#*s1e14

[way-too-fine]

(every episode of) THE NANNY – s1e14: family plumbing

[slimyshield]

the fact that it was Whitaker who found Robby. the fact that they made a point of showing that it could have been Santos who found Robby. Santos who has shown she is willing to go above someone's head if she thinks it's necessary. Santos who would have told someone - Dana, Abbot, someone - if she was the one to find Robby having a panic attack on the floor. she wouldn't have been crazy about it because she did go about reporting Langdon with tact and nuance (getting other ppls takes on Langdon and proof of drugs vanishing before she went to Robby!!) but she would have said something she would have mentioned something.

but instead it's Whitaker. who is empathetic, yes, and perhaps what he said was what Robby needed in the moment, what the ER needed in the moment, because they couldn't afford to have an attending tap out in the middle of a mass casualty event. but Whitaker is a young white man. a demographic the show has specifically pointed out is drowning in toxic masculinity. he is a young white man from Nebraska with multiple brothers, and it has been shown that he has the spirit but lacks the execution skills in terms of empathy and knowing what would be best for the patient holistically. so he says what he thinks Robby needs to hear, the long and short of which is put your emotions aside and get your head in the game, which the audience knows is not what Robby genuinely, actually needs in order to get better in the long term. and we see the direct results of that when after Robby stands he physically pushes Whitaker away. because that is what emotional unavailability does to men. it makes them reject each other in moments of weakness. like. the metaphor is so obvious and devastating. it's right there! he pushes him away! he pushes him away!! you think or maybe hope they're about to have a glorious heart to heart -- but Robby pushes him away, and so Whitaker leaves (with a nickname for Robby that, correct me if I'm wrong, is the first time we hear it; and he calls him captain. a military rank. which is. an insane decision from the writers. the military, which perpetuates toxic masculinity more than perhaps any other entity in the world). and Whitaker doesn't have the lack of respect for authority that Santos has, so when Robby comes to him later and says you won't tell anyone about this will you, he says no, I won't. where we have textual in-show evidence that Santos might have said no I won't and then gone to Dana or Abbot afterwards. and then Whitaker parrots Robby's horrendous, fumbling how do we deal with losing patients? push it down and never process it speech back at him. it's heartwarming! Robby smiles! and then you think about it a bit more and you just feel sick.

this is not an attack on Whitaker. I love him so much. it's just like. this is how the cycle of toxic masculinity is perpetuated. Whitaker isn't an asshole! he has buckets of empathy we have seen that! he is a bleeding heart! but it's still not enough. as a man he has been told his entire life to shut his emotions down and that vulnerability is to be avoided at all costs and he and Robby catch each other in a negative loop. the cycle is continued, unwittingly. GOD this show is so good

[lupinescribbler]

In my opinion, Sam is 100% the moral core of the team, and this episode (S1E14) is a prime example. She was willing to die to prevent a child from dying alone and afraid. Just to offer a little comfort. It's one of those episodes that still haunt me.

I also don't buy the 'I knew she wasn't going to explode' thing. The first thing she says: "I just couldn't leave her" I think was the most honest. After Jack demands to know how she knew I think she realizes that a risky gamble would be an easier pill to swallow for them than knowing that she believed she was going to die down there.

She knew what Jack needed to hear, and it was not "I didn't"

[nocontext4077th]

[allfallsdown]

—law & order: special victims unit, s1e14, limitations.

[splitterregen]

kid had a fucking kill list and worried his mom enough to have her intervene and somehow robi still thinks he made the right call not getting the cops involved... fucking insane

[ffcrazy15]

I'm sorry but the little details in Tuvok's reaction to Neelix's plomeek soup are sending me. That tiny cough. The offense in his eyes. Him calling it "piquant." Every day the universe sends a new test to Tuvok's stoicism and today that test is the world's worst alien tomato soup.

[autistic-danieljackson]

I don't particularly ship Sam and Daniel but they have such a little family vibe in Singularity and it's absolutely adorable

[starchaser45]

Sara Jean to Reid: a doctor so young your mom must be very proud

Me *sobs*

S1E14 will always hunt me 😭😭😭

[harringroveera]

The whole thing was Robin’s idea. 

So she had a crush on her gym instructor, but that didn’t mean she had to drag Steve with her to their date. Yet somehow, they ended up at the restaurant anyway. 

Apparently, Robin’s crush wouldn’t go on a date unless her friend could come too. The guy had just been dumped, and she wanted to help him. Robin, of course, didn’t find any reasons to protest that. She found so many reasons to get Steve to come with her, though.

I helped you during your finals, Steve. I got you to go back to Nancy, Steve. I let you borrow five bucks last week, Steve.

In the end, he caved in and went with her.

“Okay, how do I look?” Robin put the silver spoon down on the table and turned to him for help. She bared her teeth. “Do I have anything on my teeth?”

“No, Robin. You’re fine!” he said, groaning as he sank back to his seat. “You know, you owe me big time for this.”

“Think of this as an opportunity for you, Steve. Heather’s friend is really hot. He works at the same place she does. Personal trainer. People ask for his number every day. I saw.” 

“I don’t know. He was just dumped. Wouldn’t that make him a little, I don’t know, desperate?” 

“And Nancy just dumped you again, when?”

He rolled his eyes, kicking her leg from under the table. “Shut up,” he said. “Okay, fine! You get the pretty one, and I get the pathetic one. That’s our deal.”

“Obviously. You’re not Heather’s type anyway.”

“What’s Heather’s type?”

“Women.”

Steve snorted, straightening his back, when Robin kicked his foot. She pointed at the entrance, where a girl their age walked through the door in her off-shoulder, black dress. From the mesmerized look on Robin’s face, he could only assume this was the Heather she had been crushing on for months and only gathered the nerve to ask out last week.

When Heather spotted them, she smiled, waving her fingers at Robin as she approached their table. Robin nearly tripped while trying to get out of her chair. 

“Hey! Hi,” she said, pulling out a chair for Heather. “Heather, this is Steve, my best friend. The one I told you about.”

“Pretty,” Heather said, and Steve blinked at her confusedly. “My friend would like you.”

“Really? Who did you bring?”

Heather’s lips curled up to form a smirk. She turned to Robin instead. “I have to go wash the cologne smell off my hands. I had to help him with a bit of an emergency earlier,” she said, and Robin nodded. “Can you get me a daiquiri and a whiskey neat for Billy?”

“Sure, yeah, absolutely! One daiquiri and one whiskey neat!”

Heather patted Robin’s hand gently and headed towards the restroom. Steve watched her go, his shoulders tensing up when he finally processed the words she had said.

“What did she just say?” he said, as Robin looked at him. “Did she say Billy?”

“Yeah.”

“Billy. As in, Billy Hargrove?” he hissed.

Robin’s lips parted, but then she let out an unconvinced scoff. “No, no way it’s him. You haven’t seen him since you graduated.”

“And now I’m in California, where Max told me he lives.”

“There’s no way that your high school rival is actually friends with Heather, Steve. It’s a one in a million chance!”

“Steve Harrington.” 

Steve froze, sending Robin a sharp glare that made her shoulders shrink. She gave him an apologetic smile before they both turned to look at the guy standing right in front of their table.

“What are the fucking odds?” 

*

The date, as it turned out, was a disaster. 

He hadn’t seen Hargrove since he graduated. And sure, Max occasionally told her friends things about Hargrove to keep them up to date, and Steve was always there to listen to them, but he had no interest in Hargrove whatsoever. Not since they got into that big fight that ended up with Steve having a broken nose for weeks. He hated the guy.

He was smug and arrogant, and his looks didn’t help either. He was attractive; even Steve had to admit that, but his personality repulsed Steve. 

For Robin, she was rather enjoying her time with her crush. The two of them had been talking since the date started, and Steve had been glaring at Hargrove since the date—not a date—started.

“I see that your nose healed nicely, Harrington,” Hargrove said, and Steve narrowed his eyes on him.

“Yeah. No thanks to you.”

It made Hargrove laugh. That bright, annoying laugh that Steve found irritating. “Don’t tell me you’re still bitter about that. It was, what, seven years ago?” 

“You broke my nose!”

“You kidnapped my sister.”

“I didn’t—” He took a deep breath, swallowing the bubbling anger down. “I didn’t kidnap her! I was driving her to Dustin’s place. They had a stupid game night. I just—I didn’t even know she snuck out of the house.”

“So what you’re saying is, it’s your fault you got a broken nose?”

Steve heaved a breath and said, “Sure, and how is single life treating you after you got dumped?” 

Hargrove laughed again, which was getting annoying. “It’s cool.”

“And here I thought you’d never be dumped,” he remarked. “King Hargrove. Always the dumper, never the dumpee. Weren’t you with Munson for a long time?” 

“We were,” Hargrove said, “until he realized he got a thing for older men, not younger.”

Steve blinked at him in surprise, flicking the piece of carrot in his place. “Oh.”

“And you? Last time Heather talked to me about you, you were with Wheeler. Again.”

“Of course, because I just love talking about him,” Heather said, deadpan.

“We were together for a while, yeah,” Steve said, “then she realized she had a thing for women.”

A smile tugged at the corners of Hargrove’s lips. He said, “Looks like we both had bad luck in relationships.”

“Looks like you both got dumped,” Robin said. “And looks like Heather and I are leaving.”

“What?” 

“Yeah, sorry. We really have to go.” She flashed Steve a guilty smile, patting his shoulder and leaning closer to whisper in his ear, “Heather said she’s very flexible, not just at the gym, and now I really want to find out what that means.”

“God, Robin. Fine, go!” he said, waving his hand in dismissal as she squeezed his arm. 

“Thank you!”

She gave him another smile before disappearing with Heather, leaving him completely alone with Hargrove, who was possibly the worst choice to spend the night with. He sighed, sinking back into the chair and darting his eyes to Hargrove. The guy was already smiling at him.

“What?” he said.

Hargrove shrugged, twirling his fingertip around the rim of his whiskey glass. “Nothing. Just thinking about how I’d need another drink.”

“Yeah, me too,” Steve said. “You aren’t gonna break my nose this time, right?”

“Not unless you kidnap my sister again.” Hargrove gave him a wink, and Steve gulped. When did he get so much more charming than before? 

“I wasn’t,” Steve said. “It was a misunderstanding. I already explained everything to you.”

“Yeah, I heard both yours and Max’s stories already,” Hargrove said, taking the champagne bottle and pouring it into Steve’s empty glass. 

“Woah, hey.” He snorted, nudging at the bottle in Hargrove’s hand when the champagne nearly touched the rim. “You’re trying to get me drunk and get in my pants or something?” 

“You want me to?” 

Steve stared at him. He cleared his throat and said, “Of course not.”

*

When Steve woke up in the morning, it was from the constant buzzing of his phone on the nightstand. He scrolled past the missed calls and unopened messages from Robin with half-lidded eyes. The last one was a text from Robin asking if anything bad had happened the night before.

He flinched when an arm draped over his chest. He widened his eyes and turned his head, taking in the sight—the person—next to him. Their limbs were tangled, and there was a nest of messy blond hair buried in his shoulder blade. 

His eyes darted down to the skull tattoo on the man’s arm. Steve let out a shaky breath.

“Fuck,” he muttered. “Fuck, fuck. I slept with Billy Hargrove. Oh, god.”

“Yeah, you did. Now shut up,” Hargrove said groggily into his shoulder, squeezing his midriff tighter. “Or do you want me to leave?”

Steve gulped, glancing at their entwined and very naked limbs. Memories of last night came back to him, shoving five amazing orgarms back in his face. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that bad. Besides, Hargrove was really warm, and his morning wood was poking against Steve’s hips, like a promise to the sixth orgasm he would be experiencing soon.

“No,” he mumbled quietly, embarrassment filling his cheeks with heat. He put a hand over Billy’s arm, tilting his face to breathe in his cologne. “No, you can stay.”

[iicraft505]

[honeypiehotchner]

there aren't that many episodes of criminal minds that just make me lose it and start sobbing but s1e14 "riding the lightning" will forever be one

[theinnermostsanctum]

Juliette & Nick:

[xf-cases-solved]

S1E14: Gender Bender

Case: In what is arguably one of the most "why did you write this??" plots so far, our dynamic duo (per Mulder's request, I might add) investigate the deaths of five victims who appear to have, like... been fucked to death? Or something?

Actually I have to interrupt my own summary here, bc I just looked up the Wikipedia page (yes, bc I was trying to remember the state, shut up), and Glen Morgan is apparently quoted as saying he wanted "an episode with more of a sexy edge." How that ended up being this particular episode, I cannot say. That is an X-File in and of itself.

But I digress. People are dying of mb really high levels of pheromones caused by super mind-blowing sex. Sure. Also no one is sure if this killer is male or female. (They somehow manage to not even entertain the idea that any of the victims might have been gay, which I thought was an impressive feat of elephant avoidance.)

ANYWAY. Their investigation leads them to Massachusetts, where a bunch of sci-fi not-Amish people are chilling out doing not-Amish people things. Stuff kind of just snowballs from there. Mulder jumps down into the not-Amish people's ritual cellar with no backup and then proceeds to reprimand Scully for being reckless; Scully (for the first, but unfortunately not last time) almost bangs someone bc she is being manipulated due to some supernatural phenomenon; I laugh A LOT alone in my work office bc I had forgotten the stupid twist ending; and Nicholas Lea is a starving artist who has to take the roles he's offered if he ever wants to be bumped up to recurring character status. Sigh. Hustling the club scene used to be so simple...

Does someone die in the cold open: Yes. He is fucked to death. Or something.

Does Mulder present a slideshow: Yes! Of dead people! Who were fucked to death! Or something!

Does the evidence survive the investigation: The evidence doesn't even stay on this planet.

Whodunit: A horny alien cosplaying as a gender fluid Amish person. No, seriously.

Convictions: Zip.

Did they solve it: No. This is my very first explicit no with no qualifiers. They 1. did not figure out the cause of death definitively, 2. did not apprehend the suspect, 3. lost literally all of their evidence, and 4. the government wasn't even hiding anything this time, they just got outsmarted by some horny aliens and were left with nothing. In fact, I bet they actually know less now than when they started. Failure from top to bottom, guys, good work.

[how do i determine if a case is solved? check the scale here: x]

THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY: Anxiously clenching your butthole while crossing your fingers and praying that your faves don't say anything TOO problematic. Are you educated in the systematic inequalities facing minorities in the world? Are you aware of how socially accepted language and behaviors have evolved over time to become more inclusive and less prejudiced? Do you also happen to be watching a show that was made pre-21st century, and "oh god, are they doing an episode that revolves around *gender*? Oh Christ. Oh no. Oh God"? Never fear! Anxiously clenching your butthole while crossing your fingers and praying that your faves don't say anything TOO problematic is here!

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Get clenchin'!

***

General Total Stats:

(green means stat has changed since last ep; red means new stat added to list)

Total Cases *Definitively* Solved So Far: 6 (streak ended. brutally)

Total Number of "Mulder/Scully, it's me" phone calls: 1

Total Number of Times Scully Has Conveniently Not Seen Something Crucial: 4

Total Number of Times Mulder Has Been in Mortal Danger: 5

Total Number of Times Scully Has Been in Mortal Danger: 4 (upped it another half point, bc i don't thiiiink the guy coercing her intended to put her life in danger. he just ("just") wanted to sexually assault her, but also apparently fucking those guys kills you, so. another toss up)

Total Number of Sexually Charged, Uncomfortably intimate, and/or Flirty Moments Between Friendly Coworkers: 8 (for an episode that was meant to have a "sexy edge," it was deeply unhorny all around, even between our good good coworkers. they should have brought back that horny fire expert from episode 12 to bring up the heat, pun not intended)

Total Number of Autopsies Scully Has Performed On Screen: 1

Total Number of Times Scully Plays Doctor: 1

Total Number of Times Mulder Talks to an Informant: 5

Total Number of Times People Making Out in a Car Are Hurt or Killed: 2 (when i made that stat, part of me was like "mb i am misremembering how often that happens, and it won't even come up that much," and then it happened in the very next episode)

Total Number of Nosebleeds: 4

Total Number of Times Mulder Has Tasted/Sniffed/Touched Something Questionable Without Following Proper Safety Procedures: 2 (don't touch and sniff the weird alien goo wall??? i know for a FACT you keep rubber gloves in your pocket)

Total Number of Times Someone Says "Trust No One": 1

Total Number of Times Someone Says "I Want to Believe": 2

Total Number of Cigarettes Cigarette Smoking Man Has Smoked: 2

Total Number of Maggie Scully Sightings: 1

Total Number of Alex Krycek Sightings: still 0, but like, uh... definitely the closest we've come so far

Total Number of Times I Had to Look Up What State the Episode Takes Place in Even Though I Literally Just Watched It: 4 ½ (yeah i couldn't even pretend that i paid attention)

Total Number of Times I Had to Look at an Episode's Wikipedia Page to Fill This Out Because It Was Fucking Confusing and/or Too Boring for Me to Pay Attention: 2 (i didn't need to, but i did read the wikipedia page anyway just out of pure curiosity, bc why did they write that episode? i mean like, i was entertained, which ig makes it a win, but also just... why?)

[quartergremlin]

guess whos watching trollhunters again.

[xlr8nrg]

"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.''