#one of my fave scenes and episodes and everything

[snek-eyes]

Queen instrumentals playing in Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death

(instrumentals arranged by Eos Counsell)

(insp. / template / BoRhap breakdown)

[guardian-angle22]

Tarlos Wedding Celebration Event [Week 10] -> favorite hug(s)-> 3.08

[kitxvoss]

randolph bell in every episode / 2x16

[ilovefredjones]

i wish i had more collected and intellectual thoughts on jim and la’an. instead my brain just screams about them all the time

[userlaylivia]

@cuddlyreader

♡ sierra’s 1.6k celebration  @elena-gilbert asked 🦋 delena dance in 1x19 or delena dance in 6x22

[harocat]

Top 5 scenes in "Love Between Fairy and Devil"!

EXTREMELY IMPOSSIBLE AND LIABLE TO CHANGE... TOMORROW.

Okay so in no particular order:

DFQC rescuing Xiao Lanhua from Shuiyuntian. You just can't go wrong with it. It's classic, it's epic, it hits all the tropes but does them so well. Everyone cheered.

Yeah that's cinema.

2. Dongfang Qingcang hangs the love lock on the bridge. This is the best scene in the series. I know that. I have rambled endlessly about this scene. What could be better? What could be more romantic and heartwrenching?

Ten thousand doves cried.

3. There is no hierarchy in a couple. What a wonderful and mature moment. What a brave, courageous, and resolute heroine Xiao Lanhua becomes. What I love about this is that they didn't even have to do it. Xiao Lanhua's status as the goddess of Xishan would inherently resolve any power imbalance issues between the two. But guess what? LBFAD is a better show than that. It tells us that her role as the goddess isn't just a way to put them on equal ground. They already are, even when she's just a flower fairy with a damaged immortal root.

4. Pretty much all of episode eighteen. If I had to pick one scene, it would be when DFQC breaks down in his father's room and XLH comforts him, but the entire episode is just so excellent. It's everything great about this drama- the humor (so many cute and funny moments), the themes, the emotional resonance, the surprising amount of maturity. Everyone in Silent Moon Palace gets at least one good scene, and it starts out so tragic but ends up so healing by the end. THE LBFAD episode.

PEAAKKK FICTION

5. The piggyback ride. I wanted to name something cute and not as heavy, because all of my other ideas were so serious. SO I remembered that this moment is one of my faves. It's so fun and playful. I wish they'd been able to have more moments like this!

[fxlling-slxwly]

There’s so much about Heartstopper Season 3 that I LOVE. Obviously Nick and Charlie’s relationship growth is beautiful, and Charlie’s mental health stuff is SO IMPORTANT, and I was SOBBING at Episode 4. HOWEVER. Breakdown of my favourite parts / storylines:

1. Darcy’s exploration of pronouns and gender identity. Seeing them start leaning more masc, cutting their hair, using they/them pronouns, and then coming out to Tara as non-binary?? WONDERFUL. As someone who recently came out as genderqueer (with a fairly similar path as Darcy actually) this made me so emotional and so happy for them and the representation.

2. Isaac. My baby. Everything about him is so wonderful and I just want to wrap him in the biggest hug ever. His coming out scenes (both his one to Charlie and to the Paris Gang) were beautiful. His boundaries in refusing to fill in the gaps for his friends is so admirable, as when you’re outside the ‘mainstream’ queer labels it can become such a tiresome ordeal having to explain your identity to others when they aren’t putting in the work to look it up. I’m SO GLAD he got these moments and he’s such a ray of sunshine. Him being the only one to see that something was wrong with Charlie hurt me deeply but it made me love him even more. Also seeing his cheeky side when it comes to Charlie’s sex life is peak aro/ace romance obsessed behavior.

3. Michael Holden my beloved. Darragh’s portrayal of him is everything - he’s so funny, awkward, and optimistic in every single scene and I just adore him. All of his interactions with Charlie made me fall in love with him even more, and they all just felt so RIGHT. His and Tori’s relationship is wonderful.

4. Tori being the best most beautiful big sister. She has so much love in her but she’s so afraid of letting people in and see her being vulnerable. Her love and anxiety for Charlie is so immense, but she does what she can even when her heart is breaking. I adore her and I’m so looking forward to seeing even more of her in the next season.

5. Nick interacting with Elle, Tara and Imogen on the road trip!!! I love seeing Nick integrate more with that friend group, but allowing him to have those moments of gossip and banter with the girls is beautiful, especially as he’d said previously how he didn’t talk about the deeper stuff with his other friends. Having the girls encourage him to talk - especially Elle causing chaos - was *chefs kiss*.

6. Tao and Nick hugging!!!

7. Charlie, Tao and Isaac’s friendship! I adore seeing them be super huggy and telling each other how much they love each other. Healthy friendships for the win!! No toxic masculinity here!!

8. Tao and Elle’s relationship & his utter adoration of her. The scene where he showed her the video he made of her was so emotionally raw and beautiful and UGH IM OBSESSED

9. Mr Farouk and Mr Ajayi’s soft moments UGH I LOVE THEM. Mr F is one of my fave TV teachers - the way he tells Charlie that he could help so many younger students and you can just tell how much he needed queer rep when was younger!! Ugh I adore these two so much.

[nijigasakilove]

Oh my goodness what an episode. Non-stop chills throughout. Everything’s finally coming together, even plot points from season 1! It all leads to this arc’s climax. The Shishou rebellion is upon us. Is Jinshi finally going to embrace his birthright to save the kingdom and the girl he loves?! Couldn’t write better drama than this 😭

Acting job of the year goes to Shisui. There’s very few people who have genuinely outsmarted Maomao, but she did. Who would’ve thought the silly ditz who always popped up out of nowhere, broke ice sculptures, etc., would be one of the most intelligent and strategic people in the whole series? The Loulan connection seems so obvious in hindsight like Maomao said, but it never dawned on me until a few episodes ago!

So to be 100 percent objective with Shenmei, I know we all on the “she needs to die” page and I do think she’ll have to die narratively, but we only see her AFTER she got back from the palace. We know the sort of shit young girls went thru once they got to the palace so what made her this evil? She came back from that ordeal and saw her husband remarried and had another kid and wife living there, I think anyone with the sort of mental trauma she probably had would snap too. Doesn’t make it right, but I’m gonna wait till we potentially see more to REALLY judge her.

I do feel awful for the abuse that Suirei has had to endure for the simple crime of being born. Putting she and her mother out and using them as servants is evil, but again could be the deeds of a deeply broken woman. I just want she and Shisui to get a happy ending, but it’s going to be a big ask given everything going on. My heart broke during the flashback where Shisui talked about how she thought by being the perfect daughter it would stop her mom, but that can’t save her. She’s too far gone.

Back in the palace for the end of the episode and this was one of my fave stretches in Kusuriya so far. Seeing Lakan just not gaf at all about Jinshi’s status and go full protective dad on him was so cool. He wants his daughter back! We also got to see both of Maomao’s dads on screen together which was so cool, it’s funny how Lakan is so respectful with Luomen and crass with Jinshi lol. But the scene of Lakan getting on his knees and pleading in the most sincere way for Jinshi to stop the rebellion and assume his rightful place was incredible.

Y’all I cannot wait to see how this arc plays out. One way or the other, things are NOT going to be the same going forward in this story and I’m so excited.

[userlaylivia]

@emilyskinners, @maya-matlin, @dayas

brucas meme ≡ favourite scenes [4] I don’t know what to say… I, um, I gotta go.

[superhellstiel]

The Season 8 Destiel Meta Post Nobody Asked For (and why I think the writers had a Destiel endgame option in mind for season 8)

Okay, so here's the long version of this post that almost nobody wanted, but I'm writing it anyway. This is LONG. I'm sorry. And I want to start with it seems like s8 is polarizing, but I rather liked it, and I think it's because I live in the (delusion?) truth of this theory. Stay with me if you want to Believe too. I think Season 8 was written with two possible outcomes in mind; and with an endgame Destiel being the more likely of the two that the writers anticipated. Sounds insane, I am aware. You will need to stick with me here and extend some trust, but I promise I can show my work.

We need to set the scene: It's 2012. We are launching headfirst into the height years of tumblr fan culture. Gangnam Style grips the nation. Destiel is huge in fanfiction & tumblr land. However, interestingly, we're about two years past show's peak. Already once SPN was slated to end with S5's natural arc conclusion, but it didn't-- it was renewed because it was making the CW money, simple as. They have pushed on into the Sera Gamble era with Seasons 6 and 7, which have their respective flashes of brilliance, but all-in-all generally struggled to find footing in the post-Apocalypse Supernatural verse that was never actually planned for. It's pretty evident that the writing and plotting isn't nearly as tight as S1-5, simply because 1-5 was all mapped out from the get go.

It's been interesting returning to the fandom after a decade, because I'm finding a lot of people now who really liked Season 7. No hate, to each their own, and maybe it was just the circles I was in at the time, but in the moment S7 wasn't received well at all. It felt like they kept inflating the "big bad" to heights that sometimes struggled to get fully fleshed out (which, to be fair, continues to be a writing problem going forward). And while watching S7 in Netflix binge-mode it doesn't feel quite so bad, at the time having a year's worth of your fave TV show where Sam and Dean are systematically and pointlessly stripped of everything that gave the show its signature personality was nothing short of torture (killing Cas, the Impala, torching Bobby's place, killing Bobby), all in the name of more man-pain. All of that punctuated with a lot of filler episodes that felt like more misses than hits, the absolutely insufferable Amy Pond plot, and dick jokes just because the writers thought it was funny.

Everyone's opinions on S6-7 aside, though, Supernatural wasn't landing financially for the CW either. Season 5 aired on Thursday nights, which is a fairly well respected time slot for established and successful shows, but with Season 6 and 7 we see a demotion to Friday night, 9 PM ET. This is basically the kiss of death for a cable TV show. You sent your shows to Friday night to die. The CW was looking to the future with newer shows and the writing was on the walls that this circus was probably wrapping up soon.

However, in true Supernatural fashion, it wouldn't fucking die. Honestly, and I can only speculate here, I imagine such a die-hard and still-growing fanbase coinciding with a huge spike in social media + ease of access to fan spaces with the surge in commonplace smart phones/laptop computers is probably what kept performing CPR on this show.

So along comes season 8. The show is being passed to Jeremy Carver and Ben Edlund as a returning writer to head up the show. Other people have discussed the Sera Gamble era in depth, but what you need to know here, basically, is that the Carver/Edlund mind are ones that a) have not shied away from queer themes and b) are a lot of those Destiel classics. We're talking Ghostfacers, The End, My Bloody Valentine, On the Head of a Pin, The Man Who Would Be King (Carver), and Free to Be You and Me, Point of No Return (Edlund). Essentially, Sera's philosophy tended to be "strip it back to just the Winchester brothers" and Carver & Edlund were generally more open to having the surrounding cast of supporting characters. And these two definitely don't shy away from Dean & Castiel's relationship.

Here is where my theory gets a little speculative: I believe this is the point where where SPN was given one last hail mary by the CW. New writers and a Wednesday night slot, you have one more chance to make this work, otherwise you're getting the axe. It was renewed pretty late, in early May of 2012 (compare to S6 being announced Feb 2010). S7 had barely scraped its renewal in late April the year prior, too.

Okay, so let's put ourselves in that position for a moment as showrunners sitting down in the Supernatural writer's room in May of 2012. There are two things that might happen: 1) you just might pull it off, and you do such a good job you pull the show from the proverbial grave or 2) you don't pull it off, and you need to make sure the show ends on a satisfying note that wraps things up neatly. And you need to write and film a season that, until you get the yes or no from the CW, can do either and both or neither, and you may need to pivot in one direction or the other pretty quickly while you're filming the back half of your season.

Enter the Destiel endgame theory, which I believe was their scenario 2. Time to introduce the exhibits from the season.

General: Flashbacks. I wish they'd explored Purgatory more too, but it would've taken up too much time if they might have to fast-track a series finale later. (Also Amelia should've been all made up in Sam's head to cope with losing Dean but again, different post. Maybe it became a time constraint to explore too much too, if they thought the show might be ending.)

The evidence:

8x01 We Need to Talk About Kevin & 8x02 - & What's Up Tiger Mommy? We get flashbacks of Dean tearing Purgatory apart to find Castiel. When he finds him, he makes it clear he's coming back to Earth with him.

8x03 - Heartache- This episode focuses on the love between an immortal being and a human.

8x05 - Blood Brother - Benny/Queer Dean discourse deserves its own post. You can take or leave this one for this post's theory.

8x07 - A Little Slice of Kevin - 1) Dean is clearly hiding a boner when Cas gets out of the shower? 2) We introduce that Dean is deeply upset that Castiel didn't make it through the portal-- to the degree he's faked an entire memory because he'd rather it be his fault Cas is gone than have been abandoned by him

8x08 - Hunteri Heroici - Castiel wants to join Dean as a hunter; we're beginning to establish Castiel's genuine desire to spend his life with the Winchesters. This is then juxtaposed when Naomi forces him to stay away at the end of the episode, further telling us this is Cas' desire vs. Heaven's.

8x11 - Larp and the Real Girl - This is mostly a fun episode, but it's an example of queerness being gently nudged to the forefront of plots without immediate dismissal or being the butt of a joke-- rare for SPN at the time.

8x13 - Everybody Hates Hitler - Ah, the Aaron "He was my Gay Thing" moment. Dean leans all the way into the flirting. Does not give the "don't swing that way" speech, gets flustered, is at a loss for words. He appears disappointed later when he was wrong. This has little precedent on the show when Dean's been perceived as gay, he usually dismisses it very quickly.

February 11, 2013: Supernatural is renewed for season 9, a week after Everybody Hates Hitler airs.

Per these estimates, 8x18 is the next episode to be filmed post-announcement, beginning 2/12.

8x16 - Remember the Titans - A Forbidden Love plot. You can take or leave this one for this theory.

8x17 - Goodbye Stranger - OK, here is our inflection point for editing, in my opinion. The last month of eps, more or less, have been pretty trials-centric or one-off. This episode airs 3/20/2013. At this point, we know we're getting a season 9, but we've been building with all of the above, and this ep was filmed pre-S9 announcement... so much so that we have an "I love you" in the original script for the infamous crypt scene. I fully believe it was filmed and edited out in post.

Second, Castiel turns the walls of Naomi's office/lobotomy lounge the bi pride colors during the crypt scene. Someone on the crew at Supernatural literally tweeted that morning to be on the lookout for special choices in Naomi's office. It was very intentional. Why else pick these colors and declare they're intentional? (I have searched up and down for this tweet but it was rare i was there i remember it [the tweet] all too well please trust me)

UPDATE: Tumblr hive mind found it and it was Jerry Wanek saying they were… crosses? In the intersecting lines in the windows? (that's how lines work? lol) And it was amidst a spell of saying fans were reaching in their analyses, and though some of his replies have that tinge, it's not direct about the color commentary. I never saw the back half of that saga or forgot about it, didn’t mean to misrepresent anything! Either way I’ve been corrected but that office is still bisexual and you can’t tell me otherwise

And don't get me started on the "unicorn" stuff, that one person you'd throw everything away for (but I understand this can be interpreted in many ways) However, the season is renewed, we've picked the path they never thought they'd actually pull off-- now we've got to backpedal this Destiel just enough to not impact our precious CW bottom lines, but not piss off our faction of fangirls who watch to ship.

8x20 - Pac Man Fever - Charlie tells Dean she thinks Castiel seems "dreamy". Charlie is very gay and would only say this to elicit a reaction from Dean, we don't really get much of one. Again, lack of a "speech" on his sexuality.

*Note 8x18 Freaks & Geeks and 8x20 Pac Man Fever are filler eps, I think they could've been pulled if we needed the extra time to sprint toward a series finale*

8x21 - The Great Escapist - 8x23 Sacrifice- We hit a real fast escalation toward the season finale from here. I actually think this overarching plot was more or less always the idea for the ending, but how exactly it was executed depended on the renewal status.

The Alternate Series Finale Ending (That I believe they thought they'd have to do when they wrote it): If they hadn't gotten renewed, we are set up for Sam to close the gates of Hell and Metatron to use a spell to close Heaven using the heart of a nephilim (product of human + angel love), the bow a cupid (an angel that arranges love in humans), and the grace of an angel in love with a human. Hell and Heaven shutter up, Sam dies, and Dean is left with a human Castiel who has, for the better part of the season, already been "testing out" being a hunter alongside Dean and has literally moved heaven and earth to have this. He will not have to be the immortal doomed to love a human, as in 8x03, or have the forbidden love of 8x16; we receive resolution on those subjects for our heroes that the monster-of-the-week characters did not. They resolve their feelings for each other, because if we kept Dean's crypt "I love you" and we establish Castiel's grace was in love with a human... well, what else is there to say? (Oh, yes, and they did exactly this and pulled the Destiel trigger in S15 when it was all ending.)

The Actual Ending (That I think they got surprised about the renewal and had to do): Backpedal. Edit. Only drop little subtext again. We just need Castiel's Regular Grace TM for this spell. We can keep selling merch and con tickets and get views if we appeal to the widest audience possible, and we're not taking risks now that we've performed a literal miracle rescue from a Friday night 9 PM slot.

And once we start Season 9, we get a LOT of being hit over the head with Castiel & Dean's Heterosexuality TM, so much so it's awkward and even out of character. (Human Cas sighing about boobs in early s9? Like please. Get real.) It's a HARD left turn, but it makes more sense if you consider it all in the context above. I just don't think they'd have gone in so hard on the bullet points I listed if they had thought Season 9 was in the bag.

TL;DR: I think we might've had Destiel in 2013, but if we had, we wouldn't have also had the rest of the seasons. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you, but I think it was a combination of a lot of external factors, capitalism, and, well, it being 2013, sadly. I think they were cowards about it, but at the same time, even the writers probably weren't pulling every string, they also needed to answer to other agendas. Television is a medium that is rife with the push and pulls of a thousand factors that aren't the pure story. Idk how to really wrap this, but this has been over ten years in the making so enjoy the fruits of my brain rot.

[luciaintheskyainthi]

Dude, when I tell you I've been looking since the moment Constantine showed up with his bastard ass smirk for the web-of-life-and-destiny tie in-

I was wondering for so long...

why the spider totem tag?

why the cults? ... aside from the cheeky backstory ruse

inhales

I see you- I see what's happening- I've connected the dots-- CONNECTED THEM- to what extent I don't know- but I'm on the trail!

I have so many questions and ideas regarding the what this means for Peter, for his connection to Gotham and the Red, for everything- (sans Jason's sanity- we all knew from the start that Peter was gonna cause him to develop a new anxiety disorder) 

All I can say is, if you've ever watched "its always sunny in philadelphia" or seen that meme with the guy looking crazed in front of the detective board- thats me rn.

(if you haven't, look up Pepe Silvia, trust its hilarious)

Thank you and goodnight!

*poofs away in a cloud of smoke*

**actually scurries off back-stage to get back to my board **

First of all, I need to preface this by saying It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is one of my favourite shows EVER so yes I absolutely know the Pepe Silvia scene. That is truly a great episode (though my fave is Mac and Dennis move to the suburbs. Or the houseboat one).

And I'm not going to lie, you may be Charlie mid conspiracy breakdown but so am I.

^^^ Me for the past year. My Scrivener document for ECM is a mess of constantly shifting post-its/plot beats. The only thing that saves me from hallucinating the doom-bop-bop sound like Charlie does is that I'm working on a minimum 4 chapter buffer. It gives me the time to go back and add additional stuff in before posting.

In Arc 2 we're FINALLY getting to some of the promises from the tags 🙏 (PLUS! A few big things that aren't tagged but are definitely planned). In fact the crumbs have already been laid out in the last couple of chapters 😈

So keep connecting those dots! Stay crazy boo!

[sapphicscholar]

Hacks Episode 4.05 Thoughts

Okay sorry for the deluge of posting tonight, but I wanted to be all caught up so that I can just go episode by episode moving forward! So on to yesterday’s episode! Everything under the cut to hide spoilers! (Also this got loooong! Turns out I have a lot of thoughts!)

As with last episode, I found this episode better on rewatch (esp. on rewatch going straight through from ep. 1 to 5), though it’s still not my fave. But I do find this to be true of a lot of post-s1 Hacks where the middle episodes, which often feel comparatively weaker on first view (bc that’s almost always when we’re viewing them in isolation as stand-alone episodes), end up standing up better on a season-long rewatch because they’re not always made with the pacing, stakes, and/or plot and character development that feel appropriate to a single episode, but instead with an eye to the season-long narrative. And I don’t think Hacks is alone in this! It’s symptomatic of a lot of modern TV shows, even the ones that get released on a weekly basis instead of in a single, bingeable go. Anyway, onward to the specifics!

On my first watch, this felt like we were stepping back from where we left off at the end of the last episode in ways that didn’t exactly feel right. The hospital scene, while not a fix-all bandaid, felt like an important crack in the armor, a move toward a truce and eventual reconciliation. And by the end of this episode, we feel wrenched so much further back (more on that later). But on second watch, knowing where the episode was heading and therefore not perhaps having my post-ep reactions focused on the end as the most recent thing in my head and therefore the most important, I was able to better see the ways that their interactions in the earlier moments of the episode are a little more cordial (not friendly! But less overtly hostile) than they have been. And the ways the data would have thrown Deborah for a loop do feel realistic and true to who she is, especially the version of her that knows damn well they “need a hit.”

But now that knowledge is also where the episode loses me. Because here’s the thing: this is (at least per the end of season 3) the dream for Deborah and Ava alike. No matter what Ava’s suddenly saying or feeling, in the very recent past, JPL had her telling the woman doing her headshots that this was her dream job. And we know damn well Deborah has been fighting for this her whole career. Now, don’t get me wrong! It may be that the dream is crumbling in live time, that the fantasy is revealing itself to be hollow. But it’s still a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity, and I simply do not believe that they’d be this unprofessional and this willing to risk it all at this stage, especially post episode 4.2. This isn’t to say I think they’d be roses and butterflies and rainbows—absolutely fucking not—but screaming at each other in front of a live studio audience? Deborah calling another woman a conniving bitch essentially on camera? And all this after she’d been so quick to realize they were being surveilled at Winnie’s? I’m just not buying it, man. Deborah’s not good with hecklers, no. But she knows how to perform even under duress. Think about the hug on camera. Think about her letting them smear that soot on her face and fuck up her hair in the pizza parlor. For better or worse, she knows how to push it down when the camera’s rolling, and that was just a fucking pizza shop opening; this is Late Night on a top network at the do-or-die moment with her own name, career, and future on the line.

The content of their dispute…sure? It feels like we could be getting a little more incisive about Deborah’s relationship to womanhood, feminism, and politics at this point, rather than retracing old ground about Panera people vs. intellectual no punchline jokes (which we *literally* return to with the reliance on the implicit punchline of a photo of Sweden), but imo the show doesn’t actually want to go there. Which is fine, but it’s just an interesting thing how the show continuously dances around the question of Deborah’s relationship to other women, but always stops just short of true critique by side-stepping the consequences. Like in 1.69 Million we get this question of ladder pulling that gets resolved by a one-off stunt. In the cruise episode Deborah announces she doesn’t hate lesbians specifically; she hates women, and don’t we all, she asks. But we breeze on by it with no narrative impact. We get Deborah making it part of her new act (how many women do you actually have to care about to be a feminist?), which gets played as a joke in such a way that it insulates her from immediate pushback. The college student arc gets played through quickly without our ever having to return to it. We have Deborah disavowing her womanhood in the opening press event, and now we’ve got women who (shocker!) don’t like her! And I get the jokes of “well did they ask lesbians??” but I think we can adore her the way we do only because she’s a character, not a real person, and the show’s polls exist in-universe where you know what? Deborah Vance does have a women problem. Now, I don’t need (and I really so, so don’t want!) the show to go didactic fiction on me. I’m not looking for Hannah Gadsby here! But I do think they had the door propped open for this to be a clash that takes Ava and Deborah’s differences and pushes them further, rather than falling back on well-trodden ground, this time simply paved with market demo research. Because as is, it feels like…well, we know Ava and Deborah can come to a compromise on the terrain of “funny enough to appeal to a big crowd without going for the hacky shit.” And yeah, it was for a differently scaled audience, but reaching this true impasse feels like it calls for more as narrative justification, and imo, some of this unaddressed baggage feels like a pretty easy inroad because you could reasonably believe that Ava’s been hanging on to a frustration about some of these past moments that she’s convinced herself are fine or something in the past, only to have this newest thing (Deb going “mommy makeovers” as this condescending attempt at appealing to women ages 25-40) be the spark that ignites it into a big thing—especially when she’s comparing it to the writing room she was just in (bc right now it feels like Ava’s sitting there comparing apples and oranges when she knows goddam well they’re two different fruits, so she just looks petulant af).

Okay, I’ve rambled for a looooong ass time here, so a few final quicker things:

Let Ava own her throuple! She can be thrown by Deborah’s presence, but I don’t buy that the woman who confidently told Deborah literally just days into knowing her that sometimes she needs a dick to come but the sexual experiences are deeper with women is gonna stutter and stammer her way through saying she’s a third. Especially not in the queer LA scene in the year of our lord 2025.

Also, I felt two different ways on first, then second watch of this ep re Ava’s two restaurant scene lines about the not knowing Deborah very well / telling Dev and Emily to wait for the show to get good to watch it. On first watch, they felt almost breathtakingly cruel—especially piling on the show comment after we’ve already seen the hurt on Deborah’s face after the first line lands. But on rewatch, especially, like I said, rewatch from the start, the first line in particular feels more like a protective barrier—Ava learning to put up her own walls to keep from getting hurt. She held out her heart for Deborah at the end of season 3, crying and pleading with Deborah to treat her better than the world (which they both know is cruel), only to have Deborah tell her that she was willing to lose her. And even throughout this season, we’ve had several moments where we’ve seen Ava at least try—even when it’s meant caring about Deborah as a person, not the show (e.g., rushing backstage during the panic attack and then showing up to the hospital and staying to make sure Deborah didn’t miss the premier even when she found out Deborah didn’t ask the hospital to call her). And, largely, Ava’s been rebuffed. (Which isn’t to say we can’t feel for Deborah, too! But simply to suggest that there’s a point at which you have to put on armor if you want to survive—a lesson Deborah knows far better than Ava.)

Also, Stacey’s final snap was well deserved lmao

Of course Dance Mom is dancing to Katy Perry’s heinous AI album ripppp

And Dance Mom, much like Deborah’s dancing, does feel very, very daytime, big Ellen energy (right down to berating the staff!). But I think it’ll be really fucking hard for Deborah to move on from the high of the crowd’s enthusiastic energy and response. Which is gonna drive Ava up a fucking wall. Speaking of…that final expression from Ava? I wish we had known what exactly Deborah was scrapping for Dance Mom because it feels like, if it were something Ava wrote and felt good about (vs more of the vaguely hacky pandering shit), that response would have felt a little more justified? As is, it feels like Ava’s hitting a breaking point that we don’t 100% buy. Because I’m sorry, but they did need a victory after the audience witnessed that screaming match and faceplant! You need a strong (and, more importantly, distracting) finishing act to come back from that, and jokes about Sweden just aren’t gonna cut it!

[youhideastar]

Fangs of Fortune Recs!

By popular demand! This list is very preliminary, since new stuff is being written all the time! But for now, here are a few of my favorites:

Throw the Windows Wide by achray (@achray1)

You know when an author writes a fic that captures exactly the vibe of a pairing that made you fall in love with that pairing in the first place? It’s so hard to do, because you have to start by perfectly capturing both characters as individuals, but this author makes it look effortless. Here, Zhuo Yichen sees Zhao Yuanzhou kissing Li Lun—a sight that definitely wasn’t meant for him—and has a conversation with him about it afterward. The author’s command of the characters’ speech patterns and body language is flawless, and this fic gave me SO many feelings about these two. Bonus 1: it’s followed by a VERY HOT sequel. Bonus 2: I would rate this as pretty accessible to folks who haven’t seen the series yet. Bonus 3: check out the same author’s Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Demon Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask), which is SO cute and features a lot of embarrassed Zhuo Yichen (my favorite!).

unbroken vow by ximilu

One of the great gifts this show gives fic writers is the multiplicity of opportunities for fuck-or-die setups (or, to be more specific to the genre, “only dual cultivation can save you” setups), and there are several great examples, but this one is my fave. Set during the arc when Zhuo Yichen is carrying around massive amounts of demonic qi but no demonic core to ground it… well, I can’t do better than the author’s summary: “Stop me, then.” Li Lun isn’t looking at Zhuo Yichen at all when he says it, all his attention turned to hurting Zhao Yuanzhou instead. “Save your precious Xiao-Zhuo daren. Fuck a core into him yourself.” Absolutely nobody is having a good time in this fic, each for their own different reasons, and the angst is so, so delicious.

Honorable mention goes to full of tangled karma by angryteapot, which uses dual cultivation to solve the Episode 34 dilemma with a delightful mpreg threesome scheme – come for the porn, stay for Wen Xiao righteously and literally kicking Zhao Yuanzhou when he’s down because he trampled all over her agency.

 Silly Concern, Serious Question by dykemania (@yeliuxi)

After the mpreg joke during the Ying Long arc, Zhuo Yichen asks Wen Xiao if she actually thought he might be pregnant. Their conversation is so tender and so vulnerable – the author has such a great handle on their relationship and on the two characters as individuals: Wen Xiao matter-of-fact and protective, Zhuo Yichen bravely persevering through his embarrassment. I’ve re-read this like three times already because reading it feels like a warm hug.

Others!

I also recommend Onmyo-Jin’s (@onmyo-jin) awesome collection of bite-size fics, of which my favorites are Out of habit (Zhao Yuanzhou doing a great impression of the cat who sits on your laptop while you’re trying to work) and In danger of you (the classic “we’re being chased so we have to make out to conceal our identities”).

Finally, I love fruits of your labor by ghostrunner (@witchmachine), which is another great fic that’s super accessible to folks who haven’t taken the plunge to watch the show yet. It’s a missing scene from Episode 31 (the gathering-branches-from-the-sacred-tree bit), but most of all it’s Zhuo Yichen and Zhao Yuanzhou finally stepping over the line between friends and lovers, taking joy in the discovery of one another’s desires.

(And I’d be remiss if I missed this opportunity to plug my own post-canon fic, The Wedding of the Great Demon, which is also very accessible for a reader who hasn’t seen the drama yet!)

[bartsugsy]

You've probably answered an ask like this before because you've been watching robron from the beginning but what are your favourite storylines or scenes from them? (I'm very new to emmerdale, i found it last week when robert came back and I saw people on twitter talking about it and ive been binging their storyline on youtube i just got passed the lodge)

oh my god WELCOME ANON i’m desperate to know how you felt about the lodge (i’m a certified Lodge Stan but that’s not a prerequisite here, everyone was going the hell through it when it originally aired fjfjfjf)

with the caveat of, given just how many storylines they’ve had, this is not comprehensive and i will forget things - and also not being too spoilery for you, here’s some faves:

in terms of storylines:

the storyline you are very fast approaching right now in your watchthrough, that takes place at the end of 2015, was fantastically done imo - the build up, specifically. it’s not really a robron storyline (at all) so much as it is a comeuppance and ultimately redemption for robert storyline, but the show spends essentially the entire year building up to this point and it’s fantastic

i did also absolutely love the entire affair storyline - and i enjoy (and appreciate more in retrospect, because it was a little agonising watching in real time) how long it takes the show to bring that to a head and reveal everything. the aftermath of robert being outed and how that leads into robert eventually discussing his sexuality with people is really good. also full disclosure i just simply love chrissie white.

aaron’s abuse storyline i do find very very difficult to rewatch and so i don’t usually, but i still have to mention it, because i thought it was incredible, and wonderful, and there’s a period of time where aaron goes away and robert enters every single scene by bursting into a room and demanding to see aaron and it’s sooo… like oh the writing for how batshit insane this man would be about his husband was right there on the wall

super soap week 2016 - i’ve never experienced anything like it in my life and i genuinely don’t think i ever will again and honestly maybe that’s for the best because there were several days where i simply forgot to do basic things like eat and move and shower because i was so fucking locked in but oh my god

2017 as a whole is at times infuriating but i genuinely deeply enjoyed myself 98% of the time. robron fight, they get married, they break up, the crash outs are legendary, the scenes are immense, the emotions are soaring. i’m an angst goblin though so honestly, take that as you will

the entire reunion story arc is perfect to me

there is a period of time where they are married and both genuinely happy in their relationship (but not in life because it’s a soap and shit is simply always occurring) and they have the most insane and hilarious run of stories where it’s honestly just robron against the world (there’s a kidnap, there’s blackmail, there’s a pig, there’s money being burned in a bin, there’s so much crime) and whilst i do tend to have more fun watching in real time when the angst is happening, mostly because that means they’re on our screens more and doing meaningful things that are building towards a longer term purpose, that period of time is very very fun to rewatch

one time they do a christmas carol episode with robert as scrooge and it’s absolutely baller

in terms of SCENES (and i don’t wanna get too deep into this or we will absolutely be here all day because the list of robron scenes that will take your whole breath away is so endless):

there’s this one scene where robert is in his scrooge era, having a christmas carol dream, and aaron walks down the stairs and robert stares at him like he’s the most beautiful man to ever grace the planet and that really really spoke to me. gayest he’s ever been.

all of super soap week 2016 i’m deadly serious you’re absolutely not ready

all of the first wedding

all of the second wedding

all of the proposals

all of the BREAK UPS

absolutely every single utterly demented thing robert has ever said about aaron ever bc jesus he has no shame imagine living in the same village as someone who swans around saying things like “my beautiful husband who i love” with his whole chest

there’s one ep at the beginning of 2017 where they’re furiously arguing because aaron has done something terminally stupid and they’re like. teetering on the edge of a break up. and it’s so so so good. it’s SO SO GOOD.

that one time post-affair era where robert offers to help andy set up the barton’s new grain pit and aaron is there and even though they’ve lowkey broken up, they start flirting again and then end up banging in the scrapyard portacabin because they’re absolutely incapable of staying away from each other for too long

the entire experience of aaron getting kidnapped is Peak Entertainment to me and one of my favourite robron stories ever and the scenes in those eps are everything to me

aaron’s reunion speech. every single second of it.

that moment in the lodge where robert tells aaron he’s the worst mistake robert ever made, because falling in love with aaron was so deeply violently not a part of rob’s evil plans and oh boy, maybe he could have done so much worse without all these annoying unwanted feelings for aaron, maybe he could have protected himself so much better if he didn’t have to worry about protecting aaron as well, and also maybe he should shoot aaron because that seems like a good way to be free of this unwanted responsibility because honestly i think robert really did, back in 2015, on occasion believe that he would be so much more successful in life if he could just stop experiencing pesky emotions like ‘guilt’ and ‘love’. like if he could just stop caring about people, he’d be able to follow through with all his ridiculous, horribly evil plans entirely unhindered. sometimes your villain simply isn’t cut out for straight up murder 🤟😔

aaron’s hair during christmas 2016

[rcbertsugden]

Since there's an anon going round asking people for their top 10 episodes by year, I thought I'd do mine, in chronological order.

2015

- 12th February: the scene between Robert and chaddy is one of my favourite scenes ever. The early show of honesty vulnerability amongst the bravado... yum.

- 8th April: so cute. Robert worried about Aaron being out all night, putting his lil jacket over Aaron like a blanket, care about him I don't just! Stupid interfering bitch. Pebble rock. It's just so good.

- 22nd June: this may be violating the rules because it has nothing to do with robron but I stan the dinner party from hell with coira and chrobert.

- 8th July: for obvious reasons. But also it was my first ever live episode so it holds a massive place in my heart.

- 20th July: the heart eyes, the suits, the sneaking around home farm. Absolute gold.

- 23rd July: just vote for all of July at this rate, I hear you. I would love to. But of course I had to do the insanity of the lodge. The affair reveal is fab but this is included for "falling in love with you ruined everything" and "you said you loved me too remember" and Robert crying on the floor like a lost child.

- 24th September: it's hard to pick between the episodes this week because they're firing on absolutely every cylinder. But from a robron perspective, it has to be this one, as a noted scrapyard scene apologist. Ryan is at his very best here.

- 22nd October: we have the who shot robert flashbacks, "I can't stop loving someone like him", Aaron going to whack him with a wrench, the hurt Robert feels when he finds out Aaron's been arrested and the iconic list of suspects he reels off.

- 2nd December: I'm your man! You're never gonna be that again! My fave robron scene of all time tbh.

- 18th December: I tried to resist but this couple of months is where I live. The flirting in this one! Us living under the same roof wouldn't that be cosy! Robert was so determined to get Aaron back he was willing to inherit a pub. Icon.

2016

- 21st January: my favourite scene of all time may be I'm your man, but this has my favourite line of all time. Being in fandom then was such a good time despite how difficult the storyline was. I just remember reading an article about the episode and it said something along the lines of Robert maybe having a revelation of his own, but I don't think anyone expected an ily??? I had to grip my chair to keep from falling off it. Iconic. The whole episode was so amazingly acted and the centrepiece of one of the best weeks emmerdale ever had.

25th February: the spoiler drop for this one was iconic. We met beloved Liv for the first time, Robert got kneed, we got the entirely ridiculous "of course I still want this" as if Aaron had ever done anything but resist Robert's attempts to get back together, an icon! And of course the first fairly pathetic attempt at a near kiss, love it though. A note for Robert's hair as well.

2nd March: Robert in a maroon suit! The absolutely insane flirting. You lost your touch?!? AS IF?!? Chrissie's "it's good to know who you are". Their faces when Vic says its a date??? Smitten kitten??!?!?!?! I live here x

15th April: we finally get justice for Aaron. We also get the insane Adam realising they're together from one touch, and the absolutely stunning scene outside the woolpack. Probably controversial, but better than the reunion itself for me.

14th July: Yes, Charity catching them in the shower is gold as is Robert's insane lust. The real star of the show is the two boyfriend drops and the hilarious "not that you're not lovely" "or your daughter in law" and "the man went to prison for being gay, guess what in other news he's still gay". I loved Lawrence and Ronnie's relationship so that was also a highlight.

16th August: the handbag line is great but this isn't robron's episode, this is robert and andy's episode. Bernice also deserves a mention. Funny, heartbreaking, poignant. The perfect send off, really.

17th October: I don't even need to explain this one.

24th October: another one I tried to resist but it's just perfect oh my god it's so cute.

16th December: the pub quiz!!!!!

25th December: their first Christmas together ❤️ I still have Aaron's jumper.

2017 (this is so difficult bc I've never really rewatched it outside of the fandom rewatches)

- 5th January: I don't like this as much as I should, but there's no denying the suits and the Vegas stuff is brilliant. And I love the rolo joke.

- 23rd January: the pub scene is so damn sweet. Robert sitting in the dark worrying about Aaron. Got too much keeping me here these days! You're not on your own you're with me remember! I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else! The casual touches. Just lovely.

- 20th February: DIRTY LITTLE GREASE MONKEY okay the whole thing is perfect but that one line is enough. And also big gay wedding in the morning... queen.

- 21st February: I wouldn't normally do 2 in a row but. The garage scene, the callbacks, the first dance that wasn't a first dance, wouldn't kick blondie out of bed for leaving crumbs.

- 23rd February: 3 in a row is bad I know but it has my favourite moment of theirs (which is different to line and scene tyvm). The fucking forehead heart kiss hug thing it's perfect and nobody will ever beat that level of romance ever. The teasing about Robert's shower gel is also adorable.

- 10th April: partly heinous but then most of 2017 is. It still gave us the glorious picnic and clothes swap so. I've had better, well I haven't! Is that something else you don't do outdoors?! I'm Aaron Dingle I don't eat salmon and I don't have sex outdoors!

- 25th May: my beautiful husband who I love!!! People don't stay with me!! People don't forgive me!!! I love you, still, yeah, I love you more!! Such a tough watch but also all time epic romance moments.

- 19th June: I love them teaming up to fuck over Ross, and the weed plot was iconic. A rare moment of levity in that time.

- 29th November: our robbo back in the mill where he belongs! The chemistry... phew!!

- 25th December: again, one I don't love as much as I should, but their insane love for each other and the fashion in this episode makes it worth it. Robert becoming a real boy is so important to me.

*shudders*

2018

- 11th January: nothing to do with robron, again, but I know in my heart as a chrobert stan I must include their final parting. Also, Larry's death is hilarious.

- 14th February: what did we do for Valentine's last year? Oh I won't even quote anymore, this is on the list for one scene and one scene only: POCKET DIAL. invented romance.

- 15th February: SO underrated. Obviously we have the adorable "I think he wanted me" but also the stuff about it actually was what it looked like and Aaron being so close to choosing Robert and then.

- 22nd February: reuniting with Aaron is part of the bisexual contract <3 bonus points for the delivery of "oh my god we forgot the baby" and the vanity scenes.

- 5th April: the kidnap plot was nonsense but I had to include some of the jobert feud and Robert's worry over Aaron was gorgeous.

- 26th July: the proposal is wonderful but honestly this was even better. Both of them coming up with their proposals, the reactions from Chas and Liv, the fucking Robron and Seb scene oh my god it's too cute.

- 30th July: fiiine I'll include the proposal too. You made it okay to be me! Jinx! Except it's not some random layby! Chas and Liv plotting. The plans to adopt Seb. It's not Lachlan is it! Yeah, just a wonderful episode. Most couples would dream of such a good proposal and we got two separate iconic proposals. Here's hoping the third will be as good!

- 28th September: Robert calling them bachelors lmaooooo. The vadam sideplot was good and of course the stag do and karaoke was EVERYTHING.

- 5th October: obviously. The watch!! Their suits!! The Love We Stole!!! Their heart eyes!!! The speeches!!! Wedding 1.0 is better, but honestly, they really ate this one, too.

- 20th November: Robert hanging out with children and getting his pretty shirts ruined. I stan. This being the thing that makes him realise he wants more kids, very cute. I'm not a parent robron fan really but I was almost cheering here. Shout out to it being the beginning of Robert and Nicola being awful to Graham (affectionate).

2019

- 22nd January: my favourite version of this episode is the secret one that only existed in spoilers but what we did get was great too! Shenanigans with Seb and Spamela and that wonderful chat with Aaron and Moira about their partners being nightmares. All capped off with the cutest lil nap.

- 26th March: the weirdest, most fun wlw mlm solidarity double date dinner. I live for Robert and Charity being the same person being called out.

- 11th April: this gave us so much! Smiling at each other talking about having a family together, Liv standing up to Maya, the absolutely GORGEOUS conversation between Robert and Liv about not having to change for anyone (that convo hit 20 year old me Hard), the ridiculous face Aaron pulls when Robert suggests hot chocolate, if the next one gets your eyes everyone's in trouble, Liv blackmailing Maya so robron can afford a kid, and that damn snuggle on the couch.

- 22nd April: Robert finally gets a birthday!!!

- 7th May: the big night out flashback, which was super well done on the whole. Robron were flirting so badly, I'm married and rusty!! If I met you in a bar, I still would!! The Victoria story was heartbreaking and really well acted. The directing and lighting was so atmospheric as well.

- 25th July: the football team storyline was useless nonsense in the best way. This particular instance featured Robert and Victoria being adorable and goofy and I live forever on the crumbs of a friendship group it gave us.

- 6th August: Robert shamelessly lures his husband away from important accounts work with sex and surrogacy (not clickbait!). Robert and Aaron looking peak in grey and black, and getting lightly slut shamed by Diane. Beautiful stuff. Victoria gets all angsty as is her right and it ends in a lovely conversation where Robert gets really vulnerable about going to prison and giving Aaron something to look forward to.

- 10th October: mention of a classy anniversary trip! The clock ticking so loudly in their ears that they're doing everything possible before their time runs out. Most importantly, the family unit of Liv, Aaron, Robert, Victoria and Seb together properly for the last time. Robert really came so close to having it all.

- 17th October: what is it with the boys and that date in the woods? Though the runaway era was frustrating at times, there's no doubt that their chemistry was on full front here, and their reckless devotion was never more present. From their desperate last kiss to them imagining their dream life in France, it was magical. The perfect way to end their time pre-prison.

- 1st November: the best goodbye I could ever have hoped for, honestly. The details, from the pictures in Robert's prison cell to TWO plays of The Love We Stole. The banter about Aaron knowing the prison cook, the worry, the wedding rings, the moment Robert decides not to tell Aaron and to let him go. You're the best thing that ever happened to me, promise me you'll never forget. All the little touches and the hug that still has me in tears. Aaron being in the background as Robert leaves. The montage. It's so respectful and so important to their legacy. For 6 long years, I was ecstatic that this was the end. They did it right.

[stevn-rgers]

Just finished S1 of The Wheel of Time

First of all.. this is the plot of this fucking show so far:

Moiraine: *saves the town, rands dad, the whole group multiple times, Mat, literally everyone multiple times (getting injured & almost dying) - goes to her death to stand w Rand against the dark one, stays patient with them despite the continuous disrespect and causing problems*

Them: (mostly Nynaeve and Rand) : “shE CANT BE TRUSTED, SHE IS EVIL, DONT LISTEN TO HER, WE CAN HANDLE ALL OF THIS OURSELVES! EVERYTHING IS HER FAULT”

Anyway, on with my thoughts, some of it will prolly be controversial lol

I really expected to grow to like Nynaeve but fuck if she isn’t pissing me off every other episode if not every single one, like bro shut up and listen

Moiraine & Lan stay my favorites & I am obsessed with the relationship between Aes Sedai and their Warder(s)!! I wish there was more focus on it, it’s the most interesting plot point to me

On that, I LOVE watching fight scenes with the Aes Sedai & their warder(s)! The way they move in sync around each other, for example the town fight in ep1 w Lan & Moiraine + the battle in the woods when Alanna and her warders are fighting! As she went to do a huge explosion they both took slight cover just in time - knowing her moves as she did them

Egwene is prob my favorite of the group of 5, she actually listens to reason & doesn’t just jump to conclusions/throw a tantrum. And her little backstory about the fever when she was a kid? Amazing, it gives such a look into her strength

^ like I said I like her a lot but ARE YOU KIDDING? She didn’t kill child psycho when she had a chance??

Wolves are one of my fave animals so I’m loving this situation w Perrin

THOM???!!!! I loved him??

I called the dragon literally from the beginning but I like that I was right, it fits well and I like the way they came out with it.

I hate Liandrin with a passion, like I wanted someone to just throw a single punch. And ik she gets worse.

Also Mat needs to stop being such a problem like listen my guy, find some chill. Also do I ship him and Rand? Yes tf I do, fight me

So I find the dynamic of Moiraine & Lan with the Lan/Nynaeve interesting. Like as her wander she is more to him than any other relationship — but he’s falling in love with Nynaeve. So I wonder about that, I’m sure that later in the show he’ll have to choose at some point between helping/saving one of them. And with how much Nynaeve dislikes and is rude to Moiraine rn….

Loial is PRECIOUS TO ME. Love and adore him, I screamed when he was stabbed fuck this noise

I need Nynaeve to stop pissing me tf off please and thank you. I want to like her, esp if she’s gonna be with my mans. So she needs to fucking stop her bullshit. Stop making poor Moiraine’s life a million times more difficult than it already is while you’re at it. Like she wants so bad to be the wisest and the most powerful.. her pride is so dangerous.

I feel like every other episode Rand is pissing me off so bad but then I like him but then I want to knock him tf off. I’m hoping he will also stop being so damn frustrating in s2

The way Moiraine thought she’d die so she shut Lan out so he couldn’t follow her to his death - and she sent him to his fam & essentially pushed him toward Nynaeve bc she feels he deserves better and more than a life of protecting her.. I’m not okay

So pissed off with that ending ya’ll, esp when Moiraine losing her connection/powers

“To be a woman is to be always alone, and never alone.” CHILLS. Every single time

If I dislike a character you like, don’t come at me, I’m on ep1 of s2 right now, I’m sure my opinions will change many times as I continue.