#THIS SHOW IS DRIVING ME INSANE

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

[thegirlsread]

crazy that one of the removed episodes is the gang recycles their trash. are there people who haven’t watched mac blatantly attempt to kiss dennis? that scene haunts me it’s so quick and charlie’s there but i swear i held my breath when i first watched it

[wen-kexing-apologist]

By god do I just need to scream into the ether about the Heart and co. confrontation scene.

First, the tension, incredible. Gemini and Fourth are phenomenal actors. Heart and Li Ming know they are walking in to a very emotionally fraught situation and their hesitation is palpable.

It's scene breakdown time babyyyy! Let's start from the beginning

For a boy who admitted last episode that he has no idea what he is doing, he sure keeps doing things right. He's letting Heart know he's going to talk. Now, granted I don't know what he is saying here precisely if he is just simply saying "I'm going to talk for us/first", "I'll interpret," or if he's saying "I'm going to talk?", I don't think his face moves in any way that would imply a question, but his face is partially obscured. Either way he is at the very least keeping Heart in the know, and at the most asking for Heart's explicit consent to lead this conversation. You can't see it from pictures, but I appreciate the fact that before they cut back to the wide shot, Heart nods, so we as an audience, and Li Ming as the speaker here knows that Heart is okay with the power dynamics at play, with Li Ming talking for both of them.

It's a blink and you'll miss it moment, thankfully I'm obsessed with this scene and therefore have been looping it endlessly, but I feel compelled to point out the way eye contact in this moment goes a long way in conveying how Heart's Mom and Li Ming view Heart. When Heart's mother points to her son she doesn't even look at him. The most she does is cast a downward glance at his bandage, and that's before she even points. And you can argue all you want that she doesn't look at him because she's specifically talking to and addressing Li Ming. But I call bullshit on that because Li Ming is specifically talking to and addressing Heart's mother, and he's looking straight in to Heart's eyes when he refers to and gestures towards Heart. I'm sure that both of these characters believe they love and care about Heart, but of these two characters which one actually recognizes Heart's personhood?

But uh oh! Li Ming stood up for himself and for Heart, and talked back to not just an adult, but a powerful adult. And now she's mentioning past debts, and now there will be more to pay as a result. And Li Ming can only work so much with school and life and everything. He clearly doesn't know what he's getting himself in to, or what he has gotten himself in to. Li Ming and Heart's Mom are both getting angry, tensions are rising, something needs to happen to de-escalate the situation or this might go wrong. Uncle Jim absolutely must intervene (I hope you can hear the sarcasm in my voice). Interesting note: Guess who else doesn't look at their child when making a decision for them. Jim does look at Li Ming directly after this though, but it's to ask him why he did it. It's to place the blame for the accident on Li Ming. "You Li Ming, why did you do it?" "Heart asked me to." "Stop saying that."

Jim is scared, Li Ming is pissed. "He was bored at home" "I said stop!" Jim is used to the way powerful and wealthy people can control and punish the poor. Jim and Li Ming have had conversations before that indicate this very mindset. Jim has mentioned power to Li Ming before and Li Ming's response has always been "what, so we just let them?" "He's a police officer so he can just do anything he wants to us?" to a young adult like Li Ming, this is an absurdity, to an older man like Jim, this is a reality. "he can just do anything he wants to us?" the answer is yes. Which is why Jim is so desperate to get Li Ming to stop talking here. But it just serves as a reminder to Li Ming that Jim thinks he's a child, and that he needs all his battles fought for him. If Li Ming doesn't keep pushing, nothing is going to change (social and political commentary anyone?)

"There you go again," Heart's mother says, and this is Li Ming's initial reaction. This moment of annoyance and anger that this woman who doesn't even know him is once again accusing him of something he didn't do. This woman who is pointing once again to her son without even a glance in his direction "You know that he's mute, so you can say whatever you want?" First of all, even people who are mute have ways to communicate, so it's not like even if he was mute Heart would be helpless. Hell, even if Heart was mute he still has fucking sign language.

The face of a woman who was, in fact, not aware that deaf people dislike being called mute.

GUESS WHO FINALLY LOOKS AT HER SON AFTER THAT!!!! Please please if the writers are kind and merciful, this will be the point in the show where Heart's mother does so deep deep introspection and realizes how much she has fucked up. "He's just deaf," Li Ming says, loudly, and he steps forward, to try to engage Heart's mom in further conversation, in more dialogue. And what does Jim do? Pulls him back, takes him off his even footing "I said stop,"

The face of a man who is very scared for the trouble his nephew might be getting himself in to, and the face of his nephew who is very disappointed that his uncle keeps not only backing down, but forcing him to back down as well. Who keeps asking him, in these small ways to lie instead of tell the truth. To remain quiet, to take the blame, to stick to the status quo.

And then the part I hate (emotionally) begins. Heart asks Li Ming to tell him what they're saying. And I hate it because Heart's parents refusing to learn sign language does not only hurt Heart but it hurts everyone around him, themselves included. But specifically here, it hurts Li Ming, because he has to be the one to look Heart in the face and repeat the words his mother said, knowing that to do so will hurt Heart. Knowing that he has to be the one to hurt Heart.

And this moment is also a great reminder for the audience as well that no one else knowing sign language creates really uncomfortable power dynamics between the person who is able to interpret and the Deaf person. Because Li Ming is hesitant to repeat it. Heart has to repeatedly grab his arm, repeatedly ask Li Ming to tell him what was said. Li Ming has absolute power over Heart right now, to refuse to say it, or to flat out lie. He doesn't, but it also should not be Li Ming's decision whether or not Heart knows, accurately, what was said. Even after we see it in his face that Li Ming agrees to translate, he still hesitates for a few seconds to move, to reach for the notepad, to have to write it down.

And once he writes it down, Li Ming's eyes do not leave Heart. He is honed in on Heart, on Heart's face, on his shoulders, hell even on the back of his head until Heart asks him to translate. And god as much as I hate this moment in the scene for the pain that it causes Li Ming, I hate it even more for the pain that it causes Heart.

He is fucking livid. Rightfully so, because HE'S NOT FUCKING MUTE, HE'S HAD LANGUAGE THIS ENTIRE GODDAMN TIME. He just wants to live his life like everyone else AND HE HAS TO TELL HIS PARENT'S THAT USING SOMEONE ELSE'S VOICE. Because they have refused to use his own. GOD. I'll be surprised if anyone makes it this far down in the post but I just...AHHHH I have no coherent thoughts about this moment, I just....Heart's parents do fucking better. Damn. And the worst part of this scene is yet to come because his Mom tries for like 0.2 seconds, but it looks like she's going to start signing something and Heart just looks SO surprised.

He's so focused on it, he's paying so much attention to it. Is this it? Is this the moment he finds out that his mother has actually been trying? That she has learned and is ready to start using sign language with him? To talk to him, to understand him?

No.

She can't do it. She doesn't know how to. And it's just..it's so easy to see how much hope he had for just a second, how much that one millisecond of effort obliterated all the logic in his head that told him they didn't know it, they didn't care. And how quickly that disappointed anger snaps right back in to place. So Heart starts talking, in sign language, like he has been able to do for years, and he speaks his mind, and his mother still can't understand him. And we see the same dynamic here as with the "mute" comment. Heart's Mom wants Li Ming to translate, Heart wants Li Ming to translate, Li Ming knows how hurt Heart is, and yeah, probably some of his hesitation in voicing what Heart said is because he knows what Heart said will hurt her. But more so because I think it hurts Li Ming to know how much pain Heart is in.

God, poor Heart, literally having to beg to be heard.

"He said you are ashamed of him being deaf,"

His mother shakes her head and says "Heart, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say, dear," and therein lies the problem. She doesn't know what to say, she never has. She has never bothered to learn how to communicate with him since he went deaf. She has kept him locked away. And it doesn't matter if she thinks she did that to keep him safe, Heart feels like he's being hidden away. And she doesn't say "No. No I'm not ashamed. I have never been ashamed." she doesn't know what to say. Because she can't say that. She can't deny that, and it just confirmed everything that Heart has known. So he leaves, because that's too much to handle.

Bullshit 'he'll be fine, honey'. Your fucking son just told you that you never bothered to learn sign language in THREE FUCKING YEARS, and stormed away after admitting that he feels like you are ashamed of him, and you think no need to go after him, he'll be fine??? Fuck you. ACAB.

Does this...

look like...

he's fine, to you?

No. I didn't think so.

I don't really feel like I need to say much about this last shot. It stands on its own so strongly. Mirrors reflecting back, Heart and Li Ming only ever being able to see each other, to be seen by each other. Warm light at Heart's back, Li Ming in front of him, sandwiched between warmth in all of that blue, isolating coldness. All that evidence of how much time and the energy Heart has spent learning sign language. I don't know what the post-its say, I don't know that I want to know.

I don't know if they are notes Heart has written to himself when he was learning, and this is just what remains of his effort. Honestly I hope it's that, because if it is what I think it is, general, every day responses that he might have to give in reply to his parents that he can just pull off his wall and return, that is so much fucking worse. Because then its just the evidence of all the effort Heart has put in to communicate with his parents on their level when they have not put in the same effort to communicate on his. Even if it's something cute, even if it's all the notes that he and Li Ming have passed back and forth to each other over the last few months, serving as a reminder that someone cares, you still are left with the heartbreaking shot of two young men, desperate to be understood by their families, only having each other to hold on to, surrounded by reminders that they are the only two people that can understand each other. No matter how hard they try.

[mattsmithisweirdlyhot]

Okay but like I have to say something real quick. It's not that Daemon isn't jealous. It's that there's a difference between Daemon's jealousy and Crispin's jealousy.

Daemon sees Rhaenyra as an equal. He respects her as much as he loves her. He wants her happy and he would never stand in the way of that. He would rather die than willingly share an iota of her, but he knows that he does not govern who she chooses. Daemon will burn with jealousy and rage, but he will always respect Rhaenyra's right to choose.

She's a dragon, his blood, an extension of him. Everything that makes him special, makes her special. He could never treat her as less than himself - it wouldn't even occur to him.

Will he murder every man who touches her? Absolutely. But he'll do it only after she's done with them.

That's what makes Daemon so appealing. Like yes he's a problematic chaos monkey, but when it really comes down to it, Daemon is a better man than everyone else on the show. (Minus the mildly psychopathic behaviour)

Crispchicken on the other hand, is a misogynistic piece of shit, who does not want to see Rhaenyra as an equal - perhaps because he knows she outranks him in every possible way.

His jealousy is a wretched, insecure, cloying thing. He can't see her thriving when he is spiralling. If he can't reduce Rhaenyra into something smaller, if he can't break her down into someone less than him - someone that he can have - he would see her destroyed. And that's exactly what he does. Cole is the absolute worst sort of man that should not be allowed anywhere near a woman. Or any human being tbh.

[the-faketiccit0by]

SO Y'KNOW HOW THIS HAPPENED RIGHT?!

AND THEN MOON SAID THIS?!

WHAT IF THAT'S WHO WAS IN THE BACKGROUN-

*explodes*

[whoreraccoon]

Thinking abt how in almost every scene Percy is in with sally he’s wearing a sweater. Thinking abt how sweaters are comforting and warm and are sometimes handmade for loved ones. Thinking abt how the only two scenes Percy is in with his mom without a sweater is when he’s coming home from yancy and has to tell her he’s been expelled (again) and Gabe’s there and then the one where he’s learning to swim and he’s obviously very nervous and scared.

[but-im-yours-you-know]

I don't think Nuth killed Nant.

(I'm 41:55 minutes into episode 7)

I think Phop did.

I think Nuth found Nant after he had been killed - there was a second of a clip in the last episode with someone's feet dangling over a chair during Nuth's flashback.

Okay, so. Phop and Nant know each other through sex work, right? Let's say Phop introduces Nant to video work to help him pay back his debts. Nuth notices him, and Nuth is someone Phop wanted to work with because he makes his clients/partners popular so they make more money. He gets jealous. (Blah, blah, blah - you follow me, right? Phop has been trying to get Nuth'd attention for so long)

Phop somehow gets access to Nuth's phone, I don't know how, go with it. He contacts Nant to tell him he has an idea for a shoot/scene - video, mask, so on. So Nant goes, meets "Nuth", who's actually Phop - wearing the dog mask - Nant is murdered (by hanging? If the quick flashback from the last episode is for real) by Phop masquerading as Nuth.

Nuth had gotten a message from Nant not long before the "set up" meeting time saying he's confirming time and place for the scene (again, just go with me) but by the time he gets there, Nant is already dead. He panics, thinking maybe be dissociated (like he did in episode 6) (not sure if dissociated is the right term, so please correct me if I'm wrong), and he gets rid of the body.

I still don't trust Prom. That guy just SCREAMS "I'm gulity". It also seems like he's setting Nont up as a fall guy, I don't know. Do Prom and Phop know each other? Are they working together?

THIS SHOW IS MESSING WITH MY BRAIN!!!

Also, I'm terrible at verbalise thoughts. So feel free to tell me to shut up.

[the-girl-lost-in-fandoms]

wAiT aND sEe

[abnormalpsychology]

Someone pointed out that “it’s not my fault you didn’t get his approval. I have given you endless approval” could be interpreted as Tom thinking his love should be equivalent to Logan’s, which is just… it’s not! Of course it’s not!!!! No matter what he does, there’s always going to be a part of Shiv yearning for that. No amount of a good man’s love can cure not getting that original parental love. Something something “you’re not Logan and I’m not Gil. and that’s a good thing.” Like I don’t think I would wish being cheated on or being in a relationship w/ Shiv on anyone, but I also wouldn’t wish what happened to her on any child. Even if she’s “broken”, I don’t think his love could ever “fix” her, even if he wanted to believe that. What makes it a tragedy is I think that both Shiv and Tom did the best they could 💔

[lauranalanthalasa]

So, after reading the banana fish theory by @doctorscienceknowsfandom I rewatched the ending of episode 6 as one does.

Here's something I might have found.

It has been discussed that Aziraphale (or shall I say, an entity outwardly presenting as Aziraphale) mouthes something under his breath before settling on I forgive you.

Until shortly I was inclined to belive it was a stifled I love you, because 1. it warms my shipping heart and 2. I'm quite sure I hear an exhaled f-sound.

After taking into account the above mentioned mutual possession shenanigans, I'd like to moot another idea:

Assuming our Aziraphale-presenting entity (A-p E) now contains Crowley's essence and incorporating the expectant look of the Crowley-presenting entity (C-p E, which, for this to work out, now contains Aziraphale's essence) as well as the short sideways glance out of the window by A-p E directly after their kiss broke apart, I belive A-p E mouthed leave! to indicate that he (at least somehow) understands what's up and especially to tell C-p E / Aziraphale that it's okay and he should leave the bookshop to keep up appearances and not draw attention to anything being off-key to the Metatron.

What do you all think? I'd love to hear everyone's take on this!

[hippocampus-studies]

watching the bear is like. oh it's the food? the love has always been in the food? the love has always been the intimate act of sharing a meal you created by hand with the people you care about the most?? and what are are you going to do about it, huh?? make a dish for someone you love??

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

I'm giffing the latest episode and I'm constantly stopping because I'm in awe of Chris's acting. I'm not as versed in this as @wen-kexing-apologist but it's so good that I just had to say something. The thing he can do with his face just blows my mind. The conversation with San Pang is great but for me it's the hair drying scene.

We can only see his head and still it's all there in his face. I wish we could see his hands cause I'm sure they are not just resting on his lap. He can't really let himself relax here. All through the episode we can see on his face the fight that's going on in his head/heart that he finally gives voice to at the end of the episode.

Just like when he's in front of the mirror in the beginning and remembering what just happened and it's all there on his face. That clenching of the jaw. Just incredible.

Anyway, he's amazing and I'm just in awe of this whole show.

Also since I'm here. Yuan has grown so much and Kurt is also doing an incredible job portraying that. Most time skips are just a thing that happens and it annoys me so much when you don't actually see it in the characters. But this one I believe it. I believe Yuan was away for 4 years. I can see it in him. The confidence, the boldness but also the calmness from coming to terms with his feelings and the fact that he can't force things, and what will be, will be. Incredible work on Kurt's part.

[aro-simp]

The Master only tortured Jack so I always have a chained up, beaten, beautiful man to look at <3 I know it, I was there

[cogcltrcorn]

in ep2 louis talks about being a botched vampire and explicitly tells lestat "you should just throw me in the incinerator and make a new one". Children of the Darkness have rigorously cleaned their ranks and it was Armand's responsibility to decide which vampires were unfit and throw them into the fire. now. was the incinerator line. a direct reference to that information. did louis at the time know something about this. or is this a layer added in the narration. is this something modern day louis says, having lived for YEARS with armand. is this something he says AFTER CLAUDIA IS BURNED, IN NO SMALL PART DUE TO HER SUPPOSED WRONGNESS AS A CHILD VAMP.

[kimpapchi]

EXCUSE ME???

MK???

WHAT THE FLIPPING FRYING FUCK IS THAT?

And the fact that he doesn’t even acknowledge it, immediately after he’s like “Hey Mei, let’s go mess with Pigsy.” LIKE?? 1 IS HE A CELESTIAL BEING OR SMTH AND 2 IS HE AWARE OF THAT?? WHAT THE FUCK IS HIS DEAL? WHAT IS HE?

[h3xactinellida]

this songs about suicide. actually it’s about killing the head cheerleader just to get a fucking hard on. but the main thing is about suicide