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tw-episodereactions · 8 months

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Teen Wolf 1x11

I realize the electricity is more to show the audience what’s happening, but it just makes it look very unsafe. We need OSHA standards for this torture session.

“What are you doing to him? Is that going to kill him?” Allison asks in a vaguely concerned voice like someone isn’t being tortured in front of her. Like, I feel like her reaction would be a little more visceral.

Like, she literally told Jackson that she didn’t think what was after them in the school was Derek so as far as she knows he hasn’t actually done anything wrong. I mean, okay sure he’s definitely not fully human, but still.

“Don’t get all ethical on me now.” Umm, when has Allison not been shown as ethical? She’s snuck out and ditched class (fairly normal teenage behavior - and even those two things were shown as something that she doesn’t normally do) but that’s like the extent of any misdeeds.

I think Kate gets wrapped up in her own psychosis and forgets how regular people would act.

“How else do you think I stay sane?” Buddy, I think we missed that turnoff a few miles back.

Kate did not actually answer her question. Also, I am so confused at Allison’s reaction here. Is she is shock? I know that Allison’s had a thing about being scared, but Derek’s screams and Kate’s levity is so off putting you’d think her compassion would be overriding everything else. I mean, dog’s have big old canines too and she immediately tried to help it, even though she was scared. I don’t get it.

Like, that definitely makes sense that it’s the tactic Kate would use, but this whole scene still feels off to me.

Torturing someone who’s tied up and who, as far as you know, didn’t do anything wrong, as a way to feel powerful is, uh, spineless actually.

We had like two full minutes of Allison’s close up reaction to all of this, which is way more than we’ve ever gotten of Scott’s reaction, and yet all I’m getting from her is shock. Which, I admit is a valid reaction, but I’m going to need to see Allison get angry and mistrustful about her family, and I’m going to need her compassion to rear its head to make this believable.

My experience with crying in front of a cop amounts to him giving me a ticket and basically saying don’t drive angry and then leaving, which is a totally cool thing to say to someone crying so hard I was dry heaving. ACAB.

Nah, I reject this. I know that her wanting to feel powerful has been a theme since literally the first episode, but so has her kindness and compassion and willingness to stand up for people. If this was something immediate and in the moment, that’s one thing, but her watching someone be tortured and then feel cool about killing them is not in character in my opinion.

Have I mentioned that I like Deaton? He’s just so chill.

Like, got kidnapped and escaped, nbd. Carried his employee through the woods and performed surgery to save his life, all in a day’s work. He clearly knows something about Peter, even if he doesn’t know he’s an Alpha, and is just willing to play along without backing down.

Deaton steps forward like a badass. “Like I said, we’re closed.”

Bet you a million dollars his heart rate was fucking steady as a metronome.

Well someone can clearly ward things against werewolves. I wonder why the Argents don’t have that.

“Mountain Ash, that’s an old one.” Huh, I wonder if Deaton isn’t actually fully human himself, like an elf or Druid or something that lives a long time and uses natural warding.

FUCKING BADASS. DEATON, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE A KING?!

That effect was well done as well.

Scott, buddy, if you can hear him then he can hear you. Also, you should be sticking around Deaton and figuring out how he got titanium balls, because that dude is clearly the kind of mentor you need.

I mean, I can only guess that the reason he wasn’t helping Scott before is that he didn’t know Scott was involved in the werewolf shenaniganary until Derek kidnapped him.

Are you kidding me, why are we not questioning Deaton about what he knows and how he can help?! Why are we going back to Derek who is still terrible?! This makes no sense!

“They use Derek to get Peter, problem solved.” Lol, again, I’m sort of with Stiles on this.

Stiles is making some points, honestly. But, like, Stiles. I’m glad you’re sitting down because you don’t really have a leg to stand on when it comes to Derek’s history of violence against Scott. Much different scale, admittedly, but still.

“He wasn’t going to kill anyone. And I’m not letting him die.”

I’m not sure why Scott’s so convinced of that. He’s only helped Scott twice, and while this last time did cost him terribly, he’s still been the absolute worst to Scott at every other opportunity. This speaks more to Scott’s character than anything.

Uhhh, why would Melissa possibly be calling Peter back? She was definitely creeped out by him, I don’t get it.

Oh, my heart. Give Melissa and Scott some hugs stat.

Just now realized that the McCall house is not blue. We’ve only ever seen the outside at night in the blue lighting.

Do we know why her car is missing a side mirror? Am I not remembering an accident? Whether I am or not, it’s actually a nice subtle reference to them not having much money. I’d prefer more of those instead of the clunky dialogue earlier in the scene since presumably Stiles would a) know of their money problems and b) remember that Derek already killed Scott’s first phone like a week ago so he can’t exactly replace another one so easily.

“Scott, you can’t protect everyone,” is a nice sentiment, Stiles, but you literally beat him up and got him beat up because he didn’t protect your pops. You also flat out told him, “You can do things that nobody else can do. So that means you don’t have a choice anymore. It means you have to do something.”

Like, what led to the turnaround here? Or is it that you only want him to put his life on the line to protect the people you want him to protect and everyone else can suck it?

So clearly he can get pictures taken without his eyes reacting to the flash. That seems like if it’s an official booking he’d be smarter to not let his eyes react because he’s been so keen on keeping the secret. I guess I’ve never thought he was smart though.

Ugh, Kate is so gross. Did Derek give her info about his his family during pillow talk and that’s why he’s so angry at himself? Still not an excuse for how he treats people, but I can sort of see why he’s been such a bitch about Scott and Allison’s relationship.

Scott, bud, I need you to go back to Deaton and figure out the thing about Mountain Ash and use it to protect Allison’s house. Work smarter not harder.

Ummm, excuse you guy in the top right of the locker room shot who is jamming to his own beat, I love you.

Scott who’s wanted to play lacrosse since the first episode and who’s spent several episodes in pursuit of this goal even after he turned, just up and quits so that he can go to the dance to protect Allison. I still have to wonder though if it isn’t just about his feelings for her, but also about his ability to anchor himself with her.

Wasn’t Jackson planning on going with her anyway, why’s he being such a dick? Oh, right, it’s Jackson. That’s just his natural state of being.

Lol, trying to appeal to Jackson’s humanity is hilarious.

Stiles, buddy, you are not even close to being always right. But you do have a much better understanding of assholes because you are one half the time.

Wait, hold up. I honestly don’t get what they’re trying to go for with this scene. I mean, I know that in most other circumstances they’d be implying that Scott either very convincingly threatened physical harm or caused actual physical harm.

But, like, actually causing physical harm to someone with intent who’s not actively attacking him is wildly out of character for Scott, and Jackson knows that. There’s literally no threat that I can think of that Scott could convincingly make that Jackson would actually believe.

Jackson, even after he found out Scott was a mythical monster, even after Scott has physically hurt both him and his bff, has still openly taunted and threatened Scott without fear of reprisal. He has too much belief in his own superiority over Scott to be effected that much by just a threat, which means that Scott would have had to do way more than just shove him against a door, and I literally just can’t buy that with the way they developed Scott’s character. They either fucked up Jackson’s character, fucked up Scott’s character or fucked up both in that scene.

Ugh, and now Allison’s character too. What the fuck is going on in this episode?

Because after that four minute traumatic beginning to the episode and her tossing and turning in her sleep, we get smiley, bubbly Allison again? I call shenanigans. Like, they could have gone all in on the mood changes as she struggled to reconcile her whole childhood and her morals/ethics with her new change of heart, but we haven’t gotten any of that so it just seems like bad writing/acting/directing.

Is Lydia buying Allison a dress because she kissed Scott? Because, actually that does seem like a pretty big apology. Now that she’s not attached to Jackson did Lydia Martin find a conscience?

I don’t get it. Why would Allison want Lydia to go with Stiles?

Funny how usually when someone is telling someone else to smile, it’s usually a man telling a woman, but in this episode it’s been Kate telling Derek and now Allison and Lydia saying it to each other.

Bet you ten bucks that Lydia already had her dressed picked out, and is now doing retail therapy because of Stiles.

Peter, dude, you are so creepy. I was going to say that we know he’s got game because he was able to ask Melissa out successfully, but also after he was incredibly creepy she still called him for a second date, so maybe he’s just like this all the time.

I do not fucking get Allison’s characterization in the episode! Vaguely concerned leads to fearful and crying leads to her confidently shooting arrows at Derek’s wanted poster leads to trouble sleeping, then bubbly with Jackson, cautious with Lydia, and now she’s like full on panicking baby deer.

I wish we could have had a conversation between her and her dad where she brings up the book that she initially got from Kate and watched her evaluating gaze as he lied to her again. I wish we could have seen her conversation with Jackson be more subdued as she tries to get out of the dance because of all the stuff going on and he cajoles her into going still, and as they’re walking away she tells him that she found some things out that she wants to tell him.

I wish we saw Peter being creepy and her feeling vulnerable before she slowly steels her spine because she’s gaining confidence in herself.

The way they’re showing this makes it seem less like she’s wavering in her new view of the world and her place in it and more like the director or editor fucked up in the order of events.

“I have to say, Scott, I continue to be impressed with your ingenuity.” I’m going to be honest, it didn’t even occur to me that Scott was responsible for the announcement. I thought she was just lying to get away from him, but now I am also very impressed.

Quite a leap there, Kate. Not that she’s particularly good with logic.

I do like Melissa, even if she’s bad at her job, and I do love the sweet relationship that she and Scott have.

Oh, buddy, alcohol seems like a bad idea.

Scott, you’re going to rip those pants again.

You’d think Scott would have trauma from the bleachers.

Uh, Stiles? What the hell? That was like one step removed from negging, and I’m not a fan.

So many of those people are not high schoolers.

Is it weird to anyone else that Danny’s sexuality has been used to manipulate people twice now? Once Danny and now the Coach. I mean, we’ve seen other characters use their own sexuality to manipulate people on this show, but it’s other people using Danny’s sexuality, and that seems weird. Am I reading too much into that?

Is that the Alpha or the Argents with night vision goggles? Who knows?

Uh, you better not be letting Lydia go alone Stiles.

I can’t believe it took me this long to see it, but Jackson’s arc is running parallel to Allison’s: both want to stop being afraid. Both want power. Both are very much in over their heads.

Okay, not night vision goggles, but still Argents. Oop, and Chris still thinks he’s the beta.

Oh, hey, nice that we got insight into why Allison’s not mad at Scott ditching her in his room. Kind of wish that line drop had happened earlier. I wonder if a scene got cut where they showed that conversation, which led to Allison asking Lydia to go with Stiles. Because that still makes no sense whatsoever.

“You promise you won’t hurt him?” Holy shit, that came out of nowhere. Like two weeks earlier Jackson fucked up the Molotov cocktail on purpose to try and get Scott killed. And then earlier in this episode it was heavily implied that Scott was physically violent with him.

Oh. I just had a wild fucking thought that is undoubtedly not true, but is literally that only thing that would explain Jackson’s change of heart with both Allison as well as the one in this scene with Chris.

So we’ve already seen with Derek that a beta who is overwhelmed can accidentally transfer memories to Jackson via claws to the neck and also not realize that he’s done it. What if after Scott slammed Jackson against the door he tried to hold him in place by the throat, but when Jackson tried to shove him off, Scott’s claws slipped out. Maybe punctured the same marks that Derek made. Maybe some of Scott’s recent trauma bled through the link that Derek already created.

It would explain why Jackson was willing to help Allison, but also why he was so sweaty and jumpy about it. And it would explain why he doesn’t want Chris to hurt a guy he didn’t give a shit about before because he got whispers of Scott’s trauma but also his kindness and empathy.

This is my headcanon until proven otherwise.

This conversation is all over the place. Yay for Scott telling her how he feels, but I kind of feel like the other conversation was a tad more important.

Well this can’t be good.

But also, fucking lol at this dramatic shit. Peter flipping switches out there to find the right ones for when someone wandered his way.

Lydia, take off your heels and run, girl.

“You’re the clever one, Stiles.” Umm, I’m going to need a clear example of Stiles being clever. Like, he’s clearly smart, he can clearly research, but his plans are always slapdash and only sometimes work.

Maybe that’s just Peter’s way of calling him a smartass.

Also, Stiles, what have you been hiding?

Okay 1) why the fuck would Stiles think that? Again, Derek’s not a particularly great strategist either, and even if he was a great strategist, what evidence has Stiles seen of that, and 2) why didn’t Stiles tell Scott when Scott was panicking about it earlier?

Scott does not have good associations with these busses, Allison. Also, y’all about to get got by Mr. Argent.

Gross, Allison, you don’t know where that glass has been.

Chris, I know that Jackson told you the truth, but you don’t actually know that Jackson told you the truth, and you could have vehicularly manslaughtered a sixteen year old kid right then.

I feel that Scott’s capable enough to make that leap without shifting, and it would have been so fucking funny if he hadn’t, actually.

P.S. I want you to know that I went back and watched the part in the last episode at full brightness like six times and there is literally nothing to indicate Derek took Scott’s phone, and - again - literally no reason to think Stiles would know that he did. This episode should have been called deus ex machina.

In conclusion, 1) why do all of these adults keep going to the sixteen year old to track each other down? 2) setting up consistent characterizations for a season and then switching them up in the second to last episode is, how shall I put this? Bad. And 3) why was Deaton not in this episode way more?

#teen wolf #scott mccall #stiles stilinski #episode reaction #derek hale #allison argent #jackson whittemore #chris argent #kate argent #lydia martin #1x11

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lemonhemlock · 1 year

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Something I feel like the hotd fandom overlooks is that Daemon was a full on cop. Bro held a mass police brutality event in episode one. And Daemon girlies with ACAB in their profiles are still saying that him chocking Rhaenyra is out of character like most cops aren’t domestic abusers💀

To be fair to Daemon, Viserys mentions he had both previously been Master of Coin and Master of Laws, but kept getting different portfolios because Otto insisted he be moved. So, the most likely characterization would be that Daemon is just really bad at any government post? He did not stay long in the City Watch (nor did he even establish it; it came to be under Maegor), so, to be perfectly honest, I can only point to the Gold Cloaks' undying loyalty to Daemon as another instance of unexplained authorial bias. In practical terms, he's not so much a cop as he is... a nepo baby? 😅 Getting jobs he's not qualified for because he's the brother of the King?

That being said, for some reason, his image is associated with the Gold Cloaks in the collective consciousness, so it is bizarre that his stans refuse to even attempt to critique that. Though, in the spirit of quasi-historical objectivity, I do have to add that medieval law enforcement looks like an absolute mess to my eyes - so the pre-police system doesn't seem all that desirable to me either. From what I gather, it was primarily the responsibility of the victim to prove that they were wronged and bring the perpetrator to justice - with, perhaps, some help from the local community.

At the same time, what Daemon did with the Gold Cloaks was a thinly-veiled excuse to revel in violence. So I wouldn't say him being Commander of the City Watch was Problematique per se, more like. what he did with his position. which is to make a mockery of justice.

#ask #anti daemon targaryen #kiss-kats

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fandsart · 11 months

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Oh, absolutely. Nancy needs to work on her people skills because she's really bad at those. I would love for Murray to call her out, but every time a character does that, the narrative in Stranger Things punishes said character because Nancy is always right.

I agree with all your points. Also, in s3, it was a summer internship, and Nancy acted like she was a fully employed reporter there. Jonathan saying she should have managed her expectations was the truth, and I hate how much shit he gets from the fandom for that.

Nancy is more of a detective she thrives with investigating and following clues. Her need to be constantly right is what's motivating her, not wanting to tell a good story. She also lacks creativity she needs to have to spin a good story. Like Robin coming up with her little backstory or thinking outside the box in the library, which helped them so much in the overall plot. As for Steve's essay, I talked to someone who works as a teacher, and they were like Steve's essay was fine a bit choopy and definitely in need of tuning. Nancy overreacted by saying it's not cohesive or doesn't make sense. It was clear Steve used a metaphor, and if Nancy isn't able to see that, idk if she's good at writing. I'm not saying she is stupid, I just feel like she isn't passionate enough to improve her writing skills but is rather focused on solving mysteries.

I honestly see her working in the police force, it's a better conclusion to her arc because the police failed Barb so she's now making sure that won't happen to other families. Maybe she should team up with Hopper in s5, that would be interesting.

I was going to bring up the fact the narrative punishes characters who question her. Well, really I was had a sentence written out that said "The only reason Nancy is always right is because she has to be the girlbossiest, but most of the time she really should be wrong" but I didn't want to make the commentary too meta. I already had so much down about it, so I didn't expand past that and just deleted it.

I think it's interesting to compare her hunches to Joyce's, because the way they play out is similar but different. Nancy is always presented as being right about something that everyone else just denies, even though it's right in front of them (very Don't Look Up). Whereas Joyce always happens to notice really weird things which make sense to question, but people always question her perception of the events because what she's claiming to experience seems unreal. Nancy has to be in conflict around the obvious so she seems like she's, idk, prosecuted a little about it.

People make fun of her for thinking there could be a story to be written, which doesn't make a lot of sense. In real life I feel like it would make more sense for the professionals to stare blankly at her for her suggestions and then ignore her, which can also work for a narrative, but it has to be exaggerated (there's a similar issue with how El is bullied in season 4. These aren't things that really tend to happen) so these professional business men bully Nancy for trying to do their jobs for them badly. I think it would have been more realistic for them to just be like "Let the professionals deal with this" but we have to be on Nancy's side about it, so it has to be undeniable that they're prejudice and condescending, which they can be, while also being right. But the duffers can't have anyone being like "That's a good point" to a point against Nancy, because that might make it obvious that Nancy isn't actually the best person to prove their first wave feminist point

I do like the idea of Nancy being a cop. I hadn't considered it before. I'm really big on acab, but narratively it does make sense for her, and it makes sense as a line of logic, and how else is she gonna use her gun skills in regular life in a way that she would really be down for. Most shows I'm more hesitant to be like "This character should be a cop" because, seriously, acab, but with this show I obviously already have to come to terms with Hopper being a cop, and it could be cool for him to take her under his wing in that area

#fandsart #ask #answered asks #anon ask

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independentzaun · 1 year

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Family issues and Zombies

Modern zombie Apoc starter for @cold-blooded-candy

((Quick few back story notes just so we have something to reference (if I got anything wrong here feel free to let me know I’m entirely willing to change and adapt). Silco adopted Jinx. Tried to adopt Vi, but couldn’t get it done in time. Vi blames Silco for being a homewrecker, and doesn’t know Silco tried to keep the sisters together. They do not have a good relationship at all. Vander is dead (car crash/accident), and things were complicated between him and Silco ala estranged spouses. Most of the bad stuff got blamed on Silco be it true or not, Vander is why Silco has his scars/bad eye. There’s a lot Vi doesn’t know/understand, and neither Vander nor Silco ever told her all of it. Silco has an arrest record for one reason or another. Silco has currently gotten separated from Jinx (who has Sevika with her) and everything is going to hell because zombies. With that, here we go.))

It would be easy to assume a man in his forties who was perhaps inching closer to fifty than he’d like to admit would have problems moving through town on foot while avoiding zombies. That assumption would be very wrong with Silco moving through a neighborhood he knew like the back of his hand. Silco had boots on that had seen him through a hundred punk shows, protests, and late night excursions. A heavy black leather jacket that went down to his hips, and a vest under it with a “nazi punks fuck off” patch on one side and another patch that said simply ACAB on the other. He hadn’t worn the vest in a few years not having had the opportunity to go to a show, but looking into his closet with a mix of frantic worry and the cold mindset that had gotten him out of so many bad situations before Silco simply hadn’t been able to resist grabbing it. Thankfully it still fit perfectly as did the rest of his outfit, and the backpack strapped to him that was perhaps half full didn’t impede him all that much as he moved.

His bad eye currently covered with an eye patch not wanting to take the chance that one of his decorative contact lenses would fall out Silco stalked through an alleyway. He’d spent practically his entire life in this town, and it showed as he took a side cut here or hopped a fence there or climbed up a fire escape only to move across the roof tops for a few buildings. A life spent with the first few years being chased by police or shop owners, the racist skinheads he’d fought more than once trying to grab him, or even just having fun with a friend running around all made it easy for the man to avoid zombies and get to where he was going with little issues. A shortcut through an abandoned apartment building did lead to one short deadly moment during which a zombie turned around growling in front of the window he needed to go through. Without hesitating for a second Silco simply shoved the makeshift spear he’d made out of a baseball bat he’d carved down, and a butcher knife attached to it with a few leather straps as well as duct tape and glue through the zombies face into it’s skull destroying the brain and kept going. It wasn’t something he enjoyed, but Silco had already seen more than enough examples of just what could come from allowing a zombie to live and get close to you to know he couldn't allow that.

Eventually he got to the college Jinx was supposed to be having her first semester at praying that she was still there, and with Sevika by her side. Pulling out a solar powered walkie talkie he hissed into it. “Jinx! Sevika! Are either of you there? Come in...Fuck!” Clicking it off Silco shoved it back into a cargo pocket on his pants, and continued through the college. There had been a disastrously high amount of zombies roaming around here near the start of the infection, but by now most had either died or left or gotten distracted and simply stayed in one building or another with nothing prompting them to do anything. Spotting the building that had the store for necessities and text books and snacks Silco frowned before heading that way figuring it was as good an idea as any. Slipping into it he glanced around hissing out Jinx’s name, and then Sevika’s before heading towards the food section first. Food, and then first aid was his plans. At some point however Silco heard a foot step and spun around pulling out the knife that had been sheathed on his belt as he’d put the spear down to scavenge. Blade very clearly held in a steady grip that spoke of a willingness to use it Silco paused for a moment realizing who was there, and turned his head just a touch to get a better look at her with his good eye.

“Vi?...Of course…” He shouldn’t be surprised. If anyone could survive this shit it was Vi, and as much as he felt that immediate rush of anger and resentment rising up there was also weirdly a faint small tiny hint of relief deep down inside not that he would ever admit it. Glancing past her to make sure she wasn’t followed he put the knife down by his side and took a breath shaking his head. “Look we don’t have time for a long conversation, or yelling. Not with the biters around so making this quick I got separated from her. Sevika should be with her and I need to find her…” Lips tightening a bit his scars twitched before he spoke again. “I suppose. We. Need to find her. Now we have our issues, but we both want Jinx safe and whole.” What ever issues he had with Vi. With the daughter he’d tried so hard to keep side by side with Jinx, but had failed and instead of keeping his family whole and together had seen it split. There was no doubt in Silco’s mind that here and now in this wasteland of death if there was one thing they shared it was that need to ensure Jinx was safe.

“So either we can work together, and not get in each others way or we can keep stumbling over each other as we look for her and risk pulling the biters down on us.” The knife slipped into it’s sheath as he stared at her. “Because I’ll never stop looking for her. So what’s it going to be Vi?” The woman was, he was sure, smart enough to know two people together was far safer than one. At least assuming the two people could trust each other enough to work together, and Silco knew quite well you didn’t have to like someone to work together. There was of course a soft growling sound from somewhere be it in the back of the building, or outside. Still far too many zombies, and too much risk to stay where they happened to be at that moment for long.

#coldbloodedcandy #zombieKillerSilco #familyIssuesZombies

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mirrorfalls · 2 years

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Harvey Dent?

Sorry, Harv. Looks like we almost made Bingo.

Expect a more coherent version of this if @about-faces and I ever get that book off the ground: I truly believe Harvey has the potential to be the single richest character among Arkham's most wanted, if not the richest in Gotham period. I'm not as emotionally invested in the nitty-gritty of his backstory as some fans, but I'd have to be the worst kind of liar to say "Eye of the Beholder" doesn't pull miracles that somehow make a son-of-a-boozehound narrative look genuinely fresh and interesting even in 2022. More than just daddy-hit-me-so-now-I'm-bad, it's a bloodcurdling feast of Implication on how no rules are really better than the people who set them; on how the powerless and vulnerable can get fucked in the most horrific way by even the (seemingly) clearest lines and stipulations. And what does that say of Harvey himself, who at his most (quote-unquote?) heroic went to work for the Justice System, which inflicts that on thousands-if-not-millions of poor and marginalized people every day?

... that said, I'm also grateful that "ACAB (Yes, Prosecutors Are C!)" isn't (yet?) the prevailing fandom take on Harvey. A guy who was just Always a Cop and Always Doing Bad Things for Cop Reasons doesn't really a riveting recurring foe make. If Batman himself doesn't feel at least a little bad putting his boot to Harvey's face(s) every time, then what's the point?

(For the record, my golden take on Harvey probably exists genuinely nowhere in canon: an information broker a la the Penguin who knows full well he has no real powerset beyond owning some guns, and usually takes every pain to make sure things don't come to blows with any of the mask-and-cape crowd. The tension in any given interaction with him would come from figuring out which of his personalities - which are equally charming and polite in most circumstances - gave you a specific piece of info. For extra "fun", neither of them has a truly, predictably conventional view of right and wrong. Did "good" Harvey tell you that hoping you'd get arrested, because he doesn't think you've got enough skills to be a costumed hero? Did "bad" Harvey tell you that to get back at a genuinely horrible guy... who stole his parking spot last week?)

Also, just on a purely superficial level? I think that he's got, hands-down, the most timeless design and gimmick out of all the rogues. You need zero cultural context for the juxtaposition of "Aww, such a lovely face! + DEAR LORD THOSE SCARS" to hit at 90mph, and only a little more to grasp the Rome-ancient concept behind a coin-flip.

(Character Opinion Bingo! Accepting entries till further notice!)

#Luanna801 #Harvey Dent #Two-Face

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completelyordinarycat · 1 year

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Compiling my TFTR end notes so they clog up the fic less but tbh it's mostly for sentimental reasons. Fun Facts:

Chapter 3:

Harry rambling about the Pale as a way to talk about wanting to disappear is based on a real conversation I've had.

Chapter 4:

I used Korean as a Seol language because it's the Asian language I'm most familiar with. I speak neither Korean nor French fluently (I don't speak French at all) so please correct me.

For reference, I switch between sounding out, anglicised, and characters to indicate the way characters are hearing language and tonal differences.

I am a white person, so I'm not in any way the person to be talking about experiencing racism but it felt wrong to ignore the place that has in DE and Kim's story especially and it's role in cop work especially. I work a lot with people who speak English as an Additional language, so I've tried to respect the bravery it takes to speak a language like English when you aren't fluent, and base that conversation on actual ones I've had. While I've tried to be actively anti-racist from a narrative standpoint, I won't do that perfectly.

The fire, and its cause, is based on one where I've lived that I won't go into for obvious reasons.

Eomma is based on my Italian great-grandmothers.

Chapter 5:

if you see me misspelling characters names: no you don't. I learned via this fic that they aren't columbinimus clouds, which is the best spelling I can offer for what I spent my life reading and pronouncing. Plus side: every spell check I'd laugh because I'd get to remind myself it's spelled with CUM not COL.

I find it really, really hard to keep real life geography straight let alone in-game stuff. I'm taking Messina to be an Italy stand in because it's literally a city in Sicily, which is where my family is from, so when I saw it in the game I was like bwuh??? If that's wrong let me know and I'll change it.

The reference to culturally insensitive ads is a reference to a real pizza place where I live, as well as various chain Asian food places with actually completely racist ads.

Chapter 6:

Had Harry been not caught up in his own stuff, Katya's song choice would have been more illuminating to him than any other piece of information thus far. But there was a reason Judit said that sometimes we get caught up in the little internal things that drive us (b/c its foreshadowing) which is what Harry and Katya do. Idk if you’ve ever had a fight with someone that, while it has valid points, you think back on later and are like oh. That wasn’t really about that at all, was it? They’re both still learning about how to do healthy relationships.

Having a character whose entire character trait up until this point is being secretive meant I had to do so much exposition I would have rather included earlier ughhhh.

The entirety of the case discussed is plotted out in full despite being only mentioned briefly.

I never name male perpetrators because in reality they always get the headlines when their victims don't and it pisses me right off.

I am ACAB and continue to be (and yes, ACAB includes all these characters and the RCM) but what Katya and Liza are implied to be doing is a form of the PEACE method including focusing on establishing known factual events.

Some of the city's reflections of love are inspired by me re-reading this answer at the time of writing. I think "If you found love right now, you would run it straight into the ground in seconds," applies to Harry though he's not at a place where he's ready to understand what that would mean in this fic, imo.

I had to remind myself how to do medical notes for this and they may or may not be accurate, idk. They're meant to obscure information, though, so non-accuracy works in this regard. I'm a suicide attempt survivor so I tried to be sensitive about this. For a disclaimer, I’m not a medical professional and my work lies in health advocacy, hence how I know a lot of this. You can tell, because I abbreviated a medication which is one of the first things they tell you not to do but hey, it was on purpose. Here is a translation:

TW for domestic violence, attempted suicide (with potential context as to a method), abortion and miscarriage:

“02:00 5mg/h AC bolus pushed via NGT. 10ml/h IV saline bag replaced.

03:40 PT semi-conscious but non-responsive, pulling at NGT. IV sedative admin.

5:30 RR 27, HR 114, BP 160/110, other VS normal. ECG shows sinus pause reduced but bradyarrhythmia remains.”

This is basically not that important really lmao. I could have skipped it, in retrospect, but I think it gives some nice context to say that Katya is okay, health wise, in that moment. In summary: she’s being given activated charcoal via a naso-gastric tube which is a common treatment for some kinds of overdoses (and why you shouldn’t use activated charcoal tablets/toothpaste if you’re on prescription medicine!). She’s sick and her heart is being a bit funky, but she’s okay. You can say this is why Katya refers to this as a “heart attack” rather than what it is.

“Emergency Department (ED) admission 23:39 by neighbour for suspected overdose (OD), no known next of kin. Blood alcohol level .32, suspected drug use. Became physically aggressive when asked if deliberate OD, requiring intramuscular sedative. Transferred mental health ward 00:48. History: childhood Pale Related Acquired Brain Injury. 3xED presentation for gun shot wounds and stab wounds relating to RCM work. 2x presentation for injury relating to suspected assault and battery, patient denied intimate partner violence and left against medical advice both times. 3 pregnancies and 0 live births: ED presentation following miscarriage after fall; ED presentation for miscarriage after suspected assault and battery; ED presentation relating to suspected termination of pregnancy haemorrhage requiring blood transfusion and overnight observation.”

Again, I’m hoping no one is learning how to take case notes from this. I re-wrote this a million times, no lie, and if I saw this on someone’s records I would probably be like UM WTF. But for storytelling purposes, it got the job done lmao. I hope the original gets across what I wanted to get across: that something really significantly bad happened in Katya’s past that explains her motives and behaviour. I wrote it with the intention that Harry has just gotten enough information to want to push, but not to know that he shouldn’t. Having said that, you could make the argument that he should have known at the very least what the abbreviation for Assault and Battery is, so if he knew, would he have pushed anyway? Canonically, I think the answer is yes because even a high-empathy Harry can be remarkably tactless on a fail. Which is why I think this interaction is fun(? Oh wow I’m a freak) because it’s pushing (fanfic) Harry’s assumptions of himself and his goals. His stated goal is to do good, but he actively doesn’t do that in this scenario (though, neither was Katya, tbf).

In his defence, he’s right but he’s also kind of wrong. Yes, Katya’s background makes her empathise with this case a lot more, but the other implication that Harry misses is that she was actually involved with the case to some capacity while it was ongoing, and therefore she feels responsible

If you care about the OCs at all: Katya, as a mirror to Harry, has been going through a parallel to Harry's plot and she's really going through it. At the end of this chapter she is off-screen having her own "I don't want to be this kind of animal anymore" moment. We only just get to glimpse it.

Chapter 7:

Mee's Kitchen is a reference to a beloved take out place where I live, and again I'm sticking with Korean stuff because I'm most familiar with it.

Harry feeling like he has no control and slapping himself and being terrified of that is based off of my entire life lmao but particularly a few years ago when I started to slap myself without consciously deciding to do it. Then I 1. started dealing with some of my mental health stuff, and 2. started being treated for ADHD, and, surprise, it happens less now and when it does I don't freak out about it. Harry is very flippant about it, which I was too for a long time. I have a lot of body-focused repetitive behaviours and repetitive behaviours in general and no one has ever formally told me if that counted as one of those or not. I don't like to call out specific things as me obviously projecting but I also wanted to be clear that if you also have those kinds of behaviours, there's nothing wrong with you and don't listen to a guy in a fanfic. Talk to someone about it if you're worried. <3 I tagged it as self-harm because it seemed to cover all bases.

Chapter 8:

This was a hard chapter to walk the line on and if I wasn't doing the poetry chapter title thing, it would be titled "What if Rigorous Self-Critique Was More Helpful and Less An Opportunity to Hate Yourself into Self-Destruction, and Therefore Allowing Your Shitty Behaviour to Continue." And I never want to demonise addiction or mental health struggles and I hope I don’t. In my own experience to do better you do need to face up to things you've done that you’re not proud of. No joke, a lot of this fic is me exploring the idea of restorative justice and how and when we can forgive someone, especially when that person is a victim too. But I also don't want to woobify Harry and I recognise that I could have gone harder on this and that's a flaw in this work. Very few things destroyed me in DE like Rigorous Self-Critique. My reaction to reading it was physical horror and I still remember how it felt. And I just couldn't play that out to its extreme in this. It would be too much of a tone shift, for one. And for personal reasons, I just couldn't. Also, In editing this chapter, I removed a bit of context I didn’t fix. Specifically, there is no doubt in my mind that Harry is abusive towards Dora and I realise I may have presented it as if to imply he wasn’t. Harry was specifically asking about sexual violence, and that is what Jean investigated. I may fix this in the future, when I’m in a better headspace.

I love to write bi-Jean being no-homo, I don't know why. Jean constructs intricate rituals to allow himself to hear that he is loved.

Other fun facts, grabbed from my notes:

MoralIntern/Coalition politicians declaring that homo-sexuality no longer existed in Revachol is based on a comment from a politician where I live who said that there were no gay people in his state. It’s also very inspired by real life anti-homosexuality laws stemming from racism and colonialism and eugenics.

This fic works from the assumption that Dora ended that cycle of untreated mental illness and abuse by leaving as soon as she realised what was happening, by virtue of having a better education and resource access through being middle class. She is my idealised version of myself here haha. So the question becomes less, is Harry a bad guy? But what can Harry do to make sure he doesn’t continue a cycle of violence that probably pre-dates him by centuries?

I also can-opened myself writing this fic because I was like, why do I write stories about people being at their worst and still being loved? And my brain was like, because it’s the kind of story you needed to hear when you were at your worst, that it’s still possible to be loved, and never heard. And then I had a little cry :)

If you think that Harry is a bad and an irredeemable man, you’re totally valid! Maybe I will write a fic about that at some point.

I love Jean now :)

I was like haha what if I make the chapter titles a poem from the city to Harry and immediately regretted it because I'm bad at poetry :)

#tftr #my writing

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brittie-frog · 3 years

Text

Fear Street Part 3

here we go:

- we love her already joking about marriage and reasons she can't

- this rhyme feels like foreshadowing because he's not blind - why does it exist, how did it come about??

- already got Hannah and Sarah flirting in public and the town drunk being a creep

- we do love Solomon though (for now at least) - and my brain just put together that his past name is Goode as in Nick Goode

- 'drinks blood of virgins' already sounds like such a nice lady

- if you find a book in a witch's hut that just has a list of demon names you don't start reading them aloud - that's stupid at least read in your head and show us the page

- just instantly going parting as if you didn't just get a horrifying prophecy about the devil

- yes Sarah protect your girl, insult the man and fuck in the woods

- I do like the dynamic of Deena being outspoken and not hiding her sexuality but Sarah being the one to push Hannah away and say that it's wrong and they shouldn't

- demons interrupting their time in the woods and the damn dog interrupting her self-care time

- HALF SIX and most of the morning work is done - it's still dark out and why didn't you wake her when you first started chores??

- also the fact that Hannah went out of her way to find Sarah and take her back to her house just to find a prayer passage when she's not meant to see her anymore is... ballsy - especially cause her mum comes home soon after and throws Sarah out the door

- pigs are terrifying if you think about it and also the noises of it eating its children doesn't help

- Poor Merryboy, he was nice dog when he wasn't making terrifying noises at the door

- yay Solomon for being the only non-homophobe in Union - also is the secret the seeing a possible demon or that she's gay and it wasn't a 'dalliance'

- he even left the eyes in a neat pile for ease of cleaning

- the horrifying imagery of the children lined up outside the hall like in the second movie showing correlation between Sarah's life and the people she cursed

- why are they letting the town drunk speak at the meeting like he actually has authority on the situation??

- is he trying to victim blame in a situation that he ran from and didn't see the conclusion of??

- at least all the other kids look guilt and like they don't want this to happen or their terrified of the curse but i hope it's cause they don't want to see their two friends get hung

- it's a stealth mission - clearly visible in in the grass and isn't being silent, throw something and instead of the person being like 'something was through and looking around the area for where it came from, spends 10 minutes looking at the item thrown giving plenty of time to sneak by

- she really said 'fuck all of them I'm gonna make the curse real cause they're a bunch of homophobes'

- the widow is dead time for a new witch to come to town

- of course it's Solomon should have put that together when I realised his last name because of the theory

- yeah you want to sacrifice one person but they get possessed and kill upwards of like 15 people which is a much bigger price to pay

- did he seriously think that Sarah would turn her back on the entire town and the person he cursed killed her brother?!?!

- that's a much more disgusting way of getting your hand cut off and least it explains why it was down there while her body was a car ride away

- wait punishment for witchcraft is hanging but they never did anything to the widow??

- I've just realised I still have another hour to go

- confessing to protect Hannah because no one is going to believe her if she blames Solomon

- I like these guys being nice and giving her a proper burial

- I've also just realised it's the same actor who plays Solomon and Nick, I need to go through the Imdb to find out other crossover actors other than the obvious

- at least the theories are correct that it's the Goode family behind it all and I'm not disappointed by the reveal

- first Deena stole a cop's gun then a cop car, Deena really does say ACAB

- yeah its gonna get a whole lot worse and that is so disgusting

- I already love this plan but did they seriously tell him their going to kill the Sherrif and not why - granted he just jumped in the car so...

- is there really time for a motivational speech right now when there are shut tons of killer after you??

- so glad we get the lyric songs back cause I don't think I could last two hours of a hour film with just 17th century instrumental

- but it's so pretty with the bioluminescent writing and neon signs

- I was waiting for the plan to go to shit and they just go after anyone

- okay that was very fast paced - but how many times is deena gonna cut open her hands and uts a lot of blood so its gonna be deep - they were on different hands so is she just gonna have two scars, one on each now.

- I was gonna ask how they're back in the cave system but the tree is there so the mall was built on top of the camp grounds so theirs obviously an entrance

- time for round 2 - I swear if Josh or any of them die now.. I dont know what I'll do

- well done Sarah finally making the Goode family face their consequences and none of the main 6 died in this film

- why does he have so many goats?? And is no one going to question why two girls covered in dirt and blood are walking out of Nick Goode's house??

- I just had to pause and cackle so glad it turned into a comedy at the end as that truck hit and then the music started with 'baby...'

- Martin in a school parking lot selling things to minors - has no teacher come out to check what he's doing cause I think even in 1990's that would seem a little weird

- Everyone getting their happy ending - Josh meets another cute girl, Sam and Deena have a date at Sarah Fier's grave - you know the usual

- of course ends on a bad note of the book being stolen but that was funny cause no one picks up an ancient time like your stealing a book from a friend that their reading, that quickly

And that's the end and I loved it and I want to spent this weekend reqatching all of them now.

#fear street #that was amazing #and as stated before #not disappointed in the twist because it was so well done #when i rewatch them #im gonna pay close attention to Nick's dialogue because it showed clips from 1978 #and him being like maybe i dont want to be what people expect of me #or some shit #but he still does #but that moment of guilt(?) was nice #wish he would have stuck with it and not sacrificed people but #at least hes probs dead now

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smolstarthief · 3 years

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Persona 5/Persona 5 Strikers: Pro-Police or Anti-Police?

Hoo boy... So this honestly has been a LONG time coming on my end because I have seen so much of that debate on social media (Twitter namely) and I can see the points of BOTH sides but there have been moments where it just got out of hand... Especially whenever people tried to put in a more grey/nuanced take only to be slammed and taken out of context. Even repeatedly mentioning the interrogation at the beginning of P5 which, I will admit has gotten tiresome. At least for me, I do still feel for Joker and I wished the game acknowledged his trauma more but there's a thing called, "beating a dead horse" and this is one along with "Haru says ACAB" in Strikers (which was done THREE TIMES in the same arc and it got annoying fast, like shut up already! We get it!). So, let's dive in a little bit:

MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!!!

Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal

Now let me just say I know! Police in Japan are just as bad if not worse than the West and I STILL hate the idea of Makoto wanting to become a cop for such naive reasons (especially with what happened to Sae, her own sister!)... But there are at least some of form of nuances sometimes and by that I mean, I can see what they were trying to do? I do agree that P5/P5S backpedaled SEVERELY by deciding to sweep issues under the rug after addressing them and not continuing from such. In fact I feel like it could have been a hell of a lot better. But P5 did something different compared to previous games and addresses the issues DIRECTLY right at the beginning of said game! It was tense and horrifying, but needed. Of course... They then sweep it under the rug and act like nothing traumatic happened to our protag which is NOT a good look at all and I'm still pissed off about it. In the main game's case, it's portrayed as more black and white with only a SMALL amount of nuance like that cop that was trying to help Futaba when she went out by herself and got lost (which people ignore entirely by the way). So I CAN see where people got the "anti-police" message from... But that's only the tip of the iceberg as it's ACTUALLY more about Systematic Corruption, not exactly or JUST police corruption. Namely in politics with Shido and the Conspiracy (which is apparently still somewhat around in Strikers until Owada's downfall) controlling everything all the way to law enforcement. The force had been basically under his payroll (including the corrupt SIU Director before his death) whether by force or not (mostly not in this case though). Now honestly, the police depicted there are undoubtedly rotten to the core save for a VERY SMALL handful (the cop that was trying to help Futaba which, again, gets ignored by several). Look at the interrogators who ruthlessly beat and drug a minor without any second thought or remorse for example. But again, the black and white narrative the game kept unwittingly doing ended up being to its detriment in a way. I'm not defending those assholes AT ALL! They deserved every punishment given to them! But for a game that goes on about grey morality... It doesn't quite deliver on that. Still though, it does emphasize that it's more of the fault of the whole corrupt system, not just one part of it. There needs to be change and reform which is what our MCs were trying to do in a way (more like inspiring change but still). In the end, it's all about the following:

Corruption and abuse of power.

Again the police depicted in this game were incompetent at best, corrupt at worse with very few silver linings. But it's not just them but rather the one person responsible for the whole mess. Who had them under his payroll? Who controlled them and by extension all of Tokyo? Who was willing to dispose of anyone who "outlives their usefulness" or is perceived as a threat to what he wants (including his own family)?

SHIDO AND BY EXTENSION THE CONSPIRACY

Bottom line: They are definitely a problem but it's not just them.

"But, Joker and his trauma?"

I definitely understand that and still do. I fully believe he has and still has trauma with the police. Easy! But... I do feel like people go too far with it sometimes. It's hard to explain but there have been moments where people either use it as a justification/argument against someone trying to provide a more nuanced view of things or... Dare I say, depict him like a "uwu soft traumatized boi." Like I said, it's hard to explain on my end so feel free to ignore it. Everyone deals with trauma differently so there is STRONG chance that I'm overanalyzing it. I just remember moments where I just feel a little, I guess annoyed? I'm not sure exactly but final thing: I understand what he went through and I can't imagine how long it would take to recover but I hope he DOES overcome it.

"Sae? Akechi?"

Yep, even though their jobs are different, they are by and large members of law enforcement no matter how you spin it. Both were broken in a way. Akechi is pretty easy to explain with how Shido negatively impacted his life but not much about Sae, who dealt with sexism/misogyny at her workplace along with the trauma of her father's (also a cop) death. She no doubt had some idealism only to be hit with the fact that she's gonna have to use underhanded/downright illegal tactics to get by and even rise up the ranks. She, therefore ended up (well, nearly) corrupted herself before coming to her senses. That's honestly one of the BIGGEST REASONS why I felt like Makoto joining the force to become a police commissioner isn't a good, even a downright naïve, idea. I honestly would have been somewhat fine with it if it weren't for that fact among other things. Regardless of her willpower, it will go south fast.

Now... Onto Strikers!

Persona 5 Strikers

Since the game came out and I started playing it, I still feel like the system is still beyond saving, especially when attempting to do it from the inside. But I don't mind the added nuances that P5 didn't do much of. It's still continuing the critiques, just shows more of what does happen within said system and even has an ACTUAL officer (Zenkichi) say, "Yeah, my job sucks, everyone's corrupt, there are much better ways to do things and make a change but not this. I'm only staying because I have a daughter to take care of and it's all I know. I'm no different from them." Was it all handled well? I wouldn't say "yes" (Joker's trauma is BARELY addressed at all of course) but a little better than what P5's narrative did which only addressed the issues but not exactly follow up on them. Now to be fair... In the system, regardless of where you live, any one within it who remotely tries to do something or speak against it either lose their jobs or even go "missing" irl. Those have happened and it's more proof that yeah, it's rotten to the core. There's no denying it but regardless, that's NOT what the game is about at all. At least that's what I feel about it as it's only PART of the narrative. I think Zenkichi puts it best here:

Speaking of Zenkichi... Oh boy... Now I definitely understand some of the criticisms with him but honestly, he was the best written (PT) character I've ever encountered! He was honestly the perfect representation of those that genuinely want to help and do good, only to be held back by an extremely harsh reality. It was already hinted at with Sae but here? It 100 percent confirms just how harsh and even cutthroat it can be if it could break someone's idealism so badly. Even Kaburagi of all people thinks the same thing Zenkichi said:

Then there's his past and it's a tragic one! But let's look more at the decisions he ended up making:

While it was no doubt done to protect his daughter, he ended making a selfish decision along with a selfless one (which was brilliant!) with not only allowing the cover up of his wife's death and denying justice for her, but also ruining an innocent person and their family's lives.

It's horrible, but also... There's a grey area/nuance as with the rest of his character. It was both understandable, but also wrong as he, as Akane's Shadow puts it:

He sacrificed his values, his morals, all for the sake of having a peace of mind. Speaking of Akane, she's also an interesting case in a way that she more or less perfectly represents the more "black and white" views on justice in general. Namely the more toxic/biased kind. Her reasons are also understandable but she was also acting selfishly by only focusing on how SHE was effected by Aoi's death and not even considering those that were also grieving her death and/or that people grieve/handle grief differently than her. But back on topic.

Her own views and beliefs that law enforcement basically SHOULD be dismantled (mostly out of said childish bias and black & white views) and it's framed as WRONG and it's very much correct on that. Chaos and order are two sides of the same coin, one can't exist without the other. When I say ACAB, I'm calling for reform, defund, have the corrupt held accountable for EVERYTHING and even face jail time for their crimes! Defund the police, have the ones that arrest, harm, and even murder out of bias (race, gender, etc.), lose their badges/jobs and locked up, make improvements! It's saying that there IS still corruption out there and there's no denying it. But fully eliminating the law in general will just lead to more problems. Now granted, she's young and clearly doesn't fully understand why those views are ultimately wrong but still... It was a very interesting subject to tackle and I feel like they handled it well.

Now back to Zenkichi, he was at first in denial about his decisions ultimately being the wrong ones too and even tries to justify it. Of course, his Shadow said otherwise and that was when he finally admitted that he really did act no different from the criminals he despised. But it also doesn't mean he can't redeem himself and that's what ultimately leads to his new resolve:

That right there along with everything else! There's the nuance! And ultimately despite some hiccups, Strikers handled the grey morality and nuance beautifully! Especially regarding law enforcement! Dare I say, even better than the base game! It continues the critiques with no problem but also showing different sides and areas of it! There is good and evil, but what about in-between? What about the more greyer area? It still says that there IS corruption, sometimes even beyond saving but... Sometimes a small silver lining is hidden somewhere.

Now, the ultimate question:

Is P5 & P5S (namely the latter) Pro-Police or Anti-Police?

Personally, my answer is this: Neither.

Why? What theme do they both have in common?

JUSTICE

Someone puts it best on Twitter that the games are more pro-justice and I fully agree!

P5/P5S gives the idea about following your OWN justice, your OWN moral code and rules, paving your OWN path and not let others dictate it! That's what the MCs ultimately start to learn in both games. Therefore it's pro-justice. Again, do I agree that the system is beyond saving? Yeah. Do I at least acknowledge and understand what the narratives are trying to say and nuances regardless even if I don't agree with some writing decisions (ex: Makoto wanting to become a commissioner despite everything)? Also yes. But at the same time, don't judge a book by its cover for other people (not just law enforcement and politics mind you). Especially some that genuinely DO want to help at best. That there is nuance and greyness, just have to look closely. Some of the MCs are still TERRIBLY written and executed (even annoying) but the message was still somewhat there.

Final Thoughts

Now I fully understand how you all feel of course! I still believe in ACAB and even I agree that maybe I'm one to talk and have a lot more to learn about the world... This is just my own attempt at putting my own two cents in. If you disagree, that's fine! This is just what I've felt should be at least talked about more often. And I tried to phrase it as best as I can without coming off as insensitive or ignorant and if I did, I sincerely apologize for that! I'm not trying to say, come off as a "bootlicker" or any of the sort. I'm just trying show discuss more of the grey areas and nuances that are, more often than not, constantly overlooked. How one interprets both games is ultimately up to them. You, the player. And this is my own interpretation. Simple as that. I hope you all have a good day/afternoon/evening!

#starchild rambles #analysis #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #persona 5 strikers #p5 #p5r #p5s #p5s spoilers #p5r spoilers #p5 spoilers #long post

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frogtanii · 4 years

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hq boys as the crimes they’d commit

warnings: CRIMES, crackfic, probably many typos idk i’m so tired lmaooo, cursing, drinking ??? idfk 😩💦

an: and i did this for what?? inspired by hq hcs royalty @sugardaddykenma @hina-wit-da-glock (AJSKSJ SORRY FOR TAGGING Y’ALL IF YOU SEE THIS, IT IS DEF NOT UP TO PAR W Y’ALLS WORKS ILY)

karasuno

sawamura daichi- insurance fraud!! somehow this is such a dad crime to commit?? dadchi didn’t try (dumb excuse, how do you accidentally commit insurance fraud smh) to commit insurance fraud but at one point in his late-thirties, he was very very broke and was already working as much as possible so, he decided to fake an ankle injury, as you do, and filed a bunch of claims which made him bank. daichi kept doing it until he was able to quit one of his jobs and buy himself a really nice suit and a rolex (uhhh 🥵). he somehow never got caught tho and to this day, none of his friends know how he was able to afford a tesla on a cop’s salary (sorry daichi but acab 😔✨)

sugawara kōshi- child abandonment!! ok you can try and fight me on this but i feel in my bones that suga absolutely despises children. he can tolerate ages 10+ but anything younger than that, he will punt them into the next dimension. the thing is, people just assume he likes kids because of how good he is with his team which is why his aunt begged him to babysit his nephew taro. taro was being an absolute brat when suga took him out for the day and he was 👉👈 this close to snapping. he put taro down for like 3 seconds to pay for their ice cream and when he turned back, the demon spawn was gone. he panicked, running around the park looking for taro when it turns out, taro was just bent down behind the bench. some random karen called the police and suga has never craved murder more.

nishinoya yuu- arson!! you CANNOT tell me nishinoya doesn’t have a ~murder~ playlist that he listens to to get himself hype (me too noya, me too). one night, he got a lil too hype listening to start a riot by duckwrth and watching demolition videos on youtube. he snuck out of his house to an empty shed like 30 minutes away and maybe... lit it on fire while genocide by lil darkie played on a speaker nearby. what he did NOT anticipate was the absolute size of the fire so he freaked out and called the firefighters who promptly called the police. he didn’t want to get grounded so he called daichi to bail him out. daichi still told noya’s parents 😔.

tanaka ryūnosuke- vandalism!! tanaka had been on alt tiktok and saw a group of cool friends spray painting an abandoned building. he thought “that’s cool, lemme do that!” but then he realized he had no friends (AHDGS JK I LOVE TANAKA). he asked nishinoya who was grounded from the arson incident and he knew he definitely couldn’t ask daichi, suga, asahi, or enoshita so he decided to go it alone. that proved to be a MASSIVE mistake. he got the supplies, arrived to the building of his choice (thanks saeko :3), and decided to spray paint a huge p3ni5 in bright red paint. he finished “successfully” and zoomed back home. what he didn’t realize with his two-and-a-half braincells is that he signed his glorious piece with his full name. the cops were at his house the next morning...🧍

hinata shoyō- forgery!! hinata did NOT think that forgery was even a crime. how was he supposed to know that he wasn’t allowed to copy his mom’s signature on a permission form! all he wanted was to go to an overnight training camp 😿

kageyama tobio- attempted murder!! kageyama swears it sounds worse than was and he is absolutely incorrect. what happened was so much worse. he and hinata were having a competition to see who could hold their breath the longest underwater (you can’t tell me they haven’t done some dumbass shit like this) and kageyma lost almost instantly (he has the tiny lungs of an asthmatic). he didn’t want hinata to notice so he held hinata’s head under the water for like 10 seconds. suga walked in though, saw hinata thrashing around in the water and immediately called the police. kageyama never forgave him.

tsukishima kei- cyberbullying!! first of all, i had no idea you could get arrested for cyber bullying!? that being said, neither did tsukishima who spent 80% of his time making fun of people online (and on his real account!! bold). eventually one of the people he bullied (hinata) reported him on instagram and his very lame account was deleted (pls don’t bully people online 😤).

yamaguchi tadashi- shoplifting!! andjksh this is so funny because this scenario has happened to me and i can just SEE this happening to poor tadashi. yamaguchi gets super late night cravings (and usually tsukki will walk with him at like 3 am 🥺 nEWAYS) so he’ll sneak out and walk to the mini-mart near his house. one night, he was so tired but also super hungry so he went onto his nightly routine and basically sleepwalked into the store. he picked out his favorite chips and candy bar (which are sour cream&onion lays and milky ways in case you were wondering 😌✨) and just... walked out the store without paying. the store clerk was mysteriously missing so yamaguchi made it all the way home, ate half the bag of chips and passed out without realizing what he’d done. once he did, he cried for 2 hours straight.

nekoma

kuroo tetsurō- telemarketing fraud!! kuroo originally did telemarketing fraud as a joke?? like he was trying to prank call someone pretending that they had lost their information and they actually gave it to him??? he was mildly concerned but even more excited. he did it over and over again but he never used the info for anything. to this day, kuroo literally has a notebook full of credit card numbers and bank account passwords but he refuses to use it because he believes it’s ✨wrong✨(but it isn’t wrong to take all that information in the first place under false pretenses, not realizing that once people find out, they are forced to close credit cards and accounts but go off self righteous king). once he brought the book up to kenma and he offered to sell it on the dark web. now kuroo feels less bad about what he’s done! :D

kozume kenma- computer crime!! pfttt this one seems kinda obvious but what do you expect from kenma :). he spends so much time on the internet, he’s definitely picked up some less than legal skills that still help him now 👀. kenma did little mini crimes like getting into other people’s wifi but his crowning achievement was when he hacked into the minneapolis pd website and had it so when you opened the page, a black lives matter screen came up. he never told anyone that it was him who did it but he thinks it’s the best he’s ever done.

yaku morisuke- racketeering!! yaku, the feral king, ran an underground gambling ring in the basement of nekoma (do they have basements?? who knows! i don’t!) during his third year. the only reason it didn’t get shut down was because coach nekomata took a portion of yaku’s profits whenever he won (which was literally all the time). everyone on the team has lost money to him which is why they never play with him anymore. they won’t even let yaku play monopoly 😔.

haiba lev- indecent exposure!! poor lev’s head is so empty, he tends to fall for whatever pranks his senpai’s do to him. this time kuroo had somehow convinced him that in order to grow his schlong, he had to run outside naked for 10 minutes because the moonlight had special growing properties. lev was a lil scared ngl because he was already superrr tall and didn’t need to grow his height (or his dick ((boy is hung)) but poor lev is insecure) but he did it anyway. long story short, an old woman saw him parading around the neighborhood naked and called el policia. 0/10 dick did NOT grow and had to spend a night in jail naked 😿

aoba johsai

oikawa tōru- prostitution!! KAKKAKA iwazumi made fun of oikawa for being so shitty and said that he couldn’t pick up anyone if he tried. flattykawa took this as a personal challenge and went out onto the street, asking people if they’d have sex with him. with the way he was asking (and the way he was dressed), people assumed he was a paid w h o r e and someone eventually reported him. iwazumi had to pick oikawa up from the station- he never let him live this one down.

iwaizumi hajime- battery!! it wasn’t technically battery but oikawa is a lil bitch and overreacts (at least in his words -_-). the amount of times iwa-chan has beat the absolute shit out of oikawa is uNREAL. he just can’t handle the stupidity sometimes so he just smacks the crap outta him. not for real for real but the way oikawa reacts, you’d think a murder was occurring. one time, shittykawa screeched so loud, they got a noise complaint -_- hajime hates it in these streets.

matsukawa issei & hanamaki takahiro- conspiracy!! issei and hiro have a secret blog where they discuss conspiracy theories and such but one day, hiro found an article that explained how jfk’s death was an inside job. he sent it to issei who began to theorize how HE’D do it. that devolved into a massive thread on their blog of how’d they murder a president which blew up and caught the attention of the cia who sent the a letter telling them to quietly delete the blog. they did because they were terrified but they kept the letter and now it’s framed in issei’s apartment.

kyōtani kentarō- assault!! baby is an angry little boy but for all the right reasons. he was at a bar (when he’s all grown up, duh) and he spotted an absolute drunk creep hitting on a girl who clearlyyyy did not reciprocate his feelings. kyōtani, being the respectful king that he is, went over to the guy, pulled him by the jacket and beat. the. shit. out of him. while the bartender was happy with the fact that the creep was out, he was not impressed with the damage to his bar. he just sent kyōtani out who casually adjusted his leather jacket and rings, and hopped on his motorcycle to ride away into the night. i am the FATTEST simp for this man ONG 🥴

shiratorizawa

ushijima wakatoshi- stalking!! poor ushijima has no idea how intimidating he can be. he was on a train late at night after practice and the woman sitting across from him left her purse sitting on the seat. being the gentleman that he is, he took the purse and followed her to return it. the only problem is that the closer he got, the faster she ran and when he tried to speak (yknow with his scary, deep, baritone voice), the woman screeched and called the cops on him because he was a “strange, big man who was following her home.” when the police showed up, ushijima was painfully confused and just held up this tiny ass purse in his massive hands. the cops laughed.

tendō satori- ???!! no one knows what crimes (or how many 😳) tendō has committed but each of his teammates have different ideas- ushijima: “i don’t believe tendou is capable of committing any sort of felony. well, maybe murder”; semi: “of COURSE he’s capable of crimes??! do you know how many times i’ve seen him come into the dorm with a suspicious stain of red on his sweater?? *shudders* if i end up dead, tendō did it...” in actuality, the only crime tendō has committed is ~drugs~ but he’s not bouta tell his friends that.

goshiki tsutomu- would be a VICTIM!! my baby tsutomu would NEVER commit a crime!!! i love this man with my everything and the only crime he’s committed is being too damn cute 😤🥺

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florrickandassociates · 3 years

Text

TGF Thoughts-- 5x07: And the fight had a detente...

This episode is a wild ride, so if you haven’t seen it yet and you aren’t spoiled, don’t read this. Just go watch it.

Ave Maria plays over a photo montage of cancelled men, including Kevin Spacey, Louie CK, and Scott Rudin. (Scott Rudin, if you don’t know the name, is a Broadway/Hollywood producer who treated his assistants like absolute shit. He’s the inspiration for the possessed producer episode of Evil—I think it’s the third episode of the series—and Robert King does not like him one bit.)

And then the episode opens with Wackner, Del, and Cord discussing the Armie Hammer cannibalism ordeal. Whew, this is not what I wanted to be thinking about first thing on a Thursday morning. I do not think I can put into words how boring I find debating whether or not someone should have been “cancelled.” Cancellation is usually about rich people facing consequences for shitty actions, and those consequences have never involved anyone’s rights being infringed upon, so why should I care about someone being cancelled? And, while I know that society/people on Twitter don’t always understand nuance, I’d like to think that when it comes to the most notable examples of cancellation... no one is losing their livelihood over false or minor allegations.

There are so, so, so many issues in the world. Cancellation affects a handful of high profile, usually white, straight, male, celebrities. Why should I give a shit about, like, Louie CK not being able to make as much money as he used to? I just do not and cannot find it interesting.

I’m not surprised David Cord and Del Cooper find this topic interesting—Del likely hates worrying that all of his comedians could get cancelled and put him in a financially tricky spot; Cord probably says things like “Woke Mob” unironically. And as for Wackner, he almost certainly has a skewed understanding of what actually happens when someone’s cancelled and sees a place where he can step in and add some order. Blah. It’s just so boring.

"People are getting canceled without a trial, no evidence presented against them,” Wackner says. This is not it, Wackner! This is such a strawman argument. We don’t need the legal system to adjudicate people being assholes to each other, and in cases where a crime is committed or a particular individual can sue for damages, that is what happens. If you act shitty and then your sponsors realize you’re toxic and drop you, like, it is what it is. You can feel free to respond via a Notes App screenshot where half of your apology is actually just whining about cancel culture and then you say “I’m sorry if anyone took offense at what I did” instead of saying “I’m sorry I said/did hurtful things” and when people don’t take that seriously, maybe it’s because you didn’t take it seriously, either.

“There are a lot of reasons these accusations never go to trial. The victims finally get to accuse the victimizer face to face,” Wackner explains. Were the victims asking for this?

Marissa shares my question, noting that if the victims don’t want to speak up, then the victimizer would have the court to himself. This raises a new question: who is even bringing these cases? Are Wackner, Cord, and Del just deciding they want to do things as cases and then getting everyone else on board? This sounds bad!

Apparently, according to Wackner, “if #MeToo relies on mob rule, it’ll exhaust itself.” What... evidence is there for this? I get why people panic about the POSSIBILITY of this happening, even though I don’t share their panic, but is there any actual evidence that #MeToo is losing steam because of false allegations because cancellation isn’t a formal process? I don’t believe there is.

The test case we have the pleasure of seeing this week is about “Louie CK two,” whom I shall refer to as LCK2 instead of learning his name.

Now, suddenly, Marissa is asking one of LCK2’s victims to testify. She doesn’t want to participate because it’s just another way for LCK2 to get his career back. Marissa decides to be idealistic and say this is a real opportunity to confront LCK2 with his crime. I suppose she isn’t wrong, and that is what happens next, but, again, meh.

Apparently David Cord is going to defend LCK2. You know what would get cancelled in five seconds? A David Cord funded show that has David Cord actually on it, railing against cancel culture! Can you IMAGINE the thinkpieces?

God, when is this episode going to move on from this extremely irritating premise?

Marissa decides she wants to be the prosecutor. Wackner says if she prosecutes LCK2, she has to prosecute the academic who used a word that sounds like the n-word and lost her job for it. Marissa thinks the academic shouldn’t have been fired, but Wackner insists she has to take both cases.

“Let’s go into court,” Wackner says, and, thank goodness, we do go into court: REAL court, where we are talking about REAL issues.

In court, Liz and Diane are suing the police over the death of a black girl who was tased by the police. Her friend is on the stand and it’s quite emotional. Also, Diane tries to pass Liz a note and Liz ignores it. Why would you have two name partners on this case if they aren’t even going to try to work together?

You can tell things are tense between two TGF characters when they talk at the same time in court but are on the same side.

Hiiiiii Abernathy! ILY!

The victim had a heart condition, which the police lawyer argues is the actual cause of death. Police lawyer also argues that since this witness posted some ACAB lyrics on Instagram, she must be biased. Eyeroll.

Liz calls the other lawyer racist; the other lawyer tries to make Liz look like she is only on her client’s side because she’s black and that Liz is being absurd.

Cancel culture court happens. We’re dealing with the academic case first. I don’t feel like talking about the cancel culture shit too much, so here is my take on this case as a whole: (1) I don’t think the actual word in question, which isn’t actually the n-word, is enough on its own to get someone fired (2) I also don’t think anyone can use that word, regardless of its meaning or history, without understanding how it will come across. (3) The teacher did not get fired for simply using this word once (4) This teacher believes that anyone who is from a group that’s been marginalized in history should have to confront that marginalization with as little sympathy and respect as possible because it will help them be more resilient. So basically, if you are from the dominant group then you don’t get challenged. She believes it is her job to do this. She is an egotistical asshole who has no business teaching.

Cord wants everyone to have to say the full word in question. He says this pretentiously (though I don’t think saying “Said word” is that pretentious, tbh) and Wackner rules against him and also makes him wear a powdered wig for using “obtuse language.”

Marissa is not trying at all with this case at first, since she doesn’t believe in it. That’s shitty, Marissa. If you want to be a lawyer at a firm like RL you’re going to have to fight for all of your clients.

Marissa makes a Latin joke and ends up in a powdered wig, too.

The prof says, in one sentence, that she didn’t know what she was doing using the word and also that the black student who took offense thinks college is supposed to be warm, cuddly, and unchallenging. So it was a challenge, then, prof?

I like this student. And I love that she calls Marissa out for obviously not trying.

“The optics matter. Racially,” Diane says to Liz, who agrees. Diane, strategically, makes it about gender first (the cop is male, some jurors may react to a woman questioning a man), then makes it about how she should be the one questioning the cop since Liz is black. It would make the jury more “comfortable” (hey, there’s that word again!) Diane says. She says she is being pragmatic.

Diane says that she could be “more dispassionate”. Be or come across as, Diane? Either way, Liz, who knows full well what the optics look like given that this isn’t her first time in court, doesn’t agree with Diane that they need to come across as dispassionate.

Then Diane just changes the subject to the firm drama. “Liz, you’re shoving me out of my name partner position because of my race.” Like that’s the issue!

“I am doing nothing. You are the one who got our racist clients to whine to STR Laurie about us,” Liz counters. “Those clients bring in a great deal of money, and they are not racists,” Diane insists. Yes. Sure. Diane just happened to choose white male clients who were “comfortable” with her to talk to. I have no doubt they’d have reacted poorly to any change in representation, but Diane was counting on those particular clients having some discomfort with their new lawyers.

Liz calls her out and Diane’s still trying to play it like she just had to inform her long-term clients and it just had to be done this way. But, when Liz asks if Diane thinks the clients would’ve had the same reaction if their new representation were to be white, Diane says that maybe her clients are worried about racial grudges. So, what you’re saying is you knew exactly what you were doing, huh, Diane?

I get why Diane doesn’t like being pushed out, because who would, but Diane, this isn’t about you. And if you didn’t want to make it about race, perhaps you shouldn’t have appeared on a panel about how great it is that your firm is majority black? You can’t have it both ways.

Liz notes that Diane felt “entitled” to her name partnership. This is accurate, though based on revenue and stature I don’t think it can be denied that Diane deserves name partner status (generally speaking). Diane went over to RBK, was like, “sure, I’ll be a junior partner, thank you so much for the opportunity, I can’t even pay my capital contribution right now but what if I were name partner in three months?” and that is both entitlement and knowing one’s own worth, but mostly entitlement.

(Liz does not act entitled, but if we want to get into who deserves their partnership more—again generally speaking, not their partnership at a black firm specifically—it is definitely Diane! Liz literally only has this job because her dad was important.)

“I think that Barbara Kolstad was shoved out because you felt entitled to her position,” Liz shouts. OMG, a mention of Barbara?!?!?!??!?!? THANK YOU, WRITERS!!!

(This is a slight bit of revisionist history but I’ll allow it, and I think it’s right in thought even if it’s not right on the details. Barbara wasn’t shoved out—Barbara chose to go to a different firm that offered her a better deal—but I don’t think Barbara would’ve been on that trajectory had it not been for Diane’s presence at the firm. Barbara was in charge of a firm that shared her values when, suddenly, her partner decided that they needed to pursue profit over all else and needed Diane to execute that strategy. Maybe no one made a move directly against her, but Adrian and Diane changed the mission of RBK until it was no longer somewhere Barbara wanted to work.

“We can’t work together if you don’t respect me,” Diane screams at Liz. “No, we can’t work together if you use race cynically,” Liz responds. Diane gets even angrier, swears a bunch, and then says “You want to come after me, you come after me with an honest argument about my lack of competence, my lack of worth.” Diane, you are fighting a completely different battle here! You can be entitled and also correct and also good at your job. This is what you used to accuse Alicia of all the time. The fact you’ve turned this into something about your skill level when it’s about the meaning of having a black firm is only proving Liz’s point.

“Your unworthiness—which you don’t seem to want to acknowledge—is that you can’t be the top dog in a black firm,” Liz says. Exactly. But Diane just storms off.

Now the cop is on the stand. He did not know the victim had a heart condition. Uh, obviously, why would he have known that?

Liz is aggressive in court; Diane thinks this is the wrong strategy. Without knowing who is on the jury, I have no idea which one of them is correct.

The next move is to get the cop’s ex-wife, who he abused, on the stand.

Goodie, it’s cancel culture court. Things go well for Marissa, but Del wants to know why Marissa wasn’t that passionate about the n-word case. Marissa says she feels like it’s not the n-word, like that is a valid reason to not represent your client to the best of your ability. “It is. It always is,” says Del.

Marissa heads back to RL, and as she walks, the camera follows her and moves through the space until we end up in Liz’s office, where she gets a news alert about the cop from the COTW. He’s been killed, seemingly in retaliation for his actions. The news is quick to suggest the trial might’ve encouraged the killing. “Oh, fuck.” Diane says as she watches the news. Aaaand credits (at 20 minutes in!)

From the promos, I thought this was going to be a Very Serious Episode about police brutality. From the opening, I thought it was going to be an insufferable episode about cancel culture. I was wrong! (Though, I suppose, some of the cancel culture stuff is still insufferable.)

Yay for Carrie Preston, who directed this episode. I read an interview with her and she talked about how there’s a “look book” for directing TGF episodes and I have never wanted to see anything as badly as I want to see this look book. (Am I exaggerating? Probably. But I might not be.)

After credits, Marissa finds Carmen and Jay to ask them if “n-word-ly" is offensive. She acknowledges she’s being annoying but they let her continue anyway. Jay finds it offensive. Carmen does not. This seems fitting with their characters, and I love that this scene acknowledges that not every black person is going to have the exact same reaction to everything.

I want Carmen to have more to do! While I’m glad the show isn’t forcing her to have a large role in every plot just because, I feel like she’s gone missing for the middle part of the season. My guess is that their priority with Carmen is setting her up to be an ongoing part of the cast who grows into being someone we want a lot from rather than forcing her plots from the start... but surely we could get a little more of her! I doubt she’s a one-season character like I assume Wackner will be.

The cop’s murder changes the vibe in court. Abernathy calls a moment of silence in his memory. “We’re fucked,” Liz whispers to Diane.

And indeed they are. The cop’s ex no longer wants to talk about how abusive he was—she wants to talk about how great he was. Whose idea was it to still put her on the stand?! Idk about legal procedures but this seems like a really avoidable mistake!

Diane argues that the cop’s death has prejudiced the jury. Abernathy decides to call a “voir dire de novo,” using an obtuse Latin phrase that would not be permitted in Wackner’s court. (Love the little parallels in this episode, like this, the transition between courts earlier, and how much of Marissa being called out on her whiteness feels like a thematic extension of everything going on with Diane.)

Cancel culture court continues. Carmen shows up.

I don’t really get how June, the victim of LCK2, potentially losing a headlining gig for a bad set instead of retaliation from LCK2, scores him a point. One, if she was a rising store, one bad set shouldn’t have damned her career. Two, isn’t it enough to prove that he masturbated in front of women who didn’t want him to do that???????

Having June perform her act with no prep in Wackner’s court so they can judge whether or not she is funny is a wildly bad idea. So now Wackner is an arbiter of humor as well as cancel culture?

This whole system is silly and I reject the whole premise but June should not lose two points for the logic that Wackner + the audience don’t find June funny --> June must’ve had her career derailed because she just isn’t funny (how’d she book the headliner gig, then?) --> LCK2 scores points??? He still masturbated in front of her without her consent!

Using cancel culture to show Wackner’s court is going too far/slipping into bad territory: I’m on board with this. Using Wackner’s court to actually comment on cancel culture: Ugh. The writers seem to be trying to do both.

Lol at Abernathy having Stacey Abrams’ book on his desk.

Marissa argues the n-word case more passionately, because these writers love to make situations that seemed clear cut seem more uncertain. It’s no coincidence they have the sexual harassment case look murkier (though, again, June being bad at comedy does not negate the sexual harassment!) right before they have the n-work case begin to tilt in favor of the professor’s cancellation.

Hahah what bullshit about trying to prepare the students for a world that won’t be kind to them. Do you seriously think your black students need YOU to prepare them?

This lady thinks history classes have to describe rapes in detail to get students to sympathize. No, no they fucking do not.

She also says she’d use the n-word if she were teaching a topic where it might come up. Um, no?

Mr. Elk (this is what I call Ted Willoughby, Idiot Reporter, after he said “things of that elk” in his first appearance) is attacking Diane and Liz on his show. Diane and Liz are, apparently, “Marxist slip-and-fall lawyers” and Mr. Elk plays a clip of Diane saying cops need to be held accountable. Obviously, this was before the cop’s death and meant to be about the legal system, but it looks like Diane’s calling for his murder. I also love how they go out of their way to only pause the clip on unflattering frames of Diane.

Liz wants to use this in court—I forgot that Liz is super sneaky but this tracks; she is always quick to use things to her advantage and we’ve known that about her since her strategy with the DNC in 2x07 (to make outlandish allegations and then drop them before presenting proof). Julius wants to get Liz and Diane security.

That security is, apparently Jay. I think they’ve shown Jay as security before when Lucca went viral. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now.

I was, briefly, worried for Liz and Diane’s safety, especially after I saw all the angry cops waiting for them in court. Then I thought, oh, well at least they’re in court, they should be safe from being shot there. Then I remembered 5x15. Then I laughed at myself.

Liz’s new strategy works and Abernathy uses more Latin. But, they can’t get any more jurors thrown. (They’re going for a mistrial.)

Oh, Carmen is back again! She did SO MUCH in that court scene where she appeared and then disappeared! She’s chatting with Marissa and spots LCK2 in the RL offices.

Apparently, LCK2 negotiated a contract with Del, with David Lee’s help. (Why would David Lee be doing entertainment law?) Suddenly everything makes sense to Marissa.

She calls Del to the stand. This—and, honestly, everything after this—makes me wonder how much of this would ever make it to air. Why would Del televise this?

What a shock—Del wants LCK2 back on his streaming service (which I don’t think has a name LOL).

Somehow Marissa’s questions become about Wackner and whether or not Wackner is an impartial judge, which doesn’t seem like the core issue. Wackner has made it pretty clear that his stance is that he doesn’t care if others are corrupt around him or try to use him; he’s going to be impartial no matter what. Why not play that up instead of making the entire show look staged and Wackner look complicit, Marissa?

Like, why is Marissa asking Wackner if he’s prejudged the case?! Why isn’t she just trying to like, get him to declare a mistrial because there is a conflict of interest? She can make a version of this argument without accusing Wackner of PREJUDGING, which she knows—I know, so she knows—will set him off. Wackner truly believe he thinks he is impartial. It’s not smart strategy to question that (even if we all know that Wackner is not impartial!)

Wackner blows up at Marissa and shouts at her. He tells her to get the fuck out of court.

This is certainly dramatic, but again, would Del ever choose to air this? I doubt it.

On her way to work, Diane notices hot pink spray paint in the elevator. When she exits the elevator, the whole firm is gathered in the lobby. Someone has painted COP KILLERS across the elevator bank. “Security doesn’t know how they got in,” Jay says. “Of course they don’t,” Diane responds. “They suggest we call the cops,” Jay says. I love this little exchange. I wasn’t exactly wondering how someone got in, but I like the show making it clear how unprotected Diane and Liz are right now and why.

Julius appears and says that Mr. Elk is saying something new. Diane and Liz sit down to watch and the tone of this episode completely shifts.

I had forgotten completely that Liz’s dad’s assault issues are out in public until Mr. Elk called him “a disgraced civil rights leader.” It doesn’t feel like they’re out in public! Also I would believe Mr. Elk calling him disgraced for no reason at all.

Y’all, when Mr. Elk said the name “Duke Roscoe,” my jaw dropped. WHAT A CALLBACK.

This scene, and really, everything in this plot from here on out, is a delight. It just keeps going and going. It is the best kind of fanservice.

1x11 has been, for no real reason, on my mind since 5x04. It popped out to me as an example of this show’s humor so I talked about it in that recap. I nearly mentioned it in my 5x06 recap when Diane laughed at Julius’s suggestion that they start a firm together. I rewatched 1x11, by complete chance, like two weeks ago. How weird that I'm somehow on the show’s wavelength about this!

Also I made a joke about Mr. Elk last week without knowing he’d be back this episode. I would like to think I conjured this.

(1x11 is a really pivotal episode for TGW, even if it isn’t one of the most notable episodes overall. It's composer David Buckley’s first episode and that ending, with Diane laughing, is one of the earliest moments of TGW showing its sense of humor and playing to its strengths.)

Mr. Elk notes that they “rarely see” Kurt, which is apparently evidence that Diane is a lesbian. Hahahahahahah. Mr. Elk also wouldn’t want to note Kurt, despite his recent controversy, because to his viewers, Kurt’s beliefs would make Diane seem more sympathetic.

GUYS, THE WRITERS DECIDED TO MAKE A CALLBACK TO AN ICONIC MOMENT FROM AN EPISODE THAT AIRED OVER A DECADE AGO AND THEN BUILD ON IT. I cannot express how fucking happy this makes me.

Now, Mr. Elk says, Diane and Liz are an item!

What’s better than Diane laughing hysterically at the original allegations? Diane doing it again, eleven years later, JOINED BY LIZ.

This also works super well to cut the tension between Diane and Liz. I assume this isn’t the end of the name partnership drama, but I think it might be the end of Diane and Liz being pissed at each other. Since the name partnership drama was never really about Diane and Liz (Liz seems to want Diane to stay on...), I’m fine with that.

Because this is an episode full of callbacks that delight me, Del asks Liz when he gets to meet her son! HER SON STILL EXISTS!

It sounds like Liz and Del still aren’t fully official, which clarifies why they don’t seem to be a couple in public.

Del brings up the Diane rumor (jokingly) and Liz jokes along. I love that we get to see this playful side of Liz.

Wackner’s watching his outburst with regret. Del calms him down and notes that this is good TV (why... would Del air this... it makes DEL look worse than anyone!). Wackner calls Marissa to apologize; she picks up and accepts his apology.

Abernathy calls Liz and Diane into chambers. He’s worried he was “insensitive”-- he's noticed the tension between Liz and Diane, but now he thinks it was a lover’s spat.

Diane puts on a poker face and leans in towards Liz. She starts nodding attentively and thanks Abernathy. Liz smiles and doubles down: she’s not just going to play along, she’s going to milk it. She gets a juror kicked for homophobia, which means a mistrial. Shameless. I love it.

Diane and Liz playing off each other as Abernathy tries to look like as much of an ally as possible is comedy gold.

Diane even calls Liz darling. Omg.

LCK2 is on the stand, being charismatic and annoying. Of course he is. This is what happens when you give someone who is known for being able to connect with a crowd... a crowd and the benefit of the doubt.

LCK2 is talking about “stupid women” in his new set. Why... is Del giving that a platform at all? See, the fact that Del thinks it is not only interesting but also somehow essential to let LCK2 make jokes about sexual harassment is why I can’t take this episode seriously. Why should I be more outraged about someone who did something shitty not getting a trial for his shitty but legal behavior than I am about powerful people continuing to offer shitty people platforms? Only one of these seems outrageous to me.

Wackner decides that the professor did something “awful but lawful” and that’s it. So you’re saying that if it isn’t illegal, it doesn’t get decided in your court, either? What was the point of this, then?

The professor says she doesn’t want that—she wants the school to know she’s being punished so she can get her job back. The student storms out, rightfully. Wackner’s job isn’t to offer someone who wants punishment some form of penance, like she can exchange community service hours for offensive remarks. It’s to... well, idk what it is to do, since this whole thing doesn’t really make sense and he makes the rules, but I don’t think his verdict has to be about giving anyone what they want. I’m disappointed that Wackner comes up with a punishment and I don’t think it’s going to get her her job back.

LCK2 loses, too, because he hasn’t made amends. Wackner doesn’t want to fine him because he’s too rich for a fine to matter. Cord argues that LCK2 deserves a second chance. I mean, sure, but is he being denied a second chance? He doesn’t deserve an easy path back to his fame just because he wants it.

Wackner mentions prison. At first I was like, oh, that’s a nice throwaway line that he mentioned prison! This ties into what I was saying a few weeks ago about how Wackner likes the institutions that already exist—he just thinks they’re imperfect! It’s fitting that he’s not a prison abolitionist!

And then the episode actually went there: Wackner, thanks to David Cord’s private prison company, actually sentences LCK2 to prison. This is deeply uncomfortable (and of questionable legality). Wackner’s system is just going to recreate prison? Worse, private prison? He’s creating an unchecked, privatized legal system?! This sounds bad! Kudos to the show for taking this to some place so dark—I knew Wackner’s system would start to show cracks, but I didn’t realize they’d go this far.

And I’m not sure what the end game is with this! All I know is I’m not on board with Wackner sending people to prison (except as a plot—I am very on board with this plot) and neither is Marissa.

I do not think viewers of the reality show will like the prison twist or the fact that Cord is financing a court and prison! Can you imagine the scandal!

And what do the contracts look like that allow Wackner to sentence someone to prison? Can LCK2 leave any time he wants? If so, then how does the prison sentence help? If not, is that legal?

Del wants it to be a 2 week sentence, not 3, because this means LCK2 will have to miss his taping in two weeks. I have many questions. (1) Is Wackner’s show airing live? If not, then why do they need to rush the taping of the special? They could push it quite easily. (2) Why can’t they push the taping? This guy is a huge deal and enough potential $$ that Del wants to rehabilitate his career... so why does the taping have to be on this particular day and time?

Is there really an Exxon Mobile case, I wonder?

I like that we spend a good amount of time watching Marissa’s reactions to this latest addition to Wackner’s court. Combined with the score, Marissa’s facial expression serves to underline that private prisons are not good here! This isn’t Wackner getting legitimate methods of enforcement... this is just opening a pandora’s box of highly questionable extrajudicial practices.

I do love that this episode ends up here: it starts out like it’s going to be about cancel culture silliness and ends up being about the escalation of Wackner’s tactics.

Funny how both of the cancelled people end up being found guilty by Wackner, huh! Almost like they actually did something wrong and faced the consequences!

Liz and Diane get called in to talk to Liz’s favorite department: HR. They’re asked to sign “love contracts” to confirm things are consensual. I find it hilarious that HR gives them the paper before even asking if it’s true.

Liz grabs a pen and signs. Diane follows her lead. They look at each other and smile politely at HR.

I am... not sure how to read this last scene! Is it a fuck-you to HR? A way of easing tensions? A way for Liz to get people to stop talking to her about removing Diane as name partner because no one will want to ask if they’re really involved? Something else? Help me understand!

Curious to see where things go next. I can see LCK2 coming back for another episode but it also wouldn’t surprise me to never see him again. Similarly, I could see some glances/discussion of Diane and Liz’s romantic relationship next week, or I could see it never being mentioned again, or I could see it being mentioned next season out of the blue.

#tgf thoughts #the good fight

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simplepotatofarmer · 3 years

Note

would you mind if I ask how you became an anarchist? you said you've been one for awhile (?) and I'm curious.

sure! i don't mind at all <3

it's a little complicated because i didn't always know what the 'term' was for what i believed. but my grandpa on my dad's side was a huge influence on me. this man threatened land developers with a shotgun and often spoke about colonization (though i didn't know what it was at the time, just that he talked about his land being stolen and culture lost) and racism. he also grew and hunted a lot of his own food, giving it away for free to anyone who needed it, the leftovers going to food banks.

then i had this business class in freshman year of high school, second semester, and he had this phrase 'there's no such thing as a free lunch' which for some reason stuck in my 13 year-old brain like a bad song. i hated this phrase. i kept 'but why'ing him.

almost every day, i'd have a new question.

'but why can't people get free food if we throw so much out?' 'but why can't people just exchange services instead?' 'but why can't we have free housing?' 'but why do people need to make so much excess money when there's people starving or homeless?' 'but why--'

on and on until he kinda gave up on me, honestly.

it just didn't make sense to me and the next year when i took a social studies class, it just got worse.

and then 9/11 happened. and the iraq war happened. and my teenage brain practically imploded. nothing made sense!

i was an anarchist then i just didn't exactly call myself that. i didn't know it was a system. i had patches and shirts with the anarchy symbol on them. i had a sticker on my binder that said 'abolish prisons'. i thought climate change was real (back then it was practically a joke), i thought we should stop bombing other countries, i thought people should have free health care because it didn't make sense we had all this money and people were dying. i thought gay people should be able to get married.

but my family was conservative and i listened to bad religion and against me and had clothes with spikes so they assumed i was just rebelling. i probably was tbh.

then trayvon martin was murdered and i remembered rodney king and how, at the time, none of the white people i knew thought it was wrong and all the black people did (i lived in detroit then) as i watched my family come up with reasons why this kid deserved to be murdered.

and i thought 'fuck this'.

i put an ACAB sticker on my car along with the new 'abolish prison' one. looking back this is also when my family's abuse escalated even more but that's neither here nor there.

i still didn't know that anarchism was a thing so i just labeled myself as a socialist or communist. i started getting involved in community work and habitat for humanity and all that kind of stuff. i started a recycling drive in my area 'cause it was very rural (my car smelled so bad RIP). i kept doing that kind of thing, going to protests and marches and calling government officials even though i was like 'this isn't fixable is it'. i would babysit in exchange for things like food and a fan and sheets and towels.

i'm not sure exactly when i snapped and stopped being '''reasonable''' but i think it was when my daughter almost died.

see, i'm from the states and i live in canada now. once my family kicked me off their health care, i went without for years. i moved to canada about six years ago. around that same time, my daughter got pneumonia. at first it was just a cough and minor trouble breathing and if we were back in tennessee, i would've sent her back to bed.

then i remembered that i didn't have to worry about the bill. so i took her to the er. she stopped breathing about thirty minutes after we got there. if we had been in tennessee, she would've died.

while i was in the hospital with her, a friend invited me to a facebook group. it had a name in the title that i had heard before, kropotkin. it was for anarchists. i joined.

and i started realizing that more people felt the same way and not only that but they had ideas like mine.

i started a free lunch program for kids in my neighborhood during the summer. i'm still trying to convince the community center to start a garden. half my reason for building my chicken coop is so i can supply my neighborhood with eggs.

so i guess when it comes down to it, i've pretty much always been an anarchist because it's always aligned with my morals and beliefs. only now i have a name for it and not just a name but a way to fix all the things i've thought needed fixing since i was young.

#loyal answers things #anarchism #police brutality cw #abuse cw #basically i talk about events that pushed me towards anarchism so just go into this knowing it's a bit heavy subject wise

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kisafavi-17 · 3 years

Text

Jack:

- football star

- quarterback

- friends with newsies in middle school

- HELLA TALL

- openly bisexual

- he/him

- seems scary but is really nice

- had a small fling with sarah

- RED BULLLL

- average student

- creator of blog

- junior in high school

- just turned 17 in february

- teachers love him

- massive flirt

- loves horror movies and will put them on to have background noise

- HIS REAL NAME IS JACKSON BUT CALL HIM THAT AND HE WILL END YOU

- lives with medda

David:

- straight A+

- honor roll gate kid

- taking 5 AP classes

- gay and on the ace spectrum

- major social anxiety

- new kid

- met jack first

- closeted/didn’t know

- tutor to most newsies

- has a older sister sarah (by 1 year) and younger brother les (10 years old)

- he/they?

- editor of the blog (once joined)

- mentally ill

- scared of spot

- sophomore taking junior classes

- 15 years

- reads romantic novels to understand women

- has feminine products on him at all times

- FEMINIST

- has sensory issues

Race:

- pothead

- always has nic of some kind

- TRAUMAAAAAA

- always horny

- flirts with all

- attracted to few

- very openly gay

- gets bullied a lot

- on-scene reporter for the school news blog

- barely passing

- he/they/she (doesn’t care really)

- swears A LOT

- met spot in 4th grade

- sophomore (got held back a year) 16 years old

- is down for anything

- lives with jack at medda’s

- is the meme lord

- does. not. sleep. (or sleeps all the time no in between)

- has dyslexia and reads wattpad or redit

Spot:

- either really rich or really poor

* Rich:

- daddy’s money

- old family friends with jack

- arranges interviews with people for the blog

- on baseball team

- picks on boys

- REFUSES TO MAKE FUN OF GIRLS

- lowkey feminist

- internalized homophobia

- drives a porsche… a BRIGHT RED porsche

- he/him (says nor/mal like a douche tho)

- HELLA DEPRESSED

- takes “performance enhancing” pills

- secretly hangs out with the newsies

- junior but really young

- david is his tutor

- lowkey really dumb

- refuses to read anything. ever

- IS NOT FUCKING SHORT!!!

- he’s like 5’10 (says hes 6’0 tho)

- real name is thomas

* Poor:

- TRAUMATIZED AFFFFF

- wears zip-up hoodies with black skinny jeans

- beat up black vans

- emo

- also a really young junior

- hot topic is his ✨home✨

- everyone is scared of him

- the “quiet kid”

- he/him

- closeted bi pref men

- race is his only friend

- occasionally smokes weed

- oldest sibling of 3 (twins one of each. 5th grade)

- has a job no one knows about

- works as a waiter at a dinner an hour from school

- IS. NOT. SHORT.

- HE. IS. LIKE. 5’11.

- gets into fights and never looses

- secretly simping for race

- protects the newsies

- writes anonymous articles for blog

- ✨black eyeliner✨

- always has painted fingernails

- B+ average

- real name is sean

Sarah:

- book worm

- LESBIAN

- she/they

- loves the book worms

- reads anything and everything

- does photography for school blog

- definitely does theater/choir

- owns wattpad

- writes on wattpad

- definitely simping for fictional characters

- has tried a vape once

- lightweight

- tall

- like 5’8.5

- mamma mia fangirl

- loves DC movies

- has every girl/boy crushing over her

- therapist friend

- always has everything you need somehow

- met jack at a party

- doesn’t allow ANYONE to pick on david along with jack

- cottage gore ascetic

- loves disney

- drives a blue subaru

- is on the high school dance team

- hates the term “UwU”

- is a 16 year old junior

Blink:

- on football team

- still has eyepatch but no one cares

- gayyyy

- dating mush

- PDA

- funny af

- is a really old sophomore

- 16 years old (a january baby)

- camera man for race for blog

- besties are bumlets, mush, and jack

- only one without family trauma

- has twin sister

- has the funniest laugh ever

- volunteers at homeless shelters

- cinnamon roll🥺

- real name is dylan

- hornyyyyy

- has smexy pics on snap

- harry potter fan

- griffindor

- TWITTER WARS

- starts beef for no reason

- watches horror to freak mush out

- it works

Mush:

- hates horror movies

- is dating blink

- is on the wrestling and dance team

- people tease him for being on the dance team

- 15 year olds sophomore

- wants to be a veterinarian

- owns a chicken for some reason

- no one knows how he got a chicken

- chickens name is Kentucky (hehe)

- is a cinnamon roll 🥺

- body dysmorphia

- has eating disorder

- nicknamed sunshine (brought to you by blink)

- has braces

- has mainly girl friends and everyone thinks he’s dating them

- he/him

- pansexual

- civil rights activist

- hates when blink gets hurt

- is a crackhead some times

- is a vegetarian

- works lighting for blog interviews and reports

- PDA is not his thing but he doesn’t mind it

- BOTTOM WHO LOOKS LIKE A TOP

- people think he’s a crybaby when in reality, he rarely cries

- loves disneyland and disney in general

- friends with everyone

- is the matchmaker

- cuddle bug with blink

- mostly C’s and B’s on his report card

- real name is aaron (hehe)

- is a romantic so… mush

Bumlets:

- emo vibes

- on dance team

- is secretly good at soccer

- gamer boi

- has only been in one long term relationship

- is broken hearted

- keeps to himself

- they/he

- pansexual

- had a crush on blink for a bit

- has crushed on every newsie at least once

- is pretty chill

- 15 year old sophomore

- currently single

- taking AP classes with david

- is like really smart

- reads AO3

- doesn’t like wattpad

- plays CoD and halo

- rages when he games

- LOVES GRILLED CHEESE

- scary dog privilege (owns a pit bull)

- pit bulls name is kiara

- knows how to ballroom dance

- romantic boi

- doesn’t open up easily

- knows how mush got his chicken

- friends with poor spot

- is a writer for blog because he can actually spell

- real name is lucas

- has depression hence “bumlets”

- surprisingly really strong

- ✨flexible✨

Skittery:

- one of the oldest newsies (terms of joining)

- only talks to bumlets and jack

- doesn’t like david to much

- has a RBF

- is 16 (turns 17 in august)

- is a junior

- smokes cigarettes

- doesn’t have social media

- is on the varsity water polo team

- ✨rings galore✨

- tries to be cool

- has 2 cats

- cats are cheesy and monica

- has an older brother in college

- works at 7 11

- is not looking for a relationship

- he/him

- straight ally

- tried being gay but didn’t work out

- drinks white wine

- always stressed

- decent student

- A- average

- friends with all the coaches

- headphones are his lifesaver

- is a very numb human

- always has cold skin for some reason

- even in like 100 degree weather he is still cold to the touch

- had facebook then deleted it because hack found his account and spammed it

- historical fiction type of dude

- is the one who finds all of the info to give to writers/reporters for blog

- loves bumlets dog

- drives a toyota prius

- real name is jefferson

- no one but jack knows how he got the name skittery

Crutchie:

- was in a car accident

- real name is charles

- has social anxiety and dyslexia

- should get picked on but jack doesn’t let that happen

- soft boi

- technically isn’t a newsie but shows up to the meetings

- is a emotional support teddy bear

- is the assistant director for the school plays

- best friends are jack, sarah, and mush

- only has instagram

- terrified of heights

- occasionally sleeps over at meddas

- adults love this child

- they/them

- gay

- loves disney

- knows the entire hunchback of notre dame movie by heart

- is 14 years old

- freshman. the only freshman newsie

- child of the group

- goes to all of his friends game or competitions to cheer them on

- is really short

- like REALLY SHORT

- says “rawr” a lot

Medda:

- jack and races mother

- (A SINGLE MOM WHO WORKS TWO JOBS WHO LOVES HER KIDS AND NEVER STOPS WITH GENTLE HANDS AND THE HEART OF A FIGHTERRRR IMMA SURVIVOR)

- is a voice actress

- has been in disney films

- “if you’re going to drink id rather you do it in the house” mentality

- hates the idea of nicotine

- on the PTA

- has annual passes to disneyland

- loves all the newsies

- wants to adopt poor spot

- is in her late 30s to early 40s

- she/her

- straight… kind of

- she says she’s straight but by definition she’s pan

- civil rights activist

- has an ACAB sticker on her car

- PRIDE FLAGS EVERYWHERE

- if the sexuality/gender exists in the lgbtq+ community, she has their flag

- likes gardening

- will never use the wrong pronouns

- doesn’t really eat at chain restaurants

- not afraid to kill someone who hurts one of the newsies

- i’m serious

- she’s tried

- ….

Les:

- in 5th grade; 10

- friends with poor spots siblings

- is friends with the newsies

- loves medda

- is like another crutchie without the trauma/depression/anxiety/etc.

- asks david if him and jack are dating

- he knew david was 💅 before david did

- loves it when one or all of the newsies picks him up from school

- everyone loves him

- got picked on for having a “looser brother”

- spot (both poor and rich) picked him up one time with david. said “if you have a problem with les, you got a problem with me!”

- les was never bothered again

- gets lifted onto the guy’s shoulders all the fricking time

- loves feeling tall

- wants to play football like jack

- is very smart

- is ridiculously fast

- he has the fastest mile time in the whole grade

- teachers pet

- doesn’t have many friends his age

- brags about the newsies to his classmates

#livesies #newsies live #racetrack higgins #davey jacobs #david jacobs #jack kelly #incorrect newsies quotes #sprace #newsies 1992 #1992sies #spot. is. tall. PERIOD

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