#Like. Let's look at 4x02 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bronx-bomber87 · 8 months

Text

Happy Wednesday all :) Ahhhh the intro of Metro Tim. This man does thing to me just on patrol and on street clothes. But Metro Tim? it’s a different beast. I wanna say sorry for how feral he’ll make me in this one. But I won’t be sorry really lmao Also a fantastic Lucy/Tamara Ep. So let us start :)

5x14 Death Sentence

We start off with Tim pouring himself some coffee at Lucy’s. There’s so much to love already about this. He’s spent the night, Not only that but enough to know where the coffee is and how to make it, he’s made extra for her and they’re sharing a thermos. It’s the same thermos she brings to work we've seen. It's that same one she has in 4x02. It's a small call back and I adore it it's so much. I love continuity so I’m dying of happiness ha.

The married vibes in this scene make me squee. Lucy hasn't even entered the scene yet and it's already married af. I remember being so excited they'd reached the domestic phase. I love me some hot and heavy newlywed stuff. Don't get me wrong. But something so satisfying to see them move forward towards this stage. Literally so giddy over him making her coffee. That's a good man right there. Thinking of her when she wakes up.

As we know pranking is one of their love languages. Lucy has hidden booties in the cabinet for him. Looks like the same ones she used in 4x02 haha Another call back/parallel. Loving the call backs in this season. It's fantastic. They make the continuity geek in me very happy as I mentioned earlier. He is a boot for Metro and she has to note this. Unreal we're at this place. Getting cute domestic morning scenes. My heart.

Lucy is so bummed she didn’t get a photo of his reaction. We all know how much she loves getting shots of him. No doubt she has a folder on her phone of just pics of this man. I love her morning attire btw. I adore this woman's fashion sense. Tim tells her 'It’s cute.' With all the heart eyes he can. He can actually smile and appreciate it front of her this time. Unlike in 4x02 where he held it back. Gah it’s so cute I cannot. He is at the point where he is so very smitten with her teasing. He has been for awhile but he doesn't have to pretend he doesn't love it now.

Lucy asks why he’s up so early? Tim explaining he’s the new guy. Has to load up all the gear and ammo. Lucy so giddy and cute calling him a newbie. Beaming brightly at him. I love the cute way she says ‘The Boot.’ Her whole body being adorable af as she says this. Tim isn’t even agitated by this in the least.

Just affectionately tells her he’s still a Sergeant. This man is so so soft for her. Just look at him above. He is so damn smitten with her. They're both gaga for each other. Makes me so damn giddy. Just look at these two. Domestic and heart eyes for damn days. Lucy ever the proud wife as she teases him.

The look on Lucy’s face when she says he’s still a boot in her book. That woman is so very in love with the man standing before her. Makes me so happy I can’t even stand it. Giving me all the shippy butterflies as I watch them. Just as gone for him and he is for her. Looking up at him with so much adoration. Said this expression a few times in regards to Tim. But she looks at Tim like he hung the moon and stars. I love how much she loves him. Their almost morning kiss is interrupted by their pseudo daughter walking in the door. I do love her wanting to giving him a morning smooch.

Tim makes a joke saying must’ve been at one heck of a party if she’s just getting home now. Tim and Lucy looking like concerned parents. Tamara jokes with Tim cause that’s their thing. Saying ‘Yeah rager...' Asking if she interrupted something? Tim says no he was heading out can’t be late on his first day. The married vibes reach an all time high as Tim is leaving.

Lucy being wifey af telling him he’s gonna knock 'em dead. Building her man up before he leaves for the day. *heart damn clutch* She just pumped his tires right before he leaves. Look how happy he looks from her words of encouragement. He could power the room with his smile. He looks so damn happy leaving her place. I love him smiling at Tamara too before he goes. She’s their daughter we all know it.

Tim looking at his girl one last time before closing the door. *squee* It's doing things to me. It’s unreal we got this season still. I'm still in a state of shock even a year later ha. Look at these lovely humans in love. Makes my shipper heart so happy. Just a husband looking at his wife till he can’t anymore. That shot of him with heart eyes until he shuts the door is so cute. Doesn't break eye contact till the door is shut.

Her words of encouragement the best start to his day. I cannot. Once he is gone Lucy refocuses on Tamara. All happy and high off her morning with Tim saying 'Good morning' all chipper. Tamara pretending she's annoyed when really she's so happy for her. Look at that smile when she says 'Whatever.' Such a teenager but she is so happy for her mom.

Lucy and Aaron are talking about a prototype action figure his mom wants to make. He won’t do it even though it's couple million profit. Lucy cracks me up saying she will do it. Starts posing saying she can be ‘Lucy Chen, Fist of Justice.’ Never change Lucy never change. I love you so much baha Tim walking up seeing her being an absolute dork. Used to his wife’s antics at this point though. But has to ask what she’s doing?

Lucy not phased by his judgement in the least. Just says working on her side hustle. Tim gets self conscious when she points out the paint on his head. Nawww he’s embarrassed cause he struck out in training earlier. Let’s not bypass how incredible Tim looks in shot. Arms and forearms flexed carrying that box. *fans self* All kinds of deliciousness. My god how can a black t-shirt looks so delectable on a person? Straight arm porn and I'm not mad about it.

Those toned forearms and his biceps threatening to bust out of his sleeves. Phew lord. Think they made his shirt just a little tighter than most. So I can flail and have an ovary explosion. over it. Mmm. Love to climb that man like a tree. Metro Tim is just sex on two legs walking and I’m here for it hot damn.

Lucy is cutest little human in that first gif. Just popping her head in like the adorable bean she is. Taking stock of his new office. Then she makes a little joke smiling at him. Saying well at least it won’t take long to move in LOL I love her teasing him yet being so proud of him at the same time. It’s a heady cocktail everyone and I’m little ship drunk and loving it.

Her smile is everything as she is teasing him. Tim isn't giving her much to work with. I think it's cause Aaron is there HA He shuts the door behind her and works to get settled in his new office. Also think he's a little in his head about not doing well in training at first. Poor love.

After he shuts the door he expects them to go. Idk why. He knows his wife and her antics. Like she was just gonna go after that. LOL Lucy watching her man get settled like the proud wifey she is. Look at that woman watch him get situated. To quote Chandler bing. "Could she be any prouder of him?' She is so friggin excited for him. Her whole body is vibrating just watching him make it to his desk.

Let’s not discount this great shot of his ass in those cargo pants everyone. Sweet lord. Fairly certain I've never found them attractive till they were worn by Tim Bradford. But my god he looks good in them. Doing that thing where something is simple but he turns it into something incredibly sexy just by wearing it. It's sinful to be this attractive really.

Never be over how good his biceps look in that t-shirt too. Sweet baby James man is doing things to me… Tim turns around and realizes he's in a zoo LMAO I do adore her little smile when she gives him a thumbs up. Truly proud of him and getting to where he is now. I think if Aaron wasn’t present he would’ve been softer but he was LOL Lucy is also in teasing mode with the thumps up and such. Being such a troll with Aaron right now and they both know it.

Tim does a small smirk before shutting them out. Her face when he draws the shades is hysterical. Lucy is offended by him doing this. I’m dying. Their dynamic is the best. They go from sweet and domestic cuteness in the morning. Her building him up for the day. To teasing and giving each other a hard time. God I love them sfm. We get to have both now. *happy sigh* I just love this season everyone. Damn they cute.

We join our fav ladies eating dinner together. Lucy noting she’s been working a lot of hours. That she knows she wasn’t coming from a party this morning. It was a job. Asking her what’s going on? Does she need money or something? Tamara breaking Lucy’s heart a little with her answer. Basically saying she needs to save up for an apt on her own. Lucy looks so saddened for couple reasons. One. That she thinks she has to leave now. Just decided she wasn't gonna be welcome at some point.

Two her thinking Lucy has no room for her now that Tim is around. Like she was just going to replace her with TIm. I will say this she wasn’t saving up rent when Lucy was dating the clown… Tamara knows and has known since this started Tim was her end all be all. The real deal in terms of relationships for her. Lucy telling her she doesn’t have to leave. Breaks my heart Tamara thinks she has to leave though.

We all know Tim treats Tamara like family. The puppy jokes have long since faded away. If they we're gonna get a place of their own no doubt he would expect her to join them. Her thinking there is no room for her. UGH. I wanna hug her and it’s upsetting to Lucy as well. To Lucy, Tamara is family and there is no need to feel this way. Unfortunately not how trauma damaged brains work. Her first thought is there is no longer a place for her. Which once again makes me so sad. Before Lucy can say more hubby has arrived home.

We hear his keys in the lock before he comes in. First off let me squee that he has a KEY to her place. A KEY everyone. Also that they had this family movie night planned. Tim apologizing for being late to it. I keep seeing this funny tag when I look for gifs. Says *screaming into the void.* Lmao seems fairly accurate for moments such as this. Perfectly describing how I feel.

They had a pre-planned family movie night. I’m dying. Oh Tamara there is so a place for you with them. This scene right here proves that. Tim being all cute giving Tamara a hard time about not joining. He fully expected her to join them. He is such a dad in his reply to the movie he wants to watch with his girls.

I cannot get over Tim having a pre-planned movie night with them both. This is as domestic as it gets right here. It seems so damn natural already. What I always loved about S5 post 5x10. How natural everything felt with them. Going from friends to this wonderfulness. Never felt off or forced. It just fit and worked.

I cannot express enough this is why I’m glad the slow burn was the way it was. The journey that lead us here. To get us to this place where they just fit like puzzle pieces. Tim not reading the vibe in the room just pivots. Man is too damn happy to be noticing such things right now ha He looks at his girl with relaxed joy on his face. Not upset it’ll just be them for the movie.

Asking if she wants popcorn? The amount of squeeing for this moment is unlimited haha Saw a great tag for this scene. ‘How long have they been married again?’ hehe It’s so true. Domestic af and we’re all here for it. I love him basically living there at this point. Man has a key, eats and sleeps there. Has movie nights planned. God I just love this season so damn much.

We get to see Metro Tim in first op. Lucy is there getting to watch him in all his glory. Watch him lead, be confident, assertive and have a game plan. Commanding his unit with an assertive confidence that has me fanning myself. All of this in a new tactical outfit. Yummy. Gimme.

Wouldn’t blame Lucy if she took that man home after and just had her way with him. Because my god my blood is running hot just watching him in action. Sweet lord. Plus him defending Lopez when he tells his group she will be their spotter. Fiercely defending his decision and her. Making my mouth water Timothy.

Delicious poetry in motion as he leads his team into the rescue site. Also doesn’t hurt we’re getting amazing shots of him. Look at that sexy jawline with a dusting of stubble. Mmm. The way he’s holding that gun, his biceps stretching out the words ‘Metro police.’ I might pass out everyone haha God almighty someone shouldn’t be this attractive leading a mission and yet here we are. I’m a puddle snd may need some ice water....

This finale scene with Tamara’s and Lucy is one of my favs. Tamara getting off the phone with another job. Lucy asking her if she still thinks she has to move out? Tamara being vulnerable with her. (She has grown so much too btw) Telling Lucy she doesn’t want to be a burden. Gah breaking my heart girl. Lucy immediately disperses that train of thought. Telling her she isn’t.

Knowing this ties back to her PTSD before she met Lucy. Letting her know she gets it she does. That she’s been displaced her whole life. So she understands why that’s her default. It’s a hard habit to break when you’ve felt like a burden before. I totally relate to this. Lucy sincerely telling Tamara she’s family. I mean truly she is. She has been for a long time now. Lucy then lightening the vibe a little letting her know she couldn’t get rid of Lucy if she tried. LOL

Tamara thanking her and lightening the vibe herself. Saying she will get a place of her own someday though. She doesn’t want to be around when her and Tim start having babies LMAO God I love this girl. Her sass is the actual best. Also little foreshadowing at its finest. Now I know they’re gonna have babies. For sure they are. I’m not ready just yet on the show but I am down for babies at some point.

Loving Lucy saying that’s a long way off. Not scared or frightened by that idea in any way. It’s in her future no doubt about it. Only replying not yet and my head is exploding haha The rest of this scene is pure goodness. I adore their relationship sfm. I was so excited to see Dylan on set for S6 on insta. I will always always take more Lucy/Tamara. One of my favorite pairings on the show.

Lucy noting she is a really good babysitter. They could use her for all dem babies heh. Tamara being sassy once more. Saying she couldn’t afford her rate. You are an absolute queen madam. The cute smiles that end this scene make my heart happy. Especially Tamara's. How far she has come. Such a good episode for them. I adore these two so very much. Such a good ep. I remember feeling like every ep was a gift in this season. Especially 5x08 on up. They spoiled us to death and I wasn’t mad about it haha

~~~

Side notes-non Chenford

Lucy spending part of the episode trying to teach Aaron how to budget is hilarious. He wants to try and live off his own money and not his parent's. His bills were obnoxious LOL This scene above is the hysterical conclusion to him trying to live on a budget. Aaron you are a treasure my love. Lucy's reaction is so damn funny.

As always thank you to those that like, comment(oh how I love me some comments) and reblog these reviews. Means the world to me. See you all in 5x15 :)

79 notes · View notes

phantomoftheorpheum · 1 month

Text

The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Review/Critique

Fair warning- this is ridiculously long. If you expand this post and don't actually want to read it, it will be a pain in the ass to scroll through; I would advise against it.

Just to be 100% clear, these are my opinions and interpretations of the show. If you don't want to see criticism (and quite a lot of it) or read a pretty raw, unfiltered/unedited review of the season, this is not for you. This is a casual platform, so I tend to just let myself think out loud on these posts, meaning that I don't go back and heavily edit my thoughts. I may express ideas for the storylines that would need some refining, I'm generally just spitballing.

This is a very criticism heavy post, I have a lot of issues with this season, so if that will upset you, please just don't bother to read this. I will be tagging anti tags (due to the large amount of criticism I have for the show) for filtering purposes.

*** Spoilers for all 4 seasons of Umbrella Academy ***

Good Stuff First

I always like to start with my favorite stuff from the show, because usually if I am bothering to critique, it means I have a lot of criticisms, but I always want to acknowledge what the show does well before I start getting into what it does not do well.

Individual Characters & Dynamics - In particular, I thought Klaus's unique character voice was present and well written and the performance continued to be top notch (I have some criticisms about the actual storyline, but I think Robert nailed what he was given from an acting standpoint). Many of the specific dialogue and character dynamics felt consistent to earlier seasons, which can be difficult with such a wacky show. There are definitely some characters who were able to shine, regardless of what they were given.

Visuals/Sets - The show still looks as good as it ever has. It's never been groundbreaking cinematography, but you can feel the budget in the aesthetics of the show. It has been able to maintain this weird "almost our world, but not quite" reality in a visual manner since season 1. It has a distinct style and look. The sets largely feel big and textured and expansive, even when they're fairly simple. I like that we've at least glimpsed the house in every season.

Tone/Humor - The Umbrella Academy is weird. It has always been weird. It must be weird or else it would feel... bad weird? It does succeed in continuing to be weird AF. I like that the show isn't afraid to be incredibly strange. It is a show that swings big. The humor is still there. Humor is hard, and I think they hit more often than they miss.

Family Road Trip - The group dynamic, family bickering, montage effect of 4x02, etc. was one of the lighter and more enjoyable choices made in season 4. The bit of "annoying song stuck on a loop" that continued to crop up throughout the season worked for me.

Abigail Completely Failing at Being Gene - This is only a very small part of the season, but Nick Offerman playing an alien cloaked in a (very weird) human skin and very poorly pulling it off added some levity while it lasted.

Soundtrack - While I think there are fewer distinctly standout tracks for this season (but this is entirely a personal opinion, maybe others feel differently), the show's commitment to its distinctive sound and use of music is still solid. I particularly appreciated the callbacks to season 1, obviously I Think We're Alone Now, but also by selecting Dead To The World in 4x06 for Five (I prefer In The Heat Of The Moment as a song, personally, but the choice was very clever). This is a show that I genuinely like to go listen to the soundtrack of after the season, and I intend to do that with this season as well (except for the Christmas stuff, I am not a big Christmas songs person).

The Cast - This is related to point one, but I really think 99% of the cast did they best they could with the material they had to work with.

Despite all my criticisms, I still found myself sad to be at the end of the journey. And I think that says something about the strength of these characters. A perfect journey? No. But one I'm still glad that I took.

My Criticisms

I want to start by saying that if I bother to critique something, that means I believe it has enough potential to be worth discussing. If it didn't, I absolutely would not bother. So while I think this is going to come off quite harshly, it is coming from a place of "I love what this show can be when it's at its best, and here's how I personally think we could have been closer to its best."

A lot of times when I write up my thoughts about a show, I start with my most specific criticisms, and as I examine those, it points me to a bigger underlying issue. Sometimes I work the other way around, thinking about the larger elements I have criticisms of, then searching out examples. But in this case, either way, I find myself ending up at the same place with the same issue, and that issue (perhaps ironically for this particular show) is time.

I believe the largest issue with season 4 is time management, crafting storylines that are interconnected and therefore justify their screen time, and pacing. Yes, I have some criticisms that could not be fixed with better time management, but a lot of my issues lead back to this. Pacing is always a tricky element, is at the top of many criticism lists of many shows, and has been at the top of my list for several shows I reviewed this year. Pacing issues seem to be cropping up more and more with streaming service based shows on all platforms, and I don't think that's coincidental. But, imo, Netflix is our best example.

One of the greatest strengths of Netflix Originals, back when they first started, was the guarantee of a full season before a cancellation. Because they had no feedback on a show before producing and releasing an entire season, there were no early mid-season cancellations. This allowed writers a little more room to stretch out, knowing they wouldn't walk into work the next day and be told they have 2 or 3 episodes to wrap up a story, or worse, wake up to just no job at all. So while the seasons were shorter, the time was guaranteed. Many of Netflix's early properties, particularly if their first season was successful, were greenlit for multiple seasons at a time, a practice which has been all but abandoned (Bridgerton and Stranger Things have been afforded this luxury in recent years, but few other shows). But as Netflix (and other streaming services) got its legs under itself, it came to realize that there was more profit in producing the first season of many shows, then cancelling all but the most successful. This epidemic of unfinished stories has been spreading rapidly. Now, not only does Netflix have an extremely high cancellation rate and rarely renews a show for more than a season at a time, it has also been shortening seasons, bringing down production costs, and trying to minimize risk and maximize "safe" profits. Minimizing risk in favor of maximizing safe profits rarely results in good art. Which explains a lot.

And so, unfortunately, I think The Umbrella Academy is a casualty of this increasingly mercenary system. Not only was it forced to make creative decisions with the constant threat of "This could be the end, but you won't know it until after it airs, so it also has to work as not the end," during the first three seasons, but though it got warning of its final season, it received a limited run to complete the show. Now, I can't fault anyone for wanting to write each season as a possible ending, considering how often Netflix cancels shows. Is this smart? Yes. Is this also limiting? Yes. And shows like The Umbrella Academy, with universes that become increasingly complicated with increasingly detailed lore, suffer quite a lot when trying to contain a story to each individual season. And finale seasons are particularly difficult. Expectations are high. Netflix's production model gives audiences years to build up their anticipation for the finale. Too much time to think, to pick holes in what has already been created, to cool to something they were once passionate about. Delivering a genuinely satisfying finale under these circumstances would be a daunting task.

But with all that being said. Season 4 only has 6 episodes, and it somehow manages to waste so much time. I don't know what's in the water over at Netflix, because I don't know if anyone knows how to waste limited time like Netflix does. If it weren't so irritating, it would almost be impressive.

The truth is, very few of the main characters really matter to the overarching plot of the season, which is a very weird choice, particularly in a final season. It's basically Ben, Jennifer (who we barely know and just met), Hargreeves, Abigail, and tangentially Viktor. Five & Lila are basically completely taken out of play for an episode and a half, where their actions have practically no relevance to the main plot, and the critical information Five gets while using his "new" power could easily have happened without this storyline. Luther & Diego are similarly sidelined by the CIA storyline. And, again, Klaus & Allison are occupied with a side plot that removes them from the main conflict of the season and does not tie in to the finale.

I do not mind the centering of Ben & Jennifer for a season of the show in theory, but with only 6 episodes to tell this story, I think it was a stretch to believe they had the time to do this plotline justice and waste so much time elsewhere. I don't know if this was solely a me issue, but I just... didn't care about Jennifer. I mean, sure, I rooted for her in a passive "she seems nice" kind of way, but even by the end we barely know anything about her. I can live with a "cosmic connection" insta-love situation between Ben & Jennifer (not my favorite trope, but it can be okay), but just because Ben instantly connects with Jennifer, that doesn't mean the audience does. And, to make matters worse, this version of Ben is one that we don't know that well, anyway. Like... his defining character trait is that he's mean and angry. I didn't mind that in season 3, as he was new to us and at odds with our protagonists for most of the season, but we don't really learn much new about him in season 4, either. The bit of Ben's history that we get is from Umbrella Ben, not Sparrow Ben. And Sparrow Ben's personality and history isn't touched on. Why is he like this? It's never explored, not beyond the shallow "the Sparrow Academy wasn't raised as the family that the Umbrella Academy was" that was established in season 3. The fact that we know so little about this version of Ben makes it harder for me to connect with him, as well. So to center these two characters in the final season, and then not even give us scenes to flesh them out as individuals, it just feels like such a waste of time. It didn't need to be Ben and Jennifer. In fact, it very much felt like it was only Ben and Jennifer because everyone has always wanted them to tie "the Jennifer incident" into everything. Again, I think this plot could work fine if given the correct amount of screen time, but as it is, it feels rushed and shallow. We might care about Sparrow Ben (might), but we don't have much reason to care about Jennifer.

Lack of direction - There are only six episodes in this season! Every minute needs to be used wisely. This should be the most focused of all the seasons, every storyline streamlined to tie into the finale of the show. Which is the opposite of what we got. For the vast majority of the show, nothing Klaus or Allison does matters. Nothing Diego or Luther does matters. Nothing Five or Lila does matters. Sure, those storylines touch on individual character development, but when you're planning to kill everyone off in a couple hours anyway, why are we starting down unconnected character arcs that are destined to be left hanging? Every bit of interpersonal character development should be written in a way that ties into the finale plot of the show, so scenes can pull double duty and maximize the limited time available. What was the purpose of Lila and Diego fighting (other than to physically separate them)? What did they learn? How did they change or grow? They didn't. They are split apart, sent down different dead end roads, only to be gathered back up in time to die. They speak words of understanding, but we don't actually get to see them learn or put those changes into practice.

I think about it this way- if Lila and Five had gotten lost into the weird limbo subway system and we never saw what happened to them, and instead they just reappeared from that adventure for the finale, would that fundamentally change anything about how the show’s main plot plays out? No. It wouldn’t. If Klaus had stormed off in 4x03 and Allison had gone after him and we’d never seen either of them again until the finale, would that fundamentally change anything about how the show’s main plot plays out? No. It wouldn’t. If Diego and Luther had gotten their CIA passes and walked into that building and vanished from the story until the final episode of the show, would that fundamentally change anything about how the show’s main plot plays out? No. It wouldn’t. Even Viktor, who is directly addressing the main plot point of Ben & Jennifer’s connection becoming apocalyptic, has very little impact on that storyline leading up to the finale. He speaks to Ben once, he insists on trying to save Ben, and spends the rest of the time working through personal issues with his dad or being attacked in a sequence that has no consequences. The conflicts that these characters encounter have very little bearing on the physical events of the show (they get shot at, they escape. They fight, they escape. They are chased, they escape) and what are the specific consequences? There aren’t any. Viktor gets to use his powers to save Hargreeves and gets shot (I think??) doing it, but he’s fine, and it doesn’t change their approach or goals in any way. Five and Lila are trapped together for years and have a romantic relationship, but then they “go home” and it doesn’t lead to any of the characters deeply changing or acting notably differently in the following events (Five and Diego fight at a bad time, we get a funny reaction from the other siblings, etc. but it doesn't change anything) and then it is never truly resolved. Luther and Diego go to the CIA and this plot is used as a vehicle to reveal the villainy of Five’s boss (so??), but ultimately Luther and Diego get a big fight sequence, learn very little, and take up a lot of screen time for a reveal that could easily have happened in seconds. None of their actions in this storyline blatantly effects the outcome of the show. And Diego feels set up for some character work, but all it really leads to is him being like "I get it," and that change never getting a chance to be actionable. Allison and Klaus reconcile, but only after a lot of screen time is spent on another side quest. Do they really change as people from this story? We don't know because there's not enough time to see. This is clearly not a legit substitution for actually addressing the issues between them, but we don’t have time to do that, either. Not to mention, the conflict between Klaus and Allison isn’t some slow burn issue. It’s doesn’t exist before this season. What is the point of any of these plot lines? Why send Allison and Klaus off together to resolve issues that we only just found out exist, when Allison has canonically been estranged from all of her other siblings since the events of season 3? That is blatantly an unresolved issue, but instead of using her screen time to address her season 3 actions, they create a whole new issue for her and Klaus to fight and then reconcile about. Wouldn’t it be much more interesting to see Allison and Viktor work through their issues once and for all? Or to address all of the ways Allison betrayed Luther in season 3? What about Klaus reconnecting with this version of Ben? What about Luther working through being betrayed by his father? What about Diego and Lila actually being parents? What about really getting to see how this life that Allison sold them all out for isn't even the dream she thought it would be? What if, instead of getting a montage of Lila & Five’s romance, we got a montage of Jennifer and Ben finding and destroying each other in many different worlds? You want to sell me on this tragic, cosmic connection between them? Okay. Sell me on it. Make it hurt.

Five - I'm just going to be brutally honest here- I believe Five is the strongest driving force of the show and his sidelining in season 4 was a huge mistake. Five might not be the emotional core of The Umbrella Academy, but he is absolutely central and critical to what has worked well in previous seasons. And yet, in season 4, he's pushed to the side and basically written out of the main plot for half of 4x04 and all of 4x05. And then, even when he is around, he's lost a lot of the elements that make him a fan favorite. Let's talk about that- in season 1, Five's return and his mission is where it all kicks off. Yes, technically the inciting incident is Hargreeves' death, but gathering the family without Five's arrival would have been useless and led nowhere. Five drives the entire plot of season 1, while the rest of the siblings get character arcs around him. He makes things happen. He withholds information from his siblings and from the audience. Without him moving the plot forward and tying things together, season 1 would have been a disjointed mess. In season 2, we follow Five's attempts to reunite the family and fix yet another doomsday. Again, he is the one that pushes the plot forward, while the other siblings wander down various other storylines (which is not to say that they are not involved and don't contribute, just that they don't move the plot along to the same degree). In season 3, Five attempts to "retire," but pretty quickly he's back in the thick of things in search of answers and solutions. He is set against Hargreeves in an intellectual face off and is ultimately the one who pieces together the hotel's puzzle. He also discovers that he is, essentially, his own nemesis and behind a lot of what happened in previous seasons (a storyline that feels like it had a lot more to give, possibly, but is abandoned and explained away as "something a version of him did in some timelines,"). But in season 4, Five is... Well, he's suddenly not that relevant. He starts out fine, undercover and attempting to infiltrate The Keepers, and he does push the initial plot forward with his investigation, but then he just drops off the map (literally and figuratively). Five, who has always been the character to seek out answers and the character the audience trails through the bigger plot points of the story, is suddenly out of play. Now we're watching him wander around the multiverse (presumably for an attempt at character development, which ultimately falls flat) where he learns nothing important and falls unconvincingly in love with his brother's wife for an episode and half. Why? Because... they didn't know what to do with him? Honestly, I can't explain why. Five's acerbic wit, his tendency to be one step ahead of the audience, his cockiness, the uncanny personality that is a quirk of being an old man trapped in a young man's body, his absolutely brutal and ruthless methods to protect his family, and his cool fight scenes, it all just vanishes. Suddenly, for the first time, he feels the age of the actor. He feels erased long before he literally is. After 3 seasons of him having one of the coolest powers that leads to some of the coolest scenes, we're suddenly in a world where everyone else has some useful version of their power, while Five's kind of sucks. And like his teleporting power only reappearing at the very end (spurred on to save Lila specifically, rather than his family, because ???), Five's personality is frequently missing. Which leads me to-

Five and Lila - This may be a controversial opinion, but in concept this could have worked. Am I mad at the idea that two characters who are stuck together for years with no one else as company might fall in love, even if they're an odd pairing? No. Like I said, it's okay in concept. But only in concept. In reality, there was neither the time, nor the necessary casting to make this storyline hit properly. Regardless of Five's character's age, or the fact that his actor is (technically) an adult now, this felt flat out wrong to watch. Not only does Five still very much look like a teenager (inevitable, as while Aidan has aged over the course of filming the show, the age of young Five would now, still, vastly outstrip his real age of 20), but we also know that Lila was introduced to him as a child. Lila and Five meet in season 2, in which he is (physically) still a 13 year old boy, while Lila is an adult woman (considering she has the same birthday as the rest of the Umbrella Academy, this would put her at approximately 30 years old at this time). Yes, the exact ages of these characters is a bit messy to track, but no amount of text on the screen telling me so many years have passed is going to allow me to forget this detail, which makes this whole situation, at best, deeply uncomfortable. The fifteen year age gap between the actors is incredibly evident, and this romance is ultimately completely unnecessary for them to evolve in the (frankly minimal) ways that they do. They also pretty brutally sacrificed Diego's character for this. All of Diego's negative traits are cranked up to 100 this season, while Lila's are generally turned down to a low simmer (until she nearly dooms everyone to a meaningless death). While I don't think their relationship being on the rocks, or either of their character's struggle to fit into domestic life, is a bad idea, I again find myself questioning what the point of this storyline was for this particular season. We don't get much of a conclusion. Diego is basically a buffoon all season, Lila is less blatantly fucked up most of the time and also somehow less likable for it, and Five feels out of place in this storyline. Why did we do this? As far as I can tell, it's because they didn't have any other ideas to keep these characters busy while the actual plot happens around them. That's really not a good reason to blow up a dysfunctional but well liked dynamic (Diego and Lila) and never even bother to mop up the blood. And that leads me to-

Lila - Just, in general, I found myself asking "who in the writer's room is ridiculously obsessed with Lila, because that is the only explanation for any of this." For example, Klaus names everybody's problems and can't think of any real issues for Lila?? LILA? Her erratic, risk taking behavior and serious mommy/family issues are the most intensely Lila thing about her?? This is what her entire character is built upon? Why are we acting like she's not been a complete wildcard for the last two seasons?? Her new power doesn't make any kind of sense. Everyone else basically got some version of their old power back (and we eventually learn that Lila does have that power back as well, despite wildly underusing it), but now she has laser eyes.... Because? Her inability to properly control the laser eyes is funny, but also doesn't make any sense. In previous seasons we see Lila quickly adapt to using new powers only moments after acquiring them. If there is any one single person in this whole show who should have adapted to a new power immediately, it would be Lila. And somehow, for some reason, they center Lila during the finale conflict. Everything rests on her decision to stay or go. On her connection to her family (despite us barely seeing her in a room with them all season), instead of literally any of the main Umbrellas we've been following all along. And she gets the last line of dialogue from our main characters. We spend an extended sequence watching The Umbrella Academy slowly sacrifice themselves and Lila gets the last word?? And all of this is coming from someone who actually really loved Lila in seasons 2 and 3. She was one of my favorite characters coming into this season, but this... It just felt blatantly disrespectful to all the other main characters.

Everyone Dying is a Bummer - Okay, don't get me wrong, I'm not set against tragic endings in general, but... I don't think The Umbrella Academy earned this ending (at least not in this way). This idea of the world being better off without them, like they are a mistake that fundamentally ruins the world and must choose to sacrifice themselves in the name of saving humanity, that would (could) be fine. Except that it doesn't feel thematically well supported by the previous seasons, or even just season 4. At its heart, seasons 1-3 followed the ups and downs of Five's journey to save his siblings from the apocalypse, even though they are the ones to cause it. This is his entire goal. He wavers, he actively tries to walk away from this, but he cannot help himself, he always comes back around to this goal. This is what we buy into in season 1. So the idea that this is impossible and that they all must die anyway, feels antithetical to why we are asked to care in the first place. We haven't been asked to care about the world (not in any tangible sense). We watch random, innocent people, or vaguely antagonistic people, get killed in horrible ways left and right in the show and we are not asked to care. We're often asked to laugh. We care about them saving the world because we care about them saving the family, this dysfunctional group of oddballs. Sure, on a very basic and fundamental level we don't want humanity to be wiped out, but the humanity of the surrounding world is never deeply touched upon in the show. And their death wipes out infinite universes. We're told this is "right," but we don't tie any real emotional stakes to it.

Season 4, which centers around saving (or failing to save) Ben and Jennifer, around Viktor's desire to find another way because he loves his brother (even this version of him) and his siblings have always fought so hard to find another way because they love Viktor, asks us to care for these same reasons. Not for the world, but because we care about these particular characters. And the writers decide to sideline Five, whose centering I believe is absolutely essential to pulling off a "they must all die at the end" storyline to begin with. Why? Because he's the one who has fought so hard to save them. To have him not be at the center of the storyline where saving them is not possible makes absolutely no sense. Do I think that a final season where we follow Five coming to the conclusion that they are all doomed could possibly work? Yeah, if they had (and here it is again) the time to dig into that story and show us how he grapples with and fights that resolution tooth and nail until he cannot anymore (they point at it with the diner scene, but don't have the time to let us feel the weight of it). But they don't do that. We don't get to follow him throughout a season trying to cope with this impossible truth. Instead, he accepts that fate in a matter of onscreen minutes and with immediate resignation. (Yes, you could argue this is what he has been doing the last 3 seasons, but we're never truly given the impression that he is trying to prevent an absolute inevitability, only that he is trying to prevent a specific reality). It undermines the foundation of his character, and because Five is the driving force of the first three seasons, it undermines the foundation of those storylines as well. With the limited amount of time they were given to wrap up this show, instead of ending with a "everyone must sacrifice themselves" storyline, I would have, instead, centered Five's personal journey in season 4, which concludes with him realizing there can be one universe in which his family can all live, but only if he dies. They live, but he must sacrifice himself and be erased from existence so they will never mourn him, never know him, never know to be grateful. What could be more fitting for the show, more simultaneously sad and happy, than Five achieving what he set out to do in 1x01 and saving his family and that costing him everything?

Now... how to work that in and fill in some major plot holes at the same time? Well, I have some ideas, but I'm gonna save them for a different post, because while writing this review, I found myself re-outlining season 4 and trying to fix some of nonsensical elements of this season and if I get into that, it needs its own post. But I think it could be done. And speaking of nonsensical events.... Why do the Umbrellas have to die now? Like, logistically speaking, if The Cleanse is a necessary event and every single other world except the "perfect" timeline ends in apocalypse, then why can't they jump on that subway to a different universe where they have more time to be really, truly sure that's the only answer? At the very least they would have had a chance to really say goodbye to each other. We know there are plenty of universes where Ben & Jennifer both exist, there's no reason it has to be now. Since there are infinite "wrong" universes, they have all the time in the world. This is not a decision that has to be made exclusively in this moment, despite being portrayed that way. They don't die, The Cleanse doesn't work, they fact check their solution in a different universe, they get a chance to say their goodbyes, etc. etc. The urgency makes no sense. For that matter, why doesn't Five blip them all down to the subway where the show has already established in this season that time does not pass, so they can have a real conversation about this? There is literally no reason not to do this. They, quite literally, have a character who can take them to a timeless limbo where they can take as much time as they want/need to sort this out. They, quite literally, have that character take an entire family to this place, proving that he is capable of bringing a group of people there, and they don't use it.

It Doesn't Get Better - One of the major themes of Umbrella Academy is dysfunctional family and the way we cope (or don't) with childhood trauma. How burying that pain is destructive and hurts the people around us. And while I don't think the show's intent was to send the ultimate message of, "Actually, it doesn't get better, you'll never heal those wounds, and your existence is a destructive mistake," that's... kind of what it implies anyway. Throughout the whole show we explore the ways these characters are trying to work through the abusive household they grew up in, to move past the things that happened to them, and we watch them process and come together as a family and stand up against their abuser and grow into better versions of themselves and lose their way and pick each other back up. And then we're told that it doesn't matter because they all have to die. It sends a strange message. Personally, I think the show may not ever have intended to really send a message at all. It's absurd and irreverent and tragic and silly. It has never shied away from violence. It's always had a bit of a flippant nihilism hanging about it. And I think there is an argument for "People don't always get what they deserve. Sometimes they just get the short end of the stick and it sucks, but that's just how it is," being an underlying theme worth exploring. It's just... they don't really explore it, they just kind of dump it on us at the end. And because we don't have time to come to terms with this messaging (time, it's all about time), I think a lot of people feel like there's this bait & switch happening. For the last 3 seasons, we've been watching a show that is constantly addressing this childhood trauma and a toxic family dynamic, but then the end of that show is like "and all of these kids are a casualty of their abuser's arrogance and there was literally, not from the moment they were born, anything they ever could have done to grow away from that." It's pretty fucking bleak, to say the least.

Plot Holes For Days - There are more plot holes in this show than a block of Swiss Cheese. There are so many, that I'm still mentally trying to sort out an ending that feels... somewhat in the spirit of what season 4 was intending, and doesn't leave us up to our eyeballs in nonsensical plot points. For example- in The Umbrella's original universe, they already changed things so that they don't exist anymore long before the apocalypse. One of the major plot points of season 3 is that Harlan accidentally killed The Umbrellas' mothers before they were even born (obviously this is a paradox, as Harlan could never do that without meeting Viktor). But Hargreeves was still able to adopt Marigold enhanced children! Marigold kids were still born! We're told in 1x01 that 43 women spontaneously gave birth without having been pregnant, but we're supposed to believe that The Umbrellas, right here and now, have definitely got all of the Marigold in this universe? (And that doesn't even get into the questions surrounding the Marigold's presence in this world, since The Umbrellas did not bring it with them, we see no sign of other super powered versions of them existing in this universe, but if it didn't already exist here in some capacity and no children were born with these powers, then there's nothing inherently wrong with this universe, meaning the apocalypse wouldn't need to happen, and on and on and on. Like if all the Marigold was just in that jar and that counts as being in this world, then they could have just chucked that thing at Jennifer and bam, problem solved.) We know that in the original timeline Hargreeves didn't adopt all the Marigold children, because that's the entire point of Lila's backstory. And what about the other 35 women who spontaneously gave birth and those kids? So how could The Umbrellas possibly know if they are destroying all the Marigold by sacrificing themselves in this world? They can't know that. The existence of The Sparrows (and in another universe The Phoenix Academy) also implies that there could be many universes where The Umbrella kids don't all even exist, but other children were born with their powers, so specifically The Umbrella kids all dying isn't something that would need to be set in stone, since none of the other Marigold kids had to die for The Cleanse to work in this universe. Now, a lot of shows have plot holes or paradoxes or questions left at the end, and a lot of shows I would cut some slack. I'm even willing to ignore a lot of the smaller plot holes in this show, but this is the culmination of the entire series, the explanation for what must happen and why, and the justification for all our main characters being wiped out, and it just doesn't hold up under more than a moment's scrutiny. And that, imo, is a pretty big problem.

Gene & Jean/Villains - So, on a slightly lighter note, another thing that I don't have a problem with in concept is Gene & Jean. They're weird and quirky, as all Umbrella Academy villains seem to be, and I love both actors. It's just that season 4 has a serious problem with its villains in general. That is, there are too many of them and their plans are too convoluted. The ultimate villains being in some way connected back to Hargreeves (and specifically Abigail, who up until this point has had very little to justify her existence in the show) makes sense to me. But the absolutely convoluted mess that is The Keepers cult led by Gene & Jean being at odds with Hargreeves' men who are hiding Jennifer, being at odds with Abigail masquerading as Sy Grossman and then as Gene (I still don't understand why she needed to kill Gene or Jean, like Gene & Jean were already trying to bring about The Cleanse, why is she infiltrating them??), instead of using her resources/position as Hargreeves' wife, is ridiculously messy. The person I watched this season with actually asked me after 4x04 if I had any idea what was happening because they were completely lost. Generally, I am pretty patient about how a show shares information. I always assume that I am picking up what they're putting down, and if I don't understand something, I will when I'm supposed to. That... didn't always feel like the case to me this season. I don't think it was so much that it was hard to follow, but that it just didn't make a lot of sense. The "why" for so many character actions, but particularly the villains, just never fully materializes. Abigail and Hargreeves' sides are fighting in this season, with him attempting to prevent the apocalypse and her trying to bring it about... But what is the justification for the completely convoluted nonsensical path it takes to get there? She seems to have plenty of power over Hargreeves when the kids visit. Why does she need to infiltrate The Keepers? Why do The Keepers need to exist at all? It's just a coincidence that they have the same goals as Abigail? If she actually started them, then I assume she would have installed herself into the organization and not needed Gene to infiltrate it. I don't understand her choices. There were many, many simpler ways to get where they ended up.

So... it's not as if The Umbrella Academy is the first show to do this ending. In fact, one of my favorite shows of all time does this ending (not mentioning it by name because that would be a massive spoiler, obviously). I think this ending is completely possible to pull off. But I also am neither convinced from an in-universe logical point, nor from a storyteller's point, that it earned this ending. Did I want it to be a happily ever after? No. I don't think that would fit tonally with the show. But I wanted it to feel necessary, truly inevitable, and both physically and thematically, I don't buy that it was.

My advice to anyone who was starting this show for the first time would have to be, "don't think too hard about it," because ultimately, if you do it will crumble. Just enjoy the vibes and the bickering and the comedy and strangeness. There's no point in asking too many questions. And for some people, that's totally okay. That's enough. I'm just (shockingly) not one of those people.

So, if you're still with me, I'd love to hear what you guys think. Did you feel emotionally fulfilled? Were there particular plot points you loved or hated? What was your favorite musical choice of season 4? Should I release my redesigned season 4 outline? What ending would you have chosen? I'm open to all opinions! I don't agree with all opinions, but I will very much consider them.

19 notes · View notes

wyrdsistergoldenhair · 2 months

Text

How to Rewatch 9-1-1 Before September 26th

Okay, so if you're like me, you want to rewatch 9-1-1 before season 8 premieres on September 26th - but maybe you don't have the time to sit down and binge-watch. I've come up with a schedule where you can watch at least two episodes a day (starting on August 4th) and finish just in time for season 8.

Aug. 4

1x01 Pilot

1x02 Let Go

Aug. 5

1x03 Next of Kin

1x04 Worst Day Ever

Aug. 6

1x05 Point of Origin

1x06 Heartbreaker

Aug. 7

1x07 Full Moon (Creepy AF)

1x08 Karma’s a Bitch

Aug. 8

1x09 Trapped

1x10 A Whole New You

Aug. 9

2x01 Under Pressure

2x02 7.1

Aug. 10

2x03 Help Is Not Coming

2x04 Stuck

Aug. 11

2x05 Awful People

2x06 Dosed

Aug. 12

2x07 Haunted

2x08 Buck, Actually

Aug. 13

2x09 Hen Begins

2x10 Merry Ex-Mas

Aug. 14

2x11 New Beginnings

2x12 Chimney Begins

Aug. 15

2x13 Fight or Flight

2x14 Broken

Aug. 16

2x15 Ocean’s 9-1-1

2x16 Bobby Begins Again

Aug. 17

2x17 Careful What You Wish For

2x18 This Life We Choose

Aug. 18

3x01 Kids Today

3x02 Sink or Swim

Aug. 19

3x03 The Searchers

3x04 Triggers

Aug. 20

3x05 Rage

3x06 Monsters

Aug. 21

3x07 Athena Begins

3x08 Malfunction

Aug. 22

3x09 Fallout

3x10 Christmas Spirit

Aug. 23

3x11 Seize the Day

3x12 Fools

Aug. 24

3x13 Pinned

3x14 The Taking of Dispatch 9-1-1

Aug. 25

3x15 Eddie Begins

3x16 The One That Got Away

Aug. 26

3x17 Powerless

3x18 What’s Next?

Aug. 27

4x01 The New Abnormal

4x02 Alone Together

Aug. 28

4x03 Future Tense

4x04 9-1-1, What’s Your Grievance?

Aug. 29

4x05 Buck Begins

4x06 Jinx

Aug. 30

4x07 There Goes the Neighborhood

4x08 Breaking Point

Aug. 31

4x09 Blindsided

4x10 Parenthood

Sept. 1

4x11 First Responders

4x12 Treasure Hunt

Sept. 2

4x13 Suspicion

4x14 Survivors

Sept. 3

5x01 Panic

5x02 Desperate Times

Sept. 4

5x03 Desperate Measures

5x04 Home and Away

Sept. 5

5x05 Peer Pressure

5x06 Brawl in Cell Block 9-1-1

Sept. 6

5x07 Ghost Stories

5x08 Defend in Place

Sept. 7

5x09 Past Is Prologue

5x10 Wrapped in Red

Sept. 8

5x11 Outside Looking In

5x12 Boston

Sept. 9

5x13 Fear-O-Phobia

5x14 Dumb Luck

Sept. 10

5x15 FOMO

5x16 May Day

Sept. 11

5x17 Hero Complex

5x18 Starting Over

Sept. 12

6x01 Let the Games Begin

6x02 Crash & Learn

Sept. 13

6x03 The Devil You Know

6x04 Animal Instincts

Sept. 14

6x05 Home Invasion

6x06 Tomorrow

Sept. 15

6x07 Cursed

6x08 What’s Your Fantasy?

Sept. 16

6x09 Red Flag

6x10 In a Flash

Sept. 17

6x11 In Another Life

6x12 Recovery

Sept. 18

6x13 Mixed Feelings

6x14 Performance Anxiety

Sept. 19

6x15 Death and Taxes

6x16 Lost and Found

Sept. 20

6x17 Love Is in the Air

6x18 Pay It Forward

Sept. 21

7x01 Abandon Ships

7x02 Rock the Boat

Sept. 22

7x03 Capsized

7x04 Buck, Bothered and Bewildered

Sept. 23

7x05 You Don’t Know Me

7x06 There Goes the Groom

Sept. 24

7x07 Ghost of a Second Chance

7x08 Step Nine

Sept. 25

7x09 Ashes, Ashes

7x10 All Fall Down

#911 #9-1-1 #911 abc #9-1-1 abc #oliver stark #evan buckley #ryan guzman #eddie diaz

21 notes · View notes

makeitastrength · 8 months

Note

What are your top 5 cold opens??

Do you mean Rookie cold opens, or just for any show ever? Because this is probably my favorite cold open of all time:

youtube

Just kidding, obviously you mean The Rookie.

You know, for as many times as I’ve watched this show, you'd think this would be easy. Instead, my brain immediately blanked on most of the cold opens and I just spent 2 hours looking through all the episode transcripts and then rewatching a bunch of them and struggling to narrow it down.

(I couldn't find gifs for most of these so I decided to just use images; image sources are linked)

Top 5

2x06 Fallout I’m such a sucker for simple comedy, and this one is that for sure. Nolan’s steadily growing horror combined with the guy’s cheeky smile when Nolan realizes he has a dick piercing? Perfection. It cracks me up so much!

4x17 Coding Don’t get me wrong, I love a good short, comedic cold open. But this one… holy cow. It punches me in the heart every single time. It’s so intense and so sad, and just a really moving scene. I’m listing these chronologically, but if I was going in order, this one would probably be at the top.

5x09 Take Back Grey is such an underrated character, and I always love when he gets his own storyline. He’s typically so stoic and professional, so to see him completely out of his element is just endlessly hilarious to me.

5x13 Daddy Cop This is another one that just makes me laugh every time. It’s such an annoyingly catchy and hilarious song. And Celina singing along at the end is really just the icing on the cake.

5x16 Exposed I mean… isn't it obvious? We start off with Chenford in bed together, with Tim curled towards her and his head basically laying on her pillow. Which is just adorable. And then we immediately transition to Lucy being just an absolute badass. This cold open encapsulates the softness of their relationship, Lucy’s UC skills, and Tim’s unwavering support for her so well.

Honorable Mentions

Because there are so many other good ones!

1x13 Caught Stealing This one makes the list because it's the first time we ever really see Tim mess with Lucy. Like... the fact that he could get mad at her, but instead he takes a picture of her and makes t-shirts? I love it!

1x19 The Checklist Again, simple yet funny. And Talia’s reaction to meeting Will.I.Am is probably the funniest moment we ever saw from her.

2x14 Casualties This one just cracks me up. That’s really all I can say.

4x02 Five Minutes The only reason this one didn’t make the top five is because the boot prank is just one tiny piece of the entire cold open. Which is also a good scene… just not quite top 5.

4x22 Day in the Hole It was hard for me to push this one out of the top five because this scene has so much. Chenford bickering like an old married couple. Tamara’s awful driving. She and Tim joking with each other. The fact that he gave her the name of his mechanic. And, of course, let’s not forget the fact that this scene sets up the entire Dim/Juicy storyline.

5x10 The List I mean. Do I even need to explain this one? If it was just the deciding what to wear scene, 100% this would be top five. But I get a lot of secondhand embarrassment from awkward scenes, and that date has some great moments but overall it’s just so awkward.

#asked and answered #this one was harder than I expected #but I also enjoyed going back through all the cold opens #the rookie #chenford #tim bradford #lucy chen #john nolan

49 notes · View notes

chirpsythismorning · 2 years

Text

With Birthdaygate pretty much confirmed, here are two moments from 4x02 Vecna's Curse that hit different...

(1) First we have Jonathan stopping Will as he goes into Rink-O-Mania to tell him something. Will turns around quickly and almost looks, dare I say, hopeful?

But why would that be the case? Unless of course there's something Will's waiting for Jonathan to say, that he hasn't said yet? Happy Birthday perhaps? Surprise Will! We didn't forget your birthday! We're coming in! We have a party planned and everything! Meet you inside! (interesting that there were birthday decorations in there as well...)

Unfortunately, all Jonathan does is tell Will that they'll be back to pick them up at 6:00. And so Will goes from sad, to hopeful, only to go back to looking sad again...

I think a lot of fans attributed Jonathan's concerned looks in this moment as him knowing about Will's feelings for Mike. And I do still think that's present, especially as he's telling Will they'll be there to pick them up later. In that specific moment he sounds sympathetic like Sorry buddy, that sucks.

However, the look Jonathan makes after Will turns away, as Argyle starts driving off, doesn't look like sympathy or pity from someone witnessing unrequited love. It looks like confusion and almost deja vu being experienced by Jonathan himself. As if he's forgetting something, but doesn't know what it is...

(2) Next is at the very end of Will and Mike's fight. Mike sort of echoes the same level of frustration he had during their rain fight, when he said It's not my fault you don't like girls. We know the scenes parallel each other, and how after both of those things are said, there's this silence that takes over, making clear that this is as far as they can go, otherwise they might risk hurting each other beyond fixing. We see both of them make faces of deep emotion here, because they probably are also being reminded of their fight last summer.

And so Will's options here were to, either (A) take it even further and risk hurting Mike more than he's hurting him, or (B) just don't say anything and let the argument end there before it gets beyond repair.

But the thing is, it almost looked like Will was going to say something. He quite literally mouths the word But-- only to cut himself off all together, looking defeated.

Here's what I think. THIS would have been the perfect moment for Will to say, But, you forgot my birthday, Mike. If it was genuinely something as simple as Mike and everyone simply forgetting and needing a reminder, without any supernatural implications involved, I think this would have been the moment to do it.

It would have also mirrored their rain fight even better because it would have been Will saying something and likely walking away, leading to Mike being like OH SHIT I have to fix this! I messed up.

But we all know it's not that simple.

As far as Will knowns, EVERYONE forgot his birthday, not just Mike. And so him calling out Mike here, might have felt slightly unjustified in that it wasn't just him who forgot.

It's almost like they're not the problem here, he is. (WILL POV ANGST)

That's what truly makes the scenes at Rink-O-Mania so heartbreaking. Because it wasn't just about Mike and El ignoring him, it was the fact that it was his literal birthday. All the most important people in his life, who used the literal memory of his birthday to bring him back bc they cared about him so much in the past, have now apparently forgot about him in the present.

Not to mention, the story not blatantly acknowledging his birthday being forgotten in the narrative of s4, means that it was framed this way bc the whole point was they only wanted it to be hinted at in s4, saving it as a surprise revelation in s5.

And so, if Will did say here, but Mike, you forgot my birthday, how would that have impacted the conflict in s4 and Vecna's plan as a whole, specifically for Will? All it would have taken was them connecting the dots after that, figuring out Vecna's plan before he could even reach Will, rendering s5 plotless?...

S5 is likely going to jump right into this, there's too much incriminating evidence about unused footage at the Rink-O-Mania location. It also fits with them not mentioning it in s4 if it's intended to be an early s5 revelation.

TBH with all the storylines going on in s4, them exploring the depths of Will's connection to Vecna just wasn't an option, bc they wouldn't have been able to do it justice. He needs to be front and center for that.

They're clearly saving the best for last...

#byler #<- target audience #stranger things #will byers #birthdaygate #stranger things 5 #st5 predictions #rink o mania #unused footage gate #vecna vision #will getting vecna'd #this also explains them just focusing on byler buildup in s4 #if a lot of s5 going to be filled with angst and revelations behind all these hidden truths going way back to the beginning #it's really good we got these moments in s3-4 that sort of show they are struggling but always come back to each other #and how that is always a constant for them no matter what #it's going to make them defying all the odds against them in s5 that much more epic #also vecna knows will pretty well...#he probably knows will is the kind of kid that if everyone in his life he forgot his birthday #he wouldn't say anything bc clearly that's a sign he is a burden (mistake)#like... that's the whole point #he is too humble to make ppl feel bad in this scenario #when he's taking it as a sign he's unloveable #like it hurts a lot but #that's will byers for you

170 notes · View notes

pirateswhore · 1 year

Text

Stay for me - 4x02 missing scene

as promised, I reworked the old scrap I found in my notes. Set right after the end of the episode - no one can convince me that Killian DIDN'T stay with Emma that night. This is how I imagine it went.

words - 1.4k

feedback is always welcome !

"Stay for me."

Her voice was low and weak as she whispered, cautiously, nervously, as if she was going to scare him away with the statement (question? request?). Or maybe even scare herself - she'd never openly asked a man to stay. They never did follow through with any of their promises, so why bother?

"He is different." a little voice in her head told her. "He won't go back on his promise, you can trust him."

She lifted her head up to look at him, chin resting on his chest. He's deep in thought, eyes fixated on the floor. Having noticed her staring at him, he turned to her and smiled.

"Did you say something, love?"

"Stay for me," she said it louder that time, squeezing his hand and holding her breath.

His smile widened as he kissed the top of her head. "Aye love, as you wish. I wasn't planning on going anywhere."

Emma calls out for Snow to prepare an extra pillow and one of her father's pyjamas for Killian, before turning back to him. She leaned into his embrace, nuzzling her head in the crook of his neck, letting the warmth of his presence wash over her. The leather of his vest was soft and she could smell rum and sea salt on him. It felt so good, being held by him, and she'd never felt safer in her life.

That scared her.

She never did let herself get comfortable with anyone. Never let herself put her armour down, never let herself be content and vulnerable around anyone, men especially. It scared her just how open and raw she was with him, how easy it was to open up, to talk and to get closer to him. He could see through her, reading her like an open book, he said. They understood each other and that came with a certain level of intimacy - that was something she had a hard time coming to terms with.

They stayed like that for a while, happy to simply be close to one another. Slowly, the rest of the apartment retired for the night - Henry had gone upstairs to his bed a while ago and David helped Elsa pull the couch down for the night before joining his wife in their bed. Emma reached out with her hand, cupping Killian's cheek, bringing his head down. Their foreheads touch for a moment and then her lips brushed against his jawline as she murmured "I'm sleepy, take me upstairs."

He pulled back, looking down at her. It took him a few seconds to read her expression and all he could see was complete adoration, she was looking at him as if he hung the stars in the sky every night for her. But he also sensed something else - fear, uncertainty, anxiety. She wanted him to reassure her, to show her that he did mean what he had said - that he won't leave, that he won't ever hurt her.

He scooped her up bridal style, blankets and all, his hand holding her by the shoulder, the other arm hooked under her knees, and did just as she asked. Her arms snaked around his neck and she pulled herself closer to him. His only response was to squeeze her tighter, pressing her body to him as much as possible.

She's surprised at how skillfully and quietly he manoeuvred around the apartment and up the stairs. He laid her down on the bed effortlessly, starting to pull away when she tightened her arms around him. His head turned to her, a perplexed look on his face.

"You said you weren't going anywhere," she whispered. He nudged her cheek with his nose, pressing a peck on it.

"I'm not, just wanted to give you privacy to change, love."

"Can you help me?"

His mouth opened slightly as he blinked.

"I trust you. And I'm really tired. Please?" Her hand stroked down his cheek, trailing his scruff.

He nodded, moving to undress her. Boots were first, he settled them next to the railing. He looked back at her for confirmation before unzipping her pants. She smiled, lifting her hips up and he removed those too. He pushed the jacket off her shoulders and pulled her shirt off, folding them all neatly on a nearby chair. His breath hitched in bis throat a little when he saw her almost nude before him, only in plain cotton undies and some mini corset. She sat up and motioned for the orange plaid pyjamas thrown carelessly on the same chair, which he handed to her promptly. It took him only a minute to strip himself too, his clothes and boots joining hers on the chair and by the banister. He slipped into the pyjamas lady Snow prepared for him - they were slightly big on him, the pants hanging low on his hips, and he couldn't be bothered with all of the buttons.

He turned to see already under the bedsheets, one side pulled back for him. He crawled in, his arms wrapping around her waist instinctively, pulling her close to him. She sighed, scooting herself closer, melting into his embrace, arms wrapped around his waist as well, their legs tangled together.

"You scared me, Swan," he kissed her forehead, hand stroking the ends of her hair. His voice was barely above a whisper, partly because Henry was sound asleep just mere meters away, partly because the thought hurt him too much. He couldn't lose her, not now, not after everything he'd done to be next to her.

Her only response was to push herself deeper into him.

"I can't... I'm not losing you, Emma. But you can't run into danger head first like that. There are people who care about you now, who love you, who would despair if you ever left our lives," his voice cracked at the last sentence as he tried to push the memories of Milah and her death back. He loved her and it broke him when she was killed, but his feelings for Emma were so. Much. More. Her death wouldn't break him, it would destroy him.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to." She craned her neck back, meeting his glassy blue eyes, offering a small smile. "But you saved me," she continued, "you and my dad. I'm safe because of you."

"Aye, and I'll make bloody well sure it remains that way." His face was buried in her hair, nose pressing against the side of her cheek. Her breaths, slow and steady, washed warmly over the skin of his neck and he shuddered.

They laid there in silence, holding onto each other, before he spoke again.

"Warming up?"

"Mhm," she murmured in response, "I have my own pirate heater with me." He chuckled, the rumble in his chest vibrating through her whole body. He was so incredibly warm and she loved it, his flushed skin felt good against her. She readjusted herself in his hold, the top od her pyjamas must have ridden up bc she suddenly felt something cold and hard press into the skin of her midriff and she yelped.

"I'm sorry love, I forgot my hook does not share the same warmth as the rest of me."

"You can take it off, you know. I won't mind," she stroked his upper arm, "plus it'll be more comfortable for both of us."

He pondered for about a moment before pulling back and undoing the straps on his brace. She didn't linger too much at the sight of his scarred arm - she knew it was a conversation for another day. He lowered himself back down onto the bed, more on his back this time, and she climbed over so she was laying half on top of him, head resting on his chest. She threw one leg over his hips, arm under his head, fingers tangling in his hair. The other rested on his chest where lazily she drew circles into his exposed chest hair. His left arm was wrapped around her, holding her close, while the hand of his other arm rested on her thigh thown over him.

"Comfy?"

"Mhm... very comfy, she replied, kissing his neck.

She was very comfy indeed, never before having felt so warm and safe. She could hear him murmuring sweet nonsense into her hair - "My princess, so sweet, so beautiful, I'll take care of you, I'm not going anywhere" - but it barely registered, her mind slowly drifting to dreamland.

It was probably the best sleep she'd ever had, and waking up next to her pirate the following morning was even better.

#captain swan fanfic #emma swan #killian jones #ouat #captain swan #chantecler writing #emma x killian

66 notes · View notes

nicedeviledhamrightthere · 3 months

Text

to build a dream on

Summary: Peter drags Neal down to the beach for a heart to heart.

Words: 1.5k

Warnings: gunshot wound reference (canon - 4x02 Most Wanted)

Notes: This fulfills two squares on my White Collar bingo card: missing scene and on the run. I wrote this in about a half hour, it's not poetry but it was a lot of dialogue stuck in my head and I needed it in the wild. (You can also read on AO3 here!)

==============================================

“Give it to me straight suit – is he gonna be okay in New York?”

“Neal? Yeah.” Peter paused, watching Neal dozing in a lounge chair with a bag of ice draped over his leg. “Yeah. He’ll...I’ll make sure he’s okay.”

“Because you told him to run,” Mozzie continued as if Peter hadn’t spoken a word. “You told him to go.”

“Yeah, I did...and you, Mozzie, you stole the treasure. Don’t forget your hand in all of this.”

Mozzie huffed out something under his breath about pointing fingers while he poured the remainder of a bottle of wine into his not quite empty glass. They’d already been through this once or twice, it was just that time was ticking and Mozzie was getting nervous. He couldn’t let Neal go if he wasn’t absolutely sure that Peter was going to take care of him. If anything happened to Neal, he would never forgive himself and he had to believe without a doubt that Peter felt the same. He’d already been shot on their watch, and he really wanted it to end there.

“You promise you’ll keep him safe?”

“I promise I’ll do everything I can.”

Peter sighed and began cleaning up the mess of bottles still sitting out on top of their makeshift bar. He wasn’t feeling overly confident in this plan, in any part of it, and he couldn’t figure out how to change that. He’d spent the day mixing and pouring drinks until he knew everything by heart and yet still something eluded him – perhaps it was the same thing that was eating at Mozzie.

Neal.

Their plan was going to be a success, they were going to get on that plane and they were going to head back to New York and then what? How did he keep Neal in New York? How did he keep Kramer from turning him into the FBI’s pet for life? The idea of it made him sick to his stomach. He stood on those steps and he made damn sure Neal ran, and then he searched for him like a fool and led them right here. He wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping Neal safe so far and had some doubts as to whether he could at all.

Mozzie settled in with a book and his wine, planning on ignoring Peter probably for the better part of the night by the looks of it. They’d had their fill of one another, Mozzie was a solitary creature and needed time to be alone with his thoughts. He was, after all, about to be alone in the wind. Neal was returning but he was not.

“Neal,” Peter said, approaching the half-asleep man. “Walk with me.”

Without opening his eyes, Neal groaned. “In case you forgot, walking isn’t really my thing at the moment…”

“Come on. I’ll carry you, princess. Let’s go down to the beach.”

“You can’t carry me, you would throw your back out.”

“Then walk. Come on Neal, I want to talk.”

Neal sat himself up and slid his legs carefully off of the lounge chair, reaching for Peter’s outstretched hand when it came time to get upright. His knee was stiff, his entire leg swollen and painful, but Peter ducked under his arm and supported the majority of his weight while they made their way down to the beach with little trouble. Neal couldn’t talk, his concentration so intensely focused on keeping himself moving forward that a sheen of sweat broke out on his brow. It was worse at night, he would argue, but maybe that was just in his head.

“Stupid suit,” Mozzie muttered under his breath as he watched Peter drag Neal down to the beach.

The sand was so bright that Peter couldn’t help feeling like he was walking on the surface of the moon with every hard fought step. He wanted to get closer to the water. It called him as it crashed against the shore and lapped at the sand like it was thirsty. “We can stop here,” Peter said finally, panting and tired from the short trek. Neal wasn’t able to bear much weight on his leg, perhaps the trip down to the beach wasn’t his brightest decision but it was so serene down here he thought it might be worth it in the end.

Slowly he helped Neal ease himself down into the soft sand and took a seat beside him.

“It’s been years since I’ve been on vacation,” he started, staring out at the horizon painted in inky black and stardust.

“This is a vacation?”

Peter laughed. “No. Vacations don’t usually involve my friends getting shot. I’m really sorry about that, by the way.”

“Why? You didn’t shoot me.”

A seagull landed in front of them, stark white and glowing in the moonlight, hunting through the sand for something to eat. They watched the bird for a moment as if in a trance, neither wanting to speak, to disturb it in its hunt, but the conversation picked up where it left off as soon as the bird flew away satisfied with its coverage of their small plot of land. As if they too were birds huddled around some treasure instead of two men trying to mend something that was broken. Peter spoke as if there had been no interruption.

“No, I didn’t shoot you, but we spent the night waiting for you, and there you were...we should have known something was wrong.”

Neal shrugged and rubbed mindlessly at his stiff knee joint. The pain from the wound itself was minimal, it was the angry swelling that radiated out from the wound that was causing the most trouble. An irritation, more or less. He couldn’t walk but he wasn’t going to die...unless Dobbs caught on to him and he couldn’t get away. As it stood, he was going to have to find a way to climb a tree which, at the moment, seemed about as impossible as sprouting wings and flying.

“Is that why you brought me down here? Because you wanted to tell me you felt guilty? You could have done that up there.”

“No. No, I just...wanted a few minutes alone. To talk to you. I’m the reason you’re in this mess, I never should have told you to run. It was a mistake.”

“So you think the right thing was for me to have my commutation denied so I could be Kramer’s pet criminal for the rest of my life? Because that’s where he wanted me, Peter.”

“No, of course I don’t...Neal I don’t know what the right answers are anymore. The lines are so blurry. Everything used to be so easy, so black and white, and then you came and you splashed gray on everything.”

“The world is gray, Peter. Nothing is black and white. Your rules aren’t always right, they’re just a way for people to try to control the chaos of life. Kramer thinks he’s righteous, he thinks he’s right because he’s upholding the law but he wants to keep me on a leash for life to make him look good. How can that be right?”

“That’s a little dramatic…”

“Is it?”

“He thinks he can have what we have, but he can’t Peter. He can’t because he’s not you. I do what I do for you because I…” Neal stopped, sucking in a quick breath. His chest had grown tight. “I do it because I love you Peter. You’re family. I don’t do it because I believe in the FBI, I do it because I believe in you.”

“You could believe in Kramer too.”

“No, I couldn’t, because he doesn’t treat me like I’m a person. You’re the only one at the FBI who doesn’t treat me like I’m a commodity or a criminal. You’re the only one who believes I can change.”

“And look where that got me.”

“Peter, I didn’t take the treasure. I had no intention of taking it. Sure, when I saw it I was tempted but wouldn’t you be? Just a little? Don’t tell me I’m the only one who sees beautiful things of high value and thinks...why them and not me?”

“Alright, you’re not wrong...there have been times. But I’ve never acted on it and you have.”

“So I’m always going to be defined by my past? Is there no hope for me?”

“I’m not saying that.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m just saying that once you cross that line, it’s harder to come back. Not impossible, I believe you are coming back, but I also believe that the temptation is always going to be there. It’s going to be a battle until the end of your days.”

Neal nodded and turned away before Peter could see the tears in his eyes, even in the dark he knew they would be pretty damn obvious.

“Neal,” Peter said, scooting closer and putting his arm around the man. “I know you’re trying, and this setback is my fault. I’m going to fix it.”

“Best case scenario, I get my anklet back.”

“No, Neal, best case scenario I get my partner back. Best case scenario my friend comes home. ”

#white collar #neal caffrey #peter burke #mozzie #white collar fanfiction #whitecollarbingo #white collar bingo

19 notes · View notes

moremaybank · 2 years

Note

hello! can i request a imagine Klaus Mikaelson x F!Reader where it all happens in season 4 eventually reader is Hayley's older sister and they raise Hope alone and then rescue Mikaelsons and Klaus and reader reunite etc etc with fluff ending.

TOGETHER AGAIN AT LAST — k.m

pairing klaus mikaelson x marshall sister!reader

summary you and the mikaelsons finally reunite with klaus after his five years of captivity

warnings fluff, violence, physical fights, angry marcel

author's note kinda paraphrased everything from TO 4x01 and 4x02 so that this wouldn’t be a million words long lmao. not proofread bc it's new years and i'm drunk asf

klaus masterlist

you stumbled out of bed, wiping the sleep from your eyes as you walked into the kitchen. in desperate need of coffee, you grabbed an empty mug, pouring in the hot, caffeinated liquid to the brim. you let the sweet aroma fill your nostrils, sensing each note of hazelnut and vanilla as you let yourself take a sip.

now feeling more awake, you made your way over to hayley, who was standing at the doorway of your niece's bedroom. when she heard your footsteps approaching, she looked over her shoulder and smiled at you when she met your gaze.

"she still sleeping?" you asked, leaning on the opposite side of the doorway beside your sister.

"yup. she was up all night, asking questions about her father. i think she was a little nervous about the idea of meeting him. i told her that you would tell her anything she wanted if she agreed to go to bed."

"always the little troublemaker, just like her mom," you smirked, shaking your head as you took another sip from your mug.

hayley rolled her eyes playfully, but before she could respond, you both heard the honk of a car horn coming from outside your shared house.

"that's mary. would you mind waking hope up and getting her ready while i get her settled in?"

"i'll get right on it."

hayley squeezed your shoulder in a silent 'thank you' before making her way outside to meet mary. you, on the other hand, made your way to hope's bed and took a seat beside her sleeping form.

"time to wake up, sleepyhead," you cooed as you rubbed hope's back soothingly. she began to ease out of her slumber, eyes slowly peeling open so you could get a look at her blue orbs. the very ones that reminded you so much of her father.

"morning," hope mumbled, turning around to face you.

"good morning, gorgeous. you sleep okay?"

"yeah, i'm still a bit tired, though," she responded, her small fists rubbing her eyes as she sat up.

"i bet. i heard you were up pretty late, asking questions about a certain someone," you smiled at her, smoothing her hair from her eyes.

hope's face lit up as she remembered what she wanted to ask you.

"yeah, mom said you would talk to me about dad before you guys leave to go save him."

"i'll tell you anything you wanna know, love bug. what's up?"

hope looked down at her hands in her lap nervously before she looked back up at you, "i guess i just wanna know if he'll be proud of me. proud to know me."

your heart ached with adoration for your niece. "come here," you said, pulling her into your lap. "hope, you are so beautiful, kind, and full of light. you're insanely smart, and you amaze me every day, and i have no doubt in my mind that you are everything and more than your father could have ever dreamed of in a daughter. you're going to knock his socks off, i promise."

"you think so?" she asked, blue eyes hopeful as they looked to you for reassurance.

"i know so, baby girl. you're going to blow him away."

she smiled, throwing her little arms around your neck and pulling you into a hug. you returned her tight embrace, your mind wandering into the memories of klaus's arms pulling you close to him.

it had been difficult, leaving klaus behind in new orleans with marcel. but being able to raise hope alongside your sister gave you comfort because it was as if you got to carry a piece of him everywhere the three of you went. it was the closest you'd ever gotten to feeling him there with you over the past five years of his captivity.

"okay, c'mon. your grandma mary's here, and i'm supposed to be getting you ready."

"and then you guys are going to go save dad?" hope questioned, excitement bleeding through her wide grin.

"and then we're going to go save your dad. i promise."

after making the journey to find the last remaining wolf of the malraux pack and extracting her venom, you and hayley finally woke freya from her five year-long slumber.

“freya!”

“are you okay?” you asked, pulling her into a hug after hayley did the same.

“yes. did you get everything i asked for?” hayley nods in return, and freya sighs in relief. “okay, then i need to get started. if i can’t use all of these things to concoct a cure, then elijah and kol are going to die. we don’t have much time.”

as freya scrambles to begin making the cure, hayley’s vampire-hearing picks up on intruders entering the warehouse.

“guys, we’ve got company.”

“then let’s go and take care of it,” you replied, ready for whatever was about to go down.

"let's do this."

you and your sister worked tirelessly, fighting off the enemies that were sent to track the two of you and keelin down. you’d both turned into your wolf forms, fending off your attackers as they came at you. it was gruelling, but there was nothing the two of you wouldn’t do to protect your family. it was the most important thing to you both.

“you want more?" hayley voiced out to your opponents. the two of you stood there, ready to take on anyone else that came at you, when suddenly, bodies started dropping all around you. your heads whipped around at the sounds of the vampires collapsing onto the ground. you turned to look at hayley, whose face transformed from confusion to utter relief. you'd recognize that look on her face anywhere.

elijah.

he popped up behind the two of you, draping his suit jacket over hayley's shoulders and doing the same to you with his button-up shirt.

you clutched the fabric around your body, watching as your sister reunited with her love. she kissed him, holding him close before she wrapped her arms around him, drowning in his long-awaited embrace.

you smiled, happy that hayley could finally be with elijah after five years. however, you couldn't help but envy her. all you wanted more than anything was to feel klaus hold you again. to stroke your hair soothingly as he whispered sweet nothings into your ear, assuring you that you were safe. but klaus wasn't there, and he couldn't pull you close. he couldn't kiss the top of your head or cup your face as he spoke to you comfortingly. not just yet.

reunited with the four out of five living mikaelsons, you all concocted a plan to rescue your lover once and for all. elijah and rebekah had gone to josh's loft, and the rest of you went to the bell tower so freya could perform a locator spell on klaus.

"was it absolutely necessary that you perform the spell here where marcel or one of his men could find us?" kol questioned.

"yes. when i first moved to new orleans, i embedded my magic here. i made this place my own."

"all the more reason to let freya do her magic. we can leave as soon as he save klaus." hayley responded.

"kol, just relax and let freya do her thing. i'm not leaving without klaus." you spoke, turning back to freya.

you, elijah, freya and hayley reach the abattoir, underground as you all searched for klaus.

your heart beat out of your chest in anticipation as you tried your best to track down the love of your life. eventually, you all found klaus, and freya stated that it would take time for her to break through the previously-cast spell. hayley allowed freya to channel her power in hopes of breaking klaus free without taking too long.

elijah's vamp-hearing picked up on marcel entering the compound, and he advised freya to keep working on saving klaus, no matter what, before flashing out of there. freya nodded, and you tried to help her as best you could from beyond the spell barrier.

"klaus? c'mon, my love. wake up. we're here," you pleaded over freya's chanting.

hayley followed elijah after hearing him arguing with marcel while you and freya tried everything to wake klaus up. miraculously, klaus awakened as things began to turn sour between elijah, hayley and marcel.

"oh, thank god," you breathed, stroking his cheek gently as he stood up with you and freya. he smiled at you before you all turned your attention to the drama brewing upstairs.

hayley and elijah yelled back and forth with marcel before klaus used the tunde blade to stab marcel. you all fled as quickly as you could, your arm supporting klaus as you zoomed through the tunnel to meet rebekah and kol. rebekah hugged her brother tightly, grateful for his safety.

"we have to go. marcel is right behind us," hayley said, motioning with her hand for all of you to hurry up.

"too late. i'm already here," marcel replied, shocking you all.

eventually, the mikaelson siblings managed to convince marcel to let them flee new orleans, and you all left with your limbs intact. you all piled into the car and made your way over to your and hayley's safe house. the drive was comfortably silent, your hands never leaving klaus's body as you held him close. you were in utter disbelief that he was in your arms again, and you never wanted to let go. not for anything, or anyone.

after the lot of you reached the safe house, everyone left to go inside the house and unwind while you and klaus remained inside.

"i'm so sorry, my love. i can't even begin to imagine what you've been through during these past five years," you said, your hands resting upon his chest as you looked up at him with pure sincerity.

"it doesn't matter. you've all made sacrifices for me throughout the years. it's only fair that i do the same in return for you."

"i missed you, you know that?" you spoke, running your fingers through his tousled curls softly. "i don't know how i've survived these past five years without kissing you."

"well, thankfully, that's all over. i'm never leaving you again," he replied, kissing your forehead as his hand cupped your cheek. "now, please tell me all about my daughter."

"klaus...she's wonderful. she's so intelligent and sweet. she's stunning, and she's the light of our lives. i can't wait for you to meet her."

"take me to her?" he asked, eyes glimmering with hope.

"i will. just let me hold you for a second. i need to remind myself that you're real," you said. you pulled him into your embrace, squeezing tightly as if he would disappear.

"i'm right here, sweetheart. i promise you i'm not going anywhere. never again."

you pulled away, smiling as you looked up at him.

"so...you wanna go inside and meet your daughter?"

klaus tag list (join here!): @princess-charming-01 @maybankslover @trenchmaniac @techlipse @the-kaya-aa @catmikaelson20 @hopesdadswife @amournoir @skydisneylover @kittyqrt @Iluvniklaus @diyabhanushali1 @your_best_hoe

#klaus mikaelson #klaus mikaelson x reader #klaus mikaelson imagine #klaus mikaelson one shot #the originals #the originals x reader #the originals imagine #the originals one shot #the vampire diaries #the vampire diaries x reader #the vampire diaries imagine #the vampire diaries one shot #tvdu #tvdu x reader #tvdu imagine #tvdu one shot #joseph morgan

247 notes · View notes

goingrampant · 3 months

Text

Alright, I should probably talk about the bat mitzvah scene in The Boys 4x02. It's... some manner of cringe, if not literally antisemitic, as, I imagine, is on a lot of people's minds. From my perspective, it's more of an issue of Amazon consumerism and badly written antifascism than straight-up antisemitism.

Okay, let's recap (spoilers): The Boys are examining a far-right wingnut convention (Truthcon, a conspiracy theory con, filled with Stormchasers: in-universe neo-Nazis) hosted by a hotel and investigating Nazi supes but are discovered by their targets, who engage them in a brawl. This brawl spills into a bat mitzvah also hosted by the hotel (great job, organizers, btw 🙄), which is themed like Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, complete with cardboard cutouts of characters. Splinter, a Nazi supe who makes clones of himself, antagonizes the Jews with a militia of naked versions of himself holding guns, and the Jews run away while the Boys fight Splinter. M.M. does so by weaponizing a menorah to bludgeon Nazi clones. At the end, Nazi influencer Firecracker makes an absurd vlog about uncovering a Zionist conspiracy by virtue of stumbling into a bat mitzvah that happens to be hosted at the same site as Nazicon.

On a high level, it is not antisemitic; it is an antifascist show that uses the depiction of antisemitism as an accurate depiction of Nazi antagonism in the service of a narrative about antifascists taking them down. Butcher and M.M. especially come across as antifa types, while main villain Homelander was always meant to come across as fascist. The show has many Jewish creatives behind it; it's not literally antisemitic. *looks pointedly at performative Stormfront haters*

That said, this scene wasn't executed particularly well. The Jews are othered by the weirdness of the theme and made into props for the Boys vs. Stormchasers (gentile antifa vs. neo-Nazis) conflict. They aren't treated particularly empathetically as characters, as is bolstered by the weirdness of the theme, which is a set-up for the joke about Firecracker being absurd. Unfortunately, by creating a payoff where Firecracker looks silly for characterizing a weird party as menacing, the set-up for it makes the party itself silly and ineffectual. None of the Jewish characters, props, or set dressing actually matter that much except as set-up to the joke.

The joke itself doesn't make that much sense. So, Nazis are absurd. So what? Does this add anything? We know they're absurd; they're still dangerous. Yes, a Nazi pointing a camera at a cardboard cutout of Tony Shaloub while rambling about a Zionist conspiracy is silly... but that's not far removed from how they actually act. That's an overall problem with the Nazi jokes in the episode: an inability to exaggerate Nazi absurdity to a significant degree because they're already absurd. Antisemitism itself is absurd; it's a hate group.

It's all just flailing at trying to pull off The Producers humor, which worked there because of the specific comparison of Nazi pageantry to Broadway by someone intimately familiar with both subjects. Jojo Rabbit was similarly effective because it compared Nazi ideology to childishness with a literal indoctrinated child figure repeating propaganda in a way that draws a direct comparison. The Boys just repeating Nazi conspiracy theories but making them silly in different ways falls flat in comparison. Half the time, Nazi ideology is repeated verbatim, and it blends right in with the parodies.

The Producers and Jojo Rabbit also have overtly Jewish characters to anchor the viewers. When Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder make a Nazi play to be offensive, it's specifically in the context of them being Jewish characters. The Nazi absurdity is in relation to them as sympathetic figures. Likewise, Jojo Rabbit has the romantic and witty Jewish girl Elsa as the foil for Nazi villain protagonist Jojo, creating an empathetic anchor point for viewer sympathies in relation to all the Nazi stuff. In contrast, The Boys just has the Jewish party floating in the middle of the existing Boys vs Stormchasers conflict as mostly a joke or the set-up to a joke without any empathetic anchor points past the simplistic not wanting bad guys to hurt innocent bystanders. As a result, they're turned into props and othered for the weird theme, which is a joke that doesn't land well for me.

While Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is popular with Jewish people, in context of The Boys and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel both being Amazon shows, it's fundamentally Amazon promoting itself in a display of brash consumerism. This goes against the general anti-corporatist theme of the show. We're led to hate Vought as the stand-in for every megacorporation in America, and now we're reminded that The Boys is a product of a megacorporation and is being used to promote another property of it. For me, this makes the whole joke fall flat and have a cascade effect of jokes falling flat: the party itself (othered props of Amazon consumerism) , the use of a menorah as a weapon (an othered religious item used as a prop), and Firecracker's vlog (absurd but not that absurd).

So, when Firecracker points her camera at Tony Shaloub's image while ranting about stumbling into a menacing Zionist conspiracy... I really don't like that cardboard cutout. I don't like the cross-promotion. I'm reminded of Amazon casting Tony Shaloub to play Jewish when he's not and the controversy there. It's all just a masturbatory mess of Amazon applauding itself. My disdain for that mingles with Firecracker's commentary, and I'm ultimately feeling like I'm being asked to ignore a bunch of problematic things to keep from being on the same wavelength as the Nazi, which now makes me dislike what they're doing with her as an antagonistic figure, now being used to inversely affect viewer emotions regarding Amazon consumerism.

This scene was a mistake.

Your mileage may vary.

#the boys season 4 #the boys spoilers #antisemitism #nazi satire #tw nazis

7 notes · View notes

theghostofashton · 4 months

Text

music monday tuesday

thank you to @bonheur-cafe for the tag! i'm late but i love this idea so i wanted to share some songs

tightrope - zayn

Are you ready? 'Cause I'm ready to let go Never thought that I'd be ready again Guess there's somethin' 'bout the neon red glow Got me thinkin' 'bout givin' all in

this feels so s1 tk to me, how precarious everything was for him when deciding to pursue things with carlos, like walking a tightrope. not really sure what, but feeling like something was drawing him to carlos, even when he was convinced he'd never feel like this again.

funny how? - the maine

Oh, ain't it funny how I never needed you 'til now? Ain't it funny how You made it easier somehow? Ain't it funny how How I didn't know before you I was bleeding? I can breathe again All my walls have fallen down Ain't it funny how? Oh, ain't it funny how?

this is The Carlos Song, to me. everything from not being able to dream of this at seventeen to it feeling like fate that everything fell into place. i feel like it fully encapsulates what he was saying in 4x02 about feeling like he was broken until he met tk, this overwhelming sense of awe about where he used to be compared to where he is, owed in large part to tk making everything feel easier

two of us - louis tomlinson

So I will keep you, day and night, here until the day I die I'll be living one life for the two of us I will be the best of me, always keep you next to me I'll be living one life for the two of us Even when I'm on my own, I know I won't be alone Tattooed on my heart are the words of your favourite song I know you'll be looking down, swear I'm gonna make you proud I'll be living one life for the two of us

this one feels pretty self-explanatory - it's a song about grief, louis wrote it after losing his mom, and i think it's relatable to multiple characters on this show. tk, carlos, owen, marjan, mateo, tommy, judd, nancy.... everyone who's lost someone and every day lives with that grief

same color as the sun - flor

How did you get my world to spin again I feel the wind again I can't describe what you are to me to anyone Does it make sense if I say Same color as the sun

this feels like a quintessential tarlos song to me, lyrics about the other one for both of them. an indescribable love that got their worlds to spin again, a force of sunshine that came through and turned everything on its head, a feeling they want forever.

leaving an open tag since i'm so late :)

#911ls music mondays #911 lone star #Spotify

8 notes · View notes

youngshinxjunghoo · 2 months

Note

From the setting prompts: 029. an extravagant greenhouse

omg lets so go <33 just so you know this is going to be so self indulgent i love writing about plants so much help. but also this is the first white collar thing ive ever written this is so scary but have some flower talk <3

(also this is set canon universe post 4x02)

It didn’t take a genius to realize that Peter Burke struggled with feelings. He liked logic, efficiency, and results, not sitting down and spilling his guts about uncomfortable feelings. Maybe because the emotions of other people- and sometimes himself- were completely uncontrollable to him. He liked solving puzzles, sure, but only when those puzzles ended in finding hidden treasure or someone getting arrested, not when he had to figure out what the hell was going on in someone’s brain and then try to comfort them about it.

Which is one thing most people agreed he should never be allowed to do.

Peter Burke wasn’t exactly good with sappy words or comforting others.

However, he just so happened to have a wife who was great at it.

It was only a week after Peter and Neal had returned from Cape Verde. Neal was still healing from getting shot in the leg and immediately being pushed back into work.

It was clear he was holding on to a lot and with everything that had happened, Elizabeth could tell he needed a well deserved break- and no, Cape Verde did not count. But since when did Neal Caffrey ever take care of himself? He was too focused with throwing himself into work in an attempt to do anything he could to bring Peter back to White Collar.

He was the one who was shot, yet here he was, doing everything he could to help Peter’s career.

He more than deserved a bit of gratitude from El, and since she lacked the skills to steal some pricey European painting for him, a personalized gift from event planner extraordinaire Elizabeth Burke would have to do for now.

She had decided on making a flower arrangement for him. It was personal, classy, and it would hopefully make for a fresh new decoration to Neal’s apartment. Almost like a ‘welcome back’ gift. Besides, Peter was money conscience and Elizabeth just so happened to have a florist she often collaborated with owe her a favor.

So Elizabeth and Peter soon found themselves in a homey greenhouse outside of the city. Elizabeth had a white basket around her arms as she entered the greenhouse, only to be attacked by the vibrancy of the plants and flowers that covered almost every area of the packed room. The bright sunlight used the glass walls to bend its rays to magnify the soft colors of the flowers that took up most of the greenhouse.

Despite the bundles of plants scattered around the greenhouse, it was surprisingly organized. Each section was labeled and even seemed to be color coded. It was like a rainbow had exploded into hundreds of soft, flower petals.

It was already giving Elizabeth inspiration, as she could clearly picture bouquets of different flower arrangements sitting as a centerpiece in Neal’s already lively home.

Peter, on the other hand, was stumped.

Elizabeth’s friend who owned the greenhouse was letting her pick as many flowers as she needed, and Peter soon found out how overwhelming simply picking out flowers was. There were too many shapes, colors, and types involved and Peter had no idea which ones would even look together. El was the one with a keen eye for style.

“It’s not about the flowers, Hon,” Elizabeth tried to explain as they walked through the rows of flowers. “It’s about the meaning behind them.”

Peter stopped himself from asking if she thought Neal would know the meanings behind all these flowers, because who was he kidding, of course he would.

“Make something that represents Neal,” El suggested, walking past a collection of lilies.

Something that represented Neal? It’s not like there was a fedora shaped flower or anything. However, there were some brightly colored gaudy flowers that almost resembled those sparkly jewels Neal had an eye for.

“What’s this one?” Peter asked when he came across a fluffy looking bundle of bright yellow flowers. Yellow flowers were usually used for joy or friendship, right? That could probably work.

“Yarrow.” Elizabeth leaned over to get a better look at the small flowers that almost looked like a honeycomb from farther away. “You know, it’s actually known as a healing plant.”

Huh. That was pretty on the nose, wasn’t it?

So Peter stuffed some of the lacy yellow yarrow flowers and placed them in Elizabeth’s basket. Sure, he felt a bit silly that he was wishing Neal a good recovery through flowers, but it seemed like flowers were good for speaking the words he didn’t know how.

Hm, maybe that’s what he needed to do. Communicate through the flowers. Which, yeah, sounded a bit cheesy, but Neal knew how to appreciate cheesy.

With that in mind, Peter let Elizabeth lead him around the greenhouse and tell him the meanings of each flower, occasionally stopping to let him pick out a few flowers he thought would fit. And after stuffing about four different flower types in their basket, they returned home to let Elizabeth demonstrate the artistry of actually arranging the flowers together.

It wasn’t that difficult, as Peter’s floral choices had turned out to be strangely tender, with a soft and welcoming palette of pale pinks and yellows.

Peter watched as Elizabeth started with pink chrysanthemums, which almost had an ombre look to them as the curved, leaf shaped petals in the middle started out as a vibrant pink and then faded out to a classy rose pink. Peter did not at all consider himself to be sappy, but when Elizabeth told him the meaning of chrysanthemums, his hands began moving on their own volition to pick the flowers and put them in the basket.

Unwavering optimism. Positive growth. Joy. They were all such hopeful and colorful descriptions of the delicate looking flower and Peter couldn’t help picturing Neal. After all, there was no one he knew who had more ‘unwavering optimism’ than Neal Caffrey. It was almost obnoxious, how he could have such a positive outlook on everything and use that to fuel most of his hairbrained impulsiveness.

But maybe Peter also wanted to use the flowers as a reminder. That yeah, he was proud of Neal.

Which was something he didn’t say enough.

And that led to the next flower, the dahlia.

Elizabeth cut down the stems of the orangish-pinkish dahlias so that they hung just right underneath the petals of the chrysanthemums. The ball shaped flowers with the cone like petals were yet another soft addition to the arrangement as they symbolized devotion, love, beauty, and finding inner strength.

It was at this point that Peter began to wonder if he had gone overboard.

...This was extremely tacky, wasn’t it?

“You don’t think Neal deserves to know how you feel?” El had countered when Peter had voiced her concerns aloud.

“Sure, through my own voice, not through flowers.”

“I think he’ll appreciate the flowers. And he knows you don’t always have the easiest time saying what you feel.”

So the dahlias stayed.

Peter couldn’t complain, the arrangement actually did look stunning- it was by Elizabeth though, so that was to be expected.

El proceeded to weave the lacy yarrow in between the dahlias and chrysanthemums, injecting some neatly placed leaves throughout the bouquet.

And lastly, she took the tall stalks of yellow and muted pink snapdragons and added them to the arrangement. Like many flowers, snapdragons held many different meanings. They stood for grace and strength, but at the same time, they symbolized deception.

And what represented Neal Caffrey better than graciousness and deception?

Besides, he knew it would get a long overdue chuckle out of Neal. He knew Peter didn’t mean it to be vicious or accusatory, but rather something that pointed to Neal’s strength.

Soon enough, Elizabeth had put the finishing touches on the bouquet and stepped away from her creation, studying it for a few minutes with pursed lips before turning back to Peter.

“What do you think?”

“It’s like I’m staring right at him.” Peter admired the vibrant yet sophisticated arrangement as he pictured it sitting in June’s apartment, fitting right at home with Neal’s vintage suits and work in progress paintings. “Do you think you could add a mini fedora?”

Elizabeth laughed, but grabbed sheets of brown and black origami paper a few minutes later.

And just like that, Neal’s bouquet was decorated with a tiny fedora.

It was straightforward, it was cheesy, it was bright and colorful and carefully crafted. It was everything that was to be expected from Peter Burke trying his best to represent the enigma that was Neal Caffrey.

Peter wasn’t always the best at expressing his feelings, but hey, at least now he could try to communicate through the language of cutting and neatly arranging flowers.

#white collar #thanks so much for the prompt request <33 #this was a lot of fun to get into help i just love writing about flowers #also yeah i really only write introspection sorry about the lack of dialogue i need to get a better grip on their voices and speech

6 notes · View notes