#it just feels like such a disservice to her

[e-the-village-cryptid]

I think it all comes down to that point about sacrifice for the Rebellion, and how different people see it. I think that could have been a really interesting story point and character arc moment, and I see all the ways it landed for you, but it fell flat for me because the reason she had to make that choice to sacrifice their relationship and happiness for the Rebellion was so that she could be out of Cassian's way.

I also think that the Force stuff/intuition that Cassian does have a much greater role to play in this would have landed more if this wasn't literally the only time the Force has ever been brought up so far in the show. Like, it feels like they pulled that out just for an excuse for Bix to leave to fulfill this prophecy, instead of intentionally weaving the notion of the Force in throughout the show as a whole.

Because without all that prophetic stuff or Force-guided intuition, wouldn't Bix think her best shot at keeping Cassian on Yavin and in the Rebellion would be to stay on Yavin herself? Wouldn't she think that if she left, there'd be a good chance Cassian would abandon the Rebellion altogether to go look for her, or just because she was the one keeping both of them invested anyway?

I do actually like the concept of "Bix chooses to sacrifice their relationship and happiness for the sake of the Rebellion." I just think that the way that happened felt forced (lol, didn't notice the pun until now) and was a disservice to her character.

But as you said it's all personal opinion and depends as well on the angle people look at it from (ex. from the angle of getting into the heads of the characters vs. getting into the heads of the writers, or from looking at different levels of story arcs like the grand scheme of everything that happens to blow up the death star vs. the nitty gritty of how that happens). I hope I'm not offending by debating this, I love discussing this show and hearing other people's thoughts :)

Seeing a lot of weird takes on Bix and I think what people need to realise is that not all people are cut out to be soldiers. You can be a part of the Rebellion but not actively participate on missions.

Bix is a mechanic. A mechanic living a somewhat normal life - apart from selling illegal parts to Luthen - on Ferrix. Then everything changes. She’s beaten and sees her boyfriend shot and killed right in front of her eyes - because of her, because he tried to save her. Then she’s left to sit and stare at his dead body until Paak and Wil helps her get away. After that, there’s the capture, interrogation, torture. She is brave, she is strong, she doesn’t tell them what they want at first. But eventually she breaks.

The torture is horrifying. You can see how much it changes her, she is so out of it, she is broken, when Cassian rescues her she even tries to stay saying ”No, they’ll get angry.”

A year later we find her on Mina-Rau and we see that she still suffers from nightmares. During the day she looks somewhat content, doing her job as a mechanic on a peaceful planet, the moment with Wil and Bela is sweet and shows us that. But the threat of the Imperial ship brings that fear back immediately.

Then she is brutally attacked, almost raped, and ends up killing her attacker with a hammer and shooting an imperial. This is the first time we ever see Bix kill someone. Then she loses another friend, Brasso.

One year later, things are very different. No longer peacefully hiding out on some planet, she has joined Cassian to go on missions for Luthen. One thing remains the same: She still has nightmares.

What’s interesting about this nightmare compared to the first one is that in the one on Mina-Rau, Dr. Gorst comes after her, standing over her, removing her blanket, the one thing she had for comfort when she was captured on Ferrix.

In the nightmare on Coruscant, there’s Dr. Gorst and a dead soldier who Bix feels guilty over because we learn later that Cassian killed the soldier because he saw Bix’s face.

But in this dream, the way Dr. Gorst is talking to her, it’s not really as if he is an enemy to Bix. It’s almost as if Bix sees herself on the same level as Dr. Gorst.

She’s a killer now and she’s not handling it well.

We see Bix taking drugs in order to sleep. She can’t stop seeing the dead soldier’s face. When Cassian is away on Ghorman, the place becomes a mess. When Luthen visits she says ”I’m not loving Coruscant”, and you can tell she feels boxed in. When Cassian returns and asks how she’s doing, she dodges the question.

Luthen sends them on the mission to kill Dr. Gorst and she gets her revenge. We see her smile when she walks away, the Bix is back.

Jump to arc 7-9, Bix and Cassian are living on Yavin. This is definitely the most healthy that Bix has ever looked since before her captivity on Ferrix. They have a cozy home, they live among people who are fighting for the Rebellion, the one thing she has left except for Cassian. And oh, do we find out how strongly she believes in the Rebellion here. Much more so than Cassian who is struggling and wanting to leave.

Here is where I see people wanting Bix to go to Ghorman and kill Dedra. After all the things listed above, I think it’s quite clear that she’s not a soldier. In the end, Bix is a mechanic, she is brave and she is strong, she’s a fighter and a survivor but she’s not a soldier. I think I can draw a parallell to Mon Mothma’s character here and state for the record that women can be fierce and strong and interesting characters without being ruthless killers.

And while I’m sure I would have enjoyed seeing Bix killing Dedra if that’s the way they went with her character, I do actually like that they went this way with Bix. After everything she has been through and all the dealing with her trauma, I find it more interesting that she doesn’t go down that path but instead went with a more healthy path. Besides, we have other female characters for the ruthless soldier type of roles - such as Vel and Cinta.

Now for the ending. Bix makes the most selfless, difficult, cruel sacrifice. Leaving Cassian - the one who she has leaned on during her recovery, the one she can not even remember not knowing, the love of her life - behind for the sake of the Rebellion.

This is Bix’s choice.

In the chaos that’s been following them, with the danger that’s been surrounding them, it’s quite clear Cassian has taken the lead. This can be shown in the scene at the end of S2x09 where he says he wants to leave and I quote ”We’ll leave before it gets too complicated.”. He didn’t ask what she wanted, it was merely ”I’ll talk to Draven tomorrow.”

I’m not at all looking down at Cassian as a character, I love him as much as I love Bix, I’m merely stating the facts here.

Then Bix makes her own choice. It is a cruel one, very much so, because she makes the choice for them, for him, and leaves him without saying goodbye in person.

It’s not fair to him.

But it is a selfless act, all for the of the sake of the Rebellion. Bix believed that he had an important part to play in the Rebellion (and we know that she was right).

That is a very interesting story arc to me. She made her choice. And along the way, she realised that she was no soldier like Cassian and instead she found her own path. And had we gone down the soldier path, the only way to write her out before Rogue One would have been to kill her off and I am glad we didn’t get that for Bix after everything that she has been through.

Sure, it would have been interesting to see what else Bix did on Yavin but there are a lot of storylines and too little screentime. I’d like to believe she did work as a mechanic for the Rebellion there, doing what she’s best at. Knowing Bix, I’m sure she wouldn’t just sit in the house all day and wait for Cassian, some people seem to believe that if you’re not a fighter for the Rebellion then you’re simply a housewife.

Besides, even if she would have became a housewife, if that’s what she became content with after all her trauma, then good for her.

But I doubt that’s what she became. What I love about this show is that they don’t need to spell it all out for you. Her skills as a mechanic are also very useful to the Rebellion, every single person and their contribution matters.

In conclusion, not everyone are cut out to be soldiers but that does not diminish their character.

[the-crooked-library]

Nosferatu (2024) is unquestionably a multifaceted work, but what I personally consider to be the unifying idea behind its facets is that, for Ellen, Orlok represents validation.

Her fears are dismissed and called childish?.. He's a nightmarish manifestation of them.

She is consistently disrespected by everyone around her?.. He considers her his only equal. She never uses his title, it's permitted.

She is told to fix herself, misunderstood, and always isolated?.. He knows all the darkest parts of her and is delighted by them. He wants her just as she is, so much that he will lie, kill, and cross the ocean to find her.

The scene in their death/wedding bed is a direct parallel to the scene of her waking in that bed at the beginning of the film. She complains to Thomas that the "honeymoon is yet too short" and tries to pull him down with a kiss - however, he is worried about being late for work, and so he extricates himself and leaves. Cut forward to her sharing the same bed with Orlok, similarly early in the morning; he is startled by cock-crow and begins to rise, but she guides his head back down - and, even though he knows that he will die, he stays. He is her sexual and emotional desire, realized.

Given that there is a plethora of emotions Ellen is forced to suppress on daily basis, there is no singular correct interpretation of her relationship with Orlok. To erase any one of them is to render it shallower than it actually is; but there is no doubt as to why their attachment is mutual. To each, the other is something they’ve never had before.

[bigmoon-is-bigwife]

I've seen a lot of people say that when Clown gets back on the server he will make Ros worse and I think that is true! But not because he's going to manipulate her, but because the only thing keeping Ros from being a menace is a lack of confidence and knowledge.

There have been so many times where she has planned to do something murderous or mischievous but backed out of it because she got nervous. Clown has repeatedly been a very reassuring presence to Ros and generally goes along with whatever she wants to do. I don't think he has ever pressured her into doing anything, only supported her in doing it. When she wanted to kill Badboyhalo he provided her OP gear and walked her through exactly how to do it but also told her she could back out if she wanted to when she was hesitating. Ros did feel like she was letting Clown down and feels a pressure to prove herself to him but I don't think that's ever been reinforced by Clown.

Ros expresses a desire for violence even when Clown isn't around, she just has a lot of self doubt and talks herself out of it. Ros also cares a lot about what others think of her. She worries that violence brings her 'goodness' into question but I feel that has become less of an obstacle as of late. People have been very cruel to her and I think she's more willing to snap back now.

TLDR: Clown didn't plant any seeds of murder or anything in Ros, she's always had them. I don't think he's manipulating her or corrupting her, he is simply providing support and reassurance. The support and reassurance are coincidentally for murder so she will in fact be getting worse but by her own desire.

[buckwheeler]

nice how tk ends the show choosing to give up being a paramedic in order to be a parent, like how Tommy’s storyline on the show began with her coming back to work after doing the same thing, giving up her job to raise her children. Tommy’s in remission from cancer and figuring out how to live her life now, which was one of Owen’s early storylines. Judd has become captain of the house he’s always considered his home, where he lost his first team, and so has Owen in becoming fire chief of NYC- but it’s also a totally new beginning for him despite it being a return. Very much getting at how life keeps going and going and going with no stops or endings, “no goodbyes”, and that what looks like an ending has been a beginning for someone else, so it all goes on and on and on :)

[sekai-no-koi]

Okay I hear you,

except for Ran being "emotional coded" I'm not sure what you mean by that specifically,

but the thing is, how Ran acts around Conan ultimately doesn't really matter. Hattori already treats him like Shinichi every time they meet. The police force have started treating him like an advisor. He's famous for going toe-to-toe with Kid. At this point, if the Organization hasn't taken interest in him, they're probably not going to short of an outside influence directly tipping them off.

From a standpoint of worrying about Ran's feelings and her and her father's safety, it doesn't really make sense to continue hiding things from them. They should both know.

If Shinichi waits until there's actual danger, then Ran has to process everything (Her beloved little brother Conan isn't real, Shinichi's been lying to her all this time, Shinichi's been in danger all this time, her whole family's been in danger this whole time, Shinichi didn't trust her to help him until he had to) at a time where he needs her mentally present and ready to help, or at least run and escape. That puts her, Shinichi, and Kogoro in danger.

If they wait until EVERYTHING is over, then how is she going to move forward from there? It's not intended as a betrayal of trust, but it absolutely is one. I do think in canon they will probably find a way to gloss over her feelings, but that's not a "well we can still keep dating" kind of thing to find out about your boyfriend. It doesn't matter how kind and forgiving Ran is, it's unfair to expect that she'd be fine with Shinichi after learning what really happened.

Whether he chooses it or she finds out from someone else, she's going to know at some point. Genuinely, how could she not? She isn't stupid. If she finds out via evidence instead of Shinichi, it's going to be even worse for her emotionally. And the longer this goes on, the more there is a person she's going to have to mourn when all's said and done. If he told her up-front that Conan wasn't real, she wouldn't have to miss her little brother. That's no longer possible to avoid.

And really, we've seen Ran 1v1 Organization members multiple times now. She's also been a good enough actress to fool both Shinichi and Kid. As for Kogoro, I think he's actually fully capable of hiding it and actively helping Shinichi when he does find out. We've seen him keeping cards close to his chest before, when it comes to his loved ones.

Finally, there's the question of whether or not Ran and Kogoro are actually safer not knowing, and at this point, I don't see any proof that they are. If anything, not knowing what's going on has allowed them to stumble into danger they could've avoided otherwise.

kinda fucked that the reason to not tell Ran transformed from protecting her to "she's a fucking gossip don't tell her anything"

[meownotgood]

Is it just me or was the placement of the caitvi sex scene kinda weird? Like jinx pretty much told vi she was gonna kill herself so it just didn’t feel in character for her to ignore tht n just go at it w caitlyn right after idk I could be reading too much into it

no I definitely agree. when I read the leaked info for the episodes a week ago and I saw, "cait and vi fuck in jinx's cell" I was like. well that sounds totally fake, that'd be pretty stupid and perhaps rushed even. and then when the episodes began playing out exactly like the leak I thought well maybe the scene will still be handled well. yeah about that

[binglepringle]

I love Pinterest alignment charts, cause sometimes I find gems like this

[pinkrose05]

Am I the only one who doesn't vibe with the Gaiathra Triclops = Ena the Order theory?

[sukibenders]

Something that still doesn't sit right with me while being a part of the HOTD fandom is how Laena was done so dirty, from being placed as a "second" option for Daemon and having him keep her from returning home, from having her daughters see Driftmark, from seeing her own brother and parents before she died! That added on to the fact of how Daemon just sucked at loving her the way she deserved makes my blood boil. And to make matters worse, to drive the knife further, is during her funeral (added on to him laughing during it, which wasn't appropriate at all no matter the context or what anyone says) where she and her unborn son were only just recently placed at the bottom of the sea, Daemon and Rhaenyra sleep together and then marry each other all within the span of the same episode (don't even get me started on how they went heavy into the romantics of the moment but couldn't even bother to show Daemon be affection with Laena like he was in the books I believe).

And some in the fandom reaction to all this can be such a turn off. Because you can have people, mainly black fans, rightfully call out problems with this plot change, with Rhaenyra and Daemon sleeping together only right after Laena's funeral and will be met with so many heinous responses (a lot in which tie in with centering Rhaenyra and going "oh so you hate her" type beat) and it's so frustrating. That, and how we barely see Daemon interact with his daughters, let alone be affectionate as well as protective over them---that scene where the girls are bruised from a fight and clear in distress and yet Daemon doesn't even move to check on them nor go into a rage at the fact that his daughters were harmed, let alone the fact that his now dead wife's dragon was claimed by another on the day of her funeral. None of that. But will stand protectively by Rhaenyra and her sons' side without second thought. Make it make sense.

[fave-fix]

normal girl activities

@nopanamaman

[maraskywalkers]

I would actually be devastated if buddie's first kiss happened while they were seeing other people.

I don't want that.

I don't want that at all.

[nauti-ca]

i think if you choose to ignore nautica’s clearly written implied romance with skids ur doing a huge disservice to her character

[flintstill]

Highlight of today was when the Course Director for the second lab came up to me towards the end and said “two different students have asked me if you’re going to be their bench instructor from now on” (one was gone today so I was covering his area) 🥹

[antiyourwokehomophobia2]

Am I being an idiot

[grantcurls]

i don’t have the energy to be a hater and genuinely if people want to ship curly and anya that’s fine, you guys seem happy. but i just have to wonder how anyone ever reached that conclusion when there isn’t a single positive interaction between them in the whole game. every time it’s curly making excuses for jimmy or overlooking anya as a person 😭 it just feels cruel to anya to think she’d ever wind up with him. she has better critical thinking skills than that. especially since she sees curly repeatedly lie on his psych evals, and be way too lenient with jimmy. then he fails to protect her despite promising he would. like damn, man. i think they’d get along fine as coworkers/friends before the crash, but why would she want someone romantically that won’t stand by her no matter what?

(he in fact did not do anything)