#Listen if we could just get two more seasons we could see the entire arc happen. And I think about that a lot.

[totallyhextra]

People? In MY computer?? It's more likely than you think!

The following is a fanvertisment and is not connected to the show. ****Yet.*** *Also yes, this is the fourth time I'm posting this because TUMBLR WONT LET ME EDIT SPELLING MISTAKES!

ANYWAY,

Once upon a time, back in 1987, Dire Straits put out this music video for “Money for Nothing”, which, as you know, was a song about wanting my MTV. 

The video was made by two guys (Gavin Blair and Ian Pearson) on a very moody computer. After the video went out, these two guys went to a pub:

Ian: “Hey, we should make a whole show like this!”

Gavin: “Dude, making three minutes almost killed us.”

And so it was decided!🎉

The two guys were joined by two other guys (Phil Mitchell and John Grace) and created the Hub, which then became Mainframe Entertainment. They got even more people, and then they all holed up in this hotel.

They were mad lads with a dream: a whole cgi animated show, and they made it happen a whole year before Toy Story!

Behold! ReBoot!

(Yes that fever dream was real)

Now before I get any of this:

Let me lay this down. If you can’t with the animation of the first season because it was CUTTING EDGE IN 1994, you can close your eyes and listen to it. ReBoot wasn’t just a CGI gimmick. The characters are fully developed, the voice actors are peerless, the plot is sharp, and there’s so many easter eggs that you’ll never find them all.

Never

(And yes the episode "Bad Bob" was the actual catalyst for Fury Road. Look it up)

ReBoot is about what life is like in a computer (in the 90s, because it was the 90s) called Mainframe (because of course it is). People are sprites, the guys that look like 1s and 0s are binomes (which represent 1s and 0s). Bad guys are viruses, and the good guy is a Guardian named Bob, who is a certified cinnamon roll.

In the first season the eps are light and self-contained, mainly because there was constant friction between the Mainframe studios and the Board of Standards and Practices.

They still got away with some pretty dark stuff, like Megabyte (virus) making Enzo (the kid) watch his dog get sliced open (dog got away, obviously) , Dot (sprite) have a hallucinatory breakdown, and the fridge horror of realizing the thousands of worm things (nulls) that plunged off a bridge to their death were actually people.

And Hex's (virus

best girl) scary face single-handedly traumatized an entire generation. 🙂

But busting through a window was a no go, because WhAt If tHe cHiLdReN dID iT tOo?

Anyway, halfway through the second season, ABC cut them loose, so they were like, fuck it, we’re going to start going hard. The story shifted from episodic to arcs and things start to get serious.

Third season the show moved to YTV in Canada, which gave no fucks about shielding the innocent children.

So it got DARK

How dark?

The UK refused to show the entire season, so the audience there had to wait until pirated copies made it across the pond to see how it ended.

Also by 1997, the animation was gorgeous. (Best example of third season animation I could think of that didn't have spoilers)

The show was green-lit for a fourth season on Cartoon Network, but halfway through production Warner Bros took over and the same fucking thing happened.

Because Mainframe was halfway done, they decided not to scrap all of it, but knowing they wouldn't be able to finish it correctly, Mainframe stripped anything that would hint at Season Four's true ending, then left what remained on a cliff-hanger of angst.

FOR 22 YEARS

(It's also why the last four eps of season four seem to make no sense)

And so it was.

Other crap happened, the soul left Mainframe, and its animated corpse spat out “The Guardian Code” in 2018. 

But never say die! The year is (almost) 2024, 30 years later. ReBoot shall rise from the dead, because here come the documentary!!

Do you dare see what you’ve been missing?

What the (UK) government doesn’t want you to know?? 

Then come on down to ReBoot!

We got:

Magnificent bastards with sexy voices!

(Tony Jay at his best)

Kickass women who could probably crush your head with their thighs and you’d enjoy it!

Innuendos in a kid's show!

💗 This adorable cinnamon roll!! 💗

Insane third season glow-ups!

YOUR NEW GOD

These guys!

(Gay roller-skating binome is my boi. I named him Jerry)

Nonstop cultural refs (You'll never find them all. Never.)

(There are literally videos dedicated to trying)

So many computer puns!

Body Horror!

Existential Crisis!

HAVE I MENTIONED YOUR NEW GOD?

This is it, folks! The real thing, the gem hidden in the moose-filled forests of Canadia!🌲🌲🌲

Take a trip inside a mid-90’s computer!

See the World Wide Web! (omg):

Witness the original purple Gamecubes that randomly fall from the sky when the owner of the computer (OUR GOOD LORD THE USER) wants to play a game. If it lands on people and they lose, they dissolve into mindless energy leeches, fated to tormented by their former bretheren for all of eternity.

Just like in real life! 🙃

So watch the eps! They on YouTube!

I think they're on Pluto, Hulu, Sling, and Tubi too! Also DVDs for people who have the patience to wait for them!

WATCH! BELIEVE! SUFFER THE SOUL-CRUSHING RAGE OF THE SEASON 4 CLIFF-HANGER!* (come on, its fun!)*

HYPE THE DOC!

The more people hype, the better the chances of actually getting it finished.

NOW SHARE THIS WITH EVERYONE!

And now I will leave you with this screenshot from the ep "Painted Windows", where dicks can clearly be seen drawn upon the wall behind the fleeing anthropomorphized television.

(PS: If you heard the clown pic at the top of the page in your head, you're welcome)

IMPORTANT UPDATE

This message is now approved by Gavin Blair! He's an awesome guy. Show him some love on TWITTER (fuck you musk) at @TheRealMrSweary Also, if you want to share this with non-tumblr friends, here is my attempt at a webpage version:

theseventhstarprojects.com/REBOOT.html

[runephoenix6769]

Vulcan as a Muthafucker!

Some folks have been saying that they find her lack of inclusion in the last 3 episodes really jarring, and 'bad writing'. I argue against that. (I really like T'Lyn, but then again I'm a sucker for the whole vulcan's accusing outwardly appearing stoic characters of 'losing composure' n being 'emotional' because of an eyebrow twitch. I find it highly comedic.)

There's been plenty to discern about T'Lyn this season:

Mariner goes out of her way to invite her and doesn't take T'Lyn's disinclination as a slight/insult suggesting this is a common occurrence.

T'Lyn doesn't drink, and doesn't seem to be a big fan of the perceived 'drink' culture on the Cerritos - which the season has estb the core4 participate in quite a bit - knowing this, its easy to extrapolate that she might avoid this as much as she could.

She's a great friend, who is encouraging/supportive.

From this, we can extrapolate that she's been around them enough off screen for them to listen to her and respect her opinion/ trust her judgement.

She listens and takes into consideration the feelings of those around her, putting friends before her career and potential advancement.

She respects Mariner's opinion enough/ trusts her judgement, to take comfort from her support even when Beckett might not be entirely in her right mind. (Vulcan as a Muthaf*cker) and we've been given insight into her insecurities.

She has a wicked sense of humor.

I genuinely believe that she's just messing with Tendi, when she said her hug quota for the day/week was reached.)

She's similar to Beckett, in the way she can be reckless/gungho n think she is always right w/o considering the consequences. (Turning everyone into a Tuvix meatball, n then finding out she messed up n she can't reverse it.) Like Beckett, shes a doer and takes a direct approach to problems, including nerve pinching anyone who becomes a problem.

She can more than appreciate a hunk of man meat. (Not speculating on her sexual preference, just pointing out her agreement with Mariner on Orion.)

She there's a chance that she likes chocolate -- occurring off screen -- showing it in a Vulcan way that Mariner has noticed. (S4E5 Mariner: I know you don't drink....there's going to be a chocolate fountain, if you want to get wild. T'Lyn: I do not understand what you mean, but thankyou for the invitation.)

She's sassy (i know its from season 3, but still)

She initially viewed her posting to the Cerritos as a punishment - nay i'd even go so far as to say a demotion.

I'd actually love them to expand on this and have her come to the realisation that its not a punishment, but rather a better fit for her, where she can grow, be appreciated, better fulfilled and dare i say happy? But we'll see if that's her arc.

I think that's an insane amount of character establishment squeezed into a handful of episodes.

I'm confident that we'll see more of her in the next two rollercoaster episodes, and she'll be instrumental, or why else include her in this season? Unless they really do intend for her to be just a foil for the warpcore 4?

[braxiatel]

Goodtimeswithscar is a sexyman and I will prove it to you

If you are still on the fence I encourage you to look at the sexypedia - a wikipedia dedicated to tumblr sexymen - and checking out their tropes page. Scar meets 35/62 on a list where recent winner of the tumblr sexyman poll Cecil Palmer of WTNW fame only has 8 listed on his character page!

35!

Scar is Textbook, and if you need proof I have gone through all the tropes and explained why they apply to him!

VOTE SCAR!

4th Wall Blurring: This one is arguable due to the nature of the medium but I’ll include it

Animal Theming: See: animal hybrid headcanons and designs. Cat Scar, panda Scar, hyena Scar, avian Scar - they’re everywhere!

Angst: That cactus ring… magic mountain. need I say more? This boy has angst. 

Bait: *gestures at the shirtless skins*

Capitalist: she sells sea shells on the sea shore but the value of these shells will fall due to the laws of supply and demand no one wants to buy shells cause there’s loads on the sand step one you must create a sense of scarcity 

Chaoslord: HotGuy! [snipes you for no good reason]

Criminal: shells will sell much better if the people think they’re rare you see bear with me take as many shells as you can find and hide them on an island stockpile them high until they’re rarer than the price of diamond

Con Artist: step two gotta make the people think that they want them really fucking want them hit ‘em like Bronson influencers product placement if you haven’t got a shell then you’re just a fucking waste man

Dealmaker: three it’s monopoly invest inside some property start a corporation make a logo do it properly shells must sell that will be your new philosophy swallow all your morals they’re a poor man’s quality

Distinctive Voice: I do not need to make any arguments here. Have you heard him???

Quotable Catchphrase(s): well hello there, scarred for life, “a-ma-zing”, etc.

Distinctive Laugh: I think I autism stole Scar’s laughter (whoops) so I’m giving him this one too, but also that gigle is just very good and we all know it, right?

Dominating: from the trope description: “Characters who assert their power over others. Could be through manipulation, magic, smugness, or force of personality.” Yes. 

Duality: Convex did not put their whole entire vexussies into that possession storyline for us to forget about it. 

Egotistical: This one is arguable and a question of characterisation, but I think that we can all agree that on some levels, yes. 

Eldritch: From the trope description: “Since the typical sexyman is a tall mostly human looking pale twink, in a vast majority of the cases the eldritch is a heavy implication lying just under the surface.” Hello? Vex Scar?? 

Gay: See subsection: 

LGBTQ+ Coded: That cactus ring. Mumbo “eye candy” Jumbo. The season 7 mayoral race. Concorp. His jolly rancher arc. This man has so many boyfriends. 

Girlboss: listen I think a lot of characters who aren’t traditional girlbosses get called so, but with Scar I think it’s accurate okay. Did Scar utilize girl power effectively when he and Cub were blatant war profetiers during the season 6 civil war? yes. Absolutely. Girlboss. 

Glowing Neon: vex blue anyone?

Hot-headed: Don’t let his calm exterior fool you. Remember. Scar when someone steals his horse: *sets their whole entire house on fire*. 

Intelligence: yes but also see subsection

Smartdumb: Okay listen. Scar is Smart. Scar is very smart. And I specifically have to make sure you know I am talking character only here because cc!Scar seems to me to be a Very intelligent person with a wide field of knowledge. But uhm. c!Scar dies so much and so often in ways that are completely unavoidable. He does silly things without thinking of the consequences. I have seen enough people calling him a himbo (beloathed term) enough times that I do not need to argue this point. He is smart but also babygirl Why are you like this.

Johnlocked: “When two characters are shipped extensively by fans despite the pairing not necessarily being canon (or even present) in the original work.” it started out with a cactus ring how did it end up like this, it was only a cactus ring, it was only a cactus ring

Knifemurder: Hotguy! [snipes you a second time] 

Magnificent Bastard: This Is The Whole Point. Scar oozes charisma even when he is the villain and that’s why he is so beloved. He is smart, he is stylish, he is charming, even while he is killng you. This is the point. 

Marked Canon/Fanon Divergence: “Sexymen with a large gap between how they are in the original work (Canon) and how they are commonly portrayed in fanworks (Fanon)” see : the fake crystals vs Scar actually having magic, the abs being painted on vs shirtless Scar everywhere, etc.

Monster Features: vex scar vex scar vex scar

Nonhuman: like the vex thing is literally canon it’s not fanon those cons sure did vex 

Pale Twink: We could have done many things with this collection of blocks people, and yet my dash is full of shirtless twinks/twunks every day ending with a y. Curious. 

Perpetual Smiler: Okay listen this is partially the nature of the medium but also 1) that is a distinctive smile and 2) have you see the fanworks? 

Power: This man tried to sell fake magic crystals and we all just decided he can do magic. He was an elf once and now fae/elf Scar headcanons are everywhere. 

Scars: I- I’m not explaining myself here. yes??? 

Tall: I can think of one, maybe two portrayals of Scar that have made him short. 

Theme Song: four expand, expand, expand clear forest make land fresh blood on hands five why just shells why limit yourself she sells seashells sell oil as well six guns sell stocks sell diamonds sell rocks sell water to a fish sell the time to a clock seven press on the gas take your foot off the brakes then run to be the president of the united states eight big smile mate big wave that's great now the truth is overrated tell lies out the gate nine polarise the people controversy is the game it don't matter if they hate you if they all say your name ten the world is yours step out on a stage to a round of applause uou're a liar a cheat a devil a whore and you sell seashells on the seashore

Unkempt: so those rugged life series Scars, huh? 

Villain: Scar has been the villain several times and has a Long list of crimes to his name

Technically Antagonist: see 3rd life

Villain Protagonist: unreliable narrator Scar my beloved. I love how he just *does terrible things edited to make him look like he’s just a silly little guy having some harmless fun*

Well-Dressed: Hmmm I wonder why waggon/tycoon Scar routinely wins every Scar skin poll. Also he has enough outfits to include these sub categories too: 

Suitguy: “Characters who typically wear formalwear, specifically suits. Often includes waistcoats, top hats, bowties, and pinstripes. Other neckwear may also be worn.” Again. The tycoon skin really lives rent free in all out minds, huh?

Long Coat/Cape/Robe/Etc: bathrobe wizard Scar my beloved but also do you know how many thirst trap last life Scars I’ve seen?? 

White Twink Humanization: He is made out of blocks in canon. We did not need to make him like this and yet we did. 

White Hair: last life Scar beloved by many <3

VOTE SCAR!

[canonically47]

evil version of that previous anon: and what were your LEAST favorite parts of each of those seasons?

sorry i got to this so late! buuut

total drama

season 1: leshawna's elimination. just... utter bullshit. closely followed by geoff's. also utter bullshit. in fact heather's whole plot armor was meh

season 2: sorry guys but courtney's entire arc. i can't stand her in TDA. she's meh to okay at best in TDI and fine until the gwuncan stuff in TDWT, after that i just can't even. she's so annoying sorry <//3

season 3: EZEKIEL'S MUTANT ARC COME ONNN MY MAN DESERVES BETTER LET HIM BE HAPPY FUCK YOU

season 4: the all-men finale. we should've gotten a zoey vs cameron finale. boo

season 5: the fact that it exists. i have so many problems with it, it's hard to narrow it down to just one single part i hated most, but there is one! i hated how every character was dumbed down. heather just telling alejandro she had the idol. alejandro just telling mal he had proof he was evil. many eliminations. the fact that the final five was... well, that. but most, i hated mal's arc and how mike was 'cured' of DID by pressing a button. i won't speak much on it since it's nowhere near my expertise nor business as a singlet but i would imagine that is. not how it fucking works. at all and just such a sad sterotyped thing to add an eViL alter to the poor guy just to give him more substance. plus i've discussed this with a mutual before but mal just feels like max taken seriously by the narrative. yeah i hate this season there's a reason it gets trampled in my fic

season 6: there was so much potential for max to be a hero and stand up to scarlett. like. so much. i love him he deserved better. that's not the worst tho and if you're new here let me tell you I FUCKING HATE DAVE. OKAY. i have a BIG issue with that guy which is half because he reminds me of some asshole i know irl and half because he just fucking sucks. i don't get any dave ship, any dave love, anything at all. there is nothing to like about him. he is genuinely one of the very few total drama characters that i can't even make up the substance he lacks. just. fuck dave

season 7 (RR): the daters and best friends fell so flat for me in different ways. the daters were just so annoying and i couldn't have been happier at their elimination. the best friends just felt so forced to me. i mean i'm also a romance-repulsed(-ish, not always, it's complicated) aromantic but oh my goddd... they dragged on for sooo loooongggggggg

season 8: the jurasic fart episode. also how chase treated emma. again fuck these allos /j

season 9: PRILEB. OKAY LISTEN. i fucking LOVE prileb BUT i also fucking HATEEE them. they could've been so good if priya was just eliminated earlier. caleb could've had more to him than priya's misunderstood boyfriend, he could've made alliances and friends, but noooo just give him an entire miscommunication arc FUCK YOU yeah prileb could've been so good if it was good (total drama catchphrase)

disventure camp

season 1: fiore's betrayal to alec felt like terrible writing to me and i'll still stand by that. a character like fiore needs more than one side and alec was that other, softer, caring side. and they threw it all away for shock value! <//3 i really hope these two make up :( i miss them so much. oh also the downfall of tomjake like what the fuck happened oh my

season 2: some challenges were... creepy and weird to say the least. spin the wheel to see who to kiss? my aro ass could never. and when kristal indirectly outed aiden during the dares challenge? like, this yo host? trevor would never <3

season 3: whatever the fuck riya and connor, as well as tom and jake, as well as ally and hunter, as well as- FUCK IT WHATEVER THE FUCK THE COUPLES HAVE GOING ON. YES ALL OF THEM EXcept gabellie. keep going my loves you're doing great

[queatherine]

td spoilers episodes 9-13 (long post; more in depth thoughts towards the end)

ep 9:

the dudes being there for priya awwwww that was so sweet !!

hey julia, is that car cool enough :)

sighhhhh mkulia

julia is that tiktok lumberjack lesbian,, i think shes canadian too

ep 10:

listen, i think we could all agree that the moment damien found that immunity idol way back when sealed his fate that he was NOT going to be a finalist,, so i wasnt surprised, just saddened

julia manipulation truly is everything i love evil women

ep 11:

MACARTHUR??!?!??!??!? truly not the cameo i expected, but i did not mind it!!

can we stop this annoying distrust arc between priya and caleb?

cant believe they killed off raj

so like,, did dinosaurs just never go extinct in the total drama universe??? is this one of the insane lore bits like 9/11 never happening (or happening some time after 2009???) 9/11 was the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs

CANT BELIEVE THEY VOTED OFF RAJ NOOOOOO IM WAYNE FRRR

ep 12:

me 🤝 priya afraid of lighting + thunder

OLD MAN TENNIS YAOI????!?!?!?! PULLED THEM OUT OF THEIR GRAVES FOR THIS CAMEO WOW

can we stop this annoying distrust arc between priya and caleb? pt2

i dont ship juliayne (juliayne shippers i do not hate you please do your thing i love you), but goddamn i want more interactions between theyre sooooo silly

ep 13: listen, i think wayne winning is fine. do i love himbos? yes. was i rooting for him in the finale? yes. in the grand scheme of things, do i think he is a good finalist? no. we can all agree that hes very much an owen, and i dont mind that!! i actually think having a fan favorite, comic relief, underdog third party winning makes sense in this season, because i dont think caleb or julia winning would be a satisfying end (especially how they were handling them by the end)

caleb's story was messy, and at the end of the day (and i know that the intentions changed), he did start his alliance with priya to use her. him winning, after all of the drama, after priya was gone, wouldve just idk felt shitty. he did get the girl in the end, which concludes his story better than him winning it. (if im comparing this to the tdi 2007 final three,, i guess hes the gwen)

as for julia, she had two seasons to be villain, and it was amazing. she is so good at what she does and she is such a joy to watch. and we all know how total drama handles its villains, they need to get their comeuppance. did bowie double cross her last season? yes. and she came back still was the main villain and was AMAZING at it. but she was still the villain for another 13 episodes, AND HER GETTING PRIYA OUT LAST EPISODE, she cant win. was her just desserts satisfying? meh. nice callback to heather (we all know julia is the heather of this comparison), though i can understand people who dont like this callback and think its tiring or something. they couldve done something else, but im not mad (i kinda fuck with the mullet). i just see no satisfying way for julia to win with how she was presented in these seasons: she was not world tour heather, with three full length seasons and a greater threat to overcome; she was island heather, and therefore could not win.

overall thoughts of the season:

im someone that thinks the hockey bros jokes nearly always land, so i enjoy the shit out of them (i think im in the majority?)

im someone that did not like priyaleb at first, grew to being more neutral about it, but still found it to be a bit tiring. i like priya, i like caleb, i dont like tiring romantic subplots, and it sucks that that was the entire thing for these characters this season

the julia mk duo was AMAZING, one of the highlights of this season and one that i never wouldve expected to be real. mkulia wins in my heart and i hope they start their podcast (JULIA WAS GOIGN TO USE THE MONEY TO START THE PODCAST WITH MK HOLY SHIT GIRL IS IN LOVE)

it sucks that certain characters really got nothing this season (millie, nichelle, emma, and even axel to an extent).. but i get that characters like millie and emma already had a lot of screentime last time and someone has to be an early boot (just realize the ones i listed off were all women,, damn the writers fr just hate women)

at the end of the day, i really enjoyed this season. and i think the most important part of that enjoyment was this was the first time i got to watch a season and have no idea what was going to unfold. i watched the first four season of total drama when they were airing, but i was a little kid with poor comprehension skills. the first three seasons aired before i knew how to read (i learned to read late). and with tdpi, rr, and tdi 2023, i watched them after the fact and knew who the winners were going in. this was the first season i watched were i truly did not know the winner, and that added to my enjoyment. not to mention this being the one and only time i was present in an online space to talk about show as the episodes dropped. this season was a bit messy here and there, but it delivered some great stuff. i found myself laughing out loud and just having a good time, which is all i need out of my silly little cartoon

[justalittlebluetiefling]

Who asked me for almost 18.5k words on Steve and Nancy from Stranger things? No one? Just me? That’s fine. This was how I wanted to spend my time the last two weeks anyway.

I’m not great at introductions. I’ll just start this off with a bold thesis statement: Nancy and Steve have been intended as an endgame couple since season two. “Erin,” you might be saying, “season two is a stretch. They broke up so she could be with someone else,” while you not-so-secretly think that I’m losing it. To which I would point out that, yes, Jonathan and Nancy were one hundred percent intended to be the endgame couple at first. However, things shifted when they decided to keep Steve alive and give him his own character arc and development. They were turning Steve into someone that could be a good partner for Nancy and it doesn’t make a lot of narrative sense for them not to come back to each other in the end.

I’m getting away from myself. My point is that doing an immediate rewatch of the entire series after season four came out, I could see the shift that I hadn’t noticed before, so I want to talk about it by dissecting almost all of their interactions in every season with so many screenshots, because that’s just the kind of person I am.

Disclaimer: I just like picking apart narratives for fun. If you disagree/don’t ship it/hate me for writing this, that’s fun for you, but if you don’t have something constructive to add, let it die. There will be some talk about Jonathan and Nancy’s relationship in here as well, because it’s important to the narrative, but all the talk will be serving the thesis statement above. (I’ll also probably repeat points a few times because this is long and I lose track of things like that. And this is BARELY proofread by me, so I’m sorry.)

Season One

1x1

We get a few things from this episode.

Nancy is into Steve, but trying not to get her hopes up.

Our first glimpse into the Wheeler marriage. They are very obviously nowhere close to being on the same page.

It really is fun to go back and see Nancy with a crush. Just a girl with a crush on the popular boy and she’s really really trying to be cool about it. I mean, saying, “He likes me, but not like that,” while she can’t not smile the entire time?

We know Nancy is trying not to get her hopes up, so it’s nice that she has a friend here who knows her worth.

And this also begs the question… how much has Barb been present for their interactions? Not at all at this point, right? That’s not an answer we’re going to get, but she seems pretty insistent that Nancy is downplaying things.

Which, okay, we shift over into the bathroom where Steve and Nancy are making out and he’s doing dumb things like smiling into the kiss and trying to make plans to hang out more. Make out more, under the guise of studying.

The big thing about Steve here is that we don’t know much about him and his motives at this point. It would be really easy to write him off as what he was intended to be in the original script. But you can see it here. The way he doesn’t know what to do with someone like Nancy. How she might be different from other girls he’s pursued and he’s a confident guy, but he can tell he’s in a little over his head.

There’s also a greater conversation to be had about Steve and how much he needs physical touch as comfort, but I’m not ready to dive into that yet (maybe not in this essay at all), so I’m going to put this here. Physical touch: 1

Again, like I said above, it would be easy to write him off, right? He helps her study and he does try to push things a little further than she wants. But he listens when she tells him to stop and they go back to studying. This is something that I’m going to bring up again, but here’s why this is important. What we’re seeing here is that Nancy is the one who is setting the pace of this relationship. Whether or not it’s a pace he’s happy with, he’s sticking around, because she is what he wants. And this matters to Nancy. She sees him respecting the boundaries she’s setting.

It’s a little hint for us, the viewers, too. Something important about his personality to file away for later. This way he pushes followed by the rapid (if reluctant, in this case) pivot. And it’s important that we see Nancy clocking this. Taking in the way that he is different from the persona he uses on a daily basis. Now, in the future, we know that he’s a sad, vulnerable guy who is putting on a show, but no one at school knows that. Still, it’s something he can be for a moment around Nancy, because what’s that thing they said about Steve and Nancy? How she listens to him in a way no one else has at this point and it makes him feel more comfortable revealing this other side of himself?

I don’t know. I’ll talk about this more later, because Steve really is a rollercoaster this season.

1x2

So, their next scene is kind of interesting. Barb is quizzing Nancy in the hall and Steve steals the flashcards and both Steve and Nancy don’t notice Tommy messing with Barb’s ear really quick? But there’s something about how Nancy is Steve’s primary focus. Barb is more of an accessory to her than an individual at this point in Steve’s mind.

But, and I’m just going to dive into season 3 knowledge really quick, we know that the school’s perception of Nancy (per Robin) is that she’s “such a priss.” She and Barb aren’t cool by any means. And Tommy’s being a dick to be a dick. In contrast with Steve here, who is kind of being a dick to get attention. Anyway, it’s a whole thing with him tolerating Barb because he likes Nancy, and then there’s the other layer where Tommy and Carol are tolerating Nancy, because they like Steve. But that tolerance doesn’t extend to Barb. Hell, it barely extends to Nancy. This is the first time we see them, right? And it’s a horrible introduction. They listen to Steve, but they don’t really care how much he likes this girl. They laugh at her and she knows they’re laughing at her and I mean, honestly, this is kind of another thing about him, right? His friends don’t like her. She’s not one of the popular girls. But he doesn’t flinch about pursuing her. It’s a whole thing I don’t know how to get into, especially when he later tells Robin that Tommy H would have laughed at him for going after a girl like her in school and he hated veering away from what was expected of him. When it seems like, at least here, his pursuing Nancy isn’t exactly “cool” either.

Okay, back on track. We also get one of our only pieces of insight into his family life. His dad is out of town and his mom went with him, because she doesn’t trust him. It’s this line he’s made into a throwaway comment, because the real focus here is he wants Nancy to come over to his unsupervised house, right? I mostly want to point this out, because I’m going to say something about my thesis statement. At this point, this is actually still Nancy and Jonathan’s story and this moment here is showing Steve seeing Nancy’s distress and trying to push immediately through to the fix. This is simplifying what he does a bit, but it’s behavior we’re seeing now for a reason (and behavior we’ll see again next season).

Nancy’s saved from answering when Jonathan shows up, putting up posters and Tommy and Carol start making fun of him from a distance. We do at least see Steve telling Tommy to shut up when he jokes about Jonathan killing his brother. It’s hard to tell if that’s for Nancy’s benefit or not. He’s clearly annoyed when she goes to talk to Jonathan. (And this, right on the tail of him revealing that his dad very obviously has been unfaithful to his mom.) I’m inclined to think it wasn’t for Nancy’s benefit, but I’m feeling generous as I’m writing this.

And we’re hopping in the timeline a bit, but let’s finish talking about Steve here for a sec. Based on the way Steve opens the door, I would assume that he knows Barb is coming, but he doesn’t look bothered in the slightest. In fact, he is just so happy that Nancy’s here that nothing else matters. I mean, look at these faces. Look how excited they are to spend time together in a house without adult supervision.

Which is a perfect segue back into Nancy herself. It’s still just fun seeing her act like a stereotypical teenager with stereotypical teenager worries for a minute. And in stereotypical teenager fashion, she is nervous to go to this “party” without a safety net, no matter how excited she is to hang out with Steve. And she’s so excited! Both Nancy and Barb both know what’s going to happen. Or what Nancy wants to happen.

Nancy is trying to pretend it’s not about that for her, but she’s already made up her mind. Barb knows her friend well enough to know what’s going on. She doesn’t feel like she belongs here, but she’s here because she’s a good friend.

This is about Steve and Nancy though, so I don’t need to dig too much into Barb here. I also can’t even say that we’ve all been in this situation, but it feels like it’s relatable. Like a lot of people have possibly been either the Nancy or the Barb (or both) at some point in their lives. That intoxicating feeling of being into someone new, someone who you really like. Or sitting off to the side, being the chaperone your friend requested, with no actual desire to be there.

Honestly, Nancy is trying to remember herself here. She tries to include Barb and it backfires. And Steve tries, because Nancy tries, and he wants Nancy to stay. But he’s also done this thing where he’s dialed down the excitement. His cool guy façade is back. He’s showing off and they’re teasing each other. We get to have our first glimpse of fearless Nancy and she looks so pleased with herself.

There is a task and she is going to prove she can do it.

The thing is, circling back to the chaperone who doesn’t want to be there is that… well, Barb doesn’t want to be there. She’s annoyed at Nancy. Annoyed at the whole situation, really. Steve directs her to the bathroom when she hurts herself. We see a shot (through Jonathan’s camera) of Nancy staring back at the house. We see another shot of Steve, closer to the house, staring in the direction Barb went. Possibly a little out of actual concern. More likely, though, he’s worried that if Barb needs to leave, Nancy will go, too.

But then there’s Tommy and Carol, who distract them from what’s serious. They shift the mood.

And it’s time to bump up this count here. Physical Touch: 2

Really, I could count the stuff in the pool, but that was different.

This is Steve, reaching out to rub Nancy’s shoulder and ask if she’s all right. They’re smiling at each other and just adorable as heck in general and enamored with each other.

I said I wasn’t going to dig too much into the Barb stuff, but I have to. I’ll dig more into the results later, but for now, here’s where we’re at. Nancy wants to stay.

And this is a version of Nancy that Barb doesn’t recognize. I don’t know. There are a lot of layers to this. I know we’re meant to see this as Nancy acting in a way that’s out of her character here, because her best friend is telling her that this isn’t her. BUT. The things we know about Nancy now don’t line up with that interpretation.

This all brings me back to my point in the very brief introduction. How Jonathan and Nancy are meant to be the endgame couple right now. There is actually a parallel to this moment later this season that will point that out in more detail. Really, it can be explained away by growth in general. People grow and change and this may be out of Nancy’s character now but enough of her is recognizable here that I’m starting to talk in circles.

Let me get back on track. Nancy knows what she wants to do. She’s made up her mind. She tries to send Barb home, but Barb decides not to go, because she doesn’t want to abandon Nancy.

Physical touch: 3

I’m still not entirely sure where I’m going with the physical touch thing here, except it’s something Steve seems to do when he’s both offering and seeking comfort with Nancy. It may be as simple as that. And if that’s what we attribute it to, then I do think they’re both nervous here. Nancy is obviously more nervous. She’s gotten herself up here and it’s a big choice she’s making. But there’s also the Steve of it all, who has finally gotten Nancy Wheeler in his fucking bedroom and based on the way he looks at her, I’m not sure he was convinced he ever would.

And this is where I’ll come back to the other part of that point from my intro. They changed Steve. They made this a monumental moment for him, too, which is ultimately what throws a wrench into their plans for Jonathan. I mean, when she was supposed to be a notch in his belt, it would have worked. But instead, he’s soft with her. He’s worried about her feeling comfortable here, so he turns away when she asks. He turns back when she asks. He lets her set the pace and it means something when she wants to move forward.

1x3

Continuing right from the last moment, because the episode does, he checks in with her and she pushes things forward. The message here is hard to miss: Nancy abandoning her friend for Steve. They’re overlaying Barb’s death with Nancy and Steve having sex for the first time. The fucking shot of Steve gripping Nancy’s hand right next to the shot of Barb clinging to the pool ladder? Absolutely tragic.

They start forcing a disconnect between Steve and Nancy this episode. I don’t mean that in a way that it felt forced. I mean that they pile it on to make it feel worse. This was Nancy’s first time having sex and she’s justifiably feeling insecure afterward. Not only does Steve not wake up, but Barb is gone and Nancy has to walk home alone in the dark. (Season 4 Steve would never.) To top it all off, we know that Steve’s past hookups haven’t exactly been secret, so when she walks into school the next day, of course she’s going to be worried. But here’s where they put another wrench in their original plans. Steve cares that she knows that it mattered to him. He doesn’t ignore her. He comes up to say hi to her and then he picks up on her discomfort and immediately reassures her when she expresses her concerns to him. I had to make a gif for this moment, because like, come one. This isn’t the face of someone who doesn’t give a shit.

That is a relieved sigh that morphs into a fond look, because she believes him when he says he didn’t tell anyone.

For a minute, everything is okay. They’re both happy.

He kisses her in public and looks at her like this in public and it’s really just the sweetest. Nancy feels better. She’s happy. She doesn’t feel like a number.

Forgive me. I need a moment to mourn how cute and happy they are with their regular lives for a second. Not that everything would have been perfect for them if the Upside Down stuff didn’t happen and obviously they wouldn’t exist without the drama that happens the next four seasons, but damn. They’re cute and smitten and it’s all about to blow up.

Okay, I’m ready to move on.

During lunch, Nancy still hasn’t been able to find Barb and she goes to sit with Steve, Tommy, and Carol. There’s something really cute about how Steve leans into her almost as soon as she sits down next to him. And how Nancy leans into him. I’m actually really tempted to add this to the physical touch count, but it doesn’t quite meet the parameters I haven’t decided on yet.

Honestly, the other hilarious thing is that (and I know this is blocking for the cameras) Tommy and Carol, an established couple, aren’t sitting this close together when we see them through Steve and Nancy’s shoulders. And Steve and Nancy’s shoulders aren’t touching when we see the shots of Tommy and Carol, but as soon as it goes back to focus on Steve and Nancy, they’re leaning into each other again. It’s something weird that I can never unsee every time I see this scene.

Back to the whole thing. We have Steve here who is defending Nancy and telling Tommy to stop being an ass while also allowing his ego to be boosted when they’re making fun of her. Oh, but I will say this. Physical touch: 4. He goes for the reassuring thigh squeeze here, even if we can’t see it under the table. Trying to make sure she doesn’t worry about Barb. But Steve doesn’t know her the way Nancy does and Nancy knows something is wrong. You can actually see the disconnect here in real time, because they spent the entire scene glued at the shoulder

and as soon as he starts smirking over Carol and Tommy’s behavior

Nancy pulls back. Steve leans forward to eat while Nancy stays leaning back in her chair. It gives her a moment to have a long stare with Jonathan out in the hallway, of course.

Now, I’m not going to defend Steve’s behavior with Jonathan. Not exactly. It was a pretty bad reaction to have. But. Okay, fine, I guess I’m going to defend it a little bit. I do think we’re getting a glimpse of Steve as he was originally intended here. This is very much ‘bully’ behavior. However, we have some more context, which is that Steve knows Nancy is nervous people are going to judge her and Jonathan has a picture of her taking her shirt off. Not only did he take the picture, he’s fucking developing it on school property. I know the pictures are an important plot device, but dude. That’s a little fucked up.

Anyway, here’s this guy who took pictures of the girl Steve likes without her consent. The way he handled it? Yeah. Rough. Admittedly a little excessive. But the motives? I think those were ultimately good. ALSO. Okay, listen. Not that I think Steve needs defending, but he doesn’t even look like he feels good about it. The others (minus Nancy, of course) clearly enjoyed it. Steve just goes kind of blank. If this were Steve meta, I’d point out that he does this a couple other times this season – goes blank when he’s going into King Steve mode. All I’m really saying is, we know now that King Steve was an act, but there were signs and this is one of them.

We’re also at Physical Touch: 5 here. Nancy jogs down to his side and he slides his hand across her shoulders to walk back into the school with her. Again, using physical touch as an attempt at comfort. But this has still furthered their disconnect.

Nancy is worried about Barb and she doesn’t know what to do, but she does know that she can’t sit here and pretend things are normal. Steve either knows she’s distressed or needs comfort himself, because we have Physical Touch: 6.

It’s just this casual little touch and she leaves right after. Steve knows she’s lying. She’s not doing a great job at hiding it. But Tommy actually hits the nail on the head, unfortunately. “Maybe she freaked out when you went all psycho on the psycho.” And Steve says, “Oh, give me a break,” but he knows something is off and he knows part of it is something he did.

1x4 & 1x5

It’s interesting that Nancy gives Steve a chance here. She goes to him and tells him what she saw at his house, but they’re not communicating properly. He isn’t listening to her and she isn’t hearing anything like what she needs to from him. Nancy know something bad happened to Barb, but he can’t see past what his dad’s reaction is going to be to finding out about the party. Nancy leaves disappointed and finds a willing partner in Jonathan.

But it also does need to be pointed out that Jonathan isn’t doing this for Nancy. He’s doing it to find Will, which is still admirable. It’s what Nancy needs right now, anyway. Someone who is going to listen to her when everyone else is dismissing her. The point is, he has his own motives. They just happen to line up with hers for now. (And doesn’t that just describe their entire situation???)

So, yes. Jonathan is filling a void that Steve leaves open. But good news for Steve fans. When he fucks up, he knows he fucks up. He shows up to apologize and he says so many of the right things. He admits that he was a dick. He asks about Barb. But then he says the wrong thing. “Just kinda pretend everything’s normal for a few hours.”

Here’s a moment I’m going to take a wild leap into speculation. We don’t know what Steve’s home life is like, but the few things we’ve heard imply that it isn’t great. We know he’s a hopeless romantic. It seems very likely that he would have an idealized version of “normal” in his head, which I get the feeling is something he’s chasing. Someone who loves him, who he loves, who he can be vulnerable with, who will depend on him. Probably something a little bit like a romantic comedy where they walk off into the sunset together in the end.

It really can’t be an accident that we hear Steve talk about pretending things are normal shortly before we hear Nancy give her opinion on it.

Nancy: I don’t think my parents ever loved each other. Jonathan: They must’ve married for some reason. Nancy: My mom was young. My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So, they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac and started their nuclear family. Jonathan: Screw that. Nancy: Yeah. Screw that.

And it isn’t so much her opinion on love and normalcy so much as her being kind of jaded by her parents’ relationship. It’s her talking about a normal life. What people expect to happen. And she’s seen normal. For her, normal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s a loveless marriage and losing yourself and she doesn’t want that.

I mean, if you really look at them, you can see that Nancy and Steve actually have a similar view of what normal is. Just different perspectives. Because it could be argued that Steve is in a similar situation. His parents could have a very similar story, but he still chases a very idealized version of “normal”. What his parents have, that’s not normal to him. It’s lacking.

But also, there’s this whole thing about Jonathan basically mirroring what Barb said to Nancy before she went upstairs with Steve.  I saw this girl, you know, trying to be someone else. Which should probably hit harder, considering Barb’s “this isn’t you” from that night. Okay, but can I also dive into the other totally wild thing about this? The pictures Jonathan took of her were in Steve’s window. Where she and Steve were alone.  It was like you were alone, or thought you were. And you know, you could just be yourself. I know they didn’t mean to imply that Nancy would be safe being vulnerable with Steve. That she would be safe letting him see the sides of her that she’s afraid to show other people. YOU KNOW. Kind of like the way that’s who she is for Steve?!

Anyway, back to the Jonathan thing. He gives her that excuse, which I do think hits for her, but she also calls him out for the picture thing. And then Jonathan gets offended and defensive, so they start arguing. He doesn’t hesitate to use the ammunition he has. Nancy Wheeler, she’s not just another suburban girl who thinks she’s rebelling by doing exactly what every other suburban girl does until that phase passes and they marry some boring one-time jock who now works sales, and they live out a perfectly boring little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now, hey, they get it. The meaning behind this is not even a little subtle. “You’re doing the same thing as your mother,” is what he's saying. “You’re going to lose yourself in Steve the way she lost herself in your father.”

This is what hits hardest for Nancy. It’s what makes her doubt what she’s been doing.

1x6 & 1x7

Here comes some of the shared trauma. Or, it’s more trauma for Nancy, anyway. Not exactly shared at this point, when she was the one in the Upside Down being chased by that thing. It makes sense that Nancy wouldn’t want to be alone after this and of course, it’s the perfect setup for some miscommunication because Steve’s on his way to check on her and that is apparently out of character for him.

He says he could tell something was wrong with her and Carol’s response is, “So what? Like, you’re worried about her?” He tries to blow it off, but Tommy and Carol are dicks and they latch on to any signs of weakness. But the point is, he’s going out of his way and doing this thing he wouldn’t have done for any girl before her and he sees her in a compromising position and jumps to conclusions. We already know how he reacts to things like this after his whole scene with the camera earlier. But more on that later.

First, I’d like to talk about how Nancy is ready to jump right back in it. It’s something I love about her character. Trauma? That’s future Nancy’s problem.

Or, you know, present Nancy’s problem a little bit, because on top of everything else, there’s the sign. The sign hurts. We can see the tears in her eyes as she stares up at it. We can see her panic as she looks around at everyone who can see this. And then she hears the spray paint can and her entire face changes. Now, she’s fucking pissed and she’s not going to let them get away with doing this.

I also appreciate that she doesn’t do anything to disguise how hurt she is here. She walks up and she lets them see that she’s upset. And we see Steve and how mad he is, but he starts talking and it kind of falls apart. Yeah, he’s mad, but he’s also incredibly hurt. And lashing out in an incredibly passive way, actually. I actually think his behavior here is so interesting. Like, we’re watching him cling to some of the last pieces of this façade he’s built for himself, but he’s still so passive in this entire thing until Jonathan steps in. He didn’t stop Tommy from doing this. He’s arguing with Nancy, but he’s said his piece and he’s going to walk away. Then, Jonathan speaks and Steve flips. Nancy isn’t his target of choice. That is Jonathan. So he pushes and he pushes and he pushes until Jonathan snaps.

I actually hate the line from the woman at the police station. Only love makes you that crazy, sweetheart. She’s implying that Johnathan snapped in Nancy’s defense, and she doesn’t have the context, so how would she know otherwise? But we know what it was. It was Steve calling his family a bunch of screw-ups. A disgrace. So, yeah. It was love, but it was for his family. The same thing that has motivated all his other choices in this series.

Hell, we get almost immediate confirmation of this when Joyce comes to pick them up.

Joyce: You risked your life. And Nancy’s. Jonathan: I thought I could save Will.

And listen. I’m not knocking Jonathan for caring about Will more. I actually think that’s very cool and admirable, but he is reckless with her life for the sake of his family. Which, again. Cool. He cares about his family in a very intense way that I dig. But Nancy is not his priority. Not even now when they were still trying to sell them as an endgame ship.

And also, I can’t excuse Steve’s behavior, because it was shitty. But you know what? You look at him, sitting on his car and sulking and that is not the face of someone who won. Which, technically he did lose that fight, but Nancy’s been called out and he got to hit Jonathan a few times, plus Jonathan was arrested for their fight? I mean, that’s got to be a little bit of a win, right?

But no. None of that is what he cares about. I mean, talk about a drastic pivot. We have Jonathan in the police station admitting he is prioritizing his family and then we flip over to Steve who thinks he’s lost Nancy, but is still prioritizing her anyway. You never even liked her, because she’s not miserable like you two. She actually cares about other people. However long he’s been friends with Tommy and Carol and he’s throwing it away. He literally abandons them at this random convenience store to go clean up the mess he made.

1x8

While Steve’s been cleaning some shit up, Nancy and Jonathan have been busy. Hopper and Joyce are going into the Upside Down to try to find Will and Nancy wants to help. I wanna finish what we started. I want to kill it. And Jonathan is on board. He doesn’t want his mom to get hurt and the thing is, Nancy understands love through Acts of Service. We’re supposed to see Jonathan jumping on board with her plan here and appreciate it the way she does.

She and Jonathan prep. They set up their traps. They cut their hands, using their own blood as bait. And when they bandage up their hands, there is a charged moment. A moment that is interrupted by Steve. I don’t know about you, but to me, this says that Steve is always going to be in the way of their relationship.

And here’s the thing. Steve is here because he’s still trying to clean up his messes. It is important that he is here to apologize to Jonathan. He said some fucked up things and he knows it. He’s so desperate to apologize. She tries to send him away and he’s begging. No, no, no. Listen, I messed up, okay? I messed – I messed up. Okay? Really. Please. I just want to make things right. Honestly, he could have been mad or hurt that she’s here and it doesn’t even faze him.

But everything shifts for him when he sees that she’s hurt. His voice changes into a different kind of frantic and that’s when he forces himself in and gets to see what they’ve been up to. Nancy tries to force him out. I’m doing this for you. She doesn’t want to drag him into this, too. She doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt by this thing, but he gets dragged in anyway. Panicking, scared, he starts to run when Nancy tells him to run the next time.

Honestly, this kills me every time. Jonathan and Nancy stay inside to fight this thing that took people away from them and Steve is running. He’s fumbling with his keys and it takes him a second to get his door open and then he looks back at the house and the lights are flashing. I’m still baffled by people who say his redemption arc didn’t start until season two, because to me, it looks like it was well underway by this point. This entire season was the start of it or he wouldn’t have run back into the house even though he was terrified out of his mind. Just think about Tommy yelling, “Run away like you always do,” two episodes ago and then watch him run in, grab the nail bat, and push himself between this monster and Nancy and tell me he wasn’t already well on his way.

That’s the other thing. Everyone has a reason to be here. They have various ties to Will. Then there’s Nancy, who lost Barb to this thing and then got dragged in a little further because her brother is involved. Jonathan is here for Will. Steve is here for Nancy. Something that remains consistent through where we are in the present.

We don’t have much of an idea of what happened over the next month. How Nancy ended up back with Steve instead of with Jonathan. There are vague mentions in season two of how Nancy waited and Jonathan says it wasn’t long enough, but I’ll talk about them then. But we end this season with a relatively happy ending for Steve. Unfortunately for him, you can tell that there’s still something unfinished between Nancy and Jonathan and that Steve is blissfully unaware or willingly ignoring it.

The thing is, we’re watching her fall into the “normal” that she’s already stated she is afraid of. With the boring one-time jock and a house at the end of the cul-de-sac.

That, however, is actually a great segue into season two!

Season Two

2x1

Almost an entire year later, Steve and Nancy are still together and Nancy is desperately trying to be what is expected of her while desperately trying to push Steve out of the box he is supposed to fit in. They’re reviewing his college essay and he knows it’s crap and he’s so dejected over the whole thing, because he doesn’t even want to leave anyway. He’s doing this, because she wants it. He wants to do it because she wants him to. So much of what Steve is doing is for Nancy, not for himself.

This whole thing reads like a conversation they’ve had before.

Nancy: You don’t have to go. Just work on this. Steve: No, no, no. What’s the point? Nancy: Hey, calm down. Steve: I’m calm. I’m calm. I’m just being honest, you know. I mean… I’ll end up working for my dad anyway. Nancy: That’s not true.

It’s a source of insecurity for both of them, but for different reasons. The difference is, Steve can see some positives to it. If he stays, he could get all those adult things. You know, insurance and benefits and everything you need to buy a house at the end of a cul-de-sac. You can practically see that thought flashing through Nancy’s mind as he’s saying it.

For some reason, he also seems to be nervous about leaving her in general. I would say that it’s because he’s jealous of Jonathan, but I’m not so sure that’s it. Or, not entirely. He’s probably a little insecure about their friendship, but I think it’s more that he’s concerned that if he’s gone, if he’s not here, Nancy is going to lose interest. Steve is one hundred and ten percent all in for this relationship and there is no way he can’t sense that Nancy isn’t.

I do also have to bring something up here. Consider it a little teaser for when we get into season three stuff, but Nancy is actively suggesting that Jonathan might meet someone if he comes to the Halloween party with her and Steve. MORE ON THAT LATER. Because more importantly in this scene, they’re very cute and having a little normal teen moment.

She kisses him back, but pulls away first. There is tension here. Not from him, though. He’s got the dopiest smile but she stares wistfully after Jonathan before she tries to pull herself back into the moment.

Really, the entire first episode is just proof that Nancy hasn’t been doing anything to work toward moving on. She isn’t ready to and that is completely valid. But she’s been trying to pretend that everything is okay and it isn’t working. She isn’t even that good at hiding it. Steve can tell that the dinners with Barb’s parents are hard on her. He checks in with her on the porch and everything. They’re probably a source of stress for him, too, but he’s so much better at pretending than Nancy is.

2x2 – 2x3

Let’s start off episode two right with physical touch: 7. 

Again, it’s a comfort thing, right? This starts off as a general touch to get her attention, but his hand stays when he sees that she’s freaking out. Nancy, understandably, is holding onto a lot of trauma. Trauma that she associates with Steve. Steve, who is trying to fall back into some semblance of normal life and she’s followed, trying to make it work, but she resents him for how easy it is for him to do it. 

Steve does say something very interesting here. “This isn’t some game, Nance. If they found out that we told any–” He looks around, panicking a bit, and then closes the blinds. “They could put us in jail, okay? Or worse, they could destroy our families. They could do anything they want, okay?” We still don’t know what they were told at the end of season one, but it was clearly enough to scare him. Nancy is opening up to him here and it’s making him freak out a little because he doesn’t know what to do or how to stay within the parameters that the government (?) has set. He can’t do what she wants, so he suggests what works for him. What we know works for him from season one. Pretending to be a stupid teenager for a few hours. (Note physical touch: 8 in that hug.)

But this is what Nancy’s been doing for the last year. She’s tired of pretending, but god, does she commit. She commits so hard that Steve has to pretend too, because he’s so busy trying to stop Nancy from drinking too much that he can’t really be a stupid teenager himself.

And being drunk means Nancy can be more honest with him than she has been.

You’re – you’re pretending like – like everything is okay. You know like… like we didn’t – like we didn’t kill Barb. Like – like it’s great. Like… we’re in love and we’re partying. Yeah, let’s party, huh? We’re partying. This – this is bullshit.

And Steve’s hand is shaking as he cups her face here, because yeah, he knew she was struggling, but she’s still pulling the rug out from under him here. (Also, physical touch: 9 aka the last one.)

I love Steve a lot, which I hope is obvious by now, and I really want to believe that he wouldn’t just abandon her at a party, but like. Jonathan isn’t friends with Steve. Do you really think Jonathan would follow Steve out to ask if he’s okay when he sees him running out, clearly upset? Or would he go check on Nancy? Especially with the way Jonathan says it to Nancy when she asks about it later. There’s more than a hint of a lie there. There also still is a little bit of King Steve left. I don’t really think it’s an ego thing, except it kind of is. Nancy is breaking his heart. She’s making him cry at a party with witnesses and his reputation is already a disaster.

Steve also isn’t above being petty. He’s apparently been picking Nancy up for school for however long now and just doesn’t do it the next morning.

Nancy just has so much confidence when she says, “And then you took me home.” Even Nancy doesn’t believe he’d just leave her at a party. But Steve is pissed and they’re fighting and he does kind of deserve to be mad, because she’s been hiding all these feelings from him for how long? And I do really believe that he cares about the Barb thing. Obviously not to the extent that Nancy does, but he knows she died at his party and he sees how much it hurts Nancy every time they go see her parents.

This is a lot of me defending Steve here, but Nancy deserves some defense, too. “I’ve been trying so hard to pretend like everything’s fine, but it’s not,” she says to Jonathan in her next scene. For Nancy, pretending like everything was fine ended up meaning Steve and as we all know by now, Steve isn’t exactly dealing with his emotions. Repression is the name of his game. Retreating into comfort. Status quo. And Nancy let herself get swept up in that, because it was easy, but in the end, Nancy wants revenge and Jonathan does, too.

2x4 – 2x6

I don’t want to dive too much into the Jonathan of it all, except it is kind of unavoidable. It is important to note that he is getting some revenge out of this, too. It isn’t some purehearted notion that he can help Nancy. He isn’t blindly following along here. Will still has lingering aftereffects from his time in the Upside Down and again, he wants revenge on the people he blames for that.

Also, we are reaching their portion of the show. I will try to keep this as brief as possible.

It is strange to me that the people who are pushing Jonathan and Nancy together are adults. Flo with her comment about “love” being the only thing that makes you that crazy. This hotel lady who gives them a disbelieving look when they want two beds. Murray. But the people who are pushing Steve and Nancy together in season four are their peers? Dustin and Robin, primarily. Eddie. Steve himself. Even a little bit of Nancy.

Regardless, this is where we learn that Nancy waited for Jonathan to make a move after season one. That it took her a month to officially get together with Steve.

Jonathan: Will needed me. And Steve….. Nancy: I waited. Jonathan: Yeah, like only a month.

I mean, listen, Jonathan. What do you expect? For her to wait around for you forever? That’s just the least cool thing ever. It makes sense that his priority would be Will, but it puts everything into glaring contrast once again. Nancy is not going to be his top priority. Ever.

And then we meet Murray. This, of course, lines up with us seeing Steve go to Nancy’s house with flowers, ready to apologize. Even though he thinks Nancy might not love him the way he loves her, he’s willing to try anyway.

I’m going to veer wildly off-topic for a second, although maybe it’s not as off-topic as I think. There is a reason that she is his top priority and that’s because his character was essentially built as an accessory to Nancy. Of course, there are other things that we know about him, like his parents suck and Nancy made him feel seen in a way he wasn’t before. So, even taking into account the fact that he wasn’t much of a character outside of her prior to this season, there are reasons for that, too. It’s a very normal teen thing to go through, I think. Hell, it’s an adult problem, too. Defining yourself based off what you think you need to be for someone else. Which is where I come around to saying that I think their separation over the next two seasons was very important and ultimately a good thing for him and his character. For both of them, actually.

Anyway, back to Murray, who says a lot of things Nancy takes to heart. There is one I think hits the hardest for her, and it’s not actually the “we like Steve, but we don’t love Steve” moment. It’s this:

You’re being naïve, Nancy! Those people… they’re not wired like you and me, okay? They don’t spend their lives trying to get a look at what’s behind the curtain. They like the curtain. It provides them stability. Comfort. Definition.

Murray does also pull out this gem:

You’re harder to read. Probably, like everyone, afraid of what would happen if you accepted yourself for who you really are and retreated back to the safety of… name? Name?

All of it is just piling onto the rest of her insecurities about Steve, who is tempted to take the easy way out and work for his dad so he can have insurance and benefits and head down that road leading toward a loveless marriage. Steve, who is trying so damn hard to pretend like everything is normal. Trying so damn hard to get her to feel that way and is accidentally dismissing her grief by doing so. That is what is so painful about their whole extended breakup this season. Neither of them are doing these things on purpose.

2x8 – 2x9

Okay, let’s just move on. And I know, I skipped over Steve and Dustin’s little chat. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Plus, we’ve just got so much to unpack with these next two episodes.

Everyone regroups. There’s something cinematically beautiful about the way this happens. Steve is off with the kids and he hears a noise, turns toward it, starts to run toward it. But it’s Steve who notices it. And who notices a noise on the other end? Nancy.

Like, I know it seems sort of dorky to focus on shots like these, but they don’t usually do stuff like this by mistake.

Nancy also shifts between Steve and Jonathan a lot during these scenes. Like, she can’t decide where she’s going. She’s near Steve when they’re all arguing before the gate opens and she’s near him again when they’re all trying to get it open. Once they get back to the Byers house, she’s comforting Jonathan and Steve walks off, with the same sniffle/nose swipe he does at the party when he walks away from her, by the way. And then it’s her and Steve putting up the tarps and boarding things up and her and Steve together for the morse code scene and her and Steve on the front lines of the fight and her and Steve looking for space heaters in the back yard.

I could talk about the narrative meaning behind them boarding up the shack together, but that’s been talked to death already. The symbolism is so obvious. What I haven’t seen discussed is that while she’s complimenting him on how he took care of things while she and Jonathan were off doing their thing, he’s the one with the staple gun. Nancy’s got the duct tape and is helping him, but Steve is the one doing the work. Which, you know, Steve is also the one doing all the work with this breakup.

It's him who tells her to go with Jonathan. He recognizes that there is nothing salvageable here. He sees where she really wants to be and wishes he could have been there for her in the way Jonathan was, but knows he wasn’t brave enough to help her the way she wanted and she wasn’t brave enough to actually ask for that help. Their relationship was essentially over when he walked away from her in the alley, but here he makes sure she knows, in no uncertain terms, that it is over and it is okay that it’s over.

Steve also has a harder time looking at her here, which is so interesting, because she can’t take her eyes off of him. Steve tells her that she should be with Jonathan, the way that Murray and Flo and that motel lady told her there was something there. And none of it has felt good for her. This final nail in the coffin is not a relief. The long shot on her staring after him is not a happy one.

I mean, they literally left the space Steve was standing in empty. They didn’t do a zoom on her face. They panned out to show how empty that spot beside her was.

Everything I’m saying here boils down to this, I guess. Everyone’s been telling Nancy she isn’t in love with Steve and honestly, I don’t know whether or not I even think she was. What I usually end up landing on is that she wants to be in love with Steve. He says he was a pretty shitty boyfriend, but the few things we see of them early this season do not paint it in that light. Not exactly. Overall, he cared about her a lot and he tried to support her, even if it wasn’t in the way she wanted, and I think she knows that. Their relationship wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t enough for her right now. And here Steve is absolving her of all of that. He couldn’t help her shoulder the responsibility of Barb’s death, so he takes on the responsibility of ending their relationship when he knows she wants something else and that�� is just so heartbreaking. For Nancy, as well as Steve. (Also, Steve isn’t with Nancy anymore but he goes with her to Barb’s funeral. He arguably has no reason to go, but he does, because it’s right.)

I had to come back up here to add that while Nancy is staring sadly after Steve, we have a bit of voiceover with Mike’s lines from the next scene. Just be careful, okay? I can’t lose you again. I don’t have a lot to say about this now, but I think I mentioned this before somewhere. Editing choices like this are on purpose.

So, Steve watches the girl he loves drive off with the guy she can actually love right now and he stays behind to babysit. He stays behind to protect the kids, because that’s what he told Nancy he would do. He tries to fight Billy to protect Lucas and Max. He lets the kids drag him down into a nightmare pit and he does protect them. He saves Mike when the vines grab him. He pushes the kids out of the hole ahead of him and puts himself in front of Dustin when the demodogs are charging.

And what I’m about to say is possibly an unfair characterization of Nancy here, but she has almost been turned into an accessory of Jonathan’s in this last fight. She isn’t in charge. She doesn’t really contribute. She’s here for comfort. Which is fine, but it’s not very Nancy. At least, not the Nancy we know now. Nancy takes charge. She takes action. And this isn’t really her fight and you can sort of feel that through the entire scene.

The final part of this season has also been talked to death. Steve taking Dustin to the dance, helping him get ready, giving him a pep talk, and then Nancy taking care of Dustin at the dance. This is also one of the scenes that really convinces me they’ve shifted to endgame Steve/Nancy at this point. Because Dustin goes into the dance and he stares longingly at Max and Lucas while they dance right after Steve stares longingly at Nancy who he knows is with someone. It’s hard to ignore that parallel, even if Dustin does later move on while Steve doesn’t. Anyway, Steve and Nancy aren’t together anymore, but they’re still working on the same side to take care of Dustin and that is not a coincidence. Apart, their priorities are starting to align, even if neither of them are aware of it.  

Season Three

We’re really in it now. Honestly, for as little of it as we got, I love the Steve and Nancy content from this season. The fucking parallels of the way they’re living their lives without each other is unreal. I think this will be a short section, but who fucking knows with me.

We start off with a great parallel. Nancy is working her summer job at the newspaper and it is not going as planned. And also, we want to talk about shitty boyfriends?

Nancy: They don’t actually like me or respect me as a living, breathing human with a brain. Jonathan: Wait, you just – you just gotta be patient, okay? They’re set in their ways, you know? But once they realize what a gifted writer you are, they’ll come around.

First of all. This is literally the same behavior we had from Steve in the beginning of season one. But it’s on purpose. Jonathan is actively trying to sweep her problems with this job under the rug. Second. Man, I don’t know if I really want to get into this. I don’t really want to bash on their relationship, because it’s fine, but their communication is pretty broken down, too. Once again, Nancy has a boyfriend who is advocating for the status quo. Advocating patience. Nancy has been tired of patience for a while now. She is tired of pretending everything is fine.

So, yeah, Nancy? Not happy at her job. Swipe over to Steve who is, surprise, also not happy with his job. His life is not going as planned. Girls don’t find him attractive right now (their loss). He didn’t get into college and his dad wouldn’t hire him as a punishment.

Robin: Have you considered telling the truth? Steve: Oh, you mean that I couldn’t even get into Tech and my douchebag dad’s trying to teach me a lesson? I make three bucks an hour and I have no future? That truth?

He looks genuinely upset. This is worse than he was afraid of last year. He doesn’t have anything he did at this point last year. Not even an ounce of it, and yet, he still approaches everything with this next-level confidence no matter how miserable he is. But this is another on purpose narrative parallel. Steve and Nancy are both not good. Jonathan is.

Even though I’m kind of skimming this season, I’m going to put it into unlabeled sections or I’m going to lose my mind over the formatting.

That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Jonathan and Nancy are fighting, because they got fired over something she started. He didn’t even try to defend them. Nancy did. And now he’s pissed, because he lost his job. Which I do get (I grew up in a similar financial situation). But there’s this thing about him where he knows how to hit her where it hurts.

I don’t live in a two-story house on Maple Street. My dad doesn’t earn six figures. Hell, he isn’t even around. … Mortgage, college tuition, you know, those are real things, Nancy. Things that you don’t care about only because you don’t have to. … You want everything handed to you on a silver platter. I mean, we were interns, Nancy! Interns! What did you expect? That you would make star reporter in a month? Crack the big case?

This is so much like the argument they had in season one where he called her out about the cul-de-sac and boring one-time jock and it all boils down to what Nancy says here. I guess we just don’t understand each other anymore. And she’s right. It’s true. They understand each other when there is a cause they both want to fight, but when it comes to normal life, there is a disconnect that they can’t seem to get past.

There’s something about how Jonathon didn’t think in season one. He says that to Joyce when she mentions that he endangered himself and Nancy. And then here, Nancy is talking to her mom, and says almost exactly the same thing. To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about him. I wasn’t thinking about anyone really. It’s this great bonding moment for Nancy and her mom, because we can hear Karen confirming (not explicitly) the things Nancy said about her in season one. How she obviously wanted more for herself. And she sees Nancy who wants things for herself and she encourages her not to stop, because she doesn’t want to see Nancy fall into the same thing she did. Nancy’s mom believes in her so much.

Honestly, there’s a super interesting comparison here between Jonathan and Nancy’s story and Dustin and Steve’s story. Steve hesitated in seasons one and two. Ultimately, he followed through, but he hesitated at first. Here, in season three, he willingly dives back in. And then there’s Jonathan who dove right in with Nancy in the first two seasons and now that his family isn’t in trouble, now that there isn’t anything in it for him, he is hesitating.

Of course, that all changes once Nancy says she thinks Will might be in danger. All of a sudden, Jonathan’s back in it.

LISTEN. I’m so excited about this connection I made in my notes.

2x8, Jonathan to Will: Sorry I wasn’t there. I should have been here. 3x5, Will to Jonathan: You weren’t there?! And his response: Well, I’m here now, aren’t I? With Nancy’s addition of: Hallelujah. 4x9, Jonathan to Nancy: I’m sorry I wasn’t here. And Nancy’s response: To be honest, I’m kind of glad you weren’t.

LIKE. LOOK. It’s just a thing about recurring themes and who always shows up, isn’t it?

Can I just drop this here and then go off about it later? I think I have to. This is now a teaser.

There is a bright side for Jonathan, which is his apology. Except for the fact that in the next episode, he’s already kind of backed off from it and is doubting her again.

Okay, I want to talk about Steve again. Steve’s redemption arc obviously started in season one, but we’re really seeing the culmination of his character arc over the last three seasons fall into place during his conversation with Robin. It is ridiculously self-aware in a way that I’m not sure people realize Steve is. But you can’t move on from the past behavior he moved on from without being self-aware. Anyway, I love this moment from him.

Robin: You were a real asshole, you know that? Steve: Yeah, I know. Robin: But it didn’t even matter. It didn’t matter that you were an ass. I was still… obsessed with you. Even though all of us losers pretend to be above it all, we still just wanna be popular. Accepted. Normal. Steve: If it makes you feel any better, having those things isn’t all that great. Seriously. It just baffles me. Everything that people tell you is important, everything that people say you should care about, it’s all just… bullshit.

This, on top of another line from this scene: Maybe instead of being here, I’d be on my way to college right now. It’s all coming down to Nancy. The first hint is bullshit, obviously. That’s pretty much Nancy’s catchphrase at this point. She called him out during their bathroom fight for being bullshit. It’s something that has probably informed a lot of his growth over the last year of his life. But the second hint is the mention of college. He’s still thinking about the things Nancy tried to make him believe he could have in life, but the difference is, he actually seems to want them for his own reasons now.

And I’m about to say something. I don’t know the fandom’s opinion on this, because I’m not super keyed into the fandom for this show, but like. Okay. We all know Steve was lying when he says he’s not in love with Nancy anymore, right? Robin hasn’t metabolized the truth serum or whatever yet, or she has and she just has no filter, but Steve is 1000% lying. And like, one could argue that he’s convinced himself of this, but shit. It’s proven to be a lie almost immediately.

He’s going on here about how he’s found someone a little better for him and we are kind of taught here that when it comes to meaningful relationships, Steve has a type. Super smart. Maybe a little shy, but actually super confident and sure of themselves and what they want. Robin and Nancy are actually pretty similar when it comes down to the list of bullet points about their personalities. And he’s trying really hard to replace Nancy and it might have worked if Robin were into guys, but she isn’t.

Which leads me to my favorite Steve moment ever that isn’t related to Nancy. This pivot here? Fucking masterful. She is vulnerable and admits something very scary to him and it just does not bother him even a little. He is so supportive. I just love him.

Finally, let’s talk about when Steve and Nancy finally see each other again. I feel like this has to be his least ideal way of seeing her again. In this little sailor outfit that he has to wear for his job after he got beat up. The amazing thing here is that Nancy runs right up to him to check on him. And the best part, the most promising part, is that she’s jealous of Robin.

I’m sorry. Who are you?!

And poor Steve over here is just staring at her. Blatantly staring.

Does anyone really want to tell me he still doesn’t have feelings for her after that look? And vice versa. Honestly, it’s the way she just immediately doesn’t like Robin for me. Nancy looking from Robin over to Steve like she’s looking for some kind of hint as to what he was thinking when he pulled her into his.

Okay, really, I just love so much about this finale. It’s wild how good it is.

Once they’re split up, it’s Steve (again) who notices that something is wrong before anyone else. That shot of him staring off into the distance just like last season, looking in Nancy’s direction and knowing that something isn’t right down there.

And then when they hear the noises on the walkie, he throws himself up and starts sprinting for the car. It’s so good.

NOT TO MENTION. Nancy being a fucking badass and putting herself between everyone and Billy’s car and then Steve smashing in at the last possible second to save her. It’s just. IT’S SO GOOD. The way he doesn’t even hesitate to crash his car into Billy’s is so good. (Remember that whole thing about who is always there?) It doesn’t feel like there’s much to elaborate on with all this, except you remember how I said the thing up above about Jonathan hesitating this season until his family is involved and Steve not doing that? Well, here’s Steve not hesitating.

Season Four

This section is long. Take a break here if you have to.

4x1 – 4x3

Here we are! Season four! Now, I’ve always loved Steve and Nancy together and it’s always felt clear that there was some unfinished business there, but I didn’t expect what we got in this season. Not even a little.

By the end of the first episode, we know where Steve and Nancy’s love lives are.

I’m going to talk about Nancy’s first, because there’s obviously some Jonathan talk. I actually really liked the way that this scene was set up. It weirdly shows that they’re on the same page about where their relationship is. They’re both a bit in denial about how things are going. They defend each other and their relationship while giving no real reason why they’re not going to see each other over the break. Jonathan’s mom works and he has to watch his brother and Jonathan wants to be there for his acceptance letter, all in her lying voice. The voice that kind of cracks and goes up an octave at the end of her sentences. And Jonathan saying that Nancy works over breaks, because that’s the kind of dedicated person she is. When really, the only thing being communicated loud and clear here is this: if they wanted to see each other, they could have.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at where Steve is sitting. He’s over here saying things like, “Do I really want to start another relationship that has no point other than sex?” The answer: no. And things like, “I really dig this girl. I mean, I think that she could – who knows, maybe she could be the one.” Is she the one, Steve? Is she? Are you on the same page? Because she thinks Tammy Thompson is a good singer. I mean, I know and we know that he’s just saying that to Dustin. He doesn’t really believe it. There’s no conviction behind the words.

Hell, he admits in the next episode that he’s as hopeless as Robin. But you know, there’s this thing he’s doing while Robin is monologuing here. Especially this portion. “I know exactly what I want and I’ve found the girl of my dreams, but I just can’t get the courage to ask her out. Meanwhile, you go on like, a million dates and you have no idea what you want.” He’s staring off into the distance and thinking about something the whole time Robin is talking about that. Now, I don’t want to say he was thinking about Nancy here, except… I mean, listen. Veering into later episode conversations for a moment, it isn’t much of a stretch to assume that he does know what he wants. He’s just not saying it out loud, because there’s no point.

Meanwhile, we have Nancy reliving her trauma through Chrissy’s death. Pushing her back into action, because she knows it’s something more. This being here gives me a little hope that we might have a conversation between Steve and Nancy next season closing the loop on Nancy’s trauma and her subsequent resentment of their relationship.

But I’m getting off track again. The important things to bring up for Nancy in episode two is that once again, it is being highlighted that Jonathan isn’t here and she is annoyed about that. But in doing so, we also have to talk about how Jonathan is unloading all his worries onto Argyle. How he admits that Nancy’s dream for their future isn’t his and he’s been lying to her. He doesn’t want to go to Emerson. All he can see right now is the end of their relationship, whether it’s now or a more miserable years down the road.

Which, like, if you take into account later episodes once again… and you think about Robin telling Steve that he doesn’t know what he wants when we know for a fact that he does…. You see what I’m getting at?

Anyway, let’s circle back to how Nancy is annoyed that Jonathan isn’t here. How she just admitted this to Fred half a day ago and she is left alone, being questioned by cops who have never taken her seriously, she’s hugging her stomach and kind of hunched over and she just looks terrified.

But then, she sees Steve’s car pull up and everything shifts. There is visible relief. She is so taken aback.

The cops are still trying to talk to her, but she’s not looking at them. She’s not even listening to them. Their voices literally fade into the background. She’s laser-focused on Steve and the fact that he is there. She gives him a little wave. He gives her a little wave back.

And then she smiles.

Because he showed up. Steve didn’t even know that she needed support and he’s miraculously there.

There was so much focus the first two episodes about how Jonathan wasn’t there and how much that bothered her and the first thing that happens in episode three is Steve showing up when Nancy is in distress. And it keeps getting better!

First of all, we’ve got Steve who is staring at Nancy, which is why he notices that she’s splitting off from the group.

Which leads to his subsequent panic. “No, it’s too dangerous. You need… you need someone to….” Steve can’t really get the words out and I love the way Nancy looks at him here while she’s waiting for him to say what he thinks she needs.

Like, she doesn’t interrupt him. She doesn’t fire back or anything. Because, you know, I feel like a lot of people would expect her to deny help before he can offer it. But we already know that Nancy doesn’t want to be alone, because she’s said she doesn’t want to be alone. Remember? She’s annoyed that Jonathan isn’t here. And here’s Steve offering himself and his help without needing to ask.

Second of all, we have this look at Robin when she interjects and says she’ll go with Nancy.

We already know from the end of last season that Nancy isn’t Robin’s biggest fan. Of all people to tag along, she’s Nancy’s last choice. And then Robin’s giving him shit. “Unless you think we need you to protect us.” And he doesn’t have anything he can say to that. But he wanted to go with Nancy. So bad. And you know Robin knows it. I mean, look at that face.

He couldn’t say he wanted to go with Nancy to protect her, because he knows Nancy doesn’t need protection, but Robin knew what he wanted to say and she can one-hundred percent give him shit for it.

But you know, let’s circle back to Nancy and how she didn’t really say anything when Steve was saying he wanted to help. And her little smile and her shrug.

It looks a little like a “you tried” or “thanks anyway”. And we’re left with poor Steve gawking.

Pretty public, indeed.

Third, we have Dustin straight up calling Steve out about his feelings. You know, in case we missed any of the other hints so far.

And fourth. Finally. We have more jealousy from Nancy. Anyone who was caught off guard by this didn’t pay attention in 3x8, because this isn’t a new development. And really, hold on, I guess this means I get to talk about Robin a little more. Who obviously isn’t stupid. Like, last season, we have Steve telling her that he isn’t in love with Nancy anymore, but he hasn’t been able to commit to anyone since. See her ridiculous smile above again. And now, we have Nancy, saying, “You’re obviously bored, so why don’t you call Steve?”

You can practically see the lightbulb going off in her head. Especially coupled with Nancy’s eye roll that I didn’t notice until I was picking these scenes apart because the camera cuts away in the middle of it?

So, Robin, having her friends’ best interests in mind, practically falls down the stairs to reassure Nancy that she and Steve are totally not a thing.  

I think you’re supposed to look less interested in this information, Nancy. Funny how immediately after this, Nancy is a heck of a lot nicer to Robin. I wonder why.

4x4 – 4x6

I’d like to start this portion of season four by saying that someone should really talk to Steve about how to look at your ex-girlfriend.

Or not. I mean, this is the right way to look at someone, really.

Once again, it’s being pointed out that Steve is here. That seems to be the theme this season. Not only that he’s here, but that he’s eager to throw himself into danger beside her now. To help. Nancy isn’t planning to take him with her, again, and Steve is following her around the house because he wants to go. He’s over here saying things like, “Why does it always have to be me? It’s like–“

What is it like, Steve?

And like, “I can’t do anything here, Nance!”

God, he wants to help so bad.

We also have Robin here to helpfully point out that Nancy still has a Tom Cruise poster in her room. In front of Nancy’s ex-boyfriend who once pointed out that his friends say he looks like her lover boy from Risky Business. Subtlety, party of zero.

The real thing I want to talk about here is how there’s a very interesting mix of comfort and tension. Nancy and Steve argue like they know each other so well, which they kind of do, but there’s something heavier here. Steve not wanting Nancy to run off into potential danger without him, because he wants to be there to know she’s okay. Right? Like I said. There’s no subtlety to any of this.

Honestly, this all reminds me again of how Nancy is the first person who took Steve seriously. I mean, sure, that’s something I’m kind of inferring from that wiki entry about their relationship, but it seems valid. How she listened to him in a way no one else did and it made him feel seen and heard and he’s trying to communicate with her here that he doesn’t want to be left behind, because of that.

Next episode, we find them all sleeping in the Wheeler’s basement. And positioning, my friends. It is so important. Steve is passed out in that chair and when Nancy wakes up, sitting up, she’s on the floor right in front of said chair? Yeah. That happened. How and why? We’ll never know for sure. But there’s a whole thing I could say about gravitating toward each other as a source of comfort. Or more specifically Nancy possibly gravitating toward Steve as a source of comfort because he’s there and helping.

But the real important thing this episode is Steve and Nancy breaking down those barriers, right? Another thing that I know has been discussed to death, but we can’t have a Steve and Nancy essay without this point, can we? They end season two boarding up a building together. Symbolically closing off communication between the two of them, because they were not on the same page then. Or, they were, but it was too late.

And this season, after over a year of growing separately, they are officially on the same page and reopening lines of communication and vulnerability with each other. Not only that, but during this whole conversation, they’re nonverbally checking in with each other the entire time. Everyone is participating in this conversation, but they’re looking at each other.

Hell, even a verbal check-in before they open the door.

I mean, talking about a lack of subtlety. But Steve asking “ready?” before they let the plank of wood fall down is fucking wild, honestly.

I’m going to talk about Robin being involved with a significant portion of Steve and Nancy’s major moments near the end of this. Just, that’s another teaser for you. But it’s a thing and it’s big.

How about this cobwebs scene, huh? I feel like I should just make a collage of Nancy’s faces here. It’s just… I hear a lot of talk about how devastatingly fond Steve looks all the time when he’s looking at her, but this is just ridiculous.

The soft little smiles when he can’t see her. Like, maybe it’s just me, but how do you smile like this when you’re picking cobwebs out of someone’s hair?

And what is with this direct, prolonged eye contact from both of them??? Steve???

The way Nancy goes from smiles

to just sad?

And then he says his little thing that he wants to make him sound smart and he just completely butchers it and Nancy is back to smiles again?

Honestly, her face is a journey here and it’s really better shown via mediocre gifs, so have these.

So, now that I’ve gushed over the faces in this scene, maybe I should try talking about it in a little more clarity. I’m not sure I can, though. They’re just so cute. Steve opening the door and being like, hey we should hang out again. You know, with people. Because that’s safer, right? It’s a safe way for him to say he misses having her around without having to actually say it. Nancy’s picking up what he’s putting down and she’s charmed. Honestly, I’d love to have some more information about how things went when they were first getting together. Or however they got together after season one. Because he’s rambling. It’s cute. Nancy thinks it’s cute.

But then they’re looking at each other again and making that incredibly direct eye contact and the gravity of the situation hits her. And by the situation, I mean the fact that both of them could step away, could separate, and they just don’t. They stay in each other’s space and they look at each other and Steve tries to say something smart and ends up fucking it up, but it’s still cute and y’all it’s those feelings that are bubbling back up whether she wants it to or not.

And in the next episode, we finally have Steve and Nancy standing directly next to each other almost every time they’re in a scene together. Before this, they’ve been separated by the group, tending to be across from each other more often than side by side. But until they split up again in season nine, they’re placed next to each other a majority of the time.

That’s just a little aside, though. The real content here is Robin wishing happiness for her friends.

If I’m permitted to see a silver lining in any of this end-of-the-world doom and gloom, it would be the rekindling of some old flames that frankly never should have been snuffed out. I didn’t mean that as a hint or anything. … But if I did mean it as a hint, would that be so terrible? For me to wish happiness for my friends?

Before I move onto Nancy’s entire monologue, can I just point out the absolute panic from our beloved Nance in the middle of this whole thing from Robin?

It’s honestly very reminiscent of the conversation with Murray in season two, where he’s telling her the whole “we like Steve but we don’t love him” thing and she gets very defensive. She didn’t know then if she was making the right choice and the past couple days for her, it’s really been driven home that she still doesn’t know if she made the right choice.

And then we have Nancy’s not even a little concealed “uh oh I’m about to vent all over this poor person” here.

I could tear apart this monologue from her. It’s a really good one, though… is it a monologue if it’s one sentence that lasts an incredibly long time? That doesn’t matter. Nancy is finally admitting to someone, to Robin, that she doesn’t know if she’s happy. That things with Jonathan are not good. That she has been feeling their relationship crumble for a while and she can’t get ahold of him to find out if it’s just the distance or if they’ve genuinely grown apart. While yes, this is huge for the Steve and Nancy of it all, it’s also just huge for Nancy in general. The poor girl hasn’t had a real close friend since Barb died and Robin is barely implying the hey you can talk to me and Nancy takes full advantage immediately.

Obviously the final thing we have to talk about in this chunk of episodes is the boat. Very proud of Steve who will not be left behind again just jumping into that boat, because he is going to be there, damn it.

But also, personal space? Steve and Nancy don’t know her.

I mean, Eddie and Robin are doing their part, sitting on the bench like normal people. Meanwhile, Nancy is over here with her knee as close as it can be to Steve’s without actually making contact.

You know, it’s absolutely bonkers how this is panning out. Nancy went to Steve in season one about Barb first, right? She saw the, at that point in time, unknown creature behind his house and she went to him first. He dismissed the whole thing because he was more focused on how it affected him than on the greater issue at hand. And here we are, a couple years in the future, and he’s right next to her, ready to dive into potential danger the way she wanted in the first place. Of course, we can’t talk about all that without talking about how worried she is when she realizes what he’s doing.

And what’s his response to this? It’s gotta be me. No complaints, all right?

And Nancy. Girl. I mean, no one can blame her, but she’s out here ogling Steve. In front of EVERYONE.

It’s pretty fucking public. And Robin is delighted to clock this.

Again, I think I mentioned this as a teaser already, but I’m going to re-tease it. Robin is so important to Steve/Nancy this season. Like, it’s ridiculous.

Nancy doesn’t even give a shit that it’s public. She’s not paying any attention to Robin or Eddie. These two dorks can’t keep it together for one second.  She tells him to be careful and he gives her that quiet little nod.

They have zero chill about each other. Honestly, it’s just like… that whole thing I already said where his character development has taken him to this place where he’s pretty much exactly what Nancy wanted from a partner originally. Do people really think that’s an accident?

Anyway, she continues to have zero chill the entire time he’s underwater.

And again when he resurfaces, she’s just got to smile like that?!

But yeah, here we get our moment with zero hesitation. Where Steve is yanked back under the water and Nancy is the one to get it together first and dive right in. Steve will probably say that she’d do it for anyone and would she? Yeah. That’s who Nancy is. But they didn’t show us her diving into danger for anyone. They showed her diving into danger to save Steve for reasons.

4x7

I’m trying to decide how to talk about the post-demobat fight scene, because there’s a lot to it. I could make a joke about how Nancy was looking for any excuse to touch Steve, because. I mean.

Which, sure. That’s a little bit of it, isn’t it? But also, she’s worried about him. They’re not minor wounds, by any means.

Nancy has to make sure that he’s not about to die on her. And of course, he makes a stupid joke saying that he’s never been better.

But like, really, what this is about is Nancy’s relief and their connection. She does that thing again when he makes that joke, when she sees that he’s (mostly) okay. The same thing she did in episode three when she saw him pull up and her entire body sags with relief.

It’s giving me “I’m doing this for you” and [Steve runs back into a house he knows a dangerous monster is in] in a weird way. Don’t ask me to elaborate. I’ve been elaborating for such a long time. 

Also, do you mind if I briefly die over the fact that Steve is incredibly injured and still he puts himself in front of everyone when the next wave of bats shows up?

Anyway. Nancy is the one they have immediately run to his side there. And when they’re hiding under Upside Down Skull Rock and he stumbles, she’s the one who runs to his side again. Well, she was already there, because she’s so keyed into how he’s doing here.

Continuing her trend of not hesitating, Nancy doesn’t hesitate to rip off part of her shirt to bandage up Steve’s wounds here. I also need to make sure you all know that she asks him if the bandage is too tight, which is a direct and on purpose parallel to season one where she’s sort of dating Steve and bandaging up Jonathan’s hand and she asks him if it’s too tight. Like. Girl. How do you feel about this narrative you’re in?

It makes sense that it’s a parallel, because she and Jonathan were pretty close to kissing there when Jonathan interrupted and there should technically be something interrupting these two now, but their audience isn’t paying attention to them, which means that no one is really noticing how… uh… flirtatious and sexual this scene is except for these two. I mean. These two definitely notice.

Like, she tightens the bandage and I’m pretty sure she tucks the ends of it into his pants for him while he’s up there running his hands through his hair in what is arguably the most attractive first aid scene ever on television.

The tension here? Unparalleled. And what does he do when he’s looking at her like this?

He fucking thanks her. And Nancy’s sent through a whole face journey, as she often with Steve this season.

But like, Robin and Eddie are literally turning their backs and giving them privacy for this, which is wild. Giving Steve and Nancy time for prolonged eye contact and confusing feelings that are violently resurfacing.

I mentioned earlier in this thing that Nancy and Steve are framed together a lot in the latter half of this season. I really like the way they did it, actually. Because when they have an incredibly intimate moment, like the above first aid moment above, we see Nancy pull away after to take some space. Like she has to remind herself that the ability to take space exists and that she should probably take it.

But the gap is always closed after. And in this case, it’s closed by Steve with another little joke and Nancy flirts. With more prolonged eye contact. And he knows she’s flirting.

IT’S PRETTY PUBLIC.

I don’t have a lot to say about this shot, except I do love how annoyed they both look by Eddie’s interruption.

Remember what I said about close, intimate moments followed by Nancy forcing separation? Well, that’s about to happen again immediately with this earthquake. They hold onto each other for thirty whole seconds. The earthquake lasts for eight of those. So, for twenty-two seconds after it ends, they just stand there like this.

I guess I did make a joke about Nancy looking for any opportunity to touch Steve, but it’s vice versa, too, right? He’s clinging to her shoulder and she’s clinging to his arm and it’s a lot. You can tell Nancy thinks it’s a lot, too.

But she’s still staring at Steve after, so we know even more that Nancy is forcing space she doesn’t necessarily want, even though she has to take it.

Let me just… I want to write out Eddie’s whole speech, because it’s just important.

See? The only reason I came in here was ‘cause those ladies came in straight after you. Now, I was too ashamed to be the one who stayed behind. But Wheeler? Right there? She didn’t waste a second. Not one second. She just dove right in. Now, I don’t know what happened between you two, but if I were you? I would get her back. ‘Cause that was as unambiguous a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen.

That, with the subtitle [subdued emotional music] with Steve staring longingly after Nancy? You can tell he doesn’t believe it. Or he doesn’t want to allow himself to believe it, but he wants to so bad. Because, you know, Eddie doesn’t know what happened between the two of them and there is so much history and weight between Nancy and Steve and it wasn’t his fault, but he’s also the one who ended things and made the official choice to walk away. So, yeah. Poor Steve.

You know, I find the order that they choose to go back through the gate to be pretty interesting. Robin, Eddie, Nancy, and then Steve. Why is Steve the last out when he’s injured? I know that, logically, it’s because there’s intended to be another Steve and Nancy scene here, but what are they even thinking here?

And then Steve nods at Eddie to go up. Neither of them are super willing to leave the other behind and I think that’s lovely.

And finally, we’re being shown what we already know. Nancy’s biggest source of trauma. Steve’s pool. The night Barb died. They pointed out how time stopped in the Upside Down the night Will went missing, because Nancy’s flashcards weren’t done. It’s a bit like how Nancy got stuck in her grief, right? Symbolically? And showing us that her grief is still there, that some of that lingering self-blame is still there, is obviously going to be super important. Eventually. Just not this season.

4x8

This sort of overlaps with the previous episode, but we’ll lump it all together here. Steve’s panic and desperation, trying to get Nancy to hear him, yelling at everyone else to figure it the fuck out. “Stay with me,” with his hands on her shoulders, then her face, then her shoulders and neck. And when she wakes up, she just collapses and he immediately catches her. “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. It’s okay, I’m right here. I’m right here.”

So, what do we get from this? Well, there’s the obvious. It’s been talked about multiple times in season four. Jonathan isn’t here. Steve is. And this isn’t a new thing for Jonathan. He apologizes at least once a season to someone for not being there. And, still obvious, but less so. After this moment, we have Hopper and Joyce talking to each other. “I thought I lost you.” / “I did lose you.” And then, perhaps less obvious. This kind of parallel to other couples on top of others. Mike says, “I’m here,” to El in season three while holding her. In this season, we hear Lucas talking to Max about how he sees her while we have Nancy starting to see Steve and his growth. We also have (in earlier episodes) Mike’s inability to tell El that he loves her directly paralleling Nancy’s inability to tell Steve she loves him in season two. And all the parallels to the start of Jonathan and Nancy’s relationship and unresolved tension that they carried around for a whole season’s worth of episodes before they did anything about it. And these are just the ones I pulled off the top of my head. I guess, since I’m going in chronological order though, I should focus on where we are in the timeline.

Nancy gives the team the download and she’s emotional the entire time. The camera shows us Steve’s reaction more than anyone else’s during Nancy’s speech. With the exception of Nancy’s, of course. But they show his reaction when she gets more emotional. He can’t look at her when her voice breaks. He’s kind of mirroring her here. She takes a shaky breath, he takes a shaky breath. She cries, he has to close his eyes.

Everyone else is staring at her in varying degrees of fear, horror, etc. But not him.

But she gets herself together and wants to go back and he argues with her. The others just kind of watch. It’s very clear that Steve and Nancy are the ones running the show and very clear that Steve is going to defer to her. And still, Max is saying her part and everyone looks to Nancy for her reaction, but Nancy looks to Steve.

For a long time.

Ah, and here we have the beautiful Winnebago talk. Nancy decided to ride up front with Steve and they are awkwardly attempting to make conversation and Steve adorably launches into a talk about what he always envisioned for his future while Nancy looks on with this face.

And NANCY THINKS IT SOUNDS NICE. Cue the [tenderly] in the captions when Nancy says, “Yeah,” back to his “Yeah?”.

I MEAN and Nancy’s over here just smiling like this half the time???

This whole scene is just perfection. And Nancy is thinking so hard after it?

Like, Steve tried to broach the future stuff with her one time as far as we know and she was not receptive in that moment. Here? She’s fucking receptive. Nancy sees this life, these dreams he has laid out for himself, and it’s yet another side of him she’s seeing that she likes. He’s reminding her that there is potential for a very nice life on the other side of all of this.

On the other end of this, we get a bit of insight as to where Steve’s head is actually at while he and Robin are making the Molotov cocktails.

Robin: In the face of the world ending, the stakes of my love life feel spectacularly low. Steve: Yeah, I mean, I get you there, but… I still have hope.

I want to unpack that first. Robin is bummed because she saw Vicki with a guy. Steve is here trying to be supportive and Robin pulls this out. And Steve. Steve?! This guy over here, who was scared to take what Eddie said to heart, who is about to march off into danger again, who just spilled his guts to his ex about the life he wants – this guy has hope.

Robin: Not everything has a happy ending. Steve: Yeah, yeah, believe me, I know.

Which he says with an incredibly unsubtle glance over at Nancy. And Robin, of course, follows his eyeline and lets out a quiet laugh, even though he looked away pretty quick. Robin’s been watching this whole thing unfold and she knows her bestie here has his heart just laying out there for someone to stomp all over again or pick up and she doesn’t know which is going to happen. Neither does he.

And still, the conversation ends up here. With Robin saying, “We have to try, right?” And yes, they’re talking about Vecna, but they’re also talking about everything else in life, because nothing in a story is that simple.

4x9

We’re here! It’s almost the end.

Let’s see. What should we touch on in the beginning of this one. Oh, the fact that the tension between them is somehow getting worse? Better? I guess it depends on your perspective.

Better, right?

The difference here is that this time, Nancy can’t put distance between them after this moment of intimacy. They’re literally marching off into battle side by side and Robin, their safety net, runs off. So, does she really want that distance?

Like, look at this. They’re talking about baby Steve being a total dork and it looks like they’re making date conversation, not walking through an evil parallel dimension off to fight some wizard/monster/generally all-around scary dude.

This portion is going to be lots of dialogue and screenshots. I’ll try to make it clear when I’m giving commentary, because I think this portion will be long.

Steve: I think, like, right out of the gate, like, I’m super confident, you know? But I’m also an idiot. Which is just, I mean, it’s a brutal combination. But, I mean, the good news is, I get a big enough thump on my head, I can change, you know? I can learn. I can crawl forward.

Nancy’s never really gotten to see this level of self-reflection from Steve, as far as we know. And he’s not being very complimentary of himself. But you know, she also missed out on experiencing a lot of this change. They went from being around each other on a fairly regular basis to seeing each other maybe a few times over the last year-ish and now he’s this whole other person. And it isn’t like she doesn’t know what ‘thump on the head’ he’s talking about.

Steve: Listen, I guess what I’m trying to say in a really stupid, roundabout way is, um….

Steve: … is thank you. Nancy: Thank me? Steve: Yeah. Nancy: For? Steve: For giving my head the biggest thump of its life two years ago.

Steve: I needed it.

I mean, how could it ever occur to her that he would thank her for breaking his heart? She’s never been proud of how their relationship ended. Don’t make me go pull up one of the season two screenshots again from when he’s walking away. So, the fact that he’s thanking her? I love it, but I can also understand why it would seem so unbelievable to her.

Steve: It changed my life. And now I’m crawling forward. Slowly. I just wonder sometimes… you know, if… some other girl had given me a proper thump before we met, would things have been different?

Honestly, I don’t have much to add here, except I feel like Nancy is on exactly the same page. If this had been Steve back when she needed him in season one, would things be different? This is what she wanted all that time.

Steve: Like, if we were meeting together for the first time right now, part of me… I don’t know part of me thinks we would’ve made it.

Nancy: Steve….

Steve: Remember the dream I told you about? About the Winnebago? Seeing the country with my six lil’ nuggets?

But the audacity of her to have such a sweet, soft smile when he’s reminding her of his dreams? Not to focus too much on negative fandom opinions, but how can anyone think she’s horrified by that? Like, this smile on top of her mild panic over him actually saying this out loud is such a combination though.

Steve: It’s all true. Every last word.

Steve: But I left one part out. It’s the most important part.

I MEAN COME ON. You cannot tell me that she didn’t know exactly where he was headed with this. With THIS face?! Look how open and receptive and patient she is???

Steve: You’re there.

Steve: You’ve always been there.

And Steve punctuating this whole thing with a soft, open, vulnerable smile. And Nancy looking up at him, also vulnerable and sad and like she can see the whole fucking picture he’s painting?

But then she looks down, remembering herself and where she is and what position she’s in, and his smile shifts.

They’re both so sad here. Like, they’ve both lost each other and they’ve come back to each other this season in so many ways. And here he is reaching out, but as soon as she looks down, it’s like he’s bracing himself for the worst.

Nancy’s about to say something. Finally. After another long moment of prolonged eye contact. And Robin interrupts.  

Nancy isn’t even shocked or mad or relieved. The sadness there is too overwhelming. Steve, however, is annoyed. Timing, Robin. Even if Nancy was about to turn him down, I think he’d rather know now than not.

Also, can we finally talk about how Robin interrupts pretty much every single one of their major moments this season? I don’t even mean that in a bad way. It’s kind of how they pulled down the barrier on the door and she stepped up with the brick, saying she found the key to open the door. She smashes open the glass and then Steve reaches his arm in to unlock/open the door through the opening she made. Right??? So, first there was Steve trying to make sure Nancy stays safe instead of going off alone and Robin interrupting to go with her instead. Next, Steve and Nancy are lightly arguing about the visit to Victor Creel and Robin runs into the room behind them. Then, Nancy is helping Steve get the cobwebs out of his hair and Robin comes in with her commentary about spiders.

I could go on, but I think you have a general idea of where I’m going. There are more moments. So many. I’m actually pretty sure Robin interrupts every single moment between them except for the one where Eddie interrupted “for Steve’s modesty”.

Like I said, though, I’m not calling this out because I hate it. I’m actually calling it out, because again, there are reasons they do these things and I love it. It could mean a few things. One of them is that Robin was a pretty important part of Steve’s character growth. Another is that Nancy needs an onscreen friend who isn’t a love interest. But ultimately, it’s that Robin is integral to Nancy and Steve coming back together. I mean, she’s probably… mostly done her part. There were a few things that needed to be established by her. Nancy needed to know that Robin and Steve are not a couple. Nancy also needed to hear someone acknowledge the fact that she and Steve have unfinished business.

And… you know, okay. The thing that really helps me explain this point is the one where Steve and Nancy take the board down from the door at the Creel house and then Robin comes in with her brick and smashes open the window so that Steve can unlock it. DO YOU SEE WHERE I’M GOING WITH THIS?! Nancy and Steve have reopened the avenue to healthy communication. Robin has come in with a brick to smash that window open so that Steve can get in there and officially open the door. Which he’s done. You’ve always been there. Nancy didn’t get to respond, but… I mean… right?! It’s an open thread that will need to be addressed and I’m excited about it.

Oh, while I’m talking about how this is an open thread for them, let’s just take a look at Nancy’s face when Steve gets grabbed by the vines when they’re in the Upside Down.  

I don’t even have anything to say about it. I just wanted to show you how much she doesn’t want to lose him.

I’m not even diving into how much I love the whole bit of Steve being the one to hand her the shotgun in Vecna’s lair. Twice. And I’m not diving into it in great detail, because I’ve already said it. They’re partners here. Which is what she wanted from the beginning.

OKAY. Let’s get back on track. There isn’t a lot more to talk about re: Steve and Nancy. Just a final note about Jonathan and Nancy, which again, has already been discussed by many other people, but it’s worth bringing up here, because it does have to do with Steve and Nancy in the end. We have proof that it has to do with Steve and Nancy because not only is one of their main topics of conversation Steve, but we have Steve reacting to their reunion.

Not sure if anyone here is a Bellamy x Clarke shipper, but this reminds me a lot of the pan to Clarke during Bellamy and Echo’s reunion in season five of The 100. Which a lot of people tried to write of as not romantic when it’s blatantly romantic in both cases. The difference for Steve is that he has Robin here to give him a comforting pat on the back.

Also, his face here is so similar to when he thought Nancy was going to turn him down after he gave her his whole speech in the Upside down.

Steve assumes he’s lost here. But we know the truth.

All right, so first, we have Jonathan apologizing for not being here (again). And Nancy’s whole fucking journey before she answers him.

The way she can’t really make eye contact, because she knows who was here.

And then we have her face when he brings up Steve?!

Like, she’s trying to laugh it off, but she can’t.

And she stands up for him, because he has grown up and she got to be around that for days and see the person he’s become and…. Damn. It gets so awkward after this.

Nancy’s inhale, like she might have more to say, but she can’t.

To top it off, we get to see them boarding up windows. Nancy holding up the boards and Jonathan hammering in the nails. And hmm, I wonder why that looks familiar. OH RIGHT. Because Steve and Nancy closed off communication in a very similar way back in season two before they officially split. This is veering into like, wild emotional speculation, but you ever think about how Nancy and Steve were putting up all that stuff using duct tape and staples and Jonathan and Nancy are using a hammer and nails. Which one of those is harder to break through?

And like, yeah. I’m saying that’s wild emotional speculation, but it makes sense to me, because… I mean, I can make the argument that Steve and Nancy’s hurdle is much easier to overcome than Jonathan and Nancy’s. Steve and Nancy were never not on the same page, per se. Nancy wasn’t exactly helping him plan a future that was aligned with hers and we know after this season that he wanted that. But their real problem was that Steve was too scared. Too scared to tell her he wanted a future with her and too scared to help her get revenge for Barb, so she retreated to the safety of someone who would. But the thing that’s hanging over Jonathan and Nancy is worse. Not only has he been planning a future with her that he doesn’t see himself in, but he hasn’t been following through. And he’s been lying about it. And she’s lying, too. He asks if she’s okay and she says they’re fine in a very (not) believable lying voice. He’s admitted to a friend that he’s slow-motion breaking up with Nancy. She’s admitted to a friend that she knows he’s hiding something and she doesn’t know where they stand. And unlike Steve and Nancy in season two, they let this stay unsolved at the end of the season.

Really, it does all come down to that future thing, doesn’t it? Jonathan doesn’t see one where they aren’t both miserable. Jonathan’s dream is NYU. It has been since he was six. He can’t tell Nancy that he doesn’t want to be part of her dream to go to Emerson, because he’s scared. Their relationship was supposedly built on shared trauma and connection, but a lot of that is lost now. The entire fucking group has shared trauma at this point. And Jonathan got Will back. Nancy never got her friend back. And now that Steve has evolved into a person who is an incredibly willing partner, who says that the most important part of his dream future is her… I mean….

Nancy: I feel like life keeps throwing things in the way of our big plans. Jonathan: Yeah, it sure seems like that.

Remember that thing I said like 10k words ago about how Steve is always going to be in the way of their relationship? If you pushed me, I might be convinced that Steve and Nancy were endgame since the moment they decided to keep his character around and kill him off. But my original thesis has its merits, too, so I’ll stick with it for now.

Well. Here we are at the end. It’s not looking good, guys. I mean, not for them. We, however, are looking at a very promising setup for season five. I suppose I could see a world where they decide to fix Nancy and Jonathan’s issues, but if they’re going to do that, there’s literally no point to all this setup in season four. I wish I were exaggerating, but what else is the point of bringing all of this up again?

I suppose that in a good paper, I would circle back to my original point, which is that the writers changed their minds about Nancy’s endgame relationship in season two and decided that Steve would be a better ending for her after all. And they did it to themselves. As I said multiple times, they built him into the perfect partner for Nancy. The person that she wanted from the start. And I know I’m talking a lot about what Nancy wants out of their relationship, but that’s because she’s the one who didn’t know what she wanted. Steve always has. He says exactly that. He wants Nancy and that’s it. He just needed to get to a place in life where she could see that future that he wants. And they’re there. And we’re stuck here waiting to see if they end up on the beach with a couple kids ten years down the road.

I think it’s looking pretty promising, but I guess I did just write 18.5k words on this, so if I didn’t, that would be weird.

If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed my unhinged thought process and that we get some fun resolution to the unresolved threads that are left behind within the next year or so.

I don’t know how to end things.

But neither do Steve and Nancy.

Boom, roasted.

The end.

[hamletshoeratio]

didnt she also say something nasty about the queen when one of her kids had just died

Yeah here's part 2 of this

The way she talked about the death of Queen Charlotte's granddaughter; Princess Charlotte, who was historically only twenty-one when she died in childbirth. The Lady Whistledown commentary in QC is just outright cruel, it's clear Queen Charlotte in the off-season (QC present day timeline being set in the Winter/Early spring break between season 2 & 3) becomes Penelope's biggest target in the aftermath of her fallout with Eloise. There's no other way to describe it.

Ngl the above is really disturbing to me. She's angry at Eloise, has lost access to info from the Bridgertons because of her falling out with Eloise, and she's angry at the Queen for getting angry at Penelope's own words as LW, and trying to discover LW as a result. And so she spends the off-season insulting and attacking a grieving Queen Charlotte. I mean that's one way for a flower to bloom I guess...

Theo, one of the only working class characters in the show, nearly lost his job because of lady whistledown and may have lost it in the aftermath of the season.

A lot of her general commentary as Lady Whistledown isn't clever or witty; it's just outright cruel.

The way she talks about the Bridgerton family, a family that trusts and cares for her, is horrible. Particularly, the way she wrote about Daphne in season 1.

Betraying Eloise's trust for two entire seasons because it didn't start with the Theo situation. She listened to Eloise's frustrations about Daphne and then used LW to attack and belittle Daphne. Speaking as a sibling, I will rant about my sisters until kingdom come to my friends but the minute a so-called friend starts publicly attacking my sister, it's over. I would not be in control of my actions. Like over the course of two seasons, she's attacked and nearly destroyed the reputations of Eloise's eldest sister, two of her brothers, her first love, and the entire family as a result. Judging by the Bridgertons were born to shine line in the trailer, I doubt Francesca will make it through the season unscathed.

She hasn't felt real remorse. Despite nearly causing Marina's death (as she tried to miscarry in the aftermath of LW revealing her pregnancy), she ends season 1 smirking about being LW. Hasn't written or contacted Marina to see how she has been since, got jealous Colin went to see her and still probably hasn't written or visited her. Not to mention her "I least did something. All you did is talk" speech at the end of season 2 to Eloise. A speech that wasn't even accurate as Eloise had been to meetings, listened to speeches and debates, debated with Theo, shared and read and discussed different political leaflets with Theo, Eloise had grown intellectually from the beginning to the end of the season. It's because of Penelope that that came to an end.

Outside of rescuing Daphne from her betrothel to Berbrooke in s1, what good has her work as LW actually done? It's ruined far more lives than it's helped, and intervened countless times when it didn't have authority to. Many secrets weren't Penelope's to tell.

I could honestly keep going but I genuinely don't know how she's supposed to get redeemed in eight episodes because the character we have at the minute in no way deserves a happy ending. LW didn't really matter in the books as it wasn't as active a plot point as it is in the show. By expanding the LW concept to give Penelope a more complex arc, they've unwittingly robbed her of what made people like her book counterpart and as a result created a villain that they have no intention of trying to redeem, because they don't believe she needs to be redeemed.

[retrieve-the-kraken]

Young Royals Season 2 play-by-play analysis

The last episode, the climax to the conflict, the conclusion to this arc, the start of the revolution… it’s so dramatic, so tense and so satisfying.

(Ugh, why does it take me so long to find the gifs I want... Why can't I always find the absolute perfect gifs when I want them and I know they exist...)

Brace yourselves, because this analysis is LOOOONG. I can’t stop the thoughts, sorry. Too many moments, too many unspoken things that speak volumes…

EPISODE 6

The boys have been together for hours now, in their little bubble. As far as we know, there have been no food or bathroom breaks…? Just the two of them, making the most of every second together, just loving each other one last time… Then morning comes and the bubble bursts. Simon has to do the right thing, he knows that there’s a big chance that nothing will come off it, but he has to try. Even if it means that August won’t be next in line to the throne, which at least would be a giant blow for August, but an equally big one for Wille… but Simon has to try, he can’t just not do anything, he has to get some form of justice… and whatever happens after that they will deal with it together, hopefully.

So after hours of loving and being loved, Wille looks resigned again, watching as Simon gets dressed. He asks if he’s going there now, to the police station. Does it have to be now? Can’t we have more time together. Simon is heading to the police later, but he has to break up with Marcus first, once and for all. He hesitates before kneeling down next to the bed. If he doesn’t go now, he might lose his nerve. That forehead kiss, it’s so sweet, like he’s saying that everything will be alright, somehow. Like he wants to reassure Wille that it’s not the end, that there’s still love. Just kill me…

August is having a mental breakdown. He knows he can’t get out of this one without help. He knows that maybe the Royal Court can help him sweep the whole matter under the rug… But what if they don’t? He’s not entirely in there yet, he’s not exactly in their good graces yet.

“August, we are counting on you to not give us any problems whatsoever.” You’re on thin ice, August. They forgave you one scandal, they won’t forgive another. “You represent the entire Royal Court now.” Already? It’s like they’re already counting on Wille to give up, and August to need to step up. Way to keep putting the pressure on kids, by the way. Although August is of age, he’s still a fucking kid. But he will be tried as an adult…

“It’s silly, I will take care of it myself,” August says. Then he turns to the person who also already has a vendetta against Wille and Simon…

Listen, my work has let me see people’s different styles of public-speaking. Everyone has a different style, and there are some people that are more natural at it than others, some people seem to have been born for it… and some people just don’t. (And even the people who seem to be natural at it require training, they’re not just born knowing how to do it, it’s just easier for them to get it). I don’t have public-speaking abilities, although I could develop them, but I’m an introvert, and so is Wille. It takes more work than that. It’s not just knowing what to say, because anyone can read words from a page; it’s the delivery, it’s the power behind the words, and it’s the ability to look into a crowd and not lose your nerve… And the fact that they’re forcing him to give a speech at such a young age, during an event of such magnitude, without even giving him some sort of training first, is fucking unfair and mental. They just expect him to be a natural at it. Like becoming the Crown Prince suddenly means that he should be able to. Nah, it doesn’t work like that. It’s not an app or a plugin that you suddenly get, it takes work, especially if you’re not a natural… Fuck the Royal Court and Kristina.

Simon ghosting Marcus, but then showing up. And Marcus being all sour, because he knows, he knows everything. “You haven’t replied in days”. Guess what, Marcus? It’s not really your business. You’re not his boyfriend, no matter how much you wanted to believe it.

“Not compared to a prince, at least.” Fuck you, Marcus, you snob, you don’t know Wille. Wille being a prince is not a plus, it has never been a plus, in fact it’s been the biggest obstacle between them… You’re making Simon sound like an elitist, and that shows how little you know about Simon.

“You only brought me to make him jealous.” Well, you got that part right, but also, he brought you to distract himself, he was trying to move on. He wanted to like you, somewhat... (guess he dodged a bullet there...)

“I told you that I wasn’t ready for a relationship but you haven’t been listening to me.” Yes, and that negates the “perfect” thing. Stop being nice and telling him that he’s perfect, Simon. He’s not. He’s a manipulative snob.

“So it’s my fault that you treated me like crap.” OH WHO’S PLAYING VICTIM NOW…

You, sir, you are the problem. Not even the main one, no. Just a problem in Simon's life. Stop being so annoying.

“You see yourself as some kind of victim among all those brats.” FUCK YOU MARCUS. He IS a victim, he’s an outsider among all the privilege kids, he’s at a disadvantage and constantly reminded of it. He IS a victim of the system, the system rigged in favor of privileged kids, rigged in favor of the Crown, the system that protects powerful people and keeps the cycle of silence and oppression going. And he IS a victim of sexual harassment perpetuated by one of the brats. You have no fucking idea, Marcus. DO NOT believe a word he said, Simon.

And Simon tried to make it right, he tried to apologize, and Marcus just made him feel terrible and accused him of things that weren't even true. Simon doesn’t deserve that.

I still think it's ironic that Rosh and Ayub were like "Ugh, Wille's so toxic, you should totally hook up with Marcus, have a rebound," and Marcus turned out to be the toxic one... I'm not saying that Wille or Simon are perfect, and I know that what Simon did to Marcus was not nice, to ghost him, to use him like that, even if he had made it clear to Marcus that they were not a thing. But Marcus was full of red flags; he is a snob who thinks himself better than the "rich brats" at Hillerska, and doesn't fail to point it out; he calls out Simon for his relationship with Wille by saying that the thing that Simon liked about him was that he was a prince, which is actually the opposite; he absolutely LIED about not watching the sex video, because of course he did and that's probably what sparked his interest and made him approach Simon now, after knowing about him for much longer (everyone in Bjärstad knows each other, and their mums are literally friends, wtf); he used what he knew from his mother about the Eriksson family to manipulate Simon into not breaking things off with him; and he's slightly older so technically there's a slight power dynamic there. And as a final blow he accuses Simon of pretending to be a victim and loving the drama... You know nothing, you jerk...

(It reminded me so much of when August and Felice dated, and August was jealous at Felice's closeness to Wille, then going on and kissing Sara... and of course there's that little "funny" thing he said about her when we first meet him and find out what kind of person he is, and what he thinks of women... Of course August is much worse, the worst in fact, but Marcus was unexpectedly a wolf disguised as a lamb...)

The palatset is decorated with blue and yellow streamers and balloons and Swedish flags and other party decor. There will be a party after the Jubilee.

August with his back turned to the door, like a classic villain…

I think there’s an expression or a proverb or something for wanting something so bad that you would do terrible things to obtain it. There was a Huffington Post opinion article that someone shared on here recently on how the people who want to have power are precisely the people who should have it, whilst the people who are most suited to be in power are the ones who don’t want it at all. Real, good leaders are collaborative, they like to help others shine, they are selfless, they sacrifice. Power-hungry people are easily corrupted by power or by the desire to obtain it… August is so power-hungry he will do anything for it, and yet he’s not aware of what he would have to sacrifice for it and when the time comes he’s just not going to; Sara wants so bad to be part of the elite that she’s willing to screw over her own brother, lie to her friends, join forces with the worst person. Meanwhile, Wilhelm cares so little about being Crown Prince, and Simon has never cared about Wille’s title. In fact, the Crown has been for them both more of a hindrance than a promise… In fact, the only time that Wille uses his title is to weaponize it against August, but it turns him into a pretty bad person; he uses his power to get revenge on August, but it shows an ugly side of him. However, it doesn’t last long, because he’s not a narcissist like August. Once he’s back to being himself, to the person who doesn’t want the title, then he once again becomes perfectly suited for it. Beyond the royal title, beyond the inherited nature of it, Wille’s a good leader, he’s just young and misguided at times. That’s why therapy is so helpful to him, to understand his emotions, to find that balance.

August says he knows that what he did was unforgivable, “But Erik would not have let Simon go to the police.” HOW DARE YOU BRING ERIK INTO THIS. You do not speak for the dead, August.

“So now it’s my responsibility too to protect the Royal Family.” You’re just as bad as the Queen, August. You fit right in.

As it has been pointed out, Alexander doesn’t really work as the scapegoat: the video was recorded when Alexander had already been caught with the drugs; and it makes no sense to pretend that he’d still be in possession of August’s phone when the video was leaked either, a few days later, and already having been expelled. Especially since only a few minutes after the video was leaked, August had his phone with him and even answered a phone call from Minou from the Royal Court. Even if Alexander had had August’s phone, and had been able to record without unblocking the phone (August has an iPhone with a home button, so usually a fingerprint is required), it still would raise the question of when and how the phone was “hacked” to obtain the video, how long the video remained in the phone, etc. And August doesn’t seem to know that the Royal Court is in possession of the most damning evidence of all, the library computer from which he logged in and posted the video… As far as August knows the Queen and the Royal Court found out that it was August because Wille told them, because Felice figured it out and told him. So his whole plan is playing with fire and full of holes anyway. Either he and Alexander are too stupid to realize this, or they’re just counting of Wille getting scared. Which is why they’re warning him about what they’ll do if Simon reports.

And the weirdest thing to me is… Alexander is getting back at Will by willingly taking the blame for CHILD PORNOGRAPHY???? Something that he didn’t actually do???? He’s willing to be known as the guy who filmed the Crown Prince and Simon in an intimate moment and created a video that went infamously viral???? Like that could not have an impact on his future??? For fuck’s sake, he’s dumber than I thought…

But Wille is right, this whole stupid-ass plot won’t stop Simon from going to the police. But the drugs definitely will… There’s no escaping that…

“It’s time to stop this, everything calmed down once you denied the rumors… no one cares about the video.” “I CARE!”

Wille looks ready to commit murder. I would have loved him to use his headbutting skills to give August a nice purple bruise that would look really nice at the Jubilee.

I feel bad for Rousseau. That new owner is a dick.

“I want to be completely honest with you. No more secrets between us” says Felice, and Sara has been the most dishonest of the two this whole time…

“I’m in love with August.” Not “I’ve been sleeping with August” or “I have been seeing August in secret”. LOVE. Whoa.

This whole time Sara really thought that Felice would hate her for being in love with August just because he was her ex, when in reality it’s because Felice knows that August is a terrible person who can’t be trusted and Sara shouldn’t be in love someone like that… not knowing that Sara has been pretty bad herself and should not be trusted.

August being all “What’s this? The police? What is this police of which you speak?” Like he doesn’t know that Simon can knock him down and sit on him again and mash his face into the ground…

“I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to protect the royal family. Maybe you should do the same.” Very well, thinks Wille, picking up the gun to kill August and protect the royal family from the threat that is August.

Simon stepping back, in case Wille does shoot August or something, but not trying to talk him down. “He’s about to confess.” Wille says it, letting him know that he’s serious, this will turn into an “accident” if August doesn’t confess.

It’s been pointed out before that that moment, when Wille is ready to shoot August for what he did to him, to them, when he flinches as Wille shoots into the air, is the first time that Simon sees how much the video leak affected Wille, but also how much he couldn't do anything about it. Even if he denied the whole thing on an interview, people still knew that was him on the video, he was still outed, his privacy was still violated, and his own family still betrayed him, and it changed him forever. And this is all that built up anger coming out. So if Simon still thought that Wille only did badly for a while and then he was fine, now he sees that Wille is deeply traumatized.

When August glances at Sara, Felice already knows… Sara just revealed to her that she’s in love with August, so if she knew that Simon was going to the police, she might have told August. And then Sara confirms it.

The look on Simon’s face when Sara looks guilty. He’s in absolute disbelief. They all are.

“I was in love with him.” This is the first time August is hearing this…

“I thought the damage was done since the video was already out there.” More proof that Sara didn’t really understand what Simon was going through, that it wasn’t just about the video, it was the wedge that was driven between him and Wille, it was the fact that August got away with it, that the Royal Court protected him.

And for all of Sara’s excuses, the fact remains that she chose August over her own brother, even before she was actually in love with August. Which means she chose the privilege that August offered over being loyal to her own brother…

“He wanted to come clean. And I believed him.” Like she really kept it a secret for that reason… No, Sara, you weren’t hoping that August would come clean, you just wanted to live in Manor house and be elite and potentially even become the future Queen…

“It wasn’t enough that you destroyed my family, you had to destroy another one.”

At this point August really believes that Wille might shoot him and starts to beg him not to. It’s like he almost believes that Wille has nothing to lose.

“You don’t even want to be prince.” And August is right. As he watches Simon walk away, Wille drops the gun to go after him, because Simon is much more important than the fucking crown, something that August doesn’t seem to understand, something he will never understand. Wille walks away toward Simon, because he won’t let August destroy that too. (If Wille has ever thought of a long-term future with Simon, of being each other’s family, that’s the family that he wants to protect now.)

“You’re despicable.” Felice realizing what Sara is capable of. Was their friendship real? Was it just convenient to Sara? To have access to Rousseau, to be with the most popular girl in Hillerska? If she betrayed her own brother, what’s keeping Sara from betraying anyone else?

Personally spitting on August is a nice touch. Wille is basically saying “I won’t get my hands dirty because of you, but this is how I feel about you, this is what you’re worth, scum.”

“You were going to confess, August.” Sara doesn’t understand the value of secrecy in this society. Also August confessing was never really a major thing for her until Simon found out and wanted to go to the police. Before that, she was fine with how things were, even when she saw how miserable her brother was…

“You know about the struggle to get what you want… we’re the same, you and I.” August comparing Sara being working class and wanting to fit in in an elite school to him wanting to keep his status and become next in line to the throne… yes, they are the same, but at different levels. I’m not excusing what Sara did, but August is definitely worse. “It’s what I love about you.” What? You love that she became ruthless and deceitful and treacherous? Because that’s what you are…

“I had no other choice.” To be precise, he had no other choice that would keep him out of potentially going to jail.

Simon is keeping all of his emotions inside. Wille hugging him brings them too close to the surface and he’s at risk of them spilling all over… the way his voice trembles as he says “please…”, like he’s about to cry, but he doesn’t want to cry here, not where someone can see him, he just wants to go home, he wants to get away from it all, even Wille. You can’t fix this, he’s basically saying. Everything is destroyed in ways that he didn’t even know, because his own sister, his own family, betrayed him too. It’s not even about just August, it’s also now Sara, and it’s everything that has happened to him since the moment he met Wille. He hasn’t had a moment of peace…

And Wille watches him go, knowing too that he can’t fix it either. And he’s still trapped…

Kristina doesn’t even know what Wille’s crying about, she just comforts him, sort of… and he smiles sort of (because despite what she has done to him, she’s still his mother, he still wants to trust her, be comforted by her). But she doesn’t ask him what’s wrong.

Simon’s face and eyes are raw from crying. He called his friends, who know the whole story, to vent… And Ayub and Rosh immediately jump to the conclusion that Sara must have been brainwashed by August to have done this, otherwise she would be incapable… is clear that they don’t know her either.

Linda, again, what’s up with you? Your son looks like he’s been crying himself raw, and his friends look morose. How do you not get that something more is going on…? Simon doesn’t want her to know, anyway, because it would break her heart. He’s the protector, he wants to protect his family. I agree with a lot of people who say that the events of that day show Simon that Wille really had no choice, that he was after all just acting like everything was fine but he was most definitely not fine. After seeing how he pointed a gun at August, nearly losing it, it's clear to Simon that Wille's never intended to protect August, but had not choice but to put up with him; that of course he was traumatized by the leaked video, but he was forced to deny it. And after finding out that even his own sister had betrayed him, Simon realizes that he has no choice either, that someone else will always have the upper hand. So now he will have to change his strategy if he wants to protect those he cares about, including Wille. “If everyone is going to protect their families, then I’ll do the same.” Simon is a lot like his mother, he sacrifices a lot for his family. Linda looks like she understands. She is proud of Simon and she will support whatever he decides.

(gif by @almostliving84, because I don't know how to search for it in the gifs search bar when I already know where the gif is...)

As I mentioned before, Kristina also went to Hillerska, she knows about the palatset, she knows about the secrecy culture. Her choice to send Wille to Hillerska was never really about making him into a proper prince, it was about keeping him out of the public eye so he could do whatever he wanted without it becoming a scandal. A plan which majorly backfired when the secrecy cycle was broken… by August of all people…

“Your mother is not as innocent as she’d like to appear.” Yes, we know. “Stop it, don’t put ideas into his head.” Don’t worry, Kristina, your son will never ever be like you.

Wilhelm looking in pain as he is forced to participate in this charade. “How are you, gubben?” Now she asks. Boy has been moping since before you got there, and you didn’t even care, until now when it’s too obvious to ignore.

“It just creates new and bigger problems.” The way that the video, that everything has been handled, is nothing new; everything that doesn’t fit into the mold is swept under the rug, every wrinkle is ironed out, and then everyone goes on pretending like nothing happened.

“It’s important to talk about your emotions, but you can talk to us about anything.” “But it’s not enough.” Indeed it’s not. Krissy, you wanted him to talk to a psychologist, but that’s not the solution to the problem. Wille has finally understood why he feels the way he feels, and he’s learned to communicate. But it’s not enough, what’s the point of talking if nothing happens? If nothing changes? He’s expected to learn to handle his emotions, but the root of the problem, of the thing causing his distress, his anxiety, remains untouched. The monarchy, the cycle of secrecy, the traditions… everything stays the same…

The crowd of girls gathered outside the room. Either word spreads really freaking fast, or Sara took a very long time to go back to her room… Or did Felice leave the door open and then start telling Stella and Fredrika about it so loudly that everyone heard? Judging from the fact that just now the housemistress arrives, maybe it hasn’t been that long…

Sara very subtly threatens Stella with outing her. She unfortunately doesn’t realize how much like August she is. Making threats when she doesn’t have the upper hand, when she’s being called out.

“Sara has proven that she’s not a friend. She’s not loyal.” Obviously Felice can’t talk about the real reason why Sara’s betrayal is so big, not in front of Stella, Fredrika or the housemistress, but she makes it very clear to Sara.

“I don’t know what happened, I’ve never been in love before.” But again, Sara wasn’t in love with August when she decided to keep this huge secret from Simon. She might have had been catching feelings, because they kissed and she was curious, but still she made that choice to get an advantage. “I could always tell right from wrong, but with him it all seemed right.” Bullshit, she always knew it was wrong. Otherwise she wouldn’t have threatened to tell Wille last season; otherwise she wouldn’t have implied to Simon that a person can’t help what they feel, when Simon felt rotten about “cheating” on Marcus. She knew it was wrong. “You’re so totally full of shit,” Felice calls her out. It’s been months of secrecy at this point.

August texting “Please, I feel like shit.” You should. The drugs he claimed he would stop taking soon beckon him. Another lie. Then he looks in the mirror as he practices the speech and says “to make you proud.” Irony.

Wilhelm is lying in bed, bathed in red light, and I first missed the symbolism of him playing with Erik’s lighter… playing with fire… Cities on fire, won’t you burn it all… before he looks at Erik’s cigarette case… He’s thinking of Erik, he still feels the weight of his title and the commitment of living up to his brother’s memory and legacy, but also maybe he’s wondering what Erik would tell him to do in this situation…

(Could not find these gifs in the search bar either, so I found it in @levok s page, thank you for it. Seriously, if anyone can teach this loser -me- to search for gifs when you already know where it is, so that it shows up with the credit and all, please teach me so I can fix this, and all the previous posts. Thank you.)

Never not loving the scene of Ayub and Simon talking as they’re both falling asleep, that’s a really supportive friend, we all deserve an Ayub. “But he wants to keep it a secret, and you don’t.” Not quite; Wille doesn’t want their relationship to be a secret, he he just knows that it was an option proposed by his mother, and he was desperate enough to consider it. Simon tells Ayub about the possibility of him and Wille being a secret relationship until they’re eighteen. As far as we know, he hadn’t thought about that again, since Wille mentioned it in the locker room, because he had pretty much discarded that option as insulting. Because it made him feel like a dirty little secret… But now… now it seems like an option again, maybe the only option… to be with Wille, even if it has to be secret. He’s also bathed in red light as he ponders it…

“Only you can decide,” says Ayub. The light turns from blue (the color of calm, security and inner reflection) to purple (the color of royalty, but also as the combination of blue and red, it contains the stability of blue and the energy of red, and it also symbolizes spirituality, creativity and wisdom, and perhaps more importantly, it’s the color of resistance of the queer community) to red (the color of love and passion), signaling that Simon might have already made his choice.

The stage is set; the Swedish flag, the pomp and circumstance… On the bus, Simon looks pretty serene. Like he already knows, he’s already made up his mind. He just hopes he doesn’t regret it. Meanwhile, Wille practices the speech, resigned to following the charade, fitting into the perfect image of a crown prince.

Felice emerges from a room (a random room under the stairs? I had decided in my head that she either went to Stella and Fredrika’s room, or even more likely to Madison’s, and slept on the floor, but the way that she leaves the door open…), to find Sara gone, the expensive riding pants the girls gifted her left behind, a major symbol of how she realized that she’s never going to fit in with the girls at Manor house. (By the way, how long did Sara take to go from Manor house to the entrance, if Felice found her gone already, but by the time the jubilee is already happening and people are arriving she hasn’t even left the premises…? How fucking far is Manor house from the main gate??)

August arriving like nothing’s happened. He thinks he’s in. He still has to stand on the back of pictures, but he’s still living it. Kristina looking at Wille like she’s gauging how committed he is to the charade, to pretending that there’s no bad blood with August.

Vincent and Nils tease August, like there’s no bad blood anymore either. Do they know he’s next in line, did he tell them?

Wille glances at August, sees how different they’re acting in that lineup. Whilst Wille feels so awkward and stifled, August looks like he fits right in. If it weren’t because he detests him, he’d give it all up to August, who actually likes performing like this.

August is so ecstatic about how well he’s doing that he momentarily forgot about Sara. Until he sees her. Things are not perfect, indeed.

August buying Rousseau for Sara thinking that’s what she wanted. No, she wanted you to be a better person. You can’t throw money at everything. And also yes, of course she wanted Rousseau, but how do you expect her to take care of it???? She has no money. Then as she leaves, he calls weakly after her, but then he walks the other way. Clearly he has his priorities in the right order, and she’s not as important to him as everything else.

Simon signals to Wille that he wants to talk. Wille probably thought that everything had gone to shit again, that Simon would never speak to him again… again… They go into the coat room, the place where they had their first kiss, where everything started… Wille is so tense, he’s so afraid of what Simon is going to say. He listens, apprehensive, until he realizes where Simon is going… “It’s not worth destroying our families over that. And it’s not worth destroying what we have.” Simon and Wille somehow, deep down, might already think of each other as family, as each other’s future. My heart…

“I want to be with you. Even if it has to be a secret.” The tension melts. “But no more secrets between us.” The little smile of joy, the little relieved exhale, the excited little nod… and meanwhile Simon is smiling so big that his eyes crinkle. Then Wille takes his hand, because he’s allowed again… Then they look at each other and they hug, and Wille is home again. He’s happy again. They both are. They still have each other.

And then Simon says ‘I love you’, and Wilhelm has been hoping to hear those words for so long, the confirmation that Simon feels the same way, and he realizes that it does not deserve to be a secret. He doesn’t want it to be a secret. That they both deserve more. That he wants to love Simon openly. If anything else happens that jeopardizes them being together, he can’t allow it. He hasn’t decided what he’s going to do yet, or when, but he needs to make sure that they (the Court) can’t go back on their promise of letting him be with Simon. He’a willing to fight tooth and nail for that. He can’t let anything get between them again.

Jan-Olof interrupts them (asshole), and Simon immediately backs away, drops his arms, but Wille is not so fazed, he’s almost defiant. He wants to touch and caress Simon so bad, but he can’t be as effusive as he wishes, because someone is watching, and that’s how it would be all the time. But he gives in for the moment, walking away casually. And Simon is being so brave about it, knowing that they’re good, that they’re finally on the same page, even if they’re not entirely happy with the page.

Sara hears the choir begin to sing. She is missing out on the event that she was sort of preparing for, imagining having to greet the Queen, learning what to say. She is once again an outsider looking in (or rather listening in). The event has lost its meaning.

Meanwhile Wille watches as Simon performs with the crowd, looking dejected, just another member of the group. Knowing what Simon can do as a soloist, knowing how much he loves hearing Simon sing, knowing that that was supposed to be a song written by Simon, a song he was proud of, a song that (he later found out) was about him, it really highlights how unfair and outdated the system is, to deny one student, one talented choir singer, to stand out.

Sara might change schools next season, now that I think about it. What if she’s too ashamed to return? Continuing to attend Hillerska would mean enduring gossip about her, hateful looks from Felice and Simon, judgement from Wille and the rest of the people who know what she did (Stella, Fredrika, the rest of the girls at Manor House, etc.) and having to encounter August.

In a misguided attempt to make things right with her brother, she calls the police to report August. She should not have made that call, not only because we know it might make things worse now, but also because it was not her place to make the report, it was Simon’s.

Wilhelm braving his anxiety and feeling ill and making a last second decision to do the speech, because he saw Simon’s worried face when smug August starts walking toward the podium. Giving up this moment to August means giving everything to August, and it means they win. They, the Crown, the Royal Court, the system, they win. And Wille can’t let that happen, he needs to regain control of the narrative again, for himself and for Simon. This is it, this is his chance, anxiety be damned.

The confused look on everyone’s faces. What the hell was that about? August’s face as he is forced to sit his ass back down. The “torture”, the humiliation at the hands of Wille continues. Karma, bitch.

And Krissy looking so proud, thinking that her plan worked. But no mi ciela, it wasn’t August that ultimately lit the fire under Wille, it was Simon. His decision to step up is not driven by hate, but by love.

I don’t think that Wille knew what he was going to say when he stood up to do the speech, he just knew that he couldn’t let August take over, because then it wasn’t only him and Simon getting stuck with August, it was everyone else. Taking away August’s chance to give the jubilee speech, for example, is not about having revenge on August anymore, it’s about fulfilling his leadership role, and realizing that if he doesn’t, then there won’t be a leader, but a power-hungry narcissist “in charge”.

Wille chooses to lead by example, stopping the cycle of silence and secrecy by telling the truth, being honest, and if he had let August, August would basically lead by example too but by continuing that cycle of secrecy and silence.

Also Wille standing up to do the speech instead of August was at first about putting Simon’s feelings first, before his own feelings of unease and anxiety. Simon who has just been hit in the face with such revelations, like Sara’s betrayal, and how far August was willing to go to screw him over and Wille, his threat to use his father’s drugs against him… and it’s so clear on his face how much he’s putting up with August for his and Wille’s sake, now having to be a part of the people who have to pretend that they don’t know that August committed sexual harassment against them, that August exposed them to the world and ruined their lives, Simon has to hide his feelings, his distress at knowing that, despite all those things, at any moment August just gets everything he’s ever wanted, he’s Wille’s backup, he’s one step closer to his beloved Crown… And Wille’s not having it. Not for himself anymore, but for Simon. He will sacrifice his own freedom for Simon, and for the greater good.

The girl with the phone thinking “whoa, he’s going off-script. Better stream this.” Simon looking nervous, knowing what’s coming. Boris looking so proud and amused. And Krissy on the verge of a fit, silently begging “stop”...

When Wille says “it was me in the video, the video of me and Simon,” the camera cuts to several faces, including of course the Queen and Simon, and a moment earlier to Boris looking all proud. But it wasn’t until the Netflix reel announcing Season 3, when they did the 12 Days of Christmas song, in the part where it goes “Four pretty words”, the four faces being shown are Simon, Kristina, Boris… and Stella… Stella looking shocked. I hadn’t realized that the first face they cut to after Wille mentions Simon is Stella’s. They focused, albeit briefly, on her reaction to Wille coming out… of course Stella’s sexuality is going to be a big thing next season, but I love how they focused on her, making it obvious that we’ll learn more about her.

I thought it was a nice little detail that the two students whom we see filming Wille, when Wille says that it was a private moment, they both look up from the screen of their cameras and instead look directly at Wille.

The cameras flashing at Simon, at his distressed face. Foreboding. And yet he smiles.

Wilhelm knows that what’s coming now is going to be difficult, but at least he’ll have Simon by his side. He glances skyward, as if to check with Erik, wondering if he’s proud of his little brother. Yes, Wille, I think Erik would be really proud.

He then looks defiantly at us, like he knows we’re here, watching, and his lips curl into the faintest of smiles, a rebellious, daring smirk. He has regained control.

My royals babies have truly been through the wringer, and I know that yet more challenges will arise for them in the third season. But they will be together, they will face them together, and although they have been changed forever, in good ways and bad ways, they have made each other stronger

[helluvabossrewrite45]

Hello, I just wanna say that your scene rewrites are amazing. Seeing Stars has got to be one of my favourites.

On the topic of Octavia, I agree that Viv and her team missed an opportunity with Via. To me in the context of the narrative, Octavia can be a tragic character that is screwed over by the writing. It is implied that she takes after Stolas with her love of astronomy as their form of bonding. Yet, she slowly watches her father drift away from them and is probably wondering if they—she even matters to him. You’re just watching a parent that you had a close bond to just leave you behind because they found someone else that captivated their interest. On top of the divorce that is currently going on would leave a child feeling doubtful.

I also just never understood why the writers want to keep having her being mad at her dad, even though they say that Stella has clearly been ruining the family, yet it’s his fault? Half the time the writing seesaws on Stella and Via’s dynamic because the only time she does care is when Stolas is there and…I get that could be counted as gaslighting, but the character lacks subtlety that it’s hard to tell when she’s always yelling. More often she doesn’t even care for her with two episodes implying this.

I just in general feel frustrated with this family because either avenue could be interesting if the writers took it seriously enough but they don’t and instead choose spur of the moment scenes that we have to use as jigsaw puzzle with some pieces not fitting because world building barely matters.

Sorry for the ramble. You’re version or fix it is probably one of my top favourites for the characters because I can definitely see the use of the loosely outlined jigsaw puzzle. Have a nice day/evening.

Thank you anon, im glad you like my rewrites

I agree 100% with via, they did the same thing with moxxie to her, that being repeating the same arc again of her being mad at her dad but forgive him in the end. It kind of shows that just like moxxie, they didnt know what to do with her which is a shame because the small details she has are there to be fully explored, but they never explore them. Like her and music, she oftens listens it even at the dinner table and with stellas reaction to the cheating affair, we can peice a puzzle of her doing it as a coping mechanism; escaping her problems through distraction. And with seeing stars main plot is around via running away to see a meteor shower, it would've been perfect to explore that side of her along with more knowledge of the family in general to piece this puzzle their giving (like the relationship with her mom, her uncle, the rest of their family, how they react to the situation, how their currently dealing with it, etc...) through flashbacks (since the whole point would've been that these issues wont go away no matter how much you try to ignore them) And yes, her closeness with her father drifting away is definitely tragic and its sucks that it wasnt futhered explored, especially with the entire goetta situation as a whole since were in season 2 and we dont even know how they reacted to it. It makes me wonder why even give us these pieces to solve properly if its so little that it makes it pretty impossible without theorizing from any vague info we have and thats not how problem solving works.

And yes, its odd that shes only mad at stolas but never to stella. I mean, i get she would be on her moms side because of him cheating but still with how stella is written, you'd think she'd hate her too. In this rewrite, stella would actually be subtle in her abuse to stolas in a way where you can still recognise it but also understand why other (like via) wouldnt. An example of this would be my first post where her and stolas confront each other about the divorce, the quote; '-or did you forget? Like you always do?'. Its meant to showcase her most common tactics, shaming. From her background (that i'll explain further in her own post), she oftens picks up things from her family, which shaming is included. She would shame stolas whenever he makes a mistake or does something she doesnt approve of (like if he wore a suit she didnt like, she would say; 'you know were meeting your family right? You think they want to see their son of royalty in that sort of wear?' or them arguing on how much time via should spend on her astronomy lessons; 'Shes going to be a future you and what, you wanna just, make her lazy, huh?!' (or even 'I didnt think you'd care that less for your own daughter....') See these are what you could recognise as shaming but also understand why people may not consider it so, potentially using excuses like 'oh shes probably right because its royalty/she just cares about looking good enough for her family' or 'oh she just cares for her daughter and her future' (ironically enough, those are kind of what fans AND the show itself use as an excuse for stolas lmao) but just because via doesnt recognise stella's abusive tendencies, doesnt mean she isnt upset with her. She very much is, mainly with stella's aggressiveness as stella developed anger issues throughout her life and didnt have anything to help it. Via hates it whenever stella yells because of course she would be, no one likes angry loud noises! Its just that unlike with stolas, shes not as open with her frustration to her mother because shes genuinely scared of her from that aggression that makes it much more harder to truly express her feelings about her, instead keeping it to herself along with her feelings towards how the rest of the family is reacting to it given that it just feels too much for her to be involved in. So the reason why shes only open on being mad at stolas is despite what he did, he's the only one she feels safe in being mad about (I mean, she does have andrealphus as someone safe to an extent though he's very dismissive of telling her whats going on with the goetias and definetly doesnt take being wrong well like stella so hes not much better) that way, it'd be more understandable and futher peice the puzzle of their family and their dynamic. Family itself is quite complicated because of the nuances it has behind it and i wanna incorporate that to the goetias were their not fully evil but tend to care about their statuses rather then whats right in front of them (that being them as a family) since i think its interesting to explore and wouldve suit stolas, stella and octavia really well.

No need to apologise for rambling, i like getting asks of peoples thoughts/ideas on helluva. Hell look, im rambling too. I hope you enjoy the future rewrites i have in store, have a nice day/evening too

[kursed-arcana]

Psycho Pass Providence Review

I saw it in theaters and it was even better then I imagined.

Turning Akane into a tragic heroine may have been the best choice for her character after all. Her self sacrifice elevated her character to another level in my eyes.

I have not yet watched season 3 or first Inspector due to patiently waiting for the dub, but knew akane's fate and how it resolves. I went into this movie hoping it would explain how Akane was imprisoned and fearing she would take the fall for Shindo based on the context the film provided, instead I was pleasantly surprised to see our heroine take her fate into her own hands and make a difficult choice. Her self sacrifice was flawless and I was nearly in tears when she broke down. There is even a fantastic parallel between her choice here and Kougami's at the end of one. They both leave each other letters and both call the other an idiot for their decision. I left the theater fully satisfied.

I really appreciate how Kougami and Akane are always on eachothers minds and how their past interactions motivate their present actions even when they're apart. I think they'd make an excellent couple and Kougami being such a stubborn baby and not apologizing to Akane and being shocked when she hung up on him was too funny. I feel like them understanding eachother so well is both a strength and a weakness. It could very well be what keeps a a clear canon paring for them from happening. But I feel like this ending for Akane opens a lot of doors for them going forward. In the eyes of sybil, they're now two of a kind. The power imbalance barrier from their different statuses is now gone! And from what I hear about season 3 and first Inspector, I believe we'll be able to get more content of the two of them working together again in the near future.

On to the rest of the movie and cast.

I can't help but enjoy Mika. I think her character arc in 2 was actually really interesting and a nice contrast to Akane. And seeing her devastation at Akane's actions after she had just tried to save her, really spoke to me. I feel like she's still very much that broken girl from season 1 and Akane's loss probably opened up those wounds again. Her character has a lot more potential than most fans acknowledge.

Gino also has a prominent supporting role in this movie. Whether interacting with Kougami, Akane and Frederica he really shines. He is clearly happy to be with Kougami again, but let's his pride get in the way. But at the end of the day, they are both incredibly loyal to Akane. While Gino protects her as a shield, Kougami fights for her like a sword. It offers a unique dynamic. They essentially have Akane on a pedestal, as does sybil itself, which makes her very public and on purpose fall from grace all the more interesting. What will these two men do now that Akane has made herself a martyr for the justice her ideals strive to protect? I think we all have an idea of where the story goes from here whether we've watched the next material in the timeline already or not.

Finally its worth noting that essentially the entire supporting cast gets a few moments to shine, whether from season 1 or 2, and of course some characters from 3. The cast from 3 may not be the focus this time but they are still present in the background and I believe this movie answers some questions about their pasts.

In closing some stray thoughts.

- I can't help but ship Frederica and Gino now. They had great chemistry and a moment of theirs mirrors and earlier Koihami x Akane ship baiting moment in the movie. Keep yours open for it!

-we lost a good man this go around. His death generally shocked me. Keeping it vague so I don't lessen the impact!

- the music for this movie is A+ however, there is no after credit scene if you dont want to listen to the ending

[postatomichorror]

Endeavor!

From 2010 to 2020, the two people responsible for this blog (Maggie Rowbotham and Ron AAlgar Watt) reviewed the entirety of Star Trek on the Post Atomic Horror podcast. Yes, all of it. Even the really awful parts. In fact, we were so successful in our mission that we ran out of things to review. So we switched to a different project to allow the buffer to fill back up again. We learned a lot in that decade — about what really works in Star Trek; what really doesn't work; and what we wish we could see more of. Which led to the creation of our fanfic series, Endeavor.

Endeavor tackles political issues that mainstream Trek has been a bit... ham-fisted in dealing with. It includes an ongoing and frank discussion about neurodivergence. And it is unapologetically queer. There is so much of both of us infused into the DNA of this show, not to mention a stable of brilliant performers, co-writers and an actual composer. We could not be prouder of it.

Our second season began in early 2020. Ten episodes were originally planned, releasing at a rate of one per month. But then we were hit with a number of unavoidable delays. Who can say why? It's not like anyone else we know lost their entire minds starting in early 2020.

We did end up expanding the season to 12 episodes, and we managed to get 11 of those out by April of 2022.

The season finale, “Birth of a Nation,” took... a bit longer to get sorted out, but I'm pleased to announce that it's finally here.

Clocking in at over an hour in length, “Birth of a Nation” pays off a lot of stuff: the ongoing arcs of our three principles; the storyline involving the obviously-a-stand-in-for-white-supremacy world of Macaria; the financial misadventures of the Ferengi Tod; and threads of varying shapes and sizes, too numerous to list here, stretching back to our premiere episode.

This is not a series finale. Endeavor will be returning with a third season. But if we did have to end the show here, for whatever reason, we think this would serve as a pretty solid final chapter.

As with all non-corporate-backed Internet efforts, making people aware of our show and getting them to actually listen to it is a constant challenge. So, please: if you like Star Trek (or even just science fiction with a genuinely optimistic outlook for the future) and/or fully-scripted, fully produced audio drama, give our show a listen. And tell your friends. A pledge to our Patreon (which helps us pay the performers) would not go unappreciated, either.

[daywoutmoon]

RITSU SHOULD BE IN THE ALIEN HUNTING a silly analysis (?)

Before starting I just wanted to say that: This post is for the most part a joke! While I really would love have more Ritsu in this arc for all the reasons in this post, this is not really a serious critique or anything like "oh this arc sucked cause of little Ritsu screentime" lol. I do enjoy that arc as it is, the only part I really hate is the fucking Inukawa omakes (that I will not mention again in this post), aside of that very cool arc.

Also a warning: This contains spoilers for the entire season 3,ok?!

Anyway let's go gamers!!!

1. HE WANTED TO GO BRO.

Now if you are anime-only or read the manga but forgor let me explain why he didn't go: The Shiratori brothers say they're leaving after Takenaka accept join the alien hunting, and then-

(BY THE WAY INUKAWA JUST LIKE "OK THANKS BYE" CIGJFDIXJSI NOT EVEN TRYING LIKE "OH NO YOU GUYS CAN STAY" LMAO)

So as we can see... Ritsu was interested in joining in or... I mean what else could be ? Does he wanted to stay not because he wanted to join the fun but just like...idk... see Tome reaction to the news cause he would love some gossip and drama? I don't think so. ALTHOUGH IT IS FUNNY THAT THEY ONLY FOUND TELEPATHS CAUSE RITSU WAS JUST STANDING THERE LISTENING MOB TALK WITH HIS FRIENDS,AND THEN HE LIKE "OH I KNOW SOME". So maybe he truly just want the gossip who knows lol. But I'm more willing to bet he wanted to check out the alien thing.

2.BUT SPEAKING OF TOME AND RITSU

we been so so robbed. like so robbed. Tome and Ritsu interactions... Are very little. We technically had one non-canon one. And when I mean non-canon is because was in this omake that Ritsu killed One.

So all things considered I don't think Tome calling out how Ritsu was out of the plot at that moment followed by him killing One is canon, but... The point is she just gets there and calling him creppy. Just beating him down,judging him... And we don't have more interactions between them? BULLSHIT, I WANT MORE OF IT.

We do have another interaction that was in the last chapter/episode with Ritsu and Tome gossiping about Mob life,what is great content!!! Also is it me or this post is slowing turning into Ritsu gossip propaganda? Anyway glad to see at least a little of interaction in canon.

But I wanted more of them in canon,wahh. Lot's of people point out how Tome is like mini Reigen sometimes but I don't think Ritsu would have lot of beef with her cause she is not like being a big fraud like Reigen you know? Big part of Ritsu issues with Reigen is the whole lying to and using his brother, not being loud. And while we are at those two-

3.RITSU AND REIGEN BONDING

now. I say bonding cause both would have a very common thing in this trip: they have nothing to do with it. So like while Tome is complaining and being salty they both would be like 🧍 🧍 and I think that had lot of comedic potential. AND RITSU BEING ABLE TO THROW SHADE IN REIGEN DRIVING SKILLS??!?!

4.the rest of the club i guess lol

I talked about Tome and Reigen but honestly I would enjoy more interactions with the other telephaty club members with Ritsu lol

5.AND MOB OPSS

Now I said this post was mostly a joke, but not totally a joke and in one point is just like... Again I would love more Ritsu lol, but other point is when it comes with Mob and Ritsu I do think maybe would be more interesting for the plot if Ritsu was in this trip!

I'm not the most passionate over this arc,I adore it, I just never been intensely plagued with thoughts about this arc in specific, but over the time I did read some analysis there and there about it, and when the arc was adapted there was even more analysis of it. And seeing people observations I can see the importance of the arc not only to be a breathe between two intense arcs, but also to see the growth of Mob. Obvious there is even more to it, but focusing on Mob in this arc is like... He takes initiative, even the telepathy club members are impressed by him and he doing his best to help his friends. And he likes... Choose to use his powers?! And even convinces Takenaka to use his powers too.

And like. RITSU WAS THERE W HILE MOB SAID ALL THAT,WHAT I THINK IT IS VERY IMPORTANT. But like...What Ritsu missed was seeing Mob there, really exausthing himself with powers and all but not like...Over some big battle or anything like before but. Just for something "stupid". Something silly. And like, post finale I have no doubts that they will have many opportunities to share moments using psychic powers in a more mundane way, just like Mob used before The Accident. But I still wonder how it would be in the story if Ritsu had seen this, because in the confession arc there is an "out of nowhere" moment: That being Ritsu being the first to conclude that ???/Shigeo and Mob are the same.

Now I say out of nowhere, but I think that's kinda unfair. Rather is more unclear, what is not a bad thing, people can come up with their own interpretations and stuff. Like this can be just the result of lot of self reflection, it doesn't need have a clear A-HA EUREKA moment.

There is also how in the manga it goes like this the moment he says it:

And in my own interpretation one of the biggest things made he realize this is just another part of his brother is he seeing how ??? still just want to give flowers to his crush.

In the anime too part of this realization happened before he even saw Mob, so it does not work out but like. Personally I love the anime as much as the manga,but speaking about Confession arc in specific I LOVE THE MANGA VERSION 10 TIMES MORE AND I HAVE 89839895 NITPICKS WITH THE ANIME VERSION SO… Ok Ritsu concludes that this was a opressed part before coming face to face with Mob,ok. So I feel in that version is even more unclear.

But with all this in mind I wonder if that conclusion would work better with Ritsu seeing Mob use his powers to the max in a non life threatening situation. And… I have no idea. Maybe it would, or maybe it would ocupy too much of the alien arc. Maybe it would make less compelling if was super clear. I do not have a definitive answer. Idk if One didnt included Ritsu in the trip for a big reason or if he just didnt want him in and then made Shiratori brothers throw shade to Ritsu leave lol.

But. I do ask for you consider a what if. What if Ritsu was there ?~~

[kukuandkookie]

I’m just going to copy and paste this from my Twitter but OOOOOOH MY GOD—

GUYS I HAVE BIG NEWS!!!!

THIS WAS JUST UPLOADED MINUTES AGO BUT…BERYL AND SAPPHIRE IS GETTING A NEW SEASON!!!!

THE NEW ART STYLE IS SO DYNAMIC AND CUTE GKBSKFSHSB 🥺

(Edit: The uploader unfortunately had to take it down, which I am a bit sad about because they upload a lot of donghua/Chinese audio drama stuff and are clearly a fan of Beryl and Sapphire… But the trailer is now up on Bilibili’s official donghua channel!!)

I like just woke up after passing out coming home from the amusement park and it was like 5:55 am when I saw this so I still feel like I’m hallucinating!?!?!

It’s been so long!!! I’ve missed these two so much (I was literally rewatching a bunch of clips just yesterday)!

And they’ve seriously improved! The new art style and animation is so fluid and dynamic… I feel like I’ll miss the old one, but I love the new one too. But mostly I’m just so excited and happy and pleasantly surprised we get to see more animated Beryl and Sapphire!!!

I seriously thought the donghua could be considered 100% over ahhhhhhhhhhh 😭♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Also it looks like the new season focuses entirely on the Demon King Beryl and knight Sapphire arc, which is so cool! That arc was one of my favourites and it’s uber cute. 🥺

It does make me wonder…is it possible to see more new seasons…after this… 👀

Idk but a girl can hope (and I’m already so happy just having this—did I mention I’m happy!? I’m sorry I know I’m rambling a lot of the same nonsense over and over)!

LISTEN THOUGH I’M GOING TO PASS OUT THEY LOOK SO CUTE I’M FGMSNFKSBFKSNFJSBDBSHFJSH 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

BUT SERIOUSLY I’M SO EXCITED

IDK IF YOU GUYS KNOW THIS BUT BERYL AND SAPPHIRE WAS ONE OF THE CORNERSTONES OF EARLY GOOD DONGHUA AND IT HAS SUPER CUTE BL BUT ALSO REALLY FUNNY AND SO SO HEART-WRENCHING STORIES…

I’m sorry for yelling but I’m super hype!! I was already planning to finally start updating my Chinese media blog again, but I really have to now, just for Beryl and Sapphire. 🥹💖

Bonus: you can tell I’m excited because I actually bothered typing out a long comment in both English and Chinese on YouTube… 😂🙈

I also acted fast because the trailer was uploaded so soon and I’m scared it’ll disappear when I wake up later because this is all a dream HNGKSH

I’ve copied and pasted the comment below under the cut ahaha.

I’m so surprised!!! I absolutely love love love Beryl and Sapphire but I genuinely thought we could count the show as over! We’re…actually getting a second season??

I’m so surprised!!! I absolutely love love love Beryl and Sapphire but I genuinely thought we could count the show as over! We’re…actually getting a second season??

Omg I’m so excited—I’ve missed them so much!! 😭💕💕💕💕

So it looks like it’ll be just the Demon King arc this season, which is super cool! The art style and animation all seem to have improved so much too omg… I like how dynamic the art style is, although I do kind of miss the old one a little—maybe it’s just nostalgia speaking. 🥺

I wonder if we’ll get more seasons and more storylines/arcs after this!?

But God I really am so happy!! This feels like such wild news, seriously!!

好了我英语说了那么多，但我中文比较差…… 可是我就想说我好期待啊！

我好喜欢小绿和小蓝，但我都以为这个动画可以算已经结束了，真没想到还可以再看到更新的！

我有一点怀念本来的画风但我也觉得这新的画风真的进步了—又可爱，又很有活泼的感觉。

第二季是魔王的故事也让我好激动；魔王小绿太可爱了。我现在有事想未来还能不能再看到更多的小绿和小蓝动画 （还会不会有新季），但就有这个已经让我好开心。♥️♥️♥️♥️

[where-theres-smoak-2]

(Warning Shadow and Bone Season 2 SPOILERS!) 

Theory time. So I have been thinking alot about how Alina’s corruption arc may go in season 2 and I with all the parallels between her and Aleks this season and all the talk about her not following his path, I am expecting that her story is going to match that of Aleks’. 

Aleks had a position beside Anastas, the king, until the king began to fear how powerful Aleks was and became afraid of a coup, but I have always wondered whether someone was whispering in Anastas’ ear and to the country as a whole that Aleks was something to be feared, either out of fear or out of jealousy that Aleks was so trusted by the king. I mean the two Leading officer’s who confronted younger Aleks did seem particularly hostile towards him, Aleks was a military adviser so maybe they resented the position Aleks had with the king and wanted him gone? 

What’s all this got to do with Alina’s corruption arc though, you may ask? Well Alina ends the season in a position next to the king, much like younger Aleks. Just like Aleks had at the time Anastas and the country turned on him, Alina has just won a war for the country, tearing down the fold and so at the moment she is being celebrated. But the ending shows Alina using the cut at Nikolai’s coronation, which means she uses shadow powers in front of an entire room of people. But the nature of the event, a coronation, means that these people are ones that have power, station and influence. Some would even have been foreign dignitaries, all who could spread the word far and wide about the Sun summoner using shadow powers.

 We also know that Nikolai is hiding the secret that he is infected with merzost from the nichevo’ya. The apparat also makes a reappearance, the apparat had schemed with Aleks to gain power and was acting on behalf of the royal family whilst the king was incapacitated and the royal family were hiding at the spinning wheel. I imagine the Apparat is not happy about his loss in station now that Nikolai is on the throne. Also I suspect Nikolai is more likely to listen to advice from Alina than from the apparat, so the apparat has also lost his position as the king’s most trusted advisor. I could see the apparat trying to regain his position and the best way to do that would be to cause the nation to distrust Alina and Nikolai. Sooner or later the Merzost effecting Nikolai is going to make itself known and I think the apparat will begin to spread around that Alina is the one responsible for Nikolai’s condition. After all they all saw her use shadow magic, I think he will tell the nation that Alina is poisoning their king just as the darkling poisoned his king before her. The apparat could be going for the angle that if he gets Alina out of the way then he can make the claim that Nikolai is incapacitated and make a move to once again rule in the place of a ‘sick’ king. 

I also think that Alina will begin to act more and more ruthless in her attempt at keeping ravka and the grisha safe and that will be a slippery slope for her. This might cause the people to turn on her and for her to lose her popularity and that results in her being hunting, if Nikolai ends up incapacitated by the merzost, which is possible considering they added the whole Aleks being poisoned by merzost plotline, then it could be he isn’t able to protect her and the apparat is there leading the charge. Alina would, as was foreshadow in the fountain scene in 1x04, become the brand new heretic. 

I do think that the worse things get for Alina the more she is going to understand how right Aleks was and may begin to long for him. I could see this leading to Aleks’ resurrection. Ok so King of Scars Duology Spoilers incoming. I know that he does get resurrected in the duology and that its nikolai and zoya who are tricked by a saint into doing a ritual to bring him back believing it is a cleansing ritual for Nikolai’s demon and that Aleks’ spirit ends up in the body of a character named Yuri. However I don’t think that they are going to go the same route as the books when it comes to his resurrection, not entirely anyway. For one thing I do think that they will want to keep ben barnes, so I reckon they will bring him back in his own body reformed from his hand by merzost. Obviously I think the gang is going to start looking for a way to solve Nikolai’s problem. With it being merzost related I think they are going to start with Ilya Morozova and his journal. I also think instead of appearing to Nikolai and Zoya the saint will appear to Alina. I could see this going one of two ways either the saint tricks all of them into believing its a cleansing ritual or the saint tells Alina right off the bat that she wants to resurrect Aleks and Alina works with her to trick Nikolai and the others into doing the ritual. Alina could tell herself that she is doing it for Nikolai, she knows from Baghra that Morozova continued his writings after his supposed ‘death’ including those which Aleks uses to create the fold, so maybe she believes that Aleks may either know more about Nikolai’s demon or knows where they might be able to find more of Ilya’s writings on Merzost, and she’ll use this to justify bringing him back. But I think another part of her just wants Aleks back, is already feeling that loneliness and it likely feeling off balance without him there to act as her counter, she may come to realise that he is the only one who can understand her and so that is also playing a part in her helping the saint bring Aleks back.     

[mysteriesofloves]

If Gossip Girl had done more of a committed Dan/Blair academic rivals arc during the high school years (as opposed to the 2-3 very good but short episodes that we got), what do you think that might have looked like, and how might it have played out? For me it’s easy to imagine how Blair would act, but I’m a little less sure about Dan. Presumably for a good academic rivals arc he’d have to do some light scheming against her (since if it was only ever the other way around it’d just be straight up bullying lol), but while I can imagine how season 4-5 Dan would act (a la 4x13), I’m less sure about high school Dan, who was… softer, for lack of a better word. Curious about your thoughts!!

good question! since we never see them actually in class it’s unclear whether the classes are co-ed or not but tbh these two are so competitive especially with each other that it doesn’t matter all that much because they could make a rivalry out of anything.

i think a better descriptor for early seasons dan would be uncorrupted—especially s1. so i think a true rivalry, fit with scheming, would have to take place in s2, but with s1 providing a good setup: the essay contest.

the contest would be open to both schools, and post-1x11 with dan being published in the new yorker, he thinks he’s a shoe-in for the win. like, he’s not even thinking that there’s any competition. and then blair wins it. and she’s not surprised, but dan is astounded. rethinking his entire life. how is blair waldorf a better writer than him? surely she isn’t, and she’s just blackmailing the judges or manipulating the results somehow.

i think canonically the essay contest takes place at the end of s1 as it makes the most sense for no one showing up for blair: serena is dealing with georgina, things are weird with nate, her mom is working. i think there’s some good 1x04 paralleling that could happen here: dan noticing that no one is going to be there to support blair and kind of begrudgingly going, not because he cares or anything, but because he might as well hear the essay that beat out his. he sees her up at that podium like he saw her in the hallway: stripped down to the bone, looking out into the crowd for someone, anyone, that cares about her (it is however crucial that she does not see him!!! that’s still gotta come out through the reading of inside).

and then she reads out the winning essay, and we watch dan’s face as he realizes that—shit. she’s good. she’s not just intelligent, she’s eloquent and persuasive and thoughtful.

maybe she’s not a better writer than him, but she’s sure as hell giving him a run for his money.

so we’ve set them up as academic equals, both believing themselves to not only be better than the other, but more deserving of acclaim (which, really, is more dangerous than anything). from here: they turn everything into a competition that only the two of them are in.

where the scheming comes in…i agree that i can’t see s1-2 dan scheming in the same way he does in 4x13 (in fact, it’s with blair that he’s always scheming, and he really learned how to from the best), so i think it’s more along the lines of…emotional manipulation. that’s kind of harsh phrasing, but pretty much what we see in 2x08. i think that blair knows that dan buys none of her pretences and sees right through her and so his opinion of her must be the truth, and it’s why she’s always taking his advice/listening to him. so—after blair, like, gets dan’s papers thrown out or gets him wrongfully investigated for academic dishonesty or something, dan uses his best weapon against her: his words. he gets under her skin, makes her doubt herself before a big test or a big presentation. says, well, i’m sure you know what you’re doing but it was even hard for me, i’m almost worried i won’t do well, but then again, if i don’t make it to yale it’s not that big of a disappointment, i’m not a legacy like you.

and when blair inevitably fucks up because he’s always able to get to her, he feels really fucking bad about it. cue something similar to how he got her the job back; probably taking the fall for it and getting her a redo.

i think it’s also unclear whether they had separate valedictorians for each school but for the purposes of this, they wouldn’t. there’d only be one. cue an episode or two dedicated to an increasingly high stakes election, each of them running a campaign, making their friends choose sides. it causes actual drama! they’re both super insufferable about it!! and then, of course: nelly yuki wins.

i also think it would be fun to incorporate storylines à la rory and paris in gilmore girls: school paper, student council (they’re each the head representative/president for their respective school). also all of this would be running parallel to getting to see them try not to kill each other during rehearsals for the play of course.

[sirwolficus]

I had to quit miraculous awhile ago but at one point I was interested. Pray tell, has there been an identity reveal that didn’t get undone by amnesia/time travel/weird plot contrivance, yet?

listen, i wish i had that self control. i dont like miraculous. though i do appreciate some of the pros of the show (the diversity, for instance, is something i respect, especially being produced in france which [from what ive heard from a good friend from france i went to college with] isnt as progressive with lgbt+ as canada or parts of the USA), the main thing i have always, and will always have issue with, is the writing.

so, putting this under read more in case people dont want spoilers

so, to condense my internal rants -- no, theres no identity reveal. i thought i heard something or other about that, but no, theres no chat noir/ladybug identity reveal. there IS, however, a ladybug/HAWKMOTH identity reveal. without chat noir present.

chat noir is written out of most of the finale.

oh! also, hawkmoth won. he just straight up won. he got what he wanted.

in the episode preceding the two parter, there is a large build up between adrien and his dad, who self akumatizes again (wowzers!), and as they fight they argue about parenting. adrien knows he's yelling at his dad, but gabriel doesnt -- something i assumed was a build up to a final hawkmoth/chat noir showdown, something of that nature. but nope! it seems like that episode was the product of the shows worth of adrien vs gabriel tension. and its severely disappointing.

also, they confirm that felix is a sentimonster-- cool. they imply adrien is also one, which is less cool. just say it. its season 5.

this entire season has been, and continues to be, build up-build up-build up, which coalesces into a two parter that cuts one of the main characters, brings in characters from the movies (which i didnt even see, so i had no idea who the hell these people were, randomly showing up and fighting the villains), and an even more batshit insane scheme that usual. chloe becomes temporary mayor (???? shes like 14? or 15? however old theyre supposed to be anyway) in one episode, then the alliance rings are used to like, hypnotize everyone? its so fucking confusing. kagami and adrien are quite sincerely, by definition kidnapped by their parents too. but their parents did it to keep them safe!! (and then kagami and adrien were still affected by the akuma attacks/hypnotism/etc, so....)

i think the worst part is that hawkmoth actually won. he summoned god (NO EXAGGERATION.) and sacrificed himself to bring emilie back.... which brings up a ton of questions. my main ones being; what the fuck? did he rewrite time? did she just wake up from the coma? what happened to gabriel? did everyone just accept that adriens mom is back? did no one question this sudden switch?

obviously, in this little end-montage, they explain that gabriel 'helped defeat hawkmoth with ladybug', and he gets a statue in his honour, and adrien, quite literally says, i dont think i can ever be like him (or a line to that effect, if my memory's correct). and thats such a slap in the face.

its... stupid. it really is. i feel unsatisfied, and frankly, duped. i had always thought that it would be a final showdown between ladybug, chat noir and hawkmoth. where we could see the parallels between gabriel/emelie and adrien/marinette -- this is stuff i was expecting as soon as it was revealed that gabriel had emelie creepily in his basement. i was expecting a happy ending, obviously (its a kids show), but one that was hard earned. no one got that. no arcs were completed, or at the very least, completed well.

felix and kagami get together. ??? why? felix is also an ally now. why? chloe seems to be out of the picture, and lila now holds the butterfly miraculous.

like, i cant even lie. i made superhero ocs based off of how angry i am at this show. because i genuinely feel i can do better. i think most people could do better, because theyve ignored integral parts of the hero's journey. hell, it's barely a journey to begin with.

i think i mostly watch it now still, because i hopped on the train back when season 2 first aired, when i was in elementary school. im a god damn college drop out now! if this doesnt prove the time invested = loyalty theory, then i dont know what does