#Season 2 Episode 6

[indigovigilance]

“Season 2 episode 6 ruined me.”

“Oh yeah which show?”

“The gay one.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“With the middle aged men.”

“I’m gonna need you to help me out here.”

“One is the classic good guy and has white hair, the other is the dark brooding one with a secret soft side.”

“This isn’t narrowing it down.”

“There are major paranormal themes, yet the main couple exhibit extremely human character flaws?”

“…”

“There’s a lapel grab.”

“You’re fucking kidding me with this right?”

Edit:

Omg hello 3000+ notes, I write GO meta

Edit edit: "You know, the one with the middle aged men who are friends in real life playing a couple on-screen" - @asphodel124 in the reblogs doing the Lord's work <3

[stedes-tarty-pink-robe]

What Armand Says to Daniel: I'm sorry for torturing you for six days and for erasing your memories.

What Armand's Eyes Say To Daniel: Fuck you. I wish I let you bleed out on that floor that slants slightly north.

What Armand Secretly Thinks About Daniel: Oh. That's what makes him fascinating.

[moothemotherfucker]

“YOU’RE STILL ON THE HORSE THING?!”

AGEUHROIWEFHALSEJFHNDSJKLFBS I’M GOING INSANE

[b3an0]

Enjoy your angst ^^

[ladyylavenderrr]

Watching “Melora” with Julian’s backstory in mind is pretty interesting. Now, we obviously can’t fault Julian for being “out of character” in this episode because, keep in mind, his backstory and status as an augment hadn’t even been thought up yet. Still, if we ignore that and look only at canon, Julian being seemingly gung-ho about “fixing” Melora’s disability is pretty noteworthy. Even if Melora was doing this willingly, Julian’s major trauma comes from his own disabilities being “cured” without his permission as a child. I’m not going to comment on whether or not the way disability was written in this episode was overall good or not. I feel like some was good, some was bad, but I don’t think I know enough to give my two cents on this topic.

The point is, I really do wonder how Julian feels during this episode. I definitely don’t think his reaction makes zero sense even with his backstory in mind, but how he can still feel so eager to “fix” this person’s disability (or at least pretend to be eager), is something to explore. I’m thinking a lot of internalized ableism at the very least. (The backstory he gives about seeing a girl die when he was 10 was definitely interesting as well. Is it even true? Is he making up fake origin stories for why he became a doctor to obscure the truth?)

[fandomfaeofveryfewf4cks]

So, every time I see someone talk about this moment, it's about the fact that Aziraphale is reaching for Crowley. And don't get me wrong, I too am obsessed with this fact. But I'd like to present another view here, just to put it out there:

Crowley's.

Reaction!

The little lift of his head in surprise. Like, you know he knows that Aziraphale likes to do touchy shit like this, but Crowley can't ignore the fact that Aziraphale is reaching for him in THIS moment! This moment, as they watch an angel and a demon decide to run away together because they love each other, because they "found something more important than choosing sides."

I know the conversation with Maggie and Nina is the big thing to make Crowley realize he SHOULD shoot his shot with Azi, but I can't help but think that THIS moment has a big part to play in making him realize he HAS a shot with him. That Aziraphale is looking at this couple doing what Crowley has wanted to do with Aziraphale for ages...and immediately. reaching. For. Crowley! Because it looks so much like the angel is reaching for him because he himself is realizing that THIS is possible. That THEY are possible. And his reaction says this realization is filling Aziraphale with HOPE.

And Crowley notices that.

And it hits him hard enough to have an emotional reaction that even his sunglasses can't hide.

I can't with these two anymore. I just can't. For fuck's sake.

[wuwzer]

People who have looked into Owens pins probably already know this but I didn't

Season 2 the pin on his collar says 'Im a mess'

I've always been curious about his pins before

He also has a patch on his jacket this episode

[sidecharactersdomatter]

Thoughts I had during TGCF S2 Ep 6

Previously on TGCF…

This is gonna be epic!!!

Cw: Past homicide

-That’s Yong’An in its heyday 

-Sparrows

-Fang Xin

-It’s Qianqiu’s assistant from Eps 1-2!

-Young Qianqiu is literally me in my Freshman year of High School during the first semester

-His butterfly shaped mask

-Writing the Laozi 10 times has the energy of making a kid stay in class and write a sentence over and over on the chalkboard till they’ve learned their lesson (Literally every Simpsons opening)

-He doubled it

-Imagine if Piandao talked to Sokka like that when beginning his sword training

-Man wonder who voices Young!Qianqiu?

-I mean the move could also get you hurt if you’re careless

-This is the Ancient Chinese version of the trolley problem, same analogy though

-I like to think this advice was taught to Zuko and Sokka when they were learning swordsmanship

-See, trolley problem esque

-Good advice to not intervene

-More dead bodies

-Oh no and that was his Dad

-That’s when the survivor’s guilt set in

-I can see why Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are perfect for each other, they both have a freaking high kill count

-Just like when Bruce Wayne lost his parents

-What did he say?

-He’s not a monster

-That was during his second ascenscion

-That’s gonna be a bad outcome

-“I wish to be stripped of my divinity” Literally every fangirl’s brain drifted to something else when he said that.  Just look at Kictor and Stitch

-Doesn’t seem like he earned it at all

-He just wants to get out of the drama

-If there was a modern AU, you know Shi Qingxuan would make an awesome and wealthy defense attorney

-There’s the Amongus quote

-Dang no answer

-There’s Prosecutor Pei Ming, that’s a good nickname.

-He made a solid point

-That’s the result of the Fang Xin trial with XL on house arrest and a restraining order from Taihua

-He made another enemy

-Aaaa pickle jar, better believe it Qingxuan

-How is she going to get air???

-That upset Qingxuan, Feng Xin, and Mu Qing

-The interior looks hollow in Xie Lian’s palace

-That’s coming out of Qingxuan’s pockets

-He deserves the apology hun

-He’s doing it, he’s doing the iconic old time Put your head between your arms against a flat surface like a Disney Princess!

-He still has the dice

-It’s snake eyes!

-Hi Mu Qing

-Stick it to Jun Wu, Mu Qing

-I know right, it did NOT seem like a healing spell at all

-Wonder if I can conceptualize a similar healing potion for TOH MTC…?

-You just had to ask him that didn’t you?

-Hi Feng Xin

-A guest who invited himself inside

-Welp he really was honest

-Seriously, Mu Qing you couldn’t have felt bad for his house arrest

-Xie Lian’s trying to mediate again

-Mu Qing’s response had bite to it

-One Punch!!!

-Fist Fight!  Fist Fight!

-“You’re a hypocrite, you’ve always looked down on me, but you’re not better than I am!!!”  Oh my gods, Lucien Dodge freaking delivered!!!

-“Enough…” Oh man, Xie Lian’s emotions

-The Junior Officials witnessing the Generals fisticuffs:

Feng Xin!  Feng Xin!  Feng Xin!

Mu Qing!  Mu Qing!  Mu Qing!

-“Did it really have to come to violence?” Yeah it pretty much did. - Iroh, dragon of the West, the Waterbending scroll

-Mu Qing: Fine I’ll break your face

Feng Xin: Not if I break yours first!  It’s too late to beg for mercy!  

That’s what I translated to the best of my skills during Xie Lian’s internal monologue

-He’s like a parent that’s disappointed with his two kids constantly at odd

-Don’t worry, hon what’s really gonna help them is Couples’ therapy, and I’d hate to be that therapist

-A dramatic sound effect!

-I can’t wait to write the Gaang’s reaction to the Wraith Butterflies

-That was a cool shield spell

-I love how the butterflies are easily dodging Xie Lian, but are charging toward Mu Qing and Feng Xin to scare the sh*t outta them

-He’s gonna hold one of the butterflies, he’s holding one of the butterflies, yeah too late man AND HE’S NUZZLING THE WINGTIPS WITH HIS NOSE Cue keyboard smash! WAE TESDHGFYFJ. RYGJ GUFTDRSSDFAEGRRESVGTGTRS DFGSTRWG EIEEEIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!! I always love this joke, no matter how old it’s gonna get in my reaction posts.

-Yeah he’s just going

-The real reason this episode took so long to air last year was that the animators had to get the waist snatch scene past censorship to spite their censor companies for not having Xie Lian fall into Hua Cheng’s lap in Eps 4-5.

-Xie Lian: Hello Again, Literally me: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! (This is the same noise Eleanor Shellstrop made when she was gifted a Shrimp Dispenser in The Good Place)

-They’re just backing up

-You two had one job!  Looking at you Feng Xin and Mu Qing!  I see ya

-He’s just tugging his sleeve as they’re walking

-Man, it’s like Hua Cheng took Little John’s advice from Robin Hood 1973 to “Climb the palace walls.  *Tosses out Gross Carrot* Sweep him off his feet, carry him off in style.” - Little John, Disney Robin Hood (1973) (Best Disney film hands down, freaking fight me if you dare)

-That must’ve hurt his ears

-Y’all had one job

-Feng Xin is just worried

-*Hua Cheng has entered the chat*  Like a goat!

-The subtle eye contact and expression he shared with Xie Lian!

-Some of the 33 gods he defeated are also in the chat

-That shook the veils

-Won’t that be pain in his mind?

-Looks like he saved you yeah

-A flashback from Ep 5!

-Touchstarved!  Touchstarved!  (Try prying this headcanon from my cold dead grip!)

-And here you’re about to see Howard Wang’s best performance in the series so far

-Best apology I’ve ever heard in media

-It healed that fast

-Petition to have James Cheek voice an iconic lead character in a Shakespeare play?

-Aw, they were actually both at fault for what happened

-You can actually feel Hua Cheng’s Shame

-E Ming: Noooo…. You hurt him!  I hurt him!  We hurt him! AAAHHH!  *sobs*

Season 2 has fed us once more!  I’m still busy with writing the Scrap Immortal and the Avatar.  For writing inspiration, I’ll be busy rewatching Avatar:  The Last Airbender

[mayapapaya33]

The fun part about Gabriel and Beelzebub is that they can be together and happy because they are still fundamentally selfish and so only really care about themselves and now, because of character growth, each other. Whereas Crowley and Aziraphale care about each other AND the world and so are torn apart by their morals and their philosophical difference in how to deal with the problems facing them. (By fun I mean I want to strangle someone).

Aziraphale has learned, mostly through watching Crowley over the centuries ironically, that morality is not black and white and that you need to actually put the work in to make things right, not just assume that a greater power will take care of everything for you. He's developed a sense of civic duty. His heart is in the right place, Unfortunately he's still deeply indoctrinated by Heaven's supposed goodness and superiority despite all evidence to the contrary. He can't see that it isn't just a few bad apples, but rather an institutional problem. He doesn't understand why going back to heaven would be painful for Crowley, why being offered "full angelic status" is such a slap in the face. He just doesn't get it. He says "you're the bad guys" without even blinking but he loves Crowley and thinks he's a good person.

He thinks he's offering a reward, something Crowley deserves for being good, when all this time Crowley has been trying to explain that they are the same. He isn't an angel anymore and he never will be again, not because he couldn't, but because he would never want to. Aziraphale's double think is too strong. Until he breaks through his own mental barriers of HEAVEN = GOOD. He will never understand Crowley's feelings. Because in his mind heaven can never truly be wrong. Except for all the things heaven has been demonstrably wrong about. But that was probably just Gabriel or Michael making bad choices, and he can fix that. Crowley's fall, was is justified or a mistake? Heaven doesn't make mistakes (except for when it does) but that was GOD not just heaven and GOD definitely doesn't make mistakes right? Well, let's not think about that, let's just fix it! Crowley is clearly good, and heaven is good (except for when it isn't) and angels are good (except for when they aren't) so let's make Crowley an angel again! Perfect, what could be wrong with that?! So on and so forth.

Crowley on the other hand, has learned that the difference between Heaven and Hell is aesthetic and that working within the system got him nowhere fast, except doing a million light year free style dive into a pit of sulfur. (I know he's an unreliable narrator and he probably did more than just ask questions, but come on, what does that mean? Seriously, did he stage a really annoying protest in heaven's lobby or something? I can't really see him doing anything TOO nefarious lol. This IS the guy who goes around gluing coins to the sidewalk and taking down the cell phone service, not exactly a monster here, I feel pretty safe in assuming that with anything he did, his punishment did not fit the crime). He works outside the system, to great success.

Which is why at the end of Season 1 he said that he thought it would come down to him and Aziraphale and Earth together AGAINST Heaven and Hell. People always seem to forget that because of Crowley's much flashier (and romantic seeming) panic response of running away. He literally only says that whenever Aziraphale blindsides him and is falling back into Heaven's rhetoric. If Aziraphale was firmly by his side, he wouldn't want to run, he likes Earth and wants to save it. HE was the one who had to convince Aziraphale to try to stop the apocalypse after all! He only started talking about running away when Aziraphale LIED to him about Adam when he was trying to be a "good angel" and Crowley thought there was nothing else they could do to stop the Apocalypse. He Loves Earth, He just Loves Aziraphale more and wants to get him away from heaven.

Same thing here in the final 15, Crowley sees Aziraphale slipping through his fingers and is desperate. Maybe, if they were working together, they COULD reform Heaven, but not while Aziraphale is still in denial about just how bad the problem is. And how much it would hurt Crowley to go back. Which is why I'm so proud of Crowley for not following him. I think Aziraphale needs to come to those realizations on his own. Only then can they come back together and try to stop the second coming and maybe even reform Heaven.

[thekimspoblog]

At first, I didn't really like what they did with Dolores in Season 2. She seemed like more of a 2-dimensional villain now. But upon rewatch, the weren't trying to set her up as a villain. She's intimidating, sure, and ruthless. But at no point does she do anything that's actually malicious. She knows that no matter what she does, a lot of people are going to die, and she has a clear idea of what she needs to do next in spite of this fact. She definitely has an "the ends will justify the means" mentality, but Westworld is one of the few shows I've seen that has had the balls to say, "Hey if the ENDS are stopping slavery, and the MEANS are killing the masters in cold blood, maybe there's a little more to this MORALITY thing than how confidently a radical pursues her goal". She doesn't hurt anyone innocent, and when someone resists her will, she'll voice her concerns but ultimately she respects their choice. She still feels genuine remorse for her oversights/things beyond her control.

THIS is what an anti-hero is! Not just "A bad person who we have to like because they're the main character". Seasons 2 & 3 don't try to make revolution look pretty or one-sided. But it also doesn't pretend like the hero is an irredeemable monster the second that upsetting the status quo starts to result in bloodshed... namely because the status quo was in itself horrible and violent, so blaming the victim for going "too far" to demand equal rights would be a tad intellectually dishonest. (Not that being intellectually dishonest has stopped other shows from framing the debate this way HINT HINT!) But yeah. When given more time to mull it over, I have to say she looks pretty hot in that ammo belt.

[ineffably-idiotic]

the fact that crowley essentially says "one fabulous kiss and boom its sorted" when trying to get nina and maggie together, like that's how Love works. and his Last Ditch Effort at getting aziraphale to stay, to keep living in this comfortable existence they've carved out for themselves, to love him back, is a kiss. it's the most Human way he can think to express this love and desperation that is overflowing in him, because he knows that aziraphale loves humanity, they BOTH do. "to the world", and all that. "to us".

i wonder which kiss made him think of that. i wonder what historical event crowley saw, a miraculous kiss, and immediately realized "that is how humans love. this is what they do". was it in biblical times? was it from a romcom?

it's not even a GOOD kiss! neither of them have ever kissed before! its a messy smushing of lips and they're both shaking and crowley isn't sure if he's doing it right, aziraphale isn't sure what's Happening.

and aziraphale, in his fear, calls crowley's desperation "temptation". he forgives crowley for a sin that he himself has reprimanded himself for, many times over the years. its easier to blame his own falling in love on the demon himself. it's easier to backslide into an awful way of thinking that has kept you safe for millennia than take an unsteady step forward, a step where aziraphale isn't sure he'll have a place to land.

aziraphale is a guardian by nature, and what he does at the end of season 2 IS him trying to help. trying to protect, trying to fix. but for aziraphale to really break that cycle of running back to heaven for a secure attachment, he needs to realize how awful heaven is from the inside. because crowley sure as hell isn't opening up about what happened to him. because they never talk, and ESPECIALLY not about important things.

[stedes-tarty-pink-robe]

I feel so sorry for Claudia in this episode. Louis has taken Claudia's desire for another companion in addition to him as a rejection of him. She still longs for Louis' approval and his companionship, and you can tell how much he hurt her when he told Armand she was a burden. Sure, he did it to manipulate Armand, but he's so cold when he's explaining that to her, refusing to let her know he still cares. Claudia got her wish to be Louis sister, but in the worst way. Louis pushes his sisters away with cruel words and feigned indifference to protect himself from the pain of their loss. Unfortunately, that won't work out well for anyone.

[moothemotherfucker]

I’ll never get over Blitz’s whole thing where he’s trying to convince Fizz (himself) that Stolas only wants him for sex cause he’s too scared of emotional intimacy that he can’t let himself believe Stolas loves him too-

[youdontneedhenry]

"Of course you did. You know, you really are—"

What do you all think Nash was going to say before he was shot?

(and also his face here, love. lol).

[lunarsucks72]

I’m watching Invader Zim rn and Dib calls himself “the obsessive compulsive Dib” and I think that’s interesting cus people headcanon him as having ocd when its basically canon 😋

[shiuefha]

I see, we can connect the key visuals.

Only need one more key visual and the largest picture will be completed