#i'm not a s3 blog now

[ohhiplumbob]

My little s3 legacy family house in Monte Vista.

[crownedwille]

I've come to the conclusion that loving young royals doesn't mean I can't be critical about it, maybe especially bc I love the show so much I have such strong feelings about it, good and bad and I can love parts of canon and agree with it and appreciate it but I don't have to love it all. I have accepted that it's okay if I don't accept the ending and I don't have to force myself to support it. It's okay to not agree with all of canon and it's okay to not side with all of the creators' intentions/views. Loving a show doesn't mean you have to take everything the writers say on face value and that's the only version that is allowed to exist. Canon isn't everything and fandom is about curating your own experience that makes you happy and not miserable. You don't have to dismiss canon in every aspect and ignore it entirely, that's certainly not what I want but there is a fine line between being canon respectful, allowing some parts to exist and sometimes, yes, you just have to say "fuck canon" and move on for your own sanity and wellbeing

[ask-the-all-consuming-void]

....

....

....

The tremors have stopped.

The shattered world.... It has.... stabilized....?

Are its pieces whole again....? Or have they grown used to existence apart....? I cannot tell.... not from here.

....

Something is approaching the void. No—five somethings.

....

....They have drifted out of reach.

Hm.

[khalesci]

she is everything

[wingodex]

okay so in season 2 of good omens they bring up this book called the expert at the card table and i've posted about this book before because i am extremely not normal about it for a bunch of reasons i cannot hope to articulate here (if you wanna read it. for whatever reason. houdini donated a copy to the library of congress and so it's just freely available online for everyone). but like the person who wrote it was almost certainly a professional card cheater so obviously they didn't publish using their actual name. so there's this big mystery around it and there's a bunch of theories about who the author actually was including the possibility that it's e.s. andrews, aka s.w. erdnase backwards. and in the show, aziraphale says that his copy is signed by erdnase using his real name, and it's one of those things where like. i did lose my mind a little bit when this whole scene happened because it was literally written as a fun little reference for me, or at least people who have the exact same specific crossection of interests that i do so that's fun. HOWEVER i was a little pissed about the whole thing also because the mystery of who erdnase is sooooo central to the experience of the book itself. like the author's concealed identity is not a hidden fact, the author literally tells you he's lying to you, and it's so everything to me. and it has me thinking about the Real Book which is this collection of jazz sheet music that was compiled by a couple of students when they were in school and then illegally distributed for years among jazz musicians that it became a fundamental tool of jazz musicians all over the US. like to the point where if you were studying jazz in college or whatever you were instructed to go find some guy selling photocopies of the Real Book because you would need it for lessons. and the two students who compiled it remain anonymous to this day and it's very intentional. a reporter managed to get in touch with one of them a few years ago through encrypted emails and shit like that and the guy literally said that he would never reveal his identity because that's part of the Real Book's allure. like the mystery itself is part of the fun. and the expert at the card table is very much like that for me. the mystery is so much a part of the book that the idea of that mystery ever actually being solved is so unappealing. you gotta understand that when this book was first published, it fucking blew up the gambling world. nobody had ever published something so bold as instructions for literal actual card cheating techniques before. it's so iconic in the exact same way that the Real Book is, in their audacity and innovation. and in their mystery!! that's part of the fun

[yardsards]

saw someone say camila was a bad parent and needed to be redeemed in the year of our titan 2022

did we watch the same show???

[analyticallymindedaa]

"i don't want him to be anybody but himself." "you sure about that?" "yes." "'cause i heard he told you how he felt and you bailed."

[...]

"the only thing that makes him worse...is you." "i know. why do you think i left?"

today on: i'm literally never gonna be not angry about how jemma was treated throughout s2

[nintendoteuthis]

Blake. Good name for a squid

[sigskk]

so how's that essay going.

do you think teen skk would be like this. assuming they're in a universe where they're enrolled into formal education. do you think dazai would procrastinate until the last minute j to get on chuuya's nerves and have an excuse to talk to him. do you think chuuya would be just as bad if not for one-upping dazai. he's coming over to his house just so chuuya can sit in the same room as dazai while he works. hey chuuya [insert question]? [blatantly incorrect answer]. okay thank you <333 [aware it was bs]. they take a break for dinner and dazai is sitting on the counter like a wet cat watching chuuya (he's helping). "you should've started this sooner" (also did not start this sooner)

[jaegerisim]

Vent post y'all are gonna hate me for.

I viscerally hate how the Duffers treat most of their non white or queer characters and I hate even more viscerally, how y'all big byler blogs in your circle jerk of other 5 big byler blogs casually like to ignore many red flags the show has.

Y'all like to say: "tHe DufFeRs ArE gReAt WrIteRs" and it's like girl, who are you lying to??? They aren't top shit writers at all. The Duffers are pretty mid imo. Yeah, they run a good show that's fun to watch and theorize abt , but that doesn't mean they're good writers cuz they're not.

1. they completely side lined Will during s3 for the sake of their straight romances: lumax, jancy, mlvn, duzie and partly stobin (even if stobin wasn't endgame, thankfully, Steve's intentions were clearly wanting to date Robin and they gave it a lot of screen time). Will was sidelined bc he didn't fit the straight romance plotline bc they planned to make him gay or whatever. Now in s4 Will and his feelings have been used as mlvn toilet paper. Yes, we like to say this is build up for byler but canonically, Will's feelings have been used to clean the shit mlvn leaves behind.

2. Billy was sympathized a lot during the last 2 seasons. They gave him the sad backstoryTM in order for ppl to feel sorry for him. Billy's backstory is literally Jonathan's but whatever.

3. El's anger issues are constantly girlboss-ified. They down play her bullying situation and literally just use it for El to be a ''girlboss" without realizing how triggering that is. As someone who has lived bullying, seeing it be ignored by canon and fanon is super sad. The whole Rink-O' Mania experience must have been so traumatizing for her yet, everyone absolutely forgets abt it 🤷🏻‍♀️

4. Robin, Erica and Argyle are stereotypical characters. Robin is the quirky lesbian with social anxiety, Erica is the badass black woman and Argyle is the Latino stoner that sells weed to white kids and works as a pizza delivery guy.

5. Altho Argyle and Eddie both do drugs, (Eddie actually sells K-12 to a minor and nobody batted an eye. He has a huge fan base). Eddie is held in a pedestal bc "poor thing 🥺 he lives in a trailer with his uncle 🥺". Tell me a single fact you know abt Argyle that isn't "he smokes weed", "he is Jonathan's only friend", "drives a van" and "he works at a pizzeria". Exactly, Eddie is given a useless backstory and Argyle isn't.

6. Dustin stopped being important to the plot sometime around s2 and s3. He is only there to curse and be mildly funny. My guy needs to hangout with ppl his age cuz he only hangs out with seniors.

7. El needs to stop having so much "I'M THAT BITCH" screentime like I need in s5 for El's arc to not just be her becoming more powerful and falling in love with Mike. I need the Duffers to explore her trauma and problems.

8. Angela should have been run over by the van.

9. Patrick should have been given a backstory that isn't the basic "strict black parents that hit their kids cuz they are a disgrace". Patrick's backstory is actually racist af, fight w the wall.

10. As Lex already said, they didn't trigger tag the ep where Jason and his friends assault Lucas and Erica. Like wtf? Why was that necessary? Why did I have to see a black boy being held at gunpoint by some white guy?? Was it relevant to the plot?? I don't think so. And then I've got to see ppl online be like "Jason wasn't that bad. He was just mourning" like bitch you can stfu. This is what happens when you make the racist assholes conventionally attractive.

Also the fact that Lucas's arc is fulfilled by him fist-fighting Jason and "embracing his weirdness" aka accepting he is black. His arc was not fulfilled at all cuz that ending spoke so loud to me. It showed how little empathy ppl have towards the struggles poc ppl living in the Midwest have. Y'all circle jerks can only see racism when it's super obvious.

Furthermore, parents complained when ST showed "an excessive amount of smoking" yet nobody batted an eye when Billy tried to run over Lucas, when Erica (an 11 y.o ffs) was chased by white kids or when Lucas was held at gunpoint by Jason.

All of this happened while they focused on Max's guilt and mourning that, yeah, are important but certainly not less important than racism!!!

11. In s3, they gave us that whole Nancy vs The Bigots arc that was honestly just triggering and useless. It didn't help Nancy's character at all, quite the opposite it put unnecessary angst.

12. Lonnie being presented as an abuser just for him to never be spoken of again. Can we please get to explore the trauma he left the Byers's with?

13. The fact that both queer relationships are considered "sloppy seconds" is extremely sad. Both Vickie and Mike are rebounding from their failed relationship with Robin and Will. These 2 ships have caused more commotion than Jancy and Jopper together! (These last ships are technically sloppy seconds too but everybody forgets that. Shocker!!)

14. Last but not least, ppl blame Argyle for being the one to get Jonathan into smoking weed as if Jonathan probably wasn't the one looking for it. Let me tell you, that you only find weed if you look for it.

[teambyler]

Will's anti-Vecna song should be David Bowie's "Heroes"

We know from the new BTS pic that he has headphones and a Walkman. Like Max, he might be fending off Vecna:

Max's anti-Vecna song was highly personal to her. It helped her through her guilt and depression and feeling like she deserved to die.

For Will, "Should I Stay or Should I Go" is cute, but it doesn't have emotional weight. It might have helped a child Will in the Upside Down in s1, when it made him think of home and Jonathan, but he's all grown up now. He's changed.

If Byler becomes realized, David Bowie's "Heroes" is the perfect song for Mike and Will's relationship that would help Will resist Vecna. It's canon that Will likes David Bowie: kid Mike prefers the androgynous rock star over Kenny Rogers (s2e1).

@surferbeto on YouTube comments:

This is a heroic love song. Bowie starts out crooning but pretty soon he ramps up and belts it out hard. This song is about risking getting shot by East German border police and dragged over barbed wire for love. This is about young love against impossible odds. It's about that gloriously tragic fantasy... of giving our life in some grandly romantic way to save the life of our beloved. Maybe by taking a bullet for them and dying in their arms in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.

Having David Bowie's "Heroes" in the show would call-back to Peter Gabriel's somber 2010 cover from s1, when Mike hugged his mom thinking Will was dead. But Bowie's original is defiant, triumphant, and bittersweet. (Seriously, if you haven't yet, listen to it before reading further. It's perfect.)

It would play when Mike and Will have their first kiss. Their song of losing each other is now of finding each other.

If Byler is realized, it could play as Mike and Will dare to hold hands in the school hall, as we fade out to the end credits.

Will would put it on his Walkman. If Will and Mike are bullied for their relationship, "Heroes" perfectly expresses their defiance and willingness to love each other despite the harm that might come to them.

It's the song that would most help Will in case he gets Vecna'd. It doesn't just remind him of Mike; it culminates his journey over the five seasons. As a kid he told Jonathan he's not a baby, not just a victim. Despite seeming shy and weak, he has a huge amount of quiet courage, but his struggle in s3 and s4 was largely internal. ("I'm not gonna fall in love.") Show creator Matt Duffer says about s5: "Will's going to be a big part and focus... We're starting to see his coming of age, really... You're starting to see him come into his own." If Byler becomes real, then his fight becomes external, confronting the homophobia in Hawkins and the literal hell threatening his friends. He will rise to the occasion.

"Will really takes center stage again in [season] 5," Ross Duffer told Variety. "This emotional arc for him is what we feel is going to hopefully tie the whole series together. Will is used to being the young one, the introverted one, the one that’s being protected. So part of his journey, it’s not just sexuality – it’s Will coming into his own as a young man."

In s2, Will only allowed Mike to protect him because he didn't feel pitied by Mike; Mike saw his strength. A stronger Will will pay him back and protect him from the twin dangers they face.

It's Will's turn to be the hero. His fight for others is his fight for himself. "Heroes" perfectly expresses his journey of defying all odds to fight for HIS RIGHT TO LOVE.

P.S. Follow me and read my blog! I have so much to say!

[kimberleyjean]

Gabriel's ineffable statue

Ooh time for my first ever post that isn't a reblog - exciting!

So, a while ago now, I came across a post about Gabriel's statue which pointed out what seemed to be a blatantly obvious continuity error. For the life of me, I CANNOT find that post again and so I am going to attempt to recreate it here because I just noticed something else interesting related to Gabriel's statue. If you are the original person who found this, please let me know and I'll credit you!

Edit: I found the original on reddit! https://www.reddit.com/r/goodomens/comments/17tjfdc/spot_the_difference_statue_of_gabriel_s2e6/ Right, so, have you ever looked very closely at the scenes of Gabriel and Beelzebub in the graveyard during Gabriel's flashback? No? Well, here are some clips of these scenes I want you to take a close look at, taken in order they're shown:

Why is the cross missing??? In the distance shot, there is no cross. In the closer shot, there is. Then we switch back to the distance shot and it's gone again. Just for clarity's sake, when we see the Gabriel statue in any other scene, yes the cross is present.

I know there have been many ineffable continuities mentioned by other posters (such as clocks, chairs, rugs, road markings, Crowley's glasses, Maggie's store signage etc). It's still up for debate about how many of these actually mean anything, or if they are genuine continuity errors. However, I find it VERY hard to believe this is a continuity issue... in any other show I could believe that, sure. But the Good Omens team is detail-focused and this is a huge missing cross on a statue that was specifically built for the show. Why would you have the whole scene set up in the graveyard, but without the cross ready, and then not bother to fix it in post? So the above is what I read in someone else's blog post and I'm really sorry that I can't recall where to find that. However, here's what I want to add. The Gabriel statue appears at the end of the opening credits and guess what... :

The cross is missing the top half! What does any of this mean? Who knows? Not me, that's for sure. Is it something to do with S3? Is it some comment on a religious theme? Are Gabriel's memories faulty when they're restored? Several others have pointed out that there are some suspicious things shown in the memory restoration sequence. Why is Gabriel bearing a cross in the first place? If you have any ideas let me know, I'd be interested to hear them!

Regardless of the statue, you might be wondering what is this part of the opening credits all about? The parade of characters is being led by Crowley and Aziraphale up this rickety mountain made of what seems to be a trash heap with a whole bunch of religious iconography scattered through it and a Lady Libertas (aka what the Statue of Liberty is based on) appearing opposite the Gabriel statue here. I always wondered what this whole sequence might be about, but I've seen very little written about it. If you're interested, here's this post from @lady-of-the-puddle. There is a lot of interesting imagery in the opening sequence, that's for sure!

[ladyluscinia]

My hottest take from trying to delve into David Jenkins's interviews and piece together where he's going with this is that - for all he and everyone else are consistent about describing this show as a romance and a romcom (and The Muppets) - I don't think he finds the romance compelling??? At least, not the healthy endgame version.

Like, the one interview where he dropped that he was planning an unrequited romance in all those pitches of his until they shot the bathtub scene in 1x06...? Wild twist, but also it kind of makes sense.

Look at the comparisons he makes. Titanic (where Jack dies). Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (where both leads die). Shows like Insecure and Grey's Anatomy, where relationships get messy breakups constantly. He's excited about fanvids set to Olivia Rodrigo's "Favorite Crime". Writes an episode based on Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a 1966 film of a play that attacks the concept of happy marriages. He mentions A Star Is Born repeatedly in reference to S2, a movie where the disaster marriage ends in suicide and heartbreak.

And even broad spectrum - he repeatedly explains that he's not compelled by pirate stories. Accuses the genre of being "creaky" and "hard to budge", and then claims to want to subvert it in one interview and shrugs about how "it's a pirate story" as reasoning in others. But the part he seems interested in...? Well it's the oncoming end of the Golden Age aspect, and also maybe the short and violent life of organized crime. He's drawing comparisons to mob movies and Westerns - two things I think we can say trend toward the bittersweet to tragic scale with endings. His examples certainly do.

I'm no longer surprised he was really compelled by the Edward and Izzy toxic divorce in S1 and the idea of doing an arc about "Can Izzy find himself outside of this toxic relationship?" only to answer "No." It seems right in his wheelhouse, tbh. Definitely enough that if he felt like Izzy ought to die due to vibes, I doubt he was looking too hard for an alternative.

For all his talk about "Can BlackBonnet put the work into this relationship?" I'm really getting the impression he thinks the more compelling answer is also "No." He likes the idea of a happy ending maybe, but he doesn't really seem into that as a story.

Now, he does seem to have gotten a crash course in "Maybe don't bury your gays?" and he's not lying about wanting to avoid the specific kinds of coming out and queer trauma stories - those are different kinds of tragedies - but I am... skeptical, perhaps, that the forced happy ending feeling of S2 will do anything but repeat in S3.

Just because, like, if I was scrolling these takes on a fic author's blog, I'd put majority odds on the main couple hanging in the final chapter, and I bet a happy sunset ending would come kinda out of nowhere...

Not really a recipe for satisfying, you know?

[allthecastlesonclouds]

Celestial Spear Transcripts!

I LIED (<- i did not i'm just insane) TRANSCRIPTS ARE READY NOW!

also! i'm planning to make these through s3 so! i made a side blog @drawtectives-transcripts! any new transcript posts will go there so if you want them uncluttered with my shouting they'll be over there :D

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

Episode 11

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

hello. i have a question. since you have claimed the title of official good omens mascot i've decided that it's only fitting i ask you. this is quite an embarrassing question to be honest so don't err- judge... i've been in the fandom for about 5-6 months and i cannot for the life of me figure out what people mean when they talk about south downs cottage. from what i gather it's not in the book or the show so what's it from?

HEY DON'T WORRY ANON MAGGOT I GOTCHA (ALSO I DIDN'T CLAIM THE TITLE I WAS KIDNAPPED). ALSO DON'T MIND THE ALL CAPS IF YOU'RE NEW HERE I JUST HAD BLACK COFFEE THIS HAPPENS OCCASIONALLY ON THIS BLOG. IT'S A COMPLETELY VALID QUESTION.

SO BASICALLY, WHEN NEIL AND TERRY WROTE THE STORY, THEY'D PLOTTED OUT A KIND OF SEQUEL WHICH WAS NEVER WRITTEN AND THEY ALSO DECIDED ABOUT WHAT WOULD EVENTUALLY HAPPEN WITH AZIRAPHALE AND CROWLEY. IT WAS DECIDED THAT THEY WOULD MOVE TO A COTTAGE AND LIVE THERE TOGETHER IN THE SOUTH DOWNS.

NOW, WHEN NEIL WAS ASKED ABOUT THIS HE SAID IT HADN'T HAPPENED IN THE TV VERSE YET. NOW THIS MIGHT MEAN IT WILL BE THE ENDING OF GO S3 (WELL, WE'LL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE) BECAUSE WHILE THE SECOND SEASON IS A KIND OF BRIDGE BETWEEN S1 AND S3, THE THIRD SEASON IS, IF I'M NOT WRONG GOING TO BE BASED ON THAT INITIAL PLAN FOR HOW THE STORY WOULD CONTINUE AND END.

OKAY YAY I FOUND SOMETHING MIDWAY THROUGH WRITING THIS. HERE'S A POST BY @fuckyeahgoodomens THAT EXPLAINS IT MORE CLEARLY.

THE FANDOM IS CURRENTLY SOBBING AND SO CLINGING ON TO THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THERE WILL BE A HAPPY ENDING, WHICH IS PERSONIFIED BY THE SOUTH DOWNS COTTAGE. IT'S KIND OF A FREUDIAN COPING TACTIC. DON'T QUESTION IT, THERE WILL BE TEARS AND VIOLENCE.

WE DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW FOR CERTAIN THAT THE SOUTH DOWNS COTTAGE IS HOW IT'LL END, BUT THIS IS ALL THE INFORMATION ABOUT IT THAT I HAVE! HOPE IT HELPS.

[mirai-desu]

On the MSATD News

I didn't have time to post a knee-jerk reaction (which those of you from the Downton days know I was apt to do - thank you to all my long term mutuals of my side blog for sticking with me through those days), as I saw the news as I was getting ready to head out for work and it's been… a bit of a day.

Suffice it to say… I am devastated. And my initial reaction was (well after cursing), that it should have ended with S4, but with a different (happier) conclusion. It's called Miss Scarlet AND THE DUKE for a reason. And after all that happened in S4… it really feels like… what was it all for?? Especially if they knew WHEN FILMING THIS?? "Goodbye for now" is NOT "goodbye forever." They really, really really fumbled this.

There's a lot of theories going around, and I will admit it's too hard for me to listen to Stuart's new interview, but going off what other's have said and the parts of the transcript I did manage to read… I just cannot feel like this was actually his decision unless there's something else going on with him (either in his personal life or maybe he has some secret role he's got, because supposedly he hasn't worked since he did ADR on S4). He's been the captain of the ship, and he has always been enthusiastic with discussing the show and had just great insight into playing William. It doesn't feel like he himself was ready to move onto other things (and that's not even how it's worded - some BS about how the show needed it him to be gone for ~longevity~ of the show), like I've seen with other actors are on shows (e.g. Dan Stevens). He still promoted S3 (which came out in the UK after they filmed S4), he still even promoted S4! He was an executive producer for S4!!! Nothing makes sense!

So if it's due to RN… why keep having the other characters say William was only going to be gone a year? Why bother to have the flashback? why bother to have him stay at at Eliza's to recover?? hell I'm surprised they just didn't keep in the coma then--

But really, why even bother to have Eliza write to him? Or have Ivy say what she said to her?? The time apart was supposed to be them looking at their options. They literally foreshadowed him joining Eliza at her agency upon his return. So… what happened?

If it was actually for personal reasons that Stuart left, he has a right to his privacy. But then they should have rewritten S4 to be the end then, since they knew all this time. I can't believe we are getting the full story on this, one way or the other. The more and more I think about it... I do think it was RN's doing though.

Just two nights ago I drafted up a whole meta extolling how one of the best things this show has done has been how they developed William and how he grew as a character. The progression he made as he not only accepted Eliza having a career but encouraging her. His mentorship of Fitzroy. How he came from nothing, from a teenager living on the streets, to become an inspector at Scotland Yard. But they have chosen to toss that all out the window.

Who knows, maybe S5 ends with Eliza deciding to go to New York. But it doesn't seem like they are handling this like Babington's absence in Sanditon. They will make Eliza quickly fall for someone else, and slap fans in the face who have been following their friends to lovers slow burn for five years (because we had to wait for S2 in the first place thanks to the pandemic). And what sucks is that we still got promo saying they are in love with each other. From Stuart, from Kate, from Rachael New herself. We have still gotten promo promoting the romance. Why not have them have a big fight then or something, idk. They gave us hope. And you know what Fellowes says about false hope.

So I'm just supposed to believe that William gives up on Eliza and doesn't return…? No, I cannot. As much as we hated the deaths on DA when they wrote out actors, at least those characters still died in love with their spouses. And while I'd still be foaming at the mouth in anger if they killed him off… yeah.

William's last lines of the show is a flashback including him saying "is it all worth it?" And the answer is… no it's not.