#didn't post about her not being in the episode last week but that doesn't matter anymore

[jewishcissiekj]

oh btw no Asajj in tbb tomorrow. the burning bush told me. yeah the one from the bible

[fountainpenguin]

Went down a very specific research pipeline last night, and now you get to share it with me:

Does Dev have hypoglycemia?

Low levels of blood sugar that - when they drop - can lead to irritability, confusion, headaches, exhaustion, shaking, rapid heartbeat, blurry vision, passing out, seizures, or even death. Blood sugar can drop about 2 to 4 hours after eating; snacks and additional small meals are very needed; sugary foods like hard or gummy candies can give a quick boost, as can juice or soda. I'm continuing my research after this post, so please forgive/inform me if I've mixed up details between different types of hypoglycemia- or just got something totally wrong.

FOP: A New Wish is set in modern times (i.e. not the far future). He's allowed to have drones in the classroom with him- They're acknowledged as his assistants and the teachers know about them.

Potentially, they may function under similar rules to service dogs- another sentient creature that would be allowed in class (ignoring that Dev is sometimes away from them, or that they went into the halls on their own in "28 Puddings Later").

We know Dev is self-reliant enough to get by without his au pairs. They help him, but they're not something he needs 24/7.

Insert joke about the au pairs needing off-duty time like service dogs and sometimes they just go play. Union rules...

We know they have the capability to "alert on Dev" like service dogs... or at least, this one looked at Dev and beeped when scanning a paper, and even projected an exclamation point to catch his eye:

The visual-verbal cue combo is definitely an intentional feature (And it's not like it greeted him by name- it just beeped and he knew what it was conveying).

We know that at the end of "Lost and Founder's Day," this au pair - despite being a machine - recognized Dev was sad (or at least low energy) and patted him on the head.

Au Pair: I would hug you, but I do not have human arms or warmth.

Earlier in this episode, we see the au pairs respond to people based on data they were being fed through sensors people were wearing on their wrists. Dev might have one here, though we know he was upset to find out his dad was using them to zap people and he's sad about his dad not loving him, so it's likely he's not wearing it.

This implies the au pairs don't have enough data about most people, but they DO have internal data about Dev. If not internal, they can read him well. We do know they're good at reading cues- They get embarrassed during the festival when they find out problems have been corrected before they got there and we didn't see the Dimmlets shock anyone to prompt the au pairs to acknowledge the situation changed. What does it say about the au pairs if they're implied to be Dale's creation and they see sad Dev and think "I should hug him."

The Off Puddin' brand of pudding is so desirable that the whole class became addicted; they had withdrawals when Hazel changed her "unlimited pudding" wish to be "pudding after we take our class picture" wish- Just like everyone else, Dev was one of the affected individuals and ate all the pudding he could get his hands on.

If the pudding is that delicious, it's interesting Dev kept some (even if this is a new batch from a different pudding day) and snacked on it in Fairy World... and didn't give into impulses to eat it some random day beforehand:

I guess we can't prove it's the same brand, but it's presumably the same model from "28 Puddings Later." I think it's the only item we know he brought to Fairy World beyond clothes and one au pair that he stands on. He doesn't even use his tablet in this episode (which he's normally glued to outside of school).

We can confirm Peri didn't poof this up for him (or at least, it's very unlikely since that would've been weeks ago). Dev eats this pudding after Irep ditches him to hang out with his dad- Extremely doubtful Dev got Irep's attention for his snack. Or Dale's, for that matter (if his dad brought some).

Canonically, the principal gives Dev lots of pudding because his dad made a "generous donation" to the school. It's possible he does this often since we know Dev hoards pudding every pudding day...

... which is interesting, because in "Stanky Danky," the news describes Dale as "billionaire non-philanthropist." Investing in his child's future for the sake of good education doesn't seem to be his M.O.... although he does send Dev to a private school, so maybe.

We know Dale hates losing money, and we know he's not the best dad to Dev... but we also know Dev has an official allergy card that names him in 3rd person-

- which could imply he got this card when he was young. That's not guaranteed, but I looked at some IRL cards and some use first-person, so it's food for thought.

Possibly, his dad even took him to the doctor for official diagnosis. Lactose intolerance can be hereditary, so if Dale has it, he may have identified it immediately after Dev's first reaction. For all Dale’s faults, Dev IS still alive and not starving to death - and still lives with his dad - so it's not improbable Dale's aware of his son's food needs. On a darker note... given Dale's abusive childhood, I feel like lack of food is something he has trauma around. Also, if Dale is lactose intolerant, I'd be curious to know how Dev found out he was, as I'd assume Dale wouldn't keep dairy in the house if he can't eat it. The two logical options here are "Dale took him for an allergy test" or "Dev ate dairy outside the house and got sick, so he told his dad / the au pairs." Maybe he found out in preschool?

Dev's au pair bringing him a snack! Their boy needs to eat!

Anyway, this was all leading up to these screenshots of Dev having no fun on the walk to Signal Hill that I found funny:

No energy... need sugar... Exercise did a number on him... Hazel takes a breather by crouching for a second, but Dev just slams his face in the grass and I think that's great.

Despite Dev not liking to walk, he and Hazel stopped their treasure hunt before the final clue and walked back to the Dimmadome place for food, so that's neat to think about (especially in the context of him snacking before he left the house... How long were they out? Did he even finish his snack?)

Dev's au pair was preemptively wearing a chef's hat when he and Hazel came back to the house, so I wonder if that's his routine lunch time on weekends. The au pairs are good caretakers who know their boy's schedule and needs...

Immediately after this scene, Dale asks what Dev and Hazel are up to "this fine afternoon," so it's probably after 1 pm. Noon at the earliest, but surely not an early lunch at 11 AM. Interesting consideration for the timing of Dev's snack... It makes sense if he was out with Hazel for 2 to 4 hours before he had to go home and eat, even though they were on the final riddle.

Come to think of it, one of the things we know about Dev's house is that there's a cereal bar and Peri brings him cereal... and the woozy Peri hallucinating about bringing Dev "his favorite cereal" (during the finale) seems to get to him one way or another.

Consider... Cosmo and Wanda poofed up hard candy when Peri came over because Dev needed sugar I DID wonder what they were up to considering sugar gets Fairies inebriated...

tl;dr - I like to think the reason on paper that Dev gets his au pairs in school is for medical reasons. They track his blood sugar and keep him from, y'know... going into a seizure or passing out. I can't imagine Dale would like that happening to his son at home either (if for no other reason than because it would be a huge distraction he has to deal with).

If this is something Dev's been dealing with since he was little, that plays into the au pairs accompanying him through his early years... We know he's both lactose intolerant and extremely picky, not liking any of the cupcakes Peri poofed up despite this many attempts:

- which I cannot imagine Dale had the patience to deal with long if he was Dev's primary caretaker in his earliest years.

I was gonna make a joke about Dale hiring someone to watch Dev - and let's be real; he probably did - but also... do you think this cocky guy would spend money when "It's a baby; how hard can it be? I also eat daily- This is just efficient use of my time!"

POV: Tired single dad who's not yet finalized his au pair design walks into grocery store with baby, buys cupcakes, leaves. Confuses every parent in the parking lot when he has a fussy Dev sitting on the back of the car and he's spoonfeeding him icing. They did not go home. Next stop will be the park, where Dale falls asleep on a bench while Dev eats bugs. Some parent sees Dev eating a chocolate bar and strikes up a conversation with Dale about what a big moment it was when they treated their child to chocolate and Dale's just like "I've been feeding him that his entire life." Dale pouring a soda in his toddler's sippy cup: Don't judge me.

At a certain point, when you're a billionaire single dad running multiple businesses and you're good at robotics, there comes a time when "It would make things easier if my young child (who's a very picky eater and can't have dairy) had a drone to follow him around, alert him when his blood sugar is about to drop, or assist if he passes out" makes a lot of sense. Especially if you have major trust issues from abuse and prefer relying on your own inventions.

It was a very relieving day for Dale when he finally had a reliable au pair to leave his son with, I'm sure. Didn't accidentally kill his son!! #Not as big a jerk as you could've been!

During my original liveblog for "Battle of the Dimmsonian," I was confused about Dev going from "I need to talk to Hazel" to trying to spook her and her friends by summoning ghosts. I'm definitely not excusing his bitter attitude in general as a hypoglycemia thing, but this is an episode that would make this headcanon funny:

Peri, internally: Listen here, you little brat- I've read your file. Now eat your freakin' cupcake. Icing is good for you. Dev: These are terrible >:( I'll go without. Peri: WHY? Dev later that day: If I tell Peri I need sugar, he'll be SUCH a pain about it. I opt to suffer...

Anyway, I think it's interesting and I'm going the "au pairs help Dev with a lot of things, but one of them is hypoglycemia" direction in my City Lights AU :)

If anyone's curious, I'm doing growth hormone deficiency that also lands him with a weak immune system- another thing the au pairs help him with. My full character profile for Dev will go into extra details about his life... Fun times.

Dale, planting his whiny and sick child on the floor by his desk and handing him a tablet, juice, and a bunch of hard candy: Big Boss has a work meeting. Don't go outside or you'll die. At this point, you're sunk costs and if I lose you, I'm gonna make it everyone's problem.

Bonus Theory:

Are Doug and Dale also lactose intolerant, and did Dale kill his dad's cows?

In Season 5 - "Mooooving Day" - Doug runs a business called Dimmadome Farms, which produces extreme amounts of milk from genetically modified cows. He uses this to keep the population of Dimmadome Acres totally happy and obedient.

Doug seems convinced the milk makes people happy and that it's a good thing, but he doesn't personally drink it. It's kind of funny to think he went the route of milk because his family is full of lactose intolerant individuals who won't accidentally drink it.

Genetics - Lactose intolerance is inherited in the autosomal recessive pattern- This means either both of Dev's parents are lactose intolerant, or they personally aren't but carry the gene.

Additionally, Dev will only pass lactose intolerance to his kids if his partner also has the gene- either intolerant or a carrier.

There's a chance Dev developed it without genetics, but it looks like there's a lot more variety there than I can cover in a single post. From what I've read, it's "uncommon in babies and young children." He's 9 when "Peace of Pizza" takes place, which might strengthen the argument that it's genetic in his family.

One of the businesses Dale lists as under his possession in "Lost and Founder's Day" is Dimm-'N-Out Burgers. Presumably this is a parallel of In-'N-Out Burger, which use beef patties. Notably, this is a business made up for A New Wish- It's never been portrayed as under Doug's ownership.

If Dimmadome Farms already existed in Dale's youth, it makes sense Dale would use the cows from there- You have to do something with the ones who aren't producing milk, so why not make money?

Technically, Dimmadome Acres was wiped out by magic, but it's possible Dimmadome Farms itself was outside premises of the suburban neighborhood, so maybe there were other cows.

We know by A New Wish, Dale has established himself as a tech mogul, but he probably wasn't one straight after being rescued from 7 years of abuse, which is heavily implied to have started when he was 9 (give or take). Consider:

Doug: I'm making drinks from a labor force of enslaved individuals I've trapped underground :) His son, who recently escaped a life of being forced to make drinks for 7 years underground: This is incredibly insensitive, actually.

Hey, there's something SUPER sus about Dale's underground lemonade stand abuse starting at age 9 when his dad's milk factory is also underground in a big trapdoor and relies on trapped people for labor... Do you think Vicky found the cows when she was a kid and lured Dale down there, but he was lactose intolerant and couldn't drink mind control milk, so she moved him somewhere else... I'm connecting the dots...

It's worrisome that Doug's instinctual response to Timmy saying he didn't want to drink milk was "What a baby," and then he jumps and corrects himself to "Aw, shucks"... What conspiracy am I uncovering... Doug, let me in- I just wanna talk about the home your son grew up in.

I mean, the alt theory is that Doug built his underground dairy farm and trapped people to work in it BECAUSE Dale told him where he'd been for the last 7 years and he went "Oh, that's brilliant!" and that's also terrible??

Anyway, Doug's thing is that he's constantly jumping from one business to the next, never staying consistent (beyond the beloved Dimmadome stadium).

Knowing how he's always go-go-go, it's very probable he'd get his son involved in business young. Maybe Dale started with a burger joint until the robotics work paid off! A spiteful direction for Dimmadome Farms indeed...

Me, having a sudden realization and looking up from my notes theorizing both Dev and Dale have OCD and ADHD, then glancing at my second monitor where I have references from "Moooving Day" of Doug's meticulously arranged town of pink houses and people wearing matching outfits:

... Ah.

[mcbride]

Daryl Dixon Rewatch S1E06 - Coming Home

it's the first ep with an English title and the last of the season. overall, i wanna say i was actually surprised how much i did enjoy watching. the complete focus on Daryl without all the background noise/storylines/characters, the way he still means what he says, but he's actually using his words and lots of sass instead of the typical nodding and grunting. good job!

but i gotta confess that if i hadn't known beforehand that Carol was going to be a part of this show, i probably wouldn't have bothered 🤷‍♀️. the fact Carol's not only back on screen, but she is such a great part of the whole vibe of the show, was actually unexpected. this show is straight up showing us Carol is the driving force in Daryl's relentless journey to get back home.

whoever tries to convince you Daryl is conflicted about where he belongs and where he wants to be is lying to you (pointing at you, Z!!). he literally spends 6 whole episodes reminding everybody he's got a home, people who love him waiting, a promise to keep, and a need to get back asap.

it doesn't mean Daryl does not form connections while on that journey. because he does - the strongest with Laurent, obviously, however, none strong enough to hold him back from his ultimate goal, which is going home to keep his promise to CAROL!

anyways, let's get to the season 1 finale:

the super!walkers fighting scene in the arena is pretty epic: from Daryl's super cool kill with the French flag to that Daryl/Quinn team up! the cherry on top being Daryl throwing that walker head at Genet. Loved IT!

Quinn eventually does help Daryl escape, and later, unfortunately, almost kills Isa, who is once again totally helpless against any kind of threat (killer nun, my ass!). in a scene eerie similar to the one in Daryl's underwater premonition a couple of eps ago, Daryl prompts Laurent to kill walker!Quinn with a "God will forgive you."

Laurent says something that sounds like it will be the whole point of Caryl's French adventure. "Sometimes you have to do horrible things, and no matter how bad you feel, if there is no other choice, God will forgive you." this feels like the key to breaking out of the cycle Carol has been stuck to since she was banished by Rick. (i'll probably post my s2 spec and theories next week!)

next, we see Daryl watching lovebirds Sylvie and Emile saying goodbye, they have to separate (i see what you did there, Z!), and reassures Sylvie that Emile will be alright before she asks him if he's ever been in love. BOY, has he ever!! Daryl's non response is quite telling. he knows what it feels like to say goodbye to the one you love without knowing if you'll ever see them again. and he's not alright, he's all the way in a whole different continent, separated by the Atlantic ffs.

we get some new insight into Daryl's origins when he and Isa share stories about their fathers. Daryl believes that his grandpa never returning home from war ruined their family for future generations and worries the cycle might repeat itself. has Daryl been reading about generational trauma? sharing this with her will bite him in the ass, later!

Isa's confession of her lie about the drawing gets absolutely no reaction from Daryl because it had zero influence on what happened next. Daryl didn't stay cause he believed in a new Messiah, he stayed because the kid was about to get in trouble, when Codron attacked his home; he stayed because it was a way of finding help getting him closer to a radio or boat to actually get him home; he stayed so he could take the kid to a place where he would be safe, and Daryl could finally leave without feeling guilty.

the great Daryl and Isa exchange looks compilation is trying too hard to show us, yes, Daryl has made a connection to these people, and is fairly content at the Nest with Laurent and the most mundane activities like peeling potatoes. they are showing us Daryl could stay here, make this his new home. why not? HE MADE A PROMISE! no matter what he could never be happy here, this is not his HOME.

Losang gives him a way out, but also tries to convince him to stay. "Sometimes, when a person leaves home, he comes to find he belongs someplace else." and it's true, if Daryl didn't know where, with whom he belonged. and it's not with Laurent and Isa.

it's really embarrassing how Isa tries to manipulate and guilt trip Daryl into staying with them using Laurent and Daryl's history. it has been like 2 months tops, and they acting like Daryl himself gave birth to Laurent, and wants to abandon his kid. bitch please, he has kids he actually raised and a wife back home!!

Daryl resents his grandpa for abandoning the family to fight in someone else’s war, and that's exactly what he would be doing if he chose to stay in France. that's what Isa will never understand - he had a whole full life with people who looked up to him, relied on him, loved him, before he even met her and Laurent. he wasn't lost. the connection he found with the people there isn't new to him, he has Judith and RJ, he has Connie and Zeke. but most importantly, he has a HOME (Carol!!!).

there's this beautiful emotional moment of Daryl quietly saying goodbye to a sleeping Laurent, and it's clear this kid means a lot to him. however, not nearly enough to make him stay. he still chooses to LEAVE. so many people trying to convince him he belongs with them, and he is still 10000000% sure he has to go back. there truly is ZERO hesitation.

i lost count how many times Daryl actually tried to leave, but it was always the kid's safety that kept him around again and again. he is so close to getting on that boat, literally fiercely fighting walkers to get to the beach, to get closer to HOME, and the same happens AGAIN. biggest FML moment for Daryl. Laurent, who is surrounded by walkers, is calling his name! FUCK ME!

and finally, we get to the highlight of this finale, Carol's badass entry. the way she's so absolutely calm with a big dude pointing a gun at her, PLEASE. she knows he's fucked around and is about to find out. no one takes Daryl's belongings and gets away with it.

"if you're lying, i won't be back." and she rides off on Daryl's bike. ICONIC. LEGENDARY. EPIC.

21 days left until the premiere of THE BOOK OF CAROL!!!!!

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buck & Eddie: 2023 - 2024 Rereleased and Unreleased Photos

A timeline of the photos that were released by JS, JCC & TM since 6B.

After TM (9-1-1 showrunner) recently released two "never before seen pictures" of Buck and Eddie, one as recent as last night, I started thinking about all the photos and videos that have been released of them since the start of 6B and it was quite interesting to see it all once I put them together.

Reminder, Buck and Eddie were barely shown to be work partners let alone friends for 98% of 6A and after 6x13 aired, they were shown to be living separate lives again for the remainder of 6B after Eddie was forced into dating again even though he said he wasn't ready. Aside from the Buckley-Diaz Family scene in 6x1 and the small amount of time they shared at the end of 6x7 and the time they were partnered in 6x13 (my favorite episode which was the finale for me since the last 5 episodes could have been yeeted to the sun); they didn't work side-by-side like they did before Eddie quit the 118 in 5x10. That's why the timing of the rereleased and unreleased photos and video is so jarring.

First, in April 2023, JS released the picture below of Buck and Eddie at the poker game before 6x13 aired and he spent most of that three-week mini hiatus counting down to the day when he was going to reveal it on Twitter or X or whatever it's called this week.

Second, in April 2023, a photo of the clapperboard was released weeks in advance for 6x17 which was an episode JCC directed. It includes a picture of Buck and Eddie at the bottom of it.

Third, also in April 2023, after 6x15 aired, several posts alluded to Twitter users being in an uproar about the introduction of ND and how Buck hurt Eddie’s feelings with that BS line about her seeing him (which everyone but Buck knows was a bunch of BS).

Don't try to debate me on this because Buck’s words hurt Eddie and it doesn't matter if they were intentional or not. He broke Eddie’s heart with that $hit so... I digress because thinking about it still pisses me off (it's been months but I'm still not over the way S6 ended).

Anyway, it was posted on Reddit (linked here) that JCC posted the photo from season 3 below on 9-1-1's TikTok account but the question is why would he release it since he didn't direct 6x15? The OP of the thread explained how he never posts things about episodes he didn't direct so it was interesting to read this information but since I only saw it on Reddit and nowhere else, it's unclear if there was a motive behind it.

Full disclosure: I don't have a Reddit or TikTok account, so I don't know if this post was legit but the date on it is April 25, 2023.

Fourth, in May 2023, right before 6x18 aired, TM decided to release a video of Buck and Eddie from season 2 but why did he do that? Especially right before that BS episode that had Eddie acting like he was in high school again and giggling over some chick he witnessed almost kiss her brother in the mouth in 6x5 and Buck settling once again for a woman who only wanted to use him for his "Firehose" and nothing else like AC, AM and TK did?

What exactly was the point? Was he trying to tell viewers something or was he just piddling around on FB like he did last year when he responded to a viewer with a long post about the storytelling decisions he greenlit for LS?

Reminder, TM was working on LS for the past two seasons while he left OG in the hands of KR who literally destroyed all of Buck’s character development and growth by regressing him with TK, LD and now ND. Seasons 5 and 6 went into a tailspin of Buck not growing or learning from his mistakes and the responsibility for that lies solely at the showrunner's feet and who was in charge? It was KR.

The way Buck's gazillion storylines ended was not long form storytelling especially since he was constantly being regressed. He said he didn't want to make the same mistakes but he kept making them and instead of letting him go back to therapy (which he clearly needs) she let him flounder and read self-help books and donate his sperm to that loser Connor (reminder Connor wanted to run out on his pregnant wife because the baby wasn't biologically his but I still believe the baby is his and not Buck's). She wouldn't let him talk to the team like he used to do so they could offer him some good advice about the important life decisions he was trying to make but in Season 5 she had no problem letting Buck tell the 118 about his dumpster fire of a relationship with TK.

Fifth, in January 2024, TM was at it again with posts on Facebook (I don't use FB) but this time he posted two unreleased photos of Buck and Eddie. Apparently, he released the one below a few days ago but it was discovered by a blogger who posted it on 911blr. Based on Eddie's appearance, it looks like it may have been from season 5, possibly sometime around 5x16 "May Day" but who knows.

Sixth, last night, the photo below was released by TM and it's never been seen before either. Based on Eddie’s appearance, this picture looks NEW like it might be from Season 7 but who knows with all the unreleased promos and pics from previous seasons that started circulating in S6.

In the photos above, Buck and Eddie are shown in every season except for the most important one... Season 4. The shooting is missing and so is the will reveal. (I don't count the picture on the clapperboard because it appears to be one JCC added to it for whatever reason and it wasn't an official photo or video like the others.)

So, are they still using the shooting and the will as the catalyst for them becoming a CANON couple? Only they know what they're doing but whatever it is the question has become why are they doing all these cryptic Buck and Eddie posts and releasing photos of just the two of them? What are they trying to say, if anything?

Hopefully it's not so they can do a repeat of the things they did at the end of seasons 4 and 6 and delay them getting together yet again.

If they're going to finally let them be together then it's time to stop with the delay tactics and get rid of all those one-dimensional LIs. Leave N and M in season 6 where they first appeared and should have remained.

If they aren't planning to make Buck and Eddie CANON then they should let them stay single. It's been 6 years; how long do they realistically believe viewers who actually care about them as characters are going to keep waiting? In the past, actors and actresses have left shows around the fifth, sixth and seventh seasons so hopefully that won't happen on 9-1-1 but nobody has time to wait around for 15 seasons for Buck and Eddie to get together.

[hongtiddiez]

last twilight ep 10 thoughts, feelings, etc

back at it again at the krispy kreme friends. i cried this episode for so, so many different reasons. i'll also show you guys my raw reactions at the end of this, the insanity you guys don't see because i want you to respect me a little.

i didn't make one of these last week because i felt like that episode didn't need any words. some things you just need to feel and to talk about them cheapens what it truly is. that's not to say i didn't absolutely love everyone's posts and meta, i just thought anything i had to say could be felt in the episode itself and i didn't need to fumble my way through it.

Day is so at peace with what is going on and it's so beautiful to see, but the fact that he has to comfort his mother, that she's held onto this delusion that magically everything is going to be okay, is pretty irksome. she's had bare minimum a year, i think nearly two at this point, to accept the truth and she just hasn't and now it's biting her in the ass. but once again, this is something so realistic. i literally JUST dealt with this myself with my mother-in-law in October. once again P'Aof captures the truth of people and our natures.

and it's no wonder things have been so strained between Day and Night. she constantly forces Night to be Day's jailer, to escort him to his cell because the warden said so. it's a horrible position for her to put Night in and it's no wonder he feels so alone and abandoned by his family. it's no wonder Day resents him. Night is trying so hard to make them both love him again and he's been trapped in the middle of a war of attrition and paying penance for something that is in no way shape or form his fault. and then to later learn she HAS blamed Night? it's a horrible situation for him to be in, something he never deserved.

this was so sexy of Mhok, as most things are. you should have been there. it should have been you doing that for your SON. you should have taken the time to be there for him, to see that sight with him, to give him what he wants. but you weren't. you never are.

Day's mom stresses about Day's safety but safety is about so much more than a physical state of being. Mhok has done so much to ensure Day's mental safety and well being, he's done so much to improve Day's every day life. but that doesn't matter to her because she always refused to acknowledge things had gotten that bad. in another life Day never met Mhok and i wonder if things took a dark turn. i don't think Day was on a good trajectory.

here we reach bunn cries phase 1. i was so worried here that Mhok meant their entire relationship but i'm glad to see he just meant this chapter. they've started a new book together; no longer one about a caretaker and his charge but a man and his lover. what a gorgeous way to convey that journey. P'Aof i love you, do you know?

Night, i know i wasn't sure about you for a long time but you've really become one of my favorite people this episode. even Night can see his mom taking away Day's agency, can see her taking away everything Day has become this last year. he doesn't want his brother to disappear again, he just got him back.

god Day's bravery here. he's become so confident, so self assured, because Mhok taught him that he could be, that his blindness didn't make him weak. i know i say it every week lately but i'm so PROUD.

FINALLY SOMEONE SAYS IT. the way she took his phone away INFURIATED ME. you're taking away an important tool of freedom and agency from your FULL GROWN ADULT SON. where the fuck do you get off? and talking about doing things her way under her roof. if it was me i would be out of that house so fucking fast, staying with literally anyone else. the tragic thing is Day doesn't have that option. his disability has left him a victim of his mom's bullshit, given her a huge way to control him. it's disgusting, i'm sorry. i've tried to give her the benefit of the doubt for so long but she went way, way too far this episode.

even Night is sick of her shit and knows this is fucked up. Night once again i'm so sorry i doubted you. he knows how good Mhok is for Day and how good they are for each other. Mhok has only ever been kind to Night and i think that has gone a long way in Night's defense of him as well - not that i think he wouldn't have done it without that but i certainly think it has helped.

and what a fucking breakthrough this was. Day once again telling someone 'i see you.' Day is so good at seeing people once he lets go of his preconceived notions an biases. i can't imagine what a relief this was to Night to know it wasn't just his perception of the situation but something other people see and acknowledge. and he brushes it off, says it's because Day's a crying baby, but they both know that's not all of it.

bunn cries phase 2 is here. i BURST into ugly tears at this moment. it wouldn't be bunn meta if i didn't share a personal anecdote so here we go.

ANECDOTE START ->

i mentioned in my last post, prior to episode 9, that my dad was shit. i'm talking had me, an infant, in the middle of a meth den, in the middle of a raid level of bad. one of my earliest memories is a police officer kneeling down and talking to me while i colored in a coloring book and they searched the apartment. (my mom had no idea until a few years ago when a family friend shared this story. he protected me, thank fucking god.) my real dad went on to get clean (as far as i know) but was emotionally abusive among a whole slew of other issues.

when i was two years old my stepdad came into my life. he would've been just 27 at the time. he fell in love with my mom but wasn't sure if he wanted the responsibility of a kid. my mom said okay and broke up with him. they spent months miserable without each other (they've both told me their sides of this story) until my dad said okay, i can do this, and came back. and you know what? he was amazing. he didn't always get it right but he tried. he stayed up and read me The Hobbit and did silly voices for the dwarves and sang the songs and tucked me into bed and he loved me. (we have matching tattoos from that exact copy of The Hobbit, which i still have tucked away safe.)

we butt heads SO MUCH my teenage years. he had a temper and i was depressed and angry and dealing with so much teenage bullshit. but he still took me to breakfast every sunday, just the two of us, and we'd go see movies together. sundays were our day. he always called me his kid and people joked that somehow magically my mom had his kid before even meeting him. we even look alike. we have all the same tastes.

now as an adult we get along really well. (we still butt heads but it's bc we're exactly alike.) he and my mom have been together almost 30 years. he recently came into my office, a little tipsy, and hugged me and spent almost an entire hour telling me how much he loves me, how proud he is of me, how grateful he is that he had me as his kid, how having me is better than any blood child they could've had. (they tried for years but my parents were never able to have any kids.)

<- ANECDOTE END

some of the best family in the world is those that choose to be your family. i was never his responsibility, not really, but he put everything into being my dad. from just this little statement from Night i see so much of my dad in this moment and i couldn't fucking take it.

Night, i love you. i love you so much. he says it so effortlessly, so confidently. what a man.

so i acknowledge here that their mother is finally starting to get it. she's starting to get things right. she even makes Night's favorite food and makes sure he knows he's loved. she takes the time to try and understand Day, to blindfold herself like Mhok did, etc. and i acknowledge it takes people their own time to come to terms with things, to accept things, and maybe her journey of acceptance was a little longer than others.

however.

this scene shows that she always had the option to cancel. she could have always done this for Day. she could have been there. she could have taken him to the mountain and seen the sunset with him. i have to wonder if Mhok's comment really got to her, i have to believe it did. i think she finally realized that she can no longer be the one that's blind. she has to see reality. it's a big step for her and i'm happy but i'm still so annoyed it took this long for it to happen. but hey - parents fuck up. they do. they fuck us up, even if they don't mean to. once again it's something very, very real from P'Aof, even if i don't like it.

my first knee jerk reaction to this moment was wow, she's infantilizing Day again, but then i sat and really thought about it. in the context of this moment, i think this is okay. sometimes it's just nice to be cared for and Day seems completely receptive to it. fuck, i'm 31 and sometimes i just go curl up with my mom and let her pet my hair, sometimes she makes me my favorite food because she knows i had a bad day, sometimes she babies me a little because she knows i'm having a bad day with my disability.

not everything is infantilization. sometimes it's love and care, the only way they know how. sometimes all you want is a parent's familiar love from years ago. so in the context of everything, i think this was a really nice moment to see, Day taking comfort in his mom's love again.

and despite everything Day still managed to see Mhok, to show him he cares, he thought of him, and wouldn't leave him alone. and then he gives him an oven mitt he made himself, he painted himself, because Mhok took him to learn to paint without his sight. they're so fucking beautiful, so kind and gentle and loving to each other. they're so fucking considerate. Day says you're my sun, i believe in you, i'm proud of you, i support you all in one seemingly simple gift.

i'm reserving my thoughts from the preview for next week but i highly doubt things are going to turn out the way they seem to be teasing. i'll wait to see what happens.

as always thank you so much for reading my rambling bullshit. smooches, take care of yourselves, drink water, take your meds, eat something.

tag loves: @nutcasewithaknife @benkaaoi @callipigio @infinitelyprecious

oh yeah here are my raw reactions before i take the time to really think about everything i've watched.

[bee-named-alex]

So episode 6 of IWTV s2. My thoughts? Many. Enjoy them, I'll try to make it as coherent as possible in my current state. Spoilers and my mental breakdown below the cut

Fuck this. I cannot wait for a week after this episode, how am I supposed to be normal after this???

So I guess I'll start from the start? The tension is in every word and I get why Daniel's getting afraid for his life, I mean I am afraid for his life rn and he's not even real.

The Dubai scenes, they contrast really well with the first couple episodes of this season. The cracks in Loumand relationship are very apparent now, they can't even decide on what painting to have in their house. And I read a post that was like "season 1 was music, season 2 is art" and it's so true and this means like their relationship is empty i guess or something. Maybe just that it's falling apart.

And the way they began this season holding hands and sitting so close, acting like everything was perfect, ready to fight Daniel and now they sit as far away as possible, fight like all the time about everything and Louis and Daniel (and even Rashid I think) keep on further unionizing against Armand... I think that's just great.

And Armand knowing that they know and from the start trying to spin it. I'm not sure how the sentence "Why do you ask, love?" from Louis is like the coldest thing ever but it just is.

I'll talk more about Dubai later.

But now to Paris. Claudia's diary "Fuck these vampires" - girl's so right (in both meanings of that word btw). Claudia was never really my fave, but out of everyone I feel like she deserves a happy ending the most (not counting daniel here) and fuck, she's not getting it. i know but it still hurts like hell.

Her and Madeleine's relationship is great. Inbetween all the plotting and manipulation and murder this feels like one of the only peaceful things. In the scene where Claudia reveals herself I though that she's like Madeleine's guardian angel. But also an angel of death. But Madeleine doesn't mind and I think that's very important, that she doesn't really see Claudia as a monster - or maybe she does, but it doesn't change what she feels (after all, she thinks that she's a monster)

Then the turning. First Louis trying to convince Armand and him not obeying- as Daniel says "maitre only when it's hot or convinient" (it was hot in the art room btw and it's so not fair that we didn't get to see at least a little more i mean that whole scene was inexplicably so hot and i need moreeee).

But it also reminded me of another post, the "Armand is a willingly leashed tiger" because like yeah, Louis has the power up until the point when Armand no longer wants him to have it. (also Louis persuasion being "imagine me without the burden of her" sucks, like sorry but this hurts, even if you didn't mean it and yes it matters if you meant it. But his later method - aka kiss to shut him the hell up - seems much better.)

Then I got a little pissed or perhaps confused at his "Are you asking or making me?" because we know that Louis can't actually make Armand do anything, not when he is 100 % sure he doesnt want to. Because if he could, Armand would've turned Madeleine. (speaking of, Armand not having turned anyone is pretty interesting, but i guess that that's how it was in the books and it was important so sure why not)

Also Louis' "It's ok, it's ok" here reminded me of "Of course, of course!" and also "It's fine, he's fine, we're fine" and it's just so funny how they all think that if they say things over and over again they'll convince themselves that they're true.

The turning itself was beautiful, as Louis said it would be. Like it wasn't violent, there wasn't fear, no tears. Just love and devotion and I'm so sad that Claudia's and Madeleine's beautiful dream didn't last longer.

Louis not caring afterwards is just another exampke of his dissociative state and I worry about his mental well-being. (All of their mental and physical well-beings tbh)

In Dubai again, Armand finally talking about the erased memories and how they both hate on him for it and they're right. Like what do you mean Daniel doesn't have the right to be angry, of course he does. It's fun to see Daniel delighted about fighting Armand.

But also... Louis asked him to get rid of those momeries (if he believe him. And I, in this episode more than ever and despite my better knowledge, do believe Armand. Maybe it's just because of Assad's phenomenal acting but I believe his words and I believe his tears. Which actually makes this all worse btw.) and that makes the whole situation suddenly much more complicated.

Other Paris plot - Santiago (fuck Santiago) and his coup -, yeah that kept me on my toes for the entire episode. Like Armand says that he was in love and Louis says that he got lazy but I just think he must've been blind to not see it.

I feel like Dubai kinda reflects this (Louis and Daniel unionizing as we've said and so it's like Armand losing his power over his people again) but also. Paris and it's aftermath was the biggest crisis of their relationship, must've been (followed by San Francisco and Daniel I'm sure). But now as the recount it they are also reliving it and are also in a full-blown crisis and i hope this one doesn't end in a fire.

And the ending of it all. Fuck. I was near tears watching it.

The double-date in the cafe felt like a dream, they even said in the episode insider that they wanted it to feel surreal or something like that, like a romantic comedy. And for a few minutes it does. They let you believe that they could be happy. You know they won't, you know that shit's about to go down and everything will end in ruin but this single scene makes you beg, no please, no don't fuck it up, just stay happy, like this, it can be good. And despite knowing what's coming, you stick your claws into this idea of happiness like a lifeline.

And then it hurts that much more when this perfect bubble pops.

I admire all the actors because idk what Armand was feeling the moment he stepped outside but through Assad's acting I felt it too. And as Louis looks around, seeing the world stop, here I know exactly what he must've felt- the realization hits, the betrayl and then the immense worry for Claudia and Jacob portrays it so beautifully.

"He chose." This breaks my heart. Because what did he choose exactly, or better yet, what did he choose over? I mean this is terrible, the trial, but what was his other choice? He calls himself a coward so maybe it was Louis and Claudia and Madeleine or him that the coven would go after. But maybe this was actually the better choice idk.

But like you see the regret in Armand's face in Paris but especially in Dubai and I trust him. I believe him that he regrets it, I believe him the tears and as I've said that just makes it so much worse. Because he chose this and now they suffer for it and he suffers for it too and blames himself (rightfully so), but it still hurts.

And then Lestat. Fuck. I knew this was gonna come (I just couldn't help myself and because of my recklessness saw a spoiler, that he's gonna be there) but that in no way did that knowledge diminish what I felt when I saw him. Because, hell, idk I'm just so excited to finally have him back because I love him but also I hate him and am so scared as to what he's gonna do. He's gonna testify against Louis and Claudia sure but what if he won't? Does he want to kill or fuck Louis? Will his and Armand's past play part in this or is that a box to remain unopened until later?

"You cannot script a hurricane" they said and so this means Lestat will go off script. But to what extent? At least to which it results in burning the theatre down.

The preview didn't help my state, quite the contrary actually. Louis in Paris is scared that Lestat's gonna come. Santiago's laughing. What does Armand feel? Who knows not me, I'm just scared. And excited. I feel like I won't fall asleep for two days after this but it's fine. I'm fine, everything's fine.

[bengiyo]

La Pluie Ep 8 Stray Thoughts

Last week, we wrote so many good posts about this show, especially the importance of Tai's pleasure from giving pleasure to Patts. Lomfon proved mostly ineffectual, but Tien has placed himself firmly between Lomfon and Tai. Nara turned up at the camp, and Tai witnessed her kissing Patts. It's time for the drama.

I don't mind starting a few minutes back to reset the timeline and pacing of this so we can see how Nara approached Patts.

Oh, Patts is not feeling this at all.

I really appreciate that Patts feels bad about this situation between him and Nara. I don't think I'd like him for Tai if he didn't care about Nara.

The backing track for this Nara scene is incredible. This show has really solid sound mixing.

I feel for Nara, because her greatest fear was Patts leaving her for his soulmate, and now he's found him. She's gotta be feeling upset, embarrassed, and a little foolish at this point. I really appreciate that the show has shown her great respect.

Once again, I love how engaged Patts is with everything going on. He saw a dropped bento and immediately worried that Tai saw Nara and misunderstood.

Bow and Kung are holding hands. I know we're worried about Tai, but I NEED TO KNOW.

Man, I love how quickly everyone pieced together what happened and focused on the immediate problem: locating Saengtai.

Lomfon's insistence that Saengtien not endanger himself too is quite reasonable.

Oh, Tien. He's such a little brother. I love him.

Great transition. I'd recognize Tai by his rings and sweaters anywhere.

I must say the music for this episode has been so well-selected.

NOO! MY SWEET BOY!!!

Interesting. Lomfon has hearing loss, too.

Patts is so strong. Carrying our beautiful boy all the way down a mountain.

I knew Tai was running up that goddamn hill because he doubted the truth of the soulmate connection and was confused by Nara and Patts being compatible!

That was beautiful. I love Patts so much. He's not mad at Tai and just listens quietly to Tai finally opening up about his Soulmate fears. They can finally arrive at the conclusion the show has been arguing for literally two months: It doesn't matter if they're ordained by the universe or not; what matters is they love each other.

Patts just put his whole heart on the line when he asked Saengtai to be his boyfriend. I love this man. I will be tolerating no more slander on him.

I really like how specific each of these have felt each time.

I WILL NEVER GET OVER BOY SOMPOB SINGING OVER BIG MOMENTS IN BL. NINE YEARS AND COUNTING.

Bow and I are the same. I also cried over my boy.

I absolutely adore the relationship between Tai and Tien.

OH. MY. GOD. LOMFON HEARD BOTH TAI AND PATTS!!!!! The implications of this are huge.

We get to meet Saengnuea next week!

I am absolutely in love with this show. This is my favorite show from this year that's not Moonlight Chicken. I love how much grace is given to every character. I like how seriously it takes itself, its ideas, and its audience. I love how much this feels like a classic romance novel I might have read when I got into this 15 years ago. I love the choreography of all of the kisses. I'm haven't cried this much of a BL in a long time.

Shoutouts to @lurkingshan @kyr-kun-chan @wen-kexing-apologist @liyazaki and @ginnymoonbeam for sending me updates while I was busy this afternoon.

[ratasum]

So I put up a post last night that was talking about how Qirri's most important relationship in her life is with her older sister Rissia, and I need to talk about that.

Qirri is the youngest of four daughters, with her three older sisters being @wall-legion's Rissia at seven years older than her and the twins Pyrria and Izza being ten years older than her. She's extremely young compared to all of her sisters, owing to the fact that she was an "oopsie baby."

To make matters worse, she was also born dangerously premature, resulting in her having a weak immune system and underdeveloped lungs, causing her significant health problems in her young life. She's been on the back foot from the jump.

And she never could really connect with the twins. By the time she was old enough to be talking, the twins were talking about colleges, and they almost treated her like a doll sometimes (including one incident that gave Qirri some self confidence issues about those ears of hers by telling her Rissia had swung her around by them when seh was a baby and that's why they were so big).

Rissia was in between, and also not on their level. She became the person Qirri could always rely on, who always was there when she needed someone. During the Phlunt Bite Incident, when Qirri hid under her bed crying for fear she was in trouble after they got her home, Rissia was the one who coaxed her out.

And Rissia was the one who helped her "jailbreak" when she'd been put on a "recovery leave" from college at fifteen due to a nasty health episode.

The way things went sideways wasn't Rissia's fault or intention, and Qirri has never blamed her for it. In fact, in this moment after Claw Island, it was Rissia who made the decision to let Qirri choose. Something she'd never been granted before: the ability to choose her own path moving forward.

To stay and help or go home, knowing it meant returning to a gilded cage.

And she stayed, though she was never far from her older sister after that, up through Zhaitan's eventual defeat. And it helped give Qirri confidence she didn't know she had.

Even more recent events, when Bangar nearly killed Qirri in IBS and Vezz and Rissia came out of retirement to take up the commander mantle for a few weeks while she and Garrus recovered. When Qirri woke up and found her big sister there, the first thing she did was burst into tears. Had it been anyoen else, even Garrus or Taimi, she would've bottled it up immediately.

Rissia has been the strongest force in Qirri's corner, the one person who believed in her when she felt like no one else did, a light she's modeled herself after. She doesn't have that relationship with her other sisters, their mother, their father, any oftheir friends, or even her partners in the Dragonwatch Krewe.

It's something immensely special and something that's driven Qirri. She doesn't need to make Rissia proud, and she's the only person she never felt the need to impress.

She's her big sister. She can rest, and feel safe.

Idk they're very special to me.

[pathbend-blog]

Episode 1: "The Last Diva Dance"

@olympictrivia

@bbc6music-blog

@mitsky$######

Does not Star

For My 🫂 🥼

That was almost the Finalé of the "Fishhook From My I"

I started with that Fraudster Vance Men's Group Psychologist in Oakland

Trying to save my Parent's Marriage became that One. Duh is also th last yuck and then it just does away, like the Stomach Flue you don't remember having had every summer again.

They really want them CoCo Caxxed before this Rape, was the other Intel th Enemy gave me.

The place you make your Avatar in The Military, is almost where you go to watch you and the patient or class.

I just Finished using that to write our Good Story.

Before Portland 2020

BBC Radio 1

Washington Post

Chuck Palahniuk

bandcampoakland

If Anthony is House

But Who he Paid House to Jungian Cosplay Mitsky

Teaches him he isn't mean at all, being used by Cutty to laundry Money

Duh.

I am Mean House, Here, Meaner than The Blade of a Scalpel you haven't held either really for years

Hobo Johnson

I Already Have My Maker's Mark Harry Potter Scarf

Dr. House.

I don't have your Bull Paid Yet.

Universal Medicine Dependent On The Mood of a Physician

BBC Radio 1

Washington Post

Royal Marines

*

University of Oxford

United States Space Force

There isn't a Trick To It House

My Fallanges and Some Good Will Hunting! Yay an op for an Eemjee 🍏 💜

🎹

St James Infirmary is a Chunnel from the PFC and your note yet to write for ever and for.

Money. House. Do you even like being called that or just her pretty blues?

💙 To Motor Strips and Opium Psychosis Then House.

Auntie Emmy calls

John Mulaney

Anyway, "Dr. House Was Fine"

Back to my wargames that's the Hour

I hope it was worth a decent Rollings Steins ticket at least. The Drugs I Suggested, Email Me Back If You think it's a good strategy. The Book and Film list isn't an insult to British intelligence.

Oh My Wargames? Well this one is me meanly writing about The Clone Matrix Saga, which Consider Canon

Again to the Detriment of the Enemy's not getting The Matrix as a basic concept yet.

Eventually I say As Real Neo Possessing this Coppertop being made to think it's even Original Clone Neo, who doesn't say that, thinks it's reductive and Mean. "The Waiting Free" or "The Sleeping" gives it a non Anti-Buddhist flair

Sorry I'll get to the IT.

Eventually like in that Agent Smith as his Daddy IRL he learned, the Actor, And Morpheus Rescue Scene

That's The MAPS one that is occurring further Litigation for mean people and my ExWife.

They All Eventually become the Squally lines on the Left

Despite like their Bursting into Flames Things covered by the literal Girl Form Hereditary, Parks and Rec and Hey don't eat my Cornuts B Word.

That's a lot of Money and Drugs onto even the most unfit basic Bagel

,,,, House.

Which can Hold Every Quark on Earth

BBC Radio 1

It's a Lawnmower Man Omegaz it is nice thanks, ⌚?

Scenario

Hobo Johnson

Washington Post

Royal Marines

*∆6 ❄️

It's The End Then House ⌛

Two Weeks then 4 maybe

bandcampoakland

Mercedes-Benz

Mine©®™

Phoebe Bridgers

Anyway, you can't ever really get past horrid about to be 18 and have all that Family Trust that matters for a very brief period of any Human Life, but especially The Enemy's

And Also of All Of History Watched by all

Cosplaying a Woman Or NonBinary is fine, Being a Man in their world. Because those aren't People Either they have ever known

Me that is just The Discraced Doctors Girlfriend for a moment

You can't be a Liar in that Job at all

FBIJobs

They are out of Money and can't get you tonight House, Just.

It's in your HIPAA contract I didn't sign for MensRightGuy IRL or us that Therapist and because of my lack of Plausible deniability in that Situation

None was expected.

In Silicon, Way Way Past the 4th Wall because get out of my whole building here and go home and rest?

Humble Bundle

Mercedes-Benz

BBC Radio 6 Music

Phoebe Bridgers

Hobo Johnson

BBC Radio 6 Music

Donald J. Trump

The Truth Today or More Charges?

💙 Same as I asked every day.

Donald Glover

FBIJobs

DER SPIEGEL

That's like when KXT got cut off

Yo'll should Hear it Arowaves Live

Anyway

2 to one is easy

Just Fall in Love and Listening to The Birds and Don't Infect the Bee's Hives with Special Fungus

Washington Post

BBC Radio 1

Most Basically for the Aspirant to Medical School or College or don't want to school is fine, a trade of some kind, how will you eat?

Your Leader feeding you won't some day child.

They have Magic tricks that harm you that Taylor means when she sings "Crisis"

Their Prisons and Psychiatric Facilities are the Product, not the People working in them.

They can only shove food in mouths and be violent as they knew as children

And accrue Liability like Telehealth

That someone, a Good Law Person, is going to help them Collect

Globally but my Concern by Law is in Two American States

Your Answer in this Debate Then

Stranger to Me as a Living Man

Kamala Harris

Washington Post

Fox News

KCRW

KQED News

DER SPIEGEL

Zoom

[billpottsismygf]

That was a really well written episode, with some great sci-fi concepts and amazing character work. It obviously gives a slightly Midnight energy, with these mysterious creatures copying people, but it manages to be completely its own thing. The only place it really fell down were the effects, which is such a shame.

To get that out of the way, the body stretching stuff could have been really effective and creepy, but it mostly just came off very silly. After the incredible production values last episode, it's such a jump down. My suspicion is that The Star Beast and The Giggle were incredibly expensive, and that this was the budget-saving episode - just our main two actors and a spaceship set - but they tried to combine it with a story that required body horror to work, and sadly that element just didn't. Funnily enough, I noticed as the opening credits rolled that it was directed by Tom Kingsley, the original director of Ghosts, and I remember that the reason Ghosts hired him was because of his ability to do special effects on the cheap. Sadly, while I think he could get away with ghosts walking through walls in a budget-saving manner, here it just looks like David Tennant and Catherine Tate have been messed around awkwardly in photoshop and it totally took me out of the horror and the tension the episode was trying to build. It would have been far better, and still would have saved money, if we had barely been shown what they actually looked like and instead focused on Donna and the Doctor's reactions. Once the creatures started to stabilise and to look basically human, it was a fantastic episode, though.

Catherine Tate and David Tennant were on top form throughout, bringing so much comedy and also drama when necessary. I love the subtlety of their performances as the entities. When Donna started monologuing about how her family would react to her being gone, I thought it was an odd acting choice for the Doctor to be slightly smiling, but it turns out it was a genius acting choice.

Speaking of genius choices: Flux! Ahhhh, I cann't express how pleased I am with the way this episode tackled it. Trust RTD to do what Chris Chibnall totally failed to do and actually give it weight (gravity, one might say). Actually seeing the Doctor express emotions about it and have a complicated guilt over the whole thing was so goddamn cathartic. I've posted extensively in the past about how disappointing it was that the Flux seemed to not matter at all once it was over (Half the universe was destroyed, hello? The Doctor committed triple genocide without batting an eyelid, and both that and the destruction of the universe might as well have not happened by the next episode???), and RTD just swooped in and made it work with one scene. I also liked the acknowledgement that the Doctor doesn't know where they're from. I think that was perfect. I know there are people who want Chris Chibnall's run to be ignored, but I'd much rather the approach RTD is taking, which is to take those things and turn them into character moments.

This is one that I'm really looking forward to rewatching. Despite the goofy effects taking me out of what are meant to be suspenseful moments, it was a really effective episode, and what a joy to see David and Catherine at the height of their abilities bouncing off each other for an entire hour.

Small things:

Not so small, but Wilf! Wilf! Wilf! Wilf!!!! I'm so happy to see him <3 And the episode was dedicated to Bernard Cribbins' memory <3

Seeing Donna getting left behind genuinely had me terrified. I'd seen people speculating about Donna dying in these specials, which I rejected as not going to happen, but oh boy I really thought they might just do it here. My headache ramped right up as my heartrate did!

I loved seeing the Doctor having to get by without the TARDIS and the sonic, especially given how many new powers the latter was given last week.

The TARDIS was so extra this episode. Why was she playing Wild Blue Yonder as they arrived and left? I liked the anti-war discussion with Donna's teacher vs Wilf, echoed somewhat in the entities' experience of the universe, but I wonder if it'll have any further relevance.

The whole 'mavity' thing was very silly, but I also kind of liked it. Newton going for 'mavity' over gravity doesn't really make sense, given that gravity had an etymological reason to be called that - as my friend said, something like 'gravitude' or whatever would make more sense - but whatever. It was silly and kept making me laugh. I wonder if, as with the salt thing, there's an implication that messing with history might have a hand in summoning the Toymaker...

Oh, on the topic of Newton! Canon queer Fourteen! I like that the Doctor continues to be canonically queer now. I mean, my personal favourite Doctor headcanon is aro-ace all the way, but if I can't have that I'm overjoyed to have him think Newton is hot.

[lotuslol]

Mental illness from a Christian prespetive (I have been through some things...)

I am returning from the hellhole called "pure-OCD"... again, which I never imagined I would fall into again but I tripped into a side road I never discovered in it (I was so surprised this could ever happen...) so I will give my 2 cents to all the opinions that I decided to listen to out of "giving the benefit of the doubt", to people who obviously didn't go through my experiences and claim silly things about mental illness:

Mental illness isn't humbling, it's dehumaizing, there is a huge difference between choosing to be humble and view all humans as equals and being reduced to pieces of yourself so bad you biggest dream is to just return back human.

I have had my worst impulse control under this last episode more than anytime of my life, so mental illness doesn't get you to heaven, it just makes it harder

Anyone of you fellow Christians suffering from mental illness? I assure you that seasoned monks and nuns can't bear a week of what you are bearning, and I have 2 funny stories to tell about it but that's not the aim of that post.

"God allows bad things so we can grow" whoever said these words probably had an abusive parent figure who justified every harsh action to be for the good of their kids. Listen, we live in existence, which means we will go through pain. It is inevidable, and God didn't beat around the bush or promise us no pain, God pomised us power despite the pain. But to justify the existence of pain as a lesson giver and a purifier is a philosophy as old as the "let them bleed so they heal from illness" medicine, and as useful as it.

From my short experiences in life I can assure anyone that pain never purified anything or anyone, the true purifier is love. We live in a world heavy with pain, why it never purified? Because it severely lacks in love!

What painful experiences give us is just that, experience. If your heart is in the right place and full of love, with this experience you can be a wonder-worker to other people and a kind soothing presence to their pains. If yout heart is in the wrong place or lacks in love, this experience can be severely deadly no matter how many sermons swear by purifying sliver. Silver purified to make a fancy knife to kill people is not ideal use of purified silver.

Love can turn worlds upside down, love can change hearts to their best of selves. True wise love can get the best out of you and make it shine to everyone. Love makes you heal faster and patient through hell and back as you heal. Heck, GOD IS LOVE for God's sake! Then the only truly Godly thing is love, not pain!

People glorify the Cross in the salvation plan, but had there been neither resseruction nor love behind bearing the pain, it would have just been another page in history's painful events.

Cross bearing...where do I even start. Some people have this twisted idea about cross bearing that glorifies pain. A woman bearing her husband's beating out of love is not cross-bearing, it's a woman stuck in a domestic violence situation she can't avoid so she found solace in the crumbs of existence. Heck, a renown saint (an old lady who served the poor) in my country had an interview where, when she remembered her abuse days, she became remorseful under her breath and fell silent. When people talk about her life they glorify how much she prayed and bore her husband's beatings while praying for him, but none saw her drop silent when she remembered her abuse.

We live in a society that turns noses as a young lady wearing red lipstick, but can't utter a word at a beating husband. They can form masses at a righteous rebel to be silent but kiss the feet of the president (that's a figure of speech) despite his obvious mockery. Which shows how much our society feels so helpless they take their frustration on the weak, or worse as my brother says, they benefit from the system so they don't oppose it. This same society can stand between a lady and her sexual harasser saying "leave him, he is crazy!" while she is crying hysterically wanting to show him justice (and she did, she and her friends and a stranger woman who decided to help took him to the nearest police station and justice was served!). In short, the pain glorification and victiom blaming are symptoms of a society that feels helpless about pain.

Sadly, I am a wall-flower and recovering from my mental illness episode, so I neither have the spirit nor the energy to face people in real life with all this so I keep silent and judge in secret (or be forced to write in tumblr despite usually being a silent lurker but augh times change)

Well, these were 10 cents not 2 but thanks for coming to my tedtalk!

Bye!

[rahleeyah]

I laughed when you said you regret reading the opinions on Twitter. I did too. I was wondering if we all watched the same show. So many people saying we got no EO. Like huh? Yes SVU was about Amanda but the EO was there.

Mirror Effect. Olivia was watching Amanda deal with PTSD. She wasn’t only seeing things from an ‘I’ve been through that too’ point of view. But she also saw how it was affecting Carisi and her kids. Amanda wasn’t taking therapy seriously and her actions was scaring the people in her life who love her. You can’t convince me that she wasn’t seeing Elliot in Amanda’s behavior.

And the being alone and learning to love yourself line that has people upset. That wasn’t just about her. That was about Elliot too. And Olivia saying that doesn’t mean the writers won’t flip things and have them move a bit faster. We just don’t know.

Then on OC. The show has often taken their titles from movies. Catch Me If You Can. A movie about a man who is always on the run. Taking on different personalities. That has been Elliot since Kathy was killed. In the bar, he saw the news story about the death of the cop with a wife and 5 kids. It hit too close to home. He looked in the mirror and finally saw Elliot Stabler. (Mirror Effect!) With so much pent up negative emotions, he did what he does when he can’t deal. He uses his fist. Hopefully this will lead to him going to therapy.

I feel like we are going to get EO but it’s not always going to be so in our face. We may get it in a more subtle ways until they can put Chris and Mariska together. This weeks episodes felt like progress to me. David is doing a great job working with the OC writers. People just need to be patient. The season just started! Lol

i've been thinking about this a lot, bc it's been three episodes, and i have seen people say they're disappointed in the lack of eo, when i've been living bc it already feels like so much more than what we were getting in the non-crossover episodes last season.

and the thing is, i wrote a post about this and then deleted it but i'm gonna say it here - it does feel like we're watching different shows, bc we are. everybody is going to bring different expectations and different backgrounds to the show, and those different perspectives will result in wildly different interpretations. a line i think is a positive for eo is seen as a negative by others; which one of us is right? ultimately, i think it doesn't matter. i don't think capital R Right is something we can be. i may disagree with people, but isn't a lot of this subjective? to paraphrase the dude, it's just, like, my opinion, man. so i do try to pull myself back. i'm don't manage it every time bc i'm not perfect but i do try to just. live and let live.

NOW that being said you raised some really interesting points about the epis i wanna talk about lmao

i find it really interesting bc i was so focused on the ways amanda's behavior reminded me of olivia - down to the scene of carisi disarming her at home just like cassidy had to do, to the point where i had to gif it - that i didn't make the connection between amanda's behavior and elliot's until you mentioned it. and what's really interesting to me about this is that both of those things are true - that you can draw a parallel between amanda and liv and amanda and elliot - and bc a=b and b=c, a also equals c. i wrote a lot right after elliot came back about the parallels between his ptsd and olivia's. and there's no way olivia hasn't noticed that connection, both to elliot and amanda. so it's a connective thread that's really fun to spin around in my head like a marble.

i wrote a post about the learning to love yourself line so i won't rehash my thoughts but - yes. exactly. AND we have no idea how fast the writers are planning to move things. we are getting episode four this week like this baby is just getting started we have such a long way to go and 2/3 of this shit isn't even filmed yet lmao

AND anon your mind!!! the mirror effect/elliot seeing his face in the mirror, what a connection! i am honeslty super excited about this season bc the shows are actually being written as if they exist in the same universe for once! the svu ME turning up on oc! nods to eo on both svu and oc! benson and stabler both getting mini mes to train! it feels so cohesive and that is so exciting to me.

i absolutely think we are getting progress. and subtle is how l&o has ALWAYS done relationships. no one knows when liv and tucker officially got together. liv fucked cassidy in the s13 finale/s14 opener and it was such a tease, we only saw her naked in a bed with two wine glasses on the table and someone in the shower, only got a little tiny nod from cassidy to reveal that something was going on. kurt moss appears out of thin air and vanishes just as quickly. a possible romantic something with bayard ellis was teased but never outright explained. this is not a show that hands us things. we have to pick apart the nuances. and the nuances say eo is full steam ahead, so i'm not mad at it.

[dsumpsbluey]

Unofficial Bluey Timeline: Part V

Welcome to another installment of the Unofficial Bluey Timeline. For this week, we'll be covering episodes 21-25 from "Blue Mountains" to "Taxi". As always, if there are any questions regarding the current state of the timeline, leave a comment below. I encourage the reblogging of this and previous posts, as it helps with spreading the project.

Blue Mountains - Episode 21

Debuts and Details:

Bluey plays as the Little Sister, Chilli plays as the Big Sister, Bingo plays as the fairy, and Bandit plays as the sneaky fox/mountains.

Given how the episode is focused directly on the game being played, it could be argued this would take place when Bluey's tooth (or teeth) are being regrown, but as spoken in Part IV, we won't take that into consideration.

Bluey's teeth are shown to be grown back, so that last point doesn't really matter too much. Just imagine that in Bluey's world, the teeth grow back magically in a day.

How they even move their fingers like that?

This is probably my least favorite episode of the series. I feel this episode tells a more basic story but doesn't really make it its own, like other story-based episodes. I did like the exaggerated hand movement, but that's it.

Favorite thing: I oddly smile when Chilli gets her hand stuck in Bandit's mouth, and the scene zooms out to show the reactions. The act is pretty disgusting, but I can't help but see this as a cheerful moment between the couple. Honestly, it reminds me of "Smoochy Kiss", but we're getting too ahead of ourselves.

The Pool - Episode 22

Debuts and Details:

This episode takes place in Stripe's house, well his pool actually.

Chilli is fanning herself with what appears to be the "Takeaway" menu brochure.

During the same scene, Bingo is reading from the green book from "Yoga Ball"

Both Bluey and Bandit talk through the fan in a similar robotic tone, sort of copying each other. (Granted, Chilli sort of teases this)

Stripe and family are currently on vacation to Bali, which is likely the providence of Indonesia. (He's got the money).

Bluey can swim, but Bingo still needs floaties

Bluey also doesn't know how to shake properly.

Dogs need sunscreen

The episode is clearly happening during a hot day, likely during summer. And given that previous episodes also suggested hot temperatures ("Keepy Uppy"), It suggests that season 1 could be taking place during summer. It sort of adds up, since the season ends on a Christmas episode, when Australia has its summer solstice.

Ngl, I giggled at the dad jokes. But to be serious, how do you forget pretty much everything you need to swim? Pretty irresponsible for our daddy role model. Anyways, we now know for sure this season takes place in the summer.

Favorite thing: The scene where Bingo and Bluey grab for Bandit's attention near the end. The way that Bluey says the same thing as her sister, but with a different word that brings more emphasis, while also emphasizing those words in the line delivery, just feels so accurate to actual children. It's those niche details I also enjoy about the show.

Shops - Episode 23

Debuts and Details:

Lilly Pillies are common fruits in Australia and are grown year-round, generally in summer.

Universal Rule #1: Animals can't talk; this is once again violated when Honey says 'Hello" on the 7th attempt of Shops.

They say 'Doot' like 40+ times, I couldn't count them all (i've failed you all)

Rusty ex-machina saves the day.

This episode teaches about the setting up of imaginative games and how overdoing it could lead to confusion. I appreciate how these sorts of conflicts get resolved by way of compromise, as both Bluey and Mackenzie have done their own damage. What I didn't like was how this particular conflict was resolved. Pretty much everything gets resolved the moment Rusty joins in.

Favorite thing: Photo #3

Wagon Ride - Episode 24

Debuts and Details:

There are 3 additional extra characters added at the bus stop: a white granny dog; a tan dog with hat and earphones; and a tan reskin of Bandit lol.

The fridge appears to have changed, with magnet lettering presenting the phrase "TRU E BLU", which could mean "True Blue", which means extremely loyal. "True Blue" is also the name of an Australian folk song in 1982 (the 80s) that was sung by Pat in season 2.

Bluey learns the "Bandit attention" method (couldn't think of a better name)

This episode once again has Bingo do her "Big Girl Bark"

Rocko appears to be listening to the same album as Chilli from "The Weekend"

Bluey mentions hanging upside-down "and be a fruitbat", a reference to the ep "Fruitbat"

Bandit says his iconic "Gotta be done!" line, which Bluey copies at the end of the ep

Beautiful backgrounds throughout, all that there is to say. Top tier Bandit episode without the fluff.

Favorite Part: Bandit's lesson with Bluey

Taxi - Episode 25

Debuts and Details:

Millicent, a dog doll with a crown and blue gown, makes its debut. The concept of SatNav is also introduced, being portrayed by Chilli.

Bluey sits in a red office chair and later a black office chair, so what happened to the green office chair from "Yoga Ball"?

Bandit says like, too many food slurs here (no dignity)

This episode also introduces our first pretend grannies. Granted it's not THOSE grannies yet, but Bingo and Chilli act out as unnamed grannies in the latter half of the ep.

The fridge goes back to what it looked it like previously, with the 3 papers and B-C magnets.

I'd say this is the weaker of what I like to call, "The public transportation trio": episodes focused on a particular transit vehicle ("Taxi", "Trains", "Bus"). Still a fun episode, but they definitely do better in the later season.

Favorite Part: The doodad scene

[safetyrat]

Hiiii maybe LL!Ren for the character headcannon thing?

hey!! yes!! im really glad i get to talk abt ren bc he lives in my head rent free At All Times :) ty very much for requesting him

Realistic: While Ren did want to win, i mean thats kind of the whole point of the game, he never was truly passionate about it? Like, he saw how it was a hollow victory last season and being a natural two lifer, he didn't see his chances as too great. The driving force for making alliances and gearing up was mostly survival instinct. He would try, of course, but he woudn't go as far as betraying allies or doing anything else crazy like that, this game wasn't worth it.

Well, he used to think so. But BigB saying that if they win, a part of his queen wins with them? That stuck with him, for some reason. He is willing to go far futher, now. A far lot futher.

He needs to win, after all.

Funny: He still is very much a werewolf, but he does not transform on full moons (bc server power supression, regulation to make the game more fair etc. etc. whatever, he just naturally is a bit dogboy anyways). Instead, he just kinda,, goes crazy goes stupid? think this post without the transforming basically.

It is especially incredibly inconvinient as this is Very Likely To Happen during the mysterious and very important meetings with Martyn/the Shadows. Sometimes this just makes him get into their weeb roleplay even more, more likely than not it ends up with furniture being nibbled on and everybody else incredibly tired with how much affection he demands. Usually Martyn has to console him bc he is very embarrassed afterwards. This is a routine they have developed in Dogwards. They Are Used To This.

(And yes, this is the reason he set himself on fire and we didnt see it in his episode. Fuck You if that wasnt even a full moon. It's also why Martyn insists on teaming with him afterwards, he clearly needs somebody)

Sad: He made a grave for his queen. Well, not a grave grave, her body is with the Joel and the other reds, and Ren doesn't think he even has half the claim to it as they do, but as close to closure as he could get. He gathered every trinked and item he could find that felt connected to her (I headcanon time to be much slower for them, so the recordings take a few days and there are days of down time between the recordings. You would be suprised how much Stuff piles up when you live with somebody for a few weeks) and burried it in the ashes of the fairy fort. Despite everything that happens late game, he always makes sure to go there and take care of it a bit, restore parts of the fairy fort maybe. He feels a bit silly, doing so in a death game, but he feels like its part of his duty to her. Like he owes it for not being able to protect her.

Canon who: OK SO this isnt entirely original, but!!!! do u know the post thats like "3rd life happend in a millisecond on the hermitcraft server, and when everybody returned they werent even sure it actually happend? and ren didnt even know if martyn actually exists?"

PLEASE if somebody knows where to find that post send it to me, its a banger and i wanna credit it properly

So take this and extend it to Last Life. Imagine Ren waking up after being killed, having watched first Lizzie, then BigB, then Martyn die, die, die. Imagine him opening his eyes in a panic, ready to scream for help from his allies, only to see... Doc? Looking concerned at him? Asking "Are you alright, man? You blanked out for a second there."

He is in a meeting. Doc looks expectantly at him to explain the new developments of the octagon. His whole life has just changed.

But it has been just a second. And every other second that passes, his memory gets more blurry. Did he really imagine that? Was he going crazy? Did he make them up? Make up three whole new people important to him? After all, most of the other players in that game had been hermits, except the ones closest to him, for some reason.

But no matter how much time passed, he could clearly remember their faces, and you know how they say that you can't make a new face up in a dream? He hung onto that.

Weeks later, and he doesn't remember why, but he metioned it to Pearl. And she told him about a little server she was on once called Evo, and that she had known Martyn and BigB there. She admits not knowing where they are now, but it is enough to make Ren determined to find them.

She also mentions another server, one she still frequents today, and while it doesn't usually have visitors, she promises to arrange something.

Time passes again, then Ren finds both Gem and Pearl at his front door and they take him on a journey to a world of empires.

It's where he gets to see his queen again, and this time, she is more royal then she has ever been before.

[macandriley]

5x10 – A Very MacRiley "Analysis"

Well, I definitely didn't expect to be making another AVMA post, but I am a woman of my word.

Below the cut, I will be discussing last night's episode of MacGyver (2016) titled "Diamond + Quake + Carbon + Comms + Tower"—particularly in reference to the relationship between Mac and Riley (with mentions of Mac x Desi as well).

So if you haven't seen it yet, do be aware: this post contains spoilers.

Without further adieu, let's get into it.

The Cold Open

Here we see Mad Scientist Mac tooling around in his kitchen, rambling about pressurized carbon and diamonds. I won't bore you by going into details, but I will give a brief rundown:

Bozer walks in.

Bozer is weirded out by Mac's strange behavior.

Mac reveals he intends to propose to Desi with a diamond he cooked up in a box (side note: I am so here for conflict free genius diamonds).

But I digress.

I won't lie and say this entire thing was surprising. The intended proposal was a touch predictable; everyone on Twitter had been hypothesizing about it for weeks before the episode even aired.

Still, when I heard those words come out of Mac's mouth, my heart absolutely shattered.

I pictured a wedding. Having to watch them say I do while Riley stood off to the side.

And then logic set in.

Why on God's green earth would this man want to marry a woman he's only really been on good terms with for a few weeks? Why would he want to take that next step when she's been so hesitant to even call him her boyfriend?

Well, Mac himself said it best. "Ever since I lost my dad and Jack, I've been thinking about the bigger picture. And a commitment to make things work is exactly what Desi and I need."

Problem One

As Mac said, this newfound craving for marriage does not come from a genuine desire to take that next step. It's influenced by loss. By grief.

Which isn't inherently an issue. Mortality is a great motivator for soul-searching and self-discovery.

However, when it comes to matters of the heart, acting out of grief can often be more detrimental than helpful. It can cause you to cling to what you have left, sometimes in ways that are unhealthy.

Which brings me to:

Problem Two

Mac clearly does not view marriage with Desi as something he truly wants. As an act of love or genuine devotion.

To him, it seems more like a desire to force things to work. Like a business contract. "If we're married, we have no choice but to talk it out."

Which makes sense when you consider that, in 4x04, Mac admitted he and Desi were clinging to the familiar instead of actual substance. He wants to make it work because the alternative is being alone.

And to be frank, that doesn't frame MacDesi in a very good light at all.

I Probably Shouldn't Tell You This

Before Mac, Riley, and Desi are sent off on their mission to Mexico City, Bozer pulls Riley aside and, presumably, tells her about Mac's intentions to marry Desi.

I won't go into detail on that here, but it's important to later scenes, so I felt it deserved a mention for that reason alone.

Plus, it only further confirms, at least in my mind, that Riley still has enough feelings for Mac for Bozer would worry about her. So...a win?

Got A Secret, Can You Keep It?

After Mac runs off to play Murdoc's little game, Riley and Desi follow him. One thing leads to another, and the trio winds up on the roof of a skyscraper, unable to unlock the doors and get back inside.

Cornered, they are absolutely at Murdoc's mercy.

So what does this glorious psychopath do?

He tells Mac the one thing he has never been able to figure out on his own. That Riley had feelings for him and buried them deep, deep down. That having to watch him and Desi was genuinely hurting her.

I love this scene for several reasons. The most important of them being: I really don't think either of them would have said anything if Murdoc hadn't done this.

They are both so self-sacrificing. So willing to give up their happiness so that they won't get in the way of other people's' joy.

Getting that little push opened them both up to experiencing feelings they'd previously denied. Which is super important for people like them, who don't have a lot of experience with touchy-feely type situations.

And the best part?

I think Desi truly realized all of that. She wasn't mad. She wasn't bitter. She saw this happen, realized the lengths Riley went to to protect her feelings, and accepted it. She refused to let them be distracted by it, and looked after Ri like a real teammate would.

Her not holding that against them isn't something I would have expected way back when this season first started. But you could really see that, as much as she probably didn't enjoy hearing that, she understood it.

Sidebar - Desi

While I think the shift in Desi's character is abrupt and I would've preferred a more transformative storyline, I'm honestly not mad about how they're writing her.

If this continues to be how she's written, and it all remains consistent, I can personally overlook the sudden shift in behavior for her.

Because honestly, Peter Lenkov was a dick, and I can get not wanting to continue on with the toxicity he injected into D for even a moment.

Hug It Out

When all is said and done, Mac lets Riley know that they don't have to talk about it. Which is super considerate, if a little obnoxious.

She, being the wise and tired babie she is, decides it's best to be honest. So she explains what happened in Germany. And finally, after months of waiting, it's all laid out in the open. Just like that.

There is not much to analyze in this scene other than the hug itself.

Riley shuts her eyes, holding onto him like she can't quite believe he's real and Mac sighs, because god, he did not expect for his day to go like this. And he definitely didn't think he'd feel so oddly satisfied that it did.

So they just stand there, rocking slightly, comforted by each other's embrace.

The only word that came to mind when watching it go down for the first time was: safe. They almost looked like they were at home in each other's arms. At peace.

And as someone who has loved these two deeply since season one, it's so heartwarming to see them have that kind of connection with someone. Even more so to see them find it in each other.

Knock Knock. Who's There?

Mac. That's who.

Late at night, after contemplating his proposal again (boy, why?), we see Mac leave his house. He shows up at an apartment building, knocks on a door, and...

Oh look, it's Riley's place.

She's shocked.

He asks if her feelings are really gone.

And...cut to black.

I am not foolish enough to assume this will be easy. It's entirely possible she'll lie and say she's over him to uncomplicate things.

But this is the closest we have ever been to canonization. And I think it speaks volumes that Mac is the one making the first move.

We don't often get to see the more emotional aspects of this show through his point of view. It's usually the people around him who are allowed to feel things, and him who deals with the aftermath.

Yet here we are. He was the one to seek out Riley. To take the leap.

And I think that speaks a lot to his own emotional growth.

In Conclusion

Monica Macer is the bait and switch queen. 5x10 was an emotional ride I did not ask to go on, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the final destination.

Here's hoping I can write another one of these after 5x11.

[viscountessevie]

I may rushed it or it could just only be me—

But I must say this.

Anthony had his grand speech.

Edwina had her grand speech.

But Kate was all over the place. Why was she there for? For her sister? And found love for herself? My mother pointer out, very unsettling for me, that Kate doesn't seek to have any lasting effect on her as Edwina. She is the protagonist and yet......

It's definitely me and mum right????

Heya Anon! Thank you so much for the ask and for waiting while I let all my asks sit for the last two weeks. I've just been trying to process the season before answering asks about the new season and also managing some irl personal stuff but I digress.

Everything is under the cut because this got long as always lmao:

When I first saw this in my inbox I'll be honestly I had no idea how to answer it because the lasting impression bit dumbfounded me (so allow me to answer that bit first!).

To me, Kate wasn't lacking or forgettable. But that's my experience and how Kate had already made her place in my heart after I read TVWLM after S1. Even more so when Simone was cast as her because I saw a lot of myself in Kate Sheffield but now Kate Sharma reflected someone who looked like me on the outside as well!!

So no matter how little screen time she got, Kate was always going to blow me away and leave an impact on me.

However, rereading your ask and in retrospect given how much time Kathony and Eddie got compared to the useless B Plots *cough* stupid LW, Cousin Jack and while I love how entertaining Pru, Portia and Philly can be, their screen time this season was 15 mins too long *cough*

Kate was very much shortchanged and compared to Anthony who got his backstory and Kate didn't, it was a very glaring difference. It was really a disservice to the character we loved so much in the book. And it's even more disappointing that your mom had a more lasting impression of Edwina from her breakdown wedding day speech (can we PLEASE get Charithra the Emmy she deserves for that scene). I'm happy for Eddie getting the love she deserves and having a shiny new backbone and agency compared to the books but where was the enhancement and improved characterisation for Kate??

CVD and his team can't say they want to write three dimensional women and then go throw two sisters with the best bond into a love triangle like wtf.

On that note, even if he fleshed out Edwina this season, she was still reduced into a plot device role and was an obstacle for Kathony to overcome. It is SO ironic that CVD thought he did something with Eddie this season. Yes, she wasn't as docile like in the book but as Nia @missfairygodmother pointed out in her post here in a way Eddie had more of a personality in the books. Her main role this season just seemed to be the diamond.

Yes, we did get some insight of her being a nerd and studious but as Molly @newtonsheffield has pointed out in her Ton & Tea videos that while Edwina is very talented in all these things - a polygot, can dance all three dances on the regency dance floor, etc, she had to be taught somehow. It is implied that Kate taught her so Kate has to know all these things too. So I wish we got Book!Eddie's quirks of always carrying a book around, being bored with dumbass Anthony, unconditionally loving her sister. I honestly hated the love triangle with a passion because my fave comedy moments in the book was Anthony and Edwina platonic relationship. They literally had NO romantic chemistry, it was literally crickets every time they talked but like after he marries Kate, he takes her under his wing like a sister because she is Eloise's age so he should have always viewed as a younger sister type!

I'm just really upset that the creative team wanted to prop up Eddie but it was done at the expense of Kate's character. Eddie got to pop off in Episode 6 - WHERE WAS MY DAMN STORMS BACKSTORY IN EP 3 HMMM CVD?? If not Ep3, give it to us in Ep4 AT THE LITERAL LIBRARY STORM SCENE!! Do you know how excited I was to see the library still in the trailer? Super excited, it was one of the turning points of Kathony for me but we didn't get it SIGH.

All in all, anon if you read this far, please know that it's not just your mom and you. The writers did Simone and Kate SO DIRTY this season by not giving her enough screen time or explicit conversations about her past. They always say "Show, not tell" WELL THE WRITERS DID NEITHER FOR KATE THIS SEASON, Simone did it all her damn self. We love to see our queen take the reins of her character and shine on her own when Netflix and the promo are failing to promote her as their lead.

Thanks again for reading all of this unhinged takes from me if you made it this far!