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wiypt-writes · 3 years

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Stark Spangled Forever

Duo Shot: Stendhal Syndrome Part 2: Daddy

Intro: Steve feels the aftermath of his reaction to Katie’s behaviour. Rogers by name, Stark by nature.

Uh Oh indeed.

Warnings: Bad language. NSFW (SMUT!) No under 18s.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: This was a one shot. I got carried away and wrote 24 pages. So now you have a duo shot thanks to the original photo sending me to a dirty place.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Stark Spangled Forever Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Part 1

Katie stood in the quiet of the lounge, watching the door that Steve had walked through, her mouth dropping open. He had never turned her down like that before. She prized herself on normally being able to get what she wanted when she wanted it out of Steve, either by using her words or other means. Of course, Steve always put her in her place when she needed it, which she took on the chin, and there were certain things she would never sway him on but she respected that and heeded it when needed.

But pulling her up like that over some stupid blonde bimbo who couldn’t keep her hands to herself? Really? Why was he defending her? Was…was there…

She shook her head, brushing away the thought as quickly as it came. Steve wouldn’t do that to her, half the time he was fucking oblivious to the way other women looked at him anyway. No, this was just him being his old-fashioned, chivalrous self…

Wasn’t it?

“Fucks sake Katie…” she grumbled to herself, wiping her eyes before she left the lounge. She checked her face in the mirror in the hall and, happy that her make-up was ok she headed back into the kitchen. Decided she wanted something stronger than beer she walked into the utility room where Steve had built her a Gin shelf to house her various bottles and glasses. Selecting the bottle of Aviation she poured a heavy measure before stalking back into the kitchen. She pushed the glass under the ice dispenser before she grabbed a bottle of tonic and topped up her drink. Taking a long drink she leaned against the counter looking out at the garden. The tables were pretty much empty of party food now, the kids and adults having inhaled it through the afternoon. Pepper and Jennifer were busy sweeping empty plates into large bin liners and Katie knew she should probably go and help…

“Mom?” Emmy drew her from her thoughts “You ok?”

“Yeah, was taking a moment.” she nodded “What time is it?”

“Almost 4:30…”

“Ok, can you tell your dad we’re gonna do the cake now then.” she smiled, setting her gin down.

“Sure.” Em nodded, before she cocker her head slightly “You sure you’re ok? Dad came out before in a foul mood. Nearly took Sam’s head off when he made a joke about that being a definite ‘quicky’” she framed the last words with her fingers and Katie snorted.

“We just had a disagreement, don’t worry about it.” Katie shook her head “It’ll work out it always does.”

Emmy nodded and left her mother to it. She headed back out into the garden and made her way over to her father who currently had two kids hanging off his arms as he playfully swung them through the air.

“Dad.” she said, stopping a little way away. He stood still and turned to face her.

“You ok Em?”

“Yeah, Mom’s gonna do the cake now.”

“Ok.”

“And I don’t know what you said to her but she’s really upset.” Em levelled him with a look and before he could reply she turned and headed back towards Brooke who was stood next to her mother and Bucky.

Steve let out a sigh and untangled himself from the kids before he started to move around, roping the other parents in to helping him shepherd them over to the tables by the side. He hadn’t meant to upset her but her attitude was ridiculous. At the promise of cake the kids were fairly obedient so it seemed, and it wasn’t long before Katie came out of the kitchen, followed by Jamie and Morgan, the candles lit on Rori’s cake. Their little girl squealed in excitement and Steve chuckled and lifted her up as Katie set the cake down on the table and the chorus of Happy Birthday Started.

“Make a wish princess…” He said, kissing her cheek as he held her over the cake so she could blow the 5 candles out. She scrunched her eyes closed and then opened them.

“Ok, wish done!” she beamed and Steve laughed, setting her down. He turned to his wife but she had already moved away from him slightly to begin carving the large pink and purple unicorn cake into pieces for everyone.

“What is that?” Bucky asked, looking at the piece she had given him.

“Cake.” she narrowed her eyes.

“I need more than that.”

Katie looked at him, but before she had time to reply Jennifer had seized the piece of cake and shoved it straight into Bucky’s face. There was a slight pause before Sam let out a bellow of laughter and Katie’s hand flew to her mouth as started to laugh at the look on Bucky’s face.

“Oh you didn’t…” he said, before he reached out and gripped Jennifer around the waist and rubbed his cake covered face against hers. She shrieked, wriggling in his arms and eventually her shrieks turned into giggles as he pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

“KISSY!” Harry yelled from his spot in Emmy’s arms and Bucky turned his head to look at him, pink and purple icing and butter cream spread through his short stubble.

“You want one pal?”

“Don’t you dare!” Katie pointed at Bucky who began to laugh as Steve handed him a pile of napkins, chuckling. He slid his arm round Katie’s waist and dropped a kiss to her cheek.

“Love you.” he said softly.

She turned to look at him, shot him an icy glare and then turned away, moving out of his reach to begin handing the various pieces of cake to the kids as they all ran around her.

“Ok what did you do?” Bucky looked at him as he rubbed at his face with a Princess themed Napkin.

“Told her I thought her attitude was shitty.” Steve sighed “In a roundabout way anyway.”

Jennifer looked at him, as Bucky handed her a napkin so she could wipe the cake from her face “Her attitude?”

“Yeah, towards Dani.”

Jennifer shook her head “Steve, the woman was practically climbing you like a tree.”

“No she wasn’t…”

“God you can be a real idiot at times.” Jennifer shook her head. Giving Bucky another peck she looked at Steve again, before she made a tutting noise and left.

“Nice one Punk…” Bucky moaned as his girlfriend walked off.

“Don’t start Bucky.” Steve said, shaking his head.

“What did you actually say to her?” Sam looked at him.

With a sigh Steve told them exactly what had gone down in the living room, well, almost everything, he skipped the part about the camero and Katie admitting she was wearing no underwear…as he came to that bit he trailed off blushing slightly and scratched at his neck.

Bucky and Sam exchanged a look “Man, we thought you’d go in there, have angry sex and then that would be it.” “I think she thought that too.” Steve said, his cheeks now even hotter. “I told her no..”

“Wait, wait, let me get this straight?” Sam looked at Steve “You went in there, had a row with your wife because she was pissed off some woman was hanging off of you, and then when she offered you make up sex you said no?”

Steve groaned “That’s not…”

“Jen’s right.” Bucky shook his head. “You are an idiot…”

Steve watched as Bucky sauntered off across the lawn and he turned to look at Katie who was now stood talking to one of the other mothers. Sam shrugged and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Think you might have just earned yourself a night in the spare room…”

Steve groaned and let his head fall backwards, looking skywards for a moment before he head back to the garage. He needed another beer.

******

It wasn’t long following the cake that the party began to filter out. Katie and Steve made sure Rori thanked everyone for coming as they left and soon they were down to the last 2, a little boy called Ryan and Aurelia. As Ryan’s dad shook Steve’s hand and thanked Katie they waved him off and it came to Dani. Steve noticed his wife stiffen slightly besides him and made sure that he didn’t offer the woman a hug or anything, simply nodding to her politely as Aurelia hugged Rori.

“Mommy…” Aurelia asked, and Dani looked down.

“Yeah honey?”

“Can Rori come play tomorrow?”

“I errr…” Dani looked at Katie who inclined her head slightly. She turned to Steve.

“We don’t have any plans do we?”

He shook his head.

“Then, yeah, it’s fine by me.” Katie nodded and the little girls both gave a squeal.

“Ok, well, erm…” Dani looked down slightly before she took a breath and looked back up “Do you want to drop her off at say midday ish?” “Sure.” Katie said.

With that she watched Dani lead Aurelia out of the garden and down the side of the house.

“Want me to make a start on clearing up?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, ok.” Katie nodded, before she turned and headed back into the house. She shot through the hallway, cursing herself that she was actually going to do this. She opened the front door and caught Dani just as the woman was climbing into her BMW.

“Can I have a word?” She asked. Dani hesitated slightly before she nodded and closed the door making sure Aurelia was strapped in.

“Look, I erm. Well, I wanted to say that…well I was out of order with what I said about your husband before.” Katie said softly. “I had no idea about what had happened between the two of you.” Dani shrugged her shoulders. “It’s fine.” “No, it’s not fine. It was cruel. I shouldn’t have said it. I know what its like to be cheated on and…”

Dani looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

“It was, well it was a long time ago.” Katie shrugged as she continued. “I just wanted to apologise because I know what you’re going through and..” Dani scoffed “You, with your perfect life and…” “You think my life is perfect?” Katie snorted “I’m as fucked up as the next person. I’ve seen and been through things you couldn’t possibly begin to imagine.” she took a deep breath, levelling out her voice “Somehow I wonder how I came through the other side but…”

“Sorry “ Dani looked down, “I know, I just…” she looked at Katie “Forget it, apology accepted.”

“For the record, I’m not sorry for what I said about snapping your hand off.” Katie levelled her with a look “I meant that. You touch my husband again and I will kick the shit out of you.” Dani sighed “Look, I didn’t mean anything by it. Honestly, I was just being friendly…but, I’m sorry. For what it’s worth, however, I don’t think you need to worry. Even if some woman was throwing themselves at him, he wouldn’t look twice. That man only has eyes for you, it’s plain to see. It’s nice. I hope one day I find that.”

Katie looked at the woman and nodded curtly, contemplating what she had said, her earlier stupid wobble completely pushed from her mind.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Mrs Rogers.” Dani said, turning to head back to her car.

“Katie…”

Dani looked at her, frowning as Katie spoke again “Katie’s fine.”

With that the blonde smiled softly and nodded again, before she climbed into her car and drove off Katie made her way back inside, poking her head into the den to check that Jamie and Morgan were ok before she headed into the kitchen and poured herself another gin.

“Hitting the hard stuff?” Jen asked as she appeared through the back door.

“Yup.” Katie popped the P “Want one?”

Jennifer nodded and Katie set about pouring her one in silence before she threw a slice of lime and a few blueberries into each glass and topped them both with ice and tonic water.

“I’ll probably get bitched and moaned at for breaking it out so early but…” Katie shrugged as she slid the glass over to Jennifer.

“Do you care?” Jen asked.

Katie snorted “No.”

Jen laughed as she took a sip of her drink. “So you two had a bit of a disagreement..”

Katie snorted “Something like that. He told me I was being a fucking brat.”

Jennifer arched an eyebrow “Well, maybe a tad but…well, she deserved a warning.”

“I didn’t just warn her.” Katie sighed “I said something about her husband leaving her. I had no idea she’d been cheated on. I felt a bit shitty when Steve told me.”

“Doesn’t excuse her climbing all over your husband” Jennifer said.

“I know, I said that to her when I apologised.”

“You apologised?” Jen arched an eyebrow.

“For what I said about her husband.” Katie nodded “For the rest of it no, I told her I’d kick the shit out of her if she touched Steve again but she insisted she was just being friendly…anyway, it’s done, don’t wanna talk about it anymore.” “So how long you gonna give Steve the cold shoulder for?” Jen asked.

Katie shrugged “Until I feel like it. He shouldn’t have been a prick.”

Jen was about to reply but they were cut off when Peter walked into the kitchen.

“Hey Pete!” Katie beamed at him and moved to give the tall kid a hug.

“Sorry I’m a bit late Mrs R…” he smiled “the traffic on the way back was awful. Hey Mrs Bucky…”

“Stop calling me that!” Jen rolled her eyes as Katie laughed.

“I saved you some cake and a plate of food…” Katie smiled at Peter, and moved round Jennifer to the fridge.

“You’re the best!” he smiled at her as she handed him the foil wrapped packages and he retreated back outside.

She grabbed her gin and looked at Jenifer, who smiled at her and they headed back outside.

Now all the guest were gone and they were down to the close friends and family, the plan being the adults to have their own party and toast to Tony later on, everyone was sat on the large decking. Jen perched on Bucky’s knee and Steve sat up, making his lap available for Katie but she brushed past and took up and empty seat next to where Pepper was sat, taking Harry off her with a thanks. She turned to Rori who was perched on Sam’s knee to her right as Sam was chatting to Peter who in turn had one arm round Emmy, the other eating his food.

“You had a good day?” Katie asked her daughter gently, brushing her hair back off her face. She was filthy, covered in cake and all sorts of other food and dirt form the garden but Katie didn’t care. She loved it when her kids got the chance to play and be normal.

“The best!” Rori reached up to give her mum a hug. “But can I put my other clothes on now?”

Katie smiled “of course you can…in fact…I think momma wants to get changed too.”

Rori wriggled off Sam’s lap and Katie held out Harry to the man “Trade ya.” she smiled. Sam let out a grin and took the tot from her with a huge smile, one he reciprocated and she noticed him reach out to Peter’s plate and snaffle a sausage roll. He held his little finger to his lips as he looked at Sam who laughed and gave him a wink.

Katie led Rori past Steve who looked at her with a questioning glance but she ignored him and headed inside. Once upstairs Rori picked out her green dungarees and a sweater and Katie supervised her as she changed, then wiped her face clean laughing at her protests. When she was ready Katie let her head down the stairs, “Hold the rail…” she said, watching before she retreated into her own room, kicking off her sandals before she set about getting changed herself.

**** In the mean-time the conversation had taken a grim turn, a turn which the men decided they didn’t really want to be a part of anymore, so when Bucky announced he was going to get a beer Sam, Steve and Pete all jumped at the chance. Harry toddled in front of them across the grass, settling down in the sandpit near the jungle gym. Steve watched him for a moment before he turned back to the conversation.

“Why do women feel the need to talk about childbirth?” Pete said with a shudder and Steve laughed.

“Yeah, well, be thankful Katie wasn’t there…Rori’s birth was quite traumatic.” Steve said, the memory ingrained on his mind forever. She’d arrived so fast, and Katie had done it all with no pain relief. Frankly, she’d been astounding. He looked up as Rori came running over the garden to join her brother and frowned when he realised Katie wasn’t with her. But before he could think about it anymore, a line that Bucky spoke to Peter jerked his attention back to the men round him.

“It’ll be your turn soon enough.” Bucky winked, patting Pete on his shoulder.

“What?” Steve wheeled back round, turning his head to look at Bucky then Peter who’s face had drained of all colour.

“I…what? Why would…” Peter stumbled as he glanced from Steve and Bucky then back again. “I don’t know why he said that Captain, I mean Rogers, Steve…Mr…Mr Rogers…”

“Practicing Safe sex Pete?” Sam nodded, continuing the teasing whilst Bucky was fighting the urge to laugh at the look on Steve’s face “Good man, wrap before you tap…” “I’m not, I mean, we are but I don’t…because Emmy’s…well I …oh god…” Peter flushed and turned and fled, Steve spinning to watch him.

“Did he…did he just admit to having sex with my daughter?” he spluttered, looking at Bucky who laughed loudly, slapping his friend on the back.

“They’re 21 man.” Sam smirked “What do you think they get up to on alone time? Netflix and Chill…Amazon Prime and Sexy Time…”

“Yeah, not everyone was a virgin into their mid 20s…” Bucky quipped.

“Shut the fuck up.” Steve pointed at his friend, his face bright red.

“Language!”

“Wait…” Sam paused “Did Katie pop your cherry Cap?”

“No, she did not…”

“A chorus girl called Lottie did.” Bucky answered and Sam laughed even more.

Steve glared at Bucky “One more word I swear to God…”

“I’m just fucking with you Steve…” Bucky smirked “A bit like Pete is with…”

“Jerk.” the word was little more than a snarl as Steve gave Bucky a hard one-handed shove in the chest. To anyone else it would have sent them sprawling, but Bucky merely stumbled back a few steps, his laughter louder than ever. Steve shot him another look before he headed inside to find Katie. As he walked into the hallway she stepped off the bottom stair and it became apparent why she’d taken a little longer than he expected.

“You changed?” Steve looked at Katie, frowning. Gone was that gorgeous maxi dress and in its place she wore a pair of jeans and a long sleeved oversized chunky pink sweater that hung slightly off one shoulder, giving him a flash of a baby blue bra strap and her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail. He loved that sweater on him, exposing her neck and shoulder to him, enough of a flash to make him think about running his lips over her skin. God, even in her casual clothes like this she looked effortlessly gorgeous.

“Yeah well Rori wanted to get changed and I figured I may as well too as it’s gonna start getting chilly.” she shrugged.

“Oh.”

“Is there a problem?” Katie asked looking at him.

“No, I just…well, you looked amazing in that dress…” He stepped towards her, reaching out to take her by the waist but she stepped back.

“And I don’t now?”

“Oh stop being ridiculous.” he said, shaking his head as she pushed past him and headed into the kitchen “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“Well add it to the list of the many things I’ve been ridiculous about today.” she said, her tone a little icy as she grabbed her drink off the side and headed outside.

Steve let out a groan of frustration as he watched her go.

**** An hour or so later Harry crawled onto Katie’s lap and nuzzled into her neck, hand winding into her hair as he gave a yawn. Katie let him sit where he as for a moment before she stood up and said she was taking him to bed. Steve offered to go with her but she shook her head and said she could handle it, carrying him inside. Steve watched her go before he felt a hand on his arm and he turned to look at Jennifer.

“You know she apologised to Dani before.”

Steve frowned, he hadn’t been expecting that. “What? When?”

“Just before she left.” Jennifer said, sipping her drink “Although it wasn’t a full olive branch, more like an olive twig…”

Steve snorted “Let me guess. She apologised for the dig about her husband but still threatened to snap her hand off if she came near me again?”

“Something like that.” Jen said. “Listen, Steve, I wasn’t going to say anything but the last few years or so…you know you guys draw a lot of attention since everyone came back from the Snap, and you only have to look on social media to see the things that people post…” “We’ve always had public interest but I don’t read it.” Steve frowned, not sure where she was going with this. “I know but Katie does and, well, there are some pretty…how do I put this, dirty things written by females about you on there, especially since you started teaching at the University. Maybe she feels a little bit more insecure about stuff than she lets on.” “She’s no reason to be insecure.” Steve shook his head “Jen, I’d never do that to her. Hell I don’t even want to think about any other woman in that way…” “I know that, I just wanted to make you understand why she reacted the way she did. I’d do the same and I’m not sure you’d appreciate another man fawning over her either.”

Steve looked at the woman, he knew she was right. He glanced at the door to the house and stood up, nodding. He headed up the stairs, the sounds of soft laughter hitting his ears.

“Harry, Momma doesn’t want a bath…stop splashing me!”

He gently opened the bathroom door and leaned against the door frame, smiling as Harry was in the bath, Katie attempting to scrub him down.

Honey…” he said softly. She turned to look at him “I’ll do that, you go sort his pyjamas.”

Katie nodded and stood up, passing by Steve in the doorway. He gently reached out, hands falling to her hips.

“Steve…” she said softly.

“Look, I’m sorry for before.” he said, his hands squeezing her hips “I shouldn’t have spoken to you the way I did.” “No you shouldn’t” she said, before she sighed “I probably was a little OTT though…”

“That you admitting I was right?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

She narrowed her eyes and pushed him in the chest gently “Don’t push it.”

He chuckled as he let her go and turned to his son. Once he was suitably cleaned and Steve’s shirt was suitably wet thanks to his splashing antics he lifted him out, wrapped him in his little teddy bear towel with the hood and carried him through to his bedroom. Katie had laid out the pyjamas on his bed but wasn’t in there. Steve set about towelling the kid off, gently grabbing his arm as Harry made a break for it, stopping him from running out of the room in all his naked glory. After a few more giggles and wriggles Steve had him wrestled into his pyjamas and was just smoothing his light brown hair down when Katie came back carrying Gerald, his stuffed giraffe that he point blank refused to sleep without.

“No sleep.” Harry muttered, his eyes heavy as he gave a yawn taking the toy off his mother.

“Yeah whatever pal, I give you 30 seconds tops…” Katie said, sitting on the side of the bed as he gave another yawn as he laid back on the pillow. She gently kissed his head and stood up, as Steve did the same and they both made towards the door. When Katie looked back his eyes were already shut.

Steve stood behind his wife, his hands wrapping around her, chin resting on her shoulder as they watched their youngest for a moment before Katie moved back and pulled the door too.

“Come here…” Steve said gently, pulling her to him and she went willingly, her arms wrapping around his back, face pressing into his chest.

“I did what you wanted” she muttered, her voice slightly muffled from the fabric of his jersey, “apologised.”

“I know, Jen told me.” Steve replied, “Doll, I didn’t want you to apologise just because I asked…”

Katie shrugged, her cheek still against his chest “I didn’t. It was the right thing to do. Well, about her husband. I will break her face though if she touches you again.”

Steve sighed and pulled back slightly to look down at her. “You know you really have nothing to worry about don’t you?

She looked down and he gently reached out and with his thumb and forefinger tipped her head up to look at him. “I don’t want anyone else” “I know and I don’t worry as such, I just…well I don’t like people…”

“Touching your stuff, yeah I know…” Steve chuckled as he finished the familiar phrase with her.

“If I’m such a brat why did you marry me?” she rolled her eyes.

“Because I love you, brat tendencies included.” he smiled, his lips dropping to hers in a gentle kiss as his hands slid down to cup her ass. He looked at her cheekily “You still not wearing any panties?”

“Sorry Soldier…” she smirked “Should have took me up on the offer before.”

He gave a groan “Do you have any idea how much self-control that took to say no?”

“Serves you right…”

“You’re being a brat again.” he said, and she grinned.

“Say it in the way I like…” she whispered and he smirked, pulling her closer, his fingers digging into the flesh of her behind. He bent down so that his lips were by her ear and when he spoke his voice low and sultry.

“Such a fucking brat…”

She practically purred as his lips brushed her ear. “What you gonna do about it, Daddy?” she asked, looking up at him from under lidded eyes.

“Oh I’m gonna show you…” Steve said, and quick as a flash he had hoisted her up, drawing a soft squeak of surprise from her lips as he carried her into their room. Kicking the door shut he deposited her unceremoniously on the bed, causing her to bounce slightly on the mattress before he crawled over her.

“You know…” he said, a soft kiss to her exposed collar bone “This has been driving me crazy all evening, you know I love this sweater on you.” “Why do you think I wore it?” she shot back and he gave a groan as he pushed down harder onto her, the now very present bulge in his trousers pressing against her spot, causing her to moan softly.

“Fucking little tease…” he said, his lips trailing up her neck to her jawline. He gave a little nip before he reached her lips and slotted his mouth onto hers in a deep, needy kiss. Their tongues tangled furiously as he reached down between them, gently grabbing the hem of the offending sweater. With a tug he pulled it over her head and gave another loud groan as he saw the baby blue lace bra.

“You see something you like?” she asked as his hand trailed the edge of the lace.

“Oh I like it, very much…” he said, his hand giving her breast a squeeze as he kissed her again. His mouth moved down her neck and he kissed her sternum then across her chest over the swell of her breast, pulling the cup of he bra down to tease her nipple gently with his mouth. His hand grabbed at the other cup and he pulled it down, roughly and then he heard the tear of fabric. Katie sat up, leaning on her elbows and looked down.

“Seriously?” she deadpanned. Steve winced and looked at her, sheepishly before he shrugged.

“In for a penny…” he quipped as he reached up with his other and with a sharp tug he ripped the garment completely open.

“You’re a fucking jerk.” she shook her head, laughing

“I’ll buy you a new one.” he muttered, his head once more returning to her chest, lips latching onto on nipple as his fingers gently tweaked at the other. Her hands gripped at the bed covers as the heat began to grow between her legs and Steve felt her push up against him seeking friction, anything for relief.

“So needy tonight baby girl…” he muttered, his mouth trailing back upwards to claim hers again in a searing kiss and he pushed down, giving her what she wanted. He swallowed her soft moan and pulled back slightly so he could pop the button and then the zipper on her jeans. He began to pull them down but he got so far and then they stuck, tight.

“Fucks sake…” he muttered and Katie gave a little giggle as he started to wrestle with the damned skinny jeans. “Doll, you look great in these but…”

His frustration built as Katie could do nothing but laugh at the annoyed look on his face as he tugged and pulled ad the fucking irritating denim.

“I’m sure this used to be easier.” he grumbled.

“I wasn’t as fat then.”

“Shut up.” he said sharply. He gave another sharp pull which jerked Katie further down the bed causing her to laugh again, and he was just debating ripping them off as well when she tugged at his hair.

“Don’t even think about it.” she narrowed her eyes “They’re Armani…”

“They’re fucking annoying” he mumbled, as he continued to pull and eventually worked them down over her ankles and tossed them to the side.

“You know if you’d have done me when I said before then the jeans wouldn’t have been an issue.” Katie said as he ran his hands up the side of her thighs gently.

“Actions have consequences…”he muttered, his nose skimming the waist band of the matching baby blue French knickers she was wearing. He kissed his way along her tummy, gently flicking a path up to her belly button with his tongue and she arched her back slightly, letting out a soft sigh. He moved back down and his lips found the apex of her thigh and kissed their way upwards until he nuzzled softly at her panty clad entrance, drawing a keen from her mouth as he took a deep breath, the garment was soaked.

“You’re fucking drenched sweetheart…” he purred as he slid his hands up and pulled her panties down, kissing back up her leg as he threw them over his shoulder, and set to her with his mouth. His tongue lapped, swirled, a well-known practice as he knew exactly where to pay attention to and in no time at all he had her right where he wanted, a writhing mess, one arm thrown over her mouth to stifle her, frankly, filthy noises for fear of waking their son. The other tangled in his hair and as her pleasure mounted her nails dug into his scalp and he gave a groan.

“Stevie…I’m…” she wined and her back arched, her legs trembled and she uttered a soft “Fuck” as he felt her let go. He took the opportunity whilst she was coming down to shuck off his jeans, he didn’t even bother with his sweater, he was too far gone and needed her now. Grabbing her hips he pulled her further to him and sliding his hands under her back he knelt up and easily lifted her onto his lap. Her legs wrapped around his waist as she gently slid down onto him, her head falling to his shoulder with a groan as he began to thrust up wards.

“Off…” she demanded, tugging at the bottom of his sweater and he moved his arms so she could pull it over his head, not once breaking his rhythm.

“Fuck baby you feel so good” he groaned as he pushed up harder and harder. Her teeth bit into his skin and he hissed at the slight bite of pain increasing his pace until he was relentless, driving into her as deep as he could, hands on her hips, pulling her down to meet him. Her face tilted towards his and she pressed her lips to his, the kiss sloppy and desperate before she groaned again into his mouth.

“Come on doll…” he whispered, “I’m close…tell me you are…”

“Yeah…” she stuttered, her head falling forward again before it looked back, and he dipped forward his mouths swirling at her breast again. At that she let out a low keen and he felt her tightening before her mouth parted in a silent scream, her eyes flittered shut as she pulsed around him. The feeling of her coming undone was enough to tip Steve over the edge and with a few more deep thrusts he spilt inside her and then collapsed backwards, taking her with him.

They were both silent for a while, Steve’s fingers gently tracing up and down Katie’s spine as she hummed in satisfaction, her head resting on his shoulder.

“You good?” he asked, pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

“Yeah…” she said, and she moved and looked at him, sliding her nose against his “We should get back downstairs.”

“Do we hafta?”

“Yes” She chucked, and she rolled off him and Steve pouted at the loss of contact as she headed into the bathroom to clean up. When she came back Steve passed her and gave her a soft kiss before she dressed again. Once they were sorted and she had straightened her hair out they both made their way downstairs. Steve gently kissed her cheek before he reached into the cupboard in the kitchen and pulled the Wakandan Spice out along with 2 glasses and headed outside. Rhodey had arrived and Steve placed the items he was carrying on the table and reached over to shake his hand.

“Kissed and made up?” Bucky asked from his spot on the chair, Jen still on his lap, as Steve poured them both a good measure of the amber liquid.

“Something like that.” he said handing Bucky a glass. Bucky smirked as Steve looked at Rori who was sat on one of the chairs with a tablet in her hand, earphones in her ears as she watched whatever was on the screen. He crossed over to her and gently tugged an ear phone out and she pouted, making her look just like her mother when she did the same.

“Baby, it’s time for bed. You cant watch that upstairs ok?”

“I can stay up and watch this in my room?” she said, eyes wide. They very rarely let her do that but it was her birthday party after all.

“Yeah.” Steve said.

“Ok.” she nodded. She paused the programme and Steve picked her up whilst she said goodnight to everyone. Making his way back into the kitchen he paused as Katie was filling an ice bucket for the champagne she had just opened.

“Rhodey’s here.” he said and she smiled, nodding.

“Yeah he said he was gonna stop by, he misses Tony as well.” she said gently.

“I’m going to bed Momma” Rori said “Daddy said I can watch my film in bed.”

“Well it is your special day baby” she smiled, kissing her cheek. “See you in the morning.”

Steve carried her out of the room whilst Katie grabbed enough glasses and carried them outside before she gave Rhodey a hug. Back in the kitchen she pulled out the pre-prepared trays of crudites, cold meats and cheese which she had done for the adults and carried them back outside along with a few packets of chips, olives, dips and crackers, all of them giving a groan of delight.

“You’re a legend you know that?” Sam grinned up at her and she smiled, popping back inside for the Champagne.

“She ok?” she looked up at Steve. He nodded.

“I told her she could have a bath tomorrow.” he said, pulling his wife to him and giving her a long kiss. She smiled against his mouth and patted his chest before she grabbed what she had come for and headed outside. Once she had stopped fussing and made sure everyone had a drink she sat on Steve’s knee and his arm curled round her waist.

“I know it’s not actually his birthday until Wednesday, obviously, same as Rori’s, but…” Katie smiled at Pepper who returned her gesture “Happy Birthday Tony.” she said, her head looking up to the now darkening sky as she raised her glass as her eyes filled with tears. She still missed her brother so much it hurt. “Love you, to the stars and back.”

There were mumbles of toasts as everyone raised their glasses and Steve gave her hip a little squeeze.

They settled into a comfortable chat, memories of Tony being shared, namely by Pepper, Rhodey and Katie, everyone laughing along and as an hour or so passed Steve looked at his wife as her cheeks grew flushed the more she drank. Mind you, he was getting that way as well, that Wakandan shit was strong, not to mention the Asgardian ale he had been drinking all afternoon. He really should send another thanks to T’Challa and Valkyrie for keeping his stocks up.

“No,no,no straight up.” Katie laughed, drawing his attention back to the conversation a his wife wiped tears of laughter from her face “He thinks he’s getting lucky right? So he’s sat in his Audi flirting with her…”

”And then she served him a subpoena.” Pepper reached over to top her glass up, spilling some on the table as the alcohol made her aim sloppy. “God he was moaning about that for days.”

“And then he realised he was in love with you.” Rhodey smiled.

“What was it you said to us?” Pepper hiccupped and looked at him “You called us 2 seals fighting over a grape…”

“Get a roof.” Rhodey smirked and Pepper laughed, leaning back and closing her eyes with a nostalgic sigh. “I don’t care what anyone says, you’re never gonna beat the time he got Stern to tell him to go fuck himself.” Rhodey continued with a snort “That will forever be my favourite Tony memory of all time…”

“God he was an idiot.” Katie said fondly.

“But he was our idiot.” Pepper smiled at her, and she nodded. At that point Katie’s attention was taken to Jamie who popped his head out of the door to ask if he could take the potato chips into the den. She nodded to him and he gave a satisfied fist pump before disappearing again.

“What are they doing in there?” Katie asked.

“Making a space station out of Lego, apparently.” Emmy said. “We’re not allowed to go in there apparently, and the door has to stay shut once it’s done…” “Looks like Peter’s on the couch then not the fold out.” Steve said, looking at her “Pepper’s in the spare room.” Peter flushed and Katie dug Steve in the ribs with her elbow “Stop teasing him.”

“I’m being serious.” he said, looking at her before he shot a look at the young man.

“Dad…” Emmy groaned “I’m 21.”

“I don’t care…” Steve shook his head, draining his glass before Katie took it from him and poured him another generous measure, doing the same for Bucky. Jennifer took the glass from him and sniffed at it, pulling a face before she handed it back.

“Yeah leave Spiderling alone…” Sam quipped “You two have no room to talk…”

“Don’t…” Steve pointed at him.

“You know they once did it on a mission against a wall?” Sam looked at Emmy whose face arranged into a look of horror “That was what made Rori…” “Sam shut the fuck up…” Steve glared at him.

“Yeah that’s what I was saying when I heard you.” he shot back and Bucky gave a snort “school boy error leaving your comms on.”

“That’s disgusting.” Emmy groaned.

“That’s what Natasha said…” Sam quipped.

“You know Jamie was conceived between the toaster and the fridge.” Katie said snorting into her glass, “There’s only Harry that came from a bedroom…” “Jesus Doll…” Steve groaned as Bucky sniggered besides him. Sam grinned and was about to reply but Pepper piped up.

“Morgan was an Audi front seat Baby…” she hiccupped and Rhodey choked on his beer as the rest of the adults sniggered, well most of them.

“In thought you were gonna say Iron Suit baby.” Sam looked at Pepper

“Come on Pete, Brooke… I’m not listening to this…” Emmy said as she stood up, tugging on Pete’s hand.

“How the fuck would that work?” Bucky looked at him.

“Docking station.” Pete said as he allowed Emmy to tug him up. There was a moments paused before everyone bar Emmy started to laugh. She groaned and tugged on his hand as the 3 younger adults headed away from the table, Peter nodding to Steve nervously as the soldiers eyes watched them leave.

“Stop it.” Katie said gently, turning Steve’s head to face him.

“Did you know they were…you know?”

“Having sex?” Katie snorted and Steve rolled his eyes “Yes I did,I took Emmy to see Dr Kellet.”

“Seriously?”

“She’s 21 Steve…” “I know I just…” “She’s grown up.” “I just…oh I don’t wike it…” he whined, his head falling to her chest and she laughed, her hands tangling into his hair.

“Could be worse.” Katie teased, her nails scratching her scalp “You could have walked in on them like Tony did to us…”

“Doll,” Steve looked at her, shaking his head, “just don’t.”

**Original Posting 1 2 **

#stark spangled forever #steve rogers #Katie Stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fic #mcu #mcu fanfic #mcu fan fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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starring-movies · 3 years

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The Haunting of Bly Manor: Episode Analysis

*SPOILERS*

Episode 3 - The Two Faces, Part One

Episode 3 begins by starting to help us to fill in the backstory of who Peter Quint and Rebecca Jessel were. The episode starts one year ago and we’re first introduced to Peter as he stares at his reflection in the window of an expensive men’s clothing shop, Kensington Tailors, where he is picking up a shirt for his boss, Henry Wingrave. From this very first shot of Peter, it’s immediately established that he’s ambitious (as he’s imagining himself in Henry’s position, wearing suits from the expensive shop that Henry gets his clothes from), but also that he’s narcissistic.

The song ‘Tainted Love’ by Soft Cell plays during this scene. The lyrics that we here are:

“Sometimes I feel I’ve got to,

Run away I’ve got to,

Get away,

From the pain you drive into the heart of me,

The love we share,

Seems to go nowhere,

And I’ve lost my light,

For I toss and turn I can’t sleep at night,

Once I ran to you (I ran),

Now, I’ll run from you,

This tainted love you’ve given,

I give you all a boy could give you,

Take my tears and that’s not nearly all,

Tainted love”

The lyrics of the song that we hear foreshadows Peter and Rebecca’s sad and toxic relationship that will come. “Tainted love” is definitely an appropriate phrase to describe Peter and Rebecca’s relationship. Where Rebecca once “ran to [Peter]”, she now wants to “run from [him]” after he betrayed her trust - Peter drowned Rebecca and so now she can’t escape and just like the singer of the song she is suffering from “the pain you drive into the heart of me”.

When we’re first introduced to Rebecca we see her looking at her reflection in a compact mirror, as she waits in Henry’s waiting room to have her interview for the au pair job. Through this first shot of Rebecca we can see that her beauty is important to her and that she wants to make a good impression. This makes Peter’s killing of her even more tragic as she holds her beauty as important to her, so he did not only take her life from her but also her body.

While driving up to the manor, as the car drives down the drive, in the foreground of the shot we see a white rose with thorns on it. This rose alludes to Peter and Rebecca’s relationship, just as the song ‘Tainted Love’ did. On the outside their love looks like it will be beautiful and pure, but it will also cause pain. In a similar vein, the rose also portrays Peter as a character - beautiful on the outside but someone who will hurt you if you get too close.

On her arrival at Bly Manor, Rebecca tells Flora and Miles that she’s not “practically perfect” like their “very own Mary Poppins”, but rather that she is “perfectly splendid”. From this we learn that the reason why Flora was describing everything as being “perfectly splendid” in Episode 1 (and subsequently), is because of this first meeting with Rebecca.

Flora’s use of the phrase shows us how much she loved Rebecca and how much of an impact Rebecca had on her as a new mother figure of sorts. This is one of the things that makes Rebecca’s death so sad, because Flora had such a bond with her new motherly figure and she was the unfortunate one who first found Rebecca dead in the lake - so by using the phrase that Rebecca used, Flora is able to keep a bit of her with her all the time.

A small detail to notice; is that the lighter that Peter uses and lets Miles play with, is the lighter that Luke, also played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, uses in The Haunting of Hill House.

After bringing the flowers for Flora/Rebecca, Peter explains to Miles that you have to find out which ‘key’ (thing to please a person) is the right fit, in order to open the door to them. This is not only the explanation for why Miles said that he was trying to find Father Stack’s ‘key’ in episode 2, but it is also a reference to the theme of keys in The Haunting of Hill House.

In Hill House the members of the family were trying to look for the right key to open the door to The Red Room, but it is later revealed that the individual themself is the key to the door, and that the room puts on different ‘faces’ to placate its current inhabitant. In the same way as The Red Room, Peter employs different tactics (flowers for Rebecca; alcohol, flattery and money for Henry Wingrave) in order to win favour from them and he consumes Rebecca just like how The Red Room was slowly consuming whoever was inhabiting it.

While Owen, Hannah, Jamie, Dani and the children are staying up in case Peter returns, Dani and Jamie have a conversation about possession and love. Jamie begins the conversation by again ‘testing the water’ with Dani, as she asks her if she wished that she was curled up with Owen instead of Hannah. In Episode 2 Jamie questioned Owen to find out if he was interested in Dani (which he wasn’t); and now Jamie is similarly trying to find out if Dani has any interest in Owen. Jamie presumably does this because if she finds out that Dani is interested in Owen, then she thinks that she will have no chance of pursuing her and might as well give up before she even tries.

The conversation moves on to “love and possession” and Dani tells Jamie “I don’t think that should be possible. I mean, they’re opposites really, love and ownership”. This one little thing that Dani says to Jamie foreshadows the fate of their relationship. When Dani and Jamie leave Bly Manor to go and live in Vermont and start a proper relationship together, they both started the relationship knowing that they were never a possession belonging to the other. Since The Lady of the Lake took some possession of Dani, her and Jamie always knew that they were on borrowed time and whether they wanted to admit it or not, that they’d have to let each other go at some point.

In Episode 9 when Jamie goes back to Bly and finds Dani’s body in the lake, she even invites Dani into her and begs for her to “take me with you”. However, Older Jamie says that “Dani wouldn’t, Dani would never”, because Dani knows the difference between love and possession and she could never allow Jamie to invite her in because that’s not love.

This also strikes a stark contrast between Dani and Peter’s love. Dani’s love with JAmie was a real and pure love, as she wouldn’t allow Jamie to be possessed by her. However Peter’s love with Rebecca was a possessive love, as he abused the trust that Rebecca gave him and drowned her body so that she would also become a ghost and be with him.

Hannah then wakes up and says that the children really ought to be in bed, and when Miles wakes up he says that he “had a bad dream” where he “hurt” Hannah. This “bad dream” isn’t a dream but it’s Miles vaguely remembering Peter pushing Hannah down the well, when Peter was in possession over Miles’ body. This tells us that the owner of the body does have some partial recollection of what the possessor was doing with their body.

When Dani goes to bed, the severed hand that she sees on her bed after spotting Eddie’s glasses on her bedside table is not just any hand, but it’s Eddie’s (we can see it’s his hand from the watch and blood we see on his hand in Episode 4). Eddie’s severed hand is also an indication that Dani’s feelings towards Jamie are getting stronger, because as her feelings for Jamie get stronger, so does her guilt over Eddie’s death and coming to terms with her sexuality.

When Dani comes downstairs the next morning, we get a shot of her watching over Jamie as realises that stayed on the sofa in the manor for the night. If we view Dani’s hand on Jamie’s shoulder (at the very end of Episode 9) as Dani watching over Jamie in some sort of way, then this moment is another sweet (but sad) foreshadowing of the quiet and caring watchfulness that Dani will give Jamie for the rest of her life.

Back in the past timeline, Flora gifts Rebecca the doll that she said she would make for her. Rebecca had previously told Flora that “I like all the colours” and so Flora said that she’d make her a doll with “all the colours”. When giving Rebecca the doll, Flora tells Rebecca that “Miles says that if you mix all the colours in the world together, you get black”. It may be a stretch, but as the dolls have a very intertwined relationship with the people they are made for, this might be a forewarning of Rebecca’s own fate.

Before coming to Bly, Rebecca had everything going for her and her future was incredibly bright, just as Hannah says in Episode 4, “she was brilliant, she was beautiful”. However, after meeting Peter Quint, her future becomes dark after he ruins any chance at a good future that she once had after he drowns her. So, in the same way as “you get black” from mixing all the vibrant colours in the world, Rebecca’s future also becomes black when she once had such a bright future.

Retuning to the present, Miles and Flora gather everyone to come and watch their ‘story time’, which Owen tells Dani is “like therapy for them” and to make sure Flora (and presumably Miles also) has “processed whatever she’s been chewing on”. Miles tells the story of a puppet named Poppet, who we can assume from the story itself and Miles’ costume/makeup, is a pseudonym for Miles himself.

In the story, Miles tells his audience how Poppet’s creator, Claude (who we can assume is Peter), got angry at the puppet for forgetting who his maker was and forgetting that he had strings. This could be Miles processing Peter’s controlling nature as the ‘puppet master’ over Miles, who “pulled on their strings” (takes control of Miles’ body) whenever he pleases, which “hurt[s]” him.

Finally, the episode ends with Owen and Jamie going home after Owen’s neighbour, Mr McQueeny, rings to tell him that his mother has died. Dani walks Jamie to her car and tells her that she’s “so glad you stayed”, a small compliment as a way for her to ease-in to try to tell Jamie how she feels about her. But Dani telling Jamie that she’s “so glad” is only an insignificant drop in the ocean of the emotions that she’s feeling.

Finding that her words aren’t a sufficient enough way for her to articulate her feelings, without a word Dani tentatively reaches out to hold Jamie’s hand, breaking the physical barrier between them which has not yet been broken - and more than likely a barrier that Dani hasn’t ventured to cross with anyone since Eddie’s, never mind doing so for the first time of her acting on her sexuality. With only a simple touch and a heartfelt look, Dani is able to convey more of her feelings than she ever would have if she’d tried to use words to explain how she felt.

After Jamie leaves, Dani sees Eddie’s spectre once again. Except for perhaps the severed hand, which isn’t quite the same as the spectre, the spectre of Eddie that we see in this scene is the most aggressive vision of Dani’s Eddie-related-guilt that we’ve seen.

Firstly, Eddie’s spectre is standing right in front of Dani, confronting her directly, whereas previously Dani had only seen him in the reflections of mirrors or windows - usually she can try to reduce seeing the spectre by covering up mirror, but now he’s apppearing right in front of her, unavoidable and inescapable.

Secondly, the spectre is violently pulled back towards the manor, again this is the first time that we’ve ever seen Eddie’s spectre move - when we see his image in any reflections, he is always standing still.

Thirdly, Dani actually gives out a loud scream at seeing Eddie spectre. She often does give a shocked gasp or a small yelp when she sees him but she has never screamed like this, so we can see that she is even more shocked than usual by his appearance.

The aggressiveness of Eddie’s spectre, the difference in the way that he appears to Dani and the fact that he appears after she has just taken a leap and outwardly showed her romantic interest in Jamie - which is likely to be the first time that she’s ever acted on her sexuality, except for when she broke off her engagement which didn’t end well - confirms to us that his appearances have been related to the guilt over his death and the shame that she feels about her sexuality, which she believes is what led to his death.

You can read my previous The Haunting of Bly Manor posts here:-

Episode 1 - The Great Good Place

Episode 2 - The Pupil

Episode 4 - The Way It Came

Episode 5 - The Altar of the Dead

Episode 6 - The Jolly Corner

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asoiaf-source · 4 years

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Fighting Hate with more Hate. That always works, right?

“Sansa’s fans are so defensive of her because of the rest of the fandom demonize her and hate her for no reason.” - helenakey

So then the answer is to demonize the other women characters for no reason?

Of course there are going to be ‘fans’ that hate on a character for no reason, I’ve seen people post unnecessary and unreasonable hate on many of the characters, not just Sansa, and they can be as annoying, but they are not representative of the entire fandom. Not ALL fans are hating on her, and some are just looking at the character critically. I’m new to the tumblr metas (avoided for a long time due to the toxic reputation), but i’ve been on ASOIAF forums for a long time and there are plenty of Sansa supporters, even if she is still quite a polarizing character due to how people wish to interpret her... but Sansa stans on tumblr take it to the next level!

I’ve never seen this side of her fans before, or at least so much nearly every day, and subsequently the many rebuttals! And how often they like throwing other characters under the bus, often for hypocritical reasons. Like the OP yendany said, they ignore the trauma in other characters or dismiss it as not as bad, when it is often much, much worse. They criticize and attack other female characters to prop up Sansa ‘better’ survival skills, or attribute qualities to her she doesn’t possess (I see this a lot in fanfiction, before I realized the self-insert aspect), or use her age as excuse when all the main characters are young or even younger than her. The line porcelain to ivory to steel... can really apply to any character that has to grow up and face the harsh realities of the world... so it is really hypocritical to think Sansa is special in some way for overcoming her situation, all the characters are going through the same struggle, and many have it much worse. That is where I think so much of the anti-sansa stans come from, the hypocrisy and the tearing down of other just as deserving of sympathy/empathy characters, especially other women characters. It is a weird juxtaposition, that anyone with a reasonable sense of objectivity can pick up on and often do.

I mostly see it done against Arya and Dany, the two more prominent female characters in the books (thus the 2 who draw more focus than #3 Sansa?). The two female characters GRRM is telling a lot of his story through and spending a large amount of the text (right from book 1) to develop their growth as characters and showcase their strengths, intelligence, determination, fortitude, agency, cleverness, resilience and so much more. It’s as if because the other women are not ‘pure’ or see themselves that way and stronger in personality and character that somehow their suffering doesn’t affect them as much because they are tougher and didn’t let anything that happened to them stop them from growing stronger. They aren’t dwelling in victim-hood too long before they pick themselves back up and move forward.

And yet, they cheer when Sansa starts to grow stronger... Sansa’s growth has been much slower, we are moving into book 6 and she is just starting to gain a bit of agency, but she is still heavily under the tutelage of Baelish. We will see how far she gains in the next book and if she will break with Baelish by the end of it and be a fully independent player. But her development isn’t nearly on the same scale as Daenerys and Arya. That isn’t to imply that she isn’t going to be important, but it is clear from the text that she is not one of the main focuses for GRRM, or he would have developed her faster and given her more to do. We will see how much ground he can cover in 1-2 books, but there is only so much he will be able to accomplish and have it be believable, especially with so many POVs and story lines that he needs to develop.

I actually think their attempts to (over) defend her backfire, as so many feel the need to point out the falsehoods and misinterpretations, especially when they are wildly mean-spirited and completely refutable by the text. As I traverse through the ASOIAF metas I often come across fans metas writing rebuttals to other posts, to ‘correct’ their conclusion or ‘facts’. I’ve read so many of these they are starting to get repetitive, I also read some of the Sansa-stan posts they are rebutting and, yeah I can see why so many get upset. If you don’t like it when others tears down or dismisses Sansa, why do you think fans of the other characters wouldn’t comment when you go after their favs, especially so mean-spiritedly.

I don’t think I ever felt so much negativity towards the Sansa character until I had to read so many skewed and biased metas turning her into some kind of saintly YA Disney princess type that is just too good for this cruel world. That kind of character has no place in a series like this. You can’t help but want to point out the wild inaccuracies, and it makes me feel a negativity towards a character I didn’t feel negative to before. And I don’t want to feel negative towards her, she is a Stark and I root for the Starks, especially the kids. I often defended her against those who (I feel) just don’t understand what it is like to be a preteen girl, I relate to a lot of Sansa’s weaknesses and how she feels, especially at that age, and that is her appeal (to me) - the fact that she starts off very weak.

Sansa is weak both physically and mentally, she cares too much about rank, privilege, and what others think about her, her desire to conform, for everything to be proper, and properly in their place. She has the luxury to think that way because she is a rich, pretty, noble girl who ranks at the top of society, of course she sees life as great and never questions it... she is already at the top and winning from birth. This is why (I think) she is so hard on Arya, she messes with her idea of what is proper/good/right. Arya isn’t pretty and doesn’t try to be, she acts more boy than girl, she plays with dirty, smelly, poor children, etc... Those are all an embarrassment to Sansa and go against what a proper lady of her rank should do and care about. Once they head south, all the things Arya gets away with at home will stand out even more and reflect badly on Sansa, by association. So, she criticizes and distances herself even more, because she wants to join the elite glamorous world of the nobility.

The other girls don’t have those weaknesses, that is why they are seen as better able to cope than Sansa does. They grow quicker and stronger faster because they are not as inhibited by what the ‘rules’ are. This isn’t a criticism of Sansa, this is an observation and I think it is the entire point of including a character like her in the story. GRRM could have followed the original outline for her, but he wanted to ‘reform/rescue’ her character and give her (I hope) a better path back to her family and happiness. I think it is GRRMs way to show how young girls should NOT romanticize noble life or being pretty will lead to a ‘perfect’ life. That thinking of yourself as a lady or being a princess/queen isn’t what is important. That marring a ‘title’ (lord/prince) or a handsome face is not enough to lead to happiness. It is what you do with your life, and how you care about others and who cares about you - that is what is important. But some Sansa fans seem to miss that and want her to have all those thing and more... they want it both ways, her to learn all those things, and yet still get all those things... a beautiful princess life clear of the harsh actions to gain it and also a happy family married to the best, more heroic and honorable man - a fairy tale ending. And that is not ASOIAF.

They are reducing her entire arc to becoming a nicer, more pure, and pretty, prize for a man to love, marry and make their queen. If so, GRRM will botch the ending of his series and all the points he *seems* to be making thus far.

A major theme (to me) in Sansa arc is her lack of value in her home and family. Sansa (to me) is like the small town girl who can’t wait to leave her family / Winterfell behind and to move to the big glamorous city (King’s Landing) and become royalty. But once she got there wasn’t able to accumulate with its more complicated and corrupt realities of the court. Even setting the cruelty of Joffrey aside (he is an aberration, not a normal example), how everyone else ostracizes or ignores her (except the hound, and to some extent Tyrion - although he isn’t all that great). The way the Tyrells treat her before and after her wedding is much more representative of how typical court life and nobility behaves normally (I think). Sansa never saw the true value of being surrounded by people who love and care about YOU and whom you can trust and rely upon - until that is all taken from her. She slowly sees how the people at court are corrupt and deceitful under all the beauty and glamor she so aspired to only after being fooled more than once, and (to me) no longer wants any part of it, but is forced to play, thanks to Baelish.

This is a point I find many of her fan miss, they think Sansa is going to learn to play the game, destroy everyone with her cunning and beauty and rise to the top to be queen or a ruler - a path which will ultimately lead to down a very dark and cynical path... but somehow they think Sansa will be different, and her rise will be more like a Disney princess story, one where she will gain power without having to sink low to do it. That is NOT the kind of book GRRM is writing.

”I’ll make them love me.” - another childish statement, you can’t make people love you, you earn love and respect. And Sansa hasn’t done that once the entire series, she hasn’t made a single friend. No one is looking to follow or fight for/beside Sansa, save Baelish, and we all know that plan is doomed to fail, as he isn’t to be trusted or relied upon and wants to use her. I would even question her friendship with Jeyne Poole as it is clear she never saw them as equals, and that is not real friendship... more like Jeyne was a companion/lady-in-waiting type.

The few people who care about her (other than family) either are working on behalf of an oath to Catelyn, or have their own ambitions/sexual desires/pity for her and not necessarily care about her for herself because she was a good and loyal friend to them. Maybe this will change in the next book, but with Baelish keeping close tabs and guiding her, who knows how well she will be able to make any genuine relationships with others given all the secrets she has to keep.

Her only realistic path to leadership is through marriage and that is hardly giving her agency as a heroic rise to a leader of a men... more like sleeping her way to the top. Not something I want for Sansa, and I hope her ‘marriage’ to Tyrion works as plot armor against her being used like that.

Besides GRRM has kinda stressed that ‘real’ leadership comes from understanding people, observation, and experience, and not just from strategics marriage (Margaery, Cersei) or inheritance (Joffrey, Tommen, Cersei - she could prove the point all on her own :). Every leader in the book so far has to make compromises, make hard decisions and even make harsh, sometimes very bad decisions and live with those consequences. None of the characters in the series have escaped this as much as Sansa has, since so much of her story thus far is about her lack of agency, and being a pawn used by others (and to some extent she still is with Baelish). For her to make it to the end w/o doing anything and staying ‘pure’ and that is how she ends up on top, by essentially not taking many large personal risks, allowing others to do all the heavy lifting morally, mentally and physically. If winning means standing on the sidelines watching everyone else do the WORK, and just giving suggestive nudges here and there to have things turn out in your favor so you can just coast to the top (that is the Baelish way)... well, that is kinda the worst message GRRM could leave us with.

If GRRM wants Sansa to become a leader, she will have to get her hands dirty too, she will have to take great personal risks to gain power and accept the consequences good or bad that result, learn from them and move forward... otherwise it defeats one of the main points of his series and turns her into a simplistic cliche version of a character. Every character with a POV has gone through this, it is one of the major themes in ASOIAF, a more realistic, less easy way of looking at how you obtain power and learn by experience and a series of victories and defeats. Thus far Sansa has also avoided examining her actions and how they have affected her, she either never thinks about them, changes the facts to suit her better, or blames others without seeing the part she also played... I’m not blaming her, but her action did contribute to the situation... she never seems to realize this and I feel it is going to eventually hit her hard, she has to mature and grow out of her ‘unreliable narrator’ eventually, and it must lead to something for GRRM to make it such a large part of her narrative of coping with her trauma. I assume he wrote her this way for a reason and is going to do something with it.

I’m looking forward to a darker more realistic Sansa who has more agency and understanding, and I expect her to make her own mistakes and moral compromises (well she already has, but there was some coercion - but it also means she is capable of doing so) just like all the other POVs have had to do. I also look forward to her finally owning up to her past actions and how they also contributed to where she is now. If she can’t take some personal responsibility she will never grow. That is a part of having agency, understanding how your decisions and actions affect you and others.

I wish all the back and forth would stop, cause I’m tired of seeing it in my feeds, but I guess it has been going on for years - the same arguments/rebuttals - so I guess it will continue, even after we get the next book... I think only the completion of the entire series will end some of these arguments, but who knows - after some of the meta I’ve read, there will probably be even more, lol.

Well, I wanted to comment and give my two cents, but it ended up being longer and I guess for me all this is still new and offsetting. I guess I had more to say that I thought, even though I edited A LOT out because I wanted to keep it focused. I’ve just started to dip my toes into this crazy platform, so I’m sure this is just the tip of the toxic metas that I heard can be found here... can’t wait to read the anti-dany metas... that is sure to fill me with a sad rage as well, i know the show did her no favors, sigh....

#topic anti-sansa-stans #topic toxic fandom #topic sansa stark stans

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ladyandtheghost · 5 years

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The code word is “family”: A recap of 8x02

The Red Queen and the White Queen:

If I’m delusional at this point, then so be it, but if I still needed convincing of Political!Jon, this scene convinced me. Because Sansa figured it out. Oh my God, she figure it out! You can see the exact moment of it on Sophie’s face. After all the talk and demonstration of Sansa’s intelligence last episode, it made all the sense in the world that Sansa would work it out herself what Jon is actually doing. And it almost makes you feel a bit sorry for Dani when she opens her heart and says kind of jokingly “Tell me who manipulated whom?” and the penny drops for Sansa. You can see it in her eyes, her weird giddiness. Sansa does not like this woman, why on earth would she smile and laugh if not a new realization that is playing out in her head?

It was also interesting how Dani tried to become all sisterly, thinking she could bond with Sansa over “boy talk” - and Sansa laughs but then drops the act and talks “real politics” - which not only shows that Sansa is a strategist and future-oriented, but she also just called out Dani on her argument that they are both women in politics who want to be taken seriously.

This is your family, Theon:

I don’t know how Sophie does it, but every reunion that Sansa has with literally any character that Sansa cares about is a 100% tear-jerker. And this was no exception: it was emotional and beautiful and pure.

I can totally see people shipping them and it’s not an outlandish idea or notp for me or anything, but I felt the background of the scene was not so nuch meant to launch a romantic ship, it was actually far more powerful than that...

Because it was about family and about politics at the same time (the two things Sansa excels in).

The entire set up of the scene was perfection: The red queen and the white queen, both emerging from the library after their tense conversation and at this moment - and omg this is so fantastic - we see the exact difference in how the two women/queens are being shown as opposites:

Theon dutifully kneels in front of “his queen”, the gesture that she always demands from all her subjects, the gesture that she has burned people for refusing to perform - but Theon’s heart is not in it.

Then he ignores Dani and addresses Sansa, asks to fight “for Winterfell”, for House Stark and they embrace and he is so happy to be “home” and “safe” and “loved” and “missed” and this is his family.

It’s like a mother welcoming her lost child back home in her arms: essentially what a “beloved queen” is seen as - a mother to her people. “Mhysa” failed at that. Sansa is the queen and ruler beloved by her people.

And Dani notices. She sees “her” bannerman’s loyalty to another powerful woman and she is not pleased...

Theon wanting to fight ”for Winterfell“ - after the convo about the North two minutes earlier - this is another blow for Dani, who made a pact with the Greyjoys to fight for her, and “for the throne“

Theon and Sansa represent the ideal ruler/bannerman situation: the bannermann comes before you, pledges themself to you, asking “if you'll have me“ because they love and respect and want to serve you - which is the complete opposite of how it works for Dani.

This is a bond that lasts. Sansa will never fear betrayal from someone who asked to serve her.

Their shared trauma and Sansa being Theon’s redeption has forged this beautiful and strong bond. It has no sexual undertones imo (though people who ship it might disagree which is of course understandable)

Rather it’s a mirror opposite of the strong bond Sansa has with Jon which is charged with UST and “subtext”

Theon also represents the brother Sansa needs, with Robb gone, Bran “gone” and replaced by the 3ER and things being all “complicated” and tense with Jon...

Jon is also somewhat “gone” in this episode, though neither Sansa nor Dani understand why.

And they are not stopping at that: where do we find Sansa during the last hours before the battle? Not drinking and warming her butt in front of the roaring fire like the others - nope, Sansa is outside in the cold with her people, eating the stuff that everyone else eats, spending time with the one “brother” she has left who came back for her and it’s yet another indicator that Sansa would be a ruler “for the people”

RMS Gendrya sailing strong:

Arya “perving” on Gendry first half of the episode, effectively reversing the “male gaze” and her taking charge in their relationship was great. The only thing is - now I’m scared, like really scared one of them will die. Or both? Urgh I’m getting Tonks/Lupin flashbacks - it’s never good for people to be happily in love before a battle. But I also loved how Gendry worried about her, literally pissed off that she would put herself in danger. And in going with the theme of family for this episode, one of the iconic moments of this couple was when Arya told Gendry: “I could be your family.” and Gendry was right, he is not her family, she is his “lady” and he is her lover...

The Hound and his pup:

...however Arya did seek out someone who sees her as his family. The only thing that really comes to mind re: Sandor is that this sealed the deal on San*san happening or not. I had a feeling they would not let Sansa and him interact and rather choose the less squicky, more popular relationship of Sandor and Arya shine through. Arya *is* the Hound’s redeption arc. Just like Sansa is Theon’s.

That super *awkward* family reunion:

Dani’s reaction was SO predictable, it’s amazing. People actually fantasized that Dani would not mind so much, that she would actually be happy to have her “family” and another Targ by her side. Yeah, fat chance. The only thing on her mind now is that that Jon has the higher claim.

Also: Jon spending his last night down in the crypts with his mother is so poignant it hurts. He always wanted to know her, he always wanted to see her face, so he stands there just looking at it the night before he might be taken from this world again. Somehow this was also an interesting parallel to Sansa and Theon and about being accepted as family. He told Dani about his mother, then it was revealed that she is his aunt, his closest(!) living (female) relative.

Jaime, Braime (plus Tormund):

I knew Jaime would be accepted by Sansa - because of Brienne - and just like Theon, Jaime is another addition to Sansa’s Queen’s Watch. Dani looking pissed about it was literally channeling Cersei (if only she knew).

Poor Tormund, he is so gone on her and he just wanted to be around her. Again, I’m scared shitless for every single character in that room around that fire and if the “knighting” scene is the best we will get from Braime, I will riot.

A Bear Island family reunion:

We finally got some Mormonts reunited. Jorah worrying about his little cousin but also respecting her for fighting and Lyanna wishing him good fortune and owning him as “cousin” was also a nice touch. Jorah still has a home in the North and a family. Sam reminded him of that when he spoke of Jeor and gave him his own father’s sword. They both lost their fathers before they could make them proud or forgive them/or be forgiven.

Alys Karstark - everywhere!:

Yes, I’m back on my bullshit. But seriously, they were parading her around all episode. They placed her here, places her there, always somewhere in camera frames or shots, Why? She doesn’t speak, her presence doesn’t serve any purpose. Unless we should just get a good look of that “other” red-headed girl, aka Fake!Sansa.

Davos and Shireen's little girl (ghost):

That little girl with the scarred face killed me - just like she killed Davos. I'm tearing up just thinking of her. And Gilly was so sweet, so instinctively maternal, and Davos looked like he's slowly dying inside. Perhaps we were meant to read this as somehow Shireen's spirit could be felt through this girl and she was there to tell Davos that she will be ok. Idk but I'm crying...Shireen was Davos’ beloved child, his family after he lost his son, and nothing will ever change that!

Jon’s other family (no, not the dragon one):

There was even less “action” in this episode, but a lot of emotion. Except from one quarter: Jon, who completely isolated himself from his family - but found solace with his other family, i.e. his “brothers” - Sam, Edd, Tormund. And they recalled Grenn, their lost brother.

On the whole, the episode is a prime example of the calm before the storm...next time, shit’s going down.

#jonsa #political!jon #political!jon theory #episode recap

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howlandreads · 5 years

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I Really Hate This Show, Which I Love More Than Life Itself

Hey guys!! I know I haven’t posted any metas in months, (I’ve been super busy between work and school) but Game of Thrones is back and I’m really going to try and make Tumblr a priority for at least the next six weeks! As you can probably tell from my previous posts I’m pretty anti D&D and have significant issues with their adaptation of ASOIAF, but I’m also pretty excited that one of the biggest events in fandom history is taking place every Sunday for the next month and a half, so I’m pretty conflicted about my feelings for the show right now -- That being said, here’s my general thoughts on Season 8 Episode 1 – “Winterfell”:

I don’t have too much to say about the “previously on” section of the episode, but I did find two things particularly interesting. The first is something @theusurpersdog mentioned to me; Cersei says “The monsters are real,” and then we get a smash cut to D*ny riding Drogon. Most people have assumed the audience is meant to see the dragons as monsters, but it could also be foreshadowing some oncoming Dark!Dany content. The second thing I found interesting was how the clip of Bran’s Warg eyes is shown right before we see Viserion’s Wight eyes, which might be some foreshadowing for the popular theory that Bran’s going to Warg a dragon this season.

Next is the opening scene where we see Jon and D*ny arriving to the North, which is the first of this episode’s 1,000 callbacks to the first episode. It’s a scene that’s clearly meant to mirror Robert’s arrival to Winterfell from “Winter Is Coming”, which mostly works except for the fact that the Baratheon theme is playing in the background despite the fact that there’s not a Baratheon in sight, except for Gendry, who’s not even a true Baratheon.

I adore Maisie Williams in this scene. Last season’s Arya was such a mess, and though I still feel show Arya is nothing compared to the complexity of ASOIAF’s Arya, she seems to be much more herself this episode. The look on her face when she sees Jon is perfect, as is her subtle heartbreak when he doesn’t notice her. I continue to be tired of the amount of The Hound content D&D continue to subject us to, but I do like that we see Arya’s joy at seeing that Gendry is alive.

Though I love Arya in this scene, the most important part is D*enarys. In a crowd of dark fur coats, she stands out clothed in pure white, and the Northerners take notice. This scene also sets her up as a liability to Jon, both with the North and his own family. When he’s with D*ny he misses Arya in the crowd, setting up the recurring theme of the episode that the more he’s with her the less he’s a Stark. I also appreciate that her first appearance of the season shows that the fear of the subjugated is what she’s after, not their love or respect. Her delight at the terror her dragons instill seems to bode well for Dark!Dany theories. Overall, I enjoyed how the dragons were portrayed. I love that Arya is awestruck, and that Sansa is in wonder for a moment, but immediately sees the danger in their presence in the North. Sophie plays this brilliantly, and the look of resolve Sansa has shows that she won’t be intimidated by grand displays of superiority from D*ny.

I have a lot of thoughts on the courtyard reunion scene, but I’ll only mention the really important things since I don’t want this post to be too long. The reunion of Jon and Bran was good, but not nearly as good as their relationship deserved. Jon and Sansa’s reunion left a lot to be desired. Why is Sansa only glad to see him for less than a second before she’s side-eying D*ny? So many of my issues with D&D come from their inability to write women who aren’t reduced to pure pettiness, and this episode was a classic example of their failure to provide complex female characters. Sansa is so justified in her concerns about D*ny and I wish the writing portrayed her as a an incredibly intelligent Lady of Winterfell, who has every right to bitterness towards the woman who’s demanded the fealty of her people, instead of just another small-minded and petty female character who’s more concerned with glaring at D*ny than she is with fighting the fast approaching White Walkers. D*ny stans also have a right to be offended by this episode as D*ny is fairly one dimensional as well.

Sexist writing aside, my biggest issue with this scene is that somehow nobody cares that a freaking undead dragon is coming their way. Not even D*ny, the Mother of Dragons, is given more than a two second reaction shot. This should be devastating for her, and her plotline for the episode should have been her processing her grief.

There’s a lot of issues with this scene, but I will say that Bran is amazing throughout this scene and the whole episode. Is he the ASOIAF Bran that I love? No, but he is spectacularly dramatic and I’m here for it.

Next is the Great Hall scene. Again, the Northerners are treated as small-minded and petty over their concern for titles and independence, and I fail to see why. Westeros is a feudal society, which means of course titles mean everything. And beyond titles, of course Northerners are justified in their want for independence. Each Kingdom has its own argument for independence, but the North’s is by far the strongest. They’re larger than the other kingdoms combined, and have a completely different climate and a completely different set of needs than the southern kingdoms. Not to mention the fact they’ve been the most consistently victimized by the tyrants of King’s Landing.

This scene is much better about treating Sansa as an intelligent leader who’s aware of the North’s situation. Again, there’s a lot more I have to say but this post is already getting pretty long, so I’ll move on to Sansa and Tyrion’s reunion.

I’m so torn on how to feel about this particular reunion. It’s deeply upsetting because it’s a wretched reminder of so many of D&D’s past sins, in particular the whitewashing of Tyrion’s character, and how Sansa’s development was completely undercut in the process. This scene also shows a stark contrast between show Sansa and book Sansa. It’s impossible to imagine book Sansa fondly remembering Joffrey clawing at his own throat, unable to breathe – it’s actually essential to her character that she wouldn’t. What leaves me torn is that I still really love show Sansa. Though D&D’s adaptation will never compare to the beautiful and brilliant character GRRM created in Sansa, I can still root for a badass Sophie Turner fondly remembering the day her serial abuser died.

Now onto my favorite scene of the whole episode, Jon and Arya’s reunion. Both Kit and Maisie were so good in this scene. I love their genuine happiness and comfort at seeing each other again after all these years apart. I love the silent mourning of their youth when Arya confesses to Jon that she’s used Needle once or twice. It was also really nice to see Arya defending Sansa after the absolute tragedy that was Arya and Sansa’s plotline last season. It was also good to see how clearly hurt Jon is by what he perceives as Sansa’s lack of faith in him.

I don’t have all that much to say when it comes to the section of this episode that takes place outside Winterfell, since there’s not a whole lot of substance in it. All I really need to say is that I continue to adore Lena Heady, I love the reference to elephants, I’m continually upset by the writers seeming lack of understanding when it comes to consent, and the Theon and Yara plotline is mostly a waste of time, which is incredibly disappointing because it has so much potential.

The next scene is by far the worst of the episode. I still can’t get over how unbelievably disrespectful to the source material it is to have Jon’s first time riding a dragon be written as comedy. The only thing worth noting from this sequence is the ominous way Jon keeps his eyes open while making out with Dany, and how foreboding his eye contact with Drogon was.

Though I loved every second of Arya and Gendry’s reunion, it was a mostly superficial scene so I’ll skip passed it.

Jon and Sansa’s candlelit and tense conversion was content™, but I’m hoping to make a Jonsa focused post about this week’s episode in the next couple of days so all I’ll say is that I loved this scene.

Next, we have Sam’s discovery that his family has been executed, the reveal of R+L=J, and the beginning of the emotional and political fallout these revelations will cause. I’m so unbelievably disappointed by this sequence. Jon discovering the truth of his parentage should have easily been the most important scene in the series to date, and the whole thing just fell flat. The main problem with this scene is that it focuses on the political ramifications instead Jon’s emotional response.

In the second to last scene Tormund discovers the dead body of the child Lord Umber surrounded by some pretty horrific centipede arms. The White Walkers haven’t really been all that threatening since Hardhome, but damn was that shriek unsettling.

The episode closes with Jaime’s arrival at Winterfell, and I couldn’t be happier. Hopefully confronting the man who crippled him will be enough for Bran to not be a robot, at least for one episode. That combined with the fact that Sansa and Jaime will finally be meeting is more than I can handle. As much as I was excited for this week’s episode, I can’t begin to express how ready I am for next week.

Overall, I had some issues with D&D’s execution, but I’m mostly excited for where it seems this season is going.

#game of thrones #A Song of Ice and Fire #ASoIaF #got #asoiaf meta #Jaime Lannister #Sansa Stark #jon snow #gotjonsa #jonsa #anti daenerys #anti targaryen #house stark #gothousestark #bran stark #I really hate this show which I love more than life itself

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the-prophet-lemonade · 4 years

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I was tagged by @lionheartedghost!

List 5 TV shows and answer the following questions, then tag 10 people to do the same.

i. Shadowhunters ii. Game of Thrones iii. Fullmetal Alchemist iv. The 100 v. Law and Order SVU

Who is your favourite character in 2?

Jamie Lannister, colossal dumbass. I’m obsessed with his redemption arc (or the arc as it should’ve been, and yes, I still have faith in GRRM to correct the wrongs of 8x04 and 8x05). For me, he is the embodiment of a classic Greek tragedy and there’s something incredibly compelling about that - the tragedy, the familial trauma, the knightly values, the battle between right and wrong, between love and duty ... all the good stuff.

My other favourite character is Sansa Stark because she is beautiful and intelligent and powerful and kind and a Survivor.

Who is your favourite character in 1?

Alec Lightwood. I love characters whose personal journeys involve chasing their own happiness and coming into their own as a leader, especially when they show their detractors wrong. Seeing Alec grow in confidence is special to me. And I love a powerful coming-out story.

What is your favourite episode of 4?

This implies that I can differentiate between any episodes of this God forsaken show. I did enjoy the season finale of season 2, with Bellamy and Clarke forced to make the impossible choice to save their people, together, but at the expense of so many others. I also really liked the episode in season 5 where they reunited after the 6 years apart ... my heart is weak.

What is your favourite season of 5?

Season 17. The eye contact. The shrewd and crooked smiles. The holy grail of Barisi episodes. The overflowing potential for more that was then cruelly dashed upon the rocks in seasons 18 and 19.

Who is your favourite couple in 3?

Royai is the og pairing for me. Doesn’t get better than “I will follow you, even into Hell”. Doesn’t get better than “Can I trust my back to that?”. Doesn’t get better than “Don’t go where I can’t follow”. The trust they share is Profound.™

Who is your favourite couple in 2?

Romantically, I’m a sucker for Braime, but we all know this. I love two people who bring out the best in each other, especially when that best is seen and understood by so few others. Jamie’s redemption arc is superb, and it’s because of Brienne that he is able to see his own self-worth and finally reacquaint himself with that vision of knighthood he sacrificed at age 17 in order to save King’s Landing. The respect they have for each other is paramount to why I enjoy them together.

Theonsa is my other favourite ship because I love a pairing built on shared tragedy, and who manage to overcome trauma together - that’s very beautiful and powerful to me, and Sophie and Alfie have brilliant yet subtle chemistry, all spoken in the eyes. I also enjoy the Jon/Sansa dynamic a lot, but then Jon’s characterisation was shot in the head in season 8.

What is your favourite episode of 1?

2x06 - Malec’s first date. The tentative flirting and the nervous energy and the Superior Kiss. 2x18 - the breakup episode because the flashbacks are gorgeous and the angst is THE GOOD STUFF. 2x10 is also a favourite because it’s very well acted and has more gravitas and consequence than a lot of episodes on this show. Honorary mentions to the end of 3x20 (spectacular), the Edom sequence in 3x21 (the hug! the surprise Jace/Meliorn! Izzy saving the day!), and the wedding scene in 1x12 (iconic).

What is your favourite episode of 5?

Heartfelt Passages (17x23) is probably my fave because (a) I love some pain and Dodds’ death on his very last day on the job hurts like a mf and (b) it has that 2 second scene of Barba and Carisi at the bar after the funeral, toasting their drinks, and the look in Barba’s eyes is ... something else, okay? It’s so soft and curious and you can feel how safe he feels with Carisi and ... it should’ve been a stepping stone for something more in season 18.

Some other episodes I like are Manhattan Transfer/Unholiest Alliance (good Carisi character development), 911 (first time I watched it, I was on the edge of my seat), and literally any episode that is Benson-focused, like the William Lewis arc (Liv seems to get kidnapped or caught in hostage situations so often but they’re always SO GOOD).

What is your favourite season of 2?

Season 6 was some good stuff (especially coming out of the shithole of season 5). It had a lot of fan service (the R+L=J reveal, Bran’s time travelling, Hodor, Jamie and Brienne reuniting, Sansa finally escaping and finding Jon, Cersei pulling out all the stops to get rid of the Tyrells at fucking last, Yara flirting with Dany, and the entire BOTB sequence), but the writing still made sense and I still had hope for some clever twists hahahahaha

How long have you watched 1?

I binge watched season 1 in May 2016 when I was living abroad and feeling a little lonely. The show really came into my life at the perfect time.

How did you become interested in 3?

I watched the ‘03 series way back when (around 2007, I think?) and then got heavily invested in the manga, followed by Brotherhood. Honestly, it is without a doubt the best and most pitch-perfect story that has ever been told. I was immediately absorbed in Team Mustang and their dynamic, and who doesn’t love some political subterfuge with a large splash of religious symbolism that ends with a fist fight against God?

Who is your favourite actor in 4?

Bob Morley. He’s so endearing in real life and he is such a good role model in terms of mental health activism and surviving depression/anxiety.

Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

Ask me three years ago, and it would’ve been GOT. Sadly, season 8 happened.

Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?

Purely because there are more FMA episodes in existence ...

If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

I feel like I connect most with Clarke, but if I could be anyone, I’d be Raven because she’s hot and smart and is played by Lindsey Morgan and what more is there tbh

But also, all the characters have fucking terrible lives, so I don’t really want to be any of them.

Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

I can’t really imagine it, but that’s because I always find it hard to make AUs and crossovers with FMA because the story is absolutely perfect the way it is and any way you change it detracts from its perfection. If you put other characters into the FMA universe, it loses some of its meaning, yknow? Same with taking the FMA characters out of their universe, because who they are is so inherently tied to their in-universe experiences and their development with the story.

Pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple?

Unlikely but strangely okay ... I mean, I’m a sucker for Jimon, but that’s not all that unusual. I like Izzy with literally any of the girls (Clary and Aline, especially). But I feel like Magnus and Izzy would fit “unlikely but strangely okay” - I can imagine them flirting if Malec was never a thing, and they would look hot together, let’s be honest. A power dressing couple. Very intimidating. I’m into it.

Overall, which show has the better story line, 3 or 5?#

Clearly FMA because (a) it’s FMA and its narrative themes and characterisation are Absolute Perfection, and (b) FMA actually *has* a story line. SVU does not have a story line. SVU barely has coherent writing.

Which has better theme music, 2 or 4?

The GOT soundtrack is iconic, so there’s no question here. The use of leitmotifs for individual characters, and hearing how those are combined and overlapped and developed with the story? Spectacular.

Tags: if you see this and want to do it, please go ahead (and you can tag me too, if you like)!

#personal

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bitchfromtheseventhhell · 7 years

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i got some truly charming anons/fic reviews about some of the choices i have made (and still make) in the way that i write jon and dany. their dynamic is one i’m feeling my way towards in a lot of ways. i don’t....really give much of a shit about got’s characterizations when i write fic because i find that they’re insubstantial to my own imagination based on what martin gives us, which means that a lot of my own writing is conjecture at best and may well get tossed out the window if twow ever comes out but that’s fic for you. the theme of most of these anons is that i “use dany to berate jon when jon doesn’t do the same of dany even though she’s far from perfect” (which, i assume, is the anons saying they’d rather i reversed the roles in the interaction based purely on the context/tone). because i have been feeling my way towards the interaction rather than taking interactions and writing my versions of it, i haven’t really had a good explanation in the past for why i choose to write the way i write. but the f in my isfj recently crawled towards what i think is why i have been writing them this way, so if you’re curious about it, here you go:

dany is someone who is learning how to compromise. she is, at her core, uncompromising. i think this makes sense: she’s this abused little girl who grew up with her brother constantly using her as an object in his drive to return home. if she compromises, she risks “looking back” and if she looks back, she is lost. if she compromises, she risks people taking advantage of what power she holds, and she has fought for that power after literally being sold as a thirteen-year-old slave in her first pov chapter. she holds onto it fiercely, because she has yet to find a compromise that allows her to exist without being torn this way and that by those who lust for her power, her body, her dragons, her crown, etc.

jon’s existence as he knows it is a compromise.

he is ned’s compromise to lyanna and catelyn: keep my son safe by pretending he’s your son, but catelyn can never know. he is a stark, but not a stark. he is a lord, but not by blood but by election where he was chosen over others (you could argue that election itself is a compromise for all participating). when he is resurrected, his resurrection is arguably a compromise as well: not alive as he once was, but not dead either.

one of the great beauties of jon’s characterization is that jon is someone who learns. he learns from ygritte, he learns from mance and tormund, he learns from jeor mormont, and ned stark, and samwell tarly and grenn and pyp and edd and stannis and melisandre. he is trying to adjust himself around those who need him to be something that he’s not, while daenerys must learn flexibility but flexibility in such a way that she doesn’t give every bit of herself away. she is fierce about protecting herself against those who would take too much.

@thetasteoffire also pointed out that in their adwd arcs (which i haven’t read in a while but this all rings true), that daenerys’ arc is about learning how to compromise more politically, while jon’s is about compromising less politically--about standing his ground and doing what he knows to be right. but at both of their cores they are unlearning (or are they?) what they’ve built themselves to be since agot.

it’s an opposition that’s interesting, and one i’d love to see martin write more of and hope he’ll get to it soon. but at least for now, this is why i’m inclined to think that dany is more likely to critique jon, hard and fast, than jon is to critique dany of problems he sees (and i do think he will see them, and have #opinions that are thoughtful and important and snarky in that wonderful jon way). that’s not to say that he won’t--it’s to say i think she’d do it first.

#does this count as meta if it's response to fic reviews?#i think it's analysis #anyway #thetasteoffire #bc i posted it and also added your thought #jon x daenerys #meta #jxd meta #(i don't want to go back to going through my work messages from vacation)#(can you tell?)

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gawaine · 7 years

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thoughts on the finale!

I have a lot, but before I set off; let it be known that as respective characters, I have a strong like (ranging to obsessive love) for those within the Jon-based love triangle. But that isn’t the focus of this post, and clearly, the writers want to ruin that for me.

I’m going by family, because legacy and nobility seemed to be a recurrent theme!

Also; tinfoil coming out for all of the foreshadowing (under the cut bc it got long, as per usual). Highlights include; Cersei was actually pretty badass this episode (?!), Littlefinger did NOT deserve more and Other Fun Stuff.

LANNISTER - This was good. Damn good. Lena Heady stole the show at multiple points - and the tension between the three Lannister siblings was palpable at the dragon pit. I found this to be one of Cersei’s most redeeming episodes. I love how she refuses to be intimidated by Dany’s dragons (and susses all three not being there means there’s something wrong); I love how collected she is, and I love the simplicity of her telling Jon to keep the North neutral. - It’s brilliant. She is acknowledging the Stark history; how Sansa is safe and knows better than to come to King’s Landing (I loved that subtle nod!) and how she and Jon have taken Winterfell, how Robb almost defeated her father. How she acknowledges Jon as Ned’s son (more on that later), and, if she believes in one thing, it’s the honour of the man whom she accidentally had murdered (even if she’ll step all over it). - I think the way Cersei interacts with her brothers is so telling. She refuses to kill Tyrion, for no other reason that he’s her brother... And says she will kill Jaime, because even though they’re “all we have left” to each other, their relationship is too tainted for her to see him in the same way. There’s something pure and truthful and raw about Tyrion and Cersei’s exchange, exacerbated by Tyrion realising Cersei’s pregnant (she hid that so badly)... and I think it’s interesting that they don’t show us how Tyrion uses that information, to convince Cersei back to the dragon pit (though I think we have a rough idea of how). - I really did think she was going to kill Jaime. I’m so glad he’s getting out of there. I just hope he stays safe. Political prisoner again, anyone? By a certain Brienne of Tarth and Lady Stark...? - Cersei had me until “lol mercenaries will help us win back the kingdom!!”. She always falls at the last hurdle...

GREYJOY - Oh, the foreshadowing of Jon’s future troubles. - Not much to say here, except that Theon’s acceptance of who he is was beautifully executed, especially from a cinematographic perspective. He is loyal to legacy and blood and promises, like a Stark; he fights, and brawls, and plays dirty like a Greyjoy, and I love how he steps back into the water after the fight, but doesn’t immerse himself in it. It’s well done and I’m hoping good things for him! - Nice interaction with Tyrion in the dragon pit - I like how they zoom in on Theon’s face when Jon pledges allegiance to Daenerys. Although Jon says as much later, in that moment, it feels like they’re highlighting how Theon and Tyrion’s relationship is in the fledgling version of Jon and Tyrion’s; which foreshadows not all will be well between the latter come next season... It also reminds us that, in terms of the other Starks, Theon is still a family member - just on the outside, like Jon used to be. I have a theory that, if Jon’s heritage comes out (and/or Jonsa is endgame), Theon will be the one to give Sansa away, but that’s for another time!

STARK - I wanted to do this last, but too excited - I SAID SANSA WASN’T THAT STUPID - though I’ll admit, the way they filmed the scene made me think twice, especially when I saw Bran (and I’d read a meta on Bran potentially warning Sansa against Arya, or allowing the sisters to fight for some mysterious Greater Good). It’s good to know there’s a little bit of Bran Stark left in there (but more on him later). - I don’t know how much Arya knows about what’s about to go down. On one hand, it must’ve been everything, and when you re-watch the dialogue, it seems that way; on the other, it feels like there’s some doubt left in Arya, when she asks Sansa why she’s doing it. Sansa’s honesty supports the latter, but her reasoning - “for honour” and how she explains it - sounds too performed for just family, so I feel like it’s for the others in that room. It could also just be one big performance, but I like to think the girls put thought into it! - On the battlements, when Arya says she’s “just the executioner” - it reminds me of what Ned used to say; “the man who passes the sentence must always swing the sword”. It also reminded me of LoTR - “I’m no man”? And I like the idea of the Stark sisters being two sides of the same coin. Idk, it was cool to me. - Littlefinger did NOT deserve anything more than what he got, and yes, it IS reasonable that Bran’s word was all it took for proof; because it’s not so much what Bran says, but LF’s reaction to it that proves he’s guilty af (which everyone in that room knows anyway). It’s reminiscent of the scene where he betrays Ned; LF is surrounded by his men, but whereas Ned was honourable enough to try and save them, the current Starks are honourable enough to grant those knights witness to LF’s death. They all know he’s guilty. They all know he wouldn’t need proof to screw them over. It’s a trial by formality, when, really, it’s just that they have the means and power to do it and so they do. - LF snivelling was awesome. Arya was awesome. The Starks are awesome - THE LONE WOLF DIES, BUT THE PACK SURVIVES BITCHES (yet I hate that the next scene cut to the Night King riding toward them... wtf) - Bran telling Sam about Jon’s true parentage was interesting. Maybe a bit sudden, but given the context; Bran can’t tell Sansa and Arya without embroiling them in some sort of political war. Meera has gone. All of his other friends are gone. Sam is Jon trusted friend and Bran has no way of ensuring Jon will believe him, whereas Sam may help. Also, Bran not knowing about Lyanna and Rhaegar’s marriage? Yeah, that’s a little stupid, but it just served to remind us that... Little Bran Stark is still in there. Overwhelmed and a bit naive and clueless, but there. He’s still learning and I found it nice to see some humanity in Bran for a change... Which brings us to -

TARGARYEN - Oooooohhh, the foreshadowing was so nicely done! Receipts; - Jon x Theon - Jon x Daenerys at the dragon pit. They’re setting up a kind of mini-AU - we’re seeing how Daenerys could teach him about his Targaryen heritage, how he may actually learn from her... If they avoided boatbang. - LOOK. I’m a Jonsa shipper, but also a Jonerys shipper (I want them all happy and comfortable and safe; I was prepped to be a Major Jonerys shipper, and whilst I am in theory, to me, in practice, the show has failed), but the scene where Jon looks at Dany? And he sighs, while they’re... Copulating? I did not read that as difficulty on his part (though I do see it now). I saw it as being... Overwhelmed. You can’t ignore that they’re drawn to each other, but what’s bothering me, is how the show seems to be hinting at that really being familial more than anything else. - This bending the knee shit is going to wreck Jon’s chances in the North. They were hesitant when Jon was going to Dragonstone just for the dragon-glass, but once they find out he’s a Targaryen? Potentially knocked up his aunt (pls gross no pls - the sudden emphasis on it makes me think it’s a red herring, though) and pledged the North to her, and shortly thereafter learns of his own Targaryen heritage? It wouldn’t be shocking for the Northerners to shout conspiracy... and because of this, I really see Sansa being named the Queen in the North, and Jon and Dany receiving a frosty af reception in Winterfell. I didn’t see much Jonsa this episode, even in the LF scene where he mentions Dany’s beauty - I saw more of it last ep -, but even platonically, Jonerys in Winterfell is going to cause problems. - The entire boatbang thing felt tragic - and I think it was meant that way. The sudden way it happens, Tyrion watching, the sombre music and how it’s not allowed to be enjoyed, save for a rather gratuitous shot of Jon’s butt that is kind of necessary in order to depict what’s happening. There’s no romance, no slowness, no desperation, no... Nothing. Jon seems conflicted, in everything, and... - Because of Jon’s advice to Theon, I stand by my previous theory that Jon’s going to reject his relationship (?) with Dany on the basis of his Stark heritage. Which is sad, because nobody else is going to forget it. Jon was kept the furthest he has been from the rest of the Starks this ep; not just physically, but in his actions, his communications with them, how disconnected he is and the surprise he’ll have when he reaches home. He’s already transitioning into Targaryen... And I see a Targaryen x Stark feud brewing, before Jon even knows the truth.

There’s more but that’s the gist. The finale was by no means perfect but tbh I’m just grateful my Stark babies are doing well, kicking ass and taking names, up in the North, so... W/e

ALSO; bonus points to the Pod/Tyrion reunion, YES JAIME LEAVE and there was not enough Missandei and Grey Worm.

#got meta #got #the dragon and the wolf #7x07 #jonerys #jonsa

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lesmotsincompris · 7 years

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Thoughts on GoT S07E04

We’ve hit the halfway mark!

Do you know that feeling when someone tells you a joke and you know it’s supposed to be funny and you know what about is meant to make you laugh, but it just doesn’t work for you and you don’t laugh at all? That’s how I feel about GoT’s big moments, about it’s ‘epicness’ and ‘badassery’.

In this episode, most of the scenes were either “of all the possible book points, are they gonna bring THAT and THIS WAY?” or “why is this scene happening?”. I was surprisingly indifferent too, considering the butchery of long-time favorite characters.

But more under the cut.

Winterhell

Look, I love the Starks. I know it’s cliche, but Jon, Arya, and Sansa are my three favorite characters in all of A Song of Ice and Fire. That’s no small feat. I love all the Starks, and the direwolves, and the people of Winterfell, and the little bits we learn of Northern culture and memory.

So you can imagine I’m angry at the show.

It’s been a while since the Stark siblings stopped being the same characters as their book counterparts, but at this point they’re not even interesting characters in their own right. D&D simply don’t care say about the Starks or what they represent, though I can imagine they love these foul show creations they put in their place.

Out of all possible book points, they decided to bring back Bran’s assassination attempt. In the books, Joffrey was responsible for it, but I feel in the show they’re gonna pin the whole thing on Littlefinger. How? He wasn’t even in Winterfell, he wasn’t even aware that Bran was comatose.

“That very question is what started the War of The Five Kings,” says Littlefinger. That means “I know we’re bringing this back far too late, so here’s some backsposition for you to remember what we’re talking about.” I see what they want with this: they want to blame Littlefinger for the WOT5K so that we feel a lot of Dramatic Satisfaction™ when Arya enacts her revengey revengeful revenge on him.

Other than that, Littlefinger is there mostly to lust after Sansa, because that’s not creepy at all. There’s no reason he has to follow her around and I can’t see why she doesn’t give him something else to do.

Oh, and they brought back the ‘chaos is the ladder’ speech, because D&D are onanists.

I have this pet theory that Isaac Hempstead-Wright accidentally did something to piss off D&D, because they butchered his character years ago and now are even preventing him from acting. “You died in that cave” is a retcon, because if I recall correctly Bran wasn’t acting like a robot last season.

Now that a wheelchair replaced 90% of Meera’s role in the story, she can quietly melisandre away. Aren’t D&D classy and subtle in how they get rid of characters they no longer want to write?

The guards of Winterfell are mean to Arya, because people in Westeros are mean to everyone in every possible occasion. Why was this scene here? Only so that we could see what a great ninja Arya has become, after being beaten with a stick for two seasons?

I like the concept of Arya and Sansa meeting in the crypts, but once again we only have one Stark sibling acting per scene.

“I wish I had” “Me too”. FUCK YOU, SHOW. FUCK YOU, D&D. I CURSE THE DAY YOU WERE BORN. I CURSE EVERY IRRESPONSIBLE FRIEND, TEACHER, OR TV CRITIC THAT MADE YOU THINK YOU COULD PUT TWO WORDS TOGETHER SUCCESSFULLY. I CURSE THAT HEINOUS FUCKERY YOU CALL A WRITING. I HOPE YOU DIE IN A FLAMING MOUNTAIN OF POOP.

Stark sisters bonding over murder. Great. You know, the pattern of gleeful murder in this show is deeply disturbing. All female characters actively enjoy murdering: Arya, Sansa, Ellaria, Cersei, Daenerys, Brienne, Yara... The same doesn’t happen with male characters, and even the likes of Sandor or Bronn don’t get high on carnage. The only male characters who truly enjoy a good butchery are villains like Ramsay, Euron, or the Mountain. I’ll just leave this information here for you to think about it.

Overall their meeting looked very stiff; I know Sansa and Arya weren’t the best of friends, but there’s something rigid in their acting and dialogue that made the moment bland for me. And we already know it doesn’t take much for me to appreciate a Stark meeting.

There’s a difference between exploring the consequences of Sansa’s rape and inserting little nods to it that mean nothing but “hey, remember that time we made everyone angry by raping Sansa Stark?”. I see a lot of the latter, not much of the former.

A few weeks ago conspiracy theorists were going crazy over Sansa’s hair being styled like Cersei’s. Where are they now that Sansa is using Daenerys’ weird-braid-circle style in her hair? Can we just stop with the crack theories?

Brienne admits she did next to nothing to reunite the Stark siblings. Poor book!Brienne, the one true knight of Westeros, your kindness and hope had no chance and no choice in D&D’s grimfest. At least show!Brienne was nice to Pod for the first time in ages. Character development!

That didn’t last long, though, and in her next scene she shoved him aside because she found a more important character to fight. Fighting is all Brienne does in the show.

This fighting scene with Arya was as lazy as it was fanservice-y. Brienne defeated the Hound, but now Arya’s smirking at her and displaying her ninja skills. Does that mean Arya could defeat the Hound? Please, D&D, don’t answer that.

What was the point of this scene? What did it accomplish other than pure fanservice? Why were we seeing Sansa and fuckin’ Littlefinger’s reactions to this?

Every little bit of Winterfell was a mess. Fuck the show.

Dragonstone

Jon took Dany to the Westerosi equivalent of Lascaux, carved in ancient times when people only had enough blue ink for the White Walkers’ eyes and nothing more.

It would be really lazy if some carvings in a cave were all it took to convince Dany of the White Walker threat, so I’m glad they didn’t follow that route. But then I must ask: why was this scene here? Did it tell us anything new?

Again Dany comes across as this entitled brat that makes it all about her, her, her. I genuinely cackled when she said “I will fight for you, I will fight for the North… when you bend the knee”. She tells Jon to stop being so proud, but all this knee talk makes her look self-centered. Again we get a reasonable man and an unreasonable woman. I’m not angry at Dany, I’m angry at the two idiots that write her.

Good thing that Dany blamed Tyrion for the loss of her armies, but I wish the narrative could recognize that his plan was stupid even before Cersei used a cheat code.

Dany asks Jon for advice, because when a woman loses the man that tells her what to do she must find another man to tell her what to do. It doesn’t matter that she barely knows him, gods forbid Dany thinking on her own. But hey, show!Jon is just as incompetent as show!Dany or show!Tyrion, so maybe they can be incompetent together.

Davos became a character that makes boob jokes, stans Jon, and flirts with Missandei. That’s the extension of his arc or inner conflicts. Oh poor Davos.

Alfie Allen is too good for this.

King’s Landing

THE GOLDEN COMPANY, OH MY FUCKING LORD. Out of all possible book points… Also filed under: cutting Aegon is hurting the story in more ways than expected.

Somewhere over the Reach

That part reminded me a lot of Skyrim, from the gold ingots to the way the dragons were animated. During the battle I couldn’t help but imagine the Dovahkiin theme song playing.

I forgot that show!Bronn was a thing. Lucky me.

Out of all possible reasons to turn Jaime against Cersei, why is fuckin’ Olenna Tyrell one of them? Jaime seems more affected by Olenna’s words than by Cersei blowing up the sept.

Come on, show, Jaime killed the king he swore to protect because the guy threatened to do what Cersei did last season. The septsplosion should have been Jaime’s worst nightmare coming true, the perfect reason to finally break up with his sister-lover. If that’s not enough to at least give him conflicted feelings, nothing should ever be enough to separate Jaime and Cersei. Ever. They’re the skeletons in Lost now, together until the end.

Forget conflict, we have a few armies to teleport.

A few episodes ago I assumed the Dothraki went to Casterly Rock with the Unsullied, but they didn’t. But what were they supposed to be doing, then? Dany didn’t plan to attack the Lannister army until very recently, what were her original plans for the Dothraki? Just hanging out in Dragonstone?

Is it me or even the Dothraki ‘battle cry’ sounds racist?

The battle scene was too orange, but at least I could actually see things. The CGI of Dany in Drogon’s back was beyond terrible, but Drogon itself looked good. It better look good, four direwolves had to die for that.

That was it for the scorpion? I mean, nobody actually thought it would kill a dragon, but this was beyond anticlimactic. Why bother inserting this at all?

Tyrion has inner life? What show am I watching? Peter Dinklage does a great job conveying Tyrion’s feelings at the sight of the Lannister army being decimated. Too bad he doesn’t look nearly as affected when his queen Dany falls out of her dragon.

Seriously, what were the stakes for this battle? Did anyone thought Dany, Tyrion, or even Jaime could die? In the best case scenario, D&D would be burning their budget (literally) to cause Bronn or Dickon Tarly’s death.

Hey, don’t look at me like that; Dickon Tarly has more personality than most of the cast at this point.

Extra notes

Can I admit that I nearly hissed at D&D’s names when I saw them in the opening credits?

See you next week for the later half of this mess.

#got criticism #anti got #antigot #personal: watching things

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