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mc-critical · 3 years

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hey, it's been a while, hope you're doing fine!

your unproblematic faves in mc/mc:k and why?

mine from mc would be mihrunissa (she's the queen of s4, and also my 2nd favourite character from the franchise overall), cihangir (the king of s4), mehmet ( a non-existent character imo, was loving to everyone from what i could tell & was pretty so why not), nergissah (ik she didn't have much of a character but she was extremely loving, even towards mihrunissa who wasn't her biological mother, adored her relationship with mahi and she was the only family mahi had left after musti, nissa & mehmet died apart from fidan & yusuf), atmaca, yavuz, taslicali (musti's loyal friends; and i adored taslicali w/ mihrimah, the only guy i shipped her with tbh), and i guess that's it, i may be missing someone considering there were several characters.

from mc:k it would be geverhan (the queen of s2, i love her so much and she's my second most favourite character from the franchise overall, such a kind & sensitive soul, she truly deserved a better ending, i just wanted to see her happy), zulfiqar (one of the most loyal people in the entire franchise, deserved a better ending, dying in the place he spent his blood, sweat & tears was definitely a tragic death but also ties into his character, had a sweet relationship w/ humasah who also deserved a better ending), mustafa (my boy! he's just so adorable in the series, the baby & the adult, the joke he played on halime had me in tears, davut's reaction to him sending the table for a walk; i'm sorry but he was the mvp of s1 and deserved so much better than mu/rat killing him ((fuck mu/rat)) but i guess it's kinda cool that he got to sail a ship before dying considering he always loved ships? idk but he's just fantastic and such a cutie + the english subtitles w him were hilarious), and i guess that's it, most characters were kinda problematic in the series, even humasah who i adored but i definitely don't appreciate for trying to put iskender on the throne which would cause the death of kosem & her children. i would've added ibrahim, who i think is such a cutie and i don't understand any hate towards him; i understand the things he did in s2 ending were problematic but he was just having a severe mental breakdown and what he needed was therapy, not that turhande dethroning him. honestly, fuck mu/rat & turhande.

(also mustafa from mc though i don't think he would be considered unproblematic? )

sorry for the rant lol just, unproblematic faves are so good to talk about because you aren't conflicted with them like you are with characters such as hurrem, mahidevran, nurbanu, kosem, nigar, selim, bayezid, etc.

i hope you're having a great day!

Hey, I'm happy to see you back! 😻

We share a lot of unproblematic faves! I love almost everyone you mentioned!

In MC I love Mihrunnisa, because, as you said she's an absolute queen and the best match for Mustafa for me. She suits his level of maturity and they had a very deep, pure, truly genuine bond you didn't see with anyone else from his women. What's most unique about her character is that they didn't put any opposition around her, her story wasn't overshadowed by a love triangle and that helped the relationship between her and Mustafa shine all the more and we saw her have more agency as a character. Cihangir is such a cinnamon roll and cutie pie and yet he's so smart and perceptive of his surroundings. Neither his love for Mustafa, nor his deformity define him and I love what they did with him in the span of a little more than a half-season. Taşlicali, Atmaca and Yavuz are the best trio ever and I loved watching them in action. How loyal they were to Musti and how they wanted to protect him. 😍😍 I loved Taşlicali's moments with Mihrimah and Mahidevran as well as Mustafa, I loved how Atmaca put Rüstem in his place (we stan!) and Yavuz was so cool and they killed him too soon. We should've seen more of Nergisşah, tbh, but her relationship with Mahi is everything and like all of Mahidevran's relationships with the people she loves, she brought the best in her. And she also seemed like a loving and caring human being to everyone else she interacted with, too, she's just... lovely. Screw SS for marrying her off like that, this piece of trash should be killed with fire.

I would also add Helena to my list of unproblematic favourites, because, writing-wise, she's one of the better handlings of a tomboyish girl in the franchise, a mash-up of both Armin's plot and Aybige's character done much better. Yes, just like all the girls with tomboyish personalities (Aybige, Diana etc.), that trait of theirs was either diminished or gone, but with Helena the blow wasn't as hard as with the rest and you could definetly say that this is more a side of hers allowed to show from her completely new environment and is probably the one most restrained by it. The girl clearly deserved better than what they put her through and I loved how much she cherished her own freedom, rights and family. Her relationship with Rita was great, too.

I really want to say and Mustafa and Gülfem, as well, to be honest, because while they're flawed and far from perfect, they're overally consistently positive characters in the eyes of the narrative and their questionable actions aren't as drastic for me to put them in the "problematic" category. I mean, compared to everyone else.... Okay, they still technically don't count, but I love both of them too much to refrain from mentioning them at least hehe 😅 Gülfem should've gotten much much more in the way of storylines of her own, but the moments where she shone really scream potential. She's such a loyal, patient and understanding person and her strenght to listen to other people's sorrows, be considerate of them and seemingly being able to forgive people because from whom she suffered (Mahidevran apparently) or made the people she loved suffer in a way and involving her in this, too (Hürrem), is extraordinary for me. And she tried to kill SS, about time someone did it, I stan, she left the show like a queen! And my adoration of Mustafa is pretty much endless, so I won't delve too deep into it. His relationship with his mother, his resilience, his intuition, his still firm hand contrasted to his loyalty to his father that crushed him, but I can't help but respect... yup.

For MCK I have the exact same favourites, as well, only I would add Meleksima, because she was pretty harmless, deserved better and loved Osman and their kids. Gevherhan is my favourite dynastic sultana in the whole franchise (followed by Hatice) and I love her selflessness and humanity. She subverted all the sultana tropes, basically, I don't recall a scene where she was ever elitist to someone below her, she didn't intrigue or scheme and she didn't have an agenda of her own. Her suicide was her breaking the ties she had with her environment and her deciding to finally be the selfish person for once, to do what she wanted, to decide her own destiny. Deserved to be happy with Silahtar more than anything else ever. Zulfikar was so understanding and noble, I'm surprised that the palace didn't devour him, his death was so heartwrenching. Mustafa is a precious bean that also got sucked by his own environment and by the horrible Fatih law and game of survival, his psyche was soo destroyed you can't help but feel sorry for him, at the very least. The same goes with Ibrahim who is also a product of his own environment and even the conflicts of his brothers, I get why he would turn his back on everything and everyone and fixate on the only thing that could bring him a bit of peace and escapism - his harem. He and Mustafa were put in roles they had no capacity to play anymore and I'm sobbing. And yes, Ibo didn't deserve to be so screwed over by Turhande, screw her and Murat. (and also Atike, what she did with her sister because of her selfish, unrequited love and she was told about it by Sil himself! was disgusting, interesting character, but so were Murat and SS and even Turhan in her thematic utility.)

#magnificent century #muhteşem yüzyıl #muhtesem yuzyil #magnificent century: kösem #magnificent century kösem #magnificent century kosem #ask #raaz-here #yes I love me some delving deep into complex characters #but unproblematic faves also are wonderful to talk about!

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mrs-nate-humphrey · 3 years

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“#before he became evil aligned!!” poor dan lmao. actually, i’m curious, what’s your take on dan as a character, and his development throughout the show? season 6 really did it’s level best character assassination on him imo, but until that point i really enjoyed the direction his character was heading. curious because i absolutely adore the way you write dan (and dair) in your fanfics and i was wondering on what your take on him was

ahhh hi! getting this ask was a delight because honestly, talking about dan always brings me great joy. i’ve only watched gossip girl once (yeah, i know!) and i relate pretty heavily to dan (weird introvert, wants to be a writer, always felt out of place in high school but found my friend group in college, etc) so i am pretty biased. anyway this got long, so i’m putting it under a cut!

so, for the most part, i really liked dan in season 1. i don’t remember too much about him in season 2 or 3, like, specific details, because it’s been a while since i watched those seasons, RIP. i feel like season 4 was the last season we had a likeable dan (or at least, a dan i liked!). season 5 had some good dan moments, but at the same time i wasn’t very happy with some developments in his character, and i absolutely agree with you about season 6 slaughtering his character, haha. i’ll elaborate as much as i can.

things about dan’s character that stand out to me are moments like the one in s1 when he talks to blair in the stairway before they’re even friends and opens up about his mother. when i watched that i was like :0 because that was a very big expression of openness and vulnerability, and for him to offer it to blair, who he didn’t even like, just to show her that he understood/ could relate to having mother-related issues was such a big act of kindness, especially because it wasn’t something he owed her or something expected of him. he didn’t need to do that, but he did anyway! i found that sweet.

in the same vein, when blair, vanessa, georgina and dan are all at NYU, dan taking blair along to georgina’s party even though they aren’t friends because he knows what it feels like to be left behind, and he doesn’t want to do that to anyone - like, that moved me, a lot. lonely kids get it! dan did the exact opposite thing with his newfound popularity that blair would’ve done; he did his best to ensure that everyone - even people he didn’t like - were included.

since you’ve read my fic, you’ve probably seen my overuse of the “dan is not gossip girl” tag. i don’t think it makes sense for him to be gg, not because of stuff like him reacting in an empty room or whatever else, but mostly because of his arc. the whole charlie trout thing in season 2 (i think it was s2?) where he writes the story about chuck and his mom and then doesn’t send it anywhere because he doesn’t want fame at the cost of exploiting his friends, and then that bit where he doesn’t publish the bart bass fire in a building story because he knows it’ll hurt chuck, serena, and their family made it clear that dan understood that his words had the ability to do real, tangible harm, and was trying to be ethical about it.

in fact, in the end of s4, when vanessa steals his manuscript, his reaction isn’t elation; it’s one of horror. he knows what’s in that will hurt people, and he doesn’t want it to see the light of day in the form it’s in. the phone call between dan and vanessa before she takes the manuscript and makes a run for it made me hold my breath while i was watching it - it was so clear that dan didn’t want it to be published. the fact that the choice was taken from him left me feeling pretty sad at the end of s4.

which is why when s5 began, i felt like it was pretty discordant for him to be so enthusiastic about the book in the way he was - his entire “it’s just fiction” spiel obviously didn’t fool anybody who he’d written about, and it felt inconsistent for him to feel that way? like, dan knew the potential of that manuscript to hurt people. him suddenly acting like it’s art and therefore justified & absolved from criticism felt really off to me, especially given his stance on this issue in the past. s5 dan reminded me a lot of a very specific type of writer - a really pretentious, sees themself as better than anyone else, “i’m not being rude i’m just being honest” (when they are actually being very disrespectful) kind of character, and i didn’t like that much.

however, s5 also had dan being a great friend to blair, and just, idk, doing his best in other spheres of his life, which is why i used the phrase “evil aligned” in that hashtag - i wouldn’t say s5 dan was evil, he definitely wasn’t malicious in the way s6 dan was. but he was callous in a way that i felt made s6 dan’s cruelty sort of believable to me - like i could see how s5 dan would evolve into s6 dan, especially given the season finale: blair’s rejection, serena’s manipulation (i usually love serena, but she was evil this season), and possibly his own self-hate/regret about cheating on blair - i think it makes sense for him to handle all of these emotions extremely badly and come out of the ordeal bitter.

a lot of people say that dan’s very judgemental - i actually didn’t see as much of it as people make it out to be, probably because this is my first watch and this show is so full of things, like, so much is happening all the time? i wasn’t really watching the show with the intention of analysing dan, so i feel like a lot of stuff probably went over my head.

i do see dan having a lot of harsh opinions about people he barely knows, jumping to conclusions too quickly, etc, but something i like about dan is (before he became vaguely evil) the moment he realised he made a mistake, he did his level best to fix it. like that entire incident where he’s supposed to be blair’s wingman with chuck in s2, and he sabotages it on purpose, and then serena goes ‘that wasn’t okay’ and then he tries to salvage it by talking to chuck? i feel like dan fucks up a lot and makes bad decisions but he also is aware that he isn’t perfect, or whatever. idk. maybe i choose to just see the best parts of dan.

also dan being nasty about serena hurt my heart, and my favourite thing about fanfic is that i can sort of go “fuck this, we don’t want this for dan or serena”. i like dan and serena as being exes who are still friends, and i wish the show had given us that - dan complains about serena a lot at various points and as someone who really likes serena (she’s my child, ok) i was really :/ about that.

anyway, i feel like dan’s biggest flaw is that he can sort of get stuck in his own head sometimes? like, he forgets that there is more to reality than just his little dan-bubble. and this often leads to him acting like a dick, or not being thoughtful, or forming opinions about people too quickly. this isn’t really a small flaw. in the right context and in the right situations, i feel like dan can do a lot of damage and cause a lot of harm in a way that is in character for him.

the way the show did it though? nah.

also, if they’d made him super evil from the start (like they did georgina), i would totally have vibed with it! but alas, they did not.

#anon #gossip girl #dan humphrey #meta #personal #ok 2 rb #don't discourse with me tho #im sensitive about dan #he's my comfort character #youre absolutely allowed to disagree with any of this obviously #just. be mindful?#idk.#long post #i hope this helps / gives you insight / is a fun read #or like . that you find what ur looking for in this answer!

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bigskydreaming · 5 years

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What do you think is the best single episode of Teen Wolf, and conversely, the worst single episode?

Oh, this is legit a hard one to answer because here’s the thing.....I honestly think Teen Wolf brought their A game to almost every single one of their finales?

Like, most of their season will be a complete disaster in a trashcan on fire being shot from a cannon without any attempt at aiming for a precise landing position.

And then along comes their finale and I’m like....goddamn, THEY DID IT AGAIN. I’M EMOTIONALLY MOVED BY THIS STUPID SHOW.

Also probably has to do with the fact that like....the finales, almost without exception, are the only times the show TRULY manages to let Scott shine. To be in the spotlight, on full display, with all his talents, competence, intelligence, and the many reasons he’s the heart and leader of the pack all given their due in ways they’re usually taken for granted any other time.

Like the S1 finale? A+ drama and emotional stakes, with special acknowledgment to the fact that they managed to give pretty much every character a good showing, all without devaluing Scott or taking away from the focus on him as the clear protagonist.

The S2 finale? As much as I wish we didn’t have to put up with years of bullshit from anti Scott fandom because of it, and for all the wrong reasons, on its own merits, it was A+ BAMF Scott showing exactly why he could hold his own with bigger and badder of all types, human and werewolf, and foreshadowing his future as a supernatural force of nature who refuses to be swayed by thousands of years of ‘this is how this works’ and endless instances of hunters and supernatural creatures being all ‘this is how this works.’

The 3A finale? Might be the ultimate winner, because I just....guh at Scott’s moment of ascension to the role of Alpha, all on his own merits, because it might have been cheesy as hell as befits this show, but it hit all the right story beats and emotional notes, and was a clear pinnacle of his journey of personal empowerment and getting justice for himself and his place in the world his assault had thrust him into, whether he wanted to be or was ready or not. And it doesn’t hurt that it was some of TW’s actual best writing and storytelling too, with it actually tying together all that had gone into building up to this moment, building SCOTT up to this moment, and this role. Aaaaaand then it was all downhill from there.

The 3B finale doesn’t work for me for the same reasons the 6A finale doesn’t....its centered and framed around the wrong character. And this honestly has nothing to do with me not liking Stiles! Its about the fact that every other character on this show managed to have their own subplots and storylines that found resolution without ever derailing the show from being Teen Wolf, specifically. Only Stiles consistently broke the mold, the entire framework of the show....because ensemble shows that are nevertheless assembled behind one singular protagonist simply are not STRUCTURED to occasionally dip aside and make the protagonist a supporting character in someone else’s show. Every show built around a central tentpole character, no matter how much they showcase other characters, still benefits from the narratives all rippling outwards FROM that central tentpole, the one embodied by their singular protagonist.

When you make entire seasons about another character, from plot, to character motivations, to emotional resolution....its like if you throw a rock into a pond and then film the ripple effects of that splash....and that’s the show.....like, call that your art project, your supposed to record the impact of the rock on its surroundings (the pond) and the resulting behaviors and changes to its surroundings that stem from its initial splashdown (the ripples).

But what 3B and 6A do, and other seasons of tentpole protagonist shows that do something similar with one of the members of their supporting ensemble casts - its like if midway through recording the ‘show/project’ that’s entire premise, its reason for you doing it is ‘chronicle the resulting effects of the rock on its surroundings, after events (the throw/splashdown) happen to it’....

....without warning or explanation....you suddenly switch to filming the splashdown of another SEPARATE rock, somewhere close by, but still very much NOT emanating from that initial, central rock/splashdown....and then you switch back to filming the initial splashdown’s aftermath and the remaining ripples still emanating outwards because of that throw....all without any explanation or context for WHY your project suddenly became focused on something other than its initial premise....and then ultimately presenting all of that as one singular project that’s still titled and said to collectively be about...the one initial rock throw/splashdown and its effects on its surrounds.

And that’s why I always will maintain that 3B and 6A just flat out don’t work as seasons, nor do their finales, even though Scott had great moments in both.

But then, even though S4 was mostly incomprehensible plotwise and made very little sense or was even of interest on a plot level, lol, I still think the finale was its best episode, because again....they brought the focus back to Scott and WHY he’s not only the leader, the Alpha, but the heart of his pack and the center figure of his show. Valuing and validating everything he values and believes.

And even S5, as much as I hate it because of how much I think the show misfired in even tackling what they CLAIMED the central premise of their season was...like by building it around the tentpole idea of it stemming from Scott’s mistakes as a leader...but without ever really making a strong case for where he even can be described as messing up, rather than having been the victim of expert manipulations that had been aimed specifically at manipulating him, to these very precise ends...I still think that the finales of both 5A and 5B were the peaks of the season, with fairly strong resolution of the majority of the things they’d sown throughout each half season, and strong emotional beats for the most part....and again, with Scott’s role within his pack and the show highlighted and validated, and with his competence upheld and not the reason for his initial defeat.

Like, he got outmaneuvered. That’s what happened in 5A. Theo ‘beat’ him. But there’s not really any shame in that, is the thing? Losing to a competent foe because that opponent’s strategy was just genuinely better, in the context of everything else going on....that’s not shameful, that’s not proof of bad leadership. Its simply proof that....this time Scott lost. Temporarily. It had nothing to do with him or him not being good enough....its just, this time he’d come up against a foe who was more prepared to defeat him than he was able to adjust to and counter in time.

And although it wasn’t actually in the 5B finale, but a couple episodes prior, Scott’s whole fight against the Beast in the library.....like, that episode as a whole wasn’t all that great IMO, but those specific scenes are hands down probably my favorite moments in the whole show, other than the 3A finale. Or maybe even more than it. *Shrugs* Close call, either way.

I honestly can’t really say much in regards to the 6B finale because like, I watched it, but very little of it stuck with me, but that’s more because of the way its filming and airing had been dragged out because of DOB’s conflicts with the Maze Runner sequels, like....left me not really that invested by the time it actually aired. Its not really a reflection on the writing or structure of 6B’s finale, I’d say, because I probably would have been similarly unable to sink into even the best writing of the show, had it been in that episode. I just....for external, non-narrative reasons, was already one foot out the door while actually watching that finale.

As far as my least favorite episode goes, that’s an easy one. Even though in general I didn’t like 3B and 6A as a whole, my least favorite episode is 5x11, the premiere of 5B....because of how massively it highlighted the show was throwing Scott under the bus that entire season, and how he was consistently called out for failure, when the failings being cited each time were more accurately how his pack and friends had failed him, by not having faith in him or ever giving him the benefit of the doubt or cutting him even the slightest slack for circumstances WILDLY beyond his control. The way the show made the entire first half of 5B about Scott going and groveling to get his pack to forgive HIM, when THEY were the ones who did far more to him than he ever ‘failed’ any of them, like....its honestly the worst the show has ever been, IMO, and nowhere is that more clearly in evidence than in 5x11, where Stiles is literally written crossing fully into abusive friend territory while venting HIS hurt and pain and fear with zero regard for anything Scott was going through or recovering from, and wrapping it all up with Scott apologizing to Stiles yet again, and not a hint of accountability from him for any of his actions or his part in what happened to them all, let alone Scott specifically.

I don’t know. My ultimate conclusion, looking at all of that is its weirdly like a show is best when it actually....focuses on its protagonist and uplifts them and upholds them and their actions and choices?

SO WEIRD. MUCH CONFUSING.

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