"Your Mr. Bridgerton is approaching."

Hello friends! Welcome to my blog dedicated to all things Polin and Garvez!

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A Boy Named Pluto by Hailey Knox

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It's just very telling to me that while Season 16 and 17 are centered on one BAU member's emotional arc (Rossi and Emily, respectively), S18 is centered on Tara and JJ, and S19 is centered on Luke and JJ. In nearly every episode of the last two seasons, we're reminded of what JJ's going through, and we get to watch her story develop. That's how it should be! I'm glad they didn't forget about Will or drop her story altogether. But Tara and Luke aren't given that same courtesy. I'm not saying JJ should be getting less. I'm saying Tara and Luke deserve more.

It screams, "We (and by We I mean the writers, the studio, David f*cking Ellison, etc) don't trust our non-white cast to carry a season on their own". For the first three seasons of Evolution, Luke was given absolutely nothing to do, and then, the second he gets a storyline, Tara's story is pushed into the background as well. There's also the fact that Luke and Tara haven't had a single meaningful conversation with each other in years. That's especially wild because Adam and Aisha were friends before either one of them was on Criminal Minds. They have a built-in chemistry, and the writers refuse to take advantage of it.

The later seasons of the original run weren't perfect when it came to representation, but it did feel like there was an active attempt to push the show's diversity and inclusion further. And it is a big deal that Evolution made Tara the first Queer character on the show. I don't want to diminish that. At the same time though, Evolution has also taken massive steps backwards when it comes to how they handle their BIPOC cast members and that can't be ignored either.

I don't want to flood anyone's dash with negativity, but these are important conversations that need to be had, especially when we know the current owner of Paramount is actively working to remove Diversity from its shows. Adam and Aisha deserve better.

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Okay, I have an essay on Tara and Rebecca’s relationship in CME and the racial biases that the fucking showrunners have (homophobia is very likely in there too).

Tara as a black woman is not allowed to be in stable and happy relationship and have that be shown on screen. In her previous relationships she was assaulted by her white husband and abandoned by her black fiancé (and I do think their races say something as well). And in evolution, she has the chance for real happiness. She even says as much: that she’s “never been this happy before”. And that gets taken from her too. And we see that fallout. We see that fight as the audience. We see the bickering and the digs at each other. But we don’t see any of the make up. In fact, all we get is Tara in a life and death situation and Rebecca not wanting to be alone after that. Then, we are told that they are back together again because they “are more miserable apart than they were together”. Why did that have to be the description and reasoning we are given as an audience? Why can’t it be that “never been this happy” again? Why is it that even when they are together, we still see that tension around the inability to let each other in? And it’s only after Tara almost dies that they get engaged. We are only given a bit of happiness to cheer for after she goes through a major trauma. And then we don’t even see the wedding. We barely even see them interact after getting engaged. No small touches, quick kisses, nothing. And yet when you look at other relationships that are shown on the show, you get the couple against the problem (see JJ and Will, Rossi and Krystall, Matt and Kristy to name a few). You get to see sweet moments between them and light touches and kisses and everything else you expect from married couples!!! What is the difference??? Oh, maybe that they are an interracial sapphic couple??? I mean we’ve all already noticed that the two off screen weddings were the black people on the show. Is it because they would have to hire people of color to be background actors and not suffer in some way, shape, or form?? And before you telling me it’s not that deep, it fucking is, okay. And it sucks. It sucks for us. It sucks for Aisha and Nicole and all the other people of color who get shunted to the side but are expected to take it because at least they have a job on one of the most streamed shows in the world. And so while white men and white couples get to have full feasts. Everyone else is expected to be grateful for fucking crumbs.

Is this my most concise or thought out post, no, it’s not. But I’m tired of this. And I’m not even the most effected by it. I mean we didn’t even get a Tebecca clip for Pride this year, and we couldn’t for this season because they didn’t have any scenes together that weren’t just work. Whatever, I guess I just need to learn how to write fluff to satisfy my own need for them because the fandom ignores them too.

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There is one very easy fix that could have strengthened Luke's entire arc this season: Take the scene of Luke and Penelope sitting at the grave and move it to the series finale.

The thing about 19x05 is that it's all about encouraging Luke to get more in touch with his feelings. Every woman in his life is telling him that pushing away his grief is only going to make things worse. While 19x05 does a good job of hammering this point home, it doesn't end with him actually talking to anyone or opening up in a meaningful way, nor does that happen in a later episode. We get a little bit of it with JJ, but it doesn't culminate in any major release of emotion. It also doesn't totally work in conjunction with 19x02 either because we've already seen Luke be vulnerable in front of Penelope. Why are we setting up that Luke needs to be more open if we've already seen that happen in episode 2?

If you move the scene of them at Roxy's grave to the end, the narrative builds more naturally. Imagine if Luke had been trying to hold himself together for everyone the whole season. The moment of him crying in front of Penelope would hit so much harder after the "I See You" scene and after the scene where Cindy talks about crying being good for Tom's recovery.

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Tara calling Luke champ >>>>>>

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These last 2 seasons in particular really emphasize the already obvious racial biases the narrative has against Luke and Tara. I'm not saying that Erica Messer and her team are the only ones responsible for that because Paramount is run by actual fascist demons from Hell. But also- I don't know- do better, Erica Messer.

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Brief Garvez aside:

Penelope was on the phone when Luke nearly got caught in the explosion. I think she may even be crying when he gives her the order to jam the signal. And when he wakes up and walks out of the building... no one lets her know that he's okay? We didn't even see her wondering if he's okay. In fact, I don't think Penelope shows up again in the episode until the group scene where she lightly chastises Luke for a comment he makes about Voit (don't quote me on that; I haven't rewatched the episode yet).

Let's take the shipping out of it for a second. That's still weird, right? Like, I get the moment is supposed to be more focused on Roxy saving Luke. But it's odd to establish Luke as willing to sacrifice his life and not get to see the relief on all of the other characters' faces when they realize he's okay. And it's weird to go from Penelope in tears to her disappearing in the major climax. She doesn't get any kind of emotional release. That's... not great writing.

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Weird. The episode has not dropped on Paramount+ for me yet.

Anyway, I'm gonna make a larger post about my feelings on the season overall, and probably another on Luke's arc this season, but here's my first impression of the finale:

This finale was very fun!

Every character got something important to do here, which seems like the bare minimum, but it's something that Evolution really struggles with, so I am very happy with how well-balanced this was.

I had to keep reminding myself that Adam was confirmed for season 20 because that whole scene with the bomb and Roxy was giving "follow me into the pearly gates" vibes.

I'm gonna get into this more later, but while I thought the scene was lovely, I'm not really sure what the takeaway is supposed to be for Luke's arc this season, and I'm a bit annoyed that it got such little conclusion here.

Bumbed there was no real Garvez as well, especially considering Luke almost blew himself up (again!).

The Fan was just a little too cartoonishly evil for me, but he was a good vehicle for Holly and Voit's resolution, which was easily the strongest part of the episode.

Not sure how I feel about Rossi deciding to write a book after all of this. It feels counterintuitive to the ethical questions the season was posing about true crime podcasts.

Luke. In. Shorts.

I'm so glad we're getting a season 20, because while I did enjoy this season finale, it would not have been a satisfying series finale.

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With Holly's return and the finale being called "Badder Blood", that does make me wonder if Holly is going to end up killing either The Fan or Voit. And if so that could also potentially set her up as the main killer for season 20, which...I would not like.

It would be an interesting choice to have her kill her father, but I wouldn't want it to go farther than that.

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I'm really hoping we get at least one little garvez moment in the finale. Please 🤞🤞 because it's been crickets for episodes. I'm greedy af and I don't care. I want a good garvez moment (not just a shoulder touch in the background ykwim) to cap off the season and then I'll be happy.

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All things considered, I'm pretty happy with the amount of Garvez we've been fed (in the sense that it was significantly more than what we got from the last 2 seasons), but I am also very greedy and would like to see at least one more significant moment before the season ends.

[mortalscience]

I'm really hoping we get at least one little garvez moment in the finale. Please 🤞🤞 because it's been crickets for episodes. I'm greedy af and I don't care. I want a good garvez moment (not just a shoulder touch in the background ykwim) to cap off the season and then I'll be happy.

[andmineisyellow]

All things considered, I'm pretty happy with the amount of Garvez we've been fed (in the sense that it was significantly more than what we got from the last 2 seasons), but I am also very greedy and would like to see at least one more significant moment before the season ends.

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🚨SEASON 20 LUKE ALVEZ 🚨LOOKS SO GOOD🚨

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Kirsten and Adam doing another con together, I've prayed for times like this!

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Garvez Go Five Minutes Without Touching Challenge: Failed

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It's a crime that Garcia's 2nd outfit in 19x08 had so little screentime and it's only shown from the chest up. Which sucks cause it was a cute outfit in a garvez scene

I know! And it was partially hidden by that darn Manila folder! It's one of my favorite looks for her this season (and one of Luke's too, apparently).

They will occasionally reuse some pieces from Garcia's wardrobe, so I hope we get to see that green dress again in Season 20!