#host elliot

[oklooneytunes]

[beanbag0509]

day 25 - “host”

“Sometimes when I’m bored, I create people in my head...”

[xmxisxforxmaybe]

Satisfied

I’ve had time to think about the finale, and I want to share why I’m satisfied, but first, please note I’m not posting this to host a debate. I’m posting this in case it helps anyone analyze their feelings about the close of the series. Your feelings are all VALID! There is no right way to feel. 

**Spoilers Below**

After all, as Host Elliot (our Elliot) says, “But if changing the world is just about being here, by showing up, no matter how many times we get told we don’t belong, by staying true even when we’re shamed into being false, I believe in ourselves when we’re told we’re too different. And if we hold onto that, if we refuse not to budge and fall in line, if we stood our ground for long enough, just maybe, the world can’t help but change around us even though we’ll be gone.”

1.     That closing monologue; Host Elliot knows his job is done, so he does the right thing, proving that all along, Host Elliot’s goal was to make a better world for Core (the Elliot that has existed since birth) Elliot. From the start, I accepted that this show was about Elliot Alderson, no one else.

2.     And the better world is the world in which Core Elliot can experience the love he’s been denying himself since the abuse. To me, Esmail’s ultimate message is about love. I’m not talking about romantic love, but the kind of love that every person craves to attain: self-love. Host Elliot’s journey is going to help Core Elliot wake up in a world where it’s okay for him to love himself. Consider his final speech to WR. Consider the final monologue posted above. This was always about a broken man’s journey to accept himself and move past the traumas of his past. Host Elliot underwent that journey so Core Elliot could have a fighting chance to create a better future.

3.     Speaking of romantic love versus self-love, I didn’t ship anyone because I accepted that this show had nothing to do with romantic love. Tyrell and Angela had very similar arcs—both of them were corrupted beyond redemption by their own actions. For me, Tyrell strangling a woman to death and admitting to liking it was enough. Angela knowing Core Elliot loved her and then manipulating his DID was enough.

4.     I don’t care about WR’s machine. For me, it was simply a metaphorical plot-point to fuel Host Elliot along his journey. I think Esmail chose the time-travel concept because it speaks to us: we all have pieces of our past that we would like to undo or redo (Nick to Gatsby: “You can’t repeat the past.” Gatsby to Nick: “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!”).

WR’s machine just further cemented why I hate people who are filthy rich. Instead of investing in something to help the greater good, like curing cancer, WR was only interested in her own delusion. Time and time again, we have seen the wealthy piss on everyone to chase their own, often ridiculous or unnecessary goals (I especially love when their only goal is to make more money). Show me an immensely wealthy person who cares about someone other than themselves. WR embodies that corruption, and her machine serves as a reminder to the rest of us how little we matter to the wealthy. Of course Host Elliot would want to fight this.

5.     I am okay with a bittersweet ending because it mirrors life, but Esmail’s vision mirrors life in a way that gives us HOPE. For such a dark show, I was shocked by how hopeful I felt when the screen faded to black. By accepting our idiosyncrasies and refusing to change who we are to fit the societal mold of normal, “the world can’t help but change around us.” Thus, allowing for US to HOPE for a world in which change is truly possible, as long as we remember that change begins from within.

And how nice is it for someone with a mental illness to end their story with hope and the potential for healing? They didn’t become the villain, like we saw with Vera. I’m so very glad Esmail decided that he wanted hope to be his central message, and for that, I can forgive almost any stone he left unturned. 

Thank you, Elliot Alderson, for such a powerful, purposeful message.

[wearemystic]

The Snap

What happens when Thanos destroys half of everything?

Characters: Lou Sorenson, Mystic, Elliot Skirth, Prowler, Eddie Brock (mentioned), Venom (mentioned)

Rating: T

Warning(s): Angst, major character death, language

=~*~=

It starts out as a funny feeling in Lou's toes, a sort of fuzziness that reminds her of the static electricity generated by her parents' old television. She shakes her head. It's nothing. Probably nothing, at least.

"Elliot! What veggies do you want for the stir fry?" Lou waves her adopted daughter over to the vegetable section of the small grocery store. She raises an eyebrow when Elliot rolls her eyes but comes over, dramatically peering at the cucumbers and radishes and carrots.

“Why do we need to make healthy food? If we keep them properly fed, we don’t need to eat rabbit food.”

“That rabbit food is still good for you, you goofball.” Lou tosses a bag of baby carrots into the shopping cart. “Besides, we need to at least appear normal… ish.”

Towards the front of the store, people start screaming. Elliot glances at Lou, Prowler beginning to seep through her skin. Lou hesitates. She has a bad feeling bubbling in her guts, something that runs deeper than even Mystic; a fight-or-flight response that goes beyond even the part of her that Lou jokingly refers to as her ‘lizard brain’. “Elliot, I…”

“Let’s go, something’s happening!” Elliot dances in place impatiently, and Lou frowns.

“Alright, alright. Mystic?”

already there, lamb.

The symbiote uncoils from around Lou’s bones, rising to the surface with a shiver along her nervous system. A sense of unease ripples between the symbiote and Lou.

something isn’t right.

“What?” Lou waves Elliot forward with one hand as she frowns at her chest. The teenager doesn’t move. “What’s wrong?”

your molecular structure is… coming apart. i can’t stop it. i don’t know what is causing it.

“Elliot?!” Lou’s voice cracks. Her daughter jogs back over.

“What is it?”

“Something… something’s wrong with me. I… Mystic says…”

“What did they say? What’s going on?”

Mystic appears over Lou’s shoulder in her customary floating face. “she is coming apart on the inside. i can’t fix it. we’re dying.”

Lou can see the blood drain from Elliot’s face. “Wh-what? What do you mean, you can’t fix it? You’re bonded on a cellular level, aren’t you? You should be able to fix this!”

Mystic rumbles unhappily, curling a tendril gently around Lou’s neck. “i know that. but i —“

Mystic stops speaking as Lou stumbles, her legs giving out from beneath her. “Shit.”

Tiny grey particles begin floating off of Lou, starting from her feet. Lou stares at her body for a moment, fascinated in a macabre sort of way, before a sob from Elliot breaks her out of her trance. Lou reaches out for the young woman. “Elliot — Elli, baby, come here.”

Elliot cries harder, but she goes to Lou’s side. Lou reaches out and grips Elliot’s hands with her own. “Listen to me, baby. Listen to me. You’re going to be okay.” She says it with such conviction that Elliot can almost believe that it’s true. “You’re going to live, and you’re going to get your ass home, alright? venom and Eddie will be there, and you four will live long, happy lives, okay?”

Lou blinks back her own tears. “I love you so, so much, Elliot. You’ve turned my world upside down and inside out and you’ve made my life so much richer because of it.” She presses a kiss to Elliot’s forehead as her torso vanishes in a puff of dust. Mystic vibrates against Lou’s skin, pressing hard against her shoulders as they, too, begin to disappear.

“Mystic, I —“

“i know, dove.” The symbiote wraps around Lou’s fingers in a last embrace as the woman presses a kiss against Mystic’s lavender biomatter. Lou looks over to Elliot.

“Tell Eddie that I’m sorry. I love you both so much.” Elliot shrieks as Lou’s hands vanish into nothingness. She grabs at Lou’s shoulders, but those also disappear. She’s powerless to do anything but watch as the woman who’d sworn to always be there crumbles like dust before her.

As Lou lets out her last breath, she whispers to Elliot, “Live.”

[wearemystic]

shitty editing job, don’t @ me

[wearemystic]

happy times :)