#season 1 where they needed the f-bomb
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Jesse: That’s why we needed an expert.
Soren: Oh really? Who did you get?
Jesse: …
Soren: Oh right.. That’s me.
#incorrect quotes#mcsm jesse#mcsm soren#season 1 where they needed the f-bomb#haha f-bomb#source: tumblr#mcsm incorrect quotes
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Reason’s why I gradually started to hate Stolas from Helluva Boss
So some time ago there was a friend that asked me why I hated Stolas so much. At that time, I couldn’t think of a valid reason, mostly because it was just very few reasons. To them, those reasons weren’t valid enough. This was back when episode 2 season 1 was uploaded, but now that we’re already in season two and we’re about to get our 4th episode, HB has now given me PLENTY of reasons to despise Stolas and call him a bad character. So allow me to make a list. I can go from the first to the latest episode;
EP 1 S1, Murder Family
-- Stolas was watching Blitzo in a scuffle through his bath bubbles, which means he knew Blitzo was in danger, but still decided on calling him at the worst time! “Oh, when isn’t it a bad time, Blitzy~~~?” Umm, I dunno.... Maybe when some crazy psychopath is NOT chasing him with a gun!!! Did he even consider that he would’ve gotten Blitzo killed, and all just to make some stupid deal??? And besides, from what I’ve seen in episode 6 (which I’ll get into later) Stolas was so upset that Blitzo and the rest of IMP got caught by humans, he dropped an f-bomb. And now looking back in ep 1, he doesn’t even seem to care when Blitzo is chased by humans. If getting in trouble on earth like that is such a big deal, why couldn’t Stolas just wait to talk with Blitzo until after his job was done?
-- Speaking of said deal, Stolas agreed that he would let Blitzo keep the book in exchange for taking it back to take care of whatever was necessary and agreeing to spend one night each month having sex with him.
Alright, there are two things wrong with this. So, first off... Stolas decided on making a deal like this while seemingly knowing fully well Blitzo didn’t want anything to do with him. He knows how uncomfortable Blitzo is around him, about how disgusted and disturbed he is by his flirting but will still make Blitzo agree to this deal because he’s just that horny for him, regardless of how creeped out Blitzo’s is. And he knows Blitzo didn’t have much of a choice in that moment because, well he’s stuck in a predicament while on the phone with Stolas. I guess he might as well just go ahead and make it a deal so he could get the call over with (Or just frikin hang up on him). And also because Blitzo really needs the book to make it to the living world to finish his job.
.....And we’re supposed to believe Stolas actually “cares” for Blitzo?
And here’s the second problem; Looking back on it, this deal is completely pointless now!!! As it turns out, the grimoire isn’t the only access to the living world. In episode 1 of season 2, it’s revealed that there are magical crystals that demons could use to appear on earth anytime and any place they want. So in a way, Blitzo DID have a choice. He could’ve used those Asmodean crystals to go to the living world to continue his business. And sure, maybe it wouldn’t be that easy for him to get his hands on one. But even if that were the case, why not hire someone who does have Asmodean crystals?? Like - I dunno... a succubi perhaps???
Heh! No wonder Verosika and her peers we’re able to travel to earth so easily. Asmodean crystals are willingly given to succubi, which means that they also can go to Earth anytime they want with no issue. Blitzo could’ve at least just hired a succubus or something to help him have access to the living world. Why not do that, instead of having to agree to this deal where you have to have to continuously give the book back and get laid on the same night with a horned-up demon prince, especially when you don’t want to, which would only make your job harder than easier???
(And before some of you bring this up if you’re gonna, I know Blitzo has no room to feel uncomfortable with Stolas making advances towards him since that was kinda his fault. HE was the one that came onto him and decided to go through with sleeping with him outta pity. Even if it was to just to distract him so he could steal the book and leave, he still did it. And now that it happened, he has Stolas continuously flirting with him. I only brought up that Blitzo was feeling uncomfortable about it because that’s what the show made it seem like to us at that time. It wasn’t even hinted that Blitzo was the first to make a move. They just totally retconned that fact. I’m only just stating these based off of how I saw it at the time the episodes were aired.)
My whole point about this is, Stolas is pretty much taking advantage of Blitzo, manipulating him into agreeing to this deal, knowing full well that Blitzo (kinda) doesn’t have any choice in the matter since it would cost him to keep his business going and Stolas could drop this deal and never let Blitzo keep the book.
-- Calling Blitzo “My little Imp”. It’s not cute...
-- Him describing how he’ll screw Blitzo (eg. every time his words are bleeped out). This was supposed to be comedic, and while I did smile slightly the first time it happened, all it did was make me feel awkward and disturbed. Those were just the start of my disdain for Stolas. Believe me, it doesn’t end there. So, moving on....
EP 2 S1, Loo Loo Land
-- “I can not believe you slept with an imp! IN OUR F*CKING BED!!!”
“It was unexpected! I didn’t have time to book for a motel.”
Dude - what do you mean it was unexpected? That makes no sense, especially now that we learned you invited Blitzo into your room instead of having him kicked out. Even when he tried to make advances toward you, you still could’ve prevented that from happening. You had the full authority to make him stop and kick him out. I don’t care how drunk you were when it happen. And you didn’t have time for a motel?? More like you weren’t planning on it!! And besides, you’re a demon prince!! I’m pretty sure you could’ve opened up a portal to teleport into another location when you wanted. All this man is doing making excuses to cover his feathers and they’re not even valid!!
-- Stolas, as I may have established more than a few times already, is a terrible father!! There are a few reasons for this, but one of them being that he doesn’t listen to his daughter. And it’s almost sad, because he’s actually trying to bond with her (sorta). He suggested that he and Octavia go to Loo Loo Land because she liked it when she was a kid. But she’s 17 and doesn’t really care for that anymore, so she tells him no. But he still insists on taking her there, not even hearing her out!
“Let’s go to Loo Loo Land!”
“I’d rather kill myself.”
“That’s the spirit, anything better than staying in this house. Let’s go!”
It’s like he completely brushed off what she was telling him!! I don’t know if this was just for comedic effect or not, but this would count as a good example of Stolas being a bad father as he doesn’t listen to his daughter and is inconsiderate of her feelings.
-- Notices that his imp butler is injured (due to Stella’s rage) and doesn’t even bat an eye at it. Once again, probably for comedic effect, but this just goes to show how non-caring Stolas is of the imp race. The only reason why Blitzo is an exception is because he’s good at sex.
-- Didn’t Stolas just say, “Why don’t we go to Loo Loo Land? Just the TWO OF US?” Which would only imply that he intended to spend some time only with his daughter and nobody else?? Well, he just lied straight to her face!
-- The so-called Demon Prince wants to arrange for security for him and his daughter. He knows damn well he don’t need no security, but Blitzo is the one he decides to call for this arrangement. I think we all know why he really called him specifically.
-- “We’re rich and our hot.”
Referring to your 17-year-old daughter as “hot”. Can’t leave that outta my Stolas sh*t list. Not really something you should say in front of her. Or especially about her.
-- “I’m going to call the only man who can f*ck me.”
“Hello my big-d*cked Blitzy~~”
Again, not something you should say in front of your daughter!!!
-- Y’all I can’t stress this enough, but this is one of his main issues. The whole time he’s supposed to be spending time with Octavia and putting his attention on her, he’s flirting with Blitzo. Making sexual remarks at him, touching him, trying to get his attention while he’s working, “Blitzy” this, “Blitzy” that, “Blitzy” blah blah blah. Not only is he hardly paying attention to her, he’s doing all of this IN FRONT OF HER!! Not even noticing her grudging reactions or bitter behavior! It’s like he thinks she’s totally okay with her father being a flirt in public, especially with the man he cheated with on her mother.
-- Stolas can’t tell the difference between tears of joy and tears of terror with his daughter’s reaction to Robo Fizz.
-- Is saved by Moxxie and Millie, even though he didn’t need to be, and expects to be body-guarded like he’s a damsel in distress.
-- “Where’s Blitzy? He’s my night and shining armor! Not you... little-o ones!”
Bro-? Shut up and go find your daughter!
-- Doesn’t realize Octavia is feeling bad until she’s crying about it.
-- Makes excuses for his actions, but the show is gonna go ahead and make Octavia forgive him and just be worried about him leaving her so we could be okay with his actions and move on.
-- Decides now he wants to go ahead to turn somebody into stone even though he could’ve done it with a flick of a wrist tons of times before. I know he invited Blitzo to be his bodyguard and he was already doing most of the work, but he only invited him just to have him around and be a flirt like he always is. He really didn’t care about Blitzo protecting him. So yeah, he still could’ve protected himself and his daughter at least once before now.
Ep 5 S1, Harvest Moon Festival
-- Father of the Year here is gonna go right back to continuing his affair with Blitzo!!! That whole conversation between him and his daughter was just in one ear and out the other because the writers are just so desperate to want this ship to happen. And we just HAVE to have fanservice.
-- “My Grimoire shouldn’t be lent out to itty bitty imps, like yourself.”
Then maybe you could... I dunno... Drop the deal and stop exchanging the book????
He mentions that his grimoire is oh so important as if it shouldn’t be in the hands of just anyone, but has no problem willingly giving it Blitzo because he’s just that down and dirty. What does he even need that book for anyway??? We rarely see him use it!! When he does have it, he’s mostly just holding it... and that’s it. And we only see him use it for magic that one time at the festival. He doesn’t read it or even study it. If this book is so valuable to you sir, then ACT LIKE IT!! He could’ve used it as a study guide for Octavia, who’s supposed to be the next heir to the throne. If he’s not even gonna use it for himself, he could teach his daughter how to use it or cast spells with it. And no - a stupid Instagram post is NOT gonna cut it (especially when it’s not even canon).
-- Uses Blitzo’s horns to put out a cigar.... not cool.
-- Stolas invites Blitzo to the harvest moon festival for no reason other than to see him there and flirt with him. He says that it will be fun, as if the last time he invited Blitzo somewhere with him was a blast, but nobody was having fun but him. And the whole idea was for him to spend time with his frikin daughter!!
-- The whole time Stolas is talking to Blitzo, it doesn’t even seem like he’s flirting or being cute with him. He’s more or less just mocking him. (eg. pinching his cheeks and using his horns to put out a cigar.) Seriously, why does everyone act like this character is such a saint and is just as sweet as Charlie from hazbin?? He’s frikin awful!! He doesn’t care in the slightest about imps! He’s not even nice to Moxxie or Millie and he hires imps as his servants/slaves.
-- Don’t get me wrong, if y’all wanna love Stolas, then by all means, frikin ADORE HIM!! I don’t want to offend or insult anybody who does like him. But there is no way you can look passed all the bullsh*t he pulls and just act like he’s so sweet. Viv says that Stolas is flawed and is trying to get better and that’s how we’re supposed to see it. But all I see is a character being a selfish douche and staying a selfish douche while acting like the victim of a heinous crime and trying too hard to make us feel bad for him simply by “caring” about his daughter even though he neglects her and pretending he genuinely loved Blitzo all along and simply wants love from him too, even when he doesn’t deserve it because all he ever did was manipulate him and take advantage of him, seeing him as a sex toy and not a person with feelings! And what pisses me off about this is that he rarely gets reprimanded for his actions. When he does, he’ll start crying while feeling bad for himself and the show tries to make us feel bad for him. What’s worse about this is that he never learns either!! For real though, no matter how bad Stolas’s character is, most people in the fandom won’t even take the time to realize it or will probably look past it, as long as Stolas gets his happy ending with Blitzo. Like I said, I don’t wanna offend anyone, but if y’all think the relationship is anything along the lines of healthy or innocent, then your definition of love must be twisted.
-- “I hereby welcome you all to another year of celebrating the spoils of your labor.”
I’m not gonna hear this from a dude who uses his imp servant as a stress ball.
-- Lol! Bro just keeps stealing the microphone from Wally and interrupting him.
-- He reads a book about how to f*ck imps at dinner while his daughter is still at the table. And no, it doesn’t matter if she didn’t notice, it’s still not very appropriate.
Ep 6 S1, Truth Seekers
-- Stolas only had like less than a few seconds of screen time. He might as well not even show up.
-- Jumps in to save Blitzo and the others. That’s good, but then he adds on “My Impish little plaything” Reminding us that he sees Blitzo as a sex toy.
-- “Are you little creatures not being careful. If you get in trouble, then I get in trouble! We don’t want that, do we?”
Then maybe you shouldn’t have waited until the last minute to save them???? I mean - we all know you we’re watching Blitzo the entire time like a damn stalker. And besides, YOU’RE the one who agreed to lend them the book. If you’re so worried about them getting in trouble, then you could just FORGET about the deal so they could figure out another way to travel to earth, they could get in trouble on their own, and it wouldn’t be your problem anymore! And if you were just gonna get that irritable about it, why didn’t you jump in to try and save Blitzo the first time he almost got killed on earth.
-- Why doesn’t he go ahead and kill the agents?? Why would he let them live?? Since you don’t want to get in trouble so badly, wouldn’t it be necessary for you to kill them. I didn’t think that DEMON PRINCE would be this big of a softie.
-- Bro uses his hands to open up a portal..... (why does he need his book again?)
-- Expected a “thank you” from Blitzo for saving him. This dude’s life was in jeopardy just now, and you’re asking for sex? Very appropriate of you sir. And why is Blitzo reciprocating this lust for him all of a sudden??? The entire season, all he’s ever done was reject Stolas, back-talking him, and showing him attitude. He responded to his constant flirtatious remarks with disgust. He didn’t even like him and was uncomfortable with the idea of sleeping with him just to keep the book. And now he’s suddenly getting turned on??
Obviously, this scene was only written in this episode by Viv as an excuse for more Stolitz fanservice.
EP 7 S1, Ozzies
-- Stolas is feeling all sad and lonely, watching some corny soap opera while relating to the fact that the guy he has feelings doesn’t love him back...... Honey, ask me if I care. Blitzo would always tell you to f*ck off and you would respond with giggles and mockery. You should already know how uncomfortable he feels about you and most of the time, you don’t even care. What’s with the sudden depression??
-- Speaking of that, why does he suddenly have genuine feelings for Blitzo anyway?? You can’t tell me that he’s just now starting to love him out of the blue. You can’t even tell me he loved him at all this entire time!! The only emotion he’s ever had about Blitzo was nothing but pure lust!! He simply just wanted his d*ck. Not to mention he would look down on him like he does all the other imps.
-- The whole time during their date, Stolas is trying to converse with Blitzo, which is honestly surprising since the only time he ever talks to him is when he’s being a flirt and harassing him. You’d think I’d actually applaud him for that, except I can’t. Cuz, once again, where did this come from??? We didn’t get to see no type of development with Stolas at all. We didn’t get any episode of him slowly progressing to fall in love with Blitzo. Just more lust talk getting turned on.
-- How did Stolas not realize Asmodeus owned Ozzie’s? I think the title on it’s own should’ve implied as much. And besides, he should know that Asmodeus is a demon that represents lust and they’re in the lust ring.
-- Stolas sees Blitzo is pretty much getting laughed at and humiliated during the whole musical number and does nothing about it. Well, Blitzo kinda had it coming for not keeping his mouth shut and also spying on Moxxie and Millie, but I’m just proving a point that Stolas doesn’t even care about Blitzo like we’re supposed to think. He even hides behind his menu after getting called out by Asmodeus. We are supposed to feel bad for him here right?? Because the writers are just showing me he doesn’t deserve it.
-- While we’re on that subject, why is he hiding behind his menu? Why is he feeling embarrassed about being seen with Blitzo and Ozzie telling everyone his business about it?? This was NOT the only time he was seen in public with Blitzo!! There was episode 2 at Loo Loo Land and episode 5 at the festival, and he openly flirted with Blitzo in public in BOTH of those episodes!!! Hell, he was holding Blitzo’s hand in front of that guard and the other demons waiting in line!! He was sitting at a table in the open where one or two people could’ve taken a glance at him talking to Blitzo!!! He has NO RIGHT to feel humiliated about getting laid with him!
-- Trying his best to comfort Blitzo by holding his hand, talking to him, and inviting him in his home. He thinks that now would be the best time to cuddle with him after he tried to hide away from being seen with Blitzo. I don’t care what none of the fans say, Blitzo had every right to turn down Stolas and call him out on his bullsh*t. Most fans would say something like “NOO BLITZO!! DON’T BE LIKE THAT!!! STOLAS DOES CARE!! HE DOES LOVE YOU!!” Where the hell was this “love” you speak of the first few episodes these two were seen together??? No amount of cute nicknames, flirtatious remarks, and nightstands are ever going to sell the fact Stolas loved Blitzo.
-- He sits on his porch and starts to cry. We’re meant to feel bad and pity him, but all I’m doing is rolling my eyes.
EP 1 S2, The Circus
-- I don’t care how cute, uwu, or innocent they try to make little Stolas. Nothing in the world is ever going to make me change how I feel about him. He could be under three years old. Viv is pretty much just trying to force cutesy wutsey stuff onto the audience so we could side with Stolas and feel bad for him. All the writers are trying to do at this point is make excuses for his actions and use this whole episode to say Stolas had every right to cheat on Stella and that he actually really loved Blitzo when he really didn’t.
-- It makes no sense that Blitzo and Stolas are around the same age anyway. I don’t fully understand how the whole age and birth thing works with demons in hell, but first off, Blitzo was initially supposed to be in his twenties, meanwhile, Stolas has lived for a LONG A** TIME. Like he was probably born in 4000 BC. He still would’ve been an adult even before the time Blitzo was born. But now they retconned it to Stolas being the same age as Blitzo and them meeting as children just so Viv could force this ship to happen.
-- No way in hell he fell in love with Blitzo at first sight. Viv and writers are really trying too hard to make this childhood friendship cute.
-- Goes along with Blitzo’s game to steal everything in the mansion and completely falls for his trick (did he ever get grounded for that?).
-- Instead of having Blitzo kicked out because he should be nothing but a stranger to him at this point, he instead invites him to his room so the two can... catch up. Did Stolas ever find out about what Blitzo did when they were children?? If so, then why are you even being nice to this guy?? You cannot be that down and dirty for him.
-- It has been frikin TWENTY-FIVE YEARS since the last time these two have seen each other. Why’re they talkin’ like they’re old friends? They had that one playdate and never saw each other ever again. If anything, I don’t even think they should remember each other.
-- “I know it’s been a long time, but I have a very good memory.”
“What are you doing? I don’t even remember you’re name.”
“Wait, didn’t your name end in an “O”? I remember...”
Oh my god- DO YOU REMEMBER HIM OR NOT!!!???
-- We jump into this softcore scene way too fast. Kinda goes to show you how rushed this show is.
-- For a demon so powerful with standards, he seems to have no problem being submissive and letting Blitzo seduce him. Stolas is shown to be uncomfortable, continuously walking away from Blitzo when he's pursued and I'm sitting here like....you could just...stop him. Why do you keep running away from him when you can throw him out the window?? He's acting like some shy teenage girl who's about to have sex for the first time but secretly craves it and I couldn't help but cringe!! And the first time he did it was with his wife, which apparently wasn't as good. Like I said, I really don't care how drunk he was at that time. He is such an idiot.
-- These two haven’t seen or talked to each other in over twenty years, but suddenly this kinky owl is all for sleeping with him because he’s drunk and got bit in the neck.
-- “It means so much that the one who wants me is my first-ever friend~~~”
First off, ew.... Second off, you two were never friends. You met him once, had that one playdate, and never saw each other again until now in your thirties.
-- Back in the second episode of the first season, when Stella found out about the affair, she confronted him about it and he tried to appease her and being submissive, saying that what happened with Blitzo was unexpected and making excuses, all the while being a little nervous at her rage. But in THIS episode, Stolas has the balls to rub it in Stella’s face and laugh, marking the affair as the first action of the divorce.
-- Even though he brought up said divorce, for some reason, these two are still living in the same house. Not even divorced yet!! What was the point in you laughing at her face like that if you weren’t even gonna go along with it??
-- He should’ve known that his book was stolen by the time Blitzo left! This means he should’ve realized that Blitzo only slept the night with him to take it and leave. Why are you even catching feelings for this dude?? He manipulated you twice!!!
-- Literally, screw this musical number....
-- Sings, “Was what we had all a comfortable lie?” or something like that. Basically, he’s saying, “Was your love for me all a lie?” Was it all a lie??? He certainly wasn’t playing hard-to-get, dumbass!! Blitzo was shown multiple times to be disgusted with you! He didn’t love you at all, and I’m sure you knew that!
-- Reads about Asmodean crystals. Possibly planning to give it to Blitzo so he could drop the deal. But he never does.
-- “The only reason why I put up with your constant cruelty was for that girl (Octavia) to live a normal life.”
Says the guy who had an affair and continues the affair, making the drama in his family much worse than it already was. What was the point in you two keeping up an image for Via? You already fight in front of her and that was bad enough. It should’ve been obvious to her from the get-go that you to hated each other. It doesn’t even seem like she cares at all about the divorce after this episode, so this could’ve been done a long time ago.
-- Decides NOW he wants a divorce even though it should’ve been done already.
EP 2 S2, Seeing Stars (are they even trying with these titles)
-- Makes a promise about something to his daughter and breaks it.
-- Doesn’t take the time to listen to Octavia when she’s trying to talk to him and instead wants to continue bickering with Stella over the phone like they’re a couple of middle-school ex-lovers. I mean, he could just hang up on her. He probably never even wanted to talk to her anyway.
-- “Via, can we talk about this later? Your mother is being a real B-I-T-C-H.”
For the third damn time... NOT SOMETHING YOU SAY FRONT OF YOUR DAUGHTER!
-- Didn’t realize Octavia was gone until he was called about it and even somewhat blamed IMP for her taking the book and leaving instead of taking responsibility since he is the father and wasn’t paying attention to her. If I had to assume, he was probably still on the phone with Stella at the time and only decided to hang up because Blitzo was calling him, not when his daughter is trying to grab his attention.
-- Has the ability to turn into a human, but is useless without his book when it comes to other magic which sounds like total bullsh*t. He can turn people into stone, make portals, use telekinesis, fly, and turn into a giant bird demon. All WITHOUT a grimoire. He even says he can’t remember a spell for turning other demons into a human, but didn’t he say “I have a very good memory.” back in episode 6? Stolas is only useless when the plot wants him to be.
-- The entire episode, he spends more time with Blitzo and helping him with his issues instead of trying to look for his daughter. She had the possibility of getting into danger, but he’s more concerned with his friend with benefits and what he got going on? Some father.....
-- Is back... to flirting... with Blitzo. Clearly, he didn’t learn a damn thing in the last season. What exactly was he even singing about in the last episode?? They didn’t even talk anything out after the whole Ozzie’s incident!! And of course, the writers are gonna have Blitzo get all flustered and gain feelings for Stolas because they and the fans want this ship to happen soo badly.
-- When Blitzo is in danger, what’s the one thing the powerful demon prince does to save him?
-- Decides NOW to continue looking for Octavia?? Literally, f*ck off!
-- Octavia is forced to forgive Stolas despite his selfish behavior for the second time. Because neglecting your daughter, whether it be for your ex-lover or your walking booty call, is just very forgiving.
-- Screw this happy a** ending...
That’s pretty much the gist of why I think Stolas is a terrible character and why I hate him. I haven’t forgotten the recent episode that was just uploaded a couple of days ago. Believe me, that will be saved for another post I’ll be making soon.
So yeah, Stolas is a terrible character, a terrible person, and a terrible father. I don’t care how innocent or pitiful Viv or Adam make him out to be. At this point, all they’re doing is making excuses for his actions, making every other character around him terrible to make him look good, and forcing the Stolitz ship to happen without any progress or build-up. And God forbid Stolas is ever reprimanded for his actions! If he does, the writers will just butcher that in a way where Stolas is the victim and making him feel all bad for himself while not taking responsibility. Is this enough for you, anon???? I hope so, cuz at this point, it’s enough said.
#Stolitzo#anti stolitz#anti helluva boss#anti blitzo#anti stolas#helluva boss blitzo#helluva boss criticism#helluva boss critical#helluva boss critique#vivziepop critical
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Not Romeo, Not Juliet
Chapter 6 - Life's Key
Fandom: Red Hood
Pairing: Jason Todd x f!reader
Warnings: none, this is just friendship building fluff
Summary: Jason goes to meet YN at the playground
Keep thy friend / Under thy own life’s key.
— ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, ACT 1 SCENE 1
Jason spent most of Saturday getting new gear together. He wasn’t going to let one run in with some thugs stop him from keeping Crime Alley, or just YN in general, safe. He needed to update somethings, get a kit he could keep on him at all times, and get something sturdier than an old hockey mask. He called around, finding some grappling equipment, smoke bombs, a couple knives, and finally a helmet that he could wear that would protect his whole head. It took about 2 hours to gather everything and hide it in the garage where Dick wouldn’t go looking. And Dick was a suspicious fuck at the moment.
“So, this fight, was it the same jock again?” Dick asked over breakfast on Sunday morning after spending all Saturday at a work function and just generally avoiding Jason. He assumed that Dick was waiting for him to come to his big brother to talk, but after his disparaging remarks against YN Jason didn’t really want to do that.
“Yup,” he said, emphasizing the p. Dick sighed at the curt answer, so Jason elaborated, having had time to flesh out this story. “I was leaving school after practice, they were leaving after some football thing, guess they still keep going even though the season is over, and the one from before threw his helmet at me, that is where this is from.” He motioned to the bandage on his face. Dick worried his jaw, looking like a cow chewing grass.
“And you didn’t go to the hospital?” Dick asked. Jason stared at him. When had any of them ever gone to a hospital? Jason was pretty sure he was still considered legally dead in some places. Dick sighed. “Ya, that was dumb, realized that when I said it.” They sat in silence for several minutes, Jason pushing Dick’s horrible eggs around on his plate.
“I’m going to run lines tonight with some of the seniors from Hamlet,” he said, wanting to make the concerned look on Dick’s face go away. Let him think he had made friends with those assholes.
“Thought you weren’t big fans of them after that whole open mic night prank?” he asked. Jason shrugged.
“I’m not, but they’re fine to work with on the play, plus there’s this junior playing Gertrude who is pretty, she’s going to be there,” he said. He wasn’t lying, the junior was pretty, but he had no interest in her. Plus, there wasn’t really a practice session going on that night anyway, he just needed an excuse to be out of the house that night.
“What is she like?” Dick asked. Shit, Jason hadn’t expected this. He scrambled.
“Um, she’s pretty, blonde, kind of a badass, carries a dagger, likes the Yankees, ya know, weird in a school full of douche bags,” he said, describing as best he could to describe Annabeth from the Percy Jackson series. If you going to describe a fictional crush might as well pull a real book girlfriend you wish you’d had. Dick nodded.
“Sounds like your type,” he said, smiling. “Glad you’ve found someone in your school.” Jason kept his face neutral but was confused. He never thought Dick was the classist type, but maybe that was why he was so against Jason spending time with YN. Would be a real dick move considering that Jason himself was once from that same gutter. Just because he got lucky (or stupid) and stole a couple tires didn’t mean he was anything better than YN. She was going to Gotham Academy for a reason, scholarship or maybe an arts grant if her acting was as good as her singing, so she definitely wasn’t just a random person on the street. None of this made sense to Jason and that made him angry.
“I have to do some homework, I’m going to head out, its stuffy in here,” he said, throwing a look to Dick. Dick looked confused but just nodded. Jason grabbed his back of tricks and his phone, checking again for another message from YN as he headed to the garage. She had sent the one message to meet and then stopped, not even confirming she’d gotten his reply. He wanted to go check on her, but once again, he wasn’t going to be a stalker, so he went to a nearby park instead.
After several hours of actually catching up on homework and reading through The Turn of the Screw for a lit class he let curiosity get the better of him. He pulled out his laptop again and booted up some of the software that Dick thought he didn’t know about. Nightwing needed to find people, and Oracle knew all the tricks, so Jason copied Dick’s hard drive and took them. Red Mask (name to be changed, that one still sucked) needed to find criminals too. He searched up YN’s name and found…nothing. She had a mother, no father listed, an address, no social media, no outstanding warrants, no bills even. The only person who had anything was her mother, who had ridiculous medical bills, but no rent to pay. Jason frowned. This screamed a mysterious benefactor. Who was helping them and why? He looked at his phone, seeing that he needed to head over to the playground, so he closed up shop and headed off, making sure to pick up some tacos on the way.
YN was sitting at the top of the slide when he arrived, climbing down the dumbwaiter shaft that used to seem a lot bigger when he was small. She smiled when she saw him, but quickly pretended to yawn, not looking in his direction anymore. He smiled a little, maybe he wasn’t the only one with a crush. She looked at her phone before sliding down.
“You’re late,” she said, crossing her arms. He held up the bag. “What is that?”
“Tacos?” he offered, holding it out to her. She opened it and moved to where her things were, sitting down on a blanket. “Thought we could eat first, and these are the best in Bludhaven.” She took one and handed him back the bag, producing two water bottles from her bag and cookies.
“My mom sometimes bakes on good days,” she said. Jason looked at the cookies and then at her, a questioning look on his face. He knew her mom was sick, but she didn’t know that. “My mom is sick, cancer, but some days she’s really active and today was one so I just thought I’d bring a snack…”
“Thank you,” Jason said, taking a cookie and biting it. He made a face. O these were amazing. “Holy shit.” She laughed.
“Ya, that’s typically the reaction,” she said, eating some of the taco. “Jesus, these are good too.”
“Ya, but I didn’t make those, although mine would be better,” he said. She gave him a quizzical look. “Hey, I cook a lot, when I lived with Bruce we had Alfred and he taught me everything I know.”
“Was he like the in-house chef?” she asked, finishing one and grabbing another as he chowed on the cookies. Jason shrugged.
“He was kind of everything. We didn’t have like a big staff or anything, just Alfred, everyone else came once a week or something to do cleaning or the gardens and shit,” he said. “Fuck I sound like such an ass.” YN shook her head.
“No, you don’t, that’s what you lived, you’re not an ass about it. Not like you’re bragging that you made this Alfred clean your dirty underwear or something. He taught you to cook, that’s nice,” she said. Jason smiled at her. “Now, how are your rehearsals going?”
“Trying to spy on the competition?” he asked. She raised her eyebrows at him. “They’re fine, although pretending to even Chelsea is difficult.” She laughed and pulled out MacBeth. “How are yours?”
“They’re fine, I’m having some trouble though, do you mind pretending to be my husband?” she asked. He chuckled.
“You ask me that without a ring?” he teased, walking over to her, taking the script she offered. Scene 1, Act 7. “Remember, I have only read this so my MacBeth will probably suck.”
“You can’t be any worse than the guy playing him at school,” she said. Jason nodded and let himself slid into the roll of the king tortured by destiny. YN was amazing as Lady MacBeth, and then Ophelia, or Horatio, or Polonius, she was a chameleon. After an hour or so of practicing they sat on the swings, competing to see who could jump off further. Then it was tag around the playground. Jason hadn’t let himself have fun like this since…well since he was playing there as a child. They finally settled back on the blanket sitting and leaning against each other.
“You’re amazing you know that?” he said suddenly, looking down at her leaning to his shoulder. “And just because you’re the best actress I’ve ever seen.” She blushed deeply.
“Thank you,” she said, taking the compliment easily. He watched her as she stared straight ahead, not looking at him. “You’re so flawless when you act,” she said softly. “Its like you can just sink into being another person, it’s a little scary honestly.” Jason sighed.
“When I was living with Bruce it was like I had to be two different people. He was most of the time an alright dad, but when he was in a mood, mostly when he was trying to teach me something, I had to be like a perfect son, a little carbon copy of him. It was like slipping into a mask, hiding who I was or who I wanted to be,” he explained, telling her things he’d only ever told his therapist. “And then I died…” He stopped and she looked at him.
“You…died?” she asked softly. He sighed.
“Yea, this past summer, the um accident I had, I died for a few minutes and it wasn’t Bruce’s fault, but I think afterwards he just, wasn’t right. Didn’t want to bother with my antics anymore. It broke something so now I’m still just trying to figure out who I was when I was his son and who I am now,” he said. “And Dick has been great, trying so hard to be a good brother and almost father, but even with him, I have to wear a mask still. The only person I really feel like I can be me around is you.” He felt a hand on his unbandaged cheek, he leaned into it.
“I feel similar,” YN said. Jason nodded for her to continue. “My mom, I have to be brave, even though she’s going to die, and soon, and I don’t have anyone else. I don’t know who my father is, we have no other family that knows I exist. Apparently, my mom was still a teenager and had some kind of affair with a married man. And despite the fact that she was raped by an adult her family blamed her so now its just us. And when I’m around her I have to be perfect, like after the open mic when those guys threw water balloons of Kool-Aid at me and I was covered in red sticky goo pretty much, when I got home, I had to pretend everything had been amazing so that she wouldn’t get sicker from stressing out about me. I don’t really have anyone to talk about that stuff with.” Jason turned her face to look at him.
“You have me,” he said softly. She nodded and, in that moment, he could have kissed her, could have taken another step, but he could see that wasn’t what either of them needed. At that moment they didn’t need the romance that was there, they needed the friendship that was also there, just as important and just as powerful. He pulled her into a hug, holding her close for several minutes until his phone went off.
“My brother wants me home to get some sleep,” he said. She nodded. “Let me walk you home.”
“Sure,” she said. She stood, taking his hand. He held it as he walked her back to her apartment. “Are you going to be safe?” she asked.
“Ya, my bike is just down the street actually,” he said, pointing towards an alley nearby. “So, I don’t want to stress your mom out, but maybe I could come to your place next time?” She nodded.
“And if you ever want to, you can come to mine too,” he said. “If you ever get over to Bludhaven.” She smiled and leaned up, kissing his cheek over the bandage gently.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow?” He nodded and watched her get inside before driving home, feeling several pounds lighter and freer than he had in years.
#jasontodd#jason todd#jason todd x reader#jason todd x you#jason todd x y/n#redhood#red hood#red hood x reader#red hood x you#red hood x y/n#notromeo
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Finished watching Hazbin Hotel
(pirated ofc)
NOTE: if you plan to watch this, PLEASE do not use amazon prime, they are actively in support of the genocide in gaza, 🏴☠️ it if you must, and PLEASE do not support vivziepop or amazon as vivzie is heavily upfront about being a zionist.
Okay finished it,
this show is alright, it feels like it tries too hard to be an adult comedy sometimes, like they feel they need to drop the f bomb every chance they get to remind you its not a kids show. the writing has a lot to be desired and same with the characters and their backstories. I think if this wasn't run under a zionist and now owned by a large corporate company, it would be a pretty good show for an indie company but unfortunately thats not the case which makes it a lot more disappointing. Knowing that the show had a much larger budget this time as well as resources makes it upsetting with how much is left to be desired. It felt rushed and like they wanted to get out as much bullshit as possible before ending season one which is even more upsetting when good shows like for example inside job got canceled but still gave us a steady story line without it feeling like it was rushed. long story short, it isnt the worst thing ive watched but with the history of the show, the creator and select people on her team, it makes watching it hard to swallow.
few notes on the last episode for season 1:
seeing alastor not be some indestructible all powerful thing was great. him getting knocked down a peg really made me hehe
SIR PENTIOUS. MY BOY. HEAVEN. WHAT THE HELL MAN. i love him so much you dont even get it if anyone deserved to go to heaven it FOR SURE deserved to be him. but watching it was a bit eh.
I dont like how they made his death seem like a silly gag but then the cast took it really really seriously? id rather it had been treated seriously the entire time or not at all yk?
Lucifer i really like, his character feels the most relatable to me, in a way where you KNOW he's flawed from the get go and its easier to relate to him rather than some of the other characters.
nifty is great still no doubt, think its funny how shes the one who killed adam.
also Lilith? idk how to feel about it, like i know its supposed to be "OMG THATS WHERE SHE'S BEEN!" but i dont think anyone is really surprised in this situation? its obvious from the get go that she isnt a great character and no one is really shocked that she's teaming with the angels, hell her ex husband IS (was?) an angel ykwim?
#sunnys nonsense#hazbin hotel#hazbin alastor#hazbin angel dust#hazbin charlie#hazbin hotel fanart#charlie morningstar#sir pentious#vivziepop
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Hey, remember when I asked you if you'd do a top of Gabriel's worst moments?
A N N I H I L A T E
T H I S
V E R M I N
N O
M E R C Y
(Cracks Knuckles)
TOP TEN WORST MOMENTS/CRIMES OF Gabriel Agreste
(And by worst moments, I mean worst things he has done in the show. I will be including the TV specials but not the Movie or Manga(as that is technically a different continuity)
10. Turning his son into a Siri
The whole thing with Alliance was super scummy, and he basically used his son's likeness in ways that are even more disturbing than in some previous cases. But with the genetic likeness he can have Adrien's face say whatever and he used this for several of his schemes, and thats pretty f***ed up.
9. Gaslighting his son in order to hide his identity
(The Collector AND Illusion)
The fact he did this twice and purposefully acted in a way that he knew would make adrien feel terrible is pretty messed up. Sure It may not seem malicious but Gabriel never needed to go that far to hide his identity.
8. Manipulating the emotions of others for his Plans
Now this is a no brainer as this is basically what he does all the time as Hawkmoth, but in several cases he does it directly or indirectly as Gabriel, usually with teenagers. Chloé, Lila, Marinette, Kagami just to name a few.
7. Creating akuma that put his son in danger.
Yanloushi, Star train, Frozer and more. Akuma that had some involvement because of Adrien and thus put Adrien in serious danger. He rarely takes precaution to make sure his son wont be in danger from an akuma attack.
6. Creating akuma that Personally target Adrien.
Gabriel has akumatized people that had a personal interest in causing adrien harm and have even targeted himself and got adrien in the crossfire. Gabriel has shown little to no remorse in doing so as he is so sure it has little matter in it.
5. Terrorism
Creating akumas that attack the city, having destroyed paris on multiple occasions and even went international, nearly causing a nuclear bomb strike to go off in NYC, to causing a city destroying monster in Shanghai. Both incidents had Adrien in those areas, while the former may have had Gabriel send Adrien home, the later Gabriel didnt realize until After he did it. He also showed no remorse for that.
4. The use and abuse of Kwami
DOES THIS LOOK OKAY TO YOU? HE KEEPS THEM CONFINED AND USES THEM FOR THEIR POWERS. The abuse the Kwami go through is shown to actually be incredibly tiring and painful for them. I will also add the wish on here because Tikki and Plagg were forced to do it.
3. The use, abuse and Murder of Sentimonsters
During season 4, Gabriel created countless sentimonsters and snapped them out of existence. Not to mention how in season 4 and 5 he used the amok of his own son like a controller to force his will on him. Felix even was threatened almost getting his amok removed as a result. Gabriel despite having a sentison, shows no love for the sentimonsters, even mocking ladybug and Chat noir for caring about them in season 3
2. Alliance and tech addiction.
Gabriel really out did himself with using technology. All of the data collection, tracking, mental manipulation and enslavement by using the Alliance ring as his master stroke to manipulate and control others. Gabriel had used the technology to even make an AI think his pilot died just to get. the miraculous. But the true evil was in the finale where he made everyone suffer from horrific nightmares and get addicted to the alliance all to turn them into obedient slaves. Unlike with akumatization where it was the users call if they accepts. The users in alliance suffer from withdrawal and are not able to properly make a decision.
1. The Abuse of Adrien Agreste
TIME TO GO BUCK WILD. Lets get the list. Neglect, emotional black mail, Physical violence, mental abuse, SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, Attempted Akumatization, Emotional abuse, and even social abuse. And before people ask about physical abuse and say chat blanc didnt happen. It did happen, if it didnt then Marinette wouldnt have had to have fought chat blanc. In a timeline, Gabriel beat his son like a baseball back with Glee
Cause this is just healthy right? A good redeemable man right there. Ignore his COWERING SON.
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Helluva Boss: How Stolas became my Favorite Character
Wow. Just wow. The premier of Season 2 of Helluva Boss completely blew me away in how Vivziepop transformed Stolas from a 2 dimensional character to a living person with more depth than a shallow puddle as he initially comes across in the Pilot.
After view the pilot, I believed Stolas was going to become an antagonist, a threat hovering over IMP's heads as someone to appease either through sexual favors or not letting anything happen to the Grimoire, but after the season 2 premier, he became SO MUCH MORE!!!!
The most important rule of story telling is show, don't tell. It took a season and a season 2 premier, but layers have been stripped from the façade of Stolas we were introduced to way back in 2019!
When we first meet Stolas, he is bedecked in royal regalia and making demands of Blitzo both professionally and sexually. He was called the horny owl for good reason as his dirty talk was bleeped out in a series which casually tossed about F-Bombs.
In the series premier of Murder Family we see Stolas in a beautiful bathtub scene where he makes the arrangement with Blitz for sex in exchange for using the Grimoire for IMP to access the Living World. Not much character development until episode 2, Loo Loo Land.
OMG!!!! I was not expecting the wholesome scene of Stolas, the horny royal owl, to sing a beautiful lullaby to his frighten young daughter! Not from Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss which is filled with cut throat humor, cursing, sex, and violence! And it stripped away the first layer of Stolas's character.
He was more than just a horny owl with deviant tastes! He was a father who cares deeply for his daughter! Who comforted her when she was scared, personally takes her to the fair, has a heart to heart talk with her, and goes out of his way to be a good father, a far cry from his father Paimon who used going to the circus and 'buying friends' as a means to distract a sad baby Stolas so he wouldn't have to 'deal with it'.
We don't get much more development for Stolas until Ep 7, Ozzie's where both he and Blitz are publicly ROASTED! Stolas is deeply humiliated by Ozzie, but still wants to end the night on a positive note by inviting Blitz to spend time together, where Blitz calls him out on stating their relationship is only for sex which Stolas 'makes clear all the time'.
At this point, I had believed Stolas had deserved that rebuttal. He was the horny owl who forced Blitz into giving him sexual favors for a book he needed to run his business. Throughout the pilot and season 1, Stolas came across as spoiled, selfish, with a one track mind for Blitz, yet cared about his daughter.
The Circus threw a light onto Stolas and completely revealed his character for us. It was flashback episode that was sorely needed. Starting with his childhood where he first met a young Blitzo, then flashforward 25 years where he's unhappily married to an abusive Stella who publicly ridicules him with friends/relatives at a party and finds an escape in Blitz.
I want to point out things I noticed in this scene as it sets up the basis for Blitz/Stolas as we see it in the pilot and season 1!
Remember, Stolas had just been humiliated by Stella who makes fun of him for lack of sex drive and had been drinking wine and absinthe so he's a bit tipsy by the time Blitz is brought onto the scene. He instantly recognizes Blitz as his childhood friend (even if it was for one day and rented by his father, Stolas still sees Blitz as a dear friend). He uses Blitz as a means to escape the party and flirts with him by accusing him of sneaking into bedchambers to seduce him.
I honestly don't think Stolas believed Blitz was sneaking into his bedroom to seduce him. He is attracted to Blitz, but was only teasing him as he makes no attempt to touch Blitz, in fact, he seemed content to sit with Blitz and talk about what they've been up to since they were children. What I want to point out, this is the first time we see them as adults having a conversation which isn't sexual. Stolas would have been more than happy to catch up on old times with Blitz if the latter wasn't so distracted in trying to get the book.
It was Blitz who incited physical contact by using the guise of seduction to steal the Grimoire. At that point, Stolas is visible confused and uncomfortable, flattered, but very hesitant.
It wasn't until Blitz bites him (as a means to keep him from noticing the book missing from the shelf) that we realize (and maybe at the same time Stolas does) he's into rough sex as a submissive. The bite not only arouses him, but fulfills something he has been craving sexually. A lot of misunderstandings are made here. For one, he believes Blitz likes the dirty talk (the running gag when Stolas's sexual demands are so dirty they are bleeped out in a usually uncensored show) and Blitz craves sex with him as he does.
And we're finally clued into what Stolas craves sexually and it's something a lot of people want. He wants to be so desired it brings out a passionate and visceral need to fuck him in a partner. We see it a lot in Yaoi where the 'dom' is so sexually aroused by the 'sub' he forces himself onto the 'sub' in a form of rape fantasy. We can also see it in a lot of hentai and erotic novels. Granted, being raped or sexually assaulted would be devastating for anyone, it's a fun, but safe, fantasy to be objectified and desired which can be controlled and ended as we wish.
Backing up a bit, Stolas has experienced rejection from his father and his wife. Paimon had a very hands off form of parenting where a servant (an imp, which will be important later) takes care of Stolas and he couldn't be bothered to be physically present at the circus with Stolas. Then Stolas is forced into an arranged marriage with Stella who is shown to be a violent and cruel towards Stolas, but doesn't desire him beyond producing an heir.
Yet, in Stolas eyes, Blitz wants him. Stolas has someone who desires him sexually, even if its in exchange to use the Grimoire. This knowledge (or mistake) gives Stolas the courage and gumption to demand a divorce, thus humiliating her in front of the same friends/relatives to whom she had gossiped about him!
Wow, this threw me for a loop. I had thought Stella was the one who wanted the separation, but no, it was Stolas! It was a triumphant moment for him and it's likely the happiest he's been in a long time! Then we flash forward to the morning after (or night of) Ozzie's. Stolas is distraught after episode 7's events and laments his failed relationship with Blitz who believes Stolas interests in him is only for sex.
Then we get Stolas's key moment when he stands up to Stella with no apology and tells her he wants her out of his life.
This is the first time we see him being so direct with her, making eye contact. It was always from across a room, a dining table, or ballroom, but here he's facing her head on and refusing to take more one ounce of her abuse. He was forthright about his feelings and what he wanted. I was applauding him because it's never easy to stand up to an abuser, especially one who has dominated his life for so long.
She leaves him, sneering he would pay for divorcing her from the Goetia family, which more than hints at what we can expect for Season 2, but that's for another post.
This episode transformed Stolas from the one dimensional horny royal owl into a breathing living person.
He was a lonely, friendless child.
He's desperate to be in a loving relationship.
He's been abused by Stella for years.
He's taking medication for his depression.
He loves his daughter so much he's willing to put up with Stella to give her a stable home.
He's willing to go against his powerful demon family to find happiness.
And The Circus made me fall in love with him!
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I'll bite, if you're still doing the episode write ups: Dunkin Duncan? Was a childhood favorite of mine, though baby me liked Disney Direct to DVD sequels so I do not trust them
Author's note: Here's a throwback to when I was taking asks about opinions on episodes. In total, I received four asks for Dunkin Duncan! That means it was tied for the number of asks for Edward's Exploit... y'all love your alliteration ig...
Sorry for the year-long delay on responding to the DD asks. My birthday's tomorrow so I'm sodding off from my chores tonight to blog, and while I'm here trying to clear out as much of the old stuff as I can. So let's finally wrap this up...
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Awww. You needn't have any angst about your taste. Preferences are just preferences; we all have 'em. Anyway, I've liked stupider things, and I've liked them as an adult. Give kid-you a cookie and a juice box, they're fine.
Also, I won't say I think this episode is, like, good? It desperately needed a sharp editor for it to be that. But I also don't think it's as bad as some people make it out to be.
Like, I've seen this one get dragged like those trucks did to Duncan over on tttetwt. And, since I posted my epic EtRUE rant, I immediately started getting these requests to tackle DD. As if people think they're on a level? And I've seen a lot of fans point to DD as the low point of the season. Well, it's in the valley, I suppose. But I still think that when you break them down into their components DD never ranks worse than EtRUE and it also has much more substantial good things going on in it.
Here's a link to the episode, as we're going to go pretty much beat by beat.
Let's first discuss the bad and then the good. (Be warned: In the spirit of the last major rant, I'm going to continue to drop generous f-bombs. As a treat.)
The Bad
1. The intro bit. God, the intro bit is so fuckin' uninspired. The "set-up" is Brave Plucky Clever Rusty leading his two pitiful, personalityless old steam engines down the line to "help Duncan with an important job at the incline railway." We did not need to see this unremarkable journey, guys. You plan on showing us the scenery on the line a whole lot in the next two stories; this one should have opened at the quarry. You could even keep the same (uninspired, but very Season 6-y) opening narration, but with, like. Shots of pushing past each other in tight sidings, lots more footage of the incline, etc! It would make this episode feel more distinctive, and reduced the "throat-clearing-ness."
Instead it takes us over 30 seconds just to arrive at the quarry. Just wasting time. Padding the story.
2. An unnecessary beginning also leads to the unforced error of this:
Why does Skarloey look so friggin' pitiful here? The narrator says they like going to the "incline railway." God, why did the show feel the need to just bloody nerf Skarloey and Rheneas after Season 4? Were they too powerful? Fuck me.
Indistinguishable blobs of lukewarm tapioca. I will never forgive this era of the show for reducing them to this.
3. Continuing crimes of characterisation... this is less of a problem than what's going on with the other three engines, but Duncan is subtly off. I mean I get that "we just made Duncan angry and contrary about everything, at all times," is their new strategy, and at least this means he has a characterization (looking again at poor 'Loey and 'Neas), and I can't deny that it was successful. So I'm not going to criticize that, exactly.
But I still really hate the line "I'll show that smelly diesel and those lazy steamers!" It's like they carried on with Duncan's initial diesel antipathy, ignored about the part where he dropped it, and then, in the end, they didn't have the balls to stick with it so they made him one of those "equal-opportunity haters." I think the line is just really bloody awkward and should have been shot down by an editor. (Of course, it's not even in the top 10 lines I think a good editor would have tackled.)
4. Going back to Skarloey and Rheneas, the idea that Duncan could be bitching at them and trying to order them about, and all they do is ineffectually whine back at him, is disgraceful. Their passivity is not canonical, and it's not even interesting. If you weren't going to do anything with S. & R., why have them in this episode at all? You could've just made it a Duncan & Rusty episode. I definitely think the story would have felt cleaner that way.
5. This is a remarkably "busy," squiggley, ill-paced little script, considering how little happens. Like, the one regard in which I think EtRUE was superior to this episode was that its pacing might have been off but it did some stuff. There were loads of characters, who actually all had a personality and were contributing to the plot, and there were different settings (for legitimate reasons, as opposed to the first 30 seconds of DD with its pointless scenery porn). Ultimately I don't think EtRUE's busyness went anywhere, but at least it felt like their problem was that they were cramming in too many ideas, rather than, as DD comes across, desperately trying to massage one decent but unripened idea into a full 5-minute story.
So yeah, DD just has to tell us variations of 'Duncan is impatient' and 'Duncan is rude' and 'Duncan doesn't give a flying fuck about safety precautions' and 'the other engines are sick of his attitude' again and again and again. And they have some good footage to help us swallow all this! But they don't have enough.
Aren't the other engines bitching out Duncan shortly after this that they are only supposed to send up 2 trucks at a time, not 4? But this is the image they use during the 'scene establishing' beat where they describe how the incline works. This is a bit nitpicky coz I guess you can argue it's just showing us how Duncan's been working before the other engines show up to tell him how to do it properly—but it still comes across as confusing TO ME.
7. Something that is NOT nitpicky but back to the real heart of why I think this episode drags (despite the good stuff, of which again see below):
The BEST stuff in the ep is when Duncan's coupling gets tangled and we see him dragged up the incline behind the trucks. Now THIS is a narrow-gauge "rollercoaster" escapade done right! Eat your heart out, 'Neas! (Rheneas: It's literally all I do?) The drama... the suspense...
We should have been able to watch Duncan go up with minimal to no narration. That's how you build suspense when you're filming! In moments like these, shut up and let the visuals and the music score do the work!
Instead we have to listen to this:
"I tried to warn him!" said Rusty.
"He never listens," the diesel's driver said.
Sigh.
First of all, though usually anytime a driver gets a line is a plus in a story, we literally just checked off the "engine-driver" interaction box like 20 seconds ago when Duncan and his driver had an exchange. So fuck the samey-ness of this one following right on its heels.
Still, this would be acceptable (though I still think words only detract from the suspense here) EXCEPT WE'VE ALREADY BEEN LISTENING TO TWO SOLID UNEVENTFUL MINUTES OF A) THE NARRATOR TELLING US THAT DUNCAN IS CARELESS AND WON'T LISTEN AND B) RUSTY AND THE OTHERS COMPLAINING ABOUT THESE VERY FACTS.
There is so much repetition in this script. I'm tearing my hair out. WE GET IT.
This is the same flaw that went down in the final minute of EtRUE btw. Between the narrator AND the Fat Controller AND the narrator again we had so much commentary on why our episode's Antagonist was Naughty, Naughty, Naughty.
IT'S SO DULL. This whole series is very much about seeing engines behave poorly and get their comeuppance, but c'mon! We don't need to have the narrator pull a fuckin' Talmudic scholar and interpret the text for us every bloody time!
Compare and contrast to, like, "Middle Engine," where James's comeuppance is shown and felt but very minimally commented on. And it's way more entertaining to me than all these other examples were not only does the story teach a moral, but the narrative has to shove it down our throats at least three separate times to make sure the kiddos get it. Like, fucking chill? If you've done your job right they're gonna make their families rewatch it a hundred times anyway, at some point you have to trust them to interpret the story themselves.
8. Oh, good. Now the Fat Controller's shown up and we have to hear the dressing-down. Again, in case somehow, somewhere, like one kid out there in 2002 somehow missed the ethical thrust of the story.
8b. Bonus: Like EtRUE, the Fat Controller insists on Duncan apologizing to the other engines.
8c. Bonus Bonus: AND THEN, AGAIN, WE HAVE TO FUCKIN *HEAR* IT. It's completely unnecessary, but here we are. In this era of the show, some producer or head writer type really did say "You know what the best part of school was? When the teacher made a kid apologize to another kid. It always lead to these interesting moments that were also so emotionally authentic. I bet it would make for great television! 😇" Look, I don't say anti-worker stuff lightly, but this person should have been docked some pay. Good grief.
Altogether, this episode feels like a combination of AI scraping and regurgitating previous narrow-gauge episodes, mixed in with a wayyyy too generous helping of Moralizing. I can certainly see why there are people who loathe this one.
Nevertheless, it definitely has redeeming qualities, making it just as clear why some people love it:
The Good
1. Duncan! The other three engines' characterizations might be miserable. But (apart from that one small line that jars ME), Duncan is solid. You can complain if you want that his characterization is not quite right re: the RWS, and I won't disagree with you. But they did grasp that Duncan was extremely relatable to bouncy, can't-sit-still, "bad" kids, and they did carry on with that part. Duncan's misadventure here is a good follow-up to "Rock n Roll"—same personality flaw, similarly watchable spectacle. I wish they had characterized the rest of the narrow-gauge engines even half as well as they did Duncan and Rusty, but I will certainly own that they did very well with endearing Duncan to thousands of little hearts in the Oughts.
2. Spectacle! This is the HUGE one. However badly written the script (and I think it unambiguously sucks), the spectacle is great. The incline is fun to watch. The incline with Duncan is even funner to watch. Duncan snapping off and going down the incline is even funner. Him WHOOSHING off it like a half-pipe is even funner. PLOOP into the mud is best yet. The basic plot device here is great, using an actual rail mechanism (it may not be realistic, ofc, but it does utilize its setting, and not in virtually the same way that's been done before, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME ETRUE) to create a unique and engaging situation.
3. The incline/quarry setting. It's good. I still think they should have used it even more and dispensed with the unnecessary railway establishing shots, but anyway. At least we spent most of the running time here.
4. This one may be more idiosyncratic to me. But you know I'm always complaining that one of the big problems with TVS episodes (not based on RWS) is that they are typically so afraid to do multi-part story arcs? Relatedly, that they insist on cramming a happy ending onto everything, no matter how poor a fit it is? Well, I gotta give it up! They didn't do that here. There's some real astringency to this episode. They let us end on a note of disgrace!
It would have been better (better by far, too) if they had followed it up with another Duncan-related episode where he redeems himself, ofc. But, look. Season 6's major weakness is insisting, again and again, that everyone is jolly and happy and "tooting happily" together at the end of every squabble—which is very cute like, one or two times a season, but which gets trite real fast. I'll take the episodes they dispense with that exceedingly well-worn trope when I can get 'em.
5. I went well out of chronological order to save the best for last.
The early montage showing Duncan's Greatest Hits is a scream:
Honestly, every TTTE montage is terrific. This is one of the best ways to film the models. It always hits. They could have afforded to squeeze way more mileage out of this trick before it was in danger of growing stale.
But this one? Short of the legendary "They had to do James's work as well as their own," this one is the most magnificent, character-wise. It's the way Duncan looks so horrified every time. That face—every. time. He's literally the embodiment of the "when I find the mf who's been ruining my life" meme. It's glorious.
So, yeah. I don't think DD succeeded in as many areas as it failed, but its successes were real.
I also wonder if the episode's haters would hate it less if it were called anything but "Dunkin Duncan," lol. (I admit I'd probably despise EtRUE less if it had a better title.)
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1, 6, 7, and 9 about your current fave fic of yours (I'm not familiar with what midgexlenny is, but tell me about it if you want to!)
Lol oh I do sometimes feel bad for my poor Sherlolly mutuals putting up with me while I lose it over a different ship ❤️ they're different but the venn diagram of pairings does overlap in places.
First off, this is Midge and Lenny from Amy Sherman Palladino's The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. They're two foul mouthed stand up comedians in the late 1950s/early 1960s and they're soulmates.
If you enjoy Gilmore Girls level fast paced dialogue but with more f bombs and so so so many pretty dresses I definitely recommend at least bits of the show.
Being that Lenny is a fictionalized version of real life comedian Lenny Bruce (originally intended to only appear in the pilot but they brought him back as part of the show because the chemistry was just too good. The actors are friends in real life and the joy in working together comes through in some really beautiful performances) the final canon of the show was a bit handcuffed on just how far the creators decided they could let the ship sail but that's where the fanfic comes in 😂
Which brings me to my fic Guess Who's Coming to Yom Kippur!
*What is your favorite thing about this fic?*
This was my first dive into writing for this fandom and it has been so much fun. Truly delightful! So many things I've enjoyed with this one. But my favorite thing I think is that it really is an ensemble piece. The characters of the show are all very nuanced, often delightfully flawed, sometimes wacky individuals and I love giving them all a seat at the table and getting to know them. Sometimes quite literally within the fic (it centers around a big family dinner for several chapters). I've had to think of scenes cinematically and it's stretched my dialogue writing in a really enjoyable way. There's at least one scene I wrote visualizing it as a long tracking shot with characters moving in and out, very high energy and lovingly chaotic. It's a fic that has a lot to do with family both found and blood related and how love can show up and show through in a lot of humorous ways.
*Were there any alternative versions of this fic?*
Yes! I originally came up with the idea a season prior to my actually getting around to writing it (wrote it after watching season 4, thought of it watching season 3). The original vague concept for it was much shorter and ended with Midge and Lenny in more of an ambiguous but hopeful "maybe someday" where as the current fic has them very much endgame. And I'm quite happy with that. I feel like I discover more about the story and the characters the longer I work on it. I'm eventually going to write a sequel because I'm having so much fun (another first for me!)
*Favorite line of narration/ Favorite bit of dialogue*
So this fic is currently sitting at over 62k words and counting (it comes with trying to emulate Amy Sherman Palladino levels of dialogue) Easily the longest thing I've written 😅😅😅 I'm not sure I could pick any specific favorites without reading through the whole thing again. And maybe not even then. There's a lot of moments I'm very fond of. Though most probably require more context than would make it easy to share. I'll include a snippet of the tracking shot arrival scene I mentioned since that doesn't require a ton of context from the show other than knowing the names mostly.
In this bit they're arriving at a party hosted by Midge's ex in-laws and Lenny is meeting her older brother Noah and his wife Astrid for the first time. Esther is Midge's two year old daughter. Noah is canonically a secret agent. Lenny is known for getting arrested for things he says in his stand up (a proponent of free speech in a red scare era).
They arrived at the Maisel residence as dusk began to settle in over the sleepy suburb.
"Hi everyone! Sorry we're late. Esther needed to make a pit stop," Midge called out as they let themselves through the front door.
"Us too! We just got in," Noah said from somewhere deeper in the house.
Midge set the kids loose and made her way towards the kitchen. "Mama, Shirley, what can I help with? Oh, Esther sweetie, I don't think Grandma wants you touching that."
"Hi Midge," Astrid greeted, coming in holding little Chaim.
"Hey Astrid! One second," Midge called over her shoulder, rushing to corral Esther away from the more breakable tchotkes. "Esther. Esther put that down!"
Lenny smiled, collecting the kids discarded shoes into a pile by the door.
"Oh hi! You must be Midge's friend." Astrid gave him a welcoming smile.
"Lenny," he supplied.
"Lenny. So nice to meet you. I'm Astrid. This is Chaim." She held her son out for him to hold, passing him off. "Would you mind?"
"Oh I–" Lenny took Chaim in hand on reflex as Astrid didn't wait for a yes or no.
"Thanks."
She gave him another quick smile before dashing out the front door and wretching over the porch rail.
Lenny held Chaim at arms length, both too stunned by the transfer to know how to proceed.
"Hello…" he attempted, looking the child in the eye.
"Astrid, honey?" Midge's brother's lanky limbs carried him into the foyer in search of his wife.
Midge returned with a rescued porcelain figurine in hand. "Hey Noah, how was traffic–oh my god."
She stepped out immediately to check on Astrid the moment she saw her, leaving Lenny with Noah and his offspring.
"Yours, I believe," Lenny said finally, handing Chaim to Noah.
"Yeah…" Noah replied, taking his son while glancing after his wife and sister in concern.
The two men stared each other down for a moment, neither one quite sure how to react to the other.
"I'm Lenny."
"I know."
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Stranger things spoilers:
Hi so here are some things I hope you don't mind me telling you my opinion because I kind of feel the need to tell someone.
Firstly why did they have to kill Eddie? No offence but I feel like a) it would have probably been better to either kill off someone who has already been in a few seasons like I love Nancy, Hopper and Steve but I feel like there would have been more emotional weight if they had killed them or even Max. I don't want them to die it's just that I feel like killing off an already established character or not killing a character at all would have been better.
Secondly, I didn't really see byler or Will being gay or anything, but I feel like what was that whole thing where Jonathan was looking at Will through the mirror in the car and that scene when they were putting salt in the pizza dough freezer was hinting at Will being gay??? However they didn't go through, unless next season Will comes out?
hey! i love hearing people’s thoughts and opinions, so its never an issue for me!
as for your first point, i completely agree with you! the way they did eddie was so dirty. it was basically like he was killed just for the sake of killing ‘a major character’. like it was so very easily avoidable and like it just doesn’t make sense?? he died so steve, robin and nancy could throw molotov bombs on vecna which in the end did not even accomplish anything?? so like what was even the point of killing him?? also it really pissed me off that none of them other than dustin talked about eddie being dead? like there was literally zero indication by steve, nancy or robin that they cared about eddie or the fact that he was dead while eddie literally sacrificed himself for those three. this is literally so messed up. as for your second point, i guess it’s very subjective and depends on person to person and how they choose to perceive those scenes. for me the possibility of byler was big and although watching volume 1 just strengthened this fact, volume 2 on the other hand turned out to be a disappointment when it came to their relationship. as for will being gay, i am like 101% sure its gonna happen in s5 and if it doesn’t then f*ck duffer brothers. but like will’s 101% gay. no questions asked. mike on the other hand is just dumb. that’s it.
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they light candles in rome
by gothicunderground
Caitlyn felt her throat tighten as she fought off frustrated tears. "Is that really what you want?"
"It's what you need." Vi looked up with a hard glare, then sighed. She glanced back at the house and turned to walk towards it when she felt a hand on her arm. This time she didn't flinch.
"I need you, Vi."
///
A quick, angsty, post-season one examination of where Caitlyn and Vi might be emotionally, after the bomb puts too much weight on both their shoulders.
Words: 1632, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
Fandoms: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: F/F
Characters: Caitlyn (League of Legends), Vi (League of Legends), Tobias Kiramman
Relationships: Caitlyn/Vi (League of Legends)
Additional Tags: One Shot, In Media Res, at least that's what i'm calling this bc i can't write exposition, how do you know what's good for me? THAT'S MY OPINION the fic, Kissing, Light Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Canon Continuation, set early in s2, no one hates vi more than vi, no beta we die like mylo and claggor and vander and etc etc, (hello twt user arcaneao3)
from AO3 works tagged 'Caitlyn/Vi (League of Legends)'
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M3GAN Review
Listen here
So back in November of 2022, a trailer for a movie went completely viral on twitter and a new horror icon was born. Or more like a new LGBTQ+ queen emerged from the fire. The trailer itself wasn’t what got everyone talking. It was one part in particular. One part where our new slasher decides to stop and dance before going after one of her victims. You can call it the Dance Seen ‘Round the World.
The movie was greenlit for a sequel before it was even released. There was a marketing ploy where women dressed as this new slasher, went places, and did the now iconic dance. SNL did a skit about the sequel where our new queen was partying in a gay bar who openly supported the chaos she brings. There’s even been whispers that we’ll see our dancing queen in her own house at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Studios. But aside from the totally out of place dance sequence, does this movie and its new slasher actually deliver?
If you haven’t figured it out from that description, the movie I’m talking about today is the movie about everyone’s newest favorite killer doll, M3GAN. M3GAN absolutely took off before the movie even hit theaters because of a short scene of her dancing (which was filmed as a joke, but left in because clearly, they know what fans wanna see). It dragged all different types of people to the theater to see it when it came out in January of 2023 and has received praise from critics and audiences alike. Directed by Gerald Johnstone and starring Allison Williams of Girls and Get Out fame and Violet McGraw from the Haunting of Hill House, it quickly became a cultural phenomenon and M3GAN’s sick moves made her a… gay icon? I don’t know. I feel like we’re grasping at straws here sometimes!
However, I feel like it’s a movie that’s been vastly overhyped. It’s not necessarily a bad movie. It’s a predictable slasher film retelling a story we’ve heard before. It does well in its serious moments, has some chuckles, but overall, it depends on who you watch it with. On its own, it’s a subpar horror flick with nothing new to add to the genre, but watching it with the right people can take this generic horror flick and elevate it to absolute riot. Which I guess could be said about any film, but I feel this more so with M3GAN. It’s built to be watched with friends - preferably enthusiastic gay ones who’ll offer color commentary to all of M3GAN’s antics. That’s not me trying to be rude or anything. I don’t think that they knew when making the film that us gays would latch on to it like we did with the… Babadook for some reason. Again, why? But it definitely feels like something they knew would inevitably happen.
But I don’t wanna get too ahead of myself. So, what I’m gonna do is break this blog down into two parts. Part one will be me summarizing the movie itself and part two will be me discussing why I think this movie is overrated. If you haven’t seen this film yet, it’s on Peacock now and there’s an unrated cut which I will be discussing as well. Go ahead and watch the movie, then come back and read!
Without further ado, let’s boot M3GAN up and see what she’s all about!
Part 1: I Am Titanium!
Before I go into the summary, I’d like to state that the unrated cut of this film is utterly pointless. There are no new scenes added and even the gore that they did have to me didn’t seem to warrant the title of “unrated” as it’s typical gore you’d see in any standard R-rated horror flick. At most, they added a lot more F-bombs. That was pretty much it. I was expecting something much gnarlier for it to be considered something they couldn’t release as it was to theaters. To me, the unrated cut is definitely a marketing ploy to get more seasoned horror fans to watch the movie in case they might’ve sat this one out. Not worth the watch really unless you absolutely need to see a child get their ear ripped off.
Anyways, this movie starts out with a commercial. No seriously. It opens with a commercial for a toy called the Purrrfect Petz with a z. Basically a riff off the Furby monstrosities that existed in the 90s and early 2010s. You can talk to them and they talk back, feed them and they… poop. It’s just very obviously supposed to be a callback to that era in time. From there it cuts to a family of three driving in heavy snow. The daughter - McGraw’s Cady - is playing with her Purrrfect Pet on her iPad while the parents argue about her having too much screentime. The mother even makes a comment about what the point of the toy is if you have to use an iPad to play with it. They’re arguing so much that the father starts to veer off the road. They decide to stop and wait out the worst of the snow before finding a place to pull over and wait for a snowplow to come through. Just as the father asks when that will be, a snowplow appears in front of them and rams right into the car before cutting to a title screen.
We then head to the toy company, Funki, to meet Williams’ character, Gemma, as she and her colleagues are trying to come up with a new prototype of the Petz toy to present to their boss. One of the colleagues comes in with a box revealing that it’s skin for the new toy they’re working on. They put the skin on the toy and start running tests on it when their boss, David, comes in asking them where the new prototype is. Gemma decides to show him how far she’s gotten with the toy they just put skin on, but when she does, the toy malfunctions with its head exploding. David reiterates that he wants the Petz project done by Friday or they’ll be in a lot of trouble. Shortly after that, Gemma receives a call. It turns out that the woman in the opening sequence was Gemma’s sister and she and her husband died in the snowplow accident. However, Cady survived. Gemma is granted custody of her niece and takes Cady home.
Gemma is clearly shown to not be mother material. She doesn’t have a dedicated space for a child and tells Cady, as she’s attempting to play with her collectables, that they’re not toys. After getting her settled in, Cady asks Gemma to read her a story to which Gemma mentions that she doesn’t have any children’s books, but downloads one on her phone for her. The passage of time is not very clear between this scene and the next one. We know it’s been a few weeks since Cady’s hospital stay and her coming to live with Gemma, but when the therapist comes to see her, it’s not clear how much time has passed.
I have a few issues with the therapist in this movie. First off, when she comes to the house, she doesn’t introduce herself. She just assumes Gemma should know who she is. Without the context of whether or not Gemma has seen her, it doesn’t make Gemma look incompetent. If someone knocked on my door and just said, “Hi!” and expected me to know exactly who they are without introduction, I’d probably react the same exact way. The therapist doesn’t say, “Hi, I’m Lydia. I’m here for the home visit.” Nothing. Just stands there staring at her with a judgmental smile because she didn’t immediately know who she is. I think if there was a scene of Gemma either meeting her before this or seeing a picture of her and not recognizing her, it would make the audience think, “wow. Gemma is already showing her incompetence as a guardian!”
The second issue is she seems SO judgmental. I know her point is to gauge whether or not Cady will thrive in this new environment, but from the moment she walks in, she’s treating Gemma like she has no idea how to deal with kids. She makes a remark about them watching TV and still being in their pajamas. Like the kid JUST lost both her parents! If she doesn’t wanna get dressed, then she shouldn’t have to! Besides, she’s literally sitting at home. Why does she need to be all dressed up? I work from home and my idea of dressing up is leggings and a t-shirt which can also be used to sleep in! Then when Cady tells her she doesn’t have any toys there, she shoots Gemma a look like she’s the worst human ever. Again - this whole situation JUST happened. Let the kid get settled in. Let Gemma mourn her sister and adapt to her situation. I don’t know how these situations work in real life, but this is just very unrealistic and as a viewer, you can tell that this is just unnecessary forced conflict. But the part that really sucks is that Gemma’s never really IN danger of losing Cady. Of course we see the therapist pop up here and there and there’s talk of her potentially losing Cady to her in-laws, but like… there’s no weight to any of this. I feel like they could’ve either shown Gemma giving less of a shit about Cady which would’ve justified the therapist’s disdain towards her or they could’ve made the therapist just see she’s trying her best and be a lot less judgmental towards her. Gemma’s grieving, too, and just as equally thrown into a situation she was nowhere near equipped for. Cut her some damn slack!
Anyways, so after the therapist leaves, Gemma has to get some work done so she leaves Cady to her own devices. Later, Cady comes to show her a drawing she did of a toy design in an effort to help inspire her aunt. They have a bonding moment and Gemma ends up showing her a robot she made named Bruce. Keep him in the back of your mind because he’ll be important later on! Bruce is controlled by a human with gloves and he can basically behave like a human. Gemma explains how he works and Cady says that if she had a toy like Bruce, she would never need another toy again. This gets Gemma thinking and from there she builds our girl. Our queen - M3GAN which stands for Model 3 Generative Android.
When she pitches M3GAN to David, he about shits his pants with delight, realizing M3GAN is the most advanced toy ever made. She’s a humanoid computer, even capable of recognizing a child’s emotional state and comforting them. She takes care of everything that typically other humans - like parents - should. A revelation that Gemma’s colleague, Tess, has when she asks when parents would spend time with their kids. She also underhandedly calls M3GAN a way for Gemma to get out of truly bonding with Cady. Gemma defends herself by saying that Cady needs to spend as much time as she can with M3GAN in preparation for the presentation.
We then get to see M3GAN’s first act of violence. Gemma has a neighbor named Celia who has a very aggressive dog named Dewey. Dewey is always getting over to Gemma’s yard and pooping on her driveway, but of course, Celia doesn’t think it’s her fault or that she should have to take care of any of it. Later, when M3GAN goes to retrieve a toy just by the fence, Dewey bites her arm, dragging her into Celia’s yard. Then he bites her neck and head. When Cady goes to help M3GAN, Dewey then bites her in the arm. That sets a target on the dog’s back and M3GAN decides to off Ol’ Yeller. We don’t actually see the dog die or ever see a body so if you’re a person who can’t stand to see animals harmed, this one may be ok for you since it’s just implied, but of course, always approach with caution.
This leads M3GAN to start questioning life and death - even asking Gemma how Cady’s parents died before looking it up herself. She questions her own mortality and starts to figure out she basically can’t “die” in the traditional sense of the word. Her main directive is to protect Cady and she plans to do that by any means possible.
Of course, when the presentation rolls around, M3GAN ends up wowing the executives. Mainly because Cady has a very real breakdown about losing her parents and M3GAN not only shows them that she can store anything that Cady tells her in her system, but that she actually can comfort and cheer up a child. They’re ready to invest in M3GAN by any means necessary. But through this demonstration, Gemma sees just how broken Cady is over the loss of her parents. She decides it’s time for Cady to get out into the real world and meet some actual children. So, she enrolls her into this school where the kids learn outside in the woods. Side note: why? That’s just dangerous. I’m all for alternative schools and different learning methods, but there’s all sorts of dangerous animals in the woods! Why would you ever have a school where children are put out there like that?
Cady says she’ll only go to school if she can bring M3GAN with her, showing just how attached she’s gotten to her. Gemma argues with her about it on the day of, but the teacher ends up convincing Gemma to stay with M3GAN so that Cady will feel more comfortable. Cady ends up getting paired up with the school bully, Brandon, and of course he decides to bully her which wakes up M3GAN and causes Brandon to take her and run off to a deeper part of the woods. He tries to get M3GAN to play with him, but she won’t since she only answers to Cady. As he goes to destroy the toy, M3GAN springs to life, grabbing his ear and giving him a lecture about how bad boys grow up to be bad men. She then rips off his ear and depending on which version you watch, you either get an extremely close up shot of this or not.
At this point, Brandon realizes she’s dangerous. She tells him, “this is the part where you run” and he doesn’t hesitate to take off through the woods. M3GAN follows him on all fours which seems like the least efficient way to get around even for a supercharged toy - until he ends up falling down the side of a hill and rolling into the middle of the road. In an instant, Brandon is hit by a car and killed.
The very next day, the neighbor, Celia, has called the police believing that Gemma had something to do with her dog, Dewey’s disappearance. Gemma asserts that she had nothing to do with it, but Celia outwardly accuses M3GAN. Gemma reassures the police that M3GAN is a toy and couldn’t do any harm. Later that night, M3GAN decides to show Celia just how dangerous she is when she breaks into her shed and douses the woman in pesticides. I actually think the original version of this scene is better than the unrated one. In the unrated one, you do see a bit of her face peeling off before it hard cuts to the next day. In the original version, it cuts away from her being pressure washed with pesticides and shows blood slowly creeping on the floor. It’s that show - don’t tell mentality that makes the original scene a bit creepier to watch because you can only imagine the damage it’s doing to her face.
The police come back again the next day to inform Gemma of Celia’s passing and question her on what happened. Gemma is now fully suspect of M3GAN and tries to look through her system files to find videos of her whereabouts during the time of both Brandon and Celia’s murders. What do you know? M3GAN wiped the files from her memory. Gemma gets caught red handed by M3GAN and deactivates her, wrapping her in plastic before taking her away from the house. This is when Cady basically has a meltdown. She starts to act out, screaming, crying, cussing at Gemma. Gemma takes her for a meeting with the therapist only for Cady to pull scissors and threaten Lydia with them.
When Gemma steps in to calm her down, Cady slaps her across the face before realizing she’s gone too far. She apologizes to Gemma stating that she needs M3GAN. She tells her when she’s with M3GAN, this is the only time she doesn’t feel the grief and pain. Gemma tells her she should and actually gives her a good lesson on grief, explaining that she lost so much at such a young age and it’s normal to feel the way that she’s feeling. She also relates to her by saying she misses Cady’s parents, too. After all, even though we don’t know the full scope of the relationship between Gemma and her sister, she obviously trusted Gemma enough to leave Cady to her and Gemma does seem to be feeling the loss as well. I’ll talk in the next segment more about how I feel M3GAN was also a way for Gemma to cope with her grief in this situation, but for now, let’s continue. The movie is almost done!
Gemma opts to skip the presentation and take Cady home for the night, realizing that her mental wellbeing is far more important than some doll. But she left M3GAN in the lab with her colleagues who are working on trying to find out what’s wrong with her. M3GAN hacks into Tess’ phone to call Gemma and find out where she and Cady went while mimicking Tess’ voice. She then springs to life and attacks her colleagues, setting the lab on fire before moving on to where the presentation is. It’s here we get the now iconic scene that everyone knows and loves.
David is trying to reach Gemma on the phone, angry that not only is she not there for the presentation, but neither is M3GAN. As he rounds the corner, he spots M3GAN at the end of the hall and… she starts dancing. It’s such an utterly bizarre scene and even after seeing the millions of memes of it, it still is hilarious in the context of the movie. I mean, the killer starts dancing. What…? Why? She then rips off the blade to one of those paper cutters and goes after David. He runs to the elevator where his assistant, Cole, is heading up. He begs Cole to hold the door, but given that he’s been such a shitty boss and verbally abused Cole on more than one occasion, Cole starts to close the doors. David manages to push through them just as M3GAN catches up to him and stabs him through the chest. In the unrated version, Cole is sprayed with David’s blood, but in the original one, you just see him fall to the ground. After that, M3GAN basically tells Cole she’ll frame him for David’s murder, but then she kills Cole and depending on which version you watch, you either get a very bloody sequence of her slitting Cole’s throat or she puts the blade in his hand and pushes it forward into his throat. The elevator finally gets to the floor where the presentation is taking place and M3GAN manages to escape before the onlookers spot the dead bodies in there. She then takes a car to go back to Gemma and Cady’s house.
Gemma puts Cady to sleep and then talks to Elsie (which is like the Amazon Echo) to get her to turn on the lights in the hallway. When that doesn’t work, she walks back into the living room to hear M3GAN playing the song Toy Soldiers on the piano. M3GAN talks about how Gemma never wanted a kid in the first place and how things have been so much easier for Gemma since she came along. They begin to fight, taking it through the house until Cady goes to see what’s happening.
M3GAN tries to convince Cady that they should kill Gemma and just live the two of them and at first, it seems like Cady might give in to that request, but then she tells M3GAN about another member of their family. That member is Bruce! Cady brings Bruce out and brawls with M3GAN robot-to-robot before using Bruce to rip M3GAN in half and toss the pieces across the room. It seems at that moment that M3GAN is really defeated, but of course that would be too easy.
M3GAN’s upper torso comes back and grabs Cady by the throat, prompting Gemma to attack M3GAN and try to pull her brain apart by ripping the skin and mechanics out. M3GAN gets the upper hand and begins to choke Gemma out. Then Cady pulls out a screwdriver and jams it into M3GAN’s mainframe, killing her once and for all. The police along with Gemma’s colleagues arrive to make sure they’re alright, but as the movie draws to a close, we see that Elsie - the equivalent of the Amazon Echo - has suddenly sprung to life and turns its little robot eye to look at the camera. Hinting at a sequel we already know is coming.
Part 2: Dancing Queen
So here’s the thing about M3GAN. It’s meant to be goofy. There’s a hint of humor laced throughout the entire film and that’s even prevalent in the trailer as well. It was never meant to be taken seriously and is just what they call a popcorn flick. Something you turn your brain off and watch with the intention to just get a good solid laugh out of it. That being said, M3GAN herself is definitely creepy. From the very uncanny way her face moves to her childlike and robotic voice that only thinly hides the fact that she’s a computer and knows everything. We can laugh at her dance moves all we want, but if I woke up in the middle of the night and saw her in my living room - even without the movie’s existence - I would find her utterly terrifying. There’s no denying M3GAN is a horror icon for a new generation. Sure, she’s basically just Chucky, but to me she’s scarier than Chucky because she has the intelligence to match her sadism.
I’d done a review on the remake of Child’s Play a few years ago and one thing I said is there’s something scary about the idea of the tech we’re so accustomed to and reliant on coming to life and fighting back. The Child’s Play remake had a lot of pushback for changing many elements to the iconic story and diehard fans of that franchise were not receptive to its existence despite it being a solid film overall. M3GAN is basically the Child’s Play remake, but it gets away with being that because it doesn’t involve Chucky. It tells a cautionary tale about our gadgets becoming so advanced that they begin to outrank us. We become mere specks of dust in the wake of their greatness.
There’s another tale to be told here as well and that’s a tale of grief. Cady is a literal child - only in elementary school - when she loses both of her parents in one fell swoop. She also loses her stability. She goes from her home to her aunt’s home basically overnight. She’s scared, alone, and she doesn’t know how to convey any of those emotions because they’re big emotions for a child to feel. Gemma - on the flip side - is a workaholic who is so focused on advancing technology in the toy world that she doesn’t seem to have time for much else. Then she’s suddenly thrust into this guardian role that she feels she has to take. Partially because it was her sister’s wish, but also because she does seem to love and care about her niece. While the movie focuses mainly on the fact that Cady is a child going through immense trauma, it also dabbles in the fact that Gemma is also experiencing a huge amount of trauma herself.
M3GAN is a trauma response for Gemma. Gemma has no idea how to be a parent. She has no idea how to help a child process such a huge feeling such as the grief of losing her parents and normalcy. Especially because Gemma has no idea how to process her own grief at losing her sister and her lack of preparation for a situation like this to happen. She builds M3GAN as a companion for Cady, but M3GAN ends up being a bandaid over a bullet hole. Cady only talks to M3GAN about her feelings because she doesn’t feel like the adults around her understand the pain she’s in. M3GAN plays with Cady and gives her a sense of normalcy she otherwise wouldn’t have and when M3GAN is forcibly taken away from her by Gemma, she lashes out and becomes incredibly violent. Mainly because she has no idea how to feel the pain she’s in. She doesn’t want to feel it. She wants M3GAN back to distract her from the reality that her parents are gone forever. As for Gemma, Gemma uses M3GAN as a way to do the things she feels she’s incapable of doing. She lets M3GAN do the parenting while she focuses on her work and how to drop M3GAN into every American home she can. But when she realizes throughout the film that Cady is bonded more to M3GAN than to her, she tries to step in and create boundaries for Cady with M3GAN. She starts to realize that having a robotic child basically parent your kid for you is a negative thing. On top of that, she knows in her heart that M3GAN is too advanced, learning at a rapid rate about humanity and following her directive at any cost to protect Cady from harm. Even if that means harming Gemma herself so Cady and her can live and play in peace. When you really think about Gemma and Cady’s relationships with M3GAN, it makes the movie sadder and a bit creepier. These are two people thrown into a terrible situation after losing their family who use technology to cover up the pain and deal with the changes thrown at them.
That being said, this movie doesn’t linger on the actual pain and grief for too long. Despite its 1 hour and 41 minute run time, you don’t ever feel like Gemma is in danger of losing Cady because of her incompetence as a guardian nor do you ever really feel Cady’s pain of her loss deeply. There are glimpses of it, but nothing serious. Because this movie is not to be taken seriously. It’s a movie about a killer doll that comes to life and offs people. And sings Sia for some reason. And dances, let's not forget the dancing.
Overall, M3GAN isn’t a bad movie. It’s just… not as good as everyone made it out to be. It’s fun, it’s got its funny parts, the dance is great, and M3GAN herself is very creepy. I watched this movie back to back - once for the theatrical cut and again for the unrated one - and overall, it’s a movie that needs to be watched with the right people. People who are going to make it fun. Otherwise, it’s just a typical slasher film with minimal gore in BOTH versions (which isn’t like a bad thing or anything. Just still annoyed about the unrated version basically being nothing special) and a slasher who may just be this generation’s Chucky. M3GAN is definitely not going anywhere and I’m OK with that. She’s cool, she’s creepy, and honestly she’s got some sick ass dance moves. I hope whatever they do with the sequel, we get another scene of her dancing as she kills people. Make that her signature going forward. So, for that, I am going to award M3GAN 3 out of 5 skulls. If you’re looking for something fun to watch with friends for the night, this is one I highly recommend!
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Laws Of Love - Chapter 5: A Band-Aid For Your Heart
Fandom: Jericho.
Category: F/M.
Relationship: Bill Koehler x Female Reader.
Type: 5-chapter fanfiction.
Summary: Having to deal with the end of the world is not easy. But it gets even worse when you also have to start dealing with your own feelings. Bill Koehler’s life takes a changing turn when a newcomer arrives in Jericho, and he soon comes to realize the day she walked into his home also marked the day the bomb in his heart went off.
Chronology: Season 1.
~~~~~~~~~~
Alone in the living room, I sat down on the couch with my mug in hand. With a sigh, I bitterly stared down at the coffee flowing inside my cup; I had woken up to the sight of an empty house, Bill having left early without waiting for me, or even bothering to wake me up. This went against the routine we had set in place and had been sharing for weeks, a routine that had become so dear to my heart. It upset me deeply to see him behaving in such a way, although I could understand the reasoning behind his actions: after what had happened the day before, and the cold mood that had set between the two of us ever since, we had left each other on bad terms.
He probably hasn't forgiven me for our argument at City Hall, and he must have felt forced when I asked him to give up the explosives for us to blow up the bridge. I know he wasn't fully on board with our idea...
I rubbed my eyes and took a sip of my coffee before shaking my head slowly.
I was finally starting to feel like the two of us really had something... But of course, it had to fall apart.
I lost myself deeper into my thoughts, remaining on the couch for a few more minutes, after which I got ready for the day, the sounds of my lone footsteps echoing through the house. I took my own car to drive to City Hall, but felt a knot in my stomach during all of the ride as I kept on asking myself what I could say to Bill once I would see him down at the police station. But before I could come up with anything to tell him, I had already arrived in town and the knot in my stomach tightened as I saw his car missing from his usual parking spot, which was right next to mine. I quickly made my way into the building and immediately went up to see Jimmy, chatting about reports with other law enforcers.
"Jimmy, have you seen Bill? Do you know where he is?"
"Oh, good morning, [Y/N]." He smiled as he turned to me. "Bill came by here earlier than usual this morning to let me know that he'd spend the day patrolling one of the border checkpoints."
I was instantly taken by surprise.
The border checkpoints have been established by Gray to control who wishes to enter Jericho... I've not once seen Bill take that job up... Why would he-
I stopped myself dead in my thoughts and my expression changed as I came to a dawning realization.
He must have decided to go to the border to get away from me...
"Oh, God..." I whispered to myself.
I felt even more upset than before and felt my thoughts swirl around my mind.
I never would've imagined he'd go to such lengths... Is this really how bad our situation has become?
"Do you want to join him at the border checkpoint?" Jimmy suddenly asked me.
I looked up at him before shaking my head.
"No... Someone needs to stay behind the front desk." I answered in a slightly bitter tone.
And so, I spent the entire morning at the police station, doing my usual work. But I could never get Bill out of my mind, no matter how much I tried to chase my thoughts about him away. But luckily for me, City Hall was not bustling with activity as much as it usually did: this was partially thanks to Jake, who had come up with the idea of trying and putting in place a group of Rangers for the town to have a real security force to protect life and property. He had thus decided to train some of the town citizens, and although the training had only just started, it already occupied a part of town, leading the police force to be slightly less busy than usual.
Near midday, as things were somewhat quiet at the station, I unexpectedly heard the sound of the front door suddenly opening.
"[Y/N]!" I heard a deep voice call out to me before I could even turn my head to see who had stepped in.
I looked in its direction and saw Gray, looking somewhat uneasy. I quickly understood something important had occurred, so I left my post and followed him outside. Before I could ask Gray what the matter was, I had arrived next to his car and was shown Bill, lying in the backseat, seemingly unconscious.
"Oh my-"
My expression instantly changed and I was filled with nothing but extreme worry as a myriad of questions came flying through my mind.
"I came to see you right away since I know you're familiar with where he lives." Gray said, a hint of unease in his voice.
I looked up at him, slightly puzzled.
"Well, he's unconscious and has been injured." He followed. "But it's not important enough to bring him down to the hospital, so home care should suffice."
He marked a short break, after which he took a step closer to me.
"Look, [Y/N], I found him-"
"You'll tell me on the way." I cut him off. "Let's go."
We both climbed into his car, Gray behind the wheel, and me in the passenger's seat.
"I'll need you to give me directions." He said as he turned on the engine.
"Yeah, you got it."
With a swift turn, we drove off and started to make our way out of town; I told Gray which route to take, then I turned around and as I looked at Bill, I felt my heart ache.
"So what happened?" I asked Gray while still looking behind me.
"Well... Since the border checkpoints were my idea and I was the one to have put them in place, I regularly go check on them, to make sure everything is running smoothly. Earlier today, as I was pulling up to the checkpoint Bill was guarding, I saw two suspicious-looking guys, running through the border to try to get into Jericho. I arrived on time to fend them off and make them leave, but..."
As I was listening to him closely, Gray marked a pause before sighing.
"Bill had already been injured by them. When I found him, he was lying on the floor, unconscious, with a few bruises and a large cut on his right arm, although it doesn't seem too deep. I picked him up in my car and drove to City Hall to look for you."
He briefly turned his head to me before looking back on the road.
"I don't know the whole story, but that's as much as I can tell you."
After Gray had finished his story, I gulped while nodding my head very slightly, and gave Bill one more worried look from behind me. After having successfully guided Gray, we finally pulled up to the house and parked up front. We both got out and opened the backseat doors, before steadily grabbing hold of Bill; we carried him to the front door, which I unlocked, then got him inside.
"Set him down on the couch in the living room." I told Gray with a sign of the head.
Following my lead, he helped me lie him down very carefully, after which I set a pillow or two under his head. With Bill now set, Gray started making his way out of the house.
"I'm counting on you to take good care of him." He told me in a gentle voice I had rarely heard from him. "I'll be heading back to town to let the others at City Hall know you'll both be absent for the rest of the day due to what happened to Bill."
"Alright." I nodded. "Thank you very much, Gray."
Nodding back at me, he stepped through the front door and I was left alone with Bill. I sat down on the couch next to him and looked at him with heartbroken eyes. My eyes fell upon his hands, resting on his chest, and I confidently yet gently grabbed one of them, feeling the warmth of his palm against mine.
"Gray doesn't have to worry, I'll take care of you." I whispered in a softly-spoken voice.
I held his hand tighter as I shook my head slowly.
"All of this is my fault... I'm so sorry..."
Finding comfort in his touch, I began rubbing my thumb against his fingers.
"I care so much for you... And you don't even have a clue..."
I looked into his closed eyes and tilted my head just a little.
"Bill, I-"
But before I could speak any further, his body twitched and he started to wake up. I immediately stopped talking and stared at him with worried eyes.
"Bill. Bill, you're awake. How are you feeling?"
Without giving me an answer, he tried to sit up straight, but I could see it was more effort than his body could handle.
"Hey, don't try to move too much." I told him while holding him gently.
I helped him readjust his position, my hands on both of his arms, and felt a pain in my soul as I saw the state he was in.
"Thanks..." He lowly said while looking down at his lap.
I smiled tenderly before resting a hand on one of his shoulders.
"It's okay... Don't move from the couch, I'm going to go grab you a glass of water from the kitchen."
I stood up and quickly walked to the kitchen: finding a clean glass lying around, I filled it up with water and proceeded back to Bill. Sitting back down next to him, I gave him the glass, from which he immediately started drinking. Watching him empty half of his cup, I stared into his eyes which were slowly regaining their spark.
"How are you feeling?" I asked him again gently.
"Much better now that I've had something to drink." He answered while switching his glance from his glass to me.
I let out a sigh of relief as I smiled at him.
"That's good to hear. But you'll be feeling even better after I'll have taken care of your wounds."
Bill stared at me silently for a few seconds, and I could read a deep note of affection in them; still without talking, he finally nodded and swallowed down the rest of his drink. I grabbed the glass from his hands after he had finished drinking it and put it down on the living room table. Turning back to him, I set a delicate hand on his arm.
"Get comfortable while I go grab you some band-aids, cotton pads, and antiseptic from the bathroom, alright?"
Once more, I got up from the couch and this time headed upstairs. I quickly gathered everything I needed then went back down into the living room. I again sat next to him and set everything on my lap, but kept silent at first, before awkwardly looking at Bill.
"Hum... you're gonna need to remove your jacket and your shirt for me to clean the wound on your arm." I gulped slightly as my eyes left his face. "... Besides, your clothes have been stained with blood, so you'll have to get changed afterward."
"Sure." He accepted, not without feeling a little awkward himself.
With me watching him, he began undressing but soon winced in pain from his arm.
"Agh- Son of a bitch-"
I quickly set aside the health supplies I had gathered and leaned closer to him.
"Here, let me help you."
I sat nearer to him and started to help him undress, grabbing hold of his jacket and unbuttoning it. I felt my cheeks start to flush as my fingers went over each button, and I could not bring myself to look at him. Neither of us spoke as I opened his jacket and helped him take it off, letting sexual tension fill up the air around us. With the jacket removed, my hands advanced to the bottom of Bill's shirt and grabbed it; I could now feel my cheeks burn as I helped him lift it up above his head, the tip of my fingers gently brushing against his skin, until it was removed completely. Once both clothes had been taken off, I put them in a pile and set them on the living room table, next to his glass. While setting them down, I closed my eyes and took a breath in; after having managed to cool down my body temperature by a little, I then turned back around and went to sit back down next to him. Grabbing a cotton pad and dabbing some antiseptic onto it, I began taking care of his arm. Bill lightly groaned at the contact of the ointment against his opened-up wound and I looked at him with sorry eyes.
"What happened...?" I asked myself aloud while staring at his cut.
"Right, I guess I owe you an explanation."
I looked up into his eyes as my hand still brushed over his arm.
"So, I was at the southeast border checkpoint, and two men came up to me and told me they wanted to get into Jericho. I found them suspicious, so I asked them some questions and realized they were from Jonah's gang. Before I could start asking them to leave, they started attacking me, and during the fight, one of them drew out a pocket knife and cut my arm."
Tightly hanging on his words, I felt a deep sense of anger within myself, but tried chasing it away for the time being.
Taking care of Bill is what's important right now.
"What did these guys want?" I asked. "Why did they try to get inside Jericho?"
"... Stealing from us, spying on us, reporting our activity to Jonah...?" He replied with a shrug.
I gave him a slightly worried look and he sent it back to me, until his expression changed, replaced by one of confusion.
"But, wait..." Bill asked, an eyebrow raised. "I passed out, right?"
I answered him with a simple and silent nod.
"So, how did I even make it back here?"
"Oh, that's thanks to Gray." I scoffed. "Fortunately for you, he was just on his way to check up on how you were doing when he saw the whole thing happen. Well, it technically had already happened, since you were already unconscious when he found you. But he did manage to stop Jonah's men from entering the town, and he brought you to me while I was at City Hall."
"Huh, Gray, who would've thought?" He said as he slowly nodded his head. "I'll have to thank him the next time I come across him."
I chuckled lowly as I finished tending to his arm, after which I applied a large band-aid on his wound.
"Alright, your arm's all done." I told him with a loving smile. "Now I'll move on to your face."
For me to clean his face properly, I had to get yet even closer to him; as I stared into his champagne-colored eyes, I could feel my cheeks were sprinkled with blush, as much as his were with bruises. Sexual tension kept rising between the two of us as the room got quiet and the atmosphere heavy, making us understand we both were a little bashful. Letting a few drops of antiseptic fall on a cotton pad, I approached a hand to his temple and dabbed gently on it, all while avoiding his gaze. After a moment of intense silence, I gathered up the courage to speak about what the both of us had been thinking about this whole time.
"Bill, I have to know..." I started, slightly anxious. "Why were you avoiding me this morning? And why haven't you talked to me since yesterday?"
He looked down at his lap and silence followed for a few seconds.
"... I was afraid you were still upset at me from yesterday, so I thought giving you some space away from me would help you." He confessed. "I didn't want to see you angry at me, and if what it took for you to feel better was for me to leave for some time, then I was willing to do it."
I furrowed my eyebrows as my heart began to ache, feeling sad hearing him say such things.
"Bill, I..." I started while shaking my head slowly, my eyes closed. "I'm no longer mad at you, I-I never really was..."
And me who thought he was the one to feel resentment... This whole time, our reasonings were actually the opposite of each other.
"If that's true, then why didn't you tell me you were going back home, last night?" He asked, sounding somewhat disappointed. "I know I decided to stick around City Hall a little longer, but I saw no sign of you when I left."
I scoffed lightly while looking down.
"I couldn't stick around much longer, all this talk between Gray and Mayor Green... I just didn't feel like registering all that last night."
I shyly rose my head to look into his eyes while feeling embarrassment flow through me.
"And... I thought you were the one who was mad at me... I thought you wouldn't want to hear from me, so I left without telling you."
Silence ensued, leaving the both of us to our respective thoughts.
"You know, I still don't know why you changed your mind in the end yesterday." I let out as I looked down at my hands pulling the cotton out of the pad I was holding. "Why you decided to give me and the rest of our group the explosives, despite arguing against it in front of me at first."
"It was because of Jake." He answered without an ounce of hesitation.
I was taken aback by his answer.
"Jake?"
Bill marked another pause before sighing.
"I was afraid that if I didn't give up the explosives for you, you'd find comfort in Jake and that this would drag you away from me, and closer to him."
I opened my mouth slightly but did not speak a word, too moved to talk.
"... I know the two of you have known each other for some time, longer than we have..."
I gently bit my bottom lip as I furrowed my eyebrows in desolation.
"I acted out of jealousy and fear." He lastly admitted as he stared deep into my eyes.
"How..." I started in a whisper.
I slowly approached a hand to his skin as I leaned closer to him, and delicately rested it in-between his shoulder and his neck.
"... How can you be thinking such things?" I shook my head slowly.
Ever so gracefully, Bill rested a hand over mine, pressing it gently against his skin but just hard enough for his heartbeat to be felt through my palm.
"Because I'm in love with you, [Y/N]." He softly spoke. "I have been since the first time I laid my eyes on you. And since that day, it hasn't changed one bit."
I felt my own racing heartbeat mix with his as we silently stared into each other's eyes, for what felt like a thousand years. His hand left mine and found its way to my left cheek, cupping it gently; bringing me closer to him, I closed my eyes as his lips kissed mine tenderly. It felt like a miracle, like the world had stopped, like I had forgotten everything else occupying my mind, and I was amazed by how incredibly warm and soft his lips were. The hand I had rested on him moved down to his chest, and he grabbed my waist as we pulled our bodies closer to each other. As the kiss got comfortable and we fastened up a bit, my body started to melt. Feeling his hands hold me tight, I sensed he wanted it to last, and I circled his neck with my arms to make him understand I agreed. I craved for making it last longer, but we were forced to pull away after both of us had run out of breath. I gently pressed my forehead against his as I felt his panting breath bounce off mine.
"I love you too, Bill." I whispered as I caressed his face. "And no end of the world will ever take that away from me."
#bill koehler#bill koehler x reader#bill koehler x you#bill koehler fanfiction#bill koehler fanfictions#jericho#jericho fanfiction#jericho fanfictions#female reader#laws of love#chapter 5#perplexedflower
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Tyranny save game editor money
Tyranny save game editor money code#
Enjoy! We diet, restrict and control our food and exercise to try and control our appearance, but the food isn't the root of the problem. To kick of the new year, I've laid out my top tips. The Chit Show Welcome!!! I've developed this website for various reasons. In his insightful piece in Time Magazine on the election as president of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the ousted dictator, scholar Jonathan Ong said: "To fight back, progressive leaders should advance their own counter-narrative and persuasive vision.2022. Arch Capital and its partners may hold securities discussed on this show. Brett Schafer and Ryan Henderson are general partners and portfolio managers at Arch Capital. Disclosure: Chit Chat Money hosts and guests are not financial advisors, and nothing they say on this show is formal advice or a recommendation.In this episode we have a special guest, my daughter Zihya… We discuss how it feels to love people that don't like you. Todays Valentine gift for a Miami couple couldn't get wo.Check out this great listen on. Fred The Crocodile Eating Lobsters! (BlackPoint Marina) Mini Season was on July 28 and 29th 2021 and it looks like many people did really well ! Today we saw Fred the Croc get his share of lobster heads and boy did he look thick ! When the world is against you just stay home ! Nothing like a boat ramp to put stress on a marriage. My name is Alfred Montaner Host of the Chit Show. It features seven nights aboard the Amadeus Diamond cruise ship on the Seine River in France. The nine-day tour will depart on Tuesday, April 26, and return on May 4, 2022. Reddit2, involve many interesting discussions about. Figure 1: Personalized chit-chat for news recommendation. Anni Cyrus and Michael Lauber on the Truth About Middle-East Threat Chit-chat:Would the UN or US apply economic sanctions under threat of a bombing campaign to halt the deforestation? User 3 keywords : taylor, swift, song Chit-chat:A song of Taylor is about reviving the nature. Diamond & Silk Chit Chat Live 07-20-2022.Chit definition, a signed note for money owed for food, drink, etc. Watch popular content from the following creators. Discover short videos related to chit show on TikTok. Mary glad you and your husband are back home, and things are a litter better for him. Mild 40 with wind 3 to 6 mph, Close to 70 later today. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world. Join Facebook to connect with Chit Chit and others you may know. Get the IMDb App Help Site Index IMDbPro Box Office Mojo IMDb Developer. Showing all 1 items Jump to: Release Dates (1) Also Known As (AKA) (0) Release Dates UK : Also Known As (AKA).
Tyranny save game editor money code#
588: THE 'CHIT' CODE (2022 Podcast Episode) Release Info. Posted on July 18, 2022Chit Chit is on Facebook. 2big bronco 6 7 8.Read more about New Alberta Branch: Edmonton North East. Who had cannibalism on their 2022 bingo card? ProjectTwin Yesterday at 9:52 PM 2. If not you can just click the active box on the left side and should work then.Chit Chit is on Facebook. Double click the value and just change it to anything you want. Now on the bottom half of the program, one or two addresses should show up. There should only be one or two choices on the left side and double click both. What this essentially does is look through the values and addresses we found earlier and find anything that changed to 725. Now where you had 745, enter 725 and hit next scan. I bought a pretzel for 2g so I ended up with 72.5. Now in game we need to change the amount of money you have. This should bring up a list of values and addresses on the left side. I have 74.5 gold in game, so I started with 745 as a value. On the right side there should be a bar to enter a number, right above where it says "exact value". Now that we have the game selected, we gotta search for a value for it to find. Go to the computer symbol with the magnifying glass and find Kingdom Come. First, we have to choose the application. You can pretty much use this for any game but different games will have different values that they use.ĭownload Cheat Engine and open it up. Typically hate grinding for money and all the cool shit you gotta find anyway.Īnyways, from what I understand cheat engine is a hex editor and if you can find the value that the game uses for money you can change it to whatever you want. Basically we're going to use Cheat Engine to change the amount of money you have.
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What Could Be(Adler x Bell!Reader)
Read This First
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Summary: Bell and Adler try to figure out their path from here. Everyone else can only watch in entertainment or in annoyance.
Or where Bell tries to find her feet and takes control.
Warnings/Tags: Trauma, Recovery from Trauma, Mental Anguish, Brainwashing, Manipulation, Major Character Death, Post!Solovetsky, Post-Canon, Bell!Lives, Implied Sexual Content, COD:BOCW Season 6 Outro Spoilers, COD: Vanguard Pacific Trailer Spoilers, COD: Vanguard Spoilers, Past!Stitch x Bell
A/N: Sequel Fic to What Could Never Be. Happy Anniversary to Cold War! I still want scruffy Adler S6 gifs. Also, Hudson is growing on me.
Words: 6.9k
▞ ▚ ✯ ✯ ✯ ▞ ▚ ✯ ✯ ✯ ▛ ✯ ✯ ✯ ▞ ▚ ✯ ✯ ✯
It’s a been few days since the interrogation that turned more into you just explaining the intricacies of Perseus to Black and Hudson and even Adler once it was established that Black deemed you useful.
From sharing the various safehouses, to the members real names, to who you believed the top three candidates that could be the next leader and what tactics they would use if they were in charge.
Two being Portnova and Kitsune. They were both dangerous and sly with their work—even more deadly due to their skills in communications and technology and with how the Numbers station can be spread through those two things, it can be a problem if either of them became Perseus. It didn’t help that they were by you when you did your codes, watching and learning from you since you were the best despite how Portnova was efficient in her own right.
The third being Jackal. Jackal was close to Naga and Stitch, but the man was volatile and unnecessarily violent when the situation didn’t call for it. His role as leader would be more explosive and you wouldn’t be surprised if Fuze would become the man’s closest confidant if it could create chaos everywhere with bombs and deaths following. Chaos mixing with the insanity of the Numbers and sleeper agents isn’t something the world needs. Especially since they have to deal with the multiple sleeper agents on the CIA’s side still and find a way to either rewire or deprogram all of them before heading out in missions.
Although your mouth and throat felt dry from all the talking, thinking to yourself you may dislike Black more than Hudson, your mood lifted when you finally exited the room to meet Adler’s approving nod at you along with his eyes gleaming to match before driving you to an apartment complex a mile away from Langley and you promptly knocking out when you thanked him and closed the door when he left after explaining when he’ll get you.
You had trouble sleeping, but you slept enough. Even if you had to quite literally shake away images of a body with a bullet in their head with a grave site having a flower inscription not far.
After that, Adler picking you up in the morning to take you to Langley and sketch out a plan with him and Hudson. Barely any time at all for a break outside eating or a cup of coffee in the room they chose to cover all of this. The room being your own conference room and might as well be your office and Adler’s new one. You heard he had his own but he’s been sticking with you all this time, the room practically just filled with nicotine and smoke if the two filled ash trays had anything to say about it that the man would have to clean up as he chose who they’ll have in the team for when they head out.
The two of you still have avoided speaking about the elephant in the room. Or rather elephants. It seems you and Adler will just keep pretending that nothing occurred and there’s nothing to speak on about the last three years or what happened three years ago. It didn’t help with how the tension of something unspoken would rise at times, when their hands would graze with passing files or writing equipment or his lighter that he had on the table that somehow got on your side. Both of you not wearing gloves able to truly feel the brush of fingers, no matter how slight and wishing for a firmer touch. Nor when the two of you would sit close together over their plan, thighs touching with shoulders grazing and you having to be mindful to not look to the side where you would feel Adler’s stare on you. Fearing what may happen if you looked and saw his handsome face close to yours, able to fully see his eyes that aren’t hidden from you from the shades he liked to use and has been hanging from the collar of his button up shirts that were apart of the uniform for the CIA.
Too soon, you would tell yourself. The memories with Perseus and Stitch not able to go away no matter how many times you tell yourself they used you like the CIA. But they didn’t quite did. Because they actually cared and laughed with you and told you past memories you’ll never be able to remember yourself and only imagine. It’s still too soon.
Adler seemed to be able to read on why you couldn’t quite meet his eyes when it was just the two of you, his lips pressing once or jaw ticking and he would get distant again.
And this is where you felt like the two of you should talk. They won’t be able to understand each other if they don’t speak on it—about your relationship with Perseus and Stitch—Adler’s mortal enemies and rivals. But, again, you wonder what is the point.
It’ll just turn to an argument.
The both of you have been cordial, even friendly with one another despite their past, and you would rather keep it. Past and present tensions aside.
“I dreamed of you.”
Besides that, your concern for Adler and his insane need for Perseus hasn’t lessened. He truly won’t give up and the amount of time the both of you just focused on those within Perseus and not the other concerns about the Numbers program and how to stop it or what Captain Butcher is focused about. You admit you’re indulging him quite heavily with everything you know, staying as late as you will it until the both of you decide to call it a day.
But when the two of you are silent and going through files, you think about Adler being reckless with his light team. About easily accepting to get back into the fray after being kidnapped and tortured not even two weeks later. To go back again without a pause after being deprogrammed.
And your concern turns to anger when you think about who would had to have ordered and given approval. For the more you thought on it, the more you couldn’t keep your mouth shut.
So when Adler stepped out the room to get more files on another floor, you took your chance with the other man in the room as you kept your eyes on the door where Adler just left.
“Sir, we need to speak about Adler.”
Hudson looked up from his file and the projector he was messing with that had a layout of a Perseus safehouse, seeing the back of your head before you turned and stared over at him—serious, and your brows pinched.
Hudson released a sigh through his nose.
“So you’ve noticed it as well.” At your nod, the man sighed again as he put the file atop the projector and crossed his arms, eyes behind black aviators on you. “He won’t stop. And with you giving all this information over, even though he knows that Perseus fucker is dead along with Stitch, it’s only made the man scramble. But he’s the best equipped when it comes to this. Even now. He’s going to stay on it. Especially if you keep feeding him.”
You frowned, turning yourself in your chair towards the man at his clear disapproval. You can already tell this conversation won’t end well.
“I don’t know what you’re accusing me of sir—“ he didn’t scoff, but he might as well have when he huffed out his nose. “—but I’m just giving information. We’re all aware that Perseus can be never ending. Kill one, five more can take the place as the head. I know if we take out the next head so soon after the last one though, they’ll scramble. That’s not what I speak on though. Adler. . . he needs someone to pull him back from doing something reckless when we’re out in missions.”
“And you think it should be you?” Your silence and stare was your answer as Hudson shook his head, saying something to himself you didn’t hear, your eyes narrowing.
“Fine. Than what happened to Sims? He can maybe cool Adler better than anyone else.”
“Retired.” Your eyes widened as Hudson placed his hands on his hips, continuing measuredly. “Has been since last year. He would’ve been part of the team to rescue Adler from Laos.”
Something doesn’t add up. Sims would’ve came right back in if he knew what happened to his oldest friend.
Your blood ran cold as your eyes focused on the severe man.
“You didn’t tell him,” you say in disbelief, Hudson turning his head at you but keeping silent as his brows furrowed. You grew tense, scowling as you put a hand to the table and half rising out of your seat. “You didn’t tell him?! Why wouldn’t—what do you think Adler must be thinking in his mind, huh? His best friend nowhere to be seen in any of the operations since he got kidnapped and tortured and—“
“Watch your tone, Bell.” Hudson warned, cooly. Your mouth clicking shut, but your scowl still on your face. “Sims stated before he didn’t wish to come back. He wanted to live a life, as much as one as he could despite everything he’s seen. His words not mine. You expect me to take that away from him?” You bit your inner cheek, watching how tense the man’s shoulders were before he spread an arm out. “Bring him back to this,” he motioned at all the files and papers strewn across the table and the projector. “Adler should’ve known better. And you need to know to not presume.”
You rose from your chair this time at that, snapping.
“How would’ve Adler gotten approval for such a mission to the mall? With a light team? If he didn’t get approval than he wouldn’t have—“
“Hold the fuck up and watch your tone, agent. You think I was aware of what Adler was doing in the ass crack of Germany?” Your brows furrowed, Hudson’s lips forming a thin knowing smile. “You did. You know what happens when you assume? No wonder you don’t fucking like me. You think I didn’t notice?” He asked in response to your slight wide of the eyes, hand gesturing to himself.
Frankly, no you didn’t. You don’t make your distaste as obvious as he does. At least, you thought. You slowly moved back to your seat, your brows heavily furrowed.
Hudson scoffed, shaking his head at you as he than sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before letting his arm fall back to his side after a few moments of silence.
“Adler left Berlin with his team to New Jersey without so much as a check in he was following a lead. Next thing I know, tracked down his heli with his team dead and him MIA. Where does that leave me?”
“. . .he’s off worse than we thought.” Hudson didn’t say anything to that, but you know. You put your head to your hand, rubbing your forehead as you cursed to yourself. You know Adler loves control, but to go around superiors? Just for that small hint of Perseus. He threw away his whole team just for a possible hint. Still, you’re not done with Hudson yet as you raised your head, your eyes narrowed as he met your look with a crossing of arms. “You knew though. That he was like that before the kidnapping. Yet you let him go off two weeks later after his rescue. Did you even do a mental evaluation on him?”
“You think I don’t fucking know that?” Hudson snapped, voice loud in the room as you blinked, Hudson moving a hand through his head. “We did an evaluation but maybe I should’ve ordered another one. Russ’ evals always raised some red flags but the man gets shit done. The past year he’s been more and more determined to get Perseus and now that the rug got pulled under him by finding out the man got clipped by cancer? Who knows what he’ll do?”
“Rewire his brain for one,” you muttered, your eyes moving to the side when Hudson threw you an unamused look. “But. . .wait a minute,” your eyes met Hudson’s shades. “You said past year. Since Sims left?” Hudson seemed to know where you were going with this, him cursing under his breath as you rubbed your eyes. “This goes back to what I said before, sir. He needs someone to pull him back.”
“You’re the last person that’s going to do that,” he says curtly, “You’re the Perseus that never was. A walking incarnation of his obsession. You’re not doing him any favors. And you think you can protect him from himself?”
Your gaze turned to the side, hand on your lap below the table clenching once before releasing.
Hudson never minces words. And he’s not wrong.
You wonder if Adler feels additional frustration towards you due to never really capturing you either. Or ending you.
No Perseus. No Stitch. And no you.
You released a puff of air, before looking at Hudson and clasping your hands on the table.
“Look,” you begin, focused on the man whose arms were crossed in front of him with the usual harsh visage but his gaze steady along with yours. “I feel like I need to. . . go back to what you said in the plane. The understanding.”
“One you didn’t want to agree on,” Hudson said before nodding. “You got something to add besides creating air?”
Ugh. Got it. He hated I didn’t say I would follow his orders if it was between him and Adler.
You felt your face sour before you did your best to clear it.
“Respectfully sir, I don’t mind following your orders. That’s not a problem. I’ll do what I must. Always have and always will. But listen,” you lean forward in your seat, eyes on his aviators and you could spot from the lighting that you can see his eyes from here, connecting. “When it comes down to it, I’m going to follow Adler. In anything. Just like I’ll do what I must to make sure he lives another day. And the way he’s going, he’ll have an early grave by next year. So yeah. I might be a bad choice, but know I’ll make sure he calms down.”
Hudson studied you, considering your words with a thoughtful frown. And than:
“You and Russ like to take turns and act as protector,” Hudson commented, a suspicious glance at you as your gaze didn’t waver before he sniffed. “Why? Why go so far for a man who renamed you?”
You lifted your chin, eyes glinting.
“The world needs Russell Adler.”
Hudson stared at you before he inclined his head in semblance of a nod. All that you needed for him to give the okay. A few moments later, someone knocked and a man with an eye patch came in, black hair graying and a horseshoe mustache with long sleeve button shirt and tie and dress pants to match. Your brows raising when you heard his Russian accent as him and Hudson talked about Captain Butcher and the project the old Quartermaster brought up, the both of them briefly working with one another until the Captain finds what he’s looking for. The man with the eye patch than turned towards you, you raising from your seat as Hudson introduced you to the man named Weaver and with your name.
You extended a hand and he took it as you tried not to stare and look at the man in bewilderment as you gave pleasantries.
The man, Weaver, brows rose as he turned towards Hudson next to him.
“You didn’t tell me we had a new devushka, Hudson! And here I thought I’m the only one surrounded by you stars and stripes.” To your shock, Hudson’s mouth actually lifted. Into an amused smile. You’re dreaming. Weaver turned towards you, giving you a charming smile. “Priyatno poznakomit'sya, tovarishch. Ne protiv etogo zho-pa zdes', devushka. Vsegda chto-to v zadnitse.”
Nice to meet you, comrade. Don’t mind this asshole here, young lady. He always has something up his ass.
You giggled despite yourself, Hudson throwing Weaver a flat look as he was able to understand everything while Weaver just smirked at him.
They’re close. Even though he’s. . .
You looked at Hudson in a new light, a stupefied expression on your face which Hudson scoffed at when he caught it. At least you know why his expression turned unreadable on the plane when you called yourself an Ivan.
Turns out, he just plain doesn’t like you.
You can work with that.
▞ ▚ ✯ ✯ ✯ ▞ ▚ ✯ ✯ ✯ ▛ ✯ ✯ ✯ ▞ ▚ ✯ ✯ ✯
“You alright?” Adler asked lowly, searching your eyes when he would glance at you before turning back to the road before him as he drove.
You were leaning forward, head on the dashboard as you sighed.
“Yeah,” you say roughly, before clearing your throat. Your sleep still seeming to be on you. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“I’ll do what I wish, kid.” Adler drawled with a cool smile. “Besides. If I won’t, who will?”
You huffed, but you were smiling as you turned your head away from him so he wouldn’t see it.
The two of you were heading to the safehouse they have in the Netherlands, you establishing that Perseus safehouse there was quite grand and intricate and they couldn’t have moved everything and everyone yet. Not only that, it could hold a hint of who the next Perseus could be. Adler chose his team, careful on who due to the trouble with the Numbers station. You’re glad Woods is along for the ride and will meet him there but saddened Mason decided to set his focus on another mission. Apparently helping out Weaver but mostly Captain Butcher about the Nazi business. Based solely on Woods words, Mason heard Nazi’s and asks how many. Which you no doubt can guess is from his past with a man called Steiner. Woods said that Mason is only going to give a small helping hand and than he might call it quits and go back home with his wife and son.
You and Adler will meet the rest of the team later.
You slept on the plane here, but not soundly sadly. Plagued by nightmares with Stitch. Adler had to shake you to wake you up, his expression one of an interesting mix of concern yet tension as he did, hand staying on your shoulder even as you blearily blinked and called his name with voice rough with sleep. But the warmth of his hand and how quiet his voice was almost made you fall asleep again. It was only how close his face was that made you pause along with your breath as Adler’s eyes darkened. You glanced at his hand and he took it away, informing you that you were talking in your sleep before moving and getting you a glass of water and pretending it didn’t happen.
Until now apparently.
A comfortable silence settled between the two of you in the car, the cold wind hitting the windows of the car as they drove in the open road with fields around them, buildings scatters in the distance. The two of you wore clothes befitting the weather here, you having a blue flight leather jacket with fur lining the collar and a black turtleneck underneath with skinny jeans and black ankle combat boots while Adler had his favorite tan jacket with a burnt orange long sleeved button and a scarf with colors of dark yellow, brown, and cream hugging his neck and khaki’s with hickory brogue boots. His hair was styled as it always was, in that side swept but you noticed he still didn’t cut it, some strands periodically going over his forehead and at times his eyes and the honey hair on the back of his neck were curling with some gray. He also decided to keep his beard, still trimmed and you can spot the gray in it as well showing his age that only made you entranced. He had his aviators over his eyes, but they were slightly down the bridge of his nose where you could see those eyes that would make you pause and stare each time they turned your way.
Somehow, this reminded you of the rare times before where you would drive around with Adler in Berlin too.
You were so lost in thought, you didn’t notice your gaze was maintained on Adler for a period of time that he felt like he needed to comment.
“Something on my face?”
You started, staring at Adler’s amused visage as you sat back in your seat and looked out the window, cheeks warm.
“Nothing.” Adler hummed, the sound making your lips form a pout as you turned back towards him. His smirk only widening and making you open your mouth. “It’s just. . .your hair looks long is all.” You gestured lamely before lowering your hands back to your lap. Get a grip, you stupid girl. “You just look different is all.”
“Didn’t have time to cut it,” Adler carded a hand through his hair as if to show, the other staying on the wheel as you watched in envy as it went through his fingers. Get a grip. Focus. He glanced at you, palming his trimmed beard. “You got gripes about it, kid? Can see why you’d ask though. I usually leave the rugged lumberjack look to Woods. It fits him more.”
You released an amused puff out your nose, shaking your head as you turned your head against the head rest of the seat, looking through your lashes.
“No. Like I said, it’s just different. You look handsome.”
You didn’t turn away, meaning your words and wanting him to know. Adler’s amused look turning into pleased as he arched a brow and his smirk softened as he glanced at you. Although you didn’t look away, you felt your cheeks still prick and your heart skip a beat at the look.
“Gray and all?”
“Yes,” you quickly answered and cringed internally at the swift answer.
You kept your eyes on Adler though, who was studying you with his soft smirk before a thought seemed to pass by his eyes as his smirk fell. His eyes going back on the road as he let out a soft sigh.
“We’re going to have to talk, Bell.”
The shift in the air gave you a hint of what’s to come as your brows furrowed.
“About what?”
“Don’t do that,” he reprimanded quietly, peering over at you. “We’ve both been avoiding it. Using excuses by creating all these plans to hit the Collective before they can know what happened. I wanted to give you space too. So you can gather your thoughts. You’ve. . .you’ve been through a lot the past few years, Bell. And sudden info dumps on you hasn’t helped you either I imagine.”
You looked away, leaning your elbow against the car door with your hand holding your head.
“Hudson hasn’t made it any easier,” you joked, taking a page from his book.
It worked, bringing out a low chuckle from the man that tickled your senses as he focused on the road. Turning every so often as they grew closer to the scattered buildings.
“No. No, he hasn’t. But from what I’ve seen the past few days, he seems to have loosened that pipe up his ass a little. Whatever you did, seems to have worked.”
“I just trust in what Hudson would do and values,” you say, Adler’s words about trust being about control echoing in your head. Adler seemed to get what you were hinting at, based on the meaningful glance your way. You broke into a humored smile. “It’s not much difference either way. Before he looked at me as if I was scum and deserved to be stomped. Now, he might have the decency to look me in the eye before he kills me.”
Right when the words came out your mouth, you regretted it. Hitting too close no matter how the words were filled with dark wit or not. You don’t know how it would be translated.
Not well, based on Adler’s black leather gloves hand clenching on the wheel and his shoulders tensing along with the silence that fell.
Well, shit. So much for using humor to cope. Thought he would use it too. Not like it happened to him. Unless. . . does he actually regret?
The thought made you blink. You know Adler’s different compared to before, but to actually feel what he did to you and not just think on the logic and necessity behind it, it threw you for a loop.
“I saw you too.”
You’re not the only one who saw ghosts after Solovetsky. You don’t think Adler was alone in his imprisonment with Stitch and Naga.
“This is what I’m talking about,” he sighed. “We have to talk about this. Clear the air before we’re with the team. I don’t want any tension between us to blow over in front of them.”
“We won’t.” You say, defensive. “And I know you mean me but you should know that I can keep my mouth shut, Adler. Besides,” you blew out a huff as you turned back to the scenery out the window. “There’s nothing to talk about if you’re referring to three years ago. I know what you’ll say, so don’t.” You say begrudgingly.
“Do you?” He asks cooly, the languid tone causing your skin to ripple with goosebumps. “Tell me than, kid. What am I going to say?”
“That you had to. I didn’t talk for any of you when you caught me in Trabzon, because I’m in expert in keeping my mouth shut. Loyal to a man that was willing to kill millions. All for the motherland that is suffering. So, you had to take different measures. You needed what was in my head and if you didn’t do it, millions would’ve died. It was necessary. Which is fine, I get it. I would’ve done the same.” You were practically an overflowing sink with how many words were falling out from your lips. But you’ve thought about this for years. Every day. Since the cliff. You can’t even be angry. You felt pressure in your eyes and a odd lump in your throat all the same as you finally looked back at Adler, spotting his brows pinched together and his frown but outside that his countenance was unreadable. Behind those fucking glasses. “I. . .even get why you didn’t just leave me under that pile after the explosion in Solovetsky. Woods and Mason never knew before that mission. Or maybe they didn’t even know till after. But they wouldn’t have given up searching for my body. They wouldn’t have allowed. . .for me to be left behind. That’s just how they are. And you knew it. You were probably hoping I got killed somewhere along the mission though. Easy. Clean. No questions from anyone. . . all strings nicely tied and not having to get your hands more dirty.”
You felt a tear go down which you hastily swiped, determined to keep going even as your voice was tight and words tremulous. He wants you to talk, than you’ll talk. You clenched your black gloved hands on your lap as your gaze lowered to look at it, observing how the material wrinkled.
“But, that didn’t happen.” You released a shuddering breath. “It was a problem. I was a problem. I knew too much. MK-Ultra. MI6 being involved. And. . . Vietnam. . . what we—you did. Some of the missions. . . it’s best to keep it secret. We talked about that once, outside the safehouse.” You lips pulled into a melancholic smile. “We both agreed we did what must. Whatever it took. And didn’t care about what other people would call us. I think your words were “you know I can’t give a shit”. God,” you released a humorless chuckle, raising a hand to your mouth as you bit your lip to stop the slight wobble it had before continuing, “I was an idiot. But one who knew too much. I saved people sure, but what if I changed my mind? Wanted revenge? Give messages to Perseus? You didn’t know.”
Your shiny eyes moved back towards Adler, noting his tight jaw.
“No.” He said, quietly, lowly—roughly. “No, I didn’t.”
You huffed out your nose, wrapping your arms around yourself with a brittle smile.
“I wouldn’t have either. A risk you can’t control, is a risk you have to throw away. So. . . you took me to the cliffs. With the cool arctic air. Refreshing.” You can see it in your mind’s eye, as if you were there. The breeze playing with your hair and your face cold from being exposed to it. The sound of the ocean and the birds, the flowers next to your legs. And Adler, combat gear equipped and cigarette in hand before throwing it and turning towards you, prepping to grab the firearm hidden from your view. You think Adler is thinking of it too, his lips pressed like they always are when he’s in deep thought, his jaw ticking. “It. . . could’ve been worse I suppose. Could’ve killed me in the car and left me there, surrounded by machinery. Could’ve even pushed me over the cliff instead. But. You didn’t. You let me take in the scenery, the smell, your words that I actually did something—a hero. You even looked me in the eye as you did it. You. . .you killed me like I was really your friend, Russ.”
You bit your lip harshly, tightening the hold on yourself as silence reigned outside the thrum of the car with them now passing the stray buildings by the plains.
Adler released a quiet where one had to strain their ears yet strong “Fuck” before he slowly pulled off to the side of the road. Your brows furrowing in confusion as you looked around, not seeing they were close to the safehouse yet. Still off by a few miles as you understand. They should reach there before night falls but. . .
“Adler, what—“
Adler quietly shushed you, before rubbing the bridge of his nose. Than, he took off his glasses, putting it on his shirt and turned fully towards you in his seat, eyes connecting to your watery ones and holding you in place, your breath stuck in your throat.
“Keep going, Bell. I’m listening.”
“But,” you glanced at the road and back at him, brows furrowed in confusion. “The safehouse, we need to—“
“They can wait. We’ll get there eventually. You’re more important, Bell.”
If your breath was stuck before, it escaped you with that as your lips parted. You? Than this operation? Based on how his eyes bore into yours, not faltering and serious, he meant it.
You bite your bottom lip, looking away. Down towards Adler’s hand that was between the two of you, atop the center console before looking at your own hand on your lap, lightly swallowing as your eyes peered up at him through your lashes. Adler’s eyes, open for you to see and clear and soothing like a lake, patient.
“I. . . I just. . . I guess the parts where I don’t understand is, the times where it felt like it wasn’t just an act. A part you had to play for the illusion that MK-Ultra needed. Letting me take all those pictures, even though you would say I was wasting film, you didn’t stop me. You didn’t even look like you wanted to,” you say, eyes searching his as he observed you. “And always taking breaks with me—probably had to do with not letting me out of your sight but, you listened to me. Talking about my books—of Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. And we would talk. About words. Sayings. Quotes. About anything and everything. Of war. Of soldiers. If philosophers even knew what they talking about with the shit they spouted. And you—you’d get close. Very close. Where I could feel your warmth without you touching me behind me, until you did.” His chest to your back or his shoulder to your back, his breath fanning as he would lean over to look at your book. “It. . . felt like, sometimes—it was just the two of us. Just us. No title or moniker. No Perseus or anything. Just us, under the depressing gray sky of Berlin. Talking.”
You felt your eyes water again strangely. Maybe it’s because that the two of you dropped the differences between you two as well when you took those breaks.
You weren’t a Russian, the right hand of Perseus and next in line—a terrorist. And he wasn’t an American, America’s Monster and who does whatever it takes—a soldier.
You were Bell. And he was Russell.
And that’s all that mattered.
“I really,” your voice cracked, you swallowing thickly to try to fix it but your words still came out brittle as if the wind could carry them. “I really l-loved those times. And I know. . . I know you did too. So when I was bleeding out there, and you left me there. . . all I could think, all I could wonder—“ your chin wobbled as stray tears went down your face but you met Adler’s tense eyes, pained, half-closing when you put a hand atop his between you two and squeezing as he squeezed back, a crumple of a smile on your lips. “Did you have to miss? You could’ve stayed with me at least. You left me. Alone.”
Abandonment.
The root—the seed of your loyalty. The one you rarely hand.
Betrayal.
The arching large branches to protect your trunk. For you don’t think you can trust anyone again.
You turned your face away, shoulders tense and drooped, wishing to get your messy face under control as you sniffled loudly.
Adler’s hand, large and calloused under those gloves, squeezed yours just as he turned your face towards him with a touch to your chin. He thumbed your tears and tear stains away, gentle as he did it just as he rubbed the back of your hand, his face mere inches away where you can see every ridge of his scars.
“Listen to me, Bell,” he said softly, breath fanning your face due to proximity. “You weren’t just a job. You got that? Maybe at first you were. I won’t bullshit you on that. You’re right, I had a job to do and had to get it done. No matter the price. But know this,” he searched your teary face, padding the corner of your lip, “those moments? Between me and you, kid? They were real.”
Your breath shuddered, eyes closing as you brought your hand up to hold his against your chin. The heat being able to be felt through even with the gloves. The warmth feeling as if it was spreading just from the two points where your hands are touching his. Your eyes opened a hint, and all you could see was burning electric blue eyes, the sun coming from the car window hitting them in just a certain light as his lips pulled into a thin smile.
He has little flecks of green in his eyes, you think, bewitched.
“And I’m glad I missed. We’re both here.”
You chuckled, him chuckling with you, the air now clear. Who knew what would’ve happened to him if he actually got you. You bit your lip as if to hide your smile, Adler’s eyes following the movement as he inhaled deeply, his thumb going to your lip and releasing your teeth’s grip on it, your eyes wide and heart pounding.
“You keep doing that,” he says huskily and low, darkened eyes back up to yours as he swiped the leather clad thumb on your lips, “you’re going to drive me crazy, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart?
You thought dumbly, mouth feeling dry as Adler studied you, his hand between the two of you grazing up to your forearm, to your bicep, to your shoulder to cupping the space between your shoulder and your pulsing heated neck. All while he watched your flustered expression with a heated one of his own.
Your throat felt dry too, you swallowing and you licked your lips, able to taste the leather due to Adler’s thumb not leaving your mouth.
His eyes, if possible, darkened more—pupils blown wide. Matching your own eyes in dilation as he drew closer, until all you see, hear, and smell was Russell Adler whose lips brushed yours as he spoke, voice taut.
“Tell me you want this, Bell.”
You stare at him, chest heaving in shallow breaths due to blood pumping, raising a hand to his head. Brushing the styled wheat with strands of smoke tresses out of his forehead, moving your hand as if you could put the stubborn hairs behind his ear and you wish you didn’t have these gloves on to actually feel how soft his hair is like you’ve always imagined. You brought your other hand to his scarred cheek that partially covered by his facial hair, his head leaning to your touch as his breath stuttered and his eyes shuttered once before focusing on you again—all blue fire and with specks of forests.
This is all I’ve ever wanted.
Adler saw your gleaming eyes, taking the look in as he held your chin gently and kissed you, the whiskers of his beard tickling you more than pricking you. His tongue swiping and you opening up easily for him as you whimpered, grabbing the hair on the back of his neck as the hand on his scarred cheek travelled down to his chest as he tilted your head to taste you more. While you tasted him, the smoky taste of cigarettes that was just as addicting to you as the real thing. And you wanted more, your breaths quick and want growing as you pulled his bottom lip between your teeth. The man releasing a sound deep from his chest, his lips up into a smirk as he nipped at you back before pulling away, head leaning against yours with eyes alight and hand cupping the side of your neck.
“You really do want to drive me crazy, sweetheart,” he smirked, eyes soft and clouded as his other hand fixed a strand of hair that got in front of your face. “Or would you prefer moya lapooshka?” He asks before dipping his mouth back to yours again.
“Mon zaya.”
You tensed, your mood evaporating. Adler noticing as he pulled slightly back to stare at you as you looked away, your hand on his chest to back him up more as you shook your head. Mute, as if he could read you and what’s wrong with you.
Adler’s eyes narrowed, realization going through him as he let you go, releasing a sigh as he leaned against his side on the car door.
“I shouldn’t have said that. The last thing I want is you think of him.” Your brows furrowed at him as you looked up, bewildered at how he knows as Adler minutely shook his head, exhaling deeply as he frowned before looking back up at you. “Your nightmare. It was about Stitch wasn’t it?” You didn’t answer. You didn’t have to. Your gaze lowering was enough. “You were calling out for him in your sleep. Him. You used his real name though.”
You didn’t say anything, not wishing to give more reason to his agitation. He sighed again, reaching and squeezing your hand as he apologized quietly to you before letting you go. Turning the car back on and putting his aviators back on his face as you looked at him, not knowing how to explain this odd thing too as they went back on the road. You don’t know why you keep thinking of Stitch.
You didn’t love him as much as you did Adler. Clearly.
Or else he would’ve been alive instead.
You think back again, about the odd instances where you felt like the others may have known. Where Stitch knew of what you were doing. The feeling not going away.
“Tell me this,” you look at Adler, the engine of the car thrumming as they drove and Adler glanced at you, eyes searching. “Was he gentle with you?”
Your mouth parted, confused but being honest anyways.
“Only to me. Yes. He never hurt me.”
For some reason, Adler released a humorless chuckle with a matching dry smile. He shook his head to himself, hair moving as he did so as you watched, his hand tightening than loosening on the wheel. He glanced back at you, taking in your mildly concerned expression, using his free hand to thumb your abused lips before lowering it and turning back to the road.
“Good,” he uttered, and than stronger, “Good.”
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A/N: I realized I was making some unnecessary tension between Bell and Hudson that may be seen as something else as I was writing and briefly contemplated making this more fun but threw the idea away. 💀 Hudson is happy with Jenny and Bell is fine with Adler. But woah, is Hudson growing on me. Sorry for the small/subtle hint of Bell x Hudson. I swear I didn't mean to create that kind of tension.
Hi, Weaver! Hudson and Weaver seem close so I think Weaver will give Hudson an insult or two sometimes. And he would be extra happy to see a fellow Russian so. And I feel like Captain Butcher helping Weaver with Projekt Aether a little makes sense. And Mason helping with Nazi’s. That man wants to kill every single one—more than most. Maybe as much as Polina.
Also, Bell and Adler sure know how to make 0-100, huh? Than again, they're both crazy so. 💀 Dom!Adler might do me in. Oh my goodness. 🥵
A little more and than done! Hope you guys are enjoying!
Tell me if you wish to be tagged for my future works or to not be tagged.
Tags:@tr1ppylady @parkeepingparker @weirdoartist21 @mayaibnlaahad @salvija @kylezkie4adler @asaltryefl @stupid-stinky @aurora-windu @zombiequeennxx @writer-of-various @holy-crap-i-am-russell-adler
@zulema117-blog @kylezkie4adler @darlingor
#hints of Hudson x Bell#I don’t know where that came from#THATS the real enemies to lover story there#not Adler and Bell it’s Hudson and Bell#don’t even know how those two would work#even without Jenny#russell adler#call of duty#black ops cold war#cod#cod cold war#call of duty cold war#cod bell#russell adler x bell!reader#russell adler x bell#jason hudson#grigori weaver#frank woods#vikhor stitch kuzmin#vikhor kuzmin#polina petrova#cod vanguard#female!bellreader#russell adler x female!bell#cod fanfiction
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cheetee i must know. if EncantoTV was pg-13. where would you put the One (1) f bomb? (for the sake of the argument you may choose either One Per Episode or Only One for the Entire Season)
So I've had this conversation with my partner, and SHE reckons that Bruno would never say fuck without, like, washing out his mouth with holy water. I was like, "He seems like the type of guy who'd be like "Fuck! Oh shit sorry for swearing! SHIT!" and Luke Sophia was like, "No, look at him. He's too Catholic." I couldn't argue with that, so even though Bruno definitely qualifies for a f-word in all of these, I'm giving them away elsewhere.
1. When the Cat's Away:
The vision depicts an avalanche rushing down the mountain slope, destroying Encanto. It fades to show MIRABEL, CAMILO, and BRUNO again, all looking shocked.
CAMILO:
Holy...
BRUNO (distracted):
Language.
Camilo looks at him like, 'seriously?' A beat passes.
MIRABEL:
Fuck.
BRUNO:
Mirabel!
2. Tail of the Frog:
Lorenzo freezes as a hand grabs his wrist mid-gesture. He turns around slowly. We see BRUNO, looking especially ominous as he looms out of the darkness, glaring at him from behind.
BRUNO:
If you ever come near my niece again... I'm going to foresee your death and I'm going to make... you... watch.
Lorenzo screams. He rips his hand away, jumps down the barn shelf, and runs away.
Beat.
JULIETA:
Bruno, what the fuck?
3. Birds of Paradise:
BRUNO:
Exactly. No, we need a couple of plans and a couple more, and none of them ought to involve to jumping to conclusions or thinking about last-resort stuff that we’re not really equipped to deal with.
ISABELA:
You know, if I had to, it would be very easy for me to just fucking kill him.
BRUNO:
ISA!
#encanto#my fics#asks#Now if the FICS were pg-13 I'd put the phrase 'Mirabel de-bitched their grandmother' back into When the Cat's Away#I miss that one
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Ive only recently gotten into classic Star Trek so I don't think I can properly answer but what is it specifically about Discovery and recent Star Trek that classic Trek fans hate?
Putting this behind a cut because... it's a lot.
Well, first of all a big rejection of it is just on an aesthetic level. Up until the 2009 movie (which was considered a reboot, even with time travel elements), Star Trek tried to treat the original series and how it was portrayed as pretty sacrosanct. Sure, they might occasionally make jokes about goofier aspects of it and discard some of the stupider stuff (like how in the final episode, penned by Gene Roddenberry himself, that women weren't allowed to Captain starships), but how TOS looked? That's how the 23rd century looked. Buttons and multi-colored outfits and boxy computers and smooth, undetailed ships WAS what was appropriate for the time. When Scotty came back in TNG, they had him on the holodeck and it was the TOS bridge. When DS9 traveled back in time to that era for an episode? They went onto the Enterprise and visited it. When in an Enterprise 2-parter we had a TOS-era ship? It looked like a TOS ship. They even did a 2-parter on Enterprise to explain why Klingons had smooth foreheads when later (and earlier) they didn't. Star Trek up until then cared about maintaining that continuity of appearance.
But Discovery is set in the TOS era... but nothing looks like TOS. Even when we got the Enterprise and those uniforms and we saw inside the ship, it was an upgraded form. The only logic I've seen people try to argue about WHY it doesn't look like it actually did was "Well, audiences won't accept something as cheap as TOS being futuristic." Well, then you've got a few responses there:
-Don't set in TOS era, then.
-That's horseshit, because audiences from the 90s through the 2000s accepted it just fine. Even a piece of dialogue from DS9 explained it perfectly: "I LOVE 23rd century design." It LOOKS cheap, but it was just the aesthetics of the period. And the Enterprise 2-parter it still looked good in HD. Hell, arguably it looked BETTER in HD because they knew how to light it and create mood and its own unique flavor.
-It's even more horseshit because people are STILL going back and watching it even today, as indicated by you saying you've started watching it, so clearly it's not that much of a barrier.
But what's even more egregious is the TECHNOLOGY. You might be able to accept updated aesthetics if at least matches what was present during the period... and it doesn't. Holographic displays and communication (holodeck technology AT ALL, frankly - it's possible it was there, but TNG seemed pretty adamant that the holodecks were fairly new, very impressive technology), weapons not looking or acting like they traditionally did, Enterprise and Discovery having R2D2-style repair droids that certainly did not exist in TOS, the wrong sound effects being frequently employed, replicator technology for good-looking food instead of food dispensers that gave out marshmallows and cubes, and honestly the tech level shown in Discovery looks just as advanced - if not MORE advanced than seen on TNG 100 years later.
And this is a minor thing, but despite the attempt to make the future LOOK futuristic, from a cultural perspective, the future looks... way too damn similar to now. The excessive swearing (it was said in particular in Star Trek 4 that while they certainly did cuss, it was less common and they sure as hell weren't dropping F-bombs), a party on Discovery that looked like a rave (when previously it seemed like the most popular music and culture of the 23rd/24th century was considered fairly high-brow entertainment [classical music, Shakespeare, great works of literature and plays, etc.] - and while you could certainly argue that that snootiness and love of that stuff is a problem with Star Trek and a sign of how sterile and homogenized it is, THAT is the future they presented and a character in Voyager loving some of the goofier parts of 20th century culture like jukeboxes and old sci-fi serials was considered unusual), and just the general way people talk betrays the idea that the writers aren't thinking about how society changes in the future. It's just the modern day, but with cooler technology.
But hey, let's set aside the general aesthetics - some people aren't going to mind that and find
ways to handwave away a lot of stuff (even Discovery season 2 TRIED to handwave away stuff like the holographic communications, but did a piss-poor job of it). This brings us to the problem of the WRITING. And the problem with the writing is a big Michael Burnham-shaped indentation. To be clear, I don't mind Michael as a character or her actress - there are interesting aspects to her, centering a Star Trek show around the science officer is a neat idea (though that means you should probably NAME IT AFTER HER and not around the ship, because it suggests this is a standard ensemble group and not JUST her)... but the actual execution is that it feels like the entire universe bends over backwards for HER.
She has a unique relationship with a beloved longtime character that is retconned in. She has unique relationships with several important characters to the point where the fate of billions of people hinges on her and the decisions she makes. She is presented as almost always correct about everything, and those that oppose her are often wrong, naïve, or active enemies. Now, this is less of an issue in the third season - but that has its own unique problems - but in the first season, the resolution of two major storylines (mirror universe and the Klingon war) revolves around her and her relationship to the Terran Emperor and Lorca. In season 2, her mother trying to help or save her is the basis of the ENTIRE friggin' plot with time travel and the like, with special knowledge and history having to do with her and everyone ready to abandon their lives for her so she won't be alone when she has to go to the future when arguably they barely know her (the timeline of the show is debatable). Season 3 has a few different problems with her - the first is that she keeps being involved in things that don't concern her (why is she going down to Trill?) and she keeps violating orders. Now, her violating orders is a problem throughout the entirety of Discovery - in fact, it's kind of the instigating factor OF the series. And arguably, other Star Trek characters are guilty of that and they face no consequences, just as she faces none... and yet it's the brazenness with which it happens, and in those other series it's arguable because the series tries to avoid excessive continuity changes for its episodic nature, so the status quo MUST return to normal... but Discovery is pivoted as one of MAJOR continuity, so her lack of consequences (and indeed eventual PROMOTION) is baffling to the point of frustration.
Now again, let me be clear here - she is not a bad character in and of herself. Honestly what it shows is that being the science officer on a starship is not where her talents lie. She should be in a position where she has a lot more freedom to act and not in a major command structure... but being in that command structure, what we see in season 3 is that she lacks the discipline, emotional maturity, responsibility, leadership qualities, and general other traits necessary to be a Captain. Only once during season 3 did she display such a quality - putting the safety of the Federation above a friend and colleague... but other times she will happily disobey orders and put herself and others in harm's way, creating potential new problems. Now, again, Star Trek is rife with characters doing that... but usually not the Captains. And, in fact, when this happened once on DS9 with one officer disobeying orders and putting their own personal feelings above the greater responsibility, it was made VERY clear that the incident would mean that they would never be able to command a starship because of the unofficial reprimand.
What's even more frustrating about her is that the character is ALWAYS shoved to the forefront so much to the point where we just get sick of her. SHE is the one giving log entries (usually pretty piss-poor ones, at that - very flowery and nonsensical and kind of dumb) and not the Captain. SHE is the one given so much focus and how the plot of the episode affects her. Barely anyone else gets any focus episodes - I STILL can't
remember the names of some of the secondary characters because they're so rarely said, and a PTSD-related plotline in season 3 for one of the secondary characters basically gets resolved OFF-SCREEN. Michael would be fine if we actually had a chance to miss her... but we never do. Arguably one of the best episodes of the show is in season 2, when it focuses on Saru and his people because Michael DOES take a back seat. It's his story and his development and problems relating to him and his people. And even if, again, we forgave the idea of so much focus on her even in plots that aren't about her... she never seems to really change that much. She'll TALK about how she's changed, but I see no real difference in the way she acts (MAYBE season 1 to 2, where in season 1 she was stiffer and more Vulcan-like, but that's it).
But hey, let's assume that's not a problem for you - you really, REALLY like Michael and are fine with so much focus on her. Simply put, the writing of the rest of the show... is just kind of dumb. The ship is powered by magic mushrooms that let it teleport everywhere because the universe has super fungus capillaries throughout it that nobody can see and also it's magic and can resurrect the dead. The time travel plot of season 2 doesn't make any sense when you sit down and diagram it. Well-established Trek lore is just kind of sprinkled in, but now in ways that doesn't match what it was before or at least in ways that completely recolor how it's supposed to work, because it needs to serve THIS plot. Everyone remembering a murdererous monster fondly after she leaves because "Hey, she was coooool." The explanation for the big mystery in season 3 is just fricking stupid and one of the two big reasons why I've finally given up on Discovery, because it's just so absurd, doesn't match how anything works, and just feels like the writers giving the middle finger to the audience because they care more about "YOU MUST FEEEEEEL THINGS!" instead of it making sense.
And indeed, there is certainly a balance to be made of plot vs. emotion-driven storytelling - some stories are dumb, but are forgivable because the character writing and emotion are so strong that they override how goofy the plot is... but sometimes a plot is just so dumb it overrides anything I'm SUPPOSED to feel. And it would help if I already liked the show, already gave it some benefit of the doubt... but I don't and it hasn't done enough to impress me.
A little thing that's a problem with ALL of current modern Trek shows is that whole sprinkling lore thing - I don't think a single episode goes by in ANY current modern Trek series that doesn't have a random reference to classic Trek lore. A name, a line of dialogue, etc. It comes across like the creators don't trust you to enjoy it on its own merits, but want you to like it because "Hey, remember thing? We know about thing! Like us because we mentioned thing!"
But hey, I recognize that these are things that other people may not have any problem with or just disagree in general. But for me and my family, these are the big ones that keep us from enjoying it. Hell, my brother and dad still watch it for hatewatching purposes, but I was done after season 3. I gave it plenty of chances to impress me, and while each season MARGINALLY got better as it went along, I'm tired of waiting to actually like it and to stop feeling like it thinks I'm a fucking idiot. If other people still like it, great - it clearly appeals to them in a way that it doesn't appeal to me and they are free to enjoy it.
Other people probably have their own issues, but this long, rambly bit is the major stuff for me.
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