#even after s4 has aired it will always be henry
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five times everyone questions jaskier's sanity, and the time jaskier realizes he was (sort of) right all along. [inspired by yesterday's events... you know the one]
also on ao3
Geralt looks… different. Very different. Like his entire fucking face has changed different.
He looked just like himself at supper last night, but now it’s morning, and suddenly, he looks nothing like himself. It doesn’t even make any sense. Jaskier briefly considers that maybe he had a bit too much ale the night before, but he’s drunk more than he did last night and this has never been the result.
Geralt definitely looks different. Very different. Like a whole new face different. He looks a bit taller, too, which is completely unfair.
Jaskier eyes him suspiciously, and he’s probably completely losing it, but even the man’s Adam’s apple looks different when he swallows. Gods.
He doesn’t realize he’s reached out until the tip of his index finger makes contact with Geralt’s cheek. The witcher freezes, spoon stopping midway to his mouth before he slowly turns his head.
Jaskier pokes his cheek again, and then his jaw, and then his nose.
“What happened to your face?” He asks, sliding in closer to inspect. He pokes one of Geralt’s cheekbones, twice. Three times, for good measure.
“Do that again,” Geralt growls in a way that tells the bard he most definitely should not do that again.
Jaskier drops his hand.
—
“Has anyone else noticed that something's wrong with Geralt's face?”
Ciri lifts her head from the book she’s been scribbling in as Yennefer eyes him skeptically through the mirror she’s facing.
“What are you on about now, Jaskier?”
“Geralt. His face. It’s different,” he says, stepping further into the room. “And so is his physique.”
Yennefer arches a perfectly done brow at him.
“Not that I’ve been paying, or have ever paid any attention to his physique or anything,” he amends quickly, “because I don’t…”
Ciri’s snicker covers up a muttered, “right,” which Jaskier pretends to not notice.
Yennefer sighs as she turns to face him, “Geralt is fine. He looks the same as he did yesterday, and the day before, and last week, and the week before. He looks the same as he’s looked for decades. It comes with being a witcher.”
“But—”
“Geralt is fine,” she says with a level of finality that lets Jaskier know he is not winning this argument, “and you’re an imbecile.”
—
Jaskier’s not going crazy, okay? No matter what anyone says (fuck you very much, Lambert!) he is not going crazy.
The man still walks like Geralt, and talks like Geralt, and acts like Geralt, and knows things that only Geralt would know (like the fact that Jaskier has also needed chamomile rubbed on his bum… more than once), so it must be Geralt, except for the fact that looks nothing like Geralt.
“Do you really not see a difference?”
Ciri groans from beside him, clearly irritated at her reading being disturbed. Oh well, she’ll have plenty of other chances to read during their little hiatus. “No, Jaskier, I do not see a difference.”
The bard sighs as he watches Geralt, or whoever the fuck that is, from across the library. It’s all he’s been able to do for the last three days, which, well… isn’t new since watching Geralt has become one of his favorite past times over the last decade or so, but that’s how Jaskier knows he isn’t going crazy. Something is different.
Jaskier has spent hours on hours taking in the man’s defined jaw, and his expressive brows, and his pouty lips. He’s spent so much time trying to depict the specific shade of yellow in Geralt’s eyes, and the curl pattern of his hair, and how long it takes his stubble to grow back after it’s been shaved. He’s spent far too long picking up on every little detail to be told that nothing about the man has changed, because so much has changed.
“How could you not see the difference? Everything about him is different! I mean look at the shape of his face!” Jaskier exclaims, waving his hand wildly in Geralt’s general direction. “And look at his nose! Gods, look at that nose!”
Ciri blinks at him once. Then, again. She doesn’t blink for three beats and then, she blinks again.
“Look!”
She does look this time, and she even squints. Jaskier waits, watching her, mentally begging for that realization to dawn over her.
Her lips do a thing where they press together and push upward, almost like a frown. “I think you’re right,” she tells him.
Jaskier’s eyes widen, posture straightening in alert.
“His skin looks much more vibrant, I think that new soap Yen got him is working.”
His eyes narrow into slits, and Ciri turns to him with a cheeky grin.
“Very nice, Ciri,” he drawls, “very nice.”
Jaskier huffs as he slumps back in his seat, turning his attention back to Geralt.
She’s right, though, his skin does look more vibrant.
—
“Triss, you’ve got to believe me,” Jaskier whines.
“I’ll believe it when I see it, Jaskier,” she says, “but I just saw Geralt, and he looked fine, same as he’s looked the last ten times I’ve seen him since I got here.” She continues her journey down the hall, and Jaskier is truly surprised by how fast the woman walks.
“But he isn’t! He isn’t himself, Triss, I swear, and I’m the only one who realizes!”
Triss comes to such an abrupt stop that Jaskier almost crashes into her. When she turns around, her head rolls, along with her eyes. She looks as exasperated as Jaskier feels.
“Suppose Geralt’s face somehow did change, how would that have happened, Jaskier? Explain that to me.”
“Well, I don’t know how exactly, but it must have been the work of a mage. Or maybe one of his potions!”
Triss levels him with a flat look. “A potion? Really? Right, because witchers are running around making potions that can help them shapeshift.”
And when it’s put like that, Jaskier realizes how insane he sounds. “That doesn’t rule out the possibility of a mage!”
“You guys have been in Kaer Morhen for weeks now. Just you, Ciri, Yen, a bunch of witchers, and now, me. And last I checked, Yennefer warded this place so well Melitele herself could strike this area right now and everyone here would remain untouched.” She’s talking with her hands, something she does when she’s at her wit's end, something she does when she’s refraining from turning the person she’s talking to into a toad. “That, alongside the protections that were already set up, means that the possibility that any mage could waltz in here uninvited, or even come close enough to this place, to cast some face-changing curse on Geralt is absolutely zero.”
“Yes, but—”
“You need rest, Jaskier. You’re starting to sound diabolical.”
With that, she turns on her heels and leaves him in the hallway.
—
“So… you and Geralt have known each other for quite some time now, huh?”
Vesemir looks unimpressed.
It’s an expression he’s becoming quite familiar with.
Jaskier flashes his most charming smile, “have you by any chance noticed any changes in his appearance?”
Dead silence. Great.
“Anything at all?” He presses on hopefully.
The witcher’s expression goes from unimpressed to murderous.
Jaskier has never bolted from a room so fast in his entire life.
—
Jaskier knows this isn’t really the smartest plan he’s ever had, it’s probably in the top five of the dumbest, actually.
He doesn’t know what he has to gain from watching Geralt sleep, but it’s better than just sitting back and waiting for answers to come to him. And alright, he’ll be the first to admit that it’s kind of (really!) fucking creepy, but Jaskier has to get to the bottom of this. So, watching Geralt sleep has to hold some kind of answer.
Many years of sleeping alongside the witcher have taught him how to maneuver without waking the man up, he’s grateful for that now in a way that he’s never been before.
Despite what many may believe, Geralt’s quite the peaceful sleeper. He barely moves, he breathes softly, his face remains soft and pliant— he sleeps like… well, an angel. Even with this brand-new face, all of these little things still exist.
There’s always a certain level of alertness, though, something Jaskier realized early on, but that seems to be nearly nonexistent tonight. It must be Kaer Morhen. Geralt’s at peace here. It’s probably one of the few places, if not the only place, where he truly feels safe. The thought makes Jaskier’s heart melt.
For the second time this week, he finds himself reaching out almost involuntarily. The back of his fingers run along the side of Geralt’s face, and the witcher releases a hardly audible sigh. Jaskier smiles, allowing his fingers to wander a bit, lightly tracing the lines of Geralt’s face, both sharp and smooth.
Geralt’s nose twitches, and Jaskier taps a finger to it. Definitely number one on the list of the dumbest things he’s ever done.
The witcher startles awake, sitting up so fast he nearly headbutts Jaskier. He probably would’ve had the man not fallen off the bed, and flat onto his ass onto the cold, hard ground.
“Ow,” Jaskier groans.
“Jaskier?” And oh, fuck, that sleep-worn voice always did things to him, and right now is not the best time for any of those things to be happening.
Geralt’s eyes zero in on him, and Jaskier offers a weak smile and a wave.
“What the fuck are you doing, Jaskier?”
“Trying to figure out what happened to your face,” he responds, and it comes off as more of a question than an answer
Even in the dark, Jaskier can feel Geralt glaring at him. Then, the witcher lights up the candles beside his bed, and Jaskier can see Geralt glaring at him.
“This again?”
“Yes, this again.” Jaskier hisses defensively, dusting his buttocks off as he rises to his feet. “There is something incredibly wrong with your face, and no one else sees it, but I do.”
“Jaskier—”
“No! I’m being serious right now, Geralt. Your face has changed, alright? It’s completely changed, and I don’t know why I’m the only one who has realized but—”
“Wait—”
“I’m starting to feel kind of crazy over here, and I—”
“I think I know what’s going on. Yen—”
“...don’t understand how everyone else can just—”
“Jaskier, you’re not listening.” Geralt’s standing, now, and he’s all up in Jaskier’s space the same way Jaskier was in his mere minutes ago. And he’s shirtless, which is very, very distracting.
But not distracting enough, Jaskier is on a mission here, Godsdamnit.
“No, you’re not listening. Your fucking face—”
“My face is fine. Yennefer—”
“Your face is not fine, Geralt. I mean, it’s not like you look like a gremlin or anything, but—”
“Yen, she—”
“You’re still beautiful—”
“Yennefer is fucking with you, Jaskier.”
“I don’t think any curse could ever make you less beautiful—” Wait.
“Wait.” That was Geralt’s voice, as if he’d read Jaskier’s mind.
“Yennefer’s fucking with me?!” Jaskier exclaims at the same time Geralt says, almost breathlessly, “you think I’m beautiful?”
“Huh?” The bard answers dumbly, “what? Yes, of course, I think you’re beautiful. Woo-hoo, this isn’t news to anyone. Now, what do you mean Yennefer’s fucking with me?”
Geralt doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t do anything. He just stares. He stares for so long that Jaskier starts thinking that maybe Geralt’s the one fucking with him.
“Hello?” Jaskier snaps a few times. “Continent to Geralt?”
The witcher seems to blink out of it and huffs a laugh.
“Remember last week when you replaced the soap Yennefer uses for her hair with an ink of sorts?”
Yes, Jaskier does remember. Vividly. It’s one of the best pranks he’s pulled on the sorceress since they started their little game. “And it turned her hair red.”
Geralt hums in confirmation, “well, you know Yennefer. She said she’d do something about it. I didn’t know what, but… seems like it was this. She casted a beholder spell on you.”
“A what?”
“It’s a spell that makes whoever it’s put upon see whatever the caster wants them to see. In this case, it was… my face.”
Jaskier gasps. “That witch.” She’s a genius. Evil, but a fucking genius. “Do you know how long until it wears off?”
“How long did it take Yen to get her hair back to black?”
“Five, maybe six days.”
“That’s probably your answer.”
Jaskier groans. Knowing Yennefer, it’s probably double that. “Gods.”
Geralt hums, thoughtfully. And then, “so…”
Jaskier doesn’t know where this is headed, but he doesn’t like it.
“About you thinking I’m beautiful…”
He gulps. Right. “I said that, did I?”
The witcher takes a step forward, and it was a big step, and there wasn’t that much space in between them, to begin with, so that single step has them toe-to-toe. “You did.”
“Well, everyone thinks you’re beautiful,” Jaskier grins, nudging him as he tries to play it off.
Geralt tips his head to the side with a slight furrow in his brows, “not everyone.”
“Everyone who isn’t an idiot, I mean,” says the bard, “or a jealous prick, or a prejudiced waste of space. You’re beautiful, it’s hard to look at you and not see that. Most people see that, it’s not just me, ask anyone in this keep. I may not have had anyone on my side about your face looking different, but they all agree about your face being beautiful trust m—”
“Jaskier.”
“Yes?”
“You’re doing that thing you do when you get nervous.” Geralt smirks when he says it, the prick.
“What thing?”
“The rambling thing.”
“I’m always rambling,” Jaskier tells him, “and I know this because you’re always telling me to shut up.”
“No, you’re always talking,” Geralt corrects, “and when you talk, it’s controlled. Whereas when you ramble, it’s hardly coherent because you’re going a mile a minute. You only do that when you’re nervous.”
Fuck.
Geralt leans in closer, lips stretching even further, “am I making you nervous, Jaskier?”
Fuck.
“I—”
Gods, they’re so close. They’re so close, and they’re only getting closer because Geralt is still leaning in like he’s going to—
“Stop.”
They’re not close anymore. Geralt is suddenly several feet away from him. He no longer looks smug, he looks confused, and… small.
“I know where that was headed,” Jaskier begins, licking at his lips and realizing how dry they’d gotten from Geralt trying (and succeeding!) to seduce him, “and trust me when I say I am on board, like all the way on board.”
Geralt cocks a brow, as if to say, then why aren’t we already naked?
“But, I want my first kiss with you to be with you.” At the witcher looking confused again, he continues, “I know it’s you, but I want you to look like yourself.”
The witcher sighs. “I don’t think I’ve ever been irritated by Yennefer more than I am at this moment.”
“I feel your irritation, believe me,” says Jaskier, “and I promise once this wears off I’m all yours, but in the meantime… we can still sleep together in a completely clothes-on kind of way.”
Geralt smiles.
And that’s how the two end up spending the rest of the night cuddling while plotting how Jaskier’s going to get Yennefer back.
—
The spell wears off a day later, and by the time Jaskier emerges from Geralt’s room the following day, he forgets what he was getting Yennefer back for in the first place.
He ends up baking her a chocolate cake as a thank you, with the words THANK YOU, THE SEX WAS GREAT on it.
The look of mortification when she sees it is priceless. Unintended, but priceless.
As it turns out, the best revenge is a bit of kindness.
#naturally.... a fic is the only answer to this#im still in mourning okay#the ending couldve went many ways but this is what my tired brain came up with at 1 in the morning and i still liked it while editing it so#there you have it#yennefer because of course it was yennefer#and because i refuse to make a liam hemsworth geralt EVER#even after s4 has aired it will always be henry#sorry lili#i wish i knew how to make my humor/fluffy fics artful but i unfortunately only know how to do that with angst#im sorry#the witcher#geralt of rivia#jaskier#my writing#geraskier#yennefer of vengerberg#princess cirilla
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El’s Playlist Part Four: The “Holy Shit” Songs/My Favorites
1: “Shut Up and Let Me Go” by The Ting Tings
Just…heh 😏
There are…a lot of breakup songs on El’s playlist; however, the person that song is directed at (from El’s point of view) can be very up-in-the-air. They could be about Henry, Brenner (mostly), and yes, Mike as well. I covered a lot of them in Part 3–and those were mostly about Brenner, so that makes sense. But, being a Byler catering to the Byler tag…I had to single this one out as one of my favourites because it’s so clearly about Mike that it’s not even funny—not Brenner or Henry or even Hopper. Let’s proceed…
“Shut up and let me go/This hurts, I tell you so/For the last time you will kiss my lips”
So obviously “kiss my lips” can’t be about Hop or Brenner or Henry because…ew. So this gave me my first hint that this is about Mike. And it checks out if we’re going with the “El knows about Byler and wants Mike to just let her go instead of trying to prolong a relationship where he isn’t giving her the love she wants him to give” track. And yeah, it’s going to hurt like hell, especially after that monologue. If this is foreshadowing El breaking up with Mike in S5 and how she will handle it, I’m very proud of how she could be going about this.
“Now shut up and let me go/Your jeans were once so clean/I bet you changed your wardrobe since we met”
Ooooh…get wrecked, fr. “Were once so clean” could be referencing when they met in S1–when Mike was introducing El to the outside world and be openly himself. Throughout the seasons, almost completely once he starts romantically dating her, he “changes his wardrobe” metaphorically—he tries to ditch D&D in an attempt to “grow up,” he lies to her (which, after S1’s ethos “friends don’t lie,” understandably confuses El greatly), and we the audience are cut off from his POV as his character shifts. And this really tells me that this isn’t about a Brenner—El eventually learned that Brenner was a manipulative asshole, but Brenner always was a manipulative asshole. His “jeans” were never “clean,” even long before El came to be (think Brenner experimenting on Henry before El was even born), so he did not change from a good person into who we see.
“Now, oh so easily you're over me/Gone is love/It's you that ought to be holding me/I'm not containable/This time love is not sustainable”
Damn, if this isn’t blatant as hell. “Gone is love?” “This time love is not sustainable?” Do I even need to explain this?
“I ain't freakin'/I ain't fakin' this/Shut up and let me go”
Can I just say how much I admire and am in awe of El’s development over the seasons? She goes from being an experiment in a lab taught to never defy orders to being a young woman able to express her anger and tell the people around her when she’s unhappy. Even when she’s miserable in the beginning of S4, she has the courage to confront Mike about his lack of “I love yous” and how that makes her feel. If (hopefully when) she breaks up with Mike in S5, she will articulate her point clearly and stand firm. Yes, she will be hurt, and she will show that, and there will likely be tears involved, but if these lyrics are any indication at all, she will handle it in a very mature way and speak her mind, trusting her instincts instead of outside influences. God I love her so much 😊
“Shut up and let me go/This hurts, well, I can't show/For the last time you had me in bits”
Like I said before, this indicates that El will stand firm on whatever decision she makes in regards to breaking up with Mike. “The last time” line could be referencing the monologue, maybe, but imo this is referencing their initial fight in S4 that resulted in the pseudo-breakup (“from El”). She was in tears, in “bits.” She was angry and hurt (understandably so) and the fight was pretty explosive. And the S3 breakup was also very dramatic (although it was played for laughs). But the “last time” line could imply that El will be quiet but firm in the S5 when the breakup comes. Damn, I’m gonna be so emotional wrecked in two years…I can’t wait 😛
“Now shut up and let me go/For fear of living in regret/I've changed since from when we first met”
THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN SAYING. THIS IS WHAT WE’VE BEEN SAYING! This is the entire warning story (established by Karen Wheeler) against living in regret because you felt forced into a societally acceptable life instead of the one you really wanted. Imo, El doesn’t want to draw anything out past it’s time—especially not now that Max is in a coma and so many things have gone to shit. And YES—she HAS changed in the years since she met Mike, and so has he. This is the definition of “growing out of the romance.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t be friends or that they don’t care about or love each other, but they have grown out of this romance.
“It's me that ought to be moving on/You're not adorable/I want something un-ignorable”
At this point I’m not even going to explain. I mean, look at this! “You’re not adorable;” thinking of when Mike is singing and El cuts him off but when Max is singing El enjoys it…hmm.
2: “Holding Out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler
So, when I initially looked at these lyrics, I was kind of confused. Not because the lyrics are anything super cryptic, but…a lot of you know this song, right? And you know it’s about wanting a man to be your hero, right?
“I need a hero/I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light/He's gotta be sure, and it's gotta be soon/And he's gotta be larger than life/Larger than life”
And we know that this…could not be less El. She doesn’t need a defender! Yes, she needs her family and friends and her love for them, but she doesn’t need a man. Her whole S3 “there’s more to life than stupid boys” (and literally the rest of the show) has proven to us that although she values and needs the emotional support of her family, she doesn’t need a man or romance to prop her up.
Great, now that we’ve acknowledged that…why in the hell is this song on her playlist?
I have a theory—the basis for which is two lines in two songs.
Song 1 (“Holding Out For a Hero”):
“Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed/Late at night, I toss and I turn/And I dream of what I need”
Song 2 (“White Rabbit”—next song):
“When logic and proportion/Have fallen sloppy dead/And the White Knight is talking backwards/And the Red Queen's off with her head”
BONKERS, people. BANANAS. WHAT exactly does this imply? “White knight” is way to specific a phrase for this to have been a coincidence.
My theory: The fact that they put in a song that seemed so opposite to El’s experiences which included lyrics about a romantic, idealized “white knight” only to follow it up with a song about how said “white knight” is talking backwards and using Alice in Wonderland as a metaphor for how nothing is as it seems??? REALLY suspicious. This leads me to believe that the romantic meaning of “Holding Out For a Hero” is supposed to be inverted. And honestly, it’s not too much of a stretch. I mean, look at the lyrics for “Holding Out For A Hero:”
“Racing on the thunder/And rising with the heat/It's gonna take a Superman to sweep me off my feet, yeah”
“I need a hero/I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night/He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast/And he's gotta be fresh from the fight”
Yeah…I think that particular message of the song is supposed to be inverted.
But…there’s something else in this song and in these lyrics—something a bit more ominous. And it gives the “White Knight” thing another meaning: Vecna.
“Up where the mountains meet the heavens above/Out where the lightning splits the sea/I could swear there is someone, somewhere watching me/Through the wind and the chill and the rain/And the storm and the flood”
“I can feel his approach like a fire in my blood”
And the plot thickens.
So, overall, this song being on El’s playlist is…quite interesting. It could have a lot of different meanings—reverting the traditional message of the song while emphasizing the more ominous verses to hint at Vecna’s appearance in S4. All while interweaving lyrical messages with another song that would otherwise be unrelated…man, so cool.
3: “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane
Right, so I’ve already covered the whole “white knight” thing, and that was the main thing that made this song interesting to me, but there’s still other stuff in here that could pertain to El’s life and possibly be foreshadowing…
“One pill makes you larger/And one pill makes you small/And the ones that mother gives you/Don't do anything at all/Go ask Alice/When she's ten feet tall”
A reference to mothers here definitely makes sense if these playlists were supposed to be marketing specifically released before S2. The “ten feet tall line” could be a metaphor for social outcast, which El could definitely resonate with especially in S4. I wonder if the “don’t do anything at all line” could suggest that El was hoping to find a sense of normalcy when she found her mom only to have this not come to be when her mother’s past was revealed (please take this with a grain of salt; I haven’t seen S2 in a couple of months).
“And if you go chasing rabbits/And you know you're going to fall/Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar/Has given you the call/Call Alice/When she was just small”
Again, I know this playlist was for S2 and the last verse suggests that this song specifically was foreshadowing S2 (although there are other songs here that foreshadow S3-4), but…I think this verse could kind of fit with El’s S4 arc. The “chasing rabbits/going to fall” lines could be a metaphor for how El was trying to chase a “superhero vs monster” identity in S4, only to discover that this method of identification was too extreme and does not fit the human experience, especially hers. Even the “hookah-smoking caterpillar” could be referencing Argyle. And a line about Alice being “small” could be a metaphor for how El feels at the beginning of S4.
“When the men on the chessboard/Get up and tell you where to go/And you've just had some kind of mushroom/And your mind is moving low/Go ask Alice/I think she'll know”
This verse was a bit trickier. “Men on the chessboard/tell you where to go” could apply to all seasons, save the ending of S4, especially with the reference to mushrooms (hallucinogenics, probably representative of when El was drugged when she tried to escape from the lab in S4), so I’m thinking this verse could be about the beginning of S4.
“When logic and proportion/Have fallen sloppy dead/And the White Knight is talking backwards/And the Red Queen's off with her head/Remember what the dormouse said/Feed your head/Feed your head”
And this…this…just…whoa.
Lot going on here.
The main ethos of this verse, I think, is “things are not what they seem.” You see that a bit in the seasons that have already been released, but I think we’ll really start to get into it when S5 comes out…things will really start to go off the rails (in a good way, hopefully, not in a this-show-is-a-trainwreck way). Especially since we have the apocalypse now and especially since we have an established villain that fucks with people’s heads. But anyway, that’s my take for the first two lines. Then we have “White Knight” and “Red Queen…” As I said in my analysis of the last song, I think “White Knight” is referencing Mike. Along with the whole “inverting the meaning” thing I covered in the last song, Mike is a Paladin—we can make some leaps there, and other people have pointed this out. Not only does “talking backwards” imply that Mike was lying in that monologue and that he’s been hiding something (or a lot of things), the association with the next like (“Red Queen”) foreshadowing him being targeted to Vecna (who is very clearly associated with the color red). Fortunately, the “off with her head” part implies that Vecna will be defeated one way or another, so at least we have that going for us. And “feed your head?” Interesting…definitely a Vecna reference.
4: “Barracuda” by Heart
By “Heart,” huh?
This song seems to be another song about Brenner, but I just thought it was pretty interesting how Henry is included in the metaphor as well.
“So this ain't the end, I saw you again, today/I had to turn my heart away/Smiled like the sun, kisses for everyone/And tales, it never fails”
This seems to be referencing the reveal that Brenner isn’t dead, meaning El has to face him again. She is more emotionally prepared and mature than she was at twelve, but it still hurts like hell. Come to think of it, this could probably also be referencing El seeing Henry again after thinking she had permanently blasted him out of her life after he betrayed her. Both Henry and Brenner are smooth talkers, using emotional manipulation to trick El into believing their lies (smiling, kisses and fairy tales, as the lyrics say). But this time, El turns away from them.
“You lying so low in the weeds/I bet you gonna ambush me/You'd have me down, down, down, down on my knees/Now wouldn't you, barracuda? Oh”
Pretty much the same as the last verse: Brenner is an emotional predator, ambushing El, hitting her where it hurts. Henry, biding his time in the lab, uses El to get the Soteria chip out of his neck.
“Back over time we were all trying for free/You met the porpoise and me, uh-huh/No right, no wrong you're selling a song, a name/Whisper game”
And this…I think it’s El, to Brenner, about her and Henry. I think the “porpoise” is Henry, and I thinks this and the last verses align pretty closely with what El feels for Henry and Brenner in the fourth season. El is angry with Henry for manipulating her and knows that he means her and her friends genuine harm, but even angrier at Brenner for manipulating them both. She does not think that Henry is a monster—she knows Brenner is. (And I gotta say, I loved how the topic of personal identity and “superhero vs monster” was given a nuanced angle when it comes to El’s arc.)
“And if the real thing don't do the trick/You better make up something quick/You gonna burn, burn, burn, burn, burn to the wick/Ooh, barracuda, oh yeah”
Oh, yeah. Brenner making up lies, eventually burning down to the wick and coming to a dead end…and that’s where El corners him and gets her closure. Queen
“"Sell me, sell you" the porpoise said/Dive down deep now to save my head, you/I think that you got the blues too”
This…is a little tricky. This is an acknowledgment that both El and Henry were the victims of Brenner’s abuse. “Save my head” is quite an interesting line, considering the fact that the way Henry tortures his victims is by reaching into their head and pulling at their worst traumas. And so that “save my head” line…is it for El? Or is it for Henry? And if it’s for Henry, what does that imply?
“All that night and all the next/Swam without looking back/Made for the western pools, silly, silly fools”
I’m not quite sure about this one, though I know there’s a string to pull on. But “western pools” is definitely a reference to California.
5: “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship, No Protection
This song is most definitely about Mike and El, and…not gonna lie, it was a bit of a downer for my Byler-biased self. Check these lyrics:
“Lookin' in your eyes/I see a paradise/This world that I've found is too good to be true/Standin' here beside you/Want so much to give you/This love in my heart that I'm feeling for you”
“Let 'em say we're crazy/I don't care about that/Put your hand in my hand/Baby, don't ever look back/Let the world around us/Just fall apart/Baby, we can make it/If we're heart to heart”
“And we can build this dream together/Standing strong forever/Nothing's gonna stop us now/And if this world runs out of lovers/We'll still have each other/Nothing's gonna stop us/Nothing's gonna stop us now”
“I'm so glad I found you/I'm not gonna lose you/Whatever it takes/I will stay here with you/Take you to the good times/See you through the bad times/Whatever it takes/Is what I'm gonna do”
“Ooh, all that I need is you/All that I ever need/All that I want to do/Is hold you forever/Forever and ever...”
Yeah, so that’s pretty clearly positively romance-coded. And it’s understandable, given where Mike and El were (both in the show and with the fandom) before S2 came out and during. They were very cute and popular during this era—no use denying it.
That being said…there were some lyrics that caught my eye due to narrative discrepancy.
“Let ‘em say we’re crazy”
I get that this is an objectively romantic line that is used for lots of couples, so it’s understandable that it’s used here, especially with the whole “only love makes you that crazy” line from S2. And “crazy” in regards to love is brought up. But…not with Mike and El. Instead, we get “crazy together,” and Jonathon and Nancy’s implied “crazy love.” And in S3, we are specifically given a bit where Mike tries out the “blank makes you crazy” with El and she doesn’t understand. So…I don’t know. This likely wasn’t intentional. But…it’s definitely a noticeable line.
“Let the world around us/Just fall apart/Baby, we can make it/If we're heart to heart”
First of all…bro, the world did fall apart around you. Unintentional foreshadowing much? Could this be foreshadowing what happened at the end of S4? Because if that’s the case, this line is not romantic.
Also…whoa. “Heart to heart?” That’s definitely a phrase that has been prominent for the past two seasons. But, as I’m sure other people have pointed out…does it really make sense when it comes to Mike and El? Have they ever had a clear, honest heart to heart? A talk where both of them are on the same page, understanding each other and coming out feeling closer? When has that happened? The closest I could get was Mike apologizing to El in the grocery store isle in S3–but wait, El not understanding the “blank” in “blank makes you crazy” leads me to believe that they really weren’t on the same page. Maybe when El says “you were talking about your feelings/heart” before she kisses him at the end of S3–hold up, he still had his eyes open during that kiss and looked confused as hell afterwards. So not even that. Maybe the “mouthbreathers” part in S1? People, I’m genuinely trying find stuff. But Lumax, Jopper, Byler, and Jancy have all given us solid heart to hearts, so when I see “heart to heart,” it’s those couples I will think of.
“And we can build this dream together”
The word “dream” being mentioned is certainly noticeable. Not only is there a “dream” motif in El’s playlist (which I am interpreting to be tied to Henry’s curse, El learning to not identify her life though dreams and fairy tales, and the message of “nothing is as it seems”)…but “dream” used in a romantic context can have a bunch of layers. Yes, our most common association is “it’s a dream to be with you,” meaning “being with you is a dream come true.” But…it’s also used in breakups (hopefully mature, amicable ones? *crossed fingers*).
“Ooh, all that I need is you/All that I ever need”
And this…this is blatantly untrue. As we’ve established, El has not needed Mike for a while now—at least since S2, not the way this song is implying. And with S4 focusing so much on “want vs need” and “I love you because I need you vs I need you because I love you,” these lines become that much more noticeable. It’s like “Holding Out For A Hero” in that sense—as MBB says, El is beginning to realize that she is her own hero, not anyone else’s. Whether this take is a stretch or not, you can’t deny that “need” has been a word that has been brought up an inordinate amount in S4–enough for it to become what appears to be an intentional motif. Maybe this song and “Holding Out For A Hero” were meant to be narratively accurate when these playlists were released, but El’s S4 arc is such that these songs are no longer applicable to her character if their being included on this playlist was unironic. If these songs were put on this playlist with the intention of being inverted…well, that’s a different story.
6: “Team” by Lorde
I think for this song, the title is pretty self-explanatory—there’s a lot of stuff here about the party! But there’s also some other interesting stuff…
“Now bring my boys in/Their skin in craters like the moon/The moon we love like a brother, while he glows through the room”
Aww—this is probably referencing the OG party from El’s POV! Cute and wholesome! “Craters like the moon” could be a metaphor for how the OG party has things that set them apart from “conventional society” but that make them beautiful like craters make the moon beautiful. She loves them all like brothers—sweet!
“Dancin' around the lies we tell/Dancin' around big eyes as well/Even the comatose they don't dance and tell”
Whoa okay; big 180 from the last verse. Lies definitely references the whole love triangle thing El’s been involved in. Lies are a HUGE thing—Mike lying to El, El lying to Mike, Will lying to Mike, all of them withholding crucial information…le drama. Big eyes probably reference Vecna. Eyes are a big motif in S4 especially, what with Vecna sucking people’s eyes into their heads, and also Mike covering his eyes in some way each time he and El have a happy moment—which ties back into the love triangle lies line. A mention of a comatose? Damn, they really were foreshadowing S4. And those lies still (depending on how much you want to link Max’s coma to Mike’s monologue) tie in with this line.
“We live in cities you'll never see on screen/Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things/Living in ruins of a palace within my dreams/And you know, we're on each other's team”
And we’re back to the happy! Well, kind of. “Cities” could feasibly be a metaphor for Hawkins. But “palace within my dreams?” Oh boy. First of all, another addition to the “dream” motif—what up! Palace…could this be Castle Byers? In which case this would foreshadow the Wonder Twins? Or could “palace” be a metaphor for a romanticized idea of something, an idea that El has deconstructed to become a more authentic version of herself? If that’s the case, this could be referencing the “superhero vs monster” dilemma from S4. But the last line is definitely about the entire party, if not Will specifically.
“I'm kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air, so there/So all the cups got broke shards beneath our feet but it wasn't my fault/And everyone's competing for a love they won't receive/'Cause what this palace wants is release”
Okay, I love this. The “over getting told to throw my hands up” line—so true! It’s telling us that El is tired of having her powers dictated by other people as a tool or a weapon—and this tracks! The “broke shards” line could be her realizing that the loss at the end of S4 really wasn’t her fault, and that Brenner wasn’t right about the things he said about her. Oh damn…“a love they won’t receive?” Jeez, be more obvious, would ya? El trying so hard to be “good enough” for Mike’s love at the beginning of S4, but over the course of the season realizing she doesn’t need it—or want it. Realizing that he won’t be able to give her the kind of love she wants as a romantic partner. And the “palace” line tying back into the previous verse, which was about the palace being a metaphor for a romanticized idea of something needing to be deconstructed for the person to move on. “The palace wants release…” El wants clairity and reality now more than she wants a “perfect romance…” Damn, this song is really something else.
“I'm kinda older than I was when I revelled without a care/So there”
WHAT A QUEEN. This is so perfect! El IS older and she HAS changed. She’s not the lost girl in the woods that Mike found, nor the curly-haired kid that Hopper cared for. She is becoming her own person. She loves them, but she no longer needs them to take care of her as she once did. She wants them in her life—she just needs them to understand that she is growing and changing. Hopper has acknowledged that and is accepting that. Mike…well. I hope he gets there, I really do.
7: “Kept Me Crying” by HAIM
I know that, with a lot of these “breakup songs,” it is usually kind of hard to tell whether they’re about Henry, Brenner, or Mike. So I try to make my best guess based on the lyrics—but of course you could interpret them in a different way!
However, this song…
This.
This song is so about Mike it’s not even funny. Or rather, it’s super fucking funny how obviously this is about Mike.
“When you sleep, are you dreaming of me?/Who's to say, but I'm always awake/If you want me, I'm waiting for you/If you call me, I'll pick up/Know I shouldn't, but I can't give up as usual”
These lyrics aren’t as obviously about Mike…but we’re just getting warmed up here. Either way, this reflects pretty well El at the beginning of S4.
“Kept me crying for so long, my tears have dried/When I hear your voice, those tears they come back to mind/So don't call me just to tell me/You don't love me anymore/Still it wrecks me 'cause”
NO WHAT?? “You don’t love me anymore??” That’s literally what she said! It’s not just that—it’s the other lyrics that hint that she’s through with Mike’a bullshit! She knows he isn’t loving her the way she wants to be loved! She’s over it! And she’s getting over him! Her “tears have dried!” Queen!
“I've got to cover, I can't pretend/That I'm anything more to you now/Than someone just hard to forget/And after all these tears/After all my years of trying/I don't wanna hear/That nothing meant anything”
Whoaaaa. S5’s gonna be intense. Is this her calling him out for not only lying in the love monologue, but never loving her romantically at all? Damn, El. Give it to him straight (no pun intended).
“I was your lover/I was your friend/I was your lover/I was your friend”
Awww….is this foreshadowing El and Mike becoming good friends in S5 rather than forced romantic partners? If so, cute and wholesome! Also, Mike confusing platonic love for romantic love?
This song is just…wild. So wild that the Duffers put this song on her playlist. Insane for this.
8: “Monster Lead Me Home” by Sara Hartman
I know how a lot of us (me included sometimes) are fairly certain that these playlists were mostly just for funsies and any foreshadowing is mostly about S2–maybe S3. But this song, to me at least, is very clearly foreshadowing S4. It just fits too well.
“Spin around, round, round me/Collide without a sound/Caught up in your gravity/I don't know how/Run away, way, way from me/The spirit only I can see/I need you now 'cause I don't know how”
I personally think this song is about Brenner. But this verse reminds me a lot of what happened with Angela in Rink ‘O Mania. Maybe “monster” is a general descriptor of the people tormenting El (which would focus mainly on Brenner but have little bits of Henry and Angela)? This verse was a bit more open-ended; the next verses more clearly describe Brenner, in my opinion.
“Monster take me somewhere/Where I can save my breath in the air/We walk in shadow/Monster lead me home/Where there is no place to hide/Stranger on the other side/We walk in shadow”
Ooooh…interesting. I think the “take me somewhere” line is referencing the Nina Project—and is that a mention of breath and breathing I see? Most likely foreshadowing El getting strangled by Henry’s vines…I think the rest of this verse foreshadows El getting taken to the Nina Project, back to Brenner, back to a place where she could not hide from her memories anymore, back to a setting that reminds her of Hawkins Lab, where she was forced search for Henry in the “vale of shadows.”
“Now you surround, round, round me/Didn't think I could be found/Before we tear through the streets/Don't test the ground”
El not expecting Brenner to come back, only to be led straight to him, alive and well. El learning that she deserves better than him, that he manipulated her, that he was the monster, and letting her powers loose, ultimately leaving him to die.
“A long way, way, way from comfort/Keep our back to the cold/I need you now 'cause I don't know how/I don't know what, what”
El far from home needing help with her powers, yes, but mostly needing closure before settling into her identity. Brenner was a father figure, but he caused her more harm than good. Maybe she once needed him in a way, but she no longer does.
9: “Hero” by Lissie
Damn damn DAMN.
This song was fun.
“Who knows what you'll find when you look inside?/Haunted beach, roll the dice/The zombies in the corner aren't amused”
I’m thinking this could loosely be applied to S3, when El went into Billy’s mindscape. After all, “zombies” (the flayed) and “haunted beaches” are mentioned, so my mind went there. A little precursor to El’s S4 journey; her internal struggle with “hero vs monster.”
“Play the part of the blushing bride/Tame the horse and take it for a ride/This thread of consolation comes loose”
“Play the part?” Damn, okay, Milkdud bones. But other than that, I think this is referencing the beginning of S4, where El is trying so hard to fulfill the role she thinks will make her happy (pretending to Mike that everything is great in Lenora), but as the lyrics say, the “thread of consolidation comes loose”—the whole act starts to unravel.
“I could've been a hero, I could've been a zero/Could've been all these things/I could've been nothing, I could've been bluffing/Could've been all these things/And if I am unable, tell him that I'll try/But underneath the table/I will spin the wheel and hope for gold”
Again, showcasing El’s internal struggle with the whole “superhero vs monster” dilemma.
“I've seen the road and I've seen it hide/Out of view, cloaked by night/I want my forty acres in the sun”
Up to this point, El’s road has been hard and painful. She doesn’t want to have to be the superhero anymore (apart from being “her own superhero,” as MBB says). She just wants to rest, to have her “fourth acres in the sun.” Kind of reminds me of that line from Team: “I’m kind of over getting told to put my hands up in the air/so there.”
“Bitter winds come in from the north/My spirit dims, but I feel the force/"No longer in my hands, " I say to you”
This one’s a bit trickier. I can’t figure out for sure what this may mean, but I’m getting the feeling that the “bitter winds” are the events of S5 still to come, the preparation for the biggest battle yet. Also, “feel the force?” Just solidifying the El=Luke parallel.
10: “The Story” Brandi Carlile
I can definitely see this song being foreshadowing for a sort of bittersweet end of S5.
“All of these lines across my face/Tell you the story of who I am/So many stories of where I've been/And how I got to where I am/But these stories don't mean anything/When you've got no one to tell them to/It's true, I was made for you”
Awww, this is so sweet. It’s giving the sense that El’s journey is coming to a close, and she’s really settling into who she is as a person. I love her so much! I think the “made for you” part is a blanket statement about the people she loves, maybe specifically Max. Even if Mike and El do stay together next season (which I highly highly doubt), El’s journey thus far has been so much more than romance, especially with what we’ve been shown in S4. In my opinion, this song is about the people she loves—all of them.
“I climbed across the mountain tops/Swam all across the ocean blue/I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules/But baby, I broke them all for you/Oh, because even when I was flat broke/You made me feel like a million bucks/You do, and I was made for you”
What I said for the last verse applies to this one to, I think. And “made me feel like a million bucks” could definitely apply to Max! When El is feeling lost and insecure in S3, she goes to Max and Max helps cheer her up and makes her feel better. And “I broke all the rules/but baby, I broke them all for you?” “We make our own rules?” Definitely Max. So SWEET!
“You see the smile that's on my mouth/It's hiding the words that don't come out/And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed/They don't know my head is a mess/No, they don't know who I really am/And they don't know what I've been through like you do/And I was made for you”
The way I see it, Max and Will are the only members of the party to not initially see El as a weapon or a tool. Max encourages El to use her powers for fun things (although spying maybe wasn’t the best call) and shows her Wonder Woman comics to make her feel empowered. Will has gotten to know El as a person without powers and his sister, and jokes about committing fraud in Vegas with her powers. So many people have been treating El like a “superhero,” but it’s really Will and Max (and of course her family but Will and Max specifically) who have been lifting her up in the way she needs.
11: “Jolene” by Dolly Parton
Okay, I know that most of you know this song. You are familiar with what Dolly’s trying to say here:
“Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene/I'm begging of you please don't take my man/Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene/Please don't take him just because you can”
“Your beauty is beyond compare/With flaming locks of auburn hair/With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green/Your smile is like a breath of spring/Your voice is soft like summer rain/And I cannot compete with you/Jolene”
“He talks about you in his sleep/And there's nothing I can do to keep/From crying when he calls your name/Jolene”
“And I can easily understand/How you could easily take my man/But you don't know what he means to me/Jolene”
“You could have your choice of men/But I could never love again/He's the only one for me/Jolene”
“I had to have this talk with you/My happiness depends on you/And whatever you decide to do/Jolene”
But here’s the thing: This song might not be as clear-cut as once thought. Bylers will say Jolene is Will. Milkduds (and some members of the ga) will insist this is about Max. Or…this could be about Vecna (I’ll explain)…
Let me rule out the Max theory real quick: If Jolene is supposed to be Max, then why is it the last song on El’s playlist? There are so many songs depicting the positivity of El and Max’s friendship on this playlist before Jolene (such as Buzzcut Season and The Story), so why finish off the playlist with a song about romantic competition? Especially since it is now clear to El that Max is interested in Lucas over Mike. And that tiny bit of jealousy and competitive feelings towards Max that El had in the second season were just that: tiny. Definitely not a big enough plot point to put on the playlist.
So there are the two most likely options. This song has romantic implications, so many people will say it’s about Will—and I think that’s a pretty solid interpretation. With this, lines like “your voice is soft like summer rain” (rain fight) stand out. So yes, this could be about El realizing that Mike has romantic feelings for Will and her grappling with that realization—maybe having a conversation with Will about it. And if we’re running with the theory that Mike is getting Vecna’d (which I think is pretty likely), then the lines “he talks about you in his sleep” (Mike reaching out to Will while getting Vecna’d) stand out to me as well.
But…what if we considered the fact that Jolene may be Vecna? Obviously not with the romantic lens, because ew. But if Mike is the “man” in the song Dolly is talking about, that would mean that El is super distraught that Mike might be taken from her—even though the story is hinting more that she will be the one to break up with him. So what if we consider that Mike is being “taken away” from El by Vecna? Even if it’s not romantic, Mike being about to be killed by Vecna would be a pretty understandable reason for El to be upset and bargaining with “Jolene.” And what if we consider the possibility that Vecna uses a Will illusion to trick Mike into falling into a trap? That might explain the “your smile is like a breath of spring” line—Vecna attempts to sway Mike with something that he wants, but El sees the truth. Anyway, just spitballing with this.
Anyway…that’s it! That’s my analysis of El’s playlist! Like I said before, this is all in good fun. Even though I like some of my theories and believe that there is a possibility they might happen, they are just that: theories! So please take them with a grain of salt. I hope you had as much fun as I did!
With love,
digestionsack
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Hawkins being somehow special when it comes to a connection to the UD is so fascinating. These are all theories on my part, obviously anything could go any way but:
I feel Henry got his abilities from the MF. For some reason it contacted him when he arrived at Hawkin... imo I don't think there's anything Inherently Special about Henry, but I do feel like the MF contacted him because Henry had the potential to come up with the plan of connecting the UD and RU (rightside up) and the anger/determination to go through with it. I mean, Henry gained his abilities and then immediately began to exhibit very disturbing behaviors eg. killing small animals.
This really isn't a "the MF is the big bad" theory, moreso I think the MF knows it doesn't have the capabilities to invade the RU on it's own, so it uses Henry as the means. A bit like a parasite, I think. Henry's actions are all his own (tbh I think that if they weren't it would undercut the overall message while not taking away from the nuance of Henry's experiences/motivations. Just my opinion!) but the MF did provide a bit of a nudge in that direction by supplying him with the abilities and allowing Henry to shape him.
Of course there's the question of why Henry and why 1959 of all times for the mindflayer to make a move. It's interesting that in S3 I believe Alexei (please correct me if I'm wrong I hate rewatching I'm just going off what I remember) stated that they tried to establish a portal in Russia but it didn't work. It only worked in Hawkins. The implication there that Hawkins has a connection or a thinner barrier between it and the UD than other places. And obviously, that could be why it was able to contact Henry on its own in that way, after Henry arrived in Hawkins. The MF cannot normally make contact with the RU except in these extraordinary circumstances, and it pounced on it.
Of course then that gets me thinking about why there is such a thin barrier between Hawkins and the UD. And again the question of why wait until 1959? Why Henry in that specific time?
The barrier between Hawkins and the UD not always having been as thin as it is in the present time I think explains it, if the premise I'm describing is accurate. Something happened to thin it out, something perhaps that happened within a decade of the Creels moving into Hawkins. Was the Hawkins Lab already established there when the Creels moved in? What was Brenner studying there before he got a hold of Henry?
His handling of Henry was also a bit sus to me honestly. As far as we know Virginia told him her son needed to be "fixed". What Virginia knew about Henry's abilities is still up in the air but we have no reason to believe that she knew anything beyond her most likely usual blaming of Henry whenever anything went wrong as the "problem child". So what information she relayed onto Brenner probably didn't have much supernatural context to it. So why Brenner, a scientist who as far as we know wouldn't have much more context about Henry than Virginia herself did, swoop in and scoop Henry up and take him to the lab before he woke up from his coma? Why didnt he, just like everyone else, believe it was Victor Creel who did it and he just was never able to finish off Henry?
What I'm saying it, there's a lot of logical jumps Brenner wouldnt have done here if he wasn't already aware somewhat of the UD and psychokinetic abilites. It's not everyday you kidnap a troubled kid who was going to be your patient.
MKUltra, named explicitly in the show, started (allegedly) in 1953... before Brenner got a hold of Henry. But also Brenner is in his mid 50s in s4, so he would only be in his early 20s when MKUltra began so him being involved that early on is unlikely.
Government scientists could have already been looking into psychokinetic abilities in Hawkins much earlier than even Henry moving there. It could be that something happened, unintentional or intentional, to chip away at the barrier between the UD and the RU, making it prime for the MF to take advantage of when Henry moved in. Hell, maybe they could even have been looking into the UD itself and the MF.
It's all up in the air at this point but that my flimsy theory lol.
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Luke and Leia?
two problems: one, I think when they made the ST the writers and directors swayed closer to Mark Hamill’s and Carrie Fisher’s personalities rather than what Luke and Leia would have been like thirty years on -- for me, this is more noticeable with Leia/Carrie than Luke/Mark, and there’s some knock-on of this in the books/comics. (This is probably true for Han and Harrison Force, too? But I feel like they were closer together originally, and then having Alden!Han balanced some of it.) Which is not to say that there shouldn’t have been any Carrie in Leia, obviously, but for me there’s a big disconnect between EU Leia and current canon Leia, bigger than just different writers and different canons should account for.
two...these are somewhat messy feelings, and they are very, uh, I have a feeling. not that these other thing isn’t, obvs, but this is also very I Have A Bias And It’s Called Rebels. I really am resentful of the fact that Rebels decided to sideline its main Jedi characters for whatever reason -- yeah, there’s the oft-cited “you’re the last one!” or whatever the actual line is from the OT, but that’s something that’s easy to handwave away in the ancillaries. Even Yoda’s cameos in Rebels show him as kind of waving off Kanan, Ezra, and Ahsoka (god, I really hate Henry Gilroy’s take that Yoda controlled everything in the Jedi temple in Shroud of Darkness, he might be the writer but I disagree); I’ve always gotten the vibe that Yoda in this era was completely focused on the Skywalker twins as the solution to the Sith problem, and everything else was essentially extraneous. Which, tbh, works for Yoda, because Yoda. Obi-Wan in Twin Suns...honestly, doesn’t feel right for Obi-Wan? And Obi-Wan comes out and goes “this is not your story!” wow, way to make the subtext text, Dave. (He and Gilroy wrote the ep, which I just realized when I went to check the writer, and wow, that explains a lot about my problems with it.)
I think there was a chance to do something really interesting with Rebels by presenting an actual rival to Luke as ~savior of the Jedi, or ~future of the Jedi, or however you want to frame that. And honestly, S1 seemed to be going there. And then Rebels started leaning away from it -- slowly at first, and then faster and faster, until we get to the “we’re making the subtext text” part in Twin Suns and then straight-up killing off Kanan and flinging Ezra into space in S4, along with whatever the hell they’re doing with Ahsoka. And I don’t necessarily mean “rival to Luke” in terms of “Ezra and Luke have to fight” (though I do genuinely believe that Ezra’s and Luke’s approaches to Jediness and how to be a Jedi are so different as to be essentially incompatible), but in terms of “is this actually Luke’s Destiny?” Is the role that Luke played in restoring the Jedi to the galaxy (ST and whatever went down prior to that aside) actually something that only he could have done, or was he the only option? Rather than actually deal with that question, SW went the (in my opinion) lazy route and went with “he had to do it because he was the only option.” (And honestly, not dealing with whatever the hell Ahsoka was doing between Malachor and the Rebels epilogue and/or Mando, which is still at minimum a good ten years, actually makes this worse.) If your means of dealing with a character’s role in a story arc is to get rid of all the rivals before they can actually be rivals (and again, I mean, like, thematically, not literally), then to me that says that role is not something that they could have been able to accomplish otherwise. For me it really weakens Luke as a character, and that’s to the detriment of both Luke and honestly the entire saga story arc.
okay actually there’s a third thing about Luke and Leia -- I said this on Twitter before the Mando finale aired and because it was many moons ago I now can’t find it, but honestly? Star Wars is weakening its main story line by no loner telling big name stories about the OT trio. These are supposed to be big name famous characters who have all accomplished extraordinary things, and yet as far as Mando is concerned, they might as well not exist. Up to the finale there was not a single piece of evidence that Luke or Leia actually existed, and even the Luke cameo...they can CGI Mark Hamill for that because it’s not going to have lasting consequences. If it was going to have lasting consequences, they would have recast. (I mean, if he’s got a recurring role next season we can revisit this in 2022, but until then.) These are saga characters! These are people who have RESHAPED THE GALAXY. They should have an impact in Star Wars’ big name ongoing projects in one form or another!
The impression I get right now from the current slate of upcoming projects is that Star Wars is gambling that their viewership is, by and large, more interested in the greater Star Wars universe than it is in established Star Wars characters. They may be right; Mando is certainly very successful. The upcoming character spin-offs -- Ahsoka (yikes), Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Lando project -- those are all main characters but they’re not the main characters. And honestly, we’ll see how this goes. It may go well. It may go poorly. It may be all over the map. (this is the most likely option.) I did love Solo, but as far as Lucasfilm’s concerned, and a lot of the mainstream audience, it was a flop. The post-RotJ EU and the post-RotJ new canon have varied in that the new canon has, with a few exceptions (which are not ~mainstream, with the exception of Battlefront II), mostly shied away from telling stories revolving around the OT trio. The longer they go without doing that, without showing the impact that these people have on the galaxy, that they have right now -- the more they’re weakening the impact that Luke and Leia ought to have. Yeah, I came in from the EU, I do think that Luke and Leia should be, to some extent, living myths. The problem is that Lucasfilm wants to do live action TV and frankly, I think they’re wary about recasting Luke and Leia after Solo. (Even though Alden is a great Han, imho.) This is honestly the perfect time to do a post-RotJ animated series -- use Mark Hamill’s VA skills! he’s not going to live forever! that gets around the Carrie Fisher problem! the weird Force shit works REALLY well in animation in a way that it does not in live action, and come on, don’t Luke and Leia deserve to deal with the weird Force shit too? WOULD YOU NOT ACTUALLY LIKE TO SET UP FOR THE SEQUEL TRILOGY sorry it’s star wars dumb question
#let me sing you the song of my people (star wars fans): SCREAMS#bedlam watches star wars#bedlam watches rebels#thatdarnalicat#bedlam answers#star wars criticism
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2020
What a year, huh? Surely not anything anyone has expected to happen when we woke up on this day a year ago. I certainly haven’t. I’m not even sure, now, where to begin to sum up this year like I’ve done years prior. But then again... I may just as well just dive right into all the media I consumed this year, as I have done every year. I haven’t kept track as detailed as I have last year, but my year was definitely punctuated by pieces of entertainment that have come into my life.
Continuing on from 2019, my obsession with Good Omens was still going strong. Which was ideal, since I was gonna spend the first half of the year writing my Bachelor thesis on it. The intensity of the obsession may have waned a bit since, but I still love that show and book dearly and hold it close to my heart, and I don’t think that will ever stop. But while Good Omens��was certainly an overall theme throughout my year, there were some other things that actually stood out.
With January came new episodes of Doctor Who, and having returned to that particular bandwagon the year prior, I was all about that. Jodie’s second season finally brought what I had longed for in her first--a darker kind of Doctor. She wasn’t quite as bubbly anymore, you could finally see some of the depths in the character that I loved so in the previous regenerations, which made me love Peter’s Doctor so incredibly much. In this season, I felt, Jodie was finally becoming the Doctor. Overall, that season catered to me personally every single episode. So many of the time periods they visited were of people I loved, and the introduction of Sacha Dhawan as the Master was absolutely....well, masterful. Sacha is brilliant in that role and I am utterly stunned by his talent. Although both John Simm and Michelle Gomez brought things to the Master that I liked, it’s Sacha’s completely unhinged take on it that made me finally like the character. He’s a madman and I love it.
The next major thing was The Good Place. I tend to have a talent of getting into shows just as they either ended their entire show, or the final season is just coming up. It’s happened quite a bit, and it was the same with this. I finally binged the show early in January and it would end its final season at the end of the month. True to form, I was completely obsessed with it for about a month, before I only occasionally thought about it again. But, thinking back now, I get this incredibly fond feeling for this show, and I remember that the finale absolutely wrecked me and I basically ugly sobbed through the entirety of it. Also very true to form, actually. I want to rewatch it again some time, but honestly preferably with someone who has never seen it before. Which, obviously, is a difficult thing to do given, well, everything.
Next up is something that surprised me a lot. In the middle of having to write my BA thesis, my procrastination thought it would be a great idea to rewatch and catch up on the entirety of Criminal Minds. And so I binged 15 seasons of that instead of writing my thesis. Which, coincidentally, had also just aired its final season not long before I started my binge in March. Rewatching this, I realised just how little I took in of the actual, like, stuff in the show when I first watched it as a teen. Although I mostly cared about the characters and their found family this time around--although I do find the cases really fascinating most of the time too--I noticed just how much I am not watching this for the fact that they are in the FBI. I was hyperaware of how often they shot at people before doing anything else, how many of the suspects died before ever being questioned or being brought in, and it made my skin crawl. I am aware how fucked up the criminal justice system is, and especially in the US, how the police functions and how incredibly glorified they are in the media. But rewatching this show, I realised how little I actually paid attention to anything when I was younger. Big yikes. Still, I remembered my love for these characters, and I really enjoyed that rewatch a whole lot. Found family will always get to me.
Once I finished writing my thesis and handed it in early in July, I then found my next momentary obsession: Community. The show had finally come to Netflix earlier in the year and a friend of mine had watched it then. I remember watching that pilot episode back then and being completely uninterested in watching it. The comedy felt like it wasn’t quite up my street, the characters were entirely unlikeable, and I especially disliked Jeff who the show was more or less centred around. I binged Criminal Minds instead, but then decided to give it another try. And, well, I watched it twice through without taking a break to watch something else in-between. Ironically, and maybe actually unsurprisingly, Jeff ended up being my favourite and I found myself relating a lot to him and his arc throughout the series. I even found myself writing some short ficlet-like things in the notes app on my phone. I made an attempt at starting a third watch, but I guess then the month was up, and my brain decided it was time for something else. My hyperfixations usually tend to die out after about a month. Which is why my complete devotion to Good Omens was a pleasant surprise. I did, however, end up watching quite a bit of Joel McHale and Ken Jeong’s The Darkest Timeline podcast throughout August.
Early in September, while already preparing for the new term at uni, and my first semester in my Master’s studies, I then turned to New Girl. Friends of mine had seen it and recommended it, and I remember watching probably the entire first season on TV while I was in San Diego the first time around back in 2016. Or at least I think it was the entire first season. Either way, I binged that whole thing, realised through Nick Miller that the go-to character I am drawn to and tend to project on in any piece of media is usually what I like to call “the garbage man,” which Nick is a prime example of. And although I spent a month watching the show in-between starting university again and volunteering at a film festival, I didn’t spend much time afterward thinking about it and moved on to other things rather quickly. I enjoyed watching it, that much I remember, and I’m pretty sure I cried at the finale because it was done wonderfully, but seeing as another month was up, my brain was probably like “okay fine that’s enough”.
I then spent most of fall and early winter watching every single bad Christmas movie available on Netflix, which was quite fun. In that moment of festivity, I also watched a movie I found absolutely brilliant and fell in love with immediately. It’s a beautiful movie called Jingle Jangle, it has a magnificent soundtrack and is absolutely incredible. I had no idea Forest Whitaker could sing and he completely blew me away. If you haven’t seen it already, I highly recommend it. It doesn’t matter that Christmas is already over, it’s beautiful either way.
By the time December finally rolled around, I was already over the whole Christmas thing, to be honest and I turned away from festive movies or shows, and eventually ended up finally picking up a gem I had heard much about and had been meaning to watch for a while. A show which, as it were, also aired its final season earlier this year. This little show is Schitt’s Creek. I will be going on about what this show means to me probably in another post at length, but for now just let me say: if you haven’t seen it, find some place to watch it, and put this beautiful show in your eyeballs. I am on my second run through already (although I’ve seen the second half of the show a second time already while watching it with a friend on their first run through), and it brings me so much fucking joy. It’s a gift, this show. And it will likely stay with me for a very, very long time.
That’s about it for the big things. I also watched a whole lot of other stuff, including entirely new things, or just newly released seasons of things I was already watching. Here’s what I can remember off the top of my head:
Charlie’s Angels (2020). The Night Manager. The Witcher. Dolittle (2020). The Librarians (rewatch). Harley Quinn (2020). Sonic the Hedgehog (2020). The Chef Show (S1 part 3, S2 part 1). Avenue 5. Money Heist (part 4). The Good Fight (S4). Brooklyn Nine-Nine (S7). DuckTales (2017 reboot). Frankenstein live. Staged (2020). Hamilton. Sense8. Julie and the Phantoms. The Boys in the Band. One Night in Miami. Enola Holmes. Supernova. His Dark Materials (S2). Happiest Season. The Great Canadian Baking Show.
I also got some reading done in-between what I had to read for my thesis in spring, and then for regular university courses in fall. Here’s some of what I can remember:
Anthony Horowitz, The House of Silk. Ramona Meisel, Sunblind. Donna Tartt, The Secret History. Good Omens novel and script book. Matt Forbeck, Leverage: The Con Job. Keith R.A. Decandido, Leverage: The Zoo Job. Greg Cox, Leverage: The Bestseller Job. Greg Cox, The Librarians and the Lost Lamp. Greg Cox, The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase. Greg Cox, The Librarians and the Pot of Gold. Neil Gaiman, Marvel 1602. Christina Henry, The Lost Boy. Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology. John Green, An Abundance of Katherines. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh. Maria Konnikova, The Confidence Game.
Having mulled over all this entertainment I consumed in 2020, there are also some non-tv or book things I need to point out. As many, many other people around the globe, I have also spent a large amount of time this year on my Nintendo Switch, playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It is a game I have waited for since the Switch was first announced, and I fell in love with it from the moment the first trailer dropped. It has brought me great joy in this weird fucking year, and I have more or less consistently played it since it came out in March. I ended this year with the in-game New Year’s Eve celebration and I feel like that summed up this year quite neatly and appropriately.
This year also brought with it another game very close to my heart: Super Mario Sunshine. With their release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars in September, Nintendo finally brought my all-time favourite Mario game to my all-time favourite console, and I played the entire game through in the first week of owning it, in-between university courses and volunteering at the film festival. Also contained in that package was Super Mario Galaxy which I have also played through in its entirety since. All that’s left for me now is Super Mario 64, which I am excited to play through in the coming year.
And to round off my year of entertainment, there are two more things I would like to mention. First, David Tennant Does A Podcast With..., which released its second season this summer. It is one of the only, if not the only podcast I keep up to date with and listen to immediately whenever a new episode drops. I’ve loved the first season dearly, and David came back with some incredibly fantastic guests for the second season as well. I can’t wait for what the podcast will bring in the future, but I will wait patiently until it is time. I can highly recommend it for everyone who likes interesting conversations between lovely people who clearly adore each other a whole lot.
And finally, while this year brought a whole lot of bullshit with it, it also gave me something I never thought possible and did not even dare to imagine in my wildest dreams. My all-time favourite show announced that it would be rebooted with the same main cast (minus one), a new wonderful member, and involvement of the original creators, and even started filming already in summer. Leverage is coming back. I still cannot believe it. I hoped for a movie, always. That maybe one day, they might bring the gang back together, for one last job, just one more encore. But to get a whole new tv-show with Aldis, Christian, Gina and Beth returning? With the addition of Noah Wyle? I can’t wrap my head around it. I am so excited for this. I predict that I will ugly sob through the entirety of the pilot episode, if not the first season, and will have to rewatch every episode because of it, but I have no doubt that it will be brilliant and wonderful.
True to form, I have now gone on about tv shows and movies for far too long, and haven’t really said anything about this year at all. 2020 was fucking weird. And I don’t think 2021 will be much different quite yet. I wrote an entire BA thesis in 2020. I successfully finished by Bachelor’s degree and started my Master’s studies and even got some excellent first grades in as well. I was lucky enough to be able to see some friends and family throughout the year, and even celebrate my birthday with a small circle of friends. I’ve become closer with friends, shared experiences I wouldn’t trade for the world, and, I think, maybe also grown a bit as a person.
I started this year excited to finally be able to start taking testosterone in February, and to finish the first part of my studies by summer. Although I did both of these things, they didn’t happen quite how I imagined them, but I am glad that I could do these things nevertheless.
2020 was a hell year, for sure. But there were some moments in there that I wouldn’t want to lose.
I’ve tried very hard to not be optimistic about this upcoming year, and rather take a more realistic, even pessimistic approach. But I can’t help but be hopeful. Hopeful that this year will be kind to us, and if it isn’t, that at least, we’ll be kind to ourselves and each other. It won’t be easy, and not much will change, I think. But we have to approach the coming time with kindness and compassion. That’s where I’m at currently. And I think that’s all for now.
Be well, friends, and take care.
#2020#end of year round up#personal#blog post#good omens#the good place#criminal minds#community#new girl#schitt's creek#schitts creek#jingle jangle#his dark materials#doctor who#leverage#leverage reboot#leverage 2#super mario 3d all stars#super mario sunshine#nintendo#nintendo switch#switch#super mario galaxy#super mario 64#university#david tennant#david tennant does a podcast with#animal crossing#animal crossing new horizons#acnh
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an extravagance of candy hearts (1/1)
Happy Valentine’s Day! My turn for posting for the @csrolereversal, with the art by @kmomof4. Hope you all enjoy this short fic for Valentine’s Day, set in the six weeks of peace during S4.
Read on AO3
Summary: As Killian's first Valentine's Day in Storybrooke approaches, Ruby and Henry take it upon themselves to make sure that both he and Emma have an incredible, extravagant time they won't forget.
Emma and Killian walk hand in hand down the main street of Storybrooke, headed towards Granny’s diner. It’s a quiet Saturday in early February; in fact, it’s been peaceful since Elsa and Anna returned to their land and since Gold was banished from Storybrooke. The absence of the Dark One seems to have lifted a cloud over the small town, freeing it from the darkness lurking in every corner and in the now shuttered pawn shop.
While Emma has returned to her day-to-day activities as sheriff, Killian spends most of his time trying to help Belle in figuring out a way to rescue the fairies from the Sorcerer’s Hat. It’s frustrating and fruitless work, and so when Emma had dropped in to take him to Granny’s for lunch, he was only too happy to oblige.
Just outside of Granny’s, Leroy and one of the other former dwarves (whose name escapes Killian’s mind) are in the midst of a shouting match.
Emma sighs as they approach, shaking her head in irritation. “Best go and see what that is about,” she mutters, before stepping on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “See you in a minute. Order me a grilled cheese, yeah?”
He nods, and steps away while Emma moves to confront the arguing duo. Inside, it’s the end of the lunch rush, most of the tables littered with used plates and cups instead of patrons. Instead of cleaning up the tables, however, Ruby is perched precariously on a tilted chair at one of the front windows. A string of scarlet cartoon hearts dangles from one edge of the window as she leans over to pin it up on the other side. From the centre heart hangs a strange looking blonde baby on a string, a bow and heart-tipped arrow clenched in its hammy fists.
“What the devil is that?” Killian blurts out, unable to stop himself at the sight the monstrosity.
“It’s a cupid,” Ruby replies, pressing the string firmly into place with a pin. She hops down to admire her work, and chuckles at Killian’s expression. “It’s for Valentine’s Day.”
She says it as if it’s obvious, but as with many of the parts of Storybrooke – cellphones, cars, the internet – the words are empty to him. “What’s Valentine’s Day?”
He glances around the rest of the diner, and realizes that it’s not only the front window decorated with the strange little cupids. Ruby has been busy – strings of hearts adorn the bar’s overhang, large heart decorations and cupid babies are splattered on the windows leading to the kitchen, the white napkins at each table have been swapped for scarlet, and the tables are covered with plastic tablecloths instead of their bare tops. Even the usual plain pastries have been replaced by ones with pink icing and colourful sprinkles.
“It’s a day for lovers,” Ruby explains, and at that Killian’s interest is piqued. A day for lovers, is it?
“Indeed?” he says slowly, his tone of voice making Ruby laugh and swat at him with a cleaning rag as she steps behind the counter.
“Get your mind out of the gutter. There’s more to it than that; it’s all about love and romance and sweetheart candy and mushy valentines’ cards. You give your partner something cute and romantic like chocolates or a piece of jewellery that they’d like, and then go for dinner or do something fun that you both like. It’s every February 14th.”
“Hmm,” Killian replies, thoughtfully. He glances out the window, where he can see Emma’s cascading blonde curls down her back, still dealing with the arguing dwarves. Is she going to be expecting something from him on this day?
“Is that something… everyone does in this realm?”
“Oh yes,” Ruby says earnestly, her eyes sparkling. “If you’ve got a significant other, it’s a must. It’s like New Year’s or Halloween or July 4th, something that everyone celebrates.”
Killian doesn’t know what those other things are either, but he nods. He’s trying to adapt to this world the best he can … if this is something they always do, then he’ll participate too.
“Right. Okay. What day is it again?”
“It’s the 14th,” Ruby replies, grinning before twirling away to pick up a new order of food. She returns a few minutes later after delivering it to the next customer, chatting more about Valentine’s Day and what it is, while Killian takes a seat at the bar, ordering himself and Emma lunch and coffee in the moments Ruby takes a breath.
As he waits for the food and listens to Ruby about the romantic day, half-watching Emma outside to see if she is almost done, his eyes drift back to the hanging hearts and the ugly baby Ruby had called a cupid. He’s not sure what a demented flying baby has to do with a holiday supposed to be for lovers … unless it’s a warning to be careful with the long-lasting consequences of a romantic night.
“And Ruby? What does that thing have to do with this Valentine’s Day?”
She follows his eyesight, and through a laugh, does her best to explain to him what a cupid is. As far as Killian understands it, the little babies with wings are a bastardization of ancient mythology about a god of love who shot arrows at people to make them fall in love with each other. Emma often mentions how strange and foreign she finds the Enchanted Forest, with its ogres and chimera meat, but he must say – her land is just as strange as she claims his is.
The door to Granny’s swings open then, a tinkling bell ringing out to announce someone’s entrance, but instead of Emma, it’s Henry instead, bounding in with a wide grin.
“Hi Killian,” he says, swinging into the bar seat beside Killian. “My mom said you were in here. She’s still trying to figure out what Leroy is so mad about, but said she’d be here as soon as she can.”
Killian sighs, and shakes his head. Typical dwarves.
Ruby, who had stepped away to fetch the coffee, returns and grins at Henry, winking conspiratorially at Killian.
“I was just telling Killian about Valentine’s Day, Henry.”
“Right! It’s your first Valentine’s Day with my mom, right?” Killian nods, before noting that it’s his first Valentine’s Day ever, and Henry’s grin widens. “I’ll help you get some things for my mom! I bet she hasn’t had a good Valentine’s Day in a while.”
“You’ll help?” questions Killian, abruptly. He doesn’t think Valentine’s Day is very appropriate for a child – a day for lovers, hadn’t Ruby said?
But Henry nods eagerly. “We celebrate Valentine’s Day at school,” he replies, oblivious to Killian’s train of thought. “So I know what I’m doing. And plus, I know my mom – I know exactly what type of candy and treats she likes too.”
At that, Ruby and Henry begin listing off different items that he absolutely needs to get for Emma at rapid fire pace, so quick that Killian can barely keep up. Chocolates, all different types. Candy hearts with words printed on them like sweetie and love and romance. An expensive bottle of wine. Red and pink flowers, with loose rose petals to scatter around. Candles that smell sweet and strong, a delicate gold or silver piece jewellery in the shape of a heart, small teddy bears holding hearts or their arms open for a hug. They’ll have to make sure his ship is appropriately decorated too, with heart and cupid decorations, glittery and bright.
He opens his mouth, ready to cut them off – they are not hanging a cupid up anywhere on his ship if that’s the last thing he does. But before he can speak, the doors open again, and Emma finally steps in.
Her face is flushed with annoyance, and she marches over to them, blowing out a hard breath of air. “If I have to hear Leroy’s voice for one more minute today, I will lose my mind,” she mutters. She pauses, taking in Killian’s expression (which he is sure one of pure bewilderment) and then the grins on Ruby and Henry’s face, and frowns. “What are you all talking about?”
“Nothing,” Ruby and Henry say quickly.
“Just getting your lunch ready,” Ruby adds. “Killian knows your order by heart now.”
Emma smiles at him, the tension between her brow easing and her eyes softening. “Thanks.”
“Of course, love.”
Grinning, Ruby flitters away to get their food. As she brings it back and they start to eat, Killian enjoys his lunch with Emma, as he always does. Henry and Ruby retreat to the other end of the diner, and Killian can’t help but notice their grins and the list they are starting to make between them. He may not know a thing about this Valentine’s Day, but Killian is sure about one thing – he is going to regret getting Ruby and Henry involved in it.
xxxx
The night of February 14th, Emma finishes her shift at the sheriff station and heads over to Granny’s to pick up some takeout. She and Killian have settled into a routine in the last couple of weeks of having dinner together Thursday nights on his ship. She ducks Granny’s, a takeaway bag in her fist, waving in departure to Ruby’s wink and suggestive comment to have fun with Killian tonight.
Before reaching the docks, Emma makes a short stop at the corner store to grab some snacks for after dinner. She’s made it her mission to introduce Killian to the food of this world, and that, of course, includes junk food. His palate is still mostly rooted in salted fish and hard bread, and there are some processed sweets that absolutely do not agree with him. But they have found a few things that both of them can agree on other than Granny’s takeout, which seems to satisfy the taste buds of anyone from any realm.
Emma picks up some chips and a bag of cheddar popcorn – a new favourite for Killian, they’ve discovered – and then heads to the front desk to pay. However, she pauses by the greeting card section, bright red cards for Valentine’s catching her eye.
At breakfast this morning with Henry, he had reminded her, in his blunt and not so subtle way, that it was Valentine’s Day today and had she gotten Killian anything yet? She’d laughed and ruffled his hair, telling him to mind his own business, though it had gotten her thinking.
She hasn’t got him anything, because, well, she’s never had anyone to buy a Valentine’s Day card for before. It just wasn’t on her mind as something she should do. She’s only been in one serious relationship during the month February before, and her and Neal weren’t really the couple to get each other mushy cards with funny animal puns or an elaborate poem that would take up multiple paragraphs.
Besides, she doubts Killian has any idea what Valentine’s Day is or that they even had an equivalent in the Enchanted Forest. She’s noticed him staring at the decorations around town, his brow furrowed, and she keeps forgetting to explain it to him.
(Okay, that’s not quite true; Emma has thought about explaining it, but she doesn’t know how to, not when it’s a day about romance and that could mean mentioning the word love or feelings or something along those lines and Emma does not want to go there.)
Emma turns away from the cards, but then pauses, Henry’s words echoing in her mind.
Have you got anything for Killian yet? It is Valentine’s Day, Mom! He is your boyfriend, right?
Well … she supposes he’s got a point. While Henry’s idea of Valentine’s Day is still mired in innocence, mostly of candy and mandatory valentines’ cards exchanged between classmates, the sentiment behind the holiday finally feels like something she can get behind. Getting something for some you lo-care about, a day to show how much someone means to you? Alright, fine. She can do that.
Especially seeing as he almost died a few weeks ago … nothing like a brush with death to put things into perspective.
So, with her arms full of chips and popcorn and praying no one like Regina or her parents pop in to see her and make some knowing or snide comment, Emma turns back to the greeting card section.
The Valentine’s Day cards are the most prominent given the current date; the cards are mostly glittery and pink and truly revolting if she’s being honest with herself, but she forces herself to look through them, searching for the least offensive card she can find. There are many that make her anxiety soar or cringe with second hand embarrassment – no cards with the word love, she thinks firmly, or ones that profess undying devotion (nothing with the word dying either, not after the incident with Gold and Killian’s heart a few weeks ago).
Finally, one catches her eye. It’s pale pink, devoid of glitter or the dreaded L-word. Emblazoned on the front is a boat floating through a sea of crimson hearts, the inscription inside reading You Float My Boat underneath a picture of the same ship, its sails unfurled to that the main sail is a bright red heart.
She snorts, but it’s perfect. Not too cheesy (compared to the some of the others, at least), maritime related, no mention of anything too serious, and if anything, hopefully something will make Killian laugh.
After paying for her items, and borrowing the clerk’s pen to sign her name on the card and write Killian’s name on the envelope, Emma heads out to the docks. It’s a cool evening, and as she approaches the ship, all is quiet on deck.
“Killian?” she calls as she boards. “Are you here?”
“Down below, Swan!”
She slips the card into her jacket’s large inner pocket before she moves to join him in his cabin. As she climbs down the ladder, unable to see the cabin until her head clears the deck, she says, “I got us some chips, and that cheddar popcorn you like – what the hell happened in here?”
The cabin is utterly unrecognizable. The lighting is dim, as usual, but instead of being lit by lanterns, there are countless candles around the cabin, low and flickering. The neat collection of maps and books on the centre table has been replaced by several bouquets of scarlet and pale pink roses, bowl upon bowl of candy hearts, a stack of chocolate boxes, and several bottles of wine. There are more flowers and rose petals around the entire cabin, with heart streamers wrapped around the chairs and taped to the bookcases. It looks more like a cabin you’d see in one of those cheesy love cruises than the sleeping quarters of a dreaded pirate captain.
“What – what is all this?”
Killian, who is standing at the bottom of the stairs, extends his hook to help her down the last few steps of the ladder. In the dim light it’s hard to see his expression, but when he speaks his voice is tinged with embarrassment.
“I was told this is the norm for Valentine’s Day in your land, but now I see that Henry and Ruby have certainly taken advantage of my naivety surrounding your realm’s holidays …”
At once, it all falls into place. That day at the diner, Henry and Ruby’s strange behaviour then and today, Killian’s bewilderment. She should’ve known that they were up to something, especially with Henry’s pressure this morning. It’s a little over the top, and she can definitely see Ruby and Henry’s influence in this, but the fact that Killian allowed the pair of them to bring all this stuff into his ship and make it up in this way, without knowing anything about the holiday, well … it’s seriously one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for her.
Killian is still talking, something about how Ruby and Henry are responsible for all this and he’s sorry if it’s too much, when Emma steps forward, interrupting his rambles by pressing a firm kiss to his lips. She drops the chips as she wraps her arms around him, hugging him tightly to her as he does the same.
“I love it,” she says against his mouth, and then pulls away to look at it all again. They move towards the table together, admiring the chocolates and the candy, and Killian’s expression shifts into one of mischief, his eyes dancing.
“Even the extravagance of candy hearts?” he asks teasingly, gesturing to the numerous bowls. “I must confess, I had one earlier and nearly broke a tooth.”
Emma laughs and presses a kiss to his cheek, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Even the rock-hard candy hearts.”
He grins, and then picks up one of the loose roses from the table and hands it to her, bowing his head slightly in reverence. “For you, love. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
She takes it from him, smiling at the memory of when he’d last given her a flower, at their first date, and then pulls the envelope from her jacket pocket, thankful that she listened to Henry and got him something too. It’s far less than all this, but she hopes he’ll love it anyways.
“I have something for you too. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Killian’s eyes brighten, and he quickly opens the card, delicately ripping the top of the envelope with his hook. He laughs as he sees it, delighted, and he kisses her again.
“Thank you, love. I take it ‘float my boat’ is a good thing?”
Emma grins and nods. “The best.”
They wrap their arms around each other, and Emma glances back to the cluttered table, grinning, her earlier apprehensions around Valentine’s Day and what it means and feelings and all that put to rest – maybe this holiday isn’t so bad after all.
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I loved All the Perfect Things! If you’re ever up for it, I’d love a sequel. Now I’m wondering if they returned to Storybrooke? Did Killian get his ship back? And how did Killian work through the hurt? Cause I feel like Emma owes him so much more than an apologize, even if he already forgave her. Three years of a shattered heart and she’s only at the could love stage. My heart ached for him. I can’t remember the last time a story gave me such a visceral reaction. Credit to you and your writing.
Anon. Thank you. That is LOVELY to hear 😘
Right now I don’t have any plans to write a sequel (though never say never) but I can tell you how I see things going after the story ends. Because yes, I am that person who has detailed ideas about what happens after the end of her stories. THAT’S NORMAL, RIGHT???
So Killian and Emma don’t return to Storybrooke right away. There are too many memories there and also Emma still has her office to set up and Killian wouldn’t leave in the middle of the school year. So they go back to Boston and they start dating. They try to take it slow because they know they have a lot of buried emotions and resentment and anger they have to deal with, and that works for about a week. They have a long heart-to-heart and air all their grievances and Emma apologises again and Killian knows they both need for her to do that but he kind of hates it because he hates to see her so upset and also he understands why she behaved the way she did. Even though it hurt him he always understood and he meant it when he said he could forgive her. So he does, and from that point on they are both all in 100% committed to their relationship. About a month later Emma tells him she loves him.
When her 6 month assignment is over Emma decides to stay with the Boston office, at least through the end of the school year. She and Henry move in with Killian, and then the three of them spend the summer in Storybrooke. They help Snow and David move to the farm, and renew (or in Killian’s case form) friendships with the people in town. Killian and Robin become great mates and David warms up to him when he sees how much he’s changed and how happy Emma is. They talk seriously about moving back for good but in the end decide to go back to Boston for another year, mostly for the sake of Henry’s school. They end up staying until Henry graduates, but just before his graduation ceremony, Emma finds out she’s pregnant.
Emma’s delighted but she also realises that she doesn’t want to raise her baby in Boston. Snow and David are also expecting and she wants her baby to grow up with family close by. So Henry goes to college and Emma and Killian move back to Storybrooke. She starts working as the Sheriff again and he gets a job at the high school, and though pretty much everything in S4/S5 couldn’t happen in this verse, I think eventually the Land of Untold Stories might come into play (minus all the nonsense about saviour shears and retconning Killian’s past once again. That DOES NOT happen). So Killian never does get his ship back, but even though he’s sad about that he’s so happy with Emma and with their baby and his friends and life in Storybrooke that he doesn’t mind TOO much.
Thanks for asking, anon! And for anyone wondering what the heck this is all about, the story is all the perfect things (that i doubt) here and on AO3 😘😘😘
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Ninth, I am trying to watch M*A*S*H, but Hawkeye and Trapper are just... teeth-grinding... Can you recommend me some of your favorite episodes?
Ok! So, if Hawkeye and Trapper are teeth-grinding for you, first of all, that’s understandable–a lot of their jokes about women are not really that funny, and they often go way too far while making fun of the rest of the cast, especially Frank, but also Henry and Radar in earlier episodes. While Hawkeye remains a main character until the finale, Trapper’s actor left the show after three seasons and was replaced as Hawkeye’s partner-in-crime by BJ Hunnicutt, a practical joker who’s also a happily-married man with a young daughter. You might enjoy that dynamic a bit more. So, I’m gonna try to focus a bit more on some later episodes, and on ones that focus on side characters:
S1 ep 12 “Dear Dad”: The first of M*A*S*H’s many “Character writes a letter home as a framing device for several unrelated incidents at the 4077th” episodes. I like this one less because it’s Hawkeye narrating and more because of the stories, most notably Klinger mailing a Jeep home piece by piece and Hawkeye performing surgery in a Santa outfit.
S1 ep 15 “Tuttle”: This is the one “Hawkeye and Trapper shenanigans” ep I’m gonna recommend. The two of them make up a doctor as part of scheme to get supplies to the local orphanage, and the lie balloons until this fictional man wins a commendation, at which point they kill him off and the camp has a funeral for him. The spiral of continuously escalating nonsense is wonderful.
S1 ep 19: “The Long-John Flap”: Hawkeye gets a pair of long-johns from home, and in the middle of winter in Korea, they’re the envy of the camp. Under duress, lends them to Trapper when he’s sick…and soon, the things have been traded around the entire main cast. One of the first really good ensemble episodes, and excellent in terms of characterization. Basically, it works on the same principle as the “Who broke the coffee machine?” bit from Brooklyn 99, using a petty squabble to bring out interesting facets of all the characters.
S1 ep 20: “The Army-Navy Game”: During a much-anticipated football match between the army and the navy, the 4077th comes under attack. First, they call for support from their own forces–and then for a different kind of help, when an unexploded US bomb lands in the middle of camp. This one is a “Let’s mock the US military” episode, and it balances humor, drama, and suspense really really well.
S2 ep 12: “The Incubator”: Hawkeye, Trapper, and Radar get into it with some supply officers after finding out that while an incubator for cell cultures is not on the Basic Equipment List for a M*A*S*H and they can’t have it, they’re welcome to request a pizza oven. A good example of the “let’s mock military bureaucracy” subgenre of M*A*S*H episodes.
S4 ep 25 “The Interview”: The M*A*S*H personnel are interviewed for what is basically a propaganda reel. The episode was originally aired in black and white, so try to find it in that format, if you can! This episode was part script and part improv, and it really feels authentic to how these characters would react to being interviewed.
S5 eps 1-2 “Bug Out”: The camp evacuates their current position in favor of a safer location, but one patient can’t be moved. Pierce, Margaret, and Radar stay behind, while the rest of the camp attempts to retreat in an orderly fashion. An hour-long episode that really hits that comedy vs. humor balance.
S5 ep 9 “Mulcahey’s War”: Please skip this if detailed medical stuff or discussion of self-harm are triggers or squicks for you, but it’s a good episode. Father Mulcahey’s difficulty in connecting with a patient leads him to ask Col. Potter for a chance to go to the front. This is more drama than comedy, but it’s *really good.* Mulcahey is a lovely character and this episode was really good for fleshing him out.
S5 ep 23 “Souvenirs”: During the Korean War, many locals, especially children, made money by retrieving battlefield souvenirs and selling them to US soldiers. Of course, the fact that these battlefields were often full of unexploded mines and bombs made supporting these children ethically questionable at best. As you may have guessed, this episode also leans into drama rather than comedy, but once again it’s good. Also, there’s definitely *some* humor, it’s just in the form of jerks getting their due.
S6 ep 5 “War of Nerves”: This episode focuses on another side character, psychologist Sidney Freeman, and tackles some pretty tough ethical questions in the process. Specifically, how do medical professionals justify healing people and then sending them back into a war, knowing they are very likely to get reinjured? I wouldn’t call this episode uplifting, but it’s cathartic.
S6 ep 20 “What’s Up, Doc?”: Margaret, worried that she may be pregnant, approaches Pierce about a pregnancy test. What follows involves some medical history and is perhaps best not brought up here, but suffice it to say that this episode is an excellent Radar and Margaret focus piece, with a bonus bit of good Klinger content. Not bloody enough to require a medical squick warning, but I will spoil you: no animals die during the episode. I promise.
S7, ep 11 “Point of View”: Please skip this if the medical bits of M*A*S*H squick you out, but otherwise, this episode was amazing. It was an experiment with perspective, filmed from the point of view of a soldier with a throat injury being treated at the 4077th. The unusual POV creates a sense of immersion and also allows the writers to use the limited POV in order to create suspense–whereas in a normal episode, you follow the characters around, this time you’re hearing snatches of gossip during the POV character’s brief interactions with the principals. It’s neat as all heck.
S8 ep 19 “Morale Victory”: BJ and Pierce complain about the same movie running in camp all the time; Col. Potter gets fed up and appoints the two of them as morale officers, challenging them to do better. Meanwhile, Charles deals with the case of an injured soldier who feels his nerve damage has ruined his career as a concert pianist. This episode is some of the best Charles Emerson Winchester III content the series has to offer, and also some surprisingly good (if not perfect) disability theory for when it was made.
S11 ep 1 “Hey, Look Me Over”: Nurse Kellye wants Hawkeye to take her seriously as a woman. This should not take nearly as much effort as it does. You can tell Alan Alda did the writing because it’s a little heavy-handed at times but Nurse Kellye is amazing and we should all respect her.
An additional note: People are and will probably always be divided on Klinger--some people love him, some even consider him an example of early and imperfect LGBTQ+ representation, some people just don’t find him as funny, and other people consider him a harmful portrayal of crossdressing/trans people. If you find yourself wanting to avoid Klinger wearing a dress because you aren’t as comfortable with the way the writers handled him, you should watch later episodes, since he crossdressed less as the series went on and the writers ran out of quality jokes to tell involving his wardrobe.
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Whaaaa have u finished s5?????!!!! THOUGHTS???
i mean overall, critically speaking, it was probably one of the best single seasons of any teen tv show i’ve ever watched. like top 10, up there somewhere with buffy s2. the plot was tightly wrought, most things that happened made sense (which is something i’ve learned to let slide with this show), and every character had a reasonable motivation for doing what they were doing. granted, the bar was painfully low after s3 and 4, but i think if i picked up this show at s5 without seeing any of the prior seasons i still would have loved it.
THAT SAID, because i have seen the rest of the series, some of the OOC elements bothered me. i only saw a few glimpses of clarke’s history as the great wanheda (that quick knife to niylah’s throat? NICE). i didn’t like that all of her motivation had been reduced to motherhood when we’ve seen her in the past as a leader and lover and fighter and healer. BUT i also really loved the clexa moments, which didn’t feel cheap at all to me, and made clarke’s relationship with madi much more interesting after several cringey moments of “i’m willing to torture you to protect you.” similarly i didn’t like that abby’s character was reduced to her addiction and that guided everything she did. i like addiction narratives, but only when they’re not a plot device, which this very much was.
conversely, i think bellamy became more complex somehow, and his arc made sense -- he had six years in space to think on shit, and that changes a person. he continues to be probably the only truly trustworthy character on the show (i mean trustworthy to the audience) because his sense of loyalty is consistent and overrides all other traits, and his conflict (like captain america’s) always involves the compromise of his loyalty. in the case of this season, the people he’d spent six years with, or his sister, who is only a shadow of the person she once was. bellamy remains one of my favorite television characters of all time. (also note, i LOVED his fight scenes this season -- i can’t tell if it’s bob or the choreographers but all of them were really beautifully done, and it was a refreshing change of pace to not see him constantly beaten down every other minute. his face was only bloodied in one episode all season!!).
BELLARKE?? the bellarke moments were so good and so infuriating. as much as i appreciated them, i just kept thinking about what the show would be like if they’d gone canon at different points earlier on, and how that would make their relationship so complex. if they’d been together during praimfaya and bellamy spent six years thinking she was dead. if they had the same ride-or-die loyalty of monty and harper or the passion of murphy and emori, and how much more interesting that would make the show and the characters and -- well, i also firmly believe that any romance arc shouldn’t stretch over 5 seasons, so at this point it’s looking more like a gimmick to keep people watching, and i think if it were really confident in its quality, it wouldn’t need to use slow burn romantic tension to engage its audience. too much build-up ruins the breaking point, ya feel? five seasons is enough.
anyway. raven, sadly, never gets a character arc in order to let her either grow or shrink because, being the engineer, she’s always forced into a function of plot. in every season, her job is to move a machine from point A to B, and her obstacle is always physical torture. it’s a shame because i think lindsay’s performance is so good. i dug zeke’s character and their romance, though, so i hope to see more of that in s6.
and murphy. wow. for the first time we get an actual internal arc. even if it’s as blunt and heavy-handed as a brick, murphy had no clear-cut external goal, and everything about his growth this season was his internal acceptance of usefulness and heroism. as i type this i’m seeing a pattern, though, because emori, despite having a very interesting potential arc as grounder-turned-engineering-apprentice, was reduced to a function of murphy’s self-realization. i would have liked more development for both characters, because i think they were really close to something epiphanic that never got fully formed and had the potential to advance the moral cornerstones of the story.
ugh, echo. fuck echo. i think the only way she could be redeemed to me is if she showed bellamy the same loyalty she had once shown roan, and bellamy, rather than turning that loyalty romantic, would have dismissed it as being forced and toxic and destructive, so echo would be forced to actually consider herself as an individual rather than a member of a unit. but everything about their relationship was so sloppily done, and i found myself looking away whenever she was on screen. (which is not at all about the performance, which, again, was stellar.)
monty and harper provided a fraction of a wider perspective toward fixing what i think is the ultimate problem of the show, which is that the writing seems grossly unaware of its own moral assumptions. and maybe i’m projecting because i recently got that same feedback from an author i really admire (and he was right) but i may have internalized it so much i see it in other things now. monty and harper provided a much-needed “we don’t have to participate in this, and there are other solutions to be found” pacifist perspective which really helped round-out the season and provided a breath of fresh air to an otherwise exhaustingly dark plot.
diyoza? stellar. perfect. wonderful. 10/10. a competent, lawful neutral to act as a foil to octavia’s chaotic neutral leadership. i liked that she was pregnant, but i disliked that her motivation and mcreary’s weakness was reduced to their feelings about that pregnancy, so it felt like just a gimmick to manipulate the plot and tip the scales against mcreary.
kane is always fab, but i’m biased because i think henry ian cusick is the second best actor on the show. i wish he was more coherent as a character. as it stands he’s just kind of silly putty that gets formed into whatever he needs to be. i would be SO HERE for a kane/diyoza/abby triangle (which i would turn into an OT3 immediately). the daddy vibes this season were great.
one of the most understated characters has always been indra, played by the best actress on the show, adina porter. this season i really adored her relationship with gaia. i don’t think i’ve ever seen a mother/daughter relationship as formal and loving as theirs, and how it seamlessly encompassed their respective love/worship of octavia. they’re a good example of characters how further the plot but also get to be actual characters. idk why it’s so hard for this show to figure out the difference between plot devices and characters but it’s really hit or miss.
aaaaand then there’s octavia. i was pissed earlier in the season that jaha was killed off just for the sake of landing some leadership advice, because i really liked jaha’s character and (like many of the more competent characters who are put into the hands of incompetent writers [see: lexa]) thought he’d been poorly utilized the past 3 seasons. i don’t get why octavia was the leader at all?? like, kane, indra, abby, and jaha were all more qualified, and they were all in the bunker together. i think there was supposed to be some commentary on charisma and loyalty or something but it got lost in the heavy-handed “we do what it takes to survive” and “we pursue violence for peace” rhetoric that oversaturates the entire show because jroth can’t think of anything deeper or more meaningful to say about the complexity of being (and it’s what will probably get the show canceled in the next year or so -- no growth in moral reasoning = no new drama to be found). the only part that really sold me was octavia’s decision to shoot the people who refused to eat, even though i thought it was a dumb premise to begin with, because the flashback was well-placed and the performance was great, and it showed a genuine breaking point between octavia and blodreina.
if i had written the season, there were a lot of things i would have done differently (we get this ominous shot of the worms that doesn’t amount to anything, and a twist ending that felt cheap even if it was emotionally compelling), but in comparison to the prior seasons, i commended this season on not pulling its punches on the practical details like it’s always done (clarke eating windshield bugs to survive), threading in the consequences and details from all the prior seasons and the show’s own canon (abby using The Blight to motivate octavia into forcing everyone to eat), and overall slowing the fuck down (the entire season leads up to one [1] battle).
i don’t think the show will ever fully recover from lexa’s death, which decimated its fanbase and lost trust in the writing, but s5 put up a decent mulligan of s4 to wrangle the juvenile moral quandaries the show attempts to assert. if s6 can advance the philosophical implications of its own world, lose the “our people” bullshit jargon, and focus on the fucking characters which is the only reason anyone watches the damn show, then i think it could really be up there with the other cult faves like buffy and star trek and supernatural.
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Some commentary on the S4 Episode of OUAT -- The Apprentice . . . .
I wanted to unpack this episode, and my feelings about it, to accompany @sieben9’s watching of it, and thought this would be better than reblogging their post. They know that I’m posting this, and are aware that it will be snarky, bitchy, and negative, so please don’t go pestering their inbox with “oh don’t listen to that bitch, she’s a bitch” because A) they KNOW THIS already (it’s not a fact I’ve hidden from ANYONE) and B) again – they know I’m making this post instead of reblogging theirs and that it’s not going to be all glee and squee.
This episode is one I have never revisited. (To be fair, I’ve not revisited MOST of the episodes from S4 on.) But this one is forever seared onto my brain. This is a LONG POST so under the cut . . . . .
This episode was a turning point for me for 4 reasons:
1) I got a CLEAR PICTURE of what trajectory Rumbelle was on (as a pairing AND as individual characters) and I wasn’t happy
2) I got a CLEAR PICTURE of the Hook trajectory and again – I wasn’t happy
3) What VERY LITTLE remaining respect and/or admiration I retained for Adam and Eddy (which was not much at this point) VANISHED after this episode aired
4) This episode forever changed the fandom dynamic for me
Now . . . . . let’s unpack this and start with #1 . . . . Rumbelle.
Rumbelle had just gotten married, and up until this point, aside from E1 with the dance (which to ME, although it was lovely and wonderful, also screamed “HEY!!!! FROZEN FANS JUST NOW WATCHING! LOOK! IT’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST! YOU KNOW THEM!!!!”), we’ve gotten pretty much NOTHING for them. So . . . . . . . let’s chat about the dock scene.
Yes, that DELETED DOCK SCENE. This one right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELkuD6zpZ2U
And look at that – not even cleaned up. Which tells me that A&E decided to CUT THIS SCENE – this 37 second scene that they could NOT SPARE 37 SECONDS FOR – before they even started the editing process. Because otherwise – this would be a cleaned up scene.
And we wouldn’t even know it EXISTED if it hadn’t been for the fact that it was an outdoor scene and there were a FUCK TON of people on site that day taking photos.
LOOK AT ALL THE BTS:
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95364011977/attackontaetan-emilie-de-ravin-robert-carlyle
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95373664507/you-guys-this-episode-wont-air-until-october-19
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95364068497/betsypaige22-thatravenclawbitch
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95373377122/tjmystic-rumbelleotp-on-scene-pics-update
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95396861777/scififantasytv-robert-emilie-filming-aug-20
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95397126162/ouatwholock-august-20th-4x04-filming-x-i
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95395846932/vicieinatv-aaaaah-kiss-rumbelle
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95327102332/myaussiebelle-rumplestiltskin-rumbelle
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95327345502/fairytaleasoldastime-emilie-de-ravin-and-robert
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95320025497/delintthedarkone-itssandgirl-can-i-just-say
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95327073767/lulices-rumbelle-cuddling
And of course, my personal favorite:
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/95468578777/mrgoldsdearie-ouatcrack-he-does-things-to
I’d say I’m sorry for that last one but . . . . I’m really not so . . . .
Anyhow . . . the Rumbelle fandom was so excited about this scene. Cause we’d had these BTS photos for WEEKS . . . and then they just . . . . CUT IT . . .
And Adam posted it on Twitter two weeks later because the Rumbelle fandom had a collective shit fit directed at him and he basically wanted to shut us the hell up.
And this all makes me wonder . . . . what ELSE had they filmed up to this point that we’ll never see? Because it’s OBVIOUS that at some point, between Episode 1 and Episode 4 – they changed the trajectory of what the had in store for Rumple, Belle, and Rumbelle.
Why, you ask? Well first of all – don’t forget that in E2, they cut that scene with Rumple and Henry. A scene that Bobby GUSHED ABOUT at SDCC (starts at 1:40):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqYngk_12Sw
Also Bobby talked about Rumple being ADDICTED TO MAGIC several times at SDCC. Here’s one example (mentions it at the end):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OCtgv4nX24
So . . . . . what we’re seeing to this point is so far TWO significant scenes that show Rumple as a caring human being have been CUT, one of them before the editing process even began.
And if they’re telling an addiction story . . . . . they’re sure as fuck not SHOWING US that here. They’re showing us Rumple being shady and an asshole . . . . but they’re not showing us addiction. And even though Bobby is PLAYING IT that way . . . . . most viewers don’t do subtle. The narrative must CLEARLY and UNEQUIVOCALLY TELL US that this is, in fact, what is going on. And it doesn’t.
Also – Belle has BARELY been on, and when she has been, it’s with Rumple. I mean . . . . . gee, it’s like they don’t know what to DO with her without Rumple . . . . . . amazing that the fandom, at this point, has LOTS of ideas . . . but the people who get paid for it? Nothing.
So anyhow – that’s point ONE.
Onto point TWO . . . .
By now, we get it. They want Hook front and center. He is their pet, they want to go with Captain Swan. Okay. But here’s another instance of “SHOW DON’T TELL.” Having Hook follow Emma around like a lost puppy and just standing there isn’t TELLING. And also Emma has already had scenes with Regina and Elsa so far this season that show WAY more chemistry than any of the schmoopy shit they’re giving us with Emma and Hook.
But here’s the kicker – instead of – you know – actually putting Hook on an actual, real, redemption arc – it just seems WAY easier to have him bully and blackmail Rumple (to get his HAND BACK so that he can play grab and tickle with his new boo without stabbing her, BTW) and make it look like RUMPLE is the baddie and Hook is just trying to be a good guy. Basically they’re tearing down Rumple to prop up Hook. Instead of showing Rumple’s struggle with addiction and Hook’s struggle with dealing with all the criminal shit he’s done in the past – THIS is the path they’re going with. This is a disservice to BOTH characters. And this episode, combined with the aforementioned factors, told me that yup, we’re doing this. Because . . . .
Point THREE . . . . .
These writers are lazy as fuck and don’t want to be bothered writing complexity for literally ANYONE. Let’s not even discuss my issues with the Rumple trajectory. Let’s look at Emma and her stupid little Pink Sandra Dee dress and the Charmings fawning over their damn date with a polaroid camera.
Who ARE these people? Did someone do a body swap with the Charming family? Because that was some serious OOC shit, and for what? To PROP UP HOOK. So not only are they making Rumple an ass to prop the pirate, they’re making Emma and her parents into people I don’t recognize. Because A&E are gross and seem to think that a woman must look and act a ‘certain way’ in order for a manly man like Hook to want to date her. (I swear there’s some quote out there about “Hook makes Emma feminine” or some shit like that post-this episode. Anyone have that link?)
Can you say misogynist?
And FOUR . . . . fandom . . . . . *sigh*
First of all, and example of post-episode banter from the pro Hook brigade:
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/101264943652/killian-wasnt-making-a-death-threat-against
So that was fun. Now let’s move onto the Rumbelle fandom and a variety of commentary:
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/100465938827/so-it-doesnt-bother-you-that-while-gold-is
http://pamchenko-twist.tumblr.com/post/100272360750/mentemmortalia-if-the-writers-want-to-turn
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/100460351767/so-are-they-cutting-that-cute-little-romantic
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/100466470197/you-are-not-a-real-rumbeller-please-leave-your
http://thestraggletag.tumblr.com/post/100604059906/somewhat-pessimist-mini-rant-below-more-i
http://pamchenko-twist.tumblr.com/post/100608988655/charmedrumbelle-cartoonjessie
So the above is a mix of positive, negative, and general frustration.
But THESE were the kicker for me (this is ME):
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/100499172547/thatravenclawbitch-spottytonguedog
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/100497962147/you-know-what-i-dont-know-what-is-more-hurtful
This is kind of the beginning of my PERSONAL trajectory within the fandom . . . . . . . FYI . . .
This was the point where I realized that I was watching a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SHOW than about half of the fandom . . . . . . . .
All of the above posts were written post-episode 4.
So I walked away from E4 frustrated about Rumple, Belle, Rumbelle, the propping of Hook, the shitty writers and their inability to write a complex story, and the obvious to me early beginnings of the breakdown of the Rumbelle fandom.
Of course I had no idea what was coming, nor am I going to say because I know @sieben9 is spoiler free.
I just wanted them (and others who may have come in late in the game) to have a full grasp of WHY this episode, which in hindsight probably isn’t THAT BAD, was a turning point for me and many others. Cause I know I’m not alone.
On the PLUS SIDE . . . . . we did get some lovely dock scene fan art:
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/100698762707/spottytonguedog-delintthedarkone-the-lost
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/101345237832/retrogrlfan-rip-docks-scene
And some ‘let’s make fun of Hook’ stuff which is always amusing:
http://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/100594138302/winterelf86-mathematicaltardistime-this-is-a
Look, I obviously kept watching the show. But this episode? It was just NEVER THE SAME FOR ME after this.
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Mo’ Danger, Mo’ Problems s1 ep2
this one is long, just saying. lolol I just really loved it and had a lot to say :))))))
“OK HEN’S VOICE IS DIFFERENT IN THIS EP asjlksjk guess there was time btw this one and the pilot
he’s still incredibly adorable tho
“He’s gotta fix that elevator.” ...and then he never did lolol
OKAY so 13 yr old Henry found a way across town at almost 12 at night???? NO MY SON. THAT IS DANGEROUS (also does Swellview have a bus system??? did he walk??? I need to know.)
“’Put this watch on your wrist.’ Sure. What else would I put it on???” .....
hologram Ray pretending that Hen poked his eye out askjsl
“I’m gonna contact you on this watch now.” “What do I do with the old one?” “Toss it up in the air.” “.....Why?” “It’s about to self-destruct.” “Dahhh!” *tosses watch but it doesn’t do anything* “Hmm. That’s weird It’s supposed to--” BAM lololol
Do you think they chose Puerto Rico history for Hen’s test subject bc Jace is Puerto Rican??? I mean, it’s a lil specific to be coincidence (i hope they did)
“Ah, Puerto Rico. Land of....” “Puerto Ricans???” “Right.” alakjsklj
I FORGOT ABOUT THIS EP. THIS ONE IS SO FUNNY!!!! (I’m remembering what happens later in the ep lol)
antique bottle shop named “Glass from the Past” gotta love the witty names
“Let’s blow some bubbles and fight some crime.” so I see we aren’t into lame puns yet lolol
the “awwww my boot!” line is in this ep “Up the boot! Ow!” “HA!”
“Give me that pretty lavender bottle...because it matches my motorcycle helmet.” asjdlkj you can always count on hd bad guys to be goofy “You better bubble wrap that, chump! That ain’t no good to me busted.”
soooooo Ray walks in through the front door of the shop while Hen just....kind of.....walks in from...the side??? Like, Jace literally just entered from the side of the stage/set. wowowow lol
“Kid Danger.” “Yeah.” he looks so smug ajsklsjksjlk like, “that’s right. you know who i am.”
Ray telling the robber to try hitting him again lolol “Try to keep your arm straight.”
*robber hits him* “Strike three.” Hen pops in “That was only two...” “Okay, don’t correct me in front of the criminals.”
RAY YOU JUST THREW THE ROBBER INTO THAT MAN’S GLASS. WUT R U DOING???
“You really want to fight us?” looks at KD “Can I just fight the kid?” Hen’s all “???” lolol
“No you can’t just fight the--” “Sure he can! Come on, tough guy.” “Ok.” *puts his helmet over Hen’s head*
poor Hen is just spinning around
golf clubs in a store that sells glass. that’s gonna end well.
“KD! Catch this golf club!” *hits Hen in the head* aksjlsjsk
CM AND KD YOU ARE NOT HELPING!!!! YOU ARE BREAKING ALL THAT POOR MAN’S GLASS!!!!
“CM! Where are you?” “Follow the sound of my voice!” *a game of Marco/Polo w/ A LOT OF GLASS BREAKING ensues*
“Would you superheroes just leave!!!!” I feel for you, man.
Ray had to stop a wild, golf club swinging Henry lolol
“Where is he??? Did I get him???” he asks, standing amidst all the glass he broke while RAY got the bad guy
“Yeah, you got him.”
“My whole store is destroyed!” “No need to thank us.” “Thank you?” “You’re welcome.” Ray y r u lik dis
Hen’s hair is all wild from the helmet ajskjlskj
“Let’s go, KD.” “NO!!! Nobody leaves until you boys clean up all of this broken glass.”
MY POOR BB HAS TO BE UP AT 7 FOR SCHOOL. RAY YOU DID NOT NEED TO CALL HIM TO HELP YOU. YOU ENDED UP GETTING THE BAD GUY ALL BY YOURSELF. HENRY JUST BROKE MORE GLASS. LET MY SON GET HIS SLEEP!!!!
“This will only take us like....5 hrs. I’ll get u a broom!” *Hen just sinks to the floor* :(((((
Ms. Shapen just gave Hen a wet willy. aksjlksj The ever classy Sherona Shapen, ladies and gents.
CHARLOTTE IS SO TINY. EVEN THE KIDS IN THE BACK OF THE CLASS ARE SO TINY. THEY’RE. ALL. SO. TINY.
“This is what happens when you stay up all night on Twitflash and Twittlegram.” alksjskjls
poor Hen slept through his whole test (much like in my fic....hee hee)
J....y wud u want....a....wet willy???? (I love Ms. Shapen’s answering face alksjlskj)
Hen just drops back down on his desk. my son :((((
THE FIRST EVER TITLE SEQUENCE!!!!!! (last ep just had the title of the show. this one has the whole “It all just kind of happened” shebang)
“Now I protect the good citizens of Swellview.” Do you Ray? Do you?? (peep him charging ppl for that “protection” in a few years)
Hen just pouring an ENTIRE POT OF COFFEE into, as Char calls it, “a comedically large cup.” askdksjslk I fell you. I don’t drink coffee, but i. feel. you.
never get tired of these whack shows they watch on here. Natural surgery???? Surgery w/ no anesthesia??? what is that???? lolol
“You’re 13. You can’t be drinking this much coffee!!!!” “But I need it!”
concerned friends ftw
Jasp asking Hen about puberty......
“I haven’t had any dreams bc I’m not getting any sleep.” my bb...:(((
“I always have the same dream. It starts with me getting a horse for my bday. Then Jasp shows up. Then the horse kicks Jasp in the face.” “But I end up being okay, right?” “No.” her face kills me lolol
SIREN HART IS BACK ON MY SCREEN AGAIN. IT IS A BLESSED DAY.
“We’re home! Hen come help me please.” “HENRY, COME HELP YOUR MOTHER!!!” gotta love that s1 Piper
“What what what???” that’s exactly how I respond too hen alksjslkj
HEN MAKING DINNER. :’)))) I. MISS. THESE. DAYS. THE. HART. FAM. IS. MY. FAVE. AND. THEY’RE. NEVER. TOGETHER. ANYMORE. *cries*
how does one make chili balls????
“Make them spicy this time.” I love Piper so much gah
“Seriously? I’m like so busy. I don’t have time.” Ya’ll....the way he said this. he sounds so stressed.....my bb....I’m crying.
remember the days when Piper used to be anti-having Jasp in the house?? lolol I mean, she probs still is now, but she used to be a lot more vocal about it. “Aw man, Jasper’s here???” “Piper be nice.” “But Jasper’s always here. It’s NOT okay!!!”
“I’m going to the bathroom.” “Oh no, mom. Jasper’s going to use our bathroom.” ajskjslj
Piper telling on everyone as soon as her dad gets home akjslksj classic
their dad was a lot more....tolerable earlier on. I don’t mean he’s a bad character or anything. It’s just, he’s usually played for laughs now instead of being a parent. We get to see him actually parenting Hen in this ep, and it’s so nice.
“Jasper’s using our bathroom.” “Oh jeez.” Like father like daughter kajslkj (also looks like Hen got his phrase from his dad. cute!)
“and Henry said he’s not gonna make dinner.” “What??? It’s his night!” “I’M GONNA MAKE DINNER!” leave my son alone, Jake (he’s my son. not yours.)
YAS. JAKE SITTING DOWN WITH HENRY TO GIVE HIM A NICE PARENT TALK ABOUT MS. SHAPEN CALLING HIM ABOUT HENRY’S FAILED TEST. YAS. YAS. YAS. I LOVE ME SOME HEALTHY FAMILIAL CONTENT!!!!!
“She called you at work?!?.....Ah, that’s so rude of her. God.” alksjslk nice save hen
“Do you realize how important Puerto Rican history is???” aksjlkjs I really thing they’re doing this bc of Jace. Like, I really do.
Hen apologizing for letting his dad down :’))))
JAKE. HART. BEING. CONCERNED. FOR. HIS. SON. YASSSSS. He sees that maybe having a job is causing Hen’s grades to slip THIS is how you parent. (wish i had me a dad like that...)
you don’t get your 12 yr old daughter to drive u home from mouth surgery.....looking at you s4
“I can’t quit! My job’s a really big deal.” *puts hand on his dad’s leg* “It’s a junk shop. *moves Hen’s hand* You sweep the floors.” ajskjskjskl if only you knew
Hen’s like “I’m gonna go upstairs and study right now!” he takes off and his dad grabs him at the last second and makes him do this spin and akjsljs I just thought that was funny
“You study after you make the chili balls. And make them spicy this time.” He and Piper share this look lolol they’re so similar. it’s crazy
Hen yawning as he serves dinner :(((( he doesn’t even eat. he’s going without food AND sleep. MY SON NO!!!!
“I posted a pic, and now it has 45 comments. So now i have to comment on the comments!” “I’m about to comment on you.” asklkjskl (too tru tho Pipes)
RAYMOND. STOP FUSSING AT MY SON. HE IS TRYING HIS HARDEST. HE CAN ONLY DO SO MANY THINGS AT ONCE.
“Why aren’t you on your way over here???” “Because. I got in trouble for sleeping in class....and i had to make chili balls.” “Chili...balls?” “It was ‘my night’.” lolol I love the way Hen says that. so snarky
Hen stretching over his bed like “I’m just gonna....” slaps himself in the face to keep up “Maybe I can just....I’m just gonna lie down. 5 minutes tops. just 5 min” before he just passes out is SUCH a mood.
Okay, Ray coming in thru hen’s window all angry in covered in sewage is HILARIOUS
like, I love this little “I’m gonna kill him” angry dance thing he does aksjlkjs
oh my god he’s waving his smell in Hen’s direction asjksjsl
“Awww what’s that smell???” “I’m that smell!”
“Well, Ray, I guess I fell asleep.” “WeLl I gUeSs I fElL aSlEeP!!!” Ray u sound like scooby-doo aksjskj
“You know what’s down in the Swellview sewer???” “....poop.” “POOP!”
omg I forgot about Pipes being suspicious of the voices in Hen’s room
“Who are u talking to in here???” “Nobody.” “MOM!!!!!” “Aw jeez.” using his dad’s phrase :)))))
Hen blaming the smell on piper aksjlslkj
“It’s Piper.” “What???” “She hasn’t had a bath in a week.” “That’s a lie!”
“You disappointed me tonight.” “I’m disappointing everybody. People should just call me ‘Kid Disappointment’.” Hen....:((( (but the way he said the last part was really funny akjdlskj)
WHAAAATTT???? RAY WANTS HEN TO TALK TO HIM TO HELP FIGURE OUT A SOLUTIONG TO A PROBLEM???? YOU MEAN HE’S NOT BEING UNJUSTIFIABLY PARANOID OR RIDICULOUS??? HE’S NOT JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS??? HE’S NOT BREAKING THE LAW OR HARMING OTHERS OR DOUBTING HENRY’S INTEGRITY????? WHAAAATTT????
^^^^^that was a jab at the Ray we’ve seen as of late
“Time. School. Working for you. My family. It’s just a lot to handle.” TOO TRUE HENRY. TOO. FREAKING. TRUE.
“I do know a guy who can get rid of your family.” Who, Ray. Who do you know?
Ray actually wanting to fix a problem rather than make it worse. Yes.
and so begins Ray’s crush on Siren. Nice try dude. My crush began the second she was on screen.
“Who’s this?” “My mom.” “Niiiiiiice. Is she still, uh, married to your dad, or--” “Yes.” “Does she ever seem lonely or--” “Go home, Ray.”
“The picture, Ray.”
aksjdklj I love that interchange.
also Hen just has this portrait of his mom in his room lolol what a momma’s boy :)))))
Jasp x Char covering for Hen even tho they have no idea what’s up ;’))))
GOOCH. MY MAN.
Henry does NOT have hepatitis Japser!!!! ajslkjslk
Gooch and Hen harmonizing those weird sounds omg lolol
“Oohloolooloooloooo--why am I doing this?!??!?!”
“Relax, kid.” “I can’t. I’ve got a huge makeup test tomorrow. I need to study, and you guys are making me go ‘oohloolooloo’“ “It’s ‘Oohloolooloo--” “I don’t care!!!!” I LOVE sassy Henry
all studying done in 30 seconds???? Where can i get me one of these???
“It’s a cerebral data transducer--or as we call it, the HRZ.” wtf???? lolol
“Why am i locked in a chair???” Hen asking the real questions.
the way Ray says “Puerrrrto RRRRRicoooo!”
“Will this hurt???” “Yes.” WHAT???” lolol
okay can you imagine the now jace being as extra as this jace??? No??? I didn’t think so. lololol
“Well?” “That hurt BAAAAD!!!”
“I don’t know anything about P--” *starts spitting out random PR facts* askjljsk “Wooooaaahhhh. I know Puerto Ricoooooo.”
the amount of times they’ve said Puerto Rico in this ep is crazy. I’m definitely convinced they did this for Jace alskjskl
“Do you think it’s cheating???” “Ehhhh.” “It’s a gray area.” GOOCH X RAY ARE MY FAVES. (i love Schwoz, but Ray x Gooch had some good chemistry.)
“I really doing this appreciate you for me.’ ASKLJDLKSJ I LOVE THIS PART OF THE EPISODE. THE SIDE EFFECTS ARE MY FAVORITE PART.
at first, i didn’t even register that he’d switched the order of the words. I was like, “Ok, I knew what he meant, but something about it made my brain feel weird???” lololol
I wonder if Jace had a hard time getting the mixed up order right akjsksl
I love the way Ray says “Uh oh.” with his eyes closed. Like, “I knew this might happen, but I was really hoping it wouldn’t.” lksjklsj
“Well you could’ve before that you told me!!!” THESE PARTS ARE MAKING ME LAUGH SO HARD.
Henry: *screams all high-pitched* aljsklsjls I’M CACKLING
I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS EPISODE!!!!!!!!
“So I’m gonna girl like a days for a few screams---wait.” LOLOLOLOL
*screams again*
“.......You guys wanna get lunch?” CLASSIC Ray. (can something be classic already in the first ep??? I guess the word is vintage. VINTAGE Ray.....but those r the same thing??? I don’t know ajksjlsk)
“The Vermont army finally surrendered and fled the coconut plantations.” “Coconuts in Vermont?” askjslkj school really be like that sometimes
Jasper just doodling the whole time. ME.
“Okay everyone. Get out.” Ms. Shapen is a constant mood. lolol
“100 my makeup test on I got!!!.....I mean, I got a hundred on my makeup test???” aksjlk I love u Hen
*randomly screams* “...” “.... That was inappropriate.” “I just got excited.”I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW MUCH THIS PART MAKES ME LAUGH ALKSJKLSJ
“I’m really proud of you, Henry. I’d give you a hug if it wouldn’t get me fired.” ajsksj
“Have a good weekend.” “Too you.” “....”
Henry said “Yeah, baby!” to Char. :))))) (I know it was just a quick thing on the fly, but it’s still cute)
“Where were you?” “I go to had somewhere.”
ya’ll. Henry’s mix ups are KILLING me.
“One more time???” “I. had. to. go. somewhere. Nailed it.”
*randomly screams again*
CHAR’S SCARED FACE. I’M DYING.
“You later see!” ALKSJKLJSK
I LAUGHED FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THE END OF THIS EPISODE.
I JUST REALLY LOVE THIS EPISODE. I FORGOT HOW MUCH I DID, AND IT WAS GREAT TO BE REMINDED.
this ep had it all
tired/overworked/stressed hen and his supportive friends and fam
then there’s that GOLDEN last two minutes with the side effects
just. wow.
props to Jace for doing an incredible job
he really delivered the goofiness. love my boy :))))))
rewatching these was such a good idea <3333
#this ep is def one of my faves#i was reminded how much i love it#hope this was enjoyable for you guys too#hd rewatch#mo' danger mo' problems
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OUAT, Carmilla, Ghostbusters, PLL, Supergirl. Swanqueen, Hollstein, Holtzbert, Emison, Sanvers and Supercorp. Ruby Lucas, LaFontaine, Patty Tolan, Hanna Marin and Winn Schott
001 | Once Upon a time
Favorite character: Regina Mills.
Least favorite character: Captain Hook.
5 Favorite ships: Swanqueen, Rumbelle, Snowing, Swan-Mills family & Red Kansas.
Character I find most attractive: Regina Mills.
Character I would marry: Regina Mills.
Character I would be best friends with: Emma Swan.
A random thought: Can it be gayer.
An unpopular opinion: Rumbelle is true love.
My canon OTP: Rumbelle.
Non-canon OTP: Swanqueen.
Most badass character: Emma Swan.
Pairing I am not a fan of: Outlawqueen & Captainswan.
Character I feel the writers screwed up ( in one way or another): Snow white and Emma Swan.
Favourite friendship: Belle and Emma.
001 | Carmilla
Favorite character: Laura Hollis.
Least favorite character: Danny Lawrence.
5 favorite ships: LaFerry and Hollstein (i really don’t have five.)
Character I find most attractive: Carmilla Karnstein.
Character I would marry: Laura Hollis or LaFontaine.
Character I would be best friends with: LaFontaine.
A random thought: I’m blessed with this show.
An unpopular opinion: I don’t think the acting in the first season was all that amazing.
my canon OTP: Hollstein.
Non-canon OTP: LaFerry.
Most badass character: Carmilla Karnstein.
pairing I am not a fan of: Laura + Danny.
Character I feel the writers screwed up: none.
Favourite friendship: Carmilla + LaF.
001 | Ghostbusters
Favorite character: Jillian Holtzmann.
Least favorite character: Kevin.
favorite ship: Holtzbert.
Character I find most attractive: Jillian Holtzmann.
Character I would marry: Abby Yates
Character I would be best friends with: Abby Yates.
A random thought: it was all very gay.
An unpopular opinion: -
My canon OTP: -
Non-canon OTP: Holtzbert.
Most badass character: Patty Tolan.
Pairing I’m not a fan of: Abby/Holtz
Character I feel the writers screwed up: -
Favorite friendship: Abby/Holtz.
001 | Pretty Little Liars
Favorite character: Spencer Hastings.
Least favorite character: Jason Dilaurentis.
4 favorite ships: Emison, Spoby, Ezria & Haleb.
Character I find most attractive: Spencer Hastings.
Character I would marry: Alison Dilaurentis.
Character I would best friends with: Hanna Marin.
A random thought: can’t wait for it to end.
An unpopular opinion: It should’ve ended after S4 or 5.
My canon OTP: lol none are canon right now.
Non-canon OTP: Emison.
Most badass character: Alison Dilaurentis.
Pairing I am not a fan of: Caleb/Spencer.
Character I feel the writers screwed up: Alison Lauren fucking Dilaurentis.
Favourite friendship: Hannily.
001 | Supergirl
Favorite character: Kara Danvers
Least favorite character: James Olsen.
5 favorite ships: Sanvers, supercorp and supercat.
Character I find most attractive: Kara Danvers.
Character I would marry: Alex Danvers.
Character I would be best friends with: Winn.
A random thought: IT’S JUST SO GOOD.
An unpopular opinion: I don’t think Mon-el and Kara are cute together.
Pairing I’m not a fan of: Mon-el/Kara.
Character I feel the writers screwed up: -
Favourite friendship: Kara/Alex & Kara/Barry.
002 | Swanqueen
When or if I started shipping it: A few months ago, even though I’ve watched this show from the moment they aired the pilot.
My thoughts: They would make a perfect couple. Everything would be perfect. the daughter of the woman she hates and wants dead will give her her happy ending. So ultimately Snow, who ‘took away’ Regina’s happy ending would be the one to ‘give’ it back to her.
What makes me happy about them: They’re so different yet the understand each other so well. They’re both individually so fucking strong. When they are together they can actually fucking move the moon. If that ain’t love idk.
What makes me sad about them: They probably won’t ever be canon thanks to #Heteronormativity.
Things in fanfic that annoys me: When they paint Regina to always be snarky and hateful. When they barely give her any chapters where she’s soft and has her guard down.
Things I look for in a fic: Slowburn, jealousy, Regina slowly letting her guard down, Emma being there to catch Regina when she’s hopeless and lonely. Emma giving Regina hope. Regina adoring Emma’s childish quirks. Emma calling regine ‘Gina’.
My kinks: the eyefucking they do all the fucking time.
Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Regina/Robin and Emma/Belle.
My happily ever after for them: Living together, with Henry, in love, and no more HURT THEY’VE BEEN THROUGH A FAIR SHARE.
AND DUDE YOU GAVE ME SO MANY PAIRINGS AND SHOWS, I’M TIRED THIS IS ALL I’M GIVING :’)
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leaving storybrooke.
ever since the cancellation was announced, i’ve been trying to figure out how to put into words all that once upon a time has meant to me. at first i was like, ‘i’m gonna keep a draft and write down all the thoughts i have about ouat until the finale & give my whole sordid emotional tale!’ but that......was a bit much for me also trying to finish up the semester at the same time. then i thought i’d go for a seven-day countdown - also not the smartest idea to try and pull off during finals week. so here i am on the day of instead.
so what up once upon a time. how you been doin’.
rhetorical question, i know how you’ve been - you and me, we’ve been together since day one. actually a little bit before, because you first drew my interest from a magazine spread the summer of 2011. you fell right in line with my being raised on my mom’s love for the 10th kingdom, and right after i’d grown out of reading the sisters grimm as a kid. i watched the pilot and fell in love by the end of the first scene, and realized i’d found something to stick with me when the clock struck 8:16. after an unsuccessful first confusion with tumblr, you’re what drew me to the platform after ‘skin deep’ aired and i needed to scream. the day that filming vids from the season 1 finale were shared and we all realized that joe & farming meant a lot more than they did 30 seconds ago was nuts, and i was a mess when emma kissed henry’s forehead and broke the curse.
an even bigger mess when the tv cut out right in the middle of rumple revealing why he’d thrown that vial down the well and i had to go digging for the full end of season 1, but y’know that’s not sentimental or shit, that was just annoying and that’s not what we’re here for today.
then s2 came around and we exploded exponentially. between ‘ask if we have avocado’ and the main cast growing and you getting on netflix, we went from a little dinghy to a whole fleet. you could mention once upon a time and people would actually know what you were talking about, and it was easy to make friends between everyone groaning about how many random breaks the show got that year. it was still marked by the same disagreements that were started in s1, but joining the ranks were the starts of ship wars - tho looking back at it now, i don’t actually remember being as much of an issue then. they were there, yea, but not an overwhelming issue; i actually don’t remember them becoming publicly ugly until marketing surged up for s3 and press articles started pitting them against one another. but i also view that time through rose-tinted glasses, so who knows.
besides that, tho, i remember s3 fondly. it started with what i believe would be found in photoshop’s toilet, and ‘going home’ was beautiful and the culmination of 2 and a half years of love. the nonsense died down when ‘quiet minds’ aired and there was actually a mutual agreement of respect towards everyone who mourned neal’s death. i’m gonna admit, you kind of lost your luster there for me for a while after that though. baelfire had been so intricately involved with the heart of the showing, and his death just felt like that heart was being ripped away.
but s4 was still wacky and enjoyable, and the finale made me so excited to see henry back in his spot of ‘only believer in a cursed land’ but with a twist. actually, deviating from that - i loved how every almost finale was about henry in some way. whether it was breaking the curse, him being pan’s real goal, operation mongoose, him acting out his mourning of his father and getting the world to believe in magic, or him getting the curse to break one last time and heading off to an epilogue that was, finally, his own story -- henry was the even greater heart of you and that was never forgotten. he got the most continuity in his development, and a lot of us got to grow up along with him in storybrooke, maine. i was 14 when i started this show, barely starting my freshman year of high school. 7 years later, and i’m going to be starting my senior year of college. henry was bleeding heart, stubborn optimism that just refused to die out.
it wasn’t any mystery about why he ended up my favorite character.
so where was i - oh yea, finales and going into s5. which... existed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ hey bleeding heart and stubborn optimism may not have only been henry’s character but the personification of my relationship with you, but even the stubbornest glasses half-filled have to admit when you get an off year. the ball got dropped on dark swan, making an arc that could’ve been all about reconciling the grief emma felt for her childhood with her still trying to fully open her heart to her family, but y’know. the hets sell. i actually liked the underworld arc, but i was so burnt out from the first half that i couldn’t really get invested as i could have with a solid first half of the season. s6 was a much better improvement on stable quality, and the final battle is still up there battling for one of my favorite episodes. and then... end of book one. onto the epilogue.
i’ve always meant it when i’ve said that i feel sorry for everyone who skipped out on this last season. season 7 has been amazing. with the majority of the fanbase gone taking the bad apples with them, i haven’t felt this much peace in the community since season 1. everyone left were the people who had fallen in love with the heart of the show. the new characters were amazing - alice jones has made me cry, i still am so thankful to this last year for finally giving me a version of hook to genuinely love, because i hate missing out on a good thing but hook prime was just not a character i could get on board with. and everyone i’ve seen who started watching the season later has fallen in love with it too. it’s a good thing, it’s a love letter to the heart of the show, and it shows how much the people behind it have grown since s1. there were six years of mistakes. like, no doubt about it, there were just straight up mistakes. but they grew from them and kept working it until they knew how to make good on them. and i’m grateful for that, to see them learn and grow right along their audience, their characters, and this incredible piece of spiteful optimism that is once upon a time.
so. that’s how it happened. 7 years of once upon a time, of growing up from an awkward teenager to a child who can drink trying her best. there’s a lot more, like the friendships i’ve made or the relationships i fell in love with, but that’s the core of it. i am very grateful to have loved a show with so much heart in it, that was never afraid to be embarrassingly emotional or completely heartfelt about the concept of hope. there have been a lot of things that weren’t entirely genuine, but i think that the bookends of season 1 to season 7 were. this was the little show that could. and i’m very glad that i could have even some small part of it.
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Agents of Shield: Why you should watch/spoiler free review
So seeing as the 100th episode is coming up very shortly I decided to re-watch seasons 1-4 (no I didn’t have the time yet here I am) and then thought well why not review it! I’m sure there are some people who are mildly interested especially with the buzz around the landmark ep, so if your thinking bout it or wondering why it has such dedicated fans read on! As the title suggests this is gonna be as spoiler free as possible so I’ll be calling characters certain names and not mentioning others, so if you’ve seen the show and are a bit confused, that’s why. Ill be laying it out with headings in bold so if you’re just interested in a particular thing, just jump to it.Ill also not b reviewing season 5 as its not done yet. With that lets dive in with a small intro on how to watch!
To binge or not to binge?
I’m sure 100 episodes feels daunting and it certainly is with episodes averaging 43 mins and about 22 eps a season its not something to take lightly if your a busy person. Genuinely not trying to sound elitist but I have been watching from its inception so I have experienced both kinds of viewing and as far as which is better I feel it depends on the season. I barley remember watching it back when it first aired, but what I do remember is being excited for every episode and as far as the latest seasons go Id say an episode a day is better. I found I easily binged the first 2 seasons but slowed down at 3 so I think its up to you and how much free time you have but both ways are definitely viable. With the tedious stuff out of the way its on to the good stuff, what makes Agents of Shield so good!
The Characters
To say the characters are the life and soul of the show is an understatement. One of the joys of re watching the series was seeing just how far each character has come. It is also one of the only shows were I can confidently say I liked pretty much every single character that has come through the roster. From my favourite Skye, to May, Jemma, Fitz, Coulson, Mack, Yo-Yo, Bobbi, Hunter, Trip, the Koenigs, General Talbot, Radcliffe and so many others. Even villains, which some are particularly good in a “Can I kill them myself?” sort of way. With a lot of these shows the characters tend to go in a loop or just become stagnant, Arrow comes to mind (I’ve actually not really seen many other made for T.V hero shows so Arrows gonna be my main point of reference, sorry if your a fan of that show) Yet here its a natural progression. They react and change depending on the situations and events they’ve gone through and they all change in different ways. They’re are all unique, with their own personalities and goals.
Villains
So where would the characters be without some good villains and for the most part they’re a lot better then your regular MCU villains. There are some pretty complex well thought out villains who last for more than one season, they’re always there lurking in the back. The villains also effect the characters in some pretty huge ways, there not just there for the lols and then gone again, well some are. You can also sympathize with a good few of them as they are pretty well developed.They have motives and history and their own character development. They can be pretty imposing when they want to be as well. There are, of course, your throw away baddies and your cliched ones but there are as I’ve said ones with real dept to them.
The Actors
Now the characters wouldn’t be very good if the actors were shit now would they? Luckily the quality is very high with everyone in the main cast being superb. Saying that we have to talk about that elephant in the room, a certain character that may have put you off watching the show, Phil Coulson played by Clark Greg. To me I see his style of acting as unique, quirky yet it can be seen as stilted and just plain bad acting which is understandable. The first season is not his best but if you give it time he can put on some amazing performances and he has become much more natural to it. Still I feel like he is the Marmite of the show. As for the other actors there are some truly amazing performances. The chemistry between the actors is insane and its what gives them so much life. In particular Elizabeth Henstridge who plays Jemma and Iain De Caestecker who plays Fitz. Their scenes together are just fantastic from season 1 they blow you out of the park with heart wrenching scenes and in season 4 both have gut wrenching performances and both play off very well with Skye played by Chloe Bennet. Particularly the mid season episode in season 2 (I think) with Fitz and Skye and episode 15 in season 4 with Jemma and Skye, but there are so many more little moments between all the characters (a point I’ll get to in another paragraph). Some other performances I want to point out for the shear range of their skills are Brett Dalton - Ward and Mallory Jansen - Aide. I’m not kidding when I say their performances should have gotten rewards, I thought they were excellent. And finally one guy who never fails to make me laugh or cry with the amount of emotion he’s able to display, Henry Simmons as Alphonso "Mack" MacKenzie. A true joy to watch, no one brings more emotion than him, he is the sweetest and deserves more recognition for his performance.
Writing
Just as a precursor I’m studying law/classics so I’m not an expert when it comes to the next few points but I’ll be damned if I don’t try my best! Overall I think the writings pretty decent, it has its ups and downs, as I’ll try to explain. With the first season the first half is pretty episodic but it does have those big pay off moments and I think that’s more what Shield tries to make itself about, even if that doesn’t happen. They have a lot of these mystery's that they build up to and getting there its pretty tense but the payoff doesn’t seem to last. Its a bit hard to explain. This only really happens with the one mystery element they insist on having. Season 2 is the biggest culprit but that doesn't take away from other moments that build up into something bigger. They usually sneak up on you. The example episodes I mentioned in the previous paragraph are some of the best and if I could go back and watch S4Ep15 fresh Id do it in a heart beat. The writers are very good at creating tension, its there specialty. I often find myself on the edge of my seat, even re watching the old episodes it brought back the same tension I felt the first time and when they want to bring the emotion the writers sure do deliver. Now for all the good stuff there is of course the pacing issues and odd dud arc. I didn’t notice it two much for seasons 1 + 2 cause it was like I was watching it brand new cause I have the memory of a gold fish but when I hit season 3 that was a struggle. The pacing just ground to a halt after the first half even though that season has one of the most unique episodes in the whole series it also has the worst. The first third of season 4 also suffers from the same pacing issues but it picks up soon so its not too bad. Apart from a few dud lines, the writing overall is pretty decent and the stories can be a fun watch but as I've said, it’s the characters that bring the heart to the show.
The Fight Scenes
Whats a good hero show without some action, right? Well Shield brings it in spades with seasons 2 + 3 being the highlights, particularly season 2. There’s an amazing one take fight with Skye that’s so fluid and the choreography is just perfect (little fact Chloe Bennet fractured her arm during this scene didn’t know and kept going doing other scenes!) There’s another fight with May, you’ll know the one, which just shows how technical they’re willing to get and still make it look great. They aren’t obsessed with 500 cuts a second although they aren’t immune to some dodgy cuts, they just know when to do it and make it seem so real and clear as to whats going on. I was genuinely stunned when i went to watch Arrow S4 and the fights were just so bad. It has something to do with the camera. In Arrow the fps seems higher or something making it look really bad while in Shield the cameras smooth. I don’t actually know what the difference is but if you watch em side by side you’ll know what I mean. Unfortunately the fight quality dips in season 4 I found. The punches don’t look like the connect and they started to rely on jump cuts more which is a pity. I’m not talking about S5 here but it seems to be mildly better than 4. Either way it is still always fun to see the fight scenes and they were very enjoyably to re-watch.
Special Effects/Practical Effects/Make-up/Sets
For a TV show Shield has some damn good effects going on. The first season is obviously going to be a bit rough and it is but they really step up their game in season 2. The way they show powers and the CGI behind them are pretty high quality for a lot of the times its used. This extend into S3 + 4 thankfully and especially with a certain someone in S4. It is a pity though that the team hasn’t really got a grasp on landscape green screen. Its fine if its just a quinjet, which I think are very well done and as I’ve said when powers are in play they can be very realistic but as soon as you slap someone in front of a green screen it turns to shit. The biggest culprit is the S2 finale where the bad CGI effectively ruins the big climactic scene, its really bad, I’m not exaggerating. Its not like it was even a complicated background, it actually looks really dull, I have no idea what went wrong but bad backgrounds are a running theme. If there’s no people in the shot they tend to look good, so that’s something! As for the practical effects they have that down to a tee. Explosions look good, props are realistic and the guns feel they have weight to them with the sparks and holes they make. The stunts are also quality and the makeup is superb. The bruises and cuts all look very realistic and if a character needs to look like shit, they look like shit. The production design is well above that of other hero shows on TV, its a credit to the team. Every location (when there’s not bad green screen) looks real and used. They really do a good job of making every individual set come alive!
Diversity
Diversity is a key issue when it comes to any TV show, hero or not and luckily Shield somewhat provides. In terms of people of colour and where people are from in the world it has a lot to offer. Its lead actress, Chloe Bennet, is Chinese-American and she did a great piece on how Asian American actors/actresses are treated, I highly recommend you look it up. With Chloe we have, of course, the amazing Ming-Na Wen who is reason enough to watch the show tbh. There’s Henry Simmons and B.J Briit who are both African American, Natalia Cordova-Buckley who’s Mexican and Gabriel Luna who’s Mexican American. There is also a couple characters from Britain which livens up the accents a bit so they’re not all just American. There is of course more poc but those are the main characters, so Shield doesn’t disappoint in that department, something which can’t be said for LGBT+ representation. I originally thought there were no LGBT+ characters but while watching the second time it turns out there is a singular gay character in the show as far as I can tell, which is something I will always be disappointed in. Whats worse is the character just kinda disappears, so I wouldn't get attached. It is such a pity they never had more LGBT+ characters and it is a stain on the show as a whole. (Just an aside I am Irish so if anything I said above is offensive just let me know, I know how important diversity is so I wanted to include this as a point cause it could be a deal breaker for some, myself included, especially when it comes to LGBT+ characters, so just say if anything sounds bad to you and if it is I’ll change it immediately)
The Little Moments
So here’s what I’ve been alluding to through out the review. It’s one of my favourite things about Shield is how they have these little moments, these scenes that just come out of no where and hit you in the gut. It shows how dedicated the actors are, they’re at 100% all the time. I find it really noticeable in the earlier seasons as with the later ones its just emotion all the time, but there’ll still be those nuggets of just two characters talking and having amazing chemistry. These moments have the ability to turn a mediocre episode into a great one such as S3Ep13 which was a fairly average episode that had the most tear jerking scens and even thinking about it is making me tear up. (I swear Mack in that scene ack I can’t) So if you do decide to watch the show look out for the little moments, they are just so amazing and sweet and when combined with the great acting and characters they really bring the show together.
For the final bit I’m gonna rank the seasons worst to best and try and explain why, still no spoilers obviously and it is going to be a bit biased but here we go!
Season 3
Probably get hate for this but I did not like season 3. The first half is pretty good but my god the second half is so slow and tedious. It should have been great, I really liked where they were going but it took so long to get there I nearly feel asleep. It also has my least favourite character (introduced in season 2 for reference) in the spot light to much and he just really badly effected my favourite character so much so that it carries over to the 4th season and causes them to be very whiny for too long (it’ll make more sense or less if you watch it).
Season 4
Another controversial pick but I just didn’t really like the first third of this season. It had pacing issues and I wasn’t very invested in the story. After that though its a banger of a season and the latter half really lets the actors show off their skills and by god they do. Its great the first time round, not so much the second but still good. A great season overall.
Season 1
This was tough for me, I really enjoyed the first season. I think its more the fact on second viewing I know where all the characters are going to end up and seeing them all so innocent, so pure is just heart breakingly good. I remember watching the mid season finale back when it first aired and just being riveted to the screen. I was as worried as the characters on the show! Also gotta give it props for having one of my first crushes, Skye, still love her to this day <3
Season 2
Ah season 2 how much I love yet feel bad loving you. If you don’t know I’m not the biggest fan of a certain group of characters and they make their appearance in a big way. So you’re probably wondering why I like it then. Well instead of following the comics (kinda) with these characters they make them more like the X-Men so even though their name sends a shiver down my spine every time I hear it I think they’re done very well so I can put my hatred behind me as long as there’s no royals in the future I’ll be good. This season also has my favourite series of episodes 11-15. These episodes are just so, so good. The tension in the first few, my God and there’s a specific scene with Fitz and Skye that is just so heartbreaking and good argh I love it. This season also introduces Bobbi and Hunter two great character and I also discovered that i have a terryfying fear of having shit being stabbed under my nails or having them pulled off so that’s great! (Its actually a horrifyingly good scene, the most gruesome in the series and once again great tension)
Conclusion
There’s so much more id like to say but I’m just so bad at putting it into words and also its long enough as is, don’t you think? If by some miracle you read all that, thank you and if I have convinced you to try the show or re visit it please tell me what you think, Id love to know! If you have watched the show and read this for some reason please add on anything I missed. As long as its spoiler free go ahead, positive or negative! (As long as its no like ugh this show sucks, at least give some points) So I guess that’s it! Thanks for reading and here’s to the 100th episode!!
#i didnt even mention ships#or how they have great female friendships#or trauma#my god#Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#agents of shield#Phil Coulson#melinda may#daisy johnson#skye#jemma simmons#leopold fitz#mack#yo yo#review#i put it in word to see how long it was thinking it might break a thousand#its 3063#wtf#long#text
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9x14: Scars - Details and an Epiphany!
As I said yesterday, this episode was loaded with parallels, most of it very subtle. If you haven’t read my post from yesterday, click on the link and read it because I’ll be referencing it a lot here. The other great thing about this episode is that it seems every scene and line of dialogue is packed full of callbacks and parallels. I’m sure I’ve missed a lot of them.
***As always, spoilers abound for TWD 9x14. Don’t read until you’ve watched! You’ve been warned!***
The short of it is that Rick and Michonne’s story is closely mirroring Beth and Daryl’s (one member gone and presumed dead by the other).
We saw some water symbols, such as when Michonne and Daryl searched for Rick's corpse by a body of water. Daryl said he'd followed it all the way to the ocean. We've seen a lot of ocean symbolism around Beth, especially in conjunction with Oceanside. Now, that cannot extend to Rick. So, the two people believed dead by TF but who we know are alive will probably both returned by ocean. So that reinforces that Rick/Michonne are going through the same arc as Beth and Daryl.
In that same conversation, Michonne asks Daryl if he's coming back to Alexandria. He says yes, once he finds something. Michonne says, "Plenty of reasons to come back. Finding something doesn't have to be one of them." I think that's part of the, "we get to come back," theme.
Of course, Daryl says he will never stop looking, and we definitely want to compare that to him looking for breath after she disappeared. Again, because the arcs are the same, this confirms what we’ve always theorized: that Daryl looked for Beth but never found her. Just as he’s never found Rick.
Then there's the sad line where Michonne asks if he's okay being alone. First of all, part of the “it’s okay/not okay” theme. When I saw this scene before the episode aired in a sneak peek, I actually this interaction. I thought Daryl said, “Yes,” but he didn’t. He simply nodded and then asked Michonne, "You?"
So, when Michonne replies, "I'm not." I thought she meant she was not okay being alone. But what she really meant is that she wasn't alone because she had the baby.
This line is actually much sadder for Daryl because he is alone. I think we all know him saying he’s okay being alone is a load of crap, given his reaction to Beth’s statement about him being the last man standing. The most obvious parallel here is to be episode Alone from S4. Obviously Daryl has been alone in the woods for several years after the time jump, and he is surviving, but he's not really okay. (Beth: "it's not okay.")
And I know Michonne didn't mean anything negative, by it, but it's really kind of insensitive thing to say to Daryl. After all, he doesn't have Beth’s baby to remember her bad, does he?
Michonne finds Rick's gun, which is a lot like Daryl getting Beth’s knife. I can't help but wonder what this means for how Carol came to have Beth’s knife. Because, as we’ve established, this is such a close parallel to Beth and Daryl, we can draw conclusions from what they’re showing us here. So did Carol find Beth’s knife in the mud somewhere AFTER her body went missing? The parallel probably won’t be that close, but we really don’t know what went down during that missing 17 days, and I’m willing to be that in a broad way, the parallel to how Michonne found Rick’s gun will be direct.
I noticed when Michonne puts Rick’s gun in Judith’s box, there's a picture behind her with purple flowers in it. That jumped out at me because I remember in S7, when Maggie woke up at Hilltop after Glenn died, there were purple flowers that looked exactly like those ones. Because of the way they showed Maggie wake up, we compared it to Beth waking up to Grady. We also saw similar flowers when Rick woke up in the hospital in S1. I’ll talk more about this at the end, but it could be a tie to Beth at Grady, or simply to Maggie having lost Glenn at that point. Michonne has lost Rick for all intents and purposes right now.
When Daryl and his group arrived at Alexandria, I noticed a couple of random references in the dialogue. Connie holds up a note to Michonne and says she wished she had worn different shoes.
Super random, and kinda funny, but I wonder if it's a reference to the lost shoe/foot theme. I also noticed animal cages hanging in the background. They’re square, not like the rounded birdcage we saw in Beth’s cell, but still similar.
We all agreed that Henry’s scar reminded us of Beth’s. Probably just because you can see the stitching. Henry, with all the Beth parallels he's had this season, now has a scar.
Aaron tells Daryl that he once told him he would be a great dad and it turned out to be true. A couple of things about this. It does show that what Aaron said back then was a foreshadow. (Another thing TD has been written about.) And we did suggest that, while we do think Daryl will eventually have his own children, a part of that could have foreshadowed him being a father figure to Lydia and Henry. This is a confirmation that that was the case.
(Quick aside: those people to swore to high heaven Daryl would have a romance with Lydia? TD was right about that too. Definitely not a romance, and he is definitely a father figure to her. Daryl didn't even bother denying it in this conversation. Just saying.)
You could argue that the father foreshadow ONLY referred to Henry and Lydia, but I don't think so. My evidence for it comes from this same conversation. Aaron specifically says, “you got to skip the exploding diaper part,” to which Daryl replies, “A lot’s changed. Back then, we were still building bridges.” It feels like a contradiction of what Aaron said, which to me says Daryl may have to deal with the diaper situation at some point.
The dialogue itself is also important. “A lot’s changed,” is a callback to Beth’s, “I wish I could just change.” And then there’s the Bridge Theory.
There is a part where RJ asks for more tomatoes. We’ve seen the tomato symbol a lot. In general, they represent peace and prosperity. I'm not sure where they had RJ asked for them. Perhaps to show that RJ is doing well at Alexandria, or perhaps because Michonne thinks there is peace there, which right now there largely is. It's right after that, the Judith goes missing.
When she finds Judith gone, Michonne goes to see Negan. He makes an interesting horse reference. When he realizes Judith is missing, he says, "maybe she's off petting a horse." The way he's using it in context is to say, maybe she’s off doing something idle or little-girlish. But we know she's not. He says she's Michonne's daughter and, like Michonne, she's not taking shit going down.
The first thing petting the horse made me think of was Daryl and Buttons, which happened in S5, right after Beth. We can also point out the Horse Theory in general. So, not sure exactly why they used this line here, but it's interesting. Again, with how closely this whole thing is paralleling Beth and Daryl, the horse reference makes a certain amount of sense.
Judith took Rick’s gun and left a note. Naturally, we always went to compare any written notes to Beth.
We also saw a super-random bicycle in the middle of the woods, maybe meant to be Judith’s? I’m honestly not sure what to make of that yet, but it was obviously a symbol of something, and it was mostly yellow (Beth color). I know a revamp of my bicycle theory is long past due, so I may come back to this.
Overall, I thought the end of this episode was very sweet and very good in showing not only Michonne and Judith bonding, but Michonne’s character development.
I gotta say, I loved the horse drawn minivan.
So, in a more general way, this tells us a lot about Michonne’s new attitude at the beginning of this arc, why she wouldn't let people in, etc. It was a flawed way of thinking, but after seeing what happened, we understand more where she's coming from. It does seem that she's now moving back toward the Michonne she used to be and what Rick and Carl would have wanted.
Quick note: While this does explain a lot of the questions we had about the time jump, it definitely doesn't explain them all. It doesn't explain why Tara, specifically, was so angry at Michonne. Even in the flashback with Carol and Tara and Jesus, Tara’s says Michonne isn’t her favorite person these days. She’s already very angry with her. Maybe it's just because Michonne decided not to let people in, but Tara's anger almost seems a little too heavy for that. So, we don't know specifically why Hilltop is angry at Michonne. We don't know why they all dropped their farming tools and ran inside the gates when they heard riders coming.
We also still don't know how Daryl lost the wing on his vest. When I noticed he had both wings when the flashback started, I thought when he got shot by the arrow by one of the kids, maybe somehow that made the wing fall off his vest. But I did find this shot when they returned Alexandria with the kids, and both wings are still on Daryl's vest. So still not know how that happened either.
We also don’t know how he got the scar over his eye, as that doesn’t seem to have been a result of this incident either. So again, he answers a lot of the questions we had, but not all. Other stuff must have happened to result in the rest.
Jocelyn:
Jocelyn, who just so happens to know Michonne—Denise Huth confirmed on TTD that it was a mere coincidence that Michonne ran into someone she'd known before the turn—pretends to be hurt and needs help finding the kids she's caring for. Michonne and some others going find them in an abandoned building and bring them back to Alexandria.
They employed a TON of dialogue foreshadow in these flashbacks. Some for what would happen later on (still in the flashbacks) and others for what's happening in the present with Whisperers.
When Michonne went to get the children from that abandoned building, there are diagrams of how to string animals up for gutting. An obvious foreshadow of her and Daryl being strung up in a similar way and branded. The animals in the diagrams were even cows. And what animal is most famously branded? Cattle.
Which, btw, we can relate back to Carol and Mary at Terminus. “You’re either the cattle or the butcher.” In this case, Jocelyn’s group = Terminus and TF had fallen prey to their “mask of evil” as Daryl would have called it. A lot of things in this episode felt like Terminus, actually.
The second chart shows rabbits. Remember that Lizzie also killed rabbits.
When Jocelyn makes off with the Alexandria kids, they disappear through the drain tunnels in the ground. This is really an interesting callback. I think Michonne’s terror comes mostly (other than the fact that Judith is gone) from the fact that she probably associates the tunnels with Carl's death. It was down there, after all, that she found out he'd been bitten. Now Judith, her other child, has disappeared via that same route.
But the other thing I really want to callback to is when we first found out about that the existence of those tunnels, when Maggie went looking for Glenn in S6. She and Aaron went down there, but didn't end up actually leaving to look for Glenn. Why is that important? First off, because that was during Glenn’s death fake out. There was a million parallels between Glenn and Beth during that fake out.
Also, earlier in S5 we learned that Alexandria had exiled three people. The walkers Maggie and Aaron ran into in those tunnels were confirmed to be some of the people who’d been exiled. So just as Jocelyn went down through that drain to escape Alexandria, we saw others doing the same in the midst of Glenn’s death fake out. Which in turn had lots of parallels to Beth. (I promise I’ll tie that all together at the end. Bear with me.)
Okay, Daryl and Michonne at the abandoned playground. As I said yesterday, ots of people picked up on Daryl's line about how some people are evil, but they hide it, as if wearing a mask. That’s a perfect example of how they’re foreshadowing what's going on in the present day with the Whisperers, which is why I think this Jocelyn thing will replay at some point during the Whisperer arc.
Earlier, when Jocelyn and all her kids are at Alexandria, a couple of interesting things. We see them all playing “the quiet game.” I seemed just a little bit random to me. Maybe a foreshadow of Connie and her being deaf, but the quiet game is about not talking, more than it is about not hearing. And given that Jocelyn's group turned out to be evil, I feel like this is a sinister foreshadowing of some kind. Something we haven't seen fulfilled yet. Like maybe someone isn’t able to be quiet and it means their death. We did have the crying baby, which Connie saved, but that doesn’t ring true to me either. I'm not sure, but this was just so random, I think it has to lead to something.
When talking to Jocelyn, Michonne says that when she heard Jocelyn's kids could hunt, she assumed it would be a few squirrels and a slingshot. The slingshot is an obvious foreshadow of Connie. I also noticed that when Jocelyn told the story about Michonne getting signatures for a petition in high school, she showed up at some "fancy ass Regent’s dinner” with double the number of signatures she needed. Regent is another word for ruler or King. Fancy academic dinners often have names like that. But I couldn't help but think that foreshadowed Michonne showing up at the Regent’s (King Ezekiel’s fancy ass fair). See what I mean about how they were using dialogue foreshadows for the present day?
When Michonne and Daryl get free, they split up and I noticed that Michonne grabs a water pipe. (Water =s Beth).
She drops it after fighting the kids I the hallway in favor of her katana (which one of the kids had). Yet another way to show that this arc is being paralleled with Beth in some way. Because Michonne wielded the water pipe as a weapon, I also thought it could be a way to show that Beth is the weapon they will use to defeat this (or some other *coughs Alpha*) evil group.
Michonne kills Jocelyn and then all the kids still try to kill her. I thought alternating between Michonne killing walkers in the present (while looking for Judith) rather than showing her kill the kids was really smart way. Obviously, the alternative would've been a lot darker and probably not allowed on TV.
Everything works out, Judith and all the Alexandrian kids are found, and there's a happy reunion.
Winnie does get away, which is super-interesting. As I said yesterday, I think she’ll resurface, but just a couple of details about her. Since this happened roughly 5 years ago, I think she could be with the Whisperers. Even though she’s evil, I naturally want to read into the fact that she was part of this group who disappeared, and no one knows where she is now. Feels like an anti-Beth thing. Oh, and she's blonde. I mean, I would've read into her as a Beth parallel one way or the other, but they just so happened to make her blonde. Just saying.
I will mention one point of unreality in all of this. No way all the parents from Alexandria wouldn't have been there to help get their kids back. I get that in terms of the story, they needed Michonne and Daryl to bond and go through something together, just the two of them. It has everything to do with the parallels to Beth and Daryl’s arc. But no way those parents would have just twiddled their thumbs in Alexandria while Michonne (pregnant lady) and Daryl went to get the kids. Just doesn't happen my friends. But since I know what the show was trying to accomplish, I'll let it slide. ;D
Okay, in closing, I said there was something I wanted to pull together at the end. This was a small but kind of important epiphany I had while writing this post and thinking about the episode. I’m surprised it didn’t occur to me sooner, but now that I say that, I realize it really couldn’t have until I formulated the “Carzekiel will also get a death fake out” theory. In other words, I couldn’t have put it all together until this season.
Many of my past leadership predictions for Michonne and Carol (and by extension belief that Beth will lead as well) are based on one of her lines during her and Daryl’s fight in Still. “I’m not Michonne, I’m not Carol, I’m not Maggie…but I made it.” Anyone who’s followed me long knows I can really beat this line and it’s symbolism to death.
Many TDers made early predictions about it that didn’t pan out. Or else we had theories…but they had holes in them. The leadership is the one that really seemed to work out for us. Maggie leading at Hilltop, Carol at the Kingdom, and Michonne at Alexandria. So by definition, Beth will have to lead somewhere, sometime too, and we definitely didn’t see that before Coda.
Minor aside: this is yet another reason I do think it will be Ezekiel, rather than Carol who is “just gone.” Because I think Carol will have to lead alone at the Kingdom for a time, just as Michonne is leading without Rick and Maggie led at Hilltop after losing Glenn. By the same token, if Beth woke up alone, then she lost Daryl as much as he lost her, and might have started leading at any time after that. We simply don’t know yet.
Anyway, so the epiphany I had was that three of the four ladies mentioned in Beth’s line in Still—Michonne, Carol, and Beth herself—all had death fake out arcs. So I had the thought that maybe her line foreshadowed that.
The odd one out is Glenn and Maggie. Because, although I obviously believe Beth is alive, we know Rick is, and I think the same will be true of Ezekiel, I do NOT think Glenn is coming back. I doubt anyone does.
Well, it took all of about twenty seconds for it to click for me. Glenn ISN’T coming back, but he already had his death fake out. In season 6.
So this line did foreshadow that these four couples would all have a death fake out. We know they planned from very early on that Negan would indeed kill Glenn, just as in the CBs, so they had to do something a little different with his fake out. The whole point of doing it in S6 was to include him and Maggie in this arc. And it really wasn’t even a matter of him being paralleled with Beth per se (I mean, it WAS, because hers was the only fake out that had happened at that point; Richonne’s and Carzekiel’s wouldn’t come for several more seasons) but rather that the same symbolism has been and will be employed in each case because they’re all following the same arc.
Hence, the Sirius/Serious piggyback images we’ve seen around Carzekiel, the hand-holding, the clocks…
I think the writers figured out the major characters that people loved from the first three seasons—which included Rick and Michonne, Daryl, Carol, Glenn and Maggie—and figured out who their love interests would be in the long term. These are the four main couples of the apocalypse. There have been other awesome couples, sure, but these are the most mainstream and epic. These are the couples who were given death fake outs and resurrection arcs. Glenn’s was simply shorter than the others, spanning only a few episodes where Bethyl’s spanned several seasons. I’m assuming Michonne will figure out about Rick sometime next season, and of course we have no idea what kind of time span Carzekiel will have, but you get the idea.
So, for what I said earlier: this is why the purple flowers behind Michonne—the same ones we saw Maggie wake up to RIGHT after Glenn died—are important. It’s why the tunnels being part of this Jocelyn story are important. We first saw them in the midst of Glenn’s death fake out. It’s also why the Xs are important. Michonne and Daryl both have them—rather than other characters—because they’re both part of this same arc. See what I mean?
So yeah, that was my other other epiphany. :D And it, you know, makes me happy. *Does creepy TD dance*
#beth green#beth greene lives#beth is alive#beth is coming#td theory#td theories#team delusional#team defiance#beth is almost here#bethyl
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9x06: Details - A Lot of Them!
Okay, you know how yesterday, I said I didn't have much to say about this episode? Yeah, I lied. I re-watched yesterday, when I wasn't super tired and hadn’t had such a long day, I found TONS to talk about.
And yes, this will be kind of long.
***As always, spoilers abound for 9x06, so don’t read until you’ve watched! You’ve been warned!***
Daryl:
Daryl’s tent at the beginning reminded me a lot of the tents we saw in 4x01 and the parking lot at Grady. Just saying.
Of course he was fishing, which I naturally want to relate to Oceanside. But more importantly, we saw him standing in water, and Beth = water.
Then there’s his new poncho. I honestly hadn’t thought too much about it until I saw an edit someone made on IG. They changed his poncho to red and gave it a “Little Red Riding Hood” caption. Now, some of you may remember me doing Little Red Riding Hood posts a long time ago. (X, X) Like, before S6 aired. Mine were based around Red Poncho Guy in 5b. But when I saw that edit, I realized something. We saw a red poncho in Beth’s cell and then Red Poncho Guy in 5b, who Daryl saw briefly and then lost track of. Kinda like Beth. So, what if the red poncho represents Beth’s missing/kidnapped arc? Then maybe Daryl’s green poncho (opposite color) represents that she’s about to return.
I think I've talked about Songbird enough for you to know what I think it means: songbird = Beth and Beth is about to appear.
One thing I didn't talk about it in as much detail as is the walker attached to the tree that Daryl sees. This is a major parallel to the blonde woman he and Aaron saw in 5x15 that was tied to a tree. You’ll notice a pattern as we go along of symbols we saw in S5 and haven’t seen since that are cropping up now in S9. Seems to me like things that happened in S5 are about to come back around.
Michonne:
Michonne finds the van in the woods. The box she digs through is a cigar box, which is a callback to Abraham. But the box itself really reminded us of the music box. The color and size are roughly similar. The things she takes out of it are all highly symbolic.
We see Rick's ring on Michonne’s necklace. (Wedding Ring Theory)
1). The sheriff. I think this could feasibly represent two different things. A) That the new sheriff is about to appear. In other words, it represents Beth. B) Obviously Rick. It definitely represents Rick for Michonne. I think it also foreshadows Rick's return. In a way, she's holding onto this in the same way Daryl holds onto Beth’s knife.
2) The four-leaf clover. (X) Not only is it green, but represents Luck (X), and then there’s all the Irish symbolism, such as Paddy Reilly, etc. Like maybe the person all that symbolism ties to is about to appear.
3) The yo-yo. I totally didn’t catch this when I first watched the episode, but they talked about it on TTD. It must be important if they’re drawing attention to it. The only other time we saw a yo-yo on the show was in S5. They made a big deal about it in the show, but then we never saw it again. The only thing I could think of back then was that, because yo-yos go down and then come back up again, it represented that the person about to go down (Beth) would bounce back up again at some point. Once more, we haven't seen any yo-yos since then. Now, were suddenly seeing one. That's a big deal.
(I tried and couldn’t get a non-blurry pic of the yo-yo, but it’s red and green.)
Michonne finds toilet paper. See the Toilet Paper theory, plus I talked about this in THIS ASK. I'm not sure what it means but I have a halfhearted forecast for it. I’ve noticed that toilet paper is often seen at the beginning of a long journey. Could that mean a long journey for Michonne? In the comics, Michonne is with Ezekiel rather than Rick. When Ezekiel dies, Michonne leaves TF for a long time. I wonder if they'll keep that arc, but in this case, it's Rick that “died” for Michonne, rather than Ezekiel. If Michonne leaves, that might be what the TP is about. It would also leave leadership of Alexandria wide open.
This is yet another reason why I don't think Ezekiel will die. It could be that Rick's "death" replaced Ezekiel's death, especially where Michonne is concerned. I also noticed that just before this episode, the official TWD account did posts saying, “Who Will Lead?” They had one for each Daryl, Carol, Ezekiel, and Michonne. Asking who will lead is very interesting because it's basically asking who will step into Rick's (or the sheriff's) shoes.
I found Michonne’s post to be particularly interesting. The caption says, “She’s got what it takes, but what will she choose?” As though she may choose specifically not to lead. I think that will have something to do with her arc this season and I'm interested to see where it goes.
We see that the bridge was never fixed. Again, I need to re-vamp my Bridge Theory, but it’s become clear to me that the bridge represents the community or TF as a whole. Basically, as I said before, it broke when Rick blew up the bridge. It has never been fixed. Which is a symbolic way of saying that the four communities have fractured and have no cohesion anymore. Ezekiel says, "If we could bring the communities back together as full partners…" So, the communities definitely aren’t working together anymore.
Michonne is being very negative in this episode and refuses to give Magna’s group the time of day. I did like the she was sharp as ever and knew Magnet was hiding things, but she's definitely being close minded. Rosita later tells Gabriel that Michonne knows prison doesn't really mean anything and she riled up the crowd on purpose.
We don't really understand the reason for Michonne’s actions until Judith hears her talking to herself.
I breezed over this yesterday, but I think it's important to know what’s she saying when Judith listens in. It's obvious that Michonne is talking to Rick, who she believes is dead. The “him” she mentions is obviously Carl. This is what she says. "Thought I was done with this. Done with talking to you and never hearing you answer. But I watched what you did to protect him…nothing else mattered except him… And I need to be that now for them. And I know it's not what we planned, not what we wanted, but you weren't here. Neither was he. You didn't have to go through the…". At that point, the floorboards creak under Judith and Michonne cuts off.
Okay, a couple of takeaways from this:
1) Michonne is acting as she is because she believes she needs to protect her children at all costs. She’s basically become ruthless Rick in order to protect Judith and RJ. It’s what she believes she needs to do right now, even though it's not the future she and Rick envisioned together.
2) Then there's that last line. Something definitely went down in the six years since Rick left, and from this, it was something that happened after he left because she said he wasn't there for it. I'm willing to bet whatever it is, how she got that X-scar, and also is the reason for what Carol says about people going out and never come back. We just don't know exactly what happened yet.
I wonder if this entire season is going to be full of flashbacks telling us what happened during those six years. I kinda hope so, because essentially what we’ll have to see with Beth. They skipped over whatever happened during those missing 17 days, and they’ll have to go back and show us what it was. So, if the entire season is structured around figuring out something that was skipped, maybe we’ll see other things that have been skipped over as well.
Incidentally, Michonne has done this before: talked to the dead. Remember, she told Rick early on in 3x12, Clear, that she has. “I talk to my dead boyfriend sometimes. It happens.” So I thought it was an interesting continuity of her character to show her doing this with Rick, now. Also a very obvious way to show that she 100% believes he’s dead.
I thought Judith and Michonne’s conversation on the stairs was heartbreaking. It made me sad when Judith said she was starting to forget Rick’s and Carl’s voices. “I’m not trying to, but they keep fading away.” But Judith is a lot like Carl. She’s growing up in this world, so it’s second nature to her. That makes her strong, but also less sentimental and utterly unapologetic about who she is. I’m loving Judith so much!
When we saw the X scar on Michonne, I also noticed a butterfly picture of some kind of butterfly picture on the wall behind her. (Transformation?)
And the curtains in her room look a LOT like the wallpaper at the funeral home in Alone. They’re black and white, rather than green and yellow, but covered with a very similar bird and vine/tree pattern.
Let's talk about callbacks season four. There's a Council ruling at Alexandria, much as there was in S4 at the prison. Also much like at the prison, there's no clear leader. Remember in S4, the council led because Rick stepped down from leadership. He didn't really become the sheriff again until after disaster struck in the MSF. So, perhaps we won't see the sheriff emerge until then.
It's also interesting to note that Michonne is in pretty much the same place she was in at the start of S4. She's obviously more angry right now, but her horse is almost exactly the same color as the one she rode in 4x01. We even see her ride into Alexandria at the beginning of this episode in a similar fashion.
So, Michonne isn't really leading. She's going outside the walls a lot and still struggling with things, much as she did in S4. She’s KIND OF leading in name (FG calls her the “head of security”) but hasn’t truly stepped into Rick’s leadership shoes either.
Carol:
Carol sees a flower. My first (and somewhat rebellious) thought was that it's definitely NOT Cherokee Rose (Hehe). But it’s growing up through cracks, which goes with the theme of light coming through the cracks.
Henry calls Ezekiel and Carol Mom and Dad. We also see an entwined-fingers hand hold for Carzekiel. All is right with the world. ;D
They’re holding some kind of fair at the kingdom. Not sure what that's about, but they keep talking about it. Henry leaves with Carol to go to Hilltop and apprentice to Earl (that's the guy that tried to kill Maggie but she ended up letting him out of prison). Henry says he'll be back before the fair starts. Sounds kind of ominous to me.
They also talk about dreamers. Henry is a dreamer. Carol says he gets it from Ezekiel, but it's not a bad thing. And the world could use more dreamers. Beth was most definitely a dreamer. Once again, we’re seeing that Daryl and Carol are very alike, which is why they wouldn't make good romantic partners. They’re too alike. They both need someone more optimistic to complement their tendency toward darkness. I’ll illustrate in a second how much Henry is like Beth.
Ezekiel also makes a point here of saying that Hilltop is distant. Remember in 9x05, Daryl mentioned, just before Rick blew the bridge, that the walker horde had run right through Hilltop? So, I’m thinking Hilltop probably had to be completely rebuilt. I think we can assume it was, because Michonne is taking Magna’s group there. Still, I’m curious to what’s happening at Hilltop these days.
After Jed’s group gets a hold of Carol and Henry, we get a quick look at the vegetables Carol was transporting. They include tomatoes and carrots. I think the tomatoes represent the communities prospering and moving forward. But the carrots? They’ve always been a Beth symbol. Remember, The King of Carrot Flowers from Alone?
Here, we got more information about stuff that's been going on during the six years we don't know about yet. Jed, chewing on a match, says the Sanctuary went bust. Before Rick blew the bridge, they talked about how nothing would grow there, so it’s not surprising it would be defunct now, but still, it’s something else we didn't see.
Jed also said they got hungry and ate horses. Carol says they could have joined the other communities (and several of them did; Laura and some other recognizable saviors are at Alexandria) but obviously Jed and his followers opted for a Negan mentality and don't want to be a part of a community. They’d rather just take people's stuff.
Then Jed said, "You spared me back in the day, so I'll do the same for you." He’s probably referring to when Rick and Carol got the better of them in 9x04, but we still don’t know what happened between Carol and this group in 9x06. The last we saw, shots were fired that brought the walkers toward the bridge and led to Rick blowing it up. I’m wondering if what Carol does to them has to do with her blaming them for Rick’s death. Not sure, though.
Obviously Carol burning the Savior is a callback to S4 with Karen and David as well as to Carol burning Saviors in 6x13.
I’m very curious about what Carol is doing. Even before they were tricked by the saviors, she’d already told Henry they were going somewhere other than Hilltop first. She'd always planned to go visit Daryl, and I wonder why. She must have a reason.
Then we get to Henry and Carol making camp for the night. This is where I became convinced that Henry is something of a Beth proxy. He said, “I don’t get it.” The opposite of Beth’s, “I get it now,” but still. The parallel is there. He also tells Carol, “That’s bullshit.” He’s calling her on her crap, and he’s 100% right because she says she let Jed and the Saviors go, but then goes and kills them while Henry sleeps. Also, Henry and Carol hang cans for an alarm. We saw that prominently with Beth and Daryl in Alone.
I’m kind of thinking we might lose Henry. I hope not, but I just felt an ominousness in his story line this week. There was a lot of emphasis on Carzekiel and him as a family, on keeping him safe. They didn’t like the idea of him going to Hilltop to train with Earl. I really hope I’m wrong, but I’m wondering if we’ll lose Henry, which would put Carol and Ezekiel in a super-dark place again. Let’s hope not.
Rosita, Father Gabriel, & Eugene:
Just for an instant, we see feet running at the beginning of this episode.
Even though it's just feet that we see (not arms or torsos) it reminded me of the opening credits Beth-flash. In this case, it was Rosita, Aaron, Eugene and Laura looking for Judith.
Eugene carries a deer. This could be an example of the Deer Theory. I'm not sure who it would apply to here, but Luke calls it a buck, so I think it works. Maybe foreshadow of Beth about to appear? Or it may extend into further episodes. Not sure yet.
Magna’s group calls walkers “sickos.” That struck me as hilarious because my 4-year-old nephew is going through a phase where he calls everybody sickos. ;D
They show the passage of time by the length of people's hair. Michonne’s dreads are longer, Daryl's hair has gotten really long in the back, though you can always tell that from the front.
Obviously, Judith. Eugene is sporting a long braid, Native American-style.
Father Gabriel wants to use a radio to find more people. I noticed a lot of symbolism that we saw in FTWD this past season, and this reminded me of that. This could also be part of the Communications Theme.
Rosita and FG are a couple. I know not everybody is a fan, but I thought they were kinda cute together.
Father Gabriel says, "I think Michonne is wrong. I think they're good people." So, more of Beth's “there still good people” theme. But that's just the beginning. Rosita and FG’s conversation was super interesting.
Talking about the transmitter, Rosita says, "But trying to find people and reach out to them with that thing? It's like stumbling around in the dark." It reminded me of Beth stumbling around in the dark with Noah when they were trying to escape Grady.
FG then answers, "But think what we might find. Who we might find. What else might be out there." So, we have several different references to Beth in the scene. There's the “good people” remark, the “stumbling around in the dark” remark (which may or may not be around about Beth; I may be reaching).
Plus, we had the broken picture in the background.
Remember this window was broken when FG and Sasha fought over the gun in 5x16. So, yet another S5 reference (we seriously haven’t seen that picture since) plus we’re pretty sure the picture represents Beth. It has white cypress trees and it was shot with a bullet. My point is that we have a lot of Beth references in this scene, and FG says with emphasis, “Just think WHO we might find.” I think that’s super-significant.
So I’m feeling like this relay Eugene and Rosita set up may be how the group comes back into contact with Beth again.
Eugene is trying to get up his courage to tell Rosita how he feels about her. I thought it was interesting that she seemed to want him to tell her as well.
I felt like there was a lot of symbolism in what they said about the walker tracks. They notice hundreds of walker tracks heading East. Eugene is comforted by the fact that he and Rosita need to head west to get to the water towers, where they set up the relay. Then the walker herd ends up coming toward them anyway. Eugene says it must have done a U-turn. I'm assuming that's probably be because the Whisperers are doing something to push the walkers back that way. Still, we have the east-west symbolism.
The more I watch it, the more I think this sequence with Rosita and Eugene is super-significant and a major foreshadowing, which is not necessarily a good thing. First, they’re near graveyard. I had to look two or three times very carefully, but the water towers are directly next to a graveyard.
So, we have the Communication theme (because of the relay) a water symbol (the towers) and a graveyard that looks a lot like the graveyard in Alone.
We also saw a ladder fall and Eugene hurting his knee.
We saw a ladder fall around Maggie in S6, and I don’t think we ever nailed down exactly what the ladder symbolizes in TWD. But at the least, it means they're in danger. Maggie almost died when the ladder fell in S6 and Eugene almost died here because the ladder fell.
Okay guys, I’m gonna put an unpopular opinion forth here. I think we saw a lot of foreshadows in this episode that Eugene is going to die. I love Eugene these days, especially his long hair and seeing him as a bad ass, so I don't want him to die, but I'm worried he might. I mean, there's the graveyard, there's him falling and hurting his leg, the ladder, him offering to sacrifice himself for Rosita and trying to admit his undying love for her first. It all felt really ominous to me.
Then there's the fact that they used Rosita and Eugene to introduce the Whisperers. I feel like whoever they used, it was always going to be significant. The could’ve Daryl and Carol to introduce them, Magna’s group, or any character on the show, but they used Rosita and Eugene. So I’m wondering if, rather than Rosita and Ezekiel losing their heads to the Whisperers, it might be Rosita and Eugene. Again, I hope I’m wrong and, you know, nobody else dies EVER on the show, but I feel like that's what they might be telling us. Guess we’ll find out soon whether I’m right or not.
One more thing about this scene with Rosita and Eugene that made my jaw drop, though I’m actually not 100% on it. I noticed at one point, they focused on a shot of Rosita and Eugene’s feet as they ran. And I thought I saw something on the ground. So, I looked more closely. I’m not sure what this is, but there seems to be something metallic on the ground where they’re walking. I even think there might be two things, one on each side, and Rosita and Eugene walk between them. Is it possible that…this is a bear trap? If so, that’s HUGE! It’s a major symbol of Beth that TD has known about for a long time. But again, I’m not positive that’s what it is. Any insights?
Magna’s Group:
We always love music references, and Luke is a music teacher. What really jumped out at me, though, was when they asked him, “Who are you now?” he answers, “I’m still a music teacher.” You know, like “I still sing.”
And we can link the title to Beth as well. Remember when she talked o Daryl in Still, she said, “You gotta stay who you are, not who you were.” So the question, “Who are you, now?” goes along with that theme.
I thought Magna’s prison tattoo was interesting. Michonne said the four dots represented the four walls and in the middle one represented the prisoner inside. It made me think of Four Walls and a Roof (5x03). There's been plenty of conjecture about what the title meant. Maybe the whole time, the idea was that it represented a prison. (Also another callback to S5).
Which brings me to my next point. While arguing against letting Magna’s group stay, Michonne says, "I remember." 1) It has to do with what happened during the six-year time jump that they haven't told us yet. Michonne seems to be referencing a point when they let someone in and it went wrong. Probably the same thing she’s talking to Rick about later. 2) It hearkens back to the title in 5B. 5x12 was called Remember, so yet another reference to S5. 3) Beth said the exact same thing to Daryl in Still. "I remember."
Siddiq says the injured woman in Magna’s group (Miko) has a concussion and is dehydrated, but should be back on her feet soon. That made me think of Beth at Grady because she was also told she had a concussion, which she probably didn't. Can you see the parallels? Miko is part of a group, has a head injury, and wakes up in a new community.
Not sure what my opinion of Magna is yet. So far, she seems like a little bit of a loose cannon. She was about to break into Michonne’s house with the knife necklace. What did she plan to do? It was only when she saw Michonne’s son that she stopped, changed her mind, and went to knock at the front door. Hmm.
I also caught another theme at this part. When her and Michonne are talking, she says she’s done terrible things. Michonne answers that they all have. It’s the only reason they’re still here. Then Michonne says, “They aren’t always easy to live with.” To which Magna replies, “But it’s better than losing everything.”
I think that will be a theme this season. They have to learn to live with the things they’ve done. It may not be easy, but if they don’t, they could lose everything.
Reasons I think still Rick will be back:
1) In the opening montage, Michonne says, "I'm still here too." The “I'm still here” is a theme we've heard a lot in the show. When someone says it, it means they've survived and are still fighting. Michonne says, "I know you're still here. I'm still here too." She doesn't necessarily mean she thinks is alive, but I feel like it's symbolism that Rick will be back.
2) There's also the 7x12 symbolism. Remember Michonne thought Rick was dead and was utterly devastated, but he came back out through the yellow door (yellow equals escape) and they had a reunion. It's really only a matter time before he shows up again.
Judith and Negan
She reads him her math problem, and we get some more A/B symbolism. She says, “Airplane A and Airplane B are 1000 miles apart. If airplane A is flying east at 500 mph, and Airplane B is flying west at 650 mph…” She doesn't finish the question because Negan cuts her off. If the writers wanted us to hear the question, we would have. The only reason to hear the rest of the problem was to get that A/B and east-west symbolism in. Negan says she should book a seat on Airplane C because it sounds like one hell of a collision.
So, the idea is that these two planes are on a collision course. We have A, which we think represents leadership, and B, which is more like a follower. But we've also thought B might represent Beth and C represents TF and/or where they’re living. So, together with Daryl saying a storm is coming, it seems like a lot of things are about to collide here. Just not sure what form that will take yet.
Negan tells Judith his twisted little story about how he used to bring home stray dogs. Okay, so first of all, DOGS! (Sirius/Dog Star Symbolism). He uses his story to illustrate that even if the people seem to be good, it only takes one to kill everybody. That could most definitely foreshadow something.
Finally, the timeline was really jacked up. We saw three days in the Michonne/Alexandria story line. The first day where Magna’s group is brought to Alexandria, the second day where the trial is held, and then the third day where Michonne offers to take them to Hilltop and they set off.
Carol/Henry only went through two days. We saw them in the morning of the first day when they left the Kingdom and ran into the Saviors, at night, and then the next day where they meet Daryl.
For Rosita and Eugene, we saw only one day, and it wasn’t over yet at the end of the episode. No idea if that will be important moving forward, but I’ll keep an eye on it.
Okay, I’ll shut up now. Lots of setups in this episode for the coming arc. But definitely lots more interesting symbols than I thought there would be. Thoughts?
#beth greene#beth greene lives#beth is alive#beth is coming#td theory#td theories#team delusional#team defiance#beth is almost here#bethyl
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