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her-favorite · 1 month

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idk dom!madison gets jealous while youre on a date with someone else 🥴🥴

this isnt the whole thing cuz i dont wanna fill up a whole post with my bs but tell me ur thoughts

warning its kinda 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂

it’d been 3 months since you and madison had that bad fight. Well, not really. It had been two weeks but it honestly felt like a year. And you WOULD be spending this friday with her like you usually do, maybe partying or maybe just sitting with her playing fall guys.

But no, instead you decided, why not? And now you’re on a date with a stereotypical jock, Lucas. Of course, he wasnt your type. But you were bored and you didnt want to stay home being depressed about madison. So you sat there while he just arrived and made awkward small talk.. yikes. Until your attention was caught by a brunette girl waltzing through the doors of the diner.

“Huh, Y/N? What are you doing here?” It was madison. She tilted her head to the right and smiled innocently, acting as if the fight never happened.

“Madison.. Hi. I’m on a date.. as you can see.”

She laughed dryly, thinking you’re joking while completely ignoring Lucas. “Right, so, where’s your date?”

You glance at Lucas, giving him an indirect ‘sorry’ and returning your gaze to Madison.

“Yeah, uhm, right here..?? Are you blind?” Lucas says, chuckling.

“Oh!” She says, passively, looking at him as if he was just a rock on the side of the road and turning back to you, mouthing ‘wow’ with a disapproving smile.

“Well, I’m actually..” she paused to think quickly, “waiting for my own date, so you wouldn’t mind if i sat down, would you?” She says, already sitting and not giving a chance for you to answer.

“Uh, hell yeah!” Lucas said, rubbing his hands together thinking that now, he might get two girls! (spoiler alert, he wont lol)

You dont know what made you tense up. The smell of Madisons sweet vanilla perfume clouding your senses, or her hand caressing and drawing circles on your thigh. You groaned quietly. “Why do you even want to sit here? Just wait for your date alone,” rolling your eyes.

“Uhm he said hell yeah. Did you not hear- whats your name again?” She says, looking back at the blonde jock.

“Wait are you kidding? We’ve known eachother since grade school. Lucas?” He said, his horniness replaced by a frown. You could practically feel the mood sinking. Your mind drifted to imagining all the places you could have been on this friday night.

“Right, lucas, whatever. He said its fine if i sit here, chill.” She said, digging her nails in your thigh and subtly sliding her hand upwards, playing with the bottom of your skirt. “So, where did you two meet?” She said, asking you.

“In grade school.. Like you.” Lucas said, rolling his eyes totally uninterested in the conversation.

madison slid her hands into your panties and started rubbing your clit, leaning forward looking Lucas in the eye. “I’m sorry.. was I asking you?” She said, looking lucas up and down once again just more threatening now.

Lucas looked offended, scoffing and giving madison a dirty look. He was probably about to call her multiple slurs until you interrupted. “Uhm yeah, like he said. Grade school.” You said, biting your lip to muffle a moan.

“Right. I cant believe youre on a date with a jerk that interrupts you when you try to talk,” She whispers but just loud enough for Lucas to hear, leaning into you, her breath on your neck while she slides two fingers into your pussy.

“Shit, you’re soaked.” She gives you a mischievous smile.

A quiet, “Fuck,” slips out as the waitress for your table comes to put the breadsticks down and take your order. Lucas looks at you confused, hearing the profanity you whispered. “Its the breadsticks, they just.. look really good y’know?” You say, squirming and letting out subtle whimpers as Madison curls her fingers up inside of you, adding a third finger.

-🪼

HEEELLLLLOOOOO??????? soaked. came.

THIS IS FUCKING AMAZING???? i need MORE.

omfg girl im obsessed. mean!dom!madison has me going FERALLL. YOU NEEDDD TO WRITE MORE ITS SOO FUCKING GOOD SDKLDKDKD

#🪼#madison beer x reader

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itsybitsylemonsqueezy · 4 years

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So I finished watching Yakuza 7: Like A Dragon. Spoilers under the cut.

(Mainly positive take, some criticisms. C+/B I’d give it.)

So, first of all, I didn’t play it, I just watched people on youtube so my perspective of gameplay should be taken with a grain of salt. But I really liked the turn taking fighting style! Like a real JRPG, I thought it was fun, it seemed fun anyway, and the strategies to JRPG make more intuitive sense to me than fighting games, which I don’t know at all. I did end up missing the hand-to-hand combat like... aesthetically and it kinda breaks universe rules a little. But, like, Ichiban seeing combat as a sort of heightened fantasy reality actually helps with that and the plot still treats us like average combatants. Like, there’s still no murder, despite a lot more weapon use, including guns. So... it’s a little sad and weird universe-wise, but seems fun to play.

Ichiban is a great protag! Definitely not Kiryu! He has two dads, like 8 spouses, a lot of hair... He’s only 7 years younger than Kiryu and that’s... that’s a choice ^^; But he’s got a lot of good things going for him and I like his build. Interesting rage-grief he has going and a thing about revenge that Kiryu never had. And I like that actually, I like that Ichiban gets hit with different things than Kiryu did, but he still has flaws. Kiryu was never blind with rage the way Ichi got, but then, Kiryu also didn’t save his brother. Like, they have VERY different shit going on, which is GOOD. So I’m kinda annoyed that in the end we took Ichi’s dad and brother, just like Kiryu’s? Like... damn :/ Lame. Lazy.

I love Ichi’s team! I love Adachi, Nanba, Saeko, Joon-gi, Zhao. Top notch peeps! I like that they all just like him and are here for a fun adventure with him. They’re all here for something different, which is also really cool. Zhao is sort of redefining who he is in... retirement I guess? Trying out being a companion rather than a leader. Saeko is longing for family, connection, a place to belong. Adachi was here to accomplish a goal, to restore his honor and provide justice. And Ichi’s been a big help to that. Joon-gi is... a whore. I’m sorry! He’s just this beautiful, obedient man who’s just here on lend and he does whatever the fuck you say. Do not put him in charge of decisions, he’s terrible at them, but he knows a lot and has a vast network. But he appears just to be here to serve everyone’s needs, so to speak, and to moon after Ichiban like everyone else. And Nanba. Nanba hates adventures. He hates germs. He hates people and friends and danger and doing things. But he’s here. Because Ichi makes him hate things a little less. Nanba is a cynical, cowardly bastard, and Ichi’s a fucking sunshiney idiot always trying to fix shit that isn’t his problem. And he makes Nanba get up and fight. He makes Nanba believe in tomorrow. Nanba doesn’t trust people, Nanba doesn’t hope. He’s a pessimist and lives only to complain. But he is first in line to get shot for Ichiban every fucking time. He’s always the first to Ichiban’s side when he’s in trouble. Leaving and betraying Ichiban broke his fucking heart and my ship is probably showing A LOT here but I don’t care. I fucking love Nanba, I love his arc, I did NOT see it coming. And they are definitely my ship out of this. The fact that Nanba without fail is always the first to put himself in danger for Ichiban guts me. With how much he doesn’t believe in good things ever happening, it destroys me that he’ll dare it all for Ichiban. Fucking wild.

I thought it was cool to bring up a political villain, but... we didn’t really carry through on Bleach Japan’s thematic importance. We revealed them to be cruel and hypocritical, but we didn’t end up actually saving the slums or proving why the slums needed to be saved and that’s... kinda lame :/

I was really hoping that we might make a stand on why grey spaces were needed, on why organizations like the yakuza are needed but instead we... disbanded? And I don’t even know why?

Like, it was to fuck over Ryo Aoki. But... he was a TEMPORARY problem. All you had to do was move the organizations underground until he was unseated, which the Tojo already was???

But instead... we brought down Tojo and Omi and... WHY?! Like, SERIOUSLY, can ANYONE tell me WHY! Because I have a LOT OF FEELINGS about why that’s a BAD CALL.

What are all those guys going to do now? “Oh, we’ll just make a security company” YOU’LL WHAT?! THOUSANDS of guys used to shake downs will now be hired to patrol rich estates and cover banks and business buildings?! Fighting WHO, themselves?! A LOT of that job is just watching some fucking cameras, what... what the fuck are you talking about Watase?!

But I guess that’s still better than Daigo’s “I have no fucking idea” plan

NO WONDER Majima’s depressed at that funeral you JUST TOLD HIM his new job is BABYSITTING SOME RICH FUCK’S BUILDING. Fuck you guys!

And HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING ABOUT POWER VACUUMS?! CRIME doesn’t disappear just because there’s no one there to manage it! That just means it gets worse! And rasher, crueler people grab power in the interim. Smaller but rougher groups will appear. More and worse crimes will happen now. You just disenfranchised thousands, not all of them are going to come with you to play security detail and not all of them WANT to. So why EXACTLY did we disband the yakuza? What problems did that solve???

What about all that shit about the yakuza being a home for people who didn’t fit in? What about people who fell through the cracks in the system, who don’t have anywhere else to go?

If the yakuza, as an idea, was so fucking bad, WHAT WERE THE LAST SIX GAMES ABOUT?!

You can’t have an established series that accepts the idea that crime and violence are sometimes necessary or are even good things and have a compelling protag who does that, ONLY to turn around at the last second and pretend like it was always wrong!

If you were gonna act like the idea of organized crime is a Bad Thing, THEN THAT NEEDED TO BE A CONFLICT FROM THE BEGINNING

But you didn’t even do that!

We DIDN’T disband the yakuza because organized crime is inherently morally corrupt, no we disbanded because some prick thought he could use us! A PRICK WHO IS NOW DEAD! THE FUCK?!

And DON’T GET ME STARTED on how this reframes Kiryu’s narrative. KIRYU WASN’T RIGHT FOR LEAVING YOU FUCKING BASTARDS.

THE WHOLE POINT OF KIRYU’S ARC WAS THAT HE WAS FUCKING WRONG TO ABANDON HIS RELATIONSHIPS I- *screams into pillow*

AND why does Kiryu need to be dead now?! There is no more yakuza! Who does he need to hide from?!

OH no wait, my mistake! We didn’t disband ALL the yakuza, just Omi and Tojo! You know, the two biggest cities in Japan. I’m sure THAT won’t have Fucking Consequences. But Kiryu still has to be dead for uh... Reasons.

This was just such a fucking dumb universe-building move. It’s not been thought through, it betrays the whole point of the franchise up until now, and I’m honestly just mad that they didn’t even feel the need to address it? Like, the yakuza’s just gone now, but it’s whatever. Who would even care about that. Like, that’s not going to be a plot point next game. It won’t matter, at all, I promise you. All of the in-universe implications this has, none of it matters. And I’m not even mad I’m just... tired. And annoyed a little. that you can’t be bothered to tie up your own rules. You won’t give your own writing decisions weight and that’s just... kinda sad. It’s just lazy and sad that they don’t care enough to connect the pieces. But I’ve had my heart broken enough by yakuza writing decisions. Of course they would do this, of course they haven’t thought enough about their own series to really consider what ending the yakuza would mean. Why would they?

I’ll still watch the next game. Like, Ichiban is likeable enough and I’m interested in his arc enough that I’d play or watch next time. But... *sigh* We’re the Yakuza series with no yakuza. And y’all gonna act like that’s a good thing or pretend it doesn’t even matter. And I really don’t know what to do with that since you haven’t bothered to examine it either.

On a nice Kiryu note, I did like that he was scaled appropriately, I like that Ichiban is Wiped Out after almost every fight. He’s a good fighter, but he has human endurance. Kiryu’s still god. He hits the hardest out of anyone you fight and you Don’t win and that’s As It Should Be. I’m REALLY glad they at least let me have that. I’m glad they let us fight Kiryu and we passed and it was a cool passing of the torch. I was so worried they were going to destroy Kiryu’s legacy and at least they didn’t do that.

The coin locker baby thing... it was cliche and convenient, but in the way that Yakuza is cliche and convenient and melodramatic and over the top. It was sort of fitting and familiar that way. Shame we ended Swashiro like that, I think we could have done more and cooler shit with him but, eh.

SPEAKING OF MORE AND COOLER SHIT

...all that effort, just to kill him? Alllllll that long time, that hard conversation, that break down with Ichiban... just to kill him. Just to make him Nishiki, all over again.

I... fuck you.

Why do you refuse to write a goddamn redemption arc

Fuck, you don’t even have to write it, have it happen off-screen if you’re so fucking afraid of it. Just have him recuperate in a goddamn hospital and, I don’t know, by next game just show that he’s doing better and is getting therapy and whatever.

Jesus fucking christ, he doesn’t have to MATTER in the next game just... don’t kill him. Jesus. Please.

All that fucking work and you’re STILL going to give Ichiban the trauma of losing someone he was trying to save.

I just... it’s really gutting how much you don’t like your characters and you don’t like to write and you’re cowards. You won’t take risks. You’re too afraid of fucking up so you won’t do what the narrative calls for.

Killing Masato was lazy-ass, punk-ass, coward shit and I wont’ stand for it. I did not expect to care about his ass by the end but you guys REALLY made an effort in making him a three dimensional character there at the end and explaining why Ichi would care about him and I was willing to come with you! I was willing for us to invest in this dumbass. We walk him all the way up to the edge and step him back. We let him let go. And then you just. fucking. gave up. You goddamn cowards.

I’m so tired of this shit

For all that, it was genuinely a really fun game and a really fun story with a lot of likeable characters. I think a solid C+, even a B. I really did enjoy most of it. It’s just... in usual Yakuza style, they only fucked up 2 things but they were a REALLY IMPORTANT 2 things.

Oh and I did like the fact that Ichiban Still Doesn’t Know. No one tell him.

#Yakuza 7 #Yakuza: Like A Dragon #It's always a mixed bag with RGG Studios #At least Kiryu was pretty nice #Y7 spoilers

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linos-teeth · 5 years

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[1/3] aaa so sorry i didnt realize you answered!! (when is tumblr ever gonna.let.me breathe.i canT EVEN POST ANYTHING THATS BULLSHIT) ermmm so are you in uni now? And wellll hope everything's still fine and that the person hitting you with a stick when you talk bad abt urself is doing a good job! But yeah i understand there's a different pov abt coolness and stuff but uh dont wanna sound discouraged but i waS riGhT we're not rlly friends---

[2/3] but i mean i talk to more ppl in my class and i didnt eat alone too much this week? but dont wanna get my hopes too high you know-that sounds depressing hahahavdjg sorry- + uh we're going to slovakia in early march (we dont speak Slovakian but they learn french and we'll learn abt other cultures which is good since we're in the art section??)- Yay ig- but i'll prob have a girl (thanks mom for not letting me choOsE and NoT acknowledging me being a gUY- fuck you mOm) as a penfriend?

[3/3] Which wouldnt be a problem if i didnt have to share thE sAmE bed with her when they come to france. im already feeling deeply uncomfortable with that but i just cant argue w/ my mom uH i guess i'll find a way or smth (like; coming out AGAIN TO HER (spoiler alert: am too much of a coward to do that a second time so prob wont do)) and just ask her what she's comfortable with- sorry that's probably confusing and uninteresting hdjzvdjx- but tell me about your week?? Or how you're doing! :') 💕

MY DUDE PLEASE DON’T APOLOGISE i’m 100% the worst person to be an anon for with the time i take to answer so rly!! dw abt it but if u want i can like.....rb my replies a day after or so in case u didn’t see?

i’m not at uni yet and there’s been complications :/// i think i told u abt sending the documents but now i have no clue if they got them bc i feel like i should’ve gotten confirmation and the deadline’s long over but i didn’t and now on monday i’ll call there and hope to find out so until then i will just Fear ajhskfjasf it’s fun. but if nothing goes rly wrong i should start there in 2 weeks!! i’ll still be around, more maybe bc i won’t have too many classes and will prolly need smth to procrastinate ;) pls also make me write when that time comes i need. TO WRITE

but yeah that’s how my week has been going.......not great and like not a lot of progress but hey i started a new series so that’s fun!! and i actually giffed??? wow

tbh somehow you always catch me when i have one of my tumblr crises you must have an extra sense for that jfhaksfjasf or maybe i just.....have them a lot which is true tbh. but the stick hitting person is doing amazing and is being so supportive baby if by chance u read this ty!!! u save me i’ve been losing followers these days so i’m kinda scared i’ve been fucking up somehow or that i’ve peaked (which isn’t wrong but i’m still scared) but yeah i’m working on not letting it get to me too hard kinda

uhhhhh??? why would she not want to be friends excuse me (says the one who is literally unable to maintain friendships irl as soon as school/uni is over) either u are friends or u aren’t!! i say she’s missing out for sure. i feel you tbh like?? i’m big loner and i lost count of the times i ate alone (on purpose too tho bc i’m too scared to have ppl around me ESP WATCH ME EAT WTF WHAT IF I’M DISGUSTING) but!!! talking sounds good fuck that’s some brave shit ♥

slovakia sounds fancy!!! i remember getting these ads on tv for it all the time (ads for a country feel so weird but i guess they’re a thing here?? ok) i hope you get to see a lot of cool things!! it’s so amazing when u get the opportunity to go places with school imo bc like....how else will u get around sajskshkfjasf i wish u a great time in advance and like....when u get back maybe u can tell me a bit abt it!! i hope things work out with the lang barrier but i suppose if everything else fails there’s still english? also tell me more abt ur penfriend once u get them that’s so cool!! sucks abt the girl thing but then again i personally think it’s big bs to separate by gender in this day and age like relax.........the mere fact that a person of the opposite gender is in the room with you doesn’t make u have sex with them does it now even if they fit ur general bill attraction wise

but you shouldn’t have to feel uncomfortable ofc :/// that’s just shitty how long would it be for? i rly hope you can sort things out with her if it’s a girl!! the coming out again option sounds kinda stressful yeah fjhsfkjashfkas i mean if u had the guarantee she’d understand but?? if you already did it once that’s......messy i’m rly sorry

dw tho!! it wasn’t confusing or uninteresting it’s what ur doing rn and how u feel and i like hearing abt that!! i wish u the best of luck and like....more decent ppl hopefully and a good evening/weekend ♥

#this is a big spam again i apologise my friend #but here u go!!!#ask #💕 anon #Anonymous

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roadswewalk · 8 years

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T6T - my full reaction

Right I know this is super late (work project overload, apology posted preemptively), but here, finally, are my actual thoughts on second watch of T6T. This is my first new episode since joining the fandom, so I really indulged. This is like a live-blog meets rewatch review meets spaghetti meta. Almost all of this is uninfluenced by others, since I missed the majority of what’s been written, but I’ve called out a few cases where popular opinion filtered through. It probably goes without saying that to be able to write functionally about any of it, I have to make a baseline assumption that what I’m seeing has enough relationship to reality to be worth reacting to. Doesn’t mean I believe that overall, but I’m not interested (not here, anyway) in playing mistake-lie-or-clue for every detail, so. Grain of fish food.

Under the cut because LONG.

The hearing - uh oh.�� Retcon technique crashes through the fourth wall into the fictional universe. Or, I’m all up in ur fictional universe, redefining fiction. Meta. I get it: Don’t believe everything we’re about to show you, nor everything we’ve shown you before. Or, at least, don’t take it too seriously. And THAT is actually problematic

For starters, some of the people who abandoned ship last series complained that consequences aren’t real enough on this show. For me, shooting Magnussen looks awfully gimmicky now that they’ve resolved it in this way; they'd never have got away with this if there hadn’t been a three-year hiatus. Mycroft’s “oh Sherlock, what have you done?” is one of my favorite lines in the series. Every. Time. Watery eyes to sobbing in 6 words. It is utterly cheapened by not making the consequences real. A little resistance, an impassioned appeal on the strength of Sherlock’s record of service - these would not have been out of place. “My brother is a murderer”, sardonically, as the episode’s opening line should have been the first clue, I guess.

@ Sir Edwin shutting down the Moriarty discussion quickly and single-handedly: Has following TJLCers made me better at watching television, or was this disappointingly obvious? @ Sherlock in this entire scene: I love it too, baby.

So the scene leaked via KBS dubbing was at the beginning, after all. And completely not serious spoiler material, thanks for the slap on the wrist!

I like this tango they’re playing during the case montage!

Birth scene, :/ cliché. Baby jokes - okay actually really cute. Loving these boys with the baby, and apparently I could go for parentlock if it’s always just side-plots and comic relief. John’s little flirtation - not so much, hope this is going somewhere plotty. John’s backbend to ask about being godfather, though. How flexible is that back, Dr. Watson?

Welsboroughs are pretty adorable. Why does Mr. W. wear his ring on the pinky, though? - asked about this separately and never got a reply. Mirror / magnifier next to Sherlock’s head - I guess this is Meaningful but it escapes me.

Noticing the Thatcher bust / pricking of my thumbs, a little difficult to accept. But, “intuitions are not to be ignored” OKAY DADS. A lot different from previously, though, with “dangerous to theorize without data“ etc. “OCD - my respects”, lol.

Is Mr. Welsborough a John mirror here? They’re wearing turquoise and defending Mrs. T’s existence together. (Is this the same day that John goes home and texts E back? He’s wearing the turquoise jumper?) Wonder where Gatiss picked up this horrific story of Charlie’s death, I was in slight tears. Relatedly (or not), Mycroft is GOLD in this episode.

On the established subject of the client-with-a-spy-wife being a John mirror: Note also, his line “I thought you’d done something clever. But now you’ve explained it, it’s dead simple, inn’t it?” is directly from Watson on multiple occasions in ACD canon. Also, at first I was like, “Why is Sherlock spending so much time impressing this man with his deductions? He doesn’t know yet whether Lestrade (and arguably Hopkins) have brought him anything more interesting.“ Then I realized - he thinks John is sitting there watching him, apparently stunned into silence and charmed head-waving. Awww.

Lestrade saying “straße”, John saying “idée fixe”... it’s clearly Sherlock narrating. Reliably or not, that is the question. Sherlock noticing the scent of formaldehyde mixed with Lestrade’s usual cologne. <3 Sherstrade moment. But why do people think Lestrade is going on a date with Hopkins? He’s not? Sherlock said someone new from forensics; Hopkins is a DI working with Interpol.

“Slow, but sure, John. Not dissimilar to yourself... Well, I like you.” I wasn’t sure I heard this right the first time! Gratuitous compliments why. John’s face does a nice journey after this but unfortunately Mary speaks right away. Lovely on slo-mo. “Having fun while I can” / “a noose for me to put my neck into” - awww, cheer up Sherlock, honey; you can’t die, you’re the star of the show.

When Craig first tells Sherlock the busts are from Tbilisi, he’s already looking up with his eyes doing their deduction dance. The next scene implies it’s because of the Black Pearl of the Borgias case, but is it? Lestrade’s reaction when Sherlock already knows the name of his victim - priceless.

Why does “luxury 1, 2 & 3 bed apartments” scroll across the screen when Sherlock is searching his phone about the pearl? Graphics team: “well ads are unavoidable, it adds to the realism” lol what. Man, it makes me a bit salty that they’re mentioning the blog so much even though we don’t get updates anymore, boo.

Sherlock: “They’re not destroying them, that’s not what’s happening.” Lestrade: “Yes it is.” Sherlock: “Well it *is* what’s happening but that’s not the point. [Okay, thanks AGAIN, dads.]

Floor-to-ceiling Hokusai “Great Wave” print behind the pool - I am in lo<3! Wearing leggings printed with Hokusai’s Phoenix as I type this and I just. Guh. That entire location is beautiful, thank you scouts!

All the ‘hand-waving” instead of proper switches in this house - again, I get it, thanks.

19:00 ... 22:00 flashing on screen.... so Sherlock waited 3 hours. Am I supposed to get something from this? (I hate not trusting anything I see on this show, nor my own ability to interpret art. I take back one of those ‘thanks’, dads.)

Fight scene: gratuitous, fun, hard to accept. Boys will be boys. The people living in the house didn’t wake up?

Why does Sherlock know what John said to forgive Mary? Also, biggest mistake of the episode is right here, revealing he knows what that flash drive is and who had it.

The ambassador says she’s got something they would dearly love if they could get out - amo/ammo... I’m still not sure how she fits in? The flash drive is dangling around Ajay’s neck during the op? So if the rescue goes wrong, AGRA are supposed to kill themselves, and what - hope the hostages are allowed to survive in captivity thereafter?

Lestrade knows about Mary’s past, seriously? Once again the blog and the Internet fame make Sherlock & friends easy targets - though I don’t doubt Ajay could have found them easily enough without that. Wow, shooting up the plaster bust studio must have been a good time ;) Sherlock’s hidey-hole is... epic. He even has a travel chemistry set and microwave (for the real experiments~), all that’s missing is a John Watson balloon, gods. “That was quite a text you sent me” - what did it SAY? At least he’s not giving her an easy time here. And is a different accent coming out?

“We were family.” “Families fall out.” [later, paraphrase] “I don’t know anything about them - happy families.” Break my heart. Sherlock, your mum and dad and big brother love you. Don’t they? Don’t they, Moftiss~?

Mary’s little smirk when Sherlock reminds her of his vow pretty much mirrors mine. Like what can Sherlock Holmes do to protect her family better than a trained assassin? (As we find out, nothing.) The hubris here... it’s a huge part of what goes wrong in this episode, too. Making the vow in the first pace was problematic and one of my least favorite things that Sherlock did, because it’s out-of-order, ridiculous, and impossible to maintain even before we knew anything about Mary and just. Did anyone except Sherlock EVER believe that vow was worth something in reality, as opposed to some sad devotion he pledged to his best friend for wont of any more suitably dramatic exit from said friend’s wedding? This brings me back to the awful angst-fest of a head-canon wherein Sherlock no longer places any value on his life alone, and he’s secretly longing for an excuse to start on a path that will secure his own death. I’ve been there in depression and I’m not sure the writers realize they’re invoking it, nor that I trust them to handle it properly if they do.

Aw, PLEASE give us more of baby Holmes boys playing pirates. Also, again, Mycroft <3. But, Sherlock’s got a cracked rib here and he won’t go to John to get it wrapped. “You don’t have many favors left” - apparently the only real consequence so far. Mycroft: “What then?” - YES, THANK YOU, VOICE OF REASON! “Not on my watch” - first from Mycroft, then from Sherlock. But only Mycroft turns out to be able to back it up. Score one for ice.

Why do the country names include U.S.S.R? LMAO at Gatiss coming up with this sequence, like oh then she’ll grab a passport out of a rock in Norway, then how about a motorcycle in America? I hope alcohol was involved, let everyone have fun with it.

She covers her head but shows her ankles? Sherlock’s game with Karim, again, love. It’s easy to forget why I love this show when I can’t follow the plot, but in the end, I do love it. Sherlock’s little speech that he’s been preparing for ages to rattle off to Mary. And then John walks in and wow, I can feel the smile slide off my face faster than Sherlock’s. Definitely a hell of a lot faster than Mary’s! It’s so awkward that Sherlock is there for the following conversation, especially the point he joins in, literl chills at the creep factor. But - “couples are supposed to stay together and work things through” - as in, what John and Sherlock did while she was away?

And sorry to break in again here, but the “love” connection (lol) is tenuous enough. Who would believe that an intelligence committee member would use a variation of her own code name as a sabotage code word? Trying too hard to be clever, Mark, sorry. Lady S under pressure is pretty hot, though.

Wow, John is so smooth when he’s being hit on. Like the plot or no, really makes me want to try it, hehe. Vampire... this screams foreshadowing but I won’t know of what until I see it, derp.

John’s bus number is 59 (159 return). Another reference to that sonnet?

“How many more times?” Lady S calling Mycroft on putting his brother before his other obligations. Ouch. When this dries up it’s going to be even more painful... And, “you had better be right about this”, 'cept he wasn’t. No wonder Sherlock is ready to die later. There’s no pretty escape at this point.

“The curtain rises” - third time we’ve heard that. He does love a touch of the dramatic. Does it mean something else too? The different text styles, poetry to one, usual demands to the other - I love it but i don’t know why. Does it mean we won’t get poetry anymore from Sherlock?

Ballsy to film up in there. I was expecting the aquarium walls to get shot up at some point. Pity. Well, maybe not. Is this the entire shark analogy - “we’re like them, ghostly, living in the shadows, predators, we have to keep moving or we die”? I guess the last one pretty well clinches it. But it rubs up the wrong way to use the same symbol as for Magnussen, but for different reasons.

So she got involved for money, then she set up both sides of the rescue operation to get the ambassador assassinated to protect the fact that she was ever involved and hopefully make her exit? Why didn’t she retire at that point?!

Hmm, does John call Mycroft or Lestrade from the cab?

So Sherlock going on about the wedding ring relocation here, when John is still wearing his ring on his left ring finger in the chess promo photo from TFP... I blogged some crack about it but now I’m wondering if it’s legit significant. But anyway, Sherlock, shut up about single old ladies, alright.

Mystrade on screen together. Maybe eye contact! And Lestrade putting his brave on when Mrs. Norbury raises her gun. Sherlock staring down the bullet like “I give in, I am yours” - not sure why people wondered at him not jumping out of the way, seems clear he’s ready and willing to die at this point, because he thinks it’s a solution to something. Well, living on borrowed time, now, and with all favors called in, that’ll make for some good drama, can’t wait!

Wow, so, a woman has been on the edge of a dangerous lifestyle, but eventually she just wants a little peace. A man with uncanny knowledge and mysterious connections to the government is on her trail. She tries to confront him, but there are inconvenient witnesses. Eventually she does fire her gun, but someone else gets shot, and it resolves nothing. ...Am I describing Vivienne or Mary?

Pausing between Mary’s moment and John’s so I can appreciate the scene properly. Oh god, I hate myself for this. But really, Martin’s acting in TRF was perfect. I know real primal grief is not pretty and that was probably very accurate, but I don’t come to television to see that much of reality. You’re breaking our contract here a little by shocking me so much in a moment like this. First watch, my tears dried right up. This time I let them fall for awhile, and it was nice. :/

They’re talking about proper portrayal of grief, but isn’t this transition to the anger stage a bit quick? Mystrade and Sherlock facing off above the Watsons - this is very iconic-looking, though for the life of me I couldn’t say why Lestrade is there. Hope it’s a backstory thing that we get to hear about later. So many white men on this show, always coming out on top. How can I adore them all? Feel like I have to take a few punches out of my various identity cards for this weakness.

Roll call, who knew almost instantly that Ella was talking to Sherlock? How did you know? I can’t decide what clued me in - I guess it was the camera angle, the transition from John to her on the same side of the frame? By her second or third line it was obvious, but I swear I knew before that...

It just bugs me when Ella speaks in platitudes. When my therapists weren’t as clever as me, they would do this. It solves nothing. Also I’m pretty sure she would have to recuse herself from Sherlock’s case if he mainly wants to talk about John, another client. They’ve shown in THoB that they understand doctor-patient privilege, so, not sure what to make of this.

Mycroft at home is my severe kink. Him with his lack of furniture in his kitchen, brolly has to lean against his case on the floor. Still wearing his coat and waistcoat when he gets to the fridge (suits are cut much better this season, damn Mark), rubbing his sore neck, takeout menus, cuff links, pocket watch.

It’s hard to express the strength of my yearning to see inside Mycroft’s fridge. Like I love that it’s mostly empty, but not seeing pitiful gaping immaculate interior is still one of the biggest disappointments of the episode, tbh. And frankly that yearning extends a bit further, into slithering up behind and offering a neck rub territory. People who read him as queer, are we talking zero exceptions? Mind if I test that? Antarctica, darling, give me a call. That empty, listless feeling… I can help. I hear you’re the Ice Man. Well it may interest you to know that in certain circles, I’m known as the Ice Queen. I realize you have incredible power and influence - probably enough to stop global warming. Don’t do it, baby, I don’t care about that stuff. I wanna melt with you. (Heh, might send that one to bbcsherlockpickuplines.)

13th in a post-it note, prompting a call to Sherrinford - at this point my money’s on drug rehab facility. That Sherlock burns down. Won’t that be fun. And like season 2, I’m guessing this is setup for a plot arc that will be fully revealed in episode 3. And that’s about the extent of my non-crack predictions for the next few episodes!

John’s balloon drooping off the table, oof. “Work is the best antidote to sorrow” - like sorrow is poison, oh Sherlock, what would Ella say? Not it’s not, it’s normal and it’s a thing you work through. “Norbury” - she doesn’t know the details but she can see the significance, poor Hudders.

Mary making Moriarty jokes on the level of sensitivity that I often display (and which never fails to earn me zero notes)... LOVE IT DON’T STOP BITCH!

“Nothing’s certain, nothing’s written” - the words that overlay John and Mary holding hands in that teaser of all teasers - a throw-away line picked up by marketers or a sign of things to come~?

“The danger was the fun part but you can’t outrun that. You need to remember that so I’m giving you a case.” What, retire to Sussex and stop putting John Watson in danger? This is getting ‘danger’ously close to some of my crack theories for why a longer hiatus should follow. MAYBE I’ll accept but only if they actually film us three episodes of retirementlock - with some quaint flashbacks or something - alright?

I’m glad Molly only says sorry the one time. It’s not her apology to make. Maybe best scene in the episode right here. Reading the letter in the cab... brave.

Path locking around your feet, the demons under the street and the sharks in the river (sharks in a river? really?), etc. - this seems to be confirmation that Sherlock is still awaiting his consequences; okay, good. But “can Samarra be avoided?” - learned nothing, have you? Or is it that your survival is necessary to save John Watson?

Go to Hell - not speculating, too little information. I already know Sherlock’s going to Hell, that he takes John with him, and that they come back - my dad told me.

Summary things:

So live-Tweeting didn’t happen. That was disappointing. What is Joe Lidster’s new project, then?

I already knew the Samarra story really well from childhood and then a brief study in Arabic class once. So the communication of it here felt really heavy handed. Wish I hadn’t brushed up on it (thanks to NYT reviewer, I believe) beforehand. I feel like Benedict’s retelling with the sharks would have been chill-inducing.

Contrasting with my complaint about weak consequences for the Magnussen incident, perhaps I’m supposed to take it that this episode was Mary’s consequences. I wonder if we’ll see Sherlock’s consequences in episode 2 and John’s in episode 3 (or vice versa)? Or, the ensembles (Hudders & co) in 2, and Sherlock & John’s in episode 3? I know it’s a three-part story arc so I hope we’ll see something. Sharks in the river, I’ll get my fishing pole!

Lastly, the “NO WAY” moment that the press reported - which even was it?

- Vivian "Ice Lolly” Norbury as the double agent?

- Mary jumping in?

- Sherlock at therapy?

I seriously couldn’t tell. Again, does that me good at watching television, or bad?!

#sherlock #t6t #tst #s4 #review #speculation #clueing for looks #rewatch #writing #bbc sherlock

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