#and yet TPTB forced their hand

[sgiandubh]

Strike (and patient...) Anon

Forgive the out-of-character delay. I got entangled in a maelstrom of domestic complications and yet somehow managed to keep an eye on the SAG-AFTRA saga.

For context, clarity and empathy, I shall direct you straight to Chemistry & Timing's unique vantage point on this evolving situation (https://www.tumblr.com/fadeupin5432 ). You will probably not get a better, closer to ground zero understanding of what is really at stake, who the major players are and what lies ahead. And an important part of what is at stake, as she explained, is Man vs. Machine, as in TPTB trying to shamelessly exploit the profession's secondary players and rob them of their due rights by endlessly using them as mere support for AI-enhanced recreations of the original silhouette, voice and acting.

This impacts not only their earnings, as she mentioned, but the very long term survival of that unsung army of extras, brave one-line whisperers, stunts, body doubles, etc. But really, nobody is spared, because uncontrolled technology can quickly turn into a tidal wave of doom. Couple that with the studios' greed and we have an explosive cocktail with potential lethal impact.

This almost unprecedented move by SAG-AFTRA has most probably been informed by several successful European precedents, such as the regular strikes of their French and Greek counterparts (to mention just the ones I am most familiar with), eager to see their rights recognized by labor law as employees, not as civil law governed contractual collaborators (way less interesting and protective, since not opening the right to unemployment benefits).

Fun fact, the French artist's guilds almost always go on strike during the summer hiatus, trying to gain leverage and capitalize on a very busy period, featuring high-profile events, such as the Avignon Theatre Festival. Something to be a part of at least once in your life, if you ask me.

But the comparison stops here, because the right to one own's image/right of personal portrayal, including reproduction rights, is taken very seriously by civil law systems since at least the 60's. Because European artist's guilds/trade unions are far more aggressive and politically colored than in the US (on the left side of the spectrum, to be exact). And because whenever new technology rears its strange head on the scene, a group of experts takes it in its stride and thinks of a European directive to try and control its impact on individual rights and avoid exactly this type of situations. The downside of this protective regulation is that it becomes obsolete very, very quickly, because by the time you finished negotiating, technology did not wait for you and caught up already, for a good while.

Then you start it all over again: this is also why I branched off, with no regrets and some hefty experience gained. As I mentioned, I was one of that handful of folks, circa 2005-2010. We tend to quarrel a lot over a comma while thinking about Brussels winter rebates, but we did manage a fine job dealing with far less complicated things, such as digitalization of TV signals, broadcasting rights, pay-per-view regulations - the list is endless and very creative. Enough for the memory lane part.

The amount of Tumblr comments in Mordor from people who clearly have no damn clue of what they are talking about is insulting. The pretention to own the truth when you just pile up newspapers in a helter-skelter manner, also. Take for instance the trolls hoping for a Season 8 cancellation, who clearly never heard of the concept of force majeure, which protects better the parties' interests, in US legal doctrine, than torts' classical doctrines such as "impracticability" or "frustration of purpose". It is my deep hope that S&C's confidential contracts with * offer full coverage of force majeure situations, and I think, as per the COVID precedent, that they do.

Yes, both SAG members, most probably. No, she is not working. Yes, he will just sell the booze and you will be shrieking like banshees, again, in Mordor: tell me, did he take your dime out of your pockets by force, or what? No, no JAMMF pix for you, Onlies and Mommies. And I bet no blonde either, but that is beyond the scope of this note.

SMH. Morons.

Anyways. I had much fun writing this. Come back anytime with witty challenges, Strike Anon. And yes, I follow the situation very closely.

@fadeupin5432, I stand in solidarity.

#Anon #sag aftra strike

[elfyourmother]

Do you consider yourself a lore breaking, lore bending or lore adhering roleplayer? Does this adherence to lore depend on the kind of lore you're exploring with your characters; i.e. you play fast and loose with ideas xiv has yet to develop, but you tend to pay close attention to the fleshed out ideals? Is there lore you have modified that you're proud of and would share here?

I view lore as a starting point for me to jump off from and make my own. Always have.

I find strict adherence to game canon for its own sake creatively suffocating and always have, in every setting I've ever written in. It’s pretty much entirely because I grew up on DMing and writing in Forgotten Realms, which took a very DIY approach back in the day that was heavily encouraged by its creator. Everyone's Realms were equally valid, according to Word of God, and there were often intentional "blanks" left in sourcebooks for the DM to fill. These books emphasized over and over again that the DM was the ultimate authority on canon, not TPTB or the novels or anything else. That philosophy has informed my approach to worldbuilding in the transformative fandom sense for the last 30 years. That and being a queer Black femme of color who is very rarely satisfied by canon narratives rife w racially problematic tropes. I change things to make a space for myself and my characters and the stories I want to tell, by necessity. FFXIV is no different in that respect.

That said, I don't smash SE canon just to smash it either. Despite how bonkershits a lot of Gisèle's canon appears on the surface (eg. post-war Ishgard's constitutional monarchy with King Aymeric), everything I change has been carefully considered and engineered for as much internal consistency as possible. As much as I operate on Rule of Cool, I need things to make sense for me to have fun.

But I am distinctly not a roleplayer, for this and many other reasons. I'm strictly a fic writer, and I don't ever collab with people. The world Gisèle operates in is constructed entirely for her, and my own enjoyment, by design. So no one is forced to deal with my stuff if they don't like it.

That said, King Aymeric is probably the lore I’m most proud of. I wrote a ficlet for ffxivwrite last year on it here, but the cliffs notes: Aymeric invoked the ancient covenant between man and dragon when begging Hraesvelgr’s aid against Nidhogg and vowed he would restore it, but Hraes said that because that covenant was broken by an Elezen king, only an Elezen king could restore it. Hraes was wily though, it wasn’t just upholding weird draconic custom in saying that. His ulterior motive was to make Aymeric guarantee his people would be united enough not to turn on the Dravanians once Nid was handled. the end result is that Aymeric restored the Ishgardian throne (“The Azure Throne”, as a nod to Haldrath), but as a largely unifying figurehead/ceremonial position with Parliament strictly defining the role of the king. Artoirel is Lord Speaker of the House of Lords. Aymeric’s still LC of the temple knights in addition to his royal duties. He wasn’t giving that up lol.

making a constitutional monarchy plausible in the context of the story was challenging and I think I’ve done a solid job of it tbh. I wanted to lean into the Arthurian romance vibes of HW but also solve the fundamental problem I had w how it ended, which is that I don’t think it’s a terribly realistic scenario for ppl who were under a theocracy for 1000 years. Aymeric essentially having his hand forced by Hraesvelgr solves the issue of why he would restore the throne and tbh I don’t flinch from the complications of squaring that with the revelations about Ishgard’s founding, I think it only plays more into Aymeric’s ambivalence about the role he’s been thrust into.

#gatheredfates #ask bisho

[ghcstvalleychief]

“This is what MA want” “Stop fighting!” “Respect their wishes!” I do not understand this fandom. I do not.

Mile is a new actor. Apo was gone for a while. This is the peak, the rising fame. It’s quite literally the time to have the spotlight? Roles? Etc, etc, etc. Also…in any industry…it’s very hard to say no to someone in charge and as everyone has said, MA seem to be selfless and great so I am not surprised MA “agreed” to having decreased screen-time. (My question is. To be honest: was it agreement? We might never know but if people can say this is their wishes, how do they honestly know that this is their wish?) It feels absolutely fair to point out the implications, manipulation,,,etc. on the other side of it. The way people do not even considered the implications of any of it lol. Because it IS there.

I don’t know if I am wording this articulative enough but my overall point as everyone has said, it doesn’t make sense. None of it does. This is their time and just..tbh..it’s absolutely fair of MA fans to point out the disparity; the implications; and to question the decisions. If people can say “respect” their decision then it’s certainly fair to question the implications (with BOC…Pond….etc.)

This fandom lacks a backbone if you ask me. Sorry not sorry for saying it.

I've been in a number of fandoms where Black American actresses have experienced some of the worse racism and bigotry in the world at the hands of both the fandom and the executive producers of said shows. You know what the fans of those Black women did once we realized they couldn't speak out due to contracts and other legal bullshit? We went to war for those women. We trended, we spoke out, and we made our voices be heard because we knew they couldn't. They heard us and they appreciated their fans for doing what they couldn't. We even forced the TPTB to do things they weren't previously before because we made such a fuss on social media. Things weren't magically fixed but it did change some things.

Contrary to popular belief, saying no to your boss could land you in hot water. It shouldn't but it's a very harsh reality of the real world. It's why Candice Patton waited until The Flash has all but ended to finally speak out about the racism she experienced while being Iris West Allen. Black American actresses would get blackballed and blacklisted if they dared to say anything and their fans understood that, so we did it for them because we knew we had the power to make or break these shows.

This fandom is too young, too immature, and too naive to do something like that though. More mature MA fans are trying their best but the rest of the fandom is too unaware of the effects of silence. Nothing changes if you don't complain. You have to make some noise and speak up if you want something to change. Staying silent does nothing. Sure, Mile and Apo could be fine with this. Maybe. It's like you said - how do we know? It's the job of the fans to right that wrong because the actors most likely can't. You have no power when there's contracts involved, and that's true everywhere. Even in places that proclaim to be so progressive and forward thinking. Actors have less power than you think. Especially actors who are just starting their careers and who have no real connections in the industry yet. Which is true for both of them, despite the fallacy that they have more clout and power than they truly do. They don't have the power to disagree with something and not be blacklisted for it. Not yet.

#anonymous #answered asks #I'm just not used to inaction #I've dealt with racism my whole life #I don't understand this need to stay quiet when injustice is happening #I have never done that because I've never had the privilege to do that #this is no different #speak up!

[naruhearts]

I know people have said this already but--

Nothing is more painful, more appalling, more unceasingly gross, than Dean Winchester dying alone in a barn without his Found Family other than his brother. Nothing is more insulting than Dean not being able to live the long, natural life Cas wanted him to.

Dean Winchester died without being able to let Cas know that he always loved him in return. Always. 

Dean Winchester didn’t even get to live with the love of his life for eternity in his own Heaven after long, extensive, exhausting years of pining for Cas -- after miserable self-loathing years of believing he was never worthy of Cas’ love. 

When Dean Winchester finally gained true self-acceptance, FREE WILL (which Cas’ love for Dean was entrenched in), and the sheer sense of happiness he was bound to achieve -- which the narrative told us it was leading to, mind you, by incorporating character growth and development and Jungian elements and constant introspection -- he lost his life. 

The greatest love story ever told was REAL, and it was OBLITERATED in 60 mins. 

#don't give me COVID as an excuse #I'm sour #I'm bitter #I'm weeping #destiel #supernatural #I won't apologize to anyone I've incited positivity in #because I thought Dabb wouldn't do this to us #and yet TPTB forced their hand #we were all let down MASSIVELY #I'm so sorry everyone :((((((( #negativity for ts #the greatest love story ever told #spn s15 #my stuff #deancas #dean winchester #hunters in love #rest easy my boys :( you both deserved better <3 #I'm such a fucking mess rn I can't stop crying #watching Dean die in such a horrible way despite having Sam by his side #split my heart in two #BTS made me feel so much better ofc but I'm still too upset #15x18 #they could've executed this in a much better way with COVID notwithstanding #you can't backtrack on this #goddammit #even if you address this from a non-ship perspective it was FUCKING DISASTROUS #narrative #his trauma journey was shoved to the goddamn fucking side

[charlie-minion]

Could the same SPN finale make a little more sense with some additions/changes?

I’ve had the idea for this post stuck in my head for days now, but with every new conspiracy theory and every new eventuality in the fandom, it became difficult to cool down enough to write something less ship-related and more narrative-focused.

What Supernatural and non-SPN fans have to understand is that a lot of us have expressed disappointment and frustration after 15x20, not because of Destiel (that’s just one part of the whole problem), but because the finale doesn’t make sense. Everything was leading up to something beautifully crafted until the end of 15x19. Beyond that, it’s hard to understand what happened. The story rendered all the character growth irrelevant, invalidated the themes of free will and “family don’t end in blood”, regressed to the original brother codependency they spent 15 years trying to overcome, made a queer non-binary character in a male vessel and a deaf female character basically disposable, and kept the show’s reputation of queerbaiting and misogyny until its very last breath.

That’s not going out with a bang! At least not a positive one. We all were ready to mourn Supernatural, but we wanted to feel proud of its legacy, and somehow TPTB managed to tarnish that legacy in less than 45 minutes. What a way to ruin the other more than 13,600 minutes of story!

It doesn’t matter who is to blame (The CW, Robert Singer, Andrew Dabb). It doesn’t matter why it happened (homophobia, censorship, marketing for Walker, bad writing). What matters is that at the end of the day, the finale that aired is what we got and that’s going to hurt for a long time. It hurts even more when we realize that the same finale could have easily made more sense, even without being perfect.

That’s what I want to do in this post. I want to show you how things would have been less jarring (for the fandom), while still keeping the goal to please the general audience.

Before I begin rewriting 15x20, I have to mention that I talked to my conservative boomer sister about the finale. She hasn’t watched the second half of season 15 yet (she’s waiting for Netflix to have it), but she’s been watching the show for a long time (she introduced me to it 8 years ago). She’s the perfect example of a viewer from the general audience. Loves the show but doesn’t give a second thought to it and definitely isn’t paying attention to character development or themes. Doesn’t engage with fandom, actors, or any of the show’s social media. Pure GA! When I told her the series finale had aired, she asked me about it and I refused to give her spoilers. Because of that, she told me the ending SHE wanted. She said she would be happy with either of two possibilities: the boys retiring and finally living a normal life OR they going to heaven and finding peace at last. She saw Sam and Dean as a unit, which means: both retiring or both going to heaven. AND she saw Cas as part of that, too. She wasn’t so sure about Jack. And for her, we could use the “Eileen who?” and it wouldn’t be a joke. She didn’t remember her.

NOW IT’S TIME TO WRITE A NEW VERSION OF 15X20 (KEEPING 15X18 AND 15X19 EXACTLY THE SAME AS THEY AIRED). This will be a very long post:

The opening remains almost the same. No “Carry on my wayward son” to induce feels. Too soon and too predictable! (Reasoning: Everyone was expecting it to play right there, so it would bring more tears at the end)

In the opening, after the scene where Jack says “People won’t need to pray to me or sacrifice to me”, we also see the scene from 15x19 where he says “I won’t be hands on”. Then we see the rest of the opening as it was. (Reasoning: People needed to be reminded that Jack would NOT intervene and that’s why later on, he would NOT save Dean).

We get the same montage, but when Sam takes a break from his morning run, we see him reading a message on his phone. A simple: “Hey Sam, what’s new?” from Eileen. Sam smiles fondly and begins to type a response we don’t get to see. The next scene continues the same, Sam making breakfast. (Reasoning: A text was a very simple way to show that Eileen was alive and still in communication with Sam).

The montage slowly ends as Sam enters the library (not after he sits down). He seems to be talking on the phone but we only hear an “I’ll tell him. Bye”. As he walks towards the table, he tells Dean: “Charlie says hi. Mentioned something about Stevie’s perfect scrambled eggs we have to try.” Dean’s answer is “Awesome!” (Reasoning: Just ONE line was needed to unbury Charlie and her girlfriend. ONE LINE).

Sam sits down, opens his laptop and everything continues the same. The title card shows for the last time.

YOU SEE? In the first 4 minutes they could have acknowledged that THREE WOMEN were alive and safe: Eileen, Charlie and Stevie. It wasn’t hard! Don’t blame bad writing on Covid! Now let’s continue.

Sam and Dean arrive at the Pie Fest just the same. Dean goes to get some “damn pie” and Sam takes out his phone. He dials and when someone picks up, he says “Hey, Jody, how are ya?” We don’t hear the rest of the conversation. The scene moves to Dean coming with his 6 portions of pie. Dean sits down and Sam tells him, “Talked to Jody. The other hunters haven’t had much work lately.” “That’s good, isn’t it?”, Dean says. All we get from Sam is “Yeah.” So, Dean looks at him and asks “what’s wrong?” like it happened in the episode. (Reasoning: Again, a couple of lines to make sure the people that were killed in 15x18 are safe and remembered by the boys in 15x20. Why is this important? Because they’re family!)

The conversation about Sam’s sad face happens the same. Sam is the one that mentions Cas and Jack. (Reasoning: Because this episode was so Sam-centered, it’s obvious he was the protagonist in the finale. If we see him communicating with Eileen, Charlie, and Jody, then it’s NORMAL, even expected of him to be the one to bring up Cas and Jack). Without these additions, it’s harder for people to understand that most of the finale was NOT from Dean’s POV but from Sam’s.

Dean’s “if we don’t keep living, then all that sacrifice is gonna be for nothing” stays the same. (Reasoning: I believe it’s necessary that the show sticks to the importance of “letting go” and “what is dead should stay dead” for the first time ever because the message is “even when you lose someone you love, you can still find some form of happiness and keep living, for you and for them, because that’s what they would have wanted”. Bringing someone back means “I can’t live without you”, and that’s just more codependency. It’s how the demon deals began in the Winchester family –Mary being the first one to do it. This would explain why Dean didn’t ask Jack to bring Cas back, as he asked Chuck. He understood Jack was NOT going to interfere anymore and accepted it. Besides, when Cas saved Dean from hell, Dean thought he didn’t deserve to be saved. This time that Cas saved him, Dean finally feels worthy enough to accept that YES, HE DESERVED TO BE SAVED ALL ALONG, just as much as he deserved to be loved by that angel of the Lord. In this scene, Dean also says that the pain is not gonna go away, which means that from HIS PERPECTIVE, it still hurts that Cas is not there. The problem is that the finale is not showing his POV but Sam’s.  

Sam pies Dean on the face just the same. (Reasoning: That part was just to avoid ending the scene on a sad note).

Everything related to the case happens exactly the same. (Reasoning: At this point, people don’t really care about the MoTW, they care about Sam and Dean).

NOTE 1: The case is important to show that even when the Winchesters are finally free of Chuck’s influence, they CHOOSE to keep hunting. It isn’t something they do out of revenge or because it is their destiny anymore. Maybe they were forced into the life at first, but they’ve learned to find joy in saving people. Being hunters is who they are. However, the fact that a job application was shown on Dean’s desk is also important because it means he was willing to explore what else was there for him besides hunting. Maybe he could find a balance? Maybe he was thinking it was time to quit? We will never know! The thing is that Sam only finds out about it when he goes into Dean’s room after his brother is dead, so maybe that’s when it hits him that Dean wanted to explore his options, and Sam starts to think it’s time for him to do the same.  

NOTE 2: I believe the masks the vampires are wearing is something we can blame on covid. If they had their faces covered, it was easier to use people from the SPN crew for some scenes, instead of using more actors unnecessarily.

NOTE 3: When Sam and Dean arrive at the barn, we get 3 visuals to remember Cas in the same scene (those are for the fandom, not for the general audience): a) the barn, obviously; b) the bag that resembles Cas’ trenchcoat so much that many people thought that’s what it was; and c) two feathers hanging on Dean’s right when he opens the trunk.

The scene with the throwing star happens the same. (Reasoning: The episode is still told from Sam’s point of view, so it makes sense that he fondly sees his brother as a man child).

Jenny the vampire? Uhhh… I mean, it’s not the best piece of writing I’ve ever seen, but it’s not the worst, so okay. That stays the same. (Reasoning: There is none, but she’s not what really ruined the finale, so whatever!)

Dean still dies impaled on a rebar. (Reasoning: OK. HERE ME OUT!!! I hate as much as everyone else that Dean is killed. I think it’s lazy writing, but that’s what we got and I can’t change that in this re-write, so if killing Dean is what we have to work around, then, memes aside, death by rebar is better and here’s why. There’s no one to blame for Dean’s death: no Chuck (the boys were willingly hunting even after Chuck was defeated), no vampires (they were all killed and were no real threat, so it was impossible for Sam to begin a quest for revenge against all vampires. What was Sam going to blame? A rebar? Can you kill it? Hunt it? NO. It was an ordinary death, a stupid accident. Just like any person can die at any moment by slipping on a banana peel. Is it a good death? No, but it’s good to know he doesn’t die trying to save Sam or Cas, because Dean Winchester is NOT willing to give up his life in exchange for anyone else’s anymore.

Sam takes out his phone and says he’ll call for help, but his phone is more visible to the audience. He dials and it’s almost to his ear when Dean stops him and Sam hesitantly hangs up. (Reasoning: People have complained that Sam didn’t call an ambulance, but actually he tried to. It’s just that people missed that part, maybe?)

After Sam puts his phone back in his pocket and says “OK” to Dean, he adds, “I’ll pray to Jack”. Dean’s immediate answer is: “No hands on, remember?” “But Dean”, Sam says, and Dean interrupts him with “OK listen to me” and tells Sam what to do with the kids they rescued. (Reasoning: Jack is God now and how come Sam didn’t remember? The viewers remembered, so it was necessary to include a line that ruled the option out and that showed Dean didn’t want Jack to intervene. The rest was fine).

The lines “You knew it was always gonna end like this for me. It was supposed to end like this, right?” disappear completely from Dean’s monologue. (Reasoning: This is the most problematic part of Dean’s dying speech. He fought God and earned free will, he is no longer controlled by fate or destiny. Accepting that he is supposed to die on a hunt regresses his character development and denies his desire to keep living. This was a total mistake and should be removed).

Instead, if going to heaven is the ending TPTB wanted to give Dean, at least he should say something more empowering. Sam tells him that both of them are going to take the kids somewhere safe. Dean answers and the scene follows like this: “No. Sammy, we made our choice, didn’t we?”, he smiles with difficulty. “We were free to write our own story and we did. We decided to keep saving people, hunting things. Because it’s what we love despite the risks.” (Reasoning: If Dean’s going to die it doesn’t have to feel like it was always meant to be that way. He should die knowing that he exerted his free will until his last breath).

The rest of the dialogue between Sam and Dean happens almost the same. Except that instead of Dean saying “‘cause when it all came down to it, it was always you and me. It’s always been you and me”, he says “’cause when it all came down to it, we’ve always had each other’s backs. Always.” And instead of Sam saying “Don’t leave me”, he says “I still can try to save you.” (Reasoning: It sounds way less codependent without diminishing the importance of their love and support for each other).

Besides, let’s change Dean’s “I’m not leaving you” for “You don’t have to be alone. You’ve still got family.” The rest stays the same word by word. (Reasoning: Dean reminds Sam that “family don’t end in blood” and there are still lots of people out there who love Sam and will be with him).

“I love you so much, my baby brother” stays exactly the same. (Reasoning: Dean always had trouble to express the big L word. I always believed and said many times that before Dean could say “I love you” to Cas or any other character, he had to say it to Sam. So, this is important as part of Dean speaking his truth).

The last part when Dean insists Sam tell him that it’s okay stays the same. (Reasoning: It’s the final moment when the codependency cycle breaks. No more running in circles).

The forehead touch between them stays the same. (Reasoning: I think I would do something similar if my sister were dying. I know there are w*ncest shippers out there, but it shouldn’t matter because the moment feels appropriate for that kind of goodbye). 

See? There are changes but not too many. That’s why I’ve been saying that it was easier to get it right, yet they still managed to screw it up.

The second montage stays the same. (Reasoning: Life goes on, but of course Sam has to mourn).

The call about a case in Austin remains the same. (Reasoning: It’s the only part of the episode where someone from the found family is mentioned, so I think that Donna’s name is perfect in that moment. However, without the other additions I’ve made in this re-write, that off-hand mention feels too little. Its purpose was to tell the viewers that if Donna was alive, so were the others, but the way the episode was executed gave us an isolated Sam, incapable of having friends and a family without Dean).  

After 30 minutes of Sam’s POV, let’s finally see the last bit of Dean’s POV that we’ll ever get.

Dean arrives in Heaven and Bobby receives him. All their conversation stays almost the same, except that after mentioning Rufus and before saying “and your mom and dad…”, Bobby adds an “Ellen and Jo let me borrow their place”. (Reasoning: If you’re gonna put the man outside the Harvelle’s place, at least mention them for Jack’s sake!).

Besides, after Bobby tells Dean that Sam will be along and that time in heaven is different, Dean gives a small smile and says, “Well, there’s no rush. I want him to have a long, happy life.” Bobby answers with: “I would expect nothing less from you, boy” and tells him he got everything he could ever want, etc., just like it happened in the episode, and finishes by asking “What are you gonna do now, Dean?” (Reasoning: It’s important we know for sure that Dean is NOT codependent anymore and that he doesn’t expect to have a miserable afterlife just because his brother is not there yet).

Instead of saying “I think I’ll go for a drive” Dean says, “I think I know what I want” and walks towards baby. Bobby still tells him to have fun. (Reasoning: “Know what I want” is ambiguous enough to help us introduce the last piece of the puzzle, the one thing Dean’s wanted for many seasons and has never been able to express).

 The biggest change is coming:

Dean gets on the Impala and has a moment of silence while he contemplates the wheel. He begins to pray: “Hey, Cas, you got your ears on? I hear you’ve been busy working on this updated Heaven with Jack. You were right about him, Cas. You had faith in him and he saved us all. You could always see the best in everyone, even when they couldn’t see it themselves. Even when I couldn’t see it myself. There’s so much I want to tell you. Maybe you can visit sometime. I hope prayer’s still a thing up here.” (Reasoning: Dean’s side of the confession was unaddressed and that was terrible writing. If there was no way to get him to speak his truth textually, at least take him as close to it as possible).

We listen to a flutter of wings and a “Hello, Dean” from the back seat. We don’t see Cas, but the camera shows us Dean’s cocky smile and he says “Took you long enough.” He turns around slowly. End of scene. (Reasoning: The flutter of wings confirms that angels have their wings back and ties that loose end. The final “hello, Dean” was highly anticipated and it made sense. If Misha couldn’t be there to film, for whatever reason, or if the problem was the kind of conversation Dean and Cas would have, then don’t show it, but leave the door open. Let us know that the two characters were reunited and will talk, but whatever Dean has to say is so private that it’s not for us to hear, only for Cas.  

We finally hear “Carry on my wayward son” and get a montage that begins with Sam playing with his kid. Then we see Dean driving, super happy, and Sam living his life to the fullest. We still get Sam’s Blurry Wife, BUT… we see pictures of Eileen in the living room (not just of John, Mary, Sam, and Dean). We also see photos of Jody, Donna, Charlie, and AU!Bobby. (Reasoning: FAMILY DON’T END IN BLOOD).

The scene where Sam is wearing the party wig and looks miserable inside the Impala is cut and nobody talks about it ever again because it never existed. We get a scene of Sam teaching his son how to fix the car instead. (Reasoning: First of all, don’t give Sam a life where years later he’s still in pain. Second of all, the fucking wig was a crime).

Sam’s dying scene stays the same. The only thing is that his son signs a couple of phrases to him before actually speaking. (Reasoning: More confirmation that Dean Jr. is Eileen’s son).

We hear the final “Evanescence-like Carry on my wayward son”. Again we see the photos and there’s family other than the Winchesters there. (Reasoning: Obvious at this point).

The rest is exactly the same. The show began with two brothers and it’s okay if the last scene is with the two brothers reunited in Heaven. At this point, the other parts of the story are acceptable enough for us to feel happy that they get to see each other again after years of a happy (after)life.

Now look me in the eye and tell me this was too hard to execute. I still think that bad writing is a thing we can’t deny here, adding to the possible meddling of the Network. Maybe Dabb wanted us to hate the finale because he couldn’t get away with what he truly wanted. If that was his intention, then kudos to him. He and The CW really gave us a finale that only 30% of the fandom liked.

I hope you guys have enjoyed this and it helps to give you some peace of mind. In my heart, this was the finale we got. It wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t drop the ball either.

#supernatural #15x20 #spn 15x20 #spn finale #rewrite #dean winchester #dean deserved better #cas deserved better #destiel #the characters deserved better #we deserved better #it was easier to get it right #yet they screwed up big time #alternate ending

[outrunningthedark]

Am I the only one annoyed that people are making Eddie seeing his parents about him being queer and in the closest and they are why

Because on one hand I get it. Mexican religious parents from Texas. But maybe just maybe I want to see a pair of parents I know I won’t ever have or none of my cousins will ever have. Maybe for once I don’t want a sad or even more complicated queer love story. Maybe I just want Eddie to be accepted and loved for that reason despite his not so easy relationship with his parents. Maybe I want to see a man who is like me in so many ways be accepted by his blood family, because as much as we love our found families we did love our blood one first and that love has never gone away despite the pain it causes us.

Just this once I want a fictional character, who isn’t white, to get a easily accepted storyline. To be loved. To not make a huge deal out of him being queer. Let me hear about the generational trauma, let me hear about the trauma of having to learn that to be a man means no feelings, let me see the trauma of why he second guesses every choice as a parent that he makes because of how much he was told he was a bad father.

But also let me see Eddie Diaz loved and accepted for being queer. Let viewers who are like him have hope and see a possibility of that life for them. Let us get a break from reality.

(Also the fact that so many people are so quick to jump on them being homophobic (I’ll be honest I loathe Ana but they did this with her as well) is rather curious considering they ain’t exactly white. While I’ve seen loads of fanfic where buck has supportive parents (even now))

NONNIE!! I COULD HUG YOU RIGHT NOW!!

I posted this in October after EddieAna broke up and fandom started REALLY contemplating the possibility of a Queer Eddie storyline:

———————————————

Internalized homophobia/homophobic parents does not interest me in the slightest simply because it’s been done SO many times. (And this isn’t me saying my experience was better. My parents didn’t force religion on us and they’ve got no issues with the LGBTQ+ community, but they’re not the most vocal people. We’re usually not engaging in conversation about queer stuff unless I bring it up first because they don’t know what they’re “supposed to say”.)

I do understand the emotional attachment to Eddie - they see themselves and would like their own religious guilt/homophobic family reflected through him. It would be hypocritical of me to dismiss those feelings when I consistently applaud the show for depicting Shannon the way they did. People wanted her to be redeemed so badly because they felt like she deserved another chance. But that wouldn’t have been an accurate representation of what it’s like for A LOT of disabled people raised by parents who never learn(ed) to accept the cards they were dealt. Check disability headlines once in awhile, y’all. The writers went easy on your girl.

One thing I will say, though, is that I find it odd people were so quick to call for the redemption of Shannon, but they also think Eddie’s parents cannot/should not be portrayed differently and that Eddie needs to cut ties for good 🤔 And if the excuse is “kid vs. adult” … way to support the idea that change has an age limit! (@anyone reading this who’s fine with disliking Shannon: I’m not talking about you!)

Why don’t Ramon and Helena deserve the chance to understand their son better? 🤔 It’s not like we’re going to see them a ton moving forward regardless of what happens in 5x17. All “cutting ties” would do is prevent TPTB from bringing the Diaz family together for three minutes a year or two from now.

(Just want to add that your comment about fandom automatically headcanoning them as homophobic is exactly how I feel about their ableism in fics. There’s been NOTHING to support the idea that they belittle their grandson because of his disability and yet basically every fic I’ve ever read has them saying some of the rudest shit that even the writers wouldn’t dare put in a script. 😐😑😶)

#anonymous #tina speaks #tv: 911 #tv: 9-1-1 #eddie diaz

[clairenatural]

thinking a lot abt how like.........john was abusive. like we all know that but also the narrative knows it. it’s said multiple times on screen. dean says it himself, that he didn’t deserve it. john’s journal, official merchandise, paints him in the worst light possible. at multiple points in the show dean’s entire development arc centers around distancing himself from john and not becoming their father, and yet. because of a few people in the writers and producers room, you get episodes like lebanon where the boys forgive him and he ends up in heaven, down the road from dean. and obviously on one hand it just shows the split in tptb on how they approach both this and other parts of the show, and that makes everything (especially the ending) make more sense, but it also means neither dean nor sam can ever heal or move on. it means dean is allowed (and, even forced) to stay angry, like john, and he gets stuck in this cycle where he can never really break away from that because that would require the narrative to say, once and for all, john was abusive and dean deserved better and he is going to be better--and when they do start to go there, like the beginning of s13, they walk it back immediately as soon as it hits the “once and for all decry john, for real, with no retconning this time” line and i just. idk. a lot would be different if they had just actually gone the full mile and said yes, john was abusive. and then not gone back on that. and not put him in dean’s heaven as one last ‘fuck you’. not least because dean would have been actually allowed to grow more than two steps forward, one step back. 

#this isn't even getting into the shit about how it means the overarching message is that you'll never escape your abusers #and that you have to forgive them #which is!! madness #like wtf #abuse cw #john winchester #anti john winchester #this is not a john winchester appreciation blog #john winchester's a+ parenting #mae.txt #and it allows huge chunks of fans to. make excuses for it? and obviously it's fiction but like uh it's concerning #that massive amounts of people legitimately think this is okay #like they /romanticize it/ at parts #because above all john has to stay a Good Guy #oop another post incoming #negativity

[trampohlena]

Okay, so after last night’s episode I would just like to say that Supercorp IS Endgame. I’d also like to point out the various reasons as to why Kara and Lena are not only soulmates but true twin flames.

For those reading this post who have never heard of the term twin flame: “A twin flame is your own soul, shared across what appears to be two physical beings. It’s one soul, split into two bodies.” -Google’s definition.

For those who are spiritually inclined and have a proclivity for indulging esoteric philosophies; Lena and Kara are ABSOLUTELY twin FUCKING flames 🔥🔥🔥!!

Here are the reasons why:

1. Their drastically different childhoods that resulted in remarkably similar trauma.

Both Kara and Lena have experienced great loss throughout their life. Both mourned the death of their parents, and life as they knew it, at a very early age. Both were shipped off to a foreign land, forced to leave behind everything they knew, in hopes for a brighter/safer future.

Albeit, Lena got the shorter end of the stick in regards to unconditional love, but both were given a second chance and a new start...and yet, they still never fit in, or felt like they truly belonged.

Although they individually have dealt with said trauma in different ways (Lena by pushing away those who try to get too close, and Kara by holding on tightly to those she holds dear) both of their actions are motivated by the same subconscious fear that they HAVE never and WILL never TRULY belong. All while yearning for a sense of “home”.

2. They are opposite reflections of each other; true “mirror souls”, if you will.

Physically, aesthetically, economically, and emotionally—they are complete “mirrors” of one another.

Kara is strong, physically powerful, cut from marble, all hard edges and sharp lines—except for her face. Lena is clearly not as physically powerful, she is soft, all curves, and exudes the grace of the Devine feminine energy—except for her face, which is hard edges and sharp jaw lines. You see what I’m saying?

Aesthetically and economically go hand in hand of course. Lena’s exorbitant wealth is evident in her high-end designer appearance; whereas Kara’s aesthetic is more humble and grounded, and prioritizes comfort over “fashion”. (Let’s admit it. Some of Kara’s fashion choices have been questionable. She clearly rocks the chinos and button-downs better than anything else in that eclectic closet of hers she refuses to come out of 😏)

Emotionally...oh honey. Do I need to say more? I won’t say much but I will say this: Kara is the sun and Lena is the moon. They compliment each other in a way that ensures the world keeps turning.

3. Their individual strengths are the other’s individual weakness and vice versa.

Goes along with the aforementioned “opposite reflection” point above but I’ll expand a bit further in regards to their specific personality traits.

Lena is predominately analytically driven, whereas Kara is emotionally driven. Lena is good in crowds, Kara is not (overwhelmed). Lena is introverted, Kara is extroverted. Lena is detail oriented and has the memory of an elephant, Kara is clumsy and as forgetful as a Pisces (but hey, she has a lot on her plate and barely any free time to balance it). Lena eats like a rabbit-bird-hybrid and Kara eats like a garbage disposal. Kara loves giving and receiving hugs and other forms of physical affection whereas Lena does not (UNLESS it’s from Kara, of course). Etc. Etc. you get the picture.

4. Now this one is the DEAD GIVEAWAY. Undeniable, irrefutable PROOF that Lena and Kara are twin flames.

They are LITERALLY completing what is know as the Twin Flame Journey or the Twin Flame Union.

The stages of Twin Flame Union are roughly as follows:

1. Yearning for “the one”. I think every human being that believes in love experiences this whether it’s throughout their entire life, or only their adult life until they meet this person but yeah. You get it. Kara has always wanted that “Wapow!” moment.

2. Glimpsing/meeting “the one”. Whether it’s only for a short moment, an extended meeting, or perhaps merely locking eyes with them as you pass each other by...you feel immediately connected. There is an instant soul recognition when meeting them, so much so that you could have sworn you’ve met them before or that it’s as if you’ve known each other your whole lives.

Remember when Kara met Lena? And she was gaga-eyed over Lena? Or when Lena felt so comfortable around a new acquaintance that she granted an almost stranger unbridled access to her office? Or how about when Red Daughter flew to America (the country she was taught to hate), with no recollection/memories of Kara’s relationship with Lena (again, the woman she was taught to hate), all because she felt PULLED to do so. And then when she did meet Lena she looked at her and practically drooled over her as if Lena was a double XL cheeseburger with extra special sauce from Big Belly Burger? Like, biiiitch 👀

3. Falling in love. Need I say more? Fine, again, I will. You CANNOT tell me that there is no way in hell that these two morons are anything BUT in love with each other. That’s a lot of double negatives and I appplogize so let me reiterate for clarification: THEY ARE IN LOVE AND YOU CAN’T CHANGE MY MIND!

And at this point is it so freaking BEYOND platonic love, the show cannot explain it away or sweep it under the “just close friends” rug. No. Kara used her Fifth Dimensional Wish (she literally could have wished her entire planet didn’t explode) and she said “make Lena not mad at me, I’m sad 😔” 👀. Mmmkay. Not to mention Lena picking Supergirl over Jack, her former lover. Or the plethora of other times Lena chose Kara/Supergirl over everyone else she knew. Mmkay.

4. The fairytale relationship/friendship. Lena has finally found someone she can depend on, be vulnerable with, support her without judgement, trust with her life etc. and Kara has finally found a true best friend, not her sister, not Kenny who she didn’t realize was her best friend till after he passed? And now he’s not dead?? But her one true best friend that she felt she didn’t need to be neither Supergirl, nor Kara Danvers, but rather Kara Zor-El around (despite Lena not knowing that little tidbit of information).

They were each other’s best friend. Each other’s person. They were happy.

5. Outer Turmoil and Inner Purging—Supergirl and Lena fight. Lena still does not know that Kara is indeed Supergirl and does not pick up on the brewing tension between herself and Kara.

Kara of course is riddled with guilt and her relationship with Lena becomes strained. This outer turmoil creates inner purging by bringing out negative traits in each other. I.E. Lena hiding kryptonite and also Kara asking James to spy on her. Shit gets messy but they still try to make it work.

6. The Runner and the Chaser/Separation Stage—Tensions mount between the two and Lena FINALLY learns about Kara’s secret. And she has a choice to make. So what does she do? She runs. Not physically but emotionally. She completely withdraws from not only Kara and their friends but also withdraws from herself.

She literally experiences cognitive dissonance and becomes someone she is not. Someone other people made her believe she was on the inside, even though Kara knows that it isn’t. And so, Kara chases her.

Lena becomes the runner and Kara becomes the chaser as they navigate this separation stage.

Continuously running and continuously chasing.

7. The Surrender and dissolution stage—they’re fucking done. They’re tired. They’re exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally after all the bullshit they put each other through as well as all the bullshit Lex and the Phantom Zone put them through.

They come to an impasse in regards to Lex and realize the only way to defeat him is to work together, as a team. (El Mayarah anyone?)

They surrender to their emotions and to each other as their egos dissolve and their souls expand after having learned invaluable life lessons. The major one being: THEY CANNOT LIVE HAPPILY WITHOUT EACH OTHER!

8. The last stage that we have yet to see but we fucking better or else I’m gonna January 6 the CW studio building—“Oneness”.

This time, I’m not gonna say more.

So, in conclusion: Supercorp is Endgame because Lena Luthor and Kara Zor-El Danvers are the literal definition of a twin flame, soulmate connection. They are the same soul, manifested in two physical forms, for the sole purpose of expanding their soul’s consciousness.

They deserve to be happy, they deserve to be together. Not only does their union parallel some of the greatest love stories throughout history, i.e. Romeo and Juliet, Darcy and Bennet, Superman and Lois (duh) it would also break the curse of generational karma and illustrate to anybody who watches the show that the only person who defines who you are is YOU. Not a name, not a legacy, not society’s expectations, YOU. And most importantly of ALL...it would showcase that love truly does conquer all.

I rest my case.

TPTB, make Supercorp Endgame or kick rocks ✌️😘

Sincerely,

An empassioned fan with way too much time on her hands.

#supercorp #supergirl #lena luthor #kara danvers #welcome back kara #soulmate #twin flames #the cw

[folie-lex]

Thoughts on 4.19 - "Simone"

First thing's first: the ABC social media blatantly promoting Chenford when there was hardly anything truly ship worthy on? This needs to stop... NOW! I'm tired as a Chenford fan to be exploited and strung along like that week in, week out.

Now... moving onto the episode...

The exposition stuff for Simone was a little heavy handed, forced and stalled the overall run of the episode. I get it was kinda needed since establishing characters and arcs is a huge part of a backdoor pilot, but it still disrupted the episodic flow of an established show and that needs to be pointed out.

Other than that it was a good one.

The case was fairly interesting with high enough stakes. And they managed to weave all the plots together nicely.

Everyone from the mothership show got their good moment to shine. From Tim and Grey standing their ground in the department's involvement in the case. To Lucy, Nyla and Angela being the ones to help piece all the random pieces together. To Tim whipping out his military knowledge to fill out small blanks. To John seeing Simone for the asset she is.

Though I gotta say, my favourite part was John giving Simone the same advice Talia gave him on plain clothes day. It was an excellent call back and nice to see that her influence has stayed with him. As much as I love Nyla and the Nolan/Harper partership, their relationship always was on much more even footing because they both were there to help each other grow. Whereas in his dynamic with Talia she was clearly the teacher and he definitelly needed that when starting out.

And credit where credit is due the spin off crew also gave out good vibes. Graza slowly warming up to Simone, and Fox trying to give out hard earned lessons despite being a bit missguided... I also quite liked the set up of the familial conflict in Simone's personal life. It will give the spin off a nice and different flavour.

Oh! My only character gripe? You guessed it! Bailey being contrively inserted in the episode yet again. Whereas Wesley who would have been an easier fit in the episode what with Zeke's situation was nowhere to be seen... alas... TPTB have decided they need to shove Bailey down our throats so we get these unnecassary and forced scenes with her a pretty much every week.

Re Next Week's Episode: I wonder, what with Tim finaly upfront owning to the fact that he has worked with the CIA when he was overseas, will play into the plot at all...

#the rookie #the rookie abc #chenford #fandom thoughts

[twdmusicboxmystery]

American Revolution Theme - Part 1: Beth’s D.C. Spoon

So, this week I’m going to talk more about a TON of symbols we’ve connected to the American Revolution Theme. These are always exciting to uncover because it shows how these themes—many of which have stumped us somewhat for years—are finally coming together. These were conversations we had over weeks, so I’ll definitely be breaking them up into chunks for you. 

Take it away, @wdway! 

@wdway:

We've all been looking at Beth’s spoon for 6+ years and I know I, like so many people, thought it was an indication that Beth would show up in Washington D.C. Suddenly, looking at it the other day I realized the spoon could be telling us Beth will be part of a Revolution.

I would have never gotten this had it not been for the connection @twdmusicboxmystery made to the Swamp Fox and the story of Greene and the American Revolution. Where the spoon says “Washington DC,” I'm now looking at that realizing that Washington may refer to George Washington, the leader of the American Revolution. The D.C. stands for a coda, a repeat. Beth will be a part of a new American Revolution.

I started remembering how we have seen pictures of George Washington in the show. I know s5e7, Dead Weight in the cabin with the Governor, as he came through the door, there is a portrait of George Washington. I always thought it stood for the city of D.C. That it represented where they would end up.

We've also seen images of the Washington Monument on Fear (also in TWD when they first got to Washington in 5x11). Actually, if you look at the handle of Beth’s spoon, I think that might be the Washington Monument. There have been lots of hints. We’ve just always read them differently.

I remembered a painting that tptb released a rework of a famous painting substituting the characters from TWD that was done several years ago and I have searched @twdmusicboxmystery’s archives, but I cannot find the painting. Here's the original.

(I can’t find the TWD version of this anywhere, either. But like the Thanksgiving painting they’ve been using the past few years, they used this and replaced all the people’s faces with characters from TWD.)

I remember we thought it was a little strange why they would do this painting with characters from the show. Now it makes a lot more sense. I believe that Rick replaced George Washington but I can't remember who the other characters replaced. I'm especially curious who replaced the person in red, because I believe that will be Beth in the new Revolution. Here's what I found in the description of the painting. It speaks of the different people representing the different American population and then it goes on to say that some believe the figure in the red coat and black scarf may represent the women that fought and died for freedom.

So, it might be another female character like Carol but ultimately, I believe it is supposed to be Beth. Remember the red cape in Beth's prison cell. Another painting that Beth has been a substitute in was DaVinci's Last Supper. Jesus and Mary Magdalene both wore red.

Another image would be that Beth is associated with wolves and the famous story of Little Red Riding Hood who obviously wore red.

I believe the lady in red represents Lady Liberty. The reason I say that is because in my search after I read about this figure information on Lady Liberty popped up. One of the earliest versions of Liberty was the Roman goddess Libertas which description sounds an awful lot like the Tarot card of the Empress. Another image that popped up under Liberty was this one and I gasped when I saw it and thought, “Oh my gosh, I think I'm on the right track here.”

Remember this from TWB? (We saw it near Iris in a tent in one of the episodes.) I remember us having a discussion about how we believed that she represented Beth and yet we didn't know anything about the Revolution storyline at that time.

I'm about to take you down a side tunnel and this one is also so very good. In the episode Still, after Beth picks up the spoon, she looks over and sees Daryl stuffing jewelry and money into a black backpack. And now that I think about it, it's Daryl who initially carries the backpack on his back next to his red rag hanging from his back pocket. Red and black, the colors of Liberty.

So many things I want to point out. To start with, the pattern of the rug is diamonds a Beth symbol. Daryl is leaning over a dead walker wearing a watch. There is also another watch in the loot that Daryl is shoving into the bag, along with gold jewelry, pearl necklace a water symbol, also a military one because of the famous Naval Base, Pearl Harbor.

If you enlarge the picture so that you can see the bundles of money, they're all $20 bills, turned so we only see what most people consider the backside of the $20 bill. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't off hand know what the back of a $20 bill was. I definitely knew Andrew Jackson is on the front, so I took out my wallet and pulled out a $20. On the back was the White House.

Here a side note about the $20 bill that I found out when I Googled for more information. In 1861, the 20-demand note (what it was called) had on the front side, the Goddess of Liberty holding a sword and shield and on the back was an abstract design printed in green.

(Now back to the present $20.) My first thought was White House, white=Beth. You might be surprised at this, but I have watched the episode Still a number of times through the years, haha. I know the ending very, very well, as does everyone else. I remembered that Daryl and Beth used one of these bundles to burn the Moonshine Shack down and it was Beth who actually lit the match to the bundle and Daryl who throws it.

I guess I actually did pay attention in school so many years ago because it hit me like a ton of bricks that the White House was burnt down by the British in the War of 1812. Not only the White House was burned but also the capital and the Library of Congress.

Was it a coincidence that they used a bundle of money featuring the White House to burn down their dwelling? I think not.

Did I hear you ask the question is there anything significant about the fact that Andrew Jackson is on the front of the $20 bill? I'm so glad you asked. The answer is yes. This is something I remember from American history and the fact that I live in Tennessee and that Andrew Jackson’s home is within 30 minutes of where I live. You can't grow up in Tennessee without knowing some of the history of Andrew Jackson.

First let's start with a little brief history of the War of 1812, which lasted more than that year. This is my non scholar way of telling you about the War of 1812. After Great Britain had won the war with France and had taken away Napoleon's power, they decided to go back to the colonies and see if the first round was just a mistake because they were the dominant power. They were the British Empire.

One of the last big conflicts before the British finally realized they were dealing with the wrong people was the Battle of New Orleans. The British wanted to dominate the Mississippi river and if they could do that, they would basically be taking over the territory on the other side (the West), but first they needed to take New Orleans.

The British didn't think it would be a problem because they were a great force and the Americans led by Major General Andrew Jackson, were a small ragtag army made up of militia frontiersmen, slaves, Indians and pirates.

That's right: pirates.

Jean Lafitte was a pirate who ran a smuggling empire. The actual battle only lasted a short time, even though the British had a huge force. They fought the Americans the old-fashioned way, by simply marching forward, whereas the small force of Americans who were made up of people had to count every bullet were sure shots. In 30 minutes the British lost 2,000 and Andrew Jackson’s army lost fewer than 100.

You're probably thinking that was kind of interesting but what does that have to do with the storyline in TWD? This is just my guess, but I think there will be 2 wars or 2 revolutions that will include Rick and Beth. The first one will be against the Commonwealth and the second the CRM in the spinoff.

Back to Beth’s spoon. I thought occurred to me about the dinner scene in Alone where Daryl is eating the jelly and it has always been an odd scene. People have talked about it off and on for years how he's very obviously really over playing the eating of the jelly with a spoon.

The question occurred to me though, could that spoon be Beth's Washington D.C. spoon? Granted, there's no way to know for sure but it's an intriguing thought, isn't it? If in fact one of the meanings of the spoon is what I stated above, that the spoon hinted there would be a coda, a repeat of a fight for freedom similar to Washington's American Revolution, then the sharing of the spoon would be indication of the sharing of the storyline that they would be an equal part of the fight to overthrow a corrupt system and give freedom to the good common people that are still out there.

One of those definitions that I read about a coda is that it is a repeat that eventually brings a satisfactory completion to the piece of music. In reading that, I realize that the coda spoon is an indication that Beth and Daryl since they both are connected with the spoon both will be part of the satisfactory completion of the TWD story. It means that we will see Beth before the series ends.

We can tell that there's some type of twists in the spoon on the handle shortly above scooped area we think of as the spoon, it looks to be the same place that we see it on the first 2 shots featuring this spoon.

Again, no true proof but it does tend to give some credence to the idea. This gives another importance meaning to us seeing the spoon in Leah's shack. It points to the fact that we're about to see a coda.

READ PART 2 HERE

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[cheryls-blossomed]

Not to get deep into Season 5 (most of which I'd rather forget LOL) but I still don't know what they were even going for with that season. In the hands of more competent writers we might have had a season of family feels but, no. Let's force bad feelings between mother and daughter ... for something 2019 Iris hadn't even done yet. It made no sense. It was disrespectful to Iris, it reflected poorly on Nora and was a waste of JPK. It was unpleasant to watch, overall.

Yes, I wrote tons of meta about this back during season 5, and the fact of the matter is, this plot, which went nowhere in the future and remained pretty unexplained, existed therefore only to create ~drama~ and ~tension~ in the present. I’ve always said that they could have easily delved deeper into the whys in the future: i.e., meta-humans are banned (in line with Zari Tomaz’s future at that time on Legends and there’s this serial killer named Cicada out murdering metas), so Iris, deeply traumatized by the death of her husband, makes a drastic choice to protect her daughter from being detected by those who would kill her for her powers. But the writers didn’t want to flesh that story out, because this whole plot actually was not about anything in the future. It was about creating contrived ~drama~ in the present. And, of course, the TPTB could not resist creating a plot simply for ~drama~ that served solely to traumatize Iris in the present. That’s it. It’s one of the most egregious examples of how pervasive misogynoir is in the narrative. I will never forgive TPTB for this plot, because Iris has always been so incredibly caring and kind. Like she can never not help people. So, I would imagine, she would have been so excited to have children of her own one day to love so deeply. And then the writers decided to trod all over her and disrespect her motherhood and be so harmful towards her, by traumatizing her over her future motherhood. They broke her heart completely. I just... TPTB are beyond sick for thinking that whole story-line was in any way, shape, or form okay.

#anonymous #replies

[incarnateirony]

Apparently I have to say this again.

Wanting better, satisfactory text is the nature of the LGBT fight and is completely fair to aspire for.

Prefunctorily deleting segments of the existing text, because they aren’t satisfying to you, helps nobody in discussion of the canon text or even in LGBT battles.

Certain things this fandom has been trained into calling subtext is in the realm of absurdity. 

While the whole outter world now calls a spade a spade, because a great deal of textualized, embodied, manifest elements that work for the rest of the world that *aren’t* looking for the LGBT rep line? That’s there. That’s text and basic storytelling to the point everything from TVG to soap reporters to Jensen Ackles himself is calling a spade a spade. Yes, Jensen Ackles. 

My biggest peeve is everybody playing hot potato with the Lisa issue and going “well we saw Lisa in bed later” that’s fine. But that’s still a goalpost you manufactured after the fact. The fact that the world understood 5.22 when it was intended as an end point, exactly as it was, before 6.1 is its own whole topic. No matter how much you convince yourself you need to run for that goal post for it to be text, the existing text still stands.

Is it enough to get through to nimrods being intentionally daft on the internet? No. But when those same nimrods get confused that Lilith is a demon/demons go to the Empty not purgatory, or that ghosts don’t wear clothes, you’re really not arguing with people that have a solid read on the text anyway and are arguing points with clout goblins. And those same clout goblins even see it because they periodically scream at TPTB for making it romantic. There’s nobody left to “convince” anymore, and “convincing” people of what is deadass *in the text* is not your responsibility.

It is *still fair* to want *better, more satisfactory text*. That is the nature of the LGBT fight. But calling fully manifest elements “subtext”, be that mixtapes or lisa parallels or big wins or attached at the everythings, after you’ve let yourselves be talked down, into talking down other textual elements (I love you/I know who you love) because yet again, you want to prove it to *THAT* intentionally thick fuck face over in the tinfoil corner -- that ain’t helpful to anyone. That’s accidentally being party to moving your own goalposts.

And because people seem to miss this right after I say it, lemme say again: Wanting better, more satisfactory text is part of the LGBT rep battle and is completely fair. Deleting existing text and pretending it isn’t text, because you want more, is the unfruitful thing. The whole goddamn rest of the world is calling the text what the text is but fandom is sitting here telling itself on-repeat it needs XYZ before things are text, even when there’s already text.

My point is to be mindful what you’ve been psychologically battered into calling subtext when half the time it’s just dead-ass text. It’s fine to want more text that fulfills your personal wants on representation better and that’s all fine and dandy. But I promise yelling that you see subtext online, in a world where people constantly fuse subtext and interpretation, is 0.00000% useful in convincing production companies or authors or *anyone* to seriously consider how to handle *their text.*

When I talk about the artificially engineered dialogue in this fandom, this phantom concept of fighting against... *gestures into the distance* to prove ones’textual relevance is part of it. Tell people that 200 tinfoil covered brotherfuckers are irrelevant. They’ll say they’re fighting someone else. Some unseen, perceived concept of, perhaps, a GA that is equally opposed to them as the tinfoil asshats manipulating dialogue projected, when the GA at current is calling a spade a spade.

The GA is also generally not “woke” as a whole body. Like any diverse group of people, there’s gonna be people of all sorts in it, but going out and being implicatively mad that some people are *happy and consuming without question the current canon text level of romance that has been low-key present through Dabb era* also isn’t... very... helpful. 

Like this is your base line guys. Imagining a GA sealed in the base of the Appalachians without shoes or internet that all Hate The Thing as some foRCE you need to conVINCE is literally a completely imagined up monster to fight at this point, and arguing from the premise of having to convince any of this imagined monster is putting you at an inherent deficit. EW got it. TVG got it. Variety got it. The soap opera lady got it. Everybody gets it, because it HAS been operative surface level text for a while.

Whether it is *fulfilling* text or not is the debate and again, it’s... *fine* to want better handling? But unsatisfactory text is still text and doesn’t just become subtext because it’s not the kind of text that would satisfy you. At this point because *parts* of their story are still conveyed by subtext -- as any story, LGBT or not, romantic or not, has parts of it told by subtext -- people keep shoving it back under and pretending it’s stayed under the subtext line when it’s already breached repeatedly. And no amount of calling the old text subtext is helpful. It just moves a goalpost and redefines things to the loss of the LGBT community in discussion and content.

So again: Rep line - you want more, that’s fine and nifty and I get that 100% at my core. But rearranging our conversation to maintain a tone of upset rather than hands on ownership of the text already in place is the line between DeanCas fandom having a legitimate platform to fight for representation via wanting better textual rep, and them being like any other gay ship out there yelling about subtext, when half the time they’re talking about arbitrary interpretation rather than thematic story revelation. And I’m going to let y’all guess which face of it is more likely to be listened to by creatives.

Think. Observe the origins of your discussion angles very carefully. Be sure you haven’t been coded and manipulated to perform to dog whistles that put you at an intentional impairment in the conversation versus anyone else owning the text content. And there is textual content, and that’s the simple point. Just... make sure a couple hundred tinfoil asshats online haven’t convinced you to bury your own ownership of text content based off of completely manufactured authority and presence in it. I promise you that’s not nearly as helpful to LGBT rep discussion as anyone thinks it is.

Like you want to convince someone to make it makeout gay okay i guess try pedowitz but beyond that the text is the text yall.

Pretty sure you won't find him on tumblr. He has a lurker twitter account he ignores tho so go for it.

[felicitysmoak]

I’m just happy Emily is coming back for the finale I need that final olicity scene that screams screw you haters olicity wins what can I say I’m a petty bitch. Do you plan on watching the spinoff? I’m divided because on one hand I love Mia hello her genetics are impeccable on the other hand who’s got time for the canaries. Do you watch the other shows as well? I follow you of course because you have the best blog on tumblr but I guess I’m curious lol

i’m beyond happy she’s coming back, i’m just sad they couldn’t even allude to her most likely (most definitely actually) breaking down when she got the news that oliver had died. that the two people who were next to him were people who see him once a year, maybe even less. that tptb had oliver say that he was “in peace,” when he was leaving his wife, his son, and his newborn daughter alone after seeing what their lives without him turned out to be (and yes, i know that the purpose of 8×07 was to show oliver that he just had to accept it but “you can’t just accept things, oliver!”—that just feels like erasing seven years of growth to me, of him fighting for the life he deserves and earned).

however, i’m obviously excited for emily coming back. i’m not kidding when i tell you i spent the entire week (all the seven days straight) crying my eyes out—to the point it was hard to open my eyes—when i found out she was leaving. i was the same after 7×22 aired, my eyes were burning. it was really, really bad.

i’m not sure about the spin-off yet. listen, i love mia with all of my heart, but i don’t know how much more i can put up with when it comes to canaries. if we had zoe and sara diggle being the canaries instead, i would be all for it, but it’s that fucking triangle face again. i’ll probably watch the first three episodes but if i don’t feel like watching anymore by then, i don’t see a reason why i should continue forcing something on me for one character only (i did that for oliver, felicity, and john, so i think i’ve had enough).

i don’t watch the other shows! i watched the first two seasons of the flash but i only like iris and i hate the way the writers treat her now that she’s with barry and i can’t stand that white dude. i watch supergirl from gifs here and videos on twitter (i loooooove supercorp so much). i don’t watch legends but it sounds like a crazy show? in a good way?

sorry for the long message but also about your other message, you don’t sound like a stalker at all! i wish more anons like you sent me messages more often, actually. and thank you for saying you love my blog, it really means a lot to me ❤️

#anonymous #inbox

[5sosbitchfest]

So kayshton wasn’t never in a real relationship because they are PR correct me if am wrong and are why did they unfollow each other on social media

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest:

Why do you think KayKay and Ash were PR? Who was it supposed to benefit?

________________________________________________________________

Sorry, this is a long one folks. 

This response is a DAMN novel.  I’ve been gone for a few days and have quite a lot to say on Kraken.  Search the blog and you’ll find more of my opinions on it.

Kraken was NEVER real.  Ashton and Kale have been friends, or associated with the same friend group, for several years now.  Supposedly, they dated a couple of years ago and it did not work out nor end well.  Some stans say that Ashton was horrible to Kale but I have no proof of this as I wasn’t around during this time.  I think Ashton was forced into a PR relationship by management and he insisted he got to choose the person involved.  He chose someone he knew and was fairly comfortable around.  

Why do I think they were PR?  They had NO chemistry together whatsoever.  When they were forced to do paparazzi walks, Ashton tried to keep at least 12+ inches between them.  If he HAD to hold her hand, he never intertwined their fingers.  The infamous tush-grab photo?  Obviously staged to give the photogs something to take a picture of.  Have you ever seen someone look as angry as Ashton did while kissing the side of her head during the same pap walk?  

All of the PR crap with Ashton and Kale began following the MYT tour at the end of 2018. The band had the collaboration with TCS releasing early in 2019 and Modest decided they needed to drum up publicity for this release, the subsequent tour with TCS and whatever new music 5SOS would release during 2019.  Kraken subtly began during December 2018 with shopping trips, Lemon had the trip to Australia for the holidays and it finished with a bang with the obviously stage Crikey proposal in January 2019.   

After that, it was a-go with Kraken.  TPTB needed a new couple/love interest ti drum up interest/support/blind adoration among the stans.  However, I believe Ashton was resistant to the idea.  He obviously HATEs being manipulated and told what to do.  He would go weeks without being seen with Kale and just appease the bosses by tagging her in the occasional photo.  When he was forced to go on a Pap walk, it was obvious he was completely disinterested in Kale in a romantic manner.  Usually, these pap walks were followed by an outing with Calum within 24-48 hours.  

This went on for several months. When did things start to go bad with the Kraken PR arrangement?  I’m honestly not sure but I did notice some changes in Ashton’s behavior re: tagging Kale, giving her photo credit, not being seen with her, etc.  You can search the blog for more details.  A couple of weeks went by with NO Kraken content at all.  Right before the band left on tour, a picture of Ashton and Kale in his jumpsuits appeared on IG.  Ashton clearly WAS NOT happy in that picture.  Not only do I think Ashton was never happy to be in a PR relationship but he was probably grumpy she was wearing one of his jumpsuits!  Within a day or two, he took the picture down.  

Things appeared to go downhill from there.  It became obvious everything was not happy in Kraken-land the weekend Kale’s mother got married.  She got married just outside of L.A. yet instead of going to the rehearsal dinner, Ashton attended a concert with Calum.  On the day of Kale’s mother’s wedding, he was at another concert.  By Monday, they had unfollowed each other across all social media.  I’ve always said that I truly believed they were friends in the beginning.  So are they no longer friends now?  I honestly have no idea.  

This PR relationship was designed to benefit 5SOS.  If it somehow helped Kale in her photography, modeling, artistic endeavors then great but Modest had nothing invested in Kale as an artist.  I do think Kale gained some followers and garnered attention she would have otherwise not gotten.  Did it do much for Ashton?  I’m not so sure.  I do think it stressed out Calum and I believe that’s why he spent some much needed time without his band mates in Australia following the new year. 

I want to wrap this up by saying that is it obvious that Ashton is SO MUCH happier and at ease since Kraken ended.  Not only that, but Cashton is THRIVING without the added pressure of Ash maintaining a crappy PR facade. 

Okay, I think I’m done now.  Did any of y’all actually make it to the end?  

#anonymous #ashton #kale #kraken #cashton #kirby

[migleefulmoments]

There, I fixed it for you.

My Manifesto by @ajw720

  Nonnie Anon, fact, I need for D to be is closeted.  People Darren can deny it for the remainder of their his lives life, but it doesn’t his label does make him straight.  And that fact alone-that I do not understand how sexual identification and labels work- is sad and is a total injustice.  But I am going to answer this from the perspective that the closeting is a fact and how was it handled vs. how it could have been handled- aka how my fantasy could have played out.

When I see pics of D from the G/lee days, particularly pre her move, he is precisely what you say, a ball of sunshine. His smile is bright and infectious. He was a bright light, talking for hours about the things he loves. Sigh...I am in love He was young and not jaded by fame nor did he have a private life and love to protect. He was  “straight” was a part of the narrative, but it was a footnote, barely pushed.  Yes, she was in the background, but not in the spotlight. I believed Darren was straight back then so I didn’t pay any attention to questions about his sexuality or his lover. Present to make him straight-because he identifies as straight- but not overbearing. His girlfriend lived across the country and their relationship was new so he didn’t talk about her in interviews. His sexuality was commented on, but not incessantly. in almost every interview he gave in those early years. This is how you handle closeting, you don’t make it a focus and allow the subtly to speak for itself according to me because I’m a closeting expert.  Especially when the individual closeted clearly doesn’t want to hide his/her sexuality, which has been clear from the beginning as he has clearly and consistently said he is straight as early as a 2009 interview. D has done absolutely nothing to suggest he is not straight rebelled against it repeatedly and has attempted on numerous occasions to come out  at least in my head 

That is the version of D that people I fell in love with and that is what i believe is the real my fantasy d. And this fantasy version of D, since Season 4 starting when they moved her to LA, has been almost completely erased, meaning I have to work REALLY SUPER hard to make him seem real.  It happened slowly, the shift and changes were small at first-as one does in a new relationship-, but suddenly she became a part of the conversation, acknowledged as his gf, and by his side constantly-as one does in a relationship as it progresses from first meeting to dating to love They  She not only moved her to LA but put her got a job on the set of G/lee to act as a babysitter because it was in her field and commiserate with her experience.  And concurrent with her move was the introduction of W and the complete public break down of the CC friendship and this is when TPTB  fandom decided it was a good idea to start rumors that C&D hated each other. And then the “I am straight and have a gf” tour happened where he was forced got a little cheesy and decided to bring women on stage every night and sign sing PPG and that awful Pheromones so he could be every girl’s teenage dream and I’m pissed that I wasn’t one of those girls...or a teenager. 

And yes, this is when the questionable behavior began and D took on the straight frat boy douche persona around her because apparently I had not been paying any attention to Darren prior to this time. He wrote Me & My Dick years before this but I didn’t notice.  This is when we stopped getting the real D DAPPERMAN on SM and started getting his team and PBB posting in his name and every time he doesn’t sound like DAPPERMAN, I blame it on his team. This is one way I keep the fantasy Darren alive.  This is when the fandom began its great divide- those that believe that what they see is what they get, who accept Darren for who he is, and who enjoy the glimpses into his life that he shares versus those of us who have created an entirely false narrative that fits our fantasy. Being a ccer is exhausting because nothing Darren does fits our narrative and we constantly have to come up with excuses for why that is. Excuses like TPTB, contracts, his team pretending to be him on his social media, and how he is “forced” to sing songs on tour or say things in interviews or yell at 14 yo kids. Just read this manifesto and you will see all of the things we have to do to see our Darren.  and D was forced to   asked about his sexuality, just like he has been since he started doing interviews for Glee publicly address his . It seems to me that he was asked about his sexuality repeatedly which increased significantly during H/edwig and that sorta makes sense since he has now played two LGBTQ characters in a row and the questions were often asked by journalists whose job it is to actually get answers. Maybe I was just paying more attention to his sexuality because Hedwig was right when I discovered Crisscolfer.

But even during H/edwig - despite the sudden straight push -now 6 years into Darren saying he identified as straight- he was still bright and present (aka gay?).  He did as required, but on stage, at the stage door, in interviews, he was still D.  And then they sent him he went to Italy for 6 weeks to do a movie and during that time the shift happened. When he came back, the PR games were heightened aka Mia quit her job to travel with Darren and open their dream bar and it has only gotten exponentially worse every day that has passed since-at least for me.  She became not just his gf, but the absolute focal point of his public and private life ya know as couples in love tend to do.  This is when it became impossible to be a d fan without seeing her. This is when I became obsessed with hating and bullying Mia. This is when I started stalking her obsessively so that I am sure to see her. The stalking is all good, it’s part of my job to know what she is doing at all times so I can let the fandom know. 

And the problem with M is she is divisive to me and the ccers who are entitled to have a say in Darren’s personal life. She is on record treating fans deplorably even though there is NO record of her treating fans deplorably, I will continue to claim she does without giving any credible evidence this is true.. She made D yell at a 14 year old girl.  Darren is a big boy and 14 yo’s who behavior abhorrent shouldn’t get a pass so he told her off. She thrives on controversy and making D suffer. She sits in the background and lets Darren shine, rarely ever having anything to say when he is working and yet I obsess about what she is thinking and I pretend she really says all of the things I imagine in my jealousy-fueled head.  She has publicly treated him like an ass and has held herself out to be better than him and acts like he should be grateful she is in his life. She has only ever been gracious to fans but I am stark raving jealous and unhinged from reality so I make up all sorts of backstories to photos where Mia is simply standing next to Darren. Oh and I have never met her.  She acts like an elitist instead of being grateful for the very privileged life she lives because he family is filthy rich and her association with D. I’m so fucking jealous. Her friends are bratty and immature and they act like college students on their social media  that have has nothing to do with Darren’s  in life but party around the clock so  I am not sure why her friends matter to me except I’m on a role and I can’t stop. My friends are assholes (hey @flowersintheattic254, hey @cassie1022, hey Leka-1998) who bully a women they don’t even know and I’m still their friend... so maybe Mia’s friends shouldn’t matter to Darren’s fans.  She’s recorded herself rolling a joint in a parked car after a night of recording herself posting a handful of other pics were posted that night showing them having a good time. There was what looked like an alcoholic drink on a photo or two drinking and doesn’t even get reprimanded mooooommmm, MOM! Mia is rolling a joint...don’t touch me,...MOM! Don’t touch me, I’m going to tell mom..MOOOOOOOM! She wore a Tits of Clay band merch boobs shirt to the inaugural EF, an event marketed for families, to embarrass D and pull focus and I know this because she told me remember I make up all sorts of stories when I see a photo.  She claims she wants privacy but their entire public lives are blasted all over SM  I desperately stalk her, following everyone who might ever post a photo of her despite the fact that D has repeatedly stated he craves privacy he doesn’t social media and he is a private person who finds giving up his privacy really difficult and he is an emotional SENTIMENT hoarder I never get that right and has asked her not to post pics one time he told the story that when he was new to Glee, Mia posted a photo of the two of them on her Facebook that he wanted to keep for himself because he loved the photo so much.  She has not respect for him. She has a private Instagram and only posts pics of Darren on her public Snapchat when they go to big public events together. 

And D acts out around her more often than not.  Darren adores her. Add they now have him picking fights with fans on SM over her (we know it is not him but the GA doesn’t).  He pushes back when fans bully his wife. I pretend it isn’t him pushing back but it’s stupid for me to claim it isn’t him when it so clearly is him. If I accept it is him, then I have to think about my own behavior and the cc behavior that drives him to push back. Speaking of his SM, it is an absolutely mess punny and hilarious. This man is insanely intelligent, we all know two or three times he mentioned he has deleted and reposted things due to grammatical errors . and they represent him deplorably, fail to project his voice, and make him look like an asshole I hate punny silly Darren so I rage every time he posts in that voice. The only time I like him is if he is DAPPERMAN- boring, upstanding & polite and formal. 

Then we have the bar. Do not even get me started on the bar because I’m stark raving mad.  I do not understand how anyone can justify it and yet it is popular and people have a great time there.  He is the straight male owner of a bar that glorifies naked women, calls them sluts, names drinks after large breasts, has grotesque names like Period Sex (I WOULD NEVER) and Golden Showers (What is that?), cheap innuendo and theme nights that are beyond derogatory and yet, the more I think about it, that seems exactly like what a straight, male, bar owner would do. If I thought this was him DAPPERMAN and what he loves (as she ignores all of the times Darren has gushed about connecting to people through songs at the bar), I would turn away from him so fast my head would spin because I hate everything about Darren -the man he really is - but I know he is DAPPERMAN and he will come back to me.   Because that bar, that is misogynistic not my style... it makes me very uncomfortable, it’s too sex positive and at times it’s openly queer.  It’s filled with debauchery and I don’t understand it.  Not hating one woman because I am so jealous of her sexual freedom, her lifestyle, her money, her husband... I think she is pure evil even if everybody who knows her, loves her.

And of course, then we have the way he is presented in the press.  D has built a career playing LGBT+ roles.  His three major roles were gay, queer, gay.  And in every print article, we are reminded he is straight, often multiple times because when he first started playing Blaine, there weren’t a lot of straight men playing strong gay characters on TV.  Now we see that representation matters-asking an actor how he identifies during promo for his 3rd straight  LGBTQ role is hardly out of line.  And then they started making him repeatedly state it.  It is awkward and uncomfortable, He has consistently labeled himself as straight since 2009 and there is no evidence to suggest he is not straight but I can’t stop fantasizing. It makes me angry when I am faced with him reminding me he is straight.  It makes him look ungrateful to the community that he used to get ahead and frankly, makes him sound completely insecure.  I don’t like him if he isn’t gay. I don’t care that he never took advantage of the gay community by pretending to be gay or that he has always been a strong ally, all I can see or hear is “I'm straight”.  I want him to be gay and that is all that matters.  Like he can only play queer if he can repeatedly assert he is straight. Absolute mess. I don’t care that by repeatedly asserting he is straight, he is telling the truth, THIS IS ABOUT WHAT I WANT.  MOOOOOOMMMMMM. I dare anyone to find any other straight actor that addresses their sexuality as often.  You won’t find one. (James Franco)

I’m so jealous I can’t see straight and all I see is an unrealistic  And because of this narrative they have weaved, purely to elevate her, and they have torn him down, they have made him look like a straight jerk in love with a spoiled brat woman. I  hate her I hate her I hate her. Mooooommmm!  Sorry, i know i will get  deserve hate, but it is the my truth unrelated to Darren’s reality. And I’m not just a spoiled brat, I’m a hateful one.  There is nothing redeeming about her ME.

Instead they should have gotten him a respectful beard- ME, who was present but not a focus ME and not beaten into our heads that he is straight (isn’t that how beards work?).  They could have sold straight and done it respectfully and in a manner that i could have accepted by me.  No, I am not accepting closeting and i don’t think it is ok, but again, clearly the closeting was demanded by RIB-Ryan an important out, gay activist and F/ox in a contract they signed 9 years ago...when will it end? and if it had to be the narrative it could have been done in a manner that would have allowed D to remain true to himself and that means gay. They could have got a beard that let him be gay.   

And at this point, they just are making things worse and no one is winning anything.(isn’t everyone but Darren winning in this scenario?) They should free D -let him be GAY -and put him ME out of his MY misery because no amount of promo is going to make her famous outside of her stans as long as she has a private instagram account and Darren doesn't tag her or even post her photo. She just isn’t interesting- I am interesting.  This sham fanfiction I wrote has gone on way too long and completely spun out of control -I can’t make heads or tails out of it anymore- and it is NOT doing no one ME any favors except continuing to hide the my truth, the one thing his team I needs and wants, because MY the truth isn’t pretty.

#cc #ccer #ccers #cc fandom #cc blog #cc family #crisscolfer #darren criss #Abby speaks #I fixed it

[naruhearts]

TFW, Jack Winchester & Peace of Mind...

[Dean, ext. in the Impala]

TAPE DECK: The key to quieting your mind, is minding your quiet.  [Dean pulls the tape out, throws it on the seat] —10x11 There’s No Place Like Home transcript ***

Seems like 14x15 Peace of Mind and its premise (the title, guys!) could link back to 14x09 (with all this narrative talk of quietness, tape decks, and using your words)—

x

—and 10x11 besides carrying over 14x14′s key themes of Life and Death, Family, Love and...Love, and Subtext in Storytelling.

In 10x11, Good Charlie faced Evil Charlie — the cunning and conniving (and Charlie herself was a mirror to MoC!Dean), yet she was so preoccupied with shame and guilt over her Dark mirror self that she overlooked something fundamental: the intrinsic dualism of the human condition. Say, being conniving as a hunter helps her save people. Yin and Yang. You cannot be good without evil, and you cannot be evil without good. Agency and free will matter, in that you choose which side to act on, and all the complex nuances in-between — doing something stupid (bad) for the right reasons — are the judges of your moral character. 

In Season Who Am I/Season Mirrors 14, Dean and Cas’ narrative arcs — both mirroring each other (since S12) — cycle back to this internal battle, where Dean saying Yes to Michael was a bad decision, yet it was a decision steeped in the good: his boundless love for his family and the larger safety of the world. Although he stated in 14x13 that he’s ‘good with who he is’ (and I don’t doubt the validity of it at all, because oh man it SHOWS, in almost every facet of his emotional states e.g. transparency with Cas re: his Michael-induced trauma and letting Sam separate himself from his shadow), Dean’s still experiencing a gradual uphill trek to achieving complete self-actualization after decades of John-bred negative self-process, low self-worth, and depression; it’s definitely logical to assume that Dean, at his core, will somehow blame himself for the slaughter of the AU Hunters by Michael!Rowena. 

But don’t worry — Dean’s character progression towards self-love is PALPABLY closer than it’s ever been in S14!! And we all know that, beyond his brother Sam, the key significant motivator for this is Cas: Dean’s subtextual spouse. The one he trusts wholeheartedly. The one who brought him back from the brink, many times. The one who fell for his humanity. The one who did it - all of it - for him. The one who believes Dean is ‘more than strong’/believes Sam and Dean (subtextually: DEAN) are extraordinary, brave, special, burn bright. The one who helps weed out the creeping vines of low self-worth, reminding Dean Humanity Winchester of his valuable lessons: that there is always a way, a better way, a hopeful way.

If death - if evil - still surfaces regardless of one’s perseverance and good intentions, “sometimes things just are; you have to live with that.” Most importantly--

x

Listen to your own advice, Dean.

Cas, on the other hand, struck up a deal with the Empty to protect Jack the TFW mirror. Shifting away from his sense of expendability and self-sacrifice (as the worthless means to a self-destructive end e.g. saying Yes to Lucifer, mirrored by Dean) in past seasons, Cas’ current choices (his choice to sacrifice himself for Jack) are, like Dean, steeped in Love and...Love — and Cas is very humanized this season, with an incredible scale of expressive emotions for an angel and vast internalization of overall human values and human morality — but his angelic self-awareness manifested in 14x14. This pivotal scene between Cas and his character exposition Jack showed audiences that Cas still perceives himself as a “thing” and, like Dean, Cas continues to feel the deep residue of expendability and duty as an ex-Angel of the Lord despite making recent positive characteristic leaps and bounds (his accrued trauma re: Naomi, for example, lurks in the back of Cas’ mind, reminding him of his sole purpose as Heaven’s blunt tool).

14x14’s narrative insight into Cas’ self-awareness of his position in the Winchester family as a supernatural entity (he’s put a lot of thought into knowing what may be in his future — losing Sam and Dean) hinders him from fully acknowledging and accepting the fact that he IS family. Not quite there, my friends, but he almost is.

Jack, yearning to be useful for his family, proclaimed himself a Winchester last episode in the manner most reflective and evocative of Cas, Dean and Sam’s own past choices (Michael, Lucifer, the Mark of Cain, Godstiel — you name it) (Jack’s helplessness was also visually symbolized when he turned into a “sick” dog, additionally closely mirroring Cas and particularly Dean’s duty-bound inclinations, then keeping in mind the connotations attached to Dog in the SPN narrative: expendability.)

Now it’s Jack’s turn to further find himself, sift through the respective TFW influences of faith, hope, and love (the three theological virtues represented by TFW) bestowed upon him, and “die” in order to live. Ouroboros. What path will Jack Winchester choose? What decision will he make? Is he the snake or the chicken? *Mind you, meta writers shivered in our boots once 14x14 aired*

In keeping Gorgon Noah’s snake, seemingly ‘killing’ Michael, and absorbing his grace to become a textually benevolent but subtextually ominous iteration of Godstiel while simultaneously saving his family, we can say Jack is both the chicken and the snake. Thus, in classic Winchester fashion, the effects — the benefits and consequences — of his actions shall reap important self-introspective lessons that Jack will eventually experience.

You can’t save everybody, but you can try to make choices that provide even the slightest chance of winning. If the last few key thematic episodes were any indication: faith, hope, love, and open honest communication (the latter exercised by Jack pretty liberally until Meta Extravaganza 14x14, when he dodged - again in classic Winchester fashion - his own family’s concerns via I’m FineTM) build up your resistance in a turbulent, uncertain world.

As TPTB has thematically reinforced through narrative cyclism and mirrored pathways over and over again during the past few seasons:

Self-love/positive self-process breeds life and rebirth. Self-hate/maladaptively negative self-process breeds death and destruction. To truly be human, we must live with both personal internal forces -- they are naturally interdependent. Self-hate pushes us to seek self-love. Personal imprisonment and control pushes us to break free and release ourselves from control in order to allow growth. Ultimately, life fluctuates and never stays static.

We are absolutely capable of choosing the good and acting on the good.

TFW, once they forgive ALL their faults and transform them into present/future strengths, will finally mind their quiet and have peace of mind. They’re going to realize that living a meaningful life involves the good and the bad. A dual balance of both is tantamount. Jack is the catalyst.

Everything means something.

#spn s14 #14x14 #I'll link this once I compile more complete 14x14 meta posts :P #supernatural #narrative cyclism #destiel #parallels #jack winchester #my meta #my stuff #deancas #character development #subtext vs text #life and death #tfw #team free will #narrative #ouroboros #Season Who Am I 14 #14x15