#(not really this is meant as criticism and thoughts for s2 but tagging so people can filter)

[sixstepsaway]

I do not think that Ed is supposed to be abusive? i'm pretty sure we are meant to understand that he's acting this way because he's scared and threatened? The headbutting was rude but one isolated incident of headbutting in an extreme situation (waking up from a coma caused by a suicide attempt! his brain was all fucked up!) does not equal abuse. Where are you getting all this? Also I thought we were supposed to tag things with "[character] critical" around here.

Anon, I want you to understand that I say this as someone who has always loved Ed, and as someone who is approaching your message with the belief you are being completely genuine: Ed not being deliberately penned as abusive is almost the entire problem.

We literally see this cycle happening on screen in the first two episodes. After an outburst of violence where he destroys some innocent sod's wedding (2), he asks after the crew and checks they had enough cake (3), and says they're welcome to rhino horn, he's snappy but there's no violence (4) and things seem fine, up until when Izzy comes in later and says the crew don't want to part with their treasure. Ed starts to get angry (1) and Izzy desperately tries to convey that they love him and want him to be okay, and that he's just concerned for him and the crew, but he misspeaks, he says something Ed doesn't like, so Ed storms upstairs and starts pointing guns at people (2) until Izzy deliberately triggers him into shooting him not the rest of the crew.

Ed tells them to handle Izzy, goes to bed. When Frenchie encounters him the next day, he's bright, he's cheerful, it's like nothing ever happened (3) except that Frenchie knows it did. Frenchie is terrified because he knows what's coming, but Ed is calm (4) and things are just fine, because Frenchie is agreeing with him and telling him what he wants to hear. Ed catches him later and starts getting cold and angry, scaring him (1). Frenchie knows what's coming, and he's terrified.

Luckily for Frenchie, Ed takes his anger out on Izzy again (2) by taking a gun down there, but arguably you can say he takes it out on all of them by trying to sink the ship.

If Ed was just being a scary motherfucker, that would be one thing, but the show was very deliberately showing the power imbalance. If Ed had wanted to kill Frenchie right then and there, who would have stopped him? Who could have?

The show wrote and showed a cycle of abuse and that is okay, what isn't great is that they then went "¯\_(ツ)_/¯ meh!" and pretended like that cycle never happened or would only apply to Izzy, the latter of which is visibly and patently not true anyway because it gets applied to the whole crew multiple times.

I would have no issue with this, or with where the show took Ed, if the show actually took the time to get him there, but all they really did was teleport him from point A (abusing everyone around him) to point J (already redeemed, done the work, much better now) in the time it took him to catch a bloody fish

And the point of the headbutt is him saying, "I wanted it to hurt!" is fine in isolation but not super great when held up against the cycle I've just been talking about, or against Stede flinching from his violence.

And as for "edward teach critical" or whatever, I saw ofmd critical so I used that, I did not know the other tag existed. I haven't been on Tumblr much and the culture changes. Plus, I was criticizing OFMD as a whole, not just Ed, who I feel was treated horribly in s2.

#ofmd #ofmd critical #edward teach #edward teach critical

[deadmunds-ghostbee]

You’re a sensible and level headed person in the Bridgerton fandom, what is your take on the EW feature? I don’t think I’m a super reactionary person, however, I’ve had a creeping feeling that S2 just isn’t going to be good (both critical reception wise and fan response/satisfaction). TVWLM is the best book and they’re bungling with it for some reason…

Haha I'm glad I seem sensible! Yes I try to keep this a relatively drama and discourse free blog.

That being said, I've turned off my asks for the next day or so because I'm gonna write big long fun posts about the new content we got today but don't have the time to answer anything beyond this one.

To be honest, my first reaction to the article wasn't actually how I personally felt about it. I saw that Jonny and Simone weren't the cover and I thought, 'oh dear, people are going to have things to say about this.' And they did and they still do about many of the things mentioned in the article. Which is obviously fine.

Onto my thoughts: Entertainment weekly is no award-winning publication. There were points where I thought the journalist extrapolated to a hilarious amount (like in the post introducing the characters, they implied that Theo Sharpe and Eloise would be good for each other??) and points where it was just hot air.

I DONT EXPECT ANYONE TO READ ALL THIS BUT HERE GOES

The cast had some insightful things to say about themes and commentary, and ultimately I have no real opinion on the fact that they focused on the side characters a lot. Those characters are a sure bet. It's press and I won't claim to understand marketing or the semantics of scheduling. I do think it would be weird if we never got a Jonny Simone cover somewhere at some point, though.

In terms of bungling it, safest assumption is that it's a bit of a wash? What are the chances that it'll be amazing? What are the chances it'll be theworstfuckingthingever? Small for both. There will be good and bad and it will certainly never be 'great' with the way it bites off way more than it can chew in terms of class, race, and even women's issues. In terms of pulling off a good romance, though, I have faith.

The actors (Jonny in particular) have shown very keen understanding of their characters, and they continue to hone in on important character beats such as Kate's utter devotion to her family and Edwina. I don't think Kate and Anthony's story can be bad with good performances and chemistry, and a basis of the characters we love. Even if it *is* bad, nothing's ruining Kathony for me because I'm not letting it lol.

This opinion may get me in trouble: I personally don't really care how well it is perceived critically or by GA or my followers. I only care that I like it myself (which I am determined to do within reason), and that I can continue to enjoy writing/reading fic. How good the subsequent seasons are also isn't something I care about, but for the rest of the fandom's sakes, I hope yall enjoy it.

Critics usually overexaggerate and GA (and by that I mean, non-internet ppl who don't think too hard about it) are easy to please. I don't think it'll do the same numbers but whatever. The promo isn't a disaster but it could probably be better.

Now onto the last part which is probably what a lot of the question was about.

I think the largest points of contention in the article were the "Bombay" thing (which people have rightly complained about. I'm no history wizard and I'm also a white girl from the American midwest so I don't want to play any role in the discourse other than listen. Anxiety is warranted and I hope it is aptly criticized when it comes out). And the 'triangle' thing.

I think we've gotten to a point today where people are mostly trying to be positive in the tag after a chaotic afternoon. I agree. The words seemed offhand, innocuous, meant for GA, and also infused into the article without hearing it straight from Jonny's mouth. Passing interest from Edwina or Anthony will probably last two seconds.

This may be bold, but even if Edwina is into him, or (worst case scenario?? And HIGHLY unlikely) upset about the marriage or even if Anthony PROPOSES/almost marries her, it would be a wild divergence but I wouldn't completely hate it. Kate's twofold guilt/turmoil would be interesting. This wouldn't just be "fighting over a boy," it's been driven home that Edwina and Kate are soulmates, and that they are adding depth to the relationship. So the worst case scenario is only moderately upsetting for me, but I have more hope than that anyway. We've been conditioned by popular media to assume all love triangles are bad. Drama can be annoying but it can also leave room for character development. it's a generally interesting narrative choice to have characters be into someone that isn't their true love beforehand (a la Siena), which, in a show that boasts its "progressivism" and a fandom which wants it to be even more so, is a more modern idea.

Adding drama and complexities to subplots in order to give your cast things to do can be okay if done right. Promo isn't the nail in the coffin for actual screen time and even if Kathony is only on screen for a half or third of the time, 4 hours of content is better than nothing. That ratio will only continue in later seasons as they keep adding to the cast. Polin's story will be so bloated with Danbury and Queen stuff and Eloise drama and setting up the next phase of the show if they even have it, so why cross compare?

So tldr

The best way to think about S2 is a fun AU, no expectations. Whatever the s2 is, it may be show-canon but it isn't gospel.

If you don't like s2 then it shouldn't ruin your entire bridgerton experience. It's okay to be disappointed, but like, being disappointed is what real life is for. It's not coming anywhere near my escapism.

***

Now that this essay is over I'm gonna write a post abt actual theories!! If you made it this far, Godspeed homie.

#bridgerton #kathony #bridgerton season 2 #my lukewarm takes #asks and answers

[whydidntyoushoot]

shadowhunters s1 is terrble, how to make it better, one thing that deserves more attention, MY opinion & perspective

This is a LOOOOOONG post.

I only watched shadowhunters months ago and now I’m rewatching it (don’t ask me why). I shall say s1 story is just terrible. The writers ruined Clary’s character and got Jace’s motives so wrong (and that’s what made him “an ass”). The build-up of Clace is not convincing. Parabatais fought each other for superficial reasons. People’s different views towards the Clave should have served the plot better. I blame show writers 100% for these. They missed the point, and made what they cared about the most—romantic relationships, go in the wrong direction.

Upon finishing this post I find it to be Jace centric, so no tags for other characters. In case you’re reading, hope you can understand my English :p

Notice that all potential criticism here is meant to be directed at writers. You may consider quitting reading if this post makes you feel uncomfortable. But don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate any of the characters.

Hate is such a strong word for me to use. I do hate the Clave tho

I don’t want to spend too much time on Clary. I’ll just put it like this: after losing her mom, she has the right to feel shocked, scared, lost and helpless. She can sit down and cry, she can ask for others’ help. She was supposed to be traumatized, but I don’t see that. The script made her someone selfish, impulsive and thinks she knew better than anyone around her although she had become a shadowhunter only for days. Others were offering free help but she didn’t show gratitude and was always like “I have to find my mom I don’t care this I don’t care that I only care about my mom you must help me with this you have to listen to me blah blah blah.” To me it looks like an everyday style, so I can’t take her misfortune seriously. And, for so many times, I see no consistency in her emotions. One example is her kiss with Jace before she set out for Simon in ep09. She was worried about Simon, but all of a sudden she became all flirtatious and was kissing and talking about “us” with Jace. Maybe “a kiss from your lover makes you strong”, but no, I can’t see that in that scene. I just can’t.

And writers forced this Clace thing on me. No hate, I’m not interested in romantic relationships, I accept them as canons, although I don’t see why. Sometimes I can appreciate ones that are well-depicted, but unfortunately Clace isn’t a good one to me. not in s1. When I got to s03e22 for the first time however, I remember I was genuinely pissed when seeing that Clary had to lose her memory of the shadow world. I mean they love each other so much why can’t writers just let them be happy

Next it’s Jace, the Clave, Alec, etc. It’s mainly Jace, to be honest. 

a common remark on Jace: 

“JACE IS AN ASS. HE CHOSE CLARY OVER THE OTHERS TREAT ALEC LIKE AN LAPDOG PUT IZZY’S LIFE IN DANGER AND RUINED THE NAME OF THE LIGHTWOODS OH HE ISN’T A LIGHTWOOD AFTERALL“

The script is such a mess, but I really can’t deny that he chose Clary over anyone else and mistreated Alec. I love you buddy, but you could have done better. If only the writers had put less emphasis on his feelings for Clary, he shouldn’t have been that annoying. But all this “he put Izzy’s life in danger and ruined the name of the Lightwoods” thing is just the script being way too misleading. Will talk about these ones by one.

For s1 it’s basically the Clave, who represent the interests of the majority of shadowhunters, fought the Circle/Valentine. But on the Clave’s side, people hold different views. Alec was the type of person who played by the book and paid his unconditional loyalty to the Clave (they don’t deserve it btw) to the point that he lost his judgment. I can’t blame him since he’s the eldest son of the Lightwoods the royal family, he had to sacrifice himself for his family and the authority. Jace, on the other hand, didn’t have such a burden. He would fight the Circle, but he NEVER trusted the Clave. However, the reason why he fought the Circle seemed to be and only be his feelings for Clary. Well, he could have had better reasons.

I thought you knew it, writers

But you didn’t.

In the books I remember Jace was convinced that Michael Wayland was murdered by two circle members, this made a desire for revenge reasonable. But in the show, they put things vaguely at the beginning. Watching ep02 alone, I don’t know if /Michael died in a revolt as a circle member and Jace accepted it as some sort of sacrifice/ or /Michael died in a revolt of the Circle as an innocent shadowhunter/. It was not until ep10 did Jace say “Valentine killed you” and Michael was confirmed a circle member. So it’s neither the case, Michael was a circle member and Jace believed Valentine killed him, that’s still a good reason for revenge. But wouldn’t it be better if they made it clear from the start and let it be Jace’s primary motive, instead of telling us how he was willing to do everything for a girl he had just met? He felt for Clary, wanted to protect her, help her, fight the Circle/Valentine for her AND himself (Don’t tell me losing a dear parent is something trivial). If the writers did this, Jace’s failure to kill Valentine in ep11 would also be more understandable (I’m not going to elaborate on it). Revenge > empathy/love at first sight is a more appropriate way to address Jace’s motive. He could have been a protagonist who fights the villain + avenges the death of his father + protects the one he loves. But the writers made him an arrogant ass who was blinded by his feelings for Clary. 

Also I have to mention the famous line in the books “to love is to destroy” here. In s1 it’s nowhere to be found, writers used “emotions cloud judgment” as a substitution. They brought it back in s2, which I think would have been better if they introduced it in s1. The falcon story is supposed to be a painful lesson Valentine taught Jace that shaped his worldview, Jace is supposed to be confused about love, there should have been an inner struggle. He couldn’t have fallen in love so easily, not to say being all noisy about it. s1 botched that concept. 

How the writers vaguely dealt with Michael Wayland’s cause of death:

Is he even talking about Michael here? I thought the revolt is the Uprising? It should be. But Michael died ten years ago, the Uprising was like, 20 years ago? or maybe he just didn’t want to talk about details? I have no idea. 

How they made Clary the only reason Jace stole the Cup:

I have no words.

Alec was with the Clave, Jace was not and had never been. This is mentioned, but not stressed enough. They weren’t on the same side from the start. I can’t deny that “Clary risked everything to find it”, but using it as an excuse to betray your brother is just lame. Letting Clary hand over the Cup to the Clave is still a valid request tho, since Meliorn said Clary had the Cup. But Jace didn’t really need to distract Alec with her here, he could have used “we” instead of “she”.

Despite that he did’t trust the Clave, strangely, he was somewhat loyal to the Accords. He wouldn’t let the Clave imprison Meliorn for no reason and rescued him from Alec’s hands. He never wanted to hurt downworlders, not until Imogen made him head of the institute in s2 where he blindly followed his only relative Grandmother for a short period. Notice that this had nothing to do with him stealing the Cup. I don't think these two things happening at the same time are related. He could rescue Meliorn without stealing the Cup. Talk more about Jace’s view about the Clave, will you, writers? He’d rather die than hand over the Soul Sword to them in s2, how much do you think he despises them?

The Clave themselves had the intention of break the Accords lol what kind of regime is this. They were just so useless and hypocritical. In ep08 they didn’t even care about what Valentine was doing but only believed that the institute was at risk, so they blame the Lightwoods... I just can’t bear with the fact that such a regime was still in power.

This is when the Clave decided to imprison Meliorn and shadowhunters were taking different sides:

Then the Clave arrested Izzy because she had THE relationship with Meliorn, which made her the suspect. But do you remember what the Clave’s real motive was? They wanted the Cup. Arresting Izzy was extortion. Jace had no choice but hand over the Cup to the Clave. He did so.

I mean, before Jace stole the Cup, who knew the Clave would do that to Izzy? And what did Izzy thought of the situation? SHE WANTED TO PRESERVE THE ACCORDS AND SAVE MELIORN. Not relevant, but Izzy and Jace were both on scene trying to persuade Alec and Lydia. Alec was on the Clave’s side, he had no choice. But he blamed Jace for risking Izzy’s life was totally uncalled for. Just because a character is annoying doesn’t mean that whatever he does is wrong or the character who opposes him is always right. In fact, you trust or distrust someone is not something right or wrong. The writers made Alec think that Jace risked Izzy’s life to stole the Cup is the most ridiculous thing I can think of in s1. Why was everyone so blinded?

Just, fuck the Clave first, then fight the Circle. 

And Mr. and Mrs. Lightwood used to be members of the Circle. They betrayed the Circle prior to the Uprising so the Clave absolved them. When the Circle made a comeback, however, they were again a pain in the Clave’s ass. If anyone ever ruined the name of the Lightwoods, it starts with Robert and Maryse. The Clave was just finding excuses to trap them. 

I would say different positions people take in s1 worths more attention. But writers just keep distracting viewers with the unbearable love of Clace. 

Also the parabatai fight. They fought because of a girl, which doesn’t make any sense to me. I thought it was clear that they were’t on the same side and that should be the main reason, but writers kept inserting “Clary” here and there. Clary was important to Jace, but Alec didn’t seem to be in s1, that’s the problem. How can viewers like a character who treated his brother terribly while putting his heart into a girl he knew only for days? I mean who doesn’t have “selfish” moments at some point, but if you go too far it’s a problem.

Actually, I think writers had 1 moment of excellence:

Yet in the fighting scene, parabatais were talking about Clary. Alec blamed Clary, and Jace wasn’t happy about it, so he pointed out that Alec used political marriage to cover his “true feelings”... really Jace? really Alec? is that what you think? You don’t have better reasons?

Their reconciliation is also rushed. AND THEY WERE STILL TALKING ABOUT CLARY FFS. For one brief moment, writers made Jace aware that he and Alec fight because they took different positions, but they never do the same to Alec. Alec always believed that Jace was simply risking everyone everything for Clary, from ep01 to ep11. All I could see is that he didn’t even know why they were fighting. They didn’t really talk things out. I don’t know how Alec just accepted Jace’s apology and everything went back to normal. What is “what I thought is right”? Writers never bother explaining it.

By far that’s all I can think of.  In conclusion,

Jace could fall in love, but love shouldn’t have been his only reason for everything. Because first impression is too important, no matter how much you reveal his dark past and make him suffer in s2s3, it will be hard for viewers to acknowledge his struggles, making it even harder for him to be a generally liked character. 

some irrelevant opinions 

Personally I think s1 is absolutely the worst of all 3 seasons. it focused toooo much on romance, and the main couple wasn’t that likable. I heard a LOT of viewers here on Chinese online communities said they didn’t even finish s1 because they thought shadowhunters was a badly-written Mary Sue love story lol and they only watch Malec cuts. lolololol

#shadowhunters #this is 100% personal opinion #jace herondale #no tag for others

[panelshowsource]

i actually wasn’t too nervous! i knew paul, iain, and joe would all be sweet and i was excited for sian because no middle-aged funny lady has ever not been a legend. even though i don’t think it was a god tier season i thought they were all endearing in their own ways (even iain lmao) and i think we appreciate that kind of pleasantness. i had thought it was going to be a touch more competitive — which is my taste, which is why i liked s2 so much, for example — because iain and even lou were bringing it hard in the beginning, but they seemed to succumb to the wrath of the taskmaster pretty quickly and begin just going along with what he decided without much fuss or drama. that said, i also think the taskmaster was a little lax; you may have noticed plenty of rounds he didn’t give out 1 or even 2 points, like prize tasks were 3-3-3-4-5 points opposed to someone having to come last even if they did a decent job (which can cause some fun drama). i thought the editing of the tasks was really back up to par this series and i loved the return of sassy talkative alex like we had in s1 and 2. i really think it was a lot of fun!

ahhhh hard to say! maybe......sian 💕 hbu??

i’m not proud of him and frankly i hope he’s not proud of himself

even though requests aren’t open this was cute so i got u hehe

joe is very special and perfect and good and i am highly concerned about him

you and a thousand other anons, trust me ;’) luckily if u catch him with a rosé in his hand i think you’re in with a chance

hell yes she is! taskmaster said smith family rights!

it’s what we DESERVE!!!!!

seal*! ofc mitchell brook primary school are a league of legends baybay!! and ya i tried to do a lot of miles content this week bc it’s what the people want heh

i would really enjoy seeing glenn moore and larry dean more, who i think were some of the best newcomers to have come on the show in a long time. as for guests from very previous series? ooo well i def miss gina and do think david should be on every show forever until the end of time, obviously, but hmm it’d be great to see holly walsh, sarah millican, and jo brand again!! they’re all ace with those big group dynamics which is super important on that series in particular. i also miss frankie with my every fibre

lmaooo i call him a poor man’s ed gamble and that’s a compliment tbh

it may have very well been an act back in 2017, or maybe you were just really receptive to even him at his most honestly aggressive, hard to say. i was much more forgiving of that aggression the second time i saw him live but by the third and fourth times i was very much on the same page as those in the thread and thought it was borderline unprofessional and barely funny. honestly to each his own though, bc if it can pass as comedy then it is comedy, truly. the worst of it i saw was when a woman got up to use the restroom during the set and he ended up berating her for ten mins over it, and after the show she was outside telling people she was so sorry she upset him but she couldn’t wait any longer to change her tampon...seriously brutal. i really don’t have any reason to believe it’s an act. he’s mentioned many, many times on his podcasts that he is very sensitive, is sidetracked easily, is very self-critical, he doesn’t enjoy interacting with fans (specifically during and after standup), and it’s not uncommon for him to lose his groove half-way through his shows if something throws him off; he is also self-admittedly seriously mentally ill. the protection of being in character seems to have come in handy for him in a serious way for a long time, and i don’t think he’s come to understand how he’s meant to behave and interact when he’s being Real James like he is in cold lasagne. i don’t claim to know him, but considering the last time i saw him (spring) he did a whole bit about how suicidal he was just a couple months prior, it seems fair to say he’s still in throes of taking care of himself, so i’m sending him positive and healthy vibes and hoping he’s putting that before his career

note: i really don’t want to rehash this acaster convo again in the asks, so please message me off anon if you have any questions. stay positive and take care of your mental health, y’all!!

i haven’t!! i’ll let you know when i do though :’)

apart from the champion specials that are upcoming, we aren’t suuuure. probably september or october, though! i am rly excited for it to come back, it’s such a pleasant show and richard is such an underrated panelist in general imo

my thoughts exactly anon 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

anon stop are you trying to make me cry..........i genuinely find it so inspiring.........the first time i heard him say that the 2 years waiting for her were the hardest of his life, and if he had known he only had to wait 2 years for her they would have been the easiest..........broke a piece of my heart off that is still floating around my chest cavity trying to find a home..........

TBH I ASKED AND I HAVE RECEIVED

which links anon? i clicked through a bunch and everything is in working order. are you sure you’re looking at the original post, which gets updated?

f.a.q. // tags // watch links masterpost

#a