#like i'm all in for this arc. i rather knew that s2 there was gonna be some SERIOUS angsty fallout from Dolores becoming terminator jane

[raayllum]

So we are sure as anything that is going to be Callum that releases Aaravos at the end of the day (being terrified of being possessed again? Now the gang literally HAVE THE PRISON? Yeah he’s gonna be possessed and forced to open it for SURE! Poor boy what will that do to him..?)

But one thing that hasn’t happened yet is Rayla losing Callum. Callum has lost Rayla once and nearly lost her twice now, but we are yet to see Rayla do something to get Callum back (maybe we can include the ship scene but I don’t feel like it’s quite to the same extent that Callum has nearly lost her, if you get what I mean)… how do you think this is going to happen?! If at all? I LOVED season 5 and can’t wait for what happens next!!

I forget if I thought Callum would free Aaravos post-S3 or S2 (maybe, ever since the Key was introduced)? But definitely post TTM I thought he'd have a role to play there. I've always leaned towards it either 1) not being under possession, but coercion, or 2) if it is under possession, it's because Callum took a risk (and knew what he was risking being possessed by doing it). The writers always like force characters into being aware of the choices they're making / retaining agency even in the terrible choices they're making (i.e. Harrow being aware of and agreeing to Viren's plan to kill Zym in 3x06's flashbacks, rather than being ignorant and therefore blameless in it, which they easily could've done). I don't think Callum can just have a "whoopsie daisie I'm suddenly possessed again through no reaffirmed fault of my own decision making" since that kinda feels like it's letting him off the hook too much for whatever he does, but if they just want to go full throttle on the "no agency" angle, that would be a valid route of its own kind of horrific (even if it may not be the one from a theorizing standpoint I currently prefer but hey, canon could change my mind).

For Rayla and Callum, I think their arcs (intersecting and circling each other as always) are going to be opened and book ended, most likely, by Massive acts of love for each other for arc 2 (up till S6, most likely). Currently for both of them, they've done their initial, unhealthy "going to dark places is an act of love" for one another:

1) Rayla leaving during the timeskip / through the moon

and Callum doing dark magic about a season later to save her life

The fact the choice is something they both cover up and know the other person wouldn't like, the shouldering it alone, the "I have to. I love you too much not to," etc. I don't think it's a coincidence that a few episodes after Rayla reflects on what inspired her to leave — "I left without him because I couldn't bear to put him in danger. I knew I had to be strong alone" — and trying to be what she didn't want to be (a lone assassin) that we see Callum making a similar decision after he was forced back into a path he also didn't want to take (a dark mage), that Finnegrin got his head enough to warp him: "All that talk about how love makes you stronger" and Rayla making him 'weaker.' And, like Rayla, he keeps a secret to try and shoulder it alone, at least at first.

Which is in line of how he and Rayla were already starting to switch in S4, with Rayla acting more like him upon her return and Callum acting more like her because of her absence, and nicely leads up to them both reaffirming that they are each's strength and each other's weakness, eventually. (Good and bad, light and dark, pain and love. Two cakes!)

I always figured Callum would do something ultimately self destructive in order to save her, just because they tend to be very reciprocal (and he tends to hit her plot beats a season after she does, anyway) so it seems, due to the symbolism and framing and patterns, that Callum doing dark magic for her is his Narrative counterbalance for her leaving him in Through the Moon. (This is very in line with their S2 and S3 patterns as well, where Rayla saves him and Ez in a way from Soren and Claudia in S2, and then Callum saves her from Soren and Claudia over the dragon fiasco; as well as in S3, with Rayla risking her life to keep Sol Regem away from him, and then Callum jumping off the Pinnacle to save her, etc).

So what, you ask, is Rayla's big gesture moment - and what could Callum's reciprocal moment be? Well...

2) Rayla breaks Callum free of the brainwashing + identity reconciliation arc

This has been foreshadowed and set up for a variety of reasons — Rayla showing up in a halo of light and always reaffirming Callum's agency in S4; Callum asking her to be the one to kill him in 4x07, and this according quote exchange from the Book One Novelization ('"Wow. So they look identical, but they might kill you or they might save you,” Callum said. "Exactly," Rayla smiled. "Just like me"); Rayla's role being highlighted in the actual possession scene in 4x04 and Aaravos mocking her for being unable to kill; Rayla's epiphany in S5 about being "stronger together" at all. If you want more details on all of this I would heartily recommend this meta I wrote regarding Rayla's duality as Callum's salvation and destruction, written pre-s4, and then updated post-S5. Now moving on...

Book 6 is gonna be stars, and stars are associated with Destiny. So is dark magic with control. Thus, Callum confronting the destiny Aaravos has given him (and being possessed again by proxy) seems the most likely for this season. We also know we're going to learn about Rayla and Stella's history eventually (and given that Stella means star, and is connected to the Star primal) and it would make sense to get that backstory in S6 as well. We know we're learning more about the Key of Aaravos (rune cube) and most likely Leola (and her last wish) next season as well. Last but not least, S5 reveals that Rayla's parents can presumably be saved by using star magic / quasar diamonds, and that Callum is even more dedicated to freeing them to some degree than Rayla is, at least in terms of Prioritizing it.

Okay, but what does this all have to do with anything? Well...

It seems pretty certain that Rayla's Big Moment, as you've indicated, has to happen, and will be her refusing to kill Callum and instead breaking him free of the brainwashing. The strongest evidence is actually things I haven't touched on yet, which is that this dilemma and plot beat would resolve both of their character arcs that S4 set heavily into motion.

For Rayla, she's been struggling for seasons feeling like a failed assassin / that she can't kill someone, and that this is a weakness. The fact that it's Callum's life on the line vs the world ("my heart for Xadia") is just the icing on the cake and is a trolley problem she's faced before ("You let him live, but you killed us all!" / "No, you have two choices: you all die, or just the wretched, evil human dies"). So her not killing Callum, and instead saving him, would resolve her arc in a variety of ways:

Prove that her good soft heart is a strength and not a weakness

Reaffirm her love, devotion, commitment to Callum and promising to Not leave again

Prove to her that she can save people (4x05's "we can't save everyone") and that she won't always inevitably mess things up

Rayla refusing to sacrifice something, for once, for the good of the world

Her path in this is so straightforward there is little doubt in my mind, like, come on. It's not subtle and I love it

This isn't even touching on Rayla's parallels / thematic opposition to the other person vying for control over Callum, Aaravos, which if you're interested in you can read more about here. <3

Alternatively, Callum's side of things is far more complicated / less clear. This is for a few reasons:

There will be a choice, presumably, that leads to him getting brainwashed. The most obvious of these is him doing (dark? Star?) magic to free the Moon fam and Kpp'Ar from the coins, but it could be something else. Being willing to take a chosen risk opens up the door for him to feel responsible if/when he plays his role in Aaravos' plans (bc he presumably Has to, since S6 can't end well under any circumstances).

If he is randomly brainwashed, he will have to make a conscious choice to play into Aaravos' hands after breaking free from the brainwashing. This will probably be under coercion or due to a loved one (either Ezran or Rayla) being in danger or threatened. I've always leaned towards Rayla because they've had primary conflict for longer and her weird associations with the cube and its foreshadowing, and for a few other reasons I'll discuss here briefly below.

What's not in doubt, to me, is Callum - willingly or unwillingly - continuing on his dark path within Aaravos' clutches. Whether this would include breaking him free under coercion (but not brainwashing) is debatable, but we'll see when we get there I suppose (if we get there). What does need to be answered, here, is what Callum's Reciprocal Act of Love would be. It seems that he'll have to save Rayla back in turn from something, after all.

Likewise, there's a few options in no particular order:

He saves Rayla from having to make a terrible choice regarding her parents, either to have a life without them or for her to do dark magic to free them by taking that on himself.

A lot of Callum's identity changes have been because of her absence and subsequent shut down. Rayla reaffirming her identity by saving him is also the process by which Callum reaffirms his own identity by choosing her / being able to be saved. A mutual identity reconciliation happening simultaneously, if you will. And throwing off Aaravos' control certainly would be an act of love!

He frees Aaravos to save her life after she breaks him free of the brainwashing, since choosing Rayla and defying Aaravos could be choices that cannot be reconciled.

I lean towards something beyond the mutual Identity Reconciliation because I think 1) Callum being able to express his feelings for her is also very important to his growth for this arc and they've teased him saying "I love you" again quite a bit thus far and 2) I think Rayla, as a character and her core of sacrifice (what does it matter to her, after all, if she gets majorly injured saving Callum) would really benefit from being literally, reciprocally saved, but these are the various avenues I think are the most likely. But I do think their S6 (or whenever the possession plot line is resolved, maybe it is only in S7, who knows) arc is resolved, it'll be with a Big Act of Love from Callum as well, with Rayla's being saving him from said brainwashing.

Anyway, I hope this answered your question and that said answer wasn't too long! Thanks for asking & for reading <3

#rayllum #predictions #i need you to kill me #s5 #arc 2 #analysis series #analysis #thanks for asking #anonymous #requests #s6 speculation #s6 #surprising no one this is long #tdp #the dragon prince #tdp meta

[yunfeiz]

jjk s2 ending brainrot

the jjk s2 ending for the hidden inventory arc is filled with beautiful symbolism. i've been thinking about this so much and i just wanted to get it all down. workers at mappa clearly thought it out and how they wanted everyone to leave each episode. note that i definitely don't have everything all down in this post. i'm not that attentive, so if you have anything else you noticed please let me know.

tl:dr an overwhelming amount of satosugu brainrot filled with betta fishes, water, and pain

NOTE: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR SHIBUYA ARC AND FURTHER. IF YOU ARE AN ANIME ONLY DO NOT READ THIS.

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OBVIOUSLY i have to talk about the betta fish. i'm gonna go on a pretty long tangent so bare with me but i used to have 4 betta fishes, o, a, p, and e and they all lived in the same tank (it was my first time owning fish). a died of natural causes, p got swallowed whole by o, and e got decapitated by o. if you put betta fishes in a tank together, they will fight it out till the one that is the strongest survives. other than the eyes of the fishes ofc we can also determine which one is the strongest based on the state of their fins. an indication that a betta fish is unhealthy is through their fins. if they are slightly stringy (unless they're a specific kind of betta fish) it is a sign that they're not healthy. sometimes the health issue could come through malnutrition or fighting between betta fishes. we can now further deduce that because geto is the less healthy betta fish, gojo is naturally the strongest of the duo (thus the end of the strongest duo...) another thing to note, by using betta fishes to describe gojo and geto LITERALLY it means that in no world can those two ever be together. they will always fight and one will always emerge victorious while the other will frankly die. they're not fated to be together but rather they're fated to be each others natural enemy.

this is a little bit of a stretch and something that kinda makes zero sense at all but stay with me for now. water in jjk openings and jjk endings is typically used to indicate danger. think sukunas finger literally growing plants out of water and sukuna (no offense to sukunas stans) kinda is just danger all around. through each opening and ending we get to see how each character interacts with danger through the way they interact with water. satosugu is no exception to this. gojo is protected by the water with an umbrella, something he most likely brought with him because he knew it was gonna rain. a couple of things about this are that gojos technique obviously protects him from danger. as long as the technique is activated and he's using reverse cursed technique to unfry his brain, he knows that he will not get hit and it's very hard to actually get him into a dangerous position. the nature of his technique protects him and distances himself away from the danger of curses and whatnot. geto however only has his school bag protecting him and he's obviously going to get wet there is no denying that. even if the schoolbag managed to cover his entire body, his hands would still get wet. getos technique unfortunately is just not as powerful as gojos and can't protect him as well. i am not saying getos technique isn't powerful there's a reason why he's a special grade sorcerer. i'm just repeating what is established in the story and that is geto is simply not as powerful as gojo thus is more susceptible to danger. additionally, the nature of geto's technique quite literally exposes him to danger. he has to literally absorb curses by making them into spheres and using his hands to swallow them. HE IS CONSTANTLY INTERACTING WITH DANGER IN ORDER TO FIGHT AND SURVIVE, which is why he will never be fully protected by it unlike gojo whose technique distances himself away from these curses. geto has to as his technique draws himself closer to these curses. it's the only way he can fight, something he learned a lot from school which is why he is using his schoolbag to protect himself from the rain

this section is going to be shorter than the rest BUT theres this beautiful section of the ending dedicated to these red spider lillies. if you watch a lot of anime you probably already know what these symbolize but they symbolize death and rebirth. pretty obvious as to how it connects to satosugu but this one article i read specifically said that these flowers could also represent the separation of lovers. pretty interesting to think about isn't it? (gege i'm gonna catch you one day just so satosugu can finally live a happy life)

THE BETTA FISHES ARE BACK WOOO. anyways, in the scene with gojo, getofish floats by and gojo doesn't actually fully notice it until its gone. and off the screen. which is LITERALLY WHAT HAPPENED IN THE STORY. gojo didn't notice geto's struggle until it was too late. by the time gojo noticed geto had already finished his little mass murdering of the village and he had already decided what he wanted to do. also important to note, gojo follows the fish and continues to stare the second he notices (you guys remember how gojo immediately noticed geto's residuals after 10 years. yeah. me too.) in geto's scene, gojofish floats by all healthy and geto actually immediately notices the fish and immediately avoids eye contact with the fish. geto's pretty naturally attentive. you can actually notice him all throughout the season just quietly staring at gojo. and much like the ending of their friendship, geto can't face gojo directly. i'm not necessarily calling him a wimp?? but like he did the kfc breakup in front of so many people. he's not really talking to gojo directly, more like talking very loudly over others and speaking in identity crisis riddles. i have more thoughts on this but they keep coming out onto the post not the right way i think the fact that geto can't look at gojofish directly has something to do with the fact that geto was the morality check that gojo needed and because of geto's new "mindest" (because i'm a firm believer that geto's morality still remains the same. he is still a very caring individual just he really can't stand non-sorcerers and might be protecting them in his own very fucked-up way) the morality that gojo initially thought was correct kinda just crumbled. but i can't actually formulate a reason for this morality check because it's just a bunch of jumbled thoughts in my brain.

SPOILERS FOR SHIBUYA ARC arcade games really make their way into these don't they. a lot of people have noticed this so i'll keep this brief. the people on the winning side are gojo and shoko, the only people currently alive from the students we're introduced to in hidden inventory. the people on the losing side are geto, haibara, and nanami, all of which are currently dead. something else i noticed is that it's directly gojo and geto that are versing each other in the arcade game and it's rather sad because technically in the end gojo did "win" against geto.

a lot of people have also talked about this so i just want to add my two cents. obviously gojo and shoko are in the light and geto is in the dark, symbolizing the contrasting sides they've taken. but i wanted to specifically talk about this white line. let's just say this white line is the clear shift in what gojo called getos "moral argument". geto is completely past this line and he has rejected his past ideals and shifted his ideals to match his new understanding of the world. gojo is walking away from this line. he was previously on this line, and didnt' understand what geto's "moral argument" was before. now he fully understands and is talking steps to maintain this moral argument. sure he also wants to change the world to be better and where curses are slightly less prevalent, but he's doing it through education and still willing to protect non-sorcerers. shoko is also past the line but she is walking parallel to it. in my opinion, shoko was far more relaxed when she heard about what geto had done and even joked around with him a little bit when they ran into each other. she still has an understanding of geto's previous "moral argument" but she's not necessarily taking any deliberate action to further this argument. she just understands it and isn't rejecting it. do not get me wrong though, she has a very important role in the jujustu world it's just very different from the motivations of gojo who is furthering said moral argument (this is like very messy and i know it probably makes no fucking sense at all)

FINAL ONE and it's probably gonna be pretty long. once again this is talked about a lot so i'll keep the first part sort of brief. irl this bridge only has one road but for the sake of the story, mappa made it two. gojos path leads to land (safety) and geto's path leads to danger (water) (IT'S ALL COMING BACK TOGETHER). what i wanted to talk about was the animation that occurs in this scene. a couple of things happen 1. gojo crosses over to geto's half of the screen 2. geto pushes him back 3. gojo remains on his half for the rest of the scene gojo would've crossed over to geto's side when he was carrying riko's body if geto just said yeah i'd like to kill those fucking annoying people cheering on the death of a literal teenager because they want their god to become something akin to a tree. gojo would've literally obliterated them and probably wouldn't have thought too too much about it as geto was literally his moral guide. at that time whatever geto thought of as moral, gojo kinda just went along with it (he did argue about it ofc, it's gojo). geto however pushes him and says no there's not really a point to kiling them and so gojo remains on this set moral path for literally the rest of his life. in my personal opinion, gojo remains set on this path because riko meant a lot to geto and gojo and for geto to say there's no point in killing them even though the organization was so cruel for no reason, then this argument obviously becomes incredibly compelling. this also could explain why gojo couldn't find the point in geto's mass murder of the village

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those are all my thoughts that i really wanted to get down. please let me know if theres anything else that is in this ending that will cause me to sob i am all ears. satosugu actually has ruined my life so a little more probably won't hurt (it will)

#jjk #jjk season 2 #jjk spoilers #gojo satoru #geto suguru #satosugu #i hate them so much but they're my little babies im gonna die #one day i will fight gege akutami and i won't stop till satosugu is happy #tears man #going to rip my hair out bye bye

[beavesaintmarie]

bet ya anything now that teddy is about to become a murderbot the same people who talk about how boring teddy and dolores are will be shipping it like ‘wow now he’s an asshole i suddenly care about him and this ship and that’s in no way a commentary about who i am as person!’ 

#like i'm all in for this arc. i rather knew that s2 there was gonna be some SERIOUS angsty fallout from Dolores becoming terminator jane #so i BEEN ready for this and i think it's gonna give Marsden a chance to show off some of his crazy range #and imma ship that ship till i die no matter what im in love with that ship #BUT #IMMA BE JUDGING EVERYONE WHO SAYS 'OMG NOW I FIND TEDDY INTERESTING!' #cause it's like teddy was already capable of going ham on motherfuckers BUT AT HIS CORE HE WAS A LOVER NOT A FIGHTER #AND THAT'S WHAT'S BEAUTIFUL ABOUT HIM #HE SNAP YOU LIKE A TWIG BUT CHOOSES NOT TO. THAT'S HOT. #now he's gonna be just bodying bitches left and right and imma stan but imma also mourn for my purehearted son #AND HOPE HE FINDS HIS WAY OUTTA THE DARKNESS D: #westworld related #crazy ramblings of a troubled mind...

[heiterbroward]

Hsm: the waste: the series

Ok so right off the bat, is anyone else bothered by noticing that multiple different relationships seem to be developing the same dynamic? The guys all become huge simps for the girls just for the couple to actually get together and for it to reverse w the girl having to give the guy constant reassurance bc he's insecure for whatever reason.

This was especially seen w Redlyn's plot. How was she supposed to know what his dreams were if he never said? Especially since he always acts embarrassed about the tap dancing...like maybe Ashlyn misinterpreted it and thought he was too scared to pursue that in the future or something. Also why was he so jealous of the French guy? Was Ashlyn supposed to tell him to let her fall that one time? It's not like Big Red was there to catch her. Also don't like how their season plot started w her being insecure about playing Belle just for him to give her one sentence of vapid praise and then it was never brought up again. Also, saying "you're perfect" when she's feeling insecure doesn't really help like he might think it would bc it kind of just invalidates Ashlyn's insecurity and makes it seem like she's ridiculous for even thinking about it. Whatever Gina said seemed to give her more comfort. But then the rest of their S2 arc was spent w him getting insecure about something every episode and her having to reassure him that she actually likes him.

This also happened w Rini although not for long bc Nini peaced out after a sec, and I'm worried it might happen w Portwell, but I'll get to those dweebs in a min. Also why did Mr. M become totally whipped for Miss Jenn this season? I liked when their dynamic was more balanced; now, it seems like he is madly in love w her and she got the ick from him. Luckily, I care about them zero percent!

Another thing is that the competition was ultimately pointless af! Like I knew it wouldn't be satisfying whether they won or lost, but they didn't even reveal it? Ok? Wasted the whole yr ig! Miss Jenn became mentally disturbed for what? Plus wouldn't it make more sense if they didn't open the results at the end bc they realized how much the Menkies tore them apart this year bc they only cared about winning and lost sight of their passion? But no...they maintained throughout the whole time that they're still a big happy family, so I guess the awards didn't affect them? Besides just making them indifferent to the results for some bizarre reason.

Why is this show so anti-ambition? Heart and ambition don't have to be mutually exclusive. When Nini went to YAC (so damn irrelevant but anyways...), she was iced out of the friend group and portrayed as lonely and miserable and bored bc she chose to pursue her ambition rather than stay w her friends at East High. I get the point they were trying to make, but Nini seems like an ambitious character who just hadn't gotten the chance to explore that side of herself bc she never believed in herself enough to go for it. Oh well ig she has to give it up for Ricardo and her friends. Also, Gina's whole thing about "taking a step back" it's like...from what? You get no leads (except offscreen pre-pilot ig? Idk). And now, they have to prove they only care about family by not checking if they won even though there's nothing inherently wrong w being competitive as long as you're not undermining people to achieve your goals. Like are they gonna act like they weren't spying on the other school and making diss tracks back to them instead of rehearsing? But that wasn't addressed.

And tbh it made it seem like Miss Jenn only wanted to drop out bc she was nervous to perform against Derek Hough bc otherwise why was that scene w her and Seblos talking about it included? But now she can have an out while also taking the moral high-ground and claiming they quit bc they're above it or something. Self reflection = none. Also love how she was willing to go get pizza for Ricky but not Carlos. What happened to that dynamic?

Also, why did every episode end w a cliffhanger that was resolved offscreen by the beginning of the next ep? Oh no, Gina's moving! Jk her mom said no. Oh no, EJ has to tell his dad about Duke! Jk they talked offscreen and the dad is ok enough w it (why was it built up so much then?). Oh no, Carlos recorded the Rose Song! Jk Nini doesn't care. Oh no, Ricky and Ashlyn fell! Jk they're fine and can still perform. Oh no, Lily stole the harness! Jk they did Ricky's transformation offscreen and it went great...k guess I'll take your word for it. So much telling instead of showing going on this season.

Something else annoying is how every conflict was the result of miscommunication and how they would spend time resolving problems that were created that episode instead of actually addressing things that were going on. So many passive aggressive elephants in the room and no fights.

Why did Rina seemingly forget who each other is? I don't even ship this, but it makes no narrative sense after they spent so much time giving them dialogue that was exactly what the other needed to hear just for it to result in nothing. Ricky was the first one to say that Gina isn't intimidating and to get her to soften up, and Gina told Ricky she wouldn't quit on them if she was staying. What was the point of that flashback? They had a deep friendship and one they both desperately need when you consider how quickly they jump at any opportunity to connect w someone experiencing similar issues as them (Gina spilled her guts to Jack once she found out he always moves, too and Ricky gained sympathy for Lily once he found out her parents are also divorced). Why didn't they try to talk at all the whole rest of the season? Did they even process their feelings for each other or just to choose to ignore them? Ig ignore them since Gina shifted all her attention to spending 24/7 w EJ and Ricky decided to call up knock-off Gina aka Lily. Are they ever gonna talk again or?

Also Nini and Gina barely scratched the surface of talking about things bc Nini stormed out of the room like she always does to avoid conversations. Rini took too long to break up. The drama should come from the fall out, not the long-ass build up, just to result in a treehouse conversation that summarizes what's been happening instead of digging deeper into either of their mindsets. "We've been miscommunicating all year!" Yeah, we know. But what about Nini reflecting on why she impulsively got back together w Ricky just to, a couple months later, not even be able to say she wants to fight for the relationship? What about Ricky explaining whatever was going on w Gina? How much does Nini even know about that? Couldn't Gina/Nini or Ricky/EJ talk about how it's weird how they keep dating the same people? Or be jealous about it or something? Anything besides ignoring each other!

Seblos was also weird. Why did they spend the first few eps setting up a conflict that Seb is poor and Carlos is rich and keeps making him uncomfortable by buying him things just for it to never be talked about again? And why did Carlos make comments suggesting he was jealous of Seb being in the play w him just for that never to be brought up between the two? The only time they addressed a conflict was when they randomly decided to make up a problem that episode about Seb being insecure about Carlos and other guys or something. Like ok? Couldn't you have addressed all these other issues and passive aggressive comments that have been bubbling beneath the surface instead of making up a new problem just for the episode to have a plot? Bc of course it will never be brought up again next ep.

When did this show become so episodic and plot-based? S1 had more of an overarching plot and more character focus, including different friendship dynamics. But ig this season, people can only talk to the person they're dating. Also why was Carlos so rude and randomly classist this season? It seemed like whenever Seb was upset about something, he would get annoyed as opposed to concerned. And a song (which was Ricky's idea and not even Carlos's) doesn't fix the issue.

Howie was just being weird. Like he was making all faces and acting sus on opening night bc...Kourtney was just SO good! ...Next!

Next up is Portwell and EJ's character development this season in general. Didn't really like it! Everyone is saying EJ had such great character development this season, but why did his entire development happen offscreen? There are also so few remnants of his S1 self that it's almost unbelievable. Like he's no longer the least bit arrogant, ambitious, image-obsessed, etc? And he didn't speak to anyone about this really either. It's like he sat in a room alone by himself for hours and came to all these conclusions himself out of the blue and came back to school the next day a changed man. It would have been more beneficial to see more of this rather than being told about it. They're trying to market EJ as part of the "core 4" but don't want to give him the same relevance and depth as Ricky, Nini, or Gina. Then again, Nini's development has also been totally odd this season. But anyways!

It's also a little annoying that what triggered EJ to want to change was getting cancelled last season. So he realized he wasn't well-liked and therefore decided to get a personality transplant. But sometimes it seems more like he wants to look or feel like a good person rather than it coming from a place of genuine compassion or kindness in his heart.

Like last year, EJ claimed to "love" Nini, but the only pain he feels about their relationship is from shame and a bruised ego? The only thing he's proud about in that relationship is letting her go. You're not proud of building her up and helping her to believe in herself more? You're just happy that you had a chance to step up and be the hero on opening night by "letting her go" back to Ricky. He didn't even really let her go though since she was done w him way before that. Also bc of his relationship w Nini, he's afraid to be rejected again. So which is it? Were you such a bad boyfriend that you have nothing but shame about the way you acted, or do you feel rejected? If he knew he was being a bad boyfriend, he should know why he got rejected.

They try to parallel Gina and EJ's respective heartbreaks, but it's not the same at all. Gina got rejected bc Ricky chose Nini, but EJ got rejected bc of his own actions. It MIGHT make sense if he said he was nervous Gina would reject him bc she still has lingering feelings for Ricky, but of course that was never brought up and he's ok w the chocolates, so...what is he so nervous/confused about? It's like he thinks that last year, he was a "bad guy" and was rejected bc of it, but this year he's trying to be a "good guy" so if he puts in all this effort to do all these gestures for Gina and STILL gets rejected, then he really can't do anything right. He needs to learn to do good deeds from an internal place and not as a way to get validation or to feel like a good person.

I also don't like how he became friends w Gina AFTER it was implied that he had a crush on her. People say they had build up since S1, but there was no consistent friendship. They schemed together once, then he got her the plane ticket, then they didn't talk again until Carlos's party when he looked at her all lovey dovey. I think part of him latches on to the idea of Gina as representing his "goodness" or new start bc the first good deed he did was getting her the plane ticket. This made him feel like a good person, so he wanted to continue doing good deeds, especially for Gina since she helped "change him." But I wish they had maintained an onscreen friendship for a while BEFORE he started developing feelings for her. It's weird that he decided to become friends w her only when she's heartbroken and feeling down and also living at Ashlyn's house.

Like of course she's gonna latch onto you bc she's so lonely and seeking any kind of intimacy/stability. You're basically inserting yourself into the family unit that she's inhabiting, the wondering why she may view you as a brother. It's because all the things you're doing are coming off more like gestures a family member would do to "take care" of someone rather than something romantic. Gina needs a family, and the Caswells are supposed to be her surrogate family. I just don't want her to feel pressured to have romantic interest in him bc he's a nice guy and has been doing so many gestures for her and bc it would be very convenient to date someone in her surrogate family/built in support system. I don't want her feelings for him to be intellectualized and based on logic or for a million other people to have to tell her that she likes him when she had no problem expressing her crushes on Ricky or Jack. What makes EJ any different? Does she like him bc it "makes sense" and bc she is latching onto him for stability or bc she has genuine feelings for EJ and his personality? Not sure bc the show didn't even address her feelings for Ricky or how/if she processed that, so...DID she process that, or is she just jumping headfirst into spending 25/8 w EJ to distract herself from difficult emotions? I would have preferred if she at least sorted things out w Chard THEN made a conscious realization that she liked EJ more and chose to be w him. At least then, the narrative would be direct and intentional.

I just really wish EJ had a storyline outside of Gina being a symbol of his "development," like maybe he could have talked to Nini about their futures since they were both experiencing the same issue about school choices, or maybe do more w Mr. M and behind the scenes work? Also was really annoying that Gina bawled her eyes out more than ever after EJ cancelled their date, even harder than she ever cried about Ricky. It's like she was broken after that so she tried to use EJ as her final chance to build a connection and was depending on him so hard for emotional support, just to be blindsided and left feeling "off-putting" or like she needs to not only run away but also to put her walls back up. Like this was the last straw for her emotionally.

I thought the appeal of Portwell was that while Ricky made her cry and was constantly vague and unclear about his feelings, EJ was consistently there for her and she knew where she stood w him and that he would stay and not let her down. But now EJ is making her cry, too, being vague, and having miscommunication? All for the sake of them having a last minute complication just for it to result in Gina ONCE AGAIN having to be the one to put herself out there and express her feelings to EJ bc he was feeling insecure and din't come talk to her about it. For once, can't someone be the one to confess their feelings to her? Otherwise, what's the difference between Rina and Portwell if she has to deal w the same problems? Like no, SHOW why he's the better option for her, don't make him act stupid just to cause drama for a second. He was pretty intuitive last year about Rini still having feelings for each other, so why is he oblivious this time around? And why did he go talk to Ashlyn about it but not Gina? That's like last season when he talked to Ashlyn about his problems w Nini instead of bringing it up to her. Why does he keep making the same mistakes? Gina needs someone to be direct and secure in their feelings for her. She can't be expected to coddle EJ, who already has way more relationship experience, bc he will make assumptions about her without addressing it to her face and lead w his insecurities even when she is clearly hurt by what he's saying. Could he not tell she was upset he cancelled the date or??

Also unrelated, but why did they make Ricky mess w Nini's phone and delete stuff just like EJ did to her last season? Once again, SHOW why Ricky is the better option for Nini. Otherwise, she might as well have just stayed w EJ if there's no difference anyway, right?

The villains this season were also so irrelevant. Like where did Derek Hough go after he talked to Miss Jenn that one time? And couldn't Lily have been more involved if they're gonna force this plot of her liking Ricky?

With the amount of underdevelopment going on, Nini should have just transferred to North High instead of YAC and had a storyline there about choosing between ambition and friends or whatever. Then, she could've gotten to know Howie, Lily, French guy, etc, and it would intertwine the characters more. And also create more tension for Nini when she finally transfers back to East High and had to compete against her former classmates in the Menkies.

Instead, Lily's only relevance is to randomly have a crush on Ricky even though she spent the whole time manipulating him. Why does he even like her? If I was Big Red, I would get mad bc Lily has done nothing but be cutthroat to his supposed friends and make Ashlyn insecure all season. Doesn't he care about that? Or does he want to ignore his own problems yet again and focus all his energy onto "saving" or "fixing" Lily? He's so codependent. He and Nini both need to stop being so self-centered about their feelings.

I wish Ricky and Nini had developed a genuine passion for theatre by now like Troy and Gabriella did, but it seems like they could always take or leave whether they're in it or not. Does Ricky even have any passions outside of being codependent on girlfriends? The career test suggests not.

And Nina needs to learn to be a better friend. All season, Kourtney has been dealing w shit and her only advice is "you can handle it; you're Kourtney!" Like ok? Kourtney gives you all support and helps build you up, but is expected to figure everything out on her own bc she's "strong" and "independent." That doesn't mean she doesn't also need emotional support!

Plus why were all the songs so overproduced? I like the acoustic feel of S1 bc it added more emotional impact. I felt nothing from any of the songs this season. Cool!

#hsmtmts #rini #rina #portwell #anti rina #anti rini #anti portwell #ricky bowen #nini salazar roberts #gina porter #ej caswell #redlyn #seblos #olivia rodrigo #joshua bassett #matt cornett #sophia wylie #girl meets world

[mittensmorgul]

Dean saying he always knew he would die young might be in the season 8 episode about the first task (with the hellhound)? My take is that, before Hell, he knew that but in a distant sort of way. It only became very real to him and part of his worsening depression after Hell.

Yeah, he says that specifically when it's about throwing himself on a grenade to save someone he loves. The anon had asked about "early seasons" though, and Dean in early seasons? Didn't want to die. Even in Faith, he'd sort of resigned himself to dying because what did he know at the time, you know? But it wasn't about "I always knew I'd go this way." It was "If I'm gonna die, it's not gonna be in a hospital where the nurses aren't even hot" or whatever. It was *posturing* and putting on a brave face as his only recourse against what he believed was inevitable. Even by 2.01, though, he's ANGRY and DEFIANT in the face of his apparent imminent demise. He literally fights a reaper and fights for his life the entire episode.

After John sacrifices himself for Dean and he has no memory of his reaper fight, he feels "wrong" inside. Partly it's guilt, because he's guessed what his father did to save him, and it's at least partly the massive burden John left on him before he died, the whole "if you can't save Sammy, you'll have to kill him" nonsense of s2. But his relationship with Death and death throughout the series evolves.

In 2.22, he tells Bobby that by selling his soul to bring Sam back, "at least my life can mean something." He was in a horrifying place, and this is not the declaration of a man who believes in himself at all.

That's about as close as we get to the specific sentiment that "I always knew I'd die this way, bloody on a hunt" in what I consider "early seasons."

Even in s3, after he sold his soul, he spends half the season pretending he's good with his deal, that he's gonna just live life to the fullest until the hellhounds drag him off. He even gets pretty cavalier with his own safety in a horrifying turn in 3.07, offering himself up as vampire bait, which Sam very rightly calls him the fuck out on. That really begins the arc of Dean beginning to face the reality of his impending death, leading up to his confrontation with his demon!Dream!Self in 3.10. After that, he's able to admit to Sam that he's scared, that he doesn't want to die, and if there's a way to save him, he wants to find it. (but the way to save him was a lie perpetrated by Ruby, because she wanted him to go to hell, needed him to go to hell for the bigger plan to play out)

But Hell, and then the impending apocalypse, and what he learns Sam has become (hey, demon blood addict here...), Dean's view of the world gets a lot darker, and grimmer, post-hell. But it doesn't stay that way... at least not all the time.

And by later seasons, it was more often than not him talking about retirement, or at least a vacation, of laying down some of his burden so maybe he could see a future out past the end of his hunting life.

And then somehow in the series finale as soon as any of that might be a possibility, rather than letting him have it (or even leaving it open-ended as something he might choose for himself instead of the drudgery of a completely unfulfilled life), nope he got hung up on a receipt spike like a paid bill and shipped off to drive forever with no destination. How awful...

#spn 15.20 #oh DEAN

[join-the-club-weve-got-jackets]

Salty asks 9, 10, 11, 16, 20 for TO and Jane the virgin!

Thank you, anon! Now be prepared to do some reading bc I got kinda long-winded here lol

The Originals

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

I didn't like their parents and the Hollow for obvious reasons. Otherwise Jackson bugged me, especially in the second half of S2 when he started acting like he knew better than Klaus when it came to Hope. Davina also bugged me when she was always so gung-ho on bringing down Klaus. I also just thought of Mary, and that's for similar reasons as Jackson.

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

I know it only says one, but I'm gonna list three lol. The Hollow: It was somewhat boring, could've been done better, and it separated Klaus and Hope several times. Cami's vampire arc: I hated that they did it, I hated how bitchy they made her act after, and I hated that they killed her off. Parts of the end of S2: Everyone was turning on Klaus when he rightfully questioned Freya. They daggered him when he was their best weapon/Hope's best protector. Hayley thinking Jackson's plan would work and that she was gonna take Hope away from Klaus and the Mikaelsons.

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn't? Why?

This was a hard one for me since I can't think of a real unpopular character that I wouldn't like. I know a lot of people hate Elijah and Freya for doing what they did to Davina, but I still love them both. Yes, it was cruel to Davina, but if they didn't do it they would have lost Klaus/Hayley and orphaned baby Hope. I liked Cami, minus the vampire arc, even though I know a lot of other people thought she was boring. I didn't necessarily ship her with Klaus, but I still liked her. S5 Hope also took a lot of hate, but I understood that she was just a kid desperate to see her dad and have her family back, and she made some bad decisions bc of it.

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

Oh boy, where do I even start lol? A few major things I would change: Klaus would have gotten to raise/be with Hope more as she was growing up, as well as the rest of the family. Even though I loved their S1 arc, I wish we could have kept Rebekah around as a main character and kept our ot3 together. I also would have focused less on bringing in newer/more external baddies whose goal was always to kill the Mikaelsons. For me, they had enough going on within the family that they could have explored. Plus, something I thought worked well in S1 and S2 is that they had more of a complex story and motivations going on with the villains rather than let's find new ways to end the originals.

20. What is the purest ship in the fandom?

Klope. Without a doubt.

Jane the Virgin

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Magda...need I say more? Jorge has bothered me in S5. I guess Rose too since she's the villain. I didn't like Chuck either for obvious reasons.

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Anytime where they've had Jane and Rafael hating each other, bc it hurts me to see them like that. Early S5, everything going on with bringing Michael back to life and bringing back that stupid love triangle. Have I mentioned how much I hate love triangles? And just all the disservice it did to all the characters involved too.

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn't? Why?

Hmm...that's a tough one. I know not everyone likes Rafael, but I always have. He's beautiful, he's supportive of Jane and always encouraging her in her writing career. Plus he's allowed to have flaws and be trash sometimes, which I love getting to see realistic characters like that.

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

Again, where do I begin lol? Less of the love triangle. No bringing Michael back to life. More Luisa. Seeing Raf with all his kids more. Better treatment of mental health issues. More JR and Petramos in S5. Getting rid of Madga sooner. The list goes on.

20. What is the purest ship in the fandom?

Omg is it bad that I can't really even think of one right away. I wanna say one involving the kids, but even that got tainted when they made Mateo hate Jane for a while. But minus that, I may just go with Jane and Mateo, her little Mr. Sweetface.

#ask game #anon #answered #personal #the originals #jane the virgin

[serenagaywaterford]

6) a flip of the dime. The nasty parts were always there, but he concealed/controlled them. Maybe bc said parts wouldn't exactly make him endearing to others? Anyhow, your interpretation makes him quite the interesting antagonist/villain, so I'm rolling with it, lol. /// There was another thing that was bugging me about S2: the baby's name. Obviously, Serena chose Nic(h)ole as a "fuck you" to Fred. But June in the finale? Of course, she stuck to it for Nick's sake, but also bc she recognized

7) Serena’s selfless (well, if you can call it that) act. Thoughts on this? /// As for your older responses, I forgot to describe what an epiphany it was for me to realize the significance of Serena’s use of the word “rape” for the first time. The anger I felt after 2x10 blinded me to the VERY OBVIOUS connection between her realization in 2x10 and her outburst in 2x11. (Silly me!) Imagine how much more intense that fight would have been if they included the marital rape. I remember a writer

8) that June didn’t kill Serena, bc she actually felt sorry for her in that episode. (Ngl, June’s kindness baffles me at times.) I knew that she wasn’t gonna do it of course, but it was 50/50 whether I wanted her to shoot them or not. /// Something I have not addressed so far is how lukewarm I found their explanation for June getting away with all the shit she does. Well, she’s no Janine (who loses an eye) or Emily (who gets mutilated), but still. Like you said, Serena and Fred might get away

9) get away with a lot more bc of their privilege, but June? Hm. // I’ll start quoting later (or maaaybe tomorrow).

———–

I always thought that was a really weird sort of thing for June to do. And it seems to be entirely because of Serena? Like, it was Holly, Holly, Holly. Even when she was talking to Nick. Then she has the exchange with Serena, and suddenly she adopts Serena’s supreme dickmove of a babyname? 

And I LIKED Holly. It meant something. Nichole (I HATE THAT SPELLING SFM LMAO) means nothing to June? Can you imagine the convo: 

“Mommy, why am I called Nichole?”

“Well, baby, you see, your Daddy’s name is Nick, so the lady that stole you decided to name you after him to eternally piss off her husband who she clearly hates and wanted him to be reminded that he’s impotent every time he looks at you.”

Like, on the one hand, Serena is fucking brilliant and it just shows the extent of her hatred for Fred. But then it’s kinda shitty to use a child as a pawn in that.

Then again, maybe there’s another reason Serena chose that name? I know there’s like a whole history about St. Nicholas and his role as a patron saint of childless couples, or something. (I can’t recall exactly rn). And there was something about St. Nicolette and babies. (Which is where the names Nicole and Collette come from.) Something like she raised a dead baby back to life. So, I guess, at a stretch perhaps that was her inspiration? I doubt it, knowing Serena. LOL.

It’s really curious June’s decision though. Despite EVERYTHING Serena’s done, June just wipes it clean and names her fucking baby after Serena’s choice? Maybe she was trying to retain the memory of Nick for Nichole? I dunno. And not only that, but she seemed 100% genuine when she said that farewell blessing and held Serena’s hand (again). 

I dunno, June’s own preoccupation with Serena is something I don’t truly understand but she clearly thinks there’s some odd connection or something. It’s funny cos I was reading a review about S2 and June’s choices in the finale, and her constant support of Serena despite ALL the reasons not to, and lemme see if I can find it… 

 Nah. I can’t. Anyway, it was something about how we all know June’s going back for Hannah, but this writer thought June was also going back for Serena.

I’m not convinced about that tbh, but I can see the argument cos June is strangely protective and compassionate towards Serena considering. I just have a sinking feeling that the show is gonna play that “Oops, Serena is evil again!! SHE WAY MAD JUNE GIVE BABBY AWAY trolololol!!!!” and make her despicable in order to get Nicole back. If that is the case, I’m gonna roll my eyes right outta my head. I have no issue with Serena having regrets, tbh. I think that’s pretty understandable and expected. But having Serena go hogwild with abuse and using Fred’s power to get back at June or something is just going to fucking piss me off cos like, c’mon my dudes, been there, done that. Over and over already. It’s the 3rd season and either you’re gonna put this bitch on a mild redemption arc or you’re gonna make her a full-on villain. Make up your minds. The will-she, won’t-she thing is old by now.

I dunno that was a random OT rant.

Also, TRUTH! Serena’s use of the word “rape” was important. Like, part of me is like DUH how did you JUST figure that out?! And, honestly I feel like the marital rape is sort of necessary for Serena’s epiphany to get recognised. I think, Serena is just wilfully ignorant enough to not truly consider the Ceremony rape. I honestly do not think she totally understood what she was suggesting with the 2x10 rape. (Serena really does lack forethought for like…all of her actions. That’s sorta her whole problem.) I think she thought it would be just like a sort of unsanctioned ceremony. But by the end she did seem to recognise what it truly was. And having her raped by Fred in the previous episode would have really helped with that. (Then again, it’s really hard to understand how a woman who was just raped turns around and basically suggests it. And this person is supposed to be not Satan. A pure evil woman sure. But Serena’s not meant to be that.)

I think Yvonne’s delivery of the line was interesting too. Part of it was like, “HOly shit it was rape” and part of it was like, “ha! you’re a monster!! you did that!” Like she had no culpability in it. I want to know if Serena has realised that ALL ceremonies are RAPE yet. I wonder if she’s got there. I’m not totally convinced she has. But… I dunno.

Oh! I hadn’t read that about June’s reasoning! That’s interesting. I mean, it fits with June overall but it’s a very odd thing. Like, to be holding a gun trained on the couple that literally held you down and raped you not 24 hours earlier… and feel SORRY for the woman (whereas the general population’s consensus is that Serena is even worse than Fred for doing that to another woman)? I went and watched it after reading your message I didn’t really see that on June’s face. (But that’s really neither here nor there since editing, directing, etc. all differs from what the writers/showrunners had in mind and those are the guys doing the interviews!)  I take that back! I watched it again and I can deffo see that if that’s what they were going for. Totally missed it and likely wouldn’t have picked up on it if not for this convo.

That said, I totally see June reasoning it out that way. For some strange reason, whether it’s Stockholm Syndrome or whatever, June seems to have a blindspot/softspot for Serena and she seems to have unlimited Get Out Of Jail Free cards for her. Like, c’mon, she literally held her down to be brutally raped, and at this point it seems like Serena could murder June and June’s ghost would just be like, “Hey youuuuu, wanna be my bestie in overthrowing the patriarchy?” (Okay, I’m not at all complaining cos I love their dynamic and I ship them soooooo… lol. On a personal level, it works very well for me and my crackshippy fantasies. I choose to believe June honestly sees something nobody else does and believes in Serena’s capacity for redemption–WHICH IS INSANE. But hey. I love it.)

So, for June to feel sorry for Serena, even after everything really does fit when you think about it. And also when you think about book!June’s attitude towards true power being in forgiveness.

I remember sitting around watching the ep the first time and thinking “I don’t want June to shoot them and be a killer” but also, “WHY ISN’T SHE SHOOTING THE FUCKING PLACE UP! DOES SHE NOT WANT TO ESCAPE????” And I was sitting there with the wifey and she was like, “She can’t. What if she misses? Then you’ve got 2 incredibly angry people chasing you.” And I was like… “Uh. Reload? Shoot them as they’re coming up the stairs.”

Because I have never fired a gun in my life so to me it seems really easy lmao. But to me, I didn’t even care about her shooting Serena but I did have an inkling she didn’t want to shoot Serena with the amount she paused. That would have been a perfect shot with teh type of ammo to take out –or at least injure– two people at once. I was like, “You gotta kill Fred and Serena is pretty useless then. It’s not like they have mobile phones! You can then choose to leave Serena to die there lol, or hostage her. And steal the car. You could get pretty far since nobody knows that Fred/Serena are even there.” To me, rationally, it didnt’ make sense not to shoot them. But… emotionally, obvs, I knew she wouldn’t cos a)the series would like… end rather abruptly lol, and b) that’s just not June.

AND yeah, June getting away with all her bullshit is insane in comparison. Janine literally lost an eye for backtalking once at the Red Centre! June has, well, done so much more and just kind skates away from ALL serious punishment. (Well, living with Fred and Serena is a pretty awful punishment in general.) And, sure part of it was cos she was preggers but … how Aunt Lydia/Fred/Serena/TPTB trust this crazy Handmaid not to KEEP breaking the rules is insane. I feel like nobody would trust her to just be a docile little thing after running away for 92 days. Not even Pervy Freddo. Despite all his creeptastic fetishes, he’d be like, “OMG she is way too high maintenance. i just don’t have the patience. give me that baby so i can shut my annoying wife up and then get me another more docile babyslave to play Scrabble and shave!” The plot armour is strong in this one!

Anyway! I got a bit carried away there…

#Anonymous

[raayllum]

In regards to your last post, they did do that with Soren (ik ik you weren't talking about him) but his character has depth and a more satisfying arc (relating back to the vulnerability is strength theme) so I'm cool with him

Here's the thing about Soren though, honestly. He's just jerky and loyal enough to his father (and the fact that Viren asks him to kill the princes rather than Claudia in the first place) that in S1 it's more of a tossup, even if I do remember being more worried about Claudia / her skewed worldview in S1 than I was about Soren.

TDP also has more complex explorations of morality (if not in some ways just exploring actual morality) than most shows aimed at kids/young teens do.

In She-Ra, the war is mostly a backdrop conflict used to explore relationship conflict, so when characters do defect from like, a conquering empire, it's because they've realized they aren't 1) treated well there by their 'friends' or 2) would rather be someone's friend than enemy. That's fine as a show focus, but it is more shallow in the morality department; thus, even though I have issues with how Catra's redemption arc was executed, I still always absolutely knew it was coming. To be clear, there's nothing with a predictable character arc (I love good setup and subsequent payoff and would take that over a 'subversives surprise' any day) but it did make her less interesting / harder to watch her be continually terrible to the people around her, even when they just risked everything to save her from death.

In The Owl House, every antagonist besides the main villain is either just misunderstood, misguided, redeemed, or all three (hi Hunter, Amity, The Collector, Lilith). There are a few others - Boscha, Kikimora, Odalia - but they're all regulated to small episode conflicts (each get like maybe 2 eps as an antagonist at most) and it's just... they all want power. Okay, cool.

What I'm trying to say through these examples is that's not a lot of moral depth in their character arcs, and to me, that makes a redemption arc less interesting to watch. However, Soren is a very morally driven character and he struggles with the morality of his choices and of his father's. His redemption arc ties in many other important relationships in his life and develops them (Claudia, Viren, Callum, Ezran) all in different ways. Ezran is his king and becomes his new purpose; Callum is a second chance and also kind of a little brother and also kind of an emotionally unavailable best friend who doesn't entirely trust you; Claudia is his sister turned enemy; Viren is, well... We're gonna get into how complicated that is even more, I'm sure.

I guess that's also what it comes down to me, the sacrifice / inconvenience element of the character doing the redeeming. Soren had, and has, something to lose by staying on the side of the good guys. He defects for his safety, yes, but he leaves behind his little sister and his previous idealization of his father on his own terms through a series of events and his own realizations. He shows up on the good guys' doorstep with "We're doomed." Even in S4, he's still losing things and at least somewhat on the losing side, with his entire family on the other side of the line. (Compare and contrast to Amity, whose entire family - all four of them - unanimously ditch her crappy mother or Catra, who defects after realizing she's effectively worthless to the new #1 villain replacing her, etc. They lose nothing, really, in the end.)

And again, I think Soren's arc works because well... it's the only one that TDP has had in this way. Rayla defects immediately, so her redemption arc works a bit differently. Claudia is still in the middle of her "what if I got worse haha jk... unless?" arc. So they all work as his primary arc foils in a very nice way. Now Viren is going through a bit of Soren's S2 arc, which we'll have to see how that goes, but full fledged died and resurrected and dragged through the mud by his daughter's determination to keep him alive sad old sack of an evil man isn't an arc you see often, now is it?

Soren realizes he's wrong without 1) a mentor figure or 2) heroes pointing it out to him and offering him second chances (save Ez sparing both him and Claudia in 3x02, which had an impact for sure but like - think of how much more reaching out, comparatively, even someone like Zuko got from protag team). Part of this is also because Soren starts off in an interesting place for a 'redeemed character' which is that he starts off on the 'right side' (protecting the king) so he has more of a restoration/maturation arc than an outright redemption arc, in some ways.

So Soren's arc is unique within his story, it's very well paced, there's a depth of morality, and it's tethered to theme so so well. It's *chef's kiss* and refreshing for someone who honestly doesn't truthfully love redemption arcs most of the time (at least not the classical kind) so it's just. Nice, y'know? It's really nice

#spop critical #toh critical #JUST IN CASE #nobody be weird about it please #thanks for asking #anonymous #tdp soren