#who has never done anything wrong in his entire life

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

I may go into more detail about “Sinsmas” later, but I did want to talk about what I considered to be the one scene/sequence that I thought was very well done and that I truly enjoyed—Octavia’s song, “I Will Be Okay”.

(Song/Character Discussion below)

Octavia’s song is almost everything I could have asked for. A somber echo of Stolas’ song from season 1, Octavia’s I Will Be Okay, finally, finally, gives Octavia a voice and the chance to express her grief over her father’s abandonment.

For the first time in the series, there’s no one to tell Octavia that she should give her dad some slack or that she should forgive him. She’s finally allowed to be upset, to fully mourn her relationship with Stolas and to get mad about what happened. She’s finally allowed to start working towards accepting the ways Stolas’ neglected her, and begin healing from that pain and trauma.

Octavia’s experience is both terribly heart-wrenching and, in the most painful way, freeing. The lyrics reflect that perfectly, with Octavia acknowledging that while she’s not okay now because of everything Stolas put her through, she WILL be okay, and will grow into her own person without him.

The song is a direct response to Stolas’. Octavia is answering him, saying “Yes, I will be okay. Not because of anything that you were supposed to or failed to provide me as a father, but because I will forge my own path, and in doing so will heal from the pain you caused me.”

It’s a bittersweet song about finding the strength to cut contact with someone you loved who has repeatedly failed you in the worst ways, and who isn’t going to change.

I do have one “criticism” for this song and sequence, not because anything from it was poorly done, but because, in my opinion, the song’s visuals could have been even better.

The following scene was in the original storyboards for “I Will Be Okay”, and was changed in the final episode:

I think the decision to change the visuals for these lyrics in the song was a mistake. Please don’t get me wrong, the animation in this entire episode was fantastic, my critiques of Helluva Boss are almost never about the animation.

But the above sequence just has so much more emotional weight to me. It’s the visualization of Octavia realizing she can’t rely on Stolas, that she has to look to herself for comfort.

Octavia taking her younger self from her neglectful father’s arms, symbolizing that she’s accepted that Stolas cannot be depended on and that she’ll have to take care of herself now, is such a powerful image.

It really is a shame to me that they cut this scene, because I think it fully encapsulates everything Octavia has been through in such a simple and effective way. I think the scene really loses something by cutting this visual.

With all of that said though, Octavia’s song, and the scene where she FINALLY calls Stolas out for his behavior were very cathartic for me. I know that the scene’s intent was most likely to make us empathize with Stolas for losing his daughter, but I found myself empathizing only with Octavia, and hoping that she gets the time she needs to heal.

I would love it if the show actually let her decide whether or not she wants Stolas back in her life, but given the way HB’s writers portray women, I worry that it’s likely some big event will happen that “reveals” Stella to be awful, and Octavia will forgive Stolas just like that, and will probably end up apologizing to him instead (like in “Seeing Stars”)

Anyway, just like Octavia being the only good thing in Stolas’ life, “I Will Be Okay” was, in my opinion, the only good thing in “Sinsmas”. (well that and Octavia calling Stolas out)

[thebroccolination]

Someone made the grave mistake of mentioning Arthit in a Discord server I’m in.

[marisatomay]

“I can’t believe Tom Cruise of all people would stand up for his agent, a Muslim Libyan-American woman, who was being publicly blacklisted for her support of Palestine and calling out the ongoing genocide, including making a rare in-person appearance to CAA headquarters in LA to express his support for her. What a strange person who can ever guess what opinions he will have.”

Look. I’ve studied Tom Cruise a lot. One could even call me a Cruisologist. (Not to be confused with. Well.) And, it’s actually really easy to predict Tom Cruise’s opinion on something. The tricky part is whether it will be made public in a timely manner or not and, if it’s made public at all, will it be a lede buried in favor of pushing a narrative sold on background by a studio exec he pissed off because he didn’t roll over and take their bullshit.

[papa-evershed]

Rob James-Collier as Thomas Barrow DOWNTON ABBEY S03EP01

[amedetoiles]

“in that case, can you show mercy and spare his life? after all, you are family”

“his dead father is his family”

“didn’t your father ever love you”

“never”

THERE WAS NO REASON FOR THIS EXCHANGE TO BREAK ME LIKE THIS I AM WEEPING

[chaotic-neutral-knitter]

I know we’ve talked a lot about Stede begging Ed for forgiveness and like, hell yeah, keep it coming fandom, but I’m starting to think Ed is going to go so far down a self-hate spiral that he’s not going to want Stede to apologize to him.

Like this is what Stede did: • cruelly and thoughtlessly abandoned Ed without a word of explanation And this is what Ed did: • chucked Lucius overboard (presumably to kill him) • marooned Stede’s crew • stole Stede’s ship and threw away all of his stuff and books • cut off Izzy’s toe and fed it to him • decided that there’s nothing left for him but to be Evil™ and the monster that everyone apparently wants him to be I just think that if Stede comes back to Ed and tries to apologize, Ed will be completely baffled by it. Because he’s going to believe that A) Stede left him because he wasn’t worthy/doesn’t deserve fine things and B) Stede was right to do that because look at what Ed’s done since then.

And while A and B are not true, it’s going to be difficult for anyone to convince Ed otherwise because Stede did leave and Ed did do those things and Ed’s deepest darkest secret before all of this was “I’m not a good person, that’s why I don’t have any friends.”

[shipperwolf1]

I was almost certain we'd run into the ancient boys again in pandae tier 3 and honestly my biggest concern was that elidibus would look at us and go "oh yeah. You. Friend-turned-enemy. I don't like you as much now" and that shit would have broken my heart, but no, he looked at us and praised us even through Athena's evil influence, and once free he immediately called us "friend".

I am somehow compromised and cured at the same time also transformed!Elidibus is hot

[rasairui]

"Uhhh violence never the answer it's childish to start fights" it's also childish to refuse any and all criticism and expect everyone around you to bend over backwards to accommodate your every fucking whim and never do the same in return. If YOU make YOURSELF impossible to have a mature conversation with, people are going to stop trying.

[animazi]

genuinely impressive how every piece of media seems to have One Guy who just gets turned into the most pathetic never done anything wrong in his entire life sad little meow meow entirely regardless of whatever his canon portrayal is...

[pastelchad]

Ada Wong moodboard

[running-in-the-dark]

I know it would be a really bad idea to do this (really bad), but I'm starting to think I should reach out to my brother (the one that physically attacked me a couple months ago... like I said, bad idea.)

I keep telling myself not to do it but it's just so hard. I hate being in this position. I just want to get along with everyone. But I've always had to be the one who reaches out, the one who apologises, the one who forgives everything, the one who makes themselves smaller so that everyone else is comfortable. And I'm done. I don't want that anymore. If he won't come to me to explain himself (and apologise!), fine, I guess we won't talk again.

[nyamcot]

It sure did, Pal!

(In which local mage bought the “steal your soul” book thinking it was a total fluke But turned out to be legit after using it on a Demon.)

[coquelicoq]

something is rotten in the state of southern qing. jesus christ.

[omg-snakes]

My perfect thick idiot son, Calvin, who has never done anything wrong in his entire life except today when I let him climb my young redbud tree and he went to the highest branch and wedged himself in the crook of it and wouldn't budge and he's so big I was afraid that he might break the branch so I had to get a stepladder and get him down while the neighborhood jays that come by for peanuts whenever they see me in the yard freaked out and sat screaming on the fence to warn me that there's a snake very near me because I'm obviously too stupid to see it and clearly in mortal peril.

[icapturedthecastle]

I should have known better than to start a new Naomi Novik book at 5pm, because of course I’m going to inevitably stay up until 2:45am to finish it…

[shipperwolf1]

So anyway. Elidibus has stolen my heart and I don't know how to cope