#if you compare these with the actual episodes...

[akiizayoi4869]

The Southern Raiders

Been meaning to make my own post about this episode for a while now, so hear it is. The main thing I hear about this episode is that Aang didn't understand Katara's pain at all but Zuko did. The notion that a genocide survivor doesn't understand another genocide survivor is certainly one hell of a take, and it's very stupid. Are we really going to forget the air nomad genocide?

Aang lost EVERYTHING because of the war. And to make it worse? He feels guilty because he wasn't there to stop it from happening (even though he wouldn't be able to do much since he hadn't mastered the four elements yet) because he ran away from his duties as the avatar. When Aang finds Monk Gyatso's body in the Southern Air Temple episode, he's overcome with so much grief and anger that he triggers the avatar state:

Katara herself even compares what she's been through to what Aang was feeling in this moment by saying "I know how hard it is to lose the people you love! I went through the same thing when I lost my mom." Certainly sounds like two people who understand each other perfectly if you ask me. Also, in the Lost Adventures comics, we're shown that the Fire Nation used a dirty tactic to smoke out any other airbenders that might have escaped from the genocide.

We see how happy Aang was to learn that some airbenders may have survived, only to find out that it was all a lie to capture any remaining survivors. At the end of the comic he looks disappointed and crushed knowing that the possibility that air nomads fell for this trick and were killed as a result.

A lot of people take Katara saying "I knew you wouldn't understand" to Aang as her saying that he doesn't understand her pain, but if you actually look at the context? That's not what she's saying at all. What she means is that she knew that Aang wouldn't understand her need for VENGEANCE. For her desire to kill her mother's killer. Because Aang was taught that revenge isn't the answer. Even though Aang absolutely understands how she felt, something that he says himself:

In both of those moments he felt extreme anger and hatred, both strong negative feelings that would have caused him to lash out and do something that he would regret later on. Who stops him in both cases? Katara. She calms him down (and can I just say that I think it's really poetic that in this specific episode, Aang's words are what calms Katara down in the end, and is why she decided to spare Yohn Rha?) in his moments of rage, something that he's grateful for.

Another argument that I've seen is that Zuko understands her pain more than Aang because he also lost his mother. While I can see why people make this comparison, those are two entirely different situations. Ursa was banished because she protected Zuko from being killed when he was a child. Which means that she's still alive (as we later find out from those horrible comics). Kya, on the other hand, was KILLED because she protected Katara by saying that she was the waterbender that they were looking for. This happened in a genocidal raid by the Fire Nation. Safe to say that Zuko can never understand what that feels like.

Also, it's pretty crazy to me how people can say that Aang was wrong in this episode, when Zuko HIMSELF says that Aang was actually right, and that what Katara needed in the end was revenge. Aang knows Katara a lot better than Zuko does, and he knows that killing the man who killed her mom would have absolutely destroyed Katara because of the kind of person she is. Just like Aang remembering how he killed all of those Fire Nation soldiers in the North Pole while he was in the avatar state and being controlled by his past lives and the ocean spirit caused him to have nightmares and be terrified of what the avatar state can do. Both of them are alike in that regard. The closest thing I can say that Zuko understands about Katara is her anger. Boy spent 3 seasons being angry so he definitely understands that. But other than that? He doesn't understand her, which is to be expected since he just joined them a few episodes ago, and spent a whole year chasing them and trying to capture Aang. So he's just started getting to really know everyone on a personal level. In conclusion, Aang did indeed understand Katara, and his words were exactly what she needed to hear.

[chirpsythismorning]

The Vanishing of BLANK Wheeler

I wanted to make a list, from least likely to most likely, for which Wheeler I think is going to go missing.

But I also wanted to give a little disclaimer first, that even if these titles are real, they could still be fake, or could even possibly change given how much time we still have until s5 actually premieres.

For s2-3, the Duffers literally released official promo videos announcing episode titles for their upcoming season, with some of them changing when the season finally premiered.

Like in the case of s3 for example, they dropped a s3 episode promo video only a day after they completed filming. Meaning them titling 3x06 The Birthday, made absolutely no sense. They knew they didn't film anything birthday related for that episode. So they intentionally gave that one a fake name.

In the case of s4, that was the first time they promoted an upcoming season without giving fake titles, with the s4 promo announcing them following through with what we ended up with when s4 finally dropped.

I guess I sort of assumed s5 would follow in s4's footsteps, but from a leak standpoint, it might be smart to remember that fake titles are still a possiblity regardless. Especially in this case, where it's getting to the point in production where leaks are unavoidable. And so that might even explain why they play with this idea of fake episodes, which is because they can rest easy knowing leaks will mostly consist of half fake titles they planted there.

But for the sake of this post, lets humor the title for episode 2.

For starters, it's worth noting that the person who shared this leak originally said 'BLANK wheeler'. So as far as I know, they did not give any number of letters via underscores (_) to hint at who this Wheeler could possibly be. It's when ST news accounts caught wind of the leak and started rolling out posts, replacing BLANK with 5 underscores, that led a lot of fans to assume that the Wheeler had to have 5 letters in their name, which would have obviously ruled out Ted and Mike. But since all the Wheeler's are still on the table based on the original leak, they will all be included in this list.

5. Ted Wheeler

Believe it or not, there is something that I think actually warrants considering Ted as a possiblity.

There were some posts @stranger-chichka made a while back, comparing visual parallels between Stranger Things and Chernobyl, which could be hinting at this concept of Ted being in danger.

TBH though I think Ted being in danger or ending up dead is a possiblity regardless of him actually being the missing Wheeler.

Technically speaking, quite literally no one on the show is ruled out from being in danger at this point, so that's not saying much.

And considering the show is going to need to kill off some people next season and they are insistent on not killing any of their leads, supporting characters amongst the ranks have a high risk at being taken out. The emotional connection for Ted from the audience isn't as strong as other characters, but at least him being in close relation to a few main characters is something? I mean, he's funny I guess?

Quite frankly I don't think it's likely nor do I think it would actually make sense narratively for Ted to be the one to go missing out of all of them. I think it's a lot more likely they'd just kill him off, hence the Chernobyl parallels which imply he's gonna die. And so wasting time by having him go missing, only to kill him, just doesn't track. I think they'd just get that over with without dragging it out for very long, if anything.

Can you just imagine someone on the show shouting emotionally, It's Dad (Ted). He's gone.' Like, okay... And? I have a hard time imagining the characters being in serious turmoil over this, at least not enough for it to warrant like final season stakes amongst a bunch of other crazy shit happening. At best, the characters would be indifferently guilty for getting him roped into all this.

So yeah, I really don't see it happening.

4. Nancy Wheeler

I honestly feel like Nancy is even less likely to go missing than Ted, but the un-seriousness of an episode titled The Vanishing of Ted Wheeler is so astronomical, that I really had no choice but to put him last.

The reason I think Nancy is just very unlikely to go missing is because they technically already had her go missing as a cliffhanger between Vol 1 and 2 last season. It would just fall flat if they repeated something along those lines, with that same character, 3 episodes later. Vecna could have killed her and yet he didn't. His point was to send her a message, which was why he did what he did and then released her. The choice to target Nancy and taunt her about her family's safety in the first place, felt like their attempt at foreshadowing the danger that is to come for all of them, but one specifically. One of them that is not her. Which will make this moment back in s4 feel a lot more impactful upon rewatches.

So yeah, not feeling like Nancy is very likely.

3. Karen Wheeler

Karen is sort of a hard nut to crack all around. In the case that she is somehow connected to the Creels (Alice), anything is possible in terms of not only her being targeted, but again the entire family being at risk in some capacity. Without much to go off of outside of the obvious very haphazard timeline confusion, I feel like putting her somewhere in the middle. She was given a poster for s4. If she is Alice, then yeah it would make sense to target her. The stakes are also a lot stronger in comparison to Ted, because she was the parent in the family that actually came to Mike or Nancy and told them verbally that she wanted them to open up to her and is actually shown trying on several occasions. Whereas Ted is sort of just there when he's on screen. So the characters' distress would be a lot more dire and interesting to see unfold amongst everyone.

I also remember there being a leak in relation to Karen, Holly, Mike and Nancy all being at the hospital filming. And this was also like a day or so after ST dropped a video of Cara saying she was filming that day to hype up fans. So that leak did check out on the Karen front at least. Which puts her at the hospital at some point, potentially along with the rest of the Wheelers. Now that I'm thinking about it though, this could all fit with a Ted Wheeler death...

At this point, I'm sort of like indifferent to the possiblity, but it's still more likely than Ted and Nancy to me.

2. Holly Wheeler

It all goes back to s1, when Karen was visiting the Byers to console Joyce after Will went missing, when Holly sort of ventures off to Will's room, being guided by the lights, and sees the demogorgan in the wall.

I feel like people overlook this moment too, because it's kind of crazy that Holly has seen UD shit for herself. She was young enough that she could rule it out as just imagining things. And that could be partly the case even if she is skeptical.

There is something about Holly that makes her curious and sort of open to this world that most around her have no idea exists. And yet simultaneously some of the people closest to her do know about it and could easily clue her in when the time comes to do so, and because of that, I think she would probably be able to believe it all a lot faster than others.

Maybe this is a story where things need to happen and it just always ends up this way, but she has this tendency to be included in things that feel very important. Like in s4 with her playing with the lite-brite, and how that ended up being used to communicate with the others in the UD. There's this almost clairvoyance vibe about her. Her feeling the need to follow the Christmas lights to Will's room and her noticing and then fixating on the trees in s3.

Like I said, I don't know if it's something deeper, but it very well could be in the case she is connected to the Creels.

And while that is all somewhat compelling, at the same time it also feels very convoluted. Even if the Wheelers are Creels, I don't think that means the Wheelers would have powers, given that Henry got them when he was a child, meaning none of his family could have gotten them unless they too were taken in by the lab at some point, or were born with it.

Though I'm being full serious when I say the theories about Mike having time powers or maybe just manifestations from his emotions connected to the powers of others around him is one of my favorite theories of all time. I want it to happen. It would be cool. But that just opens the door to all of the Wheelers in my opinion, assuming his time powers came from being related to Henry. And if it was done that way, I feel like it would add way too much confusion to the story, where now all the Wheelers are gonna need to have powers, and then as a result would just takes away from the uniqueness that is already associated with Henry, El and potentially Will. One person potentially having powers without us knowing until the end aka Will, is enough honestly. Adding the Wheelers to the mix might be a bit much.

I'm also not totally convinced of the Wheeler's being Creels, and yet I also can't seem to want to rule it out entirely. But the prospects of Holly having powers or some sort of ability and just going through the same thing as Will when he was young and unaware of his powers, who is just now finding out the truth about his experiences... It just feels like serious whiplash honestly, when they haven't spent much of any time on Holly up to this point.

Like what are the stakes here exactly? What makes her disappearance and what that would look like compelling, on her front specifically? Because sure, I can see it being compelling watching the perspective of those around her reacting to this, what they would do to try to save her and all that, but what does that mean for her exactly? Are we going to see what she's doing? Are they going to hide it from us like they did with Will and then have to spend even more time uncovering it later on. And what does she even gain from being alone and taunted by Vecna presumably? What does the audience gain from witnessing that sort of event? There isn't a lot of story to explore there, outside of maybe making direct parallels to Will in s1? And then wouldn't that sort of take away from the importance of Will's role in it all just now being uncovered, if it all just repeats for Holly?

Which brings me to something that I see a lot of people using as strong evidence for why it has to be Holly, which is the fact that they recast her character.

What I think people are failing to consider is the fact that the twins who were cast to play Holly originally, were like 3-4 years old while filming s1. They weren't just kid actors, they were damn near baby actors. And while I know a big part of the reason why they gave Holly such few lines over the years was because the actors were aging way faster than the character they played, I think another factor could have been the fact that their acting experience is near nothing outside of Stranger Things, which is also pretty little on its own as well given that they have very few lines on the show.

It's not at all uncommon for child actors, let alone toddler actors to leave the industry once they start getting older. It could be for personal reasons, like wanting to explore other ventures, or it could be that they just don't perform as well with all the added expectations that come with acting as a character who is a kid with a lot of lines vs. a baby with 2 lines.

The girls got cast because at the time, they were able to perform as well as a 3 year old possibly could and would be expected to be in that role. But does that skill carry forth as they grew older? When now they have to deliver full sentences and carry conversations for scenes that are longer than 5 minutes? They've never really had to do that up to this point. Is it something that they feel comfortable with doing? Is their performance believable and is it something the writers feel confident about?

Honestly, I think they might have recast Holly, not because I think she is going to be targeted and focused on as this missing person they have to find, going through a near identical situation to 11 year old Will, but because they simply want her to be more apart of the story in general. And maybe because either the twins and/or the production didn't feel that they would be able to perform it in the way that they wanted it to be done.

And I mean, even if Holly isn't the one to go missing, one of the Wheelers is going to go missing based on this leak. If it was one of her parents, she would get a lot more scenes than she has in the past. If it was one of her siblings, again it would make sense for her to be more involved with the story. No matter what she is going to have a bigger role.

So no I don't think her being recast is as strong enough of proof as some might believe. If anything I think there is much stronger evidence that, like Karen, if they are related to the Creels, Holly is as fair game as any of them. The stakes could be high because she i such s a child. And her parents and Nancy and Mike worrying about her seems like something they would obviously do because she is so innocent and completely ill-equipped to endure something like that. But like I said, I just can't picture an focus like that on her, for her character, being very compelling given that Holly isn't really someone that needs like alone time with us witnessing it...

But there is one Wheeler left, and boy oh boy would he benefit from being alone.

1. Mike Wheeler

The most simple explanation for why it makes sense for it to be Mike, is that he genuinely benefits more than anyone when it comes to being alone with his thoughts, and with the audience watching. There's a lot of stuff dude has to work through in his own head, and since they haven't really let us have a moment alone with him that isn't under ten seconds since s3, an episode or two dedicated to making that a priority would make him coming back and things building up to the end, feel a lot more earned.

The audience needs to feel confident about how Mike feels about things. It can't be a guessing game for much longer when so many different factors are involved.

And while I think Mike may be the strongest possiblity in terms of the value it would add to the overall story is compelling enough to put him at number 1, the evidence supporting it happening is even stronger.

If we want to be crazy we can go back to the beginning. Plenty of fans have already speculated about how Mike is always late at the start of every season and how that might play into the beginning of season 5 again. I made a post about this recently and speculated it would happen one last time around the 15 minute mark. And maybe I was wrong... but maybe I was also right? Because if the second episode is called The Vanishing of Mike Wheeler, it's likely Mike's fate wouldn't be confirmed by the opening of 5x01, but in fact the closing scene of 5x01.

Throughout the show Mike plays a key role in leading the others, he's even referred to as 'the key' in s3 by Hopper. You know this show and their keys, they don't joke about that sort of thing. It's likely that Mike's story and what it is leading to is going to be central to how all of this ends.

Also in s3, there is one scene in particular that I think could be hinting at Mike being targeted, along with the s4 main poster with all of the characters. In the poster, we see El at the top, with Max and Mike as near equals on each side of her. Of course their roles are central and that's a fair layout on it's own arguably, but the equal-ness provided to Mike and Max feels very intentional. While she is slightly bigger than Mike in the frame, that could be a hint in regards to her being central now in s4, with Mike joining the mix alongside her in s5. Honestly, they could have made it so these two were beside other characters that also played a huge role in s4, and yet they chose those two to give a specific focus to. I think that is interesting (and probably intentional).

But if I'm being honest, there are so many moments in s4 specifically that hint at Mike being in danger, that I will not be able to include it all in detail in this post. So I'm going to link those below and then build off of some of it with some new details I've recovered that are worth re-contextualizing again with all of this in mind.

Hints regarding Mike and Will being targets of the town, but Mike specifically being focused on after the word 'missing' is said...

I'm gonna expand on this one because I think it's important to recognize the massive curtain in the background as this is all happening. And I vaguely reference this concept here as well which is worth checking out. But not is this whole concept of the curtain pretty blatant in this episode, this scene of the town all fleeing to hunt down hellfire club, is followed directly after, by this:

Notice how Mike is nearly always central in these moments? And how what follows feels eerily similar to what is about to go down at the end of s4 aka Suzie = Mike.

Now, this has already been talked about plenty so I won't go into detail, but... based on everything else happening surrounding this, this would apply to Mike in the sense that not only is he not in love with El, he's gay and in love with Will aka a boy. A BOY!

And then this mention of 'the terrible truth'. This word has been used like 3 times in the last few minutes. First intensely during Jason's speech about a terrible truth, with Ted and Karen being focused on with the Mike and Will extra in the background.

But what is even more crazy is that what follows sort of seals the deal for me that, this IS about Mike and it's foreshadowing what is about to come in s5.

5:02... 5x02!!!!

Also peep the watch and the letter from Dustin under it... I don't want to speculate but lettergate is looking extra relevant within all of this as well...

And to close off this point, lets show the shot that follows directly after this one.

Then later in the season, after Nancy is back from being taken by Vecna, here we have this long and emotional pause before she says Mike's name, last after her mom and Holly.

If they wrote and filmed this scene, knowing Mike would be the Wheeler missing early s5, it would make sense for them to list off the characters like this.

Mike peeking in the frame at this moment is not suspicious at all...

If it wasn't enough that Jason hyped up the whole town to see the Hellfire club as their enemy responsible for all of this, here we have a focus on Mike specifically being targeted by Jason.

The Duffer's statement about the show overall in the Piggyback script, and I gotta say it fits Mike a lot more than any of the other Wheelers.

Mike is a Paladin. And when they break an oath, they might spend an all-night vigil as a sign of penitence... aka everything is going to come to a head and Mike is going to be alone dealing with this shit for a bit, until he can come back ready to face it.

And I know it's controversial, but this post explains perfectly why Mike being central to this would make the show go full circle in a really compelling way.

Mike hasn't really unpacked...

Karen lookalike standing in front of the missing persons board. Could be any one of them but still, considering the costume of this extra looks closer to what Karen was wearing when she reunited and hugged Mike... I'm gonna put it more so with him.

Mike's guilt and shame regarding the past and what it has led them to could also play a big role and why him going missing would be worthwhile to explore. Part 1 / Part 2

Mike paralleling Yuri, who eventually reveals the truth (in his pocket) after stalling. If Mike parallels him all throughout the start of that moment, what does that mean for how it ends for Mike?

An antique funeral home fan behind Mike in the s4 character promo photos in the Creel attic, how Mike is seen sitting before Will sits beside him shortly after and it involving upside down imagery, Mike's first line in the show being used to later foreshadow his fate in early s5, and also bringing it back to Suzie's house which I already went into but it might be helpful to look at it again from this lens.

The Duffers would not pass up on the opportunity to parallel Mike with Finn's other character Richie in IT, which is literally based on a book that heavily inspired ST in the first place. And how all of that plays into the queer-coding for Mike going all the way back to s1.

The Duffers revealed after posting the funko-pop shotplanning pictures (2) that they were finished with planning for 5x01-5x02.... meaning this shot of Mike all by himself, is going to occur in one of those episodes...

We could still hypothesize Holly is the one to be taken, given that she doesn't have a funko and so they couldn't include her here regardless. But the fact that Nancy is with the other seems to imply to me that they are all likely working together to get Mike back, who is alone.

This one is a little more hard to pinpoint for sure, but it comes from a BTS Ross posted recently.

We are clearly in the Wheeler's house here. And if you zoom in, it looks like someone is standing (hiding?) behind a doorway/curtain. And the only person that seems to fit it imo is Mike... But why would he be hiding in his own house...?

It just makes me think about what is going on with Mike in early s5. What would be occurring that has him in this sort of situation? And it makes me wonder if him going missing has solely to do with him being taken and gone in one single moment, or if it could involve him avoiding his family and others potentially, with him being taken after that.

Lastly, I'm going to go into more choppy territory, stuff I know only a couple of people will actually consider. But it is pretty fucking fitting of what is about to go down so I can't not mention it.

In the Puzzle Tales' most recent Hellfire Campaign, this is the title...

Like the whole chapter is just a big joke on Mike about him being scared to be alone, which is painfully ironic if this is the direction the show is about to go for the next 2 upcoming episodes.

And then we have a song WSQK posted on Twitter back in January. I know people don't believe that this account is connected with anyone in the production, which is fair because I myself rarely believe leaks from anonymous accounts as it is. But I've been keeping up with it and it genuinely doesn't seem like a fan could come up with these songs.

The song I'm about to mention is the 7th song they posted, called Army Dreamers by Kate Bush. And you might fight it sounds a lot like the situation Mike might find himself in in early s5.

And though I'm sure I didn't cover everything, I feel like all the things I've mentioned and referenced from other posts are plenty to at least consider this as opposed to rejecting it all together.

At the end of the day I think there are some valid arguments for all of them to some extent. And quite frankly all of the Wheelers and most of the characters in the show will find themselves in danger in a way that is going to probably last longer than just one single moment the entire season. So even if it's just one of them, I don't think that rules out the others playing a bigger role in what is going down.

I just think narratively, there is one person that benefits from being on-screen and alone with their thoughts. And the other 4 being confronted with what that person discovers eventually will also make all of this a lot more worthwhile than any of the other options in my opinion.

[starstriix]

can we talk about just how effective jock would’ve been in pushing a jo character arc. It’s not just the fact that Brick acts as a good moral compass, but it’s also how he encompasses EVERYTHING jo tries to avoid (he’s open with his femininity, emotional, sensitive, clumsy etc) and jo…still likes and respects him??

Like, she views him as an equal to the point of overestimating him (you and I both know that mf was trying his hardest in the thumb wrestling scene and jo was all “oh he hardly tried!! what a gentleman!!☺️” GIRL YOU NEARLY BROKE HIS THUMB). You can tell she genuinely enjoys competing with Brick, and she’s never bored whenever they interact. She’s often the one to go up and talk to him, despite beating him time and time again. Jo views him as a worthy competitor even after witnessing him being the most embarrassing man alive (who the fuck tries to dislocate their hip to impress a girl) and pissing himself.

The point is, Jo clearly holds Brick in somewhat of a higher regard despite him showing weakness so often. And that’s important because Jo’s main driving force is not wanting to appear weak.

You can see little moments of her showing care or concern before immediately switching back to her cutthroat attitude. Caring is a “”weakness”” that prevents you from winning (demonstrated by Brick in episode 7). When Jo volunteers to have makeup put on her, she immediately covers it up with a facade of toughness and says she’s “only [doing it] for the good of the team” (Compare this to Brick’s “Yeah, you heard me.” after announcing his dream of going to fashion school). She’s definitely struggling with internalised misogyny and associating femininity with weakness, but that’s an essay for another day.

Brick shows so much “weakness” and yet she still somewhat respects and even cares for him more than the other contestants. And I find that SO interesting.

Especially because he's her rival??? Their relationship is the embodiment of competition. Overcompetitiveness (or toxic competitiveness) is one of Jo's most glaring flaws, so to have her actually care about the one she should be against the MOST? It's a really good way of showing her overcoming her own toxic competitiveness.

Also, the parallels between Jo basically kick-starting Brick's character arc about prioritising the wellbeing of others...and then having Brick be a focal point in a Jo arc about prioritising the wellbeing of others...chef's kiss

I'd also like to add a little detail in relation to Jo's contestant biography. Specifically on her weird dream about letting a guy win because she thought he was "attractive." Yes this was hinting at Brick idc it was way too specific and odd compared to the other dreams, and Brick is the only guy we know who constantly competed against her (and lost). And I'm definitely reading into this too much, but it's actually quite interesting how her subconscious attraction to the guy overpowered her very, VERY intense need to win. Guess that's why it was a weird dream, but it still makes me think about the potential of Jo sacrificing her win for someone she grew to care for. Also I want representation of masc women in relationships that aren’t just played off as a joke

I can go on about this all night (I wish I could) but yeah. I really wish they'd give Jo a proper character arc because she really deserved one. She deserves to be able to grow and develop because she's a great fucking character, and Brick was literally the key to all of that. Peace out

[osbcrne]

Hannigram and Verger Family analysis

TW: MARGOT AND WILL'S STOMACH SCARS MENTIONED AND IMAGES (underneith the cut)

HOLY SHIT YALL IM BACK WITH ANOTHER REALIZATION

so i just realized that wills "c section esque" scar he got from hannibal in mizumono might actually look that way for a reason

it could be symbolic to a hysterectomy because hannibal took their child away, and had to give Will scar somehow. And i mean, will technichally is the mother, he killed abigail's father placing her in his custody- hannibal only helped with it. Just how the criminals in season 1 (angelmaker, georgia madchen, abel gideon, etc) and their crime scenes were DIRECTLY paralleled to the progression of wills encephalitis and the state of his mental well being, Margot getting a hysterectomy from mason basically directly parallels will getting abigail taken from him.

Also, Margot choosing to have sex with Will specifically, and the child coming into their lives and then almost immediately being taken away (BY HANNIBALS DOING) forshadows abigail coming back and then almost immediately after, her death. Will empathized with margot (WHO HE KNEW WAS GAY, or at least hannibal did, it was stated in the script but was cut from the final product) about the lack of a child, which is literally the only reason had sex with her (he thought about the stag man the whole time anyway...)

This one specific conversation in the episode Tome-Wan is very important. Will says to hannibal, "you're fostering codependency. isn't that what you did to abigail? got her to take a life so she would owe you hers?" That's exactly what hannibal is doing to margot- trying to get her to kill mason so she would owe herself to hannibal. it also connects abigail and margot in a way.

continuing the conversation, will says "i bond with abigail, you take her away. i bond with barely more than the idea of a child, you take it away... you don't want me to have anything in my life that's not you." Hannibal, knowing very well the consequences, told mason about margot's plans and had the child taken forcibly away from her.

Hannibal also directly took abigail away from will, by cutting her throat in front of him. both of these things ended with a scar, margot's from the hysterectomy, will's from hannibal's knife, but it looks oddly familiar to margot's. Also remember, right before wills and margot got together, the two of them compared scars. (MORE ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT)

Also i know this is kind of a strange comparison considering mason and his intentions, but in the episode Naka-Choko, this exchange happens:

margot is unable to kill mason because despite all the horrible things he does to her, deep down she still loves him and can't bring herself to do it. who does this sound like to you? yep- Hannibal and Will. Now bviously hannibal and will's love is very different from the verger's, but it's still a parallel

i can't believe i didn't realize it before but there's a LOT LOT LOT of parallels between hannigram and the vergers. one of them being they all were with alana (minus mason) 😭

thank you to a post by this user on tiktok for helping me realize this (idk why it won't let me link)

anyway, happy c2e2!! take cool pics w/ mads and hugh! i'll be watching the live stream of the panel tomorrow!

[ladyvialana]

Very much enjoyed the first season of The Dead Boy Detectives.

It was fun, with great characters, interesting storylines, good pacing, and a fantastic ability to balance light-hearted storytelling with some pretty fucked up content at times.

Episode 1 was a little clunky and exposition heavy, but it's only really in that first episode (unlike fucking Wednesday!) and it's pretty easy to look past once they get into the main story. The rest of the episodes are much smoother.

Character interactions are great and all of the characters feel rounded with an actual backstory that influences their interactions and distinct personalities and traits that affect their actions. They're not just plot devices or vehicles for narrative.

Before going into any more detail, I'll just say I really enjoyed it. It's probably not as sophisticated or polished writing or style-wise as The Sandman, but it's still a really good spin off. I'd almost put it in the same vein, tone-wise, as The Umbrella Academy, though perhaps not as irreverent. Much better than similar Netflix teen supernatural dramas like Wednesday or Sabrina (and probably more mature and sophisticated, storytelling-wise than those shows).

I really enjoyed it, am looking forward to/hoping for a second season, and will definitely be watching again.

*

More detailed spoilers under the cut for those interested in my opinions about a few specific storylines/characters/episodes:

*

SPOILERS:

I am honestly surprised we don't have more people hitting on Charles. He is genuinely charming and charismatic as well as kind of open and sincere. Like, Edwin's a standoffish Edwardian public school boy with weird interests and zero people skills. I adore him. But he has negative charisma, especially compared to Charles' eyeliner and grin. Like, why is everyone chasing after Edwin? It's a role reversal I can definitely get behind, but no one is trying to get up into Charles' personal space aside from Crystal? Really??? And even she probably wouldn't have gone for it if he hadn't made it obvious he was interested in her first. Like, I really do get what the writers were trying to go with here, but it's one of those choices that kind of stretch narrative believability a little.

In saying all of that, I'm kind of a sucker for queer pining arcs that could go either way. So the not-so-subtle reveal of Edwin's feelings was both beautiful and painful in the best ways.

Episode 7 was a highlight for me. I'd been waiting for the pay-off from Edwin's backstory and the hellfire sword hanging over his head. But the flashback to Charles' death was probably my favourite scene in the series. Everything about that episode was fantastic, from the tension to the individual mini character arcs in the episodes (Nico coming in clutch with her reading comprehension skills! Crystal finally kicking David's ass!), to the beautiful release of the confession in Hell. I loved all of the insight we got into all of the main characters, knowing the truth of the kind of people they are. Knowing that, yeah, these are all good people who would do anything to help, and who love fiercely. But also, that doing what you can for the people you love sometimes involves meat cleavers and Molotov cocktails.

[tommykinard6]

I don't mean to pile onto your bad day but I've been seeing a lot of creators on tiktok complain/compare the bucktommy and henren tags/fic count on ao3 because there's almost more bucktommy fics then there are henren fics. The number one claim is always that bucktommy writers are racist because we don't write for henren. But like, that's not correct at all? People can write fanfiction for whatever they want to. If they want to see more henren stuff then they can write it on their own.

We can coexist without fighting each other. I'm just tired of people screaming about how bucktommy is anti this or anti that, when we're just vibing by ourselves and don't want the drama but the drama finds us anyway because Sucky People are loud and get heard the most.

You’re good, anon. It actually gave me something to think about during work.

As a quick disclaimer, before we begin, I’m not a POC. I am not speaking for anyone in the Black community and am not attempting to speak over them. My following thoughts are as a queer woman-ish who is also a writer.

I think it must be noted that Hen and Karen have been overlooked since day one. The fact that Buck coming out made it the “gay firefighter show” when we’ve had a beautiful canonical lesbian couple since the very beginning? Is only proof. Is this proof of racism in the fandom? Maybe. Quite possibly. I would argue that it comes from a misogynistic point as well.

If you look in any fandom, regardless of the color of their skin, any wlw ship is horribly overlooked. I’ve done some tag searching on ao3. Straight and mlm ships battle for dominance while there are canonical and fanonical wlw ships that have a drastic difference in numbers. This isn’t a good thing. But it’s an experience that spans fandoms.

I find it sad that BuckTommy has almost more fics, with only two episodes under their belt, than Henren with 7 seasons. However, this isn’t a reason to hate on BuckTommy. The ship didn’t do anything wrong. Comparison is the thief of joy and it’s also rage bait. I think that some creators simply are using anything they can to hate on BuckTommy. Which that makes it sadder, that they aren’t concerned about Henren other than pushing their own agenda.

This isn’t to say all creators who are speaking about this are doing this, but I guarantee some are.

Now, let me speak as a writer.

As someone with 62 published fics on ao3, I write almost exclusively mlm ships. This isn’t because I hate women. And as a queer woman-ish, don’t even start about homophobia. But for some reason, I find it so much easier to write men than I do to write women. This is true for straight and wlw ships and also just in general. I love Henren, but I don’t have the faintest idea about how to write them.

It’s hard enough to write as it is and I’m already writing on ships that are easy for me. I try to write women and it just hasn’t come out right. I want to challenge myself, branch out, and maybe I’ll write for Henren to do that. But I say all this to point out that for some people like me, writing some ships and demographics of ships are just a little more difficult.

That leads me into something else.

I, as a white person, worry about accidentally writing non-white characters wrong. And this was reinforced not too long ago when we had that whole thing on ao3 with deliberate racism in 9-1-1 fics. If anyone has resources or advice for writing non-white characters, I would love to hear that! The last thing I want to do is cause any harm.

I feel like I’ve spoken a lot about me, but that’s because I can’t really speak for anyone else. I can only speak from my experience.

We already have a ship war between BuckTommy and Buddie. We don’t need to pit more people against each other. I think we can love BuckTommy while agreeing that Henren needs to be seen and appreciated and treated equally.

End note to say: I tried to speak as delicately and as sensitively as I could, but if anything came out wrong, please feel free to point it out (kindly). Again, I speak for no one but my very little section of the world. I’m interested to hear what people of other backgrounds have to add!

[sonkitty]

Crowley S2 Hair Post #19 Redone

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 2, The Clue, the pub

...

Introduction

This scene!!! Pay attention (if you like this kind of stuff). This one is important. This sideburns thing is a game, and this scene introduces us to one of the most difficult rules to grasp of that game (beyond "What is exactly is your point with all this, Crowley?").

...

Sideburns Check

The sideburns are longer than expected to be found in a human space. The pub is crowded with humans. If we've figured out the nature of the game by now, it has us on guard because the basic premise has been proximity to humans makes them shorter with time required from the car and distance required from the bookshop. No Gabriel is around to make them longer. We don't know how long Crowley drove before arriving, only assume that he did. We later learn he parked across the street from the pub instead of the coffee shop in this episode.

This length, as best I can tell, most closely resembles his sideburn length from being in Hell (which would then include before and after summoning but difficult to compare with much darker hair at night in the car). The left one is not as full in hair. The lighting of the scene favors Crowley's left side when he sits down at the table.

That sideburn length is a demon-space length, not a human-space length.

So, what happened?

This space's threshold is bigger than Crowley. There's more to it than being bigger, but we have to start there because of things that will happen later.

The pub's threshold starts with a door frame when entered. It has two wooden doors with windows. It also has a panel along the right door frame's right side. The panel does not end with a door. It ends with a post. Across from that post is yet another post on the wall.

The length between the door and this panel is the threshold. That's enough space to be bigger than Crowley. This bigger threshold has no roof.

Because the threshold has two doors and two different types of ends, it also has two lanes, one for each door. The right door has a lane from it to the end of the panel with a post. The left door has a lane from it to the post on the wall.

While we do not see Crowley's sideburn length before he entered, the camera zoom onto the pub sign actually does show us, below the sign, that only the right door is open inward to the space itself. That will be re-confirmed on exit.

Eventually, I figured out, and had to make the assumption from the clues, Crowley switched lanes on entry in this threshold that is bigger than him. Later on, with the music shop the story will show short sideburns before entering another bigger threshold.

I figure that's enough of a clue that the sideburns would have been short before entry here. Given the clues from this episode itself, Crowley drove for some time, and he had the plants with him in the car.

When Crowley and Aziraphale are shown walking in, Aziraphale is closer to the panel and the post there. Meanwhile, Crowley is to Aziraphale's left and walking along a rug. That's the indication Crowley's in the left lane while Aziraphale is in the right lane.

That's the trick for this bigger threshold: "switched lanes".

When Crowley exits, he sticks to the lane by the panel and door that will make them short. If it makes any difference—and it probably does given how particular the game is—the door that is open, is open inward toward the space of the threshold instead of outward toward the street.

The blocking and framing of both Crowley and Aziraphale on exit may further contribute. Aziraphale's head is shown as being to Crowley's right, then blocks Crowley's face, then is shown to Crowley's left as Aziraphale himself is shown near and eventually in front of the doorknob. He then moves to Crowley's right again after Aziraphale himself has cleared the way out of the door frame.

A possible factor I don't understand is that Crowley parked his car near the pub instead of the coffee shop that particular episode.

I will go over this part of The Bigger Thresholds Trick a little more in the Earthly Objects section.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

Crowley's hair is notably more saturated from the last scene in the car, so the streak can be hard to find just because of that. The streak starts a little further to his left of where we often see it starting above the center of his left eye. Now it starts more at his left end of his left eye. Instead of going upward from that center, it ventures to Crowley's right, then still managing to actually be above the center of his left eye.

...

Hairstyle Changes

Even through the sideburns, the left one has less hair than before, matching more like Crowley's being summoned to Hell.

The biggest difference at first glance is the saturation. The story has hinted that the Bentley, when isolated, may generally make the hair darker as it is, even if Crowley hasn't zapped red lightning out of himself.

Otherwise, the actual shape is quite similar from the last present day scene. Styles change even during scenes. One I am able to find and check swoops in on both sides, just like in the car, with possibly being a little more centered in how the sides curve out from the top. From the front, there is a slight tilt to the right. The curving hair also looks more smooth.

...

Earthly Objects

(For reference: Earthly Objects)

We have arrived at our third Threshold Trick!

Here are some GIFs to start us off:

This one is The Bigger Thresholds Trick. In addition to being the third to start overall, it's the second Complex Threshold Trick to start. It will be the first Threshold Trick to conclude in episode 6, making it the second to conclude overall.

This Threshold Trick is the second one I found though it is the one anyone studying the sideburns is likely to start to sense first. That's primarily because there are so many humans yet the sideburns are long.

The first one I really found was The Door Trick, and I do think the game is designed that way on purpose. That way, an audience player circles back after finding The Pocket Trick to play the intense Rainbow Connection portion—among other things—to solve The Door Trick further with its connection to The Door Catch.

All the same, with The Door Trick in mind, that meant I should take a good, long hard look at the thresholds and overall spaces throughout the story.

I kept looking at this pub's space. There had to be something special about the place. Was it with where Mr. Brown was when? Was it with how a car outside the pub moved as Crowley moved?

It was the threshold!

The threshold is bigger than Crowley. That explained this one but not the music shop since I hadn't figured out that one's threshold was bigger too. An audience player is unlikely to realize the Heaven elevator is one of the three until figuring out the music shop's threshold is also bigger than Crowley but has a different solution for the trick ("never let go of the door").

This pub visit is the Double of The Bigger Thresholds Trick. The visual marker for the Double is the two posts to mark the end of each lane for the bigger threshold.

How do pockets work with this one? Besides a certain pocket touch that will happen during the scene itself, probably something to do with the shadows. My play isn't good enough to determine more than that at this time. Crowley's leg shadows are making a pocket on the rug itself and a human's back of their jacket at some point. The pocket disappears over the course of the entry. Shadows and backs are really important later for The Door Trick and The Door Catch.

On exit, Aziraphale's head switch, switches the pockets Crowley is in. First, Crowley is pocketed between Aziraphale and a human wearing a hat. After the switch, Crowley is pocketed between the entry's left door and Aziraphale. Then, in turn, Aziraphale ends up pocketed between Crowley's actual head and the shadow of his own head that ends up on the entry's right door frame.

What does it all mean besides general trickery? You got me. Still, they're doing stuff. I've said I think Crowley is the top tier—the best—player of the game. I think Aziraphale is probably second best. As good as Crowley is, he can't do these more advanced moves for The Bigger Thresholds Trick without an assistant at the level of Aziraphale and later Muriel.

Crowley trusting Muriel is one of the special traits about this Threshold Trick. It starts with recognizing that Aziraphale is acting as the assistant the first two times, then really shines through once a player understands how important pockets are and what Muriel is doing for the third bigger threshold.

Anyway, let's set the threshold trickery aside and take a look at what actually happens during the visit to the pub. Then we still have to pay attention to the pockets a little more.

I'm not going to name each set as a set since I'm not sure. But there are multiple sets in this scene.

The walk on the rug is its own earthly object touch.

Crowley saying, "Ah, we're going to the pub," is like a "Hello".

Aziraphale is doing a self-touch with his hands.

Crowley asks a question, "What's wrong with the coffee shop?"

When Aziraphale touches Crowley's chest, I think that counts as an acceptable touch since Crowley makes no visible effort to deny it. Supernatural beings are allowed reciprocal touches between each other. As in, when Gabriel hugged Aziraphale in episode 1, Aziraphale didn't hug him back but also had an uneasy look on his face. That ensured no point for that touch. Crowley doesn't touch Aziraphale back here, but that's not what's expected from the nature of the touch. At the very least, he doesn't pull away. The scene establishes it is Aziraphale who removes the hand at some point with a human obscuring the removal of the touch when that happens.

Aziraphale has a miracle touch on the two humans he gets to leave. His vendetta against the backs of chairs is active here, so the story cuts away when he actually sits down. This vendetta is possibly related to how utterly important Aziraphale's back is during The Door Catch and using the shadows of the green leaves on his coat to maintain the Rainbow Connection at Green.

Crowley's arm on the counter while ordering the drinks is another touch for him. The human he speaks to is holding a rag or towel. Crowley uses the name, "Lady Bracknell" He makes a brief pocket with his left arm, and it's the most clear shot of his watch during the visit.

Mr. Brown is holding both a newspaper and a cup when he arrives. He says, "Mr. Fell!" so that's a name.

Aziraphale looks him over, sees the earthly object touches, and replies with, "Oh...Hello".

Mr. Brown introduces himself by name and is shown seating himself. We'll cover him more later in the story commentary.

There is a question from Aziraphale with, "I did?"

When Crowley arrives at the table, he sets Aziraphale's glass down on the table. He already has his own glass of whiskey. He uses a pocket touch and greets Mr. Brown with a "Hello". The pocket touch is the four fingers of his right hand going into the pocket while keeping the thumb outside the pocket. The result of this touch is the most familiar form of the pocket touches in The Pocket Trick. Only the Double doesn't use it. The Door Trick uses the result of this form too. Those touches never show the fingers going in.

Now something important here that happens—and I've never named it in my pocket posts because I've never figured it out—is that Crowley smiles during this pocket touch.

For every touch in The Pocket Trick, he is not smiling when the pocket touch is on screen. The same goes for The Door Trick, where he is standing extremely still. One of the reasons I think this smiling and lacking smiling is important is the ending credits. It stands out that Aziraphale visibly smiles before he and Crowley are blurred away from being seen in the credits.

It also stands out that Crowley doesn't smile. On its own, that gives me a sense of unease and discomfort.

With the game, I have to consider he might not be smiling because he is still following some advanced pocket trickery rules. Even though he doesn't smile, the lighting lights him up enough that if you take your eyes off Aziraphale long enough and look at Crowley instead, you can see that he has a self-made pocket of hair containing part of the edge of the roof briefly. There actually is a second even smaller self-made pocket of hair. Look for it about when "Health" is near Crowley's shoulder.

Crowley closes his eyes, re-opens his eyes, and then narrows his eyes with a look toward Aziraphale's side of the screen. He does these things before he is blurred and faded from view.

Are these good things or bad things? Well, if the credits scrolling over Crowley are any indication, they are good things because "Good Omens" appears over Crowley's shot twice.

Still, Season 3 isn't going to start off saying everything is fine, never mind, no problems, or whatever. The emotions during the argument were tense and presumably real.

Another reason I consider the smiling important is that my absolute favorite smile of Crowley's in the entirety of Good Omens 2 is when he is standing with his back to the edge of the elevator doors in Heaven. Those are different pocket circumstances compared to what's in The Pocket Trick and The Door Trick. He has the thumbs and thumb joints of the Tied Hands pocketed in his vest, his actual hands not pocketed, and his back to the edges of where two doors—pocket doors—meet. Pocket doors are sliding doors, and elevator doors slide. So, for some reason, that set of circumstances allows him a smile.

Alright, so back to the pub scene.

Mr. Brown uses Aziraphale's "Mr. Fell" name when talking to Crowley.

When Aziraphale drinks, he's shown from the back, shown from the front, and shown from the back. His fingers obscure much of the drink itself and are enough so that a touch would be more credited toward the cup itself. If he gets any credit for the drink, it's from the three different shots of him drinking, I would guess. He's shown finishing off the drink before leaving the table

Various names and questions continue during the conversation. Both do self-touches at times, and sometimes Crowley's touch on his glass of whiskey is seen.

Crowley is shown drinking the whiskey just before getting up to leave. He ensures the index fingertip and middle fingertip are shown on the glass but not the tips for the other digits. The thumb is obscured by the glass itself. Like the coffee in episode 1, that's probably Crowley's way of preferring credit for the drink than for the touch on the glass.

For paying attention to the pockets, there is of course the pocket touch Crowley did when talking to Mr. Brown. He actually moves the thumb tip on the pocket a bit after Mr. Brown talks to him and before sitting down.

It doesn't look like a big deal on its own, but it's happening in the first touch of The Bigger Thresholds Trick and in the episode where The Pocket Trick officially starts. So, it's probably some silly prerequisite to The Pocket Trick itself while ensuring a pocket touch of some of a hand is going into a pocket during this particular touch in The Bigger Thresholds Trick. The CMC right thumb joint touches the jacket's edge in the process. The metacarpophalangeal joint is touching the belt loop. Plus, there's that smile. The music shop will get The Pocket Trick's Double where thumbs go into pants pockets instead of fingers. Heaven will get the Tied Hands with their thumb joints and thumbs pocketed into the vest.

When Aziraphale sits down, there is a human to his right with their hand in a pocket. That pocket touch is still active when Crowley arrives and makes his pocket touch. The scene cuts to Mr. Brown, then back to Crowley. The nearby human no longer has their pocket touch active. That's also when Crowley's thumb tip does its little movement on the pants.

When Crowley brings up the idea of a sudden rainstorm, he makes a pocket between his right index finger and thumb. As he talks about realizing "they were made for each other," his elbow can be seen touching his jacket. From there, I can then notice a pocket exists between the jacket sleeve, jacket torso, and arm chair for what's not touching the jacket.

The Tied Hands are quite shiny and pretty in the scene overall. A tassel is touching the Belt Head before Crowley says, "We've got a real problem..." Once Crowley starts talking about the 1810 Clerkenwell Diamond robbery, the tie strands can be seen touching each other on the vest while they have a pocket formed between them on the shirt. They'll show up as touching each other in more cuts after that point.

Once Crowley is seated, the lighting favors his left. Sometimes to his right is a smaller light that can be found, and sometimes to his left a set of more lights from a chandelier can be found as a potential overhead light, or set of overhead lights. Aziraphale actually also gets a possible overhead light, or set overhead lights from a chandelier, to, to his right. These things don't strike as big of a deal is as the one I commented on for the miracle to hide Gabriel, but so long as I'm looking and found them, I'm passing it along.

Various light reflections appear in Crowley's sunglasses, sometimes with a greenish tent. Even the window frames here get a moment of reflection, before Crowley turns his head and says, "Why?" I'll repeat that I think these reflections are clues about The Window Trick as the last Threshold Trick of the season.

...

For my tangential reading in my desperate attempt to improve my play, I've actually been re-reading the Good Omens book since it was published in 1989, which is the same year Guards! Guards! was published.

The word "imagination" is used plenty of times, and using one's imagination is certainly a requirement of Earthly Objects, especially once you find The Pocket Trick.

I picked up The Sandman Volume 3 from the library so will start on it soon.

...

Story Commentary

The pub is one of two human-specific locations that make it quite difficult to develop theories like the one about the connection and the other about the existence of a supernatural zone. See the main Sideburns Scheme post if you don't know what I mean by either of those things.

The music shop is the other human-specific location.

Before figuring out the thresholds, the main common thread found between them that is not the longer sideburns or the pocket touches, is that both locations have an encounter with a human who remembers a meeting from some years ago and say as much to Aziraphale. Here, the wording is "several"; Mr. Arnold will specify "ten". The encounter also brings up lights. This one refers to "winter street lights". Mr. Arnold in the music shop will mention "Christmas lights".

The special encounter here is Mr. Brown.

He has memories that do not match Aziraphale's and leads into Mr. Brown setting Aziraphale up to host the upcoming Thursday night meeting (which will become the ball).

The general issues are as follows:

1. Mr. Brown expects Aziraphale to know him. Aziraphale does not recognize him. Mr. Brown gives his name.

2. Mr. Brown claims to have met Aziraphale at a shopkeepers and street traders meeting several years ago. Aziraphale politely says, "Of course," but looks like he is just trying to be polite.

3. Mr. Brown claims that Aziraphale said he would be delighted to host a meeting. By then, Aziraphale is truly caught off guard. "I did?"

4. Aziraphale is hesitant and does not say he's looking forward to hosting this meeting. He is preparing to say that he can't and is busy or something along those lines. When Crowley arrives with drinks, Mr. Brown disregards Aziraphale's manner entirely and tells Crowley that Aziraphale was saying how much he's looking forward to hosting the meeting. This remark could certainly be a presumptuous lie on Mr. Brown's part, to just get what he wants, but it is suspicious with everything else above.

My initial sense is that Mr. Brown has fake memories from the Metatron, but the encounter with Mr. Arnold in the music shop later seems far more deliberate on the part of Crowley and Aziraphale.

In this one, in the pub, Crowley is busy getting drinks and away for much of when Mr. Brown recounts his memory. However, Crowley is still being read as in the threshold space as a demon no matter where he is in the pub, so how much does this distance matter?

Anyway, longer sideburns and memory stuff happened in the same scene. This factor is noted but still not really understood by me.

...

One of the odd little clues from the story about a possible book with humans who have a fake dimension to them is how some of the names are, like so: Mr. Arnold, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Cheng.

These names are more clear if watching the show with the official subtitles.

My point is that the group goes A, B, C. It doesn't apply to all humans of course, but I noticed.

...

The pub and music shop have strong contrasts between each other, when it comes to the nature of the space. The pub is a large space compared to the smaller music shop. There are a lot more humans here in the pub and just the one human, Mr. Arnold, in the music shop.

...

Still, no one is shown paying with money for anything in the present day. If it were to happen anywhere, you'd think it would be here.

...

Aziraphale uses Gabriel's name in conversation here despite his caution of using the "Jim" name in the bookshop space. He'll say Gabriel's name again later this episode out on the street near the car.

...

Regarding the drinking of alcohol, The Magic Trick You Didn't See theory has a part that I think is worth considering, so please do look it over if you're interested. It's about suspecting the Metatron disapproves of alcohol, and that's one of the clues he's messing with Aziraphale's memories. You can find it under the header, The Devil's Drink.

...

I enjoy the conversation overall in the pub. I know they aren't supposed to be messing with humans in the way they end up doing, but I still find it really sweet how Crowley reacts to the idea of helping two people fall in love. He is quite likely referring to his own experience.

I also love his reaction to Jane Austen, both as he remembers her and the news to him that she wrote novels.

Basically, I love Crowley here. I love him so much.

...

That's it for this post. Sometimes I edit my posts, FYI.

...

Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

...

Past version of this post:

Post #18 (the pub)

The numbering no longer matches because I went ahead and covered the first minisode scene with Crowley this time around. I'm almost caught up to where I left off before I put this project mostly on hold to study Earthly Objects. Only one more to go!

[skittles-in-dungeon]

hi sorry don't mind me but i wanna compare kabru and laios' interaction at the end of episode 17/chapter 38 real quick

putting the rest under a read more

Episode 17: Toshiro: Don't die. Laios: Thank you. Kabru, having already grabbed Laios' hand: Laios. I'm glad that we met. I got so much out of talking to you. Laios: Same for me. Kabru: Um... Laios: Hm? Maizuru: It's time to leave. Kabru: You do actually remember my name, don't you? Laios: Hm? Of course, I do. Kabru: I'm glad. Kabru, sitting in the portal thing: I hope you still remember it next time. Well then, see ya. Laios, internally: "Next time"?

(To me, Laios didn't sound entirely sure that he remembered Kabru's name, but I digress.)

Chapter 38: Toshiro: Don't die. Laios: Thank you, Shuro. Kabru: Laios. [Kabru grabs Laios' hand] I'm glad that I was able to speak with you. It was the best part of this dungeon trip. Laios: Thanks, I feel the same way. (Maizuru in the background: Hurry up!) Kabru: Um... You remember my name, right? Laios: Huh? Yeah, of course. Kabru: I'm happy to hear that. Don't forget it next time, okay? Kabru, sitting in the portal thing: Well, then. Until we meet again. Laios: "Next time"...?

Don't get me wrong, the anime is doing a good job of adapting the manga to the screen, but there's little things like Kabru saying "see ya" instead of "until we meet again" that just. I dunno, it just sits weird for me.

"See ya" feels wayyy more modern and thus kinda breaks you out of the scene compared to everything else, is the issue, I think.

however, overall i'd give this a 9/10 for getting the vibes right, even if the pacing and wording was off.

also, another thing: when reading the manga, I didn't register Kabru's whole "was she really worth going that far to resurrect?" as being him arguing on Laios' side, primarily because after he says so we see both Laios and Toshiro looking at him unhappily, though Toshiro more visibly so than Laios.

idk, overall I think some things come across better on-screen than they do in the manga, while others don't.

[lorelaiislatte]

Do you think there's a chance a streaming service will pick ncis:h? I've signed the petition but do we dare to hope? I'm tired of this happening all the time. I just dont understand. It was doing fine in ratings and it's a part of a franchise that keeps getting more spin offs? How that makes sense? Do you know the ratings compared with the others ncis shows? Sorry im asking you but im not from usa and i have no idea how american netwoks work. So sad rn.

okay SO i am also not from the us but have done this dance before sooooo:

1) from what i’ve heard, they were planning to move either another ncis show (i think sydney?) or another cbs show to paramount plus - which they now are no longer doing. in theory yes, this opens up the possibility for ncishi to move over there; in practice, i’m not holding my breath, as typically that negotiation would happen before a cancellation announcement

2) how does it make sense? the honest answer is that it doesn’t. like, it really doesn’t. it’s been holding steady at sixth of 14 cbs shows in the ratings (which is a brilliant number, ensures it’s profitable, and is also impressive for a procedural that’s still relatively new). it’s been beating a LOT of other crime procedurals in viewership and viewer retention, and reviewers have been singing its praises. i think this is why it feels so much as if it’s because they just view this show as less valuable (socially and economically) than their usual white guy cop shows; it’s very difficult to argue that your profitable, successful show is too expensive when you’re flying cast and crews across - or, potentially, internationally to - australia, to continue a less-highly-rated show with no issue.

3) as far as ratings go - ncis hawai’i episodes were pulling in as many as 10 million viewers last year (s2 e10 came in with 10.5 mil, as per variety telecast viewership reports) which has it going toe to toe with the core ncis (seems to pull approx. 8-10mil per episode, via hollywood reporter). for the 18-49 demographic across us series, ncis hawaii is ranking at #13 of #21 as per tvseriesfinale.com - this is significantly above ncis sydney (renewed, #15), and elsbeth (#19, renewed), two other cbs shows, one of which in particular is incredibly expensive. crucially, ncishi has actually increased its viewership, which is VERY difficult to do on a year to year basis. its up by 4.18% among 18 to 49 year olds - for comparison the core NCIS is down 0.83% and fbi international - a competing show - is down by 3.73%. bear in mind that even a single percentage point represents hundreds of thousands of viewers.

i also want to point out that ranking at #13 isn’t strictly representative of viewer numbers, it’s about percentage of viewers that are within that core age bracket. the neighbourhood is ranking at #6, but only pulling in 4.8 million viewers - ncishi is at #13, and pulling in 5.2 million. ncishi pulls in over half a million more viewers than four shows ranked above it in that chart.

so essentially - it doesn’t make sense. from any perspective. it doesn’t make sense from a business perspective (ncis sydney is more expensive to produce and brings in approx. 200k less viewers than ncishi, and ncishi crew had already agreed to a shortened, budget-restrained final season), it doesn’t make sense for a ratings perspective (it continues to outperform many of cbs’ own shows, including ones that have been renewed), it doesn’t make sense from a social perspective (people are loving it, even outside of our fandom spaces).

objectively, it’s a really, really bad move by cbs. i also thought being part of a franchise would be a kind of safety net - fool me once, i guess. all the evidence suggests that they just don’t care enough about ncishi, especially when they’ve got their bullshit white guy ncis origins show, a young sheldon spinoff (?? who asked?) and a plethora of other cookie-cutter shows they can just keep going with. and we can make a pretty educated guess as to why, when the main things that set ncishi apart from the other ncis shows are its diversity and character dynamics

(edit: it was pointed out that people aren’t being flown to sydney from the us, which is true, and bad phrasing on my part - but many are flown across australia at seemingly similar costs to mainland us/hawai’i flights, and i believe not all of the leads are based in australia either, so i’ve updated that bit for clarity. apologies!)

[egophiliac]

I love your take on Crowley!

I know that the early, non-Diasomnia stories aren't really your thing, but are you reading the novels at all?

I have been following some of the fan translations and the second book seems intense! Would love to hear what you think about them.

thank you! 💚💚💚 I'm not really sure why you think I don't like the earlier arcs though, I love pretty much all the characters and their storis! (I think 5 and 1 are my favorite of the past episodes, though 6 infected me with the Shroud brainrot something fierce.) I just...ESPECIALLY love diasomnia. :') but there is room in my heart for all of these dweebs! like, who among us is not just as ride-or-die for Adeuce as they are for us.

that said, I don't really follow the other adaptations like the manga (aside from a dip-in just to see the new Yuus) or the novels, though I keep meaning to check them out! I do like seeing the differences between the different forms of media, and how certain things get adapted one way or another! but alas, time/a lack of accessibility stands in our way more often than not. :( someday...someday I will have time to consume all of the media...

[buckleydiazmp4]

not to get all "actually☝️" about it but. the whole point of this is the fact that it isn't at all eddie's fault and buck just doesn't know how to properly process or recognize his feelings and know what he's missing *until* he gets presented with a specific situation. in truth buck has no right to be mad at eddie for building bonds with other ppl and it's why he has to do some introspection. this is not a "oh no poor buck eddie apologize to him!!!" thing, it's about buck getting, for lack of a better term, a good emotional humbling. eddie deserves good friendships and relationships, full stop. and if he likes the way he feels when he hangs out with tommy then great!! he's his own person and not a tool to further buck's character. but you also can't expect buck to immediately recognize that because, again, and for the millionth time, the whole POINT is that he doesn't. so if it has to get ugly and uncomfortable and embarrassing for him to do so then that is what will happen and that doesn't make either of them bad people. this is not a blame to be passing around. it's just them being human beings

[sailorfailures]

One eerie frame for every classic Sailor Moon episode, OP, & ED

🌙🖤 Happy Halloween!

[hollowsart]

charming, endearing, very fun to watch in the handful of episodes he appears in, and he deserves better, I think. I also love the choice of voice. very classy :>

also I mean, look at this guy:

come on, man. -chef kiss- get you a dude who can do BOTH.

Edit: Please, stop saying he looks like Gru the joke isn’t funny, it’s annoying. Thank you.

[cherrymoonvol6]

ok nvm i'll elaborate right now

i think one of the many weird choices in the finale was to make belos possess raine out of all people. one, because it really comes out of the blue. when has belos ever shown any interest of raine? like, i'm sure he must be aware of raine's record of plotting against the establishment, but he never deals with them himself. instead he sends a plethora of other people to do it for him (darius, eberwolf, kikimora, terra). if anything, it is terra that has a bone to pick with them. and in a parallel work where raine got more to do, i believe terra and raine's dynamic would've been something really interesting to explore. kinda like the relationship between atreus and odin in GOW ragnarok, like this "okay i know you hate me and all that i stand for, but i see potential in you so i'll take you under my wing and prove to you that i am worth of your time and loyalty" kinda thing, which is a banger dynamic btw.

but the second part is that there are two way more attractive options. the first one, immediately on demand, is darius. ofc it would take some canon time of developing that dynamic between belos and darius (it pains me that it doesn't exist), but it would make sense that belos would keep a close eye on darius. after all, he was mentored and was a good friend of the previous golden guard, and it's implied in various scenes (mostly ASIAS) that he knows enough about hunter's "ancestors" to praise him when he doesn't follow orders, and ultimately play the long-con to betray belos. he may even be aware in some sense of belos killing the previous golden guard, or even the existence of the grimwalkers. in that case, it would make sense that belos would have built some resentment towards him that ultimately shows in the choice to possess, corrupt and kill his puppeteer-ed body. but then, there's an even better option here, and a character that belos has hide a long-time resentment against: lilith.

look, if belos remembers luz from all those years ago, then he abso-fucking-lutely remembers lilith as well. and in a sense you can interpret the actions in canon as him trying to exert his personal vendetta against her: keep her close in the emperor's coven, trying to get her sister to join and get branded with a sigil with the promise that he'll cure her from her curse, all this while knowing that she would eventually betray him and join luz's side. we know belos kept her close for a reason and he knows the extent of her abilities, her history and relationship with eda, and her weaknesses as well. belos possessing lilith, then, would not only be the definitive "fuck you" to her, but could've also been an effective way to provoke eda emotionally and lead her to abandon her hideout to confront him. and honestly, from the way belos acts in that scene in FTF, his reaction to finding the best candidate to possess would make so much more sense if it was lilith and not raine.

but like, aren't lilith and raine just... insanely similar characters in the show's narrative? both are figures of eda's past, who loved each other sincerely back in simpler times, and through plot-related actions (raine's reason is much better narratively though, IMO) abandoned eda and joined the opposing side, climbing the ranks through their powerful abilities until becoming important figures in the coven circle. trying to think about the things i'd change in canon to make raeda a better couple involve making them go through similar plot beats that eda and lilith have gone through: an emotional, powerful moment where raine has to choose between their position of power and eda's wellbeing, actual tension between them (resentment and guilt from eda's side, frustration and confusion from raine's side), situations where they are forced to colaborate and their chemistry can still come through but still their dynamic is permeated by those lingering wounds... like, all of those things are stuff that already happened in canon, between eda and lilith. there's even that moment in king's tide where eda has the same somber moment with raine and lilith before executing their sabotage:

to me, it event seems like lilith got a lot of attention and development with eda in S1 and early S2 and then her character got sidelined when raine started to appear, and simultaneously: how raine's backstory and conflict of interest with eda are pretty much an afterthought but they still get to be a key player in the plot through late S2 and S3. i'm really sorry that economic character construction has to work this way, but that's how it is: you don't get to give eda a sister and a significant other and then make those two characters the same one. you have to commit to just one and integrate all aspects onto them.

[gojoest]

may i please introduce johan to you......

[sonkitty]

Crowley S2 Hair Post #21

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 1, The Clue, your boss

...

Sideburns Check

The sideburns are long before Crowley fully crosses the threshold. They most likely lengthened while Aziraphale was touching the astragal and doorknob to his bookshop.

This shift suggests that the border is already expanding for entry compared to the previous episode. Aziraphale is looking at Crowley so has probably noticed.

Gabriel is on the first floor though not visible to Crowley when Crowley first entered. With both Gabriel and Aziraphale around, the sideburns stay long during the scene.

When Crowley turns to Aziraphale and says, "Your boss said that to Job, do you remember?" is when it looks like the story itself most wants these long sideburns to be noticed. It's a strong right profile view of his face so gets a good look at the snake tattoo as well.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

The more saturated red streak of hair can best be found when Crowley removes his sunglasses and approaches Gabriel. That matches what episode 1 showed. Such times are when it is most clearly visible.

...

Hairstyle Changes

The hair darkened and lessened in saturation. Besides those changes, the hair tilting to Crowley's right is a little lower for a stronger overall curl for the upper hair going to his left.

...

Earthly Objects

(For reference: Earthly Objects)

Aziraphale is touching the doorknob for the outside part of the door and the astragal first. He shifts his touch, so that he ends up touching the doorknob on the inside as well.

He crosses the threshold first but doesn't actually fully close the door until after Crowley has passed him and even stepped down. As I've remarked many times, I've taken note of Crowley prioritizing being first when it comes to the Heaven elevator, but going over the story more closely shows it varies on who can be first in what and how. That confuses me, but I still think, on an intuitive level, it's supposed to matter for the Heaven elevator. This "first" thing is one of my top questions. At the rate I'm going, if it's one of the solvable puzzles, I don't think I can solve it.

I think the Tied Hands finish retying.

Crowley's right thumb joint touches a jacket edge when Crowley is crossing the threshold near Aziraphale. Aziraphale used his index fingers several times while crossing the street, including one time where a thumb visually touched Crowley's jacket. Still, Crowley's right index finger can be seen "making a point" shortly after that thumb joint touch. It's not as clear as other times, but it's there and likely assisted from all of Aziraphale's index finger use.

The strands push off the apparel for a bit, lining up with Crowley's left arm, then making pockets with the door windows twice, as Crowley himself moves.

When he keeps moving, his watch is also visible. As he's stepping down is the strike that I think is meant for a lapel edge as part of the retying process. He is making a pocket with his legs. This pocket is mostly his left leg, some books, and the bottom of the screen.

A little more happens with one of the strands shooting forward more than the other, so the tassel is quite loose. When it comes back to Crowley's chest, the strands collectively push off again to make a brief pocket before returning to their usual place on the shirt and vest.

With that, I think they are finally officially re-tied.

Crowley is quick to grab an earthly object himself. He picks up a Jane Austen book.

When Gabriel appears, he's holding books and shelving them.

Now it's time for the next touch of The Sunglasses Trick.

Here is a GIF:

This time, we're at the first Single of a group of three Singles that become a Triple.

These touches are based mainly on Crowley using different sunglasses and hissing for each touch. They occur all in a row.

The different sunglasses are what help determine this group of three is the group of Singles that become a Triple.

The hisses are the commonality found between these touches that allow the switch to the Triple at all. By hiss, I refer to a subtle demonic hiss sound effect Crowley has when he removes the sunglasses. These things are not easily heard; it's something I learned about browsing Tumblr, listened, and eventually grasped when actually putting these pieces together.

These hisses are also, in my opinion, a hint about Crowley's POV on the story.

For these Singles, there is an extra factor of an earthly object is always "held".

The earthly object this time is the Jane Austen book. Up next, will be crows that are turned into goats, understood as a miracle hold of those animals. Third, will be a glass of wine. These earthly objects look to be an interesting requirement for this part of the Trick, given that the Threshold Tricks themselves are careful about when and how earthly objects are avoided. The Perfect Entrance Trick showed us they aren't completely avoided so much as they are managed with the game's mechanics—in that case likely neutralizing the window pane of the door.

So, if you want to get really silly on thinking that Crowley is just amazing and powerful, he's too powerful to hiss alone and needs the earthly object to control and lessen the impact of the hiss. Or something. Blaming pockets is usually a good option in the game too.

Now, did this Single have overhead lights? Probably, but I don't fully understand the finer mechanics of what's happening so can't explain it well.

Crowley may have received overhead lights as early as when he grabbed the book, but we'll cover that part later with the story commentary.

Before Crowley walks closer to Gabriel, there are three lights to his left and above his ear. When he walks closer, those lights become blurry. He fully obscures one and partially obscures another. There are even more other blurry lights above his ear and to his left. There is a small set of three closer to the ones he's already possibly using. Then there are another two partly shown lights near a pillar. These lights look like they could be for Aziraphale since they are closer to him and to Aziraphale's right. The possible issue there is that Aziraphale's right ear isn't showing, and he's not capitalizing on the Metatron's mistakes, like he does in episode 6 for The Door Catch.

Another confusing factor for the overhead lights is that the next touch almost certainly doesn't have them during the actual touch because it's in the minisode. So, these lights could be like an extra reserve for that upcoming touch, especially since lights will again be shown with Crowley right before the minisode starts.

Since the Belt Head is ensured to be visible when the touch starts, that does suggest to me that these lights are relevant.

Another thing that happens is how amazingly fast the Tied Hands are retied after the touch. Crowley is making a point with his index finger while touching the book. That touch is still on camera when the sunglasses are removed from the face. He's making a pocket with his left jacket sleeve and left jacket torso. The clasp strike to a lapel edge most likely happens near the end of the cut. There's no visible thumb joint of his up to anything, but something can be found with Gabriel.

After a few cuts, Gabriel's left thumb MCP joint can be found near his jacket—particularly, his jacket pocket. Meanwhile, the CMC joint is near the edge of the jacket itself. Aziraphale is visually pocketed between Crowley and Gabriel. So, by then, the Tied Hands are probably retied before the minisode actually starts. After this possible thumb joint assist, the Belt Head also gets an extra shot before the minisode starts.

That was plenty of pocket stuff, but let's go over the other pocket stuff not mentioned yet.

For some reason, there's a brief cut where Crowley is visually pocketed between Aziraphale and a pillar as he realizes Gabriel is there.

A notable pocket is that when Crowley stands on the rug, his leg, presumably, is making a pocket with an already existing shadow on it. I don't know what's actually casting that already existing shadow on the rug. This pocket remains for three cuts before Crowley removes his sunglasses.

Additionally, when this shadow pocket is active, Crowley's right hand is rather particular about its position. The jacket sleeve, shirt sleeve partially out, and the right hand make a small brief pocket with the jacket lower right side below the belt. The pocket is shown again in the second cut, briefly obscured by Gabriel's left arm. When Gabriel talks about the people who were just in the shop, and Crowley slightly raises his head in interest, the pocket stays on for the full cut.

It's gone when Crowley finally moves to remove his sunglasses.

With the touch on the sunglasses, a pocket forms between Crowley's right hand, right cheek, and right shoulder. Yet another pocket forms between his left side torso of the jacket and left jacket sleeve. Still, a third pocket appears between his legs and the bottom of the screen.

When asking Gabriel what is the very first thing he remembers, a small pocket forms between Crowley's right arm, Gabriel's right thumb, part of his own jacket sleeve, and right index finger. As such, there's a pocket between Gabriel's right hand and the bottom of the screen.

After these pockets disappear is when Gabriel himself is visibly overcome, fluttering his eyes and tensing, before his eyes turn to a glowing purple.

Before Crowley gets his overhead lights with the minisode about to start, there is a self-made pocket of hair that can be found. Since the area is dark or dim, and Crowley's hair is dark, it's actually found to contain some of the books from the upper floor to help make it more clear that it's actually there.

Then Crowley gets those earlier mentioned overhead lights. It's a set of three with one partially obscured, so that's one for his regular head and one for his Belt Head, theoretically. He's going to be wearing a headband during the minisode. This part happens as the camera pans closer to him and Aziraphale with Crowley presumably the one meant to receive a stronger focus. Aziraphale is still on screen and will still be around when the incoming part of this minisode concludes. As such, this recollection of the memory will be shared.

Setting aside the pockets, something I find interesting with the earthly objects is that Gabriel had just finished putting books away when Crowley hissed at him with the sunglasses touch. As in, I think the reason it hurt as much as it did was because Gabriel wasn't touching an earthly object himself anymore. He'll receive another hiss later, but he will be touching an earthly object because he'll be sitting on a bed.

That hiss won't affect him in the same way though it will also be after the special connection between Crowley's and Aziraphale's homes has formed.

It's a small theory of mine that the earthly objects help the supernatural beings feel more strongly anchored while on Earth itself. Gabriel quickly reaches out and touches a shelf, for example.

This idea is part of what the Final Fifteen is about. Both Crowley and Aziraphale—on a layered level—know they shouldn't be touching earthly objects. They have to let go. They're saying good-bye for now, not just to each other, but to this special place, most of their shared home they established on Earth. They have to go because they have work to do.

The part of the shared home that stays with them is Crowley's plants and the maintained Green of the Rainbow Connection.

...

For my tangential reading in a desperate attempt to improve my play, I'm still re-reading the Good Omens book. Besides imagination, as noted in my pub visit post, there's plenty of mentions of memories and games. Agnes' prophecies are based on her remembering bits of the future. Anathema words things like so, "You see, it’s not enough to know what the future is. You have to know what it means."

Here's an excerpt about Adam and games:

Adam also had a small computer. He used it for playing games, but never for very long. He’d load a game, watch it intently for a few minutes, and then proceed to play it until the High Score counter ran out of zeroes. When the other Them wondered about this strange skill, Adam professed mild amazement that everyone didn’t play games like this. “All you have to do is learn how to play it, and then it’s just easy,” he said.

Ha! Well, Earthly Objects in Good Omens 2 definitely isn't easy.

Otherwise, I've also started on The Sandman Volume 3. Shakespeare has just shown up again. Something's going on with A Midsummer Night's Dream, so now I'm sad I've forgotten so much of that play. We performed it at my high school. I was just an extra. Still, I remember being quite fond of the play itself.

A quote from The Sandman Volume 3 that I've logged as something to keep in mind for Good Omens 2 is, "Dreams shape the world."

...

Story Commentary

When Crowley enters, he is given significant focus when he looks at the bookshelf to grab the Jane Austen book. He gets special music for looking at the books and a massive lighting hint to pay attention to him. He is almost a silhouette as the light from the windows surrounds him. It's a beautiful shot.

Well, we've already paid plenty of attention to him, but let's look again for anything else not already covered, especially in the cut itself.

He is pocketed between a dark horse statue and the bookshelf.

Another dark horse statue was important for being the earthly object he placed his sunglasses on in episode 1. He's about to do that first Single-for-eventual-Triple touch for the The Sunglasses Trick during this cut. The phrase "dark horse" has already been used twice in the show with Crowley specifically saying it regarding Jane Austen earlier in this episode. This statue disappears during the ball but is back in place after Crowley cleans up the bookshop in episode 6.

The window Crowley's in front of is important because it is broken during episode 5 and remains broken until he fixes it in episode 6. I suspect there is something important about it being broken while he's in Heaven, just intuition there. Another thing is that when that windows is broken, it has a role to play for The Pocket Trick's Single. For this cut, there are three lights visibly over Crowley's head.

As noted earlier, they could be an early link for overhead lights regarding the sunglasses touch(es), leading from one set to the next, managed by the book being held.

Speaking of the book, what about the overall group of books? Well, they're possibly in a book for this story. I know posts have been made about how The Final Fifteen is like proposals out of Jane Austen books, Pride and Prejudice in particular. It kinda is, but there's a special proposal that happens later this episode, in my own understanding of the story.

It's been a long time since I've read any Jane Austen books myself, and I don't remember them well so can't contribute much on that end.

Otherwise, hey, look at Crowley. He himself is important, especially this episode. He's conceivably the best player in Earthly Objects. He's got his tactical turtleneck today, and he hasn't even started on The Pocket Trick yet. It's gonna be a big deal.

Alright enough of that.

...

The cardboard box can again be found without Crowley bothering to look at it in his line of sight during the scene.

...

This scene is interesting and open to plenty of speculation on what happens after Crowley hisses.

Crowley himself seems taken aback at Gabriel's reaction. Yeah, Crowley hissed, but he wasn't expecting that. "That" being glowing purple eyes with a quote from God to Job.

It's also part of the idea of compelling someone for an answer that I mentioned in the post about when Crowley first encountered Gabriel in episode 1.

The way Aziraphale looks at both of them and Crowley's own reaction to Gabriel struggling suggest that Crowley himself has been in a similar position to Gabriel.

As in, Crowley has also forgotten things, struggled to remember them, and had to mentally plow through the challenges to recover what he could.

Aziraphale has been around for that difficulty.

For Crowley's reaction, I'm mainly referring to that he seems to be breathing nervously as he watches Gabriel, while Aziraphale is glancing between both of them.

...

On the subject of the sideburns and rank, Aziraphale is still ultimately in charge of his own space. He's the one who tells Gabriel to go and have a rest. Gabriel pauses a moment to look at Crowley, as if for approval. With no sign of disapproval or Crowley trying to make him remember yet again, that's enough to go ahead and leave the area.

...

I can see the red on the back of the collar on Crowley's jacket in at some points in the scene though it's blurred:

...

That's it for this post. Sometimes I edit my posts, FYI.

...

Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme