#but i got away from my initial point about yaz

[lahulotteshitpost]

***Sorry this started out as a rant***

The idea that you only reciprocate someone's love if you can be open about your feelings or date them is honestly insulting.

I find it especially mature from the Doctor to admit she can't date Yaz, knowing it will break her heart.

In LOTSD, you can clearly see the pain on their faces (both of them), but it's the kindest thing the Doctor could have done. Their relationship would have been unhealthy. We know this because we've seen the Doctor losing herself and being a terrible friend to Yaz.

And the Doctor knows that, she knows her mental state won't allow her to actually be in a relationship. She knows the relationship would be toxic, she knows she's been a terrible friend, she even admitted it in Flux but admitting it didn't fix her.

I've lived longer, seen more, loved more, and lost more.

- It Takes You Away

Yaz, I'm sorry. I didn't let you in to what I was doing... what I was looking for. I shouldn't have shut you out.

- The Vanquishers

But the point is, if it was going to be anyone, it'd be you. But I can't. Because at some point time always runs out.

- Legend of the Sea Devils

Not because I don't want to, because I might. But if I do fix myself to somebody I know, sooner or later, it'll hurt.

- Legend of the Sea Devils

The Doctor is very clear:

- she's not been a good friend,

- she loves Yaz,

- she wishes she could date her.

Being in love, even when it's reciprocal, doesn't always end in a relationship. Sometimes, even "trying" is impossible.

They can't be together, because the Doctor can't bring herself to do that. She's been desperately trying to avoid feelings and attachments since she fell into that Sheffield train. Of course, it doesn't work, and of course it's not a healthy coping mechanism, but this is something people go through.

Yaz understands. And I will argue that Yaz got to confess her love to the Doctor in LOTSD, they both expressed their feelings indirectly.

My nani says, courage is knowing something will hurt and doing it anyway. Mind you, she also said it's the definition of stupidity.

- Legend of the Sea Devils

This is Yaz telling the Doctor "I love you, I wish you could get over your fears, but I understand.

(And there is a lot to say about consent, as, clearly, understanding despite the pain is also the healthier reaction. You cannot force someone into a relationship, Yaz has often been mistreated by the Doctor but in this very moment, she is not a victim.)

There's a reason why she adds that bit about "stupidity" and it's not just to make the Doctor laugh.

Their romance is a slow burn with no happy ending. It's incredibly bittersweet, but it's also very real.

Mentally ill people who avoid relationships are often ashamed of it, we don't openly talk about it because it's definitely not "normal". You can be traumatised, depressed, anxious, but you're still in a happy romantic and sexual relationship, obviously.

Except when you can't.

I started shipping Thasmin during Series 12, initially believing it to be unrequited. I never expected it to be more than subtext, in a way it subverted a lot of my expectations.

I'm no different from most shippers, I was hoping for a kiss (every Doctor had one!) although I expected it to be disappointingly non romantic (à la Nine/Rose).

A kiss, the ultimate romantic trope!

Doctor Who didn't give me what I was hoping for.

It gave me something that I desperately needed.

Home.

Representation.

When you are one of those fucked up queer people, afraid of people knowing deep down you can't date, avoiding feelings and relationships because this is how your traumas shaped you, do you really get to see yourself?

Thasmin isn't every queer person, it isn't even every sapphic you will ever meet, but no story is. And their queerness isn't the cause of their doomed love, which I find extremely respectful and far from usual tropes.

I can see myself in them, at different stages of my life. I know some aro/ace spec people see their relationship as very queerplatonic and also felt represented.

Maybe you don't, and that's fine. You don't have to see yourself in them, you don't have to like this story.

Just understand other queer people will.

[paulrobinsonshotel]

I love RTD's writing, and it was his era that made me fall in love with the show as a kid. When it was announced he was coming back, my reaction was nothing short of ecstasy.

When the rumours began to swirl that we'd be getting a Tennant-centric special with the Doctor regenerating BACK into him, I was very much "please no", but also thinking "surely, RTD wouldn't actually do this. There's NO WAY he'd actually do this".

Then Ncuti Gatwa was announced, amazing, wonderful. He'll be fantastic, no doubt about it.

Then we got the Tennant and Tate 60th announcement. At that point, the cracks began to show. Yes, my favourite companion and one of my favourite Doctors. I was excited, but I was waiting for more. We've already seen David Tennant's Doctor and Donna Noble written by Russell T Davies, and it was great. But for an anniversary special, the things that bring different eras of the show together in celebration of its history... pretty underwhelming.

Then the thing I was dreading most, the Doctor regenerating back into Tennant - something that had been the refuge of obsessives making badly edited fan videos from 2010 onwards - actually happened. And not only that, but he regenerated straight out of Whittaker's outfit into a Tennant-esque one. Ostensibly because RTD didn't want the image of Tennant in Whittaker's outfit to be used to whip up anti-drag or transphobic hate. Despite the fact that 1) Whittaker went out of her way to make her outfit gender neutral, so that all fans would be able to dress up as her Doctor and feel included and 2) surely it's more important to broadcast the message that anyone of any gender can wear any clothes they want, and there's nothing wrong with it?

The initial Tennant/Tate announcement was in May 2022. My initial dissatisfaction was met with responses like "The episodes are ages away, just wait and see". We're fifteen months on, and no further returning characters have been announced. As far as we know, these specials will still be primarily focused on Tennant, Tate and Donna's supporting cast (that said, the one thing in all this I'm happy about is seeing Bernard Cribbins again).

Of course, that doesn't mean there's been no announcements about the episodes at all. Segun Akinola's decided to leave, so we're getting a new composer. That's exciting, I wonder who it'll be? Oh, brilliant, it's Murray Gold. Again. In RTD's own words, "is anyone surprised?". Surprised? No. But fair to say my enthusiasm went from very low to absolute zero.

Gold is great as what he does, but we just had Akinola, an incredibly skilled composer who poured his heart and soul into the show, but was never given a chance by a chunk of the fandom because he tried something different to Gold or just because they didn't like the Chibnall era as a whole. So RTD could've brought in some new talent, with a completely fresh take, but instead chose to bring back yet another person from his era, who did 10 seasons on the show, and the one person the fandom needs to move the fuck on from the most.

So that's a special meant to celebrate 60 years of the show, but specifically focused on one era of it? Coincidentally, the era of the guy writing it?

And for those who dismiss any criticism of this being RTD centric with "But Beep the Meep/The Toymaker!!!", ask yourselves this: If Chibnall stayed on and did the 60th as nothing but a Thirteen and Yaz story, but with Beep/Toymaker, or if Moffat come back and done the same with his characters, would there be anything other than across the board outrage? Classic villains do not an anniversary special make, since we've had them in every season since the revival.

I'm sure the episodes will be genuinely good, and I'll certainly be watching. Any DW is better than no DW, but of all the things they could've done for an anniversary special, this is practically an insult to the show's history.

I'll be patiently waiting for Ncuti Gatwa's era, which looks genuinely new and exciting.

Rant over.

[confusedspaceotter]

Daily avatrice analysis (day 4)

day1 day2 day3 day4 day5 day6 day7 day8 day9

apologies if this is bit of a mess, had a bit of trouble trying to put my thoughts into words, which is why there's so many gifs/pics today

now without further ado

So

Ep 6

now you might be wondering

cause there isn’t a avatrice interaction in ep 6

or is there?

may i present the last 5 mins of ep 6

when Bea show up and pick up Mary

(I would like to headcanon Bea volunteered to come all the way to pick up Mary not only because Mary is her friend but because she suspects Mary already found Ava and she wanted to see her)

And I would like to think that I’m right(Bea your gay is showing people don’t just stared at your left mirror standing like that)

Look the Mary’s face when Bea asks is Ava coming 

She knows.

Mary, probably:

Anyway now back to ep 7

before i talk about the “Beatrice is a badass” scene 

Two things i wanna talk about 

One

How do I know Mary knows something is up with Beatrice and Ava?

One episode later she basically compared what Shannon is to her 

To what Ava is to Bea 

“Letting Duretti get away with murder”

That’s 100% about Shannon

Now we all know who Shannon is to Mary ;)

The fact that she used their relationship and tried to convinced Bea hey you gotta do something you girl friend might die if you don’t 

Yeah she knows definitely 

And Two, this conversation between Bea and Camila

fun fact, Camila is this first one to call Beatrice Bea 

I would like to headcanon that whenever Bea were tasked to train new recruits, in order to make them feel more comfortable, at some point Beatrice would let them call her Bea as is sign of closeness(Kinda like a “ My name is Yasmin Khan but my friends call me yaz situation)

Or is just Camila being Camila 

either way is cute asf 

and I love that Ava after being trained by Bea for two months calls her Bea most of the time too

just look them IM-

Remember when I said that she is not good at initiating physical contact yet her love language is physical touch?

This is what I meant 

There’s still a slight hesitation but she definitely are more comfortable here

make sense cause she did know Camila longer compare to Ava

plus Bea is her mentor/mum 

Beatrice and Camila is THE softest duo istg

Now

on to the famous “beatrice is a badass” scene 

Got nothing to say except yes Ava I agree she IS a badass

Look at how Ava admires Beatrice awwww

Tbh same girl seeing Bea kick ass like that does things to me too

Bea calling out(? sister Crimson’s next move 

Coolest shit I seen(at least one of them there are plenty of cool scenes in the show

Also that outfit?????

They never missed with Bea’s casual outfit 

Whether is in S1 or S2

Not a single one look bad 

I swear imo every outfit deserves to be show off in a fashion show or something 

And that side kick(? Damnnnnnn girl 

She really likes to side kick people 

(Anyone who know what this move is called I know nothing about martial arts)

And she looks cool doing it 

We can also see the kid Ava showing 

Look at her smile I’m-

girl must think that Beatrice is really cool and reminds her of those action heros she used to saw on TV

Just pure admiration from Ava

Now some people think that the halo is sentient 

Some think that it only acts as a tool and the one whos in change is the halo bearer 

Personally I’m leaning towards the halo is just a tool the one who’s in control is the user

And how powerful it can be is up to the bearer

Because in ep 3 when she is tied to the table 

I’m guessing all she’s thinking is how to free herself

And the halo reacted to her thoughts by phasing her though the bed, freeing her

I think the same happened here 

All she is thinking is how to save Beatrice and Mary

From the trajectory of the bullets(the slow mo at the end of the gif )

Is going the opposite side from where Mary and Bea is

Here’s a chart(? I draw to demonstrate this

(Handwriting reveal?)

Anyway my point is

Ava and Mary’s sibling dynamic is real 

And Ava might be a cocky little shit (affectionate) towards Mary sometimes but she cares about Mary

Next we see that Ava got shot by an arrow

And Bea rushing to her side immediately 

No thoughts just 

All hail protective Beatrice 

Oh also has this been done before

Now something that I noticed from the walk to the van I want to talk about

One 

Bea putting her hand on Ava’s waist to support her

Two 

How she practically jumped on the van to check on Ava

And it doesn’t end

Baby girl checked not once but twice on Ava’s wound

I can hear Camila going 

Bea? Did you just check her wound twice???

Now this could just be a simple error 

They accidentally included an extra shot

But being the overthinker that I am

I would like to believe Bea was so worried about Ava that she had to check twice

This scene is giving Clarke Griffin from the 100 coming to Lexa’s room and change her perfectly fine bandages to a random cloth just so she could talk to Lexa

Bea chill out she’s not gonna die she can heal herself 

Anddd that’s it for today 

Tmr is gonna be a long one

And it might get personal too but who knows 

Stay tuned to find out :)

day5

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

hi im back on my “is this normal for you” bullshit:

it’s YAZ of course it’s yaz who asks, of course it’s her who has been watching the doctor for the past week, who has seen the ease with which she gets people to do what she wants without ever answering the questions she doesnt want to answer

has watched the doctor dance the line between lies and deflections and lies by omission, has seen her weave them into a story of that night entirely parallel to what actually happened but so persuasive that yaz feels like she can remember that fake night too. like it’s not even hard to lie about it, like the story has its own truth, its own momentum

shes watched the doctor do this and seen the way over 10.000 hours that mustve gone into honing this skill and shes drawn her conclusions and shes imagined what kind of life, what kind of person, and then theyve got a bit of time and shes like time to find out, because whats the thing you tend to do after getting to know someone? you try to get a look at their environment, their circles, where are they from, socially speaking, who is around them. so she asks “have you got family?” and what she learns is nobody. there is nobody around the doctor they live in isolation

in some ways this is true for the doctor always but it’s way more of a sort of obstacle with 13 because she emphasises that isolation. she draws a picture for them of where shes from and all it is is absence. what she says here:

YASMIN: Have you got family? DOCTOR: No. Lost them a long time ago. RYAN: How do you cope with that? DOCTOR: I carry them with me. What they would've thought and said and done. I make them a part of who I am. So even though they're gone from the world, they're never gone from me. GRAHAM: That's the sort of thing Grace would have said. YASMIN: So everything we saw, everything we've lied to people about, is this normal for you? DOCTOR: I'm just a traveller. Sometimes I see things need fixing, I do what I can. Except right now, I'm a traveller without a ship. I've stayed too long. I should get back to finding my Tardis.

is anathema to social connection. she doesnt expect to stay. shes not reaching out to them as if theyre potential companions. these are Victims Of The Week relations and shes tying up loose ends. shes giving cryptic answers the way the doctor does at the end of episodes like the return of doctor mysterio (”things end. thats all. everything ends, and it's always sad. but everything begins again too, and thats always happy. be happy. i'll look after everything else”) or the planet of the dead (”people have travelled with me and ive lost them. lost them all. never again”)

these are “im the doctor. i will do everything in my power to save all your lives. and when i do, you will spend the rest of them wondering who i was and why i helped you” answers

the doctor might often give answers that companions dont understand, and companions may complain about it, but even a

CLARA: What is going on? Is this real? Please, tell me what is happening! DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor. I'm an alien from outer space. I'm a thousand years old, I've got two hearts and I can't fly a plane! Can you?

string of unbelievable nonsense tells you something of their context. mostly that it’s not yours and you can immediately adjust your expectations from ‘normal human stuff’ to ‘do you know any scifi’

by the time 13 gives up this most general bit of biographical information it’s kind of too late. “who are you really” is right. it’s like they got an inverted pyramid. where normally you’d get this general base of social information to interpret someone with and you build your more nuanced impression of them on top of it, ryan graham and yaz got to learn entirely who the doctor is as a person but in isolation, and then got the base of the pyramid dropped on top of them

of course they know her, and of course they dont. they get to see her act every day the way she does but they have no idea of the social contexts influencing any of that behaviour. she feels distant and ungraspable not because she is, but because she wont let her social environment be known to them. absence is all they know of her. not human, no family, no home. what is a person without their context.

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

Quick Notes on What Yaz is Doing in Moon Knight: Episode 6

Episode 5

A/N: For those who are curious these are just my initial notes/thoughts on what my OC Yaz is up to during the events of Moon Knight. Once I get down to writing the damn thing it may change, but I thought it would be fun to share.

Yaz is with Layla when Marc is shot

She tries to guide Layla out of the tomb, but Layla stays where she is

Harrow leaves and the two of them go to Marc's body

Yaz takes the opportunity to say a prayer in Hebrew

Layla gets up, ready to take revenge on Harrow and kill him

Yaz asks her what she's doing and when Layla tells her, she quickly grabs her arm, forcing her to stop

She tells Layla very plainly that they can't face Harrow on their own; they have no powers, no back up, it's just the two of them and she isn't about to kill anybody.

Layla then coldly replies, "I guess it's just me then."

Yaz follows after, preferring to keep an eye on Layla to keep her from getting herself killed

They manage to blend in with Harrow's followers until they reach the point in the desert

Here's the problem I'm running into: Yaz would be ready to become an avatar if it means stopping Harrow so I need to come up with a reason why she wouldn't accept Taweret (if anybody has any suggestions let me know)

As it stands, she doesn't in that moment, but she is more willing to trust Taweret then Layla is

At the very least she asks where they can find Khonshu and how to let him out once they find him

They make it to the pyramid, she and Layla sneaking into the chamber to free Khonshu

When Layla refuses to be Khonshu's avatar, he then turns his sites to Yaz, appealing to her desire to make up for the wrong she has done and promising that their methods need not end in death

Yaz refuses knowing it's the only way to save Marc and Steven

Khonshu goes to fight Ammit, he fails, Ammit leaves and Layla and Yaz are trapped inside

Two options going forward

Layla agrees to be Taweret's temporary avatar, Yaz does not become an avatar to anyone and Layla busts them both out of there

I got back and take the time to establish Thoth as still being around and working along side Taweret in the barge. Thoth offers his services to fight Ammit and Yaz then becomes his avatar. (I'm picking Thoth to tie into Yaz's background as a librarian and translator as well as his connections to the moon and underworld. If anybody more versed in Egyptology has another suggestion, please let me know)

If we go with option 1

Layla either gives her a lift to Cario or Yaz steals a jeep and drives there herself

If she has the jeep she makes her grand entrance by slamming it full force into Harrow before getting out to check on Marc and Steven

She fights some of Ammit's followers on her own, but spends most of the fight getting people to safety and as far away from Harrow as possible

If we go with option 2

Yaz gets her own costume and she and Layla both fly themselves to Cario

Need a beat where Yaz tries to quickly explain to Steven what happened while slightly geeking out over her own costume (it has pockets)

She's more involved in the fight, she, Layla, Marc and Steven all working in sync together

Either way, Yaz eventually goes down causing Marc to get cornered and Jake to front

Yaz shakes it off long enough to realize the massacre unfolding in front of her

Without thinking she jumps to her feet and full on tackles who she assumes to Marc to the ground to get him to stop

He pushes her off him, getting her into a choke hold just before Marc fronts again

He instantly drops Yaz, horrified at what almost happened, apologizing over and over again and saying he blacked out

Steven fronts and pulls Yaz to her feet, checking on her while Marc panics trying to assure Steven he has no idea what happened

Yaz believes them, but there is no time to dwell on it since Harrow has to be dealt with

Ammit is bound to Harrow and Khonshu orders Marc to finish it

Yaz is first to speak up, telling Marc not to do it, that enough people are dead as it is, Khonshu's will is done and he doesn't have to do a damn thing that pigeon says anymore

Marc backs down and Khonshu sticks to his word releasing Marc and Steven

What happens next, will have to wait for season 2

For my own speculation:

Layla is taking some time for herself after everything because Marc still is partially responsible for her father’s death plus he did just ditch her and send her divorce papers through the mail. She wants to make it work, but they’ve got some stuff to work through. Plus she might still be doing avatar stuff on her own.

Yaz stays in London and still has her job at the museum. Obviously depends if I decide to make her an avatar as well if she has her own duties to attend to. Either way, she’s in closer contact with Steven and Marc then Layla is at the moment.

[bendarius]

the way the initial reaction to s4 was blown to be because of brooklynn and kenji. not saying it isn’t justified as i get ppl can be uncomfortable w it, but the fact is that it wasn’t about how darius wasn’t really given the space to show emotion even as the main character. he’s the youngest and has the overwhelming pressure of being leader while dealing with loss and the season told us no he did not notice other people having nightmares implying that he doesn’t have them (they could’ve said “wait, the others are having nightmares *too*?” but they didn’t). for gods sake dreamwork’s post about “this is what a natural born leader looks like” That boy is traumatized beyond belief

why are they so afraid to show us him suffering the traumatic effects of the events that have happened so far. And anyways i started off with mentioning the fan reaction at first because when i first watched it i didn’t notice it until someone pointed it out. and man, when that was brought to my attention…the proportion of people angry over the ship vs over how darius was treated in writing. like i like camp cretaceous for diversity. i love the fact they have a black character as the main one. but they’ve been treating darius like he’s indestructible. He’s 12/13 how are you going to treat the main kid like this

1.) the responsibility of keeping 5 other people alive. he’s just a kid and even older people would have that eating away at him. did no one try and comfort darius about ben aside from yaz. no one just asking how he was doing sure they brought ben up but more as a “we all think about him” moment. knowing how critical darius is of himself why weren’t we given moments where it focused more on his guilt. we got one nightmare in the first episode and it being brought up in the reunion but…the lack of clarity we have on his feelings aside from the one-off Yeah he feels guilty okay back to survival really bugs me the more i think about it bc it clearly stuck w him enough to affect his self sacrificing mindset

2.) nearly died on the boat! he almost drowned and got eaten by a mosasaurus and i know the boat ship wrecked immediately after and they’re all “used to being at risk for death” but why did they all agree to let this kid down. no one but kenji jumping in to save him like it’s nice that they show him as not the one that always saves people but. Him being the first to ask if they’re alright when they wash up on the island. no one asking if he’s okay after suffering the water (honestly howd they all get on the island without drowning or getting eaten they were pretty far but that’s another thing).

3.) bringing up his dad only to have darius use him as a device in his lie and having kash discount that as a lie! i get that man is terrible but doing that to darius esp w us knowing he’s still grieving (cause there’s no way he’s gotten over it even if it’s been 6 months. stacked trauma on grief = Not Processed Properly!). and having darius only bring his dad up for that purpose when grief is still fresh. Man. Man i just think about it and i get pissed

4.) was held hostage by a white man. i get it. he’s bad but the amount of times darius had to appease that man made me so sick. the simple act of being held hostage is traumatizing in itself and he was with this horrible ass man who tortures dinosaurs (one of the last connections he has to his father), being watched over by robots nonstop even when he’s trying to sleep, knowing that if he makes one wrong move kash could easily decide to kill him; this emotionally volatile man, Almost having to contribute to the project before brooklynn hacked BRAD-X. it’s like they can only show him be vulnerable if he’s in physically precarious situations where his knowledge can’t save him

5.) during that part we dont see darius process the situation in his own time. sure there might’ve been a crunch where it would’ve interrupted the plot but you know what? we didn’t need all those brooklynn and kenji scenes either. s3 worked so well bc we had equal time in all the dynamics they wanted to show us and from the start of s4 that was clearly skewed (the fact that romance wasn’t ever a big factor in jwcc and just. the amt of screentime). we didn’t get to see darius being comforted by someone other than brooklynn for less than a minute about the tension between kenji and him, and we don’t even see ben and darius interact. not even through ship goggles. yaz and sammy were shown talking aside from the large chunk that brooklyn and kenji took up. Why not darius feeling distraught over how kenji is treating him. i’m just saying if there was a time issue and bc of that not being able to focus on how darius is feeling, MAKE TIME. that’s how i’d understand b/k being brought up as much as it did; bc it intrudes on darius’ time and the equal spread of dynamics. they couldve added in a moment where darius had time to himself in his designated bedroom while hostage (which we don’t get to see. why) and thinking to himself. What was he eating during his time there. all we are shown is how much he’s suffering bc of the things he’s forced to do to survive under kash but he still doesn’t break. he has to keep going

6.) i’m hoping this overt treatment was only for this season bc they did show his dad feelings (if only for a little s1-2) and his feelings of guilt toward ben (s2-3) but while this can be interpreted as him repressing his emotions for the sake of keeping the group going, we haven’t been shown that in a specific moment. this is all still speculation even as obvious as it seems to me as a viewer i’m just trying to make sense of what they’ve given us in canon. can we have darius show us how he himself is feeling without having it based off another person

the one thing i enjoyed is darius having been given space to finally have to choose between dinos and his friends. he may have had his eyes set on the obvious choice back when he was arguing with sammy about releasing that dinosaur, and i can see how he’d be stuck between the big picture of the right thing vs the local right thing (although it’s strange how thatd usually be a choice made in a healthier mindset where you’re given the space to think abt morals rather than a need to survive in which the obvious choice would be to save your friends. perhaps it can be explored as a way for darius to hold onto his sense of self/his father) but i’m glad they showed there’s not always a compromise which is what they had darius do in the past 3 seasons. that was a nice moment, i had thought….until immediately hes in the hostage situation, having to lie about his father, and deciding to stay in the hostage situation (seriously. ben and yaz the only ones logical enough to say NO to his plan…my favorite trio for real). and you know it’s nice that they gave us ben and darius’ arcs reflecting off one another, but the fact that ben feels like he progressed more than darius (from his identity confusion to finding himself, and from “i don’t want to hurt by leaving dinos behind again” to “i will open up despite the vulnerability”) having two different starts and endings…i don’t know. feels really off. technically all the kids are main characters but darius was introduced as the main main one. s3 gave us some emotional vulnerability when he was fighting to save ben, desperate not to repeat his mistakes, and this was one of the times where he gets to confide in someone (the other being sammy while he was being critical of himself before she tries to say it isn’t his fault and he immediately counters her with Get to the boat. so. not rly) and while it’s a Woo ben and darius bonding moment giving fuel to how they can understand and confide in one another, i just wish that wasn’t the only instance and we had another one where darius got to talk about his dad and all the complex feelings he must be having. it makes sense for him to repress it to keep moving forward in fear of not being able to function but that’s all speculation. as a kid whose brain is still malleable (like the others but since he’s the youngest) he should NOT be left to do this i just know he’s fighting inner demons

my point is: even if he wasn’t a COMPLETE plot device in this season like how people are saying (not complete bc as little as they were we got peeks into his psyche. Even if it was only for a minute total adding up), i totally get why they do say that because the ratio of his inner struggles vs what the show focuses on is so skewed. as the main character, shouldn’t we have more insight on how he’s feeling aside from having to speculate off things given to us in s1? and from the way the fanbase treats this boy sometimes, like multiple people saying they didn’t know that darius was the main character because of how much of the fandom is focused on other things…yeah. alright. like 2 people i saw talking abt his treatment this season whats w that. maybe this fandom treatment in itself is a sign of how much the show itself doesn’t flesh him out as much as it should, but i can easily counter that considering how much the fanbase fills in the blanks with other topics. i’m holding out for s5’s treatment in hopes they actually spend some time exploring his feelings and that this was just so they could have space to introduce elements, but it’s a flimsy hope because they had the space to explore other campers feelings and just. urghhhhhh.

[cc-mr-vip]

Season 3 Initial Thoughts

- ℂ𝔸𝕄ℙ ℂℝ𝔼𝕋𝔸ℂ𝔼𝕆𝕌𝕊 𝕊ℙ𝕆𝕀𝕃𝔼ℝ𝕊 𝔸ℍ𝔼𝔸𝔻-

Holy shit, this Season was a doozy. I absolutely loved this season. It was a lot more intense than both Season 1 and 2, but had the realism from Season 1 that I loved so much.

Also I was fucking wrong, boys. Well not completely. I did make the prediction that they’ve been on the island for at least 2 months, because for some reason that was a reasonable number in my head. A nice believable number for the kids to have survived and did all they did, but six months!? Like half a year!? They would have been 1.5 years away from getting blown up from the volcano in JW2. Bruh...

The Scorpius Rex probably had the most terrifying design I had ever seen for a hybrid dinosaur. It felt way more threatening than both the Indominus and Indoraptor, probably because of it’s very odd hodgepodge of a design. I also love the twist of it being extremely unstable and causing other dinosaurs to lash out after being poisoned. Having this thing chase around the kids was definitely terrifying to say the least. Also wasn’t expecting Sammy to get spiked by the poison too (and turn an odd shade of green, sorta narmy lmao). I knew she wasn’t going to die, but I wasn’t expecting a nice squick shot of the quills in her abdomen that was a fun treat.

Also finally! Kenji, my boy, finally has some character backstory and development! I will probably do a more deeper analysis on Kenji’s drawing of his family, but is already kinda confirmed what kind of person his father is. He didn’t care enough about his son to want to put pictures of him on the wall, only himself. It makes sense why Kenji was so self absorbed as well. I found it pretty heartbreaking that Kenji risked his life to try rescue his father’s “precious” art statue. I’m not sure if he tried to rescue it because he was scared of his father scolding him or if he just wanted to bring it back for his father for a pat on the back. Either way, it’s just brings up sad implications all around. 

Honestly Kenji had some absolutely great development this season, in my opinion, way more so than the others had and way more interesting too. I think the episode that really marked a change in Kenji was Episode 5 (Eye of the Storm), when Kenji took it upon himself to be in charge of packing. For most of the episode, he was acting like typical Kenji, but he began to take his job way more seriously when it came to the safety of his friends. When Darius took after Ben, he properly took charge of the group (nice contrast to Season 1 where he was more nonchalant about it and tried to pass off responsibility). It was around this point that we didn’t see Kenji acting all high and haughty anymore, he was fully devoted to saving his friends.

I definitely wasn’t expecting Kenji to run off with the laptop to make the trade and save Brooklynn. The boy tried to fight a man with a loaded gun to save his friend, how foolish and brave of him to try do so. It was amazing to see Kenji, who spent most of the series cowering behind others, fully devoting himself to protecting Brooklynn in the finale (leading her to safety and shielding her with his own body). I do think that Kenji has some issues regarding losing friends; I think that the Camp Fam really is the first friends he’s ever gotten, which is why losing them hurt him so much (Sammy’s faux death and Brooklynn getting kidnapped). 

The way at the end when Kenji refused to forgive and accept the idea that they were going to risk Brooklynn’s safety over the laptop...it was a very mature way to handle that situation. Pragmatically, Kenji was absolutely right, they shouldn’t be risking their lives over a stinkin’ laptop. It’s not they’re responsibility, they’re just kids. But his friends were good people and Kenji played along, but decided to take matters into his own hands. His friends are important to him and he’s going to do anything to keep them safe. 

From haughty jock who only seemed to care about himself to a team member willing to risk everything to keep everyone safe, Kenji really has grown so much as a character.

All in all, I’m surprised the kids actually made it off the island this time. My friends and I were placing bets on whether or not they would make it off the island this season. Everyone had voted that they wouldn’t, but they did...hopefully? They got a stowaway so I’m wondering how they’re going to deal with that. Go back to the island? Keep going? Clearly it all isn’t over because Kenji’s character arc isn’t quite solved yet. I wonder how many more season CC will have. I do enjoy the series, but there’s only so much they can keep right?

This initial thoughts ended up more of a Kenji reaction post, so I’ll dedicate the end here to some other thoughts I had overall:

Yasmina and Sammy’s friend-(or maybe more)-ship was really cute and wholesome. I found Yasmina’s chumminess afterwards Hello-Zuko-Here levels of second hand embarrassment xD (Are they a maybe-couple? When Brooklynn mentioned crushes that Sammy might’ve had she mentioned Yaz lmao).

Thank god, Bumpy didn’t die. She has her own family now...for at least 1.5 more years until the volcano explodes...

Ben, you stupid child, of course you want to get off the island. I would have knocked you out and dragged you on the boat myself.

It was nice of the pilot and mercenary to board the kids upon finding out they were children. Even though they died / ended up splitting up the kids, the meant well.

I can’t believe Dr. Wu was in this season. He isn’t as much as a bad guy as I thought. He still left the kids, but at least he didn’t...kill them? Set the bar too low maybe?

And that’s all for now. This being a chock-full Kenji season, I’ll probably be doing some analysis or posts on him, but thought I’d make a reaction post with all my initial thoughts for now!

[pessimistic-sloth]

JWCC S3 SPOILERS !!!!

season three was oh my gahhh SO FRICKIN GOOD I CAN'T EVEN- but it was the darkest and saddest season and there was angst EVERYWHERE, i cried on every single episode (not an exaggeration), yasammy is literally canon with, like, EVERYTHING, brook ACTUALLY ASKS SAMMY IF SHE HAS A CRUSH ON YAZ. AND SAMMY DOESN'T SAY NO. the whole episode with yaz finding the antidote and having flashbacks about sammy was so bittersweet, oh my god, and it was so obviously NOT platonic.

and darilyn is SO happening in future, these bitches start hugging each other at every inconvenience, and the way they were looking at each other when brook slips the laptop through the vent, oof the YEARNING, oh and our jungle boy NEEDS THERAPY.

I can't even get started with ben, he's so damaged and thinks he isn't really part of the team, doesn't want to be part of the team. he's spent so much time alone, he doesn't even want other people around anymore ever since he realised he can handle himself, and no one in the camp even bothers him. although, darius tries so hard to get him to talk to him, ben always pushes him away and to the point where they literally got in a physical fight.

I was initially really sad at the lack of benji moments but that's actually understandable, ben doesn't let anyone get near him, he thinks the campers were probably better without him, and you need to be really patient to talk to him, which, like, kenji iSn't- and there's too much benji angst, TOO MUCH (if it's even happening), but ben honestly needs time, his first thought at someone asking him how he is was that 'kenji must've asked him to do that so he can prank me' it proves how ben doesn't trust him, doesn't even know him well enough to know that kenji would never do that. even so, I still have hopes for the next season (that's what you call a stubborn bitch).

kenji. oh god, the daddy issues, the way he avoided those questions from sammy and the way he looks at that one family drawing, I'm hurt. the way he keeps on trying to impress the others and do anything to have them like him and to prove it to them that he can help them. the scene with darius telling him he messed up made me really sad and then even ben makes it seem like it was his fault for going after him, I can't believe how he must've felt at the time when his only intention was to make sure ben was okay. his family life isn't great and he's probably spent his whole life having people only like him for the money he's got and these are the only people he's considered friends, he just wants them to actually like him. all this adds up to why he's my favourite, I absolutely love this boy so much.

[isagrimorie]

[initial reactions] Doctor Who - Revolution of the Daleks

TLDR: I liked it! But I do have some nitpicks. But bottom line, I liked it! Especially the exit! 

Apologies going in, if it’s rambling and incoherent.

First off, I’m going to get my criticisms out of the way:

- They really need to hire these two people:

a) Sensitivity readers

b) They need to have people of color in charge of casting. Andy Pryor has done a great job casting people but. Since they opened up casting more actors of color to be more diverse... most people in guest roles die. So it ends up being Not A Great Look.

It’s the kind of breezy: We’re hiring more actors of color without really considering the optics of it. Colorblind casting in this way shouldn’t be colorblind. More diversity behind the scenes is needed, especially in casting.

Colorblind casting isn’t representation. Execs have to consider how it looks that a black man is helping create ‘Security Drones’ for the government.

c) I get why Jack Robertson lived, and I’m actually okay with it because I know Chibbs is going somewhere and he’s interconnecting Specials to be their own kind of continuity, so next Special or series we will have Robertson appearing. But I can’t believe the Doctor believed Robertson. Unless she’s really learned from not interfering with politics, but man I wish there’s more vindication to that. I do have a sense of where this is going though, more on that later.  

d) I wish they’d gone harder with the Dalek = Police thing.

e) I really kind of wish the Doctor escaped on her own.

And now for my thoughts and the happy!

RYAN! I LOVE RYAN. I LOVE RYAN BEING EMOTIONALLY MATURE AND PUSHING BACK ON THE DOCTOR. It felt... earned that they do and, Ryan’s always been the more hesitant of the three and the more grounded. I love that it’s Ryan that the Doctor confided in, I’ve always felt like Ryan was the one Thirteen connected to the most after Grace died. And I love his development, ever since Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos Ryan is the first to quote the Doctor back to herself from the guns rule and now here to ‘New can be scary’, reminding the Doctor of her own words.

But also, I love that Ryan felt more connected to Earth, with his friends. Yaz was always the one who looks to the horizon. I like that Ryan pushed back on the smokescreen the Doctor tried to put up. Ryan was tired of the smokescreen. He had 10 months to work on his feelings about it and realized... he liked being home.

I wish we saw more what they were doing at home, like what Chibnall wrote for the Ponds in Power of Three. I did see this was his arc he was building to.

I liked that Graham was torn but eventually his loyalties are with Ryan.

I honestly think the fam thought the Doctor was just gone for a week, her time.

Also: FINALLY A COMPANION EXIT WHERE THEY’RE THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY. And because it’s time.

NO MORE TRAPPED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE OR DYING OR BEING CONVERTED PLEASE. Anyway, that is why I was vindicated because I was getting pretty antsy at all the twitter posts almost gleeful at the thought of companion death.

Nope. No more please. No more world ending, universe ending, heartbreaking ends. I want a Jo Grant walk away, and that is what happened. (Er, I hope we don’t get a Tegan leaving from Yaz, though. Sad and disillusioned walk away).

Yaz. Oh, dear, Yaz, who seems to have tossed her career away running after the Doctor’s shining star. I loved her conversation with Jack, he was a nice contrast and sounding board. Also, Jack was much kinder to the Doctor because they didn’t miss each other, the Doctor (according to RTD’s retcon) deliberately left Jack on Satellite Five.

Yaz is willing to run and jump without looking because of the Doctor and I love that we got her feelings about this.

And, of course, the Doctor. The moment Ryan said she missed 10 months, I felt she knew the clock was ticking on her ‘fam’. She’s trying to be good to them and do right by them.

(The Doctor knows Ryan’s ready to leave, she knew it. She’s trying to be in denial about it. But she knows).

It’s a small detail but when she processed the ‘ten months’ bit, she quickly looked to Ryan. Because if it’s one of the subtext things around is that she wanted to be a better father to Ryan than his real dad. But she still skipped out on him unknowingly.

The way he just brushed it off, because the worst part is. Ryan is used to it.

It’s sad that the Doctor opening up to the fam was brought on after a decades’ long solitary, and probably a promise to be better. But, she calculated wrong, or the TARDIS deliberately chose to go to that time. Whatever the case, just when she’s opening up to them is when Ryan decided his time with the Doctor was at an end.

God, the moment when Thirteen said: “Mostly... angry.”

I felt this. hard.

I think it was @ssaalexblake​ who mentioned that Thirteen acknowledging she’s angry might help with all of Thirteen’s repressed anger issues. And I think these are baby steps towards that.

She’s actually been so angry for so long, but she kept pushing it down. Like I said, Thirteen, in a way, reminds me of Raylan Givens of Justified. People think he’s mild mannered, but as his ex-wife amicably opined, Raylan was the angriest man she knew.

And I feel this for this Doctor but at least, now she’s addressing it. The first step in fixing a problem, is identifying the problem.

This was made in 2019. Thirteen being in a repeating lockdown felt very 2020 to me. The things that made me go: Oof, was the Harry Potter thing, the Doctor’s always loved HP. Unfortunately it’s post-2020 hindsight where we go: whoof.

I love Thirteen still mouthing off and being obnoxious towards other Doctor Who baddies. The Weeping Angel thing is cool and so are the Silents. BUT ALSO THE DOCTOR CALLED THE P’TING TINY! AND SHE TRIED TO EAT THE PRISON BARS. 

And then, of course, being more obnoxious with the Daleks. It’s pretty clear the difference in rawness of the Doctor’s feelings for the Daleks and the Cybermen. The Daleks’s an old ember. Her feelings for them are ice cold. A purity of feeling. The Daleks are evil and she has no compunction on killing them, the Cybermen? More personal and a raw nerve.

She’s willing to be cold towards the Daleks. 

I really like that Yaz has more skin in the game, and she knows what she can lose now. And after her talking with Jack, after seeing his perspective on it, and from his words knows that sometimes the Doctor just disappears from people’s lives.

And I love the pushback:

Skewered.

But true because she is trying to stay still and be with the fam and not leave them. But the unfortunate truth is, the Doctor does run away, and the Doctor does leave people behind and a lot of the times, the Doctor doesn’t come back because they’re an emotional coward.

The thing about Thirteen is she’s probably the longest of the Doctors to not disappoint her companions. She’s always managed to stop bad guys and always been there for them.  It’s an impressive track record for the Doctor. She’s built herself up in their eyes as someone they can rely on, and then she failed them by not getting back to them in time.

It’s not her fault, and none of them know how long it’s been for the Doctor, by the way she’s asked them I feel like they think she’s only been gone for a week.

Honestly, I’m impressed how the Doctor didn’t make it about her -- being in prison for longer than they thought. She’s looking at it from their point of view, because she already knows what big leaps in time would affect her friends.

TBH Revolution of the Daleks felt like shades of Last Christmas in that the Doctor regretted missing out time with her companion/s. In Last Christmas, the Doctor got his time back with Clara, in RotD, time passed.

Back to the Doctor and the Daleks tho.

This reminded of Twelve’s: “You are monsters. That is the role you seem determined to play. So it seems I must play mine. The Man that stops the Monsters.”

(Look, Chibnall’s Moffat references aren’t as sledgehammer, but he does reference a lot of Moffat’s things.).

Except with Thirteen, I’m actually more terrified. Jodie does this thing where her eyes goes black and she kind of disappears into herself, this is what happened here. This promise isn’t actually good IMO.

This is not a comforting face. This is a ‘I’m gonna kill a whole boatload of Daleks face and I’m not sorry, in fact I might enjoy doing that’ face.

(And, a brief aside to Robertson, I feel like the Specials have their own kind of special ‘movie’ continuity and more of his story will play out in the Specials, where hopefully he will get his comeuppance because, to me, I feel that’s where it’s going. This is more groundwork laying.

I don’t like it when the Doctor interferes with Human affairs, especially government -- because look what happened with Harriet Jones and how the Doctor broke the Golden Age. Also, I don’t want real world leaders to exist in the Whoverse because I want them to have a completely different track from us. So. Yeah, New Year’s Specials have their ongoing storyline. I’m actually not mad about it, and I enjoy Mr. Big’s performance. He’s a sleezeball. A sleezeball that knows more now. (He isn’t T rump but he isn’t better either). At least I find him enjoyable and not outright offensive. I’m okay seeing him again for the next Specials. I hope next time he does get his comeuppance.)

Now, the goodbyes:

 The HUG.

We’ve been waiting for the Doctor to be more physically affectionate with the fam, and it took the Doctor being locked down for decades (maybe?), and Ryan and Graham leaving for her to hug them. And we’re all right, Thirteen gives great hugs.

The feeling Thirteen’s been running away from is here, sadness. It’s good that Yaz decided to stay other wise... she’s just going to run headlong into forgetting her problems, Doctor Style.

And again, learning and re-learning things: ‘It’s okay to be sad.’

Oh, Thirteen.

(Before Twelve, I don’t think I was this sympathetic to the Doctor -- no wait, I was with Nine. Ten and Eleven tested my patience but it’s with Twelve and Thirteen where I’m 100% invested in the Doctor.

I also love that they’re kind of soft touching the Timeless Child thing, and as someone on twitter mentioned, this feels like an examination of an adoption story. The Doctor is going to search for their identity, their home).

I honestly wish Jack stayed in the TARDIS with Thirteen and Yaz. Jack’s a great balance, especially pushing back at the Doctor and her tactics. Her NUCLEAR tactics. I am glad that the Doctor’s still a dick to Jack, not much of an asshole as they were when the Doctor was Ten but still a dick.

Also, one thing I really love about Barrowman is that when he’s in Doctor Who, he knows it’s not his show and he doesn’t showboat, and the man can showboat. 

I’d rather Jack than random guy that I didn’t even know was gonna happen until very late.

Anyway, TLDR to all this: I enjoyed this very much! Still a lot to be parsed through in things that needs to be parsed through as I mentioned, but on the whole? I loved it.

[liron-ao3]

Brilliant

A Doctor Who–Destiel–Malec Oneshot

"This is brilliant!" the Doctor exclaims. She pushes some buttons on the console of the TARDIS. "Brilliant!"

"How is this 'brilliant'?" Alec asks. "We're trapped in a TV show."

"No, we are trapped in a TV series, Shadowhunter," Yaz hisses.

Castiel huffs in frustration. "It's probably just one of Gabriel's stupid jokes."

"Gabriel?" the Doctor asks. "Oh, the Archangel. Amy loved him, but not as much as she loved you, Cass."

"Where do you know his name from?" Dean demands to know.

The Doctor rolls her eyes. "I watched the show, Dean. Crappy ending, sorry."

"You... what!?" Dean asks.

"Nevermind. That's more brain-wracking than the usual time travel paradoxes. But I'm thrilled to meet you all. Umm—what are you doing, Magnus?" She raises an eyebrow at the warlock who lets his magic run over the console.

"This is worse than the technology in the Institute," he mutters.

Alec pulls him away cautiously. "Maybe you shouldn't mess with it then, love?" he suggests, smiling strained, holding tight on his husband's hand.

"Aww, you're the reboot version. I was so happy when Netflix saw sense. And your boys are the cutest," the Doctor chirps.

"Boys?" Magnus asks.

"Doctor, they might be from episode one of season four. Look at their clothes," Yaz whispers, but it's loud enough for Dean to hear it.

"There are only three seasons of Shadowhunters," he states. "It ends when they marry and Clary loses her memories, but gets them back in the last few seconds. It wasn't the best ending, but at least the gays were happy." Dean's grin reaches from ear to ear before it falters at Castiel's stern look.

"Dean, did you watch 3b without me?"

Dean shrugs. "If you wouldn't always run out on me or die then we coulda watched it. It was on my playlist for aeons. And I needed something to distract me from… You know." He waves his hand up and down the angel.

"Jesus! That's like that time when Sam and I were in this weird Hollywood dimension, with that Russian guy that looked like Cass!"

"Wait!" Magnus says. "I watched Doctor Who for six decades and Supernatural for fifteen years—I agree, Doctor, the 'finale' was crap. But if you all know us from a show called Shadowhunters, then we must be in some kind of dimension that morphs everything into a TV series that everyone else has watched."

The Doctor claps her hands together. "The French mistake—one of my favourites!"

"No, Russian." Dean shakes his head and rolls his eyes. He always loved the Doctor and was excited for a woman to take over the role, but he thinks he might have been able to live without her enthusiasm about their little get together. They have a world to save, after all.

"Chuck has a strange sense of humour, but that doesn't sound like one of his interventions," Alec states. "Why would he put us all in the TARDIS?"

"What do we all have in common?" Dean asks.

"We're kinda humans," Alec says.

"Time Lady."

"Angel."

"Warlock. And you're not fully human either, Alexander."

The shadowhunter chews his lips.

"But you three have some kind of mojo," Dean supplies.

The Doctor furrows her brow. "You're right. Cass has grace, Magnus magic, and timelord technology is so highly evolved, it could be seen as magical. If there is a—" she trails off and points her sonic screwdriver first at the warlock then at the angel. Then she listens to her ship. "You're right," she says and putters about the console.

"Care to fill us in?" Alec asks.

The Doctor pushes a button and a high-pitched sound makes them all cover their ears. "Gotcha!"

"What?" Castiel asks.

"I know what we have in common. We all have a fam. You've got the SPN family, and you," she turns to Alec and Magnus, "your fans call themselves shadowfam. And I?" She smiles brightly. "I have Yaz, Graham, and Ryan."

"You agreed on team TARDIS, Doctor," Magnus reminds her.

"Still, feels like fam to me." She shrugs. "So…" She quirks her lips in thought. "Some blood magic, maybe?"

"But family doesn't end in blood," Dean argues.

"Right, Bobby taught you that. Wish the showrunners remembered that in season 15," Alec murmurs. Dean gives him a strange side look.

"Is something wrong, Dean?"

"Nah, Cass," he says and pulls his gaze from the intertwined hands of the Lightwood-Banes. "So, maybe some rune thingy?"

Alec pulls a face. "Could turn Yaz and you into forsakens. Maybe even the Doctor. Better not."

"Can't you just put the coordinates in and throw us out in the bunker. Or in front of it? No idea if the warding would keep the TARDIS out or not." Dean frowns.

"Wouldn't work," Magnus says. "If this dimension, or whatever it is, thinks that we are all fictional, then the coordinates can't bring us into our worlds. We might end up in your dimension. I like our vampires better."

"Awesome!" Dean groans.

Magnus curls his fingers around his chin in deep thought. "I could summon a dimension demon, but they usually demand things one would rather die than do."

"Like what?" Castiel asks.

"The last time I had to pay one, he wanted me to drink seelie wine."

"Doesn't sound too bad," Dean says.

"You've never had seelie wine. That stuff is worse than the touch of a Djinn." Dean whistles in acknowledgement.

"Could still be worth it. I mean we need to get back to our friends, and yours are surely waiting, too," Yaz supplies.

"The TARDIS is stuck in this dimension, Doc?" Alec asks.

"Yes. Positive."

"Then we should begin," Magnus says, conjuring chalks. "We all will be home soon."

***

They stand in a circle around the pentagram drawn on the floor of the TARDIS.

"We must initiate a bond. Once this bond is sealed,..." Magnus starts.

"...it cannot be broken until the demon retreats," Castiel ends his sentence and smiles softly at Alec, who blushes fiercely.

"Well, this time, I won't be the one who'll break it in a gay panic," he huffs. Yaz snickers.

Dean furrows his brow, ignoring Castiel eyeing him. He recites the summoning spell together with Magnus and the Doctor. Green flames rise in their midst. They aren't hot, but their sight hurts the eyes. A deep growl speaks to them, and Castiel turns pale.

"I haven't heard this demonic dialect in a while," he calls over the noises. "Did he say what I think he said?"

Magnus worries his lip between his teeth. "I think he did."

"I can't."

"What, Cass. What does he ask for? Give it to him. It can't be that bad," Dean shouts.

"It isn't. At least not for me." Castiel looks at the Doctor. "Any Supernatural sequels you've seen by any chance?"

"No, sorry. I got stuck at the Destiel YouTube vids. Didn't get around to checking future releases. But you two always reminded me of Rose and me, you know?" She looks sad at the memory of her lost love.

"No. A human doppelgänger won't do," Castiel says firmly. He says something in the demon's tongue and gets a rumble in reply.

Magnus nods at him. "My magic can hold the circle. But hurry."

The others stare at them. "Why doesn't the TARDIS translate his words?" Yaz asks.

"This demon is too old," the Doctor says. "Even older than evil itself. No one speaks this language anymore but angels and demon-blooded ones, as it seems."

"Lucky me, huh?" Castiel presses out. He lets go of Magnus' hand and turns to Dean. The warlock holds the gap with his magic. "I know how you see yourself, Dean…"

"We don't have time for the whole death speech. Fast forward," Magnus hisses, clearly struggling to hold the bond.

Castiel frowns at him but nods. He turns his face back to Dean. "I'm sorry. I know you never wanted that to happen. It's simply what the demon demands. It doesn't have to mean anything, okay?"

"What are you talking about, man?"

Castiel smiles at him. "I love you." And then he leans in and kisses him. It's chaste but after a moment of shock, Dean returns the kiss, and his hand cards through Castiel's hair. Thunder booms around them and dense fog separates the different duos. The demon disappears with a screeching noise and when the fog thins out, the places where the two couples were standing are empty.

"It worked!" the Doctor rejoices. Yaz grins at her. "Let's get to the boys."

"No, Mulder, this isn't a UFO. It's surely just a high-quality film set," a redhead in pantsuit and coat says as she strolls into the room.

"Scully!" the Doctor cheers. "Brilliant!"

[whittakerjodie]

Ex Machina

Request: Can u pls do a 13 x reader where when first judoon catch 13, reader is with her and ended up in prison too when u tried to shield the doctor? But 13 negotiate ur release from prison despite ur protest. She assumed ur safe back on earth. After jack broke her out, she found out from the fam that they never see u again. What happened to u?

Words: 1.7k 

Authors Note: This isn’t like, super explicit love stuff I guess? but I really liked the concept and stuff. I hope you like it regardless! Thank you for requesting. SPOILERS FOR REVOLUTION OF THE DALEKS

Nothing was ever supposed to get onto the TARDIS, through its defenses. Yet the Judoon had broken in with extreme ease, with the sole intent of taking the Doctor away. Although she was usually the one protecting you, the roles were reversed since she was the target. You stepped in front of her as they vaguely stated her sentence, not realizing what exactly you’d just gotten yourself into.

With a flash, you were no longer on the space-time machine but in a dark room. The only light source was a small window, if you could call it that. In reality, it was just a small rectangular cut out of the wall, which appeared to be made of rock. Slowly, though, other lights worked to make things visible for you. You were standing on another rock, in the center of the room. Quickly you stepped off of it, looking around frantically.

The Doctor and the Judoon were nowhere to be found; you were alone.

“Hello?!?” You yelled. You sprinted over to the wall, setting your hands against it. It was cold to the touch and non responsive. Knocking against it hurt your knuckles, but you couldn’t give up. You shouted again, hoping to catch the attention of someone nearby. The only response you got, though, was a loud snarl from the other side of the wall. You jumped back with a gasp. You were alone in the room, but not in the entire building. (Assuming you were in a building in the first place)

“Where am I?” You whispered to yourself. There was another underlying question at the forefront of your mind: where was the Doctor?

______

Immediately when she arrived in her own cell, the Doctor thought of you. She knew you weren’t dead; the Judoon had simply used a teleportation device. But you had jumped in front of her, and likely experienced the effects of that. At that point, she had to assume that you were in the same place as her, just in a different room or area. If not- no, she didn’t want to consider the idea of you being lost somewhere.

It was a couple of days later when she was able to talk with a Judoon representative. Just asking wasn’t enough, but her questionable behaviour- such as attempting to eat part of her cage- was enough to earn some scolding. It was annoying, but a nice enough opening for her to be able to ask about her situation.

“Where is my friend? Y/N, they were in front of me when you brought me here. I think they might have come here too.”

“Judoon officers are not allowed to disclose prisoner information,” The Judoon grunted. The Doctor tensed against her chair. She could deal with whatever punishment they thought necessary for her. But she wouldn’t accept your imprisonment for no reason. They’d also mentioned a life sentence when they took the both of you. Her life sentence in particular- and that was significantly longer than however long you could last.

“What if I give you something in return?” the Doctor tried. It was her last bargaining chip- her only bargaining chip, in fact. “Y/n didn’t do anything. They don’t know as much as I know about the universe. For all they knew they were protecting me from danger. They don’t deserve to be here, please.”

The Judoon paused, then looked at what the Doctor assumed was one-way glass. They nodded at the glass after a few moments. “What information can be offered?”

“Information about me. Who I am, what I've done. I don’t know everything but I’m willing to tell you everything you do know.”

Almost a day and 7000 extra charges later, she had finally finished telling the Judoon whatever information they asked for. Nearly her entire life; everything she knew to be true as of that moment. It was a lot, and she wasn’t looking forward to dealing with the consequences of admitting it. But the Judoon promised that they would release you, and that was enough for her to justify it all.

______

Promises are rarely ever kept, unfortunately, especially when it comes to law enforcement and the justice system. Completely unaware of what the Doctor had just given up for you, the days dragged on. At one point, a Judoon officer came. They explained that your charges were minor enough to warrant an exchange to a smaller, less solitary prison.

Your heart rate was nearly strong enough to drill through the rock walls as another Judoon joined you. The two officers lead you through the corridors where you could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing except for your own fear. How were the Doctor or your friends supposed to get you out when they were moving you? They would have no idea where you were going…

Your throat felt tighter than the shackles around your wrist as you were brought further and further away from the cell you’d already spent a couple weeks in. Panic was beginning to fully take hold of you, preventing you from making any decisions or ideas of escape. You weren’t sure what to do, if anything could be done at all.

“Prisoner 5506, yes?” A familiar voice. 

________

“Hi, I was in space jail!” The Doctor said cheerfully. Yaz, Graham, and Ryan were staring at her with wild eyes, the contents of the flat tossed about in the wind the TARDIS had created. She could’ve landed in a better place, but she was much too excited to see you and her other companions.

The confusion set in, though, when she noticed there were only three people in the flat. That confusion was exacerbated when Yaz roughly shoved her back, yelling that they were worried about her. As her face fell, the reality settled in. Clearly she’d been late again. How could she have been so careless flying the TARDIS? She had imagined that everything had been programmed right. She was wrong- and her best friends had paid a hard price because of it.

“How long have I been gone? A week?” the three shook their heads. “Two weeks?”

When they told her that she had been gone 10 months, she felt even more weight be suddenly added to the one she was already struggling to bear. The gap, which she had initially assumed to be small, had expanded into a massive chasm. With you not in the room, she began to feel worried that you’d fallen into it.

“Where’s Y/N?”

Neither of them needed to speak; the confusion in their eyes was enough to answer the Doctor’s question. Any following words were a courtesy that only served to pause her hearts in her chest.

“They were with you,” Ryan said darkly.

“Th-They left, ran after you-” Graham added. The Doctor broke through his words with her own.

“No, no, I know that, they were in jail with me, then the Judoon sent them back” She searched the faces of Ryan, Yaz, and Graham. Even Jack, who seemed just as confused. “They sent them back.” She finished with a whisper.

“I only came there for you,” Jack said. Before the Doctor could protest, he clarified: “I only came there for you, because you were the only one there.”

“No, no, that can’t be true,” She shook her head, panic starting to build. “I was in there for- for years, decades and if I was..”

She trailed off, unable to finish the question. The room felt silent as the horrible probability crawled across everyone.

Had you…?

_________

In hindsight, you shouldn’t have gone with him. You could’ve told the Juddoon who he was, what he did, why he did it. What he was probably going to do with you now. But your mouth would not open, your tongue would not move. Your legs, however, were operating on a different agenda. You followed him into the transport vehicle, knowing that it was not such a simple transport.

When the door shut, you felt like your fate had been sealed.

“Why?” Was all you could ask.

“That’s a stupid question,” The Master scolded. “Not sure what I was expecting, though.”

He grumbled his way through the sentence, though his face portrayed a dangerous level of glee. Like he’d laid a trap. He hadn’t, though. He was simply reaping the benefits of another's. How fitting of the Master, to essentially get another to do his dirty work for him.

“Sit.” He commanded. His TARDIS was still mostly the dirty shack that O had lived in. You were surprised, given the Master’s flair, that he had not improved on the design. The couch nearly sunk to the floor as you followed his command. You supposed, with the speed you followed his orders, that he could’ve hypnotized you. But truthfully, you were just too scared to do anything else. “First try, hm? Is this how far her pets have fallen...?”

“I’m not her pet-”

“But you went to prison for her didn’t you? And you know what would’ve happened if I hadn’t come to get you, don’t you.” By this time, he had walked across the length of his TARDIS to stare down at you from above. Another way to show who had the upper hand here.

“I would’ve…” Hell, you didn’t know. You’d been in there for a week, at least, judging by how many times you’d slept and done the odd daily routine. How much longer would they have kept you in there?

“Aww,” The Master cooed mockingly. “Too bad. One prison to the next!”

“But I’m not worth anything to you,” You tried, voice accidentally dripping with anxiety. “You can’t even fight the Doctor, she's still in prison.”

“Oh, but not for long.” The Master pointed out, returning to his console. The space time machine was in flight, taking you far away from the prison you’d been kept in. Far away from the Doctor. “I think we both know she’ll find her own way out. And when she does, I have a nice little bargaining chip for our next meeting”

You shrunk back into the couch as he threw his head back and began to laugh, wondering when exactly this next meeting would be- and how it would end.

[insomniziam]

Zigi PR Relationship Analysis

Firstly, I don’t think many people are aware of just how often fake relationships occur in the entertainment industry. They happen all of the time. And it isn’t a new thing, either. It dates all the way back to the early 20th century and what was known as Lavender Marriages, where men would marry women to hide the fact that they were gay. Although the practice has evolved since then, as it’s not necessarily about bearding anymore as it is about attracting attention, whether that be for a movie/tv show/musician/model and create hype around their relationship.

Okay, *cracks knuckles*, onto Zayn and Gigi. Zayn had a lot of people against him for two reasons; abruptly leaving the band and the mess of the end of an engagement to one Perrie Edwards (I haven’t heard that name in a while, LOL). He wanted to release solo music, but because so many people were angry at him he needed a way to distract them, and what better way to do that than a new relationship with an up and coming model who connections to the Karshian/Jenner clan?

A Hollywood publicist who admitted to producing these kinds of relationships had this to say about one of his clients due to a movie that didn’t do so well:

“It was more of a mutual agreement between the agents and we had a male who actually had a movie coming out and it was getting a lot of bad reviews and slack and they wanted to take the negativity of the movie away and make it more about him”

Sound familiar at all? Try swapping at “movie” with “music” and “negativity of the movie” with “recent fandom drama” and bam! You have Zayn Malik circa 2015.

This wasn’t just beneficial to Zayn, either. Hardly anyone outside the US knew who Hadid was, and she had had PR relationships in the past that weren’t all that successful (Joe Jonas and Cody Simpson), so having someone like Zayn who was known world wide thanks to his success with 1D, this would have been a no brainer. And it worked, incredibly well. Everyone was talking about the new up and coming couple and this brought a lot of attention Zayn’s first music video as a solo artist and people outside the fashion realm began paying attention to her. Mission successful. 

There’s a lot more I could say about this couple that definitely raises eyebrows (like the fact that she has pulled similar stunts with Cody in the past, both starring in his music video and couple photo shoots), and if you’d like to go into it, feel free to message me or browse my zigi is fake tag. Or better yet, visit some of the many other ziam accounts that go into a lot more detail than I have in the past. I recommend @yaz-the-spaz​ and @somewhereisaplacethatziamknow​ off the top of my head. But I hope no one goes over there to be rude and disrespectful, because honestly, what’s the point? If you’re trying to change someone’s mind, you’re not going to do it by insulting them and not bringing anything of substance to the conversation. If you ask politely, I would be more than happy to answer, as I am doing here. 

As for your point in regards to how I can look up to someone who would part take in such a stunt I have two responses; he doesn’t like doing it, and he doesn’t have a choice in the matter - that’s just how the industry works. If you look at all the times the paparazzi have “caught” (take this however you want) them leaving that NY apartment. Zayn, and sometimes even Gigi, don’t look like the happy, loved up couple all the articles claim them to be:

I find this one particularly funny because he is holding his own hand and it looks like she just slipped her hand in there for the photo.

And then you have this photo of them finally reconciling in the street conveniently in front of some paps:

He’s not touching her anywhere other than the mouth (look at that starbucks promo lmao), his hands are pockets, and he may have actually missed her mouth:

And in the rest of the photos he looks fed up and barely touches her, if at all:

Remember, this was after they’ve reconciled, and yet he doesn’t look interested her in the slightest.

Even if you think they were an actual couple, this would be an incredibly toxic relationship. They have “broken up and got back together” how many times now? (legitimate question, I have lost count). They paint the narrative like Zayn riddled with mental health problems and Gigi is the only one that can save him, but sometimes, it just gets too much for her:

“A second source explained there was an honest effort to make their second go at their relationship a success. The two “tried hard to make it work,” the source said, but Malik has “a lot of his own issues that she couldn’t help him get through.” 

You could make the claim that this quote is made up, but then I could argue the very same thing about every quote ever made about their relationship. Why would you want to support a couple if this is the way they are portrayed?

And then “Zayn” tweets this when Gigi is rumoured to be dating someone else:

“When lord knows I don’t deserve it” What the hell is that supposed to mean? It’s just honestly so fucking gross no matter which way you look at it. 

As for your question as to why she would have a baby for PR, look at the amount of attention she has gotten over these pregnancy rumours just in the last few days. Imagine if she would begin talking about it all of the time, all the promotional deals she could get. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was tired of modelling and ends up doing YouTube or something full time. 

There is a lot of things that don’t add up with this pregnancy nonsense. Like the fact that she isn’t showing at all despite the fact that, going by the timeline, she is five months along. Not only would she have gotten pregnant immediately after after they apparently rekindled their relationship (which, with her Hashimoto’s disease is incredibly unlikely), but she doesn’t look pregnant in the slightest. That baby is five months along, and is almost completely formed, organs and all. The baby is the size of a mango, and yet her stomach has remained flat this entire time? No growth at all?:

That, and her own father called it gossip. If she has been pregnant for five months at this point, shouldn’t he know that his daughter is pregnant with his first grandchild?

And I will give it to you that she might be drinking decaf, but how about recording yourself horse riding? Not only that, but horse riding in general while you are pregnant is incredibly dangerous to both the baby and the mother’s health:

But as your pregnancy progresses, the risk of serious injury – to you and your baby – increases. If you get thrown from or kicked by a horse after your first trimester, once the baby has moved higher up in the abdomen, there’s little to protect the baby from harm.

What’s more, the jostling motion of horseback riding can increase your risk of placental abruption, a serious pregnancy complication in which the placenta separates from the uterus.

What’s more, is she apparently has Hashimoto’s disease, which makes it incredibly hard to get pregnant in the first place, and can increase the likelihood of a miscarriage. Why would she even want to risk it, given the fact that she already has a high risk pregnancy during a pandemic where healthcare is limited, the likelihood of her getting pregnant is low, and she increases the risk by not even paying attention to the task, but record herself doing so? It doesn’t make a shred of sense. 

There’s so much to this narrative that doesn’t add up. 

Again, I appreciate the civility, and I like being challenged, it gives me a good opportunity to back up my beliefs in evidence, which I believe to be incredibly important.  So if anyone has any other questions feel free to DM or send me an ask.

Disclaimer: Initially this post was a response to someone who responded to an ask I answered way back in April about Gigi’s pregnancy, but was deleted for some unknown reason. I added some parts in to construct a more detailed and accurate analysis.

[riversofmars]

After messing with an extraction chamber, the Doctor finds herself in a parallel universe. A universe where her long-lost loved ones are still alive. The initial joy for seeing them wears off quickly: these people are distorted versions of those she knew. In this world, down is up, up is down, and the Doctor finds herself looking into a mirror when she encounters the ruler of the Empire she accidentally trespassed in.

Welcome to the Mirrorverse. :D

Ship: River/Thirteen

Rating: M

Tags (let me know if anyone else wants in on this): @janewaymarco @mrsbasiqmikaelson

Chapter 1: Mirror Mirror

“River?“

The Doctor’s ears were ringing and she struggled to breath when she hit the ground. She felt like she was going to throw up. She had lost all sense of direction when she had been knocked over by a violent jolt. When she managed to open her eyes, she realised she was still in the same place she’d been before things had started going wrong. The sterile white of an extradition chamber on Gallifrey was blinding her, only increasing the throbbing headache developing between her temples.

“River?“ She said again, her voice weak. She rolled onto her side and then pushed herself up on all fours feeling unsteady. She looked around and the hope she had been holding on to faded away. She was alone still, it hadn’t worked. But why not? She had done everything exactly right, River should be here! But what about that jolt that had knocked her over? As she slowly regained control of her senses, she could feel that she wasn’t where she had been before. Geographically, yes but… She couldn’t have travelled in time, this felt like no ordinary displacement, this was violent, forceful, painful.

The Doctor clambered to her feet, wincing through the pain. It wasn’t localised, she just hurt all over, like every tiny molecule in her body revolted against being here. She was adjusting, but slowly.

Suddenly, there were voices outside and she froze. Gallifrey lay in ruins, it was a dead planet, the Master had seen to that. There should be no-one here but her. And she shouldn’t even have been here either, this whole venture had been a stupidly selfish idea. It didn’t seem to matter now, it hadn’t worked. Quite the contrary, something had gone very wrong and she was about to find out what.

Slowly, the Doctor made her way to the door but before she could reach it, the door was slammed open and she found herself staring at Yasmin Kahn. Only, she didn’t look like her Yaz at all and she was pointing a gun at her.

“What the hell is going on here? This area is off…“ Her harsh words died on her lips when she recognised her. “Emperor, I’m so sorry… We didn’t expect you back, what…“ She lowered her gun quickly, almost fearfully.

“Emperor?“ The Doctor echoed bewildered staring back at her in shock. Moments later, Ryan and Graham appeared behind her, their expressions as shocked as hers. They were all wearing some sort of uniform. Black leather, golden buckles, Gallifreyan symbols… each wearing a sword. “What’s going on here…“

“Your Excellence.“ Yaz struggled for words. “I’m sorry, we didn’t know it was you, we just received the alert, we assumed you were still on Sontar…“

“What?“ The Doctor took in her words but couldn’t make sense of them. “Yaz? Ryan? Graham? How did you get here? And what are you wearing?“ The three of them exchanged confused glances. “You’re not meant to be here, I left you on Earth… River… this should have worked.“ The Doctor looked back around the extraction chamber. What was happening here?

“Something is wrong here.“ Ryan whispered to the others, his voice low and distrusting, and Graham agreed:

“That can’t be…“

The Doctor looked back at them. She hardly recognised them like this. It wasn’t just the outfits or the ridiculous goatees Ryan and Graham were sporting, their expressions were hard and distrusting, any sort of joy and warmth was missing from their eyes.

“Emperor, we mean no disrespect but… why are you dressed like that? What happened.“ Yaz asked, treading lightly, almost afraid to question on the off-chance her gut feeling was off. Nevertheless, she tightened her grip around her gun again.

The Doctor was beginning to feel it now as her senses sharpened, acclimatising.

“No… no no no… that’s can’t be…“ She looked around, than down at her hands. “I haven’t travelled in time, I would have felt that… But how is that possible? What is this place?“ She took a breath, as if sampling the air. “It’s like everything… the particles vibrate at a different rate, is this a parallel universe?“ She looked back to the people in front of her that were definitely not her Fam. “I’m sorry, so sorry, but I don’t think I’m meant to be here.“

“Who are you? What are you talking about?“ All three of them pulled their guns on her now, accepting this was not the person they had presumed her to be. Something strange was happening.

“Right, okay, this might come as a bit of a shock… I’m not the person you think I am… I mean, I am, but perhaps a different version, I mean…“ The Doctor started rambling, struggling to explain. “I’m the Doctor and you’re Yasmin Kahn, Graham O’Brien and Ryan Sinclair, I…“ She took a step closer, holding her hands up to them, trying to somehow reassure them but it seemed to have the opposite effect. “We know each other, sort of…“

“What have you done with the Emperor?“ Graham spat, his expression one of deadly fury.

“I haven’t done anything, I… I think I was transported here by accident, I mean you no harm…“ The Doctor replied calmly.

“Seal off the corridor, no-one can know about this. Get her Majesty. Don’t send anyone else, go yourselves.“ Yaz snapped at the other two who quickly nodded and hurried off.

“Who are you?“ Yaz demanded to know. “Get on the ground!“

“Yaz, there is no need for this.“ The Doctor insisted but she could tell from the expression on Yaz’s face that she was deadly serious. Any attempt to reason with her was futile. So slowly, the Doctor got to her knees, placing her hands on the back of her head. Her hearts were starting to race, as the initial confusion and curiosity about it all wore off. It was replaced by a deep anxiety. What had happened to her sweet, kind group of friends? If she was right - and she usually was - these people were not her Fam, and she could tell already that she would do well to remember that. “There is another version of me here, right? You recognise me, only different? I’m the Doctor and in my universe, we’re friends Yaz, put the gun down.“ She repeated, almost pleading.

“How did you get in here?“ Yaz questioned, her demeanour unchanged.

“I told you, it was an accident.“ The Doctor insisted, why wouldn’t she believe her?

“Who are you working with?“ Yaz carried on.

“I’m not working with anyone!“ The Doctor retorted. Why would she be assuming that she was? What was going on in this place?

“What sort of a disguise is that, how do you look like…“ Yaz jabbed her gun at her.

“It’s not a disguise!“ The Doctor pleaded for her to believe her. “This is a different universe to mine, you must know that’s possible, if you’ve travelled with me like my Yaz has, I’m…“

“There hasn’t been a crossing in ages.“ They were interrupted and the Doctor’s eyes widened in shock. Ryan and Graham had carried out their orders and returned, they remained standing guard at the door, as River Song strolled into the room.

“What…“ The Doctor couldn’t find words. There she was, the object of her futile quest, alive and well. Maybe it had worked and she had crossed into this universe as well? The brief moment of hope, however, was quickly dashed when Yaz took a little bow, stepping aside.

“Your Majesty…“

“Put the gun down, Captain.“ River gave her a dismissive wave.

“Ma’am, I…“ Yaz didn’t seem to agree but her reluctant protest was greeted with utter disregard.

“It wasn’t a suggestion.“ River snapped and Yaz flinched, she quickly holstered her weapon. She stepped back, clasping her hands behind her back, every inch the obedient soldier. River’s attention remained wholly with the Doctor who was looking up at her in shock.

“Hello, Sweetie.“ River smirked. “What a delightful surprise.“

“River.“ The Doctor whispered when she finally found her voice. Of course it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that in this reality River was alive, but she hadn’t been prepared to come face to face with her.

“Show some respect.“ Yaz snapped at the Doctor but River waved off her protest almost amused.

“That’s quite alright, I imagine we know each other well in another life.“ She tilted her head looking down at the Doctor, seizing her up. The Doctor struggled for composure. She hadn’t seen her wife in such a long time, the look of her took her breath away. She was wearing a beautiful navy gown, expensive looking jewellery and very high heels. Sternly she had to remind herself that this wasn’t her River, and this place wasn’t where she was meant to be. As nice as seeing her was, she could tell, just like with the Fam, that she was a long way from the person she knew and loved. Something had gone wrong when she had used the extraction chamber and she had to find out what it was and find a way back.

“Please, River, there has been an accident. I’ve crossed over to what I think is a parallel universe to mine. I know you, all of you, versions of you. I just need to find a way back. You have to believe me.“ The Doctor hoped River at least would understand her. It appeared that in this universe she was close to their version of the Doctor as well. She couldn’t help the wave of jealousy she felt for knowing their Doctor still had her wife.

“I believe you.“ River said drawing her attention back to the present.

“You do?“ The Doctor didn’t know what to say, she hadn’t expected her to just agree.

“Of course, darling, you’re hardly the first but it has been a long long time.“ River answered.

“Then you must know how I can get back!“ The Doctor exclaimed in relief. She felt incredibly uncomfortable in this place. She didn’t belong here and her discomfort outweighed the terrible ache in her hearts she felt for seeing River again. As much as when wanted to just fling herself around her neck, something about her made her uneasy. She wasn’t her River. She could already tell this was not a universe she would like to spend any amount of time in, no matter how much she longed for the people in it.

“I’m afraid it’s not going to be as easy as all that. Once we learned there was a whole other universe out there, we’ve tried crossing over but with limited success. After a while we stopped trying and no more natural crossings happened. But now that you are here… Just wait till my wife gets home.“ River grinned with a sort of excitement that chilled the Doctor to the bone.

“Your wife… that’s me, right?“ The Doctor asked slowly and River started laughing in a way that was bound to set off the Doctor’s flight instincts.

“If you want to look at it that way… though I’m afraid you don’t compare.“ She chuckled, her voice condescending. “So what is it you call yourself?“

“What’s that supposed to mean?“ The Doctor frowned, bewildered. “I’m the Doctor.“

“The Doctor.“ River repeated clearly amused. “Of course.“

Before the Doctor could question her reaction, River turned back to Yaz who was waiting patiently.

“Take her to my quarters, make sure no-one sees her, no-one must know about this.“ She instructed and Yaz nodded quickly. “Has anyone else seen her?“

“No, no-one. I was us that found her, Ma’am.“ She answered, continuing to face forward.

“Good.“ River nodded. “I can trust you to keep this secret, can’t I, Captain?“

“Naturally.“ The captain nodded again. It didn’t seem to be enough assurance for River because she stepped closer to Yaz and carried on more threateningly:

“I don’t have to spell out to you what would happen if anyone found out about this?“

“No Ma’am.“ Yaz didn’t flinch but the Doctor noticed her tensing up.

“Very well.“ River went from threatening to cheerful in a heartbeat. The Doctor wanted to protest, she just wanted to try and find a way back but she didn’t get the opportunity. The Fam were on her in seconds throwing a bag over her head.

——

The Doctor stumbled over her own feet as she was being led through never ending corridors. She couldn’t see anything, she had to go by sounds. It was incredibly disorienting. Initially she had fought back and protested but she soon realised that there was no point when they had put handcuffs on her. Every now and then, there were voices, Gallifrey wasn’t deserted as it was in her universe.

“Seal off the entire wing, no-one gets in without my expressed permission.“ The Doctor could just about make out River’s voice and chanted acknowledgement from the Fam. She wasn’t sure if she should even refer to them as that, even in her head, it didn’t seem fitting. They appeared like some sort of honour guard… the uniform and the ceremonial swords certainly spoke to it. Her thoughts were interrupted when a heavy door closed behind them and her hearts picked up speed, the situation grew more threatening by the second. Yaz was pulling her along, her hand around her arm, squeezing a bit harder than perhaps necessary. She could here the tapping of River’s heels ahead. The tapping was starting to sound more hollow and echoey, as if the corridor opened into a bigger room with high ceilings.

“Flowers?“ The Doctor frowned to herself when the smell of all sorts of exquisite flowers took her over. It was the last thing she expected on Gallifrey.

“I have them brought from all over the universe, Gallifrey is so dull and orange, what’s life without a little beauty.“ River must have caught her words of surprise.

“You live on Gallifrey?“ The Doctor deduced.

“Gallifrey is the seat of power for all the known universe, where else would I be living?“

“Your Majesty, right, figures…“ The Doctor was slowly beginning to put the pieces together and she didn’t care for the outcome.

Another door opened and that’s when they came to a halt.

“Get out of that chair, Mother, she will not be pleased to find you in it again.“ River snapped, clearly annoyed.

“Well, it’s the most comfortable one in this hellhole.“ The Doctor was shocked when she recognised Amy’s voice, full of annoyance. It hardly sounded like her at all.

“You’re more than welcome to enjoy the other pleasures the palace has to offer.“ River sighed exasperated. “You don’t have to sit here waiting for something to happen.“

“I am bored!“ Amy shot back. “It’s about bloody time she gets back, we’ve not had any real fun in ages.“ There was a pause in which the Doctor presumed she had noticed her. “What are you up to.“

“Well, it is rather a bit complicated.“ There was excitement in River’s voice.

“Complicated sounds not boring.“ Amy observed and River went on:

“You can’t tell anyone about this.“

“Who are we going to tell? Everyone in this place is scared shitless of us.“ Rory. Rory was there too, his voice so foreign with the distaste in it.

“Until you turn your back, then they try and stab a knife in it.“ Amy sounded amused.

“Did someone try to kill you?“ River interjected quickly and the Doctor couldn’t believe the implicitness with which she stated that assumption.

“We dealt with it.“ Rory replied dismissively.

“I dealt with it, thank you very much.“ Amy interrupted.

“You know the Timelords really despise us being here.“ Rory pointed out. There was the faint noise of something being sharpened, like a rock against a blade.

“Why?“ River sighed, she sounded annoyed, as if they had had this conversation plenty of times before.

“Because we’re not like them.“ Rory said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You’re my parents…“ River pointed out and Amy cut in:

“They despise you too.“

“They can tell me that to my face and see what happens.“ River snapped. “They’re weak and I don’t care for their pathetic opinions. Their little Empire would be nothing without us.“

“Without her.“ Amy corrected her.

“Are you trying to make me cross?“ River bit back.

“I’m just reminding you of the facts, daughter, dearest. If it wasn’t for her undying love for you, we’d be a long way away from this place.“ Amy carried on.

“Is there a point to all this?“ River sighed, annoyed.

“The point is, I’M BORED! When is your wife coming home? This city grinds to a halt whenever she leaves. No games. No pillages. No wars without her say so, where is she?!“ It sounded like Amy had jumped to her feet, going off on a rant.

“Not back yet, off smashing that pesky uprising on Sontar…“ River replied thoroughly exasperated by this point.

“They keep trying, don’t they.“ Rory sounded amused. “Pathetic little potatoes, they’re just not made for combat, are they.“

“She could have taken us along at least.“ Amy sighed wistfully.

“And left the palace unattended? Who knows what sort of an assassination plot we’d come back to.“ River huffed.

“So what have we got here.“ Amy’s voice came closer and the Doctor tensed up a little, she tested the handcuffs on her back to see if she could get out of them but they were vastly more effective than the human equivalents that she was more adapt at breaking out of.

“Leave us and guard the door.“ River said and Yaz finally let got of the Doctor and stepped away. Without a word of warning, River pulled the hood off her head. The Doctor blinked, needing a moment to adjust. Amy came into focus first, staring back at the Doctor in disbelief. She was dressed in tight black jeans and tank top, her fiery red hair, wild and unruly.

“How is this possible.“ It was Rory that spoke first. He stopped sharpening his sword and leaned forward in his chair, his expression questioning yet stern. The Doctor wanted to say something, acknowledge them, as her friends, her former companions, two people she missed with all her hearts, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak. She was too uneasy about it all, this place was hostile and the more she learned about it, the more she knew she had to get away from here.

“This, Father dearest, is the Doctor.“ River smirked.

“The Doctor? Is that a joke?“ Amy looked to her daughter, than back to the Doctor, confused and somewhat unsettled. “It’s not…“

“Of course it’s not.“ River started laughing as if it was the most ridiculous thought in the world.

“Then how…“ Rory was as confused as his wife.

“Stop talking about me like I’m not even here!“ The Doctor burst out at last, having had enough. “I’m not meant to be here, I need to get back to…“ She tugged at her handcuffs. “Seriously, the joke is over, let me go and…“

“What you need to do is shut up.“ River interrupted her sharply.

“She’s from the other side.“ Amy realised. Of course she did, clever Amy, she was still clever.

“There hasn’t been a crossing in…“ Rory waved his hand, he couldn’t remember how long it had been. He got up and sheathed his sword before stepping closer.

“The universes have drifted too far apart for it to occur naturally anymore. But she has found a way.“ River explained crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“It was an accident, I need to find out what happened so I can get back.“ The Doctor retorted.

“Yes, you will, and when you do, you will show us just how to do that.“ River smirked and went on to explain with great amusement: “This galaxy, this universe, has become so boring, our Empire expands into the farthest reaches, hardly anyone dares stand up against us anymore.“

“So you want to cross into an alternate universe and conquer it? That’s insane.“ The Doctor exclaimed in shock.

“That’s the way we do things around here, Doctor.“ River smiled a predatory smile. She stepped a little closer and reached out to stroke her cheek. “I must say, you couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. You will be a great help.“ The Doctor flinched back, the way she was looking at her was making her want to run.

“For Gallifrey.“ Rory called in amusement.

“For the Time Lords.“ Amy joined him, laughing through it.

“You two shut up.“ River snapped, annoyed at their childish behaviour.

“So if you are her… you must know us in your reality?“ Amy asked, stepping up closer to the Doctor now. “What are we like? I’m curious.“

The Doctor didn’t answer, she averted her eyes. It was no great feat to disassociate them from her Amy and Rory, these were completely different people. But she still saw these faces, heard these voices and couldn’t help but think of them. Her Ponds. Kind, compassionate Rory. Brave, clever Amy. In her universe she had lost them and here they were alive and well, distorted copies of her dear friends. The pain cut deeper than she had thought possible. It wasn’t fair.

“What? Have you lost your voice?“ Amy smirked, obviously delighting in her discomfort.

“I’m just dying to find out more about this other universe.“ River chuckled, apparently having great fun with this as well. “What is she like? Your River?“

“Stop it.“ The Doctor protested half-heartedly, she didn’t want to speak about them, be reminded of all the ways they were different to the people she loved and feel the pain of their loss more deeply.  

“When you’re asked a question, you better answer it.“ Rory snapped, pulling his sword on her for good measure. “You know, I only just sharpened this, I’m sure you can be just as useful minus a hand… might make you more cooperative…“

“What the hell is going on here?!“ A voice like ice cut the conversation short. Rory put his sword away disappointed and Amy took a step back while River’s expression brightened with joy. The Doctor looked around with a terrible sense of foreboding. She locked eyes with herself and a shiver ran down her spine. The other Doctor raised her eyebrows, if she was shocked, she hid it well. Slamming the door shut behind herself, she slowly circled around looking her up and down while the Doctor did the same: Same face, slender frame and blonde cropped hair, but an expression of bemusement and intrigue on her face that the Doctor didn’t think herself capable of. She was dressed almost all in black: tight jeans, heavy boots, a shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Yellow braces like the Doctor’s were the only splash of colour on her, apart from the red on her hands and forearms that looked a lot like blood.

“Welcome home, Sweetie.“ River grinned at her wife. “I have got a present for you.“

“I can see that.“ Her voice was soft, low and thoughtful and it was incredibly unsettling. It was almost as if she was already planning what to do with her.

“Emperor.“ Rory greeted his daughter-in-law more respectfully and handed her a towel for her hands.

“So what are we going to do with her?“ Amy burst out with excitement.

“Will you just let me get in the door?“ The Emperor, as she seemed to like to call herself, snarled in annoyance as she wiped her hands. The Doctor watched, deeply unsettled, that was definitely blood.

“Well, it has been ages since…“ Amy was starting again and quickly realised she shouldn’t have.

“Out, just get OUT!“ The Emperor’s temper was quick. “Can I not get a moment’s peace and quiet in this place?!“

“Fine.“ Amy rolled her eyes and waved for Rory to come along, she shot a brief glance to River who nodded, encouraging them to get a move on.

“Emperor.“ The Ponds gave her a nod, minding their manners, as they departed.

“Welcome home, Darling.“ River turned to her wife with a smile that was utterly heartfelt and genuinely. For the Doctor it was the most startling thing yet: An abrupt change from the over exaggerated cruelty and theatrics she’d seen so far. Her River used to look at her that way too… The two of them seemed to completely forget she was even there when the Emperor pulled her wife into a passionate kiss. She pushed her hand into her hair and pulled her close with the other. River kissed her back with equal fervour and moaned with delight when her wife’s hand moved lower, groped her arse and then dug her finger into her hip. “I’ve missed you.“

The Doctor looked away, she couldn’t watch this. She looked to the door, she knew there were guards outside it, she had seen them when Amy and Rory had left. The handcuffs were starting to dig into her wrists as she kept pulling against them. There was no obvious way out.

[woodswalker96]

Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous Season 2 Official Trailer Analysis and Thoughts

So, like many today and the next few days until January 22nd, I have been watching the new trailer for season 2, repeatedly. I got wind of it this afternoon even before it was officially released via Jurassic World and Netflix’s YouTube channels, and I’ve watched them along with the extended trailer on the Netflix site proper. A lot of things appear to be happening this new season, potentially more than I expected. 

If you watched the trailer on Netflix, not YouTube, there’s a bunch of extra clips that could help clue us in to what we could expect to see, and the possible order of events, at least based on the trailer. I start with stating some moments in that version of the trailer that stood out for me, then run through a predicted sequence of events for the new season. 

One moment that you see in this trailer that isn’t present in the YouTube versions are a small clip of Sammy and Darius running through a location with cages being chased by one of the three Baryonyx. Sammy appears to be clutching a bag with a circular blue and white logo on it. In the cages surrounding them, there are Stegosaurs, one on the right and one on the left. This scene appears to line up with Darius and Brooklynn climbing up a fence or cage onto a platform with a Baryonyx closing in, only for Brooklynn to whack it up side the head with a plank. I think this could be Mantah Corp. They could be already on the island, preparing to access the dinosaurs in the wake of the park’s failure. Or it could InGen mercenaries, or someone else. 

A moment that I find kind of funny is Darius reaction to seeing Rexy, and the other campers reaction to his. Its great, and reminds that at the end of the day, Darius is still a dino-nerd at heart. I also feel that we will be receiving plenty of Kenji and Darius bro time, and Yaz, Sammy, and Brooklynn girl time. I like the idea of the three girls forming this trio. That said, I’m looking forward seeing different group dynamics, such seeing the Yaz, Kenji, and Brooklynn motorbike trio (its hilarious that Brooklynn is the one riding the bike, while Kenji is holding on at the front). 

Now, for my timeline of events. Starting with the end of season 1, the group are searching through the jungle for a stopover when they hear dinosaur roars of the predatory kind, which leads to them running through the woods with Yaz being supported by Sammy and Brooklynn. Then, they come across Main Street, with Kenji appointing himself, or is appointed, to lead them around to a potential communication station, where Sammy finds that yellow book and Brooklynn gets her GoPro. Then they discover Rexy, too which they either try to get away from, or less likely, try to lure her away from Main Street, which fails. Either way, they retreat back into the jungle, where they come across their old campground. They decide to create a shelter (the Camp Kenji), which maybe where Darius comes across his raptor tooth necklace again. (One thing I’d like to add; the moment where Kenji looks into the GoPro and we hear the words Camp Kenji may not align with each other. I think the scene itself actually takes place in whatever building on Main Street the kids were in where Brooklynn acquired the GoPro and Sammy the book. You can see just before Kenji block out the camera that Sammy is reading something, likely the same book.) Either before or after that, Darius goes out to get water, with Kenji in tow, leading to the scene of the dinosaur water hole. But things go awry when theropods approach, either with Rexy coming in to hunt the Parasaurolophus, or the Ceratosaurus that the duo encounter in the trailer. They end up running for it, leading to Kenji’s encounter with Rexy in the trailer. Now after this point, it gets more tricky to try and piece together a workable timeline from the trailer, as there are things occurring in an order that I am uncertain of without actually watching the series. 

So, there you go, my initial analysis of the official trailer. Its exciting and I cannot wait to see the full season. January 22nd isn’t that long away, but it’ll seem like forever. Let me know what you guys thought of the trailer, if you have ideas about the timeline of the season based on what we’ve seen, and I hope y’all have a fantastic day!

[mrsgreenworld]

Son Yaz Season 2, Episode 22

"Adaletin Bu Mu Dünya" ("Is This the World of Justice?") aka Barren Land

So a new season came in like a wrecking ball. I've missed watching something that gets this level of emotional response from me. That's the beauty of this show - it played on my emotional strings from the very start. It is a different type of show now, however. In season 1 Son Yaz was pretty much a show about family, with all the mafia stuff being just a background noise. It may have seemed that it was Akgün's story and his found family. And in a way it was. But it was never just Akgün's story. It's the story of the Kara family as much as it was Akgün's. This estranged family comes together when this hurt and abandoned kid lands in their lives. The gift of family and love was something that Akgün not only got but also gave in return. That's why in season 1 intro we saw the blurry image of the Kara family, all four of them, and Akgün who was standing a bit to the side, like an outsider. And he was, at the beginning. Throughout the season we saw him close this distance, both literally and figuratively.

If we look at season 2 intro, it is something else entirely. The intro music theme is still the same but it's a reworked version, it sounds lower and more intense. The blurry image of this new intro is of Selim and Akgün, just the two of them, standing next to each other, at the dusk of the day. And I feel that's what this season is going to be about - the story of these two men and either their redemption or their further downfall.

But there is another pillar the story lies upon - Yağmur. These three are going to be the focus of this review. Let's get down to it.

Yağmur

I've decided to discuss Yağmur first because she's the first one we see three years later. I also believe that she's the one who had the strongest connection with Canan. Sure Canan was loved just as much by Altay, she was and always will be the love of Selim's life. But there's usually one person among our loved ones who we share a very special connection with. And I believe that for Canan that person was Yağmur and vice versa. That's why Yağmur is the one keeping Canan's memory alive. She dresses similarly, she keeps the key to the restaurant (that's named after Canan) under a flower pot which looks remarkably similar to the one in Çeşme. I even suspect it's the same pot. Yağmur has flowers in the restaurant that she takes care of first thing in the morning. In season 1 there were scenes of Canan watering the flowers.

It might look as if Yağmur has everything under control. She seems put together, almost like her old self. But it is the calm before the storm. It only lasts as long as she doesn't stop. Yağmur said it herself: if she stops, she'll start thinking about what happened, she'll have to face it and just the possibility is making her lose her mind. But this madness won't just go away, it's brewing just beneath the surface and it showed its face in the scene where Yağmur finally saw Akgün. She was absolutely unhinged. It's like after having been in denial for three years she was catapulted into anger within the first seconds of seeing him. That's the sort of maddening rage that stems from denying yourself a chance to grieve and truly experience loss. Yağmur's drawn-out denial is going to take its toll. She's clearly suffering from PTSD and from a glimpse of her in episode 23 fragman it's clear that it's starting to affect her physically.

I don't know what the writers have in store for Yağmur but right now it seems to me that she will have to go through all of the stages of grief and in the end find acceptance and peace.

Selim

And next we see Selim who lives alone in a secluded house in Rize. He walked away from his children and his old life. He left behind his vocation. He's no longer a prosecutor. I find it interesting that Selim repeated it several times throughout the episode: "I'm not a prosecutor". We saw in season 1 how much Selim's job meant to him, how something that he had initially pursued just to be closer to Canan had become his calling and a part of him. And now with Canan gone it's like that part of Selim is gone too. Or maybe he just killed that part of himself when he took his revenge on Halil Sadi. And the way it happened is the reason why Selim decided to stay away from his children. It was gruesome and savage and Selim understood clearly how that would taint a person. That's why he tried to convince Akgün to leave him alone to take care of it and that's exactly why he kept his distance from Yağmur and Altay so as not to taint them with his darkness. Selim owns his darkness and his sins. Selim Kara is not a good man. And he knows it. Now that I think about it, he was never a good person. Back in season 1 we saw what a shitty husband and father he was. Yes, they tried to redeem him and give him a second chance. He took this chance and, I think, he really tried to be the kind of a man who deserved his family. But the bitter truth is that he never deserved Canan or his children. And I think that Selim is painfully aware of this. That's why I'm not angry with him for leaving Yağmur and Altay. I don't love or even like him but I understand him. I'm also not angry that he involved Akgün into that nightmare. Selim gave Akgün an out, in the end it was Akgün's choice to stay. I'm definitely not gonna blame Selim for the choices Akgün made.

I've already mentioned that this season can turn into either a redemption story or even further downfall for both Selim and Akgün. But I feel that no matter which way Selim chooses to go - up or down - we won't see a happy ending waiting for him. It's clear now what's waiting for him. I believe that if we don't see Selim pulling that trigger again, it will be someone else's bullet that sends him to Canan.

Akgün

Or my sweet, sweet boy... He is a boy no more 😢

Killing his own brother, going to prison, giving up the love of his life, living on the run for three years - all of that took its toll and changed Akgün irrevocably. But most of all it was that horrid night and the choice he made that turned his hopeful and blossoming future into a barren land.

He's always been hot-headed, doing-first-thinking-never. Always ready to sacrifice himself for the ones he loves. And the way he loves is fierce and maybe even a bit suffocating. And all of that hasn't changed. But now Akgün seems torn between being resigned and suicidal. He's resigned when it comes to Yağmur and the future he wanted to have with her. He's suicidal when it comes to saving his father and helping Selim.

I know that it's been pointed out in the show a number of times that Selim and Akgün are very much alike. And it may seem that what they did to Halil Sadi brought them closer together and made them even more similar. While that night definitely tied them together in a very special way that only the two of them will ever be able to comprehend, I also saw how in fact different Selim and Akgün are. And the ultimate difference lies here: Akgün is a good person. I just hope that he'll get a chance to become a good husband and a good father. The kind of a husband and father Selim never was and I don't think could ever be.

A few honourable mentions

🖤 Eray is the sweetest, most precious cupcake on this planet and he makes my heart burst with love and gratitude. He was so loving and affectionate with Akgün. From the way he hugged him and he called him "Canım benim" to the way he sent Akgün updates on Yağmur and how he comforted Akgün after the disastrous reunion.

🖤 I already said while I was live blogging that I really like the siblings role reversal they've got going on. Give me all the bitter moody teenage Altay who also has a picture of himself and Akgün from Canan and Selim's wedding.

🖤 Soner and Naz are cute and all but they're also incredibly dumb. Especially Soner who comes from a mafia family and has to marry a girl from another mafia clan. Her father is a mafia boss who's giving away his only daughter. And to make things even worse Soner had to drop the ILY at the dinner. For fucks sake... Where's your only brain cell? On the run with Akgün?🤦

And... That's pretty much it. I have to stop before it gets completely out of hand. Until next episode. I'm sure we're in for a wild ride.

[doctorthedoctor]

Long thasmin (mostly Yaz) rambles under the cut. I have a lot of feelings about it, but that’s nothing new.

tl;dr Yaz is queer and I really hope this is where they actually plan on going with it.

I wish we knew if they’re planning on making Yaz canonically queer. If they are, I’m so interested in where she’s at in terms of her relationship with her identity. We’ve gotten a glimpse into her past, but there’s still so much we don’t know, like why she was bullied and what prompted her to run off. She’s clearly had to pull herself out of a very dark place, yet we hardly know any details about what bought her there (funny how that sounds exactly like the Doctor).

I know a lot of people are of the belief that Najia is the captain of the thasmin ship, but I’ve personally never felt that way. To me, she doesn’t look or sound thrilled by the concept of Yaz seeing the Doctor when she asks about it. And Yaz doesn’t seem very comfortable with the question. She initially responds with a disgruntled, “Not now!” and punctuates the exchange with, “Please, can we not have this conversation now? And not in front of [Robertson].” And between those lines, neither she nor the Doctor give Najia a clear answer.

This is just my take and it could very well be wrong, but the fact that Yaz expresses multiple times that she doesn’t want to talk about it tells me that a conversation of this nature has happened before. And judging by the tension between them, it probably didn’t go very smoothly.

I mean, nothing about this exchange looked or sounded comfortable to me:

It’s notably different from how Najia and Yaz interact later when the same question is asked about her and Ryan. The two respond with an immediate and definitive, “No.” Najia seems disappointed by their answer, yet she doesn’t press the topic and the story moves forward. This exchange ends up being significantly shorter than the first, solely because Najia accepted their answer the first time around.

Does anyone smell some heteronormativity in the air? Queer people are painfully familiar with having to spend time explaining their identity to others. It’s a conversation we’re forced to have over and over throughout our lives. That definitely sounds like an experience Yaz can relate to.

Ryan and Yaz look uncomfortable when she asks (which is understandable), but Najia looks much happier about the concept and disappointed when she finds out they aren’t dating:

And even the staging is interesting. Najia is positioned between Yaz and Ryan in the second scene, as opposed to being placed next to Yaz with a desk between them and the Doctor. When she’s talking to Yaz and Ryan, she’s on the same level as them and sounds friendlier. But when she’s talking to the Doctor, Yaz is sitting while she stands and assumes a more authoritative position/tone.

Sure, the Doctor is a stranger and Ryan is a childhood friend, but the Doctor was so nice to Najia when she met her. As far as I can remember, she never gave her a solid reason to be suspicious. If anything, she was too nice, given the way Najia reacts to the hug and compliment about her daughter, then proceeds to distance herself. She’s not Yaz’s mum, she’s Najia. And at the end of the episode, she continues to press Yaz about the Doctor, but never mentions Ryan again.

We know that there’s been a strain on her home life at some point after hearing her conversation with that officer, because she mentions Yaz’s parents not understanding her (not getting “what’s up”). As they they talk, the officer mentions Yaz wanting to run away from everyone, including herself. In trying to convince her that these feelings will pass, she essentially tells her there’s something good waiting on the other side if she runs toward herself instead—which is something queer people really need to hear.

It’s obviously not the only factor, and like I said, I could be wrong but...this sure does look like something that would make a person run from who they are:

After all, Yaz did promise her mom she would tell her about the Doctor when she got back from picking up bread, then proceeded to run off with her. As far as we know, Najia is still in the dark about their relationship—whatever that happens to be.

Aside from that, Yaz is the only one in the fam who hasn’t had any romantic interactions outside of the Doctor and the Master. I guess we could also count Ryan (I’m not against it because I headcanon her as bi) but I genuinely get more of a sibling vibe from them. Regardless, we all know the Master cozied up to Yaz because she fits the mold of who the Doctor has traveled with in the past. I can’t speak to classic who, but from Nine and on, the Doctor’s got a type and we all know it, including the Master.

Then we have all of the parallels between thasmin and various couples in the show. I’m not even going to begin to list them, but the crumbs are abundant and delicious. That gay cop and astronaut? I mean, come on.

On top of all that, the one really Yaz centric episode we’ve had dealt with themes of prejudice and a love within her own family that broke away from societal norms. Like, shit. The Doctor married Prem and Umbreen in a small, private ceremony because she was the only one who was willing to look past their religions. And because this was a relationship that went unknown to Yaz (for a vastly different reason, but still), even she wasn’t happy with the Doctor for agreeing to it at first.

Though private, their marriage was an act of rebellion against outside forces. And who did Umbreen specifically have tension with about the concept of marrying someone who was Hindu? Her mother. But she and Prem even created a new wedding tradition that celebrated their own love by tying their hands with the rope that fell in the water. “Now it can be our thing, if we want it to be,” Umbreen said.

(This is a side note, but if Najia truly isn’t chill about Yaz being queer, I really want to see Umbreen tell her about Prem. I want to hear her recount her experiences with her own love being scrutinized and challenged. I think it would be a cool way for Najia to learn who the Doctor really is, and just how much of a positive impact she and Yaz have made on her life already.)

Yaz struggled in Demons of the Punjab because everything she believed to be true about Umbreen’s life (and her own by extension) turned out to be so different from what she expected. But what she witnessed in that episode helped her understand that people deserve to share their experiences on their own terms. If that doesn’t translate into a narrative about Yaz’s own identity, I don’t know what will.

In season 12, Yaz spent this entire time focusing on the Doctor, but it was executed in a way that furthered her own development. Yaz clearly has feelings for her, but now we have a better understanding of what traveling with the Doctor means to her as a whole. Yaz idolizes her, constantly thinks about what she would say or do. She wants to impress her, prove herself capable of solving problems and saving people. In the process of doing this, she’s grown more confident in her own abilities, independently breathing hope and action into situations that feel paralyzing and hopeless. This is exactly what Yaz has wanted all along, with or without the Doctor. Yaz wants to matter and she wants to do work that matters. The Doctor gives her this. She tells her they can’t have a universe without her. She gives her the chance to make an impact in a way she doesn’t feel like she can at home.

I think their relationship could serve as such a wonderful catalyst for Yaz to step into her own identity and eventually find her place without needing the Doctor. Like Graham said, she doesn’t have a time machine or a sonic, but she’s doing the whole human race proud. Yaz deserves a “You were fantastic. And know what? So was I” moment.

I love thasmin as much as the next person, but I’m honestly less interested in seeing her feelings reciprocated by the Doctor than I am in witnessing Yaz’s journey to confront her feelings in the first place. I want to see or hear her express them in a way that leaves no room for doubt. Everything feels so blatantly intentional at this point, but there’s still just enough ambiguity for me to worry that they’re not going to follow through. They’ve planted all these wonderful little seeds along the way, it would be such a disservice to all fans (not just queer fans) if we never get to see them bloom.