#yet another reason why i didn't want a special or a s2

[airenyah]

you know what's insanely cruel, it's the fact that not only they gave me a patpran special when i explicitly said that i do NOT want one, but they made made me love it and now i have to say goodbye to patpran again. when i've finally managed to deal with the goodbye and never seeing them from the first time around. THEY'RE MAKING ME GO THROUGH IT ALL. AGAIN.

it's inhumane, really

[mileenaxyz]

*Spoilers ahead*

I was going to rant about how Season 3 of Industry wasn't Industrying for me. I was going to bitch about the infamous "Season 3 Slump" some shows tend to suffer from. I was going to compare it to The Bear and complain that just like I hadn't gotten enough of Sydney Adamu in S3, I wasn't getting enough of Harper Stern in S3.

I was going to ask if Harper was being phased out in favor of Yasmin and Robert, and I was going to point out that as fond as I am both of those characters, neither one is "enough" to lead this show alongside Eric the way Harper is.

I was also going to call Kit Harington's casting publicity casting and point out that anybody could've been played Henry Muck, because I don't feel like Kit did anything special acting wise.

I was going to do all of that and then...last night's episode dropped.

Y'ALL. Since the end of S2 I've been waiting for Harper to rain fire and blood on PierPoint. I wanted to see how she'd do it and how long she'd draw out the pain and agony. When she started the fund with Petra and became a client of Pierpoint's (and demanded first class service from Eric), I was like, "That's cute and all...but it's not fire and blood."

Watching her scheme with Kenny, Daria, and Jackie, my jaw fell on the floor. I started screaming, "There's my Harper! THERE'S my fucking Harper Stern." And then seeing Eric blow up....

Speaking of Eric, I had no complaints about him this season. Both Ken Leung and the writers did some excellent work; I just felt I needed to see more interactions with Harper (I've dubbed their father/daughter ship Harpsichord). But depriving us worked, because he's been avoiding her all season when she clearly wants his attention, and when he finally confronted her in her office, it was AMAZING! I was soooooo happy when he finally addressed the daddy elephant in the room and she finally pointed out her "monstrous" tendencies stem from him, and PierPoint by and large. Because when we first met Harper, she was too afraid to even pick up the phone.

Eric dragged her kicking and screaming from her shell, tutored her, molded her, and taught her the art of betrayal. He made her a monster and now he's mad...that she's a monster?

And after that, Yasmin's storyline FINALLY paid off, and it was eye-opening.

You have to understand something about me; I'm asexual, so I miss a lot of cues and when it comes to sex on TV, I typically fast forward through that shit because I don't care. I don't think it contributes to the story but this time, it actually did. I now understand why Yasmin feels the impulse to get sexually involved with damn near everybody. Since S1, I found it annoying and thought it was just some dumb thing the writers were throwing in (because so many shows do that shit), but this time, it had an actual point. Yasmin's father weaponized his wealth and status so he could fuck anything with a pulse, so is it any surprise she learned to do the same?

In fact, I think the only reason she blew up at Eric at the restaurant was that she didn't find him attractive. If she did, they would've ended up in that bathroom together. Because wealth and status (and pale skin privilege) taught Yasmin that she can behave in this manner with no consequences (Harper obviously cannot).

Which brings us to the seasonal Harper/Yasmin confrontation. A part of me wants them to be friends, another part a couple, and yet another part thinks they need to permanently split up. Such is the reality of life, and a testament to the writers. Yeah, yeah...Harper's a "monster", but I don't think Yasmin is a "talentless and useless and a fucking whore." Yasmin speaks seven languages, is a deft manipulator, and simply needs to learn that screwing your coworkers, clients, and boss is unprofessional and extremely tacky.

And Harper, honey, sweetie, boo...let that man go. Your little crush should've wrapped up in S1 the minute he chose the spicy white girl who treats him like dirt. I get that Robert's an adorable sweetheart and all, but you're not his preference and you need to get over him. Matter of fact, you've been making bank for a while now - why are you still living with these people?

This is the one part of the story that really works my nerve, but I can't really criticize it because it's real. Harper likes Robert; he's a good guy she has to see everyday at both work and home. The part of her that feels both inferior AND superior to Yasmin desperately wants to "win" him from the spicy white girl who treats him like dirt. That's real. It's as annoying as Yasmin's ill-advised sexcapades, but they're young, insecure women in a cutthroat world, and it's real.

*shrug*

[kentray]

Yet another theory: Roy/Keeley break-up

Near the end of S2 there were theories on Reddit that Keeley might be pregnant. They died down but I think that it might have been the case. So my theory is, I think a miscarriage or abortion may have caused Roy & Keeley’s break up. Again, it's long... so bear with me. And as always, this is just a theory because I felt there was more to the break-up and the show purposefully wants to keep us in the dark only for a major reveal later.

Keeley wasn’t shown drinking past S2E7 – yes, she had drinks in her hand & spoke of them, but she never actually drank – a kind of unwritten rule in tv with a pregnant woman. Nor did she smoke. (S1E10, 11, 12)

S1E10 Keeley’s behaviour at the funeral was erratic and a bit disrespectful of the environment but I chalked it up with her being emotional about death but what if her hormones were out of whack? She didn't know she was pregnant yet or she’d just realized?

She talked about wanting people to be nourished by the fruit from her tree – that’s a very allegorical parallel to pregnancy.

If Roy didn't know about the pregnancy until after the fact (miscarriage or abortion), the line in the funeral episode "I didn't know about the fucking child" was foreshadowing.

She looked directly at Roy when the reverend spoke about Rebecca’s father being a devoted husband and father.

She also did not do her PR duty with Rebecca. She needed to properly warn her of the repercussions of Rebecca’s relationship with Sam. I mean think of how aware Keeley was about that with those photos of her and Ted in S1 when she was dating Jamie. But if she had a pregnancy on her mind? Was she distracted?

In S1E12, having this huge opportunity to start her own company and being given the news via email? Is that realistic? Did she question any of this? Due diligence? Again, if she wasn’t thinking straight, if she had lots on her mind, it would all seem like too much at one time.

When Roy wanted to open the champagne in S2E12, she said, "I thought we wanted to save this for something really, really special?" What's more special than opening your own company? She then distracted him by proposing sex... avoiding having to drink but not having to say anything about why.

She also was at a crossroads. Her dreams were coming true as her career was soaring. She had the love of her life supporting her - but a baby? That wasn’t in the cards.

And then the trip to Marbella, she couldn’t go away. Fair enough… but encouraging Roy to go alone when he’d just arranged it all for them both? (I do not approve of his sudden surprise trip but that’s separate issue.) Having him away for six weeks would give her time to decide whether to keep the baby or not. She is scared and has never been in a long-term relationship before. Maybe has even dealt with pregnancy scares and been disappointed by partners?

So we get to S3 and they are broken up. She wanted a break, Roy wants a break-up. We know Roy has self-worth issues. He feels he weighs Keeley down. I believe he feels he’ll impact her ability to succeed – he’s got a lot of baggage and Keeley has been more than supportive. It’s unfair for her to have that burden. So that's what we see as his reason.

Fine… but Keeley – why won’t she work at it? Yes, she’s preoccupied but it’s obvious “being busy” is not the reason for the break-up. That’s an excuse. It seems obvious that they are covering with Phoebe and fine... but the carefulness with how they word things sticks out to me.

It’s also obvious Roy wants it to be known that HE is the reason for the break-up but he's still kind to Keeley. It's as if he’s protecting her.

So, what if she miscarried or chose to have an abortion?

We see Keeley as serious and sad at the beginning of S3, and in Episode 2, when Roy gives back her things in a bag at the club, her hair is ragged and she looks unhappy, putting on a brave face.

We then get a scene pointing out that her period is early due to stress. That surprised me. I would have considered Keeley to be a woman on the pill, or even more likely, an IUD. It's not impossible to have an early or late period on the pill but to show that scene? We now know she could get pregnant.

Also for symbolism? The use of the lamb with Keeley's storyline? Lambs represent gentleness, innocence, and purity and babies are often called little lambs. Also, the little lamb pooped over her work, twice, as if to say the lamb (the baby) impacted the quality of her work.

When Roy received all those sympathy well-wishes - what did it look like? Balloons and teddy bears and flowers? Mostly white? It looked like what people give new parents. No wonder Roy was angry. (Poor Trent.)

Her not knowing what CFO means? Not knowing who her VC “boss” was? The person who funded her? Her bad decisions? Even her decision to enter a relationship with Jack? All of this is Keeley regressing. She is new to all this but really not doing herself any favours. She is heartbroken, perhaps suffering from trauma from everything that's happened.

What she does do, is to seek comfort in a woman, rather than a man - and yes, while that provides LGBTQ+ representation, it also protects Keeley from getting pregnant again.

And Roy? What if he didn’t know until after the fact? And if that was the case, I think he would respect her agency. Her body, her choice, but it would indicate to him that she didn’t trust him to talk about it. It would confirm all the self-hatred in his head, the idea that he wasn’t enough, that no one could love him. And above that, if she did miscarry, he would feel immense guilt for causing her pain and sadness, especially as she was at an exciting time in her life. He would blame himself because Roy blames himself for everything.

Remember in S2E8,he told Phoebe he was afraid of infecting her with the worst parts of him? That is not a man who thinks he would be a good father even though S2 showed the audience why Roy would be a good father. Fatherhood is a major theme in the story. I thought it was foreshadowing at the time, perhaps it was.

Also, what if post-miscarriage/abortion Keeley had regrets? What if she talks about wanting to be a mother? This would also encourage Roy to bow out, because if she does eventually want a child, she should be with someone who is worthy of being a father. He likely might not word it that way - he might just be firm in the idea that he doesn't want to be a father.

Keeley would be devastated but would also respect Roy’s decision. She doesn’t have the energy to fight. She might think she's the one who has hurt him and he thinks he’s doing the right thing even if it’s hurting her.

I actually think Rebecca would know what happened and even would respect Roy for walking away if he doesn't want to be a father, because Rupert didn’t give her that choice. Which then would have led her to think of trying to be a mother again. And I noticed Rebecca didn't seem to be angry with Roy for breaking off with Keeley and hurting her, just frustrated. She understood and then she got after him to get a move on.

Now here we are. Roy and Keeley are both a mess. They are both regressing to old versions of themselves. Keeley is back to living life superficially and Roy is back to living life full of anger and hostility.

In S1, Keeley mentioned she had abandonment issues. Until Roy most of her relationships have been superficial, never getting close enough to be truly hurt. In S2, it sounded like she didn't have a good relationship with her mum. We never got to see this but perhaps she feared Roy would reject her, which he did.

And then of course Ep 9, ROY'S SPEECH ABOUT A FOOTBALLER'S WIFE MISCARRYING, Roy said, "He didn't tell anyone. He kept it all inside", Keeley gave an almost imperceptible nod and was near tears.

In S2E9, the man many called "Roy on 'Roids" & his sexy partner Mary were expecting a baby. A nod to Roy & Keeley? Guess who is at Beard's wedding with a baby on his chest?

When they were finally about to talk about their relationship, it was in Jamie's childhood bedroom... a child's bedroom. Sadly Jamie interrupted.

In S2, Headspace, Roy reads the DaVinci Code & quotes the point where the "old geezer" inflicts wounds on himself for his perceived guilt which is exactly what Roy has done all season because he felt he caused Keeley pain.

I tend to think it was a miscarriage and even the possibility that she talked to Roy about the pregnancy/the options prior to losing the baby, but that's all just guess work at this point.

While I could accept this as a reason, I still think they’ve missed the mark on storytelling by keeping it a mystery. It’s not fair to the viewers who have been on this journey and waited for 500+ days between seasons only to be left with no answers. It's been a really sad season if you love the Roy & Keeley love story.

[luneemeritus]

TW: SA, RAPE

I can't believe I have to reblog this only to defend Angel Dust (read: a sex worker that is being raped, eslaved, abused, trafficked) even though the original post was not even about him.

My point in the original post is that any kind of representation can be interpretated the wrong way and turned into something "problematic", specially gender identity and sexuality. And guess what is happening in the comment section 🥰 exactly what I pointed out.

One thing is wishing the Hellaverse had more sapphic couples aside from Chaggie (I agree, I also wish for more sapphic couples in the future). Another thing is accusing Vivienne of intentionally "fetishizing" mlm and "not caring" about wlw couples, even though 1, she is a queer woman, 2, she isnt the only writer. Yes, she is the head of the project, but Adam and Brandon also participate in the writing. Actually, Brandon is the one who helped Viv to write Stolitz, he's literally the hero of Stolitz shippers. Try to examinate why you're putting all the blame on Viv, for something that is not even true.

Before I get to the main rant here, let's talk about the mlm couples: Stolitz, Fizarozzie and Huskerdust. Stolitz began being a sex centered relationship, a transactional fucking, sex work, basically. The problem started when they developed feelings for each other, both Stolas and Blitz are very damaged and toxic people that hurted each other even unintentionally. They broke up, they're not having sex anymore, and both of them realized that keeping this relationship into sex only is problematic for both of them. Ok. Now Fizarozzie: there are two, TWO, moments where sex is briefly mentioned between the two. The first time is in the first minutes of "Oops!" (S2-Ep6), and in the last minutes of the same episode (there's also a scene when Fizz comments about Ozzie's cock). That's it. Aside from that, they have a healthy, adorable, lovable dynamic that is not sex centered. I'm really, really trying to find anything problematic about Fizarozzie but honestly it's impossible. Are we really forgetting the main dynamic between them: keeping their love a secret? Which proves that Ozzie is actually the strongest of Sins because he is able to show vulnerability despite what Crimson said about him? Are we ignoring all of that just to push the narrative that "it's all about sex, all mlm couples, all of them"?

Now, about Huskerdust: it's not canon in the show yet but it was confirmed by Viv and, come on, everyone shipps it so let's count it as canon. Angel and Husk started the show not getting along. Husk is being forced by Alastor to stay in the Hotel, he can't stand anyone in the Hotel but specially Angel's facade. Angel, oh Goddess, Angel is a sexual slave. Is that clear yet? He is being trafficked. Abused. Dehumanized, for years, by the man he once loved. He doesnt perform that facade because he wants to, it's not a matter of ego, it's a matter of survival. Do we have that clear yet? Angel is more than his facade, he is more than his trauma, and the show let that very clear. Angel didn't have his boundaries "disrespected" by Val, his boundaries were DESTROYED. He is not treated as nothing but a piece of meat, an object owned by Val. OF COURSE he is not going to cope well with this situation. He is not a perfect victim, no one is, perfect victimhood does not exist. Yes, Angel pushed Husk's boundaries several times and harrassed him. The same way Husk pushed Angel's *emotional* boundaries, making extremely rude comments about Angel's work for no reason other than assholery. Angel and Husk got along when both learned how to respect each other, but mainly, when Angel finally understood that it was safe for him to let his walls down. To let his facade down, because it was causing him to self destruct and act inapropriately. Saying that Huskerdust is a "sex centered" relationship is insane.

Why am I saying this? Because Angel's victimhood and his complexity as a character was not my original point. Yet his hypersexuality was brought up, not to discuss his character, but to prove Viv "fetishizes" mlm couples. Something that is simply. Not. True. Now, I used the term "victim blaming" inapropriately and I apologize for that, I shouldn't wrongly accuse anyone of victim blaming. But you know, isnt it kinda hypocritical to call me out for accusing you of something you didnt, while accusing Viv of things she also never did? Listen, it's still fucked up to bring up Angel's flaws that had nothing to do with my original post. Try to examinate why you care more about Angel's flaws than what is being done to him (read: the reason of why he has these flaws in the first place) and what he is doing to improve himself. Angel was called out for acting inapropriately, and stopped. Where is the fetishization? I can't see it.

Just because we didnt see Chaggie fucking each other or devouring each other's mouths, it doesnt mean they didnt care about Chaggie. We will get a sexy Chaggie duet in S2, guys. We have multiple Chaggie fans, maybe it isnt for you, maybe you wished it was more tender and intimate, which is fine, but straight up accusing Viv of fetishization and being unwilling to write wlw and female characters in general? Nu-uh. We have Verosika, Millie, Quee Bee, Charlie, Vaggie, Carmilla, Velvette, Stella (yes she is a monster but still a good villain), Lute, Sera, Emily, all great female characters. Ok, you dislike Vivienne, you dislike the Hellaverse, but while you can criticize it we can also disagree with your criticism. I tagged this specifically to Hellaverse fans, for them to relate to my point.

Now. Let me try to clarify what I mean to say with my original post. Personally, *I*, I, Lune, wish the Hellaverse had more trans rep. I wish Sally May appeared more, I wish she and Verosika would be a wlw couple, and I want Baxter to be transmasc. *I*, I, Lune, wish there was a brazilian character, because I would love to see someone of my culture to be represented in a show that I love. But you know what? All of this, it's a *ME* problem. Not Vivienne', not Brandon's, not Spindlehouse's, not Prime Video's, a me problem. Authors dont need to write what you or I want, they write what they want. Being critical of the media you consume is different than having beef with the authors because their writing didnt go as you wanted. Neither Helluva nor Hazbin are finished, what about we wait before criticizing or aproving everything, hm? Imagine if I take my frustation about a brazilian character not existing in the Hellaverse to the point of saying, "nah the creators are anti-brazilian because yes". Nu-uh.

Also,

This is the third or fourth person that, instead of foccusing in what I'm saying in the comment section, checks what I say in my bio/tags/post/whatever to use against me. Can we stop that? Please? It's not cute. We can both like media literacy and disagree with each other, I'm not ashamed to say that bringing up Angel's flaws to prove Viv is fetishizing mlm couples is bad.

Something that I learned about queer media: nothing will never be enough. The stupiest reasons will cause people to create a witch hunt against authors and accuse them of real bigotry. "Your representation didn't go exactly as I wanted, therefore you are a monster and a real danger to real people."

If your media has flawless heroic little puppies queers, it's trash and horrible and liking it makes you a terrible person. If your queer characters are not flawless heroic little puppies, then they're evil and you hate queer people (even if you are queer yourself).

It's sad that the same people preaching about love and acceptance are the same and first ones to attack and harrass queer creators and built unsafe space for people that love and relate to flawed characters. And I'm not even entering the anti-sex positivity discussion and how liking porn and including it in your stories is bad and fetishization and dirty, some "progressive" people have the same views as alt right boomers

[persefoneshalott]

ramble about kevin mcclain american vandal s2

the thing is Kevin LIES constantly. Dylan in s1 knows he's innocent but isn't believed by a lot of people, being doubted by peter at some point and with him the audience. But kevin KNOWS that he did it and yet encourages Peter & Sam to suspect in other people and keeps lying about being innocent until the truth leaks out. And we never get his pov of it, really, we only get his narration after he's already lied A TON. I think probably him lying started in part because he didn't want to disappoint Chloe after she was trying to help him and reached out after them having distanced in the past, but he's also a bit resistant to trusting her and reconnecting with her again at the beginning, I think because he felt angry and betrayed by her and with that comes the second part of why he lied, which to me is that he ultimately didn't regret what he did THAT much, not enough to be punished for it. And then when it seems like other people might take the blame for it, he goes with it.

And the people who are being suspected are the people that Grayson WANTS to take the blame, with DeMarcus acting as a substitute for the knight dude for him. And not only does Kevin go with that but he misjudges DeMarcus in the same way that Grayson does, he makes comment about him being a dumb jock and both him & chloe see him as this 'untouchable' person who can get away with anything because of his popularity. which is the exact reason why grayson wants him framed (an assumption, but that seemed like his original plan).

And THEN when drew gets framed in his place, someone who we don't think he has any problem with, he still lets that happen (and Grayson never gives kevin up or leaks their messages which *eyes emoji* is just INTERESTING why would he be so loyal to kevin but that's another story). This is the LAST EPISODE and kevin is still going with the 'I am innocent : ( I've been framed' act.

so when the time comes for Kevin to tell the 'truth' about Brooke I am VERY skeptical lmao because his story sounds very fake and he gives such a non reaction to being told grayson was behind it all. Also, this is another thing that was probably not intended by the writers, but the fact that they wrote him as so obviously gay is another thing that makes the 'I did it to impress Brooke' seem fake to me. I think, considering the condoms is one of the only stuff we have proof of (he did buy SOMETHING), he might've thought he liked her, but I don't buy that he didn't know brooke wasn't brooke after her last text, and that he didn't think back on all those familiar conversations with this person and connected some dots. (also we don't know that they didn't meet in person after *puts conspiracy glasses on*!) He even SAYS 'this girl that I had fallen in love with had never existed', and 'Brooke' tells him that she's a fake ('you're full of shit just like me') SO HOW DOES 'I was trying to impress her' MAKE SENSE. it doesn't.

but anyway I just think it's so interesting and I find what we know of his dynamic with grayson so fascinating, because they're childhood friends before, and he's the only one who grayson didn't get pics from, the only one who wasn't blackmailed because they both agreed on the plan. And grayson could've given him up at any moment, specially with the documentary happening, and he does not, even when he's arrested, even when he leaks everyone elses' part on the plot, he leaves Kevin alone, frames drew so the four acts match four people, and wipes his phone and laptop!! (of course to try and lessen his sentence, but if that had worked, that'd have left no evidence of kevin's involvement as well)

so all in all Kevin is a liar who lies and I love him and I love that dark side of his character that doesn't really get explored in the show and I like to think he's being an unreliable narrator until the end (: and idc if the writers intended him to seem genuine and want me to take what he says in finale at face value, I'm going watsonian and trying to make it make sense for the character, and it doesn't to me if he IS being fully honest.

I'm not saying he's a supervillain or anything to be clear lol, he's just flawed and I do think he didn't enjoy seeing the brown out happened. But again, there's feeling bad and there's feeling bad enough to accept punishment for it. and I find it very funny that he spends the whole season being like uwu I'm innocent I've been framed knowing full well he has not. He even admits 'it was thrilling' to fill the lemonade it but peter buys the 'he fell in love and was trying to impress a girl' story which. even if true. that's still his revenge fantasy. that they both joked about. this isn't him going after people who he has no trouble with bc he's being influenced. but no one ever doubts it! (and again, I'm not saying he wasn't manipulated bc he was for sure, but more in a veronica from heathers the movie way where it's all very ambiguous )

[ravenadottir]

cmm

one last time, because i hope i never have to talk about this again. wanna know how tragic it was to wake up in the morning and spend a solid thirty minutes on today's episodes?

i'll tell you... through bullet points... SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH IT.

🚨🚨 SPOILER ALERT! 🚨🚨

sooooooo... episode 9, filler. @bobby-mckenzie called it yesterday, and yes, oh, yes it was. not even a good filler, 'cause if episode 9 was a snack, it would be yogurt. (shout out to elladine for this reference).

next we have the confirmations fusebox thought it was important to address, such as:

- gary bleaches his hair. my whole trauma is clear, thank you so much for the observation. i would've died of curiosity if you hadn't confirmed it. except WE ALL KNEW IT, and it was the one fun thing to banter about, so thanks ? no "good effort" medals for you.

- rocco has a big dick. i don't know what to tell you except... yay? for chelsea? my mc is not bouncing on that so why should i care??? what do you want me to do with this information? next time i replay s2, look him up and down and go "rocco... NICE COCK." ?? that's... weird that they felt the need to put this out there.

- lucas actually planning a van/bike trip with rocco. I'M REALLY GLAD THIS IS THE LAST TIME I SEE LUCAS NOT BEING LUCAS.

- MAYO LOG, 'BON HAPPY EAT' AND PEOPLE SAYING BILL SOUNDS LIKE GARY. I- PLEASE. i'm ✨disgusted✨

- gary misspelling a word that's so fucking obvious and common? really going out of your way and reinforcing the working class stereotype here, fusebox. they really grabbed gary by the tiddies and said "you're not gary, you're his dumb cousin, barry."

- rahim in fact brought the horse for his chad character, and you know what?? WE DIDN'T EVEN GET TO SEE THE DAMN HORSE. i repeat, THEY COULDN'T DRAW THE HORSE! do i understand how he knew about the murder mystery? no, i do not. am i gonna play it back to remember? NO ❤, I SIMPLY DO NOT CARE. CONSISTENCY LEFT THE BUILDING OVER A YEAR AGO, and i'm about to as well.

- "love on the prairie", by hannah GODDAMN griffiths??? can you be more obvious? IT'S A MIRACLE HOMEGIRL GOT TO WRITE A WHOLE GODDMAN BOOK OVER WHAT... 5 HOURS SHE WAS IN THERE? moving on.

- hannah got a surname but not... noah? carl? henrik? kassam? ibrahim? hope? priya? lottie? marisol? like- THANKS, I'LL MAKE SURE TO MAKE A FULL-ON FANFIC AND MOODBOARD WITH THIS PIECE OF SHIT INFORMATION. i'm sorry, i'm getting aggressive again, but it really tickles the pits of hell inside of me that we got her surname and not anyone else's. good for the... 3 hannah stans that are with her i guess??? 🗣 AND SHE WASN'T EVEN THERE!!!!!

- oh yeah, marisol was the killer in mine. i really tricked myself into believing this wasn't gonna be a "BLUE'S CLUES" children's detective club, and the nail thing was gonna be a ✨MISDIRECT✨. my bad. i will bring zero expectations with me next time.

- again. if this whole special was to finalize some plotlines the players needed to be unvailed, why didn't all the characters get surnames? THERE'S NO REASON FOR THAT.

ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS 'WOW'.

did i leave something untouched? i think so, because married mc's get some consequences if they cheated?

not if you're single tho. nothing interesting happens if you chose to bed someone. which is weird that i banged gary but didn't get a scene with him ?? like, nothing ??

besides that, that's all it happened. which means this whole special could've been resumed within FIVE episodes. not ten! five was more than enough.

did the single mc get a cool scene with chelsea at the end? one that i actually pictured it could be chelsea and mc in the finale of season 2 if mc is single? yes, i did. was it worth it? NO. it was the only consistent thing on chelsea so far, and for that, i... thank ... you? I DON'T. THE WHOLE THING WAS A WASTE OF MY TIME AND ENERGY.

but if you wanna see it, here it is. they laugh a lot and made me think there was some funny oregano in the drinks, but eventually they got to tell each other how special they are to one another. it was actually nice, but that's the only cumpliment i have.

this would've been perfect on afterparty if mc stole the money and was single. here? "you can always count on chelsea" should've happened back then, when mc needed a shoulder to lean on, but i digress!

i was also disappointed thinking these creepy pictures could mean something, and they were the house owner's, which would turn out to be someone importnat, but hey, I GUESS I SET MYSELF TO FAILURE EXPECTING THE BARE MINIMUM.

the only thing i truly thought about chelsea and how she's treated by men was confirmed but i can't give props to them because... RANDOM? OBVIOUS? HAS BEEN SAID BEFORE?

IN CONCLUSION:

i'm honestly sad that they felt the need to ruin all these characters for us, just so they would have a small money grab. like-

STOP INVESTING ENERGY AND RESOURCES ON SPECIALS THAT DO NOTHING FOR THEM. PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU. FOCUS ON THE NEW SEASON AND PLEASE, STOP WITH THE SPIN-OFFS.

milking this season just so you wouldn't do them justice?? no one asked for this. no one asked for yet another piece, if you can call it that, that just doesn't bring anything to the table. they ruined a good thing and for what?

like-

this is the type of thing people remember hating but can't remember the reasoning behind said hatred. you know why? THE WHOLE THING WAS BUSTED.

and the fact that they had zero care for female li's?? henrik? carl? hope? the actual history about the others? the whole mystery was so forced and unfunny how obvious it was.

no other new layers on anything except for disgusting foods chelsea made??

fusebox really out here saying they put some effort into this.

[itspatsy]

Part of me thinks JJS2 didn't want to acknowledge they'd majorly dropped the ball on race in S1, so in S2 they amped up the "Jessica is a part of a minority group" aspect, had a black woman say "you people," to turn the narrative even further away from Jessica's own white privilege, and destroyed Trish, who was a viable target because she wasn't a traumatized white woman like Jessica - she was a RICH white woman. And they were desperate to avoid their fuck-ups so they made Patsy a patsy.

okay, so this turned into a long, generally incoherent rant that starts with “this show absolutely fails at dealing with race” and ends with “wtf were they even trying to do with trish’s story,” and it should probably be separate posts or better yet just not posted at all, but it’s all generally related to this ask, so whatever. it’s a mess, i have a lot of confusing thoughts, ignore me.

rather than acknowledging the mistakes of s1 regarding race and trying to course correct, the show definitely seemed like it decided to double down. before the season started, as it was becoming clear they were going to do this “prejudice against powered people” thing, i was really weary about how they would handle it, and apparently my instinct was right. 

to start with, it felt kind of pulled out of nowhere. realistically, sure, people would be weary of powered individuals, but it hasn’t really been fully built into the fabric of the mcu or the netflix mcu as a realized form of bigotry. it was also really only a thematic element in the first half of the season, and they made no effort to really explore it and its implications before they tossed it out and changed gears. it was just there to be used as a device for conflict and drama. 

and it’s such a ridiculous thing when you only have one powered person in the show that’s experiencing that bigotry and she’s a skinny white heterosexual cis woman? like, the most direct parallel for this wasn’t misogyny or homophobia, but racism, and they didn’t try to tell multiple perspectives about it. having a black woman say “you people” at jessica was the most tone deaf bullshit, like, i could not fucking believe it (and then they later killed her off in the most disposable way, which is a whole other issue, and something this show has done repeatedly). they had oscar, a moc that had been in prison (of course), start out the same way, seemingly expressing bigotry and getting “righteously” called out for it by jessica. then there was pryce, another moc, aggressively going after jessica, trying to steal her business, calling her an animal because of her anger and powers, and he “never takes no for an answer” and jessica gets to be like “how rape-y of you” in what was supposed to be a moment of #femaleempowerment. but it just feels like white lady empowerment at the expense of poc. 

but hey, gotta pile on to show how very oppressed jessica is in every aspect of her life, right? which, yes, she has absolutely been oppressed and violated and traumatized, and that is so important and real and should never be diminished, but the show didn’t attempt to contend with the ways she’s also privileged and the ways she’s been able to use it to her advantage and having her acknowledge it (including the fact that having powers, being able to protect herself, is an incredible privilege instead of only the awful burden it’s been portrayed as and she’s always interpreted it as). i probably wouldn’t have even said they’d need to explicitly deal with this under other circumstances, if they were focused on telling a different story, but they’re the ones that decided to make analogies to racist prejudice and have poc express it towards a white woman, so they put the expectation on themselves to tell a nuanced story about oppression and privilege and intersectionality, and they didn’t do that at all. they clearly weren’t actually interested in talking about prejudice in a serious, meaningful way. 

but here’s the even bigger issue: the show tries to present itself as being feminist, but it can’t be feminist when there are no women of color in main roles or even supporting roles. it makes no effort to tell the stories and perspectives and experiences of woc, and that is an absolute failure. it’s inexcusable that they made no effort to fix this. it absolutely doesn’t help that the woc that are actually present in small roles keep getting killed off unceremoniously. i had some hopes when i saw that they had females directors that actually included some woc, but i don’t think they have any in the writing room, and that matters SO MUCH. it makes such a difference, and they could’ve probably avoided so many of these missteps if they just had other voices represented in the creative process. i just saw a headline with melissa rosenberg where she says, “oh yeah, i totally agree with the criticism we don’t have enough women of color,” okay, except this is not a new criticism, people were saying the same thing after s1, so if she agrees with it and cares about it, why didn’t she do anything about it while they were making s2?

the show has sort of attempted with men of color, in that they actually exist in the cast, but it doesn’t handle them well at all, some of which i mentioned before. then you’ve got malcolm. the only lead character of color in s2. he was set up to be the moral center of the show, but there was no real follow through. he was ultimately treated like an afterthought in most situations. he just? disappeared? constantly? when shit went down? i lost count of the number of times i was like, “umm, where the fuck did malcolm go? is he all right?” and the characters around him were pretty consistently awful to him. jessica almost always treated him like shit. his relationship with trish was a train wreck they both kind of contributed to, but trish turned on him pretty epically, and the emotional fallout for him wasn’t really dealt with. and the writers told his “proxy addiction” story in the laziest, grossest way possible (sex? really? that’s all they could think up? and then to use it as excuse to have him treat women like they’re disposable and faceless?). they just clearly have no respect for him. 

it’s such a mess, and s2 was probably worse than s1 in this regard, and there’s no reason it needed to be. this isn’t an impossible thing. when people tell you, “hey, you fucked up. this is how,” you don’t double down or pretend it didn’t happen, you listen and you do better. this should be a show for everyone, not just white women. 

turning to trish, since you mentioned her: i’ve mostly tried to avoid post-s2 reviews, but one of the few i read described her character arc as a critique of the white savior mindset. i highly doubt that’s what the show had in mind. as we established above, careful thoughtful commentary about race is not this show’s strong suit, and writing a critique of the white savior mold wouldn’t even occur to them. i could kind of see where the reviewer was coming from, there were some flavors of white savior-ism in trish’s behavior, but they had to pretend she had never experienced an ounce of hardship in order to make it fit. this was basically the conclusion: “trish is rich and has a family and could never under poor traumatized orphaned jessica’s life.” nevermind that money doesn’t stop you from being abused and traumatized, that a family member was her primary abuser, and that living in poverty and wanting money was the motivation for her abuser to sell her out. this take also ignores the thing driving trish the most. it wasn’t “i want to help people, and they should listen to me because i know best” or even “i want to be special, i want to matter.” it was “nobody touches me anymore unless i want them to.” she was tired of being the victim, of never feeling safe. that’s why she wanted powers. it was muddied by the writing, but it really is as straight-forward as that.

i think trish being rich has likely had some influence in the audience diminishing how she was violated and abused in most every kind of way (physically, emotionally, sexually, financially), but i definitely don’t think the show went after her for being a rich famous white lady as a cover for its various racial fuck-ups. i don’t think the show even really tried to contend with or acknowledge her rich white privilege anymore than it tried to contend with jessica’s privilege. if anything, it tried to do the opposite by showing her to be belittled and demeaned and disrespected by everyone around her, similar to how they were upping the ante on jessica’s oppression by having her face bigotry about her powers. granted, it’s clear the audience had an easier time relating to jessica (probably partly due to the money and fame aspect again; also partly because the narrative backed her up more: for instance, the dynamic of having trish envy the privilege of jessica’s power, but the show seeming to say “oh, gosh, trish just doesn’t understand it’s not a privilege at all, it’s a terrible burden” even though that’s kind of ridiculous, as i mentioned earlier). the execution was shitty, but they were definitely still trying to show that trish’s life was not good and people treated her like she was nothing and worthless in a way that paralleled jessica’s treatment.

tbh, rather than punishing trish for being rich or whatever, i sometimes got the vibe they were actually punishing her for daring to have ambition, but that probably wasn’t on purpose, just an unfortunate implication of the way they treated her in general. at first, i’d assumed they were trying to tell a story about addiction and the ways it can destroy your life, and they just sucked at handling it with any kind of thoughtfulness, but now i think that’s being too generous. they didn’t even really try to grapple with the reality of her addiction and mental illness, so much as use it as an excuse to make her more unstable and put her in a position where she’d keep escalating things. 

i read an interview before the season dropped where melissa rosenberg talked about female anger (or, as the reality of the show is, white female anger), and anger definitely was a theme for all the female characters. if you recognize trish’s main motivator as mentioned above (protecting herself from further abuses), you can see where it fits into this theme, and that it wasn’t just senseless anger and was driven by vulnerabilities and never feeling safe. so, i don’t know, i guess trish’s story was maybe intended to be about an abused woman finally being so goddamn fed up with victimhood and disrespect and belittlement that she decided to take what she needed instead of quietly waiting for other people to acknowledge her humanity and treat her accordingly. that she finally said “fuck it” and tried to find her own power and become her own hero. except, if that was the story, the way it was executed was, wow… exceptionally awful and not remotely clear and not at all done in a positive way. a storyline like that could’ve had the potential to be powerful and affirming and perhaps empowering (once again, for white women at least), but that’s not the story they ended up telling. 

like, i honestly don’t get what i’m supposed to take away from it. they seemingly gave her what she was after, but they spent the entirety of the season shitting on her and had her destroy everything good in her life to get what she believed she needed, which was really just to feel safe. what’s the point here exactly? you do you boo and fuck everybody else because it’ll pay off? don’t have dreams and ambitions for yourself because they’ll make you heartless and selfish and you’ll hurt other people? the desire for power always corrupts even when you’ve been a victim and just want the power to protect yourself? trauma doesn’t go away and can make you do terrible self-destructive shit that you think is helping you but actually isn’t? drug addicts are awful, amirite? what. are. they. trying. to. say?

[purplehoodiesandclementines]

Y'all are making me cry again... Gorgeous analysis, @skibasyndrome!

Mainly reblogging to add these beautiful new tags by @themarsbar:

#reblogging again bc i’ve had another Big Thought about this#i don’t think i got the meaning behind simon’s question right!!#or better yet i think it’s actually only a part of it - human feelings are confusing and conflicting and coexisting in opposites#but simon’s intention was always to go through with reporting august#and he would have if they hadn’t been blackmailed#so when he asks if wille’s mad he’s still asking for permission to be vulnerable#but in the sense that he’s dropping the caregiver role for once and making decisions for HIMSELF#he’s asking if it’s okay if he does what feels right for HIM instead of prioritizing his loved ones’ needs and comforts#and i think that THAT’s how simon shows vulnerability#not by being sloppy and unpolished like wille#but by putting himself first and trusting or hoping that he will still be loved#fuck how sad is that??#it’s good though that they’re asking the question#it means they’re both healing#sorry i was clearly not done ruminating on this lol#young royals

But also... @darktwistedgenderplural boy did you just send me down a rabbit hole! 😂 Because I was pretty sure that observation was my VERY first proper reblog, like ever... So I had to dig a bit and yup, I was correct:

I agree with everything said here, but I just wanna add that another reason he doesn't close his eyes after lying down is because he's obviously getting more aroused than he expected to. I actually didn't notice this until someone else pointed it out to me--but once you've seen it, it's super obvious. What exactly is Wille doing when he sits up right after Simon asks him if he remembers? Yup, he frantically grabs the blanket and pulls it over his lap... And judging by the quick look Simon gives him and his (tiny) smirk right after, Simon has a pretty good idea of what's going on. :) Which actually gives the whole interaction ("Wille, it's ok" followed by Wille's embarrassed groan) an interesting double meaning, I think...

August last year, I was such a Tumblr newbie I didn't even know how to tag. 🤣 I definitely wasn't the one who noticed first, though! I remember reading a comment about it on You Tube and being like, YUP, this is reason 594082 why I adore this show...

I don't want to derail this discussion, which I know was about something else, but just to explain why details like this are noteworthy and make Young Royals so special: It's part of the larger way in which sexuality is included in the show, i.e. neither being purposefully hidden and tabooed, nor being sensationalized or overly sexualized. Whereas a lot of tv shows (that I know of) either don't feature teenage sex at all or as something purposefully performed to be “sexy,” in YR it gets to be the awkward, sometimes insecure but mostly lovely exploration it - let's face it - often tends to be. Whether that's in Wille accidentally hurting Simon when they switch positions, or in August struggling to open the condom wrapper when he's with Sara...

Or in the way that some things are shown but also left open to our interpretation. In the beginning of s2 ep5, it's quite possible that either Wille or Simon (or both) went on to masturbate after the cut, but it's not a big deal. It might have happened, and it's not something that needs to be hidden because it's somehow scandalous or bad, but it's just not essential to the story, so the audience is left free to assume.

The same way, it's pretty normal that Wille, who gets to lie this closely to the person he’s attracted to for the first time (and who, on top of that, probably still has some lowered inhibitions from getting high just a few hours earlier), would get aroused by that. Knowing the sexual tension between them, I'd say it actually is to be expected, so the show is so real for including that. At the same time, it's not made a big deal. In fact, the creators almost make it look as if it had happened but was not meant to be filmed - Wille's hands and his lap not properly being in the frame, etc. And again, it's not essential to the storyline: The conversation between them makes sense either way, no matter what you just saw or didn't see in the scene. It's this level of realism and the laid-back, normalizing and subtle approach to portraying teenage sexuality and queer sexuality (and frankly, sexuality in general) that I adore so much about Young Royals. 💜 Praise to Sara Arrhusius, Rojda Sekersöz, Lisa Ambjörn, Omar, Edvin and all the other beautiful people involved in creating this...

Uhm, YUP. Sorry for taking this a bit off-topic. 😂

"Are you mad at me?" and Honesty

inspired by the awesome parallel @impossibleknots found between these two shots

and these tags by @darktwistedgenderplural I'd like to talk about this

For both of them, this line comes after a breaking point, when they realize that they just can't stay away from each other for any longer.

Wilhelm, after rejecting Simon out of some misplaced sense of duty and swallowing down his grief about it, literally breaks down on the football field and, fuelled by alcohol and drugs, for once manages to let his guard down.

"You think you know me, eh? You don't!", he yells, followed by "That's right, I do whatever I want!". And then, well, he does what he wants and calls up Simon. And he's finally honest with him. Granted, it's very much the drugs that help him let his guard down, but - in an effort to be less fake than everything that surrounds him - he tells Simon that he likes him. That's one of Wilhelm's first and most authentic verbal declarations of what he feels. And from then on, at least for now and at least in front of Simon, the floodgates are open and he's baring his soul: "Thank you for coming", "You're so beautiful", all his little love declarations, and then he's letting him in on his insecurities as well. "Are you mad at me?" and, after once again declaring that he's so glad Simon is here, "I don't want you to be mad".

It's one of those things he hasn't been allowed to voice or even show, we know this. When he's nervously biting his thumb in s1e1 his mother slaps away his hand, lest he be seen behaving unprincely, and he's thoroughly internalized keeping up the facade, like when we hear him blatantly lie to Simon about being happy to be at Hillerska. Everything and everyone being fake, that includes him, Wilhelm. (And we know that his journey in deconstructing this fakeness is only starting out)

But at least for the time being, he's able to stand by his feelings for Simon. He does still need his assurance that "it's okay" once he's confronted about his love declaration, but he still does admit to it. And that honesty is what leads to them making love for the first time.

Letting their guard down, fully committing to what they're feeling for each other. Honesty is what leads to this.

The second time, it's Simon's turn to bare his soul. Yes, Simon has been the one that has helped Wilhelm be more honest and more vocal about his own feelings, but Simon himself, while forthcoming about his love and the fact that he wants to be with Wilhelm, is still struggling himself, especially when it comes to voicing his not so pleasant feelings, like how heartbroken he's feeling for all of s2.

Even during their 'exchange' in class, it's still only about him slowly starting to see Wilhelm's side, and not about the uncomfortable and conflicting things Simon himself is feeling on the inside.

So when he worriedly texts Wilhelm "Are you mad at me?", that's him admitting that, yes, he's also very much still invested in this, in them and that that's scary, unnerving and that he's not sure how to read the situation. He's letting his insecurity show, something he very, very rarely does. Beautifully, he does it again later, now face to face with Wilhelm. After Wilhelm says that he's scared, Simon admits it, too, letting down his walls for Wilhelm to see that he's not as tough as he pretends to be AND he lets Wilhelm be the one to comfort him, reach out his hand and take him ino his arms.

So in one instance, we have Wilhelm finally letting his true feelings show, proving to Simon - who's been open about his attraction - that the feeling is mutual. And in the other we have Simon, who up until now has been trying to keep his conflicting feelings under wraps and his fear hidden, reassured and coaxed into admitting to them by Wilhelm openly saying that he also is scared and physically showing that he's there for him. Mutual honesty.

Two very different admissions and two very different subjects that they now finally managed to be honest about and every single time it brings them closer and, in both scenes, it repairs the trust that was broken by dishonesty before.

And what makes it even more beautiful to me is that, in addition to it being in a way a new beginning every single time, we know that both instances did have a lasting impact on both of them and their journey towards being more honest with each other. Yes, there are ups and downs and Wilhelm did lie to the world about the video after their first time, but he keeps on learning and the second time around, he is much more honest about his love for Simon. And we even see it bleed into the last episode with Simon now finally admitting to just how much he feels for Wilhelm and Wilhelm in turn finally taking back his initial lie in front of the whole world.

Their journey towards full honesty is still very rocky, but with every instance of them letting down their guards together, they grow closer and their ability to be authentically themselves not only together but also towards the world vastly improves.

[abybweisse]

Thanks for tagging me on this, because I forgot how old Heathfield's daughter was before she died.

I hadn't even read below the pic yet, when I took note of her apparent age and that bow in her hair.

I did already suspect another reason for Heathfield's involvement, though. All that talk of finding a soul for his wife's body, one that's the right "shape", got me to thinking about what Undertaker could achieve if he got hold of our earl's soul and placed it into real Ciel's body. It also mimics what Claude in s2 says about souls fitting another body if their experiences are similar enough. That could help explain why Undertaker wanted real Ciel to see as much of our earl's adventures as possible -- to make their souls more similar in "shape".

However, I have to admit that patrons paying for their loved ones to be resurrected is a very interesting idea, and it could explain why he selected the people (corpses) he did... if they are not all special to him. If they don't all have direct connections to the Phantomhives.

Heathfield could and would shell out loads of money to resurrect his wife and daughter, if this was an option presented to him by Undertaker, in return for his allowance that blood collections be conducted in his basement. Though I must say he seems shocked they were there, as if he didn't even know about the blood collection. Perhaps he was lied to (again?) that they were just being held in a form of stasis; maybe he didn't know they were being bled. Anyway, that detail isn't too important. In general, his dealings with Undertaker could include an attempt to "save" his daughter.

It's interesting, too, what you suggest about Layla's DID. Yes, it is usually caused by abuse. She might have been abused, and the "old woman" might have been the abuser who made Al develop. I'm wondering if the "old woman" Al refers to is Layla's mother. And, finally reading your post further before posting this reply, it sounds like you are thinking the same thing.

Just like I have my doubts that Madam Red's carriage accident was truly an accident, Layla (using Al) might have snapped when her mother said/did something in the carriage and caused the death of Layla and her mother. Unless the "old woman" is someone else. Like Mrs. Abbie, the old housekeeper. Perhaps the "old woman" is alive but horrifically scarred or something. Though it wouldn't be from those scissors. 😆 Anyway, I should think Al killed whoever this "old woman" is for Layla, but it might have gotten Layla/Al killed, too. Just like you mention above. It's a legit idea, that's for sure.

Perhaps the two lords with hardly anything in their basic rooms didn't even have patrons, and they are the ones we need to think about, in regards to the Phantomhives. That doesn't rule out Joker or a former Phantomhive butler for Polaris. And it doesn't rule out Doll for the remaining lord (with the other basic bedroom).

Layla & her alternate personality Al are Lord Vega