#like a funny hate commentary

[bilberson]

WX design cause I ain’t drawn them in a while. Also like, art style stuff.

[zytes]

something’s wrong?

[skrunksthatwunk]

actually i'm still thinking about the moral orel finale.

he has a cross on his wall. do you know how much i think about that bc it's a lot.

a lot of stories ((auto)biographical or fictional) centering escape from abusive/fundamentalist christianity result in the lead characters leaving behind christianity entirely. and that makes complete sense! people often grow disillusioned with the associated systems and beliefs, and when it was something used to hurt them or something so inseparable from their abuse that they can't engage with it without hurting, it makes total sense that they would disengage entirely. and sometimes they just figure out that they don't really believe in god/a christian god/etc. a healthy deconstruction process can sometimes look like becoming an atheist or converting to another religion. it's all case by case. (note: i'm sure this happens with other religions as well, i'm just most familiar with christian versions of this phenomenon).

but in orel's case, his faith was one of the few things that actually brought him comfort and joy. he loved god, y'know? genuinely. and he felt loved by god and supported by him when he had no one else. and the abuses he faced were in how the people in his life twisted religion to control others, to run away from themselves, to shield them from others, etc. and often, orel's conflicts with how they acted out christianity come as a direct result of his purer understanding of god/jesus/whatever ("aren't we supposed to be like this/do that?" met with an adult's excuse for their own behavior or the fastest way they could think of to get orel to leave them alone (i.e. orel saying i thought we weren't supposed to lie? and clay saying uhhh it doesn't count if you're lying to yourself)). the little guy played catch with god instead of his dad, like.. his faith was real, and his love was real. and i think it's a good choice to have orel maintain something that was so important to him and such a grounding, comforting force in the midst of. All That Stuff Moralton Was Up To/Put Him Through. being all about jesus was not the problem, in orel's case.

and i know i'm mostly assuming that orel ended up in a healthier, less rigid version of christianity, but i feel like that's something that was hinted at a lot through the series, that that's the direction he'd go. when he meditates during the prayer bee and accepts stephanie's different way to communicate, incorporating elements of buddhism into his faith; when he has his I AM A CHURCH breakdown (removing himself from the institution and realizing he can be like,, the center of his own faith? taking a more individualistic approach? but Truly Going Through It at the same time), his acceptance (...sometimes) of those who are different from him and condemned by the adults of moralton (stephanie (lesbian icon stephanie my beloved), christina (who's like. just a slightly different form of fundie protestant from him), dr chosenberg (the jewish doctor from otherton in holy visage)). his track record on this isn't perfect, but it gets better as orel starts maturing and picking up on what an absolute shitfest moralton is. it's all ways of questioning the things he's been taught, and it makes sense that it would lead to a bigger questioning as he puts those pieces together more. anyway i think part of his growth is weeding out all the lost commandments of his upbringing and focusing on what faith means to him, and what he thinks it should mean. how he wants to see the world and how he wants to treat people and what he thinks is okay and right, and looking to religion for guidance in that, not as like. a way to justify hurting those he's afraid or resentful of, as his role models did.

he's coming to his own conclusions rather than obediently, unquestioningly taking in what others say. but he's still listening to pick out the parts that make sense to him. (edit/note: and it's his compassion and his faith that are the primary motivations for this questioning and revisal process, both of individual cases and, eventually, the final boss that is christianity.) it makes perfect sense as the conclusion to his character arc and it fits the overall approach of the show far better. it's good is what i'm saying.

and i think it's important to show that kind of ending, because that's a pretty common and equally valid result of deconstruction. and i think it cements the show's treatment of christianity as something that's often (and maybe even easily) exploited, but not something inherently bad. something that can be very positive, even. guys he even has a dog he's not afraid of loving anymore. he's not afraid of loving anyone more than jesus and i don't think it's because he loves this dog less than bartholomew (though he was probably far more desperate for healthy affection and companionship when he was younger). i think it's because he figures god would want him to love that dog. he's choosing to believe that god would want him to love and to be happy and to be kind. he's not afraid of loving in the wrong way do you know how cool that is he's taking back control he's taking back something he loves from his abusers im so normal

[aq2003]

dt richard ii canonically assigned low empathy autistic by word of god

[vaugarde]

i really appreciate how honest schaffrillas is and how hes open to having his mind changed as a movie reviewer, even when itd benefit him financially or socially to double down. you’d think that wouldn’t be hard given the topic, but so many review youtubers really really care about doubling down and even belittling and mocking fans who disagree with them, even youtubers who generally create great content.

[weedle-testaburger]

there's this kind of youtuber i lowkey really hate who aren't overt bigots or anything but just do this thing where they seem to try stupidly hard to look for reasons to hate media that just so happens to have a lot of marginalised rep in it. especially if it has a thematic point that would involve acknowledging politics

[metabolizemotions]

... and the association of Vic with Beckett...

There's this thing about associating a woman with a man. Whatever happens, there is like a transference of hate to the woman and love to the man.

Men already get less hate doing something worse than women and more love when doing something minimally decent. The way the narratives are framed on the show don't help.

The choice to - make Maya give Beckett the bottle shifted the blame to her, absolving him. Somehow to some, she became the worst person on the show and whatever she did was her personal unique moral failings. Beckett's long list of poor choices made throughout his captaincy that endangered himself, his team n civilians... The resolution was merely his voluntary stint at rehab. Oh and quietly demoted. No mention of his wrongdoings again. Everyone's just fine with him already. Just like how they accepted his bad behavior right from the start.

The choice to - make Vic to not notice maya's distress and say those words about her, a longtime friend and teammate while being hyper aware of Beckett's state and being especially empathetic towards him.

I hope the speculation isn't true. It'll be a disservice to Vic as a character. It's the use of a well-liked female character to redeem a disliked male character.

On a show where already

... the men don't really need to work on themselves - the characters around them simply lower their standards to accommodate.

... toxic masculinity is conflated with addiction/ mental health issues,

... the men's addiction and wrongdoings - related or not to the addiction, are systemic issues - of the healthcare system failing Sullivan or an inter-generational alcohol problem trapping Beckett

I'm all for the empathy for the struggle with addiction n underlying issues but against using them as excuses to not hold people accountable for bad behavior.

[p4nishers]

can we actually take a moment and remember swan upon leda? can we actually shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down and think about our lord and savior swan upon leda because i'm tired of doing it alone every single day guys

[peculiaritybending]

I’m just a charmac girl in a macdennis world 💔

[definitelynotnia]

normalise saying "I don't have enough information on this topic to have an opinion on it"

and then staying out of it completely rather than going along with wtv opinion u imprinted from three random posts/reels/tweets and having weird misinformed debates with full confidence

[lizard-dumbass]

watching Squid Game in 2024 and remembering that it is in fact a genuinely good show

[psalmsofpsychosis]

after my ✨️third✨️ attempt in the past 4 days to expose myself to standup comedy and build my lukewarm-jokes survival muscles i'll hereby conclude that jesus christ i'd rather fucking die

[musical-chick-13]

I finally saw the Barbie movie! I have. Thoughts.

[the-cat-at-the-theatre-door]

When it comes to Grizabella, I am extremely anti-vilification of her character, but I am also extremely anti-"uwu baby did nothing wrong"-ification of her character.

[bronanlynch]

obsessed w the choice to have reinhard & hilda hook up for the first time in the context of. reinhard is having a breakdown over his guilt at the death of his boy best friend like. very heterosexual of him, I'm sure

[garyfischy]

"I saw the donkey kong kill screen" implies 21 played 116 levels of donkey kong arcade. Or he watches video game glitch compilations and gets scared