dontbelasagne

[dontbelasagne]

are we gonna talk about the part where ruby says conrad made a nice world because............... girl what. that entire scene i hoped she was bluffing because listen, i get trying to connect with him on an emotional level to lower his defenses but. the dude created a misogynistic, homophobic and ableist world where trans/nb people don't even exist. and you're gonna tell me it was nice because it could've been worse???? and you're gonna mean it???????

[dontbelasagne]

Twelve handles books and paper (1 of 2)

[dontbelasagne]

Not that it's anything new, but the "voluntary" in "voluntary migration" really drives home the utter shamelessness of the occupation.

They destroy Gazan homes, hospitals, schools, roads, universities, infrastructure, cut off their water and electricity, then when they have no choice but to escape the hell that was created for them, claim they "voluntarily" chose to leave their land behind and have no right to return.

When Nakba deniers claim that Palestinians "chose" to leave their land, remember this.

[dontbelasagne]

Twelfth Doctor, Doctor Who

requested by: no one

[dontbelasagne]

Like before, Series 15 of Doctor Who only having eight episodes is bad for it. Series 14 just about held it together, but that's because the finale didn't strongly hinge on the Doctor-Ruby relationship. In constrast, the Doctor-Belinda ends up being a big deal. The problem is that said relationship does not develop in a way that actually makes sense or feels organic.

Let's review the Belinda situation in each episode:

The Robot Revolution - Belinda is kidnapped to another planet by evil robots sent by her ex-boyfriend. She watches a woman who trusts the Doctor implicitly die right in front of her. By the end, she's not fond of the Doctor and his dubious ways, and wants to go home.

Lux - Belinda gets caught up in a fight with a malevolent god, on her second "adventure". She immediately admits that the Doctor's life terrifies her. In return, the Doctor says he might not be able to get her home. Overall, she is still not thrilled.

The Well - Belinda literally almost dies, because getting shot in the chest is the only way to save her from a parasitic monster that would otherwise drive her mad. She is directly confronted with her mortality, and is again terrified.

Lucky Day - Belinda isn't really in this episode.

The Story & the Engine - Belinda has apparently mellowed out enough to be okay with the Doctor visiting his buddy instead of proceeding with getting her home (tangent: how does this make sense in the Mother Belinda timeline?). She laughs at a guy and seems to have gotten over her previous worries. There's the hook that she sympathises with the Doctor's need to find a place where in fits in, but that would be more effective if she were already warming up to him.

The Interstellar Song Contest - Belinda spends most of this episode believing that the Doctor is dead, and thus she is permanently trapped in the future. In the Mother Belinda timeline she presumably has an even worse reaction. Then she sees the Doctor torturing a genocide survivor, and still ends the episode by saying she thinks the Doctor is cool. This should lead into the nadir of Belinda's relationship with the Doctor, but instead it gets brushed off and woah finale cliffhanger.

Stepping out of the reviewing for a moment, and I think it's already clear that Belinda undergoes a sudden personality shift between The Well and The Story & the Engine. Part of this is probably just poor management where the "not hyped about the Doctor" aspect of Belinda's character wasn't passed onto the non-RTD writers. But it still ends up mangling the overall character progression. If you want Belinda to start liking the Doctor, there needs to be an episode that can make that happen.

Moving on:

Wish World - Belinda... isn't meaningfully in this one. She's been hollowed out to act as one of Conrad's perfect housewives, a fate that is both horrifying and yet somehow very boring. Other than having a bit of a scream, Belinda does nothing proactive, being pulled around by the plot. When she "betrays" the Doctor to the doubt police, it's because she's playing out a role. Rather than, say, her having a subconcious distrust of the Doctor because of all the bad times she had travelling with him.

The Reality War - Belinda remains hollowed out, her entire character being compressed down to "Mother". After sitting half the episode out, she's suddenly super buzzed to be hanging out with the Doctor and having his fake baby. You know, the guy she watched torture someone the last time she was actually herself. Although Belinda might still be in wish mode while Poppy was around so Real Belinda is even less in this episode. Then finally we get Mother Belinda, a character who didn't exist until the Doctor invents her (theories to the contrary are wrong).

Overall, Belinda has a highly disjointed "arc" if you can even call it that. She doesn't develop, but rather shift between several characterisations, and it's rather jarring. And the worst part is, you could probably fix it with two more episodes, and wouldn't you know it, Belinda isn't in one episode, and is replaced with a puppet in another.

There is too much trying to happen in Series 15 compared to the actual amount of time to make it happen. (I'll even tick everyone off by saying Flux worked out better than this, and that only had six episodes while originally being planned for ten.) I also think the episode ordering adds to the problem, as Belinda gets the worst end of adventures with the Doctor first, which should be enough to put anyone off. But no before the finale even starts she's suddenly cool with the Doctor.

I suppose the conclusion is that Belinda ends up being more of a plot device than a character, which is bad. I don't even know what else to say because this is really more of a rant than an "essay".

[dontbelasagne]

country gnomes,

take my bones

[dontbelasagne]

hate an x reader fic do not put me in a situation

[dontbelasagne]

my 7 year old is currently singing "H-O-T-C-O-C-O, you should make me Hot Cocoa" and I am legitimate impressed

[dontbelasagne]

I think about this parallel all the time, and it kills me.

[dontbelasagne]

ncuti was amazing, i want that to be remembered. this season has been a joy to watch because of him. he brought such joy and love and wonder and i wish he had more time. i hope he knows he is loved

[dontbelasagne]

The plot season 10 of doctor who is a badass old man and his lesbian granddaughter traveling across the universe and defeating a bunch of bad guys, including

- A rogue AI

- A racist capitalist

- A landlord

- An evil profit-seeking corporation

- Fascist monks

And then at the end of the season the granddaughter runs off with a woman and the badass old man gets shot with a laser that causes him to transition into a woman

And people say doctor who hasn’t always been woke

[dontbelasagne]

One like = one smooch on his little head

One reblog = granting him access to the nuclear launch codes

[dontbelasagne]

this latest era of doctor who has made me understand more than ever that dramatised representation actually lends nothing to the communities trying to be portrayed. its tokenism, it extracts our exclusion and dangles it in front of everyone to tell them they could have it worse. sure, we get our time on screen to let the world know we exist, to tell them we too can be stories, but it never let's us be human.

[dontbelasagne]

[dontbelasagne]

im actually really fun when youre first getting to know me and then you get to know me a little better and you realize i am not fun at all. like not even a little bit. and now youre trapped with me in a hole in the ground. and then several years later maybe im fun again. in the hole.

[dontbelasagne]

By LabradoriteKing on Pinterest

[dontbelasagne]

If I had a nickel for everytime rtd created a woc companion who was in the medical field who came after a blonde companion who was the first companion for that doctor then shoved her into a heteronormative end to “wrap up her end” I’d have two nickels which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened twice