#but barry is draped in medals and honors because his narrative could be - and was - transformed into a paragon of american masculinity

[thelaurenshippen]

bill hader wins the prize for being the first person to ever make me spontaneously yell 'oh you're fucking KIDDING me' at the penultimate frame of a tv finale

#barry #barry spoilers #(in the tags at least TAG RANT) #that final bit of text in the mask collector #barry being buried at ARLINGTON CEMETERY WITH FULL HONORS #are you fucking KIDDING me #the actual perfect cherry on top of the shit sundae #TO BE CLEAR #I mean this all extremely positively #the finale was a PERFECT encapsulation of the themes of the show #the fetishization of the US military leading to barry being absolved of all his sins while cousineau goes to prison #essentially for the crime of being self centered #barry - being a marine - appears on the outside to be selfless and self sacrificing #cousineau is seen as being the greedy selfish one #when barry is THEE most selfish of them all #he is ready to die for his son yes but he was only ever *maybe* going to turn himself in once he realized sally and john were truly gone #and even then I'm not convinced he wouldn't have shot cousineau and his friend to get out of there #but barry is draped in medals and honors because his narrative could be - and was - transformed into a paragon of american masculinity #and his son SMILES because he gets to believe his dad was a hero #BILL HADER I'M CHEWING THE POWER CABLES IN YOUR HOUSE #and the good side of 'traditional masculinity' still being present!!!! #it's not all bad!!!! #barry was ready to kill everyone to protect his family BUT fuches covered john with his body #barry and fuches let each other go #fatherhood is a unifying and soothing thing - or it CAN be #fuches covered in tattoos with a bevvy of terrifying manly criminals giving hank an out through vulnerability #and hank saying 'no I gave up my whole world to hold on to the role they want me to play' #'so just kill me and let me die in my man's arms' #THE THEMES ARE INTRICATE #anyway none of this is coherent but I needed to scream