#next to normal rant

[pontmercysamis]

unpopular interpretation? regarding bway vs west end gabe goodman.

okay, im seeing a lot of posts comparing aaron tveit and jack wolfe as gabe, and the differences in their portrayals. a lot of people are chalking it up to jacks being more of a sad ghost, and aaron’s more of a malicious manifestation, which i don’t disagree with! however, i have always regarded gabe in both lenses since i first heard the show, so it was suprising to me that this was the interpretation. instead, i thought it had to do more with how times have changed since 2008 regarding male main characters. more under cut.

because next to normal takes place in the “modern day” i don’t think most of us think of it as a dated show, but visually, it most certainly is. in the original production, gabe spends most of the show in those y2k cross shirts, diana is almost entirely in skirts and tights, natalie is DEFINITELY a by-product of the “not like other girls” era (i can make a post on this, too)

but we know the relationship between diana and gabe is played some what as oedipal, because he’s an extension of herself. gabe is like the first victim of the draco malfoy affect. he’s evil? …but he’s hot! that’s why he pole dances!

in 2008, every love interest in a rom com was six feet tall, absolutely jacked, and possessive? this is the era of chad michael murray and singing at girls. this is the era of rom coms where every couple should’ve been in therapy. because we’ll never know what gave really would have looked like, he gets to be perfect! and possesive! and on the football team! because this was what was considered hot in 2008. it’s why aaron is in his boxers.

in 2025, the family dynamic is much more relaxed. diana wears jeans, because she’s a millennial and a mom and that makes sense. natalie gets to have fun outfits, because her wearing tights has nothing to do with how smart she is. but gabe? we don’t find men pushing you around hot anymore, thank god. so what is? the white boy of the month!! gabe isn’t possesive because that would scare the audience. there’s a world, for one, would become so much scarier. instead, he’s the white boy with the curly hair and the grandpa sweaters, perfectly engineered for the fangirls to make uwu edits about him, as they already are!

in order to understand diana’s grief and depression, one has to understand why gabe is compelling. why would we want to feel sympathy, want to root for him? and the quickest subconscious way to do that is visually. in 2008, it’s aaron with no clothes on. in 2025, it’s jack and the close ups on his eyes. and yet, they both manage to do the opposite as well. jack is genuinely scary to dan in im alive and i am the one. aaron is soft to diana in i dreamed a dance/there’s a world. it’s both at the same time, and two amazing performances!!

in this house, we love gabe goodman, for all the weird and fucked up that he is.

[amogus-real-not-clickbait]

AAAAA FORGOT TO FEED YALL OMG

part 3 offfff the thing!!!! the. yea

| 1 | 2 | 3 | ... |

ITS CARROTS TIME BABEYYY!!!! legendary fic series by @crowned-ladybug 99999/10 would read again WILL read again will never shut up about it aaaaaaaaahghghh!!! GO READ IF U LIKE SOFT & COLORS

[fireflysugarpie]

cumplane au but they both keep accidentally dom-ing each other

[awomanunkind]

the messy hair hanging around the headphones oh my god just kill me now

[repurposedmeatlocker]

Guess who just graduated university

[sefusian]

Watched the PBS proshot of Next to Normal with my sister because she mentioned it exists - I now understand y there's an overlap in falsettos and n2n fans (she cried her face cream off and I think it's fully deserved)

[ryzheling]

thinking about ngm and his damn coat and omegaverse and me nesti-

[imerian]

My (very old) loscar brooch (?) that i just now made doodles for

More pictures under cut

[roseworth]

the really interesting thing about the trinity of musicals in 2016 (hamilton, dear evan hansen, be more chill) is that the only thing that they really have in common is the potential for yaoi. which you would think makes sense but this is broadway we’re talking about so there is yaoi everywhere. there are so many musicals about gay men and there are even more musicals with queerbait. so what the hell was it about those three that made people on tumblr obsessed with them

[crowleyholmes]

Guys help I think Crowley is possessing me I am very suddenly overcome by such a WAVE of love for Aziraphale????

I mean I've always loved him but Jesus Christ it just got turned up to 100 suddenly I mean he's just so GOOD isn't he???!!!

He's so kind and he's so nice and he's so PRETTY I mean have you seen him in his little outfit with the comfortable-old-couch waistcoat he refuses to ever take off and the silly little bowtie he thinks is so stylish and you know it actually KIND OF IS but ONLY on him??!?! and that beige coat that suits him so well and he just looks so well put together and also so soft and cozy at the same time like HAVE YOU SEEN HIM???

And he's so gentle and he's so full of love for everyone and everything and he always tries So Hard to do the right thing... and he's so ready to change his mind about what The Right Thing is when he is presented with new information like that is such a rare trait!

And he's so FUN, you know all his weird little hobbies I mean who collects old prophecy books and misprinted bibles ONLY this weirdo!! And he's so obsessed with silly little magic tricks that aren't even magic at all when he could very easily do real magic instead but noooo, making people think you're doing real magic when your Not Actually doing real magic is so much more fun apparently idk??? And he collects licenses (shooting guns, driving cars, literally who knows what else, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if my guy knew how to scuba dive and fly a plane), and he learned French the hard way just because?? He likes learning I guess?? And he's so bad at it, it's so silly it's Infuriating but it's also so endearing he's taking such JOY in it!!

And maybe you'd THINK that's all he is, sweet little goofball, but no!!!! Beneath all that soft exterior, this very intentionally soft and fun and kind exterior that he's carefully cultivated for millennia, he's also so incredibly brave. I think about how he was ready to face the thing he feared the most, to save three innocent kids. He was so ready to give up everything he had, fall from grace and spend eternity in hell, just so these kids could live. Just so that family would be spared the grief. Just so they could have a few more short years of human happiness. He lied to his boss for justice and he lied to GOD for justice and he somehow got away with it who does that??? AZIRAPHALE IS WHO. And he Never backs down did you see him pick up his little sword at almost-Armageddon when Lucifer himself rose from hell to end it all and my angel was ready to fight Satan Himself if he had to HELLO???

And then he blew up his halo and casually declared war on hell to save two humans and his former boss and his bookshop what a fucking badass!!?!?

And have I mentioned how pretty he is yes I have but it's worth mentioning again because have you seen his eyes?? Color of the fucking sky, they are, and his nose is so perfectly shaped and his stupid lips with his stupid cupid's bow, and his hair!! Is just so Damn soft it's and I just want to watch him be himself and do his thing but I also want to HOLD him and protect him and keep him safe from everything because if anything ever happened to him I-... UGH.

I don't KNOW.

I JUST LOVE HIM SO MUCH.

[tomorrowonu]

....... you do realize that wonwoo is not dead and that he will come back, right?

[cadavorcist]

i love being normal about fictional characters

[femslashspuffy]

I JUST said it but this jack outfit isssss sooo Luke Skywalker Return of the Jedi. They basically have him in chanel boots

Jack really said, if I'm gonna be morally ambiguous I need to dress the part

[zomboyfren]

As much as I dislike A.nahardt, some ships are so much worse in my eyes

[constellationofcalibur]

one of my cats died and I genuinely just feel a sense of emptiness now that he’s gone. he was a cat we had raised quite literally since birth. he wasn’t even two years old yet. he didn’t deserve to go. he didn’t deserve to die and yet he did and I feel awful that there was nothing I could do for him. all I could do was be the one who sat with him and watched him pass. I don’t know how to feel about this right now. I cried originally upon discovering he was starting to go but I have no tears for him now that he’s gone and that makes me feel even more awful.

[chilinandeppresing]

I have an idea.

An LMK Season 5 Theory:

The underworld has many reasons to hate Wukong, and Macaque and possibly even some other members of the group. Wukong has virtually eliminated the possibility of death, Macaque has died but managed to return to life, and Wukong's old traveling buddies, Pigsy, Tang and Sandy should technically all be dead but are either suffering from amnesia, reborn(which shouldn't be the case for Tang because his rebirth cycle was supposed to have ended), or simply have outrun death somehow + the amnesia or memory erasure. But most of these people are out of the Underworld kings reach, all under "protection" by the Celestial realm. Wukong, Pigsy, Tang and Sandy all TECHICHALLY immortal warriors of the celestial realm, while Macaque was raised from the dead by somebody with underworld powers, LBD, possibly with some authority there that they don't want to disrespect even after her death.

With all of this taken into consideration, the theory that one of these guys will be dragged back into the underworld is hard to believe, even with the Celestial Realm in shambles and LBD dead. So I have another possibility.

What if, due to the way he was born, Mk isn't in the "book of death" at all? And due to this, and the fact that nobody of celestial realm status(like if they attacked him the celestial realm would defend him) is protecting him, they may be curious about what he is. Possibly even hoping he could be their weapon. Or possibly just wanting him to not be able to escape death. Although I doubt that, at least one of the Kings of the Underworld seemed to have some sort of plan. A plan that involves Mk. I mean, did anybody else see the weird connection that Mk seemed to have to the fabric of reality? Immediately when the Universe was almost ripped apart, he lost his connection to his monkey form. Why? What could they be planning to do? Maybe they do want him as a weapon, or at least one of them does so that he can reshape reality in their image.