cla

not now kitten the walls are closing on mommy (currently Pittpilled)

[loo-nuh-tik]

#foreshadowing

Half Man (2026)

[pythia113]

There is a scene in episode 2 (if i remember correctly) where Ruben offers Celeste drugs and Niall is shocked, asking her if she even cares what it is before taking it.

Years later, there is Niall in a police station (after the chemsex party) implying that he didn't know what kind of drugs he was on at the moment of his incident, so he just took what was offered.

I don't really know where i am going with this you know, just wanted to point out a parellel while i should be studying for my finals.

[edgeplaymotif]

i hope ava and mona never let those kids meet deadass

[chaosinstigator]

let me be superficial for a moment; ruben’s tummy, that is all

[gay-manousos-truther]

the smash cut from present-day niallruben hug to “call me daddy” is INSANE I’m still recovering from it.. ​the undercurrent of Ruben in every sexual encounter Niall has.. how it’s intertwined with Niall’s internalised bottomphobia…

[dawnstruck]

Only now realizing how Ruben did not kill Alby or Benji. He disfigured them, scarred them for life. And he served time for it, which he obviously regrets more than the actual violence itself. But he did not kill them.

On the other hand, while he didn't make Niall ugly like he once threatened, he did kill him. He killed him brutally but beautifully, Niall's familiar face left intact.

All this rage, but it was love that made Ruben snap fully.

Ruben was there when Niall had sex for the first time. And Niall was there when Ruben killed for the first time.

[pythia113]

Corporate needs you to find the difference between these two pictures

[pythia113]

I don't know if someone already pointed it out, but i noticed how between Niall and Ruben there is always someone that acts as a conduit for their intimacy.

First we have Mona, during the scene where Niall loses his virginity. Niall's body is focused on Mona's (it has to be) but his mind and attention is fully on Ruben. Ruben is leading the act and Mona looks almost like a physical intermediary. Not to mention Ruben's closeness during it. Even Alby, after knowing this, says to Niall that "no doubt Ruben feels like a part of him". Also, this one of the endless ways Ruben owns Niall's body (deciding when and how he "becomes a man" and guiding him through it).

Then there's Celeste. During the spin the bottle scene she kisses Ruben first and then Niall a few seconds later. Like the act went through her. Also Celeste is first interested in Niall but ultimately choses Ruben, but this is probably a way for Ruben to "impose" his masculinity.

Going back to Mona, as an adult now. She has an affair with Niall and bears his child but of course Ruben thinks he is the father. If you squint it's almost like they have a child together, through Mona again.

Last but not least there is probably Alby. During the wedding Ruben and Niall isolate from the world, like they always did. As if the wedding (where Niall finally joins a man he loves) instead of being the beginning of Niall's life with Alby is the ending of Niall's life with Ruben (which is basically the end of his OWN life because of Ruben, because they are bound together. And again, Ruben deciding what to do with Niall's body, when and how). The story being written it's not with Alby, but with Ruben. And in a way Niall did join a man he loved in the finale. But it wasn't Alby.

I don't know if this has any sense, Half Man was such an incredible work and i wanted to share some thoughts

[pythia113]

ALSO i have noticed something else

Both Ruben and Niall end up marrying a person from their past. Ruben marries his highschool girlfriend and Niall marries the first boy he is intimate with in college.

It's obvious they really can't move on from the past, but there's something else. Both Mona and Alby are a constant reminder of Ruben (for Niall) and Niall (for Ruben).

Ruben marries the woman who took Niall's virginity (despite the act being organized by Ruben himself).

Niall marries the man who will always wear the marks of Ruben's violence on his skin. Everytime he looks or touches Alby he is reminded of Ruben.

So they end up living with eachother's echoes, basically.

Yeah no i am not crying, i just have a kilt in my eye.

[pythia113]

I don't know if someone already pointed it out, but i noticed how between Niall and Ruben there is always someone that acts as a conduit for their intimacy.

First we have Mona, during the scene where Niall loses his virginity. Niall's body is focused on Mona's (it has to be) but his mind and attention is fully on Ruben. Ruben is leading the act and Mona looks almost like a physical intermediary. Not to mention Ruben's closeness during it. Even Alby, after knowing this, says to Niall that "no doubt Ruben feels like a part of him". Also, this one of the endless ways Ruben owns Niall's body (deciding when and how he "becomes a man" and guiding him through it).

Then there's Celeste. During the spin the bottle scene she kisses Ruben first and then Niall a few seconds later. Like the act went through her. Also Celeste is first interested in Niall but ultimately choses Ruben, but this is probably a way for Ruben to "impose" his masculinity.

Going back to Mona, as an adult now. She has an affair with Niall and bears his child but of course Ruben thinks he is the father. If you squint it's almost like they have a child together, through Mona again.

Last but not least there is probably Alby. During the wedding Ruben and Niall isolate from the world, like they always did. As if the wedding (where Niall finally joins a man he loves) instead of being the beginning of Niall's life with Alby is the ending of Niall's life with Ruben (which is basically the end of his OWN life because of Ruben, because they are bound together. And again, Ruben deciding what to do with Niall's body, when and how). The story being written it's not with Alby, but with Ruben. And in a way Niall did join a man he loved in the finale. But it wasn't Alby.

I don't know if this has any sense, Half Man was such an incredible work and i wanted to share some thoughts

[messymindofmine]

Something that I often feel is lacking in TV shows nowadays and something that I think Richard Gadd does really well is how he injects humour into his shows. Granted it's the darkest of humour but it still has a way of making me laugh even in the tensest of moments. Like Niall tearing his room apart and smashing everything Ruben had paid for only to falter and start stammering how "that's fine" when it comes to the signed Harrison Ford poster. There are so many similar moments where I was on the edge of my seat only for a slight little remark or moment from a character or in a scene that makes me snort with laughter. Or sometimes make me shake my head in bemusement about how a serious scene could become so strangely funny. It was the same with Baby Reindeer. I know Richard Gadd started off as a comedian and it shows in the ways he weaves the dark comedy in his script and in his characters. As someone who is quite picky about my comedy, I think that's a very underrated quality and he does it so brilliantly in my opinion.

[raven--stag]

richard gadd i'm engraving your awards as we speak

[electric-blopp]

Just finished Half Man last night. The ending was a bit jarring. It kind of felt like we spent too little time with Niall’s reveal for the conclusion to be fulfilling, and I was not sure how to feel about it.

Woke up with a heavy chest, rethought it, and realized the finale actually did fit the show’s overall misery and desperation themes perfectly and 'fulfilling' was never meant for this. Now, after finally crying my eyes out over the doomed, suffering men and their inevitable end, I am somehow free (and still devastated). I do wish we could spend one more episode with them though.

Richard Gadd and the entire cast created unspeakably compelling characters in a way that feels so intimate that you can feel their breathing against your ear, and they become your friends, your family, and yourself all at once.

High off of it.

[sunshinevettel]

Under cars, on top of bookcases, at the end of the road in other people's gardens.

[tabortrillion]

And if I said Niall embodies the innocence Ruben lost to his father and the softness that life wrung out of him and that Ruben embodies the rage Niall has suppressed in himself his whole life and the confidence that life leeched out of him early on, that they found the missing pieces of themselves in each other so how could they ever possibly give the other up fully, what then huh?

[putrefae]

ruben soothing niall at first. guiding his breath. promising that everything is going to be okay and niall somehow believing him, at least for one stupid moment, despite despite despite

[haggravated-lassault]

[louisegluckpdf]

gay weddings are pretty much the same as straight weddings except for the part where one of the grooms has to wait for permission from his brotherloverabuser to say “i do”

[pythia113]

Real television is back you guys