#no because i’m reading tbk

[girlmetamorphed]

dostoevsky be like maslow’s hierarchy of needs but it’s just interrupting whatever it’s being narrated to specify that the young male character is hot as fuck

[angelusmonts]

Someday I’m gonna read Demons I swear

[girl-kendallroy]

god i wish there was a russian literature class at my school.... please......

[uglygirlstatus]

Curious to see how you’d rank every Riverdale musical episode

this ask has been in my inbox for months because I could not make up my mind whatsoever and had to rewatch all musical eps 2x each to decide.

Splitting rankings into categories for my own sake: Songs (ranked on both quality and integration), Plot (entertainment value of the storyline points featured), and Iconry (ratio of special/memorable/iconic lines and scenes)

#6. American Psycho

Songs ⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I remember somehow being underwhelmed when I first watched this because I had really hyped myself up after reading the episode description. But now in a post-50sdale world, I realize how lucky we were with this one. We got SlaughterCon, Cheryl and Kevin hexing Toni and Fangs, Betty being gay, Kevin not warning Betty in advance that he added a bit to his musical number where Doctor Curdle Jr dresses as TBK and then getting visibly annoyed with her when she interrupts it fearing for his life, Betty finally killing TBK and he’s literally just wrapped in duct tape and garbage bags, AS WELL AS Archie’s Labour Union all in one episode. However, since this IS a ranking of musical episodes, I’m afraid I can’t let the incredible plot compensate too much for the lack of strong musical bangers.

Stand out lines:

“It’s your dad’s knife. I bought it on eSlay.”

“Betty Cooper, are you hot for agent Drake?”

“You’re one of us. An American Psycho.”

Not a line but shoutout to Lili Reinhart’s boobs in You Are What You Wear.

#5. Carrie

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cheryls heavily autotuned explosion into “THATS NOT MY NAAAAAAAME” will forever tickle me. And her finale drenching herself in blood and coming to her mother with the candelabra to threaten burning down their mansion for a second time is one of the top ten Cheryl Blossom moments for all time. Everything about the presence of Alice Cooper also kills me like she is IN this high school musical. Madchen I could listen to pitch correction software fighting for its life against your dulcet tones forever. I read in a Twitter thread by the duo who produces all the Riverdale music that Madchen had literally never sung in her entire life prior to this episode. And they still gave her a solo. Amazing. The plot doesn’t carry as much weight for me in this one but the I love the integration of the music, and it also gave us the first ever Beronica duet and Fifi appearance. Oh and rip Midge!

Stand Out Lines:

“I will not succumb to thespian terrorism!”

“I’m not the same girl who burned down Thornhill.” “Sure you are!”

“Nightmare child, what do you want from me?!”

#4. Next to Normal

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️

This one has real emotional impact okay. It was genuinely moving. I love when the musical episodes tackle a huge range of plot lines and still try to apply the niche musical choice of the season to each of them. We have Cooper grieving & family choreography and spite-Jabitha and Cheryl attacking her mother with song & holy water and Varchie being useless and Britta becoming Cheryl’s little child servant/protege. Reggie is there too. Also all of the music hits for real. It’s a shame that “I Am The One” and “I’m Alive” had so much cut in the ep because the spectres of Polly and Charles are killing it on the harmonies in the full versions. I could listen to Lili Reinhart sing all day long. Above all though I think my favourite part is the uncanny photoshop of Alice and Betty and Polly in front of the Next to Normal Broadway poster.

Stand Out Lines:

“YOU’VE GOT SOME NERVE JUGHEAD, AND I’M JUST ALL NERVES!”

“I’m gonna eat in the garage.”

“You remind me of Hiram Lodge.” “I don’t know who that is. But please, have a Swelligrino for the road.”

#3. Heathers

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Guys It’s so crazy that Midge literally died in the middle of our musical last year. Anyway time for Heathers! Something fun about this episode is that I first watched it before I was fully Riverdalepilled and was still foolishly rolling my eyes at the show while I watched with my mom and sister. I was like “guys Heathers is actually a great musical, it’s going to be hard for me to see what Riverdale does to it”. We began watching and very soon my mom and sister were commenting on the music. It quickly dawned on me that they were complaining about the aspects of the show that were more or less unchanged from the original musical. And I had a great epiphany moment where I realized 1) Heathers is sort of bad 2) if I loved Heathers the musical in earnest then why should I not love Riverdale? Heathers was actually PERFECTLY CRAFTED to be performed by the Riverdale cast. Anyway. This episode had a lot going for it. Lodge divorce arc straight into Veronica partying. Kevin’s sudden perm. Toni’s threesome fake out. Our favourite Chad Michael Murray Rhythmic cult clapping. And of course KJ Apa doing this

Stand Out Lines

“Did you have a lobotomy for breakfast?”

“Here I invented red. I AM red. *snaps*”

“Evelyn called a closed rehearsal for select members in the Gargoyle Chamber.”

#2. Archie the Musical

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This one had EVERYTHINGGGGGGGG. Fun with the meta narrative and original songs mixed with covers taken from various obscure and specific sources and by far some of the most fun choreography and sets of all musical episodes since they were able to be so free with it. Seeing Gay Kevin back in his natural habitat of directing the school musical was so heartwarming. Jughead and Reggie quitting immediately. Archie going left. And Archie going right. Bisexually. Julian demolishing Archie vocally every chance he gets. And knowing it. Also every single facial expression and mannerism that Julian has in this episode is god tier. Actually kj apa too. Actually also Lili and Camilla. SANDWICH? The loudest in-song sound effects we’ve ever experienced. Archie the happiest he’s ever been in his life on the back of Toni’s bike. BERONICA - PRIMAL AND INTENSE! My review is barely coherent because this one does fill me with silly giddy joy. Plot loses a star because how the hell are we expected to care about Gay Kevin’s divorcing parents. I know “ohh suffering isn’t a competition ohhh” Ethel just watched her parents get murdered by a milkman and no one sang for her.

Stand Out Lines:

“I don’t wanna be a drip, but it’s super distracting when my understudy is singing literally at the same time as me!”

“You completely captured the longing of being in a queer, interracial relationship in the 1950s.”

“Maybe there are other more emotionally complex mountains to climb.”

“The new Archie, Julian, he’s even better than the real Archie!”

#1. Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

On a 9 hour flight to Europe in the Summer I had all the Riverdale musical eps downloaded to rewatch and then noticed that among the plane’s complimentary movie selections was the original movie of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which was pure kismet. I decided to watch the movie for the first time prior to rewatching the Riverdale ep and I was blown away. Knowing the context of all the songs and musical they chose to include in the episode made everything so much more insane. The song about feeling like a stranger in your body after surgical malpractice being used for the Bughead conflict over Juggie prioritizing mysteries over finishing high school and Varchie conflict over Archie not telling Veronica about her dad’s epic fail at the gym. 20? something year old gay Kevin proclaiming WE ARE GENERATION Z before jumping into Random Number Generation. The BIZARRELY spliced version of the best ever rendition of Origin of Love all for BARCHIE FODDER?!? Actually all the rest of the songs were perfectly fitting no notes. Anyway hallway full of students in Hedwig drag one of the top Riverdale shots ever though I forever mourn KJ Apa’s absence. At least he got to kiss a man in this one. The plane hit turbulence while I watching the Midnight Radio scene but I was so happy witnessing it in that moment that I thought to myself “it would be ok if I died right now”.

Stand Out Lines:

“Writing a book report? Now I know how Sisyphus must have felt.”

“It celebrates identities, genders, expressions of all kinds.”

“[scoffs] How queer-phobic of you.”

“There’s a problem that comes once you get caught up on your homework. Your mind wanders and evil creeps back in.”

I was convinced Archie the Musical would come out on top for me due to the obscene level of euphoria I felt upon first experiencing it but after intensive review I do have to say Hedwig wins. Ultimately I miss the original timeline that much and I am all for the events that eventually tear apart everyone’s relationships and most of all it gave us Origin of Love full version Riverdale cast edition. But know that it is so so so so so close between the two. And honestly really all 6 are close in my heart as this exercise reminded me just how much the musical episodes are to watch and rewatch.

[imakemywings]

Sapphic Book Recs

Moving outside the realm of fanning out over characters we already know, here are a few book recommendations that feature or center F/F relationships. (Note: I am NOT including comprehensive trigger warnings--please mind your triggers if you choose to check any of these out!)

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir - My personal favorite on the list. If you’re into the F/F lit scene at all, I’m sure you’ve heard of these. TLT is a masterpiece of modern fantasy and has enough moments where its glib tone gives way into something raw and real that it keeps the stakes high and the reader invested. The characters jump off the page and the worldbuilding is colorful and strange. However, if you’re easily squicked by gore, you might want to give these a pass--necromancy is a central pillar of the world and Muir does not hold back on the ick factor.

Recommend if you:

Like stories that keep you guessing

Like messy characters

Savor a bit of codependency in your F/F

The Burning Kingdoms trilogy by Tasha Suri - TBK is a fantasy series set in a fictional country inspired by ancient India. Suri weaves together the stories of several characters and does an excellent job of showing how her two main protagonists--Priya and Malini--are torn between their attraction to each other and the roles of responsibility they choose to take up. Suri also does an excellent job of allowing the female characters to drive the plot, even where they don’t exist in positions of power. (Longer review here)

Recommend if you:

Want female-focused fantasy

Enjoy the push and pull of “duty vs. love”

Enjoy multi-POV stories that unfold gradually

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters - Fingersmith is a period romance piece that involves deceit, heist plans, and falling in love with the mark. This is one of those books where re-reading it a second time will definitely feel different than the first go. Waters does a great job with the interplay of the characters’ motivations which are gradually revealed throughout the book.

Recommend if you:

Enjoy spy/heist stories

Love it when characters lie to each other

Are mostly looking for romance

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon - An epic high fantasy novel clocking in at over 800 pages, Priory covers a lot of ground and a lot of fantasy staples. Ead, an outsider to the court of Inys, has taken it upon herself to secretly guard the queen for reasons of her own--with the results you might hope for as she gets closer to Sabran.

Recommend if you:

Enjoy a romantic subplot but don't want it to take over the action

Enjoy multi-POV stories that unfold gradually

Like the tension of "duty vs. love”

Want an epic dragon-on-dragon fight

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston - If you just really want something lighthearted and if you’re a big reader of fanfiction, this might be your choice. OLS is a fluffy piece that relies heavily on the found family trope with just a dash of fantasy. The standout character is definitely love interest Jane, a suave, confident butch who sweeps protag August off her feet from day one. (Longer review here)

Recommend if you:

Are mostly looking for romance

Do not want lots of angst

Prefer a story where everyone gets along

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - I debated including this one, because it is not explicitly F/F, which is going to be a deal-breaker for some people. But honestly the romantic and sexual undertones of Lily and Snow Flower’s relationship come across so strong I’m willing to put it up here. This book is set in 19th century China and centers around the intense friendship of two women, starting from childhood and through their adulthood. This one will take you on an emotional ride for sure. A film came out based on this, but in short my review on that is: the book is better!

Recommend if you:

Are okay with ambiguous relationships

Like looking at what women’s private lives looked like in the past

Are looking for something dramatic/emotional

[sadeyedlady-writes]

For the Truth or Dare ask game: 🌵, 🔪, 🍦, 🎨

🌵 ⇢ share the link to a playlist you love

Sorry to disappoint but I do not have a link to share! I’m a puts-my-entire-music-library-on-shuffle-and-revel-in-the-chaotic-mixture girlie. When a song plays that reminds me of a particular book or pairing, I do add it to a playlist of that, however.

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Well, during the research for this fic, google was literally giving me crisis hotlines at the top of the search results because I was searching things like “what does it feel like to be stabbed in the chest” “how long does it take to die from a stab wound to the chest” “how long can a person remain conscious after a stab wound to the chest” etc. etc. etc. I was making google very concerned lol.

But I don’t even know if that’s the weirdest, because those are kind of the standard “I swear I’m a writer not a murderer!” search queries. The weirdest was probably something like the time I was desperately trying to find out how long the voyage from Germany to New Orleans would have been via steamship in the mid 1860s and having to resort to a free trial of ancestry.com just so I could get the dang passenger lists in order to compare the arrival and departure times, or combing through agricultural advertisements in American newspapers in the 1860s (if I ever finish that dang chapter you’ll know why) or the fact that I’m currently reading a 400 page academic text on moneylending in Imperial Russia…

There’s a lot of weird niche research that goes into writing fic lmao.

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

Noooo how could you do this to me when all the characters I hate are very deserving of my hatred? Gah. Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov came to mind immediately, so let’s see… um.

He has affection for Alyosha (but only because Alyosha is loving toward him, and he’s still an absolute jerk to Alyosha quite often)

He makes Pyotr Miusov miserable and it’s pretty hilarious.

He got extremely angry when Grushenka was referred to as a “brute creature” and defended her, so we do love to see that, even though he’s still a gross pathetic little creep when it comes to her.

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

Noooo there’s no way I can possibly pick a favourite when all of my fandoms are full of such incredibly talented artists!! But I guess the most impressive fanart project that comes immediately to mind for me is @gegengestalt’s Microsoft Paint—yeah, that’s right, you heard me correctly. Microsoft Paint—illustration of the entirety of tbk from start to finish. It’s amazing. https://www.tumblr.com/gegengestalt/717765289928015872/the-entirety-of-the-brothers-karamazov-in-mspaint?source=share

But yeah, gah, I am in absolute awe of all the fantastically talented artists in all of the fandoms I’m in. You guys are terrifyingly talented.

Thank you so much for the ask!!!

[nedlittle]

I will never not be unwell about your post about Alyosha that you tagged “when you lose someone you love like that you have to create a way for them to never die” because HE. Also where did the whole idea of Alyosha kills the tsar come from? I read the book over a year ago so there might be some stuff I’m forgetting

i had to go back and find that post bc i was shocked that i was coherent enough about fedya d to articulate a single thought

in the author's preface, dostoevsky says "that while i have just one biography, i have two novels. the main novel is the second one--about the activities of my hero in our time, that is, in our present, current moment." (page 3 in the p&v translation)

the first novel is tbk proper, which takes place 13 years ago, placing it in 1866. our main source for tbk 2: alyosha kills the tsar comes from an article by james l. rice called "dostoevsky's endgame: the projected sequel to the brothers karamazov" which references a letter dostoevsky wrote during the novel's serialization:

"i can only say that aleksei in time becomes the village schoolmaster and, influenced by some sort of special psychological processes at work in his soul, he actually arrives at the idea of assassinating the tsar."

of course, dostoevsky died months after tbk was published in its complete form, at a time when people were trying to assassinate alexander ii, like, every two weeks. so that's our source for tbk: electric boogaloo existing. the other big source is from a guy named aleksei sergeevich suvorin, one of dotoevsky's friends, whose diary was published in 1923. here's him on the subject:

"he [alyosha] would commit a political crime. he would be executed. he would have sought the truth and in those seekings he would, naturally, have become a revolutionary."

we also know that the provisional title for tbk 2: who gave the baby a gun was "the children", referring to the titular boys of book 10 of tbk. according to dostoevsky's widow anna, alyosha "was to endure a complex psychological drama with lise [...] marry [her], then leave her for grushenka"*. there's more about how this sequel would work on a thematic and psychological level in the article and its sister article "foreshadowing the karamazov sequel" (also by rice). this isn't relevant but rice essentially diagnosis alyosha with victorian woman disease by calling him a "textbook case of male hysteria," which i enjoy.

so that's all we know about the hypothetical sequel, and i think about it a lot regarding a biographical reading of the novel because i think it's so interesting to take a character, based on your son who died of a hereditary disease you gave him, who you say is "like an angel, nothing touches [him]," and then plan a sequel where he is not untouchable and undergoes the same disillusionment and trauma as you experienced as a young man, only he dies in the end. and that's not even getting into the other biographical details like dostoevsky's own father dying under mysterious maybe-murder circumstances in 1839! or the fact that he looked at the loathsome father-figure he created for tbk whose hereditary "stain" he passes down to his sons as a black smear over their name and was like yeah i'm going to name him after ME. fyodor what was going on in your head.

i don't know, i sort of want to make a whole other post about this. he created a world in which his son survives and is loved so desperately by everyone he meets, but even still cannot save him, even in fiction. something something sons doomed to become their fathers.

tl, dr:

*this is from the rice article but is specifically referencing nina hoffman's interview with anna in 1898.

[aroacehanzawa]

Ok Mary I have to ask because you’ve read more Dostoevsky than I have.

Do you have any idea what might be going on with Fyodor in this latest chapter? I’m really confused personally :) 👍

Um. well. i'm afraid i do not 😭

I'll be honest i've read about 2.5 of his books + some short stories, but i really can't think of anything... @nnakahara nyusa i wanna drag you into the discussion because i know you've read Demons and are currently reading TBK -- any ideas?

Outside of references to Dostoevsky's works, i think there's something to the way Fyodor is acting in this chapter and what we saw of him + his ability in Dead Apple, knowing that all the dead apple lore is basically integrated into the canon timeline now....

Recall that out of all the other abilities separated from their users, only Fyodor's was sentient, and during that one scene with their monologue (dialogue?) the two of them were practically indistinguishable.

Also in 55 Minutes we've seen a definitive instance of an ability going out of control and separating itself from its user (Jules Verne/Gab), so if Fyodor is actually not lying to Sigma, i can imagine it being some kind of similar phenomenon in action?

[littlegoobus]

Why do I never have motivation to write fics when I can like. i’ll wake up in the middle of the night and have the entire script for a calron fic and then in the morning I’m like “ok but I’ll just reread these ones I like” I wish my brain could work properly :( I remember when I first picked up the magisterium series to reread it and I grabbed TBK by accident (yes it was as bad as u would expect oops) but didn’t bother to grab iron trial instead so I read it….. and halfway through I was like “ok there’s no way these two aren’t gay for each other what I distinctly remember callmara being canon and Aaron dying ???” and then when I got to the. the death scene. (Fuck my life oopsie) I was like “ok wait did I misremember??? was my young brain too stupid to grasp homosexuality??? because they are in love???” and then I went on to reread tsm aND SHIT NO I WAS RIGHT CALLMARA WAS CANON and I was like “ok I’m going to create an ao3 account… and write about calron…. even though no one else has read this series and has written fics about it AND THEN I FIND OUT THERES 100+ CALRON FICS ON AO3 (I have almost read them all) wait fuck what was the original point of this post

[onlyalittlebookworm]

I posted 2,219 times in 2022

52 posts created (2%)

2,167 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@reputation

@adamronans

@stonerbughead

@stillhidden

@dailystrangerthings

I tagged 2,213 of my posts in 2022

#stranger things - 345 posts

#text - 240 posts

#st - 132 posts

#otp: we just ran - 131 posts

#otp: hey there juliet - 124 posts

#joyce byers - 101 posts

#stranger things spoilers - 87 posts

#winona ryder - 84 posts

#el hopper - 71 posts

#btvs - 69 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#honestly love your shadowhunters posts bc they’re always so relatable and i love that someone besides me still can’t stop thinking about it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I haven’t been watching and I don’t plan to until the shit gets sorted out, but I’ve been lurking and honestly I’m disappointed with the way TBK has been handled. When he’s introduced as part of Betty’s time-skip backstory, it’s clearly a traumatic, horrific experience that she’s had to go through and we see how badly it’s affected her.

Now, from what I’ve picked up from s6, the MO of the killer seems to have completely changed and he’s just out here vibing? It’s being handled so flippantly and I feel like that’s such an insult to what was established in early s5 and what we saw of Betty in that season. In the end, it’s turned into a joke because these writers are fully incapable of carrying a story through and maintaining a consistent tone. This is not at all surprising but I’m really disappointed by it.

13 notes - Posted April 7, 2022

#4

I’m sure someone has already caught this parallel but “the lovebirds” being the unofficial code name for both Jopper and Lumax in the finales for s3 and s4 respectively is wild to me especially because neither couple is officially together at the time and also both make plans for when they get out safe but the plans don’t happen bc one of them “dies”

13 notes - Posted August 15, 2022

#3

NO ONE FUCKING TALK TO ME I’M ABOUT TO GO FERAL

24 notes - Posted June 7, 2022

#2

i’d give up forever to touch you

He touches her differently now.

Read on AO3

25 notes - Posted September 1, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

all the things we did (look what we became)

Riverdale through Betty's eyes; or, Betty Cooper has gone through a shit ton of trauma and is not handling it well.

Read on AO3

38 notes - Posted August 13, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[thetaoofbetty]

maybe I’m reading into this too much but like why would betty randomly decide to go off birth control after being kidnapped and then escaping? She was still having sex with Glen and then Archie, yeah? I don’t want to shame anyones personal BC choices at all but like is there a correlation there that I’m not understanding or was this just a way to bring up tbk? Did Archie even know about tbk before?

Am I thinking about this show more than the writers do though? That could be it.

she didn't take her pills for 2 weeks because she was trapped in a well by a serial killer. gotta be honest, i wouldn't come out of that and immediately think about that either.

she says they were only unsafe once. so i'm assuming they were using condoms because those are a thing. and the tbk mention, as cringe as it is, is probably just a way for her to have forgotten her birth control tbh.

actually, the writers having betty say she's not blaming the tbk for her birth control and archie kind of just being quiet about it makes me 🥴 for betty and how they clearly write this man around her and she accepts it.

[crazymisscarly]

Im so excited for all your future updates! Any hint for the next chapter of tapes of us? I've re-read it like four times now and can't wait for what happens next!

Ps. Jordan and Blossom have me obssesed!

Thank you!!! I am thrilled people still want to read Tapes of Us. Love your new profile pic btw :)

The last chapter is gonna be pretty long by my estimate, and include a little flash forward into the future :P I think anyone still reading it deserves a long update 😂 you’re gonna find out how Donna fits in with the sex tape scandal and see how Betty and Jughead deal with the fallout of Yale finding out about their tape 🤭🤭

I’m so keen to finish off this story, it’s going on 2 years since I started writing it! I actually wrote the epilogue in 2020 so I’m gonna post it pretty much the same time I post the last chapter :)

I especially wanna finish my season 4 fic because I am SO ready to start posting my season 6 fic! I’m probably not gonna watch it, so I definitely need to write my own version. Think deaf Jughead trying to navigate his new life and Betty actually dealing with her PTSD, with some dark twists and turns when it comes to TBK. I can’t help myself at this point, it has to be done.

Gif cause I love this scene too much 😉

[raymondebidochonlifechoices]

All fans are equal but some are more equal than others. NOT.

There’s been quite a few people in the fandom lately getting very stressed, feeling they’re obligated to constantly be on the defensive re: their fandom choices.

Apparently, whoever has a different opinion about a character or a ship must be said character’s/ship’s stan i.e. overzealous and/or obsessive, i.e. not an objective viewer. Even worse, they must be a dreadful person, who condones a number of moral offences that said character/ship perpetrated (or is thought to have perpetrated). Because, of course, the only acceptable reason for appreciating/enjoying a fictional character or dynamic is their morality. And, by that reasoning, fans who support the correct character/ship must be better fans and better people.

Nothing is more ridiculous than the notion of the objective fan. An “objective” fan is called a “viewer”. You and I, Riverdale friends, we are not just viewers. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have created blogs and dedicated hours of our lives to a fictional couple from an extremely mediocre show. We are still undoubtedly capable of critical thought and objective analysis but we are also aware of our own emotional investment in the show. (Or, at least, one hopes). As a fandom, we engage in activities that exist independently of the show. Fandom is a space of free expression. No one gets to play the higher moral card here. Needing to loudly tell everybody how wrong they are? That’s not the sign of an objective viewer. That’s the sign of a viewer who is also extremely invested, just for different reasons than I am.

Are we seriously holding the morality card over people’s heads for a show that used a poc woman’s pregnancy (Toni) as the means to retroactively establish trauma for a white male (Kevin), all the while touting it in every media possible as a woke response to the BLM movement?!

Are we seriously holding the canon card over people’s heads for a show that treats its 5th(!) season as a tabula rasa?! If the Lodges new backstory in 5x12 shows anything, it’s that s5 is not a time-jump. It’s a reboot.

There are so many people “enlightening” others on their inability to understand canon …

Seriously? That’s the hill you’re willing to die on? Canon Riverdale? You think that people don’t understand what they’re watching? That they’re interpreting canon incorrectly?

No, but seriously: canon for a TV show consists of what the characters say, what the characters do and how the actors portray them. Does this really apply to Riverdale?

Let’s take Donna for example.

Canon explicitly tells us Donna did what she did to avenge her grandmother. At the same time none of her canon actions were against the people who were actually responsible. So, riddle me this, fandom friends: why did Donna do what she did, as per canon?

Let’s try this another way:

Donna is a psycho bitch. Both in terms of Riverdale’s canon (the writers’ intention) and real-life criteria. To create a tag that reads “Bonna for ever uwu!” is deranged.

On the other hand, her character is (like a lot of Riverdale’s characters) an inconsistent caricature. Canon uses ridiculous dialogue and a lot of the Bonna scenes are cartoonishly enemies-to-lovers tropey. To create a tag that reads “Bonna for ever uwu!” is hilarious.

This doesn’t mean that Bonna is a canon couple. It does mean, however, that a Bonna crackship is based on Riverdale’s campy and over-the-top canonic writing.

A viewer who thinks Bonna is disgusting is not more “objective” or more “correct” or more “true to canon” than a viewer who thinks Bonna is funny. Nor are they a better person for it, and this cannot be stressed enough.

Similarly, who is canon Cheryl?

1. Cheryl is an absolute bitch: if a privileged student was calling an actual homeless boy a hobo in your real-life school, you would neither think her a queen nor use “hobo” affectionately in your tags, comments etc.

2. Cheryl is a deeply traumatized person: her father killed her brother, her mother killed half the town and forced her in conversion therapy, she attempted suicide and more.

(Note #1: this more does not mean more than the other Riverdale characters).

(Note #2: nor is it an excuse for her rudeness, affectionately called “mood for chaos” by the writers).

3. Cheryl is also a caricature of the archetypal mean girl who’s there for laughs and meta comments. She’s not to be taken seriously.

4. Cheryl is lgbtq+ representation …

5. … who canonically shits on other lgbtq+ characters.

6. Cheryl is one half of Choni, who are canonically presented as an uber couple.

7. Choni is also, as per canon, a couple with an acute power imbalance (cough!gaslighting!cough) that visually very clearly panders to the male gaze.

But most importantly:

8. Cheryl canonically is not the sum of her parts. The different facets of her character do not intermingle in any meaningful way.

Was Betty kissing Archie specifically a sore spot for Jughead?

Canonically no [2x14]. But, also, canonically yes [5x03, 5x10].

Are there seriously fans that are astonished that Betty is making some highly questionable choices while investigating?! Did they just discover Dark™Betty/Killer Genes Betty? That is canon Betty! Was it ok before because she was then smooching Jughead instead of giving him the cold shoulder? Honestly, the only newly outrageous part of s5Dark™Betty is the fact that she still believes in “killer genes” despite having spent 4 years at Yale …

As for liking/disliking Betty and morality …

Look, I’m going to be very honest: I am NOT particularly enjoying s5 Betty. And it’s not because of b*rchie.

S5 Betty has 99 problems but the sexcapades ain’t one.

For me, it’s the fact that she’s turned into s1 Alice 2.0. But surely that’s not news either? Ever since the first info about the time jump, everyone and their mother have been speculating about the teens becoming their parents …

Just because Jughead is better written (and written to be more likable), it doesn’t make him more worthy of redemption. Just because the writers are keeping Betty’s redemption “secret” (insert eye roll) for their big reveal in the season’s penultimate episode, it doesn’t mean she won’t have one.  

Simply put, the writers have made Jughead more likable. He’s still the underdog. He’s the only character in Riverdale actively trying to deal with his trauma, since the very first post-time jump episode (working at Pop’s explicitly to fend off the debt collectors). He has scenes with a new and extremely likable character (Tabitha). He has the only new plot line (the Mothman). Said plotline is narratively already tied to both his unknown past and the town’s destruction by Hiram. His behaviour is explicitly explained, even as his recent trauma remains unknown. He’s transparent.

In comparison, s5 Betty is traumatized but not the underdog. Her trauma (TBK killer) is both known to us and a repetition of previous storylines, which makes it narratively less exciting. She is completely disconnected from any other storylines. She comes out as being judgmental and self-interested: telling Tabitha Jughead’s not her business while previously accepting his help? Berating Polly for lying while not keeping in touch and lying about her own life (TBK)? Please note: I’m not saying there isn’t a reason behind her behaviour, just that it comes out in a negative way.

You don’t like Betty’s current behaviour? You don’t consider trauma a good enough excuse? Cool.

You feel sorry for what she’s going through? You consider trauma to be a valid explanation for her behaviour? Also cool.

Personally, I don’t give a flying fig, either for Betty’s trauma or Jughead’s. Because, even though Trauma™ is s5’s actual mystery plot, narratively speaking, trauma never affected the plot of the past 4 seasons, nor s5 trauma will affect future plots, once revealed. And you know what? That is also cool.

None of the above is better.

And just because I’m not enjoying Betty right now, it doesn’t mean that I don’t want her to overcome her current situation or that I won’t cheer for Bughead like a River Vixen on fizzle rocks, once they reunite.

This thing though, where people are made to feel as if they owed anyone in the fandom an explanation about why they like the things they like, because, somehow, their preferences are a reflection on their character or their cognitive abilities to read a TV show? This is a joke.

There is no “wrong” way to consume any show, let alone Riverdale, with its fractured format, its short-term memory and its see-sawing characters.

Look, everybody’s here for their own reasons. For most people this is a place of escape. No one’s escaping better than the other, because of how they enjoy their teen TV show ... 

[like-romeoandjuliet-love]

Sick of The Chase

“Can the killer in me Tame the fire in you? I know there's something waiting for us. I am sick of the chase But I'm stupid in love. And there's nothing I can do. And there's nothing I can do”

Killer, Phoebe Bridgers

When his phone rings, he guesses it’s Jessica being the bigger person again and calling to ask if they can talk it through and figure out what isn’t working and how they could make it make it work. Lord knows his credit has run out.

“Hello?”

“This is the Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington. Is this Forsythe Jones?”

“This is him, yes. How may I help you?” He questions, confused. Why the hell would a hospital be calling him?

“We are calling because of a patient admitted here, you’re her emergency contact.” Her. “Elizabeth Cooper.”

It’s as if he’d been dropped six feet under in half a second. Her name coming out of a stranger’s mouth. Elizabeth. He swears you could have heard a hair pin drop in that moment. The world stops, not even traffic in NYC keeps moving.

“Are you sure I’m her emergency contact?” He manages to question, the words are difficult to come out, and he can’t help but question how in the world after all this time, he’s her emergency contact. He didn’t even know he used to be. That he was her person in life or death situations.

Or

If Jughead had been Betty’s emergency contact after she was abducted by the TBK

Read on Ao3

[riverdale-retread]

Riverdale S5 E14 (The Rabies Episode) - 5 Things I loved/ 3 Things to Consider.

Things I loved

1) What good are you? What do you even do? - I’m a writer! I tell stories!

I love the interesting and frankly, very funny thoughts that Riverdale the show keeps putting out about writing, the ethics of fiction, and how it feels to be a fiction creator through the character of Jughead.   The writers of Riverdale are describing us the viewers to be these overwhelming, demanding RATS (and as ‘customers’ of their product we are ‘King’)  that have trapped them in a tunnel (of the writer’s room? RAS, maybe you need to update their furniture?)  hollering at them to entertain us while they desperately try to tell us a story so we don’t kill them.  I hope this doesn’t court controversy but I was much more appeased by this depiction of me than the BBC Sherlock thing that portrayed its own fans as crazy pathetic loons.  Riverdale writers think we’re insane too, but they find us scary and they want to please us. Very gratifying. (I’m a happy customer.)

2)  Related:  I LOVED that Jughead is not a snob about genre.  Getting published and read by a lot of people is the point! I love that about him. So he did maybe learn something in his one year at college.

3) I loved the variation on ‘darkness’ and ‘dark hole’ that they worked out for each of Betty, Jughead and Archie.  It’s literal and metaphor (they can’t see where they’re going, they can’t easily escape, the air is close and poisoned, there’s danger in the dark hole and so on).  The literary dorkiness of the episode structure was fabulous. 

For Jughead it’s a mirror image replica of what happened to him before - Jughead falls into an abandoned subway tunnel via a sudden sinkhole that opens up underneath him during a period of life that’s supposed to be triumphant, exactly like how as he’d finally finished with high school and was about to embark on college like his dad always wanted, Betty took the security of his relationship with her away from him and he descended to a state of absolute homelessness in the bunker.  

For Archie, the boy who tried to be all the things everyone around him wanted him to be, becoming a miner comes about because someone else (Cheryl) wanted to defeat Hiram Lodge (which Archie is always up for) and all the other boys in his ‘gang’  are looking for economic opportunities and a group project (which Archie is also always up for).   

For Betty, the hubristic violent girl who denies how much she enjoys violence and always just goes wading into danger, the scale of the consequences she faces for her reckless brand of courage has gotten much more serious, because she’s an adult.  From having a serial killer (Hal, her father) very interested in her and then being in a game set up by a different serial killer (Penelope, her aunt by marriage), Betty’s ‘hole’ moment is to be the sole prey of a serial killer who will not grant her freedom of movement, and isn’t trying to make some sort of moral point or work out a piece of their own psychology.  TBK purely wants Betty to suffer and die  - there’s nothing for her to figure out with her intellect.

4)  I loved that the show firmly concludes that there is no talking and feeling your way through to somewhere better with a misogynist.  It’s not that misogynist women killers don’t know that women are people, that women have pasts and a right to live and all of that. They know. They like trampling on the thing that is precious and beautiful, and it’s fun for them to hurt women. This is very dark, but on really bad days I can fall into this thinking, and I felt seen.   Same goes for Alice giving into despair and advising Betty to just kill the bastard. I know how that feels too.

5)  This is another weird thing to love, but I love that Archie’s fundamental decency and kindness is not enough to overcome the weight of his war trauma.  And yet he’s capable when it comes to an emergency.  The tendency that Archie has to run towards the screaming is similar to what Kevin used to be like, and I admire this about him.  I very much appreciated that Eric and Uncle Fucking Frank and all the guys who down in the mine want Archie to get professional help for his problems.  

3 Things to Think About

a. Jughead never graduated from college.  So he set himself up for the social isolation and failure in New York City.  To have no job to go to, to have no cluster of acquaintances you can carry over from being students in the same institution for two to four years, or being a part of a religion, in a major city, is kind of dooming yourself to failure in this regard.  I’ve thought Jughead no longer wanted to go to college but had gone purely for FP (with whom he no longer speaks much) which is why he finds it so unrewarding.

b. Cheryl is an ‘author’ in the same way Jughead is, but she seems to see the darkest possible side of the people she ‘portrays’ and ‘frames’ which is in direct opposition to Jughead, who ‘writes’ people the way he wishes they could be, as their best selves.  Then he falls in love with his creation and believes in it so hard that he hallucinates his own subconscious and intuition in their image (Betty).

c. I’m very interested in the Jess-Jughead relationship.  When he goes to visit her after their breakup (when she still has his manuscript I think??) her apartment is well appointed and tidy.  So it’s Jughead that’s the slob, and Jessica was just vengefully matching him debris for debris.

[alaffy]

Riverdale 5x11- Strange Bedfellows

Post these on Reddit, might as well do it here too.  Riverdale is back and it’s..just as crazy as ever.  Did really enjoy this episode. I have a lot of thoughts on the whole Jughead situation.  Spoliers below.

Jason's death has now hit cult status.  Veronica wants her Opal back (and, you know, the hostages).  Palladium could be it's own drinking game.  Archie cleans up the streets of Riverdale.  And Darla.  Just Darla.

I do appreciate the fact that Archie, upon learning that Chad didn't sign the papers and Veronica can't tell Archie why (which she's right, she shouldn't get him involved), decided they needed to take a step back until things are settled.  The army has, at least, somewhat made him a bit more level headed.  And then we have the Batman scene, and...

But the big story is that they're finally dealing with Jughead  (and a bit of Jughead and Betty).  First off, glad to see that the Doc he mentioned is still alive.  And clearly something bad happened in New York.  Jughead mentions it and I have a feeling that Jessica wanting the manuscript confirms it. So, clearly, a lot of Jughead story has to do with these three women.  And, my standard disclaimer, I'm not interested in ship wars, just here to discuss a story.  Also, let's be clear, while I am going to discuss Jughead and Betty's relationship, I am not doing it to make Jughead the villain or to excuse Betty.  Even if Betty was starting to question things about their relationship, there are several ways to deal with that situation that don't involve cheating.  Betty is responsible for her actions just as Jughead is with his.  But I'm talking about  Jughead right now.   

So, I'm going to start with this, Jughead may not have seen Betty in seven years, but seems to be strongly suggested he was in contact with her.  At the very least, he invited her to his book party and then sent her that message when she didn't respond (I still wonder if we'll find out she didn't show up because she was a prisoner of TBK at the time).  And as for the message itself, I mean, it sounds like a message someone who was hurt and drunk would send.  I don't think he was right or wrong for sending it.  I'm not going to get into whether Betty deserved it or not.   Because, again, I feel there's something we're missing from those seven years and, yeah, until I know everything, it's hard to judge.  What I do find interesting, is that he clearly was in contact with Betty and Jessica, his girlfriend at the time, didn't know.  And she clearly does not seem pleased about that.  Also, it's important to note that, unlike Betty, Jessica wasn't allowed to read his manuscripts.  

Jessica, it turns out, is there to get his manuscript because she's afraid Jughead will write about their lives and she doesn't want that to get out.  Clearly she doesn't trust him enough to believe that won't happen.  Going back to the beginning of the season, the Serpents don't want anything to do with Jughead because of what he wrote about them.  And, going back even further, Jughead pitch a story to a group of publishers, using Betty's life story, as a way to keep a book contract.  Also, there is the fact that, again, Jessica didn't know that he was in contact with Betty while Jessica was living with him.  Furthermore, at the beginning of the time jump, Jessica leaves after finding out that he has creditors after him and he's about to be evicted (something that will also affect Jessica's life and so he should have told her).  And where have we seen this secretive behavior before?  With his relationship with Betty (and, to be fair, Betty was just as guilty hiding things from Jughead).  

I've written about this in detail before, but the fact of the matter is this ties back to what the Guidance Councilor said to him in season four.  The fact is, Jughead has had a hard life and has probably developed traits that where created to protect himself (like lying/withholding information).  And Jughead does have a tendency, when confronted with his behavior, to try to pain himself as the victim.  The best case in point is when Betty found out he used her story to keep the book contract.  Betty is, understandably, angry with him.  But instead of apologizing and admitting he did something wrong, he makes excuse and, when that doesn't work, gets angry at her.  And while there's that moment later where he tells her he hates it when they fight, at no time does he ever admit what he did was wrong.  Same with the Serpents, he gets defensive. The fact is it doesn't matter if it's Betty or Jessica or anyone else, his behavior is not ok. And until he acknowledges that he has hurt others, and improve on these behaviors, this will continue again and again. The thing is, I think they are trying to deal with some of Jughead's behavior this season and I don't think that's a bad thing.

As for Tabitha, maybe his message was a hint of future things with her, maybe not.  It's one of those pieces of dialogue put in to make people question.  But the real question is, even if he is interested, is she still interested?  For me, listening to her dialogue and watching her expressions,  it seems to me she's starting to realize she doesn't really know Jughead and is uneasy with what she's seeing.  At the very least she has to be wondering if he's still hung up on Betty.  But, especially with Jessica's story, and how much he was hiding from her and the whole using people stories to create his book, is that something she wants to get involved in?  People say Tabitha is good for Jughead, but is Jughead good for Tabitha?  Well, we'll just see.  At the very least, I'm guessing Jughead will be dealing with his own issues for awhile.  And I like this new friendship between Betty and Tabitha.