#i think human nature and family of blood MAYBE could have been one episode?

[dentpx]

I was having a rough time with season 3 but these four episodes are some of the best episodes of television maybe ever

#i think uh #i think human nature and family of blood MAYBE could have been one episode? #it feels like there’s some dead air #and conceptually of course like. holy shit I feel bad for Martha #the woman gets trapped in 1913 as a housemaid for two months #AND THEN IN BLINK SHE HAS GETS TRAPPED IN THE PAST AGAIN AND HAS TO PICK UP ANOTHER JOB AGAIN #it is truly not right #anyway blink is incredible tv and utopia made me lose my goddamn mind #utopia was like. the ultimate meeting of the exes #jack should always be a companion I love his energy #dw rewatch #doctor who

[klausbens]

i'm getting used to the idea that my opinions in this fandom will often be the opposite of whatever the general public seems to think, but i thought human nature and family of blood were just... okay. they're very... charming episodes, to be sure, the storyline is novel and the sets, cinematography, costumes and acting are great, i just feel like it left me feeling bitter more than it left me thinking ‘oh, that's a nice episode!’

this, of course, mostly resides in how martha was treated as a character. after two episodes which, more or less, seemed to highlight her qualities and actions and existence beside her feelings for the doctor, we're back at it. and i'm tired of martha being sandboxed in them. and i know that's the whole thing with her storyline, but it's so hurtful to witness over and over how she'll basically never be enough for the doctor, no matter the universe—mostly because so little of it rings true to me. i do not believe ten would never look at her twice. i do not believe there is no way he could fall for her. i do not believe he doesn't like her. he surely likes her enough to flirt with her, and the writers have such fun planting all those little innuendos in his dialogue toward (or regarding) her, but it's like they take some sort of perverse pleasure out of then shutting the door in her face and trying to make the audience believe that's rightful and that she has no reason to be hurt by it. it's exhausting.

martha does have the single most important role here, as she does in quite the number of episodes in her run as the companion. i always joke that the doctor would have regenerated 53 million times if it wasn't for martha, but that's actually not much of a joke. she's saved him so many times. and when, at the beginning, the doctor asks her whether she trusts him, what he really should've done is he should've told her “i trust you”, because the whole thing boiled down to martha having to fix his mess and the doctor 100% believing she would. at least he said something about everything being in her hands, which could be counted as implicit admission of trust, but yeah. the dialogue implying she is the one to have to trust that the doctor will come back to her, despite having to be the one to make him come back, is just...

i adore ten. he is the reason i started watching the show—well, tennant is—and i felt his absence so much during these two episodes that when john smith briefly spoke in the tenth doctor way of speaking my heart grew three sizes, but there's something deeply... off with his characterization at times. or maybe it isn't off, as such, just his flaws are highlighted a lot more than other doctors'—which is fine, per se, he's a 900+ old alien i don't want, need nor expect him to be perfect. it's just, coupled with the questionable general arc of this season with martha and him always in this wobbly, awkward spot between friendship and something else, and the way they seem to use martha as a cushion to fall back onto and punch when the doctor fucks up, it leaves a bad aftertaste in my mouth i guess. specifically because i think too much, and i often think about how so many people dislike martha for things that have so little to do with her and so much to do with the absence of rose, the faults of the doctor and the disservice the writers did to what could've been—and has been, if you look at her—an amazing character. a widely beloved one.

you know what, the episode would have been fine. john smith wasn't the doctor, he had this thing with the nurse or whatever, fine. part of the plot, i guess, was that of course he wouldn't have wanted to give humanity up, and what better reason not to want that than to feel love while trapped as a human? fine. but what i don't really get, and what makes me feel a little sick to my stomach actually, is the ending. where he goes back and talks to joan and asks her, or really, when you think about it, tries to manipulate her into coming with him. that's nothing new, the doctor is pretty manipulative and always has been, but he usually uses the allure of space-time travel and breathtaking sights and incredible adventures to basically kidnap his companions like some sort of old ass peter pan, and he's honest with it. he does genuinely think, every time, that what he'll offer the people he takes with him is so much better than whatever they might be thinking of doing with their lives that they will ultimately be happy they followed him. and they are, until they aren't, because that's the tragedy in doctor who for you, but here. here, he uses feelings. he uses joan's feelings for john and somehow promises her he's still capable of whatever john was, including falling for her. and why would he do that. that's just mean. to joan, to martha, hell, even to himself. i really have absolutely no clue what they were trying to do with this scene except, as i said, highlighting his flaws. because he knows damn well. he knows damn well that, even if he were to fall for her, she'd have to leave or die and it would break both of their hearts. that's the whole theme with him, isn't it? i thought it was. he's just experienced that with rose and he's keeping everyone at arms-length because he doesn't want it to happen again, and that's understandable. but then he goes and does this. i don't know. i simply don't know. there's also the whole thing where joan tells him she wants nothing to do with him, because she's in love with john—not some doctor—and he, the doctor, has caused so much harm choosing that specific place in space-time to hide. and the thing is, he's so creepy in that whole scene. when he speaks to her, the things he says, how he says them, how he looks at her when she calls him out. amazing acting, but there's something so dark about him in these episodes that i can't help but want to crawl out of my skin.

one might argue that he tried to get her to come with him because he remembered what john felt for her, or at least what happened between them. and that's further sustained by them hinting at him remembering what martha said to him about him being everything, and her loving him to bits. but that just makes it feel more gratuitously mean to everyone involved (so, ten as well), and steeps the two episodes in this... bitterness, which takes from the overall enjoyment. for me, at least.

there's also other things i disliked about the ep, like when in the video the doctor tells martha ‘you. don't make me leave you behind’ which kind of sounds like he was expecting he would? same way as he was expecting he'd hurt people because that's what humans do, which i agree with, but why underline the fact that he was potentially going to leave her? of course she would have stayed close in order to make him turn back to himself, i don't think that really needed saying. that's just one of the little jabs to martha the writers love to insert in scripts. thing is, i despise them! anyway, the post is long as it is, just—if there's one thing i loved (and it wasn't nearly enough to make up for the rest, but,), it was the way ten hugs martha after he tells her ‘thanks for looking after me’. with his eyes closed and that genuine, childlike smile. engulfing her completely. i so wish things had gone differently between them.

#doctor who #tenth doctor #martha jones #tenmartha #david tennant #freema agyeman #10th doctor #doctor who meta #meta

[voidscreamintheories]

HtP theory D: Who is he really? 2 of 2

This is a continuation from a first post, Spoilers for Hunter the Parenting

Speaking of his age, a few characters have called out D as looking old, decrepit, frail, or sickly. Despite the fact that we see a golden god of a man who honestly looks younger than at least one of his purported children. I don’t think this is wholly wrong on both fronts. You see, there is a particular group in World of Darkness who can only hang around on the normal plane of existence by inhabiting the bodies of the frail, the sick, or the dying. Because I think the D in Big D stands for Demon.

In the World of Darkness, specifically the game Demon the Fallen, “demons” are angels who sided with Lucifer against God. They were cast down into hell, where their angelic forms where forever marred by the torment in the depths. Sometimes, they can make their way out of the pit and back into our world. As mentioned before, and would be the case for the average DtF character, many slip into the body of someone who has a weak grip on their soul and is close to death. From there the demon can either try to redeem themselves, and perhaps find a way back to heaven, or they can just embrace what they have become and be a complete menace on earth. Now in DtF, the ability for demons to come back to earth ON THEIR OWN is VERY recent. However, I think D is a demon who was called to earth by a group somewhat akin to the shaman of his previous life, put into the body of some frail person of a bygone age, and has been trying to reclaim his angelic nature by becoming a protector of mankind from the creatures of the World of Darkness.

Some notes around this:

-In his conversation with Kitten, D mentions hunting a methusala of the La Sombre vampire clan with his siblings. I’m of two minds here, this could mean the children of the shaman-like summoners (if he has a VERY close origin to Big E) or it could mean other fallen angels, who like D are seeking redemption through monster hunting. It would make a lot more sense for a group of former angels to kill an ancient vamp than a family of hunters. This would require though that these summoners pulled a few angels up from the pit, so not sure.

-As for why some see him as old or frail, I think sometimes either the mask slips (maybe because D is stressed, or his angelic nature is weakened) or some level of supernatural ability allows them to see past the angelic personage and into the frail human body beneath. Two of the people who have called him old have either been Tremere or Tremere ghouls, and as I understand some vampire blood magic allows one to see past illusions/veils (and sometimes ghouls get lil bits of power from their vampire blood supply). I looked this one up, it’s the vampire discipline of Auspex, which the Tremere clan does have access to.

-Remold. Remold mentions that Big D’s family and his family have been enemies for generations. If my theory that D is an immortal goofster who has been around for a long time holds true, maybe it’s not so much that the Blacklaws have been at odds with D’s family, but instead against D himself, repeatedly antagonizing them as a living bloodline curse. This might explain his interest in Brok in the recent episode: D knows that once Remold has his Chekhov’s gun of a heart attack, Brok becomes the next Blacklaw that D will be fighting at all times. Why is D antagonizing this family? Well it could be an attempt to beef up some human hunters: If an entire family is constantly having to battle this one madman, and they know of the supernatural, they might become good soldiers against the darkness. Or maybe the Blacklaws have historically been opponents of hunters, Remold does seem to be against knowledge obtained through Big D’s hunts, Brok probably wouldn’t put a lot of time or effort into learning, if previous behaviour is to be believed. Maybe the Blacklaws are anti-intellectual in their history, and D wants to fight them so they can’t dismantle the arcanum or stop hunters by being ignorant. Now, there is a particular lil blue fella that I think bears mentioning, but I would like to discuss that in more detail in its own post, because I think there is a lot to dig into.

Also, quite a while ago I read someone suggest that D in Big D actually stood for Death, as in the rider of the apocalypse, since he does have a horse. This is a neat idea, but I do not know enough about WoD’s story of revelation to be able to discuss it. If this one turns out true, it’d be cool.

For now, thank you for reading this far. As always please let me know your thoughts, and if you are someone who was really engaged with WoD during the original runs, especially Demon the Fallen, please gimme your thoughts. I have a great interest in this setting, but it is very difficult to find info because it was in MANY old books.

As always, good evening.

#fan theory #h:tp #htp #hunter the parenting #hunter: the parenting #htp big d

[irafuwas]

Now that I finished putting up my translations for chapter 1 of Book 7 over on my translation blog, I wanted to come here and jot down some of my thoughts/observations/questions/ramblings I had while going through everything. Putting this under a read more 'cause it contains spoilers.

Anime Girl Lilia doing the "Oh no, I'm late!" bit was perfect

Malleus said he's been alone since long before he hatched from his egg, which provides credence to the idea that his parents had already passed away before he was born

Lilia said the house he raised Silver in was just a vacant home he came across in the woods. So did he have another home in town that he just chose not to live in or something? The guy's a decorated war hero so I would presume he'd have a proper house in the castle town, so why did he choose to raise baby Silver in a random, abandoned home he found in the middle of the forest?

Squatter Lilia confirmed

I think Lilia's weapon that Sebek found while cleaning out Lilia's closet is going to play an important role later in the story. They went of their way to draw up art for it and it was, like, the main focus of a whole episode so I feel they are drawing attention to it for a reason. The special characteristic of this weapon is that the stone blade is adorned with a magic type of metal that changes shape in response to the owner's magical powers. Maybe Silver will take up the sword from/for his Father later on, and it will transform in some way? Possible future Mulan reference?

I haven't been able to puzzle out if Lilia's beloved acorn bracelet is a reference to anything in particular. I can't think of any Disney movies where something like that was featured. Can you guys think of anything? It's literally just a bunch of nasty old acorns tied together with a piece of string, and Lilia said that even Malleus is jealous that Lilia has it.

It's absolutely and positively way too suspicious that Lilia is trying to leave so quickly and suddenly. I feel like whatever secret he's keeping from anyone is about to come to a head and that's why he's trying to exit stage left so quickly. Or maybe if he were to stay with everyone, it would be putting them at risk somehow? Idk I just don't believe his "i'M olD aNd mY mAgiC raN oUT" story for a moment.

I really don't think Malleus himself realizes his own feelings of loneliness. So often, he will say that he's used to being alone and that he prefers it (and he does indeed often split off from groups in order to do his own thing), but I don't he's conceptualized quite yet that yeah, he gets lonely sometimes. I feel his loneliness, and possibly that of the other Diasomnia crew will be the defining theme of this book (Silver's loneliness in his ephemeral humanity, Lilia's loneliness as a broken ex-soldier, and Sebek's loneliness in not having a place to belong in either side of his family (humans fear his fae-nature, and the fae despise his human blood)).

Loved the shoutout to Elsa with Malleus accidentally scaring others with his ice powers and almost turning his home (the castle) into ice forever. If/when he does attempt to prevent the people around him from leaving him behind, I'm now curious if it will purely be a sleeping curse or if his ice powers will also be involved as well? Maybe a combo of the two?

If Malleus is Elsa, who is his Anna?

One of the "rules" for TWST books is that whoever overblotted in the last book will use their Unique Magic to aid the main characters of the next book in someway. All Idia's UM does is just open and close the gate to the underworld, so I'm a bit concerned how that will come into play later on... Could Lilia's story about wanting to go to the Land of Red Dragons just be a cover up, and his true destination is... idk but somebody gonna end up getting trapped in the underworld or something and it better not be Silver 😡

#twst spoilers #lilia vanrouge #twst silver #twst theory #malleus draconia #sebek zigvolt #diasomnia #silver #txt #twisted wonderland

[godsofhumanity]

SUPERNATURAL 1.11 "Scarecrow" | REVIEW

okayyy!!! i am reviewing select episodes from [tumblr].com's favourite show of all time-- Supernatural!! i've watched SPN 30 trillion times, and i just started rewatching it AGAIN, and as a mythology buff, i thought it would be fun to explore the fact vs fiction of some of the episodes :)))

OVERVIEW: Sam and Dean Winchester must defeat an unnamed Vanir god who resides in an orchard and preys on young couples who have been sent as sacrifices by a creepy town.

RATING: 8/10. i liked it!!!! it wasn't unrealistic (i thought at least), the scarecrow was scary. good plot, good ending!

AVAILABLE AT: idk where u can watch this for free sorry. if you have Prime or Binge, or maybe if u live in the US u can watch it on the CW or something

all episodes // next episode

if you haven't seen spn and intend to watch, do not read below unless you want spoilers!!!!!!

if you know more about what i'm gonna write below, please feel free to share or correct me!! ^-^

THINGS I LIKED / FACTS:

good ending 👍i like that the Vanir god actually takes the old couple when he's unable to get Dean and Emily (the niece who nearly gets sacrificed).. i think it's nice because it's brutal-- the old couple didn't imagine that they would end up being the sacrifices themselves but that's the way it went, and i liked how indiscriminate the scarecrow was. he just took anybody.. it was the blood that counted.

related to this-- when the old lady said to Emily, "that's what sacrifice means... giving up something you love for the greater good." that hit really hard i think. family having to sacrifice someone they love is the MOST COMMON trope in mythical stories ever... the gods are always asking for the sacrifice of people precious; see Agamemnon, Artemis, and Iphigenia for instance.

now, i've seen this episode 5 million times, and for some reason i've always thought that the god specific in this episode was Freyr??? but upon rewatching, Freyr is never explicitly mentioned, only that the god is a Vanir.

given that the townspeople are asking for the town to be fertile and their crops to grow despite the bad weather, i think selecting a Vanir god did make sense-- the Vanir are typically associated with prosperity and wealth. Freyja & Freyr, perhaps the most well known Vanir, together are responsible for good weather, gold, peace, beauty, fertility, etc., so i think that part checked out.

ok so let's talk about sacrifice first.

blood sacrifice was central part of the Norse religion- blót was the practice of killing animals (and sometimes humans) and splattering it over people, buildings, stones, etc. to get blessings.

analysis of animal bones dating back to this time period also suggest that oxen were specifically killed at the neck so that blood could spurt out like a fountain for the purpose of blót, which i thought was pretty interesting.

now. the human sacrifice.

the Vikings didn't really keep written records of their rituals and practices, so most of what we know is gathered from Christian-era writers, and as a result, we have to take some things with a grain of salt because those writings can be biased.

but, one guy who i keep seeing is brought up is Adam of Bremen. Mr. Bremen was a German medieval chronicler in the early 11th century, and in one of his works (Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum), he writes that at the Temple of Uppsala (a large Norse temple dedicated to Thor, Odin, and Freyr):

The sacrifice is of this nature: of every living thing that is male, they offer nine heads, with the blood of which it is customary to placate gods of this sort. The bodies they hang in the sacred grove that adjoins the temple... Even dogs and horses hang there with men. (read more)

now, even though Mr. Bremen wasn't actually there to witness this, lots of people accept his version of events because they're highly detailed.. maybe the most detailed records we have of what went down for the Vikings in terms of ritual practices.

so, as far as accuracy goes so far, there isn't much about sacrificing a man and a woman together annually to appease any of the Vanir, but i don't think the idea is too far-fetched given the existence of the blót as a real tradition.

BUT. i did find something else.

Mr. Bremen also writes about a disturbing practice in which men were thrown down a well to drown alive in the hopes that townsfolk would receive wishes.

a note in Mr. Bremen's writings describes a large tree that was always in season regardless of it being Winter or Summer or Spring.. hmm...... that's a bit eerie.

Near this temple stands a very large tree with wide-spreading branches, always green winter and summer. What kind it is nobody knows. There is also a well at which the pagans are accustomed to make their sacrifices and to plunge a live man into it. If he is not found, the people’s wish will be granted.

i think this tree could be where the SPN got the idea of "if you burn down the central tree, the Vanir god will die too".

AND. there's also this idea of "if you don't make the sacrifice, your wishes won't come true".. which i think is exactly the idea that the townsfolk in this episode were following.

regarding the well sacrifices-- wells in Trelleborg, Sweden was discovered to contain the bones of both animals and children as young as 4 years old which seems to agree with Adam's account of the well ritual.

anyways. to conclude. this episode is not solid in facts, but it's not utterly ridiculous either. i think they did a decent job trying to tie fact with fiction, and of course, at the end of the day, the show intends to entertain not inform.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:

i feel like there could have been more Norse references idk.

there were markings on the central tree that Sam and Dean burned down, and i THINK that the mayor guy (Uncle Harley) had a ring that matched the runes/pattern on the tree?? but the lighting from these early episodes was so gloomy and dark it was difficult to see.

i also wish they had actually named who the scarecrow was :((

PLEASE RELEASE SOME DEVELOPMENT NOTES FROM THIS EPISODE @ SPN WRITING TEAM.

#long post #review #spn #supernatural

[galacticlamps]

ooooh I'm VERY interested in hearing about second nature (I'm assuming this is the human nature au? if so I LOVE the title that's so clever)!! also 6th time's the charm and the 29th fic in your big document if you like o:

wip tag game!

(descriptions posts above the cut, excerpts below it)

second nature is indeed my human nature au - as in, literally a spin on those episodes (I haven’t read the book) & not just a chameleon arch humandoctor story, so the basic description of Two, Jamie, & Zoe being on the run from the Family of Blood and winding up hiding out at an early 20th century English boarding school with Professor John Smith is as you'd expect it to be. That’s probably about the extent of the plot similarities though, since it’s also a get-together fic primarily about the relationships between the 3 main characters.

I just realized "6th time's the charm" probably sounds like a satisfying conclusion to some adorable 5 + 1, but no, instead it's a reference to the fact that 5 other documents in that list are attempts at writing the same story, and that particular doc's version of it hasn't been touched in over a year now (whoops), but I’ll post a little piece of it anyway. It varies between being multi-chapter or a one-shot and between perspectives, but it’s basically a fic in which Two & Jamie have managed to go quite a long time without actually talking about their feelings, Jamie’s certain they should, the Doctor’s convinced they shouldn’t, and the eventual result is a kind of forced confession.

In the list, 29 is set in season 5, with the description “the doctor saves jamie with time lord regeneration energy. they aren't sure if they can leave because of it” - I actually really like this one, I just know I have some big parts of the plot to finalize before I could really work on it seriously

Second Nature:

Picking one piece of this was really hard but let’s go with this bit from what should be the second chapter, since that doesn’t really require context:

Zoe studied the Doctor's unconscious face thoughtfully. "Do you think I could pass for his daughter?"

"Hm? Oh, I don't know - I'm no good at that sort of thing. Your hair's similar?" he ventured.

"Thanks, Jamie,” she rolled her eyes.

"Yours is neater,” he added quickly.

"I should hope so, seeing as I have actually been known to brush it on occasion."

"But wouldn't a lie that big be kind of difficult? I mean, if you're his daughter that would mean he should remember your whole life growin’ up, and your mother and you bein’ born. The Doctor said he'd just go along with most things, makin’ up memories that make things make sense but . . . I don’t know, that's an awful lot to not really remember about a person, isn't it?"

"I suppose. And then, I'd be expected to know anything he can't recall, and to refer to all the right places and things he invents for himself in his past. . . You’re right, it’s probably not the best explanation for my being here."

"Probably not." Jamie wasn’t sure what would be, but he didn't think he could pull off pretending the Doctor was his father for three minutes let alone months, so he was especially invested in having Zoe come up with a different cover story for them both. She seemed stuck on it though.

"Perhaps I could be adopted, and recently? I can say I'm a little younger than I am, and if he's been a teacher, maybe I was one of his students, and I lost my family, and we got on really well so he took me in? How's that sound?"

"Och, I don't know,” Jamie shook his head, defeated. “It might work."

"I think I ought to say I'm an orphan either way,” Zoe continued, unfazed. “It’s close enough to the truth, I suppose, since I never really knew my family before going away to the institute, and it saves me having to invent existing relations." She sighed and kicked up her feet so they dangled over the edge of the front seat of the cart. Jamie put an arm out and pushed her back protectively even though he knew she was fine. "Oh, I would so like to say I'm here to teach at the school with him or something like that, but I don't think they'd let women teach boys here, at least not one my age."

from 6th time’s the charm:

“. . . and, anyway, Jamie’s anxious to get a look at some of their nicer resorts, aren’t you, Jamie?” They both turned to him then, and while Jamie could tell Zoe had read the room well enough to know that was more than half a lie, she still looked intrigued. It was the Doctor, however, that put the nail in the coffin on Jamie’s protests, staring at him so hopefully, like a child on Christmas morning. No matter how many trips they made – and no matter how disappointing any of them proved, he was always so determined to be excited about the next one. And Jamie could hardly blame him for that, what with it being one of those things that made his heart thrill and his cheeks blush and Zoe remind him wasn’t there something you said you’d discuss with the Doctor?

“Oh, aye, sure,” he agreed, rolling his eyes, but even the Doctor’s persistence had come to be endearing. It was one of the many things Jamie loved him for, he knew, and just because he hadn’t quite gotten up the nerve to ever tell the Doctor as much didn’t make it any less true.

29. Here’s a chunk of the first scene of actual dialogue I wrote for it, after making notes on the premise & context (sorry it’s so long & so light on both punctuation  & narration, that’s how most of my wips start out, & bc of that I figured it'd make even less sense if I gave you a shorter piece):

Jamie! Good to see you up and about but maybe it'd be better if-- I feel fine And I'm very glad to hear that but still, a little precaution never-- I feel great Really? I know I feel much better than I've any right to Ah. Well you see, the ah, the medical assessment, initially, last night, may not-- You did something to me, didn't you? Saved my life? Jamie, I-- You did, I know you did. I didn't understand it when it was happening - still don't, really - but now I know you can do something-- Jamie, keep your voice down! Only I never saw you do anything like that before. So why is that? It's dangerous, isn't it, what ye did? That's why ye don't do it all the time? It's . . . complicated, Jamie-- Complicated? I've seen I don't know how many people die in front of us and never seen you even try to do a thing like that to save any of them before, and now you tell me you couldn't because it was complicated?? Complicated to explain precisely why it's dangerous, Jamie, please. Sit - if, if you can comfortably, that is. Oh. Aye, of course I can. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt better in my life. the Doctor only nodded evasively at the ground as Jamie sat on the edge of the sofa opposite him & leaned forward conspiratorially, his elbows on his knees Alright, it's complicated to explain - but start with this - is it dangerous to me or dangerous to you? To both of us. And to Victoria. Victoria? And to Ben, and Polly, and for that matter to Kirsty and Colin McLaren and to a hundred other people you haven't-- How in the world can it be a danger to all those-- It's very hard to explain, Jamie. In fact, part of the explanation could add to the danger too. Jame sat back. He’d been with the Doctor long enough to know there were plenty of things he didn’t tell him, but some were things he knew he wished he could, information he didn’t feel safe sharing however much he'd like to. There were a very few topics it all tended to connect back to, and given the situation, it didn’t take long for him to guess which one it was this time. It's to do with your own people, then. the Doctor shrugged helplessly, as if convincing himself he wasn't saying anything that wasn't already obvious. Well, it would have to be, wouldn't it? he suggested in a thin voice, almost wincing away from his own words. Jamie's heart ached at seeing how pained such a small admission made him, but his pulse quickened too, and there were some facts he needed to know before he could leave it be. And for whatever reason I'm guessin you're not supposed to do what you did to me last night? the Doctor nodded jerkily, not meeting Jamie's eyes. You might put it that way, yes. And it - he couldn't help but glance incredulously down at his own hand laying unassuming, palm-up in his lap; even he wouldn't know, just to look at it, that the Doctor had squeezed it so tightly in both of his own last night until all three had glowed a blinding gold - except, of course, for the fact that it didn't belong to a dead man this morning. but there were people more perceptive than he in the wide universe  - it leaves traces? Yes, it does And if those traces are used to find us... he knew when and when not to bother with details. We should leave he stood up abruptly. The Doctor rose too catching him by the elbow They have time travel too, Jamie. That wouldn't make it better How not? If they've noticed the trace - and they might not, but if they have - then watching it move through time and space irregularly would be the final confirmation on what had happened That you used your... abilities to save me? Or a - one of my people - to save a human, yes Aye, and? And that would not be taken lightly by anyone Alright, and the alternative? Well, if we stay put for a while, the Doctor explained slowly, releasing the hold on his arm at last, behave in a spatially and temporally standard way, then, possibly it'll be given up on as a blip on the radar. A mistake. Somehow Jamie was quiet a long time How long will it take the trace to wear off? I've no idea Doctor? Well, I've never done that before! So why do it now? Because the risk was too-- How? How was this risk worth it when you've just said all the things it endangers? God, Doctor am I even gonna be able to-- he blanched, suddenly, and the doctor knew his thoughts before he spoke them Am I gonna be able to come with you when you leave here?

#wip stuff #again so sorry that last one's so long #thank you for the ask!

[tobirama-seppuku]

Okay I finished hxh. Final thoughts under the cut. Tw for lots of blood and anime death gifs

I'm not fully satisfied w the ending. I think they meant to continue the series for much longer.

I mean, Gon and Killua's stories were wrapped up beautifully--I fucking love Alluka actually she has an adorable relationship with her brother, glad she's no longer a Fucking Prisoner--they don't need anything else, they were wrapped up perfectly. Even if I still think Gon should've punched the shit out of Ging that boy needs to APOLOGIZE for abandoning his son actually. But. I feel like. They could've done more with Kurapika and Leorio, you know? Especially Leorio. Comic relief character aside I think they could've given him an actual arc rather than him being stuck as a really good conman who knows his way around financial roadblocks with a heartwarming backstory. I think Kurapika's story could've been continued as well, with the Phantom Troupe still very much alive and wreaking havoc and his ultimate goal of collecting his clan's remains being continued offscreen, his friends unable to contact him because of his tunnel vision. They set up so much right before the ending that I think they truly had the potential to keep it going naturally for longer! Like, it hadn't reached the point of series burnout, I don't think. Yes, it REALLY FUCKING DRAGGED at parts, god I never want to binge this again purely because of the chimera ant arc being so fucking extended, but there are some really good parts of this series that I'd love to recommend people watch for if it weren't for the times where it lost its speed. You want to tell me that like 20 episodes in the ant arc were condensed into 3 in-universe minutes? Fuck offffff. But like. Ugh. Maybe it's just because I watched the remaster instead of the original 144p version made forever ago but there was still things I believe they could have done

Its biggest strength to me was that it made psychology actually work with the story. They understand the concept of mental fortitude and the human being's mental limits. There were several very real and very visceral breakdowns onscreen, human anguish and terror beautifully conveyed in a way a lot of series can't replicate while having a fucking magic system like this one. There were some scenes that were so gut-wrenching I really broke out in a sweat. It's captivating. I mean, the effect really isn't there if you haven't watched the series itself but it REALLY squeezes your heart because this is a fucking 12yo kid who doesn't know what to fucking do to help his friend in such a deep pit of despair and vitriol he doesn't even resemble the same person anymore. It's awful, it's hard to watch, and it's so well done it's incredible

One thing I didn't get is how it got so morbid and serious at parts but came across as a feel-good family-friendly anime the rest of the time. There were parts that got so fucking real and horrific-- IT'S LIKE

NOT TO MENTION child neglect and abandonment, selling human parts on the black market, cannibalism, mass human consumption, extreme poverty & capitalism, mafias & gangs, and the main character going so far beyond his physical limits that he turns into a burnt, mummified corpse on LIFE SUPPORT AT AGE 12

There are onscreen deaths the likes of which are so disgusting it's impossible to imagine the pain of. The sound design makes you sick sometimes. People are turned into meatballs,

they're wrung to death with blood painting the walls,

they're shot like 10 times and eaten piece by piece by inhuman creatures to where all that's left is a puddle of blood on the ground,

their heads are crushed with this sick, disgusting crunching sound that makes you flinch,

heads are removed every other fight scene,

necks are snapped faster and more often than you can humanly process,

and one character got punched in the face until their skull was so caved in it was actually literally just a puddle of blood splattered on the ground which I can't even FIND A GIF OF because it's such a low point for Gon that the community doesn't want to acknowledge it happened. He attributed to one of the most gruesome deaths in the series because he was so blinded by rage that he verged on inhuman. It was awful.

Maybe I'm just bitching because my binge is over idk but I really feel like there was meant to be more content or that the writers were throttled in what they could show and say. I feel like they were held back from going all of the way in either direction, maybe because the main characters were such young kids that they would inevitably attract a young audience, and didn't want backlash from parents. It's hard to pinpoint but someone decided not to go all-out and it caused this effect where it gets so close to rated R but just barely skims by because the dialogue is simple due to it being that of tweens and teens. It's almost fascinating. Idk but that concludes my thoughts on the whole thing

#Youtube

[adviceontheedge]

Advice on the Edge, Episode One

Note: The following opinions are from fictional characters, and neither they nor I bear any responsibility for the authenticity, accuracy, or intention of claims and counsel. In fact, I advise you totally ignore their advice and use your own best judgment.

This week’s contributors are Mariot (from Legacy of Seconds), Franklin (from Odin’s Tillit), Time Sneak (from Time Sneak: Emergence), and Raf (from Terraform Charlie).

The question is from Becky (thank you, Becky):

Should I dress provocatively or conservatively on a first date?

Mariot Ghan elegantly moves a strand of red hair from her cyclops and runs her hands down her chest to her waist. She then eyeballs me like I’m a three-layer cake she is about to devour before speaking.

“You have to ask yourself, Becky, do you want to get laid or not? As for me, I dress however I want, and whether I wear a low-cut blouse or a potato sack, that guy will want to bang me until next Tuesday, if he should be so lucky. But then again, I am the hottest and most desired woman on the planet. Now, chances are you don’t have my amazing body, ginger awesomeness, and skin to die for but do use your assets to their maximum potential. Or, alternatively, get him in a dark and quiet place and grab him by the junk; he will come around.”

“Ah, thanks for that, Mariot, or “Riot,” as your friends call you.”

Please note: Riot is insatiable and a clone.

Franklin Daring wipes the sweat off his bulbous balding head and chimes in:

“Oh, toot, toot! I both love and hate this question, Brandy! Honestly, I don’t give a shit. Well, maybe I do. I remember a first date with this fine southern gal named Sue. She reminded me of my mother but with my cousin Randy’s peach fuzz. Her upper lip stayed white from the milk she was drinking for far too long, but no biggie, for I couldn’t keep my eyes off her tremendous rack, toot, toot. I’ve always been a tits guy, so be “daring,” I say, for I am Franklin Daring by name, daring by nature.”

“You certainly are daring, Franklin (looking away eye roll).”

Note: I’ve learned to appease Franklin, for if he senses you don’t like him, he may gut you like a pig.

“By the way, Franklin, whatever happened to Becky?”

“She married my cousin Randy. They met and fell in love at a family reunion, toot, toot.”

Say what you will about the Darings; they are a tight-knit family.

“How about you, Raf?”

The enormous white raven jumped from side to side on his limb, then sat motionless, clearly pondering the question.

“What the awwhhk is first date?!”

“Basically, the first encounter with another to see if they might be a good mate.”

“Mate, mate! Ravens, no clokes, no clokes!”

“Yes, you are right, of course, Raf. However, I will pose the question differently. Should a raven do anything special to attract a mate?”

“We uck in flight, uck in flight, so best she can fly!”

“Ah, okay.”

“Raf horny now, must go.”

Raf winged off before I could say goodbye.

Time Sneak arrived today, animating the body of Donald Trump.

“Fake tits, that’s all we have to say.”

“Oh, come now, Lord of the Greyworld Faces, surely you can do better than that for Becky?”

Agitated, the depends-able, orange-topped septuagenarian morphed into a cloud, with fylfots mostly disguising a cold black sinister snake eye.

“Becky, another useless human,” came the words into my brain, which was the manner of the fifth-dimension entity’s communication to mere mortals in his original form.

“You say that about everyone, your highness.”

The cutting edge of a swastika grazed my neck, and I swallowed hard.

“In our realm, we don’t date; we take.”

“Kind of takes the fun and romance out of it, doesn’t it?”

A finger of cloud knocked my cap off.

“Fun is incorporating the essence of a being and giving it meaning, a meaning that far surpasses anything a bag of flesh and blood and bone might otherwise attain.”

“With all due respect, I don’t think your advice will help Becky.”

“Perhaps, not, but it doesn’t matter, for my friend, Clutch, already invited her to play.”

Oh, shit.

Becky, if you’re still out there and haven’t been possessed by a one-eyed, hideous being, I advise you to dress however you want. Be confident, for that, and intelligence are truly sexy.

#science #fiction #books and reading

[heytherejulietx]

honestly i was pretty much the same! i was able to go to the proms in 2008 — it was amazing!! i was also lucky enough to go and see this thing, i’m not exactly sure what it was but it basically had all the monsters, costumes etc of doctor who & you could get a photo in the tardis. which was 9 year old me’s dream!!

torchwood doesn’t really follow any doctor specifically, like they’re mentioned; but no doctor ever appears on the show — i haven’t seen miracle day so i could be wrong. but practically you could insert any doctor in there.

as for amy & eleven, they basically allowed me to have my bisexual awakening. love that for them!! eleven is also my favourite, closely followed by nine — because nine was my first! and without nine this incredible show wouldn’t even exist; so people that skip him infuriate me.

in terms of ten, this is probably gonna be an unpopular opinion… definitely is, but he’s like second to bottom for me. just because he can be so insensitive sometimes, especially towards martha… not even in the unreciprocated love way, but like the historical racism thing… “just walk around like you own the place.” tf you mean?? my beloved can be racially attacked or worse.

but my favourite two parters come from ten: silence in the library/forest of the dead & human nature/the family of blood.

did you end up seeing the small short p.s? unbelievably i’ve only seen it recently and it’s so beautifully written but should be criminal with how much it plays on the heart strings. <3 - 👼

YOU WENT TO THE 2008 PROMS OMG YOU’RE SO LUCKY!!!! i’d love to experience the music in person it looks absolutely incredible im glad you had such a good time!!!

i know torchwood is like a higher age rating than doctor who and i do plan on watching it eventually for sure. maybe when my doctor who kick fully comes back when the show does later this year :)

NO BECAUSE SAME OMG amy was probably part of my bisexual awakening and i never even realised it omg. same with river though tbh. and eleven just owns my heart he’s just so incredible 🥰 he will always be my absolute favourite. nine was so good!!! his talent is phenomenal tbh and his whole season i won’t skip any episodes they’re all too good. i think my second favourite doctor must be twelve though, especially for the twelve/clara plotline. also we got missy who i absolutely love so much

i love ten but i always feel so sorry for martha :( i hated how her character was just used as another love interest for the doctor because she turned out to be arguably the strongest companion the doctor ever had and her potential was wasted on her unrequited love for the doctor, and the episodes with the master show that because martha did EVERYTHING and it wasn’t really touched on again??? that being said, ten/donna is one of my favourite dynamics of the show and i think that’s my best ten season.

HUMAN NATURE / FAMILY OF BLOOD OHHHH MY GOD WHAT AN AMAZING DOUBLE EPISODE. i rewatched doctor who from 9 pretty recently when i finally watched all of 13 and oh my god family of blood made me cry so much. david tennant’s acting in that episode is phenomenal i really felt for john smith :( and the silence in the library double will always be one of the best things of the show. ESPECIALLY because it sets up arguably the best written plotline of the show; river’s story.

and i don’t think i have seen that?? i’ll have to check it out ty for letting me know :)

also omg i’m so sorry i got to this ask a day late if i answered last night i would’ve been too tired and my reply would have been so bad LMAO

#amber’s asks #👼 anon #doctor who

[gingerteaonthetardis]

What's an episode you think would have been better with Rose or that you could see Rose enjoying?

okay, this is maybe a cop out, but i have spent an absurd amount of brainpower wishing there was a way to write rose into some of the eighth doctor's audios. like, when he and charley fuck off into the divergent universe, i would give my whole life for dimension-hopping rose to also have accidentally punched her way through into this weird ass hell dimension and the three of them (plus c'rizz, when he shows up) have to find their way out while charley and rose bicker their way into being besties. particularly, i want to see her in caerdroia trying to wrangle one of eight's alternate selves. i think about it constantly.

as far as actual tv episodes go, i have loads i'd love to see her in, but i specifically would like to see:

- rose reacting to "the moon is an egg" (kill the moon)

- rose in period wear again (the haunting of villa diodati, maybe, or thin ice)

- rose losing her whole entire mind when she realizes jack is the face of boe and immediately launching into "but he's just a head!!! where does his body go???" (last of the time lords)

- rose getting her heist movie antics on (time heist)

- rose just obliterating the narrative requirement for nurse redfern and working alongside martha as a maid (human nature/family of blood)

- rose's presence constituting a complete rewrite of r*ver's character, starting from silence in the library/forest of the dead, so this poor woman can just be a badass archaeologist instead of a fucked plot device

- frankly, i want rose in any episode with the weeping angels, bc i think it's a shame that we never get to see her interact with them (so... blink, time of the angels/flesh and stone, the angels take manhattan, etc.)

- rose getting to dress like a pirate (curse of the black spot, basically for that reason only, i remember nothing about the episode except pirate outfits)

- rose reacting to her girlfriend eating soil/trying to keep the doc from getting a new pet in the form of a sentient frog (it takes you away)

- rose simply hanging out with bill (ANY EPISODES. ALL EPISODES)

anyway, i'm rambling on, you get the point!

#this was so fun to answer omg #thanks for the ask! #moongoddesskiana #abbey.txt #dw #rose tyler

[you-cant-spell-subtext-without]

ahdflksjaklf;jsls ok buddies - I hate talking about 14x13: Lebanon, but it has relevancy in the “John Winchester is a villain and cannot and should not be redeemed” discourse as well as being a crucial piece of finale denialist lore so I Have Been Thinking About It Too Much.

As you may recall, the Occult Object of the Week - the pearl - in Lebanon is supposed to grant Dean’s “heart’s desire.” Dean and Sam are Very Sure this means expelling Michael (the Dean Winchester Must Be Saved installment of season 14) (honestly that premise always seemed a little slim to me, I was hoping for Dean’s heart’s desire to be Cas, on Dean’s car, naked, covered in bees). 

Instead they summon Dad of the Year, which at first feels infuriating.  However after discussion with my earworms, I Have Fixed It (and also turned it into a grenade to launch at 15x20.)

Finale denialists and John Winchester derogatorians ASSEMBLE! and let’s discuss after the cut.

I’ve written in depth about Dean’s struggles with the cycle of abuse, so I won’t go too far into it here, but if you want to revisit any of that meta this is a good place to begin.  This post hinges on the same theory - that Dean’s true freedom is established in his release from that cycle - that is the logical outcome of any hero’s journey for him, and where he would finally be able to accept happiness and love.  This logically would also make release from the cycle of abuse and the feelings of self-hatred Dean struggles with his “heart’s desire” for purposes of the pearl.  When it comes to emotions, we also know Dean doesn’t deal with them well.  He punches things instead.  So odds are, Dean hasn’t really worked through these feelings.  

Dean also mentions when John returns that “it was what [Dean] wanted since he was 4″ - when they lost Mary, right before John became obsessed with revenge.  Season 12 Mary canonically remembers John as a “good dad,” so we can draw a line from that to the abuse really starting shortly after her death.  This is also corroborated by Dean himself:

DEAN: You know when you died, it changed Dad. 

(A visual of the John Mary remembers) (just my excuse to put pictures of Matt Cohen on your dash) (I shouldn’t need an excuse) (Matt Cohen hi you are on Tumblr please don’t read any of this I’m embarrassed).

So what Dean has is pre-Mary’s-death John and post-Mary’s-death John, post-Mary’s-death John being the one whose abuse created Dean’s own damaged persona.  Dean thinks the fix is to stop things on the front end (he is ignoring any process-centered solution, he just wants it to never have happened, he is in denial that he has to work through this and just wants it to be erased, etc etc etc).  

***also keep in mind that going back in time to change things on the front end as a “fix it” is a storyline SPN repeats regularly***

***and it always ends up being impossible to do*** 

Ok so for Dean, his damage/anger/brutal nature/darkness is always linked to John, and this cycle “began” for Dean once their family was torn apart by Mary’s death.  So the fix is his “blood family” together.  That’s his heart’s desire in Lebanon because Dean hasn’t really worked through any of his emotions, and it’s his very Dean way of fixing it - “oh if my family gets put back together I will be put back together too.”

***speaking of quick fixes, I’d like to note that any case in SPN that is referred to as a “milk run”  inevitably becomes complicated and messy***

***continuing the thematics of there’s no such thing as a quick fix***

This is no different.  Stopping the cycle by simply erasing it from the narrative erases anything else that happened along the way during the journey.  It erases this Mary (who they know as a person by this point and not just the mom on a pedestal) 

and (most importantly) it erases this Cas (the episode specifically replaces Cas with one who Doesn’t Know Dean).

We Emphasize This Of Course In The Dialogue In Case You Missed It

DEAN Cas, you know us. ALTERNATE CAS I don’t know you.

***Simply erasing the origin of Dean’s trauma erases all of Dean’s growth.  It erases this family that Dean is so proud to tell John he has now. It erases everything he has already overcome despite how hard it was to achieve it.

So, John goes back.  In that way, the pearl does give Dean his heart’s desire - his realization that this is not about a quick fix, it is about the journey to the good, and all you gain and become along the way (kind of similar to “Happiness isn't in the having. It's in just being. It's in just saying it" eh?).  it’s the process.  It’s every moment along the way.  It’s the people who help him get there.

And then he starts the healing journey by taking control of his own life, by owning his feelings instead of displacing the blame, by recognizing he is NOT guided solely by the actions of his father and this cycle:

DEAN

And for the longest time, I blamed Dad. I mean, hell, I blamed Mom, too, you know? I was angry. But say we could send Dad back knowing everything. Why stop there? Why not send him even further back and let some other poor sons of bitches save the world? But here’s the problem. Who does that make us? Would we be better off? Well, maybe. But I gotta be honest – I don’t know who that Dean Winchester is.

And the episode fucking ends with Cas, the Cas Who Knows Them coming into the bunker and asking them what happened, calling each of them by name just to emphasize again That He Knows Them, because Cas knowing Dean, and Cas being Dean’s family is the cornerstone of what Dean’s heart desires.

[CAS walks in from the door at the top of the stairs. SAM, DEAN and MARY walk out from the library to see him.]

CAS Mary, Sam, Dean. What happened?

So yeah, it took 14 damn seasons but Lebanon is where Dean realizes he can be defined by more than the acts of his father.  (That’s why it’s so terrifying for Dean when Chuck snatches back any control he gained in Season 15.  Because for Dean, Chuck is just John Winchester Controls My Every Action all over again, except he’s God which makes it even worse.) 

That’s also why the final blow to Chuck is not Dean killing him. 

The last stage in the journey that begins here with Dean’s “I’m good with who I am” - [I’m still bad and dark and damaged but I’m good with it]

is Dean’s “that’s not who I am.” [the most caring man on Earth; the most selfless, loving human being I will ever know]

Thats equally why 15x18 is so brilliant, 15x19 is at least acceptable, and 15x20 simply does. not. work.

Dean Winchester’s perfect heaven cannot possibly center on the blood family.  It does not have John Winchester and Mary, husband and wife, who took away his own free will.  It is THIS FAMILY.  The found family.  Cas and Jack and Sam and the Mary that was resurrected.  Dean’s entire character arc supports this journey, and to have it culminate in something that is so established in the season prior to this one as something Dean knows he no longer wants is maddening.

I’m even more mad now because I just remembered that the most prominent picture above Dying Sam’s bed was the blood family portrait from this episode; almost like they wanted us to remember this particular stupid lesson.  This show is so stupid when it could have been so so so very good.

***I want to say thanks again to all of you who read my spiraling if you got this far.  It’s therapeutic for me to do it, but it makes it all the better that people actually read it.  Seeing you in my notes MAKES my entire day****

#seriously im feral again #spn #spn meta #Lebanon #John Winchester is a trash heap #spn 14x13 #destiel #found family #spn fandom #spn family #Dean Winchester analysis #somebody help me im spiraling back into finale denialist rage #deancas #found family forever #supernatural is a show #but it is also a way of life #just my daily therapy of psychoanalyzing Dean Winchester #somebody come get me I have officially entirely gone mad #15x20 sucks and this is why #destiel hivemind Meet the Parents #myspnmeta

[impalementation]

spike, angel, buffy & romanticism: part 4

part 1: “When you kiss me I want to die”: Angel and the high school seasons

part 2: “Love isn’t brains, children”: Enter Spike as the id

part 3: “Something effulgent”: Season five and the construction of Spike the romantic

* 

“But I can’t fool myself. Or Spike, for some reason.”: Buffy and Spike as a blended self

Before I get into seasons six and seven, it’s worth asking: why would the show do all of this? Why would it spend all of this time developing a supporting villain and joke id character? Why would it give him a romantic arc? I see people say that the writers only gave Spike these storylines because he was popular or they wanted to keep him around, but even that being the case, there was no need to give him the specific arc that they did. It’s more than possible to read meaning into the story that they chose from the array of possible options. 

Here is the thing about the id. It’s not actually something separate from you. It’s not a ravenous monster you can blame your weaknesses on while remaining pure and dignified. The id is part of you. The immediate and enduring appeal of Spike is, I suspect, strongly influenced by the fact that the things the id wants are so very human and sympathetic. His foibles and mistakes are often painfully familiar, even exaggerated through vampirism as they are. In fact, it’s precisely because Spike is allowed to show a full range of reactions to love, because the writing is under less pressure for him to do the “right” or dignified thing, that he can at times be compelling in ways other characters can’t. If Spike just did nasty things, his appeal wouldn’t be much more complicated than the appeal of Angelus, who people tend to like as a villain or storyline rather than as a relatable character. But Spike doesn’t want to dismember nuns or construct elaborate murder tableaux. He wants familiar things like love, identity and meaning, even if the ways he goes about getting them can reflect people’s worst impulses. 

Which brings us to Buffy, and Buffy’s story about growing up. Buffy is Buffy’s show, which means that every writing choice tends to revolve around her arc in one way or another. And this goes for Spike’s storyline even more than most. In the final three seasons of the show, the writing finally engages with how inextricable the id--and all of its impulsive, inarticulate romantic desires--really is from a person’s self. So instead of keeping Spike at a comfortable distance, both Buffy and the writing begin to take him seriously. They begin to invite him in.

Starting in season five, it’s telling how frequently Buffy herself projects on Spike, rather than just the writing setting them up as mirrors. She tells him that he’s the “only one strong enough” to protect her family, and later assigns Dawn specifically to his protection. In “Spiral” she describes him as “the only one besides me that has any chance of protecting Dawn.” This is a very intimate role that she otherwise only assigns to herself (and which is not really based on pure practicality, considering that she’ll later describe Willow as her “big gun”--yet never gives Willow the task of protecting Dawn). She tells him that he cannot love, which is the thing she fears most about herself. Her protests that Spike is a vampire, and thus cannot express or want human things like love, mirror her lamentations that as the Slayer, she cannot have a normal life.

From the Gilliland Gothic double essay:

More than any of her other lovers, Buffy and Spike overlap one another so often that at times their character arcs become nearly indistinguishable. With Angel, Buffy traveled a parallel path in attempting to master self-control. With Riley, her journey ultimately took her in the opposite direction. With Spike, Buffy’s journey is most closely shadowed, in that her interactions with him in many ways can be seen as metaphors for her feelings about herself.

So now Spike is multiple things. On the one hand, he’s the soulless id he’s been since season two. His vampiric behavior represents a morally uninhibited way of reacting to romantic frustrations, among other things. But on the other hand, his vampirism now also marks him as like Buffy, not merely her opposite.* Nor is he only her mirror in the realm of romantic love. The part of him that is a vampire is the part of him that is supernatural (ie, Romantically larger-than-life), that sets him apart from regular people, and dictates how he can and cannot behave. Just like Buffy’s slayerness. His vampirism is what makes him capable of protecting Dawn, while also making him (supposedly, according to Buffy) incapable of human feeling--again, just like Buffy’s slayerness. Instead of Buffy’s Slayer side being aligned with Angelus, who was an unmitigated evil, it becomes aligned with Spike, who is something more complicated. 

*(Though it must be noted that this was a process that began in season four, with the show aligning Spike with the Scoobies by making him a victim of the Initiative. Spike being supernatural suddenly marks him as non-normative, just like the Scoobies, in contrast to the institutional conformity that the Initiative represents. The evolution towards treating the Romantic supernatural as something positive and associated with identity plays a key role in transitioning the show to the more complicated attitudes of the last three seasons.)

This shift in the show’s attitudes towards the id affects how Spike is used. In “Blood Ties” for example, Spike assists Dawn in breaking into the Magic Shop and in “Forever” he helps Dawn resurrect her and Buffy’s mother. In both cases, Spike could be read as embodying impulsive behavior that Buffy is supposed to be better than. Yet both cases specifically involve Spike helping Dawn, who is repeatedly portrayed as Buffy’s human side. As Buffy says in “The Gift”: “[Dawn]’s more than [my sister]. She’s me. The monks made her out of me. [...] Dawn is a part of me. The only part that I--”. In other words, Buffy’s id becomes closely tied to her humanity, even going so far as to become its safeguard. “Blood Ties” ends with Buffy affirming her connection to Dawn, which Spike’s rule-breaking directly enabled, and “Forever” ends with Buffy acknowledging how desperately she wants her mother back too, and becoming closer to Dawn as a result. (Compare to “Lovers Walk”, where Buffy acknowledging her id results in her breaking away from Angel, not drawing closer to anyone). Or in “Intervention”, Spike building the Buffybot directly parallels Buffy’s own anxieties about what she thinks she should be. She thinks she’s losing her ability to love, and that effusive fakery is her only recourse (as she said in “I Was Made to Love You”: “Maybe I could change. [...] I could spend less time slaying, I could laugh at his jokes. I mean men like that right? The joke laughing at?”), a fear that even has some merit, given that her friends cannot tell her and the bot apart. Instead of Buffy and Spike having separate arcs in the episode, Spike learning the difference between real and fake dovetails with Buffy’s own relationship to her realness and fakeness. It turns out that neither of them want a bot version of Buffy. They want real emotion, things like sacrifice and heartfelt gratitude. If even Buffy’s id would let itself be killed for Dawn, then maybe she has nothing to fear from herself. Maybe there is some beauty in the emotional part of her nature that she thinks she must repress.

In other words, part of the writing (and Buffy) fully engaging with romanticism and the id, means engaging with the ways they can be bad and good. There’s this weird thing that happens with Spike as soon as he falls in love with Buffy, where suddenly his actions are more uncomfortable, and to many, off-putting, because their object is Buffy (instead of another vampire like Harmony or Drusilla, who either enjoy the same vampiric things he does, or the audience might be inclined to see as a moral nonentity regardless). His comic id quality becomes somewhat darker and more serious, almost like the way Angel’s early season two darkness becomes more serious after he loses his soul. But at the same time, Spike’s actions are also more intriguing, sympathetic, and even noble...because their object is Buffy. It makes no sense that a soulless vampire should not only fall in love with the Slayer, but genuinely attempt to transform himself into someone worthy of her love. And yet that’s exactly what Buffy inspires him to do. By loving Buffy Spike’s dual nature, and the dual nature of his romanticism, is thrown into relief: it’s something that can be selfish and creepy, yes, but also something that hints at the idea that real romanticism does exist. Something worth feeling romantically about does exist. Thus the writing can at once criticize, say, the way the chivalric mindset conflates love and suffering, while also suggesting that there are kinds of love it’s worth being transformed by. (Meanwhile, Spike’s fumbling bewilderment over how to love Buffy, and what the rules of loving people correctly even are, creates a human middle ground between monstrousness and heroism). By leaning into the way that Buffy and Spike have been used as mirrors for three seasons, and introducing the mythology-bending idea of Spike being in love with Buffy, the writing is able to fully engage with this complicated, contradictory nature of love and romance.

All of which is to say. Spike becomes a potential love interest, and is given a convoluted inner conflict between monstrousness, humanity and heroism, in precisely the season in which Buffy begins to reckon with her own inner conflict between her darker impulses, her human reality, and her supernatural role. It’s no coincidence that season five opens with Dracula, an icon of romantic vampire mythology, tempting Buffy with darkness and promising her insight into her nature. Or that a vampire kidnaps Dawn--again, her human half--in the next episode. Or that the season’s antagonist is a super-strong blonde woman who wants to destroy Dawn instead of protect her. Or that she says goodbye to Riley, the boyfriend who embodied her hopes for a more normative way of being (notice how Riley is progressively destabilized by everything non-normative about Buffy’s life, and provokes those anxieties Buffy expresses in “I Was Made to Love You”). Over and over in season five, Buffy fears that her Slayer half is cold, destructive, and otherwise dangerous. That these Romantic things like gods and vampires have it in for Buffy’s vulnerable humanity. Yet Buffy’s vampire id simultaneously gives lie to these fears by proving itself capable of heroism and genuine human feeling.

In other words, Spike becomes a potential love interest in a season that treats the Romantic--ie the grand and mythical--as something more than just an attractive lie to be disabused of. Rather, the question that season five seems to posit to me, and which will not be fully answered until the end of season seven, is this: once you do clear away the attractive lies, once you accept the hard realities, once you’ve seen the darkest underbellies, what are the things that are left that are truly grand and beautiful? What are the stories that are really worth telling, and the heroes that are really worth having?

And the show asks and answers these questions on both a very personal level, and a more meta, systemic level. On the personal level, Buffy and Spike are forced to confront their illusions not just about the world, but about themselves. They are made to ask themselves what constitutes a heroic role or a demonic weakness, versus basic, unromantic humanity. And on the meta level, the show asks questions about our expectations for how both love stories and chosen hero stories are supposed to go.

part 5: “Everything used to be so clear”: Season six and the agony of the real

#romanticism series #gen #s5 #buffy #spike #riley #btvs

[thorns-and-rosewings]

My Owl House Theories

Ok so after the most recent episode of the Owl House, I know that pretty much everyone is jumping even moreso on the Belos is Philip bandwagon...

Honestly I don't know if that is the case. I mean it's a good theory and very likely.

But to me it just seems a little too obvious.

Not to mention that there is only a record of ONE human to have been on the Boiling Isles, not two... And does anyone else think it's strange that Philip never once mentions his brother being with him on the Isles? He mentioned companions, yes, but not his brother. Also Philip donated his diary, he clearly thought he was about to go home. These little threads don't show a lot of remorse if his brother had died.

So...

What if Belos is not Philip, but his brother?

I keep thinking about three things in particular. Playing into three theories...

Number one... Could Titans blood possibly distort time as well as space? If it opened a portal to a different section of the Demon Realm could that explain why a man from the 1600's would only appear about 50 years ago? After having spent an unknown amount of time in another section of the Isles developing artificial magic? If the brothers went through two different gateways it would explain that discrepancy...

Number two... and this one is a bit dark... Philip was in awe of the Demon Realm, he clearly did explore a lot of it and enjoyed himself. He didn't hate wild magic and... Something that did seem odd... He showed very little remorse for when his companions died. That does show a certain amount of coldness to his character. If the story in the human world is accurate and two brothers were both approached by a witch who took them to the Demon Realm why is only Philip there?

...Could Philip have traded his own brother for an adventure?

Would a younger brother, (As I see Philip as the younger brother) have traded an overprotective, no-nonsense older brother to a witch in exchange for an adventure? In the Owl House we have seen all kinds of families and a family where one brother is willing to sacrifice another is a depressing, but very real thing. And it would fit very well into the belief Belos was betrayed by a sibling.

It would also explain Belos's actions towards Hunter. Keeping him on an even shorter leash than he gave the real Philip, in his mind trying to prevent him from turning out like his predecessor... And also punishing him for the actions of his aforementioned predecessor.

Number three... and this is the one I know is the biggest stretch yet, but also my favorite of the three... I keep thinking Belos is not the big bad of the series. I think that title is probably going to belong to a being we have seen only once so far, the creature known as 'The Collector.' The one who created the scroll with the Owl Beast in it.

In a mix of the other two theories, what if both brothers went through two different portals. One came out in the Boiling Isles, while the other came out wherever the heck the place we saw in the Owl Beasts memories is... If there's a being called the Collector, it's not outside the realm of possibility it wanted to collect a human. Possibly being responsible for cursing Belos with one of its collected creatures. Assuming as humans are not naturally imbued with magic it couldn't turn him into a scroll.

The result is a human kept as a prisoner by an unknown entity... Probably making Philips brother grow to HATE magic of all kinds due to the situation he was in. And if this being kept the beast satiated with Palisman, it would explain why Belos uses them instead of elixers. It's the only thing he knows works.

And Philip was on his merry little adventure, unaware his brother was in hell.

I also keep coming back to his ears, not shaped like a humans but too small for a witch. Perhaps being cursed with this creature for as long as he was mutated his ears? And for an even darker theory... The notch in his ear; in real life it is not uncommon for farmers and ranchers to mark animals with notches in their ears to show they are their property. Just fitting this in was he very well could have been marked to be identified as the Collectors property... Maybe on accident he hurt Hunter or his mind has been warped that he marked him too.

Eventually Belos gets away only to end up in the Boiling Isles, finding his brother dead and no way home... Well he finally snaps and becomes the dictator we all love and hate, the end.

Aaaand that's my views and theories on the most recent developments... Long winded as ever but I just thought I'd throw them out there to see what others think. 😅

#The Owl House #TOH #owl house #owl house hunter #owl house belos #emperor belos #The Owl House the collector #Owl House Collector #Theories #philip wittebane #Philip Wittebane Brother

[angelswatchingover]

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how, if Supernatural wanted a nostalgic call back in their series finale, instead of wiping out everything the boys had ever learned, they should have called back to what is generally considered the best episode of the entire series, Swan Song. And a brilliant way to do that would have been to have Jack be the narrator, paralleling Chuck in Swan Song. Ugh! I can just imagine it...

Jack’s voice over flashbacks montage-style: On May 15th 2008, Dean Winchester was dragged to hell after making a deal to save his brother’s life. On that day thousands of angels, the most powerful weapons in the universe, converged on hell all with a singular mission: to save the Righteous Man. Most didn’t know that the true nature of their quest was to start the Apocalypse that would change the world. Most didn’t make it out alive… For 40 years they fought, battling hoards of demons and even their Fallen brethren in the unfathomable depths of hell’s expanse. None of the angels knew which one of them would find and raise the man from the pit since this was a chapter that Chuck hadn’t thought to write carefully. By chance or fate or purely the passion of his will, the angel Castiel was the first to find Dean Winchester. By all accounts, he shouldn’t have been a special angel, just a grunt in a vast celestial army. But the moment he gripped Dean and raised him from perdition became the most important moment in the history of the universe. In that moment everything changed. That’s where this part of the story began. And here’s where it ends.

The episode continues on with Sam and Dean living post-Chuck life but Dean is still passing out drunk in mourning and struggling with the loss of Cas. Sam still does laundry and Dean still cuddles Miracle but it’s Sam who finds the Pie Festival in hopes of getting Dean out of his funk. At the festival, we get an emotional moment between Sam and Dean. Dean tells Sam that he can’t shake the guilt and they need to get Cas back. They decide that family doesn’t end with blood and they’ve got to do what they can to save him. Maybe Book of the Damned, maybe Rowena, maybe Jack. Who knows? You get the idea... they research.

Next Jack narration: Castiel, of course, was never supposed to be exceptional. Angels weren’t created with free will and he was no different, but there was always something special about him. He was the angel with the crack in his chassis but from that crack sprung a miracle… an angel who would chose free will and chose love.

Back to Sam and Dean. They prepare to save Cas. Dean prays to Jack who of course, is on board to help save his father. It was great to see Bobby in the finale and hear about heaven’s changes so maybe the spell requires a soul from heaven or something. Jack brings Bobby and he reveals that Jack is fixing heaven and that Bobby is now with Karen and he sees Mary and Ellen and Rufus and they are all happy. They plan the spell to save Cas. Also, Sam and Dean have a heart to heart about what’s next. They both want to keep saving people and hunting things, but maybe do it smarter and also have a life.

Another break to Jack narration: What does it mean for an angel to love? For Castiel, it meant questioning his faith and finding it again in his new family. It wasn’t always an easy journey, but he had two good teachers in the Winchesters. Sam taught him to always keep fighting, no matter the circumstances. And Dean taught him how to love with his whole heart and to be willing to do anything for that love. And sometimes, it was just to love life itself, in all of it’s simple pleasures. The flavors of a PB&J sandwich, movie marathons in the Dean cave, listening to Dean’s top 13 Zepp traxx, and late at night when its quiet in the bunker, deep talks with Dean over a glass of good whiskey. Love, it turns out, would be worth it all.

Back to our story – The ritual goes south, of course, and they get caught by the Empty. It isn’t going to let Castiel go and it’s going to kill Dean, but Cas rips out his grace so that he’s not an angel any more and the Empty has no claim on him. He and Dean are expelled back to Earth to hugs from Sam and Jack. Cas seems sad and worried about being a human, but Dean tells him he’s got a home with the Winchesters and tells Cas how much he is valued, not for his angel powers, but just for who he is (paralleling what Cas had told Jack). This eventually leads to an awkward ‘me to’ or ‘I love you too’ and a kiss.

Begin ending montage of Sam, Eileen, Dean, and Cas living life: on hunts, at the beach – toes in the sand, pregnant Eileen, a kid or two at what looks like a family picnic with our main four and the Wayward ladies and Garth etc., driving down a back road in the Impala, injuries and fights, in the bunker on the phone with hunters, aging together, you get the idea… a balanced life.  

Final cut to Jack narration: So, was it all worth it? The pain and the struggle and the losses? I think it was. Because at the end of the day what’s all of this about? It’s about the life we choose and the bonds that we make along the way. It’s about learning to love someone else and learning to love yourself. And above all, it’s about knowing that we fight for each other because we aren’t in this alone.

Fade to black.

One of the things I loved about Swan Song was that narration. It gave the whole episode a feeling of gravitas that 15x20 severely lacked. If Jack had narrated this as the new God the way Chuck had, it could have hit on SPN’s most important themes: love, always keep fighting, you are not alone, family don’t end with blood. Instead what we got was a hollow callback to times before all of those lessons learned and growth. Excuse me while I got punch a wall.

#Supernatural #15x20 #Carry On #Dean Winchester #Castiel #Sam Winchester #Destiel #15x20 Destiel #alternate ending #Jack #should have narrated #and they should have saved Cas #and had lives!

[mizgnomer]

Human Nature/Family of Blood Behind the Scenes (Part 7)

Excerpts from  David Darlington’s interview with writer Paul Cornell for Doctor Who Magazine:

David Darlington: In 1995, Human Nature [Cornell’s original book - featuring the Seventh Doctor] was pretty much unique as such an obvious Doctor Who love story, whereas now we've had a love story told in the show more than once – the whole 'Rose' arc, obviously, as well as The Girl In The Fireplace. How have you been able to make your story distinctive within that very different sphere?

Paul Cornell:  It's interesting. When we started out, that seemed to be a major deal, but it became less and less of a big deal as we got into it - because this character isn't the Doctor, it's the hole where the Doctor should be; it's Dr. John Smith, who's human. At the top of the first readthrough, when we all introduced ourselves round the table, David Tennant said "David Tennant – Dr. John Smith". So he was playing a different character from the top, and I think that's very important. So that 'hole where the Doctor should be' defines the Doctor, and in this, we see a romance that maybe the Doctor would like to have – perhaps it's somewhere he'd like to be, but he really could not be. Because this is 'getting married, having children' territory – inserting oneself into time, into history, which is the one thing a Time Lord cannot do. In the second last draft, he was shagging!  I nearly got that in… but because, in the end, this all takes place over a period of about two weeks, it was thought that a prim, 1913 lady would probably not do that… 

Link to [ part one ] of this post, or click the #whoBtsHuman tag (I’d link it but that seems to break Tumblr), or the [ full episode list ]

#david tennant #freema agyeman #doctor who #jessica hynes #rtdedit #I'm glad the shagging didn't make it in #although I don't doubt they loved each other #people can head-canon their own shagging if they want #or not #it was indeed a different performance from david #and I think that's so cool #stuff i posted #whoBts #whoBtsHuman

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

The room where it happened. 10x03 and 15x18

(Sorry for the title, I had to.)

No one afaik has said anything about it yet but I have been mentally screaming about it since I saw the episode and you all need to scream with me about the room where the scene happened.

And also how the scene was filmed. At the beginning, while Dean says that he ruined everything because he’s full of anger and the only thing he knows is to kill, the chair is positioned between the two of them. In fact, it’s filmed in a way so that the chair is clearly visible and oddly (well, oddly only if you don’t know what it means) emphasized by the direction and how Jensen touches it and leans on it.

After Dean makes his hopeless speech, Dean walks in front of the chair (again, Jensen’s acting emphasizes the movement in relation to the chair)

so, when Cas confesses his feelings, the chair is no longer between them. Nothing is between them.

Many things happened in that room and multiple characters sat on that chair, but the most iconic and emotionally heavy thing that happened in that room, well, we all know it.

The chair represents Demon Dean and what that represented. The chair represents the trauma and the fear and the anger. The obstacles. It’s not a coincidence that when Dean expresses his feelings of self-loathing and hopelessness the chair stands between them, and when Cas tells Dean how he sees him and how he feels for him the chair isn’t between them anymore. Of course it’s not complete yet, but they have progressed, Dean has finally heard something he needed so badly to hear. The very thing he needed to hear. They’re on the path to healing.

The chair is there, of course, in the middle of the room. The elephant in the room except it’s not an elephant but a chair, I guess. But it’s empty and Dean is able to step in front of it and get closer to Cas and hear what Cas has to say.

The trauma is there, but it’s an empty chair. And it’s possible to step around it and get closer to love.

But I want to say something more about 10x03 and 15x18.

Compare these moments.

This isn’t even the real you I’m talking to.

Oh, it’s the real me, all right. The new real me - the me that sees things for what they really are. Winchesters. Do-gooders. Fighting the natural order. Let me tell you something - guys like me, we are the natural order. It’s the way it was set up.

It’s you, Dean. It’s always been you. Death-defying, rule-breaking. You are everything I lived to set right. To put down. To tame. You are human disorder incarnate.

It’s almost like someone wrote the script for 15x18 with 10x03 open on his desk, right? Let’s continue.

There’s no point in trying to bring your brother back now.

Oh, I will bring him back.

In fact, your uh... guilt-ridden, weight-of-the-world bro has been MIA for quite some time now. But I’m loving the new model: lean, mean, Dean.

Right.

You notice I tried to get as far away from you as possible? Away from your whining, your complaining. I chose the King of Hell over you! Maybe I was just... tired of babysitting you. Or always having to yank your lame ass out of the fire since... [Dean laughs.] Forever. Or maybe... Maybe it was the fact that my mother would still be alive if it wasn’t for you. That your very existence sucked the life out of my life!

This isn’t my brother talking.

You never had a brother! Just an excuse for not manning up. But guess what: I quit.

No. No, you don’t. You don’t get to quit. We don’t get to quit in this family! This family is all we have ever had!

Well, then, we got nothin’.

Would you say that to Dad?

Dad? Oh, there’s a prize. There’s a man who brainwashed us into wasting our lives fighting his losing battle!

and

I know. I know how you see yourself, Dean. You see yourself the same way our enemies see you. You’re destructive and you’re angry and you’re broken. You’re-you’re “daddy’s blunt instrument”."And you think that hate and anger, that’s-that’s what drives you. That’s who you are. It’s not. And everyone who knows you sees it. Everything you have ever done, the good and the bad you have done for love. You raised your little brother for love. You fought for this whole world for love. That is who you are. You’re the most caring man on Earth. You are the most selfless, loving human being I will ever know.

Let’s also look at Cas in the episode

You say you’re fine, but you don’t... look fine.

It’s what the humans do. They say they’re fine. And even if I-I don’t look it, you say I look well, and that way, we avoid talking about something we can do nothing about.

Oh boi, we’ve gone so far from “we don’t speak about things we can’t do anything about”. (Well, he thinks he can’t do anything about his feelings for Dean, but still.)

Look at this line from Hannah

What about helping your friend? And sending the rogue angels back to Heaven? Your preference to die for your principles, it’s very noble, but it is meaningless.

Thank you, it hurts! It was never about principles. It was about love. And love is never meaningless. It’s the only thing that is not meaningless. It’s the only thing that really matters, and, in fact, the only thing that is truly real in the universe.

And of course the most important line in the episode:

What the hell are we doing to him, Cas? I mean, even after I gave him all that blood, he still said he didn’t want to be cured, that he didn’t want to be human.

Well... I see his point. You know, only humans can feel real joy, but... also such profound pain. This is easier.

Only humans can feel real joy, but also profound pain.

I always wondered since I took that burden, that curse, what it could be. What my true happiness could even look like. I never found an answer. Because the one thing I want... it’s something I know I can’t have. But I think I know... I think I know now. Happiness isn’t in the having. It’s in just being... it’s in just saying it.

[...]

You know, ever since we met, ever since I pulled you out of hell, knowing you has changed me. Because you cared, I cared. I cared about you. I cared about Sam. I cared about Jack. I cared about the whole world because of you. You changed me, Dean.

I’m fine.

To conclude this - of course, 10x03 was also one step of the big misunderstanding between Dean and Cas. Cas eventually leaves saying something vague about a famale companion that makes Dean think he’s leaving him for a woman that is more important than he is.

While one of the scenes with Crowley in hell subtly drops the other side of the misunderstanding - a demon tries to get in Crowley’s good graces by offering to be Dean’s replacement for him with these words:

I, too, love to party. And I do love the ladies. And the classic rock-and-roll. Most importantly, I could debauch by your side without being a personal embarrassment. 

That was to emphasize how those weren’t the relevant things about Dean that Crowley, or anyone, cared about. Thus, those aren’t the relevant things about Dean. Those are some things that are true about Dean, but that’s not Dean.

It’s been a very long journey, and we’re seeing the fruits of a very long work.

#my spn thoughts #spn meta #spn 15x08 #spn 10x03 #destiel #spn