#younger: 4x07 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

raayllum · 1 year

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Before s4 came out I didn't follow anyone here (didn't know you guys existed) so I was sitting there trying to point out parallels between Callum and Viren and how wild it would be if in a canon divergence au they would forced to work together and how horrified they would be as they slowly realized shit we are alike, and maybe even a good team and all of my friends were like????? Honey, sit down, maybe to watch something else, touch grass outside?

Which, fair. BUT NOW HOWEVER I know I'm not crazy 'cause your posts are in my dash to not only say yeah, those two nerds have their similarities but to point out so much other things I wouldn't have guessed like never, so all this rant to say thanks, now I can go back on my bullshit with your beautiful gifs as cientifical proof I'm in fact so right

Hello & first off, welcome to the fandom, I hope you're having a great time!! And thank you for sending this ask in because Viren-Callum parallels are literally one of my favourite things in the entire show!!

And have been for quite a while (as this post documents, from post-S2 onwards back in Feb 2019 I've been chugging that sweet foils juice and only getting continually more fed), I always figured S4 would majorly ramp it up (just like S2 did from S1) but I am still thrilled beyond my wildest dreams that the foil dynamic is becoming this richly layered / complex / overt, y'know?

I think in terms of personality presentation Viren and Rayla are very similar as well (which I still need to do a S4 update for them whoops) but in terms of narrative weight and arcs and Viren's personality beyond his independence/paranoia? It's Callum all the way down, 100%

Like, they were already tied together as mages with Claudia's loyalty to each of them pit directly against one another (with Viren unsurprisingly winning) as well as brothers to the king (Harrow, Ezran). As Callum lets go of titles and calls Harrow Dad, Harrow insists on Viren using his title formally (which Viren already often did so) and Viren forsakes him as a brother. The plume of Harrow's funeral pyre in 1x04 going into Callum's primal stone transition shot; Viren going to the butterflies to de-corrupt himself while Callum looks at the Star primal on the cube, etc.

I've always been fond of Callum having to work with Claudia or Viren if/when the two mages come back across the moral horizon line, purely because those dynamics are so complicated and tainted, and yet they are also two people who can uniquely understand Callum's headspace and attachment to magic (or perhaps not unique understanding, but like, mirroring, haha?) I've written Callum and Claudia doing so before but idk if I've written Viren and Callum (although I have written them being on friendlier terms in "looking for a way to break in," although it's a very small part of the fic). I may have to write a canon divergence at one point where Callum is taken on as an apprentice to Viren (or Viren's old mentor Kpp'Ar even) but we shall see

Because like, they're both smart and clever and research focused, and just pragmatic enough to not be completely opposed (if they had a common goal) but Callum would have some lines he isn't willing to cross to the same capacity, which would keep Viren in check, and Viren could bring in knowledge/experience Callum doesn't have by virtue of just being so much younger. As well as primal mage (and friend of Xadians) Callum having access and knowledge of things that may surprise Viren and teach him a thing or two in addition

I think what makes me the most excited though is a couple of things stacked on top of each other, tbh

Viren's speech in 4x04, regarding, "I have always been ready to do anything to protect my family, however dangerous, however vile. In the name of love, you may perform acts so unforgivable, you can never forgive yourself" just as Callum finds a new consequence for doing dark magic way back when

We see Callum in 4x07 is later horrified of the possession mostly because "I'm afraid he'll force me to do awful things. Or hurt people I care about" (as Callum has already done, if not vile, then dangerous things to protect his loved ones, notably Ezran and Rayla)

The fact that Viren doing something awful to save Soren as a kid is now working it's way in the show (also in 4x07) of "You would be dead without Dad's magic" to be explored further in S5

Callum also having to inevitably fail to free Aaravos, with all the symbolism behind the idea ("Accidents happen" "On purpose" / "I hope it was worth it to you, putting everyone's lives in danger" / "This doesn't end well for you" / "It's the key of Aaravos, no good will come of it") that he may have more of an active hand in purposefully freeing him under coercion, also possibly in S5

Like if Callum and Ezran start being tested in s5, and Callum saves Ez at any cost (thus leaping over how Viren and Harrow failed each other bc those sweet generational parallels? Gold). Or Viren wanting to save Claudia and not wanting Aaravos to be freed, with perhaps Callum freeing Aaravos in order to save someone like Rayla but

Just having parallels with Aaravos thus far hasn't been the main reason, it seems, to have such an intense foil relationship between Viren and Callum, but there's still gotta be a bigger reason, and it really feels to me like this aspect of Viren might be why he and Callum have been so contrasted with each other

Other posts u can show ur friends if you want to:

My general Viren-Callum foils tag

A pre-S4 breakdown of all the ways they parallel each other season by season

A post-S4 breakdown of how they parallel each other with some bonus foil stuff

#thanks for asking #it was just red #fandom history #anonymous #it's very aang & zuko y'know? the whole redirecting lightning bit #i respect u so much anon only touch grass if u want to

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theghostofashton · 1 year

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So you said something in a previous post of the difference between how Blaine was written and how Darren portrayed him. Can you expand on that?

oooh hi anon! sure! i will admit i genuinely do not remember what i said so if this is not totally directly related i apologize, i've been looking for the post for the last few minutes and i cannot find it so we're gonna do this based off my vague memory lol

so i think first off, darren came in in s2 not really knowing how long blaine would be staying on the show. i think i heard somewhere the character was only supposed to be on for a few episodes, and darren wasn’t given too much about blaine’s background and had to kind of just roll with it. there’s been so much talk about blaine getting a “personality transplant” in the later seasons (i’ve talked pretty at length about how i disagree w that notion but it’s a really common one) and i think a lot of that may come from darren playing blaine to be older than kurt in s2, particularly? i’m not quite sure if he was written to be older than kurt (again..... this is contentious within the fandom, there are a lot of theories about how bad sadie hawkins was and whether blaine is actually the same age as kurt, just held back a year bc of his injuries. 6x12 also makes this even messier bc these writers did Not give us any kind of proper timeline lol) but i do think that’s what darren went with in s2. (also should add here that we do spend like 95% of s2 seeing blaine through kurt’s eyes which also makes up a lot of the difference in him then and in the later seasons, but overall, my point stands)

as for in the later seasons, i don’t think the writing necessarily changed as drastically as the way darren interpreted it did. after the breakup in s4, i think there’s a concerted effort on darren’s part to play blaine a little younger than he had previously? and i really love that as a character choice, honestly. even if we go in with the idea that he’s the same age as kurt, i think it’s such an incredible way to understand blaine. when we first meet him, he’s been through a trauma. we don’t really know what he was like before sadie hawkins. it’s likely he could’ve been very similar to s4-s6 blaine, but putting on a certain front after being gaybashed to protect himself. 4x07 is such a turning point for blaine, and i think this idea that he is allowing himself to get rid of some of the armor and be unapologetic about his interests, style, and hobbies is real growth and healing for him.

#i hope that answered your question!! let me know if there's something i missed i'm always happy to talk about this stuff #blaine anderson #blaine thoughts #glee #answered #anonymous

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twdmusicboxmystery · 1 year

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FTWD 8x01: Remember What They Took From You - Analysis

Okay, so I rewatched FTWD. I don’t know that I have anything super groundbreaking over and above your excellent analysis, @galadrieljones, but here are my notes and impressions.

There's a "who you are vs who you were" line right at the beginning. The voice from the speaker tells Morgan they know who he is. Or rather, who he was. A clear callback to Beth and Daryl in Still.

It’s interesting to me that now, suddenly, Padre is a “he” rather than a group or organization. It was always an “it” or “they” before. I have a wacky theory about who “he” might be. I’ll get to that in a minute.

So, I totally agree with you, @galadrieljones, that various characters, including Mo/Wren, Madison, and even Morgan are all parallels to Beth in various ways. Even Dove may be. (She’s meaner than Beth, but she trains younger children to fight. And in the Daryl spinoff, we have that scene where doves come out of a box.)

The oxygen cannisters were a big one for me. And I’m not entirely sure what to make of them, yet. Back in 4x07, the Governor went into the retirement home to get O2 for @galadrieljones’s father. And that was one big foreshadow of Beth and Grady. Here, Madison is being given oxygen for her breathing problem, and it is how Wren finds her. So, I feel like it’s a potent symbol, but I’m not entirely sure how to interpret it. Obviously, oxygen is life-giving, and we can’t live without it. It’s a survival thing.

Speaking of that, Madison’s physical ailment—do we know what’s causing it? some sort of COPD or something?—is probably a foreshadow of Beth’s. I’m not saying Beth will have the same thing, but we’ve conjectured over the years that Beth may have memory loss or eyesight issues. I think Madison’s issue just foreshadows that Beth will be dealing with something physical.

In the opening credits slide, we see Wren, but near her are a propeller and a clown. I’m assuming the propeller belongs to a boat, since there weren’t any aircraft in this episode. And of course we had the defunct amusement park, which I agree is a clear callback to 7x12. Still, I don’t remember seeing any clowns in particular, so these are interesting choices for inclusion in the opening credits.

At the beginning, they bash out the walker’s teeth. I wondered if that could be part of the “speak no evil” theme.

The scars on Madison’s arm look like a bite mark. They aren’t, but the basic shape and such of the bruise really made me think at first that she’d been bitten. Clearly, that isn’t the case, but I also wondered if they made the mark reminiscent of a bite mark to foreshadow Beth. Just a thought.

You mentioned, @galadrieljones, about how the woman tells Madison that she knows she wants to die, but Padre won’t let that happen, and how it says a lot about Padre as an institution. I would add the fact that Wren seemed so terrified of getting into trouble. She bulled her way into Madison’s cell and knocked her over to keep her from committing suicide, saying she was not about to get in trouble on Madison’s account. Yeah, sounds like a real loving, nurturing environment for these kids. *sarcasm*

Let’s talk about Madison’s arc in this episode. You talked about how similar her suicide attempt was to Beth’s, and I completely agree. I also feel like Madison’s arc here, even though it comprises only one episode, is representative of Beth’s entire arc. So, first there was the suicide attempt. She’s very much taking care of children the entire episode. (I actually thought she was much more attentive and tuned in to Wren’s emotions and psychological struggles than she ever was to Alicia or Nick’s.)

We have the fact that she was inside this organization, trapped and imprisoned, for so long. They really emphasized “7 years in a cell.” I don’t know if Beth will literally be in a cell inside the CRM, or if it’s more that she’s just a prisoner inside their ranks somewhere, but it’s similar. Even when Morgan said to Madison, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know they locked you up,” I felt like it is something Rick and Daryl could eventually say to Beth. “I’m sorry. We didn’t know you were alive. We didn’t know you were a prisoner in there.”

I was also thinking about how there were 7 candles in a cluster on the table in Alone. We tried really hard to make those mean something. Season 7? Not so much. The biblical number of perfection? Quite possibly. But maybe they represent her time of imprisonment inside the CRM.

Now, we’ve talked about how Beth might still be inside the CRM when we see her again. OR, it could be that she was at one time, but now she’s waging a revolution against them. We see representations of both here with Madison’s arc. Obviously she was on the inside for a time, and even worked for them, bringing them children. Once she gets out, she’s instantly in revolution mode.

True, she’s not leading a group of people in an actual revolution (although from the preview, it looks like something like that will happen eventually) but between her, Morgan, and Grace, she’s the only one pushing back against the Big Brother entity. Trying to get everyone to see truth and snap out of it and “deal with their shit” as Denise would have put it.

And of course at the end, Madison is taken back in. Is that just a Madison thing, or will Beth be taken back into the CRM at some point? I think it’s very likely she will, but I could see it either way.

You talked about Wren getting her foot stuck several times, and that stuck out to me as well. It reminded me of Al back in the episode where she first met Isabel. She got her foot stuck in mud and ended up leaving her shoe behind. Here, we didn’t specifically have the lost shoe/foot symbolism with Wren, but given that she’s stuck, it’s related. I like the idea of comparing it to Beth stepping in the trap, and I think the symbolism is the same.

It occurred to me that getting stuck like that probably represents being stuck in a particular mindset, and unable to see the truth. The second time Wren got stuck in the swamp, that’s when the truth finally came full circle for her, and she finally understood everything that had happened.

With Beth and Daryl, it might have represented not seeing that CRM was following them, or that they were about to step into a massive trap, which was how Beth ended up at Grady. Perhaps Daryl not realizing Beth is really alive. I also think it foreshadows her time with the CRM. It might represent her not realizing how bad they are at first, or a memory loss thing. Who knows?

There’s a whole lot of people communicating over the radio in this episode. I especially liked that people kept saying they “heard the chatter” on the radio and came to the rescue. Morgan did that at first, and then Grace later. It feels like a theme we might see with Beth and Daryl.

Small note: I felt like they were really emphasizing things with the carnival. It was called Pips Pavillion of Wonder and then Pips World of Wonder in another place. I looked up “pips” and didn’t find anything super compelling. However, it did occur to me that the main character in Dickens’ Great Expectations is named Pip. That’s very much a book about losing the love of your life because someone has been manipulated and now can’t see the truth, but coming back together with them years later, when life and harsh experience has taught them truths. No idea if that’s what they were going for, but….

When Morgan almost kills Madison, she has a “seriously” line. Just made note of that.

Also, she says something happened that made Morgan “forget” his family morals. It occurred to me that a lot of the S5b titles were showcased here. Not necessarily spoken, but also in the themes of what’s going on. “The Distance,” “Remember,” “Forget,” “Try.”

Morgan mentions that Padre is trying to force them on a path toward an Estuary, where they can pick them up again. An estuary is a place where many rivers meet the open sea. So, it’s a sea reference. But I also swear we’ve talked about estuaries before. Maybe in conjunction with Oceanside. In a way, also suggests an interesting situation. One where escape is possible (the open sea) but the bad guys are also there to nab you.

Oh, here’s a big one. There was tons of talk of going back to Padre, vs not going back to Padre, right? Watching it the second time, it occurred to me how much it was like Rick’s, “you can’t go back, Bob.” We’ve really beaten that theme to death, and maybe this has been said before, but it occurred to me that it might be very similar to “you can’t go home again.” As in, even if you do physically go back somewhere, you aren’t the same person anymore. And that’s exactly what happens with Wren. She does physically go back, but she’s not the same person she was when she left. Obviously, she’ll become part of the rebellion at some point.

One thing that jumped out at me tho. Madison said “home sweet home” when they reached the houseboat. I started thinking about it and realized that each time that is said, the characters either try or believe they can make a home in that place, but then are taken by a bad group connected to the CRM. Beth and Daryl in Still. True, she wasn’t taken directly from the moonshine shack, but she was taken from Daryl and the situation at large. Maggie and Hershel in S10. They come home to Alexandria in the HSH episode. We know now that Hershel will be kidnapped from there. Probably by the CRM. And now Mo/Wren. Madison said HSH at the houseboat, and in short order, Padre came to take her away.

Of course Wren uncovers some of Morgan’s Clear graffiti on the houseboat. So, it’s obvious something sent him into a tailspin at some point. We just don’t know what, yet. I was thinking that perhaps Grace died, and that’s why he freaked out. But she showed up here, so that clearly wasn’t it. Then I started thinking maybe someone else he cared about died. But I’m not seeing very hard evidence of that, unless Morgan is lying about something. Which, he could be.

The thing is, this is foreshadow of Morgan returning to Atlanta. I know that’s pretty much the most obvious thing in the world, especially as we know the show is ending and these characters will probably merge with the others, but it’s just another example of how the writers foreshadow things. We haven’t seen any mention of Atlanta or King County around Morgan since he first decided to stay with this group back in the first season of Fear he appeared in. Now, suddenly, it’s showing up. And we know this is the last season. So, I’m just point out more evidence for how the foreshadowing works here. :D

And that brings me to my wacky Padre theory. Morgan said that Daniel, Strand, and Luciana were unaccounted for. I haven’t noticed any of them in trailers, but we’ve seen the others (i.e. June, Sherry, Dwight, etc.). We haven’t seen Al or Isabel either, but they’re missing for different reasons. So, originally I took note of that, wondering if one of them could have died and that’s what set Morgan off. But again, unless he’s lying about what he knows, there isn’t much evidence of that, yet.

They also go out of their way to say that Strand was no longer with the rafts when Padre found them. So, I kind of wondered if Strand is Padre. Obviously, he wouldn’t have started the operation, but it also seems to have grown exponentially since Mo/Wren was brought in. As we’ve already talked about, back when Morgan tried to escape, six guards were half of their force. But it’s obviously much bigger and better established, now. And that takes a particular kind of leadership. So, maybe the whole Morgan vs Strand dynamic last season was a foreshadow. Like a synecdoche of a much bigger conflict this season.

Or I could be completely wrong about that. No idea. But it’s what I thought of when they said Strand was missing and everyone talks about Padre as this mysterious “he.”

There were several interesting walkers in this episode. When she first escapes with Wren, Madison fights one that looks strikingly like the one Carol and Tyreese encounter on the train tracks in 5x01. And when Wren’s foot is stuck in the swamp, the one coming toward her, though male, I think, is wearing a bright yellow shirt. So, there’s that.

I also really loved when Wren said she remembered Grace’s song, even before she heard it. Another thing that could be applied to Beth. And, even though this is less about memory loss for Wren, and just about submerged or repressed memories because was a baby, we do still have a motif of recovering lost memories.

When she said she remembered the song before that, Grace and Morgan were genuinely surprised and touched, but they quickly swept those emotions under the rug. ☹

Yeah, I think that’s all I have. You covered the rest perfectly, @galadrieljones. Can’t wait to get more episodes!

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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aflawedfashion · 4 years

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Younger 4x07 - Fever Pitch (2017)

#younger tv #youngeredit #hilary duff #kelsey peters #lauren heller #molly bernard #kelsey and lauren #aflawedfashiongif #affyounger #younger: season 4 #younger: 4x07 #lauren is a pansexual queen who deserves more of a fandom

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booasaur · 3 years

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Station 19 - 4x07

#station19edit #station 19 #carina deluca #maya bishop #stefania spampinato #danielle savre #station 19 spoilers #femslash related stuff #carina x maya #marina #station 19 4x07 #ah man she really WOULDN'T ever have had anyone do that for her #who her dad?? her mom?#even lovely andrew was a younger brother #and she didn't really have particularly serious romantic relationships I guess?#so maya really was the first #and to do it without being asked #only to make things easier for carina

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marlborodean · 3 years

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supernatural + faceless

4x07 "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester"

#castiel is deans cool best friend and sam is the weird younger brother that had a crush on him.#grr sorry i've been so Public about being in a pissy mood lately :/ i'm just PISSED! lol #spn #faceless #supernatural #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #spnedit #spn caps #spn 4x07 #ej.pdf

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radiant-reid · 2 years

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Unexpected Twist

Summary: Going back to Las Vegas stirs up some well kept secrets involving Spencer for the second time in a year

For a Spencer request I was wondering if you would do something where the reader and him used to date but broke up before she could tell him she was pregnant and it wasn’t until years later that he finds out he is a father

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader (Angst)

Content Warning: slight CM violence | mentions of Hankel | spoilers for 4x07 |

Word Count: 3.3k

Masterlist

"The entertainment capital of the world, and our boy wonder's hometown, has had a series of icky murders in the past week," Garcia announced the BAU's latest case, the gory crime scene photos lighting up the screen and the teams photos.

Spencer frowned, barely focusing on the crime photos. "We're going back already?" He asked, thinking about the last time they were there, only a few months ago. When he accused his own father of murder, only to find out his mother was the one involved.

Morgan shot him a sympathetic glance, knowing the personal stress Spencer had been under on the last trip. Garcia lightly smiled, going on to continue explaining the case details.

There was always a nervousness for Spencer going back home. Too bad it was a big enough city the statistical crime rates meant there were bound to be cases there. His mind ran to the dark places of his younger years, all the unresolved trauma building up and threatening to boil over at any point.

Instead of being distracted from the case, Spencer threw his attention into it. He was determined to get in and out of Sin City as quickly as he could.

"Agent Morgan and Doctor Reid, there's a friend here of the second victim." One of the local police officers announced as he walked into the room the BAU was working out of.

Everyone else was out on assignment, leaving the two of them to interview the victims. Spencer much preferred dealing with the dead bodies than the crying friends and family members of the dead women.

Morgan nodded, sifting through the case information to pull out a list of information about the second victim and her friends. Spencer got up with him, walking over to the door.

"She seemed really shaken up." The officer mentioned. Spencer figured that was because she had been with the victim minutes prior to her abduction.

"What's her name?" Morgan asked, flicking over the case files.

Maybe Spencer's head was a little out of it because he couldn't remember a single name of anyone else in the case file aside from the victim's daughter.

He stopped dead in his tracks when her name was spoken. A name he hadn't expected to hear since "Y/n L/n." His already overloaded brain could not comprehend the information. Of the odd 600,000 people in Las Vegas- his head was in no place for the specific numbers- why did it have to be her?

Naturally, Morgan noticed, extra concerned about Spencer already. "Hey, Reid, you feeling alright?"

It took two clicks of his fingers in front of Spencer to have him refocused. It felt like his whole brain was spinning, blurred memories coming back while he struggled to figure out why they weren't clear.

"Do you know her?" Morgan asked, trying to distinguish the look on his face. There was shock, definitely, but there was also concern, terror, and astonishment.

Slowly, Spencer nodded. "Uh, yeah." He managed to squeak out, feeling his heart thumping in his chest when he realized just who was behind the door. "She was my, um, girlfriend." He mumbled much quieter like he was ashamed of the fact.

Morgan was in complete shock, unaware Spencer had any romantic interest in anyone but JJ for a brief moment. "When was this?"

"One month and sixteen days b-before I turned 24." He admitted as the flood of memories played on a loop. "Two years. That's, um, how long we were together. So you're not blindsided; I knew her from my last few years at CalTech, and I thought I was going to marry her." He summarized their relationship.

Morgan's surprise didn't quite match Spencer's, but he definitely hadn't predicted awkward Spencer with his straight hair and glasses had a girlfriend. "You don't have to go in there. I can ask her the usual questions."

Shaking his head, Spencer walked past, placing a shaky hand on the door. "It's been four years, thirteen days, eight hours, and twenty-one minutes since we broke up. I'm over it."

He failed to mention, purposefully, that he was still in love with her months later, trying to see any correlation between her and JJ. The only reason he finally got over her was after he was tortured by Hankel and realized she was just part of his imagination.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him. "You might be over it, but are you okay?" Usually, Morgan would have teased him, but he could tell Spencer needed comfort.

"I'm good, really," Spencer affirmed, slapping on his best smile and opening the door. He figured ripping the bandaid off was the only way to avoid having a heart attack from his racing pulse.

When Y/n heard an FBI agent would be coming to question her, she figured it was someone from the local FBI branch. Not Spencer Reid.

Spencer Reid with curly hair, which explained a lot. She wondered where it came from, figuring it wasn't her DNA.

But he was really standing in front of her, and for a minute, she couldn't breathe. Like her past and her present had collided in a whirlwind of emotions. He was mostly the same as the 21-year-old she once knew. Still, there was something she couldn't put her finger on, something sadder about him.

There weren't any hurt feelings, which is why Spencer didn't wait for it to become awkward. His brain was already all over the place, but when he looked at her face, he could still see the Y/n he once knew. More mature-looking but heartbroken.

Without hesitating, he sat on the couch in front of her. "Hey, Y/n." His tone was as soft as it could be, and he was thankful he wasn't as blindsided as she was.

Morgan took a seat next to him, shocked, but letting the reunion play out without any interference. "I'm SSA Derek Morgan." He introduced himself, earning a nod from her.

"Spence," Y/n mumbled, meeting his brown eyes for the first time in years. They were still so deep but not telling like they used to be. She hadn't expected to be able to read him perfectly, but he was completely closed off.

Everything else seemed stationary around them. Anyone could have walked into the room, and neither Y/n nor Spencer could have stopped looking at the other.

"Are you okay?" He tenderly asked, his concern about her rising when he finally remembered why he was there.

Y/n weakly smiled, trying to hide the fact she wasn't okay, in the same way, she used to. Spencer leaned closer to her, leaving only a few feet of distance between their faces.

"I just..." Y/n stopped to cry, placing a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry." She apologized to both of them. "I just didn't think something like this could happen to Lily."

Spencer wasn't sure what compelled him to do it, maybe the fact he hated to see her in pain, but he reached out to hold her hand. Y/n squeezed lightly, silently thanking him. He suddenly didn't mind being the shoulder to cry on, knowing factually how to comfort Y/n. "I'm so sorry this happened, Y/n. I promise we're going to catch who's doing this." Stroking over her thumb, he continued. "We just need you to trust us and close your eyes."

Once she did, Spencer nodded to Morgan, figuring it was better if he conducted the cognitive. She cried through the whole recount, remembering some helpful information and leads they could give to Garcia. Morgan excused himself to call her, leaving Y/n and Spencer alone.

"I know this is hard, but it will be okay," Spencer assured her, trying to figure out why she had to be a part of something so horrid. "We're going to catch him, I promise."

Y/n nodded, looking back up at him. "I didn't expect to see you." She mentioned, trying to think of something that could take her mind off her dead friend.

"Neither." Spencer agreed. "Since... you know, have you been okay?"

Four years' worth of life events, including a baby, couldn't be summed up by a few words, but she nodded. "How could I not be in Vegas?" She joked. It was a city she'd unconventionally fallen in love with at the same time she fell in love with Spencer. Unlike being in love with Spencer, Las Vegas hadn't ended for her. "How about you, Doctor Reid?" She asked teasingly.

Sometimes, she thought about him, wondered if he was married or had kids he knew about. Now, she had the chance to find out.

"It's good. This job is still... demanding." When they broke up, Spencer refused to accept his job had been the reason they broke up. After Hankel, he realized it was because who would be able to love him after that?

Demanding, Y/n assumed, meant there was no time for a wife or girlfriend. "I should probably go." She realized, looking at the time. She'd only just realized then that his hand was still holding hers, the thin, cold fingers wrapped around hers as he stroked over her thumb.

Spencer pulled back, refocusing on the case. He adjusted his jacket when he stood up, awkwardly shifting on his feet. Some things never change.

He opened the door for her, hesitating to let her walk out of the room. "Can I give you a hug?" He offered, unsure whether she'd agree. After all, he didn't know her.

"Yes, please." Y/n agreed, leaning closer into him. Spencer wrapped his arms around her, pulling her body closer to his for a second. Her perfume quickly took him back to the years before. "Thank you, Spence."

"Of course." Spencer nodded, walking her to the door. "If there are any more questions, someone will call you."

Spencer trailed back to the board room once she'd gone, his mind only cloudier by seeing Y/n again. Being in Las Vegas was enough, but knowing she was definitely there and involved in the case, complicated his thinking.

Morgan looked up at him from his seat with a frown. "You good?" Lightly, Spencer nodded. "We need your head here, Reid."

"It is," Spencer assured him. His encounter with Y/n was fueled him to solve it as quickly as possible, wanting to have an answer for her.

They wrapped the case in less than two days, saving the unsub's final hostage. Tired, the team trudged back to the hotel. Thankfully, Hotch was letting them stay the night.

"You should go see her, Reid," Morgan mentioned as they stood in the lobby, noticing Spencer's more-than-usual fidgety behavior.

"Your mom?" Prentiss interrupted, clearly unaware of which girl was in question. Spencer nodded, knowing it was easier than telling her the truth. At least they weren't teasing him about it. "Yeah, go see her, Reid."

Spencer waited until she'd walked off with JJ to reject Morgan's suggestion. "I don't know where she'll be or her number."

Morgan shook his head with a chuckle, handing him a piece of paper. "Have you heard of the Supreme Genius Penelope Garcia?"

Cautiously, Spencer opened it, finding Y/n's number and home address. He quickly handed it back. "I can't use this. It would be wrong to just turn up at her house. Plus, what if she's married?" It wasn't something he'd thought of initially, but now it was the only thing on his head.

"Did you see a ring?" Morgan asked, tipping his head. Spencer shook his head, unconvinced. "Garcia says she's not. Why don't you just go and see her? We're leaving tomorrow anyway." He knew Spencer needed an extra bit of convincing. "You'll regret it if you don't."

Spencer knew that much was true. He regretted not seeing Y/n after they broke up. "Okay!" He decided, trying to turn his logical brain off. "But I'm not going to her place. There's a park we used to go to all the time." If she was there, they could talk, but if she wasn't, he'd get to walk around his favorite park.

Morgan smiled proudly at his friend. "Kid, it'll be okay. Just go and be you."

Spencer nodded, letting his feet carry him out of the hotel and down the street. He didn't need to look at a map, but mapping out the whole city made him slightly less nervous.

Walking around the park, he couldn't see her. He decided it was dumb that he thought she would be there. Not until he neared the playground. He'd recognize her face anywhere, but the soft glow from the evening sun illuminated her features perfectly.

Faking confidence, he sat down next to her. "Hi."

Y/n looked over at him with a smile, a genuine smile. "Hey."

He wasn't sure what was the right thing to say next, but his leg bounced up and down. "You heard about the end of the case?" It wasn't really what he wanted to talk about, but it was a starting point. She replied with a nod, biting her lip to avoid crying. "I know it doesn't make it better, and I'm sorry about what happened to your friend."

"Thanks and thanks to your team," Y/n replied with a nod. "It's nice to see you."

That helped calm his nerves, knowing she wasn't annoyed with him coming to see her. "Yeah, you too. I'm sorry I never called, though." He only thought about it a few times whenever he was in Vegas.

Y/n opened her mouth to reply, but someone else interrupted. "Mommy, can you tie my shoe?" A little girl asked, running over. Brown curly hair, a pink top, black leggings, white converse that matched Y/n's, and the widest smile.

Spencer's eyes darted between the two of them, realizing she was calling for Y/n. His heart felt like it stopped, head spinning as his brain tried to comprehend what was happening.

There wasn't an explanation he could find, but he could definitely see a few similarities between them.

Y/n tried to focus on her daughter, tying her shoe before watching her run off to the playground again. All the while, she was cringing. When she looked back at Spencer, his eyes were wider than she'd ever seen.

Her little Spencer Reid; incredibly smart, button nose, and curly brown hair. "Madeline L/n," Y/n explained, adjusting her seating position. Spencer knew it was something people did when they felt uncomfortable.

Spencer frowned, his tongue darting out across his bottom lip. "From the Fall of the House of Usher?"

Y/n knew he would get it, awkwardly letting out a chuckle. Everything in Spencer's brain went back to books, especially Edgar Allan Poe. "Yeah."

"She's cute," Spencer complimented, trying to be chill about it. He hadn't seen her in four years, so he couldn't be surprised Y/n had moved on with her life. Maybe Garcia had been wrong about her relationship status. But she was never wrong.

Y/n could tell he wasn't getting it. The tears had already welled in her eyes when she noticed the brown curls that matched Spencer's. "She's yours."

"She's what?" Spencer spat back, mouth dropping over to further show his visible shock.

Whether his tone was mad or not, Y/n wasn't sure. It was definitely far too level for an emotionally compelling subject. She frequently thought about what she would tell Madeline if she had questions about her father but never what she'd say to Spencer.

Now, he was here and looking for an answer. "Spencer-" She started.

"How could you not have told me?" He sounded hurt, not angry but genuinely upset. And she didn't blame him for it. His head fell to his hands, trying to figure out how this could have happened.

He could barely breathe, and his mind had never been more of a mess. It wandered back to the events of the last time he was in Vegas, seeing his mostly absent father, and he couldn't help but figure the apple didn't fall far from the tree. At least his dad knew about him. Spencer had a three-something-year-old daughter he didn't know existed. If anything, that made him worse. It meant the promise he made when his dad left, to be a good father, if he had the chance, had been broken.

23-year-old Y/n had an answer, but 27-year-old Y/n didn't. "I-I don't know." She mumbled, recognizing he deserved more of an explanation. "I didn't know until after we broke up. I made a call, probably the wrong one."

"Did you really think I wouldn't have given up everything to support you?" Spencer asked, wondering if she knew him at all from the two years they dated. "Whether we were together or not, I would have done anything."

Y/n sighed, knowing that was all too true. "I couldn't let you, Spencer. You finally weren't a kid at the BAU."

Spencer was trying to work out the possibilities of what would have happened if he knew. The millions of parallel universes out there where he knew about the little girl, who was blissfully unaware of her parents' conversation, sliding down the yellow slide.

The guilt was eating Y/n alive. It had mellowed over the years, but now it was worse than when she first made her decision. "Spencer, I don't know what to tell you, but I'm sorry."

The silence was long. A pause with no known ending. Each second felt like she was being dragged further up a rollercoaster, ready to be dropped into the unknown at any point in time.

"I don't think it's fair that you made a decision for me." For the first time in maybe his whole life, Spencer was telling the plain and simple truth. All his vulnerable emotions had been voiced.

Y/n nodded, thankful he wasn't furious at her. Still, it didn't stop her heart from dropping every time he parted his lips.

He was hurting, maybe more so when they broke up. "And I wish you called, at any point in the last four years."

"I'm sorry." She apologized again, wishing she had called.

"I can tell." Spencer retorted, and she wasn't sure whether or not it was a joke. "This isn't what I expected."

Y/n laughed at the irony of that, dryly but Spencer joined her. "No pressure or anything, but if you want to, we're going to iHop for a pancake dinner, and you could join." She almost cringed as she said it, walking on eggshells about how he'd react.

"Is there any chance you're free for longer this weekend?" Spencer offered, seeing a better option in being level-headed and informed than angry. Y/n smiled as she nodded. "I'm going to call Hotch."

Y/n left him there, going over to watch Madeline go down the slide. Thankfully, Hotch didn't have any problems with him staying. Once she saw he was done on the phone, Y/n walked over with Madeline.

Spencer bent down, so he was at eye-level with the little girl, and Y/n followed suit. She had to do a double-take at how similar they looked side-by-side, having never seen it before. Looking at her daughter's nose head-on, and Spencer's from the side, it was clear how alike they were.

"Maddie, this is my friend Spencer." Y/n introduced them.

Smiling, Spencer held out his hand. "It's nice to meet you." He was a little concerned by the confused look on Madeline's face.

"Spencer like Madeline Spencer L/n?" She asked, looking at her mom with a pronounced frown. The look Y/n got from Spencer was more of a delighted surprise, something that reassured her enormously.

Spencer replied with a smile. "Yeah, I guess so."

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bowie-boy · 3 years

Text

NOTES: For the first eleven episodes of Community I wasn’t keeping track of trans Jeff moments but I will when I rewatch. I also starred the key trans Jeff episodes (imo of course)

Without further ado...

Every transcoded Jeff Winger moment (I can remember) because he’s a trans man:

1x12*

getting punched in the face is his “male rite of passage” according to Pierce

1x14

“I’ve never been someone’s dirty little secret” the fact that he is now?? Transcoded

“I’m afraid of things getting official. If you say it you might later have to UNsay it.” Jeff was definitely terrified of coming out and realizing he was faking it huh

1x17*

Jeff is uncomfortable wearing short shorts in public and wants to wear his own clothes, he gets very uncomfortable when questioned about it

Abed says Jeff is 30% the trans guy from Boys Don’t Cry

Once again! Gets very defensive when accused of being panties

Coping with hypermasculinity is so trans

1x20

“What is THIS Jeff?” “My chest????” “What are you packing in these pants” “guys-“ this entire exchange is trans

1x25

Jeff being so done with tr*nny dance

That moment of him and Troy with the trans cookie in the same frame >>>

2x01

“An old drinking buddy who may or may not have had a sex change” makes Jeff cut Abed off and ask questions, I think he got nervous

2x03*

Blood test at a physical! Testosterone

2x06

Jeff is very protective over his suit

2x07

Jeff and Troy laughing about Y chromosomes because they don’t have them 😌 (yes Troy is trans too)

2x08

very proud of his chest, doesn’t want to cover it up at all

Jeff is very quiet during the period conversation

(I’m actually writing a fic about Jeff’s coming out that takes place during this episode)

2x10*

Jeff looking so confused and annoyed when Pierce said “I broke my legs not my gender”

Jeff giving Troy a manhood experience for his birthday!!!

2x12

all the women enter the same bathroom as Jeff

2x15

Pierce reading a supportive speech in case Britta is LGBTQ+ and telling Jeff to “wait for the one” he has for him

2x17

Jeff uses nipple guards when running

2x18*

“Abed...can I tell you something I’ve never told anyone else?”

Jeff had to wear a girl’s costume for Halloween

“Everyone kept saying what a pretty little girl. After a while, I stopped correcting them. What was the point?” Wow TRANS

2x21

“You disqualified yourself from this conversation [about women] the second you decided to grow a wang” “I regret nothing”

3x04

Jeff keeps his toiletries in a safe

3x05

Jeff being a vampire is transcoded I don’t elaborate

3x06* (this is just a great Jeff ep in general)

Threw a gay party and it was great

His dad fucking DISOWNED HIM?????

3x09*

“foosball was just masculine enough to get by without throwing it catching”

Jeff had a pony tail as a kid

“I changed my clothes, my hair, my personality”

“Foosball is how I defined myself as a man”

Jeff wearing a hoodie at the end of the episode?????

3x12*

Jeff “has bad posture and sometimes looks like he has boobs” according to Britta, a statement which made him uncomfortable and deflated his self esteem

Jeff really wants the award for most handsome young man

3x13-14

Flannel

3x17

“A man’s got to have a code. I can only assume a woman has an equivalent to that, like a codette or something” okay trans

3x19

Jeff really doesn’t like being separated from his jackets

4x01

I just think Jeff leading a dance with another man who is in drag is very trans coded okay

4x02

Jeff is so obsessed with his body that he must be a trans man proud of his transition

4x05*

“Jeff’s at the point in his life where he needs a strong father figure to come out to” is this not canon trans man

“You seem like a self made man.” “I mean, I kind of had to be.”

The entire scar thing

Jeff’s stepbrother or half brother or whatever being too “soft” for his father to like?? But Jeff who is hypermasc still not being enough????? Okay canon trans

4x07*

Jeff is really enjoying his manly barber shave

4x10

everyone bought Jeff a hoodie for Christmas

4x11

Jeff is really scared of commitment to things regarding permanent choices or his own identity, maybe he struggled with this for his transition when he was younger

5x04

Jeff “would rather look at himself naked than the people he sleeps with” because he’s proud of his transition

5x07

Jeff and Duncan did a boys’ night! Maybe Duncan knew him before he transitioned and it made Jeff uncomfy until now

5x08

“my penis needs no enlargement” proud of his transition af

5x11*

Jeff is/was obsessed with GI Joe which was like Thee boys’ cartoon

He can’t visualize his future which is trans

They bought him an it’s a boy mug 🥺

6x04

Jeff is really supportive of the dean’s sexuality, literally trans

Like Frankie is basically canonically a lesbian or at least queercoded

The dean is canonically queer

Why else would Jeff be there if not for the fact that he’s trans

6x05

Jeff getting mad when someone says he hits like a girl and taking his shirt off

6x06

Jeff is stressed about his emails being leaked —> he got outed?

6x08

Jeff is really proud of his scenes in the movie, he wants the world to see him fully transitioned and how manly he is

6x10

Jeff hoodie trans

He won’t shut up about cars because he wants to seem big and manly

Also in general his halloween costumes are all hypermasc. I think the study group really helped Jeff feel better about his gender identity and really made him feel safe. Thanks for reading!

#jack’s posts #community #jeff winger #trans jeff winger #trans jeff #long post

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i-like-turkey · 2 years

Text

We were told at the start of season four that the big theme of the season would be “change.” Can Villanelle genuinely give up killing and become ‘good?’ Can Eve embrace her darkness and find meaning in a life without Villanelle? 🦂🐸…But what 4x07 revealed is that there is a more subtle corollary theme of season 4: aging.

This theme has always been present in the show. Eve is a middle aged woman who upends her life upon encountering a younger woman. It’s a classic mid-life crisis story only without the heterosexuality and fancy cars.

But what season 4 gives us is a look at what it feels like to age. Every day we wake up one day older and a little bit wiser/dumber from whatever we encountered the previous day. Over time these experiences fundamentally do change large aspects of our personalities. Every so often we make big external life changes that also change us (e.g., moving to a new city, breaking up with someone, new jobs, etc.).

As you get older, you start to reflect back on life and can break things down into periods: here is who I was in middle school, in high school, in my early 20’s and so on. They are all you, but they are all recognizably different people. In some cases this difference may be slight (high school and college you are the same, but college you had no curfew so your dumbassery lasted longer into the night) or radically different (high school you was wearing dresses and dating boys, mid 20’s you had a shaved head & tongue piercing & was breaking women’s hearts throughout town).

Where it gets weird is when you encounter parts of your past that trigger memories of your younger self. There can be a brief moment where you fully expect to be back in that era; where that younger self pops out only for you to realize that your former self is gone and so are the circumstances surrounding that memory. Killing Eve absolutely nailed the discomfiting horror of this feeling during the 4x07 karaoke scene. Eve is singing along and then bam: her ex hubby, Bill, and Elena are there. But they really aren’t and they never will be there like that again. So of course she freaks the fuck out. She was happy then—maybe not happy in the big picture sense—but at that moment singing with them? She was happy. And now…well, she’s not and she has no idea what to do with herself.

This theme is very relevant to Carolyn’s arc. Throughout the entire series we’ve been given stories about her good ole Cold War spy days and met quite a few of her flings. In seasons 1-2 she seemed to revel in the memories. Probably because at that point she’s still a very active player in the spy games and has the support of her government. In season 3 this waivers as she has to deal with her son’s death, her annoying daughter, and the fact that her spy bullshit is likely what got Kenny killed. But in season 4 when she’s cast out of MI6, is where we see her struggling with the full weight of her life. That scene in 4x03 where Carolyn is standing in her Russian apartment in an ugly as fuck nightgown absolutely kills me. She initially has her eyes closed, so I interpret this as her thinking about all her past life decisions that led to this point. Then she slowly opens her eyes and looks at the wall. We can’t see a mirror in the scene, but I like to think that one is present and that she’s looking at herself and wondering “who the fuck is this person? where did my younger self go?” Her subsequent encounters with Lars and the German lady drive home this feeling. It’s not thrilling to see them. She’s fucking tired and not in the mood to deal with the memories of her past selves.

Ymmv on my interpretation here. I probably have a good 10 or so years on most of the folks in the KE fandom. So this may not resonate as much.

tldr: aging is fucking weird 🥴

#killing eve spoilers #ke spoilers #killing eve 4x07 #killing eve analysis

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beepboop358 · 3 years

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My Byler theories/predictions for S4

Since s4 is already confirmed to not be the last season, I don’t think Byler will officially get together in s4. I do think that we are definitely going to get a large amount of Byler’s development in s4 though, we just aren’t at the finish line yet. Since Byler has been being developed all through each of the seasons, I think the writers are playing the long game with Mike and Will. I really appreciate a queer romance that is so well developped, especially in something so popular! I think the season will end on a note where it’s understood what Mike has been struggling with, It’s made known that Will is gay, and that Mike has feelings for Will, and Will has feelings for Mike.

My predictions/theories for Byler in s4:

Mike might be acting a little off at school and Dustin is going to notice his odd behavior and ask what’s up

I think Mike will be getting in trouble at school and at home (based on whenever he doesn’t have Will/El around he does stupid things - like graffitti the bathroom wall, plagiarize essays, curse at adults, etc.) I don’t know if Mike knows about Eddie dealing drugs, but he might and he might get drugs from Eddie and do them to cope with everything he is struggling with. His parents might ground him for doing drugs, and forbid him from going to visit the Byers, and then we could get our runaway smalltown boy montage! LOL

Lonnie might come to visit the Byers in California for Will’s birthday. He will probably show up because he thinks they have money now, or he wants to sue Starcourt like he wanted to sue the quarry in s1. Mike will also be there visiting for Will’s birthday. Lonnie will mock Will and make fun of him like he always did, but he will also hate Mike. Lonnie will definitely notice Will and Mike’s dynamics and he will definitely comment about it. He might even call them homophobic slurs like we know he used to do with Will when he was younger. Lonnie will probably make Will cry and Mike upset. Lonnie might possibly “out” him and Mike before they are out and confirm it themselves. Some of the movies on the stranger writers twitter for s4 also hint at this, as well as having the baseball references. There are also hints to Will’s birthday throughout the show: The rainbow happy birthday mug seen in the crazy together scene, the “sorry i forgot your birthday card” in Will’s room from Lonnie, and Joyce’s speech in the shed discussing Will’s 8th birthday and his “rainbow ship”. Jonathan also mentions how Lonnie made him kill a rabbit on his 10th birthday and he cried for a week after, just more hints that if Lonnie shows up for Will’s bday, it’s gonna be bad.

Mike might get Will a watch for his birthday. This would reference the clocks being central to the s4 plot, and “not wanting things to change/turning back the clock” in Hopper’s letter

Will is being homophobically bullied at his new school again, possibly references to Will having HIV/AIDS because the height of the epidemic was in the 80’s and it was very stigmatized

Mike will call Will more than he will call El. Will might be slightly surprised by this, El’s frequent calling will annoy Mike and he might turn off his walkie talkie. (basically the reverse of what Mike said would happen in the s3 ending mileven scene)

Mike and Will will be in the same location for most of the season, like s2. They will not leave each other’s sides for the majority of the time they are together.

S4 Group Predictions:

- El, Will, Mike trio together with Jonathan and Argyle. (we will get some obvious tension between El, Will, and Mike, and Mike will hate Argyle at first)

- Robin, Steve, Erica, Max, Dustin, Lucas, Vickie, Eddie, Nancy

- Joyce, Murray, etc?

- Hopper and the other Russians (Dimitri, etc)

The rift between Mike and El will continue to grow.

When Mike comes to visit, she will notice he seems much more interested in Will.

El will ask why the bullies call Will those things (queer/fairy/gay/homo, probably f slurs too), what it means and if he really is “a queer”.

I don’t know if Will is going to come out to El. They have never interacted before, and I doubt Will trusts her or really likes her much mainly, because of Mike. Unless they get super close during the time not portrayed on screen between s3 and s4, or by being all each other has in California, I don’t know if he will come out to El. I could see this going either way depending on how their friendship develops. I definitely do not think Will is going to tell El he likes Mike, even if he does confide in her he is gay. I think she will find out eventually but in some other way, probably just from Mike’s behavior towards Will.

El will eventually realize she doesn’t actually love Mike and let go of the ‘romance’ aspect of their bond, but still highly value him as a friend.

Mike might be called homophobic slurs at school as well. Mike will definitely be teased (regardless of his sexuality) because he is in the hellfire club and since satanic panic is sweeping the town, people look at D&D as if it is a satanic game, and he will be teased because of that.

Based on the leaked bts pics, I have a theory a cheerleader, or someone else, might show interest in Mike. Mike will not reciprocate and she will call him out for it asking why he doesn't like her because “any other guy at this school would” or something like that, maybe even ask “what are you gay or something”. It would certainly be good for Mike’s narrative but idk if it will happen.

Will may confide in Jonathan about his feelings for Mike and the things the bullies say to him at school. Jonathan will be supportive of Will, as will Joyce. I think he will also try to protect Will from Lonnie and they will both defend Will to Lonnie.

I think we need a scene of Mike with his Mom telling him to follow his heart, like who you like, etc. because life is too short to waste it being miserable or something like that. This could be inspired by Mike’s parents seperating, but idk. This could also encourage Mike to initiate more romantic things with Will.

I would love to get a scene of Will confronting Mike for “Joining another party”, after Will said he wouldn’t.

Will and Mike need to discuss what was said in their fight.

I think since Mike's been holding in a lot of turmoil and struggling with his sexuality for so long we might get a small breakdown scene from him, of him telling Will he’s really sorry for how he treated him last summer, and for all the things he said to Will. Mike will profusely apologize and also hint at how he’s confused and been dealing with a lot.

I think Mike will be the first one to break down and confess he has feelings for Will and has been struggling with coming to terms with his sexuality.

Once Will has confirmation Mike is also struggling with his sexuality, Will might come out to him. I would love for him to reference the fight being like “You were right. I don’t like girls.” (from @itsonlystrange ‘s 4x07 byler script it’s so good!) I don't know if Will will confess he likes Mike to his face or not. I don't think it's likely given how shy Will is and how afraid he is of Mike not reciprocating, but who knows.

Mike may initiate a kiss between him and Will - towards the end of the season probably (eyewitness parallel - explained in my byler proof google slides)

I think Mike and Will might write letters to each other, with some love-y connotations. There is a lot of evidence for this in the canon comics of them writing notes to each other, and that cryptic tweet from stranger writers twitter with a blocked out message and the date Will went missing saying it wasn’t about a couple or hopper. Maybe byler related? This tweet may not be a letter but it might be. The most popular theories are that the message is to Will, “love mike”, which I love. https://twitter.com/strangerwriters/status/1184945905973153792?lang=en

Will has a new haircut (bts pics) and Mike will gush over it. Maybe some gay-panicking too hopefully

I think El will be either physically or at least emotionally distant the entire season from the other kids (again following the pattern of even and odd seasons) El needs some personal development this season, since she didn’t get any in s3.

El might confront Mike and ask if he is gay and if he likes Will, which could be El’s motivation to go off on a journey of her own to learn more about her own life. I don’t think it will be a huge fight, but El might make some references to him always lying to her. I think Mike might just kind of try to talk his way out of it at first, but he will eventually break. This might be a two part discussion and Mike doesn’t admit she is right until later. I don’t think it makes sense for El to be heartbroken (explained in my byler proof slides), just slightly annoyed. This is based off of the movie Tootsie which they borrowed the “gift” idea from in s3 already. In the movie, the girlfriend then after receiving the gift asks “Michael” if he is gay.

I really think eventually El will realize it’s okay because she doesn’t love him romantically either, and once she realizes that her own personal development can really begin.

I think we will see a noticeable change in Mike’s demeanor. I think Mike will mainly just be trying to hide that he is gay now. He joined the hellfire club so we know he’s playing d&d again meaning he is reverting back to his true self, not the weird act he put on in s3 trying to be straight and change himself. He is still struggling, but he knows he likes Will. Regardless that doesn’t mean he is going to be super clear about how he feels. He is going to be extremely afraid of opening up and then getting hurt by Will. He will probably do some of his usual ‘lead Will on and then shut it down’ thing. And I really want Will to call him out on this. This could also lead to Mike breaking down in front of Will and confessing. I think we are going to get a lot of 'Mike gay panicking' moments, he's going to be extremely afraid of being found out/suspected.

Byler things I really want to happen that we may get because they would have narrative significance:

I really want flashbacks to those 3 months of summer between the starcourt explosion and the Byers moving, of moments between Mike and Will when they hang out alone together, with some obvious romantic tension. Like where they are super playful and almost kiss, or they are kind of touchy, or something in the realm of that. I think we need a flashback of something that explains Will’s flirty nature at the very end of s3 with Mike, because he doesn't normally act like that. I want noticeable “is something going on with them?” vibes. This could also happen during the thanksgiving/christmas flashbacks.

I hope we get flashbacks of Mike going to the Byers for Thanksgiving, and the Byers coming back to Hawkins for Christmas. Preferably of some Mike and Will moments that hint at Mike’s confusion or how he feels “so alone” without Will, maybe with some “crazy together” references too! I’d also love some tension between the 3 of them, maybe this is when El starts to get suspicious of Mike liking Will.

Hopefully we get some shots of Mike biking past the byers old house and going to look at castle byers and reminiscing.

I’d love to get a flashback of Mike the day the Byers moved away, of him crying or being upset, alone in his room/basement while looking at Will’s drawings or pictures of Will and him together. Mainly to confirm for people that Mike was upset about Will moving, not as much El.

This one does not seem super probable, but it is a very popular theory. Idk if it’s possible because of location logistics, but if they spend enough time together, I’d love for Mike to get to know Robin better, and Will too. Maybe once everyone comes together at the end of the season, she will notice their dynamics and could help guide and inspire them to be themselves. Hey maybe thats for s5 :) But I do think it’s a possibility that Mike may work at the video store with Steve and Robin, and she will pick up on Mike’s behavior and understand, whether she communicates that to him or not.

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popanalysis99 · 3 years

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Darlene Alderson: Analysis

Darlene Alderson is the deuteragonist of the series Mr. Robot. She is the younger sister of the protagonist Elliot Alderson and a fellow hacker in fsociety. In the beginning of the series, she remains much of a mystery but later we get to know a lot about her, especially her importance in the series, especially in Elliot’s life. (Spoilers and Trigger Warning)

Early Life

Darlene was born in 1990. When she was 4, she remembered watching a news report about E Corp being cleared in the Washington Township trial and seeing the lawyer Susan Jacobs become delighted about that news. Unbeknownst to her, Elliot was being sexually abused by her father Edward and Elliot tried to protect her from being his next victim. And when Edward died, her mother Magda began to physically and emotionally abuse her and Elliot, but Darlene got the brunt of it the most. She even adopted a kitten once named Moonpie and built a secret house for her. Her mother found out and forced her to drown it in the lake but Darlene ran away with it instead and gave it away to a woman.

At the age of 5, she was kidnapped by a woman during a family trip to an amusement park. Over there she was treated very nicely and like a princess and it made her feel special. Until the police came in and rescued her. Both her and Elliot’s favourite movie was The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoisie, which they would often watch with their childhood friend Angela.

How we meet Darlene

Darlene is introduced as a typical rule breaker MPDG who takes a sudden interest on the resident broken bird Elliot, who is constantly freaked out by her advances at first. She is a fellow hacker working on a hack against E Corp. She slowly becomes Elliot’s sidekick and best friend. She helps Elliot restart the hack with the help of the Dark Army one month after the death of Shayla and as they both celebrate, Elliot accidentally kisses her and it is revealed that Darlene is actually his sister, which then leads to a reveal that Mr. Robot is actually Elliot’s split personality.

Taking control of fsociety

After Elliot ends up in prison for hacking into Lenny Shannon and taking Flipper, Darlene ends up taking control of fsociety and picks up from where he left off. She has taken over Susan Jacobs’ house as the base of operations. We even see her having multiple breakdowns, showing that despite having a brave facade, she hasn’t really gotten all of this figured out. She even makes a rousing speech to the members, which would also foreshadow her own position in the future episodes: “We are in a war, and we are on the losing side of it. We are on our knees with guns to our heads, and they are picking us off one by one.”

She even tries to make decisions for the good of the team and is shown to be extremely determined in taking down E Corp. From prison, Elliot helps her out and she recruits Angela to use her position in E Corp to hack the FBI and find out who killed Romero. Fsociety later uncovers the operation Project Berenstain and exposes the FBI for it. But things get out of control when Susan returns and Darlene kills her out of spite for what she did, causing Trenton and Mobley to go on the run.

Then it gets worse when the members get into an accident and get caught and arrested, with one of them escaping and taken to the hospital by Darlene and Cisco, and then as Dom finds them at a diner, A Dark Army shooter kills Cisco, which drastically changes Darlene. After Darlene tries to escape from answering Dom, Dom takes her to the board where she reveals the FBI knows everything. With no other choice, Darlene decides to give in and become a mole.

From badass leader to Dark Army’s prey

So how did this badass hunter become the docile hunted?

Darlene ends up becoming more paranoid for her life, believing the Dark Army is now after her. And side by side she even tries to help Elliot stop Stage 2. She even finds out about Angela gaslighting Elliot for helping the Dark Army, but in vain and realises that she has truly gone mad. She and Elliot then team up to undo the 5/9 hack and in the process tries to sleep with Dom to get the credentials but develops feelings for her in the process. And when she gets kidnapped by the Dark Army along with Elliot and Dom, this is when she becomes their constant prey/butt-monkey.

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In Season 4, Darlene seemed to get worser and weaker after Angela’s death when she became a jaded washout who took in drugs and alcohol to deal with her death, a complete opposite of what we used to see her as, with Elliot having to handle things on his own now. She later tries to get a hold of herself slowly as she tries to help Elliot with taking down the Deus Group and Whiterose, but Elliot constantly pushes her away, but he still lets her help him because he cares for her and is grateful for her.

“Not Acceptable” and “Request Timeout” is when her status as the Dark Army’s “personal butt-monkey” comes into play. First Dom tries to blow her brains off and then knocks her out, then Janice tries to blow her brains off but then Darlene wipes her phone, then she gets tied up with Dom and is about to be tortured with some tools before getting forced to watch Dom get stabbed by Janice. Wait. This doesn’t end there. Then she hears Janice’s tale about how she is so happy to be evil, then Janice makes her cry into giving up Elliot’s location, makes her cry again into thinking Dom’s family will be killed before Dom pulls a gambit and kills Janice and her men. Phew.

Breaking Out

When Elliot suffers from a mental breakdown thanks to the PTSD caused by Vera’s psychological abuse in 4x07. Darlene breaks out of her “butt-monkey” mould and decides to take matters into her own hands and steps up. She makes a new fsociety video doxxing the Deus Group and commits the biggest hack in the history with the help of Elliot and steals all of the money from the accounts of all the members, including Whiterose.

Elliot even acknowledges this when he tells her to complete the last phase of the hack: redistribution of the wealth as the hack is her win, not his. She is elated to celebrate her win with Dom and this is the first time we’ve seen her actually happy in a long time. She then tries to run away with Dom from the Dark Army, but when Dom decides to stay, Darlene becomes vulnerable and explains how she can’t handle on her own, before they part ways.

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When Darlene tries to leave for Budapest by herself, she ends up having another panic attack. When a woman asks her if she is okay, Darlene decides not to go to Budapest after all and that she can handle herself.

Being a key to Elliot’s reality

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It is revealed at the end of the series that the Elliot we’ve been seeing throughout the series is actually another alter known as the Mastermind and that the real Elliot is trapped in an alternate word he created for him. And the reason why Darlene isn’t in it is because she is said to be his only link to reality. Though it does kinda fall into the “women are the dependant caregivers” trope, it does give a really meaningful and hopeful ending to the series. It means that Elliot and Darlene have only each other and love each other and can heal together after going through so much for past one year. We’ve seen Darlene as a lot of things throughout the series, The MPDG, The Fsociety Leader, The Dark Army’s Butt Monkey and finally the key to Elliot’s reality. And we applaud her for being the heart of the series.

#mr. robot #mr robot #character analysis #darlene alderson #analysis #hero analysis #essay

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bellamyblake · 3 years

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What would u have added to Bellamy's episode Etheria or his last one if you could?

hi, thanks for this question (idk where these meta questions come from but thank you even tho i suck at this???)

for me the answer to both those question is this-flashbacks.

to etheria i would’ve added a flashback to his mother’s death scene on the ark because i am sure he was there when she was floated and i strongly suspect that also from his talk with kane in 4x07 where he says-you floated my mother. *you*, not somebody else, which suggests Bellamy was there and he saw Kane push the button that floated his mom.

i think that has always been a very important scene to add that built bellamy’s character into who he became even when it comes to s7 and *that* storyline and i think it should’ve been showed back in s1, ep 6 with all the other flashbacks.

i believe he was there and he said his fanal goodbyes to aurora and he cried and apologized and in my hc land, i think she just held him, hugged him and told him to take care of Octavia and himself.

so I think a flashback to that would’ve resonated GREAT with the scene where he sees her in the cave (one of my most fave scenes ever, come judge me idk).

it’d have been a great contrast to both moments and even visually or director-wise i could imagine it, the cold blue flashbacks from the ark in contrast to the light and warmth of the cave.

(tho i do love the direction there over all.)

and for his last episode again i would’ve added more flashbacks, like in Finn’s episode with Raven.

but I wouldn’t have revolved them around Octavia or Clarke or anyone else.

I’d have made them purely about him.

I’d have shown him as a baby-being born, his FATHER, show who he was, that he was a husband to Aurora as it is in my head and that Aurora was very happy and different back then. How happy they both were to have their child.

Then I’d show him as a toddler, his dad being floated before he could remember.

Then as a boy, older than 7, after O was born, maybe a teenager around the age of 14-15, maybe at school too, boys picking on him for his *whore* of a mom and him trying to keep his mouth shut or even get in a fight. maybe meet younger Abby and baby Clarke or Kane.

then I’d show another one, all of these would be brief but very emotional-from after Mt Weather when he was all alone and from the ring, when he was sad and missed Clarke but having his friends.

And I’d contrast it to the present, if that kept being the idea, that they hate him and misunderstand him.

And I’d contrast it all to him being so alone now. All very simple stuff but that wouldn’t have vilinized him but still got to the point J/ason wanted to get. BUt I guess he never really cared that much about stuff like this, about showing Bellamy as if he matters and as if he can be his OWN person.

#bellamy blake #bellamyblakeedit #the 100 #meta #the 100 meta #answered #Anonymous

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nothingunrealistic · 3 years

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naturally was going "hmm what kind of fins (fish) would young taylor in the bathtub wish for. how would we know what they think would be the best fish tail to have" & then was just thinking of Younger Taylor Hcs just in general. got any you'd wanna share, or like, any faves from what's been provided either as unofficial ideas or via those glimpses of info in the show's text. Fave can be in a "truly enjoy this" way & or simply more of a "truly Thinking About This An Extra Lot" sense lol. They

Boy Do I… first, a listing of everything we Know from canon about their childhood / early life / family:

taylor grew up in “a place like” connerty’s small apartment where “the heat pipes bang practically all night” in the winter [2x11]

taylor’s mom would deem the apartment they rented for her & douglas too expensive, and if she & douglas were shopping for furniture, they’d argue about how much things cost [4x07]

taylor never thought they’d be thinking about living a life where they book private jets [2x09]

the masons’ home is hundreds of miles from any body of water (as shown here) and douglas had to fly to nyc to see taylor [4x03]

douglas figures taylor’s mom won’t miss him getting in her way back home [4x03]

taylor has a sister; when she gets married, in michigan, taylor is part of the wedding party [2x09]

at a young age, taylor was always measuring information around them, and sweet / affectionate, especially toward douglas [4x03]

taylor’s favorite cereal as a kid was frosted flakes [4x09]

taylor was never really douglas’s “little girl” like he claims [4x03]

the first time douglas brought taylor to his lab, it meant a lot to them, and the next day they gave him designs to remake it [4x06]

douglas taught taylor: “don’t just have an idea, build the model that proves it” [4x07]

according to douglas, taylor gets the “unyielding compulsion to get it right” from him, and their relationship was best when they “kept things mathematical” [4x03]

douglas wishes he could have built real wealth / success and given it all to taylor [4x03]

wendy mentions to taylor that douglas has “exploited your need for his approval,” and taylor agrees that douglas only cares about his own advancement rather than being a father first [4x07]

douglas dislikes the military / the government [4x06]

taylor is surprised by douglas quoting a pop song [4x07]

when taylor was younger, the bathtub was the only place they could go to be alone and think, and they’d press their legs against the sides hard enough to make them go numb [3x11]

taylor started playing online poker at age 12 under the screen name ZackCody892 and played up to 16 tables at a time (and for thousands of hours) [2x03]

douglas was fired from his job at an aerospace firm when taylor was in 7th grade. this firing damaged their relationship with him and “affected the home life.” for years, taylor thought douglas had been fired so that the firm could steal his invention, and only found out the truth from his personnel file [2x11, 4x05, 4x06]

taylor has had 927 hours of therapy prior to their session with dr. gus, and that number hasn’t changed at their first session with wendy [2x03, 2x08]

douglas, in bringing taylor food and coffee, claims they rarely take the time to look after themself [4x04]

taylor used to lie to themself and others but is now past that, and knows “how hard it is to have things inside you that you can’t communicate” and “what it’s like to face public scrutiny over who you are” [2x08, 3x02, 4x04]

when taylor reminds douglas about their pronouns, he says “this talk again?”, implying it’s a discussion they’ve had before [4x03]

taylor once got into a bar fight with a high school classmate (it’s unclear whether they were still in high school at the time) after seeing y tu mamá también in a theater [5x07]

taylor was active in occupy wall street in college [2x10]

taylor played poker in college against classmates, grad students, & professors, but their opponents kicked them out for winning too much; additionally, the competitive aspect made them sick (described as “malaise” or “vertigo-like symptoms”) [2x03, 4x12]

taylor planned to go to chicago for grad school and study with eugene fama [2x02]

mafee picked taylor as his intern because they were the only applicant who wasn’t boring / didn’t care about the same bullshit that everyone from wharton or harvard did [5x04]

douglas initiated the visit to taylor, claiming it was because he’d missed them, after not being ready to see them even though taylor’s mother wanted to visit countless times [4x03, 4x07]

taylor is trying to be “everything to their father” in funding his company, and neither of them will be able to come back from taylor being forced to betray him [4x06, 4x07]

wow that’s a long list. and now, my own thoughts and extrapolations:

taylor grew up somewhere in the west / midwest with their parents and sister, who’s a few years older than them, in a house small enough that they had to share a bedroom with her. hence, needing to hide out in the bathtub to get any space & time alone.

from very early on, taylor was douglas’s favorite child and he was their favorite parent — douglas saw taylor’s intelligence & insight (and saw himself in them) and chose to put time & effort into teaching / guiding / molding them, hoping they’d one day follow in his footsteps / support his ambitions, and taylor liked that attention & recognition. (douglas’s attitude toward taylor’s sister is essentially “well she’s here too i guess.”)

douglas taught taylor enough about aerospace engineering & mathematics for them to understand the value of his lattice fin concept, and to generally have a better grasp of engineering concepts than your average (even very well-read) business major / financier. (remember how rebecca knew a robot’s “proprietary” power source was a combustion engine because her father was a mechanic? same deal here. see also: the “smash electronics apart to find the microchips inside and figure out who makes them” strategy; taylor comparing losing grigor’s money to building a turbo engine and having the nitrous tank blow up in their face.) this manifested in both directly teaching them in his lab and in playing games like the silverware-stacking game we see in 4x03, or like douglas throwing out math problems for taylor to solve on the spot, or the two of them solving math problems together.

douglas also imparted his taste in music (which does not include anything new / popular) to taylor, though their taste as an adult (or even as, like, a teenager) isn’t identical to his. this is how they discovered rush in the first place and why they have such strong opinions about The Best Rush Albums. (if douglas had such a ranking, it’d be closer to axe’s than to taylor’s.)

listening to rush helped make taylor a libertarian 😔 that’s just life when you’re a neil peart stan, which of course they are. they admire his lyrics + his drumming talent + his absolute poker face in performances.

douglas also taught taylor to play blackjack, which inspired them to go and learn poker on their own and start playing online. they tried to keep it a secret, but it's hard to be secretive about spending hours a day playing online poker on the family computer. (this is 2006 or so, after all.)

taylor figured out that they were Not A Girl (or at least had thoughts of “hm i don’t enjoy being addressed / perceived as A Girl”) fairly young but didn’t acquire a concrete vocabulary for / specific understanding of that for some time. (if douglas is calling they/them pronouns “that woke stuff” in 2019, he sure wasn’t saying anything clear or favorable about trans people in 2009 or 1999. ditto for online poker sites.)

douglas’s firing exacerbated every negative aspect of the mason family dynamic. he doubled down on pushing taylor toward his field, urging them to succeed where he’d failed, and warning them against letting anyone Steal Their Value. money got tighter, taylor’s parents argued more, and any activities taylor was in (like, say, swimming at the ymca) that required payment got cut; they may have figured out how to make money (illegally!) from online poker at this point. the combined stress of financial instability, being torn between pursuing their own ambitions and fulfilling douglas’s expectations for them, and increasing Gendered Expectations in general — plus the whole “playing online poker for hours a day” thing — probably put taylor in therapy within a few months, if they weren’t in therapy already. (how did their parents pay for it? i don’t know either.)

stealing this from that interview asia & brian & david did in 2017: if taylor had not already taught themself to think and speak directly & incisively and look people in the eye when they talk, et cetera, it started here, whether in therapy or on their own time.

taylor went to college in new york city. douglas did not want them to do this, for a number of reasons, and would have preferred they stick closer to home (and study something other than finance), but doing so would have made them miserable.

by the time they finished high school (circa 2012), taylor had properly heard of trans people and figured that they were somehow One Of Them, but not until college did they hear of people being nonbinary and go “ohhhh yeah that’s me.” (they’d also gotten a Short Haircut in high school, but didn’t go full buzzcut until college. unsurprisingly, they got some shit in high school for being Visibly gnc.)

for some period of time while figuring out their gender situation, taylor went by the name neil as a nod to neil peart. (it’s fun to imagine that they still have a faceless twitter / tumblr account where they go by neil. doubles as a way to prevent anyone connecting it to their real life.)

taylor came out to their family while in college. their mom and sister had fairly similar reactions of “well i don’t Get this exactly, but i love you and want to support you and i’m sure you know what you're talking about better than i do and you did clearly hate it every time i urged you to conform to Standards Of Womanhood so sure i can call you Them and my [child / sibling] :)” given some time to think about it. douglas… well. if he’s starting from a place of “i don’t get this,” he’ll end up at “so it must be wrong and stupid, because i’m always right,” especially if This = his favorite child being different in some significant way from who / what he thought they were. obviously he doesn’t react well or supportively, and the strain in his relationship with taylor tips over into full-blown estrangement. bad times for everyone.

if taylor’s bar fight happened when they were old enough to legally enter a bar, it happened after coming out to their family (also after the live poker fiasco), and before making plans for grad school / internships. most likely it was on a summer break they were spending back in their hometown. (another fun thought: taylor seeing the video of axe punching a guy, just weeks after they punched a guy, and going “well maybe i should work for him.”)

if douglas was at taylor’s sister’s wedding (and maybe he wasn’t!), it was awkward for everyone when he and taylor crossed paths again. barest of pleasantries, passive-aggressive comments, et cetera. naturally, it took a few more years — and douglas realizing that taylor, now being fairly wealthy and successful, could probably fund his dream project if they didn’t hate him — for him to decide to visit them.

#inbox #unproduciblesmackdown #billions #taylor mason #douglas mason #this post brought to you by ''if i had you'' and ''for your entertainment'' by adam lambert. absolute bangers #also partway through writing this i went and searched ''neil peart stan'' (sans quotes) on twitter and i definitely didn't get there first

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