#rambler's thoughts

[hippielittlemetalhead]

I don't have the time for another fic or snippet or whatever but I had an idea. Drummer!Steve, right? And a common thing I'm seeing in that is that Gareth knows and is the one that taught him or got him started on the basics or told him where to go for gear... But what if... Envision with me...

Steve Harrington played the drums in middle school. He was a dramatic band kid and sports-type hybrid. He's the only drummer his school has and he's really good so administration makes it work with sports things cause sports & arts grants would really help the school and looks good at fundraisers so they need him but other kids think it's special treatment cause the Harrington name. Anywho, Steve is starting 8th grade and administration is in a bit of a tizzy over finding a new drummer for band stuff to replace him after graduating cause no one else wants to pick it up.

Enter Gareth. He's technically one of the flute (or violin Idk which I'd prefer for this) kids but Steve catches him playing around with his set after school one day. Steve convinces the kid to learn how to play drums for the rest of the year and through summer so next year he can try out for band again and take over as drummer. Gareth takes it but doesn't want anyone to know he's getting all buddy-buddy with Harrington cause he JUST got the guys who were in the talent show last year with a metal song to notice him and include him in their little tight-knight group and he WILL NOT let Steve Harrington of all people ruin that for him.

Fast forward a few years and Eddie survived the Upside Down, the rest of Corroded Coffin got read in while helping take care of the aftermath. Everything is okay and good and over now. But Gareth has a kind of fucked up hand. Jason Carver injured it and it never managed to heal quite right in the everything that came after. Thanks to government cover-up medical care there's a way to fix him up but it'll take time and as Eddie and the rest of Corroded Coffin keeps lamenting, C.C. has gigs to play and demos to record and- and- and- and Gareth asks if Eddie will shut up if he can come up with a replacement drummer.

Eddie and the band are hesitant until Gareth admits it's the guy who taught him to play and the guy is probably still just as good, if not better than him. So they have to promise to not replace him with the guy if he can convince him to help them out. Corroded Coffin swears on Dustin's mother (Claudia Henderson is a goddess amongst mortals and once she got read in put Joyce Byers to shame in her audacity dealing with the government bullshit) to not replace Gareth if he can bring this mystery drummer by next practice.

Gareth lets them into the garage next week for practice telling them his temp will be there any minute. As everyone else is finishing setting up a burgundy BMW pulls up, not unusual cause sometimes Steve will come by practice with snacks and just hang out while killing time between work and dealing with the kids. And the Steve that steps out of the BMW has an armful of food that's probably delicious but Freak notices that the hand that lifts for his signature little finger waggle of a wave has something else in it. He turns to Gareth with a giant grin on his face who turns bright red and grits out for him to not say a word.

"Heya guys, hear you need a drummer?"

Eddie's face falls. "No." He desperately turns to Gareth, "Please tell me this is just another very niche dream of something that will never happen to me in my waking hours." Gareth can't.

And Idk, Jeff and Freak don't quite believe that he's that good cause it's been a few years and Steve plays one of their originals making Eddie practically drool but everyone else is too flabbergasted to give him shit.

And somewhere between practices and Gareth finally letting himself be adopted by Steve (partially cause he is peak older sibling vibes but also it drives Eddie mad the guy he's falling for basically being one of his best friend's older brother. Idfk) Eddie and Steve figure their shit out and start dating. Maybe with a jealous Dustin cause HE adopted Steve first, how dare Gareth come and steal his rightfully shanghaied older sibling/best friend?

That's all I got. Someone take this and go crazy.

[lil-vibes]

maid narinder my beloved

[phil-isms]

been thinking a lot about dnps work dynamic and it baffles me because i feel like they shouldn’t work as well professionally together as they do?

like, dan’s clearly theatric and loves a stage performance whereas phil mentions how prior to internet takeover and tatinof, he never thought he could perform in front of a live audience. he’s mentioned how he still struggled with stage fright during tatinof (emotional support dan…), but despite that fear, the trust he has in both dan and them as a duo encourages him to perform in front of thousands, and actually enjoy it enough to tour again and again.

on the other hand, phil’s always had a more casual approach to his youtube career. instead of this causing him and dan to struggle to work together (with dan preferring to dedicating all his creative energy into one big project, with a message and meaning) they’re able to find a perfect balance between shorter, lighter content, and the big stage shows. both of which have meaning and value, just achieved in different ways.

dan encourages phil to push himself to make something bigger, and shows him that he has it within himself to do things he never thought he would have the confidence to do.

phil reminds dan that not everything needs to be a product of sweat and blood to give it purpose, to slow down and appreciate the things he’s made and achieved. a reminder to have fun along the way.

overall i think the point i’m trying to make is that i really love how instead of their differences driving them apart creatively, they instead bring out the best in the other and collaborate to make something that only they could make because of their differences.

[ruegarding]

for context, @rosabell14 is referring to tags on this post.

ok we're going off-road w this one

generally speaking, i like the concept of "some things aren't meant to be controlled," which annabeth says to percy after he controls the poison. this is said and then immediately forgotten abt, however, this could be another angle of change, a reoccurring theme in hoo, as well as a continued theme from pjo.

obviously, from pjo, the change is addressed w the myths, the theme of yielding, and w the conclusion of the story:

hoo continues this concept of change w the percy-jason switch, the greek-roman conflict, the idea of what an identity is and how to change it, etc. there's a lot of individual character work w this idea, but there's less of a mythological concept attached to it. gaea is a static and flatly written antagonist, octavian becomes incredibly flat as a character and his development into this sort of fanatical antagonist that is never explored, there's a lot of teeth-gritting abt how the gods are gods and they never change and everyone just has to accept it, the myths aren't challenged in the same way they were in pjo, etc. there's a few major exceptions, i'll get to that.

this is a glaring issue i have w hoo. it wouldn't be as bad as a standalone, but hoo makes the entirety of the previous series meaningless. in tlo, percy asks for kids to get claimed and be trained so when (or if) they have to go on dangerous quests/fight monsters/etc they're both older and more experienced. this is the conclusion to the war and how the status quo is changed (disability accommodations expanded to reach more ppl and work more effectively).

hoo, however, does not do this. camp jupiter infamously has a child army while the adults are retired, all of the new characters are younger than percy (who is still 16), and only two of them have spent a long period of time training, although hazel's isn't formal/in a camp (and piper doesn't even learn how to fight until book four ffs). this sort of immediately bastardizes pjo in a way that is never acknowledge by the series and makes it, and anything after it, a failure as a continuation of pjo.

and that's where this theme could've come in. when bob is remembering who he is, him and percy have this back-and-forth abt identity. percy relates to bob bc he, too, just had his memory erased and that vulnerability exploited (annabeth's perspective in this conversation is very different bc she doesn't have this same experience nor does she understand percy's feelings abt it. a good way to build tension using different povs, but, once again, doesn't get fully utilized). in the conclusion that conversation, there's an interesting moment:

this is that idea again, "some things aren't meant to be controlled," like fate, like identity. titans are meant to "be the same...forever." and here percy is, not only as the catalyst for change by throwing bob into the river lethe, but also by encouraging him to commit to this change once bob should know better. this was percy's role in the previous series, as well, where he constantly challenges the perspective of other characters to be more quote human unquote.

afterwards, annabeth has a similar moment w damasen:

i also think these are very funny to have side-by-side, just as character analysis, bc percy is very much both insecure and empathetic like u can choose ur future, it's up to u, etc, whereas annabeth is like i am right, listen to me.

anyway, both of these moments repeat the idea from pjo/tlo: immortals can't change. but they are changing. and they will change. the rules of the world are malleable (i also think hazel's monologue abt seeing the minotaur as a victim would be another aspect of this to explore). what abt traditions? what abt camp jupiter's child army? how should these change? going back to the og thought, tho, what shouldn't change? what are the "some things" that aren't meant to be controlled? how do you balance traditions and reform (great opportunity to use octavian btw!)? why can't a god be human, act human? why are the ancient rules important? that's an important discussion to have if we're growing this universe.

i don't particularly like that hoo immediately reverts back w the premise of the story, like i was talking abt earlier, nor do i think these characters were introduced or used well in canon, but using these characters, these moments, these conversations, rick could've salvaged this mess by embracing change isn't a static thing. he doesn't, tho, so it's all lost potential.

separately, something i've always liked abt the akhlys fight is that percy wins the literal, physical fight against her, but loses the metaphorical fight. he gets to walk away, but he walks away miserable. and this is bc the gods aren't ppl, they're physical representations of concepts. and percy has this thought abt tartarus and gaea while in tartarus, and i believe it's brought up in boo, but it's barely relevant. it's something i wish was explored more.

now onto specific characters. i talk abt my general idea here, ie this moment in tartarus is forcing percy and annabeth to confront their worst-case scenarios.

for annabeth, i've repeatedly gone on record to say i hate the way annabeth is written in hoo, here is an example, ie her fatal flaw does not come thru in her character (i also think she and percy switched characterizations from pjo to hoo, but...). separate issue is that annabeth's character revolves around percy a lot. so there are two issues i would focus on, largely bc she's not written well and doesn't have established unique conflicts. like,

this is a big revelation at the end of hoh, that she has to "step back" and she can't "protect everyone she love[s]." except it doesn't make any sense. tlo ended w annabeth telling percy to give luke her knife which luke uses to kill himself. not to mention, thalia's sacrifice on hbh. ALSO. percy accepting the prophecy and "taking the brunt of the danger"! and finally. annabeth has been at camp for 7-8 years. 1) she should have relationships w these ppl and 2) she should care that some of the ogs died in the previous war (which would also require rick to figure out who died lol). but the point is, this isn't a new conflict for annabeth!

the thought she had in moa abt having to accept she's not always the best person for the job:

this is not built up nor is it delivered on, but would be interesting, given that she demanded to be on the quest and if there was an actual power struggle instead of writing her as the de facto leader. this would be a better conflict than accepting that "she couldn't protect everyone she loved" when she has historically not been able to protect everyone she loved.

anyway, back on topic.

first, this moment exists to challenge her perception of percy, which is important to challenge bc she quite frankly has an unhealthy attachment to him. other ppl have said this better than i, so here's a post abt codependency and p*rcabeth and here's another one i rbed a while ago.

tldr; rick treats annabeth's abandonment issues/possessiveness/codependency as like. cute, peak romance. and he's been doing this since pjo, right, like annabeth's abandonment issues and possessiveness didn't matter when it was thalia joining the hunters,—bc there's no romance trope here w thalia—but gods forbid percy speak to rachel.

and this doesn't change in hoo. in fact, it's worse. like,

i'm going to [statement redacted] rick for this. what part of this is cute??? i'm killing it with fire.

so anyway, i want to treat annabeth's possessiveness/etc as an actual, consistent, character flaw, that she can grow out of, even. maybe even connect it to her hubris or her rsd. explore her feelings abt luke now that we have her pov to do it in. the fallout from this moment w akhlys is a great way to begin delving into that bc it's a shocking moment for her.

second, and going back to the theme of change, annabeth is different from percy in the sense that she has a different relationship to the gods than him (which i'm comparing bc i think rick (and fandom) has a hard time giving these two consistent and separate personalities/beliefs post pjo). the two times she has rebelled against the gods directly were bc of percy's influence (again, this is percy's role in pjo), 1) in the zoo truck, a scene that only takes place bc percy challenged her view of the poseidon-athena rivalry and their place in it, and 2) w hera where the first words out of annabeth's mouth are literally "percy is right."

i find this interesting especially bc her fatal flaw is hubris, which is common in mythology and frequently ends up fatal bc ppl challenge the gods. so, annabeth using the gods and these stories to keep her hubris in check makes complete sense.

and it seems like this is the same approach she's using w percy:

percy is directly challenging a god for power, and more than that, he's challenging a domain he's not supposed to have control of at all.

very interesting! does not get explored. such is common for hoo.

for percy, this scene is part of a long-running conversation of his powers (which is a huge part of his disability coding!!!!!). and it doesn't go anywhere.

percy has established anger issues and implied emotional dysregulation. this has been a thing since the beginning, literally chapter one of tlt! punishing percy for this when he's clearly not getting the support he needs is. a choice. also there's the issue that hoo kinda. erases this aspect of percy's character until the confrontation w akhlys, which is a separate but related issue.

there really should've been more buildup to this outburst (eg: in son percy punches a shelf in the library and immediately feels guilty bc he scares frank and hazel. percy is in an incredibly stressful situation; this should've happened more), but that would mean rick would treat it and the disability conversation seriously (which falls flat after son) and do less teeth-gritting abt the whole gods thing.

so, to go back on my "using the different povs to build tension was wildly underutilized" train, a featured part of almost everyone's pov is that percy is very kind, and gentle, and forgiving. i discuss a moment w frank being impressed w percy's selflessness here and he also says that he would follow percy anywhere, jason says percy is "a nice guy" after like 2 days, nico has his whole thing, hazel says "percy was a child of poseidon’s better nature," going on to describe him as gentle, etc.

and all of this praise goes nowhere and kinda just becomes percy is so awesome...and then turns into everything is percy's fault in boo...it's bad writing.

but it's an interesting opportunity to play w perspective. percy in pjo is dehumanized in that he is both villainized and idolized, and obviously hoo is continuing the trend w idolization. rick sets up a great plotline w this in moa:

and this doesn't go anywhere bc apparently percy's problem is that he needs to learn to step back. which. part of this is bc rick recycled plotlines from percy and gave them to other characters, which means that percy cannot be in character anymore without making themlook bad (the recycled plotlines i'm talking abt are the idolization, imposter syndrome, wanting to step back but constantly pushed into the spotlight, being seen as different/elevated status bc of ur parentage, struggling to connect to who your parent is, even the dehumanization as a weapon is straight out of percy's writing in pjo). this is a big problem w hoo in general ie characters becoming ooc by necessity (see: bad writing). the other part to blame is that rick is literally trying to redo tlo what w the whole "you are not the hero." it's all the same from pjo except written worse. it's a running theme of hoo (and a bonus). bad writing all the way down!

ANYWAY. so pjo ends w percy at an elevated status bc he 1) survived an unsurvivable prophecy, 2) was offered godhood, and 3) turned down godhood to improve the lives of the demigods while all the demigods watched. and he has the curse of achilles but. we all know how that went. the point is, all of this puts percy on a pedestal. i like to think it's the biggest reason hera kidnapped percy: if he said no, if he refused, she would've lost the support of almost all the demigods at chb (also the metaphor for the audience lol). i think making percy go on the quest, or at least to new rome, is the only good bit of world building rick did between books.

the problem is, rick is kinda all over the place w how percy is perceived and misses both the point of percy's character (callback to what i said abt his disability) and the world building of the previous series (what happened to power-scaling, narrative consequence, etc fr). that's what creates the flip-flopping "percy is perfect" and "everything is percy's fault," and neither are particularly good reads.

going back to annabeth, i don't think she's an exception in idolizing percy. she has no reason to see percy's vindictive side bc he works hard to hide it. even w crusty, annabeth is preoccupied. annabeth is smart, she's not omniscient. instead, there's the famous "percy is too nice" from som. i also like to think this is why she keeps trying to talk to percy abt luke as if luke is a good person who didn't try to kill percy. she doesn't understand that percy would hate luke for betraying him bc why would he? percy is a good person.

(for the record, i think the exceptions are: 1) grover, who chooses not to bring it up w the exception of his nemesis comment in tlt, 2) rachel, who made a painting where percy's "expression in the picture was fierce—disturbing, even—so it was hard to tell if I was the good guy or the bad guy" and simply said that's how he looked, and 3) arguably nico—considering percy has attacked him before—but i do think "very [dangerous]. to his enemies." does a good job of capturing that, it just doesn't go anywhere).

so, to condense all of this, ppl are idolizing percy in terms of both strength and morals and percy feels stifled by this knowing that he is not as strong or good as ppl think (and also by the fault that he was demonized prior and has corresponding low self-esteem bc of that lol). keep this in mind, i'm changing the topic.

in botl, percy's torture scene is used primarily to set up how powerful he is. he can cause an eruption that necessitates the evacuation of thousands of ppl and wake the biggest threat in greek mythos, but he would never know that if he wasn't back into a corner. bc that's not who he is. he shies away from power and titles. he wins his fights w strategy and very rarely relies on his powers to overpower his opponents.

just to clarify, i categorize percy's powers in two sorts of ways: involuntary and voluntary. involuntary is like speaking to sea creatures, healing in water, things that don't require a lot of energy/effort/focus. he's not scared of this. he's wary of the voluntary, powerful explosions, the things that set him apart from his peers. that's what i'm referring to in this section.

so, percy has to come to terms w the fact that he 1) blew up a mountain, 2) survived blowing up a mountain, and 3) woke typhon. and what does he say immediately after that?

he immediately deflects! he wasn't in control, it wasn't him that's powerful, it was an accident, and besides, he can't do it again bc he almost died. and what's even more interesting is the only time he uses his powers after this (in botl) is when grover asks him to stop the fire in the woods.

so, what lesson did percy actually take from mt saint helens? that he's dangerous. very interesting to use this teaching moment and have the protagonist come to the quote wrong unquote conclusion.

in hoh, we don't have a purpose for the torture scene. there's no significance to confronting how powerful percy is. percy is not addressing his self-sacrificing tendencies nor his propensity for bottling his emotions up. there's no questioning of p*rcabeth's relationship. there's no questioning of the gods. it's a cool scene w no narrative purpose.

so, take two. what is percy supposed to be learning from akhlys? how do we relate this to percy taking the wrong lesson from mt st helens?

at the end of botl, nico comes up w the river styx plan and percy takes almost a full year to agree to it. how much further ahead in the war would they have been if percy had accepted the curse sooner? how many fights could percy have won faster if he used his powers? if he trained his powers? if he trusted his powers?

there's a really interesting comparison w phorcys and akhyls where percy doesn't attempt to fight phorcys bc he assumes he won't be able to overpower him,

but w akhyls he tries anyway,

bc he's backed against a corner. and he succeeds.

percy is a character who very much embodies duality. i've talked abt this before wrt his loyalty being both his greatest strength and greatest weakness and how it clashes w his desire for freedom, but it's true for almost every trait. he's honest and manipulative. he's ruthless and merciful. he's kind and violent. he's looked up to and looked down upon. he's the saint and the scapegoat. etc etc. and percy responds to this by frequently trying to deny his quote worse unquote traits until they eventually bubble up and explode out of him. this is part of why juno calls him a loose-canon (which btw, i love. everyone has been treating him as a loose canon and no one on this side has the balls to say it until then, seven books in).

all this to say, *ethan voice* it's abt balance! this moment should've been abt percy confronting his unfair treatment! the idolization from his peers! the demonization of his flaws/disability!

thanks for coming to my tedtalk.

[meliake]

Some Links in the war

[dumdogs]

i dont know if im going to continue writing that matsukawa fic but i have like 2,000 words written and im contemplating just posting it because i kinda slayed but also idk bc no one gaf abt that matsukawa fic lmafo

[youracecard]

ur laughing. he has a lipstick mark i cant remove and ur laughing.

[libra-cant-just-dance]

F it, new chapter of Mirrored Walls!

Had an epiphany on the drive home and decided I'm gonna keep working on and posting Mirrored Walls at least until something is confirmed. When/if they do end up making it official that The Traveler is Jack's dad, I'll revisit the decision then.

I could go on a whole rant about why I've decided to keep going, but we all know I do enough rambling on here. Short answer, this story is not about whatever the Just Dance team comes up with. It's about one of the many versions of the characters' story that exists in my head. I'm not obligated to make my work align with canon in any way, and canon (especially canon that didn't happen until after I planned the story, and ESPECIALLY not canon that isn't even confirmed yet) can't automatically change anything about my work.

So, for now at least, if you're still up for it, enjoy this next chapter! We get to see some fun new faces :)

[super-duper-stupor]

Agent Smith kissing you like this tho...

[hippielittlemetalhead]

I have discovered #uther ships it and y'all... What if Uther is actually ✨concerned✨ about not just Arthur's ability to potentially sire children but also what would happen if he did? He's made from magic, who knows what constraints that comes with? Or if any kids would inherit magical abilities somehow!? So like, when he sees the chemistry between his son and the SUPER NORMAL MANservant who seems to have been the catalyst to his son really growing up and coming into his own and caring about people more? Perfect solution. There's enough nobles and extended family that there's no real want for heirs with some claim to Pendragon blood. And Merlin is already smart enough Gaius took him on as an apprentice despite all the candidates he's turned away over the years, imagine what some time with the best tutors the crown can buy would do! Yes, this makes sense. The boys are already annoyingly devoted to each other and are always flirting in the hallways like lovesick schoolchildren.

Now he just needs Arthur to pull his head out of his ass and make a move, mark his claim, get that little fucker locked down cause too many people are also noticing that Merlin is smart and brave and loyal with pretty eyes and a quick wit and he will not have them stealing his future son-in-law! He wants Arthur married cause a married king is better than a single one (especially with such a well chosen spouse like Uther has picked out for him) and he will sacrifice ever being a grandfather for the good of the realm (and maybe Arthur's happiness).

[lil-vibes]

just finished "In stars and time" :D !!

the final verdict is:

[merge-conflict]

remembering the headcanon I had with @another-corpo-rat where the years long text history between takemura and oda is like 70% of them sending each other photos of good food they ate (with appropriate kaomoji responses) and like 20% terse work-related messages or coordinating times to catch up. my personal corollary to takemura being surprisingly funny is that oda doesn't really have a sense of humor, with the one exception being that he loves baiting takemura into ranting about things that annoy him and that's the remaining 10% of their exchanges by volume.

[pondhue]

honestly having a hard time trying to justify watching s8. we beat rick prime. imitation voice actors just feel Wrong to my autistic ass (tho i support them firing JR obviously). what do we hope for? more Diane backstory that will make her being dead/gone across the multiverse all the more painful? the birdperson child? am i a poser that "classic adventures" aren't enough for me?

edit: sorry in advance that this response is kind of long. i'm gonna be tagging it as #long text and #longtext for easy muting aaahhhh

anon your concerns are super valid. like, if you find yourself having a hard time, there's no harm in taking a step back and waiting to see what happens before giving it a chance. and if you still can't justify it for whatever reason, that's fine too. considering what Rick and Morty is and what it has become, it's completely understandable. i don't think you're a poser for feeling the way you do. i personally prefer that they steer from that too, and/or if they chose to still explore that route even now, i hope it's in a way where they deconstruct the formula rather than uphold it. Rick and Morty is the type of show where it challenges the viewer, but it also has the potential, i'd like to think, to challenge the people working on the show themselves (even more-so than it already has from what i've read/watched/heard). there's no harm in having expectations and going "i've had enough of this thing, i want something new". personally, i just see it as you being critical of media you consume and enjoy, which i don't think should ever be seen as a bad thing. if anything i think it should be practiced more (within reason of course). and i've also been asking the same questions to myself. i also have no clue what to hope for either, and after ruminating on it, i'm simply trying to embrace that maybe there's nothing to justify in terms of choosing to watch it or not. again, you could either wait until it comes out and give it a chance, or not! i'm choosing view s8 as all of us literally "sitting in the back seat of the ship" and being along for the ride, embracing the chaos. that's how it felt for me in the second half of season 7. it felt as if they were considering viewers who genuinely LOVE the show and just want it to get better (which could be cope on my part!! idk!!!) i think with how s6 went and especially with how s7 ended, i'd be more surprised if they went back to the classic formula (pre, like, season 5) after EVERYTHING that's happened thus far. not to mention that they're locked in with adult swim for like, many more seasons so i'm sure the concerns you're expressing here are definitely something they've considered and are likely now even more-so with the traction the show has been getting again. i truly want to believe that the minds behind R&M do not want to let themselves or the show itself grow complacent (again, could be cope and me just being really mentally ill about this show). sorry if this is incoherent/rambly/not what you were expecting when sending this ask. you really made me think more about all this though and i hope this answer suffices!

[kevinssecretplace4546]

It might be just me, but I feel like there are quite a few similarities between the k-dramas When the Phone Rings (2024) and Fower of Evil (2020).

Not that they feel the same, When the Phone Rings is more of a mix of several genras, and has both more romance and more comedy. Flower of Evil sticks more to the thriller melodrama genra. But there are quite a few parallels.

NB! Spoilers of both dramas under the cut

Mysterious Baek-family

The first noticable similarity is that both dramas have a Baek-family, who are financially well off, but emotionally constipated. Both Baek-femilies have some family secrets that make you really confused in the beginning, but the intrigues slowly unravels through the show.

And part of the family secret is the same in both dramas. It turns out that the son of the Baek-family isn't the real biological son. And the real sons of both the Beak-families have different flavours of psychological issues and murderous tendencies. And something happens to both of the real sons that takes them out of play and the Baek-families replace them with a fake son; the male leads of the shows.

Marriage with a secret

The stories of both shows center around a married couple with a secret. Bonus similarity: their wedding rings are greatly featured through both shows.

The secrets in When the Phone Rings is that their marriage of 3 years is an arranged marriage and no one in the public knows the identity of the wife. The marrage is cold and the couple doesn't really know each other. It seems like the husband Baek Sa-eon is a cold person with no feelings towards his wife, Hong Hee-joo. But through the show they have a slowburn and both of them realizing they've been in love for far longer than their marriage. And they recreate their relationship to a loving marriage.

While the secret in Flower of Evil is that after being married for 10 years the wife, Cha Ji-won, discovers that her husband, Baek Hee-seong isn't who he says he is. This perfect loving husband and amazing father is the son of a serial killer, diagnosed as a psychopath. Turns out he is a cold person with no real feelings toward his wife, it was all an act, because he is incapable of feelings like empathy and love, and he is a suspect in a murdercase. Their loving marriage is shattered.

In a way their stories are mirrored.

When the Phone Rings: 🥶😱🤬📞>😍😘💕🤗❤️‍🔥

Flower of Evil: 😍😘💕🤗❤️‍🔥>🥶😱🤬☠️

Revenge

In both shows the husband says something that makes the wife want to hurt her husband.

In When the Phone Rings Baek Sa-eon says "call me when there's a corpse" which makes Hong Hee-joo steal the kidnapper's phone and decide to keep calling her husband to hurt and blackmail him (also to yell at him). This puts Hee-joo in danger as it makes her look like an acomplice and it also hinders her from telling her husband that she is still being threatened by the kidnapper.

In Flower of Evil Baek Hee-seong says he has never loved his wife. The revelation that their marriage is a "lie" makes Cha Ji-won want to punish him for lying to her and force her husband to reveal himself. Putting herself in danger by taking her husband who is suspected being a psycopath and a murderer to the location of his traumatic childhood without telling anyone where she's going. And she does this in hopes of triggering his violent tendencies, revealing who he really is... (just an absolute brilliant plan)

Uncovering "The secret"

As mentioned there are loads of secrets in both shows. Layers on layers of them, that are slowly peeled back through the show.

Plotwise both the dramas start quite similar with one part of the married couple gradually uncovering the secrets of the other partner. After a while they are both in the know, but instead of confronting their partner they keep the knowledge to themselvs. And then they spend a good chunk of the story not letting the other know that they know their secrets.

Their reasoning for not confronting their partners with the truth is somewhat different. In Flower of Evil it's part of Cha Ji-won's revenge on her husband, she has been lied to for 14 years so she will now lie to him, but she also want him to confess to her. In When the Phone Rings Baek Sa-eon's reasoning is that he doesn't want to hurt or preassure his wife and want her to come to him when she's ready to tell the truth.

However the postponment of the confrontation in both shows furthers the tension and causes unnecessary anxiety and isolation for the person who has the secret. And the poor communication does not help either of the marriages.

Saving each other

I really love romanmces where they save each other. It's not just the husband swooping in and saving his wife from physical danger, the saving goes both ways. And both shows do this brilliantly. Both shows also have them be saved on an emotional level too. In When the Phone Rings Baek Sa-eon help Hong Hee-joo realize her worth, and how strong and worthy of love she is. And in Flower of Evil Cha Ji-won help Baek Hee-seong realize he is not a monster and he is just as capable of deep love and emotions as any human being.

Fake vs Real

In both dramas the real biological Baek-son is angry that someone has taken his life and want to get ridd of and hurt the fake son. He wants his name, life and family back. As part of their revenge they both go after the wives and try to kill them. In the second to last episode the real and the fake sons have a face off and the real Baek-son shoots the fake son. Then the real son is killed by the police.

Forced separation

The last episode is spent in forced separation for different reasons.

In When the Phone Rings Baek Sa-eon feels immense guilt and wants to punnish himself for all the hurt he has caused his wife. Stupidly leaving her with no explanation, to put himself in danger to work in a war sone. They do find back to each other and starts their real happy married life together with no secrets or lies.

In Flower of Evil Baek Hee-seong gets shot in the head and suffers memoryloss. He forgets the past 14 years of his life hence not remembering his wife and child. Having flashes of memories of lying to Jiwon he might also feel guilt and want to punish himself by staying away. But they do however find back to each other and start their married life again with no secrets or lies and the understanding that they love each other deeply.

I hope this post was somewhat understandable for people who has seen both shows? Maybe it's just me who thought there were similarities.

I just needed to get my thoughts out.

[delusionaltoma]

I wanna blabber on more stuff but I don't wanna spam my account, like. I wanna keep it for art but then at the same time I do like my blog to feel authentic to me, but I don't wanna spam. That's why I like questions sometimes so I feel like I can blabber for a reason. Those are my thoughts of the day