#the monologue changes for the second half of the season

[solomons-finest-rum]

Hello to one of my favourite Alfie fic writers! Since you're taking requests, I'd like to make one as well.

I don't know how it works but how about a scenario/imagine where Tommy gets in some kind of trouble (as always) and Alfie suggests that his lovely gangster wife could help and goes to introduce them but as it turns out it's none other than the Shelby's sister/cousin/relative/friend/or maybe even an ex? (Your call one this one) who they thought was dead or something?

Idk if it's even worth your time and effort but I just wanted to make a request ;) No pressure, of course!

Love you and your writing a lot!

“As The Crow Flies” (Alfie Solomons x fem!Reader) — PART 1

SUMMARY — By all accounts Anna Gray died in Australia and had no business standing in Alfie’s living room, nor calling the man “darling” for that matter. But there you were, identical to the picture they took when they shipped you off to the colonies.

AUTHOR’S NOTE — Thank you to @zablife for being the most gracious beta!💗💗💗💗💗 and thank you Anon for this request, because actually it inspired a full-blown multi-chapter idea! So this is set around... Season 5 I suppose? But I'm going to ignore everything in it and Season 6 too. Let's pretend none of it happened and just focus on the fun part! That is driving Tommy insane and making Alfie say outrageous lines.

WORD COUNT — 2,286

Masterlist

In retrospect, Tommy Shelby felt he should have known better. He should have fucking known that the moment, the moment, he came to Margate to sort the bloody situation out, exactly two things would happen.

One, he would have to sit and listen with a straight face to Alfie’s inspired monologue, the subject of which had swerved from elephants to bank robbery in about two and a half minutes, and then managed to touch upon just about everything else under the sun.

Tommy remained quite sure that the sense of Alfie’s rambling had been long lost to history and the point of it all was just to talk him to death, really. Put him out of his misery with nonsense alone.

“Now then, Tommy, as I said, right, I ain’t the vindictive type, I really ain’t, so I am gonna help ya out just this once, right, outta the goodness of my own heart.”

Tommy managed not to roll his eyes. Barely.

“‘Cause I am a changed man these days, Tommy, an’ it can be that the old man that I am, I’m goin’ soft on ya, right, an’ so tradition dictates, mate, to ask for more than ten thousand for my troubles.”

Tommy raised a brow.

“But as things currently stand with the medical bills, on the account of bein’ shot in the face by some cunt, right… Fifteen would sound proper fair, mate.”

Thank fuck for small mercies, Tommy thought, then lit another cigarette and promptly got up to leave. Alfie apparently managed to settle both sides of the conversation, negotiations included, and their American problem could very well sort itself out all on his own—thus proving to Tommy once more that the only thing he could really count on in this world had always been lunatics.

“Right, the fuck you’re doin’ now, sit down!”

Tommy frowned and remained standing, cigarette in the corner of his mouth and sheer outrage emanating from his entire person. The question of “what in fuck’s name do you want now, you crazy bastard?” overtook his face.

“Right, I need to make a bloody phone call,” Alfie said then, which explained exactly nothing.

Yes, that was the second thing Tommy had been so sure would happen. Alfie would first go on a tangent, then formulate a plan that involved three separate layers of deception, a bribe, and a crate of dynamite (probably).

Then Tommy would get caught in the middle as bloody always and Polly would have his head for going along with Alfie’s plan in the first place.

What he didn’t expect was for Alfie to change his tone of voice completely as soon as the person picked up on the other end:

“Yeah, darlin’, it’s me. Come to the house, alright? Right, ‘cause I need ya here for somethin’. No, not like the— Bloody hell, woman, just don’t fuckin’ argue with me for once, alright?”

Sometimes a rare occasion would present itself for Tommy Shelby to become fucking speechless. Truth be told, he remained rather surprised that two such occasions had also involved Alfie Solomons, undoubtedly purely for the Devil’s bloody amusement.

“Who was that then, Alfie?”

“None of ya fuckin’ business.”

Tommy had a sneaky feeling there wasn’t a clever enough question in existence that could have pushed Alfie to say anything more. He looked smug as hell for having pulled that stunt off so Tommy was willing to see it through.

For old time’s sake.

The sun was setting and they had another drink, then Tommy let Alfie go on another tangent about… Tea import. Perhaps. Who knew, he wasn’t really listening.

On drink three Tommy was alerted by a car pulling up to the house, followed by a door slam and a rhythmic clacking of high heels on the porch. Tommy looked to Alfie, but the man remained infuriatingly calm.

Just as Tommy was about to reach for his gun, the door to Alfie’s study opened unceremoniously and a scent of expensive perfume wafted across the room. Tommy turned around and tried his best to keep up the indifferent facade, but failed miserably. Nothing could have prepared him for you walking through that door, with a giant bodyguard no less, following you like a second shadow.

“Alright there, Billy?” Alfie greeted the bodyguard casually and the man grunted in response. “Right then, might ya wait in the car for us, mate? This whole bloody business will take a minute.”

Tommy then watched as Alfie approached you and planted an affectionate kiss to your cheek, at which point Tommy stood up abruptly.

For a moment he just stood there and stared; a state he didn’t find himself in too often these days. 

“Darling, are we having guests?” you asked Alfie in a tone so familiar to Tommy; so like your mother. Pleasant, on the verge of sarcastic. 

By God, either that Camden bastard was a magician or you had a twin sister that Polly never mentioned. Because it wasn’t possible… It couldn’t be you. Not according to the file he stole from the parish. By all accounts Anna Gray died in Australia and had no business standing in Alfie’s living room, nor calling the man “darling” for that matter. But there you were, identical to the picture they took when they shipped you off to the colonies. 

“Right then, Tommy, might I present my lovely wife,” Alfie said. “Sweetie, this here is Tommy Shelby, right, all the way from the ungodly place they call Birmingham—”

“Tommy Shelby?” you interrupted and looked at Tommy with a smile so like Polly’s that Tommy nearly lost his composure again. “My, my… And there you went and promised you were done with the life, Alfie.”

“Right, an’ how could that—”

“Anna,” Tommy interrupted what he was sure was a budding monologue from Alfie. 

“Yes?” you asked. “You know my name?”

“I… Know your mother.”

“Know?” There it was again. That curious smirk of yours that could really mean anything. Tommy found it harder and harder to keep up the charade.

“But that’s not possible, Mr. Shelby.”

“What’s not possible?”

Your tone remained polite, but your dark eyes said it all. The expression of quiet resolve Tommy thought only one person capable of delivering with such resentment.

“I’m an orphan, Mr. Shelby.”

Tommy said nothing to that, because what in hell could he even say? All of a sudden the American issue faded into nothingness, replaced solely by the phantom standing before him.

“So you did not lie, I see,” you turned to your husband with a quizzical expression, seeing as Tommy went quiet again. “He really is as strange as the papers make him. No matter, though, Mr. Shelby, I hope you like chicken? My husband insists I’m a terrible cook, but you must stay for dinner.”

Tommy nodded mechanically and put out his cigarette just to busy his hands with something. When he looked at Alfie, though, Tommy noticed how the man’s mouth twitched, clearly indicating the scheme was playing exactly how he wanted it to. Mad bastard, Tommy thought. There was no saying if he was being played or tricked or helped. Probably all at once, but solely for Alfie’s benefit of course.

“Right, curious as I am, luv, what delectable fuckin’ option you maimed and butchered for dinner, Tommy isn’t stayin’—” Alfie then stopped himself when two sets of identical Shelby scowls got directed his way.

Tommy did stay for dinner and made sure to clean his plate, too. He didn’t mind the food at all; it reminded him of Polly’s simple cooking back in the day when she would take care of Tommy and his siblings in Small Heath.

The more he listened to you talk and bicker with Alfie, the more of your mother he saw in you and the angrier he got at seeing you here of all places, as Alfie’s wife, unable to speak to you in plain terms. Tommy wasn’t exactly sure which made him angrier, though—the fact that you were Alfie’s wife or the fact that the sly bastard had kept you from your true family for who knows how many years. How did he even find you?

All the questions he had were still swirling around in Tommy’s head and he wasn’t particularly paying attention to anything else, besides staring daggers at Alfie. He was hoping there would be a moment to talk to you alone, but of course your husband would never allow it. He watched Tommy like a hawk the entire evening, sometimes with just a hint of a smile to suggest he was still three steps ahead of everyone else.

“See you never got accustomed to that fancy cookin’ they’re offerin’ ya at the mansion these days, Tommy,” Alfie said, undoubtedly truly enjoying the charade. “Tommy’s an MP, darlin’, right about two steps from gettin’ a knighthood I reckon. Yeah, a real prince he is.”

The way Alfie said the word was so clearly a jab at Tommy’s ancestry that he didn’t even flinch. What he was curious about was your reaction, but you remained perfectly pleasant: 

“Don’t tease, love, we haven’t had guests in ages and I’m not letting you drive this one away.”

When the maid took away the plates, you lit a cigarette in a swift overdone gesture and Tommy was once more taken aback with your resemblance to Polly. 

“Well, I’ll leave ya both to it,” you announced as you got up. “It was a pleasure, Mr. Shelby.” You extended your hand and Tommy shook it. “I know you tried your best with the chicken and I appreciate it,” you paused and tilted your head to the side as if sizing Tommy up.

“I rarely trust your husband’s judgement,” he replied.

The way you smiled reminded Tommy of a cat that got into the pantry. He decided not to think about it too much.

“I see. Goodnight then, Mr. Shelby.”

As soon as Tommy heard you got upstairs, he turned to Alfie who, unsurprisingly, already had a gun pointed at him. It was a casual way of it that was the most infuriating—Alfie’s hand was more so resting on the table and the gun just happened to be there, pointing at Tommy. 

“Now then, Tommy, let’s be reasonable about this, mate.”

Tommy clenched his jaw and remained silent, but his murderous glare said it all.

“There are four people at the house, right, includin’ you, me, my wife, then the maid… Then there’s Billy outside, right, who’s gonna be rightly worried once he doesn’t get my dismissal for the night. So I want ya to be real cold an’ calculated about it, Tommy, just like I know ya can be, ‘cause if ya decide to off me for no reason now…”

“No reason.”

“Right.”

“You’re old enough to be her father.”

“Yeah an’ fortunately I’m not, ‘cause that’d be right fuckin’ awkward at the temple, mate.”

“Temple?”

“What’d ya think, Tommy, that I smacked her over the head and dragged her into my cave?”

“Somethin’ like that.”

“Right, we’ll have to show ya the pictures then, she looked stunnin’.” Alfie leaned back in his chair. “Tell ya what, mate, why don’t ya come by for tea one day?”

“Tea.”

“Yeah. We have it, Tommy, we’re not animals.”

Tommy said nothing to that. He was still reviewing his options, but as he wasn’t a fan of spontaneous action, the patient approach seemed appropriate. The offer, though, just like everything else about the situation, was fucking infuriating.

“Cat got your tongue?”

“Fuck you, Alfie.”

That finally made Alfie smile and for some reason he lowered the gun.

“Right, so seein’ as we’re family, Tommy, and what a happy coincidence this is, I must say, I feel like we should talk fuckin’ proper. None of that shit.” Alfie then gestured between them as if he hadn’t been responsible for “that shit” in the first place.

“We’ve been talking, Alfie,” Tommy deadpanned.

“Yeah, but then there’s still somethin’ ya haven’t told me about your American troubles, isn’t there, mate, so I’m expectin’ you’ll be more honest with me in the future. Now that I’ve brought the right arguments to the table…”

The hint of a threat in that statement almost made Tommy wish he still had his razor cap around.

“She’s Polly’s only daughter, Alfie.”

“Right, I’m aware of that.”

Tommy nodded, feigning understanding between them. As always, handling Alfie very much resembled handling a live grenade without a pin.

“This can’t be the way to end things.”

“Who’s endin’ things, Tommy?”

“I’m just saying.”

“Yeah, an’ I’m going to let this one slide, Tommy, ‘cause you just got a lot to process, mate, so I’m prepared to be understandin’.”

Tommy shook his head and reached into his jacket pocket, at which Alfie uncocked the gun. Tommy slowly pulled out his cigarette box, but Alfie never even flinched. It was gruesomely reassuring to still have been right, even in the position that Tommy currently found himself in. 

Alfie Solomons would always remain Alfie Solomons, even with the whole song and a dance about getting old and senile. He was still the same mad bastard Tommy came to know all those years ago, and as things stood, Tommy found himself wondering if this time he shouldn’t try poison instead of a bullet.

“Tommy,” Alfie sighed, “with three good eyes workin’ between us, mate, I really would greatly mind if I somehow acquired a fuckin’ tumour in my lungs, too.”

Tommy said nothing and he knew Alfie hated it.

“Which means put that shit out, mate, and listen to what I’m about to say, ‘cause I got a feeling you’ll really wanna hear it.”

[skullaton]

cold hands, warm hearts

Wally Darling / Gender Neutral Reader oneshot

Rating: G Genre: Fluff, friends to lovers Summary:

It's a chilly autumn evening and the neighbours are hosting their own fall festival! You decide to partake, enjoying the time with your friends. It just so happens that one of your friends is also your biggest crush.

Ao3 link: Here Welcome Home belongs to Clown a/n: It's autumn in the southern hemisphere, so I wanted to write a cute, fluffy one shot for the season! Enjoy!

Read Below ↓

Your boots crunch into the dry, crispy auburn leaves as you make your way through the small town of Home. It was this year's autumnal festival and you couldn’t wait to see what hijinks your friends planned!

The road was covered in an array of leaves, muting the already colour rich town in a blanket of yellows, reds, and browns. You marched up a hill, seeing the outline of the festival’s banners from a distance. You huffed, exerting yourself as you trekked, seeing your breath poof up in a cloud of smoke. The cold nipped at your bare fingertips, but you didn’t mind.

You can finally hear the commotion of your friends scrambling around and having fun. You tilt your head to read the banner - clearly in Howdy’s handwriting - ‘Home’s Fall Festival’. There were some elegantly painted designs, as well as some crudely decorated ones. It was definitely a whole town effort to make it.

“Don’t keep starin’! Come on in!”

You break out of your thoughts to look at the towering caterpillar who stood behind a food stall, beckoning you over with one of his long limbs. You happily skip over, grinning, “Hey, Howdy! Nice handwriting!”

“Oh, that thing?” He glanced up at the sign before waving dismissively, “Shucks, I write so often, it’s really nothin’.”

You chuckle, shaking your head. “If you say so, Mr. Pillar.”

He leaned forward on his elbows, looking down at you with big eyes, “Say, you reckon you want some food? We got hot popcorn, hot chocolate, hot dogs, hot peppers, you name it!”

Being around him was so amusing. He always made such amazing pitches. How does he keep having endless stock? And hot peppers ? Who’s ordering that?

You could only assume Barnaby.

“Maybe later!” You waved him off as you started to hop away.

He simply waved back, “Alright, I’ll be here if you change your mind!”

You went to see what your other friends were up to.

A crackling bonfire lit up the centre of the festival, its fiery warmth emanating throughout the tiny faire.

You could see Sally atop of a makeshift stage, playing out a dramatic scene from a play. Her monologues were emotive, filled with passion and drive. In this scene she was holding a plastic… skull?

Wait, was this Hamlet?

You decide not to question.

Julie sat next to Frank in the audience, arms linked as they watched in awe of the brilliant star’s performance.

Looking on, you can see Eddie and Poppy sitting at the arts and crafts tent. Eddie was gently trying to instruct how to make the perfect leaf wreath. But… Poppy would often glue her fingers together and cuss a little ‘Oh, feathers me!’

Eddie, as sweet as honey, would insist she was doing amazing.

Finally, you see Barnaby next to a wide oak barrel. A crudely painted sign stuck next to it, saying ‘Bobbin’ fer Applez.’

Then you see him. The perfect deep navy blue hair, the lazy smile and half lidded eyes of the guy you’ve totally been crushing on since you moved here.

Wally Darling.

He was casually picking up the crimson apples from the chilly water, all while flatly remarking, “See, I’m bobbing.”

Barnaby released a booming laugh, practically barking, “I’m gonna bob you on the head in a second!”

Wally just tilted his head, offering a confused smile.

The giant canine cracked his neck, positioning his hands on either side of the barrel’s opening. “Watch the professional at work!”

Then he dunked his head down into the frigid liquid, splashing it like a tidal wave onto the unsuspecting Wally. When he finally emerged, two whole apples were in his toothed maw.

Smug, he looked over the shorter man. Then his expression immediately dropped.

Wally stood, blank faced, the front of his puffer jacket absolutely drenched.

Barnaby popped the apples out, “Oh, shoot, Walls! Didn’t mean for this to be a Wet n Wild ride! I’ll be back!” He hurried his way off to Howdy’s stall, probably in hopes for something to help.

You took the opportunity to duck closer to Wally. “Looks like you’re having a splashing good time.”

You internally cringed at yourself. Damn that Barnaby!

“Ha ha. Ain’t it so?” Wally held his kind smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

You decided to unbutton your jean jacket.

“Tradesies!”

He gave a flat “Huh?”

You slid off the fabric, offering it to the shorter man. The chill bit at your skin, causing a ripple of goosebumps to run up and down your body.

He blinked slowly. “You’ll get cold.”

You shivered, offering a sweet smile, “So will you!”

He reluctantly unzipped his jacket, tugging it off to replace it with yours.

It practically engulfed him. His fingers barely peeked out from the sleeves. You wish you could take a picture of him. He looked absolutely adorable.

You held onto his puffer in the crook of your arm, feeling the wetness seep into your bones.

Another chill ran up your spine, causing you to exhale another puff of smoke.

Then in a split second, a giant wool mass would plop over you, encasing you in a tent of darkness. Wiggling out of your wool chamber, you peeked out to see Barnaby grinning above you.

“Didn’t expect ya to switch with Wallers! You can’t catch a cold now, ya hear?”

You fixed the oversized blanket so it was slung over your shoulders. You stuck a tongue out to the giant canine. “I’ll be fine! ”

“Just wait! Your tongue will be frozen like that!”

“Will not!”

“Will too!”

“Will not!”

Wally popped in, copying Barnaby, “Will too!”

“Hey, you’re not supposed to side with him!”

He gave his signature cat-like grin in response.

***

It wasn’t long until night cloaked the town in darkness. Stars twinkled and danced overhead, with the moon showing half of its beautiful glowing face.

Everyone was gathered around the bonfire, enjoying the crackling warmth on this brisk night. Julie and Sally were playing with rainbow sparklers, twirling out a magical light display. Frank and Eddie sat cuddled next to each other, staring dreamily into the snapping wooden flames. Howdy was passing out hot apple cider, while Poppy was instructing Barnaby how to make the perfect roasted marshmallow.

That only left you and Wally, sitting next to each other on a wooden bench.

You sipped on the hot cider, allowing the toasty beverage to heat you up.

You both let the snaps and crackles of the logs fill in the silence, simply enjoying the sweet moment with friends.

That is, until you could hear a soft mumble leave the puppet’s felt lips.

“I wish I could paint you right now.”

Your heart skipped a beat. You glanced over to Wally, watching as the flames danced shadows across his face. It casted an orange hue, accentuating his soft, plush features.

A pink blush tinted your cheeks. You definitely wanted to blame it on the bonfire for licking at your exposed skin.

But you knew it was because this silly little artist was staring at you with this most love drunk expression. His adoration filled gaze made your stomach twist in happy knots.

You found yourself inching closer to him, your spare hand just barely brushing against his fabric one.

“I wouldn’t mind that.”

A blissful sigh escaped the man. He reciprocated the gesture, scooting closer. You could feel his knee bump against yours playfully.

It wasn’t long before you both tentatively laced your chilly fingers together, basking in the heat of eachother’s flesh.

“Maybe we should schedule something?”

“That sounds wonderful, Wally.”

A quietness lulled between you as you enjoyed the moment. Despite the silence, you could feel your limbs tingle with exhilaration as your tummy burst with millions of fluttering butterflies.

You may have cold hands, but at least your heart is full and warm.

[life-o-n-m4rs]

An Analysis on the Finale and Aziraphale’s Inner Monologue (Michael Sheen is an Incredible Actor)

Like most Good Omens fans in these tragic, triyng times, I’ve spent hours scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr reading hundreds of people’s thoughts and opinions on the season, particularly the final scene of the season in which Aziraphale is offered to return to Heaven to be Supreme Archangel and Crowley confesses his love to Aziraphale after literal millennia of pining. After my most recent rewatch of the season, I spent a lot of time focussing on the final scene(s) and carefully eyeing every tiny detail. Not necessarily around the coffee, but around everything that came after it. I am somewhat on the fence about the coffee theory. Though I don’t think that Aziraphale decided to go back to Heaven entirely on his own fruition, I don’t think he was completely under the control of Heaven either. His ultimate decision was not entirely out of character.

Starting with the coffee and scene with Metatron itself: many people have theorized that The Metatron poisoned Aziraphale with cyanide, which I see the logic in. We saw earlier in the series in the second minisode that poison causes demons–and presumably angels–to act very strange, like they’re high or drunk. When he drank the laudnum, Crowley stops a girl from killing herself, while stating that it was not a kind thing to do as he was “Off [his] rocker on laudnum. Not responsible for [his] actions”. However, Crowley still drinks the laudnum to stop Elspeth from doing it herself, so obviously he was at least somewhat in his right mind. He still aimed to thwart her attempt, so his statement deflecting his actions due to his intoxication could just be another moment of Crowley denying any goodness in him, much like when he saves Aziraphale’s books and tells him not to thank him. So, coming back to the coffee, it is perhaps plausible that Aziraphale said yes to The Metatron because he was not entirely in his right mind. When we see Metatron order the coffee, he does ask for a “dash of almond syrup”, but when giving it to Aziraphale, says that there is a “hefty jigger” of it. That certainly doesn’t sound like a dash. Where the coffee theory starts to fall off, however, is immediately after Aziraphale drinks the coffee. When Crowley drank the laudnum, he immediately felt the effects of the poison, whereas with Aziraphale, we see that he is completely the same afterwards. Of course, cyanide is not laudnum, and it was also, theoretically, mixed in with coffee, so the effects could very well be different. Aziraphale returns to his shop with no coffee in hand, so it is safe to assume that he finished it, and we don’t see any changes in behavior until he starts talking to Crowley. That is when he starts to act off.

If we look at Aziraphale during his conversation with The Metatron, he immediately declines his offer. He flatout says that he does not want to go back to heaven. Not only that, but Metatron tells Aziraphale that he chose him to replace Gabriel as Supreme Archangel because he’s a great, natural leader. That he’s honest and doesn’t just tell people what they want to hear, which is just flatout not true. We see Aziraphale lie so many times in the show, probably more than Crowley, and he especially lies to Heaven on multiple occasions. That’s a huge focus of the minisode in episode 2, that Aziraphale lied to Heaven. He has never aligned with Heaven’s beliefs. He is notoriously insuboordinate. He is by far not the best choice to be Supreme Archangel, especially since he hasn’t properly aligned himself with Heaven, or even spoken to them, in years. This is the first piece of manipulation from The Metatron’s part. Not even necessarily some miracle or poisoning, but he was feeding Azirphale what he wants to hear. He’s praising him to get in his good graces, but that’s only the first half. Aziraphale still says no. It’s not until Metatron presents his second half of the offer that we see something start to crack in Aziraphale. If The Metatron did do something to Aziraphale, it still could not have worked without this vital piece. He offers to let Aziraphale, as Supreme Archangel, restore Crowley as an angel. Crowley can come with. Suddenly things are different, and we see it on Aziraphale’s face. Michael Sheen is an inredible actor and he manages to narrate a deep and painful inner monologue within Aziraphale with just his face. The second The Metatron starts to say that he could bring Crowley with him, his expression changes very subtly, but just enough for us to see that something made its way through to him.

We are deliberately not shown the rest of their conversation. There is clearly something there that we did not see. The only other part of their conversation we see is at the end of it. The Metatron says that Azirphale “[doesn’t] have to answer immediately. Take all the time you need”. All that Azirpahle says in response is that he doesn’t know what to say, to which The Metatron says, “Go tell your friend the good news”, as if he knows that, in the end, Aziraphale will come with him. We watch Aziraphale walk away, and he does not look like he has good news for Crowley. He looks scared.

Something inside of Aziraphale is battling itself in this moment. We see no change in his demeanor until we reenters his bookshop, and even then, it’s not until right before Crowley begins speaking. We see him looking at Crowley and something almost seems to waft over him. He’s no longer scared or nervous about this news. He suddenly wants to tell Crowley all about it.

When Aziraphale cuts Crowley off, he’s suddenly ecstatic about going back to Heaven, which does not at all match how he was feeling less than one minute ago on his way back to the bookshop. So, it might be entirely possible that The Metatron didn’t do anything to Aziraphale until after their conversation. That he performed some miracle on him just as he was walking away. As Aziraphale explains the ordeal to Crowley, he is filled more and more with joy and excitement about all of it. Aziraphale, who, just a few minutes ago, said that he didn’t want to go back to Heaven. I do believe that part of him here is thinking back on when he knew Crowley as an angel. We don’t know much about Crowley’s time as an angel, but we do know that he was an important angel. Important enough to be second to the Supreme Archangel as Aziraphale proposes. We saw a small moment of Crowley when he was an angel and how much he loved building the universe. Creating stars. Countless galaxies that were like his children. But we know very well why Crowley could never go back. So why doesn’t Aziraphale? Aziraphale doesn’t exactly have the best relationship with Heaven. They were the ones who tried to destroy him, to hurt Crowley, to destroy the world and humanity, which Azirphale stopped. Why should we believe that he’s even been forgiven for that? Crowley seems to share the same sentiment that the viewers do–why should Aziraphale go back after what they did to him?–because he immediately assumes that Aziraphale turned down the offer.

Crowley tells Aziraphale that they’re better than that. That they don’t need Heaven. That when Hell offered him a promotion, he said no, without hesitation. Aziraphale rebutes with “Obviously you said no to Hell, you’re the bad guys.” You’re. When has Aziraphale ever aligned Crowley with Hell like that? Especially in the last few years of their relationship. They have been completely cut off from both sides for years. This is the first instance of something slipping through that isn’t entirely Aziraphale. This is not something that he would say to Crowley. Aziraphale says, “...Heaven. It’s the side of light, of truth. Of good.” He has spent all of both seasons of the show whole-heartedly believing that Crowley was good. He has always seen him as such. So, for him to not only include Crowley in the Hell collective, but to imply that Crowley cannot be good without Heaven, is a clear sign that something is wrong. Crowley is begging, pleading that Azirphale said no to Metatron. If we look back, he never gave an answer. The Metatron told him that he could take all the time he needed to answer. But Aziraphale has his answer. He never had a choice in giving one, did he? Aziraphale did say no and The Metatron didn’t take it.

At this point, Crowley can feel Aziraphale slipping away, so he goes on with his confession anyway. It’s clear in his voice that he’s now desperately trying to hold onto Aziraphale. Throughout Crowley’s confession, he plays a tug-of-war with Heaven for Aziraphale. He brings up Gabriel and Beelzebub, saying that if they “can go off together, then we can”. He’s not just bringing them up as a point in his argument to say that it is possible for an angel and a demon to love each other. He’s bringing them up because Beelzebub says flatout that they “found something that mattered more than choosing sides”. Crowley is trying to present himself as that for Aziraphale in that moment. He’s looking him in the eye, allowing himself to be vulnerable, and begging him to forget about sides. What about shades of gray?

Crowley is presenting Aziraphale with an offer. An offer for the two of them to forget Heaven and Hell, to forget everything but each other. But Aziraphale has his mind set, either by himself or by someone else, but it is set nonetheless. Even as he fights whatever is inside of him, pulling him toward Heaven, he’ll be damned if he doesn’t do everything in his power to pull Crowley with him because he cannot bear to be apart from him. Crowley would burn Heaven to the ground for Aziraphale, but he’s afraid of fire.

The best comparison for Aziraphale’s willingness to go back to Heaven, which many people have used, is that of an abuse victim. He has suffered at the hands of Heaven for millennia, but when the expectation is that he must feel worthless, he holds on so tight to any speck of praise like it is high above the standard. When Crowley presents his offer to Aziraphale, he’s not turning it down. He is trying to fulfill it while also getting to enact his hopes for Heaven. He says to Crowley, “Come with me. To Heaven. I’ll run it, you can be my second in command”. This line always stuck out to me. Second in command. When has Crowley ever been a second to Aziraphale? Throughout the series, we see them walking together, always shoulder to shoulder. Neither ever walks behind or in front of the other. They have always been equals. Now, suddenly, Crowley is no longer worthy of being Aziraphale’s equal. Almost as though Heaven is looking at Crowley and saying that he doesn’t deserve to be on the same level as a measly principality. Someone who was once important enough to build galaxies can never be on the same level again because he has fallen. The Metatron is starting to flood into Aziraphale’s head, and Aziraphale is fighting to stay afloat, reaching out for Crowley to pull him out, but if Crowley takes his hand he’ll just get pulled under, too.

“You can’t leave this bookshop,” Crowley says. You can’t leave me. Is what he means. “Oh, Crowley,” Aziraphale patronizingly coos at him. He thinks that Crowley is refusing because of foolish attachments to material objects, something that Heaven has no time or use for. Something Heaven has no patience for. “Nothing lasts forever.” We won’t last forever. Crowley is offering Aziraphale eternity, and Aziraphale is laughing at him for it. At least, from Crowley’s perspective. Through his heartbreak, he can’t see that Aziraphale so badly wants to go with him, but something is holding him down, so he asks Crowley to come to him. There is no halfway point. “No, I don’t suppose it does.” Crowley puts his glasses on while he’s alone with Aziraphale for the first time in years. He spent years carefully tearing down his walls for him, and it’s as if, in an instant, someone came along and pressed undo. All the bricks came magneting back together and built themselves back up. Crowley opened himself up, truly, for the first time ever, and he thinks he’s being rejected becaus Aziraphale doesn’t know how to tell him how beautiful he looks. As Crowley walks away, Aziraphale doesn’t know what he did wrong. Why is Crowley leaving? He’s offering him what is, in his mind, the best possible outcome. He wants to fix Heaven for Crowley. He wants him to be that sweet, happy, angel he was, but Aziraphale’s too naive to see that he never can be. He’s begging Crowley to come with him now. “We can be together,” he says, almost like it’s a compromise. He still doesn’t know how to let himself love Crowley, but he’s willing to let Crowley love him if that means he will stay. He says that they can be angels, doing good, again implying that Crowley cannot be good without Heaven. Crowley cannot be good with Aziraphale. But the fact of the matter is, he may be good without Aziraphale, but he isn’t Crowley. More and more of Aziraphale breaks through in this moment. In his moment of desperation not to lose Crowley, he’s forgetting about Heaven. All he needs is Crowley. He needs him. And when that plead doesn’t work, Heaven surfaces again. He turns to anger. “I don’t think you understand what I’m offering you.” He’s now bringing Crowley down. He’s using the same tactics that Heaven does. Make them feel worthless so that they love you when you give them anything more. But this is also Heaven trying to push Crowley away from Aziraphale. The intention never was for Crowley to be an angel. Metatron knew very well that Crowley would say no. He just needed that option to get in. To break into Aziraphale’s mind, tear the two apart with no hope of mending, and keep them as far away from each other as possible.

Aziraphale gives up trying to hold onto Crowley. Heaven is in his head and in his ear saying, “Give up. He’s not coming.” Heaven has built itself back up in Aziraphale’s head. He has closed himself from Crowley. It’s not until Crowley kisses him that the battle begins again between Aziraphale and whatever The Metatron placed in him, whether literally or emotionally. We see on Aziraphale’s face and in his body language a flicker between wanting and hating it. But he never pulls away. When Crowley let’s go, Aziraphale looks horrified. Like he can’t believe that Crowley just did that, or that he allowed it to continue as long as it did. Deep down, there’s nothing Aziraphale wanted more, but not like this. As he struggles to find his words, his face is first sad. Afraid. He mouths something through an exhale that appears to be what wants to be an “I love you”, but his face shifts. Heaven takes over again and all he can say is “I forgive you”. He goes from sad and lovelorn to a sort of anger with Crowley. We see him flash back and forth between these two many times throughout this sequence.

As Crowley walks away, Aziraphale comes through again, wanting to go after him. He even appears to mouth “No”. He wants him to stay. He wants to stay with him. But then he looks after him with a furrowed brow. He’d better walk away. It’s better for everyone.

He pushes Heaven back again when he presses his fingers to his lips. He wants to remember what that felt like. He wants to feel it again. Desperately. But he changes again and wipes the kiss away. It’s not what Heaven would want, and so neither shall he, for this love is a sin, and angels do not sin.

When the Metatron returns and Aziraphale tells him he didn’t take it well, The Metatron immediately puts Crowley down, saying that he was “always asking damn fool questions”. Now that Crowley was out of sight, he needed to be out of mind as well. He did not align with Heaven or its goals, so Aziraphale cannot think even remotely fondly of him. He must be an angel again, and angels do not look upon demons with an ounce of kindness. Crowley does not deserve Aziraphale’s kindness. He offered him something great, and he was too foolish to accept it. Right?

The Metatron asks Aziraphale if he’s ready to start. Aziraphale never gave him an answer, though, did he? Because there was no answer to give. Aziraphale never had a choice. Crowley had to be gone, and Aziraphale had to be the one to push him away, because how else would they regain control over the both of them? The reality of it has suddenly hit Aziraphale. He’s still fighting Heaven’s control. Suddenly, he can’t leave the bookshop. Suddenly, it must last forever, because this is Crowley’s shop, too. While The Metatron is trying to get Aziraphale out of the shop, he keeps looking at the chairs. The chairs in which he and Crowley sat and drank so many times. Where they laughed together. Where they decided to stop armageddon. The chairs where they decided that their side was the only one that mattered. Aziraphale is doubting. He almost tells The Metatron that he wants to stay. He almost tells him no. But he can’t, because The Metatron won’t let him. He can’t.

In the scene just before Aziraphale gets on the elevator, the music is a key factor. It tells the viewer exactly what’s going on in Aziraphale’s mind. He is still flipping between Heavn and Crowley. Every time Aziraphale leans toward Heaven, the music plays in a major key, with more emphasis on the flute. When his mind goes to Crowley, the strings take over with a melancholy melody. Strings that pull Aziraphale down, back to the world, to Crowley. And then he takes that final breath and steps onto the elevator. The flute takes over again and the music changes to a hopeful melody, but still sad enough sounding, especially when we cut back to Crowley getting into his car. We see one final look of doubt on Azirphale’s face as the elevator doors close. The weight of his choices are hitting him. But he doens’t dwell on them long because he’s finally let go of the ledge. He’s stopped trying to float. He’s sinking down into the black waters of Heaven and his mind has vanished. He’s under the Metatron’s control now. We see him struggling and fighting one final time during the credits until finally, just before both he and Crowley are completely gone, he cracks an unsettling grin. The last ties to Earth have been severed. His uncanny expressions throughout the entire credit sequence are meant to be unnerving. Something is deeply, deeply, wrong.

So, I don’t think I necessarily believe in the coffee theory exactly, though I do think that it is important. There was so much cinematic emphasis placed on the coffee, but whether that be because The Metatron meddled with it or just as a red herring to raise unease from the viewer with The Metatron is uncertain. The only person who knows is Neil Gaiman and we all know just how much we’d get out of him if we asked. Ultimately, if Crowley coming to Heaven was never presented as an option in the first place, Aziraphale would not have gone. But he leaves with blame placed on Crowley, and that’s exactly how The Metatron wanted it.

[princeescaluswords]

Dunno if you've gotten a question like this before, friend. But if you could do one thing differently in each season of Teen Wolf such as storyline what would they be?

I don't recall a question like this before, either, but it's a great question! I'm sure, after interacting with the fandom for so long, that my answers may have changed from the first time I watched the show.

Season 1: This is a tough one. The writing during this season was very solid and many of the things that I like about the show spring from this foundation. BUT, I would have really appreciated one scene where Stiles defends Scott to someone, whether it be Derek, Peter, Jackson, or even the Sheriff. The writers wanted to demonstrate how strong Scott and Stiles's friendship was by having Stiles be a lovable asshole, but with the way Stiles constantly insults Scott, even to others, ("Still want him in your pack?) and takes abusive actions against Scott (keying the truck, the dog bowl) I would have liked one scene where Stiles explains the good he sees in Scott, other than he's wiling to be Stiles's punching bag.

Season 2: This one is the easiest. The Teen Wolf writers were allergic to having Scott talk about his feelings (to the point that his Party Guessed (2x09) hallucination was the only one of the four with no dialogue), but I wanted him to have at least one monologue. If Stiles got a monologue to explain his feelings to Lydia, Scott should have got one to explain his feelings to Derek in Master Plan (2x12):

Derek: Why didn't you tell me?

Scott: Because when we met you used me as bait for the alpha who killed your sister. Because you could help me, but it wasn't going to come for free. Because you broke my hand and you broke my phone. Because you hated Allison for something she had nothing to do with. Because you might have killed Deaton. Because you sold me out to Peter. Because you lied about the cure. Because you bit the idiot who tried to blackmail me into getting the Bite and then abandoned him, and we see how that turned out. Because you stepped on my neck to prove a point. Because you tried to kill Lydia in my house. Because you got me to bring you Jackson because you had a way to save him, but then decided not to bother. I wasn't going to let Gerard win but I wasn't going to trust you either, because you're not trustworthy. You may be an alpha, but you're not mine.

Season 3A: Surprisingly, this has nothing to do with Scott. Ever notice that we never get any reason why Boyd or Isaac fight for Derek this season? They risk their lives in the mall fight and Kali's assault in Currents (3x07), but there is no reason given explaining why. Why the loyalty? Was it the mystical alpha beta bond? Was Boyd grateful that Derek never stopped looking for them? Was it out of Boyd's feelings of friendship with Cora? Even Isaac's frustratingly undermined rant in Alpha Pact (3x11) -- love how they made sure Isaac could only be mad at Derek with his dying sister constantly in the frame and then Uncle Peter there to explain it away -- didn't address why, after the fiasco of Season 2, they gave two shits about Derek.

Season 3B: I would have scrapped the Danny breaks up with Ethan scene. Danny could have left Beacon Hills with Ethan rather than just vanish into the Hollywood haze, and there could have been a scene where Scott and Isaac talk about Allison, instead of Deaton essentially telling Scott to get over it, 10 seconds of silent crying with his mom, and Isaac never having had a conversation with Scott since Riddled (3x18).

Season 4: Araya Calavera would have cut Peter Hale in half with a chainsaw for the ten people he murdered while Scott is prevented from interfering by Derek, by Argent, and by his pack. Finité.

Season 5A: The only change would be in A Novel Approach (5x05). Instead of the business with the scaffolding, Stiles would have got the drop on Donovan in the library and in a desperate frenzy actually beaten the chimera's head in with the wrench. Still self-defense, still emotionally charged, still the same potential for Theo to rip Scott and Stiles apart, but it would have made Stiles's reluctance to tell anyone more genuine and made the conflict in Lies of Omission (5x09) more valid, since as written all it would have taken for Stiles to destroy Theo's plan was use the word 'scaffolding.'

Season 5B: While Season 1 was difficult because I didn't want to change much of anything, this has the exact opposite problem. If I had to choose just one: get rid of the damn non-healing chest wound. Symbolism be damned, just this once. It would be easy, since no other character gave a frick about it anyway. Instead of being forced by things outside of his control to get the "friends" who lied, betrayed, abandoned, and attempted to murder him back, Scott would work to get them back because he wanted them back.

Season 6A: Instead of Garrett Douglas being there to twirl his non-existent moustache or eating brains just so the writers could keep the pack split up, have him just trying to survive and adapt to this new world after spending 70 years in a test tube. Make the crisis of the season this -- Douglas is the key to getting Stiles back, but doing so would condemn the repentant Nazi to an eternity of Riding the Storm and the Wild Hunt would take all the people they've already taken. That would be a lot more interesting than what we had.

Season 6B: No Anuk-Ite. History shows us that you don't need a supernatural fear creature to turn normal people into a mob. Demonstrate how an evil, selfish monster like Gerard can manipulate normal people like Monroe, Gabe and Nolan into people capable of doing terrible things. Allow Scott a way to break the cycle of violence through direct leadership rather than defeating a particular goal.

[7077070707]

bsd characters and what visions + weapons i think they would have in genshin impact

feat — dazai, chuuya, kunikida, kenji, yosano, kyouka, atsushi, akutagawa (all seperate)

warnings — manga spoilers(?)

a/n — this took so much longer than it needed to. ALSO, why did i only just find out that BSD SEASON 4 WAS ANIMATED?? WHAT??

also do ya'll want me to make a part 2, with the hunting dogs, decay of angels.. and like other characters?? lmk if you would enjoy that!!

i think DAZAI would definitely be a hydro catalyst 😭. first of all, his iconic suicide book is very fitting and would be the catalyst. with hydro, it just suits him,,, also including the fact that he’d probably attempt to drown himself with it every few seconds. also, y'all, take a quick few seconds to imagine him having an attack animation similar to KOKOMI'S. he would sooo move around like a little mermaid, splashing his enemies for shits and giggles.

i also think he would be more of a support character, temporarily nullifying his opponent’s abilities and then switching him out for the dps. of course since his power is so op, we can’t forget the special hydro cooldown that lasts for an eternity 😍.

CHUUYA, i believe, would possess a pyro vision. along with either a polearm or a sword but im leaning more towards him being a character who attacks quickly with a polearm. also, his idle animation would totally him being super dramatic with him twirling his hat around and having his cape blowing in the wind.

i feel like his attack animations would be really aggressive with half of his monologue just yelling, lmao. countering dazai, he would be a dps which makes him the perfect character to be paired with him - including the constant vaporise reactions. (they’re soulmates, your honour).

next, we have KUNIKIDA. he is definitelyyy a geo catalyst, and you can’t change my mind. his little ideals book would of course be his catalyst. other than the fact it fits his whole colour aesthetic, i think contracts and ideals are similar in one way or another — with the strict sense of there being order, hence why i chose geo.

referring to his overall abilities in the manga, his whole thing is being able to create anything and it’s quite resourceful. i see it as being a supportive ability as he has limits, so naturally his place in the party would be support. possibly even sub dps? let’s say the more constellations you have of him, the easier it would be for him to be built as a sub-dps.

KENJI (the best char and my bby) would have a dendro vision, and his choice of weapon would be a claymore. he’s a farmer and dendro is quite literally nature and shit. claymore, because it fits him the most out of all the weapons and additionally, you’ve definitely got to be hella strong to even wield one and his ability IS super strength… so there’s that. just imagine him happily swinging around a claymore with zero effort at all.

i honestly think he would be a really versatile character… maybe like bennett? for example, healing could be one of his passive talents, or it could come from his burst. like you could either build him as a healer/support or a damage dealer. i’d say his main role would be sub-dps with a long cooldown as in the manga, it’s canon he has to be hungry in order for his ability to work — which means that he’d have to wait. 

YOSANO would be a cryo claymore. honestly, cryo just fits her vibe really well. manga spoilers, when she was in the port mafia with mori she was definitely going through the most traumatic points in her life which lead to her feeling unloved and abandoned due to the treatment she received from mori and the overall environment of where she was forced to work — so that’s my explanation for cryo. yosano is usually seen holding this big ass knife, and a claymore is a bigass sword, so naturally i chose her to wield a claymore as it has the closest resemblance to her canon weapon that she uses.

of course, her having a healing ability in the manga makes her the healer of the party.. who would’ve guessed!!! one of her movesets would probably be something where she has to damage the teammate she’s healing and then heal them straight afterwards. idk if it makes sense, but let’s say she places something that gradually removes the character on the field’s health, and when their hp reaches a certain point, the object will burst and heal them + the whole team (including herself). it’d be kinda dumb in game but thats all i can think of lol.

ignore how long this is, yosano is a very complex character - and if you guys want, i wouldn’t mind doing a character analysis of her, or anyone tbh.

KYOUKA would be a cryo sword user. the sword is self explanatory — with her ability being a phantom who wields a sword. for the cryo vision, her ability is called ‘demon snow’ so naturally i would pick that. not only does her ability associate with the cold, ice, etc… but judging from her past and personality, i’m even more confident in picking a cryo vision.

she’d probably be a main dps and her moveset would be similar to razor's, with the wolf thing appearing and attacking alongside him in electro. i’m imagining demon snow appearing from behind once you press her burst and attacking simultaneously with her, embedding the enemies with cryo. ALSO, she’d definitely have an alternate sprint, like ayaka’s because she's just cool and majestic like that.

okay, realistically RANPO would not have a vision 💀…bc like, yk, the whole fake ability thing LOL. but for the sake of this, i’m gonna say he would have an anemo vision, paired with being a catalyst user. my reasoning for this is that, firstly, anemo is simply the most fitting for him out of all the elements BUT also, anemo characters are very… whimsical. and ranpo is basically the definition of whimsical. (anemo characters are just better) 

for catalyst, ranpo is a lazy fuck and it’d be funny to imagine him just standing in the middle of the battlefield throwing out long ranged attacks and whooshes of wind from a single position on the arena. from this, he would most likely be a support character and POSSIBLY… a sub dps. it would get more plausible the more constellations you’d have of him. also, i CANNOT imagine this man wielding any type of weapon 💀. just think about him flailing a sword around or struggling to pick up a claymore. my man is a PRINCESS.

omg also, i just came to a realistion. he'd basically be a heizou <3 ..but successful. 

ATSUSHI would be a pyro sword user. THIS DECISION WAS REALLY HARD.. but he’s just got that fire in him, you know. i also thought about labelling him as a cryo user, judging from his past, but it didnt really fit him and besides - hes a passionate guy; about the detective agency, fighting and all that. 

him being a sword user is mostly just the process of elimination, and it isn’t that bad of a choice either. being a sword or a claymore user would work for him, but ultimately i chose a quicksword because… he’s just a scrawny little guy. (ignoring the fact that he can literally turn into a ravenous beast)

AKUTAGAWA would be an electro bow. his rashoumon is super cool, and it looks sort of electric. ALSO, him being electro, goes so amazingly well with atsushi being pyro. the pyro and electro reaction is overload and it sort of creates a big knockback explosion, WHICH FITS THEM SO WELL? they have clashing ideal’s and powers, and they’re also on like, opposing sides — but in the end it makes sense, and it works for them. also one thing, i love how they’re literally designed to be a pair. in the manga atsushi has a black streak in his hair, contrasting aku’s white ends. i wish bones added that to his design <;/3

anyways, i was going to choose either bow or catalyst for him, but in the end i chose bow. i can imagine his ability to look somewhat similar to some of sara’s animations, and besides i think he would really rock being a bow user anyway. however, i dont think his skillset would be RELIANT on it, like ganyu. he would be more like venti, his worth mostly coming from his normal attack and burst.

[sevensided]

I love your analysis and theories so much and I'm really curious to see what you think about everything in general. But what are your thoughts on the El and Mike fight and about the whole 'i love you' thing that mike can't tell her?

Thank you, this is really kind! I'm flattered that you think any of my rambles are interesting.

Okay, so... I rewatched the California scenes the other day because I wanted to see if my first impression of that story line had altered since the premiere. In my opinion, right now, Mike is still thinking about Eleven. When Will says that it can be hard to tell the truth out of fear, that's when you see the cogs begin to turn. I think that until that point Mike is oblivious and stuck in his own world, even if it's fairly obvious to anyone else with half a brain as to what's going on.

The fact that Mike can't admit his love to El is significant for a few reasons. First, although Mike has broken this rule a dozen times in the past two seasons, he was the first person to come up with 'friends don't lie', and I wonder if that has started to bother him. As mentioned, I know that he has broken this rule and he enjoys being the martyr about this, but two things can be true at once: he's allowed to feel shame and guilt for not reciprocating El's feelings whilst being judgemental that she was keeping things from him in S3. He's a hypocrite but he's also 14-15 years old.

Second, it's indicated a number of times over S3-4 that Mike does see El differently; she is distinct from his other friends. Now, he thinks it's because he's in love with her, which might be true, but I consider the 'species' argument in S3 and I feel that struck a nerve. Mike uses distancing language when he speaks to/about El, calling her incredible and a 'superhero'. The problem is that these are descriptors and they don't assign any depth of meaning or feeling to their relationship. This is how Mike sees her. He's not lying in this respect.

I do buy the theory that Mike can't express his love to El because he doesn't really love her, and that he's afraid she will be 'scared' to hear his truth. That's where the penny drops during Will's monologue in the junkyard scene. They're talking about two separate things but the underlying theme is similar: how can you be your authentic self when you're afraid it is not good enough? This is a constant issue for Mike, and it's why I've suggested previously that one reason he latches onto El is because she's genuinely cool and powerful and he's amazed in S1 that someone like that could like someone like him. But Mike isn't 'less than' El - he is his own person, and he doesn't need her to make himself cool. Likewise, El doesn't need Mike to validate her as an individual. They can survive without each other. They are strong enough to stand apart. I think this is the big lesson they need to learn: independence.

As for where that leaves Mike and Will... look, I won't lie: I am torn about what S4 has delivered so far. I am convinced about what will happen in Will's story - Mike has always been our problem child and the one that is hardest to read, probably because he doesn't actually know what he wants. He is contrary. That is a staple of his character. But where Mike is strongest is when he is protecting the people he loves, and this is where Will comes into it. Will has been Mike's due north since S1. Will brings Mike back to reality; he grounds him. It's why Mike always pauses when Will challenges him; why Will's judgement means more than Dustin's or Lucas'. Mike cares about what Will thinks. I'm less convinced that he cares what El thinks, or he would change how he's acting with her.

I do think that the tension around Mike confessing his love for El is actually about his love for El. It's not a red herring. But I do think that, as Finn said during the S4 promotion, Mike gets kicked into gear when people that he loves are in danger. When or if Will is put in danger this season, I really think that will be the trigger for Mike to realise that his feelings have been pointing elsewhere all along - they've been reorientated 'north', to his Will.

[animehouse-moe]

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 1: A Letdown

Look into Toji's eyes. Take it all in, that the father of all DILFs has been nerfed to this degree speaks to what I'm going to share today. And that's mostly my indescribable disappointment in what this first episode brought viewers. My words may be a bit harsh, but I really do love Jujutsu Kaisen an incredible amount, and the slow descent into concern since we knew Park wasn't returning amounted to broadly gestures, this. Anyways, allow me to get into voicing my frustration as an avid reader of the manga.

So, let's begin with what Mappa seems to love as of late: weird walk cycles.

But really, I think the piece that's more insulting is what follows. Was anybody that's an anime only left confused about what Geto was saying at the beginning of the episode? Don't fault you, because they took an incredibly important monologue for his character from nearly the end of Hidden Inventory/Premature Death and stuffed it right at the beginning of the episode for the entire arc. I don't think there's really words to describe my frustration with this decision, to alienate such a core piece of Geto's character arc just to use it as an introduction. To completely remove any weight or value from his words, and provide a segue to begin our look back at Gojo's past. I'm just sort of blown away.

And this is the tip of the iceberg, I wouldn't say it's an exaggeration either.

Weird posing, weird designs and proportions, the list goes on and on pretty early on as they continue to tease viewers about the end of this entire arc.

Now, I'll stop myself here and say: Goshozono (who is the lead director alongside this episode's director) does have good ideas. I don't mind their very wide and spacious layouts. I think it can add a lot of feel to things like Geto in the alleyway, for example. It's not '100% bad this is terrible it shouldn't exist', it's, 'this episode goes against what JJK is in nearly every way'. It doesn't mean that the direction and execution is inherently terrible in all facets (though in a lot of cases it is), but that there's a massive gulf between what JJK is and what we're being shown.

So let me show you a penchant of Goshozono's: rotation. Yes, rotation, he is after all the person behind the Mai vs Maki episode in S1. I don't really mind it, when used effectively, but Gosso (Goshozono's nickname) doesn't seem to like half measure with their rotation. I really want to stress that the idea of rotation itself isn't bad, or that Gosso's sense of direction is bad because of it. But well, look me (figuratively) in the eyes and tell me that the rotation is something that fits, that the environment looks natural through the rotation of the camera, so on and so forth.

I had a friend once say that "Mappa wants to be a CGI studio really badly", and I had brushed them off thinking it wasn't really true. Then Chainsaw Man happened, then this that and the other, and now we arrive at Jujustu Kaisen. Anyways, the point is this. The composition in these environments is really off. Utahime and Meimei stick out like sore thumbs through a great deal. And really, I think it's incredibly apparent throughout the episode. The whole scene have a green tinge to it? Guess what, the characters won't be affected by that.

I honestly didn't think it was going to be so glaring, but it is. Regardless, back in time we go! Goshozono loves being really experimental, and I can appreciate it when the content calls for experimenting. But Jujutsu Kaisen isn't all that experimental. And it's definitely not experimental enough for rotoscoping a la Flowers of Evil (here's the trailer for it, where it does it better than JJK), and it absolutely isn't experimental enough to change the art style about 4 times in the span of 30 seconds.

Now just a quick aside, what makes other series "okay" to experiment with, like say, Heavenly Delusion 10? Well, the answer is rather obvious: understanding and consistency. The idea of freedom in character designs is consistent throughout that episode, and the idea of the shifting art styles is applied directly to the moments. Though this also doesn't mention the fact that Heavenly Delusion is a series purpose built for experimentation with its approach of a sci-fi mystery/horror-thriller.

I've really got to get better at managing my thoughts, but anyways on we go. Let me speed things along a little. Thankfully, this sequence of Utahime and Meimei on a missions covers basically all of the aspects that I feel the need to complain about. Definitely cool moments within, and you can pick them out, but it's vastly outweighed by the bad. I mean, first, look the quality of the borderline pngs that litter the hallway in this scene. Then secondly, look how out of place Utahime appears amidst it.

Picking up the pace I'm jumping right into Geto and Gojo antagonizing one another about an important piece of their characters. I found this a real big let down. Geto's curse looks great still, but I think it's a solid example of how disparate the facial expressions of the pair are to their source. Geto just flat out doesn't have the same aggression, while Gojo's smile is completely misconstrued.

Also, what's going on with Amanai? They have a totally different vibe in the anime to the manga, on a near Toji level mis-tranlsation of character design (though I'll say they did get the super long neck correct).

Alright, let's end this thing on a high note! Really weird/bad CGI and composition coupled with Gosso's rotations. Just for reference, I've included an image of the same/similar area that's shown in the following clip, just so you can see the disparity between the quality of the two.

But yeah, I think the point has been made. It doesn't feel all over the place in a creative way, it doesn't feel strongly tied to the content of the episode. The composition doesn't attempt in the slightest to hide the issues of the 3D used, or how layered the environment and characters feel unless they're in default lighting. The character designs are a mess that gives Geto a pair of ballsack pants, and Gojo a chin that could be classified as a lethal weapon, and absolutely disrespects Toji. It's a massive list of flaws that pile up and completely outweigh the good moments that exist within the episode. As a fan, I don't think there could have been a more disappointing first episode for this season really, so I'm hoping and praying that as we go on it gets better.

Anyways, here's an image of manga Toji to cool off with.

[raymond-reddington-ruminations]

Thoughts on 10.21 and 10.22, no spoilers.

So I'm going to make comments as I go during some of the commercials, but I'm not going to post them until afterwards, so this is as much a live reaction as a review. Each paragraph is recorded at a different commercial.

The first half hour we've seen before. It's fun, but very familiar. It feels like a bit of a waste in the final episode. The only benefit is learning how the task force is conflicted about things. We only got a tiny glimpse of Reddington's heart, which I've come to realize is what I truly love about the show and what I truly want from it.

I am disappointed in Dembe. I always had a particular idea of why Dembe joined the fbi, and that was to change tactics in his quest to save Reddington's soul. And in season 8 he heard Reddington tell Cooper how much this task force had changed him. Then Elizabeth died. I always felt that Denbe joined the task force to try and connect Red to the force that was the most positive on him.

Weecha continues to be a nothing burger. I get nothing from her about how she and Red connect romantically. There's just nothing there.

At the end of the first hour I actually said out loud "oh, don't you dare." In everything that I imagined about this finale that possibility is not one that crossed my mind. Just, no.

Almost halfway through the second episode. So I was right, high action, intense episode with a twist I didn't see coming, as we often see in the season finale. And it's a very solid episode for the task force. We're getting a lot of character from them. And Herbie, good for you. That was the right call. Love that dude.

But what I'm missing is Red's heart. The core of the show, and I want something new from him. I want to see his heart laid bare.  His actions do speak to his heart when it comes to Dembe, but there needs to be more.

Oh boy. I guess that's it. The closest we're ever going to get to confirmation of Redarina. Not at all what I wanted. Up until I knew it was Redarina I really thought Red's identity didn't matter, but the transgender situation in the world right now really needs this.

And I'm genuinely worried now.  There is less than half an hour left.

Last commercial, less than 10 minutes left. I'm very scared. This has been undeniably beautiful for the last 15 minutes. Please, please, give me one of the things that I want.

Very proud of that final monologue, that was fantastic.

The final scene; No. That. Was. Stupid. Beautifully done, but I hate it. I reject your reality and substitute my own.

[hldailyupdate]

With less than a week’s notice, Louis Tomlinson announced two special shows, one in NYC and one in London, to celebrate the release of his sophomore album, Faith In The Future. To ensure no scalpers got tickets, fans had to go through an application process on Ticketmaster to verify they were going to be the ones using the tickets to the show. Tickets were requested on Monday, and by Thursday, fans knew whether or not they were selected for their purchase to go through.

The anticipation to see the One Direction-member-turned-BritPop sensation was high, especially because the NYC show was at Irving Plaza, a venue that holds about 1,000 people, and getting to see Tomlinson in such an intimate venue is a treat for his fans. The opportunity to feel up close and personal with the singer was something fans didn’t want to miss out on. The night before the gig, a line had already formed outside of Irving Plaza. Fans huddled together on blankets and shared snacks, and one girl was even sleeping on a full-size air mattress outside the iconic venue.

With 20 minutes until show time, the line to get into the venue still snaked around the block, but any signs of camping out the night before were long gone. Tomlinson and his band took the stage about half an hour later than expected so that all the fans could get into the venue. He looked like a well-dressed skater boy in a plaid collared sweater, what looks to be track pants and his signature just-rolled-out-of-bed hairstyle and started the set with "The Greatest," the first song off his new album. The excitement from the crowd was palpable, but rather than losing their minds in the pit, it was a sea of cellphones shoved toward Tomlinson trying to capture every moment of the live debut of his second record.

The set didn't just feature songs from Faith In The Future, though. Along with cuts from his debut, Walls, fans got to hear his unreleased song "Copy of a Copy of a Copy," and of course, he wouldn’t deny them his BritPop rendition of One Direction’s "Night Changes," a staple moment in a Tomlinson set. During his performance, the crowd seemed too mesmerized by being in his presence to really lose themselves in the music.

LGBTQIA+ fans have found a comfortable home supporting Tomlinson, and this support can be seen by a fair amount of rainbow flags waving in the crowd. His first single off Faith In The Future, "Bigger Than Me," became a defacto anthem, taking on a special meaning to fans that can be felt in their response to it being performed.

Throughout the set, there was minimal fan engagement — other than Tomlinson flipping off a few fans who are being cheeky in the front few rows. Every time he tried to address the crowd, his clearly thought-out monologues get interrupted by fans trying to get one of his signature sassy responses out of him. When he does manage to be raw with the audience, he’s sentimental and seems almost surprised by how passionate his fans are about his music. He addressed the crowd with a moving speech about how he wouldn’t have his career without them, saying, “I would not be able to make this record without all of your support. I stand upon this stage and think of what’s to come and feel really fucking confident and really fucking proud, and that’s all thanks to you.”

While it’s expected for Tomlinson to feel like a seasoned performer given his time in the world-renowned boy band One Direction, his comfort level in his solo music shows a different side to the singer. This music feels more organic to Tomlinson, after all. His lyricism and vocal abilities were always destined for BritPop, and getting to see him become the rock star he was always destined to be is a treat for new and old fans alike.

-Alt Press on Louis Tomlinson's release show for Faith In The Future. (16 November 2022)

[argikiya]

First of all, Shadow and Bone season 2 released on the most unfortunate time and in between my exams, but today was the last one and me and my non existent self-control have managed to binge watch it. And I have finally made up my mind about what to think of this new season.

I saw a post that said that for the book readers the series is like a very well written fanfiction. I obviously loved the books but it is like seeing your favorites from a different point of view, and I can’t say that I did not enjoy it.

What I loved: Even though they changed a lot of plotline and the character relationships I think they did justice to the characters and for some made them more interesting. Like most of us can agree Mal and Alina is quite a bland ship, though it remains the same, but Mal’s character in here is way better than the books. Mainly I like his change of story line in the last episode, it was quite interesting. Kaz’s backstory was shown pretty well. His trauma and past was touching and not just another random backstory. Next is the Darkling. I think his character has a lot of depth than the books. His last monologue was my favorite. In the books he is kind of like a pure evil character but here he is more of a perfect grey character and I appreciate this change. As for Wesper, even though I loved the slow burn romance, I very much enjoyed the speed-run. It’s like we get to know more of their relationship after Crooked Kingdom but for those who haven’t read the book I don’t know what they thought of it. I can only recommend them to go and read the books.

The Little things: I loved the little interactions between Inej and Alina. Inej's the cool as fuck action scenes OH MY GOD. The Crows saving everyone’s ass. Wylan saving the crow’s ass. Zoyalai interactions. All the Kanej moments from the books had me screaming. I love the angst. Tolya and Tamar, the coolest duo. Mathias😭

I hated: Mostly these are also the little things. Inej’s backstory, I don’t think they are going to show it more but it would have put more dynamic in her character. Kaz already telling he is looking for her family. NO! You were supposed to surprise her with it Kaz. Nina did not get a lot of action in the second half, she was mostly injured here and there. Kaz and Nikolai interactions was not supposed to go like that. And let's not talk about Genya and David just yet.

What’s next: I can only guess they are going to focus on King of Scars and Six of Crows, if there is a next season (can’t put my faith in netflix), and I guess Wylan’s backstory and his father will be kind of main plot of it, which I am very eager to see.

Honestly the first trilogy(s&b) is not the best installment of the Grishaverse and there is lot of potential in the plot and the characters if they change it correctly and I hope the changes would not be disappointing, while the SoC plotline and character dynamic is kind of perfect, so the less they change on that the better. And lastly, the last cliffhanger had me very intrigued for what comes next.

[changeling-rin]

Well, Mini sounds like an interesting character, so I will now use an old trend from asks on this blog to make you do more with him. Time to send him on the rest of the chain's adventures. (and I guess Archive too while we're at it).

You really are just gonna force me into fleshing these two out, aren't you? Alrighty then!

Skyward Sword: Mini has absolutely no interest in letting Ghirahim monologue and proceeds to try and decapitate him within ten seconds of their first meeting. This, of course, irreparably tanks their relationship, although since Ghirahim would have tried to kill him anyways Mini isn't too bother by this. Archive, meanwhile, somehow hacks into the Guardians in the Silent Realms, uploads them to the Mortal Realm, and then sics them on the Temple Bosses. What do you mean, that's cheating? It's in his skill-set!

Minish Cap: Mini spends the entire time exploring how his Hyrule has progressed since his time. Archive is a bit disappointed with the lack of apparent technology, but decides that the library makes up for it. Mini does disappear briefly, one day, when there's a festival in town, but since he was never all that social in the first place Archive just tells everyone that he's hiding somewhere quiet. Completely coincidentally, a short masked stranger beats up a cloaked purple stranger in the Festival Tournament and then vanishes with the key to the Chest before anyone can open it. Weird.

Four Swords: Well you see there was this complete coincidence a few hundred years or so ago and now everything is completely peaceful. Mini continues to explore how the kingdom is doing. Archive continues to raid the libraries and be disappointed by technological advancements. Also by complete coincidence, the bat-relocation business they run on the side is thriving

Ocarina of Time: Yeah this Ganondorf person is a hack, Mini's just gonna poison his drink or something and be done with it before it becomes a problem, mmkay? HIs condolences to the diplomatic envoy, or whatever. Archive decides not to touch that mess even with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot-pole and instead spends most of his time apologizing for... whatever political faux-pas Mini's done now. Except for that one time he mechanized the Temple of Time to defend against Ganondorf in case Mini didn't add enough poison but he can change it back he swears-

Majora's Mask: They collectively evaluate the Moon in silence for a moment. "...I'll build some flamethrowers," Archive sighs. Mini gives a firm nod. "I'll evacuate the town. Meet back here in twelve hours to torch that thing."

Twilight Princess: Mini now has very sharp teeth and a very big grudge. Please allot him a few hours to go maul Zant, he'll get back with you. Archive gets distracted by the Spinner, and may-or-may-not accidentally on purpose tinker with it until it starts shooting death lasers on command - which is so cool why didn't he do this sooner???

Four Swords Adventures: Well you see there was this complete coincidence a few thousand years ago or so. Couple of odd Dark World convergences popping up here and there, but that's easily solved!

Legend of Zelda: Mini's wasting no time, he takes just long enough to pinpoint where Ganon's hiding and then he cuts a swathe. Archive kickstarts the technological revolution a couple centuries early, because these people are living in caves??? When there's perfectly good architecture to be invented???

Link to the Past: Agahnim is talking but the only thing Mini hears is 'please punch me in the face'. He obliges. Archive spends the next five or so years apologizing profusely for Mini's assorted political blunders.

Oracle of Ages: Okay normally Mini's usual M.O. isn't a problem because the problem people aren't usually beloved royalty... surely someone else notices that Queen Ambi is suddenly prone to evil laughter, right? Archive won't let him duel Veran out of her, how is this supposed to get fixed?

Oracle of Seasons: Archive is one hundred percent in love with the Subrosians, they're so inventive! Literally everything has metalworking in it, he's in mechanical heaven...wait shoot where did Mini go? What do you mean he's making a reputation as a Dragon Tamer???

Link's Awakening: Neither of them are particularly musical but they can make this work... wait what.

Wind Waker: Mini sails them to the Forsaken Fortress, beelines for Ganondorf, and then proceeds to fight the man for two straight hours... which is coincidentally all the time Archive needs to reconfigure the cannons. There is an equally coincidental series of explosions.

Spirit Tracks: Okay Archive fully admits that he loves everything about this but have they considered moving past furnace power? He can totally offer some blueprints, here, he's got some notes on Divine spell sourcing. Mini starts up a new hobby of making Chancellor Cole's life miserable, but discreetly this time, because Archive is too distracted to make apologies for any political blunders.

[wearevillaneve]

LONDON — If you’re going to venture onstage for the first time, a nearly two-hour, emotionally fraught solo play without a break might not seem the best place to start. But the TV actress Jodie Comer, better known as the assassin Villanelle in the Emmy-winning series “Killing Eve,” has taken to the West End in just such a play, “Prima Facie” by Suzie Miller, with gleaming-eyed assurance.

First seen in 2019 in the writer’s native Australia, “Prima Facie” is at the Harold Pinter Theater through June 18 — though it will presumably have more life as long as its star chooses to stick with it. “House Full” signs have marked out Comer as the box-office equal of such theatrical heavy hitters as Mark Rylance in “Jerusalem,” the Jez Butterworth masterwork playing just streets away.

Comer is cool and commanding as a defense lawyer named Tessa who discovers, at considerable personal cost, the limitations of the law. Assaulted on a night out by a colleague whom she brings to trial, Tessa soon finds herself confronting a legal system whose strictures even a mind as shrewd and sharp as hers cannot overcome. The second half devolves into an angry broadside, but you can only commend the impulses behind a play that wants to educate as well as entertain: Audience members are handed leaflets on the way out to raise awareness about sexual consent.

Justin Martin’s busy staging finds Comer leaping onto the furniture and engulfed by a brief onstage rainstorm, to keep a potentially static monologue interesting to the eye: A chair at one point becomes a toilet bowl into which Tessa is sick, and a crucial costume change is done in full view of the audience.

Comer plays to all levels of the theater, often sweeping her gaze upward as if to enlist us as her jury. And though she speaks the text at breakneck speed, there’s no denying the visceral power of an evening that owes its sellout status to a theatrical neophyte who possesses the know-how of a seasoned pro.

[marley-manson]

@charlesemersonwinchesteriii replied to this post:

I never really understood why people kept calling that scene a big hawkbeej moment, so I'm relieved I'm not alone in that haha. Also you make an excellent argument that Hawkeye doesn't actually "get worse" as the show progresses, which I'd never thought about before! I know people talk about his coping mechanisms becoming less effective in later seasons and I always just passively agreed with that cause I'm not super focused on him and also I've never watched any of the episodes in order (woops!) but now you're making me really think about it..... hmmm..... I can totally see this as another instance of fandom seeing a character arc where there isn't actually one, just like with Charles. Just for myself, the only concrete change I could point to noticing is the obvious and intentional "learns to Respect Women" thing. But I don't know if that's just me not being smart enough to see things lol

lol yeah to me it’s like, yep BJ’s def acting like a guy who’s known Hawkeye for a couple weeks and is totally out of his depth, which is fine and understandable but not really shippy to me. But also tbf I’d prefer that even if I was a huge hawkbeej shipper because I’m not much of an ‘instant magical connections and understanding’ person when it comes to romance tropes anyway.

But I mainly c/ped your comment so I could respond at greater length to the rest of it, so! I definitely don’t think you’re missing anything (and ik we’ve talked about it before but yeah I also very much agre with you about Charles).

tbf I think Alan Alda is the one who said that Hawkeye’s coping mechanisms get less effective, but it’s not the first time I’ve disagreed with his takes on the show lol. And I don’t have a fully solidified take on Hawkeye’s “character arc” tbf. But yeah my impression is that it’s not that Hawkeye changes, it’s that the tone of the show changes. Hawkeye does get more dramatic episodes and he does get more sad monologues as the show goes on, but he never stops balancing them out with humour and hope, he had plenty of sad monologues in the early seasons too, and he never falls apart to the extent that he did in Dr Pierce Mr Hyde or The Late Captain Pierce. Some of the later episodes reference the war getting to him and making him act out in petty ways, eg Dear Uncle Abdul, but like, so did Bananas Crackers and Nuts, the 7th episode of the show. Plus arguably his worst experience throughout the show, give or take GFA, was season 1′s Sometimes You Hear the Bullet, with Abyssinia Henry not far behind either.

He’s always been portrayed as someone who feels deeply and is greatly affected by the war and who’s barely coping - the funnier tone of the early seasons made it slightly less obvious, but it’s still pretty apparent. The dramatic tone of the later seasons gives the writers more leeway to show how affected he is, but again like, he’s never worse than he was in some of the earlier eps until the finale. And I tend to think that the prevailing idea that Hawkeye gets steadily worse emotional stability and mental health-wise throughout the show sells the early seasons short. If I mentally sort of compensate for the tone shift in my head, I don’t see Hawkeye changing - I just see the stress being framed with more black humour in the first half of the show and with more earnest drama in the second half.

I mean logically it makes sense that the more time you spend in a war zone the worse you’ll feel lol, and with the tone shift it’s easy to see why it’s such a common take. But yeah, I just don’t see it myself, at least beyond a potentially deliberate sense of exhaustion in season 11 when they knew they were wrapping up.

And actually I also think the respecting women angle is like, not really the case, imo? I think it’s something the writers were sort of trying for so it’s definitely telegraphed as a thing in several episodes, and it’s kind of become common knowledge that Hawkeye gets more respectful towards women so I def don’t think you’re wrong to pick up on it. I just think the writers failed to sell it at all lol. Like he presumably learned a lesson in Inga eg, but it’s forgotten afterwards as the show goes right back to using his now pathetic attempts at womanizing as a source of humour. He’s definitely less crass to Margaret when they become friends but he never completely stops objectifying her. He has a sad monologue about not wanting to date a 20 year old because he’s too jaded in Show Biz, but he turned down even just casual sex with a 20 year old in season 3 because she was too young for him, so that’s not actually a change, as much as the writers tried to make it seem like one.

And Who Knew (nonsensically) recontextualizes his womanizing as a fear of committment and emotional vulnerability (in the satirical seasons it was a distraction from the war) and suggests Hawkeye getting over that, but Who Knew is ooc, and again he goes right back to pathetic womanizing in other season 11 episodes, like Blood and Guts. He even hits on an orderly in the psych hospital in GFA lol, and the Hawk/Margaret kiss is a (frankly cute imo) throwback to early sexual harassment-y episodes like There’s Nothing Like a Nurse where he kissed her goodbye, or Abyssinia Henry where he told Henry to kiss her goodbye lol. So like, if the writers were aiming to show Hawkeye changing his attitude towards women, I don’t think they did a very good job, basically.

But yk I do think it’s fair to take the later seasons in the probable spirit intended and view Hawkeye getting less misogynist as an arc. I just don’t personally. But also I don’t think Hawkeye was ever misogynist in the way Inga implied, and I think the later show often misrepresented the womanizing a little to condemn it (eg Show Biz and Who Knew again) so yk. I just prefer a happy medium there lol

[dinitride-art]

Lighting and Mike and Will and El - Full Analysis (pt.35)

Welp, its bad out here. Now let’s get into Mike yelling the same word like seventy times. (but not actually because I’m not going into the dialogue yet)

S4:E9 - The Monologue (#6) FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT- Return of the Red Light.

El is starting to breath and her eyes are closed and that green leaf had gone dark. Things are rapidly changing. That’s part of the reason (besides her expressions) that I think El must have had a realization about what’s going on. That and she’s on the same brainwave as Argyle (our beloved wise fool) so. She’s all set to figure this whole thing out. Like she just leveled up and took at plus 2 to her wisdom stat. and now she’s at like a plus five. With advantage on the role because Argyle’s assisting on the check. 

We go to a medium shot and them zoom in on El. Most of the colour on the stained glass is gone save for the green. El’s left eye is shaded over here but again I’m going to ignore it because it’s not really overly noticeable or consistent throughout the monologue. However, if it is intended to be like that then Vecna might be trying to get to Mike, Will and El all at once- but not to kill them. Maybe more like Will in season two, how the Mind Flayer just wanted to kill everyone else. But that theories a stretch, so I’m just going to look past El’s left eye. (unless it comes up again and more prominent because then that’s interesting).

In this close up shot (wow I really just filed that info away into my brain quick) El’s expression is far calmer and more focused than it’s been for most of the monologue. 

This is a medium shot apparently as well (waist up) and we’ve got the whole California crew in it. Even from this angle Mike and Will’s eyes are still freaky (and maybe Argyle and Jonathan too now, but to a much lesser extent if that is the case. Will and Mike’s shadows are covering half of their faces while the shadows that appear on Jonathan and Argyle aren’t like that. So, I don’t really think that it’s being implied that the same things happening with them).

Anyways, it’s a little odd that Will is the first one to look up at the lights going off. Mike and Will are also in the middle of the shot, we’re still centered in on them even when everyone is in frame. The blue lights, the red stripe, the oven and El’s blue shirt have also been included in the framing of this shot. They seem to be important elements of the scene. 

Mike is the next one to look up at the lights, while Argyle and Jonathan seem a lot calmer about what’s happening. They seem to also be focused on Mike, Will and El- much like we are, which would make sense because of those shots of Mike and Will from Jonathan and Argyle’s perspectives before the monologue. 

Mike and Will’s reactions to the lights contrast Argyle and Jonathan in a way that makes me think that (if they were just possessed) they’re seeing them for the first time/noticing it for the first time? They just seem a bit out of sorts, in a confused way. Not a ‘there is an evil inside me’ way. Food for thought.

Mike and Will crane their heads up and around to look at their surroundings while Argyle and Jonathan are fine. It’s just a bit weird. 

Then Mike turns back to El and his face is no longer one expression. He has returned (after turning Will’s direction) to a more split expression. Which would kind of make sense if Vecna’s focus is now split between Mike, Max, Will and El. If that is indeed what’s happening here. But either way Mike looks a bit less evil and a bit more like Mike. 

So Mike’s back in the game (still monologuing but what can you do). However, that blue light that’s flashing by Will’s head and the red strip may indicate that we’re not out of the woods yet. (because those are the two colours of the two creel house settings we’ve got going on- minus the upside down one). The shadow is stuck on Mike’s right eye as well as his left, so thing are worse than when we started but better than a few seconds ago. 

I think that when Mike looked at Will he was able to break free from Vecna’s hold just a bit because all of this season Will has been a beacon of light. So what if he’s Mike’s light? Similarly to how Mike was able to shake Will out of his trances in season two and Max’s plan to hide in the light. That would explain why Will was lit like that and why Mike seemed so off this season, but that’s just a thought. And entirely based on the idea that Mike is being possessed for most of season four. Anyways, back to the monologue here. 

Jonathan is looking at Mike, the light above Mike (and Will who we can’t really see) is going out and there’s the reflection of a blue light there. The board on the right hand side is still normal. 

Blue light flashing, the light above Mike and Will is still out, Jonathan adn Argyle are looking at El and generally being far more chill about the situation than Mike. Blue shirt in shot. Board on the right side is normal

Light above Mike and Will comes back online, blue lights still there, blue light has been reflecting on the fridge for a while now. Jonathan might be looking at Mike, but it’s unclear. But his focus doesn’t seem to be solely on El. 

The board is still normal. 

Red lights, blue light on the fridge is gone, lights above them go out on both sides, the entire room darkens.

The board is not fucking normal. 

Shirt still in view, watch on Jonathan’s wrist, Mike and Jonathan paralleled, El focusing. There are a lot of the exact same shots being used but with very different expressions. We’ve seen that blue shirt at least five different times, it’s mean to stick out to us. And we’ve seen this shot of El multiple times as well, and it’s showing us different thing every time. There are a lot of close up shots during the monologue and I think that’s because we’re supposed to be looking very intently at their faces. 

There is a lot going on here, but the most is happening in their expressions. 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 25.1 25.2 25.3 26 27 28 29 29.1 30 30.1 31 31.1 32 32.1 33 34 35 36 37 (to be edited)

[pitynostars]

what are the main reasons the chibnall era doesn’t work for you? (not a hater btw, just curious)

Hi anon 🥰 to be honest, I’m still trying to pinpoint it all myself ! While I was thinking about this and writing it out I’ve realised it mainly boils down to:

I think a lot of the writing is boring and inconsistent, from characters to big arcs to individual episodes.

Too many important character/relationship moments happening offscreen, or just told to us rather than shown to us.

So much wasted potential (I think this is the worst part for me because if it was just Bad I wouldn’t be so frustrated by it you know?) I feel like I’ve had more fun in the fandom reading people’s speculations and headcanons all era than watching the actual show itself

Sort of in line with that, rehashing of old ideas (+ not doing anything new/interesting with them).

I don’t know what it is specifically, whether it’s the writing, acting, or directing, editing, something else, but the whole era has such a patronising vibe to me? All the characters act like stereotypical primary school teachers at their most annoying and it drives me INSANE

So to elaborate:

The writing style of the era seems to be “drop something interesting and then forget about it until maybe we remember it and decide to do something with it” but the something they do with it is often boring as shit and I’m left after every episode/season with an overwhelming “... ok so what was the point of any of that?” feeling. From big things like the whole Timeless Child arc, to Ryan vlogging, to Yaz’s MH/queerness, Graham’s cancer, Dan’s “take the soup, will you?” moment, The Eternals in CYHM?, Ruth/Martin!Doctor etc. etc. 

I KNOW Chibnall can write nuanced plots, characters and relationships, but in his era of DW it just doesn’t work for me. Take the Timeless Child arc, beat for beat it’s just like name drop the Timeless Child in 11x02, monologue exposit about it in 12x10, don’t really deal with the fallout/emotional development the Doctor gets from it at all apart from one scene out of the blue in NY. Repeat through Flux (the watch is brought in to remind her it exists and she makes the exact same choice she does in TTC to Choose to be the Doctor, independent of whatever might have happened in her past). Her changing her mind about how she feels about it all in prison? Happens off screen. Her chasing after Karvanista so obsessively? Off screen. We’re just told afterward that she’s back to caring about it. 

Same with thasmin, there’s a couple of random comments in Arachnids, Villa etc until Flux, but then it skips over actually letting Yaz and the Doctor interact so it’s like ok like. Do they have a laugh together? Does the Doctor care for Yaz when she's scared/upset (seeing 13's interactions with Graham I'd say No. Also the only time I can remember we've seen Yaz upset and comforted is Spyfall and that's by Ryan). What’s in their dynamic that I’m supposed to be invested in, all we get from them 99% of the time is Yaz asking a question so the Doctor can exposit about it (which again ties back into my oh my god everyone feels like a patronising primary school teacher problem). Their dynamic in Flux is just the Doctor being a dick and Yaz taking it (with gooey eyes half the time lol). Then we get to second half of flux + the specials and honestly I don’t think one person pining for the other can be considered a whole relationship dynamic in itself (or again, if it can be, it’s… very boring lol).

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I feel like the characters are all pretty badly defined in general, but the characterisations we do get are boring or rehashes of previous characters. We know now Chibnall specifically wanted to bring on a woman to play the Doctor, but also wrote her as so passive (people point to episodes like Rosa and are like “well she couldn’t step in!! It would change history!!” okay who keeps writing her into these situations!! It’s okay to have those sorts of plots/resolutions as long as there’s some episodes where the Doctor has to make a choice and have a win), and when she’s NOT written super passive, she makes a crazy ass decision which doesn’t really add up at all with the rest of her character - e.g., taking the cyberium, blowing up the Master (and then letting Ko Sharmus do it), (ditto with the Sea Devils and Ji Hun). 

Which then goes with the fact she’s written with her morals all over the place (the spider in Arachnids, to being an absolute ARSE to Yaz in Flux to abandoning Dan in LotSD but she’s still got this damn high horse about using violence (except when its HER bombing people (: uwu) – I know this hypocrisy is present in other Doctor’s too but it’s exactly why I find Ten so annoying, like why repeat this for her !!!! At least with Ten we got Waters of Mars!!!!!!!!!! 12’s dying wish was for them as the Doctor to continue to be KIND but 13 falls immediately back into 10’s self centred arsehole persona of ESPECIALLY being an arsehole to your friends which I just hate watching. 

Another point I find frustrating about 13 is literally why cast a woman if you’re not going to do a gender identity arc. Like perfect opportunity, Yaz or Ryan or Graham could have been trans if you didn’t want to give the Doctor that arc specifically because they’re an alien yada yada but why do it. The only thing that’s done with it is have her be confused (even tho the Doctor’s been interacting with humans for literally centuries and knows how gender works for us), and make patronising “I’ve had an upgrade” “life’s so hard for women back then” jokes. I’m tearing my hair out.  For so long in the beginning of her era I was just screaming at the TV for the writing to let her do something ANYTHING that let her show an emotion other than like. Preppy/patronising highschool teacher. When she’s actually allowed to expression emotion, it’s usually just so many scenes that make her look stupid/silly (I’m thinking of the scene in Spyfall when she’s like “snap!! … is that not what we’re playing?” there’s a difference between making her funny and weird and alien and just making her into a clown), which works when balanced with darker/more serious/more calculating moments but we don’t really get to see a lot of that from her, and when we do it’s usually quite isolated from the rest of the characters, so doesn’t really feel like it’s got an actual impact.  

Of the (assumedly) complete character arcs we’ve got they’re both quite boring in my opinion. Obviously not every companion has to Become God and Fall For Their Hubris but like. “Guy decides he’d rather stay home actually” and “other guy decides he wants to stay with him too actually” is just sooo boring. Their arcs are literally just like they go along for the ride, get tired of it and go home. Revolutionary. As I said before, 13’s is just the realisation her past doesn’t define her (on LOOP) with a dash of Ten’s arrogance/hypocrisy thrown in (which like… he’s my least fave Doctor of the ones I’ve seen!!! I don’t want a rehash of his era!!! Even if it was written well!!!).

RE: Yaz, she was introduced like “can’t you give me something that’ll challenge me?” and to be honest I don’t think we’ve really seen her challenged yet. I feel like they’ve tried to do a rehash of Clara’s becoming the Doctor arc in Flux, but the whole reason Clara’s arc hit is because we saw 1. WHY it came about (losing Danny and everything else through s8), and 2. THE FALLOUT, of both HER going too far and the Doctor’s grief. With Yaz, they just brought it up and have done nothing with it. She got so little characterisation through s11/12 and then when she finally gets Something they do nothing with it AND it’s more about someone else and her feelings for them than it’s about HER. 

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I think the relationships in the show also suffer due to the messy/lack of characterisation. None of (either of) the main team have any tension or disagreement apart from Ryan & Graham’s will they won’t they grandparent/son dynamic and Yaz/13’s communication problems in Flux. I also just genuinely don’t think Thirteen cares much for any of her companions. Obviously most recently abandoning Dan in the past, but also take the example from Spyfall: the Doctor wasn’t worried about Yaz, Graham & Ryan when she was stuck in the past, and we know she hadn’t already hatched the plane save so. She thought they were dead? She assumed they’d found a way out? There was no thought of ‘oh my friends were on a crashing plane, I should get back and check they got out okay’, she goes straight back in to stopping the Master, and it comes across as it’s only when they bring up the plane by asking how she did it that she realises they actually managed to escape? If she doesn’t care why should the audience? They’re all just along for the ride and it’s so goddamn boring.

They had such a good opportunity with Yaz & 13 in the beginning – Yaz is introduced as a kind of bored police officer with something to prove, it would have been so interesting for them to grapple with a bit of a power struggle in the beginning as Yaz tries to assume the Authority position and the Doctor grapples with whether she wants to be like “my ship my rules” vibe or to sit back and let Yaz go ham. Instead they just sort of. Are in scenes together I guess.  

Like, even Ryan & Graham’s relationship, which is one of my favourite parts of the era feels quite forced and formulaic, like they’ve sat down and said “right, in this episode we need a Ryan & Graham scene where he refuses to call him granddad, so later it’s satisfying when he does” rather than letting the characters naturally grow closer/develop. This sort of shorthand character/relationship building is so present through the era too, the whole speech Graham gives about Yaz being the best person he’s ever met: “You said to the Doc that you thought she was the best person you'd ever met. But you know what, Yaz? I think you are. You ain't got a time machine or a sonic... but you're never afraid and you're never beaten. I'm going to sound like a... like a proper old man, but you're doing your family proud, Yaz, you really are. In fact, you're doing the whole human race proud.” is really sweet and nice and I do enjoy their dynamic sometimes I just don’t understand where his POV of Yaz is from because the scripts up to this point haven’t really given Yaz the opportunity to be any of those things (unafraid, unbeaten etc). I’d say maybe in the year where the Doctor’s in prison/Flux but 1. that hasn’t happened yet when he gives that speech and 2. that was all off screen?  

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Which leads me on to my next point, which is, why DOES so much important/interesting character stuff happen off screen?? The Doctor’s time alone in prison and the fam’s reactions to it, Yaz & Dan’s 3 years in the past, Yaz growing/realising her feelings for the Doctor, all happen mainly off screen, the Doctor obsessively hunting down Karvanista at the beginning of Flux. I’ve seen people speculating that Yaz & Doctor had the conversation about the Master & the Timeless Child and all the Flux shenanigans sometimes between EotD and LotSD, and that was their MAIN tension all through last series but I wouldn’t even be SURPRISED if it happened off screen at this point. 

I’m still so frustrated there’s no timeline given for when this Dhawan!Master is at. We are left to assume he’s post Missy, but there’s no mention/interrogation of her arc whatsoever. Any development he had to get him back to his “”evil schemes”” is, again, left off screen. It just feels like such a disservice to Gomez and her Master and the arc she had with 12 to not even MENTION it. Just a mention from 13 of like “oh I thought they’d changed…” to Ryan/Yaz/Graham. ANYTHING. I thought the Master coming back was gonna be the trigger for 13 to finally snap because she’s finally got someone to bounce off of and then she gets him taken off by Nazis (I don’t think the point of like. Why that is so awful needs relabouring lol). 

Ruth/Martin!Doctor could have been so interesting to dive into (holding out for that spin off 🤞) but instead she gets forgotten until like Once Upon Time which mainly overwrites her with Thirteen and then she’s forgotten about again.

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It’s also really annoying in my opinion how the era does so much lipservice to being progressive, especially more so than before, when for 3 seasons the only queer characters were introduced and killed like 2 minutes apart, and Ryan and Yaz were constantly sidelined for Graham’s development, sometimes it even feeling like the Doctor was also playing second fiddle to him, and Grace was introduced only to be fridged (and then like. AGAIN in ITYA) for Graham's (and to a lesser extent Ryan's) development, which they don't even really do anything with except for a few Grief scenes. You'd think a guy his age who's just watched his wife die and who's had longterm health issues might look at his grandson wanting to hop off into danger and have more to say than "yeah guess I'll come along too".

A lot of times it feels like they only bring up things like race, sexuality, gender, disabilities etc as a Theme of the Week rather than being part of these characters/worlds (e.g., Yaz’s MH is only really present in CYHM, Ryan’s dyspraxia gets forgotten about all the time and is written super inconsistently, Rosa and DotP have Ryan and Yaz discussing racism but then in the Witchfinders it’s not a problem (because that’s The Sexism(™) episode). They have episodes like Orphan 55 and Praxeus with the same span they have FUCKING Kerblam!.

I’ve already talked about how disappointing I feel the era is at handling the Doctor being played by a woman, but it also bugs me RE Yaz being queer, is that we have no idea how that impacts literally anything about her or her character (I know it’s a last minute addition so maybe felt like they didn’t have time), we don’t know how she came to the realisation or how she feels about it, how she feels about Dan essentially outing her, whether the bullying/MH they touched on are affected by it. It’s just like ok Yaz is queer! Onto the next bulletpoint for the ep. There’s no depth given to it at all. They randomly drop Yaz is a muslim at one point but again we have no idea what her relationship with that is at ALL?

And obviously having representation for representation's sake can be fine, your whole personality isn’t your identity, but when it’s so often the case that it’s not addressed at all outside of establishing it, it feels so lazy, like they want the kudos for having a diverse cast without having to do any consistent legwork with it.

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Ultimately I think for me this whole era just feels like “oh this idea is cool, hope this pays off later” then being bored/irritated then being like “... was that it?”. It feels like it’s lacking a lot of heart, it all just feels so weak and dull and lifeless and misses every opportunity to do something interesting with the good ideas it DOES have ?? Or what they DO do is just rehashing old stuff, but not as well (Clara/Yaz WWTDD arc, 13’s 10-like traits) or completely ignoring what came before (the memory wipes after what 12 learned with Bill/Clara, Missy/the Master’s development). Even episodes I really liked like FoTJ just don’t work as well on rewatch because you know they’re not going anywhere interesting. 

Sorry if I’ve repeated myself anywhere, been scrapping my thoughts together when I had a couple minutes free but I tried to proof it best I could!

[nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius]

Star Wars character asks:

The Grand Inquisitor (if I've been beaten, Seventh Sister).

Oooh I may as well do both

The Grand Inquisitor:

What my favourite thing about them is: LITERALLY EVERYTHING but if I had to pick then the overconfident monologues, he's a dramatic bitch and I love him so much. Also the unhinged smile because it gives me life and I'm concerned for myself

What my least favourite thing about them is: The fact that we don't have an actual name for him (it would wreck my headcanons but still AAAAGH), the fact that he dies after one season, the fact that we didn't get to see him fight in Kenobi, the fact that he's so underrated by fanfiction writers, none of this is really anything to do with his character but I don't care, he's perfect

Who I ship them with: Me Thrawn, probably, I feel like they'd get on

What song describes them: Hmmm I had to think about this one but after scouring my spotify I have decided on Dark Matter by Les Friction, it fits pretty well

What their best moment is: I'd say his final moment because that's one of my favourite lines ever but also I refuse to accept him dying so quickly so probably that bit in his first fight where Ezra tries to stun him and he just goes "is that all you've got, my boy?" Yeahhh I think that's the moment that kick-started my obsession, his "bitch, please" attitude when he's fighting is everything

Who/what they remind me of: Himself because he's the best and none can surpass him

What my nickname for them is: Quizzy, TGI, Sexier Lucius Malfoy, the Evil British Guy because my friend and I were once talking about our favourite characters on a very boring journey, I mentioned him and she went "THE EVIL BRITISH GUY???" and scared everyone on the train so he is now forever the evil British guy (even though that could apply to about half of the Empire 😂)

What I would do if I met them IRL: Hope he doesn't kill me and then probably die of excitement anyway

A headcanon I have for them: I have wayyyyy too many but picking one off the top of my head: he doesn't remember anything about Utapau at all, apart from bits of the language that he mainly picked up from the few books he had access to, and although he claims he has no interest in going back that isn't exactly true

Seventh:

What my favourite thing about them is: The way her voice hums. It sounds like two people are talking and I love it, it's gorgeous

What my least favourite thing about them is: Again, if I had to pick then probably the fact that she dies so fast

Who I ship them with: Me Maybe a few of the other Inquisitors? I don't feel too strongly about shipping her, really

What song describes them: Arsonist's Lullabye by Hozier, I think

What their best moment is: Probably when she's trying to torture Ezra, she's just so naturally intimidating and overconfident villains give me life

Who/what they remind me of: Nobody really stands out to me, I suppose she's a little bit like Quizzy with the charisma and the monologuing

What my nickname for them is: Hmm I never really gave her a nickname, I'll have to rectify that

What I would do if I met them IRL: Scream

A headcanon I have for them: You know when she says "the Jedi of old are dead" and looks away for a second? My emotional-damage-craving soul likes to think that there was the tiniest fragment of regret in that before she switches back to being ruthless again, it's hard to spot but it does look like her demeanour changes for an instant