love the library. there's no risk. you can take out a book and go "wow this sucks" and just give it back. and when you do that you're still making the library's Number Go Up so you'll be able to roll the dice on even more books. all for the low low price of free/you already paid for it with your tax money so you might as well use it
Party time. Marta and Manuela discuss the arrangements. Fina shows up and Marta (after primping at her arrival) wants to go straight into shop talk but Fina stops her and asks if she’s heard from doña Clara. She then tells Marta what her idea to get her out of it was. Marta confirms it didn’t work and Fina says she has another plan. They will discuss it later when she returns from buying film. The party goes off with one hitch (Claudia brought a box with old, bad stock and had to return to get the good stuff; made it back just in time.) Fina returns and at one point Marta whispers “amor” to her and I was like ok Marta in the middle of the party? Phew! Finally, Marta and Clara have a conversation where Marta convinces Clara that SHE would be the best one to head the foundation. Clara accepts, with the condition that Marta is part of the board. She needs her, she says, and won’t take no for an answer. At this point, Marta has no choice but to accept.
Preview in the next post.
I need the equation meme to float over Fina’s thinking face …
I am pleased by people messaging me telling me that after adding a carb or protein to their snacks or meals they feel more satisfied all day. Yes, my plan is working. People are getting through their days with less hangry.
So while working on today's subtitles, I see their confrontational scene in bits and pieces, analysing facial expressions, but also their individual lines more. And I wrote something to my friends in the Translation Crew that I think is good enough to post:
On Mafin, Marta de la Reina and Serafina Valero, as characters, their character growth and dynamics.
it's so super clear in their 'confrontation' that Marta is the one that has already thought about this and Fina is reacting emotionally (makes sense, she's the one who was just told and suffering from a trauma related to directly this). But it once again underlines their roles: Marta needs to consider everything, everyone in her life, her 'station', including Fina. And Fina can just react, say what she wants, and be done with it. Not that she suffers no consequence, but she's not the one who has to actually Act. That's Marta. But that's Marta's entire arc: to go from a passive to an active player in SDL. To take control of her own life. Fina literally told her back in early T1 to do something about it! And back then all Marta could do was get frustrated, upset because she couldn't. T3 Marta had grown from that point. But Marta always remains, in some ways, in a golden cage.
So everything in this scene perfectly underscores their character arcs. Difference being (from before all of Fina's trauma) that Fina is 'free' in that sense: she has less eyes on her. She doesn't really have to explain anything to anyone, but look where that has gotten her. She acts before she thinks sometimes, and the world around her punishes her for it. AKA: Marta is her guiding light, her faro, to make her Stop. Think. and then act. Not to lose herself, but to manage herself in a world of danger. And to Marta, Fina is her reason to act. Her motivation to move away from passiveness. This is of course quite summarized and there are many layers to this but I want to keep it brief.
That was them back in T1, heavily: it was Mafin against the world around them in somewhat of a bubble. Until that bubble popped, and reforming it was impossible. And then in T2 the danger was coming from inside the house, and more their internal conflict not trying to be together but trying to merge their differences in long term relationship. With Marta once again trying to do everything for Fina, and Fina letting Marta but not accepting that it wasn't enough. Just like it's not enough now. Because after all, their conflicts in T2 before Santiago returned were that: Marta was throwing things at Fina, seeing what stuck, but more often than not things fell short. Because they weren't being honest in their communication to what they needed, or because they didn't have the time to communicate between everything around them. That circle has not been adressed because it was intercut with Fina having to leave. So it's back. In full swing.
This is why I personally don't like comments saying that 'the characters are ruined' or 'it's so horribly written'. The show sure has it's moments, but overall? It's really consistent and really obvious. The downside and fair critique I can accept here is that: they're stuck in this loop, and that's fully true. Lots of shit has happened that has made them grow, but it's also knocked them back down, often. Harshly. So it makes sense that they've grown in this somewhat, but also have a massive way to go. (It's also part of the genre: drama, drama and more drama.) It's also just a reflection of life. It's not lineair.
And this is what I believe, towards the end of T3 we will see: Marta is going to have to find a reason to act, to become an actor in her own life without Fina. She did a little bit when Fina was away, aka why she feels like she's grown way more than Fina has. They've both been forced to keep moving. But Fina is still stuck (which I fully comprehend) in that trauma and has a harder time to grow and accept and learn. She's also been away from the audience and it's easier to have the character that's offscreen have less growth because we weren't there.
Belmo also told us in an interview: she wants Marta to find something new, outside of the fabrica to do that she loves (I'm paraphrasing here) and Belmo has been known to give us 'hints' like that to outline where MdlR is going. After all this was their 'T3 wrap interview'. So I think (no matter how long the break up is, but it might be actually pretty long), that Marta will find a reason or is going to look for a reason, other than Fina, to become that person. To act, more often, and for herself too. Not just for Fina. Or at least, I hope she does. Or realises that she needs to.
I've said it a bunch in the last few days to some friends but I truly stand by this: people often was the end result, and they don't have the patience for the story. But the story is where the fun is. The story is where we get the inspiration from to write, to draw, to create theories and gather around the liquor cart.
I'm here for the story, the journey. It's alright if you gotta tap out for a bit, and for some people I even recommend changing your watching habbits ;) but I've had some people ask me (especially last year when Fina had to go) if I was giving up on the show if the couple was not together. And at least for the forseeable future, no matter what happens with Mafin, I still find an appeal in their story. Juntas o no. Because I enjoy that these characters are given long arcs to learn, to fight, to love, and to grow.
there’s a new genre of anxiety-post i’ve begun to notice on linkedin which i can only describe as deeply unaware AI users’ remorse, where the writers of these posts are stressing themselves out over how much their own writing now sounds like claude even when they aren’t using claude to write anything for them. and the solutions they offer each other are all some variety of the following:
1. try giving claude different instructions. ask claude to write in simplified english
2. try using one of these other LLMs instead, they are better at writing for you
like, aside from the fact that neither of these responses address the root of the problem being discussed, it is nuts to me that no one seems to consider not using AI as a viable solution. but that is the most obvious one to me: if you are concerned that your use of AI has changed the way you yourself use words and structure sentences, just don’t use it to write for you.
i feel like if i said this in response to any of these posts, i’d get the corporate garbage talk equivalent of the surprised pikachu jpeg in response.
honestly tho that’s the solution. that and not saturating your brain in words no human being could be bothered to string together into a sentence.
kind of embarrasing when your life is actually going pretty well but you still have mental health problems. it's like when you drink water but still have a headache like what the hell. you're telling me this isn't because of the Situations i'm actually just like this. i want a refund.
turnnoffyourmind
gracieabrams
gamechangershow
stormborns
gummygunk
theartofmadeline
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
