#middle men

[wanderlcust]

Gabriel Macht as Buck Dolby in Middle Men (2009)

[baddingtonbitch]

Giovanni Ribisi + 🎧

Mind Ripper (1995)

Gangster Squad (2013)

The Other Sister (1999)

Perfect Stranger (2007)

Middle Men (2009)

I Love Your Work (2003)

The Big White (2005)

The X-Files S3E3 "D.P.O." (1995)

[arofili]

men of middle-earth ✦ middle men ✦ headcanon disclaimer

          The Men of Bree were descended from the first Men who wandered to the West in the First Age, but unlike the Three Houses of the Edain they never crossed the Blue Mountains into Beleriand. Instead they settled in the White Mountains, and over the centuries divided into several distinct groups, including the Dunlendings, the Men of the Mountains, and the Bree-men themselves, who migrated northward to the Bree-hill to escape the growing influence of Sauron in the East.           When the Kingdom of Arnor was founded, Bree-land lay inside its borders, and thus became subjects of the King. The Bree-folk were amenable to their new lords, and under Arnor’s dominion they established the settlements of Bree, Staddle, Archet, and Combe. When the halflings fled westward from the Shadow, the Bree-men were quick to accept their presence, and soon the two groups integrated into a unique society where Big Folk and Little Folk lived side-by-side in harmony.           Eventually, many hobbits would move further west and found the Shire, but Bree remained a place where any human or halfling could dwell. Even elves and dwarves were welcomed on their journeys in the West, able to stop at the Prancing Pony Inn where the Butterbur family provided good service to the likes of the Rangers and many others. In the late Third Age, Barliman Butterbur was an especial friend of the wizard Gandalf, trusted to deliver messages to his hobbit friends in the Shire, and though he sometimes failed in his tasks he remained a jolly fellow throughout many hardships.            The Bree-folk endured the Fall of Arnor and returned to living independently, not much bothered by the troubles of the outside world until the War of the Ring, when the Ringwraiths corrupted several citizens of Bree and enticed them into the service of the Shadow. Among these folk were Bill Ferny and Harry Goatleaf, serving as spies for their dark masters and relaying information to them about the Shire-hobbits.              Goatleaf was the town gate-keeper, greeting outsiders gruffly but opening the gates to the Nazgûl attack. Ferny harbored a Dunlendish colleague in his home, little trusted by the townsfolk, and sold a mistreated pony to Strider and his companions at an outrageous price, hoping to hinder them on their journey. When Sharkey came to town, Ferny and Goatleaf were quick to change allegiance to newest bully in the district, and joined his ruffians in a skirmish that left five Bree-landers dead: Rowlie Appledore, Mat Heathertoes, Little Tom Pickthorn, and the two hobbits Willie Banks and Alberic Underhill. Another man, Jack Rushlight, suffered terrible wounds in the battle, but survived and took three ruffians down with him, including the squint-eyed Southerner known as Duncan.             In the end, though, the pony got the last laugh: when the hobbitish veterans of the Fellowship of the Ring returned home and scoured the Shire of Sharkey’s influence, Harry Goatleaf and Bill Ferny were turned out of town, Ferny’s old pony kicking him in the back as he fled. The story of Bill the Pony’s revenge remained a favorite of the Bree-landers for many years, and Old Man Percy Thistlewool was often called upon to spin the yarn well into his eighties, though the tale had ballooned into quite the epic since he had witnessed the skirmish as a child.

[underratedhero]

My thoughts on Middle Men

The basics of my thoughts have been covered already by myself and by most everyone else. It’s a wonderful episode that shows Lynn cares for Lincoln. The “Lynn doesn’t like him/she hates him” bullshit is dead now. Lincoln and Clyde were good in the episode too. It was great, but y’all heard that before. So I just want to add a little something that may have been touched, but I haven’t really seen. 

I just want to talk about Lynn's insecurities. The episode establishes very clearly that she had to become tough and aggressive.  The only thing we really know about her younger years was that she was competitive, but competitive doesn't equal roughness and general jock attitude. She herself says that it's some sort of defense mechanism to keep people from messing with her. She described her first year of Middle School as a nightmare, and that's truly sad and awful. And in the end, it's because she cares about what people have to say about her, and that's usually the sign of someone who's insecure about themselves.

She's the ultimate athlete, she has a case full of her trophies. Only on screen we've seen her win a bike championship, a baseball league, and become the star of the football league. She's clearly a gifted girl who can do amazing stuff. Why is she so insecure, then? Why isn't she more confident? Why does it matter so much for her to lose a simple board game?

It's because of the appearances and the image she wants everyone to see of herself. She wants people to know that she's a champion, to know that she's not someone you can mess with. She wants respect, she wants to be respected, probably praised, but definitely not being made fun of. She cares about appearances so much that she passed out just because of people thinking that she lost against a dork.

She truly just wants to have fun, but she cares about winning because that's what makes her who she is, or maybe that's what keeps her from being who she was. She's all in for the fun, and she truly just wants everyone else to have a good time along with her, but sometimes her over-competitiveness gets the best of her, and she realizes that maybe the defense mechanism took the best of her.

She's so insecure of herself that, as talented as she is, she decides to rely on luck. She treats luck as the definitive factor that decides whether she wins or loses, much to some people (the fandom)'s annoyance. Like Myrtle said, as talented as she is, she wouldn't really need luck, but here we are.

Now, whether her insecurities caused her to be picked on or if being picked on caused her to develop some insecurities, I don't know. But I do think that that's the key here, insecurities. I firmly believe that everything that I've been talking about finds its roots in that issue, which could potentially be her major character flaw, as crazy as it may sound. And I don't think that this is all just headcanon or wishful thinking, I think there's one thing (or one person, I should say) in the show that establishes a precedent for this, and that's no other than Lincoln himself.

He's not beyond feeling embarrassed or ashamed of being humiliated in public...

But he does have one trait that makes him stand out, and that's that he can have tough skin. Sure, he'll dress up to impress Stella, and he'll wonder if maybe he's too old for Ace Savvy, but in the end, he accepts himself, as it's been firmly established.

Whereas Lincoln is a softie that can take one for the team and even endure some teasing and public humiliation, Lynn was just a softie that couldn't really stand it. She fell under the pressure, and it's my belief that it was, again, because of her insecurities. And that's where Lincoln triumphs over Lynn. He's comfortable with who he is. He calls himself the man with the plan, he appreciates his wit and cunning skills. He basically has the will to keep going.

And I think that's what Lynn can and should learn from Lincoln. That's where he can help her, that's what she needs him for. He could be the one to teach her to believe more in herself and realize that she doesn't need to pretend or anything. She's fine the way she is. 

 I think it was bluntly implied that Lynn saw bits (if not big parts) of herself in Lincoln in Middle Men. She saw him making the same mistakes she made, and that's what she tried to avoid. And that's why I think the ending of Middle Men was so powerful. Because she saw that people accepted Lincoln and Clyde for who they are.

And since she sees herself in them, maybe, just maybe, that means that people could accept her the way she is, too.

[xsunnyeclipse]

“..I’m sorry. I was just trying to spare you guys from what happened to me.”

[lesbiansforboromir]

The ‘Middle Men’ apparently descended into barbarism and dark age ignorance the SECOND they weren’t under some kind of elven guidance and then when the Numenoreans arrived they were supposed to have been IMMEDIATELY considered amazing by the Middle Men and worshipped as gods and if that isn’t a fucking colonialist propeganda narrative I don’t know what is anyway the Numenoreans were never good and the Middle Men’s cultures were either assimilated into Gondor, tolerated because they were too far away or decried as savages and persecuted relentlessly by the Numenoreans for literally 3000 years whats UP the tolkien Legendarium is CANONICALLY WRITTEN BY THE VICTORS

[toonrandy]

Zap2It confirms these episodes and premiere dates in addition to the two Halloween episodes! Who’s ready for another Leni-focused episode?