#because i will defend parts of this episode but not blindly

[ladyofthenoodle]

now on to the thing i didn’t like in derision: socqueline. to me, that was the part that felt most like a retcon, because marinette’s reaction to alya in origins makes less sense if socqueline defended her before. why is she so amazed that alya can stand up to chloe? why would she give the ladybug earrings to alya, a girl she just met, and not to the girl who was her personal hero the year before? the girl who inspired the ladybug pigtails?

[project-sekai-facts]

Here's a fun little Project Sekai fact! Almost all of your faves have appropriated other cultures as costumes and some have even done blackface. If you're supporting this game and refusing to make a meaningful statement about it beyond "b-b-but i said it was bad! 🥺", you are fucking racist.

You're either anti-racist, or you're a pro-seka blog. Choose one. You can't be both.

Basically everything is problematic and actually I have criticised the cultural appropriation and racism present in the game multiple times, at no point have I refused to acknowledge it (and you’re not the first person to send an anon in). You can play the game and be anti-racist actually it’s called being critical of the media you consume and having social awareness, we’ve been over this. Everything is problematic you probably like problematic media too.

Yeah the game did revival my dream and that was fucking racist, the costumes are stereotypical and they didn’t research into any specifc native culture they just wanted to make something that would get them money. it’s not princess mononoke put the trained costumes next to each other, the trained costumes are heavily stylised to look "pretty and fashionable" and forego accuracy. I’m aware of that, I’ve said this before multiple times but you wouldn’t know that because you just randomly came here to send me this message.

Then there's also the kamikou sports fes set. Luka's qipao is very obviously altered for the sake of fanservice which is just so wrong, do not sexualise other cultures for money. Rui's I think is meant to be some sort of military hanfu? But quite stylised, which again for someone outside the original culture to stylise a traditional outfit just is a no-go because you will probably get things wrong. Mizuki's outfit seems to be based on Qi-lolita and there's a whole thing surrounding that about whether you should wear it if you aren't chinese.

and then there's the island panic cards which are both orientalist. yes, not just the boys, the girls too. the outfits aren't based on any specific culture and just mishmash different swana and south asian cultures and stereotypes together to make something that looks "exotic".

If you notice a recurring thing is that all of these are in some way wxs related, and wonder why that is, it’s because they’re the theatre unit. They wear costumes, these are just cultures being appropriated as stage outfits, because the devs don’t care they just want a quick bit of money.

all of these are horribly common in idol games and gacha games, not just project sekai, and it's important to recognise the problems rather than just blindly consuming it. If it makes money, devs will continue to include ca, recognise that.

and yeah puchiseka episode 6 happened at no point have i ever denied that. it should have never happened but it did and at the very least the fandom was able to rally together and get sega to take it down. even after they did that sega and clpl should still be held accountable for even letting it be released. while they didn't make the episode, that was entirely handled by an external company (who should also be held accountable for their actions - we're never getting a second season for a reason), sega still released it knowing full well the contents. it wasn't ganguro like people said it was extremely clearly based on a very racist and crude interpretation of african tribes, and for part of a joke no less. It was disgusting. And it’s not ganguro like how people defend it; ganguro is part of the gyaru subculture and the outfits in that episode were not that. there is no defence for what happened. at the very least, it was impressive that the fandom called out the episode and actually got staff to listen and learn. that doesn't happen in other games, and we managed to do it again with rmd. the fanbase is calling the game out and actually educating staff. It’s just critical consumption - fans of the media were able to recognise that the episode was racist and correctly called out management with enough of a voice to make staff correct their mistakes. They apologised, it’s not my apology to accept, and I still hold them accountable for the fact it even happened.

This probably all makes me sound like a white saviour, and I don’t want to speak over the people affected by this, but that’s what you wanted, isn’t it? You probably have me blocked already and never followed me in the first place, but if you really wanted to call out racism, then maybe you should’ve sent this to blogs that do turn a blind eye to the flaws in this game, not one that calls them out. Why just me? Was it because of the username, because you’re not the first person to make that quip. I know you won’t see this anon, but a word of advice. Most media is problematic one way or another, you can enjoy something but still be aware of and acknowledge its problems. Project sekai is not made with the intent of encouraging or funding harmful behaviour, yet it still includes some harmful content. Call it out, educate staff and tell them not to do it again, they listened once they can do it again.

[mindibindi]

The Failure of Ted Lasso's Unconventional Politics

SOCIAL CONDITIONING:

According to Brendan Hunt, shippers interested in a second chance, mature-age romance between Ted and Rebecca were being blindly, un-self-reflexively led about by their “social conditioning”. Presumably, however, the writers who wrote Ted returning to his heteronormative family unit – as well as all the viewers who enjoyed this ending and have defended it since – are completely free of social conditioning? No social conditioning is involved in reifying the white heterosexual family unit? No social conditioning is involved in deifying parenthood, fatherhood and patriarchy at the cost of all else? There is no social conditioning involved in a conclusion that values good ole working class Americana while rejecting the big, queer, complicated, multicultural world?

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid):

If the creators wanted to gesture to “Cheers” as a classic American sitcom, then at least learn from its example. This show worked best when it worked with familiar, beloved characters in a familiar, beloved, but confined setting. "Ted Lasso" had a near-perfect first act, doing a simple thing well. But from s2 onward, the show started straying out of bounds. The cast of characters kept expanding and contracting: people were in, people were out, characters were coming and going and changing (what was the point of that whole Zava plotline?). We had multiple workplaces and workplace dramas (grew to like Barbara tho). Episodes got long and unwieldy. Themes got convoluted as the show took a long trip, imo, up its own arse. The folksy wisdom of s1 became grating self-indulgence and cliched “moment” manufacturing.  

SUPERFICIAL UNCONVENTIONALITY:

TL employed a familiar 3-part structure but ultimately its supposedly radical, unconventional politics was not reflected in the show’s structure. Since the first act started with Ted's arrival, you could see his departure coming from a mile off. Some folks are acting like returning Ted home constitutes some super brave move by the writers that we've never seen before. But if you want to talk social conditioning expressed through narrative expectation then you really couldn't get anything more conventional than this ending.

We've seen it all before:

Act I: Fish-out-of-Water character arrives and begins winning over a dubious, dysfunctional community Act II: Bonding, hijinks, missteps, complications and development Act III: Revelations of growth. Community sadly waves goodbye to teacher they love but no longer need. Cue credits with moving song choice.

It's as cliche, conventional and predictable as it gets. And I could condescendingly accuse every viewer who enjoyed this ending as being blindly and un-self-reflexively led around by their social conditioning. But even if I'm not one of the showrunners who also played a beloved character and who is speaking on a public forum, that would be a pretty fucking shitty move. What I am saying is that the disagreement over this ending speaks to some core ideological differences currently playing out across the globe around patriarchy, feminism, queerness and privilege. There is an opportunity here to examine what we socioculturally view as “good’ and “right” and “happy”. These ideas of good, right and happy are not necessarily benign and will be inevitably reflected in and reproduced by our art.

PATRIARCHY:

In the end, “Ted Lasso” literally chose patriarchy (but what kind is the question). Just because this show was working with a familiar 3-part structure, that doesn't mean it didn't need to justify Ted's inevitable departure. For many people, his son is enough. That's it. End of conversation. Henry trumps all. And yes, this was always going to be the justification used by the series. But I think this disagreement highlights changing attitudes to modern parenting. Everyone agrees that parenting requires sacrifice: large and small, everyday and lifelong. But how much sacrifice is too much?

For some people, this was too much sacrifice. Others seem to think it was Ted's duty to sacrifice for his son his own sense of family and community, his continued health and growth, his professional fulfilment. Imo, he could have shared all of this with him but chose old-school parental sacrifice instead. I consider this kind of sacrifice to be something that culturally we’re coming to recognise as unhealthy, for both parent and child. In reality, parents are more than one thing. Parents have jobs, interests, relationships, needs, limitations and struggles. Parents are people.

In the series, Ted was established as a person: a person with a sad past, a tortured inner world, a strong desire to connect with others and, potentially, a brighter future than his past. From the beginning, his relationship with Michelle was established (and often reinforced) as over, dead, absolutely no route back in. But his relationship with his son was loving and important to him. Of course it was. He’d be a bad man and unlikeable character if it wasn’t. Even so, Henry isn’t a major or fully realised character in this show. We care about him, relate to him through Ted. He matters to us because he matters to Ted. But frankly, we are far more attached to Ted’s other adopted “children”, the relationships we have watched him develop over 3 years, than the relationship we only saw glimpses of. That’s just narrative reality. In reality, yes, Henry would and should be Ted’s first priority. This is only right. In fiction, the team at Richmond should have been the first priority of Jason and the rest of the writing team. They are the ones we want to see and want to see happy and settled.

As many frustrated viewers have stated, it's not Ted's departure that is so disheartening but how it was done. If the TL team wanted to make this choice seem like a healthy one for Ted then they needed to establish other things waiting for him in Kansas: friends, community, employment, fulfillment. As it was, literally nothing tipped the scales in favour of Kansas. There were no romantic, community or larger familial relationships to get back to. Far too much was just left to inference or imagination. Yes, we can assume that Ted has community in Kansas, that he will probably get a great job after his success in Richmond. But all the people and opportunities we would like to infer/imagine will never tip the balance towards Kansas when we consider all we KNOW is already established for him in Richmond. The homeworld and beloved characters of a show will always hold more emotional weight than anything undefined and hypothetical. If viewers were to be happy with Ted’s exit then the writers needed to take the time to lovingly define his future away from the club.

Instead, it seems like a deliberate choice to shut Ted down and perform (and I do mean “perform”) this marvelous sacrifice for his son that so many think is admirable. It’s this shutdown that is so inconsistent and confusing. Because at any time in the hour, Ted could have said to Rebecca, the Diamond Dogs and/or his team:

“Look y'all this ain't the end. We’re family now. I'll be back. I'll show y'all round Kansas anytime you wanna visit. My mom will cook a dinner that will clog your arteries. And every so often, what say we do a long-distance movie night, huh? I'll miss you all but I’ll be watching every game and I can't wait to come back and see you win the whole fucking thing!!”

Ted could have been a model of honest, expressive, emotionally forthcoming, relationship-maintaining masculinity. But nope. Not a word. Just brave male sacrifice. It's straight up patriarchal propaganda. And truth is, fathers sacrifice way less than mothers do in heterosexual parenting relationships. Mothers are generally the ones making those small, everyday sacrifices that our society rarely acknowledges or admires. But I bet this ending makes all those lazy husbands and boyfriends feel real good about themselves. I bet it makes many female partners feel all warm and fuzzy to know that even though their kids’ father won't share half the labour that goes into raising a child, when it comes time for him to perform a massive manly sacrifice for his family, he toootttaaally will. I'm sorry, what were you saying about social conditioning Mr. Hunt?

FATHER GOD or WHITE SAVIOUR?:

Patriarchy needs its Father Gods and its Mother Gods to play certain roles (tho, to paraphrase Angela Carter, both are as silly as each other.) These magical figures materialise at pivotal times then dematerialise when the narrative is over, the pivotal lessons learned. They never themselves learn or alter. Think Mary Poppins or Nanny McPhee. These figures are not entirely human, they possess an element of the supernatural. They serve others, serve a higher purpose. Nanny McPhee's appearance changes only as a reflection of her charges’ growth. Mary Poppins – the figure to whom Ted is most likened – learns to care about her kids but she doesn't engage in any self-introspection. Her duty and trajectory remains unchanged. When she arrives at her next job, she will do so exactly the same as she was.

These otherworldly mother deities are not unproblematic feminist figures themselves. But creating a male, fatherhood deity becomes even more problematic when he is white, cis-het and pretty able. Ted arrives to teach all the black and brown lost boys, to unite the disconnected women, liberate the closeted gays and to update the bumbling English gentlemen (there is, I feel, a special relish in these American bros educating their former colonisers on modern manhood). Here, we start to stray into white saviour territory. Frighteningly, this kind of patriarchal demi-god implies that white men are the most progressive figures in a society, they are in the political vanguard, championing the needs of the disconnected and downtrodden. White men are the ultimate source of wisdom, kindness and progress. It represents them as a group as progressive, when in reality the attitudes and politics of this group represent conservative politics and regressive values that impede the progress of every other marginalised group. If we buy this myth about white men, then we are more likely to accept what they say to us from their positions of power and privilege as right, wise, kind and progressive, even when it is the opposite.

So, if you are going to put forward a white man as a model of progressive politics, then you need to embrace unconventionality, not just superficially but down to your bones. “Ted Lasso” tried to structure s2 and s3 differently but just ended up making a mess of allusions and ideologies that did not connect, cohere, develop or conclude. In fact, sometimes they straight-up contradicted.  Employing a magical 3-part structure and making a bunch of meaningless allusions to well-known classics does not another classic make. They did not engage with any of these classics (“Cheers”, “Mary Poppins”, “The Wizard of Oz”) in any deep or critical way. Classics may be loved but they are not faultless. If you simply repeat what has already been done, even in celebrated classics, you may just end up repeating mistakes someone already made for you to learn from. TL repeats the central feminist problem of parental deities in “Mary Poppins”, just as it repeats the irreconcilable ending of “The Wizard of Oz”.

LIMINALITY:

Both “The Wizard of Oz” and “Mary Poppins” take us into strange liminal worlds. “Ted Lasso” could be read similarly, except that Ted doesn't take any magic home with him. In fact, he seems to actively forget it, reverting to the Ted he was before leaving. No queerness or feminism follows him home, no traces of the various cultures he's come into contact with. The liminal remain liminal with no indication that these two worlds will communicate or can integrate. The non-white, female, queer and otherwise bizarre are left outside of Ted’s squeaky clean hometown heteronormativity. And I really don’t think I have to explain why that is so deeply irresponsible. Because again, this is a writing choice.

That epilogue at the end was brief but imagine if it included more detail: Ted texting with Rebecca, or facetiming with Roy, Jamie giving Henry advice. They didn't take the time to honour and continue these relationships or integrate these two worlds. They didn't suggest that responsible fatherhood could entail many things, could look different. “Sacrifice,” they said profoundly. “Fatherhood,” they murmured mistily. “Patriarchy” was their final word to which this feminist says, “Bullshit.”

PRIVILEGE:  

I only did one film unit at uni but it really doesn't take much to deconstruct the absurdly inconsistent ending of “The Wizard of Oz”. It was 1939, the end of the Great Depression and the start of another devastating world war. People needed to be convinced that their small ramshackle b/w lives surrounded by loved ones were stable, noble even. They already had everything they needed. They didn't need Oz. They didn't need bright futures, big adventures or exciting opportunities. Monochrome Kansas was all a good American should ever hope for. There was danger in difference, safety at home.

Well, here we are in late-stage capitalistic hell, having come through (???) a pandemic and it takes a special sort of privilege to say to an audience: you don't need money or opportunity or community, they won't make your life any better than before. Be happy with the muddy and mundane. Be happy with what you've got. Turn away from larger community, greater knowledge, continued stability, and isolate yourself in a bubble of you and yours. Look, it's not a sweet or familiar narrative conclusion but the truth is, Ted’s, Henry’s and Michelle’s lives would have all been better if they'd relocated to London. Do these dolts have any idea what teachers (in the USA esp) are currently going through? How overworked and underpaid and undervalued these people are? The burnout rates?? Ted didn't have to take the highest salary Rebecca offered but, had the writers been willing to put in the effort, a more unconventional, more modern ending to this series could have been crafted.

Not that I'm surprised they took the easy road to glory. All indications from the beginning of s3 suggested that this would be the rather predictable conclusion. Indications do not, however, constitute development. This team had the opportunity to write a new ending to an old story, one that incorporated queer, feminist and anti-capitalist values. One that defined a different, new version of patriarchy. They didn't even think to. In their white boi hubris, they just assumed that they and tradition knew best. Considering how many viewers would be struggling right now for food, housing, employment and opportunity, an ending in which Ted turns down an opportunity like this hits a false, rather virtue-signally note. Literally, nobody would have come out worse. Everybody would have benefitted from Ted staying in Richmond. Which means this decision was made purely to manufacture a “moment” that celebrates patriarchy.

ANTICAPITALISM: There’s a reason they had Rebecca offer Ted the biggest salary in his industry. They wanted to make it NotAboutTheMoney! Ted doesn’t say so (doesn’t say anything) but, because this narrative idea is so fucking familiar, we can assume the thoughts behind his oh-so-sage expression are: “Well, shucks now, boss, I rightly do appreciate the kindly offer but that there kid o’ mine is more important to me than any cash you could put in my silly lil handy-hands.” Good Lord. The cringe is real. I really, really can’t with this mighty, manly silence and sacrifice. My problem isn’t that Ted values his son over money (not that it has to be a choice because that money could benefit Henry and his mother, who is owed a heck of a lot of child support esp since she’s been raising their son solo for 3 years). Again, that is how it should be. My problem is that the show actively established Richmond as an anticapitalist landscape, then suddenly at the eleventh hour, tried to walk that back and imply it was actually a capitalistic landscape (in contrast to homey ole Kansas).  

Capitalism teaches us to sniff at money. We've been told by the monied and privileged that it won't buy happiness. (This is of course, utter bullshit because money can buy you a hell of a lot of wellbeing, security and opportunity). At the beginning of the series, Rebecca Welton stands for this principle. And by the end, she has found a way to use her extreme wealth and privilege in an ethical way. She gives it away. She supports others. She lets Sam out of a promotional contract, she funds Keeley’s business, she sells half the club to fans. The most obvious example of Rebecca’s anticapitalist politics is her confrontation with all the richy riches who want to take soccer away from the people. Here, she becomes an anticapitalist leader, one who has been positively influenced by the anticapitalistic politics of The Lasso Way.

The Lasso Way is anticapitalistic in that it stresses that winning isn’t everything. You try but you try together. You play hard, not in order to beat the other guy, but to be the best (player, teammate, man) you can be. There are no individual stars, only collaborative team players. You give due credit to others, the team, the support staff. The club functions well when it functions as a unit. Over the course of the series, it becomes a commune that protects and nurtures its citizens. A socialist haven that values people over profits, prizes and meaningless acquisition. The Greyhounds don’t want to win the league for the money or the top spot. Winning the whole fucking thing is an expression of their regard for each other, the game and the new, kinder ethos they all now live by.

Because they spent 3 years establishing all of this (during a time when we really needed to hear it), there is something v disingenuous about them then having Rebecca offer to go to extremes to pay Ted more money than any man should have. It is not consistent with the show’s themes, the ethos of the club, Rebecca’s attitude or what she knows of Ted. She knows it’s not about the money for Ted. It never was. It’s an act of desperation on her part, but why did they need to make her ridiculous, desperate, so inept in this moment? Hannah plays it beautifully but I can’t help but feel this is part of them diminishing Richmond, (re)casting it as excessively capitalistic in relation to Kansas so that they can turn Ted’s decision into a simple Money < Son choice. Because if it is a Money < Son choice then he has no dilemma. There is no other choice. He goes home to his son. The problem is, they’ve just spent 3 years proving that it is not a simple Money < Son dilemma. Money was never actually part of this equation. Ted left to give Michelle space, to find himself, to find a new life and community, to extend himself beyond what he knew as normal. As such, there is now far more than just money for Ted in Richmond (which tbf, Rebecca also points out, but I still think this point stands).  

The other major problem is that, here in the real world, middle-class America (which btw does not exist) is far from being a haven of peace and prosperity comparable to nowhere in the world. This is a lazy cliché than any amount of travel should quickly disabuse you of. And yet in Kansas, we are supposed to believe, despite everything happening in America (referenced by Henry in ep 3.01), Ted will find community, opportunity and stability. To pull off this ending, they needed to establish a Kansas unlike the one currently in existence. This is what they did with Richmond. The UK is no better than the US currently, but they nevertheless established an ideal society, one with values very contrary to the world we now live in. Is it any wonder that people saw the desertion of this world as a rejection of feminist, queer and anticapitalist values? Right now, more than ever, people want to believe in a society that isn't all about triumph, success, competition, acquisition, individualism and aggression. They want to believe in a society that emphasises community, values people, shares wealth, offers opportunity, encourages difference, improves lives and moves onward, forward, in circumspect but ethical steps. These themes were all there in the series. They just weren't utilised when it came time to shape its conclusion.

[a-mag-a-day]

Unfortunately, probably won't be listening to this one today. However, this is one of the episodes that I've relistened to multiple times.

I need to preface that though with this caveat. So I think we can all agree that Jonny Sims' voice acting is spectacular, and he manages portray a wide spectrum of emotion and physical well being just through his voice, yes? So Jonathan Sims the character is frequently in distress, particularly in this episode, and if I want to feel a certain way when reading fanfiction I just listen to the first and last part of this episode.

Also, can I just finish with how once again Jonathan Sims cannot seem to grasp the very obvious and instead interprets it into something it isn't? First he he hears a statement about how the Not-Them is sealed in the web table and decides to go after it with an axe. Now he collates several statements over time to show not that people are drawn out of the Fears by those people they care about, but instead that they must have had physical anchors and his needs to be a body part. Truly embodying that Beholding trait of Seeing but not understanding literally anything. He's so dumb 😊

Jonny is just so good at voice acting and making me feel things because of said voice acting.

I also love that nobody really seems to point out to any Beholding person that knowing something and understanding something are two different things. Then again, it is the power of blindly seeking knowledge even if it will lead to that person’s demise.

Ashes edit (because I will FOREVER defend Jon!): I really don't think he was dumb in any of those times. So many listeners who already know the outcome say his choices were stupid but with the table Jonny himself admitted that with the table Jon was genre savvy! I would also assume that if the monster is tied to the table it would hurt it to destroy the table! Also when Jon was in the buried in the very next episode he says "My anchor, my – the rib; I can f– I can feel – I know the way." The tapes worked because the rib was there. It wasn't Martin it wasn't love. It was the tapes and it was the rib he was absolutely right about that. Nothing is more strongly connected to you than your own body and as isolated as he is right now he has no proper attachment to any object (he lost everything, even his clothes) like shakya and I believe would definitely be correct to assume this is the best option for him.

Jon 👏 isn't 👏 dumb!

(end of rant sorry)

[kiss-my-freckle]

Anna was described as a stalker towards Jeremy but Stefan was never described as one towards Elena. In season 6 Alaric and Jeremy joked that Damon was stalking Elena for wanting to see her after he came back alive. Also I've seen people use the "You're overage and it's kind of creepy," line after Damon discouraged her from drinking at the school line to slam Delena even if they ship age gap pairings like Elejah and Klaroline. Besides Elijah being physically the same age as Damon those same fans say Elijah grabbing Elena in 2x15 when she was 17 meant he was sexually attracted to her while blindly hating on Delena. Caroline declined daydrinking publicly at the Grill when Klaus offered to get her a drink since she was under drinking age and added there were too many prying eyes and that she didn't want to be a high school cautionary tale at the next PTA meeting, to which Klaus smirked while saying that it's great the high school part is nearly over but he isn't viewed as a creep. I saw a Klaroline fan argue that Caroline was 18 (while claiming Stefan is 17 to only slam Damon as a creep and Caroline turned at 17) and falsely claim that Klaus is physically 20 so age appropriate for Caroline even though he's not and is physically 23; Kol is physically 20. Klaus doesn't even pass for that age and has always carried himself like an adult past that stage of life instead of pretending like Stefan. Klarotrash fans also claim that Alaric is a bigger creep than Klaus for being into Caroline since Klaus gew up in a time where a man of his age being interested in a 17 year old (since he met Caroline 6 episodes before her 18th and said she was pretty before then) was normal. Even though I hate Calaric and think they have no chemistry I hate how most fans of this show get carried away with their emotional bias in interpreting this show that they hate other fans who won't forcefully accept their demented logic where they slam one couple for age. Many Stelena fans ship Bangel even though Angel first saw Buffy when she was 15 and he's physically 26 and slept with her when she was 17 but use that dialogue of Elena's to hate on Delena.

Stelena has a lot in common with the Jeremy/Anna ship. That's why I love Ghost World for its symbolism. Stefan stalking Elena for the sake of entering her life and dating her is a lot different than Damon wanting to see his girlfriend after returning from the prison world. The writers pulled a triple with Katherine, Stefan, and Damon. That's why I love their soundtrack in 2x1, Come Home by OneRepublic. It's all-inclusive.

Fans can say what they want, but humanity Elena defended Damon's relationship with Caroline despite their age, and Caroline is the same age as Elena. Their 18th birthdays are ten episodes apart. Their drinking scenes are according to their ages because by law, drinking age is 21. Like Elena, Carol didn't have a problem with Damon dating Caroline. Liz and Bonnie were the only two people that did. Alaric and Damon chat about the drinking at Elena's birthday party because none of them are 21. No one had a problem with Damon dating Elena because she was 18 when they technically started dating. While considered adult age, she wasn't old enough to drink, but she was old enough to choose her own boyfriend no matter his age. Fans get extremely carried away with their emotional bias. While drinking is a legal issue, some adults allow their teens to drink. Is Alaric really gonna stop everyone from drinking at Elena's birthday party, and if not, isn't it better for them to drink with him there so that he's able to stop them from driving under the influence?

[raviposting]

Okay I just cannot get Sam & Jay out of my head today and I just gotta get it out of my system but I love how much these two feel like actual friends and have such unconditional love for each other.

I feel like a lot of sitcoms I’ve seen with couples that start the show as an established ship, sometimes they unfortunately give off the vibe that they hate each other? And that’s something I honestly expected to see with Sam & Jay but they started and continue to be such a true, genuine partnership. They support one another and go all in for each other - Sam doesn’t want to sit there for hours translating for each ghost during DND but she does it because Jay is lonely and she loves him, Jay goes all in on believing ghosts are real with zero proof JUST because Sam insists that they’re real.

And like any good and true partnership, they don’t just blindly support each other, they also call each other out. Sam tells Jay how she doesn’t find any interest in DnD. At the end of the episode when Sam apologizes and plays Jay takes the apology and goes Well good because I joined your book club. Part of love is calling out when people misstep and holding those boundaries, and these two manage to do that and still continue on being loving and supportive of each other.

Obviously we don’t get a lot of subplots about their relationship but I think the Bela episode showed SO well how much they mutually love each other. There was a direct conflict there, with Sam’s secret and Jay’s family, and I think what Sam and Jay were willing to do for each other was just SO nifty to see. Because Bela was about to walk out the door if she didn’t know the truth, and to them, it was a matter of if she’d find out about ghosts and think Sam wasn’t in the right mind, or not and think Jay was a creep. And we see Sam & Jay do different things, both to protect each other. Jay loves Sam enough to let Bela walk out the door and Sam loves Jay enough to make sure that Bela didn’t.

These two love each other so much and it’s so clear. Jay knows all about the ghosts and takes active notes (and genuinely loves them and wishes he could see his friends!!), they defend each other against their bad guests, they talk about their work and their struggles and just share in their experiences. I can actually see why even with their differences, that they became friends and actually enjoy each other’s presence and love each other. And it’s just so genuinely wonderful to see because they’re just like, a silly goofy sitcom couple but also one of the most wonderful ships I’ve seen with a genuine foundation of love and I adore it so much.

[morganupstead]

You can’t keep staying invested in a show that you can’t enjoy anymore.

Having something be devastating shouldn’t be the reason you stay invested. That hope is damaging and we are the ones having to pick up the pieces of that.

I can sure as hell say that I didn’t like the episode for the words on the page and I know I’m not the only one. I’ve been saying for months that the reason why I’m halfway out the door is BECAUSE of the words on the page.

Gia did a fantastic job, visually the script did come to life, and to keep her career blossoming she has to defend them. That’s the part that sucks. That woman has immense talent and joy for the craft. And Gwen is a woman in a male dominated field. She should (in theory) understand the dynamics at play.

I think this shows us as fans that Gwen doesn’t know or care what we want to see anymore. She has her own agenda as showrunner and that’s paramount to her, even though we are the ones at the end of the day that keep the show alive.

There’s always going to be a breaking point and I think this is where this show has lost the viewers trust. We’ve trusted this show to bring us the exciting stories week after week, but this isn’t what we want to see anymore and that’s a decision that we get to make.

And I feel like that’s the power we have that can sometimes get forgotten as fans. The views can make or break a show. And as much as I find this nuanced, you can’t force yourself to enjoy something if it’s changed to a point where you no longer recognize it.

If only Gwen understood the value of a happy audience. That human connection. The joy of this show is just gone, the characters don’t have happy moments they just struggle and that’s not sustainable in a lot of ways.

The only thing tying us to this show is the nostalgia of what we know this show used to be, and the potential that it has to be great again.

The question I keep asking myself is how long am I willing to break my own heart for the nostalgia of something that no longer exists???

My happiness matters more. My joy means more to me than a possibility that may come in 6 months or not at all.

The show has changed. There’s really no disputing that fact any longer. And with that the question looms of are we willing to blindly follow a pattern that no longer benefits us??

[captainwidowspring]

Hello again CaptainWidowSpring,

I am UsernamesSuck_44 on Ao3, and what I'd like to ask you about has pretty much nothing to do with Marvel's Civil War, but it is something that I want your opinion on, because you've proven to be an incredible analyst, so I'm moving it to here. With that said, what I'm going to talk about is a real-world thing with genuine controversy, so if you don't feel comfortable talking about it, then ignore everything I'm about to write.

Over the last 2 months we've had an incredibly in-depth and analytical discussion about Wanda Maximoff and her actions across the MCU, and I loved every bit of what we've said. But now I'd like to ask you about the... controversy surrounding the character, and Elizabeth Olsen herself. As you most likely know, in the comics Wanda is half-Romani (though she is generally drawn as lighter-skinned), and I'm told she is Jewish. The MCU version of the character is neither of these things, so some people have gotten angry at Marvel for supposedly whitewashing the character. Do you think there is any merit to that?

That's only part of what I'd like to ask about though, and this is the part I'm really concerned about. Now, there's no denying that Elizabeth Olsen is a wonderful actress, and without her we wouldn't have the amazing character that is MCU Wanda. But even aside from the whitewashing accusation, there is some controversy around Olsen herself. You may have heard about it before, but I'm gonna recap anyway: on three separate occasions Lizzie has used a certain Romani word that could be seen as a racial slur to describe Wanda. She said it twice during the promotional tour for Age of Ultron: once in an interview, which you can find on YouTube by searching "Elizabeth Olsen is racist", and once that is not on camera but is still well-documented; she appeared once on the Graham Norton Show when promoting AoU, and allegedly she said that word again, and Norton told her it was offensive. I don't know what her reaction to that was, because none of this is on camera, since it was all edited out of the episode. I think it's worth pointing out that Lizzie has never been back on Graham Norton's show in the 8 years since. The third time was on a podcast when promoting WandaVision; she used the word again to describe Wanda's Halloween costume. All three times people have gotten angry and accused her of being a racist. Here are a few examples:

https://www.mic.com/p/as-a-romani-witch-i-cant-stand-wandavision-63495123https://www.tumblr.com/earnestdesire/644224777695952896/trigger-warning-g-slurhttps://imperiuswrecked.tumblr.com/post/683507607922720768/if-you-are-still-defending-elizabeth-olsen-to-thishttps://www.tumblr.com/tonkysexist

I can't exactly say these people are wrong for feeling offended, as they certainly have a right to feel attacked. Even just asking about this feels wrong, because it could be seen as me saying "Elizabeth Olsen is racist and her character is offensive. Help me deny those facts."

So what do you think about this? Were Olsen's remarks racist? Was it done out of bigotry, or ignorance? If it was ignorance is that even a valid excuse? Does MCU Wanda represent cultural erasure? Even if this isn't as awful of a thing as I'm worrying, what would happen if she said it (or God forbid, something worse) again on a future press tour? Should I even be questioning this instead of just writing her off entirely like a lot of people have? Do I even have the authority to be talking about this? I don't want to stop loving Wanda, because I feel a very deep connection with her, but knowing that she might be rooted in bigotry and racism does put a damper on my enthusiasm.

Again, if you don't feel comfortable talking about such a sensitive topic, then feel free to just ignore this entirely.

You are not wrong for being desirous of more information about these accusations. It is quite good to not blindly accept such charges, as pondering them enables one to gain a better understanding of the situation. Anyone can be so reflective, this allows for many different perspectives on the situation. Indeed, it is quite beneficial to engage in critical thinking.

I do not think Elizabeth Olsen's comments were racist. Here is why. For one thing, it is likely that she quite simply didn't know that some people consider the g-word to be a slur; it is often seen as just another way to describe the Roma people. And the term is not exactly uncommon; there is a breed of horse called the Gypsy Vanner, for example. And while she has been told of some people's dislike of that word, she might have just forgotten due to the amount of time that has passed since then, especially if the word continued to have no negative connotations for her.

But also, she clearly was not using the word with malicious intent. She was just using the word like any other adjective. For example, some people have gotten upset that, during the interviews for Age of Ultron, when describing Wanda and Pietro's lifestyle, she used the g-word in conjunction with the word vagabond: and they have taken this to mean that Olsen views the Roma as thieves. I do not think this is the case, however. First of all, while vagabond can mean thief, it can also just mean a person who wanders from place to place, and this conceivably could be the definition she was using. And while she does at times talk about how Wanda and Pietro had to steal things, she emphasized that they did so because they had to, not because they were bad people or particularly predisposed to thievery: so in any case the g-word was in no way intended as a conveyance of negativity.

And on the Graham Norton Show, after Norton told Olsen that he found the word offensive, apparently Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo, who were with her, started chanting it. Olsen did not join them, so it appears that she is perfectly willing to not say the word if it offends people.

I read an article about the subject that I thought provided a good perspective, and here are two quotes from that article:

"There is the risk, of course, that we stumble into the realm of the 'noble savage' and over-idealize the Roma or our fictionalized notions of gypsies in the process, much like people often do with Native Americans…But clearly this is not the same thing as being a 'nasty racist.' Imagining that the American Indians were all peaceful and at one with nature may be inaccurate and naïve, but it’s not in the same ballpark as thinking they’re subhuman."

"Is Stevie Nicks—who described herself in a recent NPR interview as a 'freewheeling, roller-skating witch that I am'—a racist for her song ‘Gypsy?’ Do the lyrics strike you as a slanderous assault on the Roma people? No more than Olsen’s excited discussion of her cool 'Gypsy' costume. Context matters. So does empathy. Either one without the other and we risk falling prey to the whims of outrage and offense and, yes, of being an asshole for no reason, too."

Perhaps Olsen could be be a bit more careful about using that word in the future because of how upsetting it is for some people, but at the same time it is understandable how she would not see that word as bad, especially since some Roma actually prefer that word. If she said it again and it sparked great displeasure, the best thing to do would be to explain the situation to her. I agree with Valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn, I think there must be intention for it to be racist, attacking someone for something they genuinely did not know was disagreeable is not very helpful.

Now for Wanda. The good news is, MCU Wanda does not represent cultural erasure, and is not rooted in bigotry and racism.

As you noted, some people are upset that Wanda was not clearly shown to be Jewish or Roma. The thing about this is, there’s really no indication that she wasn’t these things either. Her religious status is not brought up at all, so it is open to interpretation. As for her ethnicity, what is made clear by the movies is that she is Sokovian, so she is Eastern European. But this does not mean she is not Roma: and as we know from the word Olsen used, such a thing was definitely a consideration for her character. And there are hints of it in places, like how Wanda dressed up as a Sokovian Fortune Teller in WandaVision, fortunetelling is a traditional Roma occupation. And in any case, the MCU does not always bring up the religious status and ethnicity of its characters. For example, Steve is Irish and a Christian: but the fact that he is Irish never came up in any of his appearances, and the only reference to his religion was the line in The Avengers when he said, “There’s only one God, ma’am, and I’m pretty sure He doesn’t dress like that,” which isn't very informative. Not focusing on a character’s cultural identity is not something new to the MCU, they are often unable to figure out how to work such a thing into their stories.

And if Steve's cultural background was not explored in any of his appearances, when he has had more screen time at this point than Wanda has, it is really not surprising that the same thing happened to Wanda. There being no mentions of Wanda being Jewish is not really surprising, as such a thing has never played a major role in any of her comic stories either. Really the only thing that connected her to Judaism was the fact that she was Magneto's daughter for a time, and he is a Jew. But that has since been retconned, and in any case, she did not meet Magneto until she was an adult. As for Wanda's race, it has been retconned several times. She and Pietro were white Europeans until 1974, and then they became Americans until 1979. It is at this point that they became the children of Magneto and Magda, which is where the Romani heritage appeared. Then around 2014, they were retconned back into being the biological children of the Maximoffs, who were white Europeans. So the European heritage is definitely there, portraying Wanda as European is not at all inaccurate. And again, Wanda's background is not something that the MCU has paid much attention to, so it is not surprising that her being Roma was never significantly acknowledged.

And there is nothing wrong with casting Olsen as Wanda; she deserves the role, being quite talented in it. And despite Wanda's race being retconned multiple times, as you noted she has generally been drawn as white or white-passing, so casting a white person to play her was a natural choice. And there are plenty of other actors who look like their characters but are not the exact same race, that is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, such a standard of representation would be difficult to maintain, and very restrictive. Olsen being cast as Wanda is not whitewashing.

Here are a few other good sources on the matter:

https://mdccanon.tumblr.com/post/693769772228345856/well-for-wandavision-i-guess-it-was-more-for-the

https://mdccanon.tumblr.com/post/694330356578516992/the-problem-with-elizabeth-olsen-and-not-chris

[randomfoggytiger]

Thank you for the great responses, I do have to disagree with some of your points:

1. I'll be honest I don't remember that exact conversation in Revelations, but I do remember that maybe esp in this one that Mulder's questions didn't really seem to be in good faith so Scully got defensive and shut down, I don't find that a characterisation flaw really, more a human response than anything (and there was plenty of weird stuff going on with that kid pointing in at least a supernatural direction without her saying anything, he was just blindly dismissive..can you tell I don't love Mulders characterisation in Revelations lol)

2. In Gesthamane I remember her answering his 'wouldn't you do anything to prove the existence of God' or sth along those lines with a No, which felt like an honest answer and not a brush off to me and comes down to the fact that what Scully has in God is faith while Mulder has belief which are two different things in my view, faith doesn't need proof, in fact the lack of proof is kind of the point

3. And this obviously ties into the first two points, the reason Scully can't provide a rational argument for her stances in those episodes is because her faith in God (an unprovable deity) comes from the deeply irrational part of her and the rational part of her (the part she presents to Mulder and he depends on which compounds this issue) is in a lot of ways ashamed of that other part, so yes she is incapable of presenting her usual 'rational' arguments, she's unused to confronting him with irrational leaps of logic (in Revelations I don't think she even tried to convince him of her last 'gut feeling' or ask him to follow her despite his skepticism, she's that unsure of this role)

I'm sure there's plenty I'm not remembering about specific conversations/lines (hell i have no recollection of Signs and Wonders) with Scully saying sth deeply out of character but that happens to both of them once in a while and may be the result of the writers sometimes being too rigid (they do it to Scully plenty when she's playing the skeptic) but overall at least in the good 'religious' episodes, I don't find the characterisation weaker

Sorry for the very long response, I never thought I would spend this long defending the religious episodes,they're not even my favourites 😅

I like long responses, no worries~! And sorry for taking so long to respond. :DDD

**This is probably filled with typos but I'm gunning and running**

Again, flying blind with my recollections:

In Revelations, I find Mulder and Scully's stances to be in character as Mulder had only ever treated religion jokingly or mockingly up to this point, even his own "religious" episode back in S1's Miracle Man. The difference is Mulder will respect where a person comes from even if he doesn't agree with them (Miracle Man, eventually)... but in Revelations the entire episode was framed around scammers and con artists. There was little sympathy for religion here because it tapped into his distrust of the institution and the (he perceived) blind faith of its followers. Yes, something supernatural was happening to Kevin-- and Kevin had all of Mulder's sympathies-- but he saw it as a paranormal phenomenon rather than a supernatural one; and Mulder's already made known his pet peeves of history disguising paranormal phenomenon under religious dismissal. Scully, meanwhile, entered the case with an unskeptical dose of treading lightly, willing to give credence to these religious experiences more than he was (and more than she was willing to admit); and that wore away at and rankled Mulder throughout the case-- he was sharp, yes, but only in the way he was in Beyond the Sea, believing Scully's vulnerability-- her guilt about her faith or lack thereof-- was being exploited for someone else's benefit. Back to Scully: she started out questioning her own senses and tried to maintain her personal detachment; but the case ruthlessly roped her in, ala Beyond the Sea, until her guards were down and she stopped questioning (the morgue scene.) Which is fine and good... the problem is, even in Beyond the Sea there was an element of denial or skepticism she clung to. To be fair, Revelations follows One Breath; and Scully clung to what she saw in One Breath (as shown by her comments in Dod Kalm) though she still didn't understand the experience fully. And also, to be fair, Revelations holds up the most? out of her religious episodes-- she was blindly working her way back to her faith with some element of questioning still involved. She loses that along the way until? Amor Fati? Which, okay, fine-- that's human. Buuuuuuuuuuuut Scully is TOO eager to swallow what the MOTWs say if they say it in the name of religion, gotta be honest.

Gethsemane's shut down was setting up Scully's admittance and breakdown in Redux II where she cried to Maggie about wearing a cross on her neck but not having enough faith, or her confusion how far that faith went. Mulder was trying to pick apart those boundaries-- the starts and stops-- of her faith (but really to him) when he asked her about proving the existence of God; and because Scully wasn't willing to find out her own boundaries as death approached (saying no to his mission but still getting roped into his quest on a more manageable level), she wasn't ready to tackle God or the existence thereof. Which is logical... however, each religious discussion or episode outside of this one starts with the supposition of Scully's religious instincts being right no matter the evidence and then BAM, she's right because of ingrained belief rather than investigation or any weighing of evidence.

In short: the language or presentation of these ep.s bug me a little, because it says that Scully discovered "this" with firsthand evidence or science (or the lack thereof because miracles-- though even in most religious miracles are based on science in one mystical or realistic form or another) but shows neither of those things.

Mulder has always been able to call her back from personal denial-- her father's death and her cancer-- but these episodes push it beyond denial and into superstition. I understand Scully wouldn't want to poke God's wasp nest for one reason or another (fearing she'll be judged for not measuring up is probably one of them); but Scully will investigate a mystery if Mulder puts her up to it, even against her own wants or interests. In the religious episodes, she does not (which is why Mulder gets spooked then passive aggressive)... well, let me rephrase: the episode says she investigates and found enough to believe in whatever is happening; but whatever is happening on-screen could be a thousand other things than the religious conclusion she sticks with, and there is no further questioning into that aspect, as well. It's the same way I have frustrations with The Field Where I Died when Paper Hearts disproves the entire thesis: there needs to be more work put into proof that THIS happening, right now, isn't a phenomenon observed by the Catholic faith and written down in their understandable terms but could be, really, something else similar but different.

And because Catholicism is so central to Scully's experience, it then becomes central to the viewer-- meaning, it stands above the other cultures' religions presented as MOTWs-- and, therefore, needs EVEN MORE proof to "show its work." I don't think Scully got shafted by the writers so much as Chris Carter had a certain vision for the presentation of his boyhood (and adult?) faith; and that lacked nuance but disguised itself as such. And I'm not saying his faith or beliefs lack nuance-- that'd be arrogance-- but his presentation of them in canon (heh) did. And in a show that is all about the nuances or the "maybe that's the case BUT here's an alternate view of the matter", it stands out like a sore thumb.

Those are my off-the-cuff answers, so I might tweak a few things on rewatches. If anything, your asks have solidified my desire to peel back Scully's religious episodes to diagnose my thoughts more clearly. :DDDD

[lilahisntsadanymore]

Y/n is so blindly in love with Rafe Cameron that she doesn't see his flaws, his mistakes and most importantly - that he's an actual criminal. She wants to help him at all cost, but this boy might be the death of her.

Part 2 here

The reader pronouns: she/her

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x kook!reader

Words count: 2k

Warnings: bad words, mentions of murder, Y/n being a mess, usage of alcohol and drugs (ofc don't do those irl), drug overdose

I'd rate this fanfic as 16+ because it's...uh problematic? I dunno, it's just different than what I've wrote before even in my Rafe fanfics. It's not hardcore, but it's definitely more "hard" than I wanted it to be.

Contains spoilers for OBX season 2, it's supposed to be hapenning in the episode 6, I literally copied some sentences straight from the screen.

♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪

His guardian angel

"I hope you've heard what happened." A voice of a person Y/n knew and despised sounded in the girl's ears.

It was supposed to be a nice day spent on the beach. Y/n was on her way to Rafe's house, he didn't pick up his phone on the previous day's evening. She thought he seemed to be worried lately, so she wanted to take him out to the beach to have a nice time and chill out.

But then there were the Pogues.

Y/n stopped her bike to reply. "I'm kinda busy. What happened?"

"John B got outta jail," JJ couldn't help a smile making its way on his face, "but that's not the best part."

"JJ, leave it, let's go." Pope whispered, but his voice was actually loud enough for Y/n to hear.

"She's gonna find out anyway," JJ continued, "cops finally understood that Rafe is guilty."

Y/n's mouth were ajar, she didn't know what to say. She didn't wanna believe it. The Pogues were just messing with her, weren't they?

"You're not being serious," she scoffed, "I don't have time for your fucking jokes."

Y/n didn't care for anything else they had to say, she started riding away, but still could hear the Pogues' voices behind her.

"You know, when Rafe's finally in jail and you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm all yours." JJ's voice laughed.

Y/n didn't even bother looking in that direction, she simply showed the boy her middle finger.

When Y/n got to the Camerons mansion, she foud out the Pogues weren't messing with her. The house was surrounded with cars of the cops and the SBI.

"This can't be happening." The girl muttered. She almost dropped her bike, but figured it's better to not let the police know she was there.

She drove off as fast as she could. Y/n knew exactly where to go now. If there was a person who knew Rafe Cameron better than he knew himself, it was Y/n Y/l/n. The girl knew that he's going to be at Barry's.

♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪

"So, what are you gonna do now?" Barry asked. Him and Rafe were in his trailer.

"Flee." Rafe replied and paused for a moment. "From the country if possible. Dad will come here soon to tell me what to do."

Rafe was in trouble, big trouble. The SBI were looking for him after finding out he was responsible for Sheriff Peterkin's death. He was scared, but knew his father won't leave it like this, won't let his own son end up in jail. They both wanted to see John B in this place and were willing to do a lot to make it happen.

"You can't even decide for yourself, Country club?"

It was usual - Barry's mocking. He didn't even seem to be a bit surprised when Rafe turned out to be a murderer. Neither surprised nor scared, but there was no reason for Barry to be scared by someone like Rafe. If it was necessary, he could easily defend himself.

Rafe ignored the mocking tone of the comment. "It's important, my everything depends on it, okay? I don't want to go to jail!"

Someone knocked of the trailer's door. Rafe looked in that direction with hope in his eyes, thinking it's his father.

"You wouldn't if you didn't kill anyone," Barry pointed at Rafe his hand in the finger gun gesture, making a clicking noise with his mouth. Then he stood up from the place he was sitting on and walked to the door.

"Is Rafe here? I know he is, so let me in."

Y/n. Her arrival was another piece of this confusing story that Barry expected to happen. Most of people saw how she chased Rafe. Where he was - she appeared a moment later, following him and taking care of him like a guardian angel. Except, Rafe didn't notice exactly why she's acting like this. The girl was madly in love, to the point where others considered it sad.

"Yeah, Juliet, your Romeo is here," Barry theatrically gestured for Y/n to walk inside.

Before doing so, Y/n sent Barry an angry stare. It wasn't that she didn't like him, she didn't like those ironic comments he must've considered funny, while she did not. It wasn't even the right time for joking.

"Rafe! I've heard what happened," Y/n literally ran up to the boy. "I can't believe it."

Rafe was sitting on a sofa, so she crouched in front of him. She rested her hands on both his knees and looked up at him. Rafe swore in his mind she looked like a lost puppy.

However, to Barry this situation seemed comical. "He's going to jail, so you're gonna give him a blowjob, or what?"

Y/n turned her face to Barry. "Shut the fuck up," she snapped but then turned back to Rafe, changing the tone of her voice, "I wanna help you, just tell me what to do."

Rafe grabbed Y/n's wrists and stood up, making the girl stand up as well. He looked into her eyes. "There is nothing you can do, Y/n."

"But you didn't shoot Peterkin, did you?"

The silence after Y/n's question lasted way longer than it should have. The answer was yes. It was one of not many moments when Y/n wasn't near Rafe, so the girl prefered to believe in her beloved one's innocence.

"You didn't do it, tell me you didn't!" Y/n shouted, wriggling her wrists out of the boy's hands. "It was John B who shot Peterkin, not you."

Rafe couldn't nod, couldn't say yes. Y/n was the only person he couldn't lie to. Something about her made it physically impossible for Rafe to lie in her face. He felt sick just thinking about telling a lie to Y/n.

The trailer was silent for too long, even Barry didn't talk. Rafe walked to the kitchen part of the trailer, leaning his head on the wall cupboard. Y/n sat on the sofa, her eyes hanged on Rafe, while Barry sat next to her. He looked amused by the situation.

Out of a sudden, the silence was broken by knocking on the door. Now it must have been Rafe's father.

Ward Cameron and Y/n Y/l/n knew each other well. The families were on good terms. There even was a little 'alliance' between the Camerons and the Y/l/ns on the working field.

"Ward." Y/n mumbled, rather to herself.

"They got me, right?" Rafe asked. "It's on the news, I'm done."

"Not yet," Ward whispered.

"Yeah, listen to your daddy, Rafe," Barry chimed in, "ain't shit over till it's over."

"Can we have a moment, please?"

"Yeah, what was I thinking? It's my house, y'all take as much time as y'all need."

When Barry walked out, Ward looked at Y/n. "I'd ask you to leave too."

"Rafe didn't do anything, he can't go to jail." Y/n said. It sounded as if she was trying to keep herself believing in Rafe's innocence, while she started slowly realizing he's guilty.

"He won't go to jail, I promise you that. But now, please, leave."

Giving one last look to Rafe, Y/n walked out. She did it hesitanly, as if she was forcing herself to do it.

Barry was sitting on the chair next to the opened window of the trailer. Y/n's mind was a mess in that moment, she didn't notice Barry was simply eavesdropping.

The girl sat on the grass, hugging her legs to her chest. In front of her was the truck Ward used to get there, bribing the driver. Y/n zoned out, she started realizing what Rafe did and that he seriously did it. It was the end, they were done. Rafe would go to jail and soon after that get sentenced to death.

When Rafe and Ward walked outside, Y/n wiped tears off of her face and fought the urge to let out some more. She stood up, watching Rafe as he watched his father drive away in the back of the truck.

For a quick moment, Rafe's blue eyes locked with Y/n's (y/e/c) ones, but then the boy moved his gaze to Barry. He knew what Rafe was about to say.

"Don't look at me like that," he declined before Rafe spoke, "I'm not getting involved."

"No, you are getting involved, Barry. Wanna know why?"

Y/n wanted to chime in and say she'll help. If Barry didn't want to help, she could. It was the best way Y/n could make sure that the boy she loved will be safe and stay out of jail.

Rafe continued, not letting Y/n say anything. "Cause you'll do anything for money," he handed Barry a thick wad of cash.

"I'm coming with you." Y/n managed to join the conversation. "It's Barry, I can't let you go alone with him."

Rafe sighed. "You're staying here, it's too risky."

"You don't have a boat. Can't go on one of yours, the police will immediately know."

"Y/n, it's safer if you stay here." Barry said.

The girl gave him a confused look. "And since when the man who sells me coke cares about my safety?" Y/n crossed her arms.

Barry opened his mouth, but Rafe stopped him. "Just stay here, I'll contact you later, yeah?"

"Yeah, be safe," Y/n put her hand on Rafe's shoulder, rubbing him with her thumb.

They looked each other in the eyes, Barry went to the inside of his house. He came out with a backpack Rafe was supposed to take, and when he came out the first thing he saw was Y/n kissing Rafe.

The girl knew Rafe will be gone for weeks, probably even months, so she wasn't going to see him anytime soon. It took all the courage Y/n had inside to make the move, to put her lips on Rafe's. Good thing was, he didn't mind that. He was surprised, but he didn't hesitate to engage in the kiss as well.

"Romeo, say bye to your Juliet and let's go."

Hearing those words, Rafe and Y/n slightly jumped away from each other.

Rafe looked at Barry with an almost upset expression. "Let's get the hell out of here."

♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪°•°∞°•°♪

Y/n felt anxious since Rafe left. She didn't quite know what to do with herself. It was the moment she realized that Rafe was a big, maybe too big, part of her life and without him, Y/n wasn't herself.

In the evening, Y/n decided to go to the country club and drink some alcohol. Of course it wouldn't help, but it could make her feel less anxious for a few hours. Y/n needed to numb down her feelings and the coke she snorted earlier didn't help.

The TV was on, but Y/n didn't pay much attention to it. It could have been her being either tipsy, high or delusional, or all of these, but the sounds of her surroundings were drowned out by the noise of the girl's own heartbeat.

"Y/n! What are you doing here?" Her friend, Kelce, approached. "I mean, alone?"

"I didn't feel like talking to anybody." Y/n spoke. Or tried to, but being under the influence made it difficult. "Still don't."

Y/n's gaze wandered from the glass in front of her to the TV hanged on a wall behind Kelce.

"Holy shit, you're high as fuck!" The boy laughed, but Y/n didn't even listen to him.

All of Y/n's attention was focused on the TV's news. The girl started sweating when she heard that the police caught Rafe.

"The son of Ward Cameron had been caught by the police while trying to run away." The person on the news informed. "Rafe Cameron, aged 19 years old, is suspected of committing a second degree murder."

When Y/n thought her heart couldn't beat any faster, it actually sped up. The girl's hands began to shake, her legs didn't support the weight of the rest of her body anymore. She was on the floor in the next few seconds. After closing her eyes, Y/n could still hear people around her. They were all in shock, a few people gasped, someone ordered to call 911, the club was covered in pure chaos.

And then it all faded away...

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Lila Rossi: I’d Say She’s a Good Villain, but Then I’d Be Lying (300 Follower Special)

Deception and cunning are easily two of the most important traits an antagonist could have. It shows that even if they don't have the strength to overcome obstacles, their wit is more than enough. This kind of trait is why characters like Lex Luthor, David Xanatos, and Princess Azula are so beloved, simply because of how intelligent they can be as villains and pose a real threat to the heroes.

It's clear that the Miraculous Ladybug writers want Lila to be seen as this, but the writing seriously fails to back that claim up.

Easily one of the most controversial characters in Miraculous Ladybug is Lila, mainly for the writing surrounding her. But there was a time where she was actually more of an ambiguous character, mainly for the lack of screentime she had until Season 3. But unfortunately, the more appearances she's had have painted a very poor portrait of an antagonist.

Lila's Tragic and Sympathetic Motivation for Hating Ladybug

Lila's first appearance was at the tail end of Season 1, “Volpina”. She was a new transfer student from Italy, and quickly made friends with a lot of her classmates for the lies she told, including being friends with Ladybug (which Alya blindly believed without doing any research like any excellent journalist). But because of how close she was getting to Adrien, Marinette, in a rare act of selfishness, transforms into Ladybug just to chew out Lila for lying about knowing her, humiliating her in front of Adrien. And this is the only motivation we get for what Lila does afterwards.

I'm not saying that it's wrong for Lila to get upset at Ladybug for doing this, and I like the moment of weakness Marinette has, but this is literally the only explanation we get for Lila deciding to side with Hawkmoth, a literal terrorist. As much as I hated the way the arc turned out, I could still understand Chloe siding with Hawkmoth, as it was clear that Hawkmoth was manipulating her and taking advantage of her ego. Lila? Ladybug's mean to her one time, and that inspires her to conspire with a complete stranger who brainwashes people to attack the city, which endangers innocent people and causes God knows how much in collateral damage if not for Miraculous Ladybug fixing everything.

I just don't get how a single negative interaction with someone is enough to conspire with a literal supervillain. Even in Season 3, when Marinette and Lila truly became enemies, it was because she risked exposing all the lies she told, which could damage her reputation. Sure, it's petty, but it makes sense for Lila to want to keep up the illusion. If she was simply an antagonist to Marinette in her civilian life like Chloe was before “Miracle Queen” , I'd be fine with that, but the writers clearly want her to be seen as on the same level of evil as Hawkmoth. I'll get into why that doesn't work later on.

Why Lila is an Excellent Liar

In my Master Fu analysis, I had pointed out that despite all the flaws he had, the narrative insisted on portraying him as an incredibly wise mentor. The same problem applies for Lila as well. We're supposed to see Lila as an expert manipulator and liar, but her lies are insultingly obvious. She always claims to be friends with celebrities and does all these awesome things, and in an age where we can have almost any question answered thanks to the internet, nobody ever stops to question her.

It's even more frustrating when you hear Lila talk about saving Jagged Stone's cat, when Jagged Stone is established to be very fond of Marinette (evidentially more than his own daughter), and nobody ever points that out. I think if Lila's lies were more stories about her travels around the world than outright lies about real people, it could have worked. It'd still be hard to believe, but it's something.

But this is a problem with writing shows aimed at children. As much as we hate writers who need to spell out things to kids, sometimes, they just don't understand some of the media they consume. Seriously, I never got this joke in SpongeBob as a kid, and I can't believe Nickelodeon actually approved this.

So the dilemma when writing a show with children in mind is finding that sweet spot between assuming your audience can figure it out, but not being too vague in your details. It's even harder when you need to find a way to convey the fact that someone is lying without being too obvious. Unfortunately, the show clearly fails to do that

Okay, this is going to sound like an incredibly weird thing to cite, and I only know about it because I used to know someone who was a huge fan of the franchise, but the movie Monster High: Friday Night Frights does a better job of subtly explaining to the audience that a character is lying. Please, just hear me out.

The movie follows the main characters competing in their high school's roller derby for the season after everyone on the usual team gets injured, and the championship match is against another school whose team tends to cheat to win matches. How they manage to do this without getting caught is anyone's guess. While the main characters are practicing, their coach, Clawd, notices a spy for the enemy team taking video of them to study their moves. In response, he calls over one of the athletes, Operetta, to chew her out for her showboating attitude. In reality, he's alerting her to the spy. Only using facial expressions, he clues her, and by extension, the audience, in on the fact that they know what the opposing team is trying to do.

This soon leads to Operetta pretending to tell the enemy team about their secret plan for the championship match, which was really an attempt to outsmart them to gain the advantage in the final stretch. The brilliance of this is how the audience is informed of this with no dialogue, and there's no scene afterwards spelling it out for those who don't get it. It manages to convey deception without being too obvious that Clawd and Operetta are being deceitful.

I think if there were more subtle hints to show the audience Lila was lying, she would be seen in a better light. As it is, Lila's lies are just pathetic, and it's ridiculous that everyone believes her. Which leads me to...

Lila, the Master Manipulator

I once read a Star Trek: Voyager fanfic that poked fun at the series by claiming that the reason a lot of the dumber episodes like “Threshold” and “Twisted” happened was because one of the crew members was an alien who unintentionally produced mood altering pheromones, with Captain Janeway actually realizing they were all high because of said pheromones, while two of the unaffected crew members were wondering what the hell they were doing before they found out the cause. Why do I bring this up? Sometimes, it feels like Lila is an unintentional parallel to the alien in that story.

Like so many characters, it's clear the show desperately wants the audience to view Lila in a certain way, but her actions do very little to actually back up that claim. When she's not using lies to tell stories about so many famous people she knows like her uncle who works for Nintendo, Lila is using strategies to manipulate everyone that are so obviously deceptive, the Thermians could pick up on them. Everyone and their mother knows how ridiculous a lot of what Lila does in episodes like “Chameleon” and “Ladybug” are, and I've talked about them before, so I'll try to be quick.

First off, as someone who had access to accommodations through high school and has had assistance in college so far, there is no way in hell that Ms. Bustier should take Lila's tinnitus at face value in “Chameleon”. If a student has a disability that could interfere with the education process, physical or developmental, not only does the school have to evaluate their performance, and determine if they're eligible for an Individualized Education Program, or IEP, but her teachers would have to be notified in the first place. As her primary educator, Ms. Bustier would be part of the team to oversee Lila's IEP and determine what accommodations she needs to help her learn better with her tinnitus and arthritis. But because the writers don't know what Google is, they just ignore it,  assume that Lila can just say she has a disability, and have everyone believe it. Even when Eric Cartman pretended to be disabled to compete in the Special Olympics, he put in more effort to look the part, even if he looked like a caricature.

Then there's the fact that that in “Chameleon”, everyone just believes Lila when she says Marinette stole her grandmother's necklace when not only is said necklace from the Agreste line of jewelry, but Alya, who is Rena Rouge, can't pick up on the fact that it's a fake. All she does to justify these lies is come up with a sob story about how nobody believes her, yet nobody ever tries to defend Marinette except Alya one time, and it was after she got expelled.

Or what about in “Oni-Chan”, where Lila thinks having Kagami kill Ladybug while claiming she'll back away from Adrien is a good idea? Let's say Oni-Chan does kill Ladybug or at least take away her Miraculous, what then? We know Lila wouldn't go through with this promise, and as soon as Kagami sees her harassing Adrien, she'll be ripe for akumatization again. Overall, not a great plan.

And yet somehow, this last example is what made her worthy enough to become one of Hawkmoth's most trusted agents. I'm just going to say it: Lila is not a good fit for the power of illusion. Whenever she's Volpina or Chameleon, she always goes out of her way to make a big show instead of being subtle with her deceptions. “Chameleon” is the worst offender, as even though Lila gets the power to shapeshift into someone else, instead of being discreet and cornering people into kissing them and gaining their appearance, she just runs around to get Ladybug's attention instead of being subtle. Even Felix had the bright idea to pretend to be Adrien to catch Ladybug off guard. How do you lose to something that happened in “Felix”?

Despite all of these screw-ups, we're still supposed to see her as this master of deception worthy of allying with Hawkmoth in both his supervillain and civilian form, when really, she's a terrible liar on the schoolyard and on the battlefield.

Why Lila is an Important Character

In the grand scheme of things, Lila just isn't as important of a character that the show loves to parade her around as. She's nothing more than a plot device used to raise the stakes in an episode, given how much reality seems to bend over just to accommodate for her lies. Even when the show alludes to her being part of bigger things, like her deal with Adrien, or her rivalry with Marinette, they don't even go anywhere.

She just feels pointless when you remember Astruc's brilliant idea to force Chloe into being the final Akuma for the season while Lila isn't even mentioned once. She only really makes appearances whenever the writers feel like it, which is why it’s hard to take her seriously. Why should I take this character seriously as a threat if the writers refuse to take her seriously as a threat? Why build Lila up as a big threat and not give her a major role in the finale? Why even include her in the show in the first place when you could show Chloe being more manipulative to fill in the plots Lila plays a big part in?

As of the time I am writing this analysis, four episodes of Season 4 have aired, three of them have been about lies or deception, and Lila hasn't been mentioned at all. It honestly seems like she won't appear unless the writers need a easy way to drive up the conflict, so they can justify it by saying that Lila's “superpower” of lying is more powerful than the common sense of everyone else.

I'm sorry this post was shorter than the last one, but compared to Master Fu, there's not that much to say about Lila that I haven't already said. Even the show barely gives her any attention, so it's hard for me to really find a lot to talk about.

[catgirlxox]

A Deconstruction of The Flame Keeper’s Circle & The Audience’s Common Complaints | Catgirl

As the title states, I’ve been reminded of a couple complaints made about this episode that stem from a large portion of the audience’s general disliking of the way both Ben and Julie were handled during the run of Ultimate Alien. In fact, I recently read a "review" of “The Flame Keeper's Circle,” or, more of a parody, actually, since a review would actually have some kind of substance to it and not just...a slew of insults thrown at a show you claim to like. It's almost like you're looking for something to be mad at, but anyway.

One of those was the OP actually asking someone to (probably joking, but anyway) explain "how Ben's mind works" to them.

And I was like, gladly!

According to the comments under the review, it seems like the general audience didn't really like this episode all that much when it first aired. Which, I bring up because, I on the other hand, actually did. And for a reason: because it proves my previous defence points right.

There's a lot of talk about Ben coming off as a “jerk” or a “douchebag”...but, in a situation such as the one presented within “The Flame Keeper’s Circle,” I would argue he did exactly what he should have done. So that's where I beg to differ.

This episode puts Ben in a position where he, once again, needs to deal with the overlap of a romantic relationship and his priorities as a superhero. The only reason there is conflict here is because they are both important to him.

A bad boyfriend would only care about himself, but Ben clearly cares about not only the safety of his (clearly, quite naive) girlfriend, but also the safety of the rest of the earth. Which, as I’m going to be stating several times, should be something expected of him considering everything else within the series that establishes who he is as a character.

So, on the topic of things that are important, ask yourselves, why would Ben prioritize going along with Julie's idea of joining a cult more than keeping her, and the rest of the world, safe when he realizes the trouble she could potentially be getting herself into?

Throughout the episode, and the fandom’s discussions from what I’ve seen, there is so much focus on "oh, he laughed at her idea so he's a douchebag and therefore a bad boyfriend" and not enough focus on the fact that he's not blindly following an alleged “good cause” because he isn't naive and that's in character based on everything we know about him as a character.

Context matters. And this kind of thing only further makes me question the people who want to cry "inconsistent" writing or characterization because he's acting the way he's been conditioned to.

Arguably from the age of ten, Ben's been dealing with situations where he needed to fight to survive and decide who to trust. Sometimes he trusted the wrong person, which wasn't done out of any other reason besides wanting to help and do the "right thing."

For example, Michael Morningstar in the episode “All That Glitters,” who fooled Ben and his team into thinking he was innocent all while abusing school girls for their life energy and almost killing Ben's cousin.

Or, Simian in “Birds of a Feather," who fooled Ben into thinking he was royalty and into helping him steal something that would aid the Highbreed in their mass murder plot.

In that way, Ben and Julie could have related in this situation because they were both trusting people in the interest of doing something “good.” Both Michael and Simian made Ben believe that they had something in common, or a common goal they could work together to reach. But, he trusted them blinded by his ambition and drive to save the world. Much like Julie is blinded by the promise of being a part of a group trying to make the world a better place.

As such, Ben has made the mistake before, so he's extra weary of how things could go very wrong. He's not against his girlfriend just to be a “jerk” - he's been through things like this before, and we’ve seen him go through those things.

Furthermore, the situation in which Julie is trusting The Flame Keeper’s Circle involves her indirectly agreeing to work with Vilgax. Who, as anyone familiar with Ben should know, is one of if not Ben’s biggest, and more importantly, most dangerous enemy.

Again, she, at the beginning didn’t know that he was involved, or what Ben had gone through already to make him act the way he does in this situation, but she does know what his job entails at this point in the series. She should probably infer that he’s suspicious for a good reason, as should the audience.

Not trusting people blindly is something he learned from being the leader of his team, while trying to protect the earth, namely from the Highbreed invasion back in Alien Force when he was putting together a stronger team. It would only make sense for him to then apply that to a situation in which his significant other gets roped into that which he fights against.

Speaking of fighting against, that brings me to another odd criticism of the writing of this episode. It’s no surprise that the flawed belief of Ben coming off as an alleged “sociopath” is brought up again, considering this episode takes place after The Ultimate Kevin arc. And yes, I realize the problematic connotations of using that term as a borderline insult as part of the issue here. But that aside, in this episode, the fact that he begins to fight Vilgax in his apparent “weakened” state is what is being attributed to that description.

Besides the fact that defending Vilgax is questionable in itself, he’s never needed water to survive for the many times he actually tried to kill Ben. I can’t find a solid answer from a writer that knows for certain if his need for water is genuine except for one who is only assuming that is the case when he’s in this state.

But regardless, (since he clearly survived long enough to morph with Dagon and become a bigger threat to the earth later on) we are still defending Vilgax the LITERAL INTERGALACTIC WARLORD.

Y’know, the guy who’s only in this position because of his own immoral actions? Who absolutely would not hesitate to take advantage of his opponent's weakened state in order to further get away with his immoral actions? Such as he is in this very episode, taking advantage of the people wrongfully worshiping him?

If we are trying to imply that Ben is “just as bad as Vilgax,” then I would assume you’d easily find the flaw in that being Ben’s motivation for incapacitating a dangerous offender who is, at the moment, manipulating naive humans to work for him and help him continue get away with his immoral actions. Which is, needless to say, not the same as Vilgax, at all.

Again, you’d think that’d be obvious.

The Flame Keeper’s Circle’s mission is to end human suffering and find a solution to certain issues happening across the globe with the help of alien technology that is much more advanced than what everyday people are used to. And, while the end goal seems like a good cause, even something Ben as a superhero would be all for, the means through which they attempt to get there aren’t a good idea, at all.

A lot of people find it hard to navigate the use of technology considered advanced by human standards in the real world, so you can only imagine the various things that could go wrong if those kinds of people were suddenly exposed to something much more powerful. In short, a lot could go wrong.

Again, Ben has been in that exact position as soon as he was armed with the Omnitrix. Which is exactly why he’d see the flaw in what these people are trying to do, and therefore not be convinced that it’s such a good idea to allow them to continue, much less endorse it.

This is why I love when the writers actually allow Ben to speak for himself instead of cutting him off for drama or plot. Once he actually gets a word in, or more accurately, has his moment of heroic monologue, he makes himself very clear and, I think, only further proves what I’m trying to say about him.

Here he is, explaining exactly what I’ve been trying to highlight throughout this body of work:

Ben: “Even if Dagon was real, using alien technology to accelerate a planet’s natural development won’t bring utopia, it’ll bring disaster. It’s happened before. Why do you think the Plumbers have those laws? But even that’s not the point, because that isn’t Dagon! His name is Vilgax. He’s not a hero, he’s a selfish, evil warlord who’s using you. And if you let him get in his ship, he’s going to fly off and start an interstellar civil war.”

It’s not that only he can use alien technology to save the world, it’s that his status as a hero proves that he knows what he’s doing, unlike these businessmen in fancy robes leading a cult for profit.

That is not what I would have assumed reasonable people would consider “douchebag behaviour.” That’s actually smart, and going back to my first point, exactly what he should be doing in a situation like this.

The actual episode does end off on a positive note for both Ben and Julie, which is omitted from the review and most of the comments I have read from others on the topic. And, I bring it up because it’s actually vital to wrap up everything brought up within this episode that I have just expanded on. Not only because they make up and seem to understand each other’s perspective after all is said and done, but because they both agree to be open to further discussion on the topic, as Ben offers to go out for dinner.

Which, needless to point out I hope, but once again, is not “douchebag behaviour.”

[passable-talent]

OMG is it too much to ask for a continuation of the last person's ask request ? Like I loved it so much but was heartbroken at the angst ending. Could you like do where the reader has to adjust to him being there and they work through there feelings them eventually falling hard for zuko as they did for Lee and Zuko tries his best to make things right them and whether or not it works is up to you I'm down for a surprise will they/won't they?

I’m going to... scream

someone, you my friend, loved my fic SO MUCH you want a continuation??????

I owe u my life thank you so much 💕💕💕💕

side bar I watched The Western Air Temple to get the true 👌🏻👌🏻 canon compliance of this ask and I am like, not okay. i would give my life for Zuko and the episode is SUCH a rollercoaster and a masterpiece of the group’s collective opinions of Zuko, I could go off but I’m not gonna. mostly? 18 y/o me cannot handle the resurgence of 6 y/o me that just crushes on Zuko like crazy

this is gonna be another long one because I actually really like this storyline? also ya boi is a sucker for angst

continuation of this post

You’d stalked back into the temple, finding an empty room to sulk in, anger and sadness and betrayal and all sorts of upset wrestling in your heart. You thumped your back against the wall, scowling, and reached up to wipe a tear you weren’t aware had fallen, forcefully, as though you were angry at it.

Maybe you were.

Zuko had betrayed you. He had been given the choice, and he chose poorly. He had no excuse for that. You could’ve even understood if he’d regretted it immediately, but he hadn’t! He had stayed in the fire nation for months!

What had changed? What had rocked his life so deeply that he’d come to the avatar? Was he being honest, or was it a trap? You wouldn’t put a trap past him, not after all of his past treachery.

Though you didn’t want to see him, you did want to know what was going on, in case there was a fight and you needed to intervene. It was as good a time as ever, you decided, to practice seismic senses. You weren’t quite good at it yet, and not nearly as good as Toph, but you’d been learning.

Pushing off of the wall with a motion still angry, you took a step forward and kneeled, settling both knees onto the floor. Already you closed your eyes, regulating your breathing as though deep in meditation.

The touch of your fingertips to the stone floor was light, at first, feathery, but slowly you moved your hands forward and laid the palm down. You stilled, your body not moving even a bit, and slowly a scene began to take form. It wasn’t a picture, and you couldn’t see it exactly, it was like the way that your fingers could find your nose even when your eyes were closed. You just knew, as though the ground itself was an extension of your body.

You could sense Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph, standing together and facing Zuko. You couldn’t quite understand his movements, but you knew they were frantic, whereas Team Avatar stood ready in stances prepared to fight.

The image went fuzzy as your heartbeat sped up, and by the time you could get it to clear up again enough to make sense of it, Zuko was gone. You stood up, and walked back out to the rest of the group, fists clenched at your side.

“So you kicked him out, huh?”

“We had to!” Katara said, a snarl in her voice. “He’s-“

“Don’t defend yourself to me,” you interrupted, “I probably would’ve done something worse.” There was a pause, in which you followed their lead to grab your sleeping bundle from Appa’s saddle. “And even if I hadn’t, my voice will only confuse our decision. I’m not even sure what I think of him, but I know I’m angry.”

“We can’t trust him,” Katara said, and you dropped your bundle so you could use it as a seat.

“I kind of have a confession to make,” Aang said, and the night only got weirder from there.

When Toph came back, you weren’t surprised she’d been burnt. And you weren’t surprised when Combustion Man resurfaced, too. You had the forethought to throw a rock shield from rubble in front of your friends, but very quickly Aang and Katara’s attempts at fighting back made the five of you realize you needed to find an even better place to hide.

What did surprise you was that Zuko swooped in, to try to stop the assassin. Despite everything about yourself, despite everything he’d done, you felt cold dread grip your heart when he was thrown back over the edge of the temple, and may have even tried to save him if it weren’t for Combustion Man’s constant explosions.

But Sokka did what Sokka did best, and soon the assassin was gone, leaving behind a clear view of the fire prince climbing a vine back up to safety.

“Oh. Zuko made it,” you said, your tone halfway between relief and annoyance.

His speech to Aang was everything you expected to hear, and it seemed as though he’d earned Aang’s forgiveness. Your heart still racing, you listened, to Aang’s words. You didn’t dare look at Zuko, and so stood beside Katara, staring at the ground by her feet. You tried to let anger be your shield, because Zuko’s presence made you remember all to easily how much you cared for him, even if it was a different part of him, under a different name.

“Now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love.” The sentence made you lift your head, and for the first time you let your gaze slide to Zuko. You caught his eye, just for a moment, as though the sentence had had the same effect on him. But he brought his focus back to Aang, to be told that he needed permission from all members of Team Avatar. Toph and Sokka’s answers were affirmative, and you knew yours would be the same- but that didn’t mean that you had to go easy on him.

“Y/N?” Aang asked, and you raised your chin, though still your gaze was on the floor, unfolding your arms from your chest.

“There’s good in him,” you started, and you raised your gaze finally to Aang. “I’ve seen it. And if you think that this is proof that he can let it-“ you slid your eyes to Zuko, a soft glare making up your expression. “-guide his actions,” you looked back to Aang with a small nod, “then I’m okay with it.” You didn’t dare look back at Zuko, you didn’t want to know his reaction. But mostly, you didn’t want to see his face, remind yourself how much you still cared for him.

It was easy, you decided as you laid in bed that night, to hate him when he wasn’t in front of you. It was easy to be angry and talk of how you’d hurt him when you couldn’t see him, hear his voice. But now that he was here, and you’d watched him fight, you knew that that wasn’t the truth of it. You still cared for him. Lee hadn’t been washed away in Ba Sing Se- the aspects of Zuko’s personality that Lee was made of were still there, and very much alive. You saw it in the small smile he’d let himself crack when you glanced back as Team Avatar walked away from him.

The boy you’d almost fallen in love with was very much alive. And though he’d betrayed you, he’d hurt you, he’d betrayed and hurt the people you cared about- it didn’t stop you from wanting to love him again.

“Y/N?” came Zuko’s voice from just outside your door, and your first response was to earthbend a slab from the floor that sealed the door shut. “I know you’re angry, please, just let me in so that I can talk. You don’t need to listen, or look at me, I just want to say things to you. I need to.” Despite yourself, you wanted to hear what he had to say, and so you uncurled just enough to pull your slab through the door, though you didn’t move it far enough to allow him to enter the room.

Reaching down to press your palm to the floor, you used seismic sense to make out that he’d sat down on the other side of the slab.

“Thank you,” were his first words, and you assumed that he meant for moving the slab. You were wrong. “-for saying that about me. You, I feel like I’ve hurt you the most. I know that that’s selfish, or- or ignorant, because I’ve done terrible things to Aang and Sokka and Katara, but-“ he sighed, and you heard what you thought was an impact between palm and forehead.

“But when I did those things to them, I didn’t care about them. I cared about you.” Though you couldn’t see him, through your little wall of rock, his words made you turn, rolling over to face where his body was.

“I cared about you a lot, and still I let Azula-“ once again he cut himself off. “You deserve a proper explanation, Y/N, even if it isn’t a good one.”

“My mom always treated me differently than my sister, I know that. My father did too, but in a different way. He didn’t- he wanted nothing to do with me. I was his eldest, his son, and he didn’t seem to like me at all. He was the one that gave me my scar, you know.” His next sentence was lost on you as you sat up, anger hot as lightning coursing through your veins.

You knew that scar had come from a firebender. But between Ba Sing Se and this moment, you’d been so caught up in your anger that you never stopped to realize that Zuko was a firebender too, and so a firebender must’ve hurt another firebender, and who would’ve done that? His father, the fire lord? If Aang didn’t take him down, you decided that you would.

“I spent years blindly searching for the avatar, not letting anything get in my way. I was so cruel. To Katara and Sokka, to Toph and Aang, I was so cruel because I just wanted to go home. I wanted to earn my honor, but moreso I just wanted to show my father that I could do what he asked.” You heard a tremor in his voice.

“And I was so blind, it made me ignore how important my uncle was to me. I see it now- and I think back on his face right after I betrayed him, and I just feel so ashamed.” He paused, leveling his voice before he said his next words.

“I think about how you looked. When Azula said that you were my enemy, too. I know it’s no excuse, but she’s so manipulative, she’s such a-“ There was quiet as he let out a breath.

“I don’t regret spending my time in Ba Sing Se with you. But I do regret how it ended. You have every reason to be angry with me, you’re right to be. I’m so sorry, Y/N.” You thought, for a moment, that he was done, but still he didn’t move.

“When I went back to the fire nation, I fell back in with an old girlfriend I’d had before I was banished. But it felt wrong. It felt like- like I was just with her to try to regain my life from before, but I wasn’t that person anymore. I wrote her a letter, but I didn’t know what to say, and...” Zuko paused, and sighed. You wondered, with a bit of bitterness, why he would tell you about a girlfriend he’d had between the last time the two of you saw each other. Wasn’t he just giving you more reason to be angry with him?

“I’ll never have enough words to tell you how sorry I am. And I know I don’t deserve a second chance from you. I deserve nothing but hatred and- and anger and everything you can throw at me, because I asked for it when I turned against you.” You stared at your slab, and wondered how long it would be before your eyes bore holes straight through it.

“Just... just know that I’m sorry, and I- I’m never going to treat you like that again.” He took a deep breath, as though meditating, or summoning his courage. “Know that I’ve thought about you almost every day. About that time you spilled tea on me and tried to pay for a replacement shirt, and-“ he tapered off, and let out the rest of his breath. “You’re probably asleep.” He was silent, for a moment, as he reached up to press his hand onto the rock keeping him from you.

“Goodnight, Y/N.” You heard him stand up and walk away.

You remembered the night he was talking about. Mushi- Iroh- had let you stay past when the shop closed, before you worked there. Zuko had sat down across from you and closed your textbook whenever you tried to read, and finally you’d gotten frustrated and put it away. You’d tried to put your feet up, but instead kneed the table, and sent his cup rolling, spilling his tea onto his shirt.

Looking back on it, it made sense why the heat of the tea didn’t bother him. He was a firebender, after all.

The part that he’d failed to mention tonight was how he’d walked to a back room to get another shirt, as you followed, insisting on paying for the ‘damages’. But the words had caught in your throat when he took off his shirt because wow, and that was all you could really fathom yourself to think, and you’d stuttered, and he’d just laughed before putting another shirt on.

You wondered, now, if things would have turned out differently if you had kissed him that night, instead of pulling away. Had you called him boyfriend, would he have been so quick to betray you?

Laying down slowly, you reached out to press your palm to the ground again. It took you a moment to get a clear seismic understanding, as your heart was pounding and your breath shaking, but you could sense him in the room he’d taken up as his own. You pulled your hand to your chest, losing the image, and closed your eyes.

Your throat burned the next morning.

ok this bitch got LONG AS FUCK so stay tuned for a pt 3 probably tomorrow

edit: | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 |

-🦌 Roe

[itsclydebitches]

Yang forgetting Ironwood helped her so she willingly made the decision to rat him out to Robyn (which she then “forgot” to blame Ruby for the whole mess, and then “forgot” that to argue with Ren when he wanted them ALL to take responsibility) is one of the reasons you are most definitely right about the show just forgetting those civilians who got blasted off the rainbow road.

You know, RWBY's tendency to "forget" lots of different things aside, this list really emphasizes why canon!Yang (not fanon!Yang, still love her) has steadily become one of the least likable characters in the series for me. A summary of her major character beats would include:

Adores her "Super Mom" and is supposedly defined by both this loss and the need to help raise her little sister, but doesn't mention her again until Volume 8

Admits she has no reason to be a huntress other than liking adventure, but is never forced to confront this and figure out what she actually wants out of life, not even when the fate of the world is suddenly attached to her choices

Loses her arm and goes through a long arc to accept this new part of her, only to announce later that it's just "extra" and doesn't matter. This indifference includes ignoring the community she's now a part of/the disabled man who greatly assisted her, as well as the sudden disappearance of PTSD

Supposedly spends her entire life, since she was a toddler getting lost in the woods, searching for her biological mother only to decide that she only cares about her sister now

Listens to her biological mother anyway. She has no reason to trust her, claims to hate her, is outright told to question the information she's given... yet takes her perspective at face value, to the extent that she comes into Haven raring to accuse Ozpin

Demands "no more lies or secrets" from him even though, at this point, Ozpin has not lied or kept secrets from her. The transformation was Qrow's secret to divulge, along with his semblance

Appears to be grappling with Blake leaving at the end of Volume 3, but everything is fine once they're back together. Is mad that Blake expresses a desire to keep her save, but everything is (again) fine once they kill Adam. It's a dual issue of the story not acknowledging when Yang is being unfair (why does she get to go home to recover, but Blake doesn't?) while also just... not resolving these things

Is indifferently cruel to Oscar for a whole volume, from screaming in his face to only caring about Jaune after he attacked the kid

Is one of the most furious at Ozpin for keeping Salem's immortality a secret, but turns around and immediately helps keep that secret from Ironwood

Her justification for this is that they can't just trust people blindly anymore, but is the one to suggest that they blindly trust Robyn instead

Puts the blame for all this solely on Ruby's shoulders, ignoring her part in this mess and her continued promises to follow Ruby's lead, but then gets furious at Ren for expressing the same concerns

Tops off this question of trust by laughing along with everyone else at Emerald's speech despite being pretty much the only one to raise concerns an hour ago

Is told by her father that she relies too much on her semblance and puts both herself and others in danger by rushing headlong into situations. Volume 8 she revs up her semblance, rushes in, and "dies"

Is at the center of RWBY's one, presumed queer couple within the main cast, leading to numerous issues which complicate all of the above

Yang is... a mess, frankly. And not in a "She's a complex, multifaceted character" way, but a "The writers don't know what they're doing and it has severely hurt Yang's character" way. She comes across as a massive hypocrite, callous towards most everyone not in her small circle, yet is simultaneously trusting to the point of foolishness. We're supposed to believe that Yang is mistrustful of the established ally who gave her her arm, but is buddy-buddy with the woman who framed her and orchestrated the killing of the friend sitting beside her. We're supposed to believe that Yang has little knowledge, no emotional connection, and a healthy distrust of Raven, but believes all her lies anyway. We're supposed to believe that Yang is beginning to question whether it's a good idea to follow her little sister without question, but that she'll tell Ren he's just pushing everyone away when he agrees that things are indeed bad right now. A better written show might, for example, explore how Yang's instinctual desire to defend her sister is bumping up against her own concerns, but with what we've got, Yang is just a different character every couple scenes. She's constantly contradicting herself, changing for no reason, or staying static to the point where the audience is wondering what the point of previous arcs were, all of which makes her so frustrating to watch. I'll agree with Yang one episode, only for her to have done a complete 180 the next, with no acknowledgement of this change. Or she's spouting views that blatantly ignore everything else that's going on, making her appear to be in denial at best, but the story won't acknowledge that either, instead framing her as 100% correct. Far from being the emotionally rich character she once was, a young woman on the cusp of growing up - deciding what she wants in life, learning to reign in her temper, finding some independence from her sister, recovering from a trauma - Yang now is just... angry and hypocritical, at least when she's not with Blake. And that relationship continues to be marred by both the lack of a queer confirmation and the inconsistent way that the rest of Yang's character is handled. Yang just isn't a person I like anymore, even though it's obvious I'm supposed to. But I look at her actions and attitude across Volumes 6-8 and see someone who is impossible to get to know because she's changing her mind every ten minutes of screen time, leaving a string of confusing, hypocritical, and at times downright cruel decisions in her wake.

[hugthepanda12]

Bobo rant

Ok, @narvana27 this one’s for you coz I’ve mustered up some motivation to finally write some analyses just like you or @medeaminte​

This one will cover our beautiful Brazillian boy Raimundo Pedrosa. Some spoilers are inevitable to mention, but the main focus is on the episode titled ‘The Return of Master Monk Guan’.

1.1 short synopsis of the episode:

Master Fung, seeing how the forces of evil grew in power, decides to send monks to another temple for their training. It turns out the new master that is destined to teach them is Master Monk Guan. 

As for his methods, they are surprisingly cruel. Our heroes are not allowed to take breaks or even ASK QUESTIONS! Guan becomes that horrible general in military school who likes when cadets are blindly following his orders and train to the point they collapse due to severe exhaustion. 

Rai, of course, sees that the way Guan treats his students is unfair and stands up for the rest. Which ends up bad for him. Guan punishes him with additional training and what is worse humiliates him through giving him insulting nicknames! Later on, the audience learns that this disrespectful behaviour of Master Guan was intentional. What is more, Raimundo knows about it as well. It was a part of the agreement between them, reached off screen without the knowledge of the other monks. The main goal of such a strategy was to lure Hannibal Roy Bean out of his hiding, let him believe Rai is ready to turn to the Heylin side (again) and snatch the Treasure of the Blind Swordsman from his little evil vines. 

As the episode reaches its end, this plan as well ends in success. Bean is mad as hell and promises Raimundo that he’ll pay for it. Yeah, yeah happy ending. Cool. Rai gets one of the Spears of Guan as a gift for a succesfull colaboration with Master Monk Guan bla blah 

BUT!

Even if it was all the play on Guan and Rai’s part throughout the whole episode, in my opionion Guan was too harsh anyway. I get it. He had to be plausible, but man... Rai literally cried when he banished him from the temple!  

And this is an issue I wanted to talk about. 

1.2. Let’s look at all ‘nicknames’ Guan came up with for Raimundo. 

1. Young prince 2. bobo

3. someone dark, ruthless, shady, rebelious

I WANT TO PROVE RAI. IS. NOT. ANY OF THESE. 

1.2.1.The insult ‘young prince’ (or princess) is often used when a young person is too lazy to finish chores or he/she is not willing to do them at all. Maybe it was Raimundo in s01, although he had never said ‘no’ to master Fung. He just wanted to go easy way, like swiping the dirt under the sofa instead of getting rid of it in a proper way. But mind you, it is season 3 and this boy has changed a lot. Sometimes you don’t have to work hard to get your task done. All it takes is an adequate situation assessment and good organisation of your work.

 It looks as if Guan just doesn’t get it. Just like how vital breaks are in order to rise productivity. 

Rai made a right decision to stop training and lay on the grass. He knows what’s good for him and he stands by this intention to REST. Life is not ALWAYS about saving the world. He’s just a kid. Just like Omi, Kimiko or Clay. He’s defending his boundaries, but it appears no one’s respecting that choice. 

1.2.2. What about Bobo? Up to this day I thought that Guan wanted to underline that Rai acts like a clown, so he gave him a clown name. However, I came across this site. And guess. Bobo in Portuguese means ‘silly.’

And my question is: Did Guan know? Hmm!? Did you know about it, Guan? If yes, I’m very disappointed in you. ‘Silly little clown boy’ - this is what Rai is? No, it’s not like he was the only one brave enough to fight Mala Mala Jong... or EVEN OMI when he turned heylin!

It’s not like he has feelings or something... He’s the fun guy! Always chill! Not allowed to cry! His purpose is to entertain the rest, righ?

NO. Rai is not only a capable warrior but also a very dedicated friend, who can sacrifice ANYTHING in order to save the rest. Let’s ennumerate how many people he saved throughout the series. People who live near the vulcano in Brazil, that Lady who turned out to be the Bird of Paradise.... OMI. The rest of his team a couple of times... 

And what is more, every encounter TAUGHT HIM SOMETHING or had left some scars. He was possessed by Wuya, got beat up, and constantly he is accused of having EVIL TENDENCIES. What? Because ONE TIME he betrayed them? And that betrayal was justified because he felt hella ineadequate? 

But yeah, Guan. Go on. He is just silly to get all the punches for the team. It’s not like he isn’t bothered when the forces of evil are victorious.

Not at all. 

1.2.3. Ok, I agree Rai is rebelious, but as I mentioned earlier - HE HAS REASONS to be that way. He feels something is wrong - he exclaims why this is wrong and tries to FIX IT with the help or without it. The thing is, in s1-2 prefers facing problems alone due to that inadequacy he’s often reminded of by his peers. It’s sad to see that monks never realised Raimundo feels that way. Luckily, in season 3 Rai grew as a character. He displays more and more leader characteristics. He comes up with better strategy and is ore connected to his friends. As a result their cooperation during fights is on a higher level, just like in the last showdown in that alternate timeline. 

DARK, RUTHLESS, SHADY. - those are lies and I won’t comment on that

He can be ruthless only if someone hurts his family and friends. They’re gonna pay for that. Respect Rai for that. 

2. My opinion on  ‘ The Return of Master Monk Guan’

2.1. Guan’s behaviour - this post is about it. Just wanted to add he is very inconsistent as a character and writers probably had no idea how to write him so they just randomly threw him to some plot points in order to give episodes smooth flow between scenes. 

But yeah in that particular ep Guan is a jerk. First kidnapping Dojo, then overworking children only to kick out the most responsible one outta his temple with numerous sculptures of him, Dashi and replicas of his fav spear.

2.2 Monks’ behaviour - wanted to help, turned out bad. Omi as always was questioning Rai’s value and laughed at him bc of his new nicknames. Very mature of the chosen one, really. 

2.3 My review

This episode was good because:

1. It's rai-centered

2. He put to use that clever brain of his and gave master Guan the idea how to retrieve the most powerful wu from Bean

3. He can KICK ASS, only refuses to use that against his friends. 4. good preparation for cheeseball to reconsider he's NOT ALWAYS THE BEST and should be aware of Raimundo's skills

2.4. Summary

Raimundo Pedrosa has one of the best character developments in animation history but most importantly he is the complete opposite of those things the other characters tell him he is. He learns from his mistakes and utilises the knowledge for his benefit to protect what he believes is right. He’s very compassionate young man, who can do great things and he WILL with guidance of his temple family.

But most importantly, he well deserved the position of the Xiaolin Leader. His name is not Bobo. Only Raimundo Pedrosa. Good friend, leader, warrior, the future hope for making the world a better place. 

[mc-critical]

This would be a little complex sorry :) but what do you think the scenario would be like if Meryem did not leave the show before S3 finished? For example how would Sah sultan leave, will Hurrem finish her off instead of Mihrimah? Because it was obvious that she would be absent in S4 since Fatma was coming as the new sister. Also how would they make Hatice kill herself? I mean in my opinion they would still make her kill herself. But how do you think her final moments/scenes with Sah, Suleiman, Gülfem, Hurrem, Mihrimah... would be like? And about Mehmet, they would probably give him more screentime and to his death as well. I can't even imagine Hurrem's reaction and what would be like if she meets Mahi in his funeral. Well...what do you think? :)

When I was thinking this through, I realized that... I don't see so much changing in the script as I anticipated.

I'm not sure about Şah Sultan, tbh. I think she would still leave in S03 (even though I speculated what are her odds against Hürrem and what would happen if she stayed in S04 here.) and it would be probably Hürrem that would finish her off, but I'm not sure how would it happen. She doesn't have much in the way of a fatal flaw which would doom her when it comes to Hürrem and the one "flaw" or "scruple" she had was more connected to Mihrimah. So they would either contrive some kind of a fatal flaw that would let Hürrem beat her or make her love and respect for the dynasty the fatal flaw that would cause her to slowly begin underestimating Hürrem too much, because of her wins against her, but that would be far too much of a flanderization for Şah. Maybe they also could still leave her to Mihrimah the way they did, but Mihrimah to decide to act because of what she sees as disrespect to Hürrem, along with her growing confidence of her own power, not because of the abduction situation.

I agree that Hatice would still end her arc in suicide. If the abduction isn't a factor, maybe she may try doing that, but not succeed? Hatice may go in such a state where it's really "all or nothing" and no one could stop her and she may repeatedly, frequently, one episode after another try to end Hürrem and it would lead to the same confrontation, with SS wondering why she would do this, why didn't she get over Ibrahim. Or maybe, Hatice would simply give up from it all by ruminating alone in her chambers on the recent situations, to have a longer farewell with Şah and Gülfem and want to be with Ibrahim so much, to have a suicide attempt a parallel with E83, but this time, with no one succeeding to save her or fill her with promises.

I'm with the fandom in that we could've seen more of Mehmet. Certainly his funeral and that scene would be very impactful. I doubt Mahidevran would appear in his funeral, because of the massive regret that overtook her and both her mind and conscience perhaps speaking against that, but I wouldn't sign off them adding a scene like that for dramatic effect. And it would be very impactful for both characters, too. There certainly would be a scene with Mustafa, since he would (and was confirmed to in the show itself) be in his funeral ceremony. Maybe Mustafa would say he massively regretted that loss and he suffers as much as she does and Hürrem would take a deep breath before she spoke, probably accept his words, but also say, in parallel to E75, that he should pray nobody around him is behind this. Maybr then a plot-line of Musti suspecting his mother would be possible. Though I think the funeral would be mostly SS and Hürrem grieving for their favourite son and preferred candidate for the throne, since they have lost a part of them for the first time. It would be a powerful showcase of their state of vulnerability and maybe a more visible transition point where they truly begin to act as partners and stand together in every situation.

Mehmet himself would definetly have tiny bit more scenes with Hürrem, because she would at least be there to congratulate him for going to Amasya and tell him to be careful. They may have a conversation about why is he going to the sanjack of his brother and there could be a bit of conflict between them in that regard.

I don't think Mehmet's death would change so much. The episode itself was a A Day/Death in the Limelight episode for Mehmet, the reason for Mahidevran acting against him would remain intact (Mustafa going to Amasya), the trajectory of her conflict in E101 would also remain intact, so she could still set the Illyas scheme in motion and Mehmet would still trust him blindly, because of his relative lack of experience. What may change, however, is the opposition Mahidevran would have here - the scene with Mahidevran confronting Hürrem for Amasya in E101 would most likely be a scene between both of them and Hürrem might suspect that Mahidevran is up to something. Hürrem would try monitoring things in Manisa and might even begin to see through Illyas's facade, but the outcome would still be the same in the end. Maybe Hürrem would try her best protecting Mehmet, but it would end in vain, it could end with Mehmet doubting her opinion on Illyas only for the inevitable to happen... It would amplify even further the tragedy of this death and Hürrem would be more involved in acting against it/trying to prevent it.

With that said, that's where perhaps the biggest change in the script is gonna lie - S04 Hürrem's motivation. An important part of S04 Hürrem's motivation was not only that Mehmet was killed and by Mahidevran, no less, but that she wasn't there in that death, she wasn't there to stop it, that she didn't even get to look at him for what was probably the last time. With Meryem not leaving and Hürrem being more involved in his sanjack plot, this would be gone. There would be no abduction, there would be no shortage of what they could show, they would amplify the drama even more. Mehmet's death would be even more of a motivation now than it was when coupled with what Hürrem went through during the abduction. And by extension, it would mean that Mahidevran won not when Hürrem wouldn't be there to stop her, but by her efforts to prevent all this failing altogether. That would fuel Hürrem to get rid of her enemies, especially Mustafa even more, but at the same time, I doubt it would change her S04 actions. I don't think S04 itself would change so much, either, (aside from Mehmet getting more mentions and callbacks, because the last three S03 episodes would be densely packed with him, not just his last episode and Hü's visit to Mehmet's mosque, was it? in E119 where Afife died would give some place for Mehmet himself, too, before the attack with stones from the organization defending Musti happened), because this development of Hürrem's character and her relationships would be inevitable. I see even her death episode with little to no changes, because no, Hü didn't have flashbacks not because they had some issue with Meryem or something (if that was the case, why did we have the first ever Hü and SS scene in E01 as a flashback in E139?), but because in MC, she was the epitome of the total adaption in the harem. Her not recalling her past is perfectly fitting. Though that's not to say I don't see more flashbacks of her love with SS in previous episodes to happen, since they know that will bring even more impact. I don't think her final moments with the characters would change so much, as well, especially when it comes to Mahidevran and Gülfem, but maybe we can have a bit of a change with SS. Maybe both will recite their poems in her last scene, who knows? And maybe if not the death episode itself, her burial scene would be probably filled with flashbacks of Hü and SS, I can almost imagine her next to SS's bed in E55 showing on the screen when they bury her and SS's poetry plays in the background.