#everything Emma does is a Pose whether she means to make it one or not

[emmagail-brainrot]

Saw Into the Spiderverse and had Emmagail thoughts when I saw Miles’ many, many, drawings of Gwen.

That’s Abi, Abi’s sketchbook is filled with pages of Emma and she guards it with her life.

[twopoppies]

I posted 26,289 times in 2022

14,767 posts created (56%)

11,522 posts reblogged (44%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@twopoppies

@daisiesonafield-blog

@ameryth74

@lovingstheantidote

@skepticalarrie

I tagged 17,035 of my posts in 2022

Only 35% of my posts had no tags

#stunts - 1,270 posts

#holivia - 1,159 posts

#my policeman - 558 posts

#lost and found - 522 posts

#don’t worry darling - 357 posts

#you are home - 312 posts

#q - 308 posts

#fitf promo - 261 posts

#as it was - 208 posts

#hs3 - 206 posts

Longest Tag: 120 characters

#i mean if youre gonna write an open letter somewhere just stick to tumblr where your echo chamber can maybe validate you

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I’m honestly still processing the video and the song, but the first coherent thought that came into my head was whether there was a red pill/blue pill reference.

The terms "red pill" and "blue pill" refer to a choice between the willingness to learn a potentially unsettling or life-changing truth by taking the red pill or remaining in contented ignorance with the blue pill. The terms refer to a scene in the 1999 film The Matrix.

939 notes - Posted March 31, 2022

#4

My Policeman Screening - Part 1

Let me start by saying these are comments from a friend who attended tonight’s screening. I haven’t seen the film. I’m just going to give you their commentary as they gave it to me. This is their initial message to me when the came out of the theater:

The movie just finished. IT’S FUCKING GORGEOUS I’m like shaking, it was so beautiful. I’m SO PROUD!! That’s what a performance with a competent director and supportive costars looks like, holy shit!!!

And DAVID FUCKING DAWSON!! EMMA!! And they kept Julia 😭😭😭

Just know I heard people being asked by staff what they thought and EVERYONE around me said EXCELLENT.

This is LONG. So long I have to split it into at least two posts. I’ll put everything under the cut for those who don’t want to see spoilers. And when I say spoilers, I mean it. This is pretty much scene by scene.

Harry gets the first billing on his own. So it opens on a beautiful shot of the water then it his name and then the title of the movie. 🥺🥺🥺 A true leading man!! I was already so proud to see that. Then everyone else gets billing during the opening shots of Patrick arriving.

Okay, from what I can remember in order: It opens with the older Tom and Marion at their home just as Patrick is being brought in from his assisted living facility. Older Tom immediately takes their dog out for a walk while Marion adjusts everything for Patrick in his new room.

She places a picture of her and Tom from their wedding day on a dresser facing the bed so Patrick sees it when he first lies down. Cue the first scream from these girls in the audience who would not stop their constant talking and  giggling because we saw a picture of Harry and Emma posed. 🙄🙄🙄

So it does begin with the older versions of the three. The difference from the book is that Marion is not writing a letter. A box of Patrick’s old things gets delivered and his diary is included. So she actually finds the diary and that’s what initiates a lot of the flashback sequences.

Tom is off walking the dog, Marion is trying to make Patrick comfortable. And then the first flashback is the scene on the beach with where Harry was wearing the blue shorts and vest.

Marion is sitting with Sylvie when Tom comes over. Sylvie’s part is drastically cut from the novel, so you don’t see her getting pregnant or married. She doesn’t tell Marion (or hint rather) that he’s gay like she does in the novel. You only see her in that opening scene to introduce the younger selves and then she teases Marion and tells Tom she doesn’t know how to swim.

Then Sylvie runs off with her boyfriend but we never see her again, she’s just referenced one other time.

They changed this bit from the novel too. Tom tells Marion he’ll teach her but he takes her to a public swimming pool full of families. So it’s a very cute and light scene with up tempo 50s music included. There’s a brief slow mo shot of Tom swimming and Marion being infatuated of course, to imply she’s already falling for him. The parents from the novel are cut too, no scenes with them. When Marion and Tom meet on the beach, he tells her there he just got back from the service and he’s already a Policeman. And she’s already a teacher.

Like the novel, they get to know each other by the swimming lessons and Tom says she must love books if she’s a teacher. He asks her if she knows about Art, she says a bit and there’s a sweet scene where she takes him to a library and they just sit in silence while he’s earnestly reading about an artist he found out about.

He asks her if he’d like to go to a museum since he knows someone that she can talk to about art. Enter younger Patrick.

And omg…when I tell you David Dawson was perfect. EVERYONE was perfect, especially the younger trio. But when I tell you the younger three has the BEST chemistry. And David instantly captivated me. What a presence!

So this is where Tom introduces Marion and Patrick for the first time.

Patrick asks if they would like to attend a play and Marion says sure. But as they’re walking out, Marion says something about attending (I didn’t catch it) but Tom says they can decline Patrick’s offer if she really doesn’t want to go. Marion says no, they should go since she doesn’t want to hurt Patrick’s feelings.

So this is when they go on their first outing as a group. And omg, they’re all so lovely together. If I didn’t know what was coming, I could’ve just watched them be silly as sing together while in a bar. David and Emma both have BEAUTIFUL voices!!

There’s a montage of the three in a bar, then driving together into the countryside for a picnic. Harry sings along with them but (and maybe this was a deliberate decision by the filmmakers) but you hear David and Emma’s voices over his. This montage of their outings is when you start to see the dynamic play out. In the theater, they sit MARION, PATRICK, TOM In the bar, Tom and Patrick grab each other to sign before Marion joins them. In the car going into the country, she’s sitting in the back while Patrick is driving and Tom is sitting up from with him 😭😭😭

Between the younger flashbacks, it did go back to the present. Older Tom stays away from older Patrick completely. Older Marion gives older Patrick his bath/meals/pills and reads his diary (unbeknownst to him).

As in the novel, older Patrick’s his mobility and speech are severely impaired. Rupert Everett gave a wonderful but heartbreaking performance.

The first entry Marion reads is the night Tom went to Patrick’s apartment to have his portrait drawn. So this differed from the novel too!

Those photos we got of Harry in costume with a bag and smoking a cigarette sitting on the beach happen right before he goes to Patrick’s apartment for the drawing session. His uniform is in the bag and, like the novel, he tells Patrick he brought it in case he wants him to wear it for the portrait. Patrick says yes, tells him to change they start.

See the full post

1,226 notes - Posted March 7, 2022

#3

https://twitter.com/lexceloml/status/1566853990880509955?s=21&t=fVgCXpnnUnQzTDqniAGLbQ

In the video of him sitting down and ignoring Olivia, Harry appears to spit on Chris Pine? literally where is the behind the scenes tell-all

I-

x

He clearly doesn’t spit. But it looks like he coughed and something landed on Chris. 😬

1,301 notes - Posted September 5, 2022

#2

I think every larrie everywhere is the person screaming “What the fuck?!?!?!” in this video. 😅😅😅

See the full post

1,456 notes - Posted February 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

You're not embarrassed being an old woman and being in tumblr? I would rather die that my grannies have an actual account on tumblr for celebrities rho

Why would I be embarrassed for having interests I enjoy? My guess is that you’re really, really young. And that maybe you don’t actually have solid relationships with adults who have lives outside of parenting or work. But I hope for you that when you’re my age you have hobbies that bring you happiness. And that by that point you realize that trying to shame someone for being an adult only makes you look too immature to be in adult spaces, which Tumblr is.

When I was 20, I loved music, making art, writing and reading good stories, fashion, talking about popular culture, making friends, going to concerts… You’d be surprised how little changes when you’re my age. I just have way more money and time to enjoy those things now. I’m only 55. I’m not dead. I’m also not a “granny”, but even if I was, I’d probably still like all of those things.

Ageism isn’t cute, love. And I sure don’t ever see people telling men they shouldn’t go to football games or have their little “fantasy football leagues” or wear their favorite player’s merch. For every comment you guys like to say is misogynistic (but isn’t), this is one that really reeks of it.

16,126 notes - Posted November 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[themightyaliendwarf]

TPN s02e08

Maaan, what an rollercoaster! We literally go from amazing to fine to incredible. Which kinda makes me angry because this is how this season SHOULD look like. Okay, fine, let’s skip Goldy Pond, but let’s make it equally amazing as this. Just in an anime original way. And this episode proves they COULD do it. It’s a pity that it took them over a half of the season to reach this point. But let’s start from the beginning.

1. So, Peter Ratri is voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya. I was joking with my friend that it might be the reason why the quality of the animation isn’t always the best - because he took a half of the budget. Anyway, I think he is doing a good job with voicing this character right now, but I will wait with the final judgement for the Peter’s meltdown scene. 

2. Just a fun fact I read in the manga: apparently when Isabella tells Norman that he is going to a new home, Shirai used the kanji that can also mean ‘cage’. 

3. Another thing I loved: they showed how Norman found about Vincent. It’s shown in the extra pages for one of the volumes (I don’t remember in which one right now).

4. Again, I like that the first 7-8 minutes were fully focused on Lambda. I think that this is something that anime-only people really needed (without the context, it’s difficult understand how MUCH those guys hate the demons and why). And for manga readers it was cool to see it in colour. But on the other hand, I’m kinda disappointed that they just showed us the images of the experiments. I think adding movement and sound would make those scenes absolutely terrifying. But hey, at least they showed it!

5. So, we found out a little bit about the escape, buuuut it was nearly as much as I was hoping for. Based on the panels in the manga, we could have already guessed that they used some kind of explosives. I guess we still need to wait for another special chapter/light novel.

6. Annnd after the amazing lambda part we jump to the search... Now, do you know why this whole thing was more engaging in the manga?

Because we got her. I don’t think it will be controversial if I say that the search for Mujika was really boring. Just a bunch of pictures and building up suspense by showing us that CGI demon. Speaking of that demon!

7. You know what pains a lot in this episode? SO MANY reused animations. I mean, the test solving animation, the demon, the chase, later the demons degenerating and demons eating other demons... look, I know they want to save money, but there are some limits!

8. Apparently Ray, a guy who has been living in the wilderness for months, needs a watch to tell that sun is setting. Just a minor nitpick that I had to point out. 

9. Okay, I think we can official crown Norman as our new edge lord. I mean that monologue on the top of the rock... I know that words are from the manga, but when it’s shown like that, it looks more silly than serious. Also, the quote ‘I will gladly become a God or a devil’, doesn’t make THAT much sense here, because we didn’t get this scene:

To me it felt like unnecessary fan service towards manga readers, but I’m happy for you if you liked this scene. Norman is allowed to become our tiny edge lord.

10. You know what made me angry? Don and Ray shooting the demon, but Emma and Gilda not. Yes, Emma does it a second later, but it became a trend to give her badass scenes to boys. The next scene, however, made me furious.

11. Ray shoots the demon and then he and Emma share a sigh of relief. But then it turns out that the wild demon is still alive and it’s going to eat Emma. Wait a minute... I have seen it somewhere... OH, RIGHT!

Of course, there are situations where Emma is the one who is being saved. The problem is that in the anime she is always being saved by someone - never the other way around. I’m happy that Ray is given stuff to do, but why is it that he is given Emma’s stuff. Come on!

12. Also, how did they know that it was Norman who caused the explosion? How far did they actually went? Are you going to tell me that they were in practically the same location for months and nobody found them? Again, those are nitpicks, but they bother me a lot!

13. Also, apparently the drug is now spread through the air, and Norman’s whole gang is made out of edge lords who need to stand dramatically on the chimneys. I can imagine that during planning they had a conversation similar to: - Boss, do you know what ever genocide needs? - What? - Dramatic JoJo posing over the burning villages.  - Good, good... write that down!

14. Okay, enough ranting, let’s move to the incredible stuff. First of all, the music in those last scenes really reminded me of the Witcher Soundtrack and I LOVE the Witcher soundtrack. So epic! 

15. I actually stopped taking notes at this point, because I was so immersed in everything that was happening on the screen. The music, the tone, the colours, the expressions - THIS! This is what this anime should be from the very beginning. Making us care about the demons, and showing that they are also the victims of this system. The actual dread and thriller, the moral issues, engaging plot lines.

16. The scene with the old demon and Norman? Good anime original content? How is it possible? When the old demon asks Norman whether he is a human and he doesn’t answer - because at this point he himself isn’t sure. Yes, give me more of that!

17. Norman being terrified after seeing blood on his hands? That’s a good change from the manga Norman, because it makes narrative sense. Really, CloverWorks, how can you make such an amazing scene after those 6 mediocre and one good episode? 

Anyway, it’s difficult for me to add anything right now because I don’t feel like I have enough words to describe how much I loved that last scene. Does it mean I have forgiven this season its previous sins? No, but I’m a happier person right now, and I’m REALLY looking forward into the next episode. 

[thr-333]

Mismatch- Part 13

Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020

The twins find out!

First< Previous > Next

------

Ladybug lands on the building across from the city hall, where Marion had asked to meet up after patrol. She stretches out, enjoying the exercise after being cooped up in the hospital keeping Marion company. She looks over the city, with clear skies that Gotham simply didn't have. Then again she didn't mind so much Gotham has is own style that didn't want or need to change. Chat Noir lands in front of her a minute later, Dupain bakery box in hand.

“I don’t know how other people deal with homesickness,” Chat Noir drops down opening the box.

“Don’t let Kaalki know you're using her miraculous to eat cookies,” Ladybug sits next to him, legs dangling over the edge.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I also use them cause I look great in glasses,” Marion poses despite not wearing them as Chat Noir.

“Sure you do,” She turns back, looking over the city hall, “Thats why your most popular identity wears a mask,”

“Well all my identities- hey!” Ladybug snorts, not needing to look to know Chat Noir was pouting, “You’re just saying that cause your jealous how loveable and popular I am, especially Chat Noir,”

Yeah right. There was a little girl walking on the street below them right now wearing a Ladybug dress MDC had designed. She internally scolds herself for smiling.

“It’s not about popularity, we must take our jobs seriously to protect pari-”

“Do you dare me to steal the Mayor’s sash?” Chat Noir interrupts her speech, talking through a mouthful of cookies.

Ladybug releases a long suffered sigh.

“Yeah, I do,” She takes a cookie from the box.

“Good because I already did it,” She looks over, Chat Noir grinning ear to ear holding the Mayor’s sash, “Let's watch,”

He points towards a window where they have a clear view of the Mayor’s office. He was looking in the mirror and had only just realised it was missing. When Marion stole it she didn’t care to find out. He starts rooting around his office pulling out the contents of draws and cupboards haphazardly. Chat Noir laughs when he starts checking under furniture.

“So how are your ribs feeling,” She asks, noticing he wasn’t cringing at the movement.

“Purrfect,” He purrs, playing with the sash he was now wearing.

“I walked right into that one,” She doesn't tell him off, taking the last cookie instead,

“Yes you did,” Chat Nori reaches for another cookie.

Frowning at her Ladybug sticks out her tongue. Disgusting, covered with mushed up chocolate chips. Chat Noir blanches and turns away.

“Look he left to get help,” Chat Noir grins, both looking towards the window, “Just a sec,”

Chat Noir jumps over to the large window they've been watching through. Slipping inside he places it on top of the desk covered in wayward papers. Ladybug smiles, feeling her yo-yo buzz. They had synced their hero phones up to their normal ones long ago. She had just received a text from Aunt Selina that they were on their way with lawyers. Chat Noir jumps back to her side, grinning as the door opens. Officer Roger steps through instantly spotting the sash on the desk. Marinette can practically feel the officers disbelief as the Mayor tries to explain.

“Aunt Selina texted, we got to go,” Marinette tells him as Chat Noir starts cackling.

“Just a sec,” Chat Noir snaps a picture with his Baton, “Purrfect,”

“Two in a row? Really?” She raises her eyebrow, as he takes out the horse miraculous.

“If it ain’t broke,” Marion shrugs, slipping the glasses over his mask.

“It’s broke, it’s really, really broke,”

Marion only grins transforming and opening a portal back to Gotham.

“Why do I need to be here?” Jason asks, leaning against the wall next to Marion.

“Because the press have several pictures of you driving them away without helmets,” Bruce scowls, standing by the lawyer's seat next to Marion's bed.

“I haven't crashed my bike yet, so what's the issue?” Jason shrugs, grin on his face revealing he knew the exact issue. Marion couldn't help but mirror it.

“You’ve crashed it many times,” Bruce corrects, scowl deepening.

“What! Are you ok?!” Marion snaps towards Jason, scanning him for injury.

“Yeah I’m fine,” There's an amused curl to Jason's lips, “What about you?”

“Oh I’m fine, I heal pretty quickly,” Marion doesn't lean back on bed, forgetting he was meant to be injured.

“You realise your ribs are broken right?” Jason smirks down at him.

“I’ve had worse,” Marion smirks right back, meeting his challenge.

“What! When!” Oh right, their Aunt is here, sitting at the foot of the bed.

“Happens all the time in Paris,” Marion hopes he can pass it off, and avoid the wrath of his sister next to him, “The cure usually heals us pretty quick,”

“The cure?” Bruce prompts, frown lines deepening.

“Yeah Ladybugs cure, she beats the Akuma then releases a whole bunch of Ladybugs like whoosh, that come and fix everything,” From Marinette's face he can tell that he sounded crazy, and she knew what he was talking about.

“... where to start?” Jason looks confused down at him, Marion tries to avoid the same looks from everyone.

“Ladybug? Akuma?” Bruce apparently does know where to start.

“Auntie, don’t you remember last time you were in Paris?” Marinette steps in to save him, “We came home early because school was canceled because of an Akuma attack,”

“I thought you were just skipping!” She exclaims, both shocked and defensive.

“And you didn’t send us back?” Marion cracks a smile.

“Did you really think we’d skip?” Marinette frowns.

“Wouldn’t blame you for it,” Aunt Selina shrugs, Marinette looks like she's about to start a one sided argument. Marion was not about to back her up.

“Who’s Ladybug?” Bruce cuts in, whether he knew of the brewing argument or not is up for debate.

“Hero of Paris?” Marinette meets Marion's glance.

“Paris has no heroes,” Bruce says, with far too much confidence for someone completely wrong.

“Well you might want to let her and Chat Noir know that,” Marion smirks, he'd make sure to deliver the message.

“Not to mention the rest of the Guardians,” Marinette adds, perhaps a little more concerned they didn't know than he was.

“There's more than one?” Jason speaks up, Marion can’t help but feel he and Bruce are having their own secret conversation through glaring.

“Of course, Paris is attacked by super villains every other day,” Marion answers flippantly, doing nothing to dissolve the tension.

“Ok, no, I’ve been to Paris plenty and it’s never been attacked,” Their Aunt says, time for them to hold their own secret conversation.

“Um…” She was definitely privy to one attack, not that people in her position usually remember what happens, “Guess you must of just missed it,”

Smooth he can practically hear Marinette scoff. A silence traps them, likely shorter than it feels.

“Moving on,” The Lawyer, who had introduced herself as Emma, frees them,“I highly recommend there be a press statement released immediately,”

“That isn’t going to stop anyone,” Marion frowns, first hand experience teaching him well.

“No, but we can start pursuing legal action,” Emma agrees, bringing documents out of her briefcase.

“Several news sources can be sued for slander and endangerment,” She hands Marinette the documents, Marion resting his chin on her shoulder to see, “They also played a part in informing villains of your whereabouts, allowing the attack and making you vulnerable to another, I’m not saying this to scare you-”

“It’s fine, we know,” Marinette gives a friendly smile, “Please be honest, it’s more efficient to just be blunt,”

“Right... so several official news sources should be taken to court,” Emma takes on a more professional air, “There are many independent sources that can receive lawsuits, however the most prudent one would be those confirming your presence at the aquarium,”

“I don’t really think we need to go after regular people,” Marion looks over the file that includes pictures of the group he had scared off at the aquarium before the attack.

“It’s your choice, but I strongly encourage you to think over at least sending them charges,” Emma urges, Bruce nodding along, “If nothing else than to discourage others from doing the same,”

“Give us some time to think it over, please,” Marinette sifts through the documents, organising them, “We’re fine with any press release that we can look over first,”

“Very well,” Emma meets Marinette's smile, “Mr Wayne if I can discuss the press release with you?”

He nods, he and Jason leave the room with Emma. Leaving the twins with their Aunt.

“When did you become so cool?” She grins, moving up the bed.

“I’ve always been the coolest twin,” Marinette shrugs, Marion rolling his eyes.

“Nope I distinctly remember you running into the same pole three times in six minutes,” His smirk meets Marinette glare.

“How did you manage that?” Aunt Selina asks, amusement dancing in her eyes.

“Clumsiness has always been a special talent of mine,” Marinette puts the papers down, not quite pulling off the overconfident air he carries, being a little too close to honesty.

“Sure has,” Marion sits back, pulling up his legs for their Aunt to move closer.

“So what do you think we should do?” Marinette questions, when she's seated just across from them.

“...I think it’s complicated,” Aunt Selina hesitates, looking towards the door, “More complicated than they realise,”

“What's wrong?” Marion follows her gaze, another hesitation thats so unlike her, “... Aunt Selina?”

“I’m not your Aunt,” They both go stiff, waiting for more in the silence that follows her not meeting their eyes.

Right now Marinette’s head is probably buzzing with ideas and theories on what that means.

Marion’s mind remains blank, waiting for an answer that she seems to be battling with.

“............ I’m your Mother,”

“Excuse me, what?” Marion’s voice is just as blank, words refusing to process.

“And Bruce is your Father,” She adds, jumpstarting them out of their shell shocked state.

“What!” They both shout, turning towards each other.

“Look, I was young when I had you, I didn’t know what to do,” Selina runs a hand through her hair, still not meeting their gazes as they snaps back towards her, “I knew I wasn’t good enough to raise you, and Bruce wasn’t exactly in the best place back then, at least not enough to raise a child, so I didn’t tell him,”

That is… that is information.

“But, there was Tom and Sabine who wanted kids so bad, I knew they would be amazing parents,” Well yes, “So I gave you up,”

Now Marion's thoughts were a storm. Whipping around his head too fast to get a hold of and actually understand.

“I’m not saying this to pressure you into anything,” Selina follows after a long silence,  “You don’t have to tell anyone, and if you like I can walk out of this room and we can never speak of this again, everything can go back to normal,”

“... do you think we can have a moment?” Marinette sounds just as blank as he had.

“Of course,” That slight fake smile clearly trying to hide the hurt allows Marion to grasp hold of one thought.

“Hey… no matter what we still love you,” The smile turns to a genuine one, Marinette agreeing.

She doesn't reply, leaving the room, door closing with a soft click.

“.... Oh my god,” Marion whispers, staring at the door.

“Oh my god,” Marinette says, Kwamis coming out of hiding, concerned looks going unnoticed.

“Oh my god!” Marion shouts, reality hitting all at once.

“OH MY GOD!” Marinette can surely be heard from outside.

“She’s our Mother!?” Marion turns to Marinette for confirmation.

“HOW is this possible!” So that's a yes.

“Why didn’t anyone tell us!” Marion feels himself getting hysterical.

“Hold on, let's think this through calmly and rationally,” Marinette takes a deep breath, hand on his shoulder.

“Screw that!” Marion pushes her hand off, standing “After something like this we’re allowed to freak out!”

“This is so weird!” Marinette groans, sliding back in bed.

“I know!” Marion starts to pace, latching onto random thoughts and memories, “And everything makes so much sense!”

“How did we not see this?!” Marinette asks the ceiling.

“It’s alright, it probably just never occurred to you to even think about it,” Tikki tries to placate.

“Did you know Tikki?!” Marinette asks, Kwami of creation.

“No I certainly didn’t,” She shakes her head, Marion turning to Plagg.

“I did think she’d make a good Black Cat,” Plagg shrugs, a little too casual compared to Marions current state, “Didn’t think it was because of this,”

“Not to worry, if you were to have any true lineage it is a privilege to be descended from a family such as the Waynes,” Kaalki declares, Marion taking a moment to dissect the sentence.

“Oh my- Bruce Wayne really is our Father!” Marion slams his hands down on the bed railing.

“Keep your voice down!” Marinette hisses, sitting up.

“That’s not important!” Marion throws his hand up, gesturing wildly to the general area, “We really are the Wayne twins!”

“The tabloids actually got it right,” Marinette muses softly, leaning back.

“That never happens!” Marion agrees, having spent plenty of time laughing at bad tabloids about themselves, “How could complete strangers be able to tell when we couldn’t!?”

“Now, now, it was a lucky guess, you had no reason to think it was true,” Tikki tries to bring order to the chaos.

“Other than the fact we’ve known her our whole lives and easily could have seen how similar she is to us,” Marinette mumbles out.

“And she’s really bad at pretending us calling her Aunt doesn't bother her,” It wasn’t until now he actually knew why.

“So I guess the first question is how do we feel about this?” Marinette tries to follow her Kwami’s lead.

“Too big a question,” Marion groans, flopping down onto the bed.

“What should we do?” Marinette asks, he turns his head to fix her with a glare.

“Way too big a question,” Marion feels Plagg curl up against his side, Kaalki also sitting near.

“What will this change?”

“Tikki! Take over!” Marion yells into the covers.

“I think you should start at the beginning,” Tikki says calmly, “How do you feel about being given up,”

“I don’t know,” Marion groans into the covers, another coming from Marinette.

“Angry, sad, betrayed?” Tikki prompts, making Marion frown.

“Not really, it’s kind of hard to,” He answers, turning away from the sheets, “It’s not like she just up and abandon us,”

“And we don’t know the full story,” Marinette adds, Kwami resting in her hands.

“Then maybe you can ask her,” Tikki suggests with a smile. “How do you feel about Bruce-”

“Nope, still processing, not touching that with a ten foot pole,” Marion refuses, causing the Kwami to giggle.

“Ok whatever you're comfortable with,” She smiles, giggles dying down.

“Tikki you have to realise I am so far outside of my comfort zone right now, that sitting in the middle of Hawk Moth's lair surrounded by every Akuma we’ve ever fought sounds more comfortable,” The sad thing is, he isn’t even exaggerating.

“Kid you do have an out,” Plagg flies into this field of vision, “You can ignore it and go back to normal, or confront it and see what happens, which do you want,”

Marion frowns, not at Plagg he’s right, for once. Neither of them speak. Every time Marion tries to think of the future, memories pull him back. Until one catches his attention. It was something he thought of often, usually when trying to avoid getting Akumatized, but sometimes just to smile. However, now it has a new meaning, he isn’t sure if it ruins the memory or improves it.

“... Hey, Nette, do you remember what happened when we found out we were adopted?” Marion breaks the silence, turning to the smartest person he knows, and that includes the person who created an AI at fourteen.

“We asked who our real Maman was?” Marinette watches as he sits up.

“Aun-she sat us down and told us off,” Marion scoots up the bed to sit next her, “Said that even if we didn’t have the same blood as Maman, no one in the world was closer to our Mother than her,”

“.... She always looks so in pain when we call her Aunt,” Marinette leans her head against his shoulder.

“.... I don’t want to ignore this,” Marion decides, enough time passing for them to relax against each other.

“... Neither,” Marinette eventually agrees.

“So what now?” Marion asks aloud, “We just change everything ?”

“I guess so,”

They share a soft smile, wouldn’t be the first time.

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[orange-juice-speaks]

The Usage of Purple as a Symbol for Straying From the Norm and Character Development in the Broadway Production of The Prom Musical: An Over-Analysis.

As written by Ozzie Clifford

This is some long stuff, I’m putting a cutoff here. Also spoilers The Prom Musical. Enjoy this weirdness I wrote at 2 in the morning.

If there is one thing I loved, and continue to love, about the fandom for The Prom Musical after over a year, among so much else, is its ability to analyze the true depth of the ultimate protagonists of the show, Emma and Alyssa. Who are the protagonists in the show can be made into a separate mini-essay on its own. Believe me, it has been discussed plenty enough, but for the purposes of keeping things to one concise thesis here, I'm going to say that because the character growth of the arguably more prominent Broadway stars is caused by the citizens of Edgewater, and the center of that conflict that led them to Edgewater is ultimately Emma and Alyssa, so they will be referred to as the main protagonists for this interpretation. Based on the surprisingly small amount we are given on these characters, the fanbase for the Tony-nominated 2018-2019 production is surprisingly able to get a lot from these characters and infer plenty about them. However, one facet of these characters' growth throughout the plot goes surprisingly unacknowledged: The use of the color purple to show how they do not fit the norm, but are eventually able to find acceptance of that by the time they do get their prom.

The plot of the show in short, in case my passionate ramblings do find someone who is unaware of the existence of the material I base this upon, is absurd but simple. A teenage lesbian by the name of Emma Nolan is barred from taking her girlfriend, later discovered to be the PTA president's daughter, Alyssa Greene, to their senior prom by the PTA. Four Broadway stars who are at a low in their careers find potential for good press in this story, which they found on Twitter, and they inevitably wreck things before making it better. But for me, this story has nothing to do with the actors and actually starts with a scene that's halfway through the first act, so we can get a glimpse at where the color purple first becomes a prominent idea within it. The prom has just been reinstated and all day Emma and Alyssa have been watching their classmates prom-pose to each other. This is shown in the song 'You Happened', in which the girls do manage to sneak behind the bleachers and get a verse of their own in this number, discussing how they wouldn't hide anymore. At the end of the number Alyssa is shown giving a bracelet to Emma as a way of asking her out to their for a second time. It becomes a brief nod to the idea of a symbol that shows them breaking free from expectations, but it never does come up again; at least not in that form.

This is the closest replica to the aforementioned bracelet that we are aware of as of June 2020. Note that it is purple, because I do have reason to believe it ties to a greater symbolic storytelling. A seemingly insignificant detail in this scene from its initial Broadway run is that Emma and Alyssa are wearing blue and pink tops respectively. Blue and pink put together make purple, which appears to be an equally insignificant stretch until you remember Edgewater is a conservative town. Most likely, for boys and pink is for girls in this town, and gender roles are tightly wound. In coming out as gay and cutting her hair short, Emma broke away from that, potentially reflecting why she is seen wearing blue while Alyssa, who is in the closet, is stuck in the confining box of pink*. a reason I bring up this specific coloring of their clothes. It actually occurs more than once, the second time with somewhat more specific meaning that points to my initial claim but that's a point I will get to shortly. As of right now, in the middle of Act 1. Alyssa is trapped in the pink box of expectations, and Emma isn't anymore. Alyssa makes the promise of joining her on the outside with a purple bracelet, and while the color purple can easily be viewed as simply a combination of blue and pink, boy and girl, to use this color for a gay couple heavily hints at something more complex. Rather than the joining of boy and girl, in the context of Emma and Alyssa as lesbians, it's much more likely that purple is meant to be escaping the expectation of a heterosexual relationship by showing purple as it's own separate color rather than a fusion of pink and blue by the show's end. But again, more on that later.

*Alyssa is not shown in pink in the most widely known professional stills of the production, at the very least, but it got changed later on in the run.

For now, we're moving ahead in time to the end of act one, where prom takes place, and based on solely the fact that this is only the end of the first act, something is bound to go wrong. And, of course, things go wrong. The PTA has organized a separate "prom" for Emma at the school while holding the actual prom at the Elk's Club, where Alyssa ends up. Once again, this scene is significant costume-wise, but more notably than in You Happened. It's mostly cited as such because it is in this scene at the first prom that Emma wears a dress, which is completely out of line for her character. Often it gets cited as a reference point for her character development throughout the second act of the show since at the end, she shows up to the second, actual prom in a suit. The outfits in this scene are so pivotal that they are a blatant representation of Emma's character development, to the point that this is the scene that inspired this half-essay, half-ramble. If it can be seen as that level of important to showing Emma's character arc throughout the musical, why would it not do the same for Alyssa? And then it hit me: it does. It's rather simply just less obvious because Alyssa's not butch. This is the second scene where Emma and Alyssa are seen wearing blue and pink respectively. The pink is subdued to the point of being nearly white, but it is still pink. And now the separation between the completely different realities of being closeted and being out are juxtaposed in an actual, physical distance between them. There is no purple to even attempt to unite or blend these two different colors, different worlds. Emma is not wearing her bracelet from Alyssa. This on it's own is almost showing how Alyssa isn't able to hold to the promise that she made when giving Emma that bracelet, the promise of coming out. This could be interpreted asforeshadowing the events at the fake before either of the girls step foot in the buildings of their respective proms. But I digress. The important aspect here is that there is nothing that will bring the two of them back together, because they are, at the end of the day, leading entirely separate lives, and this is shown with blue and pink the same way those colors came together during the You Happened scene, proving they cannot live this split reality forever.

A conflict ensues between Emma and Alyssa as a result of this, and purple is not prominent again throughout the narrative of Act 2 until this is able to be resolved, and in the final number of the show, our leading ladies get their prom. It's here that the purple comes out full force. It's known by default that Alyssa's second prom dress is a lavender color. Emma's suit, however, is also purple, but the lighting on stage would have you believe otherwise, so here's a quick photo of the suit in different lighting.

It's smaller than expected, but gets across the point that the suit is purple. The scene where Emma and Alyssa get to be their authentic selves is where purple is the most prominent in the show, implying that the usage of the color in it is directly tied to the authenticity and character development of both Emma and Alyssa by the finale as initially shown by their bracelets in You Happened. It's because of this promise that they will be themselves that they're able to shed the ideas and concepts of cut and dry, pink and blue, heterosexual relationships being the only ones that can flourish in Edgewater, and in doing that, they make a whole new color that can't fit that box--purple.

At the end of the day, this idea is admittedly messy. I broke some of my own evidence trying to find a photo to prove it, and it's so weirdly specific that it probably wasn't intentional, but I do enjoy this way of looking at this show. Everything down to color having a meaning showcases the strange, articulate ways in which art can impact people without much thought, and whether or not it was thought out purposely or not, it adds a new level of depth to the narrative that I enjoy, and I hope I left you thinking, because whether or not I convinced you of this claim is irrelevant if you don't attempt to apply this type of weird, abstract, and ambitious thinking in other circumstances. After all, how else will we be able to make room for more "purple" things in this world? Things that can't fit into a box of 'This or That?'.

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 2x15 “The Queen is Dead” Review

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x11 1x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 2x01 2x02 2x03 2x04 2x05 2x06 2x07 2x08 2x09 2x10 2x11 2x12 2x13 2x14

Well, Cora has certainly had her hands in the pot for a very long time. We find out that she not only killed Snow’s mother, but also orchestrated young Regina saving young Snow (which young Regina had totally called her out on in The Stable Boy and Cora had denied). And Mary Margaret has terrible birthdays. Too many people die on them. And we get confirmation that Neal has been alive for a couple hundred years, and the fact that he knows Hook and how to steer his ship, I think Neal has definitely been in Neverland for awhile. And Neal has a fiance, so thank goodness we’re not going to go down the Neal/Emma train that Gold was so into. Ew!

Summary: Mary Margaret and David rush to find Gold’s dagger before Cora and Regina find it. Hook makes his way to New York and manages to find Gold and stab him with poison. In the Enchanted Forest, Snow’s birthday celebration is marred by her mother’s sudden illness and Snow goes to great lengths to try and save her.

Opening: Library and Clock Tower

New Characters:

The Queen: She’s never given a name in this episode, maybe we’ll find out in the future. She’s a benevolent queen. She doesn’t believe they are any better than anyone else in the kingdom just because they’re royalty. Something she has to teach young Snow, when she becomes a little brat. It’s nice to see where Snow gets her heart from. She has a mother that not only teaches her what is right and wrong behavior, but also doesn’t let Snow get away with acting like most royalty would. The queen tells Snow that when they crown her with the tiara on her birthday, it will represent that she always holds goodness in her heart. They all look in the mirror and the the queen has some sort of attack, but tries to convince Snow that she is fine. She continues to tell Snow she’ll be fine, but then she starts coughing up blood, and Snow knows she won’t be fine. After Snow goes to see the Blue Fairy, she tells her mother she couldn’t save her because she wouldn’t take another life. The queen is visibly relieved to hear that Snow didn’t do something dark. She tells Snow that it wasn’t fear about killing someone else, it was strength. She’s very proud of her. Snow begs her to not to leave, but the queen says she’ll always be with her if there is goodness in her heart. And then she dies. That escalated very quickly, whatever she was poisoned with worked really fast, Leopold couldn’t even get home to see her before she died.

Character Observations:

Snow/Mary Margaret: Basically, we get to see that Snow was a brat at one point, and her mother taught her about goodness and treating people with respect, whether they were royals or servants. Snow is tested when her mother is dying by Cora pretending to be the Blue Fairy. She gives her a candle that would save her mother, but it would require killing someone else in the process. Had Snow not been taught goodness from her mother, she may have just killed a random peasant, but instead, she comes to terms with the fact that her mother’s life is no more important than anyone else's. Snow thinks she couldn’t do it out of fear, but her mother tells her it took strength. And then her mother dies and Snow mourns. The funeral is being held on the day that was supposed to be Snow’s birthday celebration (that sucks, my grandfather was buried on my mom’s birthday (her father) as it was the only day we could get the rabbi, so I get Snow’s feelings on this). Johanna gives her a pep talk about how the kingdom will get their strength from her, and Snow questions where she’ll find her strength now that her mother has died. Johanna lets her know she’ll still get it from her mother. Snow puts on a brave face for the funeral and leads her kingdom for the first time.

Mary Margaret is not having a good day. It’s her birthday and she does not like to celebrate her birthday. David tries to play it off like he had no idea it was her birthday but she’s not buying it. She finds a present that someone left for her. It’s her tiara and it’s from her old servant Johanna. Mary Margaret goes off to find her. She finds her gardening behind her house and they reunite. They bond over their shared grief of missing Mary Margaret’s mother. It’s almost like Snow is at least getting her surrogate mother back. They hear something in the woods, and wouldn’t you know, Cora and Regina just happen to be digging, looking for the dagger and talking about it, right behind Johanna’s house. Mary Margaret overhears them and specifically that Cora will make the Dark One kill anyone Regina likes. Mary Margaret goes to tell David (who she finds knocked because of Hook), and tells him what she overheard. Mary Margaret thinks she can talk to Regina and put some doubt about Cora in her mind. Regina meets Mary Margaret at Granny’s and she thinks Mary Margaret asked her to come to tell her about Henry. Mary Margaret comes straight out and tells her she knows all about Cora and the dagger. Regina tries to say what she does is her business, but Mary Margaret basically tells her that a war is about to happen and she needs to choose the side of good. Regina says she’s always been good; Mary Margaret added the evil part. Mary Margaret tells her what she’s doing isn’t good and questions why she’d go back to being like this after working to change. Regina says it got her nowhere and accused of murder. Regina tells her to stay out of her way. Mary Margaret reminds her that Cora doesn’t care about Henry, just about power, and she doesn’t care about Regina. Regina asks what Mary Margaret would know about mothers. Ugh! Poor Mary Margaret. Her mother died when she was young and then she never got to be a mother to Emma. Mary Margaret, David, and Mother Superior try to use fairy magic to break into Gold’s store, presumably to see if they can find the dagger, but he’s protected it and Mother Superior can’t get in with her magic. Mary Margaret makes reference to using dark magic like before, but Mother Superior has no idea what she’s talking about. Luckily, Emma calls David with the location of the dagger right at that moment. Mary Margaret and David find it attached to one of the hands on the clock tower and they are happy that they can now control the Dark One, but Cora and Regina show up to fight for the dagger. Mary Margaret practically rubs it in Regina’s face that good has won like usual, which, of course, means evil is about to triumph. Because Cora poufs Johanna in and Regina takes her heart. Johanna begs Mary Margaret not to give them what they want, but Mary Margaret can’t bear to have another mother figure die when she can help her. But then Cora says something that makes Mary Margaret realize that Cora was pretending to be the Blue Fairy when she was a girl. Mary Margaret wonders if her mother was actually sick, and Cora says she actually was, but Mary Margaret realizes Cora is the cause for everything. Cora then mocks Mary Margaret about not using the candle, and Mary Margaret wants to know why Cora did all this to her. Simply put, Cora wanted to make Regina queen. It’s nothing against Mary Margaret personally. The look Mary Margaret gives Regina at this point is really interesting. Like, Mary Margaret knows how awful Cora is by reputation, but she’s never realized the extent Cora went to put her daughter on the throne. She actually looks like she feels sorry for Regina at this moment. Cora puts more salt in the wound by saying if she doesn’t give up the dagger she’ll lose another connection to her mother. David tries to convince her that they’ll still win even if Cora has the dagger. Johanna tells Mary Margaret to let her go, but watching Johanna’s reaction when Regina squeezes her heart is too much to bear. Cora is still using her mother against her and it’s getting to be too much for Mary Margaret. She throws the dagger down for Cora and is hysterically crying at this point. Regina puts Johanna’s heart back and as they go to hug Cora throws her out the clock tower. Regina makes a comment about what good gets you before she and Cora pouf away. If I was Mary Margaret I’d probably be catatonic by this point. Too many bad things have befallen her. She is hysterically crying with David trying to figure out how to care for his grief-stricken wife. Mary Margaret and David bury Johanna and Mary Margaret is blaming herself and taking stock of the situation. Following goodness has cost too many lives. She runs through all the times she did the ‘right’ thing and what it cost them in the end. David reminds her that they still have time to get the dagger before Gold gets back to town and carry out justice, but Mary Margaret doesn’t want justice. Mary Margaret says they’re always trying to get others to change, but maybe she needs to change instead. She’s going to kill Cora!

Past Cora/Cora: And speaking of Cora, we all thought she was a real piece of work in previous episodes but she’s really pulling no punches in this one. Like What The Fuck! She purposely poisoned Snow’s mother, posed as the Blue Fairy to get Snow to doubt herself, and caused Snow’s horse to spook, all in hopes of making Regina queen. I’m surprised she didn’t kill off Henry, Sr, to try and marry the king herself. She’s closer to his age than Regina was. Either way, Cora seems to have a personal vendetta against Snow’s mother. This does not seem like a random royal that Cora decided to target to make Regina the eventual queen. Especially with her comment about Snow finding out what it's like to be the miller’s daughter and then saying she’s going to turn Snow’s heart black as coal and ruin the queen’s legacy. That is some pure rage right there.

Cora will do anything to get the Dark One dagger. She may have been playing the doting mother to Regina in the past few episodes, but she’s showing her true colors in this one. She and Regina discover that the location of the dagger is not where the map says it is. Cora says she can find it, it’ll just take a little longer. Cora and Regina manage to find it right when Mary Margaret and David find it in the clock tower. Cora conjures up Johanna as incentive for Mary Margaret to give her the dagger. Cora lets Mary Margaret know that it’s not good or evil that wins, but who has the power. David attempts to shoot Cora, but she magics his gun away (never bring a gun to a witch fight). Cora tells Mary Margaret to surrender the dagger because she’ll follow her mother’s advice at all cost since all she ever wanted was for her to be good. Mary Margaret realizes that’s what she said to the Blue Fairy and that the Blue Fairy was actually Cora. Cora does not deny it. In fact, she revels in this secret finally coming to light. All she wanted was for her daughter to be queen, and she’d do anything to make sure that happened. Cora uses manipulation to eventually get Mary Margaret to give up the dagger (using her mother and Johanna’s connection to her), and then Cora kills Johanna anyway, because she simply doesn’t care about anyone but herself. She and Regina pouf away. At Regina’s office, Regina is upset that Cora never told her what she did to make her queen. I mean, to be fair, young Regina would’ve been horrified to find out what her mother did, and since Regina banished her to Wonderland before the wedding, there was never really a chance for her to find out. Cora just brushes it off. She knows now. Regina also realizes that Cora set up Snow so that Regina would rescue her. Cora wonders what this means to Regina, now that she knows. Regina says it means Cora won, so what does she need the dagger for? Cora says she’s still all about helping Regina get Henry, and that by the time Gold returns, Mary Margaret, David, Emma will be a distant memory (what does that mean?). Cora strokes the dagger lovingly, which does not go unnoticed by Regina.

Regina: She is blindly following her mother which is really bad. I know part of it is that she’s finally feeling like her mother is taking an interest in her and not just using her for her own agenda, but by the end she’s starting to wonder if she’s wrong about that. We start with Regina digging where Hook told them the dagger would be. Regina doesn’t seem to be able to find it and Cora immediately wonders if Regina read the map right. They determine that Hook gave them the wrong location. Regina is frustrated but Cora says she can figure it out given time. Regina goes to meet Mary Margaret and assumes it’s about Henry. It’s not. Mary Margaret comes right out and tells her she knows she’s working with Cora and that they’re looking for the dagger. Regina immediately gets defensive and tells Mary Margaret what she does is her business. Mary Margaret tells her she’s willing to give her another chance to fight for the side of good. Regina is not having this conversation again. She thinks maybe she is good and it’s because of Mary Margaret that she’s known as evil, since she apparently added that to her name. Mary Margaret says the things Regina does are not good. Regina’s pissed because she tried to change, but all it got her was a bunch of people who were certain she couldn’t. She tells Mary Margaret to stay out of her way. Mary Margaret tries once more by telling Regina that listening to Cora is a mistake. Cora doesn’t care about Henry, just power and Regina says that power is how you get things. Mary Margaret says that Cora doesn’t care about Regina and Regina asks her what she knows about mothers. Way harsh, Regina. Cora and Regina show up at the clock tower at the same time Mary Margaret and David find the dagger. Regina follows her mother’s orders, taking Johanna’s heart so Mary Margaret will give up the dagger. When she finds out that Cora poisoned Mary Margaret’s mother and did it all to make her queen, the expression on her face is heartbreaking. You can see that she is struggling to come to terms with what her mother did while still maintaining the facade of being united with her mother. But she is shocked by this new information. The lengths her mother went through to make her queen. She later confronts her about this in her office. Notice how Cora takes the position of power by sitting at the desk. Regina figures out that Cora was also responsible for Snow’s horse spooking, setting her whole future trajectory (remember, she had asked her if she had anything to do with it in The Stable Boy and Cora had denied it). Regina says she won by making her queen, since that was what Cora always wanted for her. So what will having the dagger accomplish, especially since David and Mary Margaret now know they have it and they can’t make Gold kill everyone without blame? Cora basically says to trust her as she strokes the dagger, and Regina’s face definitely conveys that maybe Mary Margaret was right and Cora doesn’t care for her or Henry.

Emma/Neal/Gold: She and Gold are keeping their distance from Henry and Neal, as they are both mad at each of them. Emma is beating herself up over lying to Henry about Neal. Gold is confident that Henry will forgive her. Gold wants Emma to convince Neal to come back to Storybrooke with them. She says she already gave him his favor, but he says she’ll do it for Henry because he’ll want to get to know his father (and so he doesn’t run away to NYC like he did to Boston to find her). Emma says Henry will be happy with Neal until he lets Henry down, and she knows he will. Then he’ll understand that she lied to protect him. Gold compares her to Regina. Um, no. Regina lied to protect herself. She made Henry think he was crazy and insane. That is not what Emma is doing. Emma doesn’t feel like this is what she is doing either. Gold says she lied to protect herself. He says she wants a second chance with Neal, and no, ew, no. Emma cannot have carefully constructed these walls to want to get back with the guy who framed her and put her in jail. I don’t care what his reasoning was. Emma wants to know why Gold would think she’d want to get back together with Neal, and he says it’s the look on her face. Are we seeing the same look? I’m seeing a ‘I wouldn’t let that guy touch me again with a 10 foot pole look’, but apparently Gold is seeing, ‘How did you guess I secretly still desire my ex.’ Henry and Neal come back out with pizza and Emma asks Henry if he likes it, and he says he does, because it doesn’t lie. And poor Emma’s face just falls. Emma subtly talks to Neal about coming back to Storybrooke. Like how was Neal expecting this to work out? Henry has school and a family in Storybrooke. He can’t just stay in New York. Emma thinks from Neal’s apartment that he doesn’t have much going on, but Neal says looks can be deceiving. He tries to tell her something, but gets interrupted by Henry wanting to go on the subway. Neal and Henry go back up to the apartment to get Henry’s camera while Emma and Gold wait down by the buzzers, and Hook decides to attack right at that moment, stabbing Gold with his hook. While Hook villain monologues to Gold, Emma hits him on the head with the trash can. Neal comes down concerned and Emma tells him an old enemy found them. Neal recognizes Hook which surprises Emma. Neal gets Gold up to his apartment while Emma locks Hook up in a storage closet (should I be keeping a tally of how many times Hook has been bested since meeting Emma?). Emma says he had a map on him which means he sailed his ship into NY. She tells Neal it was cloaked when he wonders how he was able to do that. Henry is worried about Gold and goes to ask him if he’s alright (um, no, he just got a hook in the chest), but Gold goes all feral on him and blames him for the whole thing. Is Gold blaming him for coming back for his camera right then, or for bringing them to NYC in the first place? Because Hook would have waited until they got back and attacked him regardless. Neal wants to take Gold to the ER but Gold has figured out there was poison from another realm on Hook’s hook and he needs to get back to Storybrooke because there’s magic there. Neal suggests driving there, but Gold needs to get there fast, so he says they need to take the Jolly Roger. Emma doesn’t know how they’ll do that without a captain, but Neal says he can sail it. Gold realizes what that means, but Emma is still questioning how he knows how to sail a pirate ship. Emma wants to know how Neal knows Hook. Long story short, our world wasn’t his first and he’d be a couple hundred years old if he’d come straight here. Emma is trying to process the information that not only is Henry’s father from the Enchanted Forest, but is also a couple hundred years old. Emma’s phone finally charges back up and she sees texts from Mary Margaret and David. Emma tells Gold that Cora is after his dagger, and he doesn’t want to give up the location, but she emphasizes that they’re family now, so he needs to trust them. Neal and Emma go to get the car that will take them to the ship. Emma is surprised that Neal is doing so much for Gold, but Neal says there’s a difference between running from someone and watching them die.  He still doesn’t think reconciliation is possible. They get to a car and Emma hopes he isn’t going to hotwire it like back in the day, but he says it belongs to a friend. Neal wants to quickly get back to the conversation they were having before (and Emma seems a little nervous about it, like maybe he’s going to talk about getting back together), but now they’re interrupted by the person who owns the car and who is also Neal’s fiance, Tamara. Emma tries to keep a neutral face, but you can see there’s something else going on behind the mask she puts up. I’m hoping it’s relief that Neal won’t try to get back with her. I’ll even be happy with shock that Neal cleaned his life up enough that he found a woman willing to look over his conniving ways. I might be vomiting if it’s sadness that she can’t get back together with Neal.

Questions:

What seems more plausible: Hook lied about the location of the dagger before he knew Cora was going to betray him, or Gold hid it again before he left town because Belle could no longer protect it in her amnesiac state?

Why is Regina digging to find the dagger? Can’t she or Cora just use magic to get it out of the ground (if it had been there)?

Why hasn’t Emma filled in the pieces to Henry about Neal? He already knows she was in jail and that he was born there. Has Henry not figured out that Emma and Neal were separated right before she went to jail? Shouldn’t Emma tell him why she went to jail in the first place? Or is she doing the ‘noble’ thing and letting Henry make his own judgements about Neal?

Why is the queen’s bedroom at the end of a large hallway with no doors? 

How is the cloaking magic on the Jolly Roger still working outside of Storybrooke?

We know that the Blue Fairy was Cora in disguise, but was Cora disguised as Johanna as well? How else would Cora know to pretend to be the Blue Fairy if she hadn’t put the idea in Snow’s head?

What would happen to the Gold’s power if he died of natural causes?

Where did Johanna come from in the scene where the queen dies? There is no one next to Snow and then Johanna is right there in the next scene.

Why did they hold the queen’s funeral before the king came home? Who made the arrangements?

Observations:

The flowers Johanna is planting and that Snow leaves on her mother’s body are snowdrops.

When Johanna calls Mary Margaret, Snow, she tells her she goes by Mary Margaret in Storybrooke.

Snow was born during the harshest winter, hence why she was named Snow.

I know that the fashions in the Enchanted Forest aren’t equivalent to the ones on Earth, but the queen is wearing a dress that is more Dark Ages, and Snow’s big fluffy skirt is more Restoration, which is a good 300-400 years apart.

The queen never makes Snow apologize to Johanna.

Snow was so named because she was born in the harshest winter.

Regina is doing all the digging in the forest, Cora is apparently just supervising.

Henry has gone back to calling Emma by her name instead of mom.

Well, Neal has finally confirmed that he went to another realm first (most likely Neverland), and that he’d be a few hundred years old if he had (you’re still a few hundred years old technically). Which also means that Rumplestiltskin and Hook are a few hundred years old as well.

Regina’s horse is named Rociante which is the name of the horse in the novel Don Quixote.

Timeline Issues:

How did it become winter already? We established in Child of the Moon that it was most likely May (based on when sunset was). Into the Deep and Queen of Hearts both took place a few days after that. The Cricket Game was maybe a week later, so we’re into June now. The Outsider was also maybe a week later with In the Name of the Brother, Tiny, and Manhattan all taking place within a day or two. At the most, we could possibly be in July. But Johanna makes reference to Snow being born in the harshest winter and it’s currently Mary Margaret’s birthday, so unless they’re celebrating Mary Margaret’s cursed birthday, the timing doesn’t make sense (and I don’t think Johanna would know Mary Margaret’s cursed birthday, especially since she didn’t know her cursed name). Also, there is absolutely no snow on the ground and there would definitely be snow in Maine during winter time. According to Google, Maine gets snow regularly between November and February.

So, that was that. Cora has always been a manipulative bitch, she’s just more crafty and cunning than we gave her credit for. Regina is beginning to have doubts because of all the secrets Cora is keeping and because she can see her mother admiring the dagger and it’s power. Mary Margaret is keeping with the tradition of having mother figures die on or around her birthday. And Emma, Neal, Henry, and Gold will soon be on their way back to Storybrooke on the Jolly Roger.

Please leave comments and reblog! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future reviews.

@searchingwardrobes​​​​​ @thisonesatellite​​​​​ @justbecauseyoubelievesomething​​​​​ @laschatzi​​​​​ @profdanglaisstuff​​​​​ @mariakov81​

[humaudrey]

TheThings is back on their bullshit

(WARNING: LONG RANT AHEAD!!!!)

Anyone know how to delete a YouTube video from someone else's channel (or just their entire channel all together) because...

This

Is SO

I don't even have the words!!!!

Once again, your girl watches one of their videos (several times unfortunately to really analyze this ish) so y'all don't have to and let me tell you, this one is 1,000,000x more infuriating than the one when they belittled Uma to lift Mal and make her better in comparison (link to my post on that here).

I've been recommended this video so many times since the trailers for D3 dropped and when I saw the title, I KNEW I was gonna hate it and low and behold, I DID!

So let's go over their "5 Signs on why Audrey is the real threat", shall we?

#1. Audrey's Outburst

So, their first piece of evidence as to why Audrey's the unfathomable dark force (their exact words) is because of the fact that Audrey yelled no as Ben proposed to Mal, "ruining their beautiful moment". They then explain that it would be "natural for Audrey to be jealous since she is Ben's ex-girlfriend", being perfect okay with the ugly "black, bitter, ex-girlfriend" trope that many have loved to stick onto her in their fanfics (I see y'all 👀), and then compares that moment to when Ben asked Mal to be his date for coronation in D1, stating that she didn't react so strongly before, so why now? EXCUSE ME?! Our girl left the Tourney Field crying that her BOYFRIEND had serenaded another girl with a love song, and not a single person ran after her. She had every reason to be upset then, too. Who's to even say why Audrey's saying no? It could be a terrible misdirect on the trailer's part. The theory that Audrey's possessed is swirling around everywhere, maybe it had already begun to take effect, which is why she's "acting so strangely". D3 hasn't even been released and they're already villainizing her. Figures.

They also use the typical argument that Audrey's into titles and she wants what Mal has, and that she didn't want Chad because he was merely a prince.

She doesn't want Chad because CHAD CHARMING IS A MANIPULATIVE TOOL! Ask Evie! Chad only thinks that being king would get Audrey's attention. You wanna talk about jealousy? Titles? If ant character is jealous of anyone's titles, it's Chad freaking Charming, not Audrey.

#2. The Crown

An obvious piece of evidence is the fact that "Audrey" steals the Queen's crown and Maleficent's scepter from the museum. Whatever, right? They assume that Audrey's faking her slumber when the sleeping spell hits, giving her an alibi. They then have the FREAKING AUDACITY to say that AUDREY, a non magical princess, who has been so anti-magic since D1 (with a grandmother who she loves dearly, that's triggered by the mention of said spells and curses), was the cause of the curse. Their evidence? Well, her family's VERY familiar with it, so it makes sense, right?

NO!!!!

Audrey has NO magic whatsoever!!! Did they forget that? The only reason her family is "so familiar" with the sleeping spell is because THEY ARE VICTIMS OF SAID SLEEPING SPELL!!!! And it's not like she could cast it, because, again, AUDREY HAS NO MAGIC!! If anyone is familiar with a sleeping spell, it's Mal. After all, she almost put Evie under just so she could grab her mother's specter from her.

How dare you take an Innocent family's trauma and turn it around to make them the bad guys?

#3. The Scepter

They continue to say that "Audrey" is to blame for the sleeping spell, rather than Celia, Hades, or Uma because "Audrey" has the specter. And immediately, they suggest that maybe Audrey's not working only. You wanna bet who they hinted Audrey was cooperating with?

If you guessed Uma, you'd be correct. All because Uma's seen laughing in her teaser. WHAT?! So, not only do you attempt to take Audrey's entire character and drag it through the mud, you take ANOTHER black girl's name that you've already tried to ruin and tarnish and say they're working together because they're BITTER?

If they're BITTER, it's ONLY BECAUSE YOUR WHITE, PLAIN, BARNEY COLORED DRAGON FAIRY PRIVILEGED PRINCESS PROSPECT FAVE had treated them HORRIBLY.

They end their third sign with the line "We knew Audrey was a mean girl, but we didn't think she'd stoop so low".

The meanest thing Audrey has ever done INTENTIONALLY, was 1.) Tell Evie that she and her family don't have a royal status in Auradon (to which, she is technically correct) and 2.) Tell Mal that she and Ben wouldn't last because she's "the bad girl infatuation".

Jane should be branded the mean girl because she turns on the one girl that helped her with her rise to popularity (which, granted, was for malicious INTENTIONS and caused EVEN MORE self esteem issues by degrading her).

MAL should be branded the mean girl, if anyone! She's:

Dumped rotten shrimp on her former best friend because she laughed at her

Forced a guy to throw a party since his mother was away, knowing that his abusive mother wouldn't be okay with it

Then locked a girl in a closet full of BEAR TRAPS at said party all because she wasn't invited to her birthday party when they were SIX YEARS OLD

Dumped lye on another former best friend's hair because she DIDN'T WANT TO BE COMPARED TO HER

Told another girl that all she had going for her was her personality, so she needed the wand to make herself pretty

ROOFIED HER SOON TO BE BOYFRIEND INTO DATING HER IN THE FIRST PLACE JUST TO GET A FRONT ROW SEAT AT HIS CORONATION SO SHE COULD STEAL THE WAND

AND TAKES SAID WAND FROM THE GIRL SHE EMOTIONALLY MANIPULATED EARLIER AND POINTS IT DIRECTLY AT AUDREY ALL BECAUSE SHE KNEW THAT MAL WASN'T GOOD FROM THE JUMP

Let's see a video ranking Mal's top five worst moments, huh? There's plenty of those to use for a freaking video.

#4. It's All About Mal (sounds like D3)

They start this point off with: "Audrey has beef with Mal".

AS SHE SHOULD!

They use the fact that Mal stole her boyfriend and her title and their families history with one another, so Audrey has this motivation to ACT OUT AGAINST HER ENTIRE COUNTRY? Not buying it! I won't buy it, especially since both parties seemed to have made amends at the end of D1 when Mal silently curtsies as a lame form of an apology that Audrey gracefully accepts anyway like the future Queen of Auroria would. Audrey's even seen bowing willingly at the end of Set It Off, and is even cheering and dancing with her friends as Mal and Ben share their moment under the fireworks, so clearly, Audrey's not broken up about it in the slightest.

They propose a theory that Audrey's absence in D2 is because she's planning her revenge in Sherwood Forest, and that she doesn't have car troubles because "Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather should be more than capable of handling it, so she's only calling Chad to help her plot her scheme.

Whatever they're smoking, I want it.

Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather can't help Audrey with her car troubles because of the MAGIC BAN!! They needed Chad to help with her car.

And I HIGHLY DOUBT that Disney would plan something so carefully since the entire series is branded with plot holes and inconsistencies anyway, so... 🐸☕

#5. Face Off Time

Their final point states that Mal has to face off against the enemy and they use the first teaser of dragon-Mal blowing fire at "Audrey" on top of the castle, and the card at the end that says "betrayal", that Audrey has betrayed all of Auradon. And since Mal only turns into a dragon against SERIOUS ENEMIES LIKE UMA IN D2, Audrey has to be a REAL THREAT.

Thank God they're probably not making a D4, because if they continue this trend of WOC wronged by Mal as the villain, I'd be scared for Evie...

So, in their words, Audrey and Uma, two of the few black girls in the entire franchise who have every God given right not to like/trust Mal, are Mal's MOST SERIOUS rivals, as if Hades doesn't at ALL pose a threat to Auradon. No, Audrey is So mUcH MOre THreATEninG thAN ThE GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD, SO SHE MUST BE STOPPED!!!

I see you, TheThings, and if I didn't despise your channel before, I hate it that much more now after enduring 5 minutes of hell with you guys.

AND, TO TOP IT ALL OFF THEY CLEARLY SHOW THEIR BIAS OF MAL OVER AUDREY!!

Like, just say you're racist and GO! Audrey's clearly influenced by some magical being, whether it be Hades (WHO WE SEE DOING SOME KIND OF MAGICAL RITUAL WITH HER AND HIS EMBER IN A TRAILER, BUT I GUESS THEY CHOSE TO IGNORE IT FOR SOME REASON 🐸☕), Dr. Facilier, Celia, or maybe even Maleficent. Your reasons for making Audrey the villain are pathetic, and I wish I could block a YouTube Channel so I would NEVER see another video from your channel ever again.

I'm so sick of how "mean" brown girls are treated in media AND fandoms. Why does Audrey get all of his libel while Mal gets away with EVERYTHING? Why are the Cheryl Blossoms, the Quinn Fabrays, the Kitty Wildes, and every other mean girl that Emma Roberts has ever played are so praised and are instant fan favorites while the Josie McCoys, the Santana Lopezes, and the Brees are seen as the bullies when, at the end of the day, they're both different sides of the same damn coin?

And if you don't see a problem with this, then, newsflash, you are the problem!

So, I end my rant with this:

And a short tag list containing: @amityravenclawelf and @coco-rena because I know these two are looking forward to this!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

And I apologize for the typos but I was HEATED!!

[spamzineglasgow]

(REVIEW) Miscellaneous by Julia Rose Lewis

In this review, Maria Sledmere visits the verdant isle of Julia Rose Lewis’ pamphlet Miscellaneous (Sampson Low, 2019), and engages chaotically with its shape-shifting poetics of ecstasy, digression and slippery things.

> Miscellaneous: of various kinds; elements of different kinds. A little green book full of miscellany. The work of Julia Rose Lewis has been dealing in miscellany (let me say it as much I can, it’s a lovely word) for a while now. Lewis’ collection Phenomenology of the Feral (Knives Forks and Spoons Press 2017) was a veritable assemblage of household objects, clothing items, all things edible (from oranges to gummy bears), tools, chemicals and other substances. Words had a Steinian tendency to slip, where a ‘pear’ becomes ‘peer’ and sugar becomes sand. The whole book teems with a delicious excess of things and their zoomed-in, jostling, merging and almost psychedelic relation (I mean just consider the multicoloured octopus-bunny hybrids on the cover). Her recent pamphlet, Miscellaneous (2019), a slender offering from chapbook series Sampson Low, edited by fellow dealer in poetic animalia, SJ Fowler, continues this playful approach to disordering objects, experience and relation.

> Explicitly ‘inspired’ by Green Eggs and Ham, a classic children’s book by Dr. Seuss, Miscellaneous works with its foodstuffs in a fractal and kind of ecstatic way. Ecstasy meaning rapture or transport; Miscellaneous as a little island of strong emotion. I want to say island, but I could just as easily say green tomato. It’s difficult to resist the seduction of island metaphors during quarantine, and besides, Lewis herself spent time as a child in Nantucket Island. According to the publisher, Miscellaneous ‘asks if it is possible to have a mutually healthy relationship between a human and an island’. In an interview from 2016 with Katy Lewis Hood, Lewis says, ‘I use writing about the place I’m longing for as an antidote; I see islands as stories and stories as islands’. Staying with that chiasmus, might we see Miscellaneous itself as a kind of place? The scales upended sufficient to slip into our pocket, a zoomy island remainder? A dinky little 12-page island you could circle on foot and do it again and again — for this is a book that loves repetition, a veritable jaunt on the anaphora express, a 5-7 syllabic ride on the waves. But it’s difficult to know what constitutes the very land you walk or ride on:

A mane! A terrain! A mane is a terrain through and through and should you be guarding the herd inside the river valley? You hold this territory? Not harnessed! Not in a horse-less carriage!

Lewis plays deliciously with the fact of metaphor as a transport, a vehicle, while thrashing around in the joy of assonance and sound as forces of meaning and meaning’s disruption. What’s more, the repeated invocation of the ‘you’ means I’m forever hailed back to the scene; I can’t leave the island utterly behind, can’t glide drone-like over its landscapes. Besides, maybe it’s more like an archipelago? Terrain is a region of land, a system of rocks or geological formations, a standing-ground or position. Lewis teases us with the ever resolving, dissolving, negating terrains of lyric. Those exclamation marks are surely provocations to the reader, as much as the swept up proclamation of revelling in words themselves (thinking of the upward-looking heart emoji, reacting to a message). Her ‘I’ (perhaps riffing off the O’Haran tradition of I do this I do that poems, via Colin Herd’s I like this I like that variation) is quite demanding, precise, has an eye for arrangement (‘The musk ox is not in the / ocean’), identification, variation, placement (‘They disappear’). As with the effect of haiku (a kind of ‘cut’ of images), she challenges ‘nature’/object relations by similarity and contrast:

I would not like that morose woman faraway, that maiden hair tree. I am that old ginkgo tree.

What is the connection between the morose woman and the maiden hair? Does the fact of the speaker being the ‘old ginkgo’ explain her conditional dislike of the woman? And is the maiden hair tree the same as the woman? With its short, invitational lyrics, Miscellaneous gives you time to wander around the ideas of things, ideas in things. Maybe it’s telling the story of an island which is really a metaphor for Earth: its ‘holding pattern[s]’, its ‘there or anywhere’, its snowy territories, its ‘dry grasses / and mosses’ (v. Eliotic, ‘The Dry Salvages’ of Four Quartets?), its ‘skyhook’, its ‘living fossil leaf’ with ‘many millions of years’ inside it. Crudely speaking, ecopoetry often tries so hard to seem either objective (ecomimesis) or explicitly subjective (Romantic); the speaker of these poems insists on a kind of declarative, shape-shifting reality, whose run-on code requires the user command of something more than human. ‘You hold all the weeks / would you tote the boulders here?’ The labour of bringing the world to life in poetry is more than just reading; you have to really consider toting the boulders of words around. There’s a weird hospitality to this, a gesture of extending the voice: ‘So I / say try the bloom of mold!’. Maybe as a reader I’d speak better the world with the mold in my throat. It’s these kinds of special conditions Miscellaneous gets at so well. What the chapbook gives is a portable miscellany, a set of questions, a dicey and moreish feast of seeing the world anew — at all scales and dwellings, from a ‘ptarmigan nest’ to the air itself. Better eat up.

> Lewis’ smart and choppy lines remind me of the best chefs at the restaurant where I used to work, who would dice veg or make meat cuts with a certain deftness, all the while engaging in dishevelled conversation. I would ask, from which precise bay are the oysters sourced, and the chef would lecture me on the valiance of a 2Pac album. We would swerve from one topic to another by the time of the bell: language defined by the beat and demand of cooking. It was good to feel enslaved to the temporality of the microwave, the rising of bread, the petulant delay on the part of a chicken. And you might say, O maria what does this have to do with Julia Rose Lewis’ new book? And I would say, well, it’s all about iteration, digression, perversion of recipe. The poetic line as the flick of sweaty chef hair, the child’s demanding inquisition, the special way of dodging the question. But don’t let me fill you up with nonsense.

> There’s this weird piece in The Guardian that totally disses Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham, which I’ll admit I haven’t read this side of puberty. The author, Emma Brockes, is pretty damning: ‘two-thirds of the words feel like filler’, ‘the rhyme scheme [...] is like something a kid would throw at a homework assignment so he could finish and run out to play’, ‘[Seuss’] books are creepy, empty, over-long, cheap, twee writing posing as whimsy’. Maybe I don’t have a striped ankle to stand on here, but I can’t help but think Brocke is missing a point somewhere. What’s wrong with poetry that wants to fly through itself quickly, all the better for the writer to go out and play? I’m thinking of something Jack Spicer writes in one of his letters to Lorca, describing how there are times in a poet’s life where ‘the objects change’ when ‘someone intrudes into the poet’s life’ so a certain balance is lost. ‘The seagulls, the greenness of the ocean, the fish—they become things to be traded for a smile or the sound of conversation—counters rather than objects’. You sort of get the feeling Brocke got tired of this (too many counters, too much supposed impeachable brilliance) and upended the board, sending everything scattering to miscellany. Maybe that was the appropriate reaction. I’d like my poetry to have that effect sometimes. And then I’d quite like to run out and play, or fall in love (if we were not in lockdown), or otherwise just write you a blowsy prosy letter.

> There’s this idea of Green Eggs and Ham as a childhood exercise in epistemological questioning. Asking you to think about how experience establishes beliefs about the world. Miscellaneous quite obviously trades in the empirical possibilities of knowing, experimenting in what happens when certain patterns or conditions are put into play (it’s worth noting that Julia Rose Lewis is also a scientist by training). I think of a child stuffing sand in its mouth, learning about size, scale, texture, taste. A child that learns a tomato is good when ripe and sweet. I also think of judging when I might cross the road, or a chemist inching just a *wee* bit more of X in the formula (is that how it works? is it like choosing to add another comma to a poem - what exactly is the risk of explosion?). Every day of our lives we are hedging, testing. ‘If you will then I will try / rain on rain on rain’; how I learn from you, a fashionable imitation in the wearable weather/whether. Things pile up, acquire elemental charge; the poems are teasingly object-oriented; the ‘I’ is an iterative effect of desires, repulsions and relations. Substances effect themselves into life and I think of Francis Ponge and the orange. Expression is something to be ‘endured’. How does an object hold itself in a poem, without being overly squeezed into miscellany, matter? Lewis uses the singsong effects of poetry (repetition, rhyme), to play with causality and intention. In the final poem, for example, is the ‘gold’ ‘old’ and what temporality is ‘golden’; is it the ‘spring /green’ or the speaker who is ‘cold’?

> Miscellaneous in general describes a kind of extra or supplementary category, that which escapes the normative set. Perhaps there is then a case for this being a kind of queer object-oriented poetics. Things are slippery and hungry and irresistibly insistent. They become the book itself, the little object in your hand, tomato green as ‘the spring / green tomatoes in sea salt’, sprinkled with salty little words. This is a case for frivolity and filler and whimsy in poetry, for appetite and affect, salty wit, the necessity of dancing around sentiment, excess, sweetness and swerve. ‘I will eat the spring / fruit upside down’; the fruit of the book you peel again.

Miscellaneous is out now and available from Sampson Low.

~

Text and image: Maria Sledmere

Published: 12/6/20

[wistfulcynic]

Another Brick in the Wall, Chapter 13

a/n: Prom time! Please read the note at the end (and thanks for reading full stop! This is the penultimate chapter :)

Summary: Emma Swan, sheriff’s daughter, mayor’s niece, quarterback’s girlfriend, is the undisputed princess of Storybrooke High. She is smart and confident and used to getting what she wants. What she wants is Killian Jones, the new boy in school. But Killian is not easily manipulated, and reluctant to allow the dark secrets in his past to touch the girl he is rapidly falling in love with. Rating: T Read it on AO3: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13

Tags for: @darkcolinodonorgasm @jennjenn615 @hollyethecurious @resident-of-storybrooke @kmomof4 @bonbonpirate

Chapter 13: 

On the day of the prom Emma’s butterflies, which had largely gone into hibernation over the past few weeks as her relationship with Killian had steadied and solidified, were back in full force. It was incredible how much her life had changed in the past year, she reflected. She’d had no butterflies at all before last year’s prom. It had been just another party, another fun time with her friends. She hadn’t even technically gone with a date, instead she, Ruby, Victor, Neal, and several of their other friends had all gone together in a group. Neal had used every dance as an excuse to grope her, then at the end of the night he’d pulled her into a quiet corner on a lame pretext and tried to get her to have sex with him. 

“No, Neal, I’ve told you before I don’t want to!”

“Come on, Emma, it’s the fucking prom!”

“Please don’t use that word.”

“God, you’re such a prude. It’s the freaking prom, everyone does it!” 

“I’m not everyone!”

“Well, that’s for sure. You’d have put out by now if you were.” 

The night had ended with her crying quiet tears alone in her room, wondering if there really was something wrong with her for not wanting to have sex as everyone else seemed to be doing, as Ruby and Victor were, and most of the other cheerleaders. But even though she’d been calling Neal her boyfriend for most of a year, she’d had no desire for him to touch her that way. 

Of course with Killian everything was different. Emma sometimes felt that “it’s different with Killian” had become her own personal mantra. For one thing, he didn’t have to make lame excuses to get her alone, and for another she was absolutely certain that she wanted to sleep with him. It might not be that night —he still had reservations, bad associations from his past that still crept up on him sometimes and made him hesitant to push things too fast with her— but that didn’t matter. Tonight, next year, ten years from now, she wanted him to be her first —her only— and she would wait as long as he needed. Another personal mantra. 

She and Killian had permission from her parents and Liam to stay overnight on the Jones’s boat. Whether they had sex or not they would be spending the whole night together, hours and hours alone with just each other, in complete privacy. Emma had never been more excited for anything in her life. Hence the triumphant return of the butterflies. 

Emma smoothed her dress and checked her reflection for the hundredth time, wondering if it had been a mistake to let her mother talk her into doing her hair up like this, curled and twisted and hairsprayed to within an inch of its life. She felt more comfortable with her hair down. 

“You wear it down most of the time,” Snow had pointed out when they’d discussed the matter several weeks before. “Killian’s seen it down. You want to wow him, don’t you?”

“I’m pretty sure he’ll be wowed no matter what her hair looks like,” David had piped up, an oddly disgruntled sort of pride in his voice. Despite how fond he was of Killian —and he was inches away from calling him the son he’d never had— it was hard for him to see Emma with another man in her life. She went to Killian first now, with her thoughts and fears and dreams, things she’d once brought only to him. It was right that she did so, David knew, and he couldn’t be happier that she’d found someone who so clearly adored her as she deserved, but it still made him sad. Killian was her top priority now, and he knew that some time down the road there would be children, grandbabies for him to treasure and spoil and love every second of doing it, but he would never come first in his daughter’s life again and if he was perfectly, shamefully truthful he resented that a bit. 

“Of course he will be, but he’ll be even more wowed by something different,” Snow had insisted, and eventually Emma had caved. Sometimes her mother was a force of nature and the path of wisdom was simply to go along with it. 

But it was too late to make any changes now, her hair was done, her dress and shoes were on, and Killian would be arriving any moment. The butterflies began to do gymnastics, a new departure for them, and Emma took a deep breath and smoothed her skirt yet again. Snow came to stand behind her, placing her hands on Emma’s shoulders as their eyes met in her mirror. Her expression was soft and understanding. “You look beautiful, Emma,” she said, tears shimmering in her eyes. 

“Mom,” wailed Emma, “don’t you dare cry! If you cry I’ll cry and we’ll have to redo my makeup and there’s no time for that!”  

At that auspicious moment the doorbell rang and Emma caught her breath. She stood and made a move towards the door but her mother stopped her, clutching her arm. 

“Let your father answer it. He wants to do his stern dad thing, and you need to make an entrance.” 

“What’s his ‘stern dad thing’?”

“Oh, you know, glaring threateningly, asking about Killian’s intentions towards you, that sort of thing. Stern dad stuff.” 

"Okay, what? That’s ridiculous, and anyway Killian’s never going to buy it, he knows Dad loves him.” 

“Well, give your father a chance to try, at least. We’ll wait five minutes then go down. Now stop fidgeting with your hair, sweetie. It looks perfect.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

David opened the door and fixed Killian with his very finest Sheriff glare. He intended to make the boy writhe, future father of his grandchildren or no.  

Killian simply grinned. 

“Bit late for that, isn’t it?” he asked. “If you wanted to intimidate me away from your daughter you really should have done it months ago.” 

David’s expression darkened. “I’m making up for lost time.” 

“Well would you mind making up for it inside?” queried Killian, giving him a look of perfect, angelic innocence. “There’s an unseasonably crisp breeze out here this evening. Perhaps I might sit anxiously on the sofa whilst you stand over me menacingly with your hand resting on your holster. Which I can’t help noticing that you’re wearing even though you’re off duty.”

David’s lips twitched, but he fought back the smile. “You won’t be sitting anywhere until we’ve discussed your intentions towards my daughter.” 

“Another thing you should really have established before she fell for me,” smirked Killian. David kept his face implacable. Killian sighed. 

“Sheriff Swan, I have come here this evening to escort the princess to a ball,” he announced with a flourish of his hand. “My intentions are almost entirely honourable. May I be granted leave to enter, before I freeze my bollocks off out here?”

David chuckled, and opened the door wider to allow him in. It wasn’t until he’d closed it again and followed Killian into the living room that he realised. 

“Wait, what do you mean almost entirely?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emma had to concede that her mom had been right about making an entrance. The five minutes Snow made her wait in her room had felt like an eternity, but the awestruck look on Killian’s face when she finally came downstairs was entirely worth it. 

“You are stunning, Emma,” he breathed. 

She flushed pink with pleasure, but managed a small smirk. “I know,” she said, and he grinned approvingly at her cheek. “You’re not so bad yourself,” she added. He was wearing the same charcoal grey suit he’d worn at Christmas, only this time with a dark blue shirt, an embroidered waistcoat, and no tie. 

“Absolutely not,” he’d declared, over the protests of both Liam and Belle. “There’s no rule that says I have to wear one, and I’d rather not suffocate to death at the age of seventeen, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“At least do up your buttons,” Liam had implored him. “You’ve got chest hair showing.” 

“And what’s wrong with that?” The hair had started growing around the time his voice had deepened, and Killian made no secret of the fact that he was delighted by it. 

Emma made no secret of that fact either, letting her gaze linger a bit too long on his open collar, while his lingered on the neck and shoulders left bare by the narrow straps of her dress and her pinned-up hair. David cleared his throat pointedly, still a bit put out over “almost entirely honourable” then Snow stepped in with her camera to relieve the tension by annoying everyone, making Emma and Killian stand in half a dozen different poses and moving them around the room in an attempt to find the best light. 

Finally they were on their way, out the door and headed to Liam’s car, which Killian, armed with his brand new shiny license, would be driving. 

Or at least Emma had thought that was the plan. 

“Do you want me to drive?” she asked innocently when he moved automatically to the right-hand door, grinning when his ears turned pink. 

“Right,” he said. “I’m just going to play this like I was being a gentleman and opening your door for you, and not like I’ve been in this country nearly a year and still can’t remember which side of the bloody car is which.” He opened the door with a flourish and held out his hand to her. “Milady.”

Secretly delighted, Emma took his hand and allowed him to help her into the car, smoothing her skirt over her legs as he shut the door behind her and moved to the driver’s side. 

He smiled at her. “Ready, Swan?”

She smiled back as the butterflies soared and dipped in a graceful pas-de-deux. “Let’s go,” she said. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emma loved many, many things about Killian. His humour and intelligence, his quick snark, his deep passions and the vulnerability that he showed only to her. But one thing she had never anticipated loving in him was his ability to dance. 

“How did you learn how to do this?” she laughed, as he twirled and dipped her around the floor of the school gym, which had been decorated beyond recognition by Aurora and the rest of the prom committee. Emma had to admit she’d done a good job. 

“My mum,” replied Killian, spinning her back into his arms. The warmth of his hand at her waist made her shiver. “She loved to dance, but once my father started drinking he wouldn’t take her out anymore. So she taught Liam. They used to waltz around the living room, bumping into all the furniture but always laughing.” He grinned at the memory. “She laughed a lot, my mum. I was too young to learn as my brother did, but I do remember standing on her feet as she showed me the steps. After she died, Liam made certain I learned how to dance properly. I think— I think he wanted to keep a part of her alive.” 

“I’m so sorry you lost her, Killian.” 

“Yeah.” He was still smiling but his eyes were sad. “I never really knew her, that’s the thought I always come back to. I wish I’d had a chance to know her.” 

“I’m sure she loved you.” 

“She did. That I do remember. She used to sing me lullabies when my father came home drunk and angry and I was scared. She would hold me on her lap and sing until I fell asleep. That’s my earliest memory, her singing.” 

“That’s why you like to sing.” 

“It’s one of the reasons.” 

The music changed to something soft and slow, and they spun gracefully through the crowd around them. Emma was aware that they were attracting attention —ballroom dancing was not exactly commonplace at high school proms— but she didn’t care. She put her head on Killian’s shoulder and his hand slid to her lower back, holding her close. She felt him rest his cheek against the side of her head as his steps slowed until they were simply swaying, their bodies pressed tightly together. They stayed that way through several song changes, until Killian felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up to see Aurora’s mother, who was chaperoning the dance, looking at him indulgently. 

“I’ve looked the other way for as long as I reasonably can I’m afraid, Killian,” she said. “And now I’m going to need you to at least pretend to respect the rules. Space between you at all times.” 

“What?” said Emma, suddenly taking notice of what was going on, blinking as though coming out of a dream. 

Rose smiled. “Maybe you two should take a break from dancing,” she said. “Sit down for a while, get something to drink.” 

“Right,” said Killian, taking Emma’s hand. She had a point; a little amused attention for waltzing to Taylor Swift was one thing, but they didn’t need to be making a such a spectacle of themselves that even the chaperones were taking notice. “Let’s go, love, I see Ruby and Mulan over in the corner there.” He pulled Emma towards the small table where their friends were sitting, holding hands, with their heads close together. 

Ruby and Victor had broken up just after the New Year, at which point Ruby had made friends with the new exchange student from China. Or at least, everyone had thought they were friends, right up until they appeared at the prom together, arm in arm, Ruby in a formfitting red dress and Mulan in traditional Chinese men’s formal wear. 

Killian sat down and began chatting to Mulan in Mandarin, a language he’d convinced her to teach him in exchange for help with her English, and in which he was apparently now at least conversational, after all of four months. Emma watched him for a minute then shook her head. He was just ridiculously smart. 

“So,” she said, turning to Ruby, motioning between her friend and Mulan. “Is this for real? It’s not just a stunt?” 

“You mean am I really into girls?” asked Ruby, raising an eyebrow.

“That is what I mean.” 

“Yeah. I am. And boys. And, you know, really not into labels.” Ruby’s voice was forceful. 

“Fair enough,” said Emma, then paused for a minute, thinking. “You could have told me, you know,” she said finally. 

“I know.” Ruby didn’t meet her eyes. 

“I mean, I tell you everything.” 

Ruby dropped her head into her hands. 

“I basically talked your ear off about Killian.” 

“Ahhh! I know, Ems!” cried Ruby. “I didn’t tell anyone! I just— I mean, I always knew, I just hadn’t met anyone worth making it a thing for, so I just didn’t say anything. Mulan is worth making it a thing.” 

Emma threw her arms around her friend and gave her a fierce hug. “I’m happy for you, Rubes,” she said. 

Ruby hugged her back just as fiercely. “You’re my favourite girl,” she said. “Just, you know, not in a sexful way.” 

“I appreciate that,” laughed Emma.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the dance ended Emma and Killian drove out to the docks in silence. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, but it was a nervous one, full of anxious anticipation. Killian pulled into the harbourmaster’s parking spot and retrieved their overnight bags from the trunk before offering Emma his arm. She slipped her hand into his and leaned against his shoulder as they boarded the boat.

As soon as they were on board, Emma released Killian to kick off her shoes, then climbed barefoot down the ladder into the small living space beneath. She dropped the shoes on the floor as Killian followed her, then began to pull the pins from her hair. “I hate having my hair up,” she said with a small shrug when she noticed him watching her. “It’s heavy, and the pins dig into my scalp.” 

“It’s beautiful up,” he said. “But it’s beautiful no matter what you do to it. Here, love, let me.” Gently he pulled the pins from her hair and untwisted the locks as they fell from the intricate updo. When all had been removed he combed his fingers through it, loosening the curls and massaging the aches from her scalp. She sighed in bliss and let her hands slide under his jacket to flex against his waist as his cupped her face and he leaned down to kiss her. 

Emma had learned a great deal about kissing in the months that she and Killian had been together, about what she liked and what he liked and just how far they could take things before the intensity became too much to bear. This newfound skill and confidence plus the excitement of the evening and the reckless thrill of being truly alone with him for the first time soon had her taking the kiss from sweet and loving to blistering hot, leaving them panting and aching when they broke apart, hovering on the cusp of a monumental decision. 

Killian leaned his forehead against hers, his hand still curved around her cheek, fingers in her hair. “Emma,” he breathed, opening his eyes to watch her expression closely. “We should talk about this.” 

“I know,” she replied. 

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to have sex with you,” she declared, surprising a laugh from him with her bluntness. She blushed. “But only if that’s truly what you want too.”

“It is.”

“Are you sure, Killian? I don’t want to pressure you, it’s fine if we don’t—”

“I’m sure. I love you and I trust you, and I don’t want to live at the mercy of my memories anymore.” He stroked her cheek and the look in his eyes set her butterflies on fire. “And I promise you,” he whispered, “that right in this moment, Emma, there is no one else in my head. Only you.”

Swamped with love, Emma stood on her toes and kissed him, holding him tightly as her heart tried to beat right out of her chest. Tonight marked a big step for both of them, but they loved each other and she knew that they were ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night Killian lay in bed playing with a lock of Emma’s hair as she slept curled up against him. Physically he was tired, sated and sore in a very satisfying way, but his mind and heart refused to let him sleep. He felt happier than he could ever recall being, happier than he could even have imagined just a year earlier, and he knew that the reason for that happiness was currently snoring softly against his chest. Of course other factors had contributed: he had worked hard on his mental health with invaluable assistance from Dr Hopper; focused on his studies and interests with Liam’s support; and once he’d allowed himself to adjust to American life, he’d come to feel surprisingly comfortable and at home in Storybrooke. But Emma had been the catalyst, the reason and motivation for his desire to be the best version of himself. 

It was an odd thing, thought Killian. He hadn’t thought of Milah at all that night, even as he’d made use of everything she’d taught him to ensure that Emma’s first experience with sex was a good one. It was nice to think that there was something positive that he could take from that whole ordeal, and when he thought back on it maybe he could remember that he had genuinely cared about her and had enjoyed many things about the time he’d spent with her, that it hadn’t been all stress and trauma and heartache. Dr Hopper said that he needed to forgive Milah and forgive himself, and Killian thought he may finally be ready to do that. Because of Emma. 

His love for her was almost overwhelming, terrifying in its intensity. Sheriff Swan, in another heart-to-heart they’d shared a few weeks prior, had assured him that it wouldn’t always be like that. As time passed and his relationship with Emma matured he would adjust to his feelings and learn to manage them. 

It doesn’t mean you’ll love her any less, David had said. Just that you won’t feel like it’s burning you up all the time. It’ll be more comfortable. For her too. 

He wondered if it was weird that he was starting to think of his girlfriend’s dad as a surrogate father. 

Emma shifted in his arms, snuggling closer and burrowing her nose into his chest. He tightened his arms around her, pressing his cheek onto the top of her head. He may one day grow comfortable with his love, thought Killian, but it would never lessen, never fade. Objectively he knew it was illogical to feel so sure of this. He was only seventeen, he could easily live another sixty, seventy, even eighty years. There was no way he could be certain of what the future held or how things might change for him and Emma, no way he could be certain that he would always love her. 

And yet he was. He and Emma were forever. He knew they were, the way he knew the sun would rise the next morning. It was simply a fact, one that would determine the course of the rest of his life. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Emma awoke the sun was streaming through the small porthole above the bed. Killian was asleep next to her, his hair in chaos and with a slight shadow along his jaw. He was going to be hairy in a few years, she thought fondly. She was looking forward to it. 

This was what she wanted to wake up to every morning for the rest of her life, Emma knew. Sunshine, Killian’s beautiful face, even the twinges in her muscles and the soreness  between her legs. If it meant they had done that the night before, she wanted stretches and extra-hot showers to be part of her morning routine. It had been glorious, everything she hadn’t dared to hope for. She knew, even in her inexperience, that Killian had taken special pains to make it so good for her. Every day, with everything he did, she loved him more. She wondered if that would ever stop. Was there an upper limit on one person’s capacity to love another? 

She was willing to spend her life finding out. 

Killian stirred and blinked, smiling as his eyes fell on her. “Good morning, my love,” he said. His voice was rough with sleep and that possessive pronoun killed her. 

“Morning,” she replied. “How are you feeling?”

“Wonderful.” He curled his arm around her waist and pulled her close, giving her a soft kiss that she returned eagerly. “And starving.” 

“Me too. I don’t want to leave here though.” 

“We don’t have to. No one’s expecting us for hours yet, and the galley has a gas stove and is fully stocked with breakfast foods.”

“Wow, someone thought ahead,” she teased.

“Indeed, and while I’d love to score some boyfriend points by claiming it was me, I have to confess that Liam is the culprit. He said if he saw my face before noon today I would no longer be his brother, and also some things on the subject of keeping my strength up that I’d prefer not to repeat verbatim.”

Emma flushed a little at the idea of Liam knowing what they’d been up to the night before, but then she supposed that their spending the night on the boat together was not exactly being subtle. Her parents would know too, and yeah, she was definitely not going to think about that. 

“Is there pancake mix?” she asked.  

“I think so. And bacon. God, I need bacon.” 

She’d been wrong earlier, Emma thought. Sunshine, Killian’s face, sore muscles, and pancakes with a side of bacon. That was what she wanted to wake up to. Every day. For the rest of her life. 

Notes: I debated long and hard about how to handle the issue of Emma and Killian having sex. Obviously it's something that's going to happen eventually, and I wanted to address it, especially given Killian's past. But I also wanted to keep this fic rated T, as several people had mentioned to me that they weren't comfortable with smut written about teenagers, a point of view I completely understand and respect. Eventually I decided that them sleeping together on prom night made narrative sense, even if it's a bit of a cliché, and I tried to write it in a T way. I failed. So the solution I eventually went with is this: No smut of any kind in the fic, but the scene I wrote (which actually turned out quite sweet and not excessively smutty, though it is descriptive) I've posted separately on Tumblr. You can find it here. If you choose to read it, please let me know what you think, specifically whether it's too much for teenagers and if you think it's suitable for inclusion in the fic or not. Thank you!

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 4x11 Doomed

aka stop trying to make the apocalypse happen it’s not going to happen

Welcome to this dailyish text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And today’s episode is weird and plot-heavy, but I also don’t hate Riley in it, so we’re going somewhere I guess. It also poses the question whether or not Willow would kill someone for calling her a nerd (it’s a toss-up if you ask me).

So, Marc Blucas is officially in the credits, which also means that this is the first time in the series that the ratio of male to female regulars on the show is 2:1. To be fair, this will also be the last time that happens, as we’ll add Emma Caulfield and Michelle Trachtenberg by next year to the rooster, but it’s wild. This is Buffy, and we have 4 dudes and 2 women in the opening credits. We’re not excelling even by Buffy feminism standards here.

(Catch me talk about the opening credits again in about two and a half seasons with Seeing Red. I mean, there’s really nothing much else to discuss about that episode… right?)

With that out of the way, let’s talk some Riley and Buffy.

I’ve been a bit hard on Riley with my comments so far with this rewatch, but I really want to emphasize how much I don’t hate him here. Which is a low bar to clear, sure, but it shows my own biases and what I do and don’t find acceptable in my male characters.

See, my issues about 4x07 The Initiative were mostly about perspective. We were constantly seeing Buffy through Riley’s eyes in that episode and I kinda hated it. Meanwhile, Doomed puts us mostly into Buffy’s shoes as she’s dealing with Riley, and it’s a remarkable upgrade.

We know Buffy. We understand her past, her trauma and her frustrations. But the wonderful thing that I realized that I also understood where Riley was coming from here. I didn’t agree with him, but I understood.

Because Riley doesn’t know Buffy. And Buffy flat out tells him so. He doesn’t understand what she’s been through, what being a Slayer is to her, who she is as a person… And neither does Buffy know Riley.

(Even though Riley’s like “you know who I am”… no, she doesn’t?? You’ve been dating for like 5 minutes. You don’t know who you are, dude. Just because you have a simplistic view of yourself doesn’t mean that that reflects back everything about you as a person.)

From super subtle lines like Buffy saying that Riley just ‘can’t see her scars’ to her trying to make him understand how different this demon hunting gig is for her… She’s laying it all on him. And we, as the audience who was right there with her on every step on her journey, are all in her corner.

That doesn’t mean that Riley’s wrong entirely. We know that he doesn’t have the full perspective on Buffy, but he also manages to hit some truths there. Buffy does tend to have a gloom and doom mentality. Sure, she has a good reason for it, but she’s also prone to depression and isolation. Sometimes she really needs someone to tell her not to try to go at it alone.

So yeah, you know what? I enjoyed their dynamic. I could live with this for the rest of the season.

The Buffy/Riley relationship and conflict wasn’t the only thing this episode tried to set up though. Hell, it almost felt like an episode 7 with how heavily some of these threads will be mirrored by the end of season four.

Case in point: Spike taunting Xander and Willow about their uselessness to Buffy. He went right to the jugular too, hitting them in their worst insecurities. Xander about living in his parents’ basement and not getting into college, and Willow about her past relationship falling apart and Oz leaving her.

They really are all forgetting that Spike’s a villain with all his comedic shenanigans, huh.

The theme of separation between the Scoobies even comes up in the scene where Willow goes to the party. She’s just awkwardly standing around, waiting for Buffy to show. Which she doesn’t - well, at least not until the murder.

And that’s sort of new. We’ve well established by now that Xander feels left out of the group this year, but Willow and Buffy are now dormmates! They should be in sync and spending a lot of time together, and this is one of the first indications we see of that not being the case.

The scene where Willow finds the dead body in the bed is also weirdly framed, to the level that I totally read that scene wrong, even in this rewatch. Like, is it really just me who thought that Willow went home to her own dorm room and the body next to her was Percy? She was upset about Buffy not showing up, and Percy being a lowkey dick, so I honestly thought that the whole reveal was about whether or not Willow did it.

(Maybe I’m projecting from the future too, but alas…)

Instead as it turns out, she just randomly went into a room and laid down there. (Which is already super unrealistic. A college girl going into a stanger’s dorm room without checking her surroundings first??? I don’t think so.) And the dead guy was just the rando that the monster killed in an earlier scene.

On the other hand, I also feel justified about my weird misreading, because in the upcoming scene, Willow is much more upset about Percy calling her a nerd than the dead guy in the bed??? Man, Willow really hates her high school persona. (Probably because she associates all these negative memories she has about high school in general with who she was, and who she was perceived as by her peers and herself at the time. More on that in a later post I’m guessing.)

Oh, and the apocalypse is here. Again. And everyone’s just so done with it. “It can’t be the apocalypse, we already did that.” Iconic.

Anywho, if you take away one thing from this episode though, it should be this: your belt doesn’t have superpowers. So maybe don’t attach a rope to it and attempt bungee jumping???

That’s just physics and fashion design.

[astupidblabberingmess]

It’s almost time for Queen and I just wanted to share the theories I have. This is going to be long, so I’ll divide it into paragraphs. I also have a somewhat wild theory about Annabel and the Unseelie King that I kind of hope is true, which is probably not the case (who knows though). 

Ash as Sebastian Morgenstern & the Seelie Queen's son

When the theory first came up, I was rolling my eyes because, really? ANOTHER Morgenstern? But with all the information we have at this point, what else would he be? I think the question we should ask ourselves is less “Is Ash a Morgenstern?” and more “Is he the weapon Clary and Jace were looking for and if so, why?” 

I think he is, but I doubt he’s evil. Not only would that be too predictable to have another evil Morgenstern, but he’s also introduced in a way that sets him up to be Dru’s love interest for TWP. I believe he’s either a total cinnamon roll (which would be so ironic and amazing) or a morally ambiguous character. 

But why could he be a weapon? Even if he were evil, that wouldn’t automatically make him a weapon. He could be one in the traditional sense that he can do something special. It’s not unlikely, considering he’s the son of one of the most powerful faeries alive and a demon-blooded Shadowhunter. But it could also be in the sense that as the Seelie Queen’s son, having him under your control means having power over her, which is probably why the Unseelie King has him.  

What I don’t see, however, is Clary and Jace trying to kidnap a child to have power over the Seelie Queen. But the mission came from the Clave and they would definitely do something like that and maybe Clary and Jace don’t know the true reason or they do and are trying to save Ash. Especially if he truly has special powers, they would want to prevent him from using them for evil. 

Also, one of my theories is that the Seelie Queen won’t survive or at least won’t stay a queen in QoAaD (more on that later), so I don’t think he’ll go back to her or maybe he does but not as a prince. I definitely don’t think he’ll stay in the Unseelie Court. But will he be with the Shadowhunters (as he could be trained as one, like Mark and Helen) or stay in Faerie? I have a lot of theories about Faerie (again, more on that later), so it’s difficult to guess what might happen. There are a lot of possible outcomes when it comes to Ash, he has the potential to be a villain, a love interest, a friend, an ally, or something in between.

The Unseelie Queen

I believe Annabel either is or will be the Unseelie Queen. This is the last book in a trilogy and yet the Unseelie Queen was never mentioned before, except for a drawing in the Shadowhunter Codex. Would Cassie introduce an important character in the last book of a series? I don’t think so. Also, I’ve read on here a while ago (but sadly don’t remember who made that post) that apparently Queen of Air and Darkness is another name for the Unseelie Queen in folklore, which I googled to check if it’s true and it did come up, though it doesn’t seem that common. And the Queen of Air and Darkness has, according to Cassie, already been introduced. Which makes it quite obvious to me that the Queen of Air and Darkness has to be Annabel, which should mean that Annabel has to be the Unseelie Queen.

And this is how we come to my somewhat wild theory: I think that maybe things are completely different than we think and Annabel has been evil all along and was always, even before her death, in league with the Unseelie King! 

I know, I know, but hear me out: Annabel could have met the Unseelie King through Malcolm, which means they could’ve fallen in love. Maybe they even got married, and the Unseelie Queen depicted in the Shadowhunter Codex is actually Annabel Blackthorn! Perhaps that’s why nobody has ever mentioned or seen the Unseelie Queen, at least not ever since Annabel’s death: because for centuries, she was dead.

How did I come up with that? There’s a scene in LoS that I can’t find a reasonable explanation for unless the Unseelie King loves Annabel: Annabel tells the Riders of Mannan that she knows the Unseelie King’s true name. Now, it could’ve been a bluff, but the Riders are ancient beings, so I doubt they’d be easy to trick. Which is why I think she wasn’t bluffing and they knew, maybe they recognised her and knew she was in league with the Unseelie King, so they left because they thought whatever she was doing was a ploy in favour of the fae. Besides, Cassie never reveals such things randomly. If a character says they know the Unseelie King’s name, it’s likely that they do and that we will eventually hear it too.

So how would Annabel, a Shadowhunter, know it? I assume the only people that ever knew the King’s true name would be close family members (maybe only his parents) or considering how deeply faeries love, someone he genuinely loves and trusts. I also assume that as soon as he feels like someone who knows his name is posing a threat, the King would make sure they’re killed. Which means the only way Annabel could know the Unseelie King’s name would be if someone told her. Who would tell her, she’s a random Shadowhunter! Unless the Unseelie King told her himself because he truly loves her.   

“But Malcolm and Annabel were in love!”, I hear you say. Well, we know Malcolm loved Annabel but who’s to say she truly loved him? She did kill him when he resurrected her and yes, it was explained by her being angry and mad and suffering all these years, so her love turned into hate, but even so it would’ve been a lot easier to kill him if she truly didn’t care for him at all. She could’ve pretended to be in love with him because the Unseelie King needed the Black Volume of the Dead and she needed Malcolm to steal it. 

“But why didn’t the Unseelie King save Annabel if he loved her?”, you may argue. If I understood correctly, Malcolm and Annabel weren’t held at the same place. I assume the Unseelie King either couldn’t find Annabel or his magic couldn’t save her. After all, Downworlders are often held and brought to different places because Shadowhunters don’t want to “taint” their special places with their “Downworlder filth”, which was likely even more the case in the 19th century. So, the Unseelie King saved Malcolm instead and tried to use him to find Annabel. I’m not sure when and how he found out about her death but if he loved her, he probably wanted her resurrected. But if he didn’t know how to raise Annabel from the dead or couldn’t do it himself, he would’ve needed someone he could trust to want her back as much as he does—Malcolm Fade.

And now you may say, “Okay, but wasn’t the Unseelie King after the Black Volume and not Annabel?” Hm, if the Unseelie King was after the Black Volume alone, he wouldn’t have needed Annabel and therefore why would he let Malcolm even attempt to resurrect her? Especially once he died and it fell in the water, he could’ve easily retrieved it. Why allow him to keep it and resurrect some random Shadowhunter? Unless said Shadowhunter was important to the Unseelie King too. Maybe he even used his magic to help Malcolm put himself together to complete the ritual. 

Now, I’m not sure what I believe Annabel’s motives were after being resurrected. Maybe she was still in love with the Unseelie King and everything she did was in partnership with him. Maybe she was genuinely mad at the King, so she hid the Black Volume not just from the Shadowhunters but also from him, hurt that he let her suffer for so long. Maybe she was angry with him at first but later started working with him, either before or after the mess that was the last scene of LoS. 

Possibility One: Annabel took the Black Volume and went right to the Unseelie King with it upon being resurrected. I find it interesting that she was communicating with faeries. Why would faeries talk to a Shadowhunter? Why would a former Shadowhunter talk to faeries? Would she not stay away from Shadowhunters, warlocks AND faeries considering they were the ones that caused her suffering? I couldn’t figure out whether piskies are Seelie or Unseelie but if they are both and especially if they are Unseelie, the interactions would make a lot of sense. And considering they sent Julian and Emma to a place where a demon was waiting for them, it makes you think about her/their true motives … Yes, later Annabel saved them from the Riders of Mannan and went along with them to Idris but perhaps they wanted to stop the Cohort or there was another ploy going on, possibly to do with the Blight or something we don’t know about yet, so she went along and it was the plan all along that she acted all mad. Or they planned to do something, but she went genuinely mad, triggered by the Cohort. It would explain how the Unseelie King knew Annabel was in Idris and saved her. 

Possibility Two: Annabel was furious with both Malcolm and the Shadowhunters AND the Unseelie King and wanted to hide from the world. When there was a chance of redemption, she, knowing the Unseelie King wouldn’t give up on her and everyone would keep hunting for her since she had the Black Volume, tried to get it to finally be left alone and be accepted back into Shadowhunter society and live out her life in peace. Her threats to the Unseelie King were genuine in that case and she genuinely went mad too. The Unseelie King spirited her away out of love in this scenario as well and I think they made amends after that. Or he’s now mad his Queen acted against him. 

Either way, Annabel ends up back with the Unseelie King as his Queen. If this admittedly wild theory is correct, I assume the first version of it is more likely and Annabel always acted in collaboration with the Unseelie King. Cassie also said there’s a reason Annabel’s runes aren’t on the cover and her finger isn’t missing. Maybe by wearing the Unseelie crown (again?), she changes physically? I mean, we don’t know much about faerie magic, but we do know objects often hold certain powers, like Gwyn’s cloak for example. 

Cassie described Annabel as a villain. Unless my theory is correct, she hasn’t been one so far. Sure, she killed Livvy, but that was because she went mad. It wasn’t really a villainous action. Besides, I’m certain she either is or will be the Unseelie Queen. And if she’s just mad, how will that happen? The King manipulating her? It’s not impossible but what would he have to gain with her as the Unseelie Queen? That would certainly give her power. Would he really give a mad Shadowhunter power? I don’t think so. Besides, I kind of like the idea of Annabel being in league with the Unseelie King, it would be an amazing plot twist and let everything shine in a new light while still making sense and making it even more plausible to have her be the Unseelie Queen aka Queen of Air and Darkness aka the ultimate villain. 

Ty, necromancy & why Kitty is doomed

I definitely think Ty is going to attempt to resurrect Livvy and I definitely think it’s going to somehow put him in a situation that by the end of Queen will separate him from Kit. Unless they truly start out as a couple in TWP (which would be awesome too, but Cassie is all about angst, so unlikely), they have to be separated somehow. It’s clear they’re attracted to each other, there’s no way over the course of three years they won’t start dating unless something happens in Queen that changes things. Maybe Ty has to go on the run from the Clave because of his attempted necromancy, maybe Kit has to go on the run because he’s still hunted for being the descendant of the First Heir, or maybe Kit tries to stop Ty and they end up fighting and separating that way. I worry about the latter coming true because we’ve seen snippets that hint at Kit sabotaging Ty’s attempts. If they loved each other but were physically separated, I could live with that more than a Kitty fallout. 

I don't think Livvy will be back completely, probably shortly as a ghost. So far, all necromancy in the books had horrible consequences and I think except for Jace, nobody stayed alive (Annabel still is but she surely won’t survive Queen). The books are basically teaching us that the dead should stay dead and if they don't, there's a price to pay. Cassie can't use the same Jace plot again with Livvy and I don't think she'll make her death even more painful by necromancy turning Livvy into a monster or zombie of some sort. I think it'll just be a way for the Blackthorns or just Ty to get closure and speak to Livvy one last time. Or maybe for Livvy to finish what she attempted to say when she died. Bringing her back completely would be way too easy and take away the pain her death caused. 

Off-topic, but the only thing I don't like about Cassie's books is all the necromancy and dead characters turning out to not be dead after all because it makes death less of a final thing. You never know if a bad or good character may end up returning a few chapters or books later and that's something I hate. Cassie has been using this kind of thing as a plot device way too often already. I love Livvy and her death broke my heart, but can’t she just stay dead? We know she does come back in some way, maybe temporarily, but ugh, it’s so boring at this point. Jace and Sebastian were actually dead and resurrected, Malcolm was sort of resurrected for a short while, Annabel was resurrected, Jesse might be resurrected in TLH, Shade is most likely a character we thought was dead (more on that later), several dead characters appeared as ghosts and one of them is still sort of around by guarding the London Institute. It’s a little too much dead characters coming back and if it’s just to have a bittersweet moment of goodbye. Challenge for Cassie in TWP: no necromancy, no character thought dead returns, no new ghosts appearing. Can she do it? I’m not getting my hopes up. 

Kierarktina aka Hot Faerie Threesome 

I wasn't convinced this would be a thing at first but re-reading the first scenes with all three of them in Lady Midnight there are hints already with Cristina feeling desire when she sees Kieran and Mark kiss. And that continues throughout LoS and the snippets we’ve been getting from Queen. With every other author I'd call it teasing but Cassie has never done things like that and always delivered when it comes to hints at representation, so I can't imagine her teasing a threeway relationship like that and not making it canon. I worry it may only last for a short while though and one of them dies, but I really hope not. I just have this feeling it’ll be canon and I really hope I’m right.

Shade as Ragnor Fell 

There are only two green warlocks that we know of and Cassie has confirmed we’ve already met Shade. The fact alone that he calls himself Shade makes it obvious to me that he isn't John Shade because how stupid would that be? It also makes no sense that he would appear and especially not that he'd help Shadowhunters because he fucking hated them. Ragnor, on the other hand, makes a lot of sense. 

I think it was in "Son of Dawn", where Ragnor is one of the warlocks Jem asks for information about the Lost Herondale, it links Ragnor to the current plot in TDA. I even came up with a theory as to how and why he could've faked his death without Magnus knowing (we know Magnus doesn’t know because he literally thinks and talks about his grief for Ragnor with Catarina). 

Remember how Jem was attacked in "A Deeper Love" by faeries for knowing too much? If Ragnor truly had information, it would make him a target too. Which is why I think, Ragnor may have been hiding in Idris and eventually the fey were too close and he knew he had to do something drastic. He probably didn't want to endanger his friends or asked only one of them to help him (Raphael?), so he made himself appear dead somehow, even to a warlock like Magnus. He made sure he could still get the information about the cure for Jocelyn out there, knowing one of his warlock friends would eventually check on him, so he passed the information on via enchanted message.  When the fey arrived, they found him already “dead” and left. Then Sebastian arrived, found him “dead” as well and claimed it was him (making it even easier for Ragnor to hide from the faeries because they would believe Sebastian had killed him). Why would Sebastian lie about it? Easy, he didn’t want to admit to his father or anyone that he’d been too late and Ragnor was already dead. Literally why wouldn't Sebastian lie? Or Sebastian was actually WITH the faeries that wanted Ragnor dead since they did have an alliance later on. In that case they would’ve collectively decided Sebastian would take the blame (or glory depending on who you ask), so they would not raise any suspicion to Jem. Though in this case I wonder who they suspected to be Ragnor’s actual killer. 

Parabatai bond resolved 

I think all bonds will break. What else could change the Shadow World forever? A law could always be changed back but we know if the parabatai bonds are broken, they’re going to stay broken. And it is a thing that makes Shadowhunters stronger, so it’s likely it’ll change the dynamics. 

After the snippet with Julian worrying about Emma’s marks, a lot of people are worried Emma will be stripped of her runes, but it was already said that she couldn’t live not being a Shadowhunter. So, unless she’s going to die, I don’t think it’ll happen and I have a feeling she won’t die. It’s also too obvious. I don’t think Cassie would’ve shared a snippet like that if Emma was going to be deruned. 

I think maybe it isn’t Julian but Emma who breaks the parabatai bonds (there’s a moment where she wonders if the bond could be evil, maybe she finds out that’s the case and decides to break all the bonds because of it) and maybe that’s the scene where Julian finds out. Though it does strike me as odd that he says “marks”. Maybe by breaking the parabatai bonds, something happens to runes in general or because Emma is the one, something happens to her? Or the scene has nothing to do with that and her marks change because of the curse that her loving Julian puts on them. 

Cristina as the Seelie Queen 

I’m leaning even more towards this after reading Cassie’s answer about the Seelie Queen narrating the epilogue. It’s the series finale, it’s not going to end in a cliff hanger, even if as Cassie has said not all fates are great, the story has to be complete. If we think of TMI, the ending was a true ending without any sort of cliff hanger, the main characters were all safe and okay. But there were still the fates of the TDA characters that weren’t great and hinted at more story to come (with Helen in exile, Mark in the Wild Hunt, Emma and Julian in love but on the path of becoming parabatai, etc.). Which is how I think TDA will end too. How does the epilogue being narrated by the Seelie Queen fit into that? 

And I’ve actually been thinking about Cristina as the Seelie Queen before because all her interest in and ties to faeries have to have a deeper meaning than her being in a love triangle with two faeries. Cristina hasn’t been in a significant plot outside of her love triangle so far but she’s a main character and she knows enough about Faerie to survive there. So what if she snatches the Queen’s crown and by default becomes the Seelie Queen? Makes me wonder how the faeries are going to react when a Shadowhunter seizes the position of their queen but do they have a choice but to follow her? As I said earlier, certain faerie objects tend to give people powers, so there might not be anything the fey could do but try and trick Cristina back. Or maybe they come to like and appreciate her as their queen because she doesn’t act like an entitled Shadowhunter but actually tries to live by their rules and their ways (without compromising her own morals of course). It could also mean the epilogue takes place in the Seelie Court and may be some celebration held by Cristina, maybe even her crowning ceremony (my friend suggested that btw). 

Kieran as the Unseelie King 

Now ever since that revelation about Kit being the descendant of the Unseelie King AND Seelie Queen, I’ve been doubting whether Kieran would actually end up as the Unseelie King but since Cassie said that Kit’s heritage will affect him more in TWP, I doubt he’s going to become the Unseelie King or King of all Faeries in QoAaD. That would mean he’d start out as a powerful King when TWP starts, which is an unlikely position for a protagonist. 

So either the Unseelie King simply stays in power or it’s Kieran who replaces him. We know how much he was liked in the Unseelie Court, so he probably would have enough support for it to work. And he has no place to go at the moment, so unless Cassie plans on killing him, which I still worry about, but I also assume she’ll make the hot faerie threesome canon, he pretty much has to become the Unseelie King. He can’t stay with the Shadowhunters, but he’d face execution in Faerie if the Unseelie King stayed in power. Well, I guess if Cristina becomes the Seelie Queen, Kieran would live with her in the Seelie Court and be safe there … 

Connecting this theory with Cristina being the Seelie Queen and Kierarktina being canon (or even just Kiertina), they might end up reuniting the Courts. There was a snippet in which it happens, so maybe it’s not Kieran and Cristina that are reuniting them, unless that snippet somehow is closer to the end of QoAaD. Either way, it would be cool having Kieran as the Unseelie King, Cristina as the Seelie Queen, Mark as, well, Mark—living together and loving each other and ruling over all of Faerie. It would also make them conveniently absent in TWP. But maybe this is would be too good to be true. 

Death predictions 

(Probably) Won't die: the TMI main characters, Jem and Tessa, and the confirmed TWP characters (if Cassie plans on killing main characters from other series, it’s going to happen in TWP, not TDA); Diana (she's the only trans character, Cassie won't kill her); Helen and Aline (she won’t kill them as they just came back and are the only f/f couple); Tavvy (he almost died in LM already, it would mean yet another Blackthorn dies and it would be Max 2.0, way too predictable), Emma (I genuinely don't think she'll die, it's a gut feeling) 

(Probably) Will die: Diego (I'm sure of this, he’s just the kind of character that is destined to die and after a certain snippet, I assume he’s the one that’s going to be executed); Annabel (I just don't see a version where she comes out of this alive)   

On the fence about it: Jia (because of the scene where Jace nominates Alec for Consul but maybe she just steps down voluntarily, after all, Cassie has killed so many Consuls already), Julian (I used to believe he would die, possibly executed for breaking the parabatai bonds but now I’m leaning more toward Emma breaking them and Diego being executed and it just seems more and more unlikely he’ll die but who knows); Mark, Cristina or Kieran (I do believe Kierarktina will be canon but it might be short lived and I really wouldn’t rule out that one of them dies but I’m certain at least two of them will live and I’m hoping they all survive); Cameron (he’s not very liked and since he was behind a plot point, it could lead to his death because that would mean he’s more involved than we thought he was); Zara or Horace (I think it’s likely only one of them dies, I’m leaning toward Zara because having a bigot as the Inquisitor for TWP would certainly make it harder for everyone, especially if he’s getting even worse out of grief and Zara could die because she’s just not that good of a Shadowhunter and way too horrible to continue doing what she does); Gwyn (I don’t really think Cassie will kill the love interest of the only trans character but she doesn’t reveal information that Gwyn’s power is in his cloak for no reason and it makes me believe that at the very least he won’t stay the leader of the Wild Hunt for much longer), the Seelie Queen and/or the Unseelie King (I feel like at least one of them will die if not both and if they both live, I think at least one of them will lose their position as monarch) 

And that’s it! Did anyone actually read this? I don’t even care, I just needed to write down my thoughts and after spending so much time doing it, I really felt like it would be a waste not to post them. 

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 2X12 - In the Name of the Brother

Brother (Or sister, or any other sibling, real or metaphorical), can you spare the time...to read my latest review?

Great! Head below the cut!

Press Release Dr. Whale is tasked with mending Hook’s wounds and performing surgery on the stranger whose car crashed upon entering Storybrooke. But some of the townspeople fear that the stranger may have seen magic – which could expose their true identities to the world – and think that leaving him to die would be the best solution. Meanwhile, as Mr. Gold tries to reunite with a despondent Belle, Cora attempts to reunite with daughter Regina; and in the land that was, Victor desperately wants to prove to his disapproving father that he can, indeed, bring back the dead. General Thoughts - Characters/Stories/Themes and Their Effectiveness Past This is one of the most visually appealing segments in the entire series. The World of Black and White is such a crazy concept, but it absolutely rocks. The style and the use of color make it so hard to forget and it really makes for a world that feels like none other, something that the other realms aren’t always able to do. And when Rumple appears, it’s such a contrast. Like, had this not been done so carefully, the mix of a technicolor Rumple in a world like this would’ve looked sloppy, but instead, it’s as every bit as magical as one could imagine or want it to be. I also like how the acknowledgment of this distinction is never too much of a distraction for the characters. Rumple (And his gold) definitely pops out from the rest of the crowd, but they never stop to think about that in terms of the schematics of their world. I’m glad about this because it doesn’t invite a feeling of distraction away from the story. Finally, let’s talk about music because the music here definitely delivers on the dark gothic atmosphere of the world, and it starts to blend with our world as Rumple shows up. As for the story itself, it’s pretty basic -- good, but basic. It’s essentially a darker “Aladdin” and a gentler Frankenstein story mixed in to one. And it’s cool! Really, it is! The unique take on Frankenstein is cool and having Rumple be what amounts to a jerk genie in it gives a fun spin. However, there’s not that much that’s worth touching upon apart from the style. Present So, the present segment finds itself pretty divided among our main cast and as mixed as the plotlines get, so are my impressions of them.

Emma and co don’t really have much of a story, per se, but act as passive reactants to everything else at play, and to be fair, that’s the most that could be expected of them in this scenario. I found that the debate over whether to let Greg live or not compelling enough, but thankfully not made to be such a big deal, especially when the main players generally don’t harm innocents. Still, it was nice to have Grumpy and Gold to list off the problems that Greg’s existence could present as something to think about (And to be fair, I guess it was something to do before the crazed Plot Hole Police arrived to badger A&E over for years, if they hadn’t already at this point).

Watching Regina and Cora interact is the most uncomfortable thing in the world, and I mean that in the best way possible. Cora, whether true in her love for Regina or not, still manages to squirm her way into Regina’s heart where she knows she’s unwelcome. It’s honestly sinister seeing her apologize for things that we know she doesn’t mean (Making Regina marry Leopold and framing her for Archie’s “death”), but eventually convince Regina regardless. And to Regina’s credit, Cora only gets him by plucking the nerve of her most recent dilemma: Earning Henry’s trust back. Seeing Regina cradling in Cora’s neck is so awful, like seeing a spider ensnare her prey.

Finally, what the hell brought on Whale’s bout into depression? I guess it was seeing the watch which reminded him of his brother, but he was clearly drinking before he got the watch, so what gives? Was is because he couldn’t get sent back to his realms a few episodes ago because that wasn’t even in the “Previously On” section? Like, I’m sorry, but we see Whale on the verge of committing suicide. That’s a serious topic to show, especially for the very real way that Whale attempts it. There needs to either be more of a focus on Whale’s present situation to get to that point. I will say, there is a redemption here by Ruby because her speech at least connects more to the past segment in how Whale can’t change the past, but can change the future.   Insights - Stream of Consciousness -As a victim of a car crash, seeing that again wasn’t traumatic at all! *nervous shudder* -Killian, this is the exact worst time to be an instigator! What the hell?! -This is also the filming spot for my OTHER favorite blooper. I’ll give you a hint: Anyone down for some crushed nuts? -Credit to Emma and David for knowing exactly how to tame Rumple! Small moments like these give a nice amount of payoff for the respective dynamics! -”From the outside?” I feel like if this had happened during the last episode, I probably would’ve put that Peter Griffin meme here about matching the titles in the dialogue. -I love the opening title card here! I normally love them all, but the distinction of color is just magnificent here! -Whale, don’t drink on the job! -”That’s your cross to bear, I suppose.” Victor, making puns is my schtick! -”He’ll cool off.” Gerhardt, your dad wasn’t even mad. I’d say Victor was madder. -Emma’s coming into Killian’s hospital room all confident and I am so here for this! And looks like Killian agrees! -Killian sees he’s chained. “You’re really into this, aren’t you?” Killian is just getting the best lines here and I am also here for this! XD -”If I had to pick dead guy of the year? I’d pick you.” Give it a couple more seasons, Emma. -I love how Ruby knew there were 10,000 combos right off the top of her head! She’s so smart! -”A LinkedIn account.” Not only is this dude a loser, BUT he’s now spamming the few people that can stand him with invitations to certify that he knows PowerPoint! He’s a MONSTER, I tell you! -”And he tweets pictures of his food.” Greg, torturing Regina aside (Which is also pretty fucking horrendous), you are just the WORST person! -Leroy’s apparently a movie buff. Who knew? -”We need to tell Regina’s she’s been framed.” Yesss! Thank you, Snow! I’m not mad at anyone for not immediately thinking of her given the crisis, but I am happy that someone did (Actually, some two because of Snow and Ruby!). Also, it enriches their dynamics going forward! Also, credit to her for understanding the internal danger Cora poses to Regina! I’m seriously loving Snow this season! -”You better hope he dies.” I like the strength of the writing in this line. It’s the driving force for the morality that Emma and co are tasked with thinking about, however inactively, throughout the segment. -”It’s not murder if we let him succumb to his injuries.” “I’m pretty sure it is.” It totally is! Look, for all the moral conflict of this episode, it’s totally murder and I’m glad that the character framed as the one closer to the audience is the one aware of that. -Gee, did Disney buy Star Wars at around this time? I’ve no idea! -”Rumple Von Stiltskin.” Imagine if that’s actually how his name was structured! XD -”Are you a philanthropist?” “Well, I’ve been called worse.” Rumple’s also gotten great quips! -*Rumple sees box* ...August? “Hello, Rumple.” Ah! Cora! What a fakeout! -”The Crocodile snaps at the little bird.” I guess Killian’s vernacular grew on Cora throughout their time together. Now though, I want to know what animal Killian is. What animal is everyone?! -A moment of silence for the deleted Jello scene that never made it to air. A-woman. -Cora, do not smell Regina’s clothes! That is fucking creepy! -Disguising yourself as Henry? Cora, that is a new low! And your former low already bonked Hades’ blue head! -Cora, go away! You’ve been in Regina’s sights for all of a quarter of a second and you’ve already given Regina a panic attack! -I feel like the only reason Rumple held up that magnifying glass was so that the effects team could show off just how well they did his eyes. -Regina’s hiding spot is so beautiful! She has a gorgeous albino apple tree, christmas lights, jewels all around, and gorgeous wallpaper! Fuck the monarchy! Go into interior design! -”Determination.” Cora, shut up, you are not an Undertale character. ...Actually, you totally could pass as Chara. -”Emma and Henry and the two idiots.” I love how small, but still funny that line was. -Okay, so I totally want Ruby to just run on her own in my “Wacky Races” dream fic because holy shit! She’s fast! -I’m not sure if Gerhardt beating the crap out of his father for verbally assaulting Victor is the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen or the most heartwarming. -”It seems that science does too [have a price].” Bro, do you even physics?! -I’m not going to write down Ruby’s entire speech, but I do like the concept of looking at bright sides to Regina’s curse. It’s definitely not an admission that it was a good deed nor should it be, but in this isolated incident, it’s interesting to see Ruby and Whale commiserate over things. -Also, serious props to Ruby for cutting Whale’s self-hate monologue to get to the situation at hand. XD -”These carriages are strange.” I wonder if Cora was actually serious when she says this! XD I mean, cars are probably intimidating to those not familiar with them. -”It’s one of my most treasured possessions.” Awww! -It’s so freaky seeing Gerhardt moving around in his undead state. He’s like a gorilla in the way he moves his arms and legs and the way he cowers and sits. What a cool take on Frankenstein’s monster! Like that, more than anything would make me interested in a follow-up Frankenstein flashback. -I feel so bad for Snow as she’s being let down about not going into Greg’s room, but I can’t help but laugh. Like Snow, the fuck, bro? -”It’s a cup.” Am I the only one getting a sense of deja vu from “A Bug’s Life” here? XD -Greg, you sly dog! You, Killian, and Cora could bag Best Acting Awards until you die! -”I was texting.” ...While not my exact situation, this was too fucking real… -I love that globe and wish we saw more of it! On topic, everyone in Storybrooke should keep a private sampling of blood just for safekeeping at this point for identity purposes. -Awww! Poor Emma! Henry, just let her sleep! And then Gold comes in! The poor woman! -”If any harm comes to Belle while I’m gone, I’m killing all of you.” ...Was anyone in that room trying to hurt Belle? For the wham line it was supposed to be, it doesn’t come back in a meaningful way and it’s so oddly aimed. I guess this was written before Colin got hurt and maybe Killian was supposed to go after her again? Arcs - How are These Storylines Progressing? Rumple’s Redemption - As much as my inner sense of empathy is judging Rumple, his decision to essentially say “fuck off” to the request to help Greg is pretty in-character. Not only is he dealing with the anger over losing Belle and essentially letting Killian get away with it without killing him (Which is in itself a pretty great stride that holds through from his decision in the previous episode), but yeah, for as much as I like Rumple and think that the writing does an excellent job of painting him as not a complete fucking monster, I put the word ‘complete’ in there for a reason. Rumple still has a long way to go until he reaches a point where he can care for someone whose outside of his tiny circle of love, and for whatever can be said about his relations to Emma and David, they’re not at a point where they’re strong enough where he’d give them that much concern. Regina’s Redemption - “I have to let you know. I had nothing to do with Archie.” I almost feel like I can leave it there, but nah. You deserve more! So, just as much as Regina wants Henry to be by her side regardless as for as much as her attempted redemption had hurt her thus far, Regina’s still committed to doing right by Henry, and that’s amazing! Furthermore, Regina shows that even if she didn’t accept her treatment when the accusations came around over Archie’s death, she does accept that given the circumstances, it was a reasonable assumption to make. Honestly, the entirity of Regina’s scenes with Cora speak of how far she’s come, as she stands against Cora’s points over why she framed Regina. Obviously, part of what made Regina go as evil as she did was Cora’s influence, and seeing her work so hard to not let Cora control her again was just so impressive! Hell, even gives Cora an understanding of what she wants if she’s to trust Cora again. Greg Mendell - We get our first (Okay, second) piece of Greg in this episode. Definitely a good actor and I like how there was this subversion of expectations in this episode (until the ending, of course) while still raising all of the needed points about him and his existence here for later in the season where they would apply. Favorite Dynamic Rumple and Cora - I like how we get to see that Cora’s menace doesn’t just stretch to Regina, but how exactly it stretches to Rumple. Rumple and Cora are on equal footing in a way that Rumple and Regina only came to be during the final two seasons of the show, and that comes across so clearly in just how he acts around her in their one scene together. She’s able to push him a bit and even prompts a deal where he has to hesitantly accept it, and that’s so rarely done, especially by an enemy. Just look at the worry in Rumple’s eye and that bit of trepidation, but he still manages to keep most of his cool. That is how Rumple responds to a real threat. It’s almost karmic retribution for not bothering with Greg (Or trying so hard to keep Cora out of Stroybrooke that she’d let Emma and Snow die), but I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that for certain. Still, their one scene both establishes so much of their dynamic and sets up the board for later. Writer Jane Espenson is back, and she did a decent job here. I like how she balanced the screentime of so much of our main and supporting cast. No one ever feels like they got the shaft and what they were given to do fits their story so well. In addition, I feel like the writing is done very well, particularly with Regina and Cora. The way Regina speaks is a great reflection of the work she’s done as she deflects Cora’s points hit by hit and only succumbs to a situation that was well set up. Jane is really good when it comes to writing Regina, as “We Are Both” was also hers and the depictions of both her past and present character were marvelous! Also, as a side note, she wrote Emma and Killian much better here. There’s clearly animosity, but a level of concern and even flirting off of Emma’s side that is actually allowed to show up for a hot second. Rating 8/10. Style is the name of the game here. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the aesthetics weren’t impressive enough to bring the whole episode up a level. As for the other segments, they ranged in quality, but were more good than bad, though since Whale was the main segment, the shortcomings of that story stood out more. But thankfully, it wasn’t the only portion between the interesting broad strokes of the OUAT rendition of Frankenstein, the true horror story of seeing Cora take over Regina’s life again, and the small inner workings of Emma and co in the background as they react to all of this. Flip My Ship - Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness” Rumbelle - I noticed that just as the episode started, Rumple was calling Belle “Beautiful Belle” as the authorities were coming for her. That’s small, but pretty cute! And you just gotta feel for Rumple as he tries so desperately to make Belle remember him. While I’m not really sure if I like or dislike the failed TLK, the cup scene absolutely accomplishes what it sets out to do. Also, “do you have any spells to return memories?” Just look at Rumple here. He looks so nervous as he’s asking, as fragile as a young schoolboy! And he does that in front of CORA! That is adorable for Rumbelle! Captain Swan - Killian just gets hit by a freakin’ CAR and the first thing he says is, “Hey beautiful.” Killian, never change! ...Actually, yeah. You need to change a lot, but fortunately, you do! Hell, even Emma gives into the flirting a bit after a bit! Also, “everything else is still intact.” KIllian, could you be any more obvious?! Also also, Emma’s pretty keen on keeping an eye on Killian despite the fact that he’s handcuffed. Finally, Emma’s reaction to Rumple’s threat to kill Hook at the end of the episode...looks like she does care. Golden Heart - ”I’ve no reason to cheat you.” “Anymore.” Looks like we’ve got some angry exes! XD Also, notice how Rumple’s lingering juuuuuust a bit during that kiss! You dog! ()()()()()()()()() Finally! Another really good episode to talk about and get pumped over!! Thank you so much for reading and to the awesomesauce fine folks at @watchingfairytales for making like Frankenstein and bringing my creations to life! Bwahahahahha!

Any guesses on what will happen next time? I’ll give you a tiiiiiiiiny hint: It’s one of my favorites. See you then! Season 2 Tally (104/220) Writer Tally for Season 2: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis: (29/60) Jane Espenson (25/50) Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (24/50) David Goodman (16/30) Robert Hull (16/30) Christine Boylan (7/30) Kalinda Vazquez (10/30) Daniel Thomsen (10/20)

Operation Rewatch Archives

[tocinephile]

The Morning After - The Golden Globes 2020 Edition

Morning/Afternoon/Night have lost meaning to me in this post holiday stupor, but I assure you I watched Sunday night’s awards.  Our methods of media consumption have altered every so slightly each year that at least 1/3 of the celebrity outfits I was checking out this year came from my Twitter app compared to the big TV screen in front of me (which often had a split screen happening to begin with).  No matter, it made it all the easier to share via my own twitter and to send to friends who sent me their comments and input through the pre-show and ceremony.

Even more than usual, the Globes felt like a warm-up to me this year.  I’ve barely digested the turkey and finished my Top Films of the Decade list and we’re already off to the award season races.  As a result, I’m not quite prepared to comment on every single win/loss, but what I can say I have embedded in the list below:

Best Motion Picture — Drama

“The Irishman” (Netflix) “Joker” (Warner Bros.) “Marriage Story” (Netflix) “1917” (Universal) (WINNER) “The Two Popes” (Netflix)

1917 has rocketed to the top of my movies to see list as a result of last night’s Best Drama and Best Director win.  Need to see this before the SAG Awards.

Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

“Dolemite Is My Name” (Netflix) “Jojo Rabbit” (Fox Searchlight) “Knives Out” (Lionsgate) “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (Sony) (WINNER) “Rocketman” (Paramount)

Let it be known here and now, 2020 is going to be the first (and hopefully only) time I speak out against Quentin Tarantino winning an award.  I don’t dislike Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, not at all, I just didn’t think it was anywhere near his best and in the awards race, there were far better this year. I’ve seen all the films in this category with the exception of Rocketman and I liked Jojo Rabbit and Knives out much more, and Dolemite is My Name equally as good as Once Upon A Time.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama

Cynthia Erivo (“Harriet”) Scarlett Johansson (“Marriage Story”) Saoirse Ronan (“Little Women”) Charlize Theron (“Bombshell”) Renée Zellweger (“Judy”) (WINNER)

I’ve actually only seen Marriage Story and Judy in this category. Renee is phenomenal no doubt, but part of me did question whether her performance would shine through an otherwise mediocre film.  Turns out it did.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama

Christian Bale (“Ford v Ferrari”) Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”) Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”) Joaquin Phoenix (“Joker”) (WINNER) Jonathan Pryce (“The Two Popes”)

Joaquin was the favourite in his stacked category, but I recommend all of these performances (though The Two Popes slightly less as a film, not my cup of tea). I was really on the fence about his acceptance speech though, the delivery was channeling too much Joker though the message was in the right place.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

Ana de Armas (“Knives Out”) Awkwafina (“The Farewell”) (WINNER) Cate Blanchett (“Where’d You Go, Bernadette”) Beanie Feldstein (“Booksmart”) Emma Thompson (“Late Night”)

Another stacked category (I’m gonna make the assumption that Emma Thompson was great in Late Night), these are all movies to see.  Awkwafina being recognized in a non-comedic role is a boon for the Asian community. Sidenote: I seem to be in the minority when it comes to Where’d You Go Bernadette, but I quite liked that movie. 

Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

Daniel Craig (“Knives Out”) Roman Griffin Davis (“Jojo Rabbit”) Leonardo DiCaprio (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) Taron Egerton (“Rocketman”) (WINNER) Eddie Murphy (“Dolemite Is My Name”)

I’ve not seen Taron Egerton’s performance but predicted he would win anyway. 

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture

Kathy Bates (“Richard Jewell”) Annette Bening (“The Report”) Laura Dern (“Marriage Story”) (WINNER) Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”) Margot Robbie (“Bombshell”)

Should have been J. Lo. (opinion based on having seen 2 of the 5 performances)  Not that Laura Dern isn’t spectacular in everything she does, but is her character in Marriage Story not identical to her role in Big Little Lies?

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture

Tom Hanks (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”) Anthony Hopkins (“The Two Popes”) Al Pacino (“The Irishman”) Joe Pesci (“The Irishman”) Brad Pitt (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) (WINNER)

Brad Pitt’s good, and this is one of the awards that I’m cool with Once Upon a Time picking up, but was he better than Pesci and Pacino? I mean, is anyone??

Best Director — Motion Picture Bong Joon-ho (“Parasite”) Sam Mendes (“1917”) (WINNER) Todd Phillips (“Joker”) Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”) Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”)

Again, the winner is the only film I haven’t seen.  I can vouch all the other directors were great.

Best Screenplay — Motion Picture Noah Baumbach (“Marriage Story”) Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin Won (“Parasite”) Anthony McCarten (“The Two Popes”) Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) (WINNER) Steven Zaillian (“The Irishman”)

Ok, it pains me to say this, but Tarantino should not have gotten this one.  Give his film any other award but this one! He did a decent job of directing, his cast gave great performances, the wardrobe and production design was fabulous, the editing is solid, even the music was alright (ok, fine, don’t nominate the film for its music neither)... but the weak link in Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood is the story.  It’s so beneath what QT can do, it’s like QT made palatable. So please don’t recognize him for this script out of all his scripts.  Don’t encourage him to write more scripts like this one.  Nevermind that every other film on this list had a better script than his. If I got to pick, I’d have chosen The Irishman, but would have accepted any of the other three as winner.

Best Motion Picture — Foreign Language

“The Farewell” (A24) “Les Misérables” (Amazon) “Pain and Glory” (Sony Pictures Classics) “Parasite” (Neon) (WINNER) “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” (Neon)

“Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films” Preach Boon Joon-Ho!  I’m actually very impressed with the list of nominees this year and I’m even more pleased the best film won.

Best Motion Picture — Animated

“Frozen 2” (Disney) “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” (Universal) “The Lion King” (Disney) “Missing Link” (United Artists) (WINNER) “Toy Story 4” (Disney)

Best Original Score — Motion Picture

Alexandre Desplat (“Little Women”) Hildur Guðnadóttir (“Joker”) (WINNER) Randy Newman (“Marriage Story”) Thomas Newman (“1917”) Daniel Pemberton (“Motherless Brooklyn”)

I don’t know that any score in particular stood out for me this year, but now that you mention it, Joker did have a pretty great score.  It was mentioned that Hildur Guonadottir also wrote the score for Chernobyl and that one was affecting.

Best Original Song — Motion Picture

“Beautiful Ghosts” (“Cats”) “I’m Gonna Love Me Again” (“Rocketman”) (WINNER) “Into the Unknown” (“Frozen 2”) “Spirit” (“The Lion King”) “Stand Up” (“Harriet”)

Why don’t I know a single one of these songs?

Best Television Series — Drama

“Big Little Lies” (HBO) “The Crown” (Netflix) “Killing Eve” (BBC America) “The Morning Show” (Apple TV Plus) “Succession” (HBO) (WINNER)

I should watch Succession.

Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy

“Barry” (HBO) “Fleabag” (Amazon) (WINNER) “The Kominsky Method” (Netflix) “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon) “The Politician” (Netflix)

I should really watch Fleabag.

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

“Catch-22″ (Hulu) “Chernobyl” (HBO) (WINNER) “Fosse/Verdon” (FX) The Loudest Voice (Showtime) “Unbelievable” (Netflix)

Everyone should watch Chernobyl.  I stood in front of Reactor 4 shortly before the series aired and when I shared my photos from overseas people were freaking out. I got home and watched the series for myself and truly understood why.

Best Actress in a Television Series — Drama

Jennifer Aniston (“The Morning Show”) Olivia Colman (“The Crown”) (WINNER) Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve”) Nicole Kidman (“Big Little Lies”) Reese Witherspoon (“The Morning Show”)

Best Actor in a Television Series — Drama

Brian Cox (“Succession”) (WINNER) Kit Harington (“Game of Thrones”) Rami Malek (“Mr. Robot”) Tobias Menzies (“The Crown”) Billy Porter (“Pose”)

Best Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy

Christina Applegate (“Dead to Me”) Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) Kirsten Dunst (“On Becoming a God in Central Florida”) Natasha Lyonne (“Russian Doll”) Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”) (WINNER)

Best Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy

Michael Douglas (“The Kominsky Method”) Bill Hader (“Barry”) Ben Platt (“The Politician”) Paul Rudd (“Living With Yourself”) Ramy Youssef (“Ramy”) (WINNER)

Best Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Kaitlyn Dever (“Unbelievable”) Joey King (“The Act”) Helen Mirren (“Catherine the Great”) Merritt Wever (“Unbelievable”) Michelle Williams (“Fosse/Verdon”) (WINNER)

Michelle Williams for best acceptance speech for the night - amiright?

Best Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Christopher Abbott (“Catch-22”) Sacha Baron Cohen (“The Spy”) Russell Crowe (“The Loudest Voice”) (WINNER) Jared Harris (“Chernobyl”) Sam Rockwell (“Fosse/Verdon”)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Patricia Arquette (“The Act”) (WINNER) Helena Bonham Carter (“The Crown”) Toni Collette (“Unbelievable”) Meryl Streep (“Big Little Lies”) Emily Watson (“Chernobyl”)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Alan Arkin (“The Kominsky Method”) Kieran Culkin (“Succession”) Andrew Scott (“Fleabag”) Stellan Skarsgård (“Chernobyl”) (WINNER) Henry Winkler (“Barry”)

Well, that’s me and my two cents. Between the SAG Awards being a couple weeks away and us being in the midst of our January 30 Films in 31 Days film challenge I gotta get back to watching more films stat!

[lovehebe330]

Anyone still remember Bebu? The couple pairing that once took over Winglin? I updated all the Bebu interactions over the past couple years. Certainly , there are still some really great interactions! Please watch the video I put together and tell me what you think!

Summary by clips and contents [SOME TRANSLATIONS]  (Note: Chinese is my third language, not entirely fluent)

First video: S.H.E and Fahrenheit collaborated several times and in this show, the show host asked about what S.H.E thinks about each member. Selina said the Aaron is like a manga character and something else about being able to interact with him easier than the rest of the group. Hebe adds that Aaron is cute and basically agreed with Selina.

0:45: During a commercial for 7eleven, I’m guessing that the group had to take a funny picture. Aaron puts his hand unsure of whether he should place it there or not. Hebe turned around and accused him of being a pervert and then rubbed the touch away lol. Aaron just put his hand back on her shoulder.

0:58: I really wonder when did they take this picture? After Xin Wo’s music video? This is the youngest picture I can find of them together haha. Look at the poses!

1:03: During Suan Tian’s music video, Hebe and Aaron chest bumped each other. Doesn’t the cow suit make everything look cuter? XD

1:06: I’m sure that this is a charity kind of event (due to a natural disaster). Hebe and Aaron sat beside each other and look at the way Hebe looked at Aaron!

1:15: Hebe was being interviewed for an award show and Aaron was in the background, waving at the camera casually during her interview. Funny thing is, of all the times, she turned around to see Aaron.

1:23-1:25 Okay, seriously after they start to go solo their relationship become more clear. Aaron just always look at Hebe! Look at the way he looks at her! He really admires his senior!

1:27-3:49 Hito Awards in 2010 or 2011 ish Aaron already became a solo artist and released his EP in this era while Hebe already released her second album, My Love. The point is in this clip, Hebe was asked about what she ate and the three of them were asked about what they did when they’re bored behind the scene. Aaron wondered about what people do behind the stage back then because they didn’t have cellphones. He also keeps calling Hebe, “Goddess” and is always looking at Hebe unlike Yoga Lin.

3:54-4:17 Aaron was labeled as a cold person (Aka: Ice Prince) in 2013. He laughed and said he is like his senior, Hebe because she also doesn’t laugh and (something else he said I couldn’t understand what it means). When he looked at the mirror he realized that he is also like Hebe. (Point: they have similar personality).

4:18-4:29 This is a voting battle on which celebrities in the entertainment circle is the coldest or hardest to approach. Apparently, both Hebe and Aaron were selected at the first and second. Aaron made it to the first. Really funny thing is, Aaron is afraid to approach Hebe who is known as Ice Beauty and he is voted the coldest of all.

4:28-4:53 During his “The Moment” promotion era, Aaron mentioned about Hebe. He went to ask her about what she thinks about when she is singing (basically he is asking for advice on how to perform well since he looks up to her). Hebe gave him a simple answer and said to think about the lyrics but do not think too much about it because you will forget what you are singing (affect performance).

4:54-5:23 Hito Awards Interview- Aaron interviews S.H.E (stage comeback at HITO). The other host (who doesn’t seem to know that they’re all from the same company) introduces Aaron. Hebe said: “I KNOW HE IS THE TAIWANESE VERSION OF ANDY LAU” and Aaron expresses that he is happy. Notice that Selina is dying and woohooing at this joke. Then Hebe goes on to express and praise Aaron that he is a serious and dedicated person (notice that she was going to get cut off by the other host but she continues to talk about Aaron). She mentioned about his eating habits and yoga. I have read somewhere that Aaron mentioned in an interview about this particular awards. He brought his yoga mat to this awards and it seems that Hebe showed him some yoga moves (there is a news article about this) and he was touched by it.

5:23 Did you see how Hebe looks at Aaron lol and I have no idea what Aaron is saying “Qi dai yi xia” 5:28-5:33 Hebe introduces Aaron’s song “Taipei is sleeping” and calls him Xiao Shuai Ge (Handome little guy). Why is Hebe always calling him nicknames LOL

5:34: In Aaron’s album promotion interview, fans called in and was asked who he should collaborate with. Majority answered Tian Fu Zhen (Hebe). In this particular clip, the other hosts asked whether she wanted them to collaborate because they are in the same company. She answered that Hebe is pretty so she wishes that he collaborate with her. Nadou (show host) asked if it is okay if they’re together in real life. The girl answers ok in a weird tone. Aaron says it is not possible [it shouldn’t be possible] (unsure whether he is referring not possible collaborating or being together). Aaron: It shouldn’t be possible but she gives off the feeling of wanting to solve her (her mysterious, quiet and cold personality makes him want to figure her out) Nadou’s face *huh?* 6:23: Aaron says it is not quite possible to collaborate with Hebe (in a drama) because she feels tired filming (Hebe had expressed before that she doesn’t like to film dramas because it is tiring) Point is: Wow, how did he know this and it’s so nice of him to understand her feelings. Some stars just want to collaborate without understanding the other star’s level of expertise.

5:34:

6:35: Vogue fashion night out interview with S.H.E Aaron mentions he is portraying James Dean (actor) and Ella is like: Who? Hebe is the only one who knows about him. Point is: Hebe and Aaron’s knowledge of international celebrities are really broad. They have similar tastes (Hebe like British pop/rock and Aaron likes American pop)

6:48 Ella and Aaron was supposed to pose a manly pose. Aaron keeps looking at Ella instead of posing and Selina says something that is probably along the line of ‘why are you looking at her body like that!’ and Hebe says: She (Ella) is already married! 6:57 I don’t actually understand what is going on in this part. I know that they’re supposed to pose with weird objects (I’m happy they’re standing next to each other) and Hebe said something funny about the baby (breast feeding?) and everyone laughs. Aaron touches her arm again hahahaha ( This is in 2014 and not 2007! XD)

7:34 Aaron was asked to give feedback on his former bandmate Calvin Chen who released a single. Aaron awkwardly answered that Calvin’s song is fast and has more rapping. Aaron also says he doesn’t rap that well. Hebe says: and he also rap underwater. Can you do that? Aaron: I will drown rapping underwater. Aaron then continues to awkwardly compliment Calvin and Hebe cuts in and says that Calvin can find her (to collab with) because in all of her posters and etc. she had always worked with water (no joke about this one, this is so true!). Aaron says: And you also went to Iceland to film. Hebe: Yessss (the tone in her voice is so cute hahah it’s not cold) Hebe: Isn’t this helping you to avoid (the interview question)? Don’t ask again! (She helped Aaron avoid an awkward situation [fallout with Fahrenheit question] )

7:58: Aaron’s and Hebe’s STAREDOWN WHOA

8:03 Aaron’s flowers to Hebe (message to wish her concert to go well) I’m not sure what it says but it is something along the line of Hebe’s songs speak the truth?

8:05 Hebe pounces on Aaron lol (this is during S.H.E 14th anniversary event) 8:13 PAY ATTENTION TO BOTH AARON AND HEBE! Aaron looks at Hebe when Selina is fixing Hebe’s hair (this is filmed from the back but at a different angle, he was looking at her) Hebe puts her hand behind Aaron (for what!?!!)

8:29 Aaron almost always poses beside Hebe in a group picture. Usually someone would be in between the two. Anyway, I can just tell they’re staring at each other in some of these clips here hahaha. At one point if you look carefully, Aaron looks at Hebe then Hebe looks at him and he scratched his neck (like how in cartoons it’s like oops she caught me looking at her *scratch, scratch*) 8:52 The moment when Selina looks at Aaron, he puts his hand on Hebe’s shoulder. (WHAT’S THE THiNG WITH SHOULDER LATELY?!) Did you see him smile at Hebe? (Obviously a lot of people will only see the back of Hebe but there are some pictures on Zhen Lun Bar on Tieba which shows these interactions at a different angle)

9:07 Eight years later.. HEBE HUGS AARON! This is the biggest moment in the love team’s story. The point here is: Hebe is very comfortable with Aaron and she will not hestitate to hug him. I think the two of them became very close over the years sine they became solo. Btw in this picture, S.H.E surprise Aaron on his early birthday.

9:12 Aaron posted a picture of him and S.H.E (different angle and poses) and praises S.H.E . Hebe commented: (Unable to translate first couple of words) Serious and dedicated little child (Isn’t Xiao Zi referred to something like little child?) Happy Early Birthday! *Kiss kiss* HER EMOJIS AND HIS REPLY IS SO CUTE! Hebe was the only member to respond this picture too!

9:17 Aaron is asked to recognize some celebrities faces. He couldn’t recognize Emma Wu (Gui Gui, whom he collaborated with and has a famous loveteam called GuiLun) [I realized that Gui Gui changed a lot these years so it’s understandable he didn’t recognize her]. The point her is, he recognized Hebe in a picture that would be hard to recognize (As a fan of Hebe, that picture doesn’t look much like Hebe due to Photoshop). I was surprised he recognized Hebe even though he didn’t collaborate with her.

9:26: Aaron was asked if he was placed in a classroom full of female celebrities he would sit with… Without a thought he went straight for number twelve, in between Hebe and Xiao S. He doesn’t say why he would sit beside Hebe but from the previous clips, he always sit beside her so I feel that this is really the truth. He say that he wants to talk to Xiao S after that but I just say, it’s weird because he’s not close to Xiao S, I’m sure he just wants to sit beside Hebe!

9:40: Aaron went to Hebe’s solo concert twice (note that this is IF PLUS and not IF concert tour). He went for two nights and sat in the same seating. I was concerned about how he was the only celebrity to come twice! And he sat like one seat away from Selina or Ella. In this clip, he was asked to respond to what song did he want to hear from Hebe. I think he said he looked forward to listening to all. He gave the answer: Bu Zui Bu Hui (Learning from Drunk) but he messes up the name of the song and changed it to Bu Zui Bu Ai (Not drunk, will not love). This response is so funny that I laughed so hard because how can he mess up that bad!? 9:54 The flowers that Aaron sent for Hebe’s IF PLUS concert message was the one that stood out the most.This was sent the day before he appeared at the concert. It says: Dear drinking buddy (he used zhi ai and not qin ai) , GOOD LUCK. Funny thing is, is there a connection between the message and the answer he gave in the previous video? If so, it is like Aaron is saying, if Hebe is not drunk, I will not love you. (Hebe and Aaron are both very friendly when they are drunk. Aaron will kiss people in sight and Hebe would speak English and act very open and cute in contrast to her cold personality)

Notes: Video is a crossover between their interactions as “proof” to show that the couple pairing isn’t delusional. When the love team first started, a lot of fans overanalyzed their interaction that just felt delusional to me. Not saying that mine isn’t overanalyzed either. I love this couple pairing the most out of all because Hebe and Aaron may not be open about their relationship (I did not say they are together, they are compatible) but over the years, they got closer and closer. Unlike other male stars, Hebe is the most open to Aaron.

[lessawildmoon]

@foreveracharmedone, So apparently promising Thursday was just jinxing myself, as that turned out to be the worst day of what wasn’t a great week to begin with. In light of that I am not going to repeat that mistake by promising part three by the end of the week, but the first draft is close to complete so I don’t anticipate it being long.

Title: Phantom Memories (Part Two)

Rating: T (Emma has a mouth on her)

Ship: Gremma. Also Killian&Graham and Killian&Emma friendships.

Summary: A Gremma version of ‘New York City Serenade’. For the purposes of this AU, events up to the middle of S3 happened more or less as per canon, except that Emma and Killian developed a close friendship rather than the beginnings of a romance.

This was crazy.

Emma couldn’t quite believe that she was actually doing this, breaking into some apartment because some weird guy with ridiculously pretty handwriting, who had randomly shown up at her apartment and then crashed her date, had told her she would find answers here. But he had been right about one thing. Something did feel wrong. And she couldn’t not look into it, not now her instincts were telling her there was something to it.

It had absolutely nothing to with it being a good distraction from Walsh’s unexpected proposal. Nope, nothing at all. Completely unconnected.

She could see the apartment had been unoccupied for a while by the layer of dust covering everything. Glancing around to get a feel for the place, her eye was immediately caught by the dreamcatcher hanging in the window. A very familiar looking dreamcatcher, and one that did not bring back fond memories. She unhooked it, turning it over in her hands.

Fly paper for nightmares.

Neal. Son of a bitch.

Unopened mail sat on the table confirmed that this was really Neal’s apartment. Dammit. Was that what this was all about? Fucking Neal? Some scam to get back in her life, into Henry’s life? Did he know about Henry? She tried to shake off the feeling of betrayal at idea this was all some scheme of Neal’s, that the seemingly genuine concern the two men had shown about her was fake. And yet it didn’t feel right. It seemed obvious on the surface, given they had led her to Neal’s apartment. But to associate them with Neal just felt plain wrong, something in her violently rejecting the concept.

She had spent a lifetime trusting her gut, and it was telling her that they could be trusted, despite all the evidence to the contrary. And the conflict between what she felt and what she knew was giving her headache.

A bloody cloth on the couch only posed more questions. Had Neal been hurt here, or someone else? What had he been involved in? She might not exactly have warm feelings for him anymore, but she didn’t wish to see him hurt. Or at least not the level of hurt suggested by the blood.

She was already starting to regret coming here, she should’ve left it well enough alone. She should have ignored the madmen ranting to her about other worlds and curses. Damn Walsh’s crappy timing. But having started, she had to see it through.

She looked around again, and this time the camera sat in front of the TV caught her eye. Specifically, the name patch sewn on to the strap, and her blood ran cold. She tried to tell herself it could just be a coincidence, it was hardly an uncommon name. But the fact her ex had a camera with her son’s name on it in his apartment seemed a bit too much to be chance.

Checking it, she saw most of the film had already been used. She would get it developed and put this to rest. She would get the pictures and they would prove she was crazy for giving any credence to this whole ridiculous story. Then she would kick the ass of whoever was responsible so she could put this behind her and get on with her life.

Even if that did mean having to actually think about Walsh’s question.

---

Graham rubbed his hand together for warmth as he sat waiting in the park. It wasn’t unpleasantly cold, and he had certainly handled much worse, but there was still enough of a chill in the Spring air to be noticeable. Especially when sat stationary for a long period of time. Even so, he still preferred this to the cramped motel room they had acquired. It was not exactly a forest, but it was close enough to shake of the claustrophobic feeling that the enclosed space had given him.

They had decided that only one of them would wait at a time, in the hope that Emma might be more willing to trust them if they were not outnumbering her. He doubted it would make a difference, but it couldn’t hurt their chances.

He honestly was not expecting to see her at all. He was sure she had just dismissed their words, their attempts to tell her who she really was. He would not give up, not by any stretch, but he was anticipating they would have to come up with another plan, a different approach, maybe several before they found one that worked. But they did not have any better ideas just yet, so waiting in the hope they had piqued her curiosity enough was all they could do.

Which was why her sudden appearance came as such a shock.

He barely had time to stand and say her name in surprise before she was laying into him, waving what appeared to be a stack of photos in his direction. “What the hell is going on? Are you working with Neal? What is with these photos, we never took these, Henry and I have never even been to a place called Storybrooke. We never did any of this. Is this some kind of scam? What does he want? Why didn’t you tell me it was his apartment?”

“Would you have gone if we had? After what he did to you?” With so many questions fired at him, he focussed on the last one, trying not to take offense at the assumption he was working with her ex. It was not an unreasonable conclusion, given the circumstances. But he still bristled at the accusation.

“And what would you know about what he did to me?” He wasn’t sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, whether his knowledge of her past would help convince her he knew her, or only make her more suspicious.

“Because you told me.” She hadn’t exactly wanted to, no more than he had wanted to ask, but it had flagged in her background check so they had not really had any choice.

“Right. Before, I just don’t remember.” She shook her head, “I have no idea what game you are playing, but you are crazy if you think I am going to buy that bullshit story.”

“Then how do you explain the photos. You and Henry, in Storybrooke. You don’t remember it but the pictures show you were there.” Henry having left his camera was an unexpected boon. They had not done more than briefly look into the apartment to make sure it was as it had been left a year ago. They had not wanted to risk tampering with something that might have jogged her memory, or make it look like they had set it up. That there were photos was far beyond what they had imagined. It would be hard for her to maintain her denial when she had such evidence in front of her that there was something she was not remembering.

“I don’t know, you could have photoshopped them or something.” Hard, but not impossible, not for her. It was not going to be that easy. But he could hear the uncertainty in her voice, they had given her cause to doubt, they were getting through.

“We didn’t. And you know that. You know we aren’t lying.” He could feel a little bit of his frustration leaking out despite his best efforts. But it hurt to stand in front of her when she did not know him, to have to beg her to believe him about who she was. The fact that she was here at all meant she must be seeing that something was wrong, but it was not enough.

“Just because you believe what you are saying doesn’t make it true.” She fired back at him, unwilling to give an inch.

“Excuse me miss, are you OK?” They both started at the interruption, turning in unison to look at the man who had spoken.

“Yes, I’m fine.” She snapped at their unwelcome intruder with a bit of confusion.

“Are you sure? This man isn’t bothering you at all? You just seemed a little distressed.” The man gave him what he assumed was supposed to be an intimidating look and he resisted the urge to laugh. He had no idea who he was facing. Or exactly how bad it would go for him if he decided to start a fight. Graham gave the other man an unimpressed look up and down before returning his attention to Emma, ready to follow her lead, and dismissing him as any kind of threat.

“Yes, I’m sure. But thank you for asking.” She was smiling, but he knew her well enough to hear the irritation in her voice, and to see the way her spine stiffened at the interference. He was not the only one annoyed at the interruption.

“Ok, if you’re sure miss.” He did not sound too sure, but maybe his survival instinct had kicked in enough to realise they were not a pair he wanted to be at odds with. Whatever the reason, he went on his way, to the relief of both of them.

When they were alone again, Emma paused for a moment before seeming to come to a decision. “Come on.”

Gesturing her head at him she turned on her heel and started walking at a brisk pace, not so much as looking back to make sure he was following.

Not that she needed to. Whether she knew it or not, he would follow her anywhere.

[recentnews18-blog]

New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/third-johnny-english-outing-is-predictably-funny/

Third 'Johnny English' outing is predictably funny

Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press Published 12:02 a.m. ET Oct. 25, 2018

Rowan Atkinson in “Johnny English Strikes Again.”(Photo: Giles Keyte/Focus Features)

There’s nothing really new or fresh or bold in “Johnny English Strikes Again,” the third installment of Rowan Atkinson’s James Bond spoof.

And for some of us, maybe that’s not such a terrible thing. Sometimes you don’t want the hip new cocktail. Sometimes you just want the same beer at the same temperature at the same time in the same comfy chair. (Especially these days, perhaps, but we digress.)

So when Atkinson’s Johnny, on the run in a Scottish castle, winds up in a room of decorative suits of armor, you start chuckling in advance. Because, of course, you know he’s going to hide in one of those suits, and of course you know he’s going to have a massively difficult time staying upright, and, well … it’ll be funny. Not innovative or thought-provoking, and certainly not snarky or biting. Just funny.

If that’s not enough, we also have Emma Thompson as the British prime minister. Thompson as anything at all would be a plus, but watching her channel her inner Maggie Thatcher — and mix in a little Theresa May — may have you immediately bemoaning why she only got to play a prime minister’s sister in “Love Actually.” What a waste!

In any case, we begin a week before the PM is to host a crucial G12 summit in Scotland. Things are not going well. A major security breach at MI17 exposes the identity of every British secret agent. To replace them, they call in aging former agents. Enter Johnny, who’s been spending his days teaching schoolkids the essentials of Bond spycraft (seduction via martini, for example).

He’s a fish out of water. In a high-tech world, he’s lower than low-tech; he’s no-tech. He rejects even a smartphone. All he wants is a gun and a dusty old Aston Martin to drive. He’s joined in this venture by his erstwhile partner from the first movie in 2003, loyal sidekick Bough (a pleasant Ben Miller.)

But, you ask, who’s the villain? Well, that would be technology itself, in the form of a (truly annoying) Silicon Valley billionaire smartypants — you know the type —named Jason Volta (Jake Lacy, in a one-dimensional role). Jason has completely charmed the tech-challenged prime minister, who is unaware of his sinister hidden goals.

But he can’t track an enemy who has no digital footprint. At least that’s Johnny’s theory. He’s untraceable, but he also can’t make a phone call. His low-tech strategy extends to everything: He has a mixtape on a cassette! His spy gadget works with a floppy disc! It’s unclear whether kids in the audience will know what these things are.

But they likely will crack up when Johnny tests out a virtual reality headset and ends up wandering into streets and stores and attacking people randomly. They’ll also laugh, as will most anyone, when Johnny takes an energy pill instead of a sleeping pill and hits the dance floor for an entire night, posing and preening as only Atkinson, still agile at 63, can.

Sure, the scene is telegraphed about an hour ahead of time. But that doesn’t mean it’s not entertaining. At these moments, director David Kerr does the logical thing, which is to just get out of the way and let Atkinson perform.

The finale comes at that Scottish castle at Loch Ness, where smarmy Jason makes his intentions known — they’re rather confusing, actually, but they definitely involve the internet — and it’s up to no-tech Johnny to save the day.

You may forget the barely serviceable plot on the way out of the theater. But you’ll likely remember when Atkinson gets a cocktail umbrella stuck in his nose, while trying to woo gorgeous – and dramatically named – Ophelia (Olga Kurylenko), an enemy agent. Or when he’s trying to defy gravity in that darned suit of armor.

It’s not complicated. But there are worse things in life than 88 minutes of uncomplicated chuckling.

‘Johnny English Strikes Again’

Two stars

out of four stars

Rated PG; violence, rude humor, language, brief nudity

1 hour, 28 minutes

Opens with screenings Thursday

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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