#((but at least it'll make their inevitable reunion all the sweeter!))

[theheadlessgroom]

https://www.tumblr.com/beatingheart-bride/713656790864232449/theheadlessgroom-beatingheart-bride

@beatingheart-bride

Gingerly, Randall took the mask from her, briefly taking a moment to look at it himself, seemingly briefly lost in thought. 

He both hated and loved his mask, this remaining thread connecting his past to his present: He’d had it for as long as he could remember, his one means of hiding his face from those around him (and he knew they would prefer it that way; the carnies were never shy about telling him to cover it up, were he to ever try and remove it around them). It also made for a more dramatic reveal in the eyes of the ringmaster, always declaring with a flourish, “I give you...the Devil’s Child!” before wrenching the mask away from his face, so that the people could get their money’s worth...

He looked the mask over in his thin, bony hands again, almost seeming to briefly toy with the notion of putting it back on: It was so odd not to wear it around someone...almost as odd as having someone tell him that they actually wished to see his face-his true face, no matter how hideous and horrifying it was...

Though the temptation was strong, Randall resisted the urge to put it back in its proper place, instead opting to prop it up beside the libretto-his stomach tightened as he did, jumping as he looked back up at the un-frightened Emily, smiling angelically at him, a smile he managed to return (albeit a little fainter) as he took a deep breath to calm himself. 

He had nothing to fear. Not with her. Never with her.

#((both of us; collectively: GET ON WITH IT!)) #((this scene would be SUCH a solid setup to a first kiss in ANY other story...but they have to wait six months before they get to that!)) #((but like you said better late than never! they'll get their kiss eventually and it will be SO cathartic as a result!)) #((and oh i KNOW the whole time they're apart emily is thinking of randall; wanting to be with him more than anything!)) #((she's longing for him; he's probably *really* having to restrain himself from lashing out at thaddeus in any way)) #((lest he further alienate emily; and he'll probably have to restrain himself from doing so much as trying to reach out to her)) #((after rehearsals to let her know what he thought; he's still very loyally attending all of them! he just can't give her feedback)) #((and tell her how wonderfully he thinks she's doing; which i think will just be another blow to them both in a lot ways!)) #((she's used to turning to him for feedback and he's used to giving it to her...and for a while that's just not an option!)) #((they're gonna miss hanging out after rehearsals in the attic; having dinner together; talking as they walk around the passageways)) #((spending time on the rooftop...it's gonna be a VERY lonely six months for them; full of pining after one another)) #((but at least it'll make their inevitable reunion all the sweeter!)) #outofhatboxes #beatingheart-bride #V:Phantasm of the Mansion

[imreallyloveleee]

Where do you think it all went wrong with Riverdale?

honestly, part of me is like, the show's over and nothing but fandom matters. so who cares?

the other part of me loves to complain about Riverdale and will continue to do so until the day I die in the parking lot of Michael's Diner in Montgomeryville, PA at the age of 86. so, long-winded answer under the cut

I'm tempted to say it's the s4 b*rchie kiss. It was so wildly out of character for both Betty and Archie that it's laughable. You know how you can tell when something is just blatantly OOC with no justification? They...don't justify it. They find ways to dance around any interaction that might offer clarification. They mute the reactions of the characters who should be devastated by it. And then they jump ahead 7 years so it's easier to just handwave it away as something that happened a long time ago.

but the thing is, I did keep watching after that. I thought: okay, at least we should get an exes-to-lovers arc out of this, which is one of my favorite tropes. there is no way they would spend 4 seasons developing Bughead as this loving, supportive, communicative, sexy, and almost-unbelievably-compatible couple just to tear them apart and never do anything with that dynamic again. maybe it'll be even sweeter seeing them come back together after so much hurt and longing.

boy was i wrong!!!!!!!!!

so, the episode that actually made me stop watching for good, with the exception of some standalones like The Jughead Paradox and the finale, was the s5 musical. that was when i realized that this team of writers was 100% willing, maybe even eager, to completely drop storylines they themselves had been building over the course of a season - do a 180 with all of the characterization and relationships - and then act as though the buildup they wrote never even happened.

in this case, i'm specifically talking about the Bughead reunion storyline they dropped in s5. i'm not going to pretend like it was a GREAT buildup - and it was mostly on Jughead's side, Betty's character in s5 was basically an emotionless misery bot that had sex sometimes - but it was there. Jughead told Tabitha he had unresolved feelings around Betty. that's followed by an entire episode that lays out Betty & Jug's time jump relationship, and how Jughead still believes she's the one who saves him from himself. they work on a case together, they start opening up to one another. Jughead's so worried about her he can't eat.

and then...you know what happens.

(i'll also note here that there was random bts stuff that strongly indicated the musical ep storyline had a drastic last-minute rewrite: lili tweeted a blue dress, suggesting the song with that line was meant for her character; RAS said cole had to do last-minute recording sessions; supposedly crew members have confirmed this was the case, too. since none of it's 100% confirmed you can take it all with a grain of salt, but i believe it.)

it was so fucking insulting as a viewer to give my time and attention to a show made by people who would not only randomly drop the threads they set up, but torpedo them altogether, and then behave like the fans are the ones somehow at fault for expecting a story that actually follows through on its own emotional and plot beats. we're just shippers, so our opinions are dumb and biased! it's just a tv show, so who cares! get over it!

so, i stopped watching, because i knew they would continue to write without any thought or respect for their characters or their audience, and therefore inevitably write themselves into another corner. and, shocker, i was right. they did it again, whisking everyone away to the 1950s because actually resolving any of the scenarios they set up was ToO hArD. why bother when you could just make every single character Righteously Angry and Incurably Horny all the time, lecture the audience about social issues that have already been mainstream progressive for the last several decades, and call it a "love letter" to your fans?

#WHEW ok anon idk if this was what you were looking for but it's what you got #hopefully this has fully exorcised my need to Go Off against the creators of this show but you never know!! #my capacity for bitter resentment is apparently endless when it comes to this show #rd negativity #riverdale #anti b*rchie #anti j*bitha #just in case #anon