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jencsi · 3 years

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Let’s Talk- Finn and Russell;

From the very beginning, we get the hint, notion, presence of a deeper connection between Julie Finlay and DB Russell. In Seeing Red, when she hears him, not even having to look and know he’s there during the crime scene reconstruction, just his voice alone makes her roll her eyes, gets her fired up with some sort of passion, anger, emotional reaction. As evidenced from their conversation about the blood spatter case, her resistance to proceed further with him again shows she is not quite over what has happened to them in the past and it makes viewers want to know, what the heck happened? What could this seemingly unbothered hippie like guy have ever done to cross this already sullen yet spirited woman? Despite her futile attempts to deflect him, she cannot help but be drawn to the case, he sought her out after all, he must be desperate. When she retrieves the file he leaves behind and it piques her interest, she gives in, with probably a lot of hemming and hawing off screen, before venturing to CSI for the first time.

That single solitary scene cemented in my brain their dynamic from that day forward. There was no going back for me. Whatever they had in the past, whether that be something romantic, friendly or just work related, my soul ached to know more and even better, my heart yearned to watch them more, to listen, to observe the bantar, the sarcasm, the snark, the sheer and utter pure honesty that comes from their conversations. DB Russell is not trying to trick Finn, he’s not trying to make her figure out some silly puzzle or game, he just wants her expertise and guidance. Once she accepts his offer, her personality begins to shine via her work (Should I wrap it up and take it back to the lab? Took the words right out of my mouth smart ass” “You know me so well” “And you know blood, better than anyone I know”) her bonding with her colleagues, and even better, the little hints at what was between her and Russell back in Seattle.

When we finally do get to see that past revealed, ripped open like a fresh wound, via CSI on Fire, we see the headstrong and overheated Finn on a mission, prove that Tom Cooley is a killer and bring justice to the families of his victims. Of course that journey is not without complications and wild accusations, of course Finn would never kill anyone, that I firmly believe, unless of course it’s to save a friend or colleague (saving Greg from that supposed innocent victim of the Gig Harbor Killer in The Twin Paradox) but Cooley rattles her, gets under her skin in a way different from Russell. In fact it’s Russell warning her to be careful, to go with caution, but her typical rebellious nature of “I’m not listening” pushes her further to the truth and to danger at every turn.

Her tone when speaking to Russell about the discovery of Cooley’s body in his hotel shifts our thinking that maybe she isn’t the same person she was two years ago. If what we are observing right now is the casual cool collected Finn, just how reckless was she in Seattle? She feels the disappointment from Russell in his tone, the way he looks at her, and she hates that, she doesn’t want to disappoint anyone, especially him. His presence in her life since the Seattle days has created this combination of not wanting to let him down or disappoint him mixed with her fierce loyalty to the truth, to the victims and their families, clashing with her exuberant personality.

With CSI on Fire resolved, Finn melts back into a rhythm with her ex-husband, also a component of her former life in Seattle, all seems right between Russell and her, a trademark of their friendship, forgiveness and acceptance.

Looking at their dynamic from the perspective of the actors who portray them, Ted Danson has referred to them as the bickersons, like oil and water, but at the same time, Finn/Elisabeth and her characters intrusiveness helps him do his job better and see things clearly when it comes to cases as well as other aspects of his characters life. Elisabeth meanwhile seemed to enjoy the back and forth dialogue and the testiness of their relationship, she seemed invested in their past in Seattle and wondered where the writers would take that.

In Homecoming, the season 12 finale, we see corruption and problems arise amongst the police force and Russell apologies for seeming to drag Finn into this mess and bringing her there to work but she states that she makes her own decisions and doesn’t seem bothered by the issues until she is thrown into the chaos of it all when she trails Crenshaw and stumbles into the violence they have created around them with the assistance of McKeen and Kimball.

The Finn and Russell dynamic gets tested here when Katie, Russell’s grand daughter is kidnapped and Finn attempts to save her. In the chaos, she sends Katie out into the unknown alone while she does battle with Crenshaw (a violent but epic struggle, major kudos to the stunt work they did here, it felt so real and made me love Finn even more, seeing how far Elisabeth was willing to take this character) Russell is devastated to learn Finn let Katie escape alone but is also distraught knowing both were hurt and in danger. His anger at Finn boils over when she insists she’s fine, how he refers to her as “Finn” on the phone instead of the sweeter Jules we are used to hearing, and when she discusses the case with him in the bedroom where Katie was taken from and he punched the wall, leading to a missed clue. Despite the resentment towards her, they figure out Katie’s whereabouts and stop McKeen from carrying out his plans. We can see and feel Finn’s guilt deep down for her mistakes, even if everything works out, the way she stands holding the phone, the way she looks at Moreno who tries to assure her it will be okay.

At the end of Karma To Burn, Finn and Russell reconcile again, not so much with words but in the way she snaps him out of his fantasy of ever having to use his gun in a real life situation, of how far he was almost pushed to the brink when it comes to saving his work family, not just Katie. His use of the nickname Jules on several occasions, something she claims to hate but also doesn’t, comes back when Barbara inquires if she will stay for dinner. All is well again.

The final blow and perhaps the deepest cut of their relationship occurs with the reopening of the Gig Harbor Killer case. From the get go, we start off with a bang, literally and figuratively. It is Russell who is at the mercy of Winthrop who demands he admit they did not capture the correct killer in order to relinquish Finn from the confines of her bomb invested car. With much reluctance, he admits their mistake and Finn is spared. The hug they share in the parking lot after she is freed breaks me every time and just further adds to the complicated but always present nature of their relationship. The next go around, Maya, Russell’s daughter is targeted, but this time, she is used as bait to try and lure the copycat out to play and be captured. When that fails, Finn unwillingly becomes the next target and once again Russell is thrown for a loop. This time however, there is no mercy, no chance at redemption, Finn is ripped from him violently and with no regard. Worse still, we get to see a tiny bit of his life afterwards, via CSI Cyber, when he observes another coma patient in Hack ER. Avery Ryan takes notice of his demeanor and quietly brings up Finn. Russell’s memories play out in quick flashbacks and we see where his heart belonged the entire time. He speaks of reading to her, hoping she’d wake up, then darkness, never to see her eyes pierce him again, no more bantar, no more snark, no more intrusiveness. The fact that almost a whole year later we get a resolution for Finn and get to see Russell pine for her one last time gives us closure and really showcases how strong this bond was for three and a half years.

I will always wish for a better outcome for Finn, as originally scripted, but somewhere in the chaos of writing and producing, we lost her. I will always be sad we didn’t get to see more of Russell at her bedside waiting for her to wake up. That emotion would have been so raw and real coming from Ted. These characters deserved a proper ending and reunification because it just wasn’t justified to wreck their metaphorical ship that was so strong and sailing along fine before colliding with the iceberg of violence. Nevertheless, this dynamic holds strong in my heart to this day. There are plenty more examples to pull from the show, every time they chatted about cases and made progress just by talking it out, every time they fought about their thought processes and reckless behavior, every soft sweet utterance of “Jules” will forever gut me, weaken me, bring me to my knees, but somehow give me strength. That’s how powerful their relationship was and appeared to me on screen, they were a paradox, love, hate, push, pull, oil and water as Ted stated before, give and take, and boy did they give me so much more than any naysayer could ever attempt to take from me. No matter where anyone stands on the fandom line, so much heart and soul went into Russell and Finn, and when you really sit down and watch and listen with perspective and acceptance, you can see it and feel it. I think that type of power transcends just your typical acting alone, it truly feels real. Give me that dynamic everyday, sign me up. I don’t think I’ll ever be as lucky as I was to witness such greatness on the screen between these two. Good things don’t happen twice, as I have unfortunately learned the hard way over the years, once it’s gone, it’s gone.

But in the heart and soul of Russell and Finn is an incredible ability to keep a stronghold on viewers like me, or maybe not, maybe I’m just crazy, but here were are, years after things have ended and the screen has faded to black.

#julie finlay #db russell #ted danson #elisabeth shue #thank you for coming to this ted talk #literally #csi crime scene investigation #that novel I’ve been working on #here you go #let’s talk

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litwitlady · 4 years

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2x13 Interlude

Takes place immediately after they find Tripp’s body beneath the tool shed and Michael ostensibly moves yet another body. This is very heavy Alex angst - please be warned. Warnings also for anxiety and panic attacks, abuse and violence. The end is slightly fluffy, I promise. But it takes a minute to get there. I wrote this mostly for myself, but thought I’d share anyway.

After Michael leaves, Alex slips back into the house and heads directly to his old bedroom. The one he shared with Flint for so many long, miserable years. The door is ajar, and he nudges it fully open. He sucks in a breath as he looks around and notices that next to no memories from his childhood remain. The walls have been repainted; all his stuff removed – likely thrown out with some random week’s trash. In the corner by the window, a single desk and chair remain. Both flea market finds he and Greg had hauled home one Christmas. Alex walks towards the small desk and opens the top right drawer wondering if it’s possible his old eyeliner had somehow managed to escape his father’s purge. But no – just a bare, wood drawer. Only the memory lingers.

Alex sits in the middle of the floor and notices one of his knuckles is bleeding. He sucks on the injury and lets the coppery taste of iron sit on his tongue. He thinks about how much blood the past has taken from him, from Michael, from Tripp. That tool shed built by an evil man and maintained by another evil man. Both men a part of him. Connected through the very same blood he spent so many years shedding at his father’s hands. The overwhelming shame of his legacy still clasps at his heart, threatening to never let go no matter how many tool sheds he destroys. Tears crawl down his face, burning his skin along the way.

He reaches inside his shirt and grips Tripp’s dog tags that are quickly becoming the lifeline he never knew he needed. Not every part of himself is inherently evil. God, how much he wants to have faith in that belief. He lays back, staring at the ceiling trying desperately to believe Tripp is just as much - if not more so - a part of him than Harlan, than Jesse. Alex knows he’s done evil things – in deserts halfway across the world. To people – men, women, children – that he’d never even met. How many times he’s lain awake staring at similar blank ceilings reliving those memories and trying to convince himself what he did was for survival, for love of country. But ultimately being left with the hollow truth that none of the people he’s killed had to die in order for him to live. A truth locked deep inside his heart, but not so deep that he can ever forget. No. He’ll have to live with that truth for the rest of his life.

His thoughts wonder back to Michael, replaying the way he’d swung that axe so gleefully. Alex could almost see the weight falling off his shoulders. Closing his eyes, he tries to write that memory onto his heart. That’s how he wants to remember tonight. As a healing for Michael – the boy, the man – he’s loved for the past 11 years. And it doesn’t matter if Michael never loves him again because he’ll have this memory to keep him warm now. Maybe it will never replace the horror of what Jesse did all those years ago. But it’s enough for now. Like a cozy blanket he’ll pull out when those terrible images reappear. He’ll wrap himself tight in this memory of a sweaty, smiling Michael Guerin wildly swinging an axe and destroying the thing that has haunted his hand, his memories, his heart for over a decade.

Several long minutes pass as Alex lays there running his fingers over Tripp’s engraved name again and again. He wants to call Michael. Ask him to come back. To lie there with him for the rest of the night. Maybe the rest of forever. But he can’t because Michael is no longer his. The ache in his heart pulls more tears from his eyes as he curls up on his side. He knows he needs to go home. Take off the prosthetic. Do his PT. That he’ll regret this in the morning when the muscle spasms come for him. But there’s a small voice inside his head whispering that maybe he deserves that pain. After all, he, too, is complicit in so many of the ways Michael Guerin has hurt over the years.

A soft knock on the door jars him from his emotional spiral. He turns to find Greg looking down at him clearly concerned. He sits up, dropping the dog tags back down his shirt to rest against his heart. Greg reaches out a hand to help him up. Alex gladly accepts but can’t quite meet his brother’s eye. ‘You alright?’ Alex sighs and nods. He can tell Greg doesn’t believe him and well, who would?

‘Guerin go home? You guys did some real damage back there.’

Alex doesn’t say anything, just shifts all of his weight to his left leg and grimaces at the pain in his right hip. Greg grabs his elbow to help him balance. ‘Come sit down and talk to me, Alex.’

But Alex doesn’t want to talk. He wants to go home, crawl into bed, and spend the rest of the night chasing nightmares. Or maybe he’ll finally take one of his sleeping pills and erase the world for a little while. At least he has options.

Greg seems to understand. ‘Well, at least let me drive you home. No need to stress your leg any further.’

Alex finds the energy to speak and shakes his head. ‘It’s okay. I drive with my left leg, anyway. Plus, both my crutches are in the car. I’ll be fine. Just been a long day.’ Week. Year. Life. He swallows and tries to muster up something he hopes resembles a smile. Greg’s face lets him know he’s failed. ‘Listen, I’ll come back tomorrow. Help you eat all those disgusting casseroles. I’ll explain everything. I promise.’

Greg helps him out to his car. Once he’s inside with the door blissfully closed to anymore questions, Alex deflates, sagging back against the leather seat, and starts to cry again. He knows that there’s something incredibly broken deep down in the dark place he tries not to think about. The stress of the past week is finally catching up with him and he knows he needs help but can’t figure out how to ask for it. Instead, he starts the car and heads home, tears freefalling and chest heaving. He’s scared to look at the passenger seat, scared he’ll see his father sitting there. Smug and gloating that somehow even in death he’s still winning.

Alex focuses as best he can on the road directly in front of him and manages to make it home safely. When he turns into his driveway, he’s shocked to find Michael’s truck parked in his regular spot – tailgate down and waiting for him like so many nights ago. Alex’s chest clenches at the memory of Michael’s ‘I like Maria, okay’. He can feel panic rising and worries that he’s now in danger of a full-blown panic attack if this night doesn’t end quickly.

He shuts the SUV off but doesn’t move. Tension begins to coil in his chest, wrapping his lungs in a vice grip that he’s having a hard time breathing around. Michael must notice that something’s wrong because he hurriedly moves to open his door and unbuckle his seat belt. Alex barely registers any of this as he tries to focus on his breathing. He can distantly hear Michael calling his name, feel his hand wrap around his neck. And then there’s Michael’s hand on his chest and his hand on Michael’s chest. Alex can feel Michael’s heart beating solidly beneath his palm. Can feel the strong in and out motion of his breathing. He clings to that and tries to match him, breath for breath. It takes a moment, but eventually, the pressure in his head eases, sounds return to normal, and the weight on his chest finally subsides. He sucks in as much oxygen as he can in long, deep breaths.

Michael takes a step back giving him some space, not knowing what to do next. Alex hates the lines of worry written across his face. Hates that he’s the one who has put them there. But he’s also never needed someone as much as he needs Michael in this moment. He moves to get out of the car, but his right leg is no longer obeying him, and he can’t hide the groan that escapes him as he shifts towards the door. But Michael’s hands are there to catch him and ease him off the seat, taking the brunt of Alex’s weight onto his own shoulders.

‘My crutches are in the back.’ Michael helps Alex lean against the driver’s side door and then turns to grab the crutches from their perch on the backseat. He hands them to Alex and watches as he puts his arms through the grips, adjusts his stance until he’s as comfortable as he’s going to get. Alex closes the door behind him and notices that Michael has his keys. He presses the lock button on the key fob and follows Alex up to his front door in silence. Alex suspects Michael’s using his telekinesis to ease the walk. They turn to face each other, neither knowing what to say. All that comes to Alex is a simple thank you. He knows it’s not enough.

Michael thumbs away the tears that are somehow still falling down Alex’s cheeks and unlocks his front door. The alarm starts to beep when the door opens, and Alex gives Michael the code to disarm the system. He makes his way into his bedroom and collapses on his bed. Michael takes the crutches from him and places them next to his nightstand. He kneels at his feet and begins taking off Alex’s shoes. He glances up at Alex, asking for permission to remove the prosthetic next. Alex gives a small nod and watches how gently Michael tends to him, all soft tugs and gentle pulls. He’s too tired to care how intimate a situation this is between the two of them. Too tired to think about Maria or not being good enough. He just unbuttons his jeans and lets Michael pull them off him as he tosses his shirt to the floor.

He watches as Michael grabs the lotion from his bedside and begins to massage the tight muscles in his right thigh, from his knee to his hip. Alex relaxes back onto his pillow, closing his eyes and thinking that maybe the nightmares won’t find him after all. His thoughts drift as Michael’s fingers continue to work their magic, shifting to his left leg knowing how much extra work it’s put in today as well.

What feels like a just a moment later, Alex jerks awake suddenly not realizing he’d fallen asleep. Michael is curled up next to him, snoring softly. He considers waking him and telling him to go home or to Maria or wherever he belongs now. But he can’t bring himself to give up the alien warmth and the way his body fits so perfectly next to his own. It’s selfish and he knows it. But he doesn’t care. Alex settles back against Michael and pulls his arms tightly around him. Michael’s left hand comes to rest on his chest and Alex realizes that the bandana is gone. And for the first time, Alex thinks he feels something inside him start to heal.

#malex #malex fic #alex manes #the angst is so strong with this one

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fanfoolishness · 4 years

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Greg Universe’s biggest mistake

First thing’s first: Greg Universe is an incredible father. What I would have given to have a dad like him... he’s amazing. And I think he deserves an enormous amount of credit for doing his absolute best to love and care for Steven through everything, especially through his own grief.

But there’s one decision he made that I think is going to come back to bite him and Steven both in Steven Universe: Future. And that’s Greg’s insistence that Gem stuff isn’t his thing.

Long post ahead about how this has affected Steven, Greg, and their relationship, along with some musings for what it might mean for Steven Universe: Future.

***

In early seasons it seemed to have been a very hard and fast rule. Initially he states in Laser Light Cannon it was insistence by the Gems: “Wait, is that a magical thing? The Gems told me not to get involved with magic stuff. It... it could be dangerous or interfere with what’s left of my hair.” The Gems reinforce this rule by acting less than enthused when he shows up with Steven.

In Catfingers Greg excuses himself because the shape shifting is a Gem thing. “Whup! Magic stuff! Should I get out of here? Is there going to be an explosion?” he asks anxiously. While he helps Steven escape his predicament in the end, it’s clear Greg is pretty overwhelmed by the situation.

It’s probably for good reason Greg doesn’t go on many missions. Of course, as a good dad, Greg is willing when the situation is desperate. But he’s more comfortable helping Steven with things like transportation as opposed to leaning in to the magic inherent in the situation. While Steven’s glad to have his dad along in Ocean Gem, Steven also sees him get his leg broken, a good lesson in Dad and Gem stuff don’t mix.

There’s several possible reasons for why both Greg and the Gems enforced this rule. One is simply that Greg is human and more likely to be hurt on missions. But we get another possible reason why in Message Received. Greg’s hurt to see how the Gems see him as useless. “I think so highly of you... it just isn’t fair.” Which makes sense. Greg’s always known the Gems and their war were so much bigger than him. He’s looked up to them, even Pearl who often barely tolerates him. If this has always been their dynamic, no wonder he would feel inadequate when it comes to Gem stuff and he would want Steven to get the best information from them, instead of whatever he could cobble together. He’d also know he’s unable to protect Steven the way the Gems can.

In The Return, Greg tries to explain some Gem things to Steven, one of the few times he does so, and it’s only because the Gems themselves have pushed Steven away to protect him. It doesn’t go super well. Greg’s intensely uncomfortable, and Steven is horrified to hear some of the truth behind the Gems’ presence on the planet.

Then in Full Disclosure Steven really starts to understand how uncomfortable his dad is with this stuff, especially once Steven realizes how much bigger it is than just the Crystal Gems he knows and loves. “Now Dad’s really freaking out, what do I do...”

Greg, for his part, still does his best to stay involved in Steven’s life. He takes Steven to the Barn to help with working on the drill to use on the Cluster, he provides a loving and stable presence in Steven’s human life, and he routinely checks in with him when he sees things like Stevonnie or Steven hating Kevin. He talks to Steven about how much Rose loved him and wanted him.

Unfortunately, he messes up again during Steven’s Birthday. He doesn’t encourage Connie to talk to Steven about her worries. He doesn’t bring Steven into the conversation. When he does talk to Steven, it isn’t really helpful, and he doesn’t apologize to Steven for the “wait and see” comment.

Greg: Why are you doing this? It... really isn't like you. Steven: Because, Dad, I can't stay a kid forever, when Connie grows up and becomes president what is that gonna make me? First Boy!? Amethyst: Steven, you can't just keep stretching forever. If you hold it too long, you could really hurt yourself. Steven: Yeah well, I'm half human so maybe it works different for me, we'll just have to wait and see, right? Greg: *sigh* Steven...

This is par for the course. Greg understands when Steven’s stressed out from human problems. But Greg doesn’t see when comfort is needed because of Gem things (i.e. never growing up). Steven never discusses what happened to the Cluster or Jasper or Bismuth or even being lost in space in Bubbled with his dad. Not that we see. Did it happen off-screen? Maybe....

Except we know how good Steven is at repressing things. Even Connie, the human he’s brought most into his life as a Gem, didn’t know who Bismuth and Eyeball were when encountering them in the hallucination as Stevonnie. My guess is, no, Steven either never told Greg about these things, or downplayed them into funny anecdotes or quick asides.

After The Return, we only see Greg discussing serious Gem things when Steven brings it up, and it’s usually in relation to Rose, not about other things Steven has been through. In Steven’s Dream Greg tells him who Rose was when he knew her, but he doesn’t talk about what Steven’s really asking about. He wants to know what Rose was thinking when she shattered Pink, what the reason was, if it could possibly be justified. Greg tells him Rose was an amazing, loving being, but how is Steven supposed to reconcile that with her image as a shatterer and a liar?

Steven gets another important lesson in Dad-and-Gem-stuff-don’t-mix when Greg gets abducted. Steven absolutely believes this is 100% his fault, and is so panicked he left Connie behind despite her wanting to help, and almost crashed a spaceship. Does he need any more proof in why he can’t involve his dad in this part of his life?

Even after they get back to safety, there’s no evidence that Steven and Greg talk much about what happened. Steven uses Rose’s room to try and process a lot of what he’s been going through, but to frightening effect. He’s starting to feel like he can’t talk to anyone about these things. If he talks to Greg, he puts Greg in danger. When he tries to talk to “Rose,” he puts himself in danger from his own feelings. So he represses. Again.

Lion 4: Alternate Ending shows Greg for one of the first times that Steven is really struggling with this stuff. He’s supportive, but deeply surprised. He had no idea Steven was thinking along these lines... because this is the area they don’t talk about. Steven cries out in frustration that he doesn’t know what he’s for, what his magical destiny is supposed to be — what an enormous responsibility he’s trying to take on. Greg does try to reassure him.

At his core Steven still believes he was made to deal with Rose’s problems, even if he’d like to believe otherwise -- if he didn’t, how could he just give himself up to Homeworld like that?

Gemcation shows that unfortunately after so long of this, Steven’s starting to have problems opening up about even his human problems. He worries what Greg and the Gems will think if Steven admits he messed up with Connie. And Greg, convinced Steven is upset by what happened on Homeworld (you aren’t wrong, Greg, it’s just Steven hasn’t realized it yet!), keeps trying to make the Gems talk to Steven. Because obviously, Steven hasn’t talked to Greg.

“But I know it's not space lag. This is some Gem thing he knows I won't understand. I don't know anything about Homeworld. I don't know anything about your society. Whatever horrible things he saw out there, you guys have to put it into context.”

After all the emotions brought up in A Single Pale Rose, Steven and Greg get one line of discussion together about Rose. Steven asks how Greg’s doing and Greg tells him it’s fine. Greg most likely doesn’t want to worry Steven at all -- a valid impulse! -- but come on Greg, there’s no way it’s fine. By modeling that it’s okay, it doesn’t need to be discussed, Greg loses a chance to connect with Steven on something important and painful for them both. He doesn’t even ask Steven how he feels about it!

In the movie we see that Steven does reach out to Greg to help when the Gems get reset. This is typical of the pattern we’ve seen before. When there’s a physical problem with Gem stuff that needs help, Steven will feel okay asking Greg for help, and Greg will feel brave enough to try. Laser Light Cannon, Catfingers, Ocean Gem, Message Received, Steven’s Dream. If Steven needs him physically, he’ll ask and Greg’ll be there because he does really want to help!

But Steven never shares his dream of happily ever after with his dad. After all, that would suggest there was an unhappy past that needed to be overcome... and that’s not what they discuss, it’s not what they ever discuss. So Steven shares this dream with the Gems, he mutters it to himself at one of his lowest points, he longs for it after the Gems are reset, he even tells Spinel. He doesn’t tell Greg.

It may be important to have Steven and Greg face the ramifications of this head on. I fully believe SU:F is going to be about Steven learning to truly combine his Gem and human heritage and heart, because he is starting to lose the connection to his humanity in favor of all his work as a Gem and a Diamond. Hell, he almost died because he forgot about his human self in all the struggle to regain his Gem powers!

Humans struggle. They grow. They make mistakes. And as teenagers, they rebel, sometimes especially against the ones who have loved them the most.

But what would make Steven rebel against Greg?

Consider Greg seeing Steven suffering, struggling with new powers he’s afraid of, and Greg pleading with Steven to talk with him.

Consider Steven, furious that after all the things he’s been through, Greg is finally asking him how he feels about Gem problems. “You don’t understand what’s going on. You never do!”

And the most painful thing of all would be that Steven isn’t wrong.

TLDR: Greg meant well by trying to separate Gem and human parenting responsibilities, but in the end, he fucked up. As all parents do in some ways, even the most loving, kind and supportive. I think it’d be an important message from the show to see that parental relationship shaken to its core — and then made stronger than ever with real discussion between them of what Greg’s choices meant for Steven, with both of them working towards a more honest and adult relationship together.

It would show kids that their parents are human and they make mistakes. Sometimes as a kid you need to be honest and tell them when they've messed up — but you also can trust that a good parent will love you through all of that, and that they are doing the best they can.

If we don’t see something like this in SU:F, I’ll be disappointed, as every other main player in Steven’s life has grown and changed tremendously. Whereas Greg is always stalwart, supportive and loving, but not changing. Maybe this would be the catalyst for their father-son relationship to change and mature. I know I’d love to see it.

#greg universe #gregory demayo #steven universe #steven universe meta #steven universe future #long post #fanfoolishness su meta

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sunnykeysmash · 4 years

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The connection between Brian LeFevre, death and macdennis/sunny meta

In my time obsessing over sunny recently I ended up noticing interesting stuff that I’m gonna try to show here, that was greatly expanded in s14 and that I believe gives us great odds over whether dennis will be acknowledged as gay in s15 or not.

Thesis: There has been an ongoing dichotomy, or “choice”, for Dennis, between Brian/Death/Son/Mandy and Dennis/Life/Love/Mac. Additionally, there has been purposeful ambiguity between what is sunny meta and what is dennis meta in season 14, enough for me to consider them one and the same in most cases. Information which puts Big Mo under a completely new light.

Long analysis under the cut.

Basically, Brian has been symbolically linked to death, thanks to an extensive use of metaphors and parallels, because Brian represents the death of Dennis’ identity. Not a true physical death, but the death of Dennis as a person.

Starting from the very beginning, of course, Brian is a dead guy.

In Dennis’ Double Life, it’s established textually, metatextually and visually that Dennis has an actual mirroring double life (Mandy vs Mac, Brian vs Dennis) and is stuck between the two of them.

This is also thanks to the heavy callbacks to suburbs. Here’s an excerpt from a previous analysis of mine explaining it:

(read more here, seriously I recommend it)

During this episode Dennis’ actually eventually fakes Brian’s death to try to get out of trouble, which is the second clear link to death for the persona.

It doesn’t work.

Mandy: “You can open your eyes now, I know you're not dead.”

Which also works as the first acknowledgement of Dennis not really wanting what the Brian life entails, as it’s a character death as much as it is the death of Dennis’ true wishes. He is not dead, he is not Brian, who IS dead.

Then, as he holds his son, something changes inside him. Suddenly, he is a father. His emotional involvement in choosing between the two lives changes drastically with this.

Nevertheless at the end of the episode Dennis is once again presented with the clear choice, which from this point forward I will address as Son/Death vs Love/Life, he looks at the RPG looming in the background and decides to go, not before a long hesitation and stopping immediately when he thought he was being asked not to go, showing us where his heart lies.

This, him choosing to go away, is because at this point in time, Dennis is still not in the right headspace to accept the right path for him. As Chop will put it, he feels “lonely and needs to do something extreme to feel special”, most of all though he feels lost. The conflicts that started in Boggs and Suburbs still make him unsure, and the presence of his son makes him feel like he has to be better for him, despite himself.

As he goes away, Mac blows up Dennis’ Range Rover with the RPG, car which is later in New Wheels metaphorically linked to Dennis’ identity.

Basically, as Dennis chooses Brian’s life, his actual identity dies.

So during the first half of season 13, he is nobody. He is not Brian and he’s struggling to be Dennis. He’s trying to get back into his old identity, desperate for any semblance of control and to belong, so he ends up looking like a caricature of himself, or rather, precisely who the gang thinks he is and who they see him as, not who he truly is.

New Wheels perfectly shows Dennis desperate to belong when he finds a new group of people, he tries on a whole new and different identity, which isn’t entirely him, but that at least feels welcoming enough. But it’s also a showcase of what Dennis truly wanted, which is to be acknowledged and seen by the gang, but particularly by Mac, feel like he matters to them and to him.

I say Mac specifically because the framing during the beginning scene seems to be fixated on a behind-Mac perspective on Dennis, almost like the conversation were happening just between the two of them, like Dennis was talking to him specifically when he pleads for questions.

These are all different shots, not the same one.

By the end of the episode he finally becomes himself again. And that’s that for s13.

Another thing worth pointing out though is that Dennis apparently has not been kicked out from ND, he himself says “I may go back” in New Wheels, and although in context it sounds more like an empty threat, it’s not empty because he can’t go back, it’s empty because he doesn’t really want to, as can be guessed thanks to his tone. This is because it’s then reinforced at the end of Chop with these lines of dialogue:

Charlie: “I can't believe how quick you gave up Poppins' puppies, though, you know? You didn't even think about keeping 'em.” Mac: “Well, that's a lot of responsibility, Charlie, right? And plus, there's no doggy paternity test to actually prove that they were Poppins' puppies in the first place. But, hey, if Poppins wants to stop by and say, "What's up?" and, like, be a dad for while, he's gonna. Or he won't. Dennis: “Yeah, that's how I do. That's how I do.”

Because of this, it can and should also be argued that the choice I am explaining in this analysis is something that Dennis still has to make, because he is, as it stands, still stuck between the two lives, and he has to settle on one, so choose between them, in order for the struggle to end. During all of s14 he is stuck trying to figure out which of the two he should choose, which is also the cause of his growing frustration. Currently speaking, getting a little speculatory here, I think everything feels like death to him, which is why he is having such a hard time deciding. He obviously doesn’t know the outcome of either option, because he’s not the audience or RCG, which means either of them can potentially kill him, and they both feel like they might to him.

Now, in season 14 is where all of this (the dichotomy of Death/Son vs Life/Love) starts to really become prominent in metatext, and this happens as the episodes start to purposefully confuse meta about the show itself with meta about Dennis. Let’s go through it in order one episode at a time, as that’s easier for me to dissect.

First of all, the backwards message at the end of all season 14 episodes, which is this:

“They leave but they all come back”

Is already a clear example of what I’m talking about. Is it about the show because of the false ending of Big Mo which actually ends with the message that “they’ll never stop doing sunny”? Is it about Dennis coming back from North Dakota? Unclear, but that’s entirely on purpose.

Episode 1: The Gang Gets Romantic

Now, there isn’t any clear connection to the choice as far as I am aware, but it is a first approach to the themes of romantic love, death, sons, as a whole. In this episode, while Frank and Charlie are paired with a father and son, Mac and Dennis get paired with a couple mourning a son (Dennis Jr, the “son” in the metaphor, is dead, but more in general it’s pointing to them slowly healing from the Suburbs conflict in my opinion though).

As a bonus fact, Charlie+Frank have always been set up to mirror Mac+Dennis. It is explicitly said in the Mac and Dennis Break Up commentary, and it shows in a bunch of episodes such as Dines Out, Chokes, or hell that one time Frank got a Charlie mannequin. Anyway, word of god, they are parallels.

TGGR presents us with two plotlines that mirror each other while going in the exact opposite direction, and the mirror element is the “structure”. Charlie and Frank’s plotline follows the romcom tropes closely, its structure, and is thus rewarded with a positive ending. Mac and Dennis’ plotline struggles against them (since the tropes are applying to Mac+Dennis, not Dennis+Lisa and Mac+Greg), which is why their plotline resolves negatively.

At the same time, this episode can have a sunny meta interpretation.

In this perspective, the Mac+Dennis plotline is the option for RCG to end sunny and each do their own thing, while the Charlie+Frank plotline is the option to keep it going, and at the end they conclude with the C+F one, seeing as it’s the option to keep going, which is ultimately what RCG wants.

So when this dialogue happens:

Mac: “You think they're gonna give us a bad review?” Dennis: “Yeah.” Mac: “I guess we're not gonna get that romantic comedy ending after all.”

It is about RCG choosing not to end the show (supported later by Big Mo), as it would not provide anything positive.

Or this:

Dennis: “It just feels like a lot of effort, and it feels desperate, you know what I mean? Like, I never put this much work into banging some cute meat.”

It can be interpreted as the effort to win an Emmy, especially since the Mac+Dennis plotline is the tired one, the one that’s failing.

And then when Alexi and Nikki say they’ll be back “next year”, and Charlie yells back “I love you!”, it can be interpreted that metaphorically Alexi and Nikki are sunny. Which also creates another link between love and the show continuing, or “staying alive”.

Finally, all the talk about “structure” and “acts”, particularly the three act structure, is a writer’s process, which also serves as an additional link to the RCG meta interpretation.

Episode 2: Thunder Gun 4: Maximum Cool

This episode leans heavily in the dichotomy, through various pieces of dialogue.

Starting from this:

Girl: "So, this is the midpoint twist. Thundergun finding out he has a son." Frank: "He has a son?" Girl: "Yes." Frank: "But how is this the twist? I mean, because he's got a kid? I mean, he's probably got a thousand kids, all the raw-dog loads he drops."

Which also calls back to the episode prior, where Dee’s role is called “diversionary plot-twist at best”. Now, all these words, midpoint and diversionary, imply an endgoal that is also opposite of what the twist shows.

The twist, obviously, being that Dennis has a secret life with a girl and a son.

It continues:

Dennis: “We’re feeling a lot of outrage right now, you know, because we want something, and we know we deserve it, - but we’re not getting it. [...] I wanna cling to the way things were, but they’re done. […] Let’s run from this.”

Being now aware of the metatext from Big Mo, once again, is this about RCG not getting an Emmy, being discouraged and wanting to end the show because they’re feeling stuck? Or is it about Dennis running away to North Dakota after he realizes in DDL that things have changed permanently despite Mac’s attempt at keeping them the exact same (the apartment restoration)?

The ambiguity that connects Dennis meta with Sunny/RCG meta continues.

Finally:

Dennis “No-no, you guys don’t get it. It’s a cliffhanger. Yeah? It’s a cliffhanger. We’re gonna find out what happened to John in the next movie, Thunder Gun 5.”

Dennis himself going against what is metaphorically his choice in DDL.

Let’s actually look into that, into what happens to Thundergun.

He sacrifices himself for his son, and dies in the process. Said film is then leaked by the gang and the audience hates it, so the franchise decides to “go back to its roots”. Very clearly sunny meta, but it can absolutely also be seen as Dennis meta. Dennis hating his choice (his thunderson ending) and deciding to come back (go back to his roots).

Additionally, Dennis literally says “give me dong or give me death” at one point, which in the context of all of this feels rather significant, you know?

Episode 3: Dee Day

Surprisingly, and thankfully for me, not much that I can see.

There is this:

Dennis: “And who cares about her feelings anyway? Nobody, that’s who. What about my feelings? Now, that’s interesting, okay?”

Which implies something going on with Dennis’ feelings, and which will more substantially be addressed by Jumper when it’s implied that Dennis tries to completely disregard them when it comes to choices, but other than that, really not much else.

Episode 4: The Gang Chokes

Once again we see a Mac+Dennis and Charlie+Frank parallel conflict. Charlie and Frank resolve their own with words (that mirror Dines Out) while Mac and Dennis resolve theirs with actions, while also solving the much bigger conflicts started by Suburbs (again, check out the other analysis for more context on this) and DDL.

It should also be stressed that Chokes starts by saying:

Charlie: “Uh, guys, I'd like to raise a glass to Frank. Frank, another year has gone by since you came into my life.”

He’s making a toast, which implies that they are celebrating their anniversary, as they were in Dines Out, and so the parallel becomes not only implied in dialogue as I’m about to show, but direct. It is unclear whether this is also a monthly dinner for Mac and Dennis or not, as I don’t think it was ever specified one way or the other.

As for the parallel in dialogue.

In Dines Out:

Mac: “I didn't have your back before, but now I'm gonna be the wind beneath your wings.”

In Chokes:

Frank (to the Waiter): “Hey, you had my back. Now I'm gonna have yours.”

and

Charlie: “Look, Frank, I'm sorry, dude. I screwed up, man. I should've saved you, and I'll always save you from now on, I promise.” Frank: “Thanks, Charlie. I knew you had my back.”

With Brian representing a death for Dennis, it is implied that what Charlie and Frank are saying in words is supposed to be fully applicable for Mac and Dennis, as there is a parallel between Frank almost dying by choking and Dennis almost dying by going to ND.

Therefore, this is about Dennis going to North Dakota and how he wanted to be stopped, “saved” by Mac. This is Mac apologizing, Dennis accepting the apology, and them implicitly moving forward from this conflict in their relationship and for any similar ones in the future if they present themselves. Mac learning the tools to deal with it, “I’ll always save you from now on”.

Which in a way further solidifies that the option that isn’t Brian, Death, Son, Mandy is fully intended as Dennis, Life, Love, Mac. Mac plays a role in the second option, so when choosing life, love, etc, Mac will be involved. As he is the savior in the context.

Continuing on Chokes, the episode itself again focuses a lot on death, both real and perceived, and being saved. There are three main points for this.

First point: Frank’s death.

So, he almost dies and no one helps. Sound familiar? It’s what happened when Dennis went to ND. As a result of no one helping him, Frank lashes out and decides to move out and distance himself. It is then shown that Frank keeps missing Charlie and comparing the Waiter to him subconsciously. It is constantly shown that Frank rejects Charlie’s attempts at helping him despite actually needing him. Which is also what applies to Mac and Dennis, throughout the episode Dennis is shown needing Mac’s help and taking it while verbally refusing it.

Charlie proposes to chew Frank’s food, Frank refuses his help, Frank chokes, Charlie doesn’t help.

Mac constantly helps Dennis, Dennis starts to push him away, Dennis “dies” (chooses to move to ND), Mac doesn’t help.

The episode concludes with the acknowledgement that they should’ve helped, and with the offended part forgiving the other.

Second point: Dee’s death

She witnesses death and is subsequently enthralled by it, seeking thrill by living on the edge. We can draw a parallel to Dennis’ enjoyment in “living in another man’s skin”, you know, “getting off”. It’s how Dennis started the double life he then got lost inside after all, it gave him a thrill. Then, it happened to him exactly what ends up happening to Dee. She experiences real death, is scared shitless by it, and decides to never do it again, going as far as to say this:

Dee: “I saw the other side. I didn't like it. I hated it. It was just blackness. There's nothing there. It's just dark. That's it. Just lights out. I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to live on the edge. I don't want to die.”

So once again the choice rests on LIFE, it is like this for Dee, as it is for Sunny, as it is for Dennis.

It’s also interesting to point out that Dee is rescued by a third party, after Mac is able to say “No”; as if symbolically that is what should’ve happened to save Dennis, back when he was about to go. A “no”, to stop him.

Third point: Dennis’ death

Dennis witnesses Frank dying and no one helping him and is immediately reminded of his own situation, which he then proceeds to discuss when at home, with Mac. Thanks to Dennis making this correlation we can once again assume that it is meant to be interpreted as a nod to the ND twist. Not only this but it then keeps linking Dennis to the concept of death and being saved.

This dialogue happens:

Mac: “I would've stepped in, but, of course, I was taking my cues from you.” Dennis: “Why?” Mac: “Well, you didn't tell me whether I should save him or not.” Dennis: “But why? I mean, why do I still have to tell you what to do? Why do I still have to order your dinners for you? And why is it up to me to decide whether or not you're going to save a man's life? You know what the problem is? I can't depend on you. I can't depend on anyone. You know, I mean, if that had been me choking tonight, no one would've saved me.” Mac: “No. I would've saved you, Dennis. I would have saved you. If you told me to.” Dennis: “Oh, Jesus Christ if I told you to?”

Dennis is clearly still upset about no one helping him when he needed it, which is, no one stopping him from making the worst decision of his life, a well established metaphorical death, and is projecting this frustration by applying it to Frank’s situation.

Later on, again:

Dennis: “Christ. I feel like I'm dying.” Mac: “Just let me help you, Dennis!”

Then:

Mac: “Look, all the gluten and the sugar and the dairy just wreaks havoc on his system, you know? And it makes him so weak. And then he's gonna depend on me to take care of him, to bring him back from the brink of death.”

Or “from making a wrong decision”.

Continuing:

Dee: “But if you want Dennis to really depend on you, you’re gonna have to save his life for real.”

And:

Dennis: “So you were still gonna rely on a decision that somebody else made, only, this time, you were potentially gonna kill a man?”

In which Dennis is once again, always without fail, the dying man, and Mac the person who saves him, or tries to. Dennis is very adamant in wanting Mac to choose for himself, which is surprising for a man so “obsessed with control”, and specifically it ticks him off that Mac’s decision was once again gonna provoke the death of a man because he couldn’t take action.

All this implied connection between Dennis, North Dakota and Death reinforces the Death/Brian aspect, while also reinforcing the Life/Mac one, as it is Mac that is supposed to save Dennis.

Episode 5: The Gang Texts

A shorter one, but here things get a little interesting, because the dichotomy is highlighted by one particular joke.

Mac: “Bathrooms at zoos are, like, big Grindr spots for closeted dads.”

Mac says this, then later on, in comes Dennis, a dad, and if it weren’t enough, it’s Mac himself who points to the situation once again by asking if it’s a “grindr thing”.

So going with this, his particular struggle (Death/Son vs Life/Love) is being highlighted with a very fitting choice of words, as he is a dad, and so... also closeted. Going with this. These are the words chosen to describe him in the joke, and it ends up being very telling overall.

Episode 6: The Janitor Always Mops Twice

Nothing, pretty much. lol

I’m gonna use this empty space to write that I just realized that Mac is even more linked to the theme of romantic love because he gifts the RPG specifically on Valentines Day.

Also, generally speaking, Dennis leaving would imply the death of the show, so that’s another way in which dennis meta and sunny meta are linked, because every time one is referenced, the other is automatically implied. The show cannot exist without Dennis in it, and Dennis cannot exist if the show ends. And if that’s not enough, in Big Mo they outright link the end of the show to actual death, in a lot of ways that I’m gonna look into in a bit, so once again, remember that.

Finally, Dennis is very adamant on Mac acting in s14 because if Mac were to do it, he would basically make the decision for Dennis, something that he used to do all the time, if you recall Mac and Dennis Break Up.

Episode 7: The Gang Solves Global Warming

The subject itself can be considered a slow death of sorts, so it feels especially significant that it’s Dennis the member of the gang who cares most about stopping it, despite not being able to because Mac doesn’t help him.

That’s not the only reason he fails at the end though.

He keeps trying to be rational and keep feelings out of it, to rationalize with the situation, which is what ultimately crushes him, as that’s impossible long term.

In this episode, he keeps getting mad at Mac for not taking action and instead trusting God’s will.

Frank: “Where is your God now?” Mac: “He will reveal himself at some point.” Dennis: “Well, is he gonna do it before all these people revolt and destroy the place?” Mac: “I don’t know. I don’t question God’s will. If he wants to destroy the Earth, that’s on him. - I support it!”

I think this is stretching it a bit, but this can also be read as Mac accepting Dennis’ decision to leave despite hating it. Dennis is also frequently presented as “God” so it would make some sense.

The crowd “not wanting to stop” and rioting can be read as sunny meta also, though that’s also kind of a stretch to me, I’m pointing it out.

In the end, the whole episode Dennis and Mac keep arguing about action vs inaction, with Dennis insisting that Mac should take action and being distressed when he doesn’t. They also keep arguing about rationality vs God, something that will come up again in Jumper, surprisingly.

Episode 8: Paddy's Has a Jumper

Now, starting from the very obvious, because that’s what’s easy to me, the jumper is called Bryan O’Brien, and if that doesn’t scream Brian=death, then boy I don’t know what does.

Not only that, but the episode spends a significant portion really stressing and beating you over the head with the fact that the jumper is paralleling Dennis.

Not only is Frank mistaken for the father, but Dennis’ dialogue as a whole really insists on this in multiple points. But again let’s go in order.

Discussing his motivations and intentions:

Mac: ”I mean, maybe God is testing us.” Dee: “He's not gonna do anything. This is a classic cry for help.”

Plus, this episode feels like a writers’ room. When they say stuff like:

Charlie: “It doesn't matter if he wants to or he doesn't want to. He's not gonna die falling from that height.” Dennis: “Whoa. Hard disagree, pal. You could absolutely die if you jump from that height.”

This to me sounds equally about RCG discussing the choice for themselves (implying they did at one point consider outright killing Dennis, or at least argued the theoreticals of it in the writers room, as in “would he actually even die with a decision like that?”) as it is the characters arguing the ND thing in the metaphorical sense, with Dennis insisting that a jump would be fatal while the gang thinks he’s completely fine. So, again, the jump represents him moving to North Dakota, as we’ll see.

Also, in general, the whole episode sounds like RCG arguing over whether they should pull the plug on their own show or not (”become a suicide bar”, because again, without Dennis there is no show, if he chooses death, so does the show), RCG themselves stuck in Dennis’ choice. In particular with the whole “Could he? Would he? (choose one or the other?) Should we?”.

But in addition to this, the algorithm, actually algorithms in general, are once again something that Dennis uses regularly to solve his own problems (D.E.N.N.I.S system, hello), which is his downfall.

Dennis: “Based on the analytical conclusions that we draw here, we're gonna be able to come up with a mathematically-accurate, non-emotional answer to all of our questions. Okay? We just need to think like a computer.”

Speaking of rationality vs feelings.

Mac: “Let's not bring science into it. Okay? I mean, this is life or death. This is God's territory. All right? I mean, there is no science.”

Now, this is very important because it allows me to talk about another thing. If it hadn’t been clear enough by now, this choice Dennis is presented with is also one between rationality and feelings.

Choosing to care for your son and move to ND, that is the rational choice, and rational is everything Dennis has always tried to be, especially in this episode and in Global Warming (which also mentions God a lot!).

But throughout s12-13-14, as I have highlighted in this post so far, we have seen where Dennis’ heart lies, his feelings.

It is funny to notice that both in Global Warming and in Jumper, Mac is the half who keeps arguing for the side of religion, of faith, of feelings, while Dennis keeps arguing for the side of rationality, of objectivity, always wanting to keep feelings completely out of the equation.

Dennis: “I think I have a way that we can solve this argument without human emotion mucking it all up.”

Then:

Charlie: “I think what we learned is that there's no way that the jumper's gonna die from this height. You know? So there's no reason for us to do anything about it.”

Once again the gang not recognizing the gravity of the situation and choosing inaction, to which Dennis seems unsure and wants to do more testing.

Ok so, here’s where things get interesting, the biggest parallel links between Dennis and Bryan are brought to light as they are looking through his social media.

“Yeah, it looks like he likes to travel. He was recently on a cruise.”

Referring to how Dennis actually liked being in another man’s skin in general, and he was recently away to do just that.

The Gang: “Okay, so it looks like he's got a lot to live for.” “He's eating food.” Dennis: “Or-or-or is he? Because is-is that just what he wants you to believe?”

Once again it’s Dennis counterarguing, specifically on the points that sound most like himself, though this irony is lost on him. This also once again sounds like RCG discussing Dennis as a character and how the choice would actually impact him and has impacted him.

Generally, speaking about Dennis, everyone thought he was gonna be fine because on the surface, his choice in the s12 finale sounds like a pretty sweet deal, and exactly what Dennis has supposedly wanted ever since The Gang Misses The Boat, though even that episode itself proves that it simply isn’t what is right for him.

“He's hardly a child, but he's still hanging on to his youth. That suggests to me that maybe he's got some daddy issues. Abandonment, abuse.”

All things that perfectly apply to Dennis and that give us interesting insight on him.

“But recently the girlfriend, she's disappeared from his pictures, which tells me that, uh, she probably broke up with him, you know, because of all his father issues, and 'cause he's an alcoholic, and because of the copious requests for butt-eating, which, she was thinking was more of a one-time thing, and he was thinking, this is a thing now, like, from now on.”

Disregarding Dennis’ surprisingly canonical love for getting his butt ate, lol (despite how that could count as more indication of where his true feelings lie, knowing RCG and what their writing intentions might be), he brings out alcoholism out of seemingly nowhere, another thing that again confirms the link between Dennis and the jumper, Bryan.

Dennis: “Basically, what we've concluded is that it would actually be good for the bar if this guy jumps and dies. So the answer to the question of "should we get involved?" is actually yes. [...] You see, we've already established that this guy wants to die and that it would actually benefit our bar if he dies. Now, of course, from an emotional standpoint, we feel as though we should get involved, we feel as though we should save this guy, but the algorithm is actually telling us that that does not benefit anybody.”

This feels to me like Dennis realizing mid discussion that he should pick rationality aka Death, for the greater good, but being emotionally incapable of actually making that choice because of his feelings, and so implicitly pleading the gang to help him do it, to get involved and push him.

It also sounds like RCG coming to the conclusion that the algorithm, aka the show’s FORMULA, is telling them that Dennis ending up in the bad option of said choice is what would normally happen in a show like sunny, although they themselves don’t really want to go through with it.

Charlie: “Can I say something, though? I think this is for the best. You know what I mean? Like, we were going down a road I was not totally comfortable with.” Dee: “You guys want to go back to watching our show?” Charlie: “Let's get back to our show.”

So, a couple of things here. The jumper does not jump, he chooses life, which implies the same fate for Dennis. Coincidentally, pay attention to how the gang calls it “our” show, not like, “that” show, because this is, at the same time, RCG being glad of the decision to not end the show and kill Dennis off.

But here’s where things get real FUN, because the Melon is also used as a metaphor for sunny. Generally speaking, smashing it would’ve been ending it, it’s not a coincidence that the melon represents the jumper, they’re all one and the same.

Cricket: “Guys, why the hell are you wasting a perfectly good casaba melon?”

Why end a show that is doing perfectly fine?

Frank: “Where's my melon? Where's my casaba?” Dennis: “It's right here, man. Why do you care so much about this thing? What is the deal?” Frank: “It's where I stash my Maui Kush.” Charlie: “You hide your weed in a casaba melon?” Frank: “Yeah. In case the cops ransack the place, you got to find a good, unsuspecting spot to stash your drugs.” Mac: “Pot's pretty much legal now. You don't really have to stash it anywhere.” Charlie: “I don't think you have to hide it, man.” Frank: “When did that happen?”

Ok so, this might be the most speculative point I’m going to bring up, but I will anyway, because it’s my post and I do what I want. I think they’re talking about gay subtext here. It is simply something that is kept hidden (thus, subtext, duh), and that they don’t really need to hide anymore. The reason I think this has a metaphorical value is specifically because of how Charlie words “I don’t think you have to hide it, man” which beautifully applies to a Dennis who is still in the closet in the year of the lord 2020, if you catch my drift. Plus the whole situation reads kinda with a weird vibe in general, almost forced. You have to consider that they chose to include this dialogue over stuff like Frank bragging to Dennis about meeting Jackie DeNardo. He doesn’t bring her up at all, actually.

Mac: “Maybe that's, like, part of the problem of taking the humanity out of decisions.” Dennis: “Perhaps the science just isn't there yet.”

They acknowledge that any choice should be made following your feelings, not like a machine, and Dennis agrees with the point. Now, I don’t know about you, but to me Dennis agreeing that sometimes considering feelings in certain situations is necessary is something HUGE. Of course it is for the thesis I’m arguing, as it implies Dennis following his feelings when making the decision he is currently weighted by, and we know where those stand, but it is huge just in general, also. Dennis usually doesn’t do feelings, at least, he tries to repress them usually.

Cricket: “Where did we land on the casaba?” Dennis: “I think you can eat it, man. I think we're done with it.”

Basically, with the tinkering over, and a decision being made by RCG, they can hand it to Cricket (David Hornsby) to write the season finale.

Episode 9: A Woman’s Right To Chop

The salon’s insigna, pictured above.

This episode is full with dennis/sunny meta (which doubles as abortion meta, so bear with me), but it also has a son=death link once again, as “Poppins” is pregnant and were she to have the puppies (which are later directly used as a metaphor for Brian Jr as I already quoted in this post when explaining why Dennis could technically return to ND) she would die.

Poppins himself is linked to Dennis metaphorically, and as we all know it is a dog that simply does not die.

Mac: “Poppins! He came back! My dog came back!” Dennis: “How the hell is that dog still alive?” Dee: “Yeah, Mac, why don't you just put that poor thing out of its misery?” Mac: “Put him down? What, are you crazy? This is my dog, Dee. I love him.” Dee: “Well, he doesn't love you. Comes around every three or four years, eats a bunch of batteries or whatever, takes a giant dump on the floor, and then leaves again.” Mac: “Dee, Poppins comes and goes as he pleases 'cause that's his right as a male.”

Once again Mac is responsible for keeping him alive, and he does so because he loves him. As for “he doesn’t love you”, I mean, it’s Dee, the Gang’s perspective, of course they think that. They also thought Dennis had no feelings. But we know he does, they are why he came back after all.

Dennis: “And if we decide to leave, we're gonna leave. Yeah, 'cause that's nature. That's tradition.” Dee: “That's bullshit. Traditional roles are ridiculous, and they're made up by men.”

The episode discouraging the option of leaving from Dennis.

Now, cutting hair (while yes, abortion stuff, I’m not talking about that here) can also be interpreted as both a metaphor for ending the show, or Dennis cutting ties entirely. It works for all of them.

Dennis: “With luxurious locks like yours, it could take, oh, three, four years to grow back to its current length. Yeah, if it ever grows back.”

Ending the show with all the risks that it would imply, because it could take a while for them to get another show to get off the ground and a new thriving fanbase (years to grow back hair), that is, if it ever happens.

With relationships as established as those Dennis has, it could take years for him to find other people he can be close with, that is, if he ever finds them.

Dee: “Will you please leave these poor women alone? They're clearly bored and lonely and needing to do something extreme in order to make themselves feel special.”

That just screams “reason why Dennis went to ND” to me.

It’s also funny to consider that the episode as a whole is about choice.

And it’s also interesting that in this scenario Dennis is arguing to stop them from having the choice of “ruining their life”, which sounds rather dramatic and also like a lot of self projection on his part.

Reading the script, it also came to me that other people having a say in whether a haircut is made or not sounds like fans having a say in whether a show ends or not, so there’s that.

So, the burping in this episode is a metaphor for emotional pain.

In this case, Dee wants to get the haircut simply because she can, without understanding the ramifications of her actions, and this upsets Frank who actually does understands. He once had long beautiful hair, cut it and gave it away, and it never grew back. This fits in all three metaphorical perspectives, once again. In the end she ends up getting a haircut anyway, despite people trying to stop her, and ends up with a substitute wig that looks pretty much the same.

Dee: “I'm getting the haircut. I'm getting it.” Frank: “Don't do it, Deandra. You'll regret it! I'm telling you!” Car salesman: “What was that all about?” Frank: “Just trying to save a life.”

This is yes, a metaphor about adoption instead of abortion, but it doubles as Dennis meta for everything else we have discussed.

Not cutting, not jumping, not running away, is saving a life. It all works towards the same message without neglecting the episode’s main message.

All in all, I feel like the parallels and metaphors in this episode are only surface level, and the rest works to make the plot and the abortion stuff make sense. It is still significant though, it’s there.

Episode 10: Waiting For Big Mo

Not even gonna try to make sense of all the metaphors in here as I don’t even think they necessarily make sense at all.

The point of it all here is simple, and it is once again sunny meta as much as it is Dennis meta, which ends up being very important.

They always play the game guarding the base, never letting themselves have fun but following a clear formula (word actually used in the episode), because that is simply what has always worked. They have it down to a science.

Yet the desire to have fun keeps messing with it, getting them lower on the leaderboard, and so on so forth.

Dennis is afraid that this will bring on a death, if they can’t guard their base from Big Mo, so he keeps discouraging fun, and asks people to stay on track, manipulates them to reach this goal, even if it makes him miserable.

This is about Dennis keeping his perfected facade instead of following his feelings as much as it is about RCG following the formula instead of having fun with it. For Dennis, the goal of doing this is being perceived as perfect, being accepted, belonging. For RCG, the goal was winning an emmy and staying relevant.

So the episode starts by painting having fun (feelings in Dennis’ case) as something that will bring an inevitable death, which must be how it felt to RCG (if you don’t follow the formula they’ll cancel your show) and how it felt to Dennis (who knows what would happen if you opened up), which is what led him to make the wrong choice in the first place, to avoid getting hurt.

Except the episode then proceeds to make fun of that very notion:

Mac: “Who cares if we're losing?” Charlie: “Dennis said, like, if we leave the base, death is gonna come in the form of a fat kid who's gonna turn us into fart ghosts or something like that. So I got to stay.” Mac: “What?” Charlie: “It sounds crazy now that I'm saying it. Dennis explained it a lot more better. Dennis, we can't leave the base, right? That's the deal?” Dennis: “No. Frank was right. Rutherford B. Crazy's real name was Larry Takashi. Yeah, and he was the founder and owner of Laser Tag Fun Zone. Well, apparently, he killed himself.”

In the episode, Frank is the first to reveal the news to Dennis, and he doesn’t believe him. Up until that point in the ep, he had been using Rutherford/Larry (is it a coincidence that he also has two names? I’ll let you decide) as inspiration for himself and to keep going with his plan to win, the guy was always working towards his goal tirelessly, never having fun. His family hated him, he had no friends, he was completely alone. He died alone and miserable.

This part of the episode in particular feels very heavy, as we notice that Dennis (and it isn’t random that he’s the one having this revelation) is the only one who’s sitting, looking visibly shocked.

Now, Larry Takashi is based on Larry David, creator of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. This isn’t only obvious because of the first name, but also because Larry was the person who Rob met that convinced him to not end the show.

He said this to Rob:

“Don’t be an idiot. Never stop. Just keep doing it. One, because it’s the greatest job you could ever want and two, because if you do a final episode they’ll just destroy you for it.“

So it’s easy to assume that this character is an homage to him.

Anyway, Dennis has this realization, and it feels important that he’s the one having it, as the whole season has been subtly about him and his choice, him feeling like he has to be a father but secretly wanting to be Mac’s “leading man”.

Dennis: “I mean, the guy was miserable. But he spent his life building this empire, and it all meant nothing? Shit. So Rutherford be rich. Rutherford be successful as all hell. But you know what else Rutherford be? Rutherford be right. Because it all means nothing if you're not enjoying it.”

This works both ways, and is the right message, but it then gets twisted into “choosing death on our own terms”, obviously for the sake of tricking the audience with a fake finale; as we now know, they have actually chosen life. The dialogue continues to be specifically about sunny.

And with that, it segues into the fake finale, with them saying “time to end the game”, “goodbye base” and all of that.

And it seems like with that they’re giving up, accepting death as something that will happen regardless, ending the show. Saying “screw it, we won’t let others cancel our show, we’ll end it on our terms if that needs to happen”. Or in Dennis’ case “If I’m gonna have to live a miserable life might as well directly kill myself” as, again, so far the implied death of choosing Brian has been METAPHORICAL, the death of Dennis’ identity. Not, you know, real.

Whereas the show ending would imply his eventual real death.

But that’s not how it ends.

“Oh, what? You thought we'd gone? You'd like that, wouldn't you? We ain't going anywhere. We're never leaving, you little piece of shit.”

They’re never leaving. And so, by progression of the metaphor, neither is Dennis, of course, which implies the choice of the other option. Dennis, Life, Love, Mac.

So as the show chooses to live forever, then so should Dennis also choose the option for life, and everything that it implies with it.

And this is why all of this talk about meta and symbolism was very important for me to make, because this is the logical conclusion I have reached.

Logically speaking, for me, this is where all the signs seem to be pointing, and that’s very exciting.

Because as RCG chooses to keep their show alive, they are also choosing to have real fun with it, and this seems to imply that they won’t stick to the formula as closely.

So in a way, Big Mo, as this fake finale, does end up representing the end of sunny as we know it, if I’m reading into it correctly. It ends up being a proper finale and send off, but sunny is not over because of it. Only the one we are used to, whatever that means.

So not only is Dennis choosing that, but it seems RCG might be taking some real artistic liberties or whatever, not be afraid to sink down in the leaderboards anymore but simply do what they please.

So... macdennis? Well, come back to me in a year and we’ll find out together. That is another reason why I made this post after all, to look back at it in the future and see just how wrong or right I was.

Let’s see how Rob chooses to embrace sunny.

#iasip #it's always sunny in philadelphia #analysis #macdennis #macden #meta #dennis reynolds #mac mcdonald #season 14

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sadaboutniall · 4 years

Photo

something about you;

introduction | masterlist | tag | wattpad

Twenty Three. August, 2016.

Niall has a plan.

It clocks in at just about the scariest thing he’s ever done, and it could backfire and leave him so utterly heartbroken that he can’t imagine he’d ever get over it, but it’s a plan nonetheless, and he’s committed to it, even if it kills him.

He knows there are a handful of normal options—asking Isla out on a date, writing her a letter to express his feelings, inviting her over for dinner and a movie and kissing her—but none of those feel right, somehow, for the magnitude of this, for the scale of what Niall feels for her. He’s always had a hard time being honest, and he finds himself thinking that those options are too easy to weasel out of—that they give him space to second guess, to get cold feet, to overthink, to lie. This way, at least, there’s no turning back once he starts. He has no other option.

So he invites Isla over on a Sunday in late August, London clinging to the last dregs of summer, Niall clinging to his last few moments of safety before jumping over the edge. It feels dramatic, opening the door to reveal her on the other side, carrying a bottle of white wine and smiling at him like everything is back to normal, and he can’t stop talking once he’s let her in, nattering away about the weather, the traffic, the afternoon he’s had.

‘Niall,’ she says eventually, elbows resting on his kitchen counter, watching as he fumbles around for wine glasses and a corkscrew. ‘You’re anxious rambling.’

He exhales, turning back toward Isla. ‘I can’t find any glasses. I think they might all be dirty, Willie had some mates over last night.’

Isla shrugs, ‘we can drink out of the bottle. It’s not like we haven’t swapped spit before.’

‘No,’ Niall’s mouth feels dry, his heart kicking. ‘You’re right.’

‘But I don’t think that’s why you’re anxious rambling,’ Isla says, eyes trailing over Niall’s forearms as he twists the corkscrew into the bottle. It’s covered in condensation, cold and slippery against his hands.

Mercifully, the corkscrew pops out in one piece and Niall brings the bottle to his lips almost immediately, desperate for something to distract himself, for the sting of the alcohol to calm him down, give him a little shock of courage. He closes his eyes as the icy wine makes its way down his throat and then passes the bottle to Isla, who takes it by the neck, her fingers brushing his.

Last time they did this, it ended up with her riding him while his brother got married. The thought kicks in Niall’s belly, settling with the alcohol.

‘I, erm,’ Niall finds it easier to speak while Isla’s drinking. She can’t stare him down, this way. ‘I have something I wanted to show you.’

‘Okay,’ Isla says on a swallow, putting the bottle down on the counter. It clinks against the marble, echoes in the quiet kitchen. ‘Show me.’

In the living room, Isla finds herself a spot on Niall’s couch, bare feet tucked under her, bottle of wine cradled in her lap. He wants this so fucking badly, he thinks, all the time: Isla, at home, with him. He can’t think of anything he’s ever wanted more.

‘So,’ Niall sits down across from her, his body twisted toward hers on the couch. ‘When I was away on my trip, I saw on Instagram that you went back to Mullingar with Mully and Mia and everyone.’

‘Yeah,’ Isla tilts her head. ‘It was reading week, we always go home for reading week.’

‘Right, right, it was just, like, so weird for me to see? Because there I was, like, halfway across the world in bed with a stranger and I opened up Instagram while she was sleeping next to me and all of a sudden all I could do was think about you? And home? And how everything is the same, like, even though it’s been a million years and we’ve been so far apart from each other and we’ve seen other people and done different things it’s like… like, it’s still the same. It’s still you. It’s always you, Isla. And I’ve always known that, I think, even though I didn’t always want to believe it I always knew that nothing else would come close to how it was with you. It’s like… it’s like you’re my home, as stupid as that sounds. It doesn’t matter where we are or what we’re doing. It’s about you.’

‘Anyway so while I was on my trip I hadn’t written music in ages. I was so tired and I couldn’t find inspiration anywhere and everything I tried to write turned out like shit and then it just… after I saw your post it just kind of clicked? And I wrote something. And I don’t know if you’ll like it or if you’ll even be okay with it, or if you feel the same way anymore, but I want you to hear it, first, from me, before anyone else has. Because it’s for you. If you’re okay with it I think I want to release this but this is yours. It belongs to you, and you should hear it first.’

‘So,’ hands shaking, Niall fishes his phone out of his jeans pocket and places it on the couch cushions between himself and Isla. He’s got everything all loaded up, the phone connected to the surround sound speakers in his flat, his heart in his fucking throat. He’s gone too far to turn back now. ‘Are you okay with this? Do you want to hear it? You can say no, it’s totally fine if you—’

‘Niall,’ Isla’s voice sounds thick already, wavering. ‘If you keep stalling I’m going to kill you with my own two hands.’

He exhales, a shaky laugh, and nods. He can do this. He’s done way scarier things before—he can’t think of them right now, but he’s sure he has.

He presses play.

This Town starts, and he closes his eyes.

It’s different, listening to your own song like this. Niall’d kind of thought he’d heard This Town too many times for it to affect him anymore, that he’d been able to separate his feelings from the song, his life from the lyrics. But this is a level of vulnerability Niall never even knew existed, like he’s standing naked in the middle of Trafalgar Square, like he’s like he’s reading his diary out loud for the whole world to hear. Which, he supposes, is kind of what this is—Isla is the whole world to him, after all.

In his head it’s a supercut of them: laughing together as kids in the playground, kissing on his twin sized bed in his da’s house, his fingers between her legs in the backseat of Greg’s car, parked on the shores of Lough Ennell. He sees them on a long, autumnal walk with Puca through the woods, and that time they went to Dublin together to buy their mams’ Christmas gifts. He sees her bent over her textbooks, cramming for exams, while he sat on the other side of the room strumming his guitar. He sees the look on her face when he kissed her goodbye at Dublin airport, before he left Mullingar for the very first time. He sees himself, too: alone in London, alone in Dubai, alone in Bangkok, alone at Croke Park, alone, alone, alone, and always looking for her.

By the final chorus he can’t take it anymore. His eyes are stinging with tears and when he opens them up he finds that Isla’s crying too: full, fat tears streaming down her cheeks, her hands covering her mouth, her body trembling. He wants to wrap her up in him but he doesn’t know, can’t tell, if it’s good or bad. If she wants this too.

When the song ends she drops her hands, still shaking, into her lap. Niall tries to ask if she’s okay but he can’t—he just keeps imagining his heart falling out of his open mouth. Eyes wide, he waits for her instead. No matter how long, he knows, he’ll wait for her.

‘Fuck’s sake,’ she says eventually, around a sob. ‘Jesus Christ, for fuck’s sake, Niall.’

And then she’s on him, leaning over the empty space between them to press her lips to his, for the first time in a million years.

####

taglist: @stylishmuser @thicksniall @stayclose-holdsteady @niallhoranruinsme @ajayque @flickerswinehouse @1dfangirls35 @crocodileniall @halfpinthoran @awomanindeniall @booksncoffee @edgeofmyniall @kare38 @emmathefantomes @coconutdawn @irish-nlessing @niallspeachybum

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#one direction #1dff #one direction fan fiction #niall horan #niall horan fic #niall horan fan fiction #niall horan imagine #niall #something about you #weeeeeeeee #sorry this took so long! I got distracted today!#anyway [redacted] tomorrow!

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only-by-the-stars · 3 years

Text

the annotated Tome of the Wild

Part 7: The Wild!

- Link didn't open his eyes. A twist on the beginning of BOTW, where you hear Zelda telling Link to open his eyes. I couldn’t resist.

- Hestu’s cameo was a lot of fun to write too. I always found him adorable, first in BOTW and then in AOC as well, and the idea of him waking up Link with his maracas was too amusing not to do. I also had to include his “shimmy shimmy” battle cry from AOC because I always laugh my head off whenever I hear it.

- This also reveals that Midna brought Link to the Great Deku Tree, a character that debuted in OOT and made further appearances in WW and BOTW.

- Something tickled her arm, breaking her out of her gloomy thoughts. Midna lifted her head and looked down. New growth was sprouting from the branch she was sitting on, wriggling its way up onto her. Nothing like this happens to Beatrice in the show, but I had to put in this chilling little moment of Midna nearly succumbing to the dekuwood. It provides a way later to introduce Rhoam’s presence in his scene, as well as some horror at what could’ve happened to her here.

- Note to self: never visit Tabantha if you can help it... Tabantha, of course, being a very cold region in BOTW’s Hyrule. Link’s newfound hatred of snow mirrors my own, and now he’s going to associate it with this horrible experience.

- “It's a bad habit, I guess.” He laughed softly. He’s referring, of course, to how he casually greeted Riju and Medli back at the school pool and they gave him a bit of a hard time about it.

- “You...” Midna stared at him for several seconds, stunned. “You...” She slapped his hand away and starting swinging her tiny fists at him, which he easily dodged. “You oaf! You idiot! What the hell—what the hell is wrong with you? How can you forgive me so easily, when you're still in a shit situation because of me? Neither one of us would be out here groping around blindly in the fucking snow if not for what I did!” I set up Midna and Link to be parallels of each other in a couple ways. One of which is that while Link has isolated himself from Mipha, hurting and confusing her, Midna is on the other end of something similar with Zelda. And here we see something they both struggle with: forgiving themselves. Midna can’t understand how Link can so easily forgive her actions towards him, while Link utterly despises himself for his actions towards Mipha and cannot forgive himself for causing her pain. He’ll later struggle with the fact that Mipha forgives him easily, just as Midna is having trouble understanding his forgiveness of her here. All of them find it easier to forgive their loved ones than to grant that same grace to themselves.

- “She told me that while she appreciated how much I cared, I should think a little more and be less reckless. I know she'd never call me stupid, but...” Link shrugged. “Honestly, I kind of am.” Another reference to Mipha calling Link reckless, and how she hates seeing him get hurt. He is indeed not the smartest guy around, but she does describe him as being very kind and determined to help those in need, so I tried to emphasize that aspect of his personality in this story. Although the “I kind of am” line is also intended to be a subtle red flag. We’ve already seen that Link thinks very little of himself and his abilities, even when it’s clear from the words of others that he’s very talented. And we’re about to soon see him use a bit of intelligence he very much does have, in order to save the day. He would never believe himself capable of such a thing, but he does it anyway.

- “Even just a few branches could be processed... enough to get us through this storm...” Note the use of the plural here. This is leading up to the revelation about his belief that Zelda is in the lantern. His desperation to find more oil anywhere is because, of course, he believes that if the light goes out she will die. And he wouldn’t be in this scarcity if not for what happened back in chapter one, with Link and Aryll and the dog accidentally wrecking the mill and his oil supply.

- He was soon rewarded with a most welcome sight: a single dekuwood branch, growing out of that of a normal tree. It seemed sickly, withered, and it waved feebly in the air, but he rushed forward and hacked it off anyway. The very same branch that tried to attach itself to Midna, sickly and withered precisely because of that failure.

- And now we come to the confirmation that the dekuwood is made from the people who succumb to despair and exhaustion in the woods, right as we see it growing all around Aryll. Rhoam has been unaware this entire time of all the souls he’s sacrificed over the past several months, and now that he knows, he refuses to do it any longer. For he, like Midna, recognizes that Zelda would never want anyone to be harmed for her sake.

He’s also right that Link would never leave Aryll to such a fate, recognizing Link’s love and protectiveness towards his little sister. This is a point where my characterization of Link wildly diverges from that of Wirt, the protagonist of OTGW. I pulled some things from Wirt for Link and his arc, but one thing I didn’t keep was the resentment and initial callousness that Wirt displays for Greg, who is revealed in the tavern sequence to be his half-brother thanks to his mother remarrying, something Greg frowns at when Wirt mentions it. Aryll is also technically Link’s half-sister, as I revealed in the letters that his mother remarried some years after his father’s death and had Aryll with her new husband, but I could not for the life of me see him being resentful or unkind to his little sister. Whatever his faults, I’ve written him as being, at his core, an incredibly kind and deeply loving person, and his adoration of his sister is a part of that. He doesn’t view her as a “half” anything, she’s just his sister and he’ll do anything to protect her. Which of course is a big part of what led to his breakdown: his feelings of guilt over not doing as good a job of that as he thinks he should be doing.

- “Link, I don't... I don't think that's natural light. It looks more like...” This has a double meaning. The fire in the lantern is not the “natural light” of the sun, and it is also deeply unnatural, given that it’s the Beast’s soul in there.

- Speaking of that! The confrontation with the Beast plays out a bit differently here than it does in the show, thanks to Midna’s personal connection to all this. Rhoam’s mention of Zelda gets her attention, and the Beast uses her love for Zelda as a way to try and turn her and Link against each other with his attempt to make them choose which soul will go into the lantern. He’ll get fuel and kill Aryll either way, but why not pit these two against each other as a way to manipulate them into doing what he wants? Except it backfires, because Midna won’t harm anyone for Zelda’s sake, and Link figures out what’s going on anyway, thanks to remembering the words of Rhoam and Telma.

- Link stood up, his mind racing. It was like when the solution to a puzzle finally presented itself in a moment of stunning clarity. For all that he’s not that bright in so many ways, it’s important to remember that he’s canonically able to solve all those tricky puzzles we do, without benefit of a guide, just using his wits and the tools he has at hand. And so too does he solve this particular puzzle, by remembering what he’s been told and piecing it together with what he sees here, thinking about the fact that the Beast’s story doesn’t add up. Which saves the day, in the end.

- “Am I wrong?” Link repeated, his voice shaking with barely suppressed fury; he took a few more steps, forcing the Beast to retreat further. “No more lies. Tell the truth for once, Beast.” Referencing, of course, the fact that Telma told him the Beast lies. He’s absolutely furious right now because of the attempt on Aryll’s life; you do not mess with Link’s loved ones. The Beast, too, fucked around and found out the hard way.

- In the show, Wirt gives the lantern back to the Woodsman to blow out after the delivery of the “Are you?” line that I kept (and had Link nail the delivery of on his first try, unlike Wirt, because that’s what makes sense for both their characters). Here, I chose to let Link kill the Beast, because he is, after all, the legendary hero who slays the villain. But even more importantly, I felt he deserved and had earned such a moment with his growing courage over the course of the tale.

- “See you later, Link.” Hey, remember how Midna broke all our hearts by saying a similar line to Link in TP as she broke the mirror and went back to her world? I sure do!

- “Sleepers wake, dreams will fade... although we cling fast..." This, and the lyrics that close out this section, are the first few lines of the vocal version of Ballad of the Wind Fish that was done for the LA remake.

- There were lights and shadowy figures coming closer, and voices—was someone calling his name? As I would later reveal in the prologue of a place to start, Mipha was screaming his name as she ran down the hill towards him.

- The words he wanted so badly to say to her hung on the tip of his tongue And it shows on his face, that desire to express the love for her that is all but bursting out of him in this moment, and Mipha sees it. She sees that love shining in his eyes as they stare at each other, giving her her hope back and then some. In a way, Link was right: if he hadn’t hidden from her, she would’ve realized what his real feelings for her are. He just didn’t know how happy it would’ve made her. But he will soon.

- “—and that's how we got away from the evil possessed lady!” Out of the corner of his eye Link saw Aryll shake the frog triumphantly, and Mipha, distracted by the sudden commotion, looked away from him. A small, muffled chime sounded, and the amphibian's stomach glowed. “The ringing of the bell commanded her! Though she wasn't really evil, just...” The series is never clear on just what the otherworld the brothers enter is, but it is clear that it really happened to them, and I preserved that ambiguity in the same way, by showing the bell as still being in the frog’s stomach.

- Link nodded. “Yes.” It didn't matter anymore how it'd gotten into her pocket; he'd made it, and brought it with him tonight, with the intention of giving it to her. There was no more question of taking it back or denying it. Courage has been achieved; he’s no longer going to hide or pretend, or try to take back the gift he worked on so hard. Midna is right: he’s been so brave in the Wild, and it’s time to apply that bravery to confessing his feelings to Mipha and letting her know that he loves her. The words will have to wait till the next day, but for now he’s doing all he can to face his fears and stop running, by hugging her and holding her hand and wiping her tears away, letting his love show in his expression as he looks at her without avoiding her eyes. Plus, of course, admitting to his intentions with the tape and inviting her over to listen to it together. They’re finally getting a breakthrough after two months of separation and pain.

- The doctor, Syrup, is a recurring NPC throughout the series, a witch who brews up helpful healing potions for Link to use on his adventures.

- I'm home, Mipha. Calling back, of course, to Midna’s line about there being someone waiting for him and to go home to her. Not only that, but in Mipha’s letters, I had her mention wanting him to “come back to her”. And now he finally has.

and that wraps this up, as the epilogue is composed strictly of Miphlink fluff and sweet, sweet payoff. if you took the time to read the fic and these write ups, thank you, I hope you enjoyed them! ❤

#annotations #and happy zelda anniversary!

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starscheme · 4 years

Text

Only You

Chapter Twelve: Let Me Help You

Sodalite ran Lars to the Beach house, with Greg following frantically behind.

“My Steven!!” Sodalite shouted as she ran up the stairs. “Please help!”

“Sodalite? What on earth—-?” Pearl exclaimed as she swung open the door to keep the blue Gem from crashing through it. She’d heard her yelling, but only just arrived in time to let her inside.

“Where is My Steven?! Lars has broken!”

Greg panted for breath once he finally caught up with them. “St—Steven isn’t here,” wheezed Mr. Universe. “I was...I was trying to tell you!”

“B-but someone has to fix him!! He—he stopped working,” pleaded Sodalite desperately.

“I-okay, just calm down. Lars is a human. He needs to go to a human hospital,” explained Pearl as evenly as possible.

“I’ll get the van,” Greg panted, turning to rush out the door.

Though Pearl did assume a human hospital would be best, she was a little concerned that they might not be able to help. Lars had been healed by Steven after all. “...Sodalite, what happened?”

The skittish Gem shook her head hysterically, tears trickling from her cheeks down to the floor. “I-I don’t know! He-he just stopped working! I didn’t know what to do! I-I don’t know enough about humans to help him! I-I’m scared...”

“I know everything scares you, but Lars will—“

“No! This isn’t the same,” insisted Sodalite, making sure to keep her eyes on the ground. If she looked at Pearl she would would see the black smoke around her and get anxious on top of all this. “I-I’m scared that he’s broken for good. He is always helping me, yet I can do nothing for him even now.”

“...well this kind of fear is understandable,” replied Pearl. It was one she’d certainly felt many times. Feeling frightened and helpless to help the people you loved. “...I’ll call Steven and when he and Spinel return—-“

“—-Don’t let her near him!!” Sodalite pleaded in a panic. “Sh-she’ll only make things worse!”

Though Pearl was taken aback by Sodalite’s words, she would hardly have time to address them before Lars’ eyes shot open without warning.

“Lars!” Sodalite exclaimed happily at first, but the relieved smile she was forming quickly faded once she saw that the whites of his eyes had been blacked out.

“Sodalite, stand back!” Pearl shouted, pushing off on her heel at once to separate the two, forcing Sodalite to release Lars.

“W-Wait! He’s still—“ Sodalite tried to protest, but it soon became clear that Lars no longer needed any help.

The pink human was standing on his own now, but his movements seemed almost robotic as he adjusted himself, staring at the Gems with a twisted smile and empty eyes.

“Let’s play a game,” suggested Lars, his voice mixed with another’s. A woman from the faint sound of it.

Swiftly summoning her spear, Pearl stepped in front of Sodalite and stood her ground. “What have you done to Lars? I demand that you release the human!”

“Demand?” Repeated Lars with an almost amused smile. “I just want to play a game with you. Come on, I’ll even let you choose.”

Sodalite wasn’t quite sure what was happening. This clearly wasn’t the Lars that she knew and from the all the black smoke that surrounded Pearl now, she could see that the Gem was getting anxious.

“L-Lars,” began Sodalite cautiously, “...what...what do you mean?”

“It’s a game,” he repeated, “I think it’s going to be lots of fun. At least until it’s over.”

“Oh? And what happens if we don’t play your game?” asked Pearl defiantly.

“Well that wouldn’t be any fun, but you shouldn’t decide anything until you’ve heard the rules. You see, this game has a time limit. If you can last before the time runs out, you win. The timer, is this young mans heart.” He pointed out, placing a hand at his chest. “I can’t stay inside this body too long. I’m stretched too thin, but his blood pumps much slower than an average human. So my poison won’t reach his heart right away. Until then, we’re going to play. If you can last until his heart gives out, you win!”

The Gems were horrified. Whatever held Lars captive was surely out of its mind. Using his body as some timer for a game. No matter how they thought on it, win or lose, Lars would die anyway.

“You can’t do this!!” Sodalite shouted, her attempt to step forward thwarted by Pearl who blocked her way.

Lars shrugged his shoulders and his empty eyes fixed on Pearl. “Why don’t we start with a game of tag?” He asked shortly before launching himself at the Gems, much faster than the average human.

Pearl readied herself, but in her panic, Sodalite shoved the thin Gem to the ground, barely dodging Lars’ attack, forcing him to slam his now blackened hand against the kitchen table, breaking it into pieces.

“What are you doing?!” Pearl demanded in a huff as she pushed Sodalite aside and got to her feet.

“You can’t hurt him!”

“I’ll do the best I can, but something is inside of him! If we can’t find a way to get it out, he’s going to hurt us. We have to defend ourselves.”

“He’s a human! If you fight him, you’ll break him!”

Pearl didn’t have time to argue anymore since Lars was coming after them again. Both of his hands had turned dark as if rotting away somehow. Pearl swung her spear to swipe at his feet, but Lars jumped into the air to avoid the blade and lunged after Sodalite.

Pearl turned on her heel and swiftly twirled her weapon back around, shooting the light from its blade in an attempt to stun the human before he reached the blue Gem. When the light hit his side, it burned his skin and he cried out, the woman’s voice inside of him screeching in pain.

“STOP!!!” Sodalite screamed in a panic as she watched Lars double back and hold his side, his pink skin turning black where the light had hit him. Finally, it was too much for the nervous Gem and all light was ripped from the room, leaving all three in complete darkness as she shouted once again, “STOP IT!!!”

Without missing a beat, Pearls gem flashed a light to help her see, searching in the dark frantically for Lars. The human was nowhere to be found and what’s more, she couldn’t seem to locate Sodalite. “Sodalite! Bring the light back! Hurry!”

Waiting anxiously in the dark for just a moment, Pearl was relieved when the darkness returned to Sodalite’s body. The freckled Gem was holding her head at both sides, her eyes closed tight as she painted for breath.

Lars was lying on the floor, his hands and wound no longer black, but badly burned. Pearl wasn’t sure what had happened, but at least he was unconscious and wouldn’t cause any more trouble for the moment. Pearl rushed over to check on him just as Garnet warped into the house.

“Garnet! I need some help over here!” Pearl exclaimed.

Garnet wasted no time in dashing over to the scene, kneeling down to examine the human and the frantic Gem. “What happened?” She asked at once.

“I-I took it!” Sodalite choked out as quickly as she could. “So do-don’t hurt him anymore!”

“Took what?” Pearl and Garnet asked together, both equally lost. However, it didn’t take long for Pearl to connect the dots once she thought about it. Sodalite’s ability allowed her to take in negative emotion and purify it inside of herself. Perhaps she was able to take in whatever had been controlling Lars. However, could she purify such a poison? What would happen now that it was inside of her if she couldn’t?

While the other Gems were trying to figure out the situation back home, Steven had a problem of his own. Back at the Hotel, Steven sat on the bed, staring at the crushed phone in Spinels hand. “Spinel?” began Steven cautiously, “why did you...?”

Spinel seemed calm at first, but when she saw the concern on Steven’s face, her smiled faded at once. She tossed the broken device to the floor and leaned over to cup his face in her hands. “I don’t like it when others try to speak with you while you’re with me,” whispered Spinel. “It makes me very unhappy.”

“Are you...are you feeling okay?” Asked Steven now, unable to shake this feeling of dread as he looked into her changed eyes.

“Was the phone that important to you? You didn’t seem to care about speaking with others while you were touching me.”

Steven brought his hands up and gently pulled Spinels own hands down from his face. “Spinel, you don’t sound like yourself. ...and your eyes...”

“What’s the matter?” Spinel asked, confused and upset now. “I don’t understand. You said...you loved me. That you’d do anything to make me happy.”

“I do love you,” he insisted while gripping her hands tight, “but something is wrong. I think we should get you back home so Peridot can take a look at you. At least before something bad happens. I don’t want you to pass out again.”

Spinel smiled, “you’re sweet to worry, but I feel fine. For once...I have you all to myself. As long as you stay with me, I’ll be happy.”

Steven wasn’t sure what to do now. The conversation was going in circles and Spinel refused to acknowledge the change that had clearly overcome her. Glancing down at her Gem, he could see the black color start to fade in once again. Releasing her hands, Steven slipped from the bed and proceeded to locate his clothes. “Spinel, we’re going home.” he insisted while putting on his pants.

Sitting on the bed alone, Spinel watched Steven with a blank stare. “I don’t want to go home. I want to stay with you.”

“I’ll be there the entire time, but you need to get looked at by Peridot or something. I just want to make sure you’re okay,” insisted Steven once again.

“NO!” Spinel screeched, a growl in her throat as she stretched out her hand, wrapping her fingers tight around Steven’s neck. “Nothing is wrong with me! Why don’t you like me like this?!?!”

Steven’s breath was almost immediately cut off, quickly taking in a hoarse breath as Spinels fingers pressed down to grip around his throat. “Sp—-!!?”

Suddenly, Spinel gasped and her arm went limp, letting it lay loose at Stevens feet while the young man took a few desperate breaths. Tears began to slip from Spinels eyes as she stared in silent shock at the bruising already beginning to color Steven’s skin. She didn’t remember doing it, but by the time she realized what was happening, her hand was around his neck. She was hurting him. “St-Steven...” whimpered Spinel pathetically.

“It-it’s fine,” he choked out before licking his hand and placing it against the bruising. “S-see?! I’m fine!” Steven exclaimed with a forced smile once the pain had vanished. “Let’s just get home so we can find out what’s going on.”

The moment Steven stepped forward towards the bed, Spinel panicked and extended her arms once again to stop him. “STAY AWAY!!”

Steven stumbled back just a little, unable to determine the right thing to do. Spinel now had her hands over her gem, muttering to herself in a desperate panic as tears flooded down her cheeks.

“Spinel, let me help you! Let’s go home.” He tried again, but this time making no attempt to get to her. Instead, he held out his hand, silently pleading with his lover to come to him.

Spinel stopped whispering to herself, turning her head to glance at Steven. “...I didn’t mean it...”

“I-I know...” Steven replied, just trying to keep her calm. Something was terribly wrong. He had to get her home where they could get some help. “So come home with me.”

“We can’t go home—we can’t—I can’t! I’ll—-I’ll hurt you! I’m-I can’t think-!” Spinel cried out, feeling completely unhinged. It was as if something inside of her was screaming, pulling her down into that horrible dark mass that threatened to consume her before.

“Spinel...please...” pleaded Steven, nearly in tears as he watched Spinel panic.

Suddenly, Spinel went silent and stared down at the sheets as if she had just realized something. Her Gem began to glow and she pulled out one of Pearls swords that she had stored there.

“Spinel?” began Steven, his heart jumping in his chest when he saw the blade.

“I’m sorry, Steven. ...but I’ll fix this! You have to bubble me!” Spinel exclaimed before quickly thrusting the sword through her stomach, twisting the blade for good measure to make sure it did the job she intended.

All breath left Steven’s lungs as he watched his lover plunge a sword into herself. He barely had a moment to register what was happening before she turned to a cloud of smoke before his eyes, leaving nothing but the Heart shaped Gem behind on the bed. The pink color of her Gem was still struggling to shine through the darkness that attempted to cover it. Without thinking, Steven dashed forward and bubbled Spinel as she’d asked, holding the bubble in his hands without a word. He didn’t know what was happening. His mind was a jumbled mess as he stared down at Spinels Gem. Why was this happening? Who was doing this? Someone was clearly targeting Spinel for some reason and whoever it was, Steven was not going to let it slide. Bitter tears dropped against the bubble he’d made, his his body slowly glowing pink as his anger continued to grow. Someone was responsible for this and he was going to make them pay for it.

#steven universe #su #only you #spinel #stevinel #su fanfic #stevinel fanfic #spineven #sodalite #lars #pearl #garnet #chapter 12 #let me help you #steven is angry now #so many problems

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ao3porcelainstorm · 3 years

Text

poison ivy & stinging nettles 26

On Ao3

Masterlist

Pairing: Sherlock/OFC

Rated: M

Warnings: eventual violence, torture, swears, adult themes (no explicit smut)

Chapter 25 - Chapter 27

Chapter 26 - Fall

The Journal of Amelia Brenner

My therapist suggested I try writing down my thoughts. She said it might help me reflect on all that’s happened, a way to take on the grief.

I don’t really have a lot to say. I don’t think. I’ve never really been a writer, words are hard to come up with. It’s fair easier to throw a bottle of red paint at a wall and call it anger.

So I’ll just write down what I know.

John’s started up with his therapist again. I guess he’d stopped since meeting Sherlock, but since everything- he’s not doing well. I don’t think any of us are.

We moved out of Baker Street. There’s too much there. Everything just radiated Sherlock Holmes and I think the memories are still too fresh for both of us.

Ruthie is letting us rent the apartment above the old flower shop. The whole building was rebuilt and renovated. It’s better than it was before the fire- if I’m being honest. Not to mention, it’s bigger and doesn’t have the distinct smell of human flesh and sulfur.

John’s at work a lot more. When he’s home, he goes straight to bed. Sometimes he’ll come home stumbling from the pub.

I get it. I’d done my fair share of drinking alone, watching Doctor Who reruns all day.

Molly won’t answer my calls. I’m worried she’s not doing well, but I can’t find the energy to get dressed and visit in person. I can’t find the energy to do much anymore.

I tried painting the other day and ended up kicking a hole through the canvas. John came home and found me with a bottle of Merlot, laying in the middle of my room- the walls coated with thrown bottles of paint.

He suggested I get a day job to pass the time. Maybe he’s right.

All of my free time had become Sherlock.

I followed him to crime scenes, talked to him, laughed with him, slept with him. Everything was him. I didn’t mind. It wasn’t bad at all. For once, it was nice to feel important, to help bring happiness to others. I was spending time with the man I love and my best friend, every day.

Who could ask for anything better? I loved my life and now it’s careening off the rails and no matter how long I stare at the cliff I’m headed toward, I refuse to accept the reality for what it is.

Sherlock Holmes is dead, and there’s nothing that will change that.

(--)

Amelia had been through her fair share of no-win scenarios.

It wasn’t missed that the majority of them had happened since Sherlock stumbled into her life, but she wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything. Life lessons and finding love; all that nonsense.

So, when Moriarty wasn’t convicted for his part in the large crimes he’d committed in broad daylight, she realized that once again, they’d fallen into his game. A game where there were never any winners in the end.

Sherlock didn’t handle the news well. He was short-tempered, distracted, and when the little girl screamed as she’d recognized him, Amelia didn’t miss the murmurs and rumors that stirred after he fumed out of Scotland Yard.

She didn’t miss the uneasy look John shot her, or the other officers’ eyes boring into her back- more rumors that connected dots regarding her relationship with the detective.

He’d had a meltdown before they tried to arrest him, ranting about Moriarty making his move.

He was in the spotlight now, John had mentioned so much after the painting had been returned and Sherlock’s photographs peppered the front pages of local papers.

It was a wise time to strike, on Moriarty’s part, even Amelia had to sheepishly agree with the logic.

When Sherlock, and soon John, were arrested, Amelia hurried out to watch the men run off- Sherlock acting like he’d lost his mind.

She sprinted after them, promising Greg she’d calm them down. Figure out what happened.

Clear his name, was the unspoken promise between her and the unnerved inspector.

The boys moved fast, reminding Amelia exactly who she was working with. They were a step ahead of her the whole day.

Sherlock was getting desperate and did his best work in those cases. People tended to underestimate those at the end of their rope, and she’d almost fallen into that trap.

Thankfully, John shot her a text after an hour into her search.

An address tied to some reporter Sherlock had mentioned during the trial.

It was something, and she hoped the detective hadn’t mucked up the whole thing. The media would have a frenzy with his seemingly insane actions of the last twenty-four hours. She already was dreading the newspapers in the morning.

The British media was a brutal, cruel monster.

She arrived at the address, electing to listen to the voices inside bickering when a familiar voice commented behind her.

“You know what I love about a tragedy?” Moriarty purred when Amelia spun around. “It’s always preventable. Some miscalculation, some overzealous emotional decision- but the hero overlooks the obvious solution.”

Something snapped in Amelia. Fueled by a rage she’d ignored in lieu of healing, she shoved him back against the hallway wall.

He seemed genuinely surprised by the outburst, laughing quietly when she pinned his neck under her forearm, cutting off his breathing.

“Why shouldn’t I kill you?” she snarled. “I have every reason to.”

“They’ll think Sherlock did it-,” his face was turning blue, but still he grinned at her. “Fraud.”

Amelia hissed an insult under her breath and pulled away. He was right. Of course, he was right. This was his show, his story, and they were all playing their parts perfectly.

“Keep an eye out for the papers tomorrow, love,” he coughed, grabbing a grocery bag off the ground, humming a familiar tune under his breath.

Something clicked in Amelia’s brain and before he could unlock the door, she whirled around and slammed a fist into his gut.

It wasn’t the most powerful hit, but he still reeled over in pain, and that was enough for her.

“You’re not going to win,” she snarled in a low voice. “I’ll kill you myself if it comes down to it.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second,” he smirked and slipped into the apartment.

(---)

John met up with Amelia at the Diogenes Club.

He was thumbing through paperwork that he’d taken from the reporter when she’d arrived, frowning deeper with every word he read.

“He was sold out,” he murmured, handing her the files.

“What?” Amelia blinked in confusion, reading through the intimate details of Sherlock’s life.

A twisted review of the good he’d done, skewed by some distorted story about some actor named Richard.

Richard, whose face belonged to the monster from her nightmares.

The whole thing reeked of Moriarty, but the details...

They involved things only she or John would know and included some things she never knew. Intimate details. Personal details that only family might know.

“You think Mycroft told him?” she whispered, handing the file back to her friend. “When he in custody? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know he did,” John stated firmly. “Who else? We didn’t.”

The thought sent a chill up Amelia’s spine. His own brother. No wonder Sherlock seemed like he was slipping. The whole world was attacking him at every side.

“Is he on his way then? Mycroft?” she asked and John sighed, shrugging.

“Apparently,” he murmured, shaking his head at something he read. “They said he’s usually here by now.”

Amelia nodded and stood up, hand on her phone in her jacket pocket.

“I... I’m going to wait outside,” she mumbled. “I don’t think I could look Mycroft in the eye if he actually did this. We can... Just let me know when you’re done.”

John wasn’t paying much attention when she slipped out and started dialing Sherlock’s phone.

It rang twice before someone picked up.

“Sherlock?” she inquired quietly into the line.

“Are you safe?” he quickly questioned.

“Yeah I’m- I’m with John,” she replied. “Where are you?”

Amelia swore she heard a breath of relief through the line.

“Hospital,” he answered briskly. “Molly is... She agreed to let me stay out of sight here.”

“What’s your plan?” Amelia asked.

“Not yet,” he replied tersely. “I can’t tell you yet.”

“Then you know whatever it is, I’m here to help,” she stated firmly.

“I know,” he paused. “Just stay with John. I’ll be in touch.”

The line went dead, and Amelia shoved the phone back in her pocket. She paced around the sidewalk in front of the Diogenes Club, head ringing.

Moriarty’s words kept playing in her head. A tragedy.

It was clear what was happening, between the story and the doubt the maniac had sowed in everyone’s heads. The public would slaughter him alive when that bullshit story hit the shelves the next day. Sherlock, while a difficult and moody person, was sensitive to the opinions of others, no matter how he tried to play it off.

This had the potential to break him.

Amelia didn’t like the thought of where this could lead. She didn’t like the thought of losing what little peace she’d cultivated in her life. She was scared shitless and shaking when John found her waiting outside.

“I was right,” was all he said before tucking her under his arm and pulling her into a hug. She sighed, wishing that all her worries could wash away with the brief respite. When John pulled away, he looked at her directly.

“I’m scared too.”

(---)

The trio reunited at the hospital laboratory.

“The computer code,” Sherlock explained, bouncing a ball between cabinets, eyes fixed forward. “Somewhere in Baker Street... on the day of the verdict, he must have hidden it.”

“What did he touch?” John asked, approaching, eyes following the ball as it bounced between the floor and counters.

“An apple, nothing else,” came Sherlock’s response. He stood up, fist-clenching around the rubber ball, eyes scanning the air as if the answer would appear.

John tapped idly on the counter, throwing out ideas when Amelia saw Sherlock suddenly tense.

It was subtle, but she watched him glance at the pair before turning away, fishing his phone from his pocket and quickly typing out a message.

When he turned back around, John had been oblivious to the action, but he met Amelia’s questioning look with a frown.

He wasn’t going to tell them his plan, she realized when he started wordlessly bouncing the ball again.

A few hours passed, with John falling asleep about halfway through their waiting. Amelia sat propped against the cabinets on the ground next to Sherlock while her phone charged in a nearby outlet- just watching him.

She watched him fidget and check his phone from time to time. She watched him pace, eyes searching for something not present.

Occasionally he’d mumbled under his breath or bounce the ball again.

She watched him do everything in his power to avoid looking at her or John.

That deep, unnerving feeling she’d felt at the Diogenes club had re-emerged.

This wasn’t going to end well, she predicted. She didn’t know how or what was going to happen, but she knew Sherlock well enough to understand when he was a dozen paces ahead and he didn’t seem pleased.

He knew the endgame, and he knew she would immediately be able to tell that something was off. That’s why he didn’t say anything about his plan.

John’s phone rang, pulling the doctor out of his brief nap. A few quick words and bolted up, looking to the pair while he threw on his coat.

“Paramedics, Mrs. Hudson they say she’s been shot,” he explained breathlessly, tossing Amelia her coat off a nearby chair.

“What? How?” Sherlock’s response came coolly. Unphased. Unsurprised, even.

“Probably one of the killers you managed to- Jesus, she’s dying, let’s go,” he started for the door, Amelia following behind without question.

“You go, I’m busy,” he stated, staring off in the distance.

That wasn’t the right response. Amelia stared in shock, looking to John then Sherlock, for someone to say something else.

John’s expression shifted in awe- anger, surprise, frustration all bubbling to the surface.

“Busy-?” he choked out, hands shaking at his sides.

“Thinking- I need to think,” came Sherlock’s short reply.

This didn’t read right to Amelia. He wasn’t that heartless-

“You need to- doesn’t she mean anything to you?” John’s voice broke slightly. “You once half-killed a man because he laid a finger on her.”

“She’s my landlady.”

“She’s dying- you machine,” John spat out, hands body shaking. When he realized the truth to his own words, something crossed his features and he backed away “Sod this. Sod this. You stay here if you want, be alone.”

“Alone is what I have. Alone protects me,” Sherlock replied, still unmoving.

“Friends protect people,” John snapped. “C’mon Mia.”

Amelia sent a final look to Sherlock, her expression falling when he wouldn’t break away from his selected spot on the wall in front of him. Avoiding her.

This was wrong. This was all wrong.

Hurrying after John, he was about to slide in the cab when she felt her pockets, realizing her wallet and phone had been left behind in the lab.

“Go ahead,” she called to him, turning back to the hospital. “I’ll be right behind you!”

John took off without a second thought, while Amelia raced back to the lab, stopping when she saw Sherlock in one of the back halls- headed for a staircase.

To her surprise, he didn’t notice her, his expression lost in thought while he marched forward, almost trance-like. She stood and watched until he was out of sight, her heart thrumming against her sternum.

Something wrong. Her mind repeated over and over.

Her gut said to follow him, but against her instincts, she let him be. She slipped back into the lab, spying her phone on the counter with a new message from John.

Mrs. Hudson is fine. Somethings wrong.

She knew it.

Racing up the hall, she could hear a closing door above her when she reached the stairs.

Rooftop, her brained supplied, and she sprinted up the steps two at a time, pausing at the metal door leading to the roof.

“...nice you choose a tall building, nice way to do it.”

James Moriarty.

There was a beat before Sherlock’s voice sounded.

“Do it? Do what?” he asked. “Yes of course... my suicide.”

Amelia’s chest tightened.

“Genius detective proved to be a fraud, I read it in the papers so it must be true. I love newspapers,” Amelia could hear the voices stepping away. “Fairytales... and pretty grim ones too.”

What could she do? What was there to do?

She wasn’t supposed to be here.

She wasn’t supposed to be listening.

She fumbled with her phone, shaking hands trying to type out a coherent message to John.

Sherlock in trouble. Moriarty here.

Anything-! But before she could send, an adrenaline rush sent a hitter through her arms and the phone tumbled out of her hands and down the stairs.

Nononononono

This was like her nightmares. Her inability to save anyone. Her curse being forced to watch while-

A gunshot rattled the door and Amelia decided she’d had enough. She’d face whatever awaited on the other side, regardless of who pulled the trigger.

She didn’t expect to find Moriarty, dead on the ground, Sherlock looking panicked, and a gun in the maniac’s hand.

“What are you doing here?” Sherlock was on Amelia in a heartbeat, grabbing her arm and spinning her to face him. “You’re supposed to be with John.”

“My phone-,” she stammered gesturing toward the door, eyes still wide. “Sherlock, what’s happening?”

Moriarty dead. Sherlock on the roof. Suicide.

“No, no, you can’t be here,” he ran a hand through his hair. “Amelia, you need to leave. You can’t see this.”

“He’s dead, what are you talking about? He’s gone,” she tried putting words into sentences that would make sense, but the way he was stumbling around made her second guess her attempts at calming him.

“He’s going to kill all of you, he hired assassins to-” he finally managed, his expression resolved in the information. “Unless...”

“You jump,” she whispered, a hand moving to cover her horrified expression. “Sherlock, think logically, there’s- he’s playing on your emotions. He wants you to think there isn’t another plan- we can call Lestrade or your brother-.”

“There’s no time,” he explained, grabbing her arms. “Please, do this for me. Go downstairs. Forget this, forget all of this.”

“Sherlock you can’t be serious,” tears sprung up in her eyes. “You’re being irrational. Let John and I help, we’re your friends-.”

He cut her off with a frantic kiss.

It was a desperate last kiss that would have normally swept Amelia straight off her feet.

Instead, she clutched into the front of his jacket when he tried to pull away and back toward the edge of the rooftop.

“Please, Sherlock,” she begged. “You can’t- I love you. So many people love and cherish you and I... please.”

He was on the edge of the building, legs wavering slightly when he looked down. He took a breath, pulling his cell phone from his pocket.

“I’m calling John,” he stated, hand holding the phone up for her to see.

Right. John.

John would talk some sense into him. He’d see reason when John-

She didn’t hear much of what was said. Her mind was racing, running through ways of saving him.

Pull him down, stop the jump- anything, but every scenario still ended with him plummeting to his death.

Amelia felt so useless. So pathetic. So helpless.

He was determined to make things right and, in his mind, this was the right path. He’d do what he had to in order to see this through to the end.

She stepped closer while he was distracted, and when he turned to drop the phone, he gave her a final look, a sad smile.

“I love you, Amelia,” he said. “And I beg you, please, don’t watch.”

And before she could reach for him, he jumped.

An inhuman noise escaped her, and though every temptation was there for her to watch his descent, she threw herself to the rooftop and buried her screams in her knees.

Screams filled the street. Onlookers yelled for help.

Her heart felt like it’d been ripped clean of her body. Disbelief danced with the reality of what just happened in front of her own eyes.

Everything felt like a dream after that.

Mycroft ended up being the one to find her, his agents approaching the scene first.

Normally, Amelia would have given him a piece of her mind regarding his place in all of this, but she numbly let him guide her to where John was on the street below.

She caught snippets of conversations. People being interviewed by the police, the random clicks of journalists documenting the famous detectives fall from grace, EMTs murmuring about what it all meant.

Her mind was trying to make sense of it all. Trying to pry some semblance of sanity from the chaos around her.

She found John sitting on the back of an ambulance with a patch on his head.

She didn’t say a word as she approached, instead just wrapping him under her arms and letting him choke out a few tears into her jacket. They’d both been left behind.

The tragedy of Sherlock Holmes wasn’t the unpoetic end he’d faced, it was the guilt and questions he’d left behind in those who cared the most for him.

Chapter 27

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pajama-nerd · 4 years

Text

Reading my way through Fazbears Frights, thinking about how none of these protagonists have ever interacted with any kind of horror media.

Reader Beware: Spoilers Ahead

Into the Pit didn’t read like time travel to me. It read more like a particular kind of haunting where the negative energy of all of the bad shit that happened at that location was locked into the one remaining 'feature' of the location: the ball pit. And Pit-Bonnie isn't the ghost of Afton, but rather the entity that was created from the memories of all that bad energy.

And the interesting thing to me about Pit-Bonnie is that - aside from the inherent creepiness of the situation and the fact that he had literally one facial expression (he can’t even blink for cryin’ out loud) - he didn't attempt to harm Oswald until Oswald went back to rescue his dad. Once Pit-Bonnie was away from the negative energy that had spawned him, he did Dad Things™. He did them in the creepiest way possible, granted, but we don't actually know how he feels because of his inability to express.

Maybe he wanted to stay. Maybe he just wanted a break from that place. Maybe that place has a hold on him, and being away from it allowed him a measure of free will.

And the fandom that I’ve seen about the Dashboard has locked onto Pit-Dad-Bonnie because the general attitude of the fandom - as far as I've witnessed - has been 'Oh. A scary thing! Well, now it's friend-shaped.' (or, in this case, Dad shaped) so of course my immediate question is, 'how would the story have changed if Oswald had made a more serious attempt to communicate with Pit-Bonnie?'

The immediate, cynical response is 'well it would have slaughtered him' but that's infinitely less interesting than the possible alternatives.

Perhaps he takes in the fact that Pit-Bonnie can't talk, and proposes an alternate method of communication. I'm talkin construction paper and crayons. And he gets Pit-Bonnie to tell his story a la Nephrite from Steven Universe. About how one day he just was. And how sometime after that, that version of Fazbear's formed around him. And how there were happy, smiling kids laughing in the pizzeria and he was happy, but how every time he tried to be friends with the kids something would happen.

The world would flicker and they would just be in that back room, like that. How he was desperate for some kind of a connection and could never have one because those kids – those memories – were doomed to die by the memory of his hands. How he noticed Oswald because Oswald didn’t fit – he was real – and how he’d wanted Oswald to help him figure out how to change what had happened (or to make it stop), but Oswald had run away. About how he’d tried to fish Oswald out of the ballpit and gotten his dad instead. About deciding to take his dad’s place so that he could get away from that place and how being here with Oswald was nice. Driving him to school was nice. Making him dinner was nice. Cleaning the house with him was nice.

(Imagine Oswald getting less and less afraid as he interprets the story, checking in with PB occasionally to make sure he's getting it right. Getting slightly annoyed tho, because he's not getting rid of this rabbit, is he? But he still needs to rescue his dad, so now what?)

Oswald eventually tells PB that he can stay, which surprises but elates the rabbit. Then Oswald tells him they have to get his dad back.

There's a negotiation. Obviously, they have to get his dad back. Has Pit-Bonnie been going to his dad's job? What about taxes? Things his dad knows how to do? What about Oswald's mom? Is Pit-Bonnie just going to pretend to be his dad around her forever? What if she wants to do...like...parent stuff? With her husband? If you catch my drift (PB does not, in fact).

Eventually PB agrees, and even drives Oswald back to the same block as the pizza place. He doesn't get close to it - definitely doesn't park in the lot - but Oswald just tells him to wait in the car and goes and wakes his dad up from the ball pit. His dad is confused. Disoriented. Way out of it. Let's Oswald lead him back to the car and sits in the back, too out of it to comment on the yellow bunny mascot in the front seat. They return to the house without incident, and his dad passes out on the couch.

Oswald eventually figures out that PB is the one making his dad so loopy - that the connection PB formed so that he could know how to drive the car, how to work the vacuum cleaner, how to make Oswald's meals, is also keeping Oswald's dad borderline comatose. It takes some convincing to get PB to give that up. PB is afraid to give that up - afraid that if he doesn't have an anchor, he'll go back to being an aimless product of rage and murder.

Oswald's solution is to spread the bond out. He'll take part of it. If PB splits his focus, it'll be less of a strain on his dad, and PB will have more than one anchor. This has the added property of giving his dad the ability to see the seven-foot-tall grinning plush rabbit (he doesn't react well. Neither does mom. Oswald has never had to talk so much in his life)

So now Pit-Bonnie is a part of Oswald’s life, and it’s hella weird at first, but everyone gets over it, because eventually you just get numb to weirdness. Except Oswald becomes obsessed with Freddy Fazbears, in an Unsolved Mysteries kind of way. Starts researching the place wherever and however he can.

Pit-Bonnie helps, in his way, after they figure out a way to communicate efficiently (modified Sign Language, because being bonded to Oswald means that Pit-Bonnie knows how to do all the things that Oswald knows how to do. So Oswald learns sign language. Which means that Pit-Bonnie knows how to sign now. He still only has the one facial expression, which makes asking questions a little complicated, but they work it out).

I imagine that Pit-Bonnie is very tuned in to the weirdness/darkness vibe that Freddy’s and its remnants (ha) give off. He starts reading local and then state, and then national newspapers, and whenever he gets the Fazbear vibe, he sets the article aside for Oswald to look at. Also he doesn’t sleep, so in the first week of Oswald’s obsession, he generates a lot of leads for Oswald by going through back issues of...everything.

This is a rambly thing, but my point is that most horror has a solution and most of the time this solution is subverted by having it happen to people who have no experience with horror movies, books, comics, or other mediums, which is…I dunno. Kinda cheap.

‘What if they ever saw Frankenstein and sympathized with the monster enough to have empathy for this thing?’

‘They’re not horror fans. And the ones that are have never seen or read the stories where empathy solves the problem.’

To Be Beautiful (a terrible, one dimensional story with a terrible message about self-image told the way that high school stories in the 80's-90's were told, which wasn't even accurate to how highs schools were in the 80's-90's) could have been solved by literally anyone being more than passively curious about the drastic changes that Sarah was undergoing. (Puberty doesn't work that fast. Her whole freaking face changed). Or by her mom going into her room at some point and asking about the 5 foot robot doll.

Count the Ways has many solutions, although, really? She shoulda chosen starvation. More time to escape or be rescued is always, always, always going to be better than a 'maybe I won't be bifurcated’ any way you slice it (I’m not sorry), but I'm fond of the idea of Oswald coming across an article about ‘theft of proprietary animatronics from a Fazbear Entertainment property’ and it leading him to Milly’s grandfather’s house in time to save her. Along with his seven-foot-tall grinning plush friend who can alter people's perception.

Fetch could have been solved by treating Fetch like a dog. Seriously. He is dog shaped. He is therefore a dog, first and foremost. Dog first, killer animatronic second. Which Greg didn't fundamentally understand (he strikes me as a cat person anyway). But Fetch spent that entire story trying to do what he thought his master wanted, and never got so much as a 'good boy' out of it. He didn't even try to defend himself when Greg went to town on him with a baseball bat because he just wanted to be a good dog for his boy. And even after that, when Greg expressed a desire to see Kimberly, Fetch still wanted to do something to get his master to call him a good boy. Honestly, if - after being warned about Fetch - Kimberly had planted her feet and said 'Sit!' I would bet actual Faz-dollars that Fetch's haunches would have dropped to the pavement out of surprise alone, because it would have been the first time in the story someone treated him like a dog.

Alec was doomed to be a teddy-bear from the moment his parents picked up a ‘how to raise my kids’ book, but he’s still alive. There’s no reason he couldn’t be rescued (by Oswald, who’s on the trail of all the weirdness related to Freddy Fazbear. I’d read that story. I’d write that story. I will probably write that story)

The Plushtrap story...had no flaws. That was the only solution, and good on those boys for making all the right choices except for the initial choices that put them in that situation to begin with. A+. Those teeth, Jesus.

1:35 am could have been solved with an apology. Come on. For a character that was supposedly in the Foster Care system being bounced from home to home, you’d think she could empathize with an entity that didn’t appreciate being thrown away. A sincere apology, a promise to never do it again, and Ella would probably have forgiven her.

I don’t remember where I was going with this. I started writing it before I clocked on for work, but that was eleven hours ago. Who can remember where a train of thought that far back?

#fnaf #fazbear frights #ramble #headcanons #how to change the outcome of a horror story

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stahlop · 4 years

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Once Upon a Time 3x01 “The Heart of the Truest Believer” Review

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x111x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 2x01 2x02 2x032x04 2x05 2x06 2x07 2x08 2x09 2x10 2x11 2x12 2x13 2x14 2x152x16 2x17 2x18 2x19 2x20 2x21 2x22

Well, here we are. Season 3! And we are in Neverland! And Peter Pan is an evil little sucker. And Rumple has some emotional connection that we don’t know about. Plus a lot of fighting, evil mermaids, flying, and some things going on in the EF. This episode deals heavily with the idea of belief and believing, so I think we’ll be seeing a lot of that in this story arc. So batten down the hatches, we’ve got an unbelievable season ahead (see what I did there? Huh? Huh? Whatever.)!

Summary: While Emma tries to dissuade her parents, Regina, and Hook from tearing each other apart, Henry encounters a scared Lost Boy on Neverland and reminds him of the power of belief. In the Enchanted Forest, Neal goes to his father’s castle to figure out what’s going on with Emma.

Opening: Henry and Peter Pan flying.

New Characters:

Peter Pan: Although we don’t know he’s Peter Pan until the end; he finds Henry when he’s running away from the Lost Boys and pretends to be another scared boy. My only problem with this is that the actor playing Pan looks at least 16, so him pretending to be scared to an 11-year-old Henry is a little odd. Maybe it’s supposed to be believable because Felix (Lost Boy Leader’s name according to the credits) is creepy as fuck. Also, why are the Lost Boys so old? Wasn’t the whole point of coming to Neverland to never grow up and be a kid forever? Wendy (in the Disney version) wanted to go there because she was being kicked out of the nursery because she was almost 13. So why are the Lost Boys teenagers? This makes no sense to me. But I digress. Henry tells him how Pan sent people to kidnap and the boy tells him if Pan sent for him he wants him for something. The basic gist of this whole ‘game’ is that Pan is pretending, he wants to make sure that Henry’s belief in magic(?) is real, and tricks him into using pixie dust in order to fly. Only then does Pan reveal himself to Henry and that he basically needs him because he has the heart of the truest believer. And then, in the most menacing way, he calls the Lost Boys and says they’re going to play. Yikes! What has Henry got himself into?

Character Observations:

Emma: We start with Emma giving birth to Henry 11 years ago. Her leg is shackled to the hospital bed and there is a prison guard watching over her. She absolutely refuses to see the baby when it’s born and says she can’t be a mother. But she’s absolutely devastated. We then move to the Jolly Roger where they are going through the portal, a true picture of a mother going after her son. Mary Margaret and David try to cheer her up, but instead, she blames them for giving her hope, for telling her that life is a fairy tale when that’s not her experience, and she can only go off of her experiences when saving Henry. She is just letting them have it while trying to keep herself together, and it’s some of the best acting I’ve seen Jennifer Morrison do on this show. She is so tired of the optimism that David and Mary Margaret have about everything and just wants them to realize that so many bad things have happened to them and to deal with that. But they refuse to deal with reality and still hold on to hope, aggravating Emma even more. Gold comes out, now dressed like Rumple, and tells everyone that he is going to get Henry back. Emma, still upset from her talk with her parents, wants to know why Gold doesn’t think she can get Henry back. He tells her she doesn’t believe in her parents, magic, or herself. Emma says she’s pretty sure she believes in magic after everything they’ve seen, and that’s exactly the point. She only believes in what’s in front of her, she can’t talk a leap of faith without evidence, and since Neverland runs on imagination, that’s not going to fly. He basically tells her she’s the same person who came to Storybrooke and she can’t do anything without a little hand holding. Emma takes her stress out Sarah Connor style by doing pull ups down in the crew’s quarters, delighting Hook to no end. Hook gives her Bae’s old cutlass to fight with. They toast to Neal with some rum before their lovely moment is interrupted by a mermaid attack. Everyone attacks them in different ways, but Mary Margaret and Emma catch one in a net and decide to bring it on board the ship. Everything starts going to hell when they bring her aboard. She calls a storm and everyone starts arguing with each other. You can see that Emma is finding this very strange and that this isn’t normal fighting. Regina finally turns the mermaid into a wooden statue and Emma is freaking the fuck out, especially because a wall of water comes at them after she does that. Emma and Hook are desperately trying to regain control of the ship while Mary Margaret and Regina duke it out. Hook and David end up fighting as well and Emma finally realizes that their fighting is causing the storm. She can’t get their attention, so, in a leap of faith, she jumps off the ship, which probably would’ve gotten them to stop fighting even without the rigging that flies off and hits her in the head, knocking her out under the water. Luckily, everyone works together to save her, and they get her back on the ship and she doesn’t have any type of head injury (not even a bruise!). But their working together gets the storm to stop and Emma gets in an ‘I told you so’ after she coughs up the water that could have drowned her. They finally make it onto Neverland and Emma goes into leader mode. She even admits that she was wrong and Gold was right about belief. Her parents think there’s a right way to find Henry, but Emma wants them to be who they are and do whatever it takes, no matter the consequences to save Henry and just cooperate with each other. Regina questions Emma’s role as something other than the Savior. She tells Regina she is a mother and their leader. She’s pretty much had enough of Regina’s lip and basically tells her to keep out of her way as they try to save Henry. They head off into the jungles of Neverland. So Emma has finally accepted her role as Henry’s mother and is finally taking a leadership role instead of letting everything just fall in her lap. We’ll see how she fares with Henry’s other mother.

Gold: He’s not very helpful to anyone. He does decide to dress more Enchanted Forest appropriate by wearing his crocodile skin outfit. He tells Emma that he’ll be the one to get Henry back since she doesn’t have enough belief. His speech borders on religious when he talks about taking a leap of faith (something Emma does later by jumping into the water and Henry does with the pixie dust), and then he vanishes from the ship, leaving his cane behind (I guess being back in a magical place makes it so he doesn’t need his cane anymore). First he comes across the carnage that is Greg and Tamara. She is still alive so he makes it so she can tell him what happened to Henry. Tamara tells him that Henry ran, and then tries to justify her actions by saying she didn’t know she was working for Pan. She also apologizes for killing Neal. She asks for his forgiveness and Gold is done with this. He almost looks like he’s sympathetic to her plight, but then rips out her heart and crushes it. Bye bye, Tamara. You really did get what you deserved. He wanders around the island until he senses Felix nearby and tells him to come out. Felix addresses him as Rumplestiltskin and Gold does his little Rumple hand gesture with the biggest expression of disdain on his face. It’s hilarious. Felix tells him Pan welcomes him to the island and is happy to see him again. So now we know that Pan and Rumple have some sort of past together. What it is remains to be seen. Gold finds it hard to believe Pan wants him there. Felix tells him as long as he’s not there for the boy, he’s welcome, otherwise he’s Pan’s enemy. So I guess he’s Pan’s enemy. Gold tells him nothing’s changed then. So I guess they’re already enemies. Felix tells him he won’t survive against Pan. Gold isn’t particularly disturbed by this. He’s more concerned about how many Lost Boys he can take with him when he goes down. Gold thinks their confrontation is over until Felix throws him a straw doll which instantly reduces Gold to tears. Holy crap! Who knew Gold could be so emotional when it didn’t have to do with Belle or Neal? Felix says something about things they haven’t thought about in years having the ability to make them cry, so I’m assuming his doll has something to do with Gold’s childhood. Felix leaves Gold crying over the doll in the middle of the jungle. Well that took a turn.

Regina: Annoying as ever, she immediately lays into Hook for the ship slowing down, and if he didn’t realize what the purpose of their trip was, it was to go rescue Henry (because they went through a portal just for the hell of it?). Like this whole conversation is completely ridiculous. Then she tells Hook about how Greg called her a villain, which she seems incredulous about (does she really not think she’s a villain, she is the Evil Queen after all), and that Greg said villains don’t get happy endings. Hook and Regina reflect on this and how they might have been wasting their lives if that’s true. Didn’t they have a similar conversation when they were below the library in The Evil Queen? Where Hook asked if their pursuit of vengeance was basically an ending and not a beginning? So, Regina doesn’t see herself as a villain, and she continues this belief throughout their journey. When the mermaids are attacking, she’s not a villain by sending fireballs after them. When Emma and Mary Margaret capture one, she yells at her (and is not above torturing her) for information, eventually causing a fight between herself and Mary Margaret (Regina wants to kill her or torture her for information, whereas Mary Margaret wants to free her), and Regina turns the mermaid into a wooden statue satisfied that that will end the storm. Except it brings a huge tidal wave upon them instead. She seems genuinely shocked that this plan didn’t work. Listen to Emma and think things through, Regina!!! Always thinking in the short term and never looking at the whole picture. Mary Margaret and Regina continue to go at it with each other (involving an actual fistfight between the two of them) and Regina, once again, plays the victim when Mary Margaret tells her to stop ruining her life. When Emma jumps off the ship she tells Mary Margaret she can’t see her in the storm to bring her back up. But they all end up working together to save Emma which stops the storm. Once they dock, Regina says she can fix the Jolly Roger and they can go with Hook’s original plan, but Emma tells her to save her magic and says that Pan already knows they’re there. Emma makes a moving speech about believing in each other and Regina poo poos this as her wanting them all to be friends. That’s not even close to what she said. Emma says they just need to be who they are to succeed and she calls Regina a villain in this speech. Regina keeps a very cool facade when Emma goes on about being a mother and their leader (both roles that are usually Regina’s forte), but seems to be on board when they go further into the jungle.

David/Mary Margaret: I just want to roll my eyes at their optimism like Emma does. Their unwavering belief that everything will work out is very annoying. They are genuinely shocked that Emma doesn’t share their optimism. You can see that Mary Margaret is doing all she can to not dissolve into tears when she tells Emma that her experience is all she has to go on and she could share some of her wisdom with her. But Emma reminds them that they are the same age with the same amount of experience. Ok, I see where Emma is coming from, but being the same age does not give them the same level of experience. They both have different experiences that they can both learn from. Mary Margaret is doing everything she can to placate Emma, but Emma is pissed off. Mary Margaret tells her that the moment she lets go of her belief the moment things will ultimately get worse (how much worse can it get? You’ve already been cursed, lost your daughter, Johanna was killed, and now your grandson has been kidnapped?). I’d be frustrated too. David and Mary Margaret are trying to control the ship when the mermaids attack, and David’s the first to do something useful by making explosives and shooting the mermaids with the mini cannons (I will not be capsized by fish). And he looks hot doing it. Whew! Mary Margaret gets the idea to catch the mermaids, I’m not really sure what the thought process there was. Later on she thinks that talking to them and seeing if they can make some sort of deal with them will work, but all in all, the capturing a mermaid plan basically almost killed them all. When questioning the mermaid, David first goes from the yell and threaten approach (even bringing a sword to her throat, and Mary Margaret looks horrified at this), while Mary Margaret thinks that killing them with kindness is the way to go (she thinks they are scared of Pan and doing his bidding, even though Hook tells her mermaids are liars and just want to kill them). Regina continues to try and kill the mermaid even though everyone else tells her not to and she brings on a huge tidal wave when she turns her into wood. Mary Margaret blames Regina who doesn’t think this is her fault. She wants her to undo the spell and Regina calls Mary Margaret a naive princess, so Mary Margaret punches her! Damn girl! Get out all that pent up frustration! They continue punching each other so David goes to break them up, but Hook tells him to let them fight because he needs him to help with the ship, but he uses a derogatory term for women and David punches him. So now they’re fighting. He even tries to stab Hook with his own hook. Talk about cold blooded. They finally all get their acts together when Emma jumps in the water to stop them from fighting. Mary Margaret and David are terrified. They all work together, with David jumping into the water to save her and the others pulling them up with rope. Once on the island, Emma tells them all they need to work together and David and Mary Margaret don’t want to work with Regina and Hook. I’m confused as to why they think they’re there then if they weren’t all going to work with each other. David wants to do things the right way (which is what exactly?), but Emma says they just need to be heroes while Regina is a villain and Hook is a pirate. They need those skills to get Henry back. When Emma says her skill is being a mother, Mary Margaret gets the proudest look on her face. Like Emma’s finally understanding what being a parent is all about. And then after she tells Regina to either help or get out of her way, David is the first to follow with a proud daddy smirk on his face.

Henry: Basically, he’s running from the Lost Boys. He has belief in magic and flies. And now Peter Pan and the Lost Boys have him surrounded.

Greg/Tamara: They know they’re in Neverland because it’s the mother lode of magic. They want to destroy it. Henry asks them who they work for that works on Neverland, but Greg says it’s none of his business. The Home Office takes care of them. Henry wonders how they’ll get back home once they destroy magic, but Greg is deep into the ‘it doesn’t matter as long as it gets done’ belief to worry about little things like getting home. They immediately realize something is wrong when their communicator is filled with sand. Tamara even wonders if it’s a toy and Henry remarks that it’s a good thing they don’t ask questions. Greg just gets angry while Tamara starts getting worried. Greg builds a fire to send a signal, but Tamara thinks the broken communicator was intentional. That’s when the Lost Boys emerge. They tell Greg and Tamara they’re the Home Office, and Tamara is getting really frightened now that they know the Home Office is run by teenagers. Henry clarifies that they’re the Lost Boys. Henry’s confused as to why the Lost Boys want to destroy magic, and Greg reminds him that that was their mission. Felix tells him they only told him what he wanted to hear so they could get Henry. Tamara finally gets some balls and asks how they’re getting home and Felix tells her they aren’t getting home. Greg tells them they aren’t getting Henry, but Felix summons the Shadow who rips Greg’s shadow from his body and kills him. Tamara tells Henry to run and gets shot with an arrow from a Lost Boy. Now, I have to admit, I really didn’t like Greg, but this was an awful way for him to die. After everything he went through as a kid he just wanted some justification in destroying magic, and unfortunately, he found the wrong organization who just used him for their own means. Tamara manages not to die right off the bat and is found by Rumple later. He heals her so she can tell him where Henry went. She apologizes for everything and asks him for forgiveness over what she did to Neal. But Rumple don’t play that game and takes her heart and crushes it. RIP Greg and Tamara, you will not be missed in the slightest.

Neal/Mulan: Ugh! I really wish Neal was just dead and I didn’t have to deal with all this. First off, we get no explanation about how they rescued Phillip from the wraith, he’s just there with them. Neal wakes up and is bandaged pretty modernly for being in the EF. Mulan immediately thinks he’s lying about being from the EF since he’s wearing clothes like Emma and Snow did. Which makes no sense because she knows about the curse and how they were all from the EF, so of course he’d be wearing modern clothes if he was from the same place they were. Once Mulan mentions Emma and Snow, Neal wants them to help him find her because Emma’s in danger. He also mentions Henry and Aurora quickly comes to the conclusion that he’s Henry’s father. Mulan questions how Neal got there, but he explains about the portal. He tells her they’re all considered fairy tale characters, or legends. When Aurora can’t make contact she thinks the worst. Neal realizes he needs to go to his father’s castle and reveals his father is the Dark One. Mulan and Neal have a deep discussion about why Emma never mentioned him when she was there. Neal says he broke her heart and then never came back for her even though he loved her and he regrets it. He claims he didn’t try because he didn’t want to be rejected. Or, maybe because you were engaged to Tamara up until she shot you? Seriously, what is up with all the Neal retconning. He didn’t want to risk seeing his father so he let Emma go to jail for him and then didn’t ever look for her once the curse broke because he’d moved on and still didn’t want to deal with his father. This whole still loving Emma thing is bullshit! Mulan seems to understand his regret more than she should. Still wondering if she’s in love with Phillip or Aurora. They get to the castle and Neal realizes that someone is there because they left out a goblet of wine. Then an arrow comes shooting near his head and Robin Hook makes his entrance. Neal is in disbelief. He tells Robin he can have the castle, he just needs to find something first and Robin believes he is the son of the Dark One, because who would admit to that if they weren’t. He also tells Neal that Rumplestiltskin spared his life and Neal wants him to help him find whatever he needs to pay for that debt. Neal is looking for something magical that his father would have hidden away. Neal finds his father’s old cane, swings it around, and uncovers a magical cabinet. Convenient. Neal claims it’s blood magic that made it so he could uncloak the cabinet. Neal finds a crystal ball and laments about how he’s been running from magic most of his life and now it’s the only thing that can help him. Boo hoo. But he can’t make the crystal ball work. Like your father said, you have to believe. Mulan tells him he needs to think of Emma and not a place. And when he does he recognizes that she’s in Neverland. Uh oh!

Questions:

I get having a guard while Emma is giving birth, but shackled? I’ve given birth three times and trying to move without help after you’ve given birth is almost near impossible. I’m honestly surprised she didn’t break the cuff with the sheer force that is necessary to give birth.

With the way Henry fell out of that portal (and that he couldn’t brace himself since his hands are tied), shouldn’t he have broken something? That was a pretty high fall from the portal.

Why didn’t Greg and Tamara’s portal spit them out in water since they went into it in water?

Why does Regina ask Hook about the ship slowing down? He hasn’t cast anchor, it’s not a car, it doesn’t just slow down. That’s not how it works. If Hook hasn’t put the anchor down then the ship is slowing down most likely due to lack of wind, or the fact that they just shot out of a portal, not because of anything he’s doing.

How is Aurora’s dress not shredded by now? She’s in the same dress that she was wearing in Broken.

Why is Aurora’s first reaction to not being able to reach Henry in her dream that he’s in trouble and not that he’s not asleep?

How does Neal a) know about his father’s castle (he left the EF before Rumplestiltskin owned a castle), and b) know where this castle is?

Doesn’t wearing a bag crossed over where Neal just got shot hurt? He’s acting like he was never shot at all.

Anyone else think David’s face is a little too close to the mini cannon? I was afraid he was going to at least burn his eyebrows off.

Why are Mary Margaret and Regina still wearing their suit jackets in the middle of a storm? Emma took off her turtleneck and David rolled up his sleeves. Having that extra soaking layer must suck.

First of all, Robin Hood says he arrived at Rumple’s castle shortly after the curse (I’m assuming after it ended) to find it already looted by thieves. Did it get looted after Rumple was taken captive by Snow and Charming? Secondly, why did he decide to go back to Rumple’s castle after he was tortured and nearly killed the last time he was there? Did he know Rumple had been imprisoned beforehand?

I thought Felix was with the Lost Boys chasing Henry. Did he decide to take a break when they discovered Gold was on the island?

Where did Mary Margaret’s bow and quiver full of arrows come from? She only had a backpack when she came aboard the Jolly Roger in And Straight on ‘Til Morning.

Why is David questioning working with Regina and Hook to get Henry back? They all made the journey to Neverland. Were they just going to leave Regina and Hook on the ship?

Observations:

The lights flicker when Emma gives birth to Henry. The last time we saw this was in the Pilot. It seems this is a manifestation of Emma’s magic in our world.

It looks like Gold lost all the gray in his hair when he had his wardrobe change.

Apparently getting your shadow ripped from you will kill you.

Snow didn’t teach Aurora how to control the dreams and walk the dream world. Henry had the amulet that Gold gave him that let him control things (and David later broke). Not that they ever used it after the first dream.

Neal explains how portals work. You have to think about the place you want to go to.

I don’t know if it’s because of the difference between filming a live ship and then greenscreening a background when filming the actors, but the ship looks like it’s barely moving when it’s just a ship shot, and then it’s speeding along when you see the water behind the actors.

Robin Hood is played by a different actor than when we last saw him in Lacey.

I’ve decided that the forest that we saw in Cora’s bubble must be Sherwood Forest, as that’s the only explanation for Robin Hood to still be in the EF, and why he hasn’t aged.

So that’s the season premiere for season 3! We are officially in Neverland. We don’t even see Storybrooke. And we have to deal with characters we don’t particularly care for in the Enchanted Forest (although I like the smarminess of this Robin Hood). We’ll see how this all comes together. Some other thoughts: Regina is still Evil Queen Bitch. She seems to have learned nothing from her brushes with death just that morning. David and Mary Margaret also seem to think that if they just do the right thing then everything will be alright, when we’ve yet to see that work out for them. Emma is the only one who seems to have made any growth by calling herself Henry’s mother and finally taking a leadership role in finding him. And Hook just fancies Emma when she’s not yelling at him.

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

@searchingwardrobes @thisonesatellite @justbecauseyoubelievesomething @laschatzi @profdanglaisstuff @mariakov81 @lfh1226-linda

#once upon a time #once upon a time review #once upon a time rewatch #once upon a time 3x01 #once upon a time the heart of the truest believer

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