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safyresky · 6 months

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This was the most anticlimactic finale I have EVER seen in my life??

IT WAS SO. ANTICLIMACTIC. LIKE. THE MAD SANTA AND SCOTT STANDOFF? THE UN-NUTCRACKERING OF MY BOY???? SANDRA'S POWERS??? I JUST. WHERE IS THE GROWTH. WHY CAN'T THEY GIVE US MORE TIME FOR ALL THE GROWTH. AH. BAD!

On that note, tho, things I actually quite liked, maybe even LOVED???? I thoroughly enjoyed the episode. Well, MOST of it. Especially:

Betty and Olga's whole toymaking thing lol that was cute and sweet

NOEL! EVERYTHING NOEL! TAKING CHARGE! BROKERING A PEACE! AMAZING

Kris tagging along, lol, what a vibe. "Holy crap! Ice bergs???!?!?!?!" (chokes on a bug)

Mad Santa and Olga acknowledging their toxicity with one another

Sandra calling Cal Buddy, THANK YOU QUEEN

Sandra's whole VIBE tbh. The witchy/goth prom look, her powers being like. Based on Christmas spirit!

Betty and Olga AGAIN, I really really REALLY loved how that went and LOVED how they were like "we're really quite the same"

Meanwhile Noel and the rest of the gnomes are like "Oh! Glad y'all caught up! Tea?"

Good for Magnus, going back and performing!! Good for him!!! I loved seeing him THRIVE with the sax!!!

and I'm really glad Magnus was like "Kris's place made me feel JOY", we LOVE TO SEE PEOPLE WITH CHRISTMAS SPIRIT REASSURED AND VALIDATED!

Everything about Mrs. Claus tbh. Carol, my belovedddddd~ freaking out about Buddy and and and having the RANGE, GOD, Elizabeth Mitchell fans, you are all SO RIGHT!

So basically everything that DIDN'T involve Santa? I'm kinda shooketh. Why was that episode so chill compared to all the other ones??? I obtained MINIMAL psychic damage (perhaps I have an immunity now??? WHO'S TO SAY!)

Santa's lines are all delivered so unenthusiastically and he just. GOD. You know how in The Christmas Invasion Ten looks at Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, then goes over to her assistant and is like "doesn't she look tired"? I feel like we could totally do that to Tomothy and just. End him. Then and there.

KRIS. He's really cool. Like I unironically enjoy him. He a little naive but BOY DOES HE HAVE THE SPIRIT! AND I LOVE THAT! Honestly, they could've had him be the next Santa and he'd be AMAZING at it tbh! he was very underused and that was a SHAME. Remember in episode 1 when we saw his dad for like 3 seconds and I thought "wow we could have a whole father figure angle here!" as if the writing in this show could actually decently do something like this

Get his ass count for this episode: about 5

Again, I keep getting hung up on the weird choices and the lore????????

Weird choices: having the underlying theme of Betty/Olga fight being I WANT THAT TOY NO IT'S MINE was weird?? You could've done it differently to get them to the Workshop to chat. you could have had them call one another out with their toymaking skills? And go from there?????? IT WOULD'VE BEEN EASY TO DO

Weird choices: Bringing Kris up??? I LOVED it, he was perf comedic relief--like, if anyone in this universe should have loony toon powers (see: him appearing in the cell behind Mad Santa and everyone being like OH YOU'RE HERE TOO), it's Kris. 100%

My mood @ Kris is very much:

yes. I made a meme about it. I just really appreciate him, especially in this episode? HE'S JUST FULL OF CRIBMAS SPIRIT!!! FUCK!

Lore things I had issues with:

1. "But a witch...born at the North Pole...could!"

2. "You've got a history"/"I've read your history! You were a GREAT Santa!" and also "Way to go Noel! I always KNEW you'd make a great head elf!"

3. "Storied apex of the globe"

(not direct quotes)

"But a witch...born at the North Pole...COULD"

As a disclaimer: I quite like Sandra having cribmas witch magic, and I like the idea that she's a lil different bc of being born at the Pole. HOWEVER. The execution/explanation is...mid. WHY is it that Sandra being a human witch born at the NP CAN un-nutcracker Cal??? Where is the EXPLANATION!??!!? WHAT ABOUT IT MAKES HER DIFFERENT FROM OTHER WITCHES? IS IT BECAUSE OF THE "storied apex of the globe" COMMENT NOEL MAKES WHEN HE'S BEING A BAMF AND HYPING UP THE GNOMES? IS IT LEY LINES??? LIKE. WHAT IS THE EXPLANATION?

I would be FINE with suspending my disbelief if they had maybe just GIVEN THE CONCEPTS AND CHARACTERS TIME TO GROW!!! You could've rewritten the whole entire "we're stealing doing Easter!" episode and instead SOLELY FOCUS ON MAGIC. Have Befana react more mildly and go "this is different, come along" and bring Sandy to her lil cabin while they try to figure it out and THEN drop the "she was born at the NP and this is why she ca do such a powerful spell" and then have someone go what why?? AND BOOM. BEFANA GIVES US EXPOSITION, WE LEARN, SANDRA CAN HAVE A PLOTTY ARC WHERE SHE'S LIKE "no, I can't do that, that's. Girl that's crazy" to have the build to her un-nutcrackering Buddy have more of an OOMPF, you know? IT'S THAT EASY. ARGH.

2. "you've got a history/I've read your history" (A) and "I always knew you could do it Noel!" (B)

2. a) HOW COULD YOU HAVE READ THE HISTORY WHEN THE ELVES RIPPED OUT THE PAGE AND BURNT IT? WAS IT YOUR SANTA SENSES? HELLO? IF SO, WHY DIDN'T THEY SHOW US MORE OF THAT?? MAYBE SUBPLOT FOR SCOTT WHILE SANDY IS LEARNING ABOUT HER COOL MAGIC, HE'S LIKE OKAY. INTO THE YULE VERSE, LET'S LEARN ABOUT MAD SANTA. AND GIVE IT SOME PROPER TIME TO BE ESTABLISHED! LET SCOTT SEE HOW MAGNUS WAS BEFORE HE GOT PARANOID AND DISPATCHED BY THE ELVES! THEN MAYBE. JUST MAYBE. THE ANTI-CLIMATIC SANTA VS SANTA SHOWDOWN WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN AS ANTI-CLIMACTIC BECAUSE SCOTT BE KNOWING THAT MAGNUS WAS GOOD AND IS JUST HAVING SOME RELATABLE ISSUES, AND THE PAYOFF WOULD BE BETTER!

2. b)

OH REALLY. DID YOU SANTA? DID YOU? BECAUSE I HAVE MOTHER FUCKING RECEIPTS:

I REST MY FUCKING CASE, SANTA.

(also I got a DAMN GOOD Noel snip. You GO NOEL. SHOW SCOTT WHO'S THE FUCKING BOSS! YEAH!!!! YEAH BABY!!!)

3. "The storied apex of the globe."

YOU CAN'T JUST DROP THIS ON ME. ON ALL OF US. AND NOT ELABORATE. ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT ALL THE STORY CREATURES LIVE AT THE NORTH POLE BC IT'S AN APEX? A NEXUS? FUCKING ELABORATE ON THAT! ADD IT TO THE REWRITTEN STEAL EASTER EPISODE. STOP DUMPING LORE WITHOUT ELABORATING. WHAT! DOES! IT! MEAN! AHHHHH (explodes)

(reconstitutes)

Whew! Glad I got all that out of my system!!!

Other odds and ends that did NOT hit:

"I went to MIT" I'm with Edie on this one tbh. Also, where is the MUFFIN institute of tech. At the North Pole? WHERE??? YOU CAN'T DROP HINTS THAT ALL MAGICAL CREATURES ARE THERE AND NOWHERE ELSE WITH AN AREA THAT SMALL. THAT'S WHY CRYSTAL SPRINGS IS A GD CONTINENT OF A LANDMASS!!!! AH!

ANTICLIMACTIC SANTA VS SANTA MOMENT! IT WAS SO DRY AND DROLL AND JUST. IT DID N O T HIT. SEE ABOVE POINTS.

ALL OF SANTA SCOTT'S BITS. SO FLAT AND DRY!!!!! SOMEONE PUSH HIM OFF A ROOF AND MAKE SURE HE S T A Y S DOWN

Mad Santa about 100 times: "I'M NOT A DUMB STUPID HUMAN LIKE YOU" THEN WHAT ARE YOU?!?!?!?!?!?

I AM ONCE AGAIN ASKING FOR CAROL TO HAVE MORE OF AN ARC THAN "overbearing mom" AND "token WE PASSED FEMINISM" rep, especially with Elizabeth Mitchell putting her WHOLE ASS SELF INTO IT! SHE HAS THE RANGE! A SHAME SHE'S STUCK WITH FLAT ASS TOMOTHY AND GLASS CEILING REFERENCES!!!

HECK, I'D LOVE IT IF BOTH PARENTS HAD MORE TIME TO REALIZE THEY WEREN'T BEING GREAT! OR EVEN, DIDN;T HAVE THAT PLOTLINE AND WERE JUST TRYING TO BE SUPPORTIVE BUT NOT SURE HOW TO GO ABOUT IT AND MAKING MISTAKES BUT LEARNING TO FIX EM!

I sighed loud enough to wake the entire neighbourhood ALL TWO REWATCHES WHEN THEY SHOEHORNED THE MOVIE FLASHBACKS IN. WHEN THEY REVEALED THAT KRIS WAS THE HOUSE OF KAYAK KID FROM TSC 1. WHEN THEY THREW ALL THE OLD "he is drinking out of the mug SEE IT'S ALWAYS BEEN HERE" flashback sequence in. uGH S T O P!!!! IT WAS BAD IN THE THIRD MOVIE AND IT'S W O R S E IN THE SERIES

(in Yzma voice) WHY DOES HE EVEN HAVE THAT AMULET? BC HE'S SECRETIVE? GIVE ME MORE INFO!!! (flips a table)

CURTIS EXPLODED. CURTIS WENT TO KRIBBLE KRABBLE AND NEVER CAME BACK. WAS THAT BEFORE OR AFTER HE EXPLODED??? (@shittyelfwriter and I both agree AFTER lol)

I figure he was patient 0 for Curtis-itis, hence the name! Maybe almost 'sploded but instead went nope! I need to kribble krabble!

I mean, he would uphold it, of course, the MOMENT after he became head elf bc he loves rules so heckin much lol

Regardless, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

An aside: I read an article talking about that piece of info and the person who wrote it was like "Curtis stans will be happy to know (we know you're out there!)"

(me, squinting) where. where. I don't see them. I see the Elizabeth Mitchell/Carol stans (on occasion. I stumble into them like I made a wrong turn lol). The Bernard stans (how could you NOT see them they're everyone lol), The JACK STANS (guilty as fucking charged), but have yet to see CURTIS STANS. Mostly just Curtis appreciators??? y'all are cool tho. He is a funky lil stressed out nerd. Deffs NOT a management guy lol. Give him a couple hundred or so more years first :-)

HOW AND WHY DID MAGNUS GO INTO THE JAIL. WE ARE MISSING A SCENE. BIG TIME. WHERE DID IT GO. YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE CUT THAT ONE MY DUDES. MAYBE THE FLUFFY EATS A FLY WHILE IN THE SLEIGH BIT SHOULD'VE BEEN AXED INSTEAD SINCE FLIES DON'T GO THAT HIGH! WHY IS MAD SANTA THERE AND H O W DID HE PASS THE BLOCKADE OF PEOPLE??? HELLO???

Just. Just let Cal go to prom. Don't bring prom to him. Please. Please let him and Riley have ONE brain cell at LEAST. Technology isn't rotting our brains THAT badly. It's just pushing censoring and making younger gens forget what critical thinking skills are!

God, now I sound like Tomothy. VIBE CHECK ON AISLE SAFYRESKY!

Also, Riley, stop trying to steal @snowqueenjacqueline's DRIP GIRLIE. LIGHT BLUE? SNOWFLAKES? WHAT'S JACQUELINE SUPPOSED TO WEAR TO NORTH POLE PROM NOW?!?!!?

And I think that's it?? I think I got it all out of my system. WHEW.

Season thoughts: Ouch. Brain hurty. Andie you were SO RIGHT with the disjointed bit. TOO MUCH LORE. TOO MUCH THROWING BACK. NOT ENOUGH EXPLANATIONS/GROWING TIME. CHARACTER ARCS ARE ONCE MORE NONEXISTENT. THEY JUST HAPPEN AND WE DON'T SEE THEM. SOMEHOW BETTER THAN SEASON 1???? BUT STILL. NOT GREAT! Mid, mostly. Not great! Nothing to write home about tbh.

And now. I end this lengthy ass review with some snips of my FAVOURITE part of the entire season:

#dani speaks #the santa clause #the santa clauses #tscs spoilers #tscs meta #tscs wank #there's a bit of both. but quite honestly?? overall???#this episode was enjoyable. high rewatchability #and uh. heh. and screencap ability huehuehuheuheue #the last santa gets wasted image gave me a gr8 idea. will post in a mo #huehuehuehuehue #tscs #tscs2 #dani watches tscs2 #long post

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pretty--in--purple · 2 months

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The sunshine court’s characterisation of Jeremy Knox is fucking sublime btw

• guy who is very chill and friendly not bc of temperament but because he has decided to be chill and friendly and is clinging onto that with his fucking teeth >>>>>>>>>>>>

• the gentle… not quite manipulation, but like conflict resolution and team management?

Jean hangs up on him and he calls back immediately and a) doesnt accuse or chide b) pretends it was his mistake to gently shift the tone and c) maintains focus on his goal. This is like, insane people skills and I wish we got more of it in the latter part. I would KILL to see him dealing with the team in depth

• this man hates 1: cops 2: congressmen (specifically those who are fucking his mum) 3: every fucker who ever said a bad word to jean Moreau and for that we have to give props

• sooooo many plot hooks for this guy. like he has a History and i for one am waiting eagerly to hear it

• canonically gay and horny. we have no choice but to stan.

• has a butler?!?!?!?

Just overall such a good character that managed to walk the line of pleasant surprise but also fulfilling fan hopes based on precious little canon information

#I really liked this book if it wasn’t clear. Jeremy Knox enters my blorbo pantheon #like he was already there but now it’s based on canon not fanon #jeremy knox #tsc spoilers #the sunshine court spoilers #meta

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deadliestpieceontheboard · 1 month

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Gathering evidence of Jeremy's issues like ✍🏻✍🏻

Ok, so whatever happened it was at the fall banquet 4 years before and probably involved cops. (I don't think there will be *two* major scandals)

Hints of the missing brother.

Other sus stuff

I don't have any big theories. Thinking either brother killed hinself after an argument with Jeremy, crash while driving to get Jeremy out of custody, or cut contact with everyone after their poor reaction to Jeremy's scandal (and I think he was outed, hence the floozies and why he has to stay home during the week)

#tsc spoilers #the sunshine court spoilers #tsc #aftg #all for the game #jeremy knox #the sunshine court #aftg meta

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scholliski · 2 months

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I’m betting some dude sarcastically bet for the foxes to win while drunk of his ass and still gloats about it every day to his buddies

#aftg #all for the game #andrew minyard #neil josten #the foxhole court #tfc #andreil #all for the gay #aftg shitpost #shitpost #meta #tsc #the sunshine court

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allfortheendgame · 2 months

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liar, liar...

It really strikes me how different characters lie and speak the truth in AFTG.

Neil lies like his life depends on it (and it often does). He avoids and redirects and lies as easily as he breathes, like second nature. You won't get truths out of him unless you pay the price of something he needs in return, and even then, he'll hide what he can.

Andrew trades truths, one at a time, carefully, slowly, holding on to details until they're demanded. Lies serve him little purpose when even his truths are not often believed.

Jean uses honesty as a weapon. He has a hundred secrets but he'll bluntly confess ninety-nine of them if it means someone will shut up out of sheer shock at his words. He only lies when the truth isn't an option, but he prefers to simply tell you he doesn't want to talk.

Jeremy lies for the greater good. He does so easily, effortlessly, so much so that he might at times even convince himself of the tale he's spinning. He'll lie to make himself seem to be in the wrong if it helps him make someone else look right, and he'll walk away with a smile right after.

#tsc spoilers #tsc #the sunshine court #meta #aftg #aftg meta #tsc mta

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carelessflower · 6 months

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how much power is in the ring magnus give alec?

first, a little revisit to trsom

it's shown from scenes like this in the books that despite having the power to bring forward incapable feats or destruction, magnus doesn't want to use it, like at all. we get brief instances in the past where he used it and how much it affected him (killing his stepfather, creating earthquakes when he was upset). the status quo is set, magnus lightwood-bane and his immensely frightening, possibly corruptive magic will never accept each other's friend request again.

but then, there's this scene

the kind of power comes from the very heart of hell. we know warlocks are offsprings of demons, so it's safe to assume their heritage will somewhat show its influence in their magic. but this isn't your garden variety charm. from what the seelie girl trying to convey here, the ring literally reeks of magic from the deepest, most unpredictable and intimidating part of existence.

does alec know he's carrying a piece of magnus too-dangerous-to-not-be-unsealed-magic around him every day? and that there's no end magnus wouldn't go to, even if it's the part of himself he's terrified of, to keep alec safe?

@magnus-the-maqnificent @dustandducks @pocketoffeels

#malec #alec lightwood #magnus bane #shadowhunters #the mortal instruments #the shadowhunter chronicles #tsc #tmi #the red scrolls of magic #trsom #the land i lost #the eldest curses #tec #thoughts #meta #alec do it a favor and #never joke about world domination

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clockwork-carstairs · 2 months

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i have to say seeing how popular jem is now, knowing he hasn't always been, is SO reassuring and relieving. not because other characters aren't great or have good values, but because it means jem's standout qualities – things like kindness, compassion, gentleness, being thoughtful – are being appreciated and seen as more important and that's SUCH a good thing. especially knowing ya's history of pushing forward the toxic-cocky-mysterious bad boy agenda… we're finally putting qualities like kindness above that, which is a really positive step forward. i know it's more nuanced than this, and tsc's characters are far more nuanced (jem's sole trait isn't being kind, for instance) but he wasn't always appreciated this much and as a longtime jem fan i truly love to see it. i grew up reading books where the mc always went for the mysterious bad boy character – ruder, testy, provocative – and often these characters were more popular because being kind was seen as 'boring' or meant you could only ever be in the friendzone. jem was one of the first characters i read who had this really horrible backstory, but throughout everything was genuinely just kind. it's really wonderful to see so many people appreciating that :)

#like yes let's keep normalising healthy relationships and kindness yk?#the way tessa fell for jem because he was so compassionate towards her and always listened to her and made her feel great about herself -#like that's the message!#this isn't saying other stories aren't important or interesting #but i'm saying that love interests who are just kind + good are rare and often overlooked in ya and i'm really proud of how much apprecia-#tion jem is getting now #bec a lot of people reading these books will be young and impressionable and like when i was growing up i thought love was meant to be -#rocky and difficult based on the books i read…but no it shouldn't have to be that way #and jem came along and proved that a relationship based on friendship and intimacy can be equally passionate #and he slayed sooooo hard for that #ok i'm done lmao #jem carstairs #tsc #the infernal devices #tid #james carstairs #tessa gray #meta ?#idk #ya

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allforthe-gays · 2 months

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Jeremy Knox Predictions 🦅🦅🦅

one thing about me is that i LOVE to speculate and spread rumors

so here are my jeremy knox lore predictions (i will probs add onto this and fact check myself at a later date)

things we know

jeremy has beef with cops

jeremy has 3 siblings. an older brother, a younger sister, and a younger brother

we meet his sister, and there is obviously some bad blood between them. he is getting blamed for something and she thinks him playing exy is dumb.

there is very bad blood between him and his older brother. there isn’t an explanation but they clearly have a very volatile relationship even if we never see them interact.

jeremy has beef with his stepfather, and by extension his step-grandfather. his sister seems to be ‘playing nice’ because of the money he has

they have a butler

jeremy says something about his dad being stationed overseas. was he in the military? does he work for the government? is he alive?

he uses his mom’s credit card, but is intentional about keeping receipts to give to her finance person. was there a money fraud thing in the past?

i think his stepdad/stepgrandfather is in a political office?? idr and i dont want to check rn

my predictions

exy killed my grandma his younger brother

somehow said exy accident is jeremy’s fault??

except i have no idea how exy kills someone (we are ignoring the entire mafia thing going on in exy, we are pretending that isn’t a thing bc why tf would jeremy be involved in it)

his dad is either dead or VERY estranged

his mom moved on too quickly after his dad died/left

his dad left because of the younger brother’s dead or died at the same time

mom was involved in money scandal at some point

she married rich husband to get money/her status back

rich husband is dick

his older brother is probably homophobic

#if you repost tag me on ig @all.for.the.gays #idk why youd repost this one tho #all for the game #aftg #aftg meta #the sunshine court spoilers #the sunshine court #the sunshine court meta #tsc spoilers #tsc meta #jeremy knox #jeremy knox headcanon #jeremy knox hc

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six-of-snakes · 2 months

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something something Neil's smile *actually* being frightening/butcher-esque but that him getting rid of the smile doesn't hide the fact that he's fucking insane. butcher neil is so real in tsc but damn i think this bit hit really hard because neil spends so much time in aftg freaking out over his smile and i guess some part of me was like "it can't be *that* bad" but i guess he really is just Like That™

#tsc spoilers #tsc #oliver reads tsc #wow a meta post??#neil josten #the sunshine court #all for the game #also y'all im so sorry for the dyslexia font in the screenshot i don't wanna change it just for screenshots lmao

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heronchildlove · 2 months

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I'm thinking about how Matthew's perfectionism has always gotten in the way of all his hobbies. He tells James in Nothing but Shadows that he can't draw, can't write prose or poetry, can't compose or do anything like that, and, even without counting the fact that he is literally 13 and shouldn't expect to be good at those things anyway, you just know he probably only tried each of those things once or twice before giving up because he wasn't immediately good at them so for him that meant he had failed and couldn't be good ever and he was only good to watch the arts he loved from afar (spectate).

The only hobby he ever had was baking and only because no one else knew. Since it wasn't something anyone expected of him, he could do it in secret with no pressure, and allow Cook to teach him slowly because he was just "helping" her.

And then he lost it too by accidentally poisioning his mom and being too traumatised to ever do it again

#matthew fairchild #the last hours #the shadowhunter chronicles #tlh #tsc #cassandra clare #headcanon #meta #welcome to my mind it's a 24/7 matthew fairchild angst fest

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hestiaflames · 2 months

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the enigma of jeremy knox

after one full read and revisiting some of my annotations (and shoutout to @andrewminyardslawyer for this collection of passages) I have attempted to collect my observations and conclusions/theories about the enigma named Jeremy Knox

please tell me your interpretations

Jeremy’s Dad

Mr. Wilshire is Jeremy’s stepfather (we know from "Bryson is in the sitting room with Mr. Wilshire" and then Jeremy referring to him as his stepfather. I was confused about this at the beginning lol)

This means that Knox is Jeremy’s dad’s name. Why doesn’t he want to be called Knox? Is it the reminder of divorce or his family drama when he’d rather not think about it?

Speaking of Jeremy’s dad: "Dad's been stationed [in Europe] a couple times". Most likely military, then. The tense (“Dad has been”) suggests that his dad is still in his life, not dead or estranged (otherwise I’d expect “Dad was stationed” instead). Unless perhaps Jeremy is going out of his way to hide it? He does avoid talking about his family, but he brings this up unprompted and I get the sense that Laila and Cat would know something that big so I don’t think this is a lie

Jeremy maintaining a relationship with his dad could certainly be a point of conflict with his stepfather and siblings, but doesn't seem to fit the "freshman year exy banquet scandal" we're catching wind of. It's possible his dad was involved, but I don't think it's where my money would go.

Jeremy’s Siblings

Cat tells Jean that Jeremy has one sister and two brothers. Twice we hear Bryson referred to as “the older brother” and Annalise as his younger sister, so the siblings are: Bryson, Jeremy, and Annalise-and-unnamed-brother-in-unknown-order.

Of course, we must address “Jeremy has–three” and Jean “idly wondering what she’d changed at the last minute and why”. It sounds like the number changed (unless I’m missing a possibility here?), so why?

Step or half siblings? There is a stepfather in the mix, so she could have increased it to include step or half siblings, but I lean towards not this. Jeremy says that “the Knox family was duty-bound to dress up and smile bright for [the] cameras”, which would be odd to say if his siblings weren’t all Knoxes. Also, Cat tells Jean this after telling him that her two oldest siblings are half siblings, so imo it would be an odd thing to hide on Jeremy’s behalf

Otherwise, I think we’re talking about a death or estrangement. The unnamed younger brother, probably (though perhaps a fourth sibling). Now this is “broke the family in half” or “destroyed the family” territory. “broke the family in half” could be a death but almost sounds more like a schism, perhaps between Dad & Unnamed Brother and the rest of the family? Or perhaps Jeremy&Dad?

Jeremy & Bryson. What is going on here?

Pretty much the first thing we learn about Jeremy is that he is avoiding his older brother, leaving without his keys to avoid the possibility of an interaction.

Jeremy says that Bryson always spends his summers at home, and also specifically says he’ll be staying at Cat & Laila’s over the summer but then only over on weekends during the school year.

The conversation he has with Lucas: “Do you feel safe with him there?” “He’s my brother” “That’s not what I asked” could be read as him being protective of his teammate, but also could be implying that Jeremy knows what it’s like to feel unsafe around his brother. Learning there have been physical altercations wouldn’t come from left field.

The Fall Banquet Exy Scandal

Speaking of breaking the family in half, what happened at this fall banquet?

Annalise says “Overdue for a new scandal… End the way you started”, so it happened his freshman year. She went out of her way to forget everything about Exy and can’t forgive Jeremy for continuing to play, so she seems to blame Exy as much as she blames Jeremy.

If it did in fact have to do with the younger brother, did he get hurt badly or die playing? If a high schooler died playing Exy three years before, would we have heard about it from Jean or Neil? Our other two narrators are not what you’d call tuned into the outside world all the time. On the other hand, yes Jeremy compartmentalizes even in his narration, but you’re telling me it never crosses his mind while playing a very rough sport if his brother was severely injured? It’s possible, but I’m not sold on this theory. It also wouldn’t explain why it’s tied specifically to the banquet.

The other thought I have is that something happened at that banquet that was some kind of PR mess. The family-in-politics obsession with being a “picture-perfect family” and Jeremy being unwelcome at dinner after bleaching his hair support this, but the Trojan reputation doesn’t. Whatever happened would have to walk the line between totally unacceptable to the family but also not a blemish on the Trojan reputation. Jeremy is made captain and Jean (who knows who he is and would be aware of a Trojan scandal even if it happened before his freshman year, since he was in the Nest and with Riko and Kevin) doesn’t know about it. Kevin is obsessed with the Trojans and with Jeremy, and Jeremy’s teammates (besides Lucas’ almost-comment about him being gay) show nothing but respect for him and his leadership.

I’ve seen speculation that it could have to do with Jeremy being gay, but this would again seem to contradict the fact that Jean and especially Kevin would know, wouldn’t they? I also don’t think Nora’s gonna do that. She wrote gay, trans, and polyamorous Trojans, which you could argue are accepted because it’s the Trojans, but even Jean doesn’t blink about Cody’s pronouns. It doesn’t really make sense to me that she’d pointedly avoid doing 2007-appropriate homophobia and then turn around and do 2007-appropriate homophobia. Possible? Yes. Do I think it’s gonna happen? No.

Cops

“There was little to no chance he’d know them, and no reason they’d recognize him, but Jeremy kept his gaze forward and mouth shut until they were past”. He’s afraid to be recognized. Is it because of a previous interaction (from the banquet? the scandal?) or because of his family? Is he apprehensive about them reacting to him, or something getting back to his family?

Later Rhemann offers to send Jeremy away before bringing the cops in after Jean is attacked. Jean has no idea why Rhemann is suggesting it, but it means that whatever Jeremy’s fear of cops is, he knows about it and also assumes Jeremy told Jean. This doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that Just Comes Up with your coach, so it’s probably based on a prior experience in college. The freshman year banquet again sounds like the likely explanation here.

Jeremy and Mental Health

Jean says “Maybe [Grayson] will also kill himself” and Jeremy replies “That isn’t a joke”, with “unexpected ferocity”. Cat winces. This could be Jeremy being well adjusted (A little before this, Cat says, “That’s not a thing well-adjusted people say”, after all), but his tone and Cat’s reaction makes it seem a lot more personal than Jeremy just saying “Suicide jokes aren’t funny”.

Guys, I think Jeremy’s mystery brother might’ve killed himself. If he played Exy and was bullied or maybe got seriously injured and later killed himself, and cops showed up when it happened, and it was somehow brought up during that banquet and Jeremy said something or reacted somehow that caused a familial rift… I think this is my leading theory.

Initially I didn’t think anything of “There’s been an accident”, but I wonder if maybe that’s how the news was broken to him about his brother. Or if his family insists on calling it “an accident” and maybe what happened at the banquet was Jeremy acknowledging that he doesn’t think it was.

“The right therapist can be legit life changing–just look at Jeremy for proof”, Cat says. We knew from the first Jeremy chapter that he was in therapy and talked about his family, but “life changing” speaks to the severity of all of it. His mom picking the therapist suggests that either he was off the rails enough for her to intervene (more likely mental health issues than something like drug use, again given the Trojans) or that she’s more supportive or sympathetic to him than his siblings and step father. We hear few references to his mom; just a passing comment about her bookkeeper, a mention that she makes the kids go to fundraisers and other events, and that she’s allergic to dogs. Oh, we also know that his mother didn’t hit him. We know he doesn’t get on with his sister or older brother and is “permanently on his stepfather’s bad side”, but very little at all about his relationship with his mom.

Miscellaneous

About the floozies, and I actually don’t think this is Jeremy backstory. Cat says it was “in response to some drama my freshman year”. She’s a rising junior, so that would’ve been Jeremy’s junior year. Jeremy’s scandalous exy banquet was his freshman year, so I think this is Catalina backstory, not Jeremy’s. I am obsessed with the fact that the queer Trojans nicknamed themselves the floozy line. Icons

One other line that seems potentially telling to me is, “What’s Grandpa think of this investment of yours”. What did Annalise mean by investment? Jeremy putting his time into exy? His use of money? The last thing Jeremy said was about Jean, could he be the “investment”? I think it’s most likely about exy, maybe how his commitment to it either reflects badly on the family or is seen as a silly endeavor

god, i could not be more excited for tsc2, or for the speculation in the meantime

#the sunshine court #tsc #tsc spoilers #the sunshine court spoilers #jeremy knox #jean moreau #usc trojans #aftg #all for the game #my post #aftg meta #tsc meta

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stick-ball · 2 months

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The Sunshine Court by N.Sakavic + The Tyger by W.Blake

Tyger Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp,

Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

When the stars threw down their spears

And water’d heaven with their tears:

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

#the sunshine court #the sunshine court spoilers #aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #tfc #neil josten #jean moreau #riko moriyama #kevin day #elodie moreau #stuart hatford #david wymack #nora sakavic #william blake #tsc #the sunshine court edit #aftg edit #aftg meta

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pretty--in--purple · 2 months

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Okay I’m awake again and something that really stood out to me with TSC was how different jean and neil are as protagonists. I expected they would be, but the thing I really noticed was how distinct their reactions were.

So, these books are HEAVY. There are many many traumatic events and the characters spend a lot of time in high-stress situations. Even when they’re not being attacked or threatened or XYZ, they’re often in a state of heightened physiological arousal (their sympathetic nervous system is going haywire). As a psychologist, the thing I find really interesting is that we see very different reactions that are all aligned with different adrenal responses, and I wanted to talk about it.

As a baseline, when your sympathetic nervous system is activated, you typically experience what some psychologists call the four Fs. Fight, flight, freeze, and/or fawn (some people use another word here but I don’t like it and think it’s less accurate to the situation). These can occur simultaneously or alone. And of the four characters who are most showing this response are the ones who are consistently in the highest stress situations, but who are also traumatised in such a way that even when they’re not actively in danger their sympathetic nervous system is overreactive and heightened.

So first off, we have Neil. He’s pretty clearly shown to have two responses: flight and fight. For his entire childhood, he’s been fleeing from danger and in the earlier parts of AFTG, we see this response - he tries to run as far as he can possibly get from anything that might be a risk. As a side point, this is pretty clearly a learned response from his mother. As Neil begins to feel more secure and his flight response is impeded (he can’t run away) we see the emergence of his other primary adrenal response - fight. I don’t feel like I need to explain this one, tbh, we’ve all seen how he runs his mouth. Fight is also typically shown when you believe you can defeat whatever’s threatening you, so I love what this says about how his confidence develops across the trilogy.

Then you have Andrew. He’s not a POV protagonist but I feel like his response might be the most obvious. His primary responses are fight and freeze (Andrew Minyard runs from/fawns for no man). Fight is pretty obvious - he’s a very violent person - but I feel like the most clear example of this is stopping Riko from attacking Neil. Andrew is obviously wired and his instinctive response is to protect. I love that for him. His other primary response, unfortunately, is freeze. Based on the most obvious time we see it (during Drake's attack), this is probably a response he developed as a child, before he felt strong/safe enough to fight back. God, these books make me sad sometimes.

Next is Kevin. He has a slightly more varied response - i can see the argument for him freezing, although i wouldnt say it's a primary response - but his main two responses are fight and fawn. Fight isn't necessarily literal, btw - the most obvious example is covering his tattoo. His fawn response is slightly more expanded on in TSC (mild spoilers if you haven't read that yet) when we see him responding to Riko's attack by begging first Riko and then Jean to intercede and stop the violence. he's trying to appeal to their affection for him, which is absolutely heartbreaking. Kevin i love you.

And finally, we have Jean, whose primary responses are only really made clear in TSC, although they are backed up by his appearances in the trilogy - freeze and fawn. We see freezing in Jean's response to sympathetic nervous system arousal, often from hearing about or recalling upsetting events/information. He closes in on himself and becomes unresponsive. Fawn is slightly more complicated, as we see it somewhat throughout AFTG. when he's loyal to riko and doing things he thinks riko will like in hopes of reducing any potential pain/threat he will experience, i'd call that fawning. an example at usc is him getting on his knees and handing coach rhemann his racket - he's not just submitting to punishment, he's trying to be helpful and well-behaved in hopes of lessening it. it's honestly a really strong response from him and it absolutely breaks my heart. jean in tsc is really struggling and i hope the last book brings him some peace. i also find it really painful that he's the only one of these boys without a fight response - he's never felt capable of winning against his abusers. i really hope the trojans and bee are able to help change that.

#tsc meta #tsc #tsc spoilers #the sunshine court #the sunshine court spoilers #aftg meta #aftg spoilers #neil josten #andrew minyard #kevin day #jean moreau #sky (the blogger) originals

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millportdingo · 2 months

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TSC Motifs/Themes/Whatever

Dogs

Starved dog, leash metaphors, cardboard dog, obedience. I think Jean represented as an obedient, loyal dog is pretty straight-forward. I think it's interesting that in the extra content, Nora described him as an angry cat when he came to Evermore. He left as a starved and beaten dog. I wonder where this arc goes, though. Like, he takes a chain around his neck from Renee -per Neil's philosophy, is this "collar" his first reason not to slip the [Moriyama investment] leash? Also Jeremy has always wanted a dog. I guess this piece is a little harder for me to wrap my head around, maybe I'm overthinking it, but maybe he's the right kind of [s]Dom[/s] [s]owner[/s] person for Jean. He has the authority "I'm your captain," but he pairs it with an equalizer "I'm your partner". He pushes Jean, but he holds the hard boundaries. He's intrigued by Jean's scoop neck deep blue shirt - I think partly for the personal growth to wear color and partly because it allows him to see Jean's collarbone. He shivers with the sound of "Yes, Jeremy." I wonder if "my mom is allergic to dogs" is foreshadowing his family's reaction to Jean.

2. Safety

Neil's arc was about hope, finding a future in a futureless situation. Jeremy's had an idea of the future, the perfect court, but his big thing is safety. "Safe" and its variations appear in TSC 48 times. This boy is really not asking for much, but Jeremy makes him feel safer which is just too sweet. Also, tighten those screws for safety..

3. Childhood

At the beginning of the book, Jean knows immediately that he is not in the Nest, because he knows every inch of it. He feels like he knows everything about the world and he often insults people by calling them children. His childhood innocence was stolen from him at the Nest, and outside of it, he regains pieces of it. He wonders at the vastness of the world, he learns skills he never had before (shopping, cooking). I had a hard time when I found out he was 19 (ie 14 and 16 at the time of some really unpleasant things). I didn't understand why he had to be two years younger. But the protection and corruption of innocence is a big part of his story. We see that acutely with his sister's story and it allows him to turn on his parents without guilt. The duck/duckling motif is cute too. When he first comes to Evermore, Thea describes him as a little duckling. He associates little yellow ducks with his childhood and baby sister.

4. Air?

Being able to breathe is core to the safety thing. When Jean feels least safe, he can't breathe. One of his earliest revelations about being Riko's pet was the buried alive punishment, and pressing his face against the sparse airholes. Then there's the waterboarding thing. You'll see Jean mentions being unable to breathe when he feels threatened and grabs at his throat. Conversely his happy things include breeze and open sky (rainbow and the open road). When Grayson appears, Jean says he can no longer feel the breeze, and he is particularly disturbed by the neck biting. There are lots of throat and neck things going on in the book too and maybe it's a stretch but burning (ie eating away at oxygen) comes up several times too.

#ngl i hate when people say nora's not a great writer #like she gave you this masterpiece for literally less than 1 dollar #so shuddafakkup #the sunshine court #tsc spoilers #tsc #nora sakavic #all for the game #aftg #tsc meta #jean moreau #jeremy knox

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