#i did go from the pilot to s3 personally but my friend wanted me to see the second ray asap lol

[rupertgayes]

How would you pitch watching Due South to someone who doesn't know it?

THE PREMISE: mountie from the northern reaches of canada goes to chicago to avenge dead dad (also a mountie), gets into buddy-cop shenanigans with a detective. said detective leaves the show in season 3 and gets replaced by another detective, shenanigans continue to ensue. there's also a dog. he's very cute.

THE PITCH: honestly, after being in the spn fandom and having most of popular culture awash with prestige shows (that are not spn, but like spn are typically dark and gritty and like killing characters off too) and having most of the popular media landscape try to cover their collective asses by having an aloof, 'you-can't-make-fun-of-this-because-we're-not-taking-it-seriously-ourselves' air, it was truly refreshing to sit down with a close friend of mine and check out this show.

i'm being completely serious when i say there's a certain je ne sais quoi about this show. is it because it's from the 90s? perhaps. is it because it's canadian? maybe. i wasn't even alive when this show first started airing and i'm not a media analyst. it basically takes the premise of the dudeley do-right cartoon and asks 'okay, but what if that was like, a real guy?' and fucking runs with it to the wildest heights. it's a comedy, but it's also so bizarre in some ways that it makes it a truly unique treat to watch. i love psych and brooklyn 99 for having a comedic procedural aspect, and neither of them are comparable in whatever it is that due south is doing.

there's honestly a lot of heart and soul in the entire show, and it has the ability to shift from just being comedic to having drama, mystery, and moments that pull at your heartstrings. it's a show that you can enjoy on the surface as a fun episodic show with fun characters and fun moments, but it also lends itself quite well to extrapolating on the characters, their motivations, etc. (and by etc i'm also including any shipping you might want to do).

i won't say it's a paragon of DEI, but again, i think it has a level of earnestness which makes any slip-ups it does have something i can kinda view with indulgence, versus shows that are making the same (or worse) mistakes 20+ years after this show already ended. these characters are treated with a level of dignity and respect, and i think overall the characterization is pretty consistent - there are some shifts happening between seasons 1-2 and 3-4, but i feel like it has more to do with budgets, a change in creative team, etc., versus writers not 'getting' certain characters.

there's also a lot of memorable episodes, scenes, bits. i think the latter seasons are more campy (my favorite) and some eps from s1 and 2 make for legitimately some great television. even the more mid episodes have something worthwhile, too. some of my fave moments in no order:

fraser (the mountie) saving and talking to? a rat in a strip club

also him going to a leather club

twice

and meeting a mountie in a latex version of his red serge uniform

using a tarp as a parachute

mafia egg conspiracy

aliens??

due south but make it silence of the lambs a little bit

performance arsonist

lake pirates? ghost ship?

also why are most of the major bad guys here doing some form of environmental crime? get your captain planet on ig, i'm into it

also fellow cops can also be bad guys. acab ig??

sick muscle cars eric kripke himself would've enjoyed. sometimes they get set on fire tho

due south but make it to wong foo thanks for everything

fraser running away from women so he doesn't have to kiss or interact with them

way too much time in closets, in general.

fellas is it gay to ask your new partner of one week maybe to pretend he's a woman so he can decide if he finds you attractive

there are red ships and green ships but no ships like partnerships :)

and to reiterate about the dog: there's a dog who's half wolf and all deaf and fraser can talk to him 'because he (the dog) reads lips'

his dead dad shows up too sometimes

anyway, it was really nice to watch this show for the first time, there are still moment i scream-laugh at because they're just so ridiculous and i'd never catch any other moments like that in any other show. i definitely see why there's still active fans for it thirty years later. there's also some wild shipping fodder here, which is at least partially why there are still fics getting written for these guys today. destiel if the cw weren't cowards etc etc. when i watched the finale, i cried tears of joy because while i'd miss the characters, they got an ending that actually seemed to fit, instead of it being a rush job, which is not unique to spn but, you know.

also you can watch it for free on youtube rn.

[warsamongthestars]

Honestly you are so right. I never thought about it like that.

Having recently rewatch TBB from their introduction episode in TCW, i kept going "what the hell".

Admittingly, i did NOT like them at first. I enjoyed the other clones, but i just.. couldn't care until after s1 of TBB and even then, only S2 made me fall in love and S3 made me dwell deeper.

But rewatching TCW episodes... i can see why. Its not just that its different writing, that whole episode was INCREDIBLY cheesy, they were cheesy. And whats funny is i don't think they're too bad after their introduction episode.. but its like. They all fit into their sterotypes first episode, but TBB actually gave them personalities i feel, so when rewatching their introduction... it feels.. Not super iconic, sorry if that is an unpopular opinion.

Like their poses and first fight is really cool, but the whole conversation they have not only implies what you said, but also comes off as "edgelord 10 y/o boy who has watched way too many adventure movies". Which i get they were trying to be show offs as well as show the audience they are extreme.

But it just.. comes across as goofy to me.

and to be clear, i know star wars in general can be seen as cheesy, I'm not knocking down cheesy-ness, and i love most TCW episodes new and old, but i think thats why it bothers me ? I don't remember feeling "oh thats cheesy" in a negative light in any other episode, even with other series.

Sorry that this got long !!!!!

Damn, first ask. XD

Thank you for that! But uh...

... The irony here is that I have to disagree. I liked them in TCWs over TBB, and I wanted to see more of what the TCWshow's BBs had to offer.

I went the old fashioned way of watching TCWs (For the clones, I don't care that much about Jedi stories), and by the time I reached S7, they were announcing TBBshow. I had the build up from that, to reach the momentum and when I made it to the Bad Batch Arc, it was like falling in love with clones all over again.

Cliche in function, yes, by all viewing they fullfill their cliches.

But let me point out something that occurs in character writing--How the character acts to their friends, will be different with how the character acts to their coworkers, and how they act to their own families, to how they act to strangers. This is part of how you create a 3-Dimensional Character.

So my interpretation is different. Here's how my thought process went.

What we saw in TCWs, was merely how the BBs act when acting under officers (Coworkers) they didn't know (Strangers).

( Wrecker starts enthusiastic but "dumb" muscle, but as the Arc went on, he actually mellowed out. Showing that while he's excitable, he's not actually as excitable as what he introduced himself as. He's clever not "dumb muscle", he's multi-capable (he's the second pilot of the Marauder), he's in more control of himself than anyone on the team (hence that when he lifts Jesse up, Jesse is fine afterwards, when by that point we've seen that he lifts ships--he could've easily hurt Jesse but he didn't))

Given they don't look or act like clones, and looking and acting like clones is expected in their position or risk removal, they were effectively playing themselves up as their "cliches" in order to sell their skills and avoid unnecessary or even dangerous questions.

( Hunter is constantly snarky and never directly answers anything about "who you report to" or "how many missions you were on". But at the start, he was promoting the hell out of his unit's capabilities. )

The Bad Batch were a series of characters that bounced off each other beautifully. Its something everyone noticed about them.

(From Crosshair using Tech's shoulder as a mount, to Wrecker tossing Hunter up, to Hunter and Crosshair's subtle backing each other up, to Wrecker quoting Tech. )

Their group dynamics are part of their greatest strength as a set of characters.

With the introduction of Echo, who unlike in TBB, Echo was enthusiastic and clever and crafty, with a playful sense of humor (not unlike how he started as a character in TCWs).

You've got an excellent addition to a group that already has strong character dynamics.

Echo, having been an Audience Surrogate Character for Clones in TCWs, would've easily been the main POV of whatever BB show came out of TCWs. Because he can ask the questions the audience would ask, and Echo is a familiar character with years of backing that the audience would be familiar with.

So you're right, in my book, about TCWshow. Though how I view how right you are is different because of my subtext.

The Bad Batch Arc of TCWs was a Good, if a bit trippy, Start, and not a finisher for the team. After all, all introductions tend to be rather clumsy (just ask TCWs' pilot film).

Which laid in the implication that we're going to Get that Finisher. And the journey.

But when we hit TBB... Then turned the nuance surface of TCWs Bad Batch, and either cut it out, or dumbed it down, or in two cases, changed it entirely.

( TCWs Hunter was a snarky worrywort who let his brothers do the actions while he stays in the corner, but he's dragged out because he's the "Sergeant". TBB Hunter is a stoic quiet type who wants order and control. TCWs Hunter and TBB Hunter are two entirely different characters. In fact, if I may speculate fan wise, TBB Hunter would be the kind of person that would cause TCWs Hunter to Shutdown... and we have evidence of this from TCWs; where Rex gets into Hunter's face, and Hunter shutsdown entirely until after the scene change. )

( Wrecker got dumbed down. That Explosive Enthusiasm he played up, became his defining feature (They effectively pulled a misfandom on their own original creation). While they did show he does have vulnerabilities and some of that TCWs cleverness... it often got overshadowed. )

( They removed Crosshair and broke the group dynamic, destroying the strongest part of their characters, which was their interactions with each other. )

( Echo went from Enthusiastic, Clever and Humor, to Just Bitchy. They didn't bring back his other facet at all. And mid way through TBB, they removed his character--effectively making anything about him a moot point. It nullified his introduction into the BBs )

( And I'm not going to go into a tyraid here about Omega. )

And suddenly, there wasn't any nuance anymore, because the BBs acted the same everywhere they went. There wasn't any developments, because the BBs didn't discuss anything for the audience to know.

Maybe a dramatic glance in the distance--but that's more Cliche than their character archetypes. Character Archetypes, no matter how obvious, can shift and change as they Develop.

But there's no character developing in TBB that doesn't involve how the show broke what made them strong characters to begin with.

Its like trying to make a house, but the foundation is the ceiling and attic, and the "ceiling" is the 3000 tons of solid fucking concrete.

The story, which was about how the Empire rose from the Republic, was literally elsewhere, so there was nothing that spurred the characters to do anything that involved the plot.

Now as you can prolly guess by this point, I'm very very keen on Character Driven stories, and I pay attention to character. While I treat all things as a "fan-fiction" (Given that fan-fiction shows the effort it takes to create a story or create anything), when it comes to officially published stuffed--so with teams, and a budget, and hired people to do the work--I expect the "fan-fiction" to go up in quality, to follow the format and standard set up and simply either stick to it or surpass it.

I think TBBshow was too clumsy, too fragmented, and far too shiny, for what it had. Having a small part of the metaphorical quilt work, doesn't subtract from the fact that the rest of the quilt is full of holes.

Have small good points, I'm afraid, doesn't make up for the fact that it was overall, a poorly written show that bites its prior series' hand.

It just means that, now, you have to steal the good points to add to whatever BBsquad exists in one's mind.

You take the part of the quilt that works... and make your own Quilt, and damn whoever fucked up the first job.

[winderlylandchime]

Some of my favorite things he said about/during the podcast: - he came inside and went ‘HE HAS A FUN PERSONALITY! I didn’t expect that for some reason. Why was that? I think we’d be friends. Be honest, do you think he would like me?’ - ‘he is in school to be a therapist?! So no more acting? Wait does he not do tv? What the fuck? *long silence* from 1 to 10 how fucked up would it be to go to him and pretend that my wife and i are having issues..*long silence again* yeah, pretty fucked up. But imagine you go to therapy and the guy who fucked guys on tv is there to help you. Amazing’ - *randy says he never had confidence to do stuff like lil nas x* ‘wait what? He was getting rimmed on live tv at that age and he’s saying he wasnt bold and confident? HOW’ (This is where i did ask him what he meant about that and his reply was ‘i was sure that he and Brian (lol he still doesnt know Gales name), were walking around like the hottest bitches in the city since I’m sure everyone wanted them. So i guess Brian actor was walking around like the hottest bitch by himself..unless if this insecurity cane later then they probably fucked around town together *does fingers guns*’ i cant wait for him to see how gale is irl -(jordan mentions that he had to sneak around to watch the pilot as a kid) ‘and here we are watching it on the big tv and talking to our parents about it. And they say the world hasn’t changed *makes a fist* RAINBOW’ - ‘he has a cat named Latrice! And you made fun of me for Brian *turns to the cat* thats called hypocrisy, Brian’ -randy/jordan says something about blackface episode ‘WHAT? That was a joke, right?…yeah, it was…can they talk more about the show tho, i have many questions. So many. Too many.’ -*Jordan mentions Brian* ‘AHHHHHHH HE SAID HIS NAME’ - ‘real talk. Do you think a person like Brian exists? With the fucking and all that? Is the actor like any of that? But like more normal about some stuff? Cause I was sure Justin dude was like Justin for some reason but apparently i was wrong’ - ‘wait Justin actor dude didn’t like to be recognized by his role of Justin? Well thats..I thought he would be all HELL YEAH!! I fake fuck Brian Kinney! But he had shame? I was sure everyone would be hyped up about them’ - ‘hold the fuck up. He had issues with the sex scenes? *he looks at me all worried* i thought they liked filming it? Maybe cause early 00s sex scene filming was bad? I was sure he was all confident while filming them since…ya know’ -when they talked about religion, he called mom to ask what the priest at our church (we’re not religious, our mom just woke us up one sunday and said we should check it out to see what the big fuss was) said to him bc he only remembered it was funny and the answer was ‘after you asked if you can come to a confessional (he asked as a joke btw) he said that even he doesn’t have enough time for you and would probably stop believing in God by the end of it. Why do you ask? That was not a proud moment as a mom for me, no matter how funny it was’ - *randy mentions he’s shy vs how he used to be outgoing* ‘he’s shy? cause of the show? Huh? I need 20 more podcasts where he talks about it because i just found myself with even more questions’ - ‘HE WAS IN A PLAY CALLED COCK?! HE DOES PLAYS? About cocks? *sits back and crosses his legs* good for him *silence and then* imagine it’s about roosters’ - *randy mentions that he feels like he’s not taken seriously in certain places bc of his education/career* ‘he gets it! Ive had arguments about this! I like this shit! I agree with this shit! I need more of this shit. Give me all of it. Does Brian have a podcast? I wanna hear him talk. Especially about the aftermath of the show. Actually I just wanna hear him talk’ (the Gale crush is for sure alive) The main take away from the podcast was that he wants to listen to it all and he is obsessed with Randy’s personality cause he thought Randy was more reserved and maybe like how he was in S3 with Ethan. He didn’t know how to explain it better but oh well.

I sent my cousin all this while he was listening because, shocker!! The discovery of Randy’s podcast a few months ago made it through some of my family. Now I’m really starting to feel like Regina in the hallway scene in Mean Girls.

YES! Randy has a fun personality!

So your brother is imagining going to Randy for therapy and I’m imagining running into Randy at a continuing education course. Somehow him becoming a therapist makes him much more accessible!

But yeah this is where your brother begins to lose the belief that all the actors loved being on QAF and are endlessly proud of their roles and want to be recognized for them. Not that I think Randy *isn’t* proud at all but he was the youngest and certainly not protected from pushy fans and invasive questions.

I love that your mom just woke up one Sunday and thought “wonder what’s happening with that church thing, let’s go check it out” Also your brother wanting to check out confessional is equivalent to me wanting to take communion when I went to mass with my grandparents (my mom is Jewish so I’m Jewish).

You are sowing the seeds of madness in your family and I can only encourage it…

[38sr]

How did you got into marvel?

Hmmmmm, I guess I can answer this question now that I'm no longer working at Marvel. Before I begin, I want to preface that how I got to Marvel was very much a right time, place, fit and people situation. I don't think I would have been able to work on Spider-Man: Freshmen Year if it weren't for the genuine relationships I had built in the industry way before the production even started (or really pitched to Marvel in the first place). I go into more detail about networking and building vertical and horizontal relationships in depth in this previous ask. And with that, let's begin. So this story goes way back in March 2021 when I was going into my 3rd month as a storyboard revisionist for Critical Role: Legend of Vox Machina season 2. I had been DMed by a director I seriously admired and they asked me if I would interested in working on a sci-fi adventure show that would premiere on a streaming platform. I was so stoked. I thought, "Holy cow, I love this person's work and they actually looked at my stupid doodles and want me on their production????" So I say yes, go through the interviews, get the details of the show, etc. etc. Until we get to the actual job title they wanted to give me....which was a revisionist. I was kind of bummed out that they offered a revisionist role and not a board artist. At that point, I was a revisionist for almost a year and a half and I felt like I learned everything that I could in the position. But they persuaded me that being promoted is a possibility so I took what I could get (which I learned later is not always a good thing to do for yourself). I knew that I would be on CritRole until July and then switching back to Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3 until December of that year. I had no other job prospects beyond that so I said yes. But even though I said yes, it just didn't feel....right to me. And I should have listened to my gut at that time. Fast forward to end of July 2021. I wrapped up on CritiRole and went back home to NY for my birthday before starting Lower Decks S3 in two weeks. During that time, I had an assistant director over at Marvel contact me (we had worked together a year prior on a short pilot for an action show). They asked if I would be interested working on the new X-Men animated series as a board artist and---I said no. Yeah, I said no to Marvel. It wasn't because I didn't want to work on X-Men just 'cause. The start date conflicted with my start date for Lower Decks S3 and I just really enjoy the crew and production of that show and wanted to go back for another season. They understood and wished the best of luck for me. Although I won't lie that I was thinking about it a lot afterwards 'cause they had offered a board artist position....but what was done was done. So I go back to vacay mode. Until a few days later, I receive an email from Marvel Recruiting if I would be interested in working on an upcoming animated series. At that time, I thought the recruiter was talking about X-Men when she was actually talking about a whole different production. And granted, I can't be mad at the recruiter 'cause Disney is very lock and key with their productions. So me being dumb and not realizing it could have been a different project, I said no. Again. Yes. I did not say no to Marvel once , but TWICE. So fast forward to September 2021. I'm on Lower Decks S3 as a revisionist again. When suddenly, I get a DM from a friend inquiring me about when I would be done on Lower Decks. I tell him, " Oh, my last day is in December. Why, is the show you're on looking for board artists?" And then he proceeds to tell me that he actually left the production he had been on for 3+ years as a writer and is show-running his own show at Marvel. You've probably figured out by now this person was Jeff Trammell. Widely known for his work on Craig of the Creek (and many other productions haha) and the creator/head writer of Spider-Man: Freshman Year. We had met way back in March 2020 right before quarantine had begun and kept in touch in through social media over the years. Nothing big really, tweet here and there, comment here and there when we saw each other's work and such. I was honestly baffled. I had absolutely no idea that he moved to Marvel or had his own show there. But more importantly, this was the third time Marvel reached out to me about work. So I tell my older sister and she proceeded to push me into taking an interview with them. I really have to thank her for that haha. So I go into the interview, only with plans to hear them out and learn about the project. And then one interview led to another, and then another, and then another....until it dawns upon me: Holy crap. I...I don't think I can pass on this opportunity.

I wholeheartedly believe that I would have regretted passing on Jeff's show. The people I would work with, the project itself, and they offered me a board position not revisionist. In the interviews, it genuinely felt like they wanted me as a board artist and wanted to help me learn/grow on the production. It just...it just felt so right and I wanted to do it. But I was signed onto that sci-fi adventure show that would start when Spider-Man did. And in that moment I learned a huge lesson about job hunting in animation: Don't always jump at the first thing that presents itself to you. Learn about the project, your potential crew mates and take the time to think about whether or not it's a right fit for you/will it bring a new challenge to you. And I'll be honest, I wasn't happy with the offer I got on the sci-fi show. I had gotten comfortable being a revisionist and wanted something more challenging but didn't vocalize it properly. I wanted to learn and be in an environment that facilitated growth for greener artists....and that just wasn't what I felt from the sci-fi show. So I had to do the scariest thing I've ever done in my life which was ending my contract with the sci-fi show. I was so anxious about it....hoping that I wasn't burning any bridges or coming off as a flake for leaving (even though production didn't start until Feb 2022 and it was Oct 2021 at this point in the story).  But I had to do it and I did do it.....after 3 weeks of trying to get a hold of anyone at the studio 'cause I had no clue how to prematurely end a contract hahahahahahaha....but once it was done! I signed my contract at Marvel and would be starting on Jeff's show in the new year. And that pretty much sums up how I got to Marvel. Funnily enough, at the end of my contract for Lower Decks I had learned that the person who originally scouted me for the sci-fi show actually left the show before I did (along with other artists who I admired and wanted to work with). So in a weird way, everything turned out okay. The universe is strange like that I guess. But yeah, my experience getting into Marvel was a very much a series of life lessons that I'll never forget in a good way. I'm just incredibly thankful to Jeff for taking a chance on me and allowing me to be part of a really special production with such talented artists. If not for that, I think I would still be the same board revisionist who was too scared to leave my comfort zone haha. I hope that story was enjoyable(?). I understand that reading this might make emerging artists feel like, "Damn...I have to know someone in order to get on a good show like that?" And that's not true. It really is a matter of right time place, people and fit. And that's not something you can quantify or artificially create. It just...kind of happens and you learn how to read situations to gauge whether everything is lining up to what you like/need. And you don't really learn that skill understand you're in it as a green artist and experience it. At some point Jeff was a green writer, I was a green artist, all of us in the industry started out green without any big connections. and we had to learn how do to it. So with that, I hope what you take away from this story is building those genuine relationships with people really does go a long way in various ways in the animation industry.

[shame-is-a-wasted-emotion]

Rate your favorite ND female characters

Hey question asker! Thanks for asking. It's been long since somebody asked me. I never thought about this question because I solely love Kurt Hummel only with Blaine, Puck, Mike and such. I actually have no ranking for girls as well as boys. But let's see.

In order to get myself away from less trouble, let me rank it in s1-3 and then s4-s6

1.Tina Cohen Queen Chang

She has more plus for me than minus. I am not saying because I am an asian myself but she takes the cake. She sings well(underrated girl), she dances well(they put her in grp A:Better dancers in "Ice Ice Baby") and she is an unsung hero: sewing costumes for and members. She accepted many things without a say. I can feel her emotions.

2.Mercedes Jones

She is a less problematic character. Her smile is just out of the world. She just wonna sing and succeed in her life. I am glad she didn't end up with anybody because she showed me that it's okay to be without a partner. Sometimes, solitude let's you achieve more. I am subjective about her voice but Human nature is my favourite. Her duo with Kurt lit up my screen in early seasons. I didn't like her in Troubletones. It brought worst of everybody.

3. Quinn Fabray

This is somewhat unpopular now. But I prefer her. She started as a normal high school cheerleading head with head weight and had almost everything she wanted. But once she got pregnant, the harsh reality of life hit her life rock. She was pulled down many times after a development but she was a work in process. She learnt that there was life after high school. And she sticking with nd in s3 after Troubletone was formed warmed my heart.

Also, she is one of my favourite voices. She"?'s got stage presence.

I am going to kill myself for ranking these people after this. They had good moments but I disliked them some times.

4. Santana Lopez

She is really ,"darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream". She is Charming, hot (yes, I'll admit) but she was a little Satan. But I survived the NYC plot because of Kurt and her. Until that famous funny girl fight came.

Her rants were okay sometimes, but it got worse in later seasons. She started to rant just because she wanted too. But she was a better friend. She is one of the people who will be like," I can roast my friends like barbeque but I can only roast."

And anybody who says Kurt cried for unnecessary reasons, think of this girl who cried for cutting tanning privileges and for calling out she was mean.

Her voice is subjective too for me.

5. Lauren Zizes

She was nice addition to nd when Kurt left. Plus, Ashley Fink has good comedic timing and is charming. I love her attitude where she didn't give 2 shit about what other people said but she lowkey was a bully too.

Her voice isn't for singing but she is entertaining.

6.Rachel Berry

Her whole character started as somebody who will do anything to achiever her cake. I didn't care about her most of the times but she she really got on my nerves in later seasons. I felt like slapping her multiple times. She doesn't want to listen to anybody, she sent a person to a crack house just because she was threatened, she threw many people under the bus for no reason. She is one of the worse dancers too.

She was annoying downright at nyada and successses were served in her plate. I know she was work g hard but she had to let her work speak, not her mouth. I still can't digest that Rachel kept pestering Carmen when Kurt waited patiently. He did go to Carmen for second chance, but at least he did his first audition better, and he took effort to make a video tape if him singing another song(wake me up before you go go in acoustic version is pretty questionable though).

I was so happy that her tv pilot failed and she became slightly better. Also confusing your boyfriend about his career when he was already confused just so he could be with you?Nope for me.

I do t know how people love her and hate Kurt.

Her songs are totally subjective .

7. Brittany S. Pierce

I don't like her for some reason. She was bland for me. Not interesting. And I don't care for Brittana. Also she posted a sex tape of herself and girlfriend and got away. She kept dating people, she didn't have a stable mind on loving people. Also, her lines were sometimes hilarious but they were insulting.

9. Sugar Motta

Sugar Motta was... There. That's it. She was just a cash cow. She was funny sometimes but she is not for me.

Now for s4-s6

1. Unique Addams

The love child of Kurt and Mercedes. I liked her among later season nd members. She is a diva but she didn't throw people under her bus. Much like Kurt. I like her voice. I didn't like her catfishing but she was ok.

2. Tina Cohen Chang

Her explanation suits her too and I agree her on being bossy because putting up with a glee club for 3 seasons and when it's her senior year, she gotta enjoy and have her privilege. Her crush on Blaine was creepy but I understand. That's it.

3. Madison Mccarthy

She was an adorable munchkin. She was a supportive twin, I liked her energy. Wish we got her more.

4. Jane Hayward

Unfortunately Tumblr doesn't allow more than 10 pics.

I didn't care about her. She was okay.

5. Marley Rose

She was nice. She had great voice. She had sympathetic story. But I have nothing special about her

6. Kitty Wilde.

She was annoying to an extent. But she was better in s6.

That's it, folks. I had a nerve wrecking fun type. Thank you for making me think.

And oh, you can expect my 3rd Valentine one shot by tomorrow :)

See you then. I don't mean to trigger anybody. These are my personal opinion.

[bakerolivias-archived]

anyway i’m bored and i’m back into my echo/becho stanhood era so let’s get into it:

a lot of the vitriol echo experienced from fandom was somewhat unfair, especially on a show like the 100, where the entire point is to question the morality of decisions and how much survival is worth over doing the “right thing” - which, on this show is entirely subjective. like it’s perfectly normal to hate a character, for a character to get somewhat on your nerves, but some of the complaints regarding her were just plain nonsensical, and mostly out of boredom but also because echo deserves a lot more credit than she’s given, i’m here to address all the arguments against her.

1. echo was just as interesting, and multi-dimensional, as clarke, and as morally grey/compelling a character. in s2, she was a side character, a random girl in a cage, and we knew little to nothing about her other than the fact that she was a member of ice nation and she and bellamy were forming some kind of alliance and borderline friendship in the “you’re a war prisoner and our groups are fighting but you’re also being tortured and i don’t want you to die” sense. in s3 echo and bellamy had a familiarity to their relationship when echo seeked bellamy for help after she was “captured” (i think that’s what happened it’s been years since i watched t100 s3 i barely remember it) and he told the other person to let her go, exhibiting some kind of trust and friendship towards her in this scene too. now, i liked echo despite how little screentime she got as opposed to other characters like roan, because she was very interesting in s2, even when she spat on bellamy - and given the audience’s love for bellarke which had spanned multiple eps since the pilot, it would make sense that they wouldn’t be as enthusiastic about her, or a ship where the two characters’ first interaction was to spit on each other, but echo as an individual was pretty interesting imo. the reason echo wasn’t fleshed out as much before s4 was because she was freshly introduced and naturally had to take a backseat to clarke, the lead, bell, the male lead, raven and jasper and lexa... the list goes on. even roan got more screentime than her, because she wasn’t as important to the narrative, other than being the instigator for the Gina Died Incident so bellamy could become an ooc villain and be driven to genocide.

the Gina Incident in particular is what most of fandom seems to hate her for, and she didn’t seem to be particularly remorseful in the traditional way about it either - but remember, this is coming from ppl who liked BC even when clarke told bellamy his life and endangering his safety was worth the risk to further her plans, when she used information he’d given her while coming down from intense hallucinations to get him to come back from camp (a scene lots of ppl interpreted as a milestone/improvement in their relationship, much like the “i was being weak” scene), when bellamy and clarke betrayed each other left and right for the span of the entire show, especially s5 (clarke left him to die in a fighting pit at the hands of his tyrannical sister and still ppl hated on echo for wanting to avenge bellamy and being angry at clarke?? and physically assaulting the woman who got her boyfriend killed??? like idk about y’all but that’s perfectly relatable and justifiable to me lol). clarke is a very flawed person much like echo but because she’s a main, we root for her, because her side of the story is always shown so we can cheer her on as a hero. echo does one admittedly terrible thing, and because she’s not a main and thus we don’t know her motivations, we’re inclined to dislike her. all we knew her as was the blindly loyal soldier who would commit murder at her boss’s demand, even if it meant bringing a friend’s loved one to great harm.

but echo knew what she did was wrong, that whatever trust bellamy had in her couldn’t be restored properly, and she accepted this. there are many scenes where she quietly took responsibility for her actions, where she made no excuse, something the beloved protagonist clarke does several times (it was all for my people this and that). she was almost driven to s*icide in the s4 finale out of grief and shame for her actions - which, obviously, doesn’t absolve or redeem her of them, but the point is that despite complaints about tasya teles’s “lack of facial acting range” (which, considering the environment echo grew up in, it would more than make sense for her not to show her emotions plainly on her face but rather in her actions), she shows remorse and loyalty and the many things that make her character unique so blatantly and clearly.

2. echo experienced a lot more growth and development than fandom would like to acknowledge. echo is a loyal person, and had blind faith in azgeda’s actions and what they told her to do because that’s the environment in which she was raised. surviving on the ground meant to prioritize life, and the clan, above all else. grounders glorify war, grounders brutally punished their people (such as when nia forced echo to kill the original echo or when roan left echo to die in a poisonous radiation wave even though she only tried to help the clan, not just herself, survive). but she never used her upbringing as an excuse - it’s merely a fact that she was raised this way, and she’s held accountable by bellamy and the narrative for all her “sins,” as it were.

but here’s where her development and growth, which y’all like to ignore, comes in. in s5, she, for the first time, experienced the genuine love of a real family, who didn’t rely on her to commit murder or do their dirty work like azgeda did, who valued her for the first time as a person, not just as a spy or based on what occupation she could do for the group. her loyalty was still there, one of her many core traits, but when used properly it’s actually a very good character to have - and echo did not use it blindly. she did not support violence and murder for the sake of it, did not follow a leader or authoritative presence because she could, and there are several instances where this shows - she refused to give away the defectors to tyrant!octavia, she wasn’t the one who immediately followed the teachings of the primes despite being, arguably, the most vulnerable in the group to that kind of propaganda and brainwashing (plot twist: it was murphy who attempted to become a Bodysnatcher because he was so afraid of hell). we also got to see her background and childhood traumas in s6, the lack of which many members of fandom were complaining about, and then immediately hated once they got exactly what they said they wanted because it interfered with their favorite characters getting more screentime (which really was the main problem with echo all along, lbr).

3. becho was a very healthy, stable, and mature relationship. on the ring, bellamy and echo experienced a drastic change as they both needed to adjust to a life where violence was no longer necessary, where they could live in peace. much of echo’s actions on the ground were a result of wanting to belong in a group after she lost her family (and her friend, Original Echo) - and that desire being exploited. but on the ring, she flourished, as did her relationships. bellamy and echo learned to properly cope with the trauma they’d experienced on the ground, bellamy was able to hold her accountable for her actions (something the narrative never lets him do when it comes to cl*rke, especially after she repeatedly endangered his life and proved she could do it again and again), and as they got their bearings in a new life, they both began to grow into evolved versions of themselves. it was clear they enjoyed spending time together, that they were friends, and that friendship blossomed over three years before the buildup led to their eventual kiss.

and the writers make an effort to show them communicate, to challenge each other, to reassure each other about their biggest worries. echo confides in bellamy that she thinks their affection and love and respect for each other will change on the ground, bellamy reminds her that nothing would change because they won’t revert back to what their relationship was like before - trust and mutual respect was restored between them. in s6 - in their huge fight which BCs like to think is some kind of proof of BE being toxic for some reason, even though it was a relatively normal and organic conflict for becho as individual characters and for their relationship - bellamy confronted echo because he felt she was becoming emotionally withdrawn from him, and he feared this time they’d fall into their old patterns. echo was overwhelmed, because she was processing this big new change in her life - the loss of two members of her family - in the only way she knew how and felt pressured by bellamy, and went to get space away from him. he admitted he was wrong, he made the genuine apology, he let her grieve in the way that was best for her and was only concerned about her well being and happiness, and was a sweet, emotionally supportive, and caring boyfriend. the entire scene was actually designed very well, successfully rounding out becho’s relationship and help us, as an audience, get to know them more intimately - especially after the considerable backlash because their six years together onscreen wasn’t shown and thus fans couldn’t invest in the relationship.

idk about y’all, but this is actually normal relationship stuff and that fight is a lot more healthy because of the mature and rational way they worked through the conflict (it wasn’t as if bellamy endangered echo’s daughter and echo threw him into the hunger games and sentenced to his death, lol). it was resolved beautifully in a way that worked for them and made their relationship shine - and, comparatively to b*llarke, becho is the type of relationship ideal that’s actually for the most part healthy, excluding the beginning of their relationship. and even in that case, bell and echo were on different sides of a war, which fandom is inclined to forget, while clarke repeatedly betrayed and even shot at bellamy while they were in the stage of their relationship where they were (supposedly) friends.

4. echo’s “regression” in which she almost reverted back to her old ways are good for her character. while fandom likes to spew vitriol at her for being murderous (even though clarke can do the same thing and be praised still), it’s important to remember how echo grew up, and how those life experiences would shape her choices (which she has always taken full ownership of with little complaint, unlike the main who is allowed to run away and to whine about “impossible choices” that she makes in the interest of “saving everyone”). of course she’d be tempted to solve a problem with murder - every single character on the show has done this at least once. the temptation to become a “follower” as ppl in fandom bashed her for being in s7, the temptation to kill the people on bardo as vengeance, were tests of her willpower, of whether or not she truly grew and changed. raven was echo’s loved one who reminded her of their family, of the love they shared based on friendship and honor, of their promise to do better. she reminded echo what bellamy would have wanted, and because echo values the love and respect of her friends, she made the correct decision, to stop the cycle of violence (which cl*rke didn’t do, and had permission as the likeable main character to revenge murder someone on behalf of a loved one without being loathed and punished for it).

i actually do understand why people would dislike echo, but she was actually far more amazing a character than fandom gave her credit for.

[galvanizedfriend]

Do you belief steroline and Klamille were forced, or that they were both slow burns that captured a lot of people’s hearts? If you do think they were forced, which aspects would you bring foward from each relationship to justify it.

If they captured a lot of people's hearts I can't say. I think they did, both ships definitely have lots of fans, which I totally respect. But I'm not one of them, personally. 🤣 Different people are going to have different views, and mine aren't particularly flattering in this case. 🤣

I don't think Steroline was forced, because it does sort of make sense to a certain extent, I just think it was terribly done and it was written in a way that made it seem like Caroline was the only one with real feelings, while Stefan was just trying to get away. He always had to be convinced to stay with her, or to give her a chance, or to spend time with her. Caroline literally guily-trips Stefan into coming back to MF and giving her a shot, it's very nasty, and it only gets worse from there. It should've either ended in an amicable way where the two of them realize that they're better off as friends (which they were) and were mistaking their feelings for each other (which would've made sense), or Caroline should've moved on after one of the thousands of times Stefan leaves her without so much as a satisfaction.

As for Klamille, it did feel very forced to me. Its almost like they decided it had to happen, and then they just stuck with it, inspite of what the general feeling of the story was turning out to be. They didn't have any chemistry, they didn't have anything in common, Camille was a human with no understanding of the supernatural world, and to make her a psychologist who can summarize incredibly old and complex creatures with a few psycho-babble words is not only annoying but very OP. It's almost laughable that she compares being compelled to forget her brother died through magic shenanigans (which was actually a mercy compulsion, she wasn't handling it well at all) to Elijah being tortured into relieving the worst things he ever did in 1000 years of bloodthirsty existence. LOL Cami, please. 🤣

That scene she has with Klaus on the pilot episode with her watching the guy paint in Jackson Square was a good example of how the writers were not on to something good. It made no sense whatsoever for her to suddenly describe Klaus based on that painting alone 🤣 It was very on-the-nose, cheap writing, and that basically marks the whole of Klamille for me. And tbh, they barely interact a lot of the time. Camille is just sort of there, but she never really does anything, she has no story of her own, she's not even as important as Marcel or Davina as a secondary character. She has less screen time in TO than Matt does in TVD. You could just remove her completely from the show, or replace her with anyone else, and it would make no difference. She doesn't add anything besides offering subtitles to Klaus' emotions to the audience and excusing his terrible behavior, in complete opposition to what her character is meant to stand for. The build up to them getting together in S3 in embarrassingly bad. They barely even talk throughout S3, and Cami's vampire persona is awful. It was such a mess they had to kill her off. lol

I think there were ways they could've developed their relationship to make it more appealing, more realistic to Klaus' character and more gripping as a romantic interest, make it seem like a real slow burn rather than a very distant side plot that came up every ten episodes or so. But to me, at least, they failed miserably and I never bought it.

Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, nonnie 🥲 It's just my personal feelings.

[backtothestart02]

A Visit from a Friend - 1/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: I watched the Titans pilot and loved it, so I thought maybe Dick and Rachel could be headed for STAR Labs in Central City! Lol. Not sure how long this'll be or if it'll even have resolution, but enjoy! (There will be some westallen jealousy in this also, even though it's set when WA are already dating in s3, minus the Savitar SL).

...

Synopsis: There's only one person Dick trusts with a situation like Rachel's. He wears red and is really, really fast.

...

Chapter 1 -

The sun rose up over the horizon around 5:30 a.m. the following morning. Dick had been driving for almost 10 hours straight, but he knew it’d be worth it, in the end, to get to the destination where Rachel would be safe.

He didn’t know what exactly had happened in that old, run-down church he’d rescued her from. All he knew was one moment she was screaming for help, and the next she went silent, and something was attacking her kidnapper. Was it Rachel or someone else in the room? If it was Rachel, what did that mean?

He’d been struggling to come up with answers as Rachel battled sleep the entire way. She didn’t ask too many questions, and he was glad about that, because he didn’t exactly have the answers to give to her. Where they were going, sure, but who and why and if they’d even really be able to help her, he didn’t know. He just knew she’d be safe there. He could trust that team and the hero behind them.

He could trust the Flash.

“Where are we?” Rachel asked, when the car came to a stop.

She hadn’t exactly been sleeping, but the grogginess in her voice gave her away. She wanted to ask if she’d screamed but figured she’d remembered that. Maybe it was because she hadn’t fallen into a deep sleep that there hadn’t been any incidents. No screaming, no nightmares, no…episodes.

“Central City, Missouri.”

She blinked and turned to him as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

“I’m sorry…where?”

A smirk flickered on his lips before disappearing.

“I called ahead for a hotel room for both of us. Adjoining rooms, so you can have your own space, but I’ll be close enough for you to reach out to me if you need to.” He rested his hand on her shoulder. “You’ll be safe here, Rachel. No one is going to come looking for you.”

“And what if I hurt you? Or someone else?”

He sighed and pursed his lips.

“I have friends here who deal with-”

“My kind?” she asked bitterly.

He paused. “Have you ever heard the term ‘metahuman’, Rachel?”

She blinked.

“We’re in that Central City? The one that had an explosion a few years ago and now criminals have powers and some speedy guy in red saves everybody?”

He raised his eyebrows, amused.

“So, you do know.”

“I read, so what? I’m not like them.” She leaned forward. “I have the devil inside of me, not some superpowers brought on by a chemical explosion.”

His lips thinned.

“Still. I think they’ll be able to help.”

“D-”

“More than anyone back in Detroit.”

She sighed and slumped back against her seat.

“Come on. You must be exhausted.”

Making every attempt to suppress her wild emotions, Rachel unbuckled her own seatbelt and followed him out of the car and into the hotel. In no time at all, they’d gotten to their hotel rooms. It wasn’t super fancy, but it wasn’t cheap either. Regardless, the bed looked heavenly. She was about to collapse onto it when a soft knock came from the adjoining door.

She turned and opened it, peeking her head through the opening to see who it was, though of course it was Detective Grayson. Who else could it be?

After the last 24 hours though, the possibilities were limitless.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Just wanted to test out the door and let you know I’ll keep it unlocked, so all you have to do is-”

“No!”

His eyes widened, startled.

“Don’t keep it unlocked. I’ll pound on it if I need to get in. Or I’ll scream, and then you can open it. But don’t keep it unlocked.” She shook her head. “Promise me.”

“Okay,” he said, reluctantly. “Get some sleep. I’ll knock on the door in a few hours. Then we can grab some breakfast and head over to see-”

“The Flash?”

He smirked.

“My friend. Barry Allen.”

She nodded and the door closed between them. He heard a muffled demand from her that he lock the door, so, fighting against his nature as a protector, he did. Then he slid out of his shoes and jacket and fell onto his own bed, making no attempt to cover himself, only setting an alarm on the room clock for 10 a.m. That was more than enough time to make them fully functional and to phone the Flash himself, so he’d be ready for their arrival.

[purrincess-chat]

I've had this discussion before with friends, but I wanted to delve into it more. In a meta mood today I guess, but I've been thinking while watching s4 (well, I've thought it for a while but it's glaringly obvious in s4), but ML has a huge pacing problem.

I know that s1 was more or less a pilot season. It introduced the concept and dynamics of the show, and they weren't exactly sure if it would get its feet off the ground yet, but seasons 2-4 so far have just had a lot of pacing issues.

And I'm going to preface this by saying that everyone who can't understand the difference between critical discussion and salt, feel free to leave. I don't care if you think the show is perfect the way it is. Go do that somewhere else. People can and should be able to look at the media they consume critically. It doesn't mean it's bad or that they hate it. They just fundamentally understand that it is flawed, and enjoy discussing the plot and its flaws on a deeper level. Refusing to see flaws where they exist isn't the positive power move you think it is.

Anyway, back to the pacing issues.

S2 and s3 had barely any plot. The plot we did get was trickled in. Crumbs. Now we got to s4 and Thomas has declared that every episode will have Chat Blanc levels of bombshells dropped as if that's a good thing. Don't get me wrong, s4 has been better than prior seasons, but I still leave every episode feeling like they rushed to cram in too much.

We all know how I feel about the love rivals, and setting aside personal feelings, the rivals from a writing standpoint were not necessary. At least not functioning as love rivals. Introduce Luka and Kagami, sure, but from a storytelling standpoint the purpose they served in s2 and 3 was just to be a cheap distraction. And they didn't have to be.

The big draw of this show is the love square and its subversion of the love triangle. Now people argue that it's realistic to explore other options before getting together, and while that might be true of real life, that isn't in line with the genre/style of this show. It wasn't a needed lesson, so to speak. They drew us in with the promise to subvert a specific trope in an interesting way, then immediately dragged out that very trope. And not even for any big reason. They just needed an excuse to keep the endgame ship split. And as we can see with how swiftly they dropped the rivals when they were no longer "necessary" as distractions, the writers were always using them as an excuse not to put the square together earlier. They knew the square's chemistry was too good and fans were going to be foaming at the mouth by s3 if they didn't do something. Then the second they have another excuse for the square not to get together, boom. Dropped the rivals.

You felt cheated because it was a cheap tactic, and honestly, it was so avoidable if they had just paced things better.

Honestly, I feel like Alya should have found out in s3. Granted, in order to do that they would have had to changed a lot. So this is what I personally (you are welcome to your opinions elsewhere if you disagree or enjoy canon the way it is) feel would have helped fix this pacing problem:

S1 was a bit unavoidable, and it works for what is is: a market tester.

S2 should have focused more extensively on the lore and Marinette's guardian training. We should have been introduced to Mayura earlier. They should have spent more time expanding Master Fu's story and the order's backstory. They could have created tension with the girls/Alya/Marinette's relationships by having her constantly sneaking around to either fight bad guys or train as a guardian which begins to harbor Alya's suspicion. They very well could have moved Master Fu passing his role onto Marinette to the s2 finale if they were more efficient with their time, leading into s3.

S3 could have had Alya finding out. Marinette becomes too overwhelmed with her new duties as guardian and being Ladybug just as she is in s4. S3 could have been her exploring her new role with her bff by her side for support while they begin to build up the Agreste plot more.

S4 then would have been free to expand the Agreste plot without having to crowd in so many other plotlines. Everything would have room to breathe. Marinette would have been busy enough in prior seasons to justify not dating anyone.

What the rivals effectively did was waste time that could have been utilized to develop the plot further in other areas. I get some people like them, but from an objective storytelling perspective, they were filler. When you write a story, like an honest to God professional story, everything has to serve a greater purpose for the plot and move it forward, and if you are experiencing pacing issues or a plot line isn't working, you have to make the executive decision to cut it or change it. I get that time constraints are a thing in TV. Executive meddling happens. Deadlines are tight, which doesn't always leave room for this kind of long game thinking. I also get that this is (I believe) the first time Thomas has been a head writer. Mistakes are bound to happen. It's how you learn and get better. I get that.

This post is more just me speculating what would have made things work better. For me. So backspace over your butthurt comments. Your precious canon is still untouched. I promise. This is just my opinion, shared on my own blog (and not even tagged). Go make your own meta post.

But that being said, I enjoy s4, but it still doesn't quite sit right with me because they are putting too many eggs in their basket now in an attempt to be epic and up the stakes, but in reality, it just leaves the show feeling really unbalanced. To me.

If you like ML the way it is, great. Go enjoy it, scamp. I wouldn't be here if I didn't glean some enjoyment from it too. I just like to think about things sometimes. And that's perfectly okay.

[dangermousie]

Here it is - the moment my heart switches from like to love, for Crichton and the show, on every rewatch.

It is such a little moment. Aeryn and John escaped and Aeryn made contact with Crais, her superior officer. Of course, neither John nor Aeryn know that Crais wants to kill John because of the accident which killed Crais' brother (And this is so the Farscape ethos - John is doomed and hunted for a moment of pure bad luck that happened the moment he ended up here, a moment he did not know about and cound do nothing to change. As he said in a much later episode, they’ve basically found the map to the cruelty of the universe.)

And there is the scene. John is captive, peacekeeper guns all around him. Crais circling him like his personal piece of property (Poor John. This is only a start. This is not the Aurora Chair, not Grayza, not Scorpius, not Scarrans, not Harvey). John watchful and realizing the wrongness (and OMG his innocence breaks my heart) and Crais telling him he'll dissect him. And Aeryn speaking up and telling Crais (and I love this. She didn't have to say anything. She didn't have, she should know it's a risk in such a society) that she didn't believe John was capable of killing Crais' brother because he is not intelligent or brave enough. And Crais, crazy Crais, fixating on her and asking her in this tone 'just how much time did you spend with this human?' And. And. And. This is the moment I fell in love with John Crichton all over again. He gives this quick, intense glance at the situation and he speaks up (to Crais), quietly and a little bit desperately: 'Not much, not much at all.' Why? It's so hard to put into words. I think because in the middle of all this (where there is the probability of him being killed in a gruesome fashion) he speaks up for Aeryn automatically, without the second thought. Maybe because even though as an alien he has no idea what is going on, he catches on so quickly, judges it so quickly, recognizes the danger to her, before she does herself. Maybe it's the seriousness, and the intensity, and the reassuring little nod he gives to her. Even utterly helpless himself, he tries to save Aeryn. This Crichton is not yet the Crichton that will literally turn the galaxy upside down to save the woman he loves, not someone who will make impossible choices and bear it all, but it's all in there already, all the qualities, and you can see that. In a way, knowing how all of these people will end up makes it even more delicious. Seeing Crais, all neat and orderly, before he went so crazy and AWOL (and his dishevelment definitely paralleled his fall from grace) and way before he redeemed himself. Seeing D'Argo as a self-concerned, immature, angry being. Seeing Aeryn as Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun, not a complex evolving human being yet, not a woman, not a being of her own will. But the seeds are still there. I cannot imagine other peacekeepers speaking up for John, trying to save him a bit. When John says 'You can be more' that is the thing. There is a 'you' in her to be more. There is something to start with. She has a soul that is not warped past return. And the chemistry between the two? Amazing. Even in this first ep, where they are nothing more than reluctant allies at first, disdain on her part and confusion on his. Btw, that first meeting? I love it love it love it so much. I watched 'pilot' after I've seen S4 and I remember going, as Aeryn threw him against the bulkhead and hit him and then demanded his rank and serial number. 'John, meet the future mother of your child.' Heh. God. It amazes me how far the two will come and yet how organically. And it's so true about all the relationships. Watch D'Argo and Crichton interact here: the anger on D'Argo's part the 'he is crazy' on John's. They don't even tolerate each other and yet by the end they are the best of friends. I love that Farscape, even though its romantic relationship was so crucial (didn't David Kemper or someone describe Farscape as a 'love story') also had all these incredible, well-developed, organic, fascinating other relationships: friendships, familial. Another thing I love? John saves the day with his brain. God, how much do I love that. He is a scientist, not a military guy, not a 'space jockey' like his Dad. He is a scientist. And that is why he can never get used to collateral damage, to killing, no matter how much of it he does, he is forced to do. And the show never forgets that. Farscape is one of those rare fictions (because I am not just talking about shows, but movies and books as well) where I do get convinced that John is indeed brilliant. And that he loves the science, he loves discovery, he loves the work. Despite wormholes being tainted so much with everything else, he is genuinely excited, involved in working on them. I keep remembering the S3 finale where even though he is pretending to work for Scorpius, he can't help but get into it, where equations literally pour out of him in scribbles everywhere, on windows, on pieces of paper, writing on his own arms. John is an obsessive. Here it is yet small: he wants to prove his theory. And even in the middle of the escape he is excited that it's proven. His obsessiveness will of course be brought out spectacularly by his stress later on, and his feelings, but it's already here.   But to get back to what I was saying: I just love that he gets to win with his brain. And that is consistent. Because that is why he becomes the defacto leader of Moya. Not his amazing fighting prowess. He becomes quite competent in the later seasons, but he will never be pure warrior the way D'Argo or Aeryn are. It's his brilliant, crazy, completely creative plans. That, and the power of his conviction. John's conviction is an utter, absolute, contageous thing. It's not brought out fully yet, but I am struck by the foreshadowing of when he tells Aeryn to come with them, tells her she can be more, changes her life. It's the same conviction that will later have him walk into a Scarran station, unarmed, most wanted man in the galaxy, to get Aeryn out. And getting the Moya crew to come with him.   But then, all of John is already here, just not forced to the surface yet. His crazy humor as way of coping with the insane universe about him. The core of steel (he is lost and dazed in this new word which is great because he is in a way proxy for the audience, but he doesn't bend before D'Argo e.g. and he is adamant to D'Argo about taking Aeryn with them or no one escapes), the inner decency and basic kindness (that kindness will be almost beaten out of him but shadows will always remain) when he tapes up the broken eye-stalk of the DRD - “merely” a mechanical critter on Moya. Oh. GUH.

@mousieta I am so glad we are doing this!

[piratemadi]

ive talked abt this before but how fucking inspiring is flint’s s3+4 arc? s1+2 is a descent for him even at the end of s1 he’s showing suicidal tendencies (he gave up and silver had to drag him ashore) but for the whole first two seasons he’s tortured he’s cruel he doesn’t care about what damage what suffering and pain he has to inflict to get where he wants to be. ideologically even he hasn’t developed yet like in the pilot he tells billy that he intends to be a pirate king in the oncoming war. miranda’s death really just brings him down to rock bottom and we see him destroy charles town regardless of the innocents who live there. it’s a low point for him both personally and ideologically s3 opens and we see him at his absolute lowest point burning down cities and killing for no reason. he brings his men into a tempest and then into the doldrums and it’s explicitly stated that this is a reflection of his frame of mind at the time.

what brings him out of that? the solidification of his alliance with silver (the wind picks up the moment that they work together and save the crew). but crucially, that isn’t the ONE THING that brings him out of it. where does the wind take them, once they escape the doldrums? to madi’s island. and THAT is where he truly begins to come out of the depression thats been controlling him for months. he sees that a peaceful and loving community can exist in opposition to the empire, and that’s what gives him hope that the war can actually be won, that there is Something after violence and destruction and death, that peace and victory is possible after the war. and with that, with his emotional development, his ideology starts to develop too into something more compassionate and community oriented.

he genuinely respects madi and the maroons as equals in this fight! he understands that this community is literally what they are fighting for and that a victory like that against england doesn’t just require blood and violence (although it does require it) but it also requires respect and compassion! it’s so striking to me how much he prioritizes the maroons even though it would be so easy not to, how multiple times in season 4 he expresses genuine compassion for the men (once after the spanish raid, where he says get everyone to the beach, if they’re too injured to walk then you carry them, and once at skeleton island, where he’s doing his honest best to drag the men out of the water away from the guns, shouting at them to take my hand), how he goes from killing his best friend of 10 years over some money and positing himself as king of the new world to being completely ready to give up power to madi and silver (they’ll need you to lead them through it, she’s the best of them, you’re the best of us) and saying one of the most crucial and underrated lines in the whole show: i cannot believe we are so poorly made as that, incapable of surviving in the state in which we are born, grown so used to the yoke that there can be no progress without it.

Flint’s s3+4 arc is about recovering from a debilitating grief and depression, and it’s also about rediscovering a faith in humanity, a faith that we are not so poorly made as that! that we are capable of loving and peaceful communities outside of the empire’s rule! and part of that is because of silver’s support but that could only have brought him part of the way out of his depression. So much of it is because of the alliance he builds w the maroons, the solidarity he starts to champion, his friendship and ideological relationship with madi! and in this way the s4 flint is VERY different from s1 flint (even tho s1 flint is undeniably sexier) he is more compassionate he is more patient he is more trusting he has more faith in humanity and most importantly he is NO LONGER caught up in a reckless and grieving rage for thomas and miranda and he is able to move forward and find new love in silver and madi!

(interesting to note tho despite a new compassion that he shows he also shows just as much pragmatism as he always did. he kills the men when they get in his way but he also doesn’t go out of his way to kill them like he used to. consider: he could have killed hands multiple times, and never did. he could have killed billy multiple times, and never did. he never insisted on killing max, even tho he could have and who the fuck was going to stop him? rackham’s bitch ass? so he kills the men that refuse to get out of his way in the moment, like the men silver sent after him in the endgame, and he allows blood to be shed when it needs to be to serve the war, but he genuinely is not quite as violent as he was in s1, where he killed singleton and gates and that other mf under the boat because they were slight inconveniences to him, and the end of s2, when he slaughtered an entire city of people over miranda’s corpse. i think that’s an interesting thing to note because it shows that it’s not that he can’t stomach the idea of killing needlessly anymore, he’s just as capable of shedding blood as he always has been, but when he doesn’t kill its bc he’s CHOOSING not to kill, because pointless bloodshed does not align w the ideology that he’s decided to fight for anymore.)

[tarisilmarwen]

fav sabezra headcanons???

Oooh, do you want canon compliant ones or do you want me to go full hog with my personal shippy ones?

You know what, it's my blog, Imma do both.

Sabine absolutely was the one who cut Ezra's hair in between S2 and S3.  She caught him hacking away at his hair in the middle of a particularly self-hating angst fit (it was getting long enough to tie back and Ezra took one look in the mirror and choked at how much he looked like Kanan) and gently took the scissors away from him and sat him down and fixed the mess he'd made.  They don't say much to each other—Sabine makes a snarky comment about, "Well if you're gonna do this, you're gonna do it properly." and Ezra quietly thanks her afterwards—but it seems to clear Ezra's mood for a little bit at least.

(During this nice quiet moment, Sabine has a moment of Realization when she observes how much sharper Ezra's facial features have gotten and wow he looks so much older now and why is this making me feel Some Type Of Way?)

(Sabine absolutely has several moments of horrifying Oh No He's Hot about post-puberty Ezra that she cannot deal with, the poor dear.)

Ezra is actually a fairly decent artist in his own right (as evidenced by Ezra's Rebel Journal) and Sabine bonds with him sometimes by giving him technical pointers and sharing her paints with him.

Sabine is super protective of him.

Sure she teased and bullied him a little bit in the early days when Ezra was new to the Ghost but after getting fond of him and becoming one of his closest friends she just develops this very intense protective instinct over him.  If anyone remotely threatens him or talks down about him she is immediately up in their faces ready to fight.

Pre-Fulcrum Kallus learned this the hard way once when she basically lobbed a grenade at his face because one of his shots grazed Ezra across the back.

Among the recruits on Atollon, she develops a bit of a reputation for being likely to break your hand if you hurt Ezra's feelings.  Pretty much everyone on the base figured out very quickly that you did not mess with Ezra or you would have a very angry, very hot-tempered, very vicious Mandalorian girl to deal with.  (On top of the Lasat, the scary mom friend pilot, the psycho droid, and the Jedi dad-figure.)

Ezra... tries to be protective of her but it's not as effective.  Until he starts getting to be really skilled at fighting that is.

It manifests more in that he's willing to deliberately put himself in danger (repeatedly!) to spare her any harm, sometimes literally taking a bullet for her.

Sabine is very much an Anger Born Of Worry kind of person about this and will berate him for his reckless actions because how absolutely dare you, do you know you could have DIED?

Ezra tends to relax a lot more around her, and just feels super comfortable with her.  There's a kind of easy-going trust between them that he considers very precious.  He has absolute faith in her to have his back, and vice-versa.

They spar together sometimes when they both have a spare minute.  Sabine is much better at hand-to-hand of course, but Ezra surprises her sometimes with how much of a brawler he can be.  He also knows a lot of fascinating dirty/street fighting techniques.

They both have awful nightmares about the Nightsister incident and would often find each other up in the middle of the night making caf and unable to sleep.  They'd talk until morning most of the time, though once they fell asleep shoulder-to-shoulder in the dejarik booth to be found by a very concerned Kanan.

She actually really likes painting helmets for him.

Tristan teased her mercilessly about Ezra while she stayed at Krownest.  She had to insist, many times, "It is not like that, Tristan, I don't have any feelings for him, shut up before I dent your face."  Tristan doesn't buy it for a second.

Ursa of all people has Suspicions about them, and inserts withering comments occasionally about how improper a husband he would be, much to Sabine's embarrassment.

Alrich, on the other hand, absolutely adores Ezra and makes embarrassing comments in the other direction.

(Really, give me all the Mandalorian court shenanigans with the Wrens not fully approving of Ezra and Ezra having to prove his worth and the depth and sincerity of his feelings for Sabine.)

Sabine cut her hair short as a tribute to Ezra, after he disappeared.

She keeps his lightsaber until she can finally hand it back to him, in person.  After many tearful hugs.

(This is also when she basically proposes marriage to him.  "I spent the last seven years without you, Ezra.  I don't want to spend another day without you by my side.")

Oof, I made myself sad.

[mego42]

I 100% agree about wanting more fanfic lists! I honestly think it's the best way to get a variety. Everybody has personal preferences, if someone, who mostly reads long, fluffy au Brio fic, is making recs, they're not likely to mention short, angsty, canon Brio (which is understandable and fair!) so ideally someone else, who does like those, would also do recs. I'm pretty sure I've read or at least tried the vast majority of Brio fics, but the recs often make me re-read the fic and author.

YAAASSSS!!! I mean like, okay, I v much get why people have issues with rec lists, and I def do not by any stretch endorse the idea that recs/rec lists should be considered anything other than one person sharing a think they liked, but to me a lot of the issues (the same fics/authors getting recced, feeling like awesome fics/authors are going unrecognized) can be solved by more reccing, not less. everyone’s got different taste and different stuff they look/read for and I am extremely pro sharing that.

Idk, I think about it like this: in a previous internet life I was a YA book blogger and I lived and died by recs from other bloggers whose taste and preferences I knew. I mean, you know, I’d check out a book bc the premise sounded interesting but literally the first thing I would do was go to Goodreads and look for a handful of people who tended to like the same books I did and see what they were saying about it bc that was the best way to get a good idea of if I wanted to give it a shot. Or, on the flip side, there were some people whose reviews I followed bc I knew we v much did not read for the same things so if they hated a book for X, Y and Z reasons, I was probs going to like it (one thing about book blogging is if you want to keep current, you do not have a lot of time to mess around, snap judgements are key but that’s a whole other thing and idk if it’s even relevant anymore bc that landscape has changed so much). 

ANYWAY, the point is, I got in the habit and now I do the same thing with fic bc, tbh, I don’t have a ton of time to read, esp not when I’m actively writing which, with the exception of the last week or two, I’ve been doing p non-stop since I got here. All of which to say is, I am desperately in favor of fic recs for purely selfish reasons, I need them! Give them to me!!! Please!!!!!

That said, I uh, am v bad at returning the favor and I recognize that (I think I’ve made what? two rec lists for this fandom?) so I will try to do better to live by my own, idek what this is, moving on and here are 10 recs not really thematically linked by anything other than I’ve read them and loved them and don’t think I’ve put any of them on one of my rec lists yet (and if I have, my blog is a trainwreck I cannot be expected to remember what’s on it LET ME LIVE):

The Goodest Boy by EnsignDisaster

There’s a key turning in the lock and Buddy rushes over to greet his Master excited for her to meet his new friends. The door opens and he dances around Master’s feet rejoicing on the fact that she’s made it home. It's been literally forever.

“Hey Buddy what’s wrong? Need to go potty? Need to pee-pee?”

“Nah he’s good we took him out.”

Master does something very unMasterlike, she drops all the food she’d brought in on the ground and screams. It’s a non traditional avant garde type of hello…Buddy loves it. Mostly because while Master taps furiously on her small light box and sits tense in the corner opposite his new friend Buddy can lick up the egg smashed on the hardwood floor.

Buddy! The! Dog! POV! no further explanation necessary. Technically WIP, but it covers the whole pilot in a way that could be read as standalone (THOUGH THAT WOULD V MUCH GIVE ME A SAD though, when did the show forget the Bolands had a dog? so maybe that’s a tragic casualty of canon, idk)

May The Moon’s Silvery Beams by @pynkhues

Emma hums in agreement, and Rio turns her around to sit her on the counter, grabbing one of the older looking boxes of muesli while she kicks her legs out, heels bumping back against the counter, watching him. He gropes around the inside of the box, finally just opting to pull the plastic cereal bag out and peering inside. He can’t quite keep the grin off his face when he sees the wad of cash lining the bottom. This woman kills him, she really does.

Then there’s a little face peering up beside him, trying to peek into the box.

“What is it?” she asks, and he tilts the box sideways so she can see inside.

The upside to not getting here until s3 is that old fic is new to me! Huzzah!! Idk how many of y’all have already read this on but if you haven’t I highkey recommend. Extremely cute take on what if Emma woke up when Rio and came by to collect his/Beth’s/whoever's money during the shutdown. Cannot believe I’m reccing kidfic. Witchcraft!!!!!!

Maybe You’re My Fantasy by ohmisterjapan

He fucking loves the involuntary. It speaks to how he likes to unlock chaos and walk away. He's been called a control freak before and it felt like such a misunderstanding of him - he's all about self control but he doesn't want to control others. It's more that he enjoys revealing to them how little they can control themselves. It's more that he likes to stand still in the eye of someone else's storm and pick coldly through the wreckage.

Another oldie but a goodie. This fic is more like an extended character study (first chapter Rio POV, second chapter Beth) and I LIVE FOR THIS KIND OF SHIT. I really really really love the take on both characters, it really digs in and pulls out some nuances that made me sit and think about my own read of them and I love it.

A Shock Of Blue by mintletters16

“You don’t look very well. Would you… like me to get you a glass of water or something?”

Her voice is low but smooth, laced with a softness that cuts straight though to his core. Strawberry blonde locks fall gently just above the pair of magnets freezing him in place.

He can still feel the chaos tearing through his veins - emanating from the gold plated gun stuffed in his waistband - and suddenly he can’t be here anymore. Can’t meet this wide-eyed gaze that’s been locked on his for the past God-knows-how-long anymore.

Can’t see blue alive and concerned when he just left it cold and void somewhere in oblivion.

She’s looking at him like he’s on the brink of madness. He thinks maybe he is.

Apparently, it’s backlist rec day over here and I’m not sorry. This one is another technical WIP but the chapter works as a standalone (BUT if the author decided to return to it I WOULD NOT BE MAD). It’s a what if Beth and Rio met pre-canon and it works so!!! well!!!! The tension and fascination and build are all *chef’s kiss* plus the writing is gorgeous and lyrical and ugh, I love it.

for a moment we were strangers by openhearts

“We got stuff,” Rio motions with a nod to the backpack Beth hadn’t noticed when they arrived hanging on the back of one of the chairs at the island.

She swallows and turns back to the dishes, realizing Rio apparently means to sleep there , assuming the place isn’t bugged.  Or for some kind of cover story if it is.  She turns and fixes Rio with a narrow-eyed stare, studying his face, the corner of his jaw especially prominent from the angle she’s looking up at him.  He’s methodical about drying each dish and setting it back on the rack, maddeningly ignoring her hard stare, so when he goes to take the next plate from her hands she grips it tightly and gets his attention.

“Hey.”

“What you on about now?” he asks, irritated.

It gets her gut uneasy, how he’s just . . . there, settling in, in ways he never had before, no matter how nonchalantly he would let himself in through her locked doors.  

“This is,” Beth tries, failing, to find words for it, “. . . it’s weird .”

This one takes place post 204 and Rio and Marcus end up spending a long weekend staying with Beth and Emma for reasons (that work, for the record, I’m just not trying to summarize rn) and it’s domestic and cute but honestly my fav part of it is how weirded out Beth is by how easily they slip into sync. The story does an excellent job balancing where they are in canon (uneasy post-sex truce) with a snapshot of what they could be if they got over themselves (HA! as if) and Beth is DEEPLY FREAKED which makes her slow slide into realizing she could maybe sort of kind of oh shit like it/him??? that much more satisfying.

Not So Careful by @bensonstablers

When he doesn’t answer, her eyes go to his but he’s too busy watching the letter opener which is still pressed against the back of his hand. Curiously, Beth runs it up his arm, careful not to press too hard, and smiles a little as he shivers. Pulling her leg up onto the bed, she shuffles closer to him before pressing the tip of the sword to his chest and slowly circling his left nipple with it, being sure not to get too close.

“You ain’t gotta be that careful.”

And when she lifts her eyes to meet his, he’s got that look. The one that always makes a lump form in her throat and for her to fall back into bed with him without a single thought of what they have to do that day. Only thing is, this time they’ve got nothing to do for the rest of the weekend and well, staying in bed the entire time had seemed like an appealing idea so she allows herself to give in a little to that look.

It makes me EXTREMELY SAD that knifeplay ranked so low on the kink survey so I’m gonna need y’all to check out this V V V EXCELLENT example of it and come back and tell me you’re sorry and you voted wrong. I am v reasonable what are you talking about.

love (where it wasn’t supposed to be) by @lilliloves

"You know what I can't stand?" Rio asks, stepping closer. It's a rhetorical question but he pauses for a second and watches Dean sniff, watches a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead, watches him shift on both his feet as he contemplates making a run for it.

"A guy who don’t realize how good he's got it." Rio continues, looking Dean up and down in disgust. "A guy that will literally fuck up a good thing just to get his dick wet."

"Yeah, well I can't stand a guy who can have anyone he wants but chooses the married woman he's not entitled to.” Dean shoots back. "And I really can't stand the fact that you're always in the room with us even when you aren't there."

And who brings him into the room Dean hmmmmm????? Jk, jk (or am I). In this one Rio catches Dean out on the town with another woman (bc of course he is) and tries to call him out but whoops! gets called out himself. I really love the like, idk, undercurrent of wistful regret in this fic. I love Dean straight up calling Rio out on his feelings (spoilers but there’s an exchange right after this one that made me straight up holler), and, you know, obvs I am here for Rio making Dean feel like an ass. 

Hell Is Other People by makemanybraver

Rio: We're in Hell, Elizabeth! If you don't think you belong here, then repent! Don't fuck everyone in the room in hopes that you get to go out!

Beth: Why do I have to repent?!

Rio: Because you did some fucked up shit in your life, Elizabeth! You keep doing fucked up shit here, too! And you think you don't belong here!

Beth [screaming at the top of her lungs]: Because I don't!

This fic is existentially bonkers and I love it. It’s the kind of experimental format/homage/what have you kind of thing that I L O V E. Based on No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre, Beth, Rio, and Fitzpatrick are stuck together in a room in hell for all eternity. What more do you need, honestly.

Working On Things by odenkirk

Unknown Hold up, Elizabeth. I'm really thinkin about you here.

Beth turned her face into the pillow, effectively suffocating herself for a moment, but thinking it was a good trade off for the way the cool silk of her pillowcase chilled her skin.

She lifted her head to glance at the still sleeping Dean before replying.

Beth I'm thinking about you too. But this can't happen.

She wanted him to know she wanted him, but she also thought that admitting she was already there would save Rio from trying to convince her. She wanted him, but morals had to win just once in a while.

YES this is technically Beth/Dean while also being Beth/Rio BUT it’s also sort of Rio/Dean and I am HERE FOR THE DIVERSITY OF SHIPPING leave me alone who asked you.

Five Times He Knew What She Was Thinking, and One Time He Didn't by JoeyLee

Aight, so tell ‘em I was hittin’ it. Said deliberately blunt, eyes locked on her face the whole time, just to see those blue eyes widen. She looked so shocked that he almost laughed, so he softened it teasingly just to keep her going. Oh, I’m sorry, sweetheart, tell ‘em we were makin’ love.

Then he just watched her, just watched her face, just fucking fascinated. Her lips were parted and her eyes were big as saucers, and…there it was. Before she could look away flustered, he watched the thought go through her mind. Him and her together.

He wondered what she was picturing or where. Them in the back seat, her bed, a motel?  Her on top or him from behind or his face between her legs?

Whatever it was, the blush started immediately, and he watched it bloom out from her cheeks to her hair. Then she was tearing her eyes away to gulp a little.  But it didn’t knock her down for long before she was looking back. And then, wait, was she actually asking him how to go about telling a fed they were fucking?

Okay this is another technical WIP but works as a standalone. I am absolutely fucking feral for character POV takes of canon scenes and this is a supremely excellent take on Rio POV of some notable scenes from the pilot through 204. Imo it brilliantly captures Rio’s voice and I love it a lot. 

HEADS UP I am absolute shite at tracking ao3 to tumblr unless people have specifically told me someone’s ao3/tumblr name SO if you recognize any of the non-tumblr authors on please lmk so I can tag them and YES I recognize that I am asking y’all to do things for me throughout this entire post and I’M SORRY OKAY I’M A WHOLE ASS MESS LOVE YOU BYE

[uservillanelle]

Killing Eve ― 3x01 (Review)

I didn’t rush to write this review right after the episode, as I sometimes need to rewatch the episode several times to actually appreciate it and spot a thing or two. I know, everybody’s writing these, their thoughts, so I’m sorry if some of them will be repetitive, but I do want to get my thoughts out! Soo shall we get to it?

Dasha

What is interesting to me is that they chose this flashback of Dasha being a gymnast in her early age as the very first scene of the episode. And let’s not forget, it is the first scene of the entire season, meaning it has to be very important one. I don’t think they brought her in just to play Villanelle’s next handler. She was her mentor before, which makes it a lot more personal to both of them. There’s more to her, I’m sure. So far I’m loving the dynamic between her and Villanelle. There’s this... old-friends reunited kind of vibe, but then again, they can be laughing one moment and trying to choke each other to death the next. In this aspect they are very similar. 

That brings me to Dasha’s killing style. It is unique, something we haven’t seen in the show before. It can only mean competition to Villanelle. And she’s so confident that her work is better than Dasha’s. Not only does she say it to Dasha, but later on copy her style during the spice kill ― which, by the way, I think is very underrated. 

Villanelle had to ask Dasha about her part of the deal, twice. Then she brought up the possibility of going back home ― back to Russia. It might be true, but I don’t think that’s everything she was promised. And it’s one more reason for us to keep watching to find out, hm?

The Wedding

All I can say about the wedding is ― WOW. I was looking forward to it and it didn’t disappoint. Actually, it’s the best part of the episode for me. Many people have said that it was ‘waste of potential’; ‘they only did it to set up a meeting with Dasha’; but really. I don’t think we would’ve gotten the Villanelle wedding in any other circumstance. Like, think about it. A wedding is not something Villanelle would normally do, right? She doesn’t care about such things, yet in this case she does it. Yes, she LOVES a good show and attention as well as being rich and have everything she ever wanted including having the power and control of it all. And since she’s getting over Eve, why not find another woman and marry her to prove to everyone and to herself, that she is totally over the Asian woman with amazing hair? She’s extra like that and I love it. And don’t get me started on the tuxedo blazer AND black tulle ruffle top. She wore THAT for her own wedding. Just thinking about it makes me want to go feral. 

Mooving on, the irony of Villanelle not only bringing up Eve during her wedding speech, but saying she is ‘so much happier now she’s dead’ while immedially afterwards glancing around the place almost as if she’s expecting to see Eve. She hopes she’s there... and it makes me wonder, what if Eve actually was there? What if she somehow made it to Villanelle’s wedding and just... can you imagine? What their interaction would look like? Plus having MARIA there the entire time and the guests? Damn. 

Then there’s casual Villanelle simply enjoying her wedding cake, because why the hell not? And on top of that ignoring her new wife during the dance. I mean... this is SUCH Villanelle thing to do. She couldn’t care any less. Then again we are reminded of how awkward/uncomfortable she could get around people when she’s being.. more or less herself. I haven’t seen her like that for a hot minute. She has always been brilliant in slipping into other groups of people, pretending to be a part of a conversation, it never really was an issue for her. Yet this time she’s not really pretending to be someone else. She is Villanelle and yes, she is awkward. I love that we got to see that bit. 

And of course... it wouldn’t be Villanelle’s wedding if there wasn’t a fight involved. Why not start a fight herself? It’s exactly what she did and having Dasha show up only highlighted the wedding scene even more. It wasn’t all about Dasha being there, it was about Villanelle trying to prove to herself that she’s finally moving on and I, personaly, needed that. It’s a shame the wedding scene ended so quickly, I mean we could’ve gotten a kiss or two, since it’s a damn wedding! Though I’m still really glad we got to see it. We actually got to steal a glance at Villanelle’s wedding. That sounds so surreal on itself. Are we sure they didn’t take this from any of the fanfics? 

Carolyn

(warning: possible spoilers/predictions ahead)

She’s still a very shady lady. Carolyn must be the most mysterious character on the show, based on how little we know about her, her work and her family. I’m glad that someone is finally confronting her about the previous operation in Rome. What’s even better ― Hugo sued MI6 and he has EVERY right to do so. The entire mission was a blood bath and someone has to answer for it. Yet, despite given circumstances, Carolyn remains completely still during all the accusations she has received and even refuses to apologize during her conversation with Kenny. None of the previous events that took place seem to be valuable and important enough for her. And that makes me wonder.. that maybe the Twelve ordered Kenny’s death to stop any further unofficial investigations AND to punish Carolyn, because Kenny’s all she has, right?

Well, now they will be bringing up Carolyns daughter ― Geraldine. Up to this point we knew that Kenny was Carolyn’s only child, but since he’s gone now, there has to be someone else related to Carolyn and we got Geraldine. From what we know now, they do not have a great relationship which makes me even more excited to see them interacting. 

Since the Twelve put a hit on Kenny... I’m starting to think that maybe Carolyn is next on their list, and possibly Konstantin. In S3 trailer we got a quick shot of Carolyn in a car with a driver. And there’s Villanelle, pretending to be a police officer, chasing someone down. If I’m correct, Villanelle will come after Carolyn and will try to assassinate her. Now why would Villanelle try to kill Carolyn? Either she will find out something related to Eve and Carolyn being involved, maybe wanting to take revenge? It’s not very likely is it? But the Twelve deiciding to take out Carolyn, and Villanelle doing the job sounds more like it. At least to me.

Eve

First off... the scene in the store is not only the first scene of Eve we see in this episode, but it shows exactly where she is right now. Where her mind is, how she’s dealing with everything around her. Cearly, she’s done with everything, running on auto-pilot for the most part of it. She’s one huge mood. Eve really must be the most relatable character for us as viewers. If something like this happened to us... we would basically be Eve. 

It’s been 6 months and that’s the Eve we see. She’s struggling. And she should be. She almost died and now everything seems to be reminding her of Villanelle. The song in the store, the cashier’s talking about spaghtetti and Rome?! Then the other cooks at the restaurant talking about one of their’s crush and how it started with infatuation and now it’s love. Everything about it screams Villanelle. We know it. Eve knows it. And most importantly... the SCAR itself. No matter where she goes, what she does... she won’t be able to erase Villanelle. She has been scarred for life and so was Villanelle and guys... that is just so brilliant. They are meant for one another and that’s a fact. Either they will end up together (hopefully) and somehow manage to create some kind of future together or they will die together. Either way.. they can’t hide from one another and that makes their next meeting so... so special and important and intense and all of the other things. I simply cannot wait.

Knowing how the episode ended, I didn’t think I’d appreciate Eve and Kenny’s scene together so much. It’s so deep and sincere and reveals a lot about what happened and where they are separately and together. I’m glad their first and last interaction this season was a light, positive one. They even talked about getting beers at the office during weekends. And knowing that.. Kenny was basically the only person who understood Eve and where she’s coming from, his death is exactly what can and WILL push Eve forward in investigating the Twelve and eventually reuniting with Villanelle. Back to S1, when Bill was killed, Eve was so determined to catch Villanelle and ‘kill her with her bare hands’ that no one seemed to be able to stop her. So this time... will be similar to it, if not even greater. 

Villanelle

Soo... Oksana wants to be a Keeper. Oksana the Keeper! It actually makes sense to some extent, that she will eventually want to get a ‘higher’ position in the industry and why not be the Keeper then. She has always wanted power and control and Keepers have that. They hold valuable information about the organisation that no one else knows. It’s a very important and dangerous position too. I can see why she’d want to be a Keeper, and not only that... she is still curious about who is in charge. How the whole system works. Though, at the same time.. knowing Villanelle, this might get tricky. She’s still very childish and impulsive and all other things.. she still needs to be handled by someone. That’s why I’m a bit concerned that if she ends up becoming a Keeper or having to handle other assassins (which she will, in next episode), things will go terribly wrong. I hope I’m wrong about this, because god, do I want to see Villanelle as a Keeper and continue being the top boss bitch in the industry.

Her confidence continues to fascinate me. Especially her confidence around Dasha. She knows she’s better than her and that’s all there is to it. Not only she says it but she proves that by her first kill this season. I honestly can’t wait to see her future kills, because so far it looks very promising.

Konstantin

Only a couple of scenes of the show’s dad this episode. Apparently he has several phones which he is struggling to deal with. He’s living several lives and that shows. In S2 he was all determined to get back to his family. But what we see in this episode is that he’s not with his family anymore. He’s working again. And based on Irina’s voice mail, he and his wife are separated. His wife has a boyfriend now and Irina is there with them. (I hope they will bring her back, what an iconic, hilarious yet annoying child) 

Konstantin receives several shady messages, one of which reads “time to go fishing”. It can mean literally anything. But for some reason I’m feeling that they want us to think he had something to do with Kenny’s death. It could be him, it could be an assassin Konstantin is handling right now. Or it’s not him at all, but we believe it’s him based of what we saw so far. Too many questions and not enough answers so far. 

He was the Twelve’s target back in S1 and had to stay low during S2 as a “dead man” so now.. I’m not really sure what his status is. Some of us saw the leaked photos of S3 finale and what might possibly happen... and that just brings me back to my previous point of Carolyn and Konstantin being the Twelve’s targets this season. Will they survive? And if they do... how? If they don’t... does that mean Villanelle and Eve will now be completely by their own and possibly on a run from the Twelve?!

Kenny

There’s not really much to say here. We ALL loved our dear Kenny. He’s probably the most innocent character on the show and he had to go. Now, I don’t believe his death was done for shock value. Not his character. A huge, meaningful character had to die in order for the rest of characters to get moving. For the entire story to move forward. They are setting up a serious plot here and I am excited, despite being really upset about Kenny’s death. 

I think Eve will be the mostly affected character in the show by his death. Carolyn doesn’t seem to be very affectonate towards her son, but hopefully it will make her realize just how big of a trouble she in. Eve, however, will be forced to get back to investigate the Twelve and she will not stop until she does so. She’s all by herself now. The determination, the anger as well as other feelings will drive her this season to get the much needed answers and get to the bottom of the whole thing. Meanwhile... Villanelle seeks information and control as well. She is trying to investigate the Twelve in her own way. So why not pair them up?

Overall thoughts

As many have said it, the episode felt different to me as well. I think that’s mostly because we have set our standards so high, that we immediately become disappointed if the episode doesn’t deliver as much murder, Eve/Villanelle scenes or something else we might be expecting in particular. 

I found myself wanting to compare the episode with other seasons and that is a mistake. We shouldn’t be comparing it because previous season had different plot, the overall feeling was different and the characters weren’t as developed as they are now. Furthermore, the show runner changes each season and that is what we need to look at. Phoebe and Emerald have done incedible job during those first two seasons but now it’s Suzanne’s time to shine. All three of them are different people and have different ideas and views as to how they see the characters and where they want to take them. So I think we might need to “forget” the previous two seasons and be way more open minded when it comes to third season. After all it’s the most personal one and it has a different feel to it. It’s more serious, and it is setting up an actual plot for the series. It’s a good thing. And as much as we hate changes like these... I think we should embrace them this time and let the show go in the direction it is going without the need to criticize it or control it. 

I’m beyond excited to see how everything will unfold and where this season will take us. Based on all the trailers and interviews I’ve seen so far... this will be a one helld of a ride and I am NOT prepared for it!

If any of you reached this point, you seriously deserve an applause! Hopeuflly you enjoyed reading my nonsense lol! Let me know if you’d like me to write a review for the next episode, because I do have plans for writing for the entire season, but it’s always better when I have an audience to write for! 

Now if you have any theories or thoughts don’t be shy to comment or message me so we could chat about it! I’d love nothing more than a good conversation about the show we have a common obsession for! 

[casebasket]

The Mystrade Treatise

I am long, long out of the Sherlock fandom, but I still have a soft spot for mystrade after ~ 7 odd years (the only thing I really cared about in the show), so when a friend asked about mystrade I hit them with a spontaneous 2000 word block of text. I thought I’d share it as an homage to the still quietly existing community of mystrade shippers out there. Basically, in this essay I will argue for my interpretation of how the BBC TV show Sherlock (2012) establishes an implied relationship between Mycroft, (The Government) and Lestrade (The Force) in the subtext. This analysis will be broken down to two parts: 1) show chronology / their history and 2) their compatibility, which can be further split into 2a) personalities and 2b) external circumstances. 

(The beginning is the only formal(ish) part of - I’m calling it a treatise -, the rest of the piece is written in “I typed it all in messenger app” style. This all came out off the top of my head, so if you think I’m missing something I’m open to the callout)

TL;DR: I’m still mystrade trash and I’m pulling the receipts on mystrade canon

1) Their history - it's clear they know each other and are in communication with each other since the very beginning - and very likely even before - the events of the show. Just a show tidbit, the ending of the pilot episode has Lestrade watch John and Sherlock walk away happily staring into each other's eyes and tell Donovan about their potential as partners, whereas the actual first episode replaces him with Mycroft talking to his assistant Anthea, which shows their character parallels. In one aspect, their role as "aggravated older guardian" is a shared one and one that - rationally, but in fanon - allows them to commiserate with other another. Also, Mycroft kidnaps John in his very first day of him meeting Sherlock, so reasonable to conclude he did the same to Lestrade, so they've clearly met. And, I believe it's canon that Lestrade helped Sherlock with his drug problem, so he's clearly run into Mycroft, whether it's because his brother's OD'd or found with possession or whatever whatever. The possibilities are endless.

We have hints of them knowing each other throughout the show - in season 2 episode 2 the Hound of Baskerville (I am surprised and appalled I know this off by heart instead of more important things), the duo meets Lestrade in a tavern where he's clearly back from holiday and when Sherlock eggs him by basically calling him Mycroft's lackey, he, aggrieved, says "I don't just do what your brother tells me", which is a line I still unfortunately remember over 5 years later, and that is the first precedent set in canon that they clearly communicate. We can interpret this line, given the circumstances, that Mycroft asked him to cut his vacation short to go check up on his brother, and Lestrade, being whipped, was like fine.

This is mere speculation, but in that mini episode, Many Happy Returns, Lestrade is listening to Anderson go on about his conspiracy theories on how Sherlock is still alive, and at the end of it he passes a newspaper article about Sherlock, and he smiles at it like he KNOWS he's still alive somewhere even though he just walked out calling Anderson on his bullshit and dismissing his theories, and I like to interpret that as Mycroft told him Sherlock's still alive. Plus, when Sherlock greets him after his two year absence, the way Lestrade reacts is less “am I seeing a ghost because you’re supposed to be dead” and more “you’re finally back I already know you were alive because my boyfriend Mycroft told me”. 

The first time we see them in frame together (in the mystrade community this is famously known as the 29 frames moment because they only showed up for - 29 frames, like 2 seconds) was in season 3 episode 3, where Sherlock goes missing and everyone looks for him in the hidey holes they know of. Lestrade is seen in Mycroft's office while Mycroft tells him about potential hiding spots. Honestly he did look hella dismissive and rude but you know what? Everyone was stressed. But this shows not only is Lestrade trusted in his secret government offices - and likely this was the secret one because it looked like a cellar - but he trusts Lestrade implicitly. When Sherlock is about to leave on a plane, Lestrade's in a pub watching the TV screen when Moriarty's face is all over it and the very next scene we see Mycroft on the phone with someone getting the news that this was happening. Coincidence? I think NOT - Lestrade called up Mycroft and told him, CANON.

And then there's the Christmas special or whatever it was, about the abominable bride, and yes, this one is set in Sherlock's drug fevered mind, but that only means that, in Sherlock's mind, he sees the two of them as a set (Sherlock ships it confirmed lol). During the whole episode when we see the canon versions of Mycroft and Lestrade they are together as a unit. When John leaves him, Sherlock's mind goes to the most reliable thing in his life to help him, which is his brother (and his brother's boyfriend) and his friend Lestrade to help him, together. Sherlock asks the two of them to help him dig up a body and they share a Look, which is clearly Mycroft's way of asking Lestrade to do the dirty work of actually digging and Lestrade resignedly concedes because there is no other way to analyse the Look, and in the next scene we see Sherlock and Lestrade digging in a grave while Mycroft holds up a lantern because Mycroft doesn't like legwork and Lestrade, clearly his boyfriend in Sherlock's mind, understands this and is willing to accommodate.

And then we have the whole of S4, or as I like to call it, Johnlock hell but mystrade victories!, because in s4e1 when Mary is shot in the aquarium, the first person they look at is each other, indicating they take some level of comfort or seek it out from one another in a room full of other people, also the two of them arrived together so they clearly coordinated, also when the gun was lifted Mycroft looks shocked and steps back a bit while Lestrade moves forward in a “ready to step in” protective gesture, and this all happened in the same frame, and there are gifsets of this happening, and everyone was quietly screaming (Johnlockers in pain, mystrade shippers in "look at them sharing a frame together look at these scraps we're getting"). In the second ep we don't see them together but we do see Mycroft getting hit on by Lady Smallwood and he looks hella uncomfortable about it, while Lestrade is talking with another detective and Sherlock shoots him down telling him she's not the one (because clearly we all know who is the one and Sherlock knows it's his brother).

Oh yeah also jumping back to S3, Mycroft is saying no one can match him and he sees everyone as goldfish but Sherlock is like oh really and was lowkey concerned about him and that's how the mystrade fandom got this whole goldfish thing and it's adorable (special shout out to duchessclovery ‘s masterful fanvid romcom series A Fish Called Greg), and in the wedding ep Sherlock calls Mycroft to attend the wedding but he refuses, and Sherlock says "specter in the feast" to entice him and I like to interpret that as him lowkey jabbing him with a *in*spector in the feast because Lestrade was there looking tired and lonely throughout the whole ep lmaaaaaaaaaaaaao.

Anyway back to S4E2, Mycroft is getting hit on, Lestrade is the most tired we've ever seen him, Sherlock is trying to waive off Lestrade's suitors to save him for his brother. Why is Lestrade so tired? Yes, he's questioning a suspect or something, but also! maybe it's related to his love interest getting hit on, who knows???? And lastly, the last ep of S4, the golden era of mystrade, at the very end of the episode after we've seen Mycroft at his most vulnerable, Sherlock asks Lestrade to "take care of him (Mycroft). he's not as strong as he seems". This was an explicit request by Sherlock, addressing Lestrade correctly for the first time, to take care of his brother, and Lestrade says yes. Of course I will. S4 ended with the promise of the him taking care of Mycroft and honestly I don't care about the entire episode except that part

 2)    A: their personalities: so, Mycroft, as his colleagues know him, is ~ the ice man ~. He's hard to know, even harder and more stubborn and isolated than his brother, and on top of that he's like, contractually obligated under his top secret government job to not be known. That makes him, and this is canon as Sherlock discussed his loneliness with him in S3, even more lonely than his brother, and probably, as much as he likes to think himself more accommodating than his brother and he can definitely pretend for the sake of appearances, more difficult to deal with than Sherlock if he really sets his mind to it. But he's not a complete block of ice - after all, ice can melt - and he has soft spots for his family, esp. his unruly little brother, and by extension (maybe more necessity than real care, but still) the people his brother affiliates with. Because Sherlock is so tricky to deal with, I believe he has a soft spot for people who share that softness for his spiky sibling, and no one cares for Sherlock as he does except for Mrs Hudson, John, and Lestrade. Lestrade's done it for even longer than John, and in the show plays a somewhat paternal figure to Sherlock despite him causing him even more stress sometimes than solving cases for him would relieve. Lestrade is shown to drop everything to help Sherlock when he needs it, and is considered one of his best friends when Moriarty put a sniper on each of Sherlock's closest acquaintances (Lestrade was a target). Lestrade always saw the good in Sherlock despite everything, and believed he could be great. Very few sees the same potential, or shows that level of kindness for - lets be honest here - someone we would want to kick in real life. Lestrade's kindness and patience, enough to deal with Sherlock, surely can be extended to involve Mycroft, as Mycroft's protectiveness extends somewhat to Sherlock's friends.

And this is not a one way street of just Lestrade being kind and accepting. The people Sherlock surrounds himself with appear dull, and have "normal" lives, but secretly either have a florid past (Mrs Hudson) (and her present with the race car and her quick thinking when the flat gets ransacked) and/or crave adventure and danger and intrigue (John) (Molly). Lestrade is the probably the same. He seems aggravated by Sherlock but still like him a whole lot and truly care for him, and you don't go into policing if not for some kind of excitement. He has a failed marriage with his wife who boringly cheated on him with a PE teacher, like how predictable and cliche, and they broke up. Lestrade is loyal, and he wants to fix things, but in the end it doesn't work out. The show doesn't really tell us why, but given what we know of his work and his habits, he probably spends way too much time on the job and in part, neglected his home life. That isn't to say the cheating his wife did can be condoned, nor was it justified, but it does tell us that Lestrade is a workaholic who craves excitement and adventure which explains his attachment to Sherlock. Who else can match that with him in a relationship? Another workaholic who surrounds himself in government intrigue and MI6 bullshit cloak and daggers who also share a soft spot for the most annoying detective consultant, of course!!! For all we know from the show, Mycroft is Lestrade's one constant relationship outside of work. Their common interest is keeping their shared loved ones safe. Beyond that, even though Mycroft feels bored by everyone because "no one is as smart as i, hohoho", Sherlock used to be the same but he found John. We see Lestrade able to hold his own against Sherlock sometimes too, and he is a detective inspector, so as much as Sherlock likes to call him dumb we know that Lestrade's actually pretty smart. If he can hold up his own against Sherlock, he can hold up his own against Mycroft. Mycroft needs someone with the patience to go through all his bullshit, and Lestrade needs someone smart and interesting and protective, because as a protector himself sometimes you forget you need someone to protect you in turn. And that is basically their whole thing - two fierce guardians, trying to protect the world, finding they also need protection, and finding it in each other (end of season 4). Also there's this scene where Lestrade is sitting by his desk with his feet propped up while he eats a donut and says "not my division" which looks exactly like this scene where Mycroft is sitting by his desk with his feet propped up looking smug, or as the mystrade shippers like to call it, "boyfriends picking up each other's behaviours". Essentially, the johnlock relationship sort of parallels the mystrade relationship in that we have a smartass, spiky, secretly vulnerable one paired with a badass, patient, relatively more sunny one. But more mature. And also preferable. The two of them share some kind of relationship that has reached the point of nonverbal understanding, as we can see in their quiet glances towards each other during the few times we see them on screen together, that requires a level of trust and time. 

2)     B: compatibility in external circumstances - this is a short one, it's mostly that they're both workaholics who needs someone to understand their unpredictable work schedules, and also how minimal their social life can get being a) married to work and b) work can be classified and you can't tell anyone about your case files / government coverups. No one could understand the need for secrecy and getting up in the middle of the night for a case/subterfuge than Mycroft and Lestrade, as their career roles work in tangent with each other. And they share (1) chaotic child between the two of them, so they just. get it when one receives a call telling them to fish this loud annoying bitey man child out of the Thames. Their jobs get in the way of establishing close relationships, so who better to relate to than another who live the same kind of life and can understand?

[k-s-morgan]

I just read an amazing Hannigram fic with thousands of kudos written during season 1 timeline. For people who were watching back then, did the shipping start from season 1 ? Please tell me everything in details. What was the reaction, what were the cues people picked ( no s2 / s3 in horizon) .. I am all ears and need a long indulgent read from you. What was the reaction from season 1.. and what was everyone expecting to happen to all characters ?

Hello! Ah, it’s so interesting to read the works published before all episodes aired - and S1 as a stand-alone is the most confusing since people could only guess what the central plan was. It’s difficult to figure Hannibal out based on it without at least S2 there.

I am actually a pretty new old fan. I joined after S3 aired because I tend to wait for the shows to be complete before watching them, so I wasn’t around during S1 and S2. I did read everything I could find, including old discussions, though, and I made a wonderful friend @typicalher who has been here from the very start, so her insights helped me to learn a lot.

So, S1 and the situation in the fandom. Obviously, the shipping was very varied at that time - you could easily find Hannibal/Alana and Will/Alana fans. Some were making bets on Hannibal/Bedelia since Bryan mentioned Hannibal getting a love interest in S2. Hannigram was there from the beginning, too - in fact, as it’s evident from Bryan’s pre-S1 teasing tweets, some people were hoping for some Hannigram content even before seeing a single episode. Hannigram had a small group of shippers ever since the books came out, with Hannibal being briefly drawn to Will before getting pissed off at being denied his phone number and sending Francis to attack him with his family. The movies, with all the “Remarkable boy. I do admire your courage. I think I'll eat your heart” and “How I'd love to get you on my couch” only fuelled the shipping, even though it was never particularly large-scale. The fact that one of the promos for the show presented after the pilot entailed Hannibal sniffing Will, some people caught on onto what was happening at that point already. But no one really took it very seriously, and people’s opinions differed. 

Some were swooning over Will with Alana, calling it an amazing exploration of a relationship between two mature people. Others expressed hopes that Hannibal would try to get closer to Alana to mess with Will. Some were excited to see Hannibal touching Will’s shoulder in E9 and expressing the desire to be a family with him and Abigail. A bit of discussion from those times I saved out of amusement:

Commenter 1: I thought that whole scene had a homoerotic feel to it.

Commenter 2: Gay dads. Gay dads.

Commenter 3: I thought that whole show had a homoerotic feel to it.

Commenter 4: I feel like Hannibal is sexually attracted to Will, but I might be making too many leaps here...

Commenter 5: I don't think he is sexually attracted to Will. I get the sense that he is only sexually attracted to himself. As a pure narcissist, I don't think he is capable of feeling attracted to another person, regardless of gender.I think his attachment to Will is based on the fact that somebody can finally understand him. I think he legitimately see's Will as a friend.

Commenter 6: It's great to see more of Hannibal with his own psychiatrist. The fact that he seems to genuinely want a friendship with Will seems so touching. His reaction when Will came over to his house to tell him he'd kissed Alana was priceless and almost showed a hint of jealousy (but maybe I'm reading too much into that).

Some stuff about Will and Alana:

Commenter 1:  I am so loving everything happening between Will and Alana. To have characters talk out their issues despite sexual tension, and hold off on a relationship because of them... it feels almost revolutionary in today's television landscape.

Commenter 2: A romantic relationship would weigh down the show. They really don't have time to get invested in that. It's pretty obvious from an outsider's POV that there's a Will/Alana attraction going on, and to not acknowledge it would in some ways actually draw more attention TO it. My guess is they're setting something up for season 2 or 3 (if we get them).

Commenter 3: At the rate he's going, by season three Will's going to be drooling in a mental hospital somewhere.

Commenter 4: I'm pretty glad the whole Will/Alana thing was a bust. She's right about them being bad for each other, and I feel that if they did get into a relationship, that drama would just distract from the story. Plus Will is such a tragic character, a relationship would normalise him too much.

Mads already said he plays Hannibal as in love with Will at that point, so some took it into consideration while others ignored it. People seemed to love the show: they admired how cunning Hannibal was, worried about Will, and screamed at the finale. Many were looking forward to seeing how the tables were going to be turned, with Will paying Hannibal back. 

 People’s major theories included Hannibal seeing Will as a protege / adversary - there were even fights about it since some thought he was genuine in his care while others believed he was just playing a game; many believed Abigail was still alive; Will was predicted to spend most time in jail in S2 while being consulted; many thought Will and Hannibal would be trying to dance to one up each other next. Will’s darkness was a rare topic and no one really thought Hannigram would take the central stage in a mutually romantic way. Will’s Becoming wasn’t a common topic either - few people considered that he might start indulging in his own darkness. Many were wondering how much Bedelia knew and why Hannibal was crying about his lost Murder Family when he was the one to destroy it. 

Interesting links: 

This is a panel from 2013. At 39.13, a person asks about the eroticism between Will and Hannibal and everyone starts cheering. Hugh says he thinks the connection between them is profound but that he doesn’t think it’s sexual. Bryan asks, “Oh yeah?” 

And here you can read discussions of all episodes as they were airing. I think the quotes I provided above are from there as well.