#these were both thoughts I had when I was deep into seasons 5a and b and just obsessing about jackson

[wammbam]

Songs That Remind Me Of Teen Wolf Storylines

 “Let Me Down” - Oliver Tree | https://youtu.be/FxG-7AsbjeI

The whole song reminds me of Stiles’ character arc in the show. The verses really give an insight into the underlying feelings Stiles has about his abilities and how relates to Scott in particular. The first verse talks about how the person the song is directed at isn’t around and tends to make decisions that benefit themselves instead of the singer. Despite of this, the line “I’ll save you too next time around” clearly indicated that the singer still cares about the other person and will sacrifice for them. 

Over the seasons, especially in 5a and 5b, Stiles and Scott are pushed apart by lies and secrets. Scott starts to become untrustworthy of Stiles after weeks of Theo manipulating him, but Stiles is still trying to do what is best for the pack and ultimately Scott. But it develops into Scott leaving Stiles in the rain outside of the animal clinic and the animosity Stiles holds for Scott while the Sheriff is in the hospital. (The scene where Scott shows up and Stiles decks him is really telling how much Stiles has lost faith in Scotts ability to tell right from wrong and how angry he is at himself for trusting Scott while Theo has his claws in him)

The whole second verse really makes me think that its Stiles talking to himself. “It’s still the same old shit” and “stop putting up with it” are really similar to how Stiles sometimes feels about his place in the pack. This verse could also relate to how the Nogitsune has effected Stiles in later seasons. Theo came to town with the intention of getting at the dark sides of the pack, specifically to the dark side of Stiles through the Nogitsune. He uses the Donavan incident to worm his way between Scott and Stiles and almost convinces Stiles that he and the Nogitsune aren’t really that different and the reason Stiles did was he did was because he really is a bad person. Of course this really does a number on Stiles mental health in general and causes him to lose trust in himself and makes him grapple with his own morality. (The gray area of his morality and value system is really called into question during Scott and Stiles fight at the animal clinic and the hospital scene. Also when the Jeep breaks down and he just chucks the wrench at the windshield.) 

The whole song really shines a spot light on how Stiles relates to the pack and what ultimately gets him out of Beacon Hills and to explore the world outside of his fractured home life. 

“Hurt” - Oliver Tree | https://youtu.be/x-qvuB2clYw

As soon as I heard this song I immediately thought of Jackson and his time in season 2. He’s a really fractured person in general. He has no sense of self because of his dead parents and absent adopted parents. He feels the need to be the best to prove that he’s worth something to himself. Without being the best, Jackson feels worthless and ends up lashing out wither physically or emotionally.

The opening lines basically encompass what Jackson thinks throughout this season. 

“My day will come, I gave too much / I sold my soul, I’m waiting for my pay in full / My only one, your dying love, i’ve seen enough”

He feels so guarded that when he actually cares about something, he gets defensive and lashes out. He knows he does this and is scared of getting whats coming to him that he does everything he can to be ahead of everyone on his life. 

The chorus is deals with how he views his life. He tries so hard to be the best but at the end of the day he’s still co-captain and is left with a failed bite. His efforts to prove himself are futile as he realizes that he’s really fucked up in his decisions and he’s hurting people he cares about.  

“I tried, but i don’t think so / Maybe it was me who was fucking up / I gave all I could give, but / It seems like it never really was enough” It like his inner monologue through the second half of the season when the kanima is talking over and he’s hurting people. 

The first verse is made up of self deprecating inner thoughts that really show how Jacksons macho perfect persona is really a disguise for how low he really thinks of himself. He realizes that his shitty personality is really fucking up his life and is pushing people away so he really is alone. After he breaks up with Lydia and see’s how hurt she really is, he begins to realizes that who he’s made himself to be isn’t really what he wants.

The second verse relates to both sets of his parents. He’s been haunted by the death of his birth parents his whole life and feels neglected by his adopted parents. Jackson believes that if he ignores both sets, that he wont turn into either of them and get what he truly deserves. So every decision to push people away to because he doesn’t feel like he deserves their love or that their love isn’t good enough for him. He thinks the world is either going to destroy what he’s created or that everyone is going to bend to will.

However what really gets me is the pre-chorus. It’s basically his death scene in the finale. When Lydia gives him back the key and he tries to ask if she still loves him, he’s really trying to see if someone really cares about him despite all the shit he’s put her through. I mean, he killed a dozen people throughout the season and the only one he cares about enough to truly care what they think of him is Lydia. He just wants her to care about him and he feels too bad about what he’s done to her that in his finale moments, the bite realizes that he’s not a total dick and gives him the transformation he really wanted. Lydia showing Jackson that he’s worthy of love and care gave Jackson enough hope that the kanima was destroyed.

[matchstickdolly]

Lucifer 5B: Cutting off Touch to Spite Your Fans

Spoiler warning: This post assumes you've watched all of Lucifer, season 5, part B.

CW: There's plenty I like about season 5, but this is a negative post. I know not everyone is up for negativity about the things they love. I also generally avoid it and (try to) keep my mouth shut about things I don’t like in most spaces. It’s good etiquette. But this is my space, and I have thoughts specifically about purity culture and the treatment of sexuality and trauma in fiction. You’ve been warned!

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I'm a professional writer (not in TV). I've worked with enough bad clients, editors, and other writers to recognize some hallmark behaviors in how both Fox and Netflix gave Lucifer's writers incredibly difficult, unfair, and frankly weird situations to create through.

Fox did them dirty, interfering and ordering too many eps in S3. Netflix did them dirty, ordering 10 eps for S4 when it clearly needed ~13. Then Netflix ordered 10 "final" eps for S5—then, just kidding(!), 6 more after they'd done their writing for the 10. (What the fuck?) And then Netflix ordered 10 more for a "final-final" S6 after the writers had done their best to tell their whole story in S5. (MORE what the fuck.)

Talk about whiplash for creators, and half of those who consume content don't even care to understand such creative pain.

So, there are problems on multiple fronts. There's much I'll forgive writers, accordingly. I go into most shows expecting plotting/pacing issues. I look, instead, for characters and relationships that will triumph over those issues.

Heart is what the show Lucifer has always had in spades, both in its characters and in the immensely committed, wonderful ways the actors have tried to realize the characters' humor, love, trauma, and—most importantly—struggle to find healing. Yet, when given the opportunity to show health alongside another in a relationship, the writers/directors of 5B chose to remove most sexual humor and physical intimacy from their female lead and bi/pan characters to, I feel, sanitize them and troll fans. What happened?

Well, for one, say hi to showrunner Joe Henderson bragging about how the writers decided to be colossal dicks to the fans who helped secure their jobs:

From CBR's 'Lucifer Showrunner Joe Henderson Dissects Season 5B's Chaos'

Have we not suffered sidelined/repressed female characters, "bury your gays," and, oh, Chloe fucking a serial killer enough? Must we also say hello to neutered relationships once characters find stable love (whether same or opposite sex)? The result of withdrawing more sexual humor and physical intimacy from paired characters is an uncomfortable suggestion that they're reformed by "pure" love—more chaste and aloof, more acceptable in polite society. This is only done to end-game committed relationships.*

The writers seem to think they're edging the viewers, but the reality is they're taking traumatized minority characters who rejoiced in sexual freedom, but lacked and craved an emotional connection, and showing they can't have both, or, if they find both, it will never last. They've taken hypersexual characters and said, here, even they can have the love and commitment they desire, but some physical intimacy, especially sexual intimacy, is what they must trade for it.

There's always one more case, phone call, or coincidence interrupting intimacy. Traumas or deaths deserving emotional and physical comfort go on to receive none or only one aspect. Done sometimes, it's fine. Done always, it's sick. Dan dies, and there's no hugging? Really?†

Don't craft characters who crave a full range of emotional and physical intimacy, only to rob them of related scenes every chance you get. That's not complexity. That's bad writing. To even achieve this in 5B, they must squash banter and sideline their female lead yet again.

What a gift to purity culture, which tells us to be more palatable by bottling and buttoning up. That sex should be taboo, but violence glorified. That there is no heated desire among "Good Women," that sexual minorities of all genders shouldn't experience it much at all.

5A is so good. At the very least, it's on the right path (clearly, since the plot payoff from 5x01 to 5x16 is great). It shows a couple working through difficulties and trauma, toward each other emotionally and physically. It even pokes fun at people who think an established relationship means the death of romantic and sexual appeal (a tired and hugely sexist trope). And then... And then 5B reverses that, pretending established relationships are barely physical during emotional struggle and that the honeymoon phase doesn't exist. It robs characters of joy and comfort through physical intimacy when they need it to move through or push beyond trauma.

It's telling that so many fan wishes for Deckerstar are about healing touch and existing in each other's spaces: amending Chloe's spicy PDA history with Cain, Chloe caring for Lucifer's wings, soft family scenes a la Monopoly night and shared meals, morning-afters, etc. Reasonable fans aren't asking for porn; they're asking for connection and humanity. They're asking for writers not to forget characters (and, yes, including hypersexual characters) on their way from Point A to Point B.

That 5B lacks these things isn't a "tee-hee frustrating" slow burn or a cockblock. It is, in so many scenes, excising from characters a core part of what nearly every human and fictional monster craves. And it's a slap in the face to the "found family" trope. When you remove or tamp down a casual physical intimacy that was previously there, characters and their relationships fall flat, even if only partially. They become blunt weapons creators wield against watchers or readers begging for scraps of warmth.

Minorities shouldn't be killed off with ease, and they shouldn't be stifled with ease, either.‡ And maybe there shouldn't be deep trauma driving a wedge in a romantic relationship if you're not going to explore it through that relationship, too—physical intimacy included.

I'm still reserving some judgment. I loved the family drama and the end. (Although, again, where was the physical intimacy? No intimacy when Chloe or Lucifer return from the dead? Really?) I see where they could do awesome things, and could have done more if not for network BS.

But I no longer trust Lucifer's writers and directors. They thought S5 was the end. And what they gave us of Deckerstar, of the relationship that symbolizes health and healing in their fictional world, is this: cold distance. And they got a kick out of doing it, apparently.

If this is a "love letter" to me as a fan, I'm burning it. I can only hope S6 course corrects. If not, the writers who made these choices shouldn't write sexual minority and/or traumatized characters again. If you don't understand most of us, you should stop fucking using us.

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* If you don't believe me about the differences between casual/short-term relationships and end-game relationships in Lucifer, go back and look at how Lucifer and Maze are with strangers in all the other seasons. Look at Chloe's sex dream, her propositioning of Lucifer in a library, her sex with Pierce in the evidence closet. Look at how much physical intimacy there is between Lucifer and Eve, and then between Eve and Maze (if only as a ploy). Across seasons, there are sex/kink jokes and scenes galore.

Compare this to how these same characters are portrayed when with their end-game loves. Notice the gentle pecks on the lips and the huge general drop in sexual humor between 5A and 5B. How boring. Where's the spice these characters had? Also, give me a damn break. Buttoning up in a relationship is contrary to four and a half seasons of emotional character work that's been communicating security in our relationships is personally freeing.

† I'm not just talking about sexual intimacy in this post, though that is a big part of it because of the characters. 5B lacked crucial found family scenes, too.

Chloe should have been at God's family dinner, but being so would have prevented more ham-fisted angst. Chloe never even has a one-on-one with God, probably because that would demand a straight answer about her miracle status, which I would guess will be used to drive yet another wedge between her and Lucifer next season, but we'll see.

In multiple before- and after-work scenes, there was no reason for Lucifer and Chloe to be apart more, even, than they were in S1 and S2. Monopoly night was in S3, for crying out loud. Most horrifying of all? No one touches Chloe after Dan's death, but Trixie. Meanwhile, Linda, Amenadiel, Ella, Maze, and Lucifer all receive physical comfort. No wonder Chloe's tired of being strong.

‡ If you don't think it's offensive that they stuffed all their wlw content for two hypersexual characters into a few clunky, irrational, and chaste scenes that rushed I love yous, a marriage-like proposal, and the mention of soulmates, I don't know what to tell you other than get off my lawn.

[sometimesrosy]

Did you ever see the B/E relationship coming, or did you find it a big surprise? I know we can only speculate, but in your opinion, what has been Bellamy’s mindset about E and C since finding out Clarke was alive? What do you think his mindset is about the situation/them throughout season 6, going into season 7? I feel like he will be very focused on O since the anomaly took her, but what’s a way you think the love triangle could be resolved? Or if it will be?

I’ll be honest, I saw the B/E relationship coming from the cages. Not that it WOULD happen, but that it could. I wrote fics where she was cast in a romantic capability. When s4 happened and she went to space with spacekru leaving Clarke behind, I thought yes b/e would probably happen, but it didn’t bother me because that was one way to tell a love story an the end result would still be bellarke endgame. THAT is why I put a moratorium on b/e questions for the whole hiatus, because I wasn’t freaking out about b/e possibilities and I didn’t care to freak out about it and fandom was FREAKING OUT ABOUT IT. And it’s healthy boundaries to not take on other people’s freak outs. 

You have to start with season 5 to understand this love triangle I think. Because the 6 years apart created a new relationship for Bellarke that was based not on reality, but on memory and fantasy. Clarke created Bellamy as a fantasy boyfriend that she could talk to and kept her sane. He was a hero who could do no wrong and would always be there for her.  Bellamy created something similar, but because he thought she was dead, she was more like a ghost haunting him, he was the widower and she was the dead wife that lived in his head with him and guided his actions. He never thought he could have her again, because she was dead, while SHE thought that when he came back, he would be hers for real. They both took about all of season 5a to reconcile to the fact that the other was real, and then that their fantasy of the other had to make room for the real person. 

I’m not gonna say I know how Bellamy felt about having clarke and echo alive, but I’m gonna say, since this is how the story and scenes shook out, that he couldn’t *mentally* embrace having both echo and clarke in the same place. He couldn’t think about them TOGETHER, because that was not something he had dealt with yet. That these two women he loved were now both in his life. His old life of the ring was the real one, but suddenly Clarke was there, too, and everything changed. This is how the scenes were shot. He focused on Clarke OR Echo, and when he was with Clarke and brought up Echo or his “family,” tensions arose as Clarke and he circled around each other with their new alliances. Octavia made him face it. And then we saw with him choosing the sword over the earth, he was thinking about it. The smart thing to do was choose Echo. Then why does Clarke keep coming back into his heart? Why does he even want to choose Clarke when he’s committed to Echo? And yet he does. And he’s not able to process that when Echo is around. (which might be why she all but disappears once he gets to the ship where Clarke is.)

Season 6 is different. Clarke and Bellamy have become real to each other again. She is part of Spacekru-- although not easily. Clarke, Echo and Bellamy are all in the same shots, constantly, same scenes, Clarke watches b/e together. Echo watches Bellamy give all his attention to Clarke. Bellamy is “together” with Echo, but his primary emotional attachment seems to be Clarke. And as s6A progresses, he is more and more drawn emotionally (and physically!) to Clarke, to the point where, after an intimate conversation with Clarke about forgiveness and family, he sees her with Cillian and is JEALOUS, and then picks a fight with Echo about how she isn’t open or intimate enough and basically calls her not human. Really rotten, Bellamy. And it hurts Echo because she’s dealing with her own issues he knows nothing about... which means Bellamy is right. She isn’t open or intimate enough with him. She is getting ready to face it, finally, starting with the eclipse psychosis which correctly identified her relationship with Bellamy to be king/spy. This is a theme for Echo. This is her storyline in s6. How to face her past and identity as a spy CREATED by her relationship with the ruler, and reconcile that with her relationship with Bellamy. For Bellamy, his storyline is facing his feelings for Clarke and understanding what they mean. The season starts with B/E as an acknowledged relationship, but as Clarke and Bellamy try to rebuild their relationship as “platonic” partners, their damn feelings for each other keep getting in the way of the platonic part. When he is jealous of Cillian and takes it out on Echo, who didn’t deserve it, and Echo bares her soul (part way) to him, and he commits to moving forward with her and forgetting about the past, which clearly means Clarke, that is Bellamy making the ‘logical’ decision, the head decisions. 

But when Clarke is discovered to be bodysnatched, all his intentions of being committed to intimacy with Echo are forgotten. He doesn’t turn to her. He pays no attention to her. All his attention is on Clarke, who he feels he’s lost. He cannot reconcile losing her with moving forward. And when he finds out she is alive, HE is alive again, focused only on getting her back, canonically caring more about saving Clarke than what is happening to Jordan, Madi, Echo or spacekru. His focus is, again, on Clarke. And heading into the woods with Clarke’s body/Josephine, as she digs and digs at him about his feelings for Clarke. OMG what a romantic narrative. Your enemy in the body of your great unacknowledged love forcing you to recognize how much you love this body she has stolen and this mind she is trying to erase. AND THEN YOU SAVE HER. Bellamy has FACED how much he cares for and needs Clarke. He is SOFT for her in a way that he has been soft with Echo, only moreso. He is ROMANTIC with her. 

When Bellamy and Echo reunite in Sanctum, after not knowing whether or not he had left her for dead, their reunion is relieved and loving, but not intimate or passionate-- as Bellarke’s reunion was when she was brought back from the dead. Clarke watches them hug, and actually interrupts their hug (which she’s never done before. in s5 when she saw them hugging she stepped back and mentally let him go, but this time she interrupts “platonically.” maybe jealously idk.) Bellamy, meanwhile, looks at Clarke over Echo’s shoulder. The way he’s dealing with Echo and Clarke in the same place has changed. And when Clarke and Bellamy reunite after the battle is all over, Echo, who is right there (we see her in some of the background shots) essentially disappears from Bellamy’s attention. Echo gets a pat on the back, while Clarke and he run to each other, fall into each other’s arms, he rocks her while she nuzzles him, they have direct eye contact and talk about deep feelings of self worth and intention and then hug again while the light is buttery and romantic. *sunflare* And this ends the season. 

When we get Octavia disappearing, Echo is back. Yes. And there is no intimacy. And when Bellamy loses Octavia, Echo is not there for emotional support, she is, as usual, the spy, taking care of capturing Hope while Bellamy’s world changes.

Going into s7, we have the final season, which means we’ll have to see a conclusion to all the loose narratives. There is, of course, the saving humanity storyline, from the apocalypse and from themselves, which would be a redemption. Salvation and Redemption are offered. That’s the larger over all story. BUT that story HANGS on the backbone of the story, which is, both evident in the narrative and STATED by JR, Bellarke and their relationship to each other. There is finding Octavia (which no doubt will lead to the major plot of the anomaly/salvation/redemption) There is Raven and her self worth. Murphy and his fear of dying alone. Echo and her identity as Ash, Clarke and her needing to be the good guy and Bellamy with his...

Ah. What’s Bellamy’s main struggle? It’s about saving the person he loves. (first O, then Clarke) No wait. It’s developed. I think it’s about LIVING with the person he loves. After saving comes living. As Murphy said, “We get everything we want. We get to live.” “Not Clarke,” Bellamy responds. “Not Clarke seems to be an answer to both ‘everything we want’ and ‘we get to live.’ although, no the right way to answer that last one is ‘clarke doesn’t.’ Bellamy is CHOOSING Clarke. It’s still an active storyline, he hasn’t chosen her yet, but he is actively doing so. Also, when seen in the light of Monty’s orders to not only be the good guys, but to live a good life as happy as he was, Bellamy’s Book 2 goal is the heart part of Monty’s statement. Live a life that is happy. He needs Clarke for that.

When I take these narrative threads, the knowledge that Bellarke is the center of the story, the understanding that their relationship MUST be resolved in order to offer a satisfying conclusion, and then I consider all the related character arcs, the only way it can fall out is like this: Clarke (who is in love with Bellamy) saves humanity and is willing to sacrifice her happiness to do it. Bellamy (who has accepted that he loves Clarke) saves Clarke and won’t let her sacrifice her happiness.  Screw that. He won’t let her leave him again. 

They’ll redeem humanity by being the good guys (Clarke’s goal) do it together (because unity is the only way it gets done, also head and heart have to be together,) and they will live the rest of their lives from a place of love (Bellamy’s goal.) Raven and Murphy I’m not 100% sure on, but Echo needs to face Ash, to BE Ash, and that means she has to reject the king/spy dynamic and therefore NOT be with Bellamy. It’s not about Clarke at all, it’s about her. Which means that Bellamy will be able to stop sacrificing his love for his commitment to be the good guy with Echo. And Clarke and Bellamy will be the winning angle of the love triangle. 

HOW? IDK. Yes. They’ll deal with missing Octavia, but he’s let her go. She doesn’t run his life anymore. And besides, Clarke has ALWAYS been the person who understands the blakes the best. He will go to her for help on that, emotionally, even if Echo is the lieutenant in battle. Also, my guess is they’ll get O back either in 7a, or in the first few eps of s7. The real battle is going to be what happens after. 

The love triangle will DEFINITELY be resolved. This story REQUIRES Clarke and Bellamy to be together. It’s their “thing.” But also the head and the heart is part of a system that doesn’t work without each other. During their time apart, they each found a way to carry the other with them, Clarke with her fantasies and Bellamy with his internalizing her voice. But now they get to BE together, and choose each other, and work and live and love TOGETHER. 

After hakeldama, I realized that this story HAD to have them getting together. And they held off on the romantic togetherness for most of the show, but as we get closer to the end, s5 and s6 have brought the romantic nature of Bellarke out of hiding. So yes. The culmination of the Bellarke story will, finally, be romantic. Not just together “platonically” but as true loves. In all the ways.