#Rio has no idea why Beth does anything

[juuuuunaaaaaooooo]

Tell me more about your headcanon that Rio really wants a daughter. How do you see him bonding with Beth's kids? How do you see Beth bonding with Marcus?

Ohhhhh...Where do I start????

First :  Maybe what I'm about to say is wrong, but that's my take on it. I sincerely think that the relationship between a father and his son is completely different from the relationship between a father and his daughter. It doesn't mean that the love of a father for his son is less strong, they are equal; but I think that there is a more important feeling of protection for a girl than for a boy, in many areas. And that's why we often tend to say that a girl is always going to be her daddy's little girl, or his princess.

I also think that many parents, when they have a child and want a second one, they hope (without necessarily saying it) to have the other sex. (I mean I know a lot of people who only want 2 child, but they had only boys and want a girl, or the contrary).

Before I talk about this headcanon, I'll talk about another one.

Personally I think that Rio and Rhea were never serious, a real couple. That they were friends with benefits, or just sex partners and that Marcus was not at all planned, but he is the most beautiful thing that happened to both of them.

And also that contrary to what we could see in the canon, Rio and Rhea have a program of co-parenthood, a week/a week. Except when Rio has to leave for work or if he is really hurt.

Anyway...^^, now I'll move on to why this headcanon.

I think this headcanon comes from a lot of other headcanons I have about Rio, which led me to this one.

First, I really think Rio always want a big family, like 4 or 5 childs. (And now he's gonna have 5, yeahh for him^^.) 

Second, I think Rio like going to shopping, but Marcus isn’t a fan of that. So he can just became completely gaga at the idea of going shopping with her daughter, and buying her hairbands, dresses, shoes, hats, to excess.

Third, I think he has a lot of little cousines, and he loves taking care of them. I think he learned how to do his little cousins' hair, and he would love to use this new talent on his own daughter.

Four, He does things he’ll never do with Marcus, because he didn’t play with these kind of game, but also because he couldn’t say no to her. He will agree to pretend to drink tea with her. He will play with her dolls enthusiastically, making up the craziest stories just to see her eyes shine. And above all, since she won't be able to do his hair, he will let her put nail polish on his nails.

In conclusion, He knows that he will be wrapped around her little finger and that she will make him do anything and everything. But he won't care, because his daughter will be his princess.

And when she’s gonna be older, he’s gonna scared all men who’s gonna try to seduce her (specially douch)^^.

Voilà!!!! (I’m not the answer is the answer to your question...oops^^)

Rio and the boland kids :

I think Jane and Emma would take to him right away, not only because he's Marcus' dad, but because they thinks he's so cool and nice.

For Danny, I think he would like Rio, but he would be all shy around him, at least at first, but Rio would do everything to make him feel comfortable.

The hardest one would be with Kenny, not only because Kenny is the oldest, and for him the divorce of Beth and Dean will be hard, but also...Kenny is a number two Dean, and that he listens to everything his father says. And when Dean finds out that Beth is with Rio (really), and that he'll be in his old house with his ex-wife and kids, he won't be able to stop himself from badmouthing Rio, and Kenny will take his word for it. But with time, he will get to know Rio, the real Rio, not just the gangster, the man with the tattoo described by his father and he’s gonna like the real Rio. And most importantly, he will see that his mother is truly happy and fulfilled with him, and that’s is the most important.

Rio would never try to take Dean's place, never. In fact, at the beginning of his relationship with Beth, he will not interfere with anything, and will even refuse to do anything too much personal with the children. Not because he doesn't want to, but just because he doesn't see it as his role. And especially he wouldn't want it to create an even bigger conflict between Beth and Dean, like for the custody, and that the children end up in the middle.

But as time goes by, and after several discussions with Beth, he will behave with them, as he really wants to; reprimanding them if they do something wrong, taking them to school, to their activities. He will even take them to the park, shopping, that kind of thing. And in the futur, he will go to their graduation, advise them on their first love relationship, helping them to find their first apartment, to move, will be their second wedding witness. just as he would with Marcus, because he loves them as much as his own son.

Beth and Marcus : 

I think Beth, even though she will try not to show it, will be happy but also embarrassed to be around Marcus again. Happy because for her, it means that between her and Rio everything is really behind them, and that he trusts her to let her get close to Marcus, in that way, so domestic. But also embarrassed, because despite herself, she couldn't stop feeling guilty, about the fact, that she was the one who almost took his father away from him forever. But also because...seeing him, reminds her of the time when she had befriended Rhea. Because she had finally found someone she could drink rosé with, talk about the kids, about anything and everything, just another person, other than Ruby and Annie; a new friend. And sometimes it made her nostalgic.

But in the end, her relationship with Rio would allow her to improve her relationship with Marcus' mother. Not to the point of becoming friends again, but that the other woman, would not be bothered by Beth spending time with her son.

I also think that as like Rio, Beth will not interfere with Marcus' education, and will let Rio handle him, even though they may not have the same approach.

Of course she would never take Rhea's place, but sometimes when Marcus would be sleeping at home, he would ask her to read him a story or sing him a lullaby, and she would accept, because...who could say no to this little angel?

And when they all gonna leave together, she just gonna treat him if he was her 5th child.

Thank you infinitely for your enthousiasm about my stupid brain headcanon and your ask <333333. And sorry it take so long, but i would to be sure I didn’t forgot something^^. And also because I have feeling I didn’t really answer the question... (I’m so bad at that^^)

[sothischickshe]

Ok so (when) did rio learn/guess that the reason Beth et al stopped supplying the money was to do with not having the plate/s? Because that is the problem he solves.

I figure, the money doesn't appear, he sends mick round. Cos what's this maniac doing this time? Is she making moves? Has she shot up the machinery?

Mick reports back that Beth's super freaked, seemed about half a second off offering him a blowjob but then tried a bullshit bribe that makes no sense because she's clearly not making money atm. (oh and BTW there's a small chance this is all his fault cos mick twiddled all the knobs on the press the other day while snooping.)

So then Rio's like uh huh uh huh sounds familiar. He goes - maybe to yell at Beth? Maybe to snoop? Works out Lucy's place in everything. Maybe he is thinking hmm replacement material for a minute. (But I kinda doubt it? Because she's not. There's no reason to believe Lucy knows about the rest of the process or has any desire to do crime.)

I feel like when rio and his boys grab Lucy, she knows enough from what Beth and the girls have said to put stuff together. Maybe she's like, oh you're the one who sent Beth to get me to make more? And rio gets enough info from Lucy to work out what's fucked with the supply and what needs to be remedied? (or maybe he'd already figured that out from seeing Beth's whole process previously, knowing how printing works, clocking that Beth's stalled and freaked, knowing Lucy does all the designs and is connected to Beth and the store, being pretty sure it's not an issue with the press itself if that's what beth told mick it was...?)

Importantly: did Lucy tell rio that Beth stole her bird over it?????

[mego42]

Hey! So I really enjoy your two cents on every Good Girls topic so I’m hoping you can weigh in on the S2 Brio kiss (or point me in the direction of a post if you already have done this!). When the ep first aired I remember twitter was full of people saying they hated the kiss cos it was awkward etc. I don’t get into the dramas like the cast not getting along etc (I mean I find Rio hot as fuck but Manny’s instagram presence makes me want to yeet him off the planet)…so I took the scene for what it was and there was a lot i liked about it: i.e. the broad daylight, Beth leaning in first, the tugging each others clothes off. Would love to get your take!

omg i LOVE how awkward the kiss is tbh. like, think about it:

this is, if not beth's second first kiss, her first first kiss in over twenty years, girls gonna be rusty, right?

i think one of the best things the scene captured is how fragile that moment was, between the way manny and christina play it and the resounding silence, the way they let the ambient noise shine (you can hear the buttons on beth's coat hit the floor, the floorboards creak when she leans in and kisses him the first time, the click of the latch when she shuts the door is loud af, the wet noise when they pull back after the first kiss??????? the sound dept really went tf off with this one and i love that for us)

the whole scene makes me feel like i'm holding my breath right up until i'm not

and also like, this is the cumulative build up of months of lingering stares and personal space issues and intense fascination and growing respect and (grudging, maybe) affection and tension and want

and i v much mean on both their ends

beth's nervous af, idk if i would say rio's nervous but he's definitely aware and tentative in a way we've ever seen him

he's v v carefully letting beth make the first move every step of the way, even when he meets her in the middle of the room and leans in, he waits for her to cross the dividing line between them

(ugh and the way she keeps pausing and looking at him like she's looking for his reaction because she's always looking for his reaction but also like she's waiting for him to move in and take over because he also does that too but he's not because this is different this isn't business it's personal, the most personal they've ever been)

and even when she does he still waits and lets her drive the moment

(the only time he crosses it, well, until, is when he pushes her hair back which is their thing and even if maybe he started doing it to mess with her bc lets be real he started doing everything he does to mess with her, i also think at some point it started being real and he meant it in 213 when he said he likes doing it and i think that's why he tried to do it in 303 to prove that it didn't mean anything anymore but he also couldn't touch her face bc it did and it does mean something and i cRY but that is a whole entire tangent)

but he waits for her right up until he can't anymore and he lunges because he's been waiting for and wanting this just as much as she has

i truly do not have words to describe what the lunge does to me, tbh

like he waits and waits and waits and then breaks

and then it's messy because both of them are just like, completely overwhelmed and undone by the fact that this is happening

i love the way beth's hand flutter around like she has absolutely no idea what to do with him or where she wants to touch him first and is completely unequipped to figure it out or deal with it so she just kind of flits from shoulders to

and he's just holding on to her and going for it because oh my god after all this time it's happening and it's real (except it's not but also it is and again i cRY)

oh god and the brEATHING

i should send the sound dept a gift basket tbh. a tasteful edible arrangement or something, they really understood the assignment here

(the lighting dept gets coal bc as much as i love the whole backlit silhouette thing thematically it is the WOST THING TO GIF)

so anyway, yeah, there's a lot going on and personally i love tf out of the awkwardness bc much like that ambient sound, it just makes it that much more raw and real and vulnerable and it makes me want to tear out my hair and run around screaming at the top of my lungs

[riofann]

Rio Random 4

Things got a lot better after that, to your surprise. But you had both decided that you were basically going to do a redo and actively  work on your relationship. It was a bit difficult at first. But you felt better when you saw Mick removing drugs from your house. He also got you a security system that you could look at from your phone to see who has been in and around the house. You didn’t smell Beth around your house as often either. You actually didn't hear much about Beth, as far as you were concerned things were being dealt with.   

Rio would stop by two times a week at least on top of dates breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner, or dessert. He was a romantic at heart actually, you would find flowers at home or at work sitting on your desk. He often used to look at you and smile which made you blush. You also met Marcus and Rhea one night at a state fair. Rhea was like Rio, hard to read you could see why the two ended up together. All together your relationship was far from perfect but you could honestly say you were happy. 

One late afternoon you rushed home from work. Rio had sent you a text saying he had left a present for you. He often did this when he found lingerie that he liked and wanted you to wear it. Some dates he had dressed you from head to toe, others he provided the undergarments. Not that your taste was bad but he enjoyed doing this. 

When you open the door to your home you hear voices coming from the bottom of your house before you could turn around and walk away you come face to face with a strange woman. 

“Uh hi” Ruby greets uneasily 

“Who are you?” You ask 

“Uh Krystal”

Quickly Beth comes around the corner “Oh Y/N I was just ummm....”

You close your door now pissed, what are you doing in my house. Mick had moved all the drugs from your home, Rio had promised you nothing was left in your house. You looked around to see your house in disarray before turning your attention back to Beth  and these other women.

“Oh well Rio wanted me to drop off something”

“Did he? Inside my house? He doesn’t even have a key, so how’d you get in?” 

“Well Mick helped with that” “Okay what are you dropping off” 

“Uh,” “Right let me just give him a call I’m sure he would love to hear about this”

“NO! Let's not bother him you know he is busy right Be... be be because he wouldn't like that right Krys?” Annie interjects

“Or should I call the police?”

Without warning Beth pulled out her gun and pointed it at you

“What are you doing?” Ruby asked in horror 

“Alright Sit” she says motioning with the gun 

“Are you gonna tell me what you're doing here in my house Elizabeth?”

Instinctively the two women looked at her as she looked shocked as well “How did you?” 

“Elizabeth Boland, you have  5 children with your ex husband Dean right? Used to be a stay at home wife? Did I get that right?” 

“SIT!” she demands “No, what are you gonna do? shoot me?”

“SIT!” she turns to look at Annie and Ruby before turning her attention back to you “Who told you?” 

“Oh uh Mrs. Doubtfire...  Yea i was stopping by to give you that book i borrowed and she said there was no such thing as Krystal had no idea what i was talking about then she told me everything”

“That damn woman” 

“SIT!” 

“NO!  If you're gonna point a gun at me then I expect you to shoot.” 

Ruby tugs at her arm “Beth lets just go” “NO ITS HERE” she yells while yanking her arm back  “you think you are so special, that's what he does you know. Make you feel special then he just dumps you like you're nothing!”

“But I’m not you Beth, and i'm not Rio, so whatever you're looking for its not here and whatever beef you have take it up with him”

“I SAID SIT!” 

“I'm not deaf i don't know why you're yelling” 

“Beth” Annie tries to calm the situation Beth with a bewildered look turns to look at Annie “NO!”

“This is bad” Ruby comments 

“You can't just threaten her life because of some guy....Beth” Annie states  

“I am not all I need her to do is sit Annie!....I know that it’s here it just has to be...” 

As they argued within themselves you felt like it was the perfect opportunity to sneak away as you got close to the door. You turned abruptly to open it when you heard commotion followed by  sharp pain on your side, you looked down to see blood seeping through your clothes. You slowly fall to the floor back resting against the wall. 

“OH MY GOD BETH!” “SHE WAS GETTING AWAY” she defends “HE IS GOING TO KILL US” Annie states looking at her sister like she had 5 heads “I’M SO SORRY Y/N” she says rushing towards you 

“YOU BITCH” You kick her in the chest causing her to fall back, you groan and hold onto your side 

“This isn't good please don't kick me none of this was supposed to happen” Ruby says slowly crouching down next to you

“Put pressure on it” Annie instructs

“I need towels!” 

“It's gonna be okay” Ruby tries her best to sooth you “I can't believe you” 

“I didn't” Beth says while holding onto your wound

Annie rushed back with towels in hand

“Uh guys we have to take her to the hospital” You don’t know when it happens but you start to fade away “Y/N! Can you stand?” “Y/N!” Annie calls your name “she's not... Y/N stay awake 

“What's wrong with you?” Ruby scolds

“What? Ruby..” 

“Why are you trigger happy”

“It was an accident, help me get her in the car!” 

“Well we can't go out the front door”

“Then help me get her through the fucking back door Annie”

“Oh my god” Annie says throwing her hands up 

When 30 minutes pass Rio is beyond infuriated with you. You were not picking up his calls or answering his texts and from what he knew you were at home.He doesn’t  know why you flaked on him, he thinks you were in a drunken slumber wondering how you got back into it, you had shown signs of improvement. 

When he gets to your house however he opens the door, he hears Coconut’s barking and he immediately spots the pool of blood by the door

“Go find her is all he needs to say to Mick”  

He walks through your home, there were multiple holes cut in your walls, holes in the cushion seat on the couch, furniture overturned. When he walks into the bedroom everything is in disarray just like the living area. Carefully he walks down the steps and spots your bag. He thinks you were ambushed. His mind goes into overdrive and is thinking of who would have the gull to do such a thing as far as he was concerned everyone knew enemy wise especially in this line of business that children and wives/girlfriends were out of the question. So whoever had the gull to do such a thing was bold and he’s wondering who it could be. He makes a few calls before he’s sitting in front of your laptop trying to log in. another phone call and he’s given the password. When he looks through the security footage nothing but rage takes over. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After pacing the floor in silence Ruby explodes with emotion “He is going to kill us!” 

“He doesn't know where we are” Beth counters

“I have a child Beth and I need to call Stan and let him know what’s going on!” 

“So do I Ruby, I have 5 to be exact,  he wont do anything she's just a placeholder anyway”

Ruby looks at her in disbelief “Are you kidding me he broke up with YOU to be with HER she is no placeholder”

“She's not special he can find another woman  like her anytime soon” Beth states dismissively 

“Beth i don't like this you need to call him and tell him it was a  mistake” Annie jumps into the conversation 

“Relax he doesn't know where we are he’s not stupid plus Dean will throw his ass in jail”

Putting her hands up Ruby states “I can’t believe you” before she walks away A brief moment of silence before Beth’s phone starts ringing

When they all look at the phone only unknown flashes through the screen after the 5th time the screen is black for good

“Elizabeth please for our sake just tell him” Ruby pleads “we can’t be hidden forever” 

“NO! Now shut up and let me think!” 

“Or what you're gonna shoot me” Ruby expresses frustrated 

“It was an accident!” 

Ruby scoffs, “Like shooting him too? I'm starting to think you’re trigger happy”

“Don't start accusing me you shot someone in the foot!” 

“That was an accident! We all know it was, but you just can't let this life go huh. You can't let this power go so whoever stands in your way you're gonna get rid of them” 

Beth walked up to Ruby looking at her right in the eye “You're right so move out of my way” she didn't have time to be arguing with her so if that meant intimidating her she would. 

Annie quickly got between the two and separated them. “Guys i cant right now please not now, i can't deal with this, we just need to stick together” 

Beth was right Rio couldn't locate them at first but he had found you. You were in the surgical icu stabilizing after your surgery. Because you were considered a Jane Doe no one was really allowed to see you, but Rio had his connections and he walked in to see you fast asleep before walking out. He says nothing as Mick drives him over to Beth’s house. Nothing was out of the ordinary except Beth was missing. He also had other cars posted outside of Ruby’s house and Annie's. 

“Aii bet” he hangs up the phone irritated that no one could locate Beth, she had become a protégé, so good at hiding things from him now. 

"You gon’ have to get rid of her” Mick states before looking at Rio,  “She shot you, planned your assassination," he scoffs "stolen, sabotaged, lied, how much more you gon let her get away with"

“I cant get rid of her, if i do i gotta deal with the other 2, not to mention the stupid ass husbands that's almost 10 kids in foster care, too much heat its bad for business now anyway, plus I'm still under the microscope cuz of Turner” 

“Both can’t co exist  though, so you either with Beth or you with Y/N.”

“Fuck me”

“Gotta make a move boss”

“Ima figure something out” 

It takes 2 days but he finally locates them. Abruptly woken from their sleep and thrown in a van they find themselves in an unknown place, kneeling in front of him, with plastic bags underneath them. 

“Please i have children” Beth tries to plead her case 

Rio’s shoulders roll back before he speaks “Nah see you can’t keep doing that mama, you can't keep provoking me and asking for mercy cuz you got kids.”

“I'm a mother, they need their mother!”

“Please Rio” Ruby interjects 

“See that's the problem, I hoped you being a mother, you would actually be more careful but I get it now. You just wanna be reckless and use me as your cover. Shoot me 3 times it's my fault. Steal my fault, lie my fault, plot to kill me my fault" his shoulders roll "what was Y/N’s fault why you shoot her?" Already knowing the answer he wanted to see what she would  say 

"She knows my name I know you told her"

"She's my girl"

"Right just like I was but unlike her you can't replace me you need me!” 

"Humor me Beth, are you jealous?" 

Beth scoffs “of what?"  

"Y/N"

She scoffs again "you wish! You probably get off knowing 2 women want you" 

He licks his bottom lip and smiles. It takes a minute before he speaks “So what should i do with you, all of you? I know I’m tired of this game, we’ve been playing it for too long. Aint y’all tired of wondering if im gon kill you?” He asks addressing Annie and Ruby

“Please I promise to walk away” Annie offers 

“Annie shut up!” Beth scolds 

“NO! YOU SHUT UP BETH GOD YOU ARE SELFISH! ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!” 

“Annie I’m trying to....” Before she can finish she stops after she hears her phone ringing  

Rio looks down at the phone “Talk it out I gotta take this call” he says before walking away 

The girls don’t say anything but look at each other. When they see him return Beth comments “I got this let me speak.” waiting for him to sit down before she begins “You can’t kill us and you know it. So you can run back to your little girlfriend and kiss her wound and tell her she's special and I'll go back to doing my thing” she says snidely Both Annie and Ruby looked at her shocked.

“She is, it could have been you but the 3 bullets kinda changed my mind”

“OH MY GOD! Can you let that go!”

“I did then I found out you hired a hitman and some kid to shoot me. Things change all the time between us,  you know this”

“So what are you gonna do? Because we have work to do”

“I know.” He nods at the men behind them. The zip ties are cut before he walks away “I’ll see you around yea?”

When he leaves they all look at each other shocked that he even let them walk away. They remain in that position until all the men leave. 

“See I told you!”

“I can’t do this Beth you need some serious help and I’m not willing to wager my family as collateral for it”  Ruby states “It worked” “For you! Not for us, you think it's just a one woman show where you do everything? Like your actions don’t have any effect on our lives'' “Ruby it worked I don’t know why you’re being such a baby about it” “Yea well better that than you” 

Annie interjects once again  before things get heated “Guys can we just figure out how to get home”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So what now?” Mick asks frustrated with the whole thing. “She still working for you?”  he knew the pattern all too well Beth would do something to get back at Rio 

“Nah we moving, leaving Michigan, getting new headquarters. She wanna run the business? Cool, but no protection, no muscle, no supply of weapons, no connections, yea she can print money but she can’t operate or deal, not without me. Make sure everyone knows if they entertain her they are dead. I don’t care what it is if I find out I’m putting a bounty on your head. She right though I can’t kill her but i can kill her business” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took a few days but when you regain consciousness in the hospital you see one of Rio’s men at least you’re assuming he is sitting by you. You two don’t speak and you go back to sleep. The next day police stop by to question you about your shooting, you tell them the story Rio’s guy told you, a home invasion gone wrong. They leave satisfied with the explanation. Rio comes to visit a few days after  you have been moved to a step down unit that was more private.

The door opens and you watch as he walks in “Rio”

Hey mama he approaches you with hands behind his back and as he gets closer a cute teddy bear that has ‘get well soon on it’ 

“How you feeling?”  he asks taking a seat next to you on the bed 

“I got shot” you state factually

“You got shot” he says moving the hair from your face 

“Where have you been? The cops came to see me”

“I know they stopped by, I was handling something. Did you tell them what Honcho told you to say?”

“Yes” 

He smiles and looks at you with a face you can’t quite read

“So where is she?” 

You were hoping he would say dead in a ditch somewhere or something along the lines of ‘you never have to worry about her’ but what he said made you more angry

“At home”

“She's alive?”

“Yea” 

You roll your eyes, was she gonna be thorn on your side for the rest of your life with Rio? “But she won’t bother you” “Yea said that last time and now i have a bullet hole on my side that says otherwise” “Nah she won’t be able to reach you this time cuz we leaving, after you get discharged” 

“What? You want me to move?” 

“Yea,we can...”  You interrupt "There's no we anymore, you're like a bad omen. In less than a year since  i met you I get shot and now i have a bullet wound because of your unhinged ex that you couldn't keep in check and you still think there's a 'we' " 

“I told you,” he runs his hand down his chin “i asked you to be patient” he speaks softly 

“Be patient, meant with you! So you could change not ‘be patient, my crazy ex who i can't control will shoot you months from now but i still need you to understand” you say sarcasm laced in your tone 

“Y/N” “You told me to treat you like any other guy on the street, so I am. We are done!” 

“You can't stay here” he stresses “Why not?” “Beth isn’t my only enemy, and once she finds out my plans she will go to them for revenge” 

“So where are we going? I have a career here! Aunt Brenda and Mia, my parents, I visit their graves often”  

“They can come visit you, You can always get another job, it’s not safe for you here Y/N”

“Was it ever safe? Didn’t you have enemies before? Was I not in danger then” 

“This is different, Beth is vengeful I can’t risk it” 

“Where are we going?” 

“I can't tell you, not now I’m still figuring that out” 

“Typical” “Listen i'm packing up your house I’m gonna get you a new place in a new city you'll get a job” 

“Rio are you kidding me you want me to just up and leave?” “Yea,” he stands up and looks down at you  “it’s non negotiable, i gotta protect you, after you get discharged we leaving” 

“Protect me? From who? The only person I need protection from is you. Rein que le diable (nothing but the devil)” 

He stares at you for a moment  “get some rest” he says before kissing your forehead. He didn’t care about how you felt in the moment protecting you, Marcus, and Rhea were his top priority and he knew that always came with push back no matter who he was talking to.

A/N: as always tell me what you think. Not really a fan of this chapter didn’t know how to go around it. 

[hypermania]

I'm sorry that you were disappointed with Outerbanks, but I'm selfishly very happy that you're continuing to work on the amazing GG fic idea! I also love reading your thoughts on the show. I was curious to know your favorite moments of season 4?

bahahaha i actually am kind of glad i was disappointed with it too because i'm so excited about this fic idea, i don't want anything to distract me from it. even if i never actually make enough progress to post anything, just working through what i hypothetically want to happen has helped me find closure in the unresolved ending we got with the unexpected cancellation (but i do want to actually write the damn thing and post it haha).

i'm so glad you're excited about it too! this is such a sweet message and it makes me want to work on it even more : )

as for my favorite moments of s4? jeez, i don't even know. s4 was such a mixed bag for me. there weren't a lot of things i was lukewarm on. i either really hated or really loved what was happening and i'd have to do a rewatch but luckily i've been going through my tag so i've got some ideas. here are some of the stand-outs:

rio looking at beth like she's lost her damn mind when she asks his bartender if they've got anything without caffeine or alcohol

the whole 'mazel tov' exchange

beth putting fitzpatrick in his place with 'oh i'm sorry. was i supposed to enjoy it?'

annie leveling up and doing right by ben because she really truly loves him more than anything in the world

'heroin and hookers?' 'so obvious' and just the entirety of that conversation because it was one of the few times beth was really truly being honest, despite the fact that she was using that honesty to manipulate rio (which is why it worked so well tbh)

ruby thinking stan was cheating on her for all of one day before confronting him and them moving past it in zero point two seconds flat because their relationship is built on trust and respect, even if they've got a boatload of other problems right now

the entirety of 4x06 and the fact that rio was using his family to manipulate beth but he played himself like a damn fool! introduced his crime wife to his family and then got all protective and possessive and !!!!!!! the introduction of nick into the fold is one of the best decisions the show's made in a long time. it gave us so much insight into rio as a person, into his history, into his business operation, and into his feelings for beth. like????? i truly could not ask for more!

i also love that marcus was just sat there quietly the whole time and did not say a single thing about how he already knows beth both from the park and from the rhea situation. kid's already learned snitches get stitches and he ain't saying shit.

and i mean obviously there was another thing that happened in 4x06 that was fine i guess. :)

ruby giving beth shit about her sexual escapades as is her right as a BFF

dean was actually funny this one time

the bench scene in 4x09, my beloved. i love everything about it. it is the perfect brio scene to me. i don't know how to explain what it is about this scene that does it for me but there's just something so... intimate in what they're acknowledging and what they're not saying. 'sometimes it's worth it' should imply that this time it was worth it but when rio admits that he got the black eye by being himself it negates that. sometimes being himself isn't worth it. sometimes being us, doing what we do, isn't worth it. sometimes all of this doesn't feel worth it. it sucks. and this is the first time since 2x09 that he's acknowledged that this shit isn't easy. 'it's lonely at the top.' but this time there's also this undercurrent of resentment and anger between them so he's not nice about it. it's lacking the softness that 2x09 had but i actually think that makes it more authentic? he's not trying to comfort her. he's just... saying it. because he means it. because he's fucking tired and who else is he gonna say it to? there's no one else. there's just her. so he says it and he's a dick about it and he makes a joke about getting her something special that's meant to be snide and he leaves her sitting there on the park bench by herself and still, still, doesn't it feel like they're both a little less alone for it?

stan and beth finally having it out. i actually hate this because i think it's so unfair and yet... that's what makes it so good. stan's words are so cutting. it's the kind of fight you can only have with someone you've known for twenty years and let the resentment build and build and build and now there's nowhere else for it to go except straight to the heart of the other person.

dean walking in on beth and rio being frustrated with each other and maybe realizing for the first time that he understands nothing about what's going on at all because it doesn't seem like they even like each other all that much and somehow he's the intruder. it's not about sex, at all. it's about the fact that this stranger is privy to a part of his wife he didn't even know existed.

the re-centering of the girls' relationship and how when it comes down to it, they would do anything for each other. their lives don't work without each other. they don't all want the same things but they do want each other. they need each other and i think the final stretch of the season demonstrated that.

rio's sad boi hours. never in a million years did i think we would get something so explicitly about his personal feelings??? i don't even have words for this. he was really going through it and i could not be more thrilled.

mick loves the ice capades

diane's a patriot

nick's 'that was before jesus got involved' line was REALLY funny to me and i laugh every time i think about it

you think you'd have her? because beth is the only thing that matters to him in that moment! he's got tunnel vision.

rio! returned! her! furniture! and! told! her! he! believes! in! her! and! he's! ready! to! stop! playing! games! he really was so afraid of losing her that he was like 'okay it's time to get serious i'll get down on one knee if i have to' like homeboy was not playing around.

annie learned how to pick a lock and she did it in character!!!

rio knocked because he listens and he wants her to know that!!!

and he is DELIGHTED to find out that beth isn't in bed professionally or personally with nick

i mean really i think it's safe to say that i'm ecstatic with everything that happened in that last two episodes with beth and rio (and subsequently how quietly the boland marriage actually ended).

so i think i'm going to leave it at that because this list is already pretty long, and it's not exhaustive by any means. it's pretty limited to what existed in my tag, which was admittedly mostly brio, but yeah. lots of good stuff to work with this season! what about you?? what were your favorite moments?

[pynkhues]

I feel bad sending you prompts bc I am a relentless bully every time you mention an idea BUT IF YOU INSIST for the intimacy prompts: 36 and/or 21 please and thank you 💖😘

Hahaha, you should never feel bad! I come bearing not one, but two fills.

21. listening to someone’s heartbeat 

Angsty Allison-centric TUA fic posted here!

36. being pushed against a wall

Beth x Rio bathroom break missing scene! Behind a cut because it is 1.5k words of pure smut, you have been WARNED.

His hands are clammy.

It’s the first – only – thing she thinks when he slides them across her thighs, her breath shuddering out of her suddenly-too-tight throat, head dropping forwards to try and catch herself when he pulls her back against him. Saliva thickens beneath her tongue, and she blinks rapidly, eyes suddenly dry and god, she hopes he can’t feel how wet her panties are, but there’s no way he can’t because he’s pressed so close now she has to be leaving a  damp spot on his jeans only - -

Only he’s hard.

Of course he’s hard.

Beth swallows, tries to swallow, the music from the bar dulled through the thin walls, the doof doof doof of some heavy bass pulsing through the floor, and she tries to focus on that as he rolls his hips against her ass, and she can feel the outline of him, feel the - - girth of him, and a sound escapes her mouth, and she clenches and he can’t possibly know that, but then a sound escapes his and then it’s just - -

His hand.

Cupping her breast.

Not grabbing or pinching or tearing at her dress, just holding it. Holding her.

His big hand fit for it somehow, his fingers long enough to curve up, brush her nipple through her dress, enough the lace of her bra presses into her skin, and she lifts her head. Blinks her eyes open just enough that she can see her wet mouth and her pink cheeks and him.

Behind her.

Pupils so blown his eyes look entirely black, the lines of his face like a perfect carving, his hands on her somehow more when she catches them, when she sees him move them just enough to pinch lightly at her breast, and her eyes close again as a shiver wracks through her, only to gasp, soft, when she feels the tip of his nose slip down her neck.

He’s nowhere and he’s everywhere, his presence so felt, so consuming, Beth can barely breathe, can barely think, can barely feel a thing beyond the weight of him, beyond the way he drags like a match down the striker of her flesh. Like she is glass and sand to his phosphorous touch, and together they ignite.

Then - -

A yank at her hip.

Fabric seizing like a tourniquet and she gasps again as she feels it snap, doesn’t even realise it’s her panties until the cool air finds her cunt, and she starts to kick them off, clenching, dripping, and his hand is off her breast to her back, pushing her down, over, and it’s all Beth can do to scramble for the sink, to hold, to feel his gaze drop.

“Fuck,” he says, voice lower than she’s ever heard it, a guttural sound that curls somewhere deep inside her, burrows in her gut, and suddenly she wants to hear it again so badly that she cants her hips back, chances a glance back up to the mirror, just to see him.

She regrets it instantly.

Regrets it because she knows she won’t forget it, can’t, won’t be able to close her eyes again without seeing him over her, mouth open, his face split apart and too young and too old and too him. Like his rawest nerves are on display for her, something yearning and close and too gentle.

Too gentle, as his fingers find her slit, stroke up her, coating themselves in her, and her eyes close, and her mouth holds and she keens because - - because when was the last time someone touched her like this?

When did she ever think it would be him?

But all thoughts are gone when he sinks a finger into her, groaning like it’s his cock, like it’s more, and she gasps, squirms, clenching, her own fingers grappling for purchase, her body starting to throb, then it’s a second finger, and he’s fucking her with them, getting deeper with each push, and Beth’s gasping, head dropping lower, so low she can feel the cool radiating off the counter against her forehead, can feel the saliva thicken in her mouth, her throat bob, and she needs some release.

She moves a hand, starts towards her clit, when suddenly Rio’s fingers are out of her and he’s batting her hand away. The sound that tears from her throat isn’t something Beth can even begin to explain (but god, she feels the loss of him already), and she’s about to say something, anything, when he’s grabbing her arm, pulling her up and turning her around.

Her ass hits the corner of the sink when she jerks back.

It’s just - -

God.

He’s so close.

He wets his lips.

Eyes dropping to hers.

Is he - -

Outside, someone drops a drink, glass shattering across the floor, a woman yells, a man argues, the music is turned up.

She can almost make out the lyrics.

Could, if Rio didn’t look like he was about to kiss her.

Her second first kiss, Beth thinks blindly, and - - oh.

She drops her head, heart stuttering in her chest, because no, because that isn’t what this is supposed to be, and her husband’s sitting alone outside and probably checking out the waitress, and Rio’s her - -

Her boss? No, not anymore. Her - -

He’s just - -

Suddenly, there’s a breath at her cheek, warm and smelling faintly of vodka, a nose at her temple, then fingers at her other one, gently tucking her hair behind her ear.

“’s okay,” he whispers, and Beth can’t blink and then all she can do is blink – rapid and over and over again, and she nods as curtly as she can manage and she means to say thank you, she does, only then Rio’s pulling her sideways, and his big, clammy hands are at the back of her thighs and the floor is gone from beneath her feet, and her back’s at the wall, and Beth gasps.

Rio’s laugh is a little breathless, strained with her weight, his hips pushing beneath hers to hold her up as he works his belt, and Beth grabs his shoulders and then let’s go of them because god, is she - - how does she touch him? But Rio doesn’t seem to mind, not as he frees his cock from his pants and she can only feel the head of it against her inner thigh and it’s - - a lot. Beth looks up at the ceiling, shaking, breathless herself as he sucks gently at her neck, adjusts his grip on her thighs as she squirms, and slowly - - so fucking slowly - - slides her down onto his cock.

And it’s been - -

A while.

She knows it’s been a while, but her mouth is open and she’s not sure she knows how to close it, and Rio’s big inside of her and in front of her and strong as he holds her up, and when he starts to roll his hips, starts to fuck up into her, she clenches, scrambles, tries to remember how to breathe, but he hasn’t let her do that since she met him, so she’s not sure why he’d do it now.

With a hiccup, she shifts, hands at the wall, trying to find purchase as his hands move beneath her thighs again, starting to build a rhythm, and the drag and the push of him inside her is almost more than she can bear. Her pulse sounds in her ears, and he hums into her neck and Beth’s shuddering, trying to contain the throbbing of her cunt around him, when - -

A sharp nip at her cleft chin.

Beth blinks, drops her head from where it was tilted up still to the ceiling, and all she can see is Rio’s face, straight in front of hers. He just - - smiles, small, lopsided, and she can’t help the way her lips do the same, and he hums again, pulls her off the wall just enough she gasps, grabs at his neck (and oh, god, she can feel the nooks of his vertebrae, the bristle of his hair, the sweat building at the collar of his shirt, all these things that make him, this, real) and when he fucks up into her this time she sinks her hips down and they both groan.

“’s good,” he murmurs into her neck, words warm, and Beth shivers, fingers still on his neck when one of his free hands comes up to cup hers, and she thinks of the image of them, holding onto each other, not an inch between them, him buried so deep inside her she can feel his hip bones poking into her lower ass (upper thighs?) and she still can’t string a thought together, doesn’t know if she’ll ever be able to again, but still - -

She thinks she hears herself say yeah.

-

Send me intimacy prompts!

[carry-the-sky]

Hi could you do 14. touch on a bruise for brio please?

ahhh thanks for sending this one in!! have some post-s3 angst, hahaha. :)

(also on ao3)

.

The next time she sees him, he’s bleeding.

Okay, maybe not actively, but the jagged line of stitches etched above his ear looks like it’s seconds away from ripping open. Beth takes in the nasty bruise blooming along his jawline, the cut splitting his bottom lip.

“Um,” she says.

Rio smirks. “What’s up?”

“I—” she sputters, because he’s just standing there with that stupid, smug expression, like it’s the most normal thing in the world to drop by the showroom after hours looking like—that. “You—what happened?”

“Not your division, darlin’.”

He says it lightly enough, but Beth reads the undercurrent of warning in his voice like a neon sign. He wants her to drop it.

Well. She’s not feeling very incentivized to give him what he wants at the moment.

“It is when you bring that”—she pointedly eyes the stitches—“into my showroom. Those look awful, by the way. Did he do them?” She juts her chin toward Mick, who’s lurking in the doorway.

The two men share a look, and Mick folds his arms across his chest. “Maybe I did,” he grumbles. “YouTube’s got tutorials for everythin’.”

Beth glances between them both. She’s about to open her mouth—to say what, she has absolutely no idea—when Mick snorts, shaking his head at the same time that Rio’s mouth twists into a grin.

“Nah,” Rio says, still smiling as he casts a glance back at Mick. “Nah, he didn’t. Your concern’s duly noted, though.”

Mick makes another sound in his throat that he quickly covers by turning it into a cough. Beth’s face flames, but she draws herself up and meets Rio’s gaze head-on. Let him try to get a rise out of her—she knows better than to take that bait.

“Fine. What can I do for you, boss?” she says, spitting out that last word like it’s acid.

Rio’s eyes fall to the floor, but Beth can still see the ghost of a grin lingering at the corners of his mouth, like he knows he got under her skin. Like he’s won. For one furious second, she imagines how hard she’d have to hit him to split his lip, leave a bruise. She imagines hurting him and liking it.

But she doesn’t really have to, does she? Beth still remembers the weight of his gun in her hand, how the recoil from pumping the trigger once, twice, three times made her hand ache for days afterwards. She remembers him choking on his own blood, the sound of it filling up the loft—

No. No, she hadn’t liked any part of that. It’s a catch twenty-two; she hates him, she wants him dead, gone and out of her life, his name crossed out in permanent ink, but then—sometimes she doesn’t. It’s the not-knowing that keeps her circling the drain, pushing that damn boulder up the hill only to watch it come crashing down again and again.

She thinks she might hate that even more than she hates him.

Beth blinks, coming back to the office. Mick’s staring her down like a hawk, but Rio’s gaze is more appraising, head tilted to the side in a gesture that’s so familiar, so him, it makes her stomach flip.

“Just here for my cut,” he says, as nonchalant as if they’re discussing the weather. She hears the unspoken words as clearly as the night he said them—you, me, we. It’s just business.

Beth holds his gaze a second longer, then tugs a black duffel out from under her desk. She hands it off, dropping the straps like they burned her to avoid brushing her hand against his when he takes it from her. If he notices, he doesn’t show it.

“What, no mama bag this time?” he says, then presses his lips together like he’s trying not to grin.

Beth glares at Mick, who just shrugs. She snaps her eyes back to Rio, barely managing to unclench her teeth before asking, “Anything else?”

“Yeah, Mick’s gonna check the books.”

Of course he is. Beth isn’t exactly shocked, but it still feels like a slap on the wrist, another reminder that there’s a hierarchy and she’s the furthest thing from sitting on top. Even this, the operation she pieced together herself, the system she built on equal parts desperation and determination—even this isn’t hers.

You wanna be the king, you gotta kill the king.

Yeah, she tried that. Technically she’s still trying, but she shoves that thought down deep and ignores the twinge in her chest.

Rio’s already turning to go, slinging the duffel over his shoulder. “Next week, yeah?”

Maybe it’s the way he says it, like he’s glad he can pawn her off on someone else because he has better things to do with his time, or maybe the stress and exhaustion from these past few months are finally cracking her foundation—the reason doesn’t really matter. Beth can’t—won’t—let him have the last word.

“You should really get those stitches looked at,” she says.

He pauses, then looks back at her. In the low light, his eyes almost look black.

“I’ve had worse,” he says, and the words hang between them for a moment, heavy as a loaded gun.

Beth swallows. “Still. They could get infected.”

Something slides across Rio’s face, sharp and predatory. It’s the look he gets when he sees an opportunity, and Beth feels her stomach drop.

“Yeah?” he says, turning around so that he’s facing her again. He drops the duffel, and Beth can’t help flinching at the thud it makes when it hits the floor. “Sounds like you’re volunteerin’.”

“No, that’s not—”

But he’s moving, sliding into the chair on the opposite side of her desk. Beth’s eyes dart to Mick, but he just arches an eyebrow, not even bothering to look up from the list of sales projections he’s been checking.

Rio leans back in his seat. “A’ight, doc, fix me up.”

Beth stays where she is. The irritation that’s been bubbling just beneath the surface ever since he walked through the door is reaching its boiling point, but there’s something else humming under her skin, crackling like a live wire. He can leave whenever he wants—he was halfway out the door a second ago—but instead he chose to stay.

They’re circling the same drain, each of them waiting to see who will get sucked under first.

“I’ll—get the first aid kit,” Beth says, stepping around the desk only to be stopped in her tracks by Mick, who clears his throat audibly and pulls his jacket back to reveal the Glock tucked against his side.

Beth resists the urge to roll her eyes. “Really? You think I’m stupid enough to try something with both of you here?”

Rio doesn’t answer, just fixes her with an amused look.

“Fine,” Beth snaps, taking a step back. She nods at Mick, tips her head in the direction of the door. “It’s in the bathroom across the hall.”

Mick gives her a two-fingered salute and ducks out of the room, and then it’s just her and Rio.

He’s still—watching her. He looks relaxed enough, legs spread a bit and his hands clasped loosely in front of him, and if Beth didn’t know better, she’d say the expression on his face is almost neutral. But she does know better. His eyes are what give him away, flashing with the same electricity that’s thrumming behind her sternum. He’s waiting for her to make a move. She knows, because she’s doing the same thing.

God, she hates how much she likes this.

She barely registers Mick coming back—it’s only when he tosses the first aid kit onto the desk that she jumps, startled back to herself.

“Thanks,” she says, injecting as much sarcasm as she can into the word.

Mick’s mouth twitches, but he goes straight back to the books, sinking into a chair in the far corner of the office. Beth rolls her own chair around the side of the desk, lowers herself slowly into a seated position beside Rio. This close, she can see each individual color in the whorl-patterned bruise that stretches up toward the hollow of his cheek. She lets her eyes drag across it, then up his temple. The stitches look—well, not great. It’s clear they were done hastily, probably to prevent as much blood loss as possible, but the wound is seeping.

“Damn, that bad, huh?” Rio asks, reading it on her face.

Beth stares down at the kit in front of her. Her first aid knowledge extends about as far as patching up a skinned knees and Benadryl for minor allergic reactions—removing possibly-infected stitches from her crime boss’ head isn’t even in the same zip code.

“I don’t—I don’t know what you want me to do,” she says, abruptly exhausted.

Rio adopts an expression of mock concern that does nothing to ease Beth’s urge to slap him. “Oh, no?” he says. “What part’s trippin’ you up?”

Beth shuts her eyes for a second, briefly wonders why the hell she didn’t let him waltz out of here when she had the chance—except she knows why, and so does he, and when she looks again—

He’s practically beaming, that smug tilt at the corners of his mouth dialed up about a thousand percent, and it’s like a puzzle piece slotting into place. This is just another game—he’s messing with her, playing with his food before eating it.

The low buzz of electricity inside her ignites.

He’s not the only one who’s hungry.

“No, you’re right,” she says, popping open the first aid kit and digging around until she finds the antiseptic wipes. “I should at least clean those stitches up. Maybe even remove them, start fresh.”

She glances up, and that’s the only reason that she sees him falter, a blink-and-miss-it record-scratch behind his eyes before he recovers, slides the mask back on. Satisfaction floods through her. She can play his game.

“Whatever’s good, ma,” he says with a shrug. “You’re the boss, yeah?” He echoes her earlier emphasis on the word, grinning when he sees the barb land. “Shit, that’s my bad—poor choice o’ words.”

Beth rips open a wipe. “This might sting,” she says, pressing against his line of stitches, hard. She’s rewarded with him hissing a breath through his teeth, the hand at his knee balling into a fist.

“Easy, mama,” he grits out.

Beth flashes him her sweetest smile. “I’m sorry, is that too rough? I thought you liked that.”

Mick makes a noise like he’s choking, and Rio looks over, eyes bright with amusement. “Ay, cállate la boca.”

“Didn’t say nothin’,” Mick mumbles, still staring intently at the books.

Beth presses her tongue behind her teeth, swallowing a pinch of annoyance as she switches tactics. “Aren’t crime lords supposed to have, I don’t know, some sort of medical professional on retainer? For situations like this?”

“Nah,” Rio says with a shake of his head. “Why, you gunnin’ for a promotion? ‘Cause I gotta say, your bedside manner could use some work.”

And something inside her roars, because this is how she’s going to get him. She dabs gently at the wound beneath his stitches, swiping a thumb over the sutures. Rio winces, jerks back—

She sees it, the moment he drops the mask.

Beth leans forward. She brings the antiseptic up to his face again, stops just short of pressing it to his skin, as if to ask, okay?

She sees it, the moment he drops the mask.

Beth starts at his temple, softly scrubbing at the caked-on blood that’s streaked down from the cut above his ear. Her hand moves lower, fingers gliding over his cheekbones, and she’s not sure if she imagines his breath hitching when she reaches the bruise at his jaw. She drags her thumb across it, then back again. His skin is warm, under the pads of her fingers.

“How am I doing now?” she breathes, barely above a whisper, and she knows she doesn’t imagine him dipping a glance down to her mouth. Their faces are inches apart, close enough for her to count the shades of brown in his eyes. Her fingers trace lower, toward the curve of his lips—

His hand comes up to grasp her wrist, tug it away from his face. “Don’t,” he growls, low like thunder. A warning. “Don’t do that, Elizabeth.”

He’s looking at her again, but she almost doesn’t recognize the emotion swimming in his eyes. He’s—terrified. Of her. For a fleeting second she lets the thrill of it run through her, buoyant on the feeling of power, the feeling that she’s won—

(—she did it, she shot him, she’s free—)

The moment pops like a soap bubble, and she’s empty, hollow, everything good inside of her scooped away until this is what’s left. This is who she is. And maybe this game they’re playing was never meant to have a winner.

The realization leaves her numb.

She’s vaguely aware of Mick slipping the books back onto her desk, and when her eyes flick back up to Rio, his mask is firmly back in place. Steel, untouchable.

“I’m all better now, thanks,” he says, and then he’s pulling away, pushing up from the desk, slipping out the door. She watches his silhouette until it dissolves into shadow.

She’s alone.

[harpersplay]

4x10 and 4x11 Thoughts

Doing the bare minimum after being a parent for 13 years is not impressive. And I can't believe they are trying to equate doing that with Beth's years as an involved & active SAHM. (Gasp! Dare I defend Beth? Will I get my hater mantle taken away? I've said over & over that Beth's character has suffered the most from the shit writing. I truly have no idea how Beth stans think the show is good when every season Beth—as a character—gets worse & worse. And often because she is written at the expense of male characters.) And he's not a good dad. He's still fun dad (and also gross Dad. Who the fuck puts syrup on pancakes until right before you eat them?!?!?!). Giving his young children containers of Oreos (and encouraging them to lie to their mother) and risking their stability by again making shitty financial/business choices. Oh, and good dad (and good mom) are preparing to flee from prosecution and—I guess—just live on the run forever. Super great childhoods they're planning for their kids.

I was not at all clamoring for a Dean & Rio scene. Like ever. Luckily, it wasn't that bad. There was no swordfighting over Beth. And Dean got to see how Beth interacts with Rio (she talks to him with that haughty annoyed tone) which helps him to finally realize (JUST LIKE BETH TOLD HIM IN 1x6!) that Beth does this because she wants to not because the evil moose forces her.

Dorothy built her own store and career and none of the girls give a millisecond of thought to stealing the press. And that's after they've spent months using her store for illegal activities. Oh, and the obvious culprit when (if? because who knows with this show) Dorothy calls the police is going to be the former employee with multiple brushes with the law. But, great plan.

And, ugh, of course the girls are shocked that Diane & friends expect to be paid. They've only been doing this for years. Why would they learn anything? BTW, don't think I missed Beth mocking Krystal's voice. Where all the anti-misogynists at?

Breckin Meyer plays a really good creep. And someone actually did some research; because creeps make connections by being super tactile. I hate this MRA/MLM story. Why does it exist? Why is Vance at Dean's meeting with the lawyer? Is there some sort of budding cult leader/acolyte confidentiality?

So Stan is now getting directly supplied by the purse connect. Presumably the "Woman in Room 216." But why would she work with them? Weeks after she gets involved with Gene, he gets busted and spilled everything. So why would anyone in the criminal world work with Stan who was seen out & about as Gene's right hand? Why does Stan have access to the strip club? What about the "he" that owns the club that Gene mentioned? We know the city seized it and is going to auction it, but they don't just let people come in & out in the meantime; especially when it was a place used for illegal activity. Why does the show think this is unimportant to address but Dean montages are needed?

Ruby is all the way fucked up in this whole stupid Beth vs Stan nonsense (Reason #763 why she needs Black friends and it's super sus that she doesn't have any). She wasn't being neutral AT ALL and she was more on Beth's side for no reason than fake drama. Stan is probably the character we've seen undergo the most on a spiritual/moral/existential level. Ruby started at a similar place from him, but she at least went in knowing she was doing whatever she had to for Sara. Stan didn't find things out until the Hills were already in it. He's had multiple conversations with Ruby about what all this has done to him. He's calibrated his worldview of right & wrong. And for Ruby to tell him to "take the high road" was a slap in the face. Beth told Ruby she lied to Stan and Ruby was still on her side. Also, Stan was totally justified in what he said to Beth but the show is going to align him with Dean to neutralise the truth of his words. (I mean, the fact that he's a Black man has already been enough for people to say he's being "mean" to Beth.) And Beth yelling at Ruby to not defend Stan? No. Nope. That white woman needs to mind her own house.

The Kevin storyline is stupid & gross. First they used him to portray Annie's rock bottom. I don't know, having sex with your married ex while his wife is pregnant is more rock bottom to me. As is trying to fuck with your therapist's fiancée for funsies. And then he knows stuff about lacrosse, so suddenly he has some worth. Not because he's a human being. It's all incredibly offensive. But to have Annie, who has seen firsthand the problem with food waste and has been shown to have zero issues with Ben's transition (Not that she should have any. Just that it is a very, very common narrative for parents who will say they love their children to still express concern about how difficult life will be for them. And then they have some learning moment and credits.), be this judgmental character? It's plot > character again. And Annie has to start having feelings for him. Because, of course.

Ugh the casino. Just like the strip club fake bachelorette party, the writers just had an idea for a "fun" scene and did it regardless of how stupid. See the girls are always unlucky except in this moment when they need to be. Isn't that the most clever thing ever? Casinos monitor everything (Ruby actually points this out, which makes it worse) and the girls were acting completely suspicious. They would have for sure drawn attention. And then we have the added stupidity of the timeline being fucked with again to make a "clever" line work. Moments/twists/scene > plot > character. Always. The background actors in the scene were really earning their checks, tho.

Beth & Nick planting a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

[jade-marie]

Besides rio shooting the little money maker girl he's never done nothing that doesnt make sense to the situation but Ive gotta admit I wont ever get past that (obv) but everything beth done was what she had to do at the time, yall are a little too harsh its not like the other girls werent gun and go abt the whole thing from the start so everybody got their problems relating to that. Lot of the times it was their ideas they went ahead with and she was right there with em and it caused probs with bossman so cut her some slack man I love that big mommy milkers bitch shes trying her best and if that was my man id shoot him too sometimes 😂

I have absolutely no idea why you sent this to me, honestly. I’m not sure if you think I’m suddenly going to see the error of my ways, decide I’ve been too harsh on Beth this whole time, and go back to loving everything but whatever.

Rio’s never done anything that doesn’t make sense to the situation

I would largely agree with this, the way I see it, Rio operates by a very different moral code to Beth. He is part of a world where the stakes are much higher, so reward and punishment is also much more extreme. To anyone looking in, his behaviour probably seems extremely harsh but if you look at how he typically handle situations, you would see that Beth gets off very lightly. She should be dead and there is absolutely no way that she doesn’t know that. So the fact that she keeps taking liberties, even though he’s very obviously letting her off lightly, pisses me off. She effectively takes advantage of the knowledge he won’t kill her, by pulling shit she wouldn’t dare pull with anyone else. 

Everything Beth did was what she had to do at the time

This is where our opinions massively diverge. Saying she did what she had to do is the same thing as saying she didn’t have a choice, and it completely removes her agency. We can go all the way back to 1.06 where she says, no one took advantage of her, it was a choice, she wanted to. When she found out her family was struggling for money, she didn’t try and get a job or a payday loan, she committed armed robbery. Once her debt with Rio was cleared she didn’t wanna go back to her old life, she wanted to continue working for him, again, another choice. She then made the choice to launder money through the dealership, then she decided to wrangle a 50-50 partnership in the pills. Once Rio was gone she started her own printing operation. Nobody forced her to do any of this, she didn’t have to, she wanted to. 

If you want to talk about specific acts between her and Rio - she didn’t have to shoot him three times in the chest, she didn’t have to leave him to die. That was a choice, a conscious one. When he came back and it was clear he was not going to kill her, he was taking her money (which lots of people would consider pretty fair given the circumstances), she didn’t have to hire a hitman, she wanted to. With the current Secret Service storyline, also a choice. This isn’t me saying she should have chosen Rio over the Secret Service, this is me saying she could have. Both options were available to her and she chose to go against him. She didn’t have to, she wanted to.

The girls were always part of it and it was their ideas which caused Rio problems

They literally weren’t and that has been one of the biggest sources of conflict between them from the outset of the show. Beth originally shut down the idea of robbing a grocery store, then when she found out she was in trouble she convinced the girls to do it. Beth went behind their backs and asked Rio for more work. The secret shoppers were also Beth‘s idea. Beth was the one who asked Rio to increase their drop to $500,000 when the other 2 girls wanted to quit. Beth threw a set of keys in Rio‘s face and got them all fired, then she convinced the other 2 to help her get him locked up. It was Beth’s idea to launder money through the dealership, she was also the one who stole his pills and a 50-50 partnership. It was also Beth who fucked him. Beth was the one who shot him, Beth was the one who decided to print money, Beth was the one who decided to hire a hitman. It was also Beth’s idea to rat out Rio in exchange for witness protection. While the girls agreed to do these things with her, they were Beth‘s ideas and more often than not, the decision was already made without them so they didn’t have much choice. 

As for specific things which caused problems for Rio - the original robbery was technically Beth‘s idea. It was Beth who wanted to get him arrested, which brought the FBI closer to his operation than they’ve ever been. It was Beth who decided to let Boomer go, when Annie was more than willing to shoot him. It was Beth who was sloppy keeping the books at the dealership which burned his cash operation, as well as the means for moving pills. Once again, it was Beth who shot him. It was Beth who targeted Lucy, it was Beth who hired Fitzpatrick. Beth and her sloppy bookkeeping at Boland Bubbles alerted the authorities and to save her own ass, she decided to offer them Rio. The girls weren’t part of any of that. 

The only instance where you could say the other 2 specifically caused problems for him is when Ruby and Annie tried to do a job behind Beth’s back and they didn’t follow through. Aside from that, she has very much been the de facto leader, making decisions on everybody else’s behalf. 

I’m too harsh on Beth and should cut her some slack

I’m not sure why anybody should cut her slack, actions have consequences and she’s yet to face them. Instead, everyone around her has to suffer as a result of her choices, but she doesn’t care. She keeps pulling the same bullshit and doesn’t take responsibility for anything, unless you count the occasional “woe is me” pity party where she calls herself a monster.

If Rio was your man, you would shoot him too

Contrary to popular belief, Rio has never been her man, he was her boss that she fucked a couple times. Putting that aside, I don’t particularly care that she shot him. If she turned around and said “fuck you, you deserved it. You kidnapped me in the middle of the night and put a gun in my hand, what did you expect?” I would fucking respect her for it. Besides, if we’re going by the logic that he deserved it, she should’ve caught a bullet ages ago and I can guarantee the reaction to him shooting her would be very fucking different.

What actually bothers me is the reason that she shot him, that entire rhetoric of him essentially being the cause of her problems because she doesn’t want to take ownership of anything she does. Until she changes that mentality, she won’t get an ounce of sympathy out of me.

[missmaxime]

Thoughts on the Death flashbacks: Having rewatched the episode again I really do feel like these flashbacks are a lead-in to the end of Beth and Dean’s relationship. I think it’s important to note when the three flashbacks are placed in the episode: right before and or after we focus solely on Beth, like she is reminiscing these three moments in time with him. Times she has fond memories of for good reasons, but at the same time show us the cracks in their relationship that we still see now. What are these pivotal moments? - Beth meets Dean for the first time - Dean asks Beth to prom - Dean meets Beth in the hospital on Prom Night #1 Lead-in to this flashback is the moment just seconds before Beth meets Dean while he’s in jail. Everything between them is at an absolute low, there’s even physically a wall between them. I’m not surprised they counter their burned out relationship by the exact moment it once ignited. Beth tries to remind herself in this episode about the good moments, but I think it’s also very telling those are moment from the first months of when they met – and not, say, when they got their first apartment, or had their first baby, or got married. In the flashback Dean strikes up conversation with Beth while his buddies start a food fight at the diner (Dairy Queen) she works at – perhaps even with an ulterior motive of distracting her while they wreak havoc. He does so by asking for a refill for something ridiculous, because if you’re not Ikea who gives refills for ice cream? But he’s got her attention. And if that attention was genuinely geared towards wooing her he could even have gone the corny way of complimenting her eyes, or her bright smile – but he chooses to focus on the fact that she’s a cheerleader.

This gets interrupted by his friends getting into the food fight, and Beth calls out for him to say something to his friends. In answer he joins into the fight and runs off with said friends, leaving Beth to clean the mess. A little later he returns (and with this, he also doesn’t lose face with his friends) to charm her with an apology and helping her out to clean the mess him and his friends made. Which, as we know, has been a recurring theme between them way into the future. (Not to fangirl out to much about this, but I’m living for the fact that Dean calls her Elizabeth at first, but when she correct him to Beth he goes with that. While Rio called her Elizabeth from the start, and she never corrected him on that.) It’s not hard to see why Beth falls for Dean here, even if we can see the patterns because we know the Beth and Dean from decades later. He’s handsome, witty, popular, the quarterback – and he’s interested in her. Sees her. While he’s the one who made the mess, he cleans it up, telling her that ‘he’s got it’. Something he can do now with spilled food, but we know he can’t when messes become grown-up messes. After the flashback we’re back in the jail, looking at Beth’s reflection in the glass as she stares at herself before Dean takes place in front of her. He’s understandably hurt and upset her actions got him there (and even more because she admits Rio was a part of the scheme all along). Even her voicing a desperate ‘I love you’ doesn’t make him stay, he’s done with her. She says she’ll ‘Fix it’ like Dean promised her in the flashback, but he’s not having it. In the final shot we zoom out, framing Beth with darkness – counter to the flashback where we zoom in on her smiling face. #2 Leading up to the second flashback Phoebe questions Dean, and tries to bribe him with some packs of ramen to tempt him into selling out Beth. She talks about the cheerleader she used to be friends with in high school, and how she got tossed aside when the girl didn’t have any use for her anymore when her Fake ID got taken away. Phoebe talks about how the girl is like Beth, using people and tossing them aside when they’re tired of them – Dean knows very well that’s not Beth at all, not in the context of him at least. In the flashback Dean comes to Beth’s house, where we learn he’s been leaving her a lot of messages. This is 1991 so we’re on analog phone time, not giving Beth an opportunity to see some caller ID, so if she doesn’t want to talk to Dean I don’t feel like it’s weird that Annie answered the phone to hear who’s calling. Annie’s obviously not a fan of him, but we don’t know whether that is because they’ve had some sort of fight or whether she doesn’t like the idea of Beth having a boyfriend altogether. I think this flashback really shows how both Dean and Beth are people who are very image-focused people, albeit for different reasons. Dean arrives in a flashy red sportscar to enhance his popular quarterback persona, Beth chooses to have the conversation outside to shield the outside world from the dire situation on the inside. Again Dean focuses on how Beth is not there for him. He called her five times, but doesn’t ask if she has something going on, or if she’s studying hard for a test, or if any of her friends are in trouble. He states that ‘she hasn’t been to any of the games’ – HIS games, not even shifting it to ‘I didn’t see you with your squad’. It’s all about him. His ‘I thought we were cool?’ entices her to come up with an excuse, doubling down with a ‘I don’t want to be a dick’, even if he clearly already is. Annie steps out of the house, visibly sporting yet another injury (she had her arm in a cast in the 2x08 flashback) and asks Beth about their mom’s meds. Two things Dean could just ask about, even if it’s just a flippant ‘oh, is your mom sick?’ or ‘did that monster hurt herself?’ because both could be explanations on why Beth hasn’t called him back. Yet he ignores all this and goes back to making her feel bad by putting the blame on him, casually working in the ‘oh I was going to ask you to prom?’ in a way like don’t bother if you’re not interested. It’s so unromantic the way he drops this, yet Beth latches on immediately because it’s a chance to do some normal teen stuff for a change and who can blame her if her days are spend taking care of her mom, raising her sister, going to school in the day and working a job in the evening. It’s a tactic Dean keeps using on her as an adult. Scene that comes to mind is that Dean already packed his bag, admits that he cheated on Beth with Gayle, and she’s like - fine, maybe don’t leave. Back in the jail Beth waits for him, but Dean has left a clear message that he doesn’t want to see her. #3 First we watch the girls wait for Eric to get arrested, but we all know how disastrous that ends. Her plan to frame Dean’s friend for her wrongdoings falls through, she failed him. Which piles onto the guilt that Dean’s in jail in the first place. It’s then she searches her brain for a moment when he was there for her, when she truly started feeling that he was going to be her rock. Beth’s waiting in the hospital, she’s not panicked or worried, rather annoyed and tired like this is yet the millionth time she’s here because her mother needed her stomach pumped. We still don’t know for sure what’s going on with the mom, but from 2x08 we know she spends lots of time laying in bed and needs meds, the stomach pumping indicates overuse of a drug (most common alcohol) – I’m leaning to depression combined with substance abuse – but we don’t know for sure. We also learn that the dad is not in the picture, or no one to rely on in the very least. It’s just Beth and Annie. Dean bribed Annie to tell him where Beth is – it’s prom night and he came to pick her up to go to the dance. Now there’s more than one way to read this scene. The first way is that Dean is genuinely concerned about this whole ordeal and he wants to be there for Beth, which is definitely the way young Beth must read into this. Another part of me thinks there’s some self-interest from Dean mixed in as well. If he didn’t go to Beth, he’d go to the prom, dateless – embarrassing for our quarterback star. But helping out your girlfriend with her sick mom is a great excuse to avoid that situation. We know how upset Dean got about being wifeless at the Spa Competition, Beth’s an asset to his image, her not being there breaks his image down. And I’m not saying he’s not interested in her, but from all the conversations we’ve seen them have in the flashbacks none of it really revolves around how Beth is doing. From the start their relationship has been around transactions. Image, deeds, quid pro quo. Even if you can read the ‘do you want anything from the vending machine?’ and the ‘your sister took all my money’ as something fun, it’s yet another reminder that he paid for her time. That she owes him, even if she really appreciates him being there for her. Back to Beth in the car with Eric and the girls, where our girl looks more than unhappy. Like Dean paid Annie to see her, she’s paying Eric to see Dean. Granted the stakes are immensely higher, but the juvenile situation carries on into the presence. While Eric comes up with even more terrible plans Beth’s getting increasingly emotional – which still could be interpreted many ways but I think she realizes that the normal from back then, the happiness Dean provided to her, it’s never coming back – plans executed correctly or not. Dean might still be that guy, but she’s not that girl anymore. Eric talks about how he’s invisible, and how that changed when Dean became his colleague. How beforehand no one saw him as him, but Dean made him feel like he was part of the work crew, called him by his name – it made him feel seen, made him feel like a real person. And that’s of course exactly what young Beth was feeling – she didn’t feel like a real person because no one saw her as Beth the teenage girl. She’s a caretaker for her mom, a mother figure to Annie – a cheerleader to Dean. But in the memory she can recognize that he made her feel like a real person. Eric proposes that ‘They don’t make ‘em like Dean Boland anymore’. And they don’t for him. But Beth also knows that the feeling wears off, that at some point Dean Boland won’t like you anymore when you don’t play the part he signed on for. Eric’s giving up everything to be a loyal friend, like Beth has for over two decades to be his loyal wife. And while she’s technically still his wife, she’s not loyal like she used to be – not financially, physically or emotionally. She doesn’t need Dean anymore to make her feel like a real person. She’s her own real person. --- Beth comes home to Fitzpatrick lounging in her kitchen like he belongs there, helping himself to a cup of tea. Our girl is already on edge what with the father of her kids possibly spending years behind bars, her plans miserably failing, and now this douche want even more of her time. She’s done playing a part to get what she needs, so she goes right to the point. Fitz touches on that she wants more out of her life, which is true. Unfortunately for him Beth has come to the point that no man – not like Dean did in the flashbacks – will do that for her anymore. She’s the one steering the ship, not some guy anymore. But while all these flashbacks Beth is experiencing might put some things in a different light to her, it doesn’t scrub away what Dean made her feel. Because he is the father of her kids, they are what will forever link them together, the connection they both care about deeply regardless of whatever troubled feelings they have towards each other. She might not be a true wife to him anymore, but they are parents to the same children. Her dad wasn’t there for her, but there’s no reason why Dean can’t be there for his kids. ---- So all in all I actually really liked seeing the flashbacks, especially because we experience them through Beth, and how they parallel with the now. In the final scene we see Phoebe looking at the perfect Boland family picture, the perfect image that they both crafted together. But hidden on the backside are the lies and the deceit, yet also Beth telling Dean how to take care of said family. Because she knows she can’t trust him to take care of it, unlike when they were teens and when she’d like to believe he could. Their real personas are on the table, and they don’t like each other anymore, can’t trust each other anymore. To me the final scenes read like the only thing they can still be: parents. I have no doubt they both love their kids, and those four humans will always bind them together, regardless of their relationship status. Beth is giving Dean the only genuine thing she can: her trust as a mutual parent, and the opportunity to enjoy the love of their kids. But it’s laced with melancholy, this is what’s left in the ruins, these four good things. Everything else is gone, and I think they both realize this. 

[sothischickshe]

gg finale tag

i was tagged by @mego42, @icanthearyoufromhereplease, @inyoursheets, @septiembrre, @missmaxime, @onlyformissmarks & @kenrune to talk abt what i would/n’t want to happen in the finale, and dw i have in fact noticed the eps already aired lol but expecting me to do things in a timely fashion is extremely foolish & maybe you can help my slow processing, uh, process!

things i wouldntve even put on the wishlist bc ive had my feelings hurt too many times:

beth & rio ending in a good but reasonably open-ended place [can u.....believe........................this happened...................?!!! i thought they were going to like gnaw at each other’s necks till they both bled out or something rather]

beth-dean divorce [extremely surprised this seemed to be happening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! very very very very very very very into it]

annie/nancy endgame [sad this didnt happen but also wasnt expecting it to so]

surprise rhea, amber AND marry pat [what we deserved but never wouldve happened so fine]

the reveal that this show is set in a world where time moves differently & various characters have magical powers [shouldve happened but no one explicitly disproved it so all good]

the reveal that nevada literally does not exist [dream sequence did seem to hint it sooooooo..........]

beth like vaguely apologising to rio for shooting him but like super begrudgingly + extremely drunk [wouldve been hilarious]

annie punching dean in the face [extremely necessary]

anything which explains where nick’s been prior to this season & why it seems like he and rio have had max. 4 conversations in their life b4 said season [long suffering sigh]

a LONG dean + rio scene [longer sufferinger sigh]

ben + sara scene [longest sufferingest sigh]

final scene pans out to reveal this is all hipster hatted barman writing his memoir [lacking this genuinely a crime]

a lengthy dream sequence [!!!!! can you believe!!!!!!!!!!! i love dream sequences so much!!!!! i loved the concrete insight into beth’s psyche]

some kind of payoff to/explanation of this brother/cousin thing [sadly lacking..............althooooooooooough the way nick didnt roll on grandma....certainly leaves scope to hc she is in fact the boss so why not a fagin sitch.......actually would explain rio’s original sudden onset robbery interest better too...........]

rio discovering television [!!!!!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE!!!???!?!!]

someone explaining that all of law enforcement is gay in this universe [!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN YOU FUCKING BELIEVE??????!?!?!?!]

rio seeming like he has at least a second braincell [highly debatable but there are some vague hints????]

wishlist:

dean coming out [really would explain so much]

mick revealed to be the boss / rio his idiot protégé [REALLY would explain so much.....this didnt happen but i feel like the idea was at least circled????]

annie/ruby endgame [stan n beth were both fucking me off this season re ruby, this’d be delightful!]

beth-stan teamup [idk maybe they were gearing up to this for a next season or w/e but all this beth stan conflict felt pretty random & swiftly accelerated, n i think i couldve handwaved a lot of it if it led to them having to work together bc of something]

happy hills [well i was lured into a false sense of security by the s3 finale!!!!]

open ended enough ending(s) to inspire lots of fix-it fic, but not so cliffhangery that im stressed [i feel like i did mostly get this! like i can assume that beth throws kevin & vance off a bridge, ruby & annie go on the run together, mick is either dead or convinces beth she knocked him up etc etc]

turner’s revealed to have been alive this whole time [disappointed but not suprised this didnt happen]

all my ludicrous headcanons survive unscathed [just about????!]

very drunk rio [amazing, accurate etc]

anything which makes it seem like rio’s been (v drunkenly) scheming against nick all season [yea? pretty much? i’d need to rewatch s4 but i think there’s a reasonabllllly clear thread of him considering it & working up to it which sort of vaguely makes sense if you consider he’s very drunk the whole time]

nick revealed to be connected to the mra cult somehow [this wouldve been so good, but i guess the cult had no actual powers so wouldntve explained nick’s significant ones but still]

beth & rio: horrible bffs [can you believe?????!?????????!!!!!!!!! the show really said....no one else should have to hang out with them......]

dean is fed the ottoman [can’t believe this didnt happen]

jokes at the expense of cyclists (#yesallcyclists) [were there any in the last 2 eps? not enough anyway]

the fingerprints/gun just not coming back into play at all, fuckit [booooooo]

confirmation of offscreen beth/rio boning but not specifying exactly when in canon so we forever get to try to work out when makes the most sense [technically this didnt happen........but also it kinda diiiiiiiiiiiiiid currently pretty sold on end of penultimate ep]

the girls being successful at crime [a moment of this! how lovely! couldve done with far more but hey ho]

ANNIE COMING CRIME CLEAN TO BEN [implied actually i think????!]

someone referring to it as whiskey instead of bourbon [CAN YOU BELIEVE?????!!!!!!]

bitchlist:

annie/kevin endgame [ew. i mean it’s not, bc beth is going to throw him off a bridge, but ew all the fucking same]

the return of boomer, noah and/or doc whosit [can’t believe we escaped qf]

the return of those weird con artists who scammed a car [thank fucking fuck]

stressful cliffhanger(s) with no obvi resolution [feel like this was kind of escaped?!]

stan-dean bff-ship [what. no. stan doesnt deserve this. what. WHAT]

s2 finale vibes / violence, gore etc [hmm, just abt avoided? i didnt enjoy watching beth get shot multiple times but also it wasnt super gory which good i guess but that also cheapened the whole thing so....idk i think this wouldve worked better if we’d seen beth receive the annie’s been arrested gutpunch?]

beth getting shot espec as a cliffhanger [well! i didnt hate it like i thought i would but this whole thing felt v rushed]

anything which makes rio seem like a sadist [i wouldve found this to be supremely retconny and im v glad it didnt happen!]

the ot3 split up [i thought i wouldve hated this bc that relationship/friendship was the core of the show, BUT i dont think crime (unless theyre super sequestered from the consequences somehow) is in my hea for annie, ruby or stan, and it def IS for beth n rio so....... yea im actually v into the horrible ot3 of beth rio n beth’s gigantic handbag being forced to hang out while noone else ever has to see them ever again!!!!!]

rape jokes [im tired]

ruby & annie’s friendship getting super short shrift [im sad. this whole beth n stan conflict just seemed to obliterate any thought or mention of annie n ruby’s friendship?!]

things i wouldntve even thought to put on the bitchlist:

mick betraying annie & rio at the same time (?!) [that is......kinda what happened....? i think....? like am i supposed to think rio didnt noticed mick was on nick’s payroll or he did and he’s now the benevolent patron saint of all used ppl or....................you what? also like is mick just a super mercenary pragmatist bc way more into it if so haha]

beth + rio kinda getting a happy ending while annie, ruby & stan don’t (???!??!) [legitimately hilarious but also im gonna say an ODD choice]

nick having a gay assistant who does some intense method acting via dating apps pretending to be straight so he can.............send selfies to his father.................? (???!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!) [i mean, i AM kinda obsessed ngl but like.................did this make any kind of sense to anyone????? it was like audience misdirect on steroids!!!]

insane quantities of chili’s product placement (??!?!) [was there always so much product placement in this show?????]

no real resolution to this beth-ruby-stan conflict (!!!!???!?!) [this got too repetitive and too drawn out and too preposterous, maybe it was building to something for a next season but i think it needed actual payoff. and the payoff shouldve been annie/ruby endgame or beth-stan scategories champions or both] 

the continuation of the beth-stan conflict not involving any further beth-stan scenes (??!?!?!?!??!) [can handwave just abt anything if it involves christina + reno scenes! don’t care! could watch them act together for days! communicating via coleslaw and increasingly nonsensical plans.....not so much of a fan]

beth getting shot in the shoulder and going down like a bag of bricks (??????!?!?!) [clunky audience misdirects like this make me v sour, they couldve easily inserted a tripping over something reveal bit into the dream sequence, or had a line abt shock later or smthn just to not make it so silly]

too much ambiguity to the timings/knowledge of the endings.......? [im kiiiinda in two minds abt this bc i do like the open-endedness as it allows you to insert what you want to a degree but ultimately im actually CONFUSED. DOES beth know that annie’s been arrested? does ruby? do gregggg n nancy?????? is ruby leaving with stan or not? does stan have even a single opinion on annie, would the fact that she’s in trouble change his mind about anything? has dean intentionally or not been poisoning stan via the hot tub? does beth know that stan n potentially ruby are leaving?? is mick alive? DOES BETH KNOW THAT RIO DIDNT SEND HIM TO SHOOT HER? (my money’s actually on no still fgfgffhf) is kevin sticking around to like raise ben????????? how much/does ben know abt annie’s crime stuff???? why/ is vance alive? why didnt ruby realise that getting dean hopped up on sugar n convincing him to beat vance to death is a great plan????  also: the biggest problem with it being confusing is im concerned im going to have to see more screenshots of bill krebs’ waffling which is unfortunate bc to start with he’s clearly not real] 

that song which played us out [i dont entirely know what a blind melon is but i did NOT like that song. im not saying it deffo shouldve been de la soul instead but like.....there are a lot of songs about numbers and threes and stuff that dont make me feel like someone’s climbed into my ear canal with a pick axe yknow]

ummmmm im not sure if tagging anyone really makes sense at this juncture but if you wanna yell further pls consider yourself tagged/back!!!!

[mego42]

Hi, since you seem more positive/excited about the triangle possibility than a fair amount of people, can you talk more about why? I fall into "the not thrilled about the possibility, but have a little hope it could result in some good moments" group and would love some more reasons to not dread it. Thanks! And love your writing and love reading your tags :)

hey anon!! i am v sorry you are not thrilled and am always happy to shriek nonsense about why i’m excited (though idk how much it will help bc the tl;dr is more or less i’m hype for a triangle bc i am an incredibly messy bench who lives for drama and if you are not a similarly messy bench, ymmv)

don’t get me wrong, i super understand the trepidation, pop culture is LITTERED with absolute shite examples of love triangles but here is an incomplete list of reasons i personally think beth and rio are the perfect kind of disaster to set up a spectacular love triangle:

the existence of a triangle implies there are FEELINGS at the various points

the use of the descriptor "romantic" applied to said triangle implies ROMANTIC feelings

i am a simple woman and my pulse has already picked up

one of my absolute most favorite things about the toxic stew that is beth and rio is how completely balls to the wall obsessed they are with having and holding each other’s attention and focus

like straight up possessive nightmare people

now imagine wedging an actual rival for one or the other’s attention between the two of them

(something we have not reeeeeally seen before, 206 withstanding and i’ll come back to that, bc lbr beth doesn’t give a fck about dean and rio’s known that for sure ever since he walked LITERALLY RIGHT PAST THE GUY to rail his wife in a public bathroom at her invitation)

(the 204 proximity point has nothing to do with this list it’s just a source of endless delight and that was enough for me to justify adding it)

where was i

mmmmm feelings, possessive nightmares, OH RIGHT

they are also nightmares in the sense that it appears to be physically impossible for them to use their words with each other unless it’s like, ripped out of them which means they’re sitting on ALL THE BAGGAGE between them and it’s just stewing and boiling and

wait, let me back up

look, i want brio sex as bad as the next person

but even more than brio sex? i want them to fight

i mean like, Fight fight

i want the kind of knockdown drag-out brawl that brings Stuff to the surface and leaves them with a bunch of nasty, ragged, pieces dragged out into the light bc lbr they’ve both done some incredibly awful things to each other

(kind of like what 213 was looking like before it all went to shit tbh)

(i’m just saying, beth saying you put it all on me with that kind of jagged, disbelieving betrayal behind it? my catnip)

(it’s up there with rio at the picnic table in 306 telling her that ship sailed when she put three slugs in him)

i live for them being raw and honest and emotional okay

IF ONLY THEY COULD BOTH DO IT AT THE SAME TIME

bc here’s the thing, for the magnitude of horrifying shit between the two of them? i (personally) think that they like it because they are so! twisted! when it comes to each other and i love that for me, specifically

like no seriously a huge part of what i love about the ship is that whole i see your monster and it looks like mine thing they’ve got going on when they let themselves and i am full on foaming at the mouth feral at the thought of them leaning into that

i’m sorry i’ve lost the thread again

wait no that was the thread

okay so basically they’re both ticking time bombs of smothered angst and rage who are absolutely incapable of being normal about each other but are also keeping all of that locked tf down and the only time we ever really see it come out is when one o them is too emotionally overwhelmed to keep their iron grip

you know what brings emotions to the surface?

TRIANGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!

CAN YOU IMAGINE THE SEETHING MESS OF EMOTION THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BRING TO THE SURFACE??????

AND HOW UTTERLY UNEQUIPPED EITHER ONE OF THEM WOULD BE TO DEAL WITH ANY OF IT????????

AND HOW SIDEWAYS IT COULD EXPLODE???????????

like don’t get me wrong there is absolutely no way it’s gonna be pretty but i didn’t get on this busted ass carnival ride expecting nice things, i am in this to feEl stuFf and nothing makes me feel stuff more than seeing the two of them feel stuff and this is  perfect set up for that

you know how they say the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference?

you know what’s not indifference? big messy emotions

but okay okay okay i am icarus and the sun looms large, lets say they don’t fight, that doesn’t mean they’re not gonna feEl stuFf on their own

do you remember beth’s face in the van when rio hugged dylan??? do you?????

and what did she do after that? went out and robbed him blind and held his shit hostage until he caved in what is one of my top 10 of all of their scenes

and god, idk if we’ve really seen rio really get jealous of attention lavished on beth yet but when i think about it i want it so bad my teeth hurt

and i know i’m not alone here bc i have i think 3 jealous!rio prompts in my inbox rn

(i’m not saying i’m working on it but i’m also not not saying it)

god i just

can you imagine how much fun it could be to watch rio seethe over having to watch someone else be into beth

WHAT WOULD HE DO?????????

ESP IF HE COULDNT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT DIRECTLY BC ITS SOMEONE HE CAN’T INTERFERE WITH

oh christ and if beth responded to it??????????

oh gOD thE mESS

idk even if it doesn’t lead to a confrontation (but i feel like??? it would have to????) just the idea of the kinds of feelings they’d have to grapple with and confront within themselves is D E L I C I O U S

also, to jump back to an earlier point: brio sex

i know some people are feeling like the sexy chemistry between beth and rio is lacking this season

you know what’s great for chemistry? fuel

you know what provides great fuel? messy emotional situations that tug at intimate connections and make people feel out of control

you know what’s a messy emotional situation that tugs at intimate connections and make people feel out of control? 

you probably guessed it

A TRIANGLE

(and we know that neither of them does well with feeling out of control period at all even without the intimate emotional stuff mixed in so like oh boy)

listen i am just saying given where they’re currently at with each other i cannot think of any situation more ripe for an explosive hook up than one or both of them feeling driven to reassert their claim/mark on the other 

would it be nice? no, probably not

would i care? not even a little bit

(don’t you judge like any of y’all are any better than me)

look. to quote marie kondo horrifically out of context: i love mess and the mess potential in a romantic love triangle with beth and rio as two of the three points is stratospherically high.

[hibiscuswrites]

i love ur writing!!! can u please do a head cannon with a latina reader being introduced as a new “employee” and stealing rio’s attention from beth and making both of them end up in competition on who he likes the best until he finally doesn’t find it amusing and inevitably picks the reader over beth? if i’m asking too much please ignore me 😭😭

No ignoring going on over here because this is a good ass idea  👀

Rio is a businessman, he likes to think 

And businesses expand, no matter how illegal they may be 

He’s growing an empire and as such, he needs to be able to grow with it 

That means more jobs and more ‘employees’ so to speak 

Sure he’s got the girls but he used them and especially Beth more for the dirty work 

He wants people that can have their hands clean though 

People that he can count on to keep things going and seeming legit enough to fly under the radar 

And that’s where you came in 

On paper, you were perfect, but you were equally as beautiful as you were resourceful 

You were smart dedicated and quick thinking 

All qualities that grabbed Rio’s attention and kept it 

You were a breath of fresh air and he was hooked from your first day 

He hung around you when he could

Compliments and flirts being given to you regularly 

It didn’t take long for Beth to notice that he wasn’t coming to her as often 

After a bit of poking around, she discovered your existence and it quickly became a competition 

Her dresses got tighter to show her assets and her visits took longer, trying desperately to pull his attention from you 

And you entertained it because why not 

So you went above and beyond for Rio 

Doing paperwork that he didn’t ask you to do 

Wearing outfits that grabbed his attention just as quickly as hers did 

And he did notice 

It was amusing at first 

But then he started to find it growing old 

It was fun for you, just a harmless little competition, but she seemed to take it more seriously 

So one day all three of you happen to be at the warehouse when she gets a little snarky, diminishing your role and the work that you do 

And Rio’s annoyed now because regardless of the work that Beth churns out, she does it to keep her life 

The only reason she worked for him was because that was the alternative to killing her and her friends

Rio sought you out and as such, he finds you more valuable

But he also prefers you because he can trust you 

He doesn’t worry about being played or shot again like he does with Beth 

Not to mention that added chemistry of a shared culture

So when you’re leaving one day he walks you out, making simple conversation when he finally gives it up 

“You know you’re my top girl.”

And you’re looking at him neutrally because you don’t know if its a test

As he reaches forward though, you realize he’s just being honest

“I know you two got that little competition going on and it’s cute or whatever, but you know you’re my number one, right mama?”

He’s cradling the side of your face and has his eyes right on yours showing there’s no humor or sarcasm

He’s not declaring his love or anything, but he is making it clear that you’re his favorite though 

And that’s enough to get you grinning, a smirk coming to his own face as he rubs his thumb over your bottom lip before pulling away

“See you tomorrow.” 

Rio taglist @belle82devart  @existentialvacuum  @hermionetriskatniss  @thickemadame @aria725  @glimmerglittergirl  @juul4jesus  @tashawar   @issa-lici-kuwonu  @tcailin-00  @gemini0410 @sweet-babyangel @feelingsandemotionsnotexplored @uhlxis @breakingnewsin-no-oneasked @smoooore @asapkyndall @icyyy-diorr @woahitslucyylu @bisexual-space-slut @browngirldominion

General taglist @a-dorky-book-keeper  @jigsawlover10  @titty-teetee @my-rosegold-soul  @felicity-x0 @vibranium-soul @ateliefloresdaprimavera @preciousbarakat @elcococruz @glimmerglittergirl @hatterripper31

[riofann]

Rio Random 3.5

TW: mentions of alcohol 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

When you enter your home you take a direct route to your bedroom. You were rightfully upset. You sit  on the bed and take in a few breaths before you rush into the bathroom. Reaching into your vanity drawer you pull out your flask, you look down, your hands are shaking, you take a look in the mirror and quickly wipe away the one tear that was rolling down your cheek. There's a pause in your movement, no you could not turn to alcohol when things got rough, and although you hate to admit it there is truth in Rio’s words. You shove the flask back in its place before you sit on the stool. 

You wonder where Beth came from it’s like she had been watching you two all along. Hell she probably was. You wonder if Rio had spotted her coming or was he just as surprised. You're mad at yourself for even agreeing to her crashing your brunch. Why didn't Rio say something? You think to yourself. Your mind races and you hate to do it but you pull out the flask once more and take a huge gulp. Disgusted by what you see in the mirror you rush out of the bathroom. Normally you and the girls would be out shopping or getting into something else but this wasn’t your typical Saturday so you just remove your heels and walk into the living room, past Rio on the sectional and lay down on one of the nooks and cover yourself with the throw blanket. You can feel his gaze on you but you weren't going to turn to look at him.

Just like you, Rio disappears for a while and returns however this time he has taken off his shirt and is now in his t-shirt; gun, belt, and shoes are placed to the side of the sectional just in case he needs to make a quick exit. The alcohol is making its way through your body and you feel relaxed enough to close your eyes, to take a quick nap. 

“Mind if I sit next to you?” You open your eyes to see him standing over you, you can’t really read his facial expressions so you just sit up and let him sit by the nook. He does so and pulls you back so you can lay on him. Your body tenses up. 

"Relaxed?" He asks 

"Mhmm" you nod a little too vigorously 

He knows you're lying you two have been in this position many times and he can tell your ‘relaxed’ body from this one. Instead he wraps his arms around you and pulls you closer, hoping the tension was temporary.  “We need to talk” 

"Okay" 

"I didn't know she would be there"

"So she’s been following you?" You inquire 

"Yea I taught her well" he answers with a slight chuckle 

"Okkayyy" 

"About the other day, my bad shouldn't have said what I said" 

You take a deep breath "You were right" 

He hated that you were just going along with what he was saying. You should be complaining standing up for yourself, not this. "What do i gotta do for this to work?" 

You stop fumbling with the lint on the blanket and sit up to face him "Why do you want it to work?" Wondering where the question even came from "are we not working?" 

"Nah mama, we aren't you're just agreeing with everything and i told you I care about you so I want us to work out,even if that means i ain’t gon like what you have to say" 

You look back down and go back to picking lint "I don't know what you need to do"  he can tell you're holding back 

He reaches over and rubs your leg  "I'm still the same person, i mean  know I lied to you, but I'm still the same Rio" 

"Would you want to make it work if it was me who did this to you?" you ask still avoiding eye contact

"I tried to make it work with a woman who tried to kill me, 3 bullets, it ain't so black and white, nothing in my life ever is" 

Your head snaps up and you  nod you had no idea. You would think that was a definite termination of the relationship.

"Come on tell me what you thinkin' mama" he urges 

"I’m just having a hard time understanding why you care about me so much" to you there simply wasn’t enough time for him to feel this way about you

"Because you special"

"In what way?"

"You're like a breath of fresh of air"

"So rebound?" 

"Nah never that, I can’t really explain it i feel more at peace with you than her"

"What happened to your marriage?"

"I got too busy, expanding territory, she wanted a life where i would come home by 9  latest to be with her and Marcus but i couldn’t do that, shit happened we fell out of love with each other" 

"Do you regret it?" 

"Nah i mean i got love for her, she gave birth to my son but nah" 

You nodded

"Tell me what you want for me"

You blush "I don’t know Rio" 

"If i was some regular guy would you be okay with what I've done?" "Well you said it's not so black and white, so what do you mean?"

"Aii forget what I do for a living as a boyfriend would you accept?"

"No" 

"No? So why you giving me passes?" 

"I am not!" 

"But you are mama, is it because ima crime boss?"

"No" 

"Then what is it? I want this to work, i ain't no expert on relationships, but i know no relationship will work if we aint gon talk to each other or see each other" 

"You're right"

"So give me a list lets start with  10 things you want from me"

"10?" 

He sees the overwhelmed look on your face and quickly counters "Okay how bout 5, 5 non-negotiables" 

"Okay" you take a deep breath "uh I don't know Rio" you're now blushing hard and avoiding all eye contact 

He reaches over and caresses your cheek before gently pushing your chin up so you can look at him "Just tell me mama"

"5 things?" He nods  "Okay uh 1. I would like to see you more often like i used to. I don't know why you stopped coming by." You think because he wasn't putting up a facade anymore there was no need  " 2. I would like to talk to you more often. But i have to work on that too. 3. I wanna know whats going on with you. Its kinda hard to be your girlfriend, sometimes you  don't say anything just walk around 4. I wanna know more about you. I just know you dance and play tennis and you have a son and you are a divorcee. Like do you have siblings, are your mom and dad alive? what about your grandparents 5. I wanna feel safe again with you and in my home" he nods in agreement "What about you? It can’t be all about me"

"Nah its a negotiation darling, don't be fooled"

"A negotiation?" 

"Yea 1. I need you to communicate effectively, I'm not gonna care about your day as much but  if you mad, sad, glad, you want something from me, want me to stop doing something,  it shouldn't  matter if I'm right  in front of you or hours away you tell me. 2. I want you Rhea and Marcus to have a relationship. 3. Want you to be you again. You used to be goofy and  confident now you're just tense, unsure of yourself. I know its my fault but I miss you mama. 4. Need you to be patient. 5. Be flexible literally" he smirks "and figuratively shits always changing you need to adapt quick." 

"Okay i can do that"  

"Deal?"

"Deal!" You smile 

"Lets kiss on that.” Gently he pulls you closer to him "come here mama,"  he whispers 

You hadn't realized how much you had missed his kisses until your lips danced together quickly you pulled away "6. More kisses"

"More kisses it is"

Eventually you pull away and smile 

“Why you smiling” He asks caressing your cheek

“We didn’t really negotiate”

“I’ll do anything you ask me to, no need to negotiate” 

A/N: as always tell me what you think 

Tag list: @scuzmunkie​

[lemoncupcake]

beth and rio: is it cheating? a (weak) analysis by yours truly

so, a couple of months ago i was thinking about how in fiction cheating is basically always justified and decided to send a message to megan @foxmagpie asking for her opinion on whether or not beth and rio hooking up in 2x04 and 2x09 counted as cheating on beth’s part, which she still hasn’t answered :( (i mean, i’m being a brat, but i totally get it, i can’t imagine answering as many asks as you do, on top of like having a life lol)

today i was watching some youtube videos about the nuclear revenge and surviving divorce reddit forums, which reminded me of this topic again. and now i’m procrastinating doing my uni work while waiting for class to start, so i thought, why not write about my thoughts on the subject?? and if megan or anyone else also wants to add theirs too, even better!!

so, yeah, this is a long-winded way to say that under the cut you’ll find my thoughts on if beth was cheating on dean when she had sex with rio in 2x04, 2x09 and 4x06.

a warning: i did not rewatch anything to write this. i’m just typing this out while i wait for class to start with no preparation whatsoever. so, if i forget something, i’m sorry. feel free to tell me what i forgot and why you think it changes things (or doesn’t) :)

my hypothesis: 4x06 was cheating, but 2x04 and 2x09 were not

my supporting evidence for 2x04:

in 1x04, beth says she should “get on that”, with “that” being the fact that she’s still dean’s wife, which imo can be read pretty much exclusively as her wanting to get a divorce aka the relationship is over and therefore she can not cheat on him. if she’d hooked up with rio directly after this, it wouldn’t be cheating.

of course, directly after that dean lies to her about having cancer, so they don’t end up getting divorced. however, they’re still sleeping in separate bedrooms and i don’t think any scene indicates that beth still has any romantic interest in him, so imo they’re still not together, only co-habitating

by 1x09, they were still sleeping in separate bedrooms, but beth has clearly softened towards him and is starting to forgive him, as is made clear by her conversation with annie

in 1x10, dean asks beth to choose whether they’re still together and are going to celebrate their anniversary or not. she chooses to celebrate, ergo they are together

after that, dean gets into a car accident while ogling a jogger and beth finds out he doesn’t actually have cancer from his er doctor. imo, at that point, beth thought the relationship was over

however, after that rio shoots dean and beth feels responsible for it. she doesn’t seem happy that he’s survived in the hospital scene, but she does the most for him during his recovery. dean is sleeping in a hospital-like bed in the middle of their living room, though, so they’re still not sharing a room. you could make the point that it seems like medical necessity and doesn’t have anything to do with their relationship status but i think that if they were together, the bed would be in their bedroom bc they seem to have the space for it, so it being in the living room is telling.

in 2x02, we get a shot of beth in her bed alone in the middle of the night, so still not sharing a bedroom then.

i don’t think we get any relevant info about their sleeping situation in 2x03 and 2x04. in 2x05, obviously, we have that iconic scene of her in the bedroom alone, but i don’t think it necessarily means they’re not sleeping together, dean could have just gotten up before her. i think it’s very unlikely, though,  considering how inept a father and husband he is, that he’d purposefully wake up before his wife to take care of breakfast, especially since he then goes in to bother her about it anyways, but it’s not impossible. personally, though, i do believe that at this point they haven’t shared a bedroom at all since beth first kicked him out of the house in 1x01.

going back to 2x04 itself, beth finds out dean has made bad financial decisions again and then steps up to take care of things. when she succeeds, she and dean go out to dinner together, but imo it’s a business dinner. she begins talking about boland motors right away. if i’m being honest, with the way she reacted to his praise at first, i think dean could have managed to turn it around to becoming a real date, but he fucked it up. it seems to me like beth just let him talk and make bad decisions about what she wanted to drink and eat during the rest of the meal before arranging for them to go to the bar where she’d met with rio earlier in the episode. i don’t think she saw it as a date, but i do think dean did. he clearly had no idea during the other scenes that he’d ruined his chances during the first 5 minutes.

in conclusion: i think they weren’t together in 2x04. dean might’ve thought they were on a date, but beth certainly didn’t. i don’t think we have any of them explicitly say it was one, just that they were going out to dinner. dates are only dates if both people know they’re on a date, so i don’t think it was one. if they weren’t on a date at that moment, then they still weren’t together (based on all the other evidence), so i don’t consider it cheating on beth’s part to hook up with rio at the bar.

now my supporting evidence for 2x09:

dean took the kids and left. his condition for coming back was basically for beth to break up with rio.

it’s clear that when he did come back, they (mostly) reverted back to what had been their status quo during their relationship before s1 started, so i assume that means they are together once he comes back.

the condition for dean coming back was that beth give up crime/rio. when she was having sex with rio she hadn’t yet done that and dean hadn’t come back. ergo, she and dean were not together and therefore she wasn’t cheating.

now my supporing evidence for 4x06:

it’s pretty clear in 3x01 that beth and dean went back to their previous roles after beth thought she killed rio in 2x13.

she has sex with dean on-screen in 3x03 and tries to seduce him again in 3x07 (? not 100% sure, but around that time).

in 3x11/4x01, she and dean are starting a new family business together. yes, she’s lying to dean about rio’s involvement, but that is neither here nor there. she doesn’t actually seem particularly happy about rio’s involvement and the fact that she calls dean an idiot doesn’t take away from the fact that to him she’s taking a new chance on him.

in 4x02, dean snuggles her, so they’re clearly still sleeping in the same bed (this shift initially happens during the s2-s3 time jump).

in 4x05, she gets dean out of jail.

in 4x06, i’m pretty sure we see dean in the bedroom again and then after hooking up with rio she tells him what’s going on with the secret service (which, imo, is a very stupid idea but especially so bc they did it within earshot of the kids)

based on this, i think beth and dean are together in 4x06. therefore, her having sex with rio this time around is cheating. 

now, onto the most important part: do i care?

i mean, the whole reason i was thinking about this so much was because of it’s relation to how much tv/movies/books glamorise cheating. it’s ok because the significant other is a cheater too, because they’re an asshole, because they’re just plain boring and it’s clear that the character cheating is actually in love with the character they’re cheating with, so poor significant other but what could you expect? which, you know, sucks. i mean, i remember how much rory cheating on her boyfriend in a year in the life (among other things, they did her no favours in the revival) made me dislike her. i mean, she forgot the poor guy even existed!! but, you know what, i’m gonna side with the media on this one. hypocritical of me, i know, but i just hate dean that much. i hope beth divorces him soon and in the mean time i’m glad he got cheated on because he deserves it :)

[pynkhues]

I have a theory for the ending of this season. I keep seeing pictures of a Nevada like landscape but I really don't feel like they will end this season this way. I know the last episode is called Nevada. So theory: I think Dean will flip on Beth, the girls, and Rio in order to reach a deal with the secret service for Beth and the kids. I think the show will end with either all the girls and Rio (or maybe just Beth) heading to jail. Do you have any theories?

Oooo, that's an interesting theory, anon! And yes, I can absolutely share my thoughts and theories too, but honestly, I don't have too many of them yet.

We're only just past the halfway mark of the season, and I can pretty safely say that I would never have predicted 1.10 after 1.05 or 2.13 after 2.07, haha. The season tends to work at such a rapid speed with so many quick changes of direction, that often predicting anything beyond it.

One thing though that is true of the finales is that they typically return to the season openers. 1.10 is a direct remix of 1.01 – gosh, it's even titled as such – and 2.13 revisits the confrontation in Beth's dining room with Rio and Beth and a third party, and where she can't shoot in 2.01, she can in 2.13.

With the shuffle of episodes due to the COVID shutdown, it's hard to know exactly what a full circle arc would look like, but the conversation about Nevada has been one that's sat beneath the story since 3.07 when Dean floated the idea with Beth. It's something that Beth only replies to with "why there?" before they're called into the house with the kids.

It went on to become Beth's guilt-gift / peace-offering / bribe, depending on how you look at it, haha, to Dean after his arrest in 4.03, and then something Beth basically said was a metaphor for getting out in 4.06.

The arc of that's a pretty interesting one overall, because

Beth's never said she wants to go

It's increasingly become symbolic of 'out of crime / new starts' in these middling episodes

It's also increasingly lookling like it's going to become literal again at the end of the season.

The fact that Christina finished up on the Detroit set with Matthew finishing up separately in what could be a mocked-up Nevada set could certainly feed into a divorce storyline, and would work well on both the symbolic and literal level of Dean getting out and Beth choosing to stay in Detroit and in crime. It's definitely something I would like, haha, and actually would work well as the sort of bookender of the season given 4.01 ended with the Secret Service getting Dean on the hook and 4.16 could potentially end with a degree of freedom for Dean or even as you suggested, anon, Dean free with the rest of them looking at jail time.

Personally, I'm not really sure still! I am interested in the expanding of locations and sets though, and it does seem like the Nevada arc might start a few episodes before the finale. We've only really had the two out of towner episodes across the whole series in Canada in 1.03 and the trip to get Boomer in 3.08, which are two little episodes I really like. Plus pulling the characters out of the status quo of their normal lives with a change of scenery can open up stories in really interesting ways. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but I'm feeling pretty optimistic! :-)

What do you guys think?