#they have a brother dynamic 2 me but its open to interpretation

[emberglowfox]

birds of a feather

[young-royals-confessions]

Just pitching in since I see so much discourse about will they or won’t they that I think we kind of lost the essence of the story: I mean yes, Netflix is promoting the whole are they going to be endgame or not, tune in to find out but I think that’s just a generic marketing tactic.I’ve honestly been ignoring it.

Also, Lisa doesn’t strike me as the type of writer that would push only her own personal agenda or politics to a tv show, especially one that has critical acclaim as yr. That’s not what true storytelling is about. Please bear with me (apologies in advance for the long response !) but here’s my v long winded reasoning:

The theme has always been love v. duty & the monarchy is the enemy. Wille is on a Hero’s Journey - he is ultimately the Main Character; the Young Royal. What’s great about The Hero’s Journey is that it’s easy to follow and makes for great storytelling despite its predictability. I think some people here may have touched upon this so I am simply expanding:

As a viewer, we follow Wille and get to know him. He’s a likable character and we easily root for him and feel for him when we learn about the power dynamics in play; specifically how he feels caged as a prince. Then we enter into a Call for Adventure: him falling for Simon and the high stakes he enters when his brother passes and he is now Crown Prince.

This, then, propels the story forward, given the stakes are stacked up and it’s not looking good for Wille, especially after he/we find out August was the offender for sex tape leak.

After that, we enter into The Refuse to Call for Adventure; i.e, the hero (Wille) realizes he must face the challenge. We also step into the Meeting the Mentor, which is Boris, who helps Wille learn how to stand up and ultimately fight for himself (and Simon). While I see others thinking that W might push everyone away, including skipping his appts with Boris, I do not think that’s the case. Boris was set up to be the Mentor that W needs to realize the challenge he’s been facing and we may continue seeing him open up to Boris.

This will then allow W to “Cross the Threshold” and reinforce the central theme and conflict of the story - if W continues to stay with the monarchy and his obligations as Crown Prince, he cannot choose Simon. Love or Duty? Which will prevail?

S3 crosses that threshold and produces tests and obstacles that would make the fight for his relationship w S so much more complicated (basically everything we saw in the trailer). This stage in the Hero’s Journey is meant for the audience to doubt the Hero - Wille. It’s already a testament as we are debating if W is going to denounce his title or not just from the 2 mins of what we saw from the trailer. It’s intentional. We need to doubt in order for the central theme to drive home and also portrays the monarchy to be the overarching enemy of this story, without Lisa forfeiting her own political statement.

We enter the next stage of the Journey - which is the Cave - meaning the Hero and protagonists need to regroup and prepare for a counter attack (generally speaking) because the tension is continuing to rise and there are outside forces that wish to disturb the Journey (in this case, public opinion? paparazzi? Hillerska shutting down?).

Next, we enter the Ordeal - which makes the Hero break down bc he enters a mental barrier and is pushed to a corner. However, the Hero, typically comes out stronger after this stage in storytelling.

Ultimately, we reach the end: The Reward. The Hero makes the “attack” or choice and defeats the enemy/antagonist.

Imo, with how everything is set up, I do think it’s set up for W and S to be together in the end at least the end of the show (everything else after is obviously left for the audience member to interpret).

I have no doubt that W & S are going to come up on top and still be together in the end bc like some people mentioned - what would be the point? It was never a question whether they would end up together. The question is if Wille, our Hero in this story, would make the final choice and choose between love or duty. I think Wille would choose love. What better way of making history, especially with everything that’s been happening in real events, then choosing love? That would make for a strong ending.

[antigonewinchester]

ooh share something about hesitation or triptych? <3

I will self-indulgently to do both <3

Hesitation but IC is inspired by a Destiel fic called, surprise surprise, Hesitation, written by apokteino, who I think was a fairly prominent fic writer back in the day? She had a series of dark Destiel fics, including Hesitation, the Bone series, the When series, and most infamously With Understanding. I find her work interesting intellectually, in her focus on exploring questions around sexual violence, relationships formed under duress, and the complexities of perpetrators & victims & their dynamics, but it feels like she maps her ideas onto SPN rather than centering canon characterizations or dynamics (at least in my read of the show/characters).

So, I decided to try my hand at a fic with the same premise but more in line with canon, particularly taking into account Cas's control/power over Dean in S4 (and which I don't feel is negated just because of Cas's sexual inexperience, altho it does add some complexity) and Dean's full experience in Hell. Part 1 is from Dean’s POV and Part 2, which I’m currently working on, is from Cas’s:

“You told me Dean wanted to have sex with me. He did, and then he didn’t.” Zachariah and he are sitting at a bar in New York, the city. It’s night, but he can’t see any stars, only the glowing of offices and apartments and advertisements against the sky. One large, flashing sign reads: Open Happiness. The moon is a cut of pure white. The humans around them talk and whisper, blissfully ignorant of the angels and the war they’re fighting to protect them. Their breath forms clouds that rise to disappear into the dark. All are dressed in what he believes are fancy clothes, long flowing red fabrics and unwrinkled suits of black, but he’s no longer sure how much he knows about humanity. Zachariah shrugs. “Humans say they want one thing, then do another, and Dean Winchester is no exception. This is why they need Heaven’s hand, Castiel.” The woman sitting to his left laughs. The man she’s talking with has taken her palm and put it up against his. Her fingernails had been carefully painted in stripes of white and black.

Triptych is sort of the opposite end of the spectrum, in that it’s my attempt at a Dean/Jack fic after looking on AO3 and finding... 2 decent fics of the whole bunch.

I started out as just wanting to do Dean/Jack during S14, but its slowly turned into Dean/Jack in the aftermath of Dean/John, probably in part 'cause I started writing it in the midst of Utena rewatch, which all about memories & cycles & incest & eternity (and then when I got to the part of S14 where Dean suggested locking himself in a coffin for eternity to save the world...) I was also struck by a post of someone discussing a common Utena interpretation that one character didn't actually want to sleep with her brother, but the poster asked if she did, would that desire negate any harm? Does wanting something "bad" mean you can't be hurt by it? If a relationship was both meaningful & hurts you, how do those elements go together?

Got a bit stalled out on this one because Holy Shit the emotional complexities here, and I want to handle it respectfully? Not be gauche? My plan is to have it all lead up to 14x20 and Thee Dean Jack Moment, re-contextualizing it within the scope of my fic, but I'm still figuring out what it all... adds up to, I suppose. (Also that I'm bad at writing character being mean, and Dean has to be mean in this fic, at least for parts of it!)

Heaven turned out to be the world’s best movie night: his favorite memories playing over and over and over again. The road trip where Sam introduced him to Harry Potter and Dean taught him how to read a paper map. He could rewind and play through his favorite five minutes as many times as he wanted. He could make everything faster or slower, which was funny for a little while, but he stopped after it got weird, like when he repeated a word too much and suddenly something would change and it wouldn’t be a real word anymore, just meaningless sounds. He could change from memory to memory in an instant, if he really wanted, but mostly he liked to let them play out before he moved onto another. And once he got to end, it was back to the beginning: a conversation trailed off or a lesson finished and then he was back at the start, to Cas’s reassuring smile, telling him about mistakes and guilt and forgiveness, or Sam’s bright concern, telling him how to take a punch, or Dean’s warm hand on his back, telling him where north was. The one thing he couldn’t do was imagine anything new. He tried, at first, in the memory of that day with Dean, how their conversation at the river could have gone—Dean’s voice low as he’d whispered, “Come here,” and then—and then—but it never worked. Guiltily he’d moved onto other memories, and at least they were too the same: if he'd ordered a hot dog, all he could eat is a hot dog; if Sam and Dean had driven past the apple orchard on a hunt, there was no turning down the short dirt road to pick fruit instead.

[2-kamikou-1]

boredom.

So I'm infodumping about all my prsk autistic hcs!

Ichika: (i stole this hc from my friend so I'm gonna paraphrase them some + some things I've observed myself) she's kind of awkward around people who aren't her friends and even then it takes her a while to really be herself around them because she fears that autistic traits drive people away. i smell masking. also miku special interest and she seems to sometimes have trouble communicating her emotions

saki and honami: pure vibes honestly idk it just feels that way. saki sometimes struggles with volume control just like her brother but that's also just one thing ive noticed. idk i dont really pay attention to l/n

shiho: her eyes almost always seem to be averted in her live2d models, in cards where they're talking to people they also appear that way, and even in her 2* they don't appear to be looking into the camera (?), all of which give me the impression of poor eye contact. She seems to struggle with tone, almost always sounding mean/upset without meaning to or even realizing, and has trouble communicating things in ways that aren't blunt. This can sometimes also cause them to say things that are inappropriate for the situation

Minori: haruka/idolship special interest, and we also see her struggle with spatial awareness from time to time, like in the Angel's clover 3dmv she stumbles, and other kinds of general physical awkwardness like that one clip from gunjo sanka. She also has that type of black and white thinking where the first thing she thinks is what she goes with and hard to stray from even if it's incorrect, as shown in the opening to the time to hang out event, where she claims she's "missed the only chance to learn about the Haruka she never knew" despite the fact she had the opportunity to meet up with An again, and when Kohane suggests that she tries to dodge it at first. She also seems to have a hard time making her voice flow naturally, in some mmj covers you can kind of hear her trying really hard to sound good instead of just letting her voice flow

Kohane: general social awkwardness, she seems to have an ability to pick up on music and rhythm just by listening to it. She doesn't seem to pick up on Akito's derogatory tone when reffering to Tsukasa (not by name) in that one area conversation ("My school has this wacko who likes to walk around drawing attention to himself by making random poses"), because she proceeds to say she might ask him for tips on how to be confident. In that same area conversation she worries about drawing attention to herself and refuses to look up. She doesn't understand that An's joking when she says she got 100% on her test on April fool's day, yet another example of her not catching onto tone. In one of her dialogs she hears a cricket chirping in the busy city which is not something neurotypical people can pick out typically!

Toya: he doesn't seem to make a lot of jokes, which is likely because he doesn't catch on to them very well. His speaking voice is sort of flat/monotone, and his facial expressions don't vary much either. His issues with eating squid due to its texture can be chalked up to sensory issues. I think he may also have spatial awareness issues but that one's a little far fetched, seeing as he apparently hits his head off train handles.

might i add, kohane and toya get on in a way only 2 autistic people get along. it's hard to explain they just have that dynamic

long post on the entirety of wxs being autistic

Kanade: she doesn't like the sunlight probably due to sensory issues, and in one area conversation she says she'll wait for a movie to hit streaming because it's too noisy outside to go to the theatre. also sensory stuff! She avoids breaks and resists change, wearing and eating the same stuff every day for the sake of consistency. (These can also be signs of ADHD too but I'm choosing to interpret them as autism because comfort)

Mafuyu: mafuyu is a very good example of the loss of identity that is associated with masking and RSD, both things that can happen in autism. this post explains it in more detail, but in the most simple terms, this happens when an autistic (or any neurodivergence that involves RSD) person creates what are called identity masks to deal with people who are unresponsive to their needs. As they treat personalities like clothes and mirror other people, they start to lose sight of their own identity. That's why we see mafuyu so deadpan when she takes off her good-girl persona, she's disconnected from her core self.

Ena: we see her have something very akin to a meltdown in insatiable pale color, when she makes a mess of all her art supplies. She can be offensive without meaning to at times, as shown in the exciting picnic event. In that same event, it's revealed that Ena defended Airi when she was getting made fun of without even knowing who she was, displaying the innate sense of justice that some autistic people have.

[leamy-world]

Reaction to The Devil Judge (spoilers for ep. 9 & 10)

It’s been a while since i’ve last been on tumblr, but i got invested in this drama every week & the fandom’s analyses to not talk about it sometime! (Last time i was hooked, it was with Beyond Evil and i watched it by the time the finale already aired so i didn’t suffer from the weekly wait!)

So here i am, this is mainly self-indulgent with essay-long interpretations of some scenes in a totally random order, but i’d love to interact with whoever reads this if they want to react!

I’m sorry for the potential awkward phrasings, english is not my first language!

- The recap was nicely done and tied everything together, it made me realize so many things happened since the beginning! The repetition didn’t make me skip it, the narration was dynamic & fun.

- The ‘power display’ & threat Yohan showed to Soohyun (by lashing out at Juk Chang and strangling him, as proxy for Soohyun, in front of her while staring at her) were something …! She answered in the same fashion, passing by him saying she will ‘arrest Juk Chang’. I wonder how their next encounters will unfold.

- Many people already pointed this out, but Soohyun’s decision to leave Elijah, a minor, alone in her car (with its doors open, daring to tell her to stay there when she has no other choice anyway) + stop the gang alone and unannounced off duty was irresponsible. Anyways, i wonder if she will interact again with Elijah because they were adorable, i would miss it!

- The conversation between Soohyun & Gaon at his apartment (ep. 10) was interesting on both parts: 

It sounded casual, but Soohyun wanted to see where he stood in the Kang family and make sure he wasn’t in Yohan’s plans (i hope she didn’t seriously mean the ‘weird’ comment about Elijah, it’d be sad since Elijah enjoyed her company!).

Gaon was anxious professor Min told her about their last conversation (i think she’ll talk to him in the next eps). He also indirectly defended the Kangs by associating himself with them (« I’m pretty sure i’m just as weird ») and voiced his concern about Yohan, speaking more to himself than following the conversation at hand. 

When Soohyun changed the subject with the ‘i’m jealous’ bit, maybe it was to brighten the mood with a light-hearted comment, hoping Gaon would follow. And by the look of her pause right after, it seemed she was also expecting GO’s ‘positive’ reaction to her jealousy, giving in to the kind of teasing/flirt they have in their friendship. But deep down, it was also to voice her true unease about Gaon’s involvement with Yohan she had since the beginning and ep. 8. 

It’s obvious to us she meant she was jealous of Yohan. And GO could’ve understood it this way too, since she confessed to him multiple times and her feelings must be known to him (i think he takes it as a ‘joke’ given how many times she confessed and each time when he was crying, so maybe he thought, very reasonably, it was to cheer him up? I also guess he’s too absorbed by his current worries about the Kangs and her potential suspicion, to notice her attempts). 

But instead of that, he’s not in the same line of thoughts at all and picks up on the « rich », musing on what makes one’s existence rich, thinking Soohyun was envying Yohan’s position and life and proving her he’s indeed in a whole different world, empathizing with Yohan. 

She then looked like her face fell, until her eyes lit up again when he was about to admit she was precious to him along with his family.

By the way, this scene picks up right where we were left off in ep. 8, when Gaon tends to his plants:

« - Are you back for good? - Not really. They need some looking after. - You should come back, not drop by. This is where you live. - Someone there needs some taking care of too. - Take care of your own self, please. - What about me? I’m living a shamelessly comfortable life. Soohyun. - Yes? - What are you thinking about? - Nothing. By the way, Gaon … » (i wonder what she was going to say!)

Lost in thoughts, Gaon’s mixed emotions when he said Yohan was not rich (« he’s not rich. If you get to know him, Kang Yohan is really poor. ») were very well depicted by Jinyoung’s acting: the soft voice and the ghost of a smile that convey understanding and endearment, leaning on his counter in a relaxed stance, but also at the same time the stare lost in the space, maybe to all the memories tied to the Kangs and Yohan, and the tension in his left lip corner by the end of his sentence which betray his sadness and empathy with Yohan’s life. After this, when he became aware of Soohyun’s gaze, it’s like his bubble popped. He looked surprised with his eyes widening, and was fidgeting a little, then changed the subject to himself.

And « I have you, Soohyun » sounded truly grateful but also sad and conflicted, GO lets his worries show when she’s gone, maybe wondering if they would be bound to be against each other one day as he continues to side with Yohan, menacing to jeopardize their friendship to the point of no return. In these kinds of stories you expect these kinds of twists, but i grew fond of the cast send help

- I loved how Yohan’s confession to GO about his brother was filmed: the camera faced head-on his pain, slipping unbeknownst to him through the façade he always showed to protect himself. But this time, despite his (late) attempts to dismiss these feelings both for him and Gaon to regain composure (the hand gestures to hide his tears, pretending to be tough with the  « there’s no such things as innocent people », drinking away his sorrow with a bitter laugh that rings hollow), all this façade fades out in front of Gaon literally by being blurred out in the shot, as if he clearly sees his pain through (his silhouette appearing clear-cut between Yohan’s gestures). I know it’s a pretty classic shot but it fit well with this scene. He clenches his jaw in the next shot, moved by Yohan opening up. 

- The dinner scene was really moving …! Especially when you put the colder tones the kitchen had when we first saw Yohan have dinner by himself next to this scene, full of light in contrast! I wonder when the OST playing will be released, it was so beautiful and reminded me of My Mister’s OST (especially Rainbow!). I look forward to the lyrics, because most of the time the OST gives more layers & depth to the story and the characters! (please don’t let it be about Yohan’s budding feeling of a true ‘home’ ;;) I didn’t realize it upon my first watch, but Gaon really took the cutlery hostage, it cracked me up!

- The parallels in this show will be the end of me: Yohan went from the « i’m so sick of this place » (ep. 5) to asking K to drive him « home » with a delighted smile. 

- I liked the parallel of Yohan’s reaction to GO/Sun-Ah sitting in his office chair, impeding on his space (he reminds SA to stay out of it, the first time politely, the second time almost grimacing, his jaw clenched: « Just because you’re the head of the OSC doesn’t mean you can barge in like this (…) So please stop barging in like this. », while he says nothing to GO)

- At the beginning of ep. 10, we have Yohan saying he doesn’t like «  hanging out with people » & by the end of it, Soohyun saying « My childhood’s best friend is hanging out with a rich guy ».

- These two episodes gave more insight and nuance into Sun-Ah’s character, which was very nice ; and also Cha Kyung-Hee’s comeback (and her last confrontation with Sun-Ah!!!!)

- The people following Juk Chang also targeted sexual minorities according to the subs i had, i wonder if it will be addressed again sometime in the drama. 

- I loved Elijah’s « hacking » technique scene, i felt proud too! I always look forward to her scenes (and Kkomi’s too haha)! And her reaching out Gaon’s shoulder for the first time ;;

- The ‘humans lose their minds when they think they’ve lost what they have’ ……… repeated twice by YH ………… It will hit hard and all those lines will come right back at us viewers, but i’m not prepared haha! And also for the ‘if you want revenge, don’t hesitate’, i hope it doesn’t foreshadow a future revenge Gaon will execute without hesitation aaaaaa

Also, what lawyer Ko said about himself in ep. 8 may apply to Yohan’s case by the end, will he atone for what he did someday? (« I’m no longer a lawyer. I’m just a criminal. When all this comes to an end, I’ll pay for what i did. »)

- I really loved Yohan’s efforts to take into consideration both Elijah’s (he refrained himself from acting rashly like the last time she went out and listened to her) and Gaon’s feelings (stopping him from endangering himself recklessly, not forcing him onto the revenge path lest he’d regret it afterwards, and helping him to face the truth rationally). 

- « She’s hungry for affection. No matter how much you hate the world and the people in it, you can never live alone. You always need someone to rely on. As long as you’re a human being. » Many people commented on it, Gaon must speak from his own experience and empathizes with both Elijah and Yohan’s situation. These two episodes showed how Gaon cares for the Kangs more openly, and i live for it! 

- Give me that domestic scene where Gaon plays cards with YH, the nanny and Elijah! And also more K and lawyer Ko scenes!

- Jinjoo’s and Gaon’s intervention in the trial were gold! And Satie’s Gnossiennes rearrangement playing in the background during Juk Chang’s speech, it’s the cherry on the cake haha

- By the way, there was also an arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto no. 2 during the first charity event Yohan went with Jinjoo in the earlier episodes, it was also beautiful!

- GO’s Awkward Smile. I have no words, it is now forever imprinted on my mind.

Have a nice week and take care!

[travllingbunny]

Thank you for the tag, @ryder616!

This tag game has unexpectedly led to an interesting discussion about what exactly an “Endgame Ship” means... which seems to be largely open to interpretation. I’m still not sure how I see that term, but for the purposes of this post, but to narrow it down and not mention way too many ships, I’ll take Endgame in two different meanings: for “Favorite Ship(s) That’s Endgame”, I’ll take it to mean pairings that were together and in a happy relationship at the end of the story. But for “Ship(s) You Wish Had Been Endgame”, I will take “Not Endgame” to mean that the ship was not treated as these characters’ main romance at the end of the show, or at least there was a lot of ambiguity and/or a rival ship for one or both characters was instead the current one at the end of the story. (A lot of my favorite ships have the tendency to end up unhappily in spite of being portrayed as the main romance of the story..)

Warning: this post contains spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Agents of SHIELD, The Hunger Games, The Leftovers, The Americans and The 100 (though if you’ve spent any time on my blog, you’ve certainly already been spoiled for the ending of The 100) and .

1. First Ship - When I was about 4 or 5, I was obsessed with Lady and the Tramp (I had a book version with a few pictures and it fell apart from how much I was reading it - it may have been my first book that wasn’t mostly a picture book), so I guess my first ship was two dogs (which is really appropriate, since I love dogs). If we’re talking TV, again going back to my childhood, before puberty and before I even knew what “shipping” was, I remember being pleasantly surprised when Raquel first appeared on Only Fools and Horses as a love interest for Del Boy - the show was an episodic comedy where the two brothers, in the early years, usually didn’t have a serious love interest. I thought “oh, he really is in love with her! And she feels the same, and they are so cute together.” I hoped she’d come back and wouldn’t just be a one episode character but a long-term LI. And then I was so happy when that very much did happen. I guess this can be considered the start of my TV shipping (and also an early sign of my love for contuinity and longer arcs on TV).

2. First OTP - Ignoring pre-puberty: at the age of 12, I was really obsessed with Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff and Cathy and read the book who knows how mny times. Regarding TV, I’ve shipped over the years, but I guess the first TV ship I would really call my OTP was in This Life, a 1990s UK drama about a bunch of 20-somethings in London, which I watched on TV in 2001. which now sadly seems almost forgotten. Anna and Miles had an on-off, love-hate relationship throughout - they were sexy, snarky, and it was painfully obvious that they were in love, but these idiots had trouble admitting it to themselves and even more to each other. If it had been a romcom, they would’ve been certain to end up together, but it was a realistic drama.

3. Current Favorite Ship - Bellarke - oh, what an OTP of all OTPs that was before it was stupidly destroyed out of spite. Over the last couple of years, Dark (season 3 mostly) made me really love Jonas and Martha (the first pairing I’ve made gifsets about), and most recently (last month!), I binged Halt and Catch Fire and fell in love with the show and with Joe and Cameron’s relationship (which, I just realized now, shows that my taste in OTPs hasn’t changed in 20 years).

If we’re talking current as in, in current shows rather than finished ones, then  Kanej (Shadow and Bone), Harlivy (Harley Quinn), Gereon and Charlotte (Babylon Berlin) and  Roy and Keeley (Ted Lasso).

4. Your ship since the first minute - I really rarely ship anything from the first minute (unless we’re talking Morticia and Gomez, who are of course already a perfect couple and nothing ever changes there). It usually takes time for me to fall for a ship. A rare exception is Roy and Keeley - their first one-on-one scene in S1 already had huge OTP vibes. 

5. Ship(s) You Wish Had Been Endgame - Do I even have to say it? BELLARKE. A hundred times Bellarke, who were portrayed as endgame before the showrunner decided to retcon and ruin them together with the show overall.

Others: Jessica and Luke in Netfix Narvel shows, May and Andrew on AoS, Willow and Oz; or, depending on how you interpret Endgame, Willow/Tara (some argue that it is Endgame as Tara is definitely portrayed as the love of Willow’s life regardless of everything else). Spuffy (again, there are different opinions as to its status as both the show and the comics ended ambiguously and tried not to have a clear Endgame pairing for Buffy’s character), Xander/Anya (if you take comics into account).

6. Ship You Wish Was Canon - Some would say Bellarke, again, but I tend to consider it canon. It’s debatable, for sure (if you only consider making out/sex and/or “I love you” as markers of canon, it is not canon; if it is enough for the show to make it so blatant in the first 6 seasons that you have to actively search for ways to deny it to make it sound platonic, and for actors to confirm it was portrayed as romantic- than it is.)

So my answer would be: Kastle (Netflix Marvel shows), QuakeRider (AoS), and Octavia and Diyoza (The 100) and maybe Faith and Buffy (mostly in the sense that canon could have explored the nature of Faith’s feelings for Buffy a bit more and a bit more openly).

7. Ship that Most of the Fandom Hates, but You Love - Angel and Darla, May and Andrew, Coulson and Rosalind (hated how it ended though). Miller and Bryan (because they were more interesting than Mackson, and Bryan had a personality), Though “ships that most of the fandom ignores” would be a more apt term. The one that most of the fandom does hate and I like it is Octavia/Ilian - I liked it for what it was, two damaged people finding comfort together in what could have grown into something more - instead of the “we’re ve just met and talked to each other once and we’re already IN LOVE!” trope that the writers of The 100 were so fond of.

8. You Don’t Even Watch the Show, but You Ship It - Why would I ship something from a show I don’t watch?

9. Ship That You Wish Had A Different Storyline -  BELLARKE (duh - the ending). Veronica and Logan (the ending, again). Coulson/Rosalind - they had such an interesting and fun dynamic that could have been explored much more; instead, the writers opted for one of the worst tropes there are, and I hated that entire plotline for so many reasons. Tyrol and Boomer on Battlestar Galactica - what they did with Boomer was crap. Baltar and Caprica - all the bad writing in season 4. This is a weird example of a ship that I shipped so hard for 3 seasons and that was given Endgame in every sense of the word, but, by that point, I barely cared anymore, because the writers forgot about their relationship throughout the final season and made it seem like they didn’t even remember each other, and then slapped a last minute happy ending. Plus they retconed/explained their connection in such a stupid and anticlimactic way that ruined it retroactively.

10. Favorite Ship(s) That’s Endgame - Everlark, Nora and Kevin (The Leftovers), Philip and Elizabeth (The Americans), and Josh and Della on Night and Day (a really obscure early 2000s UK show that was watched by maybe 100 people.) Some others worth mentioning: FitzSimmons, Niles and Daphne, Tim and Dawn (original UK The Office), Jake and Amy, Memori (the only bright spot in a rubbish ending). And of course, there’s Morticia and Gomez, though they are less Endgame and more AlwaysGame.

Tagging: @jeanie205 @kizo2703 @poppykru @sheigarche @weareagentsofnothing @sometimesrosy @misskittyspuffy @otp-armada @carrieeve @sexy-zeitreise-detektiv @jonaskanwalds @immortalpramheda @ladyofthefrostfangs @tennyo-elf @fandomkru @natassakar @hadrianvonpaulus @sillier-things @angearia @thekawaiislartibartfast @foolishnymeria @erikiara80 @heartbellamy and anyone else who sees this - sorry I didn’t tag you and please consider yourself tagged. :)

[lol-q]

There’s so many things I love about the show that I haven’t seen people give enough credit for and I want to go on a little ramble because people are focusing so much on what they don’t like vs. what they do. So here’s my list. Sorry for the grammatical errors 😬

I love that the lesbian main character is this sweet, innocent, big hearted young woman and not portrayed as a overly sexual fuckboi that hits on every woman. I love that Fatou is soft and gentle. More lesbian rep like that please

I love the soundtrack. It’s exactly the type of stuff I imagine Fatou would listen to and it’s not just the top 100 hit songs.

I love that they use the soundtrack as a way to connect to the plot line, like the lyrics to the song Fatou was listening to when she was on the rooftop said “And I hate to leave you feeling all alone.But your story cannot start until you've grown. You can find how to be OK on your own. I just can't be the one that makes you feel at home” which was a hint as to where the plot was going

^^ also the song playing during Kieu My and Fatou’s museum date

I love the little mannerisms Nhungi chooses to show as Kieu My. The happy little bounce she did in ep 1 when she called out Fatou’s name and when she subtly checked Fatou out by looking her up and down.

I love how their rooms show their individual personality so well. Like Fatou’s room in the beginning of the season was normal and then it became increasingly messy as the episodes moved forward, showing her stress and chaos in her life

I love the height difference between Fatou and her brother lol

I love when her brother and her were thinking of what to get their parents so they split the bill on a gift - a very subtle way of showing siblings interacting

I love when Fatou and Ismail interact cuz it’s so funny

I love the physics teachers speaking voice, he sounds like kermit the frog

I love fatou’s eyebrows. Idk it’s just so perfect. Give me tips plz

I love that the characters rewear clothing. And it’s not a show where every episode is a new outfit with new clothes. Very realistic and it always bothered me when teens on highschool on tv have new clothes every episode

I love that Fatou’s original bio on tinder was “wanna cuddle?”. I feel like that girl would rather cuddle with someone than win the lottery. She’s so soft (also why did it say she was 24 in ep 2 when she was on tinder lol)

I love that the show showed the struggles of coming from a bilingual family and being the only one that struggles to speak it. When fatou was talking to her grandparents with her brother and her brother had to translate for her and it was awkward af, I felt that. I’m the youngest in my family and I struggle to speak Tagalog so people have to translate for me sometimes and it sucks.

^^ I relate to fatou so much in that scene cuz the dynamic in my family is the same as Fatou’s. My parents lay off and let me and my brother do our thing unless there’s an indication we need their help. The only time I ever spoke about school with my family was when report cards would come and they would see my grades weren’t that good. I remember my mom seeing I had a D in middle school and automatically jumping to conclusiosn without letting me speak. My brother is academically successful and he would also try and get me to do more school stuff when I was younger. Like he would make me do math problems to help with my grades. So it’s all very relatable for me

I love when Fatou sings, her voice is so soft and smooth.

I love whenever Kieu My and fatou are flirting both so blatantly and yet so subtly. Like the tension is there but it’s still awkward despite how smooth they both try to be it’s so adorable

I love how Fatou and Kieu My are so confident flirting and talking to eachother through texting but when it’s irl it’s still awkward and new. It shows the reality of an actual relationship in the making. It’s not just a full head dive into “I love you”.

I love when they were at the table tennis bar place and Fatou was hyping up Ava when there were dudes looking at them and Ava did a fancy ass turn and smile. She’s so pretty

I love that Fatou’s problems were shown in subtle ways in the beginning with money. Counting money at her job and when she wa trying to pay for the drink at the bar. It was a small interaction but in real life it would cause a lot of stress and anxiety if money counting problems kept happening over and over again

I love Yara and Josh’s friendship. More platonic friendship between a male and a female please. Also more Yara in general please.

I love that Zoe owned up to her actions last year to the entire group (minus Ismail Constantine and Kieu my) on New Years. I see her owning up to the role as Nora’s big sister.

I love when Josh was drinking a lot during New Years and Fatou was trying to get him to slow down. It shows how big her heart is for her friends. Also I think Josh and Fatou could be great friends

I love that Kieu My looks at Fatou like she hung the stars. When Fatou mentioned she knew Kieu My was a Scorpio, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen that girl smiled so big (before episode 5 of course)

I love that whenever they kiss Kieu my is smiling.

I love Sira’s side profile. There I said it. Girl has the jawline of a Greek goddess.

I love that they change Fatou’s hair. She looks good in every hair style but it’s always nice to see her in different styles.

I love that they showed the struggles of being a passive and gentle person. Because we’re not assertive in regular everyday life we are easily looked over. And it’s hard for us to muster the gusto to be assertive and take what we need because we prefer shying away from conflict and just letting things flow. I relate to fatou’s character so much in that sense. I lowkey think this is the universe’s way of telling me to stop being so passive about life and to take charge idk.

I love that the topic of white savior and performative activism was touched on. And I love that it was between two friends because it’s very realistic to how dynamics work between young people these days. The way they handle it differs in opinion but the fact that they even spoke about it was great.

I love that moment when Kieu My wrapped the vietnamese pancake in the lettuce snd handed it to Fatou. Its so sweet. If I was Fatou I would have forgiven her right then and there lol

I LOVE THE HEIGHT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWo. YES MORE HEIGHT DIFFERENCE.

Episode 6. Just all of it. Even the angsty part. I want more of that. Episode 6 yes. I’ll marry episode 6

Kieu My wearing Fatou’s cardigan. 💕💕💕💕💕💕✨✨✨✨✨😫😫💕✨✨🥺

^^ but also as a person that tried bangs before, you can’t tell me that girl woke up with her bangs perfectly in place lol. This girl probably bought a mini straightener or something too

Fatou telling Kieu My it doesn’t matter if she wears make up or not rather than going off on how she looks prettier without it. She’s just like “it doesn’t matter. You’re pretty no matter what, my little space nerd”

Pissed off fatou is a hot fatou. Js

I love Sira’s acting in general. But the way she shows Fatou’s sadness is great. It’s not just tears and that’s it. When she got fired it was a build up of tears but she wasn’t sobbing, same thing with the cashqueens argument. But she broke when her and Kieu My got in a fight.

Finn being socially awkward. It’s so funny cuz Zoe is this bubbly party girl and her boyfriend is so awkward. Nice balance.

^^also his hair makes me laugh idk why

Ismail opening up to Fatou shows how so many people feel at ease with her. Girl has a calming presence for everybody, she doesn’t even realize how much she’s helped others.

I love that Constantine wears the same jacket over and over again. Idk it seems to fit his character.

^^also kudos to the actor who plays him, he’s doing an amazing job

Love Fatou. Love her dimples and her soft voice. She gets all high pitched when she’s normally speaking but when she was fighting with Kieu My her voice became lower. Just love the way Sira’s voice sounds. Also Nhungi’s speaking voice.

Love the shaky camera movements. The fast pans and the slow motion dance scenes.

Love the aesthetic of Kieu My smoking but PLEASE DONT SMOKE, CHILDREN. ITS BAD FOR YOU.

Love the different aesthetics of the cashqueens

Love maike. Great actress. Give this turtle an Oscar.

Love Kieu My climbing the roof to help her Fatou. Softie to her girlfriend but an ice queen to the world lol.

Love the actors. Love the characters. It just makes me so happy.

This is so well written, i might actually cry no but really it was really nice to read your positive and cuteee facts after the tag check :/ and it really helped because i get mad and sad when i see bad takes. Everything you said was so true and i think im fangirling over this essay. And it made me emotional 👉👈.  Represantation does really matter.

This season is so important for so many people and i don’t think some people realize that when they’re ‘’criticizing’’ some things. Not only we have a lesbian main, we have a black lesbian main who is the softest person in the world and she has LD and/or ADHD. I sometimes can’t believe we got to the point of skamverse where we get rep instead of hurtful,problematic seasons and plots, some might interpret that as shade but it really isn’t, careless storylines really does hurt ppl and why would you want to hurt people when you can give 8 min of sapphic museum date instead 👭🌌 :)

i love this season, i love this gen and i love this essay

[lacrimaomnis]

BRF Reading, 29/7/2021

The cards were drawn on yesterday’s (28/7) evening my time, around 9 - 9:30pm.

This is the request I got from an anon, thank you so much for your request! As always, do send me an ask if you have something on your mind that you would ask me to read! 

Since this is a question about the past, I decided to draw only five cards instead of my usual seven -- but it ended up turning into two five-card spreads with a lot of clarifiers and underlying energies. 

As written, this is merely a speculation and therefore must be taken with a grain of salt. This speculation is not true until proven otherwise. 

My question is, how did Harry view Catherine, his sister in law before he married Meghan?

Remarks/Comments: This is just speculation. I cannot emphasise this enough. I will have to warn you that this is some next-level conspiracy shit. I will not blame you if you don't believe this, because I cannot believe this either. I will put the reading under read more to spare people on the dashboard the pain of having scrolling down through this post. I will be revisiting this question some time in the near future, because I just can’t believe this.

Summary: At one point before Harry married Meghan, Harry had thought of Catherine as a potential sexual partner. He also thought of her as a liberation, that he can take “things easy” and work less.

Cards drawn: Six of Pentacles, Queen of Cups, The Empress, Eight of Pentacles, The Sun Underlying energies: Knight of Cups, Page of Wands

First card: Six of Pentacles. This is the card of charity and generousity. In my deck, this card is represented by a bird and a mouse (? mice? rat?) -- the bird holds in its beak the coins (pentacles) as the mouse raises upwards to receive the coins. This card represents Harry and Catherine. Harry is the bird offering the mouse the coins -- this represents Harry accepting Catherine into the royal family. This tells me that during the early years, Harry accepted Catherine without any qualms, just like the "wealthy" bird who offered the mouse a coin from the scales containing the pentacles on its beak without any complaints due to the generousity of its heart. 

Second card: Queen of Cups. She represents virtue, feminity, nurture, fertility, success, and power. She is the most feminine of all Queens, ruling over the realm of emotions and feelings. In this reading, she represents Catherine -- she is the future Queen of England, hence the power associated with her, she is fertile, having borne three children, she is also perhaps one of the more successful royals of our time; this brought to my mind her Early Years project. Harry thought of Catherine as someone nurturing, compassionate, and he thought of Catherine as someone with whom he can connect emotionally. 

Third card: The Empress. This is where things start to veer into the conspiracy theory realm. The Empress, ruled by Venus, is the card of a powerful female figure, a matriarch, the ultimate feminine archetype. In my deck, The Empress is drawn as a woman baring her breasts with a tiger around her -- the tiger can signify the desire for attention. This tells me that Harry may have wanted Catherine's attention in a more personal and intimate way than the way a sister-in-law looks after her brother-in-law. He may have wanted the attention only a lover could give, which may or may not include sex, as implied by the way The Empress is illustrated: an open posture offering sex and comfort.

The tiger, however, can also be represented as a desire to protect. The Empress is protected by the tiger, a sign that she can definitely be fierce to protect herself, or that the ferocious tiger itself will protect The Empress. This card, then, could be interpreted that while Harry may have had wanted more than Catherine's attention, William stepped in to protect her, just like the tiger protecting The Empress. This card could also mean that Catherine herself set the hard boundaries between her and Harry, the "ferocity" of The Empress.

Fourth card: Eight of Pentacles. This is the card of hard work and accomplishment. Harry thought of Catherine as an accomplishment and a hard worker. This is where things start to get a little muddy so I drew two clarifiers on this card: 

First clarifier: Death. This is the card of transformation, of an end of a cycle, new beginnings, and liberation. This card often indicates a time of transition. As the clarifier of the Eight of Pentacles, this card tells me that Harry thought of Catherine, her accomplishments, and her hard work as a way to give way to the time of transition and transformation. This card could also be thought of as a card of liberation, so this could mean that Harry thought of Catherine as his "liberation", that he can now get away without taking his duties seriously because William, Catherine, and their children will be taking more and more royal duties and he can sit back and enjoy his days without having to work. 

Second clarifier: The Hierophant. Because the Eight of Pentacles, a minor arcana card, was clarified by two major arcana cards, this tells me that Eight of Pentacles in this reading is perhaps particularly important. The Hierophant is a card of institution, conventionality, and traditions. This is also the card of a Taurus person and I was thinking of HM the Queen, a Taurus, so this card stands for HM the Queen and the BRF as an institution. Combined with Death, this could mean that Harry thought of Catherine's arrival as a herald of the end of Her Majesty's era -- that it was time for the old-timers to give way and let the younger royals take the lead.

The Eight of Pentacles in this reading could then be interpreted as such: Harry thought of Catherine as someone whose accomplishments and hard work will transform the BRF as an institution, closing the curtains to Her Majesty's era, and ushering in a new era of the younger royals. He also thought that with Catherine on the scene, he could sit back and "take it easy" because William, Catherine, and their children will be doing the bulk of the work. 

Fifth card: The Sun. This is the card of success and abundance, optimism, achievement, and friendship. This card can indicate that people will be drawn to you because of your warmth and your zest of life. This affirmed The Empress, as the other major arcana card in this reading -- Harry was drawn to Catherine.

Underlying energy 1: Knight of Cups. This is the card of someone enthusiastic, moody, sentimental, and foolish -- in this reading, this card represents Harry. He was sentimental about Catherine. Again, as with the mini reading I did about BRF, Harry, and his memoir, there is an element of obsessiveness this card carries, and it was a romantic one. Harry, at one point, before he married Meghan, may have been obsessed with Catherine romantically.

Underlying energy 2: Page of Wands. The appearance of this card confirms to me that Harry had thought of Catherine in some sexual way. The Page of Wands is drawn like the way The Empress is: open postured with bared breasts, but this time, she has a dragon behind her. This card can indicate a desire for a new adventure, particularly an erotic one. Combined with the Knight of Cups, this card affirms that at one point, Harry may have had been obsessed, romantically, or sexually, with Catherine.

Right. This is just some nonsense out of conspiracy theory realm shit. I can't believe this. I decided to draw another five-card spread with two underlying energies, just like my first spread. The question is:

I am asking for confirmation - did Harry really think of Catherine, who is married to his brother as a potential sexual partner at some point before his marriage to Meghan?

Cards drawn: Page of Cups, Justice, Ten of Pentacles, Ten of Wands, Knight of Wands Underlying energies: Temperance, Nine of Pentacles

Summary: The cards didn’t say “no, he did not”. Take what you will of this second reading.

First card: Page of Cups. This card heralds the arrival of someone gentle, which might bring about changes in one's life. This card is Catherine, as she brought a change into the brothers' dynamic and life. She changed William's life when he married her and bore him their children -- William changed from a bachelor into a married man and a father. This change, in turn, affected Harry’s life as well. William’s obligations, first and foremost, is to his own family. Harry, which was once the closest person in William’s life, is replaced by Catherine and her children. He was replaced; this was the message this card brought.

Second card: Justice. This is the card of karmic law, fairness, justice, balance, and reason. This card champions reason and impartiality over feelings and emotions, urging the readers to be logical and put their mindset in order to make fair decisions. This card also warns against someone or something that might not quite be as it seems.

In my deck, this card represents a Libra or Capricorn person. Catherine is a Capricorn, so this card may also speak about her -- in relation to this question, perhaps there was a time where she had to make a decision about Harry. I decided to ask for clarification on what this decision was about, so I drew two cards: 

First clarifier: Seven of Cups. This is the card of illusions, fantasy, and unreal expectations. This card reinforced that the decision Catherine had to make had something to do with Harry’s increasingly unreal expectations of her and their relationship. This card warns about the illusion of temptation, in this reading, the temptation is about being disloyal towards your partner in exchange for a short, fleeting satisfaction. Catherine’s decision may have something to do with this; this is the decision she made in order to reiterate that her loyalty belongs to her husband, not to anyone else.

Second clarifier: Nine of Pentacles. Nine of Pentacles is closely associated with The Hermit -- both cards are associated with earth signs and number nine. Pentacles are the suit of earth, ruled by the signs Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. The Hermit is the ninth card the Fool encounters in his journey, and it is also the card of a Virgo; Harry is a Virgo.

The Nine of Pentacles is a formidable card that speaks about admiration, strength, and if it appears together with a warning card, like the Seven of Cups, this card is warning against destructive behaviour of the querent or someone in querent’s life -- this card tells me that Harry’s obsessive behaviour towards Catherine may have had involved attempts of tempting Catherine. Catherine made the decision, represented by Justice, after discerning Harry’s motivations and this speaks about her strength to protect her family and herself.

Thus, the Justice can be interpreted as such: the decision Catherine made was fair and right. The decision made revolved around the boundaries between herself and Harry, in which she took this decision to protect those boundaries. In extension, this decision is the way Catherine displayed her strength and her discerning mind in order to protect William and their family.

Third card: Ten of Pentacles. This is the card of happiness, home, prosperity, family matters, and love. This is a very conservative card, as this card does not speak about taking risks, or travelling, or putting your money in hope of returns -- this card speaks about being grounded and enjoying the fruit of your labours.

This card tells me that Harry wished to have a future with Catherine. He imagined himself as the patriarch with Catherine as his matriarch, building a family, being successful in their labours; all the successes and victories that are now currently enjoyed by William and Catherine. This card also sends the message that all of the future he envisioned for himself, together with Catherine, was not his for the taking. It was William’s. William is Catherine’s husband, and together, they have built a happy family, they are successful in their role as the younger royals, they have enjoyed the fruits of their labour.

Fourth card: Ten of Wands. Tens often speak about the completion of a cycle, and Ten of Wands particularly speaks about the forces in your life that have come together and produced the end of a cycle. This card also speaks about responsibility and burden; this card implies that whatever Harry thought of Catherine, it was a burden for him. I decided to draw some clarifiers for this card:

First clarifier: The Hermit. This is drawn from the top of the deck. This is my major arcana card for Harry, a Virgo. The Hermit speaks of solitude, self-awareness, study, soul-searching, withdrawal. This may imply that due to the burden signified by the Ten of Wands, there is a withdrawal; Harry withdrew from Catherine as he was burdened by the way he thought of her, or that perhaps he was burdened by the thought of the future he envisioned with her -- it will never come to fruition.

Second clarifier: Knight of Wands. This is drawn from the bottom of the deck. This card is someone of a fire sign; particularly a Leo: Meghan is a Leo. This knight is hasty, quick, the embodiment of the youth enthusiasm, capable of sweeping anyone off their feet. As the most dynamic of all knights, this card appears when things are moving quickly. This card could be interpreted that while Harry is burdened by the thoughts on Catherine, Meghan came in and quickly swept him off his feet.

Fifth card: Knight of Wands. This card appears as the clarifier for Ten of Wands, and now, here, he appears again. He might be quick on his feet, but with his quickness comes a disregard for rules. This tells me that Harry was disregarding the rules around having a relationship with your sister in law: you do not vie for her attention, you do not compete with your brother for her attention.

Underlying energy 1: Temperance. This is the card of being moderate, patience, taking the middle road, and as we all know, Harry is not any of those things. He is not patient, he is not moderate, he is not temperate, he is always taking the “my way or no way” attitude. This is one big energy as this is a major arcana. This card tells me that pertaining to Catherine, Harry is impatient and not moderate, which can include having sexual urges when he thought about her. He did not temper his mind.

Underlying energy 2: Nine of Pentacles. This card appears as a clarifier, and this card appears again as the underlying energy of this spread. This card can be associated with Harry as I have explained above, and this card also speaks about being self-motivated and self-contained, understanding the power you possess and knowing yourself. Combined with Temperance, this card tells me that he has no moderation whatsoever in exercising his power, he only knew that he has the power and did not stop for a second to ponder what that means.

Other interpretation that came to my mind as I type this is that Nine of Pentacles also speaks about the capability of standing strong of your own. This card, then, could be interpreted that Catherine is perfectly capable of standing on her own, to hold her ground even when she is faced by difficulties; in this reading, Harry. She is moderate but firm in her decisions, as shown by the Justice.

Conclusion: This reading left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. My partner has a brother and I would never think of him in any kind of sexual way; that is just crossing so many lines. This is just some conspiracy theory shit, and I still refuse to believe what my cards said. This is one of those “I will pretend I never read this question” readings to be sealed away, because it makes absolutely no sense. I refuse to believe a person can be this disgusting.

[phynali]

Canonization and Fandom Purity Culture

I wrote a 1k-word twitter thread (as proof that I am Not made for Twitter and it’s goddamn 240-character limit) and am pasting it here with edits and updates (it’s now 2k words). 

I have thoughts to share (which I know have been stated more eloquently before by others) about this trend of demanding/obsessing that certain ships become "canon" and how it overlaps with the rise of fandom purity culture.

Under the cut.

Here in 2021 there is a seemingly large and certainly loud and active contingent of online fandoms who desire (or even demand) "canon validation" for a given interpretation of a source material. This is more true with shipping than anywhere else.

First, it is important to note that the trend is not limited to queer ships or to any single fandom. In the past few years I've seen it for Riverdale, Voltron, Supernatural (perhaps most extreme?), The 100, etc., and less recent with the MCU, Sherlock, Teen Wolf, Hawaii 5-0, etc. It is a broad trend across ships, fandoms, and mediums.

So if it is more common for queer ships, it is hardly unique to them. Similarly, pretending that it is about queer representation is a clever misdirect to disguise the fact that it is most often about ships and shipping wars. If you ever need proof of that, consider that a character can be queer without being in a given relationship or reciprocating another character's affections. Thus a call for more/better queer rep itself is very different than a call for specific ships to be made canon.

Also note that when audiences frame it as wanting to recognize a specific *character* as queer, it is almost always in the context of a ship. Litmus test: would making that character queer but having them *explicitly reject* the other half of the ship be seen as a betrayal?

(Note: none or this is to say we shouldn't push for more queer rep and more *quality and well-written* queer rep! Just that that isn't what I'm talking about here, and not what seeking canon validation for a specific interpretation or a specific ship is almost ever about.)

Why does this matter?

the language of representation and social justice should not be co-opted to prop up ship wars

it is reciprocal with a trend toward increasing toxicity in transformative fandom spaces

Number 1 here is self-explanatory (I hope). Let's chat about 2.

Demands for canon validation correlate with a rise in fanpol / fandom purity culture. What is fandom purity culture (and fandom policing)? This toxic mentality is about justifying one's shipping preferences and aiming to be pure (non-problematic) in your fictional appetites regarding romance and sex.

Note that this purity culture is so named as it arises linearly from American Protestantism, conservative puritanical anxiety around thought crimes, and overlaps in many ways with terf ideologies and regressively anti-kink paradigms.

It goes like this: problematic content is "gross" and therefore morally reprehensible. Much like how queer sex/relationships get labelled as "gross" (Other) and thus morally sinful, or how kink gets labelled as "harmful" and thus morally wrong. The Problematic label is applied by fanpol to ships with offset age or power dynamics, complicated histories, and anything they choose to label as "harmful". As such, they would decry my comparison here to queerphobia itself as also being harmful, because their (completely fictional) targets are ~actually~ evil.

(The irony of this is completely lost on them).

This mode of interacting with creative works leaves no room to explore dark or erotic themes or dynamics which may exist in fiction but not healthily in reality. Gothic romance is verboten. Even breathe the word incest and you will be labelled a monster (nevermind Greek tragedy or GoT).

As with most puritanical bullshit, fanpol ideology only applies these beliefs to sex and never to violence/murder/etc, proving what lies at its core. It also demands its American-based values be applied to all fictional periods and places as the One True Moral Standard. It evangelizes – look no further than how these people try to recruit others to their cause, aim to elevate themselves as righteous, and try to persuade (‘save’) others from their degenerate ways of thinking. 

“See the light” they promise “here are our callouts and blog posts to convince you. Decry your past sins of problematic shipping, be baptized by our in-group adulation and welcome, and then go forth and send hate to others until they too see the light.” In many ways “get therapy” by the antis is akin to “I’ll pray for you” by the Christian-right (and ultimately ironic).

(Although it has been pointed out to me that these fans are likely not themselves specifically ex-evangelicals, but rather those who have brushed up with evangelical norms and modes of thinking without specifically being victims of it. In many ways they are more simply conservative Christian in temperament and attitude without necessarily being raised into religion by belief).

What this has to do with canon validation is that these fans look to canon for approval, for Truth. On the one hand, if it is in the canon then it must be good / pure or at least acceptable. The authority (canon) has deemed it thus. It is safe and acceptable to discuss and to enjoy watching or consuming. In this way, validation from canon means a measure of safety from being Bad and Problematic. 

For example, where a GoT fan could discuss Cersei/Jaime's (toxic, interesting) dynamic in depth as it related to the canon, fans who shipped Jon/Sansa (healthy, interesting) were Gross and Bad. The canon as Truth provided a safety net, a launch point. "It's GRRM, not me, who is problematic." It wasn’t okay to ship the problematic bad gross incest ship, but it being in the canon material meant it was open for discussion, for nuance, for “this adds an interesting layer to the story” which is denied to all non-canon ships labelled as problematic.

(Note: there are of course people who have zero interest in watching GoT for a whole slew of very valid reasons, including but not limited to the incest. That’s a different to this trend. A less charged example might be The Umbrella Academy, where a brother canonically is in love with his sister and antis still praise the show, but if you dare to ship any of the potential incest ships then you are the one who is disgusting).

On the other hand, a very interesting alternate (or additional) explanation for this phenomenon was raised to me on twitter. (These ideas aren’t mine originally, but I wholly endorse them as a big part of what is likely going on): Namely, as with authoritarian individuals in general, they see themselves as right and correct, but the canon (which has not yet validated their ship) is not correct, and is in fact problematic, and so they can save the canon from itself.

As mentioned, these fanpol types see their interpretation as Good and Pure. So if they can push (demand, bully) the canon into conforming to their worldview and validating their interpretation, then they have shown the (sinful) creators the light and led them to the righteous path. This only works if the canon allows itself to saved though, otherwise the creators remain Evil for spurning them.

How is this different from fans simply hoping for their ship to be canon?

For a second here, let’s rewind to the 90s (since Whedon has been in the news recently). This “I want it to be canon” thing isn’t 100% new, of course. We saw this trend then for the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it was different then. At the time, fans who hoped for a ship to be canon might have been cheering for a problematic one to begin with (Buffy/Spike). So shipping was still present, minus vocal fanpol.

(And Buffy fans learned that canon validation...can leave a lot to be desired. A heavy lesson was learned about the ways that fan desires can play out horrifically in canon, and how some things are best left out of the hands of canon-writers).

These days, this is still largely true. Many fans hope for their ships to go canon, as they always have. There are tropes like “will they/won’t they” that TV shows may even be designed around, which a certain narrative anticipation and a very deliberate build up to that.

But while shipping *hopes* occur for many fans, almost all ships fans that *demand* to go canon and obsess over are now the ones deemed as Unproblematic, or as Less Problematic. I’m talking here about the ships that aren’t necessarily an explicit will/won’t they dynamic but do have some canon dynamic that leads them to being shipped, but which the creators aren’t necessarily deliberately teasing and building up a romantic end-game for.

These ships often have fans who are happy to stick to fandom, but there has also been a huge uptick in the portion of fans who are approaching shipping with an explicit lens of “will they go canon?” and “don’t you want them to be canon?” and now even “they have to go canon” and “the canon is wrong if they don’t make this ship canon”, to a final end-point of “if the ship doesn’t go canon, the source material is Wrong and Bad.”

These latter opinions are the one we see more by extreme fans (‘stans’), hardcore shippers, but especially by fanpol-types, the ones who embrace fandom purity culture at least to some extent.

Why them?

In pushing for canon validation, fanpol types seek to elevate their (pure) interpretation of canon. As mentioned above, it’s validation of their authority, a safety-net, and a way to save the canon from itself if only they can bully the canon into validating their right and good interpretation. 

There’s also another reason, which is that canon validation is a tool to bludgeon those seen as problematic. They can use it to denounce other (problematic) ships as Not Being Canon and therefore highlight their own as Right and Good, because it is represented in the True Meaning of the Work.

Canon validation then is a cudgel sought by virtuous crusaders to wield against their unclean enemies. It is an ideological pursuit. It is organised around identity and in groups sometimes as insular as cults.

How does this happen?

Fanpol tend to be younger or more vulnerable fans, susceptible to authoritarian manipulators. As many have highlighted before, authoritarian groups and exclusionary ideologies like terfs are very good at using websites like tumblr to mobilize others around their organizing beliefs. Fanpol tend to feel legitimate discomfort, but instead of taking responsibility for their media engagement, ringleaders stoke and help them direct their discomfort as anger onto others; “I feel ashamed and uncomfortable, and therefore you should be held accountable for my emotions.” Authoritarian communities endorse social dominance orientations, deference to ringleaders, and obedient faith to the principles those ringleaders endorse.

As these fans attach more and more of their identity to a given media (or ship), and derive more and more validation and more of their belongingness needs from this fanpol community, they also become more and more anxious about being excluding from this group. This is because such communities have rigid rules and very conditional bases for social acceptance. Question or "betray" the organizing ideology and be punished or excommunicated. If that is all you have, you are left with nothing. Being labelled problematic then is a social death.

What this means is that these fans cannot accept all interpretations of a media as equally valid: to do so Betrays the ideology. It promises exclusion. And, in line with a perspective around ‘saving’ canon and leading others into the light – forcing and bending the canon to their will is what will make it Good (and therefore acceptable to enjoy, and therefore proof of them as righteous by having saved others). As was also pointed out to me on twitter, endorsement from canon or its creators also satiates that deep need they have for authority figures to approve of them.

Due to all of this, these fans come to obsess over canon validation of their own interpretation. In a way, they have no other option but to do so. They need this validation -- as their weapon, as their authority, as their safety net, as their approval, as their evangelical mission of saviorship.

Canon validation is proof: I am Good. I am Right(eous). I am Safe.

(In many ways, I do ache for some of these people, so wrapped up in toxic communities and mindsets and so afraid to step out of line for fear of swift retribution, policing their own thoughts and art against the encroaching possibility that anything be less than pure. It’s not healthy, it’s never going to be healthy.)

In the end, people are going to write their own stories. You are well within your rights to critique those stories, to hate them, to interpret them how you will, but you can never control their story (it's theirs).

Some final notes:

This trend may be partially to do with queer ships now being *able* to go canon where before so no such expectation would exist. Similarly, social media has made this easier to vocalize. Still, who makes these demands and the underlying reasons are telling. There are also many legitimate critiques of censorship, queerbaiting (nebulous discussions to be had here), and homophobia in media to be had, and which may front specific ships in their critique. But critique is distinct from asking that canon validate one's own interpretation.

[norgestan]

norandro, eva/nora, amiris 👀❣️

NORANDRO:

i mean, starting off pretty strong with my favorite eskam couple. oh god. THEM. as someone who cannot stomach season 2 and also skipped william's clip and william's clip only when season 4 of skam came to an end... i will ALWAYS love what eskam did for this couple. i think i explain it pretty well on my season 3 review, but to sum up those thoughts: i think this is what noorhelm was truly supposed to be, they're both pretty flawed characters with great arcs who make their get-together super interesting and organic, alejandro is my baby and the most developed william and i'll die on this hill, etc.

especially i think that norandro, for a ship that got way less screentime that all their other counterparts, is by FAR the most developed couple in all of them and up there in eskam too, and although they weren't the focus of most of the show, it's clear as day that the writers really tried to tell a compelling story with these two - and they succeeded. it's shocking to me that eskam actually got to link the "everyone is fighting a battle" motto that has become a meme for how poorly incorporated it is on the skamverse, as alejandro effectively behaved around that motto: during season 3 and onwards, which is where i believe he's fully reformed as a character and love interest, he never hurts nora - nor anyone - in any way. he struggles to tell nora how he doesn't want a relationship because he doesn't want to hurt her, and in the miscommunication fest that their first clip of s3 is, i've always LOVED that nora calls alejandro a "fuckboy" still, and he's clearly annoyed by this, but doesn't bite back. he's always so mindful of her feelings even though he's struggling himself, BECAUSE he understands that his suffering is not the center of the world! because treating people with kindness is a strength in itself! and it continues like that for the rest of the season. like, at his most petty, he just sends a text to nora calling her a "fuckboy", which is honestly hilarious. he deals with a lot of jealousy because of nora's new relationship, yet he values her friendship so much that he never snaps at her, he never lets it show when he's talking to her, and he's never passive-aggressive about it - you can tell that he's so genuinely glad that they're still friends after all. god, the clip where he realizes that miquel is a shit boyfriend while he's talking to nora... imagine the things any other william would've said there. imagine the ways alejandro could've been petty or overprotective and fuck everything up. instead, he recognizes nora needs space and even though it hurts to be away from her, he does it because he understands it's what she needs - and his own feelings and entitlement (that he previously showed, too!) aren't the most important thing. it's beautiful. UGH. what a great character eskam crafted, there.

i like them well enough in s4, too. i think, for what they had to work with, they took them in a good direction and their happy ending feels deserved. it's just that... personally, i wish there was more introspection of nora's aftermath in s3, which is also one of my complaints with season 3 - and where characters like emma could've been SO good. although i understand the intentions, a lot of nora's internal turmoil regarding her abusive relationship with miquel are only tied to her desire to be with alejandro. it's frustrating that it became so boy-focused when the girl squad was the center of the emotional climax of nora's season. to me, the solution is still in giving the pov's to the girl squad and not... random characters lol, but oh well. i think eskam did good there and i still love this couple the most!!! i just wish there was an universe where their story doesn't have to be wrapped up in one season and we can get actual glimpses of a beautiful slow burn where they can finally get together and make their relationship work - and this is where the fanfic part comes in, i guess! as someone who loves the couple, i liked seeing them lovey-dovey in the background of s4, but also i wouldn't have been too mad if they held off from making them completely canon and only hinted their status as endgame, kinda how they did with eva and jorge. oh, and speaking of eva, i guess...

NOREVA:

i guess, the main thing with them is that i love norandro so much that i can't really see nora with any other love interest??????? now, platonically. UGH. 12/10. anyone who's seen season 3 should know and i shouldn't even have to explain it tbh. i love the focus that is put on their friendship and how emotionally charged it is when it comes to miquel and the aftermath of all that. like, a similar thing is done with norandro - because at that point, nora and alejandro were exclusively friends, but it becomes even more relevant when it's about eva. eva who, you know, was in a toxic relationship herself. i love that she herself brings up her relationship with jorge when she's talking about miquel, and how wary she is of everything that happening. the fact that she's the first one to sense it feels so right!!! i love that eskam really made them close and gave them the window scene, which is both so powerful on its message and a true love letter to female friendships.

i think eva is a really underrated eskam character as it is, like... people really don't understand how great of a character she is and how much she's grown. they are quick to call her a boring, ooc party girl once s2 rolls around, like eskam didn't spend TIME making eva herself declare that hooking up with cristian (and cristian ONLY!) was something she did out of fun and she was decided to stop as soon as it stopped being fun for her. moreover, eva is such a perceptive person: she's been that way since s1 and it has only carried across for the entirety of the show since then. and when pairing two really good characters together, like eva and nora, you really can't go wrong. their friendship brings great things out of both of them and it goes through its own arc during nora's season, whereas other seasons either dump eva as noora's bff midway through or just make them really close to introduce character drama but don't really do anything to their dynamic as it is.

romantically... sigh. i'm sorry LOL as much as i love girls kissing and wlw romance done right... i don't see potential for this relationship outside their platonic dynamic. which is, btw, incredibly strong and beautiful. i'm super contented with how eskam handled their friendship and therefore i wouldn't want anything else from them, and it's not like nooreva where the chemistry was THERE. however! i'm always open to see people's interpretations of what romantic noreva could be. wasn't it you who wrote that beautiful fic of nora realizing she's bi and falling for eva after season 3? because now THAT'S the shit i'm looking for. i think there's a lot of potential there which i'd like to see explored in fic, but other than that, i love their relationship how it is and i've never felt a desire to see them as each other romantic interests.

AMIRIS:

first things first: why did eskam NEVER confirm cris having an embarrassing, sweet, confusing childhood crush on amira? i mean, it's my headcanon that she'll later realize it and she'll jolt awake and think "holy FUCK" but like... it's a thing that isaks are into their jonases. why didn't it happen here :(((((

being honest, childhood friends to lovers has never been my thing? a simple friends to lovers doesn't do it for me: i like my relationships rocky, with lots of character moments and whose survival and success depend only on the people involved making efforts to change and do better. if you've seen s4... yeah, that's not really the case. it's just disappointing because damn, amiris is the realest thing indeed, but also... what case are the writers doing for them? because it was only irene and hajar doing the intense gazing and bringing all the chemistry home. s4 cris is a mess and a half, and while i like the idea of the bench scene featuring both of them, and being more about cris reminding amira the reasons she's made it this far instead of lecturing her about sucking it up better... the result is still lackluster. there are SO many issues on their friendship that were introduced and then dropped, and it's really nice that cris finally is there to comfort amira when shit goes down, it truly is! but what else is there? it's just a small part of s4 being a bunch of missed potential. they could've REALLY done something great with their relationship and bring back and close cris' development in the show, but we only got... well, nothing. back to 0. amira has to live with those problems, now. things like that really make it seem like once amira broadens her horizons, she won't really go back to her friendship with the girls, and cris will be a lingering wound of the past. oh well.

ehem. romantically!!!!!!! as i said, cris was totally crushing on amira at some point. like... canon really makes a point at making cris' brother amira's love interest, where dani has nothing to offer to amira than cris hasn't done yet. iftar on a rooftop? ha, loser, cris did it first. admiring her passion and her faith? cris does it arguably way better than dani. longtime pining? dude. go home. okay, i'll cut dani soto some slack since it's not about him lol. point is, if amira was charmed by all of those things, then what tells me that the option of her and cris being a thing is off the table? at the end of the day, they're indeed a relationship that needs a lot of work and patience to last. the 500k slow burn is writing itself, really.

(regardless of amiris' future, i still think irene and hajar have to do a cute romcom romance at some point. their chemistry is off the charts.)

[l-sincline]

I talk about a big plot hole of SBI not being canon and also why it would work as canon and ALSO what problem saying SBI isn’t canon actually reveals under the cut because I’m very torn.

(Also I’m very much so rambling from a writers perspective, there’s definitely a lot more at play that I’m glossing over lol)

Why is it at all meaningful that Phil was the one who stabbed Wilbur?

By taking away the father son dynamic (even if it is just found family) you lose a lot of the emotion in wilburs death, because now it’s just some guy who came on and went “Oop- time to die!” You lose a lot of the trauma behind Wilbur’s death, being killed by your own father and some man who just felt like he was doing a moral good are two very different things. Though part of Ghostbur’s trauma is certainly the result of his own actions, parts can also be attributed to those around him, especially being killed by his own father in a pro-sbi world.

And the argument that SBI itself creates plot holes doesn’t really work here either- a big part of the dream smp is that no one really has a fleshed out backstory. Even with Ranboo, all we know is that he seems to have some form of memory loss. A lot of time in the dream smp is spent focused on the present, which is great, the story doesn’t really need to delve into the past.

When it does, it’s just tidbits of information that don’t really have their own story behind them, such as everyone’s favorite fish mom, sally (or the lesser favorite, Samsung smart fridge.) We don’t NEED to see Sally or get a ton of detail about Sally and her relationship with Wilbur, we just know that she’s Fundy’s mom. And that’s really all we need to know, should need for more information about Sally arise, it can easily be inserted because she wasn’t given some big elaborate backstory.

In its best case scenario, it would’ve been the same with SBI. By just saying “yeah they’re all related” (once again, in a found family situation or not) you can leave ends open to interpretation until you need to fill them in. Obviously at some point the disconnect between the family would need to be addressed, but that isn’t really as hard as it may seem. We already see Phil and Techno having a clear fondness for each other, Tommy clearly cares about Phil’s opinion and him in general (even if he isn’t as open about it) Wilbur generally seems to only hang around and enjoy their company as well as trying to bring them all back together (there’s also that mention from earlier of the importance that Phil is the one who killed Wilbur) and deny it as he may, Techno came to help Tommy (and Wilbur) out of their pogtopia situation at the drop of a hat, and also continues to shield Tommy despite knowing it could get him in big trouble.

As it stands, the family dynamic is clearly a little broken, but there are many, many events in the plot that explain this. Tommy has a pretty deep distrust of techno- duh, he watched this man (brother?) who he thought was on his side murder his best friend infront of an audience at their enemy’s command. (I won’t even get into the withers, that’s a whole other can of worms that goes way deeper than SBI) Phil clearly prefers techno- well unfortunately he did kill one of his sons and the other one got exiled, he is kind of stuck with techno only, though I must also mention that every parent has a favorite child (if you think this is untrue: congratulations, you’re the favorite) Overall, there are a lot of events in the plot that would lead to the family being a bit dysfunctional right now, Wilbur seems to be the one trying his hardest to get them back together. We can assume this is because he lost his memories and doesn’t really understand why they aren’t all of good terms.

At the end of the day, as much as I love techno (blood for the blood god, E, whatever other nonsense you want me to spout) it does actually seem that he’s the only one actively pushing against the dynamic. (Tommy seems to just... exist within it. Not really for or against. Unless he states otherwise in the future in which case hoo boy) Phil seems pretty content with his role as ‘dad’ never really actively denying it while also seeming to refer to the rest of the boys as kids. (I mean, really, the checking in on Techno and then seeing Tommy there and saying that it’s been awhile and he’s glad they’re together and talking?) Wilbur has also confirmed things in reference to the SBI family (Technos older than 2 minutes... right?)

The denouncing SBI issue ends up less as “guess the family isn’t canon?” And showcases more that there’s some communication not happening behind the scenes. I mean truly, if they all decide “yeah that isn’t canon” then there really isn’t much you can do, but the box Technos opened is that there’s communication not happening- and that’s what’s causing plotholes. Storytelling through roleplay can be extremely riveting (trust me, I role played for many years) but there are certain things that need to be agreed upon between all members, sbi being a big one right now. While Phil and Wilbur are off dropping bits of SBI lore, Technos busy saying it’s not real. Looks like Sleepy Bois Inc might need to have a little chat? Who really knows. Hope it sorts out like the Tommy finding technos house thing did lmao.

[lany-d-flow]

Thoughts: Barret as a Father Figure

I wanted to give my perspective on this topic, as it's one of many stigma-heavy thoughts about the actions of FF7 characters. I'll try to provide examples based on anecdotal experience and the circumstances surrounding Barret and Marlene's lives.

So, is Barret overall a bad father?

So, short answer: No, I don't think so.

Long answer:

Okay, anyway, anyone who has seen or played Final Fantasy 7 is probably aware of two characters: Barret Wallace and Marlene Wallace.

We first see their dynamic early in both Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. We also see a bit of this written in further works of the Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 such as "On the Way To a Smile: Episode Barret and Episode Tifa".

On the surface, we see Barret's unconditional love for his daughter. So many quotes from the game reflect this:

"She's tougher than me"

"That's right, little angel, I am!"

"She's cute as a button, with the heart of an angel..."

...And many more quotes I could cite. As one more example, during the ending of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, we see a moment of Marlene taking care of reunion flowers while under Elmyra's care. After looking at them, Marlene and Barret call out to each other, foreshadowing a reunion in one of the next installments of Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

All right, so we see that these two love and think the world of each other. However, some view Barret as a poor father figure to Marlene for trusting her into someone else's care multiple times throughout the story, including but not limited to:

Having Tifa care for Marlene while AVALANCHE goes after mako reactors in Midgar; having Elmyra care for Marlene while Barret joins the crew to go after Sephiroth; and after defeating Sephiroth and Meteor, trusting Cloud and Tifa to act as parental figures to Marlene while Barret heads back to Corel to atone for his past and find a new purpose besides being a man with a weapon as his right arm.

All right, so based on these moments, one could argue that Barret is not being a good father due to how often he leaves Marlene in the care of someone else, and instead of truly settling down as her caretaker, pursues purpose(s) he thinks are more important.

However, I do not fully agree with this view, nor do I fully agree with other views that Barret's incapable of being a good father. Do I think he could be a better Father to Marlene? Perhaps, yes. Many of the roles that our heroes in Final Fantasy 7 have are not done perfectly. There are examples I could discuss now, but I'll save that for later. For now, I argue the reason Barret leaves Marlene in the hands of others is that...

Life’s answers for the greater good aren’t always as simple as they seem. To do what’s best for someone you look after--in this case, Barret’s daughter--there may come a time when someone else can fill in as a guardian if the person does not have enough emotional availability to care for an individual.

Allow me to demonstrate explain, first by starting with how long Barret has been her father figure in the first place: around 4 years. Barret adopted her to take his Dyne’s place as Marlene’s father figure. Dyne, his best friend, was lost when Shinra took their usual cover-up approach when a mako reactor incident occurred in Barret and Dyne’s hometown, Corel. Instead of owning up to their mistake, Shinra decided to destroy everything remaining in Corel, including its inhabitants. Barret tried to save Dyne, but his right arm that was holding Dyne was shot by a Shinra trooper, causing him to lose control of his forearm and leading to Dyne facing an unfortunate fall into the Corel prison. Among the inhabitants in Corel, Marlene was an infant when Barret took her in as an adopted daughter. Infact, here’s her character bio in a Final Fantasy Ultimania:

Barret’s four-year-old adopted daughter. She views Barret as her real father, having no memories of her birth father, Dyne (Barret’s old friend). Marlene is remarkably composed for a young child and even occasionally runs 7th heaven by herself. - Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive Volume 2 (Pg. 063).

So based on the context the story gives us, we can conclude Barret spent 4 years looking after Marlene while residing in Midgar. He was probably in the middle of taking on odd jobs during this time, of course, and could not see her 24/7. However, such action is necessary if he is to make a living for himself, and more importantly Marlene. Ultimately that part is up to interpretation. What’s not open to interpretation is when Tifa became a part of AVALANCHE, she was the one looking after Marlene during Barret’s missions with his crewmates (Wedge, Biggs, Jessie). While we know Barret was not always around to watch Marlene, we can conclude that he knew who to entrust his daughter’s safety towards, as someone like Tifa has many motherly qualities, and above many things, wants people to live, especially people she cherishes (And of course she eventually becomes Marlene’s mother figure along with Cloud acting as the father figure when Barret heads to Corel). Eventually, when the team decides to go after Aerith at Shinra HQ, Barret entrusts Marlene to someone else once again. This time. it’s Aerith’s step-mother Elmyra, who will continue to watch over Marlene until the end of our heroes’ journey. Perhaps we’ll get a moment of reunion near the end of Final Fantasy 7 Remake when the team returns to the people they are fighting for, but for the next month Marlene is without her father.

All right, we know the endgame of Final Fantasy 7. The team survives the Lifestream-Holy-Meteor clash and they are alive, but now they must find a purpose in their new lives. While Barret stays with Cloud, Tifa, and Marlene at edge for some number of months, helping to build a new Seventh Heaven bar and home for Cloud and Tifa, he eventually decides to embark to Corel and leave Marlene under the care of Cloud and Tifa.

Wow, what a way to not look after your child that you dote on so much, right? For being her adopted father, Barret sure does leave Marlene in the hands of someone else pretty often. For some people, this can lead to the conclusion that Barret is not a good father figure to Marlene and needs to learn how to settle down and act as a real parent for her. While it can be said that Barret’s not an amazing father, I believe what he’s doing does have a realistic approach. He has no job, he doesn’t feel fully available to watch his daughter, and in the midst of this there are two people who are more than willing--and happy--to look after the person he cares about so much. If Marlene can receive a better quality-of-life from someone close for the time being, isn’t it best to give her that better life for now?

Well, I want to get a bit anecdotal about this. I come from a family of 7 children so I got 6 siblings: 2 older half-sisters, 1 younger full-blooded sister, 1 younger half-brother, and 2 younger half-sisters (5 sisters, 1 brother). Well over a decade ago when there was 4 of us, my biological father and mother divorced, and the aftermath was extremely detrimental to everyone. My mother was in a heavy state of depression and lost a lot of money; there was very little food to come by; us children were pretty much doing as we pleased with little consequence at the time; and my birth father was hardly there to support anyone but my younger sister and me. 

So what action did my mother take for my older sisters? She sent them to another state for a year where our grandparents resided, as they were in a financially and mentally stable situation that could benefit my sisters for the time-being. 

I could be here all day talking about the outcomes in minute detail, but to make sure that doesn’t happen, I’ll give the general aftermath: Eventually my mother recovered, found someone who became a doting step-father for all of us, and has unconditionally supported all of us in what we do with our lives.

The point here is that life throws us in complicated situations, and parents sometimes hit said situations that involve their child(ren). Many parents will absolutely dote over their children. Barret absolutely dotes over Marlene and is extremely concerned for her safety. But like Barret, there arise decisions in one’s life that involve changing guardianship for children. Some people have to work overseas and cannot take their children with them, so for a little while they can entrust that duty to someone else they are close to. If I’m going to draw parallels from other games, then the Persona series is a good example. I’ll be more specific: Persona 4. The protagonist is sent to Inaba where his uncle, Ryotaro Dojima, resides with his daughter. This happens because the protagonist’s parents’ jobs require that they be sent overseas. But his parents do not have to worry about their son’s livelihood because he’s sent to be supervised under someone that they trust, and someone they’re related to.

Conclusion

Nobody is perfect, and life is complicated. Sometimes there are roles in our life that we want to accomplish, but when it involves someone you care about, especially your own child, you want to make sure they have the best life possible. Maybe Barret would love to spend his time with Marlene as much as possible, but before he can really do that, he needs to get his own life together first. When that happens, then he can return to the person he loves more than anyone else in Gaia. Let’s always remember: Children are brought into this world, and it’s a cruel world, just like the real world. We want them to be as prepared as possible for the challenges life throws at them, so while they’re still young, look for the greatest good they can get, like Barret does.

[importantwagonpursemonger]

Itaewon Class: PSRY+ JYS OTP

Hi everyone!! I recently finished watching Itaewon Class series on Netflix. Loved it. So after finishing the series I went through social media for its reviews & reactions & came to know that many people did not like PSRY & JYS pairing. Many people were shipping PSRY & OSA. I totally loved PSRY-JYS pairing. Here are my thoughts about the so called love triangle.

For me PSRY & OSA pairing was dead in the water in epi 2 itself. They had cute moments in epi 1 but after the accident of PSRY father, this relationship also died romantically at least. OSA was not under any pressure to accept help from Jangga Co. Mr. Park had already paid for her college tuition. I know other expenses are there but her initial plan might have anyways been working part time to pay for her expenses. Chairman Jang did not pressurise her in anyway for accepting scholarship or job at Jangga Co. She was no threat to him at any point in the show. But she still accepted it & led a comfortable life working at Jangga even after she knew how they had killed Mr. Park & how PSRY had to go to jail because of them. His entire life was ruined by that family. She still continued to work for them. Life gave her many chances to become a part of PSRY's life as a romantic partner. But she never took that risk. She was content thinking that PSRY continued to “ like” her even though she was actively working with his father’s murderers

I never thought that PSRY was in love with OSA at any point in the story. He had a first crush on her & after he lost his father, he designated OSA as his first love & kept her in that box. She represented hope of a better future for him after he avenges his father. But he was so indifferent to her. He was so emotionally removed from her that her actions against him didn’t even evoke a strong response in him. Being a good person is all well & good, but he showed more passion in his dislike for the Jang family than he ever showed in his so called love for OSA. He mentions that he likes her a few times in the series but never actively pursues her. He never even discusses his personal issues & emotions with her. What she knew about him was what had happened in the earlier part of their acquaintance. Their relationship was stagnant after that. Their relationship dynamics never changed. So I never really bought into his love for OSA. So this leg of the love triangle never had any growth after the initial foundation & remained at the same state.

JYS came into PSRY's life like a storm- all thundering & extreme. She was a functioning high intelligence girl with sociopathic tendencies. She could never empathetic or sympathetic towards others. She reminded me a lot about BBC Sherlock who was also a high functioning intelligent human with no empathy & sympathy. He also said whatever he deduced about a person without thinking about their feelings. JYS is the same. She uses her intelligence to be an influencer & earns a living for herself while still being in school. She is aware of her own genius as well as faults & it never mattered to her how her truth bombs hurt another person. Her 1st interaction with PSRY didn’t leave an impression on her. But her 2nd interaction with him at the police station where she saw him lose his cool against the police & Jang Guen Won left an impression. She became intrigued by him. Then later on the more she spent time with him the more she liked him & fell in love with him. After knowing about his past & goals, she actively started working with him to achieve his goals. She did not expect anything in return from him. She was in love with him & wanted to do everything in her power to bring him success. Even after he rejected her love for him, she didn’t flounce off in hurt & rage. She continued working besides him & still showed her affections to him. She made him feel loved even if didn’t reciprocate her feelings.

JYS antis complain that she was transphobic, racist & a stalker. I do not believe the show depicted her actions in such a light. It is just that they have misinterpreted what was shown onscreen.

Transphobic- She did not care about Hyun Hi’s sexuality personally. But let’s look at the sequence of events for her advise for firing Hyun Hi. Hyun Hi was not making food as per the standards expected from her. JYS recognised this as an issue for DanBam's growth. She made her opinion about this clear to Hyun hi as well. On top of that she discovered Hyun Hi was a transgender. She personally had no issue with it one way or another but it would affect the business if the patrons had come to know because her cooking was not the reason people were coming to the pub. If she was a great cook, then it wouldn’t affect that she was a transgender. But because it was not, her being a transgender was another negative point for the pub’s success. That is why her natural conclusion was to fire Hyun Hi. Also the point that she asked Hyun Hi that why did she not go to a transgender club instead of the normal one was because Hyun Hi herself confidently came out & said she was a transgender. She didn’t try to hide it. So JYS made this catty remark to her not because she was transphobic. She did not show any discrimination against her. So I don’t know where people got the idea that she was transphobic.

Racist- Kim Toni did not look like a Korean from his appearance. He genuinely looked like an African national. His nationality was also from Guinea. Though his father was Korean, Kim Toni was not automatically registered as Korean citizen since he was born in Guinea. His citizenship was not Korean even though biologically he was Korean. Hence when the club security refused to let him enter the club, racially discriminating against him, JYS suggested going to another club instead of fighting with the racist establishment because they could not prove that he was Korean national. She was not being racist. If she was racist, she wouldn’t have hired him at DanBam in the first place itself. So this racist moniker for her is untrue.

Stalkery/Creepy/ Pushy love for PSRY- JYS has a very selfish personality when it comes to her loved ones. Since she does not emotionally connect to people in general, the people with whom she does connect are very important to her. She decided to quit going to university to work besides PSRY because she liked him. She vowed to herself to help him succeed in his life. She believed that she could bring both success & love in his life. She got jealous of OSA as she was introduced to her as love interest of PSRY. But she also knows that they are not together in a relationship. So why should she give up her love for a love relationship that is not even realised. She did not put any obstacles or did not do any scheming against them. She just loved him. She was pushy with him because like a normal person who has a crush on a person she also wanted to know more about him. After learning his past she cried for all the pain he has suffered & worked with him actively to bring down Jangga Co. She got rejected by him but she didn’t turn vengeful against him. She continued to love him & express her love to him constantly so that he knows that he is loved. Some people interpreted this as sexual harassment. I seriously don’t understand this pov as she herself has told PSRY many times that if he is so bothered by her love , he can ask her to leave anytime. She would have seriously left him alone if he had asked her seriously. So I don’t know why people make this an issue against her.

PSRY was not a kid. He was a grown intelligent adult who though idealistic was not weak or a pushover. He was quite ruthless at many points in the story- his insistence that detective should turn himself in so that his father’s accident case be investigated even if it caused his daughter hurt was one such instance. Him pointing out to Director Kang that only she had truly lost everything when their plan to dismiss Chairman Jang from the office was another. He continued with his plan to take down Chairman Jang even though he knew that JGS whom he considered as a brother was not onboard with it. His refusal to give up his revenge plan when OSA pleaded with him to do so. Other instances are also their. If he believed that someone has harmed him or his people he was ready to take action against them. He was even ready to fire JYS when she asked him to fire Jang Guen Soo so that they can stay in the same location & this was at a point in his life when he actually needed her intelligence & expertise to succeed. So if he had such an issue against JYS expressing her love to him even after his refusal, he could have done it since he was already in a successful position in his business life. He had no reason to tolerate her so called harassment. But he didn’t because he didn’t actually mind it even if he said so. He subconsciously liked it. The last person who had expressed love for him was his dad. After his death his life was utterly devoid of love & happiness. It was bitter. He was craving for love & sweetness in his life. That is why he even named his pub as DanBam which he had revealed to JYS in their 3rd meeting itself. He was always connected to her on an emotional level since his outburst at the police station. He instinctively trusted her. Though people saw JYS constantly pushing him to open about himself as some pushy obsessive move by her, PSRY opened up to her on his own. If he did not want to be open with her, he would have refused her. Also he had expectations from her that when she made a mistake he scolded her openly. With others he was cool & calm but with her he was all fire when he asked her to leave after she advised him to fires Jang Guen Soo. Even OSA noticed that he was emotional in his interactions with JYS. She had not seen such passion from him in her own interactions even after almost a decade.

I honestly think he was also very selfish when it came to JYS. He had come to know from JGS that she was working at the pub after ditching going to university but he still didn’t advise her against it. He said to her because he needs her for his business but I think he also needed her in his life emotionally. It did matter to him that she not leave him. When JGW had come to their pub to make a job offer to JYS & Seung koi had expressed his worry about it, the camera had panned to PSRY who was drying the dishes. For a moment his hands had stopped but then he once again resumed. He was definitely worried on a personal level about her leaving. When he had seen her being manhandled by JGW, he had punched him & worried more about her injuries than what she was saying. He was about to pummel JGW but stopped at her one command. Though he was affectionate with his people but I think he was extra affectionate with JYS. He used to praise her extensively if she did some good work, users to pat her hair, even allowed her to use his shoulder to sleep in the bus, side hugged her occasionally. He had immense trust in her that is why he went ahead with the investor plan even if he wanted to initially open other pub’s one by one. I think the audience had come to know enough about him by that time that he always did what he wanted to in his own time without paying heed to another person’s advise. Once he had made his decision he stuck to it. But he changed his decision for her. Even when it was proven to be a wrong decision later on, he didn’t allow JYS to accept the entire blame. He in fact brought her fully into his revenge club after they were able to handle the investor crisis.

PSRY was subconsciously close to her but passed off his gestures with her as those of a brother or business partner. He was oblivious not only to her feelings towards him but of his own self as well. So when she confessed her love for him he was blindsided. He did not go after her himself when in any other case he might have. He went after urging from Hyun Hi. He tried giving her explanation for his refusal- age, business, his so called love OSA, even JGS love for her. But she cut to the chase & asked him point blank whether he even sees a possibility that he might ever reciprocate her feelings, he tells her No & asks her not to like him. Up until that time he consciously never thought of her in romantic light. He had boxed OSA as his true love but was not in a relationship with her. He planned that he would be with her after avenging his father & JYS would be with JGS like a neat package. But this incident shook his dreams foundation. He became aware of JYS in a romantic light. He stopped his affectionate gestures like patting her hair. But you could clearly see a different kind of warmth in his gaze for her.

He continued his denial & worked hard to achieve his goals. He allowed JYS to be by his side even though he could have asked her to quit since he said he didn’t like her expressing her love for him. But he was never going to. He has always been selfish with regards to her even though he was selfless with others. He was just denying his feelings for her after 4-6 years of working together because he truly didn’t think that she would ever be lost to him. Even JGS sarcastically pointed out to him that why was he being selfish & not allowing her to leave him because his business needs her. Even when he knows that his denial hurts her. He was coming to realisation of his feelings for her slowly. That is why he couldn’t get angry at her & ask her to leave, couldn’t give a straight answer when OSA asked him whether he still liked her. Also please note that he knows her drawer password but she also knows his computer password when she was shopping from his computer. Their relationship has developed from strength to strength in the duration since they work together but his relationship with OSA was not only stagnant but actually more distanced after so many years. No wonder he realised his feelings for her when the answer to every love test question was her. So though his realisation was abrupt it was not unanticipated.

Also it was not like he had only JYS & OSA as romantic options. He was a good looking, fit, intelligent & rich businessman. He wouldn’t have any shortage of women if he wanted to date. But he had no desire to do so because he was already emotionally involved with JYS & busy in his revenge plans. But then he had no problem in going down on his knees in front of Chairman Jang when JYS's life was on the line.

The show could have delayed or scrapped the kidnapping plot but it is what it is. But when he talked to his father in limbo he realised that though his life has been a burden, full of hardships but he still wants to live it because JYS makes it worth it for him. He wanted sweetness in his life but he had not realised that she had already dissolved sweetness in his life by loving him through all the obstacles.

So therefore they are my OTP of the show & I was happy that they got their happy ending together.

Now if the OSA fans are going to defend her by saying that oh she was working on her own plan for taking down Jangga then I would say it was too little too late. By the time she did anything against him PSRY did not consider Chairman Jang as a worthy opponent & he would still be facing criminal charges for hiding his criminal son who had abducted JYS & JGS. It was anyways not going to be swept under the rug. So yes, she did help in bringing down Chairman Jang but her revenge also came from a selfish place. She knew that PSRY had dedicated his life to avenge his father’s death & his goal was also same as hers. Still she continued working alone in her own revenge. Where she could have worked together with him, she worked alone when there was no need. I don’t even know if she would have actually resigned in the 1st place if Chairman Jang had not told her how he saw her as a despicable person not even worth as a human to him. He had tamed her like the livestock that he saw her as. I think only after that she made the decision to be a whistle blower. God knows how long she would have wallowed in her own self pity, thinking of herself as a martyr had that conversation & the kidnapping incident not happened. So though I am happy that she got her own revenge & freed herself from Jangga company, I don’t think she would have done it if she has not realised how pathetic she was behaving from Chairman Jang'a pov. So she definitely was not the right person for PSRY. She was too selfish & distant emotionally to ever be the support & sweetness that he was craving for in his life.

Wow. That was a long post. But I had to get my feelings out somehow. Please share your comments if you agree or disagree with me.

[brushes-of-sage]

If all 8 parts dont come thru blame tumblr and their ask limit frozen au idea: ok so yeah varian was born with ice powers(btw i have no idea if hugos adopted in this au or not, it might come back later, my brain is just spitting things at me atm)Varian hugo quirin and ulla were a happy family until one day and accident involving alchemy, ice magic, and a startled alchemist involves in both parents getting trapped in a giant amber trap(Hugo comes in just as the amber finishes consuming them)(1/8)

After this, varian is scared of himself and his abilities both in magic and alchemy. He now wears his gloves 24/7 as opposed to just during experimenting(varian is 9, hugo is 8 kinda like elsa and anna but flipped(i think)) Any confidence he had in his abilities is immediately shattered and try as he might he cant seem to free his parents with magic alchemy or both. Hugo tries to help as much he can but varian is too scared and doesnt want to hurt him. After doing some research,(2/8)

he tries to ask for the trolls help but they cant so he requests they erase his memories of varians power, for fear of hurting his brother (he cant seem to keep hugo out of his lab. He feels horrible about it but cant risk hurting his only family left) Btw i dont c varian hurting hugo accidentally as well i dont think he could emotionally handle it, but all u angst writers, knock urselves out. Fast forward a few years and varian is 21 and about to be crowned king bc he still hasnt found(3/8)

a way to free his parents. While at the coronation party hugo meets donella, quickly filling the mother role he wished he had. Little does he know, she is only posing as a foreign dignitary bc she heard rumors about a magical prince hiding in arendelle and wants to exploit/study it. By the end of the evening she determines its not hugo, but hopes getting in hugos good graces could help getting to varian. Fast forward to the ballroom, the brothers argue (about what i dunno), ice spikes, (4/8)

varian runs, hugo leaves to follow him, and leaves donella in charge. I also headcannon he gets his memories back as the movie goes on bc reasons. Along the way, he runs into belle, a hardened ice harvester whos seriously annoyed about this snow storm in july.(dont worry guys hugo and belle dont fall in love, theyre just friends)They trek their way up the mountain while varian builds himself an ice lab cuz hes a dork. Along the way they meet ice ruddiger("Im sorry u 2 made a snow raccoon but(5/8

not a snowman?" "shut up Belle")So they make it to the lab, Hugos impressed, he wants to reconcile, but varian still has Confidence Issues, insert first time in 4evr reprise and whoopsies Hugos heart is frozen and his hair is turning blue(its already blond) and Belle takes him to the trolls. They tell him “an act of true love” like b4 but they interpret it as familial/platonic love bc that love doesnt get enough love. He thinks its donella bc just like how anna was desperate for love,(6/8)

hugo was desperate for some sort of parental figure, and rushes back, insert evil monologue by donella here. The rest of the movie pretty much plays out as b4: varian is captured, donella continues playing good guy, hugo gets out of the locked library, slowly freezing as he makes his way across the fjord insert art by mom, love heals, parents are finally free, gates are open roll credits. This is honestly something ive been thinking about all day and this au now lives in my mind rent free.(7/8)

I know there are plot holes and missing elements, but this is what i have so far, i lowkey love it, and if u have any questions pls ask, i wanna elaborate this au as much as possible and questions will help and pls tag mom i want her to c this. Sorry if this is too long i just have a lot of thoughts. And oh my goodness that means so much that you've gotten invested tysm(8/8) -💙

Response under cut

Okay, first off oh my heart, I need this movie now akfjakfja (and tagging @cinn-a-mom too ‘cause bless)

So lil Varian is the partial cause of the encasement, right? ‘Cause oh gosh, this poor kid being so enthused by alchemy and now has powers and all of that building up to encasing his parents?? Someone give him a hug 🥺🥺 (and omigosh if this does end up being where Hugo is somehow adopted into the family, just ohhhhh, him coming in at that moment is just *tears*)

And ohhhhh, I love how you slightly changed it to, if I understood right, Varian requesting that the trolls take away Hugo’s memories of his powers - ‘cause this kid is just wanting to help and Varian is scared and worried of hurting him, so he sees this as an option to protect him. (And ohhh, while the angst of him accidentally hurting Hugo with his powers is definitely wonderful, now I’m just imagining smol Varian going to the trolls and pleading for them to help and then coming to the decision to take away Hugo’s memories. Like OH MY HEART-)

And ohhh, I don’t think it’d play such a big part in the story, but as they’re both growing up, who’s acting regent at the moment? Or at least I’m just musing how things would be as they’re growing up since they were kids when Quirin and Ulla were encased (and if you don’t have any thoughts for it yet, that’s totally cool 🤗)

Ajfkakfjka Donella posing as a foreign dignitary to find the ‘magical prince’ to study is ahhhhhhhh- And then Hugo being drawn to her as the mother figure he’d always wanted and lacked for so long????? Lemme just

*sobs*

(Ajfkakdj Varian is SUCH A DORK OMIGOSH I LOVE HIM)

And omigosh, the whole dynamics between Belle and Hugo would be hilarious (“Shut up Belle” while she’s laughing yessss) Also snow/ice Ruddiger is absolutely adorable ahhhhh!

Hnnnnnngggg First Time I’m Forever Reprise and Hugo believing that Donella could break the spell (and ahhhhhh, I can just barely imagine how that monologue would go down - how she was never there for him, why would anyone want him - oh gosh, insert “More Than Just the Spare” ‘cause that’s literally how he’s feeling ahhhh - aldjgjlad even more so especially if he was adopted/taken in because he’ll feel even more isolated after all of this had happened, which is another reason why he was drawn to Donella in the first place)

And then cue Cinn’s art where Hugo sacrifices himself for Varian and we’re here to see all of the tears and sobbing and feels akfjakfjaj

BUT OMIGOSH I FREAKING LOVE THIS - Varian and all of his issues in confidence and his struggle to overcome it, Hugo and his issues in wanting to feel loved from having been pushed away for so long, you mentioned Belle was hardened so I’m excited to see her soften up ajfkakdj, and then DONELLA HECK YEAH - I was not expecting the route you took but I love it so much that it gave me chills ahhhhhh.

Wonder how Quirin and Ulla react to all of this once they get out ‘cause they’ve all grown so much and their kingdom as well

I freaking love this AU and the angst lord in me, while quite enjoying the soft and the fluff, is grinning quite malevolently at the angsty scenes hehehehehe, but seriously, this is AWESOME 😱

[killingeveperspectives]

Perspective: Killing Eve Season 3 Retcon – Can a show Retcon itself into a different genre?

Recently, I learned about the term ‘Retroactive Continuity’ and I am pretty proud of it because now it sounds like I know what I’m talking about. Retroactive Continuity, or retcon for the intimate like me, is the addition of new information that changes or reinterprets events/narratives previously established, therefore opening new possibilities for the future. It can correct inconsistencies, change world/character limitations, or allow for a dramatic plot twist. For example, a character previously established as an incurable psychopath goes on an emotional growth journey. Killing Eve got fundamentally retconned season 3 and it changes everything. And I need to talk about it. (Look, it’s been a while I wrote this and re-addressed some points here :) )

Villanelle is not a psychopath anymore, I guess

Villanelle was written explicitly as a primary psychopath meaning she was mainly born this way®. Which is different from a Secondary psychopath, whose emotional developmental arrest is caused by disturbingly severe neglect and abuse in early infancy. The impairments in their brains and psychological development prevents them from thinking and, most importantly, feeling like a regular person do. They have a different subjective experience. Psychopathy is incurable in adults, which sets limitations to character development.

Villanelle can’t empathize, perceives people as objects and is very utilitarian. She doesn’t know how to show people she likes them, and her idea of love is possession. Endearing as she is, this is the character the writers wrote. And this is the character portrayed to us in the show. Villanelle is unapologetically a psychopath. She is remorseless, amoral, derives pleasure from killing, all the better to get paid for it. She is basically a self-indulgent goddess. This is enunciated repeatedly in Season 1. Of course, we are not just told, we are shown. Her face glimmers in every kill with enjoyment and cruelty. She is able to conjure any emotion to manipulate – depicted more terrifyingly with Nadia. She emulates emotions from others to connect with people like depicted in the opening scene. My favorite chilling moment is when she gives the “what it is like to die” monologue to Frank, just to terrify him before killing him. Or this face:

Season 2 dives deeper into her psyche where she tells us how she feels, or better yet, doesn’t. We establish she feels this overbearing boredom and seeks to feel anything, so she collects things (or people, no difference) that make her feel something and these things she cherishes by possessing them. The poverty of emotion is reiterated. Again, we are shown, not only told, time and again. The writers are quite clearly asking us to just accept Villanelle for what she is: a psychopath. Like Jodie Comer said herself during that season: “I think some people are bad and that’s what they are, and I don’t think she should be redeemed.” It felt impossible to make it more established within the narrative and the world building. She is, like all adult psychopaths, incurable. These are the character’s limitations, in a purely storytelling sense.

Then, Season 3 happened. In season 3 Villanelle’s character’s development is irreconcilable with the previous seasons. Much of the character’s limitations were simply erased to give her room to “grow”, starting early with one of my favorite scenes of the entire season:

It was marvelously shot and so symbolic. This time around she is gifting Eve something intimate and safe: a teddy bear. Then we have Villanelle by herself and vulnerable, stripping the layers of her feelings towards Eve, the mask of anger cracking as she tries to convince herself she wanted Eve dead, to finally giving in to longing. Her own words are repeated back at her in a loop in a little booth. It was an admission. The booth, the privacy, the lighting, the acting: It was a confession. More than that: it was a love confession. As if falling in love was something she could now do? I don’t want to entertain the actual nature of her feeling, but this is a level of emotional complexity she is just prohibited of displaying by the character’s limitations. And yet, it happened. And I will argue, all the elements of this scene deliberately lead the audience to believe these were romantic feelings.

But this is foreshadowing, and the major shift in perspective happens in her bottle episode. In this episode we see Villanelle display genuine empathy and care for her brothers, not only by sparing them but by giving them more than enough money to go see Elton John. A bonna fide display of correctly conveyed affection and consideration. Which, again, is prohibited by the characters limitations. Then the episode builds the narrative that her “psychopathy” was the result of her abusive upbringing, especially in the confrontation with her mother, when we are clearly asked to side with Villanelle.

Here is where the show subtly retcons Villanelle’s character. It cleverly never denies she is a psychopath. It retcons her ability to emotionally grow, by shifting the emphasis to childhood trauma. Nevertheless, for Villanelle as a character, the emotional growth is still prohibited – despite of trauma. The sleight of hand is passable because audiences (actually, any empathic human being) find it incredibly hard to grasp that trauma cannot be overcome. That’s why it feels plausible she has a very complex, deeply transforming emotional response to killing her mother, despite still being a psychopath. Because that is a response that feels plausible to us, the audience, despite being inconsistent with what is plausible for the character’s the inner experience of reality.

This shift not only changes all the interpretation of her character that was previously established but also changes all future interactions. Here is where we see Villanelle getting conflicted about killing, not in a utilitarian sense of it being impractical or boring, but in an emotional struggle. She starts to worry about how others perceive her, and specially that she is perceived only as a “monster”, pointing to a development of a moral compass, deeper self-awareness, self-evaluation and ability to feel remorse. This is all not only incredibly far-fetched: it was prohibited. This is a clear break in continuity from the character of previous seasons. However, after S3E05 it feels plausible.

Villanelle is a carefully crafted monster

We are, then, asked to believe that Villanelle was made into a ruthless killer, which logically follow can be unmade. Hence, her past needs to be explored so it can also be somewhat resolved, symbolizing the undoing of her atrocious (but delightfull?) persona “Villanelle” (the distinction between Oksana and Villanelle was useless before and should still be. But now it feels like it makes sense). Initially, it was established that her mother died, and she had an abusive drunk father who abandoned her in an orphanage. While I believe there was potential in creating a convincing traumatic abusive background from the established narrative, it may have seemed too unsettling to have a man mistreat an infant, which might explain the writers choice for such through retcon. Transferring the source of the neglect to the mother, might heighten the stakes, since daughters are expected to develop a strong bond and mirror their mothers. Thus, adding depth to their face-off and making her murder more symbolic. Addicionally, a full house – with her mother, stepfather and brothers –would allow Villanelle to flesh out her relationship to family and explore the conflict more thoroughly before confrontation. Despite the symbolic tension, in the end we have no definitive answer to the nature x nurture question, nor to what happened in Villanelle’s infancy, except that the metaphorical darkness may have been passed on from her mother.

Villanelle’s joy in cruelty is the most alienating aspect of her character – also the most gripping – and thus, in order for her arc to be more digestible and relatable, it also needs explicit retconning, which is mostly explored through her relationship with killing. Therefore, her cruelty is also displaced to her abusive upbringing. Most specifically, displaced to another character: Dasha. She is the source of the cruelty transmitted into Villanelle through severe trauma during her teenagerhood, ingeniously avoiding the gravity of discussing infant abuse (Dasha brings a downpour of plot inconsistencies). This is unmistakably conveyed in this scene:

Villanelle was something soft and whole that got broken and reshaped into steel, into a stone cold killer, by external forces. Thus, Dasha is an estranged mother figure from the past who tortured Villanelle into a killer, mirroring the dynamic between Villanelle and her mother. Since there is no clear narrative surrounding her early infancy, and her mother needed to be killed to spark the transformation, Dasha becomes the surrogate through which the conflict of Villanelle’s transformation can be explored. The story doubles its efforts to get the audiences to not only believe Villanelle can change, but also that she deserves to change. And here is where we enter dangerous territory.

 Killing Eve is not a spy-drama anymore, it is a rescue romance

I stand with the writers, Killing Eve was not a romance. Not until Season 3. The topic of how audiences, especially queer fans, perceive the show as a romance is worth a whole essay on its own. However, in Season 3, audiences are treated with a romantic atmosphere (remember the teddy bear scene?). Everything is toned down; the pace is slower and the investigation is put to the side. The cat-and-cat game is replaced with this reinforced sense of destiny, of fate, where characters seamlessly come together, as if all their actions were just leading them up to that moment. Their approach carries no sense of danger, their obsession is replaced with anticipation. Characters stop thinking about each other neurotically, that scrumptious voyeurism is gone. Character’s don’t need to be reminded of each other. There is no need for it anymore, it has been written for them. They will meet each other, no need to pursue.

Gone is also Eve’s curiosity and intrigue about Villanelle, along most of her character’s motivations, with one simple retcon: Eve wants to rescue Villanelle.

To which Eve replies: I don’t think so. Meaning “I believe there is more to Villanelle than killing and I will cling to that” (Why, we don’t know. But that’s for another time)

Previously, despite the irresistible attraction Eve felt for Villanelle, the story never portrayed Eve as trying to redeem her. It was precisely the fact that they are polar opposites that brings them together, each trying to quench a deep hunger through the other, in all the wrong ways. Eve pursues in Villanelle much of her unfulfilled impulses and is challenged to embody them herself. Eve’s never been attracted to what Villanelle might have of redeemable, she was drawn to what Villanelle had of profanely feral. On the other hand, Villanelle longs for the safety and intimacy she sees in Eve but has no way of even comprehending what it means.

This honesty to the character’s true desires and realities is what has allowed the show to explore an enticingly destructive dynamic while avoiding romanticizing it, which would downgrade the show to a disservice. However, ultimately, there is a writer trying to sell a story. And in this case, they are setting up a redemption arc within a romance, despite character desires and realities not aligning with that. But in season 3, Villanelle’s psychopathy got retconned to make her crush on Eve without it being too problematic and Eve’s past season character development got simply blissfully ignored so her crush on Villanelle could flourish without it being too problematic, and in the end, their attraction got stripped away from all it’s complexity and danger so they could bring characters together without it being too problematic. These characters got rewritten to give us the tease of a romance we have seen iterated one million times elsewhere.

The premise of the show was to explore the dangerous temptation to bite the proverbial apple. Still, at some point the tension needs to be resolved, and the writers decided to shift it to a rescue romance. A very slippery slope. A slippery slope to romanticizing disturbingly destructive relationships, to perpetrating the cliché that “Love redeems all”, even psychopaths can change if they have someone who believes in them – not only dangerously dishonest but painfully dull.  As if somehow having your life and your sense of self ruined for a person is some sort of martyrdom to match the person’s redemption itself. What a beautiful pair they would make, cozy in heaven. But damned be the day Killing Eve becomes cozy. While writing the redemption of the serpent and the power of female love despite the obliteration of Eden; they forgot the most delicious part of the story was the apple.

[joy1579]

RFA boys + saeran helping surrogate MC through pregnancy and meeting her baby

so this is the other interpretation of that request i got. i hope its okay! i wrote this one out side which was really nice for a change. please leave a comment if you enjoyed it

also master list if your into it

Jumin

During the pregnancy

-        Since he met you later in your surrogacy he only gets 2 months to help you through your pregnancy

-        But he does everything he can

-        You get one of those super fancy pregnancy body pillows

-        He declines the private nurse though reminding him that every woman ancestor he has gave birth even before private nurses were a thing

-        He picks apart the line saying that his great aunt never had children so not every

-        You cut him off with a gently kiss before saying “hush I’m pregnant and therefore right”

-        He would argue with you but you’re already walking away towards the kitchen where your latest snack craving was hidden away.

Meeting the baby in the waiting room

-        He was a tad upset that he couldn’t be with you in the delivery room

-        But he understood that your sister and her husband (the parents) took priority over him

-        At least he said he did but his grim look and constant foot tapping  said otherwise

-        “Jumin” your sister called “do you want to see your future nephew?” his heart jumped at that.

-        Your sister hadn’t been cold to him certainly but she had always referred to him as your boyfriend despite his proposal.

-        He had taken it to mean she did not approve of him but if this child was his future nephew then she must have accepted that you were his future wife

-        “yes I would” he said resolutely stepping forward to see the baby in her arms

-        He had you and your sisters eye’s (poor baby ain’t got no eyes JK) and red tinted hair from his father but what hit Jumin most was the simple peace of the child

-        He had expected fussiness and crying. He had asked around and many people warned him that newborns were fussy even on their best days

-        But like you this child had a gentle peace about him a calm and happy light in its bright young eye’s

-        “I’d like to see MC” he said abruptly and your sister chuckled stepping aside so he could visit you

-        He wrapped you in his arms and murmered low in your ear “you never cease to amaze me my love. Marry me? Not in several months not even in days. Tomorrow. The second your discharged.”

Yoosung

During the pregnancy

-        He is trying his absolute best. He knows nothing about pregnancy. So he asks his mom and after calming down her panic she agrees to help.

-        By showing up at his house to see and care for MC.

-        She insists on cleaning and worries over MC whenever MC tries to help

-        Yoosung helps dutifully but you can see a tinge of regret in his eyes when his mother nags him to stop playing lolol

-        She’s there for a week cooking and lecturing Yoosung on everything that a pregnant woman need help with (which according to her is EVERYTHING)

-        You ask her if she had a hard pregnancy by chance and she admits her pregnancy with Yoosung was very difficult (Yoosung had never known that and listens intently from his place cleaning in the kitchen

-        She had pushed herself to hard and ending up going into labor prematurely nearly loosing Yoosung in the process now your crying and Yoosung is rushing to your side his mom hugging you both

-        “you are strong MC anyone who can put up with my son must be but dont forget to take care of yourself, and you Yoosung you help her with this and make me proud” his mom semi scolds with a warm smile

Meeting the baby in the waiting room

-        Yoosung is sitting in the corner practically bouncing with anxiety

-        Zen has his hand on Yoosung’s shoulder and is looking at his watch every five minutes

-        He was missing a final for this but he had told his professor that his girlfriend was having a baby so the professor would let him retake it tomorrow

-        Technically it wasn’t a lie. It just wasn’t their baby.

-        Despite it not being their baby he was still so nervous he thought he might be sick. After hearing his mother’s story, he had researched EVERYTHING that could go wrong (there are a lot of things that could go wrong)

-        So when he heard your sister (who had become a familiar presence in his life) call him he nearly jumped out of his skin

-        He rushed over to where she stood holding a small bundle of blue blankets

-        “you’ll never guess what we named him?” she teased and her small smirked highlighted just how much you two looked alike “MC came up with it, and we thought it was perfect naming him after his uncle”

-        Yoosung looked at her confused and lost tilting his head to the side

-        “meet Yoosung our baby and maybe someday your official nephew”

-        Yoosung turned beet red at that you and he had only been dating for 3 months after all

-        And yet through all the nerves he couldn’t find it in himself to dislike the idea in fact he couldn’t stop the wide smile that grew on his face

-        “hi mini Yoosung. I’ll do my best to be someone you can look up too okay!”

Saeyoung

during pregnancy

-        Look there was A LOT going on during this moment in his life

-        Between the agency and mint eye he could barely think straight

-        And you were his rock grounding him through it all.

-        Vanderwood had never seen a woman 7 months pregnant pick a fight with a cult leader and show no hesitation when looking danger in the face before you

-        You were either incredibly brave or just plain stupid considering you were in love with Saeyoung probably a bit of both

-        He had to admit though your steadfast level headed nurturing was exactly what Saeyoung and his brother needed

-        At every wrong turn and new trouble, you were there cheering Saeyoung on and calming Saeran down (something that amazingly it seemed only you could do)

-        Saeyoung was determined to protect you and his brother and you believed in him whole heartedly

-        It was only after all the chaos was over and Saeyoung had brought you to his bunker that you finally sat down, sighed and called your sister to tell her you were home

-        Saeyoung sat next to you and as soon as you hang up you burst into tears and buried your face in his chest

-        He was surprised when you mentioned how worried for him you were

-        He pulled you back to look at you disbelievingly before kissing you hard

-        After all that nothing could come between you

Meeting the baby in the waiting room

-        He stood stock still eye’s darting between the doors to the delivery room and the hallway he led to the psychiatric ward where his brother was

-        He wanted to tell his brother that today was the day but everything had been so busy since arriving he didn’t have a chance and now his was stuck unsure of how long it would take.

-        Logically he was sure he had enough time since his brother never wanted to see him for very long. They were doing better of course but at most they could only spend 20 to 30 minutes together before Saeran would have an episode and Saeyoung would be ushered away.

-        Still he didn’t want to risk being absent when the baby was born and he could see you safe and sound again.

-        Your sister had barely stepped through the door before Saeyoung was burying her in questions

-        “is MC okay? What about the baby? Is it a boy or a girl? When can I see MC again?”

-        Your sister chuckled at that nodding down the bundle of blue blankets in her arms

-        “MC’s is okay their helping her clean up now. This is our little boy here and you can see MC as soon as you answer a question for us.” Her gentle voice reminded him so much of yours whenever you tried to soothe Saeran and he nodded urgently. He desperately wanted to see you.

-        “will you be the God father luciel?”

-        Ice ran through his veins as he froze. Godfather. He couldn’t, there was no way he could with everything he’s done everything he’s caught up in but hadn’t he thought the same about being with you, and about seeing his brother again too

-        He looked at the tiny infant, it slept soundly in its mothers arms and he tried to find a reason to dislike the small boy, any reason to say no to the question your sister had just asked. Slowly the baby opened his eyes and he marveled at how clear and innocent they were.

-        He’s tremulously nod’s and is suddenly caught up in a gentle hug from your sister and her quiet husband, before being ushered back to meet you.

Zen

During the pregnancy

-        Absolutely gives you anything and everything your craving

-        Completely quits smoking because what if it hurts the baby (still drinks beer though)

-        he lays his head on your belly and talks to the baby telling it how it has the best kindest strongest angel of a mother ever

-        surrogate mother you point out and he looks so confused because what’s the difference?

-        You explain that the baby isn’t yours in any way except for it growing in your womb. The egg was your sisters so the baby is hers not yours

-        He still looks a little confused but takes your word for it after all you would know best

-        You and he have A LOT of dinners with your sister and her husband

-        He’s still getting used to the whole family dynamic since he hasn’t had it in so long

Meeting the baby in the waiting room

-        He is pacing because he does not enjoy sitting still while anxious

-        he can’t calm down and he’s angry that they won’t let him in the delivery room with you

-        Yoosung touches his shoulder and he turns on him about to snap but stopping himself when he sees its Yoosung and not Jumin

-        Yoosung asks him if he wants some water and offers to walk with him to the hospital cafeteria

-        They are almost out the door when he hears your sister call for him

-        “zen would you like to see the baby?”

-        He sprints over to see the little boy and in that moment he vows to teach this child everything he knows

-        It may not be his son but he swears to support the kid to the ends of the earth and if the kid ever needs a place to go. Well that’s what uncles should be for.

-        The baby grabs at a stray lock of Zen’s hair and its one of the few times Zen lets anyone but you and his hairdresser touch his hair

-        Then the baby tugs just a little too much and Zen decided that the no touch rule is completely valid as your sister tuts and untangles the tiny fist

-        He still loves this kid though

-        Your sisters been talking this whole time but he hasn’t heard a word so she snaps in front of his face to get his attention

-        “do you want to see MC”

-        “yes” he nearly shouts before speed walking to your room

Saeran

During the pregnancy

-        After the chaos of mint eye and looking for his brother he is happy to settle down

-        He cooks for you, and of course you and he share so much ice-cream (midnight ice-cream runs because of craving happen almost weekly at first)

-        He brushes your hair and tries to wait on you hand and foot until you put that foot down

-        You have to give him a serious talk about making his own decisions and choosing things for himself because you don’t want to see him fall back into his mint eye habits

-        He nods and starts to give you a little space but he still brushes your hair. Saying he genuinely enjoys it

-        You encourage him in his recovery and sit outside while he gardens

-        When he gets angry you do what you can to calm him down. People are worried he might hurt you but you have faith in him. (and the self-defense training Jaehee gave you)

-        Your sister is admittedly nervous but your unwavering faith bolsters her trust in saeran as well as his trust in himself

-        He’ll be the first to admit though he does NOT like the look of discomfort on your face when the baby kicks but he’s learning to keep himself calm and to walk away from things that upset him rather than try to fight them head on

Meeting the baby in the waiting room

-        EVERYONE can feel how tense he is

-        He’s sitting straight backed with his fists clenched on his knees

-        Your sister is honestly a little afraid to take her newborn baby out their despite how sweet he seemed sometimes. It’s the times he didn’t seem sweet that she worried about. Even if you swore up and down he was more than safe

-        His head shot up at the sound of the door and he rushed to your sister the second he saw her

-        “where’s MC? is she safe? I need to see her NOW?” that last word came out harsher than he meant and Jumin put his hand on Saeran’s shoulder

-        “I’m sure MC is fine. Isn’t that right?” he said calmly

-        Your sister nodded a little before speaking “MC is fine the nurses are helping her clean up you’ll be allowed back as soon as she’s done I just thought you might want to see the baby since you helped MC through this”

-        Saeran swallowed hard, he wasn’t sure he wanted to see the baby. Wasn’t sure if he should see the baby

-        But when he locked eyes with the small infant he swore he could see so much of you in its face (or was it your sister? Did it matter? Not to him)

-        It was the first time he had actually thought of starting a family with you. later when he is farther into his recovery, when his relationship with his brother is better, when you and he are married maybe.

-        When a nurse called for your visitors and he lunged forward baby forgotten you where most important