#Except pretend about what will happen in s2

[noneorother]

The grand unified theory of Good Omens S2 hangs on - you guessed it - a double meaning (and art). *Part 4*

Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l The End?

This is major spoilers for season 3 territory. You have been warned. I'm also going to split this into parts because wow, I have so many ✨Clues✨! Friends, we have arrived at the prestige! Metatron come at me bro, catch these hands. Oh wait you can't, you always have your hands in your pockets...

People smarter than me have talked all about Aziraphale's magician outfits on this show, so I won't steal their thunder. Suffice it to say, The Metatron is wearing a weirdly dark coat and tie over his whole outfit. Which gives him a very only a white floating head look, but also keeps in the theme of ✨I am a magician✨. He's here to perform a trick!

I also won't talk a lot about him in the coffee shop because that's been done already. If we have learned anything from part 3, analyzing the coffee to death is what we are supposed to be doing, because He is distracting everyone with a benign object that we can inspect. So while he's waving this coffee around in the shop going "SEE I KNOW HOW EARTH WORKS" he's also doing something fascinating: Checking to see who recognizes him.

Weirdly, even though Aziraphael saw him in season one, and the angels all work with him, no one does right away. EXCEPT for Saraquiel and Crowley, who just saw his face not in person, but in a video tape of sorts up in heaven at Gabriel's trial by farce. And then something funny happens. Saraquiel is scared shitless and pretends to have 'forgotten' like Michael, but Crowley admits loud and proud that he does. Then Uriel gives THE BIGGEST SIDEYE I have ever seen on screen to Michael, as in "You don't recognize our boss? I am very afraid for what that means."

As far as I can understand, this is the reason the Metatron is here : "Are we in the version of events where I lose?" And the answer The Metatron gets after the question is : We are in the version of events where I have severely fucked with Michael, sort of fucked with the other angels, I have fucked with Aziraphale, and Crowley has seen me already in heaven. Now we're missing a lot of information as to WHY this specific answer is good for The Metatron, and how much Saraquiel knows, but it seems like he interprets this as an "I haven't lost yet, and I can still do my trick".

So now here we are, at the most important part of the episode, in my (and Aziraphale's) opinion. THE double meaning.

This line is insane. On the surface we have meaning 1) The Metatron is scolding over-zealous angels for meddling in this affair, and over reaching with their power, especially threatening to use the book of life on people. He's the good guy! But under the surface we have meaning 2) I HAVE THE BOOK OF LIFE and I have been using it on everybody in this room. If I don't get my way this time around, I will edit you guys again, and you will have done the right thing. And with that admission, Aziraphale severely twigs and becomes very afraid. From then on his voice shakes and he babbles, and he has trouble looking the Metatron in the eye. I'm willing to bet that this is the moment Aziraphale realizes what The Metatron just admitted: I am creating a version of reality as we speak where I change you and Crowley (and everyone else) so that you lose to me. A terrified Aziraphael goes off with The Metatron to have a chin wag. Now here's the trick.

We've already established that Maggie and Nina are here as stage assistants to The Metatron, so they need time to work on Crowley alone. If they talk to A/C together, like they would have without The Metatron's appearing in the scene before, better communication might have happened between them. He made Aziraphale disappear from the scene!

This does NOT look like the face of someone getting good news. We never heard what the details were besides inviting Crowley to the job promotion, so who knows what he threatened him with, but

This looks like the face of someone caught in a trap. So we are now seeing the prestige! We don't need that coffee anymore, that cup is GONE BABY. Aziraphale has been removed from the Nina/Maggie confession like a dove, and placed in The Metatron's dark coat pocket. Now he just needs to make our angel reappear in the scene the assistants have prepared for him and let him fail, thus completing the trick (uhg I hate it. So cruel).

I'm going to turn the final 15 into it's own post because this is already very long. Let's skip it for now, but we know our lovebirds get separated by heaven, and Aziraphale leaves. The Metatron breathes a huge sigh of relief in the elevator as he thinks his trick has worked, and he has won.

So it's finished now, and there's seemingly no way out. Aziraphale now knows what The Metatron meant when he communicated "I am creating a version of reality as we speak where I change you and Crowley and everything else so that you lose to me."

BUT! ARE YOU READY FOR THIS SHIT? BECAUSE IT HIT ME LIKE LIQUID JET FUEL. And I think it hits Aziraphale right here, (when he makes the creepy face after being hit with a beam of light i.e. realization)

That means that in the original version of events before all the edits, Crowley & Aziraphale won.

------

If you've gotten this far, thanks so much for reading. I'd love to hear what you thought, or even reblog it with your ✨Clues✨! Want to read more about the timey wimey business that we're gonna see in season 3, and why all this changes the final 15? Well I have *part 5* coming in just a bit. Parts 5 and The End are here! Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l The End?

[sixstepsaway]

I do not think that Ed is supposed to be abusive? i'm pretty sure we are meant to understand that he's acting this way because he's scared and threatened? The headbutting was rude but one isolated incident of headbutting in an extreme situation (waking up from a coma caused by a suicide attempt! his brain was all fucked up!) does not equal abuse. Where are you getting all this? Also I thought we were supposed to tag things with "[character] critical" around here.

Anon, I want you to understand that I say this as someone who has always loved Ed, and as someone who is approaching your message with the belief you are being completely genuine: Ed not being deliberately penned as abusive is almost the entire problem.

We literally see this cycle happening on screen in the first two episodes. After an outburst of violence where he destroys some innocent sod's wedding (2), he asks after the crew and checks they had enough cake (3), and says they're welcome to rhino horn, he's snappy but there's no violence (4) and things seem fine, up until when Izzy comes in later and says the crew don't want to part with their treasure. Ed starts to get angry (1) and Izzy desperately tries to convey that they love him and want him to be okay, and that he's just concerned for him and the crew, but he misspeaks, he says something Ed doesn't like, so Ed storms upstairs and starts pointing guns at people (2) until Izzy deliberately triggers him into shooting him not the rest of the crew.

Ed tells them to handle Izzy, goes to bed. When Frenchie encounters him the next day, he's bright, he's cheerful, it's like nothing ever happened (3) except that Frenchie knows it did. Frenchie is terrified because he knows what's coming, but Ed is calm (4) and things are just fine, because Frenchie is agreeing with him and telling him what he wants to hear. Ed catches him later and starts getting cold and angry, scaring him (1). Frenchie knows what's coming, and he's terrified.

Luckily for Frenchie, Ed takes his anger out on Izzy again (2) by taking a gun down there, but arguably you can say he takes it out on all of them by trying to sink the ship.

If Ed was just being a scary motherfucker, that would be one thing, but the show was very deliberately showing the power imbalance. If Ed had wanted to kill Frenchie right then and there, who would have stopped him? Who could have?

The show wrote and showed a cycle of abuse and that is okay, what isn't great is that they then went "¯\_(ツ)_/¯ meh!" and pretended like that cycle never happened or would only apply to Izzy, the latter of which is visibly and patently not true anyway because it gets applied to the whole crew multiple times.

I would have no issue with this, or with where the show took Ed, if the show actually took the time to get him there, but all they really did was teleport him from point A (abusing everyone around him) to point J (already redeemed, done the work, much better now) in the time it took him to catch a bloody fish

And the point of the headbutt is him saying, "I wanted it to hurt!" is fine in isolation but not super great when held up against the cycle I've just been talking about, or against Stede flinching from his violence.

And as for "edward teach critical" or whatever, I saw ofmd critical so I used that, I did not know the other tag existed. I haven't been on Tumblr much and the culture changes. Plus, I was criticizing OFMD as a whole, not just Ed, who I feel was treated horribly in s2.

[heartsgettingwiser62]

Ok so I think I may be losing my mind over some plastic wrap lmao

But PLEASE look at this and tell me I'm not crazy and this is actually weird:

Karen I'm begging you to explain to me why the fuck do you have 2 plastic wrap packages from different brands UPSIDE DOWN in your kitchen cabinet. PLS.

Is it just me?? Is this completely normal and I'm losing my mind over nothing??? I mean probably but WHY ARE THEY THE ONLY THING THAT'S UPSIDE DOWN AND PLUS THEY'RE COMPLETELY LEGIBLE

So since I've spent the last 3 hours looking at fucking plastic wrap let me share some thoughts:

First of all, to structure this mess in some way, let's look at the dates. First, at the Reynolds Wrap invention date. Bc PLS LOOK AT THIS

Oh. Looks like it was created in 1947. Do you guys wanna know who was also born in 1947??

I. Uh. What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK.

"It could be a coincidence" Dude I KNOW I'm just doing this bc I've spent hours researching about plastic wrap and I NEED to tell someone ok y'all are my therapists ksjdalkj

Now the Glad Wrap was founded in 1963, and some pages say that Kali was born in 1963, others in 1964, and others that in s2 she's 16/17 so there's no way she was born back then; so idk about this date.

Now let's go with the ads, starting with Glad Wrap bc it's by far the most interesting one.

I've seen multiple commercials but none of them seemed to have anything meaningful EXCEPT FOR THIS ONE WHICH IS MAKING ME ABSOLUTELY LOSE MY MIND:

Am I crazy. Do I seriously need to sleep. Or does that look an awful lot like Karen Wheeler??? Especially here in s4????

I mean, the hairstyle and the blond hair, but much more importantly, the outfit.

Like?????? I mean I get that it's 80's white wealthy woman fashion, fine, but that's a whole load of coincidences???

Now for the rest of the ad, the plastic wrap thingy that attacks the woman is pretty interesting, as well as the clock in the background for Vecna reasons. Regarding similarities with the Wheeler's kitchen, I could only catch due to the low quality the bowl with apples and the phone on the wall (you can't see it on the screenshot but there's a phone behind Mike). I couldn't really find anything about the strawberries, but if y'all know something pls tell me

As a bonus, the ad is from 1987, which as far as I know is when everyone guesses s5 is gonna take place in

Now there's no much to see in the Reynolds Wrap ads, except maybe this one:

(Ignore the yt bar lmao) Although not as much as the previous one, the woman's outfit in that frame does remind me of this Karen s4 look, the same look she has on that scene the damn plastic wrap came from.

Ik this is all probably meaningless, buuuut do you guys want more meaningless shit??

Let's go back to the Glad Wrap ad. The slogan for that specific ad is "Don't get mad. Get glad." Welp, Vecna's a fan of this last word bc out of 9 times it's said in s5, 4 are said by him.

Let's take a quick look at the most interesting time he says that word. We're in Vecna's monologue in chp 7, and in the same scene just some minutes before, he says this:

"I could not do that. I could not close off my mind and join in the madness. I could not pretend. And I realized, I didn't have to."

Let's remember the slogan: "Don't get mad. Get glad."

Then, a couple minutes later, in the same scene:

"And soon, others were born. You were born. And I am so glad you were, Eleven. So very glad."

Now literally two seconds before this last line, this shot was happening:

And. Um. Do you. Do you guys know what's used for tattoos. Um.

Plastic wrap???

Do y'all get why I said I've a hundred percent lost my mind sjdfisdjfil

Ok so. That was it. Anyways I couldn't find anything else important about the rest of items in the kitchen shelve. If y'all have a better explanation as to WHY TF are those plastic wrap packages upside down and perfectly legible, PLS TELL ME. This said, goodbye

[avelera]

Some missed opportunities for Norse Mythology references in the Loki S2 Finale

I want to quickly preface this by saying the Loki show never claimed to be about or even incorporate more than passing nods to Norse mythology, so the following "missed opportunities" are more things that I think could have been cool and were perhaps within reach as references, but that even at my most wildly optimistic I didn't and still don't really expect because the show has been so very clear on this front. It's not fair to say these are flaws because the show never pretended to be about Norse mythology. NEVERTHELESS, because I'm a big nerd:

1) Ragnarok - All respect to Waititi and Thor III, it was a great interpretation of the myth, but I've always longed for something a little closer to the doom and mysticism of the mythology and the Loki S2 finale came tantalizingly close to invoking it, but fell short of actually using the word. Because Ragnarok isn't just about the fall of the gods, it's about the destruction and rebirth of the world. "After [the events of Ragnarok], the world will rise again, cleansed and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet, and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors." 

Gee does that sound familiar! Almost like destroying all of the timelines to create them anew! Almost like that's what Sylvie was invoking by telling him it's better to accept destruction rather than accept imprisonment, and to build something new out of the ashes.

That's Ragnarok. That's literally Ragnarok and they invoked it in so many ways there short of actually using the damn word.

Loki, the god destined to bring about Ragnarok, proceeding to directly bring down the current timeline by destroying and then renewing it with a male and female survivor to help rebuild (visualized with Mobius and Sylvie's little chat at the end, even if it's the TVA they helped rebuild not the human population) sure does sound astonishingly close to invoking the story of Ragnarok.

And even though I'm bummed they never called it Ragnarok, I completely understand why! Ragnarok has kinda already happened in the MCU (never mind that Ragnarok itself is cyclical and will come again, but I digress)! I'd even go so far as to guess that earlier drafts probably did make it clearer but the thread, except for its bones and outline, were abandoned or left unnamed explicitly because it would be confusing for those not familiar with the myth or who would conflate Ragnarok with its Thor III invocation. Alas.

2) Loki bound - Already sort of invoked in Thor II with Loki imprisoned, which is why I don't think any more overt reference was made, but Loki was rather famously bound up in mythology. In this case, in a cave with a snake's poison dripping into his mouth. Not saying Loki bound to his throne of time needed to be conflated with how he was imprisoned until Ragnarok in the myhology, but the imprisonment parallel is there.

3) Loki becomes the new Odin, sacrificed upon Yggrasil - "The generally accepted meaning of Old Norse Yggdrasill is "Odin's horse", meaning "gallows". This interpretation comes about because drasill means "horse" and Ygg(r) is one of Odin's many names. The Poetic Edda poem Hávamál describes how Odin sacrificed himself by hanging from a tree, making this tree Odin's gallows. This tree may have been Yggdrasil." (source)

IE, Loki has sacrificed himself upon the world tree for power and knowledge and for the sake of the world. In this, unlike in the mythology where Loki is not Odin's son, Loki ascends to a parallel of his father's throne to follow in his legacy, having finally learned his father's lessons about rulership and self-sacrifice. Perhaps like the mythological Odin, we will learn that in making this self-sacrifice, Loki too has gained phenomenal knowledge and power?

4) Ratatoskr - This is more foward-looking and I don't in a million years think they'll do it but it would be so cool - so cool - if at some later point Loki has a friend or a servant or a squirrel form or idk, something that invokes Ratatoskr, the squirrel that lives in the World Tree and freely travels up and down its branches delivering messages. Please, MCU, give Loki a little squirrel friend??

[devondespresso]

writing my silly little fic and again im struck with how much opportunities they missed by pretending the s2 stancy breakup wasn't messy, specifically for Nancy's guilt about barb and forcing herself to grow up too fast

like s1 Nancy spends one night being a stupid teenager goofing off at her boyfriend's party and staying over to get spicy while Barb goes home. then she later realizes Barb disappeared and died that one night she was letting go and having fun. this is widely recognized trauma for her and informs a lot if not most of her actions through the rest of the show

in season 2 she's feeling the weight of it more around the first year anniversary. steve trys to help by taking her to a party to forget for a little while and 'be stupid teenagers' for a night. a perfectly set up parallel already

the way the show wants it to go, we get the bullshit argument, they fight, allegedly break up at some point, and nancy sleeps with Jonathan. later steve tells her to go with him and we're supposed to read it as Steve stepping back so jancy can happen. we're supposed to be seeing this as a happy ending.

but with the material we're given this would have been the perfect place for an emotional repeat of season 1 for nancy. she and steve go to the party and pretend to be stupid teenagers for the night. but oh no! nancy lets lose too much, lets herself relax and drink and dance, and the next day her boyfriend's pissed. hes saying she said things she never remembered saying and its hurt him and she doesn't know what to do. and kids around school are talking about them breaking up at the party, and that fits with Steve's anger she saw, so they must've broken up right? it sucks, even if she wasn't in love with him, that'd be the worst way to break up with someone (especially if she's confusing platonic and romantic feelings or convincing herself it has to be romantic when she really just values him as a friend)

and then she doesn't have time to work it out, she needs to go with Jonathan to avenge barbs 'disappearance' to give her family closure. She's got a lot of conspiracy shit to do and its stressful. so when murray starts going off about how she's not really in love with steve, how she actually likes Jonathan and he seems to like her back. they finished a lot of the hard work with the conspiracy stuff, she can let her guard down and have a quick good night.

then the next day is chaos. demodogs and labs and will being possessed. It a rough fucking day. Steve tells her to go with Jonathan while they get the mindflayer out of Will, civil like they're on good terms so she does (and thank god she did because that was rough and they needed all the help they could get)

and then everything's fine again, with the upside down. and it looks like she handled things better this time, was about to relax occasionally and still made it through.

except apparently she and steve didn't break up. he thought it was just a few fights, that they put their shit aside for the apocalypse and now they can work things out.

and it could ruin nancy. a year later and she's still hasn't learned her lesson, that letting her guard down hurts the people she cares about, that relaxing and having fun makes her lose people. its her fault for the messy breakup with Steve and its her fault that barb is gone. she's the reason she's lost friends close to her, 2 for 2, and now she only has Jonathan left (and what do you know, season 3 has her conflict with Jonathan and in season 4 she's not let anyone else get truly close to her and fred still dies)

you see what i mean?? by having conflict magical resolve itself in the background we loose so much powerful, painful character drama for her. our girl who thinks she has to keep the world around her up solely on her shoulders because she can't handle the loss of her best friend in season 1. Nancy who desperately wants to be normal and have people she loves but keeps losing them, through factors both in and out of her control, but feels like everything has to be her fault just because some things were.

and to be fair, that story is still present in the show. its there and definitely compelling, but it could've been even more so. i feel like if maybe there was less 'nancy has to be a strong independent girlboss' in there (abd it's definitely there, they want to make a point of making her a Strong Woman Character so bad) and she was allowed to have mistakes acknowledged by the narrative, this is the direction it would've gone. She could've been an excellent example of well written women who are strong and awesome through their own right instead of the narrative trying to make us like her

[magniloquent-raven]

i've seen a lot of AUs messing around with what happened between Billy and Steve at the end of s2, like, what if Billy had seen the demodog, what if they made out instead of beat the shit out of each other, what if Steve hadn't lied about Max, etc. etc.

and i mean, it's not like i've read every harringrove fanfic so maybe this has actually been written before, but it just occurred to me that i've never seen someone explore what might have happened if Billy had just showed up at the Byers' like twenty minutes earlier. before everyone else left.

i just think it would be interesting because Billy has a habit of keeping his attitude mostly in check around adults, and the fact that one of those adults is a cop might keep him even more in check, so the chances of him getting violent would be much lower. but despite him being less likely to lose his shit, there's also NO chance he'd actually listen if he was told to leave without Max. and i doubt Max would be cool with leaving, no matter how angry she knows Billy is getting (maybe in part BECAUSE she knows he's already pissed, the last thing she wants is to get into a car with him right now).

the whole thing would be SO sus, because everyone would be trying to stop him from going inside but he can see Max and her friends peeking through a broken window while the goddamn chief of police tries to run interference without actually telling him anything. he'd be so stubborn about the whole thing. pretending to be polite, but not blinking an eye when Hop starts implying he's going to arrest Billy for trespassing if he doesn't back down, and Joyce has to get involved, being a mom about it, trying to convince Billy that Max is safe and he doesn't have to worry and she can call Susan if that would help.

so when nothing they say to Billy actually makes a difference they start to wonder if they should just send Max home with him, and Mike has started to get snippy with her about it, saying she should just go because if her brother ruins everything it'll be her fault, but Lucas is adamant that letting Max leave with him would be a bad idea.

and somewhere in between all the arguing Billy shoves his way into the house, where there's still a demodog dead on the floor, and Will's art project on the walls, and Will himself, knocked out in the next room. which is all very weird, but Billy's kind of on a mission here. so him and Max get into it. he can't go after Lucas this time, not with a cop twenty feet away. they just argue. loudly. angrily.

until Billy has had enough, he can't keep pretending he isn't on pins and needles, hasn't been keyed up since his confrontation with Neil. and he has to hit something. anything. nearby. he punches a dent in the nearest wall.

and it freaks El out. and something explodes.

which is just one too many weird things for Billy to ignore.

Steve steps in at the same time Hopper does, both of them unsure how Billy is going to react. except he kind of. doesn't. he's freaked out, and confused, and still angry, but he also looks just as unsure as they are.

they don't really explain it to him. not all of it. he glares at everyone in the room while they give him the stilted cliffnotes version and he doesn't seem to believe any of it.

when Joyce and Hopper leave with their respective teams, Billy gets left behind with Steve and the kids. Steve's half sure he's going to grab Max and drive off the second they can't see tail-lights anymore, and given the way Max is bracing herself, she seems to think so too.

he doesn't. he lights up a cigarette and sits on the couch by himself, ignoring everyone's uneasy stares while they sweep up glass and wood splinters.

and i mean from there it would be both harder and easier to get the kids to the tunnels lmao. could go either way but i figure Billy volunteering to drive the children to their death just because Steve was so adamant it was a bad idea would not be entirely out of character for him. and he's still not convinced any of this is real, so maybe he wants to see it for himself. and maybe he's still itching for some action. if there is some crazy shit down there...well, if he's dead he won't have to explain to Neil how bad he fucked up, so there's that.

(and on a related note i kind of love the idea that Billy would be shit at fighting monsters. like they just freak him out and he can't do it. so he goes down there into the tunnels all sure of himself and confident because he knows he can fight but the second they run into trouble he freezes up and Steve has to save his ass. which totally doesn't turn him on at all, shut up)

[tizzyizzy]

The Fundamental Izzy-Misunderstander Ed-Apologist Issue

Raving all night Ranting all day Gonna do some izcourse on Christmas day

Hey, I can't control when inspiration strikes.

This is the basic belief of IMEAs:

Ed is a neurodivergent, queer, POC suffering from mental illness.

Izzy is a privileged white homophobic straight man. (No, you don't get to pretend the straight part never happened. I was there. I saw the discourse.)

Izzy had leveraged his privilege and utilized emotional manipulation and real physical threats to coerce Ed into continuing a position he is desperate to leave.

For this idea of Izzy manipulating and coercing Ed to make sense, there has to be a power differential between them.

Izzy could have material power over Ed. This would mean things like being able to physically hurt Ed, controlling Ed's livelihood, or being in a position of societal power to force Ed into line.

Then there is emotional power. In an emotional power imbalance, someone would use guilt, gaslighting, playing the victim, etc. to coerce an emotionally vulnerable person into obeying them.

Does Izzy have material power over Ed? On the contrary. Ed is literally Izzy's captain. Most of Izzy's early appearances involve him chaffing under orders he doesn't understand or disagrees with, but is obligated as first mate to perform. When Ed returned after Stede disappeared, there does not seem to have been any question about who would be in charge. When it comes to societal power, Ed has a greater reputation than Izzy, along with more charisma.

As for emotional power, there's no question: Izzy is deeply invested in Ed and Ed mostly couldn't care less. No, we're not talking about whether Ed cares deep down. We're talking about what happens in practice. Pretty much the entire show is Ed doing things Izzy hates, and only bending at the last minute to preserve the relationship.

S1E4 shows all of this in action. Izzy lead a raid against a ship for reasons he finds baffling, drawing the ire of the Spanish. Crew died taking the ship. He is trying to keep the crew in line and manage the repairs of the ship, but he is anxious. The Spanish are coming, and he does not want himself, Ed, or the crew to die. Ed is avoiding actually doing his job as captain on a raid he himself ordered; Izzy starts the episode having been looking for Ed. Instead of telling Izzy his plan, Ed decides to hide it to allow Izzy to continue fretting solely to enjoy a dramatic big reveal.

Throughout this, even though Izzy is annoyed, he is at least trying to be polite. Just compare Izzy's exasperated nagging to how aggressive Ed is when he loses his temper in the scene with the miniature ship. Izzy is unhappy, but he is trying to keep a hold himself and communicate.

Ed does what he wants; Izzy's desires are the least of his concerns.

The only exception to this is when Izzy is on the verge of leaving. Even then, Izzy doesn't get what he wants. He doesn't go through with his plan to retire and let Izzy be captain. in S2, he is unquestionably Izzy's abuser, and there's no question of whether or not Izzy has emotional power over him. He shoots Izzy in the leg, steps over his writing body, and orders him killed.

Pray tell, where in this show do we ever see a version of Ed who is cowed by Izzy? One who is the ideal Blackbeard Izzy wants him to be? One who is trying his best to conform to Izzy's expectations?

Maybe, maybe the Ed right at the end of S1. Probably not, considering forcing Izzy to eat his own toe is the beginning of a new kraken Ed trend.

The reality is, a version of Ed that was manipulated by Izzy into acting a certain way never actually existed in the show. There's some glory age in the past where Ed was the Blackbeard Izzy respected, then Ed lost interest in piracy and started doing weird shit Izzy didn't understand. Then he when coo-coo bananas.

[eightfifteen]

what I find interesting about the core 4 is that they're introduced to us through the absence of Will.

We get the first scene where we get a feel for the group dynamic and how they all interact with one another, but from that point on, we're introduced to Mike, Lucas, and Dustin's personalities through how they react to Will going missing.

Dustin

Dustin is the curious, optimistic and smart one - trying to a, pretend it's not happening or not as bad as it seems (getting into semantics about Mirkwood, getting caught up in El being a girl, joking at the funeral) and b, by trying to take control of the situation (always smartmouthing, getting snappy about the compasses etc). This amps up the more shit happens - he gets closer to Steve because they can joke around, he starts getting snappier and more know-it-all-y (as steve and eddie point out), and kind of disappears when shit starts happening again by getting caught up in other things/distracting himself (focusing on Max in s2, getting caught in the russian mystery in s3, etc).

Hell, even his girlfriend is long-distance and not involved in any of it so he can escape Hawkins by talking to her. Also reflected by them singing neverending story in the s3 finale like they aren't battling a huge gore creature. This is why next season is going to be so interesting, because this time, Dustin saw Eddie die. There's no escaping that anymore, the horror caught up with him and it's going to be so interesting to see how he's going to cope with that now.

2. Lucas

Lucas on the other hand, gets frustrated and angry. He just wants things to go back to the way they were so he's really focused on getting Will back and wants to get it over with as quickly as possible - snapping at Dustin when he tries to derail the conversation, getting annoyed at the El drama when they just need to find Will, etc. He matures the quickest through all of this, I feel, which is also why he's the quickest to let go of DnD, tries to find himself through other interests like basketball etc. He can't pretend it isn't happening, but he's trying to right everything as quickly as possible. He actively fights back against it.

Caleb mentioned in the s4 aftershow that Lucas' happy ending is if none of it had ever happened so his happy ending is just finding a place for it and being able to move on - and i think that just perfectly encapsulates Lucas. Like, obviously that would be the best for everyone, but Lucas specifically is already trying to let everything that happened behind him as quickly as possible. He gets a girlfriend and wants to grow up quickly, just like Mike except successfully, and in s4 he tries to reinvent himself in High School, leaving all the trauma behind as much as he can. Which is also probably why he struggles with being there for Max at first, before realizing that he'd rather go through the horrors again than lose Max. Really excited for tired and fed-up Lucas next season.

3. Mike

Just like we get to know Dustin and Lucas through Will's disappearance, because that really is just the center of the show, we learn about Mike.

We immediately see that he's the most quiet and withdrawn one while learning about Will's disappearance, while also being the one to realize he's not at school in the first place. He's really trusting to the point it's naive, but he also gets frustrated easily especially when distraught (as we also see in s2 with Max while he's missing El). He's so stubborn, especially when it comes to his friends. He clearly 'gets into his own head' (Finn's own words) a lot, and especially in these moments of tragedy (like during the police interview, after finding Will's 'body', in the hospital, immediately after El disappeared etc).

As soon as he actually has something to do, like find Will in the woods or use El's powers to save him, that's when he thrives and takes on this leader role. Which is in my opinion, another reason why El and Mike don't really go together, and why Mike will always feel useless or like he's not getting it right - when he's with El, she's the one in control, she's the one fighting, and he just has to stand to the side. He can't break out of his own head.

But when it's Will, even though he can't actually do anything, he can still be there for him and help in meaningful ways just by being there. He knows Will needs him and he knows how to be there for him, and that's when his mind is clearest. Even in s4 we see that - he's blinded when he's with El, can't do it right, doesn't know what's going on, but when it comes to Will, he immediately finds clarity and knows how to talk to him and open up about how Will is feeling but also how he is feeling.

4. Will

Similarly, we learn about Will through his absence. We learn that he's open and genuine, that he's smart and strong and happy. The group is out of balance without him, and we can tell that Will used to be their mediator (confirmed in s2 during the argument about Halloween costumes). He's unafraid to talk about what he likes with the group and to be himself, even if the group doesn't agree (that 'weird song' that he likes, begging to play DnD even though Lucas and Mike clearly don't want to, etc). And we learn that Mike used to have a more caring role towards him, that he was the focus of Mike's need to care and watch over and protect, as this hole gets filled the moment they find El.

4. Season 5 - the return to core 4

I'm really excited to see the core 4 in season 5, because it will be the first season (not counting the battle of starcourt) where they're all working together. the group has always been split, so it's going to be really interesting to see how they all get along together. Especially now they've all changed so much.

[andreal831]

I've been wondering about Hope's sire bonds and specifically Hayley's because they never address it in-show. we know Hope's sire bonds work like Klaus' (ie they dont require love/obsession like vampire/vampire ones ex - Damon/Elena) in that whoever her blood turns is immediately loyal to her until they break it. during the gap between s1 and s2 of TO, it's said that hayley spent a lot of time as wolf roaming around the bayou grieving and i like to think with Hayley's previous work breaking hybrids' sire bonds with Klaus, she knew how to break her own and that's when it happened.

on the topic of Hayley and werewolf transitions, it's such a shame they'd killed her already when they had Hope transition as Hayley being the one to talk her through it would make so much more sense than Klaus (also i wanted to see Klaus' wolf form with wolf!Hope, would've been cute) as we'd seen Hayley with the girl in s3 during the road trip and she was always much more in touch with her wolf side than Klaus was. Klaus never seemed like he cared about being a wolf, just what it represented (the power that was stolen from him by Esther & Mikael).

totally random but Legacies deciding that post tribrid transition, Hope could magic herself clothes after turning human from wolf form was so funny to me. it just felt so dumb.

I like your theory about Hayley breaking the sirebond. I think she definitely would have needed to break it being so far away from Hope. She was already missing her the normal amount a mother would be after sending her newborn child away. But with the sirebond on top of it, it would have driven her mad. It would make sense that was what she was doing in the bayou. But I fear you have spent more time thinking about it than the writers. Much like the Damon/Elena sirebond. They wrote it in for a very specific purpose and then just pretended it didn't exist anymore.

I also hated how the writers changed the different bonds to fit the plot. Why would Klaus' sirebond operate any differently than a typical sirebond which requires preexisting feelings. Purely for plot device.

I absolutely hated that they centered Hope transitioning for the first time around Klaus. The man didn't even transition once after he broke the curse. He felt nearly no connection to wolves and didn't understand or try to understand pack life. It should have been Hayley with Hope. Hayley understood being a wolf on a deep level, and as you pointed out, helped people in the past. It was such an unnecessary dig at Hayley to kill her as a vampire. They stripped her of the thing that made her feel most her and then killed her.

I also agree that Klaus didn't care about being a wolf. He cared about power. He needed to be the most powerful, including next to his siblings. TO Season 1 kind of teases Klaus being interested in his wolf side but then it is completely dropped. Except for Klaus shouting about being a hybrid every five seconds.

I feel like all of Legacies was just one big joke honestly. They twisted the rules and laws of the world they spent nearly a decade establishing because they were lazy.

Thanks for the ask!

[rey-jake-therapist]

I’ll start by saying that Gal doesn’t need to pretend she’s in love with Sauron, because she is, and she’s in denial and wants to get over those feelings. Adar picked on that, that’s why he wants to use her as bait, for sure. His only interest in Nenya is to see if the ring + crown can kill Sau for good, but he doesn’t need Gal for that.

Gal’s feelings for Sau is one of the reasons why I don’t believe she’s going to join him at the end of S2, because that would create a massive rabbit hole. And sure they aren’t following the books to a T, but still take a lot from it. Unless, Gal joins him and then realizes she can’t bring Sau to the light, and it’s actually the other way around, and sees that he would make her dark tyrant, and later escapes. They can’t be married, obv. That would insane to happen in canon, and I say this as a shipper.

The most likely scenario I see happening, is Sau just walking away, alone, and Gal being left behind, unarmed.

I'm not suggesting she'd pretend to be in love, but rather pretend to be on board with his world domination plans. "Yeah, I can see what you want to achieve, the rings and all.... You're right, it's the way!". I could see her doing that with the idea of sabotaging his plans, and him falling for her deception because he's too arrogant to suspect she could be lying. And all the while doing that, she would be torturing herself with doubts and remorse because she does love him, indeed.

His rage, when he'd finally understand what this was about, would be boundless. But she'd escape and retreat in Lothlorien, using the power of Nenya to protect her kingdom and herself.

But I've got the vague feelings I'll have to write this fic myself if I want it to happen lol I agree that him walking away is the most likely scenario. But then it means that they'll be separated in season 3 again, repeating the season 2 dynamics. Hopefully, that's when we'll finally see this "cosmical connection" that the actors talked about several times! So far, we haven't really seen any of it, except for when Sauron called out for Galadriel in her vision of Celebrimbor. Maybe the other visions are brought by him, maybe it's really just the power of Nenya, we can't know yet...

[lucyghoul]

While reading your latest and greatest natlottietravis ask I came upon the terrifying realization that travis was sa’d and coerced to have sex with jackie making it very much not consensual so I wonder if you have any thoughts on how that + the doomcoming madness changed the way his character works in both the narrative and his relationship with the rest of the yjs… also my deepest condolences for your loss nat I wish tumblrina shaunajackie was your writer

(referring to this one) yeah yeah it’s literally sa. she’s sober, he’s not. he says no what about natalie, she says i don’t care… right before the girls are literally ripping his clothes and biting him and then try to kill him. travis post doomcoming has always fascinated me: instead of going full ben fuck these girls he tries to just return to normalcy and pretend it didn't happen. he tries to just go on as normal but javi is missing and natalie wants to know if he's okay and he's not but feels like he betrayed her even though he didn't want to (i'm so sorry. i didn't want to. i fucking love you, natalie). but she won't let him pretend and in the end he doesn't want to. he unbreaks the thing jackie broke (first by telling him about bobby, then the nat betrayal). so interesting to me that travis seems to focus on natalie and having wanted her to be his first and leveraging the fact that she wasn't to first hurt her and then hurt himself. he's punishing himself for something that he didn't have any control over. again thinking about travis being the most vulnerable person in the woods.

s2 post doomcoming is very interesting to me because travis has seemingly returned to his s1 status of being an outsider but WITH natalie. on the outskirts together, the two hunters, rulers of the outside, searchers and mapmakers. nat doesn't really talk to anyone else and he doesn't either.

except lottie!!! travis takes the tea willingly, tells nat he wants to be less closed-off, tells nat he doesn't know everything. lottie soothes him about javi where nat can't or won't. lottie trying to pull BOTH of them back and travis being the only one who's willing to listen. lottie, who led the hunt for him but didn't hold the knife to his throat. lottie as the entrypoint, who defended him against jackie but then tried to take him for herself, who told shauna to take the knife but didn't spill travis's blood herself. also sidenote can we have some more travis shauna interactions. the girl who actually slit his throat whats that vibe like.

and then as the season goes on travis not only becomes more lottiepilled but more wilderness pilled. it brought javi back to him didn't it? it has been feeding them hasn't it? it saved shauna! (HE saved shauna). i wonder if doomcoming and the theft of his control and autonomy that night is fading for him and is just another piece of evidence. his blood spilled brought the bear, didn't it? but then of course in 2.08 it all comes back the terrifying parts of doomcoming that he shoved away. doomcoming fed them and that’s what he remembered when they pulled cards. but when it was natalie!!!!! he flashes back. he remembers shauna with the knife to his own throat. and he breaks the ritual!!!!!!!! but the wilderness punishes him. it takes javi. he’s going to be so cultpulled next season i cant wait his queen of hearts!!!!! his antler queen!!!!!!

[alitgblog]

finale thoughts!!

I knew fusebox had to drop the ball at some point it just happened a lot slower than I was expecting 🤣

first off, now that I've fully rejected Theo it feels like he's missing in action again, hilariously. said it before, but they said he's like the dad of the group initially and I wish we'd have more platonic interactions with him to see that.

Hari and Hazel having Oakley and Emel esque drama God damn we should've just kept Oakley and Emel. That would actually be more interesting to me bc in character makes sense, they're always fighting but something about their last argument was the last straw and then they tearfully announce finale morning that though they care for each other they decide to break up and won't join everyone in the final to be true to themselves (basically I stole this from love island USA S4 with Nadjah and Jeff lol)

also bc I liked Hari and Hazel together I wish they could've just made it. Like they make more sense to me than Bea and Logan.

Speaking of Bea and Logan, I do think they're such a random couple. I mean, ngl it's not like the love island show always produces four strong couples for the finale each season, but since like S5 of the game it feels like there are no good couples that make sense in the finale except for MC and whoever she's with. Like Amelia and Toby MAYBE just bc they were written for each other, but even then. at least when Angie coupled with Oliver as a last minute love interest for her, there was the story that she couldn't find anyone and that they had a lot in common and actually showed some interest in each other until fusebox threw that out the window and made Angie a lesbian (which I'm not complaining about but then whyd they keep Oliver around)

And since I'm talking about all the couples anyway I guess I will comment on Theo and Claudia being together still for some reason?? said this before but WHY. at least they're a hot couple. if they're still together during the reunion though oml 🙄

anyway hideaway is nice.

I didn't realize your answer with Hazel would determine your final date but that's cute it's in a castle. Also I picked it bc I personally thought that would be interesting, but I totally forgot Jin is also a history nerd so I'm just gonna pretend that the imaginary producers were like oh we have a perfect date for these two hot nerds lol. I wish he had more comments on the castle though, bc yeah he's a history buff! just really shows the dialogue is all merged now so it's very generic.

like I feel like Jin hasn't made any jokes for a while too, which is out of character but that's bc the dialogue has to work for Jin and Oakley and Jack and Tyler too 😭 I guess it doesn't need to be fully custom but a couple lines here and there to remind us of the character they had in the beginning would be nice.

I love Hazel up until this episode now because what do you mean they're fighting over suck and blow now???? I let the card drop bc I want to be an instigator!! let MC kiss Hari again,, cause a big fucking mess 🤭

that did not happen of course

I also think we just didn't need drama the last episode. like there'll be enough emotions with the characters being sad about leaving and talking about the outside, there doesn't need to be more relationship drama. if there MUST be drama: do what I said earlier in the other hari/hazel bullet point where they just have a swift death and self eliminate in the morning/afternoon, or have petty drama between non romantic islanders. like when S2 the girls are arguing over lotion or perfume or whatever or the salt crisps later and bathroom problems later on. These guys have been living in close proximity for some time, they're bound to get agitated over little things that don't result in big shocking revelations and breakups, so just do that.

speeches cringe as always but that's just the nature of those declarations anyway. Hazel though, girl, stop it.. I'm getting the ick for you as a friend

another comment for branching would've been nice: it's weird that Claudia is like omg we're besties when they both sorta cheated on their partners in casa for each other (in my game at least). like she says we have to plan to hang out outside the villa and I'm thinking oh shit,an open relationship with Jin??gotta make sure he's okay with it first 😂😂

Beady eyed Finn is around and he clearly got that post villa plastic surgery

also wtf, seriously Finn!!!!????

like Hamish I don't like and I don't think it makes sense he'd do it S6, but I understand that he's a fan favorite and very silly so that's why he's there. S7, I didn't play but I think it was Ivy and she's not a fan favorite, but I could so see the producers trying to pick anyone who had the free time and wanted to do it and she's the only one who said yes. But Finn??? I'd bet on Eddie coming back before Finn?? And fusebox has access to S4, like they could've picked Bruno, so why Finn??

and of course fusebox does one last begging for gems in exchange for some gossip you can do without 🙄 AND it would be gossip about ex in the villa no thank you

even though we have a few more

[brekker-by-brekkerr]

general messy thoughts about sab s2 (spoilers ahead)

Things I liked:

- Genya. Daisy Head SLAYED completely she was SO GOOD. I didn’t like them downplaying her scars and I wished we had gotten the line “I am not ruined I’m ruination” especially knowing how much that line means to so many people but other than that Genya was everything Daisy did an INCREDIBLE job of playing her. I actually got teary-eyed at several points this season (and me and my emotions are not at all close so that’s a feat) and they were all either Genya or GenyaDavid scenes, which brings me to…

- Genya and David. They were so good. So wholesome. The best part of this season IMO. Like their brief scenes, them hugging in the woods, the tiniest moments STOLE the show. I cried for these two and these two alone. Also, David was so well-portrayed like I loved these two so much. 

- Several soft Malina moments that gave me butterflies and I felt accurately showed their dynamic, more toward the beginning of the season but they were there.

- Jack Wolfe as Wylan. I have some not-so-positive thoughts about the aged-up crows in general, but I still think Jack was a convincing Wylan and you can tell from both the show and from his interviews that he really cares about Wylan and his portrayal. Every time he LOOKED at Jesper I was like…wow just WOW.

- Getting to see Nina interacting with the Crows was nice. Especially when they turn around and she has waffles and Kaz has that annoyed moment but then we find out Nina got them the info they needed because she’s a spy and she’s incredible? 10/10 and one of the few moments that felt accurate to the real crows. Also, that part where she was talking to the guard and pretending she needed to pee (idk that was a weird way to describe it I know) but that was so Nina

- Also, just them together in a restaurant vibing was what I needed

- “The barrel doesn’t belong to kings. It belongs to bastards.”

- Tolya and Tamar were so cool in their introduction like they’re so hot and cool and powerful ahh

- When Genya, Alina, and Zoya are all at the Darling’s funeral pyre that was chilling

- The slivers of foreshadowing with Zoya.

Things I didn’t like:

- The weird slow motion in some of the fight scenes was so unnecessary lol

- Okay I’m not a fan of the Darkling and I’ve made that quite clear in the past, but I do think he’s a good and interesting villain and I like the Flavour he adds to the story but this season the Flavour was just…not there. It’s funny how many Darkling stans I’ve seen angry about this season because for once we’re in agreement. Like he was so boring and weird and just creepy instead of interesting and creepy? I wanted to skip all his scenes. Also, they took out so many of the awful things he did in the books like what about him killing Ana Kuya? When he says “you’ll have no shelter but me” that line hits so much harder and is so much more chilling and awful because he’s literally killing off the people in her life. Turning Nikolai into a monster himself?? The moment Alina loses her powers in the books and the Darkling tells her she’s nothing is SO IMPORTANT because it shows he’s just interested in her for her powers, which is a big theme in the books. As wonderful as Nikolai is, he needs Alina for what she can provide for Ravka. The Apparat just sees her for her power. Everyone wants to use Alina for something except for Mal who just wants them to be happy and able to make their own choices. Anyways, the Darkling didn’t feel like the Darkling from the books at all. Also, he was just cringy. Like I was laughing when he was like “I have returned. And I’ve made some new friends” and stared at the camera it was so bad.

- Ruin & Rising is my favourite from the trilogy and I was so disappointed with how much was cut out for the most random crap, like hallucinating and eating butterflies?? Instead of the bonding time with the whole TGT crew? And no Oncat I’m crying. There’s so much character growth that happens and so many relationships that are deepened in Ruin & Rising and WHERE WAS THAT?

- Personally, I didn’t think Paddy was giving Nikolai. Like he seems like a good person and actor and all that jazz but he just didn’t feel like Nikolai and since Nikolai is my favourite, this kind of hurt.

- Erasing Mal from the story and his struggles. Look, Mal is not by any means a perfect character. And he doesn’t need to be. Let him be messy. Let him struggle and sometimes be rude and make mistakes because that’s real that’s compelling. They could have shown all the book!Mal haters that maybe they were being too harsh on him because he was struggling SO MUCH but instead they just turned him into Perfect Supportive Man. His character growth in Ruin & Rising is so good especially after you’ve spent Siege & Storm thinking “what is going on with this man.” Seeing him owning up to his actions and seeing him working on his flaws and seeing his support for Alina is so good and we deserved it especially considering how talented Archie is.

- Cutting Zoya almost completely out, especially since this is the book where she goes through a lot of growth. Also, the fact that Alina choices they’re making are cutting into Zoya’s future story >:(

 Things I HATED:

- Killing off David. WTF. Obviously we didn’t see a body so he might come back but like…what’s the point. We didn’t even get to see Genya and David get married.

- Almost all of the Crows content. The rushed Crooked Kingdom plotlines with none of the significance from the books. Rushed Wesper. Matthias working with Pekka. Nina’s character completely revolving around Matthias. Kanej focusing on Kaz’s trauma but not Inej’s and making her contract with the Menagerie all about Kaz and his vendetta against Pekka and killing off Tante. Actually, pretty much everything Kanej this season was so awfully handled. Also, just not a fan of the Crows being aged up and I tried to be okay with it but this season made me more upset with the casting choices. The Crows stuff was so so so badly done I want to cry. Comfort rereading the duology right now

- The ending. Just…frick the ending. I hate it. Too many thoughts I just hate it I can’t even talk about it

- I’ve already reblogged a lot of posts that go into things I hated but just in general it was such a mess they combined too many stories without doing them justice and there’s more I’m upset about but this is it for now

[mccallhero]

I saw your they could never make me hate you snow and David, and I want your thoughts on Snow's reaction to Emma's magic, and how she essentially treated Emma after season 3 Neverland arc. Because that's where I tend to stop liking her. She's in an interesting character but the way she treats Emma just... Doesn't sit right with me

(for context, i believe this is about this post i reblogged)

honestly i agree 100% tbh, i love snow in s1 (both in flashbacks and mmb) and then it's heartbreaking in s2 and s3a to see snow keep trying to reach out to emma and being rejected (tho not emma's fault, but snow never had a choice to give up emma--it was either that or be cursed for their entire lives and never know who emma was) but once snow was pregnant with neal, we see those attempts basically stop. i honestly think the main reason this happens is cuz the writers fail at writing characters with multiple large relationships in their lives, tho might have an exception once or twice a season (ex. killian's -> emma, robin -> regina, belle -> rumple, david -> snow, snow -> david, etc... i think the only exceptions to this are emma/rumple/regina as they're the most significant main characters)

which is why, after the s3 midseason finale, i think snow's character becomes noticeably more one-dimensional. any development between her and emma basically stops and their relationship is stuck at the same point--i think the same is also true for david and emma, but the difference is that in s3a david had already taken over the role of comforting emma (like going after emma after she skipped her date with neal in 3x10) so their relationship staying the same is actually good for david. for this, i entirely do blame the writers because we did see snow's want for a relationship with emma. we saw her struggling to connect to emma all throughout s2, trying to get to know emma while almost constantly being rejected, attempting to find boundaries that weren't just entirely leaving emma alone, and seeing that just leave after neal is born feels entirely unlike the character we knew. so, yes, i blame the writers BUT

if we want to actually pretend it's in-character, i look at it as though snow is trying to let emma take the lead. i've talked before about how snow pushed too hard to be emma's mom (in the tags) and how snow could never find a good balance, which is entirely understandable because she had been forced to lose her daughter for 28 years. and then snow is forced to lose emma again in the s3a midseason finale, and has an entire year to reflect on her relationship with emma and possibly realize her mistakes. this could be when she makes the change to push emma less and let emma lead their relationship, possibly because of how much guilt she felt for never truly connecting with emma (like she talked about in neverland)

i think what really emphasizes this for me is the dark swan arc. again, snow doesn't really step up to ever comfort emma, and instead lets killian take it over (something i've discussed before), but we do see snow supporting emma from afar

in 5x02, snow tries to stop regina from asking emma to use dark magic:

Regina: (Sighs) This sword was enchanted to kill me. My magic can't heal him. (Regina turns to Emma.) Regina: But maybe yours can. Hook: No. No, we can't let her use dark magic. Mary Margaret: Regina, this was the whole point of your pretending to be the Savior.

in 5x02 when they're in storybrooke:

David: Mary Margaret? It's okay. We're gonna get Emma back, and we're gonna win this fight. Mary Margaret: I know. You're forgetting one thing, David. If we win... Emma loses.

in 5x03, snow refuses to give up on emma or let david give up:

David: Just wish she'd talk to us. Mary Margaret: I know. Me, too. David: Worst part is... we can't save her. Mary Margaret: Yet. We're trying.

in 5x04, snow argues with david, trying to protect emma:

David: Listen, Arthur is already looking for the dagger. If we come clean now, he can still help us. Mary Margaret: So that's what this is about. You haven't met a king in a while, and you're star-struck. David: That's not what this is about. Our daughter is sick. We have to help her. Mary Margaret: So why become a Knight of the Round Table? How does that help her? Or is it that you need to feel like a hero again?

in 5x08 when they're trying to stop emma in storybrooke:

David: Regina, she's still our daughter. Mary Margaret: We can't go to war with her. Regina: If you don't have the stomach for this... Mary Margaret: I'm not going to hurt her. Regina: This is exactly why she gave me the dagger. She knew I'm the only one who could do what has to be done. Now, stand back, or I'll make you stand back. Mary Margaret: No, we are coming with you. And not only will we stop her, we will save her.

in 5x10 after emma turns killian into a dark one:

David: We were so close, Mary Margaret. Emma was seconds away from destroying the darkness and ending this. Mary Margaret: And Hook would have been dead. She chose love, David. And we would have done the same thing. We'd share one heart because we took the same kind of risk that Emma took. We save each other. That is what our family does. So have some faith in her.

i think this arc highlights snow's change the most for me, where we can see her still supporting emma but only indirectly. again, this can either be blamed on the writers or seen as snow making a change because she knew that pushing emma's walls never worked for her. if anything, snow can see that this change kinda coincides with emma opening up more, bc it's after this that emma truly accepts snow and david as her parents, decides to call storybrooke home, and allows herself to fall in love with killian. now i'm not saying that these are related.....at all...... but if we want to find a reason snow pulls back, i think this could potentially make sense for her character

NOW onto snow's biggest sin....... her reaction to emma's magic in s4a (unless we wanna count snow n david slamdunking an infant into a portal but that's another issue)

i'm not sure if i'm forgetting some scenes, but the two times emma sees snow's reaction is in 4x07 when emma accidentally boils the bottle of milk and snow hesitates and doesn't give emma neal, and then in 4x08 when emma accidentally throws down the pole, it hits david, snow goes 'emma!' and we see emma's face fall. for the first one......... honestly i understand snow. i think 99% of people would have the same reaction. it's an infant and emma's hands are hot enough to boil milk in a second, concern and wariness is valid. for the pole scene, i don't necessarily blame snow either--it was a reaction from fear and concern, and wasn't out of actual intention. yes, her reaction sucked and emma needed to be comforted, and i think snow realized that a second later. it was just a shitty reaction in a shitty situation caused by the snow queen to get that exact reaction

in 4x08, when emma and snow talk about it:

Mary Margaret: Emma, I am so sorry about what happened yesterday. I don't want you to ever think that we are afraid of you. Emma: Don't worry. It doesn't matter. Mary Margaret: No, of course it matters. Emma: This is all gonna be over soon. I just needed to tell you that I'm okay. I-I have a way to fix everything. Mary Margaret: Emma, no, wait.

this is the first thing snow says to emma the next time they talk, with snow immediately taking ownership and apologizing. this is also when snow and david find out that emma is trying to get rid of their powers, and their conversation about it:

Mary Margaret: I guess it's easy to lose track. She has saved Storybrooke a lot. David: Mm-hmm. I'm worried about her, too, but Emma is tough. She'll be fine. Mary Margaret: What if she's making a mistake? Because of us... Shouldn't we be out there trying to convince her not to give up her magic? David: Well, it's her choice, not ours. She knows we support her, no matter what, and if losing her magic is what she wants, well... Maybe it's not such a bad thing. Mary Margaret: But it's part of who she is... A saviour. I mean, she was born this way... A hero. So isn't embracing that the right thing? David: Well, if the Snow Queen is doing all this because of Emma's power, maybe... Getting rid of it is the heroic thing. Do you remember the night Emma was born? Before we put her in the wardrobe, you said we had to give her her best chance. Maybe now her best chance is for her to be... Normal.

i think this conversation is very interesting, because it's snow being hesitant and wanting emma to keep her powers, while david is trying to convince her otherwise. regina then finds out and convinces them they're being idiots:

David: Didn't Mary Margaret tell you? She called. She figured out a way to get rid of her magic. Regina: Get rid of it? And you're okay with that? David: We support our daughter. Regina: We're not talking about an old pair of Jimmy Choos here. Tell me you're joking. Mary Margaret: It may seem drastic, but it's the only way Emma can be sure never to hurt anyone again. Regina: This could be the worst idea you've ever had, and you hired the wicked witch as your nanny. David: Well, we actually think it'll be good for her. We... She could be normal. Regina: Let me ask you something. Do you know what I regret most? David: Countless innocent lives you destroyed? Regina: That I didn't support Henry when he realized he was special. You of all people should remember. 'Cause you started it all when you gave him that storybook. It opened up a whole world for him. But I was so scared of losing him... That I tried convincing him he was crazy... And that being normal would make things better. Thankfully, he had the good sense not to listen to me. Mary Margaret: Regina's right. David, we've been rationalizing, and you know it. We cannot let her take away what's special about her. David: I know.

which wraps up snow's biggest mistake in about a half an hour. her and david both realized how wrong they were, tho it's awful they ever thought that in the first place, considering everyone else (elsa, regina, killian, henry) all knew it would be a mistake immediately. however, i think snow and david's experience differs from everyone else's, which is why their reaction sorta makes sense. snow and david both have had their life ruined over and over again by magic, which makes sense why their view isn't entirely positive. elsa and regina both have magic, and know that magic isn't to blame but instead the wielder is, and henry doesn't have a lifetime of experience of having every single thing he loves being taken away by magic in some capacity or another. i think the only other person (in this group) who would also have a similar experience with magic would be killian, but he knew the truth of what was happening and that rumple was just manipulating emma, so we never get his genuine opinion on the situation

(rereading this, i also realized that henry does have the same opinion, only a season later. at the end of s5, he tries to get rid of magic for good, blaming it for everything bad that's happen. specifically, he says, 'Magic turned my mom into a Dark One, it took away the man my other mom loved, and now... now I think it's gonna tear my parents apart. I used to think there was light and dark magic, but it's all bad.' and 'Every time it looks like we could be happy, magic just comes in and wrecks it.' so it's not only snow and david who have had their lives destroyed by magic and think like this at their weakest moments)

so snow's reaction to emma's magic isn't good, but snow's experience with magic is also fkn awful, and she quickly does realize the mistakes she makes. i don't think this is unforgivable of her character, especially since most people seem to forgive david for his actions here as well, but i think since snow has taken a step back from emma, it seems like a much bigger betrayal. snow however does show that she trusts emma entirely

in 4x10, before the curse of shattered sight takes place:

Emma: What about the baby? David: No, don't worry. Neal won't be with us. Emma: Who's gonna take him? Mary Margaret: You are. Emma: Oh. Mary Margaret: We don't fear your magic, Emma. It's what's gonna allow you to take on the Snow Queen and win. David: And when you do, you'll be right back here unlocking these doors. Mary Margaret: We trust you. And Henry's right. You are special, and you are going to use that specialness and save both of you.

this is then paralleled in 5x11 when dark hook has given everyone the mark of death or whatever:

Emma: (Looks down at her little brother) What about Neal? He'll be left here all alone. Mary Margaret: He won't be alone, Emma. He'll have you.

now, all of this to say......... snow's treatment of emma still pisses me off a lot lmao. i just think a lot of it can make sense, but i'm still of the opinion that the writers just stopped caring as much about the relationship and defaulted back to snow and david, or snow and neal. hell, we even saw more development with snow and regina than snow and emma after the s3 midseason finale

however, there is one line i think that kinda coincides with my theory of snow taking a step back b/c she realized she was pushing emma too much. snow specifically says 'we took so much from you. we can't take [killian] too.' this is after the revelation that snow and david woke up during the curse and decided not to go into the portal to emma, which is another thing to pile onto snow failing as a mother. i think snow specifically stating 'we took so much from you' does show the amount of guilt she feels for failing as a mother, not just at birth but for all failures, and snow just never found out how to be a mother that emma wanted, so she took a step back and watched emma become happy with everyone else, which is kinda super depressing but hey it's better than snow just giving up

[starbylers]

Hi. Can you tell us how do you believe byler will happen in s5 in the most realistic way? How the love triangle will be resolved?

Hi :) I usually hesitate to make specific s5 predictions because I have a feeling it will be different from what any of us expect so I don’t want to pretend I’ve got all the answers. That being said:

These are my general thoughts/predictions going into season 5:

First, I think it’s likely El will spend a lot of time bonding with Lucas (because of Max–didn’t Caleb allude to this already?), and probably Hopper too. I think she’s really going to come into her independence and realise Mike’s ‘love’ isn’t doing anything except holding her back. We see throughout the series that her character develops when she is not with Mike and stagnates/regresses when they are dating. With her parental figure returned to protect and support her, and newfound determination to achieve her goal i.e. save her best friend (something Mike’s ‘love’ couldn’t help her do), she really has like…not much need for him? I think El got what she thought she wanted (Mike’s confession), only to find it wasn’t what she really needed (it didn’t help her win in the end), and she’s going to be processing this come s5.

I think Mike will recognise that El is pulling away and direct his attention to the person who actually does need him: Will. We already see the beginnings of this in ‘2 days later’: El isolates herself in her old room, clearly not happy, and Mike chooses to comfort Will instead of going to her. Same pattern as in the final shot: El walks away from Mike, alone, and he stays by Will’s side.

Mike and Will are likely going to spend a large chunk of the season together. This has been foreshadowed (‘We have to kill him’/‘We will’, them paired in the final shot). Will is probably going to find himself in danger early on (he’s the supernatural focus of the season and it’s confirmed they are jumping straight into the action), which will bring the return of s2 Mike in full force.

I think we will get a lot of romantic tension, and references to their history to remind the audience how special their relationship really is. And most crucially: the gradual unveiling of what’s really going on in Mike’s head—probably while he himself is coming to terms with all of it—so the audience can begin to piece together why he’s changed so much since s3. I’m not sure how they will do this (more explicit pining? Vecna? Mike confiding in someone else?) but it’s really important otherwise Will is going to look like a second choice.

Thinking about the break up, mid-season is most likely to me because I just don’t believe Mike or El are quite there yet in their arcs for an early season split. Imo, Mike still needs to process that his ‘feelings’ for El are rooted in attachment/codependency (though I do think on some level he is aware that he’s not actually in love, which is why he did everything in his power to avoid the word—friends don’t lie), which will naturally happen when he starts to accept that how he feels for Will is what love is supposed to feel like. El also needs time to fully understand that she’s better off without their ‘romance’. The time-skip is a mystery to me, but I think Mlvn have to break up before it happens. (If their relationship makes it another two years and then Byler happens, Will is again going to look like a second choice and no-one is going to buy it).

As for how the break up would actually go down, I can’t be sure but I hope it will be amicable and light-hearted (maybe even a bit funny like an ‘I dump your ass’ callback as I think El is most likely to initiate), just one of those things that feels inevitable when it happens as they’ve both been spending time apart and prioritising other people and realising they’re actually happier that way. That would make sense if everything I have said up to this point is how it happens. Of course it could be more dramatic, but I think either way it will be emotional and end with them hugging it out.

After that…I don’t think we have enough to go off for any solid theory. But what I personally believe is that there will be a very dramatic confession scene for Mike and Will. I’m talking like Max’s running up that hill scene level of drama. Flashbacks and everything. I just think there will have been way too much build up and if they’re going to go for Byler, they really need to commit to it. I think it’s going to be one of them trying to save the other's life.

I obviously do think they will have quieter moments after though—maybe this is when they kiss. And I truly don’t believe El is going to be heartbroken over Mike and Will. I think by the time anything happens between them, El will have come to terms with how incompatible her and Mike were. I am of the belief that El likes the idea of Mike more than she actually likes/wants Mike. I don’t think she will struggle to move on once she realises this. Honestly I kind of hope the three of them can laugh about it in the end because that would be so healing to see.

That’s how I see it generally, but like I said I leave room for myself to be proven wrong and I’m always open to different interpretations (especially about Mike). Also, I don’t really see it as a love triangle? I mean it is one, in the technical sense. But I think that implies Mike is going to be ‘choosing’ between Will and El, and I really don’t think that’s the story here. I think for Mike it’s a story of realising it’s okay to be who you are (in a general sense and about his sexuality), and with that comes accepting who the right person for you actually is. Hope this answers your question!

[farasen]

Deniz' daddy issues and identity crisis

Since people liked my Leon analysis (thanks y'all btw), I gotta proceed with doing the rest of the characters! And today our patient is Deniz! Again, before we start, I'm not affirming anything, I'm not a therapist. It's just me writing my personal opinion, and you're free to disagree. I'm going to start from afar. So, every character has their own episodes that are united with some sort of main theme, like a character arc (well, except for a few episodes). Jojo's is returning home to mother; Raban's proving that, despite all the failures, he's still worthy to be on the team; Vanessa's is the same as Raban's, but because she's a girl; Markus has daddy issues to solve; Marlon is caring about team's well-being and Leon's is...being a dick. Amid this, Deniz' arc seems a bit messy and inconsistent. Though you can characterize it as "always being kept away from the team" it doesn't really concern his inner character (except for s1e5). But what if I tell you that Deniz has identity crisis (let's pretend you didn't read the headline)? First things first, I think everybody noticed the similarities between Deniz and his father, Erol. I'm talking not only about the hair style, but also clothes (V-neck and jeans). Little boy is mimicking his parent for sure. Of course, appearance is not the only thing Deniz is copying from his father. What impression does Deniz give off in s1e3? Quite haughty and arrogant, isn't he? You can even hear his voice being mocky when he talks to the guys. Now look at the Erol's behavior in s1e5. Also arrogant and haughty with his "being the best is being with the best" ideology.

Let's focuse on the 3rd episode a bit more. While Deniz was pretty harsh with the guys, he did show a lot of skills at soccer, because he overplayed the gang in a blink of an eye. He leaves, stating that he wants to play for the 1FC and be like his father. But later on, he has a change of heart and joins the wild ones. This shift always seemed to me pretty... sudden? Sure, they saved him from the school bullies, and yes, you'll be absolutely right if you say that he got inspired by their determination to become the best soccer players. But why so if he was already successful enough in his field? A possible reason why he might have chosen dwk could be the fact that they are simply different from everything he's used to. Deniz got inspired not only because of their willingness to become the champions, but also kindness they've treated him and their free spirit. You see, we don't really know anything about Deniz' past, but judging by some of his lines, he most likely was a loner. For example, in the 5th episode he says: "they were not my team, they were my friends", implying that he never had true friends in the former teams he played with. Furthermore, if we consider the fact that Erol was quite overcontrolling, he might have prohibited Deniz from talking to anyone who is not as skilled as he is. Deniz, on the other hand, wasn't so interested in talking with "the best ones".

Speaking of Erol being an overcontrolling parent. We know that Mr. Yildiz has always been choosing teams for Deniz. We know that there were quite a lot of them, because we've seen his bag with logos of the previous teams. And we know that Deniz has always been simply following his father's orders. The point is, children with parents who push their beliefs upon kids often struggle with having a voice in arguments concerning their hobbies or "happy being" in general. We see Deniz trying to argue with his dad in e5, but he breaks quickly after a strict glance of his. And the same happens in s2e7, Erol clearly has some authority. Here's where Mr. Yildiz is similar to Marcus' father, but unlike Mr. Theumer, Erol is actually willing to change and listen to his son. We don't know much about their relationships before Deniz joined dwk, but in s2 they seem to be doing pretty good, which might be thanks to them finally starting to talk with each other.

Let me also mention that Deniz himself might have idolized his father. His mom was never mentioned or shown, so we are free to assume that Mr. Yildiz raised him by himself. Thus, the only pattern of behavior the boy could see was his father's. And Erol is indeed pretty successful and could be a good role model for a child. Good, but obviously not the perfect one, and the realization of this would've come to Deniz' mind sooner or later. Also, a brief thing to mention about that point: remember in s1e9 he said that he knows that this thing with skulls on tennis balls means Marcus' protest against his father? Could that imply that Deniz tried to do something similar to it? Just a thing for your interpretation.

In the second season Deniz gets overshadowed, unfortunately. But his episode is quite interesting. So, he has trouble with school. It's not clear whether he's always been bad at science subjects or it started recently. For now, let's take the second option because it makes more sense to the analysis. What is a quiet common behavior pattern for teens with an identity crisis is having bad grades. That can happen due to a lack of confidence, but let's face it: Deniz never really showed any signs of that. However, we don't get to see his inner world anyway, so I guess it's another thing for the viewer's interpretation.

Does Deniz even want to play football? I'm sure he is. Let's be honest, he's a nerd. Every time they start to talk about the opponents, he has something to say about them, which clearly shows that he is reading about them or maybe even talked to them. Deniz really is passionate about soccer, but I think he might be struggling with who he is, like his personality, his company of friends, his other hobbies, etc. So what is his character arc about again? As I've already mentioned, there is a pattern with Deniz being somehow kept away from the bunch and not able to be with them. After the analysis of what the wild ones mean to him, I will be bold to say that his arc is not simply "being kept away from the team" but "being kept away from something you love and that helps you to explore yourself", which is a common topic for teenagers who struggle with finding themselves.