#anyway i'm glad i don't have to worry about the nonsense idea of a season two

[driftbending]

i keep writing and rewriting my reaction to vincenzo because there are a lot but also i'm not certain i articulate everything i hated about the ending.

i will say that i knew no matter what that i wouldn't like the ending because murdering a character as punishment for their misdeeds is not something that appeals to me. i grew up watching kirikou et la sorcière, avatar: the last airbender, lilo and stitch, and (more recently) moana. all of these are stories that say "here is an evil character that we'll stop in a way that doesn't involve jail/murder," and the only exception i make for this is light yagami's death in death note and that's because ryuk killed him as a way to end their relationship, not as a punishment for his crimes. (and gothic lit is exempt bc they have to be resolved with murder.) so, whatever happened, regardless of how much violence the babel four did, none of their deaths would have held any emotional satisfaction for me. yet i prepared myself to be unimpressed by the finale since this is what the set up has always been: vincenzo will kill hanseok, and maybe myunghee, seunghyeok, and hanseo.

i knew this from the beginning. the narrative repeated it so often i got annoyed. there were so many close calls with vincenzo pulling a gun on hanseok that that got boring. by the time ep. 20 rolled around i was just fed up and wanted someone to die because this show had already failed me so many other times with their set ups that i wanted at least one good payoff.

lo and behold, they did end up killing the four characters i thought would die. hanseo died, and though he was my favorite character, and though i felt sad he didn't get any funeral scene or help while he was fending off his brother and that his death served as a sacrifice for vincenzo instead of literally anything else, i didn't cry or even get mad about it. he died and i felt free to stop caring about the rest of the story. yay me! i do understand the fans who hated that he was killed and that he should've survived bc abuse victims don't deserve the storyline hanseo got, but this is not a show i expected to actually care about victims. despite what it says, i knew i wouldn't get this for hanseo waaaaay back in ep 8 when they brought up the victims of that gay banker and just used it as a way for us to root against the banker. they didn't treat those victims with any respect at all and so i was already prepared for them to do it all over again. and they did and it sucks, but again for me i couldn’t get as angry as i normally would about this bc i always knew that the deaths from this show would never mean anything to me bc there was just so much of it it became meaningless.

another thing i knew that was going to let me down about this show is that it didn’t have a single “good” character for me to root for. mr. hong existed, but he was murdered early on. every other character on the show is too corrupt to be the ones i would want handling a reconstruction project for a more ethical world. yes, they made hanseo go through a redemption arc, but they didn’t let him stay did they? they focused so much on deconstruction they never cared about reconstruction. so when they got to the ending where vincenzo just leaves, chayoung and the tenants are thrown into a familiar cycle of court cases and defending their plaza from it being redeveloped, vincenzo just goes on to be a mafia boss again, and the guillotine file is back in the hands of the corrupt intelligence agency that created it on the orders of their president. the only thing that changed was babel group was destroyed bc their two ceos were murdered and the lawyers of their legal rep. were also murdered.

and yet, despite my expectations being so low they were basically non-existent, i was still disappointed. they didn't let chayoung do anything (which i knew would happen because i knew something about her characterization never felt fully fledged to me the way it did to fandom, so i wasn't surprised when they delegated her as a damsel-in-distress/love interest.), they killed myunghee the way we used to burn witches (which how fitting for a female character that is cunning and cruel), and the way they killed hanseok literally made me feel faint and nauseous (i wish this was an exaggeration; the second i saw the drill pointed at him i started feeling this way and i couldn't listen/watch his death scene because it was so brutal).

so, the ending satisfied nothing for me. if people who shipped the main characters were satisfied, whatever. i was never interested in them as a ship (i tend to ship vincenzo and chayoung with other characters), so the ending was even more disappointing bc it really held nothing that mattered to me.

i was also not a person that liked the way each character idolized vincenzo because i preferred his relationships with other characters to be filled with more tension* and the narrative just told me that the writers didn't, that vincenzo's word was what mattered, that the other character's conflicting needs were meant to be eclipsed by vincenzo's needs. so when the characters were all looking into the horizon hoping that vincenzo would some day come back (for what, i ask you?) i was just like :|

(*what do i mean by tension? i mean my favorite version of chayoung/vincenzo was the early eps when she hated him for being liked so much by her father that her flaws as a daughter were highlighted more and chayoung's own hesitancy with murder bumping up against vincenzo’s lack of hesitancy. mr. cho/vincenzo were most interesting when mr. cho wanted the guillotine file to use for his own purposes. the tenants/vincenzo were the most interesting when the tenants wanted to take the gold and vincenzo was trying to stop them. even hanseo/vincenzo was the most interesting when they had the "will you kill me? will you betray me?" tension as they worked together to get rid of hanseok. these dynamics added layers to the characters and reminded us they had their own motivations that were as equally important as vincenzo’s, but not enough of these tensions lasted past a few episodes and almost always would vincenzo's needs prevail with most of the other characters going along with his plans in the end.)

and this is all without mentioning how fandom sort of ruined a lot of the show for me, too. they took the characteristics that made the myunghee/hanseok dynamic one of my favorites and gave it to chayoung/vincenzo to the point where i was always left baffled and feeling like i was watching a different show. (a good point about the end for me is that i feel vindicated watching the scene where chayoung was basically like "i don't like your methods, vincenzo, but i needed to use them as the lesser of two evils to destroy hanseok," bc it did sort of reinforce for me my own reading of chayoung which was that she doesn't mind being corrupt and blackmailing people or scaring them into compliance, but that she was not going to get her hands covered in blood or dance over the corpses of her enemy. those traits belong to myunghee who accepts her role as a villain in a way that is as cool and collected as vincenzo. and lord, imagine what a show it would've been if the writers had made the kings chayoung/hanseok, the last ones that should ever be taken, while the queens were vincenzo/myunghee who would be the ones that would make all the moves, kill all their enemies pieces, and try to destroy one another first as the two most powerful players in the game? imagine if fandom had been able to read chayoung and myunghee accurately enough that i wouldn’t have to read post after post talking about how they needed to see myunghee brutally murdered/tortured by chayoung because they would understand chayoung’s character isn’t going to do that, posts which i hated seeing bc, as i said before, violence for violence’s sake means nothing to me? imagine if the writers cared enough about chayoung/myunghee to develop them more fully? sigh.)

i feel like i'm going nowhere with this and that i'm repeating myself a lot or not making much sense. but i'll end with this: i knew the last two episodes were going to be garbage when they all gathered at toto's restaurant post-fight in ep 19 and all they were talking about was vincenzo this and vincenzo that instead of worrying after the ones that were momentarily kidnapped/injured. like thanks show, for instead of pushing the narrative along we get a vincenzo fan club meeting and another round of "i never had anything to fight for until you came along" which is a convo we've had plenty of times before.

(footnote: i edited this on may 6, 2021 for clarity.)

[soupbabe]

A Very Mudad Christmas (Dio Brando x Male! Reader, Modern! AU)

Dio spends his first Christmas with his boyfriend and his kid

Soft Dio for Christmas? Soft Dio for Christmas ❤️ Also the only kid of I'll feature is Giorno simply just because I haven't met the others yet !

Also just hear me out,,,Mudad but Dio is the step-parent instead. Reader is Giorno's father :D

Dio never liked Christmas. The season always left a bitter taste in his mouth, always reminding him of how he was robbed of the experience of opening presents with his family and the warm feeling of spending Christmas dinner with loved ones. Even with the Joestars he felt like an outsider, too materialistic for a holiday that was meant to be sincere. Every attempt gift Jonathan handed Dio was just an attempt to buy his approval.

But even so, he reluctantly agreed to spend Christmas Eve with you and Giorno.

Dio arrived later than he liked, still dressed in his clothes from the law firm and a bag full of colorfully wrapped gifts in one hand. He knocked on the door and soon enough he was able to see you standing the doorway in just your pajama pants and sleepy young boy clinging to your side. You smiled and gave Dio room to come in, "Good evening Dio." He gave you a quick kiss before setting down the bag by the Christmas tree and taking off his black coat. His tone was smooth as he spoke, "Merry Christmas, my dear. I'm sorry for getting here so late, those buffoons at work kept me back later than I would've liked. " At the sound of Dio's voice, Giorno looked up and gave a tired smile.

You peered down at the boy, giving a quick kiss to the crown of his head before leading him to the couch and sitting by him. "I'm glad you can be here with us, though. I wouldn't start the festivities without you." Dio lightly smiled and sat on the other side of Giorno, "How thoughtful of you darling. Now Giorno, how about I give you a sneak peak of your presents for tomorrow?"His smile evolved into a smirk as he saw Giorno's eyes widen at the bag full of presents. His voice was quiet, "Is..is that for me?" Dio's response was only a chuckle, "Yes, but I couldn't leave your daddy empty handed, you know. Make sure to read the tags carefully before digging in." He glanced at you to see your eyes were wide as well. "Oh my god Dio, you didn't have to spend so much-" He interrupted with a wave of his hand. "Nonsense, Y/n. This is nothing to me, besides I want nothing more than to spoil you two senseless." As Giorno got up to sort through the bag, Dio pulled you in closer and into a kiss.

Dio pulled away and gazed into your eyes, "Once the little one goes to bed, we can have some alone time, how about that?" He ran a cold hand up and down your exposed side, "I even got us some wine for our early Christmas gift." You smiled and gave a kiss to Dio's jawline, which made him give out a satisfied hum, "Of course, it's almost Giorno's bedtime anyways."

Giorno chose a small box and went back to his rightful place between the two of you, snuggling up to Dio in the process. Carefully, the young boy unwrapped his present to find a gardening kit. A small smile grew on Giorno as he inspected the tools decorated to look like ladybugs. "..Thank you, Dio." The young boy whispered, making your heart swell that your shy boy still kept his manners. "The pleasure is all mine, little one. I just thought that once the weather gets warm, you would like to start a garden over at my mansion. You could grow anything you'd like too." Dio was glad he got the recognition from your son, knowing he has approval from your pride and joy. You smiled, "That's a wonderful idea! Now Giogio, it's getting late..it's time to go to bed. Dio will be here in the morning with us, so don't worry." You then turned to the Brando, "I'll be back quick, gotta tuck him in."

Dio gave you one last kiss before stretching out his arms out on the couch, watching you take Giorno back to his room with a content smile on his face. As much as he hated the holiday season, he couldn't deny how happy he felt around you. Not to mention Giorno, who already brought out the need to be a father for him and to give him the life he never had. It was refreshing to feel a sense of closeness with someone, having someone to see on special occasions and genuinely feel excited to spend time with.

Having you in his life already made him feel more self assured than he already was. So long the holidays filled with empty feelings and waking up with someone new in his bed to fill in the void. He has everything he could ever want, everything going well for him. By adding his boyfriend and Giorno in the mix, it only made him feel as if he was on top of the world.

Maybe Dio could see the appeal of Christmas.