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canonmisogynyvictimstournament · 9 months

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PRELIMINARY ROUND - STAR TREK

PROPAGANDA

T'Pol

1.) dressed as a sex object. far more qualified & experienced than the (male) captain yet treated as less capable. had her agency removed when her past rape was revealed against her wishes & the episode treated it as a good thing. her taking command of the ship got humanity wiped out in an alternate timeline & she "redeemed herself" by becoming a housewife. there was a scene where the captain fell face first into her boobs. whatever they paid her actress, it should have been at least 3x more

2.) i think you can most clearly see the misogyny t'pol deals with in her costuming and makeup. she is given clear special treatment to make her look "more attractive": she wears catsuits throughout the show (despite neither institution she works for having any other similar uniforms, even for other women), sexy little silk pajamas, a cropped jumpsuit one time (even tho…it's a one piece?? and makes no sense to be cropped????), and SFX makeup that doesnt make her look as "alien" as other members of the literal alien species she's a part of. enterprise's main crime is sexualization, and while everyone (quite literally EVERY member of the cast) is hit with it at least once, t'pol pretty much never gets a break. there's a difference between sexy and overly sexualized, and ent is FAR into the over sexualized side of that spectrum. love you t'pol wish your canon was better xoxo

3.) The classic “Rick Berman Star Trek needs a woman who is strong and competent and part of the crew but gets skintight jumpsuits with low necklines instead of standard issue Starfleet uniforms to show cleavage and keep the male audience on board”.

Kes

1.) Poor Kes had it so bad. She's an Ocampan, which is a kind of alien with psychic powers and a 9-year long life-span. I was pretty interested in what they were going to do with her character when I started watching because in theory with the show having seven seasons, we could have seen her go through pretty much her whole life span over the course of the show. Unfortunately, most of her character is tied up in her terrible boyfriend Neelix, who is at a lower estimate in his mid 30s, and at an upper estimate his mid 50. He met her and started dating her while she was taken prisoner after being kidnapped. Neelix is mostly meant to be comic relief, he acts like an annoying, forcefully cheerful clown for the majority of his time on-screen (when he's not having war flashbacks) except for when he's interacting with Kes. With Kes he is possessive, controlling and manipulative. He's constantly accusing her of trying to cheat on him or leave him, throwing himself pity parties whenever she talks to another man and belittling her. And worst of all he's often framed as being in the right. She hardly gets any screen-time that isn't somehow actually about her boyfriend, the Doctor she's the assistant of or another male crew member who has a crush on her (also too old for her). When she does it's pretty much always focused on her psychic powers and not her as a person.

Some of the highlights of her time on the show include the time that Neelix's lungs were stolen, and after he spends the whole episode feeling sorry for himself and accusing her of being happy about it because he thinks she wants to leave him she donates him one of her lungs. Then there's the time some space anomaly makes her prematurely fertile so she has to decide if she ever wants kids right at that moment, and for some reason, almost the whole episode is focused on whether Neelix wants kids. She eventually breaks up with Neelix. Which is great! But she was possessed at the time. So she didn't even get to do that herself.

She was written off the show at the start of season 4 when another character was added and they needed to boot someone. She "ascends to a higher plane of existence". And then everyone on the crew proceeds to completely forget her about her straight afterwards. I'm not sure anyone was actually sad about her essentially dying. She comes back in a later episode called "Fury" which is about her trying to take revenge on the crew for her poor treatment. You'd think this would be good. But for some reason, she's mostly angry at the captain for allowing her to get on the ship in the first place, despite one of her few character traits being that she's adventurous and always wanting to learn things that no one else has. So the episode mostly focuses on trying to pick apart one of the only parts of her character that was well-defined and consistent. Her past self does tell her that she's forgotten what she truly wanted or something to talk her out of her revenge plan. I'm not really sure what they were going for. She tells the captain she was only an innocent child, so she shouldn't have been allowed to make the decision to get on the ship. She is never shown to be angry at Neelix. The man who started dating her when she was according to her future self a child. And a prisoner.

2.) She's kind of the sexy born yesterday character who's already taken. She's an alien whose race only lives nine years, so when i say that she got married at two that's a bit less alarming. She lived underground her "whole" life (about a year and a half) before she left her town, to find the surface, got kidnapped and then rescued by Neelix, a middle-aged scavenger/smuggler/chef who looks like a Cats character from a regular aging alien race. Neelix promises to show her new places and they apparently fall in love and get married and then Neelix takes her to the Voyager, and she leaves her home forever. At the age of 2. She lived in a cave her whole life, then found this gross little man, married him for some reason, and then was convinced to leave everything she had ever known, her entire family and life, to get on a star ship whose express mission was getting to the other side of the universe as fast as they were able.

Once on the ship she was able to find some independence and her own interests, and eventually left neelix, but god their entire relationship was really just loser old man and naive teenager and it was soooooooo uncomfortable

3.) I rewatched the Kes parts of Voyager. The "General Observations" section can be taken as a TL;DR (sorry for the essay). Here are a few not-so-fun facts about Kes:

General Observations:

Kes was kidnapped 4 times over the course of the show.

Kes often talks like a child especially early on in the show. She acts like a classic Disney Princess; sweet, but not quite understanding what's going on around her.

A lot of Kes's character revolves around the fact that she is very young, and a lot of the more uncomfortable aspects of her treatment revolve around this too. It's not like it's an impossible concept to pull off, in the same show the EMH is actually younger than Kes, and has several romantic relationships that don't feel super creepy in the same way most of Kes's do. This is because the writers don't make him act like a child and they actually give him agency in his relationships.

Kes's people, the Ocampa, live underground on a desert planet. Kes travelled to the surface when she was less than 1 year old, where she was captured by the people living there and tortured for information using "every method of persuasion" that they know. This is where she met and started dating Neelix. He explicitly says he thinks she is dating him because she owes him for getting her out of that situation, and yet it seems like the writers think this is a cute and heartwarming relationship.

Nearly all of her screen time is devoted to emotionally counseling the men around her, helping their character development, comforting and caring for them. She is hardly ever shown to have negative emotions ("Fury" aside), and then it's generally only when a man she cares about is in trouble. This includes when she is kidnapped. Even then she has to be calm, understanding and empathetic.

Kes's established character traits: curious, smart, psychic, caring, kind, young, innocent, naive. Pretty much all of these get tossed out the window in "Fury". She kills people she's known most of her life and tries to sell everyone out to organ harvesters because she gets "confused". She decides not to do this in the end because her younger self tells her she's acting out of character. This episode is one of the worst instances of character assassination I have ever seen.

In about 10 of her 70 total episodes on the show Kes makes a significant contribution to the plot that is not focused on a man. Most of those were more her acting as a psychic plot device rather than anything about her as an actual character. There was only one episode "Before and After", which I would count as truly being devoted to Kes as a character.

Practically every man Kes comes across is attracted to her. Often her attractiveness is mentioned in the same breath as the fact that she is literally a 1-3 year old.

Kes's love interests: Neelix, the EMH, Tom Paris, Tuvix, Ameron (while possessed), Nori (while possessed), Zahir. Aside from Zahir, she has pretty much no agency in any of these relationships.

Neelix calls Kes "sweetie", and talks to her like she's a child. When he's not shouting at her, anyway. Kes unconditionally loves and adores him for some reason.

Observations while watching:

When Neelix's lungs are stolen Kes refuses to leave his side and one of the first things she does is offer to donate one of her own, refuses to let the EMH perform any medical procedures until she's sure it's safe. Meanwhile, Neelix goes on a jealous rant at her because she called another man by his first name.

When Kes donates a lung Neelix refuses at first because the operation would be too dangerous, but Kes says "you've done so much for me, let me give you something once", implying that Kes owes him a lung for him helping free her from the people torturing her.

The episode "Elogium" was apparently meant to be a metaphor for teen pregnancy. With Kes as the teen and Neelix (whose actor says that he sees him as being in his 50s) as the father.

Ocampan puberty apparently happens between the ages of 4 and 5. Kes starts the series at less than 1 year old, and leaves at 3. She is apparently at an age where it would be dangerous to conceive a child in "Elogium". She is not sure she is finished growing. She has been dating Neelix for about a year (possibly more) at this point.

When the EMH hallucinates Kes as his wife, she makes him promise not to tell Neelix, because he tends to get "a little jealous"

In "Elogium", Neelix interrogates Kes over the fact that Tom Paris says "see you later" to her because he "Sees the way he looks at (her). (He) used to look at women that way (he) knows what it means." Neelix is later implied to be in the right here, Kes is being naive thinking Tom Paris could be her friend, apparently.

In "Twisted" Kes turns two years old. Tom Paris gives her a locket for her birthday. Neelix gets pissed off because he thinks he's trying to charm her. Neelix is, again framed as being in the right here.

Kes has a very good memory and is able to remember where everyone's rooms are. When she demonstrates this, Neelix implies she knows this because she's slept with every man on the ship. At the end of this episode, Kes decides to put his photo in her locket to always keep him close.

When Kes is upset that Neelix attacked Tom Paris over her, the EMH tells her she should consider herself lucky to have two men fighting over her.

Tom Paris admits to Neelix that he finds Kes attractive, but says that he won't try anything with her because he respects Neelix. He asks if Neelix would allow him to be her friend. Because who cares what Kes wants right? I guess if Neelix had said no he would have just stopped talking to her?

Tom says Kes is very devoted to Neelix, and Neelix admits he thinks she's only with him because he saved her life and she's grateful he freed her from captivity and she owes him. He is dating her despite this. This is never addressed.

Tanis, another Ocampan, calls her innocent and naive, so she seems quite young even by the standards of her own species.

Tuvix, having inherited Neelix's manipulative tendencies tries to manipulate Kes into begging the captain for his life.

Kes gets kidnapped by caveman aliens. When someone comes to rescue her, the cavemen try to trade another woman to them so they can keep Kes.

Kes goes into a coma and acts as the damsel in distress again in "Sacred Ground"

"This is typical of you Neelix… it bothers you that I'm making friends of my own, you always have to involve yourself somehow." "You can spend time with anyone you want" "As long as I spend most of it with you… I never realised a relationship could be any different. I've never been with anyone but you." Kes when she breaks up with Neelix. Except this isn't Kes because she's actually possessed at the time. She doesn't even get agency in her own breakup.

Kes is dressed in skintight leather trousers and high heels and tries to seduce everyone while possessed by a male warlord. He describes Kes as a "little girl".

In "Darkling" Kes starts wearing form fitting jumpsuits somewhat similar to the ones Seven of Nine wears (though not quite as tight). This is possibly because she's supposed to look more mature, and she starts having "young adult" storylines instead of teenager storylines.

"Everyone seems to be treating me like a child, I'm three years old now"

The EMH kidnaps Kes in "Darkling" when he turns temporarily evil. His treatment of her in this episode includes shoving her into a wall and putting his hand around her neck, repeatedly grabbing and shoving her, holding her at gunpoint and throwing her off a cliff.

The evil EMH kidnaps Kes because she wants to leave the ship to travel with her new boyfriend. This is framed as the good inside of him because he is trying to "protect" her. Kes decides to stay on the ship because of this. She never expresses any negative emotions about this incident.

In "Before and After" Kes goes through her entire life in reverse. In the future she sees, she has married Tom Paris and had a daughter with him, and her daughter has a child with Harry Kim, who was the best man at Kes and Tom's wedding. This is by far the best Kes episode, but she never really gets to react to anything that happens in it. Soon after this she ascends to a higher plane of existence in "The Gift".

In "Before and After" Kes sees threats in advance and warns the crew about them, preventing the Captain's death in the future. This isn't really acknowledged.

Half of "The Gift" is focused on Seven of Nine and the Borg. Not even Kes's send-off episode is really focused on her.

In "The Gift", Neelix and Kes have one final scene together. Neelix gets quite self-pitying again and says she broke up with him because he was holding her back. Kes says that wasn't it but doesn't say why it happened. This is the only time they directly talk about their breakup outside of when Kes was possessed.

When Kes decides to ascend, the captain begs her to reconsider. Kes insists she has not lost her judgement or come under an alien influence. Captain Janeway tells her she's family and tearfully embraces her. Tuvok puts out a candle in mourning (everyone forgets about her after this episode ends though).

In "Fury" Kes is back in physical form somehow, despite ascending into some higher plane of existence in the last episode she appeared. She is also much older in appearance.

In "Fury" Kes gets onto the ship, starts exploding everything she can with her psychic powers, kills everyone she comes across and goes back in time to the start of the show to kidnap herself.

Kes and Neelix have a scene in "Fury". It makes Neelix much nicer than he ever was in the early parts of the show (especially to Kes). He actually notices something is wrong and asks her how she is and prepares her favourite meal for her because she had a bad day. I'm not sure he ever even asked her how she was before. I guess at this point they must have wanted to pretend the relationship was a lot less creepy and unhealthy than it actually was. Especially since Kes is the villain of the episode.

Older Kes's plan in "Fury" is to travel back in time, sell out the people she spent the majority of her life with to organ harvesters so she can send her and her younger self back to her home world because the crew "abandoned her a long time ago". I think this manages to dismantle practically every established character trait she has.

Older Kes's explanation of her actions in "Fury": "You (Captain Janeway) took her (young Kes) from Ocampa. Her home. She's a prisoner on this ship. I was a child, you corrupted me. Your ideas. Exploration, discovery. I believed you. In three years I'm going to leave Voyager in search of higher things because you encouraged me to do it. You encouraged me to develop my mental abilities. What I found, I couldn't control it, it scared me… I trusted you!" Neelix was the one who took her from Ocampa. As noted before, Captain Janeway begged her not to ascend.

Old Kes is killed by the captain. They know something terrible happened to Kes when she ascended, but apparently all that they did was get Kes to record a video of herself saying that she shouldn't take revenge because it's not who she is. This worked for some reason, she says she killed everyone because she was confused.

Kes decides to go back to Ocampa. Due to the Ocampan lifespan, everyone she knew before she left is probably dead. To add insult to injury, Neelix is the last person she sees before she leaves for good.

#polls #preliminary round

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queen-dahlia · 1 year

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𝐈 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠

»»———-Part 1┋Part 2┋Part 3┋His POV———-««

Sorry it took me so long to post this

Note: Translation is not 100% accurate. Expect grammatical errors.

// : alternate translation | ⫘⫘ : flashback

A year ago, I selected the next king of Rhodolite as Belle.

The princes of the three countries have returned home and I have safely returned to my former routine, and I am still working at the bookstore as usual.

(..... Oh, it's snowing.)

Resting my chin on the counter in the shop, I look out the window where the birds are chirping.

The season is winter, and the city is already buzzing with excitement about the upcoming Christmas season.

(Come to think of it, isn't this time of year Prince Gilbert's birthday?)

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Gilbert: "As a matter of fact, I..."

Gilbert: "It's my birthday today."

Emma: ". . . . ."

Gilbert: "In Rhodolite, people celebrate by eating cake, don't they?"

Gilbert: "I want to eat your homemade cake."

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

(It's already been a year since then...)

During my stay at the court as Belle, Prince Gilbert used to mess around with me in any way he could.

The closer you got to the Prince of Obsidian, the absolute evil of the world, the colder the eyes of those around you turned.

On the contrary, Prince Gilbert's smile shines so brightly that it hurts my head now that I remember it.

(Last year's birthday is a bitter memory for me...)

(I wonder if they are celebrating in Obsidian this year).

When it is the birthday of the Imperial family of the great nation of Obsidian, the whole city should be celebrating.

(. . . . .)

(... By the way, I seem to be having hallucinations for a while now…)

I don't know why I suddenly remembered Prince Gilbert… because there is a similar person outside the window.

A man with a jet-black military uniform, an eye patch, an ornate cane, and blood-colored eyes is peering into a bookstore from outside a window.

When our eyes met, a refreshing smile burst through the falling snow.

(...No, no, no way.)

(Just because there is someone who looks like Prince Gilbert, there is no way that Prince Gilbert himself is here.)

I pinched my cheek to be sure, and it hurt.

Gilbert: "That's terrible. I can't believe you turned your face away the moment our eyes met. I thought you would be more pleased." // "It's cruel. To turn your face away the moment our eyes meet. I thought you would be more than happy."

(. . . . .)

A man who should have been outside the window entered the store.

The person who looked so much like Prince Gilbert even had a similar voice.

(... This is a dream… A dream.)

Gilbert: "It's not a dream. So don't try to sleep."

Gilbert: "If the prince of the evil empire sulks, what do you think Rhodolite will do?" // "If the prince of the evil empire sulks, what do you think would happen to Rhodolite?"

(The way he says it, this intimidating feeling... It's definitely Prince Gilbert!)

I get up from the counter with a jump.

Emma: "W-why is Prince Gilbert here..."

Gilbert: "I miss you."

Emma: "What is the purpose of this pretense?"

Gilbert: "Well, do you need another reason?"

(The fact that the Prince of Obsidian is in Rhodolite is not supposed to be there.)

Something else may be going on, a major incident that I am unaware of.

(But now I'm just a commoner... There's nothing of any use to me.)

(No, I have to stick to the lie of being a noblewoman in front of Prince Gilbert…)

They must already know who I am around the time I came to the bookstore as a matter of course.

Right now, I am not worthy of being Belle. I am guilty, though, of being a commoner's daughter who deceived the princes of three kingdoms.

I don't think it will become a serious diplomatic issue when the crime is revealed now.

Gilbert: "I've been thinking hard..."

Prince Gilbert pokes me between my eyebrows with his fingertips and smiles at me.

Gilbert: "I really missed you. How have you been lately?"

Emma: "Okay... Prince Gilbert..."

Emma: "... Have you lost some weight?"

Gilbert: "Oh, really? I think it's the same as usual."

(Then I guess I'm imagining it.)

Prince Gilbert spreads his arms and hugs me tightly.

His body temperature was low to begin with, but he was horribly cold, probably due to being in the snow.

Gilbert: "You know? You haven't changed."

Emma: "It's not that, you're too cold!"

Gilbert: "Huh."

I hastily slip out of his arms and pull a blanket from the owner's lounge.

Emma: "Sit back in that chair and use this."

Gilbert: "I'm fine."

Emma: "It was definitely not a normal body temperature."

Gilbert: "You're such a softie." // "You're a good-natured person."

With a troubled laugh, Prince Gilbert obediently sits on a chair and pulls the blanket over him.

It was a strange time. // It was an odd time.

(... What should I do? I unintentionally gave him a blanket... )

Emma: "Once again, I am at your service." // "Once again, I would like to ask about your request." **

Gilbert: "It seems I can't say "I missed you" even if I wanted to, right?"

Emma: ". . . . ."

Gilbert: "It can't be helped. Let's cut to the chase."

(I knew there was another purpose.)

Prince Gilbert takes a leather bag from his pocket and puts it in my hand.

Emma: "This is…?"

Gilbert: "This much would be enough for today's bookstore sales..... No, you'd have about a month's worth of sales."

(What? No way…)

When I untied the string and checked the contents of the bag, I found it filled with a dazzling amount of gold coins.

Emma: "You can't do this!"

Gilbert: "Did you forget me before we met?"

Gilbert: "You only have two choices, take it or be taken."

(I was.)

Gilbert: "I want your time."

Emma: "My time?"

Gilbert: "I'm looking for someone. You seem to know your way around town pretty well."

Gilbert: "You'll do me a favor, won't you...?"

»»———-Part 1┋Part 2┋Part 3┋His POV———-««

#サイバード #イケメン王子 #ギルベルト=フォン=オブシディアン #ikemen prince #ikemen prince gilbert von obsidian #ikemen prince gilbert #ikeprince #ikeprince gilbert von obsidian #ikeprince gilbert #gilbert von obsidian #ikeprince jp #ikeprince translation #ikeprince spoilers #dahlia's bad translation

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nhbelle · 1 year

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!!SPOILERS FOR 9-1-1 SEASON 6 FINALE!!

Ok I think I've only ever retweeted about 9-1-1 but I have a few thoughts on the finale that I really wanna share. But - and I cannot emphasize this enough - I am in no way hating on the actors, crew or writers of 9-1-1. These are just my personal Amateur thoughts.

First and foremost I would like to say that I didn't hate the finale. There were several things that I really liked about it but I just have a few critics for the finale and the whole season 6B in general.

However, I want to give a balanced opinion so I will start with things I actually liked about it. So here are things I liked about the 9-1-1 finale 6x18 pay it forward:

• The football/soccer kid

Look I have really bad facial recognition, so initially I thought the guy paying for the football's team food was just a cute and sweet scene they added. So when the flashbacks happened, I thought it was such a nice callback to the season 2 earthquake. his character in general was just a good representation of the theme of the episode AND it was long enough ago to be a really nice scene for fans.

• Kameron, Connor, Buck and the baby

I'm really glad they didn't make the baby end up with Buck one way or the other. Buck being able to not just spend time with Kameron While she's pregnant but also delivering the baby yet still being able to give him up really showed his growth. Even though he teared up at having to give him up, he still did.

I think him delivering the baby was also a nice callback to the very first episode of the show and his very first emergency on screen which was him saving the baby. For what they had expected to be a series finale, it was a good callback and full circle ending.

•Buck's maturity

I also liked that this episode showed a lot of scenes where Buck is mature; i.e him trying to reason with Kameron and Connor to fix their marriage problems, his professionalism in delivering the baby (having learnt from the season 1 Full moon episode) and even how he responded in the bridge emergency.

Buck was really mature in this episode which is something reliving to see. This is especially due to majority of this show painting Buck as immature and impulsive. This show has a problem with consistently showing Buck's smartness and maturity. So, It's nice to see some growth even if it was just in the finale.

•Lucy

Ok I don't like Lucy, I'm sorry but I just don't. BUT I did like her role in the episode. As well as him congratulating Chim for his engagement. Her being the one to say 'Mayday, Mayday' was very reminiscent of the season 5 dispatch fire. Since, it is a finale, I really loved all the callbacks/potential callbacks they had.

•Buck, Eddie and dragging

Ok I just thought it was such a nice parallel to have Buck have to save Eddie by dragging him. It was a direct parallel to Buck having to drag Eddie under the ambulance which was SO GOOD.

•Marisol

Ok before anyone hates me I sort of already knew they wouldn't make Buddie canon. And while I really don't see the chemistry between Marisol and Eddie AT LEAST he has a new fresh love story where the girl and him are both really cute towards each other. Even though I think it'd be better to just leave him single, Marisol and him being sort of cute is a silver lining.

•Bobby and Athena

I'm not even going to elaborate on this other than THEY GOT THEIR CRUISE

Ok I think that's enough compliments. Let's get into the things that I believe could have been done better:

•Natalia

No. Just no. The whole beginning of the season set Buck up to be ok with being single just to take that away at the ending.

ALSO the fact that there are so many parallels between his story with Taylor and his story with Natalia, down to the couch, is just a hard NO.

She and Buck have no chemistry. She's pretty but she should've just left and not came back.

Buck should've been single at the end just to show that he really can be okay just being himself and he's accepted that he can find happiness by himself and knows that he is enough now. It would be so much more meaningful than this rushed love plot.

•Eddie and death

Ok in Death and Taxes Eddie talks about dying alone and it just NEVER GETS RESOLVED. They never talk about it again. Instead they rush him into this search for love like that'd fix anything. Buck and him should've just been single. Buck accepting he's enough and Eddie accepting he's fine dying alone as long as he could live every day to the fullest.

•Eddie and love

That man really threw Bobby's advice (and his own) out the window huh. First, he said himself it was a bad idea to date a person you saved to Buck in death and taxes, yet guess what he does at the end of the season. Second, Bobby told him not to look for it yet he WAS looking for it when he met Marisol again. Third, there was absolutely no chemistry or build-up between the two. They just saw each other and fell in love i guess.

I'm not a hardcore Buddie shipper but truly Buck is the ONLY person I would expect him to end up with. The parallels between things that have happened between Bathena and Buddie is just proof enough. Even moreso the talk at the grave at the end of Death and taxes.

•The symbolisms

WHAT WAS THE REASON. WHAT WAS THE REASON. What was the point of the couch theory, the blue-green couples, the red-blue just for it to amount to nothing. Even if you didn't want them to end up together, they could have still had the last ending scene be of them as a family together (Chris, Buck, Eddie).

Whether you believe they were queerbaiting or not, they were definitely baiting something with all the symbolisms surrounding Buck and Eddie.

•The lack of continuity

I feel like the issues present in the first half of season 6B (till like death and taxes) were never resolved. What happened to eddie and dying alone? What about Buck and not being able to fully process his death?

I get wanting a feel good ending but at least tie up loose ends. The finale could've been just as good without the unnecessary sudden add-on like Natalia and Marisol. I liked Kameron and Connor coming back but the rest felt like it came out of nowhere.

I wouldn't have minded a longer finale or just a finale that didn't include the unnecessary stuff. They could have had the Madney engagement but still address the issues they started the season with.

•The Pay It Forward part

This could be an entirely biased take but personally I think there could have been more of the 'Pay it forward' theme. The team could have been more critically injured causing Buck to have to take the role of actual interim captain. It could have been him repaying them for when they put their everything inti saving him. While he did have to do more, it didn't feel enough. The emergency itself felt like it was resolved too quickly and was rushed. Again, I think it would've been more impactful to have a longer, well-written finale ESPECIALLY if they were wrote it believing that it'd be a series finale. That said I am absolutely not telling writers how to do their job, they're the professionals here.

•Buck

Yes he gets his own point sorry not sorry. His arc felt incomplete. It really felt like they were leading up to a breakdown or a realisation of some sort yet nothing. They just wrap up his story with a new love interest and call it a day.

Like why not make him single at the end as a callback to the first episode of season 6 - he started alone and he's perfectly happy ending it alone.

Why not include a breakdown - everyone around him keeps reminding him he died and he keeps getting bothered by it. He doesn't even seem to fully process the impact of his own death. Let him feel his death instead of just forget about it and move on to the next girl.

Why not let him be interim captain for the bridge emergency? Let it be a parallel to when he wasn't ready and now where he is. He's had enough life experience and now he knows what to do. He can do it by himself.

Why not end it with him, chris and Eddie on Eddie's couch? Let it be a wrap up to the couch theory. Their family whether Buck and Eddie are romantically involved or not. Chris is his kid and that's all that matters. It would've been a nice transition of him looking at Chris fondly after having to give away what is biologically his child. He is content with living life how it is. He has found the meaning of happiness. He is fine.

Last mini point cause I totally could be wrong here but I swear they didn't ever introduce the kids that Hen and Karen were fostering (now possibly adopting) till the last episode. Tell me if I'm wrong.

TL;DR While I enjoyed the finale, it felt like it was rushed and a lot of things were left unfinished. A lot of problems were still unresolved at the end. It's a feel good ending but with a lot of missing plot points and red herrings throughout the season. That said this is just my personal amateur opinion and no one should take it to heart. It was still a good ending just not what I expected. Hopefully abc will tie up the loose ends and maybe give us a satisfactory conclusion to this really good show.

#9 1 1 #9-1-1 6x18 #9 1 1 tv #evan buck buckely #evan buckley #911 buck #eddie diaz #bobby nash #athena grant #buddie #911 finale #abc better do them right #henrietta wilson #chimney han #lucy donato #Forgot to mention but I really liked Ravi being back #couch theory #christopher diaz

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twdmusicboxmystery · 8 months

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Why I am Predicting a Beth Appearance by the End Episode 3:

@bookqueenrules:

OFC, this is TOTAL speculation based on TWDU and non-TWDU clues. I am NOT saying that Daryl will necessarily see/know that she is alive by the end of ep. 3(or in a post credits scene), but I believe it will be revealed to the audience by then that she, or someone who looks like her, is alive.

I’ve seen symbolic clues in “Diverged” in Season 10 and Dead City.

DD was in the writing/development stage FAR longer than Dead City. So, Dead City writers already had access to the outlines for DD before production began. So, when Maggie showed a family picture with a person we can infer to be Beth having eyes gouged out in the shape of the surprised emoji, that was a major red flag for me. That happened in episode THREE of Dead City.

In Diverged, a wholly symbolic episode, Daryl takes off on his own and his motorcycle breaks down. It is in the THIRD place he looks, that he finds the knife, symbolically representing a love interest. he needs to fix his bike and continue his journey.

Some of my belief is based on storyline conjecture. So, back to Dead City. It was considered a success by most, but why did it do well?

Some wanted to see NYC zombies. Some wanted to see Maggie and Hershel. I would argue MOST wanted to see the development of the Negan/Maggie dynamic. How many would have watched just Maggie trying to get Herschel back? Some, but it would not have had the same viewership, and the TWD fans actually care about Hershel as Maggie and Glenn’s son.

So, why will people watch DD?

Some are looking forward to variant zombies, some want to see Daryl, but for how long will the average American TWD viewer tune in to see Daryl hanging out with new French characters with accents and subtitles to boot?

Personally, I would enjoy it regardless, but I know many people that hate subtitles and won’t be particularly interested in how things went in France. Sure, the scenery is beautiful, but it won’t hold the interest past a couple of episodes. The “cure” premise was JUST seen in The Last of Us. TPTB should also have learned that the decline of the flagship was largely due to killing off “family” characters we cared about and bringing on lots of new characters that never became as important to the audience as the original characters of the first few seasons. Hopefully, TPTB learned this lesson.

While I DO expect to see a Carol flashback in season 1, the show will need to bring something to the French story that will excite and surprise viewers. If MMB would have decided to be in season 1, it may have been a different story. The Daryl/Carol dynamic would have been there, and I would be predicting your typical “cliffhanger” style reveal towards the end of the first season.

That is why I think there will need to be SOME reconnection between Beth/Daryl in season 1 for the audience to care enough to tune in to Carol/Daryl finding her in season 2. I wouldn’t expect them to connect until late episode 4 or episode 5, but they will have to be separated again by the end of 6. They will need that time to tell their story and have the audience care again about their connection. Nicotera said in a recent interview that the DD spin-off talk began 7 years ago. It was supposed to be set in the American West where Daryl encounters different groups each week. He referenced three OLD shows as examples.

One was Kung Fu with David Caradine.

I could go into detail, but each show he referenced is about a man who is searching for something/someone and encounters different people who they change and are changed by them before moving onto the next place on the search. Yes, I had to research each one. They were before my time! This stretched out search for Beth would have made sense then because the audience still remembered her and their connection vividly. That will not work now. It’s been too long and these series are finite. Gimple, sort of, said as much on the red carpet at the finale of the flagship. He said he was already past the spin-offs in his planning and was now thinking about how to develop the next generation and new stories while integrating the “iconic” characters. So, I don’t think these spin-offs will go much past three seasons. Especially with only six episodes per season, it doesn’t give that much time to develop these stories.

Some non-storyline clues are that the release of EK’s album is on the 22nd of September right before episode 3 airs. She has been releasing singles all summer. Why wait for the album release until then? Norman said in interviews last year that he would, “run into some familiar faces” in the spin-off. Who else is going to run into in season 1 in France?

Just a few days ago there has been even MORE weirdness. An extra-long first episode? All of episodes 1 and 2 being screened in theaters in four major cities on Monday? WHY? I almost wonder if they decided to reveal Beth is alive at the end of episode 2. The ONLY reason to prescreen is to increase buzz, but really what hasn’t already been teased about those first two episodes? I understand that they may need more publicity due to the writer/actor strikes leading up to the release, but why would “spoiling” the first episodes really increase the buzz if it is JUST about the Laurent story?

I’m excited to see how it plays out!

@twdmusicboxmystery:

I absolutely LOVE everything you’ve said here. Love the symbolic clues you’re looking at. Love your points about Dead City. Love your research into early iterations of the DD spinoff. (I kinda wonder if all the New Mexico symbolism from 11x01 was a nod to that.) Love all your points about publicity and such.

And you’re right. I heartily agree. I don’t have much to add, but all of your conclusions are the only thing that make sense. The only other “faces” we could run into are people like Heath and Davon. And don’t get me wrong, it would be fun to see them again. But it’s not like any of those characters will do much to further Daryl’s story.

And let’s not forget that ep 1 starts with an echo of Judith’s line about Daryl deserving a happy ending, too. Which means that one way or the other, he’ll find his true love and soulmate in this spinoff.

Can’t wait! Thanks SO much for your thoughts! Xoxo! 🍁 🍂 😍

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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fantisci · 10 months

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Welp. That was...something.

Obviously, major spoilers for the Good Omens Season 2 finale under the cut.

I'm disappointed and a bit depressed by the ending, but I have to admit that I'm not really surprised. Something about this season just felt...sad. i know a lot of people spent 5 episodes happily squeeing and then got gut-punched by the ending, but, to me at least, there wasn't the playfulness and levity of season 1 - not even in the happier/more comedic scenes. There was always a melancholy undercurrent: Nina's relationship isn't healthy, Maggie's interested in Nina but the timing is off, the flashbacks focus on the intense loneliness of Crowley and Aziraphale's existence throughout history, Aziraphale's terrified he's a bad angel and he's going to Fall, Crowley doesn't seem to have a clue what he's doing half of the time...Lots of focus on insecurity, unhealthy codependence, bad timing and sheer miscommunication.

That said, I got unpleasant "gotcha!" elements from the way thinga played out, and I hate it when the writers prioritise wrong-footing their audience over story flow - hated it in Voltron, hated it in Sherlock, hated it in the umpteen webcomics I used to read in the 2000s. I'm not going to call it baiting yet - this season was clearly made with one eye firmly on a potential S3 - but with all the publicity, the impression we're left with is "This is a love story! Look, see these two protagonists who adore each other and who you're so invested in? Surely it's time for them to move their relationship forward?PSYCHE! - they're separated, miserable and everything is terrible! See these cute new characters who are clearly a parallel to our heroes, the ones we've focused a lot on in the publicity? PSYCHE! - they were never going to happen, becaise we wanted to make a point about meddling in relationships and sensible time frames after a break up!" (Admittedly, while anvilicious, the moral here was definitely sensible). "Oh but the antagonists, the ones who tried to wipe our heroes from existence last season? THEY get the cute love story and happy ending!"

I admit, plenty of fans saw the Ineffable Bureaucracy coming a mile off. And many point out - quite correctly - that if GO is a three season show following the beats of a love story, this is the second act break-up. I also suspect that, with the signiicant overlap between GO and Our Flag Means Death, the fandom's rabid reaction to OMFD's romantic cliffhanger may have inspired the GO team to bank on a similar reaction to secure season 3...but OFMD is aiming to put its fandom out of its misery in about a year and a half from its angsty ending. Good Omens had a four year gap between S1 and S2. If it sticks with that, I suspect viewer apathy and/or disillusionment may set in before S3.

All in all, I personally feel like I'll be able to enjoy S2 fully only after S3 arrives (and provided it's not equally/more miserable). Which smarts a bit after being so delighted and wound up about Crowley and Aziraphale's return. A waste of anticipation, if you will.

One thing I will say though, is that I believe the kiss was deliberately bad. (If you want to see a kiss where the actors REALLY look like they're being held at gunpoint, have a look at Red Dwarf's Season 7 episode "Blue"). Crowley's furious and desperate and heartbroken - his kiss is aggressive and unforgiving. Aziraphale is miserable and guilty and totally blindsided - he has no clue what to do, alternating between wincing away and pulling Crowley close. I don't think this is an "the actors are finding this tremendously awkward" kiss - it's an "these two characters are in a terrible headspace and between them, have all the romantic experience of a particularly naive potato" kiss. If Season 3 turns things around, I would expect Kiss Number 2 to be even more epic and heartwarming as a result of contrasting iuth this car-crash lip-lock...as long as not too much time has passed between seasons.

#good omens 2 #good omens 2 spoilers #go2 spoilers #go2 #good omens spoilers

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sshbpodcast · 3 months

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Tasha Yar vs. Ro Laren: Fight!

By Ames

We’re taking a quick break from our normal character spotlights because I just couldn’t justify doing individual articles about either of these characters, but when I realized I could discuss both of them, I got a little carried away. So welcome, one and all, to the Enterprise-D’s contest between its two resident badass bitches. Your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By needed to know – who wins? Tasha Yar or Ro Laren?

This calls for another Big Board (seen previously when we ranked the Trek films and Star War films)!

To determine this as fairly as possible, we’ve designed this competition and discussed it at length in this week’s podcast episode (jump to 50:53 for the boxscore) to score our two contestants against each other in eleven categories. Not every battle went as we thought it would, there are surprises in store, glavins to be thrown, and the occasional double-cross to keep things interested. Ready? Fight!

Some major spoilers for Picard are below and discussed on the podcast, if anyone cares. Shrug emoji.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

1. Childhood History

Yar: If there’s one thing (and one thing only) the writers knew about Tasha Yar when writing her character, it’s that she grew up in a failed colony full of rape gangs. Which she brings up all the time. Like, way too much. We see a brief glimpse of it in a flashback in “Where No One Has Gone Before” and yeah, it does not look fun. Basing a character around horrible trauma for no good reason is just the kind of thing the season one writers did, for better or for worse.

Ro: Ensign Ro arrived when the series was much more established with a much more established history that made for the background of the episode “Ensign Ro.” The whole concept of Cardassia-occupied Bajor came along with her introduction, and the story that she tells about watching her father get tortured to death by Cardassians was the complex foundation that this show (and others!) found worthy to explore.

Winner: Ro Laren. The story of the Bajorans ended up being such a major seed for all of DS9, while the established rape gangs of Yar’s childhood only ended up getting entirely contradicted later in “Legacy.” Speaking of which…

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2. Pre-Enterprise Backstory

Yar: Picard tells Tasha’s sister Ishara in “Legacy” about the first time he saw that woman who would later become the chief of security on the Federation’s flagship. He encountered her rushing to rescue a colonist on a Carnelian minefield. Picard was so impressed that he immediately requested that she join his crew, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Ro: We learn that Ro had a very different standing in Starfleet before her reluctant posting to the Enterprise-D in “Ensign Ro.” Apparently, she got eight crewmen on the Wellington killed due to disobeying orders, and was given the choice between going to prison or performing a mission for the definitely corrupt Admiral Kennelly. Hell, Picard’s first impression of her was basically “I don’t want someone like her on my ship.” Lucky for us, he eventually came around!

Winner: Tasha Yar. These two couldn’t be more different in standing within Starfleet when we first meet them. I’ve got to rule that anyone who piques the interest of Captain Picard is worth a point in this category.

—

3. Friends

Yar: Tasha seems friendly with pretty much everyone on the ship! Worf plays Parrises Squares with her in “11001001” and he even bets on her for a martial arts competition in “Skin of Evil.” We see her borrowing clothes from Troi in “The Naked Now.” And it’s all the more clear that she leaves an imprint on all her friends’ lives when she leaves final words for so many crewmembers after her death in “Skin of Evil.”

Ro: On the other hand, Laren is so much more reserved and particular about who she chooses to spend time with. It’s so significant that Guinan decides to befriend her in “Ensign Ro,” and we see more of their dynamics together in “Rascals.” There was also something hinted at between her and Riker when he says in “The Next Phase” that he wants to deliver her eulogy, but we never get to see what that was.

Winner: Tasha Yar. Clearly she has a rapport with so many of her shipmates in a way that actually affects them deeply and personally, as we’ll see in a moment with Lt. Commander Data.

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4. Pets

Yar: We see in “Where No One Has Gone Before” that at one point Tasha had a kitty whom she cared for and kept safe from the rape gangs on Turkana IV. Surely, that cat was probably the only good thing going for her through her traumatic childhood.

Ro: None we’re aware of! Your loss, Laren!

Winner: Tasha Yar. This podcast full of cat people has deemed it so! We can’t not spread the love to fellow cat parents, so the winner here was a given.

—

5. Romantic Interests

Yar: I can cite that really hot scene with Data in “The Naked Now” as much as I like, but when you think about it, both of them were under the influence at the time so it’s a little bit squicky. And while it’s clear in episodes like “The Measure of a Man” and in the series Picard that it was meaningful to Data, for Yar, it was just Tuesday. However, the truly lovely romance that we see for her comes in the alternate timeline in “Yesterday’s Enterprise” where she gets to make googoo eyes at Richard Castillo, and we are here for it!

Ro: Similar to that caveat above with the drunken Data, we have to put an asterisk on Laren’s romance scene with Will Riker in “Conundrum” because they were both amnesiacs at the time. Again, there’s something not fully consensual about the thing because they don’t have all the information to know what they’re doing, no matter how much chemistry they have together.

Winner: Tasha Yar. If it had just been a Data versus Riker battle for this category, I’d be uncomfortable making a call because of the lack of the ability to consent involved in both. But that budding romance between Yar and Castillo actually holds meaning for her and we ship them hard!

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6. Fighting Prowess

Yar: Here’s where we start to put up our dukes in this competition. As chief of security, Tasha clearly kicks some ass. We see this many many times in “Code of Honor.” She drops Lutan’s bodyguard Hagon like a load of bricks in their first meeting, displays her combat skills in the holodeck for the Ligonians, and finally wins in the combat ring against Yareena without killing her. Points off, however, for getting utterly destroyed by Armus in “Skin of Evil,” but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Ro: While phased in “The Next Phase,” we get to see some killer moves from Ro when the phased Romulan confronts her. She sneaks through a wall and gets the jump on Parem, a chase ensues which leads to a fistfight. And while we may have misremembered Ro being the one who threw the guy through a bulkhead (turns out, it was Geordi), she still holds her own and kicks some phased butt!

Winner: Ro Laren. Okay, so we’ve established that both of these women are badasses, so which of them would win in a fight? Put that way, we’ve got to give it to Laren because she’s Maquis and may be more likely to fight dirty. Catfight! Meow!

—

7. Command Skills

Yar: I bring up this category mostly to talk about some missed opportunities on both sides! Ro and Troi were the obvious choices for who should have taken charge while dealing with the matriarchal society in “Angel One,” but Riker walks all over them because it turns out all these bitches needed was a man to tell them what’s what. C’mon! This should have been Yar’s show and instead she relinquishes command.

Ro: Similarly, there’s a power vacuum during the disaster in “Disaster” and Ro is this close to mutinying against Troi who is utterly flailing and refusing to make the hard choices. Ro is there and making the right calls for the situation, displaying that she has the nose for command should the situation arise, but frustratingly, nothing comes of it and she has to apologize to Deanna at the end (even though she was right!).

Winner: Ro Laren. After we later see Troi pass the command test by killing holo-Geordi, it stings that much more that we see how right Ro was when she advocated sacrificing the engineering section, so the point goes to her for being willing to make the tough calls.

—

8. Ethical Stands

Yar: Oh boy, the most up on her high horse we see Tasha get is in the infamous scene with Wesley about drug addiction in “Symbiosis.” The whole scene reeks of Nancy Reagan’s war on drugs and the scene feels forced as hell, like an after-school special somehow invaded an episode of Star Trek. And ya know, the messaging was perfectly clear without Yar spelling it out with a heavy-handed “say no to drugs, kids” speech.

Ro: We do give Ro a lot of credit for coming clean to Picard in “Ensign Ro” after that chat with her new bestie Guinan. Ro’s more obvious display of standing up for what she believes is her joining the Maquis, even though it gives Picard a sad in “Preemptive Strike.” BUUUUUUT! Somehow all that gets undone in the Picard episode “Imposters” when she has apparently rejoined Starfleet, shitting all over that big moment of character growth. Oh Laren, you’re making this one tough!

Winner: Stalemate. Sorry, but we’re going to have to give half a point to each since we could not agree on a winner after that episode from Picard really ended up complicating things (as I’m sure Chris refused to cut from our discussion in this week’s podcast episode). We’ll see in a moment how this affects the overall competition in the Verdict section…

—

9. Strategy & Tactics

Yar: This category was meant to be a catch-all of miscellaneous things the characters have done, and it really made us realize that the tactical officer rarely makes decisions that are particularly… tactical? Yar and later Worf seem to get punked whenever they try to do anything. In both her confrontations with Q, she gets knocked out – frozen in “Encounter at Farpoint” and sent to the penalty box in “Hide and Q.” Is there really anything else worth mentioning? No, really. I’m asking. Comment below.

Ro: We see Ro in fewer episodes than we see Yar, but she at least gets to attempt to do some things. Her plan to use the unmanned Bajoran transport to trick Kennelly in “Ensign Ro” was pretty ingenious. While it’s a good idea to try to knock out all the aliens possessing crewmembers’ bodies in “Power Play,” she does miss Data entirely and her little scheme is foiled. And finally, she and the other child-shaped folks in “Rascals” outthink some Ferengi, low bar that that is.

Winner: Ro Laren. This was an easy win for Ro because, frankly, Yar just plain doesn’t get to DO much in her season of Trek, and when she does, she gets Worfed (before Worfing was even a thing!).

—

10. Death(s)

Yar: A character so nice they killed her twice. There is still much controversy over her death in “Skin of Evil” because it’s so abrupt and pointless, but that was the point. Is that a good or bad thing? Aside from her nice post-mortem message, we’re barely affected by it. Her sacrificing herself in “Yesterday’s Enterprise” would have been an excellent resolution to her character… but that seems sullied by the knowledge that she survived, was kept as a Romulan concubine, and then killed when baby goddamn Sela ratted her out, as established in “Redemption.” Dang, Yar can’t catch a break.

Ro: This one’s tricky because it does mean we have to dip into the Picard series, which we haven’t been doing for other characters in our spotlight series because we haven’t covered it on the podcast yet. Say what you will about the myriad character deaths in Picard (and we can, have, and WILL), but Ro’s death fighting the conspiracy in “Imposters” is a pretty good place to resolve her character. She resolves some character stuff with Picard, uncovers a huge Federation-wide plot, and goes out in a blaze of glory. Is there a better way to go?

Winner: Ro Laren. Especially for a Picard death, Ro’s character resolution actually feels earned and not like the writers picking and choosing who lives and who dies just for shock value (*cough cough* Ah cHugh *cough*).

—

11. Personal Style

Yar: Ooh la la. That hair in “Haven.” Get it, girl. We don’t see either of these characters out of uniform very often, so it’s in little personalizing elements that we get to see their own style, and Yar sure knows how to doll herself up for a wedding-planning dinner. I’ll also give a couple nods to that outfit in “That Naked Now,” though I’m pretty sure it’s alluded to that Yar yoinked that from Troi’s closet.

Ro: Ro’s defining stylistic feature is her big Bajoran earring, which she defiantly wears as a statement of heritage, culture, and a big F YOU to Riker, and we like that about her. Her little headband that we see in “The Next Phase” and “Rascals” is a little funny since it’s so matchy matchy with her uniform, so it might be a wash. I’m also gonna say the undercover garb we see her sporting in “Preemptive Strike” doesn’t count because that was for a mission.

Winner: Tasha Yar. Did we include this category just so we could give heart eyes to that great hair pouf from “Haven”? Yes. Yes, we did.

—

Verdict

That’s 5.5 points for Tasha Yar and 5.5 points for Ro Laren. We have a tie! We really weren’t expecting this, though I must admit throwing Yar a few bones (and cats) since I really thought Ro would run away with the whole thing. Even when we tried to agree to stop citing plot elements from Picard so that we could pick Ro as the winner of the Ethical Stands category, then we’d have a stalemate in the Deaths category and we’d STILL have a tie.

So what does that mean for us? Sure, we can continue to claim that Ro Laren is the better written character from a strictly story perspective (and Michelle Forbes of course is a stellar actress), but she also has the advantage of joining the show after the writers’ room chaos of the first couple seasons had sorted itself out. If Tasha Yar had been given that same chance (as we glimpsed in something like “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” we’ve just proven she’s got the potential and backstory to go toe-to-toe with one of our favorite recurring characters from TNG. You go, girls!

—

So our big fight set piece ended with both combatants sort of hugging it out, which seems the Star Trek way! We’re back to our usual character spotlights next week with a character that bridges our trajectory from TNG to DS9 (and it’s not O’Brien!). So join us for that, continue listening along to our Enterprise watch-through on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, do the wave with us over on Facebook and Twitter, and punch like a girl!

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atomicpoetrymusic-blog · 2 years

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So I was asked via my last post to write more about Rina (thank you, izzyneedsabreak, I don't know how to do all the technical stuff to connect to your page, but you gave me the confidence to write more).

I also wanted to say, before I start, that this post is specifically about Rina. Any other character mentioned (basically just Nini and EJ) has their own arc and own relationship dynamics, but this post is focused on how they impact Ricky and Gina. This is already a long enough post as is, and I can't be bogged down with extra info, or I'll be here all week.

So here goes nothing. Buckle up, Wildcats.

The best thing to start with, I guess, would be the overview of each season's primary Ricky/Gina relationship status:

season 1 - the beginning, the understanding, the intimate bond, which is then severed by outside forces

season 2 - the disconnect, Gina's pining, Ricky retreating back into safety and a time when life was easier with Nini

season 3 - the reconnection, Ricky's pining, Gina focusing on her first boyfriend in EJ, reforging the intimate bond

An important thing to note about Rina, and this will come as no surprise to Rina fans, is that they are, from the very beginning, established as the outsiders, and the ones who incite a majority of the main plot in s1. This is why people keep coming back to the Troyella parallel, because this is basically the whole plot of the first High School Musical - outsiders to the East High theatre come in and shake things up, while also developing romantic feelings for each other. While I know Tim Federle didn't initially think about Ricky and Gina romantically, when seen through this lens, it felt almost inevitable.

Also, Joshua and Sofia's chemistry is off the charts, and I love that the writers recognised this and used it to their advantage. The fact that it surprised even the people writing the show that Rina could be a thing, just makes this relationship that much more special - because it wasn't planned, but developed naturally, without intention, and feels that way, too. It feels real and earnest, and is quite unique in this respect, especially for a Disney show. I also like that they kind of nod to this phenomenon in the 3x08 final scene - "You weren't the plan, you were never the plan. Plans change."

The most important thing about Ricky and Gina and their dynamic is the synchronicity between them, and that all roads lead to the other. I know parallels are slightly overused when discussing these two, but honestly, it's the best way to describe how they can both simultaneously be in sync and in disarray. They both went through the same things, but at different points in the story (eg. the pining when the other is in another relationship). This all comes to a head in 3x08, where they are finally in the right place to admit their feelings about each other, to each other.

Another important aspect to Rina is the difference between second choice and second chance. In season 1, after they form their bond, I have little doubt that Ricky and Gina would have ended up together anyway, if not for Gina moving away. She removed herself as an option, and Ricky retreated back to Nini in an attempt to find comfort in something familiar.

In the s2 flashback, I think people sometimes forget that Ricky JUST got back together with Nini, while also believing he would never see Gina again. She wasn't an option at the time. And again, in s2, Gina removes herself from the situation, and makes it clear to Ricky that she doesn't want to talk to him (and he gives her the space she's asking for). And then, in s3, when they are reconnecting as friends, Gina is, again, no longer an option because she is dating EJ. Ricky does his absolute utmost to respect that, and even actively tries to help her in her relationship with EJ.

In comparison, second chances means that the option is available again. In the song 'Second Chance', Ricky's line in the bridge is "begin again". We now know that he meant 'begin again' with Gina, not Nini. And then, when they finally talk again, Gina asks if they can "start over". While not consciously knowing all this would entail, it represents her second chance with Ricky. As we know, Gina 'never does things right the first time'. This is their second chance to get it right.

I also want to talk about the other two members of the love square: Nini and EJ, in regards to how the writers use Rini and PW to show rather than tell that Ricky and Gina are better suited to each other than their respective first partner.

With Nini, for Ricky she represents things as they were. She was comfortable and safe, because he had known her his whole life. In s1 and s2, Ricky is going through a lot of change in his home life, and he is clinging to Nini in s2 in an attempt to find stability. He wants everything to stay the same. However, Nini is trying to figure out who she wants to be, and Ricky actually starts to smother her attempts to do this, in his desperate bid for things to stay as they are. They come to a natural, mutual decision to go their separate ways, as they don't like who they are becoming when together.

Ricky's arc is about accepting change. There are far too many moments that prove that Gina represents change to Ricky, so I'll go with a classic: their first on-screen interaction in the skatepark. Ricky is in a place he is familiar and comfortable with, and ready to quit the show - and then he talks to Gina. She tries to persuade him to stick with the show - yes, she had ulterior motives, but she admits in the Homecoming car scene she really meant it when she said he makes a good Troy - and he listens. This decision changes Ricky's trajectory from skate rat trying to win his girlfriend back, to fully-fledged theatre kid, and finding he actually likes it. So, when his embodiment of positive change is suddenly ripped away from him in 1x07 with Gina moving away, it is only natural that he would place negative connotations on change afterwards, and this is why he retreats back to Nini.

With EJ, for Gina he represents the safe, comfortable option. He showed up when she was in trouble, and made her feel welcome when she was suffering. The problem was, he didn't stick around. His answer to Gina was constantly that he'd get to her later, which is not what she wanted or needed to hear (in contrast, I noticed that Ricky says to Gina, "its about the journey, not the destination"). Having spent her whole life being pushed from pillar to post, without a say in how long she could stay in one place, Gina needed to have that stability she craved in EJ, but due to EJ's own uncertainty about his future, he just could not provide that for her. Ricky, meanwhile, could, and proved it in s3 (eg. saying he'd do the wildcat cheer for her, night or day).

Gina's arc is about finding balance. For Gina, Ricky represents the stability she's been looking for her whole life, while also being the dangerous option of putting her emotions on the line. He was the first person to truly accept her for who she is. He repeatedly proves to her he wanted her in his life (eg. constantly texting her after she moved away), despite her pushing him away. Ricky, for Gina, is the embodiment of perseverance, something she has been seeking her whole life. And that scares her. (see: 'Second Chance' - "I'm safer when I'm on the run").

Another major Rina subject is that of growth, especially in regards to Ricky. As I previously said, Ricky's relationship with Nini wasn't exactly the healthiest, even before they broke up the first time around. His love for Nini was fairly immature and selfish, in that he wanted her all to himself and for her to stay around forever. This is understandable - it's his childhood best friend, his first love, they're both still just kids, figuring out who they want to be. But, it didn't allow for growth.

With Gina, especially in s3, Ricky has proven how much she has changed him for the better. Season 1 Ricky actively tried to break up EJ and Nini, and inserted himself into Nini's space (theatre) trying to win her back for himself. Now, we contrast that with his behaviour with Gina. He listens when she asks for space (all the way back in s2, as well, when Nini was basically all he thought about), and puts Gina's wants and needs above his own, actively supporting her in her new relationship, despite how much it hurts him to do so. The only time he willingly let his emotions come to the surface in s3 (before the finale), was when they were singing 'WDYKAL?', and he was pretending to pretend. He's so selfless when it comes to Gina, he would do just about anything for her, especially in his pining era. The Kristoff/Anna parallel is incredibly strong here.

Gina, while being younger, doesn't have as much visible growth as Ricky does because she was already pretty mature for her age. She knows what she wants, and isn't afraid to say when something is bothering her. She's the one who comes to Ricky to confess her feelings in the flashback, she's the one who initiates the kiss with EJ, she's the one who initiates the breakup with EJ, and she's the one who confesses that Ricky is the one she wants in 3x08. Gina's growth is more internal, simply based on the fact it is about finding inner balance. I think, her growth comes from the acceptance that she doesn't have to keep pushing to make things work - she accepts how she feels about a situation much more readily now, and is willing to walk away if need be. And with Ricky, in that final scene, she didn't need to.

In conclusion, the writing for Rina is honestly some of the best I have seen in a long time. Their romance grew naturally, while also building upon their established character traits and struggles, embodying maturity and growth and true love, portrayed by two fantastic actors with astonishing chemistry to boot.

I can't wait to see what's in store for them in season 4.

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts s3 #rina #ricky x gina #ricky bowen #gina porter

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centaurianthropology · 2 years

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Predictions for Season 2 of OFMD

Now I may be an idiot for treating that as an inevitability, but it’s been 9 weeks after the show ended in which it’s been the #1 in demand streaming show on the internet, and only fell to #2 for 1 week to ‘Strange New Worlds’ before reclaiming the spot. Unlike other cancelled shows, there is no economic reason to cancel it, and HBO Max is a business at the end of the day. So I’m going to treat it as a ‘when’ rather than an ‘if’.

I’ve been reading a lot of fan predictions for season 2, and while there are some good ideas out there, most of fandom seems to forget one major thing about the show: it’s a COMEDY. I know fandom loves its angst and its pain, so all the predictions are angsty and painful.

But this show is deeply silly, goofy, and fun. So here are my predictions for season 2, predicated on that. I am probably going to be wrong about a lot of this, of course, but it’s fun to speculate about how to keep a comedic tone given the setup of the season finale.

Season opens with a wind-swept lightning storm on the deck of the revenge. Very dramatic. Operatic even. Up come the grappling hooks. Blackbeard’s crew are at the ready. And on swarm the old crew of the Revenge. They all look piratey, but in that way that also suggests they raided a second-hand store with the theme of ‘gay pirates’ in mind. And up comes Stede Bonnet (plus or minus beard, but I think plus). He makes his way to Blackbeard. Swords clash and ...

Flashback. We now have a hook. With that we get the real meat of the first three episodes, cutting back and forth between the crews. On the revenge, Ed is being miserable and ‘haunted’ by Lucius (who is indeed living in the walls and is PISSED), while trying to recapture his Blackbeard image every time he leaves the great cabin. This side of the story has a lot of very dark comedy, but still has a lot of comedic beats. I think Lucius may even be roped into being Blackbeard’s ‘ghostly’ therapist. Jim and Frenchie and maybe Fang are planning an escape or a mutiny.

Meanwhile, Stede and his crew of muppets have reunited, but need more than a dinghy to catch up to the revenge and get back their crew. Stede’s main conflict is sympathy with Ed conflicting with siding with his crew. I think he will eventually come down on his crew’s side, knowing that he has to confront Ed about their treatment (following along with the theme of Stede being their stand-in parent from last season). He may love Ed, but Ed didn’t come after Stede while he was hurting, he came after the crew, and that is unacceptable. So Stede and the crew comedically steal another ship. In my mind, the new ship is terrible. Just a leaky, sad little thing that they hold together to the best of their abilities. It has the weird effect of making all of them better sailors and better pirates, but still in the weird way they have. They are now doing proper pirate raids, but keep stealing dumb things like tar or more rope or sail patches or food or books. Stede is trying to be ‘piratey’ for the crew, but is in secret hoarding nice fabric and clothes and books in his cabin, setting up a conflict between Stede’s softer wants and his feeling that he needs to be strong now.

At the end of episode 3, we are back where we began. The crew catches up with the Revenge. They board. Swords clash and ... everything goes to hell. Because unbeknownst to them, there’s been a third party coming for all of them this whole time.

Enter Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard’s old mentor turned English pirate hunter. We now have our main villain for the season. The duel between Stede and Blackbeard is unceremoniously interrupted as everyone scrambles to escape the English. Stede’s old ship is sunk in the process. They get away, but barely, and only by working together. They agree that, while Hornigold is on their asses, they have to be one crew and co-captains again, but tensions are still high for about an episode.

But Stede’s crew also brings the muppet-ness back to the Revenge, and neither Ed nor Izzy can really stop them slowly taking back over. And really, Ed doesn’t want them to fail. He finds out Lucius is not a ghost, and that the crew is happy. Stede and he have one really impressive shouting match that ends in another kiss. The crew audibly groans that they got back together so easily after everything, but are also relieved that things are less tense, and the captains are working out their shit. Over the course of the middle three to four episodes they become a crew again through a series of silly one-off adventures while trying to keep ahead of Hornigold. Hornigold is also playing head-games with Ed similarly to how the Badmintons played head-games with Stede last season, and Ed is struggling to keep it together, but also to balance wanting to be Edward with needing to be Blackbeard. Both Ed and Stede go on a journey of learning how to be hard when necessary, but still soft and kind to those around them, and to themselves. It’s very sweet, and punctuated with shenanigans.

The last three to four episodes (my bet is on 4) consist of one wild adventure as it feels like Hornigold is winning, catching up, fucking with Ed’s head, etc. But we realize in the last one or two episodes that Ed has actually grown as a person, and Hornigold hasn’t gotten through to him. Instead, he an Stede and the crew have constructed an elaborate Rube-Goldberg machine of a fuckery that plays out in hilarious detail to get them well and clear away from Hornigold. I’m ambivalent on Hornigold dying or surviving to swear revenge and come back next season. Either one has good potential.

Anyway, the season ends on a slightly less cliff-hangery note, with the Revenge finally being one big happy family again, and Stede and Ed back together to face whatever comes next.

Now, obviously, any or all of these predictions could be wrong, but I liked trying to put my head into a comedy space and to figure out how to take the setup at the end of season 1 and keep it in the same comedic vein. This is what I came up with. I welcome other ideas in the comments, of course! I just don’t think they’re going to drown in angst, even with the Kraken plot, because this is a comedy, and they would find the dark humor even in that story-line, only punctuated with moments of true pathos.

#Our Flag Means Death #I suppose I am now officially contributing to the fandom #with an essay #because of course it's with an essay

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likeadragonfruit · 2 years

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Linking these previous discussions because they’re really good, but what I wanted to say doesn’t quite fit a reblog.

I do have to say a major issue with Korra is the lack of interiority afforded her. Back in book 1 of ATLA when Zuko is treating his crew like shit, rather than just leaving at that, we get backstory explaining why he’s acting like that and what’s driving him. (He’s desperate to go home and between his trauma and his father’s awful lessons, he lashes out and tries to intimidate them like Ozai would).

But I feel like Korra in book 2 was a prime opportunity to dig deeper, especially with the early part of the season focused on Korra in the Southern Water Tribe, and added the conflict with her parents (primarily Tonraq) and Tenzin.

But during that time, do we get someone who could give insight into Korra’s past? No. When Korra vents about why she’s upset to other characters, do we get a chance to dig at what’s really behind it? No.

I think the most telling exchange, and maybe even most consequential, is the one between Korra and Senna in “Civil Wars, Part 1.”

Korra: You want to know what's been going on? I found out Dad's been lying to me my whole life. Unalaq told me everything; how Dad and Tenzin kept me trapped down here while I trained; how Dad got banished from the North.

Senna: So, the truth is out.

Korra: You knew? And you never said anything.

Senna: We were trying to keep our family together, to give you a normal childhood.

Korra: I never wanted a normal childhood. All I ever wanted to be was the Avatar. But everyone keeps holding me back, even my own parents! Unalaq's the only one who believes in me.

Senna: That's not true, Korra.

The takeaways I got from this are:

Before the Red Lotus retcon, the decision to have Korra kept and largely restricted to the White Lotus compound was supposed to be an attempt at giving Korra an ordinary life. (To let her train but still be close to home?)

But Korra insists she that all she ever wanted to be was the Avatar.

For the whole White Lotus compound thing, if the goal was to “give Korra an ordinary life,” then not only did it fail, but it was doomed to failure. Aang’s flashback in “The Storm” showed how being known as the Avatar as a child can negatively affect their relationships. But taking her away from other kids and her family for most of the time to train under distant coaches (there’s no warmth in Korra and the Lotus’ relationships there was with like Aang and Gyatso) was never going to help. (And this before getting into the reading of Korra as the OWL’s living weapon in training.)

As for Korra always wanting to be the Avatar, that makes sense for 4-5 year-old Korra, for whom finding out she was the Avatar would be like finding out you’re a superhero. But for 17 year-old Korra, why is that “all she ever wanted?”

A natural follow up question is “what exactly does being the Avatar mean to her?”

But then there’s a third question to ask: “what were the intended answers for the previous two questions?” And I’m not sure what the official, intended answers to those questions was.

It’s hard to say when Korra quickly forgives her parents and Tenzin and all of this gets swept under the rug in favor of opposing Unalaq and the Water Tribe Civil War.

#tlok #tlok rewatch #korra #why Korra wants to be the Avatar so badly?#what does being the Avatar mean to Korrra?#the problem I’m having is the OWL living weapon framing fits fairly well #except they explicitly avoid blaming or framing them negatively #so was that something ever intended?#if it was there’s no paper trail indicating so

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theswampspirit · 2 years

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More Stranger Things S4 Vol 1 Stuff: Fav Lumax Scenes!

This is an outline of some of my favorite scenes involving the Lumax ship. Some background on my feelings toward the ship; I think it is a good ship. I wasn’t a fan of how they wrote Lucas’ initial interactions with Max (the whole “watching her through binoculars” with his friends), but they also did that with Jonathan and Nancy in season 1 (which one was worse is up to you to decide). I guess the writers are keen on using that trope for their characters, or maybe that’s what the kids did back then (still not a good thing to be doing though). Despite that, I do feel that Lucas and Mac had a great rapport following the rest of season 2. Do I feel that they could’ve used more interactions in season 3, yeah, but I feel that Lucas wasn’t a part of that season’s focus, and their relationship did feel typical of middle school tweens. In season 4, they took it up a notch, having Lucas truly care for Max’s well being and only being able to reach so much, and Max slowly realizing that it’s okay to let in the people who care about. It gave me some strong season 2 Lumax vibes.

So, now that the lengthy context is out of the way, let’s dive into some of my favorite Lumax moments.

Moment 1. Lucas waving at Max and Max giving him the cold shoulder. This really sets up the fact that a drift has occurred between the two. This wasn’t a silly little break up where Max was tired of whatever antics Lucas was doing that week and Lucas managed to get right and smooth things over with her. This was a serious breakup. Lucas still cared for her, but she was putting distance between her and him (and the world). At this point, we had no clue what was going on, and only had watch more to piece things together.

Moment 2. Lucas knowing Max’s favorite song and the Vecna attack flashbacks. This part of Vecna’s attack really showed us two things: Lucas really knew Max and cared for her more than we may given him credit for, and for Max, all of those moments with Lucas really meant something to her. Would I dare to call it love...only if the cast members, writers, and characters themselves would. But you cannot deny the bond these two share (yes, I’m aware that El, Dustin, and Mike were apart of those flashbacks too which I greatly enjoyed, but this is a Lumax fav scene review).

Moment 3. The laugh in the Creel House. So, this scene was also a major favorite. Just because of Sadie Sink’s nonverbal acting. When Lucas makes Max laugh, and he tells her he missed that, you can see through Sadie’s acting that something is going through Max’s head, something that to me looked like longing and wanting express some kind of feeling she has towards Lucas. I’ve seen some that said it looked like they should’ve kissed there (which they may or may not have been serious), but I don’t necessarily think she would’ve done so. But she definitely wanted to do or say something.

Moment 4: The walk (and talk) in the woods. While searching for Eddie, Lucas and Max are paired up again and they are talking. Here is a Caleb McLaughlin shine as I feel that he delivered perfectly how many have felt when we try to understand what was going with a friend or family member who’s going through rough time, only to be rebuffed and then deciding to give them space and let them come to you, then when you do see what’s going on, you feel such guilt over being so blind that you want them to know that you’re aware of their pain and are truly here for them. They way Lucas tells Max “I see you” and the look she gives back is just so good acting and emotional wise. To top it off, the fact that Max still genuinely shows concern for Lucas at the start of the conversation is just another way of showing how much she truly cares for Lucas, even if she doesn’t exactly admit it out loud. Plus, I really loved Robin’s reaction to their conversation. She really is one of the greats.

So, yeah, there goes some of other thoughts on Stranger Things 4 Vol 1. Just gonna sit here and wait for the second volume like dog waiting to be fed. Lumax is great, may end doing another piece on my thoughts on shipping in general sometime though. Expect more things in the future. Have a good time out there!

#stranger things #stranger things s4 #stranger things s4 vol1 #Lucas Sinclair #lucas stranger things #Max Mayfield #max stranger things #lumax #lumax s4 #cool ship #young love #robin stranger things #caleb mclaughlin #sadie sink #vecna stranger things #running up that hill

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gracestone · 3 years

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1/3 Ever since I had a recent rewatch of the show, theres been something on my mind that I cant stop thinking about. When it comes to my ships I pay attention to every little detail, like lighting in a scene in this case. Theres been 3 major core 4 confession scenes in s1 and s2. Rini in 1x10, Rina in 2x06, and Portwell in 2x12. Since the lighting was overall much brighter in s1, I can understand why Rinis scene was bright with colorful/yellow tones.

2/3 The contrast b/t Rina and PW conf scenes is night and day. Rina flashback has white stark lighting, signifying a cold and distant feel. PW has yellow lighting thruout, symbolizing warmth and hope. Rina FB takes place in the exact same room as the Rini scene so it could have been edited w/ more yellow tone lighting if they wanted to show some hope romantically for them. But they dont. Definitely think that was on purpose. I mean, PW conf takes place at night in a parking lot but they still...

3/3 ...have yellow tone thruout and its a really happy moment for them b/. One could argue that the Rina scene was a FB to excuse the choice in lighting, but they've done FBs before w/ much better color saturation. Just s/t that I had to point out. And this is coming from someone who used to be a former Rina stan who now wants that Portwell series endgame. LOL. I know Im thinking too much, but I was just interested on your thoughts on this if you have any. You have the best theories/metas btw!

First of all, thank you for the compliment! It means a lot that you enjoy reading my thoughts ❤️🥺

You're not overthinking this, anon! In fact, you made an excellent point! Cinematography, lighting and colour grading choices matter in storytelling and can tell us a lot about the intention of a scene. To back up all the points you made, I took some screenshots of all the confession scenes.

Ricky and Nini in 1x10:

Ricky and Gina in 2x06:

EJ & Gina in 2x12:

It's understandable that they changed the colour grading of the 2x06 flashback to match the darker grading of season 2. The scene would stand out too much if it were still as bright and saturated as it would've been in 1x10. Just to make the difference between the two scenes clearer, take a look at the same shot in both 1x10 and 2x06:

Look at how different the two scenes are. Not only is the S2 version less bright and saturated, it also has a more green tone and a bit of a vignette (the darker edges). I think the vignette was added for the sake of it being a flashback, but I think the red tone being replaced with a more green tone supports your argument that the scene was meant to have a more distant and cold feeling. Especially when contrasted with the yellow and red tones in the Portwell scene. They didn't have to town down the red tones in the 2x06 scene, but they did. That's a deliberate colour grading choice and makes the scene look colder. And as you said, the Portwell confession took place outside and at night. It could've resembled the dark and cold grading 2x04 (The Storm). But it didn't, because that's not the feeling we're supposed to get when watching the scene. We're supposed to feel Gina and EJ's happiness.

So I totally agree with you, anon. The 2x06 confession wasn't a happy moment for Gina, but a sad and hopeless one, and ultimately served as a (unspoken) rejection, whereas the 2x12 confession was a happy and hopeful moment and the climax of both Gina and EJ's arcs in S2. The stark difference in lighting and grading in both scenes shows us how the 2x06 scene was a low point for Gina, while 2x12 showed her at her happiest.

#hsmtmts #ej caswell #gina porter #portwell #otp: risotto #portwell meta #i even went and tried to match the grading on the 2x06 scene to the 1x10 scene in my editing software #came pretty close but didn't get there all the way #but it helped me confirm that they did tone down on the red and upped the green #love it when you guys pay attention to these filmmaking choices!#i live for this stuff so it makes me really happy when you bring up excellent points like this one #ask

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vickyvicarious · 3 years

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Leverage by Character Emphasis

So, for fun over the course of my rewatch I kept track of who I considered to be the main character of each episode, or rather who got the most narrative/emotional focus. I kept track of all those in a list here. I got curious about how it all stacks up in the end, so I went to a pie graph website and stuck all those numbers in.

I only used the main character in each episode, even if on my original list I had put it as having secondary emphasis on another person or relationship. However, if an episode was split pretty evenly in focus between just two people (as opposed to the whole team), I counted it towards each person's overall percentage. And of course all these stats are based off of my own personal interpretation of the episodes. So this is by no means truly comprehensive. But I think it's still interesting to look at all put together.

I'm putting the overall breakdown here, but below the cut I've got individual charts per season as well - plus a bonus list of how many people we meet that the team already knows/whose past they hail from.

All Seasons

Percentage breakdown:

Team - 36.9% or 31/77 total episodes

Nate - 17.9% or 15/77 total episodes

Parker - 16.7% or 14/77 total episodes

Eliot - 11.9% or 10/77 total episodes

Hardison - 7.1% or 6/77 total episodes

Sophie - 4.8% or 4/77 total episodes

Parker/Hardison - 2.4% or 2/77 total episodes

Sophie/Nate, Tara - 1.2% or 1/77 total episodes each

The show is primarily team-based, and that's reflected in the largest percentage by with a 19-point gap before second place. Nate holds that spot, though Parker is right on his heels in third. There's a bit more of a gap between them both and Eliot, then similar gaps between him and Hardison, and then Sophie as the team member with the least number of dedicated episodes. (However, this doesn't reflect a lot of time spent in S2 on her). Then the pairings and Tara each get just an episode or two spent primarily focused on them.

Looking at it in pure numbers, you can definitely see that Nate as mastermind got a lot of attention, and that Parker becoming the next mastermind was built steadily with a lot of focus as well!

Season One

Percentage breakdown:

Team - 38.5% overall or 5/13 episodes

Nate - 23.1% overall or 3/13 episodes

Parker - 15.4% overall or 2/13 episodes

Sophie, Eliot, Hardison - 7.7% overall or 1/13 episodes each

It seems fitting that in the first season, most of the time was dedicated to episodes that don't focus on any one person in particular. Instead there's a lot of time spent establishing the team as a whole. We do see Nate in second place and Parker in third.

(I thought about counting the Juror #6 job towards Sophie and Hardison, but in the end I didn't since the main emphasis was still mostly for Parker. However, that would have bumped them up to the same number of episodes as her.)

Season Two

Percentage breakdown:

Team - 40% overall or 6/15 episodes

Nate - 26.7% overall or 4/15 episodes

Sophie, Parker, Hardison, Eliot, Tara - 6.7% overall or 1/15 episodes each

So there's a lot more secondary focus/running themes this season that don't show up as much in this chart. Sophie's storyline in particular gets a lot of focus throughout the season, but is rarely the main focus of any single episode, so it isn't as well represented here. (For example, the Lost Heir Job is team-focused, but specifically on the team coping without Sophie, so it could possible have been counted as a Sophie episode as well.)

Given the parameters I'm working with though, we see again team episodes first, Nate second, and then this time everyone else shares third place equally (including Tara!).

Season Three

Percentage breakdown:

Team, Eliot, Parker - 25% overall or 4/16 episodes

Sophie, Nate, Hardison - 6.7% overall or 2/16 episodes

It doesn't add up to 16 just by numbers because this season had several episodes I couldn't assign to just one character, but also seemed not really focused on the team. I gave Eliot+Hardison each a point for Gone Fishin', and Eliot+Parker each a point for the Underground Job.

This season bucks the trend of Nate getting the second-most episodes dedicated to him. Eliot and Parker actually get as many episodes as the team in general. They're all a lot closer together though in terms of numbers.

Season Four

Percentage breakdown:

Team - 27.3% overall or 6/18 episodes

Nate - 22.7% overall or 5/18 episodes

Parker - 18.2% overall or 4/18 episodes

Eliot, Hardison, Parker/Hardison - 9.1% overall or 2/18 episodes each

Sophie/Nate - 4.5% overall or 1/18 episodes

This season has a lot of episodes focusing mostly on just a couple of people so it was really a pain to break down. I ended up sharing credit for Grave Danger between Parker and Hardison as Parker/Hardison, and Queen's Gambit between the team and Parker/Hardison. The Night Out Jobs I just counted as team episodes since they divvied up the focus fairly equally between the characters who were in them. On my original list I put the Hot Potato Job as Nate and Hardison but on further reflection I think it's more of a team episode, so that's how I counted it here. Still, this chart is the one I was least certain how to break down, and I'm not really happy with it but I eventually just kinda gave up.

Nate is back up in second place, right after the team as a whole. Parker's right behind him, while the others trail a bit behind. The ships get a couple episodes dedicated to them, but Sophie doesn't actually get an episode of her own at all this season.

Season Five

Percentage breakdown:

Team - 62.5% or 10/15 episodes total

Parker - 18.8% or 3/15 episodes total

Eliot - 12.5% or 2/15 episodes total

Nate - 6.3% or 1/15 episodes total

I attributed the French Connection Job to both Eliot and Parker, and put the Rundown and Frame Up Jobs as being team focused since they split attention pretty evenly between the halves of the team each episode had. The White Rabbit Job had a secondary focus on Sophie which I didn't count; same deal with the Blue Line Job since for the most part it was still more team than Eliot focused.

This season bucks a lot of the usual trends. The vast majority of the episodes are team focused with no major emphasis on any one person; this is usually the biggest percentage but this season far more so than any other. The other major departure is that Sophie and Hardison both get no individual episodes at all, and Nate isn't in second or even third place. Instead we have Parker, then Eliot, then Nate. And if I had counted the Blue Line Job for Eliot, which I considered doing, he would've been tied with Parker.

Bonus - Known Associates

This chart counts how many people we meet from someone on the team's pre-show past. It does not count people they meet during their time on Leverage who later become important to them, such as Peggy.

Percentage breakdown:

Nate - 38.1% or 8/21 total

Eliot - 33.3% or 7/21 total

Sophie - 19% or 4/21 total

Parker, Hardison - 4.8% or 1/21 total each

If you want to know who these people are, that's listed right underneath here. Nate's people tend to show up more often, while Eliot has a lot but they're mostly one-off characters. Sophie and Parker not having a lot makes sense given that Sophie's true identity is a mystery, and Parker was a loner almost all her life. Hardison being at the bottom of the list is really at odds to how we know he has a large family and is such a sociable person.

Nate - An old friend in the Miracle Job, Blackpoole, Maggie, Sterling, the people from McRory's, Jimmy Ford, childhood friend Ed Kelly from the 15 Minutes Job, his old IYS colleague from the Van Gogh Job.

Eliot - Aimee from the Two Horse Job, Damien Moreau, General Flores, Vance, his grifter buddy from the Juror #6 Job, his buddy Shelley from the Boys' Night Out Job, and Vance from flashbacks/the Rundown Job.

Sophie - A friend in the Wedding Job (not sure they actually count since they just tipped her to the job but I don't think we met them onscreen), the mastermind from the Two Live Crew Job, the Duchess from the King George Job, and Tara.

Parker - Archie Goodwin.

Hardison - Chaos.

#leverage #leverage meta #my meta #again this is just for fun and i'm not particularly good at graphs and stuff #so don't take it as the be-all-end-all #but i think the general trends here are fairly accurate to the show #also my apologies to sophie getting a different color every time. it kept changing it for only her for some reason and i couldn't fix it

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lovenhlboys · 3 years

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From a Distance (E.Pettersson X Reader)

Chapter 1

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A/n: hello peoples!! I’m so excited to FINALLY post the first chapter of this fic!!! I’ve been working on it for a long time, and after a few unpleasant delays, it’s finally happening 😁. While this isn’t my first fic, this is my first NHL fic, and the first fic I’m posting on Tumblr, so I’m a little nervous. This first chapter is mostly the set up to the main story, this is reader’s side of things with a flashback story. Chapter two will be mostly from Elias’s point of view. The rest of the chapters will switch back and fourth between the two.

CREDIT: Finally, before we get started I have to shout out my proofreaders. Y’all put up with me and my insanity: @siriushxney @iateyourdonuts @petey-patty @hufflepuff-girlx @cherrylita @immmbabyyygraceee @💕💕And specifically @imagines-r-s ASH!!! Babes, you have been the best and most supportive friend I could’ve asked for during this. You boosted my confidence about this fic and I have no idea what I’d do without you 😁😁

Without further ado, let’s get started shall we!! (Sorry for the long A/N, it’ll only be for this first chapter)

Paring: Elias Pettersson X Fem!Reader

Warnings: lots of cursing, friends with benefits but like...just cuddling???, references to iCarly, mentions of One Tree Hill.

Genere: enemies-ish —>friends —> lovers

Legend: (i suggest having these ready before you read)

Y/C/N/N= your cute nick name, only Markstrom calls you it (you’ll see why) this can be either a pet name you like, or a nick name you already have.

Y/N/N= your nick name, Brock, Quinn, and a few others call you this, it’s more of a playful name. Again, this can be a nickname you already have (if you don’t have one I suggest something stupid (sounds like something Stech or Brock would come up with)

Y/N= this is your first name, only Elias calls you this unless it’s a serious situation, or you’re in trouble, or Brock is being an ass. (If it wasn’t clear before...your last name is Boeser)

Word Count: 2.2k

Summary: you have a hardcore crush on your brothers best friend, who also happens to barely speak to you...it’s a slight predicament.

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(This is set in the 2021 season, however, because of my denial, Marky and Stech are still in Vancouver and were never traded... also no Covid. however the season was still delayed just to make it easier to follow.)

Present (Feb. 2021)

You’ve always been best friends with your older brother, you never had any real issues when you were younger and you were inseparable. So much so in fact, that once you graduated early a little less than two years ago (June 2019), he asked you to move to Vancouver and live with him. He was always so protective of you and you appreciated everything he has done in your life. One of the best parts about Brock being your older brother was the people he introduced to you. You aren’t very social and god knows how much of a people person your brother is. Once you had moved in, Brock quickly introduced you to the team. And with your double major in Statistics: Data Sciences and Sports Management, you were able to secure a job with the team. Quickly, you found yourself with a second family, one with many members.

Quinn Hughes is your best friend. when you met him about a year and a half ago, you hit it off immediately. With both of you being the same age and not very social, there was an obvious connection there. When Brock and The boys go out, it is you and Quinn who stay in and watch shows on the couch (your favorite being New Girl). Huggy Bear is so sweet and you tell him EVERYTHING, even things you’d never tell your brother. You are still thanking the draft lottery every day that the Canucks received the 7th overall pick that gave you your bestie.

Thatcher Demko AKA Dems AKA Thatch AKA baby goalie is the sweetest and most hilarious guy you know. He is always looking after you just like Brock, but he is also one of the most annoying guys you know. When you’d first met you had the biggest crush on him. You told Quinn as much and he gave you so much shit for it. That crush was short-lived though, once you found out how obnoxious he could be. You still love him, just as a friend. Though Quinn never forgets to remind you of the crush that once was.

Bo Horvat is like another big brother to you. Sure you have Brock, but he’s your best friend. Bo, however, is the person you go to when you needed advice. Holly is one of the only WAGs you’ve become close with. She and you consistently have wine and gossip nights, of which Quinn is sometimes in attendance. Plus, you and Quinn are an amazing babysitting team for Gunnar if you have anything to say about it.

Troy Stecher is the annoying older brother you never had. He always makes fun of you, calls you names, and bullies you in the loving way brothers do. And he never hesitates to come to you if he ever needs girl advice, which seems to happen a lot.

JT was just like Bo, except he is waaay more protective of you, maybe even a bit more than brock. He doesn’t have a sister and when you met, he made it his job to never see you get hurt. Seriously, one day a guy was bugging you at the bar, and both Brock and Bo were struggling to hold him back when he saw him slap you on the ass as you walked away.

Jacob Markstrom, AKA Marky, AKA Giraffe (pronounced like it is in one of your favorite vines), AKA your cuddle buddy for the past few seasons. Both being single, you felt lonely sometimes and Quinn wasn’t much of a hugger (despite what the nickname might have you believe). Thatcher had offered but Marky, though just as social, is much more laid back. It also helps that he is 6’6 putting him over a foot taller than you. So during movie nights, or late nights at the bar, he is the side you lean on. Of course, you made it abundantly clear to most of the boys and yourselves that you were just friends. As sweet as he was and as great of a boyfriend as he would’ve been, he wasn’t quite your type and your personalities clashed.

Then there was Elias Pettersson, the tall, skinny, Swedish guy you knew as Petey. The guy who looked at you often and barely spoke a word directed towards you. He was Brock's best friend and he came over all the time, you didn’t have an issue with him, and you couldn’t deny he was funny, and from what you’ve heard he is a very kind person. So naturally, he was exactly your type. You’ve had a massive crush on him for a while now, somehow despite the lack of conversation. And the few times he has talked to you, he’s seemed so perfect, but there are only a few times you can remember.

Right now, as you're on your way to the Canuck’s break room your brother texted you to meet him in, you try to recall those few times, specifically the one where your crush on him truly developed.

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FLASHBACK (some time in January, 2020)

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You, Quinn, and Jacob were laying on the L-shaped couch in ‘The Boeser apartment’, you were cuddled under the blanket with Jacob, laying on the section perpendicular to the TV, your heads at the corner. Quinn was on the other side of the couch, his head right next to yours. it was about 7 o’clock and the episode of One Tree Hill you were watching had just ended and you three had not eaten dinner yet. As the countdown for the next episode started, your stomach growled and you got a look from Quinn and a giggle from Jacob.

“You hungry Y/C/N/N?” Jacob asked.

You looked up at him and giggled, “maybe just a little bit.”

“Y/N/N, you know what sounds amazing?” Quinn asked, you could hear the smirk in his voice.

You turned to each other and you both smirked knowing you were thinking the same thing.

“Spaghetti tacos!!” You both said.

Ever since you were about 10 and you watched iCarly on TV, you had always wanted to try them. It had become an inside joke between you and Quinn for quite some time as he had the same desire as you to see how good they actually were.

“We should totally try them tonight!!” Quinn was quite excited.

“I’m so confused right now,” Jacob chimed in.

“They’re from a show! They take spaghetti and put it in taco shells,” you explained.

“Ahh, hence the name.” he nodded.

“Exactly,” Quinn said.

You jumped up from the couch excitedly and ran straight to your kitchen.

“Ok, we have spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, ground beef, taco shells, aaaand..... by chance do either of you know how to make good meatballs?”

“You’re asking the Swedish guy if he knows how to make meatballs?” Jacob replied.

“Not Swedish meatballs, Italian, stupid Giraffe,” you retorted.

“Gross,” he said with a disgusted look.

“Ooo my mom made the best Italian meatballs, let me call her to see if she can send me the recipe!” Quinn said with a big smile.

Quinn exited the kitchen and ran to your room to call his mom.

“You know, I’ve never seen him so excited about anything,” Marky said with a laugh.

“Quinn loves his food,” you replied.

“Are Brock and Thatch having dinner with us ?”

“I’ll ask.”

You started boiling the water for the pasta, and you cooked part of the ground beef for the meat sauce. Then you texted Brock:

Y/N/N: hey, you want me to make you dinner

Brock: Yeah, who all is there?

Y/N/N: the usual

Brock: Huggy and Marky?

Y/N/N: yep, so do you want some?

Brock: Yeah, and make enough for another person too

Y/N/N: ok

You figured it was Dems since that’s who he went to hang out with when he left 5 hours ago.

You continued to cook when Quinn came in and grabbed a bunch of stuff from the pantry and cabinets. “Did your mom tell you how to make them?” you questioned your frantic best friend.

“Yes she did and she sent me the recipe too.”

“Coolio,” you reply.

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You were almost done cooking, the pasta was done, Quinn had put his meatballs in the oven and there were only 5 minutes left on the timer. And the sauce had about 2 minutes to simmer.

“Oh my gosh, I forgot what to do when they're almost done, she does this thing, I have to call her,” Quinn said with a panicked look on his face. He ran back to your room.

The front door to your apartment opened quickly, both boys laughing, “ahh, shit, my brother’s calling me,” Brock said as he ran back to his room.

“Why does everyone feel the need to exit the room for phone calls?” you asked Jacob.

He shrugged with a giggle, “I don't know, maybe they don’t trust us,” he said in a sarcastically dramatic tone grasping his chest.

The door closed slowly and you glanced at the doorway where you thought you’d see the ever adorable goalie, Thatcher Demko, instead, you saw the adorable, slender, tall blonde you’d seen all the time, but never had a one on one interaction with... except the first time you met, when he told you that you looked pretty.

“Hi, Petey!” Jacob said as he slipped behind you to watch you mix the sauce, he stood over you looking at the sauce and put his hand on your waist.

“Hi,” he replied, his smile from before had faded.

“Looks so good Y/C/N/N,” Jacob said with a kiss on your cheek, a regular action.

“Thanks, Giraffe, can you grab the taco shells?”

He grabbed them easily from the top shelf (tall ass bitch -_-), and moved behind you, placing his hands on your waist yet again, to move you to the side. “I've gotta run to the bathroom, but I’ll be right back”

“Ok, you have fun with that,” you said with a wink.

Suddenly, was only you and Elias in the room, and the silence was deafening.

“So what are we eating?” he said, pulling your attention to his bright blue eyes.

“Um, spaghetti tacos, they're from a tv sho-”

“Like from iCarly?” he interrupted.

“...Uh yeah? How'd you know?” you couldnt pull your attention away from his eyes, ‘they are just so beautiful,’ you thought somehow you hadnt noticed this within the on and a half years you’d known him.

“We also get Nickelodeon, you know,” he said while throwing you a smirk that made your stomach flip.

“Oh, I didn't know that,” you replied, feeling just a little embarrassed.

“iCarly was my favorite, actually.”

“Yeah, it was mine too,” you said, smiling back, looking at the way he just lit up your kitchen with his presence.

You both stood there for a second just looking at the other, “So how long have-,” he started.

“OKAY,” Quinn unknowingly interrupted, “so she told me what to do, turns out I have to put sauce over them for the last 2 minutes, so Y/N/N can you just put a tablespoon of sauce on each ball then put them back in for two minutes?”

“Yeah of course. Elias, you were saying?” you looked back at the Swede.

“Oh it's nothing,” he looked down at his shoes.

“Ok, Y/N/N you need to call mom and tell her we’re fine and that she doesn't need to worry about us please, Paul says she’s stressing,” Brock said as he entered the room.

“When is she not stressing about us? I’ll call her after dinner, how's dad?”

“Doin’ good, nothing has changed or progressed or whatever since we were home last,” Brock moved and sat on the couch letting out a big sigh.

“That’s good,” you let out a sigh.

“Petey, come here, we’re watching Gossip Girl” Brock shouted at the Swede.

“Ooo what episode are you guys on?” you asked. Brock had mentioned how he was making him watch the show you two had watched about 5 times together.

“Just after Chuck gets Dan kidnapped at Yale.”

“Oh so you still hate Chuck?” you asked Elias.

“Ew, yeah...wait is that gonna change?” Petey said with a scoff.

“Uh....,” you stalled.

“Y/N shut up, don't spoil it,” Brock interrupted before you could make it worse.

“Ok well, dinner is ready so just start the show after and we can all watch it together.”

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“Oh my god, these are actually amazing,” Quinn said with his mouth full.

“I know, I did not think this was gonna taste good,” Jacob added.

“Hey!” you said, offended.

“Y/C/N/N, you know I love your cooking, it was the idea of the meal that I doubted,” Jacob said leaning into your side and putting his arm around your shoulder.

“Mmmhmm, suuure,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“Hallå Marky, ni två är söta (hey Marky, you two are cute),” Petey said, confusing you, Quinn and Brock with the sudden change in language.

Jacob, being oblivious to what Petey was implying, just said, “tack broder (thanks, bro).”

Little did you know what was going on in Elias’s head.

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PRESENT

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Before that night, you never really thought of Elias in a romantic way. You'd been around him quite a lot, seeing as how, seemingly, is in your apartment more than his own. Sure, you knew he was cute and very sweet from what you'd seen, but up until that point, you'd never had a one-on-one interaction with him. That interaction, however small, was the beginning of an obsessive crush. Quinn was the first to point it out, you started listening closely any time he talked, attempting to converse with him, and thinking about him on a daily basis even when you didn't see him. And due to your stubbornness, no matter how unrequited your crush seemed, it never faltered. You had always thought he hated you, or maybe he just tolerated you because you were Brock’s sister, and you were always around.

However, that couldn't be farther from the truth.

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Tag list: @calgarycanuck @suffering-canucks-fan

#from a distance: series #pls let me know what you think!!#hockey #nhl #elias pettersson #vancover canucks #elias pettersson fic #brock boeser #elias pettersson x reader #elias pettersson imagines #elias pettersson imagine #vancouver canucks imagines #vancouver canucks fic #hockey fic #nhl fic #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #hockey imagine #hockey imagines

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lilyginnyblackv2 · 3 years

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Thoughts on Kyo’s Lack of Apology - MANGA SPOILERS!

I know how some people talk about how the anime doesn’t have Kyo apologize for the True Form stuff, but I’m thinking that they may include that into his apology here:

MAJOR MANGA SPOILERS UNDER THE READ MORE!!

It would fit with the more built up feeling that they’ve done with this, from first having the close up shot of Tohru’s injury in Season 1:

To having Kyo thinking about it and getting angry/annoyed with himself about it in Season 2:

Now, in Season 3, we have a Kyo who has chosen to just live in the moment with Tohru, but not in a productive or good way, just in a way that causes stagnation. He comforts her, but whenever she tries to bring up the future with him, or what ifs and other possibilities, he shuts it down. He wants to provide her with comfort, but he still isn’t letting her provide him with comfort. He is still closed off and still running away. In a way, by cutting down on some of the Kyo and Tohru moments, I think the anime reboot has done a better job than the manga of showing how Kyo’s initial desire to just stay by Tohru’s side until the end something that was good for him at that specific moment in time, has now just turned into harmful stagnation that would just result in more distance being placed between them unless something starts changing.

That’s why the contents of Season 3 Episode 8 are meant to be reflective of the contents of Season 1 Episode 24 (rain, Kyo running away, Tohru getting ready to go after him, Tohru getting hurt - this is likely to be in Ep.9, etc.). In Season 1, his desire to redirect blame, run away, and keep Tohru at a distance hurt her physically, while in the Episode 8 contents it hurts her emotionally, because he is still misdirecting, running away, and keeping her at a distance.

How can Kyo apologize for what happened in S1 E24, when he is still stuck in his harmful coping mechanisms? Sure, he has apologized to Tohru since then, but in those moments it wasn’t because of intentional hurt or pain. The route cause of Tohru’s distress in, say, the paper flower scene, wasn’t because of something Kyo did to intentionally keep her at a distance. So how could they have him apologize for the wound he caused her all the way back in S1 E24, when he, himself, wasn’t there yet. Especially because there is the added layer of Kyo believing that all his existence does is harm innocent people - cause them pain and death. So until he was able to let that guilt go as well, how could he apologize?

The point of Kyo’s character growth is to finally start taking not only initiative and control over one’s life, but to do that by accepting when you’ve done something wrong and to not misdirect and take out trauma, hardship, or pain on others. With this full adaptation, Kyo’s character development and growth is fully known and clear to see, so that’s why I feel they took out the apology back in Season 1. When the manga was being written, I have no doubt that Takaya-sensei had a lot of it planned out from the start, but we already know that the characters kind of grew on their own and went in some directions she likely hadn’t planned on or expected, so her having Kyo apologize in the manga that early on may have seemed right at the time. Now that this reboot has the full picture though, she and the writers, directors, and etc. at TMS may have felt that it wasn’t right to put it there - Kyo wasn’t ready yet.

In the love confession that Kyo makes, there is a spot where they can easily place some flashbacks to when Kyo has hurt Tohru: “I hurt you a lot.” It may not be a direct apology to Tohru about that specific situation, but Tohru would understand and Tohru isn’t really the one who needs that clarification, the audience/watchers/etc. do. I think this would be the opportune time to flashback to moments like S1 E24 and S3 E8/E9. It would show that Kyo has reached the end of his character arc for the series and can properly apologize for these things that he has done in the past. It would also make for an amazing build up for this scene and add even more emotional weight to Kyo telling Tohru he is sorry in his confession.

The words would also hold weight to them, because by the time Kyo says these words to Tohru, he will have already confronted his father directly instead of just ignoring, running away, or misdirecting that anger and pain onto other characters like Yuki like he used to do in the past.

Since the reboot hasn’t gotten to adapting this content yet, I can’t say for certain that this is how they will handle it. But I will not be surprised if they do something like this. It just seems like too good of an opportunity and, as I mentioned, the build up is all right there. Why not do that?

I was just thinking about this because I was watching Kuroshor’s reaction to Episode 24 - his reactions are fantastic by the way! Very entertaining and amusing and he has good commentary, definitely recommend giving his reaction videos over on Youtube a watch! :)

#Kyoru #Kyo Sohma #Tohru Honda #Fruits Basket #Furuba #Fruits Basket The Final #Fruits Basket spoilers #Furuba spoilers #FB spoilers #Fruits Basket manga spoilers #long post #speculation #thoughts

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