#unhappiest season

[soleil-read]

One of my favourite moments, that's love!

[mac33cheese]

"Tdlosk doesn't have any meaningfulness to it? It's all gags-" YOU MISSED IT!! YOU WERE SO CLOSE!! UR EYES WE'RE CLOSED DURING THE PLAY!! THE QUESTION WAS 2+2 AND YOU ANSWERED 5!! YOU HAD 3 SEASONS AND A REAWAKENED TO STUDY YET YOU STILL FAILED THE CLASS!! THE BED WAS MADE FOR YOU AND YOU STILL SLEPT ON THE FLOOR!! YOU DON'T EVEN NEED GLASSES YET YOU STILL CAN'T SEE THE MENU!!

[blarrghe]

Rating: M | Category: M/M | Words: 30 839 | Chapters 14/28

Summary:

When Magister Dorian Pavus' expedition meets unexpectedly with a clan of unhappy Dalish elves, First Taren Lavellan may be the unhappiest among them. Unhappier still to be put to the task of helping to see his quest through. This is the tale of how a fortnight in the forests of the Free Marches can change everything.

From the top

Ch. 14: A Lesson in Responsibility

Snippet:

“The last time the clan travelled through these parts, I was needed with them,” he explained. This admittance held more of that hidden embarrassment, a shortness to the usually even candour of his accented speech. “Even now, we could not spare the people, but then you came along,” he sighed, but the words contained less malice than Dorian had come to expect. “The clan will be moving early, we won’t return until the forest heals. A few seasons, at least. Our hunters needed to come out this way to prepare, and with your —” he faltered, “the help of your people, your supplies…” And here, Dorian understood. The great upset his witless companions had caused in alighting the forest and abandoning their slaves had benefited him, in a roundabout way. The slaves who wished to join clan Lavellan would now help his people prepare to travel, the supplies and gold taken from Dorian’s looted packs meant that elves of the clan who might have been sent to trade were free to join him, and meanwhile the hunt had to be sent further out. All of it allowed the bright-eyed, story-telling First to set out for the mythic temple he had, apparently, a longstanding fascination with. He had only to chaperone Dorian through the forest, and that too had benefits besides his own winning charm. He was, after all, another mage.  “So… you’re using me, my resources and my people, to do something you wanted to do all along?” Dorian concluded, settling back with the first genuinely smug smile he’d ever been able to direct at this self-important elf.

Daff tags list below the cut

@warpedlegacy @rakshadow @rosella-writes @effelants @breninarthur @ar-lath-ma-cully @dreadfutures @ir0n-angel @inquisimer @crackinglamb @theluckywizard @nirikeehan @oxygenforthewicked @exalted-dawn-drabbles @melisusthewee @agentkatie @delicatefade @leggywillow @about2dance @plisuu

[youssefguedira]

tog fandom's favourite luca marinelli movie: ROUND TWO

Summaries:

Trust (2018):

“The trials and triumphs of one of the wealthiest and unhappiest families of the United States, the Gettys. Originally planned to be told over multiple seasons and spanning the twentieth century, the series begins in 1973 with the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, an heir to the Getty oil fortune, by the Italian mafia in Rome.”

L'ultimo terrestre / The Last Man On Earth (2011):

“The story of the latest week on the earth before the announce of the landing of an extraterrestrial society on earth seen by the eyes of a misogynist man with only the desire solitude and routine.”

RULES:

ideally vote based on which film is your favourite, but if you haven't seen both / either vote which one you'd like to watch most or prefer the vibes of

or any other reasonable metric of your choice

propaganda IS encouraged and can be sent to me or added to the post

go forth and have fun!

[henderhop-is-endgame]

Hi againnn!~

Just realized that El's fav colors are yellow and purple. Aaaand. Dustin wears something yellow every season. Be it t-shirt or his cap, but he does! (maybe except last season, but ya know)

omg thank you so much for this ask! i love costume design.

Season 1:

Season 2:

Season 3:

(The friendship bracelet is probably from Suzie)

Season 4:

Dustin wears just a tiny bit of yellow this season; this is likely meant to reflect his emotional state, since this is the season we see him at his unhappiest :(

[buckevantommy]

'(Un)Happiest Season' review

Simply put, it wasn't enjoyable as a romance or a comedy or a Christmas flick. It failed on many fronts, but this reviewer from Salon.com puts the thing into words for Happiest Season's main failings: 

What's bad: There were two main criticisms of "Happiest Season." The first being: Can't LGBTQ audiences have a holiday movie where the main plot isn't about mining the anxiety and trauma associated with coming out, being closeted and casual homophobia? Then there's the fact that Harper really is just kind of the worst. After pushing Abby back in the closet, Harper ditches her in a town where she doesn't know anyone to go drink with her ex-boyfriend until two in the morning, then proceeds to call Abby "suffocating" when called on it. It's a pattern of s**ty behavior that is pervasive and present throughout the movie, so her redemption arc doesn't feel super genuine. 

Why can't we have main queer characters in Christmas movies without their presence being all about their queerness? We want fluffy festiveness, dammit! They could've made Harper less selfish and more attentive while still playing into the *I'm not out yet Because Reasons so we need to hide our gay relationship* trope, but they didn't. Who knows why, but what a waste. 🎄👩‍❤️‍👩☃️

^ Look at that trailer and tell me you don't expect Misunderstandings with fun and tropey antics + Domestic Christmas Shenanigans + Comfort for Hurt! You will be sorely disappointed. 😞 

NOTE: The flick does have a few good moments. And it's probably worth the watch just to see what's missing/mishandled when it comes to queer characters and queer romances in mainstream movies. 

But it's not really fun or funny or heart-warming - where are the snowball fights? Insightful conversations? Christmas elements like eggnog/spiced wine, candycanes, mistletoe? Where are the many colourful side characters and the hungover brunches? We get one scene of ice-skating for a few minutes and it's wasted on sibling rivalry bs rather than, say.. Abby and Harper skating together but not being aloud to touch—omg the tension!! 😍 

There's just not enough comfort for the hurt Abby (Kstew) goes through; the film wholly lacks those warm-n-fuzzy Christmas vibes; there's just way more wrong with it than is right with it - which sucks, because this had the potential to be such a great movie if only Harper was written as less ignorant/selfish and we'd gotten more enjoyable family interactions and more festive fun - like a celebration in town. Instead we get a few limited shots of the adorable town, a crappy bar, and an OTT fancy Christmas party for performative rich white folk on a career path for power and "perfection" (ie. wholesome family values). 

The story they went with was definitely better suited for a dramatic film, so in a romcom setting it really didn't work. Plus the side-characters were flat; we needed more depth from the supporting characters, more meaningful interactions. 

^ Look at those intro credits!! Look at all the domestic happy moments and tell me you don't want to see a movie filled with such fluffy festive goodness!! Well, if you don't want to see such moments, don't worry because you won't. I naturally thought we were going to get this kind of romantic-and-non-romantic happiness dispersed throughout the entire film, but no. Not a one. There's 5 minutes of Happy Couple at the start, and that's it 📸☹️ (unless you count a photo collage of the happy ending and year that follows stuffed into the end credits). 

BTW: That intro song is the most Christmasy song in the whole movie. The soundtrack features modern pop songs which 1) don't help set the festive vibe and 2) are really fucking annoying; the song choices are grating, not pleasant, not enjoyable, and they overpower the scenes with a whole lotta noise. I really wish we'd gotten more tunes like the one above. 🎶 

About the image below—Abby is actually miserable the entire time, getting worse by the day, barely a smile seen on her.. while Harper is the one schmoozing her family and contacts with teeth bared, so.. this image isn't what you'll get, just fyi:

(also: the only POC actors they had were the perfectionist-stone-faced-bitch's husband and his girlfriend - wife + hubby being secretly separated.) 

The things that the Salon reviewer liked are the same things I did (see below), but imho even those elements weren't enough to save this film from being: 

an infuriating 102 minute-comedy of errors buoyed by a healthy dose of gaslighting 

More cons of the flick are pointed out by denofgeek.com: 

Some of its issues come from the structure of the film, which shoehorns very real queer struggles into wacky rom-com tropes too fluffy to contain the stakes at hand. Meanwhile the choice to have one half of the lead couple be so aggressively and repeatedly cruel—while her high school ex Riley, played by the ever-perfect Aubrey Plaza was standing right there having all the chemistry in the world with the other romantic lead—was a fatal one.

It really was a dramatic plot idea crammed into a fluffy narrative. You can see the conflicting genres fighting to stay alive and they both die a slow, agonisingly dull death throughout the film. The whole *Abby being converted to loving Christmas by Harper inviting her to spend the holidays with her family* thing, only to have Harper force their relationship + Abby into the closet. Straight conversion much? I'm 100% sick of heteronormative bs in my queer Christmas films. 

For the most part, when you're not feeling for Abby's harsh treatment by her would-be fiance and everyone but Riley ignoring her completely, you will be bored af from the lack of festive cheer - not just twinkle lights and boisterous seasonal music, but those good ol' homey family Christmas vibes. With the Harper house + family members, everything's a performance, so that lack of sincerity and warmth makes for a depressing viewing experience: 

^ Jane (one of Harper's 2 sisters) is the only character allowed to be consistently genuine in the narrative (aside from John, but he's restricted mostly to phonecalls, and Riley - but even she's keeping Harper's secrets). Jane is the only character who is naturally vibrant and reminds us of some of the reasons we get excited about Christmas movies: to feel joy and to enjoy the company around us during the holiday season! 🎄☃️🥳 But rather than give us a fun day out with Jane + Abby, we get Abby + the second sister (i don't even remember her name, just BitchFace) which leads to more bad treatment of Abby - this time by two spoiled af no-smile rich kids. *le sigh* Jane carries the spark of honest joy for the entire Harper clan and that is TOO MUCH to expect of one character, let alone a side-character. 😪 

There are so many ways the story could've been tweaked to make more sense and be somewhat enjoyable, including: 

The orphan!Abby thing is just bad. Rather than give Abby a voice, chances to let her personality shine, almost everyone interacts with her to merely briefly express their condolences for her long-dead parents 🙄 

Abby is a pet-minder, ie. she's an animal lover, yet at no point do we see her interact with animals! Not a dog or cat or hamster, no reindeer at the petting zoo, nothing. 🐕🐈🦎🦜🐠

Riley + Abby getting together (even just a kiss) 👄 

Abby + Harper separating so Harper can get her shit together - and then we get several flashforward shots of them separately living their lives (Harper especially), and then meeting back up again - maybe the next holiday season, after some much-needed time apart 🏃‍♀️🤸‍♀️ 

side characters who engage with Abby in a sincere, meaningful way instead of ignoring her (again, we got Riley, but she was outside of the family dynamic) 😊 

MORE FESTIVE CHEER! where were all the staple Christmassy passtimes, the smile-inducing season-specific experiences??? 🎉 

More from denofgeek: 

Where the script gets into trouble is that it doesn’t distinguish between Harper being closeted and her poor treatment of Abby. The two are separate issues and treating them as one does no favors to Harper, nor others struggling with the closet. As Dan Levy’s beautiful monologue late in the movie alludes to, the closet is a safety mechanism—but it’s not a free pass to treat people like garbage. [...] 😟🏳️‍🌈

Even a brief conversation teasing out that being in the closet doesn’t justify how Harper acted, and that plenty of people in the closet don’t treat others like trash, would have been important. Instead once Harper is out (which the movie takes pains to make clear only happened because Harper’s sister Sloane outed her), and a gesture so small it could never credibly be called grand is made, all bad behavior is washed away. [...] 😤🙅‍♀️ 

The jarring underlying issue is that 'Happiest Season' attempts to apply the standard rom-com and made-for-TV-holiday-movie tropes to queer life. So Abby having to go back into the closet isn’t framed as a painful regression or being forced to deny an essential part of herself, but rather a fun twist, in the vein of “but the guy she insulted on the plane is the owner of the ornament factory she has to impress to win the Christmas contest!”🚪😒 

All of Harper’s behavior adds up to making her feel like something the audience wants Abby to be free of, not someone Abby should be fighting for. Once Riley tells Abby about Harper’s cruelty in high school, where Harper outed Riley and mocked her rather than standing up for her or finding an excuse that protected them both, it becomes incredibly difficult to root for the lead couple to get back together, or for Harper at all. 👏💃 

With this information, Harper’s other transgressions go from frustrating to part of a larger pattern. Sadly, it’s a pattern Harper repeats when her sister outs her and she throws Abby under the (lesbian) bus. 🤬 

FAVE THINGS: 

all interactions between John (Dan Levy) + Abby (he's witty, honest, and 100% the most entertaining element of the entire film; i wish we'd gotten more of him) 😆 

Riley (Aubrey Plaza, Harper's ex) + Abby's scenes together because CHEMISTRY, both between the characters and the actors 👩‍❤️‍👩

Notable between Abby + Riley scenes include 3 instances of Riley comforting Abby's hurt: outside at the fancy party (Abby feeling excluded/ignored/not worth anyone's time due to the way they treat her even though they don't know she's gay), at a gay bar in town (sandwiched by scenes where Abby's made to feel like crap by Harper), and at the fancy home Christmas party where Riley gets Abby something stronger to drink after hearing Abby was going to propose to Harper (but it's been a helluva shitty week and those plans are dead) 👭 

Every scene with Riley was blessed relief from the hurt and discomfort and boredom of the rest of the time with Harper's family. 🤩 

Sister Jane, for being a genuinely fun character 🤗 who was written starkly different to her family and treated somewhat like an outcast 

Aubrey + Kstew killin it in various pantsuits 👀 

In contrast, Riley connects Abby to queerness, bringing her to an LGBTQ bar to decompress and enjoy a Christmas-themed drag performance. It’s the most relaxed and comfortable Abby is on screen since the opening scenes, a chance to glimpse Abby’s authentic self before Harper summons her back to heterosexuality, and where she once again ignores and disappoints her. Riley actually talks to Abby at the various holiday parties whereas Harper keeps leaving her to please her family, especially her father. It’s not hard for the natural chemistry between Plaza and Stewart to take over

I wouldn't watch this film again. For a hopeful Christmasy love story I'd just watch all Abby + Riley's scenes: 

In closing, here's a batshit article title from observer.com that just makes you go, huh? 🧐:

‘Happiest Season’ Isn’t Happy, But That Doesn’t Make It a Bad Rom-Com

Um.. yes, yes it does. 

Rom-Coms are supposed to be fun, light-hearted stories about love even when the plot deals with lying - The Proposal, Sweet Home Alabama - so a movie that leaves you hurting more than comforted in sympathy with one of the main characters because the (apparent) love of their life is treating them like shit, then it doesn't deserve to be in the genre of Rom-Com. 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨💞🎬

In summary, Abby and Harper got 5 minutes of happiness in the beginning, and an eventual happy ending after a super rocky middle. The journey was painful and unenjoyable, and it made their happy ending unbelievable and, for Harper, undeserved because of her behaviour through 90% of the story. 

In short: it was not, in fact, the happiest season. 😕👎

[hanszimmr]

I watched the Safe Room episode, and ya know what? 

Kendall really is his favourite kid. Not that the other Roy kids aren’t important, but at the end of the day this show really is Logan and Kendall’s story of a father trying to mold his son in his image and that’s it.

[grand-chamberlain]

This is the music playing on the radio at the end of episode 36: Ivan's first appearence. In fact, not Tchaikovsky, it is Peter and the Wolf from Serguei Prokofiev.

[jancys-blue-bayou]

Every season shows Nancy is at her happiest with Jonathan and is at her unhappiest with Steve. People who don’t see this are not watching the show.

[bizarrejalix]

"He's the happiest boy alive, that boy can have anything and do anything" well that's dead wrong! I'm the unhappiest boy alive, the boy who has nothing!

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K Season 1 Episode 1

[henrysglock]

i wouldn't say that i dislike autumn, but it definitely is the unhappiest season for me. its something about the slow descent into winter, everything dying and shutting down around me, the amount of sunlight steadily decreasing, the wind getting colder and sharper.

i'm a late spring/summer fan myself. i love everything green, alive, the sun big in the sky for 14 hours a day, i love bugs and birds and the tall, green prairie grasses that grow in my backyard. I'm constantly cold, so I love the warmth of the sun, humidity settling around me like a blanket.

fall is just me getting to watch the things i love slipping away from me steadily, knowing i'm going to spend the next 6 months constantly freezing in miserable icy conditions with 8 hours of sun maximum and wind that hurts when it touches you.

halloween doesn't make up for that.

[taekooktimeline]

July or August, 2018

Filmed Season Greetings 2019 at this time 

As part of Seasons Greetings 2019 filmed in July or August 2018: 

Tae let’s us know that puberty brought the unhappiest period of his entire life. It doesn’t prove anything, but it matches with our suspicions that Tae realized his identity at an early age and struggled a lot back then, judging by Stigma (LGBTQ coded) and Inner Child’s lyrics, along with his general behavior.

(The chart shows happiness levels as they got older)

Moving on, Jk asks Tae about his saxophone therefore indicating knowledge and interest in Tae.

Members had to guess something Tae did everyday when he was young. After members had a tough time guessing, Jk excitedly announced that he already knew it.

Tae mentioned the vocal line (Jk, Tae, Jimin & Jin) used to hang out everyday after vocal lessons. We include this to show insight into their daily lives as trainees, and their closeness.

(https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7pq2yp, time stamp 14:55 onwards)

Tk sleeping:

Bonus: Jk used Tae to reenact a romantic movie scene from “temptation of wolves”

(https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7i7cbn, time stamp 8:15)

[emperorsfoot]

Kyle(shera2018), Deku(BNHA), Bolin(TLOK)

Bolin would hate it, but he’s an extrovert and makes friends easily. I actually think he’d do well in the service industry. He’d be the unhappiest successful manager. 

I confess, I have only seen the first season of My Hero Academia, so I only know Deku as a high school freshman. A high school freshman, especially one as awkward as Deku would have a bad time. Imagine a customer wanting to complain to the manager about Deku’s unsettling muttering only for Deku to be like “I- I am the manager.”

Kyle, oh, Kyle... he would have the worst time! 

[scottsumrners]

aight genuinely don't think jackles is bi but here me out. theory time is he never had a problem with bi dean or ppl asking about lgbt stuff. but cw has had their boot against his throat from day 1 as soon as ppl in fan circles starting bringing up that maybe dean isn't straight™ cw immediately told jackles to shut that shit down or it wouldn't be good for dean. bc it really seems like cw is the homophobic problem here from how they handled their lgbt characters and how they treated their lgbt fans to literally everything about the finale to how they removed mentions or trace of spn from their site. maybe jackles isn't woke or anything, maybe he even didn't like the idea of bi dean at first, but he really got shafted by spn's finale and is one of the most unhappiest about it and it makes one wonder if he grew to not dislike the idea of bi dean and destiel and connected that a huge reason his character got thrown away by cw's brutal homophobia and would've rather that destiel happened explicitly and better rather than whatever cw thought was the good route to take

i’m not entirely sure if i subscribe to that theory....but then again, it is hard to pin down. jensen, as a person, evolved a lot between season 1 and season 15 (the fact that he liked one of jdm’s all lives matter and then eventually became an outspoken supporter of blm, for one). i think that he signed up to play dean as a straight, macho, all-american boy type of character (even if the root of dean’s character, dean moriarty from on the road, is bisexual), and then having people suddenly infer on the sexuality of that character, based a lot on YOUR portrait of him, may be....a delicate balance for someone as an actor (also apparently the “no” thing in the essay was a misunderstanding).

whatever the case may be, i think he did realize that by the end of the show that dean’s character progression had been tied to castiel’s in a romantic way, and that the most obvious satisfying conclusion would be to have them together. i think he was eased into it over the years. so yeah, he wasn’t a fan of bi!dean and destiel at first, and probably not for a long time, but at some point you know? what other option did he have?

now, about the cw thing, i think it not only had to do with cw’s homophobia, but also with what they were aiming with their audience. like, other cw shows have lgbt characters, right? but spn was always meant to be one of their “boy” shows, like arrow and the flash. so the focus should be on the boys doing manly things. especially if they wanted the audience to carry on (lol) to their next ip....which is walker. which also happens to be starring one of the actors from the show. i think the fact that jensen turned it down may have been what led the cw to shaft him (or, rather, nail him) in the end

like. the cw confirms spn is ending between s14-s15.

around s14, jared decides to start producing walker on the cw; he wants jensen to be walker, but jensen tells him “no 💙”

apparently by then things get a little tense on set. jared gets his own impala, but jensen has to fight to get one.

covid delays the ending of the show, pushing the last episodes of the season to the back end of 2020.

in august 2020, jensen - who we believed was going to just. go make beer and take care of his family in the mountains after spn was done for - is announced to be joining eric kripke’s new show in a recurring/main character basis. so he passed on being on the cw’s paycheck to work for amazon

september 2020, the actors received the final, edited draft of the series finale. dean’s entire arc makes 0 sense compared to the last 15 years - and then he dies. the entire finale is about The Boys.

the finale comes out in november, to abysmal reception. walker comes out 2 months later

[buckevantommy]

reasons Happiest Season made me UNhappy 1/?

so Abby tells Harper she's content caring for other people's pets during Christmas - a beautiful sentiment which is ignored and cut-off by Harper who sees something she wants and immediately drags Abby to it: up onto a stranger's rooftop, and what an apt metaphor this scene is for Harper behaviour during the rest of the film: ignoring Abby's feelings, making Abby do what she wants, putting Abby's (emotional) wellbeing in danger without a second thought, wanting to "stay up here" ie. out of sight, trying not to "get caught" ie. being outed, putting herself first until she realises Abby is about to fall and then fails to save her. 

Making out in an alleyway thereafter feels awfully like a closet, where Harper dangles the offer for Abby to join her family for the holidays - the promise of familial togetherness to get (orphan) Abby finally excited about Christmas! And then Harper gives Abby the worst Christmas since her parents died. 

[jkottke]

The Pandemic Has Driven Twitter to New Lows in Happiness

Since 2008, the Hedonometer has been tracking the language we use on Twitter to assign a daily score that measures how collectively happy we are (English tweets only). From the data, you can see that happiness spikes on holidays & after notable news events (same-sex marriage legalization) and unhappiness follows mass shootings, terrorist events, and Trump's election. But the Covid-19 pandemic has brought Twitter's collective happiness rating to an overall new low and its first sustained period of unhappiness.

The day they identify as the unhappiest is March 12, 2020, which is the day after Americans finally took Covid-19 seriously. Within the space of a few hours on March 11, the NBA announced it was suspending its season, Tom Hanks revealed that he and his wife Rita Wilson had Covid-19, the WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic, Donald Trump went on primetime TV to address the nation, and the DJIA closed down 1400 points (it would drop another 2350 points on Mar 12).

See also the previous low point after the Las Vegas shootings and my initial post on the Hedonometer from July 2016. In that initial post, I shared a hunch that Twitter's happiness seemed to have reached a peak in early 2016. With four years of additional data, it's obvious that the happiness peaked in late 2015 or early 2016 (at least according to their methodology).