#it's why i was so into succ lmao

[scare-ard--sleigh]

what should be my real housewives of beverly hills replacement once i catch up? keep in mind that this is to fill a reality tv specific hole in me and i watch that show bc i love Mess !!

[cloud-based-and-rainpilled]

Grateful for tumblr ✨ discourse ✨ in a way because I would have never even considered tomgreg as a ship or a particularly interesting dynamic without the obsessive analysis on here— I’m so enthralled by everything else that it never even crosses my mind (and didn’t seasons 1-3 when I watched it before I got into the fandom)

But now I’m horrifically obsessed with it and get drawn back in every time I open this gotdamn website like damn I was getting all invested in the meta political tech nightmare of it all but now I’m emotional because gay codependence!! aaaaa!!!!

[feydfuckernation]

going for a VERY niche audience with this one but just...hear me out

[zantetsukenedd]

the forehead kiss scene is so obviously homoerotic but i feel like the tomgregs don’t talk enough the “wrestle me to the ground” scene. because there is NO explanation for that.

like yes, we know that tom is upset with greg because he’ll be leaving for parks and he won’t going to prison. you could read more deeply into that, but set it aside for a moment. tldr; our pathetic meow meow, tom wambs, has offered to go to prison for logan and he’s regretting it.

i believe the nero/sporus comparison is homoerotic enough on its own –– but one could play devil’s advocate and say that tom only wants companionship from greg because shiv has been offering him little to none. and because of the prison ordeal, he’s in desperate need of both companionship + emotional support. it’s been established that he projects the failures of his marriage onto greg, so –– fair enough? push your wife down the stairs, castrate your assistant. cool.

+ in a deeper sense, the nero/sporus metaphor is seemingly tied to tom’s feelings of emasculation. it’s no surprise that tom says this hours after he challenges shiv’s dominance in their relationship and loses ... miserably.

correct me if i’m wrong, but sexual practices in ancient rome were based on activity and passivity –– aka, masculine dominance and feminine submissiveness. (citing my classics prof for this, lmao.) from what i’ve gleaned, this dichotomy is what defined social views on homosexuality in ancient rome.

it would make sense for tom to read this story of an ancient roman emperor and be reminded of his desire to be more dominant/masculine in his relationships.

summarily, if he can’t be dominant in his relationship with shiv, he can be dominant in his relationship with greg. it’s an unromantic perspective, but ... oh well. succ isn’t too romantic to begin with. it would also be a way for tom to (unhealthily) reconcile with his romantic feelings toward greg. ie., sure, i’m attracted to him, but that doesn’t make me any less masculine. just think of nero the emperor!

it seems to me that tom wants to be seen as a masculine man. (as a matter of fact, he makes mention of his masculinity in the scene above.) which is understandable, given that his relationship with siobhan is depicted as very unequal. so yeah –– it could be written off as standard feelings of emasculation coming from a man, but honestly?

i’d argue that due to a lifetime of repression, internalized homophobia & some preconceived notions, tom believes that his homosexual desires make him less masculine. i believe it stems from his repressed homosexuality. like –– why else would he be so desperate to appear masculine, despite ... not being very masculine by nature.

(he may have even sought out this story in particular so that he could feel better about having these romantic desires for a man to begin with ...)

so that explains the nero/sporus reference.

but when tom says “wrestle me to the ground”, what is he asking for? as in, that is a genuine question. maybe i’m just tomgreg-pilled, but it really does seem like:

tom is just so desperate to know greg’s touch that he’s willing to wrestle him, like the nude men who fought in bygone stadiums. (something which conveniently relates to that book about the romans that tom mentions.)

he’ll never know his touch as a lover, tom tells himself –– so he’ll have to settle for this. after all, he’s being sent to prison and greg is all set for his new career in parks, where he’ll no doubt forget all about him. it’s now or never.

it’s an act of desperation.

and greg says no, understandably –– but tom persists. he’s worked himself up, fists raised, pushing greg up against a wall. a force of anger and repression. as usual, he’s just too much. he’s self-destructing. at last, greg stands up for himself tells tom to stop, which he does. it’s then the humiliation sets in. he’s humiliated himself.

and THIS –– this is when it comes full circle.

tom feels stupid and embarrassed, so he tries to make greg feel doubly stupid and embarrassed by mocking him. it’s a see-through attempt at saving face. downright childish.

he then looks spurned and troubled for a few moments before he shouts, “neither do i, greg! it was a JOKE, you idiot!” when it ... obviously wasn’t.

he’s the picture of someone who’s been rejected and can’t seem to take it: hurt and defensive.

it’s strange, no? tom bullies greg all the damn time and he’s never once thought to make excuses about it. he doesn’t feel an ounce of shame when he calls greg a coke whore in front of kendall. but this time –– this time he feels embarrassed.

and i immediately think back to their first conversation. the infamous “would you kiss me? if i asked you to?” because ... tom said that was a joke, too. maybe it wasn’t.

ALL I’M SAYING IS THAT I LOVE THIS SCENE. matthew and nicholas are goddamn phenomenal and i really hope season 4 brings us some closure in regards to the psychosexual power struggle that is tomgreg. ahhhh!

[jordynbreeloa777]

SP SUCCES STORY.‼️💋

(SOME BACKSTORY) Me and this guy have been talking for 4 months! Just taking things slow, no rush he sometimes would go days without texting me first which I changed cause of my thoughts duh, but this time it was different? OKAY OKAY anyways, I know I been posting about other things I been manifesting but I forgot to tell y’all this!! ME AND MY SP WENT 4 DAYS, WITHOUT COMMUNICATING, HE UNFOLLOWED ME OFF SOCIAL MEDIA, AND HIS FRIEND UNFOLLOWED ME TO. This was also RANDOMLY TOO? I was texting and yet no response, so I stopped. Took a deep breath when the world starts getting too loud and you start to lose faith in your abilities. Also I didnt know if something happened, or what but I didn’t think so once him and his friend removed me from there instagram. BRO I kid you not, of course as the god of my reality I said Unt unt. I immediately went into imagination and affirmed “ he’s in love with me what are you talking about?” “*his name* always text me” “ creation is already done” “isn’t it wonderful “ I affirmed those for the past few days whenever I got the chance (didn’t do any saturation sessions, no subliminals, no void, no SATS) just me my thoughts, and basic a+p, y’all. why I get a text RANDOMLY an hour ago saying “yoo, my bad baby I apologize??” idk rlly what went down, but when I asked what he said “something personal” I know that’s kinda hella dry but ay he still my man😛😛(We also talked about what had happened) LMAO, I’m taking this as a success story. I mean who can stop me I’m literally a MASTER MANIFESTOR who always get what I want just because I said so. Your subconscious works in MYSTERIOUS WAYS. YOU DONT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE HOW, JUST THE END. HOW IT UNFOLDS, IS NOT, AND I MEAN, IS NOT YOUR JOB!! I guess you can say I used “states, askfirmations, and robotic affirming!

[akajustmerry]

would LOVE to hear more about your tabitha and naomi headcanons!!!

and yee shall receive !! idk these are probably silly n basic because we know SO LITTLE about both, but whatever it's free real estate!!

considering we meet tabs at the underground rich ppl party, its a fair bet she's probably a rich nepo baby like everyone else in succ, but she seems pretty chill about it. she's just vibing, wooing her hot rich peers.

tabs has the laidback vibe of old fuck off money. older than the roys or pierces, i think. probably in property or land which is why she has no interest in the Roy trust or the pierce's or politics. we know that makes her more attractive to rome but probably to naomi too. here's someone so rich they really are only in it for you!

i imagine naomi and tabs crossed paths and hooked up occasionally in the past, but grew closer during/after naomi's accident. naomi told ken in the show she was struggling cos of press, trust, trauma, addiction, etc, during that time. from what we see of tabs with roman, she is a pretty patient and understanding person, at least to a point (everyone has limits). i imagine after her accident, naomi would have appreciated having someone like tabs in her life who isn't after anything and is relatively non-judgemental and chill.

don't really count this as a headcanon cos it's just true but tabs and Naomi were hooking up that whole weekend at the Pierce estate. I know it's framed as the "Ken and Roman attempt to get Some" weekend but we know neither of them got any lmao but u know who did?? my gorls <3

for what it's worth I do think naomi and Tabs both genuinely liked kendall and roman. i don't think there were any ulterior motives on their parts. as we saw, neither naomi or tabs had any power or insight to sway the deal in any way. equally, tabs and naomi really gain nothing power-wise from dating these guys so u gotta assume it was genuine on some level. like they really just saw these human shaped messes of men and went "hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii <3" kinda very bisexual of them both really. I felt v represented by it I must say

i dooooo think in the immediate aftermath of naomi and Kendall break up, the next time she hooked up with tabs, they defs had a little "what IS wrong with them?" convo where they probs just showed each other roman and Kendall's lame texts, had a laugh, and then washed their hands of the roy boys

when it's announced tom is ceo of waystar, naomi calls tabs like, "isn't that literally the guy who swallowed his own load because you told him to 😂" and she's like yeah turns out he never stopped and idk they probably start dating seriously again after that.

after naomi gets her share of the money from the sale to the Waystar I like to think she uses it to start some overpriced rehab centres or something. eventually, her and tabs get engaged. nan pierce never acknowledges the relationship and passively refers to tabitha as a friend of the family, even at their wedding because she honestly seems like that kind of bitch.

honestly they probably just continue living cool beautiful bisexual women lives. maybe naomi has some rough patches here and there cos you know addiction isn't easy, but tabs is there for her. they just become this quietly classy wealthy lesbian couple who throw great parties with other philanthropic influential gays and closeted wealthy folks. I'm imagining something like what the kindness blind items say sandra bullock does with all the Hollywood lesbians gays.

shiv invites them both to her baby shower because they're honestly the closest thing she has to friends who are women after everything. they don't go though cos they assume shiv is just inviting them to mess with the boys. they send a very precocious expensive gift though like literal gold and silver baby cutlery or something

tabitha becomes like an insanely successful ghostwriter or something. idk why I just have the impression she's kinda been a wallflower in all these insane wealth spaces and eventually tells all those stories somehow

I feel like if I don't stop I'll just be writing fanfic so I'll stop but idc if it's just projection I jus love that there's 2 beautiful aloof bisexual women in this show and the only thing we really know about them for certain is that they were both way too good for the Roys <3

[gregoftom]

People saying greg came from middle class is funny because he used to not even have a smartphone.... he had a flip phone and changed it only after he worked at waystar

His grandpa has money sure and I think he most likely paid for his school, but as we saw, it comes with terms and conditions. And if he deems greg unable to fulfill them he has no problem with letting greg go hungry or homeless and cutting him off like he cut off his own daughter from his money

Even after waystar, if ken didn't offer his apartment he'd still be stuck with shitty overpriced new york studio apartment where he couldn't even get a proper bed good enough for his length lmao he's lucky tom buys him food and shoes etc

This is also why I was not surprised in the slightest when he accepted tom's offer of a raise after the blackmail. Money matters to him. After what he experienced, money will always matter to him. Because he knows it could be gone from his grasp just like that. Ken could rescind his apartment offer since he did say it was only until the turnover period is finished keeping it vague when exactly that is. He could always get fired. And to him, there's no guarantee his grandpa would help him if he gets fired, based on what happened even before he joined waystar and even more now after he removed greg from his inheritance. And he needs to think about his mom too since he's paying for her expenses.

In greg's eyes, the line between him being able to live a rich life and him being homeless is too thin for his comfort

NO LITERALLY LMFAO, some people's ignorance is actually astounding. like i've said time and again, people seem to completely ignore greg's background and the fact that he is literally the only character of the main cast to know what it's like to be starving and out on your ass with literally nobody to give a shit about you and nobody to bail you out, to be homeless and sleeping in a church. and as you say like, being rich and being homeless is a hair's breadth away like, the rug could be pulled beneath him at any second so it's kind of like. understandable lol? a lot of his actions. and calling him middle class is actually so laughable i can't even begin to fathom how anybody came to that conclusion.

like, greg as himself? is not middle class when it starts out. it does not matter his connection to his grandfather in the beginning especially in this case because like you said it comes with terms and conditions and greg does not meet them and thus is left to the streets/cut off. my uncle and aunt won the lottery and me and my immediate family saw jack shit of money, even though they have more than enough to support them and all of their immediate family and have ton left over besides because they used that money cleverly to expand even further and are now super well off. i am not middle class lol. so you can't really like, use that as a justification to say that greg is well off or whatever in the beginning? even tom is barely a drop in the fucking ocean compared to the roys. his family arrive in a damn bus to his wedding. people need to stop watching the show with roy goggles lmao.

i still cannot believe that trope said that ashkasjasj. apparently all of the succ charas on tvtropes is pretty piss poor, but greg's seems to be the absolute worst.

[twinge-of-cosmicangst]

Wanted to write a fairly short succession future fic set in 2044 where Connor has been voted president lmao and the Roy’s and all their kids, plus a grandkid via Sophie are all at his house for his 80th birthday, Tom and Shiv had two kids in the end a girl and a boy, and Greg also had a son from some woman who he was with for like 6 months when he temporarily called off the Tomgreg affair, and all the Roy’s refer to her as an nrp of course cause their awful. Anyway Tom eventually leaves Shiv (Shiv living her best life in 2044 with a younger guy) for Greg and sort of ended up being in Greg’s kid (Layton’s) life more then his own (although he wasn’t even in his that much because of the job) but it obviously causes tension, but Eliza and Angelo (Tomshiv kids) don’t actually hate Layton or anything but there is some jealously but they like to keep him in their little trio, they sort of mirror ken/shiv/Rome, and would be at Connor’s birthday bitching at each other. Anyway Eliza is the first child and is like 24 and I gave her a girlfriend to be her plus one at the birthday, but then I was like how did they meet? And I was like her girlfriend Khalie was a college intern at Waystar of course. And then I wanted write about how they met the year before, then do Connor’s birthday. But then I got really into Eliza as a character and wanted to write about an argument she overheard when she was 10 between Tom and Shiv not long before they divorced. And now I’m just really into Eliza and the inherent trauma of being the daughter of Tom wambsgans and Shiv Roy. And also wanted to do a whole thing where Greg proposed to Tom and few years after Tom and Shiv divorced, but Tom rejected saying it wasn’t the right time, but it actually had more to do with his internalised homophobia and his issues with marriage, and Greg is still hinting about marriage but Tom worries he is too old now (he’s 69 😏) Also wanted to do something about Roman and Connor trying to get Shiv and Kendall to make up after 24 years of basically not talking and turning into the next Logan and Ewan.

Also Conwilla have 4 kids. Also as Roman seemingly escaped the cycle in the final episode so I let him come out and marry and Irish guy and they have a daughter called Erin. Tom is still the American CEO at Waystar, Greg is head of parks, I figured Shiv would work at Pierce (maybe CEO I don’t know) and Kendall and Roman started the 100, which is semi successful idk. Also Kendall has a six year old that he named Kendall junior lmao who is the same age his grandchild via Sophie. Anyway this is basically potential novel length at this point and I just wanted to do a crack fic about Connor becoming president at an extremely old age. And I already have 3 other succ fics I have on go that I do plan on finishing eventually ugh why am I like this.

[wikaliyag]

hi, so i've become a tomgreg enthusiast just before the fourth season aired (i basically devoured the whole three seasons of succ in four days lmao). i don't really engage in social media and fandoms anymore but i would like to share my thoughts on the tomgreg relationship and the final season itself.

i would like to start with the fact that i was actually really surprised how explicit their relationship was in the first three seasons (in a way it still really is, but we'll get to that), since from what i knew about the show it was supposed to be something perfect for your 'normal' media consumer out there, just some business stuff, so with that logic i assumed it will be as heterosexual as it can get to not offend anyone (i mean homophobes). but the second tom and greg were together on the screen my brain materialised the 'i know what you are' dog meme and i loved it. it didn't feel superficial, it was something different, fresh and ugly and toxic and just real. seeing these two just be horrible to everyone (including each other) made sense and then seeing them finally lower their gourds down and care for only each other also made sense. so my main point is that it made a lot of sense for them to go with the dynamic and to just make it the way it is. i believe wholeheartedly that it is a genuine representation that i so desperately wanted, since i'm so done with all that 'gay ppl can't be horrible pieces of shit and have to be unnaturally perfect and good'. 

it isn’t as explicit as other queer relationships in media but that’s kinda what makes them so unique and fun to watch. they don’t have to kiss or to say ‘i love you’, cause we already have that confirmation through how they act towards each other. from ‘would you kiss me?’ first interaction to the ‘i will take care of you’ declaration, like he really didn’t have to do it, i believe he might have just been lonely in the roy kingdom and greg was the same, not in the inner circle but still a part of the family. that was the reason why he was so attracted to greg from the beginning. the nero and sporus speech, when tom decides to pour his whole heart into that speech and greg just responds with nothing, so tom awkwardly drops his smile, cause he thinks that he might be the only one that feels that way. (it was so fun to me cause for some reason i love to see tom suffer, idk why don’t ask me). but then greg immediately asks if tom is okay, cause he does care about tom and maybe he is just super oblivious to tom’s feelings at that point. in the fourth season greg allows tom to throw him under the bus during social interactions just for him to look better. he also is okay with tom treating him like shit throughout the whole show, even though he could have just leave him and try to suck up to his family more (as we can see in this season it is actually possible for greg to somehow have a working relationship with his cousins). i could give you so many more examples but we all get the point. it is not sexually explicit and it doesn’t have to, queer relationships are not only about sex or physical intimacy in general (though we still get all that patting on the back, stomach, shoulders ect., even all that whatever it was in the first ep from greg), it’s the emotional connection too. and we did get that. 

if it comes to the fourth season, i must admit that i agree with a lot of criticism. the characters feel really off to me. and i will focus on greg for a bit. this season he is suddenly gross and says stupid things, like he is a total imbecile that can’t think for himself (like i get it, he was always a little dumb dumb and ofc he can say gross things, it’s just that these are his only character trades right now, that’s the problem). he is definitely not qualified enough to be in a position that he is now but the greg from the second or third season would at least try to pinch some of his own ideas (even tho they are shitty) or maybe try to give his honest opinion on something, now he just goes ‘yeah it’s dope man’ and moves on. if it comes to tom i would say he is handled quite well, it might be because macfadyen is an absolute acting genius, but him being a total flop and trying so desperately to be on a good page with all the people that he betrayed makes sense. he is scared he is soon going to lose everything and it makes him do everything in his power to not let that happen, he is a total mess emotionally (and we love to see it). that includes coming back to shiv. even though he stood up for himself and i really wish he could just leave her and finally be happy alone, he has to be the a good and obedient husband once again, that’s his only way of saving himself. he says that he loves shiv for the money but i think there is also an actual unconditional love there, it’s just not a thing that she will understand, so he must speak in another language - a love for money and power. she then gets it and lets him in. but then you can see in a way that tom looks at her, that there is something more to it than the prestige of being married to a roy. 

and now the tomgreg relationship. we don’t see many scenes of them and yes it hurts a bit, since you wait a whole ass week for an episode and you don’t get much of their interactions but i saw someone saying that ‘they don’t need to show us tom and greg plotting together, cause we already know that. they focus on the dynamics of the relationships that are currently changing and tomgreg is as solid as a rock’ (obviously paraphrasing that one). i so agree with that, we don’t have to see them to know, it would be amazing to get more confirmation and just to see them both be all giggly middle aged men together but we already know where we stand. they have the deal, they work together behind the scenes, i bet that is exactly why in the sixth episode they went to an empty room, so that they can update each other on their secrety and confidential stuff. and why is greg gregging for ken and tom is suffocating himself in a toxic relationship with shiv? it’s simple, because it’s their plan to do so. they hope that at least one of the relationships will stick and save them from their doom. they will jump ships to whoever will be willing to not throw them away. this way it makes sense for us not to see them all that often together because we see them executing their plan, separately on camera but actually together. i hope that this will be addressed in the last four eps, it would be actually kinda fun to see maybe one of them or even both of them betray each other for their new friends/lovers to just be betrayed themselves and end up together anyway. it's what they deserve.

[sindumpster]

Any unbirth thoughts or ideas that appeal to you? Just in general. I currently have an ub-session and love your ub stuff. 💗

"ub-session" made me snort. I love it.

But hokey I'm gonna jot some things down so sorry if this ends up more of a jumble of words than anything. Also obviously this one is gonna be hella nsfw

-Ngl a lot of my go-tos with it involve the UB being orgasm-triggered. Because something something vaginal contractions which idk if I likened that to peristalsis or if someone else inserted that into my brain. It been...a while since I refreshed my sex bio. But if cocks can eat people then I can grasp at my straws and pretend it triggers the vaginal succ-tion.

-...which would also make sense if the pred(?) is a biiiit of a size queen. A dicking devolves to fisting. Could just be the fisting that triggers the succ. Also my humor is dumb so I like it when the other char is marveling over how far their arm can sink in. Mentioning its getting harder to pull back. Oblivious to all the warning signs before its too late.

-tho I will also die on my hill of pushy prey so someone actively being like my arm has gone past the elbow and this *still* isn't working. I guess I will just push myself in there. Because also, my humor is broken so this being the first most obvious solution the prey thinks of is hilarious to me. Post nut clarity is gonna hit hard (or they like it. Or it was the plan all along because they're a kinky fuck)

-forreal tho prey that's a kinky fuck. Realizing how stretchy the pred is and want to try it. Or has done it before. Just taking the initiative.

-I'm realizing a lot of these are about my broken humor so I will also raise you--pregnancy jokes. Because I like them with vore and other situations where the char isn't pregnant but will just go along with it because it is the easier explanation (and like, I say this as someone with a preg kink. The joke just doesn't hit the same when its actual preg tho lmao). Also UB being extra prone to this because the prey is sitting in the right place (as opposed to oral vore where stomach sits higher up. As if people would notice this and care but I will also die on my stupid detail hill)

-but also I'm a sucker for combo kinks and also I like my separation of different stuffed...organs? Compartmentalization kink? as in life so in kink IDK point is UB pred following it up with a stuffing session. Or oral vores someone (esp if they are not a fan of preg jokes). There's a bit of a power play there if the pred's like "well what are you gonna do about it~". Prey getting increasingly cramped or complaining about the growing weight above them. Or feeling each other's struggles. Two different prey poking at each other through the fleshy walls. I just think it's neat.

-also orgasm being a release valve as well. Because you can fuck (or fist) someone from the inside (There's a "cum out" joke here somewhere).

-Which could also be a power play on the prey's part. Or throw in some public humiliation where prey tries to pleasure the pred in public, and the pred must hide how flustered it is making them. They don't need to come out from it, they can just fuck with (literally) the pred.

-I like competitions of any sort but I do not care who wins. Even my bois I equally enjoy them losing to clever prey (or a pyrrhic victory). Or just kinky fuck prey. This isn't specifically a UB thing but for me it applies just as well. Could also be funny if this devolved from some kind of stupid sex contest. The "whoever cums first loses" where prey gets increasingly desperate to win and this results in them shoving themselves up there.

-also I like the "getting your hand stuck in the cookie jar" joke.

-MULTIPLE PREY. Because why the fuck not. Uterus party guys everyone is invited. Or smol prey if a large tum isn't your jam (but I am biased. Sorry. Not sorry.)

-MASC PREDS. MASC UB. NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE REALIZE THIS POTENTIAL JOIN ME OR POINT ME TO THE ART.

-which I like it doesn't have to be a sex thing but the "motherhood" or "age regression" sides of the kink aren't my niche so sex is usually how I go. It can be peril or even fatal, or warm wholesome safe vibes. I like both. And should go without saying but even the kinkiest sex can be wholesome.

-tho also the impressive side-eye in the afterlife when you admit you got digested by a snatch. Went out with a bang. Got your dick stuck in a living vacuum cleaner. This isn't really an idea.

-ALSO REFORMING PREY. If fatal is your jam. Idk man I'm still working out the kinks(lol) of how the fatal pussy would work without getting into the dark details of any internal pred/prey kinks where digestion is actually the least of your problems. Except my Space!AU where everything can be a stomach if you're brave enough. Alien anatomy you can do whatever the fuck you want so that's where my wackiest kink mechanics go. (Because I'm still working on this notion that I am "realistic" and will not break these stupid rules I made up in normal canon for some reason??).

-Tho I guess with reform you can have your "rebirthing" stuff. (Personally with the caveat they reform as an adult. I don't mind preg or even warm cozy vibes but again...parenthood loses me sorry. But feel free to use it lol)

-Oh and also face-sitting [GONE WRONG][GONE SEXUAL]

-Or I guess if you're really into dicks eating people can have a CV pred fuck a UB pred and the prey just gets kinda shot up there.

///and I'm sure there's a fuckton of things I'm forgetting. But this is already way longer than I intended lmao

[cdyssey]

Elsbeth (1.09) Reactions:

Spoilers beneath the cut!

OH, Arian is the guy who plays Stewy on Succession… haven’t watched Succ yet, but fun!

Ivy and Joe’s bond would be sweet if he wasn’t about to be the next celebrity culprit fjekfjsj

Elsbeth: “It’s kind of eery, isn’t it? She looks so peaceful.” / Kaya: “Dead people usually do.”

oooh, he killed the wrong person. fun twist.

“You doing an interpretive dance or do you have a theory?” Gdjsjsjs, I love how deadpan Kaya is.

“You know, I think I can see someone wanting to kill that woman.” GJDJFJDJD.

“If I wanted to be duplicitous and obstruct justice, I would have stayed a lawyer.” the one liners are so fucking funny tonight. My god

Elsbeth trying to communicate with Wagner via paint swabs, lmao.

Joe’s bar looks so goddamn cool. I would happily have an overpriced drink in there.

Both Elsbeth and Kaya holding the phone, their hands brushing. 🥺 (shut up. I’ll take what crumbs I can get.)

half of these write ups just end up being me salivating over Elsbeth’s wardrobe, but anyway, that red coat 😍

Super enjoying the pacing of this ep’s investigation. feels organic.

whoa, I didn’t know that about bartender rings!!!

Arian/Joe is so charming.

I love watching Elsbeth figure stuff out—like walking on the wet floor and taking a print. It scratches a lovely puzzle solving itch.

Claudia is a great supporting character. Really appreciate how her presence allows us to see Wagner in a more complex light. For him, the bottom line is protecting her.

New Kaya tidbit! She apparently dated a bartender before… who turned out to be a psycho.

LOLOL, elsbeth spitting out the drink the young bartender made.

“Frothy, colorful, but complicated.” yeah, that’s elsbeth.

This moment between Elsbeth and Joe is so real and so good, and it’s another fine example of one of my favorite recurring elements of the show—the way that Elsbeth strives to empathize with the people she’s pursuing.

Not only does she typically understand them, sometimes she even knows exactly where they’re coming from.

“I was so angry. I wanted to hurt that nasty kid. I wanted to do something.” Like, look at this quote! Elsbeth is bright and wonderfully weird, yes, and she has her inner darknesses too. But here’s the crucial thing—not in spite of her brightness but alongside it. It’s such a compelling combination of traits, and it’s a dynamic that the show has explored in incredible ways already.

Re: Joe threatening Elsbeth: One day, I wonder if the show will eventually play with Elsbeth constantly pushing culprits’ boundaries. Hhhhhhgh. What if one of them snaps?

This ruse to trap Joe is a lot, lmao.

“Claudia will kill me if anything happens to you!”

FULLY thought that Wagner was about to get shot. ☠️

“Maybe that’s why I got the job, and you didn’t.” killer line.

“And you can go back to Chicago now.” ELSBETH AND KAYA’S FACES IMMEDIATELY FALLING.

AND, FUCK, WAGNER REQUESTING IT!!! GOD GOD GOD.

FUCK, THAT’S A GOOD AND ANGSTY CLIFFHANGER.

ANDRÉ DE SHIELDS IN THE NEXT EPISODE?!!!?!

this was a fun penultimate episode. arian moayed killed it, and I loved the cliffhanger ending. really sets the stakes for the finale.

[roobylavender]

omg i always find the discussion on kishimoto and shounen writers re: writing romance and female characters really interesting bc it's so true that wider fandom refuses to engage with heroines even at the level of male characters who have the same amount of screentime/development, even more so if they occupy any sort of love interest role because they're "in the way" of m/m pairings - but i also wonder how much of this discussion has turned into "if you don't ship this (shoddily-written) heterosexual pairing you are doing a disservice to X female character" with the poor excuse that shounen series supposedly """don't focus""" on romance anyway (if that's truly the case, why does the author bother introducing it as a last-minute element by suddenly marrying off half the cast?) like if romance is going to be a genre introduced to the manga (and if any and every interaction between the two characters who end up as married in the final chapter is to be taken as romantic, then romance is indeed going to be counted as one of the story's genres), surely it needs to be taken seriously and held to the same standard as the action and fantasy world-building genres of a manga...

also not to out myself as a grandma but personally this new idea i sometimes see on reddit or twitter that "shounen authors aren't 'allowed'(?) to develop their romances properly or focus on romantic subplots" honestly disgusts me as a certified 80s manga enjoyer lmao because it's such an insult to decades of prior shounen manga that did in fact take the time to write romance well and thus didn't end up with canon pairings anywhere near as controversial as, say, the ones in nardo or bleach... like it just goes to show how little people know about the genre to be making super broad and baseless statements like that. it's got the same energy as when people read 2010s DC comics and think they've gotten the best the genre has to offer even though 1) they haven't even skimmed the surface of the material 2) modern stories are written terribly compared to their predecessors

LIKE people cite that ursula k le guin quote about H/P to talk about how it's like incredibly derivative, practically factory-generated fantasy but imo it doesn't quite hold true because H/P isn't fundamentally a fantasy story but rather a boarding school one with fantastical elements - but that quote does absolutely hold true for naruto and its role within the shounen genre because every element of it is ripped off from its betters (i.e. slam dunk, HxH, etc) yet people praised it as if it was completely original and the pinnacle of shounen... and yet despite it all, broader fan consensus still found the female characters and their romances in both the series examples i listed (that kishi clearly plagiarized from) more agreeable than the canon ones in naruto 🙈

somewhat tangential to this but i feel like what makes this phenomenon (as in the one you talk about in the last paragraph) prevalent within mainstream shounen manga specifically is the way that manga publication works to begin with. like although magazines are generally reflective of genre categorizations they need not always be so (eg clamp which has published typically shoujo content in typically shounen magazines and vice versa) and usually your serialization in a magazine happens because you applied to it through a competition. and you applied through that competition for that magazine because you were enamored with the mangaka already employed by the magazine. the wsj hierarchy is essentially a long form example of this in that many of its mangaka were either fanboys of their predecessors on the magazine and thus decided to apply to it or they were lucky enough to work as assistants to those mangaka and then spring off into their own work once they had found the footing to do so. the derivative nature of the various series in the magazine is practically manufactured! and it's a wonky sort of survival of the fittest scheme in that the successor mangakas get to pick and choose what elements that were key to their admiration they incorporate into their own work. that's how i think you get to works like naruto and bleach. i don't think it's outright plagiarism but more.. fanboy antics distilled into fanfiction that subsequently goes through an editorial process to prepare it for original publication. the twilight turned masters of the universe turned fifty shades of grey phenomenon if you will. how you fare after that then depends on your own additional input. i feel like although kishi definitely modeled some character and relationship dynamics on those of his predecessors what attracted people to his story was his world (which is ironic because it's more than arguable that his world is underdeveloped in various places) and how that world contextualized those already familiar dynamics. that's why even though the naruto-sasuke rivalry was admittedly modeled off of the yusuke-hiei one there was still a significant difference in overarching function between the two relative to their place within each series

as for the commentary on romance specifically i definitely agree with you that there's no excuse for romance writing to be taken less seriously merely because something is published in a shounen magazine lol. and frankly with respect to naruto specifically i always find this excuse to be very confusing because at least with sasusaku the writing is very intentional.. a lot of people seem to skirt over their development with respect to each other because it's convenient to ignore and that always frustrates me because kishi is more than due his fair share of criticism for any number of things but it's silly to criticize him for the absence of something when there is precisely.. no absence. i think a lot of people mistake subtlety for absence if anything. the moments when sasuke deliberates on his weakness and inability to save sakura and how that should render him worthless in her eyes are largely unimportant to naruto's readership so they either act like they never happen or they conveniently isolate sasuke's explosive reactions to that worthlessness without allowing other people to view the context that birthed them. that scene in part one where he shoves the apples away from her is one i see spread sooo often but no one ever includes the thoughts running through sasuke's head right before it happens

i do think kishi can generally be criticized for not making romance more of a focal point of his narrative because love in all of its forms is so important to that narrative and sasusaku's example in particular is quite revolutionary with respect to the world the characters occupy (as is naruhina's i would say). but i also feel like it's premature of people to say that they lack development. they only really lack development with respect to that final chapter which most people acknowledge is a corny fast-forward future written for the sake of wrapping things up in a bow. where they end up by the end of chapter 699 is pretty well predicated by the extent of their journey and people only really dislike it because where they're willing to look beyond the violence between naruto and sasuke they're not willing to do the same for sakura and sasuke. admittedly i'm biased but i do think it's one of those rare situations where people are doing a disservice to sakura if they don't even try to read into the intents behind her relationship with sasuke. i don't think people have to like it by any means but i wish there was more good faith engagement with it because there is certainly plenty to criticize about kishi but i don't think most people actually even get at what's worth criticizing because they're too busy making up excuses for him even though those excuses are supposedly supposed to be criticism loljfkldsjgdf

[bigmack2go]

(Ridiculous-)

-Things that i think the newsies would get cancelled for if it were modern era:

Crutchie

His name. He blew up in quarantine and only streamed gameplay and sat down. He only ever explained his name like,,, once or so and that was way back, the succes came slowly and so he never felt the need to explain it again. After a while some pointed out his name and i like,,, blew up! He was on the twitter trending page for a whole week! But he was only cancelled for a day or two(?) before he uploaded a video laughing tears. The mother fucker probably used it as clickbait on the preview banner pannel thingy (wtf are those called??) and in the title. I mena,,,, imagine!! “!SPEAKING UP about the recent ALLEGATIONS! (EMOTIONAL) (CW: CRYING)” and probably ant like “(real) (not fake!)(fuck clickbait)” or something. He would troll the shit out of social media for it

Ike

Probably like queerbaiting or some shit. Like he’ll go “holy shit, i’m so gay!” And people will go “I THOUGHT HE HAS A GF” and hotshot is just watching the whole thing, making fun of him for D A Y S while he’s cancled and she’s like “hOw dArE yOu bE bIsExUAl?!”

Hotshot

That exact thing i just said. Because she wasn’t including pan people, poly people and all the other sexuality’s when she was making that joke.

Race

Cheating. On Spot. (See also-> my spralbert fic) ofc he didn’t actually cheat but some people foubd and old clip of when he was still less known and didn’t know he would blow up like that and people pretend that poly people dont exist. He probably had a big thing and then he “cancelled them back” (his words not mine) or something like that.

Spot

For staying with Race even after he found out he “cheated”. People said he was only with Race for the money.

Albert

For being the person that Race “cheated” with

Jack

For saying “i wanna kiss you so bad right now” to a guy and apparently making fun of gay people with it. That shit was just like an hour or so tho at the highest.

Katherine

For her father lmao

York

Having a problematic mod. People say shit like he’s just ignoring that fact. But he legitimately just did not now. He wasn’t online for a solid two days and when he was it was to stream so he had to find out by chat, but he thought chat was joking and so one thing led to another and uh yeah. By the time hotshot called him asking why he was joking about that sort of stuff and he realised that it was true, the tag was already trending.

Romeo

Let’s be honest, the fucker prolly said something like “you’ find the right person eventually” or be like really penetrant like a Karen that refuses to acknowledge aro/ace people exist. But like for fun. Like,,, jokingly. This guy is literally aroace. It prolly went pretty much the same as for Crutchie.

Tommyboy

Cheating.(but like at a game) Come on lets be honest . This mf would have the whole dream sCaNdAl procedure and you know it. He acedentally cheated and then get death threats for it (which, just to be clear, even if dream had cheated is just— like,,, idek)

Myron

Tried to kill a pigeon once when he was like seven or something

Elmer

Being involved in a russian spying scandal or some shit. Dont even ask! The best prt is that this is the only one where the internet was being justified. Not only dod all the evidence ACTUALLY lead to him (and it wasn’t something little like cheating) butthe reason for that is that it was actually him. Now obv it wasn’t on purpose bla bla, someone put a wrong server adress or what-not idek but like,,,, it was fair for people to want to cancel him…

Buttons

Capitalism. He probably told someone they had to pay if they wanted him to make them a piece of cloth or whatever. (Obv this is exeragated. The internet is not actually that bad… mostly. And he probably did go about it a little worse and people probably didn’t actually cancel-cancel him as in like,, career threatening but yk. It was still a little ridiculous)

Davey

Defending church. He’s like “GUYS IM NOT EVEN A CHRISTIAN WTF!? Im just saying, let people believe what they wanna believe. unless that specific person uses their faith as an excuse to disrespect, discredit or discriminate you, they are not a bad person for their faith”

In case you’re wondering, this happened in the same context as-

-Jojo

Jojo told his coming-out-to-the-nuns story and how he wasn’t too scared (and some other stuff) and then people said that he was pretending the church never was problematic. (Ive never phrased a sentence to say less of what i meant than this one but im tired and i have the excuse that English isn’t my first language so gimme a break)

[theroyalmisfitmess]

NHIE Farewell Season Reactions

Reactions were all typed real time as I was watching the show.

Ep. 1

- ohhhh they’re awkward

- Ben thinking Devi’s disappointed it’s him

- THEY’RE SO BAD AT COMMUNICATING

- I ONLY LOVE MY FAMILY AND MICHELLE OBAMAHDHDKSHDKS

- Ben looks constipated while working out

- “BUT YOU’RE STILL NOT DEVI” MCENROE PLSSDFJSKDJ

- loving nalini and devi’s relationship 🥺

- YASSS PAXTONNNN

- the go-gurt mention reminded me of laura marano and ross lynch (iykyk)

- noooo paxton not fitting in :((((((((((

- can’t take michael cimino seriously rn because of himyf

- PAINFUL PINING. PAINFUL PINING. PAINFUL PINING. OH NO DEVI’S FUTURE IS RUINED 😭

- where is aneesa tho?? :((

- dr. ryan scenes are the absolute best. i love seeing devi’s growth

- damn i’m loving these character growth moments. paxton not fitting in hits so hard and eleanor not being completely blinded by love is kinda refreshing

- NOOO NOT HER CAR

Ep. 2

- HSHAJDKDHD pati and nalini going all indian mom is always entertaining

- “This is about Ben? BEN GROSS?” NALINISHFKAKDHS

- FINALLY ANEESA IS BACK. girlie i miss you. i hate how they forgot about you.

- KAMALAAAAA (also nawt the teen hamilton auditions 😭)

- “Why tell me he’s white? I can see him!” 😭

- eleanor… pls be single for now it might do you good…

- UGH BENVI IS SO PINING FOR EACH OTHER YOU IDIOTS

- if i had a dollar every time victoria moroles played a main couple obstacle, id’d have two dollars—which isn’t a lot, but it’s funny (and sad) that it happened twice

- no but honestly, i appreciate how ben is setting boundaries. that’s correct. that’s right.

- YES DEVI STAND USE TO YOURSELF. i miss paxton’s crew lmao

- LMAO PAXTONHDJSKDHSKDHD teacher era let’s good

- ugh no michael cimino in his softness feely again but also pls devi don’t fix your shit with benjamin first

Okay. We’re back from the shackles of uni…

Ep. 3

- devi no… gosh please… fix your thing with ben first

- the line between paxton and devi is so clear now. i love paxton trying out new things.

- ugh i’m not liking thissss 😭

- awww paxton :(( i hope he finds what he wants to do again. i am not liking this super into parties thing

- THE BENVI SILENT TREATMENT IS SO PAINFULLL THE BANTERING PLS BRING IT BACKKK

- oh myyyy i kinda get nalini’s concern about the stairs and renovations tbh… when a home is LIVED IN it’s kinda hard to detach. not to mention,, it must remind her of mohan :((

- NAWWW ELEANOR SAWWW 😭

- NOT DEVI REFERENCING HERSELFHDKSJDKSJ

- OOO PAXTON AND THE SUB TEACHERRR

- devi pls stop this.

- OMG NOOO NOT BEN ACTUALLY HAVING THE IDEA 😭 but then again, i see the effort of trying to protect his feelings

- awww eleanor still loves trent (don’t rlly care for them but i loved that looking at the same moon thing)

- words cannot describe how much i love paxton. justice for paxton hall-yoshida.

- UGH why does michael cimino have to be a cutie??? i prefer him as a soft boi tho

Ep. 4

- NOOOOOO UGHHHH MY BENVI HEART IS CRYING

- oooo okay college fair devi you better not mess this up

- ms warner is NOT confident with devi HSHDJDH

- NOOO NOT FABIOLA’S MOM INTERVENING WITH HER FUTUREEEE

- succ-sexy is such a term lmao also wow the turn around from devi’s friends being so bad with advice to rightfully concerning is something i didn’t expect

- paxton and this sub teacher have CHEMISTRY + i feel so bad for him

- DESI SISTERHAHDJDHDJD

- BENHDJSKDHDKD YEAH SAME MCENROE I’M NERVOUS TOO

- okay ethan that was good on you but i still don’t trust him completely

- margot is such a sweetheart i just can’t hate her !!

- BEN’S SPEECHHFJSHDJAKDJ

- OH MY GOSHJFKSJDJD i’m getting feelings ben and devi being supportive friends has my heart UGH

- ETHAN. I HATE YOUUUU

- FINALLY. SHE DUMPED HIM AND DID THE RIGHT THING.

- “My best baby boy” TRENT YOU ARE PRECIOUSHAHDKDHD

- NOOOO IS LEN CHEATING ON PATI 🥺

- so i saw the script and devi doesn’t get in right? + FABIOLA’S GONNA GET IN INSTEAD OF DEVI IS SHE?? 😭

Ep. 5

- THE NEW YORK TRIPPPP

- yes mr shapiro. taylor swift is a great american writer.

- honestly true. fabiola should stop not prioritizing herself

- eleanor having an ego break is kinda hard and disheartening to watch

- oh so this is an ep where they find out that college isn’t what they thought it would be isn’t it :000

- awwww nalini is lonely :(((

- honestly why won’t ben just buy tickets for everyone he’s hella rich LMAOO

- THE PARTY SCENEGDJSHDKD OKAY I’M NOT READY

- nooo burnout :(( blair is so real so right

- AWWW PAXTON FOR WISDOM SCENE WE LOVE TO SEE (love daxton as friends)

- AWWWW BENNNN 🥺🥺🥺

- “Devi you know who you are” ONCE AGAIN. I AM TEAM BEN BECAUSE BEN IS TEAM DEVI.

- AWWWW AND DEVI BEING TEAM BEN MY HEART

- HE CALLED HER DAVID 🥺😭

- AWWW THEY MADE UPPP

- ok but the realization that canonically aaron tveit is still in moulin rouge at this point of the story is nice

- awwww nalini kinda finding love again

- devi and ben doing good again has my heart

Ep. 6

- EARLY DECISIONS DAY

- knew it. it was fabiola.

- FINALLY ANEESA IS BACK. also slay she got recruited !!

- CONGRATS BENNNN

- so len is cheating on pati???

- paxton is such an older brother now i can’t believe he and devi they dated HDKSJFKDJ

- THE PRINCETON SNAKEHDKSHDJD 😭😭😭

- OH MY GOSHFJDHDKD

- awww ben and margot are actually good together

- oh i think i spoke too soon

- OH. OH NO. UMMMM…

- but the way mcenroe is now narrating ben’s story as in-depth as devi’s means something… yeah i’m gonna be correct. benvi endgame

- PATI OWNING SHARES OF APPLE IS SENDING MEHAHDKDHDKD

- noooo fab and devi :(((

- i kinda understand why ben is like this. devi mssed him up fr fr 😭

- paxton talking about his dreams of becoming a scholarship swimmer, devi ruining it, but him still forgiving her :”))

- i am really loving paxton’s wise era !! he may be underutilized but i enjoy every scene he’s in

- okay but aneesa rlly just showing up once in this episode???

- AWWWW THE FRIENDSHIPS OF THIS EP

- ELEANOR IS GRADUATING EARLY?? woah okay slay

- “But do YOU think you’re good enough?” Y E S

- AWWWW SO SHE WANTS TO GO TO PRINCETON BC OF MOHAN 🥺😭 brb crying in the corner

- i could be wrong but the doctor looks like mrs. montez (gabriella’s mom from hsm)

- nalini and devi 🥺

- HER HEART IS STILL WITH BEN AAAAAA

Ep. 7

- OMG GIGI HADID IS BACK

- no bc paxton as a swim coach is a vibe

- DEVI BE NICER WITH YOUR PHRASES 😭😭😭 but i am loving the daxton friendship so much

- the identity crisis is so bad </3 i’m hoping paxton finds his way

- is paxton gonna end up dating lindsay/ms. thompson? i’m confused bc i read something about this

- “It’s okay if I fail as long as I tried” AWWWWW

- watching paxton be a coach is so endearing !!

- oof the lockeroom scene

- PAXTON IS SUCH AN OLDER BROTHER AT THIS POINT 😭 i promise this isn’t the benvi in me but their dynamic seems so platonic now

- SO THEY DID KISS OKAY OH MY GOSH

- paxton’s mom looks so close to his age 😭

- awwww the closure 🥹 i love closure moments

- PAXTON FEELING THE VIBES HAHDKSHDKD YEAH YOU TELL THEM (i am so gonna be right about benvi endgame)

- i wonder if paxton will go back to college :00

- AWWWW PAXTON YOU GO MAN

Okay. Will continue watching this tomorrow. I am a tired uni student first.

A night’s sleep, whole day of uni, and stressful cleaning later. WE’RE BACK!

Ep. 8

- OMG NOT MY BENVI PLOT IDEA ABOUT THEM TEXTING COMING TO LIFE

- THE ZOOM INS WITH NALINI ARE KILLING MEHAHAKDHDKD

- PROPERTY BROTHER LOOKING ASSHAHAHWKDHDJS

- oh nice devi is cool with it?!??? the maturity

- “You two are the best relationships I’ve had in high school” 🥺🥺🥺

- i can’t with this aneesa erasure though,, mindy did her so dirty 😭

- also where is manish

- JENNIFER COOLIDE CHARACTERHAKFHDJD

- AWWWW DEVI WANTING HER MOM TO BE HAPPY 🥺🥺🥺

- ben x trent subplot 👀👀👀

- OK MANISH MENTION

- WHATS THIS THING WITH LEN????

- ooof eleanor’s mom

- always a kitchen moment

- awwww devi being mature with her reaction about the texts even if it hurts 😭

- what if,, baby is len’s daughter 😭

- BEN AND TRENTGAGKDHDJSKS

- BEN HAVING A DREAM ABOUT DEVI??????SHAKDHSKSSJ

- TRENT PUSHING BEN TO GO AFTER DEVI WAS NOT ON MY BINGO CARD

- BEN????????? WHATS HAPPENING????????

- OKAY WOASHAKSHSHASJSHSJS SO CHAOTIC

- awww i love this vishwakumar bonding 🥹🫶

- i’d support a narrative about devi and margot just forgetting about ben lmao

- OH MY GODHAHDJSDHJS NALINI AND MARGOT’S DAD

- WHAT WHY IS DEVI BEING REJECTED????

Ep. 9

- noooo this is hitting me too hard i was in a devi situation where i only got in one college despite being a decorated overachieving student 😔

- okay everyone find a trent he honestly seems like the best hype man lol

- FAB IS GONNA GO TO HER DREAM SCHOOL THEREFORE OPENING A SLOT IN PRINCETON THAT WILL GO TO DEVI

- OMG NOT THE LIEEEEE

- “David? You okay?” BEN’S DELIVERY IS SO SOFT 🥺😩😭

- awwww devi offering to help ben has my heart 🥺

- devi and nalini’s moments hit homeeee i am emotional

- “I didn’t get into college. I didn’t get into anywhere.” 🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭

- PAXTON AND LINDSAY AAAAAAAA i ship it

- “Bevi, our best student, didn’t get into a single college” THEN BEN’S CONCERNED REACTION MY HEARTTTT

- okay fine maybe i do like trent and eleanor they’re the unhinged couple every sitcom has

- BEN’S WINDOW SCENEEEE

- ben asking how paxton went up through her window 😭

- the way my vision is coming to life i love winning i love being a pophet

- I AM TEAM BEN BECAUSE BEN IS TEAM DEVI !!

- “Maybe I was wrong, David” BUT DEVI ENDS UP SLEEPING

- OMG BEN STAYED OVERSHDOWHDKDHDOD

- “I thought he was one of your dolls” NALINIHSJSKDHD

Pause. About to do something.

Okay. We’re back…

- Dr. Ryan 🥺

- i love paxton finally knowing what he wants to do

- i’m crying at devi writing her essay about her dad 🥺😭 MY HEARTTTT

OKAY FOLKS. I DON’T THINK I’M READY JUST YET. GIVE ME A SECOND.

Okay. Here we go.

Ep. 10

- OMG ANEESA IS BACK

- OMG DEVI GOT INNNN

- AWWWW THE HUGGGG (and aneesa and fab’s reaction 👀)

- LAW FIRM WOW. okay ben i wish i were you.

- yeah end of nemesis era bc start of LOVERS ERA

- wait who was the valedictorian??

- OKAY DEVI WAS VALEDICTORIAN

- the grad videos felt like the cast not the characters 🥺

- also i love how paxton was there posing with them 🥺🥺🥺

- nalini not being ready to take off the thalli awwww

- devi and her friends trying to look for a common date go hang with her hs friend group is so me and my hs friends when we got to uni 😭

- CARFAXHAHDKSHDJ

- CAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE NIGHT IN THE HOTELLLLLLL UGHHHH THE MODEL UN TRIP

- UGH BENVI IS SO ENDGAME

- awwww devi’s friends being at the wedding 🥺

- greeting guests (especially the pretentious family friends and relatives) is truly dreadful

- kamala being the older sister devi never had is something i always love seing

- THE UN AWWWW

- DEVI PLAYING UNCHAINED MELLDY FOR HER GRANDMA’S WEDDING OH I AM EMOTIONAL

- MOHAN APPEARANCE 🥺🥺🥺

- “I AM SO PROUD OF YOU” *sobs*

- OMG DEVI AND KAMALA DANCING I SUDDENLY REMEMBER THEIR ACTORS’ YT VID 🥹

- at the start of the series, devi could care less about her heritage but now here she is dancing

- awww paxton 🥺 i really love his character growth

- LI’L D 🥺🥹😭

- DAXTON FRIENDSHIP IS SO PRECIOUS

- NOT THEM PLAYING NEVER HAVE I EVER HOW META

- BEN OMGOMGOMG THIS IS REMINDING ME OF TATBILB’S ENDING

- HE FLEW ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY FOR DEVI BITCHHHH

- I THINK I LOVE YOU DEVI

- I LOVE YOU TOO BEN

- OMGHALDHAKSJSJ ENDGAME ENDGAME ENDGAME

- NALINI’S HEALING 🥺🥺🥺

- OH MY GOSH BENVI IS SO THE VERY FIRST NIGHT CODED

- AHSKDHSKDHWKSHWLDIS OMGOMGOMG

- BUT FOR YOU I CAN TRY UGHHH

- benvi endgameeeee

- DEVI’S ONLY PETITION BEING FOR HER MOM 🥺 + I’LL SEE YOU AT PRINCETON FOR HER DAD 🥺

- UGH THE PERFECT ENDINGGG

Ended watch on June 09, 2023. 11:54 PM.

Separate overall thoughts soon.

[diminutiveloser-romanroy]

I got into succession because of how hot everyone was

i think most people misunderstood my post because this is pretty much exactly what i called embarassing behavior lmao. i don’t have a problem with someone not being attracted to any succ character, why would i? i just think that deciding to/not to watch a show based on whether there are hot people in it is a sad sad life. but then again i kind of don’t care what people do, so you do you.

[transmutationisms]

I’m like a dog running for food when it comes to Greek mythology. It’s just so interesting how the stories mutate, like with Persephone and Hades going from kidnapping to modern retelling deciding to make them in love and Pers a girlboss who pegs. Or Medusa! Went from always a monster to Ovid’s “cursed rape victim” (I’m a little biased though cos I like that more)

literally yeah when it's done well, psychologising a myth or classical tragedy gives you So much room to manoeuvre. like okay full disclosure i made that post because i was re-reading the rilke poem "orpheus. euridike. hermes" for Reasons lmao but like there's a prime example.

in the classical tellings orpheus looking back is generally foreordained, or a commentary on the weakness of the human will, or on the essential disjunction between living and dead (ie, orpheus's 'failure' was that he tried to retrieve eurydice instead of dying to join her). in rilke we get something totally different: this very compassionate exploration of his inner experience. his senses are split (gaze runs ahead, hearing stays behind), he's longing for her, he loves her so much that his music creates an entire "world of mourning" and his lyre becomes one with his hand "like tendrils of a rosebush in an olive bough"

and then too we also get eurydice: dead, already forgotten orpheus's face, "already become root" and hindered by her long grave-clothes as she walks with the messenger-god. so this is achieving a completely different effect than the universal-moral tellings. it's all focussed on their interiority, the buildup of how doomed they are, you as a reader seeing exactly why orpheus can't resist turning around and also seeing exactly why it would be futile even if he had resisted. it's not that rilke was uninterested in universalising the characters (he does much more of it in the orpheus cycle imo, although that's also a treatise on aesthetics) but that, by bringing the psychological domain to the myth, he's able to accomplish something totally different with it

like this sounds hyperbolic but i really don't think Love Stories the way we define them now exist in most classical texts. the love is very different if it's something divinely ordered, or experienced as an external intrusion into the psyche, or used in a moral or ethical discourse (often all three at once lol). it's a signifier of something else, it's rarely dissected on its own experiential terms, even if it's used to provoke catharsis

anyway yeah i love a good re-telling and also this is a succession blog so i can just go ahead and Say that i do think succ does this in the sense that it invokes classical tragedies (sometimes by name, sometimes by theme, frequently by story architecture) but then is totally driven by character psychology and psychoanalysis. oedipus roy is interesting to us precisely because we're forced to experience the internal conflict: i love him, i hate him, i'm gonna outsource it to my therapist (no you're not). it's a whole different modality of storytelling and it gives a totally different type of depth to the characters.