#A Meditation on Murder

[mrsometimes11]

Been a fan of Death in Paradise for a while, but only really just beginning to dip my toe into the fandom. Was wondering what the general opinion was on the books?

My opinion, they are a good addition to the series, and nice to see a little more of the original team, but some of the characterizations seem a little off. The murders are first-rate, and it seems odd to be saying this as they're all written by Robert Thorogood who created the TV series, but it seems like there's a lot more tension between the team in the books that in the show.

Take Richard and Camille, in the show, while they often disagree, it always made plain that underneath it all they like, perhaps more than like, each other. But in the books, reading Richard's internal monologue, it often seems like, though he respects her as a detective and colleague, Richard actively dislikes Camille as a person. I guess so much of what we perceive as their relationship comes from the chemistry between the actors, which is of course lost in the written word.

For all, that the books to include my favourite exchange in the entire series, in which Richard asks the team how they'd go about killing him, and slowly becomes more and more horrified by Dwayne's detailed response.

Anyway, enough of my rambling, what do you folks think?

[humans-are-tasty]

[wi1dshxpe]

gortash sets up a lending library at his estate after seeing durge’s in the bhaal temple. they both know they’re the only people who use them so it turns into a sort of game. durge loves music, so after enver’s last visit a book about viola has appeared in the temple library. enver fancy’s himself a jeweler so it’s only natural a scroll about gem welding would end up in his library. books relating to their schemes, hobbies, pasts, futures, inside jokes and aspirations get passed back in forth. the only extended pause is when a novel about star crossed lovers gets dropped in the bhaal library. it’s weeks before the favor is returned and enver receives a scroll about bhaalist marriage ceremonies. he doesn’t know whether to take it as an advance or a threat, so he accepts it as both.

[chelledoggo]

what if my sona was one of them killy robots from the show i didn't actually watch until a few days before it ended

("BUHHHH SHE LOOKS TOO MUCH LIKE UZI THO" yeah but i like purple better than yellow so bite me >:) )

[hippydippydruid]

Most suspenseful part of the show was Francis standing behind Shane with the gun I was literally on the edge of my seat. Also wondering if Francis is planning to come back and torture Shane more like just keep fucking with him before killing him bc that sounds like something the boy would do.

[respectthepetty]

Thanks to @poomphuripan posting the celebrity gossip articles that My Stand-In releases, we know that Tong covered up Ming's outburst as Ming getting the filming dates out of order, which caused him to believe another scene was filming that day.

However, now Tong is being aggressive with Joe and making him work harder, to the point of exhaustion.

But he doesn't do that until Ming leaves.

So Ming's behavior last week telling Tong to watch himself regarding Old Joe made an impact.

However, I'm unsure if Old Joe's body is dead or in a hospital.

But either way, I don't see Ming taking it lightly on Tong after this because regardless if it's Old Joe or New Joe (the way his face is not shown at the beginning of this post-sex scene is *chef's kiss*), I really hope Ming's possessive behavior hits its peak after this.

And now I am really praying for Tong to fuck up and hurt Joe again.

Just so Ming can end him!

[dk-thrive]

An intimacy of strangers. That's a phrase I've sometimes used to express the joyful thing that happens in the act of reading, that happy union of the interior lives of author and reader.

― Salman Rushdie, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder (Random House, April 16, 2024)

[alwaysactually]

umineko is in fact the most piece of media ever

[m-a-k-k-u]

My Dearest Self With Malice Aforethought▪︎Shinai Naru Boku e Satsui o Komete

[shaykai]

I would love to hear more about Vat'il's past, I was desperately intrigued by the one comic-- I assume the shock collar aversion is the matron slapped it on him so she could have a way to control his Urge, but how'd he end up with her family? How long did he stay with the drow? When did sceleritas show up— [is dragged offstage]

The shock collar is just something all of the servants in her house wear- she doesn’t know that he’s a Bhaalspawn/know about his Urge- to her understanding, he’s just a bit murder happy (which isn’t entirely out of the norm as far as drow culture goes)

Sceleritas showed up a little while before he killed his adoptive family, kind of bonding with him while also trying to encourage him to not neglect his Urges (he doesn’t listen and ends up killing his family via the Urge taking over 😔)

As far as getting to Menzoberranzan goes, he was captured while aimlessly wandering through the Underdark. Backstories are liable to change, but so far I’m going with Gwnn- a guard captain- gifted him to Valora- The Matron- as a courting gift. Initially speaking, he’s almost borderline decorational and mostly just serves to fetch and deliver things- until she finds out he has a penchant for killing things, and then he’s essentially her personal assassin

I’m not entirely sure on how long he’s there for, but so far it’s roughly about 10ish years- currently speaking, he escapes as a teenager :> (fun fact! He escapes after Sceleritas says that his Father wants him to come home and gives him the same little invisibility cloak you get in game from him)

[crimeronan]

im think sm about the hypothetical in this shitty alt timeline of belos "gifting" luz an amity grimwalker, specifically luz walking up to amity, looking haunted and done and holding a baby that looks scarily similar to amity and just asking "how are you healing up?" when amity has NOT told her abt her injury.

OH GOD.

[vaguely-concerned]

I just finished padawan by kiersten white and had a blast with it -- it was exactly the kind of thing my brain craved this week, just some nice character study and adventure story stuff for my brain to chill in. thoughts:

a) I love obi-wan and his poor anxiety-ridden teenage self so so much. peak a delight to have in class to the point of nervous break representation, someone help him. local boy manages to become parentified child to an absent father somehow. that part where he's so afraid he's so bad and useless that the force itself might just decide it doesn't want him after all........ heartbreaking. that's exactly what I would have thought at sixteen too probably. (also my personal headcanon has always been that obi-wan is on the ace spectrum, so that was a very nice thing to find supported in this book! canon is vast and can support any number of stances that way honestly everyone should go hog wild with it in whatever manner they please, but that's always been my vibe)

b) qui-gon fucking jinn if you don't step up and do something to help the child in your charge with his ACTUAL DEBILITATING ANXIETY DISORDER RUNNING HIM RAGGED other than ask him to meditate so help me I will come over there and do maul's work for him ahead of time I swear to fucking god

c) no, really, it says some not very good things about qui-gon's mentorship abilities that obi-wan really only manages to grow and be calmer when he's outside of his influence. I know this book means you to come away with the feeling that obi-wan takes a big step towards enlightenment and adulthood on this trip (and I do think that's also true to be clear!), but there is a part of me that also thinks that just as much as personal and spiritual development what we're seeing here is an avoidant attachment style definitively entrenching itself as a result of having no adult that can be consistently trusted to meet him emotionally. (which also makes a horrible kind of sense, thinking about what obi-wan and anakin's relationship is going to be like in the future -- obi-wan is avoidant and self-contained when it comes to trying to deal with his emotions, and anakin skews far more anxious and towards lashing out, and they never quite understand each other for all the love that is there. you can trace that all the way back here. sins of the master, huh.) obi-wan finds some agency and catharsis in being able to help a group of abandoned children, you say. hm. I'm sure this means nothing and has no parallels in his own inner world. you let the kid think you'd completely abandoned him instead of communicating with him openly for like five minutes. For His Own Good of course. Wow I didn't realize I was this angry about this but here I am once again livid on obi-wan's behalf, actually. 'I'm an incredible teacher and this lack of honest emotional communication I'm fostering in favour of (benign!) manipulation is never going to come back and bite the jedi order in the ass, surely'; the qui-gon jinn story

[cxpperhead]

Try as he might, Copperhead can never let go of his dark nature. His bloodline is one that has been in service to the ancient deity Nehebkau from the days of Early Egypt with many of his ancestors having become prominent murderers throughout the course of history. Nehebkau's influence in a person's bloodline makes one more inclined to evil thoughts and impulses, each and every intrusive thought struggling to become reality. It is through immense self-restraint and meditation that Copperhead tries to keep his kill count to a minimum, restricting his deeds through contracts and, through careful scrutinization, preferring to kill only those who have become criminals in their own right.

[scoobydoodean]

I see this held up as major proof of Dean's badness, but couldn't it also be proof of Cas having faith Dean can get past anything without Cas having to change his behavior? The way it's structured the onus is on DEAN to work through it, not others to change or make amends. ---- CASTIEL: You know, Dean, he – he feels things more acutely than any human I've ever known. So it's possible he could work through this. One day, he may explode and let it all out and breathe deeply and move on.

I see what you mean in a general sense, and it's extremely possible that Cas is thinking about his own past fights with Dean and Dean forgiving him, and from the perspective of the critique you have in mind that you're refuting, I agree. But of course deancrit casgirls will forever insist that Cas has never in his life done anything harmful to Dean either accidentally or on purpose, so any time Dean might dare try to hold him accountable for anything, he's actually just making shit up and being toxic and controlling, so here Cas is just apologizing for his own abusive relationship. You can only get their take by being deliberately obtuse/disingenuous.

That said, the context of that line (from 15.13 "Destinty's Child") is Cas answering soulless Jack's question about whether Dean will eventually forgive him for murdering Mary.

CASTIEL: Hey, Jack. JACK: Cas, you know what's good about being dead? CASTIEL: Uh, as I recall, very little. JACK: Well, when you come back, you – you really get into all that life is. Hot, cold, sweet, spicy, funny, scary. CASTIEL: And are you? "Into it"? JACK: I want to be. But I don't... feel things the way I used to. Before I lost my... CASTIEL: Your soul. JACK: I used to feel things. In my bones. It was glorious, and sometimes unbearable. But I felt them. Now, I understand joy or sadness, but... I know those things aren't in me. I understand why Sam and Dean were angered by what happened to Mary... CASTIEL: By what you did to Mary. JACK: Yes. I see that I've caused them pain. And it's clear that things have changed. Especially with – with Dean. Will he ever forgive me? CASTIEL: You know, Dean, he – he feels things more acutely than any human I've ever known. So it's possible he could work through this. One day, he may explode and let it all out and breathe deeply and move on. JACK: How long will that take? CASTIEL: I don't know.

And yeah—I have seen people refer to Cas's little speech here as "condoning child abuse" and other bullshit. Because how DARE Dean not forgive soulless Jack for murdering his mother (something soulless Jack is unable to actually really acknowledge he did). I mean clearly any time someone murders your mom because she made them mad and threatened their sense of security by asking if they're okay and saying their concerning actions can’t stay a secret… That’s just natural understandable stuff! You need to forgive the person who murdered her instantly and if you don’t idk you’re kinda overreacting don’t you think? :/ I mean your mom probably deserved it kind of anyway for reading the room so wrong and talking about getting a person help. And I mean if you don't forgive the person who killed your mom or do anything trying to stop them from hurting more people you're really a child abuser... toward an adult... who murdered your mother in cold blood and is unable to even understand why it was wrong in any sense other than an intellectual one like he read it from a book... preferring to refer to it as "What happened to Mary" instead of acknowledge it as something he himself did because he was mad and felt threatened—which is what he circled back to in "Jack In The Box" too. It's only when Jack gets his soul back that he's able to actually feel true empathy, acknowledge his real actions and the gravity of them, and give an actual sincere apology. Because his soul is actually important—something this fandom refuses, by and large, to notice.

Anyway, this fandom's take on Mary's murder and soulless Jack vs. regular Jack is overwhelmingly a bag of wet third grader vomit and feces so what can one expect?

[encrucijada]

contrary to popular belief my oc most like adam parrish is actually ángel quijada

[meetthesoldier]

i like nortalice (somewhat) but i like it in a way that nobody else on this site seems to agree with