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archive2394934 · 2 years

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Decided to finally share this with the fandom. Originally wrote this as reference for other folks in interacting with my rp/writing blog where I write Henry because as far as I could see from the fandom the takes on the character were kind of shit (no offense to people who buy the “hes a psychopath” spiel, but I don't! Not even sure where it come from tbh.) so I’m gonna just post this & hope there's other Henry Creel apologists out there who feel the same lmao. (not fixing the format, take the garbage how it is)

GENERAL:

Straight to the point I do not write or interpret Henry as a remorseless psychopath. He is not “pure evil” & he was not “born evil.” To me it is quite clear that a lot of themes in Stranger Things are allegories for, & are very much metaphoric to metal illness & neuro-diversity, most particularly a lot of themes in Stranger Things touch on the the demonization of & abuse toward people with mental illness & neuro-devise individuals. Please keep in mind Stranger Things is a period piece that is taking place from the 50s through to the 80s & EARLY 90s. This was a time period particularly in AMERICAN HISTORY that was not known for its kindness toward minority demographics & just as it was difficult to be lgbt or a poc, for example, in these times, it was also very difficult to exist as a ND or mentally ill person without experiencing oppression, horrific abuse, exploitation & demonization.

Ultimately, to me Henry is on the autism spectrum. He is very high functioning but none the less he was labelled as “broken” by his doctors & teachers because he was born in the 40s & was a young boy in the 50s where this stuff was not commonly understood or recognized. Theres a few other factors floating around that make this story true to the horror genre & further add to the metaphorical side of things (Henry’s psychic powers, the idea the Creels were living in a haunted house, the concept of demonic possession, etc) but bringing things down to basics Henry was a high functioning autistic boy living in a time period where kindness & understanding toward his neurodiversity was not a thing. As a autistic person Henry instantly got me when he said all his doctor’s & teachers said he was “broken” because do you know what my doctor’s & teachers said about me when I was a kid? The exact same thing. & my bullshit was happening in the 90s rather than the 50s so I imagine what Henry was dealing with was a fair bit worse. Also check this post out, while I’m here if you don’t believe me on this stuff, the OP of this post covered this really well. & I’m also adding this little tidbit of info because it feels relevant.

After coming to live in Hawkins, Henry discovered he had unlocked the ability to read minds. He then discovered his mother hated him & he discovered she planned to have him committed, where he would be taken away by a Doctor (Dr. Brenner) & “fixed.” This was a secret she had been keeping from him & presumably her husband. This was the trigger for Henry’s murderous rampage. He practiced using his psionic powers on small animals & prepared to kill his mother & escape from his family to avoid the horrors of institutionalization within a “psychiatric hospital,” as had been planned.

He failed. This perfectly explains the “secret” Henry’s mother kept & why Dr Brenner knew Henry existed. Keep in mind this is again the late 50s. Virginia was an upper-middle class house wife. Her duty & image as a loving mother & wife would have been held in the highest esteem. If she was someone who secretly despised one of her children ━ not only is this particularly shitty for Henry as the child she disliked to discover this ━ but it does in fact make her a hypocrite as someone who would pretend otherwise to fit societies mold of “normal” & “perfect.”

Henry used his powers to “torment” his family by “showing” them their “real” selves. Prior to the murders, Henry was nothing but a lonely, innocent child. He was unfairly judged as “broken” & “wrong” by his family members who themselves were actually not the ‘perfect’, ‘faultless’ people they pretended to be, hence his accusations of hypocrisy toward them. Henry was born different, try as he might he couldn’t change what made him “different”, he struggled hiding his differences, something which was expected of him, so he grew disgusted by people like his parents & sister who were so obsessed with perfection, conformity & this false notion of “normality” that they refused to accept that they themselves didn’t even fit the mold they were trying to force on Henry.

Henry would spend the next 20 years of his life wrongfully imprisoned & suffering various kinds of abuse & dehumanization at the hands of Dr. Brenner’s project. Henry was as much a victim as anyone else in this situation. We are made aware of the fact that he was often tortured & essentially treated as a slave to the facility. Henry, by his own admission, suffered a life of fear & cruelty.

ALICE CREEL:

I'm adding this because I can't decide if all the extreme inconsistences surrounding Alice mean something in canon or if it was just laziness on the Duffer Brother's behalf but for now, according to my headcanon: Alice was 15 years old. (Despite being portrayed by a much younger actress & thus appearing to have been the same age as Henry if not younger. A really weird inconsistency.) Her date of birth is given on the news paper clipping & she would have been 15 accordingly, 3 years older than Henry, making her Henry's OLDER sister.

I imagine Henry & her to have had a relationship best described as an inverted parallel to Will & Jonathan. Where Jonathan was supportive of nurturing toward Will, Alice was scornful & neglectful of Henry. She viewed him as a burden due to his "differences", which she considered were just him being difficult & a "freak." She was very much a normal teenaged girl in the 50s who largely kept her personal life a secret from her parents. I actually feel like the entire Creel family is suppose to be an inverted-parallel to the Byers family.

Henry tormented Alice the least of his three family members because he simply didn't understand Alice's fears or secrets well enough to prey on them on a personal level. Again he was a 12 year old boy at this point, he wouldn’t have had this kind of insight. A similar thing could be said of his mother, as Henry's "torment" toward both his mother & sister appears to be very much in the vein of only making them see general phobias like bugs & spiders thus & not near as personal or potent as the torment his father received thanks to his PTSD & guilt from his actions in the war.

THE MIND-FLAYER:

To me, & I’m very sure this was what canon was suggesting, the entity we know as the mind-flayer was actual the “demonic presence” that emerged within the Creel house. The mind-flayer exists within another dimension, but the barrier between the human world & the mind-flayer’s dimension is thin around some places in Hawkins, which is why all this bullshit is going on in Hawkins in the first place. The Creel house happened to sit atop of one of these places. Henry was particularly sensitive & susceptible to the presence & influence of the mind-flayer due to his psychic abilities. Henry once believe that he was the demon in the Creel house, but this isn’t entirely the case.

We know that the mind-flayer is a malevolent force that amplifies feelings of sadness & anger, which are the emotions that it feeds on. Henry couldn’t have been a more perfect target because he was a sad child, a child who was ostracized from other children & found it difficult to fit in with others & was constantly being made to feel as if he was wrong/bad/at fault. This takes a psychological toll on a child & almost always leads them to acting out. Henry’s negative emotions however were amplified by the presence of the mind-flayer, which in turn amplified Henry’s powers.

This is why Henry’s abilities became so strong once he & his family had settled into their new home in Hawkins. This is what drove Henry to look into his families minds & find their “darkest secrets.” He wasn’t a twisted little demon who was just sick like that, Henry is shown actually as a sad & lonely kid. His spirits only brightened a little when he found some spiders inside a vent inside the house as he recounts he has a love of spiders & they brought him comfort in a very stressful time in his life. Henry then spent most of his time illustrating the spiders while his family fretted over the “evil presence” in the house, which used Henry’s powers to manifest itself. I mean one has to wonder where & how a 12 year old boy in 1959 learned to, essentially, suck the “souls” out of his “victims.” among other things

Which yeah, brings me to something else. While Henry’s method of killing does seem to be demonically influenced, it makes sense to me that a child like Henry would seem to reason this as a “valid” way to commit a murder. If he is able to basically “keep” his victims in some way, linking their souls to himself & thus giving them some type of immortality, it would serve to ease his guilt somewhat in the fact that he hasn’t completely killed them in the first place. This seems to be the case as Henry explained to Eleven after the lab massacre that the other numbers he "killed" weren't really gone.

Something else I consider evidence for this is when Victor recounts the family’s time in the house, we’re shown a scene with Henry drawing in the living room of the house. The lights in the room begin to act strangely which Henry notices, looking confused. Victor says he could see Henry could tell something was wrong. Now here's the thing: we know the best way for the someone or thing in the upside down to make “contact” with the human world is through lights/electricity. If Henry wasn’t manipulating the lights, which I think its clear he wasn’t, due to his own confusion & curiosity toward the event, what was?

We also have Henry’s apparent change of demeanor. He starts out seeming happy when the Creel’s are shown first arriving at the house, only to then be shown as gloomy & distant after some time in the house.

& lastly this is completely theory but Henry’s massacre of the children always came off odd to me. It feels like we missed something in the way Henry goes from optimistic & helpful upon leaving Eleven in the store-room to dark & disturbed when she finally finds him again in the rainbow room. He just does not seem like he had his shit together or that this was all “according to plan”. Either something else happened that we didn’t get to see OR, something else I think could play a part if my theory about the mind-flayer always being there is true: Once the chip was removed from Henry & he started to get his powers & psychic senses back its possible with them came his connection to the mind-flayer. But that's purely just a thought & not something I’m willing to say is exactly what I think happened. No matter which way I look at it though I PERSONALLY think killing the other test subjects made a lot of sense from an in-character, in-world, in that moment in time perspective.

THE LAB MASSCARE:

IMO, there are many reasons for why Henry killed the other test subjects in the lab. This doesn’t just come in one shade. Survival is the leading one, but behind this we have the fact that Henry only learned to harness his powers through sadness & anger, two emotions that can be very intoxicating, even when utilized by someone who doesn’t have a life of lived trauma & oppression behind them like Henry does. We also have the fact that Henry saw the other children as enemies, given they viciously bullied Eleven for no good reason & he saw his own childhood of ostracization & bulling in their interactions with her.

Ultimately, Henry killed them because he could not save them & because if he left them alive they would only be used as weapons against him & Eleven in the long run. The children in the lab were not allies to him & Eleven & he was not entirely wrong in believing this. Many of them would do anything to please “Papa,” this including beating & abusing Eleven, possibly to the point of being willing to kill her, & thus would easily include using their remote location abilities to track Henry & Eleven down if they escaped. It seemed to be a worse outcome to leave the other subjects alive than it was to kill them.

DR. BRENNER:

Henry’s mercy on Brenner was entirely vindictive. He wanted Benner to live knowing he had taken everything away from him, that he was powerless & that he lost all the control & oppression he had lauded over Henry’s head for most of his life. It was really a power move, as was killing the other test subjects, because ultimately, Henry’s relationship with Brenner was/is a deeply fucked up one due to years of psychological & physical abuse. Ultimately he wanted Brenner to live & witness his escape, witness the loss of everything he had tried to build for years & witness everything else Henry would come to do free of Brenner’s imprisonment. Vecna’s motives for for continuing to leave Dr. Brenner alive are very much the same.

HENRY & VECNA:

Simply put Vecna is Henry but Henry is not Vecna. Vecna is the result of Henry’s “death,” as much as he is the result of Henry’s merger with the mind-flayer entity. As previously discussed, I believe the mind-flayer entity was always a malevolent force that amplifies & feeds on feelings of sadness & anger. This is why Vecna is so warped, both physically & spiritually. This is why Max explains that Vecna can’t see anything within people but hate & darkness. This connection with the mind-flayer changed him on a metaphysical level. Henry’s “dead” body was mutated by the unique constitution of the upside down & his merger with this entity to become the wickedly powerful creature that is been dubbed “Vecna” by the hellfire kids.

By all logic, Henry should have died after he entered the Upside down, not just by the multiple lightening strikes he apparently suffered that horrifically wounded him to the point of deformity, but also the fact he had to have fallen from a couple hundred feet at least. Somehow he didn’t die. There is no logical explanation as to why “Vecna” is or would be “alive.”

But we have seen that the Mind-flayer has the ability to reanimate creatures that have supposedly died. (The Demodogs in the Russian prison are a good example). Its more likely that Henry did die after he was thrown into the Upside down, whether from the lightning his body conducted or from hitting the ground from the seemingly endless height he fell from. Its all thanks to the influence of the mind-flayer & his psychic link with it that he was ‘revived’. Meaning he was able to get up & simply wander around the upside down dazed & mesmerized until he found the mind-flayers “physical” body & the two “linked” together.

This also explains why “Vecna” was able to take several head-on rounds from a shot gun, all the while being set on fire, & continued to live & function through the whole ordeal, even after falling at least a dozen feet out of a window, to the point that he was able to get up & escape with little effort. There is no logical explanation for any of it other than that Vecna is, in fact, “undead”. In his human life, Henry hoped to use his powers to change the world; to make things better for people like himself. As Vecna he is opting for more brutality & something much darker, due to his heavy corruption from the mind-flayer, though he still believes he’s doing this for a good reason, remembering his own goals, which is Henry’s remaining “human” element coming through.

Basically, in the story Vecna embodies all three major archetypes in the horror genre. He is the killer, the monster & the ghost & he is played by me as all three. This means he is a vindictive, malevolent creature who is not bound to human mortality but has a hauntingly tragic & human past. Vecna is vengeful & ruthless. He kills with impunity because it brings him closer & closer to his “goal” of forcefully “reshaping” the world that hated & rejected him but it also seems Vecna targets his victims for very specific reasons that allow him to believe these attacks are less murders & more mercy killings. I’ve talked about Venca’s personal “method/ritual” of killing & its “symbolic” refences to his human life & in general here. (removed the link, maybe I’ll share that one too though in another post)

Henry on the other hand has a killer instinct, & will kill if he has to, but he is not Vecna & his murders are almost always survival or revenge based. Henry’s goals included more anarchy for the sake of political & systematic change; to bring about a better quality of life for oppressed & marginalized individuals like himself. Henry & Kali were the same in this regard & this why I’ll never believe they weren’t connected or that they didn’t have a positive rapport, or that it wasn't extremely likely that Henry played a part in Kali’s escape from the lab. This is at least my personal headcanon & will remain that way until canon tells me otherwise. So far though canon is heavily, heavily suggesting this is true.

"A PREDATOR BUT FOR GOOD":

Henry’s speech to Eleven & his interest in spiders has resulted in all the fandoms insane misunderstandings about Henry’s character & what his actual motives were. I’ve been over it in a previous post but to largely quote that post: Henry’s self-label of “solitary” creature & his relation to spiders is not suppose to clue us on to some innate evil within the character. Completely the opposite actually. Henry has spent his life only ever knowing scorn, rejection & exile from others. Whether this exile is imposed on him by others or self-imposed to cope / feel safe, this is a heavy feature in Henry’s life. This single feature made most of the fandom convinced that Henry’s interest in & relation to spiders was scary & proof of “psychopathy”, because they think of spiders as scary, weird things that need to be avoided or eradicated; they're just not viewed as living creatures worthy of respect or sympathy despite the fact they very much are. Its very ironic that people took this away from Henry’s speech as he was actually explaining the opposite.

Henry literally says he relates to them because they’re a misunderstood creature, that people hate & only want to exterminate & people have always treated him the same way. He takes comfort in being able to relate to something so much & finds them inspiring as a result. He draws strength from them. They made him feel safe & seen. He feels more empowered & less alone when he thinks of them. Unfortunately, a lot of people somehow boiled this down to “Spiders kill things, spiders are scary, spiders are unrelatable, spiders are emotionless so that's what Henry was trying to tell us about himself.” Which all couldn’t be further from the truth.

Henry further spoke about the experience & unending stress of anyone who can not conform to societal norms, anyone who couldn’t live up to societies “expectations” & the restrictive, unfair standards of what is good & right vs what isn’t as these standards DO NOT apply to everyone. They are largely unnatural & that it is downright evil to try & enforce them on everyone since it is impossible for everyone to fit into the “mold.” The mold being heavily bias & flawed from the start. He is saying that all this nonsense has been made up by evil, bigoted, stupid people in power. He is talking about the real struggle “othered” people face against societal & systematic oppression.

He’s trying to say that a spider is considered an important part of the natural ecosystem. Spiders fit this ecosystem whether people like it or not & despite their differences they have a valuable role in brining order to the natural world. He’s not saying he wants to murder people because he finds it funny & he’s a sadistic freak; he's ensuring himself he belongs & he’s trying to illustrate that someone with powers like his & Eleven’s would be able to fight & perhaps work toward dismantling the painful, oppressive system that is currently in place & bring about balance. Equality. If he has to eat a couple insects to do it then so be it. He directly specifies he wants to be a predator BUT FOR GOOD & that is what his meaning was. It was intended to be the opposite of a predator being seen as an evil, monstrous thing. Anyways, thats my thoughts on that. I have plenty more but I can’t be bothered to fit them here rn. Thanks for reading if you did!

#henry creel #vecna #001 #peter ballard #stranger things analysis

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collectionoftulips · 2 years

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Also, I watched Persuasion (yes that cursed Netflix adaption). Admittedly, it is a bit like beating a dead horse, and I think that the review that said that everyone involved should be briefly put in prison until they understand their crimes against literature and cinema more broadly said it perfectly so adding my own thoughts into the mix are perhaps redundant. But I will say I have never watched anything that has made me quite so angry and offended at its complete butchering of the source material.

And I'm by no means an Austen purist - I think some of the best adaptions that have been made of her work has been made when creators have taken risks and not everything needs to be as faithful to its source as 1995 Pride and Prejudice. The diversity of the cast is about the only nice thing I will say about this movie even though its diversity felt incredibly surface level. Plus, Henry Golding clearly ought to have been Wentworth and:

They fundamentally misunderstand and butcher Anne as a character and therefore the most fundamental element of the novel doesn't work

The writers and producers have created as close to a carbon copy of Emma (2020) as they possibly could, not only copying major elements of the visual elements of the movie but also trying to change Anne's character to be more like Emma, completely forgetting the fact that they are two completely different characters

It was also like they saw how the occasional breaking of the fourth wall worked so well in Persuasion (2007) and how popular it was in Fleabag, and decided to just throw it in with little thought or consideration, thereby ruining one of my favourite least-used narrative devices in visual media, making me wonder why I even like it to begin with if it can produce such a travesty as Persuasion (2022). I might exaggerate but only barely.

Absolute garbage use of tension for a story that is entirely too reliant on the maintenance of tension. Anne and Wentworth don't go around checking in re: each other's feelings all the time because they are prevented from doing so at two levels: personal and societal. Completely removing that all together made for a movie with zero stakes and no tension. If they really wanted to ignore everything about the time period, they really ought to have just made a modernisation, instead of whatever cursed halfway house this was.

I could quite frankly write books about all the myriad of ways this adaption was just an utter flop, and I know no one asked for this, especially seeing as I mostly just write about Bridgerton stuff on here, but I just need you to know that WATCHING THIS ADAPTION IS NOT FUN - IT'S NOT EVEN FUN!BAD AND TBH IF YOU CAN AVOID AND WATCH IT LATER, PLEASE DO, BECAUSE I REGRET WATCHING IT BECAUSE NOW NETFLIX ARE GOING TO THINK PRODUCING THIS LOW-LEVEL CRAP IS OK BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING TO GET LOTS OF VIEWERS.

Sorry, I will resume my regularly scheduled programming soon but I just need people to know my pain. This is in my opinion arguably Austen's greatest novel and it's so quiet and delicate and this wonderful exploration of human psychology, relationships, regret, loyalty etc. It also has the most romantic letter ever committed to fiction and to have that reduced to "Now we are worse than friends, we are exes" or whatever the exact line is, is an affront.

#i would also never seriously advocate for prison #no fan of the prison industrial complex here

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burningdarkfire · 1 year

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books i read in jan 2023

[these are all short + casual reviews - feel free to msg me and ask about individual ones if u want a full review or ask for my goodreads!!]

spent this month fighting demons and one of the demons was that i didn’t read enough good books tbh

the book of the unnamed midwife - meg elison ★★★★☆ (apocalyptic scifi)

pretty decent post-apocalypse book that’s mostly focused on using the framework to explore social ideas of gender/sex. the main character is fascinatingly 3D and the best part of the book

the heartstopper yearbook - alice oseman ★★★★☆ (YA graphic novel)

it’s just additional cute fluff

our bodies and other fine machines - natalie wee ★★★★☆ (poetry)

decent, though not as hard-hitting as beasts at every threshold was for me. lots of teeth imagery in this one

hail mary - andy weir ★★★★☆ (scifi)

felt similar to the martian - andy weir has this quirky science man brand that i don’t personally love, but he sold me on the protags this time around. having a “human core” is a necessary grounding point against all of the fake science

a restless truth - freya marske ★★★★☆ (historical fantasy romance)

the more i think about this book the more i think it’s unfortunately just a paler version of the first in the series. it’s good fun, but a marvellous light was above and beyond, and a restless truth didn’t build well on the existing world. also one of the protags has a character trait/trope that i personally hate which is such a vibe-killer in romances

icebreaker - a.l. graziadei ★★★☆☆ (sports romance)

this is more a YA/NA coming of age story than it is a romance (and certainly more than it cares about sports at all). it’s decently done (and what there is of the romance is very hot) but i find the choice of protag weird when he seems to be surrounded by many more interesting characters

honeybee - trista mateer ★★★☆☆ (poetry)

i loved the formatting of all this but sometimes i read books about heartbreak and think wow. i have never actually loved anyone ever.

if sylvie had nine lives - leona theis ★★★☆☆ (contemporary)

interesting idea, good writing, but somehow the execution was just boring. i guess there isn’t a lot to say about small town middle age besides drinking, cheating, abortions, whatever?

tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow - gabrielle zevin ★★☆☆☆ (contemporary)

i think the author just isn’t good enough at the craft to write the book she wanted to write. the ideas are ambitious and many of them are executed well, but the emotional core was so tedious. it’s not a love story when the only two real characters in this story are deeply unlikeable, never meaningfully grow or change, and spend the majority of the book stewing in resentment

people we meet on vacation - emily henry ★★☆☆☆ (romance)

even emily henry cannot save my hatred for mutual pining can these two people just be honest with themselves and each other for once. y’all are behaving in insane ways

things have gotten worse since we last spoke (and other misfortunes) - eric larocca ★★☆☆☆ (horror)

one of the worst things horror can do is aim to shock and disgust and completely fucking miss lmao. most of the stories felt hollow besides trying to surprise or disgust and they didn’t manage to do that, so!

#my posts #reading wrap up #books #liveblogging books

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Okay so TBH I wanted to try write a better response to this but I feel like if I don’t try to write it now it’ll never get done and I ALREADY FEEL BAD for putting this on the backburner, omg, I’m so sorry anon. Anyway, I’m not saying this is canon or what canon intended, this is just my personal take on what the clocks are all about. Remember, I’m not smart so if this doesn’t make any sense I’m really sorry lol.

My interpretation of the clocks is BASCIALLY that Henry is very much not a fan of social constructs. Keeping in mind that Henry’s time of living was 50s-80s. If you think the world is an oppressive shit hole now boy do I have news for you; it was a thousand times worse in Henry’s time. Its largely due to social constructs that Henry suffered as he did, as someone who was an outcast to social norms and was unable to completely conform to societies ridged view of right and normal because ists and phobes are still a thing now, they were a lot worse then.

“Time” represents humanities greatest social construct of all and clocks symbolize time. Moreover, Henry would practice his psionic abilities on the grandfather clock that existed in his childhood home. He would use his mind to wind the hands back and forth as he wanted. This was a big moment for Henry in my HC because it was the first time he was able to consciously and purposely manipulate a “physical” thing with his powers and also it came with the realization that he could essentially check out of societies expectations of him because he had powers unlike anything else in society.

GOING DEEPER AGAIN, I view the clocks as also symbolic of Henry’s imprisonment. He was trapped the Hawkins Lab for 20 years. He spent 20 years of his life just waiting for that nightmare to end. He didn’t know how the end would come, he didn’t know if he would grow old and die or if he would be killed, or if something miraculous would happen and he would be freed somehow. MY personal interpretation that I’ve got going on until canon tells me something different says Henry was trapped in a place where clocks and lights were a conduit to reality, to the real world, the world outside of the lab. In that lab, time was all Henry had. Both things have become symbolic to Henry as a result.

The same remains true of his time as Vecna, in the upside down. He spent years wandering the upside down, evolving, learning, honing his powers and chipping away at the barrier between Hawkins and the upside down, with the goal of eventually breaking though.

Merging Hawkins with the upside down kind of represents a sort of a “propaganda of the deed,” but in a way that seems true to the horror genre with the aesthetic kind of being that's he’s become an agent of doom, he’s heralding in the “end” of the world (as it currently is) in which an “end” is considered the furthest part to the flow of time and therefore can also be represented by a clock. Each victim brings him closer, each victim is symbolized by the chiming of the clock. Four being the magic number might also be symbolic of the four points of time/day: Morning, afternoon, evening and night.

I mentioned before, in my POV, a lot of Henry’s manifestations as Vecna are symbolic to him on a very personal level. He’s walking psychological horror, and he very much represents PSTD, depression and trauma, abuse, suicidal tendencies, etc and these were intentional themes outside of canon and most of are things Henry suffered himself in canon. Things that had an emotional/mental/physical impact on Henry as a human are repeated and projected outwardly through Vecna and Vecna’s “curse”.

Like you said the spiders are obvious but THIS is how the clocks factor into him in my opinion. Like the spiders they mean something to him on a personal level but everything that meant something to Henry has become very twisted and ominous as Vecna.

ANYWAY I hope that made sense! I’m not saying its COMPLETELY canon but its what I’ve been reading from canon so far. In conclusion: Henry/Vecna is not just a senseless monster, he’s the radical leftist activist that turns to terrorism to make the centric protagonists look good: Horror genre edition. Literally he’s the horror genre’s version of M*gneto or Erik Killm*nger. Its a hill I guess I’m gonna have to die on but at least I know JCB is ready to die on it with me:

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Headcanons ⊱#headcanons

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polandspringz · 2 years

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g:L S2 Finale Liveblog

This one is even more incoherent than the last, im so sorry but i couldn’t be bothered LOL:

Genlock finale liveblog lets goooo

watching this in a dark room w/ my laptp super close is prbs not great w the seizure warnin g but whatever

MIgas in the tank- wait did i even watch last week when did mgias get in a tank

Yaz crying is a nice detail, but still mad they fucked up her backstory

GD THIS IS 31 MINUTES FUCK I CANT DEAL WITH THIS

why did this have to become about climate change

im sorry i hate baby caliban but i also LOVE HIM

Cammie voring everyone

Val is the real MVP f this season lets be real theyve done SO MUCH to support the team

GOD I HATE BROTHER TATE SO MUCH I HATE EVERYONE SO MUCH

Dr.Jha doing the most work

Not sure how i feel about cammie forcibly asceding everyone

Okay i keep clicking out of the video bc im so distracted but thats the point im at, i like cammie giving chase the new weapons but it also feels like im watching a video game

rip henry is dEAD

i dont have a clue whats happening why are we fighting nemesi, why are we fighting the holon frames, i come back to this show every week and forget what happened because i never feel invested enough to retain shit

like whats the point of this fight. What's the emotional investment, Nemesis isn't even someone worth fighting now, there's no combat teamwork in the fights,its just Chase while everyone else- whatever i cant be bothered

Wow cool more blood and thank GOD sinclair is clothed again i did not like seeing his almost dick last episode

Okay I spoke too soon Cammie in Nemsis' head that's cool

idk if u cant recode him just kill him

Wow cammie so you're plan is ruined

WHAT IS THIS MUSIC????? i kind of like it

is sinclair going to kill marin oh my god

I KNEW HOLCROFT TOOK UNLOCK

What is unlock again, using- YOURE GOING TO PAYWALL SURVIVE

SINCLAIR?qel q' q w qw rk

sorry marin i think ur about to die-

plz dont make me watch her die or ill lose it i dont need that gore- wow great cant believe they did that to me

WHAT THE FUCK

guess sinclair isnt on our side- oh we've lost the holon frames, what are we going to like massive link into them or something

no not the fucking monster face

WHY IS IT COUGHING BLOOD NONE OF THIS IS NECESSARY????

Cammie is just like tinkerbell now tbh

THE HOLON FRAME IS ASCENDING?????? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING

i kind of had a feeling we would fuse- OH ITS EATING THEM

ive never watched eva but this feels like theyre trying for some big philosophical anime ending plot yknow like- why is this show so horror focused now geez

Dr. Jha SUPPORTING HER EX YEAH LETS GO WELLER CONTENT

she got the KOALA!!!!!!!!!!!!

wAIT WHY IS THIS LITERALLY THAT POST ABOUT HOW FUNNY IT IS WHEN SOMEONE IS POINTING A GUN DOWN AT YOU I SAW TODAY????

Was going to say "oh so we're steven universe fusing like i thought" but then i remembered s1's mindshare was basically that too-

Dr. Jha did you really make things better or worse and also I need to know if Kazu is permanently dead or if s3 (if we get it) will sinclair fill the void

How can Tate see this and be like "yes this is what god wants"

At least in s1 i could follow the tech talk but this season its ALL going over my head

oh so we are ALL nemesis now

watching these slow laser bullets is making me miss the cool action fast paced fight of s1 where we first fought nemmy, those camera angles how i miss u

brother tate PERISH

okay so the writers definitely just watched attack on titan before deciding to write this season i guess

HI SINCLAIR

wow call back to yaz's dream in s1 i was about to say and then we really did just become big giant robot

this sequence is cool ill give it that

KAZU HELMENT IM GOING TO CRY!!!! AND THE GUTIAR THAT'S HIS THEME IM GOING TO CRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay s2 hbo you got me there

primal i think u will like this robot a lot maybe s2 is worth saving

*sees the twilight monster again* okay nevermind

Wait that happened so fast I didn't even realize they won i thought we died

CHASE OUT OF THE TANK???!!

Can he exist out of the tank- OH we need to absorb him thats why

2 days later... play that song do it i know u want to

okay baby caliban u have my heart

guess we are NEVER fixing the issues with yaz's past

So Holcroft is the villain of next season

AW CUTE YAZ AND VAL WIN!!!!

So team is splitting up, i HATE this found family is broken up

I like that they didn't force Dri to ascend and we're addressing her trauma now that shit has calmed down and she has to just sit with it

yo what is sinclair up to or is that just the end

#genlock #gen:lock #gen lock #gen:lock season 2

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tickle-bugs · 3 years

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Justice League Headcanons

So...yeah. Blame @fickle-tiction and @fanficsandfluff but I can’t get JL out of my head. I know next to nothing in terms of canon and I only enjoy a handful of DC movies, so this is the beginning of what I am calling the BEU (Bug Extended Universe).

Essentially, in the words of Nick Fury, ‘I recognize your canon, but seeing as it’s a stupid-ass canon, I have elected to ignore it :)’. A mish-mash of everything I’ve learned about DC through osmosis and my own personal vibe checks :)

This is absurdly long so everything is under the cut:

Clark Kent

- Superman? NO, Superdork.

- He’s extremely clumsy. If he wasn’t as fast as a speeding bullet he’d get his ass handed to him ten times over. He has two left feet.

- He has a sweet tooth like no one’s business. Lois once found him perched on the kitchen counter at 3 am eating the donuts she brought home from work.

- Super playful and affectionate! King of bear hugs! Country boy I love youuuuuuu

- Curses like a sailor. Do you really think Clark ‘Smallville, Kansas’ Kent is wholesome? He stubbed his toe once and yelled FUCK so loud that the windows vibrated. Everyone who isn’t in the league thinks he’s a boyscout but the league knows the truth.

- Forgets about his powers a lot. He has been known to run through walls/take doors off their hinges when he’s excited.

- Goblin. He loves messing with Bruce and roping Barry into his schemes.

- Clark being ticklish is actually smth that can be so personal? His laugh is so loud and he always goes ‘sorry’ and tries to be quieter but it does NOT work. He has flight instincts more than fight instincts so he often starts unconsciously floating away when he’s tickled it’s so cute. He giggles a lot and he’s not particularly embarrassed by it.

- Do NOT get me started on ler Clark I could write a dissertation. He is SO playful and teasy but also sweet? He definitely is the type to laugh along with his lee. He definitely allows any sort of retaliation/fighting back like,,, if you manage to crawl away it’s because he let you, and if he wants too, he can be very mean and immovable.

- Bruce and Barry are his favorite targets. He doesn’t go after Diana because, frankly, he doesn’t have a death wish. He loves to cause problems on purpose by squeezing Arthur’s side and then blaming it on Barry. (Hal Jordan isn’t in the DCEU Justice League but I wish he was...they’d be partners in crime <3)

Bruce Wayne

- Okay let’s clarify some things: he’s not actually an asshole. He can be abrasive and snarky but he’s more towards the sarcastic gruff side vs straight-up mean.

- A lot of people think he’s genuinely an asshole/disconnected rich guy because he has a terrible habit of zoning out/interrupting people? Bruce actually just has intense ADHD that he refuses to get diagnosed, no matter how much Alfred pushes him. He doesn’t care what people think about him and he’s mostly learned how to manage it, so he leaves it alone.

- That being said, his friendship with Barry has me :’) Yes, he thinks Barry’s a pest (affectionate), but they share a few science-related hyperfixations (robotics, chemical engineering, etc). They can frequently be found holed up in the Batcave with a week’s worth of food and caffeine, and they’re just....tinkering. Watching them at work is amazing because as much as they annoy each other, they respect each other :)

- He’s 100% a cat person. He doesn’t have a problem with dogs, he just prefers cats. He feeds the strays that hang out around the Manor all the time...

-...which Alfred begs him not to do, because Bruce is severely allergic. He thinks he can power through the allergies until one of the stray cats does the face-headbump thing and he’s incapacitated emotionally and physically for the rest of the day.

- He severely restrains his emotions but like...catch him on a good day or in a good mood and he’ll smile and laugh, especially in friendly company. He just generally believes in maintaining a poker face so no one can read him.

- Not to be disrespectful but...thighs. I am Looking.

- Bruce has a wonderful laugh. He’s not much of a giggler tbh but he has this open, clear, slightly scratchy kinda laugh (his voice is permanently hoarse from the Batman Voice). It’s so lovely. He has a habit of covering his mouth bc he’s embarrassed of his smile but if he finds something very funny he’ll laugh openly.

- Thee Batman is ticklish and he...doesn’t hate it? Like of course he protests ten ways from Sunday but he more minds the ‘guys stop you’re ruining my dark and brooding facade’ bit. He hates being teased though and he will throw hands.

- Circling back to the emotions thing, he’s very good at controlling his reactions, which means he has thoroughly convinced everyone he’s not ticklish. Except Clark, stupidly perceptive Clark, because he can hear Bruce’s heartbeat and see the way he clenches his jaw to avoid smiling.

Diana Prince

- WIFEY!!!!!

- Diana is hilarious okay? She’s just...so fucking funny. Her jokes never miss. You wouldn’t think she’s the quippy type, but she is, and she’s damn good at it. In a distant alternate universe, Peter Parker senses a rival.

- Loves fresh fruit, but especially strawberries? She makes frequent trips to the local farmer’s market.

- She also has a raging sweet tooth. She and Clark work together to steal sweets and buy snacks.

- Will not back down from a challenge, ever. It’s kinda a problem.

- She has such a sweet laugh :’) It’s so bouncy and melodic and she scrunches her nose. She WILL snort and it’s the cutest thing ever. Yes she’s ticklish, but no one gets more than five seconds of laughter out of her before she turns the tables.

- World’s meanest ler. Not only is she frequently on the prowl, she is near-ruthless, especially if she’s been baited. Once she sets her sights on someone, she won’t rest until she’s heard their laugh.

- Diana is very mischievous and loves hearing her friends laugh. It’s impossible to be in her vicinity for more than five minutes without at LEAST a few pokes. She is not above just,,, random tickles either.

- Nails. That is all.

Arthur Curry

- Why are his tiddies always out? Someone please explain.

- The most targeted for pranks ever. Diana especially. Something about him just attracts goblinism.

- He’s coming for Clark’s bear hugger crown. He picks people up so often that they’re just used to it now.

- Playfighting and roughhousing is his love language. He absolutely loves wrestling with anyone who’ll humor him. He and Diana frequently tussle because they’re both good sports about it (Bruce is a little bit of a sore loser. Just a smidge).

- Thinks he can get away with anything, which is decidedly not true. He just nopes his way out of the room and everyone’s like D:< get back here and atone for your sins!!! But Arthur’s already in the Pacific Ocean.

- I like to think he’s ticklish, just not super ticklish y’know? He probably has a couple hidden spots that make him lose it though. Like he’ll definitely laugh and fall over, but he can and will fight back. Oh boy, will he fight back.

- Batman: No fear.

Diana and Arthur sneaking up behind him:

Batman: One fear.

- Y’know that picture of Jason Momoa sneaking up behind Henry Cavill on the red carpet? That is extremely relevant. Arthur loves to sneak up behind people and just...take them down.

- Thinks Barry is annoying (affectionate) and the two of them are constantly chasing each other around. Barry is fast but Arthur’s strong (and wayy less ticklish than Barry)

- Physical affection!! He always has his arms around someone’s shoulders or something. He’s just a touchy kind of guy :)

Barry Allen

- Speedy boy! ADHD king! Sometimes his thoughts are also at superspeed, which means he talks way too fast and no one can understand him? But Bruce speaks fluent Barry and he translates often (though not without a labored sigh beforehand).

- Physically affectionate but casual about it? He likes to play with people’s hands while he’s talking, bump shoulders with whoever he’s next to, etc. He doesn’t really realize he does it either. It’s not uncommon for him to be talking to Clark or Diana and they just...unconsciously give him their hand before he reaches for it.

- Okay so y’know how Bruce feeds the strays? Who do you think lets them in the first place? Barry has tried to adopt every stray he comes across, and when Alfred inevitably says no, Barry runs them to the shelter himself :’)

- Gifting is his love language!!! If he sees anything that remotely reminds him of his friends, he brings it to them.

- He likes to hang out with Victor because he’s quiet, but doesn’t mind when Barry rambles, which he tends to do quite often. Barry will catch himself rambling and trail off, but Victor will encourage him to keep going, because he’s listening.

- Thee Pillsbury Doughboy. Just these high-pitched, bouncy, frantic giggles that only get worse and eventually morph into cackles. He hiccups a lot too :’)

- Okay so he’s not a flailer but he’s super squirmy. Barry will cling onto his ler’s arms just to hold onto something. He kicks his legs too (he does this when he’s not being tickled either, if he laughs and he’s sitting somewhere he kicks). He also just constantly tries to crawl away. If he isn’t pinned down he will drag himself to safety. He also has a habit of curling up :’)

- Absolutely invented the speed-tickle. He actually doesn’t often use his powers (unless he’s chasing down Clark, because Clark isn’t above breaking the sound barrier to escape). He’s just got incredible hand-eye coordination and precision. His hands will be absolutely everywhere and he is so teasy about it.

- Tries not to start fights he can’t finish, but he always gets roped into Clark’s mischief and gets targeted with revenge tickles.

- He has tickled Clark once. It was incredible, amazing, showstopping, spectacular. Literally his crowning achievement. Did Clark absolutely destroy him afterwards? Yes, but it was so worth it.

Victor Stone

- Quiet and stoic, but he’s always preferred listening and interjecting with a joke or two.

- Closest with Barry and Diana, but he’s making an effort to bond with everyone.

- Unfortunately not ticklish :( I like to think soft touches on his face will make him smile and lean away, but it’s not going to get a laugh from him.

- Doesn’t often get involved in tickly shenanigans, but when he does, he surprises everyone with how much fun he has. A different, warmer side of him comes out when he’s among his friends.

- He’s a hugger! Definitely awkward about it, but he loves hugs and just...holding his friends.

- He collects hoodies. He can’t really feel them when he’s wearing them, but he likes them and the idea of it. Barry seems to slip him a new hoodie every week. Victor has no idea where he gets them from but he’s not complaining.

- He is an enabler. He will look at Bruce like :| “no, I don’t know where Barry and Clark are, nor do I no what they’re planning” But they’re literally right behind Bruce, about to squeeze his sides.

- That being said, he won’t do that with Diana. If she asks where they are, he’ll subtly nod his head in their direction. Even in jest, he will never lie to her. Which makes him Thee person to avoid when Diana’s on her mischievous streaks.

#my headcanons #this is an academic paper #you can see me get more scatterbrained as I go on it's great #anyways welcome to the BEU #dc #justice league #...bugstice league?#(nice)#ticklish!bruce wayne #ticklish!clark #ticklish!diana #ticklish!arthur curry #ticklish!barry #bruce wayne #clark kent #Diana Prince #arthur curry #barry allen #victor stone

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hopevalley · 3 years

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Season 8, Episode 7: Before My Very Eyes

This episode sure was a rollercoaster, wasn’t it?

Let’s dive right on in. :)

Plotlines:

The Love Triangle & Allie’s Adoption

Ned & The Canfields

Christopher’s Performance

Clara and Jesse

I guess you could say the plotlines were better written together/integrated in this episode than in previous ones. There’s a lot going on but most of the filming and plots just...rolled together?

For example, the saloon as the “gathering place” where multiple plot points take place simultaneously was really cool IMO. It helps the town feel livelier.

The Love Triangle & Allie’s Adoption

The love triangle is...an enigma. I’m probably in the minority of not really being that invested in who Elizabeth ends up with, but I doubt I’m in the minority regarding my general feelings on the love triangle: I want it to end.

I think we’re at a point where it’s just super frustrating for everyone involved, and we’re stretching the limits of suspension of disbelief when it comes to the audience.

I don’t think we’d be as harsh on the triangle if we had double the episodes a season. We get a whopping 12 this season, more than we’ve gotten in a long time, so space is limited, and time is limited, and we know she’ll reach a decision toward the end of this season, so there’s that...I don’t know...pressure I guess, on the characters and the episodes to showcase things in a manner that feels natural and moves well.

For what it’s worth I’m fine with Elizabeth’s turtle-pace, but with only 6 episodes left (5 after this episode aired), knowing she’ll pick someone soon (and it will probably be Nathan)... It makes it really difficult to stomach the Lucas scenes—not because I don’t want to see her with Lucas if she won’t end up with him, but because I feel really bad for Lucas!

Especially with the intense fourth-wall-breaking level of awareness Lucas seems to have regarding the situation. Yes, I’m talking about the line he quoted.

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not.”

That’s only half the quote. This is the full quote:

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sure, it’s applied to Henry, but it seems almost...too knowledgeable to me?

So, the quote is from the novel Hyperion: A Romance, published in 1839. Longfellow’s wife Mary died in 1836 after a miscarriage. Overwhelmed by grief Longfellow took trips to Europe and spent seven years trying to woo Frances Appleton. She eventually agreed to marry him.

Hyperion was inspired by this. Paul is the main character. He travels through Germany after the death of a friend, and falls in love with an Englishwoman named Mary Ashburton. She rejects him.

To say this was a thinly-veiled autobiography of sorts is, uh, an understatement. To have Lucas quoting it in When Calls the Heart feels...odd. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was an omen of sorts, but...we can’t forget Lucas’s parents’ history: his mother refused to marry his father for years, just like Frances refused to marry Longfellow.

It’s not a bad quote or anything...it’s just...frustratingly on the nose.

I did appreciate Elizabeth’s admission of not wanting to be one of Lucas’s “secret sorrows.” They’re courting publicly anyway, everyone knows it. It’s time for them to be a little more open about it, at least in little ways. Him squeezing her hand on the saloon table shouldn’t be a big deal at this point.

If this was the storyline we were getting for Elizabeth (her slowly working her way toward something with Lucas) I’d be happy with it. I’m still Team Nathan but I like Lucas a lot this season and would be content with a storyline for him.

THE THING IS...I don’t think that is going to happen, and it makes me feel terrible to see him getting strung along like this. Elizabeth doesn’t come off as “has feelings for Lucas and is just nervous about showcasing it” for multiple reasons. First, she was very PDA-like with Jack, and secondly, that’s just...not how the scenes seem to be written. You can assume her reasoning but she never once is the one initiating and then backing off. He always initiates. She always backs off. It’s unbalanced and makes me feel bad for Lucas.

I really hope we get to sit inside his head a bit longer/more seriously at some point. Maybe he’s aware of her feelings for Nathan and is willing to try anyway because he believes that to some extent love is a choice? That would be really interesting tbh.

As it is, I just feel sorry for Lucas. Not that I think Elizabeth wouldn’t have hangups with Nathan, too, but I just feel like Elizabeth’s hangups with Nathan are more fear of what she is feeling/fear of what could happen to him in the future/fear of her heart being broken again, whereas with Lucas it’s almost like she’s not feeling it and trying to force that kind of affection with him makes her feel weird/gross/bad.

I definitely think she has a good friendship base with Lucas, but if the feelings aren’t there, they aren’t there.

Sorry, my thoughts are muddled. There wasn’t a lot going on with the triangle in this episode in terms of...triangley things. I just wish Elizabeth would choose so that the plotline could go away. I’m tired of seeing people strung along.

Nathan was pretty good in this episode. I appreciated his talk with Allie a lot; choosing to be kind and want good things for someone you like is a good example to set. I feel like in the café Allie’s dialogue about Elizabeth smiling at him was off; she probably should have said something more like, “If she doesn’t like you like that, then why does she smile at you that way?” might have sounded better. (He could have said “what way?” and she could have batted her eyes at him lmao.) Allie already knows Elizabeth is courting Lucas...and if we’re to believe the smile directed at Nathan is what tips Allie’s invite consideration to her adoption ceremony, then that would have been a better way to approach it (instead of “Did you see the way she smiled at you?!”).

I really loved that Lucas got Nathan and Allie a little gift. Honestly I just want Lucas and Nathan to be friends or something because the actors have good chemistry together and there’s a shortage of good male friendships in the show that feel Good. I wonder if we’ll find out what the gift was at any point?

The end with Allie only inviting Elizabeth to the ceremony was hilarious. I wanted to actually see the ceremony (because Nathan promising not to leave her was SUCH a good line, I almost got emotional over that and I wanted to see it put into play again) but the imagery it left us with (it looks like a wedding...) was clear enough haha.

Poor Bill, stuck in the middle of that.

Speaking of Bill, the adoption being “on him” was really sweet. And then of course Bill can’t keep the moment tender because he’s always so Uncomfortable with Feelings, but it’s still very sweet.

Ned & The Canfields

I don’t have a whole lot to say here, but I really appreciated this storyline. It wasn’t the best-written surgery-medical-wise, but it felt heartfelt and that’s what matters.

Florence running around trying to do everything herself while also stressing out about Ned really felt...real. And then of course Rosemary getting appointed to the phones and gossiping forever...hahah.

I’m glad I saw the writing on the wall with Joseph; of course he’s a former pastor! I really am intrigued by what his “plans” are that are not church-related. I like that they tried not to make him exactly like Frank, but boy what I wouldn’t give to see them both pastoring in Hope Valley. Then Joseph could pursue his dream while also pastoring a bit, and so could Frank. It’d be nice, and they’d probably get along swell.

Seeing more faith/prayer in the show has been great. Also, Joseph and Minnie are so cute together... I adore them.

Christopher’s Performance

And here we are, talking about the man of the hour... Christopher. Henry’s “secret sorrow” or the product of Henry’s secret sorrow? It almost makes me think he got over Nora with Christopher’s mother and she cut off ties with him and married Jerry the banker.

Henry’s opinion of Jerry is obviously not great, but he’s respectful enough to not talk badly about him. It makes me wonder if Jerry is a worse man than Henry is, though. Maybe so? I wonder if we’ll get more information about it.

They really did a good casting job with Christopher; he manages to look similar enough to Henry and kind of...mimic his way of smiling and movement that’s almost uncanny.

Of course...as Rosemary says, she knows a performance when she sees one.

I’m wondering if Bill feels similarly...

But boy do we know how Lucas feels! Lee tells Lucas that his pocketwatch has been missing “about a week now.”

Lucas confronts Christopher and instead of Christopher being like, “Oh no! I’ll keep my eyes open in case he dropped it somewhere or maybe the chain broke!” he’s really sarcastic about it?

He then tries for the second time to control Lucas (treats him like...he can order him around/bully him) by asking if Lucas found him a bigger room yet. This dude has a serious ego. The sound of Lucas intentionally shutting the door after this was delicious, though.

“If I find that you’re picking pockets, I don’t care who you are or why you’re here. You’ll be on the next stage out of town.”

Christopher just...almost smiles and stands up. “I didn’t steal any watch.”

Lucas says, “And I should believe you?”

Christopher responds with, “That’s your choice.”

Lucas leaves, and then Christopher pulls the watch out of his pocket.

He seems to feel a little guilty when he reads the inscription...but still. He’s so skeevy.

And then he takes the flowers Jesse drops off the ground...to give to...Rachel... Honey, you got a big storm comin’... She knows he’s bad news but I guess she’s into it. Yikes.

And then we have the scene where Mike comes to Henry with a great idea he has, and is interrupted by the arrival of Christopher. Henry tells him he wants him to teach Christopher everything he knows. Mike’s enthusiasm dries up right away.

I think Mike also realizes Christopher is bad news.

And Henry’s just so excited to be “looked up to” and “seen as a father of sorts” that he can’t see what’s right in front of him. Normally he’d be attuned to bullshit just as clearly as Bill and Rosemary and the rest, but...his bias is in the way. He wants to fix his past so bad he doesn’t realize it might not be worth it...

I hope Mike keeps his idea to himself but I have a super bad awful feeling he’ll admit it to Christopher and then Christopher will pitch it to Henry as his own idea. I feel sick just thinking of it!

Clara and Jesse

Clara and Jesse were starting to repair things juuust every so slightly and then he gets mad that she’s shortening her skirt and...it all goes to hell.

It’s not that I don’t love a little drama but this is just...I don’t know. Maybe too much? I liked Clara’s discussion with Joseph because he tells her the honest truth (and he’s full of advice, for better or worse, just like me HAHA): you can’t repair your marriage if you’re not around one another to even begin to heal the wounds/talk about things.

I’m not very invested in these two as characters these days, and I’m not sure what would fix it, but this spat being dragged out for ages ain’t it right now. I’m keeping an open mind, though; it could go somewhere interesting...and at least it didn’t get resolved in one episode.

Also, I appreciated Clara venting to Bill in that “I still care about him very much way” while Bill tries (somewhat awkwardly) to support her choice(s). He’s in a bit of a tough spot; he can’t offer advice freely because not many people are going to take marriage advice from a divorced man who didn’t marry for love in the first place anyway. It’s just good to see him trying to act supportive for Clara.

Other thoughts:

I see we’re getting more of the plotline where Bill has to give up his uniform, but he actually made a really good point in this episode about that. He did earn it! And then insult to injury...trying to make him give up his horse, too?

It’s cute that his horse’s name is Hero; I feel like that was stated much earlier in the show (maybe S3 or S4?) but I’d forgotten it, tbh. How wholesome.

“Am I being prideful?” I think this was a good question for Bill to ask, and honestly it probably took a bit of courage for him to even ask Lee about it/admit that maybe he was being a bit prideful. But like, it’s okay to take pride in your work/the work you’ve done. He did earn all of it and it’s not really fair to ask for him to give it all up. The jacket is one thing (it’s a physical item; yes it shows all the hard work he put in but it’s just an object), but the horse? That’s an emotional bond and it’s rather cruel to break it.

Lee excited to try on the jacket was literally the cutest thing, and I loved that Bill folded and let him try it on. Honestly? Lee looked pretty good in it!

That scene was the definition of BOYS WILL BE BOYS, hahaha.

Also, Elizabeth’s line: “Haven’t you ever lost someone so close to your heart that it tears you apart?” was SO CRINGEY. I don’t know how that made it into the finished episode. Please, writers... read this shit aloud before you film the show. READ ALL YOUR WRITING ALOUD TO HEAR THE CADANCE. I’m literally begging you.

But also, the whole concept is still cringe. You don’t know Dylan, Elizabeth. You didn’t know Colleen. You don’t know if he loved Colleen or not. You don’t know why he ran out on Allie. You’re projecting? Maybe? But even if he did fall to pieces over Colleen’s death, that was no reason to hurt poor Allie who had nothing to do with it and did nothing wrong.

They should have edited the line to say something slightly different. “Tears you to pieces” would have sufficed. And not rhymed on accident.

Last thing for now...the lack of Carson and Faith in this episode was amazing. I know the surgery with Ned will push Carson to either take the fellowship and return to Hope Valley to be of more use there and/or push him to just stay where he is because there’s no one else in the area with his skill level.

I think I’ll be happy with it if he becomes an area surgeon more than a regular doctor... it would help him and Faith both feel necessary for different reasons. And also, he was a surgeon when he arrived in Hope Valley in S4, so it’s clearly his strongest point (and best training/experience).

So uh, how ‘bout that preview for next episode, though? WHOA.

Hopefully this isn’t too scattered; work has gotten a lot busier since the weather got nicer, so I have less time to write without interruption lmao.

#when calls the heart #season 8 spoilers #season 8 shenanigans #analysis and meta discussion #character studies and information

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phoebehalliwell · 3 years

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how would you rank the seasons from least to most favourite?

alright okay right off the bat worst season season 7. for starters i think this season has no staying power i mean like since i’ve been running this blog 4 so long now my knowledge of charmed is encyclopedic and insanely vast more than like it ever need be but for the longest time. i could not remember season 7. like wtf even happened there?? evidently leo became human??? cole returned? the avatars??? like all of it was just. it’s not even necessarily forgettable it’s just i straight up could not remember it for the longest time. and i’ve said it before the concept of utopia was way to advanced for a show like charmed to tackle i am not watching charmed for moral philosophy i am watching bc i love these girls ♥ hee hee hoo hoo magic adventure ✨ tho if i am to offer a single comment on utopia: it’s awfully rich for a show to go on about destiny and fate and then take a stand against utopia in the name of free will. but w/e. i don’t like leo in the avatars i don’t like his dynamic with piper in this season i don’t like whatever phoebe’s doing this season there’s like leslie?? maybe there’s someone else? boring & flavorless they should have been setting up her endgame instead of puttering around. and kyle. zoo wee mama. could have been a great antihero. morally gray. duplicitous. self serving. but no. they gave him all those traits and called him hero/love interest. s7 left a lot to be desired out of the characters and their relationships also gave us phat L’s such as the charmed ones are werewolves don’t worry about it and feminism peaked with naked women. shout out to zankou: demon, dilf, dub & the noir episode.

you know what? fuck it i’ll say it second worse season 5 genuinely fuck season five. this is probably a Very Specific beef 2 me But. i hate what they did to the charmed universe. this was the season that marked the transition of charmed from supernatural drama to campy soap which like. i love camp! i do! but fr. fuck this season and what it did to the worldbuilding. the early season have Such A Vibe to them man with warlocks and witches and just a couple niche monsters from assorted lore that the show took and made their own. season five opens with mermaids goes directly into fairytales then gives us superheros whatever the fuck was going on in that mummy episode the sandman leprechauns and nymphs. and i hate it for that. it takes away from this urban fantasy things that go bump in the night what lurks in the shadows of the back alleys of san francisco in favor of the ugliest cinderella dress ever put to television and an onslaught of horrible irish accents for a full episode. other issues with season five: cole’s still here? why? they don’t know and neither will you! we’re not redeeming him! phoebe’s not getting back together with him! yes he died we just refuse to let him go! the cherry on top of course being a cole-centric 100th episode. shout out to. hmm. lemme think about what i actually liked about this season. i like jason dean as a love interest i don’t remember what he did in s5 but i know he was there. the season finale i’ve talked about how stupid & shitty it was but idc i still love that episode and then shout out to bacarra the only original villain this season that was a proper serve. the crone gets second place.

next on this come on we all saw it coming season 8. it’s a bad season! and i get bts there was a whole lot happening budget cuts missing actor etc. but it goes beyond that. it was a bad season. billie and christie were bad. and i’ve said this before but billie in herself is not an inherently bad character. she was just the literal worst for the show. she was a dollar store buffy blonde confident cocky skilled and ready 2 fight evil But. we are not following her like we followed buffy we are following her mentors. it’s like if we had a show called giles that aired for seven seasons And Then buffy showed up. billie was insanely irritating to watch from our perspective and in general wasn’t like. well written. attempts to humanize her / give her more depth often fell flat. and then christy. oh nelly. oh my god. barely a character. not well acted but hey it would have been a miracle if she was. negatives include dumain who was a mess omg bringing back the triad bringing back the source billie & christy obvi and also involving homeland security. which is season 7′s fault which is why it’s the worst. dubs on the other hand include both coop and henry i really liked them the shoehorned love interests weren’t great but i like their characters i though the way the got rid of leo to save on the budget was really creative and gave us a great piper episode and of course the sugary sweet finale i love it i do what can i say.

yet another controversial choice aptly coming in fourth is season 4. i respect what season 4 set out to do. i think it was a good idea. long form narratives, keeping a darker tone, focusing on character-driven drama and growth. too bad it fucking failed miserably at all of this. cole as the source and phoebe as the queen of hell was just so so botched. they had a very unique opportunity following the death of prue to explore these characters and what it means to them to be charmed, to be witches. they saved the world but the cost is insanely high. they’ve lost an older sister. they’ve gained a new sister. how do you even begin to cope with all this? episodes such as hell hath no fury and brain drain fuck so hard because they work with exactly that. had the whole season been like those episode season four would sit at number one with flying colors absolutely no competition. but alas. we can’t have nice things. the show got so bogged down with phoebe & cole, in a way that was just so, so messy. for starters, whether you loved cole or hated him before, we can all agree source!cole sucked. he was such a strong 180 from what we had seen that the show had to make the source some type of possession to justify half the shit they were trying to pull. and then to pit phoebe and paige against one another over a man was just. disgusting. and the ending of course felt rushed because it was! they wrapped up that entire issue in a nice little bow much faster than they reasonably should have been able to. it could have been a great season. it was definitely not. shout out to the seer an iconic mastermind on barbas levels, as previously stated brain drain and hell hath no fury Specific shout out to piper’s scene at prue’s grave shout out to paige as a character i like what they did with her and um. yeah that’s it.

okay we’re exiting the shit tier in favorite of the good tier welcome to the upper half. kicking us off is season 6. season 6 did what season 4 could not in that it gave us a long form plot that still left plenty of room for like. normal demon of the week episodes. i love phoebe early in this season with her faboo haircut her brand new empathy power and her relationship with jason dean. obvious strikes against for whatever the fuck that baby crazy stint was and also the mata hari episode. yikes. i love paige’s hair color in this season nothing paige as a character necessarily stands out to me however i like how they seem to have hit the blend of work-magic with paige where she wants a life and career outside of magic however she still loves the craft and embraces is with an open heart and mind. season six also gives us chris who was a very fun male lead imo we really didn’t have many like him he’s bitchy. he whines and bitches a lot he’s got an agenda he’s a bit secretive but at the end of the day he just wants a family i like him. i like the character growth we see out of piper i like seeing her try to move on from leo i love seeing her get back together with leo i like her dynamic with chris and her fears about motherhood. i also liked richard but that one takes a lot of justification. L’s are witchstock hyde school reunion used karma off the top of my head also the paige/richard/addiction plotline was so tone deaf. also the girls were mean to darryl : ( he deserved so much better. dubs were chris as a character, tbh the episode little monsters, phoebe with empathy specifically saying i love you too to jason i could write a dissertation on that line alone also the courtship of wyatt’s father and i thought the reveals of evil wyatt and chris being piper and leo’s son were both fun and interesting plot twists.

coming in third is actually season 2 a season i really do love it’s just. it lacks structure. imo there is a lot to love about season 2 morality bites and pardon my past are both delightful time travel episodes we get jack sheridan and bane jessup two of my personal favorite prue love interests we get p3 h2o and a great prue plotline regarding the death of patty we get the super cute cupid episode it’s a great. collection of episodes. it’s not a great season. there’s just imo not a strong enough thread connecting the stories together it’s mainly held together by having the same characters in it over and over again i really liked dan personally but like. i knew we were wasting time there. he was just an obstacle. a super cute loving and caring obstacle who’s great with kids but lbr piper and leo were always endgame. wasting our time on dan was stupid. i do love the sister dynamics in season two “gotta hand it to those pesky little demons they sure have brought us closer together” but again. this season could have benefitted from a rex and hannah type or even like a cole or zankou. this season is less of a season and more of just like a handful of episodes, and while there are some fat dubs, there are also some definite swings & misses. shout out to the time travel episodes the prue centric episodes phoebe’s character growth and maturity throughout this season (e.g. her going back to college) and i also think the fashion got a lot more fun this season.

second place i’m saying season one season one was a really strong start and gave us these really compelling characters with interesting relationships between one another But. a lot of it just kinda falls flat. and credit where credit is due it was a brand new show getting its feet under it but the fourth sister feats of clay which prue is it anyway they just simply aren’t dubs imo. also i don’t like that 70′s episode bc again i am an asshole concerned about The Lore i can’t believe one bitch ass warlock caused the Charmed Ones to grow up without powers. it just really bugs me. all in all the plots as a whole like aren’t great imo they’re nothing to write home about (save for from fear to eternity) it’s really the characters that make this season so goddamn good.

first place congratulations to the one the only season three. this is just because it kinda hits all my requirements in that it has some banger one offs (e.g. all halliwell’s eve, the good, the bad, and the cursed) it has an overarching plot at the exact same time as the source becomes more prominent and obvi cole is also there with murderous intent i like the character growth we see especially from prue i like piper and leo finally get married overall i really like the aesthetic of this season that blends a darker urban fantasy tone with still some charmed fashion and whimsy. strikes against tbh phoebe and cole’s relationship i am insanely picky with my enemies to lovers and the do not come remotely close to cutting the mustard in fact they are almost immediately disqualified however from afar i can see and respect The Drama. shout out to recasting victor prue with pistols death as a character and shannen directing episodes

#and of course this is a matter of opinion i'm not expecting everyone to agree w me Howver #i think you'd also be hard pressed to talk me out of my opinion #like the closer you get to the top there's more wiggle room like what's the best season i think changes with the wind #but the shit tier stays shit tier in my mind it's a matter of personal preference and i personally prefer my season to be good #charmed #💌

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beardofkamenev · 3 years

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20 and 24 for the history ask meme!!!

Thanks for the ask friend!

20. Who, if anyone, is your historical crush?

Asfjhakdfadjfhsj. Tbh, I don’t actually have a historical “crush” in the sense that I don’t feel the same feelings towards historical figures that I would towards real people I’ve actually had a crush on. But if I reaaaaaally had to pick one, I guess it would have to be Owen Tudor, the Ultimate Medieval Stud? I did write my Tonglr magnum opus on him lol. I guess the fact that there isn’t much concrete information on his appearance (“blessed with wonderful gifts of the body” and “tall and slender”) means I can project whatever physical ideals I want onto him lmao. I can’t say the same for Henry VII even though he’s one of my favourite historical figures because I know what he looked like and he’s just... he’s not ugly but he’s just not for me sis.

24. Who do you consider to be one of the most underrated historical figures?

HENRY VII OF COURSE. There are two main reasons why I think he’s underrated. One is that he’s undeniably overshadowed in the popular imagination by his predecessor and his son: his legacy hasn’t undergone the controversy and mass redemption narrative that Richard III’s has, nor did he cause nearly half the chaos and drama that Henry VIII did. Why read about boring shit like economics and trade, when you can read about epic battles, nephew-killing, and wife-chopping instead? The thing is, I don’t think ‘boring shit like economics and trade’ is a fair summary of Henry’s life and reign at all, which was actually filled with a lot of court politics and intrigue. I don’t study him because he was “hot”, but because I genuinely find him and his reign interesting. To be fair, I’ve always preferred political drama over action anyway so that’s probably why he appeals to me.

The other reason is that I think Henry’s many achievements and cultural contributions are often credited to other figures, like Edward IV, his wife and mother, or his son. By contrast, his flaws tend to be overemphasised compared to those of other 15th century rulers, with the exception of maybe Henry VI and Richard III (if you're not a Ricardian). Perhaps it’s because Henry VII is remembered as highly intelligent but ‘just’ an administrator, so he’s easily pigeonholed into the trope of a Machiavellian villain without the “Epic Warrior King” legacy to counterbalance that (because war is still cool in the Year of Our Lord 2021). Even Edward IV gained a reputation for avarice in his final years, but because of his popular legacy as an “Epic Warrior King”, his character isn’t tainted by his ruthlessness in the same way Henry VII’s is (unless Saint Richard of Gloucester is involved). Thomas Penn’s The Winter King helped popularise Henry VII for a while, but it did much to perpetuate the stereotype of Henry’s reign as “bleak”, “oppressive” and “Stalinesque” (wat) due to its overwhelming focus on his final years. I find this unfair because any ruler judged solely on their final years is going to come across as a total arsehole, and imho there are far worse kings to hate on than Henry VII.

There’s also an undercurrent of English exceptionalism in WOTR historiography, which has often lead to Henry being vilified as a “foreigner” (even though he was half-English) or less commonly, being praised for his contributions to England’s “Manifest Destiny” to unite Britain which is just... no. There’s even an interview with George Osbourne (FUCK YOU) where he backhandedly refers to Henry as a “cultured Welshman” because he spoke fluent French (because the default Welshman is “uncultured” according to that Tory fuck). Anglocentric bias and xenophobia in historical discourse is an important conversation to have, but applying it to Henry VII is highly controversial on Tunglr dot com for some reason. I’ll still point it out because this is my blog and I DO WHAT I WANT.

(The history ask meme is still open!)

#history ask meme #lady-plantagenet #questions for the beard #owen tudor #henry vii #wars of the roses

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she-who-fights-and-writes · 4 years

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She-who-fights-and-writes Coronacation Book Rec List

I know that a lot of people are stuck at home right now in dire need of entertainment, so I decided I’d put out a book recommendations list of all the books I’m currently reading and all of my must-reads!

(Just a note that a lot of these are Fantasy because I’m a fantasy nerd haha)

Books/Series I am currently reading

1. The Folk of the Air Trilogy by Holly Black (Currently on #2, The Wicked King)

Genre: High Fantasy

Setting: The land of Faerie which is kind of historical, but in the human world it is modern day

Main cast :

Jude Duarte (white, human, cutthroat, if I saw her in a Denny’s Parking Lot at 3am I would RUN)

Cardan Greenbriar (white, faerie, the true embodiment of Bastard)

Vivienne (Jude’s half-sister, lesbian with canon gf, half-human half-faerie, I would totally try to be her friend)

Taryn Duarte (Jude’s twin sister, queen doormat, still, I would take a bullet for her she’s jUST TRYING TO FIT IN)

Rating: 5/5 Stars

These books have been on my “To Read” list for so long now and for some reason I just never got around to reading them! Hands-down, these are some of the best high fantasy books that I’ve read in a long, long while.

I finished the first book, The Cruel Prince, in just two days and rated it 5/5 stars! Even though these books are high fantasy and focus on the traditions and ways of life of faeries, somehow all of the characters seem like I could meet them in real life!

The main character actually has genuine flaws and not just “””“flaws”””” and is a Bad Bitch down with murder, and the plot had me on the edge of my seat from page one!

The summary makes it sound like it’s going to be about their romance, but it’s really mostly about a power struggle and Jude being a badass.

Goodreads summary for The Cruel Prince:

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences. As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

2. The Raven Cycle Series by Maggie Stiefvater (Currently on #1, The Raven Boys)

Genre: Present-Day/Realistic Fantasy (?)

Setting: The fictional town of Henrietta, Virginia

I haven’t gotten around to much of the book, so there’s not much I can tell you about the characters and I can’t properly give it a rating yet.

These books were also on my “To Read” list for a while; I was a huge fan of her book The Scorpio Races and have also been looking for something to quench my thirst for “private school/ghosts/magic” that I’ve been dealing with ever since I read The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo.

I’ve only JUST started The Raven Cycle yesterday, but so far I am hooked! I’m super worried because I’m TERRIBLE at juggling two series at a time but both of these are just so interesting!

Goodreads Summary for The Raven Boys:

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.” It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive. Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

MY MUST-READ BOOK LIST

1. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

Genre: Historical Fiction

Setting: 1700s Europe (England, Paris, Barcelona, Marseilles, Venice)

Main cast (I’ll try my best not to spoil anything because you find out a LOT of different stuff about these characters throughout the book):

Henry “Monty” Montague (white, bi/pansexual, attitude problem)

Percy Newton (mixed race, gay, very sweet boy, definitely got “most likely to bring home to mom” in the yearbook)

Felicity Montague (white, Monty’s little sister, headcanoned as asexual, I love her to death)

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Daring adventure, gay representation, historical setting, hilarious characters!

This book literally has it all! I would consider it one of my favorite books of all time, yet for some reason I’ve never gotten around to reading any of the sequel books! The ending is very satisfying and ties everything together, which I feel is part of the reason why I haven’t gotten around to them yet.

Therefore, it can serve as a one-shot read or a full series if you want to dive into something good!

The humor made me laugh out loud at points and all of the characters are very real and very, very relatable, not to mention the vivid settings of 1700s Europe!

Goodreads summary:

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men. But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy. Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

2. The Ninth House By Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Horror, Fantasy

Setting: Yale University and the town of New Haven, Present Day

Main cast:

Galaxy “Alex” Stern (Hispanic, sees dead people, very scary)

Daniel Arlington “Darlington” (white, rich, an angel who can sometimes be a dick)

Pamela Dawes (tbh I honestly don’t remember what she looks like, only that she’s a tired grad student with big nerd energy)

Detective Alan Turner (Black, takes shit from nobody, husband material)

Rating: 4/5 Stars

(NOTE: THIS IS VERY DARK ADULT FICTION AND CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT MAY BE TRIGGERING FOR SOME PEOPLE, WOULD NOT RECOMMEND FOR PEOPLE UNDER 16)

This book is a great read for someone who’s looking for a disturbing, gritty book with layers upon layers of secrets that you have to peel away as the mystery unfolds. I love the secret societies and the intricate magic systems that the book introduces, and it actually made me hungry for more books like it!

Alex is a three-dimensional, very real character who also serves as an unreliable narrator who witholds or warps the information that she’s telling you, making the narrative all the more riveting.

The only issues that I have with it are the fact that Leigh Bardugo kind of just dumps you in the middle of it without explaining stuff first, to the point where it kind of feels like you’re reading the second installment of a series rather than the first one, so things can get a bit confusing at first.

The book also can drag and draw things out for a bit too long, but once the plot fully kicks into gear, you will not be able to put it down!

Goodreads summary:

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her? Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

3. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Setting: Earth, Space, The Moon

Main cast :

Linh Cinder (Chinese, based on Cinderella, cyborg, certified badass)

Scarlet Benoit (French, based on Little Red Riding Hood, farmer who is not afraid to shoot you)

Cress Darnel (White, based on Rapunzel, nerd, I will protect her with my life if I have to)

Kaito “Kai” (Chinese, based on Prince Charming, kind of has to run a whole country, a very kind soul, deserves a nap)

Carswell Thorne (White, based off of Rapunzel’s Prince, bastard)

Winter Hayle (Black, based off of Snow White, royalty, has super special powers)

Wolf (Race unspecified, based off of the Big Bad Wolf, charming killing machine, furry????)

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Do you like fairy tales?

Have you ever wanted to know what fairy tales would be like if they took place in the FUTURE instead of the PAST?

Do you like an amazing, hilarious cast paired with a super interesting plot?

These are the books for you!

I haven’t read them in so long, but I remember how much joy I felt while devouring these pages. Definitely something you will not able to put down!

Goodreads Summary for Book #1: Cinder:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future.

4. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Genre: Fantasy

Setting: Ancient Greece

Main cast:

Patroclus (Greek, Gay, quiet pining)

Achilles (Greek, gay, very strong, student athlete energy)

Brisies (Anatolian, clever, literally the only one in this story who has a brain cell)

Rating: 100000/5 stars

This is basically the Iliad but if historians hadn’t completely erased Patroclus and Achilles’ relationship. “Haha yeah these guys were totally bros” they say, even though I have read the Iliad and their relationship isn’t even subtle.

This book made me cry at least ten times. It’s just so beautifully written and has such a distinct vibe to it that whenever I crack it open for another time, it takes me straight back to the vacation that I read it on. (Needless to say, sobbing your eyes out can be less than helpful when you’re on the beach)

If you can only read one book on this list, it should be this one. I could talk all day about it and write novels on just how much of an incredible writer Madeline Miller is, but I feel like you’d get my drift a bit better if you actually read the book.

Goodreads Summary:

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. By all rights their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But then word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus journeys with Achilles to Troy, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear. Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.

Hope this list helps you through your coronacation, and please don’t be afraid to reblog or message me to tell me if you’ve read/will read any of these!

#books #book recs #book rec #book reccomendation #book reccomendations #coronacation #corona #coronavirus #covid-19 #book rec list

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murfeelee · 4 years

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Alright, I’ve been talking about The Witcher TV show for months and months, and now I’ve FINALLY seen it.

I've skimmed through the books here and there, but really I’m a diehard fan of the video games, particularly The Witcher 3 (I’ve played TW1 and TW2 as well). Because of all the hype, attention and love the TW3 got over the years, with even Henry Cavill being a major fan of the video games, Netflix went and made this tv show, with Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher.

MY THOUGHTS

It was GOOD! \(^0^)/ I really liked it!

Alright, don’t get excited, I think this show had some serious problems. But we’ll start with the good before getting to the bad and the ugly.

THE GOOD

THE ACTING

Everyone was top notch, and did a fantastic job. I freaking LOVE Grandma Calanthe, omg. I wanted more of her, and Mama Tissaia, and the different sorceresses (when Sodden started I was like hooo boy, I know how this goes; the finale is WORTH the price of admission, folks).

I even liked Eclipse-Princess (her name escapes me, my bad; I was calling her Arya 2.0 in my head). Don’t think I effing missed how they threw in a nod to the Eclipse Princess from Blood & Wine; that was awesome, featuring the Black Sun “curse” again.

I already knew I was gonna HAVE to tune in to see Yennefer’s story, and it was every bit as superb as I suspected it would be. Dare I say it was THE most interesting story arc of the three? Caught me tearing up a few times. I still don’t see book/game/Polish Yennefer with her, but she did a GREAT job, nonetheless--her emotions and delivery and everything was excellent.

She sounds so dang young though, which throws me off with the timeline, cuz when exactly does Yenn’s story take place in all of this? It’s hard to match her with the more...well....matronly/mature persona we’re more familiar with in the games. But I guess she develops that over time, after getting to raise Ciri. Though this does put in better perspective why she was so mean to Ciri at first, calling her ugly and everything. She wanted a child so badly, and Geralt just...gets one by surprise, and she was feeling bitter, I see it now.

THE ACTION

And I gotta give it to Cavill. Boy can MOVE. My favorite moments with Cavill were when he was sword fighting; whoever choreographed all that needs a frikkin award. I imagined the Butcher of Blaviken just tearing up mofos, and that’s exactly what we got. And he was WERKING them pants! XD

Except we never really saw my favorite sign, Igni. Oh well. And I hate that he doesn’t have cat eyes. And the Toxicity ISTG makes him look like a vampire and makes no effing sense, but whatevs.

And sometimes he was sounding WAY too Batman or demonic with this really deep and gravelly voice -- I appreciate that he was trying to give us that gruff and sandpaper dry video game Geralt, but when they’d make him yell or be mad I was like JFC NOT TODAY SATAN. But an attempt was made, and I appreciate it. ^_^ He was fine for the most part. More than fine, even. As I said, the acting & action was great, and they played to Cavill’s strengths.

THE SPECIAL EFFECTS

I also thought the CGI was fine--not the best, no, but I’ve seen way worse in shows with bigger budgets. The dragons...eh.... And that kikimore.... Well, I’m just remembering the Polish tv show, the Hexer--BIG improvement. Trust me. O_O The practical effects were excellent. Even though they messed around A LOT with the Striga plot from TW1, and what it looked like, I did like that they stayed pretty faithful to the fight.

THE STORIES & CHARACTERS

IMO, the best episode was E04, with Pavetta & Duny. It was just REALLY well done, and the one I was LEAST expecting. My favorite episode was E06, with the dragon, because of course. Reminded me of Hercules the Legendary Journeys, IDKY. The finale was really good, too; I love the sorceresses and all the magic. And E07 when all the plots and flashbacks come together was great.

And now for MY COMPLAINTS

THE BAD

#1) OMG WTF WAS UP WITH THE TIMELINE?

I feel BAD for anyone who’s watching this show fresh, who’s never played the games, read the books, seen the Polish Hexer tv show, played Gwent, or anything related to the Witcher world.

I was thrown off several times, as they shot from Ciri running for her life or Geralt fighting a Striga in the present time; to Yennefer learning magic in the past. Geralt & Dandelion go on adventures Shrek & Donkey style--I ASSUMED in the present, with the Sylvan, Djinn & Dragon, until an episode or two later they’re in Cintra together in the PAST, and Ciri’s not even born yet, and we’re seeing a drunk Ermion/Mousesack and young Crach an Craite (I squeed, my dad~!! His accent was on point!), and Ciri’s mom and grandma. (And WOW, the lady they got to play the mom looks just like the actress playing Ciri--are they related?)

And they do this over and over again over the episodes--present day with Ciri, eff knows when with Geralt or Yennefer. Especially since you know from the books/games that they’re both almost 100 years old. Yenn keeps throwing out “it’s been decades“ this and “years” that. But W H E N though!?!

I mean, I could follow along, sure, but they REALLY needed to make it clearer SOONER for people who have NO idea who TF these people or which kingdoms are which, that some things are happening YEARS apart from each other. Pay attention to how many times GoT shoved those maps of Westeros and Essos in our faces. Or how different shows use color filters for flashbacks or something. Properly situate the audience in time AND space--we’re not Cirilla, who can travel willy nilly between both. They bounced back and forward between past and present with the toss of a frikkin coin.

And speaking of coins...

#2) THE MUSIC WAS...Well.

youtube

Oh, Dandelion. XD

Anyone who knows me knows I fangirl HARD over the Witcher video game OSTs. And unfortunately, the music on the tv show was just...alright. :\ And for a franchise so closely connected to iconic music like the band Percival, it’s a crime against nature that the tv show never had a single track that made me go YES. Give it up for POLAND. The end credits song is okay, but I only started getting into it at like Episode 6, soooo... :\

And no, I didn’t like Toss A Coin to Your Witcher in this show. It didn’t sound like part of this medievalesque universe AT ALL, but something kinda pop/country, aimed at I don’t even know who. Sure, the dude playing Dandelion can sing. But so can Ed Sheeran, and when GoT got him to sing on the show, he sure AF didn’t bust out with the next Billboard Top 40 on us in the middle of nowhere.

#3) THE CHARACTER BONDING?

The acting was top notch...it was the plot/writing I didn’t like. Or rather, the relationships between the characters. I felt more for Yennefer & Istredd, and Geralt & Roach, and Ciri & the Elf boy (and her grandma), and even Pavetta & effing Duny/Emhyr (that royal piece of sh!te) than I did for any other characters on this whole show. And that’s a bit of a problem.

First off, I HATED how they made it seem that TEENAGED Ciri had no idea who TF Geralt was. TV Ciri’s gotta be what? 15? Geralt said something about it having been 12 years since Pavetta & Duny, but even that’s too old. Book!Ciri met Geralt IN the Brokilon or whatever forest with all the water drinking and the dryad queen and mess.

They were already obsessed with each other before the fall of Cintra even happened! Ciri was like 10 already when Geralt took Ciri to Kaer Morhen to start her Witcher training, but this girl on the show’s way older, and effing clueless. They don’t even meet til the final few SECONDS, wtf!! It’s just Destiny~! Destiny~! Child of Surprise, but we never even have a scene together~! Destiny~!

Speaking of children, we have Yennefer and Geralt, which was better, but again, WOAH with the pacing. I felt effing BAD for Istredd! :( I don’t really GET why Geralt & Yenn fell so hard for each other; I don’t really feel that connection. Geralt had just as much bonding time with that eclipse-princess! They only had the Djinn episode, really, and by the end of the Dragon episode it was already over!

I mean, yeah, in the books/game they have A LOT of ups and downs, but come on; we’ve already wasted so much time on Geralt & Triss (that homewrecking wench, I’m glad her airtime was minimal), and I just want more BAMF battle couple parents Geralt & Yenn raising Ciri already! >_<

Same with Geralt & Dandelion. Geralt’s kinda mean to him, which is fair; Geralt hates everyone. But I don’t feel where they’re friends at all, and they part at the end of the season on NOT great terms. I kinda feel Geralt doesn’t really like Dandelion at all. :( Even with the whole comedic relief Shrek schtick,

THE UGLY

#4) THE LENGTH

I dunno what’s up with all the 8 episode miniseries lately (GoT, Mandalorian, Witcher, etc), but it REALLY isn’t enough to really flesh out a story. Especially not one as convoluted as The Witcher, AKA the GoT of Poland.

Again, I REALLY feel for the casuals watching, who probably don’t know what the Conjunction of Spheres Istredd keeps referring to is, or what exactly a Witcher is, or why Ciri’s so dang special -- was Lara Dorren or the Elder Blood ever even MENTIONED???

We know Yenn’s got elf blood, but it’s waaaay more than that with Ciri -- though I don’t think they mentioned her elf blood, either, just that Calanthe’s grandmother or someone had their Banshee powers before Pavetta & Ciri.

BTW, wtf with Ermion/Mousesack? That’s gotta be a red herring or something. Cuz we know this dude’s old AF and thriving in Skellige, sooo....? TF. Why the Doppler? Why?

TBH this felt like Season 1A, if anything. I don’t feel the plot really progressed much at all, other than us getting Yennefer’s story. Ciri & Geralt finally meet (cliffhanger supreme right there), but jfc this felt like a prequel -- so much of the season was dedicated to backtracking us in a roundabout way up to the fall of Cintra, then skipping ahead to the Battle at Sodden Hill.

And why the heck did they wait so long to get to get to Vigelfortz!? That’s what I was sitting here WAITING for! You mean I gotta wait for Season TWO to see my Hanse in full force!? :( URGH. Reeeeeeeegiiiiiiiis~! :(

Maybe cut out some of the unnecessary nudity every frikkin where and tell the full frikkin story, hmm? (Yenn’s boobs look great, we got it the first 5 times. Meanwhile these cowards won’t even have a dude’s left testicle be shown on screen, but whatever.)

So yeah, those are my 4 biggest complaints.

Well, and that wig’s hard AF hair line, jfc.(I was DYING during the Pavetta & Duny scene, when Cavill was holding on to that wig for dear life. XD XD)

Otherwise, I really liked the show! B+!

#nonsims #non-sims #the witcher #the witcher 3

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upstartpoodle · 4 years

Note

Downton Abbey :D (just for a change!)

Hi, thanks for the ask! :D

DOWNTON ABBEY

The first character I fell in love with: I can’t really remember, tbh. I came into watching Downton Abbey at s3 so I spent a lot of time being very confused about everything. I think Thomas must have been the first character that I really cared about from the show, but it wasn’t like he was immediately my favourite character.

The character who is my ‘baby’: Thomas - again, he’s the only character I’m actually really invested in.

The character who I do not understand: Bates. I do not get that man. At all. I can’t think of a single character as obsessed with martyring himself as Bates is. Genuinely.

The character that I think the show ruined: I think we all know that Downton Abbey went off the rails a bit in some ways towards the end, but for me I felt Thomas’ character arcs in s5 and 6 were very, VERY badly handled you know I think I’m spotting a pattern with these answers ha

The most attractive male and female character: For the men, it’s between Thomas and Henry Talbot, and for the women it’s between Edith and Mary.

The character death that was the worst for me: Sybil in the terms of it being the saddest, and Matthew in terms of it being the point where it felt that the writing of the show began to take a bit of a turn for the worse.

The character that is the most like me: Probably a mix between Anna and Gwen from back in s1.

The character I think the writer(s) love: For the upstairs, Mary, for the downstairs, Bates.

The character that I just want to be happy: C’mon I think we all know what I’m going to say. After all that crap Fellowes put him through, Thomas could do with a bit of happiness get in there Mr Ellis

My four favorite characters, past or present: Thomas, Edith, Daisy, Mrs Hughes.

My four least favorite characters, past or present: Bates, William (I didn’t actually dislike him but I found him a bit boring), that evil nanny from that one ep that was verbally abusing Tom and Sybil’s daughter, and the rapist from s4 that got murdered (seriously Bates is the only one of the main set of characters that I actually actively dislike).

Send me a show and I’ll tell you...

#asks #ask meme #chocksawaychaps

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internetremix · 5 years

Note

What are the crews thoughts on Game of Thrones???

Alex: i don't watch hbo i just go on twitter and get the full experience from 1500 very angry tweets about game of thrones

Kristen: Haha yeeaah these days you don't have to watch the show, you can just get it all via angry tweets and gif sets.

Atwas: Alex's method is the one I subscribe to as well, tbh. Maybe I'll watch the whole thing once it's over. Maybe not.

Kristen: HOOOOOOO I have feelings about Game of Thrones strap the fuck in.

I've been watching it with my dad since like... 2013? Which by the way watching Game of Thrones with your very conservative father is a weird experience and I don't recommend it but we're committed now, but uh anyway.

There's a lot of things I really love about Game of Thrones. I love most of the characters, the production value is amazing, it's beautiful to look at (until it's too dark lololol looking at you Battle of Winterfell), the music is absolutely gorgeous. The opening tbh makes me tear up as soon as the strings hit, it's just a really intense instrumental piece and I could honestly write an essay just about how that song makes me feel and what I feel like it's conveying and I'm a huge nerd.

But the show has had problems since like, season four? There's some real issues with how women are written in it, don't even get me started on how a whole lot of sex scenes magically became nonconsensual that were once noooot like that.And then there's the race issues and uh.... lots of little sloppy things getting sloppier as the seasons have gone on.

The thing that I find most frustrating is the post-books happenings, many of which, in theory, I wanted. But these things feel unearned, so they aren't what they should be. It used to be sometimes entire seasons would go to getting pieces around the board and then suddenly I guess Westeros is pretty fucking small and people can just fucking teleport or whatever. And then of course there's the stuff I didn't want, which is also happening, which feels worse because I'm like "this bad writing wasn't even a shortcut to something that might've been narratively satisfying".We're heading into the finale now and it's honestly kind of amazing just how much the show has absolutely imploded in on itself. I don't expect GoT to end happily, because it's not that kind of show. But I did hope that whatever tragedy or bittersweet victory we got would feel earned, and that's not happening. I was planning on rewatching the show once it was finished but now I don't want to- that's a huge timesink for something that ends up collapsing in on itself.

But at least we got Daenerys with her starbucks cup, which is my new favorite production fuck-up. Amazing.

Bro: Whomst with her what

Alex:

Juno: Oh No

Kristen: She finally got her coffee

Uprising: I heard they kinda totally flipped daenerys' character around from what it was the whole rest of the show and that's kinda sad

Kristen: Yep. They claim there was foreshadowing and like. I can see how they'd claim that? But it wasn't well done. In the end her flip seemingly happened over the course of two episodes for very bad reasons.

Alex: “I am Not Here to Be Queen of the Ashes.”

Tex: I don't watch it so idk what's actually happening

Kristen: Neither do the writers

Alex: Daenerys became Mad Queen because someone gave her a venti for "Dennis"

Kristen: The ultimate "can I speak to your manager" rage

Alex: wait shit, i guess i should have answered this spam email from that one video i did

Kristen: "$20, a ship and my dragons" LMAO Goddamnit Alex WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE HER $20! THE SEVEN KINGDOMS ARE FUCKING WRECKED AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT

Jojo: I like the dragon lady

Kristen: I have some bad news for you.

Jojo: Shh don’t spoil I haven’t watched... any of it

Alex: then i have some more bad news for you, you read this chat

Jojo: D arnit

Kristen: Jojo save yourself, don't do it. As I weep over the opening credits again and eat ice cream.

Phill: I loved every episode I've watched so far. the only problem is that western civilisation now has to deal with the equivalent of an anime going past the manga, and they're pissed.

Xander: RIP to all the parents who named their kids Daenerys

Kristen: Hahahahahaha. Honestly this only makes me want to name my kid Daenerys. I will not do it but man it's tempting. "WHY DID YOU NAME YOUR DAUGHTER AFTER THE MAD QUEEN??" "I have very high expectations."

Alex: "It's a boy!" "he is still daenerys"

Xander: The rumor come out: Kristen names daughter Murder God

Kristen: Please no, my kids can't have my name

Phill: Rumour come out: Kristen is pregnant

Xander: Kristen is pregnant?! STOP THE PRESSES

Kristen: Haha I am not. But I would like kids some day.

Xander: SHE IS PREGNANT

IGNORE THE DENIALS OF THE MOTHER

SHE IS BECOME THE BROOD QUEEN

Kristen: I. Uh.

Alex: is kriscuit pregante

Kristen: Um.

Phill: OH, ITS THE GLORIOUS FIRST STAGE OF PREGANCY: COMPLETE OBLIVIOUSNESS OF THE PREGNANCY

Kristen: Yeah I'm pregnant with multiple hellspawn and I can't wait for my little bundles of bloodlust to burst forth so we can reign hell upon this earth

Alex: so, you know, average friday

Xander: Okay, but you don't have to brag about it. I mean like, you're pregnant, cool. Calm down.

Phill: You know, the American dream

Kristen: Hahahahaha. God that would be great.

"Okay so I've got the names all picked out."

"These are all the names of fictional tyrants."

"And?"

Xander: Caligula Vladislav Trawcynski, get down here RIGHT NOW

Kristen: CALIGULA damn it is a shame Stephen would never go for that one

Xander: Okay but like phuck Stephen because Cal Trawcynski is a bitchin name

Phill: CALIGULA! SMALLER HITER! GREG FROM ACCOUNTING, GET DRESSED OR YOULL BE LATE FOR SCHOOL

Xander: HENRY VIII I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU DON'T CLEAN YOUR ROOM.

Uprising: queelag. my first daughters name.

Alex: and like dmp before you, no one but one person will get the reference, and i guess assume queelag is just a normal ass name

Xander: Just name your kid Cal. If Stephen asks what it's short for, respond with "How dare you speak to me."

Xander: Anyway, My daughter will be named Kristen. Kristen Rybitski. Because let's trap that name in pollock town forever.

Kristen: You monster

Xander: Even better: Kristen Trawcynski Rybitski.

Or, in her most advanced form: Kristski Trawczynski Rybitski

Phill: You stop right there

Alex: skiskiskiskiskiskisskiskiski

Kristen: you are a monster

Xander: But to actually answer the tumblr question: It's real bad. I'm not super invested, but ultimately I don't care because HBO is about to get some amazing shows to replace it

Like Watchmen and His Dark Materials

#whole crew #ask the ir crew #this post is a ride #game of thrones #andyces55

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mariantoina · 5 years

Text

thoughts on t*sp

look. at first i told myself that i wasn’t gonna watch this show, and then the very next day it got leaked so i was like “you know what? im gonna watch it anyway!” and thats the worst decision that ive ever made in my life because this show was... bad. could it have been worse? definitely, given the fact that it was an emma frost show based on a philippa gregory book. but this was still terrible enough for me to type this post up, so here we go!

i can guarantee you that you’ll have a more fun time reading this post than you will watching TSP. this is under a read more because.. whew.. theres a lot.

THE CASTING

first and foremost: the actress playing KOA cannot act. she’s really pretty, granted, but her acting was genuinely terrible. like.. i cringed almost every time there was a scene terrible. not only was her spanish accent bad but she felt so.. stiff, i guess would be a good word, whenever she said something. and that didn’t do anything to help the fact that she has a bad case of ScarJo Fever™ (if you don’t know what that is: it’s when an actor/actress only makes the same three facial expressions) people need to stop hiring actresses and actors just because they’re attractive and actually make sure that they can act. at this point, i am Begging!

the actor playing harry was actually good though, at least in my opinion. he did his best with what he was given and i really admire that! you can tell that he was putting a lot of effort into it, even though the way that they wrote him was really out of character for that period of his life (see: this post)

h7′s actor was good in the scenes that he was in, but the way that they treated h7 was so.. weird? they didn’t make him as creepy as i thought that they were going to when i first found out they were making an adaptation of TCP, but there was still this lowkey creepy vibe that he had going on.. i honestly dont know how to explain it, but it was there. also he slapped the shit out of harry in a scene??? that was messy as HELL

the actress for margaret beaufort was good, but there were some scenes that just had me like.. oh? on god? (most notably the death scene, but i’ll get into that hot mess later) you could tell that she was trying hard, even if they made MB’s character arc terrible.

the actors that played lina and her love interest were amazing, though. they worked with what they had and i really liked what they did with them even though the writing was shit. the scene with their wedding was adorable and really well acted!

angus imrie (arthur) was good, too! but the wig that they gave him? atrocious. i’m going to see it in my nightmares. georgie henley was really good in the scenes that we saw her in as meg tudor, but most of the scenes she was in weren’t that good and that’s wack :’)

i don’t know the name of the actress that played juana of castile in the episode she was in, but i liked her acting, too.. even though the writing for her was kind of cringy.

before i end this section i should let it be known that i was more attached to juana, meg and arthur in the few episodes they were in than i was to KOA during the entire show. it’s so tragic like. how are you going to cast a lead actress that cant act?? Hello???

before i get into the issues with the writing and creative direction i have with the show, i just wanna say: the pacing of the show was terrible and really, really difficult to follow. the entirety of the second episode, which followed from their KOA/arthur marriage to arthur’s death, probably had the worst pacing. it felt like only a few weeks had passed in the show’s time, when it was supposed to be what? six months? and there was so indication of a timeskip between episode 6 and episode 7, even though juana was still in england at the end of episode 6 and h7 died about 10 minutes into episode 7? it’s so tragic.

okay, moving on!

THE CREATIVE DIRECTION

look. i get that it’s a show and of course there’s going to be historical license but... GOD this show went above and beyond.

there’s so much i want to say here, but the most important one that i have an issue with is the shit that they did with lina’s character. erasing the fact that she was a slave owned by ferdinand and isabella and then later given to KOA was absolutely terrible. and then not only did they do that AND make her KOA’s most loyal lady-in-waiting, but they erased the fact that she was forced to convert to christianity, forced to stop using her birth name and instead having to use the name of her new owner in the name of #StrongFemaleFriendships. disgusting!

EF: lina is KOA’s most faithful servant and they have a strong female friendship!! hashtag woke!! hashtag feminism!! my black ass:

honestly it gets even worse because KOA and lina’s “central female friendship” was barely even there. lina had more scenes with rosa, one of KOA’s other ladies-in-waiting, than she did with KOA. not to mention that KOA was manipulative to lina and kept saying stuff like “you owe me service” or stuff along those lines? it was so shitty. lina sweetie im so sorry that this ugly ass bitch would even try you

the next big thing that i had a problem with was the fact that they aged up harry, when in reality he was about 11 years old when KOA first came to england. like, i can’t really go that much into it because even thinking about the fact that they aged him up to make him Arthur’s Hotter, All-Around-Better Brother™ when he was fucking 11 makes me kinda sick but. ughh it was terrible.

not to mention the fact that they villainized margaret beaufort because of course they did. apparently you cant be a middle aged woman without being villainized?? especially not in an emma frost show. but the way that they villainized her was so ugly. and the fact that they attributed shit like edmund dudley’s execution to her when it happened an entire year after she died? Hello????

the way that she just took over and declared herself regent when h7 was in mourning for elizabeth of york and kicked KOA out of the palace + the way she tried to threaten margaret pole & lina into revealing that KOA wasn’t a virgin.. shgkhhgsfhgkshjbjsjb that shit was so fucking messy its like they tried to make her a fusion of mother gothel from tangled and ursula from the little mermaid

the way that they made EoY dislike KOA was so weird? and the way that both her and margaret beaufort assaulted her by kissing and groping her respectively was weird and definitely uncalled for.

this is a minor one in the gist of some of the other things but why did they make EoY’s last daughter a stillborn child? someone correct me if i’m wrong, but didn’t she live for about a week before she died? but then again, i remember that she named their daughter after KOA, so they probably did that to avoid the fact because they made EoY hate her. messy

arthur’s wig counts as a creative decision right? well whoever gave him that wig needs to be fired. PERIOD

arthur’s wig:

me:

whoever did meg tudor’s costumes also needs to be fired tbfh they were so bad. what did she ever do to yall

THE WRITING

i guess that writing can go into the creative direction category as well, but there were so many problems with the writing that it deserves its own category

KOA was so terrible in this. between her manipulating harry and lina, and the fact that she kept defending the fact that isabella abused juana because “our mother was a queen, a warrior” was ugly! “tO bE qUeEn oF eNgLaNd iS mY dEsTiNy” girl if you don’t shut ya mouth catching these hands is gonna be your destiny

they also made KOA put all of her faith in the fact that she was related to queens? like, every time juana said she couldn’t do something because her husband + ferdinand are assholes, or every time isabella was brought up she kept being like “but you’re/she’s a queen!” it was irritating

all of the predictions about the great matter/KOA not being able to give harry a son were weird. i would have been fine if it had only been like.. one time, because sometimes foreshadowing can be good, but it was brought up every 5 seconds and at the most random times. like when EoY was literally dying in childbirth?? Hello????? god are you there??

AND THE FACT THAT EOY STRAIGHT UP WENT TO HELL AND SAW HER BROTHER GETTING EXECUTED THEN CAME BACK. HELLO??

then when margaret beaufort was about to die and she saw ghosts? and jasper tudor showed up to take her to hell i guess? honestly i didnt know what the fuck was going on but that shit was so fucking messy and wild. i have to laugh

also: i mentioned this earlier but all of those scenes where harry was ranting and raging.. EF really saw the name “henry viii” and floored it with that huh

they also dumbed harry down imho.. Wack!

juana seducing harry was a hot ass mess in its own right, but honestly? juana and harry had more chemistry in that one minute scene than KOA and harry had in the entire show

we were not even 10 minutes into the pilot and they were already trying to portray isabella as a #WokeFeministQueen. how, you might ask? why, by showing her leading a group of men to kill black muslims for their faith, of course! didn’t you know that being racist and islamophobic is hip and feminist when you’re a queen?

like i get that its from KOA’s point of view but in the opening monologue of the pilot they mentioned that isabella overthrew the moors like it was a #Feminist thing to do and not a part of her orchestrating massacres and contributing to genocide? @ EF: on GOD??

tbh? shocked that KKKristopher KKKolonizer wasn’t mentioned in a positive light based on how much they tried to glorify isabella. like what catholic monarchs stan was allowed to work on this show with EF and P. Gregory?? hello????

i’m totally fine with the whole plot point about katherine lying about her virginity, since we’ll probably never know the truth about whether or not she and arthur consummated their marriage, but it was poorly executed in both the writing and in CH’s acting. i could tell that she was lying and so did.. almost everyone, really.

the scene where they were about to.. i guess lynch lina’s love interest for “stealing” made me really uncomfortable. i dont even know how to explain it

h7′s death scene.... this is all i have to say about it

margaret beaufort ordering the execution of edmund dudley was shitty for a lot of reasons but honestly him screaming “fuck you all to hell” was hilarious

the ending scene of episode 7 where they were in the chapel and henry asked KOA if she was still a virgin was bad writing and CH’s acting made it even worse. cant even lie convincingly smh

margaret pole’s plotline was so confusing.. i barely knew wtf was going on with her the entire show? it all felt so rushed and forced. it was weird

EoY and h7 had some cute scenes together though. and that was like.. one of the shows only real redeeming qualities

that’s about it for this post about TSP! my overall rating for it is a 0.5/10. it was super shitty, but i liked arthur, juana and meg tudor so it gets a 0.5 instead of a plain 0. and apparently theres one episode left too.. DREADING it. anyways: emma frost absolutely failed in her goal to be like “its not all about anne boleyn!” because if anything this show made me think about how claire foy and natalie dormer were both robbed of awards so.. if reading this post gave you hives? go watch wolf hall or the tudors for their great performances!

thanks for reading! :)

#tcm tudor alliance show spoilers #ch does the scarjo face for 7 hours straight spoilers #tv: the spanish princess #is it worth the hatewatch? honestly yeah but at what cost

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