#this was basically what did end up happening with the caveat that she was still illegitimate but at that point it had nothing to do w/ coa

[fideidefenswhore]

How do we know that COA was offered her daughter made bona fides and kept princess? When was this?

It was an offer made by Henry alongside Campeggio when he was there before the trial, that her acceptance of the offer meant the trial could be foregone ....

We (Wolsey and Campeggio) are agreed in opinion to test the mind of the Queen, and to persuade her to consent to the separation, and to enter the profession of some religion. For this purpose his Lordship promised me the assistance of himself and all the prelates of the kingdom, and the favor of the King, and that the Queen shall have any honorable conditions which she demands, retain her station as Queen*, and not lose anything except "l'uso della persona del Re," which he (Wolsey) says she has lost for many years; allowing her her dowry, rents, ornaments, and assignments for her support, and many other things; especially that the succession of the kingdom for the present shall be established in her daughter, by the ordinance and consent of all the estates, in case there should never be any legitimate male heir. 

....(although, actually I don't exactly remember, that might have just been one stage of the offer...another might have been that her absence from the trial would ensure a result in Henry's favor; as we know she refused to attend after her speech and it did not, so whether or not that was true...Campeggio had a decretal comission to declare the marriage valid or invalid at Blackfriars and didn't, so in some sense they both got played, although Catherine only in hindsight...ironically, she would later vehemently complain about the severe injustice of the delay in any resolution, but she was the one that had interceded for that delay**, demanding the case only be tried in Rome). Even her counsel at the time, before becoming as contumacious as he did (Bishop Fisher), advised her to take this 'deal', as it were. Off the cuff, I don't remember every reference made to it, Chapuys some months later does also mention (very conditional) 'offers' made to her, but the dispatch is frustratingly vague:

Meanwhile the Queen is daily assailed by people making her all manner of offers, if she will only consent to the divorce; but she remains as firm as ever [...]

In 1533 Chapuys reports Catherine as having said she was willing to take the 'offer' made to her by the King's council three years ago, that then she had thought it was a feint to induce her to accept demotion, but she would accept it now. He does not specify what this offer was, I remember I went back to the sources of when Henry's council visited and argued with her and it was not clear then, either, but I always wondered if that was what she was alluding to. If so it was too late at that point; Henry had decided that the issue of any union that contravened divine law was irrevocably illegitimate (although technically, he would not manage to garner Parliamentary assent for this notion until three years later, he only managed it by implication in 1534), and he believed that was what it was.

Often apologia of Catherine's stance in the late 1520s has been, why should she have even considered that inducement, how was it even presented as an 'offer', even if the papacy had annulled the marriage, Mary would be bona fides regardless, etc. It was presented as an offer, inducement, compromise of sorts because in England that was not the legal precedent (ie, an offer made on behalf of her daughter that was not guaranteed otherwise):

"[Henry VIII] now argued she would would be barred by illegitimacy. This contention puzzled continental contemporaries because elsewhere in western Europe those children born to couples who in good faith believed themselves validly married were treated as legitimate. Nevertheless, Henry was right. After a period of some uncertainty, by the late fourteenth century England had opted out of the bona fides principle. As Sir John Baker notes, 'succession problems were usually debated in legal terms and in accordance with the common law canons of inheritance.' A successful challenge to his marriage would thus automatically bastardise Mary and leave Henry no direct heir... [although] Mary could have been legitimated by statute." - JF Hadwin, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

*One assumes this meant only a ceremonial title of some sort, ie Dowager Queen of England, as her sister-in-law was still referred to as Queen of France.

**Probably not anticipating resolution would not take place for another four years, but...still.

#anon #so...i think the answer has to be that catherine believed she would win #and she was vindicated although this was something of a pyrrhic victory for her own lifetime #and beyond it if we are considering 1536-52 #or maybe she was not aware of this precedent which doesn't speak very highly of her advisors #her stans kind of want it both ways in a lot of aspects of the GM which is sort of like... #well either she was ignorant of certain things or knew them and decided to take the gamble #which presents a bit of an either/or with the Genius of the Tudor Court versus Devoted Mother Above All except for them it has to be both #the pragmatic solution would have been to put henry to oath with witnesses that mary would be first in succession after any sons #by subsequent marriage... in exchange for her agreement #to either enter convent (although as the article i quoted argues that wouldn't have really been an entire solution in and of itself) or #to tell charles v not to interfere and let the matter run its course in the courts #that is of course something of a secular perspective but isn't that the win win? if you win then great she's ahead of everyone #if you don't at least there's the chance for the throne #this was basically what did end up happening with the caveat that she was still illegitimate but at that point it had nothing to do w/ coa #more like in spite of her #royal retirement also /= an admission of sin; people seem to have really minimal historic literacy on this subject... #charles v retired to a monastery in 1556. #although traditionally it was for royal widows #(catherine of valois; eleanor of provence; elizabeth woodville...) #there might have been the crux of her moral opposition. #henry insisted she was arthur's widow; catherine insisted she was not

[patchesofuniverse]

I found this in my drafts - I wrote it after I finished Leverage: Redemption S1 and then most of the original series. Posting it now with the caveat that I never got around to watching the rest of Leverage: Redemption so I do not know what happened from there.

----------

It still amazes me that people who've lived through

- Sherlock, where the creators outright deny that their two male leads could ever get together, while throwing out constant M/M fanservice.

- FIFTEEN seasons of Supernatural, where women can't survive for very long because they'd threaten the fan-preferred M/M pairings, and one of the actors for the pairing straight up denies that his character could even be gay, shot down questions about it, and finally just "didn't want to put him in a box" following an outcry near the very end of the series.

- She-who-shall-not-be-named, who never so much as hinted that any character might not be straight, but then declared one gay when the series was basically done.

- and however many more queerbaiting shows

can look at Leverage and think the creators are trying to pull one over on us.

- "That means I would be thinking about you and Parker, which I never do!" in the least convincing tone, after lamenting the suave thief Parker is out with that night.

- Watching them kiss and nodding

- "'til my dying day" and "but you never, never need anything" "Yeah, I did" looks over at Parker and Hardison for a moment before looking back "And thanks to you, I don’t have to search anymore."

- Confirmation from the creator that the OT3 is canon.

- "Even numbers only baby" and "Age of the geek, babe"

- The hints in the show (Hardison being aware of how Eliot wakes up, "we built vents in the house", etc) and then confirmation that the three of them live together.

- The necklaces

- Hardison talks to Eliot AND Parker before making the decision to step away from the team. Parker's scene is more dramatic, sure - but Hardison checks in with Eliot too, and Eliot confirms his support before Parker drags Hardison off for their chat.

They haven't given us a kiss or the exact words, sure. Polyamory still isn't widely accepted in the US - it's very possible that they can't give us a big flashy display on screen because of executive meddling, or just that they have to consider ratings.

But what they've given us is in line with the characters they've created. They also never make it into a joke, aside from Hardison's "We're together" bit in The 12 Steps Job (which was season one). They don't make flashy fanservice out of scenes with Hardison and Eliot together, or with the three of them.

The Leverage PTB haven't queerbaited us with the OT3. They queercoded them. And then confirmed that they intended the things we saw on screen.

Part of me wonders if the idea that the OT3 are queerbait is the fact that Eliot's relationship with Hardison and Parker is more subdued than their relationship with each other. I think there may be folks who want to see them as a perfect, exclusive triangle where they all share the exact same relationship style. But that's not how polyamorous relationships have to work - and indeed, it's not how most of them work. Parker and Eliot have always had a different kind of relationship than Parker and Hardison. It's not unreasonable to think that, even in a committed romantic threesome, the three sides of the triangle would represent different types of relationships.

#leverage #leverage ot3 #eliot x parker x hardison #leverage: redemption #Some folks also clearly dislike that Eliot still flirts with other women #and I think that feeds into the idea that the OT3 are queerbait or not canon #but polyamorous relationships don't have to be exclusive #a friend of mine has two commited romantic partners #but still goes out on dates and has casual sex partners too #Eliot clearly enjoys flirting and the company of women throughout the original series #it's completely possible that Eliot is committed to Parker and Hardison without needing to be exclusive #it's been 8 years I think Parker's had time to work on her jealousy stuff #or to at least be able to roll with it out of love and respect for Eliot #that same friend above sometimes gets anxious and needs their partners to reaffirm that they love them and want to stay together #but they don't stop their partners from seeing other people because that's not the relationship they agreed on #if you want to write polyfidelity then go for it! #I don't actually think we've seen anything on screen that truly contradicts it #(flirting isn't cheating) #but I also believe the OT3 can be canon without requiring exclusivity #polyamory #ot3

[houseofbrat]

If Kate was adamant she didn’t want this information out there before Easter, what strategies could’ve been deployed by their PR to prevent this mess? Hyperactive information environment or not, if she didn’t change that position, all the PR can do is follow the strategy and brief editors that there’s a very good reason for the radio silence and promise an update after Easter. The only thing I can think of is releasing regular ‘doctors are pleased with Kate’s progress and expect her to be back to Royal duties after Easter’ statements to manage expectations. Also presuming she didn’t want to take part in any ‘at home recovering’ style images or videos for social which given the circumstances is understandable. The big mistake was bowing to pressure and releasing an image on Mother’s Day that ended up blowing up in their faces. If they felt compelled to release something, an older picture with the caveat that it was taken last year as the Princess is still recovering and not posing for photos at this time would’ve been better.

If their hands were truly tied, then yeah, there's not a lot they can do. I think an important take-away is that we always need to be able to not only articulate what's going to happen in a given situation, but also explain why. In this particular case, by leaving an information vacuum, they created a much worse outcome. I hope someone explained that clearly to "The Firm". Of course we saw much worse with Andrew and his disastrous live interview where he wasn't able to answer basic questions, or even pivot to key messages. There is clearly a lot wrong with how the family handles the media - it's nothing new, but it is definitely broken.

Original statement should have given less detail. “Abdominal surgery”+10-14 day hospital stay+3 month recovery timeframe is just enough info to invite people to try to solve the puzzle. 

 2) Royal watchers twigged something was off early on because of KP’s unusual silence when they are known for being leaky as a sieve. Their usual MO is a constant drip of vacuous puff pieces by the Royal Rota. A good PR strategy would have been to continue feeding the Wales and Middleton happy perfect family stories (the kids have made their mum get well cards! Carole’s been by her daughter’s side! William is making breakfasts by hand!) This could have been done with no involvement on Kate’s part and a minimal burden on William to approve the briefs. Instead the absence of the usual drip drip drip got the public’s attention, especially in contrast to Buckingham Palace’s steady-on strategy for Charles’s procedure and cancer. 

 3) PR can only do so much about their principal’s demeanor and I can’t get too much on William’s case for his noticeably weird behavior while he’s been dealing with his wife’s cancer diagnosis. But at minimum someone should be empowered enough to look the man in the eye and had him practice saying “She’s recovering from her procedure, thank you for your concern” so that he could reel off that line when people or press asked him about Kate during his engagements. His pretending not to hear thing did NOT help.  

 4) I agree they should have never released the Mother’s Day photo. Nor the two car pap photos, which were obviously not candid but clumsy attempts to address speculation. Each one was fuel to the fire. The effort would have been better spent on a simple statement signed by Kate saying the PoW thanks the public for their concern, she appreciates the cards, and she reiterates her desire for privacy at this time. 

This woman was failed at every conceivable point.

Silence during a crisis breeds suspicion and speculation. Social media provides a broad, uncontrollable platform and rewards those who amplify the nonsense.

Mother’s Day presented a prime opportunity. An IG story with a carousel of past photos of Kate & the kids and a 15 sec voiceover of Kate saying:

”Thank you so much for all your well wishes. I’m looking forward to returning to my duties when I’m cleared to do so. I’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day quietly with my husband and children this year but I hope you all have a lovely day.”

There were any number of ways that Kate could have been briefly engaged without being intrusive or needing to show her face.

It should never have come to this.

Or a picture of her as a child with HER mom. Isn’t the point of Mother’s Day to honor your own mother, not tout your role as a mom? A nice post about her mom with some pictures of her would have been lovely.

My sense through this is that the PR people (who are professionals and handle sticky situations all the time) had their hands tied by what William and Kate did and did not want to do. Given the circumstances it is understandable that they would back down and follow the couple's script - even as they watched fires pop up all over that they were not allowed to address.

A lot of people on here who don’t understand there is a family of people who are “royals” and The Royal Family which is a public institution and has responsibility for public service and some constitutional duties, aka The Firm.

Does Kate deserve privacy? Sure.

Does, “The Princess of Wales” get to take 4 months away from her public duties without explaining why? No. It’s not how The Firm works. Does Kate get to approve PR about The Princess of Wales? Maybe, maybe not. That title belongs to the institution.

So these are two separate things. And this has been a great example of how digital and social media means carrying on with two distinct entities, is likely no longer viable.

The information that she was having surgery was already out. However, announcing that Charles had cancer as well while he was still being seen out was what led people to come up with wild theories. If the king can walk around with cancer then Kate can go out for a quick I'm ok wave was the thinking. And let's be real here, there is soooooo much more going on than they'll say. There was absolutely NO reason for a photo collage of a moment that never existed. She was already seen in the car with her mom -allegedly her because puffy faces don't go away that quickly - yet they felt the need to not say a darn thing. Either disappear until Easter with vague updates or quit with the pranks. I believe her when she said they weren't expecting cancer, and I'm sure there were already other high stake activities in occurrence, which led to them scrambling for cover. She's not the first public figure to get a life-threatening illness either. We all wish them the best as we would any mom with kids, but they're also living on public acceptance and dollars. They also threw her under the bus a couple times and it got RIDICULOUS.

They didn’t need to prove to the public that she was well. I know the monarchy has a history of hiding illness and I get that, but photoshopping a photo to prove that she is well went too far. The public isn’t dumb. She had major surgery she isn’t going to look herself. They should have posted a more simple statement for surgery, they should’ve posted a statement from her saying “thank you for your well wishes, I look forward to getting back to my duties when able” and then maybe a post on Mother’s Day of her children or her mother and sister.

VERY simple things would’ve prevented the fiasco and maybe given them more time to deal with this in private. They may have still made the announcement on Friday but all of this abuse could’ve been avoided. They made it seem like she was dead and The Firm was pulling a Weekend at Bernie’s.

Pull a classroom full of any PR majors from ANY school ANYWHERE and they all could’ve protected her and her family more than their freaking comms team. It’s an absolute abomination and embarrassment. I really hope they fire all the people involved. They brought so much shame and embarrassment to the crown.

I'm sure a lot of non PR professionals who have an understanding of the standard playbook for public figures and basic competence in business/personal communication could have done better than the "professionals" they hired. Some of it is ... not that hard. I mean, I'd have to think about Mother's Day - just the kids? W or C as kidlets with their moms or what? But thank early, thank often. Charles isn't spilling all his tea but he and his team have hit their marks and there is far less crazy chatter about him. If this is William's notion of "modernizing the monarchy" it's going to be a bumpy ride. As we used to say "don't throw the baby out with the bath water".

Why does a cancer patient need PR? There is nothing shameful about cancer. I get she needed time to process. There is still so much ambiguity around this. “Abdominal Surgery” “Cancer” but not specifying what type of cancer.

I don't understand why so many people are blaming their PR team or William ("he made her take the blame for the photoshopped picture!")

Kate is married to the future King of England. She has enormous power. She isn't Meghan Markle trying to adjust to life in the palace while married to "the spare." She isn't a mid level Royal. She isn't Andrew, Edward, Eugenie, Beatrice etc. People act like she has no power and influence over her team.

The reality is according to a post on X from a person who broke the news about her condition before the media did so apparently has some sort of inside information Kate has known she has cancer since January and started chemo after the surgery. She most likely did that at the hospital since it might be traumatizing for the younger children to do it at home and she didn't want to travel back and forth every day.

Kate didn't want to admit to the public she had cancer. In the initial statement they denied it was cancer. They had to admit it yesterday because unfortunately people got access to her records and it was being shopped around to media publications so she had no choice. According to "sources close to Kate" who spoke to US and People (they're not tabloids and usually have legit sources) she didn't want to tell even people close to her and decided to keep it private. She had no plans to tell the public that they knew about. Unfortunately Kate was being unrealistic. One of the most famous women in the world can't hide for several months without generating conspiracy theories. Kate has photoshopped pictures before. I don't know why so many people think it was Palace officials who forced her to photoshop the mother's day picture. It doesn't take much physical exertion to use photoshop. I believe she did and she apologized for it. She couldn't blame other employees when they didn't have anything to do with it. Nobody "forced her to take the blame" for the picture.

The point is her PR people can't divulge confidential medical information. The only way to handle this was to be honest from the beginning back in January. "The Princess of Wales had surgery and is undergoing treatment for cancer. Please respect her privacy." That's it. (Assuming the insider's belief that she knew it was cancer back in January is true but she seemed to be wearing a wig in the photo in the car so don't believe she is only now beginning treatment)

It's a horrible sad situation. But Kate is known to be stubborn and probably isn't the passive easily intimidated person people are portraying her to be. There is no way her PR team could have done anything differently when she wanted the public to believe it was simply "recovery from abdominal surgery" and nothing else.

Thank you! So glad other people are saying this!!! Can’t believe how many people have missed the point that she is literally one of the most powerful visible women in the world and you can’t just disappear without generating a frenzy. I agree if they’d been very simple and honest from day 1 they would have avoided this whole fiasco. They could have revealed even less as you note - not even mentioned “abdominal”!!

The problem started with the first statement that said her surgery was planned. The public already knew they had scheduled overseas travel/work during that time. Meaning this wasn’t planned in the typical sense and they were wordsmithing things. This set off people’s spidy senses. It was also proof that KP and Buckingham Palace aren’t coordinating between press offices. To have both health statements come out the same day was terrible practice. They should’ve coordinated both messaging, tone and timing.

Then it came out that someone was rushed to the hospital over the holidays.

Also, Will has been tied to Rose for years and there have long been rumors of his poor attitude as well as the family’s poor treatment of the women who have married into it. There were stories years ago that they used to throw pillows at each other during fights. It was natural rumors would start about her leaving him. For the past year they’ve been showing up to events separately- as if they live apart. The rumors have long been there. All the Harry and Meghan stuff confirmed some of the long-thought beliefs about Will’s handling of things.

When the AI photo came out, it was odd. But throwing Kate under the bus was wild. You know who approved that? Will. That made the public even more suspicious something was off about what was being shared.

Overall I would’ve handled this so differently. The balance of privacy and transparency is possible. I would’ve shared that Kate was taken to hospital over the holidays and underwent surgery, will be in recovery for timeline. Share flashback photos on holidays. Coordinate with Buckingham Palace on message timing. If she had been up to it, have her do Zoom calls with her charities and have the charity go on record about their interactions with Kate.

I think you're missing a step: the media went bonkers because social media lost its collective mind and MSM felt it had to respond to that hoopla, which was a palpable thing. I'm very much a student of PR, but I worked in journalism and I understand the impulse to have a line - any line at all! - on this thing people are apparently talking about. As somebody trying to learn the ropes, I'm very keen to know what a PR practitioner should do if the client says, "I pay your wages, and what's going on in my life is my business - I won't be adding to my previous statement until I'm ready."

#my gif #reddit #critique #pr games #strategery #PR fail #fail! #MESS! #kensington palace #palace officials #William The Prince of OWN GOALS #kate middleton #Catherine The Princess of Wales

[goodmorningdove]

ooh, tell me about your magical girl show idea!!

Basically the story centers around a girl named lilla who is (unsurprisingly) bullied at school. Like the real bullying that left you with psychological trauma and a fear that everyone you know is talking about you behind your back. Because at one point, everyone was! Anyway she meets this weird fox one day who's like "hey kid i see that you hate all the other kids around you. Do you magic powers so you can get revenge?" And at fist lilla says no because. Thats a talking fox with a creepy voice what the fuck. But after a week or so the bullying gets really bad and she runs away from school to find the fox again and is like "i want to get my revenge on the other kids" so the fox is like "sweet follow me!" And they go to this fountain thats filled with a black sludge and the fox says "all you need to do is drink some of this essence, and all your wishes will come true" so Lilla does! She drinks some of the sludge and it tastes gross but whatever. Magic powers! In front of her appears a magic staff thing idk i needed a physical conduit for the magic itll make sense later. The fox explains that all her magic comes in wish form, all you need to say is "i wish" followed by the thing you want to happen, with a few caveats but those arent important (says the fox). So lilla is like "i wish i could fly!" And shes flying! And she flies home! And then she wishes that she wont get in trouble for missing school that day. The next day she does go to school, wishing that her staff is invisible so that no one laughs at her for having the staff. She makes several wishes that put her schoolmates in embarrassing situations, but near the end of the day, a classmate jokes about Lilla's dead mother, who had been shot in the head a few years back. The kid jokes and laughs about how they wonder if exploding head is genetic, and if lilla's head will explode just like her mom's did! And in a fit of rage, lilla says without thinking "i wish your head would explode!"

And it did.

Lilla wishes for her classmate to ckme back to life, but that is one of the few limits of the magic. You can kill people, but you cant bring them back to life. She wishes herself out of everyone's memories, which leaves her magic staff very small, more like a wand than a staff. The fox explains that the staff will shrink until its out of magic, and she'll need to refill it soon. The most effectiant way to do so is to kill the monsters that attack the world. It is impossible to make a wish that affects the monsters directly, but they are still vulnerable to blades and bullets and whatnot. Plus, a magic staff can absorb them! (Also the monsters are attacking the world because they want to eat it)

Its at this point that Lilla goes and meets others like her. Im trying not to call them magical girls because anyone can become one, but im yet to find a word that actually fits what these people are.

Anyway a bunch of bonus facts that show up way later in the story than i have detailed plans for:

The black sludge IS the fox being. By consuming part of the fox, you allow it to feed on your soul. The staff is a physical representation of the bonus soul energy ypu possess. The fox gives you a grace period to test out your powers before it asks you to collect more soul energy.

If your staff is completely erased, the fox will begin to feed on your personal soul energy, killing you. It also will slowly drain the energy from your staff over time. It would take about 6 months for your staff to go from ideal size to nothing if you didnt use a single wish.

If your staff is too far away from you, the fox cannot use its energy and begins to feed on yours instead.

Perpetual wishes (such as flight and invisibility) drain the staff at an accelerated rate so long as they are active. Summoning wishes (like wishing for a sword) only drain once for the summoning. Magic guns drain once for the summoning of the gun, and once for every bullet fired (so you dont need to reload, they just summon directly in there)

Places you can get external soul energy: if you kill anything with the staff you get its energy. Kill wishes are basically free lol. You can also absorb other people's magic staffs.

Last but not least: the fox is no different than the monsters that attack the world. It just got there first >:3

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

gert's random fusion aus: pushing daisies

sorry, i just realized i never explained what "pushing daisies" is, and while i'm not going to give the full run-down of every relevant detail--you will find this more compelling if you've seen it/are familiar with it--i'll give the basics real fast. ned is a piemaker who can bring back the dead with a single touch--and kill them again with another. the problem is, if they're alive again for more than a minute, someone else will die in their place. he found this out in the most traumatizing fucked up way possible btw. anyway, his best friend is PI emerson cod, with whom he investigates bizarre murders as, you know, they can interrogate the victim. albeit for one (1) minute only. and then ned brings back his childhood sweetheart/crush, inadvertently killing a corrupt graverobbing funeral director, and they fall in love again--with the caveat, of course, that they can never touch, because if he ever touches her again, she'll die. cue cute shit like kissing though plastic wrap and having clear walls on their bed (?) and that kind of thing. since she's still legally dead, she tries to help her aunts from afar, who have been shut-ins for a while, and there's some other stuff going on too with a waitress in love with ned (olive my beloved), emerson cod's ex-wives (and a child!), and a mystery from ned's past. i think that's all the basics? anyway, on with the show.

Trent Crimm is a journalist, so perhaps it isn’t surprising when he’s murdered. He dies alone, and afraid, and with no one to care. And then he wakes up with Ted Lasso peering down at him, worried, with soft, kind eyes Trent hasn’t seen since he was a teenager. Who knew that his schoolyard sweetheart could bring back the dead? Certainly not Trent. (Although his college friend, Beard, now a private investigator, apparently very much did.)

Now Trent, still legally dead, has to deal with, among other things: the trauma of his murder and identity of his murderer, his ex-wife and daughter (who still think he is dead, and he secretly suspects might be better off without him, even though he misses his daughter dearly), his growing feelings for a man he can never touch again, his father, and also, you know, all the bizarre murders he, Ted, and Beard are roped into investigating.

Also see: Ted struggling with depression, divorce, fatherhood, baking, and his own past (including a dreadful secret he is keeping from Trent), Beard struggling with a femme fatale to his noir detective, and whatever the hell Roy, Keeley, and Jamie are doing in the background with their synchronized swimming act.

Some notes:

Rupert is almost certainly the one who killed Trent, or had him killed. For, you know, knowing things he shouldn't; looking into things he shouldn't, etc. Half wondering if Rebecca should be involved--not as in she helped kill him, but as in she found out about it or was unwillingly involved--because that could make things even more deliciously complicated.

Ted and baking and building community--whether biscuits or pie, charming everyone he meets

(Trent was poisoned, by the way. So that baking thing. Oh boy.)

I do have a lot of feelings about Trent dying alone and being terrified of that happening again even though he refuses to admit it and keeps a cool and steady facade. Cue Ted getting him to be emotionally vulnerable, and also bonding with Beard at a point where they're trapped together in a situation that could kill them.

Ted and Trent's whole dance around each other only gets more exceedingly complicated, because Ted inadvertently broke his heart a decade or two ago, and now he's brought Trent back from the actual dead. Mixed signals, maybe. Regardless, they are very sweet and wholesome 90 percent of the time.

Thinking about that scene where Ned and Chuck dance on the rooftop in beekeepers outfits--Trent trying to find ways to fill the time now that he can't exactly be a journalist, and while he does end up throwing himself into helping Ted and Beard with their cases--he has his own relevant skills, after all--as well as trying to take care of his child and ex-wife from afar, he can't do that all the time: and Ted has bees on the roof, for the honey.

And also just again, them slow dancing like that. ough.

The whole thing with Trent's ex and daughter I'm not married to (haha) considering I don't think he'd actually leave his daughter thinking he's dead (and I think Ted would not be okay with that, too, for obvious reasons) however I'm not sure how else to handle it and I'm also thinking about him genuinely wondering if they're better off without him and then at some point, of course, them finding out, and. painful emotional growth ensues

Ted is also struggling with his own divorce and kid, because he has secrets and he's kind of terrified that Henry will have his ability, or something similar, even though there have been no signs of it so far. He hadn't planned on having kids, and while he could never regret Henry he's scared of what kind of father he'll be and what kind of damage his secret could do.

I'm not gonna lie, the last line of the summary about roy, keeley, and jamie was a bit of a Silly on my part, so I'm not sure if it would have become something, but I do have ideas running in circles in my brain. Something something, working together, triangles are the strongest shape, something something, practicing and being the best you can be?

Episodic format with case-of-the-weeks involving the other characters, such as the players, Rebecca, etc?

I admit, while part of what makes Pushing Daisies compelling is the tragic impossibility of Ned and Chuck's situation and also the complete non-explanation for how, exactly, Ned got to be Like This, I'm a sucker for a fix-it, and some ideas included: Ted giving up his gift (and dealing with the pain it's caused him and not being "useful", that he's worth more than this gift) OR just. really rotating a scene in my head where for [waves hands] plot reasons Ted knows he has to touch Trent again, let him die again (to bring him back? to stop something terrible? because they've learned something about the origins of Ted's ability?) and just. Trent's near tears but in that smiling this has to happen way, and Ted--Ted gets to kiss him, for real, with no plastic wrap between them, just once, and then Trent crumples in his arms and Ted is just. devastated. Now the question is, does he wake up, or is there another way to bring him back?

(This also works so painfully with "Trent being afraid of dying alone again" because... he doesn't. He dies in Ted's arms, surrounded by friends who will miss him.)

Also thought about this ability being connected to Ted's... Issues(TM), namely his forced positivity and repressed depression and shit but that's kind of soup brain right now

ALSO SEE! Beard and Jane have some fucked up shit going on in the background that eventually gets resolved. Beard occasionally slips into noir detective mode, just like Ted and Trent occasionally slip into romcom mode, despite the fact they're all living in vividly colorful murder mystery bizarro world.

I considered Nate as Olive, albeit in a rather different way, but it doesn't quite fit. Also see Rebecca as someone who hires them under false pretenses but then, ah. doesn't?

Ted and his immortal dog he can't actually pet, please

ALTERNATE TAKES:

Trent is a journalist who can bring back the dead for exactly one minute. It’s extremely useful in his line of work, until he comes across the unattended body of the man he fell in love with over a decade ago, and unfortunately, cannot resist temptation. Possibly featuring Roy Kent as a detective he reluctantly assists, because I find that to be a particularly funny duo.

Ted brings back his best friend from the dead. Trent Crimm, investigative journalist, finds out about his ability and decides to do nothing about it. I find this one compelling despite it not being very fleshed out because I just think Trent finding out a very important secret and deciding not to reveal it, and not even use it, even though it could be very useful, and then he ends up befriending Ted anyway and Ted offers to help... meanwhile Ted and Beard are having their own issues w--wait actually. Wait. I just considered. This... this doesn't really fit with the OG Pushing Daisies but it could be compelling regardless. Ted brings back Michelle, and while she's grateful (because, you know, Henry) it fucks up their relationship even further, especially because they can't touch anymore, and while she's not exactly asking him to undo it she didn't ask to be brought back, either. ANYWAY. And Trent and Ted getting into shenanigans. And probably Beard, too, anyway.

Alternatively, something about Roy as Ned and Keeley as Chuck and possibly Jamie as either Emerson Cod or Olive is.... hmmm.... interesting

idk i'll probably have more thoughts on this later but!!! here you go. this au is too big and complicated in my brain to likely ever get a proper full-sized fic, unless i really get hit with an inspiration whammy, but i might write a few snippets. we'll see

#tvtcau #pushing daisies au #trent crimm #tedependent #ted lasso #coach beard #my writing

[esther-dot]

I sent the show!Jonsa ask! Yeah, I was toying with it because one of the sticking points for me is figuring out why the show did or didn't do Jonsa and why that may or may not happen in the books. That to me is really some of the most damning stuff, and I can't point to Dany's arc in the show or Stannis' etc. (many of the examples you use) as argumentation for what makes sense in the books but have yet to have happened without, too, including Jonsa.

Anon asks are limited by length (and I would not want to waste your time with adding caveat after caveat lol) but I do also have complicated feelings about D&D; on the one hand I think there were serious problems on set and I have a lot of capital F feminist problems with them, but that doesn't belie all the creative work they put into the show (I do think there are Choices they made about how to portray romance without the source material at hand, and even before that honestly, but I already wrote that ask lol).

You're definitely right about the heaping of romantic parallels; one or two of those relationships alone could be written off, but the Sam/Gilly one is very weird, and Kit's acting choices are... very weird lol. Re: Sansa's jealousy, I had read that more as Dark Sansa foreshadowing as opposed to Jonsa jealousy, so I don't know???? When it comes to show!Jonsa I mostly only like the S6 dynamic anyway, so that might be down to some of my bias.

Basically I'm trying to entertain alternative ideas that might explain things as opposed to genuinely arguing for show!Jonsa being an accident, and I was thinking about this as well because it is an issue I've encountered with shipping/romance/fandom in general before. The male-gazey tropey dynamic ends up feeling off, but by virtue of the romance goggles of the author not being applied to another dynamic, it ends up feeling more mutual and less objectified and more interesting lol. A good example off the top of my head, given you've just watched the MCU films, is that I shipped Steve/Natasha (yes...) because the dynamic in Winter Soldier was above and beyond any other M/F pairing in the films. Naturally everybody goes on about ~platonic soulmates~ but I love good guys with sad/evil/redeemed ladies so I can't help it. Not saying it's at all canon though, I think they absolutely stumbled into that one.

I'm glad your nephew enjoyed the MCU films! I remember when I rewatched Endgame with my best friend, her dad came in and we had to keep explaining who the 'blue one and the green one' were. It made the film much better.

Anyway, thank you so much for entertaining my ask, and as always, being such a good sport. 🥰💝

(continuation of this convo)

You have no idea how much I sympathize with the caveat issue. I write answers and then delete entire paragraphs because I have such a tendency to try to clarify everything that it makes things less clear because I bury the point, but then I regret it when the vague blogs start. We all have limited time though, and every answer can't be thousands of rambling words! Sometimes I've literally just said "insert caveat" lmao!

I do also have complicated feelings about D&D; on the one hand I think there were serious problems on set and I have a lot of capital F feminist problems with them

I read this article about Emilia's experience on set for GoT (I have not been able to relocate it, but I did actually read an article with her quotes--it wasn't just a tumblr post), and I felt that she was taken advantage of when it came to the nudity/sex scenes. I actually think she meant for some of the stories to be amusing, but I felt sick reading it. She didn't say it was D&D, but apparently when she wanted to do less nudity going forward, she was told her fans expected it and it became a fight trying to move away from it, and....I just worry about the power dynamics with all these young actresses and what they're told they "need" to do. The fact that even if they ultimately agree to certain things, it still may be a result of coercion or they aren't actually being taken care of/feel safe when doing it...it left a very bad taste in my mouth regarding the behind the scenes stuff. And obviously, we all noticed the changes they made to the story, what they did to Sansa...plenty of things we can take exception to purely on what made it to our screens.

Basically I'm trying to entertain alternative ideas that might explain things as opposed to genuinely arguing for show!Jonsa being an accident

I enjoy doing that too! Groupthink is boring! I don't expect everyone to think the same way/come to the same conclusion, and I've changed my mind on a few things which only happens if we're willing to entertain different ideas instead of shutting people down. I mean, I'm not easily persuaded to a different way of thinking, but I try to be open to it. With the condition that someone interprets Sansa in a way I can live with which excludes most of the fandom/their theories tbh.

I basically work myself to one position and then back to where I started when it comes to show Jonsa. If it was an accident, I don't love it any less, if it wasn't, I'm curious what the hell happened. I didn't get what I wanted there, so it really doesn't matter to me what people conclude. I genuinely thought it was amusing when Kit acted surprised when he was asked about Jonsa because it was his face that was saying "not normal sibling feelings here." Silly man. 😂 And, D&D fucked up enough I don't like to take them too seriously, so I can't say, "this doesn't make sense therefore it was an accident" because, uh, a lot of their choices ultimately made no sense.

it is an issue I've encountered with shipping/romance/fandom in general before. The male-gazey tropey dynamic ends up feeling off, but by virtue of the romance goggles of the author not being applied to another dynamic, it ends up feeling more mutual and less objectified and more interesting lol.

I certainly agree about the general male v female view of romance. I found that a problem when I said that they didn't write a romance for Jonerys, and the guy I was talking to was like, "they had sex tho???" There was just...a massive gap between what we were looking for when talking about the characters/relationships. Although, he did know what I meant when I said "well, they filmed Jon and Sansa like a ruling couple." He immediately understood that. And, considering what they did to the sandsnakes (I'm not saying the line), I do understand the argument that if they meant for there to be a romance, they would have done it in such a way that we would have objected.

I think part of the reason I believed Jonsa was intentional was because I don't ship non canon pairings. My brain isn't one to think, "oh but what about those two" as I wasn't even involved in fandom before, and I generally just took what a story was and reacted to it, rather than re-configuring it. Obvy, having been in the fandom for so long now, that's changed somewhat, but for me, s7 was a total puzzlement, and Jonsa / some variation of poljon was the only way it connected to everything we had established before. In a bizarre twist, we didn't get the story that would make it coherent, but we still got the endpoint: Jon betraying Dany for Sansa. It's still weird to me, all these years later. Now I'm mainly bemused rather than angry though.

#dot chat

[kokitschi]

"like, once he's got miu and gonta killed, it's like nooo im totally not acting out because i feel extremely guilty. nooo this kamikaze plan is definitely not a direct result of that. i am simply the antagonist. im evil and crazy and this is what is in character for me. this is simply my curtain call."

I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT LIKE THAT NOOO. but YES omg that. plays SUCH a part. he's trying SO hard to make himself completely logical and cold and calculating to help everyone without all those silly caveats. but he's HUMAN and he FEELS and he's doing this to help everyone and he feels so so bad about everything he's doing (except he's not, obviously, that's sooo dumb why would he feel bad about helping everyone? you're so dumb :/ NO HE'S NOT CRYING SHUT UP)

ohh and that SO helps him detach from everything doesn't it. he so THOROUGHLY sees himself as the antagonist because of his own guilt that he starts planning his own downfall, literally becoming his own worst enemy because he cannot let this shit continue but also he's the one doing it? and it's for the good of everyone? but that's what every villain says.

(man writes his own narrative. tsumugi who?)

(no seriously my most self-indulgent headcanon is that so much of kokichi's bullshit was completely unplanned. like they wrote the characters and some of their progression but they did NOT plan for this so every time some more crazy bullshit happens and tsumugi's got her whole "omg O_O that's so weird guys!!" schtick going it's almost COMPLETELY genuine because internally she's genuinely just going "what the fuck??? i did not sign up for this shit." layers upon layers of pretending. also it's my silly little way of letting kokichi win in my brain. because he DID confuse the mastermind. even if it was mostly just a series of inconveniences.)

anyway your brain is iconic. got me rotating.

im still not over how many crying sprites this guy has - and i also think it's pretty clear when he's fake crying and when he isn't and he certainly was crying for real after the fourth trial.

i think it's very wonderful how emotional he actually is - like, yes, he's logical, smart and he can be cold af. but he also gets happy and sad, he gets devastated and super angry, he gets annoyed and he gets proud. and sure, sometimes he does exaggerate and he lies (a lot) - but i don't think it's all lies. i think he likes to pretend like it is though. and well, what's that one quote... "he wears a mask and his face grows to fit it" or smth like that

and i think that's an important aspect - because no matter how much you tell yourself that it's just a role, a mask - in the end you're still the one doing everything. you are how you act.

and i think kokichis very self aware in this aspect. ch 4 happens and he knows, this isn't something he can come back from. he fucked up beyond repair. and while he did already believe himself to be the villain, and perhaps this was a self fulfilling prophecy of a kind, i think actually having something like basically killing two people on your conscience gives it a whole different weight.

i think he had to confront the reality at this point and i think it made him despair a bit - which then leads to the kamikaze plan. (because why does someone who was just willing to sacrifice two people for his own survival suddenly choose to basically kill himself? and trust someone else to end the game?)

-

i love the hc that kokichi did genuinely derail the whole game! i think it's credible enough too, considering the absolute mess that was chapter 6.

and monokuma sometimes really seemed to have personal beef with him which to me says that he was actually getting pissed at him lol

tsumugi also seemed to be quite wary of him - though you can also interpret that as her setting him up as the antagonist ig. i think it was both.

-

my brain is very honored ♥️

i very much enjoy yours too :D

#i hope my word vomit made sense lol #it's like 3am for me #tbh i personally still believe that kokichi faked his death 🧍 #the crux of the argument is that we never saw his corpse and that's like mystery genre 101 #no body no death #there's more hints towards it but i kinda forgot some but there's write ups around #but that would also come with a lot of new questions and youd have to recontextualize and stuff

[viciousgold]

“what if?” psst this is a long ted talk, I apologize

so because of a conversation between me and @secondbetrayer, a thread between me and @evebeforethefall, and a post I saw @soulstcne make, I’ve been thinking about something all day; what if Marisa through some circumstance had been taken out of her world and put into ours? be it someone time traveling or someone in the right place, right time, or if marisa had simply chosen to remain in our world after her first visit to it. and let’s say for the purpose of this thought, eliminate the whole “you can’t live outside of your world for 10 years” thing, imagine it doesn’t exist, bc let’s face it, it mainly exists so we can have a tragic ending for will and lyra. 

what I will be taking into consideration though, is the prophecy. now, what exactly is it that we know about the prophecy?

it’s a centuries old prophecy

the witches were the first to hear about this

the alethiometer revealed to those who asked that lyra was the subject of said prophecy

the prophecy is basically that lyra, marisa’s daughter, is “destined to bring about the end of destiny” aka bringing an end to prophecies, bringing forward true free will, but this isn’t the only element to the prophecy, a key part of it is also her ending death, or at least, death in the sense of, when you die, you go to this purgatory and you stay there for eternity. 

PART 1 of the prophecy: bring true free will. she’s meant to do this through being tempted in the same way eve is tempted by the serpent and allowing dust (also known as what truly allows beings to have sentience and free will) to freely flow.

PART 2 of the prophecy: free the dead. she’s meant to do this through literally going to the land of the dead, opening a way out back into the world, and freeing the souls back into the earth instead of being trapped in purgatory for all eternity.

something to also consider: it’s a caveat of the prophecy that lyra does all of this in complete ignorance, never being told what she needs to do, never knowing about the prophecy itself, because, as it says in the series, “But she must fulfil this destiny in ignorance of what she is doing, because only in her ignorance can we be saved.”

so you also have to consider a few things: 

1. rebel angels are the ones pulling all of the strings for the circumstances of this prophecy to happen. lyra and marisa and asriel etc are still making the choices, but as xaphania tells mary, angels have been guiding humanity for a very long time. this prophecy is centuries old, at least, if not older. meaning that rebel angels like xaphania have been designing the circumstances of this prophecy for centuries.

2. because of that, the angels are very determined to have this prophecy happen, no matter what. 

3. the circumstances leading up to this prophecy are really, really fucking bad ones and also, were all necessary to have the prophecy happen. you have to consider, how was lyra able to reach the land of the dead in the first place? she had the combination of will, who had the subtle knife that could cut through worlds, as well as a deep connection between her and her best friend, who had been killed, and was reaching out to her from beyond, who revealed to her the existence of the world of the dead. already, the prophecy relies on something so tragic as lyra’s best friend being killed. but that’s just the beginning. why did lyra feel the need to go to her best friend in the world of the dead? because she felt responsible for his death. why did she feel responsible? because she was the one who technically led him to her father, asriel, who killed him. why was her best friend killed? because asriel was intent on breaking through to another world and his options at the time were limited. using the energy of separating a child from their daemon to forcefully open a window was one of the very few options he had in such a limited time, while trapped in a limited area. why was he trapped in that limited area with a limited time? because marisa had him trapped there. why did marisa have him trapped there? because asriel forbade marisa from seeing lyra and the only way she was able to see her was trapping asriel. why did he cut off access to lyra? because marisa gave up lyra and turned her back on both of them. why did marisa do this? because she didn’t want to give up likely what would be her one opportunity of having a real career. why did she have to give up lyra for the sake of her career? because of two things; the society she lived in was incredibly sexist and there were very few opportunities for a woman to have a career in a scientific field, and she had an affair with asriel that ended in a scandal and lyra being born out of wedlock. why did this happen? because she married edward first before ever meeting asriel. why did she choose her career over her child and the love of her life? she valued self preservation above all things. why did she? because she was raised by a mother who taught her to, as well as abuse her. and similar pieces lead to lyra finding will, the other necessary piece of the prophecy. without any of these things happening, the prophecy falls apart

with all of this in mind, we basically know that the prophecy is

inescapable

requiring lyra to be born obviously

requiring her to be born to unfortunate tragic circumstances

if you change the tragic circumstances that lead to lyra’s birth, my conclusion is that the angels would’ve had to rework things heavily, but still not without tragedy, mainly because of how driving it is, and how tragedy is what leads lyra to the world of the dead, along with meeting will. so here goes my personal theories of how I think things would play out if:

-marisa finds the window at a young age, is adopted by someone in our world. someone kind, loving, and a healthy parent.

for the prophecy to still work in this circumstance, the angels would have to

figure out a way to still get marisa and asriel to meet, be together, and conceive lyra

figure out a circumstance that requires lyra to both meet will, and have a need to go to the world of the dead. 

keep marisa and asriel alive and guide them to help lyra fight metatron, who will be determined to kill lyra after freeing the dead from his prison.

these are the two essential pieces of the prophecy. with that in mind, maybe things would play out like this:

angels play more of a role of guiding asriel to find what he’s looking for, specifically a window to our world

he meets marisa, realizing she’s another person with a daemon like himself, he takes interest in her

like in the original timeline, they fall in love

unlike in the original timeline, marisa is a scientist, a successful one at that. she’s happy. she’s got at least one parent who loves her unconditionally

her relationship with asriel is still fairly complicated; they love each other, but also similarly to the original timeline, they’re still both dominant, headbutting personalities that clash often and have power struggles

overall though, their relationship is more healthy. they have marisa’s parent, they have therapy, they have marisa’s healthy coping mechanisms and conflict resolution. despite their naturally spitfire personalities, they more-so now have the tools to handle it rather than becoming as volatile. they also don’t have the circumstance of marisa feeling pressured to marry at a young age, leaving her to focus on her career, and unattached when she meets asriel

once they find out that marisa is pregnant, they decide to marry. marisa gives birth to lyra and they both do their best to raise their child while still both being heavily focused on their careers. they go through a lot of therapy, nannies, lyra’s grandparent intervening. overall though, because marisa was raised with 1. morals 2. a good childhood 3. a healthy mentality., they do their best to parent through all their mistakes and are actually a very loving family despite everything. 

as lyra grows older, she begins to be more and more curious about why she and her parents have daemons, but no one else does. she doesn’t understand why they have to hide their true natures-- asriel has the reputation of an eccentric rich man with a snow leopard, the same going for marisa with her golden lion tamarin, neither daemon is allowed to talk in the presence of other people, and lyra is asked to hide her daemon entirely until he settles. and for her sake, they hope pantalaimon settles into something passable like a dog or a cat. 

at some point in lyra’s youth, asriel gives lyra his alethiometer as a gift, unknowing that she would come to possess the ability to read it.

lyra, now eleven years old, is desperate to see the original world they came from. asriel is more strict in his answer of no, that she’s not allowed to go there, ever. marisa tries explaining the harsh reality of that world. from her early childhood memories, and everything she knows about their world from asriel, she knows that there are awful realities in that world. the magisterium, a totalitarian government ruling everything, all of the sexism, lack of democracy, lack of freedom, among a whole list of things. she tries explaining this to lyra, but she’s still far too enamored by the stories told to her by her father growing up; stories of talking ice bears, stories of witches, stories of other people with daemons. lyra is determined to see their world one day. 

meanwhile, asriel and marisa work together on what asriel is working on through most of the og trilogy in the og timeline; building the republic of heaven and waging war against the authority. lyra tries involving herself. her parents forbid it. one day, marisa and asriel do go back to their own world, with the intent of only going for a few weeks. unbeknownst to them, lyra follows

an argument happens when she’s found by them, and marisa tells lyra that she’s going to bring her back home. hearing this, lyra runs off and escapes before she can be brought back to the other world

marisa begins frantically searching for lyra, much like she does in the first and second book in the original timeline. unlike before, asriel is also helping her search. 

in exploring this new to her world, their original world, lyra meets roger, her best friend in the original timeline. the two quickly become friends, playing together, running about the college where the boy works, looking out for each other as lyra tells him that her parents are looking for her, to take her away from here. she shares with him that she lives in another world, but in that world, they don’t have daemons. roger’s horrified by the thought, and understands lyra’s desire in not wanting to go back. roger helps lyra evade her parents

without marisa growing up in this world, the maystadt process was never invented, thus the general oblation board was never invented; billy, nor any other child gets kidnapped by the general oblation board. however, once nearly found by marisa and asriel, lyra and roger run away from oxford together. 

even without the general oblation board, however, the magisterium is still doing very corrupt and evil things. innocent people are arrested for heresy, sentenced to imprisonment and even death in extreme cases. the angels guide lyra to someone who is a labeled heretic, but someone kind, generous, completely willing to take in lyra and roger. however, this person is soon arrested and taken away. this is what drives lyra to go looking for them and drives lyra to go against the magisterium. lyra, being a naturally protective person, wants to help find the person who helped them. 

from here, we have similar events to the first book. we have lyra working with people to fight the magisterium, one of these people showing lyra how the alethiometer works, which leads to her figuring out how to read it, using it to help people who all have had their loved ones wrongfully taken away and/or killed by the magisterium. like in the first book, lyra helps fuel an uprising against them, through her charisma, bravery, cunning, and wit. all the while, her mother, and now her father, are searching for her. 

it gets to the point where lyra, roger, and the others are raiding a magisterium prison to release people who were wrongfully imprisoned by them. in this raid, roger is shot and killed. like in the original timeline, lyra blames herself for this. she was the one who roped roger into all this, she tells herself. she was the one who took him away from his home in oxford where he was safe, she insists.

marisa and asriel find lyra after the raid, once again through the subtle guiding hand of the angels. at this point, lyra is conflicted about wanting to go home and wanting to stay and fight, to avenge roger’s death. asriel tells lyra that she can help them fight, as the fight against the magisterium, as the fight against any agents of the authority, is their fight too. with this, lyra willingly returns to our world with her parents.

now twelve years old, lyra goes to a new school, where she meets another student there, will. similarly to the original timeline, the two of them get along and connect. everything that’s happening with will’s life is still happening the same; his mother is unwell, his father is missing, and carlo is investigating them. much of the second book goes exactly the same, only now, lyra is helping him through the beginning. carlo’s men break into will’s house looking for the letters, will accidentally kills one of them in self defense, and he goes on the run. lyra first tries offering to help by her parents hiding him, but will doesn’t want to put lyra and her family at risk. lyra being lyra though, she still wants to help. so she shows will the window back to their world, where they can escape. he follows her, and they go through the window, though lyra knowing that her own world isn’t safe either, they go through the window leading to cittagazze. 

almost all of the major events of the second book happen from this point-- they meet angelica and the gang of kids, the town’s still overrun by spectres that have pushed out all of the adults. carlo still tries using will to get the subtle knife, stealing lyra’s alethiometer for leverage. will still fights tulio for the knife and becomes the bearer, with this he and lyra still trick carlo and get the alethiometer back without giving him the knife, serafina still heals will’s wounds.

in going back to search for lyra yet again, marisa and asriel find the shaman jopari, aka stanislaus grumman, aka john parry, will’s father, and its there they learn that the subtle knife is important to their fight against the authority. john still has the conversation with will, telling him that he needs to go to asriel and marisa and help them fight against the authority using the knife, as the knife bearer. he isn’t shot, however, because unlike in the original timeline, the magisterium has yet to find out through marisa’s searching that lyra is the child of prophecy, so there aren’t magisterium soldiers in cittagazze. they do find out soon, though. also different, because lyra trusts and loves her parents, she and will willingly go with them once marisa and asriel find them. 

like in the original timeline, lyra still hears roger calling to her from the world of the dead from her dreams. they aren’t as strong, but she still has the dreams. meanwhile, she, will, her parents, and their army are working together to wage war against the authority. eventually though, enough of the dreams start to make sense and feel real and lyra feels compelled to find the world of the dead and go after roger, to apologize and try to make things right. marisa and asriel don’t approve of this, and maybe there’s even a whole thing where the knife breaks and they have to get it mended again like in the original timeline, but either way, lyra is adamant and they cut through to the world of the dead. this part is, unfortunately, almost exactly the same as in the original timeline as well, complete with lyra having to leave pan behind when she goes to the world of the dead, at this point the magisterium have used their alethiometrist to ask about the child who fucked up a lot of their operations, and they find out she’s the subject of the prophecy that they believe will cast the world into sin, so they still try killing her. here’s where things get tricky again: without marisa’s daemon severing technology ever being invented, the bomb to target lyra is never invented either, as it heavily relied on the existence of the maystadt process. however, remember how in the first book, there were certain witch clans working for the magisterium? yeah, we’re gonna keep that and the magisterium is gonna send a witch after lyra to kill her. this witch uses magic to track and find her, and guess what? we also learn in the books that the daemon separation ritual all witches undergo once they reach adulthood involves witches going to the world of the dead and leaving their daemons behind, so guess where witches can go? yep, to the world of the dead. so a witch goes to the world of the dead and tries to kill lyra, and almost succeeds, but like in the original timeline, lyra had told stories to the harpies, true stories, and it’s one of the harpies that kills the witch to save lyra’s life, and it’s this harpy that lyra names gracious wings just like in the og timeline. she still makes the deal with gracious wings that if people share their true stories with her that she’ll lead the dead out to the window that will cuts out of the land of the dead. so will does this, they lead the dead out, the souls become part of the universe again, no longer trapped in purgatory. and also I didn’t mention it before but mary’s storyline, again because most of the second book’s storyline remaining the same, still happens too and thus she’s still on her serpent journey and with the mulefa. mary’s journey in this timeline is still 100% the same.

after freeing the dead, lyra and will go back to marisa and asriel where they find a metatron who is very angry that his purgatory prison has been prison breaked by some kids with a knife, and is intent on killing them. however, since will is working with the republic of heaven in this timeline, guess what, he goes with asriel and marisa to fight and he actually does what we see his father telling him would happen, will uses the knife to destroy metatron. the authority thing still happens too with him cutting open the box and the air killing him, that’s the exact same too. 

so yeah, they continue fighting agents of the authority such as the magisterium and other agents in other worlds, the fall still happens of lyra being tempted by the serpent (mary) and lyra and will realize their love for each other, their daemons settle, and like, fuck philip pullman for that “you can’t live out of your own world” thing just for the sake of having a tragic end for them, since that’s removed, they get to stay together and like???? it still took a lot of tragedy to get here but it’s still a damn happier ending at least.

if I missed any important details lemme know and I can add my take on them in anyway that’s my unhinged ted talk ok bye

#headcanon; #this was A LOT lol #but literally this was all I thought about all day #so I needed to write down these thoughts #{ I've never felt this close before } ; lyra #{ I will survive live and thrive } ; marisa #{ anatomical and metaphysical love crimes } ; asriel #{ you and I could take the universe to pieces and put it together again } otp; asriel/marisa

[deheerkonijn]

I got tagged by @roselightfairy - and as she tagged me in this last year to no avail, this year I will put on some pants and explore my little writings. RLF, thank you for having so much worldbuilding fun with me this year!

2021 Year-End Fic Review

How many stories did you complete?

15 - somehow!!! I absolutely have never been one to write much before LOTR, and I do blame that entirely on RLF, who is so encouraging and thoughtful. 🥳

What is your total word count for the year?

A whopping 127,923 - that’s 1.3 Hobbitses! But the majority of it is collab words, so maybe a third of that is my actual total.

What fandoms did you write in this year?

LOTR, duh :) Mostly in like, comment, subscribe (our Modverse where Legolas is an internet man), which is my baby.

Did you write more, less, or roughly about what you expected?

If you keep your expectations low the outcome wi always be a pleasant surprise. 🤓 Just kidding - but I never expect to write, tbh. Sometimes I become possessed by a ghost who expects to write, but it’s never been a thing I’ve sought to cultivate in myself, really, and have never considered myself a writer.

But I do love to tell a story - and sometimes that is better done through words than through images. And when that’s the case, I write. 👨🏻‍🎨

What’s your own favorite story of the year?

One Thing Leads To Another - the one where a newly Sober™️ Legolas goes on a camping trip with Gimli and his PhD buddies, and then tragedy strikes. 😱 (It turns out ok though)

More specifically, my favorite part is the second chapter, which employs my absolute favorite trope of all time: “man wakes up after surgery and doesn’t remember his wife”. I love that trope sooo much, and when I realized I had the opportunity to use it in Modverse I basically fell all over myself to get the words out haha. 😊 I love that kind of creative energy and am always trying to recapture it.

What is your most underappreciated story of the year?

Hmm perhaps Meat’s Back On The Menu - even though I did not write a word of it, I just drew the picture haha!

Still, I love that one, and it features a headcanon of @roselightfairy ‘s about supposed elf vegetarianism (spoilers: they’re not, but with a caveat) that I thought was a fantastic morsel of worldbuilding from the moment I encountered it, and if I could wave a magic wand I’d politely ask everyone to read it because I think it’s an interesting and uncommon subject for a fanfic!! 🥩

And also I drew the picture haha. It’s of Legolas puking and he’s wearing a really cute blouse in it! 👯‍♀️ I don’t completely remember but I probably stole the blouse from Zara.

Biggest fanfic-related disappointment of 2021

I did not read nearly enough this year - between my schedule and my brain, I have not had any time to catch up on the fics that I can see coming into the tag. Maybe soon!! 📚

Biggest fanfic-related surprise of 2021?

Haha probably that I wrote so many! It’s maybe a point of self-consciousness if I squint - they’re basically all Modverse, and I sometimes overthink re: at what point an AU just becomes original fiction … but I’m having fun there, and as long as I’m having fun I’m going to keep doing it. :) Sorry if I clog up the tag haha! 🐖

Something you’re looking forward to working on in 2022?

Brain always go BRRR when a new piece of Modverse slots neatly into the timeline. I love those moments - and I hope there will be many more of them in 2022! We’ve got some pre-relationship stuff proofing, and I want to give a little more context to a few major events in the universe. Whatever happens - I hope yins will come have fun with us!🧝🏻‍♂️

I think I have observed basically everyone I know doing this roundup… so I will tag You. 🥸

#memes #mod gigos #primarily

[omar-rudeberg]

Hej, let's go back in time a sec-

I texted like a few different versions of what could have happened at the end of ep 1 to @ungaroyals when she was working on one of the very first missing moments, and this was basically the start of our chaos filled hateful lovely friendship and I realised I saved my thoughts here hehe

So look if you need serotonin here’s some ~~scenarios~~ for you (I will however caveat that most of this I have completely changed my opinions of because this was like six months ago - when the first kiss discussion was still rampant - but some of its still cute sooooo)

ok now about ur kiss points !!!!

yeS I have thoughts about the end of ep1 and (surprise surprise) the almost IDENTICAL shot parallel to the end of ep2 and I'm like 100% on board with the fact the Wille is definitely thinking about kissing Simon, also pretty sure he like... glances at his lips?

And yes 10000% agree Simon's a plucky mofo but to kiss a prince is a little bit too out there for him without a bit more than a hand touch.

I don't know though in my mind the way Wilhelm's face is just ... after Simon kisses him in ep 2 makes me think it's the first time a kiss of that kind happened. I haven't sorted it in my mind yet but the headcanon vaguely growing for me is some sort of intimacy happened at the initiation party that wasn't a kiss, that Wilhelm probably brushed off in his drunken state and then when August was talking about it the day after in his mind he was going "shit SHIT was I like.. did I make that move? oh sHIT".

I'm talking something like Wille maybe going in for a kiss but Simon (the gorgeous sober protector of inebriated non-consent) turns his head so Wille ends up kissing him on the cheek maybe? Or same situation with little nose boop or forehead kiss. Wille stumble falling into Simon as they're walking back to the dorm and then sniffing and planting a kissy kiss on his neck? Wille running his hands through Simon’s hair and talking about his beautiful curls? Even just Wille grabbing Simon’s hand and interlacing their fingers in a very non platonic way? Or Wille closing his eyes at the end of the ep and opening them again staring at Simon’s lips and he starts “I want to …” and then they’re interrupted by Simon’s phone going off and it’s a text from Sara saying she wants to go. Anyway ok you have made my brain run RAMPANT but there’s some food for thought, I’m on the side of “Wilhelm made a move of some sort while drunk and didn’t fully realise it’s cause he was into Simon until later, but Simon did and that’s why he kisses him in ep 2 cause he has a feeling Wille’s not going to initiate (again)”

okay one more thought Wille goes on autopilot and kisses simon on the cheek when saying goodbye that night but then FREAKS and tries to cover it up by doing the double cheek french greeting and talking about diplomatic dinners and ettiquette training for their EU counterparts but Simon sees right through it and leaves with a lil smirk/smile

#young royals #fic #(kinda) #mine #Wilmon

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

If Bella was a boy (with Bella's gift. And he would be ​Edward's singer). What would change? What do you think?

So, I gave a fairly detailed response to this already. The long and short of it being that, depending if Beauford’s the right kind of guy, he and Edward will essentially end up in a romantic relationship neither realizes is romantic. Then Edward eats Beauford at some point.

But, since we’re here, I suppose we can enter imagination land and get into some more details.

Caveat that I haven’t read Life and Death and have no desire to, so we’re actually ignoring some strange alternate universe canon that never made much sense anyway. Shocking, I know, and very unlike this blog.

Beauford Swan and a Kid More Messed Up Than Even Bella Swan

In order for our love story to even start, Beauford has to be the kind of guy that Edward’s into (or can project that he’s into). Well, we know Edward’s into Carlisle (he projects pretty much an idealized version of Carlisle’s personality onto Bella and actively wants to look like Carlisle as to him Carlisle’s is the face of holy perfection while Edward looks like a demon) and given what he says he likes of Bella’s personality we can extrapolate from there.

Edward’s not going to be into an Emmett or anyone remotely resembling Mike Newton. He’s going to be into a quiet, kind, misunderstood, sensative, intellectual who probably looks some level of frail and in need of protection. Essentially, what he saw in Bella, subverting the Madonna complex he has for her a bit (Beauford will be a kind of Madonna, sort of, but not quite so blatant).

So, we have Beauford, who looks a lot like male!Bella and by that I mean he keeps her pale skin, her big dark eyes, and general look about her that she could break with the slightest contact. Basically, he’s a very pretty guy the likes of which typically comes from a shojou anime. He’s also likely still debilitatingly clumsy.

So, you have this guy who’s awful at sports, as in each time he tries he probably ends up in the ICU. Is an intellectual in that he reads old books, an odd amount of Jane Austen at that, but isn’t actually an artist or writer. In fact, other than reading, he has no real hobbies. Has a larger than life mother who constantly needs looking after. And has nothing in common with his peers.

As bad as Bella had it, I posit Beauford would have had it worse. He’s not going to get along with 90% of boys until... probably college. He’s always picked last in kickball, shares 0 interests with most other boys, and is probably ruthlessly bullied for all of this and more. Worse, being so pretty, he’s going to attract a lot of romantic attention, especially from preteen girls who are very into that look and Beauford’s sensitive artistic nature. This is going to get him so much shit from other guys.

Add on top of this Bella’s original difficulty socializing and I imagine Beauford is just as depressed if not more so.

Fast Forward to Forks

Beauford comes to Forks for a similar reasons to Bella, because he felt like a third-wheel in Renee and Phil’s relationship and that his mother was better off without him. I can also see him just not knowing how to act around Phil, who probably expects a stepson who’s more... sonnish. Beauford’s not going to play catch with dad in the yard and I can see Beauford wanting to avoid all of that entirely.

He enters Forks and has a vaguely similarish reception to Bella. Only, there are some key differences.

I imagine Mike, Tylor, and Eric quickly sour on Beauford as he goes from being potentially cool new bro to a guy that can pick up every girl in this school. He’s like the Cullens, but less incestuous and creepy and therefore a thousand times worse. They desperately don’t want Beauford sitting at their lunch table where he can potentially pick up all the babes. 

In other words, Mike is the new Lauren, and Beauford knows it. But it’s either eat with these guys or eat in the bathroom, and Beauford’s not at that level of desperation yet.

Jessica’s probably into him, having been into Edward (another pretty, sensitive, guy), but unlike Bella I imagine Beauford has a little better social intelligence in that he has seen this game before and he knows where it leads. So, he desperately, actively, doesn’t flirt with anyone. Which makes him a terrible conversationalist, and he just comes off as really weird.

Beauford, therefore, actually is a Cullen 2.0. You don’t want to be a Cullen 2.0 (Bella is the only one in that school who thinks the Cullens were in any way popular).

I imagine Edward notices this, plus Jessica’s interest, and gives a Nelson laugh from across the room. Now someone else can have the joys of Jessica Stanley’s lust. Though he does notice he can’t read Beauford’s thoughts, which is strange.

Like Bella, Edward undoubtedly thinks Beauford is at first highly overrated, just like all the other mindless teenagers in Forks, and rather plain (from his narration, Edward likes blondes and lighter eyes). 

The Rest

Biology happens, it’s a disaster, Beauford has no idea what he did to get Edward to loathe him so much but this time Mike isn’t in any way sympathetic. Instead, Mike just can’t believe he and Cullen seem to agree on something for once.

Edward flees to Alaska, decides he won’t lose to Hamburger, and comes back to do damage control. And we start mirroring canon a lot here. Edward has varying conversations with Beauford, is intoxicated by his very scent, and starts projecting an almost saint like personality onto him. Edward grows increasingly obsessed, starts creeping into Beauford’s room at night to protect him from spiders, etc.

The difference being that Edward is utterly convinced that what he and Beauford share is the highest platonic ideal of friendship. They are platonic soulmates, all other friendships pale in comparison to them, they are intellectual peers and artists.

This is even when they still go to the meadow, Edward kidnaps Beauford in Port Angeles for Italian dinner (despite Beaufrod not having been nearly raped without Edward’s intervention), Beauford is invited to the Cullen house, and more.

Beauford, being Bella levels of oblivious, also has no idea this is a romantic relationship. Likely, what he feels at first and is driven by is a strong sense of kinship with Edward. As Edward is also an intellectual outsider hated by the male half of the school. Beauford’s been there, bro. 

However, like Bella with Alice, he appreciates small details of Edward’s vampiric physical appearance, enjoys staring at Edward’s perfect face, and really digs that vampire smell.

I imagine, beyond what happened in Twilight things like the following occur: Edward constantly sketches Beauford in unintentionally (but secretly intentional) erotic positions with no clothes (this is art!), Edward leers at Beauford changing in his bedroom because “we’re both men”, Edward insists on discussing Beauford’s future bride with Beauford and imagines the most perfect woman in the world while also imagining smashing her head in like a melon.

But I imagine most of the Twilight plot points happen. The difference being that everyone is very confused on why these two can’t admit they’re dating. Rosalie probably bringing up very valid points of “Edward, if you want this guy to go date someone else then you can’t monopolize his life” and Edward telling her to stop being so petty and jealous of Beauford’s beauty. Aro, I imagine, just dies in New Moon and has no idea what to say when Beauford returns from the dead because it’s not, “Oh look, the lovers reunited! Ah, right, I forgot, they’re just friends. Yes...” 

The other difference being, as I strongly suspect that without Renesmee Edward would never have turned Bella (Renesmee really forces that issue as Bella actually dies before Edward turns her), that he would have eventually eaten Beauford as Alice predicted.

But he’d be so delicious.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #bella swan #beauford swan #edward cullen #anti edward cullen #edward/bella #anti edward/bella #edward/beauford #anti edward/beauford #meta #headcanon #opinion

[pocketsizedquasar]

it’s been a bit now so. misc 200/end of mag in general thoughts? under a cut because this is a bit long, and i will preface this to say that i mostly enjoyed the episode but this is going to be mostly my criticisms, bc i feel like the good parts have already been well covered by people other than me. so yeah just a warning this is mostly crit

- it’s Still very hard for me to parse how i feel about this episode, but i think after sitting on it for a bit, i’ve come to the general conclusion that i am very satisfied plot-wise (in terms of tragedy/the structure of tragedies, the open-endedness of our ending, the general Writing TM), but not so much satisfied character-wise (in terms of arc and relationship resolution). I think we deserved more resolution on wtgfs -- i wanted more with them! more with melanie and jon; more with the melanie and georgie and basira’s side of the plan. more than that really small tidbit that we got at the end! and... honestly? a little bit more emphasis on the weight of Jon actually dooming other worlds in the end, and what that means for Jon and for wtgfs/basira. Especially with the context of the consequences re: the Web...won. no caveats or complications, the Web got. Exactly what it wanted.

- on that note,  From a uh. Critique against capitalism standpoint I’m not sure how I feel about the ending? And I don’t really want to. Read too much into what isn’t there? But I mean mag has long been a pretty explicit anticapitalist narrative so...? Yeah, I’m not a big fan of the implications of WTGFs and basira basically just being treated as narratively right in terms of letting the eldritch evil stand-in for capitalism have whatever it wanted and feeding it and doing exactly what it asked them to do. and having Little consequence as a result of that. Obviously they’ll still face loads of hardship, but that comes from the apocalypse, not from, like,.,, doing the direct bidding of the Capitalist Monster/System/etc to be clear, i’m not like...mad they made the “wrong” decision; there was no wrong or right decision here. but I am a little upset that for all they spent 199 discussing the various consequences of each choice, we got to see very little of that actual consequence playing out...none of the survivors seem to really be carrying the guilt or even the full understanding of what they did, because they never saw the suffering they could create as anything more than a hypothetical. i feel like we could have spent just a bit more time with them dealing with that. a bit more time even with jon dealing with that, a bit more time spent on jon changing his mind. other people have said as much better than me but. yeah

- i feel like there was a lot of character stuff brought up in s5 and especially act iii that i would’ve loved to have seen more resolution of. why have that whole thing about Georgie telling jon to give melanie his last words himself, if Jon was going to come back but then never bring that up again (full disclosure this is smthn that @pronouncingitwang​ brought up!)? Why have Jon say he was “going to go  apologize to [his] boyfriend”/Jon tell Martin multiple times that they were going to talk about their fight “later” and then not have that happen on screen? Why did we have two whole episodes of cultist interactions if they were just going to be removed off screen? Why have martin’s “I’ll get jon to destroy me like the others” decision if that doesn’t really come up? what about salesa!! why tell us melanie hating jon is a projection of her self hatred and then not bring that up again? why give annabelle all those juicy interactions with martin and then turn her into a monster when jon shows up, why give her so much character and backstory and then so thoroughly remove her agency? why have all these really cool parallels between jon and annabelle if annabelle is just going to be this monstrous and agency-less plot device with no follow-up? what happened to her!

- on that note...annabelle. They... really took this character who is a Black woman and who had so many parallels to Jon and who they could’ve like. very easily Actually made into a protagonist of color (because we only got one!! and she’s a cop!!!!) (or if not protagonist, at least smthn more sympathetic), (which wouldn’t have negated previous racial problems w tma, but would’ve shown growth from them) and made her a scary monster who just Serves her capitalist entity overlord without personal agency and then bows out when she’s no longer needed...you can have whatever diagetic/watsonian explanations you want for how 197 went, like sure she was just ~being dramatic~ and putting on a show for jon, but all that is still something the writers Decided to do in the real world, and the racial implications of her character arc are just. not great. and her character had So much more narrative potential. idk i will forever be salty about annabelle

- i Still Don’t Like the web being sentient!! i said this after 197 and i’m sayin it again! i think it makes it less frightening and less interesting! with the End being aware of its own, well, end, I actually thought that worked, and i really liked the corpse routes ep, but for some reason I didn’t with the Web? which seems hypocritical of me, I know, but, look: The embodiment of the fear of dying being aware of and welcoming its own dying emphasizes the inevitability and the truth of that fear. Which is why it works for the End. It’s still not recognizably /human/, because it is inexorable and certain, in a way nothing human can be. So its awareness of its own end DOESNT feel like flattening the worldbuilding. And using my own logic, I guess sure you could say the embodiment of the fear of manipulation and schemes being capable of scheming does the same thing but it. It rly doesn’t feel the same to me? Bc that’s rly a fear borne of human sentience & behavior. and so to give it that sentience makes it feel more human, and less interesting within the context of the horror. this is definitely just a personal taste thing as far as how i like horror and eldritch deities and such but yeah.

- i liked the statement a lot like, as a little self contained story? it was really nice to have jon give us one last story before the end. I thought that was sweet and i liked how the statement was written! on the same note though, i could’ve also gone without knowing like. the entire cosmology of how the fears came into being. again, just a personal thing, i don’t like my horror to be known, even at the end of it all when it doesn’t matter what we’re still scared of anymore. I just. I want my fears to be frightening and beyond comprehension and unknowable. it just leads me to have more questions than i really need at the Final episode? i would love to keep the jon giving us one final statement thing, and you know what? i would've loved: statement of the archivist, regarding jonathan sims. no idea what you’d do with that but it sounds cool in my head.

- very minor and very specific-to-me thing but i Don’t Like that basira got to be the Last Words...sorry y’all I just don’t like basira i can’t get behind trying to make me feel sympathetic for a cop who stood by and let people get murdered by the state for years and only felt bad about it bc fearpocalypse i just can’t. i don’t like her never have never will and also melanie and georgie are right there why didn’t they get to have the last words it would have been so much better ... why not have the person who loved jon and Knew very deeply his tendency to self-sacrifice say something or why not the person who is in-canon very similar to Jon and self-admittedly projecting her self hatred onto him say some sort of her own attempt at peace why not either of these two ahhhh

- i uhhhh. really liked jon killing jonah. jon for once getting to be angry for himself. that felt really nice. no ceaseless watcher nonsense either, just him and a knife and beating the shit out of this guy who even now continues to underestimate and belittle him. and i liked jon doing what he did in general -- i actually changed my mind on this; i really didn’t like it at first but i do now. i’m sad that it came at the expense of his promise to martin, but it makes sense and...i don’t want to say jon was right, because i again don’t think any of the decisions were right per se, but in terms of like... not doing what the “elder fear deity who wants to feed on fear and pain for literal eternity” wanted... yeah. i get it. he would never have been able to go along with that willingly. and he really shouldn’t have been, considering all that he went through being a puppet for said elder fear deity. and from a tragedy standpoint too, i actually think it’s a really really well written end for him. considering how my favorite tragedies are structured and how the way out has to be presented to us, but the tragic hero Ultimately will always fall back on their faults, yeah, this makes a lot of sense. hamlet is granted a way out and he doesn’t take it; he always always hesitates. captain ahab is granted the chance to turn and leave his chase and love instead, and he doesn’t take it. orpheus turns around. etc etc. I think it was also really lovely that jon got a twist on that, that in the end he did change, for just a moment, and chose love instead. even in the face of all the horror that that might mean. i really like that he and martin are together, wherever or however they are. that martin is allowed to feel (rightly) furious and betrayed and still so, so unconditionally in love. 

idk i have more thoughts probably but again they’re very hard to parse and mostly just getting into the super specific realm which i don’t think is particularly helpful

i have a lot of feelings for jon and martin and their ending i think it was the best possible ending we could’ve gotten for those two and i Am really. I just have a lot of feelings.

#mag 200 #tma #the magnus archives #jon sims #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #melanie king #basira hussain #annabelle cane #georgie barker #tma crit #the magnus archives crit #tma spoilers #the magnus archives spoilers #quasartalks #yeah i don't know lots of mixed feelings!! #i think for me i'd go about it one of two ways: #first if i'm just redoing 200 to my own taste and not anything else #i think i'd really go for the martin kills jonah and is forced to be killed by jon somehow? or something along those lines #i really wanted a callback to his decision in his own domain #i'd likely still have them die together? idk most of their stuff felt pretty good i'd just spend more time with them AND the girls #but i think if i really had my way i'd go back to 197 #remove the web's sentience and have it be just another desperate guess of a human trying to understand their patron's wants #(which i've talked abt before so i won't rehash here) #annabelle jon team up please let's go #and then ASIDE from that i can have my own completely happy ending au in addition lmao #but i do like me some tragedy #also tbc i don't mean to imply that like. 'things that i would've done differently' and 'things that are bad' are the same thing #they're not! just bc i wouldn't have made a writing decision doesn't mean it is bad. i just wanted to get these thoughts out.

[niuxita21]

No one asked for this but I’m still gonna word-vomit my feelings on the finale because if I don’t process them I’m gonna explode (don’t worry it’s not a rant or anything, I just have a lot of Thoughts).

OK so my main concern regarding this as the backbone of the season 3 storyline is that, for it to play out in a way that I will actually enjoy, the ONLY option is to have it be so that they eventually realize that they are enjoying their little charade a bit too much and find themselves wishing it were real and THAT is one of the big revelations/twists of the season. Otherwise, it would just feel too much like they’re cheapening the relationship, which is weird considering that this is a ship that THEY created, that has fans because THEY said "Here, ship this, and no, you are not delusional, it's real." And the thing is that, if they were a straight couple, there would be no doubt in anyone’s mind that THAT is where they were headed, but I’ve been burned too many times by shows with f/f ships not to be a little apprehensive. I'm also not super thrilled with the whole "using the gay flag in vain," as Ana's lawyer put it, which is why the only way for me to be comfortable with this storyline is for them to think they are doing this purely as a means to an end only to realize they don't actually want it to be JUST a pretend situation anymore. So, as you can see, there are a lot of caveats in order for this storyline to be enjoyable for me, lol, there's so much at stake here I'm so stressed!!!!

And yet, weirdly, there’s also a part of me that’s glad they didn’t actually go there with them for real just yet? IDK it’s just... if they had, I would be really stressed out right now (what else is new lmao) fearing that the execution of an actual relationship between Ana and Mariana could fall short of what it could be. But now, whatever they do, it’s gonna be fake anyway, so there’s less pressure! LOL. And also, yeah, I’m one of those crazies who actually LIKE a good, drawn-out slow burn and sometimes find it more compelling than the actual relationship bits of a ship, so I don’t mind waiting a bit longer for the payoff (PROVIDED that the payoff does actually come, that’s the thing. Hence my anxiety). And also like... The show is gonna give me FAKE DATING???? Only THE most god-tier trope that is impossible to find in an f/f context??? How did I get so lucky???? So yeah, in spite of myself, there is a lot to be excited about for next season. And, as someone somewhere pointed out, it was Juan Carlos and Pablo the ones who wanted to use the “weird situation between Ana and Mariana” against them in an explicitly homophobic manner, so if Ana and Mariana want to fight back against such a ridiculous ploy to fight them for their kids, I’d say they’re entitled.

And there are a few tidbits that I did find reassuring: 1) Once again, THE FUCKING SONG that played over the kiss/announcement I mean??? All about how “you can try to fight it but you’ll eventually realize I am the one for you” and “when [love I guess?] hits you, it happens even if you try to get away” and basically being a Mexican version of Shania Twain’s “I’m Gonna Getcha Good” and I AM GOING INSANE like you wouldn’t score a pretend kissing scene that way if you didn’t want the audience’s takeaway to be that there’s something more than just pretend there, right? RIGHT??? 2) The fact that Ludwika and Paulina are posting Ana/Mariana manips and pictures of the infamous necklaces with romantic lyrics, etc., which speaks to there being a more serious undercurrent to this situation than just “LOL fake gay dating to stick it to our baby daddies who are being insufferable about custody battles.”

And while I’m overanalyzing, I’m very intrigued by Mariana’s uneasiness after Ana asks if she’s ready for the annoucement and before Mariana confirms that she is. I mean it can probably be explained away most obviously by Mariana not wanting her newfound “arrangement” with Ana to mess up her budding relationship with Ferrán (which is a valid point). But IDK I kinda want to think that there’s something deeper there that has more to do with Mariana being worried about all this bringing back all her feelings for Ana that she thought she was over, especially considering that, as far as she knows, Ana doesn’t feel the same way. So, in Mariana’s head, it would be like a Faking It-type situation where she’s having to fake a relationship with someone to whom the charade is just a means to an end, whereas for Mariana the feelings are very much real. This would be a much more interesting path to take so I hope there’s some of that in the subtext of Mariana’s actions next season.

So, all in all, this season played out pretty much exactly how I expected/hoped it would. I fully expected the show to take its time to bring Ana and Mariana back together just in a friendly capacity because that’s Storytelling 101, and I didn’t expect anything romantic to happen between them until at least the penultimate episode (that’s Telenovela 101). What I failed to foresee, lol, was that ending and the fact that the show wouldn’t go there with them just yet. I actually reasonably expected them to get them together for real in the season finale (I spoiled myself with a YT fanvid thumbnail of the kiss, so I thought it was for real and, by the time I’d watched the second-to-last episode, I figured it would be the final scene) and then season 3 would finally deal with them trying to navigate a relationship. Silly me! But by now, after a LOT of sleeping on it, I actually think this is a way better option?? Lots more potential for fun hijinks, which is the show’s trademark, plus maybe some romantic/UST moments between them as they’re trying to keep up the charade. I don’t actually mind that they won’t be in a relationship for real yet because this whole setup is enough for me (once again, PROVIDED that there’s real subtext there). Is it December (?) yet????

#madre solo hay dos #thoughts no one cares about #what am I supposed to do with my life now???? #work??? stare at the ceiling??? *laughcry*

[dangermousie]

I’ve watched my first ever cdrama, The Untamed. I am so obsessed and loving it so much!!! I was thinking that I can never get over the ugly wigs and voice dubbing and start watching a Chinese feudal fantasy show, but once I got passed the first two episodes, I was not able to watch anything else, I have already watched it twice and don’t know what to do anymore 🤧 Are the other fantasy cdramas this beautiful? What other cdramas do you recommend watching?

Ooooooh, you have excellent taste, Anon!

And yes, there are plenty of fantasy cdramas even more beautiful since The Untamed was made on a relatively shoestring budget (which they did wonderful things with but still...)

If you want a MM romance, if the rumors that China is about to ban them are not true, the upcoming Immortality, Winner Is King, and League of Noblemen will probably meet your requirements.

The ones that are out that are (a) fantasy (b) beautiful (c ) super recommended in my subjective view are, in no order:

Novoland Eagle Flag. This is my second most favorite cdrama of all time, and is an epic fantasy. It follows three protagonists - a cursed prince of a barbarian kingdom, a bastard warrior son of a minor plains nobleman, and a princess in exile of winged people. The three become best friends and the narrative follows them separately and together. There are two amazing het OTPs (Warrior x Princess, Cursed Prince x Emperor’s sister) and the bromance between the two male leads is epic. If you get your slash goggles on, you can certainly view it that way. This drama is smart, emotionally moving, and so visually beautiful, I have no words. If you don’t mind spoilers, check out my “novoland eagle flag” tag.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/N-i0xTgEzxQ

Joy of Life. This one is amazing. They are filming second season now so if you mind cliffhanger ending stay away. Otherwise! Our protagonist is a man who was dying but woke up in the body of a fake dynasty (or is it? spoilers!) infant and has to navigate his way once he grows up. It’s really hard to explain and it takes a few episodes to get going but it was one of the most popular/best reviewed dramas of 2019 for a reason. It’s funny, moving, fiercely smart, everything. Once again, I have a tag for it. Bonus - Xiao Zhan, the lead of The Untamed, is in this one as a character who shows up only near the end but is awesome. 

Trailer: https://youtu.be/8D5AyJAXqiE

Legend of Fuyao. Our heroine is seemingly a servant but has special powers that may end the world. Hero is the Crown Prince who is supposed to destroy her but well...the OTP is epic, the visuals beautiful, the story great, multiple OTPs actually. It’s wonderful. I have a tag.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/T_2a9QsolKo

Goodbye My Princess. Visually insane. Our heroine is a princess of a fictional kingdom who is loving and happy. Her paths cross with a prince of a neighboring kingdom who wants to use her to infiltrate her grandfather’s stronghold and take over; he falls in love with her for real but won’t stop. Basically, what happens when Disney Princess meets Game of Thrones Prince. Only if you love tragedies and heroes who are antiheroes at best. Our ML loves her more than his own life, but not more than his revenge, and that is his tragedy and hers. I have a tag for this of course.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/5PI2bO6lfcU

Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (Eternal Love on netflix). Starts really slow imo but then makes up for it and then some. Very high fantasy. Our heroine is a goddess who eventually has an epic and tragic and some more epic love with basically the crown prince of heavenly kingdom. I have a tag for this as three lives three worlds ten miles of peach blossoms.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/xqXG4NaoLSE

Love and Redemption. Our heroine is a mortal reincarnation of the God of War, on her last human trial to let go of hate and discover love - she failed all the last ones and if she fails this one, she’s done. Our hero is someone who has loved her through all the past lifetimes, and has reincarnated with her every time. This time he’s a disciple of a demon sect that is forbidden to love and she is born lacking feelings and emotions. This one is gorgeous, the chemistry is unreal, it’s somehow incredibly queer despite the het OTP (spoilers!) and just awesome. Also hope you like whump because there is plenty. I have a tag for this of course.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/HkS_XhQNBYQ

Ever Night. With the caveat that only the first season is amazing. They changed out much of the cast (including their lead) for s2 and script was bad. Season 1 is amazing though, and follows two seemingly no-name orphans - the sole survivor of a general’s household and his attendant who he dug out of a pile of corpses when he was four and she was a baby; our ML may or may not be the prophesied child of the King of Hell who may end the world. I rec watching first season and then reading the novel it’s based on (it’s a very faithful adaptation.) Also, get you a man who loves you the way Nng Que loves Sang Sang. I have a tag for it of course.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/pES3vx7VBPc

The below two only qualify because they are set in fantasy kingdoms but hey, whatever.

The currently airing Rebel Princess - our heroine is a favored daughter of royal family who is arrange-married to a general (who she falls for) and ends up drawn in the games of power. Gorgeous, amazing acting, and Zhang Ziyi. Might become my favorite cdrama ever. I have a tag for it.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/68-iAyBG4wQ

General and I. Heroine is a strategist and hero a general for enemy kingdom. Beautiful and shippy and kinda romance novely but in the best way. Got a tag for it.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/Xf71U6vZzs8

OK, this one is purely historical/since of life, but I am just going to mention The Story of Minglan. It’s as if Elizabeth Gaskell did a Chinese drama. So smart and emotional and real and detailed. It’s my favorite drama of all time from anywhere. But not fantasy.

Gonna stop now.

#cdrama #asks #story of minglan #rebel princess #legend of fuyao #general and i #ever night #three lives three worlds the pillow book #novoland eagle flag #goodbye my princess #joy of life #love and redemption

[vermillioncrown]

I said I was going to write you an essay to make you question what I do with my free time, and I follow through on my promises! So, making my case for Jiang Cheng, as well as some comments on why I think ot3 is cute but ultimately wouldn't work. Obvious caveat that we haven't had all the major character interactions and canon changes in dbd yet, so my opinion is subject to change according to how the story develops. I talk a big game but I actually don't mind who zyx ends up w bc I know it'll happen due to Character Development. Our thoughts on romance are fairly similar.

Why wangxian+zyx doesn't (yet?) convince me:

I'd have to really, really be sold that it isn't, in fact, wangxian+zyx but instead wwx/lwj/zyx, and I think zyx would too. You recently made a post on zyx feeling like an intruder in their relationship, and it would take so much work for wangxian to convince her that she wasn't an afterthought, not bc they think so abt her but bc wangxian is basically the founding principle of the canon she's inhabiting and girl can only handle so many mind-blowing paradigm shifts and that quota is filled by transmigrating. I also feel like wangxian have so much work to do w themselves in canon before they're ready to be in a relationship, and asking zyx to join in is like asking them to do a lot of emotional heavy lifting on their behalf. Like, she knows all their hangups, and she might be able to help one (1) romantic partner w that stuff but two is asking kind of a lot? Also she just knows too much abt them. She knows too much abt everybody, but them in particular. (zyx's reaction to the Horny Gripping, anybody?) Also, that insight seems to be a major reason why she even knows how to interact with them/interpret their behavior, and she's still baffled half the time lmao.

Not to mention, these two are Dramatic. Like, they are That Couple, and are prone to dramatic displays of love and romance and great personal sacrifice and zyx is way too lowkey and easily embarrassed for that shit. (zyx, if someone did the equivalent of giving the whole cultivation world the middle finger on her behalf: First of all, I would never put you in that situation, and second of all *perishes*) (zyx, if someone proposed in public and made graphic comments abt wanting to bang her: I don't know you. Also, I'm going to beat you to death.) (Alternatively, these are the two with enough combined chaos energy that they're the ones most likely to find out abt zyx's reincarnation/transmigration bit.)

Now About Jiang Cheng:

Of course, he is my bestest angry boi and I'm not-at-all-secretly in love w your Lan Wenhui au, so I'm biased. And let's be real, their relationship would have to have elements of politics. But I love their dynamic and how they seem to intuitively understand each other and have similar responses to situations. I don't think they'd have wangxian level Romance, but I also don't think zyx is built for that. (Not a criticism, bc I'm certainly not either.) But I think they'd have an excellent sense of comradery and companionship and respect, and would definitely be a cultivation world power couple bc they're both just so damn competent. Also they'd be roasting everyone the entire time. (Basically, I think they'd make each other laugh, and that's my gold standard.)

I think they're similar enough that they can understand each other without letting their worst qualities and habits dominate? Like, they both deal with feelings of inadequacy and are hyper competent to compensate, and can come off cold but definitely aren't. zyx wouldn't let jc get too caught up in his own head and family feelings, etc., and jc would see zyx on a research bender and be like 'eat food, you gremlin'. (He grew up w wwx, he knows.) jc is also p charismatic to my mind, in a way we both see and don't see in canon, mostly subtextual in how he rallies Jiang Sect during the war and rebuilds it. You don't do all of that solely through the power of being an angry asshole everyone's scared of. Also, jc has a major thing for ppl being loyal, and if zyx and he were to become an item, ie for political reasons, I think she definitely would be and I think he'd find that enormously attractive. And I think having someone on his side who shares his goals would really allow jc to grow and mature in ways that zyx would find appealing. (Returned confidence and trust in the other person?) Plus, imagine zyx/jc interacting w jzx/jyl, I feel like there are so many opportunities for comedy gold.

Idk I like some of the other pairings suggested--whoever put forth jzx/jyl/zyx is Big Brained. Anyways I've written some and would love to chat w you if you ever want to, and also maybe someday I'll write up my thought on lxc or Mianmian as potential love interests. (I feel like I could really be into something w Mianmian 😉)

if i questioned what anyone did with their spare time, it's "glass houses and cast stones" on this end. thank you for following through, love reading write ups that prove i've dragged others into this hellhole. it's especially nice when a reader catches onto what i'm trying to convey in the fic, and agrees (two braincells in resonant frequency across the land).

=

on wangxian+ot3:

you've brought up something that very few have brought up before, even as a joke. like, haha yeah we know zyx's a potty-mouthed transmigrator, but the emotional and mental toll on someone to be constantly reminded they don't belong, they don't fit in, there's nothing they can do about that, and they cannot be themselves wholly... it's a lot. there's only so many braincells left to do other mental heavy-lifting. and yes, zyx is willing to handle most things as they come, but they tend to establish ground rules and assumptions before operating, and wangxian is one of those gr&as, thought immutable.

they're also on a different level of emotional maturity than wangxian (for as much of a mess zyx is), there is self-awareness and understanding that sets them apart from the teenagers around them (let alone the emotional messes that are wangxian). it'd be too imbalanced, one person helping the other person develop to their level rather than mutual growth (not saying it can't happen. it's currently unlikely). and knowing too much about a person, not some faceless character - to know someone, move onto liking them, respecting them; the 'DISGUSTANG' response is played up for laughs, but that's masquerading the guilt/discomfort one would feel when unintentionally violating another's boundaries. and it's even worse bc the affected party doesn't know it.

(i'd like to argue on zyx's behalf/my behalf that the Customer Service/Professional at Work face is good enough to interact with most people, and there's a reason ppl irl ask me to read others to filth. the bafflement is only when the interpretation must involve the self.)

(in a "fuck, dude - i exist in other people's thoughts???")

the Drama is def another con in the wangxian category. nice to read about, but don't you fucking dare bring that into the house. each reaction you've written is 100% true: it's more like zyx would never want to put their partner in the position of performative displays of affection and romance (bc it means they've fucked up themselves, and it's time to exit life). the reflexive reaction to raunchy declarations would likely be a bellow and a punch (the thoughts are as you've written).

but, yes - the gravitational pull of wangxian's chaos -> they're getting into the business of those they hold dear, whether the other party likes it or not -> it will probably happen. i answered that 'potential crossover ask' before, and that's the case where wangxian are the only mfers with the least responsibilities such that they'll get into a mess w zyx that will bust that secret wide open.

(also, toying w a side-plot during ssc, involving demonic cultivation + inquiry)

=

on jiang cheng:

it's no surprise - from the lwh au and zyx's thoughts in dbd, jc is the character they identify most with. not in a 'aww little meow meow' but a 'uh the reflection in this mirror is... i don't want to think about this bye'. i'm happy you like what little i have on their dynamic in dbd so far; it's difficult to get them to interact in depth at this point of the fic bc it's in the nature of both jc and zyx.

if they do get together, it's as you said: not wangxian level of true love romance, and neither are built for it. it'd be like the lwh au, except less funny and much messier (the fact that wwx has a crush on his shidi's ??? being one thing, and the fact that jc has to consider his position/appearance rather than pursue romance or even consider zyx a romance option). it'd have to develop from strong friendship first, which is exactly like your thoughts on comradery + companionship + respect. a partnership on multiple fronts.

it's two girlbosses dating each other.

(i def have more interactions with the two building up via snark, and yes - how can you date someone that doesn't make you laugh? minimum requirements right there, you have to find each other hilarious)

also true on similar but different: they deal with their fixations and hurts in different ways. there's always the possibility that two people like this would start a cold war of posturing that'd keep them from reconciling, but the little differences of the sources of their issues/how they manage their issues gives room for coexistence. very much agree w your examples.

jc has to be charismatic - not only did he rebuild the jiang, he did so when he was on the losing side, and it'd probably looked better for his recruits to stay out of cultivator business and hope it'd blow past. he has yet to pull out the jc charm on zyx yet. it's not as bombastic as wwx's, but it's something.

while zyx would never say their defining trait is loyalty, they are stubborn as fuck. "fuck it i'm not doing this" *does it anyway* "i don't need to be here" *is still here* <- the thing w shuangfeng all through part 1. so yeah, if they deliberately chose to stand with jc, it will likely be followed through to the end. jc doesn't have many people that are straightforward and stalwart with him, and as shady as zyx is they aren't that complicated of a person. at least, i don't think so lol, but i 'might' be biased.

(i tend to introduce myself as a 'single-celled organism'; like, i'm kinda shady but only for fun)

you want the most awkward family dinners, don't you? unfortunately for jc, it's a case of "we're best friends that were so homie we dated siblings" when it comes to jzx&zyx.

jc & jyl eyeing each other from across the table like 😶😶

(i do not know how that type of interaction would work out, and i will leave the future a mystery)

=

wrapping up:

i would love to talk more about jzx/jyl/zyx throuple bc it's so galaxy-brained, but bc jzx is instrumental in the plot near-future, i do not want to spoil anything until the things have happened.

when more lxc interactions happen (some upcoming in the discussion conference, a lot in the ssc), i'd love to see it.

BWEW BWEW BWEW!!!!!

[LUO QINGYANG ROUTE - prerequisites fulfilled]

^ if people find things (if you find things) in dbd, she's now available to be discussed :)

=

also, from pm's:

> "Ooh another pt of interest that can apply however you like: zyx doesn't *trust* love as a sentiment on its own. She's like 'feelings? How unfortunate, how can I get out of this.' I don't know if she would be able to view romantic love as lasting and therefore worth investing in seriously unless there was other stuff underpinning it. But reliability and competence? Mutual respect? I feel like that would go much further to winning her over, would be what makes her catch feelings."

< "you fucking got it"

< "like, zyx is not one to deny feelings exist. but that's a whole separate animal."

< "you can't get assholes off your lawn and away from your sect through ~true love~"

> "Lmao zyx viewing their emotions with a 😒 'that's a little irritating but whatever'"

< "rational zyx to emotional zyx "we'll get through this""

#electricalsheep #on dbd #dbd love shack #inquiry #thanks for the essay i loved it #submitting to the journal of fanfiction lmao #i was wondering if anyone would catch on with lqy at all 🤭

[hacash]

ted lasso 2x09 thoughts

ARGH

those are it. those are my thoughts.

Ok, slightly more coherently…

Sam’s getting recognition! Sam has his own chant! I love that for him. Love it all. It’s obviously so good that Sam is becoming an in-universe hero when we’ve loved him from his first scene - however, that also comes with the caveat of not wanting him to move anywhere from Nelson Road. I’m curious to see where they take it though, because I obviously can’t see Toheeb Jimoh leaving the cast before the show finishes, but at the same time this offer is so good for him?? I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know.

(If, on the other hand, Toheeb is being written out because he’s going on to star as a lead in another show where we could see more of his beautiful face and stellar acting every week? I would find that acceptable.)

Screeners’ reactions for this episode had me thinking something cataclysmic and dreadful was going to happen between Sam and Rebecca with them reuniting and it hitting the papers - and it ended up being fine?? Of course she’s torn about him leaving. Even if they end up never being together again Sam clearly represents something wonderful to Rebecca - possibility and the sense of being treated right - and those feelings don’t just go away.

I expected a bit more reaction from Ted about the whole Sambecca thing, but that little look in his eyes after their conversation did have me curious - does he disapprove more than he lets on? is he secretly pining for Rebecca already? only time will tell. also I did notice Ted was once again basically saying whatever Rebecca wanted to hear and agreeing at every single line - he might be going to therapy but he’s not out of the people-pleaser woods yet.

Another bombshell next year? OH COME ON. If that’s not a prediction of some sort of confession of love I will go out and buy a hat just to eat it.

SHARON. How I am going to miss thee. But it was a lovely and understated farewell to a character that I’ve really come to love - Sexy Mother Fucker; he stole my move, yaas - showing how much she and Ted have helped each other grow and I just *tear*. Also I’m a Tedbecca shipper through and through, but Jason and Sarah do have such lovely chemistry together.

Also the pub regulars basically pleading for free therapy? Aww.

Higgins luring Ted back to read Sharon’s note with a well-chosen letter based pun? I love this man to the ends of the earth.

I FUCKING KNEW THAT HIGGINS KNEW EVERYONE’S BIRTHDAY. I PREDICTED THAT SHIT.

Roy and Keeley…I’m sorry, I’m emotional and anxious and hopeful and I do not think they’re going to break up. Relationships go through messy spots and people struggle, and the mark of a good, communicative, grown-up relationship is that you take time and discuss your issues and move past them. Keeley and Roy’s relationship has always been characterised by that maturity, and I just don’t see a couple of ill-timed romance confessions breaking that down.

(If anything, we might get a discussion from Roy about Keeley trusting him - I’m guessing there’s a fair bit of time lapsed between Jamie’s confession and her telling all to Roy, and I can see that being the sticking point that upsets Roy, that she hid this from him for some time. He clearly didn’t feel at all upset by what happened with Nate; it’s the - arguably fair - point that Keeley didn’t let him know that her ex confessed love for her that I think is going to be the issue.)

Also, the ‘are you married’ question - coupled with the fact that we keep seeing Roy on his knees in front of Keeley - makes me think we’re going to get a proposal next episode.

Also I love that we’re seeing more of Keeley’s psyche beyond the ‘cute and supports everyone’ façade - her mother’s experience with ambition and not being able to achieve it is a really interesting little snippet, not to mention the reason she bonds so much with Nate and is able to see how someone seemingly ‘undeserving’ should be able to realise their dreams.

also her and Rebecca’s ‘bleargggggh!’ competition! and Ted thinking he was going to be on the cover of Vanity Fair! return of Biscuits with the Boss!

ok, deep breaths now

NAAAAAATE

WHAT ARE YOU DOOIIIIIIING

Is it bad that I sort of liked the whole thing with Keeley? Not in a ‘yes I want this to happen’ sort of way, but because it makes so much sense that Nate (particularly Nate in his current state) might mistake that level of bonding and emotional support as something romantic. We know Nate is insecure and hasn’t had much of a social life in the past, and that he idealises Keeley for her basic kindness and decency: much like Jamie in 2x10, he’s mistaking Keeley’s kindness as something more…it’s absolutely gutting to watch, and also so human and real that I can’t help but take my hat off to the writers for it.

(Honestly, there’s been so many posts on tumblr about how toxic masculinity fucks men over to such an extent that when they receive kindness and friendship for a woman they immediately think romance - but yeah. this show does tick all the boxes.)

I did see the kiss moment coming a mile away and was really worried that Nate was going to be…uh, very entitled about it, given his current state, but the fact that he wasn’t - that he was immediately horrified and realised he’d fucked up and stumbles away muttering about how he ‘is worried about it’ and ends the scene spitting at himself in the mirror again and looking absolutely disgusted with himself - well, in a way that just hurt more. (I mean, I’m relieved Nate wasn’t all bolshy with it because his reaction does show there is still some of the old Nate still there…but still, owch.)

And then that text from Trent…

Next episode is going to hurt like hell, isn’t it? I absolutely cannot wait for the showdown between Nate and Ted, it’s been a long time coming…like I’ve said, while I think ultimately Nate is going to have a redemption arc, because thematically it makes sense and would send some pretty iffy messages if he doesn’t, I don’t think it’ll come until season three. Right now I just want to see Ted get angry after several seasons of suppressing his anger, I want a full-blown emotional hash-out between them both - basically I want Jason and Nick to have me sobbing before 9AM.

My one question is: are we going to see Nate realising what he’s done, or not? Was this a pragmatic, doing-this-for-the-sake-of-the-club betrayal or a blind, lashing-out-in-frustration betrayal? In short: is Nate Lando or Anakin in this scenario?

I’m very curious as to what show people who say this ‘came out of nowhere’ have been watching. Nate’s been heading for some sort of implosion since mid-season, and we all knew it was going to hurt some innocent bystanders.

I’m saving something light and cheery after all the angst, so let me just say: cinema has never surpassed, and will never surpass, the scene of the Richmond boys dancing along to Bye Bye Bye. Almost made up for the fact that they were criminally underused in the rest of the episode, and quite frankly this had better be redressed in the season finale.

and WE FINALLY SAW COLIN DRIVING THE LAMBO. I don’t know what I find funnier: the fact that it’s some neon lime green monstrosity that every fourteen-year old boy would have dreamt of owning growing up (should my new Colin tag be Colin ‘I Need To Rethink My Relationship With My Car’ Hughes, or Colin ‘More Money Than Sense’ Hughes? enquiring minds want to know…) or as was pointed out to me by @kamillahn, the look of absolute terror on Colin’s face as he begins to drive. Colin, hun, please just buy yourself a Fiat. It’s not worth it anymore.

#ted lasso #ted lasso spoilers #the little things