#it reminded me of 2x06 the first time i heard it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stahlop · 2 years

Text

Once Upon a Time 4x01 “A Tale of Two Sisters” Review

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x11 1x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 2x01 2x02 2x03 2x04 2x05 2x06 2x07 2x08 2x09 2x10 2x11 2x12 2x13 2x14 2x15 2x16 2x17 2x18 2x19 2x20 2x21 2x22 3x01 3x02 3x03 3x04 3x05 3x06 3x07 3x08 3x09 3x10 3x11 3x12 3x13 3x14 3x15 3x16 3x17 3x18 3x19 3x20 3x21 3x22

So we are officially in the Frozen arc this season. To be fair, I hadn’t watched Frozen until I saw that Once was going to be doing this arc at the season 3 finale. My daughter was about 15 months old when that came out, and let me tell you, that became the favored movie that summer. I was not a huge fan of this arc the first time around, but when I binge watched it a few years back, I enjoyed it much more. I do not like how we’re immediately plunged into their backstory with nary a thought to our current characters. It almost feels like the Storybrooke crew are an afterthought at the moment. I guess we’ll see how I feel about it this time around.

Summary: We meet Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff from Arendelle and start to unravel the mystery of what happened to their parents. In Storybrooke, Elsa unleashes a snow monster which the rest of the citizens attempt to fight, and finds something in Gold’s shop that she thinks will help her find her sister.

Opening: Snowflakes

New Characters:

Elsa/Anna/Kristoff: So before we meet any of these characters we see Anna and Elsa’s parents die in a shipwreck, but Elsa’s mother is insisting on writing a note to send off in a bottle for Anna and Elsa. They must know the truth, she insists. Then we skip to five years later, so two years after the events of the Frozen movie. Our sisters are immediately recognizable because two years later Elsa is still wearing her signature blue dress and Anna is wearing her same outfit from the movie, just in case you weren’t sure who they were. They are visiting their parent’s graves. Elsa tells Anna she has a surprise for her wedding. It’s their mother’s wedding dress! She also gives her a snowflake necklace that she apparently made? I’m still not sure how Elsa’s ice powers make things like dresses and jewelry. Anna blabbers on about Sven, Kristoff, and the wedding while trying on the dress. Elsa, meanwhile, discovers a diary entry from her mother that makes her blame herself for her parents' deaths. She runs off in a flurry (literally, she has a flurry of snow around her because, emotions). Anna finds her in the woods, still in her mother’s wedding dress. For someone who was worried about only having clear liquids at her wedding two seconds ago, I don’t think traipsing around in the woods is the best idea. Elsa has Anna read from the diary that they left to find a way to stop Elsa’s magic. Elsa is devastated, but Anna is sure they’re reading it wrong. Anna takes Elsa to the Rock Trolls for more insight. Grand Pabbie doesn’t give much information, but he does tell them their parents were headed for Misthaven. Anna wants to go to get information, but Elsa is too worried that something will happen to Anna like it did to their parents. The next day, Anna and Kristoff’s wedding day, Elsa is looking for Anna in the stables with Kristoff and Sven. Elsa should know something’s wrong right off the bat considering Kristoff isn’t even dressed for getting married. He delays Elsa enough so that Anna can slip off onto a ship heading for Misthaven. But honestly, Sven the reindeer is the best part of this scene. Elsa sees the ship Anna is on in the distance and she lays into Kristoff for letting her go alone. Kristoff reminds her she is the queen and needed to stay there, and he stayed behind because Anna didn’t want Elsa to be alone. Awww. Elsa wonders why she’s never heard of Misthaven and Kristoff informs her the inhabitants call it the Enchanted Forest!!

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, Elsa has left the barn we last saw her in and is walking down the road when she sees a Storybrooke sign. And despite it being a completely different language than the nordic symbols we see her reading later on, she can read it just fine (does the curse on Storybrooke have a translator like the TARDIS in Doctor Who?). And she gets so upset or angry the sign gets frost on it? A car driven by Sleepy is careening down the road and almost hits Elsa, except she freezes it, knocking out Leroy who was also in the van. Now it’s morning and Elsa is walking down the main street with ice trailing behind her. She is barely in control of her magic because every little sound sets her off. Elsa has decided to hide in a warehouse? I don’t know if she heard Leroy telling Emma and Hook about their ice adventure the night before, because otherwise I have no idea why she’s all of a sudden freaked out and hiding from everyone when she was just walking down Main Street in broad daylight moments before. Emma and Hook go looking for whatever is making the trail of ice through town and Elsa conjures up a snow monster (Hi Marshmallow!) to get them off her trail. A bunch of newspapers start blowing around in the warehouse and one blows right to Elsa that happens to have an engagement announcement for Gold and Belle at the shop, and a picture of the necklace Elsa had given to Anna for her wedding! How convenient. The town is in chaos and Grumpy is yelling about a monster being on the loose. He’s talking about Marshmallow, but Elsa is internalizing it as if he’s talking about her. Elsa sees Gold’s shop and breaks in later that night by freezing the lock? I don’t know how that would make the door open, but, whatever, plot reasons. She picks up the necklace and tells Anna she will find her.

Character Observations:

Emma and Hook: We start off where we left off in season 3 at Granny’s. Emma goes to talk to Regina after discovering she brought back Robin’s ‘dead’ wife. Regina is upset and blames Emma for all this, which, she’s not wrong. Emma tries to defend herself by saying she was just trying to save her life. Regina thinks maybe she deserved to die and Emma says she would know since she saved her from the Evil Queen. Regina tells Emma she’s changed and Emma thinks things could still work out with her and Robin despite the dead wife situation. After a confrontation with Marian, Regina walks off. Emma wants to go after her, but Hook convinces her that Regina needs space. Emma tries to comfort Henry who’s afraid Regina will go evil again. The Charming family is out walking baby Neal in his stroller. Emma is still trying to reach Regina to no avail. Henry thinks maybe it’s just Emma she doesn’t want to hear from and tries to call her. Mary Margaret and Emma discuss Henry’s feelings in all this, and the fact that Emma and Regina both have new men in their lives is brought up. Emma doesn’t know what she and Hook are, and Hook shows up right then, as he does. He accuses her of avoiding him, she claims to just be going through ‘stuff’ and that they’re in a crisis. He tells her that she needs to live her life between crises or she won’t have one (sounds like David’s advice to her in The New Neverland when he tells her to look for the moments). And, of course, that’s when Leroy interrupts them telling them they’re under attack. He tells them about their van being frozen and that’s when Emma notices the ice trail going through town. They follow the trail to a warehouse and then a giant snow monster appears. Emma is, once again, in shock, whereas Hook just looks amused. Their expressions are hilarious. Emma attempts to reason with the snow monster, but it blasts them down with its breath (?) and Emma drops her gun and it ends up shooting the monster, which makes it madder. She and Hook run for it. And we have another giant running through Storybrooke. At least this time it seems to be avoiding the cars, but still manages to get caught up in the electrical wires. Leroy starts yelling about the evil snowman and Emma just rolls her eyes as if asking ‘What is my life?’ All the screaming of the people of Storybrooke is actually scaring the giant snow monster, and he heads off towards the forest. Somehow, Emma, Hook, and David manage to get ahead of it and run into Robin, Little John, and Marian in the forest. I’m gonna assume Roland is asleep in the tent. The snow monster starts heading toward them and Little John immediately hits it with an arrow, Hook telling him too late that it only attacks when it feels threatened. David and Hook finally remember that Emma has magic that she can use against it, so she does, and then the snow monster grows ice spikes and knocks Emma down and blasts the rest of them into unconsciousness. Regina ends up saving them, and Emma tries to talk to her, but she just poofs off. Emma makes a joke to Hook about going home to watch Netflix (and chill?), which he doesn’t understand, but agrees to, and she pulls away. He again accuses her of avoiding him and she admits to it this time. She says she feels guilty about what happened with Regina, but Hook isn’t completely buying it. She kisses him (and I find this such an awkward kiss, I don’t know why) and tells him to be patient with her. He says he has all the time in the world until another monster appears and kills him. Again, he’s not wrong. Emma goes to see Regina at her office and talks to her through the door since Regina won’t let her in. She reminds her that Henry brought her to Storybrooke to bring back the happy endings and that includes Regina (um, actually, I don’t think it does include the person who cursed everyone not to get their happy endings).

Regina: Oh boy. She does about three 180s in this episode. We start with her complaining to Emma that it’s her fault that Marian is back and ruined her relationship with Robin. Which, true. She’s mad because Marian sees her as a villain even though she isn’t anymore. When Regina tells Emma that whatever Marian did she deserved to die, Emma tells her that the Evil Queen was the one who was going to kill her. Regina reminds her that she worked very hard to change who she was and build a future, and no she didn’t. She cursed an entire population to another realm to get her ‘happy ending’, which she got bored with after three days. Then she waivered back and forth about being good (therapy with Archie) and being evil (Cora came back), then told Pan she had no regrets when she was tied to the Thinking Tree, met Robin and fell for him despite the fact that she apparently had his wife killed, and basically got a blast of light magic because she loved Henry enough to True Love kiss him to break the curse. Anyway, Robin tries to make Marian see how Regina is changed, but she freaks out because of the way he touches Regina and infers they were having a relationship. She freaks out even more when the Charmings come and defend Regina. Marian calls her a monster and Regina has to reign in a fireball. Instead, she walks off to clear her head. Robin goes to talk to Regina the next day. He apologizes for Marian, though Regina reminds him that nothing she said was untrue. Robin reminds her that the Evil Queen is not the woman he knows, and like him, she’s left her past in the past. He confirms that what they had was definitely real and his feelings still are real, but he’s going to stay with Marian because he made a vow and he can’t break that. Ok, here are my thoughts on this. Marian died. She was dead for at least three years before the bubble curse came. Then at least another year after the curse was broken and before coming to Storybrooke. Now, I know Robin and Regina have only been together for like, a month, but it’s been at least four years for Robin since Marian died. And while she may be the same person she was all those years ago, Robin certainly isn’t. I can see him trying to help Marian adjust to being in Storybrooke, but he has no obligation to be with her now. What if he was married with kids to someone else? Would he leave his wife because he felt obligated to Marian? Regina is not happy that Robin has chosen Marian. Regina channels her anger through magic and ends up breaking a mirror, which gives her an idea. She heads to the psych ward and frees Sidney from the prison she’s kept him in so he can help her get rid of Marian. Regina goes on about the book giving Marian her happy ending, which, no. The book is a record of what happened, not the whims of whoever wrote it. Sidney goes on about Regina keeping him alive and not forgetting about him so he could help her with her dastardly plan, and by Regina’s expression, you can tell she hadn’t remembered he was even still in Storybrooke until she broke the mirror. Nice job, Regina. Sidney thinks Regina wants him to murder Marian, but she doesn’t want to murder her currently, she wants to go back in time and murder her before Emma can save her. And also, she doesn’t remember sentencing Marian to death, so she puts Sidney back in the mirror so he can show her how it happened. Poor Sidney, from one prison to another. He is way too blinded by his love for Regina. We see an extended scene of Marian being taken by the Evil Queen’s guards with Marian telling Regina she wouldn’t do this if she had a family and that she’s a monster. But instead of making Regina hate her, you can tell Marian’s words really get to her. In the forest, Regina appears at Robin’s camp when all but Marian have been knocked out by Marshmallow. It looks like Regina is going to let the snow monster kill her, but then throws a fireball at it, killing it. Marian is grateful, and Regina poofs off before Emma can talk to her. Regina hides out in her office in a gorgeous scene between her and Emma. Emma’s speech about her finding her happy ending inspires her in another way. She wants to find the writer of the book and force him to change it so she can get her happy ending. Again, Regina, sweetie, the book is what already happened. It’s basically a history. Nothing the author does is going to change what happened in the past. Sigh.

Gold and Belle: Oh, lord, where to even start with this. Gold visits Neal’s grave and basically gives us a synopsis of him switching out the real dagger for the fake one he gave to Belle (for those viewers that may have forgotten over the break). He says he only did it to avenge Neal’s death, and now he’s going to switch them back because Belle is his second chance and he’s not going to start their marriage with a lie (well, too late for that). He pledges to Baelfire that he will be the man that died for him. Meanwhile, Belle has found a house that is seemingly not owned by anyone, but randomly came over in the last curse (did new housing come over for the new people who came over? How does that work?). They decide to use it for their honeymoon since they can’t actually leave Storybrooke. Gold immediately freezes Belle as she goes on and on about the house to trade daggers, so at least he’s making good on his promise to Baelfire. Belle goes to show Gold something, and he notices a circular box sitting on the table. He seems slightly scared of it. She shows him a ballroom, and with a snap of his fingers, Belle and Gold are dressed like their Disney counterparts and the gramophone is playing Beauty and the Beast for them to dance to. Later, Belle is asleep and Gold gets the real dagger out again. He waves it over the box and a galaxy appears inside what looks like the Sorcerer’s hat from Disney’s Fantasia. An evil smirk comes over his face. I can see his vow to Baelfire and Belle isn’t going to last very long.

Questions:

How does Anna and Elsa’s mother know her message in a bottle will get to her girls? She’s literally in the middle of the ocean in the middle of a storm.

Why does Storybrooke need a sign saying who maintains their roads? No one from outside of Storybrooke can come in.

Since when does Regina call Emma ‘Swan’? She usually calls her Miss Swan, sometimes Emma, but never ‘Swan’. ‘Swan’ is what Hook calls her.

Whose idea was it to make Sleepy the designated driver?

Anna’s wedding is the next day and she’s just getting a wedding dress? What was she going to wear if Elsa hadn’t found their mother’s gown?

Did Robin really just compare him being a thief that robbed from the rich and gave to the poor to Regina being the Evil Queen in terms of their pasts?

Why is Belle carrying the dagger around instead of keeping it locked up somewhere safe?

Does Elsa not realize she’s making an ice trail?

How does Emma not even get a scratch after Marshmallow hits her with ice spikes?

Exactly how did Regina plan to go back in time to kill Marian? Emma and Killian managed to go back by a fluke with Zelena’s spell. Was Regina going to kidnap the Charming’s baby and get all the magical items Zelena had previously procured to redo her spell?

Why has Gold not gotten some sort of alarm system for his shop? Even a magical one would make sense with the amount of people who have broken in at this point.

Where is the strong Elsa that we saw at the end of the original Frozen movie? This one is worried about everything all the time.

Observations:

The Queen of Arendelle’s wedding dress is in pristine condition considering Anna didn’t even know where it was until now, and I doubt it had been hiding in that closet.

Houses that come over in the second curse are still furnished even though no one has claimed them.

The code to the psych ward is 815.

We haven’t seen Sidney in Storybrooke since season 1. He’s in the psych ward because he took the fall for kidnapping Kathryn.

Baby Neal was born two days ago and Mary Margaret is already walking him through Storybrooke in a stroller. Nope. Don’t buy it. Unless Regina magically healed her, she would be in way too much pain. I had a normal child birth and it took me two weeks before I could walk around the block, let alone through the whole neighborhood.

The headline of the Storybrooke Mirror that Elsa picks up says “Mr. Gold to Marry Belle French”. Other headlines are “Volunteers help to rebuild Heritage Trail” and “Storybrooke Priory’s ‘laughing’ gargoyle has been vandalized”.

The music playing when Gold brings up the Sorcerer’s hat is an off-key version of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Fantasia.

So, I feel like we got the beginnings of a lot of storylines, but I’m not really sure where everything is going quite yet. The only solid thing we really got is that Regina wants to change the stories in the book, which, unless she goes back in time like Emma and Hook did, doesn’t seem like something she can do at this point in time. So far, I could care less about the Frozen arc. Had I not seen the movie, I wouldn’t know what the hell was going on, and it’s not like Frozen was a well known fairy tale previously. It was supposed to be based on The Snow Queen and then Elsa got too likable. We’ll see what happens. Welcome to season 4.

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

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

#Once upon a time review #once upon a time rewatch #once upon a time 4x01 #once upon a time a tale of two sisters #once upon a time

12 notes · View notes

beeexx · 3 years

Text

The missing Tarlos scenes from 2x06

Word count: 4.8 Read on ao3

.......

“You know you need to tell him this, right?”

“No, no, I really don’t.” TK protests loudly, by banging the frozen bag of chickens into the counter, hoping they will shake loose with the excess force he is using. Carlos lifts an eyebrow from where he is standing in boxers and an old tank top, too much skin on display for it to be good for TK’s health, cutting onions into small, stupidly neat pieces on the chopping board.

“TK….” Carlos begins, in that voice of his and TK turns around, eyes flashing.

“Carlos.”

Carlos huffs.

“Babe, this is clearly bothering you, and taking it out on our poor dinner isn’t ideal.” He points out.

“Oh, sure Carlos, I’ll just tell my dad that him having another kid is a terrible idea because I’m a prime example of how they messed up with the first one.”

“TK…”

“Oh and while I’m at it I might as well bring up how I am feeling about it and make it all about myself like I always do, that ought to go down really well.” He snaps and Carlos sighs.

“You don’t make everything about yourself.” TK lifts an eyebrow and Carlos snorts. “Okay, sometimes you do, but often not without a legit reason and this is definitely a situation I feel you’re entitled to feel whatever it is that you’re really feeling and express that.”

“Okay, well if we’re on the subject of telling parents what we really think then why don’t you take a page out of your own book and tell your parents that you have a boyfriend, oh, or better yet, the way you’ve been feeling for years about them refusing to acknowledge that you’re gay.” As soon as the words leave his mouth TK regrets them and he winces at the wounded look Carlos sends his way at his harsh words.

Fuck.

“That’s not the same thing.” Carlos mutters, he sounds bitter about it and were it not for the deeply thoughtful look also making its way across his features TK would take the words back immediately.

“I could have gone about that differently, sorry…. But, but isn’t that exactly the same thing as this is though.”

“We were talking about you.” Carlos points out in an attempt to deflect and TK just chooses to let it go because he doesn’t have the energy to have an argument about two different things at the moment. His head is enough of a mess as it is.

“My point still stands, talking to your parents about all the ways they have hurt you is fucking hard, okay?”

“Yes, okay I will agree with you on that.”

“And if you really want to make this all about me this time then fine. Try telling my dad, Owen Strand, Captain of the 126, adored by his crew, envied by even more, hero, cancer survivor, the list could go on for a long time Carlos, yes try telling that person that oh yeah by the way dad you neglected me as a child and now I have both abandonment issues, self esteem issues and a constant fear that no one is ever going to love me because I am not worthy of it, that will go down real well.”

He hits the bag three more times against the counter and lets out a triumphant sound as the frozen chickens finally rattle loose inside and he turns to hold it up to Carlos, a sly little smile at the corner of his lip, because his tactic did work even though Carlos had doubted it would. Carlos isn’t smiling though, he’s frowning, concern written all over his face, eyebrows pinched together and TK drops the bag in confusion.

“What?”

Carlos puts the knife down and takes the bag from TK, throwing it lazily, without looking in the direction of the kitchen sink before he steps up close, wrapping his arms around TK and pulling him close. TK lets out a huff of air, taken aback by the fierceness of the action.

“I hate it when you do this to yourself…” Carlos starts and TK sighs, wraps his arms around him back and nods against Carlos’ neck, can’t help but breathe him in, feeling the calming effect of it already working through his system.

“Sorry.”

“No, no don’t apologise.” Carlos leans back and TK looks up to meet his stormy eyes. He opens his mouth but he isn’t sure what to say.

“I love you, okay? So much and I wish I could hit that into your thick skull sometimes but I can’t, so I’m just going to have to spend every day in this relationship proving that you are indeed worthy of love and no past damage or mistakes will change that, okay?” TK can only nod, his throat suddenly thick with emotions he doesn’t know how to express.

“With that said, you’re not very good at keeping things bottled up, especially not for a long time and especially not something this big, so you should probably really think about what you actually feel about this whole situation before you choose to do that.”

“Judd said I was jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Yeah, something about me wanting to push the baby down a well or something because I couldn’t handle not being the only child anymore.”

“He said what now?” TK chuckles at Carlos’ incredulous look and he shrugs.

“It was some biblical reference I don’t know. Prodigal son?”

“Oh, like Cain and Abel, like a lesser known older brother and the jealousy that stems from it because it’s natural to resent the baby because you’re scared it’s going to take your place.” Realisation dawns on Carlos’ face and his eyes light up like they always do when he gets to talk about things he knows, which at times is a surprisingly big amount of random shit.

“Yeah, yeah, exactly that.” TK says sarcastically, gives Carlos a curious look.

“What? I read.” He shrugs and smirks proudly. TK hums. ”Well Judd is good at a lot of things, maybe giving advice isn’t his forte.”

“And yours is?” TK lifts a challenging eyebrow.

“I am an excellent advice giver, I’ll have you know. The issue isn’t me, the issue is everyone else and no one listening to what I’m saying.”

“Oh, so you have a lot of experience then, giving advice?” TK bites down his smile as Carlos glares without heat.

“I chased Michelle around for years when she was getting in trouble searching for her sister. I definitely have a lot of experience.” TK chuckles and leans up to kiss his nose. It wrinkles adorably and TK’s heart tugs in his chest. He loves Carlos so much.

“I love you too, so much. And I’m sorry for bringing up your parents again, that wasn’t nice of me.” TK apologizes and Carlos nods and watches back with quiet brown intense eyes.

“It’s okay, you were right though.” He grudgingly admits.

“Maybe, but there is no pressure, as I’ve said you can take all the time in the world that you need to figure it out and I’ll support you either way.” He promises and Carlos gives him a soft beautiful smile.

“Thanks.” Carlos whispers, grateful and TK nods, and gently starts scraping his knuckles against Carlos’ scalp, pulling at his curls in a way that makes his face soften immediately, eyes falling shut in contentment and his arms tighten around TK, breathing heavily. His reaction tells TK that Carlos feels really comforted by the way he is touching him and that he needed it more than he let on.

TK has always responded well to touch, Carlos picked up on that a lot quicker than most, but it’s also not uncommon for Carlos to like it as well. He just doesn’t always express it, so TK’s taken to doing it when he senses it’s something Carlos needs, while not always being aware of it himself. It’s these small gestures TK’s learnt, that you do for the other person and that they do for you that love really is.

Carlos’ eyes are closed and he’s letting out soft sounds of pleasure, it’s distracting as hell, and it’s making it even more difficult being this close to him and not kissing him, so TK does because he feels he can’t not do it, and angles Carlos’ head down and captures his lips in a searing hot kiss. As always when they kiss like this, starting out soft, but then growing with intention and heat, the slowburn of arousal starts to make its way through his veins, electric energy flooding his system. Only Carlos has this effect on him.

When Carlos reaches to grab at his hair and then bites at his lip it makes TK whine and chase after him when he moves back.

“Dinner, remember?” Carlos reminds him, but with his curls standing up unruly and his pupils dark with want, it’s very hard for TK to remember the reason why he can’t skip dinner all together and eat Carlos out instead. Carlos huffs and his hands tighten around his sides like he can read TK’s mind.

“After dinner.”

“Is that a promise?” TK asks slyly.

“Yes.” Carlos reassures and the slow self satisfied grin tugging at his lips is fucking obscene and TK cheekily grabs his ass in retaliation. Carlos knows the effect he has on him.

“You know cooking in boxers can be a fire hazard.” He points out.

“Good thing I know an excellent firefighter then.” He says and kisses TK hard on the lips before he steps away, walking back to his mostly finished chopped up onions, giving TK a very nice view of his ass in the black tight boxers he’s wearing. God, his boyfriend is hot as fuck.

The rest of the evening is so nice in fact that for a moment he doesn’t think about his parents or the baby, or anything other than how much he loves Carlos and how lucky he is to really have him in his life.

…….

TK unlocks the door to Carlos’ place, throws the bag towards what he hopes is the direction of the shoes, and puts his keys down in the bowl by the door, where Carlo’s are already lying. He steps inside and almost jumps out of skin when he sees his boyfriend sitting on the stairs, frowning and very clearly waiting for him. Most of the lights are off and it casts his features into stunning relief, even when angry, Carlos is too good looking for his own good.

“So, you heard?” TK gulps and Carlos nods.

“Yes, yes I did hear, from the group chat, but not just that, every goddamn news station in the state is covering how two firefighters jumped through a minefield to save two boys that were hurt.”

“Well, only one of them was hurt.” TK shuts his mouth when Carlos levels him with a deeply unimpressed look and he takes a slow step forward and tries again.

“In my defense, I am certified and I was qualified to do it.” TK stops, draws in a sharp breath, backtracks. “Are you mad?”

Carlos lets out a deep breath, and his features soften slightly before he shakes his head, scrubs a hand through his face and when he looks up his eyes are wide and sad.

“No, no, of course I’m not mad. Just extremely worried.”

“Oh?” TK asks, feels confused, scrambling to catch up with the change, having been expecting that Carlos would be upset with him. Carlos huffs and opens his arms and it’s all TK needs for him to take a few steps forward before he sits down between Carlos’ legs, wrapping his arms around his neck, pulling him close. Carlos plants a kiss in his hair, and tightens his grip around TK, almost unconsciously starts stroking his hands down his back and TK lets him, can’t push away the guilt that’s come on so strong, mixing badly with the elevation he’s also feeling after the day he’s had. But when his boyfriend reacts like this it can’t help but leave an acid taste in his mouth too.

“I’m not sure whether I want to never let you leave my arms ever again or brag to everyone that I am for sure dating a hero.” Carlos says and were it not for the slight tremor of his voice that he tries to conceal, TK would laugh.

“I wouldn’t mind never leaving your arms.” He admits because it sounds appealing, especially now, when adrenaline is starting to make way to exhaustion instead.

Carlos huffs.

“You’d get bored after a day or two.” He points out and TK shakes his head.

“You underestimate the excellent sex we do have, I’m sure I could be convinced for three days or so.” Carlos laughs, but then one of his hands wrap around TK’s wrist, feeling out his pulse, comforted by the steady thumping of it. TK lets him, allowing himself after the hectic day he’s had to tuck his face into the crook of Carlos’ shoulder and neck to breathe him in. They both have different ways of calming themselves down when the other one is near and on certain days they need it a little more than on others.

“Your pulse is beating insanely quick.” Carlos points out after a while and TK hums against Carlos’ neck, gives himself a moment before he detaches himself slightly so he can look at him.

“Adrenaline.” He shows Carlos his hand that’s still trembling slightly and Carlos’ eyebrow pinch in concern.

“I’m sorry -” TK begins because he really does hate it when Carlos is sad but Carlos shakes his head and interrupts.

“No, no, this is on me. I know you have a dangerous job that sometimes requires that you take risks, I just wish they didn't have to be this big, a minefield, that’s just insane.” TK nods, he understands.

“But also really cool.” He can’t help but let slip out, eyes alive in excitement and smirking. Carlos snorts and pokes his nose, a little hard maybe, but only a little.

“Yes and designed to give me a goddamn heart attack, you know I’m not even 30, by this rate I’ll be going grey before I hit 35.” He points out, gives TK a look that speaks volumes about how offended Carlos seems to be over that. He laughs and reaches for Carlos’ hair, tugging gently on it.

“I think you’d suit grey really well to be fair.” Carlos wrinkles his nose in distaste and it’s so adorable that he can’t help but laugh again and Carlos distaste slowly melts into something much softer and he sticks his tongue out instead like a mature 26 year old that he is. “And if we’re pointing fingers, remember that hostage situation a while back where an office was shot and I thought it was you because you wouldn’t answer your phone?” Carlos winces and he looks momentarily guilty about that because TK had been so fucking worried he could barely even do his job that day and when Carlos hadn’t answered by the time they were both off shift TK had lost it a little bit.

“Not my finest moment.” Carlos admits.

“No, so don’t go pointing fingers.” But he’s mostly joking even though that day had been scary as fuck, he so very much understands Carlos’ worry today, he really does. Carlos hums.

“How was it then?” He asks and TK bites at his lip, trying to figure out how to word everything. He turns towards Carlos and sits up on his knees, bringing him eyelevel with him and wraps his arms around his neck. Immediately Carlos’ hands come to rest on his waist, his fingers slipping underneath TK’s jumper to trace skin.

“It was incredible, well the minefield aside which was scary for sure, but after that I’ve been feeling like I’ve been on this incredibly long lasting high ever since.” Carlos lifts an eyebrow at the metaphor and TK shrugs sheepishly.

“Yeah, but it’s an apt metaphor for the feeling. I guess I haven’t felt good like that in a while.”

“No?” Carlos asks and there is no trace of judgement or anything in his voice, just kind and curious eyes looking at him. TK nods.

“The only other times I’ve felt this kind of high is you know actually getting high and when I’m with you, I guess the job’s been missing that spark for a while.” Carlos smiles and leans forward to plant a kiss on his nose.

“I’m not totally sure about comparing this relationship to a high.” He points out and TK snorts.

“I’m not, I’m comparing the feeling. Being with you is like pure happiness you know? I feel, just, like I’ve never felt before and even when it’s tough it’s worth it because I love you so much and I know deep down that you love me too and I never don’t want to spend my time with you, so yeah, the feeling is addictive for sure. I really just love you.” He goes quiet and Carlos' eyes have softened and he’s met by a look of pure love and a breathtakingly beautiful smile breaks across Carlos’ face before he pulls TK close and kisses him softly and slowly, making TK’s toes curl inside of his shoes.

“Fuck.” Carlos whispers against his lips. “I love you too, so much.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Carlos says with adoring eyes and voice full of love before he runs his hand through TK’s hair and gently pulls him close, kissing him hard on his lips again. It’s TK who pulls back though making Carlos lift an eyebrow in surprise because it’s unexpected for TK to be the one to do this, so before TK can chicken out he blurts out the words.

“But I might have done something stupid…”

“Oh?” Carlos asks, amusement dancing in his eyes like he’s totally expecting it.

“Yeah, I might have handed in my resume to Vega for the position to become a paramedic.” He rushes the words out, hates the silence between them and can’t help but feel ridiculously nervous all of a sudden waiting for Carlos' reaction. Carlos opens and closes his mouth a few times then shakes his head.

“Okay, wait, I think you need to back up a few steps here so I can follow.” He says, confusion evident in his eyes. But he’s giving TK an encouraging look at TK takes in a deep breath.

“The minefield was not fun and the thought of what could have happened to me and my dad while out there was really scary. I’m not trying to take massive risks anymore, not when I have you to come home to.” Carlos smiles, lovingly, and gives him an encouraging look spurring TK on. “But I knew someone had to get to the kid and with the help of my dad and Vega that I could do something about it, so I volunteered. And the elevation afterwards, that all came from saving the kid. It just… it felt really good to save someone, to be the one to actually do it.” TK confesses loudly for the first time since his shift ended and he in the spur of the moment added his name to the pile in Vega’s office, and saying it makes him feel a little calmer than he has ever since walking off the field.

“Oh, okay.” Carlos says, not fully understanding yet what TK is trying to say, and yet being so patient with him, waiting for TK to figure it out.

“I don’t know, I sometimes feel like I’m not doing enough in the field, like I could do more... and while I also know that’s not the case because every day we all go out in the field doing our best together. But I think I’ve been carrying this with me for a while now, it’s just that this year has been a lot, and even when there is a pandemic going on people still forget to turn their stove off, and they get into car accidents or have their cats escape up in trees unable to come down. The world hasn’t stopped, it’s been moving and I’ve been moving with it without having the time to reflect a lot on myself and the job. But today, I don’t know, I felt like something just clicked while out there and when I could really help him...I guess, I really liked doing it.” TK blushes because he’s been ranting and he’s averted his eyes but they move back to Carlos by their own accord and Carlos’ eyes have cleared from all earlier confusion, instead understanding has taken over and he nods his head thoughtfully.

“And that’s why you handed in your resume? Because you want to continue doing it?” Carlos fills in and TK nods biting his lip.

“D-do you… Do you think it’s a good idea?”

“It’s not up to me to tell you what to do babe, but you know what?”

“What?” TK asks, hanging onto every word he’s saying.

“I think you’d be good at it.”

“Yeah?” He asks, hopeful, and Carlos smiles.

“Of course, you’d be amazing at it, if it’s what you want.”

“It is yes, it’s what I want.” TK says with certainty. It’s just clicked, like all that has been shaking loose and upended recently inside of him finally settle a little more.

“Then yes, it’s an amazing idea. You’re going to be so good.” Carlos grins and TK melts because while he doesn’t depend on Carlos’ approval for this it’s so nice to see him be actually happy for him.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Carlos promises and TK releases the breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding and his own face breaks into a relieved smile.

“I think I could be good at it too.” He confesses a little shyly and Carlos beams and pulls TK slightly forward, his forehead resting on his and everything just settles for TK because nothing beats this, nothing beats Carlos.

“I’m proud of you.” Carlos says and TK can’t bite down the smile. But it falls off his face after a moment and he moves back, looks a little unsure again.

“I might have done something else that wasn’t very smart.” Carlos huffs, lifts an eyebrow, so ever patient with him.

“What did you do now?”

“I didn’t tell my dad…” He trails off and Carlos grimaces but then a look of determination takes over and he shrugs before he gently grasps TK’s face between his hands, stroking a thumb lovingly along his cheek.

“Well, you know what I think?” TK shakes his head. “I think it’s not any of his business really.”

That surprises TK to be honest and he lifts an eyebrow.

“W-what? I mean really?”

“Yeah, I mean maybe you should have told him before you just went and did it, but it’s your life and not his. And as long as you’re not doing it for someone else then it’s not really his choice to make.”

“I’m doing it for me, it’s what I want.” Carlos’ lip lifts in a proud smile and he nods.

“Good.”

“But, what if he’s not happy?”

“I don’t think he will be unhappy, maybe a little surprised and maybe give him a moment. But if he knows you like I do, then he will realise it’s a good thing.”

“Okay, I hope so.” TK musters up a wane smile, still can’t push away the spikes of anxiety about the conversation he’s going to have to have with his dad. But it can wait, for a little while at least.

“You know Vega is going to bust your ass right?” Carlos jokes, eyes full of mirth, smirking and TK snorts.

“Yeah, yeah I know.”

“I remember when Michelle started training under her, the stories she would tell me, Vega is badass and she taught Michelle who is also a badass, I’m expecting she’s going to do the same to you.”

“I’m already a badass.” TK reminds him and Carlos chuckles.

“True, I think she will do you some good though. Challenge you and allow you to really thrive under her, she has that effect on people.” TK nods.

“It’s a tough job…”

“Yeah, but as you said, you’re already a badass, you’re going to do great.”

“It will be nice to be the paramedic, rather than calling one.” TK says and it grows a little more serious between them.

“I mean -” TK clears his throat at Carlos’ silence. “I have experience of being on the other end and I know what it’s like being helped. I guess a part of me is looking forward to doing the helping.”

“I see, well you care so much about people and if you get a chance to show that, to show them this.” Carlos' hands move to cover TK’s heart and it flutters in his chest, warmth spreading to every cell of his body and he smiles shyly. “Then, well, you’re going to be very good at it.” TK bites his lip and nods.

“It feels… I don’t know, just right.”

“Good, that’s amazing.” TK doesn’t know what to say but he’s grateful, more than how he knows to express at the moment but in the way Carlo’s face softens, maybe he can read between the lines.

“Have you talked to Owen about the baby yet?” TK groans, can’t help but glare, the moment between them broken suddenly, like a bucket of ice cold water has been thrown at him, and he moves his head away, hiding in the crook of Carlos’ shoulder and neck and nibbles at his skin making Carlos chuckle, twitching in his arms.

“No, not yet…” He says though, voice muffled by Carlos’ skin.

“Well, do you want to talk about it?” TK sighs but takes his head away and meets Carlos’ eyes.

“I feel… I mean I am happy for them of course but...” He bites at his lip, hard and Carlos reaches forward with his thumb to gently stroke it over the swollen redness making TK stop the action. He takes in a deep breath instead.

“But they always do this, and I don’t even think they are realising it, but they get so single-minded and focused on themselves that they forget everything else. The fighting isn’t fun, I’ve been in the middle of it and I know how lonely and unwanted you can feel when it happens. What they’re doing, it feels like they are just falling into the same patterns as before without even realising that they are, and it’s not going to last if they do it that way.”

Carlos looks thoughtful and TK feels annoyed and frustrated because he can’t help but think it makes his parents feel so irresponsible and it’s hard to come to terms with that because his parents in their own right are extremely competent people, it’s just when together, they aren’t always.

“I support you, I always will and your feelings here are valid and to be worried is honestly a sign of growth.” Carlos begins.

“Oh, you're calling me mature, that’s unusual.” TK jokes, changing the subject.

“I mean you’re definitely a hot mess, a terrible terrible driver for sure.” Carlos easily fires back.

“God, did Judd text you?”

“And filmed some of it. This is why I’m never letting you drive my baby.”

“Hold on, I thought I was your baby, and here I find out you have someone else on the side?” Carlos’ arms tighten around him, biting his lip, the smile threatening to take over.

“What can I say, I really like that car and I paid a lot of money for it.”

“It’s a terrible car for making out in.” TK reminds him and Carlos smirks, reminded of the few times they’ve gotten frisky in it.

“True, still not letting you drive it.” He teases and TK glares.

“Rude.”

“Maybe, but I care too much about the possibility of my greying hairs to get here sooner than I’d like to, to get into a car where you are driving us.”

“Well I might be a paramedic soon, so at least you'd be with someone where your odds are fractionally better if you were to get in an accident.”

“Still not letting you drive it Strand.”

“Worth a shot.” TK laughs and Carlos smiles.

“So, do you want dinner or?”

TK shakes his head.

“No, I’m good, but I’m getting too old to sit on my knees like this.” He grumbles and shifts to get the blood running again. Carlos chuckles and makes it all the easier by just scooping him up in his arms. TK yelps and Carlos grins, delighted by the sound. TK wraps his legs around Carlos’ waist, tightens his arms around his neck.

“Please don’t drop me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it baby.” Carlos reassures grinningly. “So, bed?”

“Bed.” TK agrees.

He lets Carlos carry him up the stairs and into the bedroom, feeling so safe in his arms, that whatever conversation that’s waiting for him tomorrow with his dad, doesn’t matter as much anymore.

#911 lone star #9-1-1 lone star #tarlos #tarlos fic #tk x carlos #911 lone star fanfiction #911 lone star fic #tk strand #carlos reyes #tarlos fanfiction

102 notes · View notes

jaggedwolf · 3 years

Text

tscosi 2x06

small galaxy huh

fish-bullying etymology

Arkady could be correct here - it’s awfully convenient for Vashren to be the one behind this deal, especially since their removal would be beneficial to Eejhgreb. Eejhgreb, who would have a wider lay of the political landscape than any of our three friends here, and could have offered more than one suspect

Did no dwarnian arm dealers try making some cash during that ten year war by selling to the humans? Are there private dwarnian arm dealers, what is the structure of the dwarnian economy, irrelevant things I wonder about

They have bars though, so I approve of that much

Eejjhgreb’s approval of Krejjh’s human buddies is useful for the marriage thing, but I am also cracking up at the idea of them reading that tabloid and accidentally becoming the first in-universe Krejjh/Brian/Arkady shipper (while being incredibly condescending : “well, a lone dwarnian prospect would be skilled in both the battling arts and our linguistic culture, I suppose one for each will have to do”)

Really though, what is Eejhgreb’s long game here, on a political level

uhhh a goat is eating my jacket uhhh

The fucking irony that after Violet gives an extended explanation that adults get to make their own choices, even if you saw them grow up...she runs right into Juniper who wants to join the crew

Have no idea what Sana would think of that request. (Suspect Violet’s argument against it to the captain specifically will be one of pragmatism, not sentiment)

The pretending-to-be-neighbours bit quickly gave a great sense of their dynamic - you get the sense that this is not the first time Juniper has successfully badgered her older sis into a scheme. God, do you think they practiced accents/voices on each other?

My prev prediction on juniper: “a hum major, speech with the same kind of interrogatory nature as Violet’s though perhaps a bit more reckless.” Feels accurate. Don’t know whether I feel good/bad for the Liu parents having to wrangle these two.

I enjoyed hearing about Other Violet’s cost-benefit analyses and resource management. Someone’s gotta do it. All this discussion about the kids reminded me of the ME3 decision about Jack’s students

avoiding goat shit

Man, there should be McCabe fanart that accurately captures someone who would look like a teenager to 37-year-old Sana but look like a 30 year old to teenage Oakley.

I would like to congratulate them on their growth in first asking if someone would like to hear terrible news. Unfortunately wasted on this episode’s recipient, who would always say yes.

When Oakley asked “How do you deal with it, when people imply you’re, like, xenofauna?” to McCabe my brain auto-filled an answer of “Getting really really good at killing them” but as far as I can tell, McCabe has killed 1 human, 0 dwarnians. Maybe the answer of a McCabe born a decade earlier. Probably someone’s answer.

Grew up on a farm!

How remote/cut-off is Martineau, that they wouldn’t have heard of the Iris by now? Guess we’ll find out next week

Fun facts

I don’t even need to do the math on the Nixon thing, this is just more confirmation that Brian kills at Earth-history trivia.

I’d guess that Mirzakhani the planet is named for the Iranian mathematician, who was awarded the Fields medal in 2014

Minor Character MVP: look, I am a simple listener with simple needs and Gavins lost cool merc points for caring about Violet’s relationship status. Juniper wins this week, for reckless ship-hopping and giving Violet multiple heart-attacks. Also, Violet calling her Junie is cute.

#jaggedwolf rambles #mine #tscosi #tscosi reviews #juniper is taller than violet right we all agree on this #you know maybe sana got to see a baby goat wearing a sweater in-person #who's going to write meta about who the most famous 20th century US president would be in 2191

20 notes · View notes

mrs-nate-humphrey · 3 years

Text

no-sleep 1x09rewatch ramble-essay (all content warnings for the episode apply here)

i was just like. oh i’ll watch a feel-good episode of gossip girl! s1 thanksgiving ep is great isn’t it! blairenate family feels!!! ruflyson love triangle drama!!! vdw siblings AND humphrey siblings hanging out!!! dan’s “see you later waldorf” *salutes & closes the cab door* !!!

& like. yes i DID remember serena’s whole not being sober on thanksgiving thing, and yes i DID remember blair’s ED relapse - which is heavy, but eating disorder content isn’t particularly triggering for me personally (i find it kind of cathartic, if we’re being honest) BUT . i somehow forgot. that THIS was the episode which has howard’s suicide attempt?? and now i have some of the most painful nate feels in the world.

blah blah blah, leight’s acting brought me to tears, which probably doesn’t sound like a very big deal but sort of is, for a variety of reasons (watching things doesn’t usually make me cry, it’s happened maybe a single-digit number of times before + also just my blair feels in general --> she’s a really interesting character but i don’t find her AS relatable as i do dan, or nate, or vanessa, or maybe even serena at times --> so i usually do have a bit of a disconnect re: watching her, which i really do not have for like. dan, for instance.)

i just cannot divorce that very cute outfit blair wears with her ED relapse - which brings me to the next point, which is that blair is maybe THE only character ever for whom her clothing choices and her plotlines are so interwoven in my head (lemon yellow shirt and funky little hat is her mean bridesmaids competitive game day, yellow-&-orange dress is her choose chuck over dan moment, genderqueer plaid skirt and grey shirt is her “dan loves me for me” moment, white shirt with the pink flowers is her get owned by nelly yuki moment, etc etc)... the only other time i noticed outfits is derena cotillion, but that’s just because i LOVE derena cotillion, and date matching shirts, but that’s because i am tuned into all things date and couldn’t possibly tell you what those outfits actually symbolise, with the exception of dan’s pink flannel shirt from when he’s holding milo. or any of the outfits from 2x06 because that is my episode hands down. oh hey would you look at that, i do actually form associations. but you gotta believe me on this, blair’s the one it happens most naturally for, which is very strange. i think it’s because her outfits are always Statements in a way that the other characters never do, except for jenny, who is a fashion designer, so it’s Different for her. what am i trying to say.

oh yeah another iconic outfit is serena’s golden jacket and bright blue pants to the morgue to identify what might be chuck’s corpse. she literally dressed like she was going clubbing and i respect her so much for that.

anyway. gosh. nate just - getting gaslit by his mom, getting reprimanded by his dad for telling his mom to stop being rude/petty... howard was like “don’t fight my fights for me” but nate wasn’t even doing that?? he was just asking his mom Not to be rude, and the fact that nate got told off at the end of that interaction... uh. it shows a lot about the archibald family unit in general and just. how nate is sort of treated as ... i don’t have the right word, but my brain is like “second class citizen”... which is absolutely NOT the right concept for nate but like. he is treated like he is Less a part of the family than his parents are....... RIGHT until one of them (or both of them!) fuck up in a big way and it’s down to nate to fix their mess. i haven’t read “adult children of emotionally immature parents” but from whatever i’ve heard about it, i think nate could do with reading it. or not. maybe it’d just make him sadder.

and fuck - nate’s whole talk with his dad and his dad telling nate that he doesn’t know how he can go on, etc etc... idk what to say or where to draw the line but i have really complicated howard & nate feelings. i really truly think anne was the worse parent (not like it’s a competition of course) and i sometimes seriously wonder if maybe howard archibald had a more supportive life partner, maybe he wouldn’t have ended up being ~like that~ to nate (doesn’t justify anything of course). anyway nate’s sitting by the hospital bed and his dad is denying his suicide attempt at first and nate’s just like, no, stop. this is also making me think now of nate sitting by serena’s hospital bed after tripp, and nate possibly sitting by blair’s hospital bed some point pre-series (eating disorders are serious and i really do think, esp with eleanor being eleanor, that it must’ve gotten pretty bad for blair before she got help - which. sorry. i know, it’s sad but i’m just putting together pre-existing implications.) all i’m saying is some point in the future i wouldn’t be surprised if nate’s just. uncomfortable in hospitals and unable to piece together why. oh yikes i just remembered blair’s miscarriage. at which point do hospitals become overly suffocating for natie, remind him of his own helplessness, etc... because i really think they would. anyway.

anne archibald chills me because she is such an accurate representation of a very specific kind of mother and. i hate it for nate obviously but i struggle to remember a time i’ve seen a tv mom who i can 100% relate to so hard. as in. fuck. worded that wrong. whose SON i can relate to so hard. ouch. this may be a moot point because i don’t watch much tv, but honestly anne & nate is just. a Lot. in a way that is significant to Me, specifically. this is part of my pet peeve (not enough to fight with anybody don’t worry) when people make edits about mothers & daughters, as if what was happening between nate & anne, somehow didn’t have the same complications - i honestly think there’s some solid eleanor & blair/ anne & nate parallels to be drawn. and we’ve been over this somewhere else, but lily & serena / rufus & dan / rufus & jenny definitely have a lot of the same specific issues (parent projecting on child, etc.) again - everyone engages w the show differently, im ready to admit that like... maybe 65% of my problems with the ‘mothers & daughters’ reading probably stem from gender dysphoria, lol. but whatever.

i have feelings about dan & alison, too... i really do think dan was closer to his mom than to his dad for majority of his childhood, and this ep really cements it. anyway. i don’t have any more words and i’m tired. and i might just watch derena cotillion episode because . derena cotillion episode my beloved...

wait wait before i forget. venn diagram of humphrey family & van der bilt family & playing american football. i know this has come up before but like. here we go i;m thinking about it again. both dan and nate have been competitively thrown in the grass by a family member in the name of sports. no wonder nate chose dan over chuck in 2x06 (i would put a tone indicator but even i can’t tell if this is /gen or /j)

6 notes · View notes

zuluoscarecho · 4 years

Text

Same Same But Different

idk what this is. I wanted to write some smut. Instead I got feelings. I started watching Scorpion a week ago and I love one Dr Tobias M. Curtis more than anything else. Set after 2X06 Tech, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll.

Also on AO3

Happy stopped beside his desk and it took him a second to move his head to look at her. He didn’t hurt yet but he could feel a dull ache building. Right now he just felt like he was made of lead and moving, even to look at Happy, was a Herculean effort.

She was looking down at him, head cocked to the side studying him. “In your medical opinion, is it safe for you to go home alone?”

He paused, mind going a mile a minute, observing, calculating. He clocked the tense set of her shoulders - she was nervous, the way she made her own observations of him with her eyes tracking over him - she was…worried?

“Doc. You all right?” Her voice was as gruff as usual but she peered down at him rather than walking away.

“Yeah. Yeah I…” he trailed off as his brain got stuck on the wrinkle between her brows as she frowned at him. She was worried.

Happy took a step forward and touched his arm. The frown grew deeper and her other hand twitched like she wanted to reach for some tool to fix it, fix him.

He looked down at her hand on his arm and back up at her in what felt like slow motion.

“You don’t look so good. I’m not so sure you should be alone. Where are your keys? I’ll drive.” She was as abrupt and brusque as Happy ever was but there was a slight tremble in her usually surgeon-steady hands and despite not taking her eyes off him, she wouldn’t meet his gaze.

Happy was worried about him, she was concerned about his health, she cared. This wasn’t the first time he’d been hurt during a job, definitely not the first time any of them had been hurt but this was the first time Happy had sought him out to check on him and definitely the first time she’d offered to drive him home.

Happy turned and picked his keys from amongst the mess on his desk. She tugged on his ash covered sleeve with the other hand and he followed her without thought.

He’d follow her anywhere.

Happy was silent on the drive, which was no surprise, she wasn’t particularly loquacious at the best of times, especially not after a long and stressful day. What was a surprise is that Toby was also quiet.

He felt like his world had been turned upside down with Happy being nice to him, not that she was ever mean, she just wasn’t actively nice. He felt a little fizzle of warmth slide through him at the thought. He’d known that she liked him, or else she wouldn’t have been so upset when he messed up. But in the last few weeks, they’d settled back into their old friendship, albeit slightly stilted whenever their banter threatened to slip in to flirting. He’d thought it was too late, especially with Chet on the scene, but maybe not all hope was lost.

His brain was so stuck on Happy being concerned about him, playing their interaction in the garage on loop, that he didn’t notice where they were, or more accurately where they weren’t, until they were out of the car.

“This isn’t my apartment,” Toby said, glancing around owlishly as he followed Happy down a hallway to stop in front of number 7.

Happy looked back at him and shrugged one shoulder. “Nah, I don’t know where you live. This is my place.” She paused after she opened the door and turned a scowl on him. “Don’t touch anything, okay?”

He held up his hands in surrender as she opened the door. “I would never.”

She led him into the studio apartment. It was pretty spartan except for the multitude of appliances and engine parts strewn over anything that even resembled bench space. Both stools at the breakfast bar contained tool boxes and the coffee table was strewn with motor magazines. “Bathroom’s through there if you wanna shower.” She ducked down to rifle through the drawers of what looked like an old mechanics tool box and pulled out some clothes for him.

“Wait, who do these belong to?” he asked, holding up a pair of sweatpants and an old faded jumper. “Are these Chet’s?” He was exhausted and starting to feel that ache that always came after a physically hard job, not to mention the probably bruised ribs he had from Happy’s CPR, but he had a visceral reaction to the idea of wearing Happy’s boyfriend’s clothes. So much for independence.

Happy rolled her eyes. “No. Old boyfriend from college.”

Toby nodded, satisfied that at least the guy who’d owned these clothes was long gone, and turned towards the bathroom.

“Towels are under the sink!” she called after him.

Toby nodded as he shut the door behind him. The rush of the shower water helped calm his mind and for 4 blissful minutes he didn’t think about anything more than washing the soot and sweat from his skin.

Happy was fiddling with what looked the insides of an alarm clock on her kitchen bench when he came out of the bathroom, towel over his head as he scrubbed at his wet hair.

“Now I just want to sleep for a week,” he said with a weary sigh, voice muffled from under the towel.

Happy blinked at him. She’d never seen him look so soft and vulnerable. He looked dead on his feet and his usually considering gaze was almost blank from exhaustion.

All the times he’d spouted off about his feelings for her, playing at being sincere, and she did believe his feelings were real, but there was always some sort of agenda in the way he spoke to her, to anyone, some facade or wall between him and whatever could hurt him.

She could relate, but it made seeing him like this, his cheeks flushed from the shower and his hair sticking up in all directions rather than flattened by his hat, feel like she was seeing another side of him she’d never even gotten a peek at before.

“Uh, you sleep on the left, I like to sleep on the right.” Happy ducked down to dig out pyjamas for herself so she didn’t see the raised eyebrow or following shrug as he crawled into the left side of the bed without question.

“Anything I need to worry about with you tonight?” she asked turning back to him. “You know, medically?”

Toby’s eyes were closed when he replied and he looked almost asleep already with one arm tucked up behind his head. “No. As long as my heart doesn’t stop I’ll live.”

“Okay. I guess I’ll listen out for it.” With that she turned and headed into the bathroom herself and Toby was asleep before he even heard the shower turn on.

When Happy came back from the bathroom, Toby hadn’t moved. She stood beside the bed as she towel dried her hair, too tired and too concerned about waking Toby to use the hair dryer. She considered how on earth she was supposed to check if his heart stopped beating in his sleep.

She hung the towel up in the bathroom and carefully slid into bed beside him. She slowly moved closer to him and carefully lay her head on his chest, damp hair splaying out behind her. She could hear the steady thump-thump of his heart beat beneath her cheek and she felt herself release the tension she hadn’t even realised she’d been holding on to.

Ever since Walter had flicked that switch and she’d watched the oxygen levels drop, and Toby with them, she’d felt on edge, a tightness crawling across her skin. Even literally breathing life back into him hadn’t made the feeling go away but she could feel it ease now with every beat of his heart beneath her head.

When Toby woke up it was still dark. He could see brightness from the streetlights outside leaking in around the drawn curtains. His whole body hurt, but especially his head which is why it took him a minute to realise the pressure on his chest wasn’t the probably fractured ribs from Happy’s CPR but Happy herself curled up against him.

He blinked down at her head, dark hair spilling out behind her before he decided to ignore whatever this was and go back to sleep.

The next time Toby woke up he was alone but he could hear quiet movement and he dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom before finding Happy in the kitchen.

She was supervising an old Happy-style refurbished mixmaster that was slowly stirring a bowl with a wooden spoon.

Toby ran a hand through his hair, feeling it stick up and reminding him why he always wore a hat. “Hey, uh, thanks for driving me back here and letting me stay last night. I probably just would’ve crashed at the garage and we all know that couch is older than dirt. Anyway, I’ll go home and get out of your hair.”

“You don’t have to go. I’m making pancakes. You should probably eat something anyway.”

“Happy…” Toby trailed off, eyebrows showing his confusion. “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it, but what’s going on? You bring me back here, let me sleep in your bed, I wake up in the middle of the night with you asleep on my chest - which admittedly could have just been a really good dream - and now you’re making pancakes? This is…not like you.”

“Iwaslisteningtoyourheartbeat,” she mumbled to the pancake mixture.

“What?”

Happy huffed and turned to glare at him without saying a word.

“Why are you glaring at me?” he asked in bewilderment.

“I was lying on your chest because I was listening to your heart beat!”

Toby still looked confused. “Okay?”

“You know, so you wouldn’t die,” she said turning back to her pancakes. She turned off the mixer, getting out a frying pan to heat. “You almost died yesterday, or you did die, I don’t even know.”

Toby shrugged nonchalantly, like it was something that happened all the time. Near death experiences hadn’t actually been super common for any of them up until a few years ago. Unless you counted the number of daring escapes Toby had made from people he’d owed substantial amounts of money to. “Technically dead, but not brain dead seeing as you resuscitated me in time.”

“Whatever. I just wanted to know you’re okay.”

“I am okay,” Toby said slowly. “And we all almost died yesterday. You were stuck in the pump room that was on fire, Sly was stuck with the kids, also on fire, and Walter was…Walter.” Toby shrugged as if that explained Walter and to be perfectly honest it kind of did.

“It’s not the same,” she said. She turned to face him and looked at him the way she always did when she couldn’t find the right words but knew he’d find them for her. “You know it’s not the same.”

Toby shook his head and moved to stand in front of her. “No, I don’t know that it’s not the same. You froze me out, you said we were just friends, colleagues. It is the same, Happy.”

Happy bit her lip and looked up at him. “It’s not the same.”

Toby let out a breath and nodded at her, or himself. “Okay then. I’ll stay for breakfast.”

#quintis #quintis fic #toby curtis x happy quinn #toby x happy #toby curtis #happy quinn #scorpion #scorpion fic #my fic

42 notes · View notes

austencello · 5 years

Text

Spartan - Arrow Music Notes 7x19

This episode is focused on John Diggle: his past with his step-father and his future for his sons. In the present, Team Arrow joins up with General Stewart to find Emiko and Felicity faces Archer being used as a weapon by the Ninth Circle.

This is a relatively short review as there were not a lot of specific moments to bring out musically.

John Diggle

After intercepting a file transfer between an ARGUS agent and the Ninth Circle, Felicity recognizes that the files were protected by the Department of Defense. Diggle offers to meet the General, his step-father, who is a high-up official within that department. When General Stewart critizes Diggle’s career choices to leave ARGUS and go play vigilante “a dead-end career,” Diggle’s horn theme (3 notes) play. It repeats again with the third note changing as John says that he left ARGUS to protect his family. The motif represents the essence of who John is: a hero who protects his family. This version is the more frequently played version and first heard in 1x20 “No Show” in guitar harmonics when Diggle got mad at Oliver for failing to help with Deadshot. Interestingly enough, the first time it is heard in horn (for a hero) is when he lets Deadshot go in 2x06 “Digg lets Deadshot go”. Loyalty and family are two of the most important parts to John Diggle in making him a hero.

Guitar and bass harmonics were an important feature for John’s music before horn and this sound returns as he insists on accompanying the General to find the assets at a safe house because he doesn’t trust his step-father, blaming him for his father’s death or at least abandoning him. Later on, the horn returns when Oliver tells John the truth about the General and his father. As John tells General Stewart that the Team will go stop Emiko showing a move of trust, the harmonies turn major showing a change of heart for Diggle.

At the end, Diggle asks his step-father why he lied, letting him hate him for years. Horn plays as the General replied that every son should believe his father is a hero. John responds that if he is a hero, then it was due to his step-father and as they hug, John’s motif returns for family and heroism.

Flash-fowards - JJ and Connor

The flash-forwards reveal that the Diggle family still has some issues as it is revealed that JJ is the leader of the Deathstroke gang. As Connor shows the Deathstroke mark, the Deathstroke electronic downward glide plays. This theme/sound “Deathstroke” first appeared in 1x05 with Billy Wintergreen and has accompanied every version of Deathstroke since: Wintergreen, Slade Wilson, Joe Wilson, and now JJ Diggle. It goes with the symbol of Deathstroke and not who is underneath the mask.

Later on, Mia asks Connor about what it was like to have a gang leader for a brother and Connor opens up a little about his family: JJ rebelling against their dad, Connor stuck in the middle. As he shares this, a new theme made up of 4 sets of three notes and then a pause begins in a higher electronic sound which is something unique and yet fitting with the future music. The first three notes play again as Connor and Mia stare into each other’s eyes after running from the gang members. I believe this could be their theme (SmoaknHawke) but we will have to wait to know for sure. Considering we have only two more episodes...we may be waiting until next fall.

Emiko and Dante

Oliver and the Team arrive to attempt to stop Emiko and the Ninth Circle from taking a bio weapon and using Archer. An electronic sound used for Emiko’s scenes (which reminds me of an alarm) plays as Oliver tells her that Dante killed her mother. Then her string and toms theme plays as they fight.

Both of these aspects return at the end as the alarm electronics play while Emiko shoots Dante and then her main theme reoccurs as she tells him to rot in hell.

Extra Notes:

- Usually piano is used for Oliver scenes but in this episode it was used for Felicity as she shared with Alena that she wanted to make her mark on the world as Felicity and not just Overwatch. The music soundscape returned near the end as Alena tells her that it is not Archer that is destined to change the world but Felicity.

- It was a good episode but not a lot of things stood out in the music. Considering all the work that went into the previous Canary episode and most likely the last three (lots of Roy in 7x20), it does happen. I can write short reviews!

@smoakmonster @academyofshipping @herskirtsarentthatshort @ah-maa-zing @dmichellewrites @almondblossomme @jorahandal @green-arrows-of-karamel @scu11y22 @mel-loves-all

#arrow music notes #arrow 7x19 #john diggle #connor hawke #smoaknhawke #blake neely #nathaniel blume

13 notes · View notes

potterandpromises · 5 years

Text

Oblivion

Fandom: Timeless

Pairing: Garcia Flynn/Lucy Preston

Summary: The kitchen clock reads 2:26 am; Lucy's pretty sure she's lost her nightly battle.

Word count: 1,986

Notes: Takes place between 2x05 and 2x06. Slight canon divergent in that Lucy started sleeping on the couch a day after 2x05 instead of at the beginning of 2x06.

Content warnings: Intrusive thoughts, injury, medical stuff (stitching up of a wound), mild language, references to self-harm, and mentions of alcohol.

Also on AO3.

The kitchen clock reads 2:26 am; Lucy's pretty sure she's lost her nightly battle.

Judging from the sounds that had stopped only a matter of minutes ago; Wyatt and Jessica are very happy together. And she should be happy for the her friend, and she is, really (really!). But it doesn't seem too unreasonable to dislike having to listen to their very loud 'happiness' into the early morning. Not when time for sleep, let alone a mind for sleep, is already an unstable commodity.

But bringing that up to the couple isn't an option. And she has the silence she wanted right now, and she should be taking advantage of it. Except her ancestors created an actual evil cult in order to secretly control America. And her mother groomed her for said cult's purposes. And—

Screw it.

Lucy rolls off the couch and walks to the kitchen. She'd seen Mason undeniably drunk just yesterday. Even if he keeps his stash in his room he must get it from somewhere. So she searches every semi-plausible hiding place the metal pantry has to offer. Even pulling up a chair for a better vantage point.

Nothing.

Maybe she should just watt it out until Mason leaves his room for more than a few minutes at a time. Then she can—

Somehow, she manages to fall on her dissent from the chair in such a way as to hit her recently-stabbed arm on the counter, than catch the entirety of her weight upon landing. Typical, really, can't even stand on a damn chair right.

"Lucy?"

She's too preoccupied writhing in pain to turn to look at him; but notes the concern in his voice.

"I'm fine, go back to bed." she marriages to say, despite searing pain.

Not ready to get up, Lucy clutches her arm, squirms fully onto her back and squeezes her eyes shut. If she ripped open her stitches she'll have to tell Agent Christopher and— Flynn's hand covers her own, tugging slightly at her fingers in a gentle attempt to move them off the offending injury. Peeling her eyes open, she gives him a questioning look.

"I need to see if you ripped out any stitches." He says matter-of-factly.

She considers telling him that she can handle this herself. That he should go back to bed and pretend this never happened. But she's tired and re-bandaging her upper arm is a struggle. (And it does not hurt that his abnormally gentle demeanor makes for a compelling distraction.)

Lucy nods and sits up, nearly flopping backward. Flynn steadies her with a hand between her shoulder blades. "Wash your hands first."

"I'm just looking."

"But you are touching," she points out. He removes his hand Immediately, as if just realizing his mistake. “And I can't risk another infection." she's barely heeled from the last one. She can't deal with another, ever.

He gives a tight-lipped smile, "Fair enough." How much of that ordeal had he been around for? She doesn't remember him being there, but she doesn't remember much of anything.

He washes his hands. She attempts to stand, only to hiss in pain when she puts too much weight on her injured arm. Yup, definitely ripped out some stitches.

Flynn's arm is around her in an instant, lifting her to her feet, done and over with before she can even process it. He then delicately pulls her cardigan off her shoulder, just enough to reveal the freshly bleeding wound. His gaze flickers briefly to her other, newer bandage, courtesy of Emma; which mercifully doesn't show any blood— unlike it’s predecessor. He removes the covering from her stab wound and carefully probes the area with a wet cloth.

He's always like that, she realizes, purposeful in his touch. Ever since he came to the bunker; when he had to touch her it was always careful, practical, never lasting longer than necessary.

Why? (She has the absurd thought that she would not mind his touch in very different circumstances, if it wasn't for the possibility of having to live and work with multiple one-night stands.)

Slouching, he visibly takes a moment to choose his next words. "You might be able to get away with butterfly stitches, but I think it would be best if you got replacements." Lucy cringes inwardly at the idea of attempting to explain the predicament she got herself in to Agent Christopher. What happened was silly; would she judge Lucy for it? And her injury couldn't be that bad, did she really—

Flynn licks his lips in that unconscious, thoughtful way. "If you would prefer, I could fix it."

"You know how to do that?" He probably learned during one of the wars he fought in, or his time on the run. But she feels the need to clarify, telling herself she isn't yet at that level of uncaring.

"Learned on the job." He confirms. “You'll let me stitch you up then?" He searches her face for an answer, expression artificially neutral.

"Better you then—" anyone else. She doesn't wish to examine what that means. "Yes."

"Are there medical supplies someplace around here?" She catches a note of criticism. She'd heard from Rufus how he'd insisted they add a first aid kit to the lifeboat after Salem, when she had to use a dirty rag to keep from dripping.

"Maybe in there?" She gestures in the direction of the spare room where they'd kept teenage JFK a few days prior. Flynn nods and leads her toward the space. She stops just outside the doorway.

He rummages around industrial shelving units. "is there a reason you ware— ah," he pulls out the not-so-recently-acquired med kit and gestures to the cot. Lucy doesn't move.

"Having second thoughts?"

"No, just... not in here." It isn't even that small of a space, but her claustrophobia doesn't care; not tonight.

He seems to consider her, before nodding and starting toward the couch.

Lucy sits awkwardly, awaiting farther instruction. Flynn puts the kit on the table and empties some of it's meager contents. Soon making a disgusted, disapproving noise that turns into a sigh. "Looks like I can't numb you." he turns to her, gauging her reaction.

Lucy feels nauseated, momentarily. But she's sure she'd felt worse upon the initial stabbing, and her desire to not have to explain this injury to anyone else is a powerful one. She tries to shrug, but fails on account of needing to hold the cloth over her damaged skin. Instead she mutters "it's fine."

He grabs a pill bottle, shaking a few into his hand. "Swallow these, we'll do it in 15 minutes." She takes the pain killers without comment, and watches him lay out his tools in a neat row on the table. So unlike him, she thinks.

"The supplies in this place are abysmal. How is it that Wyatt and Rufus have both been shot and nobody thought 'hey maybe we should keep a first aid kit in that thing?'" He gestures with vague frustration in the direction of the lifeboat. She can’t be sure if the hints of worry amongst the annoyance in his tone are reel or imagined.

"I think Christopher said something about putting one in the lifeboat."

"About time," he mutters.

Watching him prepare a curved needle with alcohol, she thinks of having an actual conversation with him. Like they're normal human beings, who aren't caught up in a real-world conspiracy, living in a secret government bunker; just two people enjoying each other’s company. But it feels out of reach, like another timeline entirely. (Right next to the one with her sister, across from the one where she and Wyatt had a relationship lasting longer than one night.) And nothing good comes from dwelling on those.

"I think it's been long enough, are you in less pain that you started in?"

it takes her a moment to perceive the question. "Um, yeah, I guess so." A lie, given that over-the-counter hardly works on her anymore (saying so wouldn’t make this any easier).

"Lay on your side, it will help with the bleeding."

And so Lucy gracelessly half falls onto her side, painfully jostling her arm in the process. She takes a moment to psych herself up, and withdraws the damp rag. She trusts him not to hurt her anymore than necessary, but she feels the loss of control anyway.

He begins by wiping away the blood that had begun to pool under the cloth. Then douses the area with hydrogen peroxide; which stings, but is perfectly expected. And she manages to barely react, only wiggling her foot as a distraction—

She stifles a yelp into a sharp intake of breath. He pierces her skin, than quickly pulls her it beck together. The first time this was done to her she’d been numb to the intimacies of digging into and altering flash, first by adrenaline than by lidocaine; now all the details are revealed. Her breathing becomes rigid; it screams for a more severe physical response.

Flynn hesitates only a moment. "It will be over soon.” he reassures. And she wants to tall him to stop, to let it be over now. But the logical part of her brain wins out and she stays excruciatingly still for five more stitches. Reminding herself that this is instead of bothering Agent Christopher and having to deal with a doctor; because, for reasons she doesn't care to examine, he is the best person to do this.

"I'm done with that part, Lucy." He says softly, spreading ointment over his handily work. Than wrapping it.

Her pain, now a dull throb, is replaced by an enveloping calm, one she recognizes from her junior year of high school. It had scared her so much she'd never done it again. But she'd seen more, done more, a few small cuts meant nothing. And It did help, if she just—

It's not a coping mechanism she can afford to adopt. Being semi-undressed in front of her team is inescapable, even if she cut somewhere no one would theoretically have to see— ending up stranded without access to clean water or fresh bandages is always a possibility, and another infection isn't an option.

Flynn is still standing by her couch, his expression unreadable. He cleans up and returns the medical supplies. Than walks away only to come back a minute later, handing her a glass of water and her cardigan.

Lucy accepts the glass. "Hey thinks for—" she gestures to her newly re-stitched arm.

He nods and stays another few moments, watching her drink, than her put her cardigan on. He has no reason to do so— unless he just wants to; or he’s delaying the return to the most intense of his own internal battles. That seems more likely.

"Goodnight, Lucy." He says, voice nearly too soft to hear, it feels all too meaningful. She says it back, even knowing it isn't like that for him either.

People will be up in a few hours, and she will have gotten just as much sleep. But her thoughts aren't as relentless as before, and she's finally tired in a way that will let her rest. - When the alarms sounded for her first mission post-stabbing, Lucy wasn't anticipating her first challenge to be getting out of the lifeboat. She'd done this dozens of times and it wasn't like it was particularly difficult, but the last time she tried to step off of any remotely high surface—

"Care for a lift?" Flynn looks up at her, apparently having seen her dilemma and wanting to help. He always wants to help lately, it's sweet.

Nodding, she gives him a half smile and he lifts her safely and easily — which does not go unnoticed by her — onto the ground.

(And If his hands linger on her side a moment longer than necessary, she does not mind the contact.)

#garcy #garcy ff #timeless #timeless ff #lucy preston #garcia flynn #fanfiction #my fanfic tag #Fic: Oblivion #I have like 10 WIPs in this fandom and this is what I choose to present first

27 notes · View notes

jasmineshaven · 6 months

Text

brando by lucy dacus being my jo harvelle and dean winchester song but in the fucked up one-sided pining way and not the relationship way

#it reminded me of 2x06 the first time i heard it #when dean called jo an amateur and her FACE oh that hurt #when he thinks ash (the man who is not there) made the research and not jo (the woman who is presenting it to him)#when he calls the fight between jo and ellen a cat fight #when he assumes all of her knowledge is based on a 'half-baked romantic notion'#jo was literally right for calling him out #i do still love my romantic chestervelle content and i will slurp it up but this episode is like a kick in the gut for me #jo harvelle #dean winchester #spn

2 notes · View notes

sylvansmercy · 6 years

Text

the shannara chronicles season two prompts: part three

episode five & episode six [+] — feel free to adjust wording, pronouns, etc.

2x05: “PARANOR”

"This is where we part ways." "You don't need me." "Maybe when I finish doing what I gotta do, I'll try and find you." "I was starting to think you'd forgotten about me." "What's our plan once we get in there?" "The less I tell you, the safer we are." "I don't like being kept in the dark." "Then we must trust each other." "Doesn't sound like the time to be winging it." "You just said that we have to trust each other!" "It is too dangerous to have you with us." "You still think that I'm plotting against you, admit it!" "Wouldn't it be better to go in as a team?" "I mourn with you." "They will burn for this." "If you're going after them, I want to help." "This isn't some scavenger hunt, this is war." "I know this kingdom like the back of my hand. I can root out its traitors." "I've been lying to her since I learned to talk." "I should've known you'd make an appearance." "What has you rushing back to me after all these years?" "Enough! We have more pressing matters." "I assume there's a point to this history lesson?" "If you wanna know if I made a deal to save my people, then the answer is yes." "I won't apologize for protecting my people." "In your effort to save your kingdom, you have doomed us all." "You shouldn't have come." "You look tired." "I'm tired of your games, but not too tired to end this." "How do I know you'll hold up your end of the bargain?" "Well, it appears your intentions are true." "I've done everything you asked! Everything!" "If you do this, there'll be no turning back." "So, you were in on this? That bickering outside, that was just for show?" "Wait, don't say it. You were trying to protect me." "I was hoping you could start over. Build a life that wasn't defined by your parents' mistakes." "I was naive. After all these years, I should've known better." "Tell me the truth. Now." "I will always love you, [name]." "I promised her that I would protect you." "She convinced me that you could just as easily be a force for good as for evil, and she was right." "When you said that the truth would bring me pain, is this what you meant?" "All my life I've had to break free from people who tried to control me, and now you're saying I may not have a choice?" "How can I believe you after all your lies?" "Lower your weapon, boy." "This prison was designed for beings much stronger than you." "Now he's just a pawn to you, isn't he? Another sacrifice for the greater good." "There is nothing you can do for him now." "I swear I wasn't trying to trick you." "I can still save you." "Do not be fooled. He is trying to manipulate you." "Don't put me in the middle of this!" "You showed up because you have a part to play." "The only way to fight the darkness is to condition yourself." "Your training starts now." "You asked for the truth; you need to face it." "It's like I can feel it trying to get inside my head." "Control it. Don't let it control you." "That didn't seem very hard." "Don't get cocky. That was a good first step, but you need to keep practicing." "The darkness in me. When I used it to control that thing, I kind of liked it." "Ready to find out who you are?" "Whatever this thing is, I think it worked." "I'm sorry it's been so long." "I wasn't sure if you were ever coming back." "No amount of gold will bring him back, I know that." "What did you do?" "I got no fear of death!" "Death is too good for you." "Stay away from me. You're cursed." "Don't ever come back here." "I sensed a deep well of pain in her." "I think mine's bigger." "I thought they were gonna stick me like a roast pig." "How does stale bread and cheese sound?" "The past is the past. We can't change it." "We all want the same things. To live free, without fear." "I may be a bounty hunter, but cash isn't the only language I speak." "We appreciate your help, but you should leave." "Oh, I'm not going anywhere." "We're not together, we're just friends." "I think you should tell him. What's the worst thing that could happen?" "To some people you may be a pain in the ass, but I'm pretty sure I'd miss you." "How did you find me here?" "What if they're right about me? What if I am bad for them?" "Listen, you're not crazy and you're not dreaming." "I've seen these creatures too." "You're having visions of the future, of what's coming." "I know you have questions, but we have to move."

2x06: “CRIMSON”

"If I don't make it, there's something I want you to know." "That was not a choice for you or I to make." "Some are born for sacrifice." "All you have ever brought my family is misery and heartbreak." "I pray that you are not the last thing I see before I leave this world." "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." "There's a darkness coming, and you have to be ready for it." "I can't defend anything! I can't even defend myself." "I am most definitely not a hero." "I've never told anyone that." "I need your help. Someone's life depends on it." "What if I'm not ready?" "I've learned that fate waits for no man." "I'm gonna let that part be a surprise." "What is it that they want?" "They want you dead." "The only way to stop her is to make her believe she's getting what she wants." "If we do this, we have to be friends and partners. No secrets. No lies." "I would never help him. You know that!" "Your power makes you an integral part of what's going to unfold." "The greatest battle you'll face is within you." "It's the perfect hiding spot." "To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?" "It's time to end this." "If they don't come back, we're both gonna die here." "How tragic is that?" "It's not too late. You are yet to cross the threshold into darkness. You can still be saved." "That is a decision you will live to regret." "It's not like you to give up so easily." "You look older. Weaker. Time itself has begun to consume you." "I knew something was different." "You're dying, aren't you?" "It needs to be perfect." "This is all wrong. Start over." "I know what happens to people that keep you waiting. I'd like to stay pretty." "What exactly was his usefulness?" "You've really lowered your standards." "Consider him dead." "Save the speech. There's nothing you can say that'll change the outcome here." "I'm sorry I got upset. The thought of losing you just sent me over the edge." "Can you please forgive me?" "This wasn't supposed to happen." "He's lost a lot of blood." "It's a miracle." "I will never forget what you've done for us." "I'm going to enjoy this. Any last words?" "Wow. Remind me never to piss you off." "I'm a bounty hunter. Finding people is what I do." "Ego's a bit bruised, but I'll live." "You don't have to thank me, I'm just glad I was here to help." "I wish you didn't have to go so soon. I feel like I'm just starting to get to know you." "You're a terrible liar." "Don't sell yourself short." "And so it begins." "It's so good to see your face." "I only want what I came for." "Double cross me, and I'll kill you." "You don't have to do this. It's not too late." "Pretty soon not even I will be able to save him." "Impressive. Your magic is strong." "Last chance! What do you choose?" "You did everything you could." "How many times do I have to tell you? Stay out of my mind." "This is not only your truth. It will affect all of us." "What you saw in that was important." "Shall we begin?" "Your reign of terror ends today."

#memes. ( you made a deal and now it seems you have to offer up )#prompts.#rp prompts #rp meme #tsc prompts.#; here we go~

71 notes · View notes

stahlop · 4 years

Text

Once Upon a Time 2x17 “Welcome to Storybrooke” Review

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

First off, hope everyone is holding up well during this troubling time. On the plus side, it’s given me more time with my kids. Ha, okay, couldn’t say that with a straight face. I love my kids, but being with them 24/7 is tough, okay. So let’s move onto one of my favorite episodes. I love that we get to see how Storybrooke is from the beginning, although it does raise a lot of questions. I feel like we’re in Westworld, but Regina’s the only one who can change anyone’s path. And the characters can change their clothes and tiny little details. But it’s great to see Storybrooke’s origins and how needy and unhappy Regina was even though she thought she’d won.

Summary: Mary Margaret is not doing well with her choice to kill Cora. Regina attempts to enact a spell that will make Henry love her using Mary Margaret’s heart. In 1983, Storybrooke appears and an unsuspecting father and son are caught up in its first days.

Opening: A tree falling on Kurt’s truck

New Characters:

Kurt and Owen Flynn: The father and son duo are camping out by what becomes the T(r)oll Bridge when Storybrooke literally drops on top of them. Kurt is confused about where this town came from, whereas Owen doesn’t really question it. They run into Graham who welcomes them to Storybrooke. They meet Regina in Granny’s Diner and Granny tells them she can get them a room. Kurt seems to be a little wary of this town that just popped up out of nowhere, but Owen is seeing it as an adventure. Owen is also quite precocious as he’s sitting in the seat at Granny’s (later that day?) that Regina always sits in and Owen tells her he’s already sitting there. Regina let’s them know she spoke with the mechanic and they’ll be able to leave within a week instead of two. Kurt thanks her and tells her they’re from New Jersey (home of The Boss). Owen gives Regina the lanyard he made as a gift for letting him sit in her seat. Kurt is happy that his son is so kind. Regina invites them over for dinner before they leave. Owen isn’t that happy about being there and tells Regina that he doesn’t like her lasagna. Regina asks him to pick some apples out for turnovers. Kurt tells Regina Owen’s mother passed away six months ago. They bond a little about starting over and new lives until Owen calls for Regina about making dessert. Owen asks Regina why she’s not a mom, he thinks she’d be a good one (well, Owen is really not a good judge of character, is he?). Owen talks about how he hated New Jersey and how his friends all treat him weird since his mom died. He and Regina bond over dead parents (she doesn’t tell him both her parents are dead, but Owen’s supposed to imply). Regina asks Kurt to think about moving to Storybrooke, but Kurt tells her their life is in New Jersey. He is completely polite about it and doesn’t call Regina out on her crazy whatsoever. Owen seems upset about it though. Kurt comes to thank Regina the next day before leaving town, but he catches her talking to Graham’s heart (he doesn’t know what it is), about keeping them in town by making him seem like a drunk driver. He also hears her say to bring Owen to her. Regina, of course, tries to make him think that he heard incorrectly. Kurt is freaking the fuck out so he tries to leave. Regina is still trying to convince him he heard wrong but Kurt isn’t buying it. Graham comes into Regina’s office and tries to arrest Kurt for drunk driving. Kurt tells him he’s being controlled somehow by the glowing thing shaped like a heart. Graham questions him about not being drunk. Kurt somehow realizes that however Regina is controlling Graham is in that box, so he pushes it off the desk and it makes Graham let him go. Kurt gets in his car with Owen and hightails it to the border. A high speed chase between the Flynns and the sheriff (and Regina in the passenger seat) ensue. Kurt is scared for Owen and Owen is just scared in general that the nice lady is coming after them. They almost make it to the town line when the sheriff’s car comes from a side street and blocks them. Kurt tells Owen to make a run for it and to call his uncle when he gets to another town. Owen obviously doesn’t want to leave his dad, having just lost his mother a few months earlier, but Kurt is practically begging him to get away. He tells Owen that the lanyard he gave him (when they were camping at the beginning of the episode) will mean he’s always with him no matter what. Graham pulls Kurt out of the car and they struggle. Kurt tells Regina he can never have his son. Owen stops right before the town line to see his father. Kurt tells him to run again. Owen asks Regina why she’s doing this to them. She promises she’s not going to hurt him, she just wants them to be together. She reminds him that he liked the town and wanted to stay here, but Owen tells her he didn’t want to stay like this. Regina immediately backs down and apologizes and lets Owen go. Owen runs off with Kurt in the cop car telling Owen to run. Owen comes back with two state troopers but there is nothing at the town line indicating there is a town there (Owen recognizes the boulder at the border). For some reason, they don’t go any further down the road that is there to investigate. Owen vows that he’ll find his dad and never stop looking for him.

Character Observations:

Regina: She has made the curse work and landed in 1983 Maine. She’s so happy that she has ‘won’. She obviously has also had all the knowledge of this realm’s stuff downloaded into her head, because she doesn’t find anything she is wearing or seeing strange. She goes out into the town and observes the ‘chaos’. Geppetto is always fixing the sign on the store, Rumplestiltskin is walking obliviously down the street, Red and Granny are fighting, Archie is walking Pongo. Regina is overjoyed. She goes to visit Mary Margaret at school and takes her to the hospital to visit the John Doe (David) who is there. Regina is absolutely ecstatic to see that Mary Margaret does not recognize her true love. Regina goes to Granny’s and gets apple pancakes and meets Owen and Kurt Flynn. She is understandably confused when Kurt says he needs a room for the night as she doesn’t expect to have strangers in their town the first day they are there. Regina speaks to Graham and tells him she doesn’t like surprises, they make her feel threatened and that bad things happen when she feels threatened. Later that day Regina discovers Owen sitting in ‘her’ seat when she goes to get food. She seems very confused that Owen still won’t move after she tells him she always sits there and Kurt just laughs about it. She tells them that their car will be finished by the end of the week and that she is the mayor. She’s just as subtle about wanting them to go home as Emma and Ruby were to Greg in past episodes. Before they leave Granny’s, Owen gives Regina the lanyard he’d made during their camping trip as thanks for letting him sit in her seat, and Regina honestly doesn’t know how to react to his kindness. She awakens the next morning happy again with what is happening in town. We go through the same walk she did the first day, but this time she runs into Mary Margaret who is as timid as a mouse around her. We also see that when Regina is at the hospital, Mary Margaret is now a volunteer, instead of Regina introducing her to John Doe. But her happiness quickly fades within the next few days (see Timeline Issues below). Regina is no longer getting joy out of seeing Mary Margaret unhappy and she’s upset that Mary Margaret won’t even fight back when Regina gets in her face about their run in on the street. She goes to Gold about how she isn’t happy but he can’t help her because he isn’t Rumplestiltskin. He wants to know what’s wrong with the life she has. Regina is upset because everyone does what she wants them to because they have to, not because they want to. So what was Regina expecting, that everyone would come over to this new land and treat her like the queen she thought she was and that they would just be okay with it? That she would be accepted? That she would be forgiven for all her past misdeeds? Because I have no idea how she thought this was going to work otherwise. So, Regina calls up Kurt and invites him and Owen over for dinner because they are the only two in town she can’t control. And she’s so genuinely happy when Kurt accepts her dinner invite. Owen is in a mood when they are eating dinner. He tells Regina he doesn’t like her lasagna, and she just plays it off as not being the best cook and asks him to help her make dessert. Kurt apologizes for Owen’s behavior and tells Regina that his wife died six months earlier and that the camping trip was kind of a fresh start. Regina empathizes, saying coming to Storybrooke was her attempt at a fresh start but it hasn’t worked out as she’d hoped because she has no one to share it with. Owen interrupts their tender moment by asking about dessert. She and Owen make turnovers and both of them are extremely happy. Owen says she’d make a good mother and they bond over lost loved ones. For some reason, this makes Regina ask Kurt if they’d be willing to move to Storybrooke (she does preface it by saying it’s a crazy idea). Kurt says they have a life back in NJ and can’t and Regina is obviously hurt that Kurt is ruining her plans at having a child in her life (also, if she has the knowledge of cheesy romance movies in her head, then this isn’t a complete out of left field question). The next day Regina goes into Evil Queen mode trying to sabotage Kurt from leaving town with Owen. First she attempts to have Billy keep his car longer at the mechanics, but he’s already picked it up. Then she tells Graham (through his heart) to pick up Kurt for drunk driving and bring Owen to her. Unfortunately, Kurt overhears this. Regina tries to explain that it wasn’t what it sounded like, but Kurt knows it’s exactly what it sounded like. And I kind of get Regina’s reasoning for all this; Owen said he was unhappy and she wants to make him happy by replacing his mother. She would have liked to do it with Kurt there since they kind of had a spark, but now he’s just in the way of making Owen happy. Since Regina doesn’t understand how family dynamics work, I can see why she’d think that she was ‘saving’ Owen by keeping him with her. But after she tries to have Kurt arrested and a car chase throughout town, she realizes she is hurting Owen when he tells her he didn’t want to be with her like this. And instead of letting both Kurt and Owen leave, she keeps Kurt and only lets Owen go. We last see her on the other side of the town line barrier which keeps the town invisible crying as Owen brings the authorities to try and find his dad.

Meanwhile, in the current day, Regina is very upset about losing Cora. I’m going to assume magic is what got Cora a coffin and engraved plaque already as it’s been like a day since Cora died. Gold comes by to pay his respects and Regina is pissed since it’s basically his fault Cora is dead. She admits she knows he tricked Mary Margaret into getting her to put Cora’s heart back in, and she tells Gold that Mary Margaret will die for what she’s done. Gold tells her she won’t do it because it will cost her Henry. He tells her to give up her obsession with vengeance as it will never make her happy (um, tell that to your ongoing feud with Hook). Regina thinks it will, but Gold reminds her that she wasn’t happy during the curse and that was supposed to be her ultimate vengeance. He tells her she still hasn’t learned that she can’t get everything she wants. Cora ripped out her own heart to get the power she wanted, Regina will have to either give up her vengeance or give up Henry. Regina says she’ll find a way to have everything. Oh lord, all that work she did at the beginning of the season, gone, because Cora couldn’t leave things well enough alone. Regina starts going through her mother’s things looking for something. I’m not sure if she knows what she’s looking for or just knows her mother had something to help her get Henry (because she kept telling her not to worry about getting Henry), but she gets really frustrated and combined with her grief starts tearing things up and eventually finds a spell in one of her mother’s dresses that will help her. She goes to the loft intent on taking Mary Margaret’s heart, but Gold is protecting her. While contemplating her next move, Regina receives a phone call from Greg about Henry being out in the woods by himself. She goes after him. Regina finds Henry trying to light dynamite by the well. He wants to get rid of magic. He says she’s only trying to stop him because she wants to cast the curse to make him love her on him. She magics the dynamite away and Henry tries to guilt her into not casting the curse, reminding her that it won’t be real. You’d think, after how she felt just days into the curse about everything not being real, that would be what would change her mind, but she apparently doesn’t mind that it wouldn’t be real, as long as Mary Margaret pays for what she did. She tells him they can be happy and have everything but Henry says not like this they can’t, and that reminds her of what Owen said to her 28 years ago. But Emma, David, and Neal come to stop her before she can get too far into that memory. Emma tells her to stay away from her son, but Regina gets to say Henry is her son this time, and that Emma will never see him again after she casts the spell. Emma says Regina will have to go through her to get Mary Margaret’s heart and Regina is fine with that. She gets a fireball ready but Henry gets in between her and the trio. Henry is still insisting on getting rid of magic but Regina tells him you can’t just get rid of it. Emma says getting rid of magic won’t solve anything but Henry disagrees and, besides what it did to Mary Margaret, reminds Regina what it did to her. He says it makes good people do terrible things, which gets a tiny response from Regina, but then Emma has to add in ‘and bad people’ and Regina has her murder face back. Henry begs Regina to help him get rid of magic. She can’t, but she can light the spell on fire so she can’t use it. Henry thanks her and leaves with his family, leaving Regina in the dust, again. Mary Margaret goes to Regina’s and begs her to kill her. Regina is understandably confused (especially since her family just spent the whole episode making sure Regina doesn’t kill her), and doesn’t want to because she knows Henry would never forgive her, but she doesn’t learn from her mistakes, so she takes Mary Margaret’s heart. But instead of crushing it like she’s dreamed of for years, she takes satisfaction in the fact that there is now a dark spot in it because of what she did to Cora. She insists it will only get darker once she’s had a taste. Mary Margaret begs her to crush it, but Regina is reveling in the fact that Mary Margaret is finally suffering due to her own actions. She even assumes Mary Margaret will be the reason her family ends up suffering and falling in the future. And then Henry will be hers and she will have everything she’s wanted. Regina is once again extremely happy as she listens to Mary Margaret beg Regina to kill her and hysterically cry when she puts her heart back in. Regina turns the mean back on and tells Mary Margaret to get off her porch as she slams the door in Mary Margaret’s face.

Mary Margaret: I’m not going to talk about Mary Margaret from 1983, there is no point as she is a static character who can’t change. Now, current Mary Margaret is very depressed. She won’t talk to anyone or eat anything throughout the entire episode. Even when Regina comes to take her heart and Gold protects her, she makes no move to even defend herself. All the fight has gone out of her. She finally speaks when Gold informs her Regina has destroyed the spell. She wants to know how Gold lives with himself for all the horrible things he’s done. He tells her you convince yourself you’re doing it for the right reasons. And that eventually you might believe it. Mary Margaret doesn’t look convinced. She goes to Regina to have her kill her. So, here’s where I have a problem. Look, I get that Mary Margaret did something terrible. She killed Cora, and as Henry points out earlier, Snow White doesn’t kill people. But she did it basically to save her family. While, yes, it was straight up murder, it was kind of a pre-emptive strike at self-defense as well. Is she really willing to sacrifice herself, after everything, just because she can’t live with the guilt? That doesn’t sound like the Snow White or Mary Margaret we’ve learned to love on this show. So it’s a good thing Regina won’t kill her. Regina does pull out her heart because she does plan on killing her, but when she sees that Mary Margaret now has darkness in her heart, she realizes that Mary Margaret may end up destroying her family without any help from Regina. Mary Margaret is begging and pleading for Regina to kill her, but she won’t. Regina’s too happy about Mary Margaret potentially bringing around the downfall of her family all on her own. She leaves Mary Margaret a blubbering mess on her front porch.

Gold: He does help out Regina in 1983, even if he doesn’t realize it, seeing as he was cursed. He helps give Regina some clarification about what the curse actually did. In current Storybrooke, he goes to the Mills crypt to pay his respects to Cora. Regina scoffs at this as he used Mary Margaret to kill Cora to save his own life. He tells her that desperate times call for desperate measures. Gold tries to convince Regina not to move forward on her revenge against Mary Margaret. She had a whole curse worth of vengeance and all it left her with was a gaping hole in her heart (Maleficent gave Regina this same warning in The Thing You Love Most). Gold tells Regina she can’t kill Mary Margaret and keep Henry. Cora knew this, that’s why she ripped out her heart. Regina vows she will have everything. Gold goes to the loft to warn the Charmings about what Regina is up to. David tells him he needs to find out exactly what Regina is up to. Gold doesn’t want to, but David reminds him that, not only are they now family, but Mary Margaret saved his life, so he owes her a debt. Gold doesn’t seem too happy about that, but he always pays his debts. Gold and David go to check out Regina’s crypt for clues. They notice the mess Regina made and Gold discovers that some of her potions are missing (how?). Gold figures out Regina is going to cast the curse of the Empty Hearted, which would make Henry think he loves Regina, but Regina needs the heart of the one she hates most to complete the spell (because, of course the final ingredient for a love spell would be to kill someone). Emma implores Gold to do something, but Gold points out that his debt is fulfilled by giving them the info. David and Emma don’t agree, but Gold tells them that wars have costs, and as this is a blood feud, blood is the price. Gold tells them that Cora was dangerous because she didn’t have a heart, Regina is more dangerous because she does. While David and Emma are out trying to figure out what to do about Regina, Gold is playing watchdog over Mary Margaret. Once Regina has given up her quest for Mary Margaret’s heart, Mary Margaret asks him how he can live with himself after all the horrible things he’s done. Gold tells her that you tell yourself you did it for the right reason and eventually one day you’ll believe it. It does not seem like Gold believes it yet. Maybe if Neal ever forgives him he’ll find it was worth it.

Henry: He’s kind of annoying in this episode. I get that he’s tired of everyone lying to him, but he still doesn’t believe Emma when she tells him that Mary Margaret is partially responsible for Cora’s death. He doesn’t think Snow White would do something like that. Did he not read the book? Snow and Charming had to fight a war to get their kingdom back. Does he think no blood was shed in order to do that? And Henry is still mad that Emma is lying like she did about his dad (I really wish Emma would tell Henry the truth about why she was protecting him from Neal). When Henry finds out that Regina is going to use the love spell on him, he’s obviously upset, especially when he finds out Mary Margaret’s heart is the final ingredient, and that apparently killing Regina is the only solution. Henry wonders what happened to them being the heroes (even heroes have to kill people sometimes). Also, David was always in favor of killing Regina, it’s in the damn book! Henry runs off with Emma following. Emma brings Henry to Granny’s to talk to Neal, who invites him to New York until this whole thing blows over. Henry thinks if they can just get rid of magic then all their problems will be solved (like father, like son). He pretends to go to the restroom but runs off instead. We see him running through the forest. He runs into Greg, who was taking a hike (although neither one are on an actual trail), and lies about being in the woods for a boy scout merit badge (oh, so it’s okay when Henry lies but not when anyone lies to him, got it). Regina catches up with him at the Wishing Well with dynamite he stole from the dwarf mines. He’s apparently decided the Wishing Well is the source of all the magic in Storybrooke and is going to blow it up (wouldn’t the fuse go out once it hit the water, or does dynamite not work that way?). Regina magics it away and basically tells him that even if the spell doesn’t create real love, it will be enough for her, and they can have everything. Henry says not like this, which harkens back to what Owen said, and maybe Regina would have changed her mind right then and there, but Emma, Neal, and David show up. Regina is about to fireball them when Henry gets in the middle. He’s still insistent on destroying magic, but Regina says it doesn’t work like that. It’s not until Henry says that magic is what makes people do bad things, specifically Mary Margaret and Regina, and that it’s destroying their family, that Regina finally backs down. Henry is relieved, and goes off with the Charmings. Look, I get that Regina isn’t trustworthy, but how come every time she does something to change for Henry he barely acknowledges it? It’s like ‘Thanks for not killing everyone, I’m going to leave you now so you can get so upset again that you’ll try to kill us all again soon and we can do this all over again.”

David/Emma/Neal: Most of their stories are intertwined. David is trying to save Mary Margaret from Regina and herself. Emma can’t stop lying to Henry until he calls her out on it (to be fair, no kid needs to know his grandmother was partially responsible for killing his other grandmother/step great-great grandmother). I just wish she’d tell him the truth about Neal instead of hiding that from him. Why has no one asked either Neal or Emma why they broke up and why Henry was born in jail? They all know these two things happened, why haven’t any follow up questions been asked now that Neal is in town? David and Emma discuss possibly needing to kill Regina in order to protect Henry and Mary Margaret, but this makes Henry upset so he runs off. Emma follows him and apparently calls Neal to meet them at Granny’s, as they already have a plan set up when she and Henry arrive. Neal invites Henry to come back to New York with him to wait out Regina’s plan, but Henry thinks they just need to get rid of magic (I’m sure if the situation wasn’t so dire Neal would be beaming with pride that his son hates magic as much as he does). When Emma comes back over Neal is patting himself on the back for convincing Henry to come with him, but Emma points out that his backpack is gone when he’s just gone to the bathroom, and berates Neal since Henry is their son. They realize he ran. They enlist Ruby to help them find Henry, which leads them to the mines. David figures out that Henry must have stolen some dynamite, and Neal realizes that he wants to use it to get rid of magic. Neal wonders where Henry thinks he can blow magic up. Luckily, Emma knows because that’s where she and Mary Margaret came out from their trip to the Enchanted Forest. They get to the Wishing Well and see that Regina is already there. David gets his gun out when Regina threatens them with a fireball (really David? When are these people going to learn guns don’t work against magic?), and Emma makes a lot of pointed comments about how bad of a person Regina is (not helping right now), before Henry gets in the middle and Regina finally backs down. Seriously, stop antagonizing the Evil Queen people!

Greg: He’s seemed pretty innocent up until now, with the exception of filming Regina doing magic. Here he’s eating at Granny’s and goes on a hike (although nowhere near the hiking trail). He seems like a pretty nice guy when he calls Regina about Henry being in the woods. But we find out at the end that he’s actually Owen! And he’s there to find his father! So he didn’t accidentally crash his car, he came there with a purpose and he had to have recognized Regina because she looks exactly the same.

Questions:

How can Regina already have a seat at Granny’s, they’ve been there for one day? Did she build that into the curse as well?

Why did Regina wait 17 years before adopting Henry if after interacting with Owen she realized a child was what she was missing in her life?

How did Henry learn anything at school if the teachers taught the same thing everyday? And how did Regina not think Henry wouldn’t notice this?

How did Mary Margaret leave school while her children were at recess and make it back in time for them to be back in class when Regina took her to the hospital to visit John Doe? Or did Mary Margaret just not go back to school?

Did Regina know Cora had brought the spell with her, or was she just looking for something that she could use to help her? Cora had kept telling Regina not to worry about Henry when plans started going awry. Was that always Cora’s backup and Regina knew it?

Why doesn’t Regina have a protection spell around her crypt, or even to the hidden chamber below? Why wasn’t Cora’s stuff in her secret room where no one could get to it?

I get that Gold was helping protect Mary Margaret, but why is there no other protection spell on the loft? Between Emma and Gold, Regina should not have been able to get in there.

How was Regina planning on explaining to Kurt and Owen why everything was the same every day if they stayed. I get them maybe not noticing it for the first week, especially since whomever they interacted with would have gone off their set path, but if they’d moved there what would have happened?

Does Regina know who Neal is? I’m assuming she figures he’s Gold’s son, since that’s who they went to find in NYC, but does she know he’s Henry’s real father? Does she not wonder why he is trying to protect Henry?

And on that note, did Emma ever explain to Neal about Henry being adopted by Regina and how she was the Evil Queen? I’m assuming she shared the whole convoluted story on the way back to Storybrooke, but that would’ve been nice to see.

Why did Regina only let Owen go? What was the point in keeping Kurt there, especially since no one else could see the town?

And how does not seeing the town work? Couldn’t people just continue driving through the invisible barrier on the road that you can see? Or is it like how the people of Storybrooke never had the desire to leave; for some reason people won’t go past a certain part of the road because of a bad feeling?

Also, how does Storybrooke get outside supplies if no one can see the town? Like, I get that everything resets itself every night, so I guess they normally wouldn’t need anything, but where are these car parts coming from?

If Mary Margaret got a dark spot from helping Cora die, why was Cora’s heart all red with no dark spots? Is it because she didn’t have it in her chest when committing her horrible deeds?

Observations:

Regina’s haircut in 1983 is the same as her current cut, not the cut she had in the Pilot. Although, since Regina had the capability to change, she could have had it cut, but it should have been a more 80s style.

In the school scene, Regina and Mary Margaret are wearing the exact same outfits that they wear when Emma comes to town and they’re looking for Henry after he ran away, which again, doesn’t make sense because they should have been wearing 80s style clothes in 1983.

The Daily Mirror Headline reads: Reagan: Soldiers Will Be Staying Beirut.

The accompanying headline on the dog article reads: Shelter Dog Adopted by Couple That Stole Him.

Regina moves into Owen’s seat after he leaves.

Love the juxtaposition of Gold and Regina with Emma’s glass unicorn mobile between them.

The dress Regina finds the spell in is the dress Cora was wearing when she and Hook came over on the Jolly Roger and the dress she wore when she first revealed herself to Regina.

Mary Margaret has a quill of arrows hanging near the front door of the loft.

So much for the lock August made for Mary Margaret’s loft. It doesn’t work against magic.

Regina used to keep Graham’s heart at her office instead of in her crypt.

Two Tron references made. The last name Flynn is also the last name of the main guy from Tron, and the bench with the computer ad on it is for Encom, which is the computer corporation from the film.

Greg gets Regina’s number off of Henry’s backpack tag. He apparently hasn’t changed it since moving in with Emma.

Timeline Issues:

Including the first day and the montage scene, I think that’s supposed to be 3 days. We have the first day where Regina realizes the curse worked and she observes everything going on in her new town. She also meets the Flynns on this day. Then we have the montage which shows her waking up with Graham, bringing Mary Margaret to see John Doe (although Mary Margaret is a volunteer starting the second day), and then Regina walking Main Street and running into Mary Margaret right past Granny’s. The thing is, running into Mary Margaret has to take place before going to see John Doe because it’s early morning (as evidenced by the Ruby/Granny argument), so, for some reason, we’re seeing the day out of order. Regina wakes up, she walks down Main Street and runs into Mary Margaret, and then she’s with Mary Margaret when they go see John Doe in the hospital. So, Regina starts getting bored on the third day (unless we’re missing some days), but it still has to be within a week because the Flynn’s are still there and attempt to leave after a week since Regina asked Billy the mechanic to get them out of town quickly.

So that was an intense episode! We got to see early Storybrooke, the reason Regina decided to adopt Henry, and discovered that Greg is really Owen! I really liked seeing early Storybrooke and I liked that Regina pretty much figured out that the curse still didn’t make her happy after such a short time. No wonder she’s still mad as hell, every time she thinks she’s ‘won’, something happens to take her happy ending away. I’m still not sympathizing with her, but she’s not going to change if no one believes in her. And now we have to wonder what happened to Kurt. I can’t imagine that he’d still be around, but I guess we’ll find out soon. And what is he planning on doing with all the videos he’s been taking?

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

@searchingwardrobes @thisonesatellite @justbecauseyoubelievesomething @laschatzi @profdanglaisstuff @mariakov81

#once upon a time #once upon a time review #once upon a time rewatch #once upon a time 2x17 #once upon a time welcome to storybrooke

18 notes · View notes

florrickandassociates · 6 years

Text

TGF Thoughts: 2x06-- Day 443

Sorry for the delay, guys. I liked this episode but for some reason I found it super boring to rewatch and kept putting off writing this. (I think you will be able to tell that I was writing this just to write something.)

A chair sits in a brightly lit, half unfinished room. This turns out to be the studio where Adrian is recording an interview with Cable News (they say it like it’s a proper noun in this episode so I’ve decided it is). Adrian looks uncomfortable doing this—the strange room, the logistics of the interview, the soundcheck, the unmanned camera.

We only hear Adrian’s side of the interview, and we have no context for it, so it sounds awkward. He misgenders someone (he can’t see the rest of the panel) (this is just like s5 Alicia!) and makes a comment about a case and then it’s over.

When Adrian arrives at the office, he’s wearing a black baseball cap. I am not sure why but it’s a look.

Marissa applauds him when he gets off the elevator—apparently the ten words he said were super impressive. Marissa also informs Adrian that Diane and Julius are in his office and there’s a visitor there for him. What, exactly, is Marissa’s job?

There are still boxes left over from the party. That’s a lot of booze.

“The next time they ask me to be a pundit, tell me no,” Adrian laughs, thinking he made a fool of himself.

“Wait, wait, wait, we’ve got to discuss Lucca,” Diane says as Adrian starts to leave. “We can’t ask her if she’s pregnant. It’s illegal,” Julius explains. “And Lucca’s not saying anything,” Adrian understands. The partners quickly realize that Lucca’s not saying anything specifically so she isn’t bumped from “the biggest case of the year” which goes to trial in two months.

Julius’s solution is to “talk to her friend Maia” to get info about Lucca’s pregnancy. Well, that’s shitty. Also, where is Liz? In this episode, but also in this scene specifically. We get Julius for this but not the name partner who is a mother?

The dude involved in the Peeper case Adrian referenced on Cable News shows up in the conference room, wanting Adrian to represent him.

And it’s Adrian’s lucky day, because a prominent Chicago lawyer we’ve never heard of is in reception too! Diane seems more impressed by him than I would think, since I was long under the impression that Diane Lockhart was supposed to be one of the biggest names in the Chicago legal world.

Ok I take that back, this Franz dude says “And Diane Lockhart, I know you,” when after introducing himself to Adrian. Ok, good.

He also knows Julius. Where has Julius been these past few episodes? I thought he was a series regular. Maybe he went for a visit to the New York office. Or he was spending time with the six children he has.

Franz was impressed with Adrian’s Cable News appearance too. It apparently has 300,000 likes.

Franz tries to stand while everyone from RBL sits, and Adrian won’t let him. I’m reminded of the Supreme Court Superlawyer in W4x09 who preached at Diane, Will, and Alicia. Adrian remains standing, so Franz can’t literally talk down to him.

Then some weird pantomiming of fighting happens. I am unsure what is going on, but I do know that Adrian’s air punches have been gifed and are on GIPHY or something, because on my commute home one day this week I looked up for a second and saw a gif of Adrian from this scene on someone else’s phone screen. (Sadly, he selected another, non-TGF gif to use in his conversation.)

Oh, we are talking about Wilk Hobson again. I didn’t realize he was in multiple episodes—I only remembered him from 2x05—but he popped up last night when I was rewatching 4x17, and IMDb says he’s also in 2x10.

Franz wants to talk about the lawyer killings. In fact, he informs RBL, “the big six firms have been meeting over the past few weeks to discuss how to address this problem.” I’ve never heard of the Big Six firms, but I guess that makes sense. If all firms in Fictional Chicago go through as much turmoil as LG always did, I can definitely believe there’s an alliance of six firms we’ve never heard of before.

Franz extends RBL an invitation to meet with the Big Six, because he saw Adrian on Cable News.

After the meeting, Diane and Adrian are shocked and Julius is so excited he’s had to leave the room (lol no he’s just disappeared without an explanation again). “What DID you say on Cable News?” Diane asks.

Now we get to see the Cable News panel from the other side, and I’m still not sure why what Adrian said is impressive. It lasts for about five seconds and he offers some mild pushback. That’s it. I feel like if you’re going to bother with showing something from one perspective and then later filling in the blanks, the scene should make sense the second time around. It still seems awkward and abrupt to me, and even though I’ve seen the episode and know what Peeper is, I don’t get what Adrian’s talking about. I am not sure what would get this clip 300,000 likes?

Diane and Marissa (who’s popped up because… idk she has) encourage Adrian to go on Cable News again.

The fact that Adrian has a framed picture of himself with Obama is fantastic but it doesn’t really help me believe that his office is anything other than Diane’s office, redecorated. Just swap out the Hillary/Diane pic for an Obama/Adrian one…

Adrian was doubting his Cable News abilities, but not anymore!

Julius goes to talk to Maia about Lucca’s pregnancy. Maia is at a table rather than a work station and Julius asks why. “I got here too late,” Maia says. Why would you tell your boss that, Maia? I can’t imagine RBK is chill with people strolling in whenever they want (though actually, maybe they would have a flex hours program) and you probs shouldn’t tell a partner that you arrived to work too late to grab a desk.

Julius asks Maia about Lucca’s “condition” and they both know what he’s talking about. “I think she wants to be thought of as a lawyer and not an expectant mother,” Maia explains. Yeah, something like that. And Lucca’s not even slightly wrong to assume her pregnancy would affect things.

Case in point: seconds after Maia says this, Julius doubles back to ask Maia to take the lead on the next step in Lucca’s big case. Maia is stunned and runs after Julius to protest her new assignment. It’s Lucca’s case, after all. When Maia asks why she’s been put in charge of the motion, Julius says “I’m a partner, and you’re an associate, and I want you to take it.” Good ‘ol Julius. I think he takes pleasure in lording his power over underlings.

“Is this about Lucca’s condition?” Maia asks. Um, yes, it obviously is. Equally obvious is that Julius would never say that out loud.

“No. It’s about you having a chance to be first chair,” Julius replies.

“Does Lucca know?” Maia asks next. “No. Go ahead and tell her!” Julius tells Maia. Seriously, he sounds delighted to give Maia this task.

Maia immediately goes to inform Lucca. “You are different since your ride-along,” Lucca observes after Maia makes a comment about being fine without a desk. What? First Maia was different after prison, now she’s different after her ride-along… can we stop saying Maia’s changed so much? And if we’re going to stick with that narrative, can it at least be consistent? I don’t even understand what her ride-along would’ve changed or how her comment about desks is possibly related to it.

Lucca jumps right into talking about the case, and Maia hesitantly tells her about what Julius asked her to do. Lucca asks why, and Maia says she doesn’t know, but Julius was asking about her “condition.” Lucca just goes, “Oh, fuck.” She’s not thrilled that the partners are assuming things about her work performance.

“You haven’t even told me, and I’m your friend,” Maia says. … Lucca is v obviously pregnant (she’s showing!). But, as she says, it’s not that she’s unaware that others can tell—it’s at least in part “just having those words [I’m pregnant] come out of my mouth. It feels weird.”

“Now, here’s the other worry. I’m on the partner track. For the first time in my career, I have some traction. And now I’m worried they’ll use… this to penalize me,” Lucca explains.

This prompts Maia to say what may be the smartest thing I’ve ever heard Maia say: that the partners can’t legally penalize Lucca for her pregnancy, but if she continues to keep it a secret, they can blame “performance” and make moves against her without being liable.

I do not remember much about the opposing counsel in the COTW, Amber Wood Lutz, but I remember that she was on last season and I expected her to become a recurring player. And here we are again.

“Every time a new lawyer is killed, I think of you,” she tells Adrian. I definitely don’t remember this rivalry. It was probably a thing. I just don’t remember it.

Mike from Veep is a judge now! He keeps saying that trials are nothing like what we see on TV. He even makes the same comments twice. The point—which could’ve been conveyed in far fewer lines, IMO—is that this trial is going to become extremely theatrical (even by TGW/F standards) since Adrian’s in Cable News mode.

This case is not that interesting. It could be, but it’s not much more than an excuse to talk about the alt-right and neo-Nazis. So, I probably won’t comment on it much, if at all.

Diane and Adrian head from court to a meeting of the Big Six Plus RBL, which is being held in a space that looks like the Cheesecake Factory but for people who think they’re too classy for the Cheesecake Factory.

Amber Wood Lutz is also in the Big Six. Adrian believes this is because they are “pretending to be diverse.”

I really don’t know how I’m forgetting this Amber/Adrian rivalry from last season. It’s quite intense.

Oh God, I’m only just at the credits? Can you tell from how sloppy my writing is that I just want to get this written? This episode wasn’t bad and it wasn’t great. It wasn’t even that interesting. I like writing about things that give me a lot to chew on, and I like writing about things that are so terrible I can rant for pages. Recapping something boring… is boring.

This episode was written and directed by women! (Finally.)

RBL is asked to donate $40,000 pretty much immediately after they sit down at the table. The widow of a wealthy lawyer needs $40,000 donations from seven firms? Why the fuck does she need $280k?

“We are being hunted,” Franz says. The show would like us to believe, at least to an extent, that the lawyer killings aren’t being investigated thoroughly because the police and lawyers aren’t friendly and everyone hates lawyers.

Now we get a rehash of the debate about giving the police your firm’s client list that we already heard in 2x03. That reminds me, when do we get to learn more about Liz’s husband?

Adrian comes up with a good next step for the Big Six. And then he’s on Cable News again (okay, it’s called Review of the Day). This time, he isn’t doing an interview remotely, but it’s the same show. If the show was in Chicago this whole time, why was Adrian doing the interview remotely from a studio in the first place?

There is another black man on the panel that night—“I’m the young, angry activist. You’re the older Obama statesman. That’s the only way they keep two black pundits on the panel, if we both stick to our lanes,” the other panelist warns. Adrian waves this advice off.

There’s been another lawyer killing, only this one may be racially motivated as well. Or, at least, that’s what Cable News thinks. This goes about as well as anyone who has ever watched a panel on actual cable news would expect, which is to say that people start screaming at each other about racism and making claims they can’t support based off of baseless assumptions they’ve made.

Adrian then insults Asshole Panelist and says he’s being overpaid to “ignorantly yap your mouth off.” Heh. I get why that one might go viral.

This makes the other panelists mad. Asshole Panelist thinks Adrian is playing high and mighty and the other black panelist accuses him of intentionally coming after his job. Even the host isn’t thrilled: Adrian mentioned money, and you’re not supposed to mention money.

Adrian’s second appearance is poorly received by some of his peers, even though this time, he was sure of what he was doing. Diane (playfully) accuses Adrian of intentionally stirring up trouble, and Adrian doesn’t deny it. Instead, he smiles and laughs.

For some reason there is a young woman who wants an autograph in reception at Adrian’s office. Don’t y’all have security?

Case stuff happens.

Lucca waits nervously to talk to the partners. She chats with Marissa a little and informs her of her pregnancy. “I’m telling everyone now,” she says. Marissa says she’s going to throw Lucca a shower—with a stripper. I want to see that! The shower, not the stripper. (Though…)

The partners congratulate Lucca when she shares her news. It seems genuine enough, and I’d love to believe that the partners won’t hold Lucca’s pregnancy against her. It’s certainly possible not to! I just need to see it to believe it with these people at this firm on this show.

“The birth date is scheduled for May 22nd,” Lucca says. It’s SCHEDULED? Honey. I’ve never spent any time around babies and even I know that you can’t make a baby obey your schedule. Lucca claims she’ll be back at work on the 25th. I’m curious to see how Lucca’s priorities and expectations shift over the course of the season. I think it’s very reasonable that she would want to keep working and I definitely don’t expect—or want—to have that choice invalidated. But a lot of what Lucca’s saying right now sounds more like denial of the realities of being a parent and nervousness about losing the things that are part of her identity than an actual plan for parenting.

Julius Cain is the father of six. I am assuming he doesn’t spend much time with any of his SIX kids given that there are six of them, and in nine years we’ve never heard about a single one. Poor Julius. The writing for him seems to consist of excuses for why he’s been absent and revelations that are out of left field. (Though I do buy that he’s the father of six. If you told me he was the father of six and he was very involved in his kids’ lives, I might have a problem believing that.)

Yeah, the partners are just putting on a show. They’re still going to watch Lucca very carefully. And they’re going to keep Maia ready to step in. If this case is so big, why is MAIA the backup plan? No offense to Maia (or maybe offense to Maia)—she hasn’t proven herself capable of this so why would the partners trust her with a big case?

The Big Six are back at Fancy Cheesecake Factory because that’s their favorite spot. I don’t even know what’s going on. It’s about police suits. I don’t care, since I know this whole conversation is lead-up to the reveal about Franz trying to woo RBL into dropping their police brutality suits so he’ll get more business from the police. It’s also a theoretical debate about issues I can’t have a stance on because they’re created for the show. Are the police failing to investigate lawyer killings? I mean, IDK, because the lawyer killings are fiction.

JULIUS wants to pursue police brutality cases and DIANE wants to drop them because “it’s worth every fucking irritation in the world!!!” to sit with the Big Six? What kind of opposite land is this where the Trump voter wants to hold the police accountable and the Hillary voter who gives no fucks is obsessed with status? (I don’t think it’s out of character for Diane to consider trading her values for status. I just think it’s weird that right now Diane is concerned with status, and also that she’s literally screaming at Julius about this.)

ALSO WHERE IS LIZ?

Lucca and Colin are in court with Judge Friend (hello!) and Colin tries to move the trial out by four months, to the week Lucca’s due in May.

OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE WRITERS, DID YOU NAME THE EPISODES AFTER REAL-TIME DATES JUST TO DRIVE ME MAD? Lucca and Colin hooked up after the Rindell case (202), but that was five months ago, even though it was the 415th day of the Trump administration and this is the 443rd day. And the 443rd day is in April, but May is four months away. Writers. If the dates aren’t going to have any bearing on the timeline of the show, maybe pick a different gimmick? Plus, it’s fucking annoying to memorize numbers.

Lucca and Colin fight in an elevator about the timing. Colin is more than a little annoyed that Lucca seems to be expecting him to ignore her pregnancy. While I agree that Lucca is expecting everyone to just ignore it, I feel like maybe if Colin wants Lucca to be more open with him, he should be supportive of her and her decisions and not incessantly propose to her (when it should be obvious to anyone who has ever met Lucca she would not want that) slash lash out against her in court.

Apparently Colin knows—or Lucca believes he does—that Maia would be the one to try the case if Lucca couldn’t. Why would Colin know that? And again, why would this fall on Maia?

Marissa hatches a plan because she believes Franz has ulterior motives. In a cafeteria, she chats with his assistant. His very chatty assistant. Turns out he wants the business of the police.

Case stuff happens. The jury is totally captivated by Television Personality Adrian Boseman, and the judge isn’t having it and tries to tell Adrian not to play to the jury. Diane objects and asks what, specifically, Adrian is doing wrong, and for the judge to rule on her objection.

“To quote a lawyer that I respected, ‘I want a ruling that I can appeal,’” Diane explains. Awwww, it’s a Will reference! (Will says this in W116, to Judge Lessner). IMO, these small, subtle references to Will are meant to show that Diane’s thinking about her former partner. And how could she not be thinking about him each time another lawyer is murdered?

Diane did not witness Will asking for a ruling he could appeal, so I imagine he must have told her the story at some point. Since there’s already a scene in W116 where Will recaps his case to Diane (he’s talking about auditioning for Bishop and groveling), it’s so easy to picture a conversation between them about this moment.

Back at Fancy Cheesecake Factory, Adrian and Diane fuck shit up by announcing that Franz is trying to land the business of the police (and that’s the only reason he invited RBL to the meetings in the first place). When the lawyers start arguing over one another, Diane and Adrian, satisfied with the mess they’ve made, leave. Hehe.

Lucca and Colin haven’t settled on a court date, so Lucca decides to tell Judge Friend that she’s pregnant and Colin’s the father. I don’t have much to say but it’s a really fun scene.

Colin shows up at Lucca’s office and explains his motivations. He didn’t want Lucca off the case: he wanted Lucca to be able to relax and not be stressed about the case! “This was for your benefit!” he says. “Oh my God. I didn’t think this could get any worse, but here we go,” Lucca responds accurately.

Colin is concerned Lucca might miscarry if she’s stressed. He asks if he can be even a little concerned, and she says that he can’t. Especially not if he’s going to express his concern that way!! Lucca also says she regrets having sex with Colin, and Colin’s all “I didn’t regret it.” Sigh. Lucca’s turned him down so many times. If there’s a way to win Lucca over—and there might not be!—this is definitely NOT it.

Anyway, Colin has info to help in the Peeper case. Which means that more case stuff happens and RBL wins.

Adrian calls Marissa (at work) to thank her for finding dirt on Franz. And to give her a 10% raise. “This is the first raise I’ve ever gotten,” she replies. “First of many, I’m sure,” he says. Aww. I like what they’re doing with Marissa and Adrian this year. It’s clear she respects him, and also clear that he’s recognizing her work when she does a good job (also clear is the fact she is doing a good job).

Adrian goes back on Cable News and finds out that J.D. (the young black man) is no longer on the panel.

On the panel, Asshole Panelist starts crying reverse racism. Adrian decides to burn all bridges with the show and its inanity, and he tries to stir shit up by getting the white panelists to say the n-word. Heh. Diane watches the clip (with a glass of wine and, likely, some drugs) at her desk and laughs.

Then she swivels around in her chair and hallucinates the Trump Mask People fucking. She laughs even harder. How many scenes of Diane laughing loudly is too many? I don’t think there could ever be too many scenes of Diane laughing.

I love Adrian not giving a fuck about what the host of the show has to say. He tells him off and then the ep ends with Adrian looking at himself in the mirror. This is a much better Adrian-centric episode than last week’s effort.

#I'M DONE WITH WRITING THIS!! FINALLY!!!#it's not even like it's a long post by my standards #The good fight #TGFThoughts

11 notes · View notes

sage-nebula · 7 years

Text

I want to talk about the scene at the very end of season three, episode one for a second.

At the end of season three, episode one, Keith is standing before the Black Lion, staring up at it. This is sometime after he stormed out of the diplomacy meeting because he became so upset at the alien council asking after Voltron that he couldn’t take it anymore. Of course, this behavior wasn’t very diplomatic of him; everyone on Team Voltron was left feeling awkward, even as Hunk tried to smooth things over by offering homemade pizza rolls and pigs-in-a-blanket (which seemed to work, hilariously enough). But at the same time, we can’t really blame Keith for this. No, it wasn’t very diplomatic, but Shiro’s loss is still raw and recent, and he’s grieving. He’s taking Shiro’s loss very hard, as we all knew he would (and as the other Paladins + Allura and Coran understand).

And that brings us to the scene at the end of the episode.

Keith is standing with the Black Lion, and everyone else enters the room. They all look at each other, unsure of who should speak first, and in a non-verbal game of “not it” everyone ends up looking at Lance. Lance takes the cue, and tries to comfort Keith. He tells Keith that they all miss Shiro, and that he in particular remembers how amazing it was just to meet him for the first time back in the first episode. This prompts Pidge and Hunk to join in with their own stories; Pidge talks about how she “grew up” hearing stories about Shiro, how he was “a legend” at their house, and Hunk says that Shiro taught him everything about what it means to be a pilot. And that leads Lance to say this:

But here’s the thing . . . they’re not.

I’m not faulting Lance for this. Lance is sincerely, earnestly trying to do his best to offer Keith some comfort, to make Keith feel that he’s not alone in his grief. And I don’t believe he’s doing this in a “you’re being selfish” way, but rather in a “you’re not alone” way, particularly since earlier in the episode Keith---quite obviously hurting---snapped that “we also don’t have Shiro, but everyone seems to have forgotten that” when they were talking about how they didn’t have Voltron anymore. Lance is trying to show Keith that, well, they do all care about Shiro, they really do. Keith’s not alone in his suffering.

But the thing is . . . he kind of is.

Because yes, everyone in that castle cares about Shiro as a fellow Paladin and friend. Lance hero worshiped the guy, even before the first episode started. Pidge grew up hearing about him as a hero and legend. Hunk looks to him as a mentor and teacher, at least when it comes to being a pilot. All three of them care about Shiro in their own ways. They all either had some image of him before meeting him (Lance, Pidge), or at the very least formed a relationship with him once they all became Paladins of Voltron (the Garrison trio as a whole, but also Allura and Coran).

But the thing is, Keith doesn’t fit into that category. Keith knew Shiro before the series started, and he knew him on a personal level. We don’t know the precise nature of their relationship, but as much as some of us (i.e. me) want to, we don’t have to know it in order to understand the fact that the relationship Keith and Shiro has extends beyond the confines of the Paladin relationships. Keith tells Shiro in S1E1, “If it wasn’t for you, my life would have been a lot different.” That alone clues us into the significance of their relationship. That isn’t something that Lance, Pidge, or Hunk could earnestly say to Shiro, but it is something that Keith can. Even in this very episode, Keith says, “Shiro is the only one who never gave up on me. I’m not going to give up on him.” Do you understand the weight of that statement? Keith is saying that, out of all of the people in his life, and this includes the people he was snapping at, Shiro is the only one who never gave up on him. Now, you might call that unfair to lob at the rest of the team, but thinking of it from his perspective---from the perspective of an orphan, from the perspective of someone who was chucked out of his home (the Garrison) shortly after Shiro’s assumed death---that just speaks volumes to exactly how significant his relationship with Shiro is.

What I’m getting at here, the loss of Shiro hits Keith harder than most not because Keith just naturally cares more than the rest of the team (that’s nonsense), but rather, because Keith’s and Shiro’s relationship is beyond what the rest of the team had. Out of everyone, Keith knew Shiro best. Keith was closest to Shiro. And thus, it is understandable and expected for Keith to be hit the hardest by this, in ways that others weren’t. The others look at Shiro as a hero, or teacher, or teammate, or friend. Keith looks at Shiro as family. So, just like Allura would be the most affected if Coran went missing or was killed, of course Keith is going to grieve Shiro in a much more pained, personal way than the rest of the Paladins.

So when Lance says this:

It’s no wonder that Keith glares at him like this:

That’s a “don’t you dare tell me what he would want” glare if I’ve ever seen one. It doesn’t matter if Shiro would want them to move on or not; Keith, in his space of grieving, isn’t ready to hear that from someone who just went on about how he saw Shiro as a hero, when Keith himself has known Shiro as (found) family.

But then . . . but then someone else speaks up:

And that’s when Keith says this:

Notice that Keith says “I know you’re right,” and not “I know you’re all right.” One could say that his “you’re” was still meant to encompass everyone, but I don’t think it was. I think he was speaking directly to Allura right there, and let me tell you why.

First, Keith did turn his full attention to her when she started talking. When Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were speaking to him before, Keith didn’t look at any of them until he glared at Lance in that last shot. He was still listening, of course, but he stared at the floor rather than looking at them. He was listening, but he wasn’t really open to what they were saying. He heard it, but he didn’t take it to heart. But when Allura speaks up, and says that she knows exactly how he feels, he turns and looks directly at her. He opens his body language so that he can be open and receptive to what she’s saying. And what does she say? She says that:

She knows exactly how he’s feeling.

That their mission is bigger than any one person.

Including those that are completely irreplaceable.

And those three things are what get through to Keith, and let me tell you why.

“I know exactly how you feel.”

Keith is grieving the loss of Shiro, someone who is, as far as we know, the only family he has ever known. (No, they are not blood related, but family doesn’t end at blood. Found family exists, and as far as we know, this is how Keith feels about Shiro.) As I just got through explaining above, this is what makes his grief over Shiro’s loss so much deeper and more raw than what the others are experiencing. But the thing is . . . Allura does know how that feels. Not with Shiro specifically, but Allura lost her entire race (er, most of her entire race) in the war. And, more specifically, she had to say goodbye to the A.I. of her father, King Alfor, back when Sendak infected the castle in season one. Keith knows this. He witnessed it. And so when Allura tells him that she knows exactly how he feels, he knows she is being sincere and that she is correct, because she, too, has lost family due to this war.

(There’s also the fact that Allura saying goodbye to Alfor’s A.I. is mirrored to Keith saying goodbye to the hallucination of his father that he faced in the Trials of Marmora, but since it’s the loss of Shiro that Keith is grieving here, we don’t need those screencaps. Still, Keith is aware that Allura has experienced loss and pain like what he is feeling now, which I think makes her words hold more weight and validity to him.)

“But our mission is bigger than any one individual.”

This, too, is something Keith feels deeply, something that he has always felt deeply. Remember 1x04? Keith and Pidge got into a fight because Pidge wanted to run off and find her family, but if she did that, they wouldn’t be able to form Voltron to defend the universe. Keith yelled at her for this. Then, in 1x11, Keith was the only one who suggested they not go after Allura, because he didn’t want to hand Voltron to Zarkon on a silver platter. (Note: This was something Allura herself agreed with, she was on his side.) Later still, in 2x06, Keith considered leaving the team indefinitely if Zarkon was using him to track them, because he didn’t want to put the rest of the team in danger. (Again, this was something Allura was on board with, only she believed she was the one Zarkon was tracking.) Again and again we have seen that Keith places the lives of billions above the lives of individuals. He values the mission first, individual feelings second. And Allura, as Keith well knows due to the incidents recounted in this very paragraph, feels very much the same way. This is something they have always agreed on.

Of course, grief can make people act irrationally; when you’re grieving, you’re deep in your emotions, and logic doesn’t have much of a place. Even if you know something in your head, your heart tells a different story. So Keith, in his grief over losing Shiro and his rage that others could even think about replacing him, temporarily put the mission at bay while he focused on how he felt over Shiro’s loss. It’s not that he suddenly valued one individual over billions, it’s just that he honestly wasn’t thinking about the billions at the moment because he was so deep in grieving Shiro. But here, Allura reminds him of the mission. She reminds him of a core value they both share, one that Allura knows Keith agrees with her on. (Because remember, it’s not just that Keith knows Allura is on the same page as him; Allura knows they share this value, too.) She does so gently, but it’s still a plain enough reminder that it gets through to him. Keith cannot argue with this, because it is something he has always believed.

But then, the final piece:

“Even those who are completely irreplaceable.”

At several points throughout the episode, Keith expresses fury that the others seem to be blasé at the idea of replacing Shiro. To him, Shiro is someone who could never be replaced, and the Black Lion could never have another pilot so easily. So the fact that the others seemed intent on doing so enraged him. But here, Allura gently---and sincerely---agrees with him that Shiro is irreplaceable. It’s not that they want to replace Shiro, but that they have to do what they must for the sake of the mission. And that’s the final piece to get through to Keith, because it tells him that Allura truly does understand. She knows what it’s like to lose family. She knows what it is to lose someone irreplaceable. She agrees that Shiro is irreplaceable . . . but she also knows that sometimes they have to keep moving forward for the sake of the mission, regardless of personal feelings. And that is what gets Keith to agree, what makes him say she’s right, what makes him say they have to find a new way to form Voltron. Allura is the one who gets through to him, because she is the one who truly understands what he’s feeling, and is the one able to communicate that in a way that gets through his grief and helps him calm down.

And I think that’s pretty goddamn significant.

#friendsheith #kallura #meta #voltron spoilers #vld3 spoilers #voltron season 3 spoilers #voltron s3 spoilers #scrawlers forms voltron #shiro & keith #otp: we're exactly where we should be #long post for ts

424 notes · View notes