#s2e6 did not happen

[sharopiix]

sir anthony j crowley?? 1941??

[skyward-nerd]

Okay so I'm almost done with Mad Men. There's only one episode left. All I have to say is WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THE CREDITS IN THE PENULTIMATE EPISODE WHAT THE FUCK HOW DID THEY DO THAT THE TIMELINE DOESN'T ADD UP WHAT THE FUCK???

[theonevoice]

Have a gold star...

I swear, I started this as a wholesome innocent comment on how when Crowley has to think of a prize, after 6000+ years, his sweet head still goes to stars as the ultimate symbol of something beautiful and cherished.

But then I was struck by something: sarcasm.

Both times, when he tells someone to "have a gold star," he doesn't say it with a tone of affectionate irony, like the cool-but-sweet uncle with a rough personality but a soft heart. He says it with a tone of bitter sarcasm, of painful disenchantment.

Because it's not a prize that he is offering; it's a sop, a cruel joke-gift, something that will get you excited at first just because you have a stupid, naive, innocent soul, and you will later realize that it means nothing to the one who assigned it to you, and that they are ready to take it away whenever they want, while the rest of the world laughs at your ridiculous gullibility.

Because this is what stars were for him.

They were his beloved, exciting creation. The star-factory nebula was his cherished task, assigned to him by God, and he believed that it was meant to be a thing of beauty and splendor, and hold value in the grand scheme of the universe... only to discover, immediately after he created it, that it was never intended to have any value at all. It meant nothing to God. It wasn't even planned to last enough to fullfill its purpose. It was a joke, a cruel prank. 

The stars were God's bad pun of giving angel!Crowley something to do, and love, and have hope and expectations for, and then taking it away. Revealing that it was just a shiny piece of gold cardstock that only a simpleton could consider valuable. Of course he can only say "have a gold star" as a dry snarky sarcastic comment on someone who thinks they have achieved something meaningful when it's actually nothing. Be it the Them defeating the Four Horsemen. Be it Muriel being noticed by the Metatron.

Great, sure, have a gold star, be all excited and squealing with happiness, it will turn into ashes before you even know it.

I am not sure that Crowley's snake eyes were ever intended to signal that he cannot see the stars because snakes have bad vision (even ignoring the zoological fact that they are sensitive to UV light though, so they should still see astronomical objects, in the book it says that demons must be able to see at night, and that's why Crowley doesn't need to turn on the lights on the Bentley), but for sure the Fall and Heaven's cruelty has ruined the stars for him, in a way.

Now, in his mind, they are the ultimate symbol of delusion, of naivety, of foolishly investing your love and passion and hopes in something, of stupidly ignoring that the things you cherish will be ruined or taken away from you or leave you on their own accord.

That's also why Aziraphale's "nothing lasts forever" cuts him so deep. That's why his "no... no, I dont' suppose it does" sounds so much like a truth that he is remembering instead of one that he has jsut discovered.

Here you go, you did it again, you thought you had something significant and instead it was just like your stars, you should have known that whenever you find something beautiful it's just a matter of time before you lose it, you shouldn't get too attached.

In s1e6 he says it to the Them, in s2e6 he says it to Muriel. I do hope that in s3e6 he will get the chance to say it again, but this time it will be honest and out of joy, because whatever is going to happen will make him able again to believe that you can be happy, and can hold onto the good things that you love. You can have all the gold stars, for real. They don't always have to disappear and leave you in pain. They can stay with you.

[shoemakerobstetrician]

Season 3 Opening Scene Nightingale 1941 Theory

So, season 2 opened with a flashback that had us totally reevaluating Aziraphale’s and Crowley’s relationship. I think the same will be true of season 3.

I think we will return to the night in 1941, to find out that they kissed, danced, or more that night.

1 - Why are they sitting at a table in the bookshop just drinking, no food on the table? When they’re drinking they don’t use a table. I think it’s to clue us in that there is more to the scene than what we are seeing - at some point before or after they had dinner.

2 - We know that Aziraphale did the apology dance in 1941 - again an indication that there is probably more to that evening than what we have seen so far.

3 - When Crowley says ‘no nightingales’ in S2E6 we now think he’s referring to the scene at the end of S1E6 in the Ritz, but it does seem a bit of a reach. It was a very nice moment, but I don’t think a relationship defining one that would cause both of them to think of it as their song.

4 - A Nightingale Sang was released in 1940, first charting at the end of December 1940. It would have been a hit in 1941 (according to Wikipedia it got up to #2).

5 - I think they had dinner, they danced, or perhaps even kissed to Nightingale as it was playing on the radio, and it became their song in a much more significant moment in 1941.

6 - When Aziraphale says to Crowley “Perhaps one day we could…dine at the Ritz” after “You go too fast for me Crowley” he would then be directly referring to their song from 1941.

7 - When it plays at the Ritz at the end of season 1, it’s because the pianist finds themselves mysteriously compelled to perform it, like the Oxford bus driver taking them to London.

8 - And finally, when Crowley says “no nightingales” at the end of S2 it is just devastating, it’s him saying there is no us.

And another thing: in the lyrics to Nightingale: That Certain night, the night we met/There was MAGIC abroad in the air. 😁

One more thing: I can certainly see Neil gleefully being like “Psych, it WASN’T their first kiss.”, and the scene would be just as heartbreaking if not more so if it was what Crowley thought was their last kiss.

ETA I just rewatched the bookshop table scene for like the 17th time. Holy 💩 is the dialogue strange and very loaded. The “trust me” bit, and the “shades of grey”. Throughout the whole scene Aziraphale is sideways eye fucking Crowley. There is simply no way we’re not going to see more of this scene in Season 3.

I very much like this whole idea, it probably won’t happen. Maybe someone will write a fanfic at least.

[whatthedamnhelldude]

This maybe has been said and I missed it but in s2e6, I’m pretty sure Aziraphale thinks Crowley has been sucked back into Hell after escorting the humans out of the bookshop. From Aziraphale’s perspective, Crowley has left with the humans into the street and is surrounded by demons. He doesn’t return, and Aziraphale becomes desperate to stop the attacking demons - “desperate measures must be taken.” In 1941, Aziraphale says “I knew you’d come through for me - you always do.” Crowley tries to run from his problems, but he always comes through for Aziraphale. Aziraphale knows Crowley wouldn’t just leave him, unless something happened. In Scotland, we saw Crowley helping the humans and being sucked back into Hell as a result. When Crowley comes back from Heaven, Aziraphale says “you came back” and you can hear the relief in his voice. His expression and tone of voice when he says he “did the thing with the halo” reads as “I got desperate because you didn’t come rescue me and I assumed you were gone.” Aziraphale knows Crowley will always come through for him, so since he didn’t this time, something must have happened to him and the most logical in this instance would be that Hell took him. They never get to talk about how Crowley was actually in Heaven, so this assumption never gets addressed.

Why does this matter? The Final 15. Throughout the series, Aziraphale says, out loud to Crowley, that he is worried Hell is going to destroy Crowley. And it appears that that fear has come true at least a little bit, and at least one time, in Scotland. So if Aziraphale thinks that Crowley has been captured and tortured by Hell again, and someone told him “if you come work for me, I’ll make it so Crowley is never under Hell’s power ever again by reinstating him as an angel,” I have a hard time believing that Aziraphale would say no. The love of your eternal existence has been in danger for millions of years, and someone offers you a way to keep them safe? Right after you think they’ve suffered from that very danger? I would take that offer, too.

To be clear, I don’t think Crowley should have taken the offer. He’s been abused by both Heaven AND Hell, and they are both better off without them. I also think that, just like Crowley doesn’t quite say what’s on his mind - he doesn’t tell Aziraphale what he saw of Gabriel’s trial or that what he really wants isn’t to run away but to love Aziraphale openly as a couple - Aziraphale doesn’t quite say what’s on his mind either - he doesn’t care about either of them being angels but he does care about keeping them safe. I also want to be clear that I don’t think Aziraphale wants to be angels together in Heaven. I really think this boils down to keeping both of them safe and, bonus, they get to stay together.

Yes, they need to talk to each other and yes, some of Aziraphale’s comments were shitty (“you’re the bad guys.”). But I think the show is too well-written for all of Aziraphale’s character development to be thrown away and their long, long history completely forgotten in the last 15 minutes of episode 6. I think the world of Good Omens is too rich and deeply layered for that.

Let me know what you think!

[noneorother]

The grand unified theory of Good Omens S2, Hangs on a double meaning - Answering why .5 + .5 = 25 lazerii *The end?*

Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l The end?

Welcome to the end of the Bonkers Meta Series featuring your favourite Art Director/Clue detective. This is it! I'm going to wrap up this series as well as I can with what I think really happened, the final 15 and why Crowley says the things he says. Meta, Spoilers, Beware! All that. “Armageddon only happens once, you know. They don't let you go around again until you get it right.” 

If you've read my Metatron post you'll know that I thought there were *at least* two time loops with tweaks to achieve different outcomes, seeing as we seemed to be presented with two versions of events a lot of the time, two similar lines of dialogue, double meanings for lines etc etc. If you want a really good recap of a lot of the Clues that have already been compiled already you can go through them here. Yesterday I added my own : The columns in front of the bookshop get stained by a demon, and the stain stays and goes. But why do we care?

Here's my final thesis using the context I'll put together below :

The Metatron is changing the past and the present on earth using the book of life. He's forced a time loop of the last few days at least 50 times over a period of (realtime) months to get the outcome he wants : the separation of Aziraphale and Crowley to allow him to complete the second coming. It only worked once. Let me explain.

1) Not time skips, but stitched loops

My theory about the columns goes like this : a demon touches the right column in the attack on the bookshop, and dirties it. The problem is, in every episode we get multiple versions of the column that are dirtier or cleaner. Why? Because a demon has been touching that column in *more or less* the same place and getting it dirty over time, but the effects on the bookshop only layer every loop and reset, instead of being erased. The layering aspect is super important and I'll get back to it. For now, if we take it that the column gets dirtier over many loops, we now know what we are seeing : a bunch of different time loops stitched together to create a sense of time moving forward in a way that we can understand the story, but that skip forward and backward through the loops. Cleaner column = earlier loop. Here's discussion about clock hands if you want evidence, some even saying the hour hand seems to be going backwards in the first episode or the last, or even that the minute and hour hands must be backwards to make sense. If we think of time skipping ever forward and actions getting deleted (as some have said), then clocks going backwards makes no sense. But if we think about it as a time loop where things and actions are ever being tweaked and changed, then OF COURSE the times won't make sense anymore. People don't show up at the same time if they don't do the same thing they did before. The biggest time discrepancies I've seen in a single scene are A) Crowley's phone and watch being an hour apart in S2E1 and B) Inside the bookshop between Gabriel's fly flashback in S2E6 and him and Beez holding hands, there's an hour difference on the clock. I think that by the time we get to very late loops, some things are happening up to an hour later in the day. A simple example we are shown up top is the Eccles cakes. They are there in the first part of S2E1, but then they are no longer there somewhere along the way. In the first loop we see an ordering action/receiving Eccles cakes action, which takes *longer* than just not doing that and going straight to the shop, so that loop will be slightly later. It gets infinitely more complicated the more loops you are looking at, and we have at least 50 of them. How do I know that?

2) A 25 lazerii miracle

If we know that effects on the bookshop are cumulative and don't reset (because columns), then let's try this idea on for size : Aziraphale and Crowley have been performing the same half miracles on the same spot for 50+* loops, and each times they are layering and getting stronger. .5 demon + .5 angel = .5 angelic miracle x 50*ish loops = 25 lazerii miracle goes off in heaven on the latest loop. Shax then confronts Crowley in his car about a mighty miracle, so we're in a loop here where we've layered quite a lot, but not the last loop because he still has the original glasses/ *but also* Crowley's sideburns are long. Compare it to the scene directly after, and how sunny and bright it is. We're in a later loop and and earlier loop simultaneously.

3) Crowley's been testing So I've been searching for a *reason* that Crowley wears a turtleneck in S2E2 and thren new glasses and changes sideburns, and he seems to be up to some pretty crafty spy stuff, seeing as 1) he seems thrilled by it, and 2) he won't shut up about it (How will our hero cope? Jane Austen, nasty piece of work, master spy) There's also this Clue :

Crowley has a secret, as we know everyone with their hands deliberately in their pocket does in the series. I think Crowley knows before Aziraphale that something is wrong, because he's getting little snippets of memory and feeling, and so he's going off to try and change things about himself, the Bentley and the shop to remind himself in the next loop and leave himself clues or change outcomes if he fails to escape. In the early loops it seems like a fun spy mission, but by the end he's pretty tired and jaded that he doesn't seem to be making any headway on his own.

It *also* explains him throwing books and canapés on the floor in the bookshop to see if it changes in other versions. The problem being that Gabriel keeps cleaning everything up and reorganizing the titles to Crowley can't tell if it's his system or not. (lolsob)

It makes this line seem like he can't fit the loop pieces together anymore, and is trying to make headway without any information, rather than a pre-fall reference.

And this line probably much later in the loops (New sunglasses, long sideburns) :

Okay so! To recap : Everyone gets reset every time, and they make different choices because of past and present edits. But, most heavenly and hellish things don't obey earth laws, and therefore things like miracles start layering, and memories start seeping through the loops. (Point 4 is optional but absolutely hilarious, so I'd like to think it's worth speculating about)

4. The flaw in The Metatron's plan

There's a huge flaw in The Metatron's plan however, and it's that Heaven and Hell don't work like earth does. He's spent so many loops trying to get the result he wants, that he doesn't know that something crazy is *also* happening in hell. Every loop, Shax is emptying out the legions of demons until they barely have enough low level lackeys to go up at all. Hell is understaffed because no new people come into hell in the loop from earth, and they're sending all the demons that aren't subject to the reset into battle. This isn't a negotiation, it's a montage.

So the attack on the bookshop isn't one attack, but waves, and the waves get less powerful each loop. Stitched loops would also explain why Shax now hands Crowley his mail again in the last attack after *just* handing it to him on the park bench, like, 4 days ago in an earlier loop.

I don't have evidence for this directly, but if The Metatron put Maggie together with Nina successfully only in the last few loops, then she's fighting in the bookshop only a few times, and doesn't invite the demons in any other times, which might be why the only evidence is the column, and not books being ruined. But, it might also explain why the demon Eric gets discorporated a bunch of times in a row, he's doing it later and later in each loop. (These are kind of contradictory thoughts, I know.)

5. Aziraphale realizes too late. When I wrote part 4 of this series I was pretty awed by the fact that Aziraphale managed to figure out the Metatron was rewriting things after only hearing him say ONE LINE of dialogue. However after more thought, I think that he's been getting close to the truth a bunch of times by communicating with Crowley in previous loops. In each successive loop he tells Crowley later and later, and it's been getting them reset as punishment each time they figure it out together. By the end they barely communicate at all, because they can feel the danger. Watch his reaction here, in what we can assume is a *very late or last loop (because of the time on the clock)*

He stops himself from interrupting and telling Crowley something important he's just realized : that he's seen Gabriel and Beez get together before. "I know what this means..." 6. Saraqael is helping both sides without them knowing We see Saraquael helping Crowley immediately with the trial when she finds him in heaven. Why would she help Crowley without having ever met him before as a demon? The exchange of "Crowley I remember you, we worked on the Hosehead nebula together" and "I meet a lot of people, (*he doesn't say* I don't remember you)" is a code. They are both trying to communicate what they remember like spies on a bench in St.James park. Who recognizes who, who's trying to stop this madness. Maybe once Crowley gets to heaven this time he's seen multiple trials with multiple endings, and Saraquael has seen them too, I don't really know. BUT she's also communicating with Aziraphale at one point. Look at Saraqael in this scene again about the 25 lazerii miracle. She *remembers the book slap* and then the *looks* at Aziraphale in regards to Gabriel.

Yeah Gabriel, IT NEVER F*&?%ING WORKS IN ANY LOOP SO STOP DOING IT. - Saraquel, probably. Are Saraqael and Aziraphale testing later/earlier in the loops as well? Is this when the miracle was weaker? Who knows! 7. The Metatron job offer was many, many offers

It's really hard to tell with all the pieces of the puzzle moving around, but I think I can count 7 job refusal loops by Aziraphale in the last fifteen minutes. Here's a summary 1) Chinwag with Crowley in the room 2) We should go for a walk instead, here's a coffee 3) You don't have to answer immediately 4) Go tell you friend the good news (This is the important one), it's the last one where he tries to convince Crowley to come with him 5) I need to take care of my bookshop 6) The Metatron puts Muriel in charge of the bookshop, but Aziraphale wants to take something with him 7) Aziraphale straight up runs out to Crowley with "I think I-" 4, again) The Metatron takes him out of the bookshop. "Ready to start"?

Trying to screenshot all that would be insane, so just go rewatch it with all this in mind, and look at how the lighting changes inside of the bookshop and the jump cuts to different angles, and how his face resets every time. It's HEARTBREAKING. 8. The argument

I'm so blown away by the acting and writing (as well as the art direction) in this show, and it all comes to a head in the final argument. Many important lines have double meanings in series 2, because everyone is trying to speak in secret code to not get caught. Especially in the final loops.

In the last loops, we have an Aziraphale who is moving ever closer towards accepting the Metatron's offer, with the straw that broke the camel's back being he could restore Crowley as an angel**/save him; and Crowley who is moving ever farther away, by having to hide all of his Clue gathering, and confiding less and less to Aziraphale in each loop.

Check out the double meanings going on in this whole exchange if you consider that they are trying to save each other using secret codes neither one of them can hear. It's so shattering. Especially when you consider they've probably made it to this argument at least twice, and Crowley convinced him the first time. Why do I say that, you ask? 9. No Nightingales

Because I think Crowley remembers a loop where A Nightingale Sang was playing when they kissed, and Aziraphael didn't leave, but he knows they aren't in that version anymore. 10) I'm a demon, I lied. I'll probably post more abut the secondary characters because Shax, Furfur, Michael, Uriel and Nina etc all have roles to play, but for now, this is it.

----------------------------------------- Thanks so much for reading the gigantic post. If you disagree with my thoughts, or think this is terribly wrong, that's totally fine! I won't be offended. Without a real season 3, everything is just ether. Fingers crossed. I'd also like to thank The Ineffable Detective Agency, @embracing-the-ineffable, @cobragardens, @indigovigilance, @yowlthinks and more for inspiring me and feeding my brain with posts. *Loop numbers could actually be 25+ if you think that .5 demon mircales + .5 angelic miracles pour register as 1 whole miracle in heaven, I just didn't want to go into that in the main review. **The Metatron's meddling in the past seems to me trying very much to highlight to Aziraphale how *good* and righteous Crowley is, despite being a demon, in order to convince Aziraphale that joining him in heaven is a real possibility, and he should push for it.

[mrmiserymushroom]

my “theory”/point of view about Blitzø and his feelings

Recently, I made a post with some drawn panels where I kinda give my opinion about what the fuck is going on inside blitzø’s head. Yet, I still felt like posting the entire thing and explain it with more details. Not sure if this is qualified as a theory (since I feel like it’s too obvious/just a headcanon) but it’s still a speculation. No need to read this if you don't care, I just want to post it somewhere :]

FIRST THINGS FIRST! I know Stolitz is made to be canon. And I know, at one point, it's expected that Blitzø will confess his feelings and all of that. Everyone knows that soon he will realize he may not dislike Stolas at all and find out he, actually, is in love.

this will be a post trying to prove that this is not entirely true. Blitzø already knows that he is in love with Stolas and that he dug himself a grave from the start of their relationship. I'll be trying to prove that, in every episode, he is trying to supress these feelings to himself and the others around him, and even perhaps fell in love in the very beginning, way before Stolas fell for him.

About his personality, we know Blitzø always try to act kinda tough when it comes to himself, but with the ones he loves, he never hesited to show how much he cares and appreciates them, even going out of his way to protect them at all costs. And he does that since he was little. As shown in S2E1 - The Circus, he tries to act unbothered and confident with the lack of entushiasm from the audience, but follows every single one of his father's orders, even when he is not okay at all with the idea, to rob the Goetia castle, just so he can help his mom out.

Still in The Circus, we can pretty much assume his relationship with his father isn't very good from what we've been shown. On the flashback we get in S2E6 - OOPS, we can see Cash giving Fizzarolli a gift card with the phrase "Wish You Were My Son". Blitzø also lived being reminded, everytime he needed to perfom, of the fact he was far to be the circus favorite, never getting the crowd's love and applauses. Even so his dad did not care at all if he was going to be there to perform or not when Paimon asked to get him to spend time with Stolas on his birthday. All of this can give us the idea that he grew up to be insecure about himself, his self-worth and feeling love starved. that's when Fizzarolli enter the scene.

Fizzarolli was his first love. They were best friends since they were little kids and always got along very well. Even though, it's safe to assume Blitzø was, somewhat, jealous from all the love and attention Fizz got from the audience. making him carry a hidden envy. However, he never failed to be supportive of Fizz. praising him, trying to boost his confidence, giving him support, etc. Being there for the ones he loves, despite of how he feels is just how he is. But, still, this envy was growing inside of him since he was a child. Reinforcing the feeling of being unworthy and inferior compared to others. It wasn't just about wanting to be loved by the spectators, but it turned into a feeling of "everyone loves him and everyone hates me. I'm inferior"

and that is something pretty evident on his character. He always thought that he was inferior to Fizz and that he probably didn't deserve him. that his best friend needed someone better. I guess they've already made out a few times but it never went beyond that (since in S2E6 - OOPS, Blitzø mentions something about having tied up Fizzarolli several times before), yet, it was still stuck with him. That's what held him back and made him change his mind about giving the love letter to Fizz's on his birthday.

After that, we all know what happened. The incident took place and he lost all the most important people in his life. His mother died, his sister now hates him and Fizz got severely injured, besides "not wanting to talk to him again". With all the past trauma worsen, now he got a new one: abandonment issues.

Also, there was a time he dated Verosika, but she claims that she was the only one putting effort in the relationship, and now she despises him as well. Blitzø was probably still very affected by everything and was afraid of being envolved with someone and being abandoned again. Verosika was also a pop star, maybe making Blitzø feel like the inferior one again (but I imagine Verosika wasn't such a perfect girlfriend either).

With the passing of time, Blitzø started looking for help, got (slightly) better and created his own business. He adopted Loona, met Millie and then Moxxie. We can see he considers them as his found family. He is grateful for them (even if he doesn't verbalize it) and never fails to show how he is affectionate, even being a little invasive and annoying. It only shows more and more that he's a very sensitive and loving person. Always trying his best to protect, prioritize and take care of his new "family". He can go and insult Moxxie as much as he wants, scream at them, invade their personal lives, but, on the end of the day, he can't help but show how he feels towards people who are dear to him. So much so, it's even hard sometimes to hide it.

With all that in mind, now we can finally talk about how he feels about Stolas and why I think what I think.

Starting with the day he went to take the Grimoire from Stolas. His plan was to use spells to create portals to the living realm so he could get on his business with humans instead of demons. He was going to trick the prince and then get away with the book. Until Stolas let out how much he crave for that kind of passion and how much it means to him that the one that is making this happen is his only ever friend.

As i said before, Blitzø is a sensitive guy, So when the royal boy reveals all of that emotional stuff, Blitzø ends up feeling a bit of empathy and give in, telling himself that this is going to be quick.

In the end, he liked it way more than he expected and spent the whole night with the prince, only leaving by the morning. And in that night, he felt something he never felt before. Maybe it was a deep connection or maybe they were a really good casual match, it does not really matter. What matters is that he felt something really strong.

He secretly enjoyed it everytime and tried to convince himself it was just business and wasn't attracted to Stolas whatsoever. He feels more like himself and "free" when by his presence, as later implied in Truth Seekers, yet he does not want to get this feeling ahold of him. But he is still love-starved and so very emotional, of course this is going to dominate him whole as he spends more and more time with Stolas. And it eventually hits him hard.

Now, in S1E6 - Truth Seekers, we get a glimpse of Blitzø 's mind. Seeing how messed up his head is. He sees himself as a dirty clown, still tied up with memories about his past at the circus. He's tormented by everyone who is/have been related to him in some way, and his surroundings keeps getting messier and crazier as this goes on. It also address his trauma of being abandoned and left behind, as well as we get to know he does not really knows what he's doing half of the time. It all takes another turn when Stolas appears. Suddenly, things are not messed up and haunting him anymore. His appearence goes from the circus clown to his currently form, the form after he got his shit together once again and is trying to make a new turn in his life. He is wearing his work clothes and is not dirty.

Stolas is sitting in a throne at the top of a golden staircase, looking at him like he's just a plaything, representing how Blitzø feels inferior compared to Stolas (just like he felt with Fizzarolli). Then, he gets handcuffed of his wrists and neck, which Stolas is pulling by the chains. In the end, Blitzø make a expression like he is trying to endure something. Maybe the feeling that he likes Stolas, but can't do anything about that, since they are just business fuckbuddies and have to accept thing the way they are? Besides him being a inferior imp and a prince would never take him romantically? i dunno :P

In my opinion, this shows how Blitzø sees the world before and after Stolas, how he feels like a new person and in his bestform when he's with him. nothing feels messed up anmore and he is, in a way, safe from what's tormenting him. However, this also shows how Blitzø believes this is all one-sided and he is being stupid for falling in Stolas game, that he clearly is just a toy and this feeling shouldn't get ahead of him. He is just an imp and is the only one who can be easily hurt. He should've known better than this. Stolas is a Goetia. Above overlords, he is unattainable.

Still in the same episode, before they are saved by Stolas, Blitzø get in front of his "family" to protect them. As stated before, he gives everything to protect who he loves and I imagine how out of his mind he would be if he couldn't be there to save them. This will come in handy later.

When he comes to rescue him and his employees, he is surprised and admired about all of that. Thinking how amazing the prince is, reinforcing the image of a untouchable and powerful he has of the prince.

On S1E7 - Ozzie's, at the ending of the episode, while he is deeply hurt, Blitzø starts pointing fingers and makes it clear that their relationship is just about sex, and then, he says:

What gets me is that he doesn't say "it's about ME fucking YOU", he says "it's about YOU WANTING ME to fuck YOU", throwing all the situationship's wheight on Stolas side. Again, Blitzø thoughts Stolas only sees him as a sex toy and the emotional part is only Blitzø-sided. He is in love with Stolas already and reminding himself (and Stolas) what their relationship really is only hurts him more. He feels used and feels like at any time will be thrown away, that's why he tries his best to deny what he feels.

Then we have the picture on his phone. I don't think this is the latest pic on his gallery, I just think he had opened it before to find a random picture and came across this one. It might've got him right in the guts and he forgot to close the app.

We are now on S2E4 - Western Energy, where Stolas get kidnaped and Blitzø can't be there to save him, since he needs to take care of his daughter first. When he realizes Stolas, someone already dear to him, even if it's is a secret, really is in danger and there's nothing he can do about, he loses it. His behavior/expression is very similar to the ones he had in Truth Seekers.

In the end of the episode, he realizes Stolas maybe is not that unattainable as he thought so before.

Finally, in S2E6 - OOPS, when he and Fizzarolli are stuck together, they start arguing until the subject lands on Stolas. Blitzø seems, again, to be visually upset reminding him and others that he and Stolas has nothing beyong business and casual encounters and that royal demons are far above dating imps like him or Fizz.

He claims Stolas is only thrilled by the sex with a peasant, he trully believes all of the love and attention he is gave is merely manipulation. Even if he would like to believe otherwise, he can't risk being hurt and left behind because of a dumb choice. He would also be putting his job at risk with that. He tries to deny it to everyone, even to himself. Treating Stolas coldly or giving him the "I don't care" treatment would be a defense mechanism as well. harsh and kinda stupid, but that's just Blitzø.

He just doesn't wants to feel hurt and left in the cold again, so he just accepts his relationship with Stolas the way it is, but he also knows he was stupid for falling for him, all because the prince's sweet behavior is all just a fabricated "lie". If he decides speaks up, he fears he will be abandoned again. And even so, laughed at for falling in love when it's just "a silly roleplay". He wants to just throw this feeling away, but he can't help but feels what he feels.

This is it! I may or may not have made any sense. Sorry for any grammar mistakes or if it looked like my brain melted in the middle of the paragraph. perhaps I'll just save this in drafts just so I can have it written down without having to show it to anyone. If you read it 'till this point, please feel free to tell me what you think or whatever :}

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I've been thinkin' on it, and I think the biggest reason people are still insisting that Ed is just awful and abusive and whatever (aside from the racism of it all) is because the writers of OFMD fundamentally assume that viewers will like him and be on his side.

And, like, that is one hell of a reasonable assumption. Before s2 we spent a lot of time getting to know Ed; we see he's very sweet and smart and can be silly, and his self-esteem isn't great and he already has a lot of self-destructive tendencies and struggles with believing he can have nice things. These are all things we see in s2 and none of them should come as a surprise. We've gotten to know Ed and in s2 the writers assume we will be able to grant him even the barest ounce of sympathy.

"But he's being super violent and hurting the crew!" Ed's behavior at the beginning of s2 is best described as "a bit over the top" in the context of the show, and before he pulls out all the stops trying to get the crew to mutiny on him in his suicide attempt, he never actually hurts anyone except for Izzy (Izzy's the guy who threatened him and caused all this, or he'd still be crying in his blanket fort at the start of the season. OFMD has ALWAYS had a "talk shit get hit" philosophy and Izzy should not be the sole exception).

"But he never had to face any consequences for his actions!" I think almost getting beaten to death and then having to spend an entire episode convincing yourself you deserve to live is a pretty big consequence, actually.

"But he never apologized!" The group apology in s2e5 was obviously a joke (Stede clearly wrote it anyway and made Ed memorize it, look how Stede mouths along and Ed fumbles his lines), and it's pretty clear that Ed's conversation with Fang is meant to represent what he's doing with everyone. He's trying. He thinks up a way to try to give Lucius closure, even though it doesn't work, and when Fang mentions something Ed did that hurt him, Ed immediately and genuinely apologizes. It is not a wild jump to assume Ed's doing that with other characters and the show just assumes we're smart enough to figure that out from context considering how the crew are good with Ed again in s2e6.

"What if he hurts Stede/is abusive to Stede?" Multiple characters ask Stede something to this effect, Stede says "that's really stupid, of course he won't," and Stede is right. Question easily answered.

We're shown that Ed's response to being hurt and upset is not immediately violence. His first response is to go and hide and make himself feel safe - tub, blanket fort, hiding under the blanket and Anne and Mary's. Violence is Ed's response to feeling threatened. There's a difference. We're shown this over and over and over again, and frankly the only reason I think some people miss it is because they don't care to think about what's making Ed feel threatened in the first place.

It's just so clear that some people watching this show care so little about Ed and only care about what he can offer in a scene with other characters. Ed did not enjoy anything that happened at the beginning of the season - the last time we see him in s1 he's sobbing his poor eyes out and that's implied to have been consistent through s2e2. He's suicidal and having a miserable time and yes, he's hurting people who care about him, but it's not just for funsies, it's because he's trying to get himself killed. It's wild to me that some people can turn on the Ed and Stede show, see Ed pull himself out of such a terrible place by the end of the season and commit to a life with his boyfriend, and think that the show is setting up Ed to be abusive or imply he hasn't gone through any character growth and just coasted through the season.

[altruistic-meme]

one of the things i'm so nervous about with s3e6 is that i 100% don't think we're going to get to see the rest of the "break up" conversation between wilhelm and simon. which means the start of the episode will have us all being super tense to know what actually happened and where they stand.

because that's the way the show works. it's a pattern. whenever we get an episode ending with any kind of cliffhanger, the next episode doesn't start with that same scene, it is always a later scene and we sometimes get explanations in that scene, and we sometimes get them even later, and we sometimes never get an explanation at all.

s1e1 -> s1e2: they lean towards each other at the party. the next episode begins with the on the table scene. did they kiss??? no, but we don't learn that until the end of s1e2.

s1e2 -> s1e3: they kiss. the next episode begins 3 days later. what happened after the kiss??? we never learn.

s1e5 -> s1e6: the video gets leaked. the next episode begins with Wilhelm and Simon in their own rooms. did Wilhelm tell Simon at the event??? we never learn.

s2e4 -> s2e5: Wilhelm and Simon kiss at the ball. the next episode begins with them both thinking about each other. did Simon still go to Marcus' house like planned??? no, we learn later in the episode.

s2e6 -> s3e1: Wilhelm's speech and Sara calling the police. the next episode begins with the legal negotiations. what was the immediate fallout of both the speech and the police report??? we never learn.

s3e4 -> s3e5: Wilhelm and August talking about Erik. the next episode begins with Wilhelm walking through the Palace. did they actually talk in therapy??? did they discuss Erik at all after this??? no, i don't think so, but we aren't actually ever told.

these are some of the more obvious examples i could quickly remember. but they make up my point nonetheless. the only times i can remember us getting any kind of immediate following scene are:

s1e4 -> s1e5: with Wilmon still in bed together. (but this ignores the whole August side-plot of the end of s1e4 which isn't acknowledged again until later in the episode, so it only mostly counts)

s2e3 -> s2e4: probably the MOST direct following scene despite how short it is. Wilhelm texting Felice that he doesn't think Henry will tell anyone.

s2e5 -> s2e6: similar to the s1 one, Wilmon are still together in Wilhelm's room.

so yeah. i'm nervous because i truly don't think that s3e6 is going to start where s3e5 left off. so we're going to walk into the episode with NO IDEA where Wilmon stand with each other, and that is, I think, the scariest part of this whole thing.

[natdeviantrat]

s2e6 thoughts cause i'm

poor armand the plotting happening right in front of his face again and he's trying to catch on but they're gaslighting him to the moon and back

ajskw;i take off your clothes with vampires right outside the door that has to be considered willful exhibitionism... not that i'm complaining

of course they have to get rid of claudia, she's the only one who sees through louis' bs and calls him out to his face

i love a man trying to tell a woman what they don't know and utterly failing

fuck yes, they kept it,, armand the offspring-less elder (daniel his first ever fledging!!) that - armand's refusal to turn anyone, and eventual giving in only bc he couldn't let daniel go - was my favorite piece of devil's minion. it says so much about armand's experience and perception of vampirism that he's the only one we've met who is so entirely repulsed, eternally uninterested, in siring in another. and it's still one of the few things we have about him rather than him in terms of his relationships

i did not think they'd actually go all in on the maitre thing, guess i should learn to have better faith in this show. it's such a dynamic, louis' handling of armand, armand's trauma showing through, his floundering and being the one to (in lestat's words) doom them. i want to know every single detail of how this evolved into the brittle equilibrium they're trying to hold together in present day

something something claudia a fighter, louis a lover, armand a survivor

armand navigates these arguments so well, coming out on top even with them ganging up on him, bc he holds himself together so tightly

that scene with them as a family, what it could have been, leading directly into the betrayal... they set that up as a punch to the gut it hurtss

i just have to say armand, my beloved, you little bitch

and he's hereeee

[moments-on-film]

Carmy doesn’t know who he is yet

I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I’ve come to the conclusion that Carmen doesn’t really know who he is. He doesn’t know himself enough to know what actually makes him happy. This impacts how he views himself, how he sees himself in relation to other people, and it also helps explain why his life feels so empty, why he has no answer when asked questions, including “what is fun for you?”

In the group session in S2E3, Carmy shares,

“I think when I was a kid, anything that would give me any sort of excitement or amusement or enjoyment, it always got kind of f-d.”

What I took from this is that he used to have things that he was passionate and excited about, maybe even things he found fun, made him laugh, brought him joy, and they got ruined, by his family. He likely didn’t start out in life with the outlook he has now. Life, and the abuse and trauma he has survived taught him to repress his true feelings, not express himself, and not communicate his needs and desires, for fear of what would happen if he did.

We know that Carmy is an artist, in more ways than one. Carmy is an artist through the food he creates. In S1E8, he describes how he felt that by cooking he could “communicate through creativity”, which must have been an incredible self discovery for him. Unfortunately, it appears that is the only creative discovery about himself he has been able to act on. His latent artistic talents include a connection to clothing and the ability to draw beautiful, realistic sketches of food and people (from what we have been shown so far). I believe art was Carmy’s first, true passion but it has been beaten out of him.

In S2E6, in the first scene between him and his mom, Carmy is helping in the kitchen and his mother brings up Steven. She says to Carmy, “Is cousin Michelle’s friend Steven, is he gay? Steven, is he gay? I mean he seems kind of gay. You know, he’s arty.”

This raised a HUGE red flag for me upon first viewing. Donna is equating being arty with being gay, and with negative connotations. Now at this point in S2, we don’t yet know that Carmy used to draw Claire, or that he drew the framed sketch that he gives to Michael as a Christmas present of their dream restaurant, The Bear, (we find out both later in this episode), or that he drew the chaos menu he shows to Sydney in S2E8. All we know so far is that he used to draw (pants) in high school. In S2E5, Carmy tells Claire that after meeting who we now know was Thom Browne at his restaurant in New York, he said he felt like he “wanted to start drawing again.” Claire says, “the dream returned”, and Carmy looks down and looks so sad.

Maybe his initial dream really was to be an artist, but his mom, brother, and Richie all “giving him a hard time” about drawing, and probably being made fun of ruined it for him, so he repressed that side of himself, tamped it down, and denied what he was actually passionate about. What could have been a great source of joy and happiness is now associated with suppression and shame.

Carmy didn’t go to college. He didn’t get to try new things, take classes and discover new passions, meet new people, or expose himself to possibilities that life could offer. He didn’t have friends or girlfriends growing up. The only people (historically) he’s ever been around are family, who see him a certain way, and his various staff, which he manages and leads. Claire sees him a certain way because she knows his past and understands his (past) behavior. She tells him “you’re really shy”, not you were really shy or you used to be shy—no, she is speaking about his past in the present tense. All of this boxes Carmy in, behaviorally.

Carmy tells Claire he always wanted to have friends, so wistfully. At the party Claire takes him to in S2E5, he gets mistaken for someone else, Logan Fernello, but doesn’t correct the situation. He escapes into this alter ego and literally pretends to be someone else so he can have a conversation with a group of would be friends. The group of guys he’s talking to don’t know who he is and he uses this as an opportunity to reinvent himself. This scene really threw me the first time I saw it, not just because he’s telling a story to a rapt audience, but because in 13 episodes, he has never been this animated. It’s as if he’s channeling the best parts of what he loved about Michael in this moment. He’s never really allowed himself to make friends with new people and explore and expand certain aspects of his personality. Is he shy is this scene? Absolutely not. The moment ends when Claire comes over and steers him out of the situation, which made me think—How is Carmy supposed to explore new parts of himself around people from his past who have already made up their minds about who he is and how he’s supposed to behave?

Instead of going to college, where, among other things, he would have had new experiences and met new people, Carmy threw himself into work. He saw colleagues as competition and worked himself to the bone. He’s been a chef in Malibu, California, Napa Valley, California, Copenhagen, Denmark, and New York, New York, but Carmy never talks about his experiences in these locations unless it’s tied to work. Did he ever explore in these cities and locations and allow himself to have a good time?

Carmy’s empty apartment is also indicative of his suppressed emotions and personality. We know he has a great eye and talent for creativity and beauty, yet his apartment reflects none of this. There’s barely anything on the walls, apart from a few things in his room. There is no personality to be found. Everything is his apartment is to serve a function, but there is nothing sentimental, nostalgic, creative or reflective of his life experiences or travels on display.

In S2E1, Carmy has a moment alone in his empty apartment. It’s a quiet moment, but one of extreme unease. He simply does not know how to relax, how to just be. He plays with his pocket knife and opens his phone. This moment is notable because he essentially has no apps on his phone apart from the preloaded ones. No entertainment, no games, nothing personal. It’s as devoid of his personality as his apartment.

Carmy tells his sister in S1E6 that he feels trapped because he can’t describe how he’s feeling. I believe Carmy senses and feels things deeply, but he has a very hard time putting his emotions into words. I think this is why Carmy has such a talent for giving such sweet and thoughtful gifts. He listens, he pays attention, and he really considers what people need and want. A gift can say so much, and express deep emotion, without the need for words.

Carmy knows his knife will give Tina confidence at culinary school, and so, in the subtlest way possible, he gifts it to her. Sending Richie to stage with chef Terry was life changing. Carmy must have put a lot of thought into what Richie needs, and he gave him that experience from his heart. Even in S1E3, the small act of Carmy bringing Sydney a plate of food to eat because he thought she might be hungry, spoke volumes. His gift to her of the chef coat was a declaration of love because not only did he listen to her when she expressed interest in his, he customized it for her perfectly, down to the smallest detail.

When Carmy tells Sydney, “you’re not alone”, as he gives her this beautiful gift, there is an ocean of emotion, care, thought, consideration, respect, and yes, love, in those three words. It’s as if he can sense and feel exactly what her deepest fear is and he comforts her by essentially letting her know, “I see you, please don’t worry. You’re safe with me. I’ll watch over you. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. Even if I wasn’t before, I’m here for you now and I’m not leaving.” He might have to tamp down his feelings, needs and desires, and not put them into words, but he does not want Sydney to experience that same type of pain. This makes his “say more, please” line to get her to speak all the more sweet, tender, and poignant.

From what we have seen so far, Carmy has never been nurtured and never really been loved, unconditionally. To discover who you are, what moves, motivates, excites and enamours you, you have to have experiences, you have to be able to leap into the unknown. I don’t think he’s ever felt safe enough emotionally to explore and express parts of himself with freedom to discover who he is and what actually makes him happy.

I think so many of Carmy’s self identity struggles and mental health issues arise from the abuse he’s had to survive and the trauma he’s endured. It has made him shut down, close off, repress and stifle his urges, emotions, and passions. I also must add that what brings me hope for him is how he is able to express himself with honestly, vulnerability, care and tenderness with the new people in his life, but most importantly, with Sydney. She is not connected to his past, and I think together they could have a beautiful future. That future might not always be in the kitchen, but that is ok.

I really hope Carmy is on a journey of self discovery and into who he is and what brings him joy, peace and happiness. I hope he gets the professional help he needs and is able to untangle his suppressed, confused, internalized emotions, put words to feelings, and finally live life to the fullest. Most importantly, I hope he allows himself the grace to know himself, express himself, and truly love himself. When he does, I know his love for others will take on a whole new dimension of creativity and beauty, just like his art.

©️moments-on-film 2023

[littlefingies]

Did I start making podfics partially so I could record this as a bedtime story for myself? Yes, a little.

Please enjoy this sweet, fluffy, probation-era fic: The Kissing Game by @veeagainsttheday.

Summary: Set during the period between s2e5 - The Curse of the Seafaring Life and s2e6 - Calypso's Birthday, venturing a little bit into canon events of s2e6. Ed wants to take things slow but he also really likes kissing Stede. He invents a game to try to make both of these things happen.

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59033299

[indigovigilance]

Saraqael isn't real

I wrote a piece on the source of energy for the 25 Lazari Plume. In it, I set aside the "holistic power of the duo" hypothesis, that @dee-morris actually provides a very compelling argument for, on the basis of something Saraqael said. Which means that, in order to accept @dee-morris's hypothesis, I have to explain why Saraqael is an unreliable source, and why no one around her seems to realize that except one demon in particular.

Let's get started.

The Hypothesis

When Aziraphale and Crowley did their body swap at the end of Season 1, it generated a lot of energy, because it is the same miracle that they perform to hide Gabriel.

Word of God has also stated that this took "Big Miracle Energy"

Why I Set it Aside

I ignored this because Neil is a lying liar and I treat him as such.

I also relied heavily on the disbelief from Saraqael that Aziraphale would be capable of casting such a miracle.

Why I Should Not Have Set it Aside

The Metatron makes a statement at the end of S2E6 about the de facto partnership between Crowley and Aziraphale. This implies that he knows about the body-swap that occurs in S1E6, since we know that Michael started surveilling them long before that. Also, a "big energy" miracle should have set off alarms in Heaven. Just because we didn't witness it doesn't mean it didn't happen, and that it didn't put all of Heaven on alert that they had collaborated in this way.

What that says about Saraqael

But Saraqael may not be a reliable source of information because she didn't exist at the time that this happened.

Who Crowley "Doesn't Remember"

(and we should not misconstrue this as "has forgotten, which we were doing)

Saraqael and Furfur are both characters introduced in Season 2 that have memories of significant events with Crowley, but Crowley doesn't remember them. There are two explanations for this.

Crowley's memory was wiped and he hasn't retrieved these particular memories.

These beings were created post-facto with false memories that Crowley doesn't have because they never actually happened.

Why doesn't anyone else notice a problem?

Everyone else acts like Furfur and Saraqael belong because they may have gained new (false/implanted) memories when these beings were created. But Crowley has more control over his memories than other beings do. He claws back memories that were lost. Who's to say that this doesn't also make him immune from receiving implanted, false memories?

Crowley's understanding of this situation

Crowley doesn't know that some beings are new constructs; he thinks he's forgotten them because of his memory loss. I infer this because he owns that he doesn't remember them; if he knew that they were constructs and that he's supposed to have implanted memories, he would probably pretend to have those memories. This might be a stretch but it's my thought on the matter.

Who Else is a Construct?

fucking Maggie that's who Please read "What's Up with Maggie?" by @iammyownproblematicfave through the lens of her being completely fake with implanted memories that are also implanted into others, like Nina. Memories that don't correspond with reality, like having been at the shop for [forty?] years and not noticing that Mr. Fell hasn't aged a day.

[milehighmegs]

The Window Theory

This is kind of a two-parter, and a bit long and circular, but it all connects, so just bear with me 😁

So, I just finished my 42598302621827732263435th re-watch of S2E6. When Beez says, "I just found something more important than taking sides," and she & Gabe join hands, Zira touches Crowley's arm. Ya know, this touch:

Look at Zira's face. I think, maybe- just MAYBE- Zira finally realizes that this is what Crowley's been talking about every time he's said, "our side." He reaches out to Crowley, but because he can't actually speak at that moment, it's his way of saying, "Oh my god. I get it now. I completely understand." And if you watch a bit longer, when Crowley walks away to take Nina & Maggie out of the shop, he keeps reaching for Crowley (couldn't find a GIF of it, but it's there). Almost like he's saying, "oh, oh yes, we are going to have a VERY good talk when this is all wrapped up."

There's also an element of "we're not the only ones," and "maybe, if the Supreme Archangel of Heaven can fall for the Grand Duke of Hell, this isn't as bad as I've been telling myself it is." If Gabelzebub haven't been- smote? smited? smitten- by God or devoured by Satan for falling in love (and not being coy or secretive about it), maybe Zira is FINALLY ready to actually be with Crowley, in the open, and without fear.

But we all know what happened after that.

Yes, Metatron is a bastard. But (and this is just a bit of a theory here) in telling Zira that he (Metatron) knew about the "de facto partnership" with Crowley, and then later about the Second Coming, he gave the whole game away**. Zira thought that Heaven wasn't watching all that closely. And maybe they weren't, right up until the two of them thwarted the Nopocalypse, but looked into the records and found out what they'd been up to for millennia. What Zira knows now is that not only are they aware of it, they are fully prepared to use it as a threat against him, but more so against Crowley. At that moment, however, that's all he knows. Metatron didn't mention the plans for the Second Coming until after The Kiss™. So after accepting Metatron's offer and desperately trying to convince Crowley to come with him and failing, but before the Jesus 2.0 bomb, Zira is visibly shaken (I mean, I would be too if I had just accepted that I COULD be with the love of my life, then got kissed like THAT by them, only to be broken up with right after they told me that they felt we'd been together all along). He didn't have a plan to protect Crowley. He didn’t think he needed one because he was so sure that his offer to go to Heaven would be accepted. He figured it was a given, knowing & understanding now that Crowley wanted to be with him, and part of the reinstatement of Crowley as an angel would facilitate that.

Now that Crowley has refused, Zira doesn't know what to do. He didn't have a backup plan. And he still, at that point, doesn't really know what Metatron needs him for. It's why he hesitates to leave at first. For the first time since The Arrangement, he doesn’t have a partner. He's alone, trying to figure things out, trying to find some way, ANY way, to make this work. He keeps looking out the window, ostensibly at Crowley, but... did you notice that we're never actually shown WHAT he's looking at? I have a feeling we'll find out in S3 what it is, but for now, he's flustered, anxious, and of course still reeling from what had just happened. He looks out the window a second time, and just, like... suddenly snaps out of it. We can tell, as the audience, that there's a lot of game face happening here, because we know Zira: we know his mannerisms, his moods, his reactions to certain things. And we also know he's smart. But I digress.

Something occurs to him (or he sees something out the window), which is why he suddenly feigns detachment and goes with Metatron. The wheels start to churn, but only insofar as it has to do with protecting Crowley. When the Second Coming plans for Supreme Archangel Aziraphale are dropped, everything changes. EVERYTHING. He suddenly realizes that the whole purpose of the offer, and the chance to take Crowley with him, was a trap. Metatron knew Crowley would refuse, and having made the threat, he knew Zira wouldn’t refuse. Zira understands the offer’s true purpose was to separate them so that they couldn't prevent another apocalypse. So now, not only is Crowley's life at risk, but Earth is once again under the threat of annihilation, and he doesn't have the one person he's always been able to rely on to help him prevent it. He goes with Metatron because he knows it's the only thing he can do to protect Earth AND his beloved.

That one last look at Crowley... I don't know, maybe something had passed between them through the window that we don't yet know about. Maybe Zira just had a sudden realization that had nothing to do with what he was looking at (perhaps the bullet catch mentioned below**?). Whatever the case, hearing about Armagedd-it's-back-on was a seismic shift in his attitude. You can see it in his demeanor: he’s no longer flustered, no longer searching for answers, no longer anxious about what happens next. In short, SHIT JUST GOT REAL. Because of this, Zira has to once again think fast, but keep Crowley in the dark, and get to work. That ride up in the elevator was spent hatching the most clever, most ingenious, dare I say the most devilish plan the Universe has ever seen. He is really and truly on OUR side now, the side that he & Crowley had been on for millennia, the side he was no longer pretending to NOT be on, the side that he finally stepped into with perfect love and perfect trust. With no way to tell Crowley about the Second Coming and therefore what he was planning, it seems like he chose Heaven over love. But he didn't. He did choose Crowley, but he also chose Earth, and in reality, he chose "us." It's just going to have to wait.

**If you wanna go really deep with this, the whole reason for the bullet catch episode was to mirror Furfur’s threat with the Metatron’s, and Furfur also revealed the plan too soon (I think there’s also another reason for this episode, details below). Like a bad Bond villain, they were too cocky. In 1941, Zira was able to think fast, palm the photo, and protect him & Crowley. But note that he didn’t tell Crowley what he was doing (there was neither time nor opportunity); Crowley only found out after the fact, when they were having dinner later. Zira protected "us" even then because only hours before, he realized that he loved Crowley and (I'm pretty sure) that Crowley loved him back. At the time, however, he didn't think anything could come of it. But that touch in the bookshop... that's when he knew. So when Metatron made the offer, there was no need to protect anything because he thought Crowley would come back to Heaven. Since that went down like a lead balloon, Zira is left helpless & scrambling. Then that look out the window... I think Zira remembered the bullet catch. That silent "trust me." The “aim for my mouth then shoot past my ear.” The diversion tactic. Again, until the Second Coming plans are revealed, Zira only plans to find a way to protect Crowley in secret. When the stakes rise, Zira ups his game. THAT’S the reason for the changing looks on his face on the elevator ride. THAT’s what the smile is about. He’s doing the calculations, setting up the illusion, perfecting the con. And just like the magic act he & Crowley pulled when they saved Job’s children, just like when Crowley seemed to be the random volunteer to pull the trigger, Zira knows his partner will be there to help him pull it off one more time. Even if it means leaving him, leaving him in the dark once again.

[maragarita]

This is the first time I've been able to watch an episode of maws as it airs so here's my take on S2E6!

• Clark is actually being mean and sassy and I love him for it like yes bby please wake up in a better mood next time you were kidnapped not murdered

• I didn't realize in the preview clip that aired a few days ago but Kara's eyes grey out even when she says "model citizen" at the beginning of the episode!

• the look when Clark sees Lois : (( the poor boy didn't even have time to process the breakup before he got knocked out and thrown into space but also she was the first thing he thought of when Kara asked if anyone cared for the real him :((((

• Clark says ow when he fights with Kara over the Polaroid! It's so natural that it took me a second to realize that he probably doesn't normally feel pain from playful roughhousing??

• the fact that Clark immediately clocks Kara the way Jimmy clocked him and Lois. The little shimmer in his eye when he asks if she likes him

• "what, no, what? I don't even know what that means. Stop being all weird with your stupid earth brain" this whole sequence makes me REALLY REALLY look forward to a post-brainiac maws where Clark and Kara can just be cousins in metropolis together (which I fully believe the maws crew will make happen)

• Cousin snowball fight I cryyy

• For a second I almost believed we were actually going to see space traveling and new planets but makes sense

• ok it's been lowkey before this episode but is Clark actually kryptonian super saiyan I don't know the lore

• Kara actually did genocide while brainwashed oh no

• I'm sorry I'm sorry WHAT Jimmy and Lois both 1. Found MM and the brain from the OTHER DIMENSION they traveled to and 2. WENT INTO SPACE TO FIND CLARK my joy is unending I love this show

• Clark is actually going to be used as a weapon nooo poor boy just wants to help I can't handle a world where the maws version of Clark Kent is a murderer :((((

Final thoughts, love! The maws crew is already doing such a good job of making Clark and Kara feel like cousins and I'm so happy she's in the show even though I was honestly hesitant about it at first. The next episode is called Olsen's eleven and once again I am. My joy is immeasurable. I love this show. I love that we get to experience it every week instead of all at once because now I get to comb through all the small animation details while I waitt!!! I'm just sad there were no phones in this episode because HOW will I know if it's still Monday may 9th now???

[onesidedradiostatic]

helluva boss s2e6 reaction

I HAD TO CUT IT DOWN TO 1 EPISODE CAUSE I HIT THE IMAGE LIMIT LMAO. SORRY EPISODE 7 IN ANOTHER POST

episode 6

oh my god. okay. fizzarolli right at the start we're already off to a great start

oh my god????

okay I think I'm starting to see the parallels between fizz and angel dust, I did hear mammon was abusive? idk? didn't expect that not all the deadly sins would be nice like ozzie, beelzebub and lucifer

HAHAHAH OH MY GOD

UH HUH.......

"LOVE. IS. STUPID."

yeah I understand why they were screaming at moxxie and millie now

THIS FUCKING CAPTION LMAO

HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOO

OHHHHHH MY GOD

oh boy

yeah I like where this is going

awwwww

OH MY GOD we're getting blitzo-fizz stolas-ozzie parallels now aren't we

oh here's the part about ozzie condemning love potions, one of the things I heard about

Asmodeus: Well, I can tell ya, if you're looking for a love potion, you came to the wrong fucking guy. I don't fuck with that artificial bullshit! Lust shouldn't be about force... It's an ART! To be earned, and enjoyed. It's all about that journey to Pleasure Town... You feel me?

based ozzie

HAHAHAH oh my god these messages

oh my god

LMAOOOOOO

I love this little exchange they're having it's so funny

Blitzo: Point is, royal demons don't give a shit about guys like us. They're all the fuckin' same. Fizzarolli: That's not...! A-always true...

oooooh this is supposed to be a comparison between ozzie and mammon now is it

ooooh boy (also what the fuck is this shot LMASKDSOGKOHDOMHS)

oh my god what happened between them

oh my god???

oh my god.

HIS MUM? aw. man.

man so it's not even their fucking fault, who decided to lie to him like that what a dick

HAHAHA aww

hahhaha awwwwww

LMAOOOOOOO????

WHAJAJASKLGSDSDKFDLGLG WHAT IS THIS SHOT

WHAT IS THIS

THAT GUY WITH THE HEART EYES???? I'M CRYING

awwww

I'M CRYING?????

HAHAHA OH MY GOD

OOOOH HAHHAHA

LMAOOOO the captions at the end, I hit image limit so

BTW: DON'T WORRY. The quieves all made it home safe and sound <3

but yeah this was GREAT. I was gonna put episode 7 together with this but um. I ended up going too crazy and hit the image limit in one episode whoops. dw, next time, EPISODE 7. and more fizzarolli