#season 5 trope

[rileyclaw]

turn on the lights, this cannot last forever

watching and dreaming promo

[branwinged]

the magnus archives is a romcom—no what the hell it's not. it is, however, a gothic horror romance between jon and elias. because you see, the thing about jonelias is that their canonical dynamic is built around an absurd number of gothic genre tropes. jon sims obviously fits the mold of the tortured gothic protagonist quite nicely who's facing both external (the other avatars targeting him) and internal horrors (his progress as the Archivist weighing on his conscience). but he's also trapped in the gothic manor which is the magnus institute. there are secrets (the place being a temple to the eye), locked doors, forbidden chambers, and bodies in the attic which serve as evidence of past misdeeds (the panopticon; gertrude and jonah's bodies in the tunnels), the institute/archives is ultimately destroyed by fire - purging the gothic manor i.e. the symbolic destruction of the previous order with fire is a common motif in the genre. and jon's work in the archives is haunted by the figurative ghost of gertrude who remains a curious mystery he must unravel and will serve as a constant reminder to jon of his own inadequacies (just like du maurier's rebecca fr)

elias is then —

1) his personal bluebeard figure who murdered his predecessor, a comparison which only gets stronger with the jonah magnus reveal since he's been cycling through archivists for two hundred years, all having met gruesome ends in service to him and jon being his final and most notable choice. are you seeing the maxim de winter rochester imagery. are you.

2) his gothic double. doubles as a literary trope are your hidden self made manifest, the horror lies in the double (elias) revealing the gothic protagonist's (jon) hidden, true self to them. elias as an avatar of the eye is entirely unrepentant for his nature, he revels in it. which is a mirror to jon's own self-flagellation because despite how much he feels torn about his own metaphorical vampirism, he likes it. he admits as much to gerry as early as s3 when asked about his feelings on his ability to compel truths. and why wouldn't he! after being kept in the dark so long, why wouldn't he like it? and jon and jonah had in common their natural curiosity even before they found the beholding. elias is a mirror and jon looks in it and sees someone who is him, but not quite. someone who is what jon would be if he could simply let go, but jon can't. like most gothic protagonists he will kill his double because it is a reminder of a self-truth he can never escape.

and watcher's call. like what even is that. what do you mean that's a thing. what. literally wuthering heights. "why did you heed the call?" // "because this is the place i know i should be" <- normal dialogue to write for two guys definitely not starring in a gothic romance.

^ same genre of images. so the spider, the mother of puppets, the web which is the symbolic representation of narrative thread in the magnus archives universe WEAVED them together? red string fated, that's what they are? so they're soulmates. that's what you're saying. they're literally soulmates. soulmates as existential horror? just enough of an illusion of narrative agency for jonah/elias to claim, "the Chosen One is simply that – someone I chose" but paradoxically joined by fate, which isn't a good thing! because no god-like powers of hope, or love, or indigestion, or whatever, only fear. because even though both help the other achieve narrative self-actualisation (elias making jon the archive and jon making elias the king of a ruined world), their union also irrevocably destroys their lives as they hurt each other in deeply personal ways which signify their greatest fears. elias manipulating jon, whose biggest fear is mr spider, i.e. loss of control and jon repaying by being the very thing that kills jonah, who has spent multiple lifetimes trying to escape the end. and that's romance <3

[correct-hermitcraft-quotes]

Iskall: You stupid idiot look at me

[gayofthefae]

"It's like Carpenter's 'The Thing'. The original is a classic! No question about it."

But the remake? Sweeter. Bolder. Better."

"You're insane."

"So you prefer the original Thing?" "What? No."

But "That's insane. That's blasphemous! Putting fruit on pizza?"

"Did you try it?"

"No, I didn't try it; no, I obviously didn't try it."

"Try before you deny!" "Okay! Okay!"

"No, you're right. It's good."

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

You're the light, you're the night | You're the colour of my blood | You're the cure, you're the pain | You're the only thing I wanna touch - Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding

Moonlight Chicken

HIStory 2: Crossing The Line

Utsukushii Kare Season 2

Gaya Sa Pelikula (aka Like In The Movies)

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner

HIStory 5: Love In The Future

Tinted With You

The New Employee

Favorite "Let-me-watch-you-while-you-sleep-moments" (Part 1/?) as part of my favorite bl-tropes collection.

[your-stranger-halfblood-things]

If Will was shorter and Mike was tall, for comedy, could Mike have the locker under Will's so he's liked crouching on the floor while Will is on his tippy toes trying to get a textbook

[runninguplenorahills]

Season 5 coming back full circle to season 1 and the general theme of subverting tropes

In every season we have characters try to make the plot conform to a common trope only for that trope to get subverted.

Season 2

The expected love triangle would’ve been Max, Mike and El but that’s not how that went. Though when El runs away from home and visits the school, she sees Max and Mike talk and pulls Max off her skateboard. El tries to make the plot conform to the obvious choice for a love triangle but of course we know that’s not what’s actually happening.

Max, Dustin and Lucas form the actual love triangle of the season. A LOT of people were expecting Max to choose Dustin so them ending up together would’ve been the expected outcome. And that’s also where we get Steve as the character that tries to make the plot conform to the obvious outcome. He encourages Dustin and gives him relationship advice, setting up the plot to end with Max and Dustin being a couple but that’s not what happens. Max chooses Lucas!

Leaving season 2 we have El trying to push the trope of the jealous girlfriend

Season 3

And starting season 3 we have El and Max become best friends -> not conforming to an expected rivalry.

Steve and Nancy are broken up and Steve has trouble finding a girl he likes and then there’s Robin. Robin and Steve were the obvious endgame couple and we even have Dustin pushing Steve towards her constantly. He’s the one trying to make the plot conform to the obvious. Dustin puts the thought in Steve’s head that Robin is the perfect girl for him. We get Steve and Robin open up to each other and holding hands on a roof, totally hinting at the fact that they’re gonna end up together but that’s definitely not what happens. It’s revealed that Robin is a lesbian and she rejects Steve.

Season 4

Yet again we have Dustin trying to push Steve towards a girl but in vain because while the love triangle isn’t completely resolved yet, Nancy chooses Jonathan in the end of season 4.

For the next one we have Will being the one that tries to make the plot conform to the gay rejection trope. Will is self sabotaging by pushing Mike and El together which evidently isn’t working because El doesn’t talk to Mike in the end of season4. We also get Will trying to make the plot conform to the expected ending of the grand love confession saving the world which……..yeah, didn’t at all happen! Quite the opposite actually.

Season 5

Realize how I left out season 1? It’s because we’re coming back full circle to it with season 5. The obvious direction of the plot of season 1 is Mike and El falling in love. That’s what’s expected since episode 1 and throughout the whole season we don’t just have one but four characters trying to push that narrative: Dustin, Lucas and Nancy push Mike towards El and plant the thought inside his head that he’s supposed to be in love with her. So Mike himself starts to push that narrative too. But that’s not what’s going to happen.

-> It follows a pattern: there is an obvious outcome, there are characters trying to make the plot conform to that obvious outcome and in the end something else happens instead! Season 5 will most likely pick up on season 1’s expected outcome of El and Mike falling in love and finally subvert it. It will be revealed that Mike and El have never actually been in love. They’re gonna break up and while El will get her amazingly bitchin’ independence arc, Mike will end up with Will <3

[gouinisme]

i don't think our #doomed girl number one is actually gonna die anytime soon* but now my brain is going mag 40 mode like "alice, you didn't die here did you?" anyways if she ends up either already being some sort of undead/construct or turning undead at any point i'm a genius and otherwise i was just kidding teehee

[teruel-a-witch]

so we know how danny has trouble falling asleep/sleeping next to his gf in s5 but easily falls asleep next to steve? what if he developed an unhealthy coping mechanism of falling asleep in steve's bed whenever they (especially steve) had a near-death experience or when he was worried about him because the sound of steve's breathing was enough to calm him down?

what if one day after his insomnia and anxiety got bad enough he just came into steve's room in the middle of the night, plopped down on the bed next to him and when steve asked him what he was doing he just said 'trying to get some sleep, what does it look like I'm doing?' and promptly fell asleep. steve could only say 'o-kay' because he noticed how exhausted danny has been lately and that was it.

from then on it becomes sort of a calming ritual for danny, they don't talk about it, don't do anything but sleep, they barely touch at all, except for a couple of times when danny puts his hand on steve's heart. steve gets that danny needed to hear the steady beat.

their holding pattern could have gone on forever except one of the times danny crawled into his bed, steve is actually dating someone. that someone is not thrilled to 'surprise' their boyfriend only to find danny in his bed in the morning. especially after steve told them he didn't want to see them the night before because he wasn't feeling up to it. 'i accepted how weirdly close you are with your best friend but I draw the line at you cuddling in bed together when he's clearly got a thing for you'.

danny feels awful and cannot meet steve's eyes 'i'm sorry i ruined things for you, i was being selfish, i'm gonna go'.

steve stops him, something is nagging at him, he realizes it's that danny hasn't denied his now ex's assumption. 'please tell me if it's true, because if it is, you are the only person i ever want in my bed. i'm not sorry i got dumped if i don't have to almost die just to get a chance to fall asleep next to you.'

danny can't resist interjecting 'as happy as i am with this turn of events, could you tone it down with almost dying please?'

'i can promise i will try anything for you, babe'.

that night danny sleeps like a pleasantly exhausted log, too happy and tuckered out to smack steve for smugly calling himself 'doctor sleep'.

[sage-nebula]

Thinking about how when baby Tails met little Sonic, and Sonic was so nice to and supportive and encouraging of him, and that was the first time in so long that anyone was nice to or actually liked Tails, and so an achievement was unlocked for Sonic: Miles Prower will now die for you.

And then a little while after that, when Tails tells Sonic that he's already got the best family, and that Sonic is his best family, and he loves and cares about Sonic more than anyone else, and so an achievement was unlocked for Tails: Sonic the Hedgehog will now die for you.

These brothers just love each other so much, I cry.

[considermeadream12]

Bylers in S5 when the party gets a fright while hiding from demobats and Mike subconsciously grabs Will's hand:

[aliciedraws]

Soft marichat kiss 🌹❤️

Absolute perfection.

[freakinator]

if i had it my way i would love a zam/leo/clown/red/mapicc/bacon/minute/mid alliance/team next season

[thesillydoll]

LOKI 2 SPOILERS

Basically, X-5 is the new Robin Arryn

[gyroshrike]

A sequel to this where Brainy doesn’t succeed in fighting off Brainiac’s control. Facing down kryptonite, Superman only has one last ditch effort to reach him

[kelsonius]

Alastor and his chosen family