#also totally forgot runaways s3 was coming out

[milesgmorales-archive]

ok i’m back and have nothing to do until classes start so looks like i’m gonna be more active on here again

[sometimesrosy]

How far ahead do you think JR planned? Do you think he planted the B/C/E triangle&Madi&Marper seed way back in s2? With Echo&Bellamy forming a bond in MW and Lxa being the first commander we’re introduced to and being connected (i guess) to Clarke and Harper and Monty being the first ones taken for the bone marrow project? It all ties together perfectly, do you think it was planned or that he went back before writing this season to make sure it fits?

I really don’t know. He’s said that he had an end point in mind for five years down the line, which was this season. I know he’s adjusted the story according to new ideas and casting requirements and even fan reactions.

I also think that he set up a lot of very essential stories and themes from the very beginning. I think he had an end point in mind, and allowed detours while still heading there the whole time.

You can find seeds of the end points all through the show. Some of them might have been only possibilities, but some of them might be essential elements to Clarke and Bellamy’s journey, and the fate of the earth, and the major themes.

I can’t tell you what his creative process is. But I know when I work on big projects, I often start with a general idea for a setting, world or set up. I have an end point in mind for where I want to aim, issues I want to discuss. I have an idea for the ending…the big goal or plot twist or disaster or what have you. Then I find my characters who I flesh out to fit the story. I need THIS rebel leader. I need THIS runaway princess. Then I follow my characters through the story and create them as I go.

I write the story according to what needs to happen, hitting the big plot points and character arcs. But I take detours. I totally take detours. Sometimes I’m writing along and I think, oh that ending I had in mind is never going to work now. I’m going to have to find another ending.

And then I’m writing, and writing and I have no idea how to end it and POOF here comes my original plan for ending the thing. It just sorts itself into reality, and I realize I’ve been writing my way towards it all the time. This has happened more than once. And then in my editing process I go back and smooth out the edges and pull the pieces all together and get rid of the irrelevant stuff. Sometimes I sneak in some foreshadowing, sometimes I find foreshadowing that my subconscious put in there and I forgot about.

Like I said, I don’t know his process, but I can see that he’s been going down a CERTAIN path, he’s dropping hints and he’s leading the story towards things.  The details can change, but there are some things that CAN’T change and still remain on the path. I think that might be why he and Ricky ran afoul of each other. Because Ricky thought Lincoln could have another story, and Lincoln’s demise was essential to JR’s long term story of Octavia’s fall. Two men with strong ideas fought it out, and the boss won in the end. Did that altercation alter a smaller storyine? Yeah I think it did. Did it change his REAL intention? Nope. 

Same with, say, losing an actor, like with Wick or Bryan. He substituted Sinclair and Gina for Wick’s character arc, and gave Bryan’s more minor role to an inserted character who was just there for that reason. One worked better than the other, I thought, but he needed those characters there for the most part to hit the plot points and affect the main characters in a way that WAS relevant to their character development. 

There may have been some sacrifice of some elements, but the important ones found their way into the story.

Also, speaking about pacing or delaying stories for various reasons. Or not? I’m not even sure, but say season 4 seemed to have an awkwardly slow middle where important storylines kind of awkwardly found their way in there but didn’t flow? And yet, they got in their plot points. Their character revelations. Sometimes the story isn’t as clear. But they still hit their plot points. With season 3, they were given three extra episodes after the story was mostly done, and they worked with those and that meant that they expanded on s3 in a way they weren’t planning on, developing some conflicts more, exploring some relationships that were originally not in the plan. This doesn’t mean those things didn’t belong, because they were STILL working on the major themes and ideas. We got an expansion of Bellamy and Clarke’s shadows, and the fight for their individual souls, lessons that scarred them to this day. In storylines that still resonate. They were real, but with writing, you can take one detour and it will give you plot bunnies that can become something else, and then you can use those plot bunnies to direct it back to your main story.

All in all, I don’t know. It’s clear there is a plan. It’s clear he’s been working on it almost the whole time, with the first season being the least sure. What are the elements that he set up for the end point and what are the elements he capitalized upon to tell the story he was already telling? That I can’t tell you.

It’s probably a mix of both.

[mackenzie-lukasiaks]

I said in my tags today that I wanted to see if maddie really had been on top of the pyramid more than all the other dancers combined, and since I apparently have nothing better to do, I used the dance moms wiki to find out. below the cut for extreme length and also for how very, very sad my life is that this is what I just spent roughly a half hour doing on a saturday night.

season one

the competition begins: maddie

wildly inappropriate: maddie

cheerleader blues: maddie

stealing the show: brooke

when stars collide: maddie

dying to dance: maddie

she’s a fighter: maddie

love on the dance floor: maddie and brandon pent

from ballerinas to showgirls: chloe

cathy brings it on: maddie

it all ends here: maddie

there’s only one star: n/a

s1 counts: maddie (9), brooke (1), chloe (1), brandon pent (1)

season 2

everyone’s replaceable: maddie

return of candy apples: maddie

brooke’s turning point: brooke

no one likes a bully: chloe

brooke’s back: brooke

wardrobe malfunction: mackenzie

bullets and ballet: paige

the runaway mom: nia

topless showgirls: maddie

miami heat wave: maddie

melissa pleads the fifth: maddie

waiting for joffrey: maddie

abbygeddon: maddie

the battle begins: chloe

night of the living dancers: chloe

i know what you did last competition: maddie

maddie has a secret: mackenzie

how do you like them apples: maddie and maddie

worst birthday party ever: chloe

guess who’s back: maddie

break a leg: maddie

revenge of the candy apples: nia

recital to end all recitals: nia

new girl in town: maddie

solo fever: mackenzie

nationals 90210: maddie

s2 counts: maddie (14), chloe (4), mackenzie (3), nia (3), brooke (2), paige (1)

season 3

the beginning of the end: n/a (assumed to be chloe)

out with the old in with the new: n/a (assumed to be maddie)

but i’m a national champion: sophia

liar liar dance mom on fire: sophia

revenge of the replacements: mackenzie

boys are cuties, girls have cooties: n/a

rotten to the core: kendall

you’ve been unfriended: maddie

bye bye baby: maddie

all’s fair in love and war: maddie

camouflaged maneuvers: brooke

the apple of her eye: nia

she’s a maniac: maddie

watch your back, mack: maddie

the politics of dancing: asia

may i have this dance: maddie

the view from the top/candy apples showdown: chloe

boy crazy, mom crazy: maddie

two girls, one solo: brooke

tap versus hip-hop: maddie

recital rebellion: mackenzie

clash of the dance moms: kendall

the dancing dead: nia

gone, abby, gone: n/a

on-again, off-again abby: n/a

diva las vegas: chloe

do-si-do and do-si-don’t: asia

the big, not so, easy: maddie

s3 counts: maddie (10, including the one not shown), chloe (3, including the one not shown), kendall (2) nia (2), brooke (2), mackenzie (2), asia (2), sophia (2)

season 4

welcome back, now don’t get too comfy: maddie

two can play this game: maddie

abby strikes back: maddie

chloe vs kendall round 2: maddie

no one is safe: chloe

clash of the chloes: nia

big trouble in the big apple: maddie

wingman down: kalani

nothing’s fair in abbyville: maddie

no solo for you: kalani

blame it on the new girl: maddie

sister showdown: kendall

decisions, decisions: kelly

family comes first: kalani

lights, camera, dance: maddie

presenting my new team: mackenzie

double the moms, double the trouble: chloe

kiss or get off the pot: sarah hunt

three soloists, one star: kendall and sarah hunt

abby-phobic: kendall

chloe gets revenge: maddie

no more crybabies: maddie

the understudies: maddie

another one bites the dust: n/a (pyramid in a line, but abby says maddie should be on top)

45 second solos: nia

hollywood, here we come: maddie

s4 counts: maddie (13, including the one with the pyramid in a line), kalani (3),  kendall (3), chloe (2), nia (2), sarah hunt (2), mackenzie (1), kelly (1)

season 5

99 problems but a mom ain’t one: maddie

abby got served: kalani

jojo with a bow bow: maddie

bye bye pittsburgh: mackenzie

hello hollywood, goodbye abby: n/a

nia risks it all: maddie

wild wild west coast: kendall

the great divide: maddie

the new maddie?: kalani

nia’s last chance: maddie

abby’s trash, cathy’s treasure: maddie

mackenzie’s time to shine: kalani

hollywood, round two: maddie

maddie vs. kalani: kendall

video killed the aldc star: kendall and maddie

showdown in pittsburgh: maddie

live from la, it’s kendall k: maddie

maddie vs. mackenzie: kalani

west coast strikes back: mackenzie

abby vs. kira: maddie

where in the world is abby lee miller?: n/a

abby vs kira again: n/a

solo battle round 1: kendall

baby dance mama drama: mackenzie

nia vs. kalani winner takes all: maddie

chaos at nationals: nia

s5 counts: maddie (12), kalani (4), kendall (4), mackenzie (3), nia (1)

season 6

new season, new rules: n/a

abby vs. melissa: brynn

mini dancers, big problems: kalani

now you see abby, now you don’t: maddie

abby’s replaceable: n/a

abby’s new favorites: mackenzie

debbie allen to the rescue: n/a

maddie is back: kalani

nia saves the day: mackenzie

abby lee horror story: maddie

the maddie rumor: maddie

brynn’s big moment: maddie and mackenzie

aldc does vegas: brynn

jojo steals the show show: brynn

melissa’s announcement: brynn

mack z vs. abby lee: jojo

mini madness: mackenzie

one last dance: maddie

abby’s new beginning: brynn and kendall

nia and kendall face off: kalani

return of the minis: nia

mommy meltdown: kalani, kendall, and elliana

mini mayhem: nia and lilliana

abby, you’re fired: brynn, kalani, peyton, areana

jojo is a no show: brynn

aldc for sale?: n/a

float like a butterfly, sting like ab-bee: brynn and lilliana

two teams, two studios: n/a

s6 counts: brynn (8), kalani (5), maddie (5), mackenzie (4), kendall (2), lilliana (2), nia (1), jojo (1), peyton (1), areana (1), elliana (1)

season 7

fight for your life: n/a

abby’s worst nightmare: n/a

return of the rotten apples: brynn and kendall

winner takes all: kendall

new kid on the block: kalani

no clowning around: brynn

the fresno curse: nia

aldc ain’t dead yet: camryn

battle of the blondes: lilliana

breathless in denver: kalani

leaving la la land: kalani

it’s not always sunny in pittsburgh: elliana

same old frenemies: n/a

judgment day approaches: kalani

abby flies the coop: maesi

out with abby, in with chloe: n/a

all choked up: nia

stamina, stamina, stamina: brynn

ashlee’s big decision: n/a

there’s a new team in town: n/a

everyone’s replaceable, even abby: n/a

under cheryl’s spell: n/a

the best is yet to come: n/a

s7 counts: kalani (4), brynn (3), nia (2), kendall (2), camryn (1), maesi (1), lilliana (1), elliana (1)

OVERALL TOTALS

maddie: 63

kalani: 16

mackenzie: 13

kendall: 13

nia: 11

brynn: 11

chloe: 10

brooke: 5

lilliana: 3

sophia: 2

asia: 2

elliana: 2

sarah hunt: 2

paige: 1

jojo: 1

camryn: 1

maesi: 1

peyton: 1

areana: 1

kelly: 1

brandon pent: 1

if you count up every other person to ever be on top of the pyramid, they have 98 to maddie’s 63. if you count up every original member, they have 40 to maddie’s 63. if you count up every original member plus kendall and kalani, they have 69 to maddie’s 63.

but there’s really no competition. maddie was, by far, the leader of the pyramid.

(edit: somehow forgot jojo in the final tally, but since she was only on the top of the pyramid once, her addition does not drastically change the final counts)

(edit 2: I mistakenly put kalani at the top of the pyramid for return of the rotten apples, when it was actually brynn and kendall. because of this, kalani’s total count is actually 16, and kendall’s is actually 13.)