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waitmyturtles · 10 months

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Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: Theory of Love Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I’ll cover Theory of Love, a polarizing show that was one of the first BLs to deep-dive into viewer subversion of commonly held judgements. THANKS SO, SO MUCH to the SWEETEST ToL friends EVER for watching along with me and offering your clarity and insight: @lurkingshan, @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle, @neuroticbookworm, @ginnymoonbeam, @manogirl, and if I forgot anyone, my apologies!]

It was inevitable, in this project, that I would begin crossing lines into territories of beloved vs. utterly hated shows. I had THAT experience in FULL last week with my review of TharnType and the subsequent public and private conversations that that show, and my thoughts on it, engendered. (And it was a FABULOUS experience, let me tell you -- thanks, ALL Y’ALL, for your thoughts and input on that show.)

[Before I dive into analysis, I just want to say that: if you’re impacted by Theory of Love, particularly by way of any experiences you might have had in your own past that you relate to in the show (especially with Third’s reactions to Khai’s behavior), that is VALID AND REAL. I learned in the aftermath of my TharnType review that I need to be a bit more clear about this, especially because of how divided the feelings are on TT and ToL, so: while this review is going to feature effusive praise for this show, I am, by no means, invalidating anything that anyone felt about relating to Third’s feelings or experiences. Those feelings are REAL. And please feel free to skip this review if you need to get away from Khai, etc.!]

So, Theory of Love -- it’s another one that has a heavily divided fanbase. You’re either in HEATED PASSION for this show, as I ended up being, or you PASSIONATELY HATE this show, and/or Khai himself as a character. Things that I heard about this show as I was putting together the watchlist, and as I began to watch it, were things like, “this show features heavy misogyny,” “this show has bad friend behavior,” “Third is treated horribly,” etc.

However, almost as SOON as I started watching Theory of Love, I realized that I was about to enter into a world of subversion, where I had to have my smell test strong and ready -- and I found it to be a FABULOUS experience.

I’m going to talk about a couple of themes here regarding ToL, as I usually do:

1) The tendency that we might have to fall into a compassion/sympathy bias, and how that clouds our judgement of characters, especially regarding their personal responsibility and accountability to others, 2) The large-scale impact of heteronormativity, 3) How behavioral change is massively difficult, 4) How we as populations and societies are ACTUALLY RESISTANT, OFTEN, to people around us changing,

and more, if I get to it -- because there’s a lot.

As soon as I started the first episode, I was like -- ooooh, FUCK, we’re gonna get played, aren’t we? Third/Gun’s tears. Sobbing in the shower with his clothes on. Raging in despair over Khai’s behavior with women.

First, I ran to MDL, and saw the screenwriters -- and I was like, OHHHHHHH. OKAY. I SEE WHAT WE GOT GOING ON HERE. Bee Pongsate, Pratchaya Thavornthummarut, and Au Kornprom -- some of the heaviest of hitters, in my opinion, authors and/or ADs of some of the best writing that I’ve seen on television (Bad Buddy, anyone?). (I saw a LOT of proto-BBS in ToL, which I’ll hopefully reference throughout this piece.)

When I saw these names, I knew I was in for an experience of emotional subversion, and that’s kind of when I started flipping my lid about this show -- right fucking away. And I felt that I knew what they were doing by giving us so much of Third’s despair, hot and heavy, from the very start.

Let’s backtrack for a moment. When Extraordinary Attorney Woo aired last summer, I referenced in a few of my posts the concept of implicit empathy bias. For Third, I’d adjust this nomenclature to call it our implicit compassion or sympathy bias, in that: we were presented with a very emotionally impacted person, right away, who really served as a foil in a human character to “translate” what Khai’s behavior meant to a larger circle outside of Khai himself.

What I wrote about Woo Young-Woo in EAW is that we as viewers had a responsibility to check ourselves on our having sympathy or even misplaced empathy for her. I argued: who were we to have sympathy for her? Woo Young-Woo was a fucking badass. She was a kick-ass lawyer, she had a hot guy after her tail, and she knew exactly what her preferences were in her life. Oh, and she probably made bank at that private law firm. She earned the respect of her seniors and was someone to be admired, not sympathized with, as an autistic lawyer.

Implicit compassion or sympathy bias is a concept that therapists need to be aware of when working with clients, as sympathy or misplaced compassion could lead to an unbalanced power differential. Therapists, out of sympathy for a client, may believe that a client may not BE ABLE to change their behavior on their own or with guidance, and may lead to implicit and/or explicit condescension. AND, worse of all (in my opinion): that may lead therapists to not encourage personal responsibility and/or accountability for their clients to own their feelings and their preferences, and allow a therapist to write off problematic behavior and approaches as unchangeable and/or acceptable, even if the client COULD benefit from modalities of change.

And so: Third. Crying in the shower. Despairing over Khai bringing home girl after girl. Raging in pain over his un-communicated love for his best friend.

Now, listen, before I get further: YES, at many points, Khai was a MASSIVE asshole. He even called that first kiss on Third a “colossal dick move” (I REALLY wanna know how to say that in Thai, lol). Asking your homey to leave your place and keeping him on the street all night -- bad. At least find your best friend a couch to crash on.

But there are two things here I want to tease out vis à vis the implicit sympathy bias concept. In the first few episodes, we see Third in his absolute dumps.

HOWEVER. The ways in which he’s either NOT communicating, or trying to communicate in INCREDIBLY passive ways? That’s on Third, and Third alone. Bro, don’t write on Khai’s shirt WHEN KHAI’S NOT AROUND! Dump those clichéd posterboards! If you want someone to know your feelings, you are RESPONSIBLE, on God, for doing that yourself.

Couple that with Third’s judgement of Khai’s behavior. He looked down on Khai’s behavior ... all while belonging to a friend group that was EXTREMELY rooted in what we could call stereotypical heteronormative behavior (and I want to heavily credit @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle for bringing heteronormativity to this conversation vis à vis Khai -- thank you for letting me borrow your words, let me give you your flowers!).

I didn’t see Third condemning Two and Bone (huh huh, Bone) for doing the same thing with girls.

What I saw X, Bee, Pratchaya, and Au doing here was setting us, the viewers, up for an experience of having sympathy for Third -- and almost IMMEDIATELY being lulled into an experience where we wouldn’t, subsequently, hold Third ACCOUNTABLE for taking RESPONSIBILITY in trying to change the paradigm that he was in. INSTEAD, I posit, it would be EASY to sympathize with him, AND condemn Khai for being a booty-chaser, ALL WHILE Third, or us, were NOT holding Two and Bone similarly accountable. PSH.

And think about how easy that is! Gun’s SOOOOOO CUTE, Y’ALL, UGGGHHH. Him crying? Forget about it. Those tears, those pouty lips! Stop that man from crying, get him a Kleenex Thailand sponsorship!

And, AND, in Thailand, and in America: think about how easy it is to judge hook-up culture. It’s SO EASY. A person can be a whore, a ho, a slut, or easy. Write ‘em off.

We can talk about sexual freedom and agency in one breath, and judge someone for getting tail in the next.

I’m telling you. I was TAKEN AWAY BY THE BRILLIANCE OF THIS SET-UP from the damn start of this show. And I related to it personally, particularly from the lens of heteronormativity, because ... I related to Khai (maybe I wasn’t as much of a player in my twenties, but ya girl, ya know -- I had my experiences, okay?! ANYWAY, moving on, cough cough.)

So I had my experiences. In my majority-Asian girlfriend group, I was judged for my experiences. Why?

Because sex is judged in almost all societies (I’m leaving continental Western Europe out of this, but I welcome input from the family over there!). If you’re getting some, there are others that aren’t, for a myriad of reasons. Why do we judge? For religious and/or cultural reasons, a lack of sex education, a lack of supportive input and guidance from elders and/or friends -- the list goes on.

For being able to hook up with guys (I’m cishet), I was called a slut, a ho, a whore. From my perspective? I was doing.... what everyone else was doing. I was participating in heteronormative society and behavior, and because of the ease of my being able to socially engage with others, I was judged for it. (I don’t carry too much baggage from that judgement. I’m happily married to a man I got drunk with in a bar the first time I met him. All I can do is NOT condemn my kids for doing the same when their time comes.)

Again: ToL was NOT set up to elicit judgement against Two and Bone. The judgement -- as ferociously directed FROM Third -- was written and designed to be AGAINST Khai. In summation: I call bullshit on Third. I would argue that the brilliance of the writing here meant that we as viewers could have been lulled into judging one person for their behavior, while allowing passes for others engaging in the exact same thing. And I’d posit that ToL, above all else, provided an INCREDIBLE meta-commentary on the insidiousness of this selective judgement.

[Let me also add that I believe these messages were woven into the story in other ways. As I chatted with @wen-kexing-apologist about: I compared the name “Un,” Earth Pirapat’s character, to the title of the French film that Bone and Paan were into, Un Homme et Une Femme. “One Man and One Woman.” A message from society that all humans are supposed to be... het and monogamous? And unchanging, at that. Memorialized into media. And anything else could be judged. When, in fact: Un himself broke a mold by being in love with Two (un... deux....) the entire time.]

I would also argue that ToL was not necessarily a condemnation of heteronormativity in society. I think, instead, it served as a reflection for both what we as members of society are willing to accept or not accept by way of acceptable behavior, BUT ALSO: HOW UNWILLING WE ACTUALLY ARE TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO CHANGE.

What do I mean by that?

So, Khai. I think Khai, at the start of the show, was being Khai. I don’t know if it was clear from the start of the show that Third was gay, per se. What was only made clear to me was that Third was in love with Khai.

I’d posit that Khai’s expectation of his friend group was that all of them were heteronormative bros, all into the same thing: getting with women. Why would he have reason to think otherwise? Especially from Two and Bone, this is what the guys were into, night after night.

And it makes me wonder about how he was raised, how not just his friends, but his family, his school community, everyone around him -- how they all treated him. All of those impacts WILL contribute to how a person turns out as an adult. Khai acted this way because, in part -- society allowed him, and likely EVEN ENCOURAGED HIM, to be this way. Because he was a tall, cute, homeslice-kinda guy.

Khai is out there Khai-ing. (And, as I noted during my watch sessions, it wasn’t just Khai Khai-ing. Two and Bone were on the scene -- BUT THE GIRLS THEMSELVES were also on the scene, and engaged in their OWN agency in hooking up with Khai. Girls are playas, too.)

For most of the show, Third is NOT confronting Khai with Third’s feelings. Then Khai learns about Third’s feelings, and tries to get Third to fall OUT of love with Khai, leveraging “colossal dick moves.” Then Third ACTUALLY falls out of love with Khai, and the narrative switch of the show takes place, where we settle into Khai’s perspective and Khai’s attempts at winning back Third’s heart.

Before I get into that switch, I want to note something that I think that the majority of the BLs out of Thailand that I’ve watched so far represent really well. I often write that behavioral change is MASSIVELY difficult. In my real-life job, I very often reference the five stages of behavioral change as a means of relating to my colleagues about difficulties they’re facing in changing something that they’re doing at work. Think about not just GOING on a diet, but STICKING to a diet, if you’ve never been on one; or not just GOING to the gym, but STICKING to an exercise routine, or really QUITTING smoking, as opposed to taking a break. Those changes are MASSIVELY DIFFICULT.

What I saw in the second half of ToL was another UTTERLY BRILLIANT commentary on society: how, once we have someone under our judging eye, how we DON’T LET THEM CHANGE.

Khai WANTED TO CHANGE for Third. Many, many times, he didn’t quite know HOW to go about it. OR, to be more specific -- how to change PER THIRD’S PREFERENCES. And honestly, Third was clearly ready to just BE judgy, right? Gurl.

But, once you get a label, that label STICKS. You’re a bully. You’re a slut. You’re a whore.

You need to do a lot of damn work, in the private eye, in the public eye, to shed those labels. Think about the condemnation of celebrities (I am always referencing this amazing video by Ohm and Perth on mental health). How easy it is to write ANYONE in our lives off, and not ever look back, with a single glance.

And Third wasn’t gonna give an inch to Khai. And I had to say, I admired Khai for trying to do the damn thing. He fucked up, A LOT. Praew? Not necessary. All that unsolicited kissing? NO. Don’t do that.

But here, again, I argue that Third needed to take responsibility and accountability, too. Khai was being far more forward with his attempts at communication. And Third? For some reason, he was written as being, like, UNABLE to listen, talking over Khai, interrupting him, not letting Khai finish a damn sentence.

Both of these two DEAR characters were bumbly and immature AF. I really loved that about the BOTH of them. BOTH junior college students, BOTH learning the ropes of their attraction, especially Khai, who was ROOTED in an otherwise DEEPLY heteronormative experience.... but, again, so was Third, taught by... what, exactly, to not be the open communicator that he NEEDED to be to solve his initially unrequited love. Possibly, and likely, because there was a significant corner of society that would SYMPATHIZE with his pain, without holding him ACCOUNTABLE for that pain, as Two, and eventually Bone, did for him, before turning their attentions to Khai to help Khai seal the deal.

I really love this life lesson. To me, it’s extremely reminiscent of the kinds of life lessons that we saw in Bad Buddy, which is why I might term ToL as a kind of proto-BBS, where we see Bee, Pratchaya, and Au playing with the ideas that eventually became the INCREDIBLE foundation of BBS.

In BBS, Pat and Pran accepted, with robust empathy (NOT condescending sympathy), the fact that their parents WOULD NOT, and maybe even, COULD NOT change -- leading the guys to keeping their relationship secret.

Here in ToL, I love that the writers played with Third’s RESISTANCE to change, but also, designed him to ultimately OPEN UP to it, with Khai’s constant pushing. Khai and Third didn’t have the generational divide that children and parents do, as we see eventually in BBS. They had youth on their side. We saw in the follow-up ToL special that Third is still a jealous MF, a side of him that Khai plays up and is concerned about.

But Bee, Pratchaya, and Au were ultimately SO GOOD to Khai and Third (and Two! and Bone! and Un!), because: they wrote these characters ULTIMATELY WITH GRACE, with the GRACEFULNESS that beautiful behavioral change elicits. To witness their processes of change meant, to me, that the show BELIEVED that people CAN CHANGE, AND, AND -- that humans DO NOT HAVE to suffer from weighty labels that are ultimately just a goddamn and meaningless unnecessary burden.

CHANGE IS BEAUTIFUL, if you can embrace it, and if you can allow your loved ones around to TO CHANGE. And when you change, with your community supporting you: you CAN, and likely WILL, become a better person for it.

WHEW. OH MY GAWD. NOW THAT THAT’S OFF MY CHEST! (For real, for ToL: I had MORE notes written, PAGES OF NOTES, written for this show, than anything I’ve watched on the OGMMTVC list, including He’s Coming To Me, my favorite of the old shows so far. ToL WAS SO SUBVERSIVE. UGGHHHHHH!!!)

Some final quick notes, some easter eggs that I utterly loved, that I couldn’t fit into this review in another fashion:

HAAAAAAA. (Even Khai’s social media probably reinforced the heteronormative lifestyle he had been living before falling in love with Third.)

2) The repeat of the stage/play/sound/actors theme, from ToL, to BBS, to Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars (with references to Earth’s characters, to boot!). GOD, I LOVE HOW THEY COME BACK TO THIS THEME! How not just a stage, but so much of LIFE ITSELF, is so fucking performative for the people around us (including Pat and Pran hiding their relationship, Khai bragging to the homies about girls, all of it!).

3) I had planned to include these earlier in the review, but they ultimately didn’t quite make it -- I wanted to write about a bunch of stuff just floating in my head as I watched ToL:

a) My playlist for this show (“I’M NOT A PLAYA, I JUST CRUSH A LOT,” COME AWN! Where did my mom jeans go, shit...) (And the theme of “just friends”? ToL was a total workshop on this theme for BBS. I wish they had sped up into the future to include Nanon’s song.)

b) I had a whole bunch of New York-isms that I wanted to fit into this review somehow, something that like, Dom the pizza guy on the block would say to Third if Third was crying over his slice:

“Who are you to judge?” (pronounced “whoawu”) (besides Third judging Khai, I’d also argue that this applies to the ladies, too -- who are we to judge the ladies that wanted to get with Khai), “No one owes you jackshit,” “GET IT TOGETHER, my friend,”

but they didn’t quite fit, but I feel like I should still jot them down anyway. ANYWAY!

2019, right before the pandemic hits, a year in which you have SO MUCH BL percolating, great BL like He’s Coming to Me, controversial BL like TharnType. And you have this incredibly intelligent, SHARP, subversive, sexy show in Theory of Love, that just causes RIPPLES among the fanbase. I can absolutely see why @bengiyo calls 2019 the year that BL bifurcated. ToL, like HCTM, to me, was a little ahead of its time. It was so subversive as to maybe even be a little manipulative. Because I’m in binge mode and in the THICK of the best of 2019, I know I was mentally ready for this -- but I can see why some audiences in 2019 were maybe NOT so ready.

But I’m damn glad this show was made. If this script hadn’t been written by Bee, Pratchaya, and Au, then I think Bad Buddy would not have been as subversive as it was. ToL is a phenomenal show, AND it gives me SUCH clarity into the refining of the creative process of this team that ultimately produced BBS. And in terms of layers and layers and LAYERS of meaning and depth, nothing, in my opinion, comes close to BBS. I’m thrilled that we had ToL, and the spectacular pairing of OffGun, to precede that moment.

[ToL kicked so much ass, AND I finished 3 Will Be Free last night, ANOTHER monumental show -- if I can get it together, I’ll drop a 3WBF review later this week, but if not, keep your eyes peeled next Monday.

My time tonight, I’ll be watching Dew the Movie -- another stop on the Ohm Pawat train, on which I’m a permanent passenger. Mans is such a translator of queer revelation and angst. I can’t wait. And thennnnnn, after Dew, a big one, Until We Meet Again. It’ll be my first go-around with Fluke Natouch, which I’m looking forward to; but I was informed by @bengiyo and the clown friends that this shit’s SEVENTEEN EPISODES. WHY DOES NEW SIWAJ HAVE TO DO THIS TO ME?!?! Thailand needs to pass a federal law restricting New to 12 episodes OR LESS! GAH.

But anyway, listen, we are making big progress, and inching ever closer to a major stop on this journey in ITSAY. I know @shortpplfedup is watching my shit very. closely. Annnnd, I’ll take any thoughts on this, but I kinda think that I should maybe do a Very Very Fast Rewatch of KinnPorsche...since it was KP that got me here in the first place, and I think I might have a lot more to say about it, now that I’m firmly familiar with the BL echelon. And, Tong.

Here’s the list as it currently stands. As always, feedback is welcome!

1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 2) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 3) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 4) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 5) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 6) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 7) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 8) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 9) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 10) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 11) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 12) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 13) Theory of Love (2019) 14) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (not a BL or an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review coming) 15) Dew the Movie (2019) (not an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but I want to watch this in chronological order with everything else) (watching) 16) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) 17) 2gether (2020) 18) Still 2gether (2020) 19) I Told Sunset About You (2020) 20) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) 21) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) 22) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 23) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS 24) Lovely Writer (2021) 25) I Promised You the Moon (2021) 26) Not Me (2021-2022) 27) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 28) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 29) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 30) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 31) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 32) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 33) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 34) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 35) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults)]

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sweet-little-goldfish-stede · 1 year

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We don't see much of the Bonnet children in s1, but I think what we do see is extremely telling of Stede’s relationship with his kids.

In the episode 4 flashback, things are...pretty good? Mary has to nudge Stede to play with the kids, yeah, but everyone is pretty on board once he does; it's not super awkward.They're playing, they're smiling, they're having a good time. Alma reaches for his hair, and she and Louis are giggling when she does, so there's no suggestion of physical distance although we don't see anything more (Stede’s not a physical guy, anyway). In fact, this little bit of contact shows how comfortable the kids are with Stede and vice versa. He's the fun parent; he's not gonna be any use if you want to talk about your feelings or need help with homework or make you dinner, but the kids have absolutely no problem kidding around with him.

Furthermore, the only time Stede EVER directly says "I love you" to someone, it's to his kids. And they're asleep! So he definitely doesn't have to say anything! But his family is the center of his guilt, and the fact that he wanted to tell his kids he loved them one last time when all Mary got was "fond regards" not only suggests they might be the only two people he really loved before Ed, but that there was also a decent relationship between the 3 of them.

In fact, the only direct instances of anger and distance are A. When Stede’s sitting far away from the rest of the fam in his memory and they give him weird looks (although later all 3 of them are laughing at something Stede says in the same memory, and I've seen other post suggest Stede’s memories should be taken with a grain of salt) and B. After he un-abandons them ("I don't want your old food"/"Who are you again? I thought Doug was my father").

Personally, I think he's closest with Alma, since she shows up in his fever nightmare and is actually angry with him when he returns to Barbados, unlike Louis who straight up forgot him (validly). In fact, Stede and Louis barely interact even when they ARE interacting. Alma has all the lines and touches his hair when they're playing pirates; Alma gets mad at him at dinner; Alma cuts the orange in half to share. The fact that she wanted something to remember her father by and share with him is huge, imo. I think we're meant to see, not in as many words, how upset Alma is at Stede leaving. She's older and had more time with Stede; she missed him and is mad at being left behind; she's not HAPPY he's leaving again, but she gets why and could see that things were a lot better when he was gone for all of them. Plus, the way she delivers "Any last words, dog?"? That is STEDE BONNET’S DAUGHTER RIGHT THERE.

Stede has a decent relationship with and loves his kids/Stede was totally fucked for abandoning them are two things which can coexist, and I will die on this hill.

#ofmd #stede bonnet #alma bonnet #louis bonnet #our flag means death

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emblazons · 1 year

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So this started as a post in response to this by @mel-hyperfixates but turned into a whole thing so. I'm gonna quote them & then go into...what has turned into an analysis of El's S4 narrative through episodes 1-3 in regards to Mike lol.

The basic premise was this:

i don’t think i’ll ever be over the fact that mike literally jumped off a cliff at 12 years old because of bullies, el saw it and literally saved him, and then 3 years later she’s like “you don’t know what it’s like” when mike tried to open up to her about being bullied as well

—and I wanted to expand on why that might be, so here we are.

forewarning: this is a very anti-mileven post. Also...YES. Its much more complex than just this. I'm just talking about a side of this breakup subtext we gloss over a lot lmao

In regards to El not having any thought of how Mike was trying to relate / how it seems as though she "forgot" he was also bullied...I feel like that's the thing. If you've ever been ready to break up with someone, you know exactly what El was going through, because when you're checked out of your relationship, all you focus on is the negative—even at the expense of the other person, and regardless if there is evidence to prove the person isn't as bad as your mind is making them (at least historically).

From the second we see her this season, El had stopped being vulnerable or honest with Mike entirely (see: her lying in all her letters) and had probably emotionally distanced herself before he even got there. The entirety of the first three episodes of S4 we are watching her care very little for Mike or his feelings because she is already distancing / distanced from him in her own mind—their relationship was on its last legs in El's mind even before we got to see the events of the season, but you need to look at the context clues surrounding her words and actions to see it.

From the very start, El was doing + saying things that were her last ditch attempts to throw herself into being invested in Mike by lying to him and herself ("I want this day to be about me and you, all her over-affectionate behavior, on top of how enthusiastic she sounded in her letters), but from minute one of them together we already see her honest emotions about their dying romantic relationship show up in her expressions (a theme with all characters this season)—

—and the SECOND things start getting real (see: Angela bullying her at Rink-O-Mania) the facade El was trying to maintain (in regards to her investment in her relationship, among other things) breaks down.

Even after her lies about enjoying Lenora + being friends with Angela are exposed, El isn't interested in being genuine with Mike at all, and doesn't ask Mike to protect her or even be present with her after she is bullied—she only comes out from hiding to demand Angela help her put her facade back up, because she doesn't want to be vulnerable with Mike even after he finds out she was lying.

People like to focus on how Mike wasn't paying attention to El / call him a bad boyfriend (and lets be real, he is lmao) but...in doing so we are glossing over how El is contributing absolutely nothing to sustaining her perceived closeness with Mike, or meeting Mike in their relationship in all his attempts to reconnect either.

Like, sure...we get Mike not looking at her in the van + being petty at the dinner table yes. But we also get El stonewalling him by not talking to him at all before their fight in The Monster and the Superhero, when she storms off at dinner, not sad, but angry—

—only to go to her room to mull over how she feels about herself...while making comparisons to Mike saying "what have you done" to Brenner, thinking back to several things that happened in the lab that she (at that point) thinks she did (because she had no memory of One)...aka her struggling with thinking she's a monster.

No matter how deeply you think she loves him at this point (highly debatable, no matter who you are) this is hardly the stuff of the surface level interpretation of it being at all about Mike specifically for her, never mind as shallow as something like "My main issue is I'm sad my boyfriend can't say he loves me." In fact, all of these things point not to Mike even being her primary concern at this point...even before they get into a fight about how he isn't saying I love you.

By the time the fight in her room happens, she's shutting down even his most genuine attempts to relate (see: admitting he was bullied too) because what El is actually struggling with wasn't (and never was) about him.

What starts the actual argument is her trying to say "I'm thinking I'm a monster" and him not understanding that its not about Angela, the roller rink, or even him being a shitty boyfriend, but her identity crisis over something that happened before she even met Mike, and that Mike has no experience with or even knowledge of—

—only she is unwilling to let Mike into her headspace about any of that, because (as I said before) she's already checked out of both honesty and emotional intimacy their relationship.

By the time we get to the "care" and "you don't love me anymore" part of the argument with those those letters (the secondary part of her concern), El has already put Mike on the defensive by 1) moving the conversation away from his perception of the issue without clarifying the real problem and 2) latching onto him saying he cares & putting him on the defensive by undermining his attempt to connect with her—going back to that idea that she's not been invested in telling him the truth or being close to him since the very start of the season.

Now, I don't absolve Mike of any of his wrongdoings in regards to their relationship(of which we all know there are many), but...the irony is that El isn't saying anything that would show she is invested, trusts or loves Mike either, to the point that her accusing him of not caring is borderline projection.

By the time we get to him calling her a superhero, we see that she's even more displeased than she was at the start—not even necessarily because Mike is saying something, but because 1) she doesn't feel like a superhero, and 2) he's not hearing her...because she's not communicating what's going on in her world anymore.

Mike doesn't understand what's going on with El because she's not telling him...and she's not telling him because she doesn't view their relationship as worthy of either her honesty or vulnerability anymore which is especially ironic, considering she's always cared a lot about the idea that friends don't lie.

(Maybe I'll follow this up with a "this is how El transformed when she was gone" + "why Mike saying You're My Superhero after what happened with Brenner / Vecna was literally the nail in the coffin post-Nina," but. For now, we can just stick with how the breakup / distance context was build into their relationship from minute one...and not only because Mike was trying to be "normal." In truth, El has been checked out from her relationship, emotional closeness and honesty since the first seconds of the season...and nothing Mike could have said would have brought her back into it).

#anti mlvn #el hopper #mike wheeler #my st commentary #LIKE. SHES DONE. SHE'S BEEN DONE. AND IT HAPPENED LONG BEFORE THAT GD PIZZA FREEZER LMFAOOO #like I'm sorry if you're still holding onto this idea that she's interested in them being close again but #her actions and the writing really don't support that lmao #anyway #stranger things #the me tag #st analysis

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ecargmura · 2 days

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Wind Breaker Episode 4 Review - Shishitoren Picks A Fight

This episode is mainly a buildup to the Bofurin vs Shishitoren confrontation. There better be good animation next week. I’m restless thinking about what sort of fights would transpire between the individual one-on-one matches.

This episode is mainly showcasing what sort of person the top dog Umemiya is. He appears to be a goofball who is way too relaxed and likes gardening. Even Sakura was in disbelief at first.He doesn’t seem like he’d be good at fighting, but he’s one of those characters who is a lot scarier than he appears to be. In fact, Sakura gets chills when he feels Umemiya’s fighting aura behind him. I honestly like Umemiya a lot! He’s a goofball. I do love the contrast he has when he’s not confronting rival gangs. He’s like everyone’s big brother and I like that about him. He’s especially cheesy towards Kotoha, who is revealed to be his younger sister but they’re not related by blood. Given that he’s the strongest, I do hope his fighting skills will be revealed next episode. Umemiya is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura and I think it’s a great fit! Some of Nakamura’s roles include Kuroo from Haikyuu, Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen and Sein from Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. It’s safe to say that Nakamura knows how to voice mentor/big brother figures well.

Shishitoren reveals their whole group. Their leader Choji is a nut job. He’s petite and cute, but don’t let his sweet looks fool you. Those dead fish eyes of his are menacing as heck. I don’t think he has even blinked once during his appearances. He’s like the antithesis of Umemiya in a way. They’re both at the top, but Umemiya likes his position while Choji is bored of it. That’s why he’s so chaotic and bloodthirsty because he needs to find a purpose. That’s why he’s so insistent on beating Umemiya. Choji is voiced by Kikunosuke Toya, who’s known for voicing Denji from Chainsaw Man and Mikoto Yuzuki from The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons. To be honest, I did not expect Toya to have such a cutesy like voice given the previous roles I mentioned.

Shishitoren decides to have a 5:5 match of individual 1:1 matches. The lineup is Umemiya vs Choji, Togame vs Sakura, Sugishita vs half-shave dude, Suo vs dude with bun and Hiiragi vs Sako, a newly introduced character. I forgot half-shave and bun guy’s names, but I will remember them next episode. Regarding Sako, the official website states that he has a history with Hiiragi, so this will be interesting. Also, Sako is voiced by Chiaki Kobayashi and Hiiragi is voiced by Ryota Suzuki. This is a Cherry Magic reunion gone awry (Kobayashi and Suzuki voiced the main leads of Cherry Magic).

It’s okay, Sakura. I thought Kotoha was in her 20’s too. She looks way too mature to be 16. Why isn’t she at school? Why is she working at the cafe? There’s a lot that isn’t told about the town Sakura moved into—do we even know its name? While Kotoha and Umemiya are siblings, they were raised in the same foster house, hence why they consider each other siblings. The fact that Kotoha, who’s normally friendly and chill, is super annoyed by him is peak younger sibling attitude. Also, is Omurice the only thing she can make?

I honestly can’t wait next episode. However, I do wonder why Nirei went to the battlefield when he’s not participating in the match? Will he be a supporting role in the fights? Will he gather information about the enemies? What is his role here? Anyways, what are your thoughts on this episode?

#wind breaker #sakura haruka #Nirei akihiko #suo hayato #Sugishita kyotaro #Umemiya hajime #Tachibana kotoha #Hiiragi touma #Tomiyama choji #togame jo #bofurin #shishitoren #review #anime #anime review #ecargmura #arum journal

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pespillo · 6 months

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Hello! I hope u don't mind my questions, but regarding the Emperor's Acolyte AU, is it possible for you to elaborate further about Raine's relationship with King and his position in the Kingdom of the Red Sun? And what of Edric and Emira and their position in the moon court (i think?) I absolutely LOVE the concept and the possible exploration in the day-to-day life of the people stuck within the kingdom, INCLUDING that incredibly interesting play! How did King even find Luz's manuscript, anyway?

first of all just posted smth explaining the militia so i think thats a good point on where to start thinking abt everyone´s places in all this vv

second of all , King´s been around Raine for as long as they been turned into head of the bard coven , King always holds a certain curiosity for everyone in the castle ,but his interest turned further when he took notice of Eda´s relationship with them when he was "kidnapped" in the Owl House for a bit (if you check my #emperor acolyte au tag for a sec youll see a small fic of a scene between luz n king transcurring at that time)

Since King starts seeing the Owl Lady as a maternal figure for him (it sorta starts off as wanting to get something Luz has but really, King just needs honest affection and Eda´s doesnt feel like it has any ulterior motive) , King sorta turns Raine into a royal "advisor" bard figure but in reality he sorta rlly just wants to matchmaking them n Eda so they can form his own idea of a family ,King likes to hear their music before sleeping and they unequivocally bond over extremely similar trauma in the hands of the Emperor´s Coven, to the point it makes Raine feel extremely guilty they didnt try getting him outta it much sooner considering they are realizing this is a 9 yr old whos been treated like a dog by the worse person in the Isles not even allowed to talk to other people besides the Emperor n Kikimora, in a way this guilt drives Raine further to not leave the castle to the small rebellion that Darius n Eber been forming.

Speaking of Darius n Eber, Darius n King has a small confrontation/argument that lead to their leave, Eber at first didnt actually mind the way King was running things since it was all sorta thrilling and battle oriented , but since hes inseparable from Darius he aint gnna be ditching his buddy ya know. Darius was just trying to get information of his old mentor, because King KNOWS about the way he died because Belos told him , at least his own version of it, but the more heated Darius got at King´s avoidance of the details, he ended up saying something that made the kid snap at him like "You care more about your mentor more than Hunter, where is he now? what would your mentor think about the way you treated him up until now?" which pretty much shut down that whole conversation, parting ways.

Regarding Luz´s manuscript, it was unfinished, she wanted to join that writer´s competition just as she did in the original episode but some other adventure ended up calling up to her ,so she just sorta forgot abt it or decided it leave it for other day. When the Owl House got raided by the Emperor´s coven n everything was sent to a warehouse, King came up to that warehouse to get Owl Lady´s stuff n move it into his new castle basically , he came upon it while just looking thru Luz stuff n decided to read it through because hes nosy ( he did the same with eda´s diary before), he´s never rlly been allowed to write his own stuff even when he was taught to write and read, so he decided to take it upon himself to make it "his" novel, and subsequently his play , as a way to vent all out his feelings of the world , his feelings towards Luz and everything else, plus to make a big statement culturally for the Isles.

for Edric n Emira, they were dragged into the Moon Court for Collector´s favor , because they were essentially living around them for a good while before turning into King´s Right Hand . Odalia´s been disposed off but not killed (because Emira convinced em to Not Kill their mom as much as the twins n Amity hate her because thats already so much trauma), Alador has run off to join Darius growing group as a way to find a solution to this whole, mess.

#asks #the owl house #emperor acolyte au #long post

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itsclydebitches · 1 year

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I think the only way to make sense of the new episode is that the conflict about the paper pleasers is how all the characters would react about Penny's death if they knew what Jaune did. WBY comforting Jaune that they and Penny would've wanted this (they're less than human after all). Ruby lashing out at everyone else despite both things (the villager's deaths and Penny's) being her fault. Jaune blaming Ruby but he was the one who forced the villagers to suicide and assisted Penny's.

You know, I've been so distracted by all the other Big Events of this Volume - the bees are confirmed, a whole village happily dies, Ruby is having a meltdown - that I kinda forgot about the whole Penny issue? It only hit me again in the middle of Jaune's grief when he was talking (paraphrased) about how he was the only one who could 'do it.' As you say, there are ways of trying to make sense of this episode "if they knew what Jaune did".... but they presumably don't? I say "presumably" because RWBY drives me up the wall with how often very important information is conveyed to characters off screen, leaving us in the dark about how much was explained and in what way - especially in a show where people keeping secrets/manipulating information is a recurring theme. We've now had two major time skips where Penny's death presumably could have come up: when WBY were catching up after Ruby's faint, and while the girls were filling Jaune in after he rescues them from the first Jabberwalker attack. I don't think Ruby, Yang, and Blake know the full story about Penny yet because HOW could Ruby possibly have a go at Jaune without bringing that up... but I can't be sure.

Which puts the whole episode in an even weirder light for me. Again, is the moral of this that Jaune needs to learn to let people die when they ask that of him? Regardless of the writer's thematic perspective, the characters should have wildly different opinions on that and it's weird that they were allowed to remain ignorant when that all came to a head. It's weirder still that one of our characters isn't ignorant (Weiss) and yet that's had no bearing on her actions this episode.

Weiss, the one person who knows Jaune killed Penny to keep the Maiden powers safe, watching him desperately try to protect innocent, non-human people that are clearly a stand-in for her after decades of isolation from his world: 'He's gone off the deep end, huh?'

I can forgive Ruby, Yang, and Blake ignoring Jaune's cryptic comment/not following up with a, 'Wait, what did you do?' because at that point the fight was starting in earnest and everyone was too wrapped up in themselves. But that just implies that this will have to come out before the end of the Volume which is in... three episodes? The meat of this Volume really only started when Jaune arrived (because of course it did), which means we essentially only have half of an already short season to cover a LOT of stuff: learn the secrets of Alyx and Lewis, figure out the Jabberwalker, defeat it, defeat Neo, fix Jaune (presumably), reconcile the team, semi-conclude Ruby's grief arc, finish things with the Cat, with Little, discover something to help with Salem so this isn't complete filler, get to the tree, establish if they can use the tree, get home. Even if we take into account RWBY's tendency to speed-run through an insane amount of plot in a single scene (here's the introduction of the Staff, how it works, its limitations, and your brilliant loophole all in one go), that's too much to juggle, on top of this, "So... when are they going to learn the truth about Penny and grapple with that?" question. Remember how after Volume 8 the fandom (quite rightly) was going, "Wow! It's going to be a lot for Ruby to deal with Penny's death and the knowledge that Jaune caused it" but seven episodes in she still only has half the information and is only just reaching her breaking point in regards to that. Learning it was Jaune should be another huge setback in a story that hasn't even had her grapple with the first one yet. It honestly makes me wonder if RT is planning to stretch Ever After into a two Volume affair...

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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variousqueerthings · 5 months

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hi, do you have any plans of doing a review system similar to the measurement when you get to the chibnall era of doctor who? I think you said that you didn’t watch it, but i could be wrong

SoooOOOOOoooo first of all hi friend!

second of all: back in the day of uh... whenever the first season of jodie came out, I did watch that season and enjoy it, it was a fun first season. I then promptly forgot everything that happens in it, because my brain works that way, and then (because my brain also does this) was like "well legally I can't watch the second season of jodie unless I rewatch the first season of jodie because I can't remember what happened in it, and I can't watch the first season of jodie, because I don't remember what happened in capaldi's seasons, and I can't watch capaldi's seasons because then I'd have to rewatch matt smith's seasons and if I watch those from beginning to end again I will lose all joy in my soul"

third of all: I no longer feel that way, I have grown as a person who deals with my brain being a silly-billy, so not only could I legally watch whatever I wanted to without the brain police nee-nawing, I also um... well I have a system of how to watch matt smith's seasons so that I find them enjoyable, so actually maybe on second thoughts I didn't quite outrun the whatever-the-heck-my-brain-does laws, so much as... rewrite them a little to work for me (crucially I did in fact... watch all of matt smith's seasons and capaldi's seasons to get back here, so hopefully I can implement a more holistic watch in future, where I just engage with the episodes I noted down with commentary and rankings that I enjoyed!)

fourth of all: I'm not sure if this rating system works for chibnall's era (I mean, maybe it does, I genuinely don't know, but my gut says no). the reason I wrote it in exactly the way that I did was mainly because of very specific noticeable recurring things I dislike in m*ffat's writing across several shows -- misogyny, making all of his main guys cruel because they're "intelligent" (which absolves them of the need to be not-cruel), those men being the most important thing in the universe of the story, "sexy" dialogue, amatonormativity, and overly complex plotlines that often spring up out of nowhere and go nowhere

fifth of all: so maybe what I'll do is just note down more simply what I'm getting out of (or potentially not getting out of) jodie's run. I obviously know the reputation of that era, I've seen a couple of oof moments, but there are definitely oof moments in rtd's and m*ffat's runs, so those alone aren't dealbreakers so much as "I see you"s

sixth of all: actually my main question with regards to chibnall's era is whether he understands that diversity is about more than casting. this in particular with regards to yas being a police officer, and how that may or may not create a difficulty in discussing the limitations and cruelties of systems, such as those propped up by... police officers. (this, by the way, speaking of rtd, so many people of colour and of course shirley anne who's a wheelchair user represented in UNIT, but that is a whole other tangent -- shirley I am manifesting a liz shaw type arc for you where you get to go "hold on, this whole thing is sus")

seventh of all: I think it's much harder, probably, to discuss chibnall's era with such a simplistic system, because from the outset it's a much more complex thing than what m*ffat was doing -- that is m*ffat's was still essentially casting a couple of white guys who were travelling with white women until s10 (which noticeably is... just a better season, in my opinion). this not to say I'm not critiquing it, but I wouldn't want to make a ranking system out of "how well does chibnall do diversity," I feel like that would be crass of me, because these stories opening up like this is already such a fascinating space to play in, vs me in m*ffat's era actually being able to track the almost complete absence of diversity in s5 (vampires in venice and hungry earth have my back) just... as a whole... to where we got to in s9 and s10, and using this measurement system to go "yeah this era got noticeably better on several fronts later on" -- I note btw on this point, that bill is waaay more proactive in her first three episodes that amy or clara usually got to be. her questions also aren't just essentially "and now what are you going to do doctor," they're more her trying to figure out how she's navigating her environments and then working with the tools she's getting

eighth of all (conclusion): probably not a review "system" but yeah, I'll still review for sure and maybe find a way to structure that, I want to be consciously interacting with the story, it's the best way for me to engage and actually remember it afterwards. I won't have the benefit of foresight with these seasons either -- that is, I won't know where certain things are going and how I feel about those trajectories (for example, although I don't remember s10 I do remember liking it!) + what I do know, I'll be filtering somewhat (with the flux for example) through the three specials we just got, so I'll know there's some form of through-line of emotional arc that perhaps wasn't felt as much when it was first being aired? all suppositions

ninth of all (epilogue): I am eager I tell you, eeaaager to see sacha dhawan in action!

tenth of all (nothing in particular): I remember s11 starts in sheffield, which is wonderful to me. since the time it aired I've just been in sheffield so many times, it feels so very familiar to me. wonderful to get out of london for a bit

#im watching nu!who #im watching whittaker who #well i will be!#doctor who #dw #asks #trustmy-rage #the measurement #i dunno if i'll call it the measurement either because it'll be something else wont it #honestly i really appreciate you chatting with me about this #not that i mind the void but it's always very very nice when someone else is in there with you youknow?#on that note appreciated all the little interactions ive had with people throughout this process/experiment #it's been very good for my particular brain-type

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moonsprings · 1 year

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ccir episode 15 thoughts (it's long)

admittedly i'm mildly surprised at some folks saying ccir is a great critique on the educational system - imo i personally found it poorly handled mostly due to pacing issues and i don't really find the way they wrapped up the mr ji plot to be satisfying. if people want a show that critiques the extreme culture surrounding the asian educational system i think sky castle is a far better drama. despite some of the qualms i have with the last episode of sky castle it was well written overall and didn't suffer from so many of these issues like ccir does. i stand by this serial killer plot not really adding much to ccir's story - i think it would have been better if they went a more realistic route exploring what someone in that situation would do, especially in regards to ji dong hui being a victim of an abusive parent and a witness to his sibling's suicide. i think even just expanding upon the murder of his parent would have been enough of a mystery without adding in this whole serial killer plot if they really wanted the thriller mystery. i'm not against having a murder plot line (again, see sky castle) but i don't think the way it was executed worked here. a lot of plot lines seem poorly resolved. i can think of several b-plots that were wildly rushed or never mentioned again: - they never mention the female student stalker who got shot in the very beginning of the show ever again. honestly i only found out she was dead this week because the news in the story says 3 dead, multiple injured - but the drama never said she was dead explicitly before or acknowledged it with any additional scene of her family/friends asking why she's missing, especially given that ccy was accused of dating this particular underaged student. it's weird they never mention it or show an investigation of her death unlike the other student who was also killed on screen. - what happened to ccy's piano date? not even a short text msg from her on screen to finish out their short relationship and they act like she never existed. - sua's onset mental illness issues - likely will be mentioned in the last episode? but i find the way sua's story's been paced really awkward - in the beginning she got significant screen time, and now she's dropped off so much i forgot she existed for most of the last 3-4 episodes. they also never elaborate why she's obsessed with haeyi either. - jaewoo and yeongju's rapid 2 episode romance was badly paced. they should have set it up from the beginning so it didn't feel so last minute. - haeyi's bio mom suddenly appearing and dominating the last 3 episodes of the series completely overtaking the focus on the serial killer plot, which ended up giving the murder mystery a rather lackluster ending. - haeyi unaware? of mr ji's death as there was no scene connecting the two despite her being attacked and kidnapped by him, and in general mr ji's death feels like it's glossed over quickly - we don't see the impact of his suicide on his coworkers or the police or the victims's family/friends. it also feels like ccy also gets over it really fast. like... i feel like they needed short scenes or even just a line to acknowledge these things happened in order resolve these story points more completely. there were parts i also enjoyed about this ep like the smaller moments - sunjae and geonhu's hilariously wholesome back and forth outside the hospital. i liked that haeyi didn't pick either of them and that the love triangle isn't so combative or typical, and that they're all genuinely good friends with each other. ccy and nhs's short interaction to show he has a support network now and someone who cares for him as much as he cares for her was nice, as well as haeyi's teacher's gentle banter with nhs about ccy. idk how the last episode's gonna go but eh 😔 jeon doyeon does dramas so rarely that i know i'm gonna watch it to the end anyways... and i enjoy jung kyungho's acting as well so... only one episode left so i really do hope they can wrap this up enough to be an ok ending.

#ccir #crash course in romance #moon.txt

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anotheruserwithnoname · 1 year

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Victoria - 4 years on

Today (May 12) marks the fourth anniversary of the first UK broadcast of the 3rd season (and possibly series) finale of Jenna Coleman’s Victoria in 2019. It’s amazing it’s been so long!

Of course Jenna has gone on to other work. As the season was finishing up on ITV, she was co-starring in a West End revival of All My Sons. A few months later she’d be in Thailand shooting The Serpent. Then of course C19 arrived (hard to believe, less than a year after Victoria aired!), and after a pause Jenna ended up in The Sandman, Klokkenluider, and other projects.

Is Victoria finished? Wikipedia’s page has it as cancelled, citing a statement by ITV dated from 2021 that there were no plans for a 4th season. I recall one article saying further production was unlikely due to C19 (which would technically put Victoria in the same company as GLOW and a few other series ended due to the pandemic, even though most other shows continued production). Daisy Goodwin, the show’s producer and writer, posted on Instagram sometime in 2019 that she’d written scripts for Series 4. And, of course, Series 3 (spoiler alert) ended on a cliffhanger.

There’s still hope that the show might return, perhaps as a one-off special. Yes, Jenna and Tom Hughes are no longer a couple - but there’s certainly precedent for exes to continue working together in TV and film, so that’s not necessarily a barrier. There’s certainly no time limit involved - Jenna could return to the role later in life quite easily (much as Judi Dench has done); in real life, Albert didn’t die for real until a decade or so after the events covered in Series 3.

But the fact remains Jenna has moved on. Maybe not into something ongoing (even Sandman S2 might only entail another one-off story, she won’t in in every episode, and The War Rooms is looking to be the TV equivalent of vaporware), but being tied to a TV series might have prevented her from taking on things like Jackdaw or the Lemons play - or whatever she might be doing next. She probably has no burning need or desire to return to Victoria (maybe not to the same degree she appears to be disinterested in reprising Clara Oswald), other than maybe the fact the series leaves viewers hanging so it’ll always remain a bit of “unfinished business” in that regard.

Her co-stars have also moved on. Nell Hudson is now a novelist; Margaret Clunie has been doing mostly independent films; Tom has been in several TV series and movies over the last couple of years.

But what we did get were 3 seasons (plus a Christmas special) of surprisingly light-hearted romantic drama, Vicbourne, Vicbert (I forgot the ship name), Jenna in nearly every scene, plus some great co-stars including Margaret and Nell, Rufus Sewell, and of course fellow Doctor Who-franchise veterans Tommy Knight and Eve Myles and, lest we forget, Diana Rigg also popped in for a visit when she wasn’t poisoning Joffrey Baratheon! LOL! I miss the show but am thankful we got what we got!

#jenna coleman #queen jenna #victoria tv series

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jeweledstone · 3 months

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Wild-ass dream I had last week cause HOLY SHIT

Date: 1/22/2024

I had a dream last week that was the most batshit insane regarding its plot points and stuff, and that’s saying a lot considering my previous dreams and their lore. Waited until now to post it cause, y’know, the Global Strike for Palestine was happening and I didn’t wanna cross the picket line so to speak.

So this dream takes place in a universe where I used to be a child actor on this Playhouse Disney-type show with a handful of other kids and two adults which was similar to Zaboomafoo (if anyone remembers that absolute banger of a show) in that it was supposed to teach kids about various types of animals. I remember the animals used in the show were kept in a barn underneath the set, including several “exotic” animals like a serval and wallabies and stuff. The dream took place during a cast reunion of sorts, 15 or so years after the show stopped airing.

One of the other kids in the cast, named Trayte (yeah idk what his parents were thinking when they chose THAT name), ended up being the “antagonist” of this dream. Now Trayte was… an interesting kid. I guess he had some sort of untreated mental issues cause when the cameras were off, he was absolutely terrifying to be around. He’d have these intense manic episodes and mental breakdowns which involved a lotta screaming and him talking to himself about things I guess only made sense to him. Didn’t help that he’d make the most terrifying, and sometimes even inhuman, facial expressions with the most extreme ones reminding me of those old Zalgo comics from the early days of creepypasta. It was because of this that younger me was absolutely terrified of him while the rest of the crew just saw him as a little annoying to work with and be around.

Now flash forward to the events of the dream and the reunion, Trayte was still just as, if not even more erratic than he used to be. His mad ramblings now featured all sorts of conspiracy theories and paranoid delusions that honestly made him just as frightening to be around as he was to kid me. Also for some reason he didn’t seem to age past like 13 or so for some reason???

Anyway, so it was during the reunion that the “plot” of the dream started happening. I was basically contacted by the lesbian couple from a previous dream of mine, who have since then become these multiversal secret agents of sorts that helped take care of major threats/criminals in the local multiverse (I remember they also assisted in the manhunt for Neovil previously but I forgot to post that). The reason they contacted me was because they needed help fighting (UBER CRINGE ALERT!!) the fucking Skibidi toilets of all things who somehow gained access to technology that allowed one to travel to other universes and were now trying to take over this specific universe via assimilating the people within it. I guess they figured with me being a reality bender that I could easily just swooce them outta that universe and save everyone, which is what I tried to do at first but it didn’t work as well as planned.

After a while I came up with this plan B of sorts which involved fighting fire with fire by creating my own army of sorts that could assimilate the toilets, but was also immune to being assimilated by them in return. I remember making this little army look like The Noise from Pizza Tower, cause even in the dream world, hyperfixation go brrrrrrr. (Actually now that I think about it, I’ve been having a lotta undocumented dreams lately involving Noise and people getting turned into him lately. Weird, but it probably means nothing)

So all that was going much better than plan A while I kept in contact with the lesbians and my little Noise army via a portal between the universe they were in and the universe the cast reunion was being held at. I think the other cast members were in another room during this so none of them saw what was happening.

That was

Until

Shit

Went

Down

After the Noise army successfully was able to take down the Skibidi Toilet army and drove the remaining of them back to their home verse, idk wtf happened but they then decided to basically turn on me. I mean wtf, I don’t even know what I did wrong.

Is it because I kin Peppino guys? Are y’all really that petty?/j

So yeah, I lost control of the Noises and they then proceeded to try and trash the reunion thingy. It was then that the rest of the cast found out about my multiverse bullshit and ended up offering to help me round up the rebellious little gremlins so I could get rid of them…somehow I’m honestly not sure how I did that but I assume it involved more reality bending bullshit. Luckily no one was severely hurt in the ensuing chaos, I was attacked and almost assimilated by the army but managed to escape before I was fully turned. Other than that, we all basically left that encounter unscathed.

All of us… except… Trayte…

…Motherfucker got cornered by the Noise army and assimilated. But it was kinda weird though. Instead of being turned into a regular Noise he ended up becoming Pizzelle from that Sugary Spire AU. Mentally wise he was still himself (or at least still partially himself, it’s implied at one point that he was going through this mental struggle of sorts trying to hold onto his old self and identity), but I guess the trauma of it all got to him cause he snapped. SO. FUCKING. HARD.

Not only was he more erratic post-tf, but his breakdowns became more violent and frequent. I remember him blaming me for all this and swearing he’d get revenge on me someday for what happened.

And yeah, that’s it. Kinda fucked up amirite? Good thing it’s not “real” I guess.

Either way, thanks for reading, have a great day! :)

#jewel’s dream journal #skibidi toilet #pizza tower #sugary spire #the noise #pizzelle #neo shut the fuck up #body horror #unreality #ableism mention #ask to tag

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loveyourownsmiilee · 2 years

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Ok quick little Manager Rebecca update. She was on vacation for a week and is now on episode 4.12!! And boy does she have a lot of thoughts 😂

In regards to the kitchen scene™️:

“Alright sweetheart they were flirting in the kitchen right? I mean Buck did that cutesy eyelash thing I’ve seen him do with people he’s into. He’s into Eddie he’s gotta be. And Eddie was so turned on in my opinion. The way he drank the beer was very seductive that I felt like I was seconds away from them fucking on that kitchen island oh my god. Even my husband said that was very gay of them and that he was disappointed they didn’t fuck. But I guess their son was in the other room so it makes sense. Oh gosh I forgot Chris was there so I’m sure they also forgot he was there.”

In regards to the skateboard scene:

“I just gotta say that Buck is shaping up to be such a good dad got Chris. The way he researched and found a way for the kid to skateboard safely was so thoughtful. And he was simultaneously showing Eddie he’s the better option in regards to that new teacher. They were such a cute happy little family.”

In regards to the entirety of Eddie Begins:

“WHEN I TELL YOU I LOST MY SHIT I MEAN IT. BUCK WAS DIGGING FOR EDDIE WITH HIS BARE HANDS??? Not gonna lie my husband was like, ‘idk if if even do that for you damn that’s love’!!! Oh Buck is so gone on Eddie. It’s sad and cute bc Eddie almost died and like all of his memories that brought him back were OF CHRIS AND BUCK. SO THAT IS HIS FAMILY!! Right?!? Buck is the equivalent of a life partner for Eddie. I cried I really cried because Buck didn’t give up and Eddie didn’t either and he saved himself to come home to his family. My stupid husband would never.”

In regards to the train derailment:

“Ok all I gotta say is Eddie was so fucking jealous over Abby and I loved every second. It was the first time I actually got to witness Eddie having some sort of actual feelings for Buck. I mean heart eyes aside, he was both worried and jealous because Buck is kinda his guy you know? And I’m sure he didn’t wanna lose his guy to what he thinks was Buck’s first love. Oh I loved every moment of that. I’m glad she’s gone and we got to see Buck, Eddie, and Chris all happy in the end. Such a cute family honestly.”

In regards to season 4:

“I’m certain Eddie and Buck slept in the same bed during quarantine. You can’t convince me otherwise sweety. Also, Eddie being so protective and in love during Buck’s backstory was so nice. Idk about you but I think Eddie was checking him out when he was boxing in those super short shorts!!! But ugh Eddie is with the teacher and they threw me off because I swear he keeps looking at Buck like he’s gonna drop down on one knee and propose any second. They’re such a cute family. I need the teacher to leave so they can live happily ever after. And bleh the reporter is back and I cannot stand her. Please tell me her and Buck stay friends???? She’s in this treasure hunt episode and I’m already over her!! BUT I think Eddie is super fucking jealous and that’s why he wanted to work with Buck. He’s so gone on Buck that he didn’t even remember his girlfriend lol.”

GUYS SHE IS ALMOST AT THE SHOOTING EPISODES🥲

#buddie #manager Rebecca #I voice record her and then type out her words #she’s aware #lmaooo #she even got her husband hooked help #should I or should I not warn her of what’s to come 😭😭😭

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sixstepsaway · 2 years

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My rant may have gotten a little unhinged there, so pardon the caps and and wild swerves in topic. You've got a great point in how their interactions show that they know Izzy is mostly talk. And Fang really is worried about poor Izzy's foot, isn't he? Also, in regards to that scene, when injured angry Izzy comes in snarling about the books not being thrown overboard, Ivan looks kinda taken aback. "It's a lot of books, Izzy." Not only is he comfortable talking back, Ivan seems surprised that Izzy would say something like that. I get the sense that while Izzy might be on everyone's ass about work, he isn't generally the type to push people to work harder if they're already doing their job. (I also think this suggests Izzy is afraid of Ed now in a way he wasn't before. They need to move fast, or who knows what Ed might do?) No one's had to deal with forced autocannibalism from Izzy on that crew. And I do know what you mean about the spat and pushing away with Stede. Ed tends to flee when rejected or feeling rejected. But my visions of the future have made me realize something so important. Point 1: We've established poor behavior on both Izzy and Fang's parts in regards to each other, and the need for communication. That means there's a good chance character development stuff might involve them communicating to one another. I have Reasons to believe the Izzy the Spewer incident might come up again as a topic for discussion. Point 2: Confirmed babygirl kinkster who is only capable of expressing physical affection toward men in violently charged interactions frequently pulls large, daddy-shaped man's beard. -dd anon

nonny. nonny. nonny. nonny of my heart. i've been staring at this fucking message since you sent it nonny and i havent gotten any less feral over my brain suddenly opening up and the skies parting and all i can see is izzy/fang. nonny. i had to sit here for this long before i could come up with a reply to the rest, nonny.

Okay, the rest:

I think maybe something that we're not really adding to our thoughts is that we've actually only really seen Izzy as attempting-to-be-first-mate of the Revenge? Not of Ed's ship?

So, as a brief rundown of the Revenge from what we've been shown so far: they are a crew who were scooped up from god knows where, on a ship that's pristine because it was literally built all of a month ago, the crew are being paid wages rather than having to work for their dinner, no one ever actually seems to do ship things except maybe Buttons who seems to have a clue what he's doing but I don't think I've seen him actually work either, and no matter how much some may argue they're real pirates, they all hide behind the ship in 1x01 when the English show up, just like Stede.

Furthermore, the ship's surgeon is actually the cook (and although he's sewed up his shoulder in the past and makes a bangin' orange cake and goes in to amputate Lucius' finger, we don't know that he's actually qualified to be the surgeon), Stede had no idea Jim was "really a woman" (I mean, they're not, but you get my drift for the early episodes), and in 1x02 they forgot to steer the ship, which is why they ran aground.

So when Izzy comes around in 1x05 and is trying to do his job, which is basically to oversee and wrangle the crew into doing their jobs, what he finds is that there are two functional crew members (Ivan and Fang, who they brought along from their ship), and a bunch of folks that... don't do their jobs.

Literally in 1x05 you have Frenchie who went off and put on nice clothes he found from their raid (which is not working, though he did look dapper), Stede and Ed very distracted by the invitation, Lucius and Stede swinging their legs watching Ivan do all the work of going through the bodies for loot, Fang who is--

Wait, hold on. What is Fang doing?

I mean the general, main answer is "attending Ed", which makes sense because they're on someone else's ship and it makes perfect sense to have Fang nearby while Ed and Stede are distracted, just in case something bad happens.

But what is he actively doing in this scene? Is he knitting? Sewing? What? What? WHAT IS HE DOING WITH HIS HANDS? You literally only see him in this shot and I am losing my mind because I want to know what he's doing???? fuck!

Anyway, Fang is off skinning a guy for Ed after this, Lucius and Pete are fucking in the storeroom amongst the food while Wee John takes a nap, Frenchie and Oluwande go over to the ship with Ed and Stede, and when you get wide shots you can see literally no one is working on that ship.

Izzy is losing his shit and yelling at Lucius because every time he turns his head, no one is doing anything. It's a ship! It needs a crew because the crew keep it moving and functioning and clean.

Like, I understand if cleaning barnacles isn't Lucius' job, but someone has to do it?

So Izzy is presented with a ship whose crew is just, not doing their jobs, and all we really get to see is Izzy yelling at them and trying his darndest to actually get them to work, while they're just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ meh it practically sails itself.

What we don't see is how Ed's ship runs. We don't see how his crew work, we don't see whether Izzy has to yell at everyone on that ship or if all he has to do is hand out a chore roster and everyone does their jobs.

If everyone is doing their jobs and pulling their weight, it's likely that they're treated with the respect they've earned and deserve as working and functioning members of the crew, and that their needs are also seen to, and who would be in charge of seeing to their needs?

Izzy.

Extra points: in the books scene, Ivan calls Izzy by his first name, Fang calls him 'boss', but the tone he uses makes it sound less like a mandatory title like when Izzy tells Lucius he expects sir or first mate hands or god or whatever, and more like he's showing him respect in return, the respect he's earned from that crew.

I get the sense that while Izzy might be on everyone's ass about work, he isn't generally the type to push people to work harder if they're already doing their job. (I also think this suggests Izzy is afraid of Ed now in a way he wasn't before. They need to move fast, or who knows what Ed might do?) No one's had to deal with forced autocannibalism from Izzy on that crew.

This, too. There's "expects the crew to do their jobs" and there's "is unreasonable about it", and there's no actual demonstration that Izzy is ever unreasonable about it. He just wants them to do their jobs and pull their weight!

#izzy's dd anon #ask #izzy hands #izzy hands meta #ofmd #ofmd meta #our flag means death

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tsuki-sennin · 9 months

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What does it mean to be a true Kamen Rider? Is it to wallow in your self-loathing and resentment of others; using the strength you've gained destroy as you please in spectacular fashion? Or is it perhaps rising above your innermost demons and putting life, love, justice and freedom above such misery?

It's something that Kekera fails to understand, and while we let Keiwa-kun shine in the main plot, we have Ace deal with the little matter that is Zitt-

Shut the front door, ZITT? That's Jitto's official romanization? Zitt! Zitt!

Dumb name, hate it, 0/10. Fuck this game, watch it go.

Spoilers, I guess...

-DGP Bad Guys, Geats Howard Good Guy

-Awwww, Azuma

-Buffalo-san~!

-You're taking coming back from the dead surprisingly smoothly, Sara-neesan.

-...although I really shouldn't be complaining: at least she came out of the fridge with a drink.

-Bound in barbed wire, our friend Ace lies in wait.

-Kuromuri's still out and about.

-...oh, I forgot, her name is Kromer, I decided this last episode.

-"Kill Tycoon. I can't believe he's doing capeshit again. >:("

-Oh goddammit! We gained a Hakubi and lost a Na-Go and PunkJack in turn.

-...did Kekera have a hand in that or was that all Kromer?

-THEY TURNED BUFFA INTO A MARKETABLE PLUSHIE

-"There is no Kamen Rider in this world but Tycoon. After all... I'm Premium Kekera."

-Guess he doesn't much care for his own CG form.

-Frogification?

-Oh, that's a real term.

-I have to admit, that's actually pretty clever Daichi.

-"I did

-OHHHHHHHH BERDLY'S BECOMING KABUTOPS AGAIN

-Ironic that Buffa never went full Jyamato even though his body was so thoroughly transformed, and yet Nadge-Sparrow never really played Beroba's game until the end.

-Zillion Driver! ...what a funny name.

-That must be why he's romanized as Zitt.

-Good effort Daichi. Too bad you apparently can't beat a frog man despite going toe-to-toe with God.

-"You were supposed to be my Funny Man, but now you're just a little bitch boy!"

-He kidnapped them!

-"Gods have no soul... therefore, the only thing needed is your visage and your power!"

-Daichi had everything going on with him, and yet he looks down not in contempt... but jealousy. That the theme we're running with?

-Fighting for world peace, once more.

-The Jyamato were still living creatures, Daichi. They didn't ask to be bred and slaughtered en masse.

-A measure of humanity for a sparrow-trilobite.

-"Hey there, primitives~! It's just about time for Japan's #1 TV show... Kamen Rider Tycoon~! Starring Keiwa~! An unemployable bum with nothing better to do in his life than bitch and moan about world peace!"

-And all of Japan collectively asked "Who?"

-Oh that's low.

-This kinda reminds me of that one Chapter in Sacred Stones, where the druid kidnaps an innocent family and tries to feed them to the giant spiders. That's when Eirika starts getting serious.

-What zero inconvenience does to a mf

-Down Keiwa-kun goes.

-Ohhhhhhhh, you motherfuckers.

-Man, I don't think I ever got this mad about Orteca or Akaishi, these guys are just straight up satanic in a way that winds me up even more.

-"Write me a good one. Make sure you watch your wording and don't write the wrong kanji!"

-How about a world where you're not happy, Kekera? That's gonna happen in a few minutes.

-OH?

-They're free!

-"Those're my boys."

-Set!

-"I am the God here! And what kind of God would I be if I left my people alone!"

-THAT'S THE INTRO SHOT

-Let my people go.

-R

-Regard?

-Regad.

-Generate!

-Enforcement of Violence! Regad!

-Kamen Rider Tycoon is currently Japan's most famous man.

-Get rolled, idiot!

-"True Kamen Rider" SHUT THE FUCK UP

-General Sakurai...

-Laid the fuck out.

-"I became a Kamen Rider. I could help bring about world peace. And it's all because you didn't care about it."

-Mitsutoshi Shundo, you beautiful man.

-Welcome back, everyone!

-I will say, Regad suit? Pure sex.

-Red, black, and gold is always a great color combo (Hello Lupin).

-Happy End :)

-"That's the magic of TV!"

-Not even Boil valued his own life.

-Oh, there's the super cool Suel invisibility effect again.

-Hello, Star King Kirito but evil and fucked up.

-Good job, Keiwa-kun! ...no Orion Bolt, but that's okay. You don't really use bows anymore.

-Oh hey Ace.

-"You're working for world peace, man. That's the Kamen Rider way."

-Ohhhh

-A worldwide Desire Grand Prix! And everyone gets a swing!"

-R

-Regad Omega.

-A retool in the same episode it was introduced, okay.

-Creation and Master of All! Regad Omega!

-"The Ultimate Despair. It is you, it is me, it is all our desire."

-:O

-ANOTHER SHOT FROM THE OPENING NEXT EPISODE HUH

-OKAY

-Hot damn.

-Well, at least the wait won't be that long.

-Final Destination.

-Not our final episode, assuredly, but we're in the endgame now.

#kamen rider #geats spoilers #kamen rider geats #kr geats #the world's next round: trick shot of desire for the grand victory

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