smytherines - Tumblr blog

[smytherines]

Gays are forever

[smytherines]

this shot in spy another day broke into my house beat me up killed my family and made me watch.

[smytherines]

how to get your shit bitch ass boyfriend to pay attention to you, a masterclass

a non textured lineart brush whaaaat

[smytherines]

You’re cordially invited to cry with me over Curtwen.

Where? Anywhere! When? Any time!

Fun activities include

Wailing

Shaking fists at the sky in anguish

Repeating “staircase scene? What staircase scene” over and over

Drinking (if you’re of age. I’m not. So I’ll just sob some more instead)

Denial

Denial

Denial

This is a BYOF event!

(Bring your own fics.)

(Not to be confused with a BOYF event which is what Curt and Owen were ;-;) (please keep all other fandom references restrained, this is a SAF only event)

RSVP and let me know what genre of depression you’ll be bringing to the event.

I’m bringing “replaying ‘Taking your advice’ over and over and ugly crying” depression, so nobody else bring that one

[smytherines]

You’re cordially invited to cry with me over Curtwen.

Where? Anywhere! When? Any time!

Fun activities include

Wailing

Shaking fists at the sky in anguish

Repeating “staircase scene? What staircase scene” over and over

Drinking (if you’re of age. I’m not. So I’ll just sob some more instead)

Denial

Denial

Denial

This is a BYOF event!

(Bring your own fics.)

(Not to be confused with a BOYF event which is what Curt and Owen were ;-;) (please keep all other fandom references restrained, this is a SAF only event)

RSVP and let me know what genre of depression you’ll be bringing to the event.

I’m bringing “replaying ‘Taking your advice’ over and over and ugly crying” depression, so nobody else bring that one

[smytherines]

do you have any hcs for precanon curtwen? how they got together, what they were like etc

Oh for sure I do!

I think they were probably paired up together for missions over the span of a couple of years, and had all this romantic & sexual tension that they convinced themselves was all in their heads, before they actually got together. They had long enough to build a friendship, a partnership, and they're both afraid enough of the consequences (both personally and professionally) that they don't want to even consider making a move.

I always imagine it as something goes wrong on a mission, someone gets hurt, or maybe they have a spectacular success and are high on adrenaline, and Curt impulsively kisses Owen because hey, this guy is attractive and Curt has a crush. Owen is just kinda stunned by it, and Curt pulls away like "oh shit he's gonna kill me," but really Owen has been infatuated with Curt for ages and just assumed Curt wasn't interested.

I could see Owen having an inkling that Curt is into men, but assuming that if someone as cocky and confident as Curt hasn't made a move, it must mean he isn't interested. So Owen has just been pathetically pining for him. I think Curt has been pining too, but because he just kind of assumes in that young closeted queer way that nobody else is "sick" like him, that confiding in anyone will get him in trouble. And in my headcanon, Owen is bisexual, so perhaps he's had affairs with women and Curt assumes that means he isn't interested in men.

Anyways, I love thinking about them in a relationship, even though it breaks my heart. Because realistically Curt and Owen probably only saw each other a handful of times per year, so everything they manage to build together is based on these little stolen moments. I think they start casually hooking up, killing time on missions, but it very quickly becomes something more. It almost has to. You don't get a lot of time to date as a spy, and even less as a gay spy. So even just the act of repeatedly hooking up by default sorta makes them the most important relationship in each other's lives- especially because they were such good friends first.

I personally don't think pre-fall curtwen were as toxic as a lot of people think. I don't really see any evidence of that in A1P1. I mean they both seem to be little freaks who get off on danger and violence, and I'm sure constant distance and secrecy and danger took their toll, but for me A1P1 shows two men who love and respect each other, even if they bicker and mess with each other.

One thought I keep coming back to is that they sneak off for movie dates, mostly because I love classic films and get really into imagining them reacting to the many gay subtext films of the early 50s. I think they sit in the darkest part of the theater and only their legs are touching, and maybe if there's nobody there one of them will put his hand on the other's thigh and it's almost a real date.

I think they'll go to bars- not underground gay bars specifically, but bars where a lot of queer people just happen to congregate, and sit at a booth or a table, and drink together and find little ways to be discreetly affectionate.

I think Curt thinks it's adorable that Owen is a kind of a nerd, and tries his best to pay attention when Owen goes on a ramble or a rant about boring tech stuff (but gets bored and starts trying to make out with him instead). I think Owen is fascinated with how Curt's mind works, how he's seemingly so chaotic and disorganized, but in a crisis he is absolutely cool and calm and comes up with clever, creative solutions for problems.

I think they loved each other, they knew each other so well that one could barely finish a sentence before the other picked it up. I think they were a bit codependent, and the distance started to gnaw away at them towards the end, but they were each other's favorite person in the world. They trusted each other more than anyone else on Earth. They missed each other desperately, but tried their best to put on a brave face every time they had to part. I think they sent each other coded love notes and presents and found excuses to request each other on missions. I think some of their pillow talk included imagining little scenarios where they could run off together and never have to be apart again, and it starts as a fun thing but gradually gets sadder and sadder for them as they realize how impossible that would be.

(That's all I have time for right now but I might pick this back up later)

[smytherines]

Oh my god you're a Bond fan too? I've seen them all, although I had to rewatch GoldenEye recently because I hadn't seen it since I was a kid. I've only read a few of the novels, but they were honestly pretty brutal about violence and alcohol too, iirc

I've been thinking about that part with 006 for ages (and oh my god how the narrative treats 006 in goldeneye vs how it treats Owen Carvour in saf) I have a bunch of messy paragraphs about the parallels between SAF and GoldenEye written up in my drafts but I didn't think anyone else had seen it!

But yeah, I definitely agree. My headcanon is that Owen more or less knows what they are: they're state sanctioned thieves/coup-doers/murderers, and because he's aware of it or maybe because he has a stronger stomach for brutality, he doesn't need to drink to survive the job. But Curt, despite all his bravado and macho spy guy stuff, is kind of a tender-hearted guy, and has totally bought into the idea that they're heroes. So rather than deal with the brutality, he drinks his way through it.

One Step Ahead is fascinating for this, because it really shows their headspaces here. Like:

It's time to save the world again

Typical Curt

And pretend to be the hero again

And especially:

No one's innocent

My friend, you've lost your mind

And you've been blind

I dunno, just something about the idea that Owen doesn't have to drink because he isn't trying to deny the reality of what he and Curt did as spies, whereas Curt has to believe he is doing good, being a hero

So I just watched the scene before One More Shot and I have alcoholic agent mega feelings. Unless I missed one, Curt hasn't had a drink since Spy Again (edit: I forgot about the two flask swigs in Cynthia's office, which are literally poison), so he hasn't been drinking most of the show. He's been clinging to the memory of Owen to keep him from drinking.

He just keeps fucking up and failing and he's afraid he's going to fail to stop the bad guys. And then there's a platter full of shots.

This is how he looks at them.

(also actor Curt Mega is so fucking good at facial expressions and body language holy shit)

[smytherines]

Adults: Following rules is good, not following rules is bad

Little me: Okay :] *follows a rule*

Adults: Oh my god look at this loser. He doesn't know that this rule is Secretly Okay To Not Follow. Dumbass. Let's all laugh at him

[smytherines]

I can't watch the stream right now but when Jon shared the character sheets on twitter I saw "Zak- medium human, champion fighter" and said "oh that's the Curt Mega himbo character for sure"

"I make up for it in strength but I don't know anything!"

Okay so Curt just typecast himself as a Himbo-

[smytherines]

saf gang rise up

[smytherines]

Oooohhh, I am so there!

I'm going to bring some "the queer sexual politics and global political situation of the 1950s just keep adding new layers of complexity and tragedy until I'm shaking and crying on the floor," and maybe a side of "thinking about them being domestic and tender with each other makes me unwell"

You’re cordially invited to cry with me over Curtwen.

Where? Anywhere! When? Any time!

Fun activities include

Wailing

Shaking fists at the sky in anguish

Repeating “staircase scene? What staircase scene” over and over

Drinking (if you’re of age. I’m not. So I’ll just sob some more instead)

Denial

Denial

Denial

This is a BYOF event!

(Bring your own fics.)

(Not to be confused with a BOYF event which is what Curt and Owen were ;-;) (please keep all other fandom references restrained, this is a SAF only event)

RSVP and let me know what genre of depression you’ll be bringing to the event.

I’m bringing “replaying ‘Taking your advice’ over and over and ugly crying” depression, so nobody else bring that one

[smytherines]

I kinda feel bad about it because I certainly don't think that's what TCB wanted me to feel about that song, and it's definitely one of the best bops of the show. Its incredibly fun and performed wonderfully, and if I shut my brain off I really really enjoy it. It is just so goddamn catchy. But it's also hard to square that with what the rest of the show has been telling us.

Spy Again and subsequent scenes where Curt refuses alcohol send a very clear message about Curt's relationship with alcohol. And they put enough thought into it to even roll it into the mistakes he makes in A1P1 (although, assuming that's the only drink he has, it is very low on the list). So having him drinking in celebration just... doesn't connect for me? Especially not with the conflict he has on his face right before the first shot.

I think it's interesting that the people trying to get Curt to drink are Cynthia and Barb, people he worked with before. Cynthia comments directly on how Curt drank himself into a hole (or whatever she says), and very clearly thinks that is bad, but then says she is going to "sober you up" by giving him a flask. The flask is poisoned, so I guess you could argue that she was trying to create some negative association with alcohol?

Barb is excited to give Curt a flask that "is actually holding liquor." And then there's the way she seems to be actively trying to get him drunk during One More Shot.

And of course, Owen in A1P1 chastised him for drinking.

So for me, that tells me that

1. Curt had a problem with drinking before the fall

2. Drinking is probably a big part of the job culture

I've said this on other posts, but also just given the time period and how people thought about alcohol use, it seems likely to me that Owen was the only person to ever tell Curt to drink less, to show concern over his drinking. Maybe the people he worked with didn't see the extent of his drinking the way that Owen did, being his partner?

Having some personal experience with a loved one with alcohol use disorder, it can make you mean, petty, spiteful, careless, so it's possible Owen was seeing this impact in a way others didn't because he and Curt had a more intimate relationship?

The sense I get is that it was a problem in A1P1, probably had been for awhile, but it was still sort of a low level problem. Because Owen does chastise him for it, but he seems more moderately annoyed than furious at Curt for it. And when Curt dismisses him and makes fun of him and offers him the flask, Owen does take a drink. He makes a face immediately after, but he takes a drink.

I don't know, I'm probably rambling, but my main point is that the show uses alcohol to tell us so much about Agent Curt Mega, and then it's almost like they want us to forget everything they carefully laid out so the gang can have a fun drinking song moment.

I mean I love this show in a big, overwhelming way, but there are these little tonal and thematic inconsistencies that I find endlessly fascinating.

Ok also there's no good place to put this, but something I wonder about is how long Curt was held prisoner before Owen rescues him in A1P1. Because depending on how long he was captive, he may have taken a swig out of the flask to combat withdrawal symptoms. It could conceivably be something he does to be *better* at his job, instead of a sign of irresponsibility, because he's not going to be able to protect himself and Owen if his hands are shaking too hard to shoot well. Maybe he has that sloppy chest shot on the guard who pulls the alarm because his hands are shaking from withdrawal? That could also be part of why Owen just kinda scoffs instead of getting angry about it.

I dunno, just so many interesting little details to think about here.

So I just watched the scene before One More Shot and I have alcoholic agent mega feelings. Unless I missed one, Curt hasn't had a drink since Spy Again (edit: I forgot about the two flask swigs in Cynthia's office, which are literally poison), so he hasn't been drinking most of the show. He's been clinging to the memory of Owen to keep him from drinking.

He just keeps fucking up and failing and he's afraid he's going to fail to stop the bad guys. And then there's a platter full of shots.

This is how he looks at them.

(also actor Curt Mega is so fucking good at facial expressions and body language holy shit)

[smytherines]

abed, along with portraying many other niche aspects of being an autistic individual, is one of the only characters i’ve ever seen accurately represent what it’s like to feel genuine anger and wish misfortune upon people who harbor incorrect opinions about movies or tv shows. i get it man. i really do.

[smytherines]

Owen doing the crossword puzzle every morning because even though he kills people for a living he still needs his intellectual challenges, and then he sees the clue “rudely brief in speech or abrupt in manner, four letters” and he just freezes and crumbles to the ground crying.

[smytherines]

me, every time I talk about A1P1

[smytherines]

@starpirateee is amazing and the fics she writes are out of this world!!

~~~

[smytherines]

saw a couple people talking about being really emotional about saf and its characters and i just wanted to say. the beauty of fandom spaces to me has always been about connecting to characters and watching people care so much about words on paper or pixels on a screen. seeing and being able to appreciate the creation of thoughtful, incredible pieces of work (whether its heartbreaking character analysis or stunning fanart or awe-inspiring fanfiction) out of love for pieces of fiction. the passion people in this fandom have for these characters always makes my heart so full. i love how much we care.

if you see yourself in a character and then get really upset when you feel like theyve been mischaracterised, that's totally valid! if you sometimes cry out of the blue thinking about the Implications(tm), that's valid! you're not ruining anything for anyone, your ability to appreciate art is beautiful and you shouldn't ever be ashamed about it.