half man confessions

because I just know you have thoughts about this show too.

[halfmanconfessions]

Welcome to Half Man Confessions, a confession blog for the HBO limited series Half Man.

This blog, obviously, will not be spoiler free.

I am the only current mod of this blog, and you can call me Alby, Louis, or Asa. I'll do my best to be a neutral party. Please use it/its in referral to me.

RULES:

There will obviously be NSFW confessions allowed. Not allowing them would be denying the nature of the show.

Posts attacking* individuals related to the show will typically not be posted

Posts attacking* other asks will typically not be posted, or addressed

Questions can be asked to me and requests may be made related to the blog, but requests may be denied.

*excludes constructive criticism, opinions on things, addressing incorrect behavior.

Rules may be updated any time.

TAG SYSTEM:

#half a confession - confession posts

#flipped half confession - nsfw confession

#alby posts and commentary - mod posts

#half a question - question posts

#not half a confession - non confession posts

Tags may be added.

I do forget often to tag triggering posts as I don't struggle with many, but you can always send an ask requesting a post is tagged if I forget.

I may eventually set up a queue but I usually just post asks when I get them on my other blogs so that may carry here.

Remember, an ask sent and posted doesn't equal an ask I agree with

No active DNI for now.

Ask box open!

[halfmanconfessions]

I haven't seen much discussion around the fact that mona also raped niall as if ruben is the only source of sexual abuse in niall's life

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[halfmanconfessions]

I know it wouldn’t work because of the way it was filmed and written, and it might be too on the nose, but what if Half Man did something like Yellowjackets where for a second it would show them as their younger selves in their current positions? Like when we saw present day Shauna flicker between Melanie and Sophie?

Like when Ruben was beating Benji and for a few frames, what if it cuts to Niall seeing Stuart’s Ruben in the same clothes/blood stains/tear stains looking back at him?

Or when Ruben is looking at Niall’s body, and for a second, what if he sees Mitchell’s Niall lying there, his clothes too big and his dead stare even bigger

Or something like that

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[halfmanconfessions]

Ruben saw how Niall was looking at alby, got him to join in and then when the bottle landed on them he told Niall what you’re not man enough to kiss another man, he’s an ally and has always been one.

ruben would have wanted to see niall happy in love with another man. ruben has always supported gays

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[halfmanconfessions]

personally i think getting off to the idea of a rapist having consensual loving sex with his victim is way freakier than just getting off to the rape but to each their own i suppose

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[halfmanconfessions]

Teen Ruben dancing in his room was giving mad vibes like Kevin from the Fred figglehorn movies

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[halfmanconfessions]

cracks me up how we call richard gadd Father Sicko and he just be in photos like (ツ)

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[halfmanconfessions]

not to detract from anything else in the ship name post but if we’re talking bambicest as in bambi x bambi, niall hooking up w that twink that looks like younger him in the car is probably the closest we’d get to that

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[halfmanconfessions]

i dont mind of the idea of them going at it crazy style, but if im being real, the only situation i can think of in terms of actual, consensual(ish) sex between them that could ever plausibly happen within the context of the show (ie: ‘could this play out as an actual scene without breaking the rest of the flow?’) is if niall and ruben were on opposite sides of a glory hole and they just never knew for the rest of their lives

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[halfmanconfessions]

opinions on niall x ruben ship names:

niallruben - straightforward, clear, love that

kallister - cute, subtle, the way ruben’s surname takes up 99% of the ship name is quite fitting

bambicest - doesnt make sense to me as a ship name for ruben and niall, sorry 😭 it just sounds like ur shipping young niall and adult niall

rubambi - makes more sense as a ship name exclusively for the teen versions, since young niall is the most reminiscent of baby deer bambi compared to hardened-by-decades-of-self-destruction adult niall

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[halfmanconfessions]

ruben pallister is a bisexual man

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[halfmanconfessions]

bro really said "i haven't watched the show BUT" proceeds to talk about a show they haven't watched and saying it'd be better if it was this or that. the show they haven't watched. you are either cooking or cooked and bro is not holding the pan

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[halfmanconfessions]

I think Half man is a love story in the sense of love being used as a shorthand for ‘something that gives (them) meaning’

The ambiguity, intensity, and volatility of Niall and Ruben’s relationship makes sense to me in this way , with how the relationship is constantly pulled between brother/abuser/victim/object/lover/rival

it is not love love, not even in the gothic romantic way , it is love in the sense that the other person is simply the meaning . they are the answer to everything . If the overall question is ‘what is this all for?’ then Ruben is the answer in Niall’s life, and Niall is the answer in Ruben’s

And It is a bastardized version of love not only because of the blurred boundaries of the other types of love (between familial, romantic, sexual lines), but it is also ultimately reflective of a warped love of themselves . this is where the ego and masculinity one upmanships lie . Niall and Ruben feel like halves , and time and time again they seek the other to make themselves feel whole

So Half man is a love story bc the two people find meaning in each other where they cannot truly feel whole without the other

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[halfmanconfessions]

I know rgadd wanted to do a mirroring of the character progressions with Niall and Ruben and showing the ugliness of Niall’s spirals and self-destruction, and maybe it’s just me wanting a breather,

but I cant help but think having just one more hour in the finale, showing a little bit more of Niall getting to the point of having a wedding and seeing him be able to make progress (even if its just a montage or smth) might help make the tragedy of it all hit stronger

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[halfmanconfessions]

I never watched a single episode of Half Man, but I stumbled upon a video of the entire wedding confrontation on Twitter (didn't realise it was a compilation of different scenes across the whole series until later). I was intrigued and watched the whole thing. The ending was incredibly horrific. So imagine my shock when I found out that this is supposed to be a 'toxic yet tragic love story'. Imagine my shock when i discovered the reason for Ruben's murdoues rage. What love, exactly? I saw nothing but narssastic rage, hate and apathy in Ruben's actions. Every declaration of 'love' from Ruben felt sinister and mocking, and were utterly exposed as such by his actions. You don't dispose of a person you love like this. Not if the love was ever sincere and deep. Not if the murder motive was to avange your ego. People keep telling me to watch the whole show to get the 'full context', but no context in the world could ever make me buy into the 'tragic love' aspect of this story. If it was a pysological horror story about a trauma bond relationship where the abuser ends up killing the victim who kept coming back to him, then i'll give the story a chance. If it was a gothic story where the characters are more metaphors than people and there's some narrative leeway to romanticise extremely toxic shit, i'd give it a chance. But no, it's a pysologically realistic story set in a realistic setting. And when the real-life news is constantly filled with evil men killing their loved ones in the name of 'love', I refuse to watch a show romanticing this shit.

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[halfmanconfessions]

i think everyone would benefit from really sitting with the fact that there are no good people in this show. everyone is awful and sucks in very human ways. it's why the show is so good in the first place.

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[halfmanconfessions]

is it just me that thought we were going to get a non binary mona arc/ storyline. it seems like they were setting it up in episode 5. i wonder if shes queer now after rubens death

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