#sorry for all the analysis posts on this episode but I mean. also not

[mimpinightmare]

"SUPA STRIKAS DISCUSSIONS/ ANALYSIS/ HEADCANONS" IN COMING!!! (PART 3)

TOPIC: Liquido (Analysis) [Suggested by @sahara-solaris-solace ]

IS LIQUIDO A SUPPRESSED GAY MAN IN DENIAL?

Before I begin the analysis of Liquido, I want to put some few DISCLAIMERS first:

I’m going to be ONLY ‘analyzing’ Liquido from the ‘Animated Series'. I would LOVE to put some input of what I've found and observe through by hearing what people found about the comics, and by reading the comics myself. But unfortunately, I didn’t have time to read all the found Supa Strikas Comics. And I feel like the Comics (with some analysis from the show too)  should be analyzed with its own section. (That would probably will be some day, but not today, or this post).

Despite I’m going to be really “serious” in this analysis, THIS IS ALL FOR FUN!!! And regardless of what you think of my Analysis, either you ‘DISAGREE’ or ‘AGREE’ with it, it’s all meant to be just my observation of the character of the show. The analysis is Not meant to be an actual fact of what the character is from the show. 

This is pretty much (somewhat) a ‘Queer Analysis of Liquido’. It’s not all of its entirety, but it is the basis of what I’ll be writing about- That being said: Any sexuality being mentioned about Liquido (or any character), it’s only MY HEADCANON AND INTERPRETATION of him, AND NOT CANON TO THE SHOW! From what I’ve known, there’s no actual confirmation about any of the characters' sexuality in Supa Strikas Animated Show, nor the Comics. Now, that doesn’t mean that it invalidates your headcanons if you see any of the Supa Strikas characters as Queer. We are open to interpretation to the characters in the franchise, and headcanons are, in some way, to help express ourselves, either through creatively, identity, experience, etc.. (Also, we don’t have to have the same headcanons, or agree with them either way. What’s fun about headcanons is, well, have fun and express our love with ‘said’ headcanons.)

As I write this analysis, I’m basing (mostly) on episodes Liquido is HEAVILY appeared in (with some episodes Hydra has appeared as well) and what episodes I remember that mentions Liquido briefly or has appeared shortly, from the show. Now, I MIGHT forgot to mention scenes in some episodes that he briefly appeared in, to give more context to his character. To my knowledge, I already rewatched every Liqiudo episode he HEAVILY appeared in, and some brief ones, too. But I won’t be surprised if I miss some, as I’m writing this- So apologies if I forgot to mention something about him in this analysis. (The reason I’m bringing this up is because it happened with the “Riano (Headcanons)” and the “Diego Post”. I rewatched some few episodes that didn’t heavily have either of them, but they briefly have been mentioned or appeared- If I would known that, I would add more to those posts, to give more in my insight- But fortunately, those aren't ‘Analysis'. So that’s why I’m saying sorry START AWAY if I miss anything. I tried my best to get everything about Liquido from the Show-)

If you agree with my ‘said’ analysis, COOL! Or, you completely disagree with me, THAT’S COOL, TOO! Just please note to be civil and respectful with other people if there are disagreements to be had with the analysis. We’re here to have fun, and not take ourselves so seriously~

I think that's everything to be said in the Disclaimers. SO, SINCE WE GOT THAT ALL COVERED, LET'S MOVE ON TO THE ANALYSIS :

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BOY, HOW LONG HAS BEEN THE LAST TIME I MADE THIS SERIES?? (Month. It's been a Month-) Well, since I have free time, WHY NOT BRING IT BACK, BUT THIS TIME, SUGGESTED BY @sahara-solaris-solace !! (Thank you to them for the suggestion! :D )

Ever since I finished Supa Strikas (Animated Show) of its entirety, I've always oddly fascinated with Liquido. Most being, his rivalry with North. To the point, it felt like Liquido's rivalry with North feels like there's something more than just.... "RIVALRY" to him-

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*JUST A QUICK WARNING, IN THE ANALYSIS I WILL BE MENTIONING ROOKIE SEASON EPISODE 5! SO IF YOU ARE GOING TO READ THIS, BUT PLANNING TO WACTH ROOKIE SEASON, I SUGGEST WACTHING ROOKIE SEASON FIRST, BEFORE GETTING INTO THIS*

- MimpiNightmare

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LIQUIDO’S COMPETITIVENESS AND EGO :

Throughout the show, it is a known fact that Liquido is seen as VERY competitive when it comes to football and any competition he sees as a challenge. We’ve seen time, and time, and time again, his ego is a driving force of it all. So let’s dive into that:

Let’s start off with something simple, like “Food For Thought S7E11”. In that episode, a food fight was caused by Shakes and Skarra. And in that food fight, we see Liquido engaging in that food fight by throwing condiments like they were grenades. Now, I would just stop here and say this is an instance of Liquido showing his competitive side, but I want to add something I’ve noticed. In the food fight, the teams (or at least their players) that are seen and joining the Food Fight, are Supa Strikas, Iron Tank, Nakama FC, Technicali, Hydra FC and of course, Invincible United. But what's interesting though is that Barka FC showed up in the award ceremony and was seen in that food fight, BUT NEVER SEEN ENGAGING WITH SAID FIGHT. They are seen in the background in the fight (one of them being Riano), but none of them are chucking or throwing food to the other teams. They’re just… RUNNING FROM THE CHAOS-  (Barka Fc REALLY is most humble team in the Super League, probably all thanks to Riano) The fact the people who worked on Supa Strikas, specifically, made that detail known, is suggesting two things to me:

1) It shows the teams their personalities and attitudes through this food fight. Who behaves and who joins in it. 

2) Anyone in that Food Fight can 100% not participate in it and RUN FOR THEIR LIVES, like Barka FC. 

Which Liquido didn’t, and participated anyway. His competitiveness is GLOWING in that one short scene of him alone.

There’s also  this *tiny* scene in “Magnetic North S7E6”  that caught my eye when I’m writing this. In the beginning of the episode, Toni Vern is searching for a Super League Player suitable to test his invention on, then there was this interesting article Toni had encountered about Liquido. And it’s an article of Liquido competing in a surfing tournament, called Surf Camps. Now,  I don’t know about any of you guys, but if I was competing in TWO SPORTS TOURNAMENTS, AT THE SAME TIME, I would be DEAD BEAT STRESSFUL about it- BUT… This DOES show more of Liquido’s competitiveness, where even OUTSIDE of the Super League, he still CRAVE the competition of winning.

Next is “Your Latest Trick S7E3”. In the episode, Miss Altivo created a talent competition where any Super League Player in the Super League can upload a video of them doing a trick, and the Super Leaguer with the ‘Most Views’ will win the “Grand Prize”, a prototype of the supercar of the future, the ‘Maximo Stalliano’. Liquido is seen (probably) excited for the prize. 

(Why I say “probably” to his reaction is because they were reacting “before” the Maximo Stalliano was revealed. NOTE: I could be VERY wrong on this. Despite I’ve rewatching “Your Latest Trick” so many times, I can’t pinpoint if their reaction is actually ‘before’ or ‘after’ they saw the “Grand Prize”. Which is interesting to point out because in “Bringing Down The House S2E13”, Skarra offered the 10 other best players in the Super League (one of them being Liquido) a brand new sports car if they win. The only people who were excited are Bolo and Ninja (THEY BOTH LITERALLY PUSHED LIQUIDO OUT OF THE WAY TO GET TO THE CARS-) Half of me is torn three ideas of Liquido: 

1) He probably was excited about the sports cars in “Bringing Down The House”, he just didn’t know how to express it, which makes sense of him being excited by the ‘Maximo Stalliano’.

2) He wasn’t excited about sports cars, AT THE TIME. In later years, he found expensive cars exciting to him.

3) After he saw the ‘Maximo Stalliano’, he actually doesn’t care for it, even for the sports cars. His reaction in “Bring Down The House” and “Your Latest Trick” are just his overexaggeration because he thought it would be something else. (The reason I think this is because, dude, HE’S A SURFER. Why in the world would he be interested in cars? (Note: I know there’s a possibility he can drive, and not every day he surfs, but you have to admit, I bring up something interesting, right??) )

Going back to “Your Latest Trick”, regardless of what you think, if he cares about the prize cars or not, the fact he participated in the first place suggests he is all about the competition, even though it isn’t about football. There's also a scene where Liquido is having a conversation with Riano about the "Game". Riano thought Liquido meant the game between Supa Strikas and Invincible United, when Liquido meant about 'Your Latest Trick'. Now, I'm not sure if this fits with this section, but it seems to suggest Liquido only cares about any competition if he's involved in some way.

What’s more interesting is that this isn’t the only time he participated in Miss Altivo’s events. 

In “Live and Kicking S4E3”, Liquido is invited to Miss Altivo’s “soccer challenge”, which he actually decided to show up to, but what’s interesting is that he was skeptical at first for showing up. When Miss Altivo already explained the challenge to the players, mostly everyone was skeptical about it. Even Uber have to comment on it, following Liquido:

“And why should WE play in your “little” tournament? -Uber”

“Yeah… What’s in it for us?-Liquido’

Miss Altivo answered by saying, ‘a chance to find out which one among them, is TRULY the GREATEST Player of their generation’. Then she continues more, her planes are available to take them home, if any of them aren’t up to the challenge. Any of them can leave if they like, but ALL of them didn’t. They ALL stayed. LIQUIDO stayed. I suspect the reason he stayed is because he TRULY did want to prove all of them that he is the greatest among all of them. That’s (somewhat) showing his competitive side there. And that’s not all. I suspected Skarra was also a factor in Liquido staying in the tournament. Skarra, in the episode, is mostly targeting Shakes here, but he emphasized he meant  everyone there:

“Yeah, why don’t you LOSERS go home and have a skinny, Frappa-dappa-chino? I’ll stay here and WIN. -Skarra”

I wouldn’t be surprised if Skarra’s comment might trigger Liquido’s ego there, since Liquido HATES when people underestimate him. That’s not the first time his ego was triggered mind you…

In “Worth His Weight in Goals S4E11”, Liquido was taunting North and Shakes, saying if they are ready to lose again against Hydra FC. Their taunting continues on, and Liquido mentions Hydra Fc (especially him) are faster at home because they train in the ocean. Then Shakes brings up the fact Tiger hit 28 mph in speed. Liquido then looks at them in silence (with a dissatisfaction look on his face). North then continues that Tiger would beat Liquido ANY TIME, ANY PLACE. Liquido, being the competitive man he is, challenges them (meaning dragging Tiger to challenge him) who is faster, at the bottom of the ocean. Liquido already, in that scene, quickly wanted to prove to them he’s faster (Or say, the Greatest?)  (Also Note, when Tiger and Liquido are challenging each other, there’s a scene where Tiger did his ‘Twisting Tornado’ in the ocean. Liquido finally accepted the fact Tiger is faster than him. He sorta looks compelled after that realization???? I wonder if he decided to sabotage Tiger because Liquido is afraid of Tiger’s capabilities, or if there’s something else to it… Well, he did look scared at the end of the episode, so both??? (I will bring this up again in Liquido’s “Flirtatious” remarks) ).

There’s also a scene where North and Shakes tried to trick Liquido into giving the key to unlock Tiger’s weight belt (They were unsuccessful, unfortunately). But what’s interesting in that scene is how it upsets Liquido in it. Shakes firstly complimented Liquido how fast he is, but quickly Shakes gives a hand back compliment:

“Pity you don’t have a chance to prove you’re the fastest. -Shakes”

“Huh? -Liquido”

“Well, Tiger DID beat you on YOUR underwater pitch. -Shakes”

Liquido then says he THREW (literally) the underwater game. North, still following the plan, gives a “SURE, You did buddy~” to Liquido, in a sarcastic tone, back handed one in fact. Liquido counters back, with an angry tone:

“In a real race, I can TAKE Twisting Tiger, ANY DAY! -Liquido”

Liquido’s ego must have been REALLY hurt by them to say those words so aggressively. He also then caught on the fact both, Shakes and North, was trying to trick him, which leads to this interesting choice of dialogue:

“But this game ain't for PRIDE, It’s for POINTS. -Liquido ”Which, It’s not that I necessarily don't believe him, but THAT’S NOT ENTIRELY TRUE, LIQUIDO- He’s always seen to be competitive towards North throughout the show, or trying to cheat or sabotage his way to win. Let’s not forget the reason Tiger is in this predicament is because Liquido challenged North and Shakes to bet on Tiger if he is faster. Liquido only plan on sabotaging WHEN Tiger proved he was faster, beforehand he did the challenge because he had “hurt feelings” that he wasn’t the fastest . IT IS VERY MUCH FOR PRIDE. For his EGO, mind you.

THE SECOND ENCHARGE :

There are moments in the show that showcases Liquido being in charge, or at least being the leader for Hydra FC (despite Skipper being Hydra FC’s Captain). 

In “One Super League Under the Sea S3E7”, Liquido is seen surfing, while spying on North during practice. He then approached Shane Fin and Skipper with what he observed. Skipper (their captain) asked about what are they going to do to deal with North Shaw. Liquido already plans to sabotage North (by drowning him into the ocean...). Now, what's interesting in that scene, in peculiar, Liquido and Skipper are seen in the same scene together, yet, Liquido is the one leading the plans for that sabotage. Even fast forward to a scene where Liquido walking towards North to taunt him, which is part of his plan to make North disobey Coach's orders to easily sabotage him. Liquido is seen  the one leading the taunting (while Skipper and Shane Fin are only there to just support Liquido, while the plan is in progress).

There’s also this short scene, where Liquido orders his teammates to push forward against Supa Strikas (Again, more of him being the one in charge).

Next, in “Sphere Of Missing Out Rookie Season E5”  there is a scene where, in practice, Coach discusses a strategy to defeat the Hydra Trio's 'Ragged Tooth'. Describe as with Three players, in single file, Zig-Zagging their way through their opponents. Coach mentions Liquido is the 'Head', and tells Skipper and Shane Fin when to break and who takes the shot. Liquido is shown to be EXTREMELY STRATEGIC and sometimes leading the team throughout the show. To the point, he sorta became Co-Captain, next to Skipper.

(Not sure about this one, but it seems fitting in this section) In "Tough Luck S2E9", he's seen with Coach Del Aqua, talking about the plan to beat Supa Strikas. Despite him being not so important in the episode, the conversation between them implies he, in a way, is involved with plans, (regardless if he planned them or not). He’s taking charge, either leading or cooperating with his teammates or Coach Del Aqua to beat their opponents.

(Side Tangent) SKIPPER’S ROLE AS CAPTAIN :

A little side tangent topic from the ‘Liquido Analysis’, and talking about Skipper instead for a moment, because when I was analyzing the HEAVILY Liquido episodes, and see Liquido, in some way, a captain for Hydra Fc, I thought to myself : “What does this mean for Skipper as Captain, then? And does this make him a BAD LEADER??” 

Short Answer: NO. (Let me explain)

I want to mention that, I “think” the creators were leaning towards Skipper being the antagonist in Hydra FC (based on “No "El" in Team S1E10”, the only episode that focuses on Skipper as a main antagonist) But later on, Liquido is the main villain in Hydra FC, and Skipper and Shane Fin are written as villain sidekicks in a way.

Skipper in “One Super League Under the Sea S3E7” and “Sphere Of Missing Out RS E5” is seen following Liquido’s lead, then taking charge as captain. Now, this might make Skipper look like a bad captain for not taking charges or not doing what a typical captain would do, but, for me at least, I take these moments of his quite the opposite really.

Despite Skipper not taking charge of what a captain typically does, HE DOES LISTEN. (Like the episodes I mentioned) Skipper has always listened to Liquido’s plans throughout, and followed them accordingly. This might make people question his authority and relevance as captain, but my question to all of you, probably, questioning it, too: “Is that a bad thing for a Captain to listen to his teammates?”

Don’t take my word for it, Dancing Rasta (THE BEST CAPTAIN, BY THE WAY) was clear in “No Man’s Island S5E1”:

“If there’s one thing I know about being a captain, it’s always listen to your teammates. -Dancing Rasta”

There's also this little scene in “Depth Charge S5E3”, where Liquido and North decided to stay and fix the problem they made, while their teams evacuated to safety. Of course, their teams wouldn't leave them behind to do it all on their own. So they stayed to help. That scene shows the two leaders, Rasta and Skipper (briefly) leading their team to help them. (I wouldn’t be surprised if both of them are the ones who made the decision to stay and help them out).

Also, I want to point out, Skipper wouldn’t follow Liquido for no reason (especially when he’s captain), so the fact he’s going along with Liquido’s plans, means he trusts Liquido’s judgment and strategies (despite most of the plans are to cheat, BUT THAT’S BESIDES THE POINT-). Skipper has showcased that he is a leader who listens and trusts his teammates and would put aside his authority for anything that is best for the team.

Now, is it ironic that he’ll do anything for the team by cheating? Yes, absolutely. But is Hydra Fc. Their standards in strategies to win are LOW- He might not be the best (or morally correct) captain in the Super League, but Skipper as Captain in Hydra FC’s standards? He is their best captain for them.

(Also NOTE: This is not important to the analysis, but I want to mention this because it’s funny to me- In “One Super League Under the Sea S3E7”, there’s a moment in the episode where Liquido scored a goal, and then Mac (one of the Football Commentators) said this:

“OH MY! THE HYDRA CAPTAIN MAKES IT 2 NIL WITH UNBELIEVABLE SKILL! -Mac, commentating about Liquido”

Which… NO HE ISN’T, MAC! SKIPPER IS HYDRA FC’S CAPTAIN- I think this was just a mistake on the people who worked on Supa Strikas, or they just forget who’s Captain in Hydra FC. OR���. The people who worked on the show, kinda knew Liquido is, some way, a leader to Hydra FC, and was making fun on that fact- (I still think this was just a mistake on their part-)

LIQUIDO’S (STRANGE) RIVALRY WITH NORTH :

You probably see this coming,OF COURSE, I HAVE TO DISCUSS THEIR RIVALRY IN THE SHOW! OF COURSE!! There is no denying that North and Liquido have an INTENSE RIVALRY! And if you watched the show, you know what I'm getting at. But I have to say… Their Rivalry is STRANGE- Or at least, how Liquido treats their Rivalry, is STRANGE. 

Let’s begin discussing their rivalry at the beginning of the timeline, “Sphere Of Missing Out Rookie Season E5”. Since Rookie Season is a Prequel, it is official that their rivalry was WAY before Season 3 even established it. (And one thing I've been thinking about this is, how LONG was this rivalry going on for? How in the world did it started in the first place? I guess those are mysteries for now) In the episode, Liquido is already taunting North, with his buddies, Skipper and Shane Fin. North tries to undermine them (actually pretty much avoiding them really), until Liquido 'Double Bruh' him, which North took it as an offense. They then have a 'Bruh-Bruh Showoff'. 

Next is “One Super League Under the Sea S3E7”. The episode introduces Liquido, with Skipper and Shane Fin, preparing for their upcoming match against Supa Strikas by watching their opponent's match against Nakama FC. Liquido already is planning ahead on. He also says this, regarding about North Shaw:

“Don’t worry. We’re going to SQUEEZE the air out of that Windbag. -Liquido, as he grudgingly, squeezes a cup aggressively (pretty violent, don’t you think, my guy?)”

Then a few scenes later, when the defenders were practicing for their upcoming match, we then see Liquido surfing, while spying on North, and planning his sabotage. (He also, in THAT scene, chucked a dude while surfing. The guy was innocently minding his business- THAT WAS UNNECESSARY OF HIM TO DO. What a jerk-) Later on, we get to see Liquido and North's rivalry more in a scene where Liquido went all out  taunting North Shaw, which is part of his plan, and later on, went smoothly and successfully sabotaged North… by drowning him... (I WILL NOT SHUT UP ABOUT THAT- HIS FIRST OPTION OF SABOTAGE IS LITERALLY EQUIVALENT TO HOMICIDE- 😭)

OH BOY, "Depth Charge S5E3" HAS A LOT- Before we even see Liquido, North mentioned that the Floating Stadium isn't all that cool (disguising the fact, it’s about Liquido-). We then later see Liquido, walking towards North, and begin their bickering as usual. When Coach Del Aqua was guiding the tour for Supa Strikas, there were glimpses of the surfers glaring at each other. But interestingly enough, most times, Liquido is giving North smirks at him. Huh. (There's also one time in the tour of Liquido taunting, in a sarcastic, flattering (????) way, to North). They then continue with their bickering after the tour. 

We see Liquido again, in the Floating Stadium cafeteria, and decide to sit at a table with a bored North Shaw. Liquido asked North out on a date I-I mean, challenged North to race him in APD Racing. North only took the challenge because Liquido says it would be "too extreme" for him, which challenged his ego, to the point North can’t deny now unfortunately. 

Now from what I gather from re-watching the Hydra Episodes, North seems to be more avoidant to conflict (or say Liquido's Shenanigans).  Now I’m not saying that North is not at all competitive with Liquido, but when he realized he messed up and cost his team to failure because his ego got to him when he keeps falling for Liquido’s tricks, he immediately avoids or keeps at arms length from Liquido, for the good of the team. He also seems to not like the rivalry between him and Liquido. In both “One Super League Under the Sea S3E7” and “Sphere Of Missing Out RSE5” (or any other episode of these two beefing-), North was provoked by Liquido’s insults for belittling him, to the point, North’s ego clouded his judgement and wanted to prove Liquido wrong. But remember, Liquido is ALWAYS the one provoking the rivalry first, not North Shaw. Always taunting, insulting or just causing frustration to North to make him make a MOVE in their game of rivalry.

Speaking about Liquido, all the episodes of him 'Rivaling with North' seems as if Liquido WANTS North to taunt him, WANTS him to rival with him. He ENJOYS relishing this rivalry between them. Everytime Supa Strikas arrives at the Floating Stadium, Liquido is ALWAYS THERE, waiting for North Shaw. Either to taunt him, insult him, or has planned some sabotage for him. 

It IS strange… Am I the only one who thinks this??? It’s strange how Liquido enjoys this SO MUCH. I think people get my point now- Like, Liquido throughout the show has been smirking at North, being entertained by their rivalry and everything. It almost feels flirtatious from him…

LIQUIDO’S “FLIRTATIOUS” REMARKS ABOUT NORTH :

This isn’t a surprising thing if you watched the show, Liquido does ALOT of taunting in the series, which he does that to get under his opponents’ skin. But if you watch the show, his taunting.. are very ‘flirtatious’ in a way. (Like, COME ON! If you watch the show YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN) Liquido has made some very subtle “flirtatious remarks” towards North many times (and a few times with Tiger too, I guess??).

Here’s a LIST of Liquido’s “Flirtatious Remarks” in the show:

One Super League Under the Sea S3E7 :

“North Shaw is looking good. REAL GOOD~”  (This is after he was surfing, while spying on North during practice.)

“Why don’t you step into my office? For a little board meeting?” (Taunting North, which is part of his plan)

“Yeah! Why don’t you be a GOOD LIL’ BOY and listen to your coach?”

Worth His Weight in Goals S4E11 :

 “You ready to lose, again” (In a flirtatious tone, to Shakes and North [Let’s be honest, very much targeting North] )

(The ENTIRE scene of Liquido giving and explaining the underwater gear to Tiger)

“Not THAT wet behind the ears, after all~” (Liquido to Tiger)

“Ready to be SCHOOLED?” (Does this count? I’m still counting it-)

“Hmmm… You are faster.” (Liquido talking about Tiger, seems too…)

“With MY Lucky Charm.” (Kisses the key while wearing a helmet-)

Depth Charge S4E3 :

“Us PROS call them APDs, so you can stick to the full name~” (Liquido taunting North, yet in a flirtatious way)

(The ENTIRE scene of Liquido challenging North in APD racing conversation in the Floating Stadium Cafeteria.)

 (The ENTIRE scene of Liquido taunting North to lure him out to score a goal, especially the “Come at me, bro~”)

Sphere Of Missing Out RSE5

(Idk man… EVERY SINGLE TIME Liquido interacts with North in that episode?!?!?!)

NOTE: These are what I think are considered “Flirtatious” from Liquido. Maybe for some people are not, BUT HERE’S A VIDEO I MADE ABOUT LIQUIDO’S SAID REMARKS, IN HIS VOICE AND TONE, AND TELL ME IT DOESN’T SOUND ‘FLIRTATIOUS’ COMING FROM HIM (+ his smirks and enjoyment seeing North):

I also want to point out that the people who worked on the show EXPLICITLY wanted Liquido to say and voice like that. The voice actor either decided or requested to voice him LIKE THAT- (I’m pretty 100% sure this is not intentional to make Liquido”flirtatious” on their part, but… there’s NO WAY they at least aware how ‘flirty’ he sounds as they made that decision- But, this is just my speculation of course.)

IS IT REALLY JUST “RIVALRY”? (LIQUIDO’S OBSESSION WITH NORTH) :

NO, SERIOUSLY, IS IT?!?!?! (After what I’ve discussed, THIS AIN’T YOUR TYPICAL “RIVALRY”-) I know rivalry is very normal in Supa Strikas universe standards. There’s the “Friendly Rivalry” one, that’s just Shakes with Riano. And the “Opposing Rivals”, something like Skarra with Shakes, or Ninja with El Matador. Liquido’s rivalry with North falls under the “Opposing Rivals” rivalry. But here’s the thing… Liquido’s “rivalry” with North feels more than “Opposing Rivals” rivalry, and more of … an obsession?????? (Okay, calling it “Obsession” is a *TADBIT* too much- [And me naming the title “LIQUIDO’S “OBSESSION” WITH NORTH” is abit baited, I’m aware-] BUT I HAVE REASON WHY I THINK THAT!) 

Mostly when it comes to the “Opposing Rivals” rivalry, it comes down to rivals hating each other, or straight up would kill the other. There’s no question Liquido and North’s rivalry is like this (if you watch the show, you know). North hates Liquido’s guts, Liquido (probably) hates North’s guts, and Liquido would, at times, try to kill North either intentionally or not. Pretty “Opposing Rivals” rivalry standard to me. But here’s the interesting part of all of this “rivalry” nonsense between them… I don’t think Liquido is ONLY doing this rivalry to benefit Hydra FC, or that he “hates” North Shaw… I think he wants North's attention… 

You might think yourselves,’OF COURSE Liquido needs North’s attention in all of this. He plans and strategizes sabotages to stop North and Supa Strikas from winning. He uses North Shaw as a weak spot to take advantage of Supa Strikas. Not to mention, North’s is Liquido’s rival.” And I know, I just wrote a section about Liquido’s rivalry with North Shaw and his good strategization about it in this post. But that’s not what I’m insinuating, I mean that Liquido is IN LOVE WITH NORTH SHAW AND WANTS HIS ATTENTION.

The episodes I’ve mention, “One Super League Under the Sea S3E7”, “Worth His Weight S4E11”, “Depth Charge S3E7”, “Sphere Of Missing Out RSE5”. They all have several things in common when it comes to Liquido in those episodes:

Liquido is seen stalking North (excuse is to stop Supa Strikas)

(3/4 episodes) Liquido planning something  involving around North to sabotage him and Supa Strikas. 

 Liquido’s first instinct when Supa Strikas arrived IS GO TO NORTH SHAW.

It’s interesting how most of Liquido’s plans are MOSTLY something involved around North Shaw getting sabotaged, either by taunting him or lure him to neglect his team (which 80% worked in his favor). Now, you might think Liquido is doing all of this for the benefit of his team, Hydra FC, so they could win and such. But… wouldn't this work just as effectively if Liquido taunts other Supa Strika players who are also vulnerable as North? (Guys… EL MATADOR IS RIGHT THERE!) (Also I want to point out that, yes, “Worth His Weight S4E11” is the odd one out from the others because in that episode, Liquido’s plans is involved around Tiger. But I want to remind everyone: When Supa Strikas arrived at the Floating Stadium in the episode, who is Liquido waiting for again? NORTH. I wouldn’t be surprised if Liquido originally planned something for North, but his ego got in the way and now the plans are involved around Tiger.)

(This also might suggest Liquido has a thing for Tiger, but that an entire different story-)

Why is Liquido’s plans 90% always involved around North? Why wouldn’t he target any other player in Supa Strikas FC, like Blok, Eagle Eye or anybody else in general. It’s not like he CAN’T. (Unless Liquido WANTS HIS PLANS INVOLVED AROUND NORTH) I find that SO FASCINATING. ESPECIALLY, Liquido who have said “But this game ain't for PRIDE, It’s for POINTS.” Yeah, sure buddy. You participating in Ms.Altivo’s tournament is for “POINTS”. You challenging North in APD Racing is for “POINTS”. You involve most of your plans around North, for “POINTS”. Yeah, Liquido, “DEFINITELY FOR POINTS”. IS NOT AT ALL because you might be insecure about yourself and secretly have a thing for him and use that excuse to sabotage North to get close to him. 

I wanted to address that, yes, their rivalry is (in a way) similar to Shakes and Skarra, where both rivals hate each other. But here’s the difference between the two rivalries: When it comes to Skarra and Shakes, they have a reason to hate each other. *Insert the entirety of Rookie Season* We KNOW what their beef is rooted from. Is from Skarra being insecure and feeling insignificant to Shakes, to the point, ruined their friendship. For Liquido and North however, we (the audience), have no idea how this rivalry began. It could be because they’re both similar to each other in some way that they want to know who’s the best. It could be because Liquido or North started something with the other. But only then, it’s just speculation from the audience since we really don’t know where this started from. 

And here’s another difference between the two rivalries: Skarra HATES Shakes as a passion. After Rookie Season, he vows to be better, in every aspect, than Shakes is. He enjoys (most of the time) seeing Shakes in his lowest. Liquido though? (Like I’ve said) He enjoys meeting North. This rivalry is (probably) one of the reasons he looks forward to when Supa Strikas goes up against Hydra FC. In “The Perfect Match S7E8”, Skarra didn’t even invite Shakes to his awareness campaign, because he thinks Shakes didn’t bother to come. In “Depth Charge S3E7”, Liquido literally took the opportunity to challenge North in APD Racing *COUGH COUGH which I think this is just him asking him out, disguising as a challenge he made COUGH COUGH*.(Also Yes, I’m aware that Liquido uses the “APD Racing Challenge” to bait North Shaw into sabotaging him, but like I said, Liquido could’ve chosen ANYONE from Supa Strikas to target, yet he chooses North. And Liquido’s mind is SUPER “spontaneous” [in a way] when sabotaging.. What he did to Tiger in “Worth His Weight in Goals S4E11” is pretty evident to that- He can EASILY think of a plan for ANY of the Supa Strikas players he pleases to target.)

(Disclaimer: I know I very much lean towards the fact Skarra is this salty, cold-hearted rival, who hates Shakes. Which, on surface level, is true, but  I don’t believe this for fact Skarra is this character. And I’m not saying this because I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt… NO, I BELIEVE THIS TO HEART. I DON’T THINK SKARRA IS THIS SURFACE LEVEL CHARACTER WE THINK HE IS. (Pretty much the fandom knows this and Rookie Season has alot in saying to this-) I’m not sure if making a Skarra analysis is possible for me, but if it MIRACLY HAPPENS, just know Skarra has been digging my brain neurons for awhile at that point, like he always has-) 

THE BROKEN DOME SCENE I CAN'T LET GO OF:

(I was originally didn't plan to write a dedicated section for the "Breaking Dome Scene" but my mind KNEW this scene was too important for the analysis, so I must write it)

Bringing back "Depth Charge S5E3" again, Liquido and North are racing against each other with their APDs, and Liquido won... by cheating of course, as his ego got to him and knocks North out from his APD and wins the race. Typical Liquido behavior. Unfortunately for him, that backfired as North's APD, with no driver on it, crashed into the stadium's dome causing it to slowly crack, and very much endangering the possibility that it could flood inside the stadium when the dome crackes wide open.

Now after the "APD crashed into the dome, causing it to crack" happened, both of the men went up from the water. North looks really upset about what happened, which he calls out Liquido about it. Liquido, on the other hand, looks upset and.... Sad???? 

So here’s something interesting I've noticed: After the incident happened, Liquido was REALLY QUICK to remove himself from the incident, either blaming ONLY North for it, or keeping it silent about what happened. 

 When an announcement was made told for everyone to gather at the field, Liquido was so QUICK to jump that it's only North's fault that the dome broke, despite he's just as evolved and at fault in this situation. North quickly and rightfully corrected him, and after being corrected, Liquido compromised with North to not tell their coaches or teammates about their incident when racing.

Now you might think I'm being abit unfair to Liquido, framing like he's the only one that wants to be removed from the "scene of the crime", when in actuality: Liquido AND NORTH agreed with each other to not speak up about the incident to anyone. North, just like Liquido in that scene, doesn't want to be caught about the damage he created.... That would be truth, IF THE SITUATION HAVEN'T GOTTEN WORSE AFTERWARDS-

After many scenes forward, the crack became bigger, as it leaked water from the ocean. Supa Strikas and Hydra FC even have to stop playing in the middle of their match because it's a low chance for them to finish playing before that dome completely cracks open and floods the place. 

North then had a wake up call knowing that the situation has gotten worse because of him and Liquido, so he confronts Liquido to admit both of their wrongdoing to their team and fix everything what they did. In that scene, North IMMEDIATELY wanted to do the right thing after he saw the trouble that he made could potentially hurt everyone involved. This is definitely not new mind you, North had always tried to fix his mistake when he noticed. Like in "One Super League Under the Sea S3 E7" where he disobeyed Coach to not surf, and when he does, he completely missed half the game. He even said to himself, "Everyone was depending on me and I BAILED ON THEM...". Or in "Stumble in the Jungle S4E10" where he dragged all his teammates to go on his "Ventura Adventure" (which they immediately got lost afterwards). BUT, after he realized his impulsiveness and carelessness cost his team a lot of hurt or failure, he would immediately admit his fault and fix that mistake. Despite him being as impulsive as Liquido, North was always the bigger man between the two, he admits his mistake and owns up to that mistake. Now... LIQUIDO ON THE OTHER HAND-

When North confronts Liquido to admit their mistake together, Liquido's response is to... GIVE UP. "Nothing to be done, bro..." Said the Blue Water Man. BRO WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'NOTHING TO BE DONE'?!?!? YOUR STADIUM IS GONNA FLOOD BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOUR CRUSH’S STUPID RACE!!! 😭

Liquido looks defeated in that scene, that... to me, it seems "Out Of Character" for him if I'm completely honest- Like if you watch any Liquido episode, prior to S5, you can definitely say Liquido as a character DOES NOT GIVE UP EASILY. Like he shows it through his sabotaging, planning, football stuff and what not. The only time we see Liquido "Giving Up", is when Supa Strikas overcomes Liquido's sabotages and becomes victorious at the end of the episode. But here in the 'Breaking Dome Scene', Liquido didn't even want to repair the mistake he made, but avoid it all together. He didn't even think of saving HIS HOMEGROUND from getting flooded by his own reckless hands. You would've thought that a guy like Liquido would prioritize his team more than anything, especially he showed that he would do ANYTHING for his team to win after all that tricking and sabotaging he pulls, but... no, he'd rather be silent about it. HECK, EVEN NORTH calls it out. 

It is only a matter of time Liquido agrees North to confront their mistakes together AFTER North said "I would never abandon Strikaland". Like THAT DEFINITELY STIRRED something in Liquido- His head literally SHOT UP when North said that, when few seconds ago, Liquido was looking all sad and stuff- That's DEFINITELY Liquido's ego getting abit triggered from what North said, thinking North was "implying" he is "morally and righteously better" than Liquido (which I think is ridiculous because doing the right thing isn't a competition, but somehow, Liquido thinks it is-). North did sorta "challenged" Liquido after that, but that is only to persuade Liquido to admit about the incident to their coaches. Liquido already felt "challenged" beforehand.

Now going back to Liquido refusing to admit his involvement about the dome breaking: like I said, it feels... off, that Liquido doesn't want his team (or anyone on that matter) knows what he did. Like from my point of view at least, Hydra FC would be less harsh towards Liquido. Mind you, I still think his team would be FURIOUS when Liquido tells everything what he did, but I don't think they would like 'BANISH HIM' from the team or something. Also knowing Liquido is too valuable as a player to Hydra FC to get rid of, as well knowing, like I said in my 'Skipper Side tangent', Hydra FC's "Standards" being clean and fair as a team is VERY LOW. So, what's the deal then for him?

Why wouldn't Liquido want to tell anyone that he broke the dome? His team would let him off and still be in the team according to their standards, and it's not like Liquido is saving his "Squeaky Clean Reputation" from anyone. He is VERY WELL KNOWN to be a cheater according to Supa Strikas and his team. So WHY???? Why hide that secret? It doesn't make sense for him to hide this from everyone. It doesn't make sense for him to not admit what he did when he can just get away with it... UNLESS... he doesn't want to admit not because everyone could find out what he did, but he doesn't want to admit it FOR HIMSELF, FOR HIS EGO.

I already explained that Liquido has an ego problem, where he views every player in the Super League, especially if you're North Shaw, as a competition against him. That he would fight tooth and nail against every opponent in his restricted waters to be on top (ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE NORTH SHAW). He STRIVES from winning, to be better than everyone else, just to satisfy his own ego. 

Why did I bring this up? Well speculate the reason why he's easily defeated in the 'Breaking Dome Scene', to the point, he chooses to be silent about it rather than saving his homeground is because that would shatter his ego. We know Liquido as this stuck-up, cheating, main guy from Hydra FC, and I'm pretty sure that's what Liquido views himself in a way. But he's not known for being "the person who endangers his team because of his recklessness", is he? The only people he is known to endanger are his opponents, and most being Supa Strikas (especially if you're NORTH SHA-). That being said, he is known to BENEFIT HIS TEAM, not burden them.

I would go a step further and say that another reason he could not tell his team about what he did is because he doesn't want them to view him less and lose their respect for him. We already know Liquido would go to the deep ends to come up with the most absurd sabotages, just so Hydra FC could win. He really does value his team. But rather than thinking his team would give him a second chance at what he did, he thinks of the worst outcome about how they would view him. He doesn't want to lose their respect and trust from them. He doesn't want to lose any of that. 

He views himself in this image of himself he created, someone who Hydra FC respect and look up to, someone who would benefit his team even if it means doing dirty work, someone who should be seen as a threat. If he admits TO HIMSELF what he did, that would shatter his image that he created. Crushing his ego in the process. (Liquido's first course of action after that incident is to blame North for it and then keep silent about it. That says A LOT about his character.)

He built with SO MUCH EXPECTATION of THIS VERSION OF HIMSELF he created, that he is afraid that the version he expects so much of would fall to ruin, as people will see gaps of a flawed version of him. He rather let the stadium he plays for be flooded, than admitting the mistake he made. He rather run away from the situation, than confronting it. He rather hides this flawed version of himself, than admitting he himself is flawed.... Just so his ideal image of him won't be destroyed. So his ego won't be proven wrong.

So Liquido, why are you scared admitting who you are?

DENIAL FEELINGS? :

(Okay, so, this is probably will be short and where we’re going to enter ‘Speculation and Bizarre Theorizing’ territory, because there’s not enough evidence when it comes to this section of the analysis- So I hope my previous points from the other sections still makes you (the reader) invested what I have to say in this, especially I put too much effort into proving why I think a character from a niche football show might be gay, and now have entered “no return”, as I wear my conspiracy Brokeback Mountain hat on… THAT BEING SAID, LET’S CONTINUE-) 

I truly believe Liquido, on some level, has feelings for North Shaw. Whether or not Liquido is aware of these feelings… is debatable at best. But one thing I (for some reason) believe to heart, is that Liquido is, in fact, suppressing these feelings he has for North. 

I think I made my point clear that Liquido’s rivalry with North is more than surface level than we (or at least, what I) initially thought. We’ve seen time, and time again, Liquido trying to get under North Shaw’s skin. And on surface level, it makes sense because the show established that they’re rivals. But when you watch all the heavily Liquido appearance episodes, watching North trying not to fall for Liqiudo’s taunts and tactics so he can be there for his team (which he fall for it 80% of the time), and as Liquido trying to take down North Shaw for the benefit of his team, when in actuality he can literally choose anybody from Supa Strikas to target… then you have to question what’s really going on with his rivalry with North.

Liquido, going so far, to get North’s attention, either out of spite or to make Supa Strikas lose. But I don’t really believe Liquido is just doing this for the sake of Hydra FC or because North is his rival. I think all the plotting, all the taunting, all the sabotaging for North Shaw (which some of them almost resulting North Shaw being dead-), all of this, for an excuse to get close to North Shaw. 

You’ve seen it (if you’ve watched the show). You’ve seen how Liquido looks at North when he arrives. You’ve seen how Liquido loves teasing him throughout each episode Liquido heavily featured in. You’ve seen how Liquido loves challenging North Shaw, his smirking face says it all. And sure, we’ve seen Liquido giving angry looks to North when he gets insulted for his skills and worth, but only because that man has a fragile ego and doesn’t want anybody to challenge it. 

Rather than  telling his actual feelings to North, he chose to have a rivalry with his crush instead. He rather plans sabotages for his crush, then asking North Shaw out like a normal person would do. For a guy like Liquido, all cocky, confident and everything, doesn’t have the guts to tell North that he’s in love with him. But… Why?

Why is Liquido so eager to put all his energy to annoy the HECK out from a guy he is deeply in love with? Why put so much effort in these plans and sabotages around a person he has feelings for? Why would he not just tell North how he feels instead, then going along with this rivalry they’ve started for who knows how long? Well, I do have an answer… but it’s not a very pleasing one. 

(This might sound so out of pocket, especially for a show like Supa Strikas, so brace yourselves) I genuinely believe, Liquido, one of the most important players for Hydra FC, is NOT ONLY a gay man suppressing his genuine feelings, but also struggling with his masculinity and ego because he believes he must persevere being on top in the Super League, by trying (and not failing) to uphold that expectation for himself, especially in a very prestige competition,like the Super League.

(,,, You’re still reading? I still haven't lost you? Huh, interesting, because we’re almost concluding this TOO LONG OF AN ANALYSIS with the final section, the conclusion. Hope you enjoy it, as I go insane while writing this-)

CONCLUSION :

Liquido is one of Hydra FC’s golden and valuable players in the team. In the show, he showcases great in skill, strategy, and ABSOLUTE DEDICATION for Hydra FC. (Also great in leadership, despite not being the leader.) And let’s be honest here: without him, his team wouldn’t be as successful being on top of the ranking in the Super League. (Sure, his tactics and strategies are mostly involved around cheating, but like I said, in Hydra FC and other dirty rival teams standards, it's the norm-) That being said, Hydra FC owes alot to Liquido’s hard work to maintain their top rank, regardless if Liquido’s motivation to do this either because of his rivalry with North, his dedication to the team or his ego in general. Speaking of his ego, he doesn’t have the most healthy relationship with it…

Liquido’s ego is very fragile, being so he gets easily defensive when you insult him when targeting his worth in skills and importance. So much so, he constantly has to prove that he’s better than anyone he is challenged by. His ego is mostly the driving force of his competitiveness, to the point, he never backs down from that challenge. (he rarely, or never admits defeat to his opponents ). Now it might seem to be the perfect timing to say, “Welp, that’s Liquido for ya!”, but assuming you read this far, you know is not as simple as that- 

My question for this is, “What reason is there for Liquido to have such a strong, unhealthy ego?”. The answer would be simply that Liquido is a football player in a very prestigious status competition like the Super League. Which, despite that being true, I think we can go deeper than that. Like it’s already established, Hydra FC is one of the most high standard Football Clubs in the Super League, and the competition is tight when it comes to it. So it makes sense for Liquido letting his ego and competitiveness be the driving force of his motivation, regardless if it’s footie of making plans. But… then you watch “Live and Kicking S4E3” and “Your Latest Trick S7E3” where he participated in Ms. Altivo’s competitions and he is very obliged to participate in them. Also  "Depth Charge S5E3" where Liquido challenges North to APD Racing, which like Ms. Altivo’s events, have nothing to do with the Super League. Needless to say, Liquido’s ego and competitiveness doesn’t stop at the Super League, he STRIVES on them. But this is more than Liquido letting his ego and competitiveness in the front seat, I believe he lets it control him because he thinks he has to. 

This is more than for Hydra Fc, MORE than for the Super League. I genuinely believe the reason he is this competitive is because he is scared. Scared that he doesn't live up to the expectation he has for himself, regardless is being a player, a Super Leaguer, or a man. We’ve seen him leading his team, despite that isn't his job. Or making sabotage plans, where he is following the steps (in some way) of Coach Del Aqua. He makes sure to expect that expectation to his team, that he is worthy of being a team player. Worthy being the expectation of what a man should be. Expectation that he puts on himself.

Okay going this far, what does it all mean? How is this connected with Liquido being a closted gay? Well, like I said, Liquido has pressured himself alot about what man he should be, to the point, hides some of his identity in the closet, or scraps them as completely useless. Like, his gentle side, his affirmative side, or his sexuality. He hid these because, to him, that is not what is expected for a man to be. But of course, sooner or later, that closet wouldn’t be as close shut. He still has feelings towards men and he craves that love one way or another. Then North Shaw is the picture. 

Don’t know when, don’t know how, but the guy got Liquido’s attention. They become rivals shortly after, and they bicker and fight as average rivals do. But for Liquido, it’s much MORE than rivalry, he enjoys the rivalry between them. He loves when he taunts or teases North when getting the chance. And he LOVES when he gets North’s attention, whether it results in angering and annoying North or not. But along the lines, and probably before the rivalry between the two, Liquido’s ego got more and more fragile, as insults and questions about his position got thrown at him, from other rival teams, the press, etc.. He doesn’t take it too lightly. In response through action, he becomes unhealthyly competitive with other players, especially his rival of course, North Shaw. Despite he has feelings towards his rival, he can’t help but be jealous of North’s status as a man. North has few things that Liquido doesn’t: Dignity, responsibility, collectiveness (at most times-), and the idea he fears the most about him, is that North might be better at being a man than he is. 

.Liquido fears the idea of it. If he can’t beat his own rival, what is he then? What does that say about him being a man? He already shut his true feelings out, so being better at his rival is something he would choose over instead, and would die for it. So as fate is sealed, Liquido does anything he can, to prove he is better than anyone there. To his team, to the Super League, to North, to himself. But deep down he still has feelings for North, so at any given chance, he teases North when he arrives, still hiding his true feelings, and continuing the rivalry between the two. Again, again, again, again… But unfortunately for Liquido, that cycle he will continue repeating will be the “death” of him. He will continue trying to “prove” to people and himself that he is a man to be “expected” from, but he will never feel fully content with the expectations of others and himself put. He is trapped to an idea of how he and others visualize he should be, and he will continue to reach that impossible standard. And sadly, Liquido is far gone to be better, or say, change himself for the better. Because one thing I learned from this analysis I wrote, Liquido rather choose to be the best, than being better…

OR IS IT???? ;D

(SURPRISE!!! BONUS SECTION!!!!) LIQUIDO MIGHT CHANGE OF THE BETTER:

I know, I know- Pretty anticlimactic of me saying the conclusion is the end and suddenly pull this out of nowhere, But after reading it, GOD IT WAS TOO HEAVY TO BE A CONCLUSION- So I think a positive note should suffice! SO PLEASE HEAR ME OUT ON THIS!! (This is going to be short-)

Originally my conclusion is that Liquido “might” never change and always stuck in his competitive and “be better than everyone else” mentally. But the more I think about it (and rewatching Liquido appeared episodes again-) is probably FAR from that. 

There’s this scene I didn’t catch when first time watching “Broken Record S6E7”. It's brief but very interesting to me. There’s a ‘Blink and you’ll miss it’ moment between Shakes and Liquido, and there, it seems as LIQUIDO IS SHAKING SHAKES’ HAND AFTER SUPA STRIKAS WON???? WHAT?!?!? LIQUIDO SHOWING GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP?!??!!? (GUYS!!! HE HAS A CHANCE TO BE BETTER!!!)

Unfortunately, this is the ONLY moment that shows  Liquido’s good sportsmanship- There’s also episodes of Liquido joining Ms. Altivo’s competition in “Your Latest Trick S7E3” and him participating in the food fight in “Food for Thought S7E11”, so Liquido’s unhealthy competitive habits are still (in a way) present after S5- 

But again, we’ve seen Liquido putting his ego and rivalry aside in “Depth Charge S5E3”, he was ALMOST going to give up until North changed his mind take responsibility for their actions.So despite everything I wrote beforehand, there is still hope he can change for the better. The chances *might* be low, but who knows. We’ll just see in the future when there’s another season comes out for Supa Strikas~ 

(MANIFESTING ANOTHER SEASON FOR SUPA STRIKAS! MANIFESTING ANOTHER SEASON FOR SUPA STRIKAS! MANIFESTING ANOTHER SEASON FOR SUPA STRIKAS! MANIFEST- 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏)

...... It's done... After... almost... a frickin' YEAR, I'M DONE WITH THIS ANALYSIS ABOUT A CHARACTER WHO I THINK IS A GAY IN DENIAL... SOMEONE PUNCH ME!!!!

I've been working on this since SEPTEMBER 2024!! AND IT'S AUGUST 2025 (AS I'M WRITING THIS)!! I'M INSANE AND SURPRISED THAT I DIDN'T DROP THIS ANALYSIS-

After MONTHS working on this, it's weirdly rewarding to finally finish this- (Gonna be honest, I thought it would take me another year to finish it- :'D ) I don't expect people to read EVERTHING what I wrote, (don't blame you, THIS IS ABSURDLY LONG-) but the thought and hardwork counts for me to say I'm weirdly proud and satisfied what I want to say here. (I don't blame all of you thinking I'm insane after dropping this-)

All to the lovely person who suggested the Liquido Analysis, @sahara-solaris-solace , I'M SOOOOO SORRY THIS TAKES LIKE A FRICKIN YEAR TO MAKE- COLLEGE AND OTHER STUFF IS THE REASON I'VE BEEN DELAYING THIS OVER AND OVER AGAIN- Hope everything I've written down will make up the late delay- (Your other suggestion will be taking time to write as well so I hope you'll be patience for a couple months- 😭) (I also hope you're doing GREAT bud, regardless is today or tomorrow~ :) 💛💜)

Anyways, to people who at least try to read this mess, thank you for at least taking your time to read it~ Hope everyone is having a good day and tomorrow~ :) ✨💛💜💛💜💛💜💛✨

- MimpiNightmare

[thecryptidbard]

ALSO can we talk about Hetty’s reaction after Flower tells her “You’re a good friend”???

Think about where she was at this point last year—having also just revealed a massive secret, one that almost irrevocably ruined one of her oldest friendships. She’d admitted in Ghost Court that friends were not something she’d ever had in life—something she hasalso just reiterated moments ago to Sam and Isaac, that one of the reasons she felt so trapped and alone and without options at the end of her life was because she had no friends.

Think about how far we’ve seen her come; in season one, it’s huge growth for her that after Jay’s possession, she admits to the other ghosts that she missed them. Or season two, how in a very un-Hetty move she’s willing to swallow her pride and apologize to Nigel (even though she’s sure she isn’t in the wrong!) for the sake of saving her friendship with Isaac. Or even earlier this season, how closely she’s clinging to Alberta in so many of the episodes, because she’s so grateful she got her friend back after being so close to losing her that she doesn’t even want to be physically separated from her.

And then now, she’s just once again revealed a secret she’s kept for well over a hundred years, in order to save Flower. She’s kept this part of herself from everyone for so long, and the very second she sees that Flower is securely out of the hole, she turns her back to everyone to gather herself and then bolts.

Isaac and Sam make her see that, yes objectively she has people here for her now like she never had in life, but Flower coming in and thanking her is when she actually gets to see and experience the reality of how different her existence is now. “You’re a good friend,” she says, and it might be the first time someone has ever said that to her. And Hetty just looks up at Flower so surprised in that moment, and so heartbreakingly hopeful, because I genuinely think that until right then, she really hadn’t considered it like that before; she just knew that Flower was in trouble and that she had to help her whatever the personal cost, because not saving her wasn’t even an option.

So much of the ghosts’ relationships, especially early on, were transactional, and, especially in Hetty’s case, built around enforcing particular power dynamics: accruing a wealth of back rubs, extorting Pete’s TV time before signing Elias’s contract, or any of the countless occasions she brought up her status as ‘lady of the house’. So the fact that she makes this sacrifice that feels like a loss of power to her is in and of itself big; but Flower acknowledging that, and making sure Hetty herself sees it too, by calling her a good friend—it’s a whole different level of meaningful.

She doesn’t just thank Hetty. She makes sure that she sees what her actions mean to her. And Hetty is so taken aback by it, because Flower saying this to her and meaning it is a gift she was absolutely unprepared for; a “good friend” is not something Hetty has ever known herself to be, up until now. But she very badly wants for it to be true.

[heyclickadee]

Because I’ve decided to be somewhat annoyingly optimistic about Tech coming back eventually, I kind of wanted to explain the hypothetical framework through which I’ve been looking at the all of this wiiiiiiiiiith…

…a crappy diagram. (I’m sorry about my handwriting. I usually write in cursive, so it’s usually smaller and even worse).

Now, this is simplified, there are plenty more arcs, plots, and subplots than this, but I sort of picked out the main three that we seem to be dealing with from the beginning of The Clone Wars season seven onwards.

First we’ve got Rex’s arc, where after an endless string of losses and disappointments from previous seasons, he begins putting his foot down and trying to take something back and help his fellow clones, first within the GAR when he insists on rescuing Echo, and then later on in The Bad Batch as we see him gradually form a small band of clones and other allies (people like the Martez sisters and Riyo Chuchi) with the end goal of freeing as many clones as he can. This seems to be an ongoing plot, given that Rex’s work as well as the setup with the senate continues into season three of TBB but receives neither climax nor resolution as we narrow the focus towards Omega.

And, of course, alongside the Rex arc is what I’m calling the clone agency arc, introduced (or perhaps re-introduced) via Echo and his captivity by the Techno Union in the beginning of season seven of TCW, continuing through the end of TCW and into TBB with Order 66, Crosshair’s time under the chip and with the empire (his story far has given us a great look into the life of clones subject to order 66 and imperial service), the clone retirement bill, and the CXs. It, too, reaches neither climax nor conclusion and seems to be ongoing. Furthermore, Rex’s arc seems to be dependent on the clone agency arc (though you could argue it the other way), and many of the loose threads from the end of TBB tie into it as well.

Next, at the beginning of “Aftermath,” we’ve got the clone force 99 family arc as well as the individual bad batcher arcs, none of which reach a resolution. (The bad batch characters are all introduced in the bad batch arc of season seven, but I’d argue that with a few possible exceptions, they don’t really begin their arcs until the start of TBB. They’re not the focus in season seven and are there largely to facilitate Rex’s arc, so what we get for them is a lot of set up and establishing baselines).

I’ve argued before that each of the batcher’s character development goes only so far as it needs to go in order to facilitate Omega’s arc ending by the final episode; after that, they don’t conclude, they slow down, get put on the backburner, and come with period reminders of what those arcs were doing. Hunter gets very close to resolution in his development, since he’s the most tied at the hip to Omega’s arc and most of his character arc has to do with her, but the others are all completely open-ended. The family arc likewise remains open-ended—not necessarily because Tech’s not there and they remain separated, but because the separation and brokenness of the family is never dealt with and left wanting a conclusion despite the fact there was ample opportunity to reach it if necessary.

And last, we’ve got Omega’s childhood arc and the Hunter/Omega relationship arc. These, closely tied together, are the only major arcs that conclude by the end of TBB. And here’s the interesting thing; they’re not actually the first arcs introduced in the show.

Omega is the POV character, but she’s not actually introduced until the second act, I would argue she doesn’t become the POV character until the hyperspace scene at the end of “Aftermath,” and her arc proper doesn’t really begin until “Cut and Run” when we introduce the idea of Omega choosing where she wants to be and the, “You all have a purpose—so what’s hers?” “It doesn’t matter, she’s just a kid,” exchange. Other arcs including her start earlier—I would argue that Crosshair’s arc with her starts in the brig scene, for example—but her arc doesn’t quite kick off until a little later.

Basically, the way I’m looking at this is as a series of nested arcs. A storytelling nesting doll, basically, where the major arc that was introduced the latest and has the smallest scale is also the only one to reach a resolution by the end of TBB show while the others imply a larger, ongoing story.

It’s not that the two larger major arcs stop when the Omega arc is introduced, either. They keep being told alongside, largely through Omega’s point of view with occasional zoom-outs to a wider frame, and limited to what we need to see at present either for future set up or before zooming back in and, in the case of much of the third season of TBB (last four episodes in particular) focusing in on Omega’s arc and that resolution before, hypothetically, broadening to a larger focus again. It’s also not that Omega can’t show up now that her arc is concluded, either. She can! In fact, she should, for multiple reasons. She just wouldn’t be the focus anymore and would probably show up in a more limited capacity.

And it’s not that these nested arcs are even separate. They might start and conclude at different points, but they are told alongside each other because they’re tied together. They weave in and out of each other and push each other along. They’re relevant to one another and, I think, pieces of a larger clone story that’s not quite over.

Because here’s the thing: There’s a lot of stuff in both TCW season seven and TBB that we don’t really need unless it was there for setup. The only part of season seven that was entirely necessary for closing out the clone war and that part of Ahsoka’s story was the Siege of Mandalore arc with maybe, *maybe* one additional episode to explain what she’s been doing. I love the bad batch arc, but we didn’t need it…unless the purpose was to set up arcs for the batch and also tie the batch’s and Echo’s stories to Rex’s and the clone agency arc. We don’t need the Martez sisters episodes…unless we need to introduce the Martez sisters, who also meet the batch and are also working with Rex once we get to TBB (and are presumably still working with him from time to time, since we haven’t heard otherwise). Likewise, the list of things in TBB that aren’t strictly necessary from a storytelling perspective if all we were doing the whole time was telling Omega’s story is extensive…unless the larger story with those larger nested arcs isn’t done.

[sunniedesi]

The Decay of Andy and Leyley: the bad, the ugly and the terrible

Now that it’s been a while since I finished the Decay route, I think I’m ready to finally analyse this chapter as a whole. I’ve collected my thoughts and read through a couple of people’s opinions here and there… just to be utterly disappointed. I knew casual fans generally didn’t understand much of the subtext for tcoaal, but damn are they completely lost with this one. Maybe it’s the fact that I only interact with a small echo chamber of the fandom that does get it, but after all the terrible takes I’ve had the displeasure of seeing, I think it’s time I leave my own. There is quite a lot to comment on, since this part of Decay builds upon several plot points of the story: the quarantine, the entity, lord unknown, and namely, the main duo’s upbringing and relationship. While I’d love to pick apart every nook and cranny of this episode, this analysis will only focus on Andrew and Ashley’s relationship, as that alone has plenty of things to dissect for one post. I will also comment on some of the changes done to the previous episodes and what that could mean for the next routes. (More below the cut, this will be a long one).

But before I begin anything I want to start with a disclaimer of the obvious; yes, this game is fucked up and the relationship is toxic, horribly so (wow, who would’ve thunk it?). If things weren’t messed up before then they certainly are now, so I understand why nobody would want to touch this game with a ten-foot pole. In fact, I’ve noticed many let’s players who’ve previously played it either not mentioning it or going as far as to delete every video they’ve made on it (not dropping names here but I had a couple of videos in my watch later taken down mere minutes after I saved them because of this). I often see people saying “it’s just fiction” as a defense for talking about this, which is totally valid, but my view of it is a bit different. It is fiction, yes, but also something that could very easily happen in real life and that a lot of people could (unfortunately) relate to. That’s what makes it uncomfortable and gross, and that is exactly the reason why we should talk about it. As per words of the author “although unpleasant, true [CHAOS AND MAYHEM!!!] can only be achieved by unearthing the root cause of one's issues and addressing the underlying decay.” Even if you think it’s icky and gross that doesn’t disqualify it from existing. Moreover, it calls for analysis as to why it makes you feel gross, which might I add is an impulse reaction to something much deeper than a simple “nooo they’re related,” as there are many layers to this from a moral, ethical and psychosexual perspective.

So… let’s talk about it. 

The Bad: Andy and Leyley

The beginning of the episode tells us a lot about the upbringing of our characters, though most of it was writing on the wall if you paid attention during episode 2. We play as Andrew, examining his psyche and going through the motions of how to be a walking disappointment. As he cooks, cleans, excels at school and sets order in his family, he accomplishes a level of independence many don’t reach until adulthood, all before the age of 10. Yet every single mistake, as small or out of his control as it may be, is a cause for reprimanding. Renee doesn’t spare the emotional rod with him per se, expecting Andrew to go above and beyond for tasks that she should be responsible for. And whenever her live-in maid complains or dares to set an even playing field, such attempts are crushed by repressing him further into his shell. Berating, insulting, belittling him.

Nothing he does is ever enough, and it can’t be,  lest giving him hope of ever meeting others’ expectations, of ever doing better. The more suppression, the less of his independence, say or personality, the easier to control. The less of Andrew the better. And as such, Andy was born: a sorry replacement for Andrew’s essence, easily malleable and capable of becoming everything you want him to be. Many believe Andy is a result of Leyley, but really

Andy was a nightmare of Renee’s own making. And speaking of nightmares, Leyley’s origins aren’t much different. Having a second child as a middle finger to your disapproving family is no good if you don’t intend to raise said child. But what’s the need when Andy is there to do it? Disciplining a kid aching for attention is far too taxing for Renee, especially one with as much attitude as Leyley. So, instead of inflicting more trauma as she’s done with Andy, she lets him pass his own over to her, creating a direct pipeline to the cycle of abuse. It should be noted that in one of the new visions available we see that Renee is an older sister herself, and was expected to also go above and beyond for her sister despite being completely disregarded by her family.

In other words, her treatment of Andy and complete neglect of Leyley are anything but surprising. It’s all she’s ever known. (Not excusing Renee, I hate her with a passion, but it’s important to know where everything is coming from).

Funnily enough, Leyley’s personality isn’t as innate as many believe. It’s easy to see her as the “difficult child,” but in reality, everything she does is a cry for help. We’re dealing with a lonely, undisciplined girl, disregarded by the world as a crybaby and a freak, left to be raised by trash TV and her clueless older brother. The result of this terrible concoction is a self-loathing, marshmallow spine of a boy and a lost, shrieky viper of a girl. Neither can like each other, because they don’t like themselves. And neither can help the other, because they refuse to see themselves for what they are. These are Andy and Leyley, the antagonists of the story.

As much as people have difficulty separating Andy and Leyley from Andrew and Ashley it must be noted that, from a narrative perspective, these are entirely different characters. Andy and Leyley are the immature, worst traits of our main duo personified: Andy is a paranoid pushover garnering resentment every time his buttons are pushed, while Leyley is nothing more than a scared little girl, terrified of abandonment and terrified of change. The more they push and pull, the more they test and bring out the worst in each other, the more they decay. But if these are Andy and Leyley, then who are Andrew and Ashley?

The Ugly: Andrew and Ashley

I believe the cliffhanger route is where we get to see the most of these two, though glimpses of them can be seen in the Shots and Such route. Andrew we know (thanks to his lengthy pov) is a crude and relentless antisocial who can’t stand anyone. He only does so out of keeping appearances, instilled by his mom, but just like her, is incapable of caring for anything. Something Ashley is very quick to point out when they were children.

We also see he’s very manipulative, sly and finds fun in (mentally) messing with people and romanticising the shit of his life, perhaps as a way to feel something other than the misery it bestows upon him. However, not playing nice can only bring trouble, so he hides behind the mask of the innocent pushover (Andy). Needless to say, this is a life full of lies and deception, utterly unsatisfactory. It will never fulfill his true desires and can only push him further into nihilism. But what are his true desires? 

Well, to be seen and understood, the one thing no one’s ever bothered to do. No one except the mess of his own making. Ashley, the girl Andrew raised, is full of wit and charm. As seen in the flashbacks, she’s perceptive and quickly calls bullshit whenever she sees it. She doesn’t play nice, she doesn’t put up a front, she’s everything Andrew could be if he wasn’t afraid to show his true colors. This last bit is why I would argue Andrew is so drawn to her, that and of course all of the trauma bonding. As Andrew says himself, his attraction is pathological, i.e. unreasonable and irrational, a result of his loneliness and conditioning from childhood. And as much as I agree that it is paraphilic in nature, I do believe there is a logical side to his attraction; Ashley is loud, obnoxious and annoying. Carefree and unbothered, the flip-side to his Andy facade. In fact, she hates having to keep up appearances and how everyone around her is a phony. For Andrew, the man that has endured years of suppression and self-loathing, it is a relief, it is liberating to have someone just as bad as him. Someone who wouldn’t be afraid of him. Someone who could meet him at the same level; an equal.

Continuing with Ashley, one of her most emblematic traits is that she’s self-assured and doesn’t care about anything or anyone except for Andrew. This is quite the contrast to Leyley, who is incredibly insecure, selfish and does not care for Andy, only the reassurance he brings. And how do we know Ashley cares about Andrew if Leyley does not? Well…

This flashback is the single most important piece of information we get from the whole chapter. So let’s analyze it from the start. Julia takes Andrew to visit Nina’s grave, bringing back a slew of emotional turmoil he’s still haunted by. He immediately goes home to unpack it with Ashley.

(because god knows he was thinking about her the whole time he was talking to Julia). Ashley shows her first signs of maturity in the conversation that ensues, accurately pointing out the impending doom of Andrew and Julia’s relationship, and being a little more… introspective.

It’s clear that Leyley’s view of relationships is skewed, to say the least. She barely distinguishes romance from platonic love and has a very childish take of sex being "gross and all men want.” I’ve seen many people, before and after this chapter release, theorize that Ashley is asexual, something that’s always bothered me to no end. It’s one thing to just headcanon a character having “x” sexuality for the sake of it, but here people were using a headcanon to explain a critical part of her characterization, one of her Leyley traits. It is reductive and misguided, not to mention a terrible example of what asexuality would actually look like. Because this isn’t an innate characteristic from Ashley, it is a sign of immaturity, and to a certain degree, also insecurity.

Leyley has been conditioned her entire existence to believe she’s loathsome and undesirable, so anyone sticking around would never be out of their own volition. It would have to be a transaction, give and take. If Andy and Leyley marry it would have to be this way, a selfish exchange on both ends. But as she says: “different is fine, sometimes.” This is Ashley talking, taking into consideration Andrew’s needs for once and for all, which is the reason she made a move after he woke up. She understands his needs and is willing to put out for him, thinking maybe it could be good for her too. 

But boy does he fumble hard. Which I don’t blame him for, dude wasn’t in the right headspace at the time. Though this is the moment that set Ashley’s development far, far behind square one. She didn’t take the rejection well. For once she was doing what he wanted, and he pushed her away (mixed signals much). He began being very cold to her afterwards (albeit in a fruitless attempt to repress his feelings, which as we see through the puzzle sequences, the more he crushed his feelings on the outside, the further they spread on the inside). The moment Andrew reached out for her again, a year later might I add, he did it because of Ashley, or rather Leyley, needing to be reprimanded and set on the right track (with the massage parlor job).

This sealed the deal for Ashley that the only way to secure Andrew’s attention was the way that Leyley used to do with Andy: bitch and moan until he pays attention. In other words, it’s Andrew’s fault that Ashley is the way she is… though he’s not entirely aware of it, as seen in parts of his pov. And to a certain extent, Ashley also plays a part into why he’s so apprehensive to the idea of liking her. Her childish nature and refusal to grow up is proof to Andrew that if she were to indulge his desires, it would be to keep him around, but it wouldn’t be reciprocal (which is ultimately what he desires the most). 

This is my main takeaway from the cliffhanger route. I won’t be theorising much on what the outcomes for this route could be (more on why later), though I will be referencing this heavily for the analysis of Shots and Such.    

Also the symbolism in this scene is quite strong (couldn’t fit it into the previous paragraphs but wanted to bring it up anyway).

Her painted nails are trashy, and Julia's nails are painted. Andrew stares in silence as Julia rings away...  

Also:

This is after you destroy the Leyley plushie on the wedding cake scene, to retrieve Ashley's choker (which can later be used to create Andrew's partner... which also grants you a star). Originally, the plushies were watching cartoons, but now that Leyley is gone... something else surfaces. Interestingly enough, if you refuse to destroy it when prompted, the narrator will say "what are you, some Andy?" And if you try again after that, it won't allow to you to tear it apart, saying "you've made your choice." Very strong symbolism there. Let's move onto Shots and Such now.

The Absolutely Terrible: the Decay of Andy and Leyley

A terrible, disgusting, horrifying and necessary ending. Necessary to really discern the differences between Andy/Leyley and Andrew/Ashley, plus why the former will ALWAYS be a pointless, troublesome pairing. They hurt, abuse and tear each other down in the most sadistic and depressive ways possible. Long gone are the days of their playful banter, they are now replaced with just plain ol’ spousal abuse. Even when they try reviving their spark with their quick banter about the vacuums, it is soulless and dry, the damage done to their dynamic far too damming to ignore. 

They are never honest with each other, and they’re always afraid and resentful of the other. The only thing keeping them together is codependency and lame sex that sometimes distracts them from how miserable they feel. The one sex scene in this chapter reads like a dagger to the heart, because it is everything neither of them wanted to happen. Andrew yearned for something reciprocal, for him to be seen. And as much as he begs and pleads for Ashley to understand, Leyley’s fear of abandonment overtakes her, diminishing the little trust she had for him and respect she had for herself. As a result, they both hated the encounter, and the only two solutions are ending themselves or committing to a life of such misery.

In the splat ending, we indulge Andy’s desires of ending it all, and Leyley reluctantly follows, scared and unsatisfied until the bitter end, but unwilling to let go of her Andy. In the Shots and Such ending, we indulge Leyley’s fantasies of a forever union, which turn out to be anything but the ideals she had for Andy and Leyley’s marriage. It is more of the same old horrific abuse, dishonesty and bickering over nothing, with maybe one glimpse of honesty forced out by the alcohol every once in a blue moon. 

No matter the end, they’re both together forever as Andy and Leyley, dragging each other down into the lowest of levels. It’s pointless and bleak, and it certainly sent the fandom into a frenzy. You think the people defending Andrew “I’m normal” Graves or the people saying Ashley “did nothing wrong” were bad? Well, just as this route brought the worst out of the Graves, it also brought out the worst of these fans.

Every time I look into the comments section of a video or discussions for this chapter, it’s a constant shit-flinging contest of who had the worst upbringing, who has the worst personality, who is the most abusive, (which most people seem to be pointing fingers at Ashley for that one). It’s all blah blah blah who’s the woest of the woe. And worst of all, plenty of men (they’re almost always men) saying “Andrew should beat Ashley up some more.” I understand that Ashley’s worst traits as Leyley were amplified in this chapter, but honestly, men who had that takeaway from this chapter disturb me more than the game itself. Heck, even mother-of-the-year Renee calls bullshit on this:   

(context: this is a rhetorical question, the answer being no, obviously.)

Let’s get one thing straight: no character here is worse than the other. They’re both awful, they both beat each other, they both abuse each other and they're both victims of each others’ abuse. The tragedy here is that they are as much victims as they are perpetrators, with no end in sight, because the more one hurts the other, the more retaliation ensues. Characterizing one as the worst is, again, completely reductive and overlooking the point of the ending: nothing gets better because neither got better. We only saw Andy and Leyley in this route, with brief glimpses of Andrew and Ashley, that are quickly crushed by their inability to disengage from their toxic habits.

I think it’s clear to see how Ashley is regressing more into her fears (Leyley), given the threat of being murdered by the only person she has left forced her into that state. She doesn’t want to die, she’s terrified of death, and wants the security she believes Andy will bring her back. Except Andy is the one harboring resentment, as Andrew is the one trying to work past it. And to the people who think we’re playing as Andrew and Leyley in this route because “we chose Andrew,” no we’re not. There’s a reason the beginning of both the Andy and Andrew (shots and such) routes look the same in terms of the area we explore in the demon realm. 

There’s a reason why he keeps devolving further and further into resentment for Leyley. The “Andrew” choice means nothing if Ashley refuses to stop being Leyley. And her regression is reinstated by the selfish decision to kill Andrew in the bullets ending (and yes, I’m calling it selfish, since it is once again denying Andrew of his need to be rid of the Andy and Leyley dynamic). This reinforces Andrew’s belief that Leyley doesn’t want him, that his love is one-sided, and that she doesn’t care for his needs. The moment this choice (shooting Andrew) is set in stone it’s game over for both, because one can’t heal without the other. Again, nothing gets better because neither can get better.

The only difference between both routes is that when we pick Andy, Andrew surrenders. He’s hurt, battered and confused, but Andy’s instinctual need to please Leyley reigns above all. He knows it won’t get better, he doesn’t know how to make it better, so to hell with it. If we choose to be Andrew, Andrew never surrenders, insisting there must be a way to fix this, but can’t due to Leyley’s insistence. This leads to Andrew's decay, as he devolves into a mixture of Andy’s resentment boiling over and Andrew’s sadism. The logical part of him (which is Andrew’s lingering care for Ashley) tells him to disengage from the fighting. But his resentment (Andy’s decay) is overpowering his love for her. It gets to the point where both Andy and Andrew become undistinguishable, as they have melded to become his most deranged self. Surprisingly, something similar happens with Ashley, who also struggles to surrender in this route. There are two moments of honesty in the Shots and Such route, the only moments we get to see Andrew and Ashley completely. First is Andrew comforting Ashley’s sobs:

Here, Ashley was actually honest with him for once, which allows both of them to open up. This exchange is much more lighthearted compared to the rest of the route because both are meeting each other at the same level, talking through things together, addressing their happiness and where they want to go. Ashley shines through, taking genuine interest in Andrew’s happiness, but before things can settle…

Ashley must face her fears of freeing Andrew, trusting him. And she doesn’t, because let’s remember, we chose Leyley in this route and let Ashley decay. So once again, things go back to how they were, pointless resentment. There was also a time where Andrew opened up, and that’s when he was drunk out of his mind.

He put his front down, enough to indulge in his paraphilia but not enough to fully express his love. The mixed signals are strong with this one, which further confuses Leyley. However, when they go to sleep that night, Andrew opens up about his needs, about needing Ashley to see him for the mess of a man that he is and still accept him. Ashley takes the stage, reassuring him that she knows all his secrets and loves him regardless. Andrew is honest about why he pushes her away, because it’s the last thread of normalcy he has left. However, things quickly go back to normal, when Leyley refuses to give him a kiss due to all the times he pushed her away. At the end of both of these scenes, we hear a sad music box tune, a sad reminder of how crucial these scenes are. How easily things could be fixed with the care and honesty they warrant, and how easily they fall apart out of simple reluctance and conformity. 

This is a constant thread we see in their relationship, throughout flashbacks and present time, as well as symbolisms throughout Burial and Decay. The choice to not only trust, but to be honest with one another despite their fears could’ve been the fix they needed all along, the one thing they needed to mature. Their bond is so fragile, so easily twisted, that the only way to salvage any semblance of tenderness is to address their underlying decay. I find it funny how there are still people (few but still some) who were disappointed to see that Decay wouldn’t be the "normal" route. I read a few comments of people wanting their relationship to be fixed and be a normal sibling dynamic. To which I just have to say, that is way more delusional than the people who expected any routes of this game to be all fluff and rainbows.

The relationship was already screwed from the get-go, but here’s the hard pill to swallow: having a normal relationship is not the fix they need nor want. The paraphilia has consumed Andrew so thoroughly that his only solution is to completely wipe his brain or fully indulge in it (possibly the two routes of episode 4), while Ashley has to let go of her selfish, childish desires to recognize the Andrew she wanted has been there all along if she cares to meet him there. Is it an unsavory solution? Yeah. It’s gross, morally and ethically reprehensible. But that’s just who they are as people. And accepting themselves for who they are is ultimately the last ditch effort they could ever take to salvage this volatile, fragile relationship. I mean, this optional dialogue really puts it best:

(This is the single line of dialogue that actually made me tear up btw, not even the splat/shots and such ending tore into me so much as this line). 

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is, at its core, a cautionary tale of generational trauma and the cycle of abuse. How far will people go if pushed to their limits? Is it ever possible to remedy yourself once you’re at the point of no return? And is that remedy worse than the sickness itself? Can the doomed ever be redeemed? And if so, what are the necessary steps to take in order to redeem yourself, before it all goes dark? Andrew and Ashley can keep longing for one another all they want, but until Andy and Leyley are ripped and torn to shreds, neither will improve, and are fated to decay in the coffin of a different apartment, one built out of their own hangups and fears. We’ll see what episode 4 has in store, I trust the author will give us a satisfying conclusion. And speaking of the author…

The Meh: Changes to Episode 2

This new update brought about a couple of changes to the previous episodes as well. Namely, the wording for the decisions that split the story into Burial and Decay, as well as revamping the Burial route. I’ll be honest… I’m not a big fan of some of these.

For starters, this new update made me realize the author, as offline as she appears to be, is keenly aware of people’s opinions of the game and takes quite the contrarian attitude to people who miss the point of the story (something I can’t blame her for entirely, and seems to be the reason why things escalated so much in this chapter). Take for example the Grave Mistakes vision, Andrew explaining why they’re not addressing the Toxisoda thing anymore, and going as far as to add a bloody sprite for Ashley in the Burial route (something a few people were complaining about back in the day). Also, there is an optional dialogue in the highschool flashback that feels like a clapback to the Renee mod:

I’m glad the author is aware of people’s criticisms and takes the time to sort through them, but part of me wishes she didn’t try to over-explain some plot points. The thing that I originally loved about the game was the subtle storytelling, how it takes you a couple of playthroughs to fully understand everything lying beneath the surface. It plays tricks with you and makes you think about the characters’ true intentions, goals and desires, all the way until they spiral out of control and pretenses can’t be kept anymore. I liked that Ashley has a little back and forth between wanting to trust Andrew, being unable to because of her insecurities, and falling back on the trinket. But now…

The choice kinda spells it out for you already. For one, the choice of dialogue feels a bit clunky and also redundant given the next couple of lines confirm this already. The change in the olive branch choice, with it now being reflect/decline, doesn’t bother me as much, but this feels a little too in your face. Same thing with the changes to the Burial vision. I like that you have to put the green plushie back in the cage at the end, as it’s something you also did earlier in the puzzle, so it feels less contradictory. But the change to this line…

It’s honestly giving too much away. People go through the Burial route because they want the siblings to trust each other, and they select the left door for the questionable outcome because they want to make the questionable choice. However that route turns out, whether good or bad, is for us to find out as we play. And mind you, I already know it’s not ending so well given the hex Andrew gets in Burial is the same as in the Decay Andy route. That just cannot be any good. Plus, the fact that Burial is all about burying things under the rug. I suspect that while Decay is more about Andrew due to its reflective nature, Burial will be all about Ashley due to her nature of compartmentalizing. I imagine both Burial and Decay will have their own good and bad routes, but I’d rather not jump the gun into assuming what each will pan out to look like, as chances are I’ll be completely mistaken.

And I say this as a good portion of the fanbase was proven wrong with this new update, in terms of what Decay and Burial are about. The general consensus used to be Burial = romance, Decay = hate. Some fans even came up with the bizarre defense that the game is not so bad because the incest is totally optional! It's on the player to pick it. All the while you have Andrew grabbing Ashley's belt loops and cuddling her on the couch in both routes...

I can appreciate asking people to look at what's beneath the surface and analyze things a little more critically, but that was just plain wrong lol. In the back of my mind, I always hoped that Decay would address some of Andrew's feelings to completely shut down all the "optional" nonsense. Welp, that it did... way more than I anticipated.     

Anyway, my point with this last bit of the rant was that I hope these changes don’t become a trend of the author trying to make things clearer for normies or paying any mind to them, as that would only cheapen the storytelling. Those who get the story get it, and if not, they can read people’s shizo analyses online. But I don’t need my hand held throughout the game; I like figuring things out on my own. To wrap things up, I’ll just say I’m very happy with the outcomes we got. They were terrible, but necessary for the reasons explained above. I was originally very scared of the Decay route, as I didn’t know exactly what to expect and angry Andrew scares me. But this has quickly become my favorite episode of all and I can only hope the next ones do it justice. Keep cooking Nemlei, you’re doing good.

[therainscene]

i am dying for any of your thoughts on the teaser 👀

Haha hi, I've been dying to write my thoughts down too but I've just been super busy this week! I finally have some time now, though.

A couple shots I think are very interesting are these kids sequestered in what could be a military bunker of some sort:

Not just cause the sight of children being held by the military is possible evidence for my thoughts on Dr. Kay being an evil Sarah Connor, but because these particular kids look so much like Robin and Will I honestly thought it was them at first glance.

In my opinion, it's unlikely this likeness is a coincidence. The camera is focusing on their reactions, which means costuming and casting had every reason to put a little extra effort into their appearances.

To me, this suggests that we're meant to be reminded of the show's gay characters in this shot that frames these people as innocent and important. Teasers can be misleading, but I still think it's noteworthy that they paired this image with a voiceover of Mike doing his leader thing, thus associating depictions of queerness as good and innocent with Mike's heroism. I feel like this adds subtle thematic context to the shot from the Tudum date announcement of Mike shielding not just a bunch of children--

--but also Will, slumped in the background. A little reminder that Mike has always been at his best when he's fighting to protect kids from the horrors of bigotry -- especially when the kid in question is his boyfriend. :)

Some folks are speculating that since it's likely this shot is from the same scene as Vecna's appearance (a shop sign is visible in the top left corner of Vecna's fire shot that places him in the same area as the above scene)--

--then this might be the moment Will's powers activate and he casts a flame wall at Vecna. (source: 3rdduffer)

I disagree. I think the fire is probably coming from the military, or at least one of their flamethrowers. Similarly, I think the "burn" Mike counts down to is more likely to be a military operation they're observing than one of the party's own plans.

This is partly because I just don't think Will is going to have fire powers -- I'm currently drafting up an analysis that will go into more detail on why I believe this, tho for now you can refer to this post for my take on Will's use of violence and fireballs in S1 -- but mainly because the party learned at the end of S4 that fire can't defeat Vecna anyway.

What Vecna is truly weak to, in my opinion, is warmth -- it's cheesy but it's a metaphor for love, and fire is just too violent and hateful a source of warmth to work.

My money is on the theory that the Vecna reveal scene is likely to be the mid-season cliffhanger moment in which Vecna takes Will again (not sure whose theory it is, sorry, I've had a hard time keeping up with the deluge of speculative posts this past week -- but @conflictofthemind posted some interesting leaks that seem to support it), and I'm thinking Will is probably going to undergo some character development, hopefully involving the awakening of his powers, under Vecna's mentorship whether he likes it or not (though I suspect he might be more agreeable to it than the teaser implies)--

--before Mike comes to rescue him and gay love saves the day etc etc.

-------------------

This is all very Byler-focused, but I honestly am excited about the other characters and haven't forgotten that Byler isn't the only source of love that's gonna save the day lol. I just don't have anything interesting to say about them.

Nancy's arc looks like it's gonna be fun, though -- especially since she appears to be involved in discovering whatever this thing is:

I'm dying to know what episode this is from. Looks like it could be something from the finale?? I'm not certain exactly what we're looking at, but it could be the Shadow Monster's death, or perhaps a reveal of the Shadow's true nature -- as usual I'm hoping for something timey-wimey and related to Will's powers.

[twig-tea]

Heesu In Class 2 Ep9: What an Episode of Television

I'm still breathing through my emotions after watching the latest episode of Heesu. If you haven't watched yet, tomorrow is the finale and I highly recommend catching up so that you can sit with the emotional overwhelm of this ep before we get the last episode!

I have been loving how this show understands queerness and how queerness especially while closeted can be overwhelming, and the ways in which the show has used the heterosexual storylines in the side characters to highlight, underscore, and uplift the emotions that come with the closet.

@neuroticbookworm wrote beautifully about the build of emotions this episode, and @lurkingshan perfectly described how much the visual metaphor of the climactic scene affected me and @happypotato48 did a beautiful job putting the metaphor into words. @dramadramallama captured my feelings about the way the show said to camera that a gay crush has additional concerns that make confessing so much harder, and @bengiyo wrote an excellent analysis of how the heterosexual stories have been in service to the main story.

I'm going to build on some of the things not already mentioned, so read these posts too!

Everything in this show is so carefully calibrated to work together to tell this story, and it is breathtaking. I'm still thinking about the way Heesu tested the waters with his siblings by mentioning the lesbian who asked him for advice at school and how he was so relieved that SeungWon has lesbian moms from several episodes ago because at the least there is one person who he knows won't hate him just because of his queerness. That was such a good foundation for the way we get fully immersed in Heesu's struggle with the closet in this episode and why he's having such a difficult time telling his friends what's going on with him. And as Ben mentioned in his post, Chan Young and Ji Yu are also out here illustrating some of the things Heesu is worried about, with their struggles with parental rejection and peer ostracization/attention.

In addition, one of the smaller storylines this episode was Ho Sik confessing because he was encouraged to, and being rejected. I love this happening now because it's another illustration of how much easier it is for heterosexuals to confess. Ho Sik was unsure he was going to be accepted, but he was not afraid of the whole school hating him, of his friends rejecting him, of his life being upended because of the confession. He gets to just be sad and move on (with someone waiting in the wings).

Heesu's sister's stories and the way they relate to the queer experience struck me as well this episode. The reveal that Hee Jong bailed on her ex the way Yeong bailed on Gyu Ho (sorry for the Love in the Big City spoilers but if you haven't seen that show yet you just gotta go do that before you do anything else anyway) was a battering ram to my solar plexus. Her siblings have thought that he abandoned her, but it was the other way around. And she did it because she was scared. The fact that she's gathered her pride and her courage and will be joining him after all even without expectation of their romance reigniting is beautiful to me, and such a good example for her younger sibling that being afraid and holding yourself back hurts the people you love who you inevitably are holding yourself back from. And the message that even if you've hurt one another, and your relationship ends, it doesn't necessarily mean that you can't go back to being friends is a good one. It's not always true, but it's something Heesu needed to hear while gathering his own courage to confess to Chan Young, not because he wants a romantic relationship anymore but because he values their friendship.

Chan Young and Heesu's friendship has see-sawed across the series, as first Chan young and then Heesu's secrets got in the way. They are parallel stories and by showing us Chan Young isolating from Heesu first (around tennis), we understand the emotions behind why he' so upset when Heesu does the same thing to him (we saw Heesu upset at Chan Young when he wouldn't tell him about tennis for this very reason--so that there's precedent for Heesu's secret being such a big deal to Chan Young now). Chan Young revealed to his dad that he was going to go for tennis and he turned to his friend, because he knew Heesu would have his back even though he hadn't shared his worries or plans about tennis with him before. But coming out is different. Chan Young tried to turn on the light in Heesu's bedroom to get him to spill what's bothering him, but Heesu could not tell him even in the dark while they were in his bedroom. He needed the neutral location of the classroom, and I'm unwell about how scared Heesu is that Chan Young is going to hate him, that he didn't feel safe telling him at his house, or was worried it would force Chan Young to leave if it made him not feel safe there. The way our presence is sometimes such a threat that we have to worry about that makes me physically ill.

That being said, Chan Young being so upset that the best friend who is currently saving his life (maybe dramatic, but as someone who also left home to stay with a friend when things were too much, it feels this way) doesn't trust him with something is valid. Everyone has the right to come out in their own time when they're ready, and should not be forced or rushed. And, at the same time, when we don't tell someone such a fundamental truth about ourselves, it isolates them from us and does not allow them to fully know us. Both of these things are true, and the tension between them is why the closet is so miserable. I loved Chan Young calling this out explicitly this episode: Heesu does not trust him with who he is, and that hurts; just like it hurt Heesu when Chan Young wasn't sharing his concerns about tennis and his family with him. Both of these two have struggled being vulnerable with one another, and these conversations are necessary for their friendship to deepen. Heesu making the decision to not just come out to Chan Young but to confess that he had a crush is him laying all of his cards down, and is excruciatingly vulnerable of him. I'm so proud of Heesu that he was able to get to this place, and Chan Young for opening up first and being such a good friend that Heesu felt safe enough to trust him with this.

Finally, shout out to Ji Yu for being my voice in this show lol she has been such a good friend through this whole series and the way she keeps pushing Seungwon to tell Heesu the truth while supporting him in his lies has been peak best friend behaviour. I love that Seungwon has not had the same pressure of the full closet this whole time and how the fact that his secret-keeping is narratively held differently than Heesu's secret keeping was so deftly done. Heesu is in this black hole and the only way out is through, and Seungwon is both terrified of him leaving it and desperate for him to do it. I love that the show calls out that Heesu's unresolved crush on Chan Young is holding both of them back, and that Seungwon has committed to confessing and made it as clear as he can without confessing that he has feelings for Heesu (and he's been extra careful to clarify that he does not have feelings for Ji Yu), so that Heesu is not left uncertain or emotionally toyed with.

This show has been excellent slow build television, grappling with how queerness complicates one-sided love, how the closet is soul-destroying and so isolating, how our first love does not have to be our best love, and how being honest about what we want and having courage and support to go after it is the route to happiness. I'm so excited for tomorrow's finale.

[zettaireido-emotion]

Camus character analysis: games VS anime

If you finished the Uta no Prince-sama anime and your opinion of this man is "wow, he's kinda terrible," I don't blame you. in fact I've seen a lot of people say this

In this post, I want to talk about his characterization in the games and give my two cents on what the anime was trying to do with him, especially in his single focus episode Saintly Territory (S3E6).

Disclaimer: I wrote this on a whim because I'm sick and stuck at home so if anyone reads this, sorry I might go all over the place

Spoilers for all of the games!

The "be my slave" thing

Starting with Anime Camus's most egregious crime: treating Haruka like a servant/slave (however you want to translate it)

Basically in his focus episode, Haruka is tasked with writing a song for Camus. She wants to learn more about him in order to write it, but Camus will only let her follow him if she acts as his servant. She accepts without complaining, Cecil is rightfully angry, Haruka continues anyway and the song gets completed.

Now, am I about to say that Game Camus would never do this? No because he literally does lmao.

The anime doesn't pull this "servant" plotline out of nowhere, here's the context in his route:

Haruka accidentally overhears Camus talking about a plot to assassinate Saotome on the phone. When he notices that she heard everything, he basically tells her that he has to kill her now. But if she served him, he'd be able to keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't leak anything, so she could escape death.

Okay uh "work under me or DIE" isn't exactly better, nor is it a good start to a love story, but I'm not finished!!

(A side note: I have to add that the anime made him look like an even bigger asshole and borderline dumb when it came to the things he made her do. Like he expected her to know that snapping your fingers means you want coffee without prior explanation. bro

^This might have been for comedic effect but I promise he can be actually funny and endearing.)

What the anime couldn't cover

The Camus episode wraps up with Haruka pulling through and writing a song that makes Camus "sincere," he says it's cool at the very end and that's the episode. I think the problem is that we technically didn't see him being sincere or what that even means to him, besides when he was singing (banger song btw)

It's a shame because in a 20-minute episode you really can't show the game experience of slowly piecing together what this man's problem is.

First of all, in Debut and AS you'll be quick to notice that he always has homeland and duty on the mind, constantly reminding himself that he's in Shining Agency/Japan for a reason, and it's NOT to have fun or make friends

The truth is, he slowly starts to appreciate the banter with his colleagues, music, and working there in general.

But because of his initial mindset, he has to rationalize & justify every connection he forms, like "it's just for work" or worse: "actually it was ALL A LIE and I NEVER ENJOYED A SECOND OF THE TIME WE SPENT TOGETHER, I'm such a great actor haha"

He uses that to fool himself and to push the other person away so it doesn't happen again. This scene is probably the best example:

(I'll be using google lens because it's faster but I checked that the tls were okay)

He also does this in the Non-Fiction drama, which may or may not have actually happened, but I think it's still a pretty good reflection of what could happen in reality because he tells Ranmaru their bond was a lie, then mopes around in his guilt thinking about the good times and wondering why he's sad, and THEN later doubles down on the "it was a lie, I don't care about you" because he just can't let himself get attached to anything.

Basically, he's terrified at the thought of forming actual bonds because he genuinely thinks he's nothing if he stops being a cold weapon:

At one point he does admit he sucks (as a love interest)-

-which is pretty huge by utapri standards. I love these games, but the amount of times where a male lead does something icky, and everyone, including Haruka, acts like it's normal or like it's Haruka's fault is ehhh but I digress

Upbringing

Of course he's very proud of his homeland and status, but sometimes it's to the point of thinking he can't be anything other than his title. So why is he like this?

We got to hear about his childhood from Camus himself a few times, and it often ended with Haruka thinking "wait? that's kinda messed up?" and Camus insisting it's nothing/it's normal so yeah that's something...

His parents were in an unhappy arranged marriage, and his mother was forced to birth an heir which traumatized her so much that she can't see Camus without falling ill. Overall it's a pretty tragic situation since what happened to her was horrible, though not Camus's fault either. Even now she refuses to see him, and I wouldn't say that makes him sad because he never really met her, but simply knowing of her sacrifice probably adds a lot of pressure. As in, he only exists for this one purpose (inheriting his father's title and serving the country), so if he doesn't play his part correctly, it would have all been for nothing.

He was raised by his father not as a child or son but as the heir, always treated and judged as an adult (even during physical training apparently, make of that what you will)

When Haruka asks about childhood memories he has a very hard time finding something that doesn't have to do with his duties or the nation. And then admits he didn't truly have a "childhood" since he was never treated like a child

As for the queen, I think his love for her is sincere: she taught him a lot of things growing up, and according to him, she's also a victim trapped by her duties so he wants to ease the burden.

So hypothetically, if he found things or people that made him happy in Japan, he would feel obligated to lock them away because that happiness is incompatible with his life: he'll have to leave when his mission ends, he shouldn't be spending time on things that aren't "useful" as he doesn't have the free will to pursue them

In his mind he's completely tied down by the fact that he was born and raised for a single reason, and the fact that he does want to serve the queen.

(This is Saotome describing him btw)

Also it might sound ridiculous to bring his self-worth into question because of how pretentious he is, but I've counted a few situations where he seemed to have complete disregard for his own life, only worrying about Haruka and Cecil's safety in scenes when they were present. And he thinks wanting to be loved unconditionally is a childish thought he shouldn't have.

"Double Face" was a lie. There's like at least 10 layers

On the surface he does have two personas, his perfect polite butler act for the media, and his cold bitchy attitude off camera. But honestly, even when he's not acting as a butler, he's often putting up a front to hide any form of vulnerability (from himself as well)

His main struggle is finding who he is outside of what he's being told to do. Before, he never actually stopped to think about what he WANTS because it just never occurs to him, or if it does he ignores it.

That's why realizing that he has his own desires is essential to his character development, and him staying with Quartet Night (and Haruka in his routes) is so important. It's why Reiji feels the need to reach out and when he does, Camus either freezes up or tears up;

This all makes him the opposite of Ranmaru (being true to yourself and sincere), and similar to Ai (gradually learning to view the world in a less cold and logical way), but I kind of want to save that for another post lmao

He is especially hard on Cecil because Cecil says & does whatever he wants, and everything still works out for him, which is a way of life that Camus can't imagine for himself at all (despite maybe wanting it?)

That he can realize this and eventually admit out loud, despite all his pride, is also one of my favorite things about him

Season 2 does hint at something, so that's pretty cool!

Side note, I really love that his theme in the new Oracle series is "Change," the melting of ice.

So what was the anime supposed to do??

Of course there's no way to show all this in a single episode or even during the runtime of the anime, and I never expected them to because the story is very surface-level (that goes for all characters).

It's just unfortunate since the anime is the most accessible and well-known utapri media in the western fandom, and the character's main episode is bound to leave the biggest impression.

I understand the choice of being laser-focused on the servant plotline, it's supposed to be funny (?) and waters him down to a trope that's easy to understand at first glance (the step-on-me guy I guess)

Still, I can't help but compare it to Ranmaru's episode, who was also hard to work with in the games but was chill in S3E7 and got to pet cats. Anime onlys will never know how much Camus loves to dote on his dog smh.....

[fandomwe1rd0]

Rick and Morty's dynamic for each season! I finally finished it!

THIS POST IS VERY VERYY LONG, THE WHOLE POST IS UNDER THE CUT

Heyyy, happy Easter to my followers! This is my easter gift for y’all! Don’t say I never do anything for you! Sooo, since I reached 300 followers! I love you all, by the way! Mwah! Mwah! And to celebrate, I made a poll to ask you guys what you'd like me to do, anddd you said that you'd like me to make an overanalysis of Rick and Morty's dynamic each season! This doesn't exactly surprise me; a lot of people said that they followed me because of my analysis! So this doesn't surprise me too much! And this will be the 2,000th post on my account! I honestly never expected to keep this blog going for this long, but I'm glad I did! Because if I didn't, I would've never met so many kind people! Okay, okay, enough with the sappy stuff before I turn into a tree (I stole that joke from a youtube, who did I steal it from? I'll never tell! Mwah-ha-ha- wha-? This is a Wendys? Oh uhm yeah of course, sorry) Now let's jump into it starting from the beginning!

~ Season 1 ~

Okay, let's begin with them in season 1! This was definitely their dynamic at their most exploitative, I'd say. In episode 1 alone, we see that Rick:

1. Barges into Morty's room while he's sleeping and DRAGS HIM OUT OF BED BY HIS ANKLE so they can go on an adventure

2. Drags Morty out of school so he can help him on an adventure, then pressures Morty when he's hesitant

3. Didn't care when Morty's legs broke due to Rick not telling him something, then acted like it was Morty's fault for not knowing information that Rick didn't give him, and only fixed Morty's legs when he was rightfully pissed at him

4. Encourages Morty to stick megaseeds up his uh...bottom so they can smuggle them through interdimensional customs, then didn't do anything when they dissolved, which made Morty lose his motor skills and brain functionality for 72 hours

5. Lied to Morty about the security guards being robots, so Morty shoots them, and showed no sympathy for Morty when he was horrified that he shot them

6. Used Morty's temporary super intelligence so he could get himself out of trouble, then ranted to Morty, telling him that he will keep his mouth shut about their adventures

And that was in the first episode alone, and we can clearly see that he has very little to no respect for Morty. Only using him for adventures and not caring about Morty's feelings or autonomy, outright forcing him to go on adventures when he doesn't want to. Even in Rick's worst season (season 4), he never forces Morty to go on adventures with him, even if he is mean or annoyed when Morty doesn't want to. It's pretty safe to say that for the first few episodes of season 1, he didn't even see Morty as a person but instead as a tool that is useful for adventures.

We see him again, disregarding Morty's autonomy in episode 3. Dragging Morty away from a family Christmas without making sure he's ok with it. Even insulting Morty's intelligence for literally no reason afterward. Calling his brain his "little walnut" and casually mentioning to him that he has to hold his breath before he minimizes him or his organs will collapse. He also minimizes Morty's girlfriend in this episode, keeping Morty isolated and preventing him from having a relationship with someone his age. We see him doing something similar when he drags Morty away from Jessica at the end of episode 1. While I heavily doubt that Rick is grooming Morty (For non-sexual reasons, ofc), and if he is, that's not what the writer intended; he does fit the isolating step disturbingly well. However, he is most likely doing this to keep Morty dependent on him and not to groom him. It's still fucked up either way.

Then we see him disregard Morty's autonomy yet again in episode 4, where he drags Morty out of class, speaking for Morty when Mr. Goldenfold says if Morty leaves he's giving him an F. (Granted, Rick knew that this wasn't real, but he knew that Morty didn't know that, and believed that Morty was real) 

Mr Goldenfold: If he leaves, I'm giving him an F!

Rick: He doesn't care!

Now, Rick does actually care about Morty in season one and has episodes where he shows that, but these are few and far between, and the bad in this season heavily outweighs the good, but for argument's sake, I will point them out.

1. Episode 4, he gets angry and protective when he finds out that aliens watched Morty while he was...uncovered, even attempts to lunge at them for doing so, which is sweet considering that Jerry, Morty's dad, didn't give 2 flying fucks.

2. Episode 5, comforts Morty after what happened with Mr. Jellybean, and even kills Mr. Jellybean for the sick shit he did, which is absolutely deserved.

3. Episode 9, Rick was happy to see Morty when he was alone at the Smith's house, but quickly covered it up because feelings are for losers, ig. 

4. Episode 10, Rick angrily tells the other Ricks to "leave my Morty out of this" when they take him to the council.

5. Episode 11 has cute bonding moments with Summer and Morty at the end of the episode.

Now, Rick, despite still caring about Morty, was very exploitative and saw Morty more like a tool he can use on an adventure instead of a person. A good example of this is this exchange in episode 10

Morty: Oh my god, Rick! There's a bunch of people strapped to that building!

Rick: Not people, Morty...Mortys.

Soooo yeah, that line straight up shows that at this moment, he didn't see Morty as a person, he even admitted to fiddling with the concept of torturing Mortys to hide from other Ricks (He says that he did it "On paper" but we can see when the memories are scanned that he did do this) and he took a voucher for a free replacement Morty. Again, showing that he saw Morty more as a tool that can be replaced easily, and not a real person...but that was until...

~ Season 2 ~

We're at Season 2, baby! Now, Rick and Morty's dynamic was still toxic in season 2, but Rick is finally seeing, or at the very least starting to see, Morty as a person rather than a tool. A VERY good example of this is in the very first episode, A Rickle In Time, I'm sure if you've watched the show, you know what scene I'm going to bring up, the scene where Rick, without hesitation, gives Morty his time collar. This is a huge moment. Also, in that episode, the timeline splits whenever a character is uncertain about something, and when Rick gave Morty his time collar, letting himself be stuck in a timeless oblivion so Morty will be ok. And his literal only request was that Morty be a better person than him. 

While this scene is adorable and is the only proof that you need to see how much Rick truly cares about Morty, it also shows that he still sees himself as "above" Morty in some way, due to his delusional god complex, which was still strong here. Considering that he said, "Be better than me," saying that he doesn't see Morty as above him, it could be implied that he sees Morty as equal in this scene, but considering how he treats Morty in this season, I doubt it. Now, in this season, Rick is definetily less exploitative. He still doesn't treat Morty great, but he doesn't exploit him as much as he did in season 1. 

Now, this isn't to say he treats Morty well; he still emotionally abuses him regularly, not caring when Morty is hurt by what he said. Like in A Rickle in Time, when Morty tells him, "Words hurt!" and Rick has no reaction. He also insults him a lot in Mortynight Run, even when he thinks that Morty is hurt after Fart left. Completely willing to kick Morty down, and the way he does it so gleefully doesn't exactly help. He also wasn't worried about Morty when he left in These Ricks Must Be Crazy, which will wildly contrast season 3, where they went HARD on Rick caring about Morty. Not that I'm complaining! 

Rick also leaves Morty twice in this season, adding to Morty's abandonment issues, which, uh...isn't something a good grandpa would do. He fully meant to abandon Morty in Auto Erotic Assimulation, but only came back since Unity left him. He also left Morty to turn himself in in The Wedding Squanchers, which, whether Rick notices it or not, is a common manipulation tactic for codependency. Showering someone with attention, then leaving, which will make people so desprate for more attention that they will quickly become depedent on you, which is what Rick did here, although I am pretty sure it wasn't intentional, as he did what he did out of a desire for the Smith family to have a normal life, after he heard Beth crying saying that she'll let Rick do whatever he wants because she doesn't want him to leave again. I refuse to believe that was a cold, calculated move, as I doubt that he would want to willingly relive his trauma in the season 3 premiere. But whether Rick intended it or not, he did use this manipulation tactic, which caused Morty to become very codependent on him, since I would argue that he wasn't as codependent in earlier seasons as he is in later seasons. Especially considering that Morty threatened to kill Rick in Look Who's Purging now.

This is where tension starts to build in their relationship, and we see more of Morty's seething anger towards Rick and repressed rage. Rick is aware of Morty's repressed rage, but doesn't do anything about it, making Morty believe that he doesn't have it at the end of the episode by lying to him that a candy bar he ate amplified his violent tendencies. This may seem sweet, and in a way, it is, since Rick did this to clear Morty's conscience. But Morty deserves to know about his repressed rage so he can do something about it and work on it. But Rick is inherently keeping this information from Morty, making the inherent power dynamic they have, considering it's a younger family member and an older family member, even more unhealthy. Since Rick knows something big about Morty that Morty doesn't know about himself, Rick is purposefully keeping this information away from him. Although we never see Rick attempt to exploit Morty's repressed rage, keeping something this big from him isn't ok.

Again, Rick still cares about Morty in this season, sacfricing himself to save Morty, saving Morty in Mortynight Run, although he bitched and complained, being worried about Morty when Unity blew up a town, watching a movie with Morty and Summer and happily getting ice cream with them, etc., etc.

We do get more moments of him and Morty caring about each other and bonding since Rick is seeing Morty as a person instead of a tool he uses on adventures, but their dynamic is still heavily unhealthy with a huge power imbalance, and has Rick making Morty's codependency on him worse.

So while Rick exploits Morty less and is finally seeing Morty as a person, their dynamic is still very unhealthy, with a huge power imbalance and codependency galore. Now, let's get to season 3!

~ Season 3 ~

In season 3, we not only get more tension with Rick and Morty's relationship, with Morty shooting Rick in the head and yelling "Who's stupid now bitch!?" To be fair, it was a fake gun, but Morty didn't know that. Morty also tricks Rick into taking Jerry on an adventure since he just wanted a break from the adventures. But we also see the codependency leak into other parts of Morty's life. Morty starts to have repressed rage towards Jerry, as we see him attacking people while pretending that they are Jerry in Rickmancing the Stone.

You may be wondering how this has anything to do with his relationship to Rick, while codepedency can lead to estrangened relationships with other family members (https://castimonia.org/2021/09/05/codependent-families-family-roles-whats-yours/) since family members may struggle for power, which is something we see Jerry do with Rick, another reason why Morty may have repressed rage towards Jerry is because people who are codepedent on others may adopt their opinions on the belief that it'll give them validation (https://codependencyrecovery.org/2022/11/04/worrying-what-other-people-think/) so another reason could be because Morty recogonized that Rick hates Jerry and adopted that same opinion without realizing it, causing him to seethe in anger before his repressed rage for Jerry formed. It could also be his way of getting his repressed rage out by taking it out on unrelated people, he literally said this in season 3 episode 2, "What if we...didn't do it? What if we just went back to the blood dome and kept taking our baggage out on unrelated people?"

Rick also isolates Morty more with his season 3 premiere speech.

"I just took over the family, Morty! And if you tell your mom and sister I said any of this, I'll deny it! And they'll take my side because I'm a hero, Morty! Now you'll have to go and do whatever I say, Morty! FOREVER!"

This is a common manipulation tactic. Making your victim believe that nobody will believe them, so they may as well not even bother telling anyone, also burdening your victim with a big secret, and expecting them to keep it, which allows the abuser to hold more power over their victim. He knows that Beth has abandonment issues and knows that she'll take Rick's side if Morty tries to tell her just how dangerous his adventures with Rick are. It's chilling how many manipulation tactics Rick takes with Morty, to keep control over Morty and to keep Morty codependent on him. 

Now, for Rick, this makes sense; he craves control. This codependency is something that Rick doesn't get, he's uncertain about it, and it doesn't make sense to him, so he tries to control Morty so he can regain the feeling he likes of having everything under control. He also sees that Rick KNOWS that doing these manipulation tactics is giving him control over Morty, which makes it VERY unlikely that he's doing these on accident, as he says this to Morty when he's in his toxic form in season 3 episode 6:

"You can die when I say so! I control you! I control the universe!"

We also see just how badly Rick's emotional abuse affected Morty, with toxic Morty being HEAVILY insecure, saying things including but not limited to:

"I don't want to be on camera, I'm ugly and gross, please!" "I did it, Rick! I got the tank! I'm a piece of shit, but I got the tank!" and "I think my voice is annoying"

We also see him agreeing with Toxic Rick with everything, something that emotional abuse victims tend to do to minimize abusive events, this becomes even more apparent when we find out that Mortys are breed to be as forgiving as possible, and a lot of emotional abuse victims tend to be forgiving towards their abusers (https://psychcentral.com/health/coercive-control#recap)

Morty also being heavily insecure is another sign of codependency, as when someone is codependent, their view of themselves is heavily tied to what the person they are codependent on thinks of them. Morty also saying that he dislikes confrontation in the episode could be tied to emotional abuse, or it could be that and a mix of codepedency, as people who are codepedent have self worth tied to the person they are codepedent on, and because of that will avoid conflicts with them since they want to be liked by them. (https://www.simplypsychology.org/signs-of-codependency.html)

Another thing I want to point out is Morty’s lack of boundaries with Rick. An example of this is in Rest and Ricklaxation. Rick goes to drag Morty out of school again, and at first Morty says no since he found out that Jessica was single, then Rick is dismissive of him, and continues to pressure him. Which Morty agrees to. Also in the season 3 garage rant, Rick repeatedly invades Morty’s personal space, and while Morty is clearly scared, he doesn’t do anything about it. This is a common sign of codependency (https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/family-members/codependent) We do see Morty begin setting boundaries with Rick in season 7, but after years of neglecting his own boundaries when it came to Rick, it will take a while to undo this. We also see this in season 1, with Morty being able to successfully share his boundaries with Jerry about coming to his room without knocking, while we see Rick do that exact thing multiple times, and Morty just lets it happen, not setting clear boundaries with Rick, letting Rick have more control over him. Now this is NOT Morty’s fault, as Rick is the one who got Morty codependent on him, but that’s just another way for Rick to control Morty, as Rick is a control freak.

This also seems to be the season where Rick's codependency on Morty gets worse, so he desperately tries to retaliate by controlling Morty more. An example of this is in episode 4, where he gets jealous of Morty seeing the vindicators as his heroes and not him. Rick probably doesn't feel this a lot, it's weird to him, he doesn't know why he cares so much about what Morty thinks, and why he's so mad at the thought of Morty seeing other people as his heros, so he does what he knows best, he goes to drink so he can numb himsef and feel like he's in control. 

Rick seems to crave control a lot; the reason for this most likely stems from his backstory, Diane and Beth dying from Rick Prime. This was a situation Rick wasn't in control of. In the few seconds he had to gain control, he was frozen in shock. In Rick's mind, their deaths were his fault because he didn't have any control over the situation, so he wants control over everything. He hates being uncertain and confused. His dynamic and codependency with Morty confuses him. He hates caring about others, scared that if he cares about people, they'll leave him, be put in danger because of him, or die. He cares about Morty. He should hate Morty, but he doesn't. It confuses him so much that he tries to control Morty as much as he can to combat this feeling, but it doesn't work. It never does. Rick also revisits the memory of Beth and Diane's death in the season 3 premiere, he is reminded of what happens when he doesn't have control at all times, people he loves die.

While season 1 was their dynamic at its most exploitative, seasons 3-4 were their dynamic as it's most controlling. Rick can feel the codependency becoming worse and tries to combat this with control, yet it still doesn't work. Let me quickly list off moments in season 3 where Rick attempts to control Morty.

1. Rickmancing the Stone attempts to push Morty into doing stuff he doesn't want to do and continues to push Morty to do the things, even when Morty doesn't want to. An example of this was him trying to push Morty to leave, even when Morty said that he wanted to stay. Or him volunteering Morty into the blood dome and not caring when Morty was mad at him for doing so.

2. Pickle Rick. He tries to manipulate Morty into lying for him. Saying this: "Morty, I assure you I would never 'find a way' to 'get out of' family therapy." 

3. Vindicators 3: Return of Worldender. Put the Vindicators into a SAW so Morty can see what horrible people they are and hopefully idealize Rick over them. He didn't actually want to kill the vindicators, but still.

4. Rest and Ricklaxation. Toxic Rick controls Toxic Morty for this whole episode, bossing him around and straight up saying, "I control you."

5. Morty's Mindblowers. Rick literally removes memories from Morty that make Rick come off as pathetic, are embarrassing for Rick, or even a moment where Morty gets the slightest bit of power over Rick. An example of this is when Morty made fun of Rick since Rick thought that "Take things for granted" was "Take things for grainte" or when Morty won a checkers game against Rick. Then acting like Morty was overreacting when Morty was rightfully pissed at Rick after he found out the truth.

But, Rick also slightly softens up in this season, letting himself be a little more relaxed with Morty, like when he always tells himself to just have a fun time with Morty at Atlantis. This was off-screen, but in the after-credits scene, it's clear that they both had a nice time and were fondly talking about their adventure together. Rick also takes Jerry on an adventure, despite not liking Jerry, because he thought Morty was genuinely worried about Jerry and wanted to make Morty happy. Even if he tries to brush this off by saying, "You know how Morty gets when he gets emotional, it impedes my work." We also see Rick and Morty geuinely enjoy Minecraft together, without Rick making any snide or backhanded remarks towards Morty, while this was their dynamic at it's most controlling, we also see them become more like friends...but then we reach season 4...ooo boy, aren't you in for a treat...

~ Season 4 ~

So in season 4, we get another attempt at Rick trying to control Morty with him trying to control Morty as usual, but he was trying to drag Morty on an adventure without caring about if Morty wanted to do it or not, but Beth actually stops him, since now she's having Rick ask Morty, giving Morty more autonomy, sadly though, it's not nearly enough considering how controlling Rick was of him in season 3, and this season. Morty did agree to the adventure, but when Rick died, Morty chose to let Rick stay dead so he could die with Jessica. Again, this shows the budding tension between them, with Morty coming to hate Rick, or at the very least not love him. This will change, though, as it tends to with codependency, as Morty will begin to trauma bond with Rick. 

Rick did 3 VERY fucked up things in season 4. I like to think of it as the fucked up triology. So, first he manipulates Morty into hating heist movies like him, so he doesn't get too busy with it to go on adventures in One Crew Coocco Over Morty. Gave Morty a BLACK EYE in Rattlestar Ricklatica, and traumatized Morty into being terrified of ever defying him again in Vat of Acid.

There are also very few moments where he cares about Morty here, 

He shields Morty in the premiere and has a cute garage rant with him.

Tells Morty that he loves him in the ending of Never Ricking Morty (We’re ignoring the lips if you want part, thank you very much! Although it is another good example of how Rick ignores Morty’s boundaries and Morty lets his boundaries be ignored)

He and Morty have a bonding moment in Promortyus.

And uhhh that’s about it! Now, let’s talk more about the fucked up shit he did because…whoo boy, is it MESSY.

Now, starting off with the heist episode, this is another attempt by Rick to get more control over Morty’s life, which sadly works. So, a quick refresher in case you forgot (I doubt it, what Rick did here is pretty infamous for good reason), Morty was writing a heist script, and because of that was flaking on adventures with Rick, which annoyed Rick to no end. Then, when he heard from Summer that Morty could get a Netflix deal, he heard 4 words that set off alarm bells in his head.

“You could lose him.”

Rick is also codependent on Morty, relying on him far more than anyone should rely on a 14-year-old. So the thought of losing Morty terrifies him, so he said that he would “Nip this in the bud” but luckily Beth butts in. Telling Rick that he won’t be doing anything bout it, and if Morty gives up, it better be his own choice, and not because of Rick. 

Now Rick hears this, and, like the emotionally stable, well-adjusted man he is, took this as he’s supposed to manipulate Morty into giving up on the dream, so he remains codependent on him and so Rick doesn’t lose him, as he is terrified of losing Morty, since he lost 2 people that were so, SO important to him, and Morty quickly became the most important person in his life after their death, so he would do anything not to lose him. Even if it means doing things that he knows would be damaging to Morty’s psyche.

This is what I mean when I say that Rick does love Morty, just not in the correct way. He loves Morty, but in a selfish way, as he doesn’t care about how his actions affect Morty, only wanting Morty to stay with him, no matter what the cost it may have on Morty’s psyche. Now, Rick does treat Morty better and cares more about how his actions affect Morty, but this realization came a little too late; his actions already damaged Morty immensely, and I don’t think Rick realizes this. As he never even considered that Morty’s greatest fear could have something to do with him in Fear No Mort, but we will get to that, TRUST ME. I don’t think Rick is being intentionally abusive, he’s just doing whatever he thinks he has to do to protect Morty, as he believes that caring for people is basically a death sentence for them. So he tries to pretend like he hates Morty, terrified of admitting and showing just how much he cares about Morty, but this didn’t make him hate Morty; it only made Morty hate himself. And Rick’s manipulation of Morty seems to be his attempt to keep Morty around him by any means necessary.

Now I am by no means defending Rick’s actions, they are ABSOLUTELY abusive, but I don’t think Rick realizes that, as very few people are intentionally abusive and manipulative. They mostly do not recognize that they are abusive (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/invisible-bruises/202210/do-abusers-understand-their-behavior-is-wrong). Although this does not excuse their actions, it is interesting to bring up. They also tend not to realize how their actions affect their victim, as the change happens slowly. Which is also something I believe is true for Rick. He definitely doesn’t realize how much he has hurt Morty, although this doesn’t make Morty’s hurt ok. Rick truly has no idea how deeply he’s scarred his grandson. 

Vat of Acid is another VERY fucked up thing. This also has to do with Rick’s fear of losing Morty. So, Morty saw firsthand that one of Rick’s plans failed, and he lashes out at him for it. He then manipulates Rick into making an invention for him by using reverse psychology, which works, of course, since Rick has the most fragile ego known to man. But it turns out Rick didn’t do what Morty wanted, instead transporting Morty to a different timeline, killing the Morty that was originally in that timeline, eventually revealing this to Morty, traumatizing him. He also had Morty merge all of the timelines together, so only one Morty did all of the things Morty did in that episode. Take a shot for every time I say Morty in this post! I’m kidding, don’t do that. You’ll definitely die of alcohol poisoning. So Rick did this, one to preserve his ego, as he wants Morty to see him as cool, despite not wanting to admit it, because basic human emotions are for losers! And two, did this to keep Morty with him. As he says in season 6, after he believes that Morty hates him:

“This is what happens when you let people in and they stop respecting you!”

Morty didn’t respect Rick here, and Rick, being terrified of what that could mean, makes a whole contrived plot to keep Morty from ever critiquing him again. Hoping that this would keep Morty respecting him.

Rick is an incredibly fucked up indivual, but he typically does have a reason for doing the reprehensible shit he does, which makes it interesting to anaylze, and shows how complex he really is. So while season 4 was Rick at his worst, it IS a pretty interesting season to use to analyze Rick’s character.

This is also the season that kicks off Rick’s redemption arc. In the finale, Rick realizes how much of a terrible father he is, which leads him to sit alone in the garage and reflect on his behavior in this season. Unable to face the family after he realized just how horrible he is. This is a MASSIVE moment of growth for Rick, as he realized how much his actions hurt Rick, and how horrible it is to look at those actions play out. 

Now let’s get to the REAL reason why any of you are here for this post! Season 5! Rick’s redemption arc is starting, babbyyy! Let’s go!

~ Season 5 ~

Ok, so at the end of season 4 with the whole clone Beth thingy, Rick realizes what a truly bad person he is, and sits in the garage thinking about how horrible he’s been in season 4. Since, imo, he was at his worst in season 4, and Rick seems to agree since he begins his redemption arc in season 5. With the very first episode, we already see how different he acts. He tells Morty to leave him and save himself when they are literally in a life-threatening situation. Another example of how, while Rick may be a horrible grandpa, in the end, he loves Morty more than he loves himself. Which isn’t saying a lot because he hates himself, but uhhhh y’know what I mean. In this season, he respects Morty’s autonomy a lot more. For example, in the first episode again, Rick tries to drag Morty off so Morty can watch him sign a peace treaty with Mr. Nimbus. This was right after Mr. Nimbus says that this has to be someone Rick would trust with his life, by the way. But when Rick tries to, Morty yanks his arm away and says, “Rick! I did everything you asked today! Now, can I just spend some time with my girlfriend?” And Rick, instead of just ignoring Morty’s protest and boundaries again and just dragging him off, as, say, season one Rick would’ve done, he doesn’t try to drag Morty away and just says, “Your girlfriend?” Which, I would normally say that this is rude, buttttt considering how this is Morty’s 1st date with Jessica and he’s already using the “girlfriend” label, thissss is pretty fair I’d hate to say it. We also have Morty saying this line: “Y’know, sometimes you have to BE an asshole! My grandpa taught me that!”

Hell, Rick even let Morty off the hook for screwing up later in this episode, even if he’s snarky about it (“I fucked it up, ok?” “It’s ok Morty, it’s what you do, now lemme Deus Ex Machina this shit and let’s go home.”) when usually season 2 Rick wouldn’t hesitate at the opportunity to repeatedly insult Morty for it, and when he’s in the middle of an argument with Nimbus, he immediately drops it when he hears Morty screaming for help, with a: “Screw this. What am I even doing?”

We do see more of Rick’s jealousy and possessiveness over Morty in this season tho (In a platonic way to any proshipppers who are reading this, GET OUT!) in “A Rickconvient Mort” Morty ditches plans he had with Rick to hang out with Planetina (FUCK PLANETINA) and Rick actually doesn’t force the plans him and Morty had on him. So obviously in this season we’re getting more of Rick actually respecting Morty’s autonomy, which is really cool! Buttttt this is where his jealously and possessiveness comes in, he drinks a lot, calls Summer his favorite grandkid right in front of Morty to get under his skin and hurt Morty like how he hurt him (DAMN that is fucked) andddd basically ignores Morty for the rest of the episode. While Rick is a smart man, no doubt about it, he acts very immature when it comes to Morty. The best way I can describe Rick’s possessiveness and jealousy when it comes to Morty is…y’know, when a toddler has to share their favorite toy? Yeah, kinda like that. They get huffy, fussy, and won’t admit what’s wrong. Yep, that’s how our emotionally closed-off boy acted in this episode in a nutshell. He’s scared of showing how much he cares about Morty, since bad things happen to people he cares about; they either die because of him, are put in danger because of him, or leave him. Take, for instance, his original Beth and Diane, Unity, Birdperson, Squancy, hell, Mr. Poopybutthole’s life was ruined because of him. He also just isn’t really the best at dealing with his emotions, considering how much he represses them.

Now, he does slap Morty here in season 5 episode 7 (“Gr-grandpa fucked up, glasses on! Act like a turkey!” “Wha- Are you scared?” *Slaps* “ACT LIKE A TURKEY!”) But this slap was a lot softer contrasting the punch from Ricklatica, as he doesn’t leave a fucking black eye on Morty’s face. But still, hot take…slapping your younger relatives…is bad…*gasp!* I know, I know that’s very surprising and a very spicy take, but…I had to say it.

There’s not a whole lot to comment on for this season, since it focused more on Rick and Morty’s dynamic with other family members, but there are a few important things. One is…despite it being from one of the worst, if not the worst episodes of the entire series, we do get some good moments of Rick caring about Morty in…eugh…Rickdependence Spray…

Ok, this episode is completely shit, and is an abomination, BUT, there IS some good parts about it…and by “parts” I mean Rick, so, he get him greeting Morty in a weirdly nice way “Oh, hey kiddo, how’s your Saturday?”, and he also is pretty protective over Morty in this episode, telling him to step away so he doesn’t get caught in the blast, shielding him and putting Morty behind him when Sperm monsters were attacking, immidately grabbing him when the ship was going down, yeah even though this episode was absolute pure unadulterated garbage, these moments still managed to get an “Awww!” out of me…what can I say? I’m weak! I love me some protective Rick, even in a shitty episode. Also, when it comes out that Morty uh…”used”...a horse machine and because of that all the sprem monsters happened…i-it makes slightly more sense in context, ok? He does shame Morty a little for it, whichhhh is honestly kinda deserved, sorry baby, but the insult is very minor “Morty, you nasty little, lying, world-ending pervert!”, “I always knew your hormones would start a world war Morty, I just didn’t think it would be like this” and “Not really accepting apologies here while I’m stuck as handjob solo here…” but again, these are very minor, and aside from these lines, he lets Morty off the hook for it.

But oh boy, then we get to the toxic cesspool of the season 5 finale…so, in season 5 episode 9, Forgetting Sarick Mortshall, Rick is terrible to Morty, which is kinda essensital for the plot to happen and so one of the best episodes of the series can happen, but it’s still a dick move no matter how you slice and dice it. He calls Morty replaceable, had a wheel of better things than Morty, and purposefully attempted to hurt Morty so Morty will come back and, ideally, have less complaints now since he’ll believe that Rick is fine with replacing him…fuck…I absolutely love Rick, he’s my favorite without question, but he can be SERIOUSLY fucked up at times. Making this analysis made it all the more blatant. One thing I do like about this episode is that it had the BALLS to tell the audience about how fucked up and toxic their dynamic is, many shows will try to brush it off, or make excuses, like “Oh yeah, but they care about each other when it counts” it actually acknowledged the intense toxicity between Rick and Morty, I just kinda wish they directly addressed it more, since this episode didn’t really have a satisfying end to it…actually the episode ends with Rick LEAVING.

Yeah, Rick fucking LEAVES, because I guess giving one of his relatives abandonment issues wasn’t enough. (Yes, ik he never abandoned his original Beth, but he still abandoned this one multiple times) He had to do it with his 14-year-old grandson…yaaaay…

Now, it does try to say that the reasons why he’s leaving are because he’s abusive towards Morty…but if that were the case, he would work to make their relationship better, instead of continually removing Morty’s autonomy. Since now, he can’t even choose to leave Rick, because Rick has already made that choice for him. Making Morty even more dependent on Rick, since he probably feels incapable of making decisions on his own, considering how much autonomy that Rick has taken away from him. Hell, at times it’s like he’s not even his own person, he’s just Rick’s tool for adventures, he does get slightly more autonomy, but this just zaps it all away. Now, I do think Rick did have good intentions with this, buttttt now we’ve got abandonment issues as well! Which makes codependency even worse! (https://codependencyrecovery.org/2024/05/05/the-fear-of-abandonment-in-codependency-how-it-shapes-your-choices-and-what-to-do-about-it) yay….I mean, he did fix Morty’s arm and was genuinely worried when he saw Morty hurt, and gave Morty his portal gun as a parting gift, so like…that’s something, ig. Who cares about abandonment issues when you get a portal gun that you get to keep for a few days out of it!?

Rick does come back in the very next episode when the crows…I don’t wanna use the weird terminology that the show uses…soooo I’ll just say stop adventuring with him. Annnndddd just about nothing has changed, with Morty being ready to go back to how things were before, even when Beth tries to get Morty to tell Rick that he wants his respect, Morty refuses…my poor baby. It’s still nice seeing Beth take a more active role in Morty’s life, though, even if a lot of what she does is the bare minimum, it’s still nice to see. Especially since it shows that her love for her son is stronger than her abandonment issues. Beth is a LOT of things, but she does love her son.

Now, Rick is actually treating Morty like…*gasp*...a human being! He agrees to a dinner with Evil Morty despite not wanting to, since Morty wanted to. Let Morty find out about his past, even picking Morty up, even though Morty chose to do it at like the most inconvenient time. And gently put Morty down. And he AGAIN tells Morty to leave him for dead when Evil Morty offers Morty to come with. And Morty, being the codependent bby he is, chooses to save Rick instead, despite Rick admitting that he only came back because he didn’t have the crow anymore. He was too guilty to admit it, but his silence was answer enough, and after Rick admitted that he didn’t have a plan to get out…damn codependency is crazy, now obviously I do believe that they genuinely love each other, but you have to admit that there is a LOT of stuff that’s done due to codependency.

And the ending that I hate to admit brings me to tears, when Rick is handing a ship, he sees a booster control that says that it will only work with a partner, he takes Morty’s hand with a fucking SMILE on his face and they work TOGETHER as equal PARTNERS instead of the usual Rick being the leader and Morty being, for lack of a better word, a sidekick. This, to me at least, is when Rick consistently starts respecting Morty as a person, instead of only respecting Morty when he acts like him.

Nowwww, let’s see the moments Rick cares about Morty in season 5!

Rick tells Morty to leave him in Mort Dinner Rick Andre, drops an argument with Nimbus to help Morty when he hears him screaming for help, and lets him off the hook for screwing something up, instead of dogpiling on him like usual.

Genuinely wanted to have a good time with Morty with no ulterior motive in Rickmancing the Stone, even if Planetina ruins it (FUCK PLANETINA)

Being very protective over Morty in Rickdepedence Spray and mostly letting him off the hook for screwing up

Fixes Morty’s arm and gives Morty the portal gun in Forgetting Sharick Mortshall

Trusts Morty with his past, carries him, tells Morty to leave him to save himself, AND works with Morty as an equal partner

Woo! Ok! That was season 5! I had a LOT more to say about that than I thought…what can I say? I love yapping about my boys! Now we’re onto the 2nd to last season…for now, I mean Rick and Morty will be getting like, 12 seasons, so we don’t gotta worry about it ending for a while, season 6! And we get more of Rick’s redemption arc here, baby! Ohhh, this will be fun!

~ Season 6 ~

We’re almost at the end! We’re at the home stretch! Keep reading this for just a little bit longer! Even though at this point, assuming you read it all in one go, you’ve read for abboooutttt…25 minutes?! You could’ve watched an episode by now…fuck…uhmmm but you’re a fast reader! I’m sure you took a shorter time…HAHAHAHA! Please don’t stop reading. You don’t know how much time I spent on this…I actually…RESEARCHED and…LEARNED SOMETHING! EUGH! Alright, moving on, sorry, Wendy’s waitress.

First, we have Solaricks! GOD, I love this episode! I love it so much! Now this whole episode is great…butttt that’s for the episode ranking…that’s coming soon, I PROMISE! For this analysis, we’re just focusing Rick and Morty here, but DAMN is it good! So, the cold open show Rick and Morty about to die, since the ship they escaped on is out of gas, and get this, when Rick and Morty were legit about to die, Morty’s FIRST instict was to go over next to Rick, curl up, and cling onto his arm…and Rick, instead of shrugging Morty off or doing an asshole move like that, he actually lets Morty hold onto his arm, and leans his head on Morty’s.

Rick is gentle and vulnerable with Morty in a way he NEVER is with anyone else. He never lets anyone else in the series touch him in such a close way. All Morty wanted was to die while holding onto Rick, and Rick actually let that happen. I honestly, honestly couldn’t see season 4 Rick doing this, but since season 6 Rick is finally letting himself be vulnerable, he’s letting Morty do this. And, more importantly, he’s letting himself do this, he’s letting himself be close with someone else without pushing them away. Because he’s FINALLY beginning to trust himself. Also, in this episode, we find out that Rick Prime was our Morty’s, Morty Prime’s, original Rick. Do you have any idea how big this is? To let a relative of a man you despise, the man who killed your family and ruin your life, to not only not hate them, but to love them, more than you love yourself, for them to be the only one you can trust with your life, to be close with them in a way you never let yourself be with any else ever since your wife and daughter died by that same person’s realitive? THAT’S one of the reasons why he considers his attachment to Morty so irrational, because this is the grandkid of your enemy, and even if you know they can’t control who they are blood-related to, realistically, you should have some resentment towards them, right? I mean, logically, rationally. And Rick, being a very logical and rational person, just can’t get why he holds no resentment towards Morty at all. Holding him in very high regard, even if he’d never admit it, since uhm…feelings are for people who want their families dead, ig. 

Man, I REALLY yapped about that for a WHILE, huh? What can I say? I love my boys, I mean…of course I do, this analysis is nearly 8000 words as I’m writing it right now. Hell, I’m writing this instead of sleeping…it’s 4 in the morning and I just have ICP in my other tab and writing about Rick and Morty in this one…what is my life?

Okay, enough with that existential crisis, you came here for an analysis about an abusive grandpa and his anxious grandson! …You weirdo. 

Now, later in the episode, we have one of my favorite scenes…I-I think in the whole series? Oh, you think I’m overexaggerating?! …Maybe. But this scene is really great, I made one too many posts on it. I’ll just show you the exchange.

“Get outta here! [When Morty was about to do something stupid and dangerous…awfully hypocritical of you, Ricky] You did this last season! You’re like a suicide bomber!”

“Takes one to know one!”

“Yeah? Well, you get it from him [Rick Prime], not me!”

“I don’t know him! You’re my grandpa, Rick! Rick and Morty, 100 years!”

This scene is soooo good, I CAN’T! I love how Rick lost his anger at hearing that, I love Morty immediately disowning Rick Prime, I love the found family, I love the callback to the pilot, GOD! I love it so much. Seriously, that callback was so good, even though Morty was literally rendered immobile because of Rick when he said that, and Rick had zero care about that, it still meant SO MUCH to Morty! Ugh, I need to stop gushing about this scene and carry on with the analysis already…ok, so this is a pretty good example of the genuine (I shouldn’t even have to specify this, but whenever I say “love” I’m talking about PLATONIC and FAMILIAL love! Ok? Ok.) love between them, there is a LOT of codependency between them, but they both do genuinely love each other a lot, Rick just isn’t in the right mental space to show it in the right way, he’s getting there, but he still has a WHILE to go, due to all of his trauma and a whole buncha self loathing! Ahh, THIS is why I relate to you, Rick! I hate myself, too! …That’s not concerning, right?

This is also what makes Rick go back and help the girls, who are in trouble. Morty is the ONLY person who’s able to talk Rick out of doing stupid and self risking stuff, since he’s aware of Rick’s self-destructive tendencies, that just shows how well they know each other, and how much they DO genuinely love and care for each other, even if it can seem hard to believe at times with all the emotional abuse, codepedency, and toxicity.

Also, a bit before this scene, when Morty was stuck in his original dimension, despite him saying “I knew you wouldn’t leave me!” to Rick when he came back, thissss isn’t exactly true. You see, he was talking with Jerry Prime, and, if he actually believed that Rick was coming back when he was talking to Jerry about it, he would say “When Rick comes back,” Butttt well…I’ll just show you what he said.

“If Rick comes back”

If, despite everything, Morty’s abandonment issues are still strong, of course they are, he’s terrified of losing the most important person in his life, the only person that gives him consistent attention, and now he knows that Rick would leave him on a whim, he knows that all of that could be ripped about like, *snap*, that. Who wouldn’t be terrified of losing the only person who actually pays attention to you after you’ve been lonely your entire life?

And it doesn’t help that when Rick came back, Morty was so overwhelmed with relief that he ran to Rick with outstretched arms to hug him, and Rick, being uncomfortable with physical touch, takes Morty’s shoulder and gently pushes him away, leaving Morty feeling more alone than ever.

That’s all I have to say about this episode, but damn, it’s even better than I thought, it reveals SO much about Rick and Morty’s dynamic in one episode…Or I could be overanalyzing this silly drunk grandpa cartoon….nahhh, that’s not it! This was all intentional, and I’m NOT crazy or obsessed, who said that!? 

We also have Rick: A Mort Well Lived, and I’m…split on the episode, I WILL give credit where credit is due, it DOES say a lot about Rick and Morty’s dynamic. It sets the stage for the best episode in the series by showing that Morty thinks Rick doesn’t care about him. This was first introduced as a throwaway line in the season 3 premiere (“Because he doesn’t care! Because nobody is special to him, Summer!”), So it’s nice seeing it expanded on in this episode.

So, basically, Morty was split into a lot of little pieces because of a Roy game…it makes just as much sense in context. I gave you the context. And this, as multiple lines showing just how badly years of Rick’s abuse affected Morty, they straight up just don’t think Rick cares about him…or…them…? I dunno, it’s confusing, the truly heartbreaking thing is, you can’t really blame him, after years of emotional abuse, of course, he would start to believe that Rick doesn’t care about him. We have to remember, we are watching them on TV. We can go back to the moments where Rick cares about Morty and gush about them all we want, but Morty can’t. For Morty, these moments are just that, moments, quick and fleeting. Then after this, he just goes on with his life like normal. So why would he think that Rick cares about him, if all he hears is negative things come out of his mouth 90% of the time? I mean, put yourself in Morty’s shoes for a moment, your grandpa constantly insults you and made it very clear that he considers you 100% precent replaceable, he does have moments where he cares about you, but these are very quick, yeah, you probably wouldn’t think he cares as well. 

Also, while Rick is getting better, we have to remember that Morty is 14, and again, he isn’t watching this on TV. He can’t go back to different episodes and analyze the differences in how Rick treats him, the change is slow and gradual, it makes it all the more realistic, but also makes it all the harder to spot. Of course, a 14-year-old isn’t going to pick up on this, how would he? The Rick he knows the majority of the time in the manipulative, sarcastic, rude Rick, not the kind, gentle, loving Rick that we can see over and over again. 

Also, the one piece of Morty that Rick admitted was a good grandson, was going to admit that he loves, AND was the only one to challenge him and demand that he shows affection towards him…or…uh…her…? If he…she…? Is going to follow what he says. And guess what? She’s the only one who gets left behind on her own request. The only part of Morty that could challenge Rick is gone forever, set to die in a video game. Morty again loses more autonomy, he straight up says: “You know best, Rick! I trust you implicitly!” I swear, he’s becoming more and more like a lifeless husk with no personality that Rick just drags around.

There is also JuRicksic Mort. This doesn’t really reveal much about their dynamic, but they have a really cutesy dynamic here. Hell, Rick even tells Morty, “Give me a hug!” and playfully ruffles Morty's hair when he finds that piece of the asteroid. He also gently elbows Morty and asks, “Get it?” after he tells a joke, and actually attempts to defend himself to Morty when Morty is bitter about Rick not laughing at a joke he made. Which is…weirdly adorable? Rick also takes Morty to Boobworld with no hesitation after he fixes portal travel. Happily saying, “Figured my guy deserves a vacation.” Also, him calling Morty “my guy” is adorable, shut up. Also them gently punching each other’s arms is so fucking cute. MY BOYSSSSS ARGHHH! Also, this has literally nothing to do with the analysis…but I can’t NOT mention Rick absolutely failing at skateboarding, I’m sorry that’s too funny not to mention.

We also get Full Meta Jackrick. And DAMN. This episode is good! It might seriously be S-Tier for me, it is SO good! This episode is a great example on how much Rick changed. He’s physically gentle with Morty, gently holding his arms and hands, helping Morty up, hell, this is also a great protective Rick episode! When Rick thinks Joe Campbell got Morty…uh…pregnant…which, considering how Morty is amad, I…don’t know how that’s possible. Rick’s first reaction? To kill the only other male who could’ve done it,  Joe. He did it by drowning as well, a surefire way to make it as painful as possible. Hell, even when Morty says, “It wasn’t him, Rick!” Rick angrily asks, “Then who?!” Clearly wanting to deal with the man who did that himself. Also, you are INSANNEEEE if you think I won’t mention him putting his lab coat on Morty when Morty was cold. That was legitimately adorable, especially since we rarely see Rick give someone else his lab coat. This was the first time he did, actually.  He did it a second time in Mort: Raganrick (I thought it was called 90s Fad Toys for the longest time bc the site I pirate Rick and Morty from got it wrong, but shhh, that’s a secret between us) was when it threw it to Bigfoot in Summer’s body butttt I thinkkkk that has more to do with the fact that Summer was naked…

Ok, next up! Anaylze Piss, Rick and Morty don’t interact a whollleee lot here, we do get a pretty empowering scene for Morty setting some boundaries with Rick, not agreeing to keep a secret of a man’s suicide for Rick and telling the rest of the family. Rick also goes to therapy! Which is something season 3 Rick turned into a pickle to try to prevent. So yeah, Rick has grown a LOT from season 3, and I’m really proud of him!

Alright, so that’s about it for season 6, Rick and Morty has a much healthier, more cutesy dynamic, sure Rick can still be emotionally abusive, and manhandles Morty when they are running away from others, but he’s a lot gentler now, and treats Morty like an actual person instead of just a tool for adventures that vast majority of the time, now onto season 7, the final one! Then we’re done with this analysis that took way…WAYYYY too long. Wait- what!? No! I don’t want to talk about the last 2 episodes! I don’t want to, I’m not gonna, you’re not gonna make me! Wait…you’ll buy me a Rick plushie if I do…? 

…

Damn you comfort characters. (I say despite making an entire analysis on how abusive Rick is, yes, he is still my comfort character. Meeseeks and Destroy. That’s it. That’s my reason.)

Ok, so, in A Rick in King Mortur’s Mort, damn these long titles, Rick straight up abandons Morty...again. He’s tryna win the Olympic gold medal for how many times he can traumatize this kid, istg. Give him DOUBLE the abandonment issues, why not!? He did make a robot designed to literally make Morty happy, which, y’know, is sweet in that special Rick way. But he still abandoned his grandson for months because he couldn’t pull himself out of his obsession with Prime.

Why is this?

Because of Morty.

Morty insulted him once, and it caused him to spiral.

Rick never really cared about Morty’s insults, but now he’s finally starting to respect Morty, so now those insults actually hurt, insults are a lot harder to brush off if you actually respect the person they are coming from.

It actually broke Morty that Rick would do this, he cries, and it’s heartbreaking. “He’s [Rick’s] busy…and I hate him, and I lost my lightsaber, and now it might destroy the earth, and it’s the worst Christmas ever!” Hell, after Rick lashed out with the most victim-blaming speech I’ve ever heard in my life, he immediately feels bad, and starts to blame the president, even now he’s incapable of holding Rick accountable, that’s how bad his codependency is.

And Rick still doesn’t see why what he did was wrong, why would Morty love him? He insulted him, that must mean that he doesn’t care, shouldn’t he be happy that Rickbot is nicer and more thoughtful than him? Why did Morty even care? Rick felt like a victim because he assumed Morty didn’t care about him, at least in Rick’s eyes. He probably thought Morty just finally realized how shitty of a person and didn’t understand how Morty could still love someone like that, forgetting what Morty said in Solaricks.

“You’re my grandpa, Rick.”

That’s why he hated Rick replacing himself with Rickbot; he loves this Rick, Rick C-137, his grandpa, and he just replaced himself with an impostor for months, not the Rick he chose over his biological grandpa, but a robot. He straight up tells Rickbot this.

“You’re not my grandpa, you’re a fucking robot.”

Morty is so terrified of being replaced, and Rick replacing himself terrified Morty that Rick got sick of him, and was going to replace him and leave him, again.

By the time Morty insulted Rick, Rick thought Morty truly didn’t care about him, so he just replaced himself with a better, nicer version of himself so he could focus entirely on finding Prime, thinking that that’s why he’s no good to anyone. That if he could get rid of Prime, everything would be fixed. 

Also…Morty was the reason why Rick stopped hunting Prime, but Morty was the reason he came back to it. Sound familiar?

“The corrosion of 2 personalities that reshape each other until they’re incompatible”

…

And with that, we move on to season 7

~ Season 7 ~

Season 7, baby! We’re in the home stretch!

After spending hours on this and continually getting sidetracked because Depression is a fucking BITCH, we did it! So, sadly, we don’t get as much of their dynamic in season 7, since Morty got sidetracked a LOT in this season, butttt, we still got a lot to talk about, because this season has Fear No Mort!

This season is when their dynamic is at its healthiest, they seem a lot more like friends, which is nice to see. Rick, of course, still insults him, because this is Rick, of course, he’s still going to be emotionally abusive, ya can’t just erase that overnight, but like before, these insults are a lot less harsh, making him seem more like a rude friend than anything. He only insults Morty, like, 7 times throughout the whole season. Which, while it isn’t uhm…great, it still is a massive improvement. Morty is also more of Rick’s level, snapping back at him more than once, which makes their dynamic seem a lot more equal, than it just being a poor kid getting emotionally abused by his grandpa, which, don’t get me wrong, that still is definitely what’s going on, but it’s more equal now than it was before, the power dynamic is still there, but it’s not as unequal as it used to be, which is a definite plus.

Also, Rick actually lets Morty hug him! Contrasting season 6, where he lightly pushes Morty away when Morty tries. In Unmortricken, Morty hugs Rick, and Rick stiffens up, but lets him. And again in Fear No Mort (Oh, we’ll get to you later) Morty hugs Rick, and Rick, despite being obviously very confused and stiffening up again, does albeit awkwardly and half-assed, does try to hug Morty back, butttt Morty does pull away, and Rick, instead of being upset, looks more worried that he did something wrong, although he quickly returns to his resting bitch face afterwards. I love this man so much.

Rick also has a pretty good handle on his anger here, mainly in Mort: Raganrick, when Morty messes up things again, and Rick, instead of showering him with insults as usual. *Cough* Mortynight Run *Cough* He seems a lot more like a frustrated parent, more mad at the situation rather than Morty. He does insult Morty, but it was pretty tame and only once. And to be fair, it was after Morty insulted him, and he does reassure Morty afterwards, despite being stern about it. (“You’d rather stay dead until you win than live as a loser, Christ, maybe you belong here with these idiots.” “Yeah, I could probably teach them how to hit a red button!” “...I said I was sorry….” “And I said keep killing them, while I finish the relay, and I will find a way to get us back home, ok?”) We also see them being equal here, when Morty complains to Rick to get them back home, Rick, instead of hand waving Morty’s concerns away, actually explains his point to Morty (“You need to find a way to get us back to life!” “Without my infinite energy, Morty? I don’t think you’re understanding this, Morty…if I get back, we won’t have another shot at this, you think next time these idiots see an old guy on the battlefield, they’re going to give him a beer?”)

We also get a lot of protective moments between both of them, not only in this episode, but in Unmortricken as well. With Rick wanting Morty to stay away from Rick Prime, since he’s very dangerous, and actually getting angry at Evil Morty when he brings Morty Prime along. (“You brought Morty?” “I’m not worried about him, I’m evil.”) And with Morty getting mad at Evil Morty when he insults Rick (“Reallyyy learned your lesson about chasing this guy…” “Hey, man, you can leave now.”), There is also, of course, the ending, with Morty’s lips trembling when he was waiting for Rick’s response after asking Rick if he was ok. And when Rick says yes (Rick, you fucking liar.) Morty hugs Rick, and Rick, instead of pushing away, lets Morty hug him, just giving him a weird look and stiffening up, I mean, hey, baby steps. Rick also pretends to be happy for Morty which is just…so fucking sad.

And in Rickfending your Mort, we get to see Rick spoiling Morty, and them having a genuinely good time together, hell, despite them arguing here, they actually get over it pretty quickly, and the insults they hurl and each other feel a lot less personal than usual. Just basic ones like bitch and stuff. And even then, Morty still didn’t like the observer talking down to Rick. We also get Morty calling Rick “Grandpa” instead of “Rick”, which is always nice to see. (“It’s some weirdo Grandpa hired to prove I’m a bad person.”) And we get Rick encouraging Morty when he comes to talk to the observer (“Yeah, get ‘em Morty!”) and not being angry when he sees that Morty steals money from his wallet. We also get an adorable ending. (“Rick and Morty! We’re back, baby! Check the glovebox!” “Woah! Another gun!”) Now, despite this episode being adorable, there issss a downside. This is another example of Rick relying too much on Morty, I mean, he literally relies on Morty to keep him mentally stable, which is something you should never put on anyone, much less a 14-year-old. 

There’s also Wet Kaut Amortican Summer. Buttttt we don’t get much of their dynamic here, but we do get confirmation that Rick now regularly spoils Morty, which is adorable, and Rick is actually able to take criticism from Morty without traumazing the poor kid. *Cough* VAT OF ACID *Cough*

Anddd now we get to the one! You know the one. FEAR NO MORT BABBBYYY!

Now, I could gush about this episode till the cows come home, talk about how it’s funny, a great character study on Morty and Rick, how the ending scene is the best ending and twist in all of Rick and Morty…buttttt that’s not what you’re here for, so! Let’s just explain what it means for our boy’s dynamic!

So, in Fear No Mort, we find out Morty’s greatest fear is Rick not caring about him, which is so fucking heartbreaking. And Morty’s realization of the fear is awful, also yes I memorized this scene (“I’m afraid that if I jumped into a hole, you wouldn’t even bother jumping in after me! You’d just stay there and watch! This entire thing has been about ME! YOU’RE NOT EVEN IN THE HOLE ARE YOU!?”) And holy hell, the voice acting is wayyy better than it had any right to be. Harry fucking KILLED it! What hurts the most about that line is that Rick actually DID jump into a hole for Morty in A Rickle in Time, but Morty can barely remember it since he had so many memories of that same moment where Rick didn’t jump in for him, and it’s absolutely heartbreaking. He forgot one of the biggest acts that shows how much Rick really did love him, where he gave his life for Morty’s. AUGH FUCK! 

What also hurts is when Morty gets out of the hole, Rick was just waiting for him. He did just sit there and watch. To Morty, at the very least, his greatest fear was confirmed. Morty jumped into a hole, and Rick didn’t bother jumping in after him. He just sat there and watched. And that breaks Morty’s heart, you can hear him begging that Rick did try to jump in with the amount of pain in his voice (“Oh no…aw jeez no…you…you didn’t go in at all…?”) and Rick said that he didn’t breaking Morty’s heart without realizing it.

But there is something Morty didn’t realize, when Morty woke up and was safe, Rick happily said “Morty!” with a smile on his face, clearly happy to see that Morty was ok, but Morty of course wouldn’t realize a small detail after the overwhelming terrifying experience that he just went through, and to the overwhelming belief that Rick truly does not care about him at all. 

Also Morty asks Rick, just to see if he was still in the hole “Rick…am I…irreplaceable?” Since irreplaceable was the very word that set Morty off, the one word that caused Morty to realize that Rick wasn’t even in the hole, and it was “You’re irreplaceable!” He truly believes that Rick would just replace him at any moment, and when Rick answers that question with: “I mean…define ‘irreplaceable’” This, this fucked up sentence, Rick being a dick, is what caused Morty to realize that he wasn’t in the hole. This made Morty so happy that he hugged Rick, he loves Rick for who he is, for being the asshole that simtaniously ruined and changed his life forever. Rick is single-handedly the reason why Morty can’t have a normal life, and Morty still loves Rick despite this. And Rick stiffens up and looks confused, but actually hugs Morty back. And this terrifies Morty, causing him to break apart and scream “NO! I won’t know if I’m out!” He’s so accustomed to receiving negative attention from Rick, that even the smallest amount of affection from him feels alien, it doesn’t feel real. Now, let’s get something straight, Rick is changing and is getting better, this doesn’t take away from the fact that Rick has deeply traumatized Morty, and Morty is still dealing with the trauma that Rick has put on him after 6 years.

We also see something else, in the hole, Morty was terrified that if Rick had to choose between him and a fake version of Diane, he would choose Diane, but guess what actually happened in the end, when Rick gets that choice?

He rejects it. 

He rejects the ability to see his dead wife again, and instead just looks at the hole, takes a deep breath, takes a picture of Morty that was carefully folded in his wallet, mind you, and puts it on the wall of people who went into the hole and successfully came out, then walks away with a smile, clearly proud and happy of Morty, content with walking away from the past to spend the rest of his evening with his grandson. Fuck, I hate how just describing this scene is making me tear up.

~ Conclusion ~

Now, season 8 hasn’t come out yet, but it will come out soon! But according to staff, Rick and Morty will have more of an equal friendship, sooo this should be the healthiest we’ve seen of Rick and Morty yet! 

So, what did we learn from this? Well, Rick and Morty, despite everything, do genuinely love and care for each other, although this mainly gets overshadowed by their codependency and the general toxicity of their dynamic. And while Rick is getting better and is treating Morty a lot better overall, this doesn’t erase all of the trauma Rick has put on Morty, Morty is still very deeply traumatized from the, at fucking BEST, 6 years of consistent emotional abuse, that even sometimes turns physical. (Rickstar Ricklatica, I’m looking at you) And despite the fact that Rick is changing for the better and does love Morty, and Morty loving him back, Morty still has no obligation to forgive Rick for all of the trauma Rick has dumped on Morty. 

Their dynamic is so insanely complex and layered. I love how it shows that abusers can love their victims, but just not in the right way. Honestly making this analysis of their analysis made me respect the writing of this show even more, as they did a legitimately awesome job at show what can happen to someone with codependency. And it is legitimately so insanely interesting to anaylze, and I absolutely love it! Ok, after multiples months, multiple hours of procrastinating and getting distracted, so SO many spotify songs, and nearly 12k words, this analysis is finally finished! I really hope that you did enjoy reading this analysis. I know it’s long, but I hope it gave you a new understanding of their dynamic! I know it did for me, and I did actually learn a lot when I was researching for this analysis, so it was legitimately an educational experience for me! I think I need to stop saying legitimately- But yeah! This was a very long post and analysis, but I did genuinely enjoy making it! And I hope you enjoyed reading it as well! Thank you!

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

STAR TREK DIALOGUE ANALYSIS OVERVIEW

oh boy so i mentioned this project awhile back and after a long hiatus i'm finally done! (the irony that i wrote this and then took a second equally long hiatus but the point stands.)

i went through transcripts for TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise (thanks to chakoteya.net for those!) and calculated how many lines each main character has in each episode (and season & show as a whole), calculated means, looked at who had a lot of high & low line count episodes, made some graphs, and did some analysis on gender and race.

you can find my whole process & results on a spreadsheet here (it's a little messy. i'm sorry. if someone pays me i'll make it look nice and actually learn how to make good graphs in Google Sheets.) and i'll walk through some Big Results & reactions on this post here under a cut. just so this doesn't get too long, i'll breakdown each show, post my gender & race analysis, and a big list of every character with how much of a focus they get on separate posts. they'll all be tagged as "star trek dialogue analysis".

but first just a disclaimer – i do have professional experience doing data analysis but this is by no means a professional analysis and i'm sure there are plenty of mistakes because this was initially a small personal project that snowballed a little bit. if there are any Major Things you see that are wrong (i.e. i copy and pasted a totally wrong value somewhere) please reach out and i'll correct it if i can. also if anyone wants to use this data for anything, feel free but tag me because i'm curious!

see also: gender analysis // race analysis // tos breakdown // tng breakdown // ds9 breakdown // voyager breakdown // enterprise breakdown // who's the most/least used character?

all of the following graphs measure mean (average) lines of dialogue per episode, averaging all seasons (that they were a main character) together. please refer to the spreadsheet for more detailed information about exact numbers.

unsurprising results... this is the one Star Trek show that really never aspired to be an ensemble show. i was actually surprised by how few lines Spock and McCoy have in comparison to Kirk

also unsurprising that the two characters of color have the fewest lines per episodes in the 60s

Kirk had BY FAR the most lines of dialogue per episode out of all characters i've measured (115.20)

again unsurprising that Picard has more lines by such a wide margin

honestly fairly surprised by how few lines Data had (I thought he'd beat Riker by a decent margin) and was very surprised at how few lines Troi consistently has across the season. like i knew it wasn't many but dang... only 18 lines per episode on average.

and here we can see that ds9 really embraces being an ensemble show with everyone (sans Sisko, Ezri, & Jake) having around the same number of lines on average, probably the most equal overall of any Star Trek show.

Sisko obviously has the most lines as the lead and Jake the fewest because of irl work restrictions (and less kid-centric stories).

i was surprised with how many lines Ezri had but then again her entire character was compressed into a single season so it seems fair. (interestingly, Ezri has the most lines out of anyone in s7 (996), even beating Sisko (874))

despite having the most lines in DS9, Sisko has by far the least out of any main character/Captain of the shows i've measured.

Janeway has the highest average line count out of any 90s character and third highest of any character i measured (69.51)

and again, with the exception of Janeway, we see that Voyager tends to be more ensemble focused than TNG which surprised me a bit given how later seasons are often criticized for ignoring a lot of characters but i think the very ensemble heavy early seasons balance things out.

the characters also generally seem to have more lines on average than either TNG or DS9.

and oof... yeah Voyager was it for the ensemble style show

Archer has the second highest average line count (86.68) for the whole study after Kirk (115.20)

apparently the inception of Enterprise was to recreate the TOS style triumvirate and for better or worse they certainly did.

some overall fun stats –

there are 162,455 total lines of dialogue spoken by the main cast from TOS to Enterprise

somehow there's only a ten line difference between the amount of dialogue spoken in TNG (43,148) and DS9 (43,158)

the 5 characters with the most dialogue per episode in Berman era Trek: Archer (86.68), Janeway (69.51), Picard (69.37), Sisko (50.72), & Tucker (46.03). notably only one woman and one character of color (more on this in a gender & race analysis post)

not including kids, the 5 characters with the least dialogue in Berman era Trek are: Mayweather (13.39), Sato (15.99), Troi (18.11), Kes (18.18), & Neelix (19.68). notably including three women and two characters of color (again, more on this in a different post)

the character who has the most dialogue in a single length episode is Quark with 189 lines in Who Mourns For Morn?

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Sorry if you've already covered this, I'm rewatching some of the show thanks to a younger sibling watching it, and I'm wondering how you'd rewrite chloes s2 (and some part s3?) episodes.

Style Queen/ Queen wasp alone end on a confusing note since I can't really tell if they want chloe to be seen as "possibly redeemable", "starting redemption" or "choosing to still suck". Allegedly, from the wiki, the staff said that *supposedly* they'd always planned for chloe to be a character that, I quote " willingly refuses to change...pulls ppl into toxic relationships by having them focus on potential good rather than ongoing cruelty".

I know you choose to avoid following what the staff say, but I'm curious, how could chloe have been written if she was meant to show how some people choose not to change despite potential for good? Or how would a proper redemption go?.

Again sorry for the long ask and if you've already responded to similar questions. I really love your analysis posts!

I'm glad you like my stuff and never worry about asking something that's been asked before. It's no big deal for me to link previous posts and, if you missed it, others probably did, too!

I've talked about redeeming Chloé quite a bit, so I'll just link to my Chloe Deserves Better tag as that's got lots of posts to read if you so choose. I've only really discussed damnation at a high level, though, so let's dig into that as it is a valid path.

Before we begin, I'll note that I would not take this path in canon because I don't think it's appropriate for little kids who may relate to Chloé (thus me wanting this message to come from Gabriel who no kid will relate to). If Miraculous were a teen drama, then this would be a fine choice as teens and adults are able to handle more complex and nuanced plots. (Reminder, Miraculous' target age group starts at age five so that's how I gage what I would and wouldn't do in canon. For the main plot elements, you generally want to aim to the youngest viewers, not the oldest.)

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let's damn Chloé!

The big problem with Chloé's canon "damnation" is this:

they'd always planned for Chloe to be a character that, I quote "willingly refuses to change"

While this is the right way to approach a damnation, it is NOT how Miraculous approached Chloé. While it's true that she doesn't change, it's also true that no one really asks her to and that's an important part of a proper damnation arc. Rare indeed is the person who just magically changes all on their own. They generally need to have something driving their change and Chloé never got that.

To dig into this, let's talk about Despair Bear because Despair Bear is basically a mini version of Chloé's overall story.

What Canon Did Wrong

In Despair Bear, Chloé does something mean, leading Adrien to threaten their friendship:

Adrien:(sighs in disappointment) Chloé, how long have you and I been friends? Chloé: Since we were adorable little tots, Adrikins. (Pouts) Adrien:(disappointed) Well, I'm sorry Chloé, but I can't be friends with someone who treats other people like this. You've gotta be nice to people! Chloé: N-Nice? Adrien: Yes, nice. It's not that hard.

This threat makes Chloé freak out and start acting nice because she wants Adrien to stay her friend. That leads to this:

Chloé: I know. This way, no one can be mad at me for calling the fire department. I'm really nice now, did you notice, Adrikins? Even Ladybug said so! Didn't she, Jean-Pascal? Adrien: I'm proud of you, Chloé. I think you've proven that you're capable of making an effort to be nicer to everyone. Chloé: Aww, Adrikins! So we'll always be best friends, forever? Pinky swear? Adrien: Pinky swear! Chloé: (Exhales and saunters off) (To Kim) So, those macarons are dreadfully ugly. (Kim sighs.) (To Mylène.) Those are so greasy, you can see yourself in them. (Mylène cries and faint.) (To Marinette.) Urgh. Too disgusting for comment. (To Rose.) Those look horrible. (Rose faints.) Adrien: She'll never change!

This is the problem with saying that Chloé had a proper damnation arc. She does what Adrien asks, then reverts because he let her off the hook. He made surface level effort and, unsurprisingly, got surface level change. You can't go to the gym once and get muscles! If you want muscles, you have to keep going for weeks! Months even! Progress is slow!

The same is true for damnation arcs. To properly damn Chloé, Adrien needs to stick to his guns and hold her to a higher standard for more than a single episode so that she can demonstrate true unwillingness to change. That's not what canon gave us. After this episode, this conflict goes away and Adrien says nothing when Chloé hurts people. He's not even disappointed when Chloé reverts! He's totally cool with her being mean again. This is the face he makes when he says that she'll never change!

[Image description: Adrien smiling and laughing as Marinette makes a face at Chloé who is offscreen being mean.]

To be clear, it's not Adrien's job to change Chloé, but this episode made him her motivation and then took that motivation away so it's wrong to say that she refused to change when asked. She did change when asked and maintained that change for as long as she had to.

It's also important to note that change is a slow and messy process. If you want to help someone change, then you need to allow them grace as they work toward their goal while also having clear boundaries for what you won't tolerate. Chloé maintaining her niceness for one episode and then reverting isn't enough to actually damn her because it's too big an ask. For this damnation to work, Adrien has to think that Chloé is working to improve over multiple episodes with only the occasional slip up.

To show what that might look like, let's rewrite Despair Bear and give it some proper fallout.

Rewriting Despair Bear

Our new version of Despair Bear plays exactly like canon, but instead of Chloé reverting while Adrien is still there, she now only reverts after he's left. We're also changing the ending dialogue a bit:

Chloé: I know. This way, no one can be mad at me for calling the fire department. I'm really nice now, did you notice, Adrikins? Even Ladybug said so! Didn't she, Jean-Pascal? Adrien: I'm proud of you, Chloé. I think you've proven that you're capable of making an effort to be nicer to everyone. Chloé: Aww, Adrikins! So we'll always be best friends, forever? Adrien: Of course! As long as you keep being nice to my other friends, we'll be friends forever!

With this little change, we let Adrien stick to his guns. Chloé now knows the rules she must follow if she wants Adrien to be her friend. She has also proven that she knows what following those rules looks like. This leads to an arc where Chloé is nicer to everyone, but only when Adrien is around. As soon as he leaves, she's back to her old ways. This shows that she truly doesn't care about changing and culminates in a moment where Adrien catches her in the act, then confronts her about it. This gets us something like this:

Adrien: Chloé! I thought you were going to be nicer? Chloé: I am being nicer! Adrien: But only when I'm around. Chloé: Of course, why would I be nice when you're not around? Adrien: Because you want to be a nicer person? Chloé: And why would I want that?

The dialogue will go on to make it clear that Chloé has no interest in changing and so Adrien cuts her off because he can't trust her anymore. This will lead to a scene with Plagg where we get something like this:

Adrien: I don't understand, Plagg. Why does Chloé want to be mean? Plagg: I don't know kid. But I do know that you can't make people change. Until she's ready to try, there's not much you can do.

This lesson will also be supplemented by Queen Bee's story.

Queen Bee Rework

I think we can all agree that Chloé's first appearance as Queen Bee was a total disaster! She was selfish and petty, proving that she was totally unsuited to owning a miraculous. This is a great way to show that Chloé isn't hero material! The problem is that she got a second chance to be a hero and that second chance completely undid the initial message.

Chloé's first time as Queen Bee was a fluke. She found a miraculous and misused it, but it's worth noting that no one asked her to use it to be a true hero. No one pushed her to be a better person. As soon as the miraculous came from Ladybug, Chloé started acting like a hero. This reframes the message to be that someone needs to believe in Chloé for her to be a hero instead of keeping the message that Chloé just isn't meant to be a hero. To make Queen Bee work in a damnation arc, Chloé needs to be a bad hero no matter how she gets her miraculous.

This is how I'd rework the Queen Bee arc to make that happen.

First of all, Chloé no longer outs herself to the world. Instead, she uses the miraculous selfishly, but maintains her secret identity from everyone but Ladybug and maybe Chat Noir. We're going to pair this with the civilian side of things. Marinette knows that Adrien wants Chloé to be a better person and Marinette loves Adrien, so she tries to help by letting Chloé stay Queen Bee even though Marinette doesn't think Chloé is a good pick.

Chloé proves Marinette right. Every time Chloé gets the bee, she's more focused on looking good for the cameras and being seen as Ladybug's friend than she is on saving the day. This will culminate in Miraculer, the episode where Chloé rejects an akuma. In the new timeline, this will be how Gabriel learns Queen Bee's identity, but only Chloé and Gabriel know that this happened. Chloé now has a very hard choice to make: does she act like a hero and tell Ladybug that she can't be Queen Bee again or does she keep the identity reveal a secret so that she can stay Queen Bee?

Chloé picks Queen Bee.

The season three final comes along and Chloé gets akumatized while Queen Bee. This only happens because Gabriel was able to manipulate her by putting her parents at risk. This is also how Ladybug learns about the identity reveal, meaning that Miracle Queen is 100% on Chloé and not Marinette.

We're also changing the fallout. Instead of Miracle Queen revealing the identities of the temp heroes, it's now how Gabriel finds Master Fu to completely remove all blame from Marinette's shoulders. The Adrigami fight goes away and the message becomes all about Chloé and her choices. If Chloé had been a true hero, none of this would have happened, properly damning her.

After that, I'd either remove Chloé from the show or let this be the thing that finally makes her change. Her extreme low point where she finally realizes that actions have consequences, leading her to want to change, but that's hard to do because she's burned all her bridges so she has to build some new ones. Not totally sure how I'd let her do that. Maybe have her take down Lila or use Zoe to redeem Chloé since Zoe is an outsider who hasn't been burned. There are a lot of options.

The Audrey Complication

I didn't address the issue of Chloé's mom in my rework because, if the goal is to damn Chloé, then I'd probably cut Audrey as there's no reason to make Chloé that sympathetic if you're not going to use that sympathy. You can still keep Audrey and damn Chloé, you just have to acknowledge that Chloé's situation is keeping her from changing. It's nice complexity, just not necessary and probably a little too much for Miraculous' indented audience. There's also the option to save the Audrey reveal until after Miracle Queen. That's the route I'd go if I was redeeming Chloé after Miracle Queen as I don't want to get into her backstory until it's time to start making her sympathetic.

If you keep Audrey and plan to totally damn Chloé, then I'd cut my suggested conversation with Plagg and Adrien and replace is with Adrien talking to a human character. My ideal choice for this is Luka. I like to change it up so that he and Jagged Stone have a complicated relationship, but that Jagged never fully abandoned Luka. Jagged was just on the road a lot and kept Luka a secret for his own protection, all of which gave Luka some issues that he had to work through when he was younger. This would help explain why he's so chill now. Therapy is a hell of a drug.

This means that Luka has been through the kind of things Adrien and Chloé are going through and can speak to them from a place of understanding. He can acknowledge how hard it will be for Chloé to change because of her parents' abuse while also acknowledging that her victim status doesn't mean that people need to let her hurt them. This is actually how I use Luka in a Chloé redemption, but it works just as well in a damnation as the message is the same no matter which path you take.

As you probably noticed, all of this requires some level of serialization because of course it does! Damnation arcs aren't something you can do in 20 minutes. They have to be given room to breathe which is why it's a terrible idea to do a damnation arc or a redemption arc if you're not allowed to have plots that span multiple episodes. You can do them in episodic shows, it just needs to be the type of episodic show where the episode-specific plots are episodic, but there are strong overarching sub-plots that are allowed to be serialized.

[fatcatlittlebox]

I had an ask about Adar's message that he carved on the body and it turned into another meandering meta so I figured I'd just get into it in a separate post. The question was what do I think the message actually means. And I think the answer is both -- there's Sauron's message and Adar's message. Yeah. Like so many themes in TROP, there are different dialogues happening.

I think the real literal translation is from Black Speech, as I've analyzed before in previous metas, a gauntlet or missive from Adar about taking Galadriel hostage. I'll get into that in another long ass post, but what I found interesting is what Annatar claims it says: "Where is he?" It's also the title of the episode. This question is important. We can start by asking ourself, who is the "he" here? Annatar is talking about himself. No surprise there, but I think he is literally referring to a different self -- Sauron or Halbrand. He's dissociating. He did this notably, when he stood over Adar and is about to execute him saying "You don't know what he did!" Halbrand here is referring to Sauron. Another version of him. Past, present, or alternate persona.

One of the reasons I love this shot so much is it conveys so much. On either side, Halbrand is flanked by Galadriel and a horse. A calm horse. A non-galloping horse. This time she's urging Halbrand to stop and think. Galadriel is the mentor in this moment. And with Galadriel in the foreground she seems to overpower Halbrand here -- she is his master. But the context of this shot is super interesting for the purposes of this discussion. This scene is mostly intercut with closeups of every player's face and this is the only line that Halbrand utters that is not a close up. "You don't now what he did." Compare it to the shot below. The shot with him and Adar is quite a distance away from the action and that's symbolic of Halbrand dissociating from Sauron and the deeds he is referring to. These are separate personas. "He" did evil. "He" is abhorred. And in Halbrand killing Adar, he would be purging himself in effigy.

But before that, in the forge scene with Galadriel, Halbrand says, “You don’t know what I did.”

This switching between third person and first person is fluid with Sauron and Halbrand because I think he is splitting into different people. Here Sauron speaks for himself and his actions. You know that he is Sauron (perhaps even Mairon) in this moment because whenever he stares into the fire, this repentant Sauron emerges. He is taking ownership and he means it. And it tracks because he is contrite. He tells Galadriel, "I'm sorry." For her brother, for her pain. Furthermore, there are instances in this scene where his voice is a different register: deep, guttural and almost ancient.

And I believe there's a reason why Charlie has mentioned this analysis of his character more than once: to paraphrase, Sauron is a successful deceiver because he actually believes he is the persona he has created. Which begs the question, does this mean just psychological dissociating or actual splitting and compartmentalizing pieces of himself? We already know in the lore that Sauron poured "his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life" into the ring. If he can do that with the darkness in his soul, it stands to question -- can he do it with his goodness? He’s also not the only Tolkien character to do this. Later Smeagol does this as Gollum. I think the question "Where is he?" is a clue as to why Annatar seems so disconnected and empty in comparison to how Sauron was as "Halbrand." There's something missing in him, something absent. Where is he? Halbrand is lost- but not gone. Let's go back to the opening line of the show again, "Nothing is evil in the beginning." Interestingly, it leaves out the second part of the quote which is in the book -- "Even Sauron was not so." That is a glaring, purposeful omission. One that I think that the show is aiming to explore by showing his fractured evolution.

[shanblackrx]

So I've been seeing (and saw in real time) comments of people saying

--Either that it doesn't make sense that Joke feels so strongly about Jack when they had only briefly met 2 times before the time skip when:

1- …..bro. It was love at first sight. FOR BOTH OF THEM. Are you fucking blind? Didn't you see all the flirting at the bar and after the bar???? Also for all that's sacred What is the fucking non-romantic heterosexual explanation for this?

2- This is more of a character analysis of mine, but I think Jack gave the positive enforcement Joke never got from his family. That created not only a bond between them but also kind of an emotional dependence from Joke. I honestly don't think Joke's feelings for Jack were super healthy at the beginning, especially with how self-destructive for him he is. And that's precisely why, although all those things he does for Jack after the time skip might seem too much if it was anyone else, it's still reasonable for him. He's so guilt-ridden that he fucked Jack over when all that Jack has ever offered was kindness and something Joke never had before, that he needs to overcompensate.

And especially because he's been marinating in guilt for 5 years, with only his thoughts and his self-deprecation as company, and then seeing how things escalated for Jack in a way he never imagined, that he feels the need to fix everything for him. That is the real meaning of the "100 ways to apologize".

-- OR when people say Jack and Joke's love is unbalanced. Like it feels Jack doesn't love Joke as much, that it's too sudden, that it doesn't have romance, yadda yadda.

Let's go back to the bar scene and afterwards. This is episode 1. This is the past. This is the first time they met. They literally left out the girl (poor Rosé I'm so sorry baby you fell for a homosexual) because they were in their own little world. The world they created on that bar when they shared bad experiences and made each other company in their sadness. The world that cheered both of them up in a day of misery. Also for all that's sacred What is the fucking non-romantic heterosexual explanation for this?[x2] (underage Jack is smooth as fuck)

Not even counting the scene at the bank when Jack was so happy to meet Joke again, and then even writing down his number for Joke and saying he'd love to go drinking with him again before he vanished.

Here's another character analysis: Jack is methodical, he doesn't act on impulse, and keeps everything to himself. This, added to the fact we don't often see things under his POV, makes him a bit hard to read.

Alright but damn, no one is caught daydreaming about the face/lips/closeness of someone they're not attracted to lmfjhsfd please. This is episode 4, c'mon.

There's also this (ep 6)

and this (ep 7)

(both of which I also made an analysis of from Jack's side in this post)

and this (ep 8)

So do you really think he just pulled everything that he did that night when they get together out of his ass instead of, after him and Joke reconcile, having actively nurtured this feeling THAT HAD ALWAYS BEEN THERE???? Damn, right when they met again Jack kept Joke from signing a loan contract with Boss because he knew it would be a point of no return. Because despite all the rage and bitterness, even then he still cared about Joke and didn't want that life for him.

Jack and Joke are opposites. Joke wears his heart on his sleeve while Jack has the necessity of hiding away anything that can be a weakness. It's all in between the lines for him. But that doesn't mean the feelings are not there. It's called nuance.

Also, shit, the mutual pining is so obvious idk these people might've watched it with their eyes closed or something. like?? Things start to get messy in Jack's life mostly because Joke came with his chaotic energy trying to make things right for Jack - and if Jack didn't, little by little, allow him to, Joke would've never succeed on being by his side. Jack starts losing control of things, of himself, because he's always being pulled by Joke, gravitating towards him, and he lets it happen because he wants it. Subconsciously or not.

Anyway Jack and Joke love each other and had always loved each other, period.

[eveningspirit]

Frank Langdon and Back Pain, Part Five [screencaps from episode 1x09, first batch]

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Episode 9 was, imo, the prime example that there's something off with the way Frank Langdon stands, walks and does gymnasitsc*. Let's take look at all half of the evidence.

Starting with the... what was it? Spinks and Ali, lol.

In the first picture, his posture is one of the clearest examples that demonstrate Langdon's-- not just discomfort, but perhaps even some level of difficulty with strictly physical aspects of the job. It's also, I think, the first and only(?) time we see him in an unobscured, whole-body shot, while he's tending to a patient.

His feet are wide, for balance, and still he seems to be unstable (or is it just me?), his knees are bent, hinges at the hips and his back straight like he has a ramrod up his ass (ekhm, sorrs). This is a position that a person assumes to relieve their lower back. Clear as day.

I don't have anything specific to say about the second picture. I mostly added it for composition. If you have anything to say about it, though, please, do. :)

Looking at Frank from the front, though, I notice--again--tension in his shoulders and the awkward way he holds his left arm close to his chest. That's a sign of discomfort that comes from upper back/ribcage.

In the scenes around the ice-bath of the MDMA overdose patient, he's seeking support while moving around the tub.

And, leaning. He's not the only one leaning, here, but the way he does it is somehow more pronounced.

Now, this. It's the second time he's making that face--first one was with Jake after doing the chair-spinning thing.

Worth noting that a moment later, in this shot from behind we can see his palm is in a fist (gripping his shirt?), which could be a way to supress a more visible manifestation of pain?

Next, just a note about Langdon lashing out at Santos

General consensus is that Langdon got mad at Santos, because he was scared she was onto him reagarding stealing medications. And I agree, it's most likely what happened, however. I kind of think that's not all?

I mean, pain can wreak havoc on a person's nervous system. What if it's both--fear and physical pain--that make his patience extra thin? I'm not making an excuse here, if anyone has any doubts. His behavior was unprofessional, and unnecessarily cruel, nevermind his reasons.

To finish off this part of episode 1x09 analysis, a quick look at Langdon's body language in his argument with Robby. Again, I see tension in his shoulders. I'm not sure whether there's anything to it (or have I mentioned if before?), but it seems like there's some block here, like he has a problem lifting his arms. Like, his palms don't go much higher than his chin. Just something I noticed.

I like that last picture so much, because Langdon looks so resigned toward the end of that talk. Like, okay, okay, you're right, I'll do anything you want.

People are wondering how he could be so aggressive toward Santos and then so nice with Mel a moment later. But between those two moments, we have the one when Robby tears Frank a new one and... I know this exact feeling intimately okay? This resignation after an outburst. It's like all adrenaline is instantly washed out of your system. I have no idea what's the exact mechanism of this reaction, but. Idek. Fight/Flight/Freeze/Fawn, you know? Fight turns into Fawn at, like, a snap of your fingers. And you go, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" and you want to please everyone around you, so they don't reject you maybe?

Maybe that's the ADHD, actually? The Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria?

Maybe.

And here, I turned a talk about physical symptoms into a talk about ADHD, huh. But yeah. Frank Langdon is just that complicated.

_____ )* gymnastics coming up with the second batch of scenes and screencaps. To be posted soon. Seriously, it's half ready already. ;)

ETA: Gymnastics posted.

[painandmovies]

How M.A.N.G. correlates to Mean Girls

(Sorry this is long/forgot to post this earlier). But I had some time to think on the S3 Max-treatment and assessed that it's actually intentional what the writers have done with M.A.N.G. I know someone's gonna get annoyed at this, but the problem is the origin of this all. You see, all of this started with Max as the default leader of the group. We don't have to insinuate to the idea that she doesn't deserve apologies, but the problem is that Max WAS The Mean Girl; she was the Regina George. Actually if we compare the girls of the friend group to the movie, Norah is the follower in Karen, Abby was the Gretchen begging for attention and getting crumbs, and Ginny was the Cady Heron. Max brought "Cady"/Ginny into the group and then she spit her out when she wouldn't act as she wanted anymore. "But any person would be hurt if their best friend was hooking up with their brother." No they wouldn't! Are we deadass? (a lil disgusted maybe but...HURT? no) But also, they were friends for 5 minutes. Are we forgeting that she actually met Marcus first!? A big defense I'm seeing rn is that Max was mad because Ginny had hooked up with her brother, and she was fine when she learned she was in love with him. I'm sorry, but Ginny having feelings for Marcus was.... obvious! Like Ginny was gonna be out here sleeping with Max's brother as soon as she broke up with Hunter and was using Max to get to him for kicks and giggles. I really don't know what she thought there.

It's quite funny to me how people who watched Season 3 call Ginny a fake friend because.....THEY'RE ALL FAKE FRIENDS. (Season 1 establishes this). Whether I agree with the choice or not, the writers have made the girls immature and react to things in a very typically high-school fashion (maybe that's the entire point, and there's nothing else to be explored there). They were hurt and they shut Max out in the way she did them; they talk behind her back and they're petty to subconsciously atone for their unresolved hurt. Max apologizes, but her respective issues with Abby and Ginny are just resolved like that, and too quickly mended. And in the same way, Abby doesn't apologize to Ginny for how she treated her...ever. This is the problem with M.A.N.G...they do this, and this is why I say, I wonder if the writers have a purpose for betterment of all of them or if it's just meant to show toxic high-school relationships. Max as the leader was never going to be a system that worked, and that is why we are very much in this predicament right now and why a domino effect is going on with them doing the "Mean Girls" movie plot of "following" Ginny now. Ginny was genuine with Abby and Abby took to her company when Max was being mean to her. Norah is simply a follower. Max became the "Regina," who got iced out after being a literal tyrant. It's the same script! All she needed was to be hit by a bus lol. Ginny models after this make-up of "Cady," because she's never had friends, moved to an unfamiliar place, and I think she even gets asked why she doesn't have an accent in the pilot episode. (ALSO "Why are you white"-"They made me white" IN MURDERESS MAYORESS, lol had to throw that in there)

People saying they can sympathize with Ginny and how she acts with adults, but not with friends is kind of insane, because trauma affects every part of your life. Let me give a little character analysis here and input on Ginny's behavior being conditioned. She hasn't stayed in 1 town for long enough to make real friends (and if you ask me, these aren't real friends (maybe they have potential but as it is currently...no). And all of them switch off between positive moments ans negative ones. There's more, but one example is Max distracted so Ginny could go talk to her mom this season; Ginny was there for Max through her Sophie problems before A + N even got involved. And Abby and Ginny also have real friend moments. Ginny's conditioning to act like Georgia to her upbringing (honestly it was only a matter of time)....and yes, her conditioning to her friends is all due to what she's witnessed/learned. Honestly this has been a vague thought in my mind that I hadn't put any real stock in for some time...that Ginny completely doesn't act like herself when with M.A.N.G. I get it in season 1, I even get it (and hate it) in season 2, but in season 3, it was a noticable feature and thought that it shouldn't still be a thing. The only time I think Ginny is herself is with her family and Marcus (and she has some scattered moments I've taken to with Abby). Honestly I have a lot of empathy for Ginny; she hasn't had stability to even be able to form these coming-of-age milestones. It seems like a simple thing to have a friend group...but she didn't until 15, and she's copying a lot of their behaviors, talk, and personalities (understand this part is not placing blame on them for what she does and actions of her own, but it is important to realize her mindset and changed personality with them (vs Marcus or her family and how she's blending to fit in); she's still finding herself. And she's never shaped what real friendship is, because she hasn't had the experience, the mess-ups, and the learning from it.

Also, let's talk about it: Ginny does not owe Max, because she "forced the girls to be friends with her". They have their own free will; Norah and Abby have been friends with Max since elementary school and they chose to pick Ginny over her; they got to know Ginny's personality and they've known Max's personality and they still decided to do her dirty. I feel like because of the way Max leads with her extrovertedness and the way she portrayed herself to having a self-focussed personality (p.s. they're all self-focussed; they're teenagers!), the other girls don't take her seriously. I get her; she is sensitive and has a big heart but she doesn't lead with that. And I acknowledge that she has ADHD (yay for rep!) but unless I missed something unfortunately the other girls don't know that and they only know what she tells them!

I feel for Max, I do, but she can't be surprised on the Abby-Ginny of it all; the past doesn't erase just because she's sorry. The reason we can sympathize with Max is because we get to see her pov. This is her moment where we're alloted the luxury to understand her and get a second perspective.

I saw someone make this assessment somewhere, that Ginny got closer to Marcus and pulled away from Max because she literally treated her like disposable garbage, plus there's the fact that their relationship was surface-level to begin with. And I think that's the origin of where their friendship took a nosedive and trajectory was haunted forever. Max liked Ginny because she was exciting (and I do believe she cared to an certain degree), but she also didn't listen to her a lot of the time, pay attention to any of who was the real Ginny, and was blind to some of Ginny's obvious problems that she was present to have witnessed. Ginny liked Max because she was nice to her, and that's all she had to lead with, but it's clear that Max was 'the loud girl' who inserted herself into her corner, but they never got deeper to what establishes real friendship and I think that was intentional from the beginning! And I believe she also cared, though like said, their relationship severed when Max shut her out and she had to huddle for emotional safety in her own formed connections during her hard, stressful time where she was left alone! The problem is Max and Ginny don't "see" each other and it's been that way since they met. That severance of their friendship put an emotional toil on any sense of their bond going forward, but the relationship was also very weak to begin with and it's clear that the way that they even developed their friendship (and how they met) was always surface-level, and due to both of their contributions, they never graduated to forging a deeper connection. In an organic setting by who they are as people, I truly don't think they would've been friends, especially not so fast. They were cute in certain moments before, but there have been no scenarios where they have meaningful conversations (outside of the hallway one, where Ginny tells her their teacher is racially biased towards her). Could this change in the future? Sure! But it's no surprise that they ended up where they are.

Personally, I think it's so clear that the writers are going to use this conflict to reuinite them and as a way for them to grow. And they've done this is shifting the perspective of Max from last season, so why would you think they wouldn't do the same with Ginny?

The purpose of the writers making one person look "bad" one season and flipping it the next is to show you that no 1 person is perfect...and no one person is a villian. And they do this with all of M.A.N.G. (maybe Norah needs some development, but she's not this horrible evil person). Also, I think it's intentional; Max is facing her moment...she now sees how it feels (and i'm not saying she deserves it, but I'm saying it's intentional by the writers/she's now going through the same thing she put the girls through, and it shifts her personal understanding, even though sublimal).

[beekeaper]

Sherlock & Co and the “Johnlock Community”

A while ago I made a post about Sherlock Holmes adaptations, about Irene Adler and the perception of her as Holmes' romantic love interest compared to adaptations that implies a romantic relationship between Holmes and Watson (Including a simple statistical analysis)

I also mentioned Sherlock & Co and the Johnlock Community, and here is my full comment about it. Feel free to cordially add comments.

(long post)

I've been following the podcast since its debut in October 2023. And I loved the whole concept of the adaptation, a modern radio drama.

On October 30, 2023, Joel Emery, the writer and co-creator of "Sherlock & Co.", spoke with the podcast "I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere" on episode 275, and here's the excerpt that bothered me the most in the moment I heard it.

(Automatic transcription from YouTube)

1:16:10

[...] I'm also aware of the balancing act that we've got to do

1:16:18

in in this we're sort of balancing three audiences in a way that we've got the

1:16:24

sherlockian who of course some are hard to please of course some are not hard to

1:16:29

please at all they just want Sherlock Holmes content in their lives sorry for saying content it's a horrible word and

1:16:35

then we're kind of balancing I suppose what you call the JohnLock Community which is the much much generally

1:16:41

speaking much much younger audience who want I don't I mean they want lots of

1:16:47

things but I mean they they they want sort of diversity diversity to be explored in all its forms

1:16:54

um and they want something that sounds kind of flamboyant and different um they want you know for obvious reasons they

1:17:00

want that relationship between the two men to be intimate in some respects but really powerful and center stage and

1:17:08

then the third audience that we're kind of balancing is the kind of you know General mainstream public and that's why

1:17:17

it was so important and that's why it it took so many versions to get it to sound

1:17:23

like something that they would have in their podcast diet [...]

My first thought is why? Why was it necessary to balance the audiences by including "The Johnlock Community." It's worth remembering that no adaptation is obligated to make H&W a couple. They CAN NOT be reduced to just a ship that shippers are obsessed with.

He acknowledges this large portion of the fandom (good), but to what extent is it really worth mentioning? Does he have some intention in his adaptation that makes it important for the "Johnlock Community" to be mentioned? I really want to understand why he said this.

I don't think it's right for fans to interfere with the creator's perception of his own adaptation. And even worse, to bring issues like "queerbaiting" to them. (Just remembering everything that happened with BBC Sherlock gives me war flashbacks) I really don't know how it started (on Twitter, obviously), but Joel ended up in the middle of a discussion about queerbaiting where he declared:

“Everyone involved with panel said with total honesty they were not that familiar with BBC version. Queerbaiting is something I personally discovered existed in like, November 2023? It’s not a tactic we are familiar with, let alone something we’d consider deploying.” (May 27, 2024) (X)

It took him less than a month to him to figure out what queerbaiting was after the podcast's debut and his interview where he mentioned the "Johnlock Community." And of course, it didn't stop there, Joel continued to explain:

“Adam is right, interpretation matters. Especially in audio or literature. Me personally - I don't think our Sherlock is straight. I do think our John is. I do think Mariana is. Does that matter? Not really. But it's my personal feeling around the characters” (May 27, 2024) (X)

I think that since this adaptation is his own, his vision of the character should also be respected. But for fans, it's not enough that Sherlock is simply queer.

Part of this problem is probably due to the outside influence of the fandom, which initially treated SH&Co as an extension of BBCSH (but not everyone is ready for that conversation), so let's move on.

My question here is why is the Johnlocker audience important if there's no intention of making johnlock? Why did they have to balance it with the "johnlocker community" to be able to produce the podcast?

I don't have a Patreon, I don't live in the US, and I refuse to pay Patreon to be "John Watson's friend." So if Joel ever talked about this on Patreon, please let me know.

So, Queerbaiting?

By definition:

Queerbaiting is a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but do not depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ+ representation.The purpose of this method is to attract ("bait") a queer or straight ally audience with the suggestion or possibility of relationships or characters that appeal to them, while not alienating homophobic members of the audience or censors by actually portraying queer relationships.

I love that bbcsh is the queerbaiting™

“while not alienating homophobic members of the audience or censors by actually portraying queer relationships.”

This is why it is important for you to balance the audience of your adaptation so that no one is offended in some way. 😉

So here are some excerpts from the podcast that bothered me and made me think, “Oh yeah, this is for a specific audience: The Johnlocker Community.”

Very first episode:

MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES

MARIANA: Okay, here we go. This is 221A Baker Street. Small reception room, as you come in, and on your right there, that’s the lounge. Very big, airy Victorian room–

SHERLOCK: (interrupts) Georgian.

MARIANA? (uncomfortable) … with… um… high ceilings, and, uh, the bedroom is just there, kitchen over here... Oh, it's got laundry facilities, it’s a washer dryer combination, I think. Let me just check.

JOHN: (hesitantly interrupting) S-Sorry, Mariana, the- um- the other bedroom…

MARIANA: Hm? The bedroom? It’s just there.

JOHN: This is a one bedroom.

MARIANA: … Yes? Oh, are you two planning to have a lot of guests? The previous tenants had a sofa bed in the lounge…?

Now tell me, what was the ONLY other adaptation that made this joke too, please tell me! Because if I remember correctly, Joel said that they are not that familiar with BBC Sherlock.

____

THE SIGN OF FOUR - PART 3

MARY Ok speaking words. Err yeah I just  wanted to say, because I didn’t say  it before - I mean I text it, but I didn’t say it- sorry. About not turning up. At The Criterion back in- WATSON Come on now MARY I’m serious WATSON It was a- it’s not like you could have planned it. There was an emergency MARY No I know I- yeah bluh. Just. Feel bad. Feel.. I dunno. WATSON Yeah no. I understand. I was at a funny- chapter. In my life. I don’t really think I knew it at the time. But yeah I was just- looking for  something. Anything. MARY Past tense. WATSON Ha yeah past tense. MARY So you found it WATSON I.. did find it. Yes. MARY What’s it like WATSON It’s good. Haha yeah. It’s good. It doesn’t do laundry and it plays the violin all night but MARY Hahaha WATSON Haha- But yeah. Seriously though..  It’s. I finally feel. MARY Like you WATSON I feel like me yeah.

He was looking for something, he had a date with Mary that didn't work out, and yet he found something, someone, he found Sherlock. And now he feels like himself.

THE SIGN OF FOUR - PART 4

SHERLOCK (HUSHED) Yes please do.

WATSON (HUSHED) I didn’t ask for it did I- I said. I said a number of times flat out- I don’t want to contact her

SHERLOCK (HUSHED) Well that’s just as bad

WATSON (HUSHED) How is it???

SHERLOCK (HUSHED) God I’m tempted to call your face stupid again I really am

WATSON (HUSHED) How is it as bad??

SHERLOCK (HUSHED) So you’d deny the case. You’d either sleep with the client or not investigate the case at all.

WATSON (HUSHED) Come on

SHERLOCK (HUSHED) May I remind you Doctor John Hamish Watson there is a 14 year old boy missing.

WATSON (HUSHED) You don’t need to remind me

SHERLOCK (HUSHED) Well maybe I need to remind you of who really cares about you and it’s not sexy babe army nurses--

WATSON (HUSHED) Don’t say sexy babe

SHERLOCK (HUSHED) --Army nurses from New Zealand- it’s a bunch of listeners you’ve never met, it’s an Autistic Detective and a Spanish Accountant who is a terribly ugly sleeper for some reason

[Watson looks at Mariana]

WATSON (HUSHED) It really is awful isn’t it

SHERLOCK (HUSHED) That! Is what you need reminding of. That and the fact our company is the very finest in its field. It will not be compromised by romantic attractions or personal entanglements with clients.

WATSON (COUGH) Victor Trevor

SHERLOCK (HUSHED) I knew you were gonna throw that in my face

WATSON (HUSHED) Your stupid face

SHERLOCK (HUSHED) I solved it didn’t I

WATSON (HUSHED) Yeah and we’ll solve this

SHERLOCK (HUSHED) Fine

WATSON (HUSHED) Fine [There’s a silence]

btw, the first adaptation that implies that Sherlock and Victor had something.

THE DANCING MEN - PART 3

[Sherlock starts to strangle Abe] SHERLOCK You killed an innocent man- you try to kill my best friend! You bastard!

WATSON (WEAKLY) Sherlock- just- get off him-

SHERLOCK I meant what I said- I’m going to kill him

WATSON (WEAKLY) He’s dying mate- stop- he’s dying

Why is the of the three garridebs moment is here?

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF LADY FRANCES CARFAX - PART 3

CAROL How are you, how’s the boy, how’s the girl, how’s the fat-lad.

WATSON If by fat-lad you mean Archie, he is fine- as long as he doesn’t hear abuse like that. Ummm and yeah the girl is great as always. The boy is. Testing my patience.

CAROL What? Lovely Sherlock

WATSON Yeah you’re the only person that calls him that Mum.

CAROL What’s wrong?

WATSON He’s just- he I dunno, he only cares about results and it just really pisses me off. Like he doesn’t pay any attention to the effort that people put in. How much people care. He just cares about- I dunno- whatever. [...] I’m just gonna get more wound up.

CAROL It’s not his fault

WATSON It actually is

CAROL It’s this society, it’s the way we raise people like Sherlock in this bloody country.

WATSON Sorry he gets an out because of ‘societal issues’. Why was I never extended this courtesy? When I threw a snail onto the M4 you didn’t blame society

CAROL Yes because that was monstrous John

WATSON I was 8! It was a snail- you talk about it like I chucked a Corgi on there for gods sake

CAROL Society will force boys like Sherlock to be everything apart from who they are- we never let them express themselves because we don’t like it when they do- so they become unsure, and agitated and so tense about how things should be because we’ve done nothing but badger them THEIR WHOLE LIVES about HOW THINGS SHOULD BLOODY BE!

WATSON Mum

CAROL He loves you John. He loves you so much.

[There’s a silence] WATSON I know

CAROL And you love him. You think the world of your little gang

WATSON Yeah

CAROL So how he expresses himself means nothing does it. Really. [...] If I tell you that you’re- I dunno- a little shit for smashing Denise’s garden gnome

WATSON Again. 8 years old. Complete accident.

CAROL Do you then think I love you any less if I shout at you

WATSON No

CAROL Do you think he loves you any less because he’s frustrated with- whatever this work thing is

WATSON ... No. [...]

I like this conversation with John's mom because it can be just about Sherlock being autistic but also about him being queer.

A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA - PART 5

IRENE (CONT’D) I- no shush- I know what you’re going to ask. You still think I want leverage, you think I want something in exchange, maybe there is some revenge plan I’m unfolding- I’m not, ok? It’s done. Ormstein is finished. And if you think I’m gonna go trading that little hard drive for some magic beans or some shit then you’re dumber than you look, sound and behave. So listen loverboys-

WATSON Loverboys

Again, tell me the only other adaptation in which Irene Adler makes any similar comment.

I'm using the term "queer" because none of the characters explicitly stated their sexuality.

When it's not Johnlock, they usually ship Sherlock with Victor Trevor (as his first lover), so it makes sense here. But why Mary Morstan, (Watson's romantic partner, who is worth remembering is straight) is also queer. (Btw CBS Mary is also queer). What's the intention here? And why wasn't the story with the most queercoding connotation in the entire canon, THE BLANCHED SOLDIER, was adapted as two guys who have their business together. Just guys being dudes, (or in this case mates). Why put an IRRELEVANT character at the beginning as GAY, and then adapt the story in the most heterosexual way possible?

And honestly, I liked the podcast until I started to get bothered by this issue of queerbaiting and the Johnlock community becoming more evident. And then there were all those horrible sexual jokes, poop & farts jokes, and waving like an N4Zi.

It's disappointing.

A part of me thinks they're doing a wonderful bit of queerbaiting, considering how many fans genuinely believe H&W will be a couple at some point. Even though I don't see it happening, the intention is clearly to explore a healthy relationship between two men. But sometimes... Why are they doing it this way? Is the Johnlocker community satisfied with these romantic (platonic) intentions between H&W?

Me? No.

BE KIND ✨

[intuitive-revelations]

Live analysis of Wish World!

Sorry for the wait! I'm with family so haven't been able to watch the episode until now. I almost skipped the live reaction aspect of this for this episode, but have managed to work out a system with my laptop + ipad that works so I can write and watch at the same time. I also can't add any screencaps, as I can't PrtScr on this keyboard. Given all this, I'll think I'll hold back on most of my overall thoughts and theories for now, and save that for later this week.

Spoilers below. Again, I think I've been partially spoiled on this episode, but we'll see how this goes:

OK. Straight away it's 1865, so our third member of the unholy trinity is somewhere here?

And a baby, straight away, hm.

Luck? Is the Rani experimenting with the universe's new superstition?

"Sturm-und-drang" Thought that was going to be Gallifreyan for a sec, before I relistened and turned on the subtitles. "Storm and stress"?

Yep, doing something with superstition.

"It's older than that, darling." DARK TIMES MENTION?

"Your child is the fountainhead of a power from beyond this universe." May be spoiled on this being something else, but... Timeless Child link? Or Pantheon?

Hm, the word play with VIolets was a lot better, since it felt intrinsic. The Rani using similes and metaphors feels a lot more arbitrary.

Actually, I think I might discuss that spoiler now. If this goes back to Omega, is the "wish" thing linked to his ability to shape the anti-matter universe, now being applied to N-space too?

This domestic setup feels so expanded universe-y, like the The Natural History of Fear or something, with our main cast projected into a very different kind of story.

Poppy! So we're "casting" her as the Doctor and Belinda's child here?

Yep, and Conrad is the voice of this reality reshaping.

"Doctor Who and the Deadly Wish" Very 1st Edition Philosopher's Stone cover there. Kinda surprised we didn't go in on a Target cover instead. Is there some anti-JKR commentary to be had here, with crypto-fascist Conrad reading it?

WAIT WAIT THAT SAYS I.M. FOREMAN?! (On one hand, yay how can I link this to the EDA character. On the other hand, how dare you put them in the place JKR's name would be.)

"Uncle Connie" Hmm... given Poppy's the Doctor's child here, how can I link this to Brax?

"Once upon a time, the TIme Lords were really clever people from the planet Gallifrey. But one of the Time Lords ran away."

Amma?

What was that big tease RTD gave? "Tables don't act that way"?

Ruby :)

"My name is John Smith" The return!

Doubt. Interesting. So a post-truth-y sort of thing? This feels like it could get pretty poitically disjointed, given Conrad is a conspiracy theorist, but let's see how this goes.

Mel :D

And great skeletal beasts. I know I'm not alone in thinking of Faction Paradox here.

"The people who lived on the Earth were called humans. Doctor Who had lots and lots of human friends." The past tense is fun. Makes me wonder if it will be literal in some way. Also very TARDIS wiki.

"They loved him, they'd travel with him, but sometimes they'd leave him so they could go and fall in love and marry and have babies. And then the Doctor was all alone." Hm, what interesting contrast, after that moment with Mel. What are we getting at here, especially with something so reductive? Is this something to do with the Doctor wishing he could have that life?

"But he travelled on with bravery in his heart, looking for his next best friend." And now we see Shirley. (Also, heart singular? Almost could be interpretted as a "First Doctor had one heart" confirmation.)

Susan Twist!

Hmm, this retro environment feel quite HP-like actually. Like the Ministry of Magic. Hm...

"But then a sad day came along. All the Time Lords were killed, and Doctor Who was the only one left." This is what I've been waiting for, with the Rani back.

Ich, so sexism is alive and well here. Very cool Conrad.

"You're a beautiful man." "What's that supposed to mean?!" Oh God. Yep we're going there, and it's not just flavour.

"Unified National Insurance Team" lol

"And Doctor Who .wished it was like the old days, when he had a faithful companion at his side, but sadly those days were gone." The old days huh? Also, are we really going there, with the Doctor's subconscious wish warping reality and causing Belinda to be stuck with him, like theorised?

Belinda's family!

"Good little girl, good little wife, then good little mother." Triple goddess?

"And as Conrad says, that's what we're here for." Again, very cool Conrad.

Interesting having Poppy here, but clearly a lot more convention in terms of her childhood intelligence. How does that happen?

Ooh, is Belinda breaking out of this?

"It turned out, Doctor Who wasn't the only one left. A Time Lady had survived." Hm, are we going in some "repopulate the species" direction here? Seemingly not conventionally, given the Rani isn't herself acting as the Doctor's wife here, but there's implications from Conrad's lines here.

...what's she riding?

Seal of Rassilon spotted!

Hm, what with these helmetted people? Thought they were passenger-forms for a second.

Wait, the Rani wants people to doubt?

"Is it ok out there? Is it working?" Hm? So Conrad a) seemingly isn't in as much control as he seems, and b) is trying to accomplish something specific.

"Sometimes I forget about the weather and South Africa gets flooded." So reality is flowing through him somehow? It's almost like he's trying to take care of everyone, but is also clearly malicious in other ways.

Ah right. Clear mummy issues. That makes sense.

"The boy who wants the world to be better." Stop trying to make him sound earnest.

THE GIGGLE!

Hm, so the vindicators still have a part to play? I wonder how accurate or not my episode one onwards theory is.

"Tonight, we will find him. The One Who Is Lost." Gee I wonder who that is (disclaimer: I already know who that is). Interesting that this name echoes "The One Who Waits". Are we pulling Omega into the Pantheon too? I kinda hope not, as really can't fit with having a history with the rest. Not like Sutekh with the Titan Comic parallels.

"And then the great work begins." Rebuilding Gallifrey maybe?

"Many years ago when Gallifrey was young, the Doctor and the Time Lady had been terrible enemies." Uhh... 'young' is an interesting choice of phrasing. I'm guessing this is just for the narrative, but taking this literally, this feels like a Fugitive / Morbius Doctor sort of thing. But the Rani doesn't fit into that (unless we really are getting "Time Lord reincarnation is more common than we think" theory confirmed, like I said on that one Chibnall-related post.

"But the Time Lady knew they could be great friends, if only Doctor Who knew how clever she was!" Hmm... this feels interesting. Hopefully we're not making the Rani's research all about the Doctor, are we?

Also, what does this refer to? Ancient Gallifrey (as mentioned above)? Academy era (this arguably could fit best, if we take this as a sort of meet cute of how Ushas joined the Deca)? Classic era? Now?

"So one day she stepped out from the shadows..." "He said her name out loud. And he said, "We shouldn't be enemies any more..." NO, PLEASE LET ME HEAR ALL THIS! ... also by name, do we mean "Rani", "Ushas" or somehting else? I hope Conrad's background speaking is included in the script, whenever Writersroom releases it.

"The disabled, the dispossessed, the ones who don't fit in." Once again, very cool Conrad.

"It's like a glimpse in the corner of my eye, like I can remember something, then... it's gone." Perception filter?

WAIT, are we seriously about to link back to 73 Yards?!

"It's perception bias. He's not disabled, so he can't see us." God I love this. This is such a clever way to use this reality warping actually. Of course Conrad's biases enforce gender roles, homophobia, but he doesn't give a shit about disabled people, for better or worse.

"We're going to bring down God." Huh, so who did the Rani/Flood overthrow to get us to this point?

"But the Time Lady had an idea. She said, 'It's not over, because I know a secret, hidden away.' And the secret came from the depths of Time Lord history. A secret so old and so terrible, everyone had forgotten. But the secret was beginning to wake." OH?

SUSAN! SUSAN! SUSAN!

(Why does her appearing on the screen in white feel so "The End of Time Woman"-core?)

Also, no way, is this going to link back to her origin?

"But the secret was beginning to wake." Dark Times / pre-rationality? The Timeless Child? Omega's betrayal?

"And the Doctor said, 'Tell me the secret'. But the mysterious Time Lady was clever and wise, and she knew that Doctor Who was weak. " Again very curious when this story, if real, actually occurred. It sounds like it must have been right before the episode, but how does that work with the previous episode's cliffhanger?

ROGUE?!!!

'Hell dimension'. So he's not in a Land of Fiction then. So much for that sequel idea.

"Tables don't do that." There we go.

"I miss you. Well... more than that. I love-" And of course Conrad interrupts this!

"I warn you, Doctor. This secret will change reality forever."

Oh, I didn't realise the cups were literally falling through the table. So it is a matter of projection, isn't it? The matter, in a sense, isn't actually there? (Or the force of electromagnetism itself has technically vanished with the surrounding loss of rationality?) Again, reality being held together by the mind, ala the Antimatter universe.

(Also, quite TV Movie esque, with matter's properties changing from the Eye of Harmony being open. Who do we know who was involved in those Black Hole experiments?)

Nope, Belinda is still suppressing then.

OK, I know it being UNIT is what's important, but I chuckled at the "relic from the other world" being a fucking iPad.

Rassilon mention! President Eternal huh?

Hm, the Rani's characterisation is interesting. It's clearly paralleling the Master in some ways, with the emphasis on their history etc. but she also thankfully doesn't actually feel like them at all (though the discoball is cutting it a bit close). Sure it's a bit of a far cry from Kate O'Mara's Rani in some some ways, but I actually really like it. This feels like someone who really was close with the Doctor once upon a time. It also makes sense she may act in a way that builds off those old bonds, given they are both, effectively, among all that's left of Gallifrey. Regardless, Archie is VERY good. I hope we keep her.

The way she's testing him is specifically very Rani though. It shows her inate academic curiosity.

Also, tbf, there are actually a few tender moments between the Rani and the Doctor in previous stories. They're easy to forget, but they are there. Like when she's disguised as Mel and clearly, for a moment, sympathises with Seven as he bemoans the nature of regeneration (one reason I like the interpretation, which I've seen some others share, that the Rani was actually scared of regenerating and hestitated for a long time). Or when the Doctor momentarily begins to wonder if they can be friends again (or maybe more? he doesn't finish the sentence), before dismissing the thought. It's a shame their dynamic is so often slept on tbh.

"We danced once upon a time, you and I, with the city burning around us! People said we were lovers. Can you remember if that's true? Far away in time and space. Were we?" I'm sure people are annoyed at this, and I can see an argument that it's a shame the Rani being being brought back so quickly leads to something romance related, a bit like the discourse around Best Enemies being depicted so strongly once the Master became Missy (I got the unfortunate implications of it all, but disagree it was intentional or anything - it was Moffat's first time writing the Master and I think he just wanted to depict their relationship explicitly while also introducing us to an on-screen cross-gender regeneration, and doing both together just happened to look a bit bad). But the Rani is clearly just teasing the Doctor's lack of memory.

Yay, Kate O'Mara :D

"Yes! I had a different face. So did you, a long time ago." Hm, who danced with her? Logically, it would make most sense to be Six or Seven, but this honestly sounds quite academy era-like? Could this be seen as evidence for O'Mara indeed being the First Rani?

"Because the tragedy is... we were never enemies. Every villain you ever thought wanted death. I only wanted life!"

"But this planet is a lie. This whole world is a wish." Yep, the planet's already gone isn't it? I'm so curious how this all comes together, it feels like the Rani's playing every side. She (presumably) wanted the Earth destroyed (by the TARDIS and the Vindicators?) but is also here holding it together? There's a gamibit here.

"But he made so much of this happen. He stirred the gods, Belinda. He woke the most ancient of powers."

"Desiderium - the god of wishes" Ok, this works for me so far.

"The Vindicator. Hidden in plain sight. Do you remember?" Plain sight is a bit much (we payed plenty of attention to it) but ok. This is what I'm waiting for.

But how does this work to amplify Desiderium's powers? Unless the Rani somehow planted it in the TARDIS, it must be via it's intended purpose, right?

"It crisscrossed the universe, creating a web of power to bring you back here." A Web you say? 👀

Or am I wrong, and it'll be more of a ritual thing, ala the fairy ring in 73 Yards?

"A billion supernovas" wait, is this based on what Rassilon did when Omega was lost? With the energy of the black hole flowing through him, how he changed the laws of physics and created the event horizon?

Kind of? She's using his doubt. Literally the Doctor's own Observer Effect.

"Omega" YEP there we are.

"Omega. The First Time Lord. The creator of the Time Lords. The greatest and most terrifying Time Lord of all."

OMG she's not acting to restore rationality per say (though in a way, using the Doctor's doubt could be seen as doing just that, re-imposing logic on a reality that has ceased to make sense) she's doing this to tear down Rassilon's work, isn't she?

When you think about it, this is the consequence of the Doctor's overthrowing of Rassilon in Hell Bent. The Time Lords finally began to see him for what he was, and the Rani may well have been among them. Only she filled the void of what once was likely a great hero of hers, given his impact on Time Lord science and rationality, with someone else.

And of course she wants to help Omega. The Deca loved him, Morbius, other fearsome Time Lord leaders of legend.

Side note - I can't believe they're actually showing us Omega's seal again too!

The Series 4 version of the Doctor's Theme! Have we even heard it since Eleven regenerated?

Ooh, the purple hues of everything disappearing are very similar to the threshold (I've been thinking about it every time they've said that word) and the portal the Timeless Child was found below. Is that just what portals out of N-Space look like (remember, the Master implied that Gallifrey was in the pocket universe when he destroyed it)?

"I have a daughter. Poppy is real. Do you know what that means?" HUH? THAT'S WHERE WE'RE GOING TO END IT?!

OK, as I said I'm not going to say too much right now, as it's late and writing is a bit inconvenient atm. I'll be saying a lot more later next week.

What I am going to say now though, before I see any other reactions to this? HOLY SHIT I LOVED THAT EPISODE. Low key, might be one of my favourite penultimate episodes (Heaven Sent is still top though obviously). Admittedly it leaves SO many questions open, so we're dependent on it sticking the landing and not copping out of all this, but my hopes are so high right now, even with the bad taste Empire of Death gave me previously. That's not to say it's perfect (there's a few RTDisms in there, with obvious reveals and such, plus things like Rogue kinda coming out of nowhere, but maybe he's back next episode?), but the fact we're actually kinda hinting at all this deep lore, FINALLY some consequences actually making good use of post-Time War Gallifrey (even if it's not around, and to be clear, I did like 90% of the Timeless Child/Division arc too), and giving us compelling characterisation of the Rani?

You've got me Russell, don't let us down.