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greensaplinggrace · 3 years

Note

do you have any darklina fic recs?

I certainly have a few! But first I want to clarify that I don’t really read fic when I’m writing it, and since I have so many fics in the works right now, I haven’t really been reading a lot of fanfiction. So this list probably won’t be as extensive as it could be.

Here are some other great fic recommendation posts, however:

DARKLINA FIC RECS by @vicioux

DARKLINA FIC RECS // part ii by @vicioux

Darklina Ruling the World Together Fic Recs by @clubofthestarlesssaint

Tumblr Ficlets

Aleksander’s First Memory by @kestrafagnor

Fivan Talk About Darklina by @jomiddlemarch

a little light in the great, big dark by @valkyrhys

Alina tells Mal she’s with Aleksander by @lorsanbitch

Darklina week day 5: intimacy & touch by @starlesscne

AO3 Fanfiction

if it ain’t me by larry_hystereks (Incomplete - 10/13 Chapters)

alina’s in her second year at Yale when she meets aleksander at one of his frat parties.

a hookup with the potential for more, only if alina wasn’t still struggling to piece herself together from last year’s breakup.

or: alina, zoya, their trust issues, and the men that fall for them

---

I’m only at about chapter 6 of this fic currently, but so far it’s one of my all time favorite Modern AUs. The characterization for Alina and Aleksander is incredibly well done, and the entire fic itself is so feminist and queer in such a refreshing way. Aleksander and Alina are bisexual as fuck, both with their own separate complex lives, and much of Alina’s own traumas and relationships are explored outside of Aleksander.

There’s some Zoyalina, with Nikolina friendship and endgame Zoyalai. There’s some mystery and some tension, but nothing too extreme, and a lot of the fic is merely an exploration in growth and overcoming one’s history and learning how to move on in healthy ways. I love it.

She Wears a Collar (With My Name) by Ceris_Malfoy (Complete)

She is immortal, and whatever lingering hints of humanity she may have once had have long been bleached from her heart.

I will grant you one wish, boy, if it is in my power to do so. What does a Shadow Smith most want?

"You," he answers.

Written for Darklina Week 2021 - Day 2: Role Reversal

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This piece is just exquisite. This author’s writing style is one that I particularly enjoy. Their stuff is always so uniquely composed and crafted, and this one especially is a work of art. The way Darklina as a relationship is portrayed in particular is fascinating to me because it’s a role reversal but it’s still so complex. Aleksander’s character is nailed.

the bright sun was extinguish’d by athousandwinds (Complete)

Somewhere, deep in the dark forests of Ravka, a boy grows up on stories of Sankta Alina of the Wastes, the Sun-Scorched Saint.

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This fic is just straight up magnificent. It’s so engaging and I love love love the way a role reversed Aleksander who joins the army is portrayed. He reminds me so much of Demon in the Woods Aleksander, as if he’s exactly what a grown version of that young boy would be. When I say I adore his characterization in this I’m not lying.

If I wanted any completed fic I’ve read to have a second chapter, it would be this one.

Winter in the Little Palace by redisxwing (Complete)

Written for Yuletide 2020.

Baghra and Alina's wildly different perspectives on the Darkling, and how things could have gone if nobody listened to Baghra.

Warning: Baghra is written as a harsh and arguably abusive parent, and this is darkfic about that relationship, with a side of shipping. Everything is terrible (except the parts that are pretty much okay).

Canon divergence pretty much as soon as Alina gets lessons in summoning.

This fic is likely not compatible with King of Scars (or any subsequent work).

---

As is said in the summary, this one makes Baghra a bit more extreme. If you’re a fan of Baghra, this fic probably isn’t for you. But since I’m not a fan of Baghra, I had no problems with it.

My biggest praise for this fic is in regards to the character interactions and the POVs. There’s a brilliant grasp of unique perspective and how to convey it, and that talent is carried over into the way character interactions are brought to life in the text. Also, there’s a scene where Alina gets kind of protective of the Darkling, which is one of my biggest weaknesses when it comes to Darklina.

Good Ideas by FelixRivers (Complete)

Alina Starkov had a very good idea. Aleksander Morozova would definitely agree. (or: Alina wants to go camping and Aleksander won't complain)

---

This fic is just straight up adorable and hilarious. They’re such a cute couple and Alina’s POV is great. It’s just pure fluff and humor 💕

I’m not a bad girl, but I do bad things with you by SanktaJenya - @sankta-arya (Complete)

Winter had been hard on Old Baghra and Ana Kuya was worried about her, so she decided that Alina should make the trip to her cottage on the other side of the woods to bring her some food and kvas. On her way there, Alina meets a stranger...

Darklina Red Riding Hood/Company of Wolves AU

Darklina Week, Day 4, Fairytales

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This fic has a splendid grasp of tension and atmosphere. It’s very enchanting and dark and intriguing, and it nails those aspects with absolute precision. I love the style and the way the fairytale is incorporated into the narrative. It’s truly a masterpiece.

The Wretched by @aceofnowhere (Complete)

“We are strangers, but I want to help.” He growls at her, mocking and mistrustful. “I understand,” she said. “You think I am one of them. I certainly look like one of them. But I want to help you. Will you let me?” Prompt: fairytale. Alina saves a dragon.

---

Okay so I’ve mentioned this one before as one of my Top 5 fics of all time and I still stand by that. I can’t even describe why I love this fic so much except that the pacing is amazing and the prose is stunning and the story is beautiful. Aleksander is a dragon and Alina is a witch, and their relationship is just so...interesting and fascinating and lovely. I would literally kill for this fic. There’s such a softness to it as well. Such a tenderness. Idk, I just really love it.

Show Me Who You Are (I Want To Know) by Ceris_Malfoy (Incomplete - 12/?)

Alina takes her future in her own hands and makes her own decisions.

---

This is a great “what if Alina had stuck around after the reveal” rewrite. It doesn’t have Mal bashing and in fact still writes them as close friends, which is something I’m fond of in Darklina fics. Aleksander is allowed to be soft and Alina is allowed to be powerful, and I really enjoyed the take on their dynamics as a power couple wherein Alina is given a lot of control.

There’s something to be said for the way Aleksander is written in the scenes where he must be honest and earnest with Alina. I really enjoy the way they both come to equal ground, and I’m even more fond of the way Alina is allowed to grow darker without losing her light. She also engages a lot with quite a few other characters, developing tons of friendships and alliances on her own that help strengthen her as an individual character.

on this bridge between starshine and clay by @rhea-imagined (Complete)

"His breath narrows for a moment, his fist clenched tight before he forces himself to loosen it. She is his only opportunity for salvation, but vulnerability is not a cape he wears easily. “In those days, there was less prejudice against Shadow Summoners. But everyone fears the dark, in one way or another.” He does not look at her as he waits for the penny to drop, half-hoping it stays suspended in the air."

In which Alexander comes clean to Alina and tells her about his true identity in hopes that this will help convince her to take down the Fold.

A rewrite of the fountain scene in episode four, with a good!Darkling that is trying to make amends.

---

This is my all-time favorite good!Aleksander AU. He’s kept in character despite the major changes made to his motivations, and Alina is given a lot more agency in her own story. It’s the first fic in what might become a series, but it can stand alone beautifully.

I love how Aleksander and Alina’s relationship is allowed to grow tense without breaking, and how it’s a clear sign of change but not abandonment. I love how both characters are able to think for themselves and become self-aware and are given the chance to think critically. I love the character interaction so much because it’s honest and fresh and engaging. Everything from the smallest action to the most off-hand thought is in character and meaningful and incorporated with an amazing style of writing. It’s a very refreshing piece, and the writing only makes it that much better.

Bunnies of a Feather Stitch Together by Ill_Ratte (Complete)

"Just as Alina called to the light, gathering and twisting it into a ball in her hands, the door swung open.

Kirigan blacked out the door frame. His appearance enough would have surprised Alina, but there was something clutched in his arm, something dark and floppy. It almost looked like the stuffed toys that had been passed around to the younger Orphans." - Alina and The Darkling bond over a love of soft things

---

Soft stuffed animal shenanigans. Bits of trans!Aleksander, which I’m very fond of, as well as just a lot of fluff with a bit of something bittersweet and sad in a good way.

Half Lie by Ill_Ratte (Complete)

"Baghra always talked of the demon that had stolen her daughter." Or, Alina learns the hard way that the Darkling isn't the only one who deals in half-truths

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This one is trans!Aleksander, and it handles it in a very interesting way. It’s quite sad, and deals a lot with Baghra & Aleksander’s relationship through Alina’s POV. I want to give a warning for transphobia, because it does center around that a lot as the premise, but it really is worth the read if that isn’t a trigger for you. This is one of my favorite trans!Aleksander fics, and the way it handles emotion and grief and pain is quite extraordinary.

The CEO and Helioseismologist by mrthology (Complete)

Aleksander Morozova doesn't get sick. He's the CEO of one of the most successful companies in the world, one that he had built from the ground up with blood, sweat, and tears. He exercised daily (usually), maintained a healthy diet, and kept himself fit.

He wasn’t sick.

Too bad no one believed him. And too bad Genya decided to call Ivan to take him home before also calling Alina to take care of him.

Maybe, just maybe, being sick wasn't so bad. Especially not when he has such a wonderful girlfriend.

---

Both of the fics in this series are great, but I love this one in particular because I’m an absolute sucker for hurt/comfort. Anyone who’s been on my blog for a while knows that it’s my all time favorite trope to read, and this fic fits the hurt/comfort trope to a T in the best of ways. It’s very tender and in character, and Aleksander and Alina are so soft with each other. It’s adorable and really makes you feel for Aleksander, and the caretaking is done perfectly.

All the different layers of dark (thousand little suns) by Anuna (Complete)

One month after the Winter Fete, Aleksander returns to the Little Palace, and Alina has been missing him.

Episode five canon divergence in which Alina had never left Os Alta.

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This one is soft emotional hurt/comfort smut. They’re both so open and vulnerable with each other, and it’s so beautiful to read. I love the writing style and the emotion in this one. It makes my heart ache in the best way.

An Honourable Man by liviy695 (Complete)

A reimagining of the scene after the winter fete. Alina catches a glimpse of a caring Darkling after he returns from integrating the Conductor. Plus, no Baghra interference.

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This one is what it says on the tin, in that Baghra doesn’t interfere and they’re allowed to talk after the Darkling interrogates the Conductor. But more than that, it’s a great imagining of how a scene where Aleksander reveals Marie’s death would have gone. There’s a sort of quiet to it that I appreciate, with grief and solemnity weighed against care and vulnerability.

I see the real you (even if you don’t, I do) by Anonymous (Incomplete - 8/?)

A series of questionable decisions lead Alina to meet the Black General a bit earlier. Butterfly effect ensues.

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I’ve only read half so far (I hadn’t realized it had updated!! 👀👀) but I’m already in love with this fic. Alina’s dialogue and perspective is perfect, her relationship with Mal and the other cartographers is great, and I really enjoy how much personality she has. Aleksander is so smitten, but more than that, his characterization is soft but not weak. It feels almost as if he’s swept up by Alina, instead of the other way around, and I quite like that.

Of parenting by Anuna (Complete)

Alina finds out how her husband handled yet another parenting situation.

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This is pure adorable Darklina parenting fluff and I live for it. Yet it doesn’t lack depth and in fact explored Alina and Aleksander’s relationship with parenting quite well.

i have a longing by LRCee - @ladylyannastark (Complete)

“So, Alina Starkov, risk-taker, how did you end up being editing’s newest wunderkind?”

Alina Starkov is rising in the publishing world. Singlehandedly responsible for editing (see: rewriting) the hottest book of the year, she lands a coveted spot at Morovoz Publishers. It's the position she's always wanted, at the biggest publishing house in the country. Life is perfect. That crush on her boss though, that's gotta go.

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OKAY! I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH!! Let me tell you, as someone who is not too fond of Boss/Employee dynamics, I was very wary going into this fic. But boy did it deliver in a way that was perfect for me.

The relationship that develops between Aleksander and Alina is complex but healthy, and it never feels as if there’s too much of a power imbalance or anything that would make Alina feel forced or unhappy. The tension lies purely in how she fears others will perceive her, and not in how unhealthy her relationship with Aleksander is. For somebody who’s often attracted to unhealthy ships, I have to say that my favorite fics are usually ones that don’t have that type of dynamic between the characters. This fic delivers on that.

Also, Aleksander’s POV surrounding his struggle with his Russian heritage and his feelings for Alina is amazing, and has some of the best writing and characterization I’ve seen.

You receive: an evil demon; I receive: human souls by @aceofnowhere (Complete)

The next morning while she tried to tell herself it was a dream, that of course there wasn’t a fucking demon in her house, she found a note taped to her fridge.

“You might eat this shit,” it had written, “but I would like some fucking souls please.”

Darkling Week Prompt 7: free choice. Alina has a demon in her house.

This is absolute crack, and I have no idea what the fuck is wrong with me.

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May I just say that this is the most fun I’ve ever had when reading a fic. It’s interesting with a bit of mystery, and Aleksander as a little shit of a demon is hilarious. Alina in this fic is great too. It’s such a unique take on her POV, especially when you reread it after knowing the ending. 10000/10, this fic is brilliant in every way and I love it.

I had been lost to you, Sunlight by BrytteMystere (Complete)

A Girl became a Woman, became a Sankta, became a Goddess.

Or: An Immortal Alina calls upon merzost to reunite with the Prince of Shadows she lost long ago. She may have lost herself in the process.

But then again, maybe time and endless wars did that instead.

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You really just have to read this one to get it. It is utterly haunting and fascinating in the best of ways. The writing style is strange and novel and fits so well with the story being told. The composition of the fic as a whole is genius.

I Look Inside Myself (And See My Heart Is Black) by Ceris_Malfoy (Complete)

"When is a monster not a monster? Why, when you love it, of course."

Written for Darklina Week 2021 - Day 6: Favorite Quote • King & Queen • Monster

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Once more, this author comes through with an absolutely breathtaking writing style and story. The imagery is elegant yet brutal, simultaneously horrifying and glorious. There’s a certain way these stories are written, like fairytales, where the beautiful becomes the macabre and becomes ever more stunning because of it. It’s very dark but in a good way - an almost bewitching way.

Afterlife by @aceofnowhere (Complete)

“You are asking me to leave?”

“Not asking, shadow,” she said. “Telling. Time to get unlost, loser.”

Day 3 Darklina Week prompt: Modern AU (I mean, barely)

Alina expels ghosts from purgatory.

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@aceofnowhere once again bringing the best of the paranormal to the Grishaverse. Literally everything you write is amazing idk why I’m even pointing out individual fics when I could just rec your whole page. But anyways!! This is fun and interesting and Alina is a badass. Aleksander is, of course, compelling and dark and kind of a little shit, and it’s all incorporated seamlessly into an existential paranormal narrative.

Once Upon a Shooting Star by Ceris_Malfoy (Complete)

"But most of all, she was drawn to a vast darkness that reached out above all of them, a void so hungry for companionship that she knew she could fulfill."

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Let. Alina. Be. Feral!! Anyways, I clearly have a type when it comes to storytelling, and it’s whatever the fuck this person has got going on. Feral!Star!Alina is literally the light of my life. Her interactions with not only other people but the world in general are so well done, but my favorite parts about this fic are the numerous ways her relationship with Aleksander is described and depicted.

I love the dark and light imagery, especially with how it’s portrayed as them filling in the gaps of each other’s lives and supporting each other instead of trying to block each other out. There’s such clear passion and joy and love and devotion between them. The central focus of this fic is on her and Aleksander’s relationship, the interplay between them and their powers and the way her light fills his loneliness, the passing of adoration and trust and reliance between them. It’s very beautiful and I love it.

A Blaze of Light by Keira_63 (Complete)

They discover the Sun Summoner in the burnt-out remains of the Shu laboratory in which she has spent the last seven years of her life.

Or, the Darkling finds himself with a Sun Summoner whose greatest wish is to burn Shu Han to the ground. He is happy to oblige her.

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👀👀 Badass Alina and Badass Aleksander. The ultimate power couple, and Alina burning a path through Shu Han before they both burn a path through the world together. The darkness and rage in this one are handled very well, and the way that rage turns to coldness and then resolve is done so well. This fic is very cathartic and also very furious, and reading it is certainly a trip down emotion lane.

One more for the Road by Rist (Complete)

He returns to the war room shaken, and finds an Alina that cannot leave without at least having tried.

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This one hurts so much but its soooo gooood!!! Very smutty but also very tender and very bittersweet. Sad and soft all at once. I just... love the way Alina and Aleksander are written so much, and Alina’s complicated feelings for him are explored in such detail and depth. This one is truly worth the read.

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becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys · 2 years

Text

Doctor Who, But Chronologically 20

Welp, Steffan cried at this one (again).

We proceed to 1890, and we meet Vincent van Gogh! Exciting. Also his name actually gets pronounced correctly at one point in the episode, which must be exciting for Dutch people watching.

Anyway, we have of course already met Vincent van Gogh back when we watched the Pandorica Opens and he painted the TARDIS exploding (I wonder when that will be resolved?) We are still no closer to really understanding why he knew the TARDIS would explode - I thought maybe they were going to play the old “Creative people are slightly psychic and his tortured genius lets him see through time” card, especially given that this episode featured an inexplicably invisible monster (also not resolved) that only Vincent could see. But that’s, uh, kind of left in the subtext. At no point is any sort of explanation offered. Apply your own headcanons, lads.

This is very much an episode of two halves, to whit:

1. A moving emotional piece about a mentally ill man who struggles with a depression that will eventually kill him, who nonetheless manages to take that pain and create beauty and joy in the world that lasts for generations hence, building to a genuinely haunting and beautiful climax where he stands in a gallery 100 years in the future, surrounded by adoring fans, listening to an art historian giving him the validation he always craved but never truly got in life; and

2. An incredibly poor sci-fi subplot that is stapled on with no consistency, logic or point.

Oh yeah, it’s real bad. It’s REAL bad. At the start the Doctor sees a giant chicken monster in a van Gogh painting and straight up non-hyperbolically declares it to be “Evil”. At the end he describes it as a scared and lost little soul that deserves a hug as it dies impaled on an easel. After finding out, midway through the episode, what it is, there are precisely no more plot twists or even developments - there’s an angry chicken, they have zero plan to deal with it other than “chase it and then run away from it”, they never even manage to work out anything that will let anyone else see it, and they never even attempt to explain, as mentioned, why Vincent can see it. Or frankly why it’s even invisible. The entire monster species on show is incredibly underwhelming.

But fuck it, the museum scene is beautiful and my husband wept like a baby so whatevs.

Anyway, plot threads! It’s Matt Smith and Amy again - no Rory, though, and at one point Amy asks who Rory is. Later she declares that she’s not the marrying type. So... hard to know where we are in the boyfriend-fiance-husband timeline but this seems to be the She’s Forgotten Him period so I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’s probably not currently plastic. Difficult to know how much weight to give it though, because in spite of a whole scene where Vincent describes her as “soldiering on”, and tells her that he can see the pain and sadness in her, and she doesn’t know what he means, and then she realises she’s crying but doesn’t know why - all of which should have been incredibly emotionally resonant and deeply unsettling for Amy - the director apparently thought the real emotional depth of the situation is that the Doctor feels a bit uncomfortable. So that’s what we focus on. In fairness, much as I like Karen Gillan she does not have the acting ability to pull off the nuance required, so maybe it’s a blessing.

Gotta say though. I have no clue why Amy is even there in this episode. Her entire role is restricted to “being threatened by an invisible monster.” She doesn’t even have a moment of usefulness. She is an ornament. The Doctor himself keeps sidelining her, and she has so little spine she isn’t even arguing.

“We must get a plan,” says the Doctor. “Amy nearly died last night!”

So did he. So did Vincent. She was no worse off. Nonetheless, it’s somehow agreed that she is The Most Vulnerable.

“Don’t come in the church after me!” says the Doctor, before rushing in to see the monster. She meekly agrees.

“Will you follow him?” Vincent asks.

“Of course!” she gaily agrees, because the script really thinks if it writes “She is spunky” on her we’ll all somehow believe it in spite of all evidence to the contrary. She then stays firmly outside until she hears him scream.

The Doctor is also useless in this episode. But at least you’d notice if you wrote him out and replaced him with a sexy lamp. Amy as a sexy lamp would make zero difference.

So, let’s update the plot thread list!

“She” (an unknown person) is returning (perhaps River returned as Missy. Maybe Me?)

There is something on Donna’s back

An entire planet, Pyrovilia, just… disappeared, somehow. (Maybe because the TARDIS is exploding??? Saturnine was also lost, and that WAS because of the TARDIS exploding. The lion man’s planet was also lost but he was a bit of a knob about it if I’m honest.)

Amy is maybe dead (she’s not)

The Doctor has been cubed (he’s out, but how?)

River is possibly blown up (unless she’s Missy)

The TARDIS has blown up (It’s fine now. Except it’s sort of melting now because it’s corrupted, but it’s fine again)

The universe appears to have ended (the universe is back again)

The Doctor has employed(?) Nardole (And Nardole was “reassembled???”)

There’s a vault in the TARDIS and it contains Missy but we don’t know why (sometimes she knocks for the bants)

What has happened to all these companions and where are the new ones coming from?

There’s an immortal Viking girl now. Her name is Me and she’s now looking after the people the Doctor abandons

Who/what is the Half-Faced Man that the Doctor talked about?

Why, when the Doctor saw the ship’s computer set to the Promised Land, did he say “Oh not again”?

What’s With The Silence?

Why was Rory entirely unconcerned by the entire world suddenly going silent when that is Not Normal and should have been, at the very least, extremely disconcerting?

What did the Doctor do to Queen Lizzie One?

Who is Captain Jack Harkness? (Is he the one who gave the companions a warning about the lone cyberman?)

Why is Amy seeing a one-eyed woman in a vanishing window?

What’s with the Doctor’s future involving getting shot by an astronaut?

Is Amy pregnant and why is it inconclusive?

Who is Sarah-Jane Smith?

How is the Doctor Bill’s teacher and why/where does he have an office?

What is going on with the Cyber War and the Cyberium???

Who did the Doctor lose to Cyber Conversion?

What happened with the Other Cyber War?

What happened with the Third War that deleted the void?

Why does Rose seem particularly important?

What’s with the statues you mustn’t blink at?

What order do these Doctors go in? (Ecclestone, Tennant, uncertain.)

Which companion just... forgot the Doctor, and how?

What is the Flux and what did it do?

Who is the mysterious Victorian man who met Yaz?

Yaz and Vinder are about to die as Mori/Mwri/Muuri

There is a Lupari shield around Earth.

What’s a Time War?

What’s the Rift?

What’s Bad Wolf?

What happened with Amy’s pregnancy?

In which war did the Doctor become a war criminal, and how?

Who is the Master?

Why has Amy forgotten Rory?

Is Rory plastic or not?

#doctor whom #and yet we are continuing

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primrose-path-of-dalliance · 3 years

Text

jester began falling in love with caleb in episode 103.

not any earlier in my opinion, and not later, either.

there's two elements to why i believe e103 is the turning point.

(1) the first is caleb's actions and jester's responses to them during the night they all sleep by the waterfall—his support of her idea to sleep underwater, his conversation with her after her commune with artagan, and his casting of programmed illusion in the dome.

(2) the second is the way her behavior toward caleb pivots around e103. before e103 is a noticeably different beast to how she begins to treat him after e103—the attention she pays him, her efforts to hold more standout interactions with him, and a dramatic swell of emotion and thematic meaning in these scenes’ respective subtext.

the rumblecusp arc is the point in which jester’s character growth, and caleb’s efforts to unconditionally support her, really begin to shine. throughout the complex growing pains that jester and artagan's relationship was experiencing, the one person who truly takes a moment to offer her support without any agenda or judgment is caleb.

(e103, 1:22:55, bold mine)

CALEB: You okay over there?

JESTER: (tearful) Yeah, I'm fine. Just—I'm just drawing.

CALEB: Maybe didn't go as well as you were hoping?

JESTER: Um... In some ways it went better. But no.

CALEB: I can't speak for him. But you do have us.

JESTER: I know.

CALEB: So whatever you land on, Jester, we'll make it happen.

JESTER: (shaky laugh) I have to figure out what I want to land on.

CALEB: That is the, uh—sticky wicket, isn't it?

JESTER: Yeah. Everything's confusing.

CALEB: Maybe... Maybe we sleep on it, it'll make more sense in the morning.

JESTER: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Caleb.

CALEB: I didn't do anything.

jester confesses that her commune with artagan didn’t provide the answers she was hoping for—that he knew about the curse on the island—and caleb doesn’t remark on what that seems like. he deliberately avoids speculating on why artagan is doing these things because “he can’t speak for him.” he doesn’t assume anything about what she might choose to do and explicitly leaves that choice up to her. jester vents briefly about how difficult the choice is, and caleb offers her reassurance, a reminder that some time will make things clearer. he doesn’t suggest solutions.

unlike fjord or beau, caleb doesn’t ask her to voice outright whether artagan is being a good friend. he doesn’t continually question his character and imply any personal opinions to her or what he thinks she should do. instead, he asks whether she’s okay. he listens. and he offers unconditional support.

this is consistently the stance caleb takes in the rumblecusp arc. and it’s not discussed much, i think, exactly how monumental that was to jester.

(hold on, this is a long one.)

jester is a young woman who grew up sheltered and wants to define herself outside of that shelter. for her, this campaign has essentially been a coming-of-age journey (talks for e76-77, 14:12). she is deeply sensitive to whether or not she’s respected because she’s aware of how her personality and general lack of experience makes others think she’s naive, immature, or incapable (talks for e79, 31:51).

it’s also incredibly evident that her relationship with artagan is unique. in e105 (1:15:01), jester tells the m9, “he really got me through a lot when i was younger, you know? and he was all i had, really.” he was her best friend from childhood in a home where she spent most of her time hidden in a single room. when she was younger, the few times she left the chateau, she was bullied by other girls (e110, 3:34:59). her best friend, though? her best friend was a god. a god with an incredible sense of humor, an aggrandizing attitude, and adoring respect for a young girl in a difficult situation who had as wonderful a personality as him. in every way that matters, artagan’s friendship undoubtedly saved jester’s life.

and she is so, so aware of this. she cares for him deeply, trusts him unconditionally, and is determined to be there for the one person who had been there for her when no one else was, not even her mother.

the renegotiation of this friendship after artagan revealed his full identity was clearly extraordinarily difficult for jester. she was having to reevaluate her entire relationship with the being that pulled her through a childhood of isolation and misery, question his intentions with her and whether they could even remain friends at all. and this was amidst her arrival at a dangerous island with her other friends to help him clean up his mistakes.

asking her to make a judgment on artagan before she’s ready to do it on her own, while managing some high expectations at the same time—not only is it a lot of pressure, it’s frustrating and painful. jester did not want to judge artagan without giving him his fair due and a proper conversation. knowing that her new friends dislike her old friend, besides being hurt by it, distracted her. she had to both defend him outwardly and interrogate him internally. and if she tried to explain how important artagan is to her, a lot of vulnerability would’ve been necessary when she was trying to be a leader and seem competent and capable, instead of a child who needs patronizing guidance.

this latter point is exceptional. because jester lavorre is so vulnerable when it comes to how much she thinks her loved ones respect her and consider her a valuable, equal, and trustworthy individual. and it’s difficult to feel like you’re being valued and trusted when people are repeatedly questioning you about a person and a relationship that they don’t understand in a way that, despite genuine concern, comes across as them doubting your own judgment of one of the most intimate parts of your life.

in this precise moment in e103, caleb is the only person who acknowledges—to her in person, even—that he doesn't have any place in judging her relationship with artagan. that it’s not what she needs from him or anyone else. that he’s content waiting for her to reach a decision. that he will respect that decision.

and jester can believe him. caleb’s done nothing but remain consistent on this stance. he repeatedly supports her choices to run travelercon, trust artagan, and come to his aid.

when other party members question artagan's legitimacy, caleb is the one who almost always speaks up to support jester (some examples: e61, 30:43 / e77, 49:17 / e95, 1:09:17 and 1:15:24).

he actively and enthusiastically offers his magical talents to her to provide for the event preparations. he has a whole conversation with her in e91 (beginning 1:53:41) where he expresses his immense respect for her and her personality, explicitly validates her faith in artagan, and shows her a tangible example of how he wants to help her during the upcoming travelercon. when she suggests some ideas, despite their arguable silliness, caleb takes them at face value and openly admits his lack of expertise in this area (e91, 1:58:35).

when they first arrive at rumblecusp, he directly reassures jester about the ‘travelercon 3000’ banner she leaves on the wrong beach by mentioning that he can make her a new banner (e101, 48:18). once preparations begin in earnest, caleb expends spells very freely, including ones of higher-level, to produce whatever jester requests.

in e103, he hears out her idea of sleeping underwater and gives it equal consideration in spite of other party members trying to shoot it down. the first time she suggests it (36:23), caduceus comments against it and no other party member acknowledges her except for caleb, who agrees with her quietly while the others move on. the second time jester suggests it (46:08), veth comments against it and caleb steps in to openly agree that it’s a good idea, even after fjord and beau join veth in being dubious.

compare these active, consistent moments of support and validation from caleb to similarly active and consistent examples of the other attitudes that manifest during the rumblecusp arc, in contradiction to people’s apparent claims of trust (one such claim of trust: e95, 1:00:21).

plainly insulting artagan to jester as if it’s a given, such as fjord’s “he’s generally full of shit, right?” (e107, 49:42);

fjord, beau, and caduceus’s conversation about “not ruining jester’s big day,” yet distrusting artagan to the extent of planning to keep her from being alone with him, preparing to attack him should he try to sacrifice 200 people for some speculated unknown ritual and/or hurt jester, and discussing all of this behind jester’s back (e108, beginning 15:41);

caduceus’s said shift to distrust of artagan because of a semi-disturbing conversation that jester was equally a part of (e107, beginning 20:40);

and the discussion right before jester’s commune with artagan where beau questions if artagan sent them to rumblecusp knowing of the memory problems, without regard for their well-being (e103, 29:40).

the unfortunate assumption being made by these party members’ repeated questioning and protectiveness of jester is that she cannot be trusted to have good judgment. despite their familiarity with some of the context of her relationship with artagan (especially after e105), they disregard her repeatedly-expressed support of him. they indirectly disrespect her ability to judge for herself whether someone is dangerous to her or her friends. they don’t acknowledge jester’s own role in creating dubious situations and instead direct all their negative feelings and sense of fault to artagan, minimizing her agency.

the e108 conversation is a dense microcosm of how the party perpetrates these assumptions throughout the rumblecusp arc as a whole. without qualm, they discuss deliberately controlling jester’s time with artagan to ‘protect’ her and their willingness to kill the evil image they’ve constructed of him, and dodge jester directly asking them what they’re talking about—even though it is a known given that the m9 would defend her with their lives with or without any prior discussion. the purpose of holding this conversation isn’t to make sure that jester is safe. like caduceus near-explicitly says, it’s to “feel better knowing” that “anybody else was on board with this” (20:26 and 18:57)—to validate their unacknowledged distrust of jester’s judgment with each other, behind her back.

and as laura has said: jester, with her very high wisdom, tends to know what’s going on even if she acts like she doesn’t (talks for e79, 32:39).

in e103, when jester is crying because she’s found out that artagan did know about the island’s memory problems, caleb doesn’t show any sign of taking this as proof of artagan's ill intent. what he does instead: he offers compassion for her pain with zero judgment. he promises to support her, no matter what she ultimately decides to make of this information. these are offers of safety and trust, ones that jester desperately needed.

then—caleb creates a programmed illusion of the m9’s lives. and it’s beautiful.

in comparison to all the analysis prior, this moment is straightforward. jester is an artist. she paints, draws, and creates, and she loves doing it. moreover, she loves making art for other people. though she doesn’t get many chances to do so, the mural of a flowery meadow that she paints for yasha’s room in the xhorhaus is a perfect example. similarly, she enjoys the art she makes when defacing other people’s property—altered signage or statue of the platinum dragon painted in rainbow—in part because they’re gifts to the traveler. she loves making those she loves happy.

happiness and love to jester is overwhelmingly about emotional intimacy. i’ve talked about this to some degree in a previous post about jester’s jealousy. please refer there for in-depth explanation. in brief, though, she puts value on how deeply she knows a person; how often she’s been able to be there for them. this is the love she learned from her mother and from artagan, and how she continues to love once she’s older.

caleb’s arcane rendition of the m9′s lives floating around the inside of the dome is a display of exactly this kind of love. not only is it art crafted from his magic and imagination and love—it’s blatant evidence of how much he cares for every member of the party and where they’ve come from. he remembers their stories and hangs them in the air in hopes that it’ll help them resist the memory erasing. he moves the memory of yasha and zuala in a meadow over to yasha’s pillow-side so she can watch it until she falls asleep. he creates a memory for vilya of her, her husband, and her daughter, listening to and respecting the emotional gravity of what she’s confiding in them.

only a few minutes after jester’s disappointing commune with artagan and her conversation with caleb, she walks into the dome and sees this art. she laughs and stares in wonder at all the memories (e103, 1:46:08). when beau points out the humorous memories of fjord being attacked by turtles so they can all laugh, she tells caleb with equal awe and joy, “wow. this is amazing, caleb” (e103, 1:47:04).

...of course, as lovely and meaningful as these back-to-back moments were for jester, it's not quite evidence of her starting to fall in love with caleb around this time.

that’s where the following episodes come in.

[id: three screenshots of messages sent in a discord channel by the user “prim” (the op). all are timestamped to friday, august 28, 2020, the day after the live premiere of e107. the first has an additional timestamp of 12:53 PM, the second 1:03 PM, and the third 1:30 PM. they read:

honest to god though i don't know if it's just the shipper brain that is making me think laura is trying to roleplay jester beginning to reciprocate caleb's feelings [...]

like........ the golden dick hunt teasing is definitely on par with jester's past shenanigans, but the compliments have been Catching My Attention bc it's honestly not normal for jester to compliment caleb of her own volition like that, just as a one-on-one "i appreciate you" reassurance

and i'm thinking less about the spells from last night's episode (although how much jester was emphasizing the compliments made me go "awwwww") and more of the moments like jester telling caleb "that was impressive" after getting cad out of the tunnel with beau's help

but laura is absolutely a shipping troll with jester this campaign so i'm here like "I'M MAYBE 80% SURE I'M BEING FUCKED WITH BUT IT MAYBE HOLDS UP????" [...]

basically laura keeps doing things that make the alarm in my brain go off and i don't know if i'm picking up something legit or if i'm projecting my hopes, like the recent pattern of compliments from jester LOL

/end id.]

i’m not going to lie, if i try to list every single receipt like i otherwise prefer to do in these metas, i think we (and especially i) would all lose our minds. so while i’m about to provide a lot of citations, they genuinely are just a few possible examples that will mostly be within the dozen episodes after e103.

the more important detail that can be observed from this is that e103 is a turning point.

prior to e103, jester does not particularly go out of her way to interact with caleb. by and large, most of their direct interactions are either initiated by caleb or prompted by the context of a general party conversation. the majority of other moments that could be referred to as ‘widojest’ are of caleb’s evident feelings. beyond early campaign days, jester rarely teases caleb about sexual topics while insinuating things about her own sexual life at the same time.

after e103, laura and jester begin to go out of their way to interact with and intertwine jester’s time with caleb.

the rate of jester’s compliments and enthusiastic gratitude to caleb skyrocket (some examples: e104, 30:36 / e107, 16:49 and 1:11:28 and 1:12:15 and 3:10:39 / e110, 15:58 and 3:37:24 / e111, 36:15 and 38:41 and 50:58);

several mature jokes/flirtations she makes involve both caleb and herself (examples: e107, 1:16:17 / e110, 1:18:07 / e115, 1:52:53);

she deliberately and specifically engages caleb in full-blown interactions, such as the conversations during the tour of her childhood bedroom (e110, beginning 1:11:38), hanging out with him on the icebreaker ship (e112, beginning 3:45:29), and the reading of der katzenprinz (e115, beginning 1:52:43);

as well as the expansion of more extended ‘conversations’ like their motif of dancing (e108, 13:39 / e109, 2:54:14), their parental relationships (e110, 20:44 and 3:38:41 / e115′s der katzenprinz / e121, beginning 1:52:12), and polymorph shenanigans (examples: e107, beginning 2:58:41 / e117, beginning 1:13:55 / e118, 43:57).

thrown in are additional background details that further tie jester to caleb, such as her determination to recover caleb’s amulet after their defeat of vokodo (e106, 25:33), the knowing comments on his purchasing of paper (e109, 22:32 / e111, 1:25:49), her deliberate choice to ride whaleb during the avantika chase (e113, 2:32:28), her retrieval of caleb’s coat when he’s attempting to remove the necromantic emerald (e115, 1:30:56), and her deliberate reference to der katzenprinz to iver (e120, 3:05:14);

and simply everything about the tower. it’s another example of the art and creativity caleb produces with his magic to make his loved ones happy, which jester acknowledges at least twice (refer to the e111 compliments). contrarily, jester also makes note of the signs that this tower shows less love to caleb than she thinks he deserves, in keeping with her value of emotional intimacy (e115’s der katzenprinz / e122’s floor 8, room 1).

the reading of der katzenprinz in e115 is arguably the pinnacle of these examples. it’s intentionally initiated by jester. she both takes the step to visit caleb's room and indirectly requests him to read the story to her. laura’s implication that she remembered this subplot because of beau’s reading of a very romantic letter from yasha is particularly suggestive. the story itself incorporates many similar characters and themes that are present in jester’s backstory: the lonely, sheltered boy and his single working mom as jester and marion; the dubious cat prince who ultimately gives the boy freedom and confidence as artagan; and the deep love between the boy and his mother because of how they only have each other, which compels a powerful being to have compassion and thus set the boy free so that they can be together. very similar to both jester’s depth of relationship with her mother and her pleas on artagan’s behalf to the moonweaver’s celestial servant.

and the post-story conversation—caleb’s confiding of its importance to him because of his mother. jester’s open willingness to compare the cat prince to artagan, knowing that caleb respects their friendship and has treated artagan fairly. jester’s lingering, repeated looks toward caleb while smiling and holding her copy of der katzenprinz to her heart.

with all this dramatic expansion of the emotional and thematic intimacy between jester and caleb beginning to roll down the hill after e103—in brilliant contrast to their more muted, less reciprocal dynamic before this episode—e103 is more than likely the turning point of jester’s feelings. and based on the events and context, it was caused by the combined emotional appeal of caleb’s offer of unconditional support and his display of love for his family in the programmed illusion of memories.

#cr #critical role #cr meta #widojest #jester lavorre #caleb widogast #by popular demand #inb4 the wrap-up #prim post #prim says some things #readmore #long post

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hunxi-guilai · 4 years

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I'm rewatching the cave scene, post the first xuanwu fight (ep 13 min 34) and i just got hit by how visceral lwj's pain is. lwj has INCREDIBLE body control. he doesnt move if he doesnt want to move. his eyes only point where he wants them to. even in scenes where everyone is still, lwj is almost a statue. just look at him even when hes being beaten! so seeing him in the cave, sitting against the wall shaking before wwx has even touched his leg? it's a shock to see his body move involuntarily

okay listen, I have so many feelings about how well Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo embody their characters

because acting is more than making faces and reciting lines and looking good in period costume, it’s also letting the characters physically live in your body, letting the character inhabit you from inside out.

Wang Yibo gets noticed for this a lot, and rightfully so! Folks who have background in dance/movement are generally much more aware of the way they conduct themselves through space, so the fact that Lan Wangji’s figure is so distinctive, even from a distance? That straight back, slightly tucked chin, right hand in a fist at the small of his back, left hand gripping his sword at a forty-five degree angle -- these are all details of physical embodiment that you have to craft for your character, because I don’t think anyone walks like that naturally. And Wang Yibo sticks to it; I’m hard-pressed to think of a moment when he isn’t exquisitely embodying Lan Wangji on screen.

What sticks out for me most with Xiao Zhan and his portrayal of Wei Wuxian is the sheer exuberance in his movement -- when he can, he runs, jumps, hops, skids, paces, prowls, saunters, anything other than elegant and sedate walking we see Lan Wangji doing most of the time. If Wei Wuxian has to walk, then there’s that adorable little skip that he does sometimes, both hands clasped behind his back. Did Xiao Zhan have to learn how to twirl a flute for this role? I mean, I don’t know if that was like, a casting requirement, but I love how that becomes such a signature part of his portrayal of Wei Wuxian.

And all of that physical performance, that physical embodiment, really pays off when you get to moments where their usual mode of movement through space shatters. For Lan Wangji, it’s severely injuring an already-broken leg in the Xuanwu Cave; I’m fairly confident he was already using most of his spiritual energy on staying upright, and throughout the preceding melee you can see him conserving motion, moving as little as possible to avoid aggravating his leg further. Once he starts expending spiritual energy in earnest -- protecting Wei Wuxian from the murder turtle -- that’s when we see his stoic mask crack and fall to pieces. That elegant posture, that exquisite composure -- all fallen to pieces because he’s been exhausting himself unsustainably, until he can’t even stop himself from flinching as Wei Wuxian tends to his injuries.

Meanwhile with Wei Wuxian, the moments that send off alarm bells are when he deviates from his usual exuberance, when he moves through space like he’s afraid that the slightest touch will unravel him. It’s alarming because of precisely how indestructible he seems -- sunshine youth, unlimited energy, overflowing with so much life that it seems impossible that he’d ever die. And yet, Wei Wuxian breaks when he has to travel all the way from Qishan to Yunmeng on seven days of malnourishment, injury, and exposure to resentful energy -- Jiang Cheng is already supporting him while he totters up the slope to greet Jiang Fengmian, is it any wonder that we get limp noodle!Wei Wuxian seconds later? We see this again in episode 46, as he stumbles out of the Jiang Ancestral Hall; he’s already been unusually subdued for this entire scene, but from the moment he grabs Jiang Cheng’s collar, his hands are already shaking; he’s breathing heavily, steps coming heavier and clumsier, and wobbling precariously well before we get the nosebleed tip-off that All Is Not Well. And then we get limp noodle!Wei Wuxian 2.0, a truly beautiful faint that gets the slow-motion treatment (and, incidentally, is one of the best ways to fall in stage combat from a stand -- the twirl positions you well to bend at the knees and slither to the floor without any bumps or bruises, and it helps if you have a Lan Wangji to catch you on the way down).

Do I have a point in writing all this? Not really! But as someone who spends a lot of time thinking about how we inhabit our bodies and move through space, Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo knocked it out of the fucking park with the way they embody Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji.

#ask and ye shall receive #Wei Wuxian #Lan Wangji #as someone who spent a semester in a class on stage combat #with no training in acting #it is HARD to embody a pain you aren't feeling at the moment #at the same time #you look at the way Wang Yibo flinches in the cave and you're like #'fuck I know how that feels'#we might not have been bitten by murder turtles but we've all fallen off bikes and skinned knees and that flinch taps into all sorts #of visceral sense memories of rubbing alcohol on open wounds #Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo are so fucking talented it's unreal

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life-rewritten · 3 years

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Start up: Nam Dosan and his helping hands

I find it challenging to accept finding clues for 'the husband scavenger hunt' type kdramas because they always have this leftover annoyance and unfairness when the second lead gets duped and broken-hearted in the end. Shows like the Reply me series, Hospital playlist, Dreamhigh etc. always use this device, flesh out both men and their reasons and love for our main girl whilst making us hurt with the push and pull of how both men are perfect for her. If one loses her, we all lose. In Start-Up, Jipyeong joins that list of the second lead men who are known to play with our heartstrings and get us rooting for him. He's Cyrano; he's pitiful, the one who's been by the girl's side this whole time, the one who spoke to her and won her heart, the soul of the letters she clings to in her mind as her happiness and person that she wants. Her fantasy for a prince come true. He's exactly that. This is why he should end up with the girl except the main lead Dosan isn't someone to forget, he seems determined and driven to get the girl, he looks ready to give it all for her. Who should she choose? After watching episode 1 and 2, seeing the in-depth and sad yet profound background story of Jipyeong, our minds automatically leans towards him. It makes no sense why he is second lead; he has this incredible bond with her grandmother, he's precisely the guy on paper she's looking for, and he has this innate thing in him ready to protect and look out for her. In a way, fortune has brought them back together again so why is Dosan still the one she probably will end up with? I've written this analysis to stand behind Dosan despite the many people who have dropped him and gone aboard Jipyeong's ship. I want to say that as a writer the show has already given Dosan the girl 80% he's the endgame why you ask because of Fate (Luck)—warning a very long essay upcoming.

Nam Dosan and Dalmi are meant to be together

The first reason Nam Do san enters Dalmi's heart without knowing who he actually was (she held onto his picture, his name and also how smart he was (from seeing him win the awards) is because fate wanted them to interact and meet each other. Hear me out before you roll your eyes, it feels more like fate is pushing her and Jipyeong together since he's the one who wrote the letters that got her out of her depression and were her rock and anchor when she was broken and looking for something to hold on to. His words comforted her, but fate still made happen in Dosan's name. Fate has supported Dosan and Dalmi from the start. It's fate who pulled Jipyeong to notice Dosan on those tv screens winning his gold medal (a psychological trick to get him to pick the newspaper later on and be open to using him as a proxy for the letter). Likewise, him seeing Dosan winning a gold medal also hints to who's winning at the end of this. The medal has other meanings as we find out in episode 5 so I'll just move on from that for now and continue with this first. Here's how Fate/The universe is on Dosan's side instead of Jipyeong.

The universe is supportive of Dosan's journey. Most things that happen to Dosan and Dalmi seem convenient and just random luck because the universe supports them in the story. Dalmi mentions this in episode 5; it's the writers warning us already. First Dosan is good at manifesting what he wants at the right moment and time:

He needed to get support from Jipyeong (his role model who he adored and looked up to) to get into the Sandbox (something Dalmi's inspiration created/she's also the little girl on the swings). This is manifested to him by Dalmi showing up and him selling baseball being the reason she finds him (follow your dreams). Because of her, Jipyeong has to pay attention, mentor and push him into wanting to be better. It's all fate conspiring to get him what he wants; his dreams to succeed in his company despite everyone looking down on him because he's a loser.

The universe provides him with Dalmi's love and support. Dalmi is the companion he never knew he needed (he realized it so much in episode 5 as she was giving his speech; she was his missing piece to his company). She's his catalyst for inspiration and the spark that was missing from his company's startup. He's given a chance to get into Sandbox because of her, (first because of her, Jipyeong backs him in Sandbox hoping he fails, and then second she chooses him to join her team)

The universe has set someone else on his team; Alex, the other Korean American, is also another way Dosan manifests his dream into a reality. Despite everyone looking down on him, Alex is amazed at Dosan and has a past with him that he wants to repay (I'll talk more about how both Dosan and Dalmi's 'choices' is why fate is on their side in another post)

Fate is on Dosan's side, and it keeps on helping him to get there with the presence of Dalmi. Fate wants them to be together regardless if she doesn't know that he's not her first love, the universe already set him up like that by his name being the proxy for the letters, they were destined from the start.

Nam Dosan always chooses/gets the real Dalmi

The second reason why Dosan and Dalmi are meant to be together, for now, is because he loves and knows the real Dalmi. Jipyeong has been writing letters to Dalmi, listening to her express her self and he never paid attention or remembered who the real Dalmi is. That's already a sign that his slowness will cost him the win in this race. Dosan who the letter was intended for from the start (because it was to his name) reads her messages, and he's affected by who Dalmi is. He chooses to keep going to her side because of this. Her words inspire him, and her genuine self makes him want to push out of his comfort zone and want to win. Her presence in his life is so significant to him because she's meant to be there and it's vice versa for her. They both needed each other, both being pulled to each other without knowing why. Its destiny.

Let's focus a bit more on this fact about authenticity, both Dalmi and Dosan are on equal grounds (they may seem like they're just acting with each other but they're not they see through each other when it matters), they both think they're nobodies, they're not necessary, they lose on purpose for other people's happiness, and they react the same way to things. The first time we're given this idea of how similar they are is when she understands why he would lie about being wealthy and prosperous; she just did the same thing in episode 1, so it made her understanding and grateful instead of thinking about the fact she lied to him, Dalmi focused on how she found someone just like her, someone who understands what it's like to be her(it brought her comfort and confidence that he's the right partner for her)

Dosan is her father’s mirror image (the right choice)

The third, Dosan, is a mirror character for her dad. The show has had so many people come to her to mock her for choosing to stick with her dad. When in reality, as we know it was the right choice, that consequences for her choice are slowly unveiling. It's also the reason why fate is on her side She's the inspiration of Sandbox (she's always been destined to enter and become CEO, she became great at what she does because of how many times she spent helping her dad with his own startups, and she stayed untainted by greediness and wealth because she chose him she has heart and different perspectives to the others who just follow things by the books; this is important because that's what her most significant strength is).

The show is already showing you that Dalmi always choosing things that may not seem perfect for her in the long run rather than the ideal choice (Jipyeong), is already foreshadowing why she'll pick Dosan at the end (if he doesn't change). I noticed Dosan's connection to her dad when he mentioned that the food he wanted to eat in episode 3 was Fried chicken, and Jipyeong told him to erase it and criticized him for his lack of communication skills. Dosan is like that fried chicken (a weird symbol but hear me out this show has so many signs for these two), it's not very fancy, or romantic as a meal (both Injae and Jipyeong reject and look down on it because it holds the opposite connotations to wealth and success).

Still, it has a sense of comfort and authenticity for Dalmi. See again; authenticity makes its way back to Dalmi and Dosan. Fried chicken is what connected Dalmi to her father; it's also what he went to get for her before he died. It represents family, unity and just a time she was the most grateful for because it brought her to spend time with her father. It was all he could give her without it seeming like it was something, it's just like Dosan who she appreciates his hands, it may seem like nothing, but it means the world to her that he's just there by her side, together and close and real (chooses her authentic self). Just like her father needed Dalmi's steadfast support, Dosan also needs her by his side because of that; she's also his helping hand. Still, he also is that to her by choosing her to become a CEO of their sandbox company, thereby helping her achieve her father's dreams. This is again the universe supporting and bringing them together to make their dreams a reality.

Jipyeong; the fanstasy and ideal man/The mentor

First look at the ending of episode 5, the show already shows you through visual cues what Jipyeong represents; a mentor for both Dalmi and Dosan. And it breaks my heart. Life already assigned him to be behind the scenes a tool to bring them together. Let's pause and look at what Jipyeong represents. Jipyeong represents fantasy. As much as he was important to Dalmi when she was younger by being the reason she was happy all those times, he was like a fantasy to run to that wasn't real. He wasn't the real Nam Do San. As much as behind the scenes, he's the reason for why Dosan entered her life (both times), and he's falling for her slowly. Like I said the picture above is pretty telling what he is to her and Dosan, life has assigned him as a mentor. Apart from his wealth, knowledge and being her ideal guy on paper, he isn't doing much for Dalmi as of now. (Hear me out before you lose your minds) Yes, he helped her in episode 5 by teaching her how to speak and present and its all cute that he's there. He isn't Dosan who stayed up with her and stayed by her side through the whole making of the product. He is helpful as a mentor, able to offer his knowledge and wealth to help Dalmi become successful but as we've seen that's not what Dalmi needs, she just needs someone to hold her hand and be by her side and inspire her to be better. (Do san keeps on doing this for her). Jipyeong represents idealism of our first love, a fantasy, an ideal situation, but that isn't enough to make him the right person for her. Both her and Dosan actually catalyze and affect each other positively, they push each other and provide for each other things they didn't know they needed. Still, they also provide (through the lessons from each other) a healthy but dose of realism.

That's what love is meant to be about, both equally providing and aiding the other by each other's side, pushing each other to their calling.

I keep on saying it, but the Jipyeong/Fake Nam Do San she fell in love with is a fantasy, he's good with his words, but they don't hold as much authenticity as Nam Do san's actual words to her, she may fangirl over his texts and letters, but it doesn't mean anything. I fangirl over fantasies (celebrities speeches, love letters written by other people, movie characters) all the time, doesn't mean it's my true love or my soulmate you know? Unless Dosan's character switches, nothing has made me think Jipyeong is even close to being who Dalmi needs, I don't see him as her one despite him realizing how great she is and helping her from behind the scenes because he's been assigned by life to be her helper, not a soulmate. Sorry, not sorry.

Symbolism, Foreshadowing and Visual Devices pointing to Dosan

Lastly, the proof is with the writers: Symbolism, subtext and foreshadowing devices for Namdosan and Dalmi.

Let's mention a few:

1. The music box; she wrote about it in her letter. In episode 3, after spending time with him, she realized opening it was wonderful. Foreshadowing, knowing the real Do san, she finally opened the music box. This inspires him to go to her side and choose to stay there despite what's to come)

2. The baseball that brought them together despite Jipyeong and Grandma thinking there was no way it would happen. Fate had other plans. The ball received says what they are meant to be for each other, a way to follow your dreams. It's a representation of fate pulling them to each other to make their dreams a reality. Emphasis as if I haven't said it enough times already they are meant to be with each other, and they are destined to be together.

3. His hands; Her helping hand she needs, a hand pulling her up when she's down, lifting her when she's low, pulling her to her dreams, a companion by her side always, comfort, intelligence (as his friends explained in episode 5. This is also what he's looked down for when it comes to romance; his logical, robotic personality but its needed for her company, and to teach her.) Lastly, his hands represent his authenticity and potential. (like his friend said it's not about how it looks but what he does with it)

4. Her letters and his name; the messages affect him and make him choose her because of her real voice and her authentic self. His name is what makes them meet again, remember he's the actual recipient of her notes from the start.

5. Sandbox; both their dreams and reason for inspiration. They were always on their way to get there; to get her to make her dad's plans a reality, to make his company dreams a reality, a place for a push to become better, both are a team here, both are meant to work with each other on equal ground, and again both are inspiring each other and bringing their positives out.

6. And even fried chicken; her dad, authenticity vs fantasy, comfort, warmth, togetherness and looked down upon but what she wants in the end

From episode 5:

1. Tarzan and Jane; from the story, Tarzan is slow and can't provide accurately for Jane the romantic/ideal things she is meant to like and want (Flowers, bunnies etc.). Just like Jipyeong can provide for Dalmi all the things that are intended to be an ideal for Dalmi (his wealth, his status, making Dosan look rich, providing the texts for Dosan to send to her, the letters etc.). Still, it isn't what she wants in the end. Dalmi says out loud that she overlooks the pretty on the surface things, she wants the useful stuff, like Dosan's helping hands, Dosan's presence by her side, and his words of wisdom to help them create a product in episode 5. Tarzan may seem like he has nothing to offer but the rocks and the gifts he gave Jane is actually what was needed to survive and be happy. Dalmi recognized that. That's foreshadowing who she will choose.

2.The sweets: At first, I wondered why they kept using it as a recurring motif to show Dosan eager to choose what Dalmi chose for him. But no it's foreshadowing. Jipyeong tries to steal the sweets from Dosan unintentionally, and interferingly (just like he's been unintentionally falling for Dalmi and is slowly starting to want to reveal the truth). Still, Dosan chides him and takes back all the ones she chose for him. This foreshadows that he will lose her to Jipyeong, but because of his heart, and determination, he'll get her back. She's also like the sweets; people don't see the importance to her yet, but Dosan and his friends are excited and eager to have all the free food and sweets because they've struggled for a bit, they have this childlike fascination with it, and she joins them as well later. Dosan doesn't overlook Dalmi's importance, she means a lot to him, and he appreciates and is grateful for her just like the sweets.

3.Lastly, the handwriting test/ the ability to test forgery: Another symbol for both Dosan and Dalmi. It's telling that the test was able to see 99.8% of what was real and what was fake (idealism vs realism), but it failed to recognize the new handwriting created by Injae and the others. This is foreshadowing there will be a moment when Dalmi won't be able to acknowledge idealism vs realism when Jipyeong reveals who he is. However, it doesn't mean that the handwritings were authentic, they were still forged even though the machine picked them up as real. Dalmi will question things, but at the end of the day, she already said it with the Jane metaphor, she will choose what's accurate and useful to her. This also makes the metaphor she told her grandmother (Jipyeong overheard this I think) about the rain and the storms to create something sweet, instead of choosing again what is ideal (just sunshine), Dalmi chooses the other way all the time, and she appreciates the results of it. That's why I believe she will end up with Dosan/choose him if he doesn't change.

So yeh for now Dosan is endgame for Dalmi, Jipyeong has been shoved into the role to bring them together and fulfill their goals and destinies. This could change because there’s so much more stuff that can happen, Dosan maybe tempted by greed later on and change and that will pull Jipyeong ahead. But if Dosan doesn’t change, then there’s no doubt that Dalmi even after she knows he’s not her first love, will not choose him. Let’s see how it turns out.

#start up #tvn start up #start up kdrama #kdrama net #analysis #november #fcsed #cwg #nam do san #seo dalmi #han jipyeong #nam joo hyuk #bae suzy

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ordinaryschmuck · 3 years

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What I Thought About "Eda's Requiem" from The Owl House

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

...

...HOW IS SEASON TWO SO GOOD?! WE'VE HAD SEVEN EPISODES SO FAR, AND EACH ONE OF THEM WAS A HIT!

Take "Eda's Requiem," for example. It's yet another episode where I have NOTHING bad to say about it! That's two weeks in a row where that happened! HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?!

HOW!

...But anyways, "Eda's Requiem." It's another fantastic episode, and I'm about to dive into explaining how and why. Just keep in mind, it's gonna require spoilers to do so, so be wary of that as you keep reading.

Now, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

Eda’s Checklist and Grom Photo: Within the first second, "Eda's Requiem" perfectly sets up Eda's central conflict in the episode. Despite spending years being on her own and looking after herself, she now has two kids that she's constantly caring over. Eda can try all she wants to say that she doesn't care, and I bet she has in the past. But given the hard work she's putting into getting King and Luz what they need and having a grom photo of the three of them together pinned in her mirror, it's pretty clear that those two knuckleheads wormed their way into her heart and are never getting out.

Eda’s Worried About King and Luz Leaving: And thus, that's precisely why something like this bothers her so much. Eda inadvertently adopted two rambunctious rapscallions (Yeah, I know. I'll get to it), so the idea of them not being around her anymore is going to be terrifying. That is a situation most parents, especially mothers, can identify with. It’s called empty nest syndrome and it proves just how much Eda loves Luz and King that she can't stand the thought of her babies leaving the nest. It's yet another well-made, wholesome, found-family moment that this series continues to excel at each week, making me extra excited for more like it to come...while also readying myself for heartbreak when one of them eventually does leave Eda.

Eda and Raine’s Music: Ok, I don't know the exact instruments that were played during this episode, but I also don't care because it was all (for lack of a better term) music to my ears. Every time Eda and Raine played resulted in melodies that are so beautiful and filled with so much emotion and feeling that I'm honestly tempted to listen to them again, multiple times, on repeat. Shows rarely do that for me, as background music doesn't always draw me in as much as lyrical songs do. Usually, it takes something so extraordinarily composed to give me the desire to listen again, and that's the case here. So huge congrats to Brad Breek for doing so. Seriously, the man's been killing it this season.

Eda’s Bard Magic Causing Things to Turn to Ash: This was assuredly a surprise side-effect of the curse. The fact that Eda can sort of do magic at all was its own shock. To then reveal that a specific type can do dangerous things to people and environments is...Well, it definitely brings up its own fair share of questions. Like, how can she do this? Will she do it again, one day? And are there other types of spells that can be negatively affected by Eda's curse? We don't get answers for any of these questions, and odds are, we never will. But that's alright with me. Because if a show makes me consider these many possibilities after a brief amount of time, it is a show that has to be doing something right. Even if I don't get the answers I want, the fact that it caused such a reaction makes me less willing to care.

Raine Whispers: Hey, would you look at that. Another fun, interesting, and compelling character added to the list of this shows' other fun, interesting, and compelling characters...how is this series so good at this!?

Joking aside, Raine's pretty good. I like Raine. They could have been this super serious leader who lost all their fun after years apart from Eda, but I'm glad that they're not. There are moments when Raine takes their job as leader of the BATs seriously, as one would, but I still prefer the fact that they kept a jovial nature despite how grim their situation is. It's an admirable trait to have, and it avoids the trope of making leader characters boring just because they're the ones who have to take things seriously.

Oh, and also, Raine's Disney's first non-binary character who has a stake in the plot. This is a tremendous deal, as you don't usually see that many non-binary characters in children's animation, let alone ones that hold importance to the story. So it's pretty cool for the writers to feature Raine, as it helps several kids feel as though they're finally seen and respected. And the fact that Disney of all companies gave the thumbs up is even more impressive. I hear people say that Dana Terrace should have pitched The Owl House to more progressive networks to avoid pushback, and while I absolutely see your point, I'll have to respectfully disagree. Disney is the largest entertainment industry of all time, so if you want to make LGBTQA+ representation normalized, you gotta stop making splashes and start making waves. Because if the same company that made three racist cats in the span of a few years manages to say that being gay is a-ok, then you know there's something wrong with you. Yes, Disney ended up screwing over the show anyway. But for that one moment, when kids felt pride after seeing a character like Raine, then, in the end, it's kind of worth it.

Also, if you're still having issues with more representation like this popping up in kids' shows, then allow me to redirect you to the complaint department.

...I made that post earlier today for this bit. YOU HAVE BETTER APPRECIATED IT!

Day of Unity is meant to be a Secret: At least, that's what I got when Raine stumbled over their own words. So if it's true, then I wonder why? Why does Belos want to keep the most critical change in the Boiling Isles a secret? Does he want to make it a surprise for his grateful subjects, or does he not want to spread worry and fear amongst the wild witches? It has to be something big if he doesn't want his followers to even say the words "Day of Unity." Whatever reason he has, we most likely won't know until the future. A future that I grow more and more afraid of each week.

Hooty Eating Echo Mouse: My heart sank in that brief moment when I thought that Hooty intensely screwed Luz over in getting back home. But looking back...it is pretty funny.

Just the suddenness of Hooty eating the poor creature that Luz desperately tried to earn its trust is priceless in how shocking it was. And also, Luz's expression.

That was the look of a young girl who immediately shoved her hand down an owl demon's throat the second the scene cut away. The Owl House may not always be a hit in the comedy department, but scenes like this prove that when it's funny, it is hilarious.

Luz and King Entering the Grand Prix: Not much to discuss here. It's just a cute subplot that adds frivolity to the intensity of what's going on through Eda and Raine's story. But I will say that I love how both stories occasionally interconnect with each other through the many moments of Eda being worried about King wanting to leave to find his father and avoiding any conversation about it. It helps both plotlines feel like they belong together, without being something like "Through the Looking Glass Ruins," whereas both stories could have been in their own episode. Which is neat.

How Bard Magic Works: I really love how this season is diving into how the other magic types work. More specifically, the ones that seem a little vague. I mean, stuff like healing, potions, and plants are easy to figure out, but what does it mean when a witch's talents are construction, beast keeping, and bard magic? We've been getting a lot of clearing up lately, with bard magic looking like a witch can control their environments and enemies through the power of music. Which is fair. Music is pretty powerful in the metaphorical sense, and I actually love that it's powerful in the literal sense when in the Boiling Isles.

The BATs: Not much to comment on these three either. The BATs have the potential to have an entertaining dynamic, but they do very little in this episode that I can't say much other than I hope they make a return in the future. But I will make this claim: Amber is my favorite. I'm sorry, but her screaming "You're not our mom!" to then go, "Bye, mommy Eda" is just too precious for me not to love.

I'm a simple man who falls for cute s**t. Leave me alone.

Raeda (RainexEda): Well, EdaxCamila, you were a fun crack ship while it lasted, but I'm afraid that this is now goodbye. The current canon has provided an incredibly adorable and believable relationship that I would be a monster not to support with my whole bi-heart. It's been real.

Ok, back in serious mode: I love these two together. Eda and Raine are grown-ups, and they still act all flustered near each other as if they were still Luz and Amity's age. It's definitive proof that you're never too old to get flustered near a crush, and seeing them interact adds a sense of wholesomeness when seeing them together as well as heartbreak when they're forced apart. Plus, we get confirmation that Eda's LGBTQA+! Whether she's bi, pan, or whatever, now that we know Eda can catch feelings for someone like Raine, it's yet another case that The Owl House is the most important series to the community. Because having the main character be queer is fantastic in its own right. But having the same apply to the motherly mentor figure? That's is an extra bit of normalization that anybody would be willing to appreciate.

Unique Guard Designs: Not many fans are going to appreciate this, primarily compared to everything else this episode does perfectly. For me, I actually like that you see a few Coven Guards looking differently from the others, as it helps make them less like clones and makes it seem like anybody of any body type could be a part of the coven.

Gus Looking Uninterested when Presenting Grand Prix with his Dad: I am positive that you didn't notice this (I didn't even notice it until someone else pointed it out), but there's something to dissect here. It hints that perhaps Gus isn't as interested in his father's field of work as one might think. If he did, he would look a lot less bored and much more excited to be helping Perry Porter present the race. It could just be the race itself, but judging from Gus' expression, it really seems like the kid would prefer to be anywhere but there. And why would he have that reaction to a race that his best friend is competing in? To me, this seems like an inkling of what Gus' relationship with Perry could be, which may not actually get time to shine, what with how little wiggle room the series has now (Thanks Disney). Regardless, it is interesting to notice, and it will certainly have fans thinking for a while.

Bump Being Smug of Luz Being in the Lead: That's it. Principal Bump looking smug as his human student is beating the students of his rivals is yet another moment that proves why Bump is easily the best cartoon principal.

Darius: First of all, this guy is f**king fabulous, and I love him. *Snaps*

Second, he is definitive proof that you do NOT want to f**k around with Coven Leaders. Lilith may have had her intimidating moments, but none of them compare to the guy who can turn himself into an abomination monster where only magic that hasn't existed before can take him down. It's genuinely scary to see Darius lose control, and I fear for the day when Luz inevitably ends up in his crosshairs.

With that said, Darius' still a ton of fun! He may be threatening, but he's just a flamboyant guy that hates the idea of getting his outfit the tiniest bit dirty. And I love that. I love that these Coven Heads have actual personalities instead of being generically evil. I consider it preferable to make villains entertaining rather than blatantly scary as I'll remember the personalities first and the villainous acts last.

Eberwolf: But this one's my favorite. I told you: I'm a simple man who gets easily swayed by cute s**t. And Eber? I mean, just look at her:

She's just a cute widdle rascal! I just want to pinch her cheeks, give her a belly rub, and--

...Eberwolf is not a cute widdle rascal. She is a strong, independent woman, and I will respect her as such from this moment forward...lest I feel her wrath.

That is all. Let's move on.

Eda and Raine Attempting a Final Performance: This was the best scene of the episode. It looked gorgeous, it shows the dedication Eda and Raine have for stopping Belos, and it says so much through so little. Go back and look at how Eda and Raine regard one another when performing Eda's requiem. Through their expressions and a few short words, you know they understand that if they complete the song/spell, they probably won't make it in the end. And yet, they don't care. They both know bad stuff will happen if Belos wins, so Eda and Raine put everything to the side, both their feelings for one another and the people they leave behind if it means putting an end to a tyrant. That level of dedication...Words can't fully describe how powerful that is.

Raine Sacrificing Themselves Instead: But in the end, Raine can't do it. Not when they know the life that Eda has and the people she'll be leaving behind. It's an extra bit of nobleness to the character seeing that Raine refuses to take away a woman from two kids who need her the most. A tad bit selfish, sure, knowing what Belos has planned. But when it comes to love, the romantic, familial, or platonic, the best decisions aren't always the logical ones.

Eda Crying: Luz crying tears me up, but seeing Eda cry is a whole different level of heartbreak. Like Lilith, Eda has her emotions locked up tight, with the closest she came to weeping were those two tears in "Young Blood, Old Souls." In "Eda's Requiem," she cries but almost quickly stops herself. As if she knows that doing so isn't going to save Raine. That is...even worse than seeing Luz break down after losing Eda. The fact that Eda refuses to give herself time to mourn losing someone she loved is tragic because crying is the most natural way of showing grief. Turning that off isn't healthy, and seeing her do it with little resistance is sad to me. It's sad to see a character I love can easily shut off all emotions despite how badly she may want to embrace them. It's one of those moments that, again, by doing so little, it shows so much.

“No one watches Crystal Balls anymore. It’s all about streaming.”: Oof. Even I felt that burn towards cable.

King’s Message: King's message was the pick-me-up I needed after the heart-wrenching sadness this episode put me through a few minutes ago. Seeing King say who he is and listing all the things he loves is nothing short of adorable. On top of that, I adore that Eda willingly recorded the whole thing. She may not want King to leave, but that doesn't mean she'll sabotage the one thing he wants. Especially not after Raine gave up everything so Eda could be with her kids. The opening scene may prove how much Eda cares about a rascal like King, but this heartwarmingly sweet moment reveals just how far she'll go to make him happy.

King’s Dad Reveal: ...ok, I'll be honest, I did not think we'd get that reveal this soon. Dumb of me to say, considering the number of times I've said that these writers don't waste time getting to the s**t, I know. But still, it's pretty cool knowing that King's dad is alive and well, added with the fact that we've got a fair idea of what he looks like. At this point, it's only a matter of time before we see him figure out where the Clawthorne residence is and witness the tear-jerking moments that will follow.

King Changing his Name to King Clawthorne: Not the official adoption I was expecting Eda to make...but DANG IT, is it still diabetes-inducing levels of sweetness!

Personally, I feel like the main reason why Eda breaks down this time is not only because she shouldn't be worried about King leaving her life, but also because Raine's sacrifice wasn't in vain. Her kids really do need Eda because no matter how far apart they'll be, she will always be a part of their life...dang it, I'm going to cry too!

What those Coven patches really do: Well...that was horrifying to see.

...Writers, if you kill off the best non-binary character in animation (it's a short list, I know), we are going to have PROBLEMS!

IN CONCLUSION

"Eda's Requiem" is--surprise surprise--another A+. The emotions hit hard, the representation hits harder, Raine is a fantastic addition to the cast, and it was all surprisingly cute at times. Season Two is currently on a hot streak, constantly winning with every episode that's come out so far. When a bad episode does eventually show up (IT'S GONNA HAPPEN!), I'll be sure to sing my requiem then. For now, I'm just gonna enjoy the ride.

#the owl house #the owl house season 2 #the owl house reviews #eda clawthorne #raine whispers #raeda #king of demons #toh darius #toh eberwolf #what i thought about

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sleeptowns · 3 years

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stream give it back cö shu nie 🚗💨

alternatively: rambling about complex shades of grief, post-canon ambiguity & leaving here and where you are alone

┄

i'm on record saying that i started conceptualizing the premise to here and where you are after i tweeted — in my efforts to squirm away from ✨ sad & sad-adjacent emotions ✨ — that the new jjk ending had the same energy as one of those angsty hollywood romances featuring a dead girlfriend. but that’s not fair, because a) the ending is much more beautifully animated than a nicholas sparks movie could maybe hope to be and b) i’m doing it a great disservice by trying to downplay the complete tragedy of yuuji filming his friends from a distance, whether or not i even believe the memories featured here are real or not.

and i made the tik tok joke in that tweet precisely because i wasn’t immune to the devastation that this new ending left in its wake. i’ve seen enough sad yuuji-centric art to last me for the rest of the year, and even my tik tok fyp in the past week has been nothing but people reacting to it — but even with all the saturation and exposure, it hasn’t stopped making me so sad every single time i remember or revisit it. at some point, i reached a level where i was physically ill just listening to “give it back” — and so, true to enneagram type 5 form, i thought this was the perfect mood to be productive about something i can’t help and tackle one of my writing resolutions this year. mappa said, “here. be sad.” and i said, “thank you. i will. after all, i resolved a few weeks ago to write more non-happy endings.” then i proceeded to word-v*mit into a doc for 17k words over a day and a half.

i wish now that i waited a bit longer to write it. or spent more time on it, just because i wasn’t expecting it to pull so much of the canon universe into it and to require so much brain power in properly doing so. but i have a college au i miss like hell and wanna get back to asap, and when i opened the doc for here and where you are, all i really wanted to do was write one (1) scene. not even anything yuuji-related, because i have nothing left to contribute on that front save for my broken heart and all that fun stuff, but a scene between megumi & nobara. part of it is that i’ve always adored the little exchange they have after yuuji dies in the cursed womb arc: how they’re sitting a step apart on the stairs, the overpowering noise of the cicadas in the anime, the way that nobara takes charge of the conversation even though she’s one wrong exhale away from crying, the little sideways glances megumi keeps giving her without saying a single word. it says so much in the silence, that entire scene; even now, so many arcs later, i find myself thinking sometimes about how grief might have informed the dynamic that megumi & nobara developed with each other in yuuji’s absence, how they were able to find trust in each other through that.

(i also like that in the jujusanpo where megumi talks about yuuji teaching him how to make meatballs, it’s nobara who breaks the silence first — delivering a joke that doesn’t sound like a joke, or like she’s trying to make megumi feel better. that, to me, sounds like they’ve cemented a way to talk about yuuji’s death. it doesn’t sound like they’re grieving with each other; it sounds like they’ve reached a stable level of understanding about each other’s grief, an understanding how best to navigate that around each other without doing it together. and that’s very them, i think. their relationship is so quiet, so steady and firm and full of unspoken understanding.)

so when episode 14 made me realize a detail i completely passed over in the manga — that nobara full on tears up at seeing yuuji again, and that megumi looks weirdly surprised by this — i knew i wanted to dig my teeth into what’s going on there. but then the episode ended with “give it back,” and these lyrics were stuck in my head, in the shower, washing dishes, trying to sleep:

どこにあるの寂しいよ

Please give it back

いつになれば楽になれる

i’d sit up in bed and think, at 4am, where is who ??? why are you lonely? give what back? when will what get easier? and it’s one thing to entertain those questions through yuuji and his loneliness, to attach that sadness and loneliness to him — but i was still stuck on nobara’s tears and megumi’s reaction to them, still stuck on their shared moment at the end of the cursed womb arc, and at some point i remembered the part in the ending where nobara goes up to megumi to ask where yuuji was — and something clicked. kind of.

i thought i could purge the feelings out by exploring megumi & nobara’s different manifestations of grief over yuuji in one scene where they go through yuuji’s phone together post-execution or whatever it would have been. i want to believe that — if the photos / videos are real — the two of them will get to see it at some point. there’s a lot of love nestled in the act of yuuji filming them, even in the distance he places on himself by being the one behind the camera, and my only initial intention, truly, truly, truly, was for megumi & nobara to find some closure in knowing how much yuuji loved them all to the very end.

but that’s very martyr-y, i thought. not that there’s no martyrdom in what i ended up writing. but it just felt overall a yoi era me thing to write if i settled for a scene like that. which is where the nicholas sparks-esque tik tok joke came in: what if it was a the vow (2012) situation? what if yuuji does lose his memories? how about a situation where yuuji’s still alive, except he doesn’t remember them? what if we reverse the tragedy everyone thinks will happen where yuuji’s gonna be the forgotten one? on that vein, where does grief go when loss is not cemented? how do you juggle your grief in a situation like that? in what kind of position does that place the people that love him? and, going back to the questions in those “give it back” lyrics stuck in my head: what if the thing that causes the loneliness, the thing that doesn’t get easier, is this twisted, complicated sort of grief?

and so i got out of bed at 6am without even having fallen asleep yet, and started writing.

this, however, meant constructing a fake premise that will explain for a couple of sentences what happened to yuuji. and because i tweeted this on priv last december —

— and it started kind of making actual sense to me as i progressively got loopier farther into the night —

— so i figured i might as well do something with that before akutami inevitably turns it on its head. which led to: what can happen to this yuuji that won’t kill him but take his memories? any kind of authority left in the aftermath won’t be so generous to just let him stay alive. then i thought about nanami carefully choosing his dying words for yuuji, how he was worried, even in those few remaining moments, that he’ll curse yuuji — and i thought about this slightly unhinged 3am new year’s day priv tweet, too:

i know. i know. i really thought i mic-dropped for a moment there. which — let me be straight up here. i am definitely too stupid to theorize about jjk canon. and that’s okay. i acknowledge that. i accept it. that’s not me being self-deprecating or anything. i’m one hundred percent happy to not have a single working theory about where we’re going. if i’d known how canon-dependent this fic would turn out to be, i wouldn’t have attempted it. or at least not let it pass the 3k mark. or — i don’t know. i’d have attempted some kind of damage control. but it was too late by the time i realized how much i was rambling, and by that point, i was just picking and choosing from vague canon events and conjectures as if i’m getting a footlong sub and the person behind the counter is asking me what i want on it. like: anything can be a curse if said with enough emotion? sure, let’s go with that. megumi was for sure going through it in the goodwill event arc when he said that. like, my boy was having a mini flashback to yuuji saying please at the juvenile detention center while bleeding out. akutami saying at jump festa that — of gojo and the three first years — it’s either three will live and one will die or three will die and one will live? fine. let’s kill gojo off because i don’t think he’s going to survive the series anyway + use that as self-justification for why yuuji will still be alive in this hypothetical post-canon.

and all this staccato picking and choosing left me with: curse-human hybrid yuuji staying alive without his memories intact because megumi cursed him to not die. and that fit right in line with the grief themes i wanted to poke around with. so it was settled.

all that’s remaining was to flesh out megumi & nobara’s differences in this scenario, and i ended up zeroing in on how nobara seems to have this certainty that megumi & yuuji are just a little bit closer. she refers to megumi in the ozawa chapter as “a guy who knows itadori much better than me” — and it’s a very matter-of-fact statement to make, nothing she holds against anyone. i imagine, reading it, that it’s the same tone she uses to make that “itadori’s legacy” comment about the meatballs. and in my head, in this hypothetical future where megumi kills yuuji, there’s a fair amount of imbalance there in the way they grieve. just as there was imbalance there the first time: megumi got a few more days with yuuji, got the whole saving him act going for both of them, was the person who had to struggle to get sukuna to save him only to watch him die. on the other hand, nobara knew him for a small pocket of time that she doesn’t think is enough to grieve over. she makes the distinction for both of them post-cursed womb: she asks megumi if it’s his first time watching a 仲間 die, but makes sure to say there’s no way she’ll be crying about someone she only knew for a couple of weeks. i know it’s not that deep, more a reflection of her personality than anything deep-seated, but i sorta just internalized how difficult it is to mourn with someone who has a separate set of memories and emotions to grieve than you do. and if i wanted to write a scene with megumi & nobara going through yuuji’s phone, i cannot, in good conscience, do that without also addressing the differences that can and will converge in this one shared moment. since i set out to write this thing for megumi & nobara and not yuuji / megumi, i needed the real catharsis here to be this realization that for all that megumi has all this guilt and unarticulated romantic love while nobara has nothing concrete to serve as foundation for a proper goodbye, yuuji loved them both the same, and so, so much at that. they were everything to him, no matter what he left behind for each of them, and that doesn’t stop the grief, doesn’t give them less to mourn, but it places them at the exact same level. no matter what they have, no matter how differently they loved the person they lost — they were loved right back by that person, and in the phone scene, that matters a hell lot more than anything else.

still, i wanted megumi to be the one to bring them to that point. i wanted him to acknowledge that as painful as the guilt is, the lack of closure over someone he’s deeply in love with, nobara feels just as — if not more — lost than he does with her own grief. when yuuji died the first time, they both got to channel that into training for the goodwill event. this time, megumi has his nightmares, his regrets, all the memories he’ll have to just live with. nobara has — well. nothing, really. not even the opportunity to deny her grief the way she did before. she did know yuuji well this time. he was one of her best friends. she cried when she lost him. she cried when she got him back. she would have wanted to cry again, on march 20th. but there’s no release here for her. yuuji is alive. yuuji is safe. there’s nothing to grieve, not really. no death, whether by her hands or not. at least not until megumi recognizes that and gives her the phone. gives her something to call her own. gives her something to properly, guiltlessly release her grief over.

it balances their situation out as much as it possibly can. and i like to think that when megumi leaves at the end of the fic, nobara’s not thinking she’s gonna lose him, too. i want to believe that’s her saying, hey, wherever you go, you’ll have this place to come home to. despite everything. so come back. come back because you can. is that her also believing yuuji will come back to them at some point? i don’t know. i’m trying not to think too much about it. i very nearly cracked and started writing a happy ending where although yuuji doesn’t get his memories back, he does realize there’s something off and allows megumi to take him through everything — but then i checked the word count, looked at the fic as it is, and was just like. nah. we’re trying to do better at writing non-perfect endings this year, folks. we’re doing it. that, and i didn’t want to get into ship of theseus debates with myself about whether a memory-less yuuji is the same yuuji megumi fell in love with. i meant it, when i had megumi point out that nobara & yuuji could still be friends in this universe. i’m not so sure about him & yuuji.

anyway. some writing reflections: i’m still definitely more comfortable writing aus than i am canon anything + i still need to get much, much better at writing shorter things — but overall, this fic was a fun little exercise in something i genuinely feel has no real answer. and that’s very freeing! it’s a bit of a moral conundrum to me, megumi’s situation, knowing the endings i usually write; while it was a struggle to just let myself address the complicatedness of this kind of ordeal without seeking out to solve it, narratively speaking, it was a well-needed little writing experiment. jjk has given me the rare chance to quietly play around with my writing, and i think i really took advantage of that with this fic. which is good! i feel really good about writing here and where you are. the end product not so much, but when do i ever feel great about that. it’s a work in progress etc etc the progress part is what matters yes yes

in any case: “give it back” by co shu nie is out on all music platforms today stream stream stream 🤎

—

p.s. as much as i love an itafushi bonding moment, why was nobara not making the meatballs with them? i had to indulge myself and throw in her developing the habit of making yuuji cook for her after he returns, even though i’m sure she must have some cooking skills.

p.s.s. a lot of credit due to the part in godspeed that’s like “i let go of my claim on you, it's a free world [...] but you'll have this place to call home, always” and and and the part in white ferrari that goes: “i care for you still and i will forever / that was my part of the deal, honest” :) :) :)

#fics

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tobeornottotc · 3 years

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Heaven Official’s Blessing: The unconditional, support, like and trust of HuaLian

Episode 9 of TGCF did precisely what we've been waiting for, and I lost my mind. I swear I didn't feel this way reading this scene, like yeah I was excited. Still, nothing could have prepared me for the sheer geniusness of the directing and animation of TGCF and the way they portray the blooming relationship of Hua Lian. There's one thing to focus on, and that's their undying automatic, unconditional love for each other. We already know this with Hua Cheng, but I think he didn't even realise how much Lian had also felt the same way towards him. Let's look back for a second; in the previous episode, we saw doubts with Hua Cheng was having about his interactions with Lian. One he worried he was becoming a burden and bother to Lian because Lian was starting to feel flustered at his touch and withdrawed to focus on , he doubted it and worrying over ito, but thhe didn't have time to deal with those worries because he had to deal with the sinners pit, and jump in to prevent Lian from doing so.

But we saw how both these two literally would sacrifice all for each other, one because Lian immediately proceeded to try and jump in to find him and ensure he is safe but that's a Lian thing to do to be honest, he sacrifices him self for anyone to save them. But we see the doubts and fear in Hua Cheng once he is holding Lian and he's no longer able to hide that he's not a ghost. The worry that this is it, that they will have to confront this part that he lied to him about what he was. But Lian doesn't care for him it's pretty evident that Hua Cheng is on his side, Hua Cheng is powerful and yet holding onto him like he's frail (no one's ever cherished or treated him like treasure before, or paid attention to where he lands, or where he steps), he's spent the last few weeks with Hua Cheng as San Lang knowing he's a priority to him, and he's great and a warm and comforting presence to him. They've been a pair, with each other, trusting and protecting the other.

That's why it's so easy for him to stay in his arms despite the fact he's recognised he's not a mortal as he believed he was, he stays knowing that he's important to Hua Cheng/ San Lang and it doesn't matter what he is but he's going to keep believing that he is to be trusted as much as possible. I remember the first time they saw each other (Hua Cheng as San Lang) that he had been skeptical, he had been careful because he knew Hua Cheng was finding ways to be near him, and people told him that Hua Cheng is the worst and to not be trusted or wanted. But now he knew and ignored what they said because deep down he was prone to like Hua Cheng from the start, soulmate stuff you know. They both automatically felt protected and safe with each other, determined to protect the other.

And what Hua Cheng is to Lian is even more deeper because no one else showed him this kind of respect, adoration and care before. He's always been seen as unimportant, useless and a failure, and he had accepted it, because he held guilt and pain from his past, on how he percieved his actions. Hua Cheng is the only person who from the beginning has saved him once already in episode 1, who he held hands with and liked the sound of his name. Who he found it hard to believe was as cruel as everyone was saying or as scary. And now with San Lang he accepted that it didn't matter because he felt safe with Hua Cheng. Also Lian recognised how unstable he was when he thought Hua Cheng was in danger, he realised that their bond was more important to him and that he needed to trust whoever Hua Cheng was and his intention.

And he didn't know what he had done for Hua Cheng on the other hand. Hua Cheng who had spent last episode worrying about being a burden or bother to him, who was being insecure about what they were to each other, and if his feelings were getting in the way. Hua Cheng who was so scared to have Lian leave him, but instead it was the opposite, Hua Cheng hearing the confirmation that Lian liked him and wanted him still by his side, was enough for him, he finally let his fears and worries go, and he finally felt relieved. He must have been so euphoric just to hear the person he's devoted all his life to say he saw him as someone important, someone worth having unconditional trust and like for. It must have meant everything to him.

Hua Lian is everything, they've always been to be honest, but this anime/donghua is just brilliant. The directing does not shy away from making you see how precious both Hua Cheng and Lian are together. How automatic their bond is, and how devoted they will continue to be to Lian. The directing introduces romantic moments that make you not take the moments they have as a friendly scene, Haoliners emphasise that what these two have is romantic, with the music that has hints of longing, melancholy and love. It's incredible and the pit scene made me have tears just from seeing the music, the scene, the animation and listening to the dialogue all together. Haoliners aren't shying away from the fact that these two are going to be more than friends, that they are meant to be together, that they will always automatically, unconditionally go through anything to protect the other. Hua Cheng has been doing this for 800 years and Lian showed that he also thinks and acts this way. It's beautiful.

#tgcf spoilers #tgcf #hualian #heaven official's blessing #tian guan ci fu #hua cheng #xie lian #mxtx #reviews #analysis

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thejustmaiden · 4 years

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Jaken = Rin's Dad?

Okay, is this how a daughter treats their so-called father?

Most definitely not.

Rin and Jaken's relationship clearly screams of your typical sibling rivalry punctuated with cute and silly moments of playful bickering.

Yes, Jaken may technically be her main provider, but that doesn't necessarily equate to him being more of a father than Sesshomaru. If anything, he demonstrates more of a brotherly love towards her. As we all know, parents (which Sesshomaru embodies more based on real life patterns and parallels) will leave their older more capable children in charge of looking after their younger brothers and sisters. In this case, that would mean making Jaken responsible for watching over Rin and protecting her if need be. Ah-Un offers protection, too. Think of it as Jaken as the big brother and Ah-Un as the family dog who are babysitting while Sesshomaru as the parent of the household is away at work or taking care of business. I mean, they literally fit that description to a tee and I'm dying at the accuracy of it all! 🤣👌

[Quick! Someone write up a modern au where Sesshomaru finally gets out to have a nice date night but everything goes wrong in the most spectacular way. Like maybe Rin and Jaken catch a ride on Ah-Un to go spy!]

I recently revisited some episodes from The Final Act, and I couldn't believe how many moments like this there were where Rin got after Jaken or when she would "put him in his place" so to speak. Obviously, all of it is mostly harmless. I was only surprised by how often it occurred, not to mention how Jaken would just stand there and take it. Towards a supposed father figure, Rin's behavior is downright unacceptable. There's a certain level of respect a child is expected to show their parents/guardians, and that's just not what I'm witnessing here between them. Like at all.

Rather their dynamic has the nature of some sibling relationships like I mentioned above. So I really wish fans would stop pretending otherwise, because based on what we know of father-daughter relationships- healthy ones at least- they don't appear anything like what Jaken and Rin have. If you could please provide me other examples of where we've seen similar portrayals in fiction or in real life, then perhaps I can get on board.

Look, that doesn't have to mean that because Jaken isn't her father then Sesshomaru must be. They can both be her caretakers without necessarily filling that traditional father role. I'm just saying that if we're going to start assigning titles to characters, let's make sure we are accurate and truthful in our assessments. If you're going to label anyone Rin's dad, then it needs to be Sesshomaru. Jaken doesn't have precedence over him in terms of fatherly attributes, that just wouldn't make sense.

After all, this isn't about what you want to see, this is about what Rin very likely sees. It's safe to assume that she views Sesshomaru more like a father than she does Jaken. She knows she's safe with him (broadly speaking lol) and that he'll come for her no matter what. That sense of security and comfort is what a child seeks and what they should always feel in a parent's presence. She trusts and even idolizes him, just as a young and innocent child tends to do with their parents. At that age, parents are perfect and could do no wrong in their child's eyes. Idk about you, but this describes perfectly how Rin is around Sesshomaru.

Rin adores him and will follow him anywhere- yes, even into danger! That's what the innocence and unconditional love of a child will bring them to do if necessary. Fortunately, at the end of The Final Act we learn Sesshomaru takes Kaede's advice when he realizes that leaving Rin with her in the village is in her best interests. That way she'd be able to lead a more normal and safer life alongside other humans. Remember, Sessrin shippers, that doesn't mean he wasn't still a part of her life and didn't witness her become a young woman over the years right before his very eyes. Therefore, if they eventually do become romantically involved, then most if not all of those gifts had intimate and seductive intentions and it essentially constitutes as child grooming.

I understand from a Sessrin shipper's point of view why it'd be so much easier to claim Jaken as the father. In doing so, they diminish Sesshomaru's role in her upbringing. By refusing to acknowledge the real role he had in helping raise Rin (short periods can be crucial and impressionable too esp. in a child's early years so yes they did assist in raising her not only Kaede), these shippers are better able to justify how their filial-like relationship evolved into a romantic one. So yeah, I get it, if I were a Sessrin shipper I'd probably do the same. It's one of the more plausible arguments available to them, after all. "Let's pin Jaken as the father to fend off antis!" is the best chance they've got, but even so, it's still not good enough. But if you insist Jaken is indeed like a father to Rin, then Sesshomaru is most certainly one too. Who says she can't have two fathers anyway?

The thing is however much you want to deny or downplay what Sesshomaru truly means to Rin and vice versa, nothing will ever change or hide the truth of the matter. Please, stop acting like they're only traveling companions and nothing more. Some of y'all even go so far as to say that they're like strangers. Knowing potentially little about a person is not equal to a lack of love and affection. Making big assumptions such as this to defend your ship is actually doing you more harm than good. Let me elaborate.

According to your reasoning, if that's all Rin ever was to him was a companion and Sesshomaru had no real attachment to her, then what precisely is the basis of your ship? Recall that Adult!Rin doesn't exist yet, thus we have no real idea what she will be like or if she's even alive. So how can you make comments like that but then go on later to say "they have such a unique and unbreakable bond" or "only Rin can be the mother because she's the only human he ever cared for" if all that time spent traveling together didn't amount to much in the first place like you claimed to believe beforehand? Do you see how your rationalizing is confusing?

Contrary to what some of you may think, I'm not just saying all this because I'm an anti and I'm obligated to disagree with you, or whatever other excuse you want to tell yourself. Believe it or not, I'm attempting to give as unbiased and objective of an analysis I can based on widely accepted interpretations of family dynamics, development, and any history we know of.

Of course I respect that at times fans will perceive things differently since that's bound to happen. What's hard for me to wrap my head around however is the unwillingness of some fans- not exclusively Sessrin shippers- to apply basic common sense and sound judgment to their observations and deductions.

Looking at all our facts, then taking the small handful of scenes Sesshomaru and Rin do share together into account, one can logically conclude that their dynamic is akin to one found in a typical parent-child relationship. If you still fail to recognize Sesshomaru as a parent to Rin, then that's fine too. In the end, that won't really change the fact that he'd still take on a role resembling an adult figure overseeing a young child's care and protection. Be it as a vassal, guardian, what have you. Plus, nobody is saying here that Sesshomaru doesn't make mistakes regarding Rin's general well-being, but so do all parents. Overall, I think the majority of us agree that Rin is in good hands. Whether it's in his direct company or in his occasional supervision from his frequent visits to the village.

In other words, it doesn't really matter what exact title you assign him in relation to Rin, as the distribution of power is all inherently the same with any and all adult-child relationships. That bond never changes once you've established it either, seeing as it's a special kind of connection one can only form with a child and a child alone.

I was a teacher for a few years, and speaking from personal experience, you don't need to be a parent, per se, to take on a role of authority in a child's life. I know without a doubt that I could never and will never view any of those kids I taught in a sexual/romantic light later down the road; yes, not even once they become grown-ups who are independent and more than capable of making their own decisions. Those of you who disagree are usually missing the whole point though, because we're not trying to dictate what Adult!Rin can and cannot do like many tend to accuse of us doing. This isn't a question of taking away from her autonomy nor does it fall under "purity culture," which is why people shouldn't continue jumping to these outrageous conclusions and really listen for a change. You're deflecting from the real issue here when you choose to misinterpret what we're saying by ignoring the problem we're actually referring to. You cannot present a valid counter-argument if you persist in twisting our words.

Bottom line: once these kids become old enough to pursue a sexual/romantic relationship, of course they have that right if they're ready. All we're trying to say is you guys ought to stop pushing forward this it's-completely-normal-to-want-to-bang-your-adoptive-dad-since-you're-an-adult-and-can-do-as-you-please agenda and not expect backlash. Ship it if you want, but please stop acting like their romance would be the epitome of a pure and healthy relationship.

Sesshomaru may not wear his heart on his sleeve, but it's foolish to presume he didn't actually care about Rin during their whole time together just because he didn't openly express his feelings until the very end. Surely everybody can comprehend that people handle and process their emotions differently. The way Sesshomaru chooses to is completely valid for the most part, so let's cut him some slack regarding this already.

What I'm trying to get at is that any child whose life you played an influential role in will always be a kid in a lot ways to you even when they're old and wrinkly. Just as they will always picture you as the loved one who guided and protected them when they were most vulnerable and couldn't always fend for themselves. Can't we relate this to children we know personally and apply it accordingly?

Finally, I want to end on this note. Could you kindly take a look at these two images below for a second?

The reason I ask is because of something I recently read that's relevant to the topic. There was this pro-sessrin tweet I saw that stated Rin trying to take care of Sesshomaru when they first met is what a mom would do for a child, which in their opinion, translates to Rin being more like a mother than a daughter if anything.

First off: are you freaking kidding me????

Seriously, so now children aren't allowed to tend to their sick or injured parents?! Parents are apparently superhuman and shouldn't be offered a helping hand from a child, even if they mean well and want to help their parent who's in pain?? Now this Twitter user was mostly being a smartass, but at the same time, it was evident they genuinely thought they offered a valid enough point that warranted no further explanation or clarification.

Secondly, by saying this Sessrin fans don't seem to realize that in actuality they're contradicting themselves and proving the point we've been trying to make all along. Glancing at the first picture and moving down to the second, the role of the one being cared for and the caretaker is reversed. So then by their own logic, Sesshomaru IS in fact like a father to Rin.

What it comes down to is the names you give to the roles these characters play aren't as crucial as the dynamic they share. The specific characteristics of that dynamic are what define the importance of said role, not so much the name in the role itself. So real father or not, Sesshomaru and Rin clearly mean a lot to each other. Close relationships are defined and solidified by the devotion and belonging they have to one another, not solely by the duration of time spent together and their proximity.

Well, that's a wrap! I hope you guys got something outta this blog, and that you enjoyed or found some portions of it interesting. I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject from this fandom, but only engage in conversation if you plan to be respectful. Thank you!

#inuyasha #hanyo no yashahime #sesshomaru #rin #jaken #anti sessrin #child grooming #family dynamics #parent child relationship

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pointnumbersixteen · 3 years

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A Head Cannon Biography and Character Analysis and of the Captain, Part 5: Everything the Captain Does Wrong in the First Flashback of Reddy Weddy in Sixteen Points

Which finally gets us back to the flashback scenes in Reddy Weddy.

Is this about to be over 2,000 words shredding the command performance of my favorite character? Yes, it is, but I do it with all the love in the world.

I’ll start with the first scene, which starts out as a morning brief. It shows just how awful he is at the whole ‘leader of men’ thing. What did he do wrong? This is going to go on for a while. The TLDR version is: literally everything. There is not a single word or action of his in that scene that went right. And it had to be intentional, as Ben Willbond is an admitted military buff, he has to know what proper military bearing is supposed to look like, and he wrote the episode.

I should preface this with saying that I absolutely adore the Captain in this scene, with his silly, over-excitable and ridiculously awkward self. But the first time I saw it, the part of me that spent four years in the US army was screaming inside about how terrible his performance was as a CO. Just picture yourself as one of those respectable and sensible young military personnel sitting in the seats listening to him with the thought, ‘if the Germans come this is the guy that’s going to be responsible for me in battle,’ and try not to cringe just a little.

First, starting with a bit of background: morning briefs are torture. They are the most boring things in the world. Everyone hates them. They’re one of those situations when you can just feel yourself slowly dying. Good commanders know that and try to keep them as short as possible. Bad commanders who don’t mind that their troops are silently hating them the whole time go on a bit longer, but even then, I don’t think I ever sat through one that made it through more than five or six points. The Captain’s very first line in the episode states that he is on POINT NUMBER SIXTEEN (the absurdity of which gave me the handle for this side-blog). His subordinates are blank faced. They’ve probably been tuning this tedious BS out since point number four.

Second, point number sixteen is, to paraphrase, “Why am I still hearing laughter after hours? We are at war. Fun is banned.” In a stern lecture tone. No, Captain, pet, just because the army probably sucked all the joy out of your life, doesn’t mean that no one is allowed to be happy in the military, even during wartime. My dear, actually you should be encouraging them to decompress however they can, as long as it isn’t inappropriate or interfering with their duties, because war is stressful, even if you’re not on the front lines. The military in general is stressful, even when you’re not at war. Joking and horseplay- as long as it isn’t the sort of thing that isn’t going to get anyone injured- is good for morale. And modern militaries have morale officers for a reason. At this point, the man in the middle of the front row breaks his blank face momentarily to give the woman next to him a ‘can you believe this crap?’ look.

Third, the Captain goes on and backs this up by essentially saying (again paraphrased), “I understand you all are bored, I’m bored, too, this shit is boring, but this is where the army stuck us so we have to deal.” Which again is the wrong answer. That is precisely how NOT to motivate people to do their best. This is a situation where the officer should try to generate enthusiasm amongst his subordinates for their roles. Even if he wanted to provide a similar sentiment, the word ‘bored’ never should have entered the equation. Everyone is bored most of the time in the military, but it’s not something the higher ranks acknowledge, because acknowledging it helps nothing. His statement should have been something more like, “I understand that some of you are frustrated that you’re not serving in combat, but what we’re doing here in support of the war effort is important, and it will take all of us doing our parts, both out there on the front, and back here in England, to win this thing.”

Next, when Havers comes in with the message for him, he speculates out loud about it being an answer to his pistol requisition. He shouldn’t have done this, and gets two wrong points for it.

The fourth is because while I find his excitement about that pistol endearing, like a little boy hoping for just the right present from Santa at Christmas (and still pining for it 75 years after his death, as noted in the ‘going to the shops’ game with Fannie in s2e4), it probably comes off as foolish or childish to his subordinates. The gun he really wants to have probably should not be the first thing that comes to his mind when communicating with command. There’s a war on. There have to be at least one or two things that are more important.

The fifth is because you’re not supposed to reveal any of your command requests to your subordinates until you know how they’re going to turn out, and then only the ones that are approved, because if you reveal you’ve requested something and it isn’t granted, particularly something as simple as being issued a side arm, it starts to look like higher command doesn’t favor you or have confidence in you. Which in his case is probably true. But that’s not something he should reveal to his troops by way of letting them know he requested a fancy new side arm and then never received one. He might as well have put a sign on his back that said, “Command trusts me so little they won’t even give me a gun.”

Sixth, when he reads the actual message, he just blurts out something to the order of, “good god, France has surrendered.” Which is not how the other people in the room should have received that information. There should have been some sort of measured, more dignified, official sounding announcement. “It’s my duty to inform you all that unfortunately France surrendered to the Germans yesterday,” or something of the sort at the bare minimum. But no, he just blurts it out. Well, Havers asks him what’s wrong after the “good god” part, but he still shouldn’t have blurted it out.

Seventh, and after blurting it out, he doesn’t add anything to it. France surrendering was a disaster for the British during WWII. It meant Germany was coming for them next. This would have been the time to reassure his men- and women- that although things might look grim, he was confident that high command had a plan and would have everything under control and that there was no way Germany would make it across the channel and that even if they did, the army would be ready. But no, he says nothing of the sort.

Eighth, in fact, he says nothing else to the people who had been present for his briefing at all. After Havers enters the room, he has neither eyes nor words for anyone else. Which is not professional at all.

Ninth, the way he looks at Havers throughout this scene, his face lights up, his voice cheers, his whole demeanor changes. He might have well had a neon sign glowing above his head that screamed ‘I’M GAY FOR THIS MAN!!!’ It would have been the only thing that could possibly be more obvious. When, again, being gay wasn’t okay at all in 1940’s England, and particularly not in the army. I love how incredibly unsubtle he is about his attractions while he clearly thinks he’s being subtle, but that’s not the way it would have been viewed by the people in the room.

Tenth, in his excitement, the Captain just drops the message on the floor. Drops. It. On. The. Floor. He doesn’t even bother to pick it up. Even Havers gives him a funny look for this one. I say again, I find over-excited Cap adorable. His subordinates probably find this ridiculous, though. And if this were a man who was in charge of me and he’d just been giving me a tedious lecture about not laughing at night as part of a sixteen point morning brief, I’d find him ridiculous, too. At best.

Eleventh, then he immediately scrambles to the window and looks around wildly like he expects the Germans might be marching up Button House’s driveway as they speak. Which is plain silly, as Havers has to point to him. It’s obvious to anyone with sense that even if the Germans are going to invade, it will take them a while to organize an invasion, and Button House is unlikely to be one of the early strategic targets. But the Captain seems to forget this momentarily in his excitement and ends up looking silly in front of his subordinates. I’m pretty sure a few of them are laughing at him in the back.

Twelve, the fact that the Captain is clearly ridiculously excited about this development at all is another point against him, because he shouldn’t be. Of course, he’s excited about the renewed prospect of getting a chance to actually fight (see the previous part of this analysis for why he desperately wants such a thing) but that excitement is not good look. He’s thinking about what it means to him personally, rather than what it means to the military and the country as a whole. Again, the fall of France was a disaster for Britain. It means they’ve lost all of the battles they’ve fought to try to hold back the Germans in France. It means they’ve already lost thousands of men attempting to hold back the Germans in France and for nothing. It means they’ve lost their main ally, the ally the spent years successfully holding back Germany with in France in WWI and therefore implies that this war is going to be even worse than WWI, which was already unprecedentedly catastrophic. It means they’re alone against Germany and there’s a good chance that Germany will be invading soon. So, when they get this news and the Captain’s reaction is over-excitement, that does not look good for him. Nothing in this brief looks good for him, of course, but he just keeps digging the hole deeper.

Thirteen, his officer’s bearing (which as I mentioned in an earlier post as one of the indicators before Reddy Weddy of him probably not being a very good officer, as he maintains it well in emotionally neutral situations, but once emotions enter the picture it collapses) starts out fine when he’s actually giving the brief and then goes downhill once Havers enters the room and by the time he’s at the window, his body language is just… what are you even doing? He’s practically bouncing. Also, Cap, why are you randomly shouting? And what are you doing with your hands? (I wonder if he started carrying his pointy-stick everywhere because he couldn’t figure out otherwise what to do with his hands.) Of course, all of this is because he’s a magnificent over-excitable creature, but still… not a good look as a CO.

Fourteen, when they show the rest of the personnel in the room during this part of the scene, you can see clearly on the faces of the two men in from to the left of Havers (at ‘I don’t think they’ll be here just yet, sir’) that they think the Captain’s behavior is a joke… they fix their faces back to blank very quickly, but it’s there. I imagine what most of the men under his command felt for him was either ridicule or contempt, sadly. I feel sad for him, because I want my poor gay son to be loved and respected. But he isn’t in this situation and he doesn’t seem to either notice or care about this.

Fifteen, Havers has to remind the Captain that protocol states they’re supposed to lock down the estate at this point, as the British actually were expecting the Germans to invade after France fell. He shouldn’t have had to have been prompted, particularly not in front of their subordinates.

Sixteen, Havers also has to pretend that the Captain ordered everyone else in the room to go carry out the lockdown, when he didn’t, just shouted vaguely about it being a good idea. Havers then sends them on their way, as it’s clear that in his own excitement, the Captain seems to have forgotten that he’s the one in charge and supposed to be leading and commanding. But I suppose it’s good that Havers took the initiative to get everyone else out of the room as quickly as possible, as this has been literally only like a minute of time, and I’d hate to see how much Cap could embarrass himself in two minutes.

And there it is. I made this sixteen points long as an illustration of just how ridiculously long sixteen points actually is.

I won’t cover the part where the Captain and Havers were alone at the end of this scene, yet, as I’ll include it with the next written bit, which is going to be my analysis of their relationship. That might be a minute, because we’ve reach the end of the parts I actually had significantly written out. I’ve only outlined the Havers relationship section.

#the captain #bbc's ghosts #havers #reddy weddy #the captain was terrible at being a captain #guys help i've put more effort into this analysis of a fictional character than i did for my senior thesis in university

56 notes · View notes

taekooktimeline · 4 years

Text

June 2 & 3, 2020 (filmed) - Soop Episode 8 -

That night it was Tae’s and Joon’s turn to cook. Shortly after they began, Jk made his way to the upper house in case they needed help. It was a common scene to see Jk in the kitchen during their stay, whether he was called upon or joined voluntarily - this occasion being the latter.

The first thing he asks is about how well they were handling themselves in the kitchen.

He continues by making a snarky / teasing comment as he lightly chuckles, jokingly. He’s alluding to the fact that both Tae and Joon are inexperienced cooks. He first looks at Joon and his pasta.

He then moves to observe Tae and changes to a supportive tone, letting him know he’ll happily eat it no matter what the results are. He’s being realistic but telling him to not be afraid to make mistakes.

Jk reassures him by saying one can’t mess up meat - it’ll always taste good.

Tae let’s his insecurities afloat by saying he would never cook again if he messed up such a delicious steak that was so difficult to botch. Jk was well aware of Tae’s lack of confidence when it comes to cooking & that was his way of encouraging him.

Since there is nothing to help them with, Jk silently watches his phone and stays close, waiting to see if he was needed. This precise scenario is actually unfamiliar - at least to Soop viewers.

Jk let’s out a couple more compliments about Tae’s meat before leaving to take a nap. He must not be too interested in the aglio e olio spaghetti since it’s a blander dish by nature.

Later on Jk literally held onto his bed as Hobi woke him up, but once on his feet he checked his phone and then began to run towards the kitchen as he tried to keep on reading his messages. He was apparently eager to eat steak because it appeals to his taste buds, which makes sense. “I really want to eat steak,” he sings.

He stops running to finish reading his messages before entering the kitchen.

Heavy speculation: Turns out Tae needed assistance and couldn’t leave the meat alone. Joon had left him around 5-10 minutes ago, depending on how long Hobi had to insist to Jk to wake up. Could or could not be related to Jk running while checking his phone as there is no way to know. Decide as you wish.

Hobi goes for paper towels while Jk asks what he could do to help - something he has done with other members as well. Tae says he only needed paper towels and plates.

Tae then expresses concerns about his cooking, seemingly having some trouble.

Jk stays as his cooking assistant from that moment onwards - a role he excels at. He first finds paper towels inside the kitchen and stays right by his side -

Then Tae asks him for some help with the seasoning. They cook in harmony -

Jk is the most wanted -

Full cooking scene:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LidgpCh7yKntT0_1VcUq-GhNKS4Wj-eN/view?usp=drivesdk

Later that night, Hobi and Jk spot Tae just as he started lighting fireworks so they make their way to him.

Jk quickly joins Tae, who hands him a firecracker, while Hobi asks about other members.

Taekook are too entertained to worry about the others whereabouts.

They pass the lighter between the two, heavily involved in the bonding activity. “When else will we ever get this opportunity?” they later said.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n2_p1Qd4wUt3qtwWjoatGchl9GWk_fD3/view?usp=drivesdk

Jimin joins them too and all four enjoy the spectacle.

Taekook are the only ones setting the fireworks off. They must be the most excited and daring, taking into account Hobi was pretty scared of getting near.

Tae lights three at once - quite courageously - and runs off. Hobi about Tae: “He’s so eager”.

Hobi and Jk dance in front of the sparks which Tae vocaly marvels about. They are surely having fun together.

Tae prompts Jk to do the same as him and light three at once - scary to do as it’s time sensitive, but with beautiful results. He tried to listen but ran off at 2. This is faintly reminiscent of “we always got scolded together, even back then”.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mUkfEzN38QYCXD1TrqV-ATBDD3_e4OSK/view?usp=drivesdk

June 3 (filmed) - Tae wakens Jk to watch the sunrise, which they later mention. He is seen leaving the floating house a little after the first rays of light start illuminating the sky. *There is debate about whether Tae spent the night in Jk’s room or not, but we think the footage is inconclusive. It doesn’t contradict the official story but it’s also compatible with Tae staying over so decide as you wish. Some think Tae must have stayed over because he wasn’t shown entering the room, but remember this was a 1 or 2 hour long sped-up timelapse with many missing frames (many cuts). It was only luck that a single frame of Tae exiting made it into the final footage. The frame can't be seen in the weverse app due to differences in resolution, compression and frame rate compared to weverse’s desktop version (which is where the illegal uploads came from) as a professional explained to us. We checked the official desktop version and Tae’s frame is still there meaning BH didn’t try to hide it. In layman’s terms - there is no conspiracy from BH to backtrack and omit Tae leaving the boathouse. In order to modify Tae out BH would have to reupload the one file, meaning those viewing via Weverse on a desktop computer would also not see Tae. Only one file is processed and encoded to work across as many devices as possible. This means different versions of the same video in different formats with different compressions - but all derived from the one upload (according to the below cited individual who works in tech). Disclaimer: this individual works in tech and had discussions with her partner, who is also in tech. Please fact check.

Additionally, not turning on the light is respectful since Jk wasn’t obligated to get up. As previously said, anything is possible in this case (as far as if Tae stayed over / when he arrived at the boathouse).

https://twitter.com/tkgkurm/status/1316082109253996544?s=21 or https://twitter.com/borahaestreet/status/1316137683958329347?s=21 or https://www.instagram.com/p/CGS8Ub3IovM/?igshid=6ibd8ghe4ens

The next we see is Tae walking with his selfie camera to Jk to watch the sunrise together. It seems like he was coming back from the main house.

Adorable, sleepy Hobi joins them. Tae says “you did it!” which implies it had been taken into consideration. The gathering might have been talked about the previous night or it could have been spontaneous where Tae woke him up without a warning and hoped he’d make it out of bed. Both Tae and Jungkook happily greet him.

https://twitter.com/flirtaeguk/status/1315991107562401792?s=21

Jk is also sleepy and keeps yawning alongside Hobi, unlike Tae who is very much awake. They both made an effort to accompany him. Jk yawning -

Hobi yawning -

He asks Jk if he pulled an all-nighter.

Jk denies and explains Tae woke him up. *Personal opinion: Sara is inclined to think Tae was the one to pull an all-nighter while he hung out in Jimin’s room judging by his state of alertness (I’m used to doing it and they are too) and how there’s footage of vmin in Jimin’s bed from earlier that night. It’s not easy for Tae to wake up early. Anyhow, it’s not impossible he later hung out in Jk’s room. Regardless of what happened Tae chose & dared to get these two out of bed at such ungodly hours just because he thought the scenery was nice - lacking apprehension - which means he feels very comfortable with them.

Tae disappears and Jk immediately wonders where he went.

*Just for fun - the editors added an adorable caption for Tae canoeing:

Jk giggles when Tae reappears and asks him if he’s having fun - happy to see Tae enjoy himself.

He then compliments his rowing skills.

This causes Hobi to also comment. Jk agrees with an “exactly”.

Jk adds onto it pointing out more details about Tae’s good technique.

More of Jk yawning -

Jk films Tae with his selfie camera. At the start, he says “V” in a deep, playful voice - presenting him to the public (note the subtitle in the below pic - the English subtitle didn’t show “V” when Jk says it but it’s written in the Korean subtitle next to Tae).

When Tae softly asks them what they think of the scenery - looking directly at Jk - the younger sweetly replies with the following -

the original Korean text notes “GCF” (making reference to Jk’s filming skills):

https://twitter.com/borahaestreet/status/1316019584776826883?s=21

and https://twitter.com/flirtaeguk/status/1315996054337150978?s=21

and https://twitter.com/taekook1206/status/1316223828985487361?s=21

; Full sunrise clip:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18uvnNmmboRHRaITTpa98ZKfpCO48abiZ/view?usp=drivesdk

Later on - it seems the members went back to bed after watching the sunrise. Tae wakes up at 12pm and is surprised he slept so little.

He then walks from the main house to the floating house, where Jk is staying.

He doesn’t bother changing out of his PJs as he makes his way to the floating house.

It’s uncertain whether he checks his breath or simply rubs his face as he walks there.

We find out he is, indeed, coming to visit Jungkook.

Speculation - There is debate if Tae locked the door when he entered. Decide as you like.

Personal stances: Sara is basically sure that Tae didn’t lock comparing it to the distinctively different & loud sound it made when Jk locked the door while playing with Jimin (Ep 7 behind the scenes, Jk locking the door: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1729xJUd1fvff5MozK0J7meAj4tZEOZ0w/view?usp=drivesdk ; Hobi closing the door without locking which generates the same “clicking” sound as in Tae’s occasion: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ITikRqRtKYJjVEjCxrF3t42UBu1IcuB6/view?usp=drivesdk) combined with the unlikely context, while Kayla thinks it’s possible (since we don’t see what they are up to for those two hours - maybe Tae unlocks it at some point (not saying they were up to anything but maybe just wanted privacy) + three non BTS listeners seemed certain they heard the door lock when shown the zoomed in clip without context - who Tae is, what room he’s in, etc … but who knows). As we stated above, it’s debatable so please decide as you wish.

Tae closing Jk’s door -

https://twitter.com/taetae_pteryong/status/1313898743939305472?s=21

It turns out Tae preferred to keep on resting with Jk rather than alone in his own bed, even if he had to go on a little walk. He throws his cap off and leans over Jk, his face close.

Note Jk’s raised arm as he slowly turns to have an idea of their positions.

Here Jk’s tattooed arm is blurred next to Tae’s head - Jk still facing upwards.

Tae says “move over” while Jk sleepily groans in protest.

Jk groggily rolls to his side, an act that conveniently gives Tae the space he was searching for & that prompts him to climb over to be the “big spoon” in the cuddle. His foot skims over Jk’s as he latches a leg and arm around him.

some close ups of Tae positioning himself (mostly for their feet since it’s quite intimate) -

https://twitter.com/recorder331/status/1313910423075266566?s=21

In a sweet moment that indicates closeness, Tae tries to pull the blanket up on him so he can be closer and warmer as he cuddles.

Jungkook appears to pull Tae’s arm closer - although it’s unclear. We have differing opinions. Decide as you wish.

https://twitter.com/loveforvguk/status/1314153041659125760?s=21

Tae then playfully boops his leg against JK. He may have wanted him to wake up after all but stay in bed, calmly laying together for a while - although they both ended up feeling too cozy.

Full clip:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15UX3WLZ9jrNjHY5kNo876VQcLUc4-Ux6/view?usp=drivesdk

Hobi heads their way apparently two whole hours later with the intention of waking Jk up. The below images confirm the approximate timeframe.

Hobi says he’ll go wake Jungkook up, seemingly unaware that Tae had joined him in bed.

Once he gets there he first calls for Jk, pauses and also calls for Tae in a higher, slightly surprised tone. Goes to show it was unexpected for him.

Hobi is insistent, they have to eat and leave the cottage soon.

Jk stretches and gets up relatively quickly - although looks sleepy. Taking into account the cut, it must have been a couple of minutes since Hobi entered.

Hobi looks on and doesn’t leave until they get up. He had to make sure. This may be strongly subjective but he seems to have a somewhat wary demeanor, looking at them as if he was studying the situation.

Tae suddenly sprints out of bed.

Note Hobi’s face -

He pauses at the door for a bit before reminding them to hurry up. He might think they are capable of going back to sleep and miss lunch. Maybe that’s the only reason he looks faintly concerned, but that’s up for interpretation.

Publicly debated topic - There was a clear cut between Hobi entering the room and when he talks to Taekook, finally getting them out of bed. ARMY pointed out that the door was left more closed after Hobi entered, but when we see him again - after the cut - it’s wide open meaning someone crossed it in the meantime, which makes people wonder. Jk’s feet also change position which means there was substantial movement. This has led some to believe that Taekook were cuddling quite intimately and the cut was made to hide it.

Skeptical stance: Please keep in mind all content is edited, with cuts, and we don’t necessarily believe this is a big deal. It’s just being noted since it was a widely discussed topic.

Observations(both anticlimactic & open): Contrary to popular belief, Hobi did knock on Jk’s door in ep 7 when he was alone. The cut could’ve just been made to shorten the moment since TK didn’t want to get up. Maybe Hobi went back towards the door after getting a response from them, opened it, hesitated & decided to make sure they got up. Judging by their feet, Tae was already on his back before the cut - same as Jk who was even starting to turn towards the wall. Seeing that their positions weren’t compromising prior to the cut and that Tk were shown cuddling just moments before without a problem, I don’t think BH tried to hide anything with this specific cut. You can decide as you wish. Nevertheless, I think them cuddling before Hobi entered was very possible which is explained below.

Door looks more closed -

As you see, prior to Hobi’s entrance it is indeed possible that Jk was hugging Tae if you observe his legs and how he starts to turn the other way around. His left knee is lifted and folded which would be the one folding over Tae (in the speculative case) while the other leg was straightened. Why the need to move right when Hobi enters? Also, in this action one of his legs is left without a blanket to cover him which could indicate he was closer to Tae just seconds before.

However - still prior to the cut - Jk had already turned towards the wall with both his knees facing that way, therefore, there was nothing to hide anymore - if there ever was.

Tae was also on his back if you look at his right foot’s toe facing the door (the foot with exclamation points is Jk’s facing the wall).

In the next scene, the door is wide open and Jk’s position has changed further - rolling more on his side, straightening his legs and fully covering them with the blanket (except his foot).

https://twitter.com/_k91230v_/status/1314470859361247232?s=21

or may view footage of this in Korean here -

https://twitter.com/hellotae_vv/status/1314213325505400832?s=21

; Full clip:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AVMFqki3PWhCcXlN-rKrEGloODWk9l95/view?usp=drivesdk

Taekook sit next to each other as they eat - possibly the last two to join. They grow impatient when they finish eating and get up. First it’s Jk and then Tae follows suit, surrounding the table to go where he is.

It seems like they cross a few words - although not heard - and for some reason Jk hands his phone over to Tae. We’ve noticed the editors can alter the volume of their mics as Jimin is heard muffled at some point during this scene.

Members urge the duo to sit down so they can say thank you.

Taekook then can be seen walking together towards the main house, but choose to engage in different activities.

Full lunch + tk walking:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qLT2eoYEy_HI8CIbv7Iti-C29io1wZ92/view?usp=drivesdk

While Jk quietly carved wood -

Tae searched for playmates for a water balloon fight - clearly still playful unlike what they tried to portray in ep 6. Tae is certainly calmer compared to his younger self, but he still likes to joke around. The pandemic affected his mood and this was a time for healing, but his core personality didn’t drastically change and it was a recent situation. In late 2019 (around early November) Tae said these words: “They say I’m restless, but that’s who I am. I think that’s why they gave me that nickname. I don’t think my personality will change no matter how much time passes or how old I get. I’d like to be considered a playful person to everyone”. As we said, we reiterate they must have used Tae’s recent mood as the perfect excuse to naturally justify the separation strategy they had been using to pretend they drifted apart these last years.

Back in Seoul, BTS visit the studio to record the theme song for Soop. Even though there is an empty chair, when Tae comes back from recording his part, he proceeds to sit on Jk’s lap, who doesn’t protest. This is what Tae saw as he was entering the room -

He walked past Jk playfully smothering Hobi to leave the paper -

And turned around to look directly at them.

He hesitated for a second - standing still in front of them without looking around - and went for it, claiming his seat on top of Jk.

Jk was smiling, maybe about Tae or maybe about the silly singing he was participating in along other members. Regardless, he was in a good mood & unbothered.

Tae let himself fall flat against Jk, completely relaxed.

Jk started to feel a bit asphyxiated after a while so he gently incorporated himself, making Tae sit straight but with no intention of pushing him off.

Tae stays there for a considerable amount of time, both comfortable and smiling whenever something funny happened.

Note that the members seemed to play a sort of musical chairs. When a member returned from singing, he would take the seat of the person who got up to go record. Therefore, the argument that Tae avoided the seat for Joon isn’t very credible. No one else sits on a lap and no one else had an issue finding a seat when he wanted. (Tae sitting on Jk’s lap: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14UhAYnWI4YWrMNoK3wa69m_tod-X7c9m/view?usp=drivesdk)

When all go in but Yoongi, Joon suggests the members sing in a breathy tone, to which Tae says it’s his speciality.

However, Vmin then show solidarity in hyping Jk’s voice. Right after they agree to an airy tone for the chorus, both Jk and Jimin start softly singing to themselves, but Tae doesn’t hesitate when he suddenly turns to Jk and grabs him by the arm to pull him to the center. As Tae is doing this action, Jimin asks the rhetorical question “isn’t he the best at it?”

Tae has a precious grin adorning his features -

Tae affirms Jk is the best at capturing the breathy tone BTS is striving for as he leads him to the center of the group. The younger shows modesty by questioning their decision as he says “why? why?”.

Notice Tae’s arm still pulling him -

Tae then gestures to the mic, insisting.

He briefly gives Jk’s arm an encouraging pat / light grab as he says again Jk should sing in the center.

Jimin agrees and says Jk is the chorus.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RqnHIjmLPjzxsBKaXbJEkbbiYZT7XQmK/view?usp=drivesdk

Towards the end of the recording session, Tae goes in to record a solo soulful piece (Jk follows after). When Tae begins, Yoongi and Jimin immediately turn to Jk and start laughing loudly, with Yoongi clapping as he laughs (other members also laugh). Jk grins.

Speculative stance: Yoonmin may have turned to Jk because it was expected he’d go in after Tae and “duel” as Yoongi later says. Perhaps they turn to him to gauge his reaction at following in recording his soulful take after Tae.

Jk introduces Tae with a “Here goes V” - raising expectations.

Yoonmin look at Jk as they laugh -

Members really want Jk to record the ad-libs he was doing while sited. They call it a “war” and an “ad-lib battle” (keep in mind neither Tae nor Jk uttered those words).

Once Jk is done and gave them all good laughs, Joon asks him to go back in to do a final ad-lib. Mirroring his prior actions, Tae excitedly hunches forward to get him off his chair and into the studio, very much looking forward to more of Jk’s hilariously soulful singing.

TK ad-lib battle:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x1JYtCG-bwBD6WZWwUQ2WaLpi7gw2-CG/view?usp=drivesdk

#taekook #taekooktimeline #2020 #june 2020 #200602 #domestic #encouragement #supportive #cuddles #closeness #playfulness

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go-ldy · 4 years

Note

I have zero self-control, so, if you're up to it: best and worst episode(s) of Riverdale?

I love this question! Sorry for the delay in answering, I have had to give this the deep thought and contemplation it deserves! Best episodes is easier for me tbh because there are only maybe one or two episodes of Riverdale that I did not like. I’ve decided to break it down into my best/worst for each season.

I’ve tried to approach this being as objective as possible but.... you know, I am only human, and I am easily swayed when Betty and Jughead make out a lot.

Season 1

Best

1x10 or 1x11 with 1x11 having a slight edge. Obviously, the bughead angst content in both is A++ and what I am here for, but I also think that 1x11 in particular does a good job of moving the plot along while developing the characters at the same time (Riverdale is not always good at this ok so it is important to remark on it when it meets this bar!). We have Homecoming, and the incredibly awkward Cooper-Jones pre-Homecoming dinner, and Varchie sneaking into FP’s trailer behind Betty and Jughead’s back, and Veronica desperately trying to determine if her father had a role to play in Jason’s murder, and FP’s arrest (!!!) and Jughead running off at the end in a funk. There is a lot that happens AND everyone goes to a dance! It is sadly rare to have a Riverdale episode where everyone feels intertwined to the main story and where the Core 4 get to interact and develop. Plus, Jughead is so adorably excited about his and Betty’s family meeting even though they are 16 and have been dating for like two months. MY HEART. He was already planning their wedding.

Worst

1x09. It is the only episode of season 1 that felt filler. And I would still rank it higher than the other “worst” episodes on this list. But the main plot of Archie being used by the Blossom family is ehhhhhh. And frankly uncomfortable given his all too real recent past of being used by Ms. Grundy with no acknowledgment from the show whatsoever that these gross adults keep using this 16 year-old kid to serve their own purposes. So yeah, probably the worst of season 1.

Season 2

Best

I have to go with 2x14. Okay, okay 2x05/2x06 are probably better written and better plotted and have less dialogue that makes me want to end myself, but hear me out. 2x14 is the absolute essence of Riverdale packed into 40 glorious minutes:

Each couple has a spat with each other and then against each other, we get Betty versus Jughead, Archie versus Veronica, Bughead versus Varchie, and it is great???? yeah, you all fight over Hiram’s nefarious plot to buy up all the newspapers in town.

Bughead listens to Varchie have sex and the vice-versa like an hour later as normal friends do.

Betty and Veronica talk about abuelita (I must know more about abuelita!).

An entire scene where Archie wakes up early to chop wood?? At someone else’s house? Even though he’s only there for a weekend?? Again, very normal, every day teenage behaviour. And Veronica pervs on him while sipping coffee. Get it, V.

Some of the worst, cringiest dialogue this show has ever had, and that is a HIGH BAR including: “A Vughead Kiss? Right now, in the present, might be precisely what it takes to save a future Bughead from imploding.” THIS IS THE WORST LINE OF DIALOGUE EVER WRITTEN, LIKE OF ALL TIME, I CAN BARELY WATCH. IT IS NAILS ON A CHALKBOARD, END ME.

Archie doing push ups in his bedroom, because OF COURSE ARCHIE RANDOMLY DOES PUSHUPS BEFORE BED AND ALSO WHEN UPSET HAVE YOU SEEN HIM. And then Veronica propositions him for sex and Archie, still mad about Vughead, turns her down. And this is an actual scene that takes up time in a 40 minutes episode??? I love it.

Lodge Lodge

They play monopoly

And then get attacked by home invaders!!!

Who Archie chases into the woods only for one of them to be killed by Andre so that Hiram can later frame Archie for a murder he didn’t commit.

anyway 2x14 is the best episode of Riverdale maybe ever, tell your friends.

Worst

2x11 for the reasons @arsenicpanda has articulated before - mostly involving the clumsy way that the writers tried to parallel the Serpents to the plight of Native Americans. And Jughead’s awkward white saviour plotline, eugh. Although bonus points for Archie trying to wrestle to impress Hiram for some reason?? I can’t hate it.

Season 3

Best

Season 3 has a lot of contenders. I’m torn between the parentale breakfast club episode (which also featured crazy-G&G-Jughead, a fave of mine) and the Prom episode, but I’m going to go with 3x20, Prom Night because this episode is a sheer delight from start to finish. Hal Cooper fakes his own death by cutting off his hand and then he replaces it with a hook - legends only. CHONI FOR PROM QUEENS until the dream is killed by Edgar. U KNOW that is when Cheryl started reconsidering the whole Farm business even with the whole being able to talk to Jason’s corpse thing.

Bughead investigate shit and make great faces. Varchie go to prom as the least platonic “friends” ever and it is adorable. Everybody somehow wears the best outfits even though Bughead changed the Prom theme the night before. Betty being chased through the school by the Black Hood/her dad is legitimately terrifying. 10/10.

Worst

3x09, hands down. I have a lot of beef with this episode. My main beef is that 3x08 ends on this great cliffhanger and there is zero payoff? Jughead and FP come home to find the town is under QUARANTINE, no one is allowed IN OR OUT, and then in 3x09, he is snuggling in bed with Betty and it was like????? but what about the quarantine?? how did you get back in?? honestly the first time I watched 3x09, I thought I must have skipped an episode, but NOPE, the quarantine cliffhanger was waved off and I will never forgive them for this.

Secondly, most of this episode is spent in Archie’s feverish dream/hallucination and I just find dream episodes real dull, sorry Archie. I love that Archie tried to box a bear, I mean good for him, but the the dream sequences are boring.

Season 4

Best

A tie between 4x14 and 4x15. I just love these two episodes. The Preppies are legit the best villains this show has ever had (especially Donna, my love <333). There were real stakes for the Core 4, and even though I was pretty sure Jughead was not dead, I was still insanely happy to see him again in 4x15. Betty threatening Donna in the woods while wearing Jughead’s sherpa is a total bamf move, MARRY ME, BETTY COOPER. Jughead’s faux funeral is a+. Even the BA fake dating scheme (before it went horribly awry in the following episodes) is hilarious to me. Like, what kind of horrible plan is this?? if Betty seriously dated Archie following Jughead’s death, she would need therapy STAT, but the town of Riverdale is just like “oh ok I guess Jughead is dead.” Okay, sure. Plus Donna taunting Betty over the fact that she apparently can’t go two hours without needing to bone Jughead and therefore Betty’s plan was doomed to failure. How was this a real scene that happened. Oh my god, these episodes are so great.

Worst.

4x17. I mean, obviously. Please don’t make me have to explain.

#arsenicpanda #riverdale #riverdale discourse #bughead

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sweetrupturedlight · 4 years

Text

This week on Sen Çal Kapımı

We pick up exactly where we left off and there’s copious hand-holding, cuddles, kisses (see: cheek, lips and eskimo), giggles, a coffee date, breakfast date, dinner date, adorable banter, shameless flirting and no concept of personal space. Oh, and Serkan’s heart eyes continuously devour Eda with expert precision.

Before we jump right into it, let’s review last week’s bulleted list of things I expected was coming.

From the fragman, Serkan names a star or something after her #squee

Selin finally getting it

Aydan not getting it

Seyfi being over the moon - along with Melo no doubt

I’m 3.5/4. But come on, we know Melo loves her bro-in-law right?

Now, onto this week. Seeing Serkan clearly in love - and embracing it - is delightful to watch. The natural chemistry between Hande and Kerem have the room to shine brightly as the script allows them to dial the romance setting to ‘roast’. Serkan’s growth as a character is never more evident. The surly, stern taskmaster of old is replaced by a smiling (spontaneously), belly laughing, and downright playful young man in love. And its just squee inducing to watch. When he confesses to Eda that she is addictive, I thought his mood (and how Kerem plays Serkan) clearly demonstrates the effect that the emotion has on him - of being unable to focus, feeling light, happy, carefree and confident.

Throughout the romantic comedy, there is an underlying ripple of vulnerability. I love that the show doesn’t take for granted that Serkan has never been in love - and that being in love and confessing it - especially to a woman he didn’t believe could love him back - is also scary. Numerous times throughout the episode he asks for confirmation that she returns his affection. While its played as lighthearted banter - and provides ample opportunity for us to smile like idiots as they flirt outrageously - it’s also a reminder that he is a loner by nature and putting himself at the mercy of someone else cannot be easy. His concern that she will tire of him was adorable but also tinged with anxiety. She is a fairy to him - whimsical and carefree - and he must worry a little that someday, she will fly away without him. That said, he’s jumped all in. For a man who’s never really cared for romantic entanglements, he sure learns fast… as Eda says, he is a romantic robot, with a fierce beating heart.

Finally, I love that Eda’s education is important to her - but its also something Serkan recognises and supports. Their two-month deal is a postponement, not a cancellation of her plans. It’s not her putting him first and disadvantaging herself. Its an opportunity for them to get to know each other, spend time together, for him to wrap up pressing business matters and organise himself around a move to Italy to support the woman he loves as she pursues her interests and education. That’s fantastic! I love that its not an issue. He didn’t try and convince her to study in Turkey. Her dream is Italy. So he will rearrange his life in order to support her. That’s a partnership and I love to see it.

Things I loved about this episode:

All he handholding. Listen, I’m a simple shipper. Give me the basics, and I’m in hog heaven

The lack of personal space. They literally breathe the same air 99% of the time. It’s romantic, endearing and also more than a little blush-inducing??? Or is it just me? The breakfast scene was one of my favourites for this very reason.

Despite prompting Eda to confess her feelings, Serkan’s confessions kept escalating. He goes from I love you, to all I see is you, to I want to hug you, hold you, kiss you, I’m addicted to you, I can’t think/work with you around. Adorable.

Eda fixing Serkan’s collar. A small moment, but reminded me of her unbuttoning his shirt in the stairwell during the first episode. How far they’ve come.

The simplicity of framing them in each other’s arms on a couch was a fantastic way of showcasing their domesticity as well as highlighting their chemistry. I also loved Serkan in that brown shirt? It was a great wardrobe choice to highlight his downtime.

Things that confused me:

Ayfer’s continued “anti-Serkan” agenda. It remains puzzling. It’s completely incongruent with her previous assessment of him. So this plot point continues to feel a little shoehorned and forced in order to move us towards a storytelling arc.

Hiding their romance was fun this episode. But hopefully, everything is out in the open next week. They deserve a little normal after all the crazy of the weeks that came before. Sneaking around now just feels too over the top for a sustained plot point.

Alptekin and Aydan truly annoy me. Serkan’s father is apparently a man who built a successful company. Yet everything about him screams inept to me. Both his wife and son are unhappy with his conduct, his business decisions don’t seem very sound (at least from Serkan’s perspective) and the elephant in the room - his previous undesirable business practices. Aydan continues the “Choose Selin” crusade when doing that would hurt a myriad of people - including Ferit and Eda. It’s selfish and lacks any awareness of what is going on around her. Perhaps that is the meta-commentary on her character, seeing as she is unable to leave her self imposed prison. Get them both out of here. Please and thank you.

Engin’s romance? Honestly, I don’t care at all. He has no chemistry with Piril and call me salty, but did the camera linger on their kiss longer than any other on the show? Maybe I am just being salty. Moving along.

Low key confused about how sad I felt for Selin? She isn’t my fave, and yes, Ferit deserves more than a woman who literally planned to dump him 0.5 seconds before their wedding day, but I guess she realised that the love of a man who adores her is a better choice than chasing a pipedream. Plus, the humiliation of being dumped at the alter… how does one recover. Not sure what her character brings to the show now seeing as her connection was through Ferit. So we’ll see...

Urm… who else is low key rooting for Ferit and Ceren? Didn’t see that one coming, but at least it’s an exciting development.

Things I know is coming:

Some third-party, potential romantic interest for Eda? Don’t see how this will work because she only has eyes for Serkan. So perhaps “romance” isn’t the direction it will take… one can only hope.

The Bolat’s trying to break up Eda and Serkan? Not sure why that’s necessary. Serkan certainly had nothing to do with - nor any knowledge of - his fathers aforementioned undesirable business practices. While I have no doubt this will create tension, I hope to God they don’t tell Serkan and have him wrestle with how to tell Eda and in doing so, create secrets and distance between them.

Eda tells either Ayfer or her besties that she and Serkan are in love. #HereForIt

“I can’t breathe when you’re not here” !!! #CallTheParamedic

And most importantly:

Seyfi remains my absolute fave.

Do they have an overnight stay next week? Because… it sure looked like it.

#FlingsSelfIntoTheEverLovingSun #NotPrepared

#sen cal kapimi #edser #serkan bolat #eda yildiz #Sen Çal Kapımı #naz rambles

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b-rainlet · 4 years

Note

That bitch Ecco

*insert John Mulaney’s ‘She’s a bitch and I love her so much!’ here*

Why I like Them/Why I don’t

Her introduction is her punching Jerome in the face, how can someone not love her, omg.

I mean, we know nothing about her which maybe makes it harder to relate to her but I just think it makes her more intriguing. Like, what about her parents? Her Father apparently left when she was little, but what about her Mum?? When did she meet Jeremiah? Why the fuck did she pledge her life to him? Please, she’s a badass, why is she hanging around with him???

(Also where the fuck did she learn to fight, did she teach herself? Was she doing some kind of martial arts? Was she trained as a spy or something?? What is her past?????)

And then we have her going from a proxy to being Harley and like....once again, there’s no explanation as to why. I just enjoy thinking scenarios for her, wondering why she turned out the way she did and I am going through her tag daily, looking for some Ecco centric stuff - or even Eccomiah stuff that focuses on her a little (but she’s part of the female characters who get sidelined for Wayleska, just like Selina, which...I ship too! It’s nice! But sometimes I wanna have her tagged in a fic where she actually has a role aside from being mentioned once).

(Also I am a hypocrite and I hate when Selina is being pushed aside or forgotten when other Bruce ships come to play but I have some Selina/Jeremiah wips where I’m like ‘Bruce who????’ ahkdhaskjd, sue me for loving girls).

Also, Ecco is simply adorable and I saw her shake her head to rattle the bullet inside it and was like: Baby

(If Jeremiah won’t treat her right, I definitely will).

Favourite Episode/Favourite Season

She has so little episodes where she features, but she’s a delight in every scene she features in.

Favourite Season would probably be Season 5 because she has a bigger portion of screentime there and she’s Harley instead of Proxy or Mummer and while both of those personas are awesome (and fear-inducing), she’s a lot of fun crazy and unhinged.

Favourite Episode is Ace Chemicals, I’d say. Not that she has a big role in it (that would probably the scene where she fights Selina) but she’s interacting with Jervis there and that scene not only is my header but also made me ship them (and caters to my bisexuality alsjsadnln).

Also I have a fanfic in the works based on that scene because you cannot tell me that Jervis isn’t all heart-eyes over her.

(In my heart, every single villain adores Ecco and hates Jeremiah and they put up with him for her - but they’re all just quietly waiting for her to leave him lmao, they got the chocolate and roses ready, just in case).

Favourite Line

The only Ecco lines I have in my head are ‘Our cover is blownski’ and ‘She got me, Daddy’ and the last one made me fucking nauseous to listen to within the circumstances (I mean, deep fry Jeremiah? Really? No.) so I don’t have a favourite line I think.

But she also doesn’t talk much ashkhks, she either doesn’t talk at all as the mummer or let’s Jeremiah monologue.

(She’s probably more of a ‘Do it’ instead of talking about it girl and I stan her).

Favourite Outfit

ALL OF THEM

They’re all beautiful, props to the costume department

(also sorry you can't see them well, I used gifs from old edits that where still on my phone)

OTP

You would think it’s Eccomiah - and I do love them a lot - but I would give an arm and a leg for some Ecco/Jervis or Ecco/Selina content.

(Also Ecco/Bruce could be adorable and fucking hilarious at the same time, I love them).

Ecco is very much shippable with everyone and I’d read anything about her (pls I’m desperate).

(Also she deserves to be treated like a queen by someone to make up for the awful way Miah treats her in canon, so am I gleefully imagining scenarios of her leaving him and finding someone who treats her right while he’s cursing everything and feels miserable? Maybe).

Brotp

All the girls! Like Ecco and Ivy and Bridgit having meetups where Ivy and Bridgit keep telling her to dump her trash boyfriend askhjafbska

(But tbh, I can see every duo I’ve listed as an OTP as a Brotp too and vice versa. I mean...., you should like your spouse as a friend too askdkjdbkb).

Idk why, but I can’t really warm up to Ivy/Ecco (which is basically Harley/Ivy), but maybe that’s precisely because it would be like Harley/Ivy and I’m not really a fan of those two.

(I also have to admit that I enjoy Ecco a lot more than Margot Robbie’s version of Harley Quinn).

Headcanon

Umm...idk? I kinda thought about her being russian? But I think that’s quite a popular thought, I saw some people mention it before!

My headcanons usually change to adapt the current au I am thinking about but a hc I keep in most of them is that Ecco was pretty straight to the point before she became Harley and that she isn’t one for social cues. She’s blunt.

(Which for me mostly means that Jeremiah pre-spray tried to flirt with her and she just. Didn’t respond to any of it. Not because she isn’t interested but because she doesn’t think much about Miah offering her things like sleeping in the guest bedroom. Makes sense, he works late and she’s within reach in case he needs anything, while he overthinks everything and basically offered her to move in with him lmao).

Unpopular Opionion

Idk if that’s unpopular but she’s a really good Harley Quinn version (I think all their villain versions are very good? Like, they also have the best joker version(s), Gotham knows how to entertain me).

A wish

Please, whoever’s in charge, drop what the writers would’ve done with her if Gotham wouldn’t have been cancelled, I am curious.

Was she meant to die and be replaced at one point to show how Miah is actually looking for the ‘finished’ Harley version, like it’s alluded to in the finale? If she’s not his forever companion, would she have betrayed him at some point? Or if she is supposed to be Harley, would she have teamed up with Ivy at some point?

Would we have gotten more scenes of her interacting with other villains? Would we have seen a bit more of her past or maybe a flashback scene of the shooting?

(I don’t think so, they probably would’ve kept her an insignificant side character but an enby can dream).

Also, if I’m already wishing, someone release the cut scenes involving her.

An oh-god-please-don’t-ever-happen

Finale? Which Finale? Gotham ends with Bruce leaving and nothing happens after that :)

5 words to best describe them

I’ll give you four ;)

Endearing

Cuckoo

Consecrated (to sth.)

Overlooked

My nickname for them

WIFEY

#Ecco

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