#as if i believe gerri genuinely gives a fuck about these people

[akalikai]

TMAGP EP 10 SPOILER (THEORY ABOUT [ERROR])

People are probably very confused by me bringing up Lucia Wright from TMA so let me explain why I think [ERROR] might be her.

It's rly simple lmao. I listen to TMAGP on YouTube so after the episode was done, I checked the cast list on YouTube. [ERROR] was credited as Beth Eyre (still weirded out by Bonzo being uncredited though).

I did a little bit of digging and found out Beth Eyre did actually guest star in one of the TMA episodes, MAG130, The Flesh.

She was Lucia Wright, the church-visiting girl who accidentally got caught in the Slaughter ritual and was the only one to survive. She came to the institute to give Gertrude her statement.

Now, obviously they could be reusing VAs to play completely different characters but with the theme of Celia, Gerry, and Gertrude being played by their original VAs, even if they're the TMAGP version of themselves, I strongly believe that's not the case.

I think that Lucia Wright could be our key to figuring out how Celia got here.

We see her escaping the tunnels which still exist here so the Panopticon probably still exists. Additionally, she doesn't sound like she's in a good state so I assume she's been hiding down there. Maybe Celia went through the same thing but had the time to adjust? And when she was ready, Celia came up and found the OIAR since they're the closest thing this universe has the institute after it burned down.

I will say though, we're basically seeing people who were not main characters or really all that important but whose voices we HAVE actually heard. Celia and Lucia. I know Gerry and Gertrude are important in TMA but like Gerry was actually one IN one episode.

So yeah, here's why I keep saying it's Lucia Wright lol and I'm excited bc I genuinely like her. I mean. Complicated relationship with religion but then finding a way to make her peace with it? Visiting all other places worship without judgment? SURVIVED A FUCKING FLESH RITUAL???

Like obviously she probably ended up in a flesh dimension when the TMA world went Eyepocalypse, so was she prey or a hunter? And did she get sucked through the Hilltop Road rift?

Four weeks till we get anything AAAAAA (I know we won't get answers about this for ages though)

#tma #the magnus archives #tmagp #the magnus protocol #tmagp ep 10 spoilers #tmagp ep 10 #lucia wright #celia ripley #gerry keay #also just noticed that celia and lucia's names are pretty similar too lol #ofc theres wvery possibility they make her agnes bc agnes didnt have a canonical VA #“heres how agnes montague can still win” people arent looking so crazy anymore #but yes!! my girl lucia!! #i do not think its jon or martin since the VA is a woman but at the same time it COULD be another red herring #i doubt it tho...

[elialys]

why do you think Hellen said no to Dales proposal?

I’m glad I waited before answering your question because I’ve listened to the Emsolation podcast with Michael Lucas (the show writer) in which he answered all kinds of questions about season 2, and that was one of them!

(I’m paraphrasing here, it’s been a few days since I listened to it!)

According to Michael, one of the main reasons why Helen rejected Dale’s proposal is because Helen genuinely can’t see herself having that kind of ‘normal’ life, not just with Dale but in general. The fact that it was Dale proposing made it even ‘worse’ because of how…atypical their couple is. Michael said Anna was pretty set on the concept that if Helen had a choice, she wouldn’t be in any relationship at all, that she was with Dale because she genuinely loved him, but it wasn’t something she felt ‘fit’ her, so Helen basically freaked out at being proposed to.

Because I love spending hours analyzing character’s motivations, fears and limitations, I’ve also thought a lot about this, not just because I’m going to be writing about it 😅 While I absolutely loved hearing Michael’s explanation and obviously believes it to be true since, duh, he literally wrote those characters, I think it’s even more complicated than Helen ‘simply’ not wanting to get married.

To me, from what we’ve seen in season 2, between the hotel scene in 2x01 with Helen’s reaction to learning Gerry had propositioned Dale, and the return of Tim in 2x04 reminding her of what’s happened before, she still had a lot of insecurities regarding Dale’s sexuality. The way I see it, even though I’m sure she believes it when Dale says he loves her and that he’s not just a closeted gay man trying to convince himself he’s INTO WOMEN, I’m sure it’s still one of her fears, that Dale is basically hiding with her, even unconsciously. And that to Dale, proposing to her and making her his wife is another way to PROVE THAT HE’S LIKE EVERY OTHER MAN.

Which is what was actually happening, in my opinion?? Even if I one hundred percent believe Dale is bisexual and that he absolutely loves Helen, he’s clearly not comfortable with that bi side of himself, in great part because he lives in a world that doesn’t accept people like him, and he’s been traumatized as a teen for having feelings for another boy—not to mention how his mum clearly doesn’t support *not being straight*. I highly recommend listening to Sam Reid talking about Dale in the official podcast for ep 2x06, he explains this so much better than me right now haha.

Basically Dale is trying to mold himself into what he believes a REAL MAN should be. So yeah, like he told Garry in 2x03, ‘of course’ he wants to get married (“Doesn’t everyone?”), because if he marries a woman, he’s CLEARLY NOT HAVING GAY THOUGHTS.

What I’m trying to say is that I think Helen is very much aware of that on some level. Of the fact that her sweet bi babygirl Dale is desperate for STRAIGHT VALIDATION, and that she might have been afraid it would just blow up in her face one day when Dale realized he actually did need “more” than what she could give him as a woman.

I’m not even going to delve into Helen’s insecurities about herself as a ‘fucking disaster’, because I could write a 40-pages long essay about her to be honest, but hopefully you get the idea. These characters are complex and very messy, and I think they broke apart because they weren’t communicating properly, which is often why people break apart. Dale never *asked* Helen if she was actually interested in marriage, even after his shitty first proposal. If they had talked about it properly, I think a lot of this would have been avoided.

#anonymous #the newsreader #the newsreader spoilers #helen norville #dale jennings #helen x dale #just my opinion obviously

[shortkingromanroy]

i’ve seen discussion on here about how logan seems to have declined post-episode 1 stroke. he’s colder with his children after that episode (which also may have to do with having them in his pocket again) and is generally quite reckless.

(discussion of gerri and logan under the cut)

it makes me think of the thanksgiving ep where a lot of people, including gerri, witness him hitting iverson with a can. after that, gerri immediately turns on him and joins kendall's coup. when i first watched this ep i assumed that gerri had reached a moral breaking point and could no longer support a man who would hurt a member of his own family. however, having watched the series a few times now, this obviously doesn’t add up - gerri has stood by logan through countless scandals, including cruises, and watched him hit roman, who she obviously cares about. even if these things upset her, she still remains loyal to logan.

so i’m realizing now how the two are connected (logan’s mental decline in s1 and gerri’s siding with kendall during the vote of no confidence): she didn’t turn on logan because hitting a child is so terrible to her that she’d stop acting in her own self-interest; no, the fact that logan would do something so reckless, semi-publicly, showed gerri this mental decline. she was afraid that he’d do something like that in public and fuck them. she wasn’t so much appalled by child endangerment but was more nervous about her own self-interests being compromised.

i think this is an interesting nuance of gerri's character because she is shown to clearly understand right and wrong even when she does things that are wrong. yeah she commits and enables horrible actions throughout the series, but she's not like logan, who doesn't seem to give a fuck about anyone else. (and we can be pretty certain that logan has been that way for a long time, even before his stroke; he's just gotten worse at hiding it.)

gerri has a moral compass. she's just learned to ignore it because she cares more about money and power than said moral compass. on the other hand, i don't think logan really has a functional moral compass. logan's values in any given moment are the values that will serve his own interests best. on the other hand, gerri will always serve her own interests, even if they go against her values.

i think this makes an interesting dynamic between them: gerri seems well aware that logan is an abusive father (and grandfather), a bigot, and generally just a danger to every human being on earth, and she seems to understand that this is bad. however, so long as her interests are being served, she can shove it down. when logan's health declines in season 1 and he struggles to hide his wrongdoing, gerri flips on him and joins kendall's coup out of self-interest.

compare this with the rest of the series, where logan has regained his mental fortitude and his full, terrifying powers of manipulation (see: his conversation with rhea where she finally realizes she "can't see the bottom of the pool"), and gerri is as loyal to him as ever.

we as the audience don’t get much insight into the non-roy characters' personal thoughts and feelings - for example, does frank genuinely care about kendall as a son or is it 100% manipulation? 50%? 25%? do gerri, frank, karl, karolina, and the others feel like the cruises victims genuinely do not count as ‘real people’ or is it just that they’ve picked money over their loyalty to humanity?

i find logan to be a fascinating character and i don't believe he's truly 'evil' - that is to say, he's not a moustache-twirling disney villain. i think everything logan does, he can justify to himself as the right thing to do. he's so good at denial, lying, and manipulation that he's managed to fool even himself. i think this sets him apart from the other characters, even the senior Waystar execs like gerri who have been committing atrocities by his side for decades.

#this is all fairly obvious but it was enlightening to write it all out like this #succession hbo #logan roy #gerri kellman

[xenon-demon]

Med student Steve & nurse Eddie for WIP weekend pls and thank you? 👉👈

i can absolutely do this for you gerry! also the people are loving nurse eddie & med student steve which is a pleasant surprise?? i figured i was being way too self indulgent by just Giving Steve My Job lmao

Same as before, this snippet is a direct continuation of the previous one for this fic!

< PREV | NEXT >

With that, he turns and leaves pathology, only the vaguest goal of finding a nearby ward in mind. Steve’s walking on auto-pilot, his brain cycling through everything he’s done wrong today like a planet orbiting a particularly fucked-up star. That quickly tips over into worrying about the things he'll get wrong tomorrow, too, because god knows there'll be a lot of them. It doesn't help that two of the other students on this rotation with him are people he doesn't know very well at all, definitely not well enough to commiserate with or gently probe to see if they're also struggling with the new rotation.  The third student is also no help because it's Jason fucking Carver, one of the biggest gunners in their student cohort and a sanctimonious prick. God, if Steve keeps fucking up like this, Jason will probably report him to their academic supervisor for the rotation for professionalism concerns, or maybe say he wouldn't want Steve to be thrust into situations he's not yet ready for, and maybe he should give this rotation another shot? The worst part is the dickhead probably genuinely believes in the shit he's selling. Sorry that we don't all have orthopedic surgeon fathers bankrolling our way through medical school so we don't have to worry about anything other than studying, Jason— Okay, no. Steve stops where he is at the edge of the hallway, aiming to stop his thoughts in their tracks too. Steve loves a good bitch session, especially when he's having a day this awful, but this is getting unreasonably bitter and paranoid. Steve needs to take a minute and get his head back on straight before he does something he'll really regret tomorrow.

Make me write some of my WIPs! 🖋️

#charlie writes things #med student steve and nurse eddie au #steddie #steddie fic #steve harrington #also if y'all don't know healthcare stereotypes: orthopedic surgeons are frat bros. they're ALWAYS frat bros. #mfs be out here doing bone carpentry

[zalrb]

When Shiv was attempting to bully Greg I had flashbacks to her wedding with Gerri. Like okay? You realize he has all the leverage and then when he (rightfully!) fucked her over, she had the audacity to not expect it.

Controversial opinion, but I’m actually pretty okay with Greg constantly screwing people over because no one really gives a shit about him and they make that so clear to him, so why should he have loyalty to any of these people? I’m admittedly less sympathetic to Tom because I feel like Tom genuinely believes his BS, that his actions are a means to an end that he feels that he deserves, whereas with Greg it was more about just being able to be? None of this is saying that Greg is a good person; but his actions toward the Roys are definitely warranted

Oh, is that a controversial opinion? I thought Greg and his antics were a fan favourite? But this is the thing with Shiv, she constantly tries to bully people and when it doesn't work she's always surprised. There's just no self-awareness and I don't even mean that in terms of personal growth but in terms of tactics. Tom even said that she should be careful with how she keeps all her options open and it blows up in her face. Greg kind of reminds me of that pep talk Rusty in Ocean's Eleven has with Linus about the kind of person he has to be to do a specific con

#greg hirsch #succession #ocean's 11

[loverboyromanroy]

imo i could totally see them handling the gerri/logan history in the same way they handle lots of past events with conflicting accounts from different people, so you’re left unclear about who’s remembering right. it would be very in character for logan to imply that something happened with he and gerri in order to degrade her/roman, while gerri claims that they were always professional. it could also be that given the apparent waystar culture (no jews blacks or women above the 3rd floor or whatever) it could’ve been assumed in the ‘80s that gerri and logan must have been fucking for her to get where she is, when in fact that wasn’t the case (someone like frank or karl referencing it and gerri either being furious or rolling her eyes like this is something she’s given up denying because nobody will believe her) idk logan and gerri’s history gives me brain worms it’s so fascinating

oooh it would be SO interesting for it to end up being a sort of muddled, misremembered thing, especially given how much of the past ends up being like that with them!

then again, the other thing i find interesting is that if something did happen between them at some point, logan has never made reference to it...not to degrade her, not behind her back in a catty way which we've seen him do with frank and karl...and like you said, i think it would be in character for him to use that against her! but if logan had tried to pursue her and failed, he wouldn't have then kept her around? and then there's the fact that they established gerri and baird as shiv's godparents waaaaay before establishing any possible logan/gerri thing (an annoying byproduct of her not being a main player in season 1 smh)

i don't know man i am genuinely hoping that in the wake of dickpicgate, and in the process of resolving the whole interim ceo thing, that we'll get a gerri/logan convo even just for a speck of insight into their shared history and how he feels about her involvement with roman...

#i know there were bigger fish to fry in 3x09 but the fact that he strung her along to make her sweat before bringing her back in... #fascinating! i wish we could've seen the convo when she arrived at the villa! #answered #anonymous #sorry for the delay in answering! i've been running around like crazy lol #succession chatter

[theartistknownaslymond]

Ooh could I get a Jerott/Danny playlist

You most surely can, Kay!! I loved this so much I never wanted to finish it.

A twinge of approval

A playlist for realising you've fallen in love with your idiot best friend and bandmate

George Michael - Faith Tim Curry - Sweet Transvestite Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street Talking Heads - I'm Not in Love Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark Barbra Streisand - The Way He Makes Me Feel Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band - Saposhkelekh The Kinks - Lola Leonard Cohen - Lover Lover Lover Sapho - Globo Night R.E.M. - Crush With Eyeliner Kishore Kumar - Chhu Kar Mere Manko Marcel Dadi - La Madrugada Klezmatics - Di Zun Vet Aruntergeyn David Bowie - Changes Queen - You're My Best Friend Stealers Wheel - Stuck in the Middle With You

No, really, I think I enjoyed this most of all because of the way it came together. Surprisingly good!!! Just like the ship. Wholesome. I made this playlist as tender as I could and it genuinely fucks me up, so I hope you like it too!

FCs: random sax and keytar players from image search and Carl Barat, plus Viveik Kalra and Hanne Gaby Odiele (yes I pretty much use a different FC for Danny each time because while I have a clear idea of NB Danny in my head, it’s not based on any one person. But Hanne Gaby is intersex like Danny, so yay for that).

1) Jerott. I find it strange to think I grew up in a time when people apparently didn’t know George Michael was gay, but do have memories of the whole sordid uncomfortable circus around him being outed. Jerott wouldn’t realise George Michael was gay, even while emulating the Faith style - leathers, blue jeans, white t-shirt, aviators, acoustic guitar. And the song is a perfect fit for Jerott at the end of Checkmate, needing a little space to himself.

Well, I guess it would be nice if I could touch your body I know not everybody has got a body like you But I gotta think twice before I give my heart away And I know all the games you play because I played them too Oh, but I need some time off from that emotion Time to pick my heart up off the floor

2) Danny isn’t a transexual or a transvestite, but I believe the composer Richard O’Brian is non-binary, and Danny is most certainly a fan of RHPS. Danny has a big show-tunes voice that surprises everyone because usually they’re just rocking out with their sax.

3) THIS. THIS IS THE PERFECT SHIP SONG FOR THEM. Iconic sax!! Iconic guitar solo!! Scottish mega-hit!! And then there’s the wistfulness of the lyrics, Danny probably figuring Jerott’s never going to be interested...

Way down the street there's a light in his place He opens the door he's got that look on his face And he asks you where you've been You tell him who you've seen and you talk about anything He's got this dream about buyin' some land He's gonna give up the booze and the one night stands And then he'll settle down, in some quiet little town And forget about everything

4) I’m trying to weave through consistent influences for all the characters too, to give an idea of what brings them together as well as what their unique tastes are. Talking Heads are beloved by all at St Mary’s, and Danny is very good at claiming not to be in love.

5) Jerott again, it’s that...double-denims/blue jeans and white vest man’s man(?) vibe with the side of snogging your bandmate on stage.

Stay on the streets of this town And they'll be carving you up all right They say, "You gotta stay hungry" Hey, baby, I'm just about starving tonight I'm dying for some action I'm sick of sitting around here trying to write this book I need a love reaction Come on now, baby, give me just one look

6) A big Jewish show tune for Danny! And it’s from Yentl. So all the feelings about gender and faith and being torn between thinking you’re better off alone or going with the one you love.

I feel as if I'm falling Every time I close my eyes And flowing through my body Is a river of surprise Feelings are awakening I hardly recognize as mine 

7) As far as I gather, beyond even a ‘revival’ of something, the ‘80s saw the first proper emergence of klezmer as the genre we’d recognise now. Danny is very into this. And Saposhkele is perfect for Danny giving into their feelings and realising they’re in it for good.

[I sell my boots and go with you on a coach just to be with you as you are a handleless door without me my sweet little bird I will sell handkerchieves at the railroad station just to be with you as you are a handleless door without me]

8) Danny’s still not trans, but this is a period-appropriate song for a period-appropriate playlist :))) And Jerott would get very into playing it and singing it for Danny, once he realised he was more than fine with being in love with Danny because Danny’s amazing.

I pushed her away I walked to the door I fell to the floor I got down on my knees Well, I looked at her, and she at me

Well, that's the way that I want it to stay And I always want it to be that way for my Lola Lo-Lo-Lo-Lo-Lola Girls will be boys and boys will be girls It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world Except for Lola Lo-Lo-Lo-Lo-Lola

9) This was always on my Jerott playlists anyway for the lyrics and the struggle between god/faith/physicality/love, but add in the fact that it’s an incredibly Jewish take on those things and it’s perfect for this playlist.

He said, "I locked you in this body I meant it as a kind of trial You can use it for a weapon Or to make some woman smile."

10) Mainly I just think this is a bop, and I think Jerott and Danny would bond in dark Parisian discos to music by a French-Moroccan Jew (band AU Jerott’s mum is French-Algerian)

11) Another one to tie playlists together - St Mary’s as a whole are fans of R.E.M. Nonsensical Michael Stipe lyrics, but themes of self-invention and unusual/individual fashions

I am smitten I'm the real thing (I'm the real thing) We all invent ourselves And you know me

12) I chose this song because I’d already had Kishore Kumar on Jerott playlists, and this one is thematically about feeling a change when touched by another person’s mind, wanting to incorporate them into music and song.

13) More French-Jewish music for bonding over, but Jerott can serenade Danny on guitar with this one.

14) Featuring the golden peacock, a recurring image in Yiddish folk music, ‘The peacock here is a mediator, helping the singer to find what s/he is yearning for and, possibly, possessing a messianic, redemptive ability to cross over the boundaries of impossible distance.’ [source] I like the idea of this relationship as something kind of redemptive for both of them, and it’s also a union of influences that are incredibly disparate but still converge on a Glasgow childhood in the ‘60s (not that they knew each other as kids).

[The sun will be setting behind the mountain, In silence approaching then love will come softly; In silence approaching then love will come softly To sorrow, that sits on a golden stone And weeps for itself all alone.]

15) Oh you know. Facing up to the fact they’re idiots in love and it’s a good thing.

I watch the ripples change their size But never leave the stream of warm impermanence and So the days float through my eyes But still the days seem the same And these children that you spit on As they try to change their worlds Are immune to your consultations They're quite aware of what they're going through

16) Would it be a Jerott playlist without some Queen? And they’re best friends, doncha know? :’)

17) Gerry Rafferty’s band, just a fun little bop to finish things off with.

#playlists: period-appropriate #character: jerott blyth #character: danny hislop #ship: a twinge of approval

[ebbarights]

living+ liveblog under cut

had a good day then a bad day then went for a run and now it's a good day again. let's see if this changes things

logan jumpscare omg

okay i didn't fucking miss him lmao. disregard previous posts

he's against powdering his face because that's gay

literally googled lorene scafaria yesterday bc she directed hustlers and her name sounded familiar only to realise i know her as bo burnham's partner kms

barefoot swede tw

matsson with his affected lisp maybe you should hang out with roman instead of shiv who's too good for you

i have skarsgård stockholm syndrome (lol) bc i've seen him in soo many things lately

the first meeting me when i lie

TWEETS AND DRUG RUMOURS glass houses ken

a friend sent me a roman fancam the other say bc i told her he's my favourite character and it kind of annoyed me a tiny bit bc. that's not what this is but also. lbr. it's exactly what this is

roman facial tic comeback!! honestly my favourite thing kieran does

i want someone to do a hug counter per episode/season when this is all over this one is off the charts

shivyyy :'((((

roman you're not ready to fuck. you never are and i love that about you

ANNABETH GISH????????? MY LOVE

why does she give him advice about grief tho. 'it just hasn't hit you yet'? she's right but that's a really weird thing to say to a stranger

sidenote i have german subtitles on this episode because i was eating and they're the only ones available and. everybody is using like. the formal you? and that's so weird. i don't think they should do that. they're all using first names

the segregation comment should be so telling for those guys who think roman is actually right-wing. he knows shit about all ideologies he just doesn't give a shit!! (that would be very bad irl but in the show i think that's an important distinction)

roman you can't just fire people because you brought it up

is ... the presentation that day? and kendall wants to build a house? dude do you know anything about anything

who is tk. shiv lore unlocked

i used to play something like bitey with a friend in school but with. i think it's called indian burn in english? don't think that name's okay but idk what else you would call it

why is greg there

kendall looks exhausted

roman with the you're fired is like a little kid who just learned a new trick

oooh no i know that gerri outfit i know what comes next :(

this conversation hurts but also this is lifeblood to me

oh so it wasn't your dad will wash you away it was the money. that's such clever editing

roman's on such a power trip it's crazy. maybe post-grieve a little that'll make you feel better

the way he immediately regrets it and his mouth when kendall says he shouldn't is actually killing me dead

tomshiv wouldn't survive a day in a trailerpark

kendall sounds so sad when he talks about the clouds

kendall baby you're so manic and the sibs totally know it

roman pulls him out of it straight onto the other side and then leaves him alone with it that's horrible. i get it but it's horrible

is the fingers to the forehead thing a grounding technique

it's still so crazy to me that their dad just died. like JUST died. and now they have to do shit like this because the company's toast otherwise. something capitalism something humanity etc

ROMAN HUGGING THE HUGE PILLOW LMAOOO

maybe i'm an idiot but why would the guy ask him about matsson's tweet that he obviously hasn't seen?

somebody stop this how long will kendall talk about the tweet this is on l to the og level

literally laughed out loud when roman showed hugo that matsson deleted the tweet

roman in the car 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

(though the people who said roman was seriously genuinely for real horny listening to that make me fucking angry. necrophiliac believer bullshit)

the MUSIIIIIIIC

#ungodly long this time idk why #i just like being able to look back and see what i thought #succession s4 #succession spoilers

[bubonickitten]

Who’s your favourite character in the magnus archives?

Ooooh that's a tough one. Probably sounds like a cop-out but I genuinely found things to like about all of the main cast?? One of the things I latch onto the most is character development, and they all had some really amazing journeys in that way.

My favorites to write and analyze in depth are Jon and Martin, so I might say they're my favorites...?

[TMA spoilers below the cut]

Like, Jon's ADHD ass is first of all very relatable but more than anything I love the GROWTH he goes through?? This man went through so much trauma and faced such unimaginable cruelty and he STILL never stopped caring. He hurt people, yeah -- p much everyone in the podcast does at one point or another -- but he acknowledged it when he did, and even when it would've been easy to just... give in and be monstrous, to just say "fuck it" and live up to the expectations everyone had of him, he made a concerted effort to do better, even when no one acknowledged his progress, even when no one was willing to support him or encourage him or believe he was worth saving.

And I can never say enough about Martin's diehard "so what if the universe doesn't care, that just means we have to pick up the slack" stance towards nihilism. It's not even toxic positivity, it's fully "yeah shit's fucked, the heat death of the universe is inevitable, but I'll STILL fight Jon's shitty self-esteem AND all fourteen, possibly fifteen cosmic evils on the hill of Our Experiences Matter, and the entire time I will be delightfully bitchy about it, no I do not take constructive criticism', who wants to go first?"

Of course I also love Georgie and Melanie and everything about WTGFs. And Gerry, my beloved. And, god, I love Tim and Sasha (I thrive on S1 before-shit-hit-the-fan archives crew content!! and everyone lives/nobody dies AUs, and literally anything involving reconciliation btwn Jon and Tim).

And Basira -- as much as I'd get mad at her sometimes, her words and actions always made sense to me within the context of her characterization and situation, and I love how she and Jon are sort of on the same wavelength re: dark humor and being incorrigible nerds. (I'm having a lot of fun writing them in my current time travel AU, because given the time to heal and the space to actually communicate, I feel they could be friends. Not outwardly affectionate per se, but like... idk, their platonic love language would probably be something like picking apart the flawed methodology of a shitty study and half-jokingly writing a scathing letter to the editor about how wrong the authors are until Daisy gets bored of being the third wheel and demands they all play Mario Kart or something.)

And I'm obsessed with Jon and Daisy' weird post-Buried friendship and just... they were literally the only two people in the Archives who really understood the struggle to resist feeding their respective patrons, but they also didn't make excuses for each other, and -- I genuinely loved the confirmation that Jon never actually forgave her and didn't sugarcoat her past actions. They probably never would have become friends under any normal circumstances, but given what they had to work with, they built something based on mutual support and accountability and a refusal to engage in the sort of denial that the people around them occasionally did.

In terms of side characters, I still maintain that if Adelard Dekkar knew Jonah's plans from the start he would've astrally projected himself into Elias' office and strangled him to death with his own tie, pseudo-immortality be damned. Replace every Chuck Norris joke ever written with Adelard Dekkar, I s2g.

I also must give an honorable mention to our second ever statement giver, the trope-subverting MVP of "I Am Not LOOKING, I Do Not See It", the king of NOT fucking around and finding out, our gentleman of perpetual staying in his own lane: Joshua Gillespie, gold medal winner of NOT being the first to die in a horror story. What a legend.

aaa I'm rambling. Basically there's a lot to love, both in an 'I am fond of this character's delightful quirks' way and in a 'wow this is good character development from a writing perspective' way.

#tma #tma spoilers

[hageny]

Succession Thoughts: Gerri x Roman 

AN: Credit goes to @thinkingfixatingobsessing​ for the idea for point number one in this post. Also, this post is my lengthiest yet, but I promise it’s worth the read, lol.

1. Come Over?

This moment between Roman and Gerri is a small one, but presents an interesting thread that starts in this episode--Vaulter--and gets threaded into their phone sex scene in Safe Room. During his time working through the documents and foundations of Vaulter, Roman is stuck in the middle of the proxy battle and feeling the heat of the moment, which comes to a head in this scene. We see him wrestling with himself about what to do, throwing his phone a pathetic glance, hesitating, and then finally deciding to call Gerri for help. He divulges to her that he essentially has no clue what to do and throws out a weak ‘pivot to video’ idea that Gerri instantly reminds him was tried by the Vaulter team already and presumably fell flat. Finally, Roman breaks and asks her meekly, “Can you just come over? I want you in the room.” This is interesting because it is one of the first scenes where the show establishes the fact that Roman seeks out Gerri for comfort. This, of course, comes on the heels of their trip to Japan, so we can deduce that Roman has realized that Gerri could’ve screwed him but didn’t, and sees how he was exposed to her nurturing side when he needed it most. What’s interesting is how the dialogue in this scene mimics what comes later. He first asks her for her help, and when she balks at his request, he immediately says, “Yeah, could--yeah--fuck you!” and hangs up on her. The move from gentle and comforting to caustic is an interesting one, but it’s fascinating because for once it isn’t built into the scene to showcase that Roman needs degradation to achieve sexual pleasure. Here, he flies off the handle at Gerri, but when we think about this scene the reason why is obvious and not tied to sex: Roman gets angry because in his one weak moment the response he receives is not the sympathetic one he wants, and so he pivots back to caustic to shield himself later on. He knows that should Gerri brings this up later he can tell her he was fucking with her and didn’t mean it, but in truth, he did mean it--he did want her and need her, and Gerri didn’t understand this, and was too busy with things on her end to meet him where he needed her. Part of Roman’s hang ups, sexually, are tied to the degradation he experienced as a child, but there is also a link between his need for degradation and his realization that he never got the comfort he needed, so seeking insult was easier. He is a walking example of the quote, "All attention is good attention.” Because Roman never received the comfort he desired, he shields himself from rejection by pretending to be hardier than what he is and striving to be insulted, because to him, at this stage, it’s all the same. He could get a hug, but getting walloped and getting off are faster so he settles for that instead. This thread is later carried into the ‘shirt-button’ scene in Hunting, where Gerri walks up to Roman’s room to look in on him. Now, she has the understanding of him that is necessary to respond appropriately, and instead of berating him for being a mess she comforts him, and he responds not by pushing her away but accepting her gentility, however brief. Roman doesn’t so much need humiliation to get off--he only needs it because it’s all he thinks he deserves, and it’s served him well enough so far. It’s the key to his inability to have sex with his other girlfriends: it’s not that he can’t, it’s that sex requires intimacy and sensitivity, and Roman isn’t close enough to himself emotionally to comfortably tap into these feelings and deliver. 

2. Rejected.

As I’m re-watching the series in preparation for Season 3, there is a thread which is established early on between Kendall and Gerri that begins in Lifeboats and is expounded upon later in the show. We see Kendall at the helm of Waystar during Logan’s absence as he makes his infamous ‘Lifeboats’ speech, gathering his team together and asking for their help in moving Waystar into the future, inviting them to pool their ideas and deliver them to him, essentially attempting to depart from his father’s style of management by ostensibly establishing an ‘open door policy’ with his team. This move, however, is ironic, as immediately after this scene we have the scene between himself and Gerri, pictured above. Really, in hindsight, Kendall is as manipulative as Logan, but he is weaker in the sense that he is not as combative openly, and therefore comes across as a softer, better version of his father, which isn’t always true to his nature. We see Gerri follow Kendall after the meeting and tell him, “I want to talk options to you, okay? I’ve got some thoughts I’ve been working on for a long time--”. Kendall immediately interrupts her and replies, “I don’t want the sloppy seconds, Gerri. I’m taking five to think big.” When she presses the issue again, promising that she has some good ideas, he flat out rejects her without even listening to her, and it is here where we see shades of his father in himself. It’s also what makes Gerri’s manipulation of Kendall easier later on. We can deduce that this is not the first time that Gerri has been pushed to the sidelines by one of the Roy family members, and at a time when help is sorely needed--and on the heels of Kendall openly asking for it--he outright rejects Gerri’s and essentially makes it clear to her that her help is second-rate help--only useful to him when it can get him out of a tight squeeze, but not so useful that he believes her worth listening to when the stakes are higher. This ties into her relationship with Roman as well. While Roman is always showcased as being the one who needs her, if we pay attention we can clearly see that Gerri’s need for him is equal to his. Gerri has been a part of Waystar for decades--at one point in Pre-Nuptial commenting to Kendall that she and Frank are reminiscing about their first visit to Caroline’s estate in 1986--making her one of the most senior members of staff. But what she has--it is implied--never had is someone who genuinely valued her ideas and her input. This is also what she gets from Roman. She tells him to do something, he does it. She throws an idea out, he listens. He becomes her voice, often using the phrases, “Gerri thinks” or “Gerri says” during Season 2. Through Roman, we hear Gerri, and through Gerri we see Roman’s potential. They carry each other. Roman is always depicted by his family as being stupid, and yet who was smart enough to seek out advice from the one person with the most experience at Waystar aside from Logan? Not his siblings. Because they believe they know better, their ego will be their downfall. 

3. In Logan’s Shadow.

In Sad Sack Wasp Trap, we see shades of Gerri’s eventual betrayal of Kendall begin to take shape. Having tasted his first drops of power, real power, Kendall’s ego immediately starts to swell in little ways. We hear him telling Jess that he wants to do a run on the late-night TV circuit, having gotten the idea while traveling in L.A. Gerri reacts to this with disbelief, and Kendall retorts, “What does that mean? I was fuckin’ king of the Lampoon.” Kendall’s use of the word ‘king’ is used to purposefully emphasize the way he has begun to see himself--finally in the position he desired for so long, finally out of his father’s sphere of influence. His high is interrupted by Jess’ telling him that his father has dropped into the office and wants to see him. When Kendall asks Gerri if she knew about this, she denies this, but when he says, “Shouldn’t he have told you?” all she does is shrug coolly in his direction. This begs the question: did Gerri really not know? On the surface, it seems obvious she didn’t, but we have to consider that this moment comes right after Kendall’s complete disregard for her in the previous episode. Gerri’s motivation to help Kendall would be at a fairly low point, and what could be more amusing to her than to watch him fall flat on his face so quickly again, especially considering Logan’s outrage at Kendall’s decision to bring Stewy in to help their debt issue. Maybe she genuinely didn’t know, but given what she does later on, it would seem pertinent to wonder. 

4. Take the piss.

Later in Sad Sack Wasp Trap, Kendall finds out that his father has pissed on his carpet and brings Roman, Gerri, and Frank in to assess and discuss the situation. He starts by lecturing them about what could happen if people knew Logan had done this, pointing out that this bit of knowledge could spear the company’s already flagging public persona, and trying to use that as a way to keep his father from attending the RECNY ball. He tries to drop the responsibility for fixing the situation into Gerri’s hands, telling her she needs to talk to Logan and tell him that if he intends to come back he has to do so via the proper avenues, and that he can’t just show up on a whim. Gerri listens for a while, and eventually delivers a barb that is subtle but effective. She asks Kendall, “What did you do, Kendall, when you realized he’d done this?”, referring to Logan’s pissing incident. Kendall immediately falters, stuttering that he didn’t want to embarrass his father in front of Stewy and basically admitting he did nothing. The camera sweeps over her and Roman’s faces, and they give Kendall the same look, suggesting they are disappointed but not surprised at his ineffectiveness. This moment also mirrors what Roman does later in Vaulter, undercutting his brother in front of his father to get the result he wants. The point of Gerri’s remark is to showcase her opinion of him. To Gerri, Kendall is nothing but a papa’s boy with a golden spoon in his mouth, someone who wants the power but is unwilling to work for it. And who can really blame Kendall? Considering the way his father treats him, he has learned from Logan that working is one thing, but using a by-way to get to the top faster is better, and he attempts to see this come to fruition by taking control of a company he is ill-equipped to lead. Gerri’s disgust for Kendall is fairly obvious, but to Kendall’s great misfortune, he is a swimmer in a shark tank, completely out of his league in her waters. She is faster than him, more subtle, more cunning, and lacking in conscience enough that when she disposes of him later she feels no remorse. Kendall has bad traits but he is overall not a bad character, and we see his better parts shine when he is not chasing power. But to Gerri, his better characteristics are a moot point. She undercuts him later once again, and we see how she delights in what she’s doing, how his weakness and trusting nature to her are disgusting, and if anything make it easier for her to do what she does. While Roman makes her prove herself equal, playing with her, seeing if she can give back what he puts out, Kendall takes for granted her abilities, wanting only a menial servant, and sees himself eaten alive. 

5. I Will Guide Thy Hand.

During the RECNY ball, we find out--via Connor--the Kendall has plans to make a retirement announcement in Logan’s presence, allegedly so he can usurp the throne for himself. Though Kendall later denies this, we do know that he does not want his father to speak at the ball. Allegedly, this is out of ‘good will’, his concern for his father and the company mainly influencing his decision, but truthfully Kendall is also motivated by a desire to take hold of a position his father always had at the ball--as a speaker--and be on the receiving end of the adoration Logan is so used to. He wants to be seen by the public the way his father is: competent, powerful, totally in control; he also knows that there is a chance that Logan will declare himself CEO again, knocking Kendall from his throne--which eventually comes to fruition. Gerri knows this, is smart enough to intuit why Kendall is afraid, and is calm when Kendall once again comes to her for assistance, wanting her to handle his father. Unlike earlier, she doesn’t throw any barbs his way. She calmly promises to talk to Logan about his supposed speech and to try to dissuade him--while not so convincingly claiming she knew nothing about the speech at all to begin with. Instead of doing what she promised, she walks over to Logan and simply tells him, “Good luck tonight. Gonna knock it out of the park.” She gives him the motivation he needs to move forward with his plans, especially at a point where his health is so precarious. Gerri knows this, knows Logan well enough to understand that a little reassurance will ensure that Logan will do as planned and follow through with his decision. We see her later in the episode watching the whole thing play out during Logan’s speech, a self-satisfied smirk on her face, already knowing the end from the beginning. What we’re witnessing is the blooming of the flower on the end of the thread that started when Kendall disrespected her in Lifeboats. All he had to do to save himself was listen to Gerri, and yet he chose not to, believing he knew better than her how to reposition Waystar and lead the company into the future. He, who has been to rehab, fallen prey to his addictions and vices, and only played in the big leagues when he wanted to while Gerri--and the other members of Waystar--had to be there regardless of the circumstances in their personal lives. Again we can’t solely blame Kendall--he is the person his father has allowed him to be. We can also see that what Kendall lacks is the thing that makes Gerri so capable of remaining in power--detachment. Gerri is emotionally detached enough to do her job well and not worry about what amoral things she does to maintain her position of power. This is another trait she shares with Roman, who, after hearing how beleaguered the employees of Vaulter are, still guts the company and costs them their jobs without a second thought to the damage he is doing. With regard to her relationship with Kendall, for Gerri destroying him is not only easy but pleasurable. She knows that Kendall stupidly trusts her, and will remain none the wiser to her duplicitousness, and so she operates in the background, doing what she can to ensure he will lose what is so precious to him because of her--all while believing she did what she could to help him. This theme reminded me of the movie The Witch, hence the title of this particular post. Thomasin ends up in the hands of the Devil at the end, and--believing he will give her what she wants--she gives her soul to him. Like Kendall, she doesn’t realize that the person who is giving her what she wants is really taking everything, and she, like Kendall, is left with nothing in the end. Am I comparing Gerri to the Devil? Only superficially. She is certainly not totally like Satan, but from what we see here, she has the ability to operate like him: swiftly and maliciously. 

#gerri/roman #gerri x roman #gerri kellman #roman roy #succession #succession hbo #hbo succession #succession thoughts

[i-watch-too-many-movies]

5 Favorite First Viewings of July 2021

Quick note: Hi everyone, I'm back, things have honestly been getting better for me, and I'm glad to be on this site full of cinephiles, people that are too horny, and cinephiles that are too horny. I'll be more active on here. But anyway, let's talk about some movies.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) (dir. Russ Meyer)

CW: Abortion mention

What a picture. What a gorgeous, sexy, horrifying slice of what Hollywood and star life can do to a bunch of bright-eyed young people looking for success. Also is a critique of how macho nature can ruin friendships and romantic relationships with total ease. I was obsessed with the scene transitions, like Pet pouring pancake mix onto a plate after the abortion scene, or Kelly singing after someone screams before their murder in the opening scene.

Great, campy flick with exceptional music too.

Deep Cover (1992) (dir. Bill Duke)

Laurence Fishburne plays Russell Stevens, a Cincinnati police officer who hopes to do well by the community, to make a difference. He’s traumatized by the death of his substance-abusing father, and wants to make sure that he can help the people of his own town. He goes undercover on assignment as a drug dealer, where his boss orders him to take down the kingpin. Stevens realizes the police’s own failings while on assignment. The racist abuse he takes from Agent Carver, and the realization that the police department is protecting drug kingpins like Gallegos and Barbossa. Giving drugs to Black kids and Latinx kids so there will be less of them. The cops are no different than the drug kingpins looking to make filthy amounts of money.

Fishburne’s performance is excellent, as Stevens feels he has to maintain a stone face so he doesn’t get caught by Jason or Barbossa or any of his cronies, but also he maintains a stone face to try and hide his emotion, his trauma. But when he gets pissed, Fishburne acts it beautifully, as is when he has to deliver a funny quip to counter Jason’s douchebaggery. And the production design, holy fuck, the sets and the lighting.

A perfect neo-noir for the HW Bush years, arguably one of the most timeless commentaries on the era, as well as the police as a whole.

Fast Five (2011) (dir. Justin Lin)

I was torn between including this or Furious 7, but I ultimately went with Fast Five because it felt like an important turning point in the series, it's a great heist film, and it reached the same chaotic highs and genuinely excellent filmmaking that I had been waiting for since 2 Fast and Tokyo Drift.

Fast Five opens where Fast & 4ious left off. Dom is hauled away to prison on a bus. Mia and Brian drive in their high-tech cars and knock the bus over, helping Dom escape. The title drops. Fast Five. It’s such an intense yet short action scene, and dropping the title immediately after it lets the viewer know that this movie is not fucking around. It’s arguably gonna be more intense and insane than the previous one.

And it is. The filmmakers made the decision to use a lot more practical stunt work for the film, and as a result, it leads to, so far, the best action in the entire series, since 2 Fast and Tokyo Drift. It’s not just how it’s shot or edited, it’s the geography of the locations, the rooftop chase echoes the rooftop chase of Jackie Chan’s masterwork Police Story, particularly the way each character bounces from top to top.

And of course, there’s the silliest moment in the movie, the one that matches the intensity and kineticism of a film like 2 Fast, which is driving the Reyes’ bank vault throughout the street, getting chased by corrupt cops.

I know we make fun of Vin Diesel for saying “family” all the time in these films, but there’s a reason we remember him saying all of these impassioned monologues. Because he’s unbelievably sincere, and has so much love in his heart for every single person in the room. Anytime he delivers a speech to any of them, it’s genuinely heartwarming.

This is the film that finally shows La Familia in their best environment, which is working together, in a movie genre that allows them to work together, which is a heist film. And a great one at that.

Last Days (2005) (dir. Gus Van Sant)

CW: Mention of suicide

Several films have been made about legendary rock artist Kurt Cobain, and for good reason. He is one of the most tragic figures in rock and roll. A tortured genius who has written and performed classic song after classic song with his band Nirvana. He was called the voice of a generation, and helped change the face of mainstream alternative rock music as we know it. But with that fame, and all of those expectations came a worsening depression and further drug abuse, and his eventual death. But most of the films about Kurt Cobain ask one question which gets under my skin way too much:

“Who REEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY killed Kurt Cobain?”

It was him. He did. And it’s okay, I’m sad too. Thinking that Kurt Cobain was murdered is completely ignoring the depression that he faced. And despite Last Days being more inspired by the death of Cobain rather than actually about it, it feels much more honest than the conspiracy documentaries on his death, wanting to leech off of his dead body.

This is the last installment of Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy”, the previous two installments being Gerry (2001), and Elephant (2003). While I have not seen Gerry, I have seen Elephant though, and love that film for its minimalist, raw nature, and its boldness for not romanticizing the school shooter or the lives they had taken. Last Days falls into that trap once, as I don’t agree with the shot of Blake’s soul climbing up a ladder, that always struck me as cheesy in a film that is anything but.

Last Days is similar to Elephant in terms of the way it is filmed. Its usage of long takes, and still shots of characters doing various things, such as Blake playing his guitar behind a drum set. The way these moments are shot is similar to a Chantal Akerman film, particularly Jeanne Dielman. Where the acts of the mundane are the stars of the film. Blake wanders around an empty house, and the viewer can feel the pain, not just through Michael Pitt’s acting, but from the house itself. Its decay, its paint peeling from the walls, from the soft glow of the lamp that lights his face.

I say this is the most honest film about Kurt Cobain, because, despite the characters technically being fictional (the main character who looks, walks, and acts like Cobain is named Blake), this film focuses on the mental state of a person before they eventually take their own life. They’re still working, still making music, still trying to talk to friends and bandmates, but the depression lingers on. Not once does this film try to make you believe that someone else killed him, because you can see the signs of his own suicide taking place just through the film’s excellent cinematography by Harris Savides, showing his mental state only growing worse through the production design.

And it’s empathetic with him. There’s no judgement for leaving rehab, there’s no finger-wagging at him or the people he was with, there’s just a silent prayer at the end of the film, hoping that he is in a better place than he was.

Sometimes you don’t need to show every event that led you to where you are, all you can show is the moment, which also makes this better than most biopics as well, as it never feels messy or muddled, just showing one moment of Blake/Kurt’s life.

I really loved this film, and I’ll be writing about it in full soon.

The Village (2004) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

The Cracked.com/Channel Awesome audience stuck in 2012 will tell you that this was the beginning of the end for Shyamalan. That this was when people stopped taking him seriously, that this was when he became more of a punchline because of his twist endings.

But why?

The Village was released in 2004, deep in the Bush administration, during the early stages of the Iraq War. The leaders of the time were talking about imaginary boogeymen, terrorists that would attack the civilians if they could. Because of 9/11, politicians could get away with these false ideas with the majority of Americans fully believing them. The boogeymen in The Village are “The People We Don’t Speak Of”, monsters attracted by the color red. Yet we find out that they are all costumes made by the Elders of the land, designed to prevent people from going outside the land. They rule by fear disguised as love. They’ve gone through their own traumas through the deaths of their family members, but they’ve decided to completely abandon the lives that they’ve had and have their children living lies.

9/11 impacted American life by teaching citizens to live primarily by fear, to not trust anyone but their own people. And yet, post-9/11, all that increased was not “coming together”, but hate crimes against South Asian people. The rage white Americans had felt led to conservative politicians pushing fear-mongering agendas, and said white Americans blindly accepted. The outside world was progressing, but too many people were fine with living with further conservative politics only regressing American life further and further back, all for the illusion of safety. Meanwhile, the only threats to them were not the brown citizens outside of America they were so afraid of, but the white elders, the white politicians.

The Village explores these fears so eloquently, all while having a terrifying atmosphere, an enchanting score, and brilliant sound design. I enjoyed this movie very much.

Other viewings I enjoyed:

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) (dir. Mike Judge) (re-watch)

Blow Out (1981) (dir. Brian de Palma) (re-watch)

Clueless (1995) (dir. Amy Heckerling) (re-watch)

Furious 7 (2015) (dir. James Wan)

The Long Goodbye (1973) (dir. Robert Altman)

Lupin III: The First (2019) (dir. Takashi Yamazaki)

Unbreakable (2000) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan) (re-watch)

Velvet Goldmine (1998) (dir. Todd Haynes)

The Visit (2015) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

#favorite first watches #these movies are (chef's kiss) #beyond the valley of the dolls #russ meyer #deep cover #bill duke #fast five #justin lin #last days #gus van sant #the village #m night shyamalan

[authenticdesperation]

A Review of Every Single Episode of Inside No. 9 [1/2]

Disclaimer: my opinions are not definitive but they are bloody good. There may be spoilers so read at your own risk. This will probably have to be a two-parter for the sake of my sanity and your scrolling.  

Series 1

1. Sardines 

A killer way to kick off a series with an absolutely top notch cast. This episode probably wins the award for the episode I’ve spent the most time thinking about after watching, putting all the little things that went over my head at first into place. I love the set design in this episode as well with everything seeming delightfully old fashioned. 

2. A Quiet Night In

This episode is something of a masterclass in farce and it is a Bold Move to have the second episode of a new series almost completely free of dialogue. It’s dirty, it’s fully of silly slapstick and it’s a nice change of pace after the rather harrowing ending to the first episode. 

3. Tom and Gerri 

This is an episode I enjoyed more when I thought about it more. It beautifully shows the decline of Tom’s mental health (acted impeccably, lovely work from Reece) due to grief. Also it was quite nice to see Reece and Steve acting opposite each other more, they have great chemistry together and Steve as Migg is perfectly unsettling. 

4. Last Gasp

Now, I have to be honest with you: I do not exclusively have glowing praise for this episode. I enjoyed it far more after watching it more than once as I liked the humour of it. One of my favourite things was the video camera perspective at the start, as well as some lovely moments with the music. However, I’m not overly keen on the ending, I just found it slightly underwhelming. 

5. The Understudy

Back on the praise train kids! I am a big old Shakespeare nerd (as are Reece and Steve, apparently) and I studied Macbeth for my GCSEs so I was particularly excited when I watched it. I will also have to give a little nod to the directing of this episode, it was an absolute feast for the eyes. 

6. The Harrowing

Oh hell yes (no pun intended). I think this episode is a great one to cap off the first series, really demonstrating the versatility of Steve and Reece. Also, I’m a big horror fan and the entire atmosphere of it really appealed to me. Though I would say that the second I saw that house I would have run about fifteen miles in the opposite direction.

Series 2

1. La Couchette

This episode is very similar to Sardines in the sense that it feels rather claustrophobic, but this time it leans far more towards the comedy side of things rather than drama. Bonus points for Steve demonstrating his German skills. 

2. The 12 Days of Christine

Ah yes, the episode I’ve cried at every time I’ve watched it. This one is a strong demonstration of how to wrong foot an audience: you never quite know what’s going on until towards the end and all of the horror-esque moments just add to the confusion making the ending one hell of an emotional gut-punch. I wouldn’t watch it if you need something to cheer you up, though.

3. The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge

My second favourite episode of series two, The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge is packed to the brim with silly puns and smutty jokes. I personally predicted the twist but in this case I don’t think it really mattered as I was too busy enjoying the Horrible Histories for adults thing that was going on. Bonus points for another killer cast.

4. Cold Comfort

The first of two episodes directed by Steve and Reece and really quite a bold one at that. The whole thing is filmed in the style of a CCTV feed, which I’m pretty sure an experienced director would warn you off trying, but it really pays off in the narrative. Since the camera doesn’t switch focus at any point, it really relies on the acting performances to keep your focus which, in my opinion, the cast fucking nailed.

5. Nana’s Party

If I had to describe the episode in two words they would be ‘domestic drama’. It’s a fairly classic setup of a family with their fair share of secrets, namely adultery and alcoholism, but happily doesn’t give the game away too early and a layer of humour is added by the slightly irritating prankster character of Pat. It’s the second episode of the series directed by Steve and Reece and has a sort of understated quality to it, showing Claire Skinner’s character’s exacting nature above a layer of familial drama. 

6. Séance Time

My favourite episode of series two, at first you think you’re walking into another haunted house scenario until you find out it’s a prank show that went off the air due to a scandal. There’s a great sense of humour throughout, and I don’t know whether I’m easily freaked out or the final jumpscare was genuinely terrifying but I flew about fifteen feet into the air when I saw it. Once I’d peeled myself off the ceiling, I really appreciated that it felt like a slow burn horror despite still only being half an hour. 

Series 3

1. The Devil of Christmas

I live for schlocky horror films that are so cheesy they give you nightmares if you watch them before bed. So the 1970s film within the episode, accompanied by a director’s commentary-cum-police interview performed by Derek Jacobi, was an absolute treat. The story of Krampus is one that has been done a lot, but never as a snuff film (as far as I know) so it was a nice little twist.

2. The Bill

Every time I rewatch Inside No. 9 this is the episode I always have to watch no matter what. It is such a simple premise and it feels slightly reminiscent of the Geoff, Mike and Brian sketches from The League of Gentlemen. Now is probably the moment where I should sing the praises of director Guillem Morales who has, quite frankly, become my personal hero having seen the many, many episodes of this series he’s directed. The framing in this episode is absolutely genius, but it’s only really obvious after you’ve watched it a few times and I have to give kudos for making a dialogue-heavy episode visually interesting. There are jokes that I think about at least twice a week and I am obsessed with Jason Watkins’ acting...I think this will be my longest review of this whole post. 

3. The Riddle of the Sphinx

This is the best episode I will never watch again. I love horror, and I’ve watched some bone-chilling films but something about this episode made me feel so uncomfortable. It is also a real testament to Steve Pemberton, who I’m led to believe is the cryptic crossword fan who took the lead writing this episode, that he wrote something involving cryptic crosswords that didn’t give me a migraine. 

4. Empty Orchestra

Ah, what a nice change of pace after the last episode with something far lighter. The karaoke booth concept is so fun and I’ve never understood the criticism of the episode. That being said, of every single antagonist in every single episode of Inside No. 9, Connie is the character I love to hate the most. All of the characters feel more like people you’ve met before and the vibe of a group of work colleagues in a karaoke booth going through the usual petty drama feels familiar. I think series three is one that has some of the darkest concepts and this is a great exception to that. 

5. Diddle Diddle Dumpling

When I looked in the background more while rewatching this episode, I noticed a lot of things were in twos. I can only assume that was a deliberate choice made somewhere along the line, and one that pays off when you notice it. Both Mat Baynton and Keeley Hawes played their parts to perfection, with Mat really doing quite a lot with a fairly small part. The whole episode reads as an interesting analysis of grief, in a similar sense to Tom and Gerri. Also, Reece’s character did not murder the remaining twin and apparently I’m the weirdo for thinking that was what was being implied. In my defence, there was cannibalism earlier in the series; filicide did not seem like that big of a leap.

6. Private View 

Agatha Christie eat your heart out (that wasn’t meant to be a reference to the ending, it’s just a happy accident). Murder mysteries are my absolute jam so I am obsessed with this episode. The modern art show is such a great setting for a whodunnit as demonstrated by the reaction to the discovery of Peter Kay’s character’s body. All the characters have their brilliant little quirks, and the killer is revealed at the perfect time and it was a good idea to not make that reveal the twist. 

#mine #review #inside no. 9 #inside no 9 #reece shearsmith #steve pemberton #the league of gentlemen #league of gentlemen #television

[ashes-in-a-jar]

Tma relisten Episodes 11-15

So this round already has two other posts out of it about Oliver because he Bae.

These have alot of ideas regarding entities changing around reality, controlling non victims to set the stage, and turning around what people love most to their worst fear. Also insane abilities of the crew to obtain hard to access info and evidence! And some more Jon sass. Enjoy!

11 dreamer

Wow this episode had alot. I made a separate post with a theory about Oliver's statement here and a realization regarding him and Jane Prentiss here. They are alot to unpack

Oliver is so. Freaking. Relatable! Learned economics and hated it. Nearly had a breakdown like him because of it. "going to stay with some of the few friends that had survived my year of stress-fuelled outbursts and constantly cancelled plans." yep. That.

Boyfriend Graham ey? You notebook eating Graham?? Wow that guy is full of surprises.

I love the dream sequences and their descriptions it's a really beautiful thing to try and picture.

Its interesting how he went from passive to desparate to passive again about death. He tries but can't help. I wonder when the dreams started to bother him so much he sought after the silence of point Nemo. Was it when they became so full of red because of the apocalypse coming closer? Hmmm

Another person named John. I guess that makes sense it's a common name. But I forgot how many people are fully named in this podcast. Hundreds of names to come up with! Jonny I'm quite impressed!

He worked with Jane Prentiss in the magic shop! I can't believe I forgot about that! Wow small avatar world indeed.

"It led me to a room, the label of which was still visible, and read “Archive”. I entered to see walls covered with shelves and cabinets stretching off into the distance. These shelves were coated in a sticky black tar, which I knew at that moment was the thickened, pulpy blood that pumped through each and every one of those veins." everything that has to do with the Fears I bet. Full of death and destruction and stolen from the veins to be out on display for the Eye's pleasure.

Yo Jon is scared of this he's seriously considering going to Elias for advice

" I had Tim look into it, as I don’t entirely trust the others not to have written it as a practical joke" wait. He trusts TIM? Not to do a practical joke? How. Why. Eh?

"died in the line of duty" fuck you Jonah.

Now Jon will get every new statement immediately when it's made. Perhaps this was Elias' intention all along. To scare him into making sure he does not miss any paranormal activity recorded by the institute.

12 first aid

I'm not immune to more Gerry badassery, hell yeah

And we get polish Martin which hell yeah! Even if Jon doesn't believe it. I'm sure he's repressing the fact that he's thoroughly impressed.

I think it's really interesting the effect entities have on people who are decidedly not their victims. Everyone leaving no questions so the entity can set the scene for the scare. Like with Gillespie how no one lived in the apartment building he was in etc. Alot of work into a handful of people being genuinely scared.

Gerry's burns stopped at the neck? How did he manage that. Also it's hilarious to imagine that he's like "yes burn all of me but please. not my goth makeup"

Zippo lighter with eye design!! And Jon has web design! They are brothers (joke but still really interesting)

Liquids were boiling around her and she didn't feel the heat. Also an interesting effect just for the scare.

Gerry got eye superpowers like Jon if he can function while injure and filled with painkillers.

“Yes. For you, better beholding than the lightless flame.” Gerry knew she'd be haunted by a Fear from that day on and realised that perhaps being watched would be easier for her specifically to deal with than the Desolation. I guess that's a way of assessing people. Which fear would least bother you.

Jon is already enamoured with Gerry you can tell. He can't wait to hear more from him. Just you wait Jon.

They really can access alot of information huh. CCTV Interviews files. Pretty impressive for a non-research team. They're so good at it they'd rather do that than actual archiving.

13 alone

The sound editing in this episode is not that great it was a bit to get used to.

We get a glimpse at the Lukases which is... Ugh

Jon is actually trying to be nice. Granted it's not working and she is a bit of a standoffish person herself who just went through a bad time but alot of her reactions are not his fault. He was trying to be considerate giving her space to record but he did stay when she asked.

She had already leaned into the Lonely before the incident it's interesting to see how some of these statements start with a person actually liking the aspect that later turns to fear. Same happens in lost johns' cave.

Evan Lukas sounds like an avatar of the exact opposite of the Lonely. At least to her. That's a really interesting effect from someone, especially a Lukas.

But maybe dying wasn't his family killing him but him not feeding his patron which he tried to leave. Really tragic.

She was in Martin's domain eyyy!

It's got a bit of buried aspects to it with the grave stuff and all.

"My fingers dug into the soft cemetery dirt as I looked around desperately for anything I could use to save myself, and my hand closed upon that heavy piece of headstone. It took all my self-control to keep a grip on that anchor, as I slowly dragged myself away from the edge of my lonely grave." The headstone was her anchor? But it said forgotten. I wonder how it helped her pull away. It probably had to go together with Evan's voice. Like the rib and the tape recorders having to work together! I just wonder what meaning the stone had for her.

"I’d be tempted to chalk this one up to a hallucination from stress and trauma, if it wasn’t for the fact... " God he does believe her heavens. He's not a skeptic!

This is when Jon's dreams start which... Good luck Jon.

14 piecemeal

Rentoul is terrifying sonofabitch and I would never want to meet him irl

I remembered them talking about how he was supposed to be a person who cursed alot and they couldn't do it because of sensor and I have to agree this could have been much better for the story. I tried imagining curses in some places.

LOL Jon reading this is funny. Trying to voice act the bad boy. Doesn't sound right on his voice.

With these kinds of statements happening alot where the person does something bad, the institute has to be in touch with police over them. The nda has to include that.

Hello Angela! I really wonder what her deal is. She scared the bid bully so she gotta have creepy vibes to the extreme.

Another lighter! Hmm do I have to start following the lighter motiff in this podcast. This one has a topless woman on it. Flesh lighter?

Salesa's also appearing that's cool! Noriega was probably looking for an artifact to reverse the curse. Didn't work tho since they left with the crate. The buried crate perhaps?

I'm wondering. Was this written? Because the statement sounds like he's talking. If so, Where's the recording?

Oh Jon your attitude towards Martin is so bad. He works so hard and it's not even in what he's good at, sorting and filing like he knows how to do from the library. God.

What's the deal with all the furniture gone? Did he think it'll help not get injured? He's not that smart if he thought that would help him.

15 lost Johns' cave

Ack a bad statement she was not a good person all around

Another example of the entities setting the stage by controlling others not to interfere with the victim's experience.

Also another example of the person liking the subject (cave exploration in this case. And the dark for that matter) only for it to turn against them.

Not much to say about this one other than its one of the scarier ones for sure. And her recording in the end is really the cherry on top. There is alot of discrepancy between what she believed happened and what actually did which shows how much the fear plays with and changes around reality. That's also how she manages to lie in a statement to Beholding. It wasn't a lie. It was her version of reality and she did not remember saying those awful words.

Taught me alot about cave diving and how much I will never do it in my life.

The Dark was mixed into this as well so it wasn't purely Buried.

Btw Where did she get the candles she was found with?

It feels like she made a choice. Didn't want to spend her last moments with her sister and then didn't want to die. She chose her sister to be taken over her. Her sister called for help and the candle coming closer might have been her! But she just shut her eyes.

How did Tim gain access to the recording?? Wow that's some prime evidence.

Martin is claustrophobic amongst other things huh? Live how Jon just dismisses this as an excuse not to work. At least he didn't push it.

#tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #Tim stoker #Oliver banks #Tma hiatus liveblog #gerry keay

[spiralesbian]

ALRIGHT

here’s my full Stranger Avatar Sasha Archivist timeline:

(also, thanks to @artbyblastweave for being so interested in my lil au!)

SEASON ONE

sasha james is hired as the head archivist of the magnus institute!

her assistants are jon, tim, and martin

tim takes the thematic role of martin (aka getting tormented by my worm wife jane, and stays in the archives)

sasha reads thru statements and is a skeptic! she really does not believe it’s real until jane comes along.

“tim……………………..did you die here?”

“no, but every time i come to work i die a little more inside.”

cute timsha moment in the supply closet tho.

until martin kool-aid-mans through the door and gets them out of there

jon used to work in artefact storage so he hides in there. he’ll be fine

i actually can’t remember how they all get out but they do it KKJSDGFJHD

sasha takes everyone’s statements. tim is fucked up, martin is also fucked up, jon is actually fine though he seems pretty normal about this whole situation most definitely.

sasha realizes this is a bit more than a regular archivist job.

SEASON TWO

sasha gets paranoid of course. she learns more about gertrude because she never got the chance to meet her

she takes a statement from a guy named michael shelley. weird dude. then helen shows up :)

jon is most definitely himself he is just a normal regular grumpy jon i swear :)

sasha starts to manifest her powers a little bit. she doesn’t know it, but she is an avatar of the stranger, and a prisoner of the eye.

she starts to notice more things about jon? similar to this comic but with jon

eventually she + tim + martin help get jon out of the grip of the NotJon. this is my au and i get to choose who dies (it’s no one because i miss the s1 archival assistants too much).

jon is pretty fucked up from this though and at like a season-3-tim mindset already.

fucking goddamn leitner avatar of the fucking whore shows up to trap the NotJon in one of his shitty fucking novels. fuck this guy tho

he’s like Sasha We Must Talk and shes like okay but stay 8 ft away from me at all times you bitch

she leaves the room for 10 minutes and pipe murder occurs. good riddance

wait are the cops in the season i genuinely can’t remember. if they are, their roles don’t change very much. melanie and sasha feud, battle of the bi queens

SEASON THREE:

uh oh! girlie’s be framed for murder! she crashes at her ex gf georgie’s flat. also the admiral is there don’t think i would EVER cut him out of this story

(also jon is georgie’s ex too because i think that would be fun JDHBFHS)

sasha learns abt an upcoming web ritual (mirroring the unknowing), all that shit. gets kidnapped a ton of times, as usual.

helen is like “i am going to kill you because i hate gertrude <3 i was that dumb bitch’s assistant for too long” but michael busts out of the door like Hi Guys and traps her in the hallway.

sasha also gives her statement about a leitner she found as a child that marked her. its a stranger book and we learn her edgy orphan origin story how her parents were both murked by the stranger. fucked up if true!

back at the archives jon is like so fucking tired of this shit honestly and now martin is also pretty paranoid. also jm romance subplot is still very present!

tim is just trying to protect sasha at all times and he’s pissed she keeps leaving the country and getting fucking kidnapped

(remember when jon persuades the traffic cop?) sasha starts to fill her archivist role in a different way. she can shapeshift into the subject of a statement and uses her affiliation with the eye to coerce statements or info out of people. (example: if she needed a live statement from the guy in #90 Body Builder, she could temporarily make herself look like jared hopworth to the guy and ask “what happened to me?” or “what did i do?” and the guy would be like well he built some fucken bodies i guess let me tell you all about it) while reading the statements in america that refuel her, she fully shapeshifts into the statement giver while reading out loud.

once again i truly can’t remember daisy + basira’s roles until the end of the season. also melanie get shot by the ghost at some point

anyways sasha gets kidnapped by trevor and julia and they gerry lays out all the shit for her and she’s like ah! i’m fucked

tim offhand mentions the web ritual to martin and he loses his shit cause he’s marked by the web blah blah this isn’t a web!martin thing i swear i just need someone to fill tim’s role in the ritual and a lonely ritual would be fucking boring as hell as we learned from ass man peter lukas. i hate that man

so they make the plan to stop the web ritual (which is fucking hard when the offense knows your every move) so sasha, basira, daisy, jon, and martin go.

tim stays back at the institute to burn shit and distract elias. elias does some fucked up shit as usual and it makes me sad

the ritual starts! they have a plan to blow it up and run but like. u know how it goes

instead of the unknowing-stranger-dream-sequence, we get everyone kinda mixed up in a huge spider’s web on the big stage and its still quite confusing because this ritual not only manipulates the prey, but also the prey’s perceived reality. the web is also in current control of the buried coffin cause they think that shit is kinda fun. they yeet daisy into it.

hard to describe what happens, but basira keeps her cool, jon is a bit lost in his own mind, sasha tries to use her powers to escape but fails. she manages to get through to martin through the strings and mounds of spiders and she tosses him the detonator.

[squishing spider noises]

SEASON FOUR:

martin doesn't die, i told you i can't kill the og archival assistants! he does lose most of one leg though, he took the blunt of the explosion.

sasha in da hospital in da coma. tim is mad he can’t wake her up and then my man ollie says “ur fucked up mate” and she wakes up

(and because coma jon has such wild hair controversy, i’m establishing that her head was shaved when she was in the coma. it grows back thru s4. it she keeps one side shaved cause she’s cool)

meanwhile tim is recruited by that dumbass man you know who i don’t even wanna say his stupid fucking name

sasha gets daisy out of the buried. they become avatar pals!

(there is the biggest blank in my memory where all of season four should be. at this point i should just relisten to the entire fucking show but i would literally just forget it all again)

melanie says hm. fuck this! and blinds herself. she goes to live with georgie (and that’s the moment jon and sasha realize they are both georgie’s exes FHFHDJD)

tim continues to fight the lonely pull. he thinks that since p*ter l*kas is tied to the institute, he can blind himself out cause melanie was successful. he is wrong. he is also interrupted by elias midway, and only blinds one eye, and loses most of his sight in the other. elias’s hold on him is weak, but this just drives him way farther into the lonely.

gotta be honest i remember the end of season four but like i couldn’t visualize what was happening at the end so i like don’t understand what happened JGDKFJGD but sasha intervenes (???) and peter yeets tim into the lonely (???) and sasha jumps in (??????) after him. elias is just there i guess?

instead of “look at me martin,” sasha finds tim and at this point her form is warped and hard to recognize because of stranger powers, and tim is almost 100% blind, so she says “don’t look at me, see me. see me tim, it’s me.” and finally creates a clear image of herself. “it’s...it’s you. you’re my sasha.”

they break free and go to scotland i guess KHSDDKDSF

idk what happens with jon and martin im losing continuity at this point. fuck it, they smooch <3

“ah these are the statements.”

“yes. basira said last week she’d send some up as soon as the archives weren’t a crime scene. and she wasn’t sure which ones you’ve read already, so she, she just said she’d send a bunch.”

“.........Hello Sasha.”

(alternate ending: personally i think sasha would read through each statement before speaking them aloud cause that’s what i would fucking do, so she would get this statement and be like “lmao tim come look at this elias trying to prank me dumb bitch think i’ll start the apocalypse for him. fucking little puny bitch boy. anyways what do you want for dinner?”)

SEASON FIVE:

“just. listen.”

“...i’m dead. and you have been chosen to be my replacement as head archivist. hopefully, this means you, jon, but if someone else is hearing this, and elias has made a different choice for some reason, then these words are still very much intended for you.”

sasha in full stranger avatar mode and is like 8ft tall and her faces shift a lot as they go through the realms. except the stranger is the second to last one (the panopticon is last obviously).

helen and michael actually talk shit out in the spiral hallway and now they are mlm wlw solidarity and both like tim and sasha are such bi and trans icons <3 this is so fun don’t you love the fearpocalypse <3

oh daisy n basira trapped in the hunt, and jon and martin are trapped in the stranger. wtgfs + the admiral are like in space or some shit idk but they are ok :)

not much to report other than she is my monster wife <3

i really don’t have many theories to how everything in s5 is gonna pan out, and i would like to closely mirror the actual show, so maybe as we get closer to the end i’ll build more on to this! thanks a lot for all the notes on my first sarchivist post!! also if u wanna make art this specific au DEF tag me in it i’d love to see!!

#WOO tumblr hates formatting huh #anyways. i wrote this all out in like an hour a few weeks ago #but said fuck it! lets post #my posts #sasha #sasha james #tma #the magnus archives #tma fanfic #is it rlly fanfic? i guess #tma headcanons #jon sims #jonathan sims #the archivist #tim stoker #martin blackwood #tma s5 #tma s5 spoilers #ALSO NEW EPISODE THIS WEEK WHAT THE FUCK...life is wacky #sarchivist #sasha archivist

[gerrydelano]

got a few more asks about bloodwater ballad, so i’m gonna consolidate them here! i’m gonna start doing it this way from now on instead of the screencap method to make it more accessible in general, too. accidentally did a small analysis on eric’s view of mary whoop!

anon: Oh I absolutely Adore bwb, I especially love the lines “perhaps I’m complicit, I fell asleep first / in the bloodcutting comfort of jaws” like the Imagery! This man loved his wretched wife so much! He trusted her enough to become sleep-vulnerable beside her and she betrayed this trust like a shark is bound to do (´༎ຶ ͜ʖ ༎ຶ `)💔

aaaaaaaah thank you! that was a fun line to come up with, yeah, ahhhh! here’s the thing, though - he says himself, he doesn’t even really consider it a betrayal. the thing about sharks is that their reputation is overblown and they’re made out to be more violent and ravenous than they Actually Are. they’re scavengers more often than not, just going and going and going because if they stop, then they’ll die.

and of course, they’re still dangerous - obviously - because like anything, they’re doing whatever they can to survive. and they happen to have very sharp teeth.

eric’s view of his wife is so... deeply toxic and skewed and unbalanced, while at the same time rooted in how completely plainly he saw her. she never lied, really. when she said that man she killed was her uncle asleep in the chair, she knew he knew it wasn’t true. she was telling the truth in her refusal to. (a concept i repeat in gerry’s narration in my fics, actually, applied to other characters. a concept he grew up with.) it was niceties to smooth a situation, saying it to say it, not because she expected him to believe it but because she knew he wouldn’t do anything about it.

and so eric doesn’t see this as a betrayal because he feels like this is just... How She Is. sharks aren’t betraying you by biting you, they’re just trying to see whether you’re what they need to survive and most of the time you’re gonna taste awful so they’ll give up. sometimes they’re desperate. sometimes they’re starving. most of the time, it’s just a force of nature and you don’t get a say in what happens. 

he doesn’t view her as innocent, no. he knows this was not out of character for her at all, and just considers it to be in her nature. the PROBLEM is that he didn’t feel betrayed, because he just Knew she was like this and stayed with her anyway. that’s the moral dilemma there

she didn’t betray his trust as much as she met his expectations, even if perhaps it didn’t happen quite the way he imagined it would. 

anon: since we're talkin' abt bloodwater ballad can i just say that i fucking love it and every day is a "listen to bloodwater ballad on repeat" day bc it's so beautifully constructed. and the lyrics are amazing and i keep finding cool little things abt them that link up with eric's story. "i fell asleep first in the bloodcutting comfort of jaws" is lakjlkdfj. "hands and feet bound to my heart" the SYMBOLISM. re-reading ur lyrics, i could dissect every line for the SYMBOLISM. it's just so amazing ;;;;

WAILS LOUDLY? i really honest to g-d cannot fathom the idea that anyone likes it enough to listen to it more than once like jfhbdnm i genuinely forget that i even wrote it and then someone will say something and it Smacks me and i just!!!! my heart is so big

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DISSECT THE LINES AS YOU PLEASE that’s what i wrote them for that’s the purpose! i’m that pepe silvia board writer who packs everything i can into specific word choices, i love solving puzzles so i like building them for other people to solve, too. if you ever wanted to write it out or something you could make a lil draft and link me i’d love to see an interpretation that’s not my own it’d be super cool! no pressure if it was just an expression jhvbknm i’m just. the english major in me Ascends when i get to talk about this stuff 

i’m really just glad you like it!!!! thank you ;-; !

anon: im listening to bloodwater ballad for the first time because of the people talking about it and... I'm crying thank you this is agonising

THANK YOU aaaahhhh, glad to have been of service >:’-) join me in hell i never stop crying about the delanos

EDIT: (note, also: i’m one of ron’s alters, hi. don’t mind my syntax.)

@v0idsign: so long as we’re talking abt bloodwater ballad i gotta toss in that i Regularly get it stuck in my head, i sing it in the shower and its one of a couple tunes that my brain defaults to when brain says its Humming Time. firesorrow good Also extremely good and on the listen on repeat/sing in shower list!!

tossing this in here for posterity, especially since it was a submission. this is real sweet of you, ron’s super happy to hear that. they do have good echolalia beats. tunes for autism by a guy who really likes to hum repetitive things, honestly.

EDIT 2: (hi i’m back hGJBKN)

anon: If we're complimenting bloodwater ballad, then I have to say your voice is beautiful. I'm not smart enough to really overanalyze the lyrics but I really like it. You wouldn't imagine how excited I was when I found out about firesorrow girl. I have been understanding of your fic which I forgot the name of, and I quite enjoy that too.

aaaaaaaa thank you so much ;; you’re so sweet! sometimes i get nervous about my voice because it’s really rusty lately since i don’t really take good care of it but it’s nice to be reassuredjhbkn and !!!! just cries on the floore

#r.txt #bloodwater ballad #eric #asks #anon #got 3 in here! #EDIT: added 2 more!

[loverboyromanroy]

my thoughts are Gerri drawing a line against Roman will be the final nail for him, adding to the deal with Matsson possibly souring Logan's behavior towards Rome. Also, in next week's episode's teaser, Roman seems like he's gatekeeping their dad from Kendall when Kendall was trying to speak with Logan. Roman keeping Kendall away from Logan? Why? Scared that Logan will shift his sought-after attention to the prodigal son once more? Why are there only two episodes left! Then we'll have to wait for almost a year to have another season? I want to be in the writers' room!

okay couple different points in this one! i love this ask because we do truly have so much ground to cover in only two episodes...thoughts under the cut because it got long 🤪

touching on logan and roman vs kendall first – i really, genuinely, think that roman cares about the wellbeing of his dad more than any of the other siblings (save for maaaaybe connor). he cares deeply about him as a father and as a person and i think in the case of all three of them being together in person, roman is probably holding a grudge over the fact that the last time kendall and logan were alone together, logan almost died of heat stroke. honestly believe that's why roman is acting as a physical barrier between them and doesn't want them to have a one on one! he was straight up furious at kendall during the shareholder meeting because logan was having a health emergency and kendall didn't seem to care...beyond business or anything else, roman deeply doesn't want his dad to be in poor health.

i also want to say it doesn't seem, at least from the promo, that logan has any indication that the gojo deal isn't working. we don't get any lines from him and the episode summary expressly says "the waystar crew", which leads me to believe it's something that gerri, shiv, tom, maybe karl and frank, etc are trying to handle on their own (although it would give shiv leverage to try and turn logan against roman)

on roman and gerri – i'm genuinely curious what y'all think the actual line in the sand is going to be. 3x07 was so interesting in that shiv was poking and prodding roman about relationships and intimacy, but it didn't register, to me anyway, as something that would spur him to actually want a relationship or emotional intimacy. so then is it instead that the "guy who never fucks" teasing is finally getting to him and roman pushes for something physical which gerri rebuffs in earnest? i could see that sending him for a bit of a tailspin...and his newfound confidence/ego may actually be bruised by rejection. is it an emotional/jealousy thing brought on by his mom's new relationship that fuels roman to ask that gerri not date other people (i.e. laurie) and she's going to say if you can't keep things professional then there can't be anything personal at all? i have a hard time believing that she cuts him off completely because, as she says, she needs the family support and she's still just an interim ceo...i don't know!

#succession spoilers #succession chatter #lots to ponder! i love these monday strategy sessions with y'all lmao #roman x gerri #roman roy #gerri kellman #i am genuinely curious what you guys think – i'm about to take a long drive home and think about it LITERALLY the entire way #roman #gerri #kendall #answered #anonymous