wolftails-funkin-arts

[incorrectquotesconaisseur]

I see a lot of discourse abt whether or not dhawan master comes before or after missy even though it's canon that he comes after. and it DOES make sense narratively speaking if you think about it. the master is naturally unhinged- just because missy seemed more in control than other regenerations doesn't mean it wasn't true. and even if her redemption did occur at the end, she started down this path to redeem herself because of selfish reasons. you can't put any iteration of the master in a box bc they're such a wonderfully complex character. and I think that the pain of the timeless child arc, combined with the trauma of the time lords planting the drums in their head AND missy's ultimately futile quest for redemption were what added up to the untamed anger that defined dhawan master. it's all the hurt of his previous regenerates PLUS his new trauma. missy never properly dealt with what happened with simm master - she just tried to move on as swiftly as possible and then there was the whole fiasco of them meeting and disturbing the timeline.

so it makes a lot of sense for dhawan master to come after missy.

HOWEVER, I think so many people tend to forget that -

Missy comes after Simm master.

Simm master was a psychopath (my absolute fave babygirl, but a psychopath nonetheless). And all of his existence was centered around a centuries old hurt that grew and grew until it was unbearable - the abandonment issues, the fear, the rage and the insanity that set him off on a path of destruction that wasn't even 100% his fault.

But his arc is honestly one of the best ones in nu who if you ask me - all the evil things he did in s3, all intertwined with brief moments of gentleness and acid pain when allowing himself to talk to the doctor openly... his death scene (which can even be discussed as religious penance but that's another story)... and then in s4, his entire motivation being trying to get rid of the drums and find out what they are and what he is.

His arc culminates with him realising that the doctor DID choose him in the end - he didn't leave him again, he saved him. And in exchange, he saves the doctor and sacrifices himself in the process.

So, especially since he doesn't remember his regeneration into missy fully and so his actual final moments are fuzzy, simm master essentially regenerates after his final act was to save the doctor.

That desire to more or less do right by him and keep that feeling of "us against the world" that they had in EoT is what motivates missy. Missy, who strives her entire life to be the doctor's friend again.

It all came from simm master's arc.

Which honestly breaks my heart and makes me claw at walls and no one ever talks about it.

[sleepycoffins-and-benhargreeves]

Okay guys, I've been thinking about it recently and I just find it so hard to believe that Ben and Klaus weren't close in S4 or at least had some sort of relationship aside from Ben being pissed off at him.

But then, I realized, they can't have that much interaction because Ben was literally in jail for 4 years!!!!

I'm imagining, that at the start of the reset, Ben hung out with Klaus. But like in my previous post, Ben got weirded out by Klaus and was afraid to become a replacement Ben.

So maybe they hung around for a year or more, getting drunk, having parties and getting to know each other. But Ben started to pull away, and when Klaus tried his usual antics of overdose or partying hard, it didn't work on this Ben because this Ben doesn't have that strong bond/memory of Klaus so he just left. Then, that little antic of Klaus NEARLY GOT HIM KILLED, hence why he became such a germaphobe paranoid.

Klaus thinks to himself, since he's no longer immortal and he can't tie Ben down with his usual hitting rock bottom schemes, he needs to find a different way. But like I said, his near death experience scared him so much that he couldn't hang out with Ben for a while.

But in that while, Ben got arrested for his crypto schemes (which Klaus probably knew of, but didn't think would be that big). So, he tried to visit Ben at jail, but he couldn't, he was too scared to go out now and eveything else felt dangerous.

Because, if he does die now, how will he spend more time with Ben? How will he get his brother/not-brother to hang out with him again? I like to imagine that Klaus became weak when he lost his powers, sickly even, and Allison didn't notice that much because she was too focused with Ray and Claire.

Imagining sickly Klaus trying to survive because he'll be damned if he's the one who dies and leaves Ben alone.

He can't visit Ben in prison, but he often writes him letters. Maybe even more than once a month. But in those four years, he received maybe less than ten replies from Ben so he's bitter about that and was actually counting the days when Ben would be released.

So when he sees Ben at Grace's birthday party, he really was pleasantly surprised. But Ben, who's bitter that Klaus didn't visit him in prison is mad at him. Miscommunication anyone?

So, they're on this stalemate because they're both pissed off with each other. And Ben wants to hang out less with Klaus because he's a paranoid germaphobe now and it's a turn off for him.

I really also like the part where when Ben asked Klaus to drink just one time, and he did accept the drink. He didn't drink it, but he wanted to be closer to Ben so he accepted it. Hoping maybe this will start something for them. He doesn't want his powers back, he just wants his Ben back so he "drank" the marigold just to show Ben that he's still good'ol Klaus.

I actually don't know where I was going with this lmao I just wanted to tell you guys that Klaus probably wrote insanely cheesy romantic, toxicly begging letters for Ben when he was in prison. Ben liked it, but is still weirded out by Klaus so he barely responds to it.

This can also explain why Klaus called Ben an obnoxious asshole (lol), because he's bitter that Ben didn't put the effort Klaus did when he was in jail. Which is also absurd af cuz how is my man supposed to put in effort when he's in fucking jail? lmao

[skythealmighty]

behold, i present: Inanimate Insanity Infinity! sort of! more info below the cut :)

this took like 5 days . please enjoy nobody is okay

II S1 Contestants Infinity Death Order - Infinity Timeline Alternate

Canon S1

Bow

∞ S1

Paper

Eliminated early because Salt had a massive vendetta against him and rigged it so he would lose. They also came up with the Black Hole elimination idea because of an off-hand comment he made once as a joke. Closest to canon

∞ S2

Marshmallow

Broke down from the pressure and quit. Didn't realize that would get her killed; glad to see Bow, though. More confident after years in the afterlife

∞ S3

OJ

Refused to participate in challenges after Paper was gone. Salt tried his best to keep him in, but he lost on purpose. Was depressed for a while but healed over the years

Baseball

Got unlucky a few too many times. Was nonplussed about his elimination, mostly. Second closest to canon

∞ S4

Nickel? (Quit to assist)

Made it halfway through the season before he decided he didn't want to do this anymore and needed an excuse to get away from Balloon, who of which he had used one of the newly generated contestants to get back at with immediately following Baseball's elimination. The Divas accepted his offer because Chives was a little slow, and a nickel would be hard to kill

∞ S6

Paintbrush

Tried to attack Salt and Pepper halfway through the season due to a buildup of frustration that had been brewing since ∞ S1. Was immediately disqualified, eliminated, and replaced- and made an example in front of the others during it. Extremely bitter towards them, and a bit quicker to rage, but otherwise pretty close to canon

Bomb

Started out an average player and slowly but surely became more confident in the game before pushing himself too far one too many times and getting himself injured. After a season of less and less good performances due to his injury, he finally got eliminated, but was still considered an 'all-star' to many. Easy-going and friendly, but still a bit nervous

∞ S7

Pickle

Him lasting this long surprised pretty much everyone, so his elimination was more or less a "finally" moment. He stayed with his gimmick of being the gamer and ended up falling into his sterotype pretty comfortably, but he rounded out as a person over the years and has a lot of random hobbies. Hasn't entirely forgiven Taco, but he gets along with her. Pretty relaxed

∞ S8

Knife

Mellowed out to adapt to how the game went- would have attacked S&P too, but learned from Paintbrush's mistakes. Played a good solo game, trying to not form any teams or alliances, and just ended up getting unlucky and eliminated. Never got taught sarcasm by Nickel, so even though he's mellowed out, he's extremely blunt

Balloon

Wanted to lay off on the intensity and be nicer, but due to fear of losing he was forced to find his footing, ending up being surprisingly good at it. Fan-favorite until the end because he competed in the name of his friends, and much more confident and snarky than in canon. Has forgiven Nickel

∞ S9

Taco

Hid in the forest until being forced to compete in ∞ S8, her act long since revealed. Barely scraped by last season and was an early elimination this season. Similar to canon but has had time to grow and mellow out. Regrets her actions in Season 1

∞ S10

Apple

Mostly clueless about whatever darkness lay beyond the show, she was mostly a fan favorite for being extremely cheerful and supportive. Still is, even after death

Fan

Lightbulb's left hand man and an observer with a quick wit, he molded himself to be the type of contestant Salt and Pepper wanted and survived due to that, leaving hidden messages for fans to find to try and expose them for what they'd done and signal for help and for people to find out the truth. He sadly never got to see the result of him trying, but now that it's over for him, he's back to his old self, or at least as close as he can be

∞ S11

Lightbulb

The last survivor, and a beacon of hope until she ran out of time. Cheerful and friendly and a major role model. The world and Nickel weeped when she was lost, and it marked the end of an era. Despite her reputation, she's still close to her canon self, just with a surprising capacity for seriousness and used to carrying responsibility on her shoulders

[mymanyfandomramblings]

Best Season For Each Glee Character (In My Opinion) And Their Best Episode In Said Season

Note: I'm picking which episode in the season I picked is their best, not overall

Rachel: Season One. Early Rachel is truly one of THE characters of all times, and she's hilarious, and I think they had the formula down the best for her insanity. Best Episode: Either Pilot or Bad Reputation

Finn: Also Season One. I love his arc in the first season, and you get such a good feeling for his character, and you get such a good feel for both his strengths and weaknesses. The other three seasons he's in are also good for him, and he has one of the most consistent arcs and developments, but he's making less Horrible Decisions in Season One. Best Episode: Ballad (no questions asked)--

Kurt: Season Two. Yes, he suffers in Season Two, but he also meets Blaine, and he gets actual storylines that are seperate from Rachel's, and aren't just reducing him to his sexuality or his ability to deliver cutting remarks. Best Episode: Grilled Cheesus, Never Been Kissed or Born This Way

Mercedes: This is rare but Season Five is truly the season where Mercedes shines brightest. She gets to be more than Rachel's competition for solos for the first time, and they actually take time to explore the way her faith informs her decisions. She truly feels like such a realized character in S5. Best Episode: Tested

Santana: Season 2 or 4. Season Two because she's living her best evil life, as well as having some chances to really show her vulnerable side, Season Four, because she's actually being a pretty nice person most of the time, albeit in the most chaotic way possible. I could do a whole analysis of why those are her best seasons, but this is not the time. Best Episodes: Silly Love Songs or Sexy (S2), Girls (And Boys) On Film or Feud (S4)

Quinn: Season One. They seemed to have gotten the right balance here of Quinn being character who suffers a lot, but is also not a very nice person in Season One, and they are never quite able to regain that again. My second pick would actually be Season Three, where she gets to have a lot of good conversations and growth. Best Episode: Throwdown or (what else) Funk

Puck: Season Two. Two words: Lauren Zizes. Also they seemed to have actually figured out what they wanted to do with him in that season. Like Quinn, Season Three was going to be my second pick for him, because I really like his arc in Choke, but alas, the Puck x Shelby thing drags S3 down for him. Best Episode: Never Been Kissed or Original Song

Tina: Season Three or Five. She gets a fair bit to do in Season Three--she's in quite a few songs, and she isn't yet at corruption-arc status, although she's no longer dressing goth, which is a shame. That said, Season Five is also a fun season for her--she's past the worst of her villain arc, and she gets to participate in the stupidity that is Blamtina. Best Episodes: Hold Onto Sixteen or Props (S3) and Trio (S5)

Artie: Season One. He gets some storylines in S1 which aren't just him fumbling girls (and as Artie's no.1 fan, I am here for him getting storylines), and they hadn't completely flanderized his occasional sexist comments into his whole personality yet. Best Episode: Dream On, by a mile.

Brittany: I'm conflicted here. Season One was the only season where she was written with any consistency, however she barely does anything in S1, so it seems unfair. However, she does have some great moments in Season Two. Best Episode: Sexy or Britney/Brittany

Mike: Season Three. He actually gets things to do in Season Three. Best Episode: Asian 'F' (surprisingly)

Sam: Season Two. It took a moment, but once they figured out what to do with Sam Evans, he truly became one of The characters of Glee. Season Three is also good, but he's out-of-focus a lot Best Episode: Rumours

Blaine: Season Four. I know everyone loves Dalton era!Blaine, but I don't care about the Warblers, and although I do like Klaine, I honestly think that it was so good to see Blaine minus Kurt for a season or so, because previously, it had been so obvious that he was a Designated Love Interest character, and Season Four was so important in developing his personality outside of Kurt. Best Episode: Dynamic Duets

[loki-da-gay]

Okay so I've half asleeped explained t.a to someone over msg and its the most bat shot insane thing so I'm going to grace you all with it

The magnus archives startes with this posh prick(jhon) who has just been assigned head archivist of an institute that studys the paranormal and he reads the one of statements and he notices a few connections but ignores it as he is a prick and pretends it's all nothing and then some fucking worm bitch attacks the institute and trys to kill everyone there, then a monster replaces one of the wimom there and no one fucking notices and on top of that the person who was head archivist turned out to be murdered. Also there's tunnels under the archive

Thats s1

So then the head archivist starts to see to many connections in the statement and is freaking tf out as yes. He decideds that he is going to stalk his coworkers as obviously one of them killed the old archivist and he is paranoid and shitty. At first he is suspicious of everyone except the Co worker who has actually been replaced by a monster because obv she is just normal sasha. He then eventually gets a fucking hint and relises sasha is actually a monster and explores the tunnels. He than breaks a table and releases the monster who then trys kill him but some old book guy saves him and tries to explains there are these entity's that are pure fear that are leaking into our world, creating monsters and collecting followers and giving them power(avatars) to cause a fear apocalypse. Jhons boss kills the old book man and is actually evil and a twink(he also killed the old archivist). Jhon is accused of murder and fleas from the police

End of s2

So jhon lives in his exs house as the police want him and he is being mailed statements by his boss as he apparently now serves one of the entites that is based on the fear of being watched. He talks to some of the people that follow the fear entity's and have powers. They all Try to hurt or kill him. The police womman finds him and tries to kill him. He proves his inconce and blames his boss. They prove the boss did it and the boss traps the police wommans gf into working with him(btw of you work there you can't quit as magic ig). Also one of the entity's are trying to end the world. Jhon got kidnapped 3 times trying to get information to stop it and finds explosives to stop it with after a crown forces skin care on him. Everyone goes to stop the world ending ritual and most of them die except jhon, martin(a main character who I just haven't mentioned as all he does is pine after jhon and make tea so far) mel(and angry lesbian) and the police wommans gf. Big evil boss goes to jail as Martin is kinda a bad bitch

So that's s3

So new boss is also evil and jhons in a comma. New boss is trying to manipulate Martin into worshiping another evil entity as he "is the only way to save everyone from a new entity" and the angry lesbian I very angry. Jhon wakes up, he isn't human anymore and is a monster. The angry lesbian is extra angry and the police wommans gf is sad there is no police womman. Jhon does non consensual surgery on angry lesbian to make her less angry, she was more angry. Also turns out police womman isn't dead and is in box. Jhon goes in box to save her and nearly dies, he doesn't die and police womman is here, but less murdery. Turns out Martin isn't the only way to save everyone and he guessed as insecuritys and it turns out the old boss escaped jail and is extra evil, they try to stop evil boss replacement and evil boss and a monster is released for some reason, police womman is now extra murdery again so everyone has to go in hiding. Jhon and Martin are gay and hide in scottland.

End of s4

So big evil boss causes the apocalypse by almost possessing jhon. Jhon is like God in the new world and everyone is terrified except him, avatars of the entity's and evil boss. Jhon also knows everything now as fear god gifts. Jhon and Martin try to go kill evil boss man In London by walking there, they see a lot of scary shit. Turns out angry lesbian is alive and dating jhons ex from s2, their lesbians. They have a cult as they arnt effected as jhons ex doesn't feel fear as one of the entity's scared them till there was no fear. They end up saving the world and jhon and Martin die whilst doing it.

End of TMA

Also there is a being called Michael/Helen. We love them buy they where chaotic evil

*added note evil boss and evil boss replacement are married and keep having divorces

[beevean]

The thing about Isaac's "character arc" in the show is: would you really be able to tell that he's changed if he stopped babbling his mouth about it?

Like how different are his actions really? Because if you need your character to spell out repeatedly "I have gone through character development " then chances are that said development doesn't reflect that well on the actual screen

Because apart from no longer wanting to kill Hector...he kinda still mostly acts the same?

Isaac asking how Hector is doing without a finger is unironically the only example of genuine growth he has shown. In the past he wouldn't have given a single shit, he always spoke to Hector and about Hector with disdain and was all "huehuehue we can't be friends because we'll die anyway", so him showing concern unprompted is big for him. (and I want to remind everyone that Lenore, the woman supposedly in love with Hector, did nothing of that. Her only reaction to Hector cutting his finger was disgust and dismay, not worry that he might bleed to death or regret that he had to mutilate himself because of her actions. But tell me more about her character development!)

Isaac certainly changed attitude between S3 and S4. In S3 he was mostly angry and sneering, in S4 he's all zen and content and wise. As I said other times, though, the most substantial change in his character was that he finds "better" reasons to kill people. Before, he killed everyone who was slightly rude to him, because making demons out of them was more convenient than finding another way around, because humans bad or something. Now, he kills people for the sake of "improving" the world, so the magician is fair game because he enslaved a village, Carmilla is fair game because she's insane, and the mercenaries who happened to be in the castle are fair game because they're in the way.

When you think about it, he's still killing people for the sake of "purifying" the world, like he said he wanted to do in S2. Him deciding he wants to build a better world is conceptually not very different from his original plan of wanting to eradicate humanity because only without humanity the world can be full of love. He's just more selective about his victims. And he's doing not for Dracula's sake anymore, but for the sake of himself and feeling good about his actions. He says so! He enjoys feeling like the hand rather than the knife! That's his change! This big character development touted by many as the best of all time is just this dude deciding he wants to do things for himself! Which works, absolutely (insert here Hector's speech about not wanting to be a pawn in Dracula's plan because he's a human being), but I'm not impressed with how it was portrayed here. Because accepting his "change" from someone who would murder people at the drop of a hat to someone who murders for "heroic" reasons, or rather someone who killed out of hatred to someone who focuses on his own happiness and feeling of satisfaction, hinges entirely on you believing Isaac deserves to be happy simply for who he is, because he suffered enough in his childhood, because he's "cool" as this super badass fighter. I don't, he did nothing to earn my sympathies, and the more the story sucks him off at the expense of everyone else who were beaten down out of literary sadism, the less I care about the narrative's favorite receiving yet another prize on a silver platter.

As I said other times, "I want to live." yeah and i'm sure the guards whose corpses you defiled wanted to live too, but you're still using the Night Creatures you made out of them as convenient tools :)

And having the show tell us no less than three times that he has changed is certainly a failure of writing, yes, not to mention a lack of faith in the viewers' intelligence and its own skills to convey a concept. So, business as usual for the show!

[dangermousie]

Farscape rewatch 1x22

One of my favorite eps.

No, John, it’s not going to get better.

Where do I start? First of all let me mention the ‘not-good-bye’ good-bye John and Aeryn do. I love it. One of so many in the show, less fraught than later ones but still mmm.

But that comes later, let’s get back to the beginning.

Where Rygel sells them out and it surprises no one. But he doesn’t find a good market, and returns with Crais, Crais who is now seeking asylum. The scene in the hangar bay, as Crais steps out is…

What I notice the most is the way John fixates on him. He associates Crais with being hunted, tortured, though it’s nothing to the reaction he will have to Scorpy on board in S4. That whole scene, with Crais asking for protective custody, and D’Argo knocking him down, and yet through the whole scene, there is John, gun pointed, not wavering in his regard of Crais, an almost uncontrollable fixation and it looks like he is fixating on the thought of shooting Crais. It’s this intensity of concentration that is frightening.

And the fugitives come up with a desperate plan, based on the fact that Scorpius wants John. And you can see the look on John’s face as he realizes the certainty of his being on a suicidal mission as opposed to a probability.

I love the scene with John trying to leave a message to Jack and not being able to, and finally giving up with ‘why don’t I just start screaming, and leave him with a really happy memory.’ Yeah.

And Aeryn coming in, partially because she sees he needs comfort. And she does comfort, instinctively, by sharing about her Mother. And his delight, even under those dire circumstances, at the fact that she is letting him in, telling him something so personal. The way his voice and eyes envelop her, the way she seems to relax and forget the mess outside.

This is getting vvvv long...so

And her asking him if his father is like the man she’s met on fake!Earth and his reply that a bit idealized but yes. I love how important John-Jack relationship is to FS, and how you can feel it, though we barely ever see Jack. He is crucial to John and so we see him through the mirror of John. And oh, how do I love that final message he does leave, ending with ‘This is John Crichton, somewhere in the Universe.’ The wonder is still there, isn’t it? But so is determination to not be taken alive and I find that rather heart-breaking. But there is awesome gallows humor with D’Argo and John and oh, this show is turning me into an emotional yo-yo, as it always does.

The highlight of the ep for me, is John sitting with the gun, on the floor, by Crais’ cell and talking to him. And he is quiet, and beyond despair, and in pain. And he is crying. And that whole scene, which I cannot describe well at all, or even analyze, just kills me. Trying to make Crais understand, still trying, but now it’s not about that, not really hoping for that or wishing it, but just verbalizing it all, head on.

Oooof (and the way he’s almost cuddling the gun as a comfort blanket...)

And when Crais says that there is much injustice and they are all proof of it, John’s bleak rejoinder that if there was justice, Crais would be dead…kills me.

And there are good byes. Chiana refusing to be saved and D’Argo insisting. Zhaan and John, acknowledging they are family. D’Argo and Aeryn, and D saying he thought he’d live much longer and Aeryn (in a sentence that explains so much) replying that she never thought she’d live this long (unknowingly echoing Zhaan who said that every microt is an undeserved gift from the Goddess for her, since she committed murder).

The scene with Rygel and John, which is just…always sideswipes me, so much because they are hilarious and moving and Rygel is a fucking puppet but I never remember he is 100% real to me.

The never-ending references...

And the insane nicknames. The show was gloriously unhinged.

I love this exchange:

This is the bit that gets me tbh...

There is the scene with Chiana and John, which just makes me die. Because Chiana offers him her body, because that is the only way she knows how to repay John for what he did for her and what he is about to do, and it says volumes about the life she’s led that this is the one way she can think to show gratitude. And John turns her down.

But it’s not the fact that he does, it’s the way he does it, that gets me. Because he manages to be so gentle and sweet and not insulting at all, because he recognizes it as a gift and treats it as such. I think that is the reason her relationship with John is more important to Chiana than the one with D’Argo or anyone else. John is someone who wants nothing from her (not that D is mercenary, but because the relationship is romantic, there is a different dynamic, one she is more familiar with). John is family: he really is her brother replacement after Nerri. (Side note - any other show he’d bang the hot alien since he’s not dating Aeryn or even close but not here/)

And yeah, that doozie of a cliffhanger. And John seeing the base go in smoke and his sheer glee at the destruction, at striking back, at saving his crew.

He is millions of miles away from the John who came through that wormhole. But he asks to be patched in to Moya, to make her escape, even though this means certain death to him. That duality, with humanity and self-sacrifice always there, just different, will always remain.

Also, yeah, Crais 100% developed a thing for Aeryn after she tortured him...everyone in this show is a bit insane...

[lesbianrobin]

i'm thinking about s4 and while i absolutely love max's storyline i think it's the best thing st has maybe ever done it occurred to me that like. i think maybe eddie's existence would have been a lot better if eddie were the one cursed and that was how he got into the squad. like i know things would be really different but maybe like in this situation vecna functions more like an it follows type thing and once chrissy dies it passes to eddie yknow idk but anyway like. i was just thinking about how eddie's death sucked so bad. and i think if he had been in max's position and died but after a season of like people actually Fighting For Him for the first time in his life... idk i just think that would have been so much more like. satisfying and meaningful.

like if we met this guy who keeps flunking his senior year and sells drugs and everybody thinks he's a freak and then something insane happens and he doesn't think anybody will believe him but his new friends Do and more than that they wholly dedicate themselves to helping him so like. idk with max we've seen her suffer more and more every season so when she volunteers to be bait and gets crunched it's just fucking upsetting and unfair but if it were eddie who's like... introduced in this rough place and over the season he gets to experience like this acceptance and friendship he never has before and when he volunteers + dies it's less like another thing in a long line of tortures but like an act of bravery where the others' friendship maybe wasn't able to save him but they Were able to give him something before he left...

just like. in canon eddie's doomed from the start because that's just his designated role in the story. he exists to be lovable and then die and it feels like him being a flunkie drug dealer is almost meant to be like well he wasn't going anywhere anyway 🤪 but if his fate were treated less like an inevitability and more like an unambiguous evil like he Could have lived if only he'd been given the chance i just. i think it would come off completely different yknow? idk

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s4 ep7: Scientific Method

An 'aliens experimenting on the crew' episode, this one was different enough from the one Next Gen did that it didn't feel like a rip off of that one, even though it was basically the same plot. This one was much less creepy than that one, and actually had a lot of fun and comedic elements.

In the opening scene, B'Elanna finds Seven rerouting power from engineering to the astrometrics lab without permission, and gets angry because it prevented engineering from finishing their warp core diagnostic. She scolds Seven, who doesn't seem to think it's a big deal, and B'Elanna gives Seven the same lecture about needing to follow rules that Janeway gave her when she started out. B'Elanna realizes the irony of that, just like someone realizing that they've finally turned into their parents, and she tells Seven a little more kindly that if she could learn to follow Starfleet rules, so can Seven. Seven seems to accept what B'Elanna says, and apologizes. It's a nice little moment illustrating Seven and the crew making efforts to understand and accept working together.

From there, we go to Tom trying to slip out of his shift in sickbay, because he wants to bring B'Elanna flowers to apologize for having to miss their last date- and to make out with her in the jeffries tube. While Tom and B'Elanna are kissing and being insanely cute, we see thay they're being observed by someone or something as yet unknown.

Janeway is tired and having headaches in this episode, for which the the Doctor prescribes massage therapy, leading to a flat out comedy scene of Janeway enduring the Doctor's not very relaxing looking message regimen, from which she almost walks out to bridge in a sheet before the Doctor points out she may want a uniform.

Back in engineering, Tuvok catches Tom and B'Elanna comically making out on a console, and they fret over whether he'll tell the captain. The captain apparently already knows, because the crew is one big gossip mill, and she uncharacteristcally yells at Tom and B'Elanna to behave more professionally after the briefing.

Janeway has been very on edge and short fused this whole time, and Tuvok gently points out how extreme her behavior has been after she barks at him to 'whip the crew into shape'. It snaps her back to her senses for a moment, and she resolves to take a vacation on the holodeck soon. Tuvok sits next to her and kindly replies that he will join her there for a drink. It's a very sweet gesture on his part, and Janeway's gratitude for his support and understanding in that moment is obvious, as she takes his hand and tries not to cry. It's such a lovely moment that speaks volumes about the depth of their affection for each other.

More crew members soon begin to exhibit odd symptoms that vary from person to person- Chakotay starts aging rapidly, Neelix starts turning into another species, and other crew members soon pour into sickbay with more problems. The Doctor and B'Elanna find an odd marker with alien writing on the patients dna when they analyze it in the science lab, but someone tries to kill B'Elanna and delete the Doctor's program when they get close to figuring it out.

Eventually the Doctor modifies Seven's ocular implant to match the phase variant on the alien dna tag, and Seven is able to observe aliens all over the ship, monitering the crew, and the medical devices they've fitted them with, unbeknownst to them. (And we learn the trivia tidbit that Voyager has 257 rooms!)

Seven manages to capture one of the aliens and make her visible to the crew, and the alien admits to being part of a science team using Voyager for medical research. When Janeway refuses to let her continue her experiments, the alien threatens to kill all the test subjects. But when a crewperson dies on the bridge due to one of the experiments, Janeway, who's had needles put into her skull and her agression levels turned up by the aliens, basically says 'fuck it, we ball' and decides to fly the ship in between a binary pulsar in the hopes that the prospect of the ship being torn apart will scare off the aliens once and for all. The aliens apparently hadn't been observing Janeway long enough to know that she'll happily blow up the ship to prevent enemies from harming her crew on a regular day, and are somehow surprised to find that an addled Janeway will literally not hesitate. Janeway plays chicken with them until they back down and leave, but Voyager is already too far in to turn back, and against the odds, Janeway powers the ship though the pulsar without exploding it. Was it statistically probable for that to happen? No. Is Kathryn Janeway above the mere laws of science? Hell yes. We stan a legend!!

After the aliens are gone and their medical devices removed, things are back to normal. Tom and B'Elanna have cute little dinner date in Tom's quarters, which keeps getting interrupted, mostly by Harry, who either doesn't realize what a date is, or doesn't realize he's not part of their thruple, and tries to invite himself to hang with them, until Tom shuts the door in his face. Tom and B'Elanna wonder whether they really were going overboard in their pda, or if it was just the aliens messing with them. They don't know, and neither do we, but this time, at least, they wait till they're alone before they start kissing. An adorable ending to a fun episode.

Tl;dr: A very fun and somewhat silly episode that has a solid a-plot with lots of good comedy scenes, as well as a few rather sweet, genuine character moments. Good stuff.

[the-ghost-of-a-spirit]

watching mha S4 and my thoughts while watching ep1-14

@maidofdarkness23

their interveiwing 1A? this'll be funny.

nezu, it makes total sense to allow someone you dont know, who could be a villan onto school grounds, sure buddy (i will bully nezu about everything now) also i dont trust the interviwer, his name is tanayo i think

bakugo is so real for getting mad when a guy is photographing him eating breakfast love how tokoyami uses dark shadow to get food instead of waiting in line himself

why are their chess tiles flat, thats not chess bro

time to find out who overhaul is

okay, so a guy just exploded

shigaraki: "now i get it" well i dont, please explain okay so, i still have no clue whats going but i think its like: twice brings overhaul to base. they talk, shigaraki gets mad. they fight. some guy blows up, overhauls friends come, someone else died at some point and the guys arm gets cut off, overhaul and co. tell leage of villans to think about it, and leave

present mic calling almight emo is SO FUNNY wonder what happened with him and nighteye

miriyo!

nighteye, what in the actual fuck. he literally trapped a girl to a laughing machine, he's insane, like why, what is wrong with him.

WHAT IS THAT, DEKU WHAT

"oh no, hes not funny"

alright nighteye has an even worse almight obsession then deku

okay, so deku isn't failing

betting something happens with nighteye and almight in this season

Tokoyami is going to work study with a guy called hawks. I think hawks is goanna be cool

Deku and mirio found a kid. She was in the intro I think so she's important

so her name is ari. She's cute.

Is it coincidence that ari and shigarako have te same hair?

Crack ship: grand torino/recovery girl

I love Tomiki. He's my favourite.

random but, i'm gonna say that ectoplasm (the guy who makes clones) is the traitor. cause the leuge of villans has a clone guy (mimic) and ectoplasm is a clone guy. so same guy.

red riot is a pretty sick name ngl

kirashima tragic backstory unlocked? (had to check his name with google)

tomiki is allergic to postitvity its so funny i love him

okay, i need explanation, why is everyone here okay got it, this is boring, waiting for the actual rescue misson

nighteye: I cant! (regarding him not using his quirk right then) Aizawa: most jujdmental sideye ever (why does he have the funniest expressions)

loving aizwa right now, with him saying that to deku, like hes so.. also that little chest punch, then also the "i'll be your man" "no"

also ari is so cute and i love her (i barely know her)

ida is so silly, like why

dragonladydragonladydragonlady

TAMAKI-CENTRIC EPISODE, LETS GO, right after i decided he's my favourite too lol (4 ep8) also just realised his name is tamaki not tomiki

i love miriyo, hes so nice and just generally a good person

tiny plauge doctor becomong big :( he was kinda cute when he was little

tamaki's hero name is sun-eater?

we gonna talk about how miriyo is "sun" and tamaki is "sun eater" i need the backstory of tamaki's hero name okay, not what i expected, i still think theres more we can read into with sun/sun eater (yes im shipping it, sue me)

what if tamaki just starts eating random stuff, imagine if he eats paper and becomes his own notepad

tamaki is not okay (he got hurt and collapsed after a fight)

how come fat's skinny now. like why. i despise skinny fatgum

"a few pounds" you are literally less than half the size you were before

i love how evryones usually obsessing over almight, but we also have kirashima with crimson riot, and i think thats neat

okay, so i think ari's quirk is destroying someones quirk forever? give my kid a break, shes like, 5

also, on one hand, i think overhaul is a really cool and interesting power. on the other, child experimentation is not ok

alright, i'm betting someone gets shot, dunno who yet, but someone will get shot by those permanent quirk destroying bullets

how many personas does twice have?

someone has a truth quirk, also taking back the ectoplasm=twice thing cause they know who twice really is, and who ectoplasm is too, probably

the upside down drunk guy is so funny to me "what are you, drunk" "no, that would be you" (what if this became a ship)

ari is missing a horn, she has one, but its not centered, therefore she's meant to have 2, cause these things are supposed to be symetrical

i would die for ari, and also kill overhaul for her (MD i see why you hate him now)

going to say this now, capes are dumb, especially for million, cause his clothes are made of his hair, so you'd expect for there to not be much fabric, but he has a cape.

nimoto/chisaki new ship

(minimum requirements for ship is that they breathed the same air for at least a scene, and possible are loyal to eachother, but we dont need that)

MIRIYO GOT SHOT, HE GOT SHOT BY THE PERMANENT BULLET

what if miryo become the first quirkless hero?

miriyo, stop getting hurt

deku came and saved the day (and so did evryone else, probably)

i like locklock

chisaki killed nimoto, like dude, he was, like, the one guy who genuinely liked and supported you.

what if shigaraki and ari are related, i'm pretty sure they are.

NIGHTEYE'S DEAD???

ARI NO

ari is also favourite, i love her and would die for her

everytime someone screams "chisaki" i feel like their gonna say "Chisaki smash" and idk why

ari's quirk is to rewind

this scene (deku and ari right after quirk reveal) is going to break me

what if almight and nighteye became "messed up stomach due to villan" buddies

i like dabi, i think he's neat

shigaraki, u good bro? probably not but still

okay, nighteyes dead

i hope we get to see more of ari later on

[aemiron-main]

Some ST3 Opinions & Thoughts On ST3’s Use of Foreshadowing

Something that I really liked about S3 was the absence of Brenner & how the lab overall is less present, but those lab-created horrors are even more grotesque and in-your-face and present, alongside the lab foreshadowing/parallels (such as what I talked about here regarding the S3 hospital vs 1979 lab parallels).

Like, I don’t mean this in a “Brenner is BAD and i HATE HIM so im GLAD he wasnt in S3 way,” i mean it in a “even when Brenner is nowhere to be found, even when the lab is ‘shut down’ and dormant, the impacts of what the lab has done continue to ramp up,” way.

IMO, the absence of the lab and of Brenner (and therefore the absence of a single person/entity to easily pin the blame onto) does a great job at demonstrating the way that unethical science becomes a monster of its own & how even shutting down the lab & keeping Brenner at bay wasn’t enough to stop everything that’s happening.

I think it’s a great way to emphasize the way that the consequences of the lab’s experiments continue to echo and continue to impact people.

And jumping back to what I talked about in the beginning regarding the ST3 vs ST4 parallels and foreshadowing, I actually think that it’s partially that use of foreshadowing that makes it feel different/“”””out of place”””” compared to other seasons (although i do think that ST3 often being a contrast to prior seasons is exactly why it fits in place because S1 and S2’s vibes wouldnt be as noticeable/memorable if Every Season Was Like That & ST3 gives something to contrast ST1 and ST2 with), and the reason why I think that use of foreshadowing makes it feel different is because while EVERY season of ST has tons of foreshadowing, ST2 also has tons of direct connections to ST1 (even connections as subtle as spending a lot of shots in the Byers house, specifically in that hallway which was key to Will’s vanishing in S1), whereas while ST3 ABSOLUTELY has connections to previous seasons, we’re now moving into new locations etc etc, so those connections arent as constant as they were in S2. And so, as a result, the season becomes more future and foreshadowing-focused, but we dont recognize that when we watch S3 initially/for the first tike because we havent seen S4 yet.

Like, it’s very easy now to go back and see the absolutely insane number of highly specific parallels to S4 that exist in S3, but without the context of S4, a lot of those S3 scenes almost feel “useless”/emptier than they should.

And ST3 has so much time imagery and specifically “future” references that really just hammer home ST3’s use of foreshadowing/its focus on foreshadowing.

So, my main point here is that I think that while its totally fair to have a favourite season/prefer diff vibes/this isnt a criticism of that, I also think that approaching every single season of ST as if they’re entirely self-contained is where criticism of ST (and specifically S3) tends to be less effective- because S3 really is much, much better with the context of S4, like with the context of S4, S3 is absolutely rich with intricate foreshadowing (you can even foreshadow very specific things and names things from the S4 newspapers back in S3, such as what I talked about in this post), but that context and those intricacies are lost when you isolate every season and try to look at each season as a standalone story.

The Creel foreshadowing alone in S3 is absolutely constant- Heather Holloway is literally IN the Creel tub when she’s in the void!! But you’d have no way of knowing that on your first S3 watch through/without the context of S4.

I actually think it’s really neat that ST3, on the surface, is a very flashy and “obvious” and seemingly “surface level,” season, but then, when you dig deeper with the context of S4, it’s actually a season with an absolute ton of depth and foreshadowing and intricate connections.

[eyesontheskyline]

omg i want to debate a hotchniss scene with you!!! from the season 7 finale

now i know that the whole jj’s wedding thing with hotch and emily talking about her tell etc etc is seen as the ultimate hotchniss flirty scene and i love it but that’s not what kills me in that episode, it’s the dance scene for me. It makes me go absolutely feral and its one of the scenes where im once again questioning who the hell directed that and why- it’s so intimate to me, the closeness, the almost cheek to cheek, him shifting his face towards her and her little smile- like who in their right mind directed that with the thought “aw yeah that’s how friends dance” like sjsnsnsnks. While a dance like that would probably be normal with the rest of the team, the fact that hotch doesnt usually have such a touchy relationship with anyone is what makes me lose my mind, its such an unusual moment for them i feel like WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY ITS DIFFERENT AND IT MEANS MUCH MORE!! Anyway so yeah, idk if im just insane so i was wondering what your take was on that, considering that your fic is based on season 7

I can't think of a single coherent thing to add to this because I agree entirely.

I'm so curious what he said to her in that moment. Like, what TG actually said, but mostly all the billions of options for what Hotch could've said to Emily.

I feel like this is the scene where you can really see what they could've been if he wasn't her boss. Like, it's a little weird with Beth there, but it almost kind of acknowledges that there is something there and they were just never going to go there with her on his team, and now she's leaving the country and it's too late. I don't think they look like they're making any effort at being two platonic coworkers sharing a friendly dance.

The two of them interest me so much in S7 (obviously lol). Like in S4-5 they're together basically all the time, and then in S6 she's with Morgan all the time, and in S7 they're switching it up again but she spends a lot of time with Rossi and Reid. In canon, on screen, they're less close than they have been before, even though they now have this additional thing in common, on top of all the things they already had in common that made them such a great pair before.

There are so many potential justifications for it, both on an in-universe and meta level, but it's just super interesting to me that they have this kind of distance between them, and then when they dance at the end, both knowing on some level it's a goodbye, it's Like That.

[raayllum]

I don't know how I could cope between-seasons without your tdp analyses; Raay, thank you so much! I was (re)reading your meta section, specifically Articulation of Need. It hit me that, 4x07, Callum finally says "I need you" to Rayla... and it's just devastating. I guess I don't have a question, I just want to reiterate how grateful I am that you've shared your analyses as I've gained so much insight into and appreciation for this show because of you. Thank you.

🥺

Re-reading aAAH gonna pretend I know how to deal with all those compliments eloquently but I'm so glad you're enjoying it still!! Inspiring and spreading appreciation is all I wanna do (as well as emptying my lil meat cage brain so I can think other things) when it comes to posting meta so like!!

Aah thank you so much, that meta was one of my favourites to write (and I actually cried a little at my job at the time over it, constructing it in my head while doing other tasks, lol! Still gets me a little teary now) and like, S4 was Insane for it as an add-on??

TLDR for anyone who doesn't feel like reading the full (2k-3k??) meta but: Rayla's big loving Callum speeches are always about how much she needs him and can't lose him. Callum's big loving Rayla speeches are always about how much he admires/adores her, not expressing that he needs her in the same manner. Rayla always places herself in between him and the threat as much as possible, reinforcing that she doesn't want to lose him. Callum almost always just asks to go with her, indicating that the threat is worth the risk of both of them.

Case in point: Callum has never asked Rayla to stay. In S4, we see this begin to shift in Rayla's direction. She's gone from asking if he'll stay to asking if she can stay.

Even her little mini speech while he's sleeping is all about how special he / they were (are) to her, how much she doesn't want to lose him, how he's the best thing she ever had. Alternatively, Callum is so much more confused; it takes to the end of the season to be able to move past just all the anger and admit that he's "so glad" she's back. But just like in every season prior, Callum shows that he needs her - to not emotionally repress, to not go down a path of darkness - in action rather than in word. And just like every season before, he's surprised that she doesn't know this, because he's surprised that she's leaving (again). To him, how can she not know that he needs her?

But we know that she doesn't, because S4 gets so close - closer than they've ever been before, while ironically simultaneously understanding each more and less than ever before - and then pulls the rug out from under us.

Because in her mind, her parents all left because they didn't need her; Runaan was only taken ('killed') because she was a detriment to the mission: "Five of us won't be enough. We need all six" "We'll be stronger as five." And in Callum's mind (for most of S4, but not by the end, I think) how much could Rayla need him, when she left him behind?

But this is what is most beautiful about their S5 / possession plot line set up. Rayla will be asking for him to stay with her, because she needs him, all over again. And in coming back to her, he'll prove in action (yet again) that he needs her, and maybe even in word, And, through many different options of circumstances that may extend past S5 or past this plot line (although again, I lean toward it being resolved in S5) Callum will reiterate that he needs her - not to kill him, but in order for him to truly feel like he's living.

He will finally ask her to stay, to realize that it needs to be asked and to be willing / brave enough, after everything, to ask it. To ask her to stay. And Rayla will have finally had the development she needs, too, in order to say Yes.

[divinekangaroo]

Currently, you are my favorite fic author as I’ve probably mentioned multiple times lol. Sorry in advance if this rambles, but your writing always makes me guess and look closer and it’s nice when you can ask the author your questions:

In reading your latest, I audibly gasped when Michael thought of Tommy as a priest when he was talking about his cock under the ROBES?! Crazy. I loved it. Also Michael asking about Lizzie was insane, but it’s also insane to give your aunt who’s like a mother to you’s son a list of vetted prostitutes.

Also! The little dialogue between Tommy and Lizzie where Michael is just sitting there. I can just hear her say his name, it just charged with so much emotion and AUGH. What sort of tension were you going for in that situation? Especially with Michael wondering what Lizzie does with her money— the payout money.

And I might just be stupid and tired right now, but why does Michael seem scorned (other than the fact that he was the bottom rung) that Tommy fucked Lizzie at the office? What made him ask for Lizzie, if nothing but a power play? What does Tommy retracting the card and saying that he couldn’t afford Lizzie say about him and their relationship?

Again, thank you for writing all these fics, they bring much joy <3

@lethargicmouse Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! When I did my re-watch, I jotted notes of what was going on at every point in time and I try to keep some allusion or reference to as many moving parts in any of these fics as feasible.

And then there's the format of these little fic-bits/flash fics, too, which I love because they lend themselves to being like a little puzzle box for both writer and reader, packing so much meaning into a single sentence such that one isolated word carries weight.

On top of the attempt at canon-integration, though, I also carry a lot of headcanon into this, so pls forgive if I speak about matters as if personal headcanon is canon because it's not always...

So answering your questions/thoughts -

After being taken away from his mother by the Church, Michael was canonically sexually abused by Father Hughes. There's also a strong allusion that he was (maybe sexually but also physically/verbally) abused by his adoptive father Mr Johnson, given his adoptive mother Mrs Johnson tries to bring him back home later in S4 by informing Michael his adoptive father has died. On top of this, Michael appears to have the same kind of intelligence/metacognition/ambition Tommy has and was able to do his night business school for further learning, but was nevertheIess then stuck on the farm with the white well he wanted to blow up -- this boring, abusive presentation of the pastoral 'ideal' that comes up so often in British literature and which is always subverted in Peaky Blinders.

Into this pastoral hell walks Tommy, dripping with wealth, the trappings of class, modernity/cutting edge thinking, lying to Mrs Johnson as smooth as breathing and with no shame when she calls him on it. He doesn't exactly rescue Michael but creates a framing which is: if you want this, come and get it. And Michael does, where he then discovers the layer of violence which enthralls him - here is where he fits in, here is why he wanted to blow up that well, here is his blood.

In S2, Michael is taken into prison by Campbell in a powerplay between Campbell and Tommy. He was 100% definitely physically abused in prison and likely targetted by Campbell if not other inmates, we see that in him being beaten up. He may have been sexually abused, but this seems less likely from his reactions. But to be released from prison, it's not Tommy who does anything, it's Polly who has sex/is raped by Campbell to secure Michael's release - and Michael is told this, mockingly, by guards (power figures) who probably laugh about his whore mother. Michael reacts badly to this for many reasons, but I'd guess a part of it is shame from his own past abuse - a sense of victim blaming. He takes a long time to relate to Polly again and S2 is framed as a series of choices for him, where he decides to stay with Tommy (and Polly) out of ambition for wealth despite now knowing and experiencing the consequences (prison, rape, abuse).

S3 he rises through the ranks accordingly but also takes the fall back into prison at the end of S3.

Pre S4 timeskip, Tommy's now made good his promise to release everyone from prison/criminal conviction, but Michael's nearly died as well as suffered in prison again. In my headcanon, he's also had to listen to John expounding viciously on Tommy's behaviours and history in a less than flattering way; John is almost 100% convinced Tommy will purposely let them die so he can get on with his clean, non-criminal life, and because Tommy's desire for this seemed to increase with Grace and post-Grace, John doesn't hesitate to also slag on Tommy and his women, his use of prostitutes, his sleeping with Tatiana, his getting the cream while they get shit, his fucking of Lizzie when Lizzie was supposed to be John's wife, etc -- I also theorise Michael hadn't realised Tommy x Lizzie was going on in front of him. All stuff that Michael hasn't really thought about Tommy before. Arthur doesn't want to think Tommy's purposely abandoned them, but also thinks maybe John's right, so says nothing at all, internalising and feeling completely impotent and lost. This doesn't help Michael, as Michael is the only one sitting there with a thought of, but Tommy promised he'll save us, but he has no history to rebuff John's rancour, and as well, Michael's own belief is being rapidly eroded away.

Then Michael goes home and his mother, too, is completely (and embarrassingly for him) emotionally and mentally (and spiritually) adrift, also bitching about but conflicted about Tommy, and all that entails. Michael returns to work with Tommy because he still wants this wealth, this life that Tommy represents, and Michael still kind of respects Tommy and knows he hasn't learned enough yet, but there's also this sense that the illusion is fully shattered: Michael now looks at Tommy and what Michael sees is a very flawed man who's barely holding it together, and who takes risks (in business and personal life) and abuses his power to do so without considering the cost on others/family. (Note it's not about whether this is true or not, it's what I think Michael is seeing.)

So then we hit my flashfic with Michael back at work, but looking hard at Tommy with a very different, disillusioned and non-idealistic lens.

When Michael thought of Tommy as a priest - so Michael's first encounter with power/authority is a priest who abused his authority. Michael now has a sense that Tommy has abused his authority and created situations of sexual abuse (for Polly, maybe for Michael, and also by fucking 'his secretary' who isn't even 'Lizzie' at that point in Michael's id reaction, just someone who is not in a position to say no to her boss the way Michael couldn't say no and Polly's no wasn't heard). Let's not also think about that mythos where you 'inherit' the power of the man you kill - and Tommy was the one who had the power to give Michael the order to kill Hughes; that sense of Hughes' power/corruption transitioning to Tommy.

Michael asking about Lizzie was insane -- 1000% a gut-level power play, not actual desire for Lizzie. But also, Michael doesn't ask for Lizzie. Michael says 'What if I asked for Lizzie.' Michael is instinctively pushing a sore spot (his own, Tommy's,) trying to call Tommy on his hypocrisy and power abuses, not actually want Lizzie. And Tommy recognises this immediately.

but it’s also insane to give [your younger cousin] a list of vetted prostitutes -- not for Tommy? I wrote an earlier flashfic where Tommy's father takes them all to a brothel ridiculously young after possible abuses/sexual abuses in the Parish's care. This sense of 'you feel unmanned, come fuck a woman and feel like a man again'. Forgetting that apart from Arthur who didn't get taken away, they were...not men yet, even in the measure of the day. This is unusual (at least all in the same room) but not unheard of for working class men to set their sons or younger brothers up with whores, partially because of the sexual mores of the day regarding keeping good girls virginal until ready for marriage but men expected to have ample experience to bring to the marital bed. Tommy in the future demonstrates this with Finn, too. However, this peace offering by Tommy is instantly repulsive for Michael because 1) represents abuse of power for sex again, and 2) it represents a low class thing to do no matter how classy the whores are and is an overly simplified offer to address all the complexity Michael's feeling now about Tommy, and 3) Michael's sexual experience prior to this was with Charlotte, a rich, upperclass girl, not a prostitute. Be like Tommy but with more class? Michael sees himself sleeping with upper class women, not classy prostitutes.

Also! The little dialogue between Tommy and Lizzie where Michael is just sitting there. I can just hear her say his name, it just charged with so much emotion and AUGH. What sort of tension were you going for in that situation? So this is Lizzie doing what she genuinely was trying to do in S4 early - make Tommy speak to his family again in person and get over the current estrangement. My headcanon is Lizzie has no family of her own she connects to, and while she came into the Shelbys via John or Tommy as a sexual partner, she's fallen in love with this entire Shelby family, this sense of everyone everywhere all at once, and she just wants them all to be connected again. However, all she sees is Tommy being proud and prickly, not hurt. Tommy is very hurt, and while he is proud and prickly and won't cave in, there's a bitterness there that Lizzie doesn't see or respect. So the tension was Lizzie speaking from a place of love but also annoyance at what she sees as childish behaviour; Tommy's speaking from hurt and pride and authority to shut her down. What is also behind this, too, is that I think Tommy has withdrawn from any sexual or soft encounters with Lizzie and probably did so immediately after handing her that money at end of S3, a closure point. So she has a level of longing in her outreach which he also shuts down and will not indulge. He regretted being weak, I think, and needing to lean on her, and probably hurting her too, and is trying to build up walls against being so vulnerable, exposed, used in the many, many ways he was vulnerable and exposed in S3.

Especially with Michael wondering what Lizzie does with her money— the payout money. So this line was tying into the sexual power/sexual abuse of power layer for Michael in a few ways. There's classism: 'What's a lower class bint do with this much money' is one part of it. But more significantly, Michael witnesses Lizzie getting a wad of cash for Tommy fucking her, and then Tommy gives everyone else a wad of cash for...services rendered (Tommy fucking them, if in a different way.) So Michael is looking at that money somewhat bitterly because of what he had to lose to gain it - basically self respect and respect he might still carry for Tommy, who let Polly take it and Michael take it and his brothers take it, all tainted with this strange sexual layer due to the various abuses Michael perceives.

why does Michael seem scorned (other than the fact that he was the bottom rung) that Tommy fucked Lizzie at the office? A combination of Michael's soreness at his own blind spots, at being kept blind, and a slight disgust that Tommy was exercising that kind of authority/abuse in locations Michael now has to look at daily and be reminded of. I theorise the grand imprisonment at end of S3 struck Michael as a huge surprise; he knew dodgy busienss was happening but the extent of it -- and then the fact Michael was imprisoned for Hughes' murder, which Tommy authorised -- really stung.

What made him ask for Lizzie, if nothing but a power play?

Tommy's behaviour around Lizzie is visibly out of character, which suggests there is something there that can be exploited. He employs her in a very visible, important position when she doesn't really add much class to his outfit. She can't spell. She has no prior experience. He admits she helped him; he effectively admits he's soft because of her (heart breaking comment). Michael's lashing out at evident weaknesses, similar to what Mosley does in S5. It's also poking at the prostitution thing and the fact Lizzie was supposed to marry John and that they went to the extreme with Angel: purposeful or not, every act Tommy's taken with Lizzie so far has been to make her unavailable for other men, the huge power play piece is if you really want to reconcile with me would you make her available for me.

What does Tommy retracting the card and saying that he couldn’t afford Lizzie say about him and their relationship?

Tommy recognises Michael is sore about something but conflates it to the 'unmanning' / loss of power of being imprisoned. After all, Michael's come back to work so he can't be really sore at Tommy, acn he? So Tommy does what his father did and offers the women/whores as a way to feel like a man again. Michael's response immediately makes him realise he's misjudged why Michael is sore and that it's far bigger than that; Michael, too, is pissed off at Tommy but unlike the rest of the family, Michael is ignoring that for reasons unknown and is coming back to work. Tommy's distrust starts now: what is Michael doing and why is Michael doing it? Tommy immediately withdraws all offer of easy reconciliation from the negotiating table. XD He also uses the term 'you couldn't afford her' as a counter play: all right, Michael, let's assume Lizzie is still a purchasable sexual commodity; you, you little jumped up shit thinking you can dig at me, you couldn't come anywhere near the amount of money and prestige that I've given her. Get back in your box.

After which let's imagine Tommy promptly heads over to the Midland and fucks in a fury all of his rotation of prostitutes and keeps fucking them with widely varying levels of interest through to start of S4.

(And this doesn't really touch on the Michael-wants-Tommy / Michael-wants-to-be-Tommy / Michael-wants-to-be-better-than-Tommy themes either, but there's a strong undercurrent of that, sexualised and not, in any of my Michael & Tommy flashfics)

Thanks for your questions and the opportunity to do a mini Director's Cut! Hope it was entertaining.

.

Link to the flashfic referenced above: and not one god his fury spares

[butchjess]

You know what's funny? I think Jess was the only one of Rory's exes that she ever actively Hated. I mean, obviously it didn't last forever, but there was a RAGE there for a while that Rory usually didn't let herself feel. And, yeah, that could also be because he was the one who torched their relationship and left her, whereas I think Rory always kind of blamed HERSELF for the failure of her relationships with Dean and Logan... I suppose you could make an argument that he deserved it more... But I guess my point was that they say that the opposite of Love isn't Hate, but Apathy- and Rory has never been able to be Apathetic about Jess, not once. You get the real sense in Season 4 that her feelings for him (still!) are this gaping, hemorrhaging wound that's never been healed or cared for properly, and has only grown more angry and infected. I just think that the depths of her bitterness are a strong indicator of how strong her feelings for him really were. The wretched woundedness in her eyes when he first approaches her at the Firelight Festival! 😫

now this one……… this right here. its not okay. idc what anyone says i will forever love their s4 arc and how messy and painful and wretched and neverending it is for the both of them like oh my god they are never going to escape each other.. everything you said is so so interesting bc YEAH. love just does this sometimes. like is there really any bigger love confession from rory than her admitting she has been obsessing over what jess would say to her if he ever came back that shes been pushing everything down and it keeps coming back up is there any bigger love confession than admitting this one person can hurt you like nobody else can leave you wounded like nobody else can. im like wailing in despair she did look like a wounded animal her big hurt eyes…. even before then. every time she ran into him just. SEEING HIM LOOKING AT HIM its like she can’t breathe when she does it she looks at him in such a strange hurt way. another thing is that i really don’t think rory believed jess when he said i love you. rory’s a very logistical person (with the emotional intelligence of a bag of rocks) she always has been and she’s always defined love in a very specific way, always understood it in a very specific way. and i don’t think she could even understand the breadth of what she felt for jess much less what he felt for her. what she says about dean after they sleep together is so. illuminating it makes me insane. aren’t you glad it happened with someone who really loves me? I CANT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT ITS TOO MUCH. EVERYTHING SHE DID WAS ABOUT HIM… all she can understand is that whatever jess has left her with is PAINFUL and that can’t be love it can’t be love when he turns and runs away from her and when he gets in his car and drives away from her and when he shows up out of nowhere and asks her to come with him. I CAN’T HELP IT, I’M IN LOVE WITH HIM. LOVE, HUH? jesus christ.

[thegeminisage]

now that we're almost halfway through tng (we're at the start of s4, so...close enough) i feel like it's time to do an updated ranking of tng characters favorite to least favorite. here is the previous ranking. this time it will be much harder.

data - this will never change, ever. he gets the most interesting episodes. he is the most interesting premise. he is the the man the myth the legend the moment. he is autistic. he is not less perfect than lore

wesley - i don't want to talk about it

tasha - GIRL I MISS YOU SO BAD COME BACK FOR MORE THAN ONE EPISODE. don't kiss any boys

worf and riker tie - this is going to sound crazy but worf reminds me so much of spock sometimes. because they both struggle to find their place in the world but they do find it on board the enterprise. i like howmad he gets and his strict code of ethics. also, i think what he did on the klingon planet is fucking crazy. i hope they come back to it someday

as for riker: poker king. down to clown. cool with deanna's hookups. how can u not love him. i wish he did more outrageous stuff it's like the best thing about him and they never utilize it. he and worf (e deanna) should kiss

guinan - we like basically never see her and know nothing about her but it's always really exciting when she's there. it's like oh we got guinan this ep! always something to look forward to.

beverly - in a shocking twist i've decided that beverly is currently my favorite alive woman cast regular. this was a contentious decision which may have been influenced by having very recently watched a beverly ep but here's the thing. when they give her a half-decent script she's fucking amazing. when they let her do stuff besides Be A Mom. like she's so brave at times, in a different way than bones was brave - she's afraid of dying in a way that he isn't, but she'll still put herself in danger to help others anyway. actually i've finally mostly stopped mentally comparing her to bones, an honor which pulaski never got. unfortunately we almost never get the Great version of beverly

deanna and geordi tie - i'm sorry women. deanna dropped several rankings because what made her so special to me (yelling at her horrible mother) was immediately backtracked like it didn't matter in the following episodes with her horrible mother. i still feel deep sympathy and solidarity, and also deep gayness, but most of the time when we get Deanna Episodes(tm) they're about her shitty mom being shitty or about some guy sexually harassing her and it's very sad. like i love deanna. this bums me out. please treat her eally niceys

as for geordi, they simply have given him no screentime to do anything cool. i think there's been a total of three really good geordi moments since my last post like this. he's cool but they just never do anything with him. also, i don't like whatever he had going on with that holodeck girlfriend

picard - well SOMEBODY had to be last. i definitely don't actively dislike him anymore, and in fact he has quite a few good moments, he just doesn't make me insane in the brain the way (for example) data or spock does.

look forward to another ranking in like season 7 probably.