#but she also didn't have substantive conversations with ANY other character

[calliopecalling]

QOTS Rewatch - 5x09 - A Prueba de Balas

I cannot believe this is my second-to-last episode debrief for this rewatch. This whole thing has taken way longer than I initially planned but also I'm not even ready for it to end! WHAT WILL I DO WITH MY LIFE NOW??? Who'm I kidding, I'll keep rewatching and keep writing fics and keep digging up QOTS gifsets to reblog that I haven't reblogged yet. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, I just have a few thoughts to share about this beautiful episode beyond what I wrote last year after it aired live. When I first watched this episode I had no idea what to make of it; I was so annoyed by all the Kote and trying not to be nervous about the finale and wanting more out of the Jeresa. In some ways, it hasn't improved on rewatch, but in many ways, it totally has. I love this episode on rewatch (it is WAY less stressful knowing it all works out in the end!).

My debrief last year said that some of the things I was annoyed by in this episode -- the prolonged Kote scenes and lack of actual Jeresa conversations -- might be redeemed by the finale. In essentials, that didn't end up happening in the way I imagined at the time. I essentially thought that if (1) Pote ended up dying (or Kote in some other way had a plot twist or didn't get a happy ending) and (2) James and Teresa were revealed to have been plotting a fake death escape all along (or at least for a while), that it would satisfyingly explain both the extended Kote and the lack of Jeresa in 5x09 (and to a certain extent earlier episodes as well).

This only sorta happened, and yet, in my opinion, 5x09 aged surprisingly well. Obviously Kote did get a happy ending and there's a part of me that is still 😒 about it because their story never resonated with me as you all well know. And yes, their scenes in 5x09 are too long. But from a writing perspective, I sorta get it in hindsight; for the fanbase (apparently sizable) that DID love Pote and Kote, planting them in the suburbs and showing Pote adjusting was part of what made their happily ever after feel believable I guess. So even though their relationship does absolutely nothing for me and even though I feel profoundly irritated at how stupid and sexist they ended up writing Pote to be, I on a rational level get that writing.

But other than Kote, I honestly love 5x09's Jeresa scenes. No, we did not get a plot-twist reveal in the finale that ended up showing us substantive flashbacks to Teresa and James working out their plan. That is a disappointment for sure (one that I'm sure I'll discuss in the finale's rewatch posts lol). But we do get a lot of Jeresa in this episode and LOOK AT THEMMM. They are tethered to each other by an invisible elastic thread and literally everything about them in every scene together screams how inseparable they are, how ridiculously in love with each other they are, both of them, and how deeply they rely on each other. Completely openly now. Even before the kiss and the I love yous.

It's so freaking soft and beautiful even though most of their scenes are them working together. The thing is that them working together in synchronicity is where they began and so it's a fitting way to show them together as they near the end, too. It's also important to see how their working relationship is changed now. It's not the hierarchy of seasons 1 and 2 in which Teresa essentially reported to James (well, at least until the end of season 2). It's not the hierarchy of seasons 3 and 5 either, in which James reported to Teresa. Nothing has explicitly changed, but it's abundantly obvious in this episode that they are working together now. Teresa's the leader of the cartel but James is her partner. He may not be co-owner of the business or anything like that but he's not working for her. They are very clearly deciding things together now. She consults with him; he refers to her. There is no longer any kind of hierarchy. Just a very clear mutual respect.

So I don't know. Sure, I would love dialogue between them like we had during the earlier seasons that lasts longer than 30 seconds but it feels like part of the point now is that there is almost too much to say, and yet none of it really needs saying. It'll be said eventually. But how could the show have possibly done justice to the years of feelings they're finally coming around to in a scene of dialogue? It's really hard to imagine. Trust me, I know, because I tried to write the extended scenes fan fic for this episode and the next, and it was HARD. I would've loved to have seen something like what I ended up writing on screen, to be sure, but would it have really felt like it belonged in the penultimate QOTS episode? I don't know. I really don't.

The one thing I do wish is that the balcony scene had had some more dialogue before Teresa kissed James. That scene did feel jarring in how fast it moved after a drawn-out Kote scene about putting together a crib in suburbia. But the juxtaposition to me also in some ways works because it really elevates Teresa and James. If I'm being honest, the episodes in which I really wanted to see more Jeresa conversations were 3 and 4, maybe even 5 or 6 -- but not these later ones. I think their scenes, unspoken feelings filling in all the empty space around them no matter where they are and what they're doing, are completely perfect. I really do. Which isn't to say I wouldn't have loved to see more of their emotional processing but that, I don't know, I'm not sure this is really the show that was ever going to do that. Most of their best conversations historically have been of the angsty processing variety.

So, well, I'll just fast-forward the Kote scenes when I watch this again and I'll be happy. Their love scene, MY GODS, it is incredible. Would I like a scene where James pushes Teresa against a wall and takes charge? Um, yes. Does that supercede the absolute joy I get from their blissful we-might-die-tomorrow-so-what-the-hell soft and sweet sex? No, it doesn't. Their softness with each other is absolutely to die for. I don't think I'll ever recover from it.

So, that concludes my thoughts on 5x09. On to the finale. I can't believe I made it. The end is near 🥺

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buck & Eddie

Unpopular Opinion

It's season 7 but it appears the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions and they're based on my observations and interpretations of the BTS pics, interviews and promos that have been released in advance of the upcoming episodes.

Back to the regularly scheduled program...

Eddie

It appears my favorite character Eddie Diaz is about to be sidelined yet again and he won't have a beneficial or substantive storyline 🤔🧐 all his own, possibly for the remainder of season 7. As usual, he'll be there to support Buck but is there anything else for Eddie? Can he please have a storyline that's solely about him and Chris and it not be one that's tied to giggly, creepy and smiling Marisol? He hasn't had one since season 3 and it's been four years therefore, it's time (I'm not including the shooting because the audience didn't see his recovery nor am I including his PTSD arc because it wasn't given the time it deserved and after 5x14 he wasn't shown going to therapy anymore so there's that. Furthermore, he wasn't even shown preparing to go back to the 118, he just slid down the fireman's pole in 5x18 and it wasn't revisited). Can Eddie and Chris FINALLY have an open and honest conversation about Shannon? Eddie views her through a pair of rose colored glasses because he thinks it's his fault but there were two people in their relationship so he shouldn't shoulder all the blame especially when she left and was gone for almost 2 years without a call to her son. A conversation between just the two of them is needed because Chris is older now and he read the letter she wrote in 7x1. The audience didn't see him ask Eddie any questions about it and we didn't see how he's feeling now that he knows she may not have ever returned if she hadn't died.

Eddie and Chris have the largest biological family of all the mains (not including Bobby because other than his deceased wife and two children, the audience hasn't been introduced to them... like ever) but for some reason they moved Eddie’s abuela back to El Paso even though his aunt has that big house that she lives in by herself. Also, the audience never gets to see Eddie’s sisters and with all the attention that's going to be given to Tommy in the upcoming episodes, it's likely the audience might not get to see them this time either. Eddie has a deep and interesting background but the show barely touches the surface of it. Can Eddie please be given a worthy storyline all on his own? He deserves it!

Buck

So... is the audience supposed to just forget everything that happened to Buck in season 6? Apparently, so because based on OS's multiple interviews, Buck’s not dwelling on the broken relationship with his parents (they're still $hitty, their rushed and trifiling redemption arc sucked and it was undeserved. I don't trust them but Buck does so, whatever), there hasn't been any more mentions of Connor's and Kameron's baby (Full Disclosure: I still don't believe their baby is biologically his but it's probably been forgotten or retconned like everything else including Buck’s age), does he or does he not still want to be captain? He's not in therapy and he may or may not go back but he's moved on from his death, so I guess there's no trauma resulting from it. How does he feel about his job now because... HE DIED while he was doing it in 6x10 but the audience didn't see him process it even though every other character processed their own individual traumas.

Eddie used a baseball bat to destroy his bedroom in 5x13, Maddie walked into the ocean in 5x12, Hen went to therapy after 3x8, Bobby broke his sobriety in 1x4, Athena broke down in season 5 after she killed Jeffrey and Chimney took Jee-Yun with him to find Maddie in 5x4 and they were gone for 6 months. They all went to therapy at some point but it appears Buck’s immune to the trauma he's experienced so there's that.

7x4 airs tomorrow and I'm still not excited about it. After the way 6x18 ended, I hoped things would be different but maybe my expectations were too high. I don't think so because IMO, the upcoming episodes seem to be repetitive and basically a wash, rinse, repeat of the past. Maybe it will be different... but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Will the rest of season 7 be different for Buck and Eddie or is the focus still going to be solely on Buck? Who knows except the showrunner, writers, producers, actors and actresses since they are the only ones who know the answer to that question.

[mskatesharma]

Simone's LA Times podcast left me so ambivalent...She was delightful per usual and I'm glad she has some TBA projects so I can support her work elsewhere. But I think I'm finally over the show....

TVWLM is the only Bridgerton book I like, so I was happy to peace out from the fandom after S2. But S2 left me so dissatisfied and Simone and JB have made it seem like they'll have a decent story in S3, so I was gonna stick around. But Simone's reveal that they had written a backstory and flashbacks for Kate—but ultimately scraped it—has just left such a sour taste (compounded by everything else) and IDK that I can't reconcile it anymore. Like do I still want to follow this show?

They've got no problem giving all the white women characters their due (Eloise, Daphne, Penelope, Violet), but Kate, her family, and Lady Danbury have been horrendously written. There's no reason to be optimistic they'll try to course correct next season. Obviously Simone & JB have some idea of what their storyline is (seems she's been permitted to hint about a baby), and it sounds promising when they sell it, but I doubt it'll actually be that substantive/thoughtful...They didn't care to do right by Kate & Kanthony their own season, and now they've got a new central romance plus a million subplots to contend with S3.

Just feeling very disillusioned about a show I once really enjoyed despite its many issues.

I LOVED the LA Times interview, the questions were really good, and they actually asked about stuff other than representation. I also feel like Simone felt comfortable, especially seeing as she offered to tattoo the interviewer lol. I’m so excited to hear about what she has coming up, and I hope there’s an announcement soon because news about Bridgerton is just depressing as shit.

Anon, I am so tired of the shit that we continue to find out after the release of season two. Like it’s no secret that I have my issues with how shit the writing was for season two, but this latest thing is just...yeah. Part of me wonders if the way Simone (and Jonny) continue to bring stuff up is their way of trying to get it included next season? Like trying to force the show’s hand? (Also, I did start answering this ask yesterday but got annoyingly angry and depressed while answering so I had to leave it lol, sorry)

I am so fucking annoyed. And you’re absolutely right, it does leave such a bad taste in the mouth.

And you know what I find quite insidious about the whole thing? Is that they had these flashbacks included in the sides that Simone auditioned with, giving the impression of a somewhat thorough exploration of Kate's background and cause of her trauma and grief, as well as making it seem that Kate's background (including being Indian) and life in India was going to be given consideration, only for them to scrap the scenes entirely once Simone was cast. I honestly find it somewhat disgusting, and to be honest, it makes me feel sick. It’s like they enticed her with those scenes, and the promise of that kind of thoughtful focus, only to get rid of them once she was cast. Those scenes were bait.

And look, I know just because these sides and scenes were used for audtion purposes, doesn’t mean they were always going to be included in the show, but that makes it even worse? I didn't necessarily want flashbacks of Kate's time in India because I didn't trust the show to handle such scenes sensitively enough, but the fact that these scenes were written in the first place and then scrapped, ENRAGES me. It makes me feel violent. They wrote and included this stuff because they knew it was important for Kate's character, to understand her as a character and her motivations, and I don’t understand why it wasn’t included. So we could watch Jack and Portia have the same conversation over and over again? So we could watch any of the other sideplots go nowhere for far too long? WHY DID THEY TREAT KATE’S GRIEF AND TRAUMA AS THOUGH IT WAS MEANINGLESS AND THAT IT DIDN’T MATTER???

The WOC on this show are so poorly served, and I fucking hate it. I think maybe they’re saving Lady Danbury’s backstory for the Queen Charlotte spinoff, but, that’s still shit because not everyone who watches Bridgerton is going to watch the spinoff. Plus, if they keep the main elements from RMB, then Lady Danbury is involved in Polin’s story as well? And it’s gross, because her sole purpose in life is not to be the Bridgertons’ romantic fairy godmother?? Like fuck off with this shit. It’s offensive. I really thought they would expand on Kate and Lady Danbury’s relationship, and have Lady Danbury confide in Kate about her life and why she gave Kate the advice she did after the non-wedding...but they didn’t. And then you have how they treated Kate in HER SEASON. It honestly felt like she was a side character in her own season at times and I just...FUCK.

Like, my expectations for season three regarding Kanthony were already rock bottom, and with everything new that comes out, my expectations just get lower. It’s depressing, and I just...it gets more and more obvious that this show doesn’t actually care about ‘diversity’; for them it doesn’t actually have to be substantive, it’s just icing that they can sprinkle on the top and then ask for the plaudits for their superficial diversity. And it pisses me off that their superficiality gets hardly any traction or criticism.

[utilitycaster]

I'd love to hear your thoughts, do you view Imodna as substantively different from something like BeauYasha? I only ask because during your criticisms of Imodna, you compare them to C2 ships like Cad/Fjord and Caleb/Jester, but arguably I think your criticisms (which are totally accurate btw) actually apply most to BeauYasha out of any C2 ship.

They don't really act that close for 99% of the story, but then everyone acts like they're in love. there's a gap where it feels like the substance should be, you see lots of art but not much meta, and the meta you do see is usually widely focusses on fanon versions of at least one character (usually Yasha). There's lots of potential at the start that you slowly realise will never get actualised. Beau being an appendage for Yashas character growth (like seriously, what would Yashas story look like if she didn't have "falling in love with Beau" to lean on?). I just find it interesting that you compare Imodna to those other ships but not BeauYasha, so i'd be curious to hear what (if anything) makes you satisfied with one but not the other?

I don't think that Imodna is comparable to Beauyasha at all! For what it's worth, I didn't actually compare it to Caduceus/Fjord nor Caleb/Jester (nor, for that matter, Beau/Jester, which I think you may have missed).

I also have to say that you and I seem to have had a wildly different experience of the fandom during Campaign 2; I found Yasha meta extremely hard to find, and Beau meta thick and constant on the ground, but meta of their relationship extremely present.

I am also truly confused by you asking what Yasha's story would look like if she didn't have falling in love with Beau. Here's her story:

After her initial meeting with the group, during which she keeps a distance and drifts in and out, Yasha, after having been kidnapped, withdraws further, traumatized after the loss of Molly. She meets up again after a few weeks alone and quietly tells the clerics about the relatively recent loss of her wife. She continues to struggle against invisible chains several before failing, and has an entire very literal corruption arc in which she constantly struggles against Obann; she finally is, with the help of the Mighty Nein, able to break it. With the help of her deity, she is able to move forward from her grief, and begin to see a life of her own - not as a killer, an orphan-maker - but as a protector. Sure, she falls in love with Beau in the process, but that's just an expression of her finally, for the first time in her life, being free and being able to get to know herself. Honestly...in some ways, her story, though subtle, has more beats than Beau's, even though I think they parallel each other in many ways, which is why their relationship is so interesting.

(I'd also say that if Yasha's whole story is just falling in love with Beau? That's Yasha being an appendage of Beau, not Beau being one of Yasha. The more natural conclusion, also, from their story, in which Beau becomes an expositor and Yasha becomes a housewife, is again that Beau is the Real Character and Yasha is just there to support Beau; the canon, of course, shows this to be false, with it being Yasha's choice to finally have the option to make a home with someone she loves and stop hurting people at the command of others.)

Beau and Yasha begin flirting in the first episode, quite literally, and it's an organic interaction - they were not aware of each other prior to that first game. I think it's fair to say the ship was a bit slow after that, but I would attribute that almost entirely to the fact that Ashley was absent much of the time due to Blindspot; there are a few good conversations on watch together early on, some flirting in the bathhouse in Zadash, but it's true that there's not much time together...since Yasha's simply not there that often.

As soon as Yasha finally returns for good, and after the conversations in Kamordah, both of them are finally able to realize that the other is not just one more good thing that they will ultimately lose - but that they could have a future, and that they could be vulnerable again, despite all that has happened, with each other. We see this begin on Rumblecusp, and bloom during Eiselcross, but the groundwork was quietly laid throughout - and, to my point, the reason why their story is so good is because they were given the time to grow into fully realized, complex individuals and then come together into something greater than the sum of its parts.

In short: I would be positively thrilled if Imogen/Laudna had developed like Beau/Yasha - two people realizing their own flaws and avoidance and prickliness, two people quietly overcoming their own trauma separately in order to be able to build something new together. I think that would have been incredible. If Laudna is resurrected, and this sort of story begins to happen, then I promise that I will with great joy eat every word of criticism I've made. But to be honest I still am struggling with the fact that I've never even really felt like Imogen and Laudna have been friends for more than two months, let alone two years, and as I said, it feels like the fandom perception of the ship doesn't treat either as an individual, but rather, just a half for the other; and not even in a romantic Plato's Symposium Way but just...an empty half.

[gascon-en-exil]

I’ve seen people say Dedue is just as bad a person as Hubert because he says he’d kill anyone for Dimitri including innocents. What do you think of that?

I'd say several things, one of which is that actions count for more than words. We never see Dedue perform any act of violence outside the standard gameplay violence that every playable character in this series is "guilty" of. Hubert, on the other hand, murders his own father in cold blood because he stands in the way of Edelgard's ascension - possibly not even at Edelgard's instruction, because she's fine with having her other political opponents (including the alleged ringleader of the Insurrection) jailed or placed under house arrest. Hubert's evil is so abundant and his lack of remorse so evident that he can brag to Edelgard about all murder and bribery he's committed...and that's only the stuff she didn't already know about. (By contrast on that front, Dedue goes behind Dimitri's back exactly once, with the Crest stone plan in CF, and it's a desperate measure in a life-or-death situation that Dimitri still takes issue with for understandable reasons.)

I'd also say that the Dedue/Felix C support is infamous for how often its lines are taken out of context in an attempt to prove that one or the other (and/or Dimitri) are bad people. Assuming that support occurs during Part 1, Felix is an angry teenager coping badly with the death of his brother and his inability to understand his former closest friend's trauma, and he lashes out at Dedue for remaining devoted to Dimitri even knowing about Dimitri's potential for violence. Of course he baits Dedue with an exaggerated hypothetical, and with how antagonistic Felix is throughout the conversation I'm not surprised that Dedue matches that exaggeration. We know that it's exaggeration too, because come Part 2 when Dimitri is at his worst he's still being hailed as a folk hero by the people of Faerghus - which I very much doubt would be the case if he were indiscriminately killing civilians and not committing targeted violence against Imperial soldiers*. Also, we know that Dimitri loves children; even before his character development he's seen patting the head of an orphan, and his ending tapestry shows him playing with children. It's very clear signposting in a similar vein as Edelgard (and Jeritza) liking sweets, except in this case it's actually a substantive indication of compassion for others. Dedue is undoubtedly aware of this, and that Dimitri would therefore never order him to kill children or other innocents even at his lowest. Felix isn't going to change his mind in that support and has to go through a bunch of character development before he can reconcile with Dimitri, so Dedue tells him what he expects to hear. Alternate crack theory: this is the Manly Martial Romance equivalent of a catfight over a guy.

Dimitri and Dedue's relationship is a codependent one, but they don't crave or enjoy violence for its own sake and their shared goals don't include violence once Dimitri has undergone his development and turned away from vengeance as a motivation. Hubert actually seems to enjoy violence, hamming it up for the sake of melodrama, and a good amount of the evil he does isn't even Edelgard's direct orders. He's a much more entertaining villain for it - a hell of a lot better than Jeritza's unevenly written mental illness, and less compromised than Edelgard by the need to be marketable - but no one comes close to touching his level of evil in FE16.

*Some of whom may have been young enough to qualify as children to Dimitri's guilty conscience, hence that notorious line. FE sticks teenagers and sometimes even preteens on the front lines all the time, so I consider that par for the course for the setting.

[lnsfawwi]

Hotch stans we don't talk about the Viper ep enough

the episode is essentially about using tricks to establish a rapport, not just guys picking up girls, but also Jordan lying in order to make the mother cooperate.

so we see in this episode, even Reid used magic tricks to flirt with a girl at the club, Morgan was offered phone numbers by 4 girls w/o trying, not to mention the unsub & the viper. Dave was barely there in the episode so let's forget about him.

but Aaron was very prominent in this episode, he has substantive moments with each and every female aside from Austin.

Jordan

He was mad at Jordan at first for lying, but as soon as she proved herself to be worthy of trust, he didn't hold out on compliments. he appreciated her work, and let her know she had his trust again.

Emily

Aaron's trust on Jordan wouldn't have reestablished as fast if it weren't for Emily. so the plot reflected more on Aaron's trust in Emily than anything else. Emily was only in the team for 2 years but Aaron was already relying on Emily to asses the new member.

and the sexual tension from that locker room scene. Aaron's awkward “well...” after Emily told him she'd dated worse ppl, the very fact that he went to the LOCKER ROOM, a very private place, to check on her??

Garcia

surprisingly enough the person who friendly flirted with Garcia was not Morgan but Aaron. It's interesting that that conversation happened between them.

(also they were gossiping abt Emily's exchange with viper? that's so cute! he doesn't do that often!

the vic's family&the key witness

he led the interviews with all 3 of them, statistically it's actually very uncommon.

in an episode about pickup, Aaron, despite having interactions with almost all the women from this episode, was actually the only one NOT doing any “picking up”, unless you count the exchange with garcia.

I don't know if it's intentional but the contrast really explains Aaron's character well. He's respectful of women, he doesn't “play” or “have fun”, he sees relationships as something sacred and expects the same from the other person, and as soon as he decides you're worthy of his trust and love, you'll have his undying loyalty. a complete old school romantic.

anyway I'm starting a “not all men” campaign for him.