a sub-shame blog

FOR THINGS TOO SHAMEFUL FOR EVEN @goldenfiligree. Mostly a collection of rambling thoughts, reactions, and fandom-related info that are not Aesthetic.

[space-malex]

The sad thing is Alex wont ever choose is his own happiness or fight for it. It will just be him accepting the hurt from MM and putting on a brave face.

*dying whale noises*

[el-gilliath]

Rude.

[pinwheelings]

I’m super interested in how this will play out – I can imagine Alex understanding why Michael can’t be with him (Alex’s family is responsible for the genocide of Michael’s family and basically the root of all trauma in Michael’s life, which seems like a very in-character thing for Alex to internalize) but we know so little about Alex and Maria’s relationship that it’s hard for me to figure out how Alex or Maria will respond to that. On the one hand, it seems like Alex has been a good friend to Maria (he was actively keeping up with her mom until about 109 when Alex and Maria stop sharing scenes and it’s still not clear to me if this is a writing problem or a character choice), although I’ve seen a number of posts that posit they’re not as close as Maria has claimed and that maybe they’re holding onto a friendship they used two have, which I think is a very interesting and plausible theory considering Alex and Maria seem to be unable to exist in the same scenes after the Texas ep unless they’re glaring at each other (maybe Alex and Maria are the same shapeshiting person like Glory/Ben in Buffy which is why Michael is drawn to them both lmao). We know in 111 that Alex and Maria are still speaking despite their awkward encounter because Maria is the one who tells Michael Alex won’t be at the gala, but then it seems like maybe they don’t speak between that conversation and the finale because of Maria’s guilt over her feelings for Michael. 

I’m also interested in Alex now formally in the “pursuer” role now that he’s ready and Michael isn’t. With the exception of the kiss pilot and the bar scene in 109, it’s ALREADY always been Alex pursuing Michael and backing away at the last minute (Alex is the one who can’t let sleeping dogs lie at the reunion, he shows up at the trailer twice in 102, he’s the one who initiates the date in 103, he’s the one who shows up at the junkyard in 109 and in 112). Michael’s been pretty passive, at least in my viewing and he’s been quite respectful of Alex’s need for space; whenever they talk, it’s almost ALWAYS on Alex’s terms and the one time in the bar in 109, Alex shuts Michael down pretty harshly (”It was slowing me down,” “ends with a whimper”). In fact, I think Michael has been much more the pursuer in his relationship with Maria -- he follows Maria around in Texas, he goes to the bar out of hours and gives her back the necklace, he’s the one who stops her at the Crashdown and stays with her in the museum, he’s the one who goes to her in the finale. I think it’ll be interesting now that Michael is the one who needs time and space – will Alex keep seeking Michael out or will Michael be forced to go to Alex? Will Michael exert a little more control in their relationship and put them on little more even footing?

[pinwheelings]

roswell finale lmao

WHAT!! this show is seriously wild from start to finish. like half the time it feels like these people aren’t even on the SAME SHOW i swear to god. nothing connects! nothing makes sense!! NOTHING MATTERS. 

like liz... chats with maria, which is cute, and then gets stabbed and has a stand off with noah, finds out about rosa’s dad (which she has zero reaction too because NOTHING THAT HAPPENS ON THIS SHOW MATTERS!!!!!) then bangs max and then maybe kinda finds closure which all just erased because rosa’s alive!!!! but oops max is dead because: a life for a life!!!!

ISOBEL IS/WAS ROBBED OF HER CHANCE TO FACE NOAH because she’s little more than a pawn in max’s road to alien jesus lmao. noah takes control of isobel AGAIN and then leaves her rosa in an egg, thanks noah/ noah is dead at almost EXACTLY the 30-minute mark -- i was keeping time on my phone -- and it all feels like “what for?” ALSO MAX IS JESUS??? he’s a little dead but i guess alien easter is happening in season two. so both michael and isobel get no peace -- or maybe michael gets peace for like .25 seconds until he realizes his brother is DEAD. i cannot even imagine isobel’s reaction to this. max also like... harnesses the power of lightning with turns him into an ABSOLUTE MANIC RAMBLING NUT so you have to wonder what kind of headspace he was in when he made the decision to bring rosa back lmao. 

speaking of michael, he screams/cries about being max’s family gets STABBED IN THE NECK and then max leaves him there in a pool of his own blood for... what reason??? “we should go before he wakes up” but then... nothing comes of that. at all. why do they need to leave? because max is mad that michael used violence against him (AGAIN!!!!!! is this show ever gonna address this bit of michael’s character) or bc michael’s gonna be upset that he ruined everything and let noah get away (thanks, michael). then michael kinda has a conversation with alex while he’s changing out of his bloody clothes and immediately runs off, gets his hand healed while max rambles about the second coming or living in the present or whatever, has the OTHER HALF of his conversation with alex, but instead of having it with alex he has it with isobel so alex is waiting alone in the junkyard, totally unaware of everything except that kyle just stabbed his dad and put him in a coma. WHICH HONESTLY DID NOT NEED TO HAPPEN IN THIS EPISODE? 

honestly i can’t really touch the alex stuff right now because i love alex so, so much and cannot talk about him rationally but I AM SO PROUD OF ALEX MANES!!!!! (i actually think where michael and alex left off makes A LOT of sense given what michael is going through and isn’t so bad... considering noah was a like a weird serial mind rapist/murderer and max went out on his giant ass cross). i’m sorry that michael now diving into normal but i think that’s what he needs until, you know, he finds out that MAX IS DEAD. cool. 

kyle has a meltdown bc his dad was murdered and he LOST A SISTER TOO?? this is the second time this has been brought up and i HATE IT!!! rosa didn’t even LIKE kyle and we have no evidence to show he liked her either!!! i am so annoyed with this storyline!! i’m sorry, but sharing a sperm donor does not mean that kyle lost a sister lmao. 

MEANWHILE MARIA GETS SERENADED AND STILL DOES NOT KNOW ABOUT ALIENS! maria continues to be a totally passive character, which makes it hard to pin character traits on her. like i don’t love that maria is suddenly cool with being with michael, but maybe it’s a similar thing to michael and alex where maria and alex are holding onto a friendship that doesn’t really exist anymore and maria wants something good and easy in her life? like they have that WHOLE conversation -- maybe a full minute? -- about maria’s hideous flower necklace (i knew it was special -- something that ugly could only be supernatural)  and then... nothing happens to it. why bring it up in an episode so jam-packed? why not just start season two with that? the episode is FULL of stuff like that. 

i keep thinking about the episode and how SO MANY THINGS could’ve been pushed to season two to make this first season tighter. so many things happen but it feels like there are no stakes or consequences for ANYTHING. the entire show feels like michael and alex’s conversation in the air stream like “LOTS OF DECLARATIONS but i gotta go now let’s deal with this later oh whelp i’m alone now with my pain”

on the one hand, i guess having everyone ultimately end up pretty alone is a good way to push their characters for season two, but half the time i’m just like “do these people even like or know each other” they’re just ALL totally siloed because the writing is such a fucking mess! i love, love the characters but i feel like i get whiplash every episode! i can only hope that a second, extended season will help tame of these issues with pacing and writing but honestly i half think they’ll just be like “GREAT LET’S STUFF MORE SHIT INTO THIS” lmao

on a personal note: i feel bummed about the max death/rosa life thing because it puts me in a weird place fanfic wise. like how i gotta resurrect max AND tell my story??????????????? the ask is too high!

[pinwheelings]

I FINALLY watched the latest episode. I was so stressed bc people were mad but omg WHAT A MESS!!! I can’t believe how much they packed into a single, badly paced episode! It really makes me want to go back and examine the other episodes (the whole arc of fridging isobel and the Texas episode — not the content but the overall pacing of that ep) to see where some stuff could’ve been restructured. And next week we’re getting prison shenanigans AND Noah’s interrogation?! I cannot imagine.

The episode was so rushed you never feel anything! The emotional beats were like .00001 seconds! I can’t believe it!!! I read that this was supposed to be 22 eps and it got crammed into 13 but then it’s like... cut. some. plot. They could easily have cut some of the project shepherd stuff until s2? The why bother w the Maria red herring it was like 7 minutes long lmao. This show has done the women SO DIRTY — like isobel’s relationship w Noah has barely been developed but max and Michael rehash the last ten episodes of hints dropped like anvils in a sad bunker? Cool. Jenna explains to Liz something the audience has been told THREE TIMES AT LEAST!!

My favorite part of the episode is that Noah makes a fancy bomb to subdue Michael but just hits max over the head with a bottle. I feel like that tells you everything you need to know about them.

I LOVE that max is an absolute moron with lots of feelings who has NO IDEA how to deal with Michael or what’s happened to him. I didn’t really know how to take Max’s speech about feeling the beatings... does he feel them literally bc of a psychic connection or was it just like “you’re my bro” it wasn’t super clear. I find michael’s line about believing “humanity is good” interesting. Like... woof it shows how deeply he was impacted by that moment but also that like a light went out inside of him that night and that, despite everything else that happened that night, it seems to be the single biggest driver to him wanting to check out of hotel earth (as an Alex stan I am thinking of the guilt Alex probably carried/carries about that and also about how as much as Alex can’t commit to Michael, michael hasn’t ever really committed to Alex since that day bc to commit would be to stay on earth: they both have one foot out the door always). But also... humanity isn’t good!!! Some people are good, some are bad, most are somewhere in between — probably just like the aliens. Michael is such a darling optimist to try to believe humanity is good. I also find it interesting how often Michael resorts to physical violence with max — its a character trait that I loathe but it’s interesting. Michael isn’t really a violent guy but around max he lets his anger fly — I suppose because he feels a sense of safety and security around max he doesn’t get anywhere else?

Also has anyone talked about Max’s consistent disregard for the law and how it’s often played as a strength/virtue or glossed over? Like... given the gross abuses by law enforcement in this country I am uncool with how he behaves. I know this is a dumb complaint because it’s the CW but I’m yikes @ max lying(ish) to Wyatt to extract info even if he’s a racist murderous piece of shit! I just am not a fan of the ends justify the means when it comes to law enforcement.

In the next two eps we have to (by my count): get some dumb alien war backstory, go on a prison road trip, maybe meet Alex’s brother, resolve the death of jim Valenti and whatever is happening to Mimi (TELL ME I MUST KNOW THAT MARIA’S MOM IS OK), tell Maria about aliens, face Jesse Manes, get Michael a piece of the spaceship, find out what the fuck was up w Noah and rosa, interrogate Noah and unravel the serial killing, have isobel deal w the fact she’s been violated and gaslit for years, get Liz closure on rosa’s death, likely have isobel face Noah and win, likely something bad will happen to Arturo, have Michael and max fight AGAIN, have Michael decide to stay/go, deliver some kind of interim resolution on the romantic relationships, AND end on a cliffhanger. I also firmly believe someone will be badly wounded or killed. We have like 84 minutes left!

[weenies]

also as far as I’m concerned there isn’t a love triangle at the moment. alex has expressed on multiple occasions that he doesn’t want to pursue a relationship. whether that changes in the future or not is a different story but as of right now he’s made it clear to michael he doesn’t want to date him

[pinwheelings]

I don’t really get what you’re saying. We the audience know that Alex is in love with Michael and so does Maria because he told her and they’re close friends. Maria is friends with Alex and developing Feelings for Michael. Michael has been in love with Alex and is developing Feelings for Maria. Three points, messy romantic entanglements, with Michael splitting his affections between the two. Michael is a free agent in charge of his own life, but I don’t really think the lack of moral judgment makes it less of a love triangle — it feels like a pretty classic love triangle to me. Are you saying that Michael isn’t KNOWINGLY starting a love triangle because he and Alex are broken up? Sorry, this isn’t meant to be aggressive, I am genuinely asking.

[pinwheelings]

i’m pretty yikes @ noah being the fourth, murderous alien. i know it was heavily telegraphed but i didn’t want to believe it because it just made me feel icky! it seems like it’s not a good look considering all the political allegory stuff they’re trying to sell. it’s like -- not all aliens are bad, but the only nonwhite alien being bad is maybe not the best way to approach it. 

also i feel REALLY BAD FOR ISOBEL. i think the writers (and carina) have done a shit job of developing her character, which means the reveal packs way less of a punch than it could have (also how they literally fridged her in a giant egg just to further max’s sadness development. infuriating). but so far it sounds like: on top of having her body possessed and being lied to for ten years by her own brothers, she’s been married to someone who deliberately targeted and likely gaslit her for years. like she must be running her whole life through her mind right now, trying to figure out what was real and what wasn’t and how much she can really trust her own experiences and thoughts. 

if when isobel was blacked out in 105, she was being controlled by noah, then what was she doing? i also wonder if noah was TRYING to trigger an episode in isobel when he threw her out (also can noah like exist in his own body and simultaneously control someone else?) -- but because her feelings for him don’t run as deep as they do for max and michael (which is its own mess), it backfired. or maybe he was trying to just manipulate her further? i guess his reason for punching the mirror and trying to implicate max has something to do with control: isobel is his to control as long has he’s above suspicion and having her withhold information from him was infuriating and messing with his plans (whatever those are). also being violated in mind and in body by someone who is manipulating you who purports to love you ... idk!!!!! there are def some rapey allegory things happening!! IDK!!!! i feel like there’s A LOT to unpack here in terms of trauma and i do not even know where to start!!!!! how can she ever trust anyone ever again after everything. 

ALSO i think it’s interesting that even though max is the hero that he simply currently has way less Therapy Shit to work through than Isobel and Michael. i don’t really know where i’m going with this, but Isobel and Michael have some Serious Abuse Issues they need to deal with and idk if max’s story is about helping them or what? i feel like often the hero is the one who is the most Fucked Up and I think Max’s biggest issues are his anger, his shitty coping mechanisms, and his selfishness. 

maybe this will all be a red herring or something but I AM FEELING FOR ISOBEL even though i think the show does her dirty and i still think that alex and isobel should form a support group. 

[joannestorm]

Alex Manes’ Military Career

I’m sure this is going to get Jossed the moment the writers get a lightbulb moment, but here is a possible timeline for Alex’s last 10 years. (Hopefully I can get the formatting to work this...

So, my big ass post with a possible timeline for Alex’s military career is not showing up in the Roswell New Mexico or Alex Manes tags.  Maybe because it has too many links?  Even after removing links, it does not show up.  

So, hopefully a single link will post.

[pinwheelings]

so... isobel’s dissociative episodes are likely not extraterrestrial in origin, but actually are brought on by trauma and her deep fear of abandonment (she should bond w alex!! they could talk about their abandonment issues!) like max originally thought, but the fact that she has time makes her vulnerable to a mind controlling alien. cool. and the guy who first tried to abduct isobel was likely being controlled by the alien, who finds its prey (or whatever) at the wild pony’s community/drifter night, which has been going on since our heroes were kids. but the Evil Alien only started killing (THAT WE KNOW OF) with rosa’s death so it was just like.. lying low for four years between trying abduct isobel and murdering rosa. i guess?

also, i loved the scenes but lmao like building a space ship console is one fraction of michael’s logistical problems. is he gonna attach it to his chevy, pick a direction and hope he gets past pluto in the next decade? is he gonna fly at LIGHT SPEED? is he gonna... build a wormhole (he’s definitely gonna build a wormhole lol).he doesn’t even know the general direction of his home planet, much less if it even still exists. i know they’ve talked before about their family dying on that ship, but they have no reason to think they were on some ill-fated intergalactic family roadtrip to shores of arcturus or whatever. it’s just as likely they were fleeing something and there’s no home to go back to. anyway it’s very sweet and very sad that michael holds onto that project as his security blanket because to think that his only home is on earth is too painful and hopeless for him. 

also like alex flipped that michael was planning to leave the planet and was planning to drink away his sorrows but was still hopeful enough that maria picked up on it? what a love stricken idiot. 

and i’m sad for maria. also i’m sad for alex. and i’m sad for michael. they are all so alone right now!! michael’s little bummed out face when maria to him he had to leave (also lmao at everyone throwing alex in michael’s face when he would like to JUST FORGET, PLEASE). i feel like they’re all trying their best and i’m bummed that this has created a fracture in alex and maria’s relationship. it seems like mimi served as a surrogate mom/safe space for both liz and alex and idk i hope they can move past it for real (no one is buying alex’s tight little okay lmao). i liked that alex like came to find liz to yell at her for being a bad friend and then he was at the bar asking about maria’s mom last episode. i want this human friendship to thrive and i feel like ummm we both have Feelings for an unwashed alien is not gonna help. 

i was honestly a little unsure how to read the alex/maria scene. it didn’t seem like he was planning to confront her but once maria brought it up his defenses immediately went up and he lashed out? like he definitely could have... chosen different words lmao (”you already knew that didn’t you!!” like damn dude) even though he immediately acknowledges she couldn’t have known (i really wanted him to make a joke like “how could you have? it’s not like you’re psychi--oh wait” but whatever this show isn’t as funny as i am). idk and it’s like -- i guess the audience assumes that maria knows alex well and isn’t bothered by his lashing out, but you kind of have to make that leap?

we didn’t get much new plot this week, which was annoying. what’s up with the plotting on this show? very excited to see alex and magoo (i love him) to like hardy boys out to some old prison or whatever. LOVE A GOOD HAUNTED OLD PRISON. 

i feel like liz & max and iz & noah are too happy right now with three episodes to go. bring on the angst. 

[pinwheelings]

Obviously Alex was busy in this episode anyway, but considering he asked about Mimi the night before, any takers on the theory that Maria didn’t invite him along to the faith healer because she thought it might be painful for him because of something with his mom? Either simply because Alex’s relationship with his mom is so degraded he rejects anything that even looks Native (which I would find FASCINATING and a huge area for growth) or specifically related to faith healing because, you know, he’s more of an old fashioned military guy which has been instilled in him by his dad?

EDITED TO ADD: the way Alex chokes up when he says “I can’t go in blind” to Kyle is... everything to me. I LOVE HIM!

Also everyone is so stoked about that final Alex/Michael interaction but it sounds to me like Michael knows the jig is up and he’s asking is Alex more interested in WHO he is versus WHAT he is (& Alex is like BOTH U DUMBASS I AM LITERALLY CRYING RN BC I LOVE YOU SO MUCH).

this is the last thing & i don’t want to open myself up to hate... but it’s pretty hard to be mad about how sweet/joyful/happy michael was with maria, as opposed to alex who so far has mostly just made him miserable. the camera really lingered on michael’s charmed expression when maria was out there just being her bright, shiny self and he definitely didn’t seem to think this was a one-time hook up. i ship michael/alex hardcore and really believe in the effort that the show has put behind them, but... michael deserves someone who actually makes him happy. idk i feel like actually alex would agree that michael deserves to be happy. 

[meneatyoghurt]

Alex’s military career…

He has a:

Purple Heart - for being wounded in service

Presumably other medals???

He was recommended for:

Air Force Medal - does Cameron mean the Medal of Honor here? Not sure. There are lots of other options…

Air Force Cross - second highest award (after Medal of Honor) you can get in the USAF for extraordinary heroism in combat

He has completed:

3 deployments in total

2 tours with “the highest regarded regarded air expeditionary group” - no specifics so not sure if it’s meant to be any group in particular; tbh I’m not even sure how active the USAF even is in Iraq anymore??

He is:

A captain(?)

A codebreaker/tech guy (who has hacked into Chinese and Russian intelligence) - i.e. is a clever clogs

At the end of his enlistment - so retiring soon? Or hoping to.

Have I missed anything?

Give me more. I’m hungry for for Alex backstory and character development.

[suzteel]

But also like how does Alex feel about his service record? Is he proud of it? Does he think of it as a giant middle finger to his dad? Does he feel like he doesn’t deserve any of it? A little of all of the above?

Because despite being clearly very, very good at his job, he didn’t chose the military life. His father did. Does the praise he receives for his service just serve to remind him of that fact?

[brunol]

sneak peek spoilers ep9

[maxortecho]

Hmm I still disagree with the assessment that Isobel/Michael were just followers of a Max-enforced ‘stay a secret’ rule.

In 1x01, Isobel says:

“Don’t worry? I have been worried my entire life that someone would find out about us. That we would end up dissected, imprisoned. I am married to someone who can’t ever know who I am, and that kills me. But I keep this secret because you, me and Michael swore that we would.”

Which seems more group-based than Max-based.

In 1x03, when Max says:

“Just because you’re jealous that someone knows the truth about me when your whole marriage is built on a lie…”

Which sounds to me like Max is not actually anti sharing the (non-murder) secret, and would not be angry if Isobel decided to trust Noah.

In 1x05, when Michael says:

“And you’ve made the rules our entire lives.”

I think this is the line that gets taken as fact, but it feels faulty to me. It’s an overly defensive comment by Michael right after he and Isobel were caught out on sending Liz away to prevent Max from sharing the secret. This entire scene is made up of Max, Isobel, and Michael trying to shift blame onto each other out of anger.

Like I’ve been trying to understand the line of thought that ‘Max is a hypocrite to Isobel/Michael because he told Liz’, and I’m wondering if the different interpretations of the above quotes is where the fandom divergence occurs. Because the overall impression I get is that Max has never been 100% against sharing the alien secret, and that fact scared Isobel/Michael enough to act out of self-preservation.

[lizacstuff]

I totally agree with this @maxortecho  Also I think the rest of that Michael quote is important: 

“You made the rules our entire lives, never be extraordinary.”

He doesn’t accuse Max of being a hypocrite, which if Max’s rule had been to tell no one, that would be the perfect moment to whip that fact out. But, nope, instead Michael clarifies that Max’s rule is never be extraordinary. To me that means Max was a proponent of them not standing out, which is not the same as not telling those closest to them. This makes sense with what we know of his character, the book worm, standing on the outside looking in, making moon eyes at Liz instead of asking her out years earlier, according to Liz he’s “brilliant” but he stayed in the small town and became a Sheriff’s deputy in order to hide in plain sight.  Max was the one who wanted to tell Liz 10 years ago and he caved super fast when she got to town. I think that illustrates that he was never fully bought-in on the extreme secrecy part of their “pact.”

Also in the pilot, Isobel says in reaction to Max saying he wants to tell Liz:

“Michael would never forgive you.”

Character wise it makes sense that Michael would be the one who was more adamant about not telling anyone. Growing up, Max had loving parents, people who cared for him and protected him, Michael did not. Then his encounter with an adult authority figure in the form of Alex’s dad was nothing but negative.  It makes sense that Michael would be more skeptical of humans where as Max is more willing to trust. 

So far I’ve noticed a tendency among some fans to place Max on different footing than his Alien siblings.  He’s held to a higher standard, like he has to be the adult while the others can act up and not get dinged for it. For instance,  Michael can violently throw Max across the room in the pilot with his Alien powers and no one says a word, but Max shoves Michael when he hears that Michael/Isobel sent Liz away 10 years ago and never told him and there’s an uproar about Max’s violence. It’s an interesting reaction to the characters to say the least.  I do wonder if any of it’s hangover from the original Roswell where Max was the leader and could be dictatorial. To me they haven’t necessarily established that here. 

[maxortecho]

Great additions!

Yeah, I think Michael has been conditioned from his bad experiences and so he has the most fear (for himself, and for Isobel/Max). I think it’s also forgotten that Michael actually held quite a bit of power in the pod squad dynamic, because he was the only one who held all the information. He still does to a certain extent - I’m pretty sure he’s the only one in the pod squad that knows about the alien tech. Max doesn’t seem interested in the idea of returning ‘home’ so fair enough, but I do wonder why Isobel doesn’t seem to know about this either.

Anyway it’s fascinating to me because Michael lacks so much power compared to Isobel/Max in terms of their human lives (SES, etc), but I feel he has more leverage than them in terms of their alien lives. It’s a really compelling inversion.

Ahhh yeah, agreed, there were completely different responses to Michael throwing Max across a room in 1x01 vs Max shoving Michael in 1x05.

[pinwheelings]

fascinating! it had not occurred to me that i was holding onto max as the leader from the original. i will say that it does seem like both isobel  and max also hold max to a higher standard -- remember isobel’s outraged “you’re hitting him now?”, probably for all the reasons listed here about max and isobel being loved and supported while michael wasn’t. i do think maybe michael looks up to max in someways, which is why he was so heartbroken when he realized how furious with him max was in 107. 

i think michael probably hasn’t told isobel about wanting to leave for the same reason he lied to her about rosa’s death: he didn’t think she could handle it because she’s so invested in this dream of them being a happy little family. just like he’d never revealed to her he used to wait out in the desert until his family picked him up. in 106, we see michael and max fooling around with michael’s powers openly, and isobel makes a reference to manipulating the teacher’s mind, which seems to imply they were a lot less cautious pre rosa’s death. once they had this secret about rosa, max and isobel decide to lay low, while michael goes totally in the opposite direction -- maybe because michael feels doubly alone with the weight of twin secrets. i think diving into his alien side is the only way that michael feels he can get leverage. 

anyway, thank you to you both for great meta! i live for this stuff and i feel like it’s hard to come by in this tiny fandom. 

[pinwheelings]

my kingdom for a scene in which one of the humans is genuinely delighted by the aliens’ powers. i know they have good reason to be terrified and mad at this point but MICHAEL CAN MOVE SHIT WITH HIS MIND and no one has been like “ok that’s actually extremely cool.” 

[pinwheelings]

PLOT TWIST: alex’s mom is alive!! my fic has totally been jossed. and he only called her after he basically stalked the hell out of his dad. fascinating. the show seems to really be leaning into the “troubled/estranged mom” trope (a personal favorite of mine), which i love. i REALLY loved mrs evans -- she’ll always be aeryn sun to me! -- from a storytelling standpoint; she’s both needy and withholding in all the right ways. isobel saying “we should call mom” tearfully was heartbreaking and MAX COLLAPSING INTO HER ARMS SOBBING. ugh, reminds me of liz being like ‘i’m not done being taken care of’ on prom night. 

aside: max telling isobel i wish i loved you less brought all the tears. honestly i am loving max as someone who is basically an emotional, rage-filled moron who buries everything about himself until it comes erupting out. even michael holds himself in better check than max does lmao. 

[midnightsfp]

Heather and Tyler’s stories; press images

[sinmonger]

What if it had been Alex Manes?

[pinwheelings]

have we talked about the difference between what max and michael are saying here? “leaving” versus “going to war” (which is something that’s been repeated -- kyle and alex also used this phrase so idk if it’s lazy writing to remind us alex is a veteran or what). it’s interesting to me that all four manes sons are “war heroes,” which seems to imply that deploying to dangerous overseas positions and being decorated for them is a rite of passage for them -- so alex probably volunteered for a combat assignment (repeatedly it sounds like!), which is an interesting tidbit about his character. also this conversation seems to imply that alex enlisted directly instead of going to the air force academy, which means he got a bachelor’s degree at some point, but it could just be michael’s hyper focus on harm coming to alex. 

[pinwheelings]

can’t believe there’s no gifset of max ‘dumbass’ evans talking about that stupid symbol being something he just drew as a kid against it showing up literally everywhere!! i was wondering why max would be so dumb as to get that thing tattooed on his body so i am REALLY HOPING it’s true he had zero idea it was an alien symbol. i love this piece of information because it highlights how completely and utterly in the dark they are. 

also implies that michael and isobel are not familiar with the symbol either. it’s not on that piece of alien shrapnel michael has. that they didn’t also draw it as kids and it wasn’t recognizable to them when they saw max drawing it.