I like to imagine Rose’s brothers gave her shit for not sticking it out with Shane Hollander long enough for him to meet the family then when they find out it’s because Shane is gay they give her shit for not passing him along to one of them and she’s like??? you’re not gay??? to which they’re like !!!! everyone’s gay for Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov ain’t special
There’s just something about Dallas Kent getting poc Troy Barrett to validate racist shit he says on the ice while also goading him to add his own esp about/to Shane. I think Kent would feel so powerful doing this and to wrap it up with the usual horrors that they perpetuate just drags Troy further into the torment nexus. I know we see a lot of Troy doing the work to undo the harm he’s done in regards to misogyny and homophobia but there’s no way he didn’t spout some truly awful racism he learned from his dad to get a smile out of Dallas and blend with the others. Thoughts? I think it makes for some spice when Shane joins the Centaurs
yes yes exactly this! Troy's thinking in the canon was that no one would suspect him of being gay if he aligned himself with k*nt - the "friendship" was as much a shield as it was a boon - and we know that k*nt was written to be scum of the earth, there's no way that man isn't also a racist pos
and I have met MULTIPLE poc who hang around with racist assholes and are not only fine being the "token poc friend" for them to lean on, but actively take part in the racism to fit in and be seen as "better" than their own people. its heartbreaking but I can see that same thing happening for troy so clearly! especially if his dad was the same way, since his dad clearly loves k*nt and supports him. the slurs they throw around would never be used on him because he's Not Like Them
and it'd definitely be interesting when Shane joins the team, but he's far from the only poc on the cens, Bood canonically and other characters in fanon. its another layer of Troy having to redeem himself from the image he created to protect himself
I hate TV shows' stance on vasectomy. It is a small procedure that amounts to the least you can do for your partner. The least you can do for your partner is also a way to show your love: "Honey, I went through a non-invasive procedure, so you don't have to ever push a watermelon out of a small hole or go through pregnancy or miscarriage/abortion ever again."
Why do these characters act like they're being asked to be castrated ?
Why is it okay to lie to your partner about having it done?
Why are the women in this situation treated like they are overreacting to being lied to about something that affects them?
Phil Dunphy (Modern Family) is nervous, and that is okay because he talks to his wife, and they both decide to wait.
Burt Chance (Raising Hope) is nervous and not sure if he truly doesn't want any more children, but he goes through with it after talking to his son.
Hal Notlastname (Malcolm in the Middle) doesn't want to have the surgery, and instead of talking to his wife, he lies to her and pretends he had a vasectomy.
Oh my gosh, thank you for this ask! I have so many thoughts on Marian, I'm thinking about her literally all the time ahhhhhh!!!
Most importantly, I love her in the new adaptation! Her storyline is one of the standout elements of the show, imo, and Lauren McQueen's performance is exquisite. I love that they have not taken the approach of what I call "shield-maiden feminism" (i.e. badass GIRL who KICKS ASS being the only female archetype valued in the narrative. No offense to BBC Marian! I love her and she was a foundational character for me, but my tastes have changed. I also enjoy this trope much more when its played equally with other versions of womanhood, such as Ralph - who elevates the "shield-maiden" trope by being a visibly queer woman!).
Instead, Robin Hood (2025)'s Marian is an abused and sheltered girl who nevertheless feels very strongly about her complicity in the system of Norman apartheid, and who acts from her heart despite her fear. I love her relationships with Priscilla, Eleanor, and Celene (WOMEN!!!!!!!!), I love that even though Priscilla is originally set up as the "bad girl" to Marian's "good girl," it's clear that they actually have so much more in common, and that Marian is just as sexually desirous as Priscilla (the way women initiate/pursue all the sexual relationships in the show -- we love to see it!)
I love that Marian's path takes her into the palace, and that Rob's entanglement with court intrigue is mostly just a way to remain close to Marian, against the wishes of most of his allies. I loveeee her age-gap yuri mentor-mentee vibe with Queen Eleanor, and the way Marian's becoming entangled in the Plantagenet succession drama. I'm very intrigued by what's going on with Prince John and I'm also lowkey (highkey) obsessed with her toxic little dynamic with Will (I think she should step on him and make Rob jealous!!!!)
Mostly I just love her characterization. I'm working on a Marian POV fic for 1 x 07 and 1 x 08, and I've been having SO much fun exploring her interiority because there's so much to explore! How traumatized she is, but how she resists acting from a place of trauma. Her self-doubt contrasted with her fierce sense of morality. Her family relationships, her hatred of her father, her grief over Aronne, her conflicted feelings for Rob, her desire to serve Eleanor, her sexuality - which is SUCH a breath of fresh air to write, because it's clear that while Marian is virginal, she is hardly ignorant, and she's able to make sexual and romantic decisions from a place of agency. GAHHHHH I JUST LOVE HER SO MUCH OKAY.
This is also a really good opportunity to talk about Marian as the Ballad Heroine, which I'm literally never not thinking about. So let's get into some sources.
One of the most popular arguments in Robin Hood scholarship is that Marian's entry into the myth represents Robin's "gentrification" as a folk hero. This argument states that the outlaw archetype in English folklore is traditionally a solo archetype, and that only when Robin becomes a Lord does Marian enter the narrative, because a Lord needs a Lady to bear his children. For a very good introduction and summary of Marian's role in the early texts and how she has been interpreted by later authors, I recommend the "Maid Marian" essay from Stephen Knight from the Robbins Library Digital Robin Hood project, found here. Knight states: "Marian is, it appears, primarily invoked by the gender-related concerns of the social environment in which she appears: she does not resist authority so much as represent a changing alternative to it," and "Gender-related forces both benign and malignant swirl around this potent but often enigmatic figure."
Knight also points out a long-standing relationship between Robin Hood and the female forest archetype, which may or may not be related to Marian, but is very much related to Robin Hood (2025)'s framing of Rob's Godda-worship: "As the English outlaw tradition is evidenced in references and early ballads, Robin is hostile to social and religious authority, and there is no role for Marian. This seems simply realistic. Men tended to live as outlaws in summer, and in small groups, often with relatives and friends, and they did not take their womenfolk to the wilds with them. It might seem no accident that Robin's only loyalty across gender in the early ballads is to the Virgin Mary. At the end of the Gest he does claim to the king he has created a forest chapel to St Mary Magdalene, who might be seen as the good outlaw of the New Testament. It is possible to read both of these religious Maries as a stand-in for Marian, bringing limited aspects of the female into the forest story, but they do not of course survive the reformation."
My issue with most of the scholarship on Marian's role in the RH mythos is that it holds Robin as the primary character and Marian as a later addition, invented to serve Rob's story. I argue that this is a flawed and very male-centric way of understanding the folkloric and ballad tradition, although one that is not surprising given the lack of feminist perspectives in historic and modern English ballad scholarship. There is ample evidence that Marian herself was related to existing folkloric characters. In his Stations of the Sun, Ronald Hutton devotes an entire chapter to the role of Marian in English Mayday celebrations, and the lovers Marian and Robin (not Robin the outlaw, but Robin the love interest) are found in French balladry and folk literature dating back to the 13th century. There is also a long tradition of English romantic balladry featuring a ballad heroine with a first name starting with "Ma-". Matilda, Marian, and Margaret are all common names used for this character. I call her the Ballad Heroine and argue that she has not received enough scholarship as a folkloric character of her own in English ballad studies.
She is a romantic heroine, usually the protagonist of her own story, and her romantic pursuits are often framed as a tragedy which illustrates the failures of the existing family or system. Her choice of romantic partner is usually unsuitable, or "othered" in some way, by society, warfare, his own family, or hers, etc. This creates a tension in the ballad narrative between the heroine's own romantic choices and the choices of those who have power over her -- a form of female romantic resistance which has become fundamental to the modern English romance genre. Often, the male lover tests the Ballad Heroine's love in some way -- he may "come back wrong" from the wars, or reveal himself as more-than-human, or set riddles for the Ballad Heroine to work out. But whether or not she plays his game, whether she continues pledging her love or reneges on their relationship -- this choice is left to the Heroine herself.
When we explore the tropes related to the Ballad Heroine, it becomes easy to see how the outlaw Robin Hood may have been an ideal love interest for her, rather than Marian simply existing as an addendum to Robin's outlaw narrative. I argue that it is more accurate to say that these two ballad traditions became merged through the enactment of popular Robin Hood pageantry, the acceleration of the broadsheet ballad printing, and the production of Robin Hood plays by literate authors, all which increased in the 15th and 16th centuries, when we first see Marian enter the RH narrative.
We can see how this is all relevant to Robin Hood (2025)'s characterization of Marian, with Marian acting from a place of romantic agency, despite the familial violence she's subjected to as a consequence, and with her "tragic romance" illustrating much more about herself as a character and the system that she resists than most people give such narratives credit for.
Anyway, I have a lot more to say about this, but I'm gonna cut it short. If you've read this far, have another gif of peak Ballad Heroine Marian for your troubles.
[Roud 484 - Modern Performance]
THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK I LOVE INFO DUMPING ABOUT BLORBO FROM MY ROMANTIC BALLAD
There's never been a fandom ghost like Cliff Marleau. He's a vampire. He's an ally. He's a latent bisexual. He a little confused but he got the spirit. He's imprinted on Ilya like a duckling. He has three sisters, all of them lesbians. He is 42. He is 28. He's French Canadian. He's from Florida. He is being psychosexually tormented by his best friend's thot husband. He is Hollanov's platonic third. He has a beautiful, terrifying wife. He's made out with Ilya but they were in Paris it's chill. Of course he's slept with men he's a fucking hockey player. He is Ilya's ex-husband.
Okay another thing I haven't seen talked about enough is how they made the Heated Rivalry sex scenes realistic instead of screen-perfect and how that just makes them all the better. Where other shows/movies would've cut from them kissing at the door to suddenly being naked and horizontal, Heated Rivalry chose to show some of the awkward transition and I love them for it.
Like yes, Ilya would be falling back on the bed with his dick out and his shoes still on, because when did he have time to take them off? And yes sometimes the momentum does get killed a little at random points in the getting naked process, leading to an awkward "what do you want to do? I don't know" where you kinda have to just push through and then it gets hot and heavy again. And once again clothes don't just magically disappear, so sometimes when you do the very hot "pick up your partner and carry them to the bed" move, you're waddling a bit because your pants are around your thighs.
And this doesn't mean the sex isn't mindblowing!! Awkward moments are a part of sex, even really amazing sex, and I think the world be a better place if media didn't shy away from this. I feel like normally we only see awkward parts of sex being portrayed for comedy, usually between two people who aren't "meant to be", while soulmate sex is always shown as being beautiful and perfect and curiously absent of any of the awkward realities.
So thank you Heated Rivalry for showing us that even between two people who are extremely compatible, it doesn't have to be perfect to be sexy. In fact, it might be even better that way, because it's real.
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