#i guess i just feel like friendships get sidelined in the story in favor of the budding romantic relationship

[hua-fei-hua]

perhaps doing an experimental work featuring a pairing i’m not known for focusing on that is also typically relegated to side pairing status was not my best idea ever but at this point i have accepted my fate as the writer of cult classics and flops

[reinerispretty]

beneath the moon. (sokka x f!reader) pt8

hello!! sorry for the wait, this week has been a little bit crazy for me :) but thank u all for your patience!! i adore all of u

pt1

pt7

pt9

“Yeah, Appa hates going underground,” Aang said. “And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable.” To confirm this, Appa let out a small growl. (Y/N) smiled and hugged Appa’s nose, giving him a light kiss on his fur. She might fear a lot of things about her new life, but Appa was not one of them. They left the nomads at the lake, only to return a few moments later covered in ash from the Fire Nation catapults that had been hurled at them. 

(Y/N) was so scared. She hated being scared. Back home, she had felt like one of the bravest girls in her tribe. She was willing to defy authority. She wasn’t afraid of bullies like others were. For as long as she could remember, she had tried to approach her life without any sort of fear. But here, out in the world, she felt so small. It was difficult for her, adapting to the nomadic lifestyle of the Avatar and his friends. Each new place they encountered had different cultures and different people that (Y/N) feared of offending. Even not being referred to as ‘Princess’ caught her off guard. The people looked different, the food tasted different, and sometimes she had trouble taking it all in. Plus it was so unbearably hot, she wasn’t sure how Katara and Sokka had ever gotten used to it. 

She chastised herself in her mind, for standing at the sidelines of any interaction their group had. The others were more talkative and far more open than she ever dreamt of being. So she stayed silent and watched, inhaling each piece of her new life bit by bit until sometimes it felt like she was suffocating. (Y/N) new that the whole point of her leaving the tribe was so that she could live the life she had always wanted, but she was doing a horrible job at it. She looked over her friends’ easy-going mannerisms with slight jealousy. 

Her friends, could she even call them that? She considered them to be her friends, but (Y/N) had no basis of friendship to go off of. (Y/N) had only one true friend in her entire life, and now she was gone. Everything had always been so easy with Yue, and now (Y/N) found herself replaying every single word she had said that day over and over again and reliving the embarrassment. 

She watched as Momo approached the bank of the river she sat along. He sniffed the air once and bent down, lapping up the cool water. (Y/N) frowned. “I wish I had been born a flying lemur monkey,” She muttered. Momo stared at her in confusion. 

Their group had reached an Earth Kingdom outpost a few days ago in hopes that they would be escorted to Omashu. The results of their visit were near-disastrous, and they decided to travel to the city by themselves. They had been walking for a few days now and rested at a small lake. Sokka drifted along in the middle while Katara and Aang practiced their waterbending. (Y/N) had had her waterbending lesson with Katara earlier that morning. 

“Why don’t you hop in?” Sokka asked as he floated past. “The water’s fine.” 

“I can’t swim,” (Y/N) said simply. Sokka raised an eyebrow at her. 

“You’re a waterbending, what do you mean you can’t swim?” 

“I don’t have to swim in order to bend water,” She said defensively, her cheeks flushing red. “Besides, we have to get going soon.” 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He turned to Katara and Aang. “Will you guys be done soon? We have a lot of ground to cover if we wanna make it to Omashu today!” 

“Like you’re ready right now?” Katara called back. She continued teaching Aang his waterbending. Sokka grumbled to himself, something about ‘any minute now.’ 

(Y/N) wasn’t quite sure how to feel about Sokka. Her eyes were trained on him now, watching his every move as he moved through the river. She hadn’t been the nicest to him when he arrived to her tribe. She only tolerated his presence because of Yue. Then he had done her an enormous favor and provided her with the escape that she had always wanted. Since then, their exchanges had been few and far in between. She spent most of her time talking to Katara and Aang. Sometimes Momo and Appa, but never really Sokka. She rested her chin at the tops of her knees. Maybe it’s too painful, she thought to herself. Because every time she looked at Sokka, she thought of Yue. 

Her thoughts were interrupted as a group of singing people wandered into where they were relaxing. “Hey, river people!” The man holding the guitar said. The four kids stared at him quizzically. 

“We’re not river people,” (Y/N) said slowly. The man blinked at her. 

“You’re not? Then what kind of people are you.” 

“Just people,” Aang said with a shrug. 

The man had introduced himself as Chong and he had a wife named Lily. They traveled with another man named Moku. Once the others dried off, the nomads, along with Katara, Aang, and (Y/N), all sat around Appa as they told stories of their travels. (Y/N) couldn’t help but be absolutely entranced by what they were saying. She had seen more in these last few weeks than she had in her entire lifetime, and it shocked her that there was still more out there to see. Lily strung them all flower crowns and placed them atop their heads. (Y/N’s) was made from lovely lilacs that grew around the lake. 

The nomads informed the group of a pass through the mountains that would lead them directly to Omashu. “I think we’ll stick with flying,��� Sokka interrupted. The almost parental look he gave urged the rest of his group to get up. 

“Yeah, Appa hates going underground,” Aang said. “And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable.” To confirm this, Appa let out a small growl. (Y/N) smiled and hugged Appa’s nose, giving him a light kiss on his fur. She might fear a lot of things about her new life, but Appa was not one of them. They left the nomads at the lake, only to return a few moments later covered in ash from the Fire Nation catapults that had been hurled at them. 

“Secret love cave, let’s go,” Sokka grumbled. 

(Y/N) dusted herself off as they walked to the cave, her frown deep and her forehead creased with unhappiness. “I just washed this,” She huffed. 

“Come on, princess, it’s not that bad,” Sokka said, and just as (Y/N) was about to snap back at him, she looked at his smile and realized he was joking. The anger left her face quickly. 

“Not a princess,” She muttered. Sokka’s smile fell into sad one before he turned back to the nomads. 

“So how far are we from this tunnel?” 

“Actually,” said Chong, “It’s not just one tunnel. The lovers didn’t want anyone finding them, so they built a whole labyrinth!” 

“A labyrinth?” Sokka and (Y/N) asked at the same time. 

“Oh, I'm sure we'll figure it out,” Chong said with an air of nonchalance. 

“All we need to do is trust in love...according to the curse,” Lily hummed. (Y/N) and Sokka stared at each other. 

“Curse?” 

“I didn’t sign up for a curse,” (Y/N) mumbled bitterly.

As they reached the entrance of the cave, they learned that whoever entered and did not trust in love would remain trapped within its walls forever. This shook (Y/N) deep to her core. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to trust in love like the two lovers wanted. The only love she knew was for her family and she was quite sure that that wasn’t the same. 

Swiftly though, they realized that the Fire Nation was still tracking them. Reluctantly, (Y/N) entered the dark cave. Within minutes, the entrance behind them collapsed. She stared in horror as Appa pawed at the rocks. 

“It’s okay Appa,” Katara reassured him, but her own voice did not seem so sure. 

“It’s fine,” Sokka said, trying to be confident and take charge. “All we need is a plan.” 

“The last time you had a plan, we almost died from fireballs,” (Y/N) noted. Sokka waved her off with a flick of his hand. 

“That was at least thirty minutes ago. My slate is clean. Here, I’ll keep track of all the ways we go, so that way we can solve it like a maze. Chong, how long do those torches last?” 

“Uh, about two hours each.” 

“And we have five,” Lily said as she lit all of the torches. “So that makes ten hours!” Sokka ran over to her and stomped out all of the flames. 

“It doesn’t work like that if they’re all lit!” 

(Y/N) sighed. “I’m gonna die in here.” 

“No, no!” Aang said. “We’ve gotta remain positive!” 

“Okay, I’m positive I’m gonna die in here.” 

After ten dead ends, Sokka came to the conclusion that the tunnels were changing. This led to a massive panic within the group, that alerted their presence to a giant wolfbat. It swiped at their heads and Sokka tried to shoo it away with one of their torches, but the hot sparks landed on Appa. The poor animal roared, shaking the cave around them and causing rocks to fall, separating Katara and Aang from the rest of the group. 

“Don’t worry!” Chong said to Sokka and (Y/N). “At least you guys have us!” 

(Y/N) leaned over to Sokka and whispered, “Do you think I’m a good enough waterbender to kill them?” Sokka stifled a laugh, but shook his head.

“We’ve gotta think of a plan to get out of here.” (Y/N) sighed. 

“I don’t--I don’t know. I’ve never been trapped in a cave before.” 

“Oddly enough, me neither.” 

“Really? With all your adventures I was sure you’d have at least some experience with this.” 

“Yeah, well,” Sokka shrugged. “All the times a super dangerous cave was presented to me I turned it down, so I’m kinda lacking experience.” (Y/N) let herself smile at him. Sokka’s eyes darted from her to the nomads. 

“We all need to think of a way to get out of here.” The nomads smiled their big, goofy smiles. 

“I think the best thing to do right now,” Lily said, “Is to play a song!” They all started strumming their instruments and singing a song about two fish traveling through the river. 

Her hope was quickly dwindling, but (Y/N’s) brain was far too distracted trying to think of a solution to their current problem to notice. She paced around the dirt floor and stared at the curvature of the cave. Could they go up? Could she use waterbending to get them out of there? Could they use Appa as a battering bison? 

She whirled around, turning to look at Sokka. “How did the two lovers find their way through the cave?” 

“Earthbending, I’m assuming.” 

“And love!” Chong added. 

“And love,” Sokka deadpanned. (Y/N) shook her head. 

“They had to have anticipated that more people would come through here. That there’d be a way for them to get out...”

“Love!” Lily said. 

“If you guys say love one more time I’m going to stick these rocks in a very not-lovely place!” (Y/N) snapped. The nomads stared at her with wide eyes. 

“She’s not very full of love,” Chong mumbled. (Y/N) crossed her arms and buried herself into Appa’s fur. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. (Y/N) wasn’t very full of love, not anymore. 

The cave began to shake again, but this time the sound of dozens of wolfbats surrounded them. They flew overhead of the group and (Y/N) ducked down to avoid them clawing at her. Sokka waved his arms frantically as they passed. 

“Hey! Sokka saved us!” Chong cheered. (Y/N) opened her eyes and shook her head. 

“No, they were running away from something.” 

Just after she said it, two large badgermoles appeared from the shadows of the tunnel. (Y/N’s) mouth fell open as she stared at them. She had only heard stories about the badgermoles from back home. They were the original earthbenders and they were giant. They very nearly towered over Appa, who let out a low growl at their presence. The two moles sniffed the air, their noses pointed directly at Sokka. (Y/N) could practically hear him gulp as he stepped back. 

She cringed as he stepped on Chong’s guitar, but the sound made the badgermoles stop approaching. “The music!” Sokka said, scrambling to pick up the guitar. He started strumming, rather horribly, and looked back at the nomads angrily. “A little help here!” 

They began singing a song, which seemed to make the badgermoles happy. (Y/N) tried her best to keep up with the words, but her singing came out as incoherent mumbles. Slowly, she began to approach the one that stood closest to her. She put her hand on its rough fur and began stroking. “Do you think you could help us find a way out of here?” 

Both moles sniffed the air once and lowered themselves to the ground. (Y/N) grinned at Sokka, who ran over to her and lifted her onto the badgermole’s back. She pulled him up and he sat behind her, his arms wrapping around her waist as he gripped onto the animal’s fur. She felt herself blush but held her head high as they began earthbending their group out of the tunnel. 

“Nice work back there,” (Y/N) said to Sokka. “I didn’t know you were so into music.” 

“I am a man of many talents,” Sokka said casually, and (Y/N) laughed. Perhaps this was the start of them being friends. It only took them being trapped in a cave together, but it was a start nonetheless. “By the way,” Sokka said. “I think you’re very full of love.” 

(Y/N’s) face flushed furiously once more and she cleared her throat, staring straight ahead at the moving rocks. “Thanks.” 

---

Tag List!

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[theepsizet]

Me ranting about Chris Chibnall part 1: Historical Stories

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be ranting about the Chibnall era and how frustrated I am over the quality of it. Today we’ll be looking into historical stories and why they don’t work in Chibnall’s tenure as showrunner compared to his predecessors.

Watch for the tag “Chibnall rants” if you want to view more. With that out of the way, let’s get started.

While I could technically be making a YouTube video about this, plenty of others have already done so.

The thing is about the writing quality of the show is that it dropped. Dramatically. Chris Chibnall has a knack for writing crime dramas — anyone who has seen his work on Broadchurch and Life on Mars can agree with that — but so far he’s shown to be pretty bad with science-fiction such as Doctor Who. (This is evident in his episodes in the RTD and Moffat era, but that’s another entry for another time.)

One of the things that he often gets criticized for is the fact that he has this habit of putting “politics first, story next”. And yeah, he does. We’re about 24 episodes in, and it’s pretty obvious he’s only making firm political statements about humanity and society are the main focus rather than the plot & characters of a story.

The historical stories in his era of a blatant example of this. Since Doctor Who is a show about having adventures throughout time and space, it wouldn’t

Well... uh... yeah in this case it is.

Most of the historical stories in the Chibnall era — except for Demons of the Punjab but we’ll get to that — tend to have their main focus on real-world historical figures rather than the plot. Historical stories in Doctor Who tend to find the Doctor and their companions landing in a historical setting and, coincidentally, battling aliens alongside those historical figures. Usually the story will focus on what made the figure well-known and inquorate. And while it comes across as formulaic, it’s not a bad formula:

The Doctor and Rose battle ghosts with Charles Dickens.

The Doctor and Martha battle alien witches who share Shakespeare's genius for language.

The Doctor and Donna solve a murder mystery with Agatha Christie.

The Doctor, Amy, and Rory attempt to discover why a siren is plaguing Henry Avery’s crew.

And so on and so forth.

Except with the 13th Doctor... the stories focus on the historical figures, not the story. The best example is perhaps the weakest of these historical stories, Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror, where the Doctor and her companions spend 80% of the story learning about Tesla’s life (even going as far as to include Thomas Edison, who doesn’t do anything other than being an egocentric nuisance) and not bothering to deal with the fact that piratical alien scorpions are trying to kidnap him and take over the world. The Doctor solves the problem by simply pointing her sonic screwdriver pointing at the queen’s device and sending her back to her ship. She then tells Tesla to activate the tower and the Skithra leave Earth. The story then ends with the Doctor telling Yasmin about the future once they leave.

That’s it. That’s exactly what happens, and it’s jarring to think this is what Chibnall presents a historical story as. Pointless runaround and educating the audience about a historical figure, not caring about the conflict at all. It’s bland, pointless, and feels like a waste of time once you move on.

Before Chibnall became showrunner, Moffat presented a historical story called Let’s Kill Hitler, in which the Doctor, Amy, and Rory take their best friend Mels. At some point — for spoiler reasons I’m not saying — River appears and steals the show, allowing the audience to get invested in a River who just became herself.

The thing is, Hitler is simply locked up in a closet after 10 minutes of screentime. And while Let’s Kill Hitler is one of Moffat’s weaker scripts, the episodes mocks the idea of focusing only on a historical figure. Even the Teselecta is just a cheap time machine that represents the classic “touring through time” trope that is quite childish compared to what Doctor Who presents it it’s audience.

This is a complete opposite to something like Vincent and the Doctor, which is the complete reverse of the formulaic historical Doctor Who story. Instead it focuses on Vincent Van Gough and the only real reason it isn’t educational is because it focuses not on Van Gough’s life, but on his friendship with the Doctor and Amy, something that the recent historical tries to avoid; the Doctor instead visits them as a total stranger, rather than try and get along with them to not the situation too awkward (a great example is how the Doctor is going as far as to avoid interacting with Rosa in Rosa, which though might also be due to the racism at the time) .

Then there is the case of using historical figures for fan service. Both Spyfall: Part 2 and Rosa feature historical characters that barley impact the plot but just seem to be there just because the writers thought it would be a good idea. In Spyfall: Part 2, the Doctor just happens to meet Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan out of the blue and just because the writer [Chibnall] wanted her so. They’re only impact in the plot is, in Ada’s case, the Doctor finding a McGuffin from the previous story and landing in a different time period, and seeking shelter (both Ada and Noor’s case). In Rosa, while the episode tries and focuses on her, the weak antagonist and how easy the situation gets resolved leaves a pretty bad taste in the mouth. Rosa Parks is characterized well, good even, but the conflict doesn’t seem to serious. Technically speaking, Rosa Parks could have still gotten on the bus and still went to jail; the only difference is the bus-driver. The other problems include the fact that situation is resolved so easily, and well, again the inclusion of historical figures. Martin Luther King Jr. pops up, but he’s immediately sidelined, and seems to really only be there because the writers gave a shout-out along the lines of “hey this guy changed racism in America, he’s important and you should pay attention” rather than focus a story on him.

This feels like something the classic series would do. Speaking of which...

Classic Doctor Who started off as an educational show, and the earliest historical episodes did either focus on a time period or a person — i.e. the first Doctor’s tenure had an episode where the Doctor and his companions join Marco Polo and interact with King Richard the Lionheart during the Crusades — but historical stories pretty much mellowed out in favor of more science fiction approaches. When a historical story did show up, it was more focused on the science-fiction aspect of it, rather than the historical part.

There’s a self-aware joke of doing a historical Doctor Who story by —sorry everybody, but he’s clever — Douglas Adams, in the episode City of Death.

For those of you who don’t know, City of Death follows the 4th Doctor and Romana trying to stop an alien from travelling back in time and causing a paradox that will prevent his species from extinction. Indeed, he has to fund his time machine using six copies of the Mona Lisa, which the Doctor later has to go back and time and drop off the blank canvases so they can be painted for this future adventure.

...this feels like something Steven Moffat would write.

Anyways, during the first part the Doctor and Romana visit the Louvre and visit the Mona Lisa. While the 13th Doctor would be characterized at showing how amazing Leonardo Da Vinci was and how his work will impact humanity forever (similar to what she did in Rosa), this exchange occurs:

Romana: Why hasn’t she [the painting] gotten any eyebrows?

The Doctor: What? Is that all you can say? No eyebrows? We're talking about the Mona Lisa! It's the Mona—

(The Doctor inspects the painting more closely)

The Doctor: Good heavens, you're right. She hasn't got any eyebrows. Do you know, I never noticed that before.

Get it, it’s funny because it works? Ah, I guess I’ll see myself out.

So... yeah. That’s it for now. This is part 1 of me ranting about Chibnall’s poor Doctor Who writing.

Side-note: The reasons I didn’t talk about stories such as The Wtichfinders and The Haunting of Villa Diodati is because — at least in my opinion, feel free to complain in an ask — they worked as episodes, even if it dragged at times. The Witchfinders did a pretty good job at demonstrating the sexism and paranoia over something logical at the time and The Haunting of villa Diodati did a fantastic ghost story by following the formula of the new series. Mary Shelley and Frankenstein was the main focus, and the Doctor and her companions had an adventure inspired by, well, Frankenstein.

Also I don’t count Can You Hear Me? because the historical setting wasn’t very important; it wasn’t really a historical episode.

(Screenshots © copyrighted by the BBC; do NOT give me credit for the pictures)

[jackrackhams]

look, i’m not saying i don’t trust the society writers yet, but... almost every teen drama coming off of a successful or even well-liked first season has made like. a fuck ton of mistakes on the next season. they pander too much to fans, or they get lost in the hype, or whatever, and the next season ends up... lacking. it can’t live up to the first in some way.

like, i’m guessing they’ve got a plot set up for the whole series, and that’s probably not gonna change much. it’s set up as a good story! i’m hyped for that! but i’m... hm. i’m just nervous about the relationships between characters. like, grizz and sam are probably gonna get more screentime, and dude, i’m SO hyped for that. plus, the love square is gonna get some more spotlight, and luke’s got a pretty important role going into s2, so he and helena should get a focus. obviously campbell and elle are going to be prominent players, i get that. everyone’s got a role to play pretty much, and i’m not doubting the romantic relationships in the show either.

what i am worried about getting sidelined are the uhhhh.. the friendships.

this show has started off strong with a lot of really interesting non-romantic relationships. like i’ve seen a lot of people talking about becca and sam, elle and helena, becca and kelly, gordie and bean, grizz and allie... i’m invested in those! possibly more than i am in most of the pairings! maybe that’s just me, but like, i like seeing healthy friendships! and yeah i high key ship kelly and becca, but i’d be happy if they just. maintained a friendship that wasn’t pushed to the side in favor of the love square or w/e.

idk maybe it’s just me connecting more to the girls of the show and not really feeling like any of the love interests set up for them were a good fit, maybe it’s not. i just REALLY hope they keep the friendships consistent if we get a s2.

[bylerly]

alright everyone. after my rush of emotions after that season, i’ve had time to decompress, and make an actually cohesive list of my thoughts about the season. as you could probably guess - MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!

first, let’s get the (much) shorter list out of the way. here’s what I enjoyed:

the acting. i want to mention how good millie was, because she was fantastic, but i almost feel like i shouldn’t, bc el took SO MUCH screen and plot time, that millie was given every opportunity to be good. she doesn’t really need any more special mention. otherwise - noah (with the little he was given) and sadie were particularly great. so were winona & david, but that goes without saying.

the elmax friendship. these two deserved it. and max bringing el out of her shell, showing her how to become her own person.... incredible. 10/10 i love them both

alexei. feels weird saying this, but he was probably the new addition I enjoyed watching the most. it would have been kind of cool to see him live past season 3.

an lgbt+ confirmed character. this one is a little.... tricky for me. as happy as I am that there is a queer woman written into the show... I feel like it’s a cop out to not have to confirm will’s sexuality. robin confirms her sexuality in less than a season, but after three with will, we still only get ~subtext~? still, this is a positive portion, so.... I guess that was something I was happy with

el moving in with the byers at the end. finally. this is one of the only things that is keeping me excited for s4. i guess i can only hope for there to FINALLY be some good willel interactions next season, but if this season has taught me anything, it’s not to get my hopes too high :-)

jancy ending s3 on a good note. parts of their storyline were fantastic, some were disappointing. but i really dug their dynamic, and the realistic struggle between the two of them, with nancy not really understanding jonathan’s class struggles, and jonathan not grasping the weight of the misogyny being thrown at nancy. their final moments at the empty byers house at the end were especially lovely.

el no longer being OP, and not being undefeatable. i love el. i really, genuinely do. i love her character, i love her traits, i lover her power. but the duffers were relying too heavily on her to constantly save the day with her powers, and it was happening too often. one of the faults of s2 was the constant thought of how easily el could’ve fought off all these threats if she was just there. i think it’s incredibly interesting to not only see her get completely worn out, but totally lose her powers. like mike said, i’m sure they’ll come back, but i want so badly for el to not just be defined by her powers.

a platonic m/f friendship. yes, one of them is confirmed queer, and they would’ve probably been romantically linked if she was straight. but i’ll take what i can get when it comes to this. platonic opposite sex relationships?? r i s e

now for the meat of my thoughts ~ what I didn’t like:

mike’s characterization. the writers completely made him into a dick this season. i get it, he’s a teenager, so he’s going to be an asshole sometimes. hell, in a recent post, I defended that, saying it’s good writing. but I underestimated just how awful he’d be, completely blowing off his friends for any chance for a second alone with el. I understand that he loves his girlfriend of course, but s1-2 mike loved his friends just as much. he was so utterly unlikable this season, that it seemed like he was a different character.

lucas as comic relief. this is so lazy, and i’m so angry for both the character and caleb, both of whom deserve so much better. he really had nothing to do if it wasn’t related to max, and the writers further reduced him down to a one-dimensional, kind of dumb, mediocre boyfriend, and that is not the highly intelligent, brave, kind lucas that i know and love.

will’s sidelining. god, this made absolutely no sense. noah fucking shined last season. he stole pretty much the entire thing. every critic, even those who disliked the season, had nothing but good things to say about his performance. furthermore, will has so much potential in so many different directions in so many aspects of his character. however, once he revealed to his friends that he was feeling the upside down/MF’s presence... they may as well have written out his character. he was sidelined almost to the point of background character. they gave him very little to do emotionally after that castle byers scene, and even fewer lines.

total lack of willel scenes. phew, if this wasn’t a bummer. will spoke a single line to el, and maybe one or two throwaway lines about her. if there is one thing most of the fans can agree on, it’s that will and el have the biggest connection to the upside down, the biggest unspoken connection, the most parallels, and the most intriguing potential relationship... and they really just said “fuck it” and didn’t have them interact at all. (that’s poor writing folks!) they better make up for this now that they’re living together.

amount of eleven scenes. i love her so dearly. i really do. and i’m so happy she grew into her own, not through mike or hopper. but the amount of el plot and screen time this season was actually difficult to watch. every other scene centered around her. so many characters and so much of the story went undeveloped, while she got way, way more than was necessary. additionally, take any kid’s plot (other than dustin), and guaranteed, it revolved around el. people were starting to catch on that the show was favoring her character more than even most shows’ mains.... and this season took it to a level i actual didn’t think it would.

the comedy. it was so awkwardly written. so much of it threw off the pace of the show. it seemed forced, and just... not very stranger things-esque, where the comedy was typically well-written and blended into dialogue.

the baddies. this was a huge letdown, too. i understand that the monster was large, but it was far less menacing to me than, say, the MF’s physical form. it had gore points, sure. it felt incredibly boring and predictable. in the same vein, i thought the ‘zombie’ style storyline of heather & co. would be deeper than that, but that was literally all it was. again... not interesting to me. billy was a rehash as well. the russians definitely had potential, but even that plot wound up being incredibly one-dimensional.

billy’s screentime. this was one of the things i was absolutely furious about. he got more screentime than the party (minus el) combined. they wanted for us so badly to empathize with him, to humanize him... i’m sorry, but you wrote a character that almost killed a boy for being black, that abuses his sister, and is a misogynistic asshole. abuse doesn’t excuse that, and it’s insulting to abuse survivors to say that billy inevitably became this way because of his dad, and that he deserves our uwus for it... and actually got el’s. he took screen time away from characters who desperately needed it, and that’s something i will never look at the duffers the same way for.

the scoops troop. I wanted to love erica... but i feel so indifferent to her. she was way too much this season. and robin. again, i love that she’s confirmed queer. and i dug her character more. but even then... i don’t know. i would have rather never had her introduced, and allowed established characters to have been better developed. and as a whole, the whole storyline of the troop was just what I feared: underwhelming and awkwardly placed.

high steve & robin. won’t elaborate on this too much, bc there’s not much to elaborate on. it just felt so wildly out of place and unnecessary.

that dustin/suzie number. what the hell was that? what could have been a 20 second joke was stretched out WAY too long and was bizarrely placed. just because you have an actor from broadway, doesn’t mean he needs to sing. and even if he does sing... you couldn’t have found a better time or situation? i literally was just staring at my screen in disbelief as that whole thing happened. entirely unneeded.

the amount of flashbacks. i understand most casual viewers wouldn’t remember certain things because of how long it’s been. but they literally put a recap at the beginning of the season. that’s what it’s for. and there were also plenty from like.... the episode before??? the amount they included took away so much time, that it almost just seemed like they didn’t have enough footage, and they had to fill their time stamp somehow. at some point, it just becomes insulting to the audience’s intelligence.

the overall tone. this season did not feel like stranger things in the slightest. off the top of my head, the castle byers scene and the byeler scene in mike’s garage were the exceptions. the first few episodes did have some moments. but overall... it kind of felt like some weird, high budget commercial or something. the charm, distinct aesthetic, and nuance of seasons 1 and 2 was non-existent.

the post-credit scene. there was some last-minute hype up in the reviews for this. was that supposed to be shocking in some way? i suppose this is more the fault of the reviewers who hyped it, but... really? a demodog? we’ve seen that before... i guess more the point was to show that the russians officially have some kind of technology for this. but still, an underwhelming reveal. more intriguing to me, was if hopper was the american in the cell he mentioned at the start of it. or maybe brenner?

the neutral:

that ending. on one hand, it was incredibly predictable. they literally placed an obvious shot of it in the trailer (easy to deduce that the byers had moved out, and that it was fall, so it was an epilogue scene). i was convinced that there would be a twist element they weren’t showing us, but nope. on the other hand, i thought some things were done beautifully (which wasn’t exactly a trend this season). as i mentioned, i loved the jancy moments. i really did like the hopper voiceover, although it was a little trope-y and heavy-handed... i still got a little emo, ngl. those goodbye hugs were somethin’. and, as i said before... el! moving in! with the byers! gimme

so uh... that’s it, i guess. no one really asked, but i needed to get my thoughts out. what did you guys think of the season?

[romansrgn]

{ghostin..} ch.2

AN: Thank you for all the love and feedback on this story!

taglist: @queenofthearchitect @calicina @never-sawft-princess @5dsinyourdirection @fancybarbii @aria725  @5ds-inmydirection

Roman checked his phone for what felt like the hundredth time in the last ten minutes. His wife and family were flying in from Florida in about two hours for Mania weekend and all he could think about was Braelin. They haven't spoken much since they slept together.

That night he had her five times before she so coldly told him it was time for him to leave. He wanted more time to talk too her, tell her that despite them no .

longer being together he still cared a great deal about her. But instead he opt to give her space.

He kissed her one last time, long and hard before leaving her hotel room around six in the morning. When he was out in the hallway he eyed his wedding ring deciding to put into his pocket and not back on his finger. For all the wrong reasons he just didn't want to wear it.

In the present time Roman knew Braelin's knee took another hit resulting in her not being able to compete until she was cleared. But despite not wrestling at the moment she was traveling with the group and was now a valet to her dear friend Finn Balor. He thought she would be in high spirits because she wasn’t sidelined at home.

But that wasn't the case.

Roman picked up his phone and dialed Braelin but once again only getting her voicemail. He growled “You cant ignore me forever, B. I thought we were past you giving me the cold shoulder after what happened between--”

“What between who?”

Roman looked up from his phone surprised to see his wife standing in the door of their hotel room.

Braelin threw her cellphone in the backseat after sending it to voicemail.

“Do you need something for your stomach?”

Braelin shook her head “No, I just need a few minutes. The morning sickness isn't as bad as it use to be so I think it's just the heat and the fact that I haven't slept properly in two days”

Naomi turned up the air conditioner “What did your doctor say about your fatigue?

“That it’ll be happening alot more.”

Naomi grabbed a water bottle from her bag and handed it to Braelin “Drink this. We don't need you getting dehydrated.”

Braelin opened the bottle before a taking a generous sip “Thank you. I'm feeling a little better already.”

“We'll be at the hotel in about an hour so you can just sit back, relax and catch up on some sleep.”

Braelin smiled a little “I'm so glad I told you. It was hard enough trying to hide my pregnancy but it was even harder keeping it from you.”

“I don't want you to think you can’t come to me Brae, we're family. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you.” she looked over at her baby cousin who was staring out the window “What I'm more put off by is that you still haven't told me who the father was.”

Silence

More Silence.

“Are you going to pretend like you don't already know? Or are you just waiting for me to admit it?”

Naomi shrugged “I already know but I want you to say it. I think you're making yourself sick by worrying so much. This can't be good for the baby.”

Braelin leaned her head against the window “Roman and I were over. We still are. He's married and I'm pregnant.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

That's the million dollar question she wanted to avoid until after she gave birth, if she could. Braelin didn't think it would make a difference either way because at the end of the day her baby daddy was a married man. But apart of her thought she could hide this for as long as possible without hurting anyone even if it mean’t Roman wouldn't be around to experience this with her.

“What would I say? Hey, Rome! You know that night you fucked around on your wife with me? Well guess what, dude? you also got me pregnant.”

Naomi rolled her eyes “Lose the damn attitude, Brae. You both had a choice in that hotel room and you both made the wrong one. And because of it... a child was made. You need to tell him.”

Braelin put her head down “I know. I didn't even know if I was going to keep the baby after I found out. I started thinking about the drama, the confusion and the heartbreak that people would have to go through once everyone found out. So I went to an abortion clinic in New Orleans and I sat there in the parking lot for an hour building up the courage to go in there and make this entire thing go away.” Braelin looked over at Naomi “But, then I selfishly remembered that I have something else to put my energy into besides wrestling. And that thought felt so good, Nao.”

Naomi had to admit she was a little surprised that her cousin decided to keep the baby but despite the surprise she was happy she didn't go through with the abortion. “You're worried about your knee?”

“No, I know my knee will never be the same. I have to wear a brace for the rest of my career and even with it on my career expanse is shorten. I need to start thinking about my future outside of wrestling.”

“And what about Roman? What about his future? You know how much family means to him. Having his own kid would mean everything to him.”

“I know. I just need time to figure out how to tell him without fucking up everyone's lives in the process.”

Naomi grabbed Braelin's hand “Get some rest. I'll wake you up once we're there.”

Roman shrugged putting his cellphone in his pocket “I was leaving a voicemail for Seth. He's bitching about me kicking his ass in domino's last night. Now he won't answer the phone.”

Janelle shook her head walking over to her husband “Babe, you promised you wouldn't play dominoes on the road. You guys get way to intense and with the way you play, you'll end up ending all of your friendships.”

Roman laughed “Nah, we'll be alright.”

“Wrestlemania season is probably my favorite time of the year. Mainly because I get to see you more.” Janelle wrapped her arms around the big man kissing him lightly on the lips.

Roman smiled down at his wife of two years “Even though we have to work a bit harder around this time of year there's a balance. I'm just happy to see more of my family.”

“What time is your mom getting in?”

Roman pulled out his phone, reading a text message from his sister “They're in the lobby now. I'm going to go meet up with them and get them settled.”

Janelle beamed “Let me go with you--”

Roman shook his head “You unpack and relax. We'll have plenty of time to chill with the family at dinner after the Hall of Fame.”

Janelle pouted “Fine, give them a hug from me.”

Roman went over and kissed her on the forehead “I will baby.” and left

“Braelin?”

Braelin turned around at hearing her name “Patricia, Summer and Myritza. How are you guys?!”

Patricia smiled warmly at the young woman “I'm terrific, honey. How are you?” she asked pulling her into a hug.

“I'm good. I'm taking it one step at a time.” she smiled before hugging Roman's sisters.

“Well, you look amazing.” Summer said.

“Amazing? she's practically glowing.” Myritza cosigned shaking her head in almost disbelief

Braelin scuffed feeling slightly uncomfortable. She took off her hat “Yea, this hotel always had fantastic lighting.”

All four girls laughed.

“What's so funny?”

Braelin stiffened at the sound of Roman's voice.

That didn't go unnoticed by Roman but he ignored it anyway in favor of giving his mother and sisters hugs “How was the flight?”

“It was good. Now all I want to do is shower and eat.” Summer said handing her bags to Roman.

Roman laughed “Your rooms are all set and of course you can order whatever you want.”

“Baby Sister.”

Braelin heard from behind her and rolled her eyes recognizing the voice “We're in a hotel, Keyon. At least act like you have some sense. Other people are staying here.” she said shaking her head.

Keyon grinned closing the distance between them and thumped her forehead “You act like I'm a barbarian.” he said before kissing the same spot.

“You aren't?” Braelin sassed and pinched his arm

“Ouch. Why you give me a big momma pinch?” he rubbed his arm slightly

Roman laughed at their antics “What's up, Uce!”

“Big Homie. What's good?” They did the handshake and shoulder bump that guys tend to do when they greet each other.

“Keyon, Where's momma, daddy and Bryianna?” Braelin asked looking around the lobby and not seeing them.

Keyon was too busy giving the rest of Roman's family hugs to respond too her instead he asked “Where's Uncle Sika?”

“He's flying in with Rikishi and the boys.” Myritza answered.

Braelin huffed causing Roman to smile down at her “They're at the front desk, baby.”

It should've bothered them both at how easy they fell back into old patterns. But neither of them noticed.

“Daddy.” Braelin squealed running over to her daddy and jumping into his arms.

“Can you act like you have some sense, Braelin? We're in a hotel.” Keyon chastised causing everyone to laugh.

Briyanna rolled her eyes.

“Hush, boy. Come and get these bags and take them up to the rooms.” Mama Carol said. She spotted Patricia and Roman's sisters and waved them over “Patricia, I see you went back and got that Alexander Wang bag after all.”

“You know they said this was the last one. I couldn't pass that deal up.”

“What did Sika say?”

Patricia gave Mama Carol a look and both women laughed knowingly.

Roman rolled his eyes.

Mama Carol hit Roman lightly on the arm “Don’t roll your eyes, boy. You and Braelin both have it bad doing that.”

Patricia smiled “That’s where he got it from.”

Everyone laughed.

 “How you doing Momma?” Roman asked kissing her on the cheek before giving her a big hug.

“I’m doing alright baby.” she said hugging him back and giving Summer and Myritza a hug as well “How are those beautiful babies you have doing?”

Summer smiled “They're doing great, Mama C.”

Richard hugged his baby girl tighter feeling her shake a little. She was crying “You missed your old man that much, huh?”

Braelin sniffed “I'm sorry, daddy. I'm just all over the place.”

Briyanna rubbed circles on Braelin's back noticing how tired she looked “The day is finally catching up with everyone. Let me take you up to your room, Brae.”

Mama Carol shook her head at her youngest “That child has always been a daddy's girl. I'm sure whenever she gives me a grandbaby they're going to be the same way.”

Braelin’s eyes snapped up to meet Roman's and his brows furrowed.

“Naomi just walked in with her mother, Sika, Kishi and the twins.” Briyanna said looking at the entrance.

Roman smiled at his cousins “Took y’all long enough.”

Jey snorted “We would've been here yesterday if we all just traveled with Nao and Brae.”

“We needed our girls time and we couldn't do that with y’all all up in ours.” Naomi defended kissing Jimmy on the lips.

“You feeling better, Brae?” Rikishi asked looking down at her “injured” knee.

Once again feeling put on the spot she changed the subject giving him and Sika a kiss on the cheek “I'm good. I think we should call it a night. We have fan access, interviews, Wrestlemania prep and the hall of fame to get ready for and we only have three days to do it.”

Jimmy who looked like he was on the verge of collapsing at the thought cosigned “Listen, I'm going to jump in the shower and then I'm taking my--” he looked over and saw Mama Carol and Patricia staring at him knowingly and waved “butt to bed. Hi, aunties.”

“Mmhmm what were you going to say?” Patricia asked obviously not fooled by the cover.

“Do you want me to go up with you to your room?” Naomi asked.

Braelin shook her head “No, I'm good. You drove all the way here. Go get some sleep.” She hugged Naomi's mom “I'm going to make sure mom and dad is all settled in.”

“Ok, call me if you need anything.”

“I will.” she grabbed her mother's hand “Let me take you and daddy to your room.”

Summer cleared her throat when she caught Roman watching Braelin “Where's Janelle? She told me she was going to surprise you?”

Roman smiled softly “She did surprise me. Right now she's upstairs unpacking and then she's going to chill for a while.”

Myritza nodded “Well, we know you two haven't seen much of each other lately. We're glad you guys get to have some quality time together before your schedule gets too crazy this weekend.”

Roman said nothing instead he rubbed the back of neck something he did when he was feeling a little on edge or tensed.

Because of that little move Myritza and Summer looked at each other. That’s when they noticed Roman's wedding ring was missing. This was definitely going to be an interesting weekend.

Later the next day

Braelin, Naomi, Myritza, Briyanna, Summer and Janelle were out getting their hair and makeup done for the hall of fame when they were suddenly approached by fans.

“Can we get an autograph and selfies.” the group of young girls asked.

Naomi beamed “Of course cuties.”

Naomi and Braelin took several pictures and autographs before continuing with their day.

“Kids love you guys. Especially the little girls.”  Janelle commented

“It's the best part of the job. We're surrounded by all of the glitz and glam but when we see kids and all the people in general who appreciate what we do every night. It's worth it.” Braelin said signing her last autograph for a little girl who was cosplaying her.

“When I see Rome with kids, I melt. It makes me want to have them even more.”

Braelin froze at hearing that but recovered quickly “You and Roman want kids?”

Janelle grinned “You know how much family means to him and how much he loves kids. We're in such a good place right now and I think I’m ready to start that next chapter of our lives. I was hoping we would start trying after Wrestlemania.”

Summer gasped “Oh my God. That would be amazing. I'm dying for him to give me a niece or a little nephew.”

“Are you ok, Braelin?”

Briyanna and Naomi looked over at Braelin who visibly paled “Brae, how about we go get some fresh air. It's a little warm in here.”

Briyanna asked pulling Braelin from her chair with Naomi close behind. By the time they made it outside Braelin ran to the public trash can emptied out the her stomach.

Naomi rubbed her back while Briyanna held her hair “Let it out. We gotchu.”

When she was done Braelin grabbed the water bottle that suddenly appeared in front of her to rinse out her mouth “I'm so stupid.”

“No you're not. You made a mistake. You're human everyone is entitled to one.”

“A mistake that I'm carrying with me for nine months. He's a married man Nao and I--- I fucked up.” She cried.

Briyanna looked between Naomi and Braelin “What's going on y'all?”

Naomi closed her eyes “Roman is the father of Braelins baby.”

Briyanna ran a hand through her hair. She wish she was surprised but she wasn't.

“I'm so sorry, Bri. I didn't mean for any of this to happen.” she sniffed wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Stop apologizing, Brae. I'm more concerned about you and your health. You're worrying yourself sick and it being this early on in your pregnancy that's not good for you or the baby. You need to get it together.”

 “I just---”

“Is everything ok?” Summer asked obviously concerned.

“I'm--” Braelin wanted more than anything to tell Summer what the hell was going on but she couldn't “I'm overwhelmed. It's Wrestlemania weekend and I'm not going to be able to wrestle and it sucks.” The lie flew out of her mouth so easily she almost believed it herself.

Brookyln Barbershop in Brooklyn New York

“Uce, you hyped about sunday?”

Roman laughed “Number six and counting. I’m ready to put it all out there.”

Jey knew the feeling. He and his brother were competing in their second Wrestlemania that wasn't the pre-show since being on the card and they were ready to show the world that this is where they belong.

“What’s the plan after mania? Are you and Janelle going on vacation?”

Roman didn't even think about that. Usually after Wrestlemania the house shows are put on hold for two weeks so the superstars can unwind. Around this time he would plan a trip for himself and Janelle to Bali but as of late he wasn't feeling it.

“I don’t know. We’ll see. I kinda want stay at home and chill.”

Seth looked between Dean and the Uso’s “Does Janelle know that?”

Roman snorted “As long as we’re together she’ll be alright. What about y’all? Got any plans?”

Jimmy planned on taking Naomi to Atlanta so she could spend some time with her family and Jey was headed to Hawaii with the wife and kids.

“You know I opened up that new Coffee lounge. So I’m going to be spending some time back home and later Dean, Renee and  I are headed to the mountains for some skiing.”

“And yall couldnt invite me?” he asked picking up his cellphone to send a text message to Braelin “I’m hurt?”

“We didn't know our big samoan like’s the snow.” Dean teased.

“I don’t. But it doesn’t mean I want to be at home for two weeks.” Roman laughed.

Jimmy’s brows furrowed “I thought you said you just wanted to chill. Staying at home and doing nothing is a requirement for chilling.”

Roman rolled his eyes and looked at his phone again. When he didn't get a reply back his mood suddenly shifted.

Seth looked at Dean and pointed at Roman who was texting away at his phone “Is the family alright? Janelle?”

Roman looked confused for second “Yea, everyone’s good. Why?”

“You’ve been on your phone all day so we’re just wondering.”

“On top off that you’re not wearing your wedding ring.” Dean added causing everyone to looked down at his ring finger.

“What’s going on uce?”  Jimmy asked noticing it for the first time.

Roman didn't know what the hell he was doing anymore. It’s been three months and he still couldn't get that night out of his mind. He didn’t know what it was but something about it felt different.

He roughly scrubbed a hand over his face “I fucked up. Three months ago, the night we all traveled to Chicago together.” The twins nodded “That night we were suppose to go out afterwards. I didn’t show up because I went to see Braelin. I wanted to talk too her. I wanted to get out friendship back on track but one thing led to another and we--”

“Damn.” Jimmy said shaking his head.

“No wonder things have been so intense between you too.” Seth said as if everything was starting to make sense.

“You can’t tell Janelle.” Jey said shaking his head “Nothing good can come out of this if you tell her, uce.”

Dean agreed wholeheartedly “You have more to lose now if you tell her.”

Roman shook his head “I can’t keep lying to her. That’s why I don’t wear my wedding ring, uce. It’s a lie. I fucked around on her and on top of that I dont think I’m over Braelin.”

“This is some real soap opera shit.” Jimmy laughed which earned a glare from Roman “I’m sorry big uce. But this kind of shit happen’s on TV.”

“Everything is so messed up right now. But I need to see where Braelin's head is at. I can't not, not make things right with her.” Roman sat back in his seat “I need to see her.” 

Neither of the guys said it but it was obvious that Roman was in deeper than he thought he was.

We said to act natural, Brae.” Briyanna said rolling her eyes at the theatrics.

"This is me acting natural. For the first time in weeks I don’t feel like I'm going to lose my breakfast. So please let me live." Braelin fanned as she continued on with her special hall of fame photo-shoot for wwe.com.

Roman whistled "Looking good, baby girl."

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Naomi asked from her spot in the makeup chair.

“Yea, but watching B do photo-shoots have always been my favorite past time.” he winked at the green eyed beauty in front of the camera..

“Emphasis on past. Hit the road big dog.” Briyanna said folding her arms across her chest,

Roman looked between Naomi and Briyanna “What’s with all the hostility? I thought we were cool.” he said playfully but he really was wondering what the hell was up with all the attitude lately.

Briyanna smiled “We are. You know we love you but do you really think this is the place you need to be right now.”

Then it finally dawned on him, they knew.

He held up his hands “Listen, Briyanna...you know I would never do anything to hurt Braelin.”

“You hurting her is not what I’m worried about--”

Braelin cleared her throat before Briyanna could say anything else “I need to talk to Roman alone, please.”

Everyone saw the seriousness of the situation and exited giving the ex lovers some alone time.

“I thought we were past you ignoring me.” Roman started without preemption.

Braelin found it a bit harder to look at him for some reason “I know. I just...I needed time to deal with everything and the fact that we’re lying to everyone. I’ve been lying to everyone and it’s not fair to you or too our--”

“Baby, there you are. It’s time to take our seats.” Janelle interrupted kissing him on the lips. She turned her attention to the small woman “Braelin, you look beautiful. Is this the Alexander McQueen dress you were talking about?”

Braelin’s green eyes widen almost realizing what she was on the verge of saying “Thank you and no, no it’s not. The other one didn’t quite fit me as well as it did a few months ago so we went with a different designer.”

“Well, maybe you can wear it next time.” she smiled.

“Maybe, anyway... I have to finish getting ready. You guys enjoy the rest of your evening.” Braelin looked at Roman one last time before leaving.

“You girls are making me so proud.” Jazz smiled.

Naomi and Braelin smiled at each other “That's what we were hoping. You and Jacqueline were our heroes as kids. So we're just glad we got the chance to induct you in this exclusive club of legends.”

Jazz smiled proudly “Home grown from, New Orleans. I saw and felt it the moment I saw you step in the ring for the first time. That level of confidence and pride about where you come from can't be faked. You represent us well, baby girl.” Jazz grabbed Braelin's hand “So I need you to remember that dealing with a injury can be tough but don't count yourself out. You're destined for greatness no matter what you try your hand at. Trust your instincts and make the right choices for yourselves and the people you love.”

Braelin shook her head in awe “You don't know how much I needed to hear that.”

“I'm pretty sure you've heard it before. Sometimes it just sounds bit clearer from someone else. You take care of yourself lil mama and thank you for everything.”

“No, thank you.” Braelin said hugging Jazz.

Roman walked in with Janelle on his arm “ Hey, baby. I’m going to get us some drinks. Why don't you take seat at the table with Dean and Renee and I'll be over there in a minute.”

“Ok, I want the usual.”

Roman kissed her lightly on the lips before heading to the bar wear Braelin was sitting. He eyed her a little before fixing his eyes at the bottles of alcohol on the back wall “No, whiskey?” I'm shocked.”

Braelin rolled her eyes but laughed “Trust me, I could definitely use one.”

“Coming right up.” Roman waved the bartender over “Let me get a shot of tequila with lime, and two whiskeys neat.”

Braelin held up her hand turning her attention to the bartender “I'll have a ginger ale, please.”

Roman raised a brow “The whiskey was on me.”

“Now, the ginger ale is on you.”

Roman stared at her for second to long which annoyed her “What?”

“You're turning down free alcohol?”

Braelin frowned “You make it sound like I'm an alcoholic.”

Roman laughed shaking his head “You know I didn't mean it that way. But you have to admit it's not like you.”

“You're right it's not. But I'm trying something new for a while.”

Roman looked intrigued “Oh, yea. What's the occasion?”

“I'm expecting.”

Roman leaned in closer because the DJ pick the right moment to start playing music so he couldn't hear her “You're what?”

“Roman, I'm--- I'm expected to drive home. Better safe than sorry. Besides I think I'm going to stay away from alcohol for the foreseeable future.”

He held up his drink “In that case.” and pushed it to the side “We can do it together.”

Roman spotted a little girl who couldn't have been know older then four staring at them. “We have company.,”

Braelin smiled “I think that's Honky Tonks granddaughter, Amy.”

“She's adorable. Hi, sweetie!” Roman cooed.

The little girl walked over and Roman dropped down to her level so he could put on a full conversation with the little lady. Braelin could only shake her head and laugh “You're really good with her.”

Roman grinned his eyes still on the tiny lady who was putting a flower in his hair “Kids have always been my weakness.”

“You're going to be an amazing dad one day.” Braelin whispered causing Roman to look at her.

“You think so?”

“I don't see why not. Put a child in front of the big dog and watch him turn into a puppy.”

“You hear that? she's trying to ruin my reputation.” he told the little lady who only giggled. She waved one last time at Roman and Braelin before heading back over to her family.

Roman removed the flower from his hair and placed it Braelin's “It looks better on you.”

The green eyed woman blushed shaking her head “We can't keep doing this. You're married and Im--”

“Scared. Everything's changing and I' don't know how to make that better for you.”

“It's not your job too. Not anymore. It was one night. Let that be it.”

Roman's jaw clenched “It's that easy for you? After everything... you can just walk away.”

“You did.”  Braelin whispered heatedly “Three years ago when you walked away from our relationship after “reconnecting” with Janelle. You gave up on us way before I did.”

“I didn't want walk away.”

“No, you did something much worse. You gave up on me the minute she came back into your life.”

Roman looked over at the bartender who was now watching them intently “I'm sorry ok. But I was confused and --”

Braelin held up her hand “I was never confused about whether or not I loved you, Roman. Too bad you couldn't say the same about me.”

Braelin placed a fifty on the bar top “The drinks are on me.” she said leaving the big dog alone.

AN: On two separate occasions Braelin was going to tell Roman  the news about her being pregnant but something got in the way lol. I think I'm going to have a little fun with this before the big reveal. TBH I did think it was too soon and since I'm all about angst we're going to have to go through it a little to get to that point. Braelin is still upset with the way things ended with them a few years ago so she's not all that eager to open up new possibilities for them so we'll see what happens there. As always thank you for reading and I’ll see you in the next chapter.

[skywaklers]

i got a lot to say about s3

okay so i enjoyed this season, but i didn’t really like it. it left me really unsatisfied. i watched the first three episodes on thursday and i loved them, but the episodes on friday just weren’t as intriguing to me. i’m not sure what it was. maybe just being really excited on thursday? 

i think it could be how will was sidelined after the first few episodes. i love him with all my heart and just want him to be happy, so watching him be sad and unloved hurt me and there was no real resolution to his storyline. after he destroyed castle byers he was just there to say he’s here which... well sucked

as for hopper, i really disliked him this season. he was just mean and bumbling and unlikable imo. i wasn’t rooting for him and joyce like i usually am and the only reason i was sad about his death was for how it affected eleven and joyce.

billy was much more likable in s3 while being the host than his true s2 personality. billy sacrificing himself for el felt so ooc and i am just going to assume that he truly does feel remorse for killing all those people and more out of self hatred than wanting to protect eleven. also max caring for billy so much felt odd. that is her step brother so i’m sure she does care for him on some level and didn’t want him to die, but the amount of compassion she had felt wrong considering their interactions in s2

steve and robin!! they’re not meant to associate with one another, but they end up becoming bffs and accepting each other wholeheartedly. it just warms my heart. steve’s arc about popularity was great, though it wasn’t the story line i really wanted. one of my fears was that steve would be stuck in some minimum wage job he hated. i wish the epilogue would have been robin tutoring him or something instead. though i did love them being a package deal.

also just robin. loved her! and her coming out scene was so good and really touched me. also as new characters go i loved alexei (slurpies out). i wasn’t a huge fan of erica. i didn’t find her cute or funny, just really annoying and taking up screen time for old characters and relationships

and that’s what i found to be a huge problem for this season. a lack of balance between characters. like jonathan might as well as not been there. he felt like nancy’s sidekick which is really unfortunate because i think his best scenes are with joyce and will and they were nonexistent. i don’t even remember him talking to will. and like last season, nancy and mike’s relationship wasn’t there. max and eleven were the only kids to get good scenes and even then.... max wasn’t really in the right. max vs hopper vs mike were just all extremes and i thought it was hard to be on any of their sides. also i think dustin being away from all the other kids and them really not care hurt the season too. and again, how they treated will with no resolution. the only kid i really liked this season was el and kind of dustin. lucas just felt like he was there. 

nancy and jonathan are just boring. i don’t care for either as character and i really don’t care for them together. their fight was interesting, but then it was dropped and jonathan will never doubt her again. i mean, both arguments were valid, though jonathan didn’t have to go with her. idk he was in the wrong, but true points were made. i think nancy best scene was with karen and that was really good.

karen, karen, karen, i felt her thing with billy was unnecessary, uncomfortable, and a huge waste of screen time. that should have been cut in favor showing the friendship of the kids. maybe it was just there to show billy’s mommy issues?

the russians felt over the top, but since it’s 80′s tropes we gotta go all out i guess. loved btf and steve calling mjf alex p. keaton. true eightiesness.

i still don’t understand why they were all eating fertilizer, but maybe i just didn’t pick up on the reasoning.

and having suzie and dustin sing was just... weird. it really out of place and took me out of the moment.

also dacre and millie’s acting was so good this season. i really felt things solely on their performance (especially dacre’s since i dislike billy)

i’m sure i’ve said many unpopular things, but this may take the cake. i’m not sure if i want another season. the ending felt final to me and frankly, i’ve lost interest in the upside down. i love the show and will continue to watch, but how many times can they fight the big bad?

also stancy is dead as heck lol. officially jumping ship to steve x happiness 

[douxreviews]

American Gods - ‘The Beguiling Man’ Review

"Their whole life they’ve been hearing a story about who you are. And you’re the enemy in that story."

In episode two of its second season, American Gods finds a reason to tell us the tragic story of Shadow's past. And it's... basically one of the less interesting episodes of Daredevil.

That's disappointing.

To be more specific, it's disappointing that they felt the need to devote half an episode to telling us the tragic story of Shadow's teenage years, because the story they tell here is essentially the same 'outsider teen moves to a new town and encounters local bullies' story that we've seen a thousand times before. It's The Karate Kid, in which the role of Mr. Miyagi is played by maternal cancer.

The underlying problem here is that there is just no reason for them to be telling this story to us in the first place, either in the metanarrative or the narrative sense. Mr. Town, played by the always welcome Dean Winters, has Shadow rigged up to a big ominous machine, and mentions Shadow's mom once. That's it. That's all the narrative justification we get for why we're being told this story at this time. Somehow that one mention of his mother inspires him to remember how his mom brought him back from France to live in Brooklyn, and how he got beat up that one time, she started dying of cancer, he got so upset about that that he went right out and beat up the guys that attacked him earlier, then she died and that was that.

And I hate to say it, but just reading that last paragraph gives you pretty much the same experience as watching it play out over twenty odd minutes of this episode's runtime. Which is too bad, because it's not like there isn't a lot of good stuff just waiting to be explored here. Olunike Adeliyi, playing Shadow's Mom – and how telling is it that she never gets identified as more than that – is actually really good when her dialogue stops being a stream of character information and 'deep meditations on the human soul.'  Watch the moment when she breaks from doing that to tell Shadow that she's going to stop for drinks with somebody named Jerry, and you witness a revelation. In that moment, she goes from being a mouthpiece for things the scripts wants to have said out loud and becomes an actual, interesting person. And I want to know more about that person, because she honestly sparkled at that moment and you could see why Shadow loved her. But we don't get to see more than a moment or two of that, because the script wants to make sure that we know that she's read Siddhartha.

It feels like a case of a screen writer not trusting the audience to understand the subtext, and this show is above that sort of thing.

Similarly, Shadow is mugged, he gets his CD player back and runs for it. And the Brooklyn cops see a black kid running with a portable CD player and arrest him, either instead of or along with his attempted muggers, it's not entirely clear. That's a huge moment that is way, way too true about America still today, but it gets completely thrown away because Shadow's Mom just wants to talk more about how much light is in him. Honestly, I wish that they'd either explored the more interesting stuff that gets sidelined here, or just told us through dialogue that Shadow's Mom had died of cancer and left it at that, because the story that they chose to tell here just ultimately didn't feel like it had anything in particular to say. I feel like I should add though that Gabriel Darku did a good job with the material he was given, and was believable as a young Shadow Moon.

OK, enough about that, because there's a whole other half to this episode and that's where all the good stuff really was.

When we left our heroes, the restaurant had been shot to Hell, Zorya Vechernyaya was dead, and Shadow had been spirited off into the night via helicopter. Here the show seems to run into a bit of a problem with not knowing what to do with all of the characters currently in play. They deal with the situation by generally having them all disperse in pairs on separate missions, which more or less works. Ifrit the Jinn and Salim ride off to the corn palace to fetch Odin's spear, not to be seen again this week. One can only assume that we'll catch up with them later, and how absolutely adorable was Salim, sitting in the sidecar and beaming at being allowed to come along. You two drive safe, we'll see you, presumably, later in the season. Probably right at the end, I would guess.

Wednesday and Mr. Nancy head off to Cairo, Illinois, although they don't get there this week, and I honestly struggled to remember where they were going every time the action cut back to them. They were basically in a holding pattern while other events got into their proper placement for what's going to happen in Cairo. But damn if it wasn't an enjoyable holding pattern to watch. I would tune in weekly for the road trip adventures of Wednesday and Nancy, even if nothing ever happened besides the two of them bantering. The entire exchange about the bucket of fried chicken, which I will not spoil here if you haven't watched it, was better than 95% of broadcast television.

Shadow, we see, has been hooked up to the previously mentioned big ominous machine, which doesn't actually appear to do anything except hold Ricky Whittle up in a sexy and dramatic way, but I suppose that's a noble enough goal. It would be nice if we ever got any clear indication of what exactly Mr. Town wanted out of the situation. Sometimes it seemed like he was trying to convince Shadow to switch sides and join the new gods, sometimes it seemed like he was trying to get information, and sometimes it seemed like he was simply torturing him for no particular reason. Unfortunately, we're not likely to ever get an explanation, since he appears to be dead either just before or immediately after the end of the episode. Ah, well.

But the real MVP, and the only real reason to ever watch this episode again, is the continuing adventures and burgeoning friendship of Laura Moon and Mad Sweeney. Pablo Schreiber and Emily Browning have great chemistry together, and both excel at playing broken, friendless assholes who make a connection with one another despite both of them trying as hard as they can not to do so. When Sweeney says, 'Is that how you ask for a favor,' you can tell by the look on his face that he'd pretty much die to help Laura and this point, and he'd definitely die before he'd ever admit it. Everything they do together is wonderful and complicated and they're by far the best thing the show has going on that didn't come from the book.

Quotes:

Wednesday: "Mama-Ji, you hear the battle cries. May I count on your blades?" Mama-Ji: "You brought the fight to my doorstep. I have no choice but to resume the lopping of heads, drinking of blood, and liberating of souls. That is, if I can swap my weekend shift with Arjun."

Sweeney: "…And God didn’t f**k up your life. You did a great job of that all by yourself." Laura: "Well, it was my life to f**k up." Sweeney: "Indeed it was. And you f**ked the shit out of it, didn’t ya?"

Bulquis: "Love and war may sit on opposite sides of a coin, but only so they may never meet."

Sweeney: "Last week you could have lifted an entire f**kin’ elephant. Two f**kin' elephants if my nuts are the judge."

Laura: "What do you usually drive, horse and buggy?" Sweeney: "Says the corpse who flipped an ice cream truck."

Bits and Pieces:

-- Apparently Bilquis was supposed to talk the old gods out of joining Wednesday, but didn't try that hard.

-- They showed us that Shadow was on a train early on, then wasted a lot of time having us watch Laura work that exact same information out. That's sloppy plotting.

-- I can only assume that Ricky Whittle was excruciatingly uncomfortable filming this week.

-- What is up with the restaurant owners and staff? They just got shot up and people died, and yet there are no cops on the scene, and the restaurant is somehow still serving pancakes for Sweeney.

-- Technical Boy's search for Media got a little further this week. Going to Times Square was a clever idea to find her what with all the screens. The show is still playing coy on revealing Gillian Anderson's replacement as New Media, though. All in all, that changeover has been very well handled. Looks like we get the reveal of New Media next week. Let's see if they stick the landing.

-- There's no way they could have known this in advance, but it was so very nice to have a respectful and peaceful representation of Islam this week.

-- What does Ifrit think of Salim's prayers and faith? I'd be interested to know.

-- Ricky Whittle is 37, and Young Shadow appeared to be about 17 or thereabouts. That would imply that the Brooklyn segments were taking place around 1999. I really dislike using the World Trade Center as a visual signifier for 'in the past,' by the way. It's a personal thing.

-- We were clumsily shown this week that Shadow doesn't know who his father is and his mother won't tell him. We pretty much all know where that's going, even if they had been remotely subtle about it. Which they were not.

-- Wednesday's eulogy for Betty the car, as he waits for Shadow's train to plow into her on the railroad tracks, is a thing of strange beauty and inexplicable dignity.

-- Seriously though, you need to stand a lot further away than that if a train is about to hit a car. I know this from experience.

-- Sweeney takes Laura through something he refers to as 'The Hoard' to get catch up with Shadow.  I'm assuming that that's 'hoard' as in a big collection of treasure.  They don't appear to have passed through James McAvoy.

I really hate to say this sort of thing, but the show just hasn't felt the same without Fuller and Green. The strange ambient noise and slow motion shots of fluid in motion are pretty much all gone, the storytelling is significantly more linear, and I really think the show is weaker for the change. But, of course, we're only two episodes in. I really shouldn't judge too much yet.

Two out of four buckets of chicken. Almost entirely due to Laura and Sweeney. Just fastforward to their parts, and assume everything else works out all right.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.

[lightsandlostbells]

Skam season 3, episode 3 reaction

Thank you to everyone who has been reading and commenting so far! I love hearing people’s thoughts on S3 and reading anecdotes about other viewing experiences. This episode has some moments with a lot of room for varying interpretations; I would love to hear other POVs if you got a different reading out of a scene. It’s also one of the episodes where we have the original scripts, so we can compare the first draft with the finished product. 

Episode 3 feels like an impending train wreck up until the very end, where Robyn intervenes to keep things on track. 

SEASON 3, EPISODE 3 - “Now you’re bonding too much”

Clip 1 - Damage control, part 1

Isak starts off literally on the sidelines as he deals with the fallout of his ill-conceived lies as Emma writes a long text saying it’s fine if he’s not interested but he doesn’t have to give her false hope. Well, he is giving her some false hope, but we’ve also see him express reluctance over hanging out with her and partying with her. I can’t help but feel a little bit bad for him because even if he did make this mess himself, he also didn’t want to do the party with Emma in the first place. He’s created his own problems but they’re a result of his struggles with internalized homophobia and his need to maintain a typical heterosexual dudebro exterior. He really needs to learn to stop waffling and giving in to what people expect or want from him and start speaking up for himself, but of course he can’t quite do that until he starts being honest with himself and others.

Emma demonstrates her maturity by writing a reasonable-ish text message at 21:35, then complaining that he doesn’t answer at 22:01, then apologizing and asking him to reply at 22:18, then calling him an asshole at 22:30. This is one of my greatest personal pet peeves so I’m not exactly feeling sympathy for her at not getting a text reply within an hour. Some of us take naps or go to the movies or do stuff that requires us to be away from our phones for an hour. 

I’ve been wondering why Julie chose to write Emma the way she did, because if you think about it, Isak could have had a female “love interest” who was really cool and smart and seemingly perfect for him, if not for the fact that he’s gay and can’t make himself be interested in her. If I had to guess, I’d guess Emma is characterized like this because someone more mature or level-headed might be able to pick up on the massive hints that he isn’t into her, or in any case might not be so doggedly persistent in getting Isak’s attention. Instead, she’s beautiful and sweet enough, if ignorant in certain aspects, but she’s not someone Isak can just shake off by being distant. He has to deal with the consequences of flirting with her when he doesn’t mean it, because she won’t just go away if he ignores her. 

Additionally, I guess having a “love interest” like her only make it more obvious how right Even is for Isak, not just in the sense of Even being a boy but being someone with whom he forms a natural connection. Isak with Emma acts fake, Isak with Even acts real.

I’m not trying to hate on Emma, by the way; I know there’s an ugly side of fandom that can OTT bash her or Sonja not for their actual flaws but for existing. With Emma it’s complicated because she does do some shitty stuff later on that is legitimately worthy of criticism. Ultimately I think she doesn’t come off as well as someone like Sonja, or even Ingrid or Iben in S1, who are similarly minor characters causing problems for our POV character, but at this point in the story I still had plenty of sympathy for her. Isak is being unfair to her.

Mahdi calls Isak a traitor as he sits down and goes in on him for cancelling the party. It’s not really a surprise that Isak ended up snapping at him later in the season - obviously I love the boy squad and things worked out well and they became an adorable friendship crew, but these two clashed a lot in the first part of S3. To be fair to Mahdi, Isak has in the space of two episodes lost the group’s weed and randomly cancelled a pre-party by lying to everyone involved. Not good bro behavior. 

More to add to my theory that they’re relatively new friends and Mahdi is in this group via Jonas: he has no idea about Isak’s mom situation. I can’t remember if Magnus knows - I don’t remember him talking about it although “Magnus” has known Isak for a while if you count David’s early appearances. But even if you assume Isak is holding back on the specific details, Mahdi doesn’t seem to know that there’s anything unusual about what’s going on with his mom.

Isak is lying here again by mentioning his mom but it’s at least a convincing lie for once. He knows that Jonas will realize the seriousness of what he’s implying, and he also probably won’t press him too hard about the situation. It’s a little shitty that he uses the very serious issue of his mom’s illness - something that Jonas has helped Isak deal with firsthand - as a cover story for the real reason he bailed on Friday. But Isak’s mom is also a constant source of stress and worry for him so there is some truth in it.

Nice acting from Marlon when Jonas’ face changes as soon as Isak mentions his mom. Jonas being so protective and concerned for Isak = 💛💛💛

Mahdi of course doesn’t get it, because moms being stressed is just a thing moms do, they get upset because the kids made a mess or the car broke down or the dog dug a hole in the couch. “Stress” implies something far more mundane than the real situation with Isak’s mom.

Jonas asks simply how Isak’s mother is doing, nothing more, and Mahdi then manages to pick up from Isak’s expression and a serious shared look with Jonas that more is happening with Isak than he realizes. It’s noted in the script that he realizes here. So he drops the argument and tells Isak to just arrange a new pre-party. Case closed, as Jonas and Mahdi say!

Of course, you can tell from Isak’s expression that the case is not closed. First of all, he’s still lying to his friends. Second, how is he going to get a new pre-drink arranged with those girls when Emma is pissed off at him? Third, arranging a new pre-drink will not solve Isak’s rather large problem of not wanting to drink with Emma because he is not interested in her in the slightest.

There’s an IG post from Isak of the boys playing video games the next day, so things were chill again pretty quick.

Clip 2 - The Gay Test

This clip takes place on Mandag, 3:03, for anyone who wants to keep track of the repeating numbers.

Man, this fucking scene. This is bleak.

We start with Isak staring at the ceiling, just staring. You can imagine the million things that are on his mind. He reaches over for his phone and we get one of those biblical texts from his mom. Not as apocalyptic as usual, but still one more thing to cause him “stress” to borrow a euphemism. All these texts are both reminders that not only his mom is struggling with mental illness, she might not accept him if she knew certain facts about him. Facts which are heavily on his mind as of late.

Also, I guess Isak just sleeps in his underwear since we see it happen a few times, but the fact that he’s not dressed works for this being a very stripped down sort of scene, where Isak gets down to the heart of the matter on his laptop. Confronting ideas about his own sexuality directly even if he’s just typing them into a search engine. 

This whole clip is the definition of show, don’t tell, and Tarjei does such excellent acting here, especially considering that he’s using a pretty limited range of facial expressions and body language. Which makes sense, to be clear - he’s alone in his room at 3:03, he doesn’t need to be projecting his feelings to other characters or overreacting. But despite the fact that he’s not asked to go through a huge range here, man does this kid get across everything you need to know about what’s running through Isak’s mind. In fact the stillness works in his favor here, emphasizing his dead-inside, hopeless stare.

His acting carries this scene when there’s no voice-over or exposition to walk us through what’s happening. For instance, when Isak looks at Emma’s picture on Facebook, there’s no explanation, but we understand. He’s trying to see if he feels anything toward it, any attraction at all. He’s probably trying to make himself feel some attraction. 

We don’t actually see the search that led to him finding the gay test, but you can probably assume it was something like how to know if you’re gay or am I gay or something like that. But it might have been interesting to see exactly how he phrased it, to note the level of detachment or certainty in the phrasing.

This fucking test. A real test, by the way! The scripts have the links for the websites Isak visits in this clip, so Julie did her research. This scene was written around the existence of this crap. Did she get advised by RL gay people about the “empty closets” website while talking to members of the LGBT community for this season? Did she just Google “am I gay” and “how to get turned on by girls if you are gay” in order to find some appropriate links?

I was reluctant to give that website hits, but I did want to see exactly what the rest of the questions were, so I went through the test. 

The quiz is 20 questions and they’re all about personal grooming and style habits, gay-friendly pop culture, and avoidance of emotions. Nowhere in this quiz to determine whether someone is gay does it ask questions like “Are you attracted to men?” “Do you want to have sex with men?” “Do you fall in love with men?” Anything that has to with the actual definition of being a gay man. It is all about the stereotypes of having a “gay” personality.

Not only is this quiz is very stupid (obviously), but it also covers a very narrow perspective of what it means to be gay. A lot of the questions assume a middle- or upper-middle-class lifestyle and a selective pool of interests. It’s also an American-centric quiz and one that seems rather dated. There’s one question about who won season 1 of Project Runway - a season that aired in 2004, when Isak was five years old. How can this possibly be an accurate judge of Isak’s sexuality? But for a vulnerable teenager, it doesn’t matter that the test is ludicrous. It’s just reinforcing his worst fears of what a gay man has to be, muddling his perception of who he is. Because on the one hand, if this is what a gay man is, then Isak can’t be gay. He’s not one of those gay guys. But on the other hand, he still feels like he has to distance himself from these ideas of what gay is so he’s not seen that way. It’s all very messy. 

This part is specifically mentioned in the script: Isak hovers over the time travel question, seeming like he’s going to choose Moulin Rouge but picking Woodstock, the less “gay’ seeming option. Trying not to get too high of a score on the quiz. It’s very depressing that he needs to monitor himself like this - I mean, this is a dumbass online quiz and he’s taking it alone at night! Who cares? Sometimes I take Buzzfeed quizzes like “Design a taco and we’ll tell you what tropical fish you are” but does it tell me anything about myself if it says I’m a suckermouth catfish? No. Really he just doesn’t want this insignificant test to confirm something he already fears about himself.

Also we never see him watch any Baz Luhrmann films other than Romeo + Juliet, but I wonder if he watched Moulin Rouge and that sparked his interest in almost picking that option. Baz Luhrmann’s filmography isn’t that large; he’s directed the Red Curtain Trilogy (Strictly Ballroom, R+J, and Moulin Rouge), Australia, and The Great Gatsby, plus the pilot of The Get Down. You could watch all of his movies in a weekend. I know Isak is pretty upset and about to get focused on being “straight” but he had time to research and listen to Nas’ discography sometime this week, so it’s not unreasonable he also checked out other Baz films.

(Only three of those five films are tragedies, by the way! If Isak had stumbled upon Strictly Ballroom, perhaps this season would have turned out differently.)

If he watched Moulin Rouge, by that way, that might add some extra hesitation over the question. A reminder of Even, a reminder of these feelings that are causing him so much pain.

He’s 20% gay, which by this test’s standards is not very gay,  but probably too gay for his liking. 

how to get turned on by girls if you are gay -  I think it’s the “if you are gay” bit that makes this particularly depressing, because Isak knows what he is. He might be taking The Gay Test but really he knows he is gay. This isn’t really about him struggling with feelings for a guy for the first time and figuring out what that means about himself. This season isn’t about Isak realizing that he is gay. He’s known for a while; he’s likely known since he had a crush on Jonas, at least. It’s just that this time with Even, these feelings are coming to the forefront; this time, he almost found himself in a situation where a guy liked him back, and that leaves him with a different range of options than crushing on a straight dude where it’s “safe” in the sense that it’ll never happen. If a guy likes him back, it’s more dangerous, because something can happen. This Google search is about Isak trying to find out how to force a heterosexual side from himself despite knowing it’s fake.

In the script he does a search for “how to get turned on by girls if you are 22% gay” which I’m guessing they changed either to get the right search results on screen or because that phrasing is kind of humorous despite the topic, and it’s at odds with the serious tone of Isak’s struggle here.

Actually, I take it back. You know what is the most depressing about this part? That these are all real forums and posts from closeted gay people. Not fake websites made up for the show, as you would see in most television series. Real comments from real gay guys, talking about how to force themselves to get aroused by women. 

“I get drunk and try to focus on what is attractive about the girl. Works for me.” A real person wrote that.

I wasn’t watching this in real time yet, and I actually saw the pre-drink clip before I saw this one so I wasn’t worried about the pre-drink ending in Isak sleeping with a girl, but I can imagine a sense of foreboding from this clip? Particularly with the focus on the advice about sleeping with a girl. I can definitely imagine that it’d seem like Isak was about to make himself have sex with Emma (or another girl). I am so, so glad that Julie didn’t put Isak through that. It’s depressing enough to see him just think about it.

Clip 3 - Damage control, part 2

Ahhh, it’s the first appearance of Isak’s locker! Things are spilling out of it, he has a hard time cramming his belongings inside and keeping it shut.

So to translate the metaphor of Isak’s locker of self-acceptance: Isak knows he is gay, he has spent the past week indulging in his attraction to Even, and now he’s going to force all those feelings back inside no matter what it takes.

Also, in the script, the locker is able to be closed once Isak says he won’t host the party, so he’s closing it by turning down this opportunity to potentially hang with Even - the whole reason he got roped into hosting in the first place by asking if there would be more kosegruppa meetings.

Lmao, Isak seems incredibly stressed out by his locker, like Tarjei is breathing heavily and he has these wild eyes at the end when he turns back to Vilde. Keeping his locker shut sure must take a toll on him.

Isak blames other people for not being able to host the party instead of owning up to the real reason, which of course he would never admit out loud. He wanted to know if there would be more kosegruppa meetings, in case Even would come, but now Even is the last thing he wants to think about. With this party, Even might not only show up, but could bring his beautiful girlfriend along.

Oh, Isak. Before you told this lie, you should have counted on Eskild having contacts with Noora’s social circle. Eskild, not want to host a party? Please.

He then pins it on Linn which is at least a more believable lie. Linn is the one who asks her roommates to keep it down and wants to stay home and chill. But Vilde makes the point that Linn is depressed and doesn’t want to do anything, and it’s their job to make sure she does stuff. Which is actually very astute of Vilde. Speaking as someone who has dealt with depression, people can definitely go overboard in trying to help. Like everything, there’s a balance: you should respect the wishes of someone with depression and not think you know better than they do about how to handle their mental illness. But it’s also good to have people who want to check in on you and pull you out of your shell. Not to mention, you know, this is additional foreshadowing for the importance of mental health issues this season. 

Also let’s note that Vilde knows this probably because of her mom’s own issues, that she realizes she needs to give her mom a push sometimes. Sure, she really wants Isak to host that party. But she’s also speaking from experience. (The execution of Magnus/Vilde is annoying but in the bare bones of them, they’re both naive/silly characters who are harder to take seriously on a surface level but have a lot of hidden wisdom and maturity about certain issues.)

But Vilde also thought Even was a psychopath so she’s not perfect about mental illness, either. 

There’s a gifset of Vilde talking during this scene juxtaposed with Isak staring at her blankly and it’s one of my favorite gifsets ever. 

I will never stop laughing about how Isak just gives in to whatever Vilde asks of him.

Vilde texts him afterwards about the party and he gives one-word answers that are about as enthusiastic as his texts to Emma.

It’s freaky how much Isak is able to switch on his cool straight guy persona. Just a minute ago he was all frazzled by a battle with his locker and then losing a battle about hosting the party to Vilde, and now he’s going to be all Smooth Charming Totally Digs Girls Isak.

Lol, I’ll say this, it’s a pretty good transformation. Once he gets going I don’t see any cracks in the facade even knowing that he’s struggling internally. 

Even in his apology where he calls himself an asshole, he manages to neg her, kinda. Or whatever you’d call it with that little twist at the end implying he’s got another “cute girl” and Emma. It’s a joke but damn, fake Isak is such a little shit.

I didn’t really notice before but Isak is a little similar to Even here, getting Emma to loosen up by his big talk and charm, kind of like how Even breaks through to Isak with his story about Sonja’s aluminum leg later on. Though Isak is using a truthful story to move forward with his fake interest in Emma, and Even uses a false story to move forward with his real interest in Isak.

This clip ends on such a superficially lighthearted note but it doesn’t make you feel good. Instead it creates this sensation of dread.

This scene is so frustrating because like … Isak could have let this thing with Emma die after he canceled on her pre-drink. Sure, he would have had a first-year girl who didn’t like him, but big deal, in the scheme of things. Or he could have just apologized to her with no flirtation, been upfront about not wanting to take this thing with them further. But he creates an additional problem here by stoking Emma’s interest again. You can see this crashing and burning from a mile away.

Clip 4 - Hello dance chicks

This dance routine goes on too long, lmao, like this lasts more than a minute. Which, to be fair, is probably how it feels when you’re a closeted gay boy having to look at dancing girls because your friends like the view. But it’s also kinda like someone on the crew was like, “Hey Julie, would it be cool if we showcase my cousin and her dance team in this clip?” and Julie was too polite to say no. (This is not actually what I think happened, for the record.)

As noted in the script, this is another instance of Isak trying to make himself feel something, some bit of attraction to these physically fit, tightly-clothed girls, but all he can get out of it is fixation on weird details like the size of one girl’s hands. 

“Did he have to be so gay?” Isak, no. Don’t do this.

This is a direct consequence of crap like “the gay test” that fixates on stereotypes and maintaining a masculine image. It’s really sad that we see Isak try to promote this stuff when he’s raw with insecurity over it.

Also, dude, legit no one in your squad cares about whether that guy is gay. They’re all preoccupied with salivating over girls in activewear.

Later on in the episode we’ll hear Even criticize the act of making generalizations against gay people, something that Isak himself is doing here: generalizing that people who act like that must be gay and generalizing that people who are gay act like that. Like Emma claiming that her generalization isn’t a problem because it’s not negative, Isak tries to defend his comment once Jonas calls him on it by saying that he’s not “dissing” him but merely pointing out a fact. A very weak argument when the comment starts with Isak complaining about the guy being too gay.

Shoutout to Marlon’s utterly baffled face when Isak pulls this shit out of nowhere. It is very ironic that Jonas did encourage some of Isak’s insecurity in S1 with his comments about gay songs and going along with OG Elias’ gay jokes, but now Jonas seems to have matured beyond that behavior between seasons, and Isak, the actual gay guy, is the one left behind, struggling with internalized homophobia. 

Also, whether or not Jonas suspects Isak is gay at all at this point, it’s good that he called out his friend for saying some offensive crap. A lot of guys would laugh along or let the comment pass unchecked. S1 Jonas didn’t call out Elias and even acted like Isak was unreasonable for being upset. S3 Jonas is one hell of an upgrade on that front.

Lol, if you didn’t like Jonas in S1, S3 is his redemption arc. I was biased because I came into S1 having seen part of S3, so I knew Jonas was going to turn out to be an awesome dude. But it is really striking how the alternating POV structure can reveal different sides to characters, and Jonas is one of the characters with possibly the biggest differences revealed. Eva’s season shows Jonas at his worst; Isak’s season shows Jonas at his best. Some of that is definitely getting a year between them to account for Jonas’ increased maturity, and some of it is just being able to know Jonas in the context of a romantic relationship vs. in the context of a friendship.

Jonas mentions that Isak has been grouchy, because Jonas pays attention to his best bro’s well-being, because he cares!! So damn much!!

Mahdi is still checking out the girls and not paying a lick of attention to this Isak-Jonas argument when Even walks up, by the way. 

GODDAMMIT HENRIK, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO TALL

It burns me up inside that Even was wearing the snapback before he throws it to Isak and we didn’t get to see it. Because Henrik is a long, long man. Well, mostly because Julie shot it at that angle.

On the other hand, the angle works really well to create more tension in the scene. Even is towering over Isak and the other boys. His presence is sudden and big. He’s the looming problem that Isak can’t ignore. Isak is sitting down, off-guard. Not only is Even suddenly dominating this moment that was between Isak and his friends, he and Isak are literally not on the same level, both physically and in their interaction. As helpfully pointed out in the script, “Isak doesn’t understand shit about what just happened.”

In the script, Even not only is wearing the snapback, but he sticks it on Isak when he returns it, and like, I can see why that might be considered too much (and Isak immediately panics and takes it off in the script) but god DAMN do I want to see footage where they tried it this way. 

Lmao, so did Even know where to find Isak? Or was he wandering around the school with Isak’s hat, hoping to run into him? Or wearing it just because he liked having Isak’s hat on his head?

How much do you want to bet that Isak left the snapback behind because he was desperate to get out of Even’s apartment and away from the Even/Sonja makeout session as fast as possible? 

Even, on the other hand, was probably glad to have the hat as an excuse to talk to Isak again.

This scene could have gone very differently had Even found Isak alone instead of with the boy squad. Or, looking at it another way, did Even intentionally approach Isak when he wasn’t alone in order to nullify some of the tension from the situation? Because, even apart from Sonja’s appearance, there was some serious chemistry happening on Friday, I’m sure Even fell harder for Isak than he’d even expected. But his relationship with Sonja hangs between them. Maybe he thought having other people there would make the vibe less fraught. You underestimated how much Isak does not want his bros to know, Even. 

The way the atmosphere changes when Even walks in … you can feel Isak’s blood freeze. He just watches Even toss the snapback to him with no effort to catch it because he’s too shocked by what’s happening. He’s so panicked he can come up with absolutely no lies to salvage this situation.

Even is bouncing a little after he approaches Isak, which seems to be a nervous gesture for him. He might seem like the cool confident dude, and sure, Even is often confident and makes the first moves in his pursuit of Isak. But he’s also got a lot of deep-rooted vulnerability. If something happens with Isak … it’ll mean he has to end things with Sonja, a person who has seen Even at his lowest points and still accepts him, cutting off a relationship that has been a source of stability and support despite its serious flaws. And it’ll mean taking a chance on a new person who might not be so okay with the parts of himself Even hates the most.

Even, bless him, reads the tense situation without Isak saying anything. Even though they’re not on the same page, Even can at least tell that Isak is hiding something from his friends. This is one of those early moments that made me really like him - how easily and quickly he can read the room and especially what Isak is feeling, and can act quickly to help him out, similar to how Even handles Emma wanting to pair off with Isak at kosegruppa. He’s a very perceptive person. And he throws out a lie for Isak very casually and shrugs it off and walks away.

Isak is very confused by this encounter, and with scenes where Isak has no idea what’s happened I like to consider Even’s unseen side of the story (to be fair, I like to consider that for ... pretty much all scenes). So I’m trying to imagine what Even wanted or expected from this moment. This is the first scene where he’s interacting with Isak after a life-changing Friday afternoon where they got to know each other and fell hard for each other. That meeting ended with Even’s long-term girlfriend came by, bringing a cold dose of reality to this magical afternoon. So what does Even think will happen when he finds Isak again? What does he hope will happen?

I think from Even’s POV, this certainly wasn’t what he wanted to happen the next time he spoke to Isak. Isak was very clearly not happy with Even’s presence in that moment, which is never a great feeling. But if Even turned this moment over in his head - what was that all about? - he would have to consider that Isak was hiding something from his friends, specifically that he hung out with Even on Friday. So why didn’t Isak want to tell them? What’s so objectionable about two guys randomly hanging out and smoking weed together? Because if there wasn’t anything to hide, why couldn’t Isak just say, “Oh, thanks for returning my hat, hey guys, this is Even?” So then Even would run through the possibilities. Maybe Isak had other plans with these guys, and he bailed on them. But then why did he bail? Because he didn’t want to hang with them, or because he really wanted to hang with Even? Orrrrr …. Was there something else to that afternoon that Isak feels he can’t tell his friends about, and if so, what was that?

IDK, if I were in Even’s shoes, I would be analyzing the hell out of what just happened trying to pick out some meaning from it. And I think while I might be really hurt and disappointed in the moment, when I had been semi-rejected by Isak, if I thought about it further, I might feel a spark of hope over Isak’s reaction. Because maybe this feeling isn’t one-sided. Maybe that afternoon had more significance to Isak than just a fun hangout.

Of course this is all assuming Even is like me and obsesses over the little details of a confusing social interaction. He might have just thought, “Time to try again!” and started picking out the perfect outfit for Friday. We don’t get any clues between this scene and Even showing up at the party to tell us what he might have been thinking. 

The script makes it clear that Jonas remembers that Isak was wearing the snapback when they left the school on Friday, therefore realizing that Even was lying. Let’s applaud Jonas’ observational skills because tbh, I would not remember what hat my friends were wearing last week unless it was super out of the ordinary. I guess if one of them were borrowing my own hat I might mentally keep track of it? Still, Jonas is killing it this season with recognizing stuff’s up with Isak.

Isak and Jonas share clothes and I love it, by the way 💛💛💛

Isak calling Even “just some revue nerd from Vilde’s group” stings, man. I know he is obviously lying and Even is already so much more to him, but I’m glad Even wasn’t around to hear that. Like Isak dismissing Even that way is painful on Isak’s part, too. If only Even was “just some revue nerd” Isak wouldn’t be feeling like shit.

Honestly, bless Magnus for interrupting this miserable scenario with his weird-ass BDSM dreams. If ever there was a time where you needed your goofball friend to start talking about getting tied up and punished with a whip, this is it.

Some of Isak’s reaction to Magnus’ story seems like Tarjei laughing at his friend David delivering these ridiculous lines and some of it seems like he and Jonas can’t help but look at each other all are you hearing this shit and at one point it seems like Isak casts a look at Jonas as if to be like so are we done with the topic of gay people and my bad attitude and the revue nerd now? Are you distracted enough to forget it for now? Are we cool?

That whole moment with Even happened so quickly, you know that it was one of those incidents that goes by fast and is hard to process while it’s occurring. But as we later learn, it stuck with Jonas for a while.

So far, Isak has lied or taken part in a lie in every single clip this week: his mom’s “stress,” the gay test (lying to himself or trying to figure out how to live a lie), lying to Vilde about why he can’t host the party, lying to Jonas about who Even is and when Even got his snapback.

Clip 5 - Neon pre-game

This was the first Skam clip I ever saw!

The clip popped up in my recommendations on YouTube, and I was pulling an Isak and messing around on my laptop late at night, so I decided to watch. I fully expected to watch for a minute and then switch to something else, but no, this one clip had me hooked.

I know this is just like, a fun party theme where all the kids can get dressed up in wacky wigs and bright colors, but I think there’s something to both this scene and the 21:21 clip in the next episode that the setting is out of the ordinary and that allows the flirtation between Isak and Even to escalate.  In this clip, it’s a party, the lights are turned down, everyone’s dressed unusually. Things are already out of the norm. It’s because things aren’t ordinary that this situation with Isak and Even can be pushed a little farther. It’s when the lights are low and everyone’s dancing with painted faces that Isak and Even can lock eyes while they’re kissing girls because it’s something off from their usual reality. When the lights come up and the music’s off and everyone’s grabbing their coats to leave and go back into the rest of the world, breaking the spell, and Even levels that stare at Isak - that’s too real, that makes Isak look away. But it’s that slightly surreal, slightly dreamy vibe that allows for Isak and Even to take a step forward.

I love seeing Linn dressed up and socializing! Vilde was right, she needed a push.

Chris is here, but not Kasper, which is probably just due to actor availability since he’s mentioned in the script. It would have been nice to get some more insight into that relationship and especially what ended it, since we get so little of Chris’ inner life. I mean, Vilde/Magnus is also a “joke” relationship in a lot of respects and we still got more of a clue of why they might have something genuine besides a shared interest in TMI.

The script had Jonas calling Isak and Isak presumably ignoring him, a detail that is left out of the final clip. Jonas does mention that he tried to call Isak in a clip next episode, though.

Notice we open the dialogue with Isak asking Emma what music she likes, aka the question that Even asked him on Friday. Which is a common enough icebreaker, but I don’t think these facts are unrelated! Like I realize Isak has dating experience but really Isak takes a lot of cues from Even in navigating a real romantic relationship, little things that come up later on. And also, as much as Isak might be trying to be straight, trying to make it work with Emma, his mind is clearly drifting back to that afternoon with Even. How right it must have felt compared to this thing with Emma or with other girls, and how, maybe without even thinking about it much, he’s referring back to his interaction to Even as a model of how to flirt.

Lmao I mean, Justin Bieber ain’t my favorite musical artist either, but I feel like Isak’s reaction to Emma being a fan is so typical of dudes. I will give Emma some credit, she laughs off his teasing and doesn’t get too insecure about his comments, at least not visibly. And when he asks her about ‘90s hip-hop she admits she doesn’t know much about it instead of pretending to (ISAK).

Isak also sounds like a typical dude when talking about his musical tastes to Emma. However, Isak suddenly being an expert on Nas is the funniest shit ever. Emma, let me tell you all about the greatest musical artist ever, who I learned about a week ago! Tarjei plays this moment really well because I kinda cringed and I also laughed really hard.

It also shows that, even with Isak taking gay tests and trying to flirt with Emma this week, he found time to research and listen to Nas, someone important to Even.

In the script Vilde throws herself at Even into a hug when he enters and then it’s mentioned that “Vilde awkwardly greets Sonja,” which is kind of a random detail. I guess the awkwardness comes from Vilde launching herself too enthusiastically into a hug at Even in front of his girlfriend? Was Vilde supposed to be kinda thirsty for Even, thinking he was a single dude and wanting to get with someone (out of jealousy at her friends hooking up)?

The script also has Isak deliberately ignore Even when he tries to say hi, which wouldn’t have worked with the positioning of the actors in this scene, but it’s obviously colder than what we get here.

Looking ahead to S4, I’m still on the fence about how much Julie really thought about the Sana-Even connection - there are things that make me think she did plan it to a degree, there are things that seem retconned - but I’ve never thought this moment of Sonja introducing herself to Sana has to be a big inconsistency with Even and Sana knowing each other. All he had to do was tell Sonja beforehand that Sana would be at the party and that he didn’t want to call attention to the fact that they knew each other before he went to Nissen, and she probably would have agreed to play along like they were strangers.

I think Emma placed Isak’s hand on her boob because he momentarily stopped paying attention to her by looking at Even. But I don’t think she realized why he stopped paying attention to her.

Emma: “My bra will be bothering me until I can TAKE IT OFF I mean just a suggestion really it’d be so welcome to get out of it ha ha ha.”

I was going to laugh and say Isak could not look less interested in touching Emma’s boob but then I took another look at Tarjei’s face and remembered that Isak is supposed to be forcing himself to be turned on by girls, and mentally he was probably thinking okay, here’s your chance, focus and suddenly it got a lot less funny.

Jesus Lord, that look Even sends Isak from across the room while draping his jacket over his shoulder. While clad in that tight white T-shirt. He means business. No mystery at all why Isak takes that moment to gulp down his beer and start making out with Emma. This is certainly a challenge Isak is undertaking for himself, trying to be straight, but it’s also a fuck-you to Even (and not in the way Even wants). Hey Even, we flirt all afternoon and then your girlfriend comes in? Then you bring her to my apartment and give me that look across the room? Well, fuck you, I’m not dealing with your mixed signals now.

There is such a clear difference between when Isak makes out with girls versus when he kisses Even. With Emma here (and with Sara in S2) you can see how calculated it is; the way Isak rubs his hands over her back, the way he tilts his head in a coordinated way, the length of the kisses. It feels entirely like a performance with those girls, like there’s something cerebral about it, his mind is working on how to make it seem real from the outside. When Isak eventually kisses Even, it just seems like he’s … not thinking. Or maybe he’s thinking, but not because he’s trying to perform. With Even, Isak just wants to kiss him. He’s not worried about making it look good, he’s concentrated on how good it feels, and he’s just reacting on instinct with what his body wants. 

I would pay to see a version of this scene where Even plops down on the sofa and Emma is like, “Endre, Isak was just telling me about Nas, he says he made the best album of all time!”

Also, it wouldn’t have worked with Isak’s POV, but don’t you wish we could have seen Even’s face when he noticed Isak had his hand on Emma’s boob, and especially when Isak broke their loaded eye contact to make out with Emma? Like can you imagine on Even’s end, when he’s kind of still in that conversational bubble with Sonja and Vilde, how he burst out of it? OK GOTTA BLAST BYEEEEEEE

And then he launches across the room like he’s auditioning for The Flash.

“I’m starting to think you’re bonding too much” Subtle, Even.

“I thought we were a team?” SUBTLE.

Even does do an admirable job of trying to seem cheerful and not possessive or jealous, but you can see him deflate a little once he shakes Isak’s shoulder and compliments his apartment and Isak is just not having it, and meanwhile Emma gets to lean in to Isak taking advantage of that proximity. 

Lmao, can you imagine if these three actually attempted to bake bread or whatever for kosegruppa? All the passive-aggressiveness and competing for Isak’s attention, and Isak wanting to sink into the floor? I’ll say it again, I will never not feel a little cheated that we didn’t get more actual kosegruppa shenanigans.

It’s kinda funny that Emma is raving about Eskild considering they could have met only like an hour or so ago. And already she’s like “HE’S GAY, LIFE OF THE PARTY!”

Shout out to Eskild, Linn, and Chris’ dancing though. Loves of my life right there.

Even is honestly a very nice person, I think kindness is one of his defining qualities, but man, he does not care for Emma. Though even when he’s calling her out on her generalizing about gay people, he’s not being excessively rude to her? He’s not calling her homophobic or ignorant or anything, he’s just challenging her and explaining to her why it’s offensive. And he’s justified in doing so anyway, it’s not like he targeted her over something stupid. What she’s saying affects him as a pansexual person.

Actually, Emma harboring generalizations about gay people is perhaps part of why she didn’t consider that the boy turning down a blowjob from her and giving her mixed messages might be gay. He’s not ~hilarious and fitting into her ideas about gay people. To be clear, I’m not trying to put all the blame on her, because Isak is also randomly making out with her and encouraging her crush on him, too. But she’s just got a limited view of gay people and their experiences, as evidenced by other stuff later in the season.

Man, the way Isak’s head turns when Even calls Emma out on using superficial generalizations. This conversation is just what he needed to hear at this moment. That his paranoia over stuff like the gay test, his criticisms of the dance instructor for seeming too gay, all of that crap, are wrong. They’re inaccurate. Just because he likes guys does not mean Isak has to be this way or that way. That he can be an individual rather than having to cram himself into boxes that don’t fit. That if he identifies as gay, it doesn’t mean that everyone can sum up his existence by that one adjective. And he’s hearing it from exactly the best person who could say it at this moment: the guy he likes. Imagine what a relief it is to know not only that Even doesn’t buy into this bullshit, but also that he will vocally speak out against it. And you know that Isak is also wondering more about whether Even is not straight based on this conversation because it sounds like Even has given this topic a lot of thought.

Also when Emma is objecting to Even’s comments, she turns back to Isak, maybe for reinforcement, or maybe because she doesn’t want to lose an argument in front of him, and he quickly lowers his gaze, because he doesn’t want to seem too interested in what Even is saying. But of course Isak is intensely interested. Emma isn’t even quite in focus in some of these shots. It’s all Isak zeroing in on Even’s perspective.

Even also uses the “All Muslims are terrorists” example as a comparison, and it was one of the moments that people took as potential evidence that Even had an interest in Islam and possibly knew Sana. After S4, we know that this example is personal to him because his best friends were Muslims and experienced the harm from those generalizations.

Additionally, if you consider that Even had a suicidal episode prior to this season that had something to do with shame over liking boys, this is quite a bit of self-reflection to have gained in the meantime. I’m not sure we ever learn exactly when Even’s suicide attempt took place (like what month and exactly how much school he missed)? But in the period between the suicide attempt and S3, Even appeared to have gained a lot of acceptance about his sexuality.

As I said above, this is the first Skam clip I ever saw, and this moment right here, with Even and Emma talking on the couch, was the one that really grabbed my attention. I was impressed with this part because it seemed to have more nuance and maturity than a lot of similar takes on homophobia - I feel like a lot of shows sometimes still don’t get that positive generalizations are still generalizations? And I definitely feel like many shows’ characters wouldn’t have a discussion about it. 

And for what it’s worth, I really liked Even after this exchange and it’s one of many moments that made it harder for me to think that he was two-timing or using Isak. This seemed very genuine and thoughtful, and like he was someone who had strong investment in the topic. 

Not to drag Emma too much again, but her calling this conversation “boring” is something that makes me, well, less than fond of her. In fact I find her calling this conversation boring and flouncing away a lot worse than making a generalization about gay people in the first place. Because people do say offensive things out of ignorance; Isak certainly says his fair share of crap regarding gay people this season. But people can also be educated about these points. For instance, Isak takes Eskild’s Pride speech seriously. It’s that Emma doesn’t take Even’s comments seriously that’s bad. That she doesn’t want to confront that she may be perpetuating harmful ideas. I don’t expect her to fall over herself apologizing but this conversation has not permeated her brain at all. This isn’t a “boring” conversation to Isak, who is gay, and who needs this conversation at the moment. The fact that Emma can call it boring and walk away is some massive straight privilege. I don’t want to demonize her too much because she is only like 16, but yeah, girl is very ignorant about LGBT issues. 

HERE WE GO, ANOTHER ICONIC S3 MOMENT.

I never really noticed but at the beginning of Call Your Girlfriend, when we’re watching Isak bop along (adorably), you can see Even’s neon bandanna at the side of the frame, out of focus. It reminds me a lot of shots where we are firmly in Isak’s POV, such as in the Talk Show Host courtyard walk, where part of Isak’s head is at the side of the frame out of focus, almost like we’re watching over his shoulder, or directly seeing through his eyes. So this moment in Call Your Girlfriend, whether intentional or not, almost seems like we’re watching through Even’s eyes as he looks at Isak dancing. It doesn’t work perfectly, since Isak eventually looks off to the side at Even (and not at the camera) but I like to think of Even watching Isak as he danced with Emma, turning back to Sonja a moment before Isak looked over at Even.

So I love the Evak nose rubs as much as anyone, that’s their special thing, but Even does it here to Sonja as they’re dancing. My headcanon is going to be that Isak saw this and deliberately instigated it with Even in the bed scene as a way of making it theirs. I really think Isak takes a lot of cues from Even, as mentioned earlier, more than he realizes consciously.

Also, while I think Even making out with Sonja at the end of S2 was for Sonja’s benefit, in this scene I think a lot of the Even/Sonja making out is a performance for Isak. Which is not really fair to Sonja, but well, there you go. Even saw Isak making out with Emma, he suspects it was for show (if nothing else he knows Isak was not enthused to be in a kosegruppa group with Emma and so his interest probably isn’t genuine), and this is his way of saying two can play that game.

never 4get the iconic script line by Julie in reference to Isak’s dancing, “lol Tarjei”

THIS SONG, by the way. This song is a jam anyway but talk about those completely on-point lyrics.

This is one of those diegetic music moments where the characters are listening to the music inside the scene. What makes it work so damn well is because Even knows this song and is deliberately making eye contact with Isak at the most apropos lyrics. You can’t tell me otherwise. It’s not just the soundtrack coincidentally happening to sync up and be lyrically relevant for the viewers, it’s the song syncing up within the scene itself, at the party - that would be loaded enough, but Even is also putting on a show for Isak here. There’s a reason he turns Sonja in place and looks at Isak exactly at the line “and now it’s gonna be me and you.” Yeah, I know I’m with her, Isak, and I know you’re with her, but I feel you looking at me, and I’m gonna look back. 

I mean Even, Gabrielle’s #1 fan, knows how to communicate meaningfully via pop songs to the object of his affection.

Possibly my favorite part is right after that scorching eye contact, when you can see Isak has just been struck to the core by Even looking at him, and then he closes his eyes and goes back to kissing Emma. Because you know he’s imagining he’s kissing someone else.

I feel bad for Sonja and Emma here but at least they remained happily oblivious to the boys eye-fucking each other across the room while making out with them. 

There’s not enough Eva in this season so let’s appreciate how gosh darn cute she is with her yellow hair bow.

Also Sana is so precious with her face paint and dimples!

How did Isak not burst into flames when Even looked across the room at him like that? The most smoldering look of the clip, for my money. That is the gaze of a man who knows what (who) he wants and is not shy to show it. Also note Isak quickly looking away and then “surreptitiously” back to Even a moment later, when Even has looked away and is deciding to play it more cool.

Emma touches Sonja’s teeth which is kind of weird, although Sonja does have very nice teeth! But I mean, even my close friends probably wouldn’t just touch my teeth for fun, let alone someone I just met. I assume this was something to do with the blacklight? Sonja’s teeth were very bright in the dark? Or else Emma is interested in amateur dentistry.

Lmao when Emma suggests Isak take a taxi with her, Sonja, and Even, you can imagine that is the absolute last scenario Isak would enjoy right now, Emma trying to get into his pants and Even mentally undressing him while Sonja is right there.

Here we goooooooo with another memorable Evak kitchen scene! Julie sure loves to have people flirt in kitchens, huh.

Guys, I got butterflies watching this scene. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it, but part of me is still like are they going to kiss????

“Didn’t you take a taxi with the others?” “I have a bike.” Lmao I don’t believe that.

I can FEEL the tension coming off the screen. Like I can imagine everything Isak is feeling here. The nerves, the attraction, the pull toward Even. Trying to fight it, trying to maintain some detachment.

You can imagine Isak’s heart beating so fast. SHIT Even is right here, in his personal space, they’re alone together.

Even asks about Isak having a good time with Emma - funny because we all know, and he knows, that Isak just made out with Emma while staring at Even. It’s a joke, an inquiry that would seem harmless except for the massive irony. Also not a joke because Even really is kind of jealous and Isak plays off his comment. No matter if they’re aware of this thing between them, Isak is still making out with someone other than Even and it stings.

The acting here is so so SO good. Isak is like “why are you telling me about this” when Even starts talking about Sonja, he’s cautious, he’s trying not to give himself away. Meanwhile Even is trying to find a way to break through to Isak. He’s trying to communicate that he doesn’t want to be with her, but that it’s complicated. And when Isak is not having it, he switches to making an outlandish joke about it. Both of them communicate these shifts so well with their microexpressions, body language, tone of voice, etc.

There’s so much delicious subtext in this scene! This is one of Skam’s strengths - we know what’s going on in this scene, they don’t need to spell it out for us with lots of straighforward expository dialogue because the strength of the acting, the pacing, and the carefully chosen dialogue tells us everything we need to know. On a very instinctive level, we can tell when Isak becomes more on edge or when he lowers his guard; we can tell when Even decides he needs to try a new tactic in getting through to Isak.

Even and Sonja’s relationship is pretty complex even if we don’t get many glimpses at it up close and personal - you have to take a lot of it in bits and pieces, based on what Even says, what Sonja says, what Isak sees. I think they really needed to break up whether or not Isak was in the picture, but the thing is, I can completely understand why Even feels he can’t break up with her. She’s the one who stood by him through his episodes, throughout a terrible point of his life, and he probably feels like he owes her or that it’s wrong to leave her after all that. Adding to that, she’s one of the most stable factors in his life - after losing his friends, having to change schools, having to repeat his final year, dealing with manic/depressive episodes, etc. And because Sonja calls the shots, she’s someone he can rely on. He’s used to her taking control and telling him what’s real and not real. He’s got so much insecurity about his mental illness and he’s used to Sonja for support, so you can imagine how it’d be hard to cut himself off from her judgment. How is he supposed to stand on his own? She’s his aluminum leg.

Again, Even thinking quickly on his feet, spinning this ridiculous yarn about Sonja’s aluminum leg. He really gets into it! And this dumb story does melt the tension so beautifully, so kudos to Even for being a giant weirdo.

That is a damn fine delivery by Tarjei on Isak’s confused “What?” Precious.

As has been analyzed many times, Even’s story about Sonja’s aluminum leg is not really about his girlfriend’s fake prosthetic limb. He’s talking about himself and his bipolar disorder. She’s doing a lot better now (Even is doing a lot better after his manic/depressive episodes at Elvebakken and his suicide attempt). She’s gotten a lot of help from physiotherapists (Even has presumably been to some mental health specialists. Although it would be nice to know this for certain! Something I always wanted more of - info on Even’s mental health treatment plan.) You can hardly see she limps (Even seems like a swaggering confident young man and at first glance you would not be able to see his mental health struggles or vulnerabilities).

Notice how Even moves in subtly closer to Isak after Isak’s clued in on the joke, and that the camera zooms in a bit as well, making us feel the distance closing. I think even Isak notices and needs a second to adjust (after Even says he could’ve joked about something way worse, he kind of sputters out a reply, which could be disbelief or could also be him taking a second to re-calibrate with Even RIGHT THERE OMG).

This is how you do on-screen chemistry. Tarjei and Henrik are really feeding off each other, responding to each other’s movements and eye contact, making this conversation seem natural.

Regarding Even’s comment about Sonja having a dick and that this would be way too far to joke about - I definitely get why this comment would bother people. I think part of the joke is that Even is quite fine with dick and “going too far” is ironic when Even keeps joking about dick and balls, including making a blowjob joke within seconds of his first conversation with Isak. Their reactions make it clear that talking about dick is a lot more charged when there’s all this sexual tension floating around in the kitchen. But the comment is somewhat jarring and is worded in an unfortunate way that’s close to common transphobic arguments.

Isak not being able to look at Even at this point slays me. He tries it for a second but quickly looks back down. Even is too close, Isak is too attracted to him, this tension between them is too thick, Even’s girlfriend is too much of an obstacle and it’s too hard to think about how Even can’t break up with her, and all his plans for this week about how to get turned on by Emma, how to act straight, are unraveling so fast because this thing with Even is too real. It’s too much.

And when Isak says Sonja’s name it’s palpable how much this situation upsets him. Sonja is very sweet and cute. She’s Even’s very nice girlfriend who he can’t dump. No matter if they’re flirting and there’s all this tension, she’s the elephant in the room. It’s like it’s the fact that Isak is clearly struggling and not even able to look at him that makes Even decide to kiss him, because he knows what it means. Show him it’s not about Sonja anymore. My heart hurts at how resolutely Isak keeps his head down, even when Even moves in for the kiss.

Can I just say I love the sound effects in this scene? Or rather, lack thereof? I think you can hear the door unlocking at one point, for Noora, but otherwise the silence, just their breathing, every inch they move, all of that is so perfect. Like this is all being laid bare, it’s hard to hide anymore when it’s just the two of them and there are no distractions.

I adore Julie’s bit in the script about Isak looking down at the hole in the sock. ADORE IT. I can completely see it even if it’s not physically shown on screen. I know it’s mostly to get Tarjei into Isak’s mindset but damn that bit is so perfect. 

Though this is the part in the season where I’m like, OK, Even should’ve broken up with Sonja. Even though I completely get why he doesn’t from a character perspective! The previous episodes contained this nebulous getting-to-know-you phase where I can accept Even still being with Sonja to a degree even if there is some emotional cheating going on, even if he’s deliberately trying to get close to Isak. But trying to kiss someone? That’s when you need to decide if you want to call it quits with your old partner or pursue this new person. Although again, I get why he wanted to be REALLY FUCKING CERTAIN before he broke up with her, considering it’s not easy to end this relationship and the last time he made a move on a boy, things did not end well.

Imagine being a Norwegian Skam fan and following S2 and being obsessed with Noora’s story which is this national phenomenon, and then S3 starts and Noora’s just gone, not only out of focus but gone, out of the damn country, and you miss her and want to see her again, and maybe you’re not really keen on this Isak kid but after a few episodes you’re warming up to him and his budding romance with Even is really cute and you hope they get together and then there’s this scene packed full of sexual tension and they’re about to finally kiss and it feels like ages even though it’s only been like three weeks and that is when some jackass interrupts this almost-kiss and you’re going to murder whoever did it and that is when you get your beloved Noora back. I mean. A+ trolling, Julie.

What did Even think of Noora, anyway, with that look he shoots Isak? Just a general “who is this and why is she preempting our makeouts” or is he wondering if she’s Isak’s ex or something?

I think so much about what happened right after this scene! How awkward was Even’s leaving? It seems from the next clip (at the start of episode 4) that they talked about hanging out the next day? I wonder if that was supposed to be a text message or something that didn’t make it into the social media updates. Did Even go home by himself, or did he go find Sonja and the others? I’m not sure if that’s clear from the texts. What would have happened if Noora came home like a minute later, after they’d kissed - would Even have broken up with Sonja immediately or 

I used to wonder when Isak got Even’s phone number. For a while I thought he had Even listed as “Even Kosegruppa” in his phone because he got his number at the first kosegruppa meeting - that seems pretty early in their relationship, but it’s also the only period of time where he didn’t know Even’s full name, and it would have made sense to call him “Even Kosegruppa” seeing that’s the only context he knew him at that point. But it did seem strange to me that they would have exchanged numbers but Isak wouldn’t be shown freaking out over this, or Even wouldn’t have “casually” contacted Isak. So now I’m thinking they only exchanged numbers after this party scene, when they were tentatively making plans to hang out the next day. Tbh I could totally see Even putting himself as “Even Kosegruppa” in Isak’s phone to be funny. Because clearly this connection between them has escalated and there’s a joke in suggesting that Isak needs to be reminded how he knows Even - oh yeah, that guy from kosegruppa - when they both know it’s more than that. And Isak would of course never change it.

The song over the credits (”Lite og Stort” by No. 4) is about finding your way back home, which is literally Noora’s situation right now. I think the lyrics are specifically about “home” meaning Norway as a country? I’m going off the English translation, though, feel free to correct if I’m missing something. 

Anyway this scene hooked me. I was blown away by their acting in the kitchen scene, I was floored by the level of chemistry. Despite not knowing anything that came before this scene, I needed to have these characters kiss! And I loved the pacing and the dialogue, how natural it all felt. I distinctly remember thinking. “Now this is the kind of television I like to watch.”

General Comments:

This week has one of my favorite uses of social media, the “If you don’t remember her name in the morning take her to Starbucks” picture. It went up after the clip with the dance chicks. Utterly perfect deployment, Isak posting that right when he’s concerned about seeming straight. All performative, all BS.  

Isak lies to the guys about the party, claiming he’s going home to chill and do washing. Magnus even mentions that there’s a revue party happening but Isak fails to mention that he’s hosting it.

Emma messages Isak after she’s left the pre-drink asking him where he is and later drunk texts him telling him he’s great and wanting to go over and be with him at like 3 a.m. Isak, you dug that hole yourself.

Isak asks Emma how everything went after the neon pre-drink and Emma is like, “Sonja is so cool!” and immediately Isak is all “I have to go now.” Sonja’s awesomeness is not something he wants to hear about in detail.

I didn’t realize but there’s an IG post from Magnus on Friday showing Mahdi hooking up with a girl and Magnus calling himself a third wheel. I didn’t remember Mahdi ever hooking up on screen with anyone so I mean, I’m glad he got some during the show?

I own exactly one Funko Pop (Brienne of Tarth) and I know this would never happen outside of my dreams but I would kill for some Skam Funkos, particularly of the last clip of this episode, with Even’s white T-shirt and neon bandanna and Isak’s pink paint streaks and Illuminati shirt. Complete with Noora for that special cock-blocking authenticity.

This is a total tangent, but I’ve been looking up Baz Luhrmann stuff for these recaps and did you know that there’s a Moulin Rouge stage musical that literally just premiered? As in, yesterday, July 10? Starring Aaron Tveit as Christian? I have left my middle school Moulin Rouge obsession out of these recaps but I’m wondering how a live musical version is going to work. There’s a ton of it that would translate fine but then I feel like a Moulin Rouge without Baz Luhrmann giving you motion sickness with his wild-ass editing and cinematography is missing that special something.

[violetfaust]

Hey, what are your top 3 (or 5, if you’re up for it) plots/character dynamics that would’ve made OUAT more interesting but that the writers either didn’t do/tried to do but screwed up royally

Wow, Nonny, I think this might be the best ask I’ve ever gotten (or tied with the one about Regina sending all the random guests at the Captain Swine wedding home with their hearts in favor baggies) and I’ve had some great ones.

And I was going to mull it over as usual and give it the respect it deserves but if I do that it’s going in my drafts and won’t be answered for weeks if ever and will be six thousand words long. So I’m just gonna half-ass it. [Editorial note: it has now been more than a week since I wrote those words and I have been half-assing it in draft all that time. And it STILL got long as hell. This is why no one sends me asks. :-( Sorry, Anon.]

Top 5 characters/character dynamic missed opportunities:

-- First and foremost forever, everything having to do with Neal. Papafire, Fire Believer, Floof Family, Swanfire, Neal/Regina coparenting...every plot since would have been improved, more organic and more interesting by adding Neal. Neal and Emma going back in time and BOTH meeting their parents? Rumple’s Rampage with Neal around--and Neal being the one to banish him? The Dark Two costarring the Dark One’s son? Which wouldn’t have ended with Emma being upstaged in her own story by her Stu boyfriend, but given her the sacrificial moment she deserved.

-- Regina’s love life: With all due respect to OQ, that should have ended the moment Marian was brought back, and Regina’s next and permanent love interest should have been a villain for her to bring back to the light. Hook, if he was kept around after Neverland (the both of them rebounding after Swanfire and Robin/Marian reunited, but growing into something more); Maleficent (written to be a little more bitter/less reformed); Jafar coming off OUATIW (bringing in Aladdin and Jasmine a few seasons earlier, perhaps in place of the Frozen nonsense); even Facilier with the same backstory (which seems to be a fling while she was the Evil Queen, with possibly much stronger feelings on his part that she didn’t return because revenge). 

...OR. If the decision was made to ditch the original story of Swanfire, the only organic alternative would have been to go forward with a full-on love story for Swan Queen. (Which to be honest is one of the few things that I think would have prevented the show’s ratings decline and failure.)

-- Ruby should have stayed a main character, and her romance should have been onscreen. I enjoyed the setup for Frankenwolf in S2, but Kitsowitz have been promising a LGBT couple since S3, when all we got was sad, lonely Mulan in love with her straight best friend. (Cutting-edge wlw content, circa 1925.) Ruby and Mulan coulda/shoulda had a long-term, medium-burn romance like Alice and Robin are getting now. Ruby’s friendships with Snow and Belle could also have been respected (and poor Belle wouldn’t have been used to prop her and her family’s abusers). Even after the show had gone down the Stu hole, there was a period when they could have gotten Meghan back (before she became the queen of the Hallmark Channel) and could have gone on from there.

-- The Sheep Boys BroTP should never have been abandoned--especially so that Charming could play sidekick and patsy to a toxic misogynist pirate who never learned from him. Charming and Hook together were basically two frat boys glorifying traditional masculinity (with Hook being the darker, toxic side and again, never changing through learning anything from David). Rumple and Charming were incredibly different, but they had the commonality of putting their wives and families above everything else in the world. Exploring the different worldviews they came even with that common goal could have been fascinating, and expanded both characters.

-- And, of course, probably most of all: Rumbelle, and Belle’s other relationships. Like, I can’t even begin...there are SO many missed opportunities and lost chances with them--beginning even back in S2. What if they’d kept Lacey for more than two episodes and let her play a part in the main story? (I’ll never get over the hilarious visual of Lacey in Neverland.) But overall...just...not piling on stupid, needless, often OOC conflict without any payoff for three or four seasons. Not to say have them always be in perfect accord like Snowing, or a codependent mess like CY, in which Belle kept brushing off any of Rumple’s wrongdoings. But let them work out issues onscreen, let them fight together against outside threats like Hades, let them address their conflicts in ways that made sense in character rather than being excuses to prop a Stu or Sue. (Let’s not even discuss the constant teasing of the BatB TLK and the  ultimate utter pathetic anticlimax when it didn’t happen.) While I do think that canon Swan Queen is the only thing that could have definitely saved the ratings in later seasons, IMO a strong Rumbelle story that respected their characters and their story as Beauty and the Beast had a good chance of doing it as well. (Especially if Kitsowitz had had the brains to cash on on the live-action BatB hullablaoo.) But Kitsowitz were too small-minded and spiteful (and ABC too prejudiced and cowardly, I guess) to focus on their best romance.

(Honorary mentions to the Rumple/Regina frenemyship, which I cover below, and to poor Will Scarlet, who should have never been on the show if he wasn’t going to be more than a “soul-destroying” unneeded glitch in Rumbelle.)

Top 5 plot missed opportunities:

[OMG, Violet, you’re not done YET???]

-- The Anti-Magic Organization that Greg/Tamara supposedly worked for would have made a brilliant arc. Kitsowitz should have played that out before heading off to Neverland (it was obviously the plan because they didn’t expect the NL/PP perms situation to resolve so quickly).

-- My best crack theory: Hook found the author in Season 3B and had been using him to manipulate everyone ever since. Explaining Once Upon a Stu--and more important, getting out of it at the end of S4. https://violetfaust.tumblr.com/post/114245381966/what-if-someone-already-got-to-the-author

-- A S5b based on my second-best crack theory: https://violetfaust.tumblr.com/post/143427662086/things-that-absolutely-wont-happen-but-should Rumple and Belle try to get out of Hades’s clutches by working with Regina--who claims to be Rumple’s second-born child via Cora. We could have had so much juicy stuff exploring their past, what Rumple did to Regina, Rumple and Cora (it’s a travesty that they didn’t even have a passing encounter in the UW). It could have led into Emilie’s maternity leave when Hades discovered the truth and kidnapped Belle--which would have led to a 6A in which Rumple rescued Belle from some other dimension but found their child gone. And one of the plot points of 6A would have been Rumple working with the EQ not in some idiotic parody of a romance, but because she called in a favor.

-- BIG BAD FUCKING BLUE FAIRY. Enough said.

-- And then there’s the most destructive missed plot opportunity in the history of the show: Giving Rumple’s and Belle’s POVs in seasons 4 through 6. Given the reveals about the Dark Squad in S5, the most dramatic story this show ever had was Rumple’s battle against the Dark One (and his near-loss) in S4. A S4 that showed his POV of what was happening would have been epic--especially if it did not sideline Belle but allowed her to play a part in trying to save him at the end, culminating in their TLK that freed Rumple but unfortunately also let loose the Dark One, leading to it taking over Emma. Then S5 would have played out as it was advertised: the current Dark One vs. the only surviving former Dark One. Similarly, Belle’s actions in 6A caused nearly all the drama of 6B--and she wasn’t allowed to participate in it at all. 

Honorable mention to not including Belle in the Mulan/Ruby/Merida adventure in S5--a one-off that included three of her friends versus her enemy and could have really benefited from having, you know, a MEMBER OF THE MAIN CAST involved in the episode. 

[rqs902]

.

so i watched the two-part first ep of the coming one super band (gosh darn it was long...) and it made me realize it’s been a while since ive watched a non-idol show LOL. overall it was more interesting to watch than i expected. i didnt have high expectations going in bc its not my usual type of show, but i knew i wanted to at least give it a try bc of ljt. i heard about what happened to hjx prior to this, so that put a damper on my spirits, but i still wanted to see how ljt would do. i did not imagine him in a band before this, but now i kind of can. 

i just cried a little inside when zhou zhennan asked liao juntao if zjy talks like mao buyi... oof 

i find it amusing that they all call ljt liao laoshi and he has lots of fanboys hahah and zzn calls him taotao and seems really close to him still

aw the way zzn specifically asks ljt to sing “don’t talk to me”, a song he hasn’t released yet, means they must keep in close contact and ljt shares his music with him, and zzn takes his songs to heart and truly listens and likes them. 

wow zzn really knows ljt’s guitar skills and rhythmic strengths and additional music styles could be demonstrated through this song and he wanted his friend to promote himself better by showing off a new song that may be more captivating to an audience in this type of setting. it really seemed like he was trying to protect and help ljt with genuine care. it’s been three years and the mrzz friendship still going strong warms my heart

OF COURSE THEY WOULD BRING UP “who” IT’S HIS CLAIM TO FAME SONG. and 3 years later, its still an amazing song. one of my favorites. 

also ljt’s quirky personality was one of my favorite characteristics about him. his talent and music goes without saying, he’s one of my favorite (if not my actual favorite) music makers. but his personality also just seems so fun and slightly strange LOL but like the way he pats his chest after each performance like hes calming his nerves (but you cant tell at all while hes singing) is such a contrast. 

UGH watching the montage from mrzz and then his story all the way through zzn’s crying literally brought me to tears.... lang lang saying how he could tell ljt has been through a lot... oh gosh and then those old clips of liao juntao with zhou zhennan, ma boqian, mao buyi, zhong yixuan UGH it just brought back so many memories and then the flashback to where ljt chose to battle meng zikun instead of wang jingli EVEN THOUGH HE KNEW HE WOULD LOSE AND HE HAD A BETTER CHANCE OF BEATING WJL......... aaaaaaahhhhhhhh because he wanted to protect his friends and let them go on to the next round. and never forget xue zhiqian’s heart-breaking “your choice may force you to struggle for another ten years” because he knew ljt was giving up such a rare opportunity. and mby just breaking down watching his friend commit career suicide basically ugh- that just- ughhh 

and the fact that even as a judge now, zhou zhennan just couldnt stop himself from crying when ljt called him “bro”

can you imagine what it’s like to be so close to success and to live the next three years knowing you had just as much capability and possibility as freaking mao buyi and zhou zhennan but you were still left behind, by such a hugely immense degree. to have lost too early on, even though you definitely had the talent to have at least made it to the next round, but you care too much about your friends to force your way through. 

ljt says he doesnt regret, and that is amazing to me. mao buyi and zhou zhennan are literally both judges on shows like this now. and hes still... a contestant.

lol wait i just had a thought, is ljt to super band what zzn was to produce camp? i really hope so. i feel like its inevitable tencent will favor him bc hes already signed to wjjw???? and hes probably the only one who has somewhat public recognition already? i really want ljt to debut as f-man... i cant imagine him on the sidelines. he deserves and needs to be the center of this eventual 5 person band. if wjjw messes him up again im literally going to question everything. 

ive never gone into a show with such a strong bias and desire for that bias to be center -- ive never dared to ask for that -- but ill say it again, ljt NEEDS AND DESERVES it. i didnt realize i felt so strongly about him until now. 

anyway, i can totally see how ljt and szb would get along, they both seem to have such sad stories (and ugh why is ljt so humble) but also how is tencent gonna deal with not having ljt as an f-man tho LOL

ouch watching the he junxiong part made my heart hurt... i heard about what happened, but watching it actually happen was still jarring. him not saying he wants his music to be commercialized, is that a reaction from what happened to “time of youth” ? It did feel like tencent stole that song from him and didnt credit him enough :\ so maybe he’d rather his music be remembered as in he wants to be remembered for his music? i do agree with zzn that hjx didnt sing the song as well as I expected him to this time though... my impression of he junxiong from produce camp was that he has a really nice voice and is really great at making music. but im surprised how much his attitude has changed. but i can understand it must be hard for him to see zzn sitting in front of him and not giving him his support. i guess from there in contrast, ljt’s humbleness is admirable. man, i wonder if/when we’ll see hjx again. tencent’s gonna hate him now lol.......

random but xu yang visually reminds me of yueyue and zhao ke visually reminds me of mu ziyang LOL also, i respect that hu yutong saw ryp was struggling with public speaking and let him go, but then went over to talk to him privately. he didnt want to make him uncomfortable and did his best to be gentle with his tone. but i agree it will be questionable for someone with such strong ideas like hyt to thrive in a group setting. 

there are a couple of kids besides ljt who im interested in, enough that i think ill keep watching this show for now, but also not enough for me to not be miffed that there are SO MANY extra clips/ shows (YET AGAIN) and i just dont want to / dont have time to watch them all just to look for ljt..... and ljt is still the main reason why id watch, so im gonna have to figure out if theres a way for me to just watch the ljt clips lol.................. 

also side note, seeing them do physically strenuous activities like three legged racing in the previews gave me horror flashbacks to afo and im so scarred from that show that seeing stuff like that just makes me super scared thinking that someone is going to get hurt. ugh its just so unnecessary and such a bad idea.  this was one of the worst parts about afo, the fact that the trainees kept getting injured doing dumb activities. why risk injury when your physical ability to do something as arbitrary as a three legged race should have no impact on your ability to succeed in a music competition???? it just seems so unnecessary and just there to add drama. sure it can build teamwork, but there are safer ways to build teamwork that may not lead to sprained ankles or scraped faces (UGH AFO) 

but anyway, if anyone else is actually watching this show, let me know! I saw a few people on twitter, but i dont think its gaining as much traction as an idol show would, since its a band show. 

[recentanimenews]

Chihayafuru and the Makings of a Great Tournament Arc

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Why It Works! It’s been 6 years since the last season of Chihayafuru, but the new season definitely hasn’t wasted any time reacquainting itself. In fact, it’s already deep in the throes of another tournament arc, with even more karuta competitions on the horizon. That’s not unusual for Chihayafuru, though; over its three seasons so far, I’d guess the majority of the show’s running time has been dedicated to one or another karuta tournament.

In spite of leaning more heavily on tournaments than pretty much any anime I’ve seen, it feels like Chihayafuru is still constantly finding new ways to mine satisfying drama out of its latest brackets, keeping its energy high and stakes clear all the while. This latest competition is no exception, and is currently climaxing on a matchup we’ve been awaiting for literally years. Today let’s take a closer look at the practical mechanics of this new tournament, and perhaps see if we can draw some greater conclusions out of this show’s most comfortable dramatic mode. According to Chihayafuru, what exactly are the core requirements of a great tournament arc?

Distinct and Distinctly Powerful Heroes

Tournament arcs are a narrative conceit where generic protagonists really can’t cut it. The appeal of a tournament lies heavily in seeing how specific people we’ve come to care about overcome a series of escalating challenges, and in order to make that rewarding, their victories must feel like celebrations of their distinct personalities and competitive strengths.

Chihayafuru accomplishes this gracefully through the contrast of its two main protagonists, classmates Chihaya and Taichi. Chihaya is absolutely obsessed with karuta, the sport that defined her childhood, and her giddiness on the tournament floor feels like her truest expression of self. Her “weapons” echo her natural affinity for karuta; she has terrific natural hearing, speed, and reaction time, and her execution is closely tied to her emotional state. In contrast, Chihaya’s friend Taichi is a self-aware and calculating person with a complex relationship with karuta, and his specialties echo that. Taichi’s focus on memorization and board positioning serve as a natural counterpoint to Chihaya’s more physical strengths, making for distinctive and complementary matches that make use of all the different ways one can be good at this sport.

Overlapping, Ongoing Motivations

Even if a certain match is exciting in the abstract, it will always feel more engaging if it’s also building off a long-term character journey. Great tournament arcs understand that alongside the appeal of strategic back-and-forth, watching contrasting character journeys collide gives these arcs an emotional richness and sense of meaningful stakes, as characters fight for goals that lie beyond the battlefield.

  Tournaments are ensemble stories, and their individual character conflicts should weave together in a winding chord of emotional hooks, not simply follow each other one after another. Take Chihaya’s battle with former Queen Haruka Inokuma; more than simply being a generically tough match, this battle reflected on Chihaya’s recovery from her recent injuries and preparations for her challenge of the current Queen, her overall karuta society’s ascension into a nationally recognized organization, and even Chihayafuru’s overarching reflections on the nature of karuta as a communal and generational bond. Whether it’s Taichi hoping to prove his validity to Chihaya, Chihaya building up strategies for fighting her true rival, or Haruka’s desire to prove she can maintain her talent even after marriage and children, great tournaments are built not just on exciting individual matches, but the character journeys being pursued through them.

A Well-Balanced Commentary Booth

Exposition by commenters on the sideline are essentially a necessary evil of most tournaments, or at least tournaments of a certain strategic complexity. If you’re trying to illustrate nuances in a complex competition that only a master would recognize, you need a master on the sideline, helping the audience appreciate it. At the same time, having a master tactician simply ramble towards the camera kills the audience’s suspension of disbelief; thus commentary booths must be stacked with both experts and the novices they’re informing, along with hopefully some more emotionally-centered voices to keep the commentary personal.

  Chihayafuru’s own commentary booths range from personal trainers and passionate friends to master players and future rivals, celebrating all the emotional and tactical complexity of each new match. The construction of a narrative commentary booth requires at least as much consideration as the construction of an actual commentary team, and should be approached with care.

We’ve barely even scratched the surface of the many qualities that contribute to an effective tournament arc, but we’ll have to explore those another day—and hey, even “until next time” seems like a tournament-relevant sentiment. The nice thing about tournament arcs is, unless those tournaments somehow result in the deaths of all losing competitors, each new tournament is made stronger by all the previous tournaments. Old friendships or rivalries are rekindled, beloved contenders now come with built-in expectations and new powers, and favored heroes get to demonstrate their ever-growing strength. I love Chihayafuru for its embracing of the tournament arc as dramatic structure, and I'm eagerly awaiting its next one. And please let me know all about your favorite tournament arcs in the comments!

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Nick Creamer has been writing about cartoons for too many years now, and is always ready to cry about Madoka. You can find more of his work at his blog Wrong Every Time, or follow him on Twitter.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[50cyg]

I love the Chosen Children, in case people get confused

So I want to take some time to make my feelings clear on some stuff in case anyone misinterprets me, as my posts/ comments can sometimes seem to contradict each other

First of all, I’m a human, and therefore my feelings on things are complex

Secondly, I am very open to hearing other people’s opinions and so my opinions are constantly being changed and shaped as I see and learn new things through the eyes of others

Third, I try to be objective and am very much in favor of constructively criticizing a character no matter how much I love them

Fourth, I’m super emotional and yeah I get angry sometimes when I see characters I love getting bashed, or seemingly getting bashed and it takes me a moment to calm down and I’m likely to lash out at first

All this being said I want to make it clear that I do not hate any of the Chosen Children, not a single one, I like all 13 of them for reasons, and I dislike all 13 of them for reasons. Some of them I love because there are more things about them that I like than things I dislike, and some I think are just okay because I dislike more things than I like. But I think every single one of them is worthy of praise and every single one of them makes me happy for one reason or another. At the same time, I think every single one of them has moments where I think they deserve criticism whether it be because I feel the writing was mediocre or because they actually have character flaws (which btw is fine, character flaws are good but that doesn’t mean we don’t acknowledge that they are flaws)

Digimon is my favourite series of all time, I can’t not want to love and praise every character that appears in it

Taichi Yagami: I love this kid so much, I could sing his praises all day and I do, I rant for hours to friends about how much I love him. That being said I have mixed feelings on his conflict in Tri and still feel I would have liked something a little different

Yamato Ishida: I love this kid so much, heck I might like him more than Taichi. That being said, I will not defend him when he does something wrong and he does have character flaws. Like when he yells at Takeru in episode 23, I think he was being a total jerk when he did that, and I think it was wrong of him. Does this mean I disliked that scene? Of course not, I love that Yamato has the flaws that he does and sometimes acts like a jerk or an idiot. 

Mimi Tachikawa: My favourite female character of all time (she was briefly overthrown by Pidge from VLD but it didn’t last and she just barely surpasses Hagar Shipley from ‘The Stone Angel’, Wonder Woman can take 4th place :P). She is an incredibly well written female character who is lovable, but also has believable flaws and is well rounded. She is also an incredibly strong character and I think she should be next in line for leadership should Taichi ever die or resign. I also find I relate to her in some key areas that helped make me feel good about myself, and I honestly cry sometimes when I think about her and how much I want someone like her as a friend. That being said, like I mentioned, she has flaws, and I will reprimand her for those flaws, like in episode 25, she does a lot of shitty things in episode 25. 

Koushiro Izumi: One of the few characters I don’t I have any issues with, except maybe that he’s a bit OP. His flaws boil down to being social awkward (which just makes him really endearing to me and honestly I relate to a lot of the stuff he does),and sometimes inadvertently hurting peoples feelings (specifically Mimi’s and Meiko’s but I really take his side in both cases so...). Basically, I love this character and enjoy every moment he is on screen and all of his character development, of which he gets some amazing character development, of all the kids so far in Tri his story line was my favourite.

Jyou Kido: One of the characters that when I see anything negative about him, even when it’s pointing out character flaws that I complete agree exist and are flaws, I get super defensive and am prone to lash out. I love him, but he does have character flaws and if you get me when I’m being rational and calm I will admit they are flaws but that they are also a huge reason why I love him. 

Hikari Yagami: Unlike the other’s, my feelings are more mixed on this character, and I’m also super hypocritical when it comes to her. I cannot stand it when anyone says anything bad about her but then I will also say the exact same things that I get mad at people for saying. For example, if you call her a Mary-Sue I will want to punch you but then at the same time I am willing to admit that she is a Mary-Sue, and that her personality is lacking by comparison to the other 5 above. Again though I will also defend her to the end of the earth and contradict myself on a regular basis cause I’m very biased in her favour.

Sora Takenouchi: The Chosen Child I have the most complex relationship with. If someone asked me my opinion on her I’d have to admit I don’t really like her, but that’s because she is competing against such great characters that by comparison, in my opinion, she seems very lacking. However, she is a very well written female character and would rank in my top 20 female characters for sure, I just think Digimon suffers from having too many characters and if I could eliminate some of them so the others got more screen time then she’d be my first pick out of the original 8. But I was incredibly invested in every single moment she was on screen in Loss (with the exception of when she is talking to Meiko, because I didn’t care for that scene). Also, her moments with Taichi and Yamato in all of Tri are fantastic.

Takeru Takaishi: As a child I loved this kid, as an adult not so much. I find him to be a bit annoying in 01 and 02. Originally I had issues with him in Tri as well but he does have some fantastic moments, most of which happen when he is teasing his brother :P I don’t like his relationship with Hikari though, also I’m a Meikeru shipper. Overall I don’t like him that much but he has moments that make me incredibly happy and so I still like to see him.

And now onto the other 5, this is where things get complicated.

I have grown to like the 02 kids, I like Miyako, Daisuke and Ken all more than I like Sora and Takeru. That being said, when 02 was first released and Sora, Mimi, Taichi, Yamato and Jyou were all sidelined for these new characters 8 year old me was pissed off. And no matter how much I like Daisuke, Ken and Miyako, if someone said I could go back and retcon 02 in favour of a sequel that focused on the original 8 I would do it in a heartbeat. 

When I say I like Meiko but feel she should not exist in Tri, it’s because I feel the exact same way about Ken, Miyako and Daisuke when it comes to 02 (though I like Daisuke, Miyako and Ken considerably more than Meiko). I just want a sequel focusing on characters I have grown to love over time and not get introduced to new ones who take time away from characters I love and want to see more of. 

And yes I know that the same can be said for Hikari and how she showed up later on and took time away from the already established 7 but like I said before I am biased in her favour and aware of it. 

And although I would love to see Ken, Daisuke and Miyako again I am very much okay with them not showing up because it means other characters I like more such as Taichi, Yamato, Jyou, Mimi, Koushiro and Hikari all get more screen time. The only issue I have with them not appearing is the fact that Tri acknowledges their existence and yet the Original kids are not actively freaking out that they can’t find them... there are a few times where they try to contact them and then they just leave it alone... it’s like they don’t even care all that much, so much for friendship -_- 

This post is already really long so I’m not going to get into my detailed feelings on the 02 kids, just know that I like and dislike aspects of their characters and arcs same as any of the other kids and that it took a long time for me to learn to like them.

As for Meiko, I’m biased in her favour. I like Moe characters (Hinata is one of my favourite characters in Naruto), and I think she’s cute. However I also think she has many aspects that are poorly written and she has flaws for which she is never reprimanded for and this upsets me because it makes me feel like the writers are trying to tell us they aren’t actually flaws. I really can’t stand the antis or the defenders, one side does nothing but trash talk her and the other side does nothing but sing her praises, they push each other more and more into their respective corners until both sides are being completely irrational and refuse to budge.

This has been my response to the discourse as well as me explaining that just because I say negative things about a character does not mean there are not things I also love about the character and visa versa. Again, I’m human and my feelings are therefore complex.

I will conclude by saying I apologize for getting caught up in the discourse, but I just don’t like it when any character is defended to the ends of the earth by fans or bashed by fans, so I always feel the need to comment and play ‘Devil’s Advocate’... I guess, even though I know I should leave it alone.

[introvert-dragon]

Hiccupy heart (Chapter 1)

Summary:  It didn't matter that Hiccup and Astrid used to be best friends, somewhere in grade school and middle school—back when the world used to be fun before everyone hit their growth spurt and he was plus one leg and one mother. Until Hiccup finally got his soul mark; And guess who's name was it? Astrid Hofferson.

Drama/Romance. Hiccstrid. Soul mate AU.

FF.net | Ao3

A/N: Special thanks to @slavicviking for helping me beta the initial draft of the chapter.

I would like to also mention that this story being set in Highschool does not make this a Highschool AU. Also, the story will be focused equally on both Hiccup and Astrid, aiming to be a Man/Woman vs. Self before we finally get to the sweet parts.

Without further delay.

For the umpteenth time, Hiccup found himself staring at the name imprinted on his left forearm; Hiccup still couldn't believe his luck.

Astrid Hofferson

To answer his own questions of disbelief—Yes. Astrid Hofferson was his soul mate, unless, the gods decided to play a cruel prank on him, only to replace the dimly glowing blue runes on his left forearm with Astrid's complete name on it with Mildew the following morning.

It was still Astrid Hofferson.

Ha! Hiccup called it, he always had this sort of indescribable 'Pull' he felt with Astrid. It was like when he would as much as breathe the same air as Astrid—he would feel like oxygen was overrated.

As if Hiccup wasn't lucky enough. He was also going to be a father! By the way, did he mention that Astrid was going to be the mother?

Okay, that sounded all wrong—and please don't tell Astrid! She would murder him.  Also, if you could try not to mention it to her muscle-head boyfriend either—who would soon be her ex once Hiccup had shown Astrid his soul mark.

It was just a stupid economics project. No sexual intercourse; therefore, no one was actually pregnant and definitely nothing was going on between Hiccup and Astrid. After all, he was, well, Hiccup and she was Astrid—you get the idea. She was the same girl who wouldn't approach him even if she were on fire and he was holding the last bucket of water.

Unfortunately for her and luckily for him, this project was not about the worlds' water supply. The project was about being a fake married couple that was to manage a theoretical household and take care of a flour baby. Despite that, Hiccup was a hundred percent sure that he wasn't on the top of Astrid's list of potential fake husbands for a fake happily-ever-after scenario.

But Ma'am Ack's random pairing generator couldn't care less who's holding the last bucket of water on Earth. Unless, you have your soul mark, which he just had now, you were not exempted from the random pairing system as mandated by the law.

The whole soul mate thing didn’t really exist until year 1980s. Apparently, It was a Millennial only thing, even then, not everyone would be fortunate to be 'gifted by the gods' and having a soul mark was still considered to be very new. So the government mandated some laws that encouraged people to have lives beyond soul mates, and the random pairing system for academics was one of them.

But Hiccup was busy staring at his soul mark (for like… the whole day), instead of paying attention to the class. And after he was done staring at it, he would blink his eyes and proceed to stare at it again, and again... and again.

He just heard Ma'am Ack loudly announcing his horrendous name next to Astrid's beautiful one.

He was confused for a moment until he looked forward and saw 'Economics Project - Documentation' and '40% of the grade' in the slideshow. He realized it was the dreaded 'Fake Parent' and 'Flour Baby' thing every senior student had been dreading ever since the beginning of the school year.

He almost jumped on top of his table and cried in victory. Thankfully, he managed to contain himself—he wasn't that bold.

Murmurs and hushed whispers filled the classroom as the other students looked around in confusion. A few "who the heck is Hiccup Haddock"s and mentions of "how lucky he was" echoed as the classmates discussed the announcement among each other.

Their reaction was, basically, a confirmation from everyone how much his non-existent high school life sucked ass. It was not like he didn't have any friends, it was just his social status when compared to Astrid's, it was a matter of Valhalla and Helheim. But he couldn't care less what his classmates thought. After all, it was HIM who was not only paired with the hottest girl in school but, also soul mates with her—not them.

Hiccup waited for far too long for something this cliché to finally happen to him. Eighteen long years of his life, he finally got his soul mark and found his soul mate. And to think that she was always so close to him.

All he had to do now was say hi to her, but when he was about to, there was something about her expression that kept him rooted in place.

There was something about scowl on her beautiful face, trying not to show even the slightest bit of recognition upon hearing his name... or maybe she just didn't care – at least he hoped, which wasn't much better. He didn't know which one he preferred to be honest.

There was no mistaking it, Hiccup recognized that look on her face.

She always knew

—and he didn't dare think what followed the thought: She always knew (and she didn't want it... She didn't want to be your soul mate.)

It didn't matter that Hiccup and Astrid used to be best friends, somewhere in grade school and middle school—back when the world used to be fun before everyone hit their growth spurt and he was plus one leg and one mother.

Hiccup still hadn't figured out what happened to their friendship. Astrid started distancing herself from him. He didn't dare to try and decipher what was going on with the girls' mind. He'd heard enough stories from both Gobber and his father about the horrors of it.

Hiccup was a good friend and Astrid was his best friend (also, not so secretly, a crush). He decided he would just give her some space and in no time they'd get back to hanging out in their clubhouse.

He waited and… waited some more.

It didn't happen.

Now he understood.

She always knew.

But now... Hiccup felt so stupid. Even though he didn't pick the person he fell-in-love with, his heart did; ever since the day they exchanged lollipop rings and made a pinky promise to get married when they grew up. They were Eight then.

Hiccup always had this irrational, unrequited crush on Astrid, him clinging to some semblance of hope that maybe—just maybe—there was a chance, as slim as it was. All he hoped for was that she would at least acknowledge him—even if it was only for old times' sake. He also hoped that fate would take over thing from there for Hiccup. Astrid would realize that she was dating the wrong guy all along. And then he, Hiccup, her soul mate, would come —her one-legged knight with his shiny, metal leg.

She always knew.

Years of watching Astrid Hofferson from the sidelines, like puzzle pieces, flashes of images started flowing in his mind.

(Why she always had a bandage on her left forearm, the very same spot as his soul mark.

Or how venomous she glares at her watch every time she checked the time. It wasn't about the time, after all, it was about his name etched on her skin.)

A mixture of irrational, red emotions erupted inside him, fully burning him. There was a throbbing sensation followed by a sudden sharp hissing pain, on his left forearm, as if he felt lava leaked from his volcanic emotions dripping at his soul mark.

Deeply-rooted in his ever-so-hopeless-hiccupy-heart; a stubborn, dark thought he strongly refused to acknowledge finally crept up on him.

(It was just a stupid childhood friendship, She will never look back at you. She will never love you. Why would she? You're a 'hiccup' after all.)

She always knew

—and he should have known better.

To his surprise, Hiccup just sighed; maybe his father was right, as much as he hated to admit it. His brain was definitely under siege and he needed to stop being ... all that. He mentally gestured all of himself.

Hiccup was eighteen- enough with fantasies and time for him to grow up and face reality. Maybe it was time for him to give up on his quest of asking Astrid Hofferson to be his prom date, and maybe listen to his father's wishes of him enrolling a 'Real Degree Program' in an 'Actual University' for a start.

The bell rang, signaling that the economics class was over. Hiccup didn't feel like talking to Astrid about being paired in the project anymore. He, in his mind, did the two of them a favor and simply left the room unlike the rest of the class who stayed to talk with their partners for the project.

He could work on the project all by himself if he wanted too if allowed to, why not? He was a straight A+ student and graduating as the valedictorian was pretty much in his bag. If anyone would be qualified to finish a pair project alone, it would be him.

If ever, he was sure Astrid probably could do the same without even bothering with his input and opinion. Why wouldn't she? She was Astrid Hofferson, Hiccup thought bitterly. It was probably for the best if that happened.

Of all the possible outcomes that he fantasized, daydreamed for a million times about Astrid being his Soulmate for his whole life, which all of them involved that magical spark and click when their eyes finally met; this certainly was not the outcome he would expect—one where he would be the one to walk away.

Surprisingly, he found the idea very comforting. He actually felt better missing his once in a lifetime chance to talk with Astrid Hofferson. Just before the day started, Hiccup would die a happy knowing Astrid was his soul mate.

But now, He felt like letting go of a half-a-weight he'd always burdened. He may or may not ever feel the completely weightless feeling or 'feels like flying' sensation being with his soul mate. If his other half didn't want anything to do with him, then so be it. He wasn't going to be defined by his stupid attraction to his soul mate anymore.

For the first time in a very long time, Hiccup found himself smiling freely. Not his usual sarcastic self-deprecating smile. A real, genuine one.

It was from that moment that Hiccup's life would finally start to turn around for better or worse.

If he only knew that a certain blonde was watching him that exact moment.

Ha! Hiccup called it, he always had this sort of indescribable 'Pull' he felt with Astrid. It was like when he would as much as breathe the same air as Astrid—he would feel like oxygen was overrated.

As if Hiccup wasn't lucky enough. He was also going to be a father! By the way, did he mention that Astrid was going to be the mother?

Okay, that sounded all wrong—and please don't tell Astrid! She would murder him.  Also, if you could try not to mention it to her muscle-head boyfriend either—who would soon be her ex once Hiccup had shown Astrid his soul mark.

It was just a stupid economics project. No sexual intercourse; therefore, no one was actually pregnant and definitely nothing was going on between Hiccup and Astrid. After all, he was, well, Hiccup and she was Astrid—you get the idea. She was the same girl who wouldn't approach him even if she were on fire and he was holding the last bucket of water.

Unfortunately for her and luckily for him, this project was not about the worlds' water supply. The project was about being a fake married couple that was to manage a theoretical household and take care of a flour baby. Despite that, Hiccup was a hundred percent sure that he wasn't on the top of Astrid's list of potential fake husbands for a fake happily-ever-after scenario.

But Ma'am Ack's random pairing generator couldn't care less who's holding the last bucket of water on Earth. Unless, you have your soul mark, which he just had now, you were not exempted from the random pairing system as mandated by the law.

The whole soul mate thing didn’t really exist until year 1980s. Apparently, It was a Millennial only thing, even then, not everyone would be fortunate to be 'gifted by the gods' and having a soul mark was still considered to be very new. So the government mandated some laws that encouraged people to have lives beyond soul mates, and the random pairing system for academics was one of them.

But Hiccup was busy staring at his soul mark (for like… the whole day), instead of paying attention to the class. And after he was done staring at it, he would blink his eyes and proceed to stare at it again, and again... and again.

He just heard Ma'am Ack loudly announcing his horrendous name next to Astrid's beautiful one.

He was confused for a moment until he looked forward and saw 'Economics Project - Documentation' and '40% of the grade' in the slideshow. He realized it was the dreaded 'Fake Parent' and 'Flour Baby' thing every senior student had been dreading ever since the beginning of the school year.

He almost jumped on top of his table and cried in victory. Thankfully, he managed to contain himself—he wasn't that bold.

Murmurs and hushed whispers filled the classroom as the other students looked around in confusion. A few "who the heck is Hiccup Haddock"s and mentions of "how lucky he was" echoed as the classmates discussed the announcement among each other.

Their reaction was, basically, a confirmation from everyone how much his non-existent high school life sucked ass. It was not like he didn't have any friends, it was just his social status when compared to Astrid's, it was a matter of Valhalla and Helheim. But he couldn't care less what his classmates thought. After all, it was HIM who was not only paired with the hottest girl in school but, also soul mates with her—not them.

Hiccup waited for far too long for something this cliché to finally happen to him. Eighteen long years of his life, he finally got his soul mark and found his soul mate. And to think that she was always so close to him.

All he had to do now was say hi to her, but when he was about to, there was something about her expression that kept him rooted in place.

There was something about scowl on her beautiful face, trying not to show even the slightest bit of recognition upon hearing his name... or maybe she just didn't care – at least he hoped, which wasn't much better. He didn't know which one he preferred to be honest.

There was no mistaking it, Hiccup recognized that look on her face.

She always knew

—and he didn't dare think what followed the thought: She always knew (and she didn't want it... She didn't want to be your soul mate.)

It didn't matter that Hiccup and Astrid used to be best friends, somewhere in grade school and middle school—back when the world used to be fun before everyone hit their growth spurt and he was plus one leg and one mother.

Hiccup still hadn't figured out what happened to their friendship. Astrid started distancing herself from him. He didn't dare to try and decipher what was going on with the girls' mind. He'd heard enough stories from both Gobber and his father about the horrors of it.

Hiccup was a good friend and Astrid was his best friend (also, not so secretly, a crush). He decided he would just give her some space and in no time they'd get back to hanging out in their clubhouse.

He waited and… waited some more.

It didn't happen.

Now he understood.

She always knew.

But now... Hiccup felt so stupid. Even though he didn't pick the person he fell-in-love with, his heart did; ever since the day they exchanged lollipop rings and made a pinky promise to get married when they grew up. They were Eight then.

Hiccup always had this irrational, unrequited crush on Astrid, him clinging to some semblance of hope that maybe—just maybe—there was a chance, as slim as it was. All he hoped for was that she would at least acknowledge him—even if it was only for old times' sake. He also hoped that fate would take over thing from there for Hiccup. Astrid would realize that she was dating the wrong guy all along. And then he, Hiccup, her soul mate, would come —her one-legged knight with his shiny, metal leg.

She always knew.

Years of watching Astrid Hofferson from the sidelines, like puzzle pieces, flashes of images started flowing in his mind.

(Why she always had a bandage on her left forearm, the very same spot as his soul mark.

Or how venomous she glares at her watch every time she checked the time. It wasn't about the time, after all, it was about his name etched on her skin.)

A mixture of irrational, red emotions erupted inside him, fully burning him. There was a throbbing sensation followed by a sudden sharp hissing pain, on his left forearm, as if he felt lava leaked from his volcanic emotions dripping at his soul mark.

Deeply-rooted in his ever-so-hopeless-hiccupy-heart; a stubborn, dark thought he strongly refused to acknowledge finally crept up on him.

(It was just a stupid childhood friendship, She will never look back at you. She will never love you. Why would she? You're a 'hiccup' after all.)

She always knew

—and he should have known better.

To his surprise, Hiccup just sighed; maybe his father was right, as much as he hated to admit it. His brain was definitely under siege and he needed to stop being ... all that. He mentally gestured all of himself.

Hiccup was eighteen- enough with fantasies and time for him to grow up and face reality. Maybe it was time for him to give up on his quest of asking Astrid Hofferson to be his prom date, and maybe listen to his father's wishes of him enrolling a 'Real Degree Program' in an 'Actual University' for a start.

The bell rang, signaling that the economics class was over. Hiccup didn't feel like talking to Astrid about being paired in the project anymore. He, in his mind, did the two of them a favor and simply left the room unlike the rest of the class who stayed to talk with their partners for the project.

He could work on the project all by himself if he wanted too if allowed to, why not? He was a straight A+ student and graduating as the valedictorian was pretty much in his bag. If anyone would be qualified to finish a pair project alone, it would be him.

If ever, he was sure Astrid probably could do the same without even bothering with his input and opinion. Why wouldn't she? She was Astrid Hofferson, Hiccup thought bitterly. It was probably for the best if that happened.

Of all the possible outcomes that he fantasized, daydreamed for a million times about Astrid being his Soulmate for his whole life, which all of them involved that magical spark and click when their eyes finally met; this certainly was not the outcome he would expect - One where he would be the one to walk away.

Surprisingly, he found the idea very comforting. He actually felt better missing his once in a lifetime chance to talk with Astrid Hofferson. Just before the day started, Hiccup would die a happy knowing Astrid was his soul mate.

But now, He felt like letting go of a half-a-weight he'd always burdened. He may or may not ever feel the completely weightless feeling or 'feels like flying' sensation being with his soul mate. If his other half didn't want anything to do with him, then so be it. He wasn't going to be defined by his stupid attraction to his soul mate anymore.

For the first time in a very long time, Hiccup found himself smiling freely. Not his usual sarcastic self-deprecating smile. A real, genuine one.

It was from that moment that Hiccup's life would finally start to turn around for better or worse.

If he only knew that a certain blonde was watching him that exact moment.

[zdbztumble]

I HAVE WATCHED THEM ALL!

And ranked them all, from favorite to least! (Three guesses as to what’s #1, given what 97% of the content on this blog is concerned with.)

1. Revelation Lugia: At no point was there any competition for the top slot. Crisp art direction, an appropriately epic scale to the design and the staging of action, a gorgeous musical score (the dub surpassed the original on this point IMO), the best editing and pacing out of any of these movies, and a well-constructed plot that’s simple without being simplistic all speak well for it. But the real selling point for this film is the character work. The CotDs are engaging and play a vital role in the plot without overtaking it. This is the TRio’s finest hour to date IMO. Tracey may be along for the ride (as he often was in the show), but Misty enjoys the best role a travelling companion has gotten to date, and Ash is saddled with his greatest challenge ever (to my knowledge, anyway; I’ve got a hell of a lot of episodes to go in catching up on the series, but it’s hard to top “save the world by yourself because Prophecy.”) And this and the next entry on this list are the only two films where I felt that Ash (and Misty, in this case), more than just experiencing another adventure, actually grew as characters. Not that Johto or the later series built on that growth, but in this show, I’ll take what I can get.

...And, yeah, the pokeshipping doesn’t hurt its rating either.

2. Lucario and the Mystery of Mew: Again, it’s all about the character work here. This is the only other time that Ash seemed to grow, through his relationship with Lucario and his discovery of his Aura (and, in a way, it’s more of a shame that the show never built on this than it is that they never built on Ash and Misty’s growth after Lugia, when you consider that the staff wrote themselves a golden opportunity to do so in DP!) His “this time, it’s personal” goal of saving Pikachu and the parallels between himself and Sir Aaron also serve to enrich his role in a way most of the other pokefilms don’t even attempt. Lucario is the most compelling and dimensional of the movie-featured Pokemon since Mewtwo. Mew is absolutely adorable. The art direction is beautiful, and it’s scope and ambition are appropriate for the high fantasy subject matter. It loses points for some awkward pacing in the front half (the dance is so slow!) and a ridiculous lack of pathos shown when the whole human cast (temporarily) dies, but it makes up a lot of those points with its gutsy ending. No contrived out for the heroic sacrifice this time!

3. Spell of the Unown: So glad I decided to give this film a re-watch. Having an innocent and traumatized little girl, or her feelings of loss and loneliness to be more specific, be the antagonist, is an amazing move by the staff, and it works so well. The threat that those feelings pose to Ash and friends when given immense power is very tangible, though the full impact of that threat takes a while to become apparent. Giving Ash a personal stake in the adventure is very welcome, both travelling companions get decent roles, Charizard’s return is spectacular, and there is some delightfully off-beat and experimental work done in the production design. With the possible exception of Mewtwo Strikes Back, this film has the most ambition and daring of any of them. An uneven pace at the start and a questionable final fight can’t take away the fact that this movie is just cool.

4. Pokemon 4Ever: Possibly the most impressive art direction out of any of the movies; the forest feels huge, and old, and real, just in one look. The Miyazaki-esque look is appropriate for the “destruction of nature” plot, the consequences of which are plainly felt. The time travel aspect is intriguing and not confusing, and Sam is the real hero of the human cast. It tries to give the TRio a real reason to be in the movie, though it’s less successful on that front than Lugia. Drawbacks include a lag in the pace toward the middle, a contrived resurrection, a waste of the travelling companions even by pokefilm standards, and the sidelining of Ash himself.

5. Hoopa and the Clash of Ages: The most threadbare plot out of any of these movies, no real role for the companions or even Ash, and some of the dullest CotDs out there can’t change the fact this is just such a fun movie. Every ten-year old’s dream of an epic inter-gen smash-fest gets thrown on-screen, and even if it doesn’t crank things up to 11, it’s still extremely entertaining. Easily the best thing about XY/Z that I’ve seen so far.

6. Jirachi Wish Maker: An extremely choppy pace and story elements that don’t belong are a serious handicap. But this film not only gives a traveling companion an arc, but makes Max’s friendship with Jirachi the main focus. The damage done to that arc by the plot’s flaws doesn’t erase its charms. And Ash, put into a supporting role, excels in the part, much moreso than in many of these movies where he stays on the sidelines for much of the running time before abruptly becoming the hero.

7. White: Victini and Zekrom/Black: Victini and Rashiram: The “villain’s” actions are poorly motivated and the CotDs are forgettable. But Victini is just so damn cute, and its bond with Ash is so endearing. Those two things elevate the film, and give Ash one of his more dramatically satisfying stints as a glorified plot device. The gimmick of these films, however, feels like a waste.

8. Mewtwo Strikes Back: Compared to my childhood memories of it, this is a very uneven film. The travelling companions have nothing to do, the CotDs are forgettable, the TRio set the “why are we even here” trend up early, the film loses a lot of juice once the battle of clones vs. originals starts (mostly due to sluggish pacing on the fight), and the means of Ash’s revival is infuriatingly dumb. But for the first (and, as far as they knew at the time, only) movie of a kids’ cartoon meant to sell video games, it’s shocking to me how dark they went with this film. Mewtwo is a wonderfully grey character, and his origins and struggles render the first half of the film one of the best sequences in the whole franchise. The idea of prejudice and fighting for superiority as a basis for the conflict is solid in theory if a bit heavy-handed in execution. If Ash and friends (mostly friends) don’t get a lot to do once they reach the island, their journey to it is a fun adventure. And there’s a delightfully twisted horror film look to the production design. For a first outing, this was a very risky film, and even if doesn’t fully work, I think it’s a more impressive effort than most of the pokefilms because of that.

9. Rise of Darkrai: On a technical level, Darkrai has a more even script, and a more consistently solid execution of that script IMO, than Mewtwo. It’s the best of the Sinnoh trilogy by a wide margin. The CotDs (well, Alberto at least) are fun and Darkrai is an effective featured Pokemon. But the problems of the Sinnoh trilogy, while not as pronounced here, are still at hand: a light tone that leaves the Legendaries feeling less impressive than their predecessors, a rather episodic layout to the plot that kills a sense of scale, sluggish pacing and a sense of padding, no real role for the travelling companions, and Ash being a glorified deus ex machina.

10. Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice: Technical proficiency, a cinematic scale, decent dub work, and excellent use of the travelling companions argue in favor of this one being higher on the list. Arguments against that include this film featuring some of the more poorly-designed Pokemon around, a severe lack of tension and stakes in the plot, and a disappointing role for Ash. Ultimately, it just didn’t grip me the way the films immediately above it did.

11. Arceus and the Jewel of Life: Out of all the Sinnoh trilogy, this one felt the least padded, and helped clear up some of the murky plot mess of the earlier entries. The CotDs are serviceable if a little on the dull side. And this final chapter of the trilogy does aim the highest in its scope and scale, even if it doesn’t reach its goals. But Arceus’s terrible voice in the dub, and his rush to apocalyptic judgement, really hurt the character. And the main cast is worse off here than in the other entries, as Dawn ends up as sidelined as Brock in the finale.

12. Giratina and the Sky Warrior: You can give the film this - Shaymin is a well-developed character. She’s a little shit, but she’s a fleshed-out little shit. And Giratina was the most impressively presented of the Sinnoh Legendaries. But the human villain here is very dull, and Shaymin’s obnoxiousness makes it damn near impossible to get invested in her conflict or to buy her eventual friendship with Ash. On the plus side, wonderful art direction and animation.

13. Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea: This film gets off to a strong start and gives us one of the best CotDs, but it’s overlong, stalls in the middle, and its focus on the main plot comes at the expense of May’s arc with Manaphy. It also has the most maddening plot resolution out of any of them (that’s right - it’s even worse than the magic tears from Mewtwo.)

14. I Choose You!: It earns points for shaking up the routine, giving Ash an arc, and doing a superb job at retelling his first meeting with Pikachu, but its meandering middle, superfluous story turns, and some forced character work bog it down. You can give it this - it was a better anniversary show than “Mastermind of the Mirage Pokemon.”

15. Pokemon Heroes: Possibly the most frustrating of these movies to date for me, because there were a lot of elements - the setting, the mythological background, the Dragon-types - that I really liked. It’s easily one of the most beautiful of the movies, and there was a lot of potential in the plot. But most of that potential was untapped, the elements never gelled, and I was often bored watching it. When I wasn’t bored, I was frustrated and questioning - see my “review” for the whole list. And this may be the worst film on the matter of sidelining the travelling companions.

16. Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction: The charms of the titular character and some brief impressive work with the travelling companions can’t make up for an overstuffed, meandering plot full of easy fixes and an abrupt shift in focus during the last third.

17. Zoroark - Master of Illusions: Very similar situation to Diancie - a wonderful story between the titular Pokemon and Zorua can’t overcome a crowded plot that’s saddled with a weak, scene-hogging villain and terrible pacing.

18. Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel: My biggest problem with this one is that there just wasn’t much about it that was unique. Its many flaws are the same ones that plague at least half these flicks. Its good points are the same sort of good points as in the other movies. Its art direction is pleasant but nothing that wasn’t tried before. It’s just...dull.

19. Genesect and the Legend Awakened: These last two are the only ones I wouldn’t hesitate to say were bad. A fundamental weakness in the plot caused by making the titular Pokemon so unsympathetic, the poor handling of Mewtwo’s return, an unremarkable set of roles for the main cast, uneven animation, and a general feeling of laziness all conspire against a decent premise.

20. Destiny Deoxys - Awkward alien subject matter, lack of a clear emotional core, and the worst padding out of any of these flicks all leave it dead on arrival IMO.