#honestly the tl;dr of this ask is 'yeah nonny you answered your own question'

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

"We do want Buddie to be canon, nonny, and in my opinion we are going to get it. All this recent PR supports that, (again: in my opinion)"

Can you go into this if you don't mind, honestly I think Ryan at the premiere all but confirmed it and even now he says so much without saying anything at all. His expressions give away so much lol. He has a terrible poker face. But i would love to hear your thoughts on this if possible.

I'm gonna be honest nonny you really answered your own question there: Ryan's behavior and the fact that they're continuing to let him do press.

As I discussed previously, it's very difficult to promote a couple of characters that fandom ships without falling into queerbaiting. Because of this it would be the smart thing for ABC to keep Ryan and Oliver separate, disallow Buddie or Buddie-related questions, and so on.

Instead they are allowing Ryan to do press, Ryan to do press with Oliver, and are allowing these questions while trusting Oliver and Ryan (on a leash) to handle them. Now, part of it is probably the Barbra Streisand effect i.e. the more attempts you make to hide something the more people notice the very thing you don't want them to notice, but given the sheer AMOUNT that Buck and Eddie's relationship has been put front and center and the fact that Oliver and Ryan have been doing all these interviews together, I am hopeful and see that as a positive sign for Buddie because I trust ABC not to want to shit the bed by being accused of queerbaiting.

I think also as I've mentioned in another ask I answered a week or so ago, Ryan being in PR jail was a joke for a reason. Now, please note, EVERYONE except Oliver was pushed to the side in PR by FOX. FOX seriously pushed Oliver to do all the promo and be the "face" of the show, something nobody in the cast appreciated (including Oliver). So Ryan not doing interviews nearly as much was, in part, this issue by FOX.

However, Ryan also historically is... bad at keeping his mouth shut. He never quite spills the beans but he tends to throw his personal opinion out and hint/tease at stuff he shouldn't be hinting/teasing at. He likes to be goofy, to tease fans, to have fun. Which not only gives public relations managers migraines and anxiety, but in the case of a queer ship can land the show in trouble if Ryan's saying stuff that fans think is hinting at Buddie and then Buddie doesn't happen.

As we have all seen, the second they let Ryan open his mouth on live camera, his cute tipsy little puppy face word vomited all over the carpet. I suspect the fear of god was put into Oliver that it was his job to Make Ryan Behave.

Now, there are actors who have ignored this and enjoyed teasing about a ship anyway and the network has let them because they only cared about getting people to watch the show, they didn't care about being respectful or not. But nowadays that's not something you can get away with and most networks understand they'll get a lot of backlash that's just not worth it. AND most actors understand that even if they personally want a ship to happen, it's only going to hurt the feelings of fans if they (the actor) try to hint at it and then it doesn't happen.

It's more often that an actor will later say after the fact "yeah I would've liked it if X happened, but the writers chose to go in a different direction." Past-tense. They have a lot more freedom to speak on past things than on present storylines or possible future ones.

ABC is taking a risk in letting Ryan do all these video interviews, and to do video interviews with Oliver because the second those two are doing anything together everyone assumes it hints at Buddie. The latter, that's not really on ABC so much as on the fans, but either way, the solution is to keep 'em separate and keep Ryan locked up. Instead, they're allowing the actors to do things they know will get fans excited over Buddie, without crossing any lines into disrespect.

[gumjester]

OK. Ok. ok. After a good night's sleep, plus a few extra hours of distracting myself, I can finally express my analysis and thoughts on the latest chapter of RIR (chapter 24). Let's rip off the bandage, shall we?

...In regards to That Scene. As a writer myself, I can understand why you did it; the audience has already seen You-Know-Who be nefarious, but to see him willingly do that to [Redacted] really damned him as an irredeemable, immoral SOB/bastard. It also showed that there were indeed consequences to the party- well, I'm sure the audience knew there would be consequences, just not to this degree.

As a reader, That Scene fucking gutted me. The entire time I was going "no, no, no, please god, NO" because I knew what it was leading to. I wanted to rip through that screen, grab [Redacted], and pull her out of there into the safety of my bedroom, but I couldn't; all I could do was scroll to the next paragraph with my guts on the floor and my heart in my throat.

When I'm going over That Scene in my head, one thing stands out to me, both as a writer and a reader:

“I know that you are a lost child, and when you scream, no gods will hear you.”

FUCK. This line alone sent chills down my spine. That Scene itself seemed to imply, at least for me, that he's done this before...And those chills got just a little bit stronger as I type this out.

Truth be told, now that I've thought more about it, I have a feeling this decision of his will bite him in the ass later. Like, there is no way he's getting away with this- someone is going to find out, or start asking questions... Maybe Briar or Hopper?

ALSO. I am still very high on copium and denial, so I am praying that this isn't The End for [Redacted]. I know it probably is, but a girl can dream... right?

TL;DR: infinity out of 10 chapter, absolutely destroyed me and I was left staring at my screen for a solid minute wondering if it was real by the end

nonny hearing your thoughts is ALWAYS wonderful and beautiful and encouraging and entertaining and girl i am so fucking SORRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYY LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I WAITED A FEW DAYS 2 ANSWER THIS IN CASE SOME PEOPLE HADNT READ THE CHAPTER [although i greatly appreciate your censoring! how reader conscious] but...... YEAH....... i am so happy you.... enjoyed? QUESTION MARK? it was rough on all parties involved honestly and people were genuinely MUCH more upset than i thought they would be OH DEAR

still!!!! it is all for the sake of the narrative [grimm be like?] and to answer a coupleeee of your questions: yes, he has done this before. yes, this will have its own set of consequences for him, as i aim for every event in the story. i intend for everything to have a purpose, and this is certainly no exception. and as for the state of [Redacted].... well. you can tell yourself whatever you need to....

[regolithheart]

what do you think about the Nesta/Cassian/Mor conflict? also looking forward to your fics!!

Hi beautiful, sweet, innocent, Nonnie!!

Thank you for writing to me. Like I said, I could talk about Nessian all day and I am full. of. #thoughts. I could give you a short sweet answer, but it’s week six of quarantine, I had a brownie for dinner, and I don’t know what day it is. In the end, you’ll probably regret asking me, but lets just jump into it, shall we?

Unpopular opinion: I don’t like Rhys, Mor, or Feyre. So if you don’t want to hear what I have to say in regards to them, thanks for stopping by. No need to read further. 

I’ve never loved Feyre, but I think that has more to do with the fact that I just don’t like main characters in a series. Would I have preferred to read Hermione Granger and the Prisoner of Azkaban? You bet your ass. I also don’t like Rhys for the same reason, but also I dislike Rhys more than Feyre and for additional reasons which we will get to later.

I hate that I dislike Mor, because I loved her so much in ACoMaF and for a hot minute I shipped Mor and Azriel because I am a sucker for the unrequited love trope. A real sucker. And maybe, maybe I could have overlooked the retconning of her being a lesbian (yes, it was a retcon. Fight me.), if it weren’t for the fact that it makes her look really really bad and makes her treatment of Azriel even worse. I get it. I do. Her working through being okay with telling the others any of her business is part of her personal journey, but being honest to someone you claim to love about not being able to love them the way they hope to be is different than telling them you can’t be in a relationship because you prefer the opposite sex. Listen, I obviously have thoughts about this, but that’s not what the question was about so I’ll move on. 

Mor and Cassian’s relationship is a dangerous one. They both use each other as a crutch. From day one, Mor was using Cassian. Now, I don’t think she was doing it maliciously, but he appealed to her because he was already one of the most powerful Illyrians and a bastard to boot. Why do you think Mor chose Cassian and not Azriel? Sure, she wanted to own her own body. She wanted to decide who she gets to sleep with, but she decided she wanted to sleep with someone before going to the Autumn Court to stick it to Keir and the establishment. And what better way to stick it to them than to choose an Illyrian bastard. Because being the illegitimate son of an Illyrian lord is still ranked higher than being someone with no father and a dead mother. Mor knew exactly what she was doing when she chose Cassian. She is Rhys’ third-in-command for a reason. She aint no dumdum.

And for 500 years it was all good, right? Mor didn’t care who Cassian hooked up with because she knew they were no threat. But as soon as someone comes along that Cassian has feelings for, like true, legit, feelings, she cannot handle it. Because if she loses Cassian as a buffer then she really will have to be honest with Azriel (the horror). And so what does she do? She gets possessive. She outright hates Nesta and does not hold her feelings or tongue back. Now, some people are going to say that Nesta is the worst. She was horrible to Feyre growing up, she’s rude, she’s belligerent, and she can be a straight up bitch. Yeah. No argument there. We’ve all read the books. We have see the evidence throughout the whole entire series. But so is Rhys, so is Mor, so is Feyre, and Cassian and Amren. The only difference, is that a) they all have each other’s backs while no one has Nesta’s and b) we get to see everyone’s reasons and everyone’s POV except for Nesta’s. Feyre is an unreliable narrator, which is why I’m looking forward to seeing Cassian and Nesta away from Feyre in book 4 because I don’t trust her to tell me what’s going on for realsies. 

Honestly, the scene that made me straight up get so pissed at Mor was in ACoFaS when Nesta shows up to the Solstice party and Elain gives Nesta her present. All of Cassian’s attention is pointed to Nesta and what does Mor do? She forces Cassian to pay attention to her by choosing that exact moment to give him his Solstice present. Not any other time before or after when Cassian barely even glances Nesta’s way, but during the what, five seconds, he’s looking at her? PLEASE! It’s so passive aggressive and I hate it. I hate it!

I think the thing that bothers me the most abut Cassian and Mor’s relationship is that it really is just a miniature version of Cassian’s relationship with the Inner Circle in regards to Nesta. But really, when I say Inner Circle, I mean Rhys. I hate how Rhys treats Nesta, thinks of Nesta, and dismisses Nesta. Does he have his reasons? Sure. Are they valid reasons? He sure thinks they are, but like I said before, he’s no angel and we got to hear his full story so until we get Nesta’s full story then I don’t need my inbox blowing up. And honestly, if it turns out that Nesta really is as bad as everyone thinks she is, that’s still not going to change my opinion of her. I mean, why have you even read this far if you don’t like Nesta? Has anyone read this far, period? 

What I mean to say is that Cassian loves his family. He loves Nesta. The problem is that his family and Nesta don’t love each other and he will always feel torn apart over it. Cassian knows that Rhys hates Nesta. He can barely acknowledge her existence in front of Rhys and Azriel because they barely do. Yeah, his feelings are complicated right now. He’s hurt, and angry, and confused, and still loves her and can’t work out his feelings because he doesn’t have a safe place to do so. If there’s anyone he should feel comfortable going to to work out these feelings with, it’s Rhys, Az, and Mor but he can’t because he knows exactly how they feel about her, which is that they tolerate her at best. And even then, do they? 

I don’t want Cassian to feel like he has to choose between Nesta or his family, but as the situation stands, he probably does feel like that. I mean, who knows. Maybe he’s already chosen his family over Nesta. It’s not like she’s making an argument on her own behalf. But we know Cassian loves Nesta. Even if he’s annoyed with her, or mad, or frustrated with her, we know that he honest-to-the-Mother loves her. But until everyone can heal, and understand one another, and accept each other, it’s a lose-lose situation all around. Notice how I didn’t say love, or even like. 

Do I feel sorry for Cassian? Yes. Do I think he’s entirely faultless? Nope. Yes, he’s in a shitty situation, but honestly if he had a real conversation with Mor (and the Inner Circle) about his feelings about/for Nesta and confront her about her treatment of Nesta, he’d get different results. Do I think he’s terrified of having an actual, honest conversation? You betcha.

And yeah, we all know that Nesta isn’t making the situation any easier. But she’s hurt and suffering more than any of us really know. Do I think she's entirely blameless? Absolutely not. But I do feel that Rhys and Mor are extra judgmental of her because they already have their preconceived notions of her and anything she’s done contrary to that is ignored while everything she does that reiterates it is magnified. But here I am getting derailed again.

Nesta feels unloved. We can argue whether or not it is deserved another time, but the fact is that she feels unloved. Probably has always felt unloved. So every time Cassian choses to look at Mor instead of Nesta, it’s confirmation to her that she will never be anyone’s first choice. Look, the only man who said he loved her turned out to be abusive and assaulted her. And then when her father declares that he loves her, he gets murdered right in front of her eyes. Elain is the only other person Nesta knows loves her, and now she’s chosen Feyre and the Inner Circle over her (at least she has in Nesta’s eyes). You see where I’m going with this, right?

Except for the few dire times during the war--like when they’re legit in battle for their lives and emotions are running high--does Cassian let himself show Nesta that he cares for her. The only other times is when they’re by themselves. We know it’s because Cassian hides behind his bravado. But to Nesta, who probably has the worst opinion of herself, it probably means he’s ashamed to show it. Or he’s uncertain. I know we don’t have proof of this in the text, but I like to think I understand Nesta on a deep level, I can just imagine that’s how she’s feeling. Nesta pushes people away so that she doesn’t get disappointed when they decide to leave on their own accord. Nesta fought for Feyre, she fought for Elain, and she fought for Cassian. And in ACoFaS they all essentially turned their backs on her. And you wonder why she has so much rage in her frozen heart. 

TL;DR (not that I blame you): It’s complicated and it’s messy and everyone involved has contributed to it’s tangled mess of jealousy, insecurity, selfishness... but I also place more responsibility on the two 500-year-olds than I do on the 23-year-old. 

I’m really interested to see how it plays out in the next book(s), but I will tell you right now, I am on team Nesta Archeron and will be until my dying breath. 

Also, if you made it to the end...

[scoundrels-in-love]

I'm not very well-versed with exactly what comprises a 'melodrama' in kdramas, but do you think it's a legitimate possibility that Pretty Noona won't end happily for our lead couple?? Because that will literally. Break. My. Heart.

Okay, so I had to sit on this ask for nearly a day and actually go through Pretty Noona tag because I am honestly lagging behind (I have finished 4 eps). I watch with a friend and we’re kinda stalling, for multitude of reasons.

But back to your question, dear nonnie. I am not that well versed in Melodrama genre as well, but I think it’s not so much about unhappy ending, but the journey. Think of Just Between Lovers or many other dramas (It’s Okay That’s Love, W of Two Worlds, Descendants of the Sun and so many more) with Melodrama tag - the episodes are mix of pain and tears and funny or cute moments, make us question if happy ending is even possible, but when it comes it is soft, gentle and beautiful.

I would like to think this will be the case for Pretty Noona as well.

I don’t believe that our Leads will go completely separate way. But in a way, I’d hate even more if there was a breakup and fastforward to them having lived side by side, but on their own, and they meet again and think, well, we already once loved and supported each other unconditionally, learned from one another... Let’s do it again, having lost 2 to 5+ years of our lives due to societal pressure.

Now, what I can picture happening is something that I felt possibly foreshadowed within ep 1 or 2 - Joon Hee might have to go abroad again for his career. And yeah, dramas do that a lot, but I think I’d be fine with it - even if he insists they should break up so she can date and have happiness. Now, preferably, she’d tell him tho shut it and we’d get segment of cute Long Distance relationship moments, or at least sweet, sweet reunion. In less favorable version, they do break up, but meet again when he comes back and just continue their relationship because neither even tried moving on. It’d be still frustrating, but I’d imagine they kept in touch as friends, and it’d not be happening because of her mom or some other social pressure.

Career matters, their professional dreams matter - and they’d be understanding of each other’s aspirations in this regard. But I still would love the most if it wasn’t one or the other thing, but they keep dating despite everything. We deserve that for once, you know?

I have not seen enough of the drama to be clear what the writer wants to tell with this drama - it could be that love, even if it lasts temporarily, can do a lot to change your life for better, to make you grow, but it could be that message, paired up with that such sincere love can outlast obstacles and rise above them. I hope that that is Pretty Noona’s message.

TL;DR version is I think we will definitely be made to wonder at ep 14 and 15 if they can/will end up together, but by the end of it, I sincerely hope they will be together. Now, how satisfying it will be, depends on the writer and lot of things piling together, but I have faith. (Or else I’m gonna be right in your boat, with broken heart and trust in love and kdramas.)

Thank you for coming to me, sweet anon, I hope I managed to answer your question and maybe calm down some of your worries.

[cottoncandyheartzine-blog]

If I may, what would you advice to someone who want to start a fanzine?

Strap in, Nonny, this is a long post.

I’m actually thinking of making a tutorial of sorts about everythingI learned from my first time modding because… there’s a LOT. A tutorial that’s gonna be a lot more organized and detailed than this. Which means way longer than this already long answer. Yeah. It’s A LOT.

While many ofVoltron’s fanzines are successful, this fandom does have a problem with failedzines, usually abandoned, because people go into modding without realizing whatexactly it is they are getting into. I haven’t really seen other zine mods give advice on how these things go, and that’s kind of a shame, because I think there’s an impression in this fandom that anyone can just run a zine.

Not just anyone can. Not without a significant amount of work, work that’s going to come easier to some than others. It’s a very high stress, time consuming project.

First of all, it depends on what kind of zine you want tomake. If you are making your own fanzine with your own work, then it’s a biteasier because you can set your own schedule and not have to worry about organizingothers, BUT you’ll pretty much be on your own with setting up the zine andpromoting it.

If you want to mod a group fanzine, you have to know how todeal with people. This is absolutely unavoidable and must be prioritized aboveanything else. And that’s the problem some of these abandoned zines have faced.Fanzines have failed because mods don’t talk and then abandon their projects.You have to be open and communicative with your participants who are probablygonna number at 30~60ish. Open up a Discord, get to know your participants,make it a fun experience for both you and them. Running a zine isn’t just aboutraising money for contributor profit or charity. It’s an experience. It’s agiant collaborative work, an excellent way to engage with fandom and make newfriends.

But as fun as modding can be, it can also be extremelydaunting and very stressful. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong, I’mjust not even gonna sugarcoat it. Some of your participants just won’t talk toyou (and that’s fine, they are not required to except for check-ins). Lots ofmistakes will be made. Real life will get in the way. You will lose sleep.Before our launch, I had been awake for more than 24 hours getting everythingready, slept for 4 hours after opening our store, and then right back into thefray I went to promote, handle orders, and answer questions.

Running a group fanzine can be incredibly stressful and timeconsuming. The only reason I haven’t crashed and burned is because I haveexperience in administrative work, in this kind of stress. I spent two solidyears processing and organizing files of 600 individuals for my team (about 140for me alone), working with other units and leadership, for the military. Ihandled a lot of paperwork and worked with a lot of people. It involvedsometimes skipping lunch, staying late at work, coming in at 2am on a weekendto pick up cargo, and pulling all-nighters when I brought paperwork homebecause I couldn’t stand staring at the four walls of my office anymore.

And asstressful as that had been, I really very much enjoyed my job. Modding afanzine puts me in my element, honestly. I actually can’t wait to mod another(not until toward the end of year, I have a LOT going on this summer, so Iprobably won’t be able to take on another big project until October/November). Butother people aren’t like that. Honestly, me getting a bit of a high off thiskind of work makes a bit weird, I guess.

So you have to ask yourself, are you capable of handlingthat kind of high stress? Can you maintain open communication with that manypeople? Can you push past the stress and make this a fun experience for everyoneinvolved? Modding a zine also means keeping your participants motivated. Andfor a zine project that can last several months, maintaining that motivationcan be rather taxing.

Are you able to prioritize your other obligations andresponsibilities? I’m not employed at the moment, but I do have athree-year-old who requires my time and attention. I can only really do zinework when she’s at preschool, napping, or in bed for the night. Which gives melittle time to work on my own stuff. Proper time management is essential torunning a successful zine whether it’s group or your own. Look at yourschedule, see what you have coming up in your near future, and set up atimeline before you do anything else.

Running a zine takes weeks of planning beforehand, if notmonths, whether it’s a group or your own. It’s not something you can just jumpinto, another problem that some failed zines have faced. Research beforehand,what kind of theme you want, how to make a zine using various software, whatcompanies do you want to print your zine and make your merch. Set realisticgoals of how many sales you want to make. Do the math for what kind of fundingthis zine and its accompanying bundles will require. And, if this is a groupzine, all that should be done BEFORE you ask for applications.

Above all else, ask for help. No one is going to fault youfor not knowing everything right away. All mods got their start from somewhere.Just be honest about your inexperience. Set up a mod team to ease the stress,and if a team can’t be set up, that’s okay. Plenty of people in this fandom arewilling to help you out. Talk to mods of other zines. Get your participantsactively involved. Everything in Cotton Candy Heart has been looked over by the participants, who gave us feedback and advice of what looks good. I’ve made mistakes, and myamazing and patient group of participants have had no qualms pointing them outto me and helping me out when I needed them. Without their phenomenal efforts,this zine would not be a possibility.

And lastly, do not skirt on promoting your zine. People willnot buy the zine if they don’t know it exists so promote, promote, promote. Anddon’t let up. A lot of people become more interested in something the more youtalk about it, so don’t be shy. Don’t worry that others will be bothered. Ifthey don’t like it, they can mute or blacklist. There’s a stigma in fandomabout people promoting their creations and I hate it. Promote that shit. Get itsname out there. If you want potential customers to be excited about your zine,you have to be excited for it, too. And that means not shutting up about it. Play the market. Can’t hurt to look at Marketing for Dummies in order to make your zine as appealing as possible to potential customers.

So tl;dr:

KNOW HOW TO WORK WITH PEOPLE

Know yourself, where are you at mentally and what kind ofstress can you handle

Time management, prioritize the zine with your otherobligations and responsibilities

Decide what kind of tying theme you want

Research companies you want to print and make your merch

Do mathematicals to figure out beforehand what the budget will be so you can set realistic sales goals

Communicate with others, especially your participants if you are running a group fanzine, be open to their advice and feedback

PROMOTE and play the market

I hope this helps. Like I said, this doesn’t really scratch the surface of everything that gets involved. And I only really speak for myself and my own experience, so other mods may not do things this way, but I feel like this is about the bare minimum if you want a really successful, professional fanzine. At the very least, this should give you some idea of what all gets involved in running a fanzine.

~ Mod Shardy

[inevitably-johnlocked]

(1/2) Hey Steph! This is a long ask, so feel free to take your time answering as I love your insights! I have two Q's actually. 1. Was TAB supposed to be a standalone? I heard that they lied and something about how it was vital that they showed it before S4, but in hindsight (tinfoil hat aside), I don't see any connections between the two? 2. What were your initial thoughts on the "I Love you" trailer before S4? Ik many use this as proof for queerbaiting, but as a casual viewer then, I...

(2/2) thought y’ll were ridiculous for believing that it’s John when he was clearly in the background. Ofc after rewatching the series with an open mind, I became aware of my own prejudice and am all aboard the Johnlock train now. But I would imagine that as a shipper then, my hopes would be gone after seeing that, not fuel confidence like it did for some. Ik it’s done and we know who it’s to, but I’m interested in hearing the insights from a Johnlocker at that time. Thanks! :)

Hey Nonny! 

Never a problem! I’ll try to answer as best I can!!

1. Ahhh, TAB is an episode I studied IMMENSELY. I love it so much. Mofftiss, before TAB aired, kept insisting that it was a standalone episode and had nothing to do with the current timelines. They also kept saying that “the time is right for us to do this” which had us believing that they were insistent in getting it out before S4, which is why a lot of us DIDN’T believe that the episode was standalone. Many thought it was important because it was foreshadowing the events to come and let us know what Sherlock knows and feels for John…. essentially, instead of trying to solve the mystery of Moriarty, he ended up rediscovering his own self, and finally learning to love and accept John into his life as an equal, not as someone he needs to protect and keep safe. The episode was a huge character-building episode for Sherlock specifically, and I personally think it’s one of the most important episodes of the series. Because “it’s all a dream”, it forces the audience to use metaphorical interpretations of Sherlock’s character and of the people around him, showing us what he knows and how to teach us to see below the surface and read the subtext.

Many people think that it is a “key” to understanding what the hell is going on in S4, and reveals to us that if something seems wrong in the Sherlock universe, then something most likely is. Some people have suggested that the “alternatively” that we have been flipped to in the opening credits is when a secondary timeline had started. I personally don’t think so, since so much character development happened on Sherlock’s part in TAB and to exclude it negates all that development he had. Plus everyone was very much in character, so I digress. I do believe, though, that Unreliable Narrator started in T6T’s D-Notice scene.

Regardless, TAB helps us understand how to read the subtext at a metaphorical level. So when we refer to “John’s TAB” we mean that John is also now having hallucinations of his own, and everything in TFP is all metaphorical like it was for Sherlock – Sherlock’s is Victorian and dramatic like him, and John’s is full of pop culture and horror tropes like the things he likes. In that sense, it makes TAB connected to S4, since it helps us uncover the subtext below. 

Unfortunately, much of S4 is so inconsistent that I honestly have no idea how THAT season connects to the rest of the series, LOL. But if it is all a metaphorical season of a play-by-play of the events of the series so far, then I suppose it can work. It has been suggested that S4 is a "reverse" of the events that have happened so far, or a subtextual replay of the series. I can't find the post at the moment, but it's an interesting read.

2. Well, given what we thought was going to happen, and given the logical narrative next step in the chain, I as well initially thought it was finally Sherlock admitting his feelings, but upon sitting on it more, I then thought it was either blackmail and Sherlock was being forced to confess his feelings under duress, or it was a passcode.  When Mark revealed that Sherlock was “speaking to a mirror”, I then thought it was going to be Molly, but it won’t be good. And lo and behold, what we got was the forced ILY that we did get, which was exactly an entire scene mirroring John, especially if it is in John’s head (she’s even wearing the same sweater that she wore when she was “being John” in TEH). It was baiting, though, especially since BBC themselves kept using it to boost the watch numbers (”who does Sherlock love?!?!!!111?”) and while I am glad that it wasn’t directed at John, I am horrified that it instead destroyed the character arc of Molly, who, in S3, “grew up” and it really seemed like she was done with Sherlock and finally understood he was gay and in love with John. The only way I can deal with it is with John’s POV / TAB reading of the episode: it's how John has always viewed Molly, and this is his projecting his own fears of Sherlock’s “reciprocation of feelings” – as in he fears Sherlock will only say it because it’s what John wants to hear, and not mean it. It’s a very powerful scene at the subtextual level, but on the surface level, it’s very misogynistic (ie. woman being used only as a throw-away plot device and hopelessly in love with the male lead) and terribly drags Molly’s character through the mud. It makes me sad that many cannot see it as such.

As I’ve said numerous times, I’m 50 / 50 on S4. I cannot logically take it at face value simply because of how inconsistent and fucky it all is, and my brain just cannot understand how we went from TAB to S4 without either something happening in the interim, or there being a bigger plan in play, ie. TJLC. I still firmly believe Johnlock is endgame, but I also accept the very likely possibility that the series is over – I have to remain a bit skeptical since I am a creature of logic and because of the “finale” feel of TFP (ie. no cliffhangers) and the post-season interviews with the actors makes me think that it’s likely that it’s not really coming back. But I remain hopeful… I have too much fun doing what I do, and I thoroughly enjoy making people feel better about the series again, as best as I can.

PHEW! Sorry, I ramble a lot; seeing as you are a new Johnlocker I assume you’re also new to my blog and therefore have just discovered how long winded my responses can get when I am passionate about a topic! That all said, thank YOU for allowing yourself to at least give us the benefit of the doubt and understand where we were coming from – it’s all most Johnlockers and TJLCers ever ask for, to be honest. We aren’t trying to convert people, we just want people to understand how narrative structure and tools work, such as mirrors and subtext. I mean, I’m tickled pink that you are all aboard with us, and I am happy that you just watched the episodes through new goggles. Here’s a fun game, Nonny: Now that you have Gay Goggles™, rewatch all the episodes again, and then ESPECIALLY DIE at TSo3 (my Johnlock Enlightenment Episode®) – you’ll be kicking yourself once you realize how close to the surface it really all was and – if indeed S4 is the final season – you’ll understand WHY we call it all queerbaiting. It’s not even subtle in S3 especially, but yeah, it fucking HURTS to see how much they love each other and how hard Mofftiss just keep making them stay apart. It’s REALLY apparent in S4, like it looks like they’re doing everything possible to keep John and Sherlock apart because Ben and Martin can’t fucking stop making Goo Goo eyes at each other, LOL.

Anyway, TL;DR: 1) Surface level, no, it doesn’t really connect except as the "what happened on the tarmac" filler episode, but subtextually it is the key to the series as a whole. 2) Yes, it was baiting of all kinds, hetero and queerbaiting… sadly a lot of The Others didn’t see how fake that whole scene was and how much it dragged Molly, and I feel sad for them, genuinely, because what kind of standards for relationships do they have if they thought that scene was real and genuine? Sherlock clearly didn’t want to do it because it wasn’t true, and he cares for Molly very much as a friend and didn't want to hurt her.

I hope I answered your questions alright! Cheers Nonny!