#and made a gifset alluding to it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

matan4il · 2 years

Text

Buddie vs Lone Star meta (1/3)

Important! * LS = 911 Lone Star * OG = original 911 * These three meta posts were written before watching LS s3... * part 2 * part 3

LS 101

Not that long ago, I made this gifset pointing out how both Buck and Eddie had to witness an explosion (in OG 315 and OG 405 respectively) was possibly gonna tear them apart from the other forever, comparing it with how Michael had to go through the same thing with David in OG 508. Well, to kick off my “since OG and LS exist in the same verse, we can draw meaning from comparing the shows” meta, I’d like to add in that time when Grace was on the line with Judd and had to hear live how an explosion almost left her a widow… And if we wanna put the specific ‘explosion’ aspect aside and just talk about how the 911 verse tends to put one of its protagonists in crucial danger while showing the most significant person in their life bearing witness to it, then we can also add Bobby listening live to Athena being attacked in OG 317 and, of course, Buck staring in horror as Eddie is shot right in front of his eyes in OG 413. See, if the 911 verse keeps putting Buddie through what it otherwise reserves exclusively for its committed romantic couples, then that implies it’s because with Buddie, it has the same emotional impact…

~ ~ ~

Okay, this one is mainly written jokingly, but… TK taking Alex to that restaurant in ep 101 ended badly, just like when Buck took Abby and when Eddie took Shannon to a nice restaurant. Clearly, the 911 verse is saying they’re all disaster queers, who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near fancy restaurants, suits or heterosexuality. XD

~ ~ ~

Towards the end of the ep, Grace comes up to Owen to plead Judd’s case. I wanna point out two things here. One, when she talks about his record, she mentions it’s all online, meaning it’s public knowledge. It felt like a small admission on the 911 runners’ part that when Abby got Buck’s number from the incident report, back in OG 102, that was a violation of his privacy and just plain wrong. Two, out of the three people who are aware Grace did this, nobody expresses having any issues with her taking steps to talk to Judd’s captain in order to fix things for him, because that’s her man. So what does it say when the same exact thing happened back in OG 204, where we discovered that Buck talked to Eddie’s captain in order to make things better for him and no one so much as batted an eyelash? Well, except for Buck, who did at Eddie, just… flirtatiously.

LS 104

In this ep, TK finds out that Owen has cancer. He vows to be there and help his dad fight it. His exact, repeated words are, “I’ve got your back.” That took me back to OG 201, when Buck and Eddie exchanged this promise. This comparison could have been seen as proof that the line is a lot less suggestive than how Buddie shippers have taken it, but I have a different interpretation for what it means, based both on similarities AND glaring differences!

(this and two more points under a cut to save your dashboards)

It takes an extreme event where TK believes he’s likely losing his dad for good to vocalize this line. That makes it incredibly charged and meaningful, but it’s said when the threat of Owen dying is looming large over them. To really drive home the point that this is about a current, concrete danger Owen is facing, TK says his line, then repeats it for emphasis, but Owen doesn’t reciprocate it.

Buck and Eddie, on the other hand, while they did initially face a life threatening event, the moment when they express that they swear to have each other’s back is after they’re already in the clear. They’re both safe, the threat is def behind them, yet it’s now that they feel the need to vow to be there unquestioningly for each other for all threats to come. And with Buddie, the line is being reciprocated! This isn’t about specific threats, it’s about commitment (which I kinda alluded to in this humor post), a fact which is even further underlined when in OG 207, Shannon reminds Eddie that what she needed from him and didn’t get was for him to have her back. I’ve written about this before, but her using those exact same words really makes it clear that in Eddie’s case, they’re about commitment and support between life partners. Eddie intuitively gives that to Buck, but not to other people in his life, not even to Shannon, who he did love.

To add to this, when TK says his line to Owen, that builds on one of the most fundamental bonds in his life, one that’s always been there and can’t be broken. Buck and Eddie, in contrast, are still relative strangers in OG 201, which means it was extremely unlikely that they would share a line that it takes others so much more to get to. Yet something instinctual in them (the same thing that made them initially butt heads while they both also showed an increased awareness of and interest in each other) makes Buddie, shortly after they had met, utter this line that for others it takes a lifetime and a grave danger to build up to. If they even succeed in following through on this promise.

Oh, but I also have to mention how these scenes were filmed! With the Strands, the line is said while both of them are in the shot, and we’re looking at their side profiles, meaning we only get a partial view of their faces, so the viewer’s eye naturally moves from one to the other, not fully focusing on either. It is a bonding moment, but one for people who are already blood family, they’re already bonded. This moment is important, but it’s not surprising.

With Buddie, however, we get close ups of them both! The camera goes back and forth between them so the viewers don’t have to, we’re free to clearly see every single thought and emotion fleeting across their faces and to get a close, intimate look at both men, which makes this feel deeper than just another bonding moment. It’s not obvious that it would take place between two people who just a sec ago were clashing, so we need to truly witness it in great, intimate detail and take it in. It’s not just a bonding moment, it’s one that fundamentally changes their r/s from resentful co-workers to committed friends.

And what are the emotions that we’re witnessing? With TK and Owen, we get from their profiles that they are solemn in this moment. It makes sense, given the risk to Owen’s life they’re going to be facing together. But with Buddie, we see wonder, joy, elation, awe... there’s a whole emotional journey that they go through in such a short scene, and we get to be a part of it. If we feel so strongly about this moment, it’s because the characters involved in it do as well.

This scene has such a lasting impact on us as an audience, because it had the same effect on Buddie, this exchange changed the trajectory of their lives from two single men each trying to make it on his own, carrying his emotional baggage, into two men who form a family unit together and face their troubles together. This is a key element in all great love stories, and comparing it to this line shared between a father and son, seeing the similarities (an expression of deep care and bonding) as well as the differences only makes that clearer.

LS 203

I already wrote about the crossover ep here, but I’ll highlight two things. One, I still can’t deal with the fact that Eddie wasn’t assigned to Marjan’s team. That man saw his Buck giving this woman attention, got jealous, went over and stalked Owen’s tent, looking for a way to be partnered with her (*cough* cockblock Buck *cough*). Unhinged moron in love. Two, every single thing I wrote back then is made even more profound by the reveal of the legal guardianship (which I referenced in reply to this ask about scenes changed by that reveal). I mean, for real. The way Eddie smiles fondly at the picture of Chris in that adaptive skateboard while saying, “Buck helped,” all along knowing that is his baby daddy. Marjan is gorgeous and smart and brave and a badass, in so many ways she’s just like Eddie, she could be the perfect fit for him, but Mr. “heart eyes at this goofball” Diaz doesn’t even really try to see where this might lead beyond just making sure she’s no threat to his r/ with Buck. He’s so freaking gone for that man…

LS 207

This ep brings up a change in the 126’s dynamics, as TK starts working on the paramedics team. What comes into focus specifically is his new partnership with Nancy. They like each other, but pretty quickly Nancy realizes TK annoys her, while he in turn senses that and doesn’t take it too well. They even end up “competing” for who gets in Tommy’s good books.

Obviously, it made me think of how Buddie started with a rivalry in OG 210. But theirs was NEVER a dynamic of being annoyed with each other, not getting along professionally, or actng like kids competing for an adult’s good graces. There was ALWAYS something much more charged about it, we never heard, “Eddie is annoying,” “Buck is condescending,” “Eddie isn’t listening to my professional input,” “Buck is getting on my nerves…” It was always implied that the issue was, “Eddie is so great, IDK how to handle that” and “Buck isn’t responding to my friendly advances as expected, WHYYY?”

And if that’s not enough to make it clear that the comparison highlights very different dynamics, there’s also the fact that the whole resolution of the conflict is handled completely differently. For TK and Nancy, it’s not actually settled between the two of them. The insight that leads to the resolution plays out between TK and Carlos! They’re the romantic couple, they’re the life partners, they’re the ones who help each other figure stuff out and change course to a better version of themselves. It’s Carlos’ words that allow TK to realize where he went wrong and treat Nancy better, making their rivalry evaporate as if it had never existed (which… technically shouldn’t work, because how DO they organize their equipment in the ambulance? TK’s new system, Nancy’s familiar one, some combination of both that they work out together? We don’t know, the show doesn’t bother giving us an answer in this ep to how their professional partnership will actually be handled, because it no longer matters, the emotional resolution took place already, thanks to Carlos).

Buck and Eddie, though… their resolution is all about them, and only about them. It also gives us a cleat indication that their work partnership will work out just fine now that they’ve figured out their emotional tension. Yes, Bobby told Buck he had to learn how to play nice in the lead up to Buddie working things out, but it was Buck’s dedication to the job and bravery under fire, it was Eddie’s big heart and willingness to forgive immediately and see past the initial rejection from Buck, that allow them to move from enemies to friends, who become life partners… Seriously, at no point did Bobby say, “Buck, you have to help him raise his kid,” but that’s exactly how it went down anyway. That came about fully from Buck and Eddie’s choices. Buddie figure things out, transform their r/s and make each other a better version of themselves all on their own… Like romantic couples on drama shows tend to do. ;)

~ ~ ~ Thank you so much to the amazing @judsonryder for making the gifs for these posts. She’s a true hero! You can find more of my Buddie meta, gifs, humor posts here, and my Buddie fics here. Please feel free to contact me if you need help with anything, and thank you in advance for any show of support! xoxox

333 notes · View notes

pettyprocrastination · 3 years

Note

I was looking at the comments on the Jessica and Oscar clip and I know it's not my place but, theres people calling it "sexy" and "hot" I just, no, ew, why?😬

It's just so- weird to me. They're literally married, both of them. And yet again, it's not my place, but I thought people would be more, idk, weirded out by it?

While I get what youre saying? I don't agree at all.

Theyre literally just actors posing together in front of cameras, the assuming that it's "wrong" or disrespectful of their partners is because YOU are assuming their relationship runs deeper and that's a much more disrespectful assumption than people reblogging a couple of gifsets.

People should not jump to the conclusion that these pictures allude to them having a further relationship with one another aside from being friends. Nor is it our business.

Oscar and Jessica have been working together for quite some time and are close friends. These pictures taken at the venice film festival also help promote the movie coming out where they play a married couple, Scenes From a Marriage. which is why they were so affectionate in front of the cameras. It gets attention, which will then feed people to their movie. And clearly, it worked.

My personal assumption is that these are actors, whom are close friends, that are just sort of hamming it up for the camera, you know? And its clear oscar isaac is a man loved by tumblr so of course theyd go crazy for it and then go see the movie. Which looks to be what will happen so props to them.

I think lots of actors and actresses do sort of..put on a show for the cameras in a way.

But What bothers me most is the people who then start to jump to the conclusions that theyre having an affair with one another. It's an incredibly bold accusation for others to throw around, given these people are married with children. And being cozy on camera for an actor is apart of the job, its not a sign of the state of their marriage.

We've seen plenty of costars be affectionate with one another for the cameras without thinking its a clear sign that theyre sleeping with one another, despite being married to their respected partners and having families.

For example, Indira Varma and Pedro Pascal.

Indira is a married woman with a daughter yet she poses so affectionately with Pedro in front of the cameras. Does this mean she isnt in love with her husband? Does it mean during the time these photos were taken she was having an affair with pedro? No. It means she and her costar are close friends who recently played a romantically involved couple and are hamming it up for the cameras. These are performers putting on a show for us. A couple of staged photos aren't in any way a look into their personal lives or the state of their marriage. Don't assume a few photos are a sure sign that Oscar is cheating on his wife, and if Elvira hasn't made a statement on it or shown any distress, who cares?

The only parts of these people we know are what we see on camera. Be respectful and unless there are genuine facts to back up such accusations, dont feed into them.

#ask #asks #terribly sorry if this came across as rude but ive seen so many people go #'i just know his wife cried at these photos'#or 'theyre definitely sleeping with eachother'#and honestly thats more disrespectful to their marriage than these photos are #costars always pose together on camera this isnt new #but because its oscar people are losing their shit and assuming hes cheating on hsi wife which is..weird #let these people be damn #oscar isaac #elvira lind #jessica chastain #putting this in the tags so yall will chill the fuck out #who knows maybe im wrong and news will come out that oscar isaac is a cheating scumbag #but until that is proved im not gonna spend m time getting heated over costars being affectionate on camera like every other actor #and neither should you

56 notes · View notes

harleyquinnzelz · 2 years

Note

Hi there! You're my OC Bingo Buddy! I was wondering if you could tell me a few facts about Charlie Bell and Zara. Also who the actresses are that play them and why you chose them?

OMG, hello! Yes, I'd be happy to tell you a little bit about my babes! The answer will be below the cut!

Starting with Charlie, who I love a lot but between the two has caused the most headaches. Some fact before I get into the roller coaster of her face claim because um... it was a ride, let me tell you.

- Charlie is the youngest member of the Bell family and was raised by S.H.I.E.L.D. members and was a member of a experimental S.H.I.E.L.D. program training children to be agents. She excelled in this program but following the attack on New York during the events of Avengers, her parents were killed and Charlie's older brother Evan decided to leave the life and try to give Charlie a chance to be normal. She was not happy about this.

- Charlie's mother was a scientist with S.H.I.E.L.D. and as a child may have performed some experimental treatments on Charlie based on some of her research when she was younger. As a teenager, upon realizing that the whole normal thing isn't for her, Charlie takes it upon herself to finish the treatment her mother started on her all those years ago and becomes the hero Spinner.

- She lives next door to Peter and May Parker and is the first person to realize that Peter is Spider-man.

- It is alluded to that the spider that bit Peter and gave him his powers was based on the research done by Charlie's mother. With this in mind, Charlie herself has spider-powers too. For example, she has organic webbing that shoots from her wrist. This webbing can be poisonous and so can actually be used offensively to great effect. She can shoot a kind of acid from her hands that are strong enough to eat through metal and also has a degree of control over her pheromones that she can use to make others angrier or more docile. I decided to lean into the poisonous spider idea hard.

- Initially, Peter feels a bit of a rivalry between himself and "Spinner", mostly because Spinner was kind of way better in a fight than him. He is very surprised when he learns that Spinner is actually his next-door neighbor.

No on the subject of her face which just... it's been a lot okay. Originally, I had picked Hailee Steinfeld for her face but after the announcement of her being cast as Kate Bishop I knew I needed to change her. This also coincided between me coming up with the idea of another oc of my, Hattie, who I decided to actually make one of Charlie's siblings. I knew I wanted to cast Teresa Palmer as Hattie's fc so that at least gave me a direction to go with Charlie's. I needed a blonde with some touch content who looked like she could be a hero. This led me to Kathryn Newton who I actually liked more for Charlie than Hailee but uh... then Marvel decided to cast her as the new actress for Cassie Lang which led me to another predicament. It was a struggle because I just couldn't find an fc that I liked for Charlie. I settled briefly on Skylar Samuels but quickly changed my mind because she just didn't have the right vibe. Next I moved onto Nicola Peltz who, again, didn't have the right vibe and I didn't love but I was stressing myself out trying to find the perfect fc for Charlie. The most recent edits I've made for Charlie are actually with Nicola's face but that's just because I haven't gotten around to making a gifset with Charlie's new fc because I have finally settled on a new face that I love that just works infinitely better for Charlie, especially when you consider the faces of her siblings (Charlie Hunnam for her older brother Evan, Teresa Palmer for Hattie, and Minka Kelly for her sister Sadie who actually also has recently been the subject of an fc change). Her new face is Madison Iseman who I actually love for Charlie more than any of her other faces!

Next, we have my babe Zara who just... I love her a lot okay. So some quick facts for the babe...

- She is completely human and it's never discussed quite how she found herself in Space. She never knew her mother and growing up she was something of a pet for the Collector.

- She finally escaped as a teenager and ran into Rocket and Groot who soon became the closest thing she had to a family. The three of them became quite a trio of bounty hunters.

- Her weapon of choice is an electrically charged metal whip that she usually wears like something of a bracelet. Rocket was the one who made this weapon for her.

- Zara often uses her good looks to trick her opponents into thinking she's not a threat, but actually, she's quite deadly and is always keen to take on opponents who appear bigger and badder than she is.

Zara's fc is Emeraude Toubia and honestly... this choice was straightforward. I loved her and wanted to use her. Her vibes fit right for Zara and visually I liked her in comparison to the rest of the cast, so she was chosen.

#asks #answered #muses #oc: charlie #oc: zara #been a while since i've talked about either of these babes #i am gonna get around to making charlie an updated intro set with her new face #just as soon as i finish writing fight or flight I swear

2 notes · View notes

hickeys-dickey · 3 years

Note

Pls share your thoughts about the gays in THAT scene… I would love to read them!

Ahh you are too kind, I am but a little swiss cheese brain but I'll try my best to sum up my thoughts, I have too many! I wanted a chance to grab some screenshots too! I'm going to put a read more because this is a long one buckle up lads.

So obviously the whole punishment for Hickey is designed to humiliate him (I would imagine this is one of the reasons his punishment isn't explained to him, because if Hickey truly was a naval petty officer he would know, and I think it's another way for Crozier to essentially say "I see you" and not in a good way). The fact we're not shown the other whippings shows the importance lies in the scene with Hickey.

I've seen a bit of discussion about his charge of "dirtiness", which isn't listed initially when we see him being questioned by the Captains, and whether or not it alludes to homosexuality but on a quick cursory search it does seem to have been used as a euphemism where an outright accusation of sodomy would mean a death sentence. The way Crozier throws it out there, no doubt to heap the humiliation onto Hickey and add crimes to the list to cover the fact he added lashes on to the punishment essentially for a bruised ego (but that's another matter), suggests a whole lot of venom to the accusation. Hickey's pointed look at Irving and Irving's quick shift of his gaze down suggests they both know exactly why Crozier has listed this among Hickey's list of crimes, and Hickey looks furious for it.

But I think this is also ultimately where the panic begins to set in. Again, there are far greater minds than me who have made excellent posts about queer coded characters in the terror, and I think it's no surprise that most of them are the faces that are focused on in this scence. It is clear long before this moment that Crozier's leadership is lacking, and people have already begun to voice concerns fairly loudly. Tozer for one is livid in the wake of Heather being injured, and the marines have clearly started distancing themselves from both the officers and the men. I feel like this scene, for a lot of characters is a point of major shift in either allegiences or character.

Tozer and the Captains are the first faces that are panned to in this scene and I think the expressions speak for themselves.

Tozer is visibly upset/concerned after the first lash. I do think guilt probably has a part to play, in that is was him whole told Hickey where Silna was, and presumably approved enough of the plan to not rat him out to anyone. Again, very probably part of Tozer's anger at Heather being injured due to what he sees is Crozier's poor management. Fitzjames is stoney faced, but is also the only one looking. As a man who many have noted pushes himself to pick emotional scabs, I think it would make sense for someone who is also notably queer coded and stuggles with trauma to make himself look directly at someone being whipped for a crime he himself might commit. Crozier isn't even looking, whether out of suddenly doubting his harshness or simply triggering something in his own memory it's not clear. I think the end of this shot also speaks for itself.

(Fig 1. Three Concerned (very likely not straight) men contemplate)

The lads at the back behind Mr. Johnson are all looking Directly At the whipping as it is taking place. Interestingly none of the men at the front near the table are looking. This is the stewards, officers, and marines. Whether out of respect or also Concern at their own skins (I think every one of these characters has been addressed as being queer coded at some point, minus the marines who are all, except Tozer, fairly nameless characters).

I'm not a gifmaker which is unfortunate for this section, though this is what is gifed in the beautiful gifset by sashneeka I reblogged (x). Tommy is also visibly upset, whether because he knows Tozer was involved in the plot to kidnap Silna and is concerned for him and any of the rest of the crew who had assisted in someway or voiced support. Billy interestingly does look briefly, and sets his jaw after in a way that suggests he's trying to fight the guilt of being the one to tell Irving about the whole affair with Hickey to paint himself in a better light. It could just as easily be Billy there on that table being lashed, but he somehow rationalises it in his head (probably because Hickey is a little bastard) that he was right in what he did. He does look down fairly guiltily after this, so maybe he hasn't quite settled on an opinion. Jopson also looks incredibly concerned/unsettled, and interestingly looks at Hickey right up until the whip hits where he flinches, and not for the only time in this scene. From what we know about Jopson's past, though not at this point, it may well be he is remembering similar punishment/mistreatment and like Fitzjames looks enough to pick the scab open and flinch from his own trauma.

The closeup of Hickey shows the full extent of his rage and humiliation building, and as I think Adam himself said, they whipped something out of Hickey that day and let him reach this potential that lay inside him (to become an even bigger bastard). He's fully severed all ties and feelings of loyalty after this and it becomes full on train to manipulation station from this point. I have a lot of Thoughts about Hickey also (which I am sure you are all aware of) but I think there was some semblance of Hickey attempting to start afresh on this journey, or at the very least keep his head down and go unnoticed. The trouble is, he notices Crozier as a flawed man, and one not from the upper classes like himself, and his ego can't help but think we're not so different, that could be me with the right connections. Well surprise lads, its murder time now and he's gonna make this old man pay for not recognising initiative but punishing it. I do wonder if Crozier wasn't booze sick and rattled from losing even more men under his command, would he not have come down so harshly for someone clearly defying the Articles to do what he thinks is right and save the men (a la Crozier and his fuck you I'm directly contradicting an order and leading this rescue party myself).

Tozer gets another wee closeup here and again looks like he has resolved something in his head too. Most likely that he thinks Crozier an unfit leader, and admiring Hickey for having the balls to do what he did (Hickey also never reveals anyone else who came with him, and when he talks about Hartnell and Mason's part in taking Silna it highlights their skill and bravery and (he thinks) commends them to the Captain. It's probably the only time we see him building up and applauding others). He looks dead ahead here and seems to have a very steely gaze, like yep fuck it looks like I'm going it alone now. It is interesting that Tozer goes from this to notably disliking Hickey (both at the start and when they are packing up - "you've just given me an excuse to give a big shove". This might be anger at Hickey having caused all the issues with Silna after the fact when Heather gets killed at Carnivale), but still follows him in the end. Hickey has the ability to kill, manipulate, steal, basically do whatever needed for their group to get ahead, which means Tozer can be part of the group and not have to dirty his own hands. I think Tozer probably has a complicated relationship with Hickey, but he does fall for the charm hook, line, and sinker, and the fact he seems concerned for him here suggests how easily he is sympathetic to those he sees as being wronged.

Gibby getting Hickey's blood on his hand (ayy) seems to visibly make him blanch, and I do find it interesting that the shot then pans to Tommy as though they are looking at each other when they are stood side by side. The similarities between them maybe? (I've seen and reblogged a lot of discourse about Tommy loving Tozer, maybe another nod to no one being so different to the man on the table?) Irving doesn't get much of a close up in the rest of this scene but bless him he looks equal parts terrified and guilty (another man who has been noted as having a list of many things to distract from the Gay Thoughts like why do you need to distract from Gay Thoughts Irving?). He also has the Far Off Look of trauma about him, probably because he too could just as easily be on that table.

I have many many thoughts about the way Hickey turns to look (and fucking smile???) at Crozier next, which is when Crozier is looking directly at him and Fitzjames looks at him. Like if I were Crozier I think my fucking blood would chill, look at this man. Being humiliated and lashed still hasn't broken him, if anything he has just become fully unhinged and looks at Crozier as though to say "did you really think this would work?". I would also say, this man has fairly quite for someone who is at this stage something like 22 lashes in? Like what the actual fuck Hickey?? I fully belive Hickey to be a psycopath, and most of what he does in the beginning of the series is an attempt to stay hidden until they get to Hawaii and he can ditch the crew, but I think it is fairly safe to say he isn't hiding it any more.

And he knows this is going to make the men doubt Crozier - I can't do a proper search because I am using my work laptop atm, but I seem to remember reading that a punishment greater than 12 lashes required a court martial (probably why Little steps in to say so when Crozier orders his punishment as well as them technically being lost at sea), which would be another strike against him as a Captain. Not only that, but Crozier does seem to grant him some mercy in letting him only be lashed I think 23 or so times? Probably because the tension is fucking palpable in this whole scene and Crozier can either choose to claw back some sense of control on the matter, or deal with the consequences of many people admiring Hickey for what he has done for the crew and start a mutiny. I think this is the first time Fitzjames sees the damage Crozier is doing to himself with his choices as Captain, and is probably just as concerned at the look Hickey is giving him. He knows this has unleashed something in this tiny rat bastard too, and that he will become the physical manifestation of Crozier's self-destructive tendancies. Crozier perpetually comes to everything just a fraction too late to change anything - he never saves any of the men, only comforts them as they die, and a lot of this has to do with his own ego and bad decision making, and I think this is the first example here of the fact his actions are having an effect on others to the point it will be his downfall.

Anyway, to round it off, I think this scene really epitomises the notion that Hickey is a mirror to the rest of the men, and they see their flaws in him. Those who have questioned Crozier's captaincy look concernced knowing they too could be being lashed. They too would have tried to get Silna to stop the Tuunbaq hunting them. Those who are queer or queer coded know they too could be being lashed for it. Crozier himself sees his unwillingness to follow the Articles in him, sees his own insubordination, and feels what Sir John meant when he said his position afforded him deference. Hickey may as well be a metaphor for all the men being lashed, theres not one among them who haven't voiced wanting to do what he has done. Let them without sin and all that. This is make or break for who holds loyalty to the Captain, and the turning point for who is going where. I think everyone except Jopson, Irving and Fitzjames ends up in the mutineers camp, and Irving ends up killed and mutilated by Hickey and Fitzjames is scavanged by them. Theres not one of them that isn't haunted by what happened in this scene, and Hickey would end up being the death of every single one of them. The only one who remains loyal after this is Jopson, who thinks his care and duty to the Captain can outweigh his other sins. Fitzjames and Crozier have a stronger relationship once he recovers from his withdrawal, yes, but Fitzjames also keeps him in check now (I'm thinking of Edward Little being threatened with flogging again because of course I am), and it is another step too late for Crozier's self-destruction. I've seen a Hickey/Fitzjames Christ analogy on here before too, so I hope you'll forgive me in comparing them, but Hickey in this scene really does get punished for everyone else's crimes in this scene, and becomes a sort of Christ-like figure, reborn as a complete version of the worst of himself from the pain of being lashed. They whipped something out of him!! Anyway, that about sums it up!

#long post #thank you for asking I could talk about the nuances of the terror for days #hickey thoughts

16 notes · View notes

greivous-bodily-harm · 3 years

Note

So I saw your tags on my post and I'm just curious, how can you believe in jjpope but still also think kiara is in love with JJ? I really need to know where this mindset is stemming from I need to dissect your brain cause it's just not adding up to me how someone can think both narratives can coexist... also this ask might come off as provocative. Maybe it is slightly challenging because I think it's important that Kiara is canonically a lesbian but I'm willing to listen?

nearly ignored this but i have time to kill and a compulsive need to express my interpretation of media i enjoy to anyone who will listen soooooo

first i must preface this with the fact that since it is a netflix teen show i made the conscious decision to approach this show with absolutely zero critical thinking. i am purely enjoying watching these funky teens commit funky crimes in their funky beach town.

second, two people can be in love with the same person. and one person can also have strong feelings for two or more people. like those are situations that can and do coexist. i believe there is significant subtext (as highlighted in your gifsets) that show strong feelings between pope and jj that many fans (myself included) interpret as romantic. i believe the same for jj and kiara. i also believe this to be the case for sarah and kiara which i will address properly in a min and i believe you were alluding to.

as for your final point of it being “important” that kiara is a lesbian. i personally don’t see this, if anything i think it would be good to have some more bi/pan representation (especially as a poc AND a queer person who has relationships with other genders as we seem to see a lot of bi guys only dating guys or vice versa) but, again, i watch this show with as little critical thinking as possible. my personal opinion is that kiara is bi, pan, or otherwise queer (this is where the sarah and kiara subtext comes in).

i will close by saying that the tone in which i read this ask has me slightly concerned and i would just like to make it clear that i do not want to get into any sort of argument and i will disengage without hesitation but if you wanna have a chill, respectful discussion i would love to hear more of your thoughts

#obx #ask #jjpope #jiara

7 notes · View notes

kalixus · 3 years

Text

» @stfreds queried : jump : my muse runs to your muse and jumps up, my muse holding yours up by their thighs. ( that one gifset. rmr? )

one word prompts , still accepting !

𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓. parties weren’t his thing , nor were they freddie’s thing. so the invite was obligatory when it came from a third party that invited them both to the bar , leaving freddie no choice but to be the bartender. and this left ilias no choice , either.

it was exhausting to be kal , to talk and smile more than usual , to have opinions and to make daily conversation —— to do everything he was never quite good at. it’s simple when it’s the first few weeks , but a few months have passed and he had yet to really get close to freddie. she hasn’t mentioned her uncle , she hasn’t mentioned texas , and she certainly hasn’t mentioned why someone would want her dead. clearly , ilias had a long way to go until that level was breached. and without his knowing , his expression fell at the very thought of reality.

the rusty little bell made note of kal’s entrance , various voices called for him and he waved a hand upward and gave a half-assed smile in response. but it was a certain voice that made ilias whip his head towards the bar. she tossed her dirty rag at tom or was that the other twin? and ran towards him like he was her long-lost-soldier that was just coming back from war. he hadn’t seen her since that morning , since he nuzzled his face into her back and wrapped his arms around her from behind and breathing her in like she was ocean air on a crisp autumn morning.

ilias braced himself when freddie jumped up , arms wrapped tight around his neck as he held her up by her thighs. hey , you. she kissed him like she did in the morning , his fresh start and his daily reminder that she was his safe haven. so of course he smiled , only this one didn’t hurt. ilias had no problem smiling with her in his arms : his beaming sunrise and gentle sunset. but then , reality settled in again. he held his world in his arms and she clung to him while rattling off about her plan to sneak out behind peter’s back , but all he could see was a pending doom behind her lulling glow.

hey , what’s up rainy? ilias rose his brows as though he snapped back into reality , he was far too tired to bother hiding behind kal. after all those times of using work as his excuse , he used it once again because the fear of telling her a truth scared him. 〝 ‘m just tired . 〞 kal eyed the bar behind her , seeing that certain eyes were watching them like they were a special on the discovery channel. 〝 been partying hard? 〞he alluded to the line of plaid shirts tucked into levi jeans that watched them from the bar.

then , she did that thing again. she took away his surroundings by kissing the bridge of his nose , right at the scar that she still didn’t know the truth about. then she smiled and shook her head. well - my party’s just started , now that you’re around.

ilias smirked at her. 〝 okay , then whaddya say we blow this joint and go warm thelma up? she must be lonely out there in the parking lot by herself. 〞

#stfreds #❪ ⋆、𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐄 ：DUST HER FINGERPRINTS FOR MINE * ❫#❪ ⋆、𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐕𝐑𝐒 ：NOT A TEMPEST BUT A CHILD * ❫#yknow i basically wrote it this way because i have 0 proper gifs of this man smiling #hope you don't mind me taking the liberty by adding some small dialogue !!#this got long bc i missed them and its only been like 2 days #♡ mwah

3 notes · View notes

synecdochereads · 3 years

Text

Six of Crows – review

Someone said, “heist movie but it’s a fantasy setting,” and I’ve been on the lookout for this book ever since. I finally found it in the clearance section of Half Price Books, and then—couldn’t read it. I got through the first chapter, I started the second, I put it down, and I didn’t pick it up again. Not sure why, but frankly this has less to do with the book than with me. I’ve been erratic about reading for, oh, years now – either I can’t focus for more than a few pages at a time, or I spend every waking moment with my nose in the book. There’s no middle ground. There’s no telling which way the cards will fall.

All of this to say, it’s not the book’s fault that it took me so long. But then the show came out, I watched it gleefully with my mom, and somehow having seen the characters onscreen made it easier to slip into their heads on the page. Two days later, I’ve inhaled the entire book as fast as I could get away with, and I’m in love.

This isn’t a regular book review – I’m terrible at ranking things, and the five-star system gives me anxiety. It’s mostly just some Thoughts™ neatly sorted for clarity, and hopefully reading over them will help you decide if you should pick this book up and fall in love with it like I did.

Mind the cut!

Characters

I am in love with them.

It probably helps that I’ve been looking forward to this book for ages, I’ve seen lots of gifsets and the occasional meta post, and of course I did watch three out of six crows swan about being fantastic for an entire season of a show that’s not even about them. But it’s not just that. There are a lot of technical literary ways you can analyze characters – arcs, themes, etc – but quite apart from all of that there’s just…are they compelling? They don’t have to be, for a book to be good, but it sure does help. And these six characters are so compelling.

(Also really likeable, which is even less necessary for a good story but which I do personally value. And I like these kids, I really do. Even Kaz “I commit atrocities without shame or remorse” Brekker. Wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley, or even a well-lit avenue! But I care about him and want him to succeed.)

It’s hard to devote equal time to six character arcs while also running a fantasy heist. Bardugo doesn’t try, but even the crows who get less screen time have complexity and depth. They’re all well fleshed-out, with full and distinct personalities and all that – on a technical level, these are really well-crafted characters. Top notch. Plus everyone struggles with different traumas and goals, and handles them in different ways, which gives us wonderfully varied arcs as they each move toward a deeper understanding of themselves, for better or for worse.

It also gives us really varied dynamics – some of them hate each other, some of them love each other, some manage to do both at once, some are just along for the ride. It’s as they pull at each other’s ragged edges that the story forms, in their different desperate needs and in what they can and cannot be for each other.

The show smoothed over a lot of the sharp edges and grey morality, most notably in Kaz. Kaz Brekker is a bad person. He does bad things for selfish reasons. His arc isn’t Learning To Be Good, it’s an ongoing question of whether he might, for the sake of the first person he has (quite accidentally) let himself love, consider maybe perhaps being slightly less of an amoral monster. I’ve seen this book described as “fantasy Leverage episode” but it’s really more Ocean’s Eleven, if Danny Ocean was a vicious bastard and everyone was seventeen.

And that’s great. I love that so much! Especially because the other crows run the gamut from shining idealism to casual self-interest (with a fun detour into “shining idealism but the ideal is violent bigotry”), so we really do get a morally complex story, without any easy black-and-white answers. One of the most kind-hearted people in the whole story has committed multiple murders and dreams of becoming a pirate. Kaz Brekker may do bad things for selfish reasons, but a lot of those selfish reasons boil down to “survive.” It’s complicated! It’s compelling!

Plot

It’s a fantasy heist, what more do you need?

Plots and counter-plots, double-crosses and last-minute improvisations. Magic, though it’s used as just another tool, as impressive and as prosaic as the gunslinger’s pistols. Dramatic climbs, elaborate disguises, cunning grifts, and some good old-fashioned sleight-of-hand. Six wildly competent teenagers, one impossible job, and four million fantasy dollars waiting for them if they can pull it off.

Well, okay, that’s just half of the story – maybe two thirds. The rest is flashbacks, showing us how these characters met and how they came to be the people they are; and stolen moments in between the action beats, where we see how they’re changing each other. It’s woven in really deftly. Our knowledge of the characters expands in time with the forward momentum of the plot, so that both parts of the story – the sorrows of the past and the edge-of-your-seat excitement of the present – get their hooks in you in tandem.

Worldbuilding

There are two settings in this book: Ketterdam, where we begin, and the Ice Court, where the bulk of the action takes place. The wider world outside these two cities is sketched in, alluded to in offhand comments and minor details of backstory. In theory, reading the Grisha trilogy would fill in those sketches, but I suspect it doesn’t matter. This is a heist story, after all: one entrance, one exit, and all the traps laid firmly between the two.

You know that thing authors do sometimes where they use the aesthetic of a real time and place, in the names and the architecture and so on, as a sort of worldbuilding shorthand? I’m a big fan of that. Ketterdam is clearly based on post-medieval Holland, perhaps in the late 17th century or so – a city of canals and commerce, with a ruling merchant class and a thriving criminal underworld, and a stock exchange at the heart of the wealthier district. The similarities feel like they’re just skin-deep – I don’t know that much about post-medieval Holland, but I’m pretty sure Bardugo has her own plans for the political situation in the wider world, which I assume is relevant in the Grisha trilogy. Here it’s not, and we have just enough detail to get a quick feel for the city, with extra importance granted to the politics of the various criminal gangs Kaz needs to worry about.

If I’m honest, I would have enjoyed a bit more detail in the worldbuilding. Ketterdam is vibrant and crowded, but it feels shallow; the only information we get is what relates directly to the characters’ actions. We’re told that it’s a big and complex city, but I don’t really have any idea what goes on there beyond, vaguely, “trade, gambling, and tourism.” But that’s probably just me. I’m unreasonably invested in worldbuilding. And anyway, we do get everything we need to understand the actual story.

The same is true in the Ice Court, the frozen capital of the Fjerdans. It’s a beautiful place, white and gleaming, and the parts that we see are incredibly vivid. We get scant glimpses of history and religion, the faintest suggestion of politics, and exactly enough of the city layout to understand the heist. We do, however, get a much deeper understanding of Fjerdan culture than we did of Ketterdam’s, because one of the crows defines himself utterly by the Fjerdan worldview, and his arc is largely about the difficulty of losing his place in that world and not knowing if or how he can ever get it back.

So yeah, we really do get everything we need to appreciate the story and the characters. I would have liked more, because I like worldbuilding, but what we do get is varied and satisfying.

Themes

I can’t really go in depth here without spoilers, so this’ll be a pretty vague section. I haven’t gone full lit-major on this book and I don’t especially plan to, but at a glance, the central theme is the tension between, in short, love and vengeance.

In long, several of the crows have the choice to embrace love as a force for healing and joy, or instead hold onto the (often violent) goals that have driven and defined them for so long. If they embrace love, it’ll mean letting go of the driving purpose that has kept them alive, and risking their whole identity (and possibly their lives) on a new purpose. It’s scary! It might ruin them! And it’s really not as easy as “love conquers all.”

(Big advantage of an ensemble cast: you can explore the same theme in different ways, with different outcomes, without having to settle for a single “answer” to the question posed by the theme. I really love it when that happens, honestly.)

It’s also not just romantic love! I mean it mostly is, but one of the crows has an arc that’s really about self-love, about learning to trust and prioritize not just your survival, but your happiness, your goals, and your ideals. About putting yourself first, not in a selfish way, but in a healthy, loving way. It’s really lovely, and although it has no bearing on the plot (it’s an internal moment of revelation), it’s one of my favorite things about the whole story.

3 notes · View notes

queenaboleyna · 3 years

Text

does anyone have a link of that one gifset from a few years ago (idk who made it) that was like the tudors + episode titles being alluded to in the show (i specifically remember the gif of 1x03 where that guy is arrested and screams wolsey wolsey wolsey) cause this has been driving me crazy the past few days but i cant find it

#help #i thought i rb it to here or at least my main but cannot find it anywhere #the tudors #the lady has spoken #anne boleyn #period dramas

1 note · View note

glassprism · 4 years

Note

Are you familiar with the poem "A Myth of Devotion" by Louise Gluck? Such strong POTO vibes. (Also "The Myth of Innocence" by the same author.) I feel like it would make an amazing gifset if that doesn't already exist!

So when I was in college, I joined a club of writers who would put out an annual book of collected fiction, nonfiction, and poetry pieces, all written by students from our college, submitted to us, and judged and edited by our little group. Though we were ostensibly split into groups - for example, I was one of the prose editors - we were so small and the number of entries low enough that we basically read everything.

And after basically spending the first two years of my college life reading some of the most pretentious and edgy poetry ever submitted by wannabe writers who did not know any better and having no method of articulating my dislike other than to say, “It didn’t sound good and I didn’t like it”, I decided that poetry was very definitely not for me and I would stick to prose from now on. Which is a very long way of saying that, no, I haven’t read it, because I now avoid poetry like the plague.

Anyway, the poem is nice and it does not surprise me that it has Phantom-y vibes, as it’s based around the myth of Hades and Persephone, which already bears quite a few similarities to Phantom: a dark male figure associated with death who lives underground and takes a young, innocent woman, who pines away for the sunlight, connotations of maturity, womanhood, and growing up, and so on. This might even be alluded to in, of all adaptations, Love Never Dies, where the original concept recording notes that the ship Christine is arriving on is called the Persephone. (And then the show itself shows us that she’s entering from dock 69, in case you didn’t Get It.)

And the poem, with its rather ambiguous interpretation of Hades’s actions (building an entire world for Persephone, not realizing it is false; promising devotion to her but, in a way, killing a part of her), can fit rather well into what we know of the Phantom, who lives in a “false” house but craves a real one; who professes love for Christine but stalks and kidnaps her; who declares Christine his “living wife” and “living bride” multiple times but threatens to kill her and everyone else if she does not accept him, and so on. Fun stuff.

I might make a gifset if nobody else has, but I’ve yet to release that other gifset I made a long time ago going on about the actually terrifying appearance of biblical angels and its connections to Phantom...

#Anonymous #GP gets asks

12 notes · View notes

danrdarrenc · 4 years

Note

What do you wish they did differently with Wilson throughout the years? I always skip over that Will cheated, I didn't like that storyline at all.

It’s funny you say that because that’s really the only thing I would change. (Here’s the essay I was alluding to earlier about Sonny never being a bad guy!)

Not that I disliked Will cheating per se; it was that the narrative up until then had been about Paul and Sonny’s unresolved feelings for each other and was clearly leading to them having an affair - not even a ONS. I mean a full-blown affair that lasted a few months. And then - Will slept with Paul instead and nothing came of that entire backstory they put so much time and effort into creating and filming “flashbacks” for!!

And I wouldn’t have minded the veer into left field so much if at least the aftermath had been better. If maybe Sonny had revenge fucked Paul or at least left Will temporarily to sort out his feelings or at least admitted that he still had feelings for Paul, and that his anger at Will was about jealousy over Paul and not wanting to admit he still had feelings for Paul. In short, if the aftermath hadn’t been eight months of Sonny playing tug of war with Will and Paul but not admitting that’s what he was doing, culminating in him abandoning Will and their daughter, and then Will dying a month later not knowing if Sonny still loved him, that story would have been far less frustrating.

Anyway, that was a long-winded way of saying that I would have followed through on the Sonny/Paul narrative and had them have an affair instead of Will having the ONS with Paul, which would have allowed Sonny to fuck up in their relationship and evened out the balance.

Here’s the fic I wrote writing that story and the gifset I made fixing the story.

#wilson #ask

2 notes · View notes

blackjack-15 · 4 years

Text

A Surprisingly Thoughtful Spin — Thoughts on: The Haunted Carousel (CAR)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it.

This game also has an additional section between “The Mystery” and “The Suspects” entitled “The Theme”, where I’ll talk about the philosophy within this game, and how it stands out and solidifies its place as a truly “Expanded” game due to that thoughtfulness.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: CAR, brief mentions of CLK, CRY, HAU, and ASH, brief but slightly spoiler-y mention of the opening act of SPY.

The Intro:

The Haunted Carousel is, without preamble, a fantastic game.

I know I normally start these with a brief analysis of what stands out about the game or what it’s done for the series as a whole — and I will do that, never fear — but I think it’s important to establish first and foremost that, while it’s not an Overtly Beloved game, it very much should be, and it doesn’t get enough near enough credit. Especially since, in my opinion, the many great modern games’ tight plots and varied protagonists have their roots in this excellent game.

With a logical and ever-progressing plot, characters who feel like actual people, beautiful visuals, and historical backstories that round out the present day plots (plots!! In the plural!! Huzzah!!), Haunted Carousel may not be a wild ride, but it is a consistent, fun, and surprisingly thoughtful one.

CAR is perhaps the odd one out of its fellow Expanded games (SSH through SHA) in that its location isn’t really anything immersive. You don’t spend your time outdoors in thick atmosphere nor surrounded by trinkets of the Maya nor stuck on an old ranch, but between a bright hotel room and a shut-down (but not rundown) amusement park during the day. Its historical background isn’t linked to a specific area, there isn’t a “standout” scene featured in every gifset or trailer, and the wackiest the game really gets is expecting the player to enjoy Barnacle Blast.

In most ways, in other words, CAR is an exceptionally quiet game in the middle of quite a few loud ones, which might account for it not getting as much credit as it deserves. There are flashier games, there are longer games (CAR is quite short), and there are games with better and more memorable cutscenes…but there’s not many games in the series (and none of out the expanded games as well-told and sincere as CAR.

Not only is CAR a lot of fun to play, but it also takes care to mean something – to tell an actual story rather than a bare-bones whodunnit. The characters all have their reasons for being there and being involved, and they all have something to say as well — some directly contrasting each other. CAR doesn’t feel really like a computer game where everything is laid for the Convenience of the Plot and the suspects are only there to robotically deliver plot points and incriminate themselves. Rather, it feels like a whole story with real people where a crime happens to occur, but not everything revolves around that central plot point.

It’s also remarkable in the presence of a protagonist, which isn’t really something that Nancy Drew games have done yet. Nancy herself doesn’t count because at this point, Nancy doesn’t gain or lose anything from the mystery; she’s not the one with a problem, nor does she discover anything about herself. The Nik-era games are notable for their strong protagonists (or, often, dual protagonists with Nancy acting as one out of the two), but CAR really is the first one to take a character and have Nancy be a part of their story, rather than having Nancy act as a magnet to four pieces of metal and a mystery.

Mechanically, CAR is much the same as games that have come before it, as we won’t see another big upset until SHA, with the addition of Nancy’s cell phone (oh blessed day) and, most importantly, a task list. Fans had been asking for a task list since MHM (which sorely needed one so that you could at least identify which hanzi you had already seen) and CAR delivers that long-needed mechanical update.

The historical backstory is more recent than in most games, happening not in Antiquity or even during the 1700s but instead in the modern(ish) day, featuring the man behind the titular Carousel’s horses, Rolfe Kessler. The backstory doesn’t feel like an appendage like in DOG, but really establishes why the Carousel is so important and helps serve the theme of the game (more on that later).

The last thing that’s really important to note in CAR is its villain. By now, HER is reasonably okay at camouflaging its villain for at least the first third of the game, and here does a good job keeping the player in the dark for the first bit. CAR is also HER’s first successful attempt at the friendly villain archetype. Elliott Chen is pleasant, accommodating, friendly, funny, and incredibly likable. He just also happens to be a forger stretched thinner than he’s comfortable with.

Ultimately, The Haunted Carousel is a great game with a huge thematic presence, likable characters, and an honest character arc. Not only should it be a must-play for any new fan, it should be on the top of any older fan’s re-play list, both for its intrinsic value and for its obvious influence on the plots and protagonists of the modern Nancy Drew games.

The Title:

As far as titles go, The Haunted Carousel is a meh one – admittedly, it’s probably the weakest part of the entire game. It does tell us what our focal point will be — the Carousel — and the mystery surrounding the focal point – that it’s haunted — but, like DOG, it doesn’t really go much past that.

After completing the game, the title does mean a little more — the events of the game are a carousel of hauntings in that they seem to be cyclical and mysterious, but are really a farce — a simple fair ride with pretty decorations but simple parts. The carousel itself also points towards the villain, who’s the only artist out of the cast, and seems to allude to Joy’s cycle of sadness — she’s haunted as well.

It’s not a brilliant title, all things considered, but because the game is so good, it’s only a minor blip on the radar rather than something symptomatic of the game’s value.

The Mystery:

Paula Santos, a friend of Carson Drew’s, hears about Nancy’s penchant for solving mysteries and decides to call her in to investigate some thefts and sabotage that Captain’s Cove, an amusement park in New Jersey, has been encountering.

Nancy learns that first, the lead horse on the carousel was stolen, followed by the roller coaster losing power and causing a serious crash. The last straw for Paula was the merry-go-round turning on in the middle of the night, and Captain’s Cove has been shut down until someone — perhaps a badly-attired ginger fresh out of high school — can figure out what’s causing these problems.

It’s Nancy’s job to explore the shut-down amusement park, talk to the leftover staff, help reconstruct a carousel horse, and use such Astoundingly Modern Technologies as a cell phone and a laptop in order to crack the case behind The Haunted Carousel.

As a mystery, CAR is a pretty good one; it’s the age-old Nancy Drew Sabotage set up, but with the twist of happening at an amusement park. There are plenty of clues and even more red herrings, and the attempt to keep you guessing until the 3/4ths mark is a solid attempt.

I don’t know if this mystery feels more fun because it’s at a place like an amusement park or if really is that fun, but the overall effect is the same, and CAR is a delight to solve. The backstory and present story fit together like jigsaw pieces, and the suspects are both interesting and a ton of fun to question.

Is CAR an overly difficult or surprising mystery? Not to the modern mind, I would say, especially given the mystery fans’ inclination to suspect the friendliest suspect (a hole-in-one suspicion here). But it is incredibly fun to see how everything is put together, and it’s a water-tight mystery, if not air-tight.

It’s okay that the mystery isn’t the absolute greatest, however, because it isn’t the most profound part of the game.

The Theme:

Prior to CAR, Nancy Drew games didn’t really bother with the concept of theme. It was new and novel and difficult enough to design detective computer games that ran efficiently with decent graphics and to put them out twice a year that HER focused, quite rightly, on that rather than on trying more complex ideas.

With the formula and the game engine firmly established, however, and a small but fervent fanbase ready to devour the latest game — and being in charge of their own distribution — HER was ready to expand their games in a way separate from technology or location: it was ready for a strong theme.

As a character, Nancy deals with some pretty heavy stuff during the course of her mysteries. In the early games, we don’t really see it affecting her that much, which is a product of simple writing and, in my opinion, the child-like resilience of an 18 year old. While she has her occasional line like “to think I almost made friends with a jewel thief!” in TRT, these cases tend to engage Nancy on an intellectual level rather than an emotional one.

CAR shifts that narrative slightly and allows Nancy to bond with a suspect — Joy Trent — over their shared loss of a mother. Joy has also lost her father recently and is stuck in mourning over both her father and her childhood. Her father, having realized how both repressed and depressed Joy is, decided to build her a robot to help her get in touch with her childhood again. In other words, the jumping off point of the story is a father who wanted good things, happiness, and safety for his daughter, and tried to go about it in a way that he thought would be best.

If you’re hearing echoes of SPY here, you’re correct. The difference here being that Joy’s repression of tragedy leads her into a pit of inaction while stewing over that tragedy, while Nancy’s repression (which I’ll talk about more in my TMB meta) pushes her to action while ignoring the driving force of that tragedy.

CAR is also, I believe, the first time that Nancy mentions the death of her mother to a suspect, and it’s a really humanizing moment for her. As much as Nancy can be driven, tactless, and goal-oriented, she’s not a robot, and she does have personal as well as professional reasons behind the things she does and the characters she tends to bond with.

The first big thematic point in CAR is the importance of connection. It juxtaposes morose, prickly Joy (who doesn’t want a friend but gets one anyway) against our villain, who is friendly and smiling and charming but is by no means someone Nancy should make friends with. It also asks a question to tie into this theme: are those who are mean bad, and are those who are bad always mean? It’s almost a Shakespearean theme (“one may smile, and smile, and be a villain”) and it’s well-placed here.

The second theme comes up in the backstory about Rolfe Kessler, a genius who struggled all his life with mental illness, eventually ending with him never getting the credit he deserved and without the companionship of the woman he loved, Amelia.

It’s a tragic story in a way that HER hasn’t really done tragic stories yet — MHM has a basically happy ending, in TRT by the end the implication is that Marie is finally going to get the credit and un-blackening of her name that she deserves, FIN’s is a whole mess so we’re not even gonna try to dissect that, and in SSH the Whisperer is vindicated.

There’s no descendant of Rolfe in this game; no historian ready to exculpate him, no family members or friends to remember him fondly to Nancy over the phone. Rolfe is in the game, as in his life, alone. It’s a tragedy, and the way that Nancy and the player discover his genius and his story is quiet, as befitting the man.

Through Rolfe’s story we address the twin themes of remembrance — that how you’re remembered will generally be the way you lived (think DED’s dénouement for further insight) in the time that you lived — and of the role of trauma and struggle in life. Rolfe’s struggle against his illness didn’t make him a genius, but it did stand in his way of achieving all that he could.

And that’s where we tie into Joy and the main theme of the game. Once again, we see a person being limited by their mental illness and their struggle against it, and a world that doesn’t really take that struggle into effect. Instead of Joy being alone in this struggle, however, she has help — not just the small help from Nancy, but the help and support of her father through Miles the Magnificent Memory Machine.

Miles was created by Darryl Trent to help Joy unlock her childhood memories and move past her trauma in a healthy way – and only if she was actually dedicated to the task. The riddles, while not hugely difficult, are enough to dissuade Joy from ever really trying to get past them, as she’s not ready to open that lid just yet. As anyone who’s experienced mental illness (or had a close loved one experience it) knows, there’s no way for you to improve and grow if you’re not ready to receive the help you need.

Opening up just a little bit to Nancy and having someone who doesn’t have to care about her problems actually care is enough to springboard Joy to take the first step and try to tackle the riddles again with a little help. Over the course of the game, Joy gets more and more ready and less resentful towards her past and finds the strength to confront herself and her illness.

While the trauma of losing her mother in the way that she lost her (not to mention the added weight of her family’s financial situation) didn’t make Joy strong, the choice to struggle through and come out the better on the other side does make her end the game stronger than when she started and with more — pardon the pun — joy in her life. That progression is what makes her the protagonist, but is also sets her up to have the theme hand-delivered to her.

Miles states that it was Darryl’s belief that life is simply made up of memories. This is why it’s such a big deal that Joy’s memories of her mother are repressed, because her brain is actively erasing her life. As Joy moves through those memories with Nancy and Miles’ help, she gains back her life and is shown that, while struggle is a part of life, it doesn’t define life — and that a good life isn’t necessarily a life made up of only good things.

The presence of these themes (and of the final theme in particular) is what makes CAR such a strong game. Though the characters are delightful, the aesthetic is fabulous, the Hardy Boys are here, and the history and puzzles are fun, it’s CAR’s strong thematic elements interwoven with its plot that really makes it something special.

So let’s get on with those characters, shall we?

The Suspects:

Joy Trent is the current bookkeeper of Captain’s Cove and basically the man in charge apart from Paula. Her father Darryl used to work at/own half of Captain’s Cove, but died poor (specifically of a heart attack in bankruptcy court, poor man) after having to sell his part of the park to Paula. Thus, Joy holds a grudge against Paula even as she does good work for the park.

She’s also suffering a bit of childhood amnesia due to the trauma of her mother dying when she was young — the first of the women featured in this game series to share that backstory with Nancy. This forms a lot of the story’s B plot (with the historical backstory of the game being relegated to the C-plot) as Nancy and a funny little computer help her to move past this emotional block, confront her past, and progress to a better future.

As a suspect, Joy isn’t a bad pick at all, in part because she is responsible for a portion of the sabotage — the shut-down of the roller coaster while it was in operation – over bitterness for her father’s ignominious end. This little instance is helpful for diverting attention away from the true saboteur — though she doesn’t mean to — and it helps round out Joy as more than just the sad daddy’s girl (and resident protagonist) that she would be otherwise.

Well, other than her magical talking robot companion.

Miles the Magnificent Memory Machine isn’t really a culprit, but he definitely needs to be noted here, as he’s the best help that Nancy has outside of the Hardy Boys. Miles knows everything about Joy, yet he can’t move the story forward without Nancy completing a little task after task that unlocks the next portion of his (rather, by proxy, Joy’s father’s) quest to help Joy become a well-rounded, non-traumatized person who can face her past.

I’ve said enough about Miles’ part in the Theme section above, so I’ll move on without too much in this area.

Harlan Bishop is the security guard of Captain’s Cove and an ex-forger in a past life. He’s also voiced by Jonah Von Spreecken, best known for his long-running stint as Frank Hardy and for his writing of Francy fanfiction, God bless the man.

Harlan went to jail for forging checks and had a hard time getting a job once he was free, but Paula offered him a job as a security guard at Captain’s Cove and he’s been loyal since, even taking a pay cut in order to keep his job as the park was shut down. He’s also hilarious, giving such immortal quotes as “the whale is getting impatient” when trying to summon Nancy to the security office.

As a suspect, Harlan is interesting. He shares the key identity of the villain — a forger — as a red herring and as a way to complicate the mystery, and he does do something wrong in that he spies on Ingrid to get the passcode to her office. Sure, he does it for a good and innocent reason — he wants to be the best security guard he can possibly be, and that means learning everything about the park — but it’s still wrong to do, and Nancy (in a rather supercilious way) doesn’t hesitate to call him on it (and, once again rather arrogantly, for his past. Nancy’s done way worse than forgery in her hobby as a detective, after all).

Ultimately, Harlan is too good a guy to actually cause the problems and thefts at Captain’s Cove, and stays on with Paula even after getting other job offers once he helps Nancy recover the stolen lead horse for the carousel. He serves as Nancy’s “buddy” character after the mess with Nancy reporting him finishes its business.

Elliot Chen is the art director — and perpetually behind art director — of Captain’s Cove and our friendly neighborhood villain for the game. Elliott is the first to greet Nancy with a smile and a joke, and is friendly in a way that instantly suckers the player in.

HER has been trying since TRT’s Lisa to create a villain that’s actually a sort of friend to Nancy – or at least passes off as someone becoming her friend throughout the course of the game, and they nail it with Elliott. He even mentions Poppy Dada as a sort of inside joke with the player that makes one easily warm up to him.

As a suspect, Elliott is perfect. He’s sly enough to take advantage of what others do and fold it into his plan (the roller coaster) and to use people’s superstitions to his advantage both for privacy for his schemes and for driving the price of the carousel horses up.

He’s got just enough clues pointing towards everyone else — taking the eccentricities of his coworkers not only in stride but in good humor and flexibility towards his plans — and a pretty water-tight excuse for falling behind (procrastination — everyone knows artists and other creative types are the Worst Procrastinators) to help him pull off the vast majority of his plan without anyone being the wiser.

In short, Elliott is exactly the kind of character that this game needed, and his presence is a joy — even if (or perhaps especially because) he’s the villain.

Ingrid Corey is the chief engineer of Captain’s Cove, a graduate of OSU, and resident hippy-dippy “nutritionist” who can diagnose a B3 deficiency just by looking at Nancy. She’s a little crazy to talk to, but seems like at first she could just be using that to throw our resident teen detective off the trail.

As a suspect, Ingrid checks all the boxes once again, and not just because she, like everyone else, does something wrong. Ingrid, genius engineer that she is, decides to let a friend borrow the roller coaster’s blueprints to study them for a hefty fee, garnering her enough money for a 20K$ watch and enough left over to look for a new car.

Nancy also suspects her of insurance fraud with a man who got injured on the roller coaster when Joy sabotaged it, but it turns out in a show of startling naiveté, Ingrid just wanted to recommend a neck cream to the unfortunate man rather than help him profit off of his injury.

She doesn’t really become Nancy’s buddy, but she is remarkable in that she sort of disappears for most of the game. At the beginning, it makes her look a bit suspicious, but towards the end it just becomes clear that the game is less focused in Ingrid, who doesn’t really support the theme or move the plot along, and more worried about establishing its meaning and helping Nancy solve the case in time.

The Favorite:

While it should be obvious that my favorite part of this game is its theme and the associated thematic elements, I’ll try to branch out here a bit….though not so far out as to ignore the Hardy Boys, who are once again wonderful in this game. Honestly, most games with the Hardy Boys present are better than most games without the Hardy Boys. (Though of course, there are a few exceptions (notably ASH and SPY).)

CAR has one of my favorite casts (and favorite villains) of the entire series, so they’ll be here as well. It’s such a nice change of pace from games like FIN and DOG where the casts are lackluster to go to games like CAR that are so strong in making you care about the characters.

My single favorite thing about CAR, however, is the presence of a protagonist in Joy Trent. The first games (and quite a few of the middle games, it should be noted) treat Nancy as the main character and lack a protagonist completely, ignoring the fact that Nancy really can’t be a main character in the half-ghost (personality-wise) state she’s in, especially given that most of her dialogue is “ask a question, get an answer” rather than showing any real personality or particular motive beyond solving the case. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why that was the case given the limitations of the early 2000s and of HER in particular, but it does remove any possibility of Nancy being able to be the protagonist.

That’s why Joy’s presence is such a delight, honestly. She’s the character with the problem to solve — her past traumas — and the game carries Nancy through helping her in a way that Nancy’s never really helped anyone before. Sure, Nancy solves the mystery, but what she really does is offer peace to Joy, who can now grow up a little further and move on. CAR gives Nancy a purpose that will be improved and expanded upon in games like CLK, CRY, HAU, and GTH.

My favorite puzzle is the entire puzzle track with the carousel (including the conversation with Tink, who is a wonderful phone friend). There’s something super cool about going inside a carousel and finding out how the magic works, and there’s so much to explore in it that it’s really a magical place, even though it’s not actually anything supernatural.

My favorite moment in the game (other than the final ‘battle’) is the conversation with the Hardy Boys after Nancy nearly gets run over due to her own clumsiness. A classic.

The Un-Favorite:

Because of the care taken with CAR, there won’t be a lot in this section.

My least favorite puzzle is probably the mini-plot revolving around fixing Barnacle Blast — and then playing Barnacle Blast. While it’s not a horrible game in and of itself, it just doesn’t really fit the overall aesthetic of the puzzles of Captain’s Cove, and for me it sticks out quite a bit as a “oh we need a puzzle here what can we think of that the kids like” and came up with an arcade game in a vintage-style amusement park. It’s a bit off.

The stenography isn’t a great one as well, but I give it props for fitting the atmosphere and theme, so it’s not my least favorite.

My least favorite moment in the game…is probably where Nancy knocks over Elliott’s paint, as it seems to be a Big Moment but — Nancy doesn’t actually ruin anything, and it makes Elliott look a little silly.

I know that most of the games (especially as early as CAR) didn’t want to have Nancy do anything wrong in the non-second-chance story of the game, but actually having Elliot forgive her for messing up something important would have been a big step in establishing his character and throwing suspicion off of him — not to mention justifying his even further behind schedule as the game goes on.

The Fix:

So how would I fix CAR?

There’s not a lot of work to be done here, honestly. Take out Barnacle Blast and substitute it with a more on-theme mini-game, lengthen out the game a bit by playing up Ingrid’s plotline along with everyone else’s and perhaps giving Elliott something to do in the latter half of the game so it’s not so obvious by that point that he’s the Villain, and you’ve pretty much clinched it without any real re-working.

Like I said in the last paragraph of the above section, a tweak of the cutscene with “ruining” Elliott’s work would help his and Nancy’s storyline to have a different and improved feel, but that’s pretty much it as far as concrete changes go.

The beauty of CAR is that its simplicity actually works, rather than feeling bare-bones or underwritten. It’s not a difficult or complex mystery, but that’s not the point of Nancy’s being there or of the game as a thematic whole.

Sure, CAR deals with some pretty heavy themes such as loss, loyalty, debt, revenge, trauma, shades of mental illness, and even the question of is a bad person necessarily a mean person, but it accepts those bad things in stride and knows that they’re necessary in order to tell a tale of resilience and a happy ending. Miles the Magnificent Memory Machine delivers that theme to both Nancy and to the player, after all: “even bad memories have a place in a good life”.

#nancy drew #nancy drew games #clue crew #the haunted carousel #nancy drew meta #my meta #CAR #video games

25 notes · View notes