#(s5e7+8)

[animazed]

and i can’t tell if you’re laughing

between each smile there’s a tear in your eye

there’s a train leaving town in an hour

it’s not waiting for you,

and neither am I

[limnsaber]

(waving my chocolate milk around like it’s a glass of wine) —And! And! David Duchovny may not believe in the concept of OOC (out of character), and I see what he means from a literary standpoint, (as in characters are just little figments that you move around to make a Point,) HOWEVER, S5e7-8 Dana Scully would have eviscerated S10e11 Dana Scully for what she said that night.

[peach-pot]

[aahsokaatano]

A Brief Examination of Margaret Houlihan and Gender

(aka I'm doing my rough draft of my essay on tumblr bc I can ramble here)

I spent 6 weeks watching all 251 episodes of M*A*S*H with the aim of critically analyzing Margaret Houlihan, and more specifically how she is referred to throughout the series. I was initially doing this with the idea of tracking the change from "Hot Lips" to Margaret, but I got more than I bargained for - I really forgot how often she's referred to as a man or in a gender neutral way, and it's super interesting, so under the cut is a list of quotes and some light analysis.

Season 1

"Oh, sorry baby." / "Major to you!" ("The Pilot" s1e1) Neutral

"You're dismissed!" / "Thanks, Mother." ("The Pilot" s1e1) Feminine

"One lady in our outfit..." ("Dear Dad" s1e12) Feminine

Season 2

"You are no gentleman!" / "Good thing you are." ("Divided We Stand" s2e1) Masculine

[Margaret speaking on behalf of Frank] "That's pretty strong stuff, Frank." / "It's true!" ("L.I.P. (Local Indigenous Personnel)" s2e7) Masculine

"You've emasculated me for the last time!" ("Carry On Hawkeye" s2 e11) Masculine

"Margaret Houlihan; nurse, friend, and all around good egg." ("Carry On Hawkeye" s2e11) Neutral

[Radar calls Margaret "sir" - this is something that he ends up doing for several more seasons] "Men are sirs, women are ma'ams!" ("Hot Lips and Empty Arms" s2e14) Feminine (with Masculine connotations long-term)

Season 3

"You know, for once I agree with him?" / "I [Margaret] said that." / "I know." ("Rainbow Bridge" s3e2) Masculine

"Speaking man-to-man, Colonel," ("There is Nothing Like a Nurse" s3e10) Masculine

"He's a creep." / "She's a creepette." ("The Consultant" s3e17) Feminine

"I know you didn't volunteer because you're a married man [...] Well, I'm a married man, too, Frank. Married to the Army." ("Aid Station" s3e19) Masculine

"I'm not just Major Margaret Houlihan, army nurse. I'm also Margaret Houlihan - frail, vulnerable, sensitive female." ("Aid Station" s3e19) Feminine

"Don't think of me as a woman!" ("Aid Station" s3e19) Neutral/Masculine

Season 4

"When I was five, I had a crying fit because they wouldn't let me have a crew cut." ("Deluge" 4.23) Neutral/Masculine

Season 5

"He [Donald] calls me his little plebe." ("Margaret's Engagement" s5e2) Neutral

"I'm an engaged person!" ("Margaret's Engagement" s5e2) Neutral

[Speaking to a newborn baby] "Major Houlihan is here to help you." ("The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan" s5e6) Neutral

"Anybody can open with a pair of 10s if they're wearing civilian boxer shorts." / [...] / "I'll open for 25 cents." ("Dear Sigmund" s5e7) Neutral/Masculine

"Margaret, when you're sick, can't you call me Frank?" / "You know I'm an engaged person." ("The Colonel's Horse" s5e11) Neutral

"Margaret, I'm as taut as a watch spring." / "Your state of tautness s no longer a concern of mine, Major Burns. I happen to be an engaged person." ("Hawkeye's Nightmare" s5e13) Neutral

"Sure, nurse..." / "Nurse?! You're talking to a major!" / "Sorry. Would you help us move this guy into pre-op, Major?" ("Post-Op" s5e23) Feminine/Neutral

Season 6

"A head nurse who is part seductress, and part Attila the Hun" ("The Winchester Tapes" s6e4) Feminine/Masculine

[the nurses to Hawkeye] "Do you think you could talk to Hot Lips?" ("Images" s6e9) Feminine

"Hot Lips Houlihan: blonde landmine." ("Patent 4077" s6e16) Feminine

"Congratulations. You're still a major, Major." ("What's Up, Doc?" s6e19) Neutral

Season 7

[about her divorce] "Best thing that ever happened to me. The weight of the world is off my shoulders! I feel like a new woman!" ("Peace On Us" s7e2) Feminine

[BJ] "The king is dead." / [Hawk] "Long live the queen." / [Margaret] "You bet." ("Hot Lips is Back in Town" s7e20) Feminine

"I'm going as far in this man's army as any woman can go. Maybe even general!" ("Hot Lips is Back in Town" s7e20) Feminine

Season 8

"I'm a woman, and I can tell you what it's like for a woman to be away from the man she loves." ("Too Many Cooks" s8e1) Feminine

"To be a woman, with the rank of major..." ("Are You Now, Margaret?" s8e2) Feminine

"Hot Lips?" / "Yeah, that's a nickname she picked up." ("Are You Now, Margaret?" s8e2) Feminine

"Hot Streak Houlihan strikes again!" ("Life Time" s8e11) Neutral

"I'm just as much a major as any other major. You'll notice these leaves come in gold, not pink for girls and blue for boys." ("Stars and Stripes" s8e14) Feminine/Neutral

"What do you suppose I am deep down?" / "Deep, deep down? A woman." / "Go a little deeper." / "A major." / "I'm me. Sometimes a nurse, sometimes a major, sometimes a woman in love... sometimes all three at once." ("Stars and Stripes" s8e14) Feminine/Neutral

[speaking to an infant] "Hello there, sweetheart. I'm your Auntie Margaret." ("Yessir, That's Our Baby" s8e15) Feminine

Season 9

"What's the matter? She isn't man enough to bring it in [to the men's showers] herself?" ("Bless You, Hawkeye" s9e17) Masculine

[speaking to Margaret] "You know, you don't get to be a high-ranking officer, to run an O.R., to command respect, unless you've earned it." ("The Foresight Saga" s9e19) Neutral

Season 10

"I know everybody thinks I'm tough, demanding, insensitive, cold, callous, crabby - feel free to disagree at any time!" / "Think of it this way; maybe you are all that stuff, but deep down underneath, I think maybe there's some more stuff that's... pretty good stuff. You know?" ("The Birthday Girls" s10e11) Neutral

Season 11

"I do not need the help of a nurse." / "It's a good thing I'm a lady or you'd need a nurse, buster!" ("Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" s11e16) Feminine

Total Counts:

Feminine: 19

Masculine: 12

Neutral: 17

These aren't all of the quotes I collected during my rewatch, or the only thing I was paying attention to, but it definitely caught my interest. And laying out like like this, by season, you can really see the trends ebb and flow. Margaret is portrayed pretty firmly as feminine/neutral through the first season, but season two introduces the running joke of other characters referring to her as "Frank" and using he/him due to how often she speaks on his behalf, as well as Radar calling her "sir" rather than "ma'am." She sticks even more firmly to referring to herself neutrally in season five, calling herself an "engaged person" rather than an "engaged woman" on three different occasions.

After her marriage and Frank's departure, Margaret is referred to more femininely again, but she doesn't refer to herself as a woman until season 7, after her divorce. I find it especially interesting to compare "The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan" in s5 and "Yessir, That's Our Baby" in s8; both deal with very young infants and show us Margaret's interactions with these babies. In s5, she refers to herself as "Major Houlihan" to the baby, but then in s8, she's "Auntie Margaret." Between these events were her marriage and divorce, and Margaret's self-confidence being boosted by her work on herself and her duties as head nurse.

BJ refers to Margaret loosely in masculine terms in s9, and it's the first time the joke has been really touched on since s6, when Charles compares her to Attila the Hun. This is the last time anyone refers to Margaret as masculine, with the final two seasons having her presented either neutrally (by rank) or femininely (as a "lady").

Margaret's character journey actually can be tracked through this list of quotes pretty well. She's more of an antagonist when she's referred to more often with masculine terms, and as she develops into a more traditional protagonist, the narrative refers to her with more feminine terms. The fact that Margaret herself is most likely to use feminine terms when she's at her most confident in herself is definitely interesting, and I think says a lot about how her confidence is tied into her self-image.

[brass-tacked]

S5E7 - Ghost Stories

The switch back and forth between Buck+Taylor and Athena+Lou is such good visual storytelling.

It highlights that Buck and Taylor do work well together, but in a professional way. All four of these characters are badasses on their own, but everyone needs someone to bounce ideas off of.

I actually like Taylor. I like a Buck and Taylor friendship. What I think doesn’t work is the Buck and Taylor relationship. They’re great at investigating externally, but internally they’re not compatible with what they need from each other.

Buck needs someone he can trust whole heartedly and this episode (and the one before it) really shows that he knows he can’t trust her. He doesn’t tell her about the convict donating his heart to his dying son bc he knows that story is too good for Taylor to leave alone no matter what it might do to the kid. When Taylor reveals that she knows what the guy who was buried alive said, Buck is immediately defensive and on edge (“How do you know that? I didn’t tell you that.”)

Idk where I was going with this except there is a different between people working really well together and having a surface level successful partnership versus a partnership where they walk through fire together, feel safe enough to be emotionally vulnerable together, and feel safe enough to share your secrets with (or not have to share bc you went through it together with that person).

And Taylor’s comment that “The truth is worth everything, Buck.” really highlights their incompatibility because we know that Buck doesn’t really trust her with the truth about him. But that comment also makes me really hope she comes back in season 8 and makes Buck confront some of the big truths about himself and his feelings.

Also this episode’s focus on partnerships and including the storyline of Eva coming back and putting stress on HenRen. Plus Eli coming back into Chim’s life right when Chim is back to feeling isolated and cut off from everyone? Poetic.

[bakamoonyasf]

My God Tier fave doctor who episodes

TOP 5:

Heaven Sent & Hell Bent (S9E11-12)

The Power of the Doctor (S13E9)

The Day of the Doctor (S7E15)

Doomsday (S2E13)

The Parting of Ways (S1E13)

NINE:

The Parting of Ways (S1E13)

Bad Wolf (S1E12)

The Empty Child & The Doctor Dances (S1E9-10)

Dalek (S1E6)

TEN:

Doomsday (S2E13)

Human Nature & Family of Blood (S3E8-9)

Turn Left (S4E11)

The Sound of Drums & Last of the Time Lords (S3E12-13)

Silence in the Library & Forest of the Dead (S4E8-9)

The Stolen Earth & Journeys End (S4E12-13)

Blink (S3E10)

The Waters of Mars (S4E14)

The End of Time (S4E17-18)

Midnight (S4E10)

New Earth (S2E1)

The Idiots Lantern (S2E7)

Partners in Crime (S4E1)

School Reunion (S2E3)

The Doctors Daughter (S4E6)

Daleks in Manhattan (S3E4)

ELEVEN

The Day of the Doctor (S7E15)

The Time of the Doctor (S7E16)

Vincent and the Doctor (S5E10)

The Name of the Doctor (S7E14)

The Wedding of River Song (S6E13)

The Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone (S5E4-5)

The Rings of Akhaten (S7E8)

Asylum of the Daleks (S7E1)

A Town Called Mercy (S7E3)

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS (S7E11)

A Good Man Goes to War (S6E7)

Let's Kill Hitler (S6E8)

The Pandorica Opens & Big Bang (S5E12-13)

The Girl Who Waited (S6E10)

Amy's Choice (S5E7)

Nightmare in Silver (S7E13)

The Snowmen (S7E6)

The Doctors Wife (S6E4)

TWELVE:

Heaven Sent & Hell Bent (S9E11-12)

World Enough and Time & The Doctor Falls (S10E11-12)

The Zygon Invasion & The Zygon Inversion (S9E7-8)

Flatline (S8E9)

Dark Water & Death in Heaven (S8E11-12)

The Girl Who Died & The Woman Who Lived (S9E5)

Twice Upon a Time (S10E13)

The Lie of the Land (S10E8)

The Witch's Familiar (S9E2)

Time Heist (S8E5)

THIRTEEN:

The Power of the Doctor (S13E9)

Ascension of the Cyberman & The Timeless Children (S12E9-10)

Demons of the Punjab (S11E6)

Revolution of the Daleks (S12E11)

Skyfall, Part 1 & Spyfall, Part 2 (S12E1-2)

Rosa (S11E3)

Kerblam! (S11E7)

Chapter Four: Village of the Angels (S13E4)

The Haunting of Villa Diodati (S12E8)

Praxeus (S12E6)

Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror (S12E4)

Fugitive of the Judoon (S12E5)

[charliemac]

presenting IASIP EPISODES THAT WERE NOT WRITTEN BY RCG

i counted “rcg involvement” as any episode written by rob, charlie, and/or glenn, including with other non-rcg writers or creating the story but not writing it. every episode in this list does not have rob charlie or glenn credited as writers. excuse my typing errors and also feel free to add/correct anything because this is absolutely fascinating to me

SEASON 2

s2e8 the gang runs for office - david hornsby

SEASON 3

s3e13 the gang gets whacked part 2 - scott marder and rob rosell

S3e15 the gang dances their asses off - david hornsby, scott marder, rob rosell

SEASON 4

s4e4 mac’s banging the waitress - david hornsby

s4e8 paddy’s pub: the worst bar in philadelphia - scott marder, rob rosell, david hornsby

s4e10 sweet dee has a heart attack - rob rosell and scott marder

SEASON 5

s5e1 the gang exploits the mortgage crisis - becky mann and audra sielaff

s5e3 the great recession - david hornsby

s5e4 the gang gives frank an intervention - scott marder and rob rosell

s5e6 the World Series defense - david hornsby

s5e7 the gang wrestles for the troops -scott marder and rob rosell

S5e8 paddy’s pub: home of the original kitten mittens - sonny lee and Patrick walsh

s5e9 mac and dennis break up - Scott marder and rob rosell

S5e10 the dennis system - david hornsby, Scott marder, rob rosell

SEASON 6

s6e1 mac fights gay marriage - becky mann and audra sielaff

s6e2 dennis gets divorced - Dave and john chernin

s6e4 mac’s big break - rob rosell

s6e5 mac and charlie: white trash - luvh rakhe

s6e6 mac’s mom burns her house down - Scott marder and rob rosell

s6e8 the gang gets a new member - david hornsby

s6e9 dee reynolds shaping America’s youth - david hornsby

S6e10 charlie kelly king of the rats - Scott marder and rob rosell

s6e11 the gang gets stranded in the woods - Scott marder and rob rosell

s6e12 dee gives birth - david hornsby, becky mann, audra sielaff

SEASON 7

S7e1 frank’s pretty woman - scott marder and rob rosell

S7e2 the gang goes to the jersey shore - dave and john chernin

S7e3 frank reynolds’ little beauties - scott marder and rob rosell

S7e5 frank’s brother - david hornsby

S7e6 the storm of the century - charles hornsby

S7e9 the gang gets trapped - luvh rakhe

S7e10 how mac got fat - scott marder and mehar sethi

S7e11 thunder gun express - dave and john chernin

SEASON 8

S8e5 the gang gets analyzed - luvh rakhe

S8e6 charlie’s mom has cancer - scott marder and rob rosell

S8e7 frank’s back in business - dave and john chernin

S8e8 charlie rules the world - david hornsby

S8e9 the gang dines out - mehar sethi

SEASON 9

S9e3 the gang tries desperately to win an award - david hornsby

S9e4 mac and dennis buy a timeshare - dave and john chernin

S9e6 the gang saves the day - dave and john chernin

S9e7 the gang gets quarantined - david hornsby

S9e8 flowers for charlie - david beinoff and d.b weiss (game of thrones creators/writers)

S9e9 the gang makes lethal weapon 6 - scott marder

S9e10 the gang squashes their beefs - rob rosell

SEASON 10

S10e1 the gang beats boggs - dave and john chernin

S10e2 the gang group dates - rob rosell

S10e5 the gang spies like U.S - david hornsby

S10e7 mac kills his dad - david hornsby, dave and john chernin

S10e10 ass kickers united: mac and charlie join a cult - scott marder

SEASON 11

S11e2 frank falls out the window - david hornsby

S11e3 the gang hits the slopes - dave and john chernin

S11e4 dee made a smut film - eric ledgin

S11e5 mac and dennis move to the suburbs - hunter covington

S11e6 being frank - scott marder

S11e7 mcpoyle vs ponderosa: the trial of the century - conor galvin

S11e8 charlie catches a leprechaun - jon and josh silberman

S11e9 & s11e10 the gang goes to hell parts 1 and 2: david hornsby and scott marder

SEASON 12

S12e2 the gang goes to a water park - eric ledgin

S12e3 old lady house: a situational comedy - dannah phirman and danielle schneider

S12e4 wolf cola: a public relations nightmare - david horsby and scott marder

S12e5 making dennis reynolds a murderer - conor galvin

S12e8 the gang tends bar - megan ganz

S12e9 a cricket’s tale - david hornby and scott marder

SEASON 13

S13e1 the gang makes paddy’s great again - david hornsby

S13e2 the gang escapes - megan ganz

S12e3 the gang beats boggs: ladies reboot - dannah phirman and danielle schneider

S12e4 time’s up for the gang - megan ganz

S13e5 the gang gets new wheels - conor galvin

S13e6 the gang solves the bathroom problem - erin ryan

S13e7 the gang does a clip show - dannah phirman and danielle schneider

S13e8 charlie’s home alone - adam weinstock and andy jones

S13e9 the gang wins the big game - conor galvin

SEASON 14

S14e2 thunder gun 4: maximum cool - conor galvin

S14e3 dee day - megan ganz

S14e4 the gang chokes - john howell harris

S14e6 the janitor always mops twice - megan ganz

S14e8 paddy’s has a jumper - dannah phirman and danielle schneider

S14e9 a woman’s right to chop - dannah phirman and danielle schneider

S14e10 waiting for big mo - david hornsby

SEASON 15

S15e2 the gang makes lethal weapon 7 - keyonna taylor and katie mcelhenney

S15e3 the gang buys a roller rink - rob rosell david hornsby

S15e7 dee sinks in a bog - david hornsby and rob rosell

S15e8 the gang carries a corpse up a mountain - megan ganz

[walkingstackofbooks]

My 2023 in Star Trek

This is a very random time to post this, but just found it in my drafts having left off from October, and decided I was in the mood for maths!

[Annoyingly, I've found that the previous year I did I bunch of data but only up to Dec 17th 2022? After which I watched a whole buunch more DS9 before the end of 2022 so I'm missing half a month? But hey ho. My 2023 data is mostly complete! 😅]

Total amount of Trek watched in 2023: 224 hours, made from 316 episodes across 23 different seasons.

Total amount of Trek watched ever: 745 hours (ishhh) made from 900+ episodes across 36 different seasons.

Percentage of Star Trek watched so far: 74% (Or 79%, with all series weighed equally) Percentage of Star Trek re-watched: 45% (Or 32%, with all series weighed equally) [Out of the Trek I’ve watched, not *all* Trek]

Overview of series watched in 2023: VOY - 1.5 seasons - 30 hours ENT - 0.5 seasons - 8 hours DS9 - 2.8 + 5.4 seasons - 151 hours TNG - 8 episodes + 1 movie - 8 hours SNW - 1 season - 8 hours LD - 2ish seasons - 7 hours PRO - 1 season - 7 hours

Monthly Log:

Jan - Voy s2e1 - s3e13; First Contact; DS9 s5e17 - end (101 episodes + film = 77 hours)

Feb - Ent s1e1-12 (12 episodes = 8 hours)

Mar - DS9 s1e1-e11 (11 episodes = 8 hours)

Apr - DS9 s1e12-2x25; TNG s4e12, s5e03, s6e10,e11,e20, s7e15,e20. (41 episodes = 30 hours)

May - DS9 s2e26-s3e24 ; TNG s7e24 (26 episodes = 20 hours)

June - DS9 s3e25-s4e06; SNW s2e1-3 (11 episodes = 10 hours)

July - DS9 s4e07-s4e21; SNW s2e4-e7 (19 episodes = 15 hours)

August - DS9 s4e22; SNW s2e8-10 (4 episodes = 4 hours)

September - DS9 s4e23-s5e7 (10); LD s2e9, s3e4-6,8-10, s4e1-5 (12); PRO e1-8 (8) - (30 episodes = 14 hours)

October - DS9 s5e8-e14 (7); LD s4e6-9 (4); PRO e9-15 (7) - (18 episodes = 10 hours)

November - [reconstructed] DS9 s5e15-s6e7 (34); LD s4e10? (1); PRO e16-20? (5) - (40 episodes = 26 hours)

December - [reconstructed] DS9 s6e8-10 - (3 episodes = 2 hours)

[all-the-trek]

Star Trek: The Next Generation S5E7&8 "Unification" (2368)

So I know a huge thing about oh look Spock is back and Romulans and Vulcans reuniting? But I just think of this scene, Spock, so Data you are like everything Vulcans aspire to be, why you try and be human? And Data be like, you're half human and ignoring all I have ever wished to be.

[genebelcher]

here's all 30 of my gene outfits for dressuptober in a fun little gif!! Listed out where each of them came from under the cut :D

10/1: drew the base 10/2: default outfit 10/3: "Trash fashion. I call it trashion!" (s5e7: Tina Tailor Soldier Spy) 10/4: "girls being girls being girls being girls, girl group!" (s3e20: The Kids Run the Restaurant) 10/5: ballerina outfit (I made up the design, though the idea was inspired by Linda's line about signing Gene up for ballet while drunk in s5e5, Best Burger) 10/6: Madness Castle souvenir outfit (s10e17: Just the Trip) 10/7: Quiet Eli (s10e9: All That Gene) 10/8: Fart School for the Gifted (s4e12: The Frond Files) 10/9: Swimsuit + floral swimsuit cover up (s9e17: What About Blob?) 10/10: "I'm gonna make the psychedelic crop top of my dreams!" (s4e9: Slumber Party) 10/11: Punk outfit (my design) 10/12: Jazzercise outfit (s10e17: Just the Trip) 10/13: Borrowing Alex's clothes (my idea) 10/14: Hoodie and jeans (s12e5: Beach Please) 10/15: Cheerleading uniform (s4e20: Gene it On) 10/16: Tuxedo T-shirt (s1e10: Burger War) 10/17: Genederella (volumes 3 and 4 of the second comic series) 10/18: Tracksuit + a shirt with a taco on it (my design) 10/19: 80's day outfit (s10e13: Three Girls and a Little Wharfy) 10/20: Winter clothes (s12e10: Gene's Christmas Break) 10/21: Black turtleneck + gray slacks (s11e2: Worms of In-rear-ment) 10/22: Pajamas (he wears these all the time) 10/23: Gym clothes (he wears these all the time) 10/24: Roller dancing outfit (s9e8: Roller? I Hardly Know Her, except I gave him the one with the skirt because it's what he would want) 10/25: Prom queen/pageant winner/whatever (my design) 10/26: Raincoat (s1e12: Lobsterfest, s3e13: My Fuzzy Valentine, a handful of other episodes) 10/27: Biker outfit (s3e1: Ear-sy Rider, end credit scene) 10/28: Angel costume (my design) 10/29: Ice-pushing costume (s5e3: Friends With Burger-fits) 10/30: "Handsome grapes" (s8e3: The Wolf of Wharf Street) 10/31: Burger dress (my design)

[abriefingwithmichael]

“Malory Towers” s5e7 (2024)

Two good storylines.

Just as Gwen has been getting more and more likeable, she goes and does something (almost) unforgivable. Poor Ron.

Felicity wanting to come out from under Darrell's shadow is a logical progression for her character.

8/10

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, April 10

XANDER: So you're saying ... Ben and Glory... ANYA: Have a connection. GILES: Yes, obviously, but what kind? SPIKE: Oh, I get it. That's very crafty. Glory's worked the kind of mojo where anyone who sees her little presto-change-o instantly forgets. And yours truly, being somewhat other than human ... stands immune. WILLOW: So ... Ben and Glory ... are-are the same person? XANDER: Glory can turn into Ben, and Ben turns back into Glory. ANYA: And anyone who sees it instantly forgets. SPIKE: Kewpie doll for the lady. GILES: Excellent. Now. Do we suspect there may be some kind of connection between Ben and Glory?

~~Weight of the World~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Of the Wiccas (Willow/Tara, M) by R4ik3n

Bathysphere (Angelus/Buffy, M) by Anonymous

You Must Be Above This (I Fear I Shall Sink) (Angelus/Buffy, M) by Anonymous

Walk the Line (Buffy/Spike, G) by violettathepiratequeen

You're No Fun, You're No Fun (Buffy, T) by heterocosmica

School Dance (Xander, K+) by forsaken2003

Of the Slayer and the Vampire (Buffy/Spike, T) by Aragorn II Elessar

Frenemy (Buffy/Spike, PG) by Holly

[Chaptered Fiction]

Living Things, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, T) by EllieRose101

Tea with Two Sugars a Drop of Milk and a Chaos Witch Fiancee (Season 1), Chapter 1 (Giles/Ethan Rayne, T) by saracenruedoesntknowthings

The Vampire's Daughter, Chapter 9 (Spike, T) by Puella Pulchra

Mortal Allies Series, Episode 5: War and Roses, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Passion4Spike

Sign of the Times, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by JaneRemmington

Dribbles, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by bewildered

The Bond, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by Grief Counseling

Snippets, Chapter 20 (Buffy/Spike, R) by EllieRose101

Web, Chapter 13 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by DarkVoid116

Bleeding Poetry, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Dusty

Apres, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Ninereeds

Whiplash, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Ninereeds

Epistolary, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Touchstoneaf

Possessed, Chapter 7 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Brooke724

Arkham Slayers, Chapter 1 (Crossover with Batman, FR13) by xxmagex

Sinclair, Daughter of Chaos, Chapter 3 (Crossover with The Dresden Files, FR18) by Advena

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Let’s talk about S5E7-8

Apart from the fact that the opening scene in Our Mojo ripped me out of my depressive episode and sent me careening straight (or, in my case, bi) into the sun, that is. 

No, I want to talk about the Lily Man. Specifically, how Pete Daily embodies a brand of toxic masculinity specific to non-traditionally “masculine” men. In addition, I want to talk about how the show acknowledges that this particular type of abusive man can be just as destructive (and frankly, just as scary) as your typical muscular brute. 

(TW: discussion of parental neglect, verbal abuse, manipulation and incels)

Let’s be honest, the “sweet new love interest turns out to be the bad guy” trope is beyond overdone. From the beginning, you know there is something too good to be true about Pete. It wasn’t a coincidence that this perfect, unassuming, harmless dork appeared in Ella’s life right as she began to realize how self-destructive her superficial pursuit of bad boys is. Being a woman in science with an interest in science fiction, we can imagine that Ella has been subject to her share of gatekeeping. That, paired with her kind, extroverted nature puts her squarely in the crosshairs of men like Pete. It’s a word that’s not unfamiliar to internet denizens and one that sends chills down the spine of every woman: that’s right, we’re talking about incels. 

Though there are clues of the killer’s inceldom throughout the story (all the victims being women, Lily Man’s presence on dark web forums), the smoking gun is when Ella confronts him in the interrogation room. Let’s break down Pete’s tragic backstory. He says that his mother used to yell at him nonstop, didn’t care about him and only cared about her garden.

(before I go into this, let me just give a quick disclaimer: I understand the severity of verbal abuse and parental neglect. I’m not trying to invalidate victims of these traumas by interpreting the storyline the way I am.) 

It’s hard to imagine that there is any truth to Pete’s claims, considering he’d spent the last two episodes manipulating and lying to Ella. But that’s just it: he’s talking to Ella. Her fate was pretty much determined for her with her family’s criminal history and she actively chose not to become a criminal because she is a good person. 

Pete’s tragic backstory is better described as a villain origin story. He blames his mother for his problems because he is a misogynist. He locked himself in an online echo chamber in which fellow murderous men validated his hatred of women. And let’s not forget that he derived pleasure from watching the women choke on their own blood after he severed their vocal chords: literally and metaphorically silencing them. It has nothing to do with his mother. It’s a sick power fantasy. 

If you’ve made it this far thank you for reading and I want to hear your thoughts!!

[invisiblegarabgetruck]

s5e7

i think the concepts are actually cool?

Voltron reference that ends up being a mafia movie reference

but i feel like it wasn’t explored enough? also I know the smiths + Sanchez are assholes but that was unnecessary mean.

And at this point, the characterizations are just all over the place and most of the things that threw at them will end up not be so important anyway. so what is there to care abt these characters? (except jerry maybe cuz I’m biased lol)

maybe bc of ss4 final (oh no I’m terrible dad :(((() but i just feel frustrated when trying to pull emotional stuff when they don’t even know what they are going for

(แบบจะถ้าไม่อยากจริงจังก็ได้ แต่อย่าแบบโอ้ๆๆ เราจะไม่จริงจัง แต่สุดท้ายก็มาเล่นบทดราม่าเพราะมันขายออกอ่ะ... มันรู้สึกแบบนั้นอ่ะ)

but hey jerbeth would go to hell together: 8/10

just my opinion tho i just don’t like it anymore

though i guess the next ep would be good (i trust erica hayes) so that nice

[acephysicskarkat]

Redemption, Forgiveness and She-Ra S5

So just to spite the anon who told me to stop posting my opinions, I’m gonna post another opinion!

This will contain spoilers for SPOP, Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Good Place, and Steven Universe.

So the most common take that I’ve heard about S5 from Catra stans is that it’s a story about redemption and forgiveness and that if I’m in any way critical of it then I’m saying abusers can never redeem themselves.

To which I say: the second part is a strawman argument, and the first part doesn’t help because it’s a bad story about redemption and forgiveness.

Part 1: Redemption

The problem with S5′s stories about redemption is that they are, universally, undercooked.  For things that the fanbase had been wanting for months, they’re surprisingly lacking in meaningful impact.

Catra’s is the least bad, because Catra is at least on-screen long enough to tell us that it seems to be sticking, but it’s still not good.  It’s rushed, it’s weightless, and it feels like they didn’t even check what she’d done in the past three seasons that she would need to find redemption for.

At no point does she meaningfully confront her actions (which, in case you’ve forgotten, ranged from bringing about the death of Queen Angella (S3E6), to repeated attempts to murder or permanently harm Adora (S1E11, S1E13, S2E5, S3E4-6, S4E3), to bullying Scorpia (present throughout but most obvious in S4E6), to taking part in a war crime (S4E8)), nor does she really confront the jealousy and spite that drove them.  Indeed, the episodes that could have been spent showing us her character development are spent showing us that she still has a very unhealthy attitude towards Adora (S5E6) and telling us that she underwent her character development offscreen, while we were distracted by Double Trouble (S5E8).

Hordak’s is even worse, because Catra at least admits she wronged people, even if the focus is put almost entirely on Catra feeling bad about it.  Hordak realises, accurately, that being made into a cog in a machine of conquest is bad (S5E13)...but he never makes the leap onscreen to it still being bad when he did it to other people, as he did to Adora and the other Horde kids (S2E7).  It treats Hordak’s decision to break free of Horde Prime as if it in and of itself makes him good, overlooking that the life he’s trying to go back to was the one where he ruled over an empire of stolen children.

I don’t even want to get into Shadow Weaver.

AtLA gave a compelling redemption arc to Zuko by having him confront the consequences of his actions.  SU gave a compelling redemption arc to Peridot by showing us, in great detail, her evolution from antagonist to ally.  SPOP just kinda tells us that characters are good now and expects that to work out okay.

And the really depressing thing is that both these characters actually could have sustained really compelling redemption arcs!  I would have loved to see Hordak meaningfully realise onscreen that the universe does not consist of him, Horde Prime, Imp, Entrapta, and a bunch of largely interchangeable pawns for him to treat as he sees fit.  I would have loved to see Catra wrestle with and overcome her resentment of Adora, maybe come to understand that being Shadow Weaver’s favourite fucking sucked actually.  The show just didn’t bother, and so what we got was on par with a bad fanfic or the backstory for a D&D character.

Part 2: Forgiveness

For my money, one of the best stories about forgiveness in modern media is in a third season episode of The Good Place called “A Fractured Inheritance”.

Explaining it with as few spoilers as possible, protagonist Eleanor Shellstrop discovers that her cartoonishly neglectful mother Donna faked her death and seems to have built a new life where she’s a good stepmother to a child.  Eleanor spends most of the episode convinced that her mother is running a scam, but eventually concludes that this does appear to be sticking and gives up her plan to reveal Donna’s secret, cautioning her not to go back to how she used to be.  At the end, she opens up to a friend about the trauma she sustained as a result of her upbringing.

SPOP could never.

"A Fractured Inheritance” tells a more compelling story about forgiveness in 15 minutes of screentime than she-Ra S5 managed in four and a half hours because The Good Place cares about Eleanor’s trauma.  It’s portrayed as pretty understandable that she has a grudge against her mother, and working through that takes time and sustained proof that Donna has changed.  More than that, forgiveness isn’t portrayed as a magical button that instantly solves Eleanor’s issues; just because she’s letting go of her anger towards Donna doesn’t mean that the harm she suffered as a result of Donna’s neglect goes away.  Her fear of opening up or being vulnerable, stemming from a childhood of constantly being shat on when she did, is still there, even after reconciling with her mother.

Contrast this to She-Ra S5.  The second Catra says she’s sorry, Adora is willing to forgive her and go across the universe to help her (S5E3), even though in their last interaction, back in S4E3, Adora actively tried to kill her for pretty darn compelling reasons (you may remember those reasons from S3E4-6).  Adora gets, like, a brief rant in S5E4 where she seems to be confused about this, but there’s never a point where she meaningfully seems to process the trauma she’s suffered as a result of Catra’s treatment of her, which we know has been toxic, controlling and unhealthy since they were kids (S5E3).

More than that, there’s never really a point where any of the people Catra victimised in the first four seasons gets to deal with that.  Glimmer seemingly never realises that Catra is why her mother is dead (S3E6), which is especially jarring given that the effects of Angella’s death on Glimmer drove the entire previous season; Entrapta barely remembers that Catra betrayed her and sent her to her presumed death (S5E6); Bow thinks someone who’s done nothing but attempt to hurt his friends for as long as he’s known her is adorable (S5E8); Scorpia forgives her before she even finishes saying sorry (S5E13); and both Frosta decking her in S5E9 and Perfuma’s understandable irritation with the woman who bullied her GF in S5E10 are portrayed almost as jokes, the latter never escalating beyond mild rudeness.

This also extends to Hordak, who, after his tissue-thin face turn in S5E13, gets a baffling montage that tries to portray his picking up an abandoned child and indifferently turning her over to an abusive sorceress (S2E7) as somehow heartwarming and a big bonding moment, and then the notion that Mermista might have some grudges against the guy who burned down her home and displaced her people (S5E7-8) is framed as comic.

I’m not even saying that neither of these characters should never be forgiven by anyone!  Just that the forgiveness they get in the show is lacking in dramatic weight, because the actions that are being forgiven don’t feel like they mean anything.  Catra has hurt Adora, Glimmer, Entrapta, Scorpia, Mermista and countless unnamed innocents, and it’s all treated like it has the same impact as borrowing Adora’s Xena DVDs and forgetting to give them back.  Hordak should be considered Etheria’s greatest monster given the number of people who’ve died as a result of his actions and maybe one person is slightly irritated at the prospect of having to send him a Christmas card this year.

(This is without getting into the fact that Glimmer and Entrapta are expected to deal with the consequences of their actions to some degree, with each getting an episode focused around that (S2E2, S2E4).  It’s kind of wild that Glimmer nearly destroying the world because she took a reckless risk in a desperate gamble to try and save the people she cares about from the Horde blitzkrieg, a gambit that she immediately tried to fix when she realised she’d fucked up (S4E10-13) is treated as something that causes a notable rift in her friendships, but Catra nearly destroying the world because she was just that jealous of Adora (S3E3-6) is breezed past with an “I’m sorry.”  Entrapta building the robots causes the Alliance to hold grudges; Hordak waging 25 years of warfare is [shrug] Just Horde Clone Things.)

3. Salvaging These Plot Points

Now, as I implied above, the notion that I think these characters are irredeemable is a bullshit strawman, a thought-terminating cliche that Catra stans use to dismiss criticism without processing with it.  So how would I go about it?

Catra

I would start by having Catra and Glimmer be in the same escape.  Having her attempt to sacrifice herself in S5E3 had some weird thematic issues given her previously established self-destructive streak (S2E5, most of S3).  If we have to keep the bad plot point where Adora recovers the friend who loves and cares for her and immediately goes “well, we gotta leave our friends back home to deal with a colonial invasion while we charge across the universe to save my abusive stalker ex who’s never respected my personhood or autonomy”, I’d probably look at the two biggest missed opportunities in the season: S5E6 and S5E8.

S5E6 is terrible, and should just be expunged mercilessly with fire for its baffling endorsement of the sentiment “yes i abused u but now u hate me so i’m the victim really”.  Its replacement should probably be focused around Adora genuinely processing the harm she’s sustained as a result of Catra’s treatment of her, probably deciding at the end that she’ll accept Catra’s help but is still understandably suspicious of her given the established mistrust (S1E8) and hostility (S4E3).

S5E8 is easy to fix, though; instead of it mostly being the characters bumbling around a haunted house, I’d make the setting actually do stuff for the characters’ arcs.  We already know that First One ruins can bring up memories, so I’d turn it into a reversal of S1E11 where Adora and Catra’s friendship can actually be rebuilt, probably culminating in Catra saving Adora from falling off a cliff as a symbolic rejection of the resentment she would have been struggling with throughout the episode.  This is probably where Adora starts to actually believe that Catra has become a better person.

Basically, the goal here is to show the audience that Catra is working to overcome her issues and become a better person, instead of telling us that it happened offscreen.

Hordak

The problem with Hordak’s face turn is that at no point in the show, including after we’re supposed to treat him as Good Now, does he seem to give a shit about anyone not on a list that contains maybe 4-5 names.  I’d probably put in some scenes earlier where his experiences seem to be actually changing him for the better: maybe his response to Entrapta asking him to spare Catra isn’t to commute her sentence to a suicide mission, or he feels a sudden sympathy with a captive Etherian after the fall of Salineas, as the shared feelings of loss line up, and orders their release.  Basically, the idea is to put in some groundwork so that it actually feels like he might be safe to have around, instead of him betraying his tyrannical overlord because he misses his life where he was, himself, a tyrannical overlord.

I also would not play the idea that people might be a little bit suspicious of a man with a 25-year history of ruthless oppression, colonial violence and unprovoked warmongering as a joke.  Just one of those personal quirks.

4. Summary

In conclusion:

S5 is a bad story about redemption because it doesn’t give the characters being redeemed engaging or compelling redemption arcs, favouring a blind rush to the ending, and it’s a bad story about forgiveness because it treats the actions that are being forgiven as though they don’t mean anything, even when episodes or entire seasons have been built on the effects of those actions.  It’s not that these ideas are bad in general, that these characters axiomatically couldn’t be redeemed or that forgiveness is problematic; it’s just that the execution is bad.

Anyway, thanks, jackass anon, for inspiring me to set down my thoughts in detail like this!

[thathappyforyou]

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