predicted, really hyped up that reveal so that it was a real let-down whenever we finally got the truth.

TGP, on the other hand, doesn’t really have episodic promos like The Blacklist does, which might work in its favor. (Although, I will say that I was pissed the NBC Thursday night comedy line-up promos ruined the 3x01 Trevor reveal before the actual episode ended.)

I mean, compare how TBL handled the Boat Door Reveal in S2 versus how TGP handled the Michael-sacrifices-himself-to-save-Eleanor development. If TGP had done it like TBL’s, we would’ve known a week or two in advance that someone was going to sacrifice themselves to save Eleanor. It would’ve been these dramatic promos going like “Who! Will! It! Be?!?!!” with like pictures of all the cast members flashing by. And, of course, everyone would predict it would be Michael and/or Chidi, we would all be right and subsequently disappointed.

Also, while I feel like TBL tends to play things safe – very rarely breaking away from the crime drama procedural vibe – TGP doesn’t mind taking chances, so long as whatever they’re taking a chance on fits within the ‘world’ of the show.

If you haven’t seen my rant about TBL’s S5b, I was so excited after Liz woke from a coma to see how the show might tackle that plotline. Would Liz be traumatized? Would she be reluctant to rejoin the Task Force? What if she decided to give up her life with the FBI altogether and raise Agnes? What if she had PTSD? etc.

And, the show went the very predictable route of not showing much, if any, of Liz’s physical therapy or psychological trauma, and having her get back ‘out in the field’ (proverbially speaking) pretty much right away. She pawned Agnes off to Scottie and then kicked it in the woods for an episode.

Whereas, with The Good Place, we got to see major glimpses of Eleanor’s year after her near-death experience in 2x12. Granted, not much of it, but given the show’s time constraints and break-neck speed (in terms of plot development as opposed to TBL), it was nice that we got to see Eleanor become a better person, backslide, and then make a decision on whether she wanted to try to make progress again or whether she was going to stay in her rut forever.

Clearly, you can seen how one’s plot progression is preferable – as a viewer – to the other. It’s also helpful, I imagine, as a writer, to let the plots unfold organically, as fast or as slow as they need to… instead of having to either rush them or drag them out to reach a certain point in the season’s schedule.

2. CHARACTER INTERACTIONS

As said above, both shows focus on the connections between its male protagonist and female protagonists. While ultimately it’s the female protagonist’s journey, the male protagonist is a guiding force in her journey, helping her along and pushing her to make decisions (whether good or bad).

(Although, I guess you could argue that Chidi is really TGP’s male protagonist, but considering that Ted Danson is more heavily promoted, I’d argue Michael is really TGP’s male protagonist.)

And, for both shows, its two main protagonists are part of a six-person main cast.

For The Good Place, the cast is Eleanor and Chidi, Tahani and Jason (two other residents in Eleanor’s neighborhood), Janet (the neighborhood’s anthropomorphized mainframe/help desk), and Michael.

The Blacklist’s cast, as of the end of S5, is Reddington and Keen, her fellow agents Donald Ressler, Samar Navabi and Aram Mojtabai, and their task force director Harold Cooper.

Now, the Blacklist primarily focuses on the relationship between Reddington and Keen; he doesn’t interact with the other cast members very frequently and Keen’s interactions with them are pretty basic and often work-focused. There aren’t very many crucial interactions between non-Reddington/Keen pairings, especially in more recent seasons of the show. While S1 and S2 tried its best to have Keen interact with Ressler, Ressler interact with Reddington, Cooper interact with Reddington, Keen interact with Navabi, etc., S3-5 have more focused on the Reddington/Keen dynamic at the expense of everyone else.

Granted, I like the Reddington/Keen dynamic (in some respects), but giving it more weight in the runtime unfortunately means that the remainder of the cast has to tackle the more procedural aspects by trying to track down the Bad Guy of the Week while Reddington and Keen get to have more of the character-driven serialized moments and developments.

Compare this, though, with TGP and its interactions outside of the Eleanor/Michael dynamic.

Throughout different points in S1 and S2, we got significant interaction between almost every single possible pairing of characters on this show. (And I mean pairing in a non-romantic sense.)

We see Eleanor fall in love with Chidi, become ‘mates’ with Tahani, become bros with Jason, and try to kill Janet and then later give her relationship advice. Meanwhile, Michael has his falling out with and subsequent heartfelt apology to Chidi; he admits to Janet that she’s his most loyal friend; in S1, he seeks out Tahani’s help; and in S2, he seeks out Jason’s feedback. Tahani and Jason’s romantic connection is explored, as is Jason and Janet’s. Chidi and Tahani have an important bonding moment in S1, and even the dynamic between Chidi and Jason is touched on some.

So, while TBL’s cast feels a little separated and almost cliquish, TGP’s six castmembers feel like a cohesive team where any two or three characters can be trusted to carry a scene and have an emotional connection/interaction. The former comes off as weak writing and show structuring, while the other is far preferable to watch.

3. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

As I’ve said in several other TBL posts, THIS is probably my biggest grievance with the show … even more so than the weird-ass plot structure.

Despite supposedly being major characters, Ressler, Cooper, Samar and Aram get very little in the way of growth or development. I can barely describe them, their personalities, their desires, their moral codes, etc. in maybe a paragraph for each character. And these are people who have been on this show for FIVE FUCKING YEARS!!! How is that possible that they’ve gotten so little development in so much screentime?

Again, remember, TBL’s runtime is SIX TIMES that of TGP. And yet, I feel like any and all of The Good Place’s major characters get way more development simply in the first season than TBL’s peeps do in five.

I could definitely describe Jason, Tahani, Chidi and Janet’s personalities, desires, moral codes, etc. in like a page for each character.

Now, granted, I suppose the show’s structure lends itself better to that. The characters have to do a lot of soul-searching, so to speak, in almost every episode. Whereas, the Blacklist’s cast has to chase down the week’s bad guys, which takes up at least 20-30 minutes per episode.

Okay, okay. Maybe it’s not fair, considering that TBL clearly doesn’t care about its non-Reddington/non-Keen characters. So, let’s focus on both shows’ two leads and their character arcs.

Let’s look at Reddington’s character development versus Michael’s.

Despite having much more screentime and weight within the show, Reddington’s arc PALES in comparison to Michael’s. Granted, Michael started out as a literal demon whose entire purpose was to torture people. But, over time, we saw his genuine curiosity about humans transform into a genuine desire to understand them and want to be one of them. Yes, he only seeks them out after 802 reboots because he feels he has no other options (thanks to Vicky threatening to blackmail him). But, as he learns ethics alongside the humans, he realizes he needs to become a better ‘person’ (read: demon) to better care of them. Because he OWES IT TO THEM.

Reddington’s character development, meanwhile, seemed to come more in the latter half of S4 when he was trying to deal with Mr. Kaplan coming after him and he was trying to confront this spectre of death that seemed to be looming over him.

Yet, even after all that bullshit with Mr. Kaplan, where he called him out for keeping secrets from Elizabeth that she had the right to know, he still held all the cards and kept his secrets to himself and killed anyone who got in the way.

If Red had really grown, the way Michael did in S2, he would’ve confessed to Elizabeth at some point that he wasn’t the real Reddington, that he stole her father’s identity, and he’d been keeping it from her all this time because of “x.”

While Michael has learned and grown as an individual, Reddington has stayed relatively static in terms of personal growth. Not to say we haven’t seen different sides of him, what he would do when he faced difficult scenarios, like Liz’s death or losing his criminal empire… but the Reddington in the S5 finale is too much like Reddington in the pilot episode. Which is absolutely ridiculous, given how much screentime and emphasis he’s gotten over FIVE SEASONS!!!

Michael has learned to admit when he’s been wrong, apologize and become a better friend to his humans, while Red still has yet to do Liz (a woman he loves immensely in some capacity or other) the basic kindness of telling her that he stole her dad’s identity.

Alright. Now let’s look at Elizabeth Keen versus Eleanor Shellstrop.

Both characters have suffered from character regression, where they start at Point A, then develop and grow over time to reach Point B, and then – for whatever reason – regress to Point A again.

Elizabeth Keen started out happy and bubbly in S1a, went to dark and gritty in S1b-3a, then went back to happy and bubbly in S3b to S5a, then back to dark and gritty again in S5b.

Eleanor started off as an Arizona dirtbag, then became a good person to the point where she decided to sacrifice herself by going to the Bad Place... then got rebooted 802 times... then started as an Arizona dirtbag again, progressed to the point where she was the only one of the four humans who passed her test from The Judge ... then was sent back to earth and was saved from death, so she decided to change her life, backslided and now is AGAIN trying to become a better person.

Now, while Eleanor’s character regression fits within the confines of the show, Keen’s makes no sense. She’s confronted and overcome so many challenges over the show’s the five seasons… so, why hasn’t she learned from them? Why is she still relatively the same, especially considering that x-number of seasons ago, she was so completely different?

Why is she back to being all angry and hateful and dark, etc., when it’s like... she has a young daughter who’s lost her father, she lost 10 months with her after being in a coma.... and she just wants to go beat up dirty cops??? I feel like if they wanted us to see an Elizabeth Keen that had learned from her experience, she would’ve given up her life with the FBI, saying that it’s put her in danger, severed ties with Red (or tried to) because he’s also endangered her (via the bones), and spent time with her daughter, whom she claims is more important than anything else in the world.

And, whereas Eleanor was not a very likable protagonist at the outset but she becomes more likable over time, Keen started out as somewhat likable but has become more annoying as her character continually regresses.

All in all, to quote (or at least paraphrase) some other Tumblr user, “I can’t believe The Good Place literally invented character development.”

TL;DR

Again, just to reiterate, I think there’s good and bad in both shows. But, there’s a reason why I’ve seen every episode of the Good Place at least four times and why TGP S1-2 is currently #4 on my list of All-Time Favorite TV Shows.

The Good Place pushes the envelope by subverting expectations and having major developments earlier in the season than expected; it makes sure that almost every character has significant moments with every other character; and it ensures that each of them has a major character arc that works within the confines of the show.

The Blacklist, in comparison, does what too many other shows on TV do: it treads water plot-wise; it focuses too much on some characters at the expense of others; and even the characters it focuses on don’t show any significant or organic growth.

And, that’s why, IMO, The Blacklist represents everything that’s wrong with television now; and The Good Place represents everything that’s right.

50 notes · View notes

its-a-queer-thing · 7 years ago

Text

The comparison everyone is wanting to make...

I’ve been seeing a bit of Trevor v Mickey comparison and while I definitely think there is NO comparison, I think it’s important to point out exactly why I feel this way. I’ve also seen a rising effort to defend Trevor (which is fine. After all, half of my blog is defending Mickey and Ian, so I’m definitely not judging the effort.) BUT I have some problems with Trevor and I think it’s important that people fully understand the objections against him because some people try to frame any criticism against him as transphobia...

Guys, frankly, I think putting trans people on a pedestal and allowing them to do whatever they want or say whatever they want regardless of how other people are affected is another kind of transphobia. Being afraid you’ll make a transphobic comment, and so defending someone who is in the wrong is another kind of transphobia. It doesn’t automatically make you a racist if you have a beef with someone who happens to be of a different ethnicity, and it doesn’t make a man automatically a sexist for disagreeing with a woman, right? Well, it’s also okay to dislike a trans person separate from their gender identity or expression. My beef with Trevor is 110% separate from his gender identity, and I hope I prove it to you.

What is the difference between Trevor and Mickey? I've seen a few times that people tried to excuse Trevor being an asshole because Mickey is also an asshole. And they're not wrong. Mickey IS an asshole, albeit a charming one.

I don't want anyone to confuse that my defense of Mickey is saying he's a saint, or trying to claim that his actions are not still wrong when they are; Mickey does a lot of things that are really morally questionable, and my defense of these actions are simply my way of explaining why he should not be automatically condemned as a “bad person” for these actions and instead we need to open a dialogue about the motivation behind these actions. A lot of our criminals, I'm sure, are like Mickey who do have pretty good reasons for their questionable behavior, though of course no one would accept those excuses in real life, so we have to open those discussions in our media.

Trevor, that we know of, doesn't have these reasons motivating his hurtful actions. He has a stable job, he works with homeless LGBTQIA+ youth, he likes going out and having a (responsible) good time, he has a group of peers that loves and supports him for who he is... So his brand of asshole is different from Mickey's because from what we know of Trevor, he doesn't have a reason for being that way. Yes he is trans, yes he faces discrimination and opposition, and that would turn anyone defensive. And there are a couple of passes that I will give Trevor for being an asshole to Ian, for example the first time they meet and after Ian makes his... well, gross if not outright transphobic comment at the club. But have we been given enough information to excuse how he treats Ian over the five episode arc he’s in? In my opinion, absolutely not.

So where’s my offense?

A key difference between Mickey and Trevor: Mickey never manipulates Ian into doing anything. Ever. Mickey never tried to drag Ian into the drug ring, Mickey never tricked Ian into going on a run, Mickey didn’t give Ian an ultimatum when Ian didn’t want to do something he wanted to do in bed in order to force Ian into having sex the way he wanted to or not at all... the list goes on. Mickey never forced Ian to do anything.

In fact they each kind of followed each other’s lead the whole time. Mickey didn’t want kisses so Ian didn’t push. Ian didn’t want to use the anal beads and Mickey didn’t push. Ian finally said after two years that he wanted kisses and it looked like Mickey was ready to try it and wasn’t forced. The one time anyone pushed anyone to do anything in this show was Ian pushing Mickey to come out and I still argue that he didn’t mean for that to go down the way it did.

Trevor was unsatisfied with a platonic friendship with Ian, who was clearly uncomfortable with having a sexual relationship with him. And I've seen some people accusing Ian of being transphobic for this. Ian is not transphobic. Ian is uneducated and so is uncomfortable with the unfamiliar. There is a difference. (EDIT: I, as a cis person can not speak to what is and is not transphobic and I apologize for inserting that bold assertion. I do maintain that I believe Ian is uneducated, but that does not make the comments that came out of his mouth or his original view of Trevor less transphobic, simply because he was ignorant.) And he is unsure if he would be sexually attracted to this man because he doesn't understand Trevor as a sexual person and also probably never thought about if he would be attracted to a trans man. The trans community is completely new on Ian’s radar so ALL of this information he’s taking in is coming at him at once and sometimes is being relayed in a really unhealthy/condescending way.

What really disgusts me is the ultimatum that Trevor put forward when Ian made it clear that he was uncomfortable. Despite the mixed signal from a drunken makeout session, which Ian set straight the next morning but Trevor was having none of, Ian didn’t push a sexual relationship with Trevor. Trevor presumed a mutual sexual attraction and refused to listen to Ian’s discomfort or feelings in general. Instead of understanding that Ian is immersing himself in subject matter of which he is uninformed, and tackling a subject that is bewildering to him, Trevor expects entirely too much from Ian all at once. He expects Ian to basically go from being fixated on Trevor's genitalia and trying to understand Trevor's sexuality and identity, to having sex with him and being okay with it. That is a huge leap that Trevor is unfairly expecting Ian to tackle.

Mickey on the other hand, never forced Ian to do anything he didn't want to do. He fought tooth-and-nail for Ian to continue going unmedicated until it was clear that Ian being unmedicated was dangerous for himself and others, and that the issues associated with his diagnosis were not going to go away on their own as they both had hoped. Mickey listened to what Ian wanted and tried to give him that because Mickey listened to Ian’s wants instead of assuming he knew what was best or that Ian’s wants would coincide with his own. I feel that a lot of people ignore Ian’s feelings throughout the whole series (including fans watching the show). Take for example Ian and Trevor in general. People ignore Ian’s discomfort due to his first real encounter with a trans person and try to push him into being excited to be with someone he doesn’t understand! That makes no sense. And instead of hearing that Ian is uncomfortable, people hear that Ian is transphobic or people hear Trevor wants to be with Ian and therefore Ian needs to give the guy what he wants because, bless him, he’s trans and automatically deserves Ian’s affections.

Yes. T.V. needs more trans representation and a part of that representation is to give trans characters a romantic plot line to show that love and relationships with trans people are normal and just as valuable as relationships with cis people. BUT if the love interest has to persuade the cisgender love interest to have sex with them and is going to throw a hissy fit when the cis person is uncomfortable, then forget it. That is HORRIBLE representation. Not all representation is good and we have the right to be picky about representation, especially for a community that is still so controversial to the mass audience and whose issues are only just now starting to be received. (I as a bi person am very frustrated at how little representation there is for bi people at ALL much less positive representation *cough* Caleb *cough*)

The next obvious argument that people have is that Trevor never hits Ian. That is true. But as you find in my ICYMI posts, Mickey and Ian only have physical confrontation with reason.

1. Mickey hunts Ian down because Mandy told him that Ian raped her.

2. Mickey hits Ian in his bedroom because Ian broke into his house with a tire iron and woke him up with said tire iron at his back!!

3. Mickey punches Ian outside of the warehouse when Ian refused to leave him alone, despite the many clear signals that he didn’t want to be bothered (stopped verbally responding, kept a physical distance from everyone, probably didn’t answer his phone, etc). So in that situation what do you do when you physically, emotionally, and verbally distance yourself, are pursued, and then still try to physically distance yourself from your pursuer, and nothing works? What do you do when you push them back and tell them to get off of you, and they continue to verbally instigate you and even ask you to hit them? I don't even think Mickey's background needs to be involved when explaining this one because I know many people from my suburbia neighborhood who would have done the exact same thing. Mickey did absolutely everything in his power to avoid a physical confrontation with Ian, and when nothing worked, he punched him. And after he punched him, Ian would not shut up, so he ups the violence until Ian finally shuts up. Obviously this is not what you're supposed to do, obviously I'm not blaming Ian, the victim, for his own injuries or saying he asked for it, but I’m also not blaming Mickey because I would have done the exact same thing! But from Mickey's perspective he did everything that he could to avoid a physical confrontation and Ian continue pursuing. You can see in Mickey's eyes after he hits him that he feels really bad about what he did and this moment is going to haunt him the rest of his life even though to a certain degree, the violence was justifiable.

4.The baseball field when Ian hits Mickey. Here’s where I’ve gotta remind everyone that these are teenage boys. Teenage boys hit each other. It’s not condonable, it’s not excusable, but there it is. And it’s also important to keep in mind where they come from. People from these kinds of neighborhoods learn to talk with their fists and for the most part, Ian and Mickey don’t. They do actually communicate with each other and this is the first time they physically fight (that we see) after they officially become a couple. So while it’s not condonable or acceptable by my standards, I have to take a step back and see that this is their reality due to their gender and socioeconomic background/culture.

Trevor’s brand of violence is all about passive-aggression and manipulation. I can’t explain away Trevor giving Ian an ultimatum when Ian isn’t comfortable being in a relationship with him. I can’t explain away Trevor throwing a hissy fit when Ian won’t let him fuck him. I can’t explain away Trevor thinking it’s acceptable that Ian needed to get high before having sex with him. For someone who can “fuck anyone” in the club he and Ian first met up at, he is awfully transfixed on the “cis-gendered ass” he apparently doesn’t need. And my condescension isn’t arguing that Trevor couldn’t get anyone he wanted. He absolutely could, what I AM saying is it’s odd to me that he was so indignant about Ian’s ignorance and insisted that he doesn’t need Ian, but then can’t seem to take a gentle rejection very well. It also bothers me that after he *sort of* allowed Ian to look at him as just a friend for an episode, then he suddenly has “plenty of friends” an episode later as though he has a friendship quota and can’t go above that number of platonic friends.

Other than those physical confrontations, Mickey was never anything but supportive. Trevor did not want anything to do with Ian unless they were having sex. That's disgusting to me. At least he was upfront about it, but the way he handled that situation wasn't even handled in the way that I would consider healthy. He kept coming around, Ian made it quite clear that he was uncomfortable with being sexual with him, and Trevor acted surprised when Ian was uncomfortable. And then he gets angry when Ian is uncomfortable.

Then when they suddenly decide to try having a sexual relationship despite both being tops and adamantly against bottoming (another point to Mickey for compatibility) Trevor keeps pushing for Ian to be the one to cave because apparently he assumed that Ian assumed he’d bottom since he’s trans? That’s a really interesting assumption to make... Maybe Ian just doesn’t want to get fucked in the ass unless it’s his idea?

Finally they compromise and decide they will both give it a try; which is fine, EXCEPT when it came time to do it Ian was so freaked out that he called the boundary Trevor asked him about “not getting fucked in the ass” and safeword “oww motherfucker.” HE DOES NOT WANT TO DO THIS! Why would Trevor even WANT to fuck someone who CLEARLY doesn’t want to go through with it?! Yes, expanding horizons is great, but only if both parties are eager for it. As soon as consent becomes less than crystal clear, my ass is out and I officially can not support it, and I am not completely certain if consent was actually present in this situation.

Ian, it seems, ends up not minding it which is fine, BUT forgiving the circumstances of how he found out that he doesn’t mind is kind of like forgiving Ian for the ultimatum in 4x11 that caused Mickey to come out for the sole reason that everything worked out. It makes it better... but not by much.

The key difference for me between Mickey and Trevor is that Mickey was never demeaning, even when he arguably had reason to be. He never mocked Ian for the crazy stuff he did when he was manic, didn’t judge his job even if he did tease him a bit, didn’t judge him for stealing Yevgeny, chased after HIM to give him a hug at the hospital to assure him that he wasn’t mad and nothing had changed, apologized for missing a couple of days since his release, refused to allow Ian to look down on himself due to his diagnosis when the meds gave him erectile disfunction, didn’t rub it in Ian’s face when he couldn’t do more than one pull up at the baseball field even when Mickey tried to warn him that he shouldn’t try, changed his tune immediately when he realized that the caregiver routine was pissing Ian off/not what Ian needed, asked Ian if he was okay when he told him he was with his mom rather than getting on his case about not answering his phone... (and all of that is just in season 5)...

Meanwhile, in the span of only five episodes, Trevor has freaked out on Ian for absolutely no reason three times (not counting the first freak out, because as I said I can understand that), called him a faggot and a twink, made him feel bad for doing absolutely nothing wrong, manipulated Ian into having sex with him by making him feel guilty and giving him a conditional friendship, and told him to move on from a clearly toxic relationship with his mother. I mean, instead of explaining the significance of an ID to the Trans community since Ian CLEARLY didn’t get it and Trevor obviously had not explained it to him beforehand, Trevor throws a suicide attempt in Ian’s face as though THAT’S fucking fair? I get it. It’s a touchy thing and it’s hard not to take this kind of thing personally. But let’s be honest, that was a REALLY abrupt explosion going from 0-60 in 2 seconds, and it was yet another manipulation tactic to try to get Ian to feel bad about his ignorance. And had he just explained it to him, I know Ian would have felt bad about it even needing to be explained and there would have been no more questions asked. But Trevor went straight for the biggest blow he could land because his own ego took a shot and he wanted Ian to feel that pain.

As to the Monica thing, I’ve seen the argument that Trevor doesn’t know Ian’s story like Mickey does and that’s why their reactions to Monica are different... I beg to differ. I don’t call that an excuse. If I see tension between two people, one of which I do not know at ALL and the other I don’t know well anyway, I’m not weighing in because clearly there is something there that I don’t know about and it is NOT my place to say anything. Trevor told Ian to get over Monica’s neglect because she said she was sorry even though he laid it ALL out for him right there on the street explaining that she “parachutes” into his life sporadically and gave a few examples of the times she wasn’t there for him. But Trevor still felt it acceptable to tell him to move on... Yeah... Fuck that.

Mickey probably knows exactly who Monica is and what she’s done but rather than criticize Ian for leaving with her, instead of being pissed that Ian ignored him for a few days because he was with her, he asked if he was okay after the experience.

And finally, it definitely comes down to chemistry in this debate guys. Gallavich has more chemistry in one glance, than Ian and Trevor would in a whole sex scene. Gallavich lights up the screen when they just look at each other and their chemistry draws them together so easily that they literally went from an all out brawl to fucking and it was easy as breathing! They made eye contact and knew the other was down and I IMAGINE they just sank right into their positions. Meanwhile, Ian has to get high before being fucked by Trevor and they start rapping together in their boxers like bros during a sleepover. Ian and Trevor just scream best buds and that moment really proved it.

Yes, that is my opinion and some may disagree, but I mean... Come on...

...

Now I’m not gonna lie... There are SOME good qualities to Trevor and SOME good scenes with him. But look at ALL that negative I just listed out from only five fucking episodes. If that’s what we got out of him from five episodes, imagine what five seasons would bring. Meanwhile, Mickey had five seasons of fighting for Ian, with Ian, developing a life with Ian, supporting Ian and being supported by Ian. They became each other’s best friend and lover and to a certain degree they provided each other with a safe haven from their shitty circumstances. Over the course of those five seasons Mickey never made Ian feel lesser, at least not on purpose (though I can’t think of a time when he did at all). Mickey listens to what Ian wants and tries to give it to him where he can and he frequently gets bit in the ass from it, but he never blames Ian for it.

To me, there is absolutely no comparison between Trevor and Mickey. For some reason, people think Trevor is the better man. And by society’s conventional standards, you’d be right. But going based on action alone I have to say that Mickey takes the prize (at least when it comes to being the better partner for Ian). Trevor would probably be a great friend to Ian, but that’s really it. Once he learns to chill the fuck out (as he did a few times in a couple of episodes) he would probably be a great educator of Trans issues/rights/concerns. Trevor is just so damned unpalatable half of the time because of his hissy fits and manipulation tactics.

So... If anyone needs clarification they are always welcome to send me asks or reblog with your own opinions (all respectful if you please). I know that this is a touchy subject for some people, but I think it’s really important that we talk about positive representation and understand that this isn’t it. Hopefully the writers give Trevor a more palatable personality this season without completely washing him out.

Much love, lovelies! <3

883 notes · View notes