#it's so BASIC but they're useless without mike

[brionysea]

turns out trying to stick to the season 4 timeline with the sole difference of mike being in hawkins doesn't work because mike notices things MUCH quicker than the rest of these people

[gayofthefae]

Thinking about how if you cut the whole Cali rode trip plot out season four would not be altered at all. They were missing for a whole episode and nothing was hindered.

So why not cut it?

Because season FIVE would be DESTROYED by it.

Because Byler is so vital it needs this set up. Foundation laying seems useless when you don't know something will be built.

Yes. The Cali plot could have been cut entirely. They were glorified chauffeurs with extra obstacles for filler (and literally only one extra obstacle). But that's actually Byler PROOF.

It was useless to the season 4 plot. So the only reason to keep it in when they could have easily just incorporated the characters into other plotlines - they're able to fly to Hawkins, they go with Joyce, some do one, some do the other, whatever - the only reason to isolate them then have them do seemingly nothing of value is SETUP for something that IS needed.

The only reason for having that is if without it, season 5 rolls around and now VITAL plotlines are out of the blue. It is the "blank makes you crazy" to "From Mike". The "I love her" to "from Mike".

Because Byler was not a plotline in season 4. Not really. Not totally. Not vitally, at least. What it was was threads woven back of a plotline in season FIVE. What it was was planning, preparation.

Jonathan and Argyle are basically comedic relief. Mike and Will do nothing to help El except get to her with a car that they did not drive or need to be in for their plan to work. And if the plot were Mike and El, Mike and El would be there, no. The plot is Mike and Will talking, is just the conversation topic - the same way Will was for Mike and El in season 1.

Mike and Will only setup romantic plotlines, assist the supernatural plotline in no way, and are physically isolated from affecting any other characters' plotline, but have no romantic payoff and their romance is not even addressed.

Because this isn't a vital season plotline. This is "I know you wanna see what the NINA Project is doing but season 5 would be shit without this you guys I promise".

Don't care about it but can't live without it of storytelling. Almost everything in season 4 is the same without it. But almost everything about the ending of the show is exponentially different. Season 4 is unchanged. But season 5 falls apart. Without Byler. Without us knowing the little things here and there that we now know.

Because if you go over it, barely anything even happened in their plotline. I've said this before, it really was just a bunch of unpaid setups - which makes sense given season 4 and 5 were supposed to be one season.

It's really just because we need to go into season 5 with the knowledge in the back of our minds "Will loves Mike, Will lied to Mike tpo get him to stay with El, Mike's scared the truth about his love for her would hurt her, Mike told El he loved her to save her life".

4 facts. 4. Not plotlines, facts. Some of which are single scenes, many of which are just single lines. It's information. It's setup. It doesn't matter now. But not cutting it is their way of saying it WILL. "It'll pay off," as the Duffers said to Finn Wolfhard.

Nothing else happened in this plotline and they could have integrated these characters elsewhere. This plotline didn't even really have a plotline, just a sparsely scattered series of facts.

But as someone who predicts lots of mysteries accurately, THAT'S how they show you their hand. Not what they tell you is important. What they try to convince you is useless (but made space for anyway).

That's a twist the only way to do a twist. They said in tightening the season 4 scripts they went back to episode 1 to write in that Eddie played guitar so it was planted for later. This is the same thing. It's just planting things so they aren't out of the blue. THIS is how you do a twist, and why we know to predict one. People are right, they do not have a love story plotline. But what they do have is 'rewatch details' with no other purpose. What they do have is "uselessness".

If season 4 is unaffected by their plotline, it means season 5 falls apart without it.

[vampirevatican]

Actually no! I got three ask for you! MC got kidnapped and then it was too late to save them as they were screaming in pain everything. As the slashers was about to be discard after being break off that curse and being useless. Suddenly got killed and see MC become a wendigo. Which make MC upset and keep panicking from it as they keep nudging them (I headcanon it to be on all four just to felt a bit closer) MC did turn back to human but now they are basically a wendigo at night though.

-angst asker

ooooh, this is heart breaking... even more so if you're picturing the wendigos from the game until dawn... i know for sure that leather is trying to find a way to reverse this, jay is figuring out mc's diet, mike is ready to kill for mc's diet and although ghost is making jokes it's only to lighten the mood because he too wants mc fully back, but will kill for them without question. actually it scares ghost a little with how eager he is to kill for someone again after lysa. he keeps telling himself that it's different. mc isn't using him. they're a victim of circumstance. he's a hero. right? this isn't just repeating history... right?

[reverseemaillookupfreegmail]

Free Reverse Email Lookup for Gmail Accounts

The Easy Way to Find Out Who's Behind That Gmail Accounts (Trust Me, It Works!)

Free Reverse Email Lookup for Gmail Accounts

✅CLICK HERE TO PERFORM A FREE REVERSE EMAIL LOOKUP FOR GMAIL ACCOUNTS

So there I was, staring at this email. Some random person claiming we went to high school together. Really? I don't remember any "Mike Johnson" from chemistry class.

That's when I learned about reverse email lookup. And wow. It's actually pretty easy.

Let me show you how to do it. For free. No fancy tools needed.

What's Reverse Email Lookup?

It's super simple. You have someone's email address. You want to know who they are. That's it.

Like when you get a missed call and wonder who it was. Same thing. But with emails.

Most people use Gmail these days. Like, almost everyone. So that's what we'll focus on.

Why I Started Doing This

Real talk. I get weird emails all the time. Don't you?

Last week it was someone selling vitamins. The week before? A "prince" who needed my help. Yeah, right.

Here's when you might need this:

That job offer - Is it real or fake?

Online shopping - Can you trust this seller?

Mystery messages - Who is this person?

Online dating - Are they who they say they are?

Your kids' safety - Who are they emailing?

Work stuff - Is this really a client?

My friend Tom almost got scammed last month. Some fake landlord wanted a deposit. Tom checked the email first. Saved himself $2,000.

The Truth Nobody Tells You

Here's the deal. Most "free" lookup sites are garbage. They show you a tiny bit of info. Then they want your credit card.

I've tried them all. Wasted hours. Most are useless.

But I found some tricks that actually work. And they're really free. Promise.

The Google Search Trick (This One's Gold)

Ready? This is so easy it's almost silly.

Step 1: Copy the email address Step 2: Open Google Step 3: Put the email in quotes like this: "someone@gmail.com" Step 4: Hit enter

That's it. Seriously.

People put their email addresses everywhere. Forums. Websites. Comments sections. Google finds them all.

I found my old boss this way. Took 10 seconds. He had posted on some fishing forum. With his email. Boom. Mystery solved.

Quick tip: Try it without quotes too. You get different stuff sometimes.

Become a Social Media Detective

People usually use one email for everything. That's good news for us.

The Facebook Trick

Facebook removed their email search. Annoying, I know. But there's a workaround:

Log into Facebook

Find the "Add Friends" button

Click "Contacts"

Type in the email

See what pops up

Works about half the time. Not bad.

LinkedIn Is Your Friend

This one's even better:

Open LinkedIn

Use the search bar

Type the email address

Check the results

Business people love LinkedIn. So this works great for work-related emails.

The Instagram Sneaky Method

This is clever:

Go to Instagram login

Click "Forgot Password"

Enter the Gmail address

Instagram shows you part of the username

You won't see the whole name. But J***smith is probably John Smith. Or Jane Smith. Still helpful.

Free Tools That Don't Suck

I tested like 50 of these things. Most are trash. Here are the good ones:

TrueCaller

You know it for phone numbers. But it does emails too now. You get a few free lookups daily. Pretty good.

Hunter.io

Best for work emails. You get 25 searches free each month. I use this one a lot.

Pipl

Used to be totally free. Now it's mostly paid. But you still get some basic stuff without paying.

BeenVerified

Not free forever. But they have a trial. Just remember to cancel it. Set a reminder on your phone.

Sometimes Just Ask

This might sound dumb. But hear me out.

Just email them back. "Hey, sorry, but I don't recognize your email. How do we know each other?"

Works more than you'd think. People usually just tell you.

But be smart about it. Don't share personal stuff until you know who they are.

What Can You Actually Find Out?

Free tools usually show you:

Their name

Maybe their Facebook

Sometimes LinkedIn

Old forum posts

If they have a website

Comments they've made online

You won't get their home address or phone number. Not with free tools anyway. That's the paid stuff.

Let's Talk Privacy for a Sec

I know what you're thinking. Is this creepy? Maybe a little.

But here's how I see it. Checking if someone's real? That's fine. Protecting yourself? Totally okay. Being a stalker? Not cool. And illegal.

Use your brain. Be respectful.

And remember. People can look you up too. Kinda scary, right?

Protect Your Own Email

Want to make it harder for people to find you? Do this:

Use different emails - One for Amazon. One for Facebook. One for friends.

Pick a weird email name - CoolDude2024 is harder to research than Bob.Johnson

Watch what you post - Everything online stays online

Fix your privacy settings - On everything. Facebook, Instagram, all of it

Google yourself - See what others can find

I have five different emails. Sounds crazy? Maybe. But it works.

When I Caught a Scammer

Remember that fake high school friend? Here's what happened.

I Googled the email. Found nothing. Red flag number one.

Checked Facebook. No matches. Red flag number two.

Then I found the email on some scam warning site. Other people had reported it. Bingo.

The whole thing took 15 minutes. Could've taken 5 if I'd checked the scam site first. Live and learn.

Mistakes Everyone Makes

Don't do what I did:

Paying too fast - Try free stuff first. Always. Trusting everything - The internet lies sometimes Using sketchy sites - Some want to steal YOUR info Giving up - Try different methods. Be patient. Breaking laws - Different places have different rules. Don't be stupid.

When You Need More Info

Sometimes free isn't enough. Maybe it's serious. Legal stuff. Safety concerns. Whatever.

Paid services that actually work:

Spokeo - Pretty good

Intelius - Lots of info

BeenVerified - Easy to use

Whitepages Premium - The classic

They cost like $15-30 a month. Some do one-time reports for less. Your call.

What's Coming Next

Here's something weird. Email companies are making it harder to find people. Good for privacy. Bad for us.

Apple hides email addresses now. Gmail might do it too. In a few years? This stuff might not work anymore.

So if you need to check someone out? Do it now. Just saying.

Quick Fixes for Common Problems

"I can't find anything!" Try different spellings. Remove numbers. Use just the first part before the @.

"This info looks wrong" It might be. Double-check everything. Use multiple sources.

"This is taking forever" Start with Google. It's the fastest. Then try social media.

"I found too much stuff" Focus. You don't need their whole life story. Just what matters.

My Final Thoughts

Look, reverse email lookup isn't hard. You just need to know the tricks. Start simple. Google first. Then social media. Then free tools.

Most of the time? That's enough.

And please. Don't be creepy. We're all just trying to stay safe out here. Use this stuff the right way.

That mystery email in your inbox? Now you can solve it. In like 10 minutes. Pretty cool, right?

Stay safe out there, friends. The internet's a wild place. But at least now you've got some tools to navigate it.

Quick reminder: This is all legal stuff. But be smart. Respect people's privacy. Don't be that person.

[statusquoergo]

they started veering off the rails when they went all in on making harvey and donna endgame, and they fully fell off the track after mike left.

quite seriously, this show does not know how to write romantic relationships, and it REALLY doesn't know how to write women in romantic relationships, so as soon as the plan to get harvey and donna together started gaining traction, they needed to figure out, first of all, how to make it "dramatic," and second, how to get past the years and years of backstory they'd built up establishing them as "better off as friends."

solution? throw in a romantic rival. not scottie, she has too much baggage, and not some new woman, she wouldn't have enough presence to be a real threat, but who else has harvey had regular contact with up to that point who could be an option? hey, paula is a woman, let's do that, sure, why not. she's basically just filler, anyway, so what does it matter when the plan was always to throw her out at the end of the day? and she comes with a side of "problematic by default," all the better.

the thing about circumventing the "just friends" narrative is that they didn't actually resolve it so much as retcon it and hope everyone else would forget it ever happened. the problem became, instead of them trying to be a couple and deciding it didn't work, that they had never had an equal power balance; it's not that they weren't romantically compatible, it's that they never had a chance because he was always her boss. making donna coo put them on, if not a level playing field, as least a comparable one in terms of the firm hierarchy, plus it gave donna an opportunity to call herself a badass by claiming to have earned an elite position with her years of hard work and dedication (none of which is accurate).

forcing harvey and donna together as a couple takes care of the emotional character-develop-y b-plot, but then what to do for the action-driven a-plot? well, whatever the fuck they feel like. season 7 is spent laying the groundwork for mike's departure, but after he's gone, the show has literally nothing left to ground itself. harvey is essentially useless without mike, what with all the time and energy he spends mourning the loss of his other half and questioning his own actions and motives, not to mention his backstory has already been written, fleshed out, rewritten, and hung out to dry, so why not try to delve into the other characters' backstories? except that there's been so little time spent on them up to this point that there's not much to go on, and a lot of what is already established was done so in passing or so flippantly that the writers don't remember it (e.g., harvey growing up in boston), so why not just start from scratch? and, hell, if they're going to build these people from the ground up, why not just go for broke? throw everything (and i do mean everything) at the wall and see what sticks. mike is gone, meaning mike-and-harvey is gone, meaning there are no more rules or structure, so let everybody off the leash into the sandbox and see what happens, why not!

unfortunately, this is not the best way to manage a long-running television show.

Ok but really what the hell went wrong in the later seasons of suits?? i mean what were the writers on? how did we go from emotional prison arcs to harvey dating his therapist and making Donna coo just cause?? Like ik people always say the show fell off when Mike and rachel left but it didn’t just fall off they literally started doing whatever…😭like what???

[jaegerisim]

Vent post y'all are gonna hate me for.

I viscerally hate how the Duffers treat most of their non white or queer characters and I hate even more viscerally, how y'all big byler blogs in your circle jerk of other 5 big byler blogs casually like to ignore many red flags the show has.

Y'all like to say: "tHe DufFeRs ArE gReAt WrIteRs" and it's like girl, who are you lying to??? They aren't top shit writers at all. The Duffers are pretty mid imo. Yeah, they run a good show that's fun to watch and theorize abt , but that doesn't mean they're good writers cuz they're not.

1. they completely side lined Will during s3 for the sake of their straight romances: lumax, jancy, mlvn, duzie and partly stobin (even if stobin wasn't endgame, thankfully, Steve's intentions were clearly wanting to date Robin and they gave it a lot of screen time). Will was sidelined bc he didn't fit the straight romance plotline bc they planned to make him gay or whatever. Now in s4 Will and his feelings have been used as mlvn toilet paper. Yes, we like to say this is build up for byler but canonically, Will's feelings have been used to clean the shit mlvn leaves behind.

2. Billy was sympathized a lot during the last 2 seasons. They gave him the sad backstoryTM in order for ppl to feel sorry for him. Billy's backstory is literally Jonathan's but whatever.

3. El's anger issues are constantly girlboss-ified. They down play her bullying situation and literally just use it for El to be a ''girlboss" without realizing how triggering that is. As someone who has lived bullying, seeing it be ignored by canon and fanon is super sad. The whole Rink-O' Mania experience must have been so traumatizing for her yet, everyone absolutely forgets abt it 🤷🏻‍♀️

4. Robin, Erica and Argyle are stereotypical characters. Robin is the quirky lesbian with social anxiety, Erica is the badass black woman and Argyle is the Latino stoner that sells weed to white kids and works as a pizza delivery guy.

5. Altho Argyle and Eddie both do drugs, (Eddie actually sells K-12 to a minor and nobody batted an eye. He has a huge fan base). Eddie is held in a pedestal bc "poor thing 🥺 he lives in a trailer with his uncle 🥺". Tell me a single fact you know abt Argyle that isn't "he smokes weed", "he is Jonathan's only friend", "drives a van" and "he works at a pizzeria". Exactly, Eddie is given a useless backstory and Argyle isn't.

6. Dustin stopped being important to the plot sometime around s2 and s3. He is only there to curse and be mildly funny. My guy needs to hangout with ppl his age cuz he only hangs out with seniors.

7. El needs to stop having so much "I'M THAT BITCH" screentime like I need in s5 for El's arc to not just be her becoming more powerful and falling in love with Mike. I need the Duffers to explore her trauma and problems.

8. Angela should have been run over by the van.

9. Patrick should have been given a backstory that isn't the basic "strict black parents that hit their kids cuz they are a disgrace". Patrick's backstory is actually racist af, fight w the wall.

10. As Lex already said, they didn't trigger tag the ep where Jason and his friends assault Lucas and Erica. Like wtf? Why was that necessary? Why did I have to see a black boy being held at gunpoint by some white guy?? Was it relevant to the plot?? I don't think so. And then I've got to see ppl online be like "Jason wasn't that bad. He was just mourning" like bitch you can stfu. This is what happens when you make the racist assholes conventionally attractive.

Also the fact that Lucas's arc is fulfilled by him fist-fighting Jason and "embracing his weirdness" aka accepting he is black. His arc was not fulfilled at all cuz that ending spoke so loud to me. It showed how little empathy ppl have towards the struggles poc ppl living in the Midwest have. Y'all circle jerks can only see racism when it's super obvious.

Furthermore, parents complained when ST showed "an excessive amount of smoking" yet nobody batted an eye when Billy tried to run over Lucas, when Erica (an 11 y.o ffs) was chased by white kids or when Lucas was held at gunpoint by Jason.

All of this happened while they focused on Max's guilt and mourning that, yeah, are important but certainly not less important than racism!!!

11. In s3, they gave us that whole Nancy vs The Bigots arc that was honestly just triggering and useless. It didn't help Nancy's character at all, quite the opposite it put unnecessary angst.

12. Lonnie being presented as an abuser just for him to never be spoken of again. Can we please get to explore the trauma he left the Byers's with?

13. The fact that both queer relationships are considered "sloppy seconds" is extremely sad. Both Vickie and Mike are rebounding from their failed relationship with Robin and Will. These 2 ships have caused more commotion than Jancy and Jopper together! (These last ships are technically sloppy seconds too but everybody forgets that. Shocker!!)

14. Last but not least, ppl blame Argyle for being the one to get Jonathan into smoking weed as if Jonathan probably wasn't the one looking for it. Let me tell you, that you only find weed if you look for it.

[kedreeva]

Hello! Sry if you got this message twice now but my internet connection is super whack and I think the first one didn't get through so here we go again: I think it's basically cannon Eddie doesn't get chicks but if he did, do you think he'd be a player/rake or would he be the type looking for love and a relationship? I think he'd still be the type true love but I'd like to hear your take on it :D

Also, in addition: Do you think Steve's little nuggets speech was romantic? Cuz I always took it as sad testament to how lonely he grew up since we know his parents are rather absent and with six lil nuggets he wouldn't be lonely again (but since I ship Jancy I'm not sure whether that's how it was intended or whether I'm biased. I'll live if Jancy doesn't stay cannon though so this is no bait or stuff, only asking for your honest take on it cuz I love your takes :D)

Your other ask DID go through but I like this one better because I will get to talk about more things.

So first of all......... honestly I think Eddie would be completely useless in a situation where he had to woo someone if the result actually mattered to him. We never see this in canon. The closest we come is his early scene with Dustin and Mike, and we only later learn that Dustin's opinion of him matters to Eddie- and even then, that opinion isn't romantic, that opinion is how cool Dustin thinks Eddie is. Completely different ballgame. His band friends? They sold him out to Jason and co basically immediately. They were just having band practice nonchalantly without him while he was literally wanted for possibly the most brutal public murder this town has ever seen. Eddie never mentions them. He certainly doesn't flee to them for safety.

The scene with Chrissy, while adorable and I love it, has no risk of personal investment for Eddie. If she rejects him or accepts him carries no risk of breaking his heart because he barely knows her. The same thing goes for anyone else he could possibly be involved with (yes, including Steve). He literally doesn't know any of them except Dustin, and Lucas once Lucas joins in and again, he's only interested in impressing them for seeming cool, not for romance. He's able to be big and flashy and lean in too close or play a fool because the outcome does not (cannot, at that point) matter.

And I choose to believe that when faced with actual potential consequences to his actions (ie he actually cares about someone and if he messes up he could lose them) that he would not be smooth at all.

Which is all to say that I think there's a chance he would peacock it up as if he could be a rake, trip and fall face first in love, and actually be a complete fool about it because love actually does matter a lot to him. He doesn't know why he cares about Dustin's opinion, but I do- because he tripped face first into adopting a child and loves him now, and this absolutely useless fool realizes what that means and one (1) second later goes and gets killed about it. He cannot be left alone with an emotion, he's just not responsible enough.

-----

As for the OTHER part. well. I should watch it again but in all honesty.... I think it was face value. People are gonna take it however they want to take it, but personally, I think it was Steve... being vulnerable, wearing his heart on his sleeve. I think he just nearly got eaten alive, they just stole a vehicle, they're kind of planning on going back into the UpsideDown to fight a very, very powerful and bad monster where they might get eaten by bats again. There's a better than good chance he doesn't survive a second encounter.

He's telling Nancy "none of this is how I imagined my life would go, I wanted something so much happier. i wanted a family." and later "I thought I might have been able to have those things with you. I wanted it to be you." I think the writers probably intended it to be romantic. I don't know that I buy it, personally, only because like... I like to think Steve knows Nancy better than to think she wants anything remotely resembling a nuclear family.

So, do I think it was romantic? I think it's supposed to be read as romantic. Do I read it as romantic? maybe sideways. I read it as a boy who thinks he's probably not gonna make it, maybe neither of them will, wanting to let a girl know he'd dreamed of being happy with her, once upon a time. It hits the same chord inside me as the saddest lines poem: "I loved her and, sometimes, she loved me too." It's a very Steve and Nancy poem.

[hippityhoppityyourenowmyproperty]

Reset!Rant (part 4)

Blackout

Chapter: 1

Thad: "Even though Craydl was programmed to obey my dear grandfather over me, he still could hold a conversation and be useful. While you have some rudimentary communicative abilities, it's not the same. I could say the same of Bart."

This is a put down that comes out of the blue and it shows how normal it has become for Thad to resort to insulting Bart. This insult is especially tasteless when you remember that a lot of ND people have problems with verbal communication/talk too fast/talk too loud or too quiet/have trouble expressing their thought and can go nonverbal. So yeah, basically another slice at Bart for having ADHD, wouldn't you know it.

Thad's vision blacked out and he grabbed the washing machine for stability. If felt as if the bottom fell out of his world. He knew this feeling all too well now, but it had never been as bad as this. He staggered away from the laundry and into the kitchen to sit.

.................................... Helen's voice echoed from the kitchen. "Thad? I just got a call from the school. Bart passed out in class and I'm going to pick him up. I'll be home soon." When Helen returned home with Bart, Thaddeus was waiting in the kitchen with a smirk on his face. "You passed out?" Bart scowled and stomped off to dump his backpack and jacket off on his bedroom floor. Thaddeus snorted, still sneering.

Making fun of someone because they showed physical weakness, that's stereotypical school yard bullying right there. "Haha look at you you loser! You passed out. You're such a weakling!" Thad is so...pathetic in this. He is so desperate for power, so desperate to be superior to Bart. He waited all this time in the kitchen just so that he could throw Bart this line. He clinges to everythign that will make him appear better than Bart. He obssessively seeks out every little one of his flaws and mistakes in order to maintain his big ego. It's almost pittyful. Of course he snots at Bart, of course he is behaving as condescending as possible. Thad is the kind of person who kicks someone who's already on the ground. This is just...So ugly to read. Hey Thad, you nearly passed out earlier this day, I don't see you shaming yourself for being weak. What's the difference? What's making you so special that you don't deserve to be shamed for it?

Hey Helen, you're just going to ignore Thad very obviously and viciously bullying the closest person you have to a son? You're not gonna repriment him for it so that he won't continue to destroy Bart's self esteem and his mental health? No? Great, it would be very confusing if you suddenly started being a responsible parent.

Thaddeus leaned against the doorway with crossed arms. "You're pathetic." He sneered.

Funny that you mention it, have you looked in the mirror lately?

Chapter: 2

Mike gestured to Bart's injuries. "You could say that you got hit in the face with a basketball or something." Bart slung the bag over his shoulder and pushed the bathroom door open. Maybe he could just go home? No, Thad was there, and he didn't want to listen to his evil twin berate him about getting bloodied in a fight.

Through his frequent put downs, Thad now made Bart afraid to show weakness. He knows that Thad will make fun of his vulnerability and won't be of any help to him.

Thad: "No moron, I'm playing with a tesseract puzzle." His voice was dripping with condescending sarcasm. "What else would I be doing?"

Another put down out of the blue. And a very sordid one, I might add.

Chapter: 3

A commotion in the backyard grabbed her attention and she saw Bart and Thad duking it out again. "Oh, for the love of...Wally, I'll call you back. The boys are really at it this time. I swear, Thad needs to get out of the house and get a life, and Bart needs to stop antagonizing him."

Hmm, that's odd. I could've sworn that Thad was the one who constantly ripped on Bart, was a dick to him and provoked Bart with "You've got ADHD so you're dumb" insults, and Bart was the one who remained friendly despite having to endure insult after insult without retailiating. Are you referring to the times Bart called Thad a jerk and said "Like you're any better"? Are those the oh so bad words Bart calls Thad that justify you saying "He's antagonizing him"? Because, and maybe that's just me, but calling someone who is neurodivergent a r*tard, moron, idiot, shortbus, brainless, annoying, destructive, a nuisance, hyperactive, embarrassing, dense, pathetic, saying that they have "Rudimentary communicative abilities", that they "probably got distracted with by something shiny" and implying over and over again that they're stupid and useless, that you see it as a disgrace to be related to them, that you'd like to beat them up, (and actually beating them up) and that they're inferior to you because of aspects of their personality they can't control is a bit worse than saying "Jerk" to defend yourself in response to being called those insults. And somehow we should believe that Bart is the one who is antagonizing Thad? What the fuck is wrong with you people? Thad is so obviously abusing Bart in this, I don't know how anyone couldn't see this. Screw Helen, she has no sense of fairness and justice when it comes to Bart's treatment. Do I have to explain the word favoritism? How come she lets Thad get away with was worse stuff? Why doesn't she chew him out for all the stuff he put Bart through? He was very clearly shaming him for having ADHD im Helen's presence, and she didn't do shit.

I'm 100% sure Thad started this conflict with some "You're inferior to me" comment and was also the one who got physical first.

Helen: "You don't even know?! Get in here and go to your rooms!" The boys let go of each other and sulked past Helen. "I swear you two, if you were girls, I would be blaming hormones for these outbursts."

Yeah, let's just casually ignore the fact that testosterones are the hormones that increase aggressive behavior and that boys produce about 16× more testosterone than girls, and that men are known to be quicker to express their anger through violence than women. (Cite: Men vs. Women: Hormones; a transgender perspective, Why do women and men respond differently to anger? PsychCentral) I guess I can add "sexist" to the list of things that make Helen an unlikable person. Also, glad to know that she now cares about breaking up a fight between them. Play fighting for fun in the yard? Absolutely not! What were you thinking? Why do you act like that? You should know better! Shady sparring fight in the streets? Sure Thad go ahead! Nothing wrong with beating up your brother to release your anger!

Chapter: 4

Thad answered with a smirk, "That you're a hyperactive brat who would just get more destructive when introduced to sizable amounts of caffeine."

Bart glowered and crossed his arms. "Shut up! I am not!" Thad lifted his chin in victory. "See? Hit the matk. I'm right."

Both Helen and Konner sit next to Bart and they say nothing in response.

Kon chuckled as Bart settled down at the table. "Man, I kinda missed that."

"Missed what?" Bart asked.

"You driving people nuts. Inertia's not Rob or Wondy but he flips out pretty fast." Thad snarled at Kon, "They don't have to live with him!"

Bart has been nothing but nice to Thad. Bart is the one who has to live with Thad's constant belittling. Thad has deluded himself into believing that he is the victim here, but he's really not. Bart is. Bart has been trying to help Thad, even though he was a total douchebag who constantly humiliated him. Bart has to live with Thad.

Chapter: 5

Kon: "Seriously, don't you have any other modes than "up yours" or "sideways"? You're going to die a lonely virgin life if you keep this up. Yeah, I get that your childhood was stolen by an evil madman and all, but you're preaching to the choir here. Dude, get over it. We did." Thad's glare darkened and he clenched his fist. Lunging forward with a punch, he stopped just short striking Kon. Shaking with fury, Thad backed away and left the kitchen. Bart sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter. "He's gonna need to spar today and I'm all beat up already."

"You don't have to be his punching back."

"I'm not a punching back. I hit back."

I agree with Kon up until the "just get over it" part. It's nice to see someone finally calling Thad out on his demanding and shitty attitude, but telling an abuse victim to "just get over it" isn't good advice, either. What Kon should have told him was that Thad should work on his behavior and that him having been abused doesn't make it okay for him to abuse others.

The dialoge after that between Kon and Bart is another attempt on the author's part of justifying this situation. The "I hit back" isn't very encouraging when you consider that Thad is a way better fighter than Bart. The "He needs to spar today and I'm all beat up already" makes it very clear that Bart would rather not participate in a duel, but does it anyway because he feels pressured to keep Thad's emotions in check. Without Bart sacrificing his own well being, Thad would've gotten himself into a lot of trouble by beating up random people in blind rage. And Bart knows this. Despite what this sentence is trying to make you belive, their fights aren't balanced. Thad can easily overpower and outsmart him in a duel. At the end of the day, Bart is still his punching back.

Chapter: 5

Seeking Thad out, Bart found him in the library, talking with a couple of upperclassmen girls. Bart pulled him aside, much to Thad's annoyance. "I'm gonna need some help. Eddie's-" "Not my problem," Thad interrupted. "I don't care what's going on." "Look, getting beat up was just the start of it. He's-" "Not. My. Problem." Thad turned away from Bart. "If he got himself into it, he can get himself out of it. This is a waste of my time." "I just want you to back me up."

This kind of sums up what kind of person Thad is. He takes and take but doesn't repay the favors. He's cold and has no compassion. It doesn't matter to him what Bart did for him, and that he vouched for him. And going by Thad's logic, Max and Bart shouldn't have offered Thad to stay with them because; If he got himself into this situation, he can get himself out of it! Not our problem, we don't care what's going on!

Thad knows that Bart is going to do something really dangerous and could get seriously injured or even die, and he still doesn't give a fuck. He hasn't learned to care for Bart one bit.

Bart grinned at him. "You came."

"Max wanted us to take care of each other," Thad remined. "Letting you get pounded into a smear is a violation of those orders."

This is Thad admitting that the only thing that made him help is Max. I'm 100% certain that Thad would've gladly stood by and watched Bart die if it wasn't for Max. Thad still hates Bart's guts for whatever reason, and he actively shows him that every chance he gets.

Chapter: 7

"Obviously, I got my intelligence from both of our grandfathers. Pity that means there wasn't any left for you."

Hey Thad? How about you shut up and not smack talk Bart every chance you get? It would make you less of a person that deserves to get hit multiple times in the teeth with a brick. This is, very obviously, another put down directed at Bart's ADHD that is disguised as a joke.

Jerking his head up, Bart nodded. "You would do that?" "What kind of evil twin do you think I am?" Thad huffed in mock offense. "I only beat you up and ridicule your intelligence, not withhold precious words of wisdom that can be thrown in Wally's face whenever he gets his tights in a wad about you not being the perfect little sidekick. He treated Bart to a wicked grin. Legacies are more than a name and a costume."

Oh don't worry Thad, you're not the evil clone, you're just the abusive, selfish, cold hearted, self entitled, manipulative, egotistical brother. Yes, you 'only' did those things. They are still reprehensible and loathsome. They will still mess up a person and are unforgivable. Turning your actions into a joke doesn't make them funny or acceptable. The fact that he admits to his wrongdoings but doesn't see them as reprehensible speaks volume about his personality. He talks about his crude actions with such satisfaction and confidence as if he were proud of them. After everything I read about Thad in this, it's very likely that he is.

And the reason why he does Bart a favor here? Again, just doing it for himself. He tells Bart these things not becaus he likes Bart, but becaus he dislikes Wally for that whole legacy thing and wants him to suffer. Thad is self projecting about his issues with his legacy.

[brionysea]

i know it's fun to hate on mike but thinking about his pov pre-s4 makes me so sad. he thinks will and el are having the time of their lives in california and making loads of new friends. lucas actually is making loads of new friends and they're all the popular sports jocks that are still making his and dustin's lives a living hell. max isn't talking to anyone anymore. dustin's still there but he has steve and he's only one person. nancy seems annoyed about having to carpool with him and glares at him like he said he'd killed someone when he asks her to join his d&d group for one (1!) night and then she spends most of the season being more of a big sister to his friends than she is to him. because of all that he's latched onto eddie who clearly thinks he's a lost little kid and is kind of manipulative because of that. he's doing worse in school but not bad enough to be failing so no one really notices. his family still has no idea what emotions are. the party's been more of a family to him for a long time and it's basically fallen apart. he's called will a few times but can't always get through because of joyce's job and will never takes the initiative to call or write first. el signs every letter with love which probably makes him feel like shit for not being able to reciprocate that honestly without feeling like he's lying to her. there was his little anxiety speech about how he's just a useless nobody that no one needs around anymore. he avoids eating enough that will notices multiple times and argyle (who met him a week ago) takes it upon himself to force some food into him the second they get off the road. mike isn't okay