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#but it's also bad writing to set up a dramatic moment between mother and daughter and not actually include ANY suggestion that's happening
perpetuallyfive · 3 years
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If people want me to believe that grimm that isn’t even the same species as her is somehow Summer Rose, they’re going to have to give a pretty convincing argument for why she would attack her own daughter and particularly why the writers would create such a dramatic moment and not do anything with it, not even a moment of hesitation or recognition from the grimm to pay off with the reveal later.
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janecrockeyre · 3 years
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scum villain is a greek tragedy disguised as a regular tragedy disguised as a comedy disguised as a danmei
this is going to be long, and this is only PART ONE.
a.k.a, Analysing the plot of Scum Villain’s Self Saving System through Aristotle’s Poetics, because I Have Mental Issues
Part One: Introduction and the Tragic Hero
Scum Villain’s Self Saving System is a tragedy disguised as a comedy, unless you’re Shen Yuan, in which case it’s a mixture of a romance and a survival horror. It's a fever dream. It's a horrible, terrible book that made me feel new undiscovered emotions when I finished reading it. 
The thing is... SVSSS shares characteristics with some of the most famous tragedies in the West, such as Oedipus Rex, Medea, Antigone, the Oresteia... if you haven’t read these, I’ll explain everything. But the gist of my argument is this: SVSSS is the perfect tragedy. In triplicate. 
Tragedy as a genre is old as balls and so it has meant slightly different things to different people over the last few thousand years. I'll be focusing on ancient Greek tragedy, which was performed at the yearly Festival of Dionysus in Athens during the 500-350s BC (give or take a hundred years). Aristotle, when writing about this very specific subset of tragedy, had no idea that one day Scum Villain would be written, and then that I would be using his work as a way to look at Shen Qingqiu’s Funky Transmigration Mistake. Anyway!
Greek tragedy greatly influenced European dramatic tradition. I have a lot of opinions about white academics idolising and upholding the classics as the "paragon of culture" but I'll withhold them for now. I have no idea if MXTX has read Greek tragedy or not, so don't take this as me saying they are writing it. 
In my opinion, tragedy is a universal human constant. We are surrounded by pain and hurt and none of it makes any sense, so we seek to process that pain through drama, art, literature, etc. We want to understand why pain happens, and how it happens, and try to make sense of the senseless. The universe is cold and cruel and random. Tragedy eases some of that pain. 
On that note: Just because I am analysing Scum Villain through a Greek lens doesn't mean that it was written that way. I'm pasting an interpretation onto the book when there's probably a very rich and deep history of Chinese tragedy that I just don't know about. If you ever want to talk about that, please, god, hit me up, I would love to learn about it!! 
Anyway, tragedy. MXTX is excellent at it! Mo Dao Zu Shi? Painful dynastic family tragedy. Heaven Official's Blessing? Mostly romance, but she managed to get that pure pain in there, huh? 
But in my opinion, Scum Villain holds the crown for the most tragic of her stories. MDZS was more of a mystery. TGCF was more of a romance. Neither of them shy away from their tragic elements. 
Scum Villain would fit right in between the work of Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. How? Let me show you. Join me on my mystery tour into the world of "Aristotle Analyses Danmei..."
Part One: The Tragic Hero
What is a tragic hero? Generally, Greek tragic heroes are united by the same key characteristics. He must be imperfect, having a "fatal flaw" of some kind. He must have something to lose. And he must go from fortune to misfortune thanks to that fatal flaw. 
There are two (technically three) tragic protagonists in SVSSS and all of them are tragic in different but formulaic ways. Each protagonist has their own version of “hamartia” or a “fatal flaw”. 
Actually, hamartia isn’t necessarily a flaw - rather, it is a thing which makes the audience pity and fear for them, a careful imperfection, a point of weakness in the character’s morality or reasoning that allows for bad things to happen to them. For example, in Oedipus Rex, the king Oedipus has a “fatal flaw” of always wanting to find the truth, but this isn’t exactly a flaw, right? Note: this flaw can be completely unwitting, as we see with Shen Yuan. It can also be something that the protagonist is born with, some kind of trait from birth or very young. 
Shen Yuan
Shen Yuan’s “hamartia” is his rigid adherence to fate and his inability to read a situation as anything but how he thinks it ought to be. He believes that Bingmei will grow into Bingge, and it takes several years, two deaths, and some truly traumatising sex to convince him otherwise. 
Shen Jiu
Shen Jiu’s fatal flaw is his cruelty. It is his own sadistic treatment and abuse of Binghe which directly leads to his eventual dismemberment. This is kind of a no-brainer. Of course, it isn't all that simple, and as an audience we pity him for his cruelty as much as we fear it because we know it comes from his own abuse as a child. This just makes him even more tragic. Delicious. 
Luo Binghe
Luo Binghe’s fatal flaw is a complicated mix of things. It is his position as the “protagonist” which compels him to act in certain ways and be forced to suffer. It is his half-demonic heritage, something entirely out of his control, which sets in motion his tragic reversal of fortune when he gets yeeted into the Abyss. He also, much like Shen Yuan, has the propensity to jump to conclusions and somehow make 2 + 2 = 5. 
As well as having their respective “flaws”, all three protagonists match the rough outline of a good tragic hero in another way: they are in a position of great wealth and power. Even when you split the different characters into different “versions”, this still holds true. Yes, Luo Binghe is raised a commoner by a washerwoman foster mother, but his dad is an emperor and he also ends up becoming an emperor himself. 
Yes, Shen Jiu is an ex-slave and a victim of abuse himself, but Shen Qingqiu is a powerful peak lord with an entire mountain’s worth of resources at his back. 
Shen Yuan is a second generation new money rich kid. 
Bingge is a stereotypical protagonist with a golden finger. Bingmei is a treasured and loved disciple with a good reputation and a privileged seat by his shizun’s side. 
In a tragedy, having this kind of good fortune at the beginning of your story is dangerous. Chaucer says that tragedy is (badly translated into modern english) “a certain story / of him that stood in great prosperity / and falls out of high degree / into misery, and ends up wretchedly”. If we follow this line of thinking, a good tragedy is about someone who has a lot to lose, losing everything because of one fatal point of weakness that they fail to address or understand. 
If we look at Shakespeare, this is what makes King Lear such a fantastic tragic protagonist. He is a king in control of most of England, who from his own lack of wisdom and excess of pride, decides to split his kingdom apart to give to his daughters, favouring his murderous, double crossing progeny, and condemning his only actually filial daughter to death. He loses his kingdom, his mind, and his beloved daughter, all because of his own stupidity.
This brings us to:
Part Two: Peripeteia
This reversal of fortunes is called peripeteia. It is the moment where the entire plot shifts, and the hero’s fortunes go from good to bad. Think of it like one of those magic eye puzzles, where you stare at the image until a 3D shark appears, except you realise the shark was always there, you just couldn't ever see it, waiting for you, hungry, deadly, always lurking just behind that delightful pattern of random blue squiggles. 
Each tragic hero has their own moment of peripeteia in SVSSS, sometimes several:
Shen Qingqiu
In the original PIDW, SQQ’s peripeteia presumably occurs when he finds out that Bingge didn’t perish in the Abyss but has actually been training hard to come and pay him back. There’s really not much I’m interested in saying here - as a villain, OG!SQQ is cut and dry, and the audience doesn’t really feel any pity or fear for him. As Shen Yuan often mentions, what the audience feels when they see OG!SQQ is bloodlust and sick satisfaction. There is also the trial at Huan Hua Palace, which I will talk about in Shen Yuan’s section. 
Shen Yuan (SQQ 2.0)
One of SY’s most poggers moment of peripeteia is the glorious, terrifying section between hearing Binghe for the first time after the Abyss moment, and getting shoved into the Water Prison. 
“Behind him, a low and soft voice came: “Shizun?”
Shen Qingqiu’s neck felt stiff as he slowly turned his head. Luo Binghe’s face was the most frightening thing he had ever seen.
The scariest thing about it was that the expression on his face was not cold at all. His smile wasn’t sharp like a knife. Rather, it showed a kind of bone-deep gentleness and amiability.”
This is the moment of true horror for Shen Yuan, because he knows what happens next: the plot unfurls before him, inevitable and painful, and he knows that death awaits him at Luo Binghe's hands (lol). Compare it with the bone deep certainty with which he faces his own downfall during the sham of a trial later in the chapter (I’ve bolded the important part):
“In the original work, Qiu Haitang’s appearance signified only one thing: Shen Qingqiu’s complete fall from grace. [...] Shen Qingqiu’s heart streamed with tears. Great Master… I know you’re doing this for my own good, but I’ll actually suffer if she speaks her words clearly. This truly is the saying “not frightened of doing a shameful deed, just afraid the ghost (consequences) will come knocking”!”
After the peripeteia is usually the denouement where the plot wraps up and the threads are all tied together leaving no loose ends, but because this tragedy isn’t Shen Yuan’s but the former Shen Jiu’s, it’s impossible to finish. 
Shen Yuan cannot provide the meaningful answers that the narrative demands because 1) he doesn’t have any memory of doing anything, and 2) he wasn’t the person who did them. Narratively, he cannot follow the same path as the former SQQ because he lacks the same fatal flaw: cruelty. 
This is why Binghe doesn’t kill him - because he loves him, rather than despises him. And this is why Shen Yuan has to sacrifice himself and die for Luo Binghe in order to save him from Xin Mo: because the narrative demands that denouement follows peripeteia, and SQQ’s fate is in the hands of the narrative. 
(Side note: I believe that this literal death also represents the death of OG!SQQ's tragic arc. The body that committed all those crimes must die to satisfy the narrative. SQQ must die, like burning down a forest, so that new growth can sprout from the ashes. After this, Shen Yuan's story has more room to develop instead.)
It must happen to show Bingmei that SQQ loves him too. And this brings us to Bingmei.
Bingmei
Bingmei has two succinct moments of utter downfall. The first is a literal fall - his flaw, his demonic heritage, leads his beloved shizun to throw him down into the Abyss. From his point of view, SQQ is punishing him simply for the status of his birth. He rapidly goes from being loved and cherished unconditionally, to being the victim of an assassination attempt. 
He realises that he is totally unlovable: that for the crimes of his species that he never had a hand in, he must pay the price as well: that his shizun is so righteous that no matter what love there was between them, if SQQ sees a demon, he will kill it. Even if that demon is Bingmei. 
The second moment is when SQQ dies for him. Again, from his point of view, he was chasing after a man who was struggling to see him as a human being. Shen Qingqiu’s death makes Bingmei realise that he has been completely misunderstanding his shizun: that SQQ would literally die for him, the ultimate act of self sacrifice from love: that SQQ loved him despite his demon heritage. 
Much like King Lear holding the corpse of his daughter and wailing in sheer grief and pain because he did this, he caused this, Bingmei gets to hold his shizun's cold body and cry his eyes out and know that it was his fault. (Kind of.)
(Yes, I’m bringing Shakespeare into this, no I am not justifying myself)
Maybe I'm a bit sadistic, but that scene slaps. Let me show you a comparison of scenes so you get the picture. 
Re-enter KING LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms; EDGAR, Captain, and others following
KING LEAR
Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:
Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so
That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!
I know when one is dead, and when one lives;
She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why, then she lives.
[...]
 KING LEAR
And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!
Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.
Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,
Look there, look there!
Dies
Versus this scene in SVSSS: 
Luo Binghe turned a deaf ear to everything else, greatly agitated and at a loss of what to do. He was still holding Shen Qingqiu’s body, which was rapidly cooling down. It seemed like he wanted to call for him loudly and forcefully shake him awake, yet he didn’t dare to, as if he was afraid of being scolded. He said slowly, “Shizun?”
[...]
Luo Binghe involuntarily held Shen Qingqiu closer.
He said in a small voice, “I was wrong, Shizun, I really… know that I was wrong.
“I… I didn’t want to kill you…”
PAIN. SO MUCH BEAUTIFUL PAIN. Yes, I know Shakespeare isn’t Athenian, but he was inspired by the good old stuff and he also knew how to write a perfect tragedy on his own terms. Anyway. I’ll find more Greek examples later.
This post was a bit all over the place, but I hope it has been fun to read. Part Two will be coming At Some Point, Who Knows When. This is a bit messy and unedited, but hey, I’m not getting paid or graded, so you can eat any typos or errors. Unless you’re here to talk to me about Chinese tragedy, in which case, please pull up a seat, let me get you a drink, make yourself at home.
ps: if you want to retweet this, here is the promo tweet!
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celiabowens · 4 years
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Adult SFF edition
High/Epic Fantasy
The Lies of Locke Lamora: heist fantasy following a band of misfits! It has morally gray characters, fun banter but heartwrenching moments and a pretty complex plot. It’s a classic to say “if you liked Six of Crows and want to try adult SFF try this” and it’s probably true. 
Kushiel’s Dart: a political fantasy tome loosely inspired by Europe in the Renaissance. Pretty heavy on romance and erotica (with BDSM elements) as it follows a courtesan navigating the political scene. It has an amazing female villain.
A Darker Shade of Magic: probably the easiest way to approach adult fantasy. It has multiple Londons and a pretty unique magic system and concept, plus a crossdressing thief, knives and great banter. 
The Poppy War: grimdark fantasy (TW: abuse, self harm, rape, drug abuse), inspired by Chinese history. It’s adult, but follows younger MCs and the unique blend of different historical periods/inspirations makes it extremely interesting. The characters are extremely fucked up in the best possible way, plus the use of shamanism is awesome.
The Sword of Kaigen: if you liked The Poppy War you could like this one. The Sword of Kaigen is an Asian-inspired militaristic fantasy, with elemental magic, a badass housewife dealing with her past and hiding a sword in her kitchen’s floor. It has interesting and nuanced family dynamics and a great reflection on propaganda and the use of narratives.
The Priory of the Orange Tree: high fantasy, featuring dragons, a F/F romance and pretty complex world building. The author reuses typical fantasy tropes and roles in a fresh way. Very readable in spite of its length.
Empire of Sand: inspired by Mughal India, this one focuses on culture and religion and has great slow burn romance (TW: abuse, slavery). It’s pretty slow paced, but the payoff is great. Also a good "YA crossover”.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms: first book in a companion novel trilogy, following a young woman who finds herself at the center of a vicious political struggle, as she’s suddenly become the heir to the throne. 
Black Sun: first book in a new series by Rebecca Roanhorse, inspired by pre-Columbian societies and cultures. It mainly focuses on religious and political conflicts. TW for abuse, mild body horror and suicide (not very graphic). Nice inclusion of lgbt rep across the whole cast + one of the main characters is blind. Great world building!
Historical Fantasy
The Night Circus: perfect transition from YA to Adult for a reader, The Night Circus is a gorgeous historical fantasy romance. The author’s writing is amazing, the descriptions and the subtlety of the main characters’ relationship are to die for.
The City of Brass: political/historical fantasy tome featuring Middle Eastern mythology. It follows younger MCs (honestly another series that could be a good way to approach adult SFF) and has great character growth throughout the series. The first book has some more trope-y elements, but the payoff is worth it. 
The Golem and The Djinni: historical fantasy (if you loved The Night Circus you could like this one), following two mythical creatures as they navigate New York in 1899. Slow burn romance, rich descriptions, fascinating combination of Jewish and Syrian folklore.
Gods of Jade and Shadow: a fantasy bildungsroman set in Mexico during the Jazz age. Another great way to approach adult SFF as it follows a young girl on a life changing adventure. It features Mayan mythology and a god slowly becoming human.
The Ghost Bride: set in Malaya in 1893, it follows the daughter of a ruined man as she receives the proposal to become a ghost bride. Lovely setting, rich in culture and extremely atmospheric.
The Bear and The Nightingale: a coming of age story inspired by Russian folklore. Another great way to start reading adult SFF: it’s very atmospheric and fairy tale-like. Also frost demons are better than men.
Queen of the Conquered: first book in a fantasy duology(?) set in an alternate version of the Caribbean at the time of Scandinavian colonisation. It follows Sigourney, a biracial woman (her mother was a slave, freed by her father) and the only islander who is allowed to own and use kraft and therefore has a position of privilege, which she constantly abuses, while telling herself she’s doing it for the islanders’ benefit. The book is hard to read, because the MC is no hero and her POV can be quite challenging to get through, but if you’re up for it I’d totally recommend this. (TW: slavery, abuse, death).
The Lions of Al-Rassan: this one has minimal fantasy elements, much like other Kay books, as it reads more like an alternate history. Using Moorish Spain as a template, it deals with the conflict between Jews, Muslims and Christians. Much like Under Heaven and most of his historical fantasy it shows common people being swept up in dramatic events. 
Urban Fantasy
The Divine Cities trilogy: starting with City of Stairs, it follows a female diplomat and spymaster(!!). The whole trilogy features an interesting discussion about godhood, religion, fanatism, politics, without ever being boring or preachy. It has complex and rich world building and a pretty compelling mystery.
Foundryside: heist fantasy following a thief as she’s hired to steal a powerful artifact that may change magical technology as she knows it. Also, slow burn F/F romance.
Jade City:  a wuxia inspired, gangster urban fantasy. Great family dynamics, very interesting political and economical subplots. 
One for My Enemy: sort of a modern Romeo and Juliet, but set in New York, starring two magical gangster families. The female characters are to die for.  
Trail of Lightning: inspired by Native mythology and the idea of subsequent worlds. It has a kickass MC and a good mix of original elements and typical UF tropes. You could like this if you liked the Kate Daniels series.
American Gods: a classic of the genre, pretty much brilliant in how it reuses old mythology in a modern setting.
Retellings
Spinning Silver: a very loose retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, with a gorgeous atmosphere. It mainly follows female characters from different social and economical backgrounds and reuses the original tale to challenge the antisemitic ideas around the role of the moneylander.
The Queens of Innis Lear: fantasy retelling of King Lear, very atmospheric and gorgeously written. Slow paced, but very satisfying build up, lots of backstabbing and miscommunication. (heads up though, one of the MCs is coded as aroace and I found the rep pretty bad on that. The book does feature casual bisexual rep though, which was great)
Lady Hotspur: genderbent retelling of Henry IV, set in the same world as The Queens of Innis Lear. Lesbian and bisexual rep. Heavy on political subplots, features ambitious women growing into their roles.
Deathless: sort of a retelling of Koschei the Deathless set in the first half of the 20th century. Brilliant reuse of Russian folklore to weave together politics and history. It does have pretty brutal descriptions of war, morally gray characters, unhealthy relationships and overall a lot of mindfuckery.
Space Opera
A Memory Called Empire: space opera inspired by the Mexica and middle period Byzantium. It focuses on topics like colonialism and the power of narratives and language. It has one of the best descriptions of what it’s like to live in between spaces I’ve ever read. Also very interesting political intrigue and has a slow burn F/F romance (and a poly relationship recalled through flashbacks).
Ninefox Gambit: a Korean-inspired space opera with a magic system based on math. It’s honestly quite convoluted and difficult to follow, but it also features some of the best political intrigue I’ve ever read. Plenty of lying, backstabbing and mind games. It also features lesbian and bisexual rep and an aroace side character (TW: mass shooting, sexual assault).
The Light Brigade: militaristic space opera set in a not-so-defined future in which corporations rule Earth and space in general. The book follows a newly enlisted soldier as they go through gruelling training and experience the side effects of being broken down into atoms to travel at the speed of light. It’s a heavy book, featuring raw descriptions of war, and quite difficult to follow (non-linear timelines...) but it’s also an amazing critique of capitalism and political propaganda (TW: death, mass shooting).
Gideon the Ninth: pretty much lesbian necromancers in space. Very loose world building, but a fun mystery full of banter. Can be quite confusing in the beginning, but a relatively easy and fun way to approach science fiction.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet: character driven space opera featuring a found family journeying through space. A fun read, that also deals with topics such as sexuality and race. Quite easy to go through, as the world building and plot aren’t particularly complex themselves. Also features a F/F romance. 
Science Fiction-Fantasy that I can’t fit anywhere else
Vicious: college roommates put themselves through near-death experiences to obtain super powers, only everything goes wrong. Follows a great band of misfits (and pretty much everyone is morally gray).
Middlegame: a brilliant and complex tapestry of alternate timelines, following telepathically connected twins trying to escape the alchemist that wants to use them to obtain godhood (TW: attempted suicide).
Piranesi: the long awaited return of Susanna Clarke, Piranesi is an odd, mysterious book set in a house with infinite rooms and endless corridors, apparently inhabited by only two people. 
Bonus Novella recs: novellas are amazing and don’t sleep on them!
The Empress of Salt and Fortune: an Asian-inspired fantasy novella, it gives a voice to people usually silenced by history. It follows a cleric (non binary rep) as they chronicle the story of the late empress, retold through objects that she used in her life. It focuses on bonds between women and the power that lies in being unnoticed.  
The Black God’s Drums: an urban fantasy novella, based on Orisha mythology and set in an alternate, sort of steampunk, New Orleans. 
The Haunting of Tram Car 015: alternate steampunk Cairo populated by supernatural entities. It has a compelling mystery, starring a great lead.
This Is How You Lose the Time War: epistolary set during a time-travel war, F/F romance and gorgeous prose. 
The Citadel of Weeping Pearls: a novella set in the Xuya universe (a series of novellas/short stories set in a timeline where Asia became dominant, and where the space age has empires of Vietnamese and Chinese inspiration), but can be read as a standalone. It’s a space opera featuring a disappeared citadel and the complex relationship between the empress and her daughter as war threatens her empire.
To Be Taught, If Fortunate: an incredibly heartwarming and yet meaningful novella about research and the meaning of it. It’s the tale of 4 astronauts on a crowdfunded mission to explore space, to observe and report without conquering. It’s written in lovely prose and is very casual in its lgbt rep.
The Deep: very good novella set in an underwater society built by the descendants of African slave women that were tossed overboard. It’s not an easy read at all, as it deals with trauma, both personal and generational ones. 
Bonus short story collections recs
A Cathedral of Myth and Bone: 16 short stories featuring myth, legend and faith, that mainly focus on women reclaiming their agency. 
The Paper Menageries and Other Stories: features plenty of different fantasy and science fiction subgenres. The Paper Menagerie in particular is an extremely moving tale.
Conservation of Shadows: science fiction-fantasy short stories that focus on topics like colonisation and the role of art and language. 
Graphic Novel
Monstress: series set in an alt 1900s matriarchal Asia, following a teenage girl who survived a war and shares a connection with a monster that’s slowly transforming her. (TW: slavery, death).
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gaemkyuu · 3 years
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Mommy will you marry Charlie? (Charlie Gillespie x Fictional Character)
Warnings: mention of teenage pregnancy A/N: I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of love “Mommy can we keep him” received. I was originally going to upload the proposal AND the wedding, but I’ve been struggling a bit with the wedding portion. I hope you enjoy the proposal! Disclaimer: This is a FICITONAL writing piece! In no way do I claim characters in this piece act this way in real life.
Masterlist *now taking requests ;)
Mommy will you marry Charlie?
“Hey! Are you ready to go?” Charlie knocked and popped his head into Riley’s ensuite, pausing to take in her beauty. She was dressed in a pretty summer dress and placed a few more bobby pins into her hair, smiling at him in the mirror.
“Just about. Are Owen and Savannah here?” Riley’s answer came at that moment when the doorbell rang. Charlie left the ensuite and headed for the door just as Emerson got to it.
“Emmy, what did we say about answering the door?” Charlie chastised, moving quicker to the door. Emerson slightly pouted knowing he was right and sat on the entryway bench, waiting for Charlie to open the door. “You guys are just in time!” “No thanks to Owen” Savannah scoffed, motioning to the giant behind her.
“I hadn’t eaten yet, I needed My Chick-fil-A, but then I forgot to order some for Emmy, so we had to go back through the drive through” he sighed, showing him the two bags of take out in his hands. “Where is the little stinker?”
“I’m not stinky! I took a bath!” she hopped on the entryway bench and into Savannah’s arms first, Owen dramatically displayed his offense to the toddler.
“How come she gets a hug first?! I brought you Chicken Strips!” Savannah picked her up and balanced her on her hip. “I even convinced the lady to give you two books!”
“Aunty Savannah didn’t call me stinky and knows that I ate supper before you came.” she giggled and shook her head. “Plus, I like the chicken nuggets and not the strips” Owen rolled his eyes and muttered a ‘oh come on’ under his breath, but as soon as Savannah put her down, Emerson gave Owen’s leg a hug.
Riley came to the front door and greeted her friends, thanking them again for being so willing to babysit while they went out for the evening. After Charlie and Emerson’s date, the couple decided that they would go on more family dates as a request from the little girl and Charlie. Riley didn’t think anything of it, but she certainly didn’t want to come between the relationship they were both developing. This was the first time Emerson ever really accepted another man into their lives.
At the young age of 18 and saving enough money, Riley moved out of her mother’s home in Chino Hills to a one bedroom, one bath in downtown LA that was closer to her office. Riley was grateful that her mom agreed to come over to their apartment to babysit Emerson while she was at work as it helped her to save up more money to eventually move into a chic modern home on the outskirts of downtown. She was always so focused on providing for Emerson that she rarely let anyone into her life and when she did, she always had to make sure that they got the seal of approval from Emerson.
There was Nick from the marketing department at Netflix who she thought was cute, but he wasn’t very open to the idea of potentially becoming a dad so early on. Emerson really didn’t like him as she would cry every time he looked at her or moved towards her. That didn’t last more than three weeks.
Then there was Jaime from the grocery store who loved children and really liked Riley, but Emerson didn’t like the fact that Riley made more money than Jaime and warned her mom several times about him, despite her young age. Riley learned her lesson that sometimes four year olds are very perceptive because Jaime asked to borrow money for his rent a month later.
Lastly, there was Greg, a single dad who had twins the same age as Emerson. That didn’t last because the kids would often fight. Emerson thought the children were dumb and immature, while the twins thought Emerson was acting like a weird grown up.
Riley always prioritized Emerson in any decision making process she had, but at her core she felt lonely. She couldn’t tell her daughter this despite her intelligence. She was still a child. What kind of a mother would she be if she vented to her child? But Emerson knew her mom was lonely. She often heard her crying in the pantry and quietly talking on the phone late at night. That’s why when Charlie walked in their lives, she knew she had to play nice for a little while for the sake of her mother. Neither girls expected that Charlie would become such an important piece of their lives.
“Emerson we will be back past your bedtime, so give me kisses now” Riley requested as she hugged her little girl and peppered her with kisses. She giggled and kissed her mother back until she let go. Instinctively, Charlie knelt down too and opened his arms, giving her a quick peck on the head. Emerson gave him a hug back and kissed him on the cheek, the gesture garnering a loud “aw” from Owen, as the girls silently admired the interaction. Charlie rolled his eyes and whispered to Emerson quickly, making her giggle as his breath tickled her ear and neck. 
“You guys should get going so we can start painting Uncle Owen’s nails!” Savannah interrupted, glancing at the time on her phone. “We also get to facetime Uncle Jeremy, Aunty Carolyn and Aunty Madison too!” Emerson got super excited and skipped to her bedroom to grab her “nail kit”, a toy Savannah had bought her last Christmas. With a laugh, the couple headed out the door and off to supper. 
As soon as the door closed, the two friends and Emerson got to work. They were in on the plan and set about decorating their house. Emerson and Charlie had gone to PartyCity a few days ago while Riley was at an executive meeting and picked out a bunch of decorations for his proposal. At first, Charlie was hesitant, but Emerson was absolutely sure her mother said yes. Knowing his past of always being proven wrong by Emerson, he decided to listen to the little girl and follow her lead.
“Remember, mommy had me when she was a kid so she missed out on kid things. Do a bunch of kid things with mommy!” 
That’s what prompted Charlie to take her to Santa Monica. Charlie had made a reservation at a restaurant on the Santa Monica beachfront and the two enjoyed a lovely casual dinner. They talked about projects they were excited about and started ‘people watching’ from their seats, laughing and making silly jokes about the people who passed them by. After dinner, they set out to do “Kid Things” and played games on the pier, settling for mini donuts as dessert and eventually watching the sunset. Charlie tensed for a moment, but quickly relaxed as he felt the small box in his pocket.
“Mommy won’t say yes unless I’m there. She would be too busy thinking about me before she says yes, so ask her at home”
“But what about bedtime?”
“I mean if you say I can stay up, then that should be okay right?”
“You okay? You looked tense for a second” Riley snapped him out of his thoughts, but he was grateful that she shivered because it gave him a chance to change the topic. 
“Yeah, I was just thinking about the sunset in Dieppe. Can’t wait to take you one day. Cold?” he draped his denim jacket over her shoulders, and hugged her from behind. As soon as the glow from the sunset disappeared and the glow of the carnival lights replaced them, Charlie decided that instead of walking on the beach, they would go home and watch a movie on the couch. They spent the drive back to Riley’s place in a comfortable silence with the radio gently playing music. Charlie started to feel more excited and antsy the closer they got to her place. Before exiting the car, he held her hand in his and kissed the back of it. “I love you, you know that?” Riley smiled, nodded and kissed him on the lips. Charlie raced her to the door, knowing full well that he would beat her to it, but that didn’t stop Riley from trying. They stumbled through the entry a fit of giggles and laughter, but Riley stumbled on a pair of shoes. 
“Charlie! I told you to... put your shoes...away?” she became more confused as she stared at the pair. They weren’t Owen’s, Charlie’s, Savannah’s or Emmerson’s. Who could be in their house? She looked up to see Charlie nowhere in sight and began to worry. “Char, this isn’t funny. This is like the scene from a horror movie” she quickly shed her shoes and walked down the corridor to the living room. She didn’t expect to see her mother, Charlie’s mom and their closest friends standing behind Charlie and Emerson with excited looks on their faces. To add to her confusion, they held party poppers and noise makers, while a giant Congratulations banner decorated her living room. She heard Emerson clear her throat and Charlie stood proudly beside her.
“Dear mommy, I stayed up past my bedtime because Charlie said I had to” everyone in the room laughed at this, as Emerson continued to read from the piece of paper in her hands. 
“Mommy, you work so hard to give me the best life and the best toys. Sometimes I wonder how I can give you the best life and the best toys, but adults don’t play with toys. I asked aunty Carolyn why she was so happy with uncle Jeremy, and she said it was because she gets to be with uncle Jeremy forever” Carolyn wiped the tear that had formed in her eyes. 
“I asked uncle Owen why aunty Carolyn and uncle Jeremy got to be together forever, and that’s when uncle Owen said it was because they were married.” She took a deep breath and lost her place on her paper. Charlie peaked over and pointed to where she needed to keep reading from. 
“Oh, right. When I asked you were getting married, you told me never and that it was a rude question, but I think that was because you had a bad day at work” despite the teary eyes, her comment made everyone laugh. 
“So I asked Charlie to go on a date with me and ask him when he would marry you” Riley gasped as Charlie pulled out the box with the ring, getting down on one knee. “I know Charlie makes you happy and I think you should be together forever. Charlie has a question for you and the answer is yes.”
“Riley King, I love you and I love Emerson. I can’t think of anyone I want to spend the rest of my life with. You and Emerson are my family now, so let’s make it official” Charlie winked at Emerson who put her paper down and also got onto one knee beside Charlie.
“Mommy, will you marry Charlie?” Riley was crying full tears at this point listening to her daughter’s words, but she nodded and whispered a yes. Everyone erupted in a cheer and the party poppers went off as he put the ring on her finger, kissing her and picking up Emerson. “You did so good, Emmy!”
“You’re gonna be my daddy!!!” Emerson exclaimed, full of excitement and squeezing Charlie. 
Riley wiped her tears and kissed her daughter on the cheek, truly speechless. Everyone came around to congratulate them, Savannah, Madison, and Carolyn all wanting to see the ring first and then hugs. She was on cloud nine, still not able to understand how this was all being planned behind her back. “Is that why you volunteered to babysit?” Savannah nodded her head sheepishly and hugged her friend. Charlie’s mother gave her a big hug congratulating her on their engagement expressing her excitement to have another daughter in law, while Riley’s mother hugged Charlie, crying happy tears. The rest of the evening was spent enjoying everyone’s company that the couple lost track of time. By the time they said goodbye to Owen, the last to leave, Emerson had fallen asleep on the couch. 
“You mean to tell me, you planned this entire thing with my daughter behind my back?” Charlie smiled and nodded, picking the little girl up from the couch, careful not to wake her up. “I mean, I am touched, but I’m also afraid of what else you two are capable of doing”
“Just wait til you hear her ideas for the wedding.” Charlie chuckled as they headed to her room to tuck her in for the night. He put the little girl into bed and Riley watched the whole scene from the doorway, tears coming to her eyes as it finally sank in that this was her family. Emerson stirred and shifted around, uncomfortable all of a sudden. Charlie cooed at her and assured that she was fine, humming softly to her, something that he often used since the first night he helped her through a nightmare.
“G’night daddy” she mumbled in her sleepy daze, settling back to sleep. Charlie was taken off guard as the new title fell from her mouth. He felt his heart explode and wiped a tear that fell from his eyes.
“Sleep tight Princess” he sniffled, clearing his throat and kissing the top of her head. He pulled another blanket over her frame as she often got cold in the middle of the night. It amazed Riley how much Charlie knew of her daughter despite the amount of time he had been present in their lives. They softly shut the door behind them and walked hand in hand to their room. “Planning the wedding is going to be fun”
“I was thinking we do it in Dieppe or Moncton” Riley suggested, something to which Charlie lit up at. He looked at her with wide eyes in disbelief.
“If you’re pulling an Emerson on me right now, I’m going to be so mad” they had come up with the term ‘pulling an Emerson’ to describe the sarcasm they often received from the little girl. But Charlie became overjoyed as Riley bit her lip and shook her head, confirming that she did in fact want to get married in his hometown.
“We start planning tomorrow”
A/N: if you really want a wedding scene or a glimpse of life after the wedding let me know!
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threeminutesoflife · 3 years
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Don’t Forget
Pairings: Steve x Black!Reader Summary: A look at family life for Steve, Reader and their daughter after reader suffers problems with her memory  Warnings: slight angst/ends happy, memory loss due to injury, smut, slightest breeding kink Word Count: 1.8k
prompt: 50 First Dates
a/n: @allaboardthereadingrailroad❣️🧡​ thank you for hosting the Diversity Challenge 
a/n2: piece is purposely choppy and randomly placed to reflect the reader’s struggle with memory. Also, references to Dark Knight, Love Actually, Say Anything, 50 First Dates.
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___ A monetary, momentary impact- cause and effect:
Bank robberies were many things. Successful ones were more. Timing, precision, determination; a well-mapped out plan, and methodical dedication to achieve a streamless end result.
It was that sort of successful robbery that cemented you, an involuntary participant, on a repetitive course of choppy, foggy memories. Despite the jovial clown designs of the robbers’ masks, the severity of the situation was real.   
Because things really do play out in slow motion as dramatic events unfold- a deafening crash, a cloud of dusty sunlight pouring in through the bank's broken entrance. Stilted, broken flashes of your life projected themselves on the backs of your closed eyelids.
Unfortunately, you were within the range of the propelling debris when the school bus reversed into the building.
Because of that day, your memory would skip and strip. 
____
Exhilaration- friendly fear of tickle monsters:
The sound of tiny feet slapping the floor drew closer from down the hall, ten little toes against high-gloss maple.
The bedroom door crashed open with no regard to the plaster behind it.
Giggles cut through the room as thirty pounds of mischief in footed pajamas launched itself straight at you.
“Mommy!”
Your three year old squealed before bombing her limbs upon your stomach, "Daddy’s gonna get us!”
___
No time for regret, when you’re in the moment of gratitude:
Steve found you standing in front of the vanity, staring at the mirror- unfocused. Frowning slightly, he knew what you were doing to yourself.  
“You okay, sweetheart?”
“Steve, do you ever think... it’d be easier if you didn’t ask me out all those years ago?”
“Which time?” Steve tested the waters with the usual joke, gathering time to prepare himself for the familiar, spirit-dampening conversation.
Every few months you’d ask him if all this was worth it- if the extra work to be with you was what he wanted. He’d always reply with, ‘Loving you's a blessing, not a chore.’
You’d hesitate at those words, at his sincerity- until he was able to coax affection back into your field of vision. Because you were worth it to him. 
“Steve, come on. I’m being serious.”
“Me too. I’m lucky to be as stubborn as people claim me to be-“
“Oh, it’s a fact," you snorted. "Not a claim. You’re stubborn.”
“Good thing for me then, huh?" Steve smiled, relieved by your humor. "Otherwise, I’d miss out on everything that’s good in my life.”
___
She’s got jokes:
A documentary splashed itself across the television screen as you sank into the couch next to Steve. Pointing your toes, you rested your legs over his lap and cracked open the fake memory journal's spin. 
Watching you from the corner of his eye, Steve hid his excitement that you brought the book out by him. 
You usually looked over it alone, too self-conscious to try remembering things in front of others. He always encouraged you to sit and read it with him. He liked resharing the stories you created together, but your underlying guilt for not recalling events easily shut the door on those conversations.   
Turning the page, you caught Steve glancing at you before shooting his attention back to the screen with a cough. 
Smugly stretching your legs, you bit your lip and rubbed your ankle over Steve’s bulge. Catching the way his thigh jumped and flexed under his thin sweatpants, your eyes darted back to the journal. You couldn’t wait to play out your prank. 
Keeping his eyes on the screen, Steve picked up your ankle and rolled his knuckles along the arch of your foot. As much as he appreciated the way you riled him up, he wanted you to open up.
Chuckling, you mumbled to yourself how great that day must have been before turning the page and complimenting another pretend event. 
Another faux memory praised, Steve twisted towards you before shaking his head and turning back to the screen. Pressing his thumb harder into the sole of your foot, he was unsure how to proceed. 
Delighted by his confusion, you complimented another memory with a theatrical dreamy sigh.
Giving in to his curiosity, Steve paused the television and gave it a shot, “What are we looking at?” 
“I thought it might be nice to talk about the stuff we did- like you’ve wanted.”
The smile that spread across Steve’s face almost made you feel bad for the prank.
“Yeah, yes- I’d like that,” he shut the tv off, practically dropping the remote in excitement. “What are you reading, what’s making you laugh?”
“How you asked me out using cue cards you made. The messages you came up with were sweet.”
“...Cue cards?”
“It was special of you, Steve. Taking the time to write out something on each one. Here. Look at this sentence, you called me perfect. Reading what you did and how loved I felt, you’re so wonderful.”
“...Honey...” Steve’s voice cracked slightly, “I don’t, I don't know anything about cue cards-”
“-And then the time you stood outside my bedroom window with that boombox. Holding it obnoxiously high above your head. Thank goodness for biceps, am I right?" You teased, nudging Steve with your elbow. "That gesture might be a little too much for some but reading how you made me feel, it meant so me.”
“You wrote that?” Steve questioned, an edge of concern creeping in. “You think I actually did-... you remember these things happening?”
“My favorite is right here. When you built that little house out of waffles at the diner. Setting up a kiddie pool of syrup for us to dip the roof in and a jacuzzi of hot chocolate nearby. And then your expression- when I said I'm more of a pancake person. You argued how pancakes aren’t sound enough for construction.” 
Keeping your poker face intact, you tried not to flinch as Steve inspected you intensely. 
Suddenly, he jetted forward and snatched the fake journal from your hands. Sailing it over his shoulder, he knocked your legs from his lap and climbed off the couch to loom over you. 
Before regret set in from your play of inaccurate historical accounts, your body snapped backward as Steve yanked you down the sofa by your ankles. 
“Hysterical. Pancakes over waffles” Steve scoffed dryly at your teasing, boxing himself over you and settling his knee between your legs. “I know you too well. You’re in for it now, sweetheart.”
____
Adoration, a promise of tradition and support:
You sat in bed with her snuggled by your side, a little nose peeked out from under her blanket. Her little hand wrapped itself around your shirt, her other held a well-loved, stuffed bunny. 
Scooping her up, you cradled her in your arms. Warm security. Peeling a corner of the blanket back, you kissed her cheek. 
Between giggles, she raised the rabbit up in the air and you played along- one kiss for her, another for her stuffed friend.
She settled in slowly with a yawn as you hummed the lullaby your mother softly sang to you before bed. The same rich melody draped with the lyrics your grandmother sang to her children. 
Tears gathered in your eyes as you willed yourself not to forget this moment.
___
Gratitude and gratefulness:
“Can’t you see how beautiful you are? Knowing I’m yours- that you’re mine... when you come out of that bedroom each morning, I witness that recognition of love on your face when you see us...” Steve’s body tensed, his shoulders shook as he stumbled over the words. "...getting to see you with our girl each day."
“Hey," You called to him, pulling himself out of his thoughts. "Hey, handsome."
Steve pressed his forehead against yours and tried to push down his anxiety. 
Your eyes locked to his as you promised teasingly, “You and our daughter- seeing her each day- that’s my happiness. You're just a bonus.”
Sputtering a laugh, he closed his eyes and relaxed from your fingers threading through his hair. Steve never took for granted how you soothed him, especially during the times when he should actually be comforting you. 
“Thank you,” Steve whispered. 
“Some things are easier to remember than others for me.”
“Yeah?” His lips ghosted over yourself, a half-smile raising the corner of his mouth.
“Yeah. The journal's a great cheat sheet, makes it easier to recall I have a husband. Now, if only I could pick him-”
Steve moved quickly, cutting off your joke. His mouth trapped your next words when his tongue swept over your lips. 
___
Muscle memory:
“Hold your legs. Spread'em wide for me,” Steve instructed between a husky, broken grunt. “Wider, sweetheart.”
He stroked himself in front of you as you laid naked on your back. Your arms were sandwiched between the fold of your legs and hands locked around your ankles. You provided your husband more access and an even prettier view with your feet in the air and legs parted. 
He ran his fingers over your folds, circling your clit. Lining himself up, he thought how these were some of his favorite moments with you, the intimacy and the need.
Caught up in the stretch and sensation of him slowly entering you, you almost missed his next words over your moans. 
“Want…” Steve stuttered, “want to be deep in you, beautiful.”
You mewled under him, squeezing him from his words. Releasing your ankles, you grabbed his arms for support as he slowly slid deeper. Steve’s movements faltered with a groan, feeling you tighten around him.
He closed his eyes to concentrate as you felt goosebumps run down his forearms under your palms. 
“Fuck,” Steve cursed and praised, thrusting harder. Your legs bounced above your arms from each snap of his hips.
“Free your legs. Give me your hands, sweetheart,” Steve instructed, massaging your breast.
Pulling him down, your hands wrapped around the back of his neck. You inhaled his woodsy shampoo as you dragged your nose along the light shadow of his beard. Capturing his mouth with yours, you tasted salt on his top lip.   
With a quick bite along your collarbone, his chest rumbled when you ignored his instructions. Collecting your wrists in one hand, he secured them over your head and ground into you harshly. 
“I love you,” Steve said, slowing his pace. 
You replied with a roll of your hips, earning a dark moan from him, "I love you, too.” 
Steve rocked back on his heels, dragging away his length and slipping out of you completely. Your body immediately began to cool from his lack of touch. 
Propping yourself up on your elbows, you called out, "What's wrong?"
“Your empty journal sheets bother me,” Steve stated, running his hands over your knees. "We're fixing that."  
His thumbs circled up your inner thighs, looping closer to your core. Spreading your legs further apart, he pushed them into the mattress. Taking himself back in his hand, he palmed his erection and rocked his shaft along your folds. 
"Let's have another baby, sweetheart," he smirked, teasing his tip into you. "Gotta fill up all those pages.”
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acciofanfics · 4 years
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Be Quiet (Harry Potter x Reader) SMUT
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Request: Can you write a story where the reader (Slytherin) and Harry fall in love with each other and have their first time (smut pls!) and at the same time Sirius and the reader find out that’s she’s his daughter? Xo
Pairing: Harry Potter x FemReader
Warnings: Smut, very slight mentions of death, unprotected sex
Word Count: 2389
A/N: I forgot to specify the reader’s house! 😭 Also I didn’t do a whole lot of set up, let’s pretend their slightly older in Order of The Phoenix and this is set in when they’re staying in Sirius’ place? -S
———————————————————————
(Y/N) rapped quietly on the door, she supposed knocking on the door at all kind of defeated the purpose of trying to be quiet, so she abandoned her efforts and attempted to open the wooden door with minimal squeaking. “Harry? Are you up?”
Harry was quick to appear and open the door for her to come into the room. Honestly, he felt kind of bad, because it had been his intention to come to her. She had just beat him to it, but he supposed that wasn’t too surprising; she had always seemed to be more sure of herself than Harry had. “Yeah, come in. I was just about to go look for you.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. Harry was probably her best friend...or maybe Hermione, but that would only because she couldn’t share EVERYTHING with Harry (despite her desire to do so). She plopped on the bed and let out a sigh, a dramatic, but justified one. “This is a lot, right?”
“It’s a bit much sure… not entirely bad though?” Harry knew immediately what she’d been referring to. A bombshell for sure. One thing they had been able to bond over was the fact that she grew up without her parents, Harry was thankful that she had a much more loving and tolerant aunt and uncle though. She never knew who her father was, and her mother had died around the age of 3. She knew who her father was now though… the notorious Sirius Black.
(Y/N) knew that she had been kept in the dark for her own good. Most people still thought the man was a murderer and she knew her aunt and uncle just didn’t want her to grow up knowing that they shared the DNA. “I mean I guess not… Sirius is cool and all.” It definitely sucked that his name hadn’t been cleared to anyone not in the Order, but while not seemingly knowing a lot about what he was doing he seemed eager to try as much as he would be able to.
“I feel like I’ve been lied to my entire life and I get why they did it, but I wish I would’ve known.” (Y/N) sat up and laid her head on Harry’s shoulder. He’d sat down beside her after she’d laid back. “I suppose nothing really changes that much though.”
He could definitely relate to some extent. Harry constantly felt like he was playing catch-up, and he was always a step behind everyone in knowing about himself and his life. “Right.”
A silence fell over the pair. Harry wasn’t sure what (Y/N) was feeling, but he felt content. She always had a way of making him feel that way. Hermione kept pushing him to say something, and as much as he wanted to he always found a reason not to do so. Now for example would be incredibly inappropriate, she was already so overwhelmed it just wouldn’t be fair to add the weight of his feelings for her onto her shoulders.
“Can I ask you something completely off topic?”
“Anything.”
“Do you like me?” (Y/N) felt bad for blurting out the question. Now probably wasn’t the time and that probably wasn’t the best way to go about it, but at that moment it seemed like the most appropriate option.
Poor Harry was happy he didn’t have a mouth full or butter beer or pumpkin juice because there was no doubt that he would’ve probably spit it all over the bedding and the floor. He used to say that they were close enough that she could never surprise him, but that clearly was a lie. He often wondered if she was a Legilimen, because she seemed to have some sort of innate ability to read his mind. She also knew when he was lying to playing dumb probably wouldn���t be too much help in this situation, “Uh...yeah. Hermione says it's bloody obvious.”
(Y/N) chuckled and smiled, even though he wouldn’t be able to see it, “She says the same to me if it makes you feel any better.”
“You fancy me?” Harry always had a small suspicion, he didn’t think that Hermione would be constantly trying to get him to confess his feelings if she thought it would end badly, but still he had his doubts.
“You might be the chosen one, but you can be pretty thick sometimes…” She sighed and lifted her head from his shoulder. When he turned to see what was wrong she just planted a soft kiss on his lips. He immediately melted into it, he didn’t need to be told twice to kiss her back. He’d been thinking about doing it so long that it just seemed second nature.
Their foreheads stayed pressed together even when the urge to break away to breathe came. Her eyes were still closed, but Harry kept his open (he just needed to make sure this wasn’t a dream). “Would it be too soon to say that I’m in love with you?”
“I don’t think I’d use the word soon at all.” (Y/N) teased with a soft laugh.
Harry pulled the girl back in for another kiss, the second was even better than the first (which he hadn’t previously thought to be possible). She tasted like mint toothpaste, which probably now his favorite flavor as his tongue swept across hers. (Y/N) wrapped her arms around him, an act partially meant to pull him closer and partially meant to keep a grip on him so that when she laid down he’d come tumbling down with her.
Her back hit the mattress with a soft thud, and she found herself mildly impressed with Harry’s ability to gracefully follow her. His body resting between her legs and his hands on either side of her head. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled herself further into him, earning a small groan. Her lips curled into a smile against his skin, and she set herself on a mission to elicit a similar reaction, but not before whispering to him, “You have to be quiet, apparently my dad is in the other room.”
Harry rolled his eyes at her, but soon found himself forgetting what she’d said. Instead he was more focused on the feathery light kisses being trailed down from his cheek to his neck. He took a deep breath when she began to kiss his neck, her ministrations on the skin a new and very enjoyable experience. He didn’t even notice her hands sneaking under his shirt. He shivered slightly from her cold hands, but relaxed into her touch when she ran her palms across his chest and torso. “Whatever you’re doing for Quidditch is clearly working.” She hummed into his ear.
Harry chuckled and leaned up, pulling his shirt over his head and then helping her out of hers. He was kind of shocked by how not nervous he was. There was just something about her, he doubted there was anything in the world she could do to make him think less of her and he just had a hunch she felt the same (or least that’s the way she made him feel). There was little light in the bedroom, but he could still see her (barely, but he could). He hadn’t even thought about the fact they were in her pajamas and she probably wouldn’t be wearing a bra… she definitely wasn’t and he felt his voice catch in the back of his throat.
“This is the part where you tell me how good I look.” (Y/N) whispered playfully to him. She worried that perhaps she might’ve been ruining the moment with so much talking, but she also knew that Harry was aware she liked to make jokes to ease her own nerves. He was often the only one not taken aback by the sometimes poorly time sentiments.
“You’re bloody gorgeous.” His voice held no trace of jest and he didn’t even give her a chance to respond before he went back in for another kiss. The kiss was chaste, because honestly he wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine. When his lips met the skin of her neck (Y/N) found herself having to bite the inside of her cheek to keep her voice down. However, whenever he dipped lower and found her chest the action was futile. A sharp gasp tore through her throat at the new sensation and when to shower her breasts in kisses she no longer found holding back a moan a possible option.
The sound was like music to Harry’s ears and he began to crave hearing more like it was a song stuck in his head. He switched between her right and left nipple, carefully trying to pay the same amount of attention to each one, and he only found himself willing to stop whenever she rolled her hips upward and brushed herself against the erection he was now painfully aware of. To be honest, he wasn’t quite sure what was exactly expected of him. He definitely wasn’t entirely stupid on the subject, he knew WHAT happened, but maybe he was skipping an important step in the foreplay that he wasn’t aware of. He didn’t have much time to think too much about it, because (Y/N) wiggled out from under him. He would’ve been worried that he’d done something wrong, but when she began to shed the rest of his clothes those thoughts abandoned his mind. Really the only thoughts left in his head was her… and how she looked. Completely bare. In front of him. Merlin, he wasn’t sure there was ever a sight more beautiful and he doubted he’d ever be able to think of anything else.
“Care to join me?” (Y/N) hoped she wasn’t being too forward. This really was probably too soon… they’d just had their first kiss not even an hour ago and now she was lying on his bed completely naked. She’d been imagining this for far more than a few hours though. It was definitely not a fleeting thought… well it wasn’t to her. She hoped Harry felt the same.
“Oh! Yeah!” It occurred to him how lame it must’ve been that he was just sitting there looking at her and he quickly shed his left over layers too. Now they were both naked, and still just staring.
“This is okay with you right?” She drew closer to him again, careful not to touch him until she was sure that he also wanted this.
“Yes.” He thought she was bloody insane to even ask him that, but he wouldn’t say that to her (at least not right then).
That was all she wanted to hear, (Y/N) kissed him again, but this time it was different. It was full of anticipation and desire and their lips just moved together instinctively, because they were both too focused on the feeling of their bodies being pressed together.
This time (Y/N) didn’t have to pull Harry on top of her, this time he carefully laid her down and hovered over her. The tip of his cock brushed against her core and he was worried that he’d lose it right then and there. She whimpered and raised her hips to meet him. Their eyes locked and there wasn’t a need for words to ask permission or any questions. They both knew this was exactly what they wanted. Harry reached between them and drug the tip of his cock across her folds, his eyes closed when he slowly began to press himself into her.
Immediate pleasure washed over Harry and to put it bluntly it was far better than any late night with his hand. (Y/N) felt it too, not quite as intensely as she was still adjusting to the foreign feeling of being so completely stretched by him. The thought alone made her shift her hips. He was trying not to give into the desire to just completely ruin her, the thought had crossed his mind more than once if he was being honest and now that he was presented with the actual opportunity he was doing his best to be a gentleman.
“Harry,” He had always enjoyed hearing her say his name, and this was no exception. It was at least 10 times better when it came out more of a moan than an actual word, “Move already.”
He grunted a bit at the order, but obliged nonetheless. He pulled out slowly and then resheathed himself in her again. Each time a little faster and every little whimper or moan that came from her lips egged him on ever more. It didn’t take long for the somewhat uncomfortable feeling to completely disappear and soon her weak noises became a little louder. Harry would’ve been happy to have her screaming his name, the noise echoing through the hallways, but she was right. Her father was in the other room, as well as other people who would not approve of their display of affection.
“We have.. To be.. Quiet… remember?” His sentence was broken up by the thrusting of his hips, unable to find enough concern to completely stop his movements. Knowing he was right (Y/N) roughly kissed him. She wasn’t entirely sure that it would keep the noises at bay, but it was the only thing that she could say would have the potential to work at the moment. She was getting close, she could feel something like a spring in her body being twisted tighter and tighter with every thrust and then POP. A wave of relief and pleasure erupted through her body and a moan that sounded more like a strangled sob was let out. As cliche as it sounded, it completely undid Harry and he held her close, his face buried into her shoulder as he found the same pleasure she did and his hips stilled.
“Harry?”
“Yeah?”
“That was my first time.”
“Mine too.” He answered honestly.
“We’re pretty good at this.” She let out a quiet laugh as Harry pulled himself out of her and collapsed on the bed. She laid down beside him, her head resting on his chest.
“Honestly… I think we could go for a bit more practice.”
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yasbxxgie · 3 years
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The Artist’s Way: Writer-director Radha Blank ruminates on creative frustration and rejuvenation in her debut feature, The Forty-Year-Old Version
Fair warning: This interview with Radha Blank isn’t business — it’s personal. Right now, like at this very moment, Radha is being introduced to the world as the writer, director, and star of the remarkable new Netflix film The Forty-Year-Old Version. But I remember Radha in the 1990s, smashing open mics at Brooklyn Moon in N.Y.C., rocking a fitted N.Y. Yankees cap and big hoop earrings. I remember her jumping into cyphers and catching wreck (read: she can dance her ass off) at Club Kilimanjaro. I remember sitting in the audience of her play Seed in 2011 and thinking, Damn, homegirl can write. I remember witnessing the rise of her emcee alter ego and one-woman show RadhaMUSprime at Joe’s Pub in 2014 and thinking, Damn, Radha can rhyme. AND she funny AF. Because Radha was (and is) a part of a close-knit artists’ community, I also recall her hustle, the keeping-the-lights-on-while-trying-to-make-your-dreams-come-true shuffle we know so well. Radha worked as a teacher, she wrote for children’s television and for shows such as Empire and She’s Gotta Have It.
So when The Forty-Year-Old Version won the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award at Sundance earlier this year, the community rejoiced! This wasn’t just a win for Radha, it was a win for the people. Here was a film rooted in Radha’s own story, about a woman at 40; a Black artist trying to get her stories told — as a playwright and as a rapper; a daughter grieving the death of her mother. Radha told her story her way, down to shooting the streets of New York on 35mm film in black and white. The result is a whole, liberating mood. There’s even a nod to Prince’s Purple Rain.
Karen Good Marable: First of all, Radha, congratulations! The Forty-Year-Old Version is amazing. Your success feels so much like a win for Brooklyn. A win for us all. Thank you for writing it. Radha Blank: I really did make it for us — us being Black women, Black women of a certain age, Black women artists of a certain age. I didn’t think I’d be starting a whole new career in my 40s, but I think it speaks to what’s possible if you let go of other people’s ideas of where you should be in your life. If I listened to other people and gave credence to their ideas, I would not be here.
Amen. When you were younger, did you have the boxes to check, i.e., “I need to get this done by 30, I need to get this done by 40”? Were you that girl? RB:
I think I was that girl. And I always say this about aging: It’s never really about the person; it’s about other people’s perceptions that you then take on. I thought by 40, I would be married with a couple of kids, all of my work being published, theaters asking, “Can we do a revival of this play now?” I really thought once I decided to be a playwright, which was probably my mid-20s, I thought, Oh, by 40, I’m going to be set up. I will have a house. And I do have a house, but that came from Cookie and Lucious Lyon. They got me a house.
Come through, Empire. RB:
I feel like we’ve all been conditioned to think that 40 is: You’re an adult, you’re accomplished, you’re established. What me and my character share is there’s still all of these “who am I” moments, questions around identity. Especially when my mother died, I really had to figure out who I was, because so much of my life as a woman, as a person, as a Black American, as an artist, was tied to this woman. When she died, I really had no sense of myself. So I feel like my personal experience propelled me toward telling the story. We just don’t see women of that age saying, What do I do next? Am I happy? Is this enough?
Your mother — curator, visual artist, cinephile, and arts teacher Carol Blank — figures prominently in the film. She is a goddess and a guide, but she also represents a complicated lesson in what it means to be an artist. RB: Oh, listen, I feel like everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned from my mother — from my frustration as an artist to being a teaching artist for so long. That’s where I learned how to be a director, honestly. I didn’t go to film school. I did stand-up comedy and all this performance stuff, and my first example was my mother. She knew how to turn a phrase or a joke to get the kids interested, and if they weren’t, she wasn’t going to push it. I learned from her first, and I tried to match her energy.
I don’t know what my mother went through when she turned 40, as an artist. I know she was a mom of two by that time, but I gathered — especially because she was a teaching artist for so many years — that she was hustling, jumping between these different roles, trying to make sense of something for herself. In that way, I feel like the movie and my journey as an artist brought me closer to her. I was like, Oh, this is what you had to go through. And then you had two kids on top of that?
In the film, your character is also a teacher. As much as she tries to model support and positivity, sometimes the frustration seeps through. One line stayed with me: “Don’t think that because you created something, people will appreciate it.” RB:
Yeah, I have been bitter. I was able to transform that into a film; it gave me a story to tell. But I did feel that theater as an institution didn’t pay off, there wasn’t much of a dividend. I had done a play in 2011 called Seed, and everyone was like, “Girl, this is your breakout! This is your moment! This play is going on Broadway!” None of that shit happened. Theater was not responding in the same way. I was quietly devastated by it, and I think the movie is my exploration of the why. How come things didn’t happen for me? Here’s someone who has been trying for 20-something years and my biggest accomplishment was 10 years ago when I was 30. That’s why I invented the 30 Under 30 award for my character: The idea that accomplishments are amplified by one’s proximity to youth. There’s no 50 Under 50 award. Or 60 Under 60. Being young and doing something as an artist seems more of a cause for celebration. You know what I mean?
There’s also this theme of displacement that runs through the film. In addition to your protagonist feeling out of place in the classroom and in the theater community, she’s also setting a play, Harlem Ave, that deals with gentrification. RB:
So, my parents were gentrifiers in their own way in the late 60s and 70s, when they moved to the south side of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They didn’t displace people, because what they and their artist and jazz musician comrades would do is take over dilapidated spaces that were considered unlivable — broken-down lofts and factories and storefronts — and create community. There was an investment in engaging the community that came before you, whereas now I think gentrification really is just about an opportunity for the person moving in — “Oh, look at this dope, cheap brownstone that I can get” — with no regard for what came before.
Right. RB: The same thing happens with these artistic institutions: They find a dilapidated space, they revive it and put a million dollars into it. Then when it comes to programming, the people on the stage don’t look like the people outside of the gate. They’re thinking of their silver-haired patrons, because those people can afford a $100 ticket, and that is who I feel most of the theaters cater to. So when diversity shows up on the stage, it’s a version of diversity that protects the audience from feeling bad about racism or sexism. They can still remain in a comfortable place, so they can come back next week or next month and see something for the $300 membership.
But then you brilliantly juxtapose said institutions with the battle rap in the Bronx. RB: I wanted to show these different hubs of art in New York. This film is about capturing an authentic New York experience, and so we shot that battle rap scene at a warehouse space at the tip-top of the Bronx. Art and culture are happening in these spaces that we’re not always focusing the camera on and that don’t have the multimillion-dollar renovation fund of a downtown theater. But this is theater. This is art.
Is that battle based on an actual show? RB:
Yes. Well, we recreated that. Babs Bunny, who people may recognize from Making the Band, created this brand called Queen of the Ring. If you go on YouTube, you’ll see their battle raps. I would watch them because I just needed to see women slaying shit and not being proper or polite. I just wanted to put it into a cinematic world.
Your pen is equally hard-hitting, Radha. Rhymes like “Poverty Porn” and “This Some Bullshit” do so much in revealing character, advancing the narrative. RB:
Thank you. I mean, I feel like if we’re stopping to listen to a song, it should still be about advancing the narrative. We’re still moving forward, riding on this person’s frustration, but into the next scene, next act, or what have you. I think it comes from being a playwright, making sure that everything is earned and not just thrown in there for novelty or because it’s colorful and interesting. I feel like RadhaMUSprime is probably an explosion of her consciousness, the things that she’d been suppressing.But yeah, I’m an emcee. I rhyme. The beautiful thing about the film is I didn’t have to become a professional rapper. I don’t feel like the movie is 8 Mile. I say the movie is 2 Mile,
because she’s not trying to go that far. She’s not trying to be a hip-hop star. For her, hip-hop is a meditation and it shows up in many ways, from the trap beat floating outside her window, to her freestyling in the mirror, or with the dudes in the basement cypher at Arlene’s Grocery.
In some ways, the moral and artistic struggles of The Forty-Year-Old Version remind me of Hollywood Shuffle, Robert Townsend’s 1987 classic. RB:
I appreciate that you bring up Hollywood Shuffle, because I know that because I’m Black and I’m shooting in black and white, people always make the comparison to She’s Gotta Have It. But I feel like my film calls back to Hollywood Shuffle, about a Black artist confronting the white gatekeepers on who gets to tell a Black story and how.
Exactly. And like Townsend, you wrote, directed, and starred in your own first feature film. How was that experience, and do you think you would do it again? RB:
I wouldn’t say I regret being in my film, but I think that there’s probably more of a fascination with my film because I’m in it. And I have too much respect for actors to call myself one. I don’t come from training. I don’t sit in these auditions day after day. I don’t have to endure seven callbacks for a role. I just think that when an audience is familiar with a face, it might make it easier for them to go down the line with this person. So while I don’t plan on being in another one of my films, I do plan on mining my family legacy for storytelling, and on telling stories where music is a driving force.I really want to be an auteur. I’m hoping that my stories get quieter. Very quiet, but very potent. A slow burn, but such a beautiful payoff. I want to make work like that.
Amen.
Photographs:
Radha Blank on set, t & m
Radha Blank with her fellow cast members
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arcticdementor · 3 years
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Never encourage a child to keep a secret from her parents. That’s what we used to say, in decades past, when we believed a sacred boundary encircled every American home.
Last week, I spoke with another mother who discovered her 12-year-old daughter’s middle school had changed the girl’s name and gender identity at school. The “Gender Support Plan” the district followed is an increasingly standard document which informs teachers of a child’s new chosen name and gender identity (“trans,” “agender,” “non-binary,” etc.) for all internal communications with the child. The school also provided the girl a year’s worth of counseling in support of her new identity, which in her case was “no gender.” Even the P.E. teachers were in on it. Left in the dark were her parents.
This duplicity is part of the “plan”: All documents sent home to mom and dad scrupulously maintained the daughter’s birth name and sex. But Mom noticed her daughter seemed to be suffering. Although far from alone in declaring a new identity - many girls in the school had adopted new names and gender pronouns – this girl’s grades fell apart. She became taciturn and moody.
When the mother failed to uncover the source of the girl’s distress, she met with teachers, hoping for insight. Instead, she slammed into a Wall of Silence: no teacher was evidently willing to let a worried mom know what the hell was going on. (Finally, one did.)
When I wrote Irreversible Damage, I documented that California and other public school systems had adopted a policy of creating two sets of documents around minor students’ gender. Similar policies have cropped up across the country, modeled on the one created by the activist organization Gender Spectrum.
A “gender support plan” isn’t merely a secret held between child and teacher, which might be bad enough. This is no private student confession, the silent whisperings of a troubled teenage heart. A Gender Support Plan, or any similar scheme, effects a schoolwide conspiracy to create a secret name and gender identity specifically withheld from parents. I’ve talked to a mom whose middle school daughter slept in the boys’ bunk on the school overnight before she learned her daughter’s school had, for more than a year, called her by a different name and openly referred to her as a boy.
Teachers and activists who support this policy typically make two arguments in its favor. The first is that the very fact that a teen would want to keep her new gender identity a secret from parents is proof that home is an “unsafe” place for her; that is, her parents, if they knew, would abuse her. The second is that this gender declaration is a deeply held and personal decision of the child’s. The school, in this scenario, is merely a polite bystander—at most, a kindly chaperone. It’s not the school’s job to ask mom and dad for their approval.
The first is absurd; the second, dishonest. Why would a teen agree to keep a secret from her parents, if not for the presence of abuse? Well, as one sharp Twitter user pointed out in response to the documents I posted, one can think of a few things a teen might want to keep secret from mom: an eating disorder; her decision to join a religious cult; her dabbling in drugs; a decision to send or post nudes; or have sex with a much older boy. Teens tend to keep from mom and dad a wide variety of healthy and unhealthy teenage experimentations—sometimes to avoid parental protest; sometimes, just for the pubertal frisson.
And in virtually none of these cases is the primary motivation to keep secrets from parents necessarily fear of abuse. Sometimes it’s to avoid—groan—another lecture or even a conversation. Other times, teens keep something a secret just to avoid a “No.”
Which, in fact, is what the schools seem to want to avoid as well. The non-stop sex-and-gender celebration that begins in many public-school Kindergartens is an attempt to liberate children from any traces of sexual innocence.
A peculiar power imbalance has arisen between public school teachers and the parents for whom the necessity of work renders them too dependent on these schools to question them.  Parents discover radical materials pushed on their children by accident, like passersby happening on a crime scene. They are treated as interlopers, trespassers; they are made to understand they have no right to be there; information on the ideology pushed on their kids is revealed on a strictly need-to-know basis. When parents do object to classroom gender ideology, they’re treated as morally obtuse or child abusers.
The contempt shown parents would be inexcusable even if teachers stuck to reading, writing and arithmetic. In a time when so many public school teachers are properly described as activists, that arrangement strips children of their families’ protection. And families must indeed protect them from an ideology that would turn students against any adult who suggests that a seventh grader suddenly jonesing for hormones and surgeries slow down. I have more than once wondered whether public schools that would openly pit students against their families, turn them against themselves and each other, aren’t doing more harm than good.
I mean no disrespect to teachers when I point out the obvious: the moment a middle-schooler whom they’ve encouraged to transition graduates to high school, they more or less wash their hands of him. Soon after the janitors have stripped the lockers clean and rolled fresh paint on the walls, teachers will mentally and emotionally prepare for the next crop of students. They may remember a few fondly—but that does little for a child they’ve set on a medically perilous path toward a dramatic identity swap. If it backfires – as it will in so many instances – it won’t be the seventh-grade music teacher who contends for years with the damage.
All of which might make you wonder, how on earth are schools getting away with this? Is there no law that bars public schools from concealing a “coming out” to parents?  Actually, there really isn’t—not a good enough federal law, anyway.
For the past year, parents have been placed in the absurd situation of playing Whack-a-Mole with the worst excesses of Woke ideology. A book here, a curriculum there. It’s exhausting—and it’s a losing game of endless defense. Time for offense.
This is where the most critical cultural battle will be fought. Not with reckless doctors, for whom lawsuits are coming. Not even with the therapists—in many cases, a luxury, parents can walk away from. It will be fought with America’s activist teachers. Will we allow the activists among them unaccountable access to the next generation of America’s children?
For Pete’s sake, the state requires that teachers ask parental consent before they offer a child Tylenol. Maybe the state should require schools ask parents before inculcating a whole new identity for their child. Indeed, federal law should insist upon it.
Funny thing about this “debate” over parental rights: it cuts clear across party lines. Republican, Democrat, gay, straight—the Mama Bears of America have a very particular idea of what sorts of identities we’ll allow other adults to push on our minor children. Those insisting that teachers must “protect” seventh graders from their parents—they are rarely parents themselves. What they demand is continued unmonitored access to your children. It’s past time we stopped giving it to them.
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cookiedoughmeagain · 3 years
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Haven DVD Commentaries: 5.18 - Wild Card
Commentary with Brian Millikin and Nick Parker, co-writers for the episode
I love these guys, they have so much to say ...
BM: So this was a tricky one. When we wound up getting assigned it, we were like; Oh boy. There was so much exposition to get in. And this was always going to be a bit of a turning point in the season. We knew that 5.14 would set up the shroud, and 15 and 16 would be living in Haven with the shroud and seeing how tough life was. And then 17 was always going to be a stand-alone episode, it was shot by itself. Lucas Bryant directed it and it was great. And that was more about Audrey and Nathan - a bit of a pause to deal with them. But then we’ve got 18 and 19 that were shot together, and we knew that these would be the two episodes to really launch us into the Croatoan story for the rest of the season.
BM: And we knew that this would be the last epsiode for Charlotte. NP: And that’s something that was tough about this episode but also fun to tackle, because we knew she was going to die at the end of this episode, and when we were first conceiving the episode we did not know that we should be coming back for 19, so we had to have a lot of emotional moments. This scene right here showing that her and Dwight are back together. We had to have a lot of emotional moments for her character so that when she bites it at the end, it’s powerful. BM: Yeah we always knew that at the end of 18 Charlotte would be killed by Croatoan. And Charlotte and Dwight were on the rocks in between 5A and 5B, but we wanted to get them back together and see them happy together again, and this is the payoff. I mean it’s sad it’s the same episode she’s going to die - it’s a bit like a horror movie where the people who have sex are the ones who get killed. And we knew we were going to open with the two of them in bed having this tender moment, because we knew that we were going to end with her dead. Which was sad because we really liked Laura Mennell, everyone did, but it was always … NP: That was how many episodes we had her for. BM: Yeah it was just the ten episodes that we had, and that’s just the nature of actor deals but it happened like that because we knew we didn’t want the character around that much longer. It’s a little bit of the Obi-Wan syndrome, that you get your answers from these people who know a lot and then at a certain point you need to dispatch with them (kind of like Garland Wuornos in the first season) so that your other characters can step up. If she was around, then she takes a bit away from what Audrey and Nathan and Dwight are left to do. So from the day we created here in 5.08, we always knew that she was going to be dying. But she was a great addition to the show. But we also knew that we needed a Trouble in the episode. NP: That was another tough thing, that this had to be, in some ways, more of a traditional Trouble of the Week episode. BM: Yes, well the dictum that we had was to have a normal Trouble for the first half of the episode, but then to reveal that this Trouble had been instigated by Croatoan. Because at this point we’ve had to dispatch with the typical Trouble of the Week to an extent. The situations that we’re dealing with, they need to start coming from our bad guy so that he’s active in doing these things. Especially because he was going to kill Charlotte in this episode. So it was a bit of a tough one. I remember us all sitting down to decide which Trouble to include and the Tarot card Trouble was one that we had been talking about for years and years. And it wound up working really well in this episode. NP: Yeah it’s fun when we can go to the Trouble Bank and pull something out, that’s been an idea that’s been bouncing around for a while, and then put a particular spin on it. And we really, really dug in on the research for the Tarot, because it’s such an established … BM: Because you’re a humongous Tarot card nerd? NP: Fair enough. But also because it’s such an established mythology … BM: Sure NP: … and there’s so much text and information out there. We wanted it to be true to the Tarot, but also dramatically interesting for a television show. BM: It was a real tough push and pull. Because we knew what we needed the Tarot cards to do to our characters. Sometimes before we knew what Tarot card to be, so we had to retrofit it a little bit - and change it up somewhat. So it was a not-ideal situation and I know it was a real struggle for you, because you’re a purist. But most TV shows will just make up Tarot cards. Or they’ll say, for instance, that the death card means death when it doesn’t really. So we endevoured to not succumb to too much of that. I think we landed somewhere in the middle. NP: Somewhere in the middle. I mean we couldn’t do the traditional seven card cross reading, we couldn’t go into the full detail. BM: No, that would be a six hour episode. NP: So it’s a simplified version but we do end up being able to work in both the major and minor arcana. It was fun. BM: Yeah and I think something that attracted us to the concept was having different cards for different characters, and Croatoan being able to draw more cards for more characters, but also the idea of, what in the room we called Russian Roulette. That we would get to a place where the only way out was to keep going forward in the game, and to draw more cards and just hope for the best. That  was really appealing, particularly to Matt McGuinness, our show runner.
[As Dwight and Nathan find the second body] NP: Interesting fact here; that shoreline looks different from any other shoreline you’ve ever seen in Haven because this was no longer shot in Chester, Nova Scotia. This and episode 19 were our first episodes in our new home for season 5B; Halifax. BM: Yeah 17 was the last episode we shot before moving to Halifax. And also one of the most beautiful, so props to Lucas Bryant. But this I think was one of the first days shooting in Halifax and we really endeavoured to find locations (currently out of focus in the background!) that looked a lot like Chester. And it’s not impossible, but a little bit tough. It was a bit easier for these Duke scenes, because the Duke storyline, he’s not in Haven anyway. So that was a lot easier. NP: Ah Kris Lemche. He’s just funny. BM: Yes, Seth Byrne. Super happy that we brought him back again. He was terrific. We knew that 5B was going to be Duke off on his own for a lot of the time. And we had a lot of conversations about; Who is he going to be talking to? We wanted 15 and 16 for him to be out there on his own. And for 17, I think it was always going to be Kris Lemche. We flirted with someone else, whose name I’m probably not allowed to say right now. BM: No, I don’t think you can. But we had talked originally about having Kris Lemche come back to Haven, and so whenever he was leaving at the end of 508, it was very vague. BM: Very vague. He was like; I’m just going to , go … over there NP: I’m just going to step out of this scene, and you may or may not see me later at some indeterminate point in time. But then once we came up with the idea that the shroud doesnt only trap people in Haven, but affects the memories of people outside it, then that allowed us to have … and Kris already has that dry delivery and a good sense of humour, and he was able to handle that very well. So once we started writing those scenes it made perfect sense.
BM: So Duke’s story in this episode was always pretty straightforward. We had set up in 17 that Seth comes to him with his idea of hope, where he might be able to find a cure. And so this would be the episode where he goes to do it, and kind of believes there for a second, and then it turns out to be crap just like everything else. Another dead end. NP: Yeah we wanted to play around with the idea of the old Native healer kind of thing, turn that on it’s head a little bit and turn him into a con artist, basically. BM: Yeah and I don’t know if the con artist thing is that much of a surprise NP: No. BM: But given where it comes in the episode we had hoped that people would maybe think; Wow, I can’t believe that they’re going to actually do the faith healer thing. And then wonder; Well now what’s Duke going to do. And the idea is, that’s what Duke is wondering too.
[Nathan and Dwight and the bronco with its flat tyre] NP: What was fun about this scene was, basically getting them to talk about dating two women from another world. BM: Mother and daughter too. But yeah, for my money, I wish we’d had time to do more stuff like that. But we had so much to do in this episode. There is just a torrent of exposition coming up soon. Which our cast handled super-well. NP: Yeah it’s tough when you know that you’ve got a character who has to die at the end of the episode. And you also know that is your one character who has all the information that you need your other characters to have, it’s tought to get all of that out that quickly with it being, speechy BM: Yeah I mean there were versions of this early on where we didn’t even have a Trouble in this episode and Croatoan was the main threat - but it was too soon. So we needed everyone needed to be going through something here. But we really liked the idea of everyone being affected by the same Trouble in different ways. So it makes it pretty clear that something’s coming after them specifically. NP: And you’ll notice the tattoos on their wrists, we had long conversations about how are we going to know that everyone’s been affected by the same thing. BM: Yeah, how do they know that it’s all the same Trouble NP: And how to represent that. BM: And it was your idea I think - and luckily all of the major Tarot cards all have numbers on them. So everyone could have the same sort of Roman numeral that matches the one on the card. So it was like; That’s a great idea! But where do the numbers go? So then it was this whole debate about where the number should be. I said forehead, but that’s hours of makeup. NP: A little too much. But it was kind of funny with the major vs minor arcana. We needed Audrey to have a slightly different kind of expressed Trouble than the others, so she’s the one that’s affected by the minor arcana rather than the major BM: Well our way of thinking about it was that you have to figure that Croatoan has rigged it. He’s stacked the deck. So he would have known, because - spoiler alert - Croatoan is at the point kind of inside of Dave and possessing him from time to time, he knows everything that Dave knows. So he is aware of the aether they’ve found, and he is aware of what Charlotte and Audrey are trying to do down there. So he chose cards for Audrey and Charlotte that are preventing them from doing what they need to do. NP: Yeah and his goal is not to kill anyone, becuase that could be a simpler thing. BM: That’s true. And we knew from the get go that he wouldn’t want to kill Audrey. We knew about his relationship with Mara and what his ultimate plan is for Audrey, to kind of make lemonade out of the lemon that is Audrey and just have her be his new daughter. Which we liked because it kind of echoed what Charlotte has done; she has taken in Audrey as her daughter, and Croatoan is basically going to do the same thing. Except the problem is that Croatoan is a bad guy.
[As the guy is pretending to draw the demons out of Duke] NP: This is a cool place they ended up filming this. The production design, I appreciate it a lot. BM: Yeah this all worked really well. When we wrote it in that he would cut a vein and it would drip black goo out, I was like; Maybe they’re not going to want to do that. But everyone really responded to it. NP: It worked out. And you know it’s funny, because it feels like a bit of a different show. This feels like magic, whereas the Troubles are expressed ina  bit of a different way. And what I like is that we ended up separating that, and it’s like; this is not how the world works BM: Yeah, and the actor was great here. Good casting. NP: And Kris sells it too.
BM: Ah I forgot Vince and Dave were in this episode. It was important for us to have a little Vince and Dave story in here. For the most part - huge spoiler alert for many other episodes - because we knew that Croatoan had kind of hitched a ride in Dave, and was periodically taking over his body. And that’s why Dave has been losing time, the way everyone did back in the cave. And so we needed that to be in evidence in this episode, but not super obvious that it’s Dave. Because we are going to reveal in the next episode that it’s Dave, so we needed it to be not too obvious here, but obvious enough that it makes sense in the look back. So we knew that we needed just a little Vince and Dave story where they’re poking into what’s going on and finding that they’ve lost time within this episode. And we hoped that if it happens to Vince, Dave and Gloria, maybe it’ll seem like Croatoan just fired a warning shot across their bow. As opposed to what it actually is, which is that they all lost time because Croataon came out from inside Dave and went across town to kill Charlotte. But the it’s a situation that we imagined that Vince has been losing time over and over again, more than anybody. We had versions of that story line where we would discover at the end that Vince and Dave were super addled, their minds were like swiss cheese because they’d lost time every night since… well it’s been a couple weeks now since the season started.
[As Audrey and Charlotte are talking in the cave and Charlotte mentions her father] NP: I gotta say, we kind of gave the actors a tall order here. Because it’s all exposition, but they’re having to act this whole time as though Audrey is going blind, and Charlotte is super weak. And we spent a lot of the VFX budget on the aether swirling around them, so we couldn’t do any VFX with them themselves BM: But I think that moment of them connecting and her telling her about her father is just as effective as any VFX shot NP: Thanks to them. BM: Because as much as we had a Charlotte/Dwight story to tell, it’s also a big deal that Audrey’s about to lose charlotte. And so we wanted for them to have a bit of a story here too, and for this to kind of cap off their relationship that they really came together.
NP: Ah here is Miss Fortuna [the tarot card reader], which is just a tragic name to choose. Lainey Fortuna. But the actor did a great job. BM: Yeah this worked out really well. We knew that she was going to have a big role in the episode. She has to explain the tarot card stuff, so she has to be alive throughout. But because there’s so much Dwight and Charlotte stuff and Audrey and Charlotte stuff going on here, we knew that Nathan was going to wind up dealing with the tarot card of it all, and staying here with Lainey just by the nature of the story. And yeah, galloping hooves, some of this a bit of a literal interpretation of the cards, but it’s kind of accurate. NP: And we kind of wanted to do the more traditional or metaphysical interpretations of the cards for our main characters, and then the people are in evidence, the bodies, are pretty literal interpretations; struck by lightning. BM: My only regret about this really is that we really liked the idea of Nathan’s bad luck. And in some versions of the script we had a lot of comedy really, where he had become an unlucky clutz. NP: Yeah there was door knocker that fell off in his hand, he knocked over an entire table of candles. He was kind of the slapstick comic relief. Whereas Kris Lemche was doing the dry sarcastic stuff. BM: Yeah but we just didn’t have time for it, unfortunately. This episode like so many others, came in long. And it’s kind of brutal what you end up having to cut. Even in the scripts because you have timings and we don’t have time to shoot everything, let alone stuff that’s going to end up being on the cutting room floor anyway. It’s brutal.  And in this case it was almost the funniest parts of the episode that ended up getting cut. NP: Yeah probably. BM: But it happens. And this was a big deal here, what they’re about to realise. This was something we had been working towards for a season and a half, that whoever is causing people to lose time - the No Marks Killer they’re still calling him here - has now come for them.
NP: And another thing about this episode and trying to get everything done is that because this was the first episode up in Halifax, we did not have any of our standing sets. So none of this is happening in the police station or anything like that. That doesn’t happen until 19 when we see the dilapidated station. So this takes place almost entirely on location.
[When Dwight meets Charlotte and Audrey outside the cave] BM: And this was a big scene, with the Croatoan of it all. We had to make sure that Charlotte hadn’t heard that word used before in previous episodes,  because we knew that it would be this episode when we would learn this from her. And we didn’t want her to be alive for too long, frankly, to tell us everything we needed to know. But her idea was not too dissimilar from the Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader distinction, that she doesn’t know that Croataon is her late husband. She thinks that Croatoan is the monster that killed her husband. And we needed for her in this episode to realise that they are actually one and the same; that her husband became Croataon. But she needed to realise that kind of without telling anyone until the very end. It was a bit of a tricky proposition, and she had a lot to explain. But Laura Mennell is as good with that stuff as the rest of our cast. NP: Yeah she sells it.
[As Duke is confronting the guy about faking the black blood] BM: This is funny, he is a lot bigger than Eric Balfour is. We always imagined that this would be a little guy, but he totally sells it with his performance. But if they got in a fight, I don’t know. NP: Yeah he’s like twice the size of Eric. But I like that they’re down in North Carolina which ties back to the classic lost colony business which is always fun.  And we had known that we wanted to send him back down there to help tie up some of the lose ends from episodes 5 and 6 when Vince and Dave went down there. That was when they first learnt that there might be some connection between the lost colony myth and what’s happening in Haven, and we knew what it was even back then, that the Big Bad was named Croatoan. But we needed to learn just a little bit more. Both here from Charlotte and also in the next episode with Duke and the mysterious stranger.
[As Charlotte and Audrey talk with Dwight again, outside the cave and he says he’ll stand watch outside] BM: So this is where the episode kind of turned. We had 20 minutes of a normal Haven episode to an extent, and this is where it starts to turn into the end game for the entire season. NP: Yeah and what’s interesting about this episode is that it’s not traditional in the sense that we get to the Troubled person at the end and have to figure out how to solve it - this is like, we found the Troulbed person pretty early on, and it’s about solving it before everyone dies rather than about finding out who it is. BM: Yeah, it’s funny Nathan telling Dwight here that he doesn’t know how to solve Lainey’s Trouble. There had been a scene before this where he was working with Lainey and trying Trouble-whisper her, but it wasn’t working. Her husband was gone, but she was like; totally fine with it. And in the end we just covered it in the conversation there and I think it works. So this had been something that we sold from the get go and the network and our bosses and everybody were all on board. The appeal of the Tarot card ultimately I think was  that we would get to this place where we have no choice but to flip new cards. NP: Yeah and what was the added bad stakes of that was Nathan has terrible bad luck right now.
[Nathan calling to Dwight after they’ve drawn a new card for him, silence for a scary-long time, and then Dwight’s ‘How’s it going?’] *both laugh* BM: I’m glad that worked as well as it did. He totally got it. We were not on set for these episodes. So the script goes up there, you deal with production a couple times, you talk to the director and have the table read, and then you kind of cross your fingers. But we’ve got a great team up there, and Lee Rose is a great director. But you sort of have to wait until you get the dailies a couple days later to see what worked. And most stuff does.
[Duke and Seth find the grave with the Guard symbol] BM: And the idea with this scene here was it was the end of Duke’s sort of wild goose chase, we kind of thought that he would just have to laugh about it. Walter Faraday there [the name on the grave] is a somewhat obscure Dark Tower reference. NP: Yeah it’s basically a mash up of two different characters; Walter and Faraday BM: But there is also a big Tarot card component to the first two Dark Tower books, which we both love, and so Tarot cards had always been on our to-do list for Haven. Not only that but there’s another Dark Tower reference coming towards the end of the episode. NP: And tarot felt very much in the Stephen King universe. So it was fun to finally do that episode that we had talked about doing for years. And production did a great job of making a beautiful set of Tarot cards. BM: Yeah, for legal clearance reasons you have to use your own cards. The art work and everything has to be your own. NP: Or wasn’t there something about the images on the cards are cleared, but the backs of the cards are not. So that was a whole thing. BM: And Lainey had a lot to do in explaining all these cards. But she did a great job. NP: And the Russian Roulette works well. BM: And here in the cave, with Laura Mennell and Emily Rose, we didn’t do them any favours either. We knew going into this that we had set up the idea of this cloud of aether swirling above them. And we’d known for a while that they were going to have to take all of this and turn it into the aether core... NP: They basically have to Use The Force BM: … as part one of building the new Barn. But no one ever talked about how they were actually going to do it. So we got to this point and everyone realised, what do you do? She can’t just click her fingers. So it really became similar to what we’ve seen William do in the past. But it’s a little bit tought. And we are watching this right now without the final VFX, so they are just staring up into space, so I can only hope that it looks good in the end. But I felt so sorry for them as actors because they have to just trust that it’s going to look OK. It’s not unique to our show but I feel sorry for the actors because they have to do some pretty silly stuff sometimes. But they’re selling it, they’re doing a great job. NP: And I think once they have that moment where they hold hands, that brings it all together and that earns it. BM: I’m generally like things to be as least saccarine as possible, but writing this scene I felt that was a moment where that was called for. And it ended up sticking from the first iteration of this story. And becuase we knew that she was going to die, we needed the two of them to accomplish this task together.  And that them reaching out to each other would be the last step in them doing that. And remember we went through so many different designs for what the aether core would look like? NP: Oh so many. BM: And right up to the last minute as well. But I think it ended up working really well.
[As Audrey tells Charlotte her new card was The Lovers] BM: Ah the Lovers bomb. This was one of my favourite things in the episode. Once we came up with the Tarot card idea and were working out what card would be pulled for Charlotte, then it was like; What if it was the Lovers? Because that can be what tells Charlotte the truth about who Croatoan might really be, that’s the moment she puts it all together. And it would land on her face but she wouldn’t say anything - love it. And this scene [as they try to free Dwight from the fence], one of my favourites too, I love that she winds up saying goodbye to Dwight and is going off on a mission. Here she lies to Audrey to get Audrey to get away. I just love it. And I think that all three of them were really good here, especially Adam and Laura. But just in general, maybe it’s me, I’m a sucker for goodbyes. Any time a character has to say goodbye and the other person *doesn’t know that*, I’m in. NP: And she sells it super well. And this is why the devil card was so important in this moment, because Dwight is completely bound, unable to move. Helpless really. BM: Yeah this was why we ended up choosing that card - solely for that moment.
[Audrey walking along with the aether core] NP: This is a bit of a reference to your all time favourite movie. BM: My number one - Back to the Future. I’m a sucker for Marty McFly and the guitar up on the stage. But this was also something that worked with the Tarot cards we had at our disposal. And was achievable for her to be out here by herself. As a scheduling issue, you know, we might have liked for there to be a rock slide, but we didn’t have time to film that
NP: I love Gloria calling Dave Bert and Ernie. BM: And I love the revelation that we get to, that they’ve all been losing time. It’s a big deal. And we’re still trying to keep it [Croatoan’s connection to Dave] a secret from the audience as much as we can. I don’t know if it worked, maybe people see right through it. But it seemed like we could, if the characters believed that they had incurred the wrath of Croatoan because they had got too close. NP: It worked enough to delay it for now, so. I think. I hope.
[As Audrey is disappearing] BM: This was a big moment for us, we had kind of written ourselves into a corner and had realised; Well what if we just have Nathan learn the rules of Tarot card readings and start a new reading entirely? And so many of the things that we end up doing (maybe it’s just you and me?) with Nathan come down to, in a weird way, Nathan’s super power is his faith, and his hope. And so, this is just kind of what he does. And he really saves the day. NP: We try to give Nathan as many of those ‘save the day’ moments as possible. BM: Absolutely. Love Nathan. NP: He’s great. BM: Huge Nathan fans. We ship Nathan here. NP: Or ship Lucas Bryant. I love that guy to death. BM: That’s true. It’s a Nathan-Lucas thing. But it’s true - it seem deceptively simple, but sometimes you just have to ask the right question. NP: And luckily we had Nathan in this scene, because he’s the only one who can really ask that question. BM: Yeah, I mean we’d had much more complicated, involved and strange ways out of this, but this was the simplest and I think wound up being the best version of it. [Lainey on screen: If you cause is just, you can overcome any obstacle] NP: And that’s good platforming for the rest of the season I think BM: We had danced around that a lot here. We needed that prediction to be true for the rest of the season. And there was a season coming up that got cut, we filmed it but cut it - it was a brief moment where we come back to Nathan and Lainey and see that there is another card out there. And they don’t know who it was played for. It was the, um … NP: The Hermit. Which is about going on a journey of discovery. BM: And the idea was that in the lookback it would be something that would help explain who Duke winds up talking to out there in the middle of nowhere, that Croatoan had played a card for himself so that he was able to send a emissary, or a spectre to talk to Duke. And it wound up being confusing, and not really necessary, so it got cut out. NP: And we were long anyway on this one
[As Charlotte is frantically packing some things in the final scene] BM: So this scene was such a challenge. We knew that Charlotte had to be confronted by Croatoan. We knew that she knew who he was at this point. And we knew that she was going to be killed. But we also knew that the audience couldn’t see that what’s really happening here is that there is a possessed Dave off screen. So we couldn’t see him. So she had to be talking to an unseen person and be killed by someone we couldn’t see. So it was tough. I felt terrible for her, but Lee Rose [director] and Laura really put it together, because she was just all by herself talking to … I think Joanne our script supervisor was shouting lines off camera. NP: But Lee shot this wonderfully. It’s nice and dark and moody. BM: Yeah we needed it to be scary, again it was a little bit like a horror movie here. And we needed them to refer a little bit to the history they have with each other, with just blatantly expo-dumping like crazy about what’s going on. And we knew that her last words would be sticking up for Audrey, and that that might be what would cause her to charge at Croatoan. NP: That voice was interesting, because it’s both Dave’s voice but also the voice of Croatoan from the void and it needs to be masked in order for the dramatic tension.
[Duke and the mysterious stranger] BM: This was another Dark Tower-ish sort of moment. We wished that we could have shot this at night time, and there was originally a camp fire, but it just wasn’t practical production-wise to do that. But there’s a bit of a man in black and gunslinger feel to this, at the end of the first Dark Tower book. But this is where Duke is going to get some of his answers. And I love this guy. NP: This guy does a great, great job.
[Audrey about to find Charlotte] BM: And then this here’s just a sad moment. The two of them were great, but it’s tough. NP: This scene ended up working really well. BM: It was a hard one to write, and it’s hard for them to act, but I think that they really nailed it. NP: With scenes like this, you can’t be precious or careful, you just have to write the hell out of them and just go for it. BM: Yeah, we just tried to go for some emotional reality. Like, what would you say to someone in this kind of moment? I just expected everyone to blow it up and for it to get re-conceived entirely. But Laura and Emily were totally on board and everyone else was too, and I think it’s just because, it’s just sad. NP: It feels honest BM: We actually cut the last 10 seconds or so, where originally Nathan and Dwight rush into the room and the last moment would be seeing Dwight’s face NP: I think we ended up cutting that because in 19 she comes back and he gets a goodbye then BM: He does, and it kind of detracted from what is a serious Audrey and Charlotte scene here. And the challenge is that it’s a touching moment, but Charlotte needs to reveal that Croataon is Mara’s father, and he’s coming for her. NP And especially after they spent the whole episode together. They bonded. BM: Yeah, but it’s just a gutting ending here and I hope that the audience was surprised. I hope that it really lands for people NP: So yeah, there it is; the death of Charlotte Cross. Thank you so much Laura Mennell
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travllingbunny · 4 years
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The 100 rewatch: 5x01 Eden
One of my favorite episodes of the show. It’s incredible how much I enjoy it every time I watch it. Clarke being my favorite character certainly helps, but the episode is so well done in terms of cinematography, music, acting, direction, and 95% of the writing. (The only thing that makes it less than perfect are 80 seconds towards the end that are very, very badly written.)
The fandom is split on whether the time jump was good or bad for the show, but I think it brought more good than bad, overall (especially since it was necessary, so the actors wouldn’t still be trying to pass as teenagers well into their 30s). If nothing else, then for Octavia’s storyline and this epic beginning of the season - the first 3-4 episodes of season 5 - probably the strongest of all seasons of the show.
Full disclosure: I already rewatched season 5 and season 6 while waiting for season 7, so this entire season is pretty fresh in my mind, but season 5 is still the only one that I haven’t covered in my episode reviews (since I wrote season 6 reviews week by week as it was airing), and I want to get that done. And then I also wanted to rewatch Eden after 7x02 The Garden, because of the parallels and contrasts between the two episodes which I mentioned in my review of The Garden. (Review of 7x03 is coming soon.)
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In light of season 7,  when the main characters are also separated and the timeline is very weird, it’s also interesting to see how this season 5 premiere is structured:
The opening shot is the Rings seen from space, then we see the Earth from space, before zooming in and seeing Clarke coming out of the ruins of Becca’s lab, 42 days after Praimfaya. ^^^
Almost 25 minutes of this episode are a Clarke flashback, and most of it is just her, fighting against the nature and her own despair and isolation, until she finds Eden and meets Madi, almost two months after Praimfaya. This is the show’s first full uninterrupted flashback that lasts longer than a couple of minutes, but it’s also the first time the show has covered a time jump in a flashback - its previous biggest time jump was 86 days, rather than 2199 days. (And the next time jump will be 125 years. Things have really escalated.) 
Then we go “6 years later” (actually 5 years and  about 10 months later) and the remaining 16-17 minutes are all set in the present. And even though this is a very Clarke-centric episode, it actually manages to feature all the main characters. First we see Clarke and Madi in the present, then it goes back to the Ring, but this time we see Bellamy and the Spacekru for the first time this season, to check in with them and see how they have or haven’t changed in 6 years.
We see them noticing Eligius,, then we go back to replay the present days scenes from the end of the season 4 finale, where Clarke was expecting Bellamy and kru in the pod, and instead saw the Gagarin transport ship coming down.
We meet Diyoza, McCreary and Shaw for the first time. There’s a few more minutes of Clarke and Madi trying to defend themselves against the prisoners, and killing two of them, but also alerting Diyoza to their existence. Then we go back to the Ring to see Spacekru preparing to board Eligius 4, and, almost at the end of the episode, we get the “OMG look at this twist! You didn’t expect these two to be together, did you? Or maybe you did because you saw the clumsy hints in the season 4 finale, I mean if you stop someone from committing suicide and then you happen to fall right next to each other that counts as setup for romance. right?” twist-reveal of Becho in a 1 minute 20 second scene.
But - that’s not the last scene (you need something actually dramatic for the last scene), because - right after Bellamy says the ironic-foreshadowing line “Octavia is the least of our worries”. we get a cliffhanger-teaser ending - our first look at the fighting pit, with Miller, Indra and Gaia looking on (yes, they’re all credited for this episode, alongside Marie/Octavia, though they all appear for about a second or two), until the winner of the gladiator fight turns to Octavia, and we see her for the first time with her new Blodreina persona. Leading into 5x02 Red Queen (which I hope to rewatch and review soon, too) - unlike this episode, fully set in one place, in the bunker, and most of it is the longest uninterrupted flashback the show has ever done. It only jumps back to the present at the very end, with another teaser-cliffhanger that’s again set in the fighting pit (this time, the twist is that Kane is one of the fighters), setting up a “how the heck did they get there?” question for 5x04 and flashbacks from 5x11 to explain.
(I wouldn’t be surprised if in season 7 we get more of such cliffhanger-teasers where a character or set of characters only appears in an episode for a minute or two, setting up their longer storyline in another episode. I don’t think all episodes will be like 7x02 and 7x04, fully set in one place and with all other characters fully missing.)
So, the first 2 episodes of season 5 had the task of showing us what happened to the three set of characters in three completely different locations over the time jump - with the focus on Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia. But we got almost 25 minutes of Clarke flashbacks (about the time that was the hardest and most eventful for her - trying to survive on the ruined Earth in the first few months after Praimfaya, meeting Madi), a full episode plus later flashbacks in another episode (about 50 minutes?) of flashbacks of the bunker; and.... 0 flashbacks of Spacekru on the Ring. And that says a lot about what the writers considered important to show. The boring, everyday, humdrum life is what you skip in fiction. So, the show told us right from the start that there was nothing of note that happened on the Ring. While Clarke in this episode - after her “death”, goes through her 40 16 days in the desert before she finds Eden (literally paradise!), and the bunker is clearly Hell on Earth, the Ring is basically just 7 people being stuck in quarantine for 6 years and trying not to get too bored.
The cinematography on this show since season 5 has been so good! Here, the sepia, grey and pale yellow tones help make Earth look desolate and ruined, and like a real desert. Until Clarke finds Eden, which is in normal colors. (This contrast in the color scheme between Eden and the rest of the Earth is there throughout season 5. Later we get the almost too colorful Sanctum, and the soft light and blue-green tones of Skyring.)
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With how often TV does the Beauty is Never Tarnished trope - where female characters have to look as gorgeous as possible even when their circumstances are such that it doesn’t make any sense - I love the fact that the show let Clarke have radiation burns on her face and wear a dirty top for half of this episode. This shouldn’t be an exceptional thing in TV shows, but sadly it is.
42 days after Praimfaya - that’s how long Clarke was in Becca’s lab, until she either ran out of food, or judged it was safe to go outside because the death wave had passed, or both. 
Oh hi, Rover, maybe the most memorable inanimate “character”. It got a lot of memorable screentime in this ep.  The sea is no more - the one good thing is that Clarke has an easier time travelling from the island. First stop Polis - back when Clarke was hoping to reunite with her mom and the rest of the people in the bunker. How much would things change if she had? That shot of the destroyed Tower in Polis is such a memorable symbol of not just the physical destruction that happened in Praimfaya, but the end of the old way of life. Even though season 5 will then weirdly try to resurrect the position of Commander. 
I love the opening titles! I can’t believe I have never paid attention to them before the hiatus between seasons 6 and 7. Starting with the title shot of the desolate Earth with the ruins of the Tower, the opening sequence is showing the death wave as it’s happening in the area where the first 4 seasons took place, going from Polis when the tower was still there, to Arkadia burning (where the death wave came before it got to Becca’s lab and Polis), to various other shots including the one that’s clearly the remains of the Statue of Liberty, presumably already broken during the first nuclear apocalypse, to shots of sea and forest burning, to a shot of Earth from space with a green spot, to the really cool animation of most of the Tower disappearing. (The shot of Eligius landing is the only one that doesn’t fit.)
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The temple collapsed 46 days after Praimfaya (according to 5x02 - I’ve written that down before). Clarke was trying to dig out the entrance to the bunker for quite a while, stopping occasionally to get some rest and eat. That moment when she desperately pounds at the bunker door and yells “I’m here! Mom!” is one we see from Abby’s POV as she hears the sounds and  learns her daughter she’s out there and not in space. 
While unsuccessfully trying to clear the path to the entrance, Clarke notices the remnants of Lexa’s throne in the other rubble. A broken throne, another symbol of the past. The Clexa theme starts playing for a moment as Clarke notices it and take out one branch - probably just as a remembrance, because I’m not sure it looked that useful for her current task. And that somehow (however unlikely) seems to cause the rest of the Temple to collapse (a moment we also see replayed in 5x02) - meaning that Clarke loses her chance of being with her mother and other people during the 5 years, and the people in the bunker lose the hope they’ll be able to get out after these 6 years (or maybe ever). 
The branch does prove useful later when Clarke uses it as a walking stick as she’s walking through the desert when she’s at the end of her strength.... And... this could all be seen as a metaphor? She met Lexa at the time when she was desperate to save her people, then she became isolated from them, then in her traumatized state, her relationship with Lexa became a crutch but was also isolating her further from her family and her people.
Back to the ruined Arkadia, where Clarke says she was looking for food or water but only found ghosts. One of the most emotional moment of the episode when Clarke cries after finding a chest with Jasper’s goggles, Maya’s music player he had kept after her death, and his letter to Monty. Clarke probably learned about Jasper staying behind to commit suicide off-screen from Bellamy some time at the end of 4x09, and learned about his when she reunited with Monty and Harper, but we didn’t see her react to his death in season 4.  (This scene would later be a flashback in 6x07 Nevermind, where Clarke used that same chest in her mindspace to hide her memory in the Dark Place.)
(Maya had really good music taste! And it’s a neat way to hear some good songs and for Clarke to be able to listen to them while driving her rover.)
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The hardships Clarke undergoes here and the way she fights shows her strong she is - one of her main character traits is that she does not give up, no matter how desperate the circumstances are. Clarke’s way of fighting despair was to talk to Bellamy on the radio. Sometimes she told him very meaningful things - as when she thought she might die: “If this is the last time I ever do that, I just want to say... Don’t feel bad about leaving me here. You did what you had to. I’m proud of you”. (This reminds me of the time in 2x05 when Bellamy told her he knew she had to leave him and Finn outside to save the others when she closed the dropship door.) Other times she’s telling him about her current problems, musing about her life, chatting about Monty and Raven and all sort of things, imagining he could hear her, even though it must have become obvious to her pretty early on that he can’t reply, and probably can’t even hear her. She wasn’t at this point even sure if he was alive. As she says at one point: “God, this would be so much easier if I knew you were alive, that I will see you again.” But it’s in Clarke’s nature to hope. She was also refusing to believe he and Finn were dead after the Ring of Fire, she refused to believe Bellamy could be dead or captured even while she was worrying about him all the time while he was in Mount Weather. At one point right after getting out of Becca’s lab, she is trying to encourage herself: “You got this” - the way she sometimes tries to encourage others and also the way Bellamy sometimes does it. And other times, she definitely was channelling Bellamy, gently mocking her: “Positive thoughts, Clarke”. He was the one who told her they had hope as long as they were breathing.
And I must say I’m impressed that Clarke had Jasper’s letter to Monty for 6 years and never succumbed to the temptation of opening and reading it. But to do that, would have meant she was giving up hope that she would see her friends again and give it to Monty.
 But it would be far less realistic if she hadn’t had a moment of complete despair. (Another character known for being a survivor, Murphy, had that moment after 86 days of sitting in a bunker alone.) Long isolation is a torture in itself and can drive you mad, as it was emphasized in 7x02. It’s not the first time Clarke has been isolated - she was in solitary for a year on the Ark when she was 16-17 (she only had the walls and her drawings to distract herself with), she isolated herself because of her trauma for 3 months, and now she was again forced into isolation. This time she was also losing hope due to the terrible conditions she had to fight, and the way everything seemed to be getting worse. “I’ve done! I’ve lost everything! My friends, my parents. I have nothing!” As Buffy would say - she still had something left, herself. But this is the first of the three times we see Clarke almost lose all hope and the will to live - but the other two times were under the influence of a psychosis, and when she had been bodysnatched. This time it was the tiny hope that there could be a place to live, with basic living conditions, that made her change her mind.
Who was Clarke talking to when she said “You think you can kill me? Have at it” and later when was yelling that at the sky? Nature? Gods or gods? (There has never been any indication that she was religious. Probably not.) It’s the only times during in her solitary moments when Clarke isn’t talking to Bellamy, or, occasionally, to herself.
Finding Eden saved Clarke from despair, at least for a while, I don’t think she would have been able to keep her sanity and her hopefor 6 years  if she hadn’t met Madi, almost two months after Praimfaya. Having someone for company, having someone to take care of, is very different from being all alone. Still, even after meeting Madi and became her surrogate mom, Clarke still needed to keep talking to Bellamy every day, for 2199 days in total, to keep herself sane, to have something to look forward to.
These people from the Shallow Valley clan seem so cool, they’re already my favorite Grounder clan from the little we see of their way of life (at least this community - I wonder who the 100 chosen for the bunker were), and most importantly, from the fact that Madi’s parents must have had support from their community in keeping her from the Conclave and all that garbage. Of course they didn’t want to give their child away, so she would be forced to fight and kill other children, probably die at 12, or at best become Heda and be separated from her family tor the rest of her life, because ‘love is weakness’ etc. 
The shot of the dead boy is so sad. But he and the other dead people look far too peaceful for radiation victims?
Poor Madi - 6 years old and already she saw her family and everyone she’s ever known die. Her mother died in her arms, and she was left alone. And even before that, she had to hide and learn to fight and lay traps to avoid Flamekeepers, whom she saw as her archenemies. She was another girl who had to hide from birth, like Octavia. No surprise she was a “child from Hell” when Clarke first met her.
Clarke’s world view has gotten so dark. Her old moral certainty from season 1 has been chipped away gradually, and, at this point, she has accepted the moral relativism idea that “everyone does things for their people” and there is no right or wrong - which so many of her enemies or temporary allies have tried to install in her. She’s started to see herself as the “Commander of Death”, too, believing fighting is all she does and can do. “I used to think that life was about more than just surviving… I’m not sure anymore. Animals don’t feel guilty when they kill. It’s kill or be killed.” Interesting - this is the same thing Pike said in season 3a. Clarke has more empathy for her enemies “ I told myself that every life I took was for a reason, but the other side had reasons, too",  but the end result is now the same, as we see later...
“There are no good guys” - this line has been said in so many versions and contexts throughout the show, and many people seem to think it’s the show’s motto. But it’s more complicated than that. Those words have changed their meaning and been challenged and opposed.  When Abby told Clarke “Remember that we’re the good guys” in season 2, she was telling her: don’t lose yourself, don’t become as ruthless as your enemy in order to beat them. When Clarke said “I tried... I tried to be a good guy” and Abby replied: “Maybe there are no good guys”, she meant that it may not be possible to keep your hands clean in a world like that. (Mind you, neither of them ever said there were no bad guys, or that Mountain Men weren’t that.) When Clarke said to same to Bellamy when he was wondering “What do you do when you realize you may not be the good guy?” in season 3, she was comforting him and telling him she knows what it’s like to hate yourself because of the things you’ve done, in a grey world where it’s often hard to see right and wrong. But Abby in 4x12 told Clarke something different: “I told you there were no good guys. But there are. You are.” Clarke needed to be reassured, so she wouldn’t hate herself, that she was a hero, because her motives were good and she was trying her best under the circumstances, where, as they both agreed, they were no good choices. Sadly, Clarke obviously didn’t take that to heart. In season 5, she does not consider herself a hero. And when Madi says “I think he may be a good guy” about one of the prisoners, the one who argued against killing a child, unlike his buddy - Clarke’s reply “There are no good guys” before she kills him, has a darker meaning: she has lost her faith in humanity (with a few exceptions, at this point), and this a different Clarke, one that isn’t ready to give people the benefit of a doubt. She as at her most murderous in season 5 - because she’s now ready to kill even when it’s not absolutely necessary and when she can’t see another choice, as pre-Praimfaya Clarke. It would take her the whole season to start coming back from that - and decide to try to be a good guy, as Monty asked her to.
First introduction of Diyoza, McCreary and Shaw. Diyoza has changed so much since. Her similarities to Octavia have been emphasized much more because they were the opposing sides in season 5 and because of the relationship they develop later, but she also has similarities to Clarke. She also used to fight for what she believed in against who she saw as bad guys, went through a lot, killed a lot of people, was considered a monster, started to fear she was one, became jaded, and finally decided to find peace and happiness and leave violence behind. 
“We’re not alone”.  Season 5 is really going for the callbacks to season 1. And I’m still not sure how I feel about this comparison between the Delinquents and the Eligius prisoners. Because there are two ways to look at it. If it’s a part of the “let’s see the humanity of these people rather than see them as one-dimensional villains” thing, I’m all for it. But it makes no sense to see it as an exact parallel. Because in one corner, we have the level of threat posed by 100 unskilled and (at first) unarmed teenagers who just went about, vs thousands of people who had hundreds and hundreds of armed and experienced warriors and who saw fit to immediately almost kill one of these teenagers and start terrorizing them... and in the other, a bunch of adult murderers with all sorts of powerful weapons and a military strategist at the helm, immediately moving in to take over a valley, and the threat they pose to a lone woman and a child...
Before we meet the Eligius prisoners, we get some sweet mother/daughter moments between Clarke and Madi. We learn that Clarke is telling her stories about her friends (Octavia is Madi’s favorite) and drawing events from her past (as they sit by the fire and look through her sketchbook, we see portraits of Octavia in the Conclave, Bellamy and Clarke looking as her friends are leaving her on Earth). Clarke says she doesn’t regret staying, because she met Madi. But she still yearns for them to come back and gives a longing look - and we get this transition: 
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Spacekru
When we see Spacekru after 6 years, we get the updates on what has changed and what hasn’t, and what the time on the Ring has meant for each of them:
Raven has been unsuccessfully trying to get them back to Earth for a year - which Bellamy, in particular, isn’t happy about. He has no idea that Clarke is alive, but he is eager to see his sister again. 
Monty has been keeping everyone alive with his algae farm, although we get a lot of jokes and complaining about their taste (which seems so out of place after you have seen what was going in in the bunker in the meantime).
Emori has been learning to pilot.
Memori have broken up at some point (and Raven has had Emori as roommate since) and Murphy is the one person in the group who has been negative and bitter, to the point they have “exiled” him (history repeating, but in a much more benign way?) to another part of the station. It seems realistic that at least one person and one relationship would crack under the pressure of peace and boredom and being forced to spend time with the same people every day. According to Bellamy, Murphy needs to feel like a hero in order not to feel useless - and without dangers and conflicts, he can’t save anyone and feel like one. According to what Emori says later in season 5, their relationship is one that works better when there is some kind of danger they can face, and Murphy as a fighter and survivor is the version of him she loves.
Bellamy is the obvious leader, in spite of the easy camaraderie between the group - this will become more obvious when they start planning to board the ship and go to the ground, but even here, he is the one who gives pep talks and tries to inspire others - like Murphy, telling him he is not useless. This friendship has certainly developed in those 6 years - before Praimfaya, Bellamy still wasn’t even ready to trust Murphy and was constantly questioning his motives. And they have certainly come a long way from season 1... 
Bellamy’s calmed and lighter manner has been discussed a lot. I’d say it made sense 90% of the time - it was simply a result of 6 years of peace, something he had never really had before. It doesn’t mean he was super happy - but simply that, for a change, he didn’t have to constantly fight and he under stress.
Two people who definitely were happy on the Ring are Monty and Harper. Monty is the only one who is even reluctant to go to the ground - scared that he will be pulled again in the world where he will have to fight and kill again.  Earth has bad memories for him, from having to kill his mother - twice  - to save others, to his best friend’s suicide. The Marper scene is the best of all the Spacekru scenes here. And when Harper tells him his strength - which he showed in all the hard things he had to do - is why she loves him, he has the best line in the episode: “No one should have to be that strong”.
Echo is friendly with everyone and has been teaching them to fight Azgeda-style. And oh, yeah, did we mention she’s been dating Bellamy for a while? Here’s a brief confirmation through a kiss and a conversation where we only learn that Becho is a thing, we don’t know how long it’s been a thing but it’s at least less than 3 years, since he took 3 years to even forgive her (and I don’t think it necessarily means immediately starting to date).; and Echo is worried if it’s still going to be a thing after they go to the ground.
Here’s a thing with Spacekru: the time jump worked much better with Octavia and Wonkru and with Clarke and Madi, because we saw flashbacks, and because we got a good idea what those 6 years were for them, even for things we didn’t see. But the complete lack of flashbacks for Spacekru means that the audience won’t be able to relate to their new “family” unit, because Show, Don’t Tell is the main TV storytelling principle. Even when viewers learn about something in dialogue (like the Farm Station’s tragic backstory since they landed on Earth), they don’t care because they haven’t seen it.
But with Spacekru, there is an additional problem: the show keeps giving us contradictory info about what those 6 years on the Ring were even like. Or rather, most of what we know is consistent with the idea that their biggest problems were boredom and lack of tasty food. *OK, the first batch of algae apparently put Murphy in a coma, but that’s the only traumatic event we hear about.) There were no other people, no one who could be a threat - and while they could have, in theory, had some malfunctions they had to deal with, we never hear anything about it. But the show also has characters saying things like “we kept each other alive” or that Echo has “proven herself on the Ring”, which makes it sound like there was something much more dramatic going on, but they never explain why.
As a result, the idea of Spacekru as a tightly knit family unit - comparable to what the Delinquents were like in season 1 - just doesn’t work so well. The relationships that work the best and are the most compelling are those that had already existed before - Marper, Memori, the friendship between the former 100+2. The Emori/Raven/Murphy trio works because we saw them already interacting in season 4. But Echo is the character who gets the short end of the stick, because all the development she was supposed to have, including her friendships and romantic relationship, happened off-screen. And with the way the show positioned her as a villain in seasons 3 and almost all of season 4, threw her pretty much accidentally (and because she had no other choice and the others accepted her) with the group, and then said “here, she’s one of the good guys now”. That’s really crappy writing. And it set up Echo to be hated, or at least irritate a large part of the audience. Imagine if there had been a time jump in mid-season 2 where Murphy went from being barely tolerated by everyone, to being everyone’s best friend and dating Raven. That’s pretty much that.
Most of these problems are concentrated in the Bellamy/Echo scene at the end. So much bad writing in those 80 seconds. Now, I’m not one of the people who say that this relationship makes no sense. It does make sense for what is it - two people got stuck for 6 years in the same place, with just 5 other people, 4 of which were coupled up. After so much time forced to spend together, you either have to start tolerating and forgiving someone, or your life will become unbearable. There’s a force of habit, the closeness that comes from seeing someone every day, and the lack of other options. There’s also the fact that Bellamy had mourned Clarke and was convinced she was dead. They are both physically attractive people, I’m sure they trained when she taught him Azgeda fighting and he taught her shooting. I have no problem with it as a  placeholder relationship that the show is very obviously using as a plot device. And it’s not even subtle about it. Here we learn about the existence of that relationship as a surprise twist at the end of an episode that was focused on Clarke, Clarke being left alone on Earth and struggling, Clarke talking to Bellamy for 6 years and waiting for him to return. (And later episodes will keep making B.E scenes always about Clarke or connected to Clarke, in even more obvious ways.) There is no attempt to show what exactly it is that these two people like about each other, what drew them to each other, how they went from enemies to friends to a couple off-screen, anything apart from the mere fact that the relationship exists. Here, they are kissing, therefore you know they are in love. Maybe. As if the show is saying: no, it doesn’t matter and you don’t have to see it. Yes, you can conclude that it’s just a relationship of convenience and circumstance.
This kind of relationship and love triangle has been done to death in many TV shows. But even for what it is, it’s remarkable how little the show even tries to make this relationship compelling, compared to just about any other relationship in the show, including those of minor characters.   I gotta say, as a Bellarke shipper, I kind of enjoy all the B/E scenes, because they are so devoid of chemistry, so forced, so empty. But as someone who appreciates good storytelling, they are pretty painful. When the show tires to focus a little bit on this ship, we get terrible dialogue like this:
"Wouldn't it be easier to just walk outside? This is Bellamy's callback to what he told Echo in 4x13 when he talked her down from suicide. He says it in a lighthearted way and she smiles.Her suicide attempt is a cute remembrance they joke about?! Really? Also, it;s been 6 years for them. Do they joke about that often? Or does he think going to the ground is a cool opportunity to remind her of her suicide attempt? Which is a cute memory for her, apparently?! I’m pretty sure this is not how human beings interact. This line may be even worse than the infamous "We found each other in cages".
."We kept each other alive". How? Unless it's just about that half an hour while they were getting to the Ring, they were never in danger of dying during those 6 years. Bellamy even tells Murphy "Up here, there are no heroes."  Monty is the only one who kept them alive, with food. They may have kept each other sane, maybe. However, that goes for all 7 of them. And Bellamy does say “We are family”. Which extends to all of Spacekru and doesn’t really say anything about whether he and Echo will continue being a romantic couple. (Or maybe that was the whole point?)
Bellamy again, making light of the fact that Echo tried to kill Octavia and telling Echo that Octavia will not be a problem and will understand and forgive her easily - even though it took him 3 years. “I’m more stubborn than she is”. Oh come on, Bellamy! You know Octavia better than that! You know more than anyone that this is not true!  Is he simply lying to calm Echo’s mind? I like season 5 Bellamy 90% of the time, but he just comes off so fake and weird in this scene - even if “Nothing will change on the ground” and “Octavia is the least of our problems” are enjoyable for their irony.
Body count: Two Eligius prisoners – the bad one (Baines) shot by Madi, the possibly “good” one (Janson) shot by Clarke
Two Wonkru members killed in the fighting pit
Rating: 9.5/10  (half a point knocked off for the B/E scene)
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dynastyau · 4 years
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The Dinner pt. 1
Welcome everyone! The is the first part posted officially on this blog. This is my first little “series” in this au and I am really excited to share it with you. I have already finished the next part and started the third part! It should be just three parts but tbh it might be more depending on how much I continue to write. 
I would appreciate it if you could follow this blog to keep up with the AU as well let me know what I can do to improve this all for you! Also if you ever want to my  asks are always open for questions and prompts. 
Summary: Persephone convinces Eurydice to stay after shopping and help with dinner. 
-MaKenzie ♥️
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The two girls walked into the large home just moments before the time Hades asked them to be back. Laughter filled the foyer bringing Hades to see the commotion. There he found the girls struggling to carry all the bags from the store. He instantly hopped over to help the girls and prevent the ingredients from spilling all over the floor. The three of them made their way into the rather large kitchen.
Eurydice noticed that everything in this house was rather large. Not that this surprised her since Persephone herself came from wealth and Hades was the mayor of the city. What surprised her the most was that she expected it to be much larger. She expected some large mansion with stone pillars out front but what she found was a large suburban home with impeccable landscaping. She knew the Persephone was a sucker for gardening and that is showcased beautifully.
Persephone noticed the girl taking in every detail. “It’s quite a lovely house isn’t it?” This caused Eurydice to turn quickly to look at the couple wrapped up in each other’s arms. She just nodded her head, too entranced in the beauty of this home. “This was my wedding present,” the woman said with a sly smile. She felt her husband pull her in tighter to him, basking in the feeling of comfort. Being in his arms was her favorite place to be.
“This was a wedding present?” Eurydice couldn’t help the shock that was thick in her voice. She couldn’t imagine anyone loving her so much they bought them a house. Truthfully she couldn’t imagine anyone loving her. “You bought Steph a house for a present?”
Hades couldn’t help but laugh at the shocked expression on the girl’s face. “Well I didn’t just buy the house,” he paused for a bit of a dramatic effect. The memories of seeing the pure joy and excitement on his wife’s face when she saw the house came flooding in. He felt her lean in closer to him, trying to eliminate the microscopic amount of space between them. “I designed this house specifically for her.”
Eurydice couldn’t imagine having anyone care for her even a fraction of what these two do. While she kept the smile on her face, dark thoughts came flooding in. She quickly threw up her walls shutting out all emotions again, both good and bad ones. Persephone noticed the sparkle in the young girl’s eyes disappear.
She became filled with disappointment, all the progress she made just hours before was replaced. Those cracks in the walls were being patched. She pushed herself away from her husband to begin cooking dinner. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him giving her a look. She shot one backing saying that they would discuss it later. “Eurydice would you mind cutting up those carrots for me?”
“Um, sure,” she wasn’t sure why she was still here. Eurydice was not part of this family, she was just an employee. While Persephone told her earlier that she viewed her as a daughter she didn’t fully believe it. Maybe...this was Steph’s way of trying to invite her into their lives. No, that's not possible...or is it? Eurydice wasn’t sure what was fact or fiction anymore.
She focused all her attention on cutting the carrots in front of her, trying to think of anything other than the confusion in her mind. “Do you know how to cook?” Hades was trying to be hospitable to the young girl. He has noticed how much of a liking that his wife has taken towards the young girl. While he doesn’t fully understand his wife’s affection for the young girl he respects her. She has been the hardest working employee he has ever had. He also sees the passion and determination hidden beneath the surface.
Eurydice stiffened slightly, not really wanting to answer the question. She nodded her head no, really hoping that he wouldn’t push further. Persephone noticed the change in the girl’s posture and before she had the chance to stop him, Hades continued. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you?”
The young girl instantly dropped the knife creating a loud clattering noise. She refused to raise her eyes from the cutting board, too afraid of seeing the concern in their eyes. The tense atmosphere alerted Hades to his mistake, it also didn’t help his wife was glaring at him. Eurydice took a few deep breaths calming herself, strengthening her walls even more. “She never had time to,” her voice was barely audible.
Persephone wanted nothing more than to take the girl into her arms. While Eurydice thought that she was concealing her emotions the older woman could see right through. “Eurydice,” she started softly to not disturb the girl. When she was met with the stormy eyes of the girl she continued, “Would you mind staying to help me set things up? You have an artistic eye, I’m sure you can make this place look amazing.”
She could see the light slightly return to the girl’s eyes. When a small nod came from the girl she pulled her out of the room into the dining room. In the center of the room was a beautiful, long, dark wood table with matching chairs. A small chandelier hung down slightly from the tall ceilings, illuminating the room in rainbow specks from the sunlight. Eurydice got distracted slightly from the scene she saw from the window at the head of the table. Right through it, she could see the sun setting over a small pond, the colors captivating to her.
Persephone stood off to the side just watching the girl admire the sun. She could see the wonder in the girl’s eyes. “Do you want to decorate this place with the colors of the sunset?” Eurydice turned to face her, the wonder still present in her wide eyes. A smile grew on her face, lighting up the room around her.
The girls made their way to the basement where Persephone kept all her decorations. She has always enjoyed dressing up in the house in many different colors, for many different occasions. She was never really sure why this was so important to her. Deep down she believes that it is because she was so controlled as a youth, she finally has the freedom to choose what she wants.
They grabbed different tablecloths, runners, centerpieces, curtains, and other things. Eurydice was stunned by the number of colors, textures, and just options that she was able to choose from. She was shocked that they were giving her such freedom to decide how this important dinner was going to be presented. From what she has inferred whoever this person is, is very important to them and she felt special for having the opportunity to help them prepare.
Persephone turned on some music, dancing her way back to the dining room where Eurydice waited. She came in singing and dancing like a mad man, an attempt to get the young girl to lighten up. Seeing Steph so carefree made Eurydice want to be the same. She didn’t feel fully ready to let go like her but she felt like it was okay to let herself go slightly.
Persephone ran over grabbing the young girl's hands, pulling her around the dining room until a smile cracked on her face. Finally, both girls were loosened up, forgetting about their task at hand. Hades watched as his wife moved around the room from afar. He admired just how much she seemed to care for Eurydice. What he also admired was the joy that the young girl brought his wife when she smiled.
After a few songs, the girls finally got back to the task at hand. They tried different combinations and tones of colors to find the perfect match for the dinner. Persephone was stunned to see the end result. The room was filled with soft oranges, reds, and yellows. It looked like Eurydice took the sunset outside and brought it directly into the dining room. “Wow girls, you did an amazing job,” Hades caused both of the girls to jump slightly.
He was stunned to see the beauty of the room but he was more stunned to see the sparkle in the young girl’s eyes. She has never appeared so full of life and wonder before. “Eurydice is a talented girl. She pulled that sunset from outside and brought it right into our dining room.” Persephone leaned into her husband, a comfortable silence filled the room. They all continued to admire the work of the room.
She pulled away from her husband walking up to the girl. Without saying anything she pulled the young her into her arms, embracing her. Eurydice wasn’t sure what was going on, she hadn’t felt physical affection in a long time. A soft thank you was whispered in her ear before Steph pulled away. “Would you like to stay for dinner?”
It felt like the wind had been knocked out of Eurydice. This was a dinner for a very important family member and she was invited? Before she couldn’t even think of an answer the doorbell rang.
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sinsbymanka · 4 years
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A Drabble to Celebrate 100+ followers?!
I recently noticed that somehow this humble little dragon age blog managed to obtain one hundred followers. Which is just insane to me. I can’t believe y’all like me. I’m going to assume that most of you are here for the memes (as you should be - they’re hilarious) BUT I wanted to give you something to celebrate anyway. It’s not a meme, but it’s an adorable Papa!Varric piece that is pure fluff and domestic bliss. Enjoy!
I also posted this at AO3 cause I really like it
The Perks of Being the Viscount
Being Viscount had remarkably few perks. 
In fact, Varric thought, the perks were usually nearly as bad as the job duties itself. He wasn’t particularly interested in the choice society invitations, didn’t care for the gaudy gifts or sizable bribes that kept showing up, and if he had to accept one more honor at one more boring ceremony, he’d fall asleep into his overcooked chicken dinner. 
But moments like this, when he had a room full of shocked, pompous assholes who could do nothing but stare, agog, nearly made it all worth it. 
As usual, his daughter had started the whole debacle. 
Marguerite Cadash-Tethras sat beside him, book discarded. She told him she was reading one of Brother Genitivi’s histories for her tutors, but now that she’d abandoned the tome to satisfy her own curiosity, he could see she had a copy of the latest popular ballad shoved between the pages. She could be bored with Genetivi and her lessons, but Varric thought it was more likely she’d finished the damn thing a week ago and her tutor had been too daft to notice. 
Clearly, she needed something more challenging. And maybe a tiny lecture about not fleecing her tutors on the regular. 
But, first, he was going to sit back and enjoy the show. He let his eyes flick from his daughter’s profile to the redhead beside her who was suddenly very engrossed in her tea, cheerfully stirring it with far too much vigor. Varric couldn’t miss the mischievous glimmer in Maria’s eyes after all these years, though, and it only meant one thing.
They were both on the same page. This meeting was going to get a hell of a lot more interesting, and they were definitely both just going to let it happen. 
Their daughter stared down the merchant princes from Antiva on the other end of the table like she’d been doing it all of her twelve years on Thedas. And, really, that wasn’t too far off the mark. When Maria was gone, which was far too often for his taste, Mags hated to be separated from Varric. To be honest, he rested a bit easier with his daughter only an arm’s length away too. It became just one more of the Viscount’s eccentricities, that the daughter sat in on so many of his meetings, accompanied him on his duties, and was generally allowed to ask as many impertinent questions as she wished.
Clearly, nobody had warned the Antivans. 
“I’m sorry, milord?” One of the men turned his attention from Mags’s piercing gray eyes to Varric, clearly confused about who had asked the question. Varric fought back his chuckle. Barely.
“Sunshine.” He inclined his head towards Mags, indulgent and amused. “I don’t think the gentleman heard your question. Go ahead and ask again.” 
“If he doesn’t answer you this time, Magpie, we can write it down. Or do a dramatic reenactment. Maybe that’ll do the trick.” Maria whispered theatrically, the words carrying across the table. The ears on several of the merchants began to turn interesting shades of red. 
This, Varric thought fondly, was the only real perk of this job. Bringing one and a half unmanageable women to boring meetings just to see what trouble they stirred up. 
“I asked,” Mags raised her voice, young face quite serious and earnest. “Why are they so cheap?” 
The object of her question, a long broadsword, lay in front of one of the merchant princes. He pulled a practiced, false smile onto his face. One that managed to be just the right amount of patronizing. His daughter pulled her shoulders back immediately, seriousness becoming irritation. “Why, milady, what a clever question. I’d heard you had your father’s mind and your mother’s beauty. How pleased I am to find it so.” 
“But you’re not answering it.” She stated stubbornly, flicking her eyes uncertainly to Varric. He nodded, reassuring, and waved at her to continue. She did. “Why are they so cheap?” 
“We have recently been able to refine our smelting process, milady.” The man droned, eloquent and practiced. “With less waste, we…” 
“But Orzammar has the best smiths, and their blades cost twice as much.” Mags argued, her own color rising, looking helplessly to her mother. “How much is iron ore? Aveline said it was more expensive ‘cause of a flood.” 
“40 silvers per pound right now, love.” Maria answered deftly, lips twitching at the corners as she struggled to hide her own smile. 
“How much do you swords weigh?” Mags asked the merchant. 
The man sputtered, helpless. “Milady, I’m uncertain…” 
Mags sighed, impatient, twisting in her chair to pierce one of the guards at the door with her bright gaze. “Kallen? How much does your sword weigh?” 
Kallen tipped his head to the side, considering. “About three pounds, miss. Give or take.” 
“Thank you.” Mags said quickly, twisting back in her seat. “If a broadsword weighs three pounds, that sword costs over a sovereign alone in materials, assuming your smelting produces no waste. You’re only charging two sovereigns per piece. Why?” 
“As a special offer to the Viscount and his lady…” The merchant began nervously, pointing his eyes back at Varric in a silent plea to end the interrogation. 
“Oh, leave me out of this mess.” Maria muttered into her tea. “I don’t want your bleedin’ swords. The ones Aveline has are fine.” 
“Well, Sunshine.” Varric jumped in, resting his arm on the back of Mags’s chair. “I think you’ve pointed out a bit of a problem.” 
“Milord, you cannot seriously be considering allowing a child to…” The man stepped forward, face growing thunderous with anger. Maria shifted in her own chair, always alert for danger, gently setting her cup down on the saucer and sending a cold, commanding gaze across the room. 
“I think, perhaps.” Maria said pointedly. “You’ve overstayed your welcome.” 
“I couldn’t agree more, Princess. But it’s your call, Sunshine.” He winked down at his daughter’s pinkening face, her temper coloring her skin the same way Maria’s always did. “You wanna make him squirm a bit more?” 
“No.” Mags said petulantly, picking her book back up and curling into her chair. “He can go.” 
“You heard the lady.” Varric jerked his thumb over his chair. “I trust you can find the exit.” 
The merchant and his entourage stalked out of the room, complaining in Antivan the whole time. Maria caught some of it, most likely the curse words, because she laughed softly as the door slammed shut behind them. 
“Nicely done, Magpie.” Maria praised, winding one of their daughter’s curls around her finger. 
“What do you think the issue is with the swords?” Varric asked, curious. Mags scowled into her book moodily, wrenching away from Maria’s clever hand. 
“They’re not iron or they’re not payin’ anyone to forge them.” She grumbled. “Which you two knew before we even got in here, didn’t you?” 
“Guilty.” Varric admitted. “But we needed to give Aveline time to raid the warehouse.” 
“Why couldn’t I go with Aveline to raid the warehouse?” Mags asked, frowning. Maria and Varric shared a tender, amused look over her head. 
“Well.” Maria began, half-laughing. “You are only twelve and we’re trying to get you to eighteen with minimal bloodshed.” 
“And…” Varric quickly reached into the book, pulling the loose papers of the story from within and shaking them pointedly. “Someone has some apologizing to do to at least one tutor.” 
Mags’s sullen expression quickly lightened into something contrite. “I can explain.”
“Make it a good one, Sunshine.” Varric said, settling into his chair. “And I may let you off easy.”
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theladyofdeath · 5 years
Text
@throne-of-ashes-and-beauty​ and I decided to team up for a sweet daddy Ro OS. We went back and forth - sometimes sentence by sentence, sometimes paragraph by paragraph - for this fluffy collaboration. I love writing with my bff. She reminds me why I love writing so much. I hope you all enjoy. :)
————
Based on the prompt: “Can you help me up? Your child is pretty heavy.”
Aelin sat in her study, a book resting on her rounded stomach, a strong pot of cumin tea steeping on the table beside her. It was rumored to induce labor, and after the longest 9 months of her life, she was willing to try anything. Of course, sex and long walks also induced labor, but drinking a cup of tea sounded far less exhausting, even though Rowan kept suggesting the former. With a heavy sigh, she set her book down and ran a hand over her belly. There was a sharp kick to her ribs in response.
Aelin groaned, loud, long, and dramatically. “Rowan!”
When he didn’t answer, she yelled his name louder, “Rowan!”
The sound of heavy footsteps and something that sounded suspiciously like their dining table being scraped across the floors reached her. The door of the study burst open.
“What’s happening? Are you okay?” He was looking her over and seemed to realize she wasn’t in any mortal danger. “Is he coming?”
The excitement in his voice brought a warm smile to her face.
For just a second, Aelin forgot about the utter state of agony she was in and said, with a gentle smile, “No, unfortunately not. But, I’ve got to get up and move around. I feel like I’ve been sitting here for days.”
She had never been good at sitting still. Or relaxing in any way.
Rowan’s shoulders sagged as he laughed softly. He crossed the room and perched on the rolled arm of Aelin’s chair. Squeezing her shoulders, he crooned, “And what can I do for you, my queen?”
The purr in his voice had Aelin rethinking her chosen method of attempting to induce labor, but she held her hand out and said, “Can you help me up? Your child is pretty heavy.”
Rowan chuckled and held out his hand, pulling her to her feet. With her hand on her lower back, Aelin whined. Her feet hurt. Her ass hurt. Her breasts hurt. Her legs hurt. The heartburn was so bad that Aelin wanted to set something on fire, just so it would know how her insides felt.
“Get this baby out of me,” she begged, to no one in particular, but Rowan lifted a brow. Sensing his thoughts, she rolled her eyes. “A walk. Let’s take a walk.”
He smirked, but wrapped and strong arm around her waist and walked her outside. From across the gardens, she saw Fenrys talking to a slim woman with grey blue eyes that seemed to burn with a fire so unlike her own. The sound of tiny feet running towards them distracted her from the elegant stranger and before she knew it, a small body had slammed into her husband and wrapped itself around his legs.
“Daddy, Rayna is here!” Layten cried, his green eyes - his father’s eyes - sparkling in the winter sun.
“Of course she is, sweetheart,” Aelin crooned, running a hand over his blond hair. “She’s here with her mother and father so she can meet your baby sister when she finally decides to make an appearance.”
“Or brother,” Rowan cut in, throwing a wink at his son.
“I wanna sister,” Layten said, small arms crossed. “And a brother. I want a sister and a brother.”
Aelin cringed. “Sorry, sweetheart. Momma’s only having one,” she said, with a muttered, Thankfully, underneath her breath. Carrying one was hard enough. Two at one time? No, thank you.
She heard Rowan chuckle under his breath and opened her mouth to call to Lysandra and Aedion, who were crossing from the magnificent fountain that sat in the center of the gardens, when she felt a sharp pain, unlike the kicks she’d begun to grow accustomed to. She gasped and looked to Rowan, squeezing his hand tightly.
Rowan froze, green eyes growing wide, scanning every inch of his wife.
“I-“ she began, gritting her teeth until the pain began to ease. “Call- call for the midwife!”
————
Rowan had been pacing in their rooms for over eleven hours. A glance at the clock on the wall told him it was well past three in the morning now. After her fifth round of contractions was so sore that Aelin almost lost consciousness, Yrene administered a tonic that was supposed to help relax her lower body. Shortly after, she and Elide had kicked Rowan out, and a hesitant knock on the door ended with him snarling at a now-terrified servant, coming to offer dinner to the growing royal family and their guests.
Rowan fell into a chair, and looked around before he let his head fall, holding it in his hands. Dorian and Manon were dozing on the small chaise in the corner. Lysandra and Evangeline had volunteered to watch Layten and Kerayna, as well as Chaol and Yrene’s son, Velian. That left Aedion to prowl the rooms just as Rowan was, a worried mess for his cousin and queen.
The telltale shink of a blade being sharpened filled the room repeatedly. Rowan lifted his hands and glared at Lorcan, where he sat on an adjacent couch, whetstone in hand.
“Must you do that right now?” He asked, his voice as cold as the steel in his corner commander’s hands.
Lorcan blinked, halting his sharpening, only for a second before continuing and saying, “What else are we going to do? We’ve been waiting for hours and I’m sure we’ll be waiting for hours more.”
Aedion rolled his eyes from where he paced on the far side of the room. “Can’t even be pleasant on the day a child is entering the world?”
Lorcan didn’t look up as he said, “No.”
Fenrys just laughed from where he sat at the small dining table. “I can’t wait until you get Elide pregnant so we can all see how on edge you get when someone-.”
The doors leading to Rowan and Aelin’s suites cracked open.
Elide’s tear stained face peeked out from behind the door. Both Rowan and Lorcan were instantly on their feet, albeit for vastly different reasons.
“Is she okay?” Rowan asked, the words so soft that he was worried her mortal ears would hear them. Dorian was nudging a groggy Manon and Chaol was noticing he was leaning on his cane much more than he had been an hour or two before.
Elide’s eyes softened as she smiled. “Would you like to come and meet your daughter?”
————
As Rowan entered the room, Aelin’s lips were pressed against the small tufts of silver hair, murmuring quiet oaths of love and protection as she cradled their newborn daughter.
When the door quietly clicked shut behind him, Aelin met his gaze, turquoise eyes shining brightly.
“Hi,” she whispered.
“Hi,” he whispered, back, sitting on the edge of their bed and pressing a soft kiss to his mate’s forehead.
His fingers brushed the top of their daughter’s head, and she opened her eyes in response, revealing eyes identical to her mother’s. “She’s so beautiful, Fireheart, I’m so proud of you.”
Aelin’s eyes welled up as she rested her forehead gently against her husband’s.
Yrene and Elide had left the room, allowing them a private moment with the young princess. Rowan ran a gentle finger down her arm as Aelin said, “We didn’t plan any names for a girl.” She pressed a soft kiss to her nose. “What’s your name, sweet girl? Who will you be?”
The name left Rowan’s lips in a reverent breath. “Raisa, the beloved.”
“Raisa,” Aelin breathed. “Raisa Whitethorn Galathynius. Princess of Terrasen.”
They sat together for a long while, staring in awe at the beautiful creation they had created. Once Aelin had drifted into a much needed sleep, Rowan rocked Raisa in the corner rocking chair, unable to set her in the bassinet due to pure adoration.
The others had visited throughout the early morning, quick visits just to see the newest addition to their court, their family.
It wasn’t until the sun crept up from behind the hills of Orynth that the door creaked open and a small, green-eyed boy entered the room with a smile on his little pink lips.
“Daddy!”
Rowan huffed a laugh, pressing a finger to his mouth. “Let momma sleep, use your quiet voice.”
Layten nodded, pressing his own fingers to his lips before dramatically tiptoeing to the corner of the bedroom, where Rowan sat.
“Meet your sister, Layten,” Rowan smiled, watching his son’s reaction. “Raisa.”
“Raisa,” he repeated, high voice light and gentle. “Sister.” He looked over to Aelin. “Is Mommy okay?”
“She’s perfect, buddy, just very tired from having Raisa.”
“Oh okay.” His little lip pulled in between his teeth as it so often did when he was thinking. “Daddy, where do babies come from?”
Rowan coughed, trying not to startle his sleeping daughter as he scrambled to answer Layten’s question.
“Ask that again when you’re much, much older,” came a sleepy voice from the bed.
“Mommy!” Layten cried, and climbed up onto the bed. “I met Raisa.”
“I see that, sweet boy,” she smiled, pushing his blonde hair out of his eyes.
“Is she a prince, too?” For the first time, a little wariness crept into his green eyes.
Rowan perched on the edge of the bed, still cradling Raisa as she began to fuss, began to wake up. “No, she’s a princess. And she’s yours to protect, just like Uncle Aedion protects mommy. Can you do that?”
He jumped to his feet on the bed and stood proudly. “Yes!” He looked down at the tiny bundle in his father’s arms. “Can I hold her?”
“Sit down,” Rowan ordered. His son quickly, excitedly, obeyed. “Put a pillow on your lap.”
Aelin fondly handed her firstborn a bed pillow and he sat it on his lap, wiggling his fingers in Raisa’s direction.
A smile tugged on Rowan’s mouth as he laid Raisa in Layten’s arms.
“Be careful,” Rowan whispered. “Be gentle.”
As she settled in Layten’s arms, Raisa’s eyes opened. She gazed up at her older brother and opened her mouth in a wide yawn. “Hi, Raisa,” he said, not quite able to pronounce her name. “I’m your big brother.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and she began to doze. “I’m gonna take care of you, okay?”
Rowan wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders and pressed a kiss to the top of her head as she began to cry, seeing the bond that was already forming between her children.
Never in a millennia of years did she think she would be lucky enough to call this her life.
“It’s real,” Rowan whispered, sensing her thoughts through the bond. “It’s real, we’re here. We made it.”
They had conquered hell itself for this life, and it had been worth it.
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back-and-totheleft · 4 years
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His anger is his art
Oliver Stone is worried that Donald Trump doesn’t get enough sleep.
“He doesn’t sleep a lot. He doesn’t take good care of his health. Don’t you think there’s some pile-up, if you don’t sleep for several years like this?”
I feel a movie coming on. Stone, after all, made W, a film about President George W Bush; this one, perhaps, could be The Don. Sure enough, he seems to be thinking about it.
“There’s nothing that could quite capture this fellow. He’s quite a whirlwind, a fascinating dramatic character. Shakespearean too, in the sense that he’s so emotional — at times he creates a storm, almost purposely every day, to keep the energy going. He creates a storm inside himself. He’s King Lear in a strange way too — which daughter loves me more?”
He’s also thinking about the murder of George Floyd, but he thinks a black director should make it.
We are Zooming. He is in Los Angeles in a large book-lined room, I am not. He’s not lost his looks — sort of handsome, friendly but in your face — and his conversation is warmly attentive.
The talk of possible films is all Stone business as usual, running towards the news and the gunfire, especially if it’s American. At 73, his soul is still that of the gonzo movie-maker who turned out almost unbearably violent films such as Platoon and Salvador. But he did them because he hates film and television violence. He learnt about the real thing when, in 1967, he joined up and volunteered to fight in Vietnam. He left garlanded with honours but angry.
“I was known for my violent screenplays, but it came from a background of real violence. There was a lot of it I saw, and I wanted to depict it accurately. I really hated that. All the TV shows — 1970s, 1980s, 1990s. Same old bullshit. I hated the fake violence, so I was trying in my movies to move away from Rambo bullshit. It just doesn’t look as good as it does in the movies; it never does.”
And now he’s written an autobiography, Chasing the Light, covering his life up to 1986. He was 40 then; Platoon had just been released and, earlier that year, Salvador. Platoon won four Oscars, one for best director, and Salvador was nominated for two, one for best writing — Stone co-wrote it. It was, as he says, “a remarkable two-film journey from the bottom back to the top of the Hollywood mountain”. He had arrived, he had been accepted. The book ends with him trailing clouds of glory.
“I’d managed to crest into the light,” he writes. “Money, fame, glory and honor, it was all there at the same time and space. I had to move now. I’d been waiting too many years to make films. Time had wings. I wanted to make one after the other in a race against that time — I suppose really a race against myself in a hall of mirrors of my own making.”
Will there, I wonder, be another volume?
“Yes, of course. Why not? I think it’s important for me to at least come to grips with things because it goes so fast. You don’t really get it all. You don’t — one event after the other. One movie after the other. You’re always dealing with people, people, people. It’s hard to have that solitary space.”
He kept diaries “to understand myself, to understand what happened”. As a result the book is phenomenally well detailed. It opens with an account of filming a scene from Salvador. It’s a cavalry charge being shot in Mexico; everything that could go wrong seems to be going wrong, and the money — where on earth is the money? But somehow he pulls it off. Reading that made my head spin: how could anybody live with such levels of risk? Reading his diaries made him ask the same question about himself.
“I always knew I was bold, but I never realised that I was crazy too and risked a lot. At 39, with nothing in my future, my father dying, my mother dependent on me, a new wife, a new baby — and I go and put everything I have into this idea, this crazy idea to shoot this movie.”
He has, as the critic Pauline Kael noted, a divided sensibility: “He’s working outside the industry, in freedom, but he’s got all this Hollywood muck in his soul.” She never liked his films, but he accepts this judgment. The book also stands up her analysis — one minute he’s the guerrilla film-maker, the next he’s lapping up the glamour, the drugs and the schmoozing with stars. But the real divisions are much deeper than that. The first is the division between his father and mother.
He was born in New York. His father, Louis, was a high-ranking soldier turned stockbroker; his mother, Jacqueline, an elegant, beautiful French lady Louis met while fighting with the allies in Europe. She loved parties and glamour — Stone says she would have loved him to make a flowery romantic film. His evocation of her character is laden with love for her. Louis was more complex, serially unfaithful and constantly at war with the demon money.
One day, when he was 16, Stone had a phone call at his private boarding school: his parents were separating. It was a pivotal moment.
“I was naive. I thought it was a happy, loving family and I was very privileged to have that. The divorce was cruel in the way that it was done. It was brutal, and it shocked me because I was naive. The whole world fell apart. They split, and there’s nothing else. There’s no brothers, there’s no sisters. There’s no home. And as a result you become an orphan of the storm. If Charles Dickens were writing it, it might be an Oliver Twist story … I used to get kidded that my name was Oliver. And maybe I did feel an identification with him.”
His education faltered. He went to Yale but never completed his degree. At 18 he started wandering the world and at 20 he enlisted, then apparently forced himself to see the worst things that could be seen in Vietnam. The book starts 10 years later when he is at his lowest ebb. He speaks of himself in the third person while talking about this moment.
“He confronts his failures in life. He sees that he hasn’t gotten his dream, what he wanted to do. And his grandmother dies. He had gone to see her on this deathbed in Paris and he talks to her. And she communicates to him, and she tells him how he must live his life the way he is doing it, he’s following his instincts. And she loved me, and she’d always loved me and believed in me. That was a big thing. Something happened at 30 with her death. And I became more mature, and my success started to flow from there.”
His attempts to reconstruct a family have been patchy. His present wife is his third, and he has two sons and a daughter. There’s a moving moment in the book when he holds one of his sons, Sean, in his arms.
“If ever there was proof,” he writes, “we are born with a sweet nature, this was it; the veils come later.”
He has a Wordsworthian sense that we arrive trailing clouds of glory, but somehow the world takes all that away. So does he think we are born good? “Yeah, I think so. A baby is innocent, beautiful. You see it in baby animals. They don’t know what the world is.”
The second division is America. He came back, he says, “very divided and alienated”.
“Nobody was walking around over there saying: I’m against the war. No. A lot of us knew the war was bullshit. Certainly the black soldiers knew that, they didn’t really believe in it.”
Stone became an American exceptionalist. Usually that means somebody who regards the US as an especially good country; Stone regards it as especially bad.
“The divide was growing when I came back and that’s still with us. You see it coming down to us to this very day. We have a law-and-order candidate in Mr Trump. He talks like a fool, but he talks like many people — more military, more power, more application of force, more violence.”
From Salvador and Platoon onwards, Stone’s work became an angry charge sheet, an indictment of US postwar politics. His 1989 film, Born on the Fourth of July, attacked the treatment of veterans; JFK (1991) embraces conspiracy theories about the death of Kennedy; Heaven & Earth in 1993 skewered the behaviour of Americans in Vietnam, and so on. Postwar American history became, for Stone, a descent into insanity.
“America just goes mad after the Second World War — it just goes mad. Under Eisenhower the beginning of this madness sets in. The question we have to ask ourselves now is: was there really an enemy? Russia was not the threat to Europe we pretended it to be. And, for that matter, China neither. And we created this postwar scenario that was culminating in this economic concept that had come out of the Depression, that we cannot go back to the old way again and have to keep going. We have to put money into this military economy, to keep the country pumped. There’s been no end to that, no end at all. It just keeps going up. It doesn’t matter who the president is in the end. It’s the system. And no one can beat that system. No one can control it.”
This is, you will gather, a tremendous book — readable, funny and harrowing. It’s also full of movie-making gossip, scandal and fun. If you want to know what working with a truly difficult actor is like, read his account of handling James Woods on the set of Salvador. Nevertheless, Stone sticks with Woods because “he is a genius”. Also if you want to know what it’s like to be so intoxicated at a Golden Globes ceremony that your speech is so bad and almost denies you an Oscar, then you need this book.
There is much to disagree with about Stone’s politics — America’s iniquities in the postwar period are nothing next to China’s — but his anger is his art. It’s a way of balancing out the deep divisions in his character and his feelings.
For the moment he is not too worried about the pandemic, but he is taking on a new cause: nuclear power.
“The virus seems to me the ongoing business of history. It’s just... there’s so many viruses. I don’t see it as an existential threat to the world. It’s more of a mood thing. No, I think the real issue is global warming.”
He is making a documentary, A Brighter Future, about the need to deploy nuclear power to reduce carbon emissions. “Renewables,” he says, “cannot solve it.”
There he goes again, running towards the news and the gunfire, like Oliver Twist always asking for more.
-Bryan Appleyard, “Oliver Stone interview: the Platoon director and Vietnam vet on his new memoir about his early days in Hollywood,” The Sunday Times, July 12 2020 [x]
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simply-ellas-stuff · 4 years
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My Thoughts on Episode Two of Batwoman *Spoilers*
Opening Sequence, Kate finding out she's relatively bullet proof was kinda adorable. The Crows shooting that man was dumb, but understandable. Entering the batcave was a cool sequence, a little choppy but cool.
Batman fever sounds a little dumb, but I like the build up of everyone hoping it's Batman.
Breakfast scene, Kate you blunt wierdo. That breakfast was awkward. The acting was a bit... stuttered - the pausing after Kate mentions Beth was like they were being told to make it dramatic but the actual set was too dry for it be as dramatic as the actors made it seem. Kate's abrupt way of telling Daddy-Kane that his long lost daughter is actually alive. Laurel was a bit smoother in telling Quinten that Sara's alive - Kate should take lessons from... well either of the Lance sisters.
How is it "not labeling" when you immediately drop like seven labels, Mary? Just curious. That "lets not" line seemed to come from Ruby a little more than Kate, just sayin'.
Alice is insane, but I'll talk more on that in a bit. Along with the flashbacks.
Luke talking to Kate about being the city's next great hope and then schooling her about how much she doesn't know only for her to compare him to his father (which, I'm sure they're is an estrangement based on his reaction) seemed like a low blow that didn't really need to be said. That could have been a moment of Kate going "Yeah, maybe I'm not Batman and don't know all his tricks but I need to do this and I need help"
Kate going to Sophie for help seemed a bit weird, like they were trying to not flirt. Sophie already knows Kate is Batwoman, I know it.
Wonder Woman is in the Arrowverse? I mean I know on Earth-Two Barry and Iris have Bruce, Hal and Diana's numbers on their phones...
Beth and Kate are twins?! When exactly was that mentioned in the first ep? I though Beth was the big sister, not a twin.
Fraternal twins don't have exact DNA Kate, that's identical twins. So, You'd need something else to compare the DNA to.
Kate, You were going to stop a wedding? Really??
Sophie pulling Kate out of the way was a little too obviously not real.
Not gonna lie, The fight sequence of the White Rabbits getting the Knife back was a bit... pause-y and awkward almost like they'd been taught the choreography to the fights but didn't quite get taught the rhythm, if you get my meaning. but I'll attribute that to Ruby's back surgery she had just before filming the rest of the season.
Why is Daddy-Kane so fucking adamant that his daughter isn't alive?!
Everything fucking happens in fifteen years in the Arrowverse.
"Fifteen years ago my mother was murdered" - Flash
"It's been fifteen years [since Beth 'died']" - Batwoman
So, the clinic is on Bennett Ave? Mary is protective of her little clinic, Good. Mary is such a fangirl.
"Waffles" is cute, and nice story building.
They HAVE to be Fraternal Twins for Kate to even slightly consider the idea that Alice is Beth.
Why can't Mary know Waffles? That doesn't make sense? The exgirlfriend can know but the stepsister can't?
When Ruby said the line "Its better if you don't know" to Mary, her real accent came out a little.
Daddy Kane assumes that Alice is mimicking Beth's important things (The Birthstone, The House, etc) but he he won't give hope a chance?
The Wafflestand is a great storytelling tool, it gives a deeper background makes the story a little more grounded and heartfelt.
I have a feeling Beth didn't kill those old people in the house, I think it was the other guy. Alice seems a bit more, strategical than that... but maybe I'm just reaching.
The goddamn swing is very Alice in Wonderland.
The swingset/wafflestand scenes confuses me, although Alice offering up her blood as a DNA test makes me think it's really is Beth.
If Beth is Alice, some of those details would be pretty dead on for drowning in a car - although she never explained how she got out of the car. Alice seems very unhinged. My only idea if it true is, Beth clung to the story of Alice in Wonderland (maybe a story her and Kate used to love) to keep herself sane while in isolation but it slowly drove her insane instead until she took on the persona of Alice (Dyeing her hair, finding those dresses, and building a cult of White Rabbits) while keeping the memories of Pre-Alice-dom.
That moment "If I was your twin, wouldn't you feel something" (or whatever she actually says) I think that feeling is why Kate thinks Beth is still alive - Twin intuition.
Kate putting herself between Daddy Kane and Alice was a great scene. Also, Why does it sound like Kate/Ruby is losing her voice - is that because she was probably still recovering from her back injury?
Kate's "Here I thought you could keep a secret" line was sassy but said a little awkwardly.
"Three little sisters" line from Alice made me think of myself and my two older sisters.
Alice/Beth doesn't want to share Kate with someone else how... obsessively psychotic.
Alice going after Mary was... a mess. Not wanting to share Kate is believable though. If the thought of being able to see Kate again is what kept her hold on her memories it would make sense that she wouldn't want to possibly lose the only shot at keeping her sister - killing Mary. It's understandable but it's also textbook insanity and obsession.
Mary's fangirl about Batman/batwoman just saved her ass, nicely done.
The Van exploding was unexpected but I did expect something to happen on the way to Arkham.
The poeticness of Kate/Batwoman saving Beth/Alice then then literally being slammed apart by a bigger force cops/Crows is either foreshadowing or something similar. Also, WHY THE FUCK WERE THE COPS SHOOTING INTO THE WATER?! That is not how you get people out of the water, what the fuck. Also, the framing of the scene reminded me of the opening sequence of Underworld Awakening between Selene and Michael.
Also, If they used the defibrillator in the suit, Kate's reaction should have been different. A groan before she opened her eyes. a light jump from the jolt. Literally anything besides her just opening her eyes, humming, and jumping up to leave. Also, if her heart was still beating while he used the dfib, she could have had a heart attack or he could have just straight up stopped her heart. Just pointing that out.
[[I got an ad for Tomorrow People on CWWebsite;; Firestorm, Golden Glider and Lincoln from Agents of Sheild all in one show looks pretty cool - I've never seen the show]]
Gotham Skyline in from the Ocean/River is gorgeous.
"Robin's high school graduation" Oh my fucking god! Is Robin alive in the Arrowverse then? Is he with Bruce where ever the fuck he is??
Mary and Kate having a heart to heart in the medical place post-Alice attack was kind of heartbreaking. As someone whose felt like barely a sister I see where Mary is coming from and the line about "if she [Alice] is [worth it], tell her I'm not a threat" speaks to me more than it probably should because the context is pretty much in the ballpark of "If you think she's the better, tell her I know my place please. Because I know I mean less and she needs to know that" which I understand completely.
Kate and Daddy Kane arguing was kinda pathetic, he's a dick. Just straight up, He's a dick. Even though I did feel bad for him when he cried in the flashback, the person he became is a dick - and yeah grief effects everyone differently but you would think he'd try and keep Kate as close as humanly possible instead of pushing her a way and threatening to arrest her.
Sophie and Kate talking, "are you happy?" "yes" "yes or ish?" then Kate being shut down was heartbreaking (and all to a Billie Ellish song).
Also, Why does Sophie keep helping Kate if she had no romantic feelings towards her?
I'm honestly hoping that Kate finds a different girlfriend because this whole Sophie thing kinda gives me a bad feeling.
Luke and Kate should be besties, it would be perfect.
Kate torturing Alice's boyfriend is funny, in a weird way. Kate should have a voice changer on her Batsuit.
Alice writing to Kate is... poetic. The bat was gross.
StepMom Kane wants the knife gone why? What does she gain from that? Power?
Alice knows Kate is Batwoman, that was quick.
The Note "You have our fathers eyes" was beautifully written.
The CGI on the bat could've been better.
Anybody else think that Daddy-Kane faked Beth's death certicate/the DNA evidence to keep Kate from searching for Beth as hard as she was(staying up, not really eating, blaming herself, etc)? And that's why he's so fucking adamant at denying the idea of Alice being Beth??
Kate was so hellbent on finding her sister (staying up late, not really eating, thinking about it all the time, building a map of all the places they looked) that it makes me think Daddy Kane/Catherine Hamilton faked the Skull fragments and DNA confirmation so that Kate could move on with her life. But that doesn't explain why Step-Mom Hamilton Kane blew up the van and stole the knife so it could be melted down.
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Michael In the Mainstream - Avengers: Endgame
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Endgame is a film that is really more than a film. This is a cultural milestone. This is the culmination of a decade’s worth of stories told by all sorts of different creative minds, a set of stories that all managed to have consistent character growth and development, a grand finale to ten years with all sorts of beloved and iconic characters. This film is the twilight of the age of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, and the dawn of a new era of fresh heroes, heroes whose stories we’ve only begun to experience. This is something that has never been done before, a massive storyline told throughout twenty plus films coming together in a big shared universe to deliver an awesome, climactic final confrontation between characters we know and love and a villain we love to hate. There’s never really been a film of this magnitude before.
I have loved the MCU since it began when I was a teenager. I had just started high school when Iron Man first came out, and it just amazed me how good it was. Unlike the year’s other superhero film, which was based on one of the Big Three of Marvel’s Distinguished Competition, I didn’t really have any sort of huge expectations for Iron Man. Like sure, I was aware of who he was, I knew he was a classic Marvel comic character, but he wasn’t Spider-Man or the X-Men, the characters I grew up watching in cartoons and who I was intimately familiar with. Hell, I even knew the Hulk better than Iron Man. But boy, did that change fast; Robert Downey Jr.’s incredible performance, the fun writing, the gripping character study, and the solid action all got me interested in this washed up B-list hero who had spent the most recent arc of his comics becoming the superhero version of Hitler.
And that was a running theme for the MCU. I ever cared too much about characters like Captain America, Thor, Ant-Man, or Black Panther when I was younger, and I didn’t even know characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy were a thing. All of this was just beyond my knowledge. And yet, these films made me care about these characters, got me invested in them. It’s something that with a few rare exceptions the X-Men films completely failed to do. I honestly can say after all is said and done I love Iron Man, Captain America, and the Guardians way more than I do Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Storm, which is not something I would have ever guessed I’d say a decade ago. And growing up with all these characters and seeing them go through these films, going into this one I knew there had to be some big dramatic payoff, some sense of finality. You can pull of stuff like massive retcons and everyone coming back from the dead in comics, but in movies? That’s how you lose viewers. I knew they’d really have to blow our minds with this, especially after the brutal gut punch that was Infinity War.
And for the most part, they truly delivered.
Endgame is a satisfying conclusion to the epic first decade of the MCU, closing the doors on some stories but opening up a world of possibilities on others. And while there are some problems here and there, the overall product is just so good that it’s easy to forgive the flaws, though it is easy to see why some would be a bit less forgiving. Still, even more critical folk than me admit that regardless of problems this is still a good movie.
This movie has three acts, and I will be going over each individually. There are going to be SPOILERS here, because there is just so much to unpack with this film, so consider this your warning. Again, SPOILERS BELOW.
The first act picks up where the Avengers were left at the end of Infinity War: broken, defeated, and desperate. Despite Carol saving Tony and Nebula from deep space, things seem pretty hopeless, until an energy signature is picked up revealing the whereabouts of Thanos. The Avengers rush to confront him, eager to steal back the Stones and right what went wrong… but upon arriving, they find Thanos broken, scarred, and worst of all, utterly without the Stones. He destroyed them all so his work could not be undone. He has completely, irreversibly won. And so when Thor brings Stormbreaker down and cuts off his head only a short while into the film, it does not feel triumphant or thrilling. It feel sad, miserable, and bitter.
I think this is probably one of the better twists in the first act. The pace at the beginning is rather slow until they confront Thanos, and it ultimately works in the movie’s favor as it makes the horrific revelation hurt all the more, and then following it up with a time skip of five years later is just rubbing salt in the wound. It also helps cement the original Thanos as a truly unique villain. He not only won, but he died knowing he won. He was victorious in death for five years, and there was nothing any of the heroes could do about it. It seems a bit anti-climactic when you first think about it, but really this end to the original Thanos is a rather fitting conclusion of his character arc from Infinity War. He won, he watched the sun rise on the universe… what more could this Thanos really do?
The time skip shows what all the heroes have been up to in the interim: Steve is running support groups  for survivors, Tony has married Pepper and has a daughter, Natasha has been in contact with the remaining heroes, Clint has been out brutally murdering criminals as Ronin, Banner has managed to keep his intellect as Hulk and become a relatively famous figure, and Thor has basically become an obese drunkard wallowing in his failure. Our heroes are at their absolute lowest point… until one little rat walks over a control panel on a van in a storage unit and frees Scott “Ant-Man” Lang from the Quantum Realm.
I will say that a lot of the latter half of the first act, the part that sets up the “Time Heist” of the second act, drags on a bit, and this is really the portion of the film that will make or break it for you. You need to really be invested in these characters, you need to be ready to handle the ways they’ve dealt with the knowledge that they have lost. Thor’s fate especially has been contentious, with people crying foul that throughout the movie the Russos did nothing but “undo” all the development Taika Waititi gave him, which is quite frankly such a stupid argument it’s not worth addressing. What IS worth addressing is how Thor’s trauma, unlike most of the other Avengers, is played for laughs. For some, seeing Thor as a fat, slovenly drunkard is going to be a bit upsetting and tasteless; for others, the black comedy will cross the line twice and make it rather funny. That aspect is definitely going to help or hinder your enjoyment of this segment.
Even that aside, it does really feel like it takes a while to get to the real fun part of the movie, though it’s not as if anything in the first act is truly bad, per se; it’s just very character-driven as opposed to exciting and thrilling. If you’re into character-driven drama, then you’ll really dig this, since all of the performances here are excellent, with Paul Rudd in particular really showing off some impressive range and Scarlett Johansson actually managing to impress me with her emotional performance. Seeing Hawkeye become a complete and total badass who slaughters his way through thugs is also a refreshing change from the absolute joke he has been in previous films, and his winning streak in act one is happily carried throughout the film, completely redeeming Hawkeye. There’s also a lot of good comedy here as it builds up into the time heist, particularly Rhodey’s suggestion of what to do with baby Thanos or the ill-fated test run of the time machine.
I think it is important to note that unlike most films that deal with the subject, the movie actually gives clear, definitive rules on time travel: you can’t go back to the past and alter your present, any changes you make only succeed in creating a split timeline resulting in an alternate universe. This does not allow them to go back and kill Thanos before the Snap, but it DOES allow them to go back to times when they could reasonably steal the Infinity Stones and use them to undo the damage done. This is actually a pretty solid take on time travel and an easy take to grasp at that, though as I will mention later, this simple and clearly explained version of time travel has somehow left people confused. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Act two is where the movie really picks up steam, as the remaining heroes split into groups and head back to points in time where they get to experience moments from beloved Marvel films (and Thor: The Dark World) as they retrieve the Stones. Cap, Tony, and Ant-Man go after Loki’s scepter and the Tesserect following the battle of New York as seen in The Avengers, which leads to a lot of hilarity including Cap fighting his past self and an elevator scene that not only calls back to the one from The Winter Soldier but also features the redemption of one of the most awful moments in modern comics with one of the single funniest lines in the entire film; Hulk wanders over to the Sanctum Sanctorum and argues with the Ancient One for the Stone in the Eye of Agamotto; Rocket and Thor go back to the period of time where Jane Foster was at Asgard to steal the Reality Stone from inside her, which leads to Thor getting a touching reunion with his mother as well as an opportunity to snag Mjolnir; Nebula and Rhodey get to go to the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy and witness Peter Quill dancing and singing to himself like a moron before knocking him out and stealing the Stone; and Black Widow and Hawkeye go to Vormir to confront the Red Skull for the Soul Stone. I’m sure you can imagine how that one goes.
This part of the movie is a lot more fun with how varied it gets. There’s plenty of comedy, action, and character moments, and it just feels a lot more fun than the first act. Seeing how characters that rarely interacted or even never interacted in the past bounce off each other is really delightful, particularly Rhodey and Nebula. Of course, there is also great moments of development, such as when Steve and Tony botch their initial Stone theft and have to go back even further in time, which leads to Tony getting a heartwarming moment with his father while Steve is reminded of Peggy. And then, of course, there is Black Widow and her character arc coming to a close, as she heroically mirrors Gamora’s tragic fate.
There has, of course, been a lot of argument over Black Widow’s fate here. Here’s my take on it: Black Widow’s character arc throughtout the films has always been a desire to scrub the red from her ledger and find some meaning to her life. Age of Ultron, for all its flaws, shows she thinks of herself as a monster, and truly just wants to make a connection, find a group she has something in common with. With the Avengers, she found just that, she found the family she never had, she found something worth living for, fighting for, and ultimately dying for. Her sacrifice wasn’t some sad attempt at shock, it wasn’t her being stuffed in the fridge to further the character arcs of her male costars, it was her character arc becoming fully realized, it was her understanding that to save those she loved she had to make a choice, and it is the most utterly selfless and heroic act in the entire movie, and maybe even the entire franchise. Everyone would have lost if not for Natasha. She is probably the most heroic character in the movie… well, with one exception, but we’ll get to him shortly. The point is, her sacrifice carried more dramatic and thematic weight than if Clint had sacrificed himself; Clint is very much an underrealized and underutilized character, and while this movie improved him, it was still not enough to make his sacrifice as painful as Black Widow’s.
Act two comes to a close with heroes grieving Black Widow and preparing the Stones for a Snap to bring everyone back… unfortunately, they don’t realize there is a traitor in their midst: Nebula. Not out Nebula, but Nebula from 2014, prior to her character development. You see, Thanos could still access the future Nebula’s video recording eye since her software is still on the same server even in the future (it’s a bit weird but it still makes a bit of sense). 2014 Thanos finds out about his future self’s victory and becomes furious that any would try and undo his “mercy.” And so he enacts a plan to get him to this future and kill the Avengers once and for all. The evil Nebula bringing her father and his fleet to the future right after the second snap kicks off the third act, as Thanos obliterates the Avenger’s mansion with his ship.
The third act, the entire third act, is just peak MCU. The entire act from start to finish is the absolute best the franchise has to offer. It all begins with the heroes struggling to regroup and find each other in the wreckage, with Hawkeye having to run from aliens in a dark basement, Hulk having to hold up rubble to help save Rhodey and Rocket, Nebula helping sway 2014 Gamora to her side and then in the ultimate act of “God I really hate how I used to be” shooting her past self to death, Ant-Man rushing to save his friends after escaping the blast, and Cap, Thor, and Iron Man going to fight Thanos. This is the beginning of the end.
It is interesting to note that here, Thanos is a lot closer to the megalomaniac tyrant he was in the comics while still staying in line with his movie version from the previous film. It does go to show how fragile his ego is and how his talk of his work being merciful and good is just a delusion he has bought into; he freely admits here that he should not have been so kind, he blames everyone else for his failure, and he promises to remake the universe in his image, perfectly balanced and unaware of all they lost. Despite being almost an entire reversal of his previous characterization, it actually functions quite while as a weird way of continuing his arc while at the same time addressing the criticisms many leveled at the anti-villainous Thanos of Infinity War. It definitely looks like the Russos were well aware of how Thanos would be perceived, and did a really great job at having the best of both worlds in regards to his characterization. And even here, where he is fully embracing his villainy and saying how he will enjoy crushing his foes, one still gets the sense that he still sees himself as the hero in his mind and is absolutely furious that anyone would wish to undo what he considers a kindness.
Of course, the battle with these three fighting Thanos is quite enjoyable, and showcases even without his Gauntlet Thanos is a force to be reckoned with, as he trounces the three Avengers, though not without great effort… especially after Steve Rogers does something we’ve all been waiting a long time to see him do: pick up Mjolnir and wield it in battle. I think it’s safe to say that Thor’s jubilant shout of “I KNEW IT!” is one that was echoed in the minds of every single viewer of the scene. And just when you think the movie couldn’t get even more epic, just when it seems that Thanos will win as a bruised and bettered Steve stands alone against Thanos and his entire army… Steve gets a call.
“On your left.”
Hundreds of magic portals open, and the resurrected heroes all come through, along with any sort of crew they could bring. For the record, this is: Black Panther, Shuri, Okoye, M’Baku, the armies of Wakanda, Doctor Strange, Wong, all of the wizards, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Drax, Mantis, Groot, Falcon, Bucky, Scarlet Witch, Valkyrie, Korg, Miek, the remaining Asgardians, Wasp, Pepper Potts in her Rescue armor, Kraglin, his Ravager crew, and even Howard the Duck. And if that’s not enough for you, the Avengers who were still alive before the attack all come in for the battle. And they said Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was the most ambitious crossover of all time. Was Howard the Duck in Smash? I think not.
And as the heroes gather for the inevitable charge, do you know what Steve says? He says two little words that fans have been waiting for such a long time to hear him say, something a less talented writer and director teased us with several films ago:
“AVENGERS… ASSEMBLE!”
Hurry quick and wipe those tears from your eyes so you don’t miss the awesome final battle, which is just filled to the brim with moments where every single hero gets to shine. Highlights include Spidey and Tony reuniting, Spidey activating the “Instant Kill” function of his suit, Gamora kicking Star-Lord in the balls, Tony and Pepper fighting back to back, Scarlet Witch confronting Thanos, and the awesomely cheesy “GIRL POWER” moment that is far more empowering than the entirety of Captain Marvel. Everything about this battle is fantastic, everything about it is peak MCU, everything is the epitome of why people love superhero movies… and it all culminates with the conclusion of Tony Stark’s decade-long character arc, as he steals the Stones from Thanos and snaps his fingers, erasing Thanos and his army at the cost of his life.
This moment is depressing on two fronts. On one, there is Tony. He is the hero we have spent the most time with, the one we know the best. And after all these films, he finally proved Steve Rogers wrong: he was able to lay his life on the line for the greater good, sacrificing himself fully for his wife, his daughter, his friends, and the entire universe. Tony went from a self-absorbed egomaniac arms dealer to a truly great, heroic figure who did what he had to do to protect everyone he cared about.
But on the other is Thanos. Most villains, upon seeing their plans come to ruin and their armies laid to waste, would break down, rant, offer some sort of last taunt… but not Thanos. Thanos accepts his death, however much it pains him to. The look of exhaustion, anguish, and utter hopelessness on his face as he sits down in a dark mirror of the ending of Infinity War truly cements him as a great and worthy foe. For all his faults, for all his insanity, Thanos was still a man utterly deluded by his pain and past tragedies into believing his cause was noble and just, and here he sits in his final moments perhaps wondering as his future self did if it was really all worth it. His crumbling to dust as he so cruelly did to so many others I well-deserved and a fitting end for one such as him, but there’s no denying that there is an element of tragedy to it too. It’s the exact sort of emotional ending I would have hoped for from Marvel’s greatest villain.
The finale wraps things up with Tony’s funeral, as well as Cap going back in time to return the Stones and Mjolnir to the moments they were stolen so that the alternate timelines can handle themselves. But Steve decides to create his own alternate timeline before coming home, and lives out an entire lifetime with an alternate Peggy Carter before returning to his own time and passing his shield and title on to Falcon. Many were confused as to if this meant Steve changed the canon of the MCU, but… they explain what happens in the movie. Quite a few times in fact. If you paid attention at all, you would know it is not possible for him to alter the canon. He created an alternate timeline where he presumably lived a full, happy life and ensured things would go well for everyone. No Hydra infiltration of SHIELD, no Winter Soldier, no Stark assassination, none of that. Just a long, happy life with the woman he loved, his best friend, and a well-deserved retirement from the fields of battle in the end. While the conclusion to Cap’s arc is not quite as good as Tony’s, it’s still heartfelt and touching, and it’s hard to say he didn’t deserve a happy life after everything he went through.
And so ends the Infinity Saga, and the first ten years of the MCU. This movie changed a hell of a lot, to the point where even though only two main heroes died over the course of the film, things still will never be the same going forward, and I like that a lot. Unlike every other cinematic universe that has sprung up in the wake of the MCU, I fully feel like any stories told after this one will continue to build off the foundations that this film and its predecessors laid out. There won’t be the need for soft rebooting like with the DCEU, or with actual rebooting like Dark Universe, or just constant messy and confusing timelines like with the X-Men Series. The MCU has managed to remain remarkably consistent throughout, and there’s no reason to doubt they’d continue that into the future. There’s no stinger here, but the moments after the final battle with the Guardians and Thor certainly set up interesting possibilities, as does the now teenaged Cassie Lang, who may well take up the superhero role she has in the comics. It’s hard to predict where the future of the MCU will be going right now, but all things considered it certainly looks bright.
Ultimately, this movie is a love letter. It’s a slow build that starts by examining the characters we know and love at their lowest, builds into a nostalgic and hilarious trip down memory lane, and culminates in the most beautiful sort of fanservice imaginable that then brings a touching conclusion to two of the greatest heroes in all of cinema. Of course, as I’ve mentioned, that first act is going to be what makes or breaks this for some people, and the part does drag a bit, but ultimately this movie is more what it ends up as than what it starts out as. That finale is the single greatest work of art the MCU has produced thus far, and I’m not sure that even with another ten years they’ll ever be able to top it.
The amazing thing is, this movie is pretty accessible even if you aren’t a hardcore fan, though it’s definitely only going to have full emotional impact if you’ve been watching these characters for years. This is a movie for the fans first and foremost, and that’s really not a bad thing; why wouldn’t you make an epic finale to so many arcs that appeals to the people who invested so much time in it? As someone who grew up with the MCU, who has watched it grow and blossom into everything I ever dreamed of seeing as a kid, I only have this to say to all of the directors, writers, actors, stunt people, just everyone who made this and all the other films possible, and to the dearly departed Stan Lee who created so many of these people I’ve spent the past decade watching come to life on screen:
I love you three thousand.
Here’s to another ten years of cinematic superhero excellence.
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