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Problematic Woman (Misdiagnosed)

Right, so, here is a 1500 word essay on how Roxana Bolaños has done nothing wrong in her life other than the one bad thing she did last episode but the 1400 words before we get to that decision are intended to convince you she had to do it because she is sad and hot.

#the night manager #the night manager 2

linkspooky

...And They Were Narrative Foils

Shigaraki Tomura and Izuku Midoriya are characters who have far more in common than they have differences. They even have the exact same origin point as a kid who wanted to become a hero more than anything else, but was told by everyone around them they couldn’t be on. The difference between them represents the inherent unfairness of the world, Midoriya was saved and Shigarki wasn’t. However, rather than working together to try to fix the flaws in the unfair world that hurt both of them Shigaraki and Midoriya are forced to fight each other due to the mistakes of their predecessors forcing them into conflict. This is a meta on their extremely unique relationship and why they need to come to an understanding in order to fight the real enemy.

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huntersedge-ofwoods2

The parallels between Shigaraki and Deku make me SICK to my stomach. Tomura is the personification of that quote,

“You robbed me of my life. I could have been human—I could have been alive.”

They so easily could have had their roles switched. Two vulnerable children who wanted to change the world for the better, but were denied because of society placing expectations and limits upon them. Both of them deemed worthless by someone they look up to (Bakugou and Shigaraki’s family), when all they needed was someone to give them that external validation they craved.

You could have been alive, Tomura. But you fought to the end, in the hopes that you could be a hero for the outcasts who needed it. A stopped heart once beat just as furiously as a live one. Even when you refused to be saved Tenko, your body simply moved on its own, didn’t it?

#bnha #shigaraki tomura #tenko shimura #midoriya izuku #meta #foils

starstrike

Mithrun's desire as an SA analogue

TW discussion of SA and detailed breakdown of aesthetics evoking SA. The way I discuss this is vivid in a way that may be triggering, though there is no discussion of actual sexual assault. Just survivor's responses to it.

People relate to Mithrun and see his condition as an analogue for a few different things, like brain injury or depression. And I think all of them are there. But I also see Mithrun's story as an SA analogue, and Ryoko Kui intentionally evokes those aesthetics. I think it's a part of Mithrun's character that a lot of people miss, but I very much consider it text. This is partially inspired by @heird99's post on what makes this scene so disturbing; so check out their post, too :)

#dungeon meshi #mithrun #meta #sa

heird99

It still boggles my mind how one of the creepiest scenes I have read in a manga comes from dungeon meshi.

It's a scene that after I read it stayed impressed in my mind more than any other in the manga, I'm talking about the scene where the goat eats Mithrun desires

I think there are multiple reason why I find it so creepy.

The first is of course the goat itself.

While in the previous panels of the chapter we saw it grow until this point it always looked like a normal goat, so seeing it emerge as this giant monstrosity with humanoid hands without even knowing what it's going to do is dreadful.

The second is the setting.

Seeing it emerge from the darkness into the bedroom is evocative of a common childhood fear, and feels like a violation of what should be the safest of spaces.

The uncaring look on mithrun's lover face also adds to the creepy vibe, of the feeling of comfort and normal life being cut open to reveal it as being simply the spider web of a predator.

Finally is the act itself

The way a still living person is treated as a meal by the demon is creepy in itself, but it's made so much worse by the way the demon eats: entering inside mithrun as if eating from a soup, while grabbing his legs to prevent a struggle.

His way of eating is a mix of animalistic and perversely human, which only adds to the feeling that this thing is not a monster but something else, something unnatural.

Interestingly ryoko kui achieves to be this unsettling with barely any gore, the little there is (mithrun's eye being caved) being treated almost like an afterthought both by the framing of the scene and by the goat itself

#dungeon meshi #mithrun #meta

cherrycloy

The pro heroes' bright, comforting costumes cover up child soldiers and other human rights abuses. It's like. an entire thing. The very laws of bnha's Japan encourage people to give up their civic responsibility for the spectacle of "heroes vs villains." This, too, is An Entire Thing.

I'm probably not the first to compare bnha's Bread and Circuses to The Hunger Games and other dystopian death game stories. The bread grants relative stability and the circuses, funnily enough, distract people with the very thing they try to distract them from. Both Bnha and THG frame the circuses as necessary to subjugate an "other" and keep it from taking the bread.

Bnha differs from similar dystopian media in an interesting way: The spectators watch from inside the arena. They're part of the game, they can die too. Their perceived safety being at risk makes the circus interesting. And even if they wanted to, they could not leave.

Transitioning spectators to participants makes up an entire industry. The civilian education system encourages children as young as three to lay their life on the line. Of course, they all want to. Every flashy hero fight is an advertisement and threat in one.

The villains look like voluntary participants too. People don't see the poverty, discrimination, abuse and loneliness that forces them into the spotlight.

This set-up gives plausible deniability that anything is "set-up" at all. Bnha's circuses are entirely manufactured and authentic at the same time.

Stain's or the MLA's popularity and the widespread criticism of heroes during the final war show the fragile balance of entertainment, complacency and fear. But the realness of it keeps most people from turning off the TV and asking themselves what the Fuck they just saw.

#bnha #bnha critical #shigaraki tomura #hero society

sayyyyya-deactivated20260416

The identity of Tomura and his name

Maybe it’s just me but like. I don’t think I’ll ever understand people who make Tomura go back to calling himself Tenko in AU’s or even feel comfortable with thinking of himself as Tenko. In fact I don’t even like it when people refer to grown up Tomura (as we know him) as Tenko.

Why would he go back to thinking of himself as Tenko Shimura? A name that reminds him of his abusive father/household, and his family who was mostly complacent in letting it happen?

It’s obvious past the chapters where we see Tomura regain his memories that he doesn’t remember his family fondly, and in fact he wants to move past them.

His main goal, as he repeats time and time again, is to get rid of anything associated with that house. In the mindscape scene that is shown during the Jaku arc, he interacts internally with his family, positively with his mother and sister, but in the end rejects them, much as they rejected him. He tells them to “not deny” who he is.

Tomura Shigaraki is an identity that is important to him. Tomura Shigaraki is the one who created the League, built relationships with his comrades, and would do anything to help them live as they please. Who saw all the wrongs of society and wanted to destroy it, to ultimately become a hero for the villains.

While of course Tenko too wanted to be a hero, and help people who were outcasted by others, it’s Tomura who did so explicitly for villains, to give them a voice, especially so for the League that we know.

Tomura Shigaraki is who Tenko Shimura grew up to be. If someone had helped him while he was walking bloodied down the streets, then I highly doubt Tomura would exist. But that’s the thing. No one helped him.

If society wasn’t complacent, wasn’t afraid to help those in need or those who are different, then many of the villains (like Tomura!) would not have faced the circumstances they did, and in the end would not have become villains in the first place.

That’s what Tomura fought for. For the villains and people misunderstood and wronged by society. Tomura is the one who built up the League and his relationships with them.

Honestly, having him go back to being called Tenko would almost be like erasing his history of Tomura. Because he did kill people. He did attack children at a school outing. He organized a group of villains and helped facilitate the kidnapping of a child.

Referring to the war arcs, but can you imagine having loved ones killed, and to then hear that their killer was now going by a new name and was now trying to pretend it didn’t really happen or that he didn’t really mean it? I would be insulted. In fact, I would be pissed.

So many people push the idea for him going back to being called Tenko because AFO gave him the name of Tomura. But why can’t he reclaim it? Much like how Midoriya reclaimed the name Deku and made it his own, so can Tomura. There, one more parallel between them.

And it works, too, because Tomura did in fact make the Shigaraki name his own. He became a hero for the villains and fought explicitly against the society that rejected him (and all of the people he knew and came to care about).

And y’know, it would have been a long long time he would have been referring to himself as Tomura and from what we see, he’s obviously quite comfortable with it as his name (in reference to how he asserts that he is Tomura Shigaraki during the Stars and Stripes arc).

Anyway, what I’m saying is that Tomura would (rightfully) have a complicated relationship with his birth name, and to me it would feel like going back to Tenko as a name would not only be erasing his history as Tomura, but also the circumstances that led him into becoming Tomura.

#bnha #shigaraki tomura #shimura tenko #meta

sayyyyya-deactivated20260416

The narrative decay of Shigaraki’s quirk

Title is both a pun and the way I feel about how the series had progressed in regards to the way Shigaraki’s Decay quirk was handled.

I’m in the rather small minority of fans that actually really disliked the now-canon theory of AFO being the one to give Shigaraki his decay quirk.

My issue boils down to three main dilemmas that are central to a good story. Character development, narrative development, and character agency.

For me, one of the best aspects about Shigaraki was his character development and the way he progressed throughout the series (up until the war arcs). I think it’s reasonable to say that the core of what MHA presented itself as, in the beginning, was the growth of our two main characters. The hero, Izuku, and the villain, Tomura.

Unlike Izuku, Tomura really got only a couple of chapters to shine until the MVA arc. But the way you could see his character development through the few chapters he did have made all of his appearances so good. That’s why I personally love the MVA arc.

Not only do we get into the core of who Tomura is as a person, but we get to see that he isn’t just some emotionless, manipulative villain who treats the league as pawns. He promises not to destroy the things Toga loves, he helps rescue Giran because Giran is important to Twice, and he even remembers Compress’s wish to have sushi. Why? Because he cares about them!

Season/volume one Shigaraki would not have done any of those things. But season five Shigaraki did. That’s whats so important to me. And it’s not like it came out of nowhere. Even during the summer camp arc, he expressed the sentiment that the league members are valuable players and how he hopes they succeed. It’s a natural progression of his character, and a show of how close the league has become.

Another core part of MVA for Tomura was him remembering his past and overcoming it, especially in regards to his quirk. No longer was he the same scared kid who was afraid of his own power. Instead, he was now a leader in his own right, with the same destructive power that killed his family being used to actively help out and make a place for the people he now cared about, the league.

In many ways, Shigaraki made decay his own quirk, something that no one could take away from him.

And the implications of Shigaraki, the grandson of a hero, becoming a villain with his mutated destructive power, were great. It directly tied into one of the newer plot points introduced, which was the Quirk Singularity theory.

While we’re introduced to the concept through Eri, Ujiko and the kids Todoroki and Bakugou face during their hero licensing lessons really hammer down the complications of such a thing happening.

Quirks are getting stronger, stranger, and becoming uncontrollable. Parents can’t handle their dangerous kids anymore. How does society deal with that? What do you do in the face of such a phenomenon?

And in my opinion, if this had really been the case with to Tenko/Tomura, then I think it would’ve been a lot more impactful than AFO just messing around. The reason being that something like this just can’t be stopped or controlled.

Which is also what the story of MHA had been building up to. Tomura’s character had been established as the antithesis to hero society. Nobody helped him! People saw a child covered in blood and refused to offer further help because he looked scary and dangerous.

The grandson of the hero who mentored All Might becoming this insanely dangerous villain, all because civil society ignored him, and because the only person who bothered to reach out to him was also a villain, could have been such an incredible critique on society, and how only the “good ones” are saved.

Except that’s not what happens. Which brings me to my points of narrative development and character agency. The main problems? AFO and Horikoshi’s writing itself.

Just why is AFO involved in so many characters? Seriously, why?

The second I saw Dabi’s chapter, when he wakes up from his coma, I had to take a break and just pause. Because at that point, it had been established that AFO only cared about OFA and his brother. There was literally no reason to go after Touya.

I found the whole “orphanages/seedbeds of hatred to be potential replacements for Shigaraki” to be such a copout. If there really was a concern that something might happen to Tomura, then AFO would have acted concerned!

Instead AFO just sat there, without speaking until feeling the need to speak, when Shigaraki came back from the USJ with several gunshot wounds. Or when Stain straight up had Shigaraki stabbed and pinned to the ground. Even Kurogiri was more concerned than AFO.

Not only is Touya’s story cheapened, it cheapens AFO’s character too. This post is mainly about Tomura, but something that would have made Touya’s story a lot more impactful (for me at least) was if Endeavor had found his body at Sekoto Peak and then kept it a secret from the rest of the family.

Not for anything malicious or whatever, but because of the possibility that Touya would potentially die while in his coma. Him surviving could be explained away by quirk science/medical advancements. Touya, being kept away in a facility for his “own good” with Endeavor not visiting much like how he did not visit Rei, could have been such a great parallel to his mom.

Touya, who upon learning this, escapes from wherever he is kept and then returning home only to see that nothing has changed and then never looking back. Endeavor, being the only one to have known this and keeping it hidden because of not wanting to ruin his reputation/live with the guilt.

Not only would this have shown the darker side of heroics (which is what Endeavor as a character was meant to represent in the first place) but it also would have been incredibly damning if it had reached the public. That would have been such a better handling of Touya’s story, to me at least, but nope. Touya is actually just a pawn in AFO’s master plan.

Even the orphanages AFO/Ujiko kept funded were so bizarre. Replacements for Tomura? Seriously?

They could have very easily been explained as future bodies for nomu or kids Ujiko experimented on for quirk science, but no, that’s not what happened.

Like the Quirk Singularity theory, this plot point is left as a rather looming background decoration that just ends up being ignored. What happened to those kids? What about the Quirk Singularity? No discussion of those things ever again.

The agency and drive of every character is stripped away to present AFO as a mastermind. Which would be fine, if this was meant to be AFO’s story. But this isn’t meant to be AFO’s story. It’s meant to be Shigaraki’s villain story.

Which is me segueing into another topic, which is how Horikoshi has this thing about trying to downplay his abusive male figures, especially when it comes to Endeavor and Shigaraki’s father, which honestly pisses me off.

Unironically writing that AFO convinced Kotaro to be more abusive, as if that somehow makes Shigaraki’s family life less worse, is insane to me. A grown adult should know better than to drag his kids around, scream at them, keep them locked outside while denying them food, and most of all, hitting them so hard they are knocked to the ground from the sheer force behind those hits. Those were choices that Kotaro actively chose to make.

And don’t forget the scene where five year old Tenko had to ask his mother why his father hated him. That’s actually all AFO’s fault.

Again, why I dislike AFO being the one to give Shigaraki his decay quirk. Any and all agency Shigaraki had in his life was near retconned in the end. The critiques his character was meant to represent, the forces that made him the way he is, the dangers of a society that focuses on heroic figures instead of help and change—all gone, because Horikoshi just had to make AFO the ultimate villain.

Even the origin of Shigaraki’s decay quirk was just strange to me. A modified form of Overhaul? Really? AFO had to have a hand in Overhaul’s backstory too?

The problem here lies in the fact that the more Horikoshi tries to expand his worlding building, the smaller and more suffocating his world feels. Everything is connected. All the charcters know each other. No one exists in their own sense of self.

There are many ways to show a character struggling with a lack of agency. This is not one of the ways to do it. Especially not the character who was meant to parallel your MC.

I think what I dislike most about Shigaraki having been given decay is that the had another Quirk that was taken from him. It would have been so easy to have Shigaraki been originally Quirkless.

The parallel with Izuku is right there! Two quirkless boys who wanted to become heroes, with strong powers being given to them, and ultimately becoming heroes in their own way. This could have been such an easy and great similarity to showcase.

Instead, we have Tomura/Tenko being born with a quirk that lets him fly. And not even an established quirk like Air Walk! A quirk given to a hero who became disillusioned with the system, who under AFO’s orders tried to kill Izuku, and in the end had her heart/conscience reach out to by him. Instead, we have a new and unnamed quirk with a narrative importance of zero.

Wow, he had a quirk just like his hero grandma. While AFO took away Shigaraki’s agency in the worst way possible, so did the main storyline itself. What tipped me off to this was the animators portraying pre-decay massacre Tenko with gray eyes.

Like…why? It doesn’t even make sense. Why would Tenko’s eye color have changed when he activated his decay quirk? I can understand his hair changing color due to shock/stress/Marie Antoinette syndrome. But his eyes?

It was obviously done to make Tenko look as similar to Nana Shimura as possible (who doesn’t even care about him in any way and also advocated for killing him, because that became a plot point). His hair, his eyes, even his original quirk.

For some reason, the narrative just can’t let Shigaraki be his own person. As if there is some divide between good and kind and heroic Tenko, and evil Tomura who took over Tenko’s body.

It almost makes me uncomfortable in the sense that this seems to emphasize that yes, your lineage does matter into who you are as a person/who you could have become. Because this is obviously untrue. A character like Tomura just simply cannot be his own person, either by the narrative or by the actions of another.

If I had my way, then Decay would have been Shigaraki’s original quirk, with no interference from AFO whatsoever.

The family massacre would happened, and Tenko would have been walking on the streets, hoping to be saved. AFO would have taken notice (as nice civilian homes don’t just get destroyed), done his research due to the family name (as Shimura is an uncommon surname) and then tracked Tenko down upon realizing he was related to Nana Shimura.

Is AFO still evil and scummy? Yes. Does Shigaraki actually get some agency in what should be his own story? Also yes.

It’s just seriously disappointing to me, that such obvious themes and parallels were being built up in this story, only to just end up being ignored. And it’s a shame, because it’s not like you can really do anything about it either way.

#bnha #shigaraki tomura #bnha critical #bnha meta

sayyyyya-deactivated20260416

The portrayal of Tenko (and how he’s viewed)

This is probably going to be a rather messy rant, but I honestly do not like the way the majority of this fandom writes Tomura in AU’s where he grows up as Tenko with his family.

No, he would not be some a shy, anxious, mama’s-boy type of sweetheart that’s just a version of his five year old self in a bigger body. He would probably be bitter, rude, and honestly a somewhat milder version of canon Tomura.

I think I’m going to say something that is controversial (and it really shouldn’t be) but Tomura Shigaraki and Tenko Shimura are not two different people. Tomura isn’t some evil ghost that took over Tenko’s corpse. They are not separate entities.

Even without AFO involvement, they are the same person in the same body, with Tomura growing up in ways that Tenko would not have. Even still, they are, at their core, the same person.

So many people in this fandom love the aesthetic of abuse, trauma, and tragedy (case in point: shinsou and literally every Izuku AU ever) but do not like portraying the effects that abuse has on a character. Not unless they are a perfect palatable victim.

Tenko was being abused at home. He was in an abusive environment with an abusive father. His resentment and hate was created due to these circumstances. When Tenko was locked outside with only Mon for company, he straight up says he hates everyone. That he can’t take it anymore.

This is so incredibly important to me. He is an abused child reacting to his environment. When his father rejected him by hitting him with the gardening tool, Tenko killed his father. Why? Because he hated him. Because he was brought to a certain breaking point by repeated abuse and rejection.

For some reason, these are facts that many fans love to gloss over, despite the fact that these are the building blocks for who he becomes as Tomura, and that is because he is Tomura. They are the same person!

And even if he never killed his family, he would still be stuck growing up with an abusive father and a family that is complicit in that abuse. I have never seen anyone point this out, but it speaks volumes how even after his mom and grandparents went to confront his father, Tenko was still left locked outside.

No one thought to go against Kotaro’s actions and bring him inside or even comfort him (excluding Hana, of course). And you know what? This should affect him as he grows up in Tenko!AU’s. He should be bitter against his family and he should even be bitter against heroes. His family rejected him with kindness.

Why? Because heroes and their existence are the root cause of why his father treats him the way he does. If Nana, a hero, hadn’t abandoned Kotaro, then Kotaro would not have lived a life of foster care and tragic circumstances. Much like how young Touya internalized a hatred for Shouto, because in his mind, Shouto was the reason Endeavor abandoned him, Tenko should dislike heroes for being the reason why his father treats him the way he does.

This is a bit of a sidenote, but I once saw someone say that AFO “groomed” Kotaro in to being abusive. I try to be polite, but that is not at all what grooming is or what grooming means. The internet has watered down words to the point where serious and life-altering acts and terms mean nothing.

Kotaro was not groomed into being abusive. It’s literally stated in the manga that AFO “convinced him to be a bit more heavy handed”. The word “more” means to increase something that is already there. Kotaro was already a strict, resentful man, and even without AFO’s involvement, I’m sure he would have escalated.

Not only that, but as I’ve said in a previous post, that grown adults should know better than to hurt, hit, drag, or even scream at their children for doing normal child-like things. Why is downplaying the actions of abusive men so prevalent?

Also, while it isn’t explicitly stated, the subtext heavily implies that heroes are willing to go out and catch villains out on the streets, but have no power (or intention) to deal with the villains that exist in homes.

I said it earlier, but this fandom hates it when victims of abuse aren’t perfect and easy to love. The amount of vitriol Dabi faces for his actions as a child are insane.

In fact, the way so many MHA fans reacted to the scene showing Touya trying to hurt Shouto is honestly discouraging, as if Touya wasn’t an abused child lashing out and trying to take some semblance of control in a situation where he was powerless. This doesn’t make his actions right, but the reason for them is quite clearly there.

In Touya’s mind, Shouto was proof that Endeavor had given up on him (it’s literally stated in the manga that “he knew what was happening” which is Endeavors attempts to create perfect children) so of course he would lash out at what he saw as a living symbol of what was his life falling apart, a symbol that was a rejection of him.

At that point in time, Endeavor was everything to Touya. Dabi/Touya is not some sociopath, which so many of his haters like to claim. He was obviously a mentally unstable child reacting to abuse in a way that the average MHA fan did not find palatable.

Bringing this back to Tenko, I find it ridiculous how people go out of their way to portray a grown up Tenko as some version of his five-year old self. Five years olds grow up. They face and experience what live gives to them, for better or worse.

While there are certain core characteristics that children have (such as Tenko’s desire to reach out to those rejected) they also obviously grow up and are shaped by their environment. And may I repeat, that Tenko was quite literally being abused.

He should react to that abuse and have it affect him in some way. It shouldn’t just be some background decoration for fans to go feel sad about, and to then never try to show the effects of because they do not want to portray it.

Sometimes I see AU’s where Nao leaves Kotaro, but like… I highly doubt that it would happen.

From what we see, Nao is a stay at home wife, with an almost nonexistent support system. Kotaro is a man with enough money to have a nice fancy house, a sleek car, and enough money to feed five extra mouths.

Not only that, but divorce is both incredibly tough and uncommon in Japan. So many fans look at Japanese media, created by a Japanese person, with Japanese characters, in a setting placed in Japan, and come at it with western views and ideals.

I seriously need people to understand that abuse does not come out of nowhere. Abuse is something that builds up over time. Nobody gets into a relationship with the expectation of being hurt or having loved ones hurt.

And while it’s admirable that Nao stood up to Kotaro with her words, MHA is a story that goes out of its way to assert that action matters more than words. Nao, with her parents, were still complicit in creating an abusive household (even if they weren’t intentionally trying to).

While this is just me personally, it honestly feels as if many Tomura/Tenko fans like the idea and concept of Tomura but do not actually like his character. I am not fond at all of the tragic Tomura OC Horikoshi created in the form of five year old Tenko Shimura.

Because the fandom does in fact treat Tenko as an OC, as if he is a completely different person from Tomura Shigaraki, when they are obviously not. More often than not Tenko is treated like some kind sweet shy character who is totallyyyyy seperate from Tomura, and that Tomura was some evil manifactured by AFO. When the reason of Tomura’s hate and life turning out the way it did was his abusive household. I started this series as a fan of Tomura and in fact I want to see him and the essence of him in AU’s or circumstances where he grows up in a different way.

I want to see victims of abuse reacting and struggling with their abuse in real, messy, imperfect ways, without fans reducing these characters to their child selves in personality. Tomura Shigaraki is who Tenko Shimura grew up to be. That should, at the very least, have some meaning to his character.

#bnha #shigaraki tomura #meta #100% agree #idk why ppl assume he would be shy #he stood up for what he believed in even as a kid #he is direct and tells it how he sees it #he would not be the cute scared 5 y.o forever lol

circussbeetle

We tend to talk about Hotch’s father a lot, which definitely makes sense. We know So Little about his background in general and his father is mentioned (and or vaguely hinted towards) a few times so it’s a little easier to speculate on his father; based on 1x8 natural killer his conversation with vincent peratta with “and some people grow up to catch them” and i think an overlooked moment in 10x5 boxed in “actually I do [know all about your father] he was god fearing, short tempered, alcoholic” and his general aggression towards abusive fathers he encounters, i think its safe to say that the general consensus among hotch lovers is that he was abused by his father.

But in all of this, I wanna take a second to speculate about his mother.

There’s only two real mentions of his mother that I can recall.

In episode 1x11 blood hungry Aaron mentions that his mother is from Manassass, and went to Mary Baldwin.

And in 2x19 ashes and dust Aaron mentions that everyone knew about his father’s affairs, “even his mother.”

I think both of these episodes are incredibly telling if you read between the lines, but I’ll focus in 1x11.

From the second the Sheriff tells Aaron who Mary Gwathmey Mays is, introducing her as part of one of the oldest families in Tennessee, Aaron is immediately keyed into her. When she’s crying in the initial interview Aaron stares at her almost impassive as he reads her behavior, but he saves his questions long enough to get her to sign the consent forms for them to give her son the antipsychotic. When the anti psychotic doesnt get them any more information on where the missing boy is being held, he interviews her again, and he doesnt get much out of her, but he immediately comes out of the room and says “shes lying. I dont know about what, but she’s lying.”

All of this can be explained by him being a profiler, recognizing the tells that are in front of him. But when they’re in the car leading her towards the spot they saw on her GPS, thats when it gets personal. Right after mentioning his own Mother, he starts asking about Mary’s name “Gwathmey” being an old tidewater name, then says “old south, old money. A lot of tradition there. A lot of reputation to protect.”

This line sticks out to me every time i watch it. Not only the fact that he says this after bringing up his mother in connection to Mary, but the contempt in his voice when he says it, the accusation he makes immediately afterwards saying “I dont think you were protecting your son, I think you were protecting yourself.”

This accusation is reiterated again when they find the missing boy theyre looking for. Aaron can hardly even look at Mary, leaving a local deputy to come cuff her, but she calls Aaron back before he can leave. This entire conversation is one hit after another.

He says “sometimes the things we don’t do are as important as the things we do.”

He says “i understand that your son was drowning and you made no effort to save him.”

But the one I think about the most.

Mary says “what else was I supposed to do?” And Aaron replies, with near disgust on his face, “Almost anything would have been better.”

If we combine all of this with the theory that his father was heavily abusive, my theory is this.

I think Aaron’s mother was a vulnerable narcissist. I think she was a victim of her husbands wrath as well, but I think she made no effort to save Aaron when that wrath was turned on him instead. Because everything was about her; her pain, her suffering, how stressful it is for her to try to maintain the perfect house and the perfect family that she deserves when Aaron’s causing so many problems all the damn time.

I think she spent Aaron’s entire childhood turning her cheek to her husbands abuse, only ever looking at Aaron to put concealer on the bruises before church on Sundays. I think she’d keep him home from school when the injuries were too visible, and I think she’d be furious if CPS or the police were to ever show up on her doorstep, because how dare he draw negative attention from the neighbors, she’ll have to spend weeks dispelling rumors. Any time Aaron tried to run away she’d call him selfish for trying to leave his family behind, call him ungrateful. Doesn’t he know how hard it is to be his mother?

When Aaron’s father dies and he starts to genuinely act out without provocation for the first time, she sends him to boarding school. At least that way he wont be able to embarass their family any further.

I think Aaron wants to hate his Mother, but he can’t, not really. She was just as much a victim of his Father as he was.

He resents her for never saving him, and he resents himself for never being strong enough to protect her.

He left in the end because the shame and hatred mixing in his chest was just too volatile to live with anymore, even after his father was dead.

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner #this is SO GOOD #there is so much subtext with hotch #in so many episodes #meta

sayyyyya-deactivated20260416

Midoriya should’ve been the summer camp target

There’s a lot that can be said about the Kamino/Summer Camp arc, especially in terms of how it propelled the story of MHA forward and created a major shift in the circumstances and relationships of all of the characters.

Despite that, there’s always been something about these two arcs that’s bothered me, increasingly so as the series moved forward. And that’s in terms of how much of a missed opportunity this portion of the story was.

I think the key issue for me is that Midoriya was not the summer camp target. Narratively, this was one of the biggest fumbles Horikoshi made in the early series. Midoriya should have been the summer camp target, but for some reason, he wasn’t.

I guess it was to progress Bakugou’s character, and to expand more on the idea introduced during the sports festival of how Bakugou is seen as a villain by the media.

Which, okay, fine, that’s a nice idea, but making him literally get kidnapped by villains, because they thought he would be a great potential villain, was such a hamfisted way to go about it.

The previous Stain arc centered on Iida, with Midoriya taking on a bit more of a background role. Centering the summer camp arc of Midoriya would have been a great way to bring him back to focus.

Not only that, but it would’ve been a fantastic role reversal, this time having Izuku being the one who needs help, with Todoroki and Iida coming to save him. It also would’ve been a well-earned moment of satisfaction and character growth for Iida, especially since he felt ashamed about causing so much trouble during the Stain encounter. Now, he would be the one saving his friend in need and being useful.

It also just makes sense. The mall encounter scene between Deku and Shigaraki had built up both tension and a expectation that they would meet again, and very soon too.

Shigaraki had already showed an interest in Midoriya before, with him having a printed out photo of Izuku (and showing it to Stain), as well as having taken note of him during the USJ arc.

Having Shigaraki target Izuku could’ve been a fantastic commentary on how hero society doesn’t care about injuries or people getting hurt, with Tomura focusing on how wounded Izuku got during the sports festival and how no one cared. In fact, the audience cheered him on. Izuku was known as the “bone-breaking kid” and the guy who got “wrecked at the sports festival”.

Having Izuku be the summer camp target could’ve brought focus to these disturbing ideas that were presented during the sports festival arc.

That society views these children fighting and hurting themselves in an gladiator fashion as nothing more than entertainment, that it doesn’t matter if you get hurt, as long as that hurt it fixed (and if it’s permanent, too bad for you). Just how apathetic people are to the pain and suffering of others.

Not only that, but it could’ve also been presented as a way for AFO/the League trying to hit where it hurts, to All Might at least.

AFO obviously had some idea that Izuku was the next OFA user (it’s mentioned during the fight with All Might) and him kidnapping Izuku, trying to convert him into a villain, to have Tomura present the flaws of society to him, would’ve been a great way to get back at All Might.

It could’ve been a dark parallel to how AFO groomed Tomura, a person related to someone All Might cared about, and him now once again trying to get his hands on another person All Might cared about.

This also could have been twisted in a way to show Tomura having reflected on his chat with Izuku, with Tomura wanting to show to him the real problems that society is unwilling to care about.

And there’s also the other issue. Tomura and Izuku simply not interacting enough. Your main villain and hero should have multiple, numerous instances of interaction, moments which build up a relationship and create dynamic conflict. A thing that the both of them… simply do not have.

Tomura orchestrating Izuku’s kidnapping, as well as the summer camp attack, could have been a fantastic moment of interaction between these two. Izuku getting at least somewhat of an understanding of what Tomura is about and what he wants from society, and Shigaraki in turn getting to know who Izuku is a person.

But we don’t get that. Because for some reason, Bakugou was the target.

(And if you ask me, this lack of interaction between Tomura and Izuku is why Horikoshi made the whole “I need to save that crying child!” plotline a thing, as a way to scramble for some reason as for why Izuku would even care about this villain.

Which pushed the bizarre theme MHA had in the ending of how only innocent child victims are worth saving and in turn degraded Tomura’s character to some little kid, leading to such an unsatisfying end to both him and to the rest of the story. But that’s an entirely separate post).

Aside from that, why the hell would AFO not try to kidnap the next OFA user, one who is so new and unprepared to fighting/being a hero? The only things AFO cares about are Yoichi and OFA. Why would he not focus on that? Especially since Bakugou is just some random kid.

The story makes it pretty clear that Shigaraki highly values AFO’s opinion, even above his own. If his sensei told him to target the plain green kid instead of the loud explosion kid, then he would damn well change his mind and target the plain green kid. He wouldn’t even need concrete reasoning from AFO’s end.

AFO could have very well convinced Tomura to focus on the kid with speed like All Might, the kid who messed up his plans at the USJ and the kid who helped understand himself better at a chance meeting at the mall.

Not only that, but it would’ve made All Might’s “Now it’s your turn” moment so much more impactful. The current holder of One for All, an accomplished and beloved hero who entirely changed the landscape of society, directly giving up the embers of his power to the new OFA holder, an uncertainty naive kid who has so much to learn, and is doubted by many around him. Except for his mentor.

It could’ve been a great reason as to why Nighteye disliked Deku (aside from the successor thing) and also could’ve been a callback during the Dark Deku arc.

The citizens, who are in peril, seeing this grimy villainous kid with multiple quirks who was the reason All Might lost his power, would’ve made a lot more sense for why they disliked him so.

There’s also the angst factor. How would Izuku have dealt with being the one to bring the “end of All Might?” how would he feel about it in terms of guilt and struggle?

It also could’ve made Bakugou and Midoriya’s fight a whole lot meaningful, with Bakugou seeing the boy he hates being the one to end All Might and Midoriya dealing with the guilt.

The fight could’ve ended with an understanding between the two of them, with Bakugou gaining a new insight into how he views Izuku and progressing the relationship between them, and Izuku resolving to move forward and be the best hero he can be, in the name of All Might.

And of course, the Bakugou as a villain angle. The sports festival arc went to show that the media saw Bakugou as a villainous individual, so why can’t we extend that sentiment to the rest of class 1-A?

Bakugou having to be tied up and chained could have instead been seen as a sign of how violent and unstable he is as a person, at least in the eyes of others. Even in the eyes of his classmates. It’s not like they don’t live in the same society, with having been raised with certain ideals and views. Play upon those prejudices we know are there.

Make them judge Bakugou; be wary of him and his actions. Make Bakugou struggle with his classmates perceiving him in a negative light and trying to move and build past those perceptions. Because now, he is in a place with people who are near equal to him in strength and prestige.

Not only that, but Bakugou could’ve been the one to strive and organize the rescue mission to save Midoriya.

Maybe because he’s angry the villains got one over him, or because he wants to find the villains and put them in prison, or even because he knows it’s the sort of thing a hero would do. Save someone who needs saving.

In fact, it would’ve made the rest of class 1-A being against an idea for a rescue mission and viewing it as an “illegal act” make a lot more sense. Because now, it’s Bakugou being the one to orchestrate the plan, a person who they now feel isn’t as exactly as heroic as they once thought him to be.

Having Bakugou save Midoriya, reaching out to him when he’s in need, even if it’s not with the purest or nicest intentions, could’ve been great character growth. It would’ve made Midoriya’s attempts at reaching out to Bakugou during their time at UA a whole lot more worthwhile, with actual progress being shown.

Of course, these are all ideas and what-ifs, but they all would’ve felt a lot more narratively satisfying. To me, at least.

#bnha #bnha analysis #midoriya izuku #shigaraki tomura #training camp arc

abortionado

Okay but. I wanted to see the impacts of class on the actions of the BAU in terms of law enforcement.

They touched on the way a few other life experiences (like gender and mental illness) affect the way the team views the profession and the unsubs, and I wish we really got to see that kind of conversation about the way poverty breeds violence in so many cases.

Particularly, the fact that the poor and destitute are victimized in the vast majority of cases, because their unsubs figure that these people are disposable and will not be missed.

Spencer grew up impoverished (post-William), and Derek and JJ were very lower-middle class, and they were under the command of Hotch and Emily (in Spencer & JJ’s case), who both grew up in wealth.

How does that feel?

How would it feel to stare the effects of poverty in the face, knowing that this decaying, mutilated sex worker photographed on the side of I-80 could so easily have been you, and being guided through it all by the children of millionaires, who, despite being empathetic people, will always be a world away from this dead woman?

How would it feel to grow up on government assistance, hustling poker to put food on your mentally ill mother’s table (caring for her as if she were your child), pushing yourself to excel academically among students six years your senior, because you know that your intellect is the only thing that can get you to college and help you take care of your mother, who is getting worse every day

and then after all of that, sit across a table from your close friend and colleague, born into wealth and given a $1000 monthly allowance well past the age you started paying for your mother’s institutionalization, who says with a smile that being a “bored socialite” was the fate she had feared while you were playing slot machines to buy milk?

How would it feel to spend years pouring your body and mind into a sport you don’t like because you know it’s the only way you’ll be able to make it out of your rural backwater town, perpetually running on four hours of sleep because you have to go to practices and you can’t let your grades slip, clawing your way up from pell grant student to trainee to media liaison

only to watch another woman (who has never worked for the Bureau) march into your boss’ office demanding a job better than the one you currently have, then watch her get that job the very next day, in part because your boss knows her parents from Yale?

How would it feel to lose your father at 12 and grow up with two siblings on a single mother’s income, silently dealing with your own horrific trauma as you push through school and work for the sports scholarship you so badly need and try to help provide for your family, working tirelessly to pull yourself up out of the gutter by your bootstraps just like a good poor person should

only to spend your entire career playing second-fiddle to a white man who was born at the top? Working under him for more than a decade, knowing that you’re just as qualified as he is if not moreso?

They deal with people—victims and perpetrators alike—who have grown up in the most appalling conditions imaginable, and in all of these matters, it’s those who don’t understand who make the final calls.

Do they ever feel tiny twinges of sympathy for killers or their enablers when they hear about how they used to duck tape their shoes together and sleep three days on an empty stomach? Do they understand the anger these people? Does that scare them?

How does it feel to be told by a trust fund baby that the poor—drifters, sex workers, addicts—go missing so often that their deaths are just fundamentally not the same as a rich white woman being killed in her home? Do they think about how, with one car accident or broken arm, they themselves could have been on the streets, and wonder whether their deaths would be alarming enough to warrant investigation?

At what point do they realize that they are looking at these cases from behind a line they had to fight tooth and nail to cross, and that their superiors can never understand, because they were born on this side of the line?

I’m not saying this to diminish the childhood trauma that Hotch and Emily did have—abuse, abortion at 15, and toxic parents are obviously terrible and profoundly impactful in different ways—but poverty is such a unique kind of experience that I think it begs unique conversation.

There are some things you’ll just never understand if you’ve never been hungry.

#criminal minds #meta #class #BAU

maschotch

TW: SA

What are your thoughts on the fan headcanon that Foyet sexually assaulted Hotch when he attacked him? There are some things that lead to be accept the headcanon but I wanted to hear your opinion first

i’m very much of the mind that the attack in 5x01 was a sexual assualt scene. they make so many references to it that it’s hard to not look at it that way. im not sure if “implied in canon” is the same as straight up “canon” but it feels… more serious than a “headcanon” if that makes sense? like im not trying to trivialize it by just pulling this idea out of my ass and tacking it on my fav character.. it’s not exactly a topic that can be (or at least shouldn’t be) tossed around so casually. which is why, with characters like elle and hotch, i try to stick to references in canon that have strong connections to a subject that maybe they didn’t want to explore all the way. filling in the gaps, as it were

because there really is a lot to say on this. the attack in 5x01 is a very clear parallel to the fisher king attacking elle in her home in 1x22. while they don’t do a whole lot in the episode itself to insinuate sexual assualt, her conversation with reid in 2x05 resonates a lot with survivors of sexual assault. her words, the “i could feel him in there,” is such a disturbing reference that it’s hard not to read into that. her connection with lee’s victims in that episode—of women being ambushed and raped in their own home—is meaningful and definitely says something about her experience, her trauma

there’s even more evidence with hotch and foyet. again, we have these hypersexualized lines that have unsettling implications. “be gentle—like i was with you?” there are so many elements of the scene itself that allude to sexual assault—something i find incredibly disturbing. things like foyet stripping, laying over hotch, whispering in his ear, wanting him to be awake to feel it… there are some lines that definitely have some semblance, “it goes in so much easier when you relax,” but there are some lines where… honestly i don’t know what they mean if not a direct indicator of foyet raping hotch. “maybe this will change the way you profile.” there’s something so horrifying about the shot itself. sure they referenced it with elle in dialogue after the fact, but having to witness it?

beyond the scene itself, the impact this attack has on hotch’s character as a whole, the effect on the greater storyline… it fits in too well to be a coincidence. they constantly bring up the significance of “power and domination” in foyet’s profile, and this is just something to take it to the next level. i talk a little more about it here, but the gist is that the stabbing wasn’t for power or anything like that—it was for intimacy. which is another point entirely: foyet’s “vows” to shaunessey, a commitment lasting a lifetime, shows exactly the way that foyet “gets off” on control. i think this is his twisted view of a kind of love

a sordid, violent love, but a love nonetheless. constantly observing the target of his affection, watching to see the effects of his advances. thinking about him every day and wanting hotch to think of him every day as well. making deals, contracts, promises, threats, all to prove his loyalty, his commitment to the relationship. living up to his word because that’s what will make them submit to his desires. dedicating entire sections of his life to his “relationships” and revolving his world entirely on them, fixating his attention. obsession, faithfulness, devotion… what else is love?

i think this is genuinely what foyet chooses his love to be. and i think he’s found his soulmate in hotch. it grew on him, consumed him until foyet realized that this is the man whose life he wanted to intertwine with so completely that hotch will never be fully clean. i think it was because hotch resisted him so strongly that foyet was drawn in. the confidence in saying “we’ll find him. he’s just a man,” while looking foyet in the eye, the stubborn refusal of submitting to the deal, the declaration that foyet’s actions have nothing to do with hotch and are completely due to his own choices. it all intrigues foyet. he’s fascinated, he’s enthralled. he wants to see this man broken

hotch wasn’t as easy as shaunessy. it was a long game of cat and mouse, and foyet loved the chase. it makes the rewards so much sweeter. it makes foyet want to take his time, savor the moment, pull every last drop of misery out of hotch as he can. hotch is pushing him to go further, try harder, because he won’t back down no matter what foyet throws at him. their relationship is more intimate than it was with shaunessy, and foyet enjoyed pushing the limits—his own and hotch’s—to see how far they could go before hotch would finally break. i think sexual assualt would be in line with foyet’s actions. it seems like something he’d do, if not for his own pleasure then for the sake of “marking” hotch in every possible way

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner #sa mention

rubberdingyrappids

I need a fic, a hefty, in depth fic that has a member of the BAU acknowledging that Hotch wasn’t just stabbed by Foyet but also SA’d.

I just… I just need it. We should have got it in the damn show.

sorrel-scribbles

RIGHT!

I'll settle for even bringing up the fact that it happened. He was at MINIMUM SA'd (we don't see the whole scene) and no one in canon even MENTIONS IT!

Lemme take you through it (ft. terrible screenshots):

Foyet has already stabbed Hotch once at this point, and he's been incapacitated by it. He's proved his point, there's really no reason for him to keep going, but he does.

Do you want to see my scars?

After asking this, Foyet proceeds to TAKE OFF HIS SHIRT and show off to Hotch.

He says it's because Hotch's "will look just the same", but that little smirk in the second frame makes me feel like something else might be going on here.

He then proceeds to GET DOWN ON TOP OF HOTCH SHIRTLESS and taunt him for a minute before going back to stabbing.

It goes in so much easier if you relax

In context, that sentance is about the knife (and to be fair it is medically accurate), but it's also one hell of a sexual innuendo, especially considering he knows profilers believe stabbing is a sexual act.

Now, I understand that profilers think that stabbing is a substitution for the act of sex

That's acually one of the next lines, and out of context, it would be smart. Try to deflect from the sexual undertones that the show has created for itself by going on about how Foyet doesn't get off on killing. The problem is what he says next.

That if somebody's impotent, they'll use a knife instead. Is that what you think, Agent Hotchner? Maybe this will change the way that you profile.

This completely changes the implication. Foyet isn't out to prove that stabbing isn't sexual (I'm looking at you Criminal Minds Wiki), he's out to prove that he can, in fact, get it up. The fade to black directly after that makes the sexual undertone all the more chilling. He probably wasn't actually raped, because that would require Foyet to get him out of his suit and redress him, which is something the police would have noticed and thus we would know, but I think the subtext of the scene pretty heavily implies he was assaulted in some way.

The fact that this is never addressed is CRAZY, especially since they have discussed things like this in other forms (see Morgan's backstory). The in-canon explanation is that Hotch wouldn't tell anyone, but the fact that no one else found out, ever, is so horrible, both because it would have been an interesting storyline to explore and because when something like that happens, it SHOULD be addressed.

Also the fact that, in killing Foyet, he did EXACTLY the same thing Elle did, and she got practically kicked out of the BAU for it, while he received ostensibly no consequences. I'M SORRY WHAT! The BLATANT sexism in that-

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner #media analysis #foyet arc

chaossery

When you stop to think about it, the way the story ultimately took care of Tomura by having him pretty much get punched to dust is even more disturbing and also in extremely poor taste when you consider that one of Tomura’s worst memories is getting beaten by his father.

(To say nothing of Deku’s whole attacking and invading his psyche – especially since Tomura is one of the most psychologically vulnerable and traumatized characters.)

#bnha #shigaraki tomura #bnha critical #bnha spoilers

brunettedoeeyedangel

Shouting at your spiraling child after completely stripping them from any kind of identity and then proceeding to shut them out completely is not good parenting, actually.

(Aka: explaining Enji’s abuse towards Touya)

Enji’s abuse towards Touya is often reduced to a simplistic argument by the fandom: Enji told Touya to stop training, Touya refused, and therefore Touya is the sole responsible for his own ‘death’ and suffering. But this argument fails both morally and psychologically. Touya’s self-destructive tendencies were not born out of ‘defiance’ or ‘stubbornness’, they were manufactured through years of ideological indoctrination, emotional conditioning, identity abuse, and parental neglect.

From the very beginning, Touya’s existence was shaped by Enji’s eugenicist worldview. Enji never laid the foundations for a loving family, he laid the foundations in order to create a successor. His marriage with Rei was completely transactional (never mind the fact that he bought as if she where an asset and not a human to sexually exploit her), built on the idea that combining their quirks could create an heir capable of surpassing All Might. That’s textbook eugenics right there: engineering a specific situation to produce a ‘perfect’ child by selecting partners for their genetics rather than other factors like genuine love or care, turning a marriage into a breeding program. The moment Touya’s quirk manifested, his body and said quirk were no longer his own, they became an instrument for Enji to accomplish his ambition. Touya had never been seen as a person or child, but as a means to an end (all the Todoroki children had been dehumanized that exact way, actually). Touya’s value was never inherent. It was conditional and based exclusively on his physical performance. That alone makes Enji not a good father from the very beginning.

This conditioning led to what can be best described as identity abuse (not sure if that’s the actual definition/term, but it is how I’ll be referring to it). Enji builds Touya’s entire identity to revolve around his own selfish dream: surpassing All Might. Touya is being told that his existence and value as a person is completely tied to whether he’ll accomplish that goal or not, and as a result, every personal desire or aspiration he might have is dismissed or reshaped to fit that imposed purpose, leaving him unable to form a sense of self independent of Enji’s ambitions. He doesn’t exist outside that goal.

Touya is taught that being loved means progressing and training harder, becoming stronger. He isn’t deserving of love and care because he exists as a person, but because of his achievements. When Enji later tells Touya to stop training after discovering the incompatibility of his body to his flames, the psychological damage has already been done. The order to just “stop” can’t undo years of emotional and psychological indoctrination that had made him equate success with affection.

After his body fails, Enji doesn’t replace Touya’s old purpose with a new one. He doesn’t help rebuild his son’s concept of identity, and neither does he reassure him of unconditional love. Quite the opposite, actually. He withdraws and completely shuts Touya out. Touya is left with a specific message: the reason he existed is no longer valid, he failed. That’s not good parenting, like a lot seem to claim, that’s straight up abandonment. Telling a child to stop pursuing the only identity trait they have ever been allowed to possess is psychological erasure, not “concern”.

This argument of ‘Enji told Touya to stop’ completely collapses when looked at through a psychological trauma lens. Children don’t develop values and attitudes on their own. They mirror the habits and behaviors imposed on them by, you guessed it, their parents (or the closest figure to a parent that they may have). Touya continuing to train in secret is a survival response. He is not disobeying his father out of “rebellion”, he is just desperately attempting to reclaim his place in his father’s world after being taught that success was all that mattered.

Enji is pretty much aware that Touya’s quirk is self-destructive and dangerous, both to himself and those around. He also has access to the highest medical resources in hero society (hell,he was literally THE #2 Pro Hero at the time!), and yet he gives Touya no safety gear, nor access to any kind of support system (like therapy, for example). Touya is left alone with a body that burns itself, with nothing but a warning that literally contradicts a lifetime of indoctrination. That is negligence towards Touya’s emotional and physical needs.

Like we all know, Shoto’s birth was the main catalyst of Touya’s mental spiraling. And that’s because Shoto isn’t introduced to Touya as a brother, but as a replacement. He embodies all that Touya isn’t and that Enji searches for. Touya isn’t given a new role within his father’s world wither, he gets completely shut out and replaced. In a way, Shoto's existence confirms Touya’s deepest fear: he is no longer needed, and therefore not wanted by his father. Touya doesn’t just lose his father’s approval, he also loses his reason for existing. Enji builds Touya into a tool, discards him when he ‘fails’, and then acts surprised when the discarded child attempts to destroy himself (and those around) trying to become useful again.

Claiming that Enji was a ‘good father’ to Touya, or that Touya (a spiraling five year old with no support system or guidance) was the issue all along completely misses the entire nature of their relationship and quite literally goes against canon material. Enji is and has always been the sole responsible for all of the Todoroki family’s problems. Shifting the blame towards the others (literally the exact same thing that Enji does before the ‘atonement arc’ that everyone claims is the ‘best written’ part of the entire anime) goes to show how many of you Enji fans don’t even understand your favorite character.

#bnha #todoroki touya #dabi #grooming #endeavor #child abuse #meta #thank you for this #that guy was never a good father or even a good person

nostromo13

The scene in Criminal Minds S5 Ep8 Outfoxed where Prentiss and Hotch are in the prison and she realises she is once again being used in her capacity as a woman.

This one hits hard in particular because Emily never usually gives this extent of a shit that she's there to "trap" the bad guy. Sure, she's always slightly bothered, because, yeah, she is luring psychotic men with a big history of harming women; Even if she isn't in direct danger, there are the past women there that she has to carry in that moment. It's usually just an "Oh, this is gonna suck." [S4 Ep 9].

But this time she points it out. She has to use Hotch's reminder to look straight and confident, but even then, the usually unshakable Emily is visibly tense and jumps at the killer behind the glass. Aaron, for all his lack of a personality sometimes [sorry], takes in her 《Easy for you to say. He tore apart 14 women》, looking so guilty for using her for this.

Emily usually maintains a removed disgust at the killers towards their victims and conceals how disturbed she is by woman after woman that she has to pretend to be for these unsubs. She does this so well that when she gets to this level of jumpiness, it's so jarring and puts all the rest into perspective.

I know this has been touched on before, but the amount of times Emily's gender gets used for the job jand she's just unquestioning and okay with it without the team knowing that this is her background. To them she is just good at compartmentalising. I need to read more fics on this connection being made because I know they're there and they're great.

justagirl-purplejellosg1

It’s knowing how much she’s used because of her gender - by the whole team - that makes it rankle all the more to see Derek’s reaction after the Doyle revelation.

This is what she’s used to, what’s happened her whole career.

Remember the episode with Megan Kane when they’re in her apartment and the phone rings? She doesn’t hesitate to get ready when Hotch tells her to “get ready to vamp, Prentiss” in case it’s one of Megan’s clients on the phone - this is after Derek’s held up one of Megan’s racier outfits up against her and made a joke.

Or the episode where she pretends to have met the unsub at a swingers party at the bar? She’s unnerved in that one, asks them to have her back to which Hotch replies they do.

Hotch also seems uncomfortable to use her like that - him checking on her before she goes out to talk to Viper is a prime example - whereas Derek seems amused by it.

And this has turned into a babble so I’ll stop. But yes, @nostromo13, it’s something that can and should be explored time and time again.

nostromo13

"This is what she's used to, what's happened her whole career." Really hit me.

#criminal minds #emily prentiss #aaron hotchner #analysis

thekitsandthekats

guys can we please talk about the relationship between aaron hotchner and sound. how he tells that agent in natural born killer "first of all, don't shout at me", the way he flinches with his whole body when he has to listen to emily get beaten up by cyrus in minimal loss, the way his hearing becomes impaired after lofi, when he had to listened to haley get shot over the phone.

aaron who never raises his voice unless he absolutely has to, when he knows that it's most effective to fill the air with your own loud anger. aaron who near whispers when he speaks to victims. aaron who smiles when the team chatter about something, listening to their joy. aaron who fell in love with haley after watching her rehearse for an opera in high school. aaron who works in a quiet office, his only personal bubble of silence.

im not sure if this makes sense or if any of this speaks to his character but he has such an interesting relationship with sound.

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner #cm meta

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