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teambyler · 20 days

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"Byler Endgame, One Episode at a Time" - s5e1

Plot beats and scenes leading to a Byler endgame, one episode at a time, for Season 5 of Stranger Things. (This is just for fun! I have no insider knowledge!)

Also see Part 0, where I explain what I think a Byler Endgame has to address.

s5e1

Since we’re going back to s1 themes, a shadowy U.S. government organization is involved. It wants to contain and study the hellscape in Hawkins. People are ordered out of parts of Hawkins. The Byers don’t have a home in Hawkins. Joyce stays at Hopper’s, with Jonathan too probably (Ted wouldn’t let Nancy’s boyfriend sleep in the house. He’s perfectly fine with “Mike’s friend Will” though!)

When Will arrives, he asks to stay in Mike’s basement. Mike says it’s cold and uncomfortable and he doesn’t have to. Will says he’s fine, he prefers a quiet place to do art, he likes that it’s where they played D&D... “We get to play D&D again, yes?” “Of course!” Mike insists on putting a bed in there, etc. Will is fine with the couch. The whole time Will is trying to be cool, trying to get over loving his straight best friend.

Will walks into Mike’s room, to see that Mike has framed the D&D painting and is hanging it on the wall. Mike: “This is a really nice present you gave.” Will’s in shock… does he know? It becomes clear Mike just thinks Will and El talked about what to put in a gift they were both to give Mike, while things were still good between him and El. “It’s too bad things went south so quickly…” Mike shares that he and El aren’t seeing each other. Will looks at the painting, thoughts racing… Mike says he doesn’t know what’s going on with El because after the pizza shop he thought they were official again, but she’s still being cold toward him.

Will sleeps on the basement couch, remembering their "Crazy together" conversation. He cries quietly.

After coaxing Lucas who’s spending time at the hospital with Max, the Hellfire Club play D&D in Mike’s basement. Dustin is the dungeon master. It’s a very feel-good, “the party is back together” scene. Will’s so happy to be playing D&D with Mike and is sitting next to him. In the game, Will risks his life to cast prismatic spray and save the group. The spell fails. In the game, Mike risks his life to protect Will. Will is blushing and it feels kinda romantic.

“A PLOT” SHENANIGANS. Will is rubbing his neck a lot and this is a Will-focused season. (There’s a million ways the A plot can go down so I won’t even try!)

School was disrupted by the events of s4. Bullies with nothing better to do target the Hellfire Club members, blaming them for recent events. Bully #1 lost a loved one when the hellfire opened. The party has to split up to get away from them. Bully #1 corners Will and says he hopes he gets AIDS. Will is terrified and once he’s alone starts crying.

Jonathan senses Will is really down. He invites Robin over. She arrives and kisses Vickie goodbye in front of Will. Will is shocked. Jonathan leaves the room, and Robin and Will connect. Will asks what it’s like to come out. Robin says some people shunned her, but others like Steve and Jonathan didn’t. She found out who her real friends were: “I got to have friends who love me for being me.” Will cry-smiles and thinks about this. Robin says to tell the people you trust the most.

Joyce and El are at Hopper’s cabin. Will looks like he's ready to tell both of them. But he waits for El to step out. Will sits down next to mom and comes out to her. Will: “Do you still love me?” She goes into Mama Bear mode: “Of course I do!” She hugs him. She's heartbroken to think Will didn't know how she'd answer. “Look at me Will. I’ve GONE TO HELL AND BACK FOR YOU WILL. I’ll do it again! I will always, ALWAYS love you.” They have a big ugly-cry hug.

FOLLOW ME for the next part of “Byler Endgame, One Episode at a Time”!

Part 0 (what a Byler endgame needs to address) Next episode

(And read my blog! I say a lot about Byler!)

#byler #stranger things #speculation #st5 #byler theory #byler speculation #fanfic #byler endgame #one episode at a time

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lupeloto · 6 months

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tag game wednesday :>

thank u for the tagss @creepkinginc @energievie @lingy910y @such-a-barbarian @mickeysgaymom @transmickey @golden28s @ardent-fox @milkovichrules i love doing these!

name: laurel🌿

last song you listened to: killer by phoebe bridgers🫣

artist on Spotify giving you the feels right now: noah kahan forever and always, boygenius forever and always

fave Blorbo Moment: such a difficult question... i mean i have an entire multiple-page document about him so... i'll just go season-by-season

s1 - "thought you were working today... i'll meet you there in twenty" orrr "i like 'em sweet" like okay girl omg

s2 - the eyes he gave ian while he was shotgunning the beer in the dugout (he's a slut)

s3 - him making little pizza rolls with his oven-mitt an the snacks and drinks he got for his date with ian someone sedate me

s4 - of course of course of course the cop-car-coming-out-scene (could cry thinking about it)

s5 - "sorry i'm late"

s6 - *internal screaming*

s7 - "whatcha doin' here then?" orrrr "you ever think about me?" (he just wants to be loved no one touch me)

s10 - "i definitely love one" orrr "you're so sensitive" (bc it happened it's canon it literally happened i was there)

s11 - oh nothing just him planning that whole party that was entirely based off of the theme of their wedding and recruiting all of he and ian's loved ones without ian knowing a single thing about it.... or "get it yourself, bitch...fuck are you gonna do?" like he ate

your guilty pleasure snack: i will eat seventeen entire bags of salt & vinegar chips

what food are you craving today: chipotle

last fanfic tab you opened: only one of my fav one-shots ever that i reread literally all the time - “so collect your scars and wear them well” by tinyinkstaunedbird

favorite fic project you've created: that’s hard hmmm prob “nothin’ bad” on ao3 or “michellan star pizza rolls” or “mother-hen mode” on ao3 orrrr my “pretty-huh?” ficlet on tumblr heheh

next tattoo you want (or would consider if you're not a tattoo person): i have a whole list muahaha

what's living in your head rent free this week: lots of the bear this week... need them to come back to me

i'm superrrr behind but i'll tag some peeps anyways @mickeyheartian @gallawitchxx @heymrspatel @michellemisfit @vintagelacerosette @scurvgirl @deathclassic @jademickian @stocious @auds-and-evens

#tag game #tag games

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raayllum · 10 months

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hi jsyk watching your hype and excitement after the new short story is really funny (affectionate/positive)!!! ur excitement for s5 and love of the show is so clear

oh my gosh thank you this is so sweet!! it's the funniest thing because literally every time I want something specific as hell from this show, but lovingly put my clown makeup and assume I'm not going to get it, or that it's a fun prediction but doesn't have to pan out, but then

I either end up getting that exact thing or an even better variant of it??

Like pre-S1 I noticed Rayla's face markings looked like tears, so I hoped we'd see her cry at one point bc I thought it'd be a nice visual parallel? And then 1x09 gave it to me. Going into S2 I hoped for Callum to get over Claudia and for a Rayllum tag, and then [gestures] All That Happened. Even before S3 aired with the "written in the stars" skit I'd noticed the slight dark-lightness theme running through Rayllum's arc and thought it'd be a nice consistency, but I didn't think it'd be a Big Theme, even if as soon as the S4 intro came out I was like "yeah that 'south star' shit is coming back" and well... Gestures to the entire ass "stargazing" clip just between the two of them. The way post-S3 I assumed S4 would be about Callum flying too close to the sun magic wise, being terrified of Aaravos invading this mind, that Aaravos would get out in S5, and that S5 would deal more with Rayla's coin stuff? Ezran as the thematic Witness / Embodiment of Justice? Everything about Claudia's arc?? Chef's kiss

My first post-S3 theory back in 2019 was a "Rayla and Ezran disagree with Callum caught in the middle, leaving to a broyals conflict" wish, gave up on it when TTM hppened because it seemed like we were going in a different direction, campaigned for 2+ years for Callum to do something Fucked Up for Rayla, and like... now I'm going to get both things, presumably that I have desperately wanted/hoped for??

And then there's like, all the things I didn't even know I wanted that TDP just decided to give me anyway?? An Angor Rot villain variant in Kim'Dael? Motherfucking pirates? The game motif becoming a chess motif? Wanting a trio variant sitting around a campfire scene in S4 (that we haven't had since S1) and S4 gave me one and S5's already given me one and there might be More?

I've talked before about how healing TDP has been for me when my prior two fandoms source materials back to back were very disappointing and shoddily put together / majorly side lined their disabled characters / characters of colour (who were also my favourite characters) but like

You ever watch or something, and it feels like it was Made For You, in a way? Like tailor made for like, your interests or preferences or character archetypes, or whatever? That's always how TDP has felt for me in everything it's released and every time it's a beautiful, wonderful experience and a surprise. It would be hard not to be so excited and positive about it, and I cannot wait to continue to be catered to. They never miss!

#thanks for asking #fandom #tdp #the dragon prince #memes #mine #dragons rambles #appreciation #also the thematic maturation and motifs in s4?? went harder than ever before #popping off on all cylinders i was Screaming

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spicyicymeloncat · 2 years

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For the doodle/rant thing, Cole

Cole!!! (Sorry this took a while)

God I love Cole so freaking much man! He’s my closely second favourite after Zane. He’s just a good guy, with a side of silly and an edge of trauma. I think his writing is the best in terms of the main characters, (although I think Nya has the most interesting), which is probably bc his backstory is the most realistic and easy to write. But I think Cole is really under-appreciated when it comes to his writing and stuff. But at the same time I’m probably gonna be biased because I just love this character.

Okay to start off, Cole is actually one of the more moral characters, like Zane, he loves by a motto given to him by his departed parent: “to always stand up to those who are cruel and unjust”. In the show, he proves that he cares so much for others, such as with Karlof in Chen’s noodle factory where he decided he was going to get everyone to escape. And trying to befriend Yang’s students and Yang himself. And befriending Krag. And the entirety of MotM. Cole is also one of the strongest ninja, physically, he was introduced climbing a mountain and he introduced himself to Kai as being fearless (mostly). In the first episode of s1, Cole nearly one the skill contest between the ninja, having beat Zane ( I think?), and nearly beating Kai before Kai set everything on fire. Jay acknowledges Cole would’ve and should’ve won their duel in the tournament in s4, had he not have let Jay win.

But in contrast to Cole generally being and kind, strong guy, he seems to have a lower esteem than what you’d expect. His reaction to grief and difficulty is to run and hide himself away from the world, as seen in s4 when he became a lumberjack after Zane died and when we know Cole became a mountain climber after running away from home and his grief over his mother. His most prominent arcs involve him losing faith in himself: in s5 he thought being a ghost made him less of a ninja, in DotD he thought he was gonna disappear without anyone remembering him, in s11 Cole blames himself for losing the tea, and s13 is about Cole feeling like he can’t measure up to his mother. I’m literally gonna start crying. Cole is an unspoken treasure, unable to see his own worth, like a geode with the crystals on the inside.

And we can fault a lot of it to his backstory. Cole’s parents were a successful musician and performer: Lou, and the dearly missed elemental master of earth: Lilly. It’s unknown if Lou knew Lilly was a ninja because he seemed so against ninjas as a whole in s1, (although I think Lilly being a ninja is a retcon that took effect in s4) but either Lilly abandoned the life of a ninja when she started a family, kept it a secret from Lou, or Lou knew but hid it from Cole, who didn’t seem to know about it when he joined the ninja. Either way, both make sense and fit with Cole’s theme of hiding away. Both Lou and Lilly had given Cole expectations to live up to: Lou with his strict expectations of being a performer, and Lilly asking Cole to promise to be a good person. In the one scene we see Cole and Lilly interacting, Cole is scared that he’s disappointed her by getting into a fight, but it turns out she’s proud of him for being who he is and defending children from bullies. With Cole losing Lilly, he carries this harsh standard that he needs to live in a way that makes her proud, and Lou also feels like he needs to raise Cole to be the best he can be, which is why Lou is harsh in training Cole to be a performer, because that’s all Lou knows. The pressure of everything was too much for Cole and he ended up running away from it all, and climbing a mountain. In his own way he’s still trying to climb to the top and prove himself, but at the same time he’s trying to bury his grief and trauma under other things, such as how Lou is burying his grief with performance. Joining the ninja, Cole starts to heal, he has a way of self improvement that is monitored so that it’s safer, and more importantly he has a family, a safety net that can support him. He’s a ninja and he takes pride in it, but this life comes right into conflict with the life he was hiding from, his father’s. In Cole’s true potential, his disconnect from his father held him back, forcing him to first shun who he was in front of his dad, and lead him to nearly committing crimes because he had no faith in himself winning and he didn’t even want to try. But he decides to anyways, and he does actually succeed. And he’s not proving himself to his father but he’s proving himself to himself. His true potential isn’t just about his daddy issues but also his self esteem in general. Whilst his true potential was achieved this episode, Cole’s inclination to run still resurfaces in other arcs. He associates attention with negativity, as seen when he gets unwanted attention from Nya costing his friendship with Jay and pushing him to run into the woods and be a lumberjack. And he always ends up giving up something in order to help someone else, like giving jay the Jade blade, or grabbing the scroll in Yang’s temple, nearly not making it through the rift because of Yang, falling off of the bounty, helping people in s10 etc etc.

Cole imo has really balanced writing that gives him just enough spotlight to answer our questions about him, and when he isn’t the main focus, he usually has a good b-plot where he receives really good character or he gets good comedy bits which are just enjoyable to watch (like rocky danger buff). It’s easier to actually develop Cole bc as I mentioned, his backstory is the least outlandish. He has kinda a high pressure childhood and his mother died. Unlike every other ninja who’s parents have been missing at some point, Cole knows everything about his parents, his expectations of their status don’t change during the show so he has the most time to develop his current mental state (unlike for example Zane, who’s father kept flip flopping his mortality in a way that doesn’t give Zane enough time to showcase his emotions at each stage of that process, at least not to the extent Cole has). Also because Cole usually gets plots that are not usually connected to the main storyline, his plots always focus mainly on his character development. In a way, being a less important character actually gives characters more of a spotlight. Also they never shove Cole into any romance which is a bonus bc Ninjago romances are honestly horrendously set up. I mean… other than that one time.

Which is how I’ll segue into talking about my few criticisms with Cole’s writing. Bc every character can be improved. First of all, as I mentioned, I can’t talk about Cole without the love triangle. I actually don’t hate about it as much as I used to, since the love triangle did end up setting up the cool development we got in s4. And if you read behind the lines you can almost pretend it was in character, I just tell myself that Cole was only taking part in the drama because he was pissed at Jay assuming he was straight. But the canon is that Nya suddenly had a crush on Cole bc a buzzfeed quiz told her to, and Cole suddenly reciprocated bc that’s apparently what you do. Istg none of the romantic feelings make sense or are justified in the show outside of “that woman looks like she’d be a good gf” which is cringe. So like I just squint when it comes to that and say that Cole and Nya are suffering from peer pressure and allonormativity/compulsive heterosexuality.

Another specific nitpick of Cole’s character is the complete fake out death he had in s10. Like writer’s set up stakes that make the death dramatic but then didn’t stick to their rules which just kinda invalidate the stakes of the season in general. Like we see the cloud immediately turn citizens to stone but for some reason Cole can nap through it fine. The writers put no effort in justifying Cole’s survival of not just the Oni cloud but like surviving falling from that height. I mean ig legos are built different, but if they are, then why is everyone so worried yknow? And it could’ve been simple, we could’ve been shown that Cole somehow saved himself with his powers, maybe being an earth elemental means he doesn’t take damage when he hits the earth? Idk. It was just a cheap death and it didn’t have any impact other than make Nya sad for 1.5 seconds and loosely set up survivalshipping. Yeah

Other than that, I don’t think I have any other specific Cole criticisms. His dad could be involved more ig. Idk.

All in all Cole is a top tier character

#sorry this is taking ages I promise I’m gonna do the rest of the requests lol #ninjago #lego ninjago #doodlarambla #Ninjago doodlarambla #that’s Cole first in shintaro armour and then on the day of the Departed #art #digital art #fanart #ask #Ninjago cole #ninjago cole brookstone

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andiwriteordie · 1 year

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why do you call it maroon fic ?

REMI! hi! ok i love this question & i'm gonna be long-winded about it because i'm a nerd. and i love writing. and byler. and taylor swift. so. you get a free maroon/byler analysis for your saturday.

a real fucking legacy, to leave is also called maroon fic whenever i post stuff because the title comes from the song maroon by taylor swift! this is one of my favorites off the midnights album, and i just have a lot of thoughts in general about this song buuuuut

when it comes to byler, i really enjoy thinking about how, when stripped down to a bare skeleton of a story, theirs is a story about love and loss. we meet two childhood friends, first through mike's eyes, and the whole first season is about mike trying to find his lost friend. and in some sense or another mike has been trying to find will (and will trying to find his way back to mike) since s1, because of the kidnapping, the possession, and the tension in their friendship across s3-s4. it's a story about two people who love each other but keep losing each other, especially when we consider it from mike's pov (catch me crying at the "maybe i lost you" line in s4).

anyways, with maroon now! one of my favorite parts of maroon is how the first chorus switches from the line: and i chose you, the one i was dancing with to the line and i lost you, the one i was dancing with. it's a simple change, but it tells the story taylor is sharing with us so incredibly well. it's a story of how this narrator went from choosing this person they love so much to losing them in the end—which i think just really mirrors mike's story very well in stranger things! will went from being such a priority in his life—so much so that he says meeting will is the best thing he's ever done—to then just time and time losing will again, first from the upside down then from his own distance and mistakes.

and here's where i get really nerdy, thanks to @wiseatom who pointed out that the official taylor swift music video for maroon has an incredibly niche detail within it:

that's a real fuckin' legacy, to leave

the comma between the words "legacy" and "to" add another little layer of nuance to the meaning behind this song, which i just looooove. that comma placement shifts the meaning slightly, implying that the legacy itself is leaving. the legacy left behind by the partner taylor is singing about in the song is leaving her.

so then, circling back to byler and from mike's pov, i could go on and on and on about how mike has a need to be needed and wanted and a fear of abandonment that stems from that, but i won't lol. the point i think about here is how the theme of love and loss is intertwined with byler as a whole, but then also specifically in this line, getting to explore the potential of mike's thought that it is, in a way, will who keeps leaving. mike keeps losing will, maybe not always as an intentional action on will's part, but it is always mike who loses will.

allllllll that to come back around and say this: i wanted to write a fic that explored the themes of love and loss in byler's story and then maroon came out and it just fit. the story kinda pieced together as it was about two people in a relationship, hence why i chose to explore established byler, so we could see those themes amplified to a greater extent than we even see in the show. :)

i could've answered that in 2 sentences, but i didn't bc i'm a nerd. so happy saturday 🤣

#byler #st x ts #i think i should get to analyze taylor swift songs and byler at least once a week #for my mental health #andi writes not dies

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wheeler-fan · 3 months

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Am I interpreting this correctly, that you mean that Will’s feelings make Mike feel good and realise he is the leader, and that’s the reason they chose to give Will this storyline?

Well, immediately this makes me think that Mike, who thrives on approval and has low self esteem, would become rather attached to someone who shows him such love and makes him feel this way. It’s a classic psychological phenomenon. We often love people who love us, for better or worse. In this case, I would say better, because Will’s love for Mike is clearly being shown as something wholesome and wonderful. And choosing to be with someone who is good for you and makes you feel good… well, this is what love is. Mature love anyway, not the teen relationships explored in s3. It’s different from just attraction or infatuation, as I do believe Mike and El shared for each other in the early seasons.

I’ve seen you say that mike ‘loves el, he just does’ but whats the actual evidence in the story? Is it…

his actions? Mike’s protective and caring behaviour towards El all along has been lovely, but you could say it was exactly the same as his caring and protective behaviour towards Will both in s1 and s2, so why is one romantic and not the other?

Or is the evidence words? Is it Mike saying ‘I love you’ to El? Well, words are tricky things, and people often lie, even with the best intentions. S4 was about lies - look at Max, lying about Billy, but still we love her as she is human and her reasons make sense! And of course, Will lies about the painting, all with the best intentions.

But body language rarely lies, so what the writers have done, especially in s4, is to create two conflicting stories: one told through words, and one told through actions. This is the mystery of the byler/mileven love triangle and will be resolved in s5 when the story finishes.

You also mentioned love languages and the miscommunication between mileven being based in their love languages not matching. So considering that words aren't always truthful, that one of the themes of s4 in particular are lies and different perspectives of one story (also looking at you, Victor Creel and Henry!), then...

what have the writers done to show that Mike loves El and that his love is something she can feel and benefit from? Their love languages being unmatched is a very real possibility, and something that happens a lot in relationships. But unless they can overcome this obstacle by finding a way to express love for each other in the way the other needs, this relationship cannot work, because their love cannot work. What would mike and el need from each other for their love to work?

El would need to hear from mike that he loves her and she would need to believe it. Judging by the fact that she screwed up her face and started crying in powerless despair as soon as he said ‘I love you’, and the way she behaves afterward, with not even a reconciliation or conversation scene in sight, suggests she did not believe him and is in fact pretty peeved.

Mike would need El to make him feel adequate, important, special, like the paladin he is. But hang on, whose painting (and love) makes him feel that way? Will’s. As you said. What a strange choice by the writers if they wanted us to root for Mike and El's relationship. Why wouldn't we root for the people who make each other feel good to be together? Aka Mike and Will?

And this is without the unspoken frisson in the air between mike and will, the chemistry, the vibes, whatever you want to call it, because that stuff is super subjective - although personally, those things are what my gut instinct picks up on and what I find to be the best evidence for byler. It's too hard to explain or use as textual evidence, but to me it's the strongest thing. Why did I, a casual viewer with no bias or care either way, suddenly pick up on major, undeniable vibes between Mike and Will, happening at the very same time as a frontline plot about Mike and El's relationship being in decline?

The Duffers did something to make hundreds of thousands of people switch gears randomly to rooting for Mike and Will, and that stuff does not happen by chance, not in a TV show where everything is contrived and designed. Viewers are basically being constantly steered by the creator - that's what it means to be a viewer. You are being told, shown, the story they want you to see. That's storytelling. If you're lucky, they'll be clever about it, throw in mystery and ambiguity and make you feel so invested and excited that you are arguing about it on the internet over a year later... lol. Of course the duffers want people talking and arguing about their show! It keeps it alive! What they have done is so so clever.

In short, we can argue forever, but a lot of it comes down to your personal subjective life experience and how you interpret the world. We will never know until the story is resolved - as we shouldn't. How boring would that be, to have predicted everything? I'm sure there'll be plenty of unexpected things for both bylers and milevens.

it's a very long message😭 I'll try to answer as best as I can - I'm sorry you had to wait so long for the answer, thanks for ur time!

*the first thing, about my own message. I don't think it's the only reason they gived him this storyline, bc it's his own storyline- IT CAN'T BE ABOUT MIKE!! his feelings are not just about mike but it shows a lot about himself! his feelings for him are very complicated- let's focus on the fact that being gay in the 80s is something terrible, you can literally get bitten up or even killed for being a part of lgbt! he's scared of it, he actually says a lot about what this feelings are doing to him, and what makes the situation even worse? the fact that Will KNOWS that mike is not interested, that mike loves someone else, that mike will reject him. He's in so much pain, and the fact that mike love interest is his own sister probably makes it even worse. Will is a really sensitive person, i think he's scared that el could think that he wants to steal mike from her or sth. The feelings are not nice to him, he's hurting and i think that it's an important way to develop his character, to get him off someone's shadow, to make him independent and happy- bc even in s3 we can see how hurt he is that everyone moved on and he's still here, he needs his friends and he can't feel better about himself and his trauma without them by his side. We see him as a part of the group, the quiet kid but he's so much more!

personally as a mileven shipper i think that ruining byler would make no sense, bc why duffer brothers fixed them this season just to ruin them again ? no it's stupid, second thing, even if mike doesn't love Will that way he still loves him!!! Will is his best friend from kindergarten, he won't just kick him out of his life bc he's in love with him? and milevens who actually think like that are just stupid sorry guys 🤷🏾‍♀️ you can don't like a ship but let's remember that will is an important person in mikes life and he won't just get rid of him. In my opinion the duffer brothers didn't put the love for mike to will's character to make them together and give him a happy ending he deserves this way, it's actually too easy and it doesn't make sense since they are still working on mileven, they could just make will fall in love with someone new but no! i think that mike plays an important role here, he is the heart!! he was there for will when his life was falling apart even if he was depressed and needed help too. The fact is that mike is clueless rn, he doesn't know yet what Will feels to him bc Will was talking about himself from inside of the closet- he was talking using eleven. This helped mike to feel a bit better about himself bc in the van scene we can hear that he feels useless and weak in a relationship (the important thing is that he told el in a monologue "I'm scared that one day you'll realize you don't need me anymore" when in the van scene he told Will that he thinks she ALREADY knows it and is about to leave him.)

* I want to say something about the final scene from s4 here :)

look, eleven is in the front bc she already had her character development, she was feeling like she's the monster and that no one loves her for herself, now she's going to fight vecna, get a revenge, get a justice for max, and she's going to prove to herself that brenner WASN'T RIGHT about her when he said she's not ready (mike said to will that they had talked a bit about this!! so we know that at the end of s4 she's just isolating herself from everyone and she thinks that it's her fault what happened to max bc she wasn't ready!)

then we have will&mike together, i think their storyline is really important, bc mike feels that he's not enough and then will said to him that it's not true, that he's the heart! and my theory is that: mike is going to be the leader again (reference to s1) and won't be in el's shadow like he used to, he will be independent and El wil be independent too!! they'll see that they both are worthy something, and they will be something more than just a silly teenagers relationship! both of them.

And about Will, i think that after a coming out scene they'll talk a lot, heart to heart, because Will needs to be independent too! we can see how his happiness depends on Mike, we can see how he puts Mike's feelings in a main focus and does everything to help him fix his relationship bc he knows that mike won't be with him- see? he feels bad but at least he wants the person he loves to be happy if he can't, and Mike is going to change that! for sure! but not in the way you guys think, he won't be with him, he will show him how worthy he is on his own! because Will thinks he's a mistake, he literally said that he feels like a mistake, and I'm sure Mike will show him that there's nothing wrong with him, with the fact that he's gay, and even with the fact that he's in love with him, he will make him feel good about himself (that's exactly what will did to mike in a van scene, but not as himself but as eleven bc that was what mike needed) now it's mike turn to make will feel good about himself, but no with being in a relationship with him, Will needs to move on, to see that he's not a mistake, that his life doesn't depends on Mike's, that he can find happiness without mike, and eventually i think it's going to be one of the best characters development in this show. There's something way more important with making Will happy than putting him in a relationship, he needs to feel good about himself at first.

*also i would like to say that i would never ship mileven if things between them would have to stay the way they are now. I'm not shipping an unhealthy relationship just because "they both love each other 🥺🥺" no, i believe they'll fix the problems! and if they don't, then I won't ship them anymore- the thing i need the most are mike and el being happy, and i truly believe that they still can be happy together they just have to work on it.

And for example, pointing the fact that mike is my fav character: if he would be in love with eleven, but i would clearly see that eleven doesn't love him back, then i would never ship them together only bc my fav character loves her- this is stupid, I don't want my fav character to feel that he's not enough, that he doesn't deserve the love bc this specific person doesn't love him back, i would rather him to let go, to find happiness in himself and maybe in a future in someone new.

The only thing that doesn't make me feel that byler shippers are crazy is the fact that you guys think it's NOT one sided, well i find it weird bc for me it's pretty clear that it is 😭 ofc everyone can understand a character in a different way!! but there are people who ship byler but say "i ship byler but Will deserve better" and ummm so why do you ship it then?? if your fav character is hurting bc of the feeling he had for someone, if your fav character feels like a mistake bc of it then why do you ship him with that person?? i will never understand people like this i swear.

actually i feel like this is totally off the topic of your question 😭 but I can't make you understand my point of view on mileven or byler if you think that mike is in love with Will bc that just won't work 😭 and i think that there's nothing wrong with that:)

#stranger things

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incomingalbatross · 2 years

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So, my thoughts about Wrath of Chaos, as promised:

This finale is something of an odd one out among the series finales, as I mention in some detail here (with spoilers for season 4), as series 1, 2 , & 4 end with something about identity, with the Librarians reaffirming their choice to be Librarians and their role. Wrath of Chaos instead ends with them forcing a human identity on Apep. So, it's definitely something I want to look into more but haven't been able to pin down a theory about it.

And just how much of the Jenkins trap was Eve's idea? How far did she play along with DOSA? I mean, she's smart, she knows they're smart, so yes, she may have made some suggestions, but did they trust that she'd really turned?

And I think it was this series that the producers described in commentaries as 'the cost of being a superhero' in terms of a personal/love life, but maybe it was season four and this one was 'the cost of magic.' I don't even remember which episode they mentioned it in.

And part of the Doylist reason Flynn is always going off and doing his own thing is that Noah Wyle was under contract for Falling Skies (at least till 2015) and wasn't allowed to be a main character in The Librarians at the same time. Then it just stayed part of his character.

Chaos vs evil, too, there's something simmering under the surface there as well, given that mundane librarians are all about order and classification.

These are good thoughts, thank you for sharing them with me!

Oh, that is an interesting point... I am definitely avoiding S4 spoilers for now, but you're right, S1 finale was about the narrative/multiverse affirming that they are all Librarians and Eve is the Guardian, while the S2 finale needed everyone to personally affirm their Library identities just to get started on saving the day. S3 finale... did not do that, which is fair given where the characters are at, but it's true that them forcibly altering Apep's nature/identity is a contrast you should be able to do Something Thematic with.

My impression really is that DOSA knew very little about the Library and its people, and that Eve had to supply the whole plan (although whether or not they fully trusted her is another matter—obviously it would have been smarter not to ;P). Remember, her objective was to be alone in the Library with just her and Flynn and Apep, so Jenkins did have to be gotten out of the way somehow if you accept the premise she and Flynn couldn't have just told him what they were doing.

(Also, tangent related to "what did DOSA know": I don't believe what the General said about having engineered Flynn and Eve's first meeting. I think she just made that up as a mindgame to make Eve feel like she had less agency. Because, looking at the facts? A) we know Eve was the Guardian in at least three other timelines and it's often implied that this was her Destiny—the Library didn't need military intervention to find her. B) Flynn had not had a Guardian for almost ten years. It was not a position crying out to be filled, as far as anyone but the Library knew! There's no reason to believe getting Eve in the same room as the Librarian would lead to her being hired, because there wasn't a vacancy. And C) the Library hires the Guardian, the Librarian doesn't—again, throwing Eve at the Librarian and hoping that gets her hired would be a dumb plan, which at best suggests they don't understand enough about the Library to know who holds hiring power.

TL;DR whether or not DOSA knew Flynn was in Munich, the Library wasn't influenced by their plans. The Library chose Eve because Eve IS the Guardian.)

Anyway. :P Theme stuff is always interesting! Maybe when I'm done with the show I'll look up the writers' comments on this.

And oh yeah, that makes total sense—I figured he had some kind of real-life obstacle to being on the show more, given his clear investment in it, and another acting commitment is a very reasonable one. Just a slightly unfortunate case of Real Life Writes The Script, as it seems like it steered Flynn into some character patterns that might have been avoided otherwise. (I was happy to see his increased screentime in this season, though! It's nice that Noah Wyle was able to increase his presence as the show progressed.)

And YES, excellent point that librarians are natural defenders of order, and that that's a fun dichotomy to play with. (I also really liked the "chaos vs harmony" dichotomy being used, and would have liked to see more of that.)

Thanks again! I'm still a little frustrated by this finale, just because I would have liked to see some of these concepts executed differently, but I like having your perspective on it. Seeing a thing's merits through someone else's eyes is always a pleasure. :)

#asks #aslanscompass #a distraction of librarians

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herinsectreflection · 3 years

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I Don't Sleep on Bed of Bones: The Slayer as a Killer Across the Seasons

A pretty constant question throughout Buffy's arc - arguably the central question of the entire show, that Buffy must answer, is "what is a slayer? What does being The Vampire Slayer mean?". And a major part of that is the question of whether a slayer is just a killer. It's a question central to S5, but ripples throughout the rest of the show too, with some of the most iconic scenes in the show in converstion with each other around it. Inspired by an ask I received about this from @potterkid, I took a look at how this idea develops and resolves itself over the course of the show.

In S1, being the Slayer means accepting responsibility. It's metaphor for growing up - a metaphor that recurs throughout the show along with other ideas, but is strongest in S1. Buffy is torn between her teenage/human wants and her adult/supernatural responsibilities. She accepts her mortality and her duty (fighting the Master), and wins when she manages to integrate that with her personal desires (fighting the Master in a kickass prom dress with her friends and boyfriend). There's some stuff around the classic superhero idea that being around the hero is dangerous -e.g. in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, but not much on the idea of a Slayer being a killer exactly.

In S2, being the Slayer means making hard choices. It means accepting that sometimes all your options are bad ones, but choosing one anyway, even at personal cost. This is introduced through Ford's story in Lie to Me, with Buffy's words to him forming one of the core thesis statements of the show ("You have a choice. You don't have a good choice, but you have a choice."), and it's climaxed beautifully in the tragic ending of Becoming. There's not much direct allusion to the idea of Buffy being a killer here, but this is a vital moment in that discussion. Ultimately, Buffy does make the decision here to kill Angel - not to slay Angelus, but to kill him. To take the life of her ensouled lover in order to save others. It's kind of the opposite of the decision that Ford makes - the best of two bad choices. It's the classic trolley problem, and Buffy's hand is on the lever by design - she has to make that choice because she's the Slayer. We will see this moment returned to again and again as this Slayer-vs-Killer theme develops.

Also, Ted is a very important episode for later. Buffy herself feels guilty specifically because she used her slayer powers on what she thinks is a regular human, and therefore killed him. Specifically, being the Slayer made her a Killer. It's also notable that this is where the idea of Buffy having a free reign to kill is first introduced - by Buffy's original shadow self in Cordelia no less.

Cordelia: I don't get it. Buffy's the Slayer. Shouldn't she have... Xander: What, a license to kill? Cordelia: Well, not for fun. But she's like this superman. Shouldn't there be different rules for her? - 2x12 Ted This isn't explored massively here but will be revisited again and again going forward.

S3 is where this theme really comes into focus. Faith enters as Buffy's shadow self and a representation of hedonism. How that manifests is as a Slayer who gives herself a license to Kill. She posits the idea that as slayers, they can and should decide who lives and dies.

Faith: Something made us different. We're warriors. We're built to kill. Buffy: To kill demons! But it does not mean that we get to pass judgment on people like we're better than everybody else! Faith: We are better! - 3x15 Consequences

Obviously, this is something that Buffy has to reckon with and fight against. But there is a glimmer of truth here, because at the end of S2, she does take the power of life and death into her own hands. She is faced with the choice between Angel and the world and decides that Angel should die. She had to, that's the position she has to be in because she is the Slayer. She has to be a Killer because she is a Slayer. So the two are intertwined.

More than this, Faith is someone who at least appears to revel in the kill. Up until now, we hadn't really seen Buffy enjoy being a slayer, but Faith does. Buffy is genuinely drawn to that, to slaying for pleasure. The equation of slaying/killing and sex for Buffy is first explicitly drawn by Faith in this season. ("Isn't it crazy how slaying always makes you hungry and horny?"). Slayers are very much like vampires in that respect, blurring the line between sex and death. In general, Faith introduces the idea that Buffy is drawn to killing - not just to protect people (the ideal of a Slayer), but for its own benefit. That's something that Buffy continues to struggle with going forward.

I have said before that Faith in S3 is an echo of Angel in S2, both in Buffy's relationship to them both and how that shifts mid-season, and in how it ends. In Graduation Day, Buffy again is given the power of life and death. This time, it's more personal - she can stop Angel dying by killing Faith. It's not such a straightforward (for want of a better word) decision as Angel .vs. the literal entire world, it's just the value of one life against the other. Another trolley problem, and it's not an easy choice, but it's still a choice. Just as she chose the lesser evil in killing Angel in S2, she kills the person filling the Angel role in S3. And this time, the choice is explicitly tied to the idea of being a Killer. Faith is set up as the person that Buffy could be in a slightly different world, and that person is a Killer, as Faith herself claims.

"What are you gonna do, B? Kill me? You become me. You're not ready for that, yet." - Faith Lehane, 3x17 Enemies

"You did it, B. You killed me." - Faith Lehane, 3x22 Graduation Day

In the act of choosing to pull the lever, Buffy has to kill. In the act of killing, she has become her dark mirror. In the act of defeating/becoming Faith, she becomes again the sole Slayer. Being a killer and a Slayer again intertwined. It's interesting here that she then makes the decision to feed herself to Angel. She unravels the trolley problem by throwing herself on the tracks. It's fascinating that between the dual trolley-problem finales of Becoming and The Gift, where in the first Buffy chooses to pull the lever, and in the latter she refuses and chooses a third option, Graduation Day exists in the middle as a stepping stone where she kind of does both.

The bulk of S4 is a little lighter on this theme, instead examining The Slayer as a role that must be juggled amongst a series of competing roles as Buffy's life as an adult becomes more fractured. There are flavours of it in Fear Itself, where Buffy fears that her friends will leave and her destiny lies with death and the dead, but otherwise not too much jumps out at me. Except, of course, for Restless, which is so heavy with this theme. It's one of the many reasons why I kind of consider Restless an honourary part of S5, as it's setting up the themes and arcs of S5 as much as it's wrapping up the like from S4.

RILEY: Hey there, killer.

BUFFY: We're not demons. ADAM: Is that a fact?

RILEY: Thought you were looking for your friends. Okay, killer...

TARA: I live in the action of death, the blood cry, the penetrating wound. I am destruction. Absolute ... alone. BUFFY: The Slayer. FIRST SLAYER: No friends! Just the kill.

OK, so SO much to unpack here. This is all within the under-10-minute sequence of Buffy's dream, and in that sequence she constantly shows a fear that she is in fact a "killer". It's clearly strong in her mind. Riley calls her "killer" multiple times, and Adam equates her with him, and with demonhood. I also find it very interesting how she responds to Tara's words, which are very literally describing the act of kiling ("the action of death...the blood cry...the penetrating wound"). She hears that and immediately identifies her as the Slayer, so slayerhood and killing are clearly bound up together in her mind.

Central to her concerns is the dichotomy between friendship and death. This was built up in Fear Itself, and it's central here. Riley and Sineya both frame it as a choice, between friendship and "the kill". This is a fear that Buffy has already, since S1, that her Slayer life will stop her ability to have a "normal" life of friends and family, but it also sets up her arc in S5 nicely. She chooses her friends over becoming a pure instrument of death in Restless, but that does not resolve her ongoing fears. They existed before and continue to dwell even more strongly in her mind, with words that both Sineya and Dracula repeat.

"You think you know ... what's to come ... what you are. You haven't even begun."

This sets the stage for S5, and her arc of choosing between family and being the Slayer. Friendship and family are presented as more of less one and the same a few episodes later in Family, and the choice Buffy is faced with in S5 is another trolley problem - the life of Dawn against the world. This time, it's more specifically tied to the Slayer/Killer dichotomy through the prophecy that Buffy is faced with ("Death is your gift"). This frames the similar choices she faced in Becoming and Graduation Day in the same light, with Buffy even specifically comparing this to the former.

BUFFY: I sacrificed Angel to save the world. I loved him so much. But I knew ... what was right. I don't have that any more. I don't understand. I don't know how to live in this world if these are the choices. If everything just gets stripped away. I don't see the point. I just wish that... I just wish my mom was here. The spirit guide told me that death is my gift. Guess that means a Slayer really is just a killer after all. - 5x22 The Gift

S5 is soaked in this Killer-vs-Slayer idea, and that's part of why I love it so much. It opens with Buffy having gained an appreciation of killing. She goes out not to patrol, but to hunt. To revel in the enjoyment of the kill, just as Faith did. There's also a constant theme of people identifying Buffy as a Killer. Importantly, it's a theme of her believing them. She knows that there is a kernel of truth there, and it develops from a subconcious worry in Restless to a more concrete fear in Intervention, where Buffy explicitly says that she is afraid that being the Slayer means losing her humanity and ability to love, and become nothing more than a "killer". Eventually, Buffy is so ground down by it that when The Gift rolls around, she simply accepts that the Slayer is "just a killer" as an inevitability.

BUFFY: Yeah, I prefer the term slayer. You know, killer just sounds so... DRACULA: Naked? - 5x01 Buffy vs Dracula

SPIKE: Death is your art. You make it with your hands, day after day. That final gasp. That look of peace. - 5x07 Fool for Love

FIRST SLAYER: Death is your gift. - 5x18 Intervention

I also like the way that Joyce is repeatedly linked to this idea. Buffy's response to Sineya points to Joyce's death as a rebuttal to the idea of death being a gift ("Death is not a gift. My mother just died. I know this."). Buffy talks about Joyce just before accepting that "a slayer is a killer" in The Gift. Spike's speech about Slayer's having a death wish comes immediately before Buffy finds out that Joyce is going into hospital. The idea of the Slayer as an instrument of death, killing every day, is juxtaposed against the mundane horror of what death is really like, as demonstrated in The Body. As the Slayer, Buffy must cause death, but this is what death looks like. It's hard and painful and mortal and stupid. Eventually Buffy reaches a point where she just can't do this anymore. She can't live in a world where she must choose to be a killer, because she understands death more now than ever.

It's here that the show explicitly connects the ideas of utilitarianism and being a killer. Buffy says that killing Dawn to save the world (and by association killing Angel to save the world, or killing Faith to save Angel), would make the Slayer "just a killer". This goes back to S3, and Faith arguing that the death of one innocent was washed out by the many people that they save, and that being Slayers gives them the right to make that calculation. Tara points to Giles in this episode, the voice of utilitarianism, and identifies him as a killer. Giles himself identifies himself as one when he kills Ben, and here draws a line between being a utilitarian/killer, and being a hero.

BEN: Need a ... a minute. She could've killed me. GILES: No she couldn't. Never. ... She's a hero, you see. She's not like us.

Some people criticise the moral absolutism of this, and could very justifiably argue that killing Ben, or even killing Dawn, would be the most moral thing in this situation. Who are we to say that Dawn's life is more valuable than the lives of a thousand other 14 year old girls, with families of their own that love them just as much as Buffy loves Dawn? But within the context of the show, I think it makes sense for them to reject utilitarianism. Buffy is a Sisyphean story. There will always be another apocalypse after this one is stopped. There will always be another impossible choice with innocent lives in the balance. Through that lens, the idea of "killing one to save a thousand" becomes meaningless, because there's a thousand apocalypses, and if you kill one to stop them all, then you've killed a thousand. That's how Buffy feels - she killed Angel, she killed Faith, now she has to kill Dawn? Where does it end? Eventually it all just gets stripped away, so what's the point? There's no winning move here. The only way to break the cycle is to change the game.

We should also keep in mind Buffy's words at the start of the episode. She fears that the Slayer is "just a killer", but she is also identified by the guy she saves in the alley in the opening scene as "just a girl". And Buffy agrees ("That's what I keep saying."). Buffy is The Vampire Slayer, which dictates that she must make these impossible choices, but she's also Buffy, which means she is a human being with the power of free will. She gets a choice - not a good choice, but a choice. As a human being, she can reject the options in front of her and find a third way. She can transform the whole game, and turn "Death is your gift" into an empowering statement. This was heavily foreshadowed of course - the Guide in Intervention outright stated that Buffy was full of love, and that "love will bring [her] to [her] gift". But it takes Buffy working through these fears and emotions and realising that she simply can't take Dawn's life. She chooses a new way. She avoids being a killer by rejecting utilitarian ethics. To paraphrase The Last Jedi, she wins by saving what she loves. Ultimately, she's not a killer, but a girl, a friend, a sister, a Slayer - a hero.

So season five is very much the climax and resolution of this theme. Very few themes ever disappear entirely from this show though, and this one continues to echo throughout the show. In S6, Buffy again fears she is slipping into darkness. That there is some kind of darkness that is innate within her. But where in S5 this was a fear that she recoiled from but at times seemed inevitable, in S6 it is something that she is drawn towards, that disgusts her but that she takes a kind of comfort in, because it's easier than facing the mundane reality of her depression.

This yearning for her own darkness takes the physical form of Spike, who she uses for what is basically sexual self-harm. Spike steps into Faith's role as Buffy's shadow self for much of the later seasons, and , and like Faith he represents killing as hedonism, and as sex. There's no vampire who so aggressively blurs the lines of sex and death/violence as Spike. Her fear that killing is part of her nature, and her fear of her own sexual desire, are very much one and the same. When she breaks down in Dead Things, she talks about the darkness within her, and of her shame over her own sexuality.

Spike also repeats Faith's utilitarian justifications from Consequences in the episode which forms the climax of Buffy's self-destruction, Dead Things. When Buffy attempts to metaphorically commit suicide by turning herself into the police, she does it while constantly identifying herself as a killed. She repeats some variation on "I killed her" four times in just two scenes. She wants to be punished for being a killer, and not protected for being the slayer. She has grappled with this several times, and is still resolute that being the slayer does not give her a license to kill, but this time she is desperate to be seen as a killer, to give justification for her own self-hatred.

The final way S6 explores this idea is with Willow. When she is after Warren, Buffy tries to stop her, not for Warren's sake but for Willow's. She knows that taking a life changes a person, and implicitly draws on the first time she chose to take a human's life, the moment she "became a killer" on that rooftop with Faith.

Buffy (re: going to kill Faith): I can't play kid games anymore. This is how she wants it. Xander: I just don't want to lose you. Buffy: I won't get hurt. Xander: That's not what I mean. - 3x21 Graduation Day

XANDER: She should be coming down at some point, shouldn't she? I mean, back there she was out of her head ... running on grief and magicks. BUFFY: Doesn't matter . Willow just killed someone. Killing people changes you. Believe me, I know. - 6x21 Two to Go Killing Warren might have been justified given what a complete piece of shit he was - just as killing Angel was justified, just as killing Faith was, just as killing Ben was. That doesn't matter, because Buffy still recognises that the act of killing leaves permanent psychological scars, which she is still bearing.

In S7, we get the final major exploration of the "does the Slayer have a right to kill" idea in Selfless. Here, Buffy seems to have reached the conclusion that Cordelia, Faith and Spike (all her shadow selves) were right, and she does, in fact, have the right to pass judgment because she's the Slayer, when she decides she has to kill Anya.

"It is always different! It's always complicated. And at some point, someone has to draw the line, and that is always going to be me. You get down on me for cutting myself off, but in the end the slayer is always cut off. There's no mystical guidebook. No all-knowing council. Human rules don't apply. There's only me. I am the law." - 7x05 Selfless

However, I don't think the show wants us to take this as gospel. Buffy is conclusively proved wrong in this episode, since killing Anya doesn't work, and it's Willow who finds a third option that saves the day. In S7, the idea of the Slayer-as-Killer is more an incidental theme, while the central exploration is the idea of "one girl in all the world". It explores the nature of that tragedy, that Buffy is by definition alone. Because of this, she necessarily must be a killer. She does have to pass judgement, because there is nobody else capable of it. She has to be the one to hunt and kill vampires. She has to face the choice to kill Angel, to kill Faith, to kill Dawn, to kill Anya.

This is where the theme ends up - as a tragic inevitability. Buffy must always make that choice. Making the selfless choice to kill her boyfriend doesn't stop it. Avoiding the choice and dying herself doesn't even stop it. That boulder just rolls down the hill again and again, and Buffy is the only one who can push it back up. The Slayer is a killer because the Slayer is alone. So the only way to break that cycle is for the Slayer to no longer be alone. There are still elements of The Slayer, and of Buffy as a person, that are linked to death and killing, but she has mostly made peace with those parts, and now can be free of having to be "the law" too.

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inmyarmswrappedin · 3 years

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Ages ago, I asked people to send me scenes they wanted me to compared across the Skams, and then I kinda ignored it. This wasn't intentional, but rather because I wanted to do the scenes in chronological order. And the one I got for s1 was the Eva/Jonas breakup scene.

The issue is that Jonas is a very misunderstood character in international fandom. I felt like I couldn't begin to compare the scenes without getting into the fundamental conflict between Eva and Jonas, and I couldn't do that without getting into why Jonas hates Russetide, and I couldn't do that without a long post that was going to swallow up whole the other 7 versions of the scene.

I've never really let go of the idea of doing those comparisons, even though the anons that sent the original asks are probably long gone. I thought of a bunch of different ways to approach the asks, but nothing worked for me. Until recently, where I just decided to first explain Russetide, then compare the different Skam opening speeches, and THEN I will finally compare the breakup scenes.

But instead of explaining Russetide itself, which I think most Skam fans more or less understand, I'm going to explain SJEIKEN 2015. This song perfectly encapsulates what Jonas hates about Russetide. In fact, he quotes it in one of the scenes where he's being a dick to Eva!

Russetide is a tradition in all of Norway, but western Oslo (where Skam is set) is one of the richest areas in the country and, as such, they really go above and beyond with it. A bus is better than a van, the buses have to be decked out with the best sound systems. The crew has to have not just hoodies but also headbands and other merch, and it all has to follow the theme the crew has chosen. And if you really are the hottest of hot shit, then you actually commission legit artists to write a theme song for your bus. We can see this in s2, where the girls discuss The Penetrators theme song.

There are a bunch of different Norwegian artists that you can commission for your Russe song, but the most famous are probably TIX and the Pøssy Project. The Pøssy Project is a group of multiple songwriters, but all of its members have chosen to keep their identites anonymous because, as it turns out, ~Norwegian adults~ think everything I'm about to explain is trashy and disdainful. The one artist in The Pøssy Project that has always owned his participation in it is Andreas Haukeland, better known as TIX. (You might also know him as this year's ESC entry for Norway.) Why does TIX stand by these songs? Idk, probably because they're extremely popular, chart well, and make money, and by standing by them, he gets to perform them in gigs and profit off those creations.

SJEIKEN 2015 has featured twice in Skam, first in s1e1. It's also the song Pepsi Max is singing when they party at Sana's place in s4. And SJEIKEN 2015 featured so prominently in Skam because the song became a runaway hit the year before (the 2014-15 school year), breaking into the Norwegian charts as well as Spotify most playeds in Norway. It is a tremendously popular song that people loved.

So, who or what is SJEIKEN 2015 about? SJEIKEN is a 2015 Russe crew (meaning they graduated high school in 2015) who chose to make their Russe theme about... oil sheikhs. That is what sjeiken means. The song itself is about an oil sheikh called Sheikh Yer Bouti who declares tonight to be free of rules. His 400 wives are allowed to get drunk and be whores, just for tonight. Here are the lyrics:

Now, TIX has recently tried to become a mature artist, and so he was recently asked about SJEIKEN 2015 (again, a song he performs to this day). This was his response:

At a party, I met a girl who was crying over a boy she liked. She had built up her expectations that this would be the night she finally hooked up with him, but she was afraid that if she did, the guys would call her "whore". I thought about it a bit… It's actually quite true - if a boy hooks 10 girls at a party he is a legend, but if a girl hooks up with only one boy she may risk being called loose. That's absolutely ridiculous! So I said to her, "Tonight you are allowed to be a whore. Tonight you are allowed to hook up with him.”

And like, I just want to say this response is horseshit, first of all lol. But in case you for some reason thought this was supposed to be like a feminist anthem for a girls' russe buss (a crew like Los Losers for instance), let me share a picture of the SJEIKEN Russe crew:

(Count the moc... Oh wait, there aren't any.)

SJEIKEN (the Russe crew) also participated at a Russe event back in 2015. Here is how they chose to stage their song:

(The one thing I can say about this is that the boy playing a niqabi doesn't appear to have taken it off at any point, which is better than Skam Italia did.)

At this point, you might think that perhaps Jonas might have reason to be appalled that Eva, who he assumed shared his values, decided to get involved in Russefeiring. However, one other thing about Russefeiring is that literally EVERY YOUNG PERSON in Norway is supposed to love all of this shit. My evidence is very anecdotal, but I once asked a Norwegian high school student how many people aren't involved in Russefeiring. He said everyone is, the only people who aren't are the friendless losers. I also came across a Norwegian young woman's blog who said she preferred talking to people from abroad, because she didn't have to explain to them that she never actually did Russe, because to admit she hadn't, would immediately show her to have been a total outcast in high school. Like, this is an issue for people into their twenties.

So Jonas isn't just taking a stance to be cool, the fact that he is vocally opposed to Russefeiring in every way makes him (and the boy squad) total losers. In fact, Chris Schistad referred to Jonas as a nerd and the boy squad plainly wasn't in William's radar at all. It wasn't a thing like in Skam NL, where Kes' squad was leagues and miles above Noah's squad in terms of coolness (MOTHERfucker... don't even try to tell me Gijs was cooler than Kes lmao). Jonas would've been seen as a loser and a burnout, and that's what Jonas was talking about when he told Eva that she was always doing the popular thing to do. Because he very staunchly refused to participate in this tradition, despite the fact that doing so made him an outcast, because, for him, THAT was the moral thing to do.

Having read all this (you poor soul), and being on tumblr like you are, is it really that unthinkable that Jonas would think that Russefeiring and the culture associated with it is crap? Do you really think a 16-year old has the nuance to say, "you know, Russefeiring stands for everything I hate, but since you're friendless because of me, and this is your chance at having friends, I will put my ideals aside and support you in this." Absolutely not lmao. How many of you would even now shit on friends if they stepped outside the line of what tumblr considers woke? How many people on twitter turn on each other for transgressions like stanning the wrong Skams? Jonas was shitty because he was super rigid in what he considered the right way to behave, but in that sense, he was actually one of the most accurate portrayals of a specific type of Gen Z. Unlike idk, characters who quote fucking Animal Farm to talk about school festivals.

(And NOW that all of that has been established, I can finally begin dissecting season 1 lol.)

#skam #brain vomit #scene comparison posts

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spacedlexi · 7 months

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Have you read the new clementine book? I'd like to hear your thoughts on it :D

i hate being reminded that it even exists 😭 out of grim curiosity i usually check to see whats going on at each release but its just..........................................its just so bad...............................................................................................

like its so out of character that i cant consider it canon even if i wanted to......... and its so BORING too!!! its so lame...........its So lame...

it doesnt make me sad anymore at least it just makes me laugh now (especially now after book 2) but like....darkly...just like... Oof...... oof......... but yeah the way clem is written specifically is actually laughable im sorry but that really is tangerine

i hate when characters get reverted just to retell the same story. like its doubly insulting. and its pretty much what tillie did with clem. and its BORING!!! and i just have to reiterate again that its also laughable. its just....painful honestly 💀 the plot is boring the characters are boring clem is a mess and her pre-existing (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT) relationships to characters from the game are basically non-existent. and we're not having any INTERESTING discussions!!! what are the themes what are the messages what is tillie trying to say here? im getting a big load of reused character arcs and what feels new falls flat on its face. clem isnt even a shadow of her former self shes a different character entirely. and she is crying waaaay too much. shes got the anger of S3 clem and not even a Fraction of the emotional regulation S1 clem had. and she was 8 then....

and her naming her prosthetic 'kenny' is fucking stupid

ive seen some people say that it would actually be an interesting comic if clem was removed from the story but i dont agree. its fucking lame and boring. i love the zombie setting for the stories it allows a writer to tell. for the emphasis on character it allows. and this is probably the most boring piece of zombie related media ive ever laid my eyes on. this definitely feels like it was written by a romance writer trying to figure out how the zombie setting Works as a storytelling device. with a beloved preexisting character that theyre Also trying to find the voice of. and we're watching it in real time. and its Painful.....

S4 will Always be the True end to clementines story. its too perfect. and it also marked the end of telltale. it was a love letter to the series. its very fitting for both clem as a character but also as a last goodbye from a beloved studio. the still not bitten teams signatures on the hallway walls always gets a sob outta me. that final goodbye... clem was meant to spend the rest of her days at ericsons with the community she helped cultivate. ive said it a million times but her losing her leg is Symbolic. the first episode isnt titled "done running" for no reason. clem never Liked being on the road. all she ever wanted was a safe place to call home. with people she trusted and loved. and now the comics are retconning all of that just to retell the same story but Badly. why should i give a shit about that?

whats unfortunate is that i DO think there are still things that could be explored with a post S4 clem. shes got what she wanted: a home. (relative) safety. community. however she has new limitations due to her injury. how would she adjust to this? after spending so many years on the road? after having to do so much independently? only having herself to rely on for the most part? these are the goals im trying to achieve with my own short little fic (that ive been working on for too long):

she would never Want to leave ericsons. home is what shes been looking for since S1. but now that shes Safe. now that she can turn off survival mode a little bit and actually Relax for once. shes going to begin Processing EVERYTHING shes been through up until this point. the true healing starts Now. but she cant run from it. so how would she reconcile these things? the whole point of ericsons was that they were a community of traumatized kids who found love and support in each other when they had nothing else. aj says it himself (S4 is Very clear in its messaging). THAT is the perfect setting for clem to ALSO have this grieving/acceptance process that she Desperately needs. everything shes been through up until this point is going to hit her like a truck. the true healing starts NOW. shes no longer fighting for her life 25/8. and when the brain can get out of survival mode it begins True processing mode.

one of the issues with the comics is that it puts her BACK into survival mode. but of clems own choosing! no matter how much her processing hurts and no matter how much she could want to run from those feelings, she has always wanted True Community more than Anything. having to reconcile those feelings is interesting! i Do think tillie is trying to have some of these conversations. but they all fall flat. her understanding of clem as a character is weak. and the environment shes in is not conducive to the healing process she wants clem to have. its a mess. i will always stand firmly in the camp that these comics should have taken place in the gap between seasons 3 and 4. that change alone wouldve boosted the comic. but unfortunately they chose.....This

anyway. back to my own post S4 adventures :)

#every so often someone asks me how i feel about the comics and im like.............what comics #sorry clem is telltales baby no matter what you say skybound you dont UNDERSTAND HER!!!!!#replies with lexi #incognito #twdg #skybound x #skybound x yeah fuckin X on these comics amirite?#long post

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kaypeace21 · 4 years

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ignoring the fact that they sound like a married couple arguing, mike and will are also bickering over whether or not el and mike are still together. it was written in the script, rehearsed, performed, and kept in the final cut that will OUTRIGHT SAYS “she said she dumped your ass, that doesn’t sound like a break.” and max yells “it wasn’t!” :@;$:@/&$:&:??!?! they literally said they’re not endgame. they aren’t endgame.

i KNOW right! Based on the s4 movies I think things are reversed and it’s El who can’t accept they are broken up. A lot of films said to inspire s4 have ex gfs refuse to accept the break up -one even hits on her gay ex-bf ( ‘birdcage’ ). Similar scenario in ‘clueless’ with girl hinting on gay guy who just wants to be friends. Max in s3 having to correct El that Mike is her “ ex boyfriend” and Will saying “that doesn’t sound like a break”. And Max agreeing “it wasn’t!” is foreshadowing they never actually got back together. IT WASN’T A BREAK! But El may not accept this.

It’s similar, to the random telemarketing joke where they had Mike say on the phone “El, sorry not interested “ and hang up . It was foreshadowing.

In the films the exes constantly call . Mike telling El “i’ll call so often you’ll have to turn your walkie off” was also foreshadowing of what Mike will do to her in s4. Since ,he hung up on her in s3 when she called demanding to know where he was at 9:30 in the morning. In ‘swingers’ the guy name mike (whose friends call him ‘gay’) hangs up on his ex gf who wants to get back together . He hangs up on her so he can talk to his new love interest (Will) . Specifically, Hangs up on his ex as she says “I love-“. Then in ‘splash’ he breaks up with his gf on the phone and says “do I love you?well what about you?” To dodge the question (then yells at a family member ease dropping on the other line -Karen). And they break up on the phone. And he tells a friend later he never loved her.

2 movies the ex says they’ll get back together and their new relationships are “just phases” etc ( waynes world, high fidelity, dumb and dumber). Saying they’re still together when they aren’t (wayne’s world). Loads of movies had the crazy ex sabotage new relationships, call constantly, stalk, and flirt despite the exes discomfort and repeatedly saying it’s over (despite the ex not loving them and just be possessive and not wanting them with other people).

The exes are cray in the films (el stalking and never apologizing for spying. And mileven dancing to the song ‘every breath you take’ a song about a stalker ex who doesn’t take no for an answer -after their ex hooks up with their friend, wasn’t a coincidence). Along with El watching ‘days of our lives’ where she mimicked erica who was in a relationship with Mike roy. And it ended messy with one of them sabotaging their new relationship, stalking them, and claiming the stalking victim still loved them. (Although, they eventually accepted that wasn’t true).

El stalked Mike in s2 (all that stuff milevens found romantic- El watching him without him knowing. Mike said he was not ok with it in s3). And in s3 (like the song) she stalks him after their breakup, and when he said not to do that she just says ‘i make my own rules’. I think s4 shows just how ‘un-cute’ this behavior can get.

I’ve already talked about that awkward kiss scene to death. But i think it indicates Mike assumes they’re broken up and el assumes they’re back together.

FIrst he LIED AGAIN (the cause of the breakup)- and pretended he didn’t confess to her at the end of s3. And never said “ I love you’ back! He even tries to take the words back and says about the prior love confession “ “Oh! Oh, yeah that.Man, that was so long ago. Um…” and starts to scratch his head and says everything he said at the cabin was “in the heat of the moment stuff and we were arguing…”

They even frame the scene right before the kiss strangely, making El look larger and imposing, as she approaches. Mike feels cornered (you the viewer subconsciously are supposed to feel claustraphobic/trapped/cornered/stuck along with Mike).

We see him furrow his brows (uncomfortable and confused ) when El initiates the romantic moment, saying “I love you too.”

And cue most awkward kiss in history- where he keeps his eyes open the whole time and doesn’t kiss back. (In Will’s room, mike in front of an open closet, as el holds Will’s s1 bear.)

During the kiss, the song ‘the first i love you ‘played. The only other time they played that song in s3, was when Robin rejects Steve’s romantic confession and she comes out as gay . Interesting choice for that awkward mileven kiss/confession shown later where El says she loves Mike (and mike keeps his eyes open, doesn’t kiss back or return the ‘I love you’). It’s foreshadowing of Mike rejecting El (in the future) cause he’s gay.

We even see El’s reaction first (happy, smiling and giddy). Assuming they’re back together. But then we blur the screen to see Mike’s opposing expression. He looks confused, bewildered and even furrows his brows again.

Then we see El initiating all the romantic stuff outside.El seems to be the one trying to make it romantic- like Mike hugging el and lucas with one arm identically (hand on their upper back), but El caresses his chest.

And as Mike stops the hug El shoves his head into hers (it actually looked like it hurt honestly XD)

the byler centric ending with the Hopper monologue reinforces this theme. Mike while looking at both cars driving away was thinking of Will . They show this by having Mike be sad as Will drives away (alone) twice as Mike sadly watches him leave- this was done to show that he’s actually upset the 2 later times where Will and El leave at the same time -because of Will. I showed it in one of my vids here, at 23:11

When we first see Mike during the Hopper monologue , it continues to pan to only Mike and Will (not El) cause what he says is mostly about them. “I’ve been feeling distant from you. Like you’re pulling away from me or something” (Will does this both figuratively/literally). I miss playing board games every night (d &d)”. Then Mike looks back at the Byers house (he just lingers there and looks back as his friends leave without him) like how Will turned to watch Mike leave and hold hands with El (as the crew go up the hill without Will). “But I know you’re getting older, growing, changing. And I guess, if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change.”

It pans to both of them on “i don’t want things to change’ cause that’s how they both feel. Mike , ‘doesn’t want things things to change’. He doesn’t want their friendship to change as they ‘get older’ because he’d have to and acknowledge his feelings for Will are romantic and if he’s “being honest” that “scares” him (especially in rural 80s conservative-Indiana at the height of the aids epidemic). Why we see Mike trying to act like a adult while dating El, and Will trying to act like a kid- they’re both trying to escape growing up to be gay in different ways. Will reverting to childhood activities and saying he’ll ‘never fall in love’ (after his double date with lumax). And Mike trying to act like “old people’ saying “we’re not kids anymore... what did you expect that we’d never get girlfriends?” Cause he equates straight romance with being an adult and his feelings for Will as something he has to grow out of . Which he learns in the very end isn’t possible.

Right after that scene it switches from Will crying, to Mike entering his house. His face is visibly red from crying and he looks shocked (almost as if he realized something) before he hugs his mom- to mirror the time he thought Will died in s1.

And the dialogue in this scene says “So I think maybe that’s why I came in here, to try and maybe stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were.” He goes back to his mother for comfort, like he did the 1st time he lost Will. But also to reverse back time, to s1, before he realized his feelings for Will are romantic. When things were simple. I think the last episode is when Mike truly realizes he’s been in love with Will this entire time and he can’t fix it and transfer his feelings for Will on to el (something he’s been trying to do all of s3). El said he loved him and he felt nothing-and he was heartbroken over Will leaving (not El). Which is why he just seems almost shocked/numb as he’s processing this fact. This whole scene only showed Mike and Will transitions- el was never there, cause Mike wasn’t upset over her.

In the last ep (in s3) Mike mirrors the scene in s1, hugging his mom, since he feels like he’s losing Will all over again. In s1 the romantic/queer coded lyric from the song ‘We can be heroes’ plays as he hugs his mom “And we kiss as though nothing could fall. And the shame.”. And during the s3 move (‘we can be heroes’) plays again! And David Bowie wrote this song and Jonathan even said to Will in his ‘being a freak is the best speech’ “who would you rather be friends with David bowie (a queer singer) or Kenny Roggers?”

It’s why finn wolfhard after s3 liked this byler pic. cause s3 was all about Will and Mike denying their feelings for each other.

Not to mention,After s1 Finn quoted the Duffers saying Mike thought of El as a “puppy’ (dart) or “et” , and then said Mileven was a “first summer love thing”- foreshadowing mileven’s downfall during the Summer (aka s3). He repeats this “first summer love” phrase 2x. Millie when he mentioned what the duffers said rightfully thought the puppy thing was “awful”, but Finn was clearly told mileven doesn’t last -very early on- and most likely the Duffers told him “it’s like a first summer love thing”.Summer love” by definition fails-as it only lasts during the summer.

#byler #byeler #anti mileven

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ceterisparibus116 · 3 years

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Daredevil scenes / plot points you would have done differently? (I get a suspicion a lot of them have to do with the law stuff, Frank Castle's trial especially. 😉 )

Aaaaa I love this question! Warning: VERY long response:

DEFINITELY the Frank Castle trial. Man, it could’ve been SO GOOD. I have a lot of issues with it, obviously, but the main one is that Matt treating Frank as a hostile witness could’ve been amazing (character-driven, emotionally-charged, also at times hilarious), and we were ROBBED.

I also wish Matt could’ve been involved in more trial prep. The show makes it seem almost like Matt’s skill is limited to courtroom antics, but charisma and the ability to think on your feet in the courtroom mean next to nothing if you haven’t laid a foundation with good legal research and legal writing. I would’ve loved it if the legal plotlines showed us more of that. Like, you know Matt and Karen’s date night in S2 where she helps him come up with witness questions? I would’ve loved it if: a) they’d gotten, like, ANY part of that scene correct from a legal standpoint, and b) if we could’ve gotten MORE. I know that kind of thing might seem boring, but I don’t think it would be. You can really show off characters’ personalities in that kind of environment, and then the audience gets the reward of seeing that hard work pay off at trial.

Speaking of, I know we’ve talked before about S3 splitting everyone up. I still think that could’ve maybe been worth it if we’d gotten a S4 where we could see how everyone learned from how disastrous the S3 isolation was, but without S4, everyone’s isolation in S3 is really unfortunate. I would’ve loved to see Nelson, Murdock, and Page working together for at least half of the season, instead of just the last 3-ish episodes. It would’ve been fascinating to watch, since Matt would still not be in a great headspace, and Karen would still be hurt, and Foggy would be just Trying To Deal with his idiot best friends. (But since we don’t have that, at least we have my S3 canon-divergent retelling thing: Take A Deep Breath – shameless plug.)

I also would’ve generally kept the stakes lower in S2 and S3. I think you agree with me that both seasons would’ve been more powerful if we’d had more lower-level villains. But one of my favorite things about S1 is that we get to know the people who are at stake. Unlike in the Avengers where it’s just “the world” or “New York” or something, S1 showed us a little boy who wanted to go back to his dad, and Elena, and that one juror who was being exploited, and Melvin, and even a bad guy like Vladimir, and they’re ALL sympathetic. We really understand who Matt’s fighting for, but with the exception of Grotto, Jasper Evans, and Julie Barnes, I don’t feel like we really get that in S2 and S3.

Related: our S2 ninjas needed a clearer motivation. (That goes for Defenders, too.) Imo, they needed personal stakes. Fisk’s mission to clean up Hell’s Kitchen was personal. Frank’s mission to take out bad guys was personal. Everything about Elektra was personal. Dex’s desperate attempt to find a place for himself and find people who care about him was VERY personal. But the Hand? Not personal at all.

With Elektra…I’m torn. Part of me really wishes Matt could’ve told her no and maintained his boundaries all along, because a) I hate love-triangle-type drama and drama that could be resolved if people just stopped keeping secrets, and b) it would’ve been so refreshing to see the femme fatal trope subverted, and c) it would’ve given Elektra more agency. That being said…that might be veering too far away from comics canon. Matt is canonically a disaster with relationships, and he and Elektra have this whole…epic…magnetic…thing. I personally would argue that the show isn’t beholden to the canon in this specific way, but I can see how people would be upset if Matt and Elektra hadn’t turned out the way they did in S2.

I would’ve liked Marci to have a smidge more character development. She was so sweet and supportive in S3and I don’t…quite…know where that came from? Oh, well.

Speaking of character development: I wish Matt and Foggy could’ve had some real conversations. Aside from when Foggy found Matt at the gym in S1 and they talked about moving forward, I don’t feel like they had deep conversations that weren’t arguments. Matt’s S3 apology is good, but I would’ve loved to see Foggy apologize for how he contributed to the problems in their friendship. I also wish we could’ve seen Foggy explicitly thank Matt for, y’know…SAVING HIS LIFE.

As for Karen, I wish her revelation scene to Matt had been more about HER. It says a lot about how selfless she is that she used her own pain to try to convince Matt not to kill Fisk. But even though I know Matt’s super depressed and everything, I would’ve loved to see him put his own angsty issues aside for a sec and just be there for his friend and the woman he loves. Even the fact that she is the one who crosses the room to be close to him is telling; he should’ve gone over to her when she started crying and been there for her.

Although if I’m talking about Matt’s romantic relationships, I wouldn’t have minded if the show went a Clairedevil route. Although that would require A LOT. I do wish, if I’m being really fanciful, that we could’ve seen Claire in S3. Or, at minimum, seen Matt and Claire interact in Defenders.

FATHER LANTOM TELLING MATT THAT GUILT IS A SIGN THAT HIS WORK IS NOT DONE. I cannot with that scene. I love Father Lantom, but that? Really? I mean, I get it. That’s a common way that Catholic doctrine is interpreted, and it’s what Matt basically wants to hear anyway, but it is SUCH a dangerous thing to tell Matt (and I feel like Father Lantom should’ve known that???) and it’s also, as I understand it, not even the technically correct Catholic interpretation of guilt. Like, that’s literally not what guilt is or how it’s supposed to work. (Although who knows. I’m not Catholic, and as I understand it, Catholics themselves vary a lot in their interpretations of doctrine. So idk.) If I were writing that scene, I would definitely not have written Father Lantom to say that.

On the religious theme, I wish S3 had circled back to Matt’s original objections related to the book of Job. He gets quite a few things wrong in his recap, and I’m not sure if Maggie didn’t correct him because she didn’t know better, or because she didn’t think a Biblical literacy lecture was what he needed at the moment, OR because the writers couldn’t be bothered to read the book. (In fairness…it’s a long and complicated book. But they couldn’t have been bothered to read a commentary on it?) I wish S3 had not stopped at giving Matt an abstract tapestry analogy to heal his faith when it also should’ve addressed his specific complaints.

I wish we’d had more time to see Matt and Maggie repair their relationship, or start to. And I wish she’d hugged him at Literally Any Point.

I wish the whole Matt-hallucinating thing had been clearer. Was he actually hallucinating? Or was that just his internal monologue manifested through other characters? If he was hallucinating, did he just...stop? Is he not freaked out about that? What was going on????

Oh, and if only they could’ve gotten Dex’s psychological diagnosis right.

Other than that, there are a couple scenes that I feel like drag on way too long (S3 especially has an odd amount of monologues that generally strike me as OOC anyway—except with Fisk; he’s just Like That) but I don’t want to go into all of them. It would be hypocritical, given how long this reply is. :P

So yeah, I think I’ll stop there, although I’m sure there’s more, haha. Thank you again for the ask and the excuse to ramble about Daredevil! I look forward to your thoughts as well.

#daredevil #daredevil meta

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podcastlimbo · 3 years

Text

My honest honest opinion on second citadel season 3

Uhhhh... short answer? I didn’t like it much.

Okay wait before I go on to my long answer I need to say that this is all just my opinion and it’s all subjective. If you liked sc season 3 that’s awesome! I get why you do and I’m glad you enjoyed it!

But I really wasn’t a fan of where they went with it (even from episode 1), and I’m gonna go on a long rambly and repetitive rant about it.

I’m not gonna talk about the way the season ended and the setup for s4 because I haven’t fully formed my opinion about that - to form my opinion means to relisten to the season and i don’t really feel like doing that.

Anyways, these are my unfiltered 2am thoughts about the Rest Of It - maybe I’ll neaten it up later to make it more palatable but for now it’s wordy n messy and you can just. Not read it bc it’ll probably make you mad, or feel free to pick it apart and tell me I’m wrong, or unfollow me (and at least one person has already done so lmao) but like that won’t change the fact that I just wasn’t feeling s3 so uh. That said.

Long answer? I love the second citadel... at least the first two seasons

I love the world building, how the setting is such a unique, deliberate step away from eurocentric fantasy, how refreshing all that is! The Second Citadel (the place) is rich with culture and history from the brief glimpses we get of it (mostly in knight of the crown). Not to mention the monster society, with its own rules (or lack thereof) and environments and personalities.

I love the storytelling, how different mediums are woven into the way each episode is formatted. Rilla has her tape recorder, Damien his prayers, Caroline her letters, and each medium is so well suited to each character, and it truly lets us get a glimpse of what’s going on in their minds, and I find it utterly fascinating how a protagonist of one story could just as easily become an antagonist (or at least, an annoyance) in another

And the characters! Each one so compelling, with their own goals and motivations, their own intriguing backstories and potential.

Most importantly, the way these characters play off of each other is what makes second citadel amazing. Getting to see people with similar experiences but different world views clash (Caroline and Mira), people with fundamentally different beliefs reconcile and meet in the middle (rilla and arum), just, Kabert created so many interesting characters, and watching them bounce off one another is a joy.

And that’s what made season 2 so great for me. The exploration of each character, getting to see their good sides and bad, through either a medium tailored for them, or through interactions with others, as they explored a fascinating world.

The end of season 2 left me so satisfied, but still with so many questions and excitement about what was to come. I wanted to see Talfryn come into his own and step out of his brothers shadow. I wanted to see Damien, Arum and Rilla navigating their new relationship. I wanted to know more of the fate of Rilla’s parents, Damien’s past, the consequences Arum would surely face after defying the monster court. I wanted Marc to finally be recognized by his fellow knights, to watch as Caroline lead the journeymen knights, while learning to trust in others as she was beginning to do. I wanted Angelo continuing to unlearn the implicit biases that had been instilled in him as a result of his upbringing, or more details on Caroline and Quanyii’s relationship. I was also curious!! How would human and monster relations change after the events of the finale? And would we learn more of the past, when humans and monsters lived together in peace?

I was buzzing with excitement for season 3, and then.. it came, it aired, and then it went.

And I felt... meh?

Don’t get me wrong. There were moments that I liked. Some of what I hoped to see did happen (see the above paragraph lmao), getting a glimpse of the western wastes with its own culture a joy. The dynamics between Olala and some of the characters were really fun! And the direction the story took at the end was one I didn’t expect, but left me open to more.

That said,,, everything else about the season just. Didnt gel with me.

Everything I loved about second citadel pretty much wasn’t there??? Aside from Caroline, Angelo and Quanyii, all the characters they spent so much time introducing to us and fleshing out over 2 seasons were just relegated to the side??

I think my main problem with season 3 was that it felt like a completely different show. Characters introduced as part of an ensemble became side characters in (what was supposed to be) their own stories. Character arcs that got set up were dropped, and mysteries/backstories teased were forgotten. Heck, the monster court and senate wasn’t even brought up! The aftermath of the fear bugs attack ont the citadel went unexplored! It’s like nothing in the past season even happened!

And I’m sorry I gotta say this, but the problem is Olala.

I mean. Okay I don’t wanna be super mean- she’s perfectly fine as a character. We root for her, we cry when she cries, and we cheer when she wins the day.

But since all the episodes were centered around her, we didn’t get to see anyone else’s inner worlds. And like okay, yes, they did it for this season of Juno Steel too, where Juno, the previous POV a character for 2 seasons, became a part of an ensemble, and was a side character for many episodes. But this choice worked for Juno and not Second Citadel, because it was a natural progression for his story! We spent 2 seasons exploring Juno’s character, his backstory, his motivations, we saw him come to terms with his family history, grow and change as a person, and by the time he joined the Carte Blanche, we’d gotten to a point with Junos story where we’re okay to step away for a while, and see events through the lens of others.

But that just?? Doesn’t work in second citadel? Because unlike Juno, the characters introduced in s1-2 are virtually unexplored! There’s still so much about their stories we don’t know, and so many ways for them to progress.

But we didn’t get any of that! Stuff established in s1-2 barely got payoff in this season. Characters stagnated, and when previously it was amazing to watch them interact with each other? Having each episode throw different combinations of characters together and seeing how they clashed and came together? Yeah we didn’t get that, it was all the same characters bouncing off of Olala, which is fine at first, but honestly? After the first couple episodes, it got stale.

And remember how before, we would get to see the characters tell their story through a medium suited for them? Well I noticed that the format of this season was a lot moreee audio drama-y (basically a TV show but with no visuals) and while there’s nothing wrong with that, one of SC’s strengths was in using the medium in unique ways, presenting the episodes in unique formats depending on the POV character. And with the exception of a few moments, the season really lacked that!

I know there were episodes in s1-2, like caves of discord and the Janus beast which didnt follow that format, but I think it’s a fan consensus that the episodes that do (moonlit hermit, KOTC lots, lady of the lake) are favourites, because they fully embraced the advantages and limitations those framing devices offered, and were truly perfect for character exploration.

It’s like. Idk. Imagine wolf 359 s3 where the si5 were introduced, and there was like 1-2 episodes of them interacting with the rest of our cast, but then after that the rest of the season just completely focuses on Eiffel and the new characters, and everyone else just disappears n twiddles their thumbs and doesn’t even do anything during the finale. That’s what happened this season, and that’s the kinda weird vibe I’m talking about.

Since I’m already rambling, I might as well just say some more stuff. I was disappointed with the music this season. I can tell Ryan Vibert was trying to figure a way to make SC sound different from Juno, and he was getting there in s1-2! The pieces that stand out now are the soft, acoustic guitar pieces, like Rillas song, or the lone melody line of the guitar in the SC theme. I thought he was getting it with s3e1, when Marc fought the dinosaur while traditional Japanese instruments were playing!! But then for the rest of the season, it was just samey echoey ambient electric guitar, like how it is for Juno. There could’ve been so much potential to give this world its own musical identity, but in the end, that attempt was dropped (at least that’s how it come off to me), just like so many other elements introduced in s1-2!

I’ve gotten this far in my rant, and I haven’t even talked about the story. And the story is. Hmmmmm

Like. It’s completely serviceable? Kabert are good at what they do so the story is a okay I guess? But to be completely honest, the characters and story were so tied together in previous seasons, so much so that in this season, even though the plot was just fine, it stayed just that. Fine. it always felt like there was something missing because the characters were the story, and to have just. So many holes in that department meant that the story itself was fundamentally empty.

Anyways uh. All of this is to say that this all boils down to character. I had my nits to pick with other elements but the fact that Rilla, Arum, Damien, Marc and Talfryn got completely sidelined (Tal most of all) when so much of the previous seasons were spent setting them up- in favour of a completely new storyline featuring new characters and settings when there was still so! Much! Left! Unfinished! From unfulfilled arcs to dynamics left untapped, and creative potential lost, the essence of the show was watered down and it left me with the intense feeling of

Idk. Season 3 felt like a completely different show. I liked s1, I loved a2, but s3 just. isnt second citadel for me. I’ll probably still listen to the next season out of loyalty, but I don’t think I’ll ever feel as passionately about the shows future as I do it’s precious seasons, especially if they continue this way.

Sorry.

#wow thanks for reading all that if you made to to the bottom #I’ve been sitting on these thoughts for a while but I couldn’t sleep last night bc Thoughts so here #I feel like I’m swinging a bat at a hornets nest even though I’m not putting this in the fandom tags ah well #and uhh I guess it’s okay to reblog this??#my posts

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dathen · 4 years

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(162 spoilers) one thing i love about TMA is how it doesn't FORGET things. Like, the Tim and Sasha stuff is a prime example, but even in S4 i think, jon started discussing jane prentiss a lot? And i think how a lot of tv shows would never in S4 mention stuff that happened in S1, or in S5 mention a character (Sasha) who hadn't appeared since S2. It's just really refreshing

YES. This hit me so hard during my relisten, as stuff from S4 was fresh in my mind that I didn’t realize was seeded in S1, but man it is just going off the charts with S5.

Sometimes it’s a little tricky trying to get it all to line up–like I spent the last day trying to reconcile the idea that Tim knows about Martin’s CV despite them working in different departments and “If they find out I’ve been lying to them” in the letter–but for major emotional beats, themes, and character arcs, it does SO WELL.

Hell, they had to write out a character in the first season due to casting difficulties, and three seasons and an apocalypse later they’re still making her story-relevant and making sure everyone’s crying over it. That is some good fucking writing.

#tma spoilers #I am so sorry to everyone who had to listen to me ramble and theoriez for like seven hours yesterday #trying to iron out timelines and possible explanations for the CV thing #tbh I'm chalking it up to a 'oops I forgot dekker was religious' moment cause stuff like that happens and it's okay

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andiwriteordie · 1 year

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hi im back bc i have more songs and also bc that mike song was so good what the hell, you always have the perfect songs for everyone how do you do that 😭 the line about wanting to back to the basement with friends....im okay im okay 😭😭

okay so i was listening to a Different of monsters and men album on my way to work this morning and kept getting schmacked with st relatable songs so! the first song is this which was giving me STRONG mike and max vibes. the theme of "im always fucking up and im sorry im sorry im sorry i wish i could take it all back" but still holding onto their heart??? YEAH. the song applies in different ways to them too, where mike has been mean and unintentionally (and intentionally) cruel to will and el and even lucas, but also where max has all this guilt and shame and pulls away from all her friends, i feel like she'd have even more guilt after s4, like all of this is her fault bc she didnt open up, and also bc she kept pushing lucas away and hurting him. :(

the second song is a WILL BYERS TM song, it's so s2 coded when he's slowly getting posessed by the mindflayer. i love that you can also look at it as a s5 concept where he gains control or works with the mindflayer too! the song fits so perfectly in such a poetic way im actually obsessed. like how its growing colder, how its surrounding him and isolating him, and how he sees himself through someone else! AHHHH

okay final song (for now lol) feels like an El song!! It doesn't have a whole lot of lyrics but there's so much in the subtext and especially with the instrumentals that build and build throughout the song (i seriously love this song it makes me go nuts you have to Listen to this one to rly get what i mean!!). You could also argue it as a willel song but personally I find it such an El song 🥺 the thousand eyes of her dead siblings, of papa, of all her friends, of the government agents that want to kill/use her, etc. just being watched and waited on and always a spectacle in some way, but still finding that strength inside her to fight back against everyone trying to hurt and use her. I could even see the lyrics describing the abuse she went through, her remaking, to use her powers for their own benefits and hunt Henry down...man. the "undo this storm" to "i am the storm"?? WOOF.

anyway thats all I have for you today!! btw im so glad you get so much joy out of our interactions ur gonna make me cry 🥺😭 theres nothing like bonding over music that just fits the blorbos so perfectly djcksjxks

emmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaa (i wanted to actually type emmugghhhhhh because that is the pathetic little sound i'm making because these songs are killing me)!!!

organs:

excuse me what is WRONG WITH YOU? this line is right here? it's so max and mike coded: So I take off my face because it reminds me of how it all went wrong. i have this mike fic that i'm writing (sorta. i'm taking a break from it right now lol) that this is reminding me of so much.

also though this song is giving me such will vibes as well! and actually just byler vibes, and i think it's because of this section right here.

So I take off my face

Because it reminds me of how it all went wrong

(a mike line because i just think he has such a negative sense of self-perception, and this section reminds of mirror imagery for some reason so it ALSO then reminds me of the depressing scene with will at the end of s1 in his bathroom and having a moment where he's staring in the mirror.)

And I pull out my tongue

Because it reminds me of how it all went wrong

(mike lines. mike regretting the harmful things he's said to so many people and the guilt just eating him up!!!)

And I cough up my lungs

Because they remind me of how it all went wrong

(now this right here are a couple of will lines!!! i was talking about something unrelated with /messrsbyler and kinda stumbling into imagery with breathing and how that ties into the ways vecna has harmed will - i.e. the vine, the mind flayer entering through his mouth and eyes and ears, and then will 2x describes the feeling of the mind flayer as making him unable to breathe? yeah all of this just like is giving me so many feels.)

And I leave in my heart

Because I don't want to stay in the dark

(and this right here. i leave in my heart is will right now as of s4, because mike is his heart. he holds on close to mike and refuses to let go, even in all the turmoil of their friendship, because he recognizes that mike is his light if we wanna use max's metaphor!! and obviously we're gonna see mike realize will is heart too and that will is his light and he's going to come out of the darkness of his shame and insecurity and guilt and DAMN IT I AM SO EMOTIONAL AND THIS IS ONLY SONG 1.)

black water:

oh okay. emma get out of my house right now. unfriended. what is WRONG WITH YOU? HUH? WAS THAT NECESSARY? WAS IT?

the rain imagery? (*cries in castle byers*) i see myself through someone else? (*cries in will losing his autonomy and control over self in s2*) also just like the lines about it becoming colder wtf wtf wtf why is this so will i'm upset now

this is also fuel for my avatar/stranger things brain rot so THANKS FOR THAT?

thousand eyes:

excuse me you were so sick for this

Flowers that lose their shape

I lie awake and watch it all

there's just. such a melancholy and a heaviness to this song. which just hurts me even more because then i think about how all el wants is just to be a normal teenage girl. she just wants to go to the mall and spend time with her best friends. and this song just screams to me like, "no, i know what i have to be for everyone else, and i feel the heaviness and the ache of that" which is so so el. i love this. and just like how the song builds in intensity mirroring how much pressure is placed on her as the storyline grows and grows? GAH I CAN'T. also literally yes to EVERYTHING YOU SAID IT'S SO SO GOOD.

also YES I'M SO GLAD THAT WE DO THIS. THERE'S NOTHING BETTER THAN FINDING NEW BLORBO MUSIC AND SHARING IT WITH PEOPLE!!!

may i offer you an el song in return? i have so so so many thoughts on this song so i want to hear all of yours!!!!

#andi's asks #emma and andi's playlist #<- new tag! everyone cheered

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