#I don’t want his arc to be simply leaving Joyce and Will

[francesderwent]

but what is a satisfying end to Jonathan’s arc, really?

[munsons-maiden]

As weird as it is that we didn’t get a scene of the gang leaving the upside down after that scene, I am so glad and almost thankful that we did not have to see the group most likely Steve pull Dustin away from Eddie’s body as he sobs, not wanting to leave him. And most likely this was due to the pacing and editing in post production or it simply just wasn’t written into the episode, but part of me can’t help but wonder if it was intentional 👀👀

Personally I don’t believe in a million years that Dustin would ever leave Eddie’s body in that dark evil place, but we don’t have time to unpack all of that

I completely agree.

The scene broke me, and I wouldn't have been able to stomach a second longer.

What makes it all so sketchy is the fact that they love to display these kinds of reactions from the survivors. Look at Joyce and Bob, the way Hopper had to drag her out of the lab while she was screaming and we saw the Demodogs devour Bob's body, a scene which resurfaced in Joyce's memories in ST3 and ST4 to fuel her character arc. Look at Max, sobbing over Billy's body, seeing him die like this every night. All the flashbacks, fueling her arc.

And that's what makes Eddie's death suspicious.

It would have fit, in the most horrible way, to show Steve dragging a sobbing, screaming Dustin away from Eddie because the ground was already ripping open. It would have show the reaction of the rest of the Hawkins heroes, instead of somehow...forgetting Eddie? It would have been one minute of screentime tops, the set was there. It would have made so much sense. The fact that they didn't do it felt weird, and it matches the weirdness of Eddie's wounds being "intentionally not too deep and gory". Nothing about his death matches the usual deaths in Stranger Things. And the time skip of two days only further proves that.

Right after Vol2, I thought it was just weird and they were under pressure, time-wise.

Everything, from the moment Eddie stopped running from that swarm of bats, doen't only not match the overall pattern of Stranger Things and the deaths in the series - it doesn't match the rest of Stranger Things in general. It feels off. It doesn't match the first 8 episodes of the season which, in my opinion at least, are the BEST in the whole series and not simply because of Eddie but because of the writing, the plot, the character arcs.

Initially I thought it would make it easier to bring Eddie back that way, without gruesome shots, without his body being devoured by monsters, with the ominous time skip, and I thought the fact writing only starts in August would make it possible for them to change course - but by now, I firmly believe that they never intended to let Eddie stay dead, and that ST4 is only the first half of his story, that he needed to die to be brought back.

The Duffers already said Eddie's death would have "huge repercussions for the survivors". If they don't re-heat the Justice4Barb storyline or the storyline like Max had after Billy's death - and I don't think they will! - it means that Eddie could very possibly come back flayed and it will be about saving him; the repercussion being that in order to hurt Vecna they'd have to hurt Eddie which they don't want to do, similar to the plot with Will in ST2. It makes most sense for Eddie to be brought back as a hostage because that would cause the biggest repercussions for our heroes and raise the stakes of the whole season if it wasn't simply about defeating Vecna, but defeating Vecna without hurting Eddie/while freeing Eddie.

[strangerthings4theories]

Billy Is Not A ‘B’ Character In Stranger Things

Yeah, his name starts with a ‘B’. That’s not what I mean. 

Everyone’s noticed an interesting trend in Stranger Things: if your name starts with a ‘B’, you’re probably going to die. First it was Barb. Then it was Bob. Then it was Billy. So, like Barb and Bob, Billy’s probably gonna stay dead. Right?

Not so fast. I’m a writer, fam. I’ve studied storytelling my whole life. And when you line up all the characters who have died so far (excluding the ‘bad guys’ and bit players), I can immediately tell you one of these characters is not like the others.

In fact, I can tell you Billy is not the ‘B’ character of S3. Alexei is. The Duffers just slid over to the ‘A’ to throw us off.

It all comes down to the weight each character is assigned. Are they a protagonist central to the story? A secondary character designed to comment on or reveal things about the protagonist(s)? Or are they just an extra, designed to fulfill a specific role in a smattering of scenes?

You don’t have to scratch your head over this. If you know storytelling mechanics, sorting characters is pretty easy (usually).

Let’s try it out...

One Of These Characters Is Not Like The Others

>>Barb, Bob, and Alexei have an arc spanning only one season. The Duffers never intended to let them survive for two. When they die, they leave no loose threads behind them except for other characters' grief and remorse. (And in Barb's case, a deep sense of injustice - which Nancy resolves in S2.)

>>Billy’s already had an arc spanning two seasons. When he dies, he leaves a TON of loose threads. He never:

made up for bullying Max

made up for hurting El (Starcourt was a good start, but not enough)

apologized to Lucas

apologized to Steve

stood up to his father and broke his hold over him

had a fulfilling friendship/relationship with anyone

grieved his mother (if she’s dead), found her again (if she’s alive), or otherwise came to terms with her memory

reclaimed the sweet, happy boy we saw on the beach

healed from the abuse he suffered throughout his life

hit back at the Mind Flayer, made Him regret possessing him, and emerged victorious

If he’s dead for good, this is disastrous storytelling. A good writer would never dream of cutting a character’s arc so short. It makes people (and other writers) grumpy.

>>Barb, Bob, and Alexei have a handful of narrative functions. They’re intended to show us more about specific characters, or redirect the plot at specific, identifiable points.

Barb is Nancy’s best friend. Her death was designed to propel Nancy’s coming of age journey. In S1, it shows Nancy how selfish she’s been and brings her and Jonathan together. In S2, it leads her to reject Steve because he doesn’t understand how desperately she needs justice for Barb. When Nancy secures this justice, Barb’s role in the story is complete.

Bob is Joyce’s boyfriend. His relationship with her shows us Joyce is holding herself back and not pursuing the man she really wants (Hopper). Throughout S2, he helps Joyce and the kids solve puzzles crucial to the plot. Then he helps them escape the lab and dies a hero. With that, his role in the story is complete.

Alexei is an expert on the Russians’ “key” machine. His primary role is to give Hopper, Joyce, and Murray the info they need to shut it down. Along the way, he provides comic relief, helps Murray overcome his hatred of Russians, and shows us Russians and Americans can coexist peacefully. Finally, his death demonstrates the lethal threat posed by Grigori. After that, his role in the story is complete.

>>In terms of narrative structure, Billy is a heavyweight. While I can rattle off just a handful of functions for Barb, Bob, and Alexei, I can’t do the same for Billy. Yes, in S2 he operated at ‘B’ character level. But in S3 he broke out and took control of the narrative. The entire plot of S3 hinges on his possession by the Mind Flayer. Without him, the story simply would not happen.

In addition, Billy is not defined by a single relationship. Just now, I summed up Barb, Bob, and Alexei like this: Barb is Nancy’s best friend. Bob is Joyce’s boyfriend. Alexei is an expert on the “key” machine. You can’t do that for Billy. He sits in the middle of a whole constellation of relationships! He is:

an antagonist to Lucas

Max’s step brother and the “monster” she defeats/tames

Steve’s rival for the kingship of Hawkins High

Karen’s (eventually rejected) love interest

Neil’s terrorized son

his mother’s sweet little boy who lost his way

El’s opposite and equal, the yin to her yang

Will’s older “twin” - in Will’s words, “a new me” (it’s no accident they share the same name)

This is just with the main cast so far. He interacts with a slew of minor characters as well, such as Tommy H. and the Holloways. And you can bet he’ll develop relationships with the rest of the main cast. The potential is incredible! Among other things:

Hopper will see himself in Billy and become the positive father figure Billy needs.

Joyce will see Will in Billy and become the protective mother figure he needs.

Jonathan will resent Billy’s presence and hold a grudge. Over time, he’ll learn that monsters can change.

It’s a lot, okay? And it’s not an accident. This kind of narrative pull only happens by design. 

Other characters who have the same pull include Hopper, Will, and El.

Billy is not a secondary character. He is a main character, the kind you can point to and say “yes, this show is about him.” That’s why, when an article I read recently said “we haven’t had a REAL major character death yet (Billy doesn’t count),” I laughed.

It’s true. We haven’t had a REAL major character death yet. But only because Billy ain’t gonna stay dead.

Peace. ✌️

»»————-　✼　————-««

P.S. If you want to figure out who’s a ‘B’ character like Barb, Bob, and Alexei, use this handy-dandy checklist:

has a name that starts with A, B, possibly C (Barb, Bob, Alexei, Argyle...)

is a sweet, adorable character that makes you like them (to make their death more painful)

can be defined by a single relationship

has a handful of narrative functions

For these reasons, Argyle is at the top of my list for S4. He's already been introduced as "Jonathan's new best friend" - an eerie parallel to Nancy and Barb.

[impalementation]

spike, angel, buffy & romanticism: part 3

part 1: “When you kiss me I want to die”: Angel and the high school seasons

part 2: “Love isn’t brains, children”: Enter Spike as the id

* 

“Something effulgent”: Season five and the construction of Spike the romantic

Prior to becoming a romantic interest, Spike is everything I discussed in the last section. He is an id and a mirror for Buffy, he’s prone to both romantic exaggeration and cutting realism, and his liminality suggests ambiguity. But outside of “Lovers Walk”, the writing doesn’t actually delve too deeply into Spike’s nature as a romantic. If you stopped the canon at “Restless”, you’d probably think that Spike’s love for Drusilla was intriguing, but that the show hadn’t really gone anywhere with the implications of it, and for all you knew, that might not be an important part of his character anymore. So one of the most interesting things about season five to me, is that in this season in which the writers first consciously, deliberately decide to explore the sexual and romantic tension between Spike and Buffy, they also emphasize Spike’s romanticism more than ever. The choice to define Spike by his romanticism is a choice that follows naturally from everything established about his character, but it was also not an inevitable choice. Therefore, it’s a choice worth looking at in some detail.

Consider everything that “Fool For Love” establishes about Spike, especially the things that contradict what was supposedly canon at the time. It makes Drusilla his sire instead of Angel, meaning that he is sired by a romantic connection, and as a direct result of heartbreak. It makes him a poet living in the middle of the Victorian era, an age at odds with his previous ages of “barely 200” and “126”. Meaning that the writing specifically decides to ignore its canon in order to associate him with an era in which passions would have been repressed (rather than the Romantic era of the early 1800’s or the modern energy of the early 1900’s). Moreover, the episode reveals his entire aesthetic and personality to essentially be a construct. But most tellingly of all, it reveals him to be an idealist. Spike is not just a performance artist; he yearns for the “effulgent”, for something “glowing and glistening” that the “vulgarians” of the world don’t understand. In other words, he yearns for something bigger and more beautiful than life: something romantic. Later, he chases after “death, glory, and sod all else.” Spike may be a “fool for love”, who has a romantic view of romantic love specifically, but the episode is very clear about the fact that he is also a romantic more generally. When Drusilla turns him, she doesn’t tempt him by telling him she’ll love him forever. She tempts him by offering him “something…effulgent”. (Which, in typical Spike form, the episode immediately undercuts by having him say “ow” instead of swooning romantically). The fact that “Fool For Love”, Spike’s major backstory episode, is so determined to paint him as a romantic--and in particular, a disappointed, frustrated romantic--that it is willing to contradict canon to do so, tells you that this choice was important for framing Spike and his new, ongoing thematic role.

I’ve talked in the past about how season five is all about the tension between the mythical and the mortal--between big, grand, sweeping narratives, and the reality of being human. Buffy is the Slayer, but she’s also just a girl who loses her mother. Dawn is the key, but she’s also just a confused and hormonal fourteen-year-old. Willow is a powerful witch, but she also just wants her girlfriend to be okay. Glory is a god, but she’s also a human man named Ben, and finds herself increasingly weakened by his emotions. And Spike embodies this tension perfectly. He’s a soulless vampire with a lifetime of bloodshed behind him, but he’s also this silly, human man who wants to love and be loved. He wants big, grand things, but every time they are frustrated by a Victorian society, a rejection, a chip, a pratfall, or dying with an “ow”. Furthermore, his season five storyline is all about the tension between loving in an exalted, yet often selfish way, versus loving in a “real” or selfless way. 

There was a fascinating piece a ways back that discussed how Spike’s attempts to woo Buffy in season five almost perfectly match the romantic narratives of Courtly Love. In the words of the author:

The term "Courtly Love" is used to describe a certain kind of relationship common in romantic medieval literature. The Knight/Lover finds himself desperately and piteously enamored of a divinely beautiful but unobtainable woman. After a period of distressed introspection, he offers himself as her faithful servant and goes forth to perform brave deeds in her honor. His desire to impress her and to be found worthy of her gradually transforms and ennobles him; his sufferings -- inner turmoil, doubts as to the lady's care of him, as well as physical travails -- ultimately lends him wisdom, patience, and virtue and his acts themselves worldly renown.

You can see for yourself how well that description fits Spike’s arc. He fixates on the torturous, abject nature of his love, and has it in his head that he can perform deeds and demonstrate virtue, and this will prove to Buffy that he is worthy of her. But despite Spike’s gradual ennobling over the course of the season, I think it would be a mistake to see the season as using the Courtly Love narrative uncritically, or even just ironically. The same way it would be a mistake to see season two as using the Gothic uncritically. Spike is as much Don Quixote as he is Lancelot. He is a character that deliberately tries to act out romantic tropes, giving the writing an opportunity to satirize those tropes, including the tropes of chivalric romance. In particular, the writing criticizes Spike’s (very chivalric) fixation on love as a personal agony, something that is more about pain--and specifically, his pain--than building a real relationship. Over and over in season five, he is forced to abandon these sorts of flattering romantic mindsets in favor of a more complicated reality. 

So at first, Spike’s “deeds” tend to be shallow and vaguely transactional. He tries to help Buffy in “Checkpoint” even though she doesn’t want it (and insults her when she doesn’t appreciate it), he asks “what the hell does it take?” when Buffy is unimpressed by him not feeding on “bleeding disaster victims” in “Triangle”, he rants bitterly at a mannequin when Buffy fails to be grateful to him for taking her to Riley in “Into the Woods”, and he is angry and confused when Buffy is unmoved by his offer to stake Drusilla in “Crush”. While these attempts to symbolically reject his evilness are startling for a soulless vampire, and although Spike certainly feels like he is fundamentally altering himself for Buffy’s sake, none of it is based on understanding or supporting Buffy in a way that she would actually find substantial. Moreover, he lashes out when his gestures fail to win her attention or affection. He has an idea in his head of how their romantic scenes should play out, and reacts petulantly when reality fails to live up to it. 

But these incidents of self-interested narrativizing are also continuously contrasted with scenes in which Spike reacts with real generosity, or is surprised when he realizes he’s touched something emotionally genuine. When Buffy seeks him out in “Checkpoint”, his mannerisms instantly change when he realizes she actually needs real help (“You’re the only one strong enough to protect them”), rather than the performed help he offered at the beginning of the episode. At the end of “Fool For Love” he’s struck dumb by Buffy’s grief, and his antagonistic posturing all evening melts away. He abandons his romantic vision of their erotic, life-and-death rivalry in favor of real, awkward emotional intimacy. In “Forever” he tries to anonymously leave flowers for Joyce, and reacts angrily when he’s denied—but this time not because he wanted something from Buffy. Simply because he wanted to do something meaningful. 

This contradictory behavior comes to a head in “Intervention”, the episode in which Spike finally begins to understand the difference between real and transactional generosity. Up until that point, Spike has been reacting both selfishly and unselfishly, but he hasn’t been able to truly distinguish between them, which is why he keeps repeating the same mistakes. Although he touches something real at the end of “Fool For Love”, for instance, he goes on to rifle through Buffy’s intimates in the very next episode. And so “Intervention” has Spike go to extremes of fakeness and reality. He gives up on having the real Buffy, and seeks out an artificial substitute that lets him live out his cheesiest romance novel scripts. It’s important that the Buffybot isn’t just a sexbot, even if he does have sex with her. She’s a bot he plays out romantic scenarios with the way he played them with Harmony in “Crush”, allowing him to almost literally live within a fiction. But then he “gives up” on having Buffy in a way that’s actually real, by offering up his life. He lets himself be tortured, and potentially killed, for no other reason than that to do otherwise would cause Buffy pain. The focus is on her pain, not his. For the first time, he acts like the Knight he’s been trying to be all along. He performs a grand, heroic deed that causes the object of his affection to see him in a different light, and even grant him a kiss. Yet ironically, as part of learning the difference between real and fake, he ceases to press for Buffy’s reciprocation. Through the end of season five, Spike continues to act the selfless Knight, assisting Buffy in her heroism without asking for anything in return. Which culminates in his declaration that he knows Buffy “will never love him”, even after he’s promised her the deed of protecting Dawn, and even though she allows a kind of intimacy by letting him back in her house. He proves that he sees those gestures for what they are, rather than in a transactional light. The irony of the way Spike fulfills the narrative of chivalric romance, is that his ennobling involves letting aspects of that narrative go. 

In a Courtly Love narrative, the object of the Knight’s affection is fundamentally pedestalized. The Knight himself might be flawed, but the woman he pines after is not. She is “divinely beautiful” and “unobtainable”, something above him and almost more than human. This is why it’s so comic that in Don Quixote, which was a direct satire of chivalric romance, Alonso Quixano’s “lady love” is a vulgar peasant farmgirl who has no idea who he is. (Think of the way Spike asks if Buffy is tough in “School Hard” or threatens to “take her apart” despite “how brilliant she is” in “The Initiative”, followed by scenes where Buffy is acting like the teenage girl she is. Or how Giles in “Checkpoint” says that Buffy has “acquired a remarkable focus” before cutting to Buffy yawning.). Although it’s true that Buffy is beautiful, and supernatural, and profoundly moral, she is also very human, and the writing is very concerned with that humanity. Season five in particular, as I’ve mentioned, is preoccupied with the duality of Buffy’s mythic and mortal nature. Thus it becomes significant that Buffy is assigned such a heightened role in Spike’s chivalric narrative. Just Spike is at once Lancelot and Don Quixote, Buffy is at once Achilles, Dulcinea, and a coming-of-age protagonist. 

And part of the “lesson” of Spike’s arc is for him to see both sides of the roles they embody. One of my favorite things about the scene in Buffy’s house in “The Gift” is how adroitly it conveys the dualities of both Buffy and Spike with simple, but poetic imagery and language. Buffy stands above Spike on her steps, conveying her elevated role, and Spike honors the way her heroic status has inspired him by physically looking up to her as he explains that he expects nothing from her. But by expecting nothing from her, and promising to protect her sister, he also honors the fact that she is a real person with no obligation to him, and a younger sister she cares about more than anything. He also honors his own duality by at once making Knightly promises, and acknowledging that he sees through his former delusions: “I know that I’m a monster, but you treat me like a man.” In “Fool For Love” he tried to acknowledge the same duality of realism and romance, by declaring to Cecily that “I know I’m a bad poet, but I’m a good man.” But at the time, he was an innocent, whose desire to be seen, and whose romantic avoidance of “dark, ugly things”, left him unprepared to understand how Cecily really saw him (similar to Spike’s insistence in “Crush” that what he and Buffy have “isn’t pretty, but it’s real” just before Buffy locks him out). Spike is a character defined simultaneously by continuous disillusionment and dogged aspiration, which is why he makes perfect sense as a character to embody a season torn between the pain of being human, and the wonder of the gift of love.

Fittingly, the season ends with Spike’s most devastating loss of innocence of all. He fails to be the hero for Buffy or Dawn (note that Knightly language he uses on the tower: “I made a promise to a lady”), and he loses the woman he loves. He may have become more virtuous, but unlike in a chivalric romance, that virtue wins him neither Buffy, nor something flattering like “world reknown.” The climax of the “The Gift” is full of romance—a god, a troll hammer, a damsel on a tower, a heroic self-sacrifice, a vampire transformed into a Knight—but the end result is that Buffy is dead, in part because he wasn’t good enough, and all that he and the Scoobies can do is grieve. Stories got Spike nothing, even when reality finally lived up to them. It is a swan song to the myths of childhood, and on the other side of Glory’s portal, Spike and the other characters will have to confront a world where those myths have been left behind.

part 4: “But I can’t fool myself. Or Spike, for some reason.”: Buffy and Spike as a blended self

[sleazyjanet]

"praising other men’s intelligence (which joyce was very free to do cause those men WERE smarter than him." AND IT ALL COMES BACK TO BOB!!! that's why hopper is so insecure about joyce being around smart (and the sweetest) men, bc that's not him and joyce has made that decision before

you are the first person i agree on this discussion cuz everybody else goes to the extremes of "hopper is irredeemable and ooc" or "he is not that bad" — all main characters in this show are flawed ALL OF THEM and it makes sense that this middle age man in the 80s would be a product of toxic masculinity, especially after he drops out of meds, and i think stop numbing himself is crucial part of his arc foward, like he's not gonna have access to cigarettes and junk food at a russian prison and all he's gonna have to deal with is his thoughts for months

yess i’m actually so excited to see more of that. of hopper dealing with withdrawal and having to actually DEAL with his feelings. now, the show has a limited timeframe so we won’t see THAT much of that, but i definitely think we’ll get a good glimpse (and the rest can be fanfiction, i trust yall to deliver the best and most delicious angst here) and ultimately getting better at it, because he’s just… st3 is the first step. he needs to do better but, as you said, a man in the 80s exposed to toxic masculinity on the daily basis would NOT deal with his feelings well. is it frustrating? as a viewer, yeah. as someone who thinks the rawest aspects of a character ought to be studied… not much. i wasn’t happy with how he acted and there are some things i would’ve written better myself but ultimately it comes down to him just… being at his worst while not actually being in situation that “warrant it”. like he overreacts because at this point in his character arc he doesn’t know how to do otherwise, because he’s not numb anymore and most of his coping mechanisms are gone. st4 strips him of even more of those but possibly gives him new ones. i doubt healthier ones, but they could eventually TURN into healthier ones. of course, that’s if they write it all well lmao. if they keep him consistent. apologies are still due but apologies ARE part of a good “redemption” arc (also i dislike the term redemption arc in this case but i suppose it lowkey make sense cause i do want him to kinda redeem himself from his toxic actions)

btw his insecurity is SO clearly tied to bob, yes and i’d add that the fact that murray referred to him as a “brute” and said to joyce “probably reminds you of a bad relationship” could NOT have aided him initially at all. like, all in all, that could become a ringing noise in his head, a thing to defy and to do better cause he doesn’t want to remind joyce of lonnie, but murray practically implies that and at that point in hopper’s journey, where he’s raw (and i’d add afraid cause el is growing up and might leave and joyce might leave, too and he’s scared of being alone) it… does Not Go Over to Him Correctly. like it’s just a slap, just a reminder that he can’t live up to that ideal that HE’S made up. joyce doesn’t actually have that ideal, or if she does she definitely also loves hopper, but hopper thinks she does and sees every man resembling that ideal as competition. it’s unhealthy, it’s something he needs to unlearn and cope with correctly and it’s something that i hope the writers don’t simply erase but DEAL with but… it isn’t ooc.

[popculturebuffet]

Close Enough Reviews: First Date and Snailin’ It

We’re in the home stretch thank god! Seriously while I do love this show, doing 13 reviews in one day, even as most are easy to bang out, has been exausting. But the thank god is also because we’ve arrived at my faviorite episode so far and.. er another one but at least it has Noel Fielding! That’s really awesome!  This time around Josh and Emily try to recapture the magic of their first date only to end up in one of the good Blumhouse movies, while Bridgette brings Josh along on an awkward first date. Then Emily gets the help of a snail’s magical hat to juggle work and life. Snail yeah under hte cut. 

First Date: 

A fourtune teller is at the fourplex, another review of the series I recently read revealed that’s what their buildings called and I like the sound of it so i’m using that, predicting a weird romance for bridget, who belivies it’s a guy she’s been texing, and sometimes sexting in her words not mine, who she has a date with tonight while said psychic also reveals to Emily that things with her and josh have gotten bland, something emily realizes via a hilarous flashback of them making out while falling asleep repeadtly before both just conk out. Also randy has thunder pants, aka pants tha tmake thunde rnoises and have a giant lighting bolt cod piece. Your the second best randy. Andt hat’s only because Alex is still a character. 

So we have our two plots and unlike previous episodes and one future one the plots.. don’t dovetail. Which I like and I like a show being able to do two seperate plots in eleven minutes. We frankly need more of that. Bridgette has her date and Josh and Emily end up having theres. As such i’ll cover both seperatley. And since their plots a bit simplier let’s start with Josh and Emily.  Emily tries flirting with Josh before explaning it’s because she wants to bring the spice back. After josh bungles his response trying to say what she wants but just.. you know asking emily what she wants him to say which is never a good move in any conversation, Josh does near instantly rebound, texting emily to come to the close tfor a suprise. Granted since Josh, self admittley right after, admits he has no game, it come across as weird and creepy, but Emily appricates him trying and is touched when he reveals his real bring the sparks back romantic plan: a recreation of their first date, which was at a haunted house. Also for some reason Josh thought mr magoriums wonder emporium was a best picture contender. Never change josh, never change. But I genuinely like this: having a couple that while relaistically having a dry spell still lvoes each other: instead of worrying the relationship is dead as these plots tend to do they simply want to bring back the magic that’s sometimes lost when you work two jobs, raise a kid full time and live with two weirdos with little sense of personal space.  So they go and the reason it’s pretty simple is their subplot is the two having a mind screw being chased by various horrors in the house. As i’ve said I feel the series has more of a horror bent at times with some episodes leaning more into that than just goofy madness like regular show did. Regular Show really saved most of its straight up horror content for terror tales, here horror bits can crop up as much as fucking wacky bits. I mean a logan’s run parody where a man dies is paired up with a low speed train chase with a con arist that ends with her driving into a thermortor factory while choking her fake son. The show can ping pong on tone, but it does work.  But yeah that’s why there’s less to talk about: it’s not bad stuff, it’s super spooky including the end bit where their told they died, it’s just mostly the two of them running around a nightmare, that unsuprisngly turns out not to be real and was just the attraction, before a really touching climax when the two finally find each other run towards each other and realize just how horrifed they were at the thought of loosing one another. it’s really damn touching and romantic, and leads to another climax when the two start kissing before getting it on despite the horror house working telling them they have others coming. I’ts a good plot, I just don’t have a ton to anlyaize about it. it’s just really good and really good horror stuff with a satsifying and sweet ending.  On to our main event, Bridgette heads out to her date and TRIES lying to alex for his own sake.. but Alex not only easily guessed she was on a date in the first place but... isn’t bothered at all. He even offers to wing man while sining the firends theme song and clapping at the wrong time. Because he’s alex even when he’s being sweet and a good friend and ex, he can’t help but be just a BIT off.  Bridget goes to meet Ron.. and finds he’s sewn to his ex Joy... like literally sewn or conjoined as they put it. Bridgette freaks the fuck out but is talked by ron into continuing, partly because their getting it undone and partly because Bridgette herself admits Ron looked past her baggage.. even if his is larger, she can at least try to. Also Ron is voiced by Chris Parnell who, with archer delayed event hough i’m watching it again and having stopped wtching rick and morty, I dearly missed. Glad to have you back dude. I’m also unsuprised he’s in this as the man is in everything. He’s a fucking workhorse. 

Anyways Alex happily agrees, has his own brief freakout because bridget didn’t tell him about the conjoined twins thing despite being a room away, but quickly rebounds and.. actually hits it off with Joy. even better than Bridgette is with ron who she soon realizes won’t shut the hell up about hiking. Soon Bridgette.. is jealous. Both because Alex is moving on way easier and found someone way quicker, Joyce shares his weird taste in viking erotica, and because she may still have some feelings left. We saw a bit of that in “Robot Tutor”: Bridgette got jealous real quick when alex saw someone elsed espite them being there mostly as sex pals, and admitted there was still some unresolved stuff there they hadnt gotten past on both sides.  They hit the club and things continue to degrade, with Bridgette even more jealous because Alex never took her dancing. And being that bridg is a musician and loves clubbing and what not, i’ts pretty understandable to be frustrated with her ex talking about how it took someone else to get him to do the worm.. also Alex doing the worm is a sheeer delight. When the cojoined ex couple leave, with Ron once again bringing up climbing machu pichu because apparently it’s in chris parnells contract he can never play an actually likeable romantic intrest, Bridget tries to bail but Alex wants to stay since it’s not his fault his date is going well and her’s isn’t.  Bridgette makes the mistake of saying “If you like joy so much why don’t you just conjoin with her”.. and Alex being alex says “why dont’ I and we end up at conjoin, the place Ron and Joy got bonded in the first place. Ever since 1994, you won’t regret this. Actual signs up there and they are wonderful. Bridgette, still jealous even ifs he can’t stand ron offers to be conjoined to him both in a desperate attempt not to losoe alex and to one up him.  However Alex finally calls her out, as while he’s perfeclty happy for her to move on, as this episode showed.. she can’t stand to see him with someone else, and Ron wisley tells her he can’t be attached to someone who isn’t unattached from her ex. When bridgette counters with the oppsitie ron is suprisingly pogniant “We can detach from each other physically but you two can’t detach from each other spirtually”. WHile bridgette quips about him finally saying something intresting, he’s right. She’s not ready and this night clearly proved it and even if she was she was only doing this to show up Alex. Joy likewise breaks things off. a bit more abrubtly since Alex has’nt been nearly as obvious as bridgette.. but alex himself shows he too still has some feelings when he accidentlya dmits to having written an entire section of his memoir about her teeth. Would could be creepy or you know, standard alex ends up really sweet as Bridgette is not only touched by the gesture, but Alex explains why “THeir all the parts that make up your smile” The two share a look, Joy wants what they have and Ron wants to masturbate alone. The end. 

Sadly this isn’t followed up on yet, if at all if there isn’t more episodes next week, as the next ep with the two in it, the finale for today, has the two in seperate plots that only dovetail at the end. But this honestly feels like a posisble arc for the show; Will the two get back together and work past the issues that got them to divorce in the first place or stay divorced and move on? And regular show, with one exception i’ve ranted enough about and will again, was really good at romantic storylines eventually and this could be really intresting for a number of reasons. I’m realy hoping this isn’t just a one off ending, could be but we’ll hopefully see. Either way this episode is really damn good with both plots , while not intersecitng connecting thematically: ONe couple relives a horrifying mirorr version of their first date while a former couple goes on their first real date with other people since the split but finds they might not be as done as they thought. IT’s a good juxtopision and the whole conjoining bit is both horrifying and good Beisdes having my ship at the center i’ts just a damn good time and the best of the season so far (or at all atain the 8 episodes thing is really throwing me off). 

Snailed It: This one should go quicker as its a much simpler ep: Emily has been working way too much and neglecting Candace, including a crypt based board game they’ve been playing for her job because she’s being a doormat. however i’ts not unresonable since said job gives them health insurance which given their lives, they REALLY need. She’s being such a doormat because she’s understandably afraid if she stands up for herself it could risk her job and they’d loose important stuff.  Emily TRIES to juggle things by doing a charity garden/publicity stunt to distract thigns at the school btu the comination of extra work from her boss and the children not actually gardening makes it fail and candace more upset. Emily finds help in the most unlikely of places: A giant talking snail that offers to let her use his magic hat to speed up time and complete the garden in exchange for some of the veggies. He’s also voiced by nice dude and mighty boosh alum noel fielding in what hoenstly feels like a boosh character got out of that universe, if their not the same unvierse which is possible, and snuck into this one.  Emily accepts, and is tempted to use the hat to do more of her job, with the snail calling her a shit parent. Fuck you man, sh’e sa good mom she’s just making mistakes. Emily decides to do it anyway and it works but she soon finds out using the hat outside the garden ages her while the snail decides fuck it and kidnaps candace by aborbing her into his stomach and making her be his legs so he can get dumplings because why not. What follows is a horrifc and tense chase between the two as candace’s life is on the line and the snail has a backup hat and emily time blasting him only makes candace age or deage, horrifyingly becoming a fetus at one point and a teenager later. It’s ar eally tense well done seen that combines the show’s usual insanity with it’s horror side to great effect Meanwhile josh feels useless since his job is less important, and he feels less important as he’s on call and skipping rocks with randy because apparently that’s what he does on call. Randy gets a great moment though, explaning to josh that h’es like the stones their skipping: he’s immoible and seemingly useless most of the time but when it matters he’s there . He’s there rock. Their support.. and naturally with emily slowly dying from her hat, a rare sentence, Josh steps upa nd saves the day via stone skipping, emily throws the hat in and the fundraiser, due to the madness, sucesffuly buired the scandal and Emily finally tells mr salt no.. and he’s really cool about it just telling her to come in a little later. Things are back on track and we’re out.  This wasn’t a bad one, but it both feels less after the prevoius episode and somehwhat simple comaprd other emily centreic episodes. WHile the snail is a great villian and noel fielding,  like rich fulcher before him, fits into this kind of world nicely. Not a bad one, just one sandwitched between two far more interesting episodes. Speaking of which, we’re in the endg ame now. Next time it’s dog days and weird fucking al baby, until very soon later days. 

[kaypeace21]

CODE RED: Will is going to be Number 12!

exhibit A) Matthew Modine (who plays Dr.Brenner) posted this on instagram. 

Exhibit B) I already discussed why Will has powers in more detail here.  

“Both El and Will could communicate through different dimensions (Will exploded 2 phones , El exploded a radio at the school). Both of their moms’ had “crazy aunts” - powers are genetic. Both had their brain waves monitored at the lab and their measurements were off the charts, plus they were being unknowingly recorded on video. El and Will are the only people who could touch, speak, and hear each other in the void. They both tore through walls (with that pink gunk between the normal world and upside down). They both can track others when concentrating -Will found Hopper, El found Will. Both communicated psychically by transferring their conscious- El to talk to Mike in his basement using the void (in s2) & Will to his mom in the living room (in s1). They are the only magical d&d characters (mage & cleric). When El uses her powers to their highest capabilities, her eyes turn red (at the end of s1 and 2 ) … so it’s interesting that when Will was fighting for control of his ownbody his eyes went from hazel to black. And in s1, Will’s storyline is all about him communicating through flickering/shining lights- and when El uses her powers lights always flicker.Also before Will goes missing , he asks Dustin for his X-men comic- later in reference to El ,Dustin asks “Do you think El was born with her powers like the X-men?” And when Mike says El is “channeling him (Will)”. Dustin says “like professor x”. clearly hinting that they were both born with powers, like the X-men.

In s1 Will was described to be “shadow walking”  In D&D Shadow walking is – “ largely illusory, but  quasi-real. characters can use this spell to travel rapidly by stepping onto the Plane of Shadow, moving the desired distance, and then stepping back onto the Material Plane.” This quote perfectly summarizes Will’s power - which he was shown to be using in s1 & s2 (before his possession)- he can be partially-present and can physically interact with both dimensions at the same time. This explains how he was standing in the real world next to Mike in the field, while the mind flayer took possession of him in the upside down version of the same field.

Also, in the show, the only people who have powers are women: Terri, Kali, and El. However, in the cannon prequel novel “suspicious minds”  Terri, Alice, Gloria, and Ken have powers. So as of now, Ken is the only guy in the ST universe who has powers … and he just so happens to be gay . And people suspect Will is gay… so… on to the next point XD

The show and comic hint Will had dormant powers or used them and was unaware he was doing so (before the upside down incident). He sent himself accidentally to the upside down (the lightbulb glowed just like all the lights in Hawkins did when El closed the gate in s2) also El accidentally sent herself there too.  The comic heavily implies Will was born with several powers (similar to how El has multiple powers). His may be shadow walking, teleportation, and invisibility. All 3 of these powers in D&D are powers of a wizard/sorcerer - which is synonymous with the term mage (which is used to describe El). Also, in the show the password Will picks for castle byers is ‘Rhadagast’ (a wizard in lord of the rings). According to D&D invisibility is a level 1, teleportation is level 5, and shadow walking is a level 6 in order of increasing difficulty. However, It wasn’t until Will’s possession that Will truly became a cleric (which I’ll explain in detail later). Will always had powers and was unaware he was using them (before the upside down incident)- the only powers he used at the time were invisibility and teleportation .Do you guys remember when Jonathan said Will was “good at hiding” cause teleportation and invisibility seem like something a kid who hid from his abusive father might of used accidentally A LOT!

However after his possession, Will becomes a cleric. “Clerics are given their powers by a god” (in this case he would have been given similar powers to the mindflayer). So will is going to be OP as F***!”

And before that post, I discussed why I thought Will & El would be kidnapped by the government at the end of s3 here 

 Exhibit c) “The promotional poster for st3 states “One summer can change everything”. While David Harbour states , “There is a major event at the end of ST3 that will dramatically change the course of the rest of the series”.

in the 1st pic a gun’s pointed at her face  and in the second she’s being led away into a helicopter

The next photos show Joyce and Will hugging ,but in the following pics Will is gone.

Essentially the scenes of the kids looking back at the empty Byers’ house is the last scene in s3. Every season has a one month time skip- and the clothes that Dustin, Mike, and Max were wearing included pants and or long sleeves. The fact they spoiled the ending indicates it’s a red herring.  It’s not simply that the Byers moved- it’s that they moved due to the trauma of losing Will. I believe throughout the season Joyce will want to move (like Bob wanted)- the only thing holding her back is the fact that Will’s support system (his friends) and Hopper are there.But after Will is taken away she leaves.”

exhibit D) Will’s comic references Dr Brenner and a novel that foreshadows later events, post here.

“Martini? Like Dr. Martin Brenner! Who the Duffer’s said they’re bringing back. And if what I said about the s3 finale of El and Will being kidnapped by the government is true. It would make sense for s4 to be where he’s brought back.”

In the book “The 2 main characters are very similar to Will and El. Literally the boy , Peter is quiet, gay-coded,and in love with his “protective” childhood bff . And Lola (sounds like s1 El-androgynous, buzz cut, brown hair, and eyes)-they team up to survive and are the first to meet. Essentially, Peter and Lola’s platonic love for each other- and their dependence on each other , allows them to keep their morality, mental health, and physical safety in tact- and this will probably echo the Will/El dynamic.It’s about a psychiatrist who kidnaps and tries to brainwash orphans into becoming weapons/spies for the government.”

So YEAH, along with all that, the fact that Will went missing in s1, and El was missing for most of s2, only verifies to me that both will be taken at the end of s3 and be separated from Mike and others for most of s4 (since it would have Will & El’s stories finally converge). Alot of people don’t realize that Will and El’s narrative arcs have been paralleled to one another through the whole series.The fact that they both have powers, were both used as spies, have ptsd, are both described as ‘quiet’, both had their dads force them to kill animals, had abusive dads who used them for their own gain (Papa- as a spy, Lonnie for the settlement money), had narrative arcs where they tried to get back to their mothers- and back to their “home” (friends & family), willing to sacrifice their lives to save everyone else from the monster,  same stuffed lion plushie. The fact it’s practically cannon Will was the one who made up the whole “friends don’t lie” thing - that El loves so much. Since in ep 1, Will was honest with Mike about having a bad roll , despite Dustin and Lucas encouraging him to lie to Mike.

 And this is why it’s pretty much confirmed to me. Honestly, I’m going to cry so much in s4 when we first see Will with a buzzcut and the number 12 tattooed on his wrist... and El with a buzzcut again and both being experimented on. Also in s4, we’ll also see the other numbers in Brenner’s care as well. As it would match with the poster and the book “House of stairs” that was referenced in Will’s comic book. * I encourage you to look at my links, since I went into more detail :)

[lesbianrabbithole]

Recap: Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Boom Studio Comics Volume 1 - High School is Hell (Includes Issues 1-4)

It’s been a long time since I watched the original TV Show. I’ve never followed the comics that continue the story, except for catching a spoiler here or there, but when I saw that a new Buffy comic had come out, re-imagining the original story in a modern setting and with some substantial changes, I couldn’t stay away.

I’m excited to see what changes Boom Studious makes to the original story, and most of all I’m excited to experience the Buffy universe again, in a whole new way but with all the nostalgia of the original characters. And also, I can’t wait to see what they do with my all time favorite, Faith. Will she go evil again? Will she do her redemption arc in the same way? While she be given a chance to stay around Sunnydale more? Those are all things I’m looking forward to finding out.

But I’m getting sidetracked. I just finished reading the first few issues (I bought a compilation of issues 1-4 thinking it was only the first issue, didn’t realize until I went to look for chapter 2 and I had already read it) and seems like a good chance to share a few impressions before reading the rest. I will do only Chapter one for now, and hopefully I will keep doing the whole Comic over time. But I always set this goals for myself and then work and life gets in the way, so who knows. Fingers crossed I get to do it all.

Not gonna lie, I’m really tempted to tag everything related to this new comic book as Tuna Verse. But I shall resist. It’s interesting that we don’t start on what has been the setting to so many Buffy moments, the school. But we are immediately put on familiar ground when we see the 3 people that have always been at the center of this story, Buffy, Xander and Willow. 

And we go right into the action. There’s some witty on-liners, some of the usual humor Buffy had us used to. Which I love, it really helps set the tone. It’s a different Buffy, a different scooby gang, but the soul it’s the same.

I like how the vampire looks pretty menacing, I’m not sure if other vampires in the comic will look like this, but it certainly adds a realism, a sense of real danger to the vampire transformation.  

This initial introduction to Xander is making me like him a lot. That wasn’t usually the case in the past, bu to be fair male characters are usually never my favorite. A straight teenage boy was a big ask but his goofiness comes out really endearing in this first few panels.

This panel is simply stunning.

I guess the fact Buffy is now and skilled artist that can draw stuff like this will be really useful in the future for research purposes. No more trying to guess what kind of demon it was if Buffy can just draw a perfect portrait of them :P

Also, didn’t take a picture of that panel, but Anya!!!! OMG is just so exciting to see old faces appear again. She owns a magical store already? Is she still a vengeance demon? So many questions but also just so happy to see her be part of the story from the get go and see how she will be a part of the gang, or not, in general every time I see a character I get super exited. Like there’s Joyce! oh There’s the same old Giles!. I love it. 

Another subtle change, it’s that from what I remember in the show Buffy was still set on having a normal teenage life, being a popular girl at the new school, make friends, leave slayering behind if possible. Here she seems resigned to being trapped by this duty she didn’t ask for. Being alone.  She didn’t plan on making friends with this two goofs the first time either, circumstances made it happen. But here it’s way more intentional. Yes, it was also put in motion by vampires and slayering, but they wanted her as a friend, and she wanted them too. They sought each other out and made it happen. And maybe it just means that their friendship, their connection, their love is just inevitable. 

I love Drusilla! I love her so much, every inch of her insane vampire self. I’m thrilled to see she is the first big bad of this comic.

Overall, I find this first chapter pretty strong. It mostly introduces the setting and the characters we already know but showing us the subtle changes in them. Willow is already out and way more confident, Xander is still goofy but more lovable, Giles is still Giles and Buffy, she is still Buffy.  I liked the art in general too, and the end showing us Drusilla, letting us know danger is coming is a perfect way to make me want to keep reading. 

[picsofsannyas]

WHEN I SAY, "DROP THE EGO, DROP THE MIND,"

OSHO, I KNOW YOU WANT US ALL TO RID OURSELVES OF OUR EGOS AND MINDS, AND IN MY CASE, I KNOW THAT THIS IS VERY NECESSARY, BUT FOR THOSE OF US WHO WILL BE RETURNING TO THE WEST, WOULD NOT A TOTAL ABSENCE OF MIND OR EGO MAKE LIFE MUCH MORE DIFFICULT?

Prem Joyce

WHEN I SAY, "DROP THE EGO, DROP THE MIND," I don't mean that you cannot use the mind any more. In fact, when you don't cling to the mind you can use it in a far better, far more efficient way, because the energy that was involved in clinging becomes available. And when you are not continuously in the mind, twenty-four hours a day in the mind, the mind also gets a little time to rest. Do you know? -- even metals need rest, even metals get tired. So what to say about this subtle mechanism of the mind? It is the MOST subtle mechanism in the world. In such a small skull you are carrying such a complicated bio-computer that no computer made by man is yet capable of competing with it. The scientists say a single man's brain can contain all the libraries of the world and yet there will be space enough to contain more.

And you are continuously using it -- uselessly, unnecessarily! You have forgotten how to put it off. For seventy, eighty years it remains on, working, working, tired. That's why people lose intelligence: for the simple reason that they are so tired. If the mind can have a little rest, if you can leave the mind alone for a few hours every day, if once in a while you can give the mind a holiday, it will be rejuvenated; it will come out more intelligent, more efficient, more skilful.

So I am NOT saying that you are NOT to use your mind, but don't be USED by the mind. Right now the mind is the master and you are only a slave.

Meditation makes you a master and the mind becomes a slave. And remember: the mind as a master is dangerous because, after all, it is a machine; but the mind as a slave is tremendously significant, useful. A machine should function as a machine, not as a master. Our priorities are all upside-down -- your CONSCIOUSNESS should be the master.

So whenever you want to use it, in the East or in the West -- of course you will need it in the marketplace -- USE it! But when you don't need it, when you are resting at home by the side of your swimming-pool or in your garden, there is no need. Put it aside. Forget all about it! Then just be. And the same is the case with the ego. Don't be identified with it, that's all. Remember that you are part of the whole; you are not separate from it.

That does not mean that if somebody is stealing from your house you have simply to watch -- because you are just part of the whole and he is also part of the whole, so what is wrong? And somebody is taking money from your pocket, so there is no problem -- the other's hand is as much yours as his! I am not saying that.

Remember that you are part of the whole so that you can relax, merge; once in a while you can be utterly drowned in the whole. And that will give you a new lease of life. The inexhaustible sources of the whole will become available to you. You will come out of it refreshed; you will come out of it reborn, again as a child, full of joy, inquiry, adventure, ecstasy.

Don't get identified with the ego, although, as far as the world is concerned, you have to function as an ego -- that is only utilitarian! You have to use the word "I" -- use the word "I," but remember that it is only a word. It has a certain utility, and without it life will become impossible. If you stop using the word "I" completely, life will become impossible. We know names are only utilitarian, nobody is born with a name. But I am not saying to drop the name and throw your passport into the river. Then you will be in trouble! You NEED a name; that is a necessity because you live with so many people.

If you are alone in the world, then of course there is no need to carry a passport. If you are alone...for example, if the third world war happens and Joyce is left alone, then there will be no need to carry a passport; you can throw it anywhere. Then there will be no need to have any name. Even if you have one it will be useless -- nobody will ever call you. Then there will be no need to even use the word "I" because "I" needs a "thou"; without a "thou" the "I" is meaningless. It has meaning only in the context of others.

So don't misunderstand me. USE your ego, but use it just like you use your shoes and your umbrella and your clothes. When it is raining, use the umbrella, but don't go on carrying it unnecessarily. And don't go to bed with the umbrella, and don't be afraid that in a dream it may rain.... The umbrella has a utility, so use it when it is needed; but don't become so identified with the umbrella that you cannot put it aside. Use the shoes, use the clothes, use the name -- they arc all utilities, not realities.

In the world, when so many people are there, we need a few labels, a few symbols, just to demark, just to make sure who is who.

You ask me: I KNOW YOU WANT US ALL TO RID OURSELVES OF OUR EGOS AND MINDS....

I am not saying to "get rid"; I am simply saying to be master of your minds. I am not telling you to be mindless; I am only saying: don't just be minds -- you are far more. Be consciousnesses! Then the mind becomes a small thing. You can use it whenever needed, and whenever not needed you can put it off. I am using my mind when I am talking to you. The mind has to be used; there is no other way. But the moment I enter my room, then I don't go on using it -- there is no point. Then I am simply silent. With you I am using the language, the words, but when I am with myself there is no need for any language, for any words. When I am settled into myself and there is no question of communication, language disappears. Then there is a totally different kind of consciousness.

Right now my consciousness is flowing through the mind, using the mechanism of the mind to approach you. I can reach for you with my hand, but I am not the hand. And when I touch you with my hand, the hand is only a means; something else is touching you through the hand. The body has to be used, the mind has to be used, the ego, the language, and all kinds of things have to be used. And you are allowed to use them with only one condition: remain the master.

Osho.

Ah, This! Chapter #2 Chapter title: Neti Neti 4 January 1980 am in Buddha Hall

[paceunknown]

give me that revision 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

well okay ! and in case you’ve decided to read this yet don’t know what this ask is about i came up w an idea to sort of rectify what i felt was an issue left mostly unresolved in season three of stranger things—the core four’s friendship—and it bothered me so i thought about how i would redo some bits of the season. k? k!

so let me begin w making it painfully obvious i love the show; this isn’t me tearing it a new one for the sake of doing so. i’m critiquing and offering commentary because i want it to be better. and i’m in no way saying my idea is perfect or polished, i’m just someone w a lot of time and a decent propensity for written thought.

my main issue w the resolution of the friendship tribulations between mike, lucas, dustin, and will is that there never really is one. we get that brief moment just before the starcourt battle where they reunite and share a hug but that’s about all, and it doesn’t address will’s concerns w his friends moving on without him—hell, he and mike never talk about their argument again—which was the main source of contention behind the arc. and to some degree, i understand: will said it himself, there were more important matters to attend to, and stopping all the literally life-threatening action to sing kumbaya would not only be dumb in-universe but would be out of place narratively. but it also wasn’t like it was a macguffin or just a one-off, throwaway line we weren’t really supposed to care about past that specific moment (see nancy and johnathan’s argument about classism v misogyny, though i would’ve loved to see that expanded upon further), will feeling left behind by his friends ran deep, so deep that he destroyed castle byers over it. so i said to myself, if i could rearrange the season, maybe add and take away a few things here and there, what would i do? how would i resolve that story line?

so the main thing i latched onto was castle byers. lucas and mike discovered will in the middle of the night, frenzied and having literally taken a bat to the fort he built with his brother. and it’s never talked about again. lucas tries, yes, but will tells him not to worry about it, and that’s it. i dunno about you, but i’d certainly try to find a time to bring that back up, especially if my friend is moving away. so here’s where my rewrite begins !

first, the night of mike and will’s argument, mike doesn’t make that “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” comment (as much as it pains me to cut it) because he doesn’t know why will’s upset, and he doesn’t know why will’s upset because will isn’t saying “can we play d&d now?” every three seconds. i feel like a major issue this season had in its writing was being too transparent about everything—i mean, the audience literally knew russian agents were trying to open another gate the entire time, we were just watching the characters figure it out for themselves. so in this version, i rectify a little of that by having will show us he’s tired of his friends being girl-crazy through his actions, his body language, maybe a snide remark here and there. will is annoyed but he doesn’t wanna rain on everyone’s parade, so he keeps his comments to himself, and neither mike nor lucas pick up on it bc they’re so focused on el and max. so when will finally does blow up, mike genuinely doesn’t know why. this also gives some more breathing room to the arc, allows for more conversations to be had between the boys about their feelings, and also allows for will’s upset to continue to grow.

which brings me to point two: will doesn’t break castle byers that night. instead, they have their fight, will goes home, and when mike and lucas come to his house, he just sits in his room, resolutely not opening the door. only when he gets the goosebumps on his neck does he run after them to tell them what’s going on. this, again, allows for more breathing room, because we know will’s upset, but because there’s now the supernatural threat to focus on, all those pent-up emotions are just gonna continue to fester because neither of his friends actually get it, and he hasn’t had a genuine moment of catharsis yet. so idk how else to restructure the season bc things happen pretty quickly from then on, but within the next episode or two will breaks castle byers. hell, it can be that episode so long as it’s clear in the show that it’s not within the same 24 hours. i just think it’s important to show that the argument did nothing for will, he’s still #going #thru #it, so when we see him take a bat to castle byers it affects both us and him that much more deeply. and most most importantly, no one knows he did it.

we finally come to the finale, where everyone’s helping the byers fam pack (i’m also making the executive decision that it takes at LEAST three days and not just one like johnathan said, it’s unrealistic to pack a whole house in a day). it’s day two of three, and at some point will sneaks away to castle byers because he’s got enough emotional intelligence to know he regrets what he did and he does want a few of the things left in there. he picks through the wreckage and i imagine a really heartbreaking scene; where before he just had an outburst and broke everything, now he actually goes through things with affection, and you can tell it’s really hitting him that he’s moving. then we hear crunching, and the camera focuses on mike’s shocked and concerned face. (and this is where it’s gonna get real fan fic, but it’s the only way i can think to relay my ~vision~) (also none of this would have to be verbatim)

mike: um... [will doesn’t turn around] i know you told us to do what we wanted but there were a few things we didn’t-

will: just ask johnathan.

mike: we did. he said to find you

will, annoyed: i’ll be back in a minute, just, go help el or something

mike: ….did the storm do that?

will: what do you think, mike?

mike, walking closer: why would you do that? when did you do that?

will: just leave it-

mike: you built that. it’s been here forever. it was supposed to be here... after you were gone.

will: well maybe i don’t want any evidence that i was here.

mike, hurt: what?

will: just face it, mike. you’re different, lucas and dustin are different-

mike: that’s not true!

will, getting choked up: -and when i move tomorrow, you guys are probably gonna be going on, like, group dates with el via radio, or-or come up with some grand scheme to visit dustin’s girlfriend in utah! and it won’t matter that i’m not there!

mike: how could you say that? of course it’s going to matter. you’re part of the party, always and forever.

will: well the party didn’t seem to matter much to you this summer. not any of you. not unless it was life-threatening.

mike: will-

will: can you just leave me alone? i need to go through all of this to see what i can save

so mike hovers for a bit, not knowing what to say, before it’s clear will is done with the conversation and he trudges back to the house. we get a brief montage of will crying as he goes through the rubble, more to show the passage of time than anything else, some really sad synth music is probably playing. then we hear crunching in the leaves, and will assumes its mike and tells him to go, but we get a shot of mike kneeling down beside will, and we see in one hand he has a hammer and a box of nails, and a toolbox in the other, and after he holds the hammer and nails out to will, we get a shot of his face and we can tell he’s been crying, too. and will says, “i leave tomorrow”, to which mike simply replies, “it still matters”, and will takes the tools and the two boys get to work. not long after that do dustin and lucas come to the ruins, too, their own faces tear-stained, and without words they fall into rhythm with will and mike. all four boys’ final shared act together is literally and figuratively repairing their friendship.

eventually it starts getting dark and joyce comes out to get them, a teary smile on her own face, and the boys put on their finishing touches before painfully tearing themselves away, arms across each other’s shoulders and waists. will breaks away briefly, proclaiming that he forgot something, and we see him get the “all friends welcome” sign to (barely) stand up, and everyone smiles again before continuing their trek to the house.

now just think about having to watch that, you’re probably already crying, and then getting to the bit where el’s reading hopper’s note. WHEW. but honestly, this not only rectifies an arc that was basically left hanging, but it also provides great character moments, adds context and closure to castle byers, and gives us a fun scene of our main party members being kids one last time.

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

Tbh I think that no matter what show it is, killing off a significant character, a main character, is one of the worst thing a show can do. Even if it serves a "purpose" in the story. Plus no fan wants a main character killed and it usually leads them to stop watching, rather than give them a reason to continue watching, which is bad for the ratings... and we all knows that shows are depended on their fans/viewers and good ratings.

I completely agree. It’s a double edged sword when it comes to major character deaths, it really is. Because, on the one hand, it’s completely unrealistic for all of the characters to evade death right until the very end and people will only criticize a writer for only killing minor characters (look at TWD, everyone criticized the show for only killing minor characters and when they actually went all out and killed Glenn people complained even more), but on the other, killing a major character is nearly always detrimental to the story regardless of whether it serves a purpose or not. 

I think when it comes to novels it’s different and character deaths are more accepted as being part of the wider narrative, whilst in films character deaths are easier to accept because we only know the character for a maximum of 2 hours. But with shows we follow the same characters for countless episodes and seasons so fans form very strong connections to the characters. Often people don’t watch a show for the story or the plot, they watch because of the characters they love and as you said, if that character dies a lot of people will simply stop watching. It happened to me with Reign. I was never a particularly big fan of the show anyway, but as soon as Francis died the show died along with him for me and as much as I tried to force myself to continue watching, it just wasn’t the same show without him.

I think the key to handling major character deaths correctly and making it a success is timing. The reason Michael’s death on JTV was so poor is because it happened at an utterly ridiculous time and made no sense. Most major character deaths happen in the last two episodes, because that way the viewers have their favourite character until the very end and it’s easier to accept, because we’re not forced to sit through episodes and episodes without the character, because the show has ended anyway. Examples of this would be Jax (SOA), Walt (BrBa), Debra (Dexter), Spike (BTVS), Stefan (TVD) and Arthur (Merlin), all of whom died in the final episode of the show. 

The reason for this is that major character deaths executed before the end of the show are very risky business, because as you said, the chances of losing a large chunk of viewers and ratings dropping is likely. The Walking Dead is a perfect example of this. According to Wiki, 7x06 had 10.40m viewers tune in to watch. That number hasn’t been that low since 3x06 when it fell down to 9.21m. The loss of viewers in season 7 is clearly because of Glenn’s death which I know for a fact caused a huge amount of people to stop watching immediately and ironically, 3x06 was the episode right after Lori’s death so it can be assumed that her death stopped people from wanting to tune in (even though the general vibe from the fandom is that Lori wasn’t very loved, the ratings clearly suggest otherwise). 

Some major character deaths that were done well, in my opinion, would be: 

Opie and Tara (SOA) - both were not only tragic and very memorable, but pivotal in terms of Jax’s character development and in driving the plot forward in a completely new direction. 

Ned Stark (GOT) - as much as I still utterly resent his death and wish more than anything he could do a Jon Snow and get resurrected, there is no disputing that it was a turning point for the plot. It turned everything on it’s head, created new conflict for all of the characters and gave motivated them all in different ways. 

Joyce (BTVS) - tell me has anyone ever in the history of television wrote a better death arc than this? A shocking, unexpected death that reminds viewers death can happen at anytime to anyone and completely change your life. It changed Buffy forever and her world being ripped from beneath her feet forced her to become the woman that she needed to be. 

Rita (Dexter) - shocking, dramatic and tragic, yet carried with it an important moral message regarding Dexter’s extra curricular activities. Rita’s death similar to Tara’s death on SOA is what changed Dexter forever. Losing his wife awakened the humanity within him and made him realise he was capable of love and it made him a better, more loving and protective father. 

Lori (TWD) - as much as people may criticise TWD’s approach to death, I think they did a great job with Lori’s death. She died with purpose - saving her unborn child, I mean is there a more supreme purpose to die than that? - and it was both tragic and shocking. Again, it’s an event that changed the direction of the show and provided Rick and Carl with development. I think losing their mother and wife is what hardened Rick and Carl to the “new world” they were living in. 

There’s probably more, but I think I’ll leave it there. My point is, major character deaths can be done and they can actually be fantastic for the show, if they’re done correctly. I think the main thing a character death absolutely needs to do is change the other main characters and take the story in a completely new direction, which is something you’ll notice all of the deaths I listed above do. Those deaths were done well enough that even if they were your favourite character, you still tuned in the next week to see what direction the story would take without them and in a strange way you might’ve even been more excited to see just how different it would be without them. 

But I do still think that major character deaths are best avoided, to be honest. Particularly for characters that the writers know are well loved. What should be kept in mind is that often the viewers and fans pay more attention to a show than the writers themselves and if there’s a character that a large percentage of the fans love, there’s likely to be a very good reason for that. So to kill them is foolish because it means that the show is losing something that only that character brought to the show. I mean, Glenn, really? Is there anyone that didn’t adore Glenn? It’s the same with Michael on JTV. I know he wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he was definitely a well loved character on the show and I would argue probably the most loved male character (perhaps after Rogelio, because he’s just precious). Whilst in some ways I admire writers that are brave enough to kill of a well loved character, I also think they’re very ignorant and pretty darn stupid, since the show pretty much always suffers. 

The one thing I will say is that for those writers that are daring enough to risk killing off a major character or fan favourite, they need to make sure they do it with purpose. And not some half-assed pathetically irrelevant purpose (yes, I’m looking at you Plec and Williamson for killing my baby Steffy for no real reason) but a real purpose whereby the viewers can sit by and go, “Huh, as much as I loved that character and hate that he/she is gone, that was a pretty damn good way to go.” So, in other words, having a character die a brutal and disgusting death because some obnoxious, cruel, egotistical, narcissistic dickhead with a bat wanted to assert his dominance and superiority is not a good enough reason to kill a character off as well loved as Glenn, it’s just not. Similarly, having a character die a pointless and unfair death just to enable his wife to get back together with her ex boyfriend is not a good enough reason to kill a character as essential for a show as Michael. 

[tialovestelevision]

Passion

1. I don’t get Evil Angel as a narrator. Or, for that matter, Buffy sexy-dancing with Xander. Has all character development that doesn’t explicitly favor Xander from the previous episode been forgotten? Oh, wait, he’s the show’s white male audience avatar character; of course it has.

2. Now there’s the creepy, creepy Evil Angel this season deserves. In her bedroom! If I hadn’t just seen Xander try to magic-rape his then-ex girlfriend, I’d say Angel has now out-creepied Xander.

3. “Guest-starring Kristine Sutherland.” Ohgod.

4. And now he’s beaten Xander. Evil Angel draws a picture of sleeping Buffy and leaves it under her pillow. Well done, Angel… the guy who’s supposed to be the scariest person in the season has now exceeded the guy we’re not supposed to be scared of at all.

5. I love Giles mocking Xander’s intelligence. It’s one of life’s small pleasures.

6. Angel’s not going to kill Joyce. He’ll threaten her and torment her to make Buffy scared, but she’s an asset in the whole “destroy Buffy’s self-image and sense of safety” thing.

7. No, Jenny. I know Willow is a genius, but no. Classroom management is a skill. TEACHING is a skill. Willow cannot teach your class. She cannot exercise authority over other students. You are a decent human being, but you are a TERRIBLE teacher simply for thinking this is a good idea.

8. Angel is very, very good at the art of the threat. “I know where everyone you know and love lives, I am both willing and able to commit murder, and I want you to hurt as much as a person possibly can hurt.” Then he threatens to kill Joyce, while also spilling to her that Buffy slept with him. But he doesn’t actually make an effort at killing her, yet. That seems to me to reinforce Point 6.

9. Drusilla has a puppy. I don’t expect this will end well.

10. Why is Jenny doing her research on the school computer? I know she has a computer at home, and the natural protection of a home would have kept Angel from killing her. I really don’t understand her behavior in this episode. Is it just her holding the idiot ball to advance the story?

11. And the doors are locked in such a way that they can’t be opened from the inside. That’s a fire hazard, school administration! Of course, since Snyder is in on the masquerade, that might be on purpose... especially since the authorities, while in on the truth, are bad at things.

12. Willow is adorable in her attempt to not give Giles the info about Buffy sleeping with Angel. And in keeping Giles from talking to Joyce.

13. Now Joyce is talking to Buffy about sex. How is she going to bungle this? Let me count the ways. The expression on Buffy’s face says everything - she looks like someone who’s used to getting this.

14. “Don’t expect me to stop caring about you because that’s never going to happen.” You could sure do a better job of showing that, Joyce.

15. “I guess that was The Talk.” “I don’t know, it was my first.” Oh, Joyce. Joyce. It huuuuuurts us.

16. Jenny Calendar was fridged. Period. She wasn’t even fridged to push the narrative arc of the series’s main character - she was fridged to advance Giles’s story and give him feels. That’s not to say the story of such isn’t well-told; it is! Apart from Jeny’s holding of the idiot ball earlier, I mean, but that’s not out of the ordinary for television. It’s just... fridging is unpleasant. It’s a bad trope, and Jenny had too much potential as a character for it.

17. Buffy knows Giles. Meeting Ethan and the demon they summoned pretty much put the last piece into place, so she knows Giles is on his way to violence Angel quite thoroughly. And that Angel will kill him if he tries.

18. “Oh, man. Poor Giles.” Oh, man. Poor Jenny.

19. “Let’s not forget, I hated Angel long before you guys did.” Xander, shut the fuck up. Seriously.

20. “Nuh-uh. No fair going into the ring unless he tags you.” Ah, Spike, you really are the best.

21. Buffy is stronger than Angel. She’s been stronger, physically, than Angel this entire arc. His advantages over her have all been psychological... and he keeps coming right to the edge of overplaying his hand there.

22. Ah, Chekhov’s Floppy. Buffy, you never fail to remind me about the 90s in the most unexpected ways.

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

Thoughts on Bangel and BTVS in general?

Bangel: 

Bangel are perfection in my eyes and one of the best love stories written on television ever. They’re the Romeo and Juliet whose story is actually a million times better than the original story of Romeo and Juliet - star-crossed lovers that were never meant to have their happily ever after but that were genuinely soul mates and fiercely in love. 

I don’t think any relationship has evoked the emotion in me that Bangel’s has because it’s just so damn tragic. When it comes to love generally people view death of one half of the ship as being the most heartbreaking thing that can happen, but Buffy and Angel proved that that isn’t true. Meeting the love of your life and soul mate and never being able to be with them because of circumstance is actually in some ways much more tragic. Their love isn’t unrequited, they both love each other and want to spend their lives together but they just can’t because of who they are and the way the world is. And no matter how much they tried to deny that or work around it, in the end they realised that they had to simply accept it and try to move on. 

What I love about Buffy and Angel is that even though they accepted that they couldn’t be together, they never truly stopped loving each other or yearning to be together. They accepted that they would be a part of each other and their love would always exist in the same way they accepted they couldn’t be together. It’s a truly transcendent love, which is why whenever they saw each other they always immediately fell back into a natural rhythm of just being two people deeply in love. 

A big part of what makes me love Bangel is also the chemistry between Sarah Michelle and David Borneanaz. I don’t think I’ve ever seen chemistry like that between two actors before. When you’re watching them on screen it’s just the most believable and real thing. I think they connected in such a profound way and that really brought the Bangel relationship alive on-screen in a completely unique way to any other TV relationship. And Sarah in particular is such a talented actress that I could literally feel her heartbreak over losing Angel pouring through the screen and into me. The scenes in 2x14 and 3x20 where she cries over Angel actually make my chest feel weird. And don’t even get me started on the ending of ‘I Will Remember You’. The desperation, passion and heartbreak in that scene is too much to bear. 

BTVS:

When it comes to BTVS as a general show, I don’t necessarily feel as strongly about it as I do Bangel. The first time I tried to watch it I didn’t manage to get past the middle of season 1 and the only reason I got that far is because I forced myself. When I tried to watch it again, I did eventually get into it (but it took me a while to warm up to it) and then ended up watching 4-5 episodes everyday for weeks until I’d finished. 

I do like BTVS, but I don’t love it. It’s not a show I’d class as being one of my favourites or one I’d go back and re-watch (except for the Bangel scenes, because you know, it’s Bangel). The reason for that is that I’m not a huge fan of the main characters and I hugely disliked the progression of Spike and Buffy’s relationship in the later seasons. 

With the characters, I only liked Willow for the first few seasons but when she broke up with Oz and started dabbling in magic I took a dislike to her, I was never fond of Xander or Anya and found them annoying, Spike was okay sometimes but I was never comfortable with his relationship with Buffy and felt he overstayed his welcome, Tara was always so bland and boring, Cordelia was annoying and a character I never took to (although I feel like she had a lot of potential and I’d probably love her on ATS, which I still have yet to get around to watching) and although I appreciate Dawn now, when I watched the show she also annoyed the hell out of me. 

That leaves Giles, Buffy, Oz and Angel as being the only characters I actually like. And there were times when even Buffy annoyed me and Angel was bland and boring with all his brooding and what not. 

I’d definitley say that the earlier seasons were better mostly because all of my favourite characters were still around and I was much more invested in the plots and what happened to them. When Giles, Angel and Oz left the show I could feel their absence and my enjoyment of watching the show decreased slightly. I also massively missed Bangel being on my screen post-season 3 and was bored out of my brains having to watch her relationship with Riley (let’s be real here, watching paint dry would’ve been more exciting). 

When it comes to Spike and Buffy, I have to admit that when it came to the point where their relationship started to develop (season 6) it got very, very, very hard for me to watch. I’m very tough skinned when it comes to what I watch, I’ve been a huge fan of horror since I was a young teenager so have watched every gruesome, violent and twisted movie you could ever imagine and excluding ‘I Spit On Your Grave’, I don’t think anything has actually made me feel as damn uncomfortable as watching Buffy and Spike’s relationship (particularly when it comes to shows). Everything about it was just bloody awful and although I appreciate the writers for portraying Buffy’s relationship with Spike in season 6 as being largely tied to her depression, it didn’t make it any less difficult to watch and was kinda invalidated in season 7 when they chose to ignore that and basically romantisise them. Nothing about watching that unfold was enjoyable and as someone that was never overly fond of Spike’s character anyway, he had way, way, way too much focus in the later seasons, when in reality he was a villain that should’ve been killed in the early seasons. 

Putting characters and ships aside I respect and like BTVS for being a show that had a strong, multi-layered and well written female lead (who until this day still remains to be one of the best written female protagonists of any show I’ve ever seen) and for exploring real, complex and dark themes such as death, grief, depression, homosexuality (though not always in the best way, but this was the 90′s so you have to give them their dues), love, identity etc. Buffy’s battle with depression in season 6 was, from my perspective, one of the most realistic depictions of depression I’ve seen on TV and her grief following Joyce’s death was too and even Willow’s dark arc after losing Tara was a realistic view of what grief can do to a person (although I personally hated that plot). 

These are the elements of the show that stick in my mind and cement BTVS in my head as a great show. And of course, I have to take my hat off to Whedon for creating one of the best love stories on TV. 

send me some asks that are like “thoughts on ______”