#who is annoying and breaks the rules

[ozonecologne]

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[songbirdlopez]

Santana Lopez is lazy. At least, according to herself in New Directions (5x13) "I'm too lazy to do eight shows a week". Now I have many issues with this episode and the entire understudy plot, but that isn't what I want to expand on here. I just want to talk about this one line.

Warning, this is a very long post.

Where on Earth did the writers get that idea? I can see Santana genuinely believing that about herself since her self esteem isn't always the greatest, but Rachel never corrects her. Santana says she is lazy, and that's it. She's lazy. But wait a minute, are we talking about the same Santana here?

Let me bring up the obvious. The cheerios. I don't think it's possible to be lazy and be a cheerleader under the leadership of Sue Sylvester (unless you're Becky, I guess). Santana was a cheerio for all of season 1 and 3, half of season 2 (only because without her, Quinn, and Brittany the cheerios weren't good enough to win), and presumably all of her freshman year. That's three and a half years of gruelling training and death-defying stunts. And for her senior year she is co-captain, so taking on extra responsibilities.

Also cheerios related, in Diva 4x13 Sue offers Santana a job as the cheerios coach. Despite knowing how tough Sue is she says yes. Later when speaking to Britt she says that she'll take over fully when Sue dies and she's gonna make sure that happens within a few years (presumably a joke but who knows what would've happened).

Then there's the New Directions. Santana is in the glee club for three (almost) straight years. We don't often see much more than lessons being introduced and then singing, but it's established in season 1 that they do vocal warm ups/training. There's also booty camp which runs late season 2 and all season 3. After she gets (unfairly imo) kicked out in The Purple Piano Project (3x01), she agrees to join Booty Camp to come back to ND. In universe she is one of the better dancers, so this is just a punishment that she accepts, she wants to be in the glee club and will do extra work for it. There's also practising for their competition numbers (even if it's the day of). In season 1 she helps come up with some choreography. Santana often has solo parts and was one of only a few members to get a full solo where she doesn't just park and bark (obvi Britt and Mike were the featured dancers but Santana has her own choreo). Santana is also one of only four characters who audition for a solo for nationals in Funeral (2x21), and she's one of only two who have some sort of choreography.

Continuing on with glee clubs, the Troubletones. Santana joined TT to get more focus. We saw TT discussions and dance practise, and we know that Shelby did vocal coaching that was better than Will's (Mercedes: "Shelby's a great teacher, I'm hitting notes I didn't even know existed.") Santana also pushed through a majorly distressing event (outing) to perform and used that pain to lift the performance (RHI/SLY).

School musicals. Santana has roles in three different school musicals. The only one she doesn't participate in is Cabaret, but that is just a sham to get Rach away from the New Directions. In season two she plays two different characters in Rocky Horror, she's double cast as Magenta (a supporting character) with Quinn, and she plays the lips (this is a mistake on the show's part, the lips are Riff Raff's actor in the movie, but on stage this song is performed by a character named Trixie the Usherette who does a reprise of the song at the end). In West Side Story she plays Anita. Finally in Grease she plays Rizzo, it's worth noting that she gets the role with very little notice and still (from what little we see) nails it.

Jobs. Throughout highschool Santana doesn't seem to have any part time employment, but that's the case for most characters. While she's at Louisville she doesn't need to get a job since she got a scholarship and a bunch of money from her mom. I mentioned previously that she almost got a job as cheerios coach. Once she moves to New York in season 4 she works a shit ton of jobs, like a ridiculous amount. She's a bouncer, a cage dancer, she works at the Coyote Ugly Saloon Bar, she's a waitress, a reoccurring actor for Yeast-I-Stat, Fanny Brice understudy, Rachel's publicist, back up singer (and maybe dancer?) for Mercedes which includes touring with her, and she is an active member of Pamela Lansbury before she and Rachel are kicked out.

Even ignoring the jobs that were just word of mouth, she had five jobs, that's more than any other character in the show, and we unfortunately never find out what she ends up doing.

In season 4 after a push from her friends she takes on NYADA extension classes.

Also relevant, in season 4 she drops out of college. This isn't because she's "too lazy", it's because of the environment. She didn't gel with her fellow students, there's no mention of the work being too much, it's purely that the other cheerleaders don't respond well to her. Her "brutal honesty" or whatever, still not a reflection of her work ethic, just her lack of tact (to put it lightly). Also worth mentioning, the two times we see her at Louisville she is clearly working hard. She can't talk to Britt because she's too busy, and in the scene where that Virginia Wolfe girl eyes her up she's in the library studying. In Jagged Little Tapestry (6x03) Santana tells Brittany that she would like to go back to college, unfortunately we never see if this comes to fruition.

Volunteering. Santana is also the character who volunteers the most. In Silly Love Songs (2x12) she says that she often volunteers at the hospital which is where she got the candy striper outfit. Two episode earlier in A Very Glee Christmas (2x10) the glee girls are going to sell their hair, Santana is the one to tell the others to "stop yapping" and just do it and is just a about to cut off her hair when Will stops them, so clearly she was willing to do it. The next Christmas Santana joins Sam and Quinn at the homeless shelter with the other New Directions after the tv special (kinda goes against her prior eagerness to help out, but makes sense since fame is her mistress). In Lights Out (4x20) she joins Rachel and Kurt volunteering at the Ballet Gala. Admittedly here it's takes a push and she only goes after being offered dresses.

Mentoring. From season four the ND alumni often come back to mentor the newbies or just to help out in general. Santana comes back in Glease (4x06), Thanksgiving (4x08), Diva (4x13), All or Nothing (4x21), 100/New Directions (5x12, 5x13), Homecoming (6x02), and Jagged Little Tapestry (6x03). (I'm not including The Breakup or The Quarterback because she came back for emotional reasons.)

Knowing all of this about her shows how hardworking and passionate Santana is. She is constantly working at something. She has her down time (watching Facts of Life, scrolling Rizzoli & Isles lesbian subtext blogs), but that seems few and far between when knowing just how much she works. It can also be inferred that she is a good student at WMHS, seeing as she got the scholarship to Louisville and they probably wouldn't accept her on just cheerleading merit alone, and she is seen multiple times with her books open, studying. (Pot O' Gold and Saturday Night Glee-ver come to mind). We also know that she cares about her education because she reported Will for being a sub par teacher in The Spanish Teacher (3x12).

Along with everything I just mentioned, Santana also takes it upon herself to do side quests when she wants something. She is so determined to prove that Quinn and Finn are having an affair that she gives herself mono (she's immune apparently, but still). She also goes full spy to take down Sebastian, and to take down Brody. With everything else she does and the effort she puts into random situations to do with her friends she must be goddamn exhausted.

Something I must bring up is related to her being Rachel's understudy. But first another disclaimer: I don't want this post to become a discussion on who was in the right in the situation, both women did bad things, that is not what this post is about. I only bring it up because it is the plot where this line is said, therefore some parts a relevant.

Santana only gets the idea to audition for the understudy role as Rachel leaves to go judge the auditions. We do not know exactly how much time passes in between but it's presumably only a few hours at most. This means that Santana had to memorise the song, change the key and structure by herself, and choreograph the number in a few hours. That shows dedication. Later on in The Back-Up Plan (5x18) Santana goes on in place of Rachel to try and save her friends job. Again she has very little time to prepare to play the role as the show is that night, and hasn't been the understudy for approximately a good few months. We don't see her perform but Rach herself says she was really good. It's unfortunate that we never see Santana get any opportunities come from this, but it's Glee so I digress.

In conclusion (I feel like I'm back in highschool lol), Santana Lopez has many flaws and there are many valid reasons to criticise her, her work ethic is not one. Santana is shown to be an extremely hard working and dedicated character who aims high and will put in the work to get what she wants, she won't let other people get in her way. She can be her own worst enemy and can get into a slump when she can't see a direction to go in, but she always pushes through. I think it's cowardly that the show not only decided that she was the sole offender of the Understudy Situation, but also shunted her with a negative descriptor that is in complete opposition to what we know of her. Despite also saying cruel things during the understudy plot line Rachel gets away with not apologising, and then lets Santana insult herself. It's an unfortunate result and complete character assassination for Santana and shows how little the writers care for her. It also destroys the friendship that Pezberry developed up until that point. Santana is not the only character to be described in a negative way even when the rest of the show doesn't represent that, Mercedes Jones gets this treatment even worse and more often. I do have a discussion about her in my drafts, hopefully I'll finish it one day. It sucks that two of the most versatile and skilled characters in Glee are constantly said to not be enough.

Santana Lopez is not lazy.

[puredoesnotmeankind]

And if I say Cas and Gabe already have feeings for each other? And that Cas fell first (not that they know) and Gabe fell harder (kinda knows but it has them crying throwing up pulling out their hair sobbing)?

[batcavescolony]

comic writers are in the comic business so you'd assume they've...You know, read comics. but from what I see they don't do that apparently.

[camillahex]

okay i've been thinking a lot about the rat grinders (abbreviated as rgs) and here are my ideas on the different roles they could have this season and an analysis of their appearance so far (putting this under a read more bc it got long)

major antagonists - the rat grinders are directly involved/responsible for whatever the big bad is this season. something like they are causing the quangles in order to get aguefort to leave school and take over w/ Grix to change everything to be hyper rules oriented in order to fuck over the bad kids or take over the world or whatever the big bad actually ends up being. quite frankly, i don't think this is at all likely and it wouldn't make for a very good story imo

minor antagonists - not directly in league w bb but indirectly a part of the problem. one theory i've seen around is they have somehow reprorammed grix (potentially with henry the artificer teacher who has the same last name as the rg bard) and are trying to change the school bc they are fed up w agueforts loosey-goosey ness (this is mainly based on kipperlilly) and they tangentially aid the big bad by doing this as well. i think this is more likely and could be good depending on how it unfolds

antagonistic but not antagonists - feud stays purely in the academic/school life. the rgs maybe show up the bad kids a little, do better than them in classes or at sports, take some of the wind out of their popularity (like at this now abandoned party), maybe kipperlilly even wins pres - but it's not deeper than just being the school worsties of the bad kids

reluctant allies - kind of plays off previous; rgs and bad kids end up having to work together at various points and even battle together (maybe for like the big finale battle) bc they can recognize that saving the world id more important than their school feud

genuine understanding - also plays off previous two; interactions lead to interpersonal conflict at first but through being forced to work and battle together they each begin to see that there is more to the other. bad kids acknowledge that rgs have a lot of raw skill and strength in their own right (as already evidenced by mary ann's athletics and kipperlilly's inplied rogue abilities) and that it takes a lot of dedication and (especially) discipline to work as a party killing rats for three hours every day. rgs acknowledge that large-scale adventuring requires a certain loose attitude for the "rules" and that having being specifically subject to arthur aguefort's chaos may not necessarily be a good thing

now, narratively speaking, i think the rat grinders as a party will have immense specific strength and skills, but will not be prepared for more "real" life or death battles. improvisation really is the better part of planning (thanks calroy) and a plan never survives first contact with the enemy, but they likely have not needed to create complex, or on the fly plans, or improvise when the bad guy throws out some insane shit, while simply killing tens of thousands of rats, spiders, and tree gremlins. none of those beasts would have taught them how to practically deal with ranged weapon attacks or any kind of spell attack, and i could also see them not being the best with playing to each others strengths and covering each others' weaknesses due to the sheer monotony of only ever battling the exact same creatures. i'd also be surprised if they have any experience at all with genuinely dying and having to be revived or even with going into unconsciousness. i do think classes go over that kind of thing but learning the theory of something and then actually having to apply it under pressure are two radically different experiences.

one thing that could complicate this is that the rgs have recently gotten a new cleric party member, who we know is a transfer from highcourt, helioic, and loved by kristen's parents (as an aside, this is going to be so juicy and cause so much conflict w kristen, i'm so excited). clerics are pretty vital for parties going on intense adventures, being the strongest healers of the group, so there are two ways i see a cleric introduction as having to occur. one, is that the rgs have never had a cleric and spending your days killing low level creatures likely does not create much in the way of life threatening scenarios or injuries a long rest couldn't heal. and now that they feel they're strong enough, they want to move to more extreme adventures and feel they need a cleric to make it work

however, option two is that the rgs did have a cleric, and that at some point their cleric fully died. as we've learned, parties who have a member die immediately go on pass/fail and don't have to do a yearly project. if this happened to the rgs last year (or maybe even their first year, i forget if the pass/fail was only through the year or not) they would not have had to do the sophomore year project, and it would explain how they've manages to keep only killing low level creatures. also, this could be especially narratively significant, because, the bad kids had party members die on their very first day of school, one of which was their cleric kristen. they were only revived by aguefort committing ritualistic murder-suicide to bring them back to life. this could definitely read as preferential treatment from aguefort, even though the bad kids could have been anyone and aguefort was just doing his own plan to sneak into heaven and stop being poisoned. a dead cleric would be another level of parallel the rgs would have with the bad kids and could be an aspect of their resentment.

on a more meta/symbolic level, i feel like the rgs, and in particular kipperlilly and her campaign spiel, are representative of an intensely regimented, regulated education system where everyone must do the exact same things, get the exact same help, and all be measured on the exact same axes of success, in a very standardized testing kind of way. now, abstractly, in a vacuum, in a perfect world, this is fine; this is equal treatment under the rules. but the realities on life and people are messy and complex. there's any number of reasons why someone might need more help, different accommodations, and be measured on a different metric of success than someone else and none of it makes it preferential treatment; it's just that everyone has different needs. the solution should always be more diversity in accessibility, not less.

and to bring it back to the narrative, we've been told that adventurers, and by extension the students of the adventuring academy, are basically vigilantes doing, uh, extralegal vigilantism. a regimented system based on grinding out experience by killing rats in the woods would in no way produce successful adventurers, just like really strong exterminators. the things the bad kids have gotten in trouble doing are things it has been explicitly said they are supposed to be doing ad burgeoning adventurers, and the only reason they got in trouble in the first place and weren't allowed to do their thing solving mysteries (as presumably, many many parties before them have done) was because aguefort was missing. even when adaine was kidnapped by fallinel, the school protections she invoked protects all of aguefort's students. we have heard many times that students throughout the adventuring academy's history have been encouraged to act as the extralegal vigilantes they are training to be, and haven't seen anything that suggest it's only been selectively applied to favorites

ultimately, i hope that the realization develops that the school has been failing both the rat grinders and the bad kids. we haven't seen a lot of the rat grinders but based on kipperlilly's complaints i think it would be a failure in a lack support in helping the students find their own adventures (as opposed to just keeping on going killing rats in the woods) and/or a lack of protection for when they bite off more than they could chew (if they did in fact have a cleric who died). for the bad kids, it would be a lack of support and accommodation for when you do find a big adventure and can't keep up with schoolwork, a failure to recognize and interfere when you see students struggling before it reaches a critical breaking point (kristen and fig being close to expulsion), a lack of support wrt university funds/scholarship or required school supplies funding (riz and adaine), a refusal to recognize when students exceed in ways outside of the typical curriculum (gorgug and fabian).

the enemy is the system, not your fellow classmates

[orcelito]

One of my least favorite things about LOK is the fact that they completely removed Katara's personality. Like it's been a fucklong time, of course she wouldn't be the same person as when she was 14, but they still simplified her to just Old Lady. Where's her spark?? Her attitude??? She's a sweet and caring person, but she can also be petty and quick to anger. But I swear every time she's on screen in LOK it's just *old lady smiles* or *old lady looks worried* like What? Where's Katara??? Bc that's certainly not her.

[fingertipsmp3]

I’m always so fascinated by people’s bad roommate stories. I’m not sure I’ll ever live with someone I haven’t vetted extensively beforehand ever again

[toytulini]

But Also i do think. Expecting Crisp Ironed Clothes of someone in a fucking job interview is Unhinged. I think most professional dress standards are Stupid.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

When all of your pirate mutuals succumb to the Gaimen angels derangement and you can't join in the fun because you just do not give a fuck about them 😔

[erisolkat]

i really do want to wear a mask when i go out its super convenient but unfortunately my parents will get weird and bug me until i take it off then make fun of me for being a fake activist or whatever. so im just screwed. sorry

[jewishcissiekj]

I think we need to gaslight Dave Filoni into thinking Barriss only ever appeared in AOTC or that she died in the Battle of Geonosis so he'll stay the fuck away from her and never execute whatever his plans were for her

[leatherbookmark]

the thing with wwx though is like. yzy hates him already for the mere fact of him being taken in by jfm and getting special treatment, so maybe if he was the most docile, polite, average disciple ever invented, she'd still hate him and single him out for punishment. who knows. and i'm not a wwx person, or rather, it's been A Time since i've last read wwx meta or thought about him in depth, so. but: man, dude, have you Heard of acting like a human person?

it's like consequences aren't real for him, and we know that they are because of the lotus pods extra. so what's up with this man? this is jarring especially when the gusu lectures start, because everyone thinks the lan are no fun and have too many nonsensical rules, but they're ?!?! when he recounts his first night adventures. amazed, sure, but mostly surprised. it's a constant exchange of "and i did this..." "oh shit! and then...?!" and okay little dude but where did this impulse come from. have you stopped to examine it. like, of course you haven't, you're fifteen and a little asshole, but. did it cross your pretty mind that perhaps when you're a guest in someone's house, you should... behave? at least for a bit?

[scarefox]

the way it is always the same people who don't get plot points and characters and then claim it is bad writing even if you explain it to them 🙄

i have some people (soft) blocked because they post such rants for every episode of all dramas...

[emmriches]

as much as i wish i loved dragon age as much as everyone else, so much of what it offers are things that i am just insanely indifferent towards

[mbat]

man the writing rules people say all the time are so boring. like a lot of the time they make sense and yeah sure theyre good whatever but man. rules are boring and especially about creative things and also i just want to write about whatever however idk

[redsray]

i do love the idea of the wayne kids giving bernard shovel talks about taking care of tim and all that but also give me batfam who are just as protective of bernard as they are of each other.

give me bernard, attending his first wayne gala as tim's significant other. having a suit custom tailored and funded by bruce even if bernard insists it's not necessary because he already has one. arriving at the gala anxious because of course he is, it's a goddamn socialite event, but being protected from every side by the wayne kids even when tim is dragged away.

Socialite: Oh, and who might you be?

Bernard: Oh, um, hi. I'm Bernard Dowd, nice to meet you.

Socialite: Dowd? I've never heard of your family before. Who...?

Bernard: I'm not here with my family, miss, I'm here with my boyfriend.

Socialite: ... Boyfriend?

Bernard: Yeah, I'm here with Tim.

Socialite, frowning: Tim... as in Drake-Wayne? He has a boyfriend?

Dick, coming up next to Bernard: He sure does! Bernard here is practically one of ours now, aren't you? He matters to Timmy, so he matters to us.

Bernard: Dick—

Dick: C'mon, let's get you back to Timmy. Farewell, Mrs!

Bernard: I could've handled that.

Dick: All the rules that apply to my siblings during galas apply to you too. I'm sure you could've, but you shouldn't have to. I've got your back too, now, yeah?

Bernard: ... Yeah. Thanks, Dick.

Jason, coming up to Bernard at the bar: Not to freak you out, kid, but there's a guy starin' at ya from the other side of the bar. Y'know him or should I encourage him to look away?

Bernard, startled: Huh? (looks around) Oh. No, I don't know him. Why... is he looking at me like that, actually?

Jason, scowling: 'S just how the slimy fuckers at these events are. Can't keep their eyes off anything that's small, young or pretty. Disgusting. I'll deal with him— where's your annoying other half gone, inferior blondie?

Bernard: Tim? He got pulled away for quote; 'something important' by some lady. He said he'll meet me here after he's done, so I've been waiting.

Jason: Huh. If I see him I'll point him yer way. Hey, don't be 'fraid to ask any of us questions or for help if ya need it. We know the best how daunting this shit can be.

Bernard, genuinely touched: ... Thanks, Jason.

Jason: Yeah, yeah. Don't tell Timmers I said that, though, he'll call me a loser.

Bernard, laughing: I won't.

Bernard, being talked to by several people at once and a bit overwhelmed by the attention: Uh— I'm—

Damian, stepping between him and the socialites: Dowd. I require your assistance.

Bernard: Um— hi, Damian— with what?

Damian: You will see when we get there. Follow me, Drake's more tolerable half.

Bernard: Okay... so what do you need from me?

Damian: Nothing. You seemed to dislike the attention from all of the nosy adults over there. It was the most efficient way of extracting you from the situation.

Bernard: Oh. Thanks, Damian.

Damian: Tt, don't thank me yet, Dowd. I am still criticising your choice in romantic partners.

Bernard: Didn't you threaten me with a katana to not dampen Tim's mood in any way shape or form?

Damian: Slander. I said quote 'if you make Drake more annoying by breaking his heart I'm going to maim you.' I don't see how you got the message you did from that.

Bernard, grinning: Sure, Damian. Sure.