#the awkwardness vibes are immaculate this scene was everything i never knew i wanted

[bizarrelittlemew]

Our Flag Means Death 2x4 | Running into your ex at the antique store

[sporksaber]

After sitting on it for a day, here's some overall thoughts I had about Wednesday. And this is going to have spoilers

As a whole I enjoyed the show, but to be honest I dont want to watch it again.

I think the show overall lacked emotion. When characters had big emotional moments they often felt stilted. And I dont just mean Wednesday being awkward. The writing felt too direct at a lot of points. The big emotional moments just didnt hit.

The pacing for the entire show was kind of off, and I feel like that caused a lot of the lagging emotion.

It felt like they just gave up on balancing the supernatural mystery and the school stuff. Past episode three it felt shoved into any empty space they had. Enid suffered from this a lot. Her wolf issues didnt feel fleshed out at all. It was like they took a list of important story points and shoved those in with nothing to connect them.

But the lack of emotion affected wednesday a lot. She didnt feel like she was spiral despite how much they said she was. She doesnt seem stressed or frantic at all until her confrontation with the therapist. And because she doesnt seem stressed almost killing her friends and torturing tyler feels like the show saying "this is the real wednesday, despite the last 6 episodes saying otherwise."

Overall, it felt rushed.

I liked her interactions with her family but I wish they'd given glimpses of traditional addams family bonding outside of talking about their childhood. If there had been a scene or two that read as addams family™ the rest of their relationship would of played better.

I'd rewatch season one if a second season comes out, but not otherwise.

Mystery things:

The teacher who ended up being evil felt very believably fake. I feel like everyone watching probably clocked her as off immidiently. The gifts and smiley checking in was toned down and even enough that it is easily believed as a measured act without definitly being one. I felt like her dropping the act could of been toned down a bit, but I liked it over all.

The principal being a red herring because she was an old friend of morticias who obviously didnt like her anymore was a good choice. And Morticia being completely oblivious was kind of funny.

I never thought it was the long haired guy, he never vibed that way. I thought he might know when he was first shown coming out of the shed, but after he said what actually happened I didnt suspect him again.

I stopped suspecting the principal when she was revealed to be a shapeshifter. Her saying the teacher was a normie made me positive she was involved.

I first clocked Tyler as the monster when wednesday started suspecting the therapist, and was positive when he didnt die in the gates house.

I felt like ths therapist being the villain was off because they showed her being into wierd taxidermy. And when wednesday went to confront her and I saw it was halfway through episode seven I knew she was going to die. Which is sad, I liked her.

(On people dying, the moment the mortician says hes retiring I was like awww, hes so fun tho? Because characters who are about to retire always die.)(also, the bubblegum would of been there multiple days implying the cameras are never checked to be working which is sus.)

Anyway, the reveal. THE REVEAL. "What does it feel like... to lose?" That line was the best in the show. The delivery? Immaculate. I was screaming.

I wish it had stopped there though. Or at least made him more manic, it'd fit with the cover of confronting the girlfriend who just tortured you. Everything after that felt really lame. Once the "holy shit that was perfect" feeling wore off I got kind of bored. Also the rest of the station def looked like they were in hearing distance.

[catharsis-in-a-bottle]

AHSDHFHHJKKHD

THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT. WAS SO FUCKING GOOD. 

[spoilers below if you haven’t seen it and you want to]

Here are some of my (not in any particular order) bullet points. This is gonna be long as hell because, you know, brain dumps amiright

First off, Anya Taylor-Joy’s acting. Is just incredible. In particular moments, you can tell what she’s thinking with a simple hand gesture or with the tiniest raise of an eyebrow. She develops Beth’s signature facial expressions and movements throughout the show, and you just feel like you know her. And during her chess matches, sometimes it feels like she’s staring into your soul. Especially when she gives that badass chin-on-the-hands look and she knows she’s going to win. Powerful energy.

Secondly, I fucking knew I recognized Harry Beltik from somewhere else but my mom didn’t BELIEVE me and then I looked up the actor and he’s DUDLEY DURSLEY, I WAS RIGHT MOTHER, I WAS RIGHT

I love love love how they didn’t make, like, a major romantic plotline. Beth doesn’t end up with a partner - she ends with a bunch of super supportive friends that have her back by the time she gets to Moscow, and like, she has a crush on Townes but they end up being just like super good and healthy friends and I love it?? So much?? Thank you producers

Townes. Just, in general. I really like his character, he’s super nice and his voice is oddly soothing

BORGOV. I LOVE BORGOV. HE IS SO GODDAMN RESPECTFUL. Like, he seemed like a very cold character at first - well-mannered and extremely professional, yes, but rather cold. But when she wins in Moscow? “It is your game. Take it.” I LOVE THAT SO MUCH. AND HE HUGS HER AND STARTS CLAPPING AND THE AMOUNT OF RESPECT AND ADMIRATION AND AFFECTION IN THAT SCENE IS INCREDIBLE. And you don’t see any of that in Borgov’s face when he’s playing. His facial expressions do not change at all. But then his face when she wins!! He’s HAPPY! He’s like, goddamn, I’ve spent my whole life mastering chess, it’s about time somebody fucking beat me! I know I’m repeating myself but just his RESPECT I absolutely adore it

And Beth’s officer-watcher-person in Moscow was all like “ahhh be wary of the Russians! communism!!” but they absolutely did not make this yet another evil Russian show, like please that trope works for plots but it’s about time somebody did something different - they showed the US government as suspicious of the Soviets but then they showed the solidarity between the chess players that Benny talked about earlier (”The Russians work together, Americans work alone” or something like that), and then they showed the kind and excitable people on the streets, and the amount of support they would have had no matter WHO won that goddamn match. The old man she plays at the end. Everyone is a community.

Continuing that - I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the old man with the very puffy white hair, but I loved him too. He sees Beth as the rising star she is, and he respects her. He admires her. The dynamic there is absolutely immaculate, contrary to the dynamic between Beth and the man she beats earlier, the one who walks off and doesn’t even talk to her. We don’t like that man - we like the ones who admit defeat and respect Beth!! I love them!! They are extremely professional, and they show the warm-heartedness that often doesn’t show with all of the cold stares and glares that pass between players during matches.

Joline. I’m so glad she came back. I love her. She’s extremely independent but she comes back for Beth because Beth needs her but she’s also like “I’m not your savior! Get your shit together!” which is fucking awesome. And the fact that the two of them interacted like the best of friends even after years of separation was really sweet to me.

I nearly cried when Beth went back into the school. (I say ‘nearly’ because there were other people in the room and naturally I can’t do that in front of other people. If I was utterly alone, maybe on my own planet, I would have.) Because of all of it. Because of her trauma, because that’s where all the shit began... and the music during that scene. It was hauntingly beautiful, especially when the melody began switching to cello. And then Beth saw all the pictures and newspaper clips that Mr. Shaibel had saved, because he cared about her so much, because he started it all - he’s the reason she’s going to national tournaments, to Paris, to Moscow. And in that scene, we know he’s too old to be alive anymore, and she does too. The whole school scene in general just feels so ghostly and ethereal. 

I love Borgov, did I say that already? I just... strive to exude his energy. I want to be good at things but I want to hold deep, genuine respect and admiration for others who are also good at the thing, because sometimes I just have the biggest fucking ego and I can get carried away. ‘Borgov, Borgov, Borgov.’ A mantra. He wins respectfully and he loses respectfully. 

BETH’S MOTHER (the second one) JUST FUCKING DIED OUT OF NOWHERE?? AND I WAS SO SHOCKED? Which is really an accurate reflection of reality because death often comes out of nowhere, but DAMN I was not expecting that shit

And the fact that the mother just,,,, let her chug a beer,,,, oof

THE ADDICTION. BETH’S DOWNWARD SPIRAL. IT MADE ME FEEL SO HORRIBLE BUT IT FELT SO REAL. Everything about her progression through addiction was just... I can’t find an adjective. But when she just fucking inhaled that bucket of pills as a kid and then collapsed. When that addiction lasted into her adulthood - it’s really impactful and horrible and just so real. She needed proper care throughout this entire goddamn show and she never got medical care, she just got supportive friends - which, btw, that’s one thing that kind of threw me off. Like, she didn’t have withdrawal in Moscow, she went from chugging like four bottles of wine a day to... not drinking at all?? Without withdrawal symptoms?? And I’m proud of her for throwing away those pills but honestly it felt really fast, idk

GIVING CHILDREN TRANQUILIZERS WAS AN ACTUAL THING THAT HAPPENED. I DID NOT PREVIOUSLY KNOW THIS. BUT LEGITIMATELY, IT HAPPENED. HOLY SHIT.

HARRY BELTIK. He was like, awkwardly in love with Beth and that shit didn’t work out but even afterwards he FUCKING CARED. He’d seen his father drink himself to death and he knew that would happen to Beth and he was scared. So he came back, he tried to help her, and at that point (when she had that fucking scary eye makeup, yeah that was rock bottom) she didn’t care much about the outside world anymore. She was angry, and she was closing herself in. It made my stomach clench in physical pain. Which is a good thing. But also not.

Harry Beltik in general just being so supportive and wanting to help her though, like yeah it was very awkward, but they were vibing

AND BENNY WATTS IS FUCKING GREAT. THAT WHOLE COWBOY LOOK, COWBOY CHESS PLAYER, NOW THAT’S AN AESTHETIC. He was concerned for Beth too. He wanted to help her. He wanted to create that American solidarity that he knew the Soviet competitors had, and ultimately he did when he and everyone else called her in Moscow. Benny is... chaotic good? Neutral? He is quite an interesting character, and Beth’s persistent social awkwardness fades away with him because he knows how to interact with her. He’s a dedicated and smart narcissist, and I’m here for it.

The fact that they made me love and hate Cleo at the same time, and also question Beth’s sexuality when she first met Cleo. Like, she’s from Paris. She considers ‘tomorrow night’ to be a very long time away. I love her mysteriousness. But also, she was the catalyst for Beth’s downward drinking spiral before the match in Paris, so like... I like Cleo’s personality, but not her choices in those previous moments.

The music. Did I mention the music? The soundtrack. The orchestrals. That one song that the mother plays on piano that I hear all the time and I still don’t actually know what it is PLEASE HELP. The music is melancholy in the right moments, upbeat in the right moments, intense and suspenseful in the right moments - and also absent in the right moments. There’s tacet. There’s silence. And it’s always been my firm belief that silence can hold just as much impact as sound. 

Just an interesting note, my mom watched the whole show before me and then re-watched it with me, and when Mr. Shaibel showed up she quickly reassured me that he wasn’t a child molester, because quote “it may be a creepy basement but he’s just really nice” so...  I was reassured

I love Mr. Shaibel, and Beth just kept sticking up for him in front of the press and,,, yeah

I hated that bitch from the high school, what was her name?... The one who showed up in the store with a child? It makes me think about the fact that so many kids are just jerks in high school simply because they can be... and occasionally their fuckery lasts into adulthood but oftentimes it doesn’t. You don’t have to be a jerk when you’re an adult, and you don’t have to be a jerk in high school! People remember, people always remember! So, to the bitch from the high school: fuck you for making Beth feel like an outsider and then trying to reverse gears and accept her, cuz Beth isn’t falling for that shit.

The twins, Matt and Mike. They’re so doubtful of Beth in the beginning but then bam, she’s competing nationally, and I adore how the three of them become friends. All those men playing chess in Kentucky in the beginning seem so condescending, but ultimately they show respect because Beth absolutely fucking deserves it.

I enjoy the fact that we never *really* know Beth’s age. It’s just like... she’s 9, she’s 15, she’s 17, she’s... twenty something? Who the hell knows? As many characters say, when it comes to skill level, age ultimately isn’t an important factor. This young woman beats the oldest man with the bushiest white hair in Moscow and age. Does not. Matter. 

The Jesus people lmaooooo when Beth said “because it’s fucking nonsense” I just. Mad respect ma’am, don’t take their money, go be a communist and “sPrEaD tHe aThEiSt AgEnDa”

Wow I really just... wrote all that didn’t I damn wish I could write essays this fast at reasonable hours of the day

Beth’s relationship with her foster mother is so fucking sweet until she fucking dies

And fuck Beth’s legal father. He is an asshole. That is all.

The mother deserved Manuel, she deserved that sketchy Mexican salesman goddammit

As my final bullet point: This has made me want to play chess. This has made me want to get good at chess. You know that thing where you like, download the personality of the coolest character for like a day after you watch something... I don’t do that anymore (maybe), but I want to download those mad chess skills. This has made chess seem so cool. I want to wear a fancy suit and compete with people. I just have to, you know, actually develop some strategy and stop losing brutally against people online. I wAnT tO pLaY cHesS dO yOu HeAr mE

I’m going to stop now, but I just,,, peeps, I love this show. I’m absolutely going to require a re-watch in the future. I just love it. The characters and their development, their relationships with each other, the progression of time and of Beth’s maturity... it is simply incredible. This concludes my brain dump.

[thxngam]

do u have any good donna-centric fics?

yeah! this was actually really fun :)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28259976--Send a Postcard From Down the Street by @cauldronoflove​: this is THE donna fic imo. donna on moving up in the word at the beginning of the santos admin/during transition, her friendship with sam, and also her musings on how stupid and also not josh and sam are. literally SO GOOD.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30831602--through the looking glass by Anon: one of the reposted fics of windyink/cookiecrumbl. part 1 of the role reversal au, where donna is the one litigating ships and joey is working for hoynes. it’s in 2nd person, but that works really well for this fic. it’s such an interesting AU, the vibe i get is immaculate. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29134296/chapters/71523372--you like her better (wish i were heather) by @singingaboutwishingx: so so good! also the first chapter is more amy-centric but the second is about donna. definitely read both chapters though, it’s a little weird to skip. donna and amy’s reflections on the other’s place in josh’s life. also with a cute sam and donna moment in the second chapter that i really love. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27167698--take the train to the top of the world, and i'm there, i'm home by @singingaboutwishingx: donna doesn’t go back to freeride. she packs her shit up and goes to new york to be happy and free and honestly the vibe i get from this is just...i wish i could be donna. it doesn’t have to do with bartlet, but more with donna embracing life and doing things that make her happy. so good. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27166588--you weren't mine to lose by @singingaboutwishingx: donna’s thoughts on her boss that she can’t date. her thoughts and her struggles and it’s just so good. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30478647--touch my soul from the outside by cassieholliday: a soulmate au where physical hurts on your soulmates body translate to yours. donna’s soulmate is josh (obviously) and this during rosslyn with a side of comforting toby. the way this author wrote both josh and donna’s povs is so good, and both of their thoughts on their soulmates are just...so good.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30475245--feelings im not used to feeling ‘cause, oh, they make me feel alive by annemeredithperkins: BEAUTIFUL POSSIBLY BI BLOND LADIES DESERVE THE WORLD. after the events of that episode with that really pretty red dress donna “borrows” (yall know the one I'm talking about right? bc i don’t actually know the name of the episode), donna turns to ainsley while both of their love interests are being stupid. maybe donna’s straight, maybe she’s not, but i can't see donna as anything less than self-aware of her own attraction to, at the very least, what genders she likes. i maintain that donna knew she had a crush on josh since the campaign and just never did anything about it (cmon she can't be that blind) and i totally think she knows what she wants and this fic is really about that.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30382245--these feelings, they keep running the red by @hufflepuffhermione: i think we all wanted to know what donna was thinking during the santos campaign when donna and josh were being really awkward and weird around each other. donna’s thoughts while josh is running himself ragged. <3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29860869--one the wires by an orphaned account: donna drives josh to the airport for his vacation during s7. very cute. the banter is *chef’s kiss* and donna talks/thinks about her relationship with joey which is very cute. 

 https://archiveofourown.org/works/29813229--Falling Apart by JOBrien42: donna’s thoughts when santos rejects the VP bid in s6. it’s really interesting bc where donna is is kinda where josh was pre-series, when he was backing a guy who was the frontrunner but also a shitty candidate and this is sort of donna’s thoughts on that and the fracturing of her relationship with josh. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29740353--T-Shirt Weather by heliotropic: i’d explain the fic but spoilers. short but sweet. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29305629--Inconsequential Details by violet_storms: honestly could be a companion to the last fic. it’s...the way donna’s inner monologue is so good. if you liked the last one, i think you’ll like this one. and if your not sure about the last fic read this one. amy and donna.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/66665--Ask a Scientist (it's quantum physics) by out_there: i don’t really know how to describe this one? it’s just...it’s a bittersweet or maybe just bitter ending if you think about it. so good. donna and sam, and her thoughts on all the relationships and jobs in her life. i REALLY suggest reading this, I'm not doing it justice. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28558515--Not Unspectacular Things by an orphaned account: the first of a series about the seaborn admin. so so good! sam and josh being idiots, do something stupid. this is donna’s pov. i don’t really know how to describe it but the way it’s written is just...it’s so good. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28761066--promises to keep by myrmeraki: a high school AU! donna and joey’s first date. you don’t have to read the first of the series but i rlly suggest, though it is samjosh. this is so cute and so pure. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27593960--beginning’s end by Spearquint: donna on her chief of staff duties when sam’s president. donna’s inner monologue is so good and the way the author describes the “learning curve” is fantastic. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15101804--The Taste of Everything by Michelle K: donna and joey, from donna’s pov. “She’ll think about the possibility of Joey loving her, and she’ll smile.” It’s such a pretty line and a really good fic about donna’s relationships and her family. the way the author wrote donna’s inner monologue is so good.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/687075--After Gaza by Speranza: i reread this fic just yesterday when i was going through bookmarks for sam-centric fics and i remembered why i love this. it’s short but it’s so sweet. as much as i love josh and donna being sappy and romantic, their banter was what drew me in in the first place, so this is a funny and cute exchange/scene after gaza, which is much appreciated bc things really went downhill after gaza in canon lol

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27139615--engraved upon my heart (in letters deeply worn) by @claudiasjeancregg: donna as campaign manager (ish) for the seaborn for America campaign, along with some musings on how far she’s come from an assistant to this (donna is a queen, i love her). literally...so pure. all of the feels. also donna and josh have such a cute relationship and i just...UGH. it’s so sweet my god. 

wow i have a lot more donna fics than i thought. a lot of fics i have are j/d fics, which i’d be happy to make a list for but this is the list of donna-centric fics that i’ve got. i hope you enjoy, anon!