#also just a side note but i did not realize that the s6 one was so much darker until putting them all next to each other now v inchresting

[pensbridgertons]

the progression of the claire running shot in the credits thru the seasons <3

#teresa talks #(there are 8 instead of 7 bc of the two versions from s5) #this is a detail that Literally no one cares abt but i have always had a fixation on and notice every time sjkgjk #i just like tracking whose name is on it bc for so long it was just sam and then when they got the producer credits it switched to cait!! #and then for some reason then in s5 it alternated back and forth every other ep w either sam (even eps) or cait (odd eps) instead of just #staying the same which is something i still dont understand why would happen lol like why would they not just use the exact same credits #every ep??? idk lol anyways #and then it was back to sam for s6 #so when i saw caits name w it in the s7 credits i was like !!!!!!!! very interesting!!!!!! #idk its just so funny to me to track it thats all #but it is the only shot (besides the dancers) that has remained throughout every season so i love her for the consistency <3 heres to her #being in s8 as well <3 #also just a side note but i did not realize that the s6 one was so much darker until putting them all next to each other now v inchresting

[quietwingsinthesky]

one last thing, and i say this with a note that i still haven’t finished s6, but maybe the greatest injustice this arc has done to river’s character is the ‘brainwashed to murder the doctor’ thing.

perhaps this will be different by the end, but right now, what it feels like is that we went from the implication that river killed the doctor without giving us a reason but giving us the pieces to guess why river would choose to do such a thing. already in the time of angels/flesh and stone, we know that river does love the doctor, but that doesn’t mean she won’t lie to and manipulate him when she thinks it’s necessary. it wasn’t hard to speculate that, if a situation came up at the beginning of their relationship that pit the doctor against something river thought was more important, then she would make the choice to kill him. whatever reason that might be, that was beyond speculation, but it made sense that she would.

but that. is no longer something river is choosing. it’s brainwashing. that’s all. river wants to kill the doctor because brainwashing (and even more infuriating, she falls in love with him because. and i quote. she’s a woman.)

the removal of her agency in this, even implied agency, makes everything around it weaker. river being brainwashed to kill the doctor doesn’t actually say anything about river herself. (i will give credit to it opening the door to river’s first choice(?) of her own free will being to give up her regenerations and save the doctor. that’s a nice touch, even if it was also obviously a way to nerf a character they realized they’d given too much power to. but even then, what do we learn from this, right? that being told she has a future where the doctor trusts her is enough to make her stop being brainwashed into doing murder?)

and so everything around river killing the doctor is tainted by association, her imprisonment that she implies she’s taking as penance (girl you were brainwashed), the way she talks around the crime and regrets it (girl you were brainwashed), because beyond the tragedy of her being cultnapped, which the show doesn’t seem to care to linger on for more than a minute and so lost the impact of quickly!!, there isn’t much to this whole thing.

and it ends up screwing the doctor’s part in her story up, too.

(okay. quick side tangent. did i or did i not hear river tell the doctor that he taught her to fly the tardis. as in, an extension of trust that mirrors when he’s surprised she has a sonic screwdriver in her very first episode. but then in let’s kill hitler, she just. had the tardis beam tardis-flying instructions into her brain, no doctor necessary. god, this is infuriating. who unwrites their own character beats.)

but now, where’s the tension? yes, river will definitely totally kill him, guys (<- show that is still making new episodes.) but like. who gives a shit. it’s brainwashing. the doctor falling in love with her is no longer choosing this knowing that, like river says will happen to her, what i assume we were supposed to apply to the doctor as well, that the worst day for both of them will be when they don’t even know each other. when the doctor loves her most, river would choose to kill him. that’s the whole basis of the tragedy here, isn’t it?

but hey! the doctor doesn’t have to actually wrestle with the woman he loves being at one point so ideologically opposed to him that she’d shoot him dead! it’s brainwashing, guys. she’s brainwashed. and she’ll get better and stop wanting him dead when there’s no more brainwashing. and he knows this. the only angst left is in him actually dying, a very real very serious threat on the BBC’s doctor who, a show that famously will definitely kill off the doctor. for realsies.

i don’t know. it’s just frustrating to me. you’ve got all the pins of a tragedy set up so perfectly, and instead, you got a gutter ball. by god, i’m hoping this all gets miraculously resolved by the s6 finale and these complaints turn out to be meaningless. but that’s a thin, thin hope.

#river song #doctor who

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time!! last night we watched tng's "rightful heir" and ds9's "the forsaken."

rightful heir (tng):

they were high when they wrote this one. like worf on whatever he was on to try and make him hallucinate

what's really funny about this one is that we were both just complaining that, even though we both like worf, we found the klingon episodes a little rough/dry. and then what do they do. they have worf hallucinate clone jesus

actually, i was really surprised picard laid into him so hard for being late to work. i know it was a tough-love kind of deal bc toughness "speaks" to worf or whatever and it was supposed to seem "nice" because he let worf go on a little field trip afterward but also like. who yells.

i did like that they referenced the klingon prison camp episode. girl i'd still be feeling that one too

clone jesus as a plot is really insane. like, it's already insane that everybody bought into it and GOWRAN of all people was the one to be like "you chumps are getting snowed." but then he's just a CLONE? they grew jesus in a vat somewhere? in a little test tube? and then they crowned him emperor??

no, scratch that, worf threatened to KILL people if they DIDN'T crown him emperor even though he was just going to be a figurehead because this is somehow supposed to fix the amoral klingons who have fallen into decadence. horrific.

side note. s6 has had a LOT of single-character episodes. we had some picard centric eps some worf centric eps a deanna centric ep and a beverly centric ep...when do we get the fucking gang back together? i feel like i never see them all at once anymore. like don't get me wrong i loved beverly's little romp and i feel like this way allows slightly more of the character work i have been craving but the format change is so weird. can we not have a little character work without singling out one character at a time? pretty please?

the forsaken (ds9):

i am sighing the deepest longest sigh i have ever sighed. my mixed feelings...

ok, to start with, i hate when tng characters show up in ds9. it's like they bring the bad vibes with them. BUT this is the least i've ever hated lwaxana.

i think the version of lwaxana as presented IN THIS EPISODE ONLY is very nearly a likable character. unfortunately, i have context for her

the flirting has actually grown on me. like, when she's doing it harmlessly. y'all know isabela from da2? like that. what i have a problem with is her being so touchy-feely - leaning into peoples space or trying to snuggle up with them or take them by the arm. the flirting IN AND OF ITSELF is actually kind of cute/sweet if you divorce it from the context of a horrifically overbearing mother and a woman who is narcissistic and can't take no for an answer. "i can swim" like ok girl i admit you have game. i just wish she would do less TOUCHING.

ok, on to odo, the real star of this episode. odo my new best friend odo

i actually think trapping him in an elevator to force him to turn into goop in front of someone else is a VERY clever premise. and at first i really wished it hadn't been with lwaxana but the more i thought about it the more i realized no one else on ds9 would do. in order for it to work it would have to be both someone who is a little pushy/loud/not totally respectful of his private nature AND someone who could offer a similar vulnerability ie taking off the wig. anyone who's too tactful/respectful of odo/a grownup in general like sisko, kira, dax, obrien, etc would simply turn around and leave him be. anyone who's NOT respectful or a grownup in general (i'm thinking specifically of quark, but julian could probably also work for this) doesn't have a metaphorical wig to take off. like, it would have been great ship material for him to be in there with quark or kira (i know about odo/kira bc i got spoiled, i am a little skeptical but VERY intrigued), but neither of them would have had the same vibe. so i am forced to conclude against my will that lwaxana was the right choice after all.

unfortunately a stranger is also easier to tell crazy shit to...and i looooooved learning crazy shit about odo's past, by which i mean i gasped aloud and covered my mouth with both hands in horror. HE SPENT HIS CHILDHOOD IN A LAB EXCEPT HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A CHILDHOOD!!! he doesn't EAT. his mouth is an approximation of one, it doesn't actually work!!! lwaxana, do you know then what else must be a nonfunctional approximation? actually, maybe he doesn't even have any of that going on. maybe he's smooth like a ken doll and that's why he keeps expressing disinterest in sex/romance, or because he has disinterest in sex/romance he never bothered to figure out how to replicate a working set of equipment. anyway the point is i know my king is somewhere on the aro and/or ace spectrum i just have to get to know him better to figure out where

in conclusion, yes it had to be lwaxana, NO i'm not happy about it, but i could have been if she was just less touchy. also, side bar, i don't like that she brought up the ferengi rape episode like it was haha funny. girl it wasn't funny to you at the time and it was definitely not funny to ME

TONGIHT: tng's "second chances" (this one looks good...i'm so hopeful) and ds9's "dramatis personae" (i haven't seen a summary or thumbs for this one but i trust ds9)

#personal #star trek blogging #tng lb #ds9 lb

[fandom-hoarder]

hiii do you know any fics that are like season 6 aus where sam comes back With his soul ? i don’t hate those mid seasons but I think it also would’ve been nice to see what dean would’ve been like and taking care of his little brother coming back from lucifer’s cage and seeing their relationship keep going from where it was at the end of s5 ahaha

Ooh, this one was a bit tricky for finding a good combo of search parameters, but here are a few for you, nonnie!

(Anyone with recs to add, please do!)

* just a note here to please read and mind the additional tags and relevant warnings on ao3, as we're dealing with cage trauma here

_

In the Beginning, There Was Sam by brokenlittleboy

Rated: Teen+ | Words: 3091 | No Archive Warnings Apply

Summary: Dean is content to drink himself to death the in company of Ben and Lisa, but when Bobby calls, asking for help, he can’t let his friend down. Omens creep toward Sioux Falls, a trail of breadcrumbs leading right up to one very not-dead, very blind little brother. AU after season five.

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Vices and Virtues Make Whole the Shattered Soul by cyncitymojo

Rated: Teen+ | Words: 10021 | No Archive Warnings Apply

Summary: After spending time in the Cage with Lucifer, Sam comes back broken. His soul is shattered, and he's become several images of himself. He needs to find a way to piece himself back together and he cannot do it alone. The question is, can he do that and still be the brother and man he once was?

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Living on Flood Tides by cherie_morte

Rated: Explicit | Words: 19941 | Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con

Summary: AU after 5x22: Sam mysteriously returns from the cage and Dean thinks their problems are solved. Unfortunately, Sam is so shaken from his time in Hell that he can't—won't?—even talk to Dean, and when natural disasters begin to occur as frequently as they did when the Devil was walking the Earth, Dean realizes his brother may have acquired some of the angel's powers without picking up the ability to control them. In order to prevent Sam from hurting anyone, Dean finds a house as far from anything as he can manage and settles there to wait until the day Sam gets better—or until they both get killed by Sam's grace.

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Closer to where it is that you’re headed for by trinipedia

Rated: Teen+ | Words: 5130 | Creator Chose Not to Warn

Summary: It’s been a year since Sam has fallen in the cage, and Dean spent most of it trying to pretend he can move on. But when his estranged brother suddenly reappears, a few days before Christmas, Dean's world is shaken all over again. (a beginning of season 6 AU, with some extra soul and lots of extra snow on the side)

Note: 2nd person pov on Dean

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Honorable Mentions:

Hidden by AxeMeAboutAxinomancy

Rated: Explicit | Words: 79386 | No Archive Warnings Apply

Summary: When Sam comes back from Hell, he looks like a monster: his dæmon is missing. But she's only hidden inside him. Meanwhile, Dean struggles with his own uneasy dæmon and the fear that Sam will leave him again.

Note: Without giving too much away, I'll say this melds both the universe of SPN and His Dark Materials so well, and sort of lives in a blurry area with regards to the parameters of the original ask. But if you're familiar with the His Dark Materials-verse, I think this fic hits the notes desired from a He-Was-Never-Soulless AU.

Podfic by the author <3

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Entanglement by rivkat

Rated: Explicit | Words: 3350 | Creator Chose Not to Warn

Summary: For avidrosette: during 5.22, what if Dean had thrown himself into the pit with Sam? Extends through S6.

Note: this is kind of the entire opposite of what the ask called for, lol, but I also think it can scratch the itch in the right circumstances. 👀

I first experienced this fic through the podfic by Liannabob.

#asks #anon ask #my rec list #wincest fanfiction #samdean fanfiction #spn s6 au #souled!sam #sam keeps his soul #swan song au #please if anybody has any to add or even tumblr posts--DO!! #rare fic #his dark materials

[sisterofficerlucychen]

melissa and lisseth's friendship is so cute ♡

never has the rookie timeline confused me more because the tiktok's they both posted today have me wondering 👀

spoilers under the cut

hi it's me being delulu time -

both of them have injuries and both of them were in uniform and granted i have no idea what episode they're filming right now because i remember it was 5x08 last week so still maybe 5x08 which ties into the explosion scene eric posted on ig but also lucy makes detective so ... is this a flashback episode like when armstrong was revealed? is this the documentary episode????

i can't tell if they're making lucy just go through it this season one injury after another of it it's just one injury and they're going to flashback to it somehow???

i am literally so excited for all of this that i want to be able to just binge watch s6 from start to finish but also don't want it to end haha

also side note for tomorrow: i literally just realized that lucy's holding tim's duty belt when he gets into the fight and i'm just ???? bc minus tim getting injured, it seems like it might be a funny scene???? bc now i'm thinking like did the guy tell them he'd give them back the ring if they'd fight him??

#the rookie

[felikatze]

s11 half season write up cuz i WILL NOT remember all my thoughts for another 15 eps and this season is divided in two anyway right? fire chapter, was it? anyway

don't tell me a break in tension after the last three seasons wasn't needed. it really was.

I reaaally like how this season started! If you've seen my previous write-ups, you know I like when a season immediatly starts on the action, but this time, i think a slow, low stakes start was perfect.

i enjoyed the silly shenanigans! fighting a chicken, doing odd jobs, all while the ninja are idiots. even once they start heading toward the tomb or fight giant beetles, there's no world-ending threat. they're doing this for shits n giggles. i like that

it reminds me of early s2, and i really love early s2. it's just silly! i like when this show is just silly.

on the low stakes note. I LOVE THE FILLER EPS. the one ep about the paperboys and the one about the news. how'd ninjago know i adore outsider pov stories? and in-universe media? i just really really love getting that outside look from non-main characters, and the effects of the entire series on the common citizen is wonderful. ofc paperboys are cutthroat extreme cyclists. have you seen the mailman? if you deliver ANYTHING in this environment you'll end up like that.

and the news episode is really funny. i want five more seasons of gayle gossip trying not to punch her coworkers actually. it's neat how you, as the viewer, can understand this random side character's frustration at getting shafted because she's a recurring character, and her rival is not. just because you've seen her so often in the thick of things over the seasons, you get it.

on the note of recurring characters. "hey, here's that one kid who broke his legs in s6," is not what i expected but. hey. it works. like at first i didnt get it but then he did the purple ninja thing and i went NINJA OF THE DAY NELSON FROM SKYBOUND?? HI!!! cool. yeah.

those two eps also had amazing gags. i keep thinking about people filming ads during an invasion of flaming snakes.

speaking of snakes. aspheera. she's so cool. i love her design. i love snakes in general. (riu and i have realized we may both adore snakes specifically because of ninjago, but i've always adored reptiles).

also skales shows up for an epsiode again. hi man. ily.

aspheera is FUN i personally didnt take her seriously much but she's got panache or whatever. she's fun to watch on-screen. she tends to the simple motivations side of things like the average ninjago villain, but i like her motivation. from both her behaviour and various stories told about her, we learn she's just kind of selfish and refuses to acknowledge her own wrongdoings, so everyone else must be wrong instead. Simple, but it works!

Her motivation actually contributes to the more low stakes feel of these episodes because she doesnt want world domination or whatever, that's all collateral. She just wants to get back at Wu specifically. mayyybe she wanted world domination in the past though. sure sounds like it.

speaking of wu! actually really liked him and his conflicts here. ever since s7, the show has been incredibly willing to acknowledge the flaws of wu's character and the consequences thereof. Here, it shows that Wu was young and foolish once, too. His deal with aspheera for his own curiosity reminds me of lloyd freeing the serpentine in s1. Like!! They were both just dumb kids!!

It's Inch Resting to have kid garmadon refusing to keep a promise be portrayed as the better option. nice reminder he wasnt always evil ykno.

i reaaaaally like the emphasized element of guilt to wu's character here. it gives the sense that he does this whole "wise mentor" shtick to prevent the ninja from making the same mistakes he did. his mistakes still haunt him! that's why he's so secretive about them!! he feels guilty and doesn't wanna talk about it!! (hits wu over the head) didnt s7 tell you keeping secrets about old enemies who will come back to kill or banish you is bad. teamwork motherfucker.

additionally in episode 15 it really feels like. wu you have some self destructive behaviour going on. he seems to value his own life much less than the ninja, because again, he feels guilt over his mistakes. as such he has no qualms risking it, which recontextualizes his behavior in s7 and makes it way more depressing.

wu is not the character i expected to write analysis on tbh.

for other characters, i already said i appreciate the ninja being idiots but

1) why is this season so mean to jay what the fuck did he do he's trying (i've acknowledged that jay is my favorite now and am no longer in denial

2) having pixal be the one to send wu to the never realm as she has a flashback to aspheera and the shot fades out to pixal dropping the staff and looking at her own hands in disgust. OOF. and then wu tells her the ninja cant come back with the tea and she basically banished them forever just as aspheera did zane. DOUBLE OFF.

pixal my girl. pats her on the head and gives her a hot choco for her nightmares.

iconique of her to have her own voice for text to speech on her tech though. that's kinda funny.

also how she swooped in with the mech and just punted aspheera. very cool. good pixal moments this season overall 1000/10 i always love more pixal

3) kai really got whammied. like MAN. one episode's running joke is kai's unconscious body getting ragdolled around. he has an self worth crisis only mitigated when a little kid almost dies. geez. that scene of kai trying to weld the mech together only to realize his mistake and get a blowtorch. fucking ouch. lloyd had an arc about how to exist without his powers and be more than just the green ninja in s9 but i dont think kai really like. got the same effect. he just stays grumpy about it until presumably getting his powers back after zane ices aspheera.

on that note the final battle against aspheera was do fucking cool. the whole tag-team shtick with everyone getting a turn on the scroll was awesome, what can i say. it looked sick. i would've loved it at 13 and i sure do love it now. my tastes haven't changed at all since then actually. also rip kai again. he had to sit out. man. kai already has mental problems. everyone on this show has so many problems.

like zane. geez zane my man. zane 🤝 wu, believing their lives to be more expendable than others. again him just whooping aspheera was sick but GEEEEZ s3 much. zane my man zane. cmon.

this is gonna be. fun

overall, enjoyed a more low-stakes adventure to calm down from the previous high stakes seasons, this season made me appreciate wu more, lots of silly moments i enjoyed. tis good

#feli speaks #ninjago posting #ya. i like this one #also big fuckin surpise the guy with a pythor icon loves snakes. who could've guessed. oh riu is gonna love aspheera i bet

[sallysellsseashellssundays]

Disclaimer: This post is going to be Anti Moffat for anyone who’s reading and is a fan you’ve been warned.  

“The Girl Who Waited” is the tenth episode and I found myself bored once again which has happened far more in S6 than ever before unfortunately.

The Good: Amy and the Doctor’s phone/Twitter moment lol. “What’s the answer to not getting killed?” and so many other great Rory moments he’s for sure one of my fave companions now! I really liked that Rory seemed to be coming to a lot of realizations regarding how difficult it is to travel with the Doctor like Rose did in “The Impossible Planet” two parter, Martha in the “Human Nature” two parter, and Donna in “The Fires of Pompeii”. I liked that older Amy also seemed to have a similar journey through all the waiting, but that was taken away when she “died”.

The Bad: Amy creating a paradox seems irresponsible for someone who’s a more experienced companion tbh, I didn’t like it when Rose did it but she had been traveling with Nine for like 6 months at that point so I think she gets a teeny bit more leeway. Although to be fair to Amy she’s traveling with a version of the Doctor that’s not the best role model he’s...more reckless with time (obviously not counting Time Lord Victorious lol) like in the Xmas special when Eleven rewrote an entire man’s life! Eleven had the right idea with not saving older Amy but he did go about it in such a cold and cruel way. The entire episode is a similar theme to “Father’s Day” but a version of Amy from a different time stream who will cease to exist although emotionally painful for Rory in the same way that it was for Rose actually sounds far kinder than having the original person die like Pete had to--at least at the end of the day he still has Amy. It’s an interesting moral/emotional dilemma but it felt like it was so much more well done in “Father’s Day” so this episode felt incredibly lackluster imo.

The Worst: Amy definitely always has to wait- 12 years when she first met the Doctor, I think one week after the Silence took her, one month after she gave birth, all summer while Eleven was looking for Melody, one week in the Red Waterfall room, 36 years until Rory came face to face with her again. Rory also waited 2000 (?) years as a Roman. And I guess to me it just seems like overkill to have all of that “waiting”. In this series we have seen the main characters dying over and over again as well. I think maybe one of the reasons I was unimpressed with the episode is that I’ve seen these themes repeat so many times that I'm not affected anymore--it was supposed to be an emotional moment but I really didn’t feel anything at seeing older Amy “dying” tbh. And all of the emotions older Amy had at having to wait 36 years/feeling abandoned disappeared the instant she was gone since our Amy didn’t go through any of that. Unless it’s mentioned again later I feel like our Amy missed out on the journey older Amy went through in terms of her own worth.

The Unresolved: The different time streams was confusing but I can suspend my disbelief for that--we’ll just say it’s a timey wimey explanation lol.

Overall I feel like the episode was boring and imo it fell flat since it’s a theme we’ve seen before (and done better). It’s a shame b/c on the surface it feels like it would be an interesting way to develop Rory and Amy’s relationship and to show that Rory cares for Amy no matter what version or time stream she’s in. It would have been a chance to allow Amy to reevaluate the trust she places in Eleven but that was gone with older Amy. It did make me see Eleven a bit differently, I’ve noticed he’s much ruder and detached from his friends than Nine and Ten and perhaps it’s time I see him as just being a version of the Doctor who has gone through so much and made so many difficult decisions that he’s going to be unlikeable.

Side note: this reminded me of “New Earth” as well with the Doctor and his companion getting separated at the elevator, no sickness theme/hospital-like setting. Also, the room with the buttons that take you to entertainment zones makes me think that’s what the inside of the TARDIS must be like with endless beautiful rooms, I really wish we got to see the inside of the TARDIS more!

#doctor who #anti moffat #moffat salt #moffat didn't write the episode but i'm going to keep the anti tags just in case #dw watch #my ramblings #the girl who waited #wow i've never watched a series of dw with this many ups and downs #and the sequence of episodes is so strange #b/c in this and the last one we don't see any of amy and rory's reactions to the situation regarding their daughter #maybe these episodes should have been at the beginning of the series #the lack of continuity is very jarring

[tarysande]

Oh no, I've been thinking.

Okay, I can't stop thinking about something ending-related. I don't know this for certain, but based on previous statements and such, it feels like the writers were always aiming for a bittersweet ending. Like, no matter what else happened or how the story evolved, come hell (lol) or high water, that ending couldn't just be happy. For reasons. I guess.

Now, I don't mind a bittersweet ending ... if it makes sense for the ending to be bittersweet.

I critique stories for a living. I'm literally taking a break from the developmental edit of someone's novel to write this post. And the persistent thought that bugs me about the Rory setup is that it is so artificial. Time travel is a pain in the narrative ass. Time travel suddenly introduced in the sixth season of a show that has never touched on time travel? As an editor, I probably would've pointed out that time travel for the purpose of angst, especially time travel without rules that make sense ("I don't know anything about time travel! Except I do know you have to take the most painful path!"), seemingly introduced as a final ploy to make that bittersweet ending work ... well, to me, it breaks the narrative contract they established with the audience. Your audience is going to be confused. An editor's job is to alert the writer to any potential confusion so it can be fixed before the story goes to print, etc. Confused audiences get mad, annoyed, frustrated. They feel hurt. They put down the book and don't pick it up again. Usually, writers don't want that. But they're so close to their work that they need a completely outside perspective to say, "Hey, I'm not sure you realize this, but..."

I mean, I keep referring to Rory as "deus ex daughter" because in literary terms, she is a blatant deus ex machina. Rory is the god in the machine of the Bittersweet Ending.

Now, I loved a lot of S6. I did. My overall feeling about the season is not negative. But ... I can't stop thinking about why the things I didn't like REALLY didn't work for me.

I loved the emotional growth we saw in Lucifer and Chloe facilitated by the question of parenting and parental love. I did. And I would have loved to see a lot of those notes hit not with an angel kid out of nowhere ... but with the daughter already in the picture. Especially because it would have circumvented the icky idea that a child has to be one's flesh and blood to induce such feelings. I also understand that coronavirus and Scarlett's age and schedule made this difficult. But I just can't swallow that the only way to wrap up the story of this show--a show about found family, non-traditional family, friendship, connection, FREE WILL, love in all its many shapes and forms and colors ... was to introduce a brand new character via a device (time travel) that fails to make sense almost every time it's used, no matter the medium. (And then had only that brand new character be there when her mother died. Don't even get me started. Ugh.)

If time travel was always going to be on the table, couldn't we have found a more plausible way to use it with the characters we already knew, loved, and had spent four or five seasons with? A time-travelling older Trixie, say? If you're going to use the impossible device, just ... twist it another way to make it work.

Okay. Okay. So, leaving Trixie aside for now just like the show did, let's say we leave everything about the season the same, even Rory. Do you know what ending makes more narrative sense?

Future Rory sacrificing herself by NOT forcing Lucifer to make a cruel and impossible "choice" so the baby that might have been her grows up with a family that loves her. Chloe's already pregnant. That's not going to be undone. And this nonsense of a "closed time loop" falls apart if you side-eye it for even a few seconds. The Rory who came from the future never exists except in the memories of those she met when she came back from that future. Chloe and Lucifer lose that daughter even as they gain the new one whose existence is not a tool of unrelenting fate because wow this show has always been about free will what the heck happened there yikes. And a choice made under the duress Chloe and Lucifer were under, forced out of them, and forcing them to "choose" a life apart for *handwave* Reasons has nothing to do with free will. A "choice" made at gunpoint is not a real choice. Future Rory basically bullied them into ensuring she got to exist--something, quite frankly, neither her parents would have done.

Instead, how much more appropriately bittersweet is it if Chloe and Lucifer lose that child while gaining one who, because of that angry time-travelling version, will never suffer as she did.

Also as an editor: the groundwork for my version is already laid, by the way. It should have been Rory learning about the importance of free will over fate. The importance of personal sacrifice. The importance of not thinking your young self knows best ... because experience and therapy will help rid you of that self-centered world view. That's the contract the writers made with us with this show. And Chloe and Lucifer have already BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT. (See: the end of S4.)

Furthermore, this season finally HAD Chloe and Lucifer DEAL WITH the only thing that actually would have contributed to a narrative, characterization-based reason for Lucifer to disappear: His history of running and his putting Chloe on a pedestal. Once they really talked that out, his "disappearance" became a Rory-induced trauma of inexplicable fate that flies in the face of all the progress Lucifer made over six seasons. (I would rather have had more of that and less of mysterious disappearing oh no plot.)

And I'm sorry, the "Once you get to Hell you're going to work 24/7" excuse given for why Lucifer won't be around and why he can't make time for Chloe until she's DEAD(????!???) is ... it's lame. If AMENADIEL AS GOD can make time for his kid's birthday party, I refuse to believe Lucifer can't work out some Hell/Earth-work/life balance. Never mind that in the show about partnerships, the Bittersweet Ending just ... destroyed it. Chloe was planning on being God's consultant; she could have helped Lucifer solve Hell's Trauma Mysteries (it's what she did with Jimmy, setting up that yeah, Lucifer could do it alone like he accidentally did with Lee, but doing it with HIS TRUTHSEEKING PARTNER would be more effective). Just as Lucifer could have continued helping HER solve some of the problems within "that corrupt little organization" of hers.

tl;dr: I think the writers fixated so completely on their version of Bittersweet that they missed all the foreshadowing, groundwork, and clues that were right there, already built into the story, poised for a different kind of ending than the one they once imagined. That's why so many parts of it feel almost-but-not-quite right and why these aspects are so off-putting. That's why it's just not ... organic. It's something squeezed into a box it grew out of ages ago.

Ironically, certain elements of this season involved the writers insisting on the FATE they decided long ago instead of letting the story and the characters have the FREE WILL to choose a different, more fitting, more organic ending--one that had long-since evolved past that original flavor of Bittersweet.

#lucifer on netflix #lucifer morningstar #chloe decker #trixie espinoza #aurora morningstar #deckerstar #lucifer meta #lucifer thoughts #lucifer spoilers #lucifer s6 #lucifer s6 spoilers #lucifer critical #i criticize from a place of love #i really do

[katsidhe]

Top five excruciatingly awkward "so close, yet so far" moments of Sam & Cas communicating.

6. 5.22: "Take care of these guys, okay?”/ “That's not possible.”/”Then humor me.”/ “Oh. I was supposed to lie. Uh... Sure. They'll be fine.”

the s5 awkwards! Awww. I just love how Cas is giving Sam the closest thing he can to the truth, and then only belatedly realizes that Sam wanted a false comfort. It’s also strangely sweet that Sam asked Cas for a kind lie, too. 

Incidentally, this makes a fine contrast to the season’s worth of lies Cas will be treating Sam to in s6. 

5. 7.21 “You seem troubled. Of course, that's a primary aspect of your personality, so I sometimes ignore it.” and “I was lost until I took on your pain.”

This interaction is really fascinating. Dean is treating Cas with mostly frustration and disgust in late s7; he doesn’t want to pity Cas, he wants to hate him. Sam, on the other hand, has a horrified compassion for how badly a problem that was Sam’s has now hurt Cas. 

This conversation acknowledges that Cas is generally aware of Sam’s various struggles, and that he looks to Sam for cues on how to react. Cas has a tendency to accommodate Dean’s moods/bouts of suffering in a way he doesn’t necessarily do for Sam, and I’d argue this line hints at why--Cas buys in to Sam’s own minimizations. 

As for “I was lost until I took on your pain:” that sure is... some kind of thing to say to someone! In one sense, Cas is saying something to the effect of, “You suffered horrific trauma to the point of mental collapse and near-death, and I’ve found the experience to be really quite cathartic.” But of course he doesn’t mean anything quite so tone-deaf, and Sam doesn’t take it that way either. Cas is trying to reassure Sam, not minimize. Mostly, Cas is echoing a sentiment that Sam himself expressed earlier in s7: that suffering has helped to focus and alleviate his terrible guilt. That’s definitely something Sam can get behind. 

But there isn’t an apology here, either. Cas apologized to Sam in 7.17, when he wasn’t lucid, and in his altered state post-7.17, he presents "Sorry” to Dean, and expresses regret to Sam about the lives and souls he took, but doesn’t specifically bring up the wall. Not that Sam minds. Sam tells Cas he knows Cas’s intentions were good, and that he’s grateful. On top of this, Sam is speaking to Cas as an invalid: as someone who needs his support to get better, even though Cas doesn’t agree. 

4. 11.14: “You chose this? You have to fight, Cas! Eject him, now!”/ “...We need him!” 

I was on the fence about whether this truly counts as a SamCas miscommunication--but I think, especially in the fuller context of Cas’s choice in s11, it really does. Sam at first couldn’t imagine that Cas would say yes to Lucifer, especially given the circumstances of 11.09/10: Sam thinks Cas shares with him the priority of keeping Lucifer locked away at the cost of all else, up to and including the Darkness. This, it turns out, is not the case. 

The degree to which Cas thinks of this kind of compartmentalization and self-sacrifice as something that comes from Sam, that Sam approves of, or as something innate to Cas that he and Sam share, is really interesting to me. I don’t think Cas considers saying yes to Lucifer to be a personal betrayal of Sam at all, in a way he absolutely would had it instead been Dean in Sam’s shoes. That doesn’t mean Cas wouldn’t still go ahead with it. But Cas wouldn’t expect Dean to brush it off the way he seems to expect of Sam.  

The doctrine of self-negation specifically in the service of a larger cause is something that Cas shares with Sam but categorically not with Dean. Cas knows exactly what Dean thinks about allying with enemies: it’s a betrayal. In  fact, Dean straight up refuses to accept that Cas did this of his own volition for most of s11, whereas Sam does.  

[as a side note, this feeds my fascination with at which points in his personal arc Cas would be totally on Sam’s side in s4. If s6 Cas was around for Sam’s s4 arc, it’s easy to imagine him taking Sam’s side over Dean’s. but Cas is a consequentialist, too: the outcomes of s4 and s6 were so catastrophic that Cas loses this sense of belief in the power of his ideals.]

And for as strenuously as Sam tries to not take Cas’s actions here as a personal betrayal--in line with how he tends to treat other betrayals--how on earth can he not? How on earth can he not feel devastated that Cas, the only other person in the universe with firsthand knowledge of exactly how badly Lucifer messed him up and what Sam suffered to cage him, and his closest friend to boot, set Lucifer free and gave him the keys to Sam’s home without so much as a warning? How can he not take it personally that he begs Cas to eject Lucifer *while Lucifer’s in the active process of trying to hurt him* and Cas refuses? there really is only one conclusion: that Cas assessed the cost to Sam and the weight of his trauma and what Sam paid to lock Lucifer away, and decided that it was not enough. and even if Sam agrees with him, objectively speaking, DAMN does that sting. 

3. 6.12: “Look, I-I would hug you, but—”/“—that would be awkward.”

oh lord. Oh geez. s6 as a whole belongs in the awful communication category: Cas is avoiding Sam even while he’s going to extreme lengths to protect him. in this scene, Cas is hiding the facts that a) he harrowed the Cage to attempt to save Sam, b) he botched the job so badly that Sam’s soul was left behind, c) he’s been keeping this a secret from Sam and Dean for a year and a half, d) Sam has been soulless for a year, e) Sam’s repressed memories of soullessness and the Cage are potentially accessible to him, but would cause him acute suffering, f) Cas is in the middle of fighting a shadow war in which he’s allied with Crowley. This accumulated shame and desperation will culminate in Cas tearing down Sam’s wall.

Meanwhile, Sam’s most recent memory of Cas is Lucifer turning him into chunky ketchup. In fact, he’s still in the s5 mindset in general: he hasn’t had a year to come to terms with any of this. Why does he back away here? There are tons and tons and tons of potential reasons to speculate about, but no matter what, it is inarguably discomfort centered on Cas specifically. And so Sam turns down Cas’s physical overture of support.

2. 13.21: "Look, Sam, I was used by Lucifer, too. It was the worst possible violation. So I’m not taking your reluctance lightly, but he is already out there, and we’ve been ignoring it and avoiding dealing with him because we’re afraid. We let Lucifer out of the Cage, and he has never stopped being our responsibility.”

yet more Hashtag Lucifersplaining. This is such a fucking weird thing for Cas to say to Sam, especially in the s11 context that I just went into?? I don’t doubt that Cas felt used and violated by Lucifer in s11, and Sam certainly wouldn’t challenge that either, but to compare their experiences is just... insane, honestly, and on some level Sam knows it’s insane. 

But I think the more salient comparison that Cas is reaching for is still s4-s5: he’s appealing to Sam’s still-present sense of culpability about Lucifer that originates from way back then. And while certainly Cas is single-handedly and clear-sightedly responsible for releasing Lucifer in s11 in a way Sam definitely wasn’t in s4, their situations in s5 and s11 are at least in the realm of being analogous: they both said yes willingly to accomplish a goal, and they both had to suffer Lucifer hurting their loved ones as a consequence. Cas, much like in 9.11, is trying to reassure Sam that he understands that particular burden of guilt and that horrible lack of control. That’s the fear and guilt that Cas feels. 

But here’s another facet of this miscommunication: I don’t think that the clear guilt Sam shows in reaction to Cas’s words here is actually rooted in the s4-s5 era at all, or even in s11. Sam locked Lucifer away in s5; Sam was the one who begged Cas to get rid of Lucifer in s11; Sam was the one willing to suffer rather than say yes himself--Sam isn’t culpable for any of that, and I do think this is one area where he is in fact very aware of it. Instead, Sam feels guilty for more of less exactly what Cas is accusing him of: not dealing with him decisively in s12 or s13. In 12.23, Sam got rid of Lucifer by locking him away with Mary, which fucking harrows him in s13. Then, Jack gets trapped in there too. When Lucifer returns to their universe, Sam’s stuck in a horrific limbo where he’s got no real tool suitable to deal with Lucifer, but he knows he desperately needs to. When Cas accuses him of not taking action because he’s afraid, Sam is acutely aware that Cas is absolutely right. 

1. 9.11: “Nothing is worth losing you. You know, being human, it didn't just change my view of food. It changed my view of you. I mean, I can relate now to how you feel... The only person who has screwed things up more consistently than you...is me. And now I know what that guilt feels like. And I know what it means to feel sorry, Sam. I am sorry.”

No SamCas list is complete without 9.11! :D This really is the crowning jewel of Cas trying to be reassuring and kind, missing the mark by a mile by any reasonable standards, and Sam accepting it positively anyway.

9.11 has a kind of uniquely amazing timing because it’s smack dab in the middle of the Gadreel arc, wherein Sam is trying to prioritize his sense of being wronged over his guilt and Dean’s hurt feelings. It’s one of the worst times in canon for Sam to get the message “you always screw things up.” And yet it’s one of the best times for Sam to get the message “you have intrinsic value [even when apart from Dean]. I care about your life more than your utility.”

I can easily accept that humanity gave Cas a healthier perspective on the innate value of human life, especially of the non-Winchester variety. but it’s interesting that Cas categorizes “being human” as the thing that changed his perspective on mistakes and guilt: I would say without a doubt that his biggest changes in that respect came far earlier, in s6-8, which are arcs focused almost entirely on Cas’s sense of guilt and personal screw-ups. It’s for this reason that I don’t think Cas is actually meaning to reference what Sam thinks of as his cosmic mistakes (eg s4, s8): I think he’s referencing a more mundane, everyday type of guilt--the powerlessness to fix small messes, the background radiation of feeling like a failure, like every tiny thing goes wrong because, innately, you can never measure up. For both Cas and Sam, a lot of this sense of inevitable failure revolves around the impossibility of meeting Dean’s standards. But Cas has also just had a period of time apart from those standards, failing on different interpersonal levels (even if everything ends up getting related back to Dean in the end). 

Cas chose to stay with Sam after the events of 9.10 rather than accompany Dean. Cas is choosing now to apologize to Sam, directly, to try to ease his pain, and to prevent him from harming himself. And yet it’s couched in terms directly acknowledging Sam’s sense of failure and wrongness as factual. Maybe Cas’s outreach was more effective because of this. Maybe it wasn’t. But it’s a far cry from where they’ll get to by 15.17: “I think your internal compass is functioning perfectly.”

#5.22 #7.21 #11.14 #13.21 #6.12 #9.11 #sam and cas #sastiel #:) #just because #sam and dean #dean and cas #whoops this got long #ask game

[thewollfgang]

S6e8

This might be my favorite episode so far.

Ella. She definitely has some good points about being kept in the dark, but so too do those that kept the truth from her. As much as they wanted to tell her, literally no one has reacted well to learning about the celestial. I think Charlotte probably had the easiest transition and she literally was recovering from Hell. But I digress. I loved Ella and Lucifer's moments and also Dan speaking to her through Maze, as well as Carol's quiet but unwavering support. So much emotion in this episode.

Poor Maze, pulled from her honeymoon to read a book about her ex. 😅 I was really delighted by what we did see of her this episode and her demonic way of helping Dan. I wonder just what it is about his death he's harboring guilt over.

Poor Linda. To watch your friends tear your work apart, to watch them be hurt by it when your job is to help people. I really felt her struggle. Especially, when none of it was her idea in the first place. But for Lucifer to have that moment with her in the end, about how much she helped him grow, helped him to love and be loved, to be a better man. What a heartfelt and crowning achievement. (also, her falling asleep against lucifer was super cute)

Chloe reading through the book and seeing all the times Lucifer abandoned her instead of all the times he sacrificed or returned breaks my heart for her. At the end of the day, Chloe has always been the one left behind. Her dad, Dan, Lucifer. Those insecurities crept back up on her, seeing the double life Lucifer led in those early seasons, keeping her in the dark. I am so glad she overcame those feelings and saw those actions as Lucifer really meant them to be. I cried big ol buckets of tears.

I cheered when Lucifer realized he didn't actually want to be God. That impulsive decision never sat right with me in S5b and so much of s6 has made me feel more positively about its predecessor. Lucifer isn't a big picture guy, he's a one person at a time guy. One case. (also, side note: he looked really good in this ep.)

Rory seeing how much Lucifer loves her mom and loves her made me cry so hard you guys. For so long she's had only her mother and stories of her Dad. Stories that grew into resentment and bitterness after years of his absence. To see him now, as he is, hopelessly in love with Chloe to the point where she comes across as clever and beautiful in every session he's had with Linda right in front of Rory's eyes...wonderful acting. Lucifer's triumph in becoming invulnerable so Rory's bullet lands was hilarious but also sweet. Shooting Lucifer is a decker family tradition, after all.

The flashbacks of all the best moments of this show hit so hard. We really are saying goodbye to them, aren't we? These incredible characters we spent years with, watched fall in love, and now it's ending. I don't know how I'm going to get through the next two episodes.

#lucifer #lucifer s6 spoilers #S6e8

[bloomvalyria]

So I thought I’d do another Procreate Before and After while I work on these sparxshipping prompts. This time with my edit The Dragon’s Heirs! By the way, thank you all so much for all the notes on it. I was really nervous about posting this one, and to see it be so well received despite it being incomplete is insane because it’s my first attempt on queen regalia for Bloom. And because of this breakdown I’m actually going to post the side by side comparisons in full color! So you’ll kind of get to see it in non-Book of Fate coloring! But you’re also going to see some fuck ups —particularly on Baltor’s lower half— but please ignore those for the sake of this post. Fuck ups are easier to conceal in sepia tones.

I’m gonna say it, Sparxian royal fashion is atrocious. Therefore, with Bloom I went with a base dress that’s actually Stella’s from s6 and tied in some Sparxian elements. For instance: Bloom’s birth medallion on the belt, the dragon from the Sparxian flag (Which yes that is a canon thing from the show! It is a golden dragon on a field of purple. And since purple isn’t in either of Oritel or Miriam’s outfits, I didn’t feel compelled to include it in Bloom’s. But peep it on Baltor’s sash.) imbedded in the crown, and Oritel’s fur cape. Fur seemed to be a central theme to her parents’ clothes, and I do think it adds an extra regal flair to it, so both she and Baltor have one.

I love Stella’s Queen for a Day ensemble and as you can see, it is quite literally the outline for Bloom! There’s an obvious color change on the dress, I erased the gold cords and the fairy wings, and I switched it from one-shoulder to strapless. Stella is very over the top with her clothes, while I always imagined Bloom’s royal attire to be simple yet elegant. No need for a bunch of unnecessary accessories. Also when I was working on her I was listening to “Goddess” by Xana on repeat so I think I accidentally influenced myself to go with a more Greek goddess vibe. Which I’m not mad at! I can totally see Bloom being obsessed with Greek mythology.

Now Baltor ... that man is a mess every time I try to make anything for him. The more elaborate the edit, the worse it is to work with him. It also doesn’t help that the outfits for the boys all suck and the few decent ones have extremely limited screen time. This is literally just Baltor’s head stapled onto a recolored version of Sky’s ball outfit from s6. Like that’s it. I am so sorry to everyone for revealing that atrocity but dammit you can’t tell me Baltor doesn’t look better in it. You can’t. Other than that I gave him King Teredor’s crown with a recolored jewel. I was going to go with something extravagant like Thranduil’s crown but it didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped. The more I think about it now, I realize that Baltor wouldn’t desire an extravagant crown, despite his massive ego and need for drama. His presence exudes enough power by itself. I also flat out refused to give him Oritel’s Pope-esque headdress because no I shouldn’t have to explain that. However I did give him Oritel’s sword and added a tiny engraved Sparxian dragon on the handle.

Including the time I spent recoloring to match the Book of Fate, I used 100+ layers (I lost count after 100) and spent about 8 days in total on this edit. A decent amount of time, but certainly not the longest I’ve spent on one. There are some details that still need to be worked on, and currently are being worked on, but this was a spontaneous and unexpectedly big project and I think it turned out rather well for an incomplete edit!

#winx club #winx #sparxshipping #bloomxbaltor #bloomxvaltor #valtorxbloom #baltorxbloom

[firelxdykatara]

not gonna lie I would love to hear more about the drama and infighting that went on in The Vampire Diaries fandom if you have the time (and also want to use that time to give your experience with the fandom, which from the snippets you've told sounds Not Fun so I get it if you don't want to lol)

oh god, there was like, SO MUCH, i just

i really feel like tvd is one of those fandoms that is so hard to describe without a lot of ‘you’d have to have been there’, but it really felt like this huge and all-consuming beast for about five years until the show finally imploded and the fandom basically turned on it en masse. (you ever see that post going around that’s like ‘if you ever want to know what true regret feels like, ask someone who once called tvd their favorite show’? still a mood, all these years later. basically the entire fandom thought the show should have just bowed out with whatever shreds of dignity it had left at the end of season 6, and became more of a hatedom than a fandom for the last two seasons. when you have an entire fandom cheering news of your show’s cancellation, i think that’s a sign you done fucked up, julie.)

first and most infamous, of course, are the ship wars. which are pretty much inevitable in any teen-centered drama, and i really think the CW fucking thrives on them, but it was particularly egregious in TVD’s case because not only was the base premise of the show a love triangle, but the two main romantic leads were brothers that the show constantly pit against one another--in pursuit of elena’s affections, but also because it kept up this insistence on the ‘good brother/bad brother’ dichotomy which stopped making sense after about season 2 (by which time we have found out that the good brother was never as good as he appeared, and the bad brother has been growing and isn’t nearly as bad as he pretends to be)--and the question of which brother ‘deserved’ elena (and no, what elena wanted very rarely factored into these discussions, especially in the team stefan camp because they turned on her when what she wanted was no longer The Good Brother, but i’ll get to that in a bit) was hotly contested.

i’m not kidding when i say the shipping wars were vicious. i started watching tvd shortly after it began to air, which was late 2009, and kept up with it fairly sporadically over the years. i didn’t come onto tumblr until 2011/2012, and by then, the fandom was already pretty much a garbagefire. there were anti ship and anti character blogs, any time something bad happened for one ship the rival ship would invade the tags to gloat about it (seasons 3 and 4 were especially rough, and i’m not gonna pretend delena fans weren’t just as bad about tag invasion and shit, but as that was my side of the road i saw a lot more of the stelena shippers being assholes, which soured my opinion on the ship a long time before i started rewatching and realized the red flags were there from the start), confessions blogs were popular also toxic as fuck (so much fighting happened in the notes of those posts, good gods), and this was right around when twitter’s popularity was on the rise and the line between Celebrity and Fan was thinning, so the fandom was absolutely atrocious to much of the tvd cast and crew.

(some of them deserved a lot of the later backlash, but in the early years a lot of it was ‘how dare you write the story in a way i dont like, you terrible fucking person’, and gods don’t get me started on the dobsley vs nian Thing)

i think what really encapsulates my feelings on the tvd fandom as a whole, though, is the way they (to this DAY) treated elena gilbert, which can be summed up in one meme that gained a lot of traction around season 3 if i remember right: that gif of pam from true blood, with the text altered to read “i’m so OVER elena and her precious doppelganger vagina!”

i swear at one time i had over half the active tvd fan accounts on tumblr blocked, because i got to a point where i would no longer tolerate elena hate, and she was (and still is, in what remains of the fandom; you’ll see a lot of ‘elena was one of the worst things about the show’ takes from ex-fans, too) one of the most widely despised characters in the entire fandom. because she -checks smudged writing on hand- was a traumatized teenage girl who -reads off a crumpled notecard- couldn’t always perfectly sort out her own feelings and -squints at the ceiling- sometimes made mistakes or bad decisions. (except a lot of the fandom also insisted that she was a mary sue who had no character traits or flaws or faults and it was like....make up your fucking minds???? is she a calculating conniving bitch whose somehow manipulating these centuries old vampires to tie them around her little finger or is she a boring flat character with no depth and no flaws??? jfc)

there was this massive double standard, too--like, stefan and damon could fuck whoever they wanted and that was fine, but elena was constantly raked over the coals for the crime of developing romantic feelings for the two men who had become constants in her life and whom she cared for deeply, and oh my GOD the slut shaming that happened when elena slept with damon was fucking wild. (and also happened in canon lmfao. like the show had one of elena’s best friends basically call her diseased on screen for falling in love with someone other than stefan. it was gross and ridiculous and the friend in question was also being a giant hypocrite at the time since she was happily flirting with someone who was directly responsible for the deaths of like four of elena’s loved ones and her own boyfriend’s mother but that’s beside the point) but like elena was called a slut and a bitch and a whore for ‘cheating’ on stefan (she hadn’t, and she had in fact broken up with him on screen the episode earlier) and ‘immediately’ jumping into bed with damon, even though none of them said fucking boo when stefan had one night stands or damon had fuckbuddies or whatever.

shit, caroline didn’t get any of this treatment when she started falling for tyler while dating matt! which isn’t to say i think she should have, just that i think it’s fucking ridiculous that elena was absolutely demonized by the fandom for daring to have feelings for two guys at once and eventually acting on them--despite the fact that the entire premise of the show was a love triangle. it’s not a love triangle if both sides don’t eventually get explored, and the crew had been pretty explicit about the fact that delena was going to happen at some point--but when it did, a huge chunk of the fandom absolutely threw a fit.

and a lot of these elena haters were alleged stelena stans, and i say alleged because they hated her so much for not wanting stefan’s dick anymore that it was clear they were really stefan stans and only wanted stelena to be endgame because they wanted stefan to ‘win’ at the end of the day, because ‘he’s the good brother’ so he deserved elena more.

it was all very gross and very misogynistic and very sex shaming (apparently delena was a ‘shallow’ and ‘superficial’ relationship because they had sex after two years of unrequited feelings slowly becoming requited and then pining for ages on both sides, and because they had a lot of on screen chemistry that the show capitalized on for years so of course they did a lot of making out and shit but it’s not like stelena didn’t have its fair share of making out and sex scenes, stefan was just too much of a coward to let elena top i’d apologize for that joke but i’m really not sorry because it’s true), and when i say it was egged on by the crew, that’s because they refused to let the love triangle die back in season 4 when it should have.

they insisted on stringing stelena fans along, dropping little bread crumbs to keep them invested, like dreams of a future where they were married and revealing that stefan was also a doppelganger and he and elena were descended from a pair of star-crossed lovers (a plot that ultimately went nowhere, to no one’s great surprise), and then fucking like. julie plec turned around and threw nina under the bus after she chose not to extend her contract and pretended that stelena might have happened again if she hadn’t left the show, which....i mean frankly i wouldn’t put it past her, but it would have been shitty writing. then again, she thought having a vampire pregnancy where a uterus was magically transplanted from a witch into a vampire that could somehow......carry the babies to term.... made sense and was a good way to accomodate candice’s RL pregnancy rather than like literally ANYTHING else, soooooo. but anyway julie saying that around like, end of s6 sparked off a new wave of nina hate and elena hate and ship wars bc they SEers took it as ‘confirmation’ that stelena was REALLY meant to be endgame and it was all just a hot fucking mess

another thing is that, while tvd was in its prime before the anti/purity culture shit started picking up any real steam, there was still this pervasive attitude throughout the fandom that if you liked Damon, you were A Bad Person. liking damon was apparently grounds for insults and harassment, and apparently he was The Worst Person on the Show even though literally nothing he does on screen is any worse than shit we know stefan has done (and frankly every other vampire too, but i mention stefan specifically because he was always held up--in the show but especially in the fandom--as the Good Brother while damon was the Bad One, and if you liked damon more then that had to mean your morals were dodgy and you clearly couldn’t appreciate what a heroic and saintly figure dear stefan was and....oops, i’m sorry, my salt keeps leaking -cough-).

meanwhile klaus quickly became a fandom darling despite not even really having much of a redemption arc (on tvd anyway, he just became more ‘affably evil’ as the show went on and more inclined to work with the main characters rather than try to kill them; i have no idea what went on over on his show, though), and like i can 100% appreciate liking villains and not caring that they do dodgy villainous shit, even just liking them bc they’re hot and wanting them to kiss a main character bc they have insanely good chemistry (yes i ship klaroline, no i won’t apologize for it, they could have been Really Great), it’s just really the double standard that gets me.

and all of this, incidentally, required ignoring some truly gross shit stefan was responsible for wrt his relationship with elena, that frankly it has always bothered me never really got addressed in the show. i get why elena herself would never be able to actually call him on it, but the fact is that he stalked her for months after he first saw her and thought she was katherine (meanwhile it only took damon .5 seconds to realize she was someone else entirely, but that’s another topic entirely), and then he deliberately inserted himself into her life because, in his words, ‘i have to know her’. he never gave a thought to how his presence in her life might affect her (or rather, he did, and tormented himself about it in his internal monologue, but never let this actually dissuade him from disrupting her life), and elena would wind up blaming herself for every tragedy that befell her friends and loved ones as a result of getting mixed up in vampire bullshit even though none of it was her fault--she literally blamed herself for existing but most of the fandom didn’t give a fuck about that lmfao--and stefan did shit like find out that she was adopted and then withhold this information from her until she got pissed about another secret he was keeping (her resemblence to katherine) and drop it on her to try and distract her from her very reasonable anger, and like... i should stop before this becomes a whole rant about how much i hate stefan fucking salvatore, but the point is, he did a lot of really sketchy shit he never answered for and elena never really took him to task for, and the fandom just kept eating up his insistence that he was the Good Brother and therefore he deserved to have elena, and if she didn’t want him anymore it was because she was a heinous bitch who didn’t deserve him.

uh.....i think i got off track there. and there’s probably a lot of shit i missed, like i think i was incandescent with rage for most of seasons 5 and 6 so i missed a lot of the interfandom shit cause i was too busy being increasingly pissed off at the show itself, but if nothing else this should give you an idea of how much of a goddamn cesspit the fandom was while the show as in its prime. there’s a reason both the show and the fandom have such a lousy reputation lmfao.

#the vampire diaries #tvd #tvd fandom salt #anti stefan #anti stelena #salt for ts #asked #Anonymous

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Left and Right Back Pockets, Red and Green, Black and White

Most of the credit for these observations goes to @wdway, but I have some @frangipanilove in here, too. We’ve had detailed discussions about these things.  😉 And I think you all will find some interest here. It’s a great example of how these symbols all intertwine.

@wdway:

I'm going to share a rabbit hole I went down almost two weeks ago. I've been spending a little time each day looking at a few episodes and this may be hard to believe but what I thought would be straightforward and fairly quick turned out to have several side tunnels. Who would have guessed? 

Daryl a year from when we first saw him at his river camp. He just passed the two iron steaks in the tree and is taking drinks from his green water bottle when Dog runs up to him. My eyes went to the red rag in his back pocket. I got to thinking about the fact that we have not seen the rag in a long time. Or at least, I didn't think we had, but here, in Daryl's memory of the past, he has this red rag which to me screams RED FLAG. 

That rag was part of his costume from the beginning of the series. It was always hanging out of his right back pocket. I believe tptb decided to feature it in s4 and to use it as a half of a symbol representing Daryl & Beth. Daryl's red rag & Beth's green journal.

(Ignore the bit about Aaron. This is from a different theory and I was too lazy to take another one.  😉 )

The shots of Daryl on the path in FM reminded me of another similar shot from Alone. I'm going to do a comparison of the two shots 1) will be from FM. 2) will be from Alone.

1) Daryl carrying a Green backpack. 

2) Daryl carrying Beth Greene. 

1) Daryl with a Green water bottle. 

2) Beth Greene = water. 

1) Red rag in Daryl's right back pocket. 

2) Red rag in Daryl's right back pocket. 

1) Daryl's left back pocket holds a map (paper) of his journey for the last year(s). 

2) Beth's left back pocket that above Daryl's holds her journal (paper) of her last year(s). 

1) Dog=Beth. 

2) Beth.

I asked myself, how long has it been since we've seen Daryl with the red rag in his back pocket? I did an episode search to find out. We last saw it in what I think of as a two-episode storyline that ended season 6, Last Day On Earth and began season 7, The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be.

The first shot is from s6e16. We barely see the red rag in Daryl's pocket as he's taking a swing at Negan which leads to Glenn's death. The second shot is from s7e1. 

Again, we barely see the red rag in his pocket as Dwight is loading Daryl into the van to go to the Sanctuary. We never see the red rag in Daryl's pocket again. Until the flashbacks in FM.

We have seen Daryl with something in his right back pocket starting in s6 through the present: a black and white bandana. 

The funny thing is, that too, or one just like it, was featured in S4. We saw Daryl wear it as a mask when he was digging graves. 

We then saw him give it to Beth in Inmates. She put grapes in it and wore it tied to the left side of her belt. Which ties both the red rag and the black and white bandana to both Beth and Daryl.

Thinking of the red rag as a half symbol representing Daryl & Beth, there was another symbol of Beth that Daryl wore on his left side that we first saw in s4, Beth's knife. She wore it on her right side in Still and then in Alone, they found a gun for her and she switched it to her left side. In s5e10, Them, Daryl started wearing her knife on his left side, his knife on his right. The last time we saw him wear the knife was in s6e11, Knots Untie, just a few episodes before the red rag disappeared from his costume.

Like I mentioned before, I've been searching through episodes. I did not search every episode from S4 through the present, but I searched quite a few and I didn’t see the red rag again. At least, not Daryl wearing it, and that really bothered me because it seemed like I had seen it recently.

The other day, I watched s10e10, Stalker. This was an episode that we had high hopes for because of the 10/10 paper clock in Beth's room at Grady. There was hope of seeing Beth, or at least having some major clues about her, and yet there didn't seem to be anything major. We saw symbolism of her, of course. Especially in the garage scene, there is a white T-Bird with an open trunk, red fire extinguishers, an open roof. Then, when I watched the episode the other day, it clicked and things just fell into place. Things I had seen so many times in my re-watches suddenly had new meaning and new symbolism.

Daryl hiding behind a tool chest. On the other side is the open trunk car. Look what's hanging from the cabinet door next to him, or more importantly, to the right side of him. It's a RED RAG, just like what he wore in his right back pocket until a few episodes after Beth's knife disappeared. 

Speaking of back pockets as in seen from the back. If you had any doubts of tptb's meaning this one was the major hints we were looking for but just didn't see.

Ever so convenient that there happened to have been a piece of the cabinet cut out and we can see Daryl eyes peeking over from the back with the RED RAG on his right side. Also in this shot is a yellow mop bucket, similar to the ones that we saw both with Beth at Grady and with Daryl at the Sanctuary.

It's pretty obvious that tptb wanted us to see the damn knife in Daryl's left leg along with the red rag just behind his right side. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I'm going to point it out, anyway. It was Beth's left leg that was hurt in Alone and she switched her knife from her right side to her left, which is also the side on which Daryl wore her knife.

Another thing I want to point out is that starting in s9, Daryl wore 2 knives, one on each side. We saw him after the time jump in e7, Stradivarius wearing the 2 knives along with the black & white bandana in his back right-side pocket. If you go to s9e14, Scars in both the present time and the flashback set 9 months after Rick's body went missing, Daryl is wearing 2 knives and the black & white bandana.

In FM, Daryl is only wearing one knife on his right side, no knife on his left. A red rag in his right back pocket that he hadn't worn since s7e1, in his left back pocket a paper Journal I meant map haha. One more note, he's holding his Greene water bottle in his right hand. What does all of this mean?

My theory is that the red rag represents Daryl and the time when he was part of a couple with Beth. He was the red to her green. Even more importantly than that, I believe the writers are using the red rag as a red flag that what Daryl remembers is not correct. What we're seeing in his telling of his story to Carol is intensely colored both figuratively and literally by his PTSD, his self-inflicted loneliness and desire to belong to someone. His wounded plea for someone to find him. I'm not crying, you're crying. Who am I kidding? We're all crying for Daryl.

This is from e1 of this season, Lines We Cross. It is the scene where Carol has just got off the boat and is talking to Ezekiel and in the background, we see Daryl and Connie talking. The camera focuses on Daryl and Connie, so it's obvious that tptb wanted us to focused and on his back pockets. (I certainly do not have a problem with them focusing on his sweet behind haha.)

The writers’ goal would be for the general audience to realize that Daryl has a book on sign language in his back pocket. This makes a very sweet statement about Daryl taking the extra step to find a book so he could communicate with Connie.

For me, this is showing a lot of other things. First, it is drawing attention to his back pockets which will be a theme through this season, especially at the end of e21 when tptb somewhat more subtly focuses on Daryl's back pockets, where he has the black and white bandana that I believe represents Beth. That part I've already talked about before, so let me just make a couple of statements about this scene, this particular shot.

Yes, there is a sign language book in the left back pocket, the back pocket that Beth carried her diary and where she put the Washington DC spoon. This is a very significant, symbolic, purposeful decision the writers made. Anything that Daryl carries in his left back pocket symbolically ties to Beth.

The way I interpret what I am seeing is that the book is obviously a representation of Connie. It means that there is a tie or will be a tie between her (remember this is the first episode) and Beth in the season. In hindsight, Connie was in the cave and possibly dead. Then she was just gone/missing, and there has been a search for her. 

The other thing I want to point out is you can see a little bit of the black and white bandana in Daryl's right pocket in this shot. He originally carried his red rag, and now he has carried this black and white bandana. The most important thing that comes away from this is that the writers made the decision at the beginning of the season about his bandana and which pockets were used to tie Daryl to a particular character.

@frangipanilove:

I want to thank you for tracing the red rag, because that was something I wanted to do, but never got around to. I share your opinion on how it stood out when it appeared again in his flashback. And I do agree that it’s a red flag.

There are other red flags as well. I think they all point to resurrection. I believe the red plastic bag hanging from an antenna of a car in Coda is a RED FLAG. I feel like red flag = red flag, like the ones you get when you get signals that something not quite right.

So, you say it’s showing that Daryl’s not remembering right, I’d probably choose different words to explain it but essentially, I interpret it in a similar way. Backpack and back pocket = “come back”, return, resurrection, Sirius symbolism.

Map is synonymous with Beth’s DC spoon, which she put in her back pocket and later in her backpack. We also see a representation of this symbolism when Daryl shows up in 10x1 with an ASL book in his back pocket. It’s a reference to Beth’s green notebook she kept in her back pocket but also a reference to Daryl’s “the signs are all there, you just gotta know how to read them.”

The backpack symbolism is something we saw when Daryl carried Beth piggyback style across the cemetery, a parallel to Carol throwing the backpack across the river in FM. The wings on Daryl’s BACK are also a part of this symbolism. We saw how the vest was laying in the ground on the episode where Denise died. He also drank the Danville bridge whiskey, which is a reference to the bridge symbolism about crossing over the river/crossing over to the dead side.

About the red rag in 10x10, we did discuss it, and it stood out, but to me I didn’t know where to place it in the greater scope of the symbolism back then, and honestly I’d kind of forgotten it since, so thanks for bringing it back around again. Again, I believe it stands for resurrection, and we saw it in relation to the t-bird(BIRD) with open trunk. Bird = helicopter, trunk = resurrection. Helicopter + resurrection is a reference to how Rick survived (remember, he fell of the BRIDGE between the realms of the living and the dead, he was washed up on the bank of the river, rejected by the death realm)

@twdmusicboxmystery:

The only thing I want to add to this has to do with an edit I made quite a long time ago. As @frangi already said, this left/right theme extends to Daryl’s wings. So it was significant and purposeful that when Beth hugged him in still, she laid her cheek against his left wing. That’s the one that represents her, so it’s only fitting.

In thinking about this, I got to thinking about how Daryl lost one of the wings on his vest. We’ve always assumed that represented Beth because, clearly, he lost her. But I’m rethinking that a bit, now. Especially given that at the beginning of FM, when he sits by the river, his wing is still present on his vest.

Judith made him a new wing in Morningstar and sort of “gave him back” his lost wing, right?

And I’m not saying this ISN’T a foreshadow of Beth. It very well may be. But we also find, again and again, that these symbols have multiple meanings. Based on this left/right evidence, I simply want to put another interpretation forth.

Based on what’s been pointed out above, which I think is 100% accurate, Daryl’s right wing is more likely to represent…Daryl. His left wing represents Beth and he never lost that.

So I’m wondering if the message is that he never lost Beth, even if he doesn’t know it (“I’m not gonna leave you.”). But in his grief and PTSD, he lost himself. That’s why the wing is still present at the beginning of FM, but has disappeared by the end, and we don’t see how.

It was taking care of Judith, after the time jump, that really brought Daryl back to himself, his family, and civilization at large. Her making him a new wing represents her helping him find himself. And only after he finds himself again will he find Beth.

Thoughts?

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

[karihighman]

Time for me to have another Upstead breakdown over the s6 finale since my friend has now FINALLY caught up on all of Chicago PD (she’s seen s7 too). Anyway, the scenes above are in order of 6x22 and are all too good not to post about again. Okay? Okay. 

The car/tracker scene 

This one was a little one, granted, but I still liked it a lot! First you had Hailey be all impressed by Jay picking the lock on the car door, and then you had her go provide a distraction (running the car into the trash cans) so he could get out unseen by Wilson Young (the gangbanger they were tracking). Side note: when Hailey said: “Jay, you close?” my mind went 😏 OKAY I’M DONE NOW BYE

The follow-up scene to “I’d Follow You”

The second scene that got me was that Jay finally (in his own way) sort of responded to what Hailey had told him in 6x15 (”If I was gonna follow someone blind, I’d follow you). Before we had 7x06 where he repeated that exact phrase, we had: “Besides, I’m going where you go.” aka: Jay would follow Hailey anywhere too. DO YOU HEAR ME SOBBING YET 😭😭 they’re so CUTE & the best partners ever when I was watching this when it aired I was like “damn Kelton don’t you split up Upstead” cause they just work, you know?! Also PLEASE their little laughs and smirks about the “500,000 rip” I DIE EVERY TIME. Cuties. PS: They looked so badass in all blackout gear to get said money that’s all. 

The van scene 

I fling flang flung myself watching this scene again. Even though I’ve seen it probably 15 times at least, seeing it within the context of the whole entire episode really made it stick again. Like Jay Halstead really said: “I’m gonna protect Hailey Upton with my life no matter what” AND PUT THE VEST ON HER TO SHIELD HER THEN PUT HIMSELF OVER HER TOO AS A HUMAN SHIELD gosh I love one man & he loves his partner !!!!!!!  He did not give two fucks as to what was happening to him, he just automatically said “get down, get down” and pulled her down with him UGH. They’re in love love, you know?! ❤️ Linstead could never. Yep, I said what I said. 

The breakroom scene 

Not only did Jay look so sad, when you heard him speak, he was at a total loss. I’m sure that’s just thanks to Jesse Lee Soffer’s terrific acting ability but DAMN did he hit it out of the park in that scene. The “we lost” and his little voice break – ugh. I can’t even. 🥺 Then you had Hailey who was just as concerned (for Jay), and she wanted to make sure he was okay. She immediately sided with him and tried to reassure him that things would work out (”[Kelton’s] time for a reckoning’s coming”). OH & don’t even get me started on her forlorn expression as Jay was talking about “not in time for this unit....for us.” 🥺 Like Jay we knew you meant it as a little bit moreso than that, and I bet Hailey did too. That’s why she kinda played it off with the “we’ve only been partners a couple years” thing because she knew how important their relationship has been, but she didn’t think it was the right time to say something with everything else falling apart (aka: when they thought the unit was going to be disbanded). When Jay tried to reassure her that he wouldn’t forget about her, and he opened his mouth again like GOD HE ALMOST SAID IT. He almost said more, and you saw that slight realization in her eyes when she recognized that. Bravo to Tracy Spiridakos for that. PS: Blue is their color like man oh man those outfits slayed. 

*end of my breakdown* last ps: all images from pinterest not mine

#upstead #chicago pd #cpd season 6 #season 6 finale #cpd 6x22 #reckoning #jay halstead #hailey upton #jesse lee soffer #tracy spiridakos #jay x hailey #hailey x jay #otp: i'm going where you go #otp: we’ll be alright #the van scene #breakroom scene #upstead moments #I think I have an upstead obsession #i am having a breakdown #cuties #my absolute faves #my upstead heart is so happy #rewatch #just my thoughts

[antigonewinchester]

ep 5x17, “99 problems,” another decent ep. although there was definitely 1) some editing/pacing issues, didn’t feel like they left enough time for the pastor to really grapple with his daughter having been replaced by the demon of babylon; and 2) the writers sure do love the excuse to call a young woman a whore over and over, huh???


things i did like: dean’s depression, hopelessness, and low key suicidal ideation hits waaaay harder on this rewatch. his whole downward spiral over this season is brutal, but especially from 5x13 onward. when he kills “leah” after we know the demon can only be killed by a servant of heaven and what that implies… and him speeding off to who we assume is michael but is actually lisa made me feel very tender!! i’m fond of lisa as a character & dean’s desire for a family and love for lisa/ben is just a lot more personally relatable on rewatch. maybe this’ll change in s6 but i don’t see dean’s love for lisa as unreal or a projection, it’s definitely there, it’s just not the only thing dean wants. then lisa clearly realizing something is Wrong with dean and his speech being essentially a verbal suicide note, god. (i realize this is 10 seasons of character development later, but this is part of this is why i’m not a big fan of dean’s death in the finale; dean spends a lot of the early seasons being low key suicidal, so to then have him get stabbed and passively accept his death leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth, versus him surviving after “swan song”.)

and then sam’s faith! the evolution of sam’s faith from believing in god & angels (…plus dean) to his faith in humanity & in himself (plus still in dean, despite dean’s own loss of faith) is great character development. and it makes him a cool foil to lucifer; similar but just different enough in the right ways, lucifier’s arrogance versus sam’s learned self-esteem. believing in yourself, loving yourself, you need that move through the world, it’s not all pride. look at dean’s self-destructive sacrifices, right? sam’s faith in free will in particular is just perfect. demons, angels, even somewhat dean, they’re all telling sam in one way or another that free will doesn’t exist, and sam still says “yes it does, because i have faith in it.” the first step towards free will… is having faith in free will!! sam winchester, ladies and gentlemen.

on a bit of a side note, it’s been interesting tracing the “dean is too controlling of sam” through line. it’s definitely there in the early seasons and hits its peak in prob s4 (for complicated reasons, too), but by the end of s4 and through s5, dean is much more detached from sam. then season 5 is all about sam coming into his own. the whole ‘dean emotionally abuses sam/is too controlling of sam’ idea that i’ve seen tossed around… i’m just not seeing it?? it does feel like people can exaggerate dean’s control and sam’s victim status. sam might be the younger brother but he’s also an adult who can & does make his own decisions. again, this could be different in later seasons, but for now dean’s problem is more that he’s too detached & uncommunicative with sam, seems to me.


#suicide cw #spn rewatch #sam #dean #sam & dean #lisa #season 5

[paceypeternathanslawyer]

Dawson being an insufferable, evil prick in Dawson’s Creek 3x03 (None Of The Above)

1. We open with a scene of Dawson and Eve in his bedroom 

Dawson: First things first. Movie night we're supposed to watch movies.

Eve: I prefer TV.

We have painfully been forced to watch Dawson watch movies and not just any movies... the movies HE wants to watch for the past two seasons. One movie night when someone else chooses what to watch and Dawson can’t imagine that they would do something that he “King Dawson” wouldn’t want to do. He then proceeds to be an insufferable snob and turn up his nose at her choice of TV show and TV shows in general. What else is new?

2. One of the reasons he hates Felicity is because she’s “chatty?” Fuck you Dawson! That toxic viewpoint that a boy who’s chatty, i.e. Dawson, is gregarious and charming, but a girl who’s chatty is a handful who should shunned by any self respecting man.

3. Dawson: You know, which is, in general, my complaint about television. It's not reality, it's perfection. I mean, nobody ever blows it or gets tested in any real way or ever makes the wrong choice or bad choice or...

I see why Dawson doesn’t like TV now.... he’s never seen a TV show. Seriously though, I have never seen a show where the characters are “perfect” and “never make bad or wrong choices” that show literally does not exist. 

4. Dawson brings the PSAT test answers to the whole group and proceeds to dangle it in front of them, even going so far as to encourage them to take advantage of it. He tempts Joey by mentioning how doing well in the PSATs would help her get a scholarship and then later in that episode he gets all mad at Eve for quote un quote tempting him when he himself was doing the same thing to his “friends.” What a fucking hypocrite. But what else is new?

(Little side note. When they have to leave the classroom and leave the PSAT test results on the table.. they come back and we see Dawson looking under the table. That makes me laugh every time. As if the test results just walked off the desk by itself. It either walked off the desk or someone took it. Either way, your not gonna find it under the desk 😂😂 )

5. Eve: It didn't disappear, Dawson. Somebody took it. 

Dawson: How do you know that?

Again... Dawson... you carefully left it lying there in the middle of a table. Of course it was taken, there’s no other option.

6.  Dawson: Whoever stole the test give it back. 

Jen: Well, wasn't it already stolen, Dawson?

Jen makes an amazing point. Dawson expects everyone to follow his idea of morality and follow his every command when he himself touted around a stolen test and tempted everyone with it, insinuating that it should be used. But now when it’s taken from him, suddenly his strong moral code can not allow them to have it.

7.  Dawson: She didn't tell me to do anything with that test. 

Joey: I bet when she offered you that test, you didn't fire one ethical comment her way, did you? It's just your friends who have to sit here and-- and suffer through the Dawson Leery morality play.

Another good point. Any chance Dawson can have to make himself feel morally superior to his “friends.” You know what? He probably brought that test to them in the hopes that someone would steal just so he could psychologically abuse them and make them feel like trash.

8.   Dawson: Here's the deal: I'm gonna leave my locker unlocked. Whoever has the test will put it inside by 5:30 today.

 Pacey: Oh, come on, Dawson. The petty thief among us already left the crime scene. They're not gonna return that thing now. What's the incentive? 

Dawson: To do the right thing.

To do the right thing?!?! So the right thing is to give a test to Dawson and Dawson alone with no idea what he’s gonna do with it? He could use it for his own self alone. How is that morally right? Because Dawson said so? And Dawson is surely the arbiter and decider of everything that is or is not morally right. Technically the right thing to do is for the thief to keep it and then burn it... right Dawson? 

9. Eve makes one comment about how one of his friends probably stole it and Dawson immediately thinks of Pacey. Truly showing what a horrible friend he is and how little he really knows about Pacey. Pacey is not the kind of person who would cheat on a test. He has not written one word on tests, he has even blatantly fallen asleep in class during tests. He just truly does not care enough to cheat and anyone who knows Pacey even the slightest, would know that.

10.  Friends, huh? Friends, you know, that word "friends"... it's an interesting word. It implies that you would actually believe your friend when he's telling you something. 

Dawson: When he tells me the truth. 

I hate that line by Dawson because in it he has shown his hands and put Pacey in a position where, no matter what Pacey says, Dawson’s not gonna believe him. Pacey said himself that he didn’t take it and Dawson says he’ll believe him when he tells the truth. Dawson has made up his mind and nothing Pacey says to defend himself is gonna change that.

Pacey: When he's tell-- ha ha! You want to know what I find so very amusing about this situation? I mean, what i think is so really, really rich about all this is that you yourself were capable of stealing this test. All right, you thought about it. You didn't throw that test away. You didn't give it back to Eve. You brought the test to us!

Dawson: No. I wanted to consult the people I trusted to determine what the best thing was to do. I never thought that anyone would be so weak or so self motivated to actually swipe it. (Trust? Hmmm his idea of trust and mine are two totally different things... but okay then, spew your bullshit if you want Dawson. Also weak and self motivated? Fuck you Dawson! You know nothing about Pacey)

Pacey: Weak and self-motivated, huh? Now, which one of those 2 colorful adjectives would I be? 

Dawson: You are who you are, Pacey.

Pacey: Yes, I am, Dawson. And so are you. You, Dawson Leery, are a self-righteous son of a bitch who cares more about his rose-colored defunct 1950s belief system than the people who fail to live up to it, huh? (👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 You tell him King Pacey)

Dawson: Interesting choice of words, coming from a smug, cold-hearted son of a bitch who just dumped his girlfriend after she begged him-- pleaded for an ounce sympathy! (SMUG?! COLD HEARTED?! Andie cheated on him!! Fuck you Dawson. Isn’t a friend supposed to support his friend? This makes me think the part in S6 where Dawson says that even before the whole Pacey/Joey/Dawson drama that he realized that Pacey hadn’t wanted to be his friend for a long time. Funny because I seem to recall Dawson being a horrible and vile “friend” to Pacey for seasons and seasons before Joey and Pacey began a relationship)

Pacey: At least I didn't send her father to prison. (Number 1, I don’t think this was out of line. I’d like Dawson to explain to me how this factually inaccurate)

Dawson: No. You just made her go crazy. (This is way out of line on so many levels and Dawson wasn’t even drunk. Even if what Pacey said was out of line... number 1, Dawson started it by calling him a smug and cold hearted son of a bitch for being betrayed by his GF. Number 2, what Pacey said was correct. Number 3, Pacey was drunk. Dawson has 0 excuse. What he said here was evil to Pacey and belittling to Andie and her mental health struggles that have nothing to do with Pacey)

11. Dawson: The only thing I can come up with is you, Eve. You happened to me. You and that stupid test. Look, Eve, I accept my blame in this, but don't even try to tell me that you didn't know what giving me that test would do.

No, Dawson, you do not accept your blame. You never accept your blame in anything. It is not Eve’s fault at all. Yeah, she gave you the test but she did not make you do or say anything you said over the course of this episode. That’s on you. 

#i've been meaning to make a post about dawson in this ep for a while #he is so horrible that it just brings this angry monster out of me #thank you for letting me get on my soap box once again #dawson's creek #dawson's creek rant #anti dawson leery #dawson leery #pacey witter #joey potter #jen lindley