#I don't think that means anything torpedoed their relationship

[dontmeanyoudontmissit]

.

[pluckyredhead]

Did I just read your Super Sons primer from 2020 at 3 am on a Monday morning because I'm having a real normal one? Maybe?! I'm wondering how you feel about how they and their relationship has developed since then. IMO it's... Pretty bleak. 😩

I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT IT. (Also here's the primer for anyone who missed it.)

So I will say that 95% of everything Jon has been in since he got aged up has been hot garbage, but I do think the exception is when Damian is around. But let's take it from the top!

First of all, I don't necessarily think they should de-age him again. Generally speaking I think it's better storytelling to focus on fixing things moving forward, rather than undoing things moving back. Sure, if DC came up with some big cosmic event that reset Jon to 11, I certainly wouldn't complain, but I'd rather see them, uh...do literally anything with Teen Jon that doesn't suck.

But yeah, aging Jon up to begin with still makes me livid because:

I want my baby to have had a childhood.

It's fully character assassination for Lois and Clark. They would NEVER let their 11-year-old go to outer space with a supervillain. Lois would NEVER just abandon him out there, and Clark would NEVER respond with "Well, I'm sure he's fine, wanna have marathon sex?" I honestly have no idea what Bendis or his editor were thinking.

They have not done a single interesting with him since!!!

Putting this behind a cut because it got LONG. Also spoilers for Beast World in there.

I've said this before, but I have to assume that Bendis wanted to age Jon up because he wanted to write a Legion book. But he also in his wisdom decided to bring Kon back into continuity at exactly the same time, which means we have two nearly identical Superboys that DC didn't and still doesn't know what to do with. Kon clearly couldn't have joined the LOSH because he already had a team, but you know what Super teen was available, and not 11, and who has a history with the Legion that goes back almost as long as Clark's? KARA. But I will save that rant for another day.

And honestly, Kara dodged a bullet, because that Legion book was unreadable. Bendis at his most Bendis-y wall of text interrupt-y conversations and no plot. If I give Tom Taylor any credit it's that the second he got his hands on Jon, he torpedoed Jon/Imra as a ship. GOOD.

And when the LOSH book finally went out with a whimper (that JLA/LOSH miniseries! what was that!!!), we entered the Taylor Era. Taylor's quirks are less stylistic and more narrative than Bendis's. You can spot Bendisian dialogue at twenty paces, but a Taylor comic tips its hand when it sets up a really interesting premise or a really high stakes threat and then immediately undercuts it with a little wet fart noise of nothing. To wit:

Jon's starting college! This will be an interesting challenge for him to readjust to normal life after six years in a torture-volcano and an indeterminate amount of time in the future, and also considering he never graduated from sixth grade. I wonder what will - oh no he dropped out after three pages. (He has done NOTHING in his civilian identity since, btw. I guess he's too busy hovering just behind Dick at all times to work on his GED or whatever.)

Jon is going to confront Ultraman! Finally the comics will have to engage with all the trauma he must have - oh no Ultraman's dead.

Jon is trapped in the Injustice Universe! This is a really dangerous universe that might make him question everything he knows about - oh he just lectured everyone and flounced off home.

Beast World is a perfect example. Taylor seems to think that having a hero effortlessly solve a problem makes them look badass, but it's actually the effort that makes them look badass. So like, we spent five months keeping the Kryptonians and other A-class heroes away from the spores because the spores are attracted to power and if a Super got spore'd everyone would be in big trouble...but then in the last issue, they just have Jon fly up to everyone with a spore in them, wait for the spore to jump at him, and catch it? That doesn't make the Titans look smart or Jon look tough. It makes all of them look like idiots because it it was that easy, why didn't they do that in the first place?

On top of that, Taylor doesn't ever really earn relationships. Jon and Jay is the obvious one. Jay has no personality. There's no chemistry between the two characters. Jon might as well be dating a cardboard cutout labeled "Proof of Queerness." (Or "Bernard." Ahem.) But we're supposed to be like, yes, give Tom Taylor a GLAAD award for using queer characters as props, when he's going to turn around and kiss Chuck Dixon's ass on social for being homophobic about Jon? UGH.

Honestly worse for me though is the Jon and Dick relationship. Because Taylor is writing both characters, we're supposed to believe that there's this close mentor-mentee bond there? I don't think they EVER interacted before the Taylor era. (And don't even look at me with that retconned-in scene of Dick finding lost baby Jon. You're telling me that Superman, with his X-ray and telescopic vision, needs to call Bruce and Dick for help finding his own son? Fuck off.)

Anyway it all combines to make basically every Jon appearance for the past three years profoundly unsatisfying. Even the stuff that isn't by Taylor never goes anywhere. Remember when he was jealous of the Super Twins for two panels? And then everyone forgot about it forever? SIGH.

HOWEVER.

However.

If there is one thing that Bendis and Taylor and every other writer got right, it's that Jon is crazy bonkers in love with Damian always and forever. Jon has been written like shit since 2019, but he has also not wavered in his devotion for even one single solitary second.

THE EVIDENCE:

This is the first thing Jon does when he gets back to Earth:

He then tells Damian he's contemplating not joining the Legion because he'll have to leave Damian behind. Damian tells him to go and then come get him if it's cool.

Turns out the Legion is cool. Jon comes and gets Damian. The Legion isn't happy about it and Jon threatens to leave if Damian can't stay, while gazing adoringly at Damian's unconscious body cradled in his arms:

Eventually LOSH is canceled and Jon comes home and starts following Damian around by listening for his heartbeat. LIKE PALS DO!

Then Damian gives him a pep talk!

Then there's this ABSOLUTE CUDDLE:

The way Damian nuzzles into Jon's shoulder! Can you even stand it!

And then there's this:

The climax of Son of Kal-El, btw, is one of the several times Jon is saved by Damian and confides in Damian and turns to Damian for comfort or advice...and Jay is just sort of standing there off to the side. I am fully aware I have ship goggles on but the degree of emotional investment Jon has in these relationships is not the same.

Then they had a special issue teamup:

Then we got Dark Crisis, and I actually love this interaction between them, because they are very different people with very different upbringings and this feels extremely in character to me for how they would both handle the loss of their fathers:

But even when they disagree, they still instantly support each other. Jon comes back with information? Damian makes a plan:

Also, we got the 2022 Pride issue where Jon, Jay, and Damian go to Pride together. I know that story is...contentious...but leave me here with Damian sulking while Jon and Jay kiss, okay?

Then we get Adventures of Superman, which is objectively awful, but Jon does spend his whole time in the Injustice universe thinking about Damian like the seagulls in Finding Nemo saying "Mine? Mine? Mine?"

This whole arc is truly hilarious. Jon finds out that Damian accidentally killed Dick and his response is to a) go find Batman and yell at him for not supporting Damian enough for accidentally killing Dick, and then b) go find Damian to be like "Wow, that must have been really hard for you (accidentally killing Dick)." There's being ride or die for your BFF, and then there's whatever the fuck Jon has going on.

(Meanwhile there's an incredibly uncomfortable scene with him and Injustice Jay where Jay "tests" him by trying to get Jon to cheat on regular Jay. So. That happens.)

And then just this past month we got Nightwing #110, where we learn that Jon is still listening to Damian's heart:

He completely freaks out watching Damian in danger, and immediately intervenes when it looks like Damian is about to kill someone because he knows what matters the most to Damian. Also, this happens:

YOU WIN THIS ONE, TAYLOR.

AND THEN THEY BICKER I LOVE IT WHEN THEY BICKER:

AND THEN DAMIAN LETS HIMSELF BE VULNERABLE BY ASKING JON IF HE HURT ANYONE WHILE HE WAS A KITTY, AND JON GIVES YET ANOTHER SPEECH ABOUT HOW DAMIAN HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING WRONG EVER, IN HIS LIFE, AND DAMIAN STAGGERS OFF, LEANING ON JON.

This isn't even getting into the Trinity backup stories in Wonder Woman, which, like...Tom King is not valid but Jon and Damian are such an old married couple in them? It's truly incredible?

It took me like 45 minutes to parse Jon's line here as the general 'you" and not specifically Jon saying Damian wasn't straight. But like..."That's for straight people, which has nothing to do with us" is a hell of a thing to say, Jonathan.

I ALSO haven't even talked about DCeased because it's a different universe, but! Jon sitting with Damian while he dies??? MY HEART.

IN CONCLUSION:

Yes, they should never have aged up Jon.

Yes, most of his appearances since have been terrible and bland.

But OH BOY, do he and Damian remain in love.

[howlingday]

So this may sound crazy, but do you think that Lancaster and BMBLB are parallel/foils to each other?

When I look at Lancaster, both Ruby and Jaune have a lot of character depth that romance was not their top priority or part of their character dynamic. He even treated her as a person and not a kid. And that over time, they naturally develop with one another that it doesn't seem forced, and they have a better understanding of each other, that they know what the other is thinking.

For Yang and Blake (I'm not going into full detail and rant as to why those two shouldn't be together), it seems more shallow. These two didn't have great chemistry for each other. Even after the end of vol 1, Yang (in my opinion) treated Blake more like a cat than a person. This could be evident in vol 5, Yang has been Blake's partner, yet she didn't know why Blake ran away until "Weiss" had to explain it. It wasn't til vol 6 that their characters devolved to being romantic interest to one another. And besides the trauma and RWBY, they have nothing in common or share any interest

What's your opinion?

Part of me wants to argue the "romance" bit simply for the fact that Ruby's favorite genre of reading material is romance, but I do see what you mean. Jaune and Ruby were definitely more focused on their own self-improvement, albeit for very different reasons, while attending Beacon. Ruby wanted to be a huntress like the stories she'd read about and like her mom. Jaune wanted to prove himself as a huntsman just like his father and grandfather and their fathers and grandfathers. And yes, every time Jaune and Ruby talk to each other, it's as equals, though Jaune will admit that Ruby is better than him in every way. If Lancaster were endgame, it would be a fantastic showing of true friendship blossoming into something more. Although it's more likely Rosegarden will be Ruby's endgame

I will also spare the rant since it's already been said to death about the significance of Blake and Yang being the endgame ship for their characters. Instead, I'll talk about BMBLB as a ship that was "set up" to be endgame. While I firmly believe that until Volume 5 and 6 that Black Sun would be endgame, I could honestly see them working out pre-Volume 3. Their heart-to-heart in the classroom after Blake was practically killing herself to find a lead on the White Fang was a very touching moment that showed me that Yang really does care about Blake not only as a partner and team-member, but as a friend.

"I'm not asking you to stop. I just want you to take a break."

This is such a beautiful scene and perfectly demonstrates their friendship. In fact, it's, in my opinion, THE BEST BMBLB SCENE EVER! Yes, yes, the forehead touch was very cute, but it felt so out of place for characters who "aren't sure about their relationship". Sure, the "I won't run away again, I promise!" scene is very touching, but it's soured by the fact that they just committed murder and don't acknowledge that fact at all, and it stands better as an acknowledgement of Blake staying with her partner and best friend, Yang. And teaching Blake to dance was a cringey moment that, sure, it could have been a BMBLB moment if we were shown MORE THAN JUST THAT! WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE US AN EPISODE TO EXPLAIN ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT?!

Ahem! Excuse me.

tl;dr: Lancaster would have been a great ship if it weren't being torpedoed by Rosegarden, and BMBLB might have made more sense if more effort was put into it in the first place.

[jjsanguine]

Don't try to emotionally manipulate with music me Last Twilight, I know what's up. How the hell did we get here??

The ending seems almost completely detached from everything that was happening till episode 11. Till the breakup if I want to be generous. Here's some disorganised thoughts.

Why was the timeskip so long?? 3 years of not speaking to each other is not chicken change. Speaking of, why didn't they speak to each other? This isn't legend of Korra, they have Line. We hear all about what Day was up to but there's one shot of Mhok working in a kitchen and otherwise not kpim. Why. Mhok took than job to build his career and I feel like leaving with no notice no nothing probably torpedoed his reputation. Was that job important or nah?

I don't care about Day + Nights dad. If we were going to bring a side character back for 2 seconds at the wedding it should have been Gee because apart from Aon she's Day's closest friend. Or was before she just vanished off the face of the earth as much as August who literally isn't in the country.

I would have liked to see any of Night + Phojai's relationship onscreen. There wasn't enough going on in this episode (even thought it was bare long :/) to not touch on *anything* that happened between phoomjai being born and them getting married. How did Ramon react? I don't think Khun "I can excuse classism" would be chill.

Why the ever living FUCK did Day fully regain his vision. I would have been down if some serious side effect like night blindness or astigmatism or the many problems resulting from having to take anti rejection medication and becoming immunocompromised was brought up but nope. Day struggled a bit for a few years and and got his eyes switched back on easy peasy.

Day being sighted again makes how Ramon was like "I'll stop being abusive (regardless of if or to what extent she meant well) once you stop being disabled" something that will never be grappled with. I doubted they were gonna after episode 11 but still, it was nicer than being certain.

Day broke up with Mhok because he thought Mhok pitied him for being blind. Mhok (and also Mhok's backstory) said it was because of Rung, and I thought this was going to be a segue into Day realising that it wasn't all self confidence and roses chez Mhok but apparently I was completely wrong

Day didn't have to really deep that Mhok has stuff going on because Mhok ACTUALLY has nothing going on. It was just pity. Somehow.

I do not understand why this point causes all the problems in episode 11 and was not mentioned at all in the finale. I don't understand why the solution to this supposed pity was to make day sighted again instead of addressing that.

The thought process send to have been that if Mhok doesn't trust anyone to care for Day and Day doesn't think he needs caring for, by restoring Day's vision they can both be right. It's like when gender screwy dramas sidestep the male lead thinking too hard about his orientation after taking for who he thinks it's a guy by being like, he somehow sensed that it was a girl all along and crucially before he kissed them. Nah. NAH FAM. I didn't forget.

Day + Mhok going back up that mountain at their sighted leisure makes hollow the struggle to reach the top first time round. The view wasn't as nice because it was rainbow bereft just like any of Mhok's actions in this episode (Rung's name means rainbow in English). It's like their relationship in a nutshell. Rung and the ripple effects her death have on Mhok's decision making have no place, no acknowledgement, no nothing.

If I rewatch this Mhok + Days story is going to end on the mountain, first time round, because everything after that was setting up the character assassination arc.

[ohblackdiamond]

For the wip game, please

Life and life only - what was the appeal of Victoria Medlin as a pivotal character and love interest over, say, one of Paul's better known past dalliances?

And in similar vein, what attracted you to the idea of writing Paul as a merman?

Thank you!

aw, thanks so much for the questions!

i picked victoria because she is one of the few women paul dated that he doesn't talk about at all in his book. i've only even read one interview from the nineties where he was even asked about her (his only response in the interview is "she killed herself," and then the interviewer changes the subject)-- it's not impossible there are more out there, but that's the only one i could find.

i find the omission interesting because, well, paul doesn't omit very many people from his autobiography and he has a tendency to drag almost everyone he does mention in there (even bruce the mensch managed to get complained about! paul said he farted a lot!). so my feeling is victoria was excluded for a reason-- either she was too painful for him to discuss or he thought talking about her was a little too exposing, or both. let me preface by saying paul has zero obligation to write/talk about any former lovers. however, i don't buy it being a case of her being overall insignificant to his love life-- otherwise, why dedicate his solo album to her (and j.b. fields') memory-- and why the dedication with no last name?

also, she just had that strange, sad aspect to her eyes in the youtube clips of her commercials and her few movie appearances. i liked her.

as far as the second question, what made me attracted to the idea of writing paul as a merman was it allowed me to explore aspects of paul's life that very rarely get written about. through the lens/conceit of being a mer, i was able to go in in a more frank way regarding his microtia and his isolation (i think social isolation as a child isn't something that people tend to focus on that goes a long way to explaining why paul stanley is the way he is) and relationship with julia.

i think i actually started writing the story when the rachael and julia allegations were starting up, and i remember thinking to myself, basically, that his relationship with julia was and always had been dysfunctional, but not in that particular, horrible way that was being claimed. obviously in my story it's very, very heavily fictionalized, but i wanted to look at the resentment julia might feel over having a brother with microtia and feeling that he was petted/spoiled/was hampering her at least in part because of it.

also, i just like mermaids in general and always have. it doesn't mean much (it doesn't mean anything), but paul and ace both wrote water-themed songs ("hard luck woman," "torpedo girl"), and both had weird near-drowning incidents in the seventies. ace has trouble walking, due to poor coordination, being kind of pigeon-toed, and, at the time, inebriation, but wouldn't it be more interesting if it was because he was actually a merman? and yeah, at this point, paul's stiff walk is probably because of his knee replacements, but wouldn't we rather it be from him being a merman, too?

the original fic was supposed to be an ace/gene/paul love triangle of sorts (not quite) where ace and paul were both mers, but paul had already landlocked and ace was about to. that might have been a more popular fic given it was slash all the way instead of het, but, well, i wanted to write one with victoria instead, haha.

thanks for the questions! really made me think!

[itspileofgoodthings]

maria i don't watch ted lasso but i need you to tell me everything it's doing wrong, i trust you

Chelsea!!! You sent this so long ago and I’ve just been mulling it over in my head ever since. First of all, thank you for your trust, I am honored lol.

But also, I probably don’t have a great answer as I am out of practice speaking coherently on something’s issues! But I’ll try.

I mean, I think it gets a lot wrong. if I had to break it down! I think there’s two main things wrong. The first one is that there’s a core of rot behind its core principles. And that always leeches through eventually in a tv show, and in this one I think the specific way it does that is its refusal to question any of its moral principles or even just engage with them honestly. And this makes for really boring television. In a certain sense, you always know exactly where a storyline is going to go or the thesis statement that a set-up is going to land on before it goes there. It never surprises you. Too many examples to name but one of their basic moral principles is that a one-night stand/casual sex is not only fine but good and healthy. So every time that happens on the show you know that the characters are going to be praised/reassured for it and/or if any complications do arise it’s made VERY clear that it’s not the casual sex’s fault. And it’s not like I’m going to agree with most shows about this (it’s so evil!!!!!! It destroys people!!!!!!! It is damaging and devastating the romantic landscape!!!!!!!!!!!!!) but there are ways of engaging with it as a storyline that are so much more honest than anything Ted Lasso will ever dare to do. (Friday night lights, which is the show’s antithesis in every way, frequently has casual sex and without preaching and probably even without meaning to honestly traces the consequences of it in exciting and real ways.) and basically that’s the problem with the show over and over. It professes to want to say something profound about morals and culture and life but you know beforehand exactly what you will see and learn. You can see the moral “punchline” so to speak coming from the second they open their mouths. And there are better and worse ways that that can play out. The show’s belief that taking care of your mental health/talking about it and the importance of men specifically sharing their emotions is a) valid and b) can play out in some cute and funny ways. But even then the show is still not going to surprise you. Ted will call up the diamond dogs, they’ll talk about what’s wrong, there will be some quips and they’ll end on one of them saying some therapist-speak (mostly) truth and everything will be resolved. So even when I enjoy it (and I do! I like pretty much all of the mental health conversations) it is never as brave as it thinks it’s being.

The second thing is that the show just hates romance! Or, the problem is that the show is so committed to surprising its audience (derogatory) when it comes to the romantic relationships that it will torpedo perfectly good ones and give you no resolution or closure. And tv couples are NOT the place to put your “surprises.” Like. They broke up Roy and Keeley. Which. Why? Put it back! This is so dumb! And they’re clearly not going to let Ted and Rebecca get together because they want to avoid doing that. Which is okay! But it’s like—then give us something else instead. Give us some kind of resolution/satisfaction. Just? It’s so tired and again not nearly as exciting or unpredictable as it thinks it is. They’re not actually interested in the romances themselves, just what they can say about them to the audience. Which seems to just be a vague lecturing about wanting the leads to get together romantically. It’s annoying!

There are some things I like. A lot actually! I love the cast pretty much entirely. Jaimie is so fun and funny. The team dynamics are so fun and sweet. Rebecca is wonderful. (The show’s best storyline was the first season—her trying to sabotage her husband’s team and then realizing she’s sort of accidentally found a family instead.) And there are some good friendship dynamics—particularly Rebecca and Keeley and Roy and Jaimie (sp?). But even those dynamics are held back by the show’s repetitive storytelling. They will never have a conversation (specifically the girls) where they’re not saying some girlboss mantra you could read on Twitter. But anyway back to the positives. It can be funny and have some great one-liners. I love Ted’s similes and references and metaphors. The team is great and they’re fun to watch. I actually really like how they handle the sports side of it and the balance of wins and losses and how that isn’t really the point. (They should focus on it more.) And Ted and Dr. Sharon are a really wonderful pairing where a lot is unpacked. But they drop it and don’t take it as far as they could. So the whole affect is just meandering? Even when it’s fun.

TLDR: I think it’s more surface-level than it thinks it is (something I hate) and it hates romance and clear storytelling and will mess with both for no clear discernible reason. It also has an agenda. Which, good or bad, is not a substitute for complexity and honesty and they often try to use it as one!

[nonbinary-jakeseresin]

Hey! For the song/pairing post: This Tornado Loves You by Neko Case for Hangster? :)

first of all.... don't kill me for the angst you chose this song :3

Bradley doesn't know how to show it but he loves Jake Seresin. He loves him something fierce - with a love that's so loud and all consuming. But he can't show it. Even when Jake's standing in front of him asking him if he cares, asking if there's anything still worth holding on to …. He can't. Because what Bradley always has been was nothing but an angry child forced to grow up too soon. There's always been anger and fury inside him where there should have been something else softer. It keeps swirling all over, he's tried to tame it but like a tornado, the rage doesn't dissipate easily. And it wrecks everything in his path when it finally comes pouring out. It's what happened with Mav, Ice and even Nat. Words of pure hatred and cruelty will spill out and burn everything between them. Burned bridges and torpedoed relationships until Bradley's left with nothing but the ruins. It's always quick to overwhelm him, like the speed of sound. He doesn't mean to be angry. He wants to love openly and freely but he doesn't know how. He's never learned how to heal with words - only hurt. And when Jake, the man he loves, stands in front of him begging Bradley to meet him halfway, no words leave Bradley's mouth. "I've been so patient Bradley but I can't do this." Bradley loves him. He misses him when he's not around. Bradley wants Jake. So much. But the silence speaks otherwise.

I know people probably would se ethe song and think Jake is the tornado and I did too tbh at first but I've already done fics /, have wips where I compare Jake to a storm and the rain etc. So I didn't wanna be doing the same thing again and when I actually listened to the song and lyrics - the imager is so destructive and violent and I thought of Bradley's anger and cruel words and it just... Happened like this hehe. Hope u liked it tho

[jamespotterthefirst]

I've just read your au where Ethan sleeps with Lilac in Miami and they agree that she will transfer to a new supervisor so they can be together. It was so good but I have some questions: do they make it as a couple? Does Lilac get onto the DT like in canon? Does it torpedo their relationship? Does Ethan run off like in canon?

I didn't think this far into it. Let me think out loud here.

In La La Land where everything if great aka Bree's Version:

The next morning, Ethan goes back to not being entirely convinced it could work. (I know, I could kill him)

Ethan believes Lilac is going to win this fellowship and end up on his team. There's no way around eventually being her boss.

So no, they are not going to HR just yet

Everything goes to shit even more, however, when Ethan realizes Naveen has a few weeks left.

Ethan still runs away. Lilac is dealing with Mrs. Martinez's death

It's heartbreaking and Lilac assumes Ethan gave up on her as his intern but also as... whatever she is to him romantically

She gets in his face about this in chapter 15

Their fight is even more passionate because there is more betrayal and hurt

She tells him in so many words how she feels used. And now he's running away

And Ethan snaps

"You think I don't care about you? You're the only thing I care about! I—”

He's so close to telling her he loves her.

Because he does.

He knows that with more certainty than he knows anything.

30 💎 scene

“After Naveen, you're the only one I will have left that matters to me.”

(If I was writing this as a fic I'd work on the dialogue. I'd probably spend like two days thinking on it lol)

Since Ethan is technically not employed with Edenbrook, they decide to enjoy the precious time they have together.

They don't know what will happen in the future.

One day at a time.

Eventually, though, Ethan agrees to come back to Edenbrook.

They spend that last night together

Lilac knows it has to be the end of them.

The prospect of going back to Edenbrook means too much to Ethan. He already looks like himself again. She could never sacrifice that. Even if it means giving him up.

She finally understands his predicament firsthand.

So she lets him go.

That's what you do with someone you love.

Ethan still goes to the Amazon instead of therapy. It's too painful to be around each other. He needs the space to properly let her go. When he comes back, he still wants the reset.

Things go down the same as in canon, until the attack.

After they save Lilac and she hugs him, he pulls back long enough to tell her.

“I love you.”

More tears roll down her cheeks. Lilac only pauses to savor the words, to hold them close to her chest.

“I love you, Ethan.”

And that's enough for both of them to seek healing (therapy)— to be stronger, individually and together. Any issues they may face have a solution. Every single one of them except death. Being so close to it, they're determined to make it work.

[arpov-blog-blog]

It's a wonderful thing when legal talking heads speculate with stupid opinions. I think Jack Smith brought this case to Florida knowing that Alieen Cannon was a potential judge. They also know that if she tanks this case, they also will have a more serious case involving 'Sedious Conspiracy' that they can bring in DC. In other words, Cannon can torpedo the rest of her reputation, knowing that before the summer is over Trump may be served with four more indictments, two in state courts, and two additional Federal cases.

So in the total scheme of things Judge Cannon could clear the Mar-a-lago espionage and obstruction charges but in short order, before her trial begins he will be facing four more with far more ethical judges. She could possibly place herself in legal jeopardy and Trump still gets convicted in four other cases...."Reflecting on Cannon's ruling to appoint an independent arbiter (called a "special master") and other decisions she made handling the government's investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents, Barro mentioned to White on the podcast that Cannon has shown a "willingness to behave in a way that most judges likely would not, even if they were partisan Republicans."

"Sure," White replied. "She's willing to violate the Meat Loaf Rule: I'll do anything for love. But I won't do that."

White says that there are usually a "number of factors" that smooth even partisan judges out and move them "into the middle."

He listed a few: "Their relationship with other colleagues, their reputation, their hopes to be elevated to a higher bench, their place in history, you know, cocktail parties, opinion of lawyers, all that sort of thing. "

"But sometimes," White said, "Judges just don't give a shit and Judge Cannon's behavior in this case in the past was several very long strides in this direction of don't give a shit."

White suspects Cannon may be imagining what she might be able to get out of a second Trump presidency.

"You have a situation where it is not even remotely difficult to imagine: Her acquitting Trump, Trump getting elected, Trump elevating her to the 11th Circuit or the Supreme Court. He would totally do it. His fans would be completely fine with it. And it would be just a giant middle finger to the country. And I mean, he would do it."

So how, exactly, could Cannon protect Trump and end this case against him in a moment?

"She can delay things forever by making rulings that can't be appealed. She can make rulings that while they don't tank the case, make it very difficult, like excluding evidence by saying evidence was wrongfully gathered," White said. "And that can be something that has a very unfavorable standard on appeal."

"So, for instance, if she started to rule all these statements Trump made, 'that's too prejudicial. It's unfair. I'm keeping it out.' If that goes up on appeal, that's an abuse of discretion standard. And normally, you can't appeal it before the case."

And Cannon could go even further than that, White said.

"Most drastically, she can do things that can't be repaired. Once a jury is impaneled, she can dismiss the case. And there's not a goddamn thing anyone can do about it. Double Jeopardy attaches; you're done. She can grant a motion for directed verdict of acquittal after the government's case. And then we're done. You can't be retried, can't be reviewed. It's over."

White's analysis on the Serious Trouble podcast left his cohost, Josh Barro a little stunned.

Barro asked White: "Is it possible that the Department of Justice is walking us into a situation that not only could fail to obtain convictions here, but they could end up setting off a chain of events that's quite damaging to the federal judiciary?"

"Absolutely," White said.

He went on.

"People are saying that by charging Trump you're riling up his base. You're making it more likely he's going to get elected. And then he's going to have a more conservative judiciary, insulate himself more, pardon himself, all this type of stuff. And it's all true. All that is perfectly possible."

"But if you're the Justice Department, you can't think that way. Okay, you simply can't think that we now have to retreat from rule of law because it's too politically costly."

[ineffably-human]

So slight buzzkilling PSA: I am very sure Nandor/Guillermo is where we're gonna end up, in text, whether it's next season or a few down the line or whatever. For a million different reasons. BUT.

I keep seeing people take what fanart Harvey posts to Instagram, and what he and Kayvan say in interviews, as part of the evidence that this is gonna happen. And I just want to say: if for some reason we don't get things how we want them, or they take a few swerves to get there (as slow burn TV romances often do), please don't accuse either of them of baiting us or lying to us or whatever.

Kayvan's giving his own speculation as an actor understanding his character - and he's been wrong before, prior to s3 shooting he was giving that 'addicted to Guillermo' speech while saying the relationship wasn't sexual, and kind of implying Nandor was ace or at least not currently interested in sex? Gail torpedoed that one.

And what Harvey is doing, especially, is fan engagement. It's probably something he likes doing, but it's also part of his job, like he literally made it a part of his job with that pre/post show. He clearly understands how online fandom works and is leaning into it, and in the process he's not sharing spoilers or even his own preferences, he's sharing what we're putting out there as fans.

And like, that's a good thing too. It means he knows what the fandom is interested in seeing (the freaking New York Times profile they did pre-s3 mentioned Nandermo which is nuts). It raises his profile both for the show and in general which is great because no one is immune to Guillermo and Harvey himself is a delight. (It is his job to be a delight, I have no clue who he is in private life, but he does that job very well.)

And I love seeing that he goes on so many queer podcasts and talks about the show's inherent queerness and Guillermo's sexuality, both relating to and independent of Nandor, because that means he is marketing both the show and himself for a queer audience - not just a fannish queer audience but a mainstream one as well, which is huge.

But he and Kayvan are not writing the show or controlling what happens on it, the writers are. And they also don't know anything until the script is in their hands. So if anything in season 4 disappoints or worries us - think about every 'unstable A couple' sitcom romance and how long it takes to either get them together or get them past every bump in their relationship - don't act like we were promised something (we definitely haven't been) and don't act like the actors had a role in it.

Now returning to our regularly scheduled feels trip.

[spockandawe]

don't worry about it if you're getting tired of these character asks, but what you said about Pharma in the last few was so tasty i'd love to see you do one for him as well

YEAHHHH MY FAVORITE DUMPSTER SON!!

LET’S DO THIS!

First impression: I thought he was interestingly slimy, but I assumed he was gone after Delphi, so I didn’t really bother to think too much about him. And then of course he came back with Tyrest, and WOW was there a lot to take in there, I was a bit overwhelmed my first time through XD

Impression now: Holy shit. What a complicated, tragic asshole. I love everything about him. He’s brilliant, he’s vain, he’s a total jackass. He was put in an unsustainable, insanely stressful situation on a dead-end planet, and he made a terrible judgment call on how to get out of it, but I can totally see how it happened. When Prowl’s at his lowest points, he gets so brittle, but also escalates his everything to something almost manic. And Pharma definitely does the same thing, especially on luna-1. It’s so hard to watch, because he’s the one escalating any given situation, but he’s also clearly in a bad place and more fragile than he should be, and unless he backs down there’s no way this will end well... and he has no intention of backing down. I just want time to rewind for Pharma so he could get a do-over, or that someone gets him in a place he can chill out long enough to re-center himself and calm down. I’m so weak against characters who are cold assholes, but also carry a lot of intense, vulnerable feelings at the same time. Pharma’s less obvious about that than Prowl is, but it’s still there.

Favorite moment: A shout-out to Pharma failing to get through the Aequitas-tech force field and everything that means about his self-image, but you know what this is going to be. ‘My beloved Ratchet’. How could it be anything else? My beloved Ratchet!!! His backstory already hurt me, and there was totally subtext there to read that into his character, but god. There wasn’t any better way to punch me in the feelings right there. It breaks my goddamn heart, because everything is so ruined, Pharma isn’t even necessarily alive in any conventional sense of the word anymore, and there’s an ancient prime piloting his body, but still. ‘My beloved Ratchet’. 

Idea for a story: Okay. I’m not going to go into full detail. But I’m ALL about post-LL aus where actually pharma is alive and on board the ship and being reluctantly rehabilitated, and doing doctory things in a setting entirely free from djd adventures. And he and Ratchet... are not going to get along. He and First Aid will get along even less So......... Pharma mentors Velocity, y/y? That’s tasty enough, but then. I realized. There’s two other medics-ish lurking around. I don’t think Nickel is going to be very interested in participating in this autobot medbay, she needs a break. But. Spinister. Spinister. He’s like ‘oh hey, I’m a doctor, I want to play.’ And Pharma and Ratchet are both like ‘NO!’ But Ratchet is ultimately in charge and manages to shunt Spinister off into Pharma’s shift and Pharma is forced to deal with LL-typical silliness right in his face, while he’s just sitting here trying to do his job.

Favorite relationship: RATCHET. No contest. No contest. All that history between them, it hurts so exquisitely. Ratchet’s opinion mattered to him so much when he was trying to ask for advice about the Delphi post, Ratchet was willing to just make him CMO even though they haven’t even talked for years, they’re so... aware of each other, if that makes sense. They’re almost always in conflict once Delphi gets rolling, but they understand each other so well. It’s so tragic seeing everything that plays out. They know each other that well, but once things start to go to hell, they go to hell so hard. And even then, at the end of all that, it’s still ‘my beloved ratchet’. And even after everything Pharma’s done to him and his friends, Ratchet still seeks comfort from Drift after he dies. It’s all pain, all the way down. They’re cut from the same cloth. Even when they’re trying to hurt each other, they both go to ‘you know what? you’re a shitty doctor!’ Pharma has some interesting dynamics with other people, and I can see other potential interesting dynamics with characters like Velocity and Megatron, but this... it has to be Ratchet.

Favorite headcanon: Via Drift and some other stuff, we get to see Ratchet being caustic, and his profile thing is all ‘compassionate, but not as compassionate as he used to be’. We see that Ratchet can hurt people with his attitude, and doesn’t always even notice. The flashback glimpse we get of Pharma and Ratchet is Pharma trying to ask his advice about taking the position on Delphi, and Ratchet just... bails in the middle of the conversation. He doesn’t finish listening to Pharma’s question or give him an answer. He just bails. And then we’ve got ‘my beloved Ratchet’. It sets the stage so beautifully for a past where Pharma cared a lot, and Ratchet wasn’t meeting him in the middle, emotionally, and it hurt. I think that really ate at him, and not just that, but then later when he’s made his terrible call on the rust plague and Ratchet shows up and doesn’t consider what DJD blackmail means and is just like ‘ffs, asshole’, I think that old pain floods back and really contributes to the further terrible decisions he makes. It’s just like ‘fuck it! everything i ever cared about is fucked, who gives a shit anymore.’ And then we have him doing ‘lengthways’ and making fun of First Aid’s reaction to Ambulon’s death. It’s not just who Pharma is naturally, it’s a lot of contributing factors plus Pharma actively trying to torpedo the last shreds of his life and provoke First Aid into killing him.