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multi-writer · 2 years

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Handcuffs

Eddie Munson x Reader

(S4, vol 2)

Author’s note: WHAT. THE. F**K. Hell nah, I didn’t wake up three hours before I normally do on a work day to be left like that. Istg fic writers write better than this none sense the Duffer Brothers did. So this is me writing as a coping mechanism because Eddie deserves better (I’m even writing on my phone so I’m sorry for any mistakes) yesss, I changed some parts to fit my narrative but that’s on fanfics so lol. Hope you like it!

Warning: S4, Vol. 2 Spoilers (I tried to make is spoiler-free as possible). Mention of sexy time, use of weapons, I kind of want to pull a Vecna move on the writers for today's two episodes. A bit of angst but a lot of fluff

Summary: Eddie was ready to sacrifice himself for you and Dustin, but he didn't count on you having other ideas.

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The way back was quiet, everyone was getting ready to return to the Upside Down and defeat Vecna once and for all so he could not claim more victims.

Before arriving to Eddie's trailer, you arrived at Victor's house to drop off Lucas, Max and Erica, the plan that was made earlier was on their minds. As you dropped them off, Steve started driving to get to your destination where you would return to the world you were most afraid of. You turned to look at the three teens one last time silently wishing them luck.

A hand interrupted you from your thoughts, the owner held your hand tightly trying to give you strength for what was to come. When you turned to see him, you realized that Eddie was looking at you, his brown eyes showed concern for what was going to happen, he was still a little dirty from the last time he entered the Upside Down, he had small wounds, his face reflected the tiredness of the last days and he was dressed to go back to the place. You smiled at the sight of him, even after the above, he was still the most beautiful person you had ever seen. At the sight of your smile, Eddie leaned over to you and gave you a kiss on the forehead.

"It's going to be okay..." he whispered

Upon arriving at the trailer, everyone began to divide up the weapons you had purchased and created. The group would be split in two. Steve, Nancy and Robin would go together to where Vecna was while Dustin, Eddie and you would be the distraction for the bats. While you guys split up and settled in as needed, Eddie went to get his guitar and an amplifier, ready for whatever might come. In your backpack you stuffed a small pistol and two bombs that Robin and Steve had made a few hours ago.

The first ones to cross the portal were Steve and Eddie, who arranged the mattress so the rest of you could get in. You were the last to go in, having seen some things that might be useful to you. You shook your hands a little to get rid of how tense they felt and started to climb up the rope of sheets. As you climbed in and landed on the mattress, the first one to help you stand up was Eddie. His hands were cold from nerves but you held them between yours in fear that something was going to happen to him.

"Remember, I'll meet you back here" Steve said. "And don't try to be heroes."

Everyone nodded and split up on what each had to do. Dustin and Eddie climbed onto the roof of the trailer while you reinforced the doors and prepared the escape entrances.

"All set?" shouted Eddie to receive inches up from Dustin. "All set over there pretty?"

"All in order!" you shouted back. Taking this as a cue to continue, Eddie plugged in the amplifier with his guitar and began to play 'Master of Puppets'. Turning to look up at the sky you saw that none of the bats were coming towards you, the red colored lightning didn't help you see clearly.

A few seconds passed when Dustin shouted.

"They are coming! Eddie you must stop in 30 seconds!" Eddie just nodded and you prepared to escape.

"20 seconds!". Cold sweat was pouring down your forehead.

"10 seconds!" Eddie was already finishing, Dustin was near the edge of the roof ready to run away and you were holding the door tightly.

"Now!" Dustin jumped down making you go to help him, as you turned back to the sky you managed to see countless bats heading towards you. Fear made you look at Eddie as he took off his guitar and came down with you.

He quickly grabbed the two of you and pulled you inside the house standing behind you to protect you from any creature that might want to approach, he pushed you inside the trailer and closed the door causing several bats to bury their claws between the gaps in the grille.

"Inside, quick!" The three of you jumped in, closed the Wood door and prepared for anything. Seeing the creatures begin to bury their claws in the wooden doors, Dustin climbed up the rope to get back to the normal world and be safe. Eddie turned to you with concern and then looked at the sheets giving you a signal that he wanted you to go with Dustin. You, looking at his eyes, found a feeling you hadn't seen in him. You knew what he planned to do.

"Guys quick, before they catch up to you!" shouted Dustin worriedly from the roof.

"(Y/n)...you go first. I'll catch up" Eddie said softly causing your eyes to fill with tears from fear and the knowledge of what Eddie wanted to do.

Without thinking, you pulled the handcuffs you took from Eddie's trailer out of your pants pocket and put one of them on the man's left wrist causing him to open his eyes in surprise.

"What are you doing?!" theman shouted as you adjusted the other part of the handcuffs on your right wrist.

"I know what you plan to do... I'm not leaving you here" you said firmly as you grabbed one of the spears that were in the room and turned to the door ready to attack.

"You're crazy, I want you and Dustin to save yourselves" Replied your boyfriend angrily.

"Me? Crazy? You should ask yourself that" you said as tears fell freely down your cheeks. The anger quickly disappeared from Eddie and he was filled with desperation trying to come up with a plan to save you. Your boyfriend turned all around looking for something and finally finding it. He grabbed the axe that was nearby filling you with fear thinking he was going to cut the handcuffs. From one moment to the next he raised the axe and cut the rope made of sheets so that Dustin would not follow you.

"What are you doing!" shouted Dustin in desperation seeing what you were planning to do. The boy's eyes filled with tears as he looked for a way to reach you. Eddie's action surprised you.

"We can't let those things near the kid" Eddie told you as he wiped away one of your tears with his hand tied to yours. You smiled at him as you understood that he had accepted that you were in this together. "Dustin! Stay there, we'll buy some time!" He shouted before running to another door and out the back of the trailer pulling you behind him.

Outside, Eddie grabbed a bike that was lying around and then hopped on, leaving you part of the seat for your comfort (something you didn't think of when you put the handcuffs on him). The boy started pedaling quickly with one hand while the other, which was tied to you, was on his back making you lean forward for better comfort for both of you.

The little monsters became aware of your escape that they stopped clawing at the house to start following you. Your arm found itself hugging Eddie's waist to keep yourself from falling. The cold wind caused the hairs on your arms to stand up making you move closer to your boyfriend.

"I never realized...you had taken...the handcuffs" Eddie said between breaths.

"I took them in case I needed them. I didn't think I was going to use them though" You replied a little loudly through the wind. "Why did you have them in your room?". Your question made the man blush.

"Actually..." he took a breath of air. "I was thinking of using them on you...sometime" Eddie pedaled harder making you let out a smile regardless of the fact that you were about to die.

"When we get out of this you use them on me. But we'll get through this, together" You gave him a kiss on the cheek trying to forget the awkwardness of how his arms were between you.

Eddie pedaled as fast as he could, however, the weight of the two of you made it difficult. You had to make a decision fast. "Eddie...we have to fight" you said as with your one free hand you moved your backpack between Eddie and you.

"We are close to the public pool. We can use it to create distance." In the background they could see such a place, so you had to think of something fast.

"Eddie... how good is your aim?" You asked with an idea in mind.

"I don't consider myself bad" He replied with shortness of breath.

"Perfect, I have an idea" Eddie pedaled as fast as possible creating more distance between you and the monsters. When you reached the edge of the pool, you both got off the bike and jumped to the bottom of it, it wasn't deep but it could do. You quickly dropped your backpack on the ground and started pulling things out. You passed the loaded gun to Eddie who took it in his free hand. In your free hand you held one of the homemade bombs.

"We have to wait until they are in a good distance" You said making Eddie look at you. "I'll throw this and you'll have to shoot it to make it explode, you only get one chance per bottle" you turned to look at the other homemade bomb you had. Youwere only counting on two to survive.

"No pressure" Eddie said trying to calm the tension a little but he wasn't buying it either. The little bats were getting closer. "Already?"

"Not yet..."

"They're coming!" Said the desperate boy.

"A little more..."

"(Y/n) throw it already!" shouted Eddie. You spotted the center of the group of hungry monsters and dropped the first bomb. Eddie took aim and fired three shots hoping to hit it. One of the bullets made contact with the bottle causing it to explode and kill several beasts while others fled away.

However, some others were still flying towards you. You quickly grabbed the second and last hope they had and threw it back into the center of the already reduced group of beasts. Eddie fired again three times causing you to have only one bullet left in the small gun in case something else came to you. Just like the previous one, Eddie hit the target causing another explosion killing the beasts. The rest of the bats fled away.

Seeing that you were no longer being chased, the two fell to the ground to rest. As you turned to look at each other they saw tears of happiness falling from your eyes. You both smiled and hugged each other tightly, thankful that you were alive.

The moment was interrupted when they heard noises approaching to where you You quickly separated and looked expectantly to see where the noise was coming from. A few seconds passed where you seemed not to breathe until a head peeked over the edge of the pool.

"How dare you do something stupid like that!" shouted Dustin with tears falling from his eyes. The boy jumped into the empty pool and ran to hug you two. Eddie and you let out a sigh and hugged Dustin. "Steve said not to be heroes. What didn't you understand about that?!"

"I wasn't going to let Eddie take all the hero credit" you said in a mocking tone making Eddie push you gently.

"How did you get here kiddo?" Eddie asked as he placed his free hand on Dustin's head shaking it gently in a gesture of affection. Dustin wiped the tears from his eyes with his hands and looked up at you hopefully. The poor boy was shaking.

"I made a mess in your trailer so I could get through the gate. I'm sorry" Dustin said lowering his head, causing Eddie to smile softly and reach over to hug him.

"Thanks Dustin..." Eddie whispered in his ear then stood up causing you to follow him. "Let's go home and wait for the others. (Y/n) do you have the handcuffs key?" he looked at you expectantly leaving you silent.

"...No."

Eddie just laughed and reached over to put his hand on your neck and pull you close to kiss you hard.

"God, I love you so much...let's go before we get attacked again" The three of you got out of the empty pool and walked briskly towards the trailer. When you reached it you found Steve, Robin and Nancy with marks on their wrists and ankles.

"Where have you been?!" asked Robin. “We were worried about you!”

"And where is the rope?" Nancy continued.

"Believe me, it's a long story. But let's go back, better to tell it safely instead of this damn place" You said. The whole group went into the house to escape.

At last, everyone was fine.

#eddie munson fluff #stranger things imagine #stranger things one shot #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson blurb #stranger things #eddie munson angst #I want to fight the Duffer Brothers #I hate them #why are they like this #Eddie Munson deserves better than that

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stevethehairington · 1 year

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they would never do it but imagine if the duffers pulled one on us & s5 starts w the final battle (eddie is alive obviously) & that's over in like 10 min & the rest of the episodes in the season is just everyone hanging out & processing their trauma together & also there's a timeskip of the kids going to college etc. anyway, putting on the clown makeup as we speak 🤡

listen that is THE DREAM skfjgdlkf i would actually literally genuinely LOVE to sit and watch like a whole entire season of everyone just chilling and hanging out and getting to finally RELAX skgjjk

give us eddie recovering from his bat bites, bedridden and complaining about it, but steve's there keeping him company and making sure he's listening to the doctor's orders and motherhenning the way he always does (even though HE'S recovering too and should ALSO be taking it easy), the two of them growing their friendship (and watering the seeds of something more that have been planted since the start).

give us nancy and robin opening college acceptance letters and finding out they got into the same schools and getting excited about the prospect of rooming together.

give us jonathan finally not having to worry about keeping his family afloat, and finally doing something for himself by applying to nyu because that's been his dream since he was six years old.

give us everyone sitting around max's hospital bed, and the pure relief and utter joy joy that washes over everyone when she does finally wake up.

gives us max and lucas going on that movie date!!

give us joyce and hopper finally getting to go to enzo's!!

give us will finally getting to be happy (whether that means by just not having to hide who he is from his friends anymore, or whether that means him getting the boy, finally, or whether that means he just gets to relax too and not worry about slugs and mindflayers and demo-anythings)

give us el finally getting to just be a kid, without having to shoulder the weight of the entire world.

give us dustin and erica taking over hellfire as co-leaders because eddie graduated and decided it was time to pass the torch, officially (even though he absolutely still puts together and dm's campaigns for them all to play together, gathered in the wheeler's basement)

give us EVERYONE getting some THERAPY 👏👏👏 (it would, obviously, have to be through some Government Mandated Therapist that has special clearance to even KNOW about all the upside down bullshit, but YEAH let them TALK about it, let them WORK TRHOUGH their trauma, let them finally FEEL SAFE)

i would honest to god KILL for this.

but since we all know none of this will happen in the show, let me just say, thank god for fic writers, we truly owe them everything for giving us these scenes we so desperately wish to see 👏

#asks #gothbat99 #stranger things

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wolfsplosion · 1 year

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Do u have any specific things ud like to see n the new stranger things? :>c

HRHGHRGHH . YES . A LOT OF THINGS . SORRY THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG ONE ↓

Mike and Max friendship; I KNOW it's probably not gonna happen bc there is Shit Going On and they are probably not going to have time for slice of life interactions (this is going to be a reoccurring theme on this list methinks) but the little crumbs of madwheeler bestieism we get make me CRAZY like they are so similar in a lot of ways but also the opposite sides of a coin (e.g. uncaring family situation, Mike coming from wealth and Max from poverty) and every time we see a flashback of the events directly prior to s4 they're next to each other and it only makes me crazier .. I just want like ONE scene of them being platonic best friends PLEASE

Will happy ending; this can mean a lot of different things tbh I just cannot have him die or end unhappy .. this also means that anyone he cares about has to be safe too like Joyce and Jonathan and El and the rest of his friends!! if he's not unequivocally happy in the final episode I will change the trajectory of the Duffer Brothers lives

Eddie flashbacks; like how we see the aftermath of Max's brother's death effecting her, I want to see Dustin mourn too (I mean, I don't Want to see it, I want him to be happy, but like. I want to see it. you know what I mean.) also the rest of Hellfire, especially Lucas and Mike and Erica .. show their reactions too I'm begging . my little pet headcanon is that Eddie made Mike realize some things about himself (🤨🏳️‍🌈❓) (not in a ship way I'm not a freak I just think he had an Awakening) so like seeing him process Eddie's death would be so. it'd be so

Byers-Hopper found family; I think I am almost guaranteed this in some way but I'm still crossing my fingers for it! show me WillEl twin behavior or ELSE

more siblingism in general; I appreciate s4 for giving me more Lucas and Erica screentime crumbs bc they are so sweet and I love their sibling dynamic sm, I wish we got more of that with Mike and Nancy as well like remember in s1 when they were like "no more secrets between us!" and then didn't fucking do anything with that. let them be siblings please

Byl3r (<- censoring for superstitious reasons a.k.a. I do not want to invoke ship discourse here); I have extremely controversial thoughts abt this ship, like as in I don't . I don't really think the writers are gonna . no I shan't say for fear of my life . but it'd be nice if it did!!!! Will deserves to get what he wants all the time always

Steve surviving; I am so fucking scared

parallels between Will and Henry; weird little boys with strange(!!) powers and trauma....... I think they're probably going to do this at least subtly considering the lines are already there in s4 but if they were more direct I'd be happy, I'd probably care a lot more about Henry's whole thing if Will was involved I'm not gonna lie to you

Max getting out of That Whole Situation; I'm not saying what exactly happens at the end of s4 because Ro might be reading this and we haven't watched the end together yet & I don't think he knows what happens . Ro if you are reading this it's fine everything is fine but also it's so not fine and I'm so scared and afraid. Max bestie we gotta get you out of there

more Argyle; speaks for itself, I'm obsessed w that funky lil stoner & I need him to give Jonathan more terrible therapy it's awesome

El autism diagnosis; this one is a joke. or is it. no it is. or is it

time travel; I'll get a little more into this down there ↓ but I think it's likely to be an element of s5 .. we'll see

now hear me out. here's some things I either do Not want or would be very nervous if they included:

Eddie coming back; WAIT STOP HEAR ME OUT PLEASE .. I want him to not be dead as much as the next Eddie fan and I think the ending they gave him was complete horse shit awful. but I also do NOT have any faith that they'd do a bringing-him-back storyline properly . I've read some good fanfic about it which only would make the reality of whatever they'd do more disappointing ! BUT the exception to this is if they pull some time travel bs, which I think is a good possibility tbh, like with the upside down being stuck in the day Will went missing and stuff, and then they could prevent all that from happening in the first place. I'd still be nervous about the quality of the writing but I'm on board w this conclusion nonetheless! but Eddie coming back as Kas or whatever.. well. I'd just be nervous putting that in the hands of the stranger writers I'm sorry

M!leven endgame (<- censoring for superstitious reasons a.k.a. I do not want to invoke ship discourse here); I just don't know how anyone likes them romantically I'm ngl . it's fine if you do please do not come for me I just don't get it . I fear they will end up together anyway but I don't like it . I'm a Mike apologist but El deserves better than a guy that can't even physically say that he loves her

Will with a gun; this sounds like a joke but I'm so serious hglkjfdgk, I know a lot of people want him having a badass moment with a gun mirroring the shot in s1 where he's taken by the demogorgon and that sounds cool but I just. don't think it suits his character I'M SORRYYY I love that he's a protagonist who's gentle and sensitive, there are other characters who can kick ass violent style rather than my special little dude

anyway that's just off the top of my head, I have so many thoughts swirling around in there so I might be back to add more thank you so much

#literally thank you so much for enabling me I'm shaking /pos

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luxshine · 1 year

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Stranger Things 3 Episode 6

And we start with Robin and Erica getting up to date sort of in what the upside down is. Or well, more likely "The end of the human race as we know it" as Dustin puts it. And of course, Steve didn't punch the russian hard enough, and we have to run. His kids are in danger, and he hates when his kids are in danger.

Aww, Robin joined the babysitter club. And now they're trapped. But Dustin and Erica got free and I know that's all what Steve cares about.

MEanwhile, the teen detective squad is in deep shit, and the kids finally realized the Mind Flyer -who is looking uglier at the moment- is in the hospital where security is FAR lacking than the Russian security.

Is it bad that I wish Nancy will get eaten? I mean, I know she wont, but I still wish she would.

ELEVEN for the save! I love El being a badass instead of the scared little girl she used to be.

Ooh, the Mayor is in trouble with the russians.

And he's going to die if he keeps badmouthing the russians.

Alexei is going to defect to USA is he? If he survives.

Hooper needs to work on his negotiation techniques.

Even if he was right about the seven foot russian being scarier than him.

So, Dustin IS updating Erica on the whole thing. And of course, she doesn't believe that her brother was in the whole thing.

Erica is a NERD, a secret Nerd, but a Nerd nonetheless. And Dustin likes My Little Pony! I love him!

Poor Steve! But he is really good at lying by telling the truth. He DOES work for Scoops Ahoy and he was accidentally in the elevator because he didn't know it was an elevator.

OTOH, the soldiers must think Steve is the best trained spy in the UNIVERSE given that he never gave them the right answer to "who do you work for" according to them.

El is looking for the mass of people, Mike and Max arguing about who takes care of her better, and she should be looking for Dustin.

I am so glad everyone agrees that Mike is terrible boyfriend. I mean, yes, he loves her, but that doesn't mean he has the right to tell her what to do.

Oh, hey, Alexei FINALLY told them about the gate! Hooper and Joyce are going to be VERY angry.

Hooper needs to stop drinking.

"The fortress made by the greatest russian minds" And it was easily broken in by two teenagers and two kids. Alexei has way too much confidence in his people.

Holy shit, are they going to find Dart?

Erica is amazing.

Awww, Steve missed Dustin's first drive. He totally needs to teach his son to drive.

Robin has the brain. Good thing because Steve's head is totally contused.

Robin is SO the fucking Sister that Steve never had, but totally needed. The writers are trying to make me think that there's a romance there because the whole "I was obsessed with you" speech, but no, Robin is not really giving me the lover for Steve's vibe. They really have the sibling's chemistry down pat.

Oooh... Truth serum. That is NOT going to be good for the Russians.

Lucas is a very bad strategist.

Oh, hey, El is having flashbacks to that sister we never saw again. Very cool.

Mike is going to really sacrifice the world for El? He is an idiot. And yes, he needs to start trusting her.

Seriously, series? Are you trying to make me feel bad for Billy at THIS stage? Showing me Billy's memories when he was happy? Bit late. He may have been a nice kid, but he grew up to be an ass and I can't really wait for him to be blob chow.

Joyce really needs to take charge more often. That was hot.

oh, god, the Scoops Ahoy team is high as hell. This is going to be fun. As long as that doctor doesn't get to play.

Oh, Steve just gave Dustin away. But hey, Steve is right. Hopper has called the calvary. Not because Dustin told him, but he called the calvary.

That alarm? Is not the calvary. Dustin and Erica did something.

Oh, shit, Dustin and Erica DID a big something.

Dustin saved the Super Nanny! Love him

SIgh. Are we going to end up with Billy being a result of a very broken home and a violent dad. Sigh. Nope, sorry, I don't like him and I still won't like him.

And if his trauma is feeding the darn Mind Flayer I'm going to like him less.

Oh, shit. El is trapped in the mental void with Billy. And the Mind Flayer, which is worse.

And seriously, I have to give the series props for mixing The Thing, the Blob and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers in such a good way. The march of the flayers is really creepy, especially how they join into the big big creature.

#Stranger Things #Stranger Things 3 #Steve Harrington #Dustin Henderson #Erica Sinclair #Robin #Do we have a surname for Robin?#The others

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strangerthingsharrington · 4 years

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Can’t Fight This Feeling

-20-

A/N - Sorry for the wait, I had writers block for this one, which is why it really isn’t the best. But I wanted to get it out before it got too far away from me!

We were all silently looking around the group after Hopper stormed off. None of us knew what to say or do. We didn’t have a plan. We didn’t have anything. We needed direction, and the guy that should have been taking charge was stomping away from us like a toddler.

Finally Mrs. Byers cleared her throat and brought the attention to her, “Okay, guys, lets just...wait for Hopp to get it together and he’ll realize letting you guys navigate is the best bet. Let’s just...wait him out,” Mrs. Byers suggested with a grimace.

I let out a deep breath and looked up at Steve, who was looking off towards the escalators.

“Steve?” I whispered.

He brought his eyes down to me and let a tiny smile ghost over his lips.

“You okay?” I wondered.

He cleared his throat before nodding slightly at me, “Yeah,” he told me, before putting his arm around my shoulders, “just wishing we could not be getting ready to fight a monster...again.”

I breathed out a small laugh and nodded my head, “Yeah-me too, Steve.”

He hummed, “I’m gonna run to the bathroom. I’ll be right back,” he said, leaning his forehead against my temple for a few seconds, before moving away from me and walking toward the washroom.

I sighed quietly, wishing that Steve and I were preparing for our date rather than being stuck in the mall waiting for a monster to show up and possibly kill us at any moment.

“So...what the hell happened down there?” Jonathan questioned me suddenly.

I looked up at my oldest friend, Jonathan, who had Nancy by his side. He was waiting for me to spill more of my story.

I shrugged, “You gotta be more specific, there was a lot of shit going on down there.”

“Let’s start with the bruises around your neck,” he requested, pointing to my neck, “then we’ll move onto your face with the cut lip, and end at the bruise around your arm.”

I brought my hand up and touched my throat, feeling light pain at the touch before looking down to my arm and saw the large purple and blue bruise that had formed almost all the way around my upper arm.

I sighed, “We told you, Steve and I got taken and smacked around a little. Steve had it worst then me.”

“But are you okay?” he asked worriedly.

I breathed out and smiled lightly, “Yeah, now that I’m above ground and with everyone else.”

He grinned, “Now the real question...what the hell is going on with you and Steve?”

I felt my face redden and I laughed lightly, “What do you mean?” I asked, rubbing the back of my neck.

Nancy giggled, “Oh come on, Louise. He had his arm around you! He just gave you some puppy dog eyes.”

I looked at her uncomfortably, “I mean...look-I dont want this to be weird or anything.”

Nancy scoffed, “Come on...he’s my exboyfriend. It was over months and months ago.”

“And you’ve had a crush on him forever,” Jonathan added in.

I stuck my tongue out and pushed his shoulder while he laughed, “Look, we went through a lot of stuff down there and even this last week...I liked Steve for a long time and then I hated him for a longer time. But he’s...different and he told me he likes me and I like him and-we have much bigger things to be worried about,” I ranted with a sigh.

“Hey,” Nancy said soothingly, “Lou, you don’t have to defend it. I’m not upset, I thought you and Steve looked really cute together. And anyways,” she shrugged smiling up at Jonathan, “I started dating a guy you dated.”

I scoffed but smiled at the two of them, “God, we dated for two weeks,” I laughed with an eye roll, “you guys are, obviously, much better suited.”

“You and Steve probably are too,” Jonathan grinned.

I sighed, “We’ll see,” I mumbled.

“Nanc, can you give me and Louise a second?” Jonathan asked her.

She smiled, “I’ll go check in on Mike,” she said before walking away.

“Lou,” Jonathan began.

“Jon,” I echoed.

He put his hands on my shoulders, “Whatever happened between you and Steve this week...I’m happy he’s finally seeing you for you, without being King Steve the ultimate jerk.

“Look,” he began, watching me intently, “after the shit we’ve been through before this with the gate and everything...Steve has had our backs during all of it. Especially Dustin,” he explained.

I groaned, “Yeah, it’s not hard to see how close those two are.”

Jonathan laughed and pulled me into a hug, I wrapped my arms around his waist, “Come on, be happy that ten year old Louise’s dreams are coming true.”

I laughed and pulled away from him, “You’re so weird.”

“You and me both,” he shrugged, looking down at me.

“Hey.”

I looked behind me and saw Steve standing there, watching his eyes travel from me to Jonathan and back.

“Hey,” I said stepping out of Jonathan’s embrace and walking to stand with Steve.

“I’m gonna check on the kids,” Jonathan said, as I turned to face him when I reached Steve’s side, “glad you helped keep everyone safe, Steve,” Jonathan said with a small grin.

“Wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Steve responded back.

Jonathan nodded before turning around and walking away from us.

I turned to face Steve, “How’s you face?”

A smile flickered across his face, “Sore,” he answered honestly.

“You okay?” I asked him.

He looked down at the ground for a few seconds before looking back up to me with a nervous look.

“You and Jonathan dated before, right?” he asked me softly.

My brows furrowed, “Yeah-why?”

He cleared his throat and looked off to the side, “Look...Lou...I know we haven’t even gone out on a date or anything yet...and I know you and Jonathan are close and everything...”

In an instant it clicked. When Nancy dumped Steve she got together with Jonathan relatively quickly. That must have stung a little bit.

“Steve...are you...worried about Jonathan?” I asked quietly.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, bringing his eyes back to mine, “I mean, I know there’s obviously bigger shit to worry about,” he let out a huff, “I really like you, Lou. I’m not upset about her and Jonathan, and I don’t have feelings for her or anything like that...I dunno,” he shrugged, “I don’t want to mess this up before it even begins.”

“Steve,” I grabbed his hand never breaking the eye contact, “I really like you too. Jonathan and I dated for two weeks forever ago. Jonathan is my best friend, tied with Robin of course,” I said with a small laugh, causing him to smile slightly, “I’ve liked you for a long time...and then didn’t,” I said honestly seeing the sadness in his eyes when I said it, “but this last week...after really getting to know you...I want to see what this is. You’re a really good guy, Steve.”

He grinned at me, “I wanna see what this is too,” he told me squeezing my hand gently, “I’m sorry...I dont want to sound like-I dunno, like I’m whiny or something-“

“Steve,” I smiled, interrupting him, “you’re entitled to feel however you want to feel. And I want to know how you’re feeling so we can talk about it. I’ve told you before, if you ever wanted to talk about anything, I’m here to listen. But I want to just tell you,” I said, placing my unoccupied hand on his shoulder, “Jonathan is the last thing you need to be worried about.”

He grinned and nodded a couple times, “Okay...yeah.”

I looked behind me to see Hop going around the Russians strewn on the ground and grabbing their guns.

I sighed, “Looks like something is going on,” I turned and looked up to Steve, “Let’s go,” I said, removing my hand from my shoulder and walking towards the group again with Steve’s hand in mine.

We walked over to the group, back to where Hop was scavenging guns from the dead Russians around the food court.

“Hey, heads up!” I heard Hop call when we were a few feet away from him and the kids, “You can navigate just from somewhere safe,” he told my brother.

“It’s not that simple,” Dustin insisted holding the walkie talkie in his hand.

“The signal won’t reach,” Erica agreed.

“Not with this,” he said, “you need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the Russians radio tower. But for that to work, you need someone who has both seen their comms room and has access to a super-powered handcrafted radio tower one preferably already situated at the highest point in Hawkins.”

I rolled my eyes but smirked at my little brother. He always had to puff himself up just a tiny bit to let everyone know that he had the ideas and could put them into motion. Or in this case, he had already put part of this into motion a week ago.

“Oh wait,” he added sarcastically, “that’s me.”

Hopper looked like he was truly done with Dustin’s shit, which, honestly, would only egg Dustin on a tiny bit.

“If you want us to navigate, you got us. But we need a head start,” Dustin said as Hopper watched him silently, “and a car,” Dustin added as an afterthought.

Hopper rolled his eyes and looked over to me and Steve, “Take him to his tower, will ya?” he asked, before digging in his pocket and pulled out a set of key and tossing them to Steve, “Cars right out front.”

I looked up to Steve and saw him grinning at Hopper, “Will do, Chief.”

I looked over in the direction where I had seen Robin previously and waved her over, she jogged over to us.

“Come on, let’s lead these adult nerds through a maze,” Erica sassed before leading the Dustin, Robin, Ateve and I away from the others.

As soon as we walked to the glass doors of the mall and I could see the car in question, I knew Steve was going to go crazy over it.

“Oh man,” he said excitedly, “now this...this is what I’m talking about!” he finished and tossed the keys in the air, catching them a second later.

“Calm down, dingus, we still have work to do,” Robin reminded him.

I looked the car over and rolled my eyes at the license plate, I nudged Robin and pointed it out to her.

“Toddfather?” she asked, clearly grossed out, making me giggle.

“Oh screw Todd!” Steve scoffed, “Steve’s her daddy now.”

I shook my head at him, “Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?”

“Did he just call himself daddy?” Erica asked, disgusted.

I grinned as Erica, Dustin and Robin smushed into the back seat and moved the passenger seat back and sat in it with Steve getting in next to me a second later.

“All right,” Steve called us to attention, “where are we going?”

“Weathertop,” Dustin answered.

“Weather-what?” Steve asked, turning to look at Dustin who was seated right behind him.

“Just drive!” Dustin instructed.

“Okay! Jesus!” Steve yelled.

“Okay, here’s what’s gonna happen,” I began, turning as best as I could in my seat to face the others in the back, “we’re obviously to the hilltop and we’re staying there together until they tell us they need us. Okay?”

“I honestly don’t know where we went in the vents,” Robin admitted looking at the other two next to her.

Dustin waved her off, “Don’t worry, Erica and I will deal with that.”

“A favour,” Steve said from up front, “this has been a wild kinda day, so unless it’s Dustin giving me the directions can we have a peaceful car ride with just the music?”

I turned forward in my seat and looked over st him, “It’s been the longest day of my life,” he said with a chuckle, glancing at me, “I want just a few minutes of calm.”

I grinned at him, “Okay.”

I understood where he was coming from. Just to have a moment of silence and calmness and maybe feel like we don’t have the end of the world a few feet in front of us.

I sighed and sat back in my seat, feeling some of my hairs not being held in by my ponytail fly around as the air whipped by my head because the roof was down.

The cool air actually felt really nice on my face, maybe because we had been stuck under the mall for so long and having actual fresh air was amazing.

“Lou,” Steve said.

I looked over to him and grinned, “Yeah?”

“You good?” he smiled.

“I’m good,” I told him honestly.

His smile grew wider and he grabbed my hand holding it tightly in his.

——

Title credit to REO Speedwagon and gif credit to owner

#steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x reader #Steve Harrington #stranger things imagine #stranger things #Netflix #dustin henderson

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michelles-garden-of-evil · 3 years

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Episode 44 Review: The Second Séance

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 | 3 }

{ Full Synopses/Recaps: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

Hello and welcome back to my Garden of Evil, in time for the final episode of Strange Paradise by its co-creator and original headwriter Ian Martin. This marks yet another milestone in the history of this fun and sometimes perplexing soap opera: a little bittersweet, although I know that, unlike viewers in 1969, I can return to early Maljardin whenever I want.

In some ways, Ian Martin’s departure will benefit the show. Like a traditional soap, his SP scripts were generally slow-paced and heavy on recap, with variations of certain lines (e.g. “we must find the conjure doll and the silver pin”) repeated episode after episode. When Robert Costello replaced Selig Alkon as producer, he mandated several changes to the show. His stated reason: to help SP’s other co-creator Jerry Layton achieve his goal of improving the Gothic soap’s ratings:

"New York and Los Angeles stations took it off the air because ratings were poor. And because they are the key stations for money purposes, Robert Costello, who did Dark Shadows for four years, was called in," one of the actors said this week. "Costello took one look at several episodes and said he wasn't going to have anything to do with it the way it was. So the series was changed considerably.”

[...]

In the studio this week, Costello (who produced The Nurses, the Patty Duke Show and Armstrong Circle Theatre) said Strange Paradise was abandoning old voodoo, hallmarks of the first 13 weeks, for heavy occult (witches covens, ESP, apparitions and the like). "The concept, though good, was not completely workable for a day-in and day-out series," admitted its creator and executive producer Jerry Layton.[1]

Naturally, so many changes required a segue from the show’s original format that wasn’t too abrupt, hence the break from Martin’s original plans for the story and the creation of the current weird transitional plotline about the Rabbit of Evil. There are twenty-one episodes of Maljardin left after this one, followed by a shift of setting to Desmond Hall. Like Maljardin, Desmond Hall has its good parts and bad parts, fun characters and not-so-fun ones, but I’ll cover those when I get to them.

Do you remember my Episode 40 review, where I speculated at the end about how the original second séance might have gone? Well, this one is similar in some ways to the séance described in the Lost Episode summaries, but the way it plays out is bizarre. And by “bizarre,” I mean, “What the hell is Vangie thinking, holding it now?”

The (visible) participants of the first séance, from Episode 36 (clockwise from top left): Dr. Alison Carr, Quito, Vangie Abbott, Raxl, Reverend Matt Dawson, and Jean Paul Desmond.

In Episode 36, the choice of who participated and who didn’t participate in the séance followed a certain logic. Four of the six chosen participants had a direct connection to Erica Desmond: her sister Alison, her husband Jean Paul, and her servants Raxl and Quito. The latter two were doubly qualified to participate, both being members of the Conjure Faith, with Raxl helping Vangie determine who could attend and who was forbidden in the previous episode. They excluded Elizabeth, Tim, and Dan for being “disruptive influences” and Holly out of concern for her safety, but allowed Matt because of his strong faith as a man of the cloth. (Remember that, at that point, they still trusted him.) In addition, they left a seventh chair open for Erica’s spirit, making the total number of (invited) participants seven. This, according to Vangie, is one of the ideal numbers for a séance, the other being five. It’s logical, it follows the rules that the author establishes via Vangie, and therefore it makes sense that the second séance would be set up in much the same way.

In my post on Episode 40, I used this logic along with clues from several Lost Episode summaries (including the one for this episode) to try to reconstruct the events of the original second séance, which was slated to take place in that episode before script rewrites. The summaries indicated that Matt would return for the second séance and that Elizabeth would join him, although Vangie’s reasoning for including her in this one is unknown. I excluded Holly from my list because I felt it would be out of character for Vangie to knowingly endanger her life and speculated that Alison may have refused to take part out of justified anger at Jean Paul for making Vangie endanger all of their lives. I also excluded Tim and Dan, because I felt that neither had any reason to participate unless substituting for someone else. In addition, I assumed that Jean Paul would have originally participated in all the séances, being the one who initiated them in the first place, as well as Raxl and Quito for their loyalty to both their dead mistress and to Vangie. I concluded that the most likely participants for the second séance would have been Vangie, Matt, Elizabeth, Raxl, Quito, and Jean Paul: six living/undead participants like the first, but with Alison swapped with Elizabeth.

But what do you do on short notice, while Jean Paul is freaking out in his room, Alison trying to help him calm down, and Raxl and Quito are...sleeping, I suppose? (The episode gives no explanation for their absence, unlike with Jean Paul and Alison.) You hold an emergency séance in the same exact location as before, at a glass-top table identical to the first, with whomever is available. That includes Matt, Holly, and the disruptive influences of Elizabeth and Dan. Vangie claims there’s no time to wait, so emergency séance it is, even if it means breaking all the previously established rules.

Holly lampshading how the second séance comes out of frigging nowhere.

“Jean Paul cannot wait,” says the Conjure Woman. “The need is urgent, the need to find out from whence this locket came. I must choose those of you who will help Jean Paul Desmond contact his wife Erica.”

Holly tries to nope out of it, but Vangie--surprisingly, given her previous concern for her safety--refuses to let her. “You, if the spirits choose,” she insists, “the spirits” here most likely meaning some combination of Robert Costello, Jerry Layton, and Steve Krantz. (Let’s remember that the Serpent previously told her not to invite certain people, Holly included.) It’s a cop-out line, in effect, where the show acknowledges that it’s breaking the previously established rules to obey the new producer’s wish to speed up the action.

The reason why this séance is so urgent? The bloodied locket of Erica’s that Raxl found around the black rabbit’s neck in the previous episode, combined with Vangie’s speculation that the rabbit may be Erica reincarnated. The fact that the locket had blood on it makes Dan even more suspicious of Jean Paul, especially after Matt reminds him that eclampsia (which Jean Paul claims took Erica’s life) is a bloodless death. He begins another tirade about how he thinks that Jean Paul killed both Erica and Dr. Menkin and how he’s going to sail off the island, which Vangie interrupts:

That’s Vangie’s way of saying “shut up.”

Vangie tells the four characters in the room--Holly, Elizabeth, Dan, and Matt--to sit at the table and begin the séance, because a presence has arrived. The first three do, but Dan remains standing and tries to persuade Matt to not take part in the occult ritual.

“You, GO!” Vangie screams at Dan. “PLEASE, GO!” He leaves and, without having anyone join hands, Vangie calls out to her father, the Conjure Man, to ask whose spirit is there. And then she enters a trance and starts screaming, “LET ME OUT!” while breathing heavily. Frightened, Holly runs to her room, while Vangie continues screaming, only to leave her trance a moment later and ask, “Where’s Holly?”

“She couldn’t stand it,” says Elizabeth. “I don’t think that I can, either, or any of us.”

“It was two spirits,” Vangie continues. “One so angry, so confined in some place, in some form.” She rubs her neck as though rubbing scabs left by the chain of an uncomfortable locket. “It’s so dry, so dry!” Elizabeth leaves to get her a drink to quench her thirst.

The way Vangie rubs her neck reminds me of Erica’s bloodied locket.

Their first attempt a disaster, they go their separate ways. Vangie speaks to the portrait of Jacques Eloi des Mondes, demanding an answer to how the rabbit and locket appeared. In her monologue, she reveals that he “[has] always been an enemy” and that he “would laugh at [her] clouded sight”; also that the spirit she felt was “not so much evil as angry, horribly angry and confined!”

Elizabeth offers Vangie some wine. Rather suspicious.

Elizabeth returns with some wine for Vangie’s throat (wouldn’t that only dehydrate her more?) and is about to set it on the séance table when Vangie stops her. “The spirits may not cross it,” she explains, so Elizabeth moves the glass and decanter over to the table where they usually sit.

Vangie picks up the locket and starts thinking out loud about it, when Elizabeth says that she wishes that Jean Paul would just let them open it. This enrages Vangie, who says, “I made a mistake when I asked yo to join the séance. I need all the help I can get, but yours will disrupt!”

“I will not be ordered around!” Elizabeth shouts.

Hearing Vangie scream about how she brings anger, Elizabeth leaves for Holly’s room, where she confides in her about how she doesn’t trust Jean Paul anymore. I think that this is Martin’s subtle way of letting the audience know that her romantic pursuit of Jean Paul/Jacques is over and the new producer and writers have no intentions on continuing it.

Elizabeth’s dress has some interesting pleats/pintucks in the front.

Holly asks her if she believes that the rabbit is Erica’s reincarnation. She thinks it’s ridiculous, but acknowledges that they must humor him while they are stuck on the island because his delusions affect everyone trapped there. “Holly, we need each other,” she says, “if only to exchange notes.” She persuades Holly to return to the séance to keep tabs on what happens.

Elizabeth has come to her senses.

Meanwhile in the Great Hall, Vangie lampshades Jean Paul’s and Alison’s absences again and predicts Dan’s death and Jean Paul’s continued possession. (At least that’s what I think she means by “Jean Paul’s mind and body will hang in the balance by an act of the Devil.”) Still determined to disbelieve in his religion’s personification of evil, Matt accuses either her, Raxl, or someone else on the island of masquerading as the Devil. She starts to try talking him into staying and being part of the séance using his belief in the afterlife, when Dan arrives and announces loudly and in the direction of Jean Paul’s bedroom(!) that he’s going to use one of the boats in the boathouse to escape and tell the police about his suspicions.

That’s when Holly arrives for the séance do-over. This time, it’s four visible characters--Holly, Dan, Matt, and Vangie--plus the spirit, thus making a total of five. Like the first séance, she tells them only to focus on Erica, but this time Dan’s anger disrupts the contact and Vangie flips out on him!

The bad subtitle here, while not especially original, is too perfect.

He storms out and the séance continues. Vangie calls on her father for help, saying, “There is a message...a warning...I cannot bring it through! The path must be clear! What is the warning, Conjure Man?”

And then, all of a sudden, the spirit comes through:

Vangie: (possessed) “Let me out! OUT! Let me out!”

“OUT, OUT, OUT, OOOOUUUUTTT! Is he here yet, Jean Paul? JEAN PAAAAAUUUUULLLL!” [Notice that they’re not touching hands as Vangie insisted that the participants of the first séance do.]

Holly: (possessed) “Out, out, out. Let me out.”

“Out, out, out, OUT, OUT, OUT, AAAAAAAHHHHH!”

Matt directs Dan to the decanter with a tilt of his head and Dan makes Holly drink the wine that Elizabeth poured for Vangie earlier. But, rather than calm her, the wine makes her collapse to the floor in agony:

Holly faints from the poison in the wine.

“If the missing cyanide was in this, I’m afraid Holly is dead!” says Dan after sniffing the inside of the glass. But is it cyanide, and is Holly Marshall dead? I suppose you’ll have to stay tuned for Episode 45 (the episode or the review).

I don’t want you to think that, because I criticized some things about this episode, I must dislike it. Quite the contrary. While some things about this episode do reek of subverting expectations just for the sake of subversion (they didn’t have to film a séance episode on Colin Fox’s day off), the final scene is wonderfully chilling and Angela Roland gets to use her acting chops more in this episode than in any of the previous ones. Also, the missing cyanide subplot finally becomes relevant again at the end with Holly’s collapse after drinking the wine.

Coming up next: A two-part post looking at the best and worst things about Ian Martin’s episodes of Strange Paradise, followed by the Episode 45 review. I’ve been working hard on these and look forward to posting them within the next week.

{ <- Previous: Episode 43 || Next: Episode 45 -> }

Notes

[1] Sid Adilman, “TV’s Colin Fox and his Strange Paradise,” Toronto Telegram, November 29, 1969. I omitted part of this passage to avoid spoilers, but the omitted portion is also noteworthy in that it indicates that they had already begun filming Desmond Hall by November 1969.

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surroundedbyselcouth · 5 years

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Long Post of Little Stranger Things Things

So...I ended up watching most of Stranger Things in a sleep-deprived food-poisoned state, so I’ll have to watch again at some point to actually get much coherent analysis out of it. But I did have a few (alas critical) spoilery thoughts:

- I’m not such a huge fan of the style? Is it just me or was this season kinda violent? Like I’m not against it, but it gets kind of tiring having everybody crashing into each other/monsters/things all the time. Also some of the “cinematic” shots just made me feel slightly nauseous (or that might have been the food poisoning)

- Going to have to think a bit more about how the world expands in this season. On the one hand, good to see that there are world-at-large consequences to the story, on the other, I think it distracts from what made the first two seasons good?

- A good horror story works because it distorts the normal. You’ve got to have this utterly ordinary baseline that the horror can invade. That being said, skipping a good span of time and having your opening shot being a much more well-adjusted Eleven kissing Mike was a very jarring decision. A lot of the choices regarding the time gap between the previous season and this feel like bad ideas because we never got to see the characters adjust to their new realities and grow older, so we’re already disoriented before anything scary actually happens. I spent way too much time just trying to wrap my mind around who these people are now.

- Some good character interactions: Dustin and Steve are always gold, I did appreciate Eleven and Max spending time together, as Max is good for Eleven! Max has her own confidence, so she’s an ideal friend to help Eleven start discovering her own personality (I really wish we’d gotten to explore Eleven needing to do things for herself and discovering what she likes/enjoys, because that’s a major part missing from her childhood and could have been tied into larger themes in a powerful way).

- What are these time jumps, it’s day then it’s night, then there’s a random flashback that confusingly makes it seem like we’re jumping back in time. Somebody didn’t think this through at all.

- Will is one of the few whose growth (or ungrowth) makes sense for me. He just wants things to be the way they used to be, and I don’t blame him, after all the trauma he’s been through! The others have really had time to grow and explore but he’s been out of action a lot of the time while they growing up. I also noticed and liked these little flashes of anger from him that are reminiscent of Mind Flayer-Will. It’s not something that ever entirely leaves...(also side note - Mind Flayer as a confidence booster?)

- Where previously I felt that trauma was integrated into the narrative (really giving Joyce a moment to grieve Bob, every time Eleven confronts her monsters, the moment with Papa in season 2, etc), here I felt that the reliance on flashbacks sort of cheapens their experiences.

- Things really got going with Billy’s memories seen by Eleven! Now there’s the good monster stuff I came for. The monster feeds off your secret sorrows if you let it.

- Sad that the mall didn’t get used more excitingly during the big fight. I mean, it’s a mall! Why only use it to bash more things up? Let’s fill this battle with all the most ridiculous things available.

- On a similar note, the fair isn’t used that well either. I mean, Scary Russian Dude was a tense moment, but so much opportunity for creepy liminal spaces...

- I think I figured out my problem with this season! It feels a lot like that new-ish writer problem where the characters are treated less like people than as objects to be pushed around. That’d explain why everyone feels kind of out of character and decisions don’t always make sense. It’s like the writers had a plot in mind and kind of shoved everyone around to make it happen. Note to writers: this is bad writing. Listen to your characters! Let them breathe!

- Lots of people treated unfairly this season: while it’s good to see Eleven being helped by friends and not just being used as the big powerful weapon all the time, the sort of meta discussion about this by the characters undermines the effect, and given her central role and ongoing personal challenges she deserved more opportunities to develop as a person than just to become...weak. Also Hopper - nice dramatic death, totally unnecessary, after turning into this weirdly insensitive person after seeing him come so far with Eleven before just disappoints me. Also Nancy and Jonathan? They have good reasons to be upset with each other, but I wish they’d gotten to explore those more deeply.

- On the other hand, way to go Joyce! She’s proving herself a real problem-solver. I like to see her diving into research to understand what’s going on and standing up for herself. She’s always been a little crazy, but it’s good to see her really taking action and doing what she sees needs done regardless of what anybody else thinks.

- Somehow Russians infiltrating tiny town’s mall is a more outlandish plot than superpowered girl accidentally opens a gate to a monster dimension.

- I’m not really sure where the show would go next in a fourth season? Like...this ending is fine. Or well, not totally fine, but the story has ended.

- Things I did like: the magnets, weird rats (very bubonic plague), Erica and Robin (they have personality, they’re fun! Though note to writers: making your character reveal they are gay just to make your other main character feel bad isn’t fair to either character), the fireworks idea, Billy saving Eleven.

...I guess that was a lot of thoughts for someone only semi-conscious while watching.

#stranger things

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ariesbilly · 6 years

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i just had a thought, what if this turns out to be "the billy misconception 2.0" and we think that the new girl will try and steal steve when in actuality she would have nothing to do with steve and more to do with nancy?

lmao i was thinking about how wrong i was about billy last year and how HOPEFULLY thats the case this time

i think (know) dacre is like 90% of why i like billy so much. so being that maya is the daughter of ethan hawke and i am forever a slut for ethan hawke….i am willing to give her a chance.

the fact that her character is “alternative” has me thinking she’s gonna either be involved with steve as some ~opposites attract~ storyline or maybe she knows jonathan. i would LOVE for nancy to have a female friend. im pretty ride or die for jancy so i dont want no weird romantic subtext coming into the picture. i mean… i dont think id mind it on its own. but i KNOW the fandom would use it to shit all over jonathan/jancy and im already exhausted i dont want to deal with that

im honestly more annoyed with the erica storyline like i dont want a bunch of elementary school kids running around on screen that is not what i signed up for. they couldve bumped her up to series regular or whatever and kept her the comedic relief amongst lucas/the sinclair family idk why she needs an entire plot fighting whatever it is shes fighting like enough. theres 17 fucking subplots going on already that yall didnt even have time to complete last year and you have one less episode this season and you decide nows the time to do the absolute most ???? i really wish tv writers knew how to manage shit

#briana answers things #Anonymous

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leftpress · 7 years

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Steve Cohen’s ‘That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Anti-Semitic’

charliethechulo | Shiraz Socialist | March 7th 2017

Steve Cohen (ZT”L) died on 8th March 2009. He had been a member of the Jewish Socialists Group, the International Marxist Group, and a leading campaigner for migrants rights. An outspoken supporter of Palestinian rights, he was nevertheless concerned about the prevalence of anti-Semitism on parts of the left and pro-Palestinian movement. Steve was a prolific writer (we tried to rope him into Shiraz towards the end of his life), but by far his most important piece was That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Anti-Semitic, which can be read in full on the website devoted to Steve and his great pamphlet, which we reproduce here in memory of a fine comrade:

An anti-racist analysis of left anti-semitism by Steve Cohen (ZT”L), edited ...

by Libby Lawson and Erica Bunnan:

There Must Be Some Way Out of Here

In 1984 I wrote a booklet against anti-Semitism. For this I was denounced as a Zionist.

In 2005 I wrote a pastiche poem criticising Zionism. For this I was denounced as an anti-Semite by some people on the Engage website. What is happening here?

It seems to me that one of the things that is happening is that whatever the fundamental political distinction between anti Semitism and anti Zionism (a distinction I see as absolute) yet on an emotional and existential level the two have become hopelessly intertwined—and this itself is political. Something else which is happening is the confirmation as far as I’m concerned of a political analysis of anti-Semitism which in my naivety, strikes me as obvious but which I’ve never seen articulated anywhere else. This is that the Jewish Chronicle and Socialist Worker are both correct. And incorrect. Zionism is anti racist. And Zionism is racist. I cannot see how Zionism in its triumphant form (the Israeli state) is anything except essentially racist. It was founded on the dispossession of the Palestinians. And it continues on the super exploitation and humiliation of the Palestinians as the “other”. To deny this strikes me as fundamentally immoral. I also happen to think that two states, one of which by definition has to be exclusively Jewish is similarly immoral. I think majoritarianism (the legitimisation of an entity through numbers) is immoral wherever it presents itself—it leads at the very least to forced population movement and at its most extreme to ethnic cleansing and all that implies. I’ll leave open to discussion and personal judgement the point on this continuum that Israel may already guilty and at which a divided state would become guilty.

On the other hand it seems to me equally undeniable that Zionism in its inception was anti-racist. It was a reaction against, a way of dealing with, European anti-Semitism. Maybe as a revolutionary socialist writing in Prestwich in 2005 it would not be my way. However as a Jew of whatever political persuasion in Europe after the coming to power of Hitler in 1933 or the defeat of the revolution in Spain in 1939 I may well have had a different position. And if fascism ever took over here and Jews were barred entry elsewhere then I guess I might take a different position. I empathise with the “bolt hole” theory of Zionism. I appreciate the significance of the remarks by Isaac Deutscher, the Polish Marxist ex-rabbi, who wrote in later life “In this controversy (between socialism and Zionism) Zionism has scored a horrible victory, one of which it could neither wish nor expect; six million Jews had to perish in Hitler’s gas chambers in order that Israel should come to life … If instead of arguing against Zionism in the 1920s and 1930s I had urged European Jewry to go to Palestine, I might have saved some of the lives that were later extinguished in Hitler’s gas chambers” (Israel’s Spiritual Climate). I take it as axiomatic that any revolutionary of that pre-war period would have fought for the absolute right of Jews to enter Palestine. To have argued otherwise, to have argued for immigration controls, would have meant support for the British Mandate whose army tried to prevent entry. However the tenets of revolutionary socialism (tenets to which I still hold even in these days of Blair, Bush, Sharon and … Bin Laden) would demand that entry into the then Palestine would/should have lead to an attempt to forge an alliance between Jewish workers and Palestinian workers and peasants against the Zionist leadership, the absentee Palestinian landlords and the British soldiery. Of course the task would have been enormous. But the failure of that historic task has lead to what we have today—Israel the perpetual blood bath.

It is because Zionism is both racist and anti-racist that I call myself an anti-Zionist Zionist. It is also because Zionism is racist and anti racist that there is an even more urgent need to rigorously distinguish anti-Zionism from anti-Semitism. This itself requires a rigorous definition of both—otherwise how is it rationally possible to ever distinguish the two? I do not think there is ever the question of anti-Zionism discourse “becoming” or “sliding into” anti-Semitism. If a position is anti-semitic then it is anti-semitic in its origins—it does not become so. It is nothing whatsoever to do with Zionism. So, fascistic critiques of Israel are not about Zionism. They are about Jews. And this is the point. Anti-Zionism is about solidarity with the Palestinians. Anti-Semitism is about the Jewish conspiracy. Not all critiques of Israel are based on Jewish conspiracy theories. And anti-Semitism is not going to help progress the Palestinian cause. Just as August Bebel famously described the equation of capital with Jew as the socialism of fools then the equation of Zionism with world domination with Jew is the anti-zionism of fools.

It often feels like the wisdom of Solomon is required to know how to deal politically with this grotesque foolishness. One issue is the actual (the “cleansing” of Jews from Jerusalem in 1948, the suicide bombings of today) or threatened (“drive them into the sea”) repression of Israeli Jews which fuels a fortress mentality and to which sections of the left retain an ambivalent or agnostic attitude. Another issue that should be a matter of concern is that anti-semitism masquerading as anti-Zionism drives away those who would otherwise want to give solidarity to the Palestinian cause. For myself, this is what I found unfortunate in the debate over the boycott of some or all Israeli universities. Whatever the motive of those proposing the boycott (and like Engage I’m opposed to exceptionalising Israel) there is still an imperative need to offer real, material, political support to the Palestinians. I think for myself the best way of dealing with any particular proposed boycott is to come to a decision on whether the boycott would help the Palestinians irrespective of its proposers—and organise independently against anti-Semitism. Which perhaps meaning building a movement that simultaneously is dedicated to Palestinian solidarity and opposition to anti-Semitism.

It is apparent from what I’ve said that I also disagree with what I take to be the dominant position within Engage—namely that in our contemporary world anti-Zionism must inevitably equate with anti-Semitism. Paradoxically I also disagree with Engage’s position that in the modern world the form that anti-Semitism takes is through (foolish) anti-Zionism. I think it is worse than that. Obviously this is one form that is taken by the theory of the world Jewish conspiracy. However it seems to me that this is merely concealing more classic forms—Jew as all-powerful (the “Zionist lobby” running the USA), Jew as financial manipulator (the world being supposedly run by trans-national corporations and not imperialist states), Jew as murderer (take your pick—the blitzing of Iraq comes in there somewhere through its constant equation with the repression of the Palestinians). Jew as the subject of the blood libel (ditto but add the surreal accusation that Jews are responsible for September 11th), Jew as the killer of the first born (double ditto), Jew as poisoner of the wells (the anti-urbanisation of much Green politics—with Jews being the urban people par excellence). These images, these world-views, are powerful enough to split off from any anti-zionist base. And they have begun to split off within sections of the anti-globalisation, anti-capitalist movement. It is here that the anti-Zionism of fools emerges with a vengeance but is still subservient to the classic socialism of fools and also to the pre-capitalist feudalism of fools—the real McCoy of jew hatred. This is because anti-capitalism is shared by socialists who aspire to post-capitalist formations and right-wing organisations who hark back to an earlier pre-capitalist age—which is one of many reasons why genuine socialists have to be vigilant against any equation of capital with Jew.

Anti-Semitism on the left has for too long been a taboo subject—probably since the inception of the socialist project itself. I know because in 1984 I was that taboo! I became for a short period a political pariah in sections of the socialist/communist movement (my movement) for daring to raise the subject. Actually when I began writing my book I had no intention of writing anything on anti-Semitism, left or right. I wanted to write and condemn the (latest) Israeli onslaught on Lebanon. I used the left press as source material—and became horrified by what I was reading. And what I was reading was gross stereotyping of the Jew via the stereotyping of Israel as the most powerful force in the universe. All this was redolent of all the old-time European, Christian imagery—just stopping short it seemed of accusations of desecrating the wafer. So I did some research and quickly realised that this left anti-Semitism did not spring from nowhere but unfortunately had a long and dishonourable tradition—going back at least to the successful agitation for immigration controls against Jewish refugees and the 1905 Aliens Act. As it so happened, I was at that time thinking of writing another book just on this agitation—but Pluto Press told me that “Jews don’t sell”. To which I replied that I thought this was what we’ve always been accused of doing too much of. To show Pluto they were not being true Marxists I quoted Marx’s own piece of self-hatred from his On The Jewish Question: “What is the secular cult of the Jew? Haggling”. And then bizarrely I started to come across references and allusions (illusions) in parts of the left press to the wealth and power of Jews, of Jewry, all in the service of Israel—or maybe Israel was in the service of Jews and Jewry. Who knows? It was all rubbish anyway—but extremely dangerous rubbish.

And without managing (with the support of some comrades in the Jewish Socialist Group—the JSG) to keep fixed in my head the absolute distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, I guess I could have gone schizophrenic. There were two great successive nights when I was evicted from a mosque then a shul. I’m always sorry I never made the hat-trick of our common enemy—a church. The mosque incident involved picketing (along with some Asian youth) some local anti-Jewish ayatollah. The shul incident was wonderful. It was in Liverpool. I went with other members of the JSG to picket a meeting that was being held in support of the invasion (a shul supporting a military invasion? This really was Old Testament stuff). What we didn’t know was that the guest speaker was some Israeli General—we should have recognised him by his ripped jeans and tee shirt. As we were being lifted horizontally, face downwards, out of the shul by the stewards I looked down on a face looking up at me. The face looking up said “Weren’t we at Oxford together?”. To which I replied “I think so—were you at Trinity?” That to me is a classic example of tribalism. Mea culpa. I always regret not screaming out “Let my people go!”.

That’s Funny You Don’t Look Anti-Semitic did create ripples. It managed to split the JSG whose then dominant leadership thought it might offend the Socialist Workers Party. It resulted in some pretty dreadful correspondence over many weeks in journals like Searchlight and Peace News. A pamphlet was written denouncing me as a “criminal”. There was a particular review—in Searchlight—one sentence of which I will never forget. Every Jew on the left will know that terrible syndrome whereby, whatever the context and wherever one is, we will be tested by being given the question “what is your position on Zionism?” Wanna support the miners—what’s your position on Zionism? Against the bomb—what’s your position on Zionism? And want to join our march against the eradication of Baghdad, in particular the eradication of Baghdad—what’s your position on Zionism? And we all know what answer is expected in order to pass the test. It is a very strong form of anti-Semitism based on assumptions of collective responsibility. Denounce Zionism, crawl in the gutter, wear a yellow star and we’ll let you in the club. Which is one reason why I call myself an Anti-Zionist Zionist—at least that should confuse the bastards. Anyhow this particular review, noting that my book actually did attack Zionism, said “It is not enough to trot out platitudes, as he does, about being against Zionism and in support of the Palestinian struggle”. So I’m not allowed into the club even though I fulfil the entry requirements. I’m not allowed in because I recognise and oppose the existence of anti-Semitism on the Left—and this therefore renders all support for Palestinians a “platitude”. Well it ain’t me who’s here confusing anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

An accusation greeting the publication of That’s Funny was that even if anti-Semitism existed, it was trivial compared to other forms of oppression—not least that being inflicted on the Palestinians. I find this argument abhorrent. The struggle for communism is not about establishing some equitable scale of oppression and exploitation. It is about smashing all such oppression and exploitation. Switch to Germany 1925—”Comrades why are you harping on about anti-Semitism? It’s trivial. If it ever became significant we will deal with it. Honest”.

But there were positives back in 1984. There were allies out there—for instance the then Manchester and Liverpool branches of the JSG. I discovered that a similar political battle was going on within the feminist magazine Spare Rib and a kind of informal alliance was formed here. I remember that a large debate was organised in the Peace Studies department at Bradford University—where I shared some dope with a member of the PLO. It was Lebanese! And then the three of us who had published the book (we called ourselves The Beyond The Pale Collective) organised a biggish conference in Manchester. And Pluto Press was wrong—we sold a lot of books. We sold enough books to publish another one—on Holocaust Denial by Gill Seidel. This had been accepted by Pluto but then pulped after it had been typeset! I guess this was part of their reality denial.

As far as I’m concerned I’m still prepared to stand behind most of what I wrote those two decades ago. However there is one issue where my position has somewhat changed. And there is a second where I think I missed the plot entirely. First I think the book was, in its critique of assimilation, far too uncritical of the concept of “Jewish culture”. In fact I think it was implicitly far too generous towards Bundism in this respect (though I still support the Bundist championing of political self-organisation). I no longer see Jewish (or any) culture as monolithic. It is fractured and determined by issues of class. I have been in too many situations where the need to fight racism (racist attacks, immigration controls, fascist mobilisations) has been counter-posed by some suggestion about having an “ethnic” evening with “ethnic” clothes and “ethnic” food. It’s got to the stage where, to paraphrase Goebbels, whenever I hear the word multiculture I want to reach for my gun. In particular I am now ruthlessly opposed to denominational schools—be they Jewish, Muslim, Catholic or Church of England. Some of this has been informed by the racist admission practices of the Jewish School in Manchester (no Jewish mother no entry). However the substantive point is that as a militant atheist I am opposed to the state subsidising the garbage of religion—any religion. And anyhow, I’m for the unity of people of all ages not their division. At the same time I’m equally opposed to the (political) drive towards assimilation—I don’t see incorporation into the norms of imperialism as a step forward for humanity. The latest example of this drive towards incorporation is the suggestion by the Home Office Minister, Hazel Blears, following the London underground bombings that ‘minorities should be described as, for example “Asian-British” rather than simply as “Asian”‘. (Times 8 August 2005). The idea of the labelling and re-labelling of human beings as a method of protecting the citizenry of London is as ludicrous as all other justifications used for restricting the free movement of the same human beings. In the past slaves were branded—literally and with fire. Under the modern market economy it is people. This commoditisation of the alien reduces her or him to a piece of capital, to a new form of enslavement – the enslavement of a forced identity within a hostile society ever ready to deport and expel.

Second I come to missing the plot. This is not about what I wrote. It is about what I did not write. In fact it was what I explicitly refrained from writing. So I said “The book says nothing about socialist or liberation movements in the third world, deliberately so, because countries in the third world have not historically been within the grip of Christianity, and thus have no tradition of conspiracy theories. For example within Islam both Jew and Christian were seen as infidels—and certainly there was no constant mythology of universal Jewish domination. If notions about Jewish power entered the third world, then that is a product of imperialistic and Christian penetration”.

Looking back on this from today’s realities it clearly is inadequate. For instance I cannot see any basis for conspiracy theories (i.e. classic anti-Semitism) within Islam historically, however badly Jews (usually alongside Christians) were sometimes mistreated. I guess for this we have to be thankful we never bumped off Mohammed as well as Jesus. However it would be a matter of interesting political investigation to see precisely how conspiracy theories have subsequently entered the Muslim world—to see how they have become the Islam of fools. Moreover whatever the significance today of Left anti-Semitism, its influence and social weight is insignificant compared to that within Muslim communities (an anti-Semitism which is possibly matched by racism within the Jewish community). So the Elders of the Protocols of Zion is a best seller in Arabic speaking countries. So I’ve read how Islamicists blame “world Jewry” for both the New York and London underground bombings. And this junk needs to be challenged. And it needs to be challenged by the Left—and it isn’t. In fact it is encouraged—if only obliquely.

It is encouraged by Israeli exceptionalism—by the constant depiction and caricaturing of Israel as somehow being the pre-eminent world imperialist power. Inasmuch as I might be for some boycott of Israeli universities then I’m equally in support of a boycott of British universities because of their collusion in the institutionalised apartheid of immigration controls—that is either collusion by their silence or by their active co-operation with the Home Office in developing controls (which appears to be the case with University College London). It is encouraged by the emergence on demonstrations against the American invasion of Iraq, of the denunciation of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank—as though there was some intrinsic connection between the two which is not shared with other imperialist interventions. It is encouraged by the sycophantic, uncritical relationship that the SWP/Respect has towards the Muslim leadership as organised, for instance, around the mosques—these Muslim machers are as right-wing and often as anti-Semitic as their Jewish macher counterparts organised around the shuls are anti-Islam. In the beginning was the Board of Deputies? Today there is the Muslim Association of Britain. Macherism, the political reliance on a self-appointed leadership (the macherites) is a political disease which needs to be challenged and destroyed—instead sections of the Left are cultivating it at its most dangerous points.

Is there any way out of this mess? Particularly is there any way out of this mess for socialists in this country trapped politically between the existential linkage of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism? Is there a wisdom of Solomon? In all humility I think so. Of course we can all have our own politics on the way forward as regards Israel/Palestine. My own vision is of a federated secular and socialist middle east. This maybe is utopic but so is socialism. So is the revolution. So is all meaningful change. However there is going to be no way forward without a recognition of the fundamental block towards any change whatsoever—namely the world wide antagonism between Jews and Muslims. The international nature of this cleavage is central. Only joint and grassroots solidarity between the players in the game can possibly open up any dialogue. In Israel/Palestine this means between the Jewish and Palestinian masses. For instance let there be a march of a hundred thousand Israeli peaceniks into the occupied territories—and let them stay until the Israeli army and the settlers march out (or co-operate with the Palestinians in the sharing of resources—including the opening up of the new townships to Palestinians). Let Engage encourage this with its co-thinkers in Israel!

In this country it means joint activity between Jews and Muslims (and socialists) with the Jewish and Muslim communities. And what this boils down to is joint activity against fascism and racism. I suggested above the necessity to start to develop a movement simultaneously based on struggle for Palestinian rights and against anti-Semitism. This is presently an abstraction. However another real movement does exist against racism which can draw the two communities together in struggle. This is the disparate movement against immigration controls—for whom the Jews were the first and Muslims the latest victims. Of course controls need to be challenged in their own right—not just as a device for unity. However the challenge can also forge a unity which presently seems a million miles away. What is more the history of the last thirty years of struggle by migrants, immigrants and refugees against controls shows something that SWP/Respect have utterly missed. This is that real, meaningful, progressive political activity within the Muslim community (and all third world communities) comes from the grassroots either by by-passing or defeating the community machers. Let Engage become involved in these struggles both because of their intrinsic political importance and as part of its commitment to challenging left anti-Semitism by building meaningful alliances!

It could begin by supporting the campaign of Samina Altaf and her two children to fight deportation. Samina’s is just one of countless stories—though I guess more immediately poignant. Having fled Pakistan to avoid repeated domestic abuse she was refused asylum here. Like all asylum seekers she is outside of the welfare state and has been forcibly dispersed into Salford by the so-called National Asylum Support Service (NASS—a wing of the Home Office). And now as a failed asylum seeker who is refusing to return “voluntarily” to the country from she fled she is being threatened by NASS with eviction onto the streets. And I forgot to mention this—Samina is disabled with rickets. And her children are crippled with rickets. Get involved with the campaign! Write a letter of support to her constituency MP—Hazel Blears that well known re-labeller of third world identity and warrior against international terrorism (address House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1). Blears happens to be a Home Office MP—so terrorise her with letters of support. And invite a speaker from the campaign to one of your meetings—whilst sending money to the campaign (address Samina Altaf Defence Campaign, c/o Bury Law Centre, 8 Banks St, Bury BL9 ODL).

Finally I think that not one iota of the above can ever be resolved through communalism, through tribalism, through uncritically supporting Jews as Jews or Muslims as Muslims. My religion right or wrong! And all due to an accident of birth. I guess I recoil when I read on the Engage website the reflection on being Jewish—”frankly I can’t get enough of it”. Jewish identity as an addiction is not much of an advert for clarity of political thought. I was shocked by a news report I read a few years ago. It is a story that deserves creative fictionalisation. It concerned a guy who was raised in a highly Zionist family (I guess High Zionism is the Jewish version of High Church). He was raised as a conscious racist towards the Palestinians. Dirty Arabs! Until he discovered he was one of them—He was an adopted son. His biological parents were, I think, Libyan. Overnight (or maybe it took a little longer) he became a vehement anti-Zionist—and Jew hater. Dirty Jews! I was struck by two very powerful televisual images during the recent eviction of the Gaza settlers by the (Orwellian entitled) Israeli Defence Force. One was that of Israeli soldiers crying. The Israeli army in tears? One of the most powerful militaries in the world! Why no tears when the Palestinians were evicted? The second image was just bizarre in its tribalism. This was that of the settlers being evicted and the soldiers evicting them temporarily desisting from their civil war and praying together on shabbos—with the evictions resuming as soon as shabbos ended. Compared to this crazy chauvinism the legendary Christmas Day football match in the trenches of World War One between German and British soldiers was a genuine act of internationalism. However there can be no genuine internationalism, no genuine international solidarity, no meaningful working together of ordinary people wherever tribalism or communalism dominates. And at the moment it is precisely these reactionary formations that dominate both Muslim and Jewish communities—and the tragedy is they are hardening. It would be good if Engage put its energy into helping soften them.

Steve Cohen 2005

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That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Anti-Semitic

Obituary for Steve Cohen (ZT”L)

There Must Be Some Way Out of Here

Why is this book different from all other books ?

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Socialism of Fools

The Socialism of Fools

Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism without Jews

Left Anti-Semitism

Socialism, Anti-Semitism, Thatcherism and Fascism

Chapter 2: The Anti-Semitism of English Socialism”s Formative Years

The Background

Immigration Controls

English and Jewish Opposition to Controls

Rich Jew, Poor Jew: The Conspiracy Theory in Practice

Anti-Alienism or Anti-Semitism

#leftpress #Anti-Racism #anti-semitism #From the archives #good people #Human rights #internationalism #israel #Judaism #left #Middle East #palestine #zionism #news #resistance #politics

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michelles-garden-of-evil · 4 years

Text

Episode 19 Review: She Was One of Us

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 }

{ Synopses/Recaps: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

{ Screencaps }

In the last episode, we saw Jean Paul’s lawyer and Alison’s fiancé Dan depart from the main island, at the behest of Jacques. This means that now all major characters save Vangie are on the isle of Maljardin, prisoners detained guests forced to partake in the funeral that Jean Paul reluctantly agreed to hold for Erica while he waits for her to return from the dead.

We open in the crypt, where Raxl and Quito are leaving flowers on top of the cryonics capsule. Raxl starts talking about how she wants Erica’s soul to “depart to the Great Serpent,” which Jean Paul overhears when he and Alison enter. “You don’t seem to have much faith in the last rites of Christianity,” he remarks. (Look who’s talking!) Jean Paul explains briefly to Alison that Raxl’s religion predates Christianity (which she calls “the new religion”), which soon devolves into yet another “Erica is dead forever and should be buried”/”Erica will rise again” argument. I’ve lost count of how many times he and Alison have argued about this, but I think we’re up to Argument Number #389723. They’re both determined to beat the dead horse until it’s reduced to a pile of smashed bones suitable only for fertilizer.

Colin, are you reading the Teleprompter?

She says that she wishes that he would have Erica put in the ground, and he responds that technically she is. I would call him a smart-ass, but the way he delivers the line doesn’t come across as sarcastic. In fact, at this point on the show, Jean Paul doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor. Jacques is the witty, sarcastic one, and Jean Paul is the serious one with the one-track mind that can only think of Erica. Later on in Desmond Hall, they try to give Jean Paul a sense of humor by having him make a joke every now and then, but it doesn’t work because it goes against his original characterization. Maljardin-era Jean Paul doesn’t joke around and rarely even uses sarcasm.

Despite his humorlessness, he is a joy to look at in this episode. Here he is earlier in the scene with Alison, putting flowers on the capsule and looking just dashing.

Anyway, Jean Paul sends everyone out of the crypt, so that he can have a few moments alone with the capsule. He clasps his hands together as through praying, although whether it’s to the Christian God, the Great Serpent, or himself is unclear because he stays silent.

Back in the great hall, Alison asks Dan and Matt some more about Raxl and Quito’s religious practices and learns that, because their religion considers Christianity heresy, they may refuse to take part in the funeral despite loving Erica. (They attend, anyway, although they do perform their own rites/ritual separately beforehand.)

Alison, the thought of that seems to please you a lot.

Holly comes downstairs and, after a recap conversation with her mother and Tim, goes to see Matt. She starts out by telling him that she’s wary of attending any funerals until her own (because of the quarrel that occurred at her father’s), but then mentions another reason why she doesn’t want to attend and why she couldn’t sleep in the previous episode:

Holly: "Look Reverend, you're going to think this is way off, but last night, I had a very strange nightmare." Matt: "What about?" Holly: "About me. Like...some kind of a warning."

Raxl, presumably on Holly.

She lights some incense and then a message appears in the writing box where Quito wrote something a moment before. A message from the Serpent about Holly, perhaps?

Holly: "Suddenly, there was this woman, like a priestess, who seemed to be in a temple, she was standing over me with a strange kind of headdress and she looked like my mother." Matt: "Your dreams are beginning to sound like a B-movie. Go on." Holly: "Well, then she said, 'Those who are part of this evil must pay the price.'"

She asks him what the dream means. He declines to answer because he’s not an authority in dream interpretation, but insists that she attend the funeral despite her worries. Because he can’t answer, I shall try to provide one for him based on some of the research that other fans have done on Ian Martin’s original plans for the Maljardin arc.

(WARNING: The YouTube and Maljardin Blog links in the next four paragraphs contain spoilers for later Maljardin episodes.)

For the first nine weeks of Strange Paradise, all episodes were credited to Ian Martin, a veteran actor and soap opera writer who appears to have been quite emotionally invested in the story, as there is evidence that he may have based Erica on his first wife Inge Adams, who also died young. I’ve read a rumor that Krantz Films owner Steve Krantz and his wife Judith (who later became a famous and influential romance novelist) may have ghostwritten some episodes, but there is no evidence to support the presence of any ghostwriters in this period of the show’s history.

Nevertheless, as the Maljardin arc went on, a discrepancy started to appear between the episode summaries in newspapers and the actual content of the episodes that aired starting in Episode 30. Strange Paradise historian Curt Ladnier has written many blog posts on these “lost episodes,” comparing the newspaper listings with the aired episodes and analyzing the changed plot points. Ladnier attributes the changes to executive meddling, requiring Martin to rewrite episode scripts when he was already writing five per week.

One of the most notable changes to these scripts was the omission of a new character named Tarasca, whom the newspaper summary for Episode 42 describes as “a native high priestess in love with Jacques, a French buccaneer.” Because Elizabeth dreamed about being her in the original version of that episode, we can safely assume that the priestess in Holly’s nightmare who resembled her was Tarasca. Also, given that this show mostly uses dream sequences as a means of showing events that happened in the past, we can also infer that, at some point, she sacrificed a young woman who looked identical to Holly, meaning that Martin was most likely planning on writing a 17th-century counterpart for her as well.

Several other early episodes hint at (or appear to hint at) the character of Tarasca and her connection to Elizabeth Marshall, including a cryptic line in Episode 12 where Jacques promises Elizabeth a “change” while she is on Maljardin. For more information and some more speculation about Tarasca’s role and backstory, see this video. I’m a little obsessed with this aborted storyline and have been waiting since October for a chance to discuss it, so, from now on, I’m going to reference it often and provide my own thoughts as to how I think it would have played out.

Erica’s funeral. Why is no one wearing black save for Dan and (obviously) Raxl and Quito? At the very least, Alison should be, because she takes her sister’s funeral more seriously than anyone else.

Jean Paul, I know what you’re thinking, but Reverend Dawson’s not talking about the possibility of Jacques resurrecting her. You really do have a one-track mind.

Jacques: “I do believe Holly needs me to jack her up by the bootstraps.”

Holly’s response to seeing Elizabeth chatting with Jean Paul. Really, Holly? Your mother marrying the richest man in the world *who adores you* is probably the best thing that could possibly happen to you.

After the funeral and a couple boring scenes about Holly’s subplot (there are a lot of references to the stupid Holly portrait in this episode), we see Dan confront Jean Paul about whether the guests can finally leave the island. Even though Jacques re-hired him last episode, he claims to be looking for a new job and he wants to make Alison leave the island with him and return to New York. Before Jean Paul has time to object, Jacques crashes the after-funeral reception, which he treats as a party. Ignoring Dan’s question of whether he and Alison can return to the mainland, he opens up the bar and commences trolling his detained guests:

So not suspicious. ;)

Tim: "With your permission, sir, I would like to propose a toast. To the departed. To Mrs. Desmond!"

Jacques: "Cheers--I mean, thank you."

He also pressures Alison into staying, giving her Dr. Menkin’s lab to use for her research. He then brags to Dan that none of the other guests want to leave and insists that he, too, can if he wants, but he will have to do it himself because it’s too late for Quito to sail him back:

BISSITS!

After the reception, Jacques returns to the crypt and gloats a little to Erica about how he has now imprisoned everyone on Maljardin. The handsome devil once again makes it clear that he doesn’t intend on freeing her and that she, too, is his prisoner. And, of course, he has some pun with it, as one might expect:

Can’t criticize this one, because even Shakespeare made it and I think it’s funny. I like puns, sometimes, just not terrible puns like the “pose” one from last episode.

Not even a detained guest anymore?

I think I just broke my comedy drum set. ;)

Coming up next: Another episode with a flashback to Maljardin in 1689, which means another two-parter. I also have a special essay in the works about the copyright status of Strange Paradise in the United States, which may surprise you. (It certainly surprised me.) Stay tuned for all these posts, as well as the Bad Subtitle Special for Week 4 after the Episode 20 review.

{ <-- Previous: Episode 18 || Next: Episode 20, Part I --> }

#strange paradise #gothic soap opera #review #ian martin #week 4 #episode 19 #maljardin arc #bissits face #the blue suit of sexiness #costumes #cryonics capsule #detained guests #maljardin blog #sp and religion #speculation on ian martin's original story #tarasca #unexplored plot point

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