Can we take a minute to talk about the danger in the aftermath of the Unit/ Mother converting everyone in the world into witches. Because on the surface it places everyone on equal footing and removes the witch stigma, but there are some people out there with irrational and intense witch hatred that will be traumatized by this for sure. But more importantly, the Camarilla now has an even bigger advantage due to all the anti-witch work technology they’ve created. This gives them an advantage in battle no one else has and they can conceivably dominate the world with this. Plus they are well funded and have infiltrated global governments. Being anti-witch was an excuse to rally the masses and make a grab at unprecedented power (see current America’s Republican Party). And now, what’s to stop them from following through?
I have a theory that is influenced by this MFS Research Institute Post by @smallfrost so thank you for your amazing analysis. So beware of possible spoilers.
“A beach named labour and pain...I went there once as a kid just for a week but I never forgot it. There is an abandoned lighthouse, and I would sit on the beach for hours. Watch the ships leave for far away lands. I think that was the last place I felt free". - Scylla Ramshorn in 1x05
Who else is connected to a beach and a lighthouse?
A lighthouse with a beach is important for Scylla and Alder (and now Raelle).
Why would Alder be painted in front of a beach with a lighthouse, for a formal portrait about the Mexican war? Usually, the background of a war is a reimagining of the war front, as propaganda/ reverance.
Labour means birth, which is associated with pain.
Who becomes birth-ed as a child?
Elders!
The Tarim revere their elders, who become birth-ed as young children, probably because they are innocent, hopefully without grief or suffering and have a full life to ahead of themselves to learn. They clearly have knowledge of the past and some inkling of the future, or at least a prophecy.
However, with the birth, they endure pain and lose a sense of freedom because of their new responsibilities to their family, to their people/ tribe/ coven.
"Watch the ships leave for far away lands" -
Like when Alder and her sister migrated to America from Europe? Alder's family migrated to the USA to keep safe. Using ships back then, they likely landed.... on a beach.
The purpose of a lighthouse is to warn mariners of danger and to bring wanted people to land safely. A place of unity.
So a beach became important to Alder's family... a sacred place for safety and unification. Especially when they were being hunted by the Camarilla.
"I went there once as a kid... I think that was the last place I felt free".
Scylla was a child when she visited Labour and Pain "just for a week". It was the last time she felt free.
Because it was the place she became an ELDER...
a person linked to their families memories and responsible for their families future.
But Responsibility comes with “having a collar around you neck without even knowing” like Alder, Raelle, Abigail, Anacostia, Petra and Khalida have too.
At a place sacred to her family...
A place notably sacred in Alder's past - to her family.
Because Scylla is Alder's descendent... the last of her family line (direct lineage or just to the family in general like Alder’s cousin)
Raelle: "Is your family on this thing [wall displaying witch heritage]"
Scylla: It's.... complicated"
Yeah, I bet being related to the person responsible for signing away witches freedom and enforcing conscription through violence, resulting in the death of your parents.... is complicated.
Scylla is the last link to Alder's history.... The last family member. The last Elder/ Alder....
Like Khalida.
"The last of a powerful line" - Adil to Khalida
However, it is also a place linked to loss and grief... because Scylla and Alder believe they have no family to be responsible for... to keep safe. What do you do when their family is gone.. when they have no future, no purpose, to responsibility. Lost, without family.... Like Scylla, Alder and Raelle.
And who went to a beach in their loss and grief? Raelle.
Because the Beach with a lighthouse is a place of family. A family who believe have lost their connection to loved ones and are in grief.
But also a sacred place for love and safety when a family is united and free.
Let’s talk about witch genetics (2.0) and the benefits of Outcrossing
Okay. Last season we began our debate about how witch traits were passed down the matrilines (witch genetics 1.0). In Season 2, we learn a bit more about the matrilines and the customs the American military relies on for “replenishing the troops”. We now have a significant amount of information (new and old) that allows us to ponder how witch traits are passed from mother to offspring via the matriline and outline why the Imperative is a prejudiced movement. Let’s recap before we get into the details.
This theory was co-written and developed by: @smallfrost, @queerscifinerd, @jaedyxe, @theycallmestephlee, and @here4rizzles
This one is a long one, folks. Strap in and more below the cut.
First. What makes a witch a witch? As of now, we know that witches are witches because they have a unique vocal apparatus and a different ear structure. While there may also be other physiological differences that have not yet been revealed, this nonetheless strongly implies that genetics contribute to who possesses the ability to produce work (magic); because these body structures need a different blueprint compared to civilians or non-witches.
Izadora and co. completing the autopsy on the Bellweathers after the Camarilla attack
Second. We know that these traits are inherited from the mother, not the father, making this a matriline. Remember, Alder specifically states that male witches are incapable of passing witch traits to their offspring in episode 1 of season 2.
Alder educates VP Silver, and the nerds of the MFS fandom
Third. The Imperative and the Imperatrix are tasked with strengthening the bloodline, ensuring the stability of witch families, and the availability of sufficient numbers of witches to fill out the military’s ranks (at least in the USA ).
Mhmmmm ain't this some heteronormative bullshit
--
Now the science!! Biology 101: the central dogma of life. DNA (our blueprint coded as ‘genes’) is required to make RNA (a blueprint copy), which is needed to generate proteins (the functional structures of the cell). Proteins are made up of amino acids, whose unique combination creates different machines which work together. Think of amino acids as lego blocks and proteins being the different combinations you can make. Our cells and bodies are therefore nothing more than a unique combination of proteins (lego structures) built together to produce a functioning unit. If you have different blueprints, you’ll get different legos which when combined, create machines that function differently.
Genetics 101: Humans are diploid organisms, meaning, we have two copies (termed pairs) of our blueprint packed into structures called chromosomes. We have 23 pairs of chromosomes, coding over 20,000 genes (lego structures), with one pair being the “sex” chromosomes. We are formed by two haploid cells (gametes: egg from the mother, sperm from the father). Importantly, all of the cellular components (organelles) and nutrients come from the egg while sperm only contain genetic information. For more background as to why, here is a great explanation on the process of meiosis. Disclaimer: For the remainder of this post we are using “female” and “male” in reference to biological sex only, and in no way are we implying that gender contributes to this process.
Blueprint → Copy → Legos!!!
So where does the blueprint for “witch” reside in order for it to be matrilineal (passed only on the mother’s side)?
There are two options to consider.
Option 1: The witch blueprint is located on the X chromosome (a.k.a. the ‘female’ chromosome), and is a recessive trait (requires both copies of the gene from each of the chromosomes in the particular pair to be expressed). This would be termed “X-linked” and would mean that female witches (XX) would need to mate with male witches (XY) to get witch daughters, because they would need BOTH X chromosomes to come from witches. This obviously isn’t the case because Raelle’s father, Edwin, is a civilian, yet Raelle is a witch (and a powerful one at that). This also would mean that male witches, while they wouldn’t be able to produce a witch if they bred with a civilian, could produce what are called carriers. Their daughters would not be witches but would still “carry” the blueprints for “witch” and therefore could reproduce with a male witch and have witch children. This also doesn’t seem to be the case as Alder states that male witches cannot further the bloodline. It should be noted that recessive traits on the X-chromosome express in male offspring if they have the gene(s) in question, since they only have one copy of the X chromosome, and no other dominant allele from the Y chromosome would interfere with the expression of the recessive trait on the X chromosome.
Tables showing the potential offspring of some different witch/civilian combinations if we assume Option 1 (the witch genes are recessive genes on the X-Chromosome). Capital X signifies the X-chromosomes of civilians, lower case x signifies the X-chromosomes of witches. For offspring to be a witch they must have either the xx or xy genotype. A carrier would be Xx or xX.
Overall, X-linkage is unlikely because Edwin is a civilian but Raelle is obviously a witch.
Consequently, based on the contextual information from the show, we are leaning more towards Option 2.
Option 2: The Witch blueprint is located on mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondria are cellular organelles that are responsible for converting energy, providing our bodies with energy in a usable form. Simply put, these little guys turn our food into fuel to power our bodies. They originated from symbiotic bacteria and have their own blueprints (mitochondrial genome). In short: humans co-evolved to rely on these tiny workaholics. The mitochondrial blueprint is different from the rest of our blueprint which resides in the nucleus (nuclear genome). Most importantly, all of our mitochondria originate from our mothers since all the cellular components come from the ‘female’ gamete after meiosis. For more background as to why, here are some great explanations on the process (video 1 & video 2). Thus, since males do not pass mitochondria to their children, if the blueprint for “witch” is mitochondrial, that would indicate that only the mother can pass these traits on. Voila: matriline! To quote smallfrost from witch genetics 1.0, “This would be pretty cool, considering that the mitochondria represent the “powerhouse” of the cell - so nifty source for witches’ “power” in a literal way.”
Therefore, it is likely that the blueprint for “witch” is mitochondrial, providing a clear path towards maternal inheritance.
But, it isn’t that simple! There can’t just be one gene and POOF you’re a witch. There needs to be a lot of interconnected things happening to influence the physical structure and function of a witch’s body to the extent seen on the show. No one gene can change the vocal apparatus AND the ear structure. Genes don’t work like that. Further – the mitochondrial blueprint is SMALL. It contains only a handful of genes that are for mitochondrial function (metabolism) and that help decode the “legos” from RNA (tell the cell what amino acids to use to build proteins). How can these influence the overall biological structure of a witch? This is where it gets super fascinating, (though, a bit complicated). After some investigating, we believe there are a few key ways that mitochondria may influence how cells function and therefore how they may impact development (The first two recently reviewed here).
1) Epigenetics. Epigenetics is how the structure, or ‘landscape’, of our DNA blueprint in the cell’s nucleus influences how we make the lego structures (gene expression). If we change the landscape, we may not be able to make the blueprint copy (RNA) to produce the structures (proteins). Think of our chromosomes as newspaper. You can't read the text when it is crumpled up; it is more inaccessible than text (i.e. genes) on a flattened page and therefore turned “off”. Epigenetics would be changing the landscape to make the text on the inside of a crumpled newspaper more accessible so genes residing there could be turned “on”. The energy and byproducts produced by mitochondria can alter the landscape of our DNA, leading to an increase or decrease in the copies of genes being made.
Could it be that witches’ mitochondrial genes function more efficiently? This would increase the output of mitochondria potentially altering the landscape of the nucleus more than civilians to access genes hidden in the 'crumpled newspaper' needed for developing the vocal apparatus and ears or witches?
The output from mitochondria can alter the genetic landscape in the nucleus. This could allow for genes that are “off” (crumpled ball of newspaper) in civilians to be turned “on” (flattened page of text) in witches. (image source).
2) Alternative splicing. When we make copies of our blueprint as RNA, it still needs to go through a series of changes before that copy can be used to make protein. One of these changes is splicing. Most of our blueprint is excess code and much of it needs to be “cut out” in order to have a rendered set of instructions to produce proteins. This is called “splicing” – removing the unnecessary code to properly render the blueprint to be used to create the lego structures. For many genes, the same unrendered blueprint can be rendered/spliced in many different ways, called “alternative splicing”. This allows for one gene to code different versions of the same protein that might function differently even though they are coming from the same blueprint. Think of this as the base model of a car versus the sport version. Same basic blueprint, but some versions have slightly different features that make the machine function slightly differently.
If altered mitochondrial function influences alternative splicing/rendering, it could suggest that witch traits are simply already coded in our genes but it is the small alterations in how our bodies render the information that are influencing the final function.
(image source)
3) Different Amino Acids (legos). Some of the genes coded into the mitochondrial genome are known as transfer RNA (or tRNA). tRNA is the translator who knows what amino acids (lego blocks) match the instructions in the blueprint (RNA) and can fetch the appropriate piece for the appropriate location. Humans have 20 unique amino acids (lego blocks) whose different combinations are used to make our diverse range of proteins. Each amino acid has a different chemistry which influences how our proteins are structured and function, the same way that different lego blocks would end up making different structures. If mitochondrial DNA contains the code for tRNA, could witches have a different cypher, and therefore use different combination of amino acids/legos to match the blueprint instructions? Alternatively, do they have an entirely different type of amino acid that replaces one of the 20 we know? This could greatly influence the function of the final protein products, thereby potentially impacting the way our bodies form and function.
However, the chances of witches having one or more different amino acids is highly unlikely as all eukaryotic life as we know it (nucleus-containing organisms) have the same 20 legos (bacteria and archaea do as well, but some use an additional 1-2 amino acids). This is most likely because all organisms on earth evolved from the same common ancestor. Therefore, the only ways witches could have different amino acids would be either an incredibly rare mutation or they evolved from a different common, extraterrestrial ancestor. The former has an extremely low probability of happening based on our current knowledge of evolution yet we cannot exclude the latter possibility of a different, other-worldly common ancestor, which could support the "witches as aliens" theory.
If witch mitochondrial DNA codes for different tRNA cyphers than civilians, this could influence protein synthesis. (image source)
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All in all, no matter how the mitochondria may be influencing the expression of different traits, one thing is clear. Everyone could theoretically have the blueprint for “witch” – they just don’t have the power supply needed to turn it on (the mitochondria). If this is the case, then there is no reason why female witches need to reproduce with male witches and keep a “pure” blood line. It is very possible that civilian men have the blueprint and just need the metaphorical (and literal, in this case) mitochondrial ‘power supply’. By limiting the genetic diversity to a small pool of men who have “desirable traits'' that can’t actually influence whether or not a witch may be more or less powerful, witches (in America at least) are unintentionally narrowing their genetic diversity and probably, as a consequence, limit their diversity of work (explained more below). Further, a breeding program like the Imperative is going to sooner or later select against desirable traits and in worst case scenarios even select for undesirable traits (e.g. like hemophilia in European royal families).
It probably hasn’t happened with the matrilines in the army yet because matrilines used to be abundant (showcased below with Tally’s family tree), but if they continue doing this, it could happen. The first signs could already be there: The Imperatrix mentioned that fewer witches are being born. This could be because of their excessive use of work, as Adil has pointed out in season 1 episode 7, but it could also be because of the breeding program itself, inadvertently selecting against fertility.
Tally’s family tree shows that matrilines used to be very abundant.
The point though is, that the Imperative is a eugenics approach that is baseless. That is, the selective breeding of “desirable” traits that is not based on genetics, but rather on prejudiced preconceived notions of “witch is desirable, civilian is not”.
And the Imperative’s prejudices go even further than that: The Imperatrix even has something against Abigail handfasting with Adil, someone who is canonically described as a powerful witch and probably possesses many traits that a program like the Imperative would call desirable. The Tarim are considered an old and powerful tribe, focused on tradition. If power and tradition were indeed the Imperatrix’s interests, she would have been happy to match them. But that is not the case, and further demonstrates that the Imperative’s breeding program is purely based on prejudice.
Another thing is, you WANT to bring more variability into the genetic pool. It helps select against potentially detrimental traits and allows new, potentially optimized codes to form. Within the MFS universe we have two great examples of this: Raelle Collar and Penelope Silver. Both have civilian fathers. Both are incredibly strong witches. If outcrossing was so bad, how do you explain their powers? Further, Alder tells Raelle in 2x03 that new work is exceedingly rare, yet both Raelle and Penelope, our outcrosses, have created new work (Raelle and the Witchbomb and Penelope and the seed that melts glass). YES, the military matrilines are powerful; the stories we heard about Jem Bellweather and what we’ve seen Abigail and Petra do prove that. But why limit witches to just certain sets of work, no matter how powerful, and close yourself off to new work?
Just take a crash course from Scylla, she seems good at "cooking up" small bits of new work.
YES, Raelle is able to do what she does because of her connection with the mycelium, but as Izadora said in 2x02, Raelle is the only person who interacted with the mycelium and came out relatively unscathed. It is entirely possible that the mycelium CHOSE Raelle because of certain traits she has which would be due to her specific genetics.
So, in summary:
The matrilineal code is likely stored in the mitochondria, passed mother to daughter.
The Imperative is misinformed (or informed and bigoted).
It is highly likely that the outcrossing of witches with civilians will lead to the production of new work and potentially even an increase in witch strength overall.
There should be no shame in having a civilian father and maybe moving forward, the observed strengths of our outcrosses will help guide witches away from handfasting and the Imperative and towards supporting love in any form.
Scylla's boutonnière, Bird Skull Reveal (Warning! It's not what you'd expect!)
With the recent introduction of Scylla's new bird friend, the long discussion about what bird Scylla's Skull boutonnière (we have been calling it wrong all this time! Thank you @neuralhandshake for the correction!) has resurfaced. This post is inspired by bowerbirdboy and I will just continue from there.
bowerbirdboy makes a great list of noticeable details of the boutonnière especially the curve beak. I will just add other traits that I considered in this research to further identify the bird like the size and placement of the nasal aperture (for reference its the big hole in the beak) and its proportion to the beak. It's so difficult to see the bird skull closely in the show
Join me in this journey of learning the Bird skull anatomy
These are images from @bowerbirdboy so we can compare it closely
Bowerbird Skull
It fits the size and shape of the skull but the nasal aperture is smaller (takes up only half of the beak and is oblong shape) and it lacks the curve, as mentioned before, compared to the boutonnière(where the nasal aperture takes up almost 3/4 of the beak and looks more triangular)
We now bring in Scylla's new bird friend, raven/crow.
Raven skull (left); Crow skull (right)
It still doesn't fit. The beak is too long or too big and the nasal aperture is too small compared the beak.
I tried to search for other common birds that is somewhat related to the bowerbird, crow, and raven
The sparrows, rooks, pigeons, etc...There are some parts that are similar but not fully the same to the boutonnière.
Sparrow skull (left); pigeon skull (right)
Then it hits me
You know what else is common, abundant, and easy to acquire?
ARE YOU ALL READY!?!?
Here We Go
FREAKIN
CHICKENS
IT FITS!! LOOK AT IT.
THE SIZE AND SHAPE OF THE NASAL APERTURE, THE PROPORTION, THE CURVE BEAK
The Raylla phone conversation in 2x09 is truly something special. It shows they are at a place now where Raelle’s defenses are down around Scylla. She tends to fall into this habit of blurting out her private thoughts normally held close to her chest to Scylla when she’s comfortable around her and basically turns up the useless lesbian behavior to 11. It’s nice to see this again from them because while Raelle is bumbling out her feels automatically, Scylla is still holding back and proceeding with caution when she flirts back. Like she’s scared of pushing Raelle too far too fast when things feel like they are getting back to normal between them. It demonstrates a lot about their head spaces and how they both care about each other so much despite everything they just went through. It’s such a nature progression for the two of them in this situation and really shows a lot in that little scene.
HELLO! Oh my goddess. So much information in the first episode alone. And in the clips and trailers. Where even to begin!
I think the thing that stuck out the most for me during our RI rewatch was Tally’s lucid dream at the end and what it provides for a) the military history of this timeline and b) the source of the Spree’s compulsion magic. Disclaimer; I am certain these thoughts have been chatted about here on Tumblr, Twitter, and Discord. I apologize if I do not properly credit people but with so many convos going around, things have been swept up in the storm. But I wanted to highlight some thoughts to share with the world. So these are my interpretations but shoutout to those who have made these associations before me, I always encourage people to write their thoughts and share them with all of us. (And feel free to @ me or send any my way so I know of them please!).
Specifically, though not yet mentioned in the show, Eliot reveals in interviews that the flashback is from a “dirty colonial war” about 25 years prior to when the show takes place. So… this would then be during the Proxy wars (ongoing) but before the rise of the Spree. So are colonial wars “Proxy wars”? Is it a resistance to previously sovereign people to being conscripts if America colonizes, forced into service? Keep notepads out, ears and eyes ready.
Next, and perhaps the most important: The contained compulsion sound work of the Spree was/is Military canon.
In the flashback we see Alder, biddies, and Co. getting attacked by giant insects, controlled by the colonials.
apologies for the horrible quality. iTunes gimme my HD when? (still won’t let me buy my season pass).
They’re helpless against them until a soldier smashes a bottle which releases work that causes the colonials to stop controlling the insects and start attacking themselves. It’s the exact same effect the Spree attacks had on civilians.
Now, military canon had to come from somewhere. It is entirely possible that the Spree learned this work from the same source the Military learned it from, or, a different source. BUT this flashback makes it seem as though Eliot is hinting that this work more likely came from a Military deserter as witches (in America at least) only learn military canon work AFTER they take the oath. Military canon is kept under lock and key otherwise.
I think of this scene and flashback as a: Alder is Dumbledore looking through his memories in the pensive for clues about horcruxes sort of deal. She’s searching her memories for the leak. The source of the Spree to try and route it out from the inside. 25 years ago… that may be too early to be Willa (though we don’t know her exact age). Is it someone else? Are they still in the military?
Petra as head of intelligence may just, well, have access to intelligence collected by spies, but it definitely seemed like a perfect coincidence that she found out about the Belgium attack by the Camarilla EXACTLY at the same time Willa reveals this to Scylla.
Now... this was BEFORE Anacostia cast the Fetch to creep on Scylla and Willa... A favorite theory floating around since last season? Since Petra was Willa’s CO on her last drop... did she help Willa defect? Did Petra help Willa fake her death so she could become a Spree operative behind Alder’s back? Perhaps Petra was behind the leak of the Military canon magic to the Spree and Alder is searching through her memories to make the connection? What do you guys think?
Remember, the @mfs-research-institute Discord Server is always open! Please feel free to DM me or the official account for an invite.
Hi, I saw your break down of what you think the dance between Scylla and Rae would be and I was wondering.. could you do a break down/ analysis of the dance itself.. it’s a fast paced scene and I haven’t seen it be analyzed or giffed yet. I’d love to see the dynamics and the whos dancing with who. Also basically any Raelle movements. Love to hear what you think of the dance and the dynamics!!
this took me so long but imma try my best to capture every detail okay (btw again, the gifs attached are mine).
just before analyzing the dance; i wanna say that the song is magnificent and i’m so glad they chose ruelle for this specific scene, it matches the rhythm in a perfect way and it’s sexy and captivating from the beginning, so good job for the music department.
we start the dance with raelle being annoyed and uninterested as fuck lmao probably thinking “i’m miserable i want scylla here” buuut then she starts having fun with byron because he’s such a dork and a kind soul and yeah. the biddies are watching from afar and alder/witchfather are on the dancefloor as well but we’ll see that it’s just for a moment. then we see abigail and tally starting the dance together, abigail pushing tally to some random guy with whom she dances for a while. btw i’m forever pissed at the writers for not giving us raelle/tally dancing together and casually flirting with each other yeah i’m raelly trash fight me,, OR even raelle/abigail pushing each other playfully while dancing, a loss for the community really.
i love the constant change of partners and everyone dancing with everyone; they said fuck them straight people. we know tally’s searching for gerit and that gerit is searching for her, but for the moment they’re dancing with other people. for that matter, here’s tally completely enjoying herself with blue suit dude. i love how smiley jess was during the whole dance, it’s obvious that she was having so much fun while shooting the scene.
here’s raelle fixing her suit with her big dick energy and libba/abigail casually about to fuck each other in the background lmao, wouldn’t it be funny if they ended up together? what a way to release some heavy sexual tension they have.
anyway it’s hard to see and all but here’s raelle and abigail both dancing with girls, they gave me my rights and again, fuck them straight people. as i said before, alder and witchfather aren’t on the dancefloor anymore but just watching, but again, in the next scene they give it another chance.
i just wanna say how much i LOVED this moment, matching the music and my man gerit dancing with this dude who unintentionally matches the color of his suit. and tally dancing with a girl, yes we love to see it.
tally was like “oh so you’re dancing with other people and not with me, let me show you something” and straight up goes to this guy and starts dancing with him to see if she can get a reaction out of gerit and hell yeah she does. i legit cracked up when i saw that girl throwing herself at him. it was such a funny touch to add gerit desperately looking for tally and dropping that poor girl to the floor lol.
we see witchdaddy and alder giving it another chance here, and then they walk out of the crowd again while the rest continue with the dance. raelle is baby, look at her being so smol.
tally and agustin dancing were absolutely the cutest, they were so on point and laughing and smiling at each other; in one word, CUTE. and then there’s abigail struggling to dance with a girl who’s very much shorter than her lol. and in that moment raelle’s dancing with another girl but we don’t see much of it.
and then one of the best scenes from the dance, yes, we know what scene is. abigail with agustin, tally with a random dude and raelle radiating top energy with a girl, YES we love it. such a powerful moment, just look at tally and raelle’s faces. then pulling their partners by their hair, ugh what a moment, what a MOMENT. don’t think about raelle pulling scylla up by her hair, just don’t.
shoutout to my girl tally for absolutely throwing herself at this girl and dancing with her. could’ve been raelle but no, they didn’t want to feed our raelly hearts. i would like to say that bisexual tally craven for s2 wouldn’t be a surprise for any of us and we would LOVE to see it mr. eliot laurence. also there’s abigail in the back with another random dude.
then raelle dancing with this dude, meh, he seems nice. by the way, i’m forever bitter that they didn’t give us more raelle dancing with girls from a close-up. and she wouldn’t even flirt with them because well, scylla. but we deserved more raelle with girls anyway.
this was some dope shit, magnific choreography and coordination and again, i love seeing everybody dancing with everybody. look at the dudes at the back, at glory dancing with another girl. for the third time, fuck them straight people.
and we all know how the dance ends, in a spectacular way and with our girls absolutely killing it. i really hope that if we get a season 2, they’ll give us another beltane dance but maybe with scylla participating and with a longer dance sequence because it was AMAZING. i’m sorry if this wasn’t the answer you were looking for, i tried to analyze the entire scene lol but i’m not sure how you analyze a dance scene so, here you go!
I just noticed something while rewatching the reunion scene. Scylla says “please don’t believe everything they tell you about me”. She doesn’t say “don’t believe what they tell you” or something similar, she says “not everything”. That’s a big difference and I think it’s important. The previous sentence is “they’re going to tell you horrible things about me, all of them”. So she might indeed believe that some of the things she did were horrible and I think that even before Anacostia made her relive the moment she killed all these people, she felt guilty.
