#their arc in season 4 was all about how they love each other unconditionally and how they're going to be by each other's side no matterwhat

[seventeenlovesthree]

Okay, so, after having binged Stranger Things season 3 and 4 for the past two weeks, I probably should have expected falling into the rabbit hole... And I have thoughts and feelings. I’m usually not into horror and gore at all - but since friends of mine had recommended season 1 to me back then, I caved in. I wasn’t as invested at first and, to this day, the romance plots in this show make me want to jump off a cliff, but I understand that this is all for marketing purposes - writers know the appeal of shipping and what it does to people to get invested. 

And that’s where we get to Byler - and where this gets rambly. First of all, I stick with shows when the characters mean something to me - and by God, there are a lot of them who made their way into my heart fairly easily. And then there’s Byler; I am super hyperfocused on the kind of ship Taishirou represents since last year - an unlikely pair, complementing each other wonderfully, becoming friends despite their differences, absolutely adoring and admiring and going through hell and back for each other, but also sucking at communicating their feelings -, so when I realized how Byler played out, I got even more interested.

The thing is, I kinda expected that they wouldn’t end up canon by the end of Season 4, Volume 2. I read the Byler tag in recent days, read a few analysis posts, got excited and HYPED and it all seemed a bit too good to be true, even with all the hinting by the cast and promotional material. I couldn't imagine there would be a way ALL of it would fall into place - I'm not a pessimistic person and the way people speculated and wrote SUCH amazing concepts for them to work out this season, having to face their inner demons/feelings for each other through Vecna, the use of the music (that stuff alone is the kind of storyline I'm such a sucker for, I have used it in several Taishirou scenarios already and it NEVER gets old to me)... But it would have been too easy. They very clearly framed Will to go through all of this suffering, while simultaneously making Mike so... Unstable. All of this, as disappointing as it may be at first glance, had to mean something. 

I do believe that all of this REALLY is a false flag and that all of it will pay off in season 5 due to how it was framed. Yes, it WAS painful to see Will tear up like that after OBVIOUSLY making a confession from his own heart, but... I really do have hope that what we initially believed was true, that it's all heterobaiting. 

Because El does NOT need - or want - romantic love. It's not what she is about at all and that's rather obvious to me, because none of her bad/sad memories in V1 were about her friends/Mike, anything. (She even said that she missed him at their reunion, but I actually believe he and the others didn’t have much space in her head due to EVERYTHING that was happening.) 

I actually wish Hopper had been more visible in her memories, since it IS familial love she needs and wants and should get, being “loved” unconditionally; that’s why the end of season 4 is so heartbreaking and beautiful at once, her love for Hopper, Max, everyone... It’s there and it goes deep, but her arc just isn’t about “romance”. Because romantic love in context with her is a.) overwhelming her and forceful b.) selfishly imposed on her by Mike. Funnily enough, I only just now really realized through v1 what people meant by the internalized homophobia Mike was displaying, but... Yes, it’s there. It feels like they had a Tri-esque writing issue about not being able to get the threads together for all characters, but... As much as I love all the fandom ideas, I do have hope that s5 will provide both more suffer porn and a resolution for this. Mike needs to learn that what he's doing is led by confused intentions. That the love he feels for El is him trying so hard to BE romantic attraction, but judging by the way he couldn’t say it for the longest time, I cannot help but agree that that’s simply not it. And because he's so overly focused on this, he comes off as this ignorant douche, who can't sort out - or even see - his priorities. You can't have a character like Mike, who has been so caring and protective, just turn ignorant like that if it didn't mean anything. Compulsory heterosexuality is a thing, he's been scared, he's been hyperfocusing on El, there's a lot of guilt he's not able to process, hence he's constantly on the edge and not paying attention to things he usually wouldn't overlook (just like the car scene - I understand that the "I'm too scared to act" trope is realistic in several scenarios, but... That's also been overdone at this point. And I say this as a person who successfully cried at work several times without getting noticed).

As for El - I am all for “love” to exist between her and Mike - but I don’t even think El took it as romantic confession at all, but as general declaration of her being valued, which is something she craved for. I also agree with fan theories that it was indeed not his declaration of love that made El snap, but her anger at the overall situation. He obviously means a lot to her - but there’s a reason why the end of Volume 2, AGAIN, hinted at them still not communicating. And it just doesn’t work like that - and might not work out in season 5 either.

I get that this is cheap conflict fuel, I just... Am so tired of mis/noncommunication being a main reason for things being the way they are for several characters; they made us see through Lumax that the characters need to TALK to get better. Heck, even the scene between Will and Jonathan gave us a glimpse of what could have happened if they let the characters be actually honest with each other. That’s why the overall character progression for Mike and Will feels so frustrating here, because despite their attempts of being honest, opening up towards each other - it ended with Will “lying” for Mike’s sake and there was a disruption between them once more. That aside, they also reduced both Mike and Will basically to "non-main-characters", either due to bad writing or because it was meant to shed more light on other characters for now (this season made me and so many others fall so deeply for Lumax and, man, I love Robin SO much, I basically know more about her and Eddie as characters and people by now than about Will due to him being shoven into the back like that, it's sad). 

So my theory is - they proooobably chose to put them closer to being “adults” (they'll be close to 15, if I remember correctly) in season 5, before making it more "real", because we know people still have a problem not assigning pedophilia towards young gays and all that stupidity, ESPECIALLY because of the religious focus this season had (+ all the bullying already). 

So... My hope for season 5 dies last. There IS a possibility that Will might end up as both enemy and cure at once and I do hope that the latter won’t happen, because that’d make us come full circle circle, making the queer coded character evil and probably killing him off in the end... I really hope it won't turn out to be like this, but that's the vibe the last few scenes gave me. Either way, I’m sure there will be lots of suffer porn - but I do believe that the framing for Will and Mike meant something eventually. That they showed the glances, the tears, the parallels.

Hope dies last.

[theenbynightingale]

Rating Total Drama ships that showed up when playing with the generator! (Pt. 11)

Started playing around with the generator again when I was kinda bored a while back and kept saving ships so we’re back here. :)

Alejandro and Dave (or Aledave): Ya know how in the finale, Dave was convinced that Sky was leading him on the whole season so she could get again (even tho she only did it on purpose on that episode)? I can totally see Alejandro doing that to Dave for a full season. And who wouldn’t fall for Al? I can’t say I’d ship it but it be a funny mini-arc. Rating: 5.5/10

Brick and Eva (or Brickva): Dawn famously said Brick had a need to be dominated. Who’s more dominant than Eva? It’d basically be Jo x Brick on steroids. I’m not sure if I’d ship but these two would have a very funny dynamic. Rating: 6/10

Crimson and Shawn (or Crimshawn): Wouldn’t ship, as I love these guys already with their respective partners but it would be very funny to see Shawn be convinced for a whole season that Crimson and Ennui were vampires. Rating: 5/10

Gwen and Max (or Gwax): Most of these ships I’m posting so far seem to be “wouldn’t it be funny if they met”. Max was desperate to convince people he was evil. Gwen was desperate to convince people she was good. The interesting part would come in if Max basically worshiped Gwen as an evil genius after All-Stars. Certainly would be funnier than most of what we’ve seen of him. Rating: 4/10

Gwen and Taylor (or Gwaylor): It would take every ounce of her being for Gwen to NOT punch Taylor in the face. Rating: 3/10

Jen and Leonard (or Jenard): She would get him a better wizard’s robe at least! I don’t think we’ve seen enough of these characters to know if there was something there to have in common but, again, it’d be funny. Rating: 4/10

Lindsay and Anne Maria (or Lindsay Maria? Lindsanne? Marindsay? idk): Ya know what? I’m okay with this. I think it would start off with Anne Maria not really liking Lindsay at first but I think they’d really enjoy each other’s company. If not a ship, I can totally see them eventually being friends. And that means Anne Maria would KILL for her. Rating: 7.5/10

Rodney and Emma (or Rodma): Wouldn’t ship but wouldn’t we ALL simp for Emma the way Rodney probably would? I mean, c’mon! Rating: 3.5/10

Kitty and Sammy/Samey (or Samty): Now that I think about it, YES! Emma and Kitty were a much better version of the twins from PI and Sammy needs love. Kitty would adore the hell out of Sammy unconditionally because she’s a ray of sunshine and she would not take any of Amy’s shit. She would basically be the positive for Sammy needs and Sammy would finally HEAL. Rating: 9/10

Sanders and Courtney (or Sandney): I can see these two getting along at first because they’re by the book people. But I’d also imagine Sanders getting very tired of Courtney the way most other characters did. But honestly, considering how they are it’d be more of a “You’re such a headache but you’re my headache!” than them hating each other. These two crazy kids can make it work. Rating: 7/10

Stephanie and Ezekiel (or Stephekiel): Look. We all know Stephanie is fucking crazy. If Ezekiel were go on his “Guys are better at stuff than girls” spiel, she would beat him to a pulp. And that would either make him terrified of her or he’d be her simp for life. Rating: 5/10

Zoey and Owen (or Zowen): They’re both real nice. They’d vibe with each other pretty well. They’d be real good friends if nothing else. Rating: 6/10

[johannas-motivational-insults]

“Friendship” in the Horde

Season 4 raised some interesting questions about how people who grew up in the Horde define friendship. Kyle claimed that his squadmates were his friends, despite how we've seen them bully him, and Scorpia admitted she didn’t even know how to be a good friend. We also saw further developments in Catra and Lonnie’s dynamic that have some interesting implications about their bond, both past and present. However, while these themes became more explicit this season, they are hardly new. The Horde worldbuilding is really quite brilliant, as the writers have been laying the foundation for these revelations by showcasing certain patterns since season one.

This got a little lengthy on me, but there was a lot to consider. The lack of healthy emotional expression and relationship modelling is one obvious problem in the Horde, but the hostile environment has also led to some very specific power dynamics and social structures. These structures, while potentially helpful in hostile environments, are maladaptive in terms of fostering healthy relationships. Ultimately, every character who grew up in the Horde is emotionally crippled. (I’m not even going into Adora, an excellent example, because her repression and communication problems are well-documented and I wanted to focus on characters still in this environment.)

Scorpia

Let’s start with Scorpia. Her revelation that she doesn’t understand what friendship is was a big moment for her, but for those of us who have been watching closely, it’s no big surprise. Scorpia was so desperate for a meaningful connection that she latched onto the first person who showed any signs of considering her a friend, ignoring all the red flags indicating that the relationship was not healthy. Actually, she didn’t ignore them so much as not recognize them, because she didn’t even know what a healthy relationship looks like. To her, the fact that Catra invited her to her room and chose her to accompany her on a mission was enough for her to dub them the Superpal Duo.

Of course, we all know how that went for her. She continued to support Catra unconditionally despite the latter’s tendency to use Scorpia as her emotional punching bag. They did settle into a somewhat more reciprocal and caring relationship after Scorpia saved Catra against her orders during 2x05, proving that Catra was more important to her than the mission (even if that wasn’t what Catra thought she wanted). It’s sad when you think about it, because that was probably the first time Catra ever experienced her wellbeing being prioritized above all else.

Unfortunately, the revelation that Shadow Weaver had gone running back to Adora after betraying her triggered a trauma response and made her clam up again, lashing out at Scorpia and shutting her out even though she had done nothing to betray her trust. It took Catra blatantly attacking and insulting Scorpia when she failed to bring back Entrapta’s recordings (and some well timed reality checks from Emily) for Scorpia to realize that Catra was being a bad friend and she couldn’t win her over by being a good friend.

And actually, Scorpia’s confession in 4x10 that she “thought” she was being a good friend to Catra implies that she had since realized that she wasn’t actually being a good friend to Catra either. She knows the scorpions were a loyal people and she ascribes to that ideal, and she has so much love to give and always tries so hard to be positive, but not setting boundaries with people or demanding a measure of basic respect does nothing for them or you. Also, you can’t ignore the fact that Scorpia forced her affections on Catra, inserting herself into Catra’s life in a way that made her uncomfortable, and continued to ignore Catra’s attempts at setting boundaries with her (which is also very disrespectful). While Catra was certainly the aggressor, she was not the only one who failed in this partnership.

Let’s go back for a moment to Scorpia’s earliest indication that Catra might want to be her friend, when she confides in her and enlists her help coming up with and then executing a plan. Being chosen as Catra’s wingman seems to be important here, and perhaps she was wilfully ignoring how she was the only person who could make Catra’s plan work, but being confided in and trusted was huge to her. And since Horde soldiers are so used to being used, they don’t see it as a red flag. Catra actually flat out said Scorpia was the only person she could trust. How could a lonely gay not interpret that as a sign of being special to someone?

The squad

The importance of trust also becomes evident when considering the interactions among the main squad. Loyalty seems to be paramount in the Horde, not just the scorpion kingdom. Adora defecting to the Rebellion and leaving her squad behind was seen as a huge betrayal, and not just by Catra. Did anyone else want to cry when Lonnie struck back at Adora with “we were your friends” in 1x09? Lonnie was deeply hurt by Adora’s abandonment, feeding into her disillusionment with the Horde. Similarly, when Double Trouble revealed they had double-crossed Catra, her devastated reaction was not that her plans were ruined, but that they had betrayed her. That no doubt was also related to her previous betrayals, but also serves to highlight the importance of loyalty in their subculture.

While all the Horde characters were interesting to watch this season when it came to the themes of friendship, the arc was most pronounced in Lonnie. As I’ve mentioned previously, Scorpia had a short arc over one episode where her rosy worldview was destroyed, causing her to leave (much like Adora), while Lonnie was already a cynic who was aware of the Horde’s imperfections and had to go through more extreme hardships to detach from this unhappy but familiar environment (much like Catra, we hope).

Though she and the boys didn’t leave the Horde until the finale, her disillusionment was already evident in her first episode this season. After Catra berated them for something that wasn’t their fault and demanded they risk their lives to fix it (big Hordak energy), she had her first big revelation: “Catra doesn’t care about us, Adora left us. Everything they taught us in the Horde about loyalty is meaningless. It’s everyone for themselves.” In the next episode, she was frustrated by Scorpia’s naïve enthusiasm and trust in Catra, but it took a big blow up between her and Catra for her to finally decide she was done with her, done with the Horde in general.

Kyle represents a sort of middle ground between Lonnie and Scorpia in terms of outlook. He was not treated well in the Horde, but still believed in the ideals of loyalty and squad unity. He wanted to believe Catra had sent them out on a mission into the Whispering Woods because she trusted them and wanted it to be a team-building exercise. His take on it was: “She may be mean, but we’ve always had each other’s backs. Ever since we were kids.” He saw the squad as his family, including Catra (and previously Adora). It took Catra baring her claws and threatening to attack Lonnie outside of a battle sim for him to lose faith in her.

Bullying, the pecking order, and squad unity

As is clear by this point, the Horde defections this season were driven by Catra mistreating the others, but we can’t lose sight of how mistreatment is a fact of daily life in the Horde. And as I mentioned above with Lonnie, it’s those who were most aware of and desensitized to the mistreatment who had the hardest time naming it and leaving the toxic environment. Call it Stockholm Syndrome, call it the sunk cost fallacy, but either way once you’ve submitted to a system that dehumanizes you, it’s hard to admit that that system is wrong and leave it for a better life. Scorpia and Adora grew up somewhat privileged in the Horde in that they were destined for greatness, so they were never abused overtly and they had a level of protection from power-hungry cadets looking to claw their way to the top of the heap. They were already at the top and couldn’t be taken down, so they didn’t have to bully or be bullied.

The importance of pecking order is much more evident when considering people like Kyle, Catra, and Lonnie. Within their squad, Kyle is obviously the omega of the gang (get your heads out of the gutter, that is not what I mean), the one who gets blamed for everything that goes wrong and is constantly getting picked on. Lonnie shits on him, Catra shits on him, and even Rogelio gives him shit and goes along with the blame game. Despite all this, Kyle considers them his friends, his family.

This starts to make sense when you consider it in terms of intra vs. extra squad relations. Maybe the squad didn’t show Kyle any respect or treat him with kindness, but they did protect him in battle sims (sometimes lol) and rescue him from the spore storm. You also kind of get the impression that although they bullied him and asserted their dominance on the regs, they would protect him if other people tried to hurt him. You might say he’s the pet of the gang – he has no power within the structure and it may not be pleasant, but the structure still offers advantages. Having allies was still good for him even if he was at the bottom of the pecking order within the alliance.

Through a sociology lens, you might say the squad (and the Horde in general, given it’s a military society) follows the stereotypical male model of friend groups with clear pecking orders that everyone buys into (with exceptions for blatant power struggles), as opposed to the stereotypical female model that appears less hostile and more cooperative outwardly but involves a lot of underhanded infighting. (Obviously those are broad generalizations and it can be argued how much of it is nature vs. nurture, but they are observable patterns that boys and girls are socialized into in many human societies.) This ties in interestingly to @jaelav3​‘s observations about masculinity equating to strength and femininity equating to power in the Horde (a meta she really needs to write, because it’s brilliant). The hostility of the Horde forces soldiers into these rigid pecking orders in order to find protection in a dangerous place. When everyone knows and accepts their role, it is easier for the squad to function in a unified manner and protect each other, even if it’s at the cost of their mental and emotional health.

Now, when not everybody buys into the pecking order or it’s ambiguous, and/or if there’s a sudden power vacuum, that’s when things get interesting…

Catra and Lonnie, the perfect case study

Catra also suffered a lot of bullying and abuse in the Horde, but in a very different way than Kyle. She was in a unique and kind of contradictory position where she was somewhat protected by her close friendship with Adora, but she was also Shadow Weaver’s favourite chew toy and everyone knew it, which made her a target as well. If Shadow Weaver abused her, she wasn’t going to care if the other cadets abused her as well. Catra’s defensive body language and general distrustfulness and hostility gives the impression that she was bullied behind Adora’s back and Shadow Weaver turned a blind eye, perhaps even encouraged it.

This was all illustrated in 1x03, when Catra and Lonnie butted heads and Catra was forced to back down when two other cadets backed up Lonnie, then Lonnie told her to watch it because Adora wasn’t around to protect her anymore. That one line alone told so much of their story. This was also one of the few times we saw cadets using people from other squads to affect their own squad’s dynamics, as – like I said – that seems to be kept mostly in-house. It may have had something to do with Lonnie’s overall standing among the cadets or how Kyle and Rogelio rank lower in their little hierarchy and seem uninterested in getting involved with the power politics, but I digress.

The argument itself was meaningless, really - the whole thing was a pissing contest, an attempt to assert dominance within their squad’s sudden power vacuum. Lonnie fancied herself the new leader of the squad, and she ended up getting her wish in a backwards way when Catra was promoted out of the squad and given official power over her. Catra, of course, took every opportunity to rub this in Lonnie’s face, perpetuating the cycle of abuse she’d fallen victim to.

The reason they had a power struggle in the first place wasn’t just because Adora left, it was because their pecking order was previously unclear. Catra wasn’t very cooperative and tended to go rogue, so she didn’t slot nicely into the power structure. She was also perceived as lazy, as she had adopted an air of nonchalance once she realized she’d never get the recognition or praise so easily heaped on Adora. (Why try when failing hurts so much?) That being said, she was Adora’s best friend and basically her sidekick, so in a way that made her second-in-command of the squad.

On the other hand, Lonnie was devoted to the squad and was always around to provide tangible support, so she was also kind of Adora’s second-in-command. Combined with her harder work ethic, this also gave her a very legitimate claim to the throne. She was obviously pissed when her teammate she saw as a lazy asshat got promoted, but to her credit she lived up to her own personal ethics, buying in and not pushing back against Catra’s authority until late in season 4.

Despite the power struggle, however, Catra and Lonnie do seem to have a bond. Even if they don’t like each other, they have a certain level of trust in each other. When the princesses invaded the Fright Zone in 3x04 and shit started to go sideways, the first person Catra was looking for to try to get support and/or answers was Lonnie. Then in 4x10 when she was starting to lose her mind amid a lack of sleep and Scorpia’s defection, she pulled Lonnie aside and demanded to know what was going on among the soldiers, what they thought of her.

This was an incredibly interesting scene with some deep implications. Because while it was on one hand an expression of trust in Lonnie, it was also an acknowledgement that Lonnie was one of her bullies and held clout among the people who have demeaned and abused her in the past. It also showed that Catra still has social anxiety and her sense of social power (as opposed to power in terms of rank) is very fragile, which is extremely characteristic of a bullying victim. Also, the fact that Catra said, “Just leave. Like everybody else.” implied that Lonnie leaving would hurt her emotionally, which is rather illuminating.

As for Lonnie, her loyalty meant she bought into the system and expected to Catra to do her job running the place, taking care of the Horde. And Catra certainly succeeded early on, taking territory and increasing productivity. In return, Lonnie was a loyal and obedient soldier, even if she never hesitated to give Catra a bit of attitude. But she became frustrated in season 4 when Catra went on her sunk cost fallacy spiral and ended up making things worse for everyone else as well as herself. This failure was a huge betrayal to Lonnie, and it’s important to note that she wouldn’t feel betrayed or disappointed if she had expected nothing of Catra in the first place. It’s one thing to be kind of a dick about your superior rank, another entirely to endanger your squad/friends (or anyone you are responsible for, really) and run them into the ground as a remedy for your own anxiety.

The breaking point of course was the scene in the locker room in 4x12, when a lonely Catra tried to be “friends” with the squad again and was briefly successful in mending fences a little until she snapped at Kyle and then at Lonnie, calling them pathetic. This prompted Lonnie to shove her, which in turn made Catra bare her claws and rush Lonnie. There was really no coming back from that, even though Kyle intervened before anyone got hurt.

As an aside, Kyle stepping up in this scene was amazing - this season in general was everything I wanted for him. And it’s important that it was him who intervened, because he was really the only one who could ask Catra, “We used to be your friends, why are you treating us like this?” It makes perfect sense for Catra to push back at Lonnie given their history, but Kyle doesn’t have a history of bullying Catra (quite the opposite). And wow, it had an impact on Catra. You could just see the confusion and regret on her face before she brings back the façade of anger and kicks them out.

When the squad left the Horde, Lonnie said that they were done protecting Catra. This assertion is interesting, given their checkered past – since when was anyone protecting Catra? Lonnie bullied her, and none of them protected Catra from Shadow Weaver, not even Adora (though bless her heart, she tried). But this does make some sense when you consider how much of the idea of friendship is based on loyalty, and how important that adherence to the structure is for protection. In Lonnie’s mind, even if Catra was now their commander, they were still a unit in a way. And she saw standing by and obeying Catra to be a form of protection, helping her stay respected and carry out her plans. Lonnie is a good support person, and by removing her support, she was in a way removing her protection as well.

(After the series is over I might just go all out and do a huge-ass meta about Catra and Lonnie through the seasons. I am absolutely fascinated by this relationship, if you can’t tell.)

Allyship

Overall, you can’t help but get the impression that the Horde’s version of friendship is more akin to allyship. It’s protection, unity, loyalty. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t get emotionally attached, it’s more that how you feel about someone is less important than what that relationship can do for you. That’s why Scorpia doesn’t even understand what friendship is. That’s why Catra tolerates “friends” who annoy her, because they’re useful to her (not that she doesn’t get attached in time, but that’s not why she tolerates them in the first place).

Catra’s one of the few people in the Horde who has experienced real friendship, as her bond with Adora was much more emotional than practical (even if it was both). And that explains why she eventually lashed out at Scorpia and said they were not friends when clearly they were by the Horde’s definition. Her and Adora really had taken the friends thing to a different level, and she was missing that dearly.

It will be interesting to watch the interactions between the Horde characters when they are thrown back together in new circumstances, out of the Horde’s rigid power structure. Honestly, the redefining of these alliances and friendships is one of the things I am most looking forward to in the final season.

[meg-noel-art]

Why do you believe that Catra never got over her what you called "obsessive and selfish love" for Adora? Because I didn't see that.

-gestures vaguely to all of the show-

Okay, you know what, let’s get into this. Because I’m honestly tired of it all. First let’s start with this: In popular media, is there a common theme of erotic subtext between rivals? Uh, yeah. Hell yeah. Tension between two people looking to one up each other that can be read as romantic or sexual? Oh absolutely. So, let’s, for the sake of argument assume that was the type of dynamic that Noelle and Co. were going for all along, as they’ve stated. Because they weren’t the first to play with this dynamic and they won’t the last.

So again, tension and subtext between rivals that escalates into passion or eventually real love? Yes.

On the other hand: betrayal, emotional manipulation, physical maiming and injury and outright seeking the utter demise and failure of you ‘rival’ because they made you sad by making a better choice than you did? That doesn’t equate to love.

But, for the sake of argument, let’s approach Catra’s motivations as all based around this deep love she has for Adora, which I will argue through this post is more of as passionate and selfish obsession than actual love. (And honestly, that’s a super cool character motivation, but pretending that it’s an epic love story is gross and I hate it.)

So, let’s return to Season 1

One of the first real battles we see Catra and Adora in takes place at the end of the season. This comes after ‘The Promise’ wherein Adora tries again to get Catra to come with her, but Catra doubles down on her desire to spite Adora for hurting her and leaving her, by being as nasty as she possibly can and putting Adora in just as much emotional pain. Here, she not only fights Adora, but cuts her down to her deepest insecurities. Catra knows Adora and she knows how desperately she wants to be a hero. It’s an aspect of Adora that Catra has always disliked because it made her feel lesser. In order to fully cripple her rival here, Catra tugs at the strings she knows will hurt the most.

“You will fail them (you failed me)”, “You’re friends will hate you (Just like I do)” “You will never be the hero you want to be (I will be the reason you can’t)”. If you want to talk about subtext in this scene, Catra’s unhealthy and obsessive desire to be the only thing Adora needs/wants/thinks about is literally all over the place. If you want to argue that she’s saying all of this because she’s hurting, then it’s literally the cruelest possible way she could say it. And the show doesn’t bother selling us on the fact that Catra is in pain here, it just hammers home the idea of how badly she wants Adora to fail so she can feel that pain too.

In no universe, would I call that treatment of someone love.

Next up, this moment in Season 2:

I remember everyone losing their minds over this scene, and again, arguing a sexual tension between rivals, then yes, that makes sense. But in the context of this entire episode and the ones leading up to this point? This statement from Catra is disgusting. And it gets worse.

In the next scene, we see Catra literally planning to use Adora as her own personal weapon (an aspect I find personally icky when considering the struggle Adora has with destiny/her own autonomy at the end of Season 4 being use by Light Hope as a weapon. Catra literally has the same idea.)

And moreso than that, Catra won’t just use her as a weapon. She will use Adora to cut down anyone else who has ever cared about her or shown her affection. It’s a new level of jealousy/possession that is touched on even moreso as the series goes on. But what’s crazy to me is that it seems to have developed from Season 1. In the Battle of Bright Moon, Adora could only fail them. Now, however much later this is, Catra wants her to hurt them too. Adora will hurt, her friends will hurt. Everyone will hurt like Catra does. Because she’s possessive of Adora’s affection. It makes her feel like she has meaning. Which is an entire other can of worms about Catra’s motivations and character, but we’re gonna move ahead to season 3.

This is a fascinating moment to me. At this point, Catra has essentially flunked out of the Horde, but she’s NEVER been more determined to prove herself to Hordak, to SW, to Adora, to everyone. But here, Scorpia points out how truly happy she is when Adora isn’t even in the damn picture anymore. The poisonous environment of the Horde is gone, Catra is claiming respect for her abilities and personality. Adora has nothing to do with it and she’s happy.

And then:

Look, I am remise to sound like a total asshole, but the entire show is pointing this out for me through even it’s dialogue. Catra’s pain and hate and obsession returns when Adora mentions that their shared abuser Shadow Weaver has chosen her yet again. Suddenly, nothing matters. None of Scorpia’s kind words, or the achievments she made in the Waste. All that matters, is beating Adora. Hurting her. Being better and more loved than her.

Honesty, at this point I’m losing the thread of ‘love’ entirely. Now it just feels like a total mission for vengeance.  But, once again, okay, let’s argue she’s really just angry and wants Adora’s love back. So what does she do to get it?

She opens the Portal to hurt Adora. As Adora screams don’t, begs her not to, tells her what it will do to their world, Catra does it anyway. Because Adora must hurt. She broke Catra’s heart and Catra must break it back. That’s how love works, I guess.

Once again, if the show was working on selling me on Catra’s motivations being sympathetic and fueled by love all along. It is failing.

Now, let’s talk about the Portal world that it takes them into. What everyone called their “perfect universe”.

So we have this moment, where Adora gets to the heart of the issue and asks Catra about her real pain. Catra avoids it, once again. Yes, of course she’s wanted this, they both always have. I suppose at this moment you could argue her true motivations come through, but it also just emboldens my point that Catra is not growing. She’s not gaining any character development. If she did just always want Adora by her side, this scene shows us that Adora has moved past these Horde induced childhood dreams they have. She has seen a bigger world and a bigger issue and Catra is still holding onto the hope that they will keep this promise to always have each others backs.

Which, is an ironic thing to hold onto considering Catra was the first to break this promise, by not going with Adora when the time was right. And yet she believes Adora is the one who owes her the apology. Now, this would be great set up for an arc about Catra coming to terms with the fact that she is the problem and Season 4 seemed ready to set that up but then... didn’t.

This line in particular has always stuck with me because it broke their relationship entirely for me. At this point, Catra could apologize all she wanted in a possible redemption arc, but the damage was done. She admitted a pain so deep that it would change her and Adora’s relationship forever. Her hurt ran so deep that she would rather die, see everything end, than see Adora find happiness outside of her.

I could stop this post here and honestly, my point would have been made. But we’ve got more to go.

I was so excited after the moment. After an entire season of snapping under the weight of her own choices. It is the image of Scorpia, who loved her unconditionally, who tells Catra that she is the problem and she always has been.

At this point, I was ready. Catra had hit rock bottom, there was nowhere to go but up. She would approach her pain and figure out who she wanted to be as a person. She would team up with the Rebellion because she knew it was the right thing to do, she would atone for her mistakes. By the end maybe she would go on her own adventure to find herself?

And.... No?

She doesn’t.

Season 5 rolls around and suddenly she is right back where she started, scrambling up the ladder for power and respect. It sure doesn’t work for Horde Prime, putting her in real danger. She even gets a few moments to connect with Glimmer (maybe apologize for the Portal...no... oh okay.) 

In fact, she saves Glimmer! But.... why does she do it? Certainly not for Glimmer’s sake, a character who has been stated by the crew to be literally her narrative foil, her other half. But...

Like...? At this point I don’t even know what the show is going for anymore, it’s a fucking mess. You could even argue that up to this point, Catra HAS been manipulating Glimmer to trust her so that she could in turn save Adora. Which is all kinds of fucked up, as we see in the conversation with the BFS squad that Glimmer WANTS to save Catra, and trusts her.

And then this memory that incited Catra’s desire to save Adora was:

I could have just answered with this screenshot and saved myself an hour. You wanna argue love? Fine. 

Then Catra has NEVER let go of her frankly concerning obsession with Adora’s attention and affection and that is no more clear that this memory where she also physically assaults her and steps on her, and Adora goes crawling after her trying to comfort her.

Oh? Are you, Catra? Well that’s cool. You are allowed to be sorry. But that doesn’t mean Adora owes you literally anything at this point. No one is ever obligated to accept any apology no matter how heartfelt it might be.

At the end of the day, this love story their trying to sell me on is so twisted I can hardly stand to watch the final season. Because it’s never worked out!! Adora immediatedly forgives every moment I’ve listed in this post and more. Catra never apologizes to someone who deserved it most, Scorpia. 

And more than that, Catra never grows into who she should have become as a character. She is stuffed into an OTP the show wanted from the beginning but failed for 5 seasons to make convincing or compelling.

Also Adora has such a huge heart she deserves someone who would treat her better than Catra could. Catra can’t. Catra can’t even treat herself right.

Like... Yeah. I don’t even know what to say anymore. Hope this answered your question. 

Obsessive, possessive....Gross. I’m tired. C/A won at the end of the day I guess, but at what cost?

[caffiine]

A BRIEF PAUSE

From my regularly scheduled content. I’ve got some shit to say, y’all (forewarning for spicy language and spoilers)

I thought about making this post on my fandom subblog but this show and this relationship have been TOO important to me for the past 8 years to not give it its proper place in my life. strap in bc im not sure how long this mf is about to be.

When i started this DUMB show at age 19 tortured soul “empath” dark academia me thought sam winchester was going to be my favourite character. and don’t @ me, i love sam now in his own right (and we deserve some SAILEEN PEOPLE). but after literally less than 5 episodes i KNEW dean’s character and his arc were going to be amazing and beautiful and he immediately became my favourite brother. The nuances of his character i.e. his shell vs his true self were so evident to me even in the first couple seasons. in my humble opinion, he had the most growth of the two brothers.

They all deserve to be happy, but for whatever FUCKING reason dean has the HARDEST TIME OF ANYONE being happy in this show. I know it’s his character. I know it was written that way. But FFS.  I kept wondering when they were going to wrap up his emotional arc and stop torturing the poor dude.

then in season 4 they introduced castiel and 1) I thought the new concept of angels as assholes was super cool and 2) I hardcore SIMPED over misha collins (still do). I watched benignly as cas and dean began to form this relationship that seemed pretty special. I started watching the show when it was in its eighth season and I binged the shit out of it for two weeks until I was caught up. By the time I was caught up I was CERTAIN there were some feelings between them and I LOVED it. I am bisexual and I was ECSTATIC for a potential queer relationship between two masculine-portrayed dudes. I went on tumblr to express my newfound theory, only to find out that this was a real THING. “Destiel” was already an idea that had absolutely and intensely BLOSSOMED in the fandom  for several seasons already. So many others saw what I saw and saw the potential of emotionally tortured/constipated “daddy’s blunt instrument” dean and the unfeeling daddy’s boy cas “crack in his chassis” Winchester being allowed to be happy together. I felt validated and hopeful. For a while.

Then it was season after season of hopefulness for them to be finally happy with each other while still fighting the ills of their world with sam and the other new members of their family that were added along the way, only to constantly have that hope seemingly teased away at the end every single time. By season 11 and the introduction of amara (not bashing, eventually loved her character and her development too) I gave up. I lost hope. I stopped watching the show. I didn’t want to keep watching my two favourite characters continuously abused by the story they were thrown into.

I know not everyone likes destiel, not everyone thought it was real. That’s chill, idc. Stories are so often meant to be (and sometimes inadvertently) left up to interpretation by the person experiencing and consuming them. It’s what’s so amazing about books and shows and movies that are able to make us feel so intensely about them and their characters. And I felt SO strongly about dean and cas. It was honestly really upsetting to me, the way the show was going with their relationship.

A while later season 13 had been going on and I started seeing some things pop up on my dash. Hopeful things. I did a bit of research and accidentally saw THE SCENE from season 12 and I couldn’t help myself. I restarted it. I watched the whole thing from the beginning again AND introduced it to my boyfriend I think partially as a way to ensure I wasn’t imagining shit (it took him awhile and a lot of me internally screaming during many scenes but by season 9 he was like “uh are they in gay love”). Fast forward to me finally catching up as season 14 was starting. I was still hopeful, somehow. And it happened AGAIN. Season 14 and the beginnings of 15 made me so sad. I HATED what they did with their relationship. I HATED the way it ended. I HATED the way dean treated cas and everyone around him. It felt like the show was taking his whole character arc back to day 1. I didn’t understand. I kept watching for a couple episodes after the big argument and cas left but the luster was gone and eventually I just stopped.

I love this show. It has meant so much to me as a story. So many of the characters are/were very dear to me. I know it’s a running joke with this show about character deaths and homophobia but the strength of the bond I felt was between cas and dean gave me a lot of hope. But it wasn’t enough. I felt betrayed one too many times. And for those of you who kept watching, for whatever reason, I don’t hold it against you. It’s still a beautiful and interesting story without cas and dean’s relationship. But I just personally couldn’t do it anymore.

I hadn’t planned on watching the rest of season 15 when it came back after pandemic hiatus, at least not for awhile. So imagine my FUCKING surprise when I was doom scrolling through twitter during election week on Thursday and I see supernatural trending right along with election shit.

What.

I couldn’t stop myself, I looked and literally SCREAMED and made my boyfriend spill his wine all over our couch. I didn’t know exactly what happened as I hadn’t seen the episode but APPARENTLY all my emotions and feelings had been at least partially vindicated. So I BOUGHT season 15 so I could finish watching where I had left off. I watched 8 episodes in less than 24hrs (don’t judge me there’s a quarantine) and I LIKED them. And it might’ve been bc I knew what was about to happen in 15 x18 but I really felt like the show was getting STRONGER as it neared its finish.

I was so excited for 15x19. I read so many posts from fellow fans, destiel and antis alike. There really weren’t a lot of bad emotions running around. Everyone seemed hopeful and excited like me.

I probably don’t need to go over 15x19 emotions but im going to anyway. I was disappointed. I was confused. I was angry. we are in season 15. The last season ever for this show that has had a HUGE following of fans who have loved it, sometimes unconditionally, sometimes even though it wasn’t the best (and sometimes less than good). A season and show that had just announced YES. CAS LOVES DEAN. ITS REAL. And I shouldn’t have to go over the nuances of why we would expect more after this, with two episodes to go before the show is done forever.

But I will bc im mad af.

Like I said in the beginning. Dean’s character arc has been incredible. His emotional growth – as subtle as it might’ve seemed – has been amazing. And dean has always been an emotional, loving person. he just felt like he wasn’t because the world made him feel that way. And that’s sad, y’all. Dean deserves to realize he DESERVES happiness. And in 15x18, we were finally heading basically directly there. With destiel, yes, but even if you’re anti, what cas said to dean about who he is and why he loves him obviously struck a fucking chord with dean. It obviously changed the way he viewed himself (RE: “that’s not who I am, that’s not who we are”).

But for WHATEVER reason that’s ALL we got in 15x19. One fucking SENTENCE about dean realizing maybe he’s not just built to kill people. And then jack leaves without a single mention of Eileen or cas or Charlie or literally anyone they ever cared about and dean rode off into the sunset alone with his brother while we watched a fucking FIVE MINUTE MONTAGE that made me want to hurl my own body into the sun they were driving toward. And cas is STILL DEAD.

BUT THERE’S STILL ONE EPISODE LEFT AND FUCK ME IF I HAVENT BEEN PAINTING ON MY CLOWN MAKEUP ALL WEEK. SO WHAT DO I WANT????

ONE: DEAN DESERVES HAPPINESS. REAL HAPPINESS. What the FUCK supernatural??? Wasn’t this the whole point of his arc??? And don’t get me wrong I REALLY want that happiness to come from Cas and a real spoken relationship of some sort between them bc it also ties in with my second point but tbh just PLEASE let dean be happy. Dean is a loving person and does everything for love as we JUST FOUND OUT. Dean would NOT be happy with everyone he’s ever loved gone for the rest of his life. I just don’t believe that’s fucking true. h elp him pls.

TWO: CAS DESERVES HAPPINESS. I know we got this whole speech about “happiness isn’t in the having it’s simply in being”  but like. Really. Castiel was supposed to be a throwaway character no one was supposed to care about. But we all cared SO MUCH that he lasted 11 SEASONS longer than intended and became a main character and an integral part of the story. Cas has arguably sacrificed more than anyone on this show. His last act was to sacrifice his life to save the man he loved. He knew where he was going. He knew he was finally going to be able to tell dean he loved him and then immediately be taken by the empty where we know now thanks to season 15 that everyone in there just gets to dream forever about their regrets and sadness. HOW IS THAT FAIR. HOW IS THAT A GOOD ENDING FOR CAS. HOW DO YOU EXPECT ANYONE – CHARACTERS AND FANS ALIKE –TO BE HAPPY ABOUT THAT. Its messed up, supernatural. Y’all KNOW it is and I hope to HIGH HEAVENS this is going to be corrected in 15x20.

THREE: give sam Eileen back. 

Well that’s all I’ve got in me, folks. I’m absolutely and intensely dreading Thursday. Im scared and nervous and obviously still angry that this is absolutely going to be the opposite of what they promised – another “game of thrones” ending. Some of y’all are giving me hope with your posts about maybe they’re trying to keep the ending a surprise and maybe cas is coming back and how can they not and why else would they have done the second to last episode like that and I hope yall are right.

Either way, im glad I am not alone with my feelings. Thanks yall for the experience of this fandom and show. Let’s stick together on Thursday, no matter our differences.

 PS stop calling jensen ackles a homophobe or ill hex you. 

[pointlesstrashyexistence]

Every few days I think about how if Supernatural’s writers were just planning on killing of Cas and then never mentioning him again with the original ending involving the possibility of just a brief cameo of him in Heaven weirdly partying with (dead?) Kansas, I probably would’ve preferred it if Cas didn’t have a confession scene.

Ok here me out. Yes I ship DeanCas/Destiel. Yes I loved that there was at least acknowledgment of Cas’ romantic feelings towards Dean. Misha has outright said the confession was romantic and there have already been two official dubs in two different languages where the “I love you” specifically uses phrases that show romantic love. It’s not up for debate anymore if those feelings were romantic.

But if they were just going to throw that in there and get rid of Cas and never mention him again except for two scenes where he doesn’t appear and one that is just Lucifer pretending to be him to gain access to the bunker, I would’ve preferred it if Cas’ true happiness was something that I think would’ve been the ultimate acknowledgement of Cas’ transformation, which I feel would’ve been Jack calling Cas his dad and telling his dad how much he loves him. Of all three members of Team Free Will 1.0, Cas has been the most like a dad to Jack. Cas was the one who eventually helped Kelly hide, prepared a home for Jack and Kelly to live in, for Jack to be raised in safe and loved and cared for. Cas was the one prepared to go down fighting to protect Jack before Jack was even born. Cas is the one who always runs to Jack, to protect Jack, to save Jack, even if it means creating a rift between him, Sam, and Dean.

I love my Sam Winchester is Jack Kline’s Father fics, and my Dean Winchester is Jack Kline’s Father fics, and my Team Free Will 1.0 are Jack Kline’s Fathers fic on ao3 . I do. But if we’re talking about in the show, Cas is the one who is the most like a father to Jack.

Love Dean and wish that man had been given therapy and anger management and AA meetings and working to become a better, less violent person who takes accountability for what he’s done as his finale ending rather than just dying by a fucking nail through the chest, something Cordelia on Buffy The Vampire Slayer survives after like a twenty foot drop from a staircase. But Dean outright hates Jack during his widower arc and makes it known how much of a monster he thinks Jack is to the point where Jack repeatedly tries to commit suicide and then it’s just never really brought up again after Cas comes back and Dean then just goes back and forth on whether he thinks Jack is part of his family or not for the last three seasons. As much as I like the few scenes where Dean is actually bonding with Jack and calls him “their kid” and Jack referring to himself as a Winchester, Dean isn’t really Jack’s dad in the show. Do I think this probably would’ve been a different story if we got baby Jack? Yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about right now

Sam? Sam definitely tries at first. Sam gets what it’s like to feel like a monster and be viewed as one even when your not, and calls out Dean for how he acts and behaves towards Jack. But Dean just as easily calls out Sam for using Jack to try and get their mother back and trying to appear invested in Jack to get what he wants. Sam’s affection for Jack is conditional at first. He gradually grows to be more paternal to Jack but by season 14, it kind of just dwindles away. We got all this buildup of Sam and Jack’s relationship, which yes there should’ve been because here you have someone who was supposed to be the True Vessel of Lucifer, the Boy King of Hell and the Antichrist, the Son of Lucifer, and there’s not really any care given to it afterwards. That season was probably the last time the writers actually did anything interesting with Sam and tried to give him an arc in my opinion.

Cas though? Cas, who was a warrior of God that led garrisons and killed the offspring nephilim of lesser angels? Cas who grows a respect and admiration for humanity, seeing them as complex miraculous beings rather than hairless apes like the majority of the angels? Cas who defends humanity’s existence against other angels even at the cost of his life? Cas who originally thought of the Antichrist as a monster that needed to be killed to protect humanity but heard Kelly talk about how good she believed her child could be despite being the son of the devil and saw a paradise on earth when he actually communicated with Jack in the womb? Cas who separated from the only other two people he has consistently turned to for help and has provided help for in order to try and ensure Jack would be a child safe and loved even if it meant being away from the people he considered family and could die protecting Jack and Kelly? Cas who unconditionally loves and treats Jack as his child throughout the last three season? He is definitely Jack’s father.

I just think there’s something very fitting about the angel who unconditionally loved humanity despite never being able to entirely follow god’s orders raising the supposed antichrist who becomes a god that respects humanity’s free will. And I think that scene would’ve been fantastic in that Cas loves Jack as his child so much that he makes that deal with the Empty in the first place to protect Jack , but Cas loves Jack so much that Jack is the reason the deal is broken. Jack doesn’t realize Cas thinks of him as his child the same way Cas doesn’t think Jack sees him as his dad, and that recognition that they feel the same way is the most bittersweet moment in the world because their first moment where they mutually knowingly recognize each other as parent and child seems like it might be the last one they have together as they hug. Jack sobs while furiously apologizing as he sees black goo come to reach Cas who only has a few more second left to kiss the top of his child’s head and hug him close and say something like “I love you so much my son” before pushing him away while Jack watches, crying as he calls out “Dad don’t leave me” as his father get covered in black goo while smiling with tears streaming down his face before disappearing.

I’m not sure how that situation could’ve occurred. Maybe Jack and Cas are together when people start disappearing, and Jack worries about how if Chuck doesn’t consider him important enough to torment he could also be proofed away, and he wants to tell his dad how much he loves him in that way kids do when they think they might see their parents for the last time and despite being in basically an adult body Jack is still three and not really thinking about what could happen or doesn’t even think this could be Cas’ happiest moment because he always thought Cas knew Jack thought of him as his dad. I don’t know.

But that scene happens and the Empty collects Cas and then when Jack becomes god and brings everyone back, he somehow also brings Cas back from the empty. Look the writers gave absolutely no good reason for why Lucifer somehow came back from the empty in 15x19 when the Empty specifically states that Chuck has no power in her domain so why should I? But I guess if I was going to it would’ve involved Jack finding out how it got loud in the empty and bargaining with the Empty in trading demons, angels, and other nephilim in exchange for making the empty quiet again and managing to deal with what to do with all of these now revived supernatural creatures. Still frustrated that the show made God the enemy and turned Billie into a last minute villain when the Empty was right the, the Enpty was hyped up, and then it just took Cas and Billie and disappeared, and was never heard from again.

Anyways, Jack and Amara separate but they’re still functioning as a unit and are working together to fix the other universes as well as heaven and the systems of who gets sent to heaven, hell, and purgatory in a sort of season 4 of the Good Place style, and Cas takes on a major role as the celestial being with the most interaction with and understanding of humanity, especially with that time he was a homeless human under his belt to provide his own reflection on why certain people may do things that are wrong like stealing in order to provide just a basic need for themselves like stealing food to eat. It’s implied that Rowena’s involved in this too. Cas and Jack say their goodbyes to Sam and Dean. If I had it my way, the finale would end up being like the one I made up in an earlier post where Sam and Dean get their beach day but realize that their relationship isn’t healthy for either of them and separate and the viewer no longer has access to what they do with their lives afterwards because Sam and Dean now have control of their own stories and decide who gets to see it. But I guess what I made up fixes some general overarching complaints about the last three episodes. I still hate that last episode and what I feel is the assassination of 15 years of character development of Sam and Dean in order to go back to S1 with Sam as the main character and Dean as the side character interrupting his life but I just barely acknowledge it as the show’s finale.

I do love the confession scene. I really do. But if it was just going to end with Cas dying a minute after confessing his love and never being seen or acknowledged again, I would’ve much rather preferred it being that his happiest moment was being with his child in the endless feedback loop of familial love.

[livlepretre]

Okay, for the ask I just sent in, on the topic of Elena’s friends not really loving her unconditionally or caring about her for her, Damon and Stefan both started caring about Elena simply because she looks like Katherine (also, how much danger do you think Elena was in the night she technically met Damon, being human and wearing Katherine’s face? It must have been terrifying in retrospect for her, knowing he didn’t love her then and she looked exactly like the woman he’d been obsessed with for over 100 years, but was human and compellable). Maybe they grew to care for Elena later, but it was always about Katherine at the start. When Damon forced Elena to shut off her humanity, Elena straight up didn’t give a fuck about any of them (love that for her) and actually demonstrated her anger at her friends, that she’d never shown them before. She tried to kill Caroline and Bonnie, and while she loved them with her humanity on, there was no denying that there had been some deep underlying issues there. She lost her brother, whom she loved more than anybody or anything else, and was pretty much her last tether to the girl she’d been at the start of everything. It’s Jeremy’s death that shatters her completely, because he’s the only person that would always be there for her. Jeremy wanted the cure for Elena, since he thought she wanted it and also because it probably would’ve been nice for him to not worry about killing her after he became a hunter (didn’t he become a hunter because Elena was suffering from the hunter’s curse and he wanted to save her from that?) Everyone else wanted the cure because they didn’t like vampire Elena and wanted her human and fragile again, or because they wanted her blood useful again. At the beginning of season 4, everyone’s telling Elena how to be a vampire, giving conflicting pieces of advice, and telling her that she’s doing it wrong, without really telling her how to do it right. She gets in from all sides then, and then she can’t really be around her brother, since he keeps trying to kill her (those two love each other so much, I could ramble forever, but their relationship slowly grows warped through out the show (~vampirism is a curse~). Elena has Damon compel him to get out of the city in an attempt to keep Jeremy safe from the vampires and hybrids surrounding her (her mere existence brought them to town. How much must she blame herself for what happens throughout the show?), Jeremy helped trap her in the house in season 2 when she wanted to surrender to Klaus, Jeremy drugs her in an attempt to get her out of Mystic Falls, they both fight against what they are to be around each other safely again. They love each other, but holy shit, do they do terrible things to each other. They know their love is so ingrained and reciprocated that the only way they’d leave the other is through outside forces, like drugging or compulsion). Then, Rebekah, who’s tried to kill her multiple times and then really did kill her, is the only person who accepts her without her humanity. Everyone else, who accepted Damon despite the shitty things he did without his humanity and the numerous murders he committed, decided they didn’t like her that way and wouldn’t be there for her until she got hers back (and yeah, everyone was going through shit in season 4, but the Salvatores really decided that even though they forced her to turn it off, they hated that she no longer cared about them, and wouldn’t accept her that way (does anyone honestly think they would’ve accepted if Elena decided she didn’t want either of them? Stefan might have, but Damon would’ve flipped his shit). They both did horrific things without their humanity, but Elena’s a bitch to her friends and kills one cheerleader, and she’s off the rails and needs to be stopped (this arc in TVD is otherwise called the hypocrisy arc)). The Salvatores legitimately torture Elena and murder one of her oldest friends to get her to turn her humanity on again. Elena should’ve never forgiven that, and should’ve just left Mystic Falls entirely

Not sure I agree with your general premise. Like, yeah, the Salvatores are initially interested in Elena because of her face... but does anyone really care about any particular stranger until they get to know them? They go pretty quickly from interest piqued to really caring about her in a genuine way (it's fucked up, but honestly I would not have watched the show if it weren't. they're vampires. it should be fucked up). I would have a bigger problem with the show's premise if she were just some random teenager who grabbed their interest, because then it would be a question of why. What could possibly make Elena special enough to avoid getting casually eaten and forgotten about like every other random teenager on the show? The doppelganger thing at least gives us a plausible explanation for how they could get so entangled.

As for Jeremy, I agree with you that they do love each other and look out for each other in an entirely different way from the others, but it's also overlooking the fact that they're brother and sister. Of course they do. Anyone who is lucky enough to be really close with a brother or sister knows that there is literally no other bond like it. That's the kind of love you burn the world down for, that you would die for. One of the things that tvd does best is convey the depth of that particular bond, and the fact that it has the power to supersede every other kind of bond. It would be preposterous to imagine that Jeremy isn't ultimately the person Elena loves the very most. No friendship, no matter how deep, can touch that.

As for the vampire thing, I don't really have a problem with everyone being selfish about not wanting Elena to be a monster. The Salvatores are selfish. It's what I love about them. And it is disturbing when Elena kills that waitress. What are her friends supposed to do... let her go on a killing spree? The show was definitely going for some sort of storyline about going off the rails with depression and grief and anger, they just did it kind of poorly. I would have loved for Elena to go completely dark as a vampire, then to have the cure thrust upon her, the clarity of her humanity restored, and for her to have to live with what she did as a vampire. That would have been a great way to build on and maybe even conclude the arc of Elena's moral decay which we see developed throughout the early seasons.

[strideofpride]

my rankings of the canon pairings for each of my "core four"

Wait I forgot how long this was, edited to add a read more.

Serena

1. Nate

Golden couple! I know canonically Serena was closer to Dan and Blair, but I think Nate loved her unconditionally in a way they did not. Blair was always going to see the damaged party girl she was trying to leave behind, Dan was always going to see the perfect, friendly girl from high school and get judgmental whenever she didn't meet that expectation. But Nate just saw her, no expectations. He would've waited forever if she had asked him to... :(

2. Carter

I know he had his issues (and did they ever establish exactly how many years older he was...) but you could tell he really loved her in all of their interactions. And he understood the side of her that felt the need to constantly be on the move in a way Nate and Dan did not (especially since he had that same side to himself). I just think an older, more mature version of both of them would work really well.

3. Aaron

I actually really liked Aaron, he brought out an artsy side to Serena that no one else did. I wish they did more with him considering he became Blair's step-brother (!!!) but we never saw him or heard about him again???

4. Dan

Season 1 Derena was really cute and sweet, but by season 2 it was repetitive, and they probably should've just dropped it permanently once Lily and Rufus were finally together.

5. Colin

Definitely loses points for being her professor, but they seemed fine beyond that, and Sam Page is just so pretty to look at.

6. Steven

This clown really was going to marry Serena after six months, the first three of which he didn't even know her real name, when she was only like four years older than his daughter?? And he fucked her mother!! What the fuck was going on in season 6, truly.

7. Tripp

Aaron Tveit hot, but also married and left her to die in a Chappaquiddick rip-off so uh...yeah, bad vibes.

8. Ben

He was her teacher!!! I don't care that he didn't fuck her when she was a minor, that doesn't make it okay for him to date her later, when she's barely legal.

EDIT: Oh shit, I forgot Gabriel! Uhhhh I guess he was very forgettable and would go above Tripp? Wasn't he a con artist who stole Rufus' money? And he was played by Armie Hammer which obviously did not age well.

Blair

1. Dan

I mean, duh. If there was ever a pair of soulmates on GG, it was them. They just worked on another level. Yes, they weren't perfect, but they had such great potential for a mature and healthy relationship in a way none of the rest of them did. They CLEARLY loved each other (save me the "it was one-sided bullshit", Blair was GLOWING the entire Dair arc. Also - "I told Chuck he doesn't have my heart anymore. It belongs to someone else." That's a love confession!!) Now I'm sad again about how the writers ruined them. :(

2. Nate

Look...I know he cheated on her with Serena. I know she fucked Chuck behind his back. I know there were major incompatibility issues there. But there also was a lot of love. Maybe they were never IN love but they loved and cared about each other. They know each other on such a deep level. A lot of their scenes when they were a couple were actually really, really sweet. I hate how in the later seasons Nate cared more about Chuck than Blair and usually took his side with the exception of 3x18 and 4x20 (tbh Nate should've stopped being friends with him then and there but you know the GG writers). And their kiss in the snow? Iconic!

3. Carter

They only went there because Leighton and Sebastian were dating in real life and the writers wanted to capitalize off their chemistry, but they were hot and fun and I wish we got more of it.

4. Louis

Boring and his descent into darkness was poorly written, but they were fine at the beginning and he seemed like he really loved her at first. But the Dan vs. Louis vs. Chuck triangle was too all over the place, they should've kept it just Dan vs. Louis or just Dan vs. Chuck imo.

5. Chuck

I mean...what is there to say that hasn't already been said. Traded her for a hotel, tried to hit her, treated her like garbage a lot of the time, always kept her arm's length. They should've been done for good after 3x18...and 3x22...and 4x20...and 4x22...anyway.

6. Marcus

The only reason he's below Chuck is because he was so irrelevant and also was fucking his step-mother.

7. Jack Bass

I don't even want to include him as Blair's love interest, but again, it was so fucked up that they had Blair have a one night stand with him as a fresh 18-year-old!!! And it was only portrayed as bad because it was Chuck's uncle. Give me a fucking break.

Dan

1. Blair

Again, they just got each other. I think particularly, Dan got Blair on a level even Serena and Chuck did not. "Dan loves me for me", "it's like he peered into my soul". Because they were enemies to friends to lovers they really saw all sides of each other. I also don't buy this "Dan had her on a pedestal" crap, "Dan only loved the girl from Inside". Cause A) look at the above quotes, and B) Dan knew exactly how Blair could be (she banished his sister!!) and fell in love with Blair despite of that. He knew what he was getting into.

2. Georgina

Sorry, not sorry. Another hot, fun pairing that was you know, very toxic. But Penn and Michelle were always fun to watch together.

3. Serena

Again, really liked season 1 Derena, I think they were each exactly what the other one needed at that point in their lives, and loved the more platonic aspects of the pairing in the later seasons, but they do not make sense as adults, and I truly cannot imagine how they could make a marriage work.

4. Vanessa

Love their friendship, but they never clicked for me as a romantic pairing. I know they were endgame in the books, but show!Danessa did not work imo. They were too similar in many ways and they did not challenge each other to be their best selves like Dair and Natessa. Wish the writers never ruined their friendship though and tried to turn her into a villain. :(

5. Olivia

Pretty forgettable considering she was played by the queen of our childhoods, Hilary Duff.

6. Rachel

Stop having teen characters fuck their teachers and portray it as hot!!! It's not, it's deeply traumatizing in real life!

Nate

1. Serena

Our poor boy really pined after her for like three seasons, didn't he? (And who knows how many years pre-series?) I find it hard to imagine Serena really being able to settle down and commit to anyone, but if she could make it work with anyone, it would've been Nate. He just understood the side of her that needed to get away, be on the move, because he had that same side himself, the writers just never let him act on it.

2. Vanessa

They were cute! Like they were very supportive of one another always, and they were a good balance, and they just fit well, or at least their high school selves did. Adult!Nate probably wouldn't be with someone like Vanessa, but also Seasons 5 & 6 Nate is soooo OOC to me that it doesn't really matter. Also their last break-up was dumb and I hate that they ruined their friendship in season 4. Justice for Vanessa!

3. Raina

I actually really liked this pairing! They just worked and made sense on a level none of Nate's other non-main character love interests did. Like with the rest of them, it's kinda like "oh we casted this pretty guest star, might as well hook her up with Nate" with very little thought beyond that. But maybe because Raina was Chuck's love interest first, the writers actually had to put in the work to get them together and it showed. Also, Raina should've taken Nate with her when she left the UES. Free him from that world!

4. Blair

I don't know what else to add other than Nate really did care about Blair, even when he was chasing after Serena. Again, Blair might've not been his romantic true love, but Nate did love and care about her very much.

5. Lola

I liked them at first when we thought she was just a cater-waiter/struggling actress, but with the reveal that she was Serena's long lost cousin (and later half-sister) it got too messy and I lost interest.

6. Juliet

I know she was evil or whatever, but Katie Cassidy and Chace looked really good together and had great chemistry.

7. Jenny

Sorry but Jenny is a lesbian and I always got vibes that Nate mainly cared about her as a big brother anyway.

8. Bree

Barely remember them, they were boring. Also wasn't she a Republican? No thanks. Love Joanna Garcia Swisher though, wish they used her for something better.

9. Diana

What did Elizabeth Hurley even do other than be a hot milf and fuck Nate and lie about being Chuck's mom? What a waste of her talent.

10. Sage

Thank god I ignore season 6 because this was a character-ruining romance in my opinion. Having Nate date a minor while he's basically a CEO was already fucked up, but when you take in consideration that Nate himself had been taken advantage of by an older woman when he was a minor??? Ugh.

11. Catherine

Fuck her!!!! Enough said.

[thegreymoon]

Salty Ask list: 9. Most disliked arc? Why?, 20. What is the purest ship in the fandom?, and 27. Least shippable character? The saltier the better!!!

Thank you for the ask, anon!! 💜💜

OK, I will answer both 9 and 10 (because the most disliked arc is no. 10 😅) I have already answered some of these earlier, so I will copy/paste those, if that’s OK! 

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

For Merlin:

Agravaine. He’s just the worst. So greasy and sleazy and just, yuck. Yuck, overall. He’s not even one of those characters one can love to hate, like, for example, Uther, who is also simply the worst, but who will preoccupy you in ways you never saw coming! When it comes to Agravaine, everything about him was so thoroughly hateful, frustrating and unenjoyable, the highlight of the entire season was finally watching him go splat against the wall! The second most hated is that girlfriend of Gwaine’s at the very end that was plying him for information. That entire sequence is just so mind-numbingly infuriating, I can’t even think of it without getting angry. It almost ruined Gwaine for me entirely.

For The Untamed:

Oh, finally an easy one!! 😂😂 Wen Chao, Wang Lingjiao and Wen Zhuliu are in a tight race for the first place here and who is winning depends entirely on who I’m looking at in that precise moment! Of course, Wen Ruohan and Wen Xu can get into the hate bucket too, but they were so bland and boring, they cannot really compare. Jin Guangshan is also the worst, I can’t stand him. The only reason I hate the Wens more is that Jin Guangshan is actually a competent villain on a higher scale of villainy than the previous lot. Jin Zixun is also awful, a ridiculously unredeemable character on every front and Su She can also have an honourable mention.

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

For Merlin: 

Oooh! There are so many!! But I think the ones that I rant about the most often are those related to Gwen! Everything about Gwencelot makes me rage! I dislike him and how he treated her and just do not see this epic ~love~ there, at least not on his part, yet they kept bringing him back to mess up her life over and over again. 

Mind you, I am not the biggest fan of Arthur in this context either, he was a terrible boyfriend (though a somewhat better husband because Merlin picked up the slack), even though Arwen >>> Gwencelot by miles and miles. I hated how he would break up with her every five minutes over nonsense and then come crawling back. I hated how she always immediately forgave him, all grateful and relieved, and I always felt like she didn’t really have a choice because the power imbalance between them was staggering. Plus, the fact that she was the one who nursed Uther in his last months after everything he had done to her, and that Arthur had let it happen, infuriates me to no end. 

My loathing for that whole cheating arc is infinite. I hate how the writers could not make up their minds about what they wanted to do with her. On the one hand, they were such cowards in their attempts to keep her ideologically pure, they had already sacrificed a lot of her quirkiness and character to suit Arthur’s needs and wants and to make him look good, so they were reluctant to have her actually cheat because it would undermine him. I don’t understand why they even had to have that entire arc if they were so afraid to go there. She was supposed to be under mind-control, and then they pointed out that the spell works by bringing suppressed emotions to the forefront! Why was that necessary? I mean, you can’t have it both ways! Either do it and own it, or just leave it alone! It would have been so easy to have her choose Lancelot and develop a proper romance there, and then to have Lancelot die, and Gwen fall in love with Arthur afterwards, as he supports her while she grieves. But, no, they had to take this cheap shot at her and humiliate her and have her cleaning pigsties just so that Arthur can angst about it for a few episodes. I am forever mad. 

I also dislike the whole evil!Gwen arc (though a part of me did enjoy watching her go apeshit after quietly swallowing so much injustice throughout the entire five seasons of this show). I feel like they were intentionally undermining the character and her entire relationship with Arthur. The whole cheating nonsense so late into season 4 had already done so much damage, then they went and pulled this poorly-thought-out crap in the second half of season 5, when emotions were already running high and nobody was in the mood to be forgiving of someone trying at and almost succeeding in killing Arthur, who was so much more beloved among the viewers than her. Just imagine how much better spent that time would have been if they had... oh, I don’t know, developed Mordred more and given him a proper reason to turn against Arthur! 

Ugh 😒

For The Untamed: 

I dislike the whole Yanli/JZX romance. I don’t know what he’s like in the novel and the other adaptations, but he gets on my very last nerve in the drama and I never actually saw him do anything meaningful to redeem himself for all the crap he pulled and all the humiliation he piled on to her. I also don’t like the whole Yin Iron nonsense. It just doesn’t tie in properly and the plot holes and inconsistencies it leaves behind are gaping and huge (but, happily, nobody is watching this for the Yin Iron plot 😆). There had to have been better things to do there, especially since it is something that does not exist in the source material. The worst parts of the drama for me somehow always tie back to the Yin Iron. 

20. What is the purest ship in the fandom?

For Merlin:

Hmmm… when it comes to the most popular ones, I think none of them, because they all get complicated and dark to some degree. But on a platonic level, when it comes to friendships, I would go with Merwen, Merlance and Merwaine. Merlin and Gwen are delightful together, but I have a hard time shipping them romantically without Arthur, there is just no path forward for me there that does not involve him too, and that tips the dynamic into something much more complicated (but still happy for all three of them because I am so not down for jealousy and competition between Merlin and Gwen, Arthur has two hands and he can damn well use them). 

I also think that Lancelot’s love for Merlin was pure, but I just don’t ship it at all and think that there was never anything there except for friendship (I can see Arlance going sexual, though). The same goes for Gwaine, I think that he loved Merlin unconditionally, and as far as friendship goes, it is pure, but if I ship them sexually, then all purity goes out of the window, not just as far as the sex is concerned (because the sex they would be having would be positively filthy) but also because I just can’t imagine a universe in which Merlin does not love and desire Arthur more. The angst, the pain and the darkness are off the charts.

As for the less popular ones, I think the purest is Percival/Elyan regardless of whether you see it as romantic or platonic. There is just so much mutual love, admiration and respect between them! No angst, no lies, no triangles, no drama, just taking care of and supporting each other and living in domestic bliss.

For The Untamed:

WangXian, no contest. They fell in love as kids and continued to love each other for the rest of their lives, even beyond death. The way they love each other is so absolute and so selfless! They both respect and admire the other, they are so supportive and accepting of each other, quirks, flaws and all, and they kind of set the gold standard as far as relationships go!

27. Least shippable character?

For Merlin: 

Eh... this is a tough one. I actually had to step away from this question and think about it and I didn’t come up with anything because the entire main and recurring cast is very shippable. There are, however, characters that aren’t shipped as much as they could be (Elyan, baby, you deserve better 😢), and then there are also characters that result in unsavory ships that are best left unmentioned (but because these are salty asks, I am going to mention them anyway). 

The first one that came to my mind was Gaius, but he is actually very shippable because there is no rule that says you have to ship him in the canon timeline. He has a serious canon het love interest, and a crack one as well. Also, let’s not forget Uther. I’ve seen the fandom float this one as a crack ship, but it is actually very serious and plausible. There is so much complicated history there, decades of it, and definitely a deep, albeit toxic relationship that can absolutely be (and likely even was) sexual. If I was less busy and more inclined to get anon hate, I would totally be open to writing it myself.

I have seen a lot of people list Uther as an answer here, but Uther is very, very shippable! Anthony Head is handsome and charismatic, and he has so much presence as Uther, he could have chemistry with drywall if the script called for it. Again, there is no rule stating that a ship should be wholesome and happy, so let me go over the most obvious ones. When it comes to m/m ships, I already mentioned Gaius, plus I definitely felt it whenever the neighbouring kings came over to visit Camelot (my personal favourite was Lord Godwyn). Uther also has three canon het ships (why, yes, I am counting the troll), most notably Ygraine and Viivienne, and he is 100% shippable with Nimueh (though I prefer Nimueh with Ygraine). Last but not least, there is Morgana. It is squicky incest, yes, but it is also very obvious, if you have the inclination to go there. My jaw was on the floor on my first watch when he confessed that she was his actual biological daughter, because up until then, I totally thought that things would get sexual between them in canon. 

Agravaine is also an obvious (I would even go as far as to say a semi-canon) ship for Morgana. Do I hate it? Yes. Do I think she slept with him to get him to deliver her Arthur’s head? Again, absolutely, yes. Even Kilgharrah is very shippable and he is a giant firebreathing lizard (obviously, laws of physics require transmorphing him into something smaller and (hopefully) human-shaped for the p0rn). 

For The Untamed: 

Jin Zixun and Jin Zixuan. I am forever mad Jin Zixuan (somehow) ends up having sex in canon anyway. My first thought for this was Wen Chao, but no, he is absolutely shippable. Like I said, the ship does not have to be nice, and Wen Chao is very nasty, but also very sexual (plus, there is always Wen Zhuliu).

The one character that I personally am the least inclined to ship is Wen Ning because he is so childlike and it feels like he never mentally developed into an adult. 

Salty Asks

[comradekatara]

the other day, I was thinking about an insane piece of discourse I saw back in '14/'15 once the lok finale had aired. a lot of people reacted negatively to the conclusion of korra's arc. not just due to korrasami, but because just before the scene wherein she and asami all but confess their feelings to each other, she says the following to tenzin: 

"I know I was in a pretty dark place after I was poisoned. But I finally understand why I had to go through all that. I needed to understand what true suffering was so I could be more compassionate to others, even to people like Kuvira." 

now, I can understand why people reacted poorly to that line. for one thing, the implication that she needed to suffer, which a) she already had suffered (amon & unavaatu), and b) no one deserves to suffer; paired with the implication that she needed to become more compassionate, when she was already plenty compassionate, is troubling. admittedly, this line could have used a second draft. 

but here's why I don't think the sentiment behind this is faulty: empathy has no limit. there is no gamut of human experiences, and you will never run out of learning new things. korra's arc is all about having her identity as the avatar being tested, constantly being questioned by the people whom she so desperately wants to help. amon strips away her bending, essentially undifferentiating from everyone else. unalaq violently rips raava away from her, intending to leave her only human. but zaheer doesn't just want to incapacitate korra as the avatar. he fully intends to end the avatar cycle, by killing korra full-stop. of course, he cannot, because even when poisoned and in chains, korra can still kick his ass. 

in short, korra is amazing. not only is she unbelievably powerful, but she uses that power to help others, and she has genuine kindness and compassion for everyone she meets. this has been true since book 1. it was never in question. and yet, another aspect of korra's character that is often glossed over is that she comes from privilege. she grew up in a thriving society, and being the avatar only exacerbated her access to everything she could ever need. of course, she was lonely, and antsy to leave the white lotus compound, and who could blame her, but compared to mako and bolin, whose childhoods would put oliver twist to shame, she lived like a fucking king. mako even points this out, and she acknowledges her privilege. so why couldn't the fandom? i have two guesses: a) it's inconvenient, especially when trying to pit her against asami, to acknowledge that she never had a tragic backstory. both her parents are alive and love and support her unconditionally, she's never had to worry about money, and she led a very sheltered childhood. b) the idea of an indigenous woman not growing up in poverty is inconceivable to some people, even though the southern water tribe is clearly thriving. (.........because racism.) 

korra had indeed known suffering before zaheer, but only in temporary bursts. her fight with unalaq happened in a shorter timespan than a lot of women go through labor in. losing raava was traumatizing and horrible, but it was only temporary. so was losing her bending. we can say that these developments were both a deus ex machina, and lazy writing, and I certainly wouldn't disagree, but literally everyone has experienced traumatic incidents for short bursts of time. this is not the same thing as what korra later goes through, and I will continue to explain why. furthermore, I think the writers agree that these were dei ex machina, because they course correct in book 3. (plus, they knew they had another season in the bag this time. so nick is, once again, at least partially to blame.) korra doesn't just bounce back, like she did in the previous seasons. in fact, after the violence she endured, she becomes so incapacitated she requires the use of a wheelchair. 

(I'm going to try not to make this too personal, so please just trust me that I know what I'm talking about here, and that I have an intimately familiar perspective on this situation.) in the episode "korra alone," we see korra at her lowest as she struggles to recover. a trip back home that she anticipates will only be two weeks ends up with her ultimately leaving republic city for the next three years. due to her past experiences, she does expect to bounce right back. she knows herself to be exceptional, and powerful, and she has no reason not to assume that she won't heal quickly. but it takes her much longer than anticipated to regain mobility, and even longer to build up her strength, both physically and mentally. she struggles with being physically disabled, as well as with ptsd and depression. this episode portrays all of this masterfully. as much as people claimed they did her dirty in book 4, avatar has always been exceptional at subtly portraying the effects of trauma, and this episode.... honestly felt like looking in a mirror. 

the episode title "korra alone" hails back to an episode of atla titled "zuko alone" in which zuko also struggles with his ptsd regarding the loss of his mother. incidentally, it also takes zuko three years after suffering a grave injury at the hands of a man who values the power of destruction over the inherent value of human life (especially your CHILD jesus ozai) to arrive at a place where he comes to terms with what happens to him, and even though he is not completely "healed," he ultimately finds value in the hardship he endured because he can retroactively appreciate the empathy he developed. like korra, zuko has always been empathetic by nature. in fact, it is his empathy that got him in trouble in the first place. but by having endured unknowable suffering, once he finally accepts it, he develops even greater empathy, and in doing so, saves the world. korra willingly sacrifices herself to save the airbenders. for the next three years, she lives in denial, her obstinate pride resisting the notion that she is human, and is allowed to be weak and hurting, and this only pushes her deeper down into her spiral. but ultimately, she finds strength in her suffering, and instead of fighting kuvira, she talks to her, person to person. even though she is a fully-realized avatar, more powerful than anyone could imagine, she recognizes that she is still human. this arc pattern sound familiar? hell, her hair cutting scene is a direct parallel to zuko's in 2.01. it's not subtle. 

and yet, here is something troubling. I have seen someone say that to think that what korra concludes from having suffered is acceptable, is agreeing with the same rhetoric as ozai. that saying, "I needed to understand what true suffering was so I could be more compassionate to others" is the same as saying, "you will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher." for one thing, compassion and respect are two very different things. zuko learns the opposite of respect for ozai; he learns to (rightfully) resent him for the abuse he put him through. and yet, zuko would agree that his suffering was not in vain, because it allowed him to grow as a person. was zuko a good person before the suffering he endured? yes, in "zuko alone" we see that he has always been gentle and kind, to his detriment no less. had zuko suffered before the agni kai? undoubtedly. the disappearance of his mother caused him great pain, not to mention his father's abuse. and yet, he still claims that his banishment is what "set [him] on the right path," because it allowed him to realize not only the humanity of others, but his own as well. 

everyone endures pain. some pain lasts longer than others. recovery is not a linear path, and being hurt can be difficult to accept. but accepting your pain is the only way forward. you cannot change the past (capturing the avatar is a perfect metaphor for this because of course, ozai had no intention of zuko ever returning home, and yet zuko is determined it is his destiny). you cannot alter what happened to you. accepting this is the first step, and it's hard. the next step is even harder: appreciating what happened to you. experiencing unimaginable pain that lasts years on end is something that can (and does) alienate you from your community and your peers. and yet, it also tethers you to humanity in a way you otherwise wouldn't. both my parents are alive and healthy, and though many of the people closest to me lost their parents far too young, I fundamentally cannot understand the grief of that. but I know that if it happened, I would make it through, because you just do. 

people often tell me I'm "so strong,” and “so brave,” and “so inspirational" for dealing with my illness the way I do. for presenting myself as poised and charming, for forcing myself to work as much as I possibly can, for surviving this. but what else can I do? we do not know what we are capable of until we are tested. no one needs to suffer. no one is inherently deserving of suffering. korra and zuko certainly weren't. and yet, I do believe that to have empathy—true empathy—one needs to suffer. empathy is developed through experience. you will never truly know how another person is feeling. you can never access another person's consciousness. but if you see someone wince at having received a papercut, you will feel their pain if you have received a papercut at some point too. 

TLDR. it is literally the healthiest possible mindset after experiencing trauma to acknowledge that you accept what happened to you, and can find merit in having developed empathy due to that experience. korra's recovery arc may not be perfect (because literally nothing is) but it's poignant, and powerful, and affirming. (especially for qwoc. im js!) to claim that those who see themselves in her suffering in any way agree with ozai is an insanely bad take. you will continue to develop your empathy until you die. being kind is good, but you could always be kinder. korra's accepting of her suffering is not her thanking or even forgiving zaheer, it is her forgiving herself. the legend of korra is a story about a god contending with, and ultimately learning to accept, her own humanity— and for someone as powerful and incredible as korra, acknowledging your weakness and vulnerability is no small feat. there is true strength in humility. as iroh says, "pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source." so instead of resisting, let's allow ourselves to develop a new understanding, and learn to heal.

[hogwarts-is-my-wonderland]

A, D, T, W and X ^_^

Hi! Thank you so much for the ask, @darknightfrombeyond! This one was a lot fun to think about—so many upopular opinions... 😏

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.  

Rick O’Connell/Evelyn Carnahan (from The Mummy)

They are the literal representation of a jock and nerd with depths. I mean—the adventurer follows this tiny girl because she saved his life, but not only does he really listen to her, his first response is to give her the tools about the one thing she is passionate about (which just so happens to be the thing people mock her about). Then there’s Evelyn herself, who pushes the entire plot of the movie forward—she revives the mummy, but she’s also aware enough of her responsibility to decide to bring it down. And her weapons are books and knowledge. Rick still got hooked. 

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase (from the Percy Jackson series)

I don’t think there’s a way to classify these two. They are friends and they are lovers, and they support each other unconditionally. They also know when to point out the other’s faults and when to express their disagreement with the other’s logic. And let’s not forget how willing they are to die for each other. That time Annabeth got stabbed to save Percy in The Last Olympian? Or the scene in The Mark of Athena where Percy refuses to let go of her and both fall into Tartarus? I was shook each time; when I re-read the scenes, I still get shivers down my spine. This kind of devotion truly only happens in books. 

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t. 

Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers (MCU)

Don’t get me wrong, I love this pairing to bits—but I hate their fate in Endgame. I loved all the progress Peggy went through to grieve Steve and how she eventually became the center figure of an entire organization whose purpose was to protect the world (if one ignores the Hydra bit). And Steve was doing so well until that movie—all that progress he’d managed so far went down the drain when he went back and changed her past. He was aware of her accomplishments and of the family she built (never mind the fact he never met her husband in person) and he still decided to take all those choices away from her. 

Logically, one could argue that it’s a different version of Peggy he got together with. But in my very personal opinion, this just cheapens their relationship and its significance. 

(Again, this is just me.)

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

Ron and Hermione do deserve each other. 

Cordelia Chase from Angel the Series didn’t deserve that awful arc in season 4.

The MCU fucked up the opportunity to showcase the Tony Stark/Steve Rogers friendship from the comics. 

Salmon and Coral are not the same shade of pink. 

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

Falling in love with the jerk. Or as it says on TVTropes, “All Girls Want Bad Boys.” More specifically, I hate one-sided relationships that border on toxic. Prime example: Tessa and Hardin from After. 

(If there is a specific name for this kind of trope, I would love to hear it.)

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

Enemies to Friends to Lovers & Platonic Life-Partners. I love to see relationships develop—whether it is a friendship or a romance. I love to look behind and see the progress of these relationships; of how far their devotion (the healthy type) can go. 

[linsh6]

Speculations for GOT S8

Since I’ve expressed some thoughts about Show!Jonrya, maybe I just outright say all my opinions toward GOT and my S8 speculations.

D&D are really dumb writers

Yes, I won't avoid my “despise” on them so I just outright say it. A lot of people think they just hate Arya so much so they reduce her complex character into a one-dimensional badass assassin and ignore her capacity to become a leader (or queen). But in my opinion, they just purely so suck at script writing that everyone in the show is reduced to a one-dimensional character.

I once held a job as a scriptwriter back in my country (not in English though, and then I quit my job and became a free writer), and I know some important principles and points when it comes to scriptwriting. First of all is the characters’ arcs, D&D apparently have sucked at that so I won’t say much, all of you guys can refer to Grrm’s amazing original and will know how complex character development truly is (He’s so talented and I admire him so much). Why, based on Grrm’s brilliant work, D&D still managed to fuck up the characters’ shapings, I don’t know the reason, just like I suspect why they can even earn their job at HBO. 

Then is the structure and consistency,  I can convince myself that D&D did try their best for the characters but failed, but if the story is not consistent and even contradict itself, it’s deadly. A good scriptwriter (or at least who wants to be) must consider the whole plan from the beginning, otherwise, the story would easily become a total mess.

I believe that D&D do that effort (I believe in their ambition to be remembered and honored as scriptwriters), and we can access that they did plan out some character's development from S1 and talked with Grrm regarding their endings. 

So based on that I would build my personal speculations for S8′s plot.

1. Jonerys’ relationship & Daenerys’ ending.

First of all, I am a little up for the Daenerys’ mad queen theory. In S7 Daenerys literally burn people alive because they refused to bend their knee, which includes Sam’s father and brother. Tyrion felt it not good and tried to stop her, but he failed. 

That behavior is not a really good sign to me, and every character must hold their fate for what they’ve done, remember some actors did refer that there’s a trail for everyone in the final season? If that’s the case, why Daenerys should escape that final trial? I can tell D&D set this up intentionally because Tyrion as a neutral mirror already contradicted Daenerys at that scene.

And I dont’t see Jonerys will end well, their value and ways of lifestyle are too different, and their union in last season was nothing more than a forced push. They only knew each other for several days! How can we count on their relationship to be a great love story? And honestly I don’t see D&D put any effort in developing Jonerys’ relationship, all of their plots are so obvious and cliche, if they really are the final endgame D&D certainly could come up something better & more touching. 

I do think that Jonerys would become enemies in the end. Daenerys has no way back but become a queen to rule the seven kingdoms, otherwise all the efforts along her way to come to now would mean nothing, where there’s no better description than Grrm’s original line “If I look back, I am lost” ( In the books I sympathize for Daenerys, but she’s so flat on the show...)

2. Sansa will die

Honestly, I think Sansa will die halfway both in the show and in the books, she’s not important enough to make it to the finale episode. Actually she’s not even important enough bothering me to talk about, but D&D certainly did show some “fondness” to this character that made us hard to ignore.

Of course, they really “like” her, even to add a rape plot to force her to “grow” and made her first reunite with Jon. But that’s it, they can’t do more. They nearly made her become the top tier characters, but only nearly. Despite of their “fondness” of Sansa, D&D still didn’t make the northern lords fight against Boltons for Sansa like they did for Arya in the books, neither Jon. And D&D shaped her as an ambitious politician who would rather take place of Jon and almost kill her sister, which was verified by the script remark. (And Jonsa is a crackship both in the show and the books, there’s no other way around.)

Sansa still needs to fulfill her final character arc with meeting Cersei at King’s Landing,  so her death may happen at episode 4 or 5 I guess.

3. Arya’s role in the battle of dawn

I surely believe Arya will play an important role in the battle of dawn, even decisive, first point is her valyrian dagger, and second is Nymeria. 

In Isaac’s interview, he did say bran offers Arya the valyrian dragger because he senses there’s gonna be some importance to it. So maybe we can guess Arya would use this dagger in some vital fighting moment like fighting the Night King.

Then is Nymeria, I know people are all upset about the scene in S7, but it must mean for something, otherwise that would be a total waste of time for showing that Nymeria becomes a queen of a wolf pack (and the money too). Remember Ghost and Nymeria are the only Stark’s direwolf left. I believe Nymeria’s wolf pack would show up in the critical moment during the fighting. 

4. Arya’s parallel to Lyanna

I guess that in S8 there may be a scene directly compare Arya to Lyanna. Remember GOT’s team did make some efforts to choose an actress who resembles Maisie to play Lyanna. And Maisie also once said "I remember having a little braid in my hair and the hair and make-up team would be like, you cannot leave with that braid in your hair, we have to take it out. Because people will read into it and find some spoilers with just a braid." 

If Arya has a scene with a braid and be referred to Lyanna, then it must have a strong impact to Jon, because all these years he always wondered about his mother, now finally gonna see a live Lyanna 2.0 before his eyes.

5. Jonrya’s relationship development

According to actors’ interviews recently, that would be a fair guess that Jonrya won’t go well at the beginning, like a forthright hug as they do in S1E2. But I don’t view it as a bad thing, on the opposite I believe a real important relationship would need a proper and elaborate-designed development (never like Jonerys’ one),  that arc would be more moving and impressing.

If Jon & Arya develop their relationship through the final season, like afraid to face each other at the first but then realize they will still love each other no matter what, then I have every reason to believe Jonrya is the endgame. 

And if they do end up romantically (that’s my hope), I guess would be under that stressful circumstance and they still and only have each other (Sansa will die, Bran is emotionless, Jon and Daenerys may turn against each other halfway). Only they would love the other unconditionally, what else does it need for them to go further?

Final word

To close this post, I just want to express my love and respect for the show. Not for D&D of course, they suck at those characters and mess the story after S5. But for Grrm’s brilliant original base and the actors’ amazing performances, including those of Lena, Peter, Carice, Alfie, Aiden & so many other great ones, and finally my beloved Maisie (Not including Kit and Emilia, especially Emilia, they’re lovely though). 

In my view, GOT is one of the greatest show in the world (thanks to Grrm’s original work of course not D&D’s), and I may rewatch and appreciate it every now and then for my later years. 

D&D did a rather good job at least for the first 4 seasons, if they really make an “unexpected” ending as every actor put it and want to impress the audience & to be remembered well, I do hope they could end it well, just like what they did with the beginning.

If that so, I may still not forgive what they did in S5 but would not hate them anymore probably😊.

[howtotrainyouragents]

For the character ask, all the "M" characters off the top of my head - Mack, May, Marinette, and Mako, please! :)

Yayyy, thank you so much for asking!!! So this took much longer than I had anticipated (I’m sorry!!) and I ended up making them shorter and shorter just so I would finish 😅

GIVE ME A CHARACTER and I’ll break their ass down:

Mako (Let’s do him first bc it hurts the most, lol) 

1) How I feel about this character: WHY WOULD YOU ASK ME THIS QUESTION ABOUT MAKO. I HAVE TOO MANY FEELINGS. THIS IS CRUEL, VALIA. Okay. Like…Okay, I love this boy so damn much. He’s a brooding idiot with a heart of gold. He’s sacrificed everything for him and his brother and continues to sacrifice everything for loved ones again and again. He’s a dork, he wants to learn, he wants to better the world. He’s learned to have hope. He’s been through so much and I think he just needs some noodles and a hug and told that’s he’s allowed to relax for once, okay?

2) All the people I ship romantically with this character: Korra, and I’m crying now. They are so strong together. They love each other unconditionally and continue to push each other to do and be better. Younger, they were idiots. But older, they are wiser and more mature and infinitely more caring and supportive. They’re a kickass battle couple. Also, Mako swore to have her back which…lets not even get into how much of a love confession that was. Let’s not even talk about how he’s so devoted to her, he’s basically doomed himself to a loveless life now bc you can’t be that devoted to someone and then expect to be in a relationship with someone else. And to change that devotion is to change his entire arc and character. Let

3) My non-romantic OTP for this character:  I am confused about what non-romantic OTP is, but BROTP is Bolin I guess? I’m so soft for their childhood and making-it-big story and how these two have to look out for each other and support each other no matter what. If their entire storylines all four seasons was just about them taking care of each other, I think they both would have been fine and in fact would have had much stronger stories

4) My unpopular opinion about this character: He’s not a total dick. He can be a dick, just like many of characters, but I think he’s inherently good and has shown to apologize and try to be better. 

5) One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:  The list goes on for miles. Makorra is canon, Not setting him up for a loveless life if Makorra really wasn’t going to be canon again. Instead of the whole police thing which came out of left field (and its relevancy drops after book 2, a continued storyline until at least Season 3 with the Fire Ferrets and winning Probending. Ooh, I know! Going into their backstory, their street rats to fire ferrets story  and how that and his parents’ death still affects him.

Mack:

1) How I feel about this character: I love Mack. I love that he’s the voice of reason and the moral center, also that he’s deadpan and exasperated like all the time (Give the man a break). I love that he just wants the simple mechanic’s life and knows how to stay grounded and connected as the Director of SHIELD. I I feel so bad that he’s not like my favorite character, but I honestly love and appreciate him so much 

2) All the people I ship romantically with this character: Elena! And you know what I’m also gonna throw in Fitz as an option bc why not :D

3) My non-romantic OTP for this character: So many BrOTPs: Fitz,  Hunter, May, Simmons. But let’s give the special shoutout to Daisy bc they’re  BFFs and have got each other’s backs no matter what!

4) My unpopular opinion about this character: I know some people don’t like that he’s Christian, but I guess as a Christian myself I appreciate it. I don’t think the show uses it too heavy handedly, but his faith just serves as a character trait, like how going to church is one of the ways he keeps himself grounded. And I like that he still has faith with all of the crap he’s seen and been through. He’s gotten good at rolling with the punches.

5) One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:  I’m so dang curious about his ex-wife. Tell us about her! How’s his brother? Tell us about his parents!  Don’t they wonder what he’s up to?? 

May

1) How I feel about this character:  Everyone’s (Including me) Mom. She’s the badass supreme and is also deeply caring and protective. She’s snarky and used to like to have fun. And her whole character arc about healing, opening up again to familial/romantic love, returning to who she used to be without taking away any of what she is now is *wipes tear away* so beautiful2) All the people I ship romantically with this character: Coulson!! 3) My non-romantic OTP for this character: Her and Mack bc they are killing it together this season. They’re both so deadpan and straight to the point that they get along so well, and I can’t get over that visual tol/smol deal haha 4) My unpopular opinion about this character: I don’t think this is unpopular but as with all the girls, I think May’s storyline gets sometimes lost in the shuffle of her male counterparts’ storylines. She’s a well developed character and Ming Na Wen is a strong actor, so they should allow her more stuff to do outside of fighting and angst (Don’t get me wrong, I love the fighting.) 5) One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I want to know more about her and her mom and her mom’s agency!! (Does her mom work for the Canada version of SHIELD or is that just something I fabricated and assumed to be canon? Is she a Chinese spy? A KGB spy O.o lol I jest) ! And I want to see her pull some more pranks now and then!

Marinette

1) How I feel about this character: My precious little bean. Top five characters ever. I literally mod an appreciation server for her. She’s so beautiful and strong and brave and kind and loving and creative and smart and lovely. She deserves the world. She’s the best hero of them all. And you know what, I love that she’s the one who always saves the day; I need that. Little kids watching need that.

2) All the people I ship romantically with this character: Adrien/Chat Noir!!! C’mon guys was there really a question about this? It’s my one ship that’s actually canon; I got to keep to my guns… Okay, I also ship her with Kim or Nino. Sorry not sorry :D

3) My non-romantic OTP for this character: Hmm, so many BrOTPs. Alya, Chloe, Nino, her whole girl squad. But you know what? Shoutout to Kagami and Marinette. Two kickass ladies kicking ass together? That’s what I’m here for. 

4) My unpopular opinion about this character:She’s not stalkerish. She’s not obsessive. She’s doesn’t put Adrien on a pedestal. She’s not evil or bad. It’s literally a kid’s show and a lot of the things that you guys pick apart, are actually just normal aspects of regular kids’ shows (and like maybe we’re all just too used to fantastic shows like Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, etc which elevated the bar exponentially. But those shows are the exception not the rule. ML is the rule with sprinkling of exceptions); you guys have got to chill.

5) One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I would love to see more of her Chinese heritage and see her developing her fashion career! I’m excited to see her fashion blog, her modeling new outfits, and her blossoming fashion career. Perhaps an internship with Gabriel Agreste may kick things off? 

[kairiofknives]

Thoughts on Voltron Season 4:

Pros:

-Pidge had an absolutely fantastic arc this season. We learned a lot about her past and relationship with Matt. The scene where she thought she lost him was so real and heartfelt. And I personally love that so much of those episodes were just Matt and Hunk complimenting her and praising her intelligence. So what if it made her feel kinda Mary Sue like? We already knew her flaws before, let the girl get some loving. I also love that Pidge was a nickname given to her by Matt.

-There were a lot of relationship building moments (or shipping moments, whichever) but I specifically find the development of Sheith and Allurance to be interesting in this season compared to last season. On the Sheith front I have mixed feelings mostly due to my strong belief that this Shiro is the clone. That aside, our boys were able to have a decently large scale disagreement and work through it to support each other unconditionally. That's some love right there friends. And don't get me started on Shiro and Keith in the Kerberos launch cutscene. I need flashbacks....pleaaase.

Allurance also interested me a lot because I honestly didn't expect them to stick to their guns about Lance's crush on Allura this way. Season 1 made it feel so fleeting and shallow. Then by season 3 they had a nice kinship going on and a finally nice stable ground to be called friends on. Now, with Lance's jealous reaction toward Matt and his inspiration pep talk to Allura, I'm pretty sure we could see real romantic feelings build there. Can anyone tell my kink is unwavering support and love? Cuz it is.

-Lotor's arc has me feeling all kinds of things. I'm so fucking excited for him working with the Paladins next season. I wonder if his generals will do the same.

-I am very pleased with the BOM!Keith arc we got. I do have a lot of issues with its place in the story and how it manifested, but I think Keith learned a lot from it and found a niche he felt comfortable filling, which was not at all true of his being the Black paladin.

-There were parts of this season that made me genuinely scared or sad, so even tho I have my issues with the pacing, the story telling is still legit. Almost cried when Pidge cried. Also, man oh man, I was so terrified that Haggar's spell was gonna turn Shiro against them in that moment or something. The fear was real. And when Keith almost died for our sins? Kill me. Yeah there were emotions. As long as there continue to be I will keep watching.

Cons:

-Ok, so the biggest one: why the fuck would you go through the trouble of building up support from the paladins and building Keith's confidence in his abilities as leader if you were gonna let him pass it on anyway?? It just seems like they took a huge step backwards. I can accept that this is necessary for "Shiro's" plot. If he is the clone, it will hurt the team so so so much more if everyone is content with and believes in him as leader. But for the whole team it seems senseless.

-Lotor's generals are dicks man. I enjoyed the fandom wide headcanon that they were fiercely loyal to him. Yet they just give him up when his plan fails? Now I don't care about them anymore. Is sad.

-6 episodes is not enough time for build my affection for any members of the coalition. Especially the freedom fighters who are almost all new. The pacing was way too fast to care about them excluding Matt. And since one of the pressure moments of the story was not knowing if they'd live through taking out that laser battle cruiser thing, it was kinda important that we care about them. On top of that, Shiro seems very bland and almost out of character this season, though that may honestly be because he's a clone. Idfk man.

-I skipped episode 4. Completely. It was embarrassing to watch. I mean, I love Coran and the silly moments of Voltron, but they had as many not fledged out characters and plot elements but felt it was necessary to include that episode? Yeah, no. There were definitely better uses of that time.

-Lance is back to being a comedic relief with one or two good moments. Sigh. Maybe if he becomes Allura's actually love interest he'll get more character development??? Maybe???

-Not enough Keith.

[those70scomics]

i hate people keeps saying hyde only loved jackie when he was in love with donna for good part of season 1. he clearly loved her deeply and probably still does until season 5 (he even casually offered to sleep with her in season 4). in season 1 he fell for his girlfriend chrissy, in season 4 he had feelings for the cute black girl and he had feelings for his wife (they were married!). it's selfish of JH shippers to say the only woman hyde ever loved is jackie.

i hate people keeps saying hyde only loved jackie when hewas in love with donna for good part of season 1.

I’m going to analyze this assertion from a fact-basedstandpoint, using evidence from the show.

Hyde has held onto a picture of her from middle school foryears where her bra strap is visible. He explicitly tells Donna in “First Date”(1x16) that he has “feelings” for her. He asks Donna why she has “a thing” forEric in “That Disco Episode (1x07), and he pursues her relentlessly throughoutmuch of the season.

It’s the nature of that pursuit, however, that makes Hyde atroubling character in season 1 and reveals his original purpose on the show:to be Eric’s villainous foil and illustrate how much better a person Eric is –in general and for Donna – in comparison to him. While Hyde is definitelyshown to have romantic feelings for and sexual attraction toward Donna inseason 1, labeling it love or as him being in love isproblematic. What he experiences is a sense of possession over and/orentitlement to Donna. As will become evident in the discussion below. The Eric/Donna/Hyde triangle isn’t actually a triangle. From “That ‘70s Pilot”(1x01) and all the subsequent episodes of season 1, Donna’s romantic feelingsfor Eric are explicitly stated and demonstrated. “You could’ve had me when wewere four,” she tells Eric early in the pilot and kisses him on the lips by theend of it. She also implicitly (subtextually) demonstrates her romanticfeelings for Eric.

She never, however, demonstrates – explicitly or implicitly– that she has romantic feelings for Hyde. In fact, the opposite is true. In“Eric’s Buddy,” Hyde puts his hand on Donna’s thigh. She tells him to “Moveyour hand.” She means, “Remove your hand,” but her imprecision inspireshim to rub her leg up and down instead. She grasps his hand and shoves it offher, clearly not welcoming or enjoying the physical contact. After Hyde hits on her in “Ski Trip” (1x13), she tells him, “I’m up here with Eric, alright Eric, get it?Not you!”

A true romantic triangle requires the person in the middle have romanticfeelings for both suitors. Donna does not. She has romantic feelings for onlyEric. And this is where the problem lies. Hyde ignores what she wants. She tells andshows him repeatedly that she doesn’t share his romantic interest. He continuesto pursue her. He forces a kiss on her in “Ski Trip” after she tells him tostop hitting on her. She shoves him off her during the kiss and slaps him.

But he still doesn’t get the message or care about her desires. Heessentially stalks her in “First Date” and attempts to stop Eric from givingher his class ring and making their relationship official. Once Eric does give Donna his class ring, however, that is finally enough to get Hyde to stop pursuing her and invading her boundaries, but thedamage has been done.

What Hyde demonstrates in season 1 is not love for Donna butselfishness. His own feelings are the only ones that matter, not hers. Love isacceptance and compromise. It’s giving to another for that purpose only: togive. Love often entails making sacrifices. It can also mean letting the personone loves go if it means s/he’ll be happy.Hyde begins demonstrates these qualities of (romantic) love only withJackie.

With Donna, Hyde’s “love” is ignoring what she wants to get what hewants. Invading her boundaries. Trying to disrupt her happiness with Eric.

[Hyde] clearly loved [Donna] deeply and probably still does untilseason 5 (he even casually offered to sleep with her in season 4).

What Hyde demonstrates during seasons 1-8 is platonic love for Donna.Not romantic love. He supports her relationship with Eric unconditionally. Hehelps them out when they have problems (may episodes throughout seasons 2-7).

Saying “he even casually offered to sleep with [Donna]” is an imprecisedescription of what actually happens in “The Relapse” (4x106). His comment mustbe taken within the context of Donna’s story arc, the episode, and the scene inwhich that line takes place.

Donna is grieving the end of her parents’ marriage and the absence ofher mother. She’s so desperate for distraction from her pain that she has sexwith her ex-boyfriend, Eric. She’s in the midst of trying to eat away herfeelings (literally eat; she gobbles down all the food she can), but it’s obviously not working. That’s when she initiates sexualcontact with Eric.

Eric, meanwhile, is heartbroken over his breakup with her. Because ofhow much trust Donna needs in Eric to have sex with him during theirrelationship, he falsely believes having sex with her in this episode meansthey’re back together. He doesn’t take into account the fact that she’s inmourning. He’s thinking of only his own grief.

Later in the episode, Hyde informs Donna that Eric believes he and Donnaare “back together”. Hyde tells her this as a friend to both of them, to makesure they clear this up before either of them gets even more hurt.

Donna, though, admits that, “I would have done it [had sex] withanybody.”

Hyde recognizes her pain, and hisgo-to-place in tense moments is to try to lighten the mood. We see him do thiswith Eric’s parents a lot, with Eric in “Eric’s False Alarm” (4x25), and he doesthe same with Jackie in “Black Dog” (5x09). So he says to Donna, “Anybody?Damn, and I was just over there watching stupid Donahue. Hey, let’s doit right now.” He’s teasing her, trying to get a laugh out of her. When it doesn’t work, heshifts out of his normal make-jokes mode and gives her the sympathy she needs.He says, “Yeah, I’m just kidding about the do it stuff. I’m sorry aboutyour mom.” He puts his arm around her, giving her platonic, physical (not sexual)comfort, too. Like siblings would do.

He silently holds her for a very long time. It’s not something we’ve seenhim do before, and considering his childhood, it’s probably not something he’sexperienced himself. He can tolerate only so much of it before his discomfortbecomes unbearable, and he falls back into his defense mechanism of makingjokes.

“Seriously, let’s do it right now,” he says. That’s his way of makinghimself feel comfortable and, perhaps, of ending this very (platonically)intimate moment between him and another person. Hyde is someone who doesn’tdeal with emotion well, largely because he’s been through what Donna’s goingthrough during season 4. After season 1, he often tries to hide his feelingsfrom himself and the world, and empathizing with Donna’s grief takes an emotionaltoll.

in season 1 he fell for his girlfriend chrissy

Chrissy is not Hyde’sgirlfriend in “Punk Chick” (1x22). He knows her for twenty-four hours at most. They meet each other for the first time in the early evening. He sleeps with her twice,and she asks him to go to New York with her. The next day, he tells her hecan’t go with her. By the end of the episode, he and his friends spot herdriving off on her Vespa with another guy on the back of it.

The episode shows no evidence that Hyde falls in love with Chrissy. He fallsin love with the idea of leaving his awful childhood (and mother) behind andgoing to New York and maybe meeting one of his rock idols, Lou Reed.

in season 4 he had feelings for the cute black girl

Yes, Melissa is verycute (and smart) and had a lot of potential as a character. But Hyde knows herfor all of an hour. They don’t have a relationship. They have an awkward,uncomfortable time together at the get-Hyde-a-girlfriend party. He’s clearly physically attracted to her from the start, butlove? That would take a lot longer than an hour of awkwardness to develop.

and he had feelings for his wife (they were married!).

Hyde marrying Samin season 8 is entirely out of character, and it’s not something he wouldactually do. The new showrunners hired for season 8 stated in an interview (TVGuide, I believe) that they hated Jackie and Hyde together and neverunderstood their romantic relationship. So they were putting an end to it. How?By marrying Hyde off to a new character.

In order to view Hyde’s marriage to Sam as legitimate, one must ignoreHyde’s long-established characterization and storylines from “Prom Night” (1x19) to the season7 finale. None of what happens in season 8, however, is legitimate. Even DavidTrainer, That ‘70s Show’s director for the whole series, save the pilot,called season 8 an “alternate universe” and “one of many possible futures” forthe characters.

it’s selfish of JH shippers to say the only woman hyde everloved is jackie.

J/H shippers don’t say that Jackie is the only woman Hydeever loved. Perhaps many of us say that she’s the only woman he is ever properly inlove with.

I can speak only for myself, but selfishness has nothing todo with my views about Jackie and Hyde. I analyze and interpret Hyde and Jackiebased on their actions on the show, within the context of the whole series,and I take into account the writing. What were the writers’ intentions with aparticular story arc? Does conflict arise organically from who the characters are,or are the characters manipulated against their natures to manufactureconflict?

You clearly don’t like Jackie’s character and/or don’t likeJackie and Hyde together. That’s your right. But calling or viewing other people as selfish for not sharing your opinion isnot beneficial to you or anyone else.

[owl-eyed-woman]

Attack on Titan Season 2 Episode Analysis - Episode 6 (Episode 31)

Since we only just resolved this season’s first arc, I had assumed that this episode would consist solely of characters’ reflections on past events and set up for future ones. I am happy to report that this episode is a little more eventful to say the least.

First though, we do need to recover after last week’s emotionally draining conclusion and recap exactly where we are at. On that note, I am so, so happy to see that Ymir is alive (though comatose). I was genuinely saddened at the thought of her being dead, even if that death made logical, emotional and motivational sense. Still though, it definitely makes sense that Ymir has survived - I mean, if Eren could survive being almost digested, surely Ymir can survive losing a chunk of her digestive tract? Titan shifters are clearly made of much sterner stuff.

With Ymir out of commission so to speak, Christa (or should I call her Historia?) has to explain the situation to Hanji and defend Ymir’s actions. As Historia argues, even though Ymir hid vital information, in the end she used her powers to save her comrades, proving her loyalty. Furthermore, while Ymir concealed many vital secrets, she was motivated by the simple (read: selfish) aim of protecting herself, rather than any nefarious conspiracy. Hanji, too, completely understands that Ymir has the potential to be a great asset to humanity, as long as they can ensure that she is first and foremost an ally.  

I feel like we’re seeing the psychological impact of Christa reasserting her identity last episode as she successfully convinces Hanji; Christa is really coming into her own as Historia (I’m still getting used to writing that name XD)! Historia’s gentle appearance and manner has always belied her fierce determination and formidable strength, so I love seeing this strong side.

There’s still something else hanging in the air that needs to be addressed though. As Hanji brings up Christa’s true identity, Historia Reiss, a pained, pensive expression crosses Historia’s face. For Historia, this name brings a painful weight, along with countless bad memories. So when Hanji comfortingly pats her shoulder and says “nice to meet you”, this oppressive weight almost immediately lifts and the mood changes palpably. In this one line, Hanji reframes Historia’s reclamation of her name, not as a resurrection of pain and strife, but rather, as a new beginning. Yes, it’s only a very short scene, but there’s always time for some character development!

But these brief scenes are basically all moot compared to the real meat of this episode; and that is Reiner. I thought I had a handle on who Reiner was as a person. Sure, there was a lot I didn’t know about him, but I still thought that after all this time I understood who he was in a general sense. Boy, was I wrong! The moral of the story is don’t get cocky, I guess.

We first see Reiner struggling to climb onto the top of the wall with his injured arm. Noticing this, Eren immediately goes to help him, holding out his hand which Reiner accepts without hesitation. By introducing Reiner here, this brief scene reinforces our basic understanding of Reiner and Eren’s relationship; they are comrades who unconditionally trust each other. The camera lingers on the shot of their gripped hands, a symbol of camaraderie, trust and unity.

This is all very basic stuff, but it is crucial setup for Reiner’s eventual betrayal. From the beginning, the show is hinting that something is up through multiple shots of Reiner (and Bertholdt) reflected in puddles. It’s a concise, elegant way too remind us that there is more to Reiner than meets the eye and that we will soon be seeing another side to him. This quick scene at the beginning of the episode quickly establishes a foundational understanding of Reiner’s place in the characters’ minds, which the show can now start to complicate, deconstruct, and, in the end, destroy.

Reflecting on the night’s events, Reiner begins to freak out about his very recent near-death experience. In my episode 4 analysis, I wrote about how Reiner exemplified the show’s critique of the ideal of heroic sacrifice. To recap, Reiner’s actions in episode 4, though superficially heroic, are ultimately presented as foolhardy, impulsive and unnecessary. Interestingly, Reiner realises this as well, reeling at his actions and blind heroism. In this moment, Reiner confronts his own mortality and he’s honestly not handling it well.

Reiner, as we have heretofore understood him, has embodied three essential ideas: bravery, loyalty and stability; basically the perfect soldier. In this one scene, the show begins to break this down by showing us that behind his brave actions lies very real fear and weakness.

Throughout this scene Bertholdt looks on with an intensely stressed expression on his face. As a side note, I have to say Bertholdt is perhaps one of the most enigmatic characters in the show. Until this episode, I would have simply dismissed him as unremarkable and frankly, forgettable. I mean, the only thing I could have said about him was that he is tall and strong – it’s almost hilarious how these two seemingly mundane facts actually function as clues to his real identity.

It’s hard to express how weird, awkward and generally unsettling this scene is, along with the episode as a whole. What should be a comforting moment of safety and contemplation for our characters never materialises, with everyone palpably unsettled, stressed and clearly still on guard.

This feeling only intensifies when Hannes confirms what we’ve known for a while now: there is no hole in the wall. In the face of such an inexplicable mystery, the only option is to retreat to Trost and regroup. As they start to walk off though, Reiner asks Eren to stay back for a moment and we finally get to the big reveal of this episode.

Now, AOT is a show built on shocking twists and turns and it’s really, really good at them. The problem with this however is that after a while the audience inevitably becomes accustomed to these reveals and they no longer shock like they used to; AOT’s unpredictability becomes, in a sense, predictable. Additionally, viewers get better at figuring out the twist well in advance. I think a lot of people had already figured out that Reiner is the Armoured Titan (it’s the hair isn’t it?). So how do you make a reveal like this shocking without the audience rolling their eyes and smugly thinking that they’re way ahead of the show? - Context and framing!

You see, AOT knows that after 30 episodes the audience doesn’t just expect a twist; they also expect a certain amount of melodrama and set up before the twist is revealed. Historically, information that is this important and this world shattering doesn’t just get told to us or to the characters. They have to fight tooth and nail, risking their lives for it.

So to have this twist calmly revealed by Reiner so unceremoniously with no setup or conflict whatsoever, it’s not only a surprise; it’s just wrong.  Paradoxically, it’s how completely and utterly anti-climactic this reveals is that makes it so, so shocking and so effective. This is absolutely world-changing information, and both Reiner and the show itself are treating it like a run-of-the-mill conversation - like it doesn’t matter at all! In this way, even if the specifics of information aren’t necessarily shocking, the way in which it is presented to the audience definitely is! It’s using our own understanding of dramatic and storytelling conventions against us and it’s pretty genius.

This is all wonderfully and effectively supported by cinematic language. There’s no dramatic music, no intense, emotional close-ups; just a cold, disinterested distance. Every shot and edit all works together to express both the mundanity and the abruptness of this revelation, so I’m going to spend the next section unpacking it!  

We start with a shot focused on Mikasa in the foreground as she walks out of frame, leaving Eren, Reiner and Bertholdt in the background. Now, this isn’t a good shot by any stretch of the imagination; in fact, it’s dreadfully ordinary and incompetent. This shot isn’t trying to be visually compelling though. Instead, it’s actively trying to misdirect and distract us.

By focusing initially on Mikasa, our attention is immediately drawn away from the three boys. Furthermore, the blocking of the characters is incredibly awkward and uncommonly inexpressive, with Eren and Reiner facing away from the camera. Every bit of this framing tells us one thing, loudly and proudly; nothing noteworthy is happening. The shot is literally telling us to not pay attention.

Then Reiner calmly says that he and Bertholdt destroyed the wall 5 years ago and that their ultimate aim is to destroy humanity. We’re not even shown his face as he says this! This is one of the craziest, most revolutionary reveals of the show, and it is presented to us, cinematically and contextually, as if Reiner were talking about the weather.  

No time to register this information though, as the show immediately cuts to Hanji pondering how the titans could have appeared within the wall. We’re already taking a second longer to process what Reiner just revealed after we pre-emptively dismissed it; now, this medium shot of Hanji’s intense but irrelevant contemplation actively tries to distract us again.

Then, as Reiner admits that he is the Armoured titan and Bertholdt is the Colossal titan, we cut to a wide shot of the scouts walking away from this scene, highlighting their obliviousness to the traitors in their midst. At this point, we’ve caught up with the implications of what Reiner is saying, but with the multiple points of focus, giving us a lot to process visually. This, along with the lowered volume of Reiner’s dialogue further limits our ability to absorb the true implications of this information remains limited.

It’s all so masterfully done. I am consistently impressed by how well-made and thought out this show is, and how, against all odds, it manages to stay fresh after all this time. Bravo.  

Now, as this scene unfolds, I assumed that everyone’s uneasy demeanour was just a general reaction to the frankly confusing situation they’ve found themselves in. However, as we flashback 12 hours earlier, we are shown that the whole scout corps already suspected something amiss with Reiner and Bertholdt. Thus, another layer of complexity is added to this scene and the charged atmosphere is reconfigured as a feeling of anticipation and hyperawareness.

For the 104th cadets, it’s important to understand just how much they trust Reiner. Reiner was like a brother to them, a rock of the team if you will. Their loyalty to him is so deep that they almost can’t believe that he could have been conspiring against them this whole time. Thus, this part of the episode works to further destroy one previously foundational aspect of our understanding of Reiner: loyalty.

As the facts pile up against Reiner, Eren continues to defend him though, becoming increasingly distressed at the mere suggestion that he could be a traitor. After all he’s been through with Reiner and Bertholdt, as friends and soldiers, it’s almost impossible for him to conceive of them as enemies. Tragically, Eren’s only error here is that he’s too loyal and too trusting. In any other situation, these would be admirable traits. But when everyone is a potential threat and the wrong decision could mean the eradication of humanity, Eren’s naivety means he is ill-equipped to deal with the situation at hand.  

You see, Eren is inherently idealistic (or to be cruel, naïve) and truly believes in humanity and his comrades. This unwavering belief in the value of humanity is essential to his triumphs, as it gives him the strength to overcome impossible odds and prevail over the greatest despair. However, in order to retain this idealistic view of a cruel world, Eren has been forced to adopt an incredibly black and white understanding of morality. In Eren’s mind, you’re either intrinsically good and trustworthy, or you’re irredeemably evil and monstrous.

Crucially though, Eren naively assumes that reality reflects his view of the world and is unable to conceive of anything that falls outside of this stark dichotomy of good and evil. Dangerously, this blinds him to the reality of the world and makes him more vulnerable to manipulation. Additionally, because his worldview and ideals are continuously and cruelly challenged, with people proving themselves more complicated than this, Eren is inevitably traumatised precisely because of his strict adherence to such a rigid understanding of humanity.

So in the face Reiner and Bertholdt’s betrayal, let’s just say Eren isn’t going to deal with it well. Still, with all this in mind, he actually does a pretty good job defusing the situation and placating Reiner, trying to react as anyone would to such a preposterous proposal by playing it off as a delusion or even a joke. Bertholdt seems all too eager to use this as an out – he too is flying by the seat of his pants – and enthusiastically agrees.

However, Eren goes too far when he recklessly decides to question Reiner’s thought process. The only reason Reiner would have revealed his secret to Eren is because he seriously thought there was a chance Eren would agree to come quietly. Frankly, this is an irrational, illogical idea and any person in their right mind would know that this wouldn’t work, but not Reiner. It’s kind of innocent or even idealistic, that Reiner could possibly think that Eren would agree to his proposal, but also worryingly delusional. So when Eren points this fact out, Reiner is genuinely shocked, dismayed, and maybe even hurt.

Gradually, this episode has broken down every conception we’ve had of Reiner as a person. We believed Reiner was physically strong, so we were shown his emotional weakness. We believed Reiner was loyal, so we were shown his betrayal. And now, though we believed Reiner was stable, now we’re shown his instability. He’s not cool and collected at all, he’s irrational and volatile. Visually, this episode has been tense and unsettling throughout, with stormy skies and violently waving flags, symbolising the constantly shifting situation at hand and Reiner’s unstable psyche. So when the flag pole suddenly snaps, we know that Reiner has made a decision. There is no going back now.

Suddenly, Reiner declares that he’s been here too long for his own good and he becomes deeply ashamed his naivety. Though he is committed to his cause, some part of him, I think, does genuinely care about everyone he’s fought with. In his irrational state, offering Eren an opportunity to come quietly and prevent the eradication of humanity seemed like a valid way to reconcile this his greater plan with his new ties. However, realising the impossibility of any compromise, he now feels his only choice is to commit to his duty as a warrior and see their plan through to the end, no matter the consequences.

Throughout the show, Reiner has described himself as both a soldier and warrior, and the difference between these terms is crucial to the choice Reiner makes. The term ‘soldier’ recalls ideas of strength, bravery, loyalty and stability; essentially, our past conception of Reiner. Crucially, unlike a warrior, to be a soldier one must be part of an army. Thus, the term ‘soldier’ also brings up associations of conformity, disciple and camaraderie. In contrast to this, the concept of a warrior exists independent of a larger group and thus symbolises individuality, agency and power. A soldier fights in an army for a community but a warrior fights for himself. Thus, in his decision to be a warrior, Reiner forsakes his community, deciding to fight as an individual for his own enigmatic desires.

This pace has been slowly quickening, building up tension, and now it all comes to a head as Reiner and Bertholdt put their plan into motion, transforming into their titan forms. Until this moment, I don’t think Eren truly believed or, at the very least, understood the implications of what Reiner revealed to him. He’s actually sobbing at what he is forced to face in Reiner. Treasured memories flash through his mind, of training with Reiner and Bertholdt, confiding in them and trusting them. Eren truly loved both of them.

But now, as Eren watches the world turn to chaos around him, Reiner’s status as titan and traitor finally sinks in and eradicates his conception of him as friend and comrade. But if they’re not his friends, then what are they? They are monsters, they are irredeemable traitors and they need to be destroyed.