We rushed him to the hospital, where doctors told me the remaining shrapnel had moved deeper into his body, causing dangerous complications. I left knowing his treatment cannot continue without help I simply cannot afford.
I am begging you as a persecuted mother in Gaza, watching my baby bleed in front of me, unable to stop it. Please donate now and help me save his life before itâs too late.
Sadly, doctors told me they could do no more for baby Qais because the treatment he desperately needs is unavailable at the hospital, and I cannot afford to buy it elsewhere. Please donate today and help me bring him the medicine that may ease his suffering.
daemon getting everything he ever wanted in the world satisfying him for approximatelyâŚforty hours before heâs like LETS INVADE DORNE IT WILL WORK THIS TIME LETS BE GODS. guy who is never happy voice
Sometimes, time seems to move in a vicious cycle, repeating itself in a painfully astonishing manner, as if mocking humanity's ability to learn from its mistakes. Two images are separated by 79 years, yet they appear as though no time has passed, as if the gap between them is merely a few fleeting moments.
The first image: A Palestinian elder holding the keys to his home, from which he was forcibly displaced after the Nakba of 1948. An image filled with pain, with tears that dried on faces, and hearts that collapsed under the weight of loss. Yet, hope for return still filled those hearts.
The second image: A recent photo that tells the same story, but this time, the protagonist is my young sister, Maryam, holding the keys to our home from which we were displaced and demolished after the Nakba of 2023.
There is no difference between the two stories, except that this time, the story is even harsher and more painful.
fuuuuck i just realized that the future idealized version of myself cant exist without current me being the catalyst for change and doing hard things. has anybody heard about this
are people talking about the labor conditions at Taylor Farms yet? like the fact they use enslaved prisoners in their facilities?
are we drawing the connection between worker safety and consumer safety & public health yet?
are people demanding to see the conditions in this place that keeps making us sick? why are the enslaved workers not having the time to use the bathroom or to rest when ill? very few people would shit in front of their coworkers given any choice at all.
iâm sick of ppl trying to equivocate that claudia couldâve been that hateful and mad at louis without the racism. no she wouldnât be. the entire thing is out of character for the iwtv canon, stop trying to give an inch when none of it even matters anymore. even in the books itâs clear that itâs not fully claudia and louis was shittier to her there. or accepting that he was a pimp after all even if thatâs not ~all he was. no he wasnât. we have long since traced back to the exact real life brothel owner the s1 writers transferred 1:1 to louis. missing and honoring the black writers who made iwtv also means respecting the story THEY wrote, and we donât have to concede some bullshit about louis having been selfish or cruel or equally at fault for claudiaâs abuse. itâs still victim blaming to say the seance was right that louis didnât change bc heâs taking the abuser back. itâs victim blaming to equivocate that he and armand equally couldnât consent to the bdsm and that louis was a bad dom even if he still didnât need to apologize to armand. that antiblack torture scene has nothing to do w louisâ relationship with armand, it has no basis in canon at all, they just wanted the nbpoc to torture louis bc of the optics bc why the fuck would fareed even be there lol? donât internalize this white supremacist revisionist bullshit, this show used to mean a lot to jacob for a reason, he and delainey came back for a reason, and we know they were lied to. louis was never selfish or a pimp or cruelly culpable for withholding to the powerful men who hated and battered him, thatâs not softening his agency for perfect victimhood. claudia came back to see him because she loved him and loved him until her very last breath. we know what we saw
(tags via @greedydemands) this is another important point bc while folks have rightly pointed out the palpable sense of resentment and contempt the nonblack writers room seems to have for louis and claudia, it's important to think about how this show did have some black writers working on it during s1-s2 and it was an intentional choice to remove all black talent from the writers room and how white creatives often have a chip on their shoulder about their work being popular with a marginalized audience they didn't intend or feeling like their own work and ideas are being outshined by the work of black collaborators. iwtv s1-s2 was loved by black viewers and was praised largely as a black show, with louis and claudia (despite their unpopularity among nonblack viewers and in predominantly nonblack fandom) being celebrated as iconic figures in the small but beloved pantheon of black vampires in pop culture in less than 4 years. omar benson miller and jack o'connell (who knows jacob) cited and recommended iwtv on the sinners press tour and as the original post points out, iwtv s1 was clearly a visual and conceptual reference for ryan coogler when he was making sinners. (and sinners was both a box office and awards success despite the antiblackness of the industry so anyone justifying amc's efforts to distance tvl from iwtv as a purely business/financial decision is being seriously bad faith.) reddit and tumblr, and we know rolin lurks on both, might have been shoulder-deep in antiblack abuse apologia to excuse fan favorite nonblack characters, but iwtv was entering pop culture as a black show, as centering and valuing blackness. and we see now more clearly than ever that none of those aspects of the show- not the compassion and nuance for louis and claudia, not the immersive and lyrical dialogue and narration, not the thoughtful engagement with themes of race, racialized violence and domestic abuse- came from hannah or rolin. they wanted to make a "everyone is evil and nothing matters" vampiric-violence-excuses-all ironic shlockfest where any gesture toward sincerity gets undercut by a self-aware quip and where compassion is only reserved for nonblack people. and the seeds of that are there in the earlier seasons, like hannah always writing episodes that are extremely, disproportionately detailed about the brutalization of black bodies, but there was just enough care, thought and interest in the black leads to make the show seem like it was critiquing the nature of this kind of violence instead of punitively reveling in it. and that part came from the black writers (and likely also some of the nonblack women who worked on s1-s2 but were fired before s3, bc while the show has always been misogynistic, it wasn't cartoonishly misogynistic where every single woman is reduced to a one-note stereotype) and the nonblack writers and producers likely deeply resented them for it.
think of how black fans are often framed as dour killjoys who hate fun and are trying to ruin the essence of fandom itself for centering black characters and talking about antiblackness in shared online spaces, even if we do it in a kind, gentle and conciliatory way. how black fans' analysis of media will be hated or ignored but embraced if a white fan makes the same points, including in discussions of racism. how black creatives often have their work copied or emulated by nonblack creatives who'll villainize the original creator even as they play in their sandbox. the iwtv subreddit is a great example of that where nonblack fans regularly screenshot, copy and repost analysis or even just silly memes made by black fans while the racist mods consistently ban or remove the posts of any black person who wants to talk about antiblackness there or share opinions deemed too sympathetic toward the show's black leads. fandom, even allegedly liberal fandom, is like this bc it's a microcosm of how society treats blackness and black people- there's no reason to think a cable tv writers room also populated by nonblack liberals would function any differently. people talk about the obvious antiblack spite behind a lot of choices this season and expressing concern for what the bts working conditions have been like for the black leads, and we should keep talking about that, but it's also important to consider how the antiblack backlash is likely also directed toward the black writers who used to work there and the white creatives wanting not only to overwrite their work but make a pop cultural impact that's completely disconnected from blackness, to make the show "their own" instead of sharing creative air with blackness. and in doing so ironically they've made sure this season will have a longterm legacy (like sleepy hollow, like the vampire diaries, like the star wars sequel trilogy- all were critically and fannishly beloved at first and now they're synonymous with racism and creative cowardice in pop culture) that's still all about blackness, remembered for embodying the mid-2020s whitelash in usamerican culture and for not adapting the book it was supposed to adapt in their quest to do a whitecentric rewrite of everything good or depthful or compelling about s1-s2.
If this is what we were supposed to take away from a character like Louis why would anyone love/like him? It begs the question what are Louisâ redeeming qualities? Why do these men continue to stay with him and obsess over him?
Original post
Iâve been trying to wrap my head around this. Ultimately, I think this is all a response.
I still think Season 1 was fine. I think they knew the story they wanted to tell and approached it with open minds and excitement to adapt it. But then AMC gave them the green light to expand Louisâ arc across two seasons. Surprising but okay! And so, at least in my opinion, they did create S1 out of genuine creativity and love for the material.
But then it released and seeing how popular Loustat was, seeing people actually really like, some even love Jacobâs Louis, it made them approach S2 differently. Nobody behind the scenes was expecting for Loucob to be as loved as he is, whether people like him for himself or like him as an extension of Loustat. Even Jacob seemed to be surprised, having initially viewed his arc as a stepping stone before theyâd dive into Lestat later. His shock & confusion in interviews after S2 but before they started shooting S3 was clear. He was surprised to still be brought on for in-depth interviews at all.
I wouldnât call it lightning in a bottle. That would mean intent. Itâs more like they were drinking beers in the backyard just shooting the shit before lightning freaked everybody out by zapping past the lid. While of course they didnât plan to tell a lackluster story, I think the richness of Louisâ character was a complete accident. I think they all thought it could be perceived as good, not as fucking great.
And this is why Season 2 started us down the path of being controversial among the fanbase. And by âcontroversialâ I genuinely mean âdebatedâ, because people have very different opinions of it. The S2 reunion scene is heavily debated (primarily in Louis spaces) with half saying they hated it and the other half enjoying it. You have half the fanbase happy with Lestatâs apology during the trial, and half saying Santiago was right and that Lestat was too hard on himself.
Season 1 was clearer on how things were to be interpreted. While thereâs definitely argument for how fans/crowds/mobs take ideas and run with them regardless of intent, nothing in Season 1 garnered as many different interpretations as the content in Season 2. I think this is because this is when the team behind the show started, seemingly, disagreeing with each other.
This is how you get âwait what was Louisâ apology to Lestat in the finale about? Was that Louis coming to terms with himself, or was that the show engaging in victim blaming?â And everyone has different POVs on it. Itâs clear now, that the ambiguity behind the scene, behind quite a few scenes in S2, is because the writers themselves couldnât agree on what they wanted them to mean.
But with all the people theyâve let go for Season 3, and the new ones they hired on, itâs obvious which side remained on-staff and the kinds of likeminded people they got to take the othersâ place.
So now, in Season 3, there is no debate. There is no âhm I can see this interpretation but I can also see this interpretationâŚ.â Thereâs no ambiguity. This side of the team, the side that viewed Louisâ apology in S2 as Louis apologizing for âabusingâ Lestat, that seemed to view Louisâ charred, crumbling body apologizing to Armand as deserved punishment instead of horrific abuse, are the ones that have stayed and taken over the show.
And we KNOW debates started happening in the Season 2 writerâs room given the recent interview where Rolin briefly mentioned it, such as whether Louis asked Armand to erase his memories or if he never did. Certain things in Season 2 are controversial among fans, because the writers themselves started disagreeing on characterizations and important story beats.
So with this portion of the team let go vs the ones that were called back + those newly hired to replace the former, this is how we got Season 3. A season that is not as ambiguous as Season 2 where the writers were fist fighting when they put pen to paper. We are back to the single vision of Season 1.
Except this vision wasnât born from heartfelt creativity and love for the material. Itâs out of agreed upon resentment and shared biases. You even have the production designers of all crew members throwing in âI always liked Lestat moreâ unprompted when their job has NOTHING to do with character preference. Season 3 is the way it is, because these are the people who originally wanted Louisâ arc to only be compiled into a single season, and were irritated when fans kept wanting more. Whether they wanted more of Loucob or simply wanted more of Loustat as a duo.
And Rolinâs âwe wrote from the gutâ or âthe idâ and all of his sayings that they wrote instinctively lays it out that this whole mess is emotional retaliation. The writing behind Season 3 is a temper tantrum.
Not just as retaliation to Louis, but to everyone. Assadâs Armand shot through the ROOF and instantly became one of the most popular characters in S2. Iâd even argue is Thee second most popular after Lestat (Iâd say Daniel is the second most popular among casual viewers whereas among non-casual viewers, itâs Armand.) With DM shooting to the stars as the most popular ship among non-casual viewers. (And DM does beat out Loustat in terms of popularity when looking at the dedicated fanbase.)
But once again, this seems to have pissed That Sideâ˘ď¸ of the creative team off after Season 2âs release. With none of them expecting Assadâs Armand to be as beloved or for DM to be as highly desired as they are. And you can see this frustration in all of Armand & DMâs âdevelopmentâ in Season 3.
Why Armand had less than 15 minutes total of screentime across episodes 1-6 before reducing into a maniacal villain in 3x07. Why DMâs eagerly anticipated relationship happened completely off screen, and both characters butchered so it would be intentionally unsatisfying once revealed. (And the excuse that theyâre a minor / secondary relationship so they were never going to be as focused on doesnât make sense when looking at Claudeleine. Who was still emotionally moving and well paced even in the midst of the Loumand-Dreamstat-Loustat triangle.)
The âmetaâ that they kept talking about in pre-S3 interviews isnât that the writers just kept the fanbase in mind while making it, itâs that the entirety of Season 3 is a response to the fans themselves. Itâs less about the actual characters that were written in Seasons 1 & 2, and comes off more as one long Twitter thread titled âMy IWTV Hot Takesâ
Because you also canât say any of this was for Lestat. Itâs very reminiscent to Season 2, when Lestat point blank says âI hurt Louis because I wanted to hurt himâ and a portion of the fanbase shoved a pacifier in his mouth to shut him up and for years afterwards kept saying âNo he didnât mean it.â Even Samstat was reduced from a character into a figurehead.
Loucob became a punching bag, Claudlainey and Assadâs Armand were weaponized against Loucob while simultaneously reduced to punching bags too, and the writers put Samstat on the same idealized pedestal that the characters Magnus, Marius, and Gabriella are supposed to be condemned for, treating him as a concept rather than a person.
Sorry, my response turned into something else lol. But âWhy would the writers write Louis this way? Why would anyone like him?â My personal opinion after really trying to understand what on earth has happened, is that no, they likely were not writing like this since S1. The season just doesnât make sense from that POV. Everything weâre seeing right now is reactionary.
Season 1 was a story created out of actual interest, Season 2 was when the boat started to rock, and Season 3 isnât a season at all. Itâs a cokerant thread on Twitter. Itâs a callout post on Tumblr. A 72-part TikTok story. Itâs little more than the writersâ tantrum because fans werenât playing with their dolls the way they wanted us to.
rhaenyra will never get to wield blackfyre as a symbol of her authority as king so it makes me really fond of the adaptational choice to instead have daemon present her with dark sisterâoriginally forged for a womanâto establish her legitimacy. daemon's insistence that she execute otto personally instead of relegating the duty to him also very good because rhaenyra knows having to rely on another man to command her armies makes her unfit to rule in the eyes of many, plus a couple minutes ago she got laughed at for brandishing a sword.
and this is the same place where he cuts her down with dark sister in that nightmarish vision at harrenhal, in front of the steps leading up to the iron throne, once his mind reminds him how she has stolen his life from him. so it's also about daemon having made complete peace with that reality as he offers up his sword to her - his whole self essentially because he is her symbolic sword hand. that it's otto who's going to be executed is again, really good, because in 1.10 rhaenyra says part of the reason he's dying to go to war is because he wants to personally cut off otto hightower's head, then he ends up undermining her claim in S2 because of this: "you said it was your aim to spill hightower blood, if not aemond, anyone would do" so daemon refusing to take the opportunity presented here even as otto suggests he do it is something of a meaningful gesture. and rhaenyra sobbing through the whole thing because the taking of a life has to have a certain weight to it and because she's never been made to personally perform violence like her brothers as an initiation into knighthood/adulthood (which is the parallel being drawn with daeron)
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