#depp analysis

[megadan94]

Something I found interesting about Badyah's Twilight daydream of Norma and Zagan, is that despite Zagan being a better fit for Edward in every way, Norma was the Edward character, and Zagan was Bella.

Think about that, in Badyah's fantasy, she went out of her way to make Norma the object of attraction, and the person kissing her the self insert. In a fantasy that's supposed to be about what Norma wants.

Yep, very heterosexual, extremely so.

[mandareeboo]

It took me two watches of Dead End season 2 for it to click but Fingers is The Hand of God

FUCK

[megadan94]

A lot of us are assuming that Badyah is aroace based on her "I'm straight, I think", but I think that could just as easily point to her being bi.

She did express interest in Josh, so she might've just realised she was into boys, and then never introspected further, or considered that she can like more than one gender. She also defaulted to trying to pair Norma up with another girl, which could just be her trying to make as few assumptions as possible about her sexuality, but could also be her assuming that Norma is only interested in girls.

I think it would be interesting to see a same-gender relationship between two bi people, we've already got a relationship between two gay people with Barney and Logs, now we can get another same-gender relationship but bisexual.

Maybe next season, Norma will casually mention being interested in a boy, and Badyah will be like "Wait, I thought you liked girls???", and when Norma explains that she's bi, that opens up the idea to Badyah that liking girls too is an option.

[mandareeboo]

What are your thoughts on how Pauline’s victims are doing?

Uhhhhh gone? I think they're gone. Courtney says that you lose yourself after enough time "behind stage", and Jennifer- only missing for a year- seemed pretty damn close. She couldn't communicate properly, she couldn't express her emotions, she could only do what she'd done her whole life; ask if someone wanted pictures or autographs. The other hosts are either dead after Pauline left them or comatose.

And we know Jennifer was a short-term possession- Barborah worked for Pauline for, what was it, fifteen years- and it's impossible for us to tell how much of that she was possessed, but she did say Pauline stole her youth, so I'm guessing 5-10 of those years. I'm more curious how she stayed cognoscente so long.

[mandareeboo]

I don’t know if you’ll see this, but I think Courtney’s and finger’s history runs deeper than we know, and will be explored in season 3. Seriously, I think Courtney ran a rebellion or did something that pissed fingers off in a personal way.

Oh I DEFINITELY think there's a lot more to it than Courtney's divulging. Courtney was terrified when Fingers came out of the elevator- and she knew who and what Fingers was. She makes a break for it and tries to get help- when does Courtney ever willingly ask for help? Ever??- and even hides in the rafters to avoid them, to the point she almost watched her friends get murdered.

There's also Fingers' power to give life. It's a great power, but it's clearly one they use entirely for fun. I mean, we all saw the butterfly, right? Fingers killed it just to bring it back to life. And they didn't seem inherently vindictive- they seem fascinated, as if in awe of what they can do. And Courtney straight-up says that she expects to be "punished" when Fingers appears for losing her cuffs. That feels like a terrifying, loaded cocktail.

If this was a one-off meeting, Courtney likely wouldn't even remember Fingers. We see how spotty her memory is constantly! She doesn't remember where she's from, what she did, etc etc. Fingers has clearly come to Earth before- and they likely did something shitty to Courtney during her confinement there. And if Fingers (and the angels) weren't tapped into fucking everything, being omniscient and all, I'm sure she'd be happy to spill that tea and get Fingers out of her house- but she can't, and she won't risk her friends OR herself.

[mandareeboo]

Here's a thought- if the cuffs were what kept Courtney from going to the lower planes and she's got the teleporting powers of angels, she might be some kind of "fallen angel", and the cuffs were less of a curse and more of a deterrent as angels either wouldn't be allowed or wouldn't want to go into hell.

If that's the case, then Courtney really balled hard to punish herself. Her song was all about how she "deserves" to be in hell because she's fits all the sins. If it was just "I'm a demon lemme be with demon" that'd make sense, but that seems more like... "I can't atone let me feel bad for it"

Also, that WOULD explain why Temeluches offered her diplomatic immunity before he left. Because she'd be in a pretty dangerous place.

[mandareeboo]

Courtney looking up instead of down when dreaming about hell could just be a joke on how people usually look up when singing about their dreams, but what if Courtney’s just subconsciously reaching towards “home” instead of hell. Meaning heaven since she might be a fallen angel

I've been thinking about it a lot, and the more I think the more convinced I am that Courtney is from heaven, or purgatory, or one of the above, and she's simply lying about it to avoid endangering herself. Evidence:

Episode 1: she keeps referring to everyone around her as "fellow demons" but is clearly in another league. She can speak human language, smth we've only seen royals and Hox do. She tries to keep a running commentary with Temeluches. When Temeluches is sealed she's scared of retribution; but why specifically her? There's a whole house of demons. And we see in-show that no one seems to notice Temeluches is gone- they know he's in the neutral plane, but that's it. Could be bc her sealing didn't work tho.

Episode 3: her greatest fear is "not getting home". But she IS home in the vision. She's in hell. In a cage, granted, but in hell. Gives me vibes that she's going to hell to serve out her "punishment" before going Home-Home.

Episode 4: her cuffs block her from the elevator entirely. She can't go up or down. Why would a banished "demon" need to be locked away from Upstairs? If anything, you'd think they'd WANT her up there to get obliterated by angels. Forcing her onto the neutral plane when we know purgatory exists is weird.

Episode 8: Courtney roots for villains, but never Temeluches. You'd think her loyalties would lie with demon royalty, but she never shows interest in global domination. She admires Pauline for cheating the system and is quick to believe her when she says she can take her home.

Episode 9: Whoo boy there's a lot um. The entire song? Courtney clearly doesn't know what demons get up to- she wonders if how they dress and what they eat in her books is REAL. She claims she's "every sin", which if you were a born demon really shouldn't matter- also says demons (like her) deserve to burn. Reaches for the heavens, but that might've been a gag. She tells Barney and Pugsley she "belongs" down below. Her understanding of hell seems very limited, assuming it's one big punishment fest, when we see it's more like a city with extra fucked up nonsense on the side.

There's also the fact that Courtney's wish to go home seems to skyrocket after meeting the gang- she was waiting for Temeluches for 1,000 years, but once she makes friends it's like she can't leave fast enough. It reads as self-punishment to me. Or maybe she wants to speedrun her punishment. Upon realizing it's not what she expected, she gives up and returns.

"I can't go home ever!" when she's been promised to return to hell also feels sus.

(Not episode related but is the only creature we've met seemingly able to seal a possession and do the teleport thing. Idk about the first but we saw the angel do the latter).

When Zagan reveals they're angel cuffs Courtney is confused, not surprised. If she wasn't aware of her background you'd think that'd be a shock and terror moment. Gives me the vibe that when they were placed they lied to her so she wouldn't try to get revenge.

Episode ten: Temeluches offers her diplomatic immunity. Why??? She didn't attack Zagan OR Temeluches. She barely spoke to the first and talked down the latter. But Courtney seems to consider it for a moment, so it's not just bullshit.

This is reaching but the emphasis on the "Pugsley, trust me" also makes me think Courtney might have said smth along the same lines a 1,000 years ago, and either failed or didn't fulfill that promise.

"Families are hard. Don't worry about it." seems to refer to Courtney HAVING a family. The case could be made it's towards Norma, Pugsley, and Barney, but Courtney's never been able to call them family before with her own emotional issues.

TLDR: yeah I'm buying ham-fistedly into this theory. My working idea rn is that the reason the angel is wearing that weird suit in the finale is less of a "be not afraid" concept (it wasn't talking to humans after all) and more bc angels are easy to corrupt when exposed to things outside of their plane. Aka if their suit breaks they turn into what Courtney is. And smth happened that busted Courtney's suit, so she was banished and told they were demon cuffs to keep her busy.

[mandareeboo]

Okay so I've been thinking about this ever since (I think it was you?) it was pointed out that Angel's teleportation poof is gold while Courtney's is red, making it look like its corrupted. What if she was an angel and her magic got corrupted? She gets kicked out from upstairs and is banned from downstairs because her corrupted magic could ruin both levels. The neutral plane is basically a quarantine zone for her.

Yeah, that's kind of my thought at the moment! I mean, we saw an angel all gussied up in some weird ass tinfoil. Maybe it's to keep whatever corrupted Courtney out?