An interesting thing I noticed is that Gob and Buster both have unintentionally boundary crossing gestures; Gob’s hugs(as well as other things but I’m not going to list every single thing separately) and Buster’s back massages. Their actions are intended to be nice, comforting, relaxing but, to others, it comes off as over the top or weird or off putting.
I don’t really have much more to say on the subject but I just found it notable. Finding similarities between Buster and any of the siblings is always notable because of how Buster tends to be separate from the rest of the crowd. I’ll be thinking about the characters and I’ll be like, “Oh, this applies to all the siblings…Except Buster.” It’s especially notable with Gob because of how, on a surface level viewing, different Gob and Buster are. They were both on the opposite sides of the spectrum when it came to getting love from their parents. Gob got none and Buster got, like, so much(or, “so much” since it wasn’t really love; or, at least, it wasn’t healthy love). Gob was neglected while Buster was overprotected.
Lindsay and Michael try to separate themselves front the family. They want to think they’re better than it; Michael taking care of everything and putting family first and Lindsay hosting charity events. Gob and Buster want to be in the family, though. They want to be protected by their parents, loved by their parents. Gob, in as much denial as he is in, is definitely more aware of how bad their parents are than Buster is but they both go along with (or try to go along with in Gob’s case) what will get them love from their respective parent-they-want-the-approval-/-love-of. And we see that, when the attention is shifted from Buster to Annyong, Buster gets mad and upset and fights for attention and has petty rivalries just as Gob does with Michael.
I think one of the reasons Buster stays with Lucille and on her side, other than believing it’s the only way he’ll be safe from the “dangers of the world” is that it’s the only way he’ll be safe from the dangers of his parents. He is shown to recognize that his siblings don’t like their mom and he just sort of respectfully is like, “I get it but I like mom so I’m going to stay with her.” So, it’s not like he doesn’t know that his mom does bad things. I think that he sees that, for whatever reason, he got special treatment. He was treated differently. He was treated better. And, even if in some ways he may find himself dissatisfied or held back, this is the only life he knows(which is the case for all of the siblings, just in different ways) and he doesn’t want to risk losing what good things he does have. And, as I said, with Annyong, he sees him as a threat to his happiness, to his safety, and he fights against him to keep it.
And, as I said, it’s a similar thing with Gob. He was neglected his entire life and had to fight for attention in an ever-losing battle. And, if he did get attention, it wasn’t good attention. For him, though, he sees what his siblings have. His main rival is Michael, of course, but, there’s also what I feel is a bitterness he has towards Buster, which is why he is shown teasing him a lot(other than, ya know, that being typical oldest sibling stuff). It’s not shown too much, as Buster isn’t a threat to him but it is something that probably affects him. Buster is just as incompetent as he is and yet he is loved. He is cared for. Gob wants to be to their dad what Buster is to their mom. Of course, he’s going for the positions, roles and status that Michael has but Michael doesn’t necessarily like his dad. He cares for his dad but he has qualms. Gob is trying to play into things that will get his dad’s approval. He is following whatever his dad tells him to do. He wants the “love” that Buster gets. He’s willing to compromise his own happiness and wellbeing for his dad and, anything he does or feels that goes against what his dad would approve of, he pushes down and hides. Buster would rather stay with their mom than find his own independence. Gob would rather stay with their dad than find his own independence.
Their main differences come from the fact that Buster was given that love and Gob wasn’t. There’s also what was expected of them. Gob was expected to be a functional person and a business man who marries a women/sleeps with a lot of women and Buster was expected to be a well behaved little boy all his life who did whatever his mom said. For Buster, that didn’t really take him out of his comfort zone so, while it probably isn’t very fulfilling, it was at least safe. He was stuck within a warm room on a boat while Gob was drowning in the waves. Desperately trying to get his dad’s attention so he’ll let him onto his boat, he does more and more things, all of which just exhaust him and lead him closer and closer to succumbing to the rough seas. Neither situation is good. Buster was hidden away, never exposed to the elements and Gob was always exposed to them, struggling to survive. This just leaves them both unable to handle the waves, becoming overwhelmed and ceasing functionality at even just the slightest ripple in the water.
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Just a completely random thought but like...
I am truly starting to believe, at least for people my age (so late 20s- early 30s range), our parents didn't actually want children. Not in the way that matters.
They didn't want unique, individual, whole other people to raise into adults. They didn't want to do the amazingly hard work of being a parent- in that being a parent entails making sure your children can go out into the world and be their own people and make their own way, and it is your job as the person raising them to prepare them for that as best you can.
They wanted "children". As in dolls. As in "look at this thing I made let's talk about how great I am for making it". As in "let me brag about all of my child's accomplishments, those are all on me, but if they fail that is on them". As in "my child matters in what they can give me, not in who they are as a person of inherent value". As in "this was expected of me and I did it and now I am going to raise this human being the same way my parents raised me".
As in "why doesn't my fully grown adult child talk to me anymore? They're so entitled! They're so whiny! They DARE tell me I didn't do a good job parenting them! They DARE tell me I hurt them! They DARE express that they have feelings and thoughts and wants and a life outside of what I imagined for them in my head, outside of what will look good on me! How dare they not be a little thing I can hang on my fridge with a magnet and point to and say look my baby loves me. Look I am a good parent- that means I am a good person. Look I became a parent and that means I am GOOD. How DARE they undermine my entire identity as a Good Parent by telling me that I messed up?"
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What are your thoughts on this scene?
Because at first I had assumed she just wanted him home because she wanted help with yev
But it’s her face right here that makes me think it could of been more than that
Was she worried about him? I need to know.
I'm going to be honest I don't remember what happened in this episode outside of this scene. Was Mickey in some sort of trouble? I don't remember thinking that she was worried about him.
The way I read this scene is that Svetlana wanted help with Yevgeny, yes, but more importantly she wanted Yevgeny to have a father. Family is important to Svetlana, and she didn't have any of her own in America, so she was counting on Mickey to be there for him. We know that she was already contemplating the kind of person that Yevgeny would turn out to be at this point, and I think that she was worried about how it would affect him if he grew up without his father in his life (and without any other family but herself).
Svetlana loves Yevgeny more than anything; she didn't just want him to survive, she wanted him to be happy and feel loved and cared for as well. I think that she wanted to provide him with one of the few good things she had in her childhood and felt guilty about not being able to do so.
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Hiiiii! So, a few days ago you were talking about the whole thing with Amy, Rory, and River. And when I saw those posts a thought arose in my head and I wish to share it with you.
Since River grew up with Amy and Rory as Mels. And Mels was Amy's best friend do you think that they ever talked about children? Since I know that it can come up when talking with friends, and like... do you think that Amy might've ever expressed whether or not she wanted children?
And if she didn't, that Mels would've had to listen to her mother say that she doesn't want children? The idea is so heartbreaking and sooo interesting.
What do you think about it?
no, no, see, you're so right and this drives me wild.
because, the way i see it, i don't think amy wanted children. she's somewhere on the 'hasn't thought about it' to 'vaguely negative feelings about it happening' range to me, which falls sharply into 'Not Happening Ever Again' post-s6. (specifically, in terms of having a kid herself, even if she could, i really don't think she would. i do love that she and rory end up adopting a kid later, because that does make sense, for amy pond who grew up alone in one universe with her family swallowed by cracks in time before the doctor helped her set it right again, for her to want to make sure another child won't be alone in the world like she was. getting off-track here.)
and that's so. because the first real memory river/mels has of amy is of amy shooting at her. and depending on how well the silence fucked up the rest of her memory, it might be one of the very first memories she has at all. that's how she met her mother, crying for help and getting a bullet instead. her mother tried to kill her, so of course, you have to think. she must have needed to hear that she was wanted, right? even if she was taken away, even if amy shot her, at some point, melody must have been wanted?
river is good at getting people to do what she wants, but she is very, very bad at subtlety. and mels is younger, has less practice, so when she wants to know this, she's just going to ask. blunt and quick, easy enough because amy's used to the way mels will open her mouth and you just have to be ready to roll with what comes out if you want to keep up. it's why they're such good friends (like mother, like daughter.)
they're nine, and mels asks if amy wants kids, and amy wrinkles up her nose and says she won't have time for children, obviously, once her raggedy doctor finally comes back. they're fifteen, and amy and rory dance will they-won't they in a way that makes mels twitchy to watch, and taunting amy about wanting to have rory's babies is a good way to get on her nerves. but amy calls her gross, tells her she's got more life planned than children would leave room for, and besides, imagine her, a mom? it'd be a disaster.
mels does. a lot. she looks at her mother and just sees her best friend instead. she's not even sure what she wishes was there, but. maybe amy's right. and besides. imagine her, a daughter, instead of the ticking time bomb she really is? it'd be a disaster.
they're sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, and on. mels stands on the outside of a love story that births a universe. and her. how do you compete with that? not that she would know, not yet, she hasn't been there. but it doesn't make her feel any less alienated when amy and rory talk in whispers about a half-remembered world that's bled through to this life, about roman soldiers and boxes and the big bang of belief.
all these memories, they never mention children. on amy's wedding day, she's different, not like someone remembering a dream but someone who lived it. rory stands straighter, won't leave her side, and they're both so much older than they were yesterday. maybe now, right? a wedding's as good a time as any to decide you want kids.
mels not being at amy & rory's wedding is such an obvious lazy way of them trying to explain why they totally didn't just throw this plot twist together at the last minute that i'm not even going to acknowledge it. of course she was at their wedding. she's their best friend. there's too many people around the doctor, and she wasn't ready today of all days, so despite this horrible burning need under her skin to strike, she stays her hand. doesn't let him dance with her because she might just tear his throat out if he gets too close. stays with amy and rory as the maid of honor should. she must have been there for the awkward questions that always gets asked, 'so, any plans for a baby?' 'when am i getting grandkids?' 'oh, you two are going to have gorgeous children together.' standing a few feet from amy in her wedding dress and watching her mother tense and grit her teeth and brush off the questions. watching her look nervously at rory but never ask if he means it when his mom asks him if he'd prefer a son or a daughter, and rory answers 'either one, some day, not anytime soon.'
god i'm just going on and on, aren't i. but really, what's it like to know that amy never changed her mind. the next time she sees them, she's already been born and stolen. i don't like let's kill hitler for. so many reasons. but there is something compelling about how recklessly river lashes out at the world, at the doctor. even her sacrifice at the end is almost suicidal, throwing all her regenerations into this man without knowing if that will even work or if it might kill her to do it. but it makes more sense in the context of someone who has reached the end of a long, long wait for some kind of indication, any kind, that her mother wanted to have her. and finally been told, no. she didn't choose melody.
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All the Eds have issues in their home lives, but there is something about Edd’s family situation that I just find endlessly fascinating. Just really delving into the complicated baggage surrounding it, and how uniquely fucked up it is.
The fact that there is so much distance and lack of communication between Edd and his parents really brings up a lot of questions about WHAT their actual interactions are even like. I mean, while they are largely absent (even for a show whose whole premise does not include parents being visible), it is implied that they, or at least one of them comes home. Do they even talk to their son when they are there?
I think the thing that really gets me is that, while yes they do supply for their son’s physical needs: a comfortable home, food, etc. the emotional needs are completely neglected. Which speaks to a super specific, entitled suburban kind of disinterest that I find uniquely cruel.
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