Sometimes I think about how Merlin took place over 10 years—a whole decade—and the thought of the show spanning that long feels entirely too long and like an infinite amount of time and that it can’t actually have been ten years
And then I think about how Merlin is 16-18 in the first season. And I just—
That means, at the oldest, Merlin was only 28. He wasn’t even 30
And then I just start losing my mind for a whole different reason
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How evil is arlecchino and what is she cooking
As of 4.2, I’m really curious what they’re planning with Arlecchino as a character, especially as a villain/antagonist/morally dubious character, and how far/which direction they may go with that
Intuitively my impression is we’ll see her do something way more “villainous” than she presents herself as being for majority of Fontaine’s AQ in front of us right—(which isn’t a surprise given that, you know, Arlecchino nor the House of Hearth have never been presented as 110% ethical LOL) but I find myself not being in complete agreement with most analysis or speculation threads I see about Arlecchino’s morality and the like, level of sinister people seem to ascribe to her.
Idk how to put it, especially in regards to her children I do agree they are not a wholesome found family, that Arlecchino is not above pulling strings or using them for her own ulterior motives, but I kind of hesitate on the idea she only cares about the Hearth children as a means to the end/things she can control and there’s nothing else going on with her characterization wise there. I’m not saying that impression seems remotely unreasonable or unfounded, but just that it feels there’s something intentionally missing in how we are supposed to conceptualize her as a person
My main reasoning for this hunch is the fact they have not elaborated on Arlecchino and the previous Knave—who Arlecchino is stated to have taken over the position from by force. The extra tidbits I think about are that 1) Arlecchino was previously an orphan in the Hearth 2) the previous Knave is described as way, way crueler to the children of than Heart than Arlecchino was from when she took control of the House
Often, people’s major indicators that the House of the Hearth is kind of super fucked up are the NPCs we meet in world quests who are part of it and clearly suffering. But one thing I haven’t ever seen people mention w this that i think is a very interesting detail is, in The Very Special Fortune Slip Inazuma worldquest, where we stop this House of Hearth guy (Efim Snezhevich) from manufacturing tension between Watasumi/the Shogunate to restart the war with his other Hearth subordinates, at the end of the quest we get this dialogue that reveals he had been acting under the previous Knave’s directives:
It’s also mentioned he’s employing this plan in an attempt to “rebuild the prestige of the Knave” following Signora’s death, iirc? Now, see, the dialogue itself says that this is “assuming our captive is telling the truth” so who knows what’s really going on, but I find this a really odd/interesting thing to highlight. I’m a bit fuzzy on other world quests with Hearth members, and am not saying none of them were acting and subsequently being treated poorly by our Arlecchino, but like, this gives me a lot of questions especially when paired with implications this previous Knave seemed to be way worse
Like, what drove Arlecchino to take over? How unexpected and controversial was this within the House? Assuming the above information is all true it definitely says something this guy went rogue and acted on what the previous Knave would want and didn’t think our Arlecchino would greenlight it, which does feel consistent with the previous Knave being described as basically worse & crueler than our Arlecchino. It also makes me question how much house of hearth things we’ve seen outside the main story are the work of our Arlecchino or if there’s a bigger divide of loyalty. Heck, I could be wrong but it doesn’t even seem like we know if the previous Knave is dead or not
This isn’t me saying Arlecchino couldn’t possibly be treating hearth children worse than she wants us to know, especially ones who aren’t her “favorites” the way the fontaine trio seem to be, but I really don’t feel sure about making a solid conclusion of her exact level of malice the way ppl r generally understanding it rn when it feels there’s going to be more about her. Just the idea of she, as a Hearth child, clashed with the previous leader who was known for being cruel, overtook their position and took on less harsh methods of leading that made at least some members with more power/possible closer proximity to the previous Knave go rogue and try to commit atrocities in the previous Knave’s name…I feel this leaves a lot of room to suggest there’s more going on with how Arlecchino is as a person
I don’t mind if she’s just very evil and deceptive bc if she totally had me fall for thinking she was less evil than she actually was that’s fun tbh. But I feel people suggest that’s all her character could be with no degree of like, “sympatheticness” or deep grey morality and that if her character did go there it would be automatically poor writing and genshin walking back on making a truly evil woman when IDK. I feel you can claim at this point they have left it open ended and it’s never been completely confirmed she’s pure evil. Also sometimes I just get a hunch and feel cautiously confident in Genshin executing certain characters well. Not all characters, just certain ones. Especially given Fontaine’s character writing being very good and a character like Lyney feeling very solid to me when any development with Arlecchino would likely involve him and his siblings as well, I honestly feel open to the idea of Arlecchino being satisfyingly written to be both villainous/morally dubious but “sympathetic/likable as a person” in ways outside of just her ruthlessness if that makes sense
If I’m wrong/they drop the ball with it more than I anticipate I’ll eat my hat but I am pretty excited about her character and which way they decide to go with it. I will say the only potential impression I have of where they’ll go with her has been wondering if it will go in a “cycles of abuse” direction—I’d be surprised if they ever elaborated on Arlecchino’s character especially in how she feels about things and her also growing up as an exploited child of the hearth wasn’t relevant
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Getting really tired of the 60+ crowd on social media posting memes like this.
Firstly, Grandpa, you can't cook at all, so something about sexist pots and kettles probably applies here. But secondly, you know what I made for dinner last night?
A recipe I found on fucking TikTok.
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Listening to women right now is very important. We are witnessing other women step forward and speak about their experiences with Wilbur. As men, we need to be listening, because it's never just one woman.
However, we also must not forget the value of our voices. We as men need to step up and say that this behavior is unacceptable. We need to talk about it. We need to call out our friends and our brothers for this behavior.
Men that hurt women will not listen to women, but they will listen to men. If we truly want to support women right now, we need to be vocal about our support. We need to show up and acknowledge the reality—Shubble is not the only woman that has experienced this kind of abuse.
There are many women in our personal lives that experience this abuse. Abusers could be our closest friends, family, mentors, and leaders. We cannot let our guard down. We cannot sacrifice our morals to keep the peace. We must remain vocal. This behavior cannot be socially acceptable.
We say that we support women. We say that we will support domestic violence survivors. But when the abuse is staring you in the eyes, we remain complacent. This is not acceptable.
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This is gonna be a long post but I need someone's help and opinion!!!
I've written down a list of recipes I want to try but I can't decide which ones to do first so yall will have to help me decide. Here's the list:
balsamic roasted tomato spread with garlic olive oil
herbed chickpea dip
parmesan breadsticks
baked tortilla chips
white bean soup
roasted red pepper soup
minestra al limone (lemon soup with zucchini)
pasta salad with chicken and vegetables
eggplant timbale
grilled mixed vegetables
sage potatoes
rosemary chicken
orange roasted chicken with Thyme
herb chicken cutlets
coppa di pescne
double baked potatoes
creamy chicken pot pie with fresh pastry dough
potato cheddar soup
Fresh strawberry tarts
sweetrolls
strawberry shortcake
some of these are just appetizers, entrees, and desserts but i really like doing a whole 3 course meal when i have the time lol
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Like don’t get me wrong. I am enjoying s11 so far. Thank you 11x04 baby for my life etc etc. however the thing that really grinds my gears is like. why no DEAN traumapacifism arc. Like dean is fresh off roughly a calendar year of hurting and maiming everyone he loves. He tried to kill Sam with a hammer. He literally almost beat cas to death. In MY sexy s11 dean goes directly home crawls into bed for three weeks and when he finally emerges he tries to pick up a knife and has a panic attack so bad he pukes. But he’s like well I gotta get back on the horse somehow! So he goes on a milk run hunt (completely normal ghost) with Sam and just brings a gun instead. Of course dean tries to shoot the gun and ends up shaking so bad he can’t. Tries to punch the ghost, which is funny bc it’s incorporeal, but cannot bring himself to do so.
And then later Sam is like. Dude what happened? And dean is like. I don’t think I can do this anymore, Sam. You know I almost killed cas? All he did was ask me to stop, and I beat him so bad he would’ve died if he was human. And it felt good. Best high I’ve ever had. And every time I pick up a knife again, I. Remember. What that felt like. How it felt coming after you with a hammer. And it makes me sick because I miss how good it felt. And I think—Sam, I think I need to stop. And Sam is like what, stop hunting? And dean is like yeah. We work this thing with amara, and then after—yeah. After that, we’re done.
And dean sticks to this right up until cas gets possessed by Lucifer. After that he’s like well maybe I can be a little violent. For cas.
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you know when you get those adverts for like protein shake meal replacement bullshit products and people say shit like ‘im just so busy with work i never have the time for breakfast or lunch or dinner or snacks, so this horrible brown powder milkshake is a huge life TIMEsaver!’ and ‘its so convenient! i just swallow a glass of tasteless powder to meet my basic vitamin needs and then i have all the time my employer wants from me!’ and then you have to keep watching the unskippable ad only for the person not to become immediately radicalised by what they were just forced to say. I genuinely cannot fathom how people write these scripts, say them out loud, film these videos, edit them and publish them and nobody involved in that process is going insane. are you even listening? are you reading those words? cant you see the exploitation of workers is forcing you to stop performing even the most necessary of tasks like eating real food? and cant you see we have been so convinced that is normal that there are entire businesses and ad campaigns based on it?
food, actual real good normal food, is a human right, but also part of your culture, your family, your community. Its a source of joy, health, fun, love and creativity. please dont let these fucked up companies convince you its just time that could be better spent slaving away for the rich monsters that hold your contract.
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