new who peaked when it had christopher eccleston look the last living dalek dead in the eyestalk & tell it to kill itself, only for the response to be "you would make a good dalek" there is absolutely no topping that.
yes, percy rose through the ranks of new rome disturbingly fast. no, jason did not do the same at camp half blood. yes, percy's rise to leadership at both camps took about two weeks and was completely unplanned. no, the same cannot be said for jason. his rise was carefully planned and took over a decade. they're both children of the big three, but where percy thrums with raw power, jason is a sword honed by zeus and hera. where percy is a survivor, jason is a weapon. where percy is a cycle breaker, jason can't get out. jason's fatal flaw was temptation to deliberate because he never managed to make his own choices. he was every classic definition of a hero rolled into one, and he never questioned it because his happiness came after the responsibility. jason was never going to ascend as fast as percy because jason was raised on hard work and discipline while percy, an abuse survivor and child of poverty, knew when to fight dirty. where jason was a transplant, percy was an invasive species. jason was always going to die because he was never more than a tool for the gods to throw away when he outlived his usefulness, or when he started to question his place. if someone as locked down as jason can question the system, anyone can. now that luke has put thoughts of overthrow in everyone's heads, zeus has to be very careful because while jason was expendable as his weapon, percy was unexpected in every way. zeus has no plan for him. when percy dies, he will become a martyr, so he can't die, except now everyone knows that percy doesn't want to be a god either. jason had to die, and now percy has to live.
Shane’s fame is so important to me—his specific breakout fame to people who don’t even know hockey. The endorsements in the show have a somewhat janky look because the show itself isn’t high budget (they fake it pretty well but after a million reheats I’m like oh they don’t even show the video game on the tv when they’re playing at the cottage lmao) but like imagine Hudson’s sleek Peloton Ad with Shane instead, but instead of the artsy stuff they have Hudson do, it’s just Shane Hollander, man that is a machine, pushing his body to the limit. Imagine the Nike ads and the cologne ads on the side of a snowy cliff. He’s gorgeous, model gorgeous, and not all premiere athletes have those looks. And Shane will be what you want him to be. If you need him to be the hometown hero sitting at a fast food table pretending to eat a Tim Horton’s breakfast sandwich, he’ll do it. If you need to zoom in on his compelling freckles and driven gaze to sell athleisure clothing, he’ll let you. Shane wants legacy and notoriety. He wants to control the conversation surrounding him. He wants there to be mystery, like there is with all exceptional people. But in all his commercials, he’s notably alone. He’s a myth.
I think about Simone Biles dropping out of the Olympics due to struggles with performance, and the mythology created around elite performance athletes like Ilia Malinin, who had a very public fumble at the Olympics despite all the hype. This created a ton of dialogue. Where they had once been something to marvel at, now they are something to scrutinize. Scrutinized by people who know nothing about their sport, even!
Shane doesn’t disappoint though. He brings Montreal three cups. If you don’t know hockey, you know Shane Hollander. Just like you know Tom Brady, Serena Williams, LeBron James. Michelle Kwan, and Simone Biles. You’ve probably rooted for these people alongside diehard fans even when you yourself know nothing about the sport. That’s who Shane Hollander is. He can belong to everyone. He is everyone’s athlete.
And then he’s outed. And then he trips. Suddenly, this man who up until then has lived life mostly unscrutinized (besides the microaggressions of the insular hockey world), who had been unquestionably A Badass, someone to admire, someone to put on a pedestal, he’s suddenly human. He’s someone who passionately kisses his rival in the side yard of his best friend and teammate’s house. He’s someone who carried on a secret affair that has rocked the foundations of the sports world. And because he kissed his rival, because he has revealed himself to be human, he is now brought to the same level of scrutiny as anyone else. It is open season for opinions about Shane Hollander.
Not every opinion would bad. Many would be good. Many would love him for it. But the fact that people feel entitled to make the opinion means that the fabric of Shane’s fame has changed. He’s now up for interpretation. You don’t just sit back and marvel at him, you now have other things to say that cloud the myth. And that changes what he is allowed to do, even as an athlete.
He’s no longer allowed to trip on a piece of ice or a bad edge. He isn’t given grace. Because if his secrets hold so much meaning, that also means that his outward actions now also hold meaning. When something so intimate about you is revealed, the stony facade of excellence crumbles. Now everyone has a take. Everyone has an opinion. You are now a public conversation, instead of pleasant inevitability. How can the team count on him, once he reveals his humanity? How can they depend on him, now that he’s a conversation, instead of a lecture?
ah, but the reveal in 3x05 is fucking insane. the realisation that daniel has never been without armand and can never escape him again! since he met armand in 1973, he has been entangled in him. he has not spent a moment out of armand’s grasp, and he has never truly been alone, because for 52 years armand was there alongside him. more than that, armand has guided his life, changed the course of his fate, the ghost of him everywhere now in daniel’s memories.
how lonely daniel seems when we first meet him in 2022, but now he knows he has never truly been alone. there is someone who knows him in all of his messy, human entirety. someone who knows the deepest depths of his soul. how terrifying that must be, how suffocating, how comforting. daniel holds so much shame for the choices he has made and the life he has lived and here armand is, saying he loves him, saying he has always loved him despite all of it. and if you were daniel, how could you not believe it? as humans we hold our mistakes and our shame close to our chest. it’s intoxicating to think someone could see that and still want you. armand could read his thoughts, saw him at his worst, and yet here is. in love with daniel. desperate for him.
and in all of this, daniel cannot escape armand now even if he tried. he is his child, he has his eyes, but more, his connection with armand makes the world fall away. he could run to the other side of the earth and he would still be able to feel armand. it is the most beautiful and unsettling dynamic of the whole show because now, daniel and armand cannot be separated from each other. armand has literally haunted the vast majority of daniel’s life, and now will haunt his eternity. this is peak gothic romance, reminscient of cathy and heathcliff. be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!
Perhaps my most controversial yet unserious Heated Rivalry opinion is that I'm glad the sex building didn't make the adaptational jump for the show. I know people think it's funny and illustrates Shane's need for control, but.
To me, it's much juicer for that to be Shane's real home, and Shane's real bed. He had so much anxiety about letting things with Ilya advance any more physically, and showing that barrier coming down by having him let Ilya into his home as well... I think it's great. It adds layers to the six months of silence as well—there was a real vulnerability to that whole encounter that Ilya was good about in the moment, but (for very understandable reasons!) kind of trampled over in the aftermath. So even when they reconcile, things are different. Ilya gets to be close to Shane, he gets to come over to Shane's house and they have lots of great montage sex, but Shane's learned that it doesn't mean what he felt like it meant, that the closeness they share can't be vulnerable in that way. Which helps move past things in the moment, but sets up issues for further down the line.
And to underline that, we're left to assume that, in Boston, they only ever hook up at hotels, maybe some crashpad apartment near the rink that Ilya doesn't think of as his home at a stretch. For years, there's been a gap in vulnerability, in how far Shane is allowed into Ilya's life even after gaining entry into Shane's.
Shane can't know about Russia or Ilya's family life, and he can't see inside his home. Ilya comes back to him, but the barriers are all still up. They're just holding hands through the fence, both looking the other way and pretending it's not happening.
So on Tuna Melt Day, Shane is coming over to Ilya's house for the very first time with his badly learned lesson that This Isn't That Deep Don't Worry About It Be Cool Hollander. And Ilya is doing his devastating I want more but I can't ask for more so I'll pretend just for today thing (I am a staunch believer that this wasn't Ilya planning on asking Shane for a real relationship. If he had resolved to give things between them a serious shot, his reservations in Tampa through to Scott's coming out would have been coming from a very different place). To Ilya, having Shane over to see his real house and to share his real bed, even for just the night, is vulnerable and significant too, just like it was for Shane, but he's dead set on pretending to be casual about it. Shane is supposed to be let in, but he isn't supposed to know that he's been let in.
The symmetry there is so delicious. For both of them, there's a pivotal change in their relationship attached to having the other person in their home—the place they spend their real life—for the first time. And it provokes a near relationship-ending crisis both times because it's so scary and its such a big deal.
When they're separated, Ilya longingly watches footage of Shane's most private home. Missing him, fantasizing about the level of closeness that would let them be there together. Feeling like he'll never get to have it. And then Shane invites Ilya to share that truest home for the summer! And Ilya manages to accept, even though it's scary! They go there together! Gorgeous.
I keep thinking about the gym scene with Flambae and how he could have easily dipped out and let Robert heavily injured/killed from the weights, but he still steps in to give him a hand. He is a huge asshole about it, but his advice is still in a ways true.
That and the fact he was obviously showing Robert his bulge. That bitch was totally flirting.
GOD, THE GYM SCENE. There are SO many interesting things going on in this scene! And not just with Flambae and Robert, but also with the setting, and how Flambae and Robert (and their worldview) fit into it?? And what bearing that has on Flambae's perception of Robert's lack of powers?? (And what that means for his attraction to Robert, of course, hehehe)
Like, this safety/motivational poster is pretty par for a gym. You shouldn't lift without a spotter! But it's INSANE to me that it implies you ONLY need to do this if you don't have superpowers?
Are we meant to interpret this as evidence that supers naturally have greater strength and constitution than "normies"? That they recover more quickly from injuries? That they're just straight up harder to kill?
(As an aside, this does slightly recontextualize Flambae hitting Waterboy with his car for me. If he's obviously a super, and supers can just naturally take bigger hits, then MAYBE Flambae knew he would be fine...? Still not great, but we don't love him because he's perfect 😂)
Anyway, I believe Flambae also says Waterboy can bench more than Robert? (Couldn't find a screenshot of this, but it's when he calls him "Wetwipeboy"). So even though Waterboy looks like he has the upper body strength of a wet paper towel, he can bench more than Robert at upwards of 120 lbs. This corroborates the impression the motivational poster gives that supers are just naturally stronger than those without powers, even if their powers don't necessarily seem to have anything to do with strength.
Though in fairness, Robert is obviously reaching muscle failure at the end of a workout, and probably also recklessly pushing himself to muscle failure on a dangerous piece of equipment as some kind of form of masochistic flagellation to alleviate his diminished sense of self worth, or as a kind of punishment for his perceived failures. (Also, if he's trying to build his strength up he shouldn't be doing cardio right before lifting, so either he's willfully biting off more than he can chew or his knowledge of proper strength training techniques is actually surprisingly low for a career hero).
MORE ON WHAT ROBERT'S WORKOUT CHOICES SAY ABOUT HIM: the bench press is a technique intended to build upper body strength, to the exclusion of other body parts. And this is the workout he fails to complete because he takes on more than he can handle. A metaphor for Robert's hyper-independence, and how he can't do it alone?? Flambae, save him from himself...
FLAMBAE, BY CONTRAST: is doing squats, which develop core strength and stability. Given identical weights, they're easier than bench presses--but Flambae is also batting 280 lbs on those things, so he's flexing on Robert completely here lmao. But you know, for the allegedly volatile, tantrum-throwing, loose cannon "walking fireball" character, I would have expected him to be doing something... flashier? Like curls, or something?
Honestly, the choice of exercises for both of them in this scene feels INESCAPABLY deliberate. Like maybe we're meant to understand Flambae has a surprisingly strong emotional foundation? Unexpectedly robust coping strategies??? He DOES come to Robert's housewarming party prepared to move forward after only a day of stewing in his feelings of hatred, which feels pretty big of him for someone who claims to have been "waiting a long time" for a rematch when Robert first encounters him in Crypto Night!
And Flambae's weird, backhanded way of showing support is so interesting. It casts a veil of enmity over all the good things about him--makes us biased against Flambae WITH Robert based on his/our first impression, so we take his "Bitch, you can't be stuttering on your first day" and "The important thing is you suck" at face value alongside the rest of the Z-Team's hostility and bickering, instead of recognizing the moments were he abstains from outright hostility (he doesn't bully Waterboy with the rest of the team at the beginning of his first shift, and he doesn't sabotage anyone). Once we get to know him a little better, it becomes clearer than ever that, despite his rough-around-the-edges attitude, Flambae is trying, in his own way, to help. He likes to help! He's concerned about things like accomplishing tasks in a timely manner and, as most of us haven't shut up about since we first saw someone mention it, he is uniquely qualified to rescue a kid's lost balloon in the very first mission of Robert's first shift with the Z-Team. Man, if ANYONE actually believes in the Phoenix Program, it's Flambae.
SO. ALL THAT TO SAY.
THE GYM SCENE.
Flambae LIKES HELPING PEOPLE. People in distress INDUCE HIM TO PROTECT THEM. So he comes to Robert's aid, and emphasizes that Robert is weak, and he is strong. Like he is trying to draw attention to the fact that Robert needs help, and Flambae is the one who can and will be there to help him. He's trying to SHOW Robert he can rely on him, by performing the most homoerotic display of protection (helping him with the weight), concern (you need a spotter, we need you, I don't want you getting hurt), and strength (IMMEDIATELY starts squatting while facing him. not looking away. MAINTINING HEATED EYECONTACT) EVER.
Also, maintaining heated eye contact with Robert while he squats and talks about how strong he is is fucking INSANE??? Bro, is that a challenge (it can't be, he just told Robert NOT to hurt himself) or a come-on? Are you imagining bouncing on it RIGHT now??? Or are you trying to show off how strong your quads are, so Robert knows you can pound that flat ass all night??? Trying to see if he's staring at your bulge??? Whore???????
I'm obsessed. Like. Yes Flambae is an asshole. We have established this is an irreducible facet of his character. However. His abrasive attitude is NOT all there is to him, and given what we know about him, and how much he has license to begrudge Robert (throwing food in his face??? come on, now), he is being EXCEPTIONALLY KIND to Robert in this scene. And more than that, it seems to me that, in this scene, there is a strong argument to be made that Flambae is trying to communicate that he is concerned about Robert's safety, that he is strong enough to protect Robert, that Robert doesn't have to be strong to earn that protection, that he values Robert's contributions to the team, that he wants Robert to look at him, that he wants to touch him, and that he has been looking at Robert's ass.
And Robert is basically pulling Flamabe by being the most pathetic guy ever? Like, look AT him. Flambae LOVES saving people and taking care of people and proving "Fuck you, I can be gentle." I bet he dries his fucking potpourri flowers with his flames. Guys he didn't even burn down the Sardine in that huge fight, his control is INSANE. I KNOW he can be gentle. And he wants to be. He wants to be good for Robert. So, SO fucking bad he wants it.
Flambae sees Robert moaning and grunting under that bar and he's like god fucking damn it he's soooo fucking pathetic. I need to take care of him. 🥺
Like this is the gayest anyone has ever done it, folks. Adhoc Studio did NOT have to make this scene so charged, but they DID and they DID IT FOR US. Flambae x Robert truthers understand, this scene is gay as FUCK.
friendly reminder that aziraphale made crowley smile in rome when he realized he was in a foul mood
that he blushed when he described crowley as a wily adversary (keeps me on my toes)
that he smiled when he realized the bentley was back without a scratch after having blown up
that he refused crowley a suicide pill
that he kept an eye on crowley for 26 years after 1941, then sought him out and gave him the holy water so that he didn't have to get it himself. but i can't have you risking your life. not even for something dangerous. if we must quote it then at least let's quote it right.
that he went to hell for crowley and made sure they wouldn't bother him anymore
that he only ever cared about crowley not being destroyed
that no way aziraphale didn't check on crowley in three years
friendly reminder that aziraphale would never give up crowley without a fight, not even if crowley asked
In Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein, The Creature lashing out at Victor because he wouldn't listen and understand him is so reminiscent of why children throw tantrums when their parents won't listen. He's crying out, begging to be heard but is only met with indifference and disgust. Which is exactly why he turned to violence.
During the fire, The Creature screams out for Victor, like a baby wailing for their mother or father, only to be met with silence. Even though Victor did feel slight guilt, and attempted to go back into the tower, The Creature does not know that. He only knows that he was left alone.
"My creator, I demand a single grace from you. if you are not to award me love, then I will indulge in rage." is such a complex line of dialogue.
Yes, this line refers to The Creature wanting a companion, someone he can "Be monsters together." with. But it also applies to his relationship with Victor. If Victor will not love him as a father, then all Victor will know is his rage.
When a child is afraid or unheard, they will do anything in their power to be heard by their parent whether it be crying, screaming, lashing out. Which is exactly what The Creature does. "The miracle is not that I should speak, but that you should listen." and "Victor, you only listen when I hurt you."
It took The Creature becoming violent for Victor to finally understand what he had done, the damage he had done to his own son.
