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factorialsotherfandoms · 4 months

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Before I run off to reply to comments and write for today... Can I take a second to talk about Fit's song choices last night? In particular, We'll Meet Again. Because he's always very intentional, so I'm sure he knows the history around the song.

I don't know how well known it is in America, but it's a very famous song in the UK. It was released early in the second world war and performed by a woman named Vera Lynn (known as The Forces Sweetheart, later made a Dame). It is for obvious reasons heavily associated with soliders going to war and making promises to their darlings - and also their families, promising to wait for them back.

Which... Okay you do get enough of this from the lyrics, but also in context - WW2 in the UK was conscription based. Every man 18-41 who was not exempt due to medical conditions or being in protected work (critical infrastructure design/repair, medicine, some farming and food-based jobs, etc). Those with moral or religious exemptions were required to argue their cases in court. Generally speaking, though, 'every man' is the assumption.

Certainly, a man like Fit would be required to go.

Let's say goodbye with a smile, dear Just for a while dear we must part Don't let this parting upset you I'll not forget you, sweetheart

And thus we come to my analysis of it - Fit knows he doesn't have a choice but to continue with the very dangerous mission he's been put on, and to complete it. He has his deadline, and he has his task, and he has the threats looming over him. Backing out is not an option. Staying with Pac and Ramon (and Mike and Tubbo and Phil and everyone else) is not an option. He has to leave them, and he has to comply with the demands of someone with more control than he.

But, for all he likely won't fully explain himself, he's not abandoning them. He doesn't mean to hurt them, he doesn't want them to be destroyed, he doesn't want to loose them.

We'll meet again Don't know where Don't know when But I know we'll meet again some sunny day

He's not saying goodbye forever - he knows he might die, and knows he will be irrecoverably changed - but he's not saying goodbye. He's promising he'll remember, he's promising he'll come back, he's promising this isn't the end, but also...

Fit's asking them to wait for him, to wait for his deeds to be done, to forgive him what he is being forced to do, to love each other in his stead and to be there when he returns.

It's just a question of if they will or not.

Keep smiling through Just like you always do 'Til the blue skies chase those dark clouds far away

(He could also be referencing Dr Strangelove in which it plays while a nuke wipes out humanity, but I'm supposed to be here with the copium today)

And I will just say hello To the folks that you know Tell them you won't be long They'll be happy to know That as I saw you go You were singing this song We'll meet again Don't know where Don't know when But I know we'll meet again some sunny day

#qsmp analysis #qsmp fit #qsmp fitmc #qsmp hideduo #i'm sure someone can pick apart the lyrics #if they haven't already #i was mostly just picking context and included the lyrics for half my point #I also have some thoughts on wishful thinking and the probability that if you do a lyrics dive its supposed to be pac's PoV #or rather what Fit /wishes/ Pac would say if Pac had the context #it's Fit's dreams not his reality #but in his dreams Pac promises to wait for him and Pac understands he must do what must be done #and Pac promises to look out for their family and let people know Fit's okay #that he'll be back soon #of course Pac will panic instead because Fit told him nothing #and be depressed and upset even if Ramon does his best #but... idk #the lack of a conclusion is why i left that part out

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time-is-restored · 11 months

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btw this might be me swinging a bat at a hornets nest but like. absolutely none of my disappointment from the tl finale comes from ship baiting or any relationships that didn’t happen (though to be clear, i think the tedbecca fake outs were meanspirited and served no narrative purpose - in noted contrast to the season's earlier jamiekeeley fakeouts, for example, which were explicitly there to demonstrate jamie's growth + maturity)

tedpendant is a really fun concept for me, and i LOVE the characterisation + thematic potential there!

but as someone who personally resonated with a lot of ted’s struggles, the idea that ted could leave richmond so… seamlessly, for lack of a better word, really doesn’t sit right with me. the thesis of the shows entire first season - assuming it can be said to have only one - was about how everyone needs the love and support of a community, whether that comes in the flavour of someone who hypes u tf up or someone who will relentlessly call u on ur shit (or, as happened quite frequently, both!).

rebecca, roy, jamie are the clearest examples as the characters with the most screentime: they were all deeply isolated and disconnected from the people around them, and that was making them miserable. the connections they made with the team, the vulnerability they finally allowed themselves to express (the ghost banishing ceremony comes to mind!), and them going on to want *more* out of their life are what made their arcs about *progression* rather than *regression*. without that clear theme of compassion + community inspiring positive growth in everyone who encounters it, there is, frankly, no season one.

my personal favourite scene from season one comes right after michelle walks away from ted, when they’ve agreed to get divorced. ted sits down on the bench looking gutted, and a little shell shocked - and beard sits down with him. hands him the drink, and they sit there together. silent, but together. to me, that scene is an implicit promise from the episode, to the audience: ‘it’ll be okay. it’s going to be hard, but ted isn’t alone, and his friends won’t leave him behind.’

it also makes it clear to the audience that ted isn’t the saintly-giver-of-grace who needs nothing in return, as one might assume on first brush, but rather that he’s Also struggling with his own shit (as is everyone, always, in real life!) and he has something he needs from the people around him too.

and looking at the text of s3, and the conclusion to his arc in the finale, i just don’t believe that he got it. he wasn’t just sad that he was leaving (which would be understandable!), he was completely closed off. unresponsive to the people around him reaching out, borderline confused as to why they were trying so hard!

(side note, while i completely respect the read of ted and trents last interaction being rather rude + ooc on ted’s part, i personally read a different motive into it. for me, it was more like… he didn’t understand where trents enthusiasm was coming from? like, he read that as trent being too invested in what other people think of him, and responded in a way that he hoped would emphasise that ted doesn’t *need* to laugh at everything trent wrote, bc trent Already Knows that he’s done something really cool and kickass, and he shouldn’t value anyone else’s reactions above that. basically, based on his demeanour in the episode, i genuinely don’t think it would’ve even occurred to him that trent was more invested in HIS reaction than he would’ve been with anyone else.)

again, looking purely at the text, the show had already established that ted has really strong depressive + avoidant tendencies, as well as panic attacks (largely triggered by his fear of not being ‘good enough’ in various roles, ie: a father). we saw one area he was able to calm HIMSELF abt these fears (worry for henry, which is a Hell of a choice considering the ending…), but in literally every other heightened moment, he had to rely on his support system to help him make the choices that he WANTED to make, rather than ones inspired by avoidance and fear (ie: confronting michelle abt jake, talking to his mum abt why she was visiting + his dads death).

and to be clear, this is a GOOD THING! we’re not supposed to go through life alone, no matter how bad OR well we’re doing. rebecca and keeleys friendship isn’t worth less for all the scenes where they’re both in good places. if anything, the opposite is true - it’s lovely that they both have someone who want to celebrate the achievements in their life!

and fuck it, we’re sure as hell not supposed to go through life with exactly one (1) person whom we expect to fulfill ALL of our emotional needs at all times either! like, im sure i don’t need to labour my point here, but tying everything to one (1) person in ur life doesn’t make u any less isolated than if u were going it completely alone, whether it’s a family member, a friend, or a partner. i won’t pretend to know the first thing abt what it’s like to be a parent, but i don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that no parent would be at their best if they had absolutely no support/camaraderie/general love provided to them from Anyone other than their child.

so when ted is SPECIFICALLY shown to be in a bad place, over and over again (did he come to terms w his fear to be close to henry overnight???????), and then removed from his community? of COURSE the audience is left feeling unsettled, and like the rug has been pulled out from under them. there was no time in this finale dedicated to how ted would still be in contact with anyone from richmond. no promises of visits, or phone calls - fuck, nothing about emails!! according to the text, we might as well assume this is a clean break (and the maybe-dream-sequence does Fuck All to assure us otherwise. if ted doesn’t go to beards wedding, what WOULD he go to????). and since the show has ALSO completely failed to give us even an IMPLICATION of who/what ted’s support system would be in kansas, there’s… a reasonable argument to be made that this is It for ted. that, after two seasons doing NOTHING but attesting otherwise, the audience is supposed to suddenly believe that ted can (and SHOULD!) pull himself up by his bootstraps, and cope entirely on his own.

that, to me, is a betrayal of the show’s premise. we were promised a show about how, no matter how dark things may get, none of the characters would be left to struggle alone. and then they ended the show with ted alone.

i don’t know. i guess if i had to give this post a tldr; if anyone has any gen fic/meta/Literally Anything in the pipeline, i would absolutely love to be tagged/directed towards it. i’ll be endeavouring to write something myself, as well, but it might take a while before i can return to my WIP, lol.

#this is the most measured version of this post i was capable of fghjskdjhgfdgjhsfd #the least measured one is just the aromantic flag with the ‘we are going to beat u to death’ meme overlaid #look ik this is hardly impartial wrt very small + insular communities like nuclear families #but its fucking impossible to go into media analysis and not bring Anything from ur real life in there w u #so im trying to forgive myself for being a little hashtag Vulnerable + Opinionated on main #in the spirit of what this show could’ve been lol #if not here then where etc etc #Ted lasso spoilers #Ted lasso meta #Ted lasso critical #also just to be clear here im being dead serious abt that last point #im spiritually doing the jamie run to demonstrate to u all how badly i want gen shit #please. p l e a s e .#okay wait last ramble here but. this is also why the lack of information we got on trent was so crushing to me #like ur telling me this man went through the incredibly painful + harrowing process of breaking out of his (comfortable! safe) shell +#cynical journalist persona. came out to someone VERY important in his life. and has done nothing but face the music wrt acknowleding #his past mistakes + endeavouring to be better and kinder. and we never get to know if he has ANY support through all that? at all?#is he dating? what's his family situation like? does he have full custody? any friends from work? any friends period?????#like i can should must and will die on the beard + roy + higgins + colins are trents best friends hill but #its like the premise of the show stopped mattering just in time for him to be left in a legitimately depressing limbo #like 'yes everyone needs love + support bc life is rlly hard. but we're tired of making a show abt that so This Is All Ur Getting #+ screw anyone's personal life that u didn't already see in s1. You Know Enough.'#anyway i love u all this is a very silly show and im gonna go play t.o.t.k for a few hours o/ <3

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