gabriella is putting so many things into context for me re. loustat and their history. when your first "love" is someone who's supposed to make you the center of their world, and instead they abandon you, flit in and out of your life, never quite set you free, play carelessly with your heart; how grounding, how liberating it must have felt for lestat when louis tried to murder him. no wonder he never seemed that put out by it; here, finally, was a love who cared enough to want to give him, them, a definitive ending. someone who wasn't lukewarm in their affections, someone who burned. louis cradling lestat's body and sobbing over it feels like it could have genuinely healed a lot of the wounds gabriella raked into him. idk just a thought
Something I'm such a sucker for is characters who's greatest strength is their biggest weakness (and vice versa) and I think that's a big part of the reason I like John Granby so much
his strength/flaw combo? loyalty.
Like he's so insanely loyal. i think that's a huge part of the appeal of this character. Once Laurence wins him over, John Granby is ride-or-die besties 4 lyfe. Granby follows Laurence to Australia, to Brazil, to China.
He demonstrates that same dedication to folks like Tharkay, to Lily's formation, and especially, to his dear beloved Iskierka.
... even when he shouldn't.
That's one of the big things he has to get over, right? It's not that Granby is a push over; he's more than capable and willing to speak his mind. But he's so overjoyed to be a captain of a draogn, of a firebreather no-less, and so devoted to her, that her dominate personality trods all over his and eventually leads to the [gestures] Brazil situation.
The signs are elsewhere, though. Granby is such damn good at his job in part because he's a true bred Aviator, but that introduces some big blind spots. The whole Granby-Laurence face off in book 1 is because Granby is so loyal to Aviators over Navymen, and his old formation in particular, he comes out the gate being rude to this hoity toity Navy captain that things start escalating far past where they should.
In general, even to the end, he's just a little bit too complacent in the Aviator way of thinking. For example, while Granby knows, respects, and trusts dragons, he's also resigned to the whole 'you just gotta cull undersized hatchlings, just the way of things'.
If Temeraire is the one to radicalize Laurence, Laurence is the one to radicalize Granby. And it often feels less like Granby ever thinks really deeply about the political or ethical considerations of dragon suffrage. Once these things are pointed out, he's sensible and good hearted enough to be like, oh yeah good point and he'll throw his weight behind it, but that's less because he believes in the ideas, so much as he believes in the people championing them.
I’ve been thinking a fair bit about the differences between Dick Grayson’s and Tim Drake’s approach to crime fighting. Both are often seen as brilliant planners, but I think the most succinct description of their differences comes from a quote by Mathematician and Grand Master chess player, Max Euwe:
I think Tim excels at strategy. Bruce has said he has “never seen Tim move too soon”. He thinks things through in advance, and plans contingencies upon contingencies. He’s very “Bruce-like” in that regard.
Dick is a tactician. He does some strategizing ahead of time, but he excels most at observing a developing situation and planning around that. For example, in the NTT run (Judas Contract arc), Deathstroke crashes Dick’s apartment and attacks him. He manages to escape by rapidly observing his options and making tactical decisions in the field.
This is why, I think, it’s a gross misrepresentation to say that Dick is less intelligent than Tim. Both strategy and tactics are key to any endeavor - they compliment one another. And both approaches mean they are ten steps ahead of ther foe at any given moment. But Tim’s prowess comes from his relentless research of all possibilities, and Dick’s abilities are better suited to experiential adaptation - he’s not working on the fly, he’s using everything he’s learned and applying it to a novel situation.
I think it’s why I like the idea that Dick’s overall style, not just his fighting, is like Jazz. Sure, Jazz is improvisational - but there are still rules. Jazz doesn’t exist in a vaccum. The drummer listens to and anticipates the sax’s next notes, the bass player observes their fellow musicians for cues on what is coming next.
Both approaches require different types of intelligence. And fanon seems to portray Tim and Dick as polar opposites, when they are, in fact, two halves of a whole.
Okay all joke posts aside, long, sleep deprived rant incoming. If I wake up in two hours and this has notes I’m going to come for every last one of you but whatever,
This season is an insane turning point. On principle I generally refuse to compare media to Avatar: The Last Airbender but right now my sleep addled mind is having a hard time explaining its points without referencing it and the fall of Ba Sing Se in particular. This season felt like if Avatar waited until season 2 to introduce the fire nation as a concept. We finally have the real villain. We know what’s going to be the biggest problem moving forward and I’m so beyond ready to deal with that and I can’t WAIT but we also need to stop and unpack what’s happening with our heroes and antiheroes at the moment, wrt Adora and Catra specifically bc who the fuck do you think I am?
Side note, Mara is gorgeous. I’m in love with her. I needed to get that off my chest.
Anyway, this season finale is an insane turning point. Catra was offered an ultimatum: “Honor” and the CHANCE of recognition she’s craved all her life from a true authority figure (no matter how abusive) or love that is borderline unconditional no matter how many times she spits in its face. Catra was offered an olive branch. In a fit of absolute rage and panic and calculated cruelty, the NEED to make Adora hurt the way she has hurt, she chose the sword instead. Does this... Does this feel familiar?
Side note two, Catra tries to goad Hordak into killing her. Catra lets go when Adora tries to save her from the crumbling universe, and activates the portal under the assumption it will kill all of them. She goads Shadow Weaver into nearly killing her on purpose. She is suicidal and frantically seeking a quick and painless death. I LITERALLT don’t have time to unpack this right now because thinking about it too long turns me into a puddle of ooze with catgirl mania.
I keep getting distracted bc it’s 6AM but this is a turning point. I would like to think Catra has made her final wrong decision. Seeing rage in Adora’s eyes for the first time instead of pity or longing startled the crap out of her, and it’s apparent in the few frames before she slips away. They look at each other differently. The games are over. There’s no room for playing them (“you’re not children anymore”) and Catra has pushed Adora to the point where her love is FINALLY conditional. Adora finally feels the full sting of betrayal because even after doing everything she possibly can, Catra chooses death over a world where Adora wins. That is literally a nightmare for both of them, Catra the survival driven person she is and Adora the loving one. Fuck, Noelle. God. Anyway.
Catra will get to bask in the glory of her final fuckup allowing horde prime to find Etheria, for a little while. Until it becomes clear that horde prime has no place for her, or ANY Etherian- Hordak is NOT his brother. He is soft and arguably just as weak and broken as Catra herself. He went easy on her, all things considered. Horde Prime... Won’t. At this point, Catra will have to make a choice. Work towards her own destruction with Horde Prime and see the wildly suicidal ideation of this season to fruition, or forge her own path, figure out who she is, and finally MAKE herself some ground to stand on of her own volition so she can make her first real choice not influenced by anyone or anything.
That choice will finally be Adora.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. In conclusion:
Couple of thoughts, really. I'm not sure how other writers go about it, but when I plot out a story about original characters, usually I will have an idea about a specific plot point or story, then figure out my main character(s), and from there start building their back story, creating other characters that are needed to help tell the story, ect... the secondary characters and all the background stuff are created specifically for those main characters. So did Chuck create Castiel millenia ago, intentionally with his crack in his chassis, specifically for Dean? We know that John and Mary getting together was planned so that Sam and Dean could be born, and Cain said their lineage goes all the way back to Eden, so it could be assumed that Chuck was planning his 'favorite show' from way back then. So it doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility to me that he created all of the people who have had the biggest impact on their lives, like Bobby, Charlie, Kevin, and so on, just for these two characters, which makes those people seem more important to the narrative. But it's kind of mindblowing to think that all those thousands of years before Dean was even born, Chuck knew he was going to need a special angel, one that was just a bit different, who would be willing to walk away from heaven and millennia of being a soldier and not thinking for himself, and multiple brainwashings to 'fix' him and still be able to keep going, so he created Cas for Dean. Kind of like how he created Eve in the bible for Adam.
Chuck is a douche, but I think that is kind of cool. To add to the coolness of it, he created Castiel for this purpose so well that it actually backfired on him. Cas was able to stand up to God Himself and exercise his own free will. Chuck tried to drive them apart and he almost did, but in the end, they all defied Chuck and stayed together.
BTW, I just realized how awesome it is that Naomi used the phrase "came off the line with a crack in your chassis" for Cass because if you were speaking literally, you would be talking about a car. It sets up a metaphor or a parallel between Cas and Baby, and I really like that considering how deeply Dean loves Baby and how important she is. And how she has been completely totalled more than once, besides the little imperfections like the legos in the vent, the army man, and even the squeaky door, she also probably has some cracks in her chassis as well. And Dean loves her so much that he rebuilt her when most people would have scrapped her, and he kept the imperfections, he loved her probably even more after he had to weld those cracks back together so that she probably looks like she has scars underneath.
Wow. Dean really is better than Chuck. By this point, he basically is Baby's creator the same way Chuck is the creator of everyone and everything else, but he never gave up on her or turned his back on her. He knew she wasn't perfect and he didn't care. He showed more care for a single inanimate object than Chuck has shown for all of his creations. And the episode 'Baby' kind of makes it seem like maybe she isn't completely inanimate, and somehow returns that love when she takes such a beating and struggles to start, but she does because he asks her to, and if she were sentient, she would have faith that no matter what he had to put her through, he was going to fix it and make it up to her.
So, that was rambling and weird, but I had too much coffee.
title: Without Reward
edited by MargaritaLife
fandom: Doctor Who
characters: Twelfth Doctor, Bill Potts, Clara Oswald, Missy | Gomez!Master
music: Wars of Faith by audiomachine
summary: “Without Hope, Without Witness, Without Reward...”
This is an excellent video and a really great summation of all the things Twelve learned through his tenure. Difficult and hard earned lessons that taken as a whole, helped Twelve grow from someone who was, to quote the War Doctor, so afraid of being a grown-up.
In his Tenth and Eleventh incarnations the Doctor ran so far and so fast, trying to outrun endings until Gallifrey gave him little choice but to fight another war to protect Gallifrey and the people of Trenzalore.
Twelve learned to overcome his self-hatred at becoming a soldier (unfortunately lashing out at any soldier the Doctor happened upon) and remembered that he’s just some guy, an idiot, passing through, learning when he can.
Clara also had to forcibly and metaphorically smack sense into the Doctor that he shouldn’t just abandon the human race and let his friends handle it, if there’s a way he could mitigate tragedy, to save someone. The Doctor also realized that Earth was his world too. Earth was his chosen home.
Gallifrey was where he was born but Earth is frequently where the Doctor chose to be.
“This is my world, too. I walk your earth, I breathe your air.“
Twelve learned to accept endings, after billions of years stuck in grief and crossing his own moral and ethical codes. And Twelve learned (re-learned) the heavy burden that comes from removing someone else’s memories.
All this culminating with Twelve putting to practice all he learned with Bill Potts.
“Why is it up to me?” Bill questioned in anguish in Thin Ice, and Twelve returned: “Because it can’t be up to me, your people, your planet.”
The Doctor can’t make decisions for humanity, but he can help. The Doctor serves at the pleasure of the Human Race.
It’s a great development from someone who was so unsure if they were a good person, that he often came out as callous and mean to the Doctor who will stand up for a few people in a dire situation because it’s right, it’s decent, and above all, it’s kind.
Recently, my best friend asked me about my opinion on character (or lack of thereof) of one of Hot Historical Figures (tm). My answer on this question finally helped me to pinpoint why exactly fandom’s black-or-white-without-shades-of-grey view on certain characters bothers me so much.
A lot of people equal heroic deeds with outstanding moral fiber, and refuse to acknowledge heroism when it isn’t followed by what they consider a good character. Which is bulshit, because those two things, while sometimes - not always; not even often - are interwoven with each other, are not the same.
When you look at the humankind - no matter if we’re talking history or recent events - you see a lot of heroes who were morally mediocre at best. You also see a lot of people who were morally outstanding, but never did anything worth mentioning with their life. Being good does not predestine you to being a hero. Being in the place, at the time, and making decision does it. (You notice I don’t use word “right”. It’s because people do a lot of things for a lot of reasons).
I think the heart of what I’m trying to say here is: it’s always fun when your heroes are good people, but it’s not always a case. And you can judge someone’s morals all you want, but you can’t refuse them a recognition of their actions.
Then again, I am “it’s all relative anyway, let’s get drunk” kind of historian and media consumer, so what do I know?
Oh, boy. Things really pick up in the second half of the season. Spoilers for eps 6-10.
It really struck me, specifically during the wildfires episode, how certain Alex is that Bradley will jump at any chance too judge her and tear her down if she shows the slightest bit of vulnerability. Especially if we're considering whether that’s something she’s come to expect, AKA is that something Mitch would do? I wouldn’t be surprised if picking at each others’ flaws, like pressing on bruises, was a large part of how their relationship functioned. We see in the flashback episode that Mitch makes a comment about the clothes they pick for her on-air and how she should wear something sexier, and though they laugh together, it never seemed to me like they ever truly liked or trusted each other. Did she build up that defence system unconsciously? I can totally see Alex having to play into all these angles in order to fit in with the ‘Boy’s Club’. It's something a lot of women do to gain male validation as the result of internalised misogyny, so I’m inclined to believe that yes, Mitch is absolutely the type of person to hold her hair back as she throws up, and then make a disarming joke about it later, which she obviously expects Bradley to do (or something along those lines).
Following on from that, as much as I do believe Alex is Not A Good Person, that feeling of waking up and looking at yourself and realising just how much you’ve been programmed to hate other women, hate yourself, in order to succeed (or even survive) in a patriarchal society can be like being hit by a truck. I think most women can sympathise with that, and it's a really positive step for Alex in the last episode when she is the one to start condemning the network on air, and completely confronts and admits to how many people she hurt with her complicity. She realises that self-preservation has to come second to truth, and starts to redeem herself. I’m so proud.
Charlie fucking Black. This guy... He has none of the redemption Alex does when it comes to self-preservation. The way he just assumes everyone has selfish intentions just because he does is so funny to me. He’s really like ‘yeah I'm only in this so I can get my job back but oh bradley don’t you only care about bringing down fred because it will write you into history? ha!’ and she's just like ‘??? nO?!? bro wtf’. And the way Bradley starts getting really overwhelmed like a pan about to boil over about how shit everything is and Chip honest to god thinks the right thing to do is try to forcibly hug her?? Huh?? Bastard. (I did appreciate it when he punched Mitch though, even if it was for his own manpain).
The weirdest revelation I had this time around was ‘wait…is Chip in love with Alex???’. I looked it up, and yeah, apparently they were trying to convey that the reason Chip will do anything for her, the reason he leaked the story and always fights in her corner, isn't actually due to a long friendship and loyalty to a fault (like I figured), but because he’s in love with her and still holding a torch after fifteen years. Maybe I’m just dumb but damn. They did that. Weird.
Hannah is the catalyst, the lynchpin, the Wake-Up Call for so many people and I love that they woke up but GODDAMMIT she shouldn’t have had to kill herself for them to do it. What happened to her is devastating, particularly because her part in the series isn’t properly clear until episode 8, so until then she’s just as insignificant to the audience as she was to Mitch. “When Mitch Kessler decides he's having sex with you you feel pretty fucking powerless”. “To see people lose their jobs and things fall apart because I didn’t have the strength to say no”. Those lines broke me. Through Hannah, Mitch is finally shown to be the monster he truly is. (Gugu Mbatha-Raw is one of my favourite actresses right now because this performance coupled with Loki? Lady has got some acting chops).
Mia’s mistake in the first half of the season when they’re at the bar and she says she “feels sorry” for Mitch, is that she assumes that those women had the same experience with him as her. Mia and Mitch had a consensual affair, so in her mind it was just a bit of fucking around with an unethical power dynamic. But the man she cheated with raped Hannah. Of course, she doesn’t know that, but her assumption irritates me.
“You know this wasn’t you’re fault, right? You know that?” Bradley I love you but what the fuck girl. Hannah just had a whole monologue about how she blames herself and Mitch assaulting her ruined her life and your response is just ‘don’t blame yourself’ like pls in what world does that help.
“The world isn’t ready to hold women accountable for their complicity” Mitch you need to sit the fuck down, because when he says this, he doesn’t mean ‘accountable’ as in ‘the word isn’t ready to realise that living in a patriarchal society has meant that women who want to succeed have had to twist their oppression to their own advantage/ignore the oppression of others and initiate change in the system so that that doesn’t have to happen if women want to break the glass ceiling’, he means ‘the world needs to hold complicit women to the same level of responsibility and contempt as they hold me because even though they were equally suffering from the system and I was the one who assaulted these women, the bystander is as bad as the bully, right?’. Because he’s burning, Mitch wants Alex to burn with him.
Honestly it was a moment when Cory unlocks Bradley’s entire character with the line “you can’t keep yourself pure just by moving on every time someone disappoints you”. What an asshole I love him and I love how they understand each other.
I love that when Yanko gets drunk he rants about obscure weather phenomena to anyone near him.
The entire last five minutes of episode 10 is some of the most suspenseful, hair-raising, explosive, satisfying TV I've ever seen. Cory cheerfully waving at Fred as he’s locked out and the blind goes down - I love one☝️man. Rena’s face when she realises where Fred’s going and then sprints to lock the doors is iconic.
‘The Morning Show’ rewatch thoughts: Part 1
season 2 trailer thoughts ⬇️
There better be a good reason for Bradley suddenly having blonde hair because I liked the brown, it fit her character. I guess it could be symbolic, as blonde hair (particularly in the entertainment-y famous-people-y scene) has been treated as an ideal, more feminine, more attractive, more pure, whereas brown hair has been commonly associated with being grounded, mousy, or mature, so it could show that Bradley’s moving further away from her old hometown-news-anchor charm and now integrating more into this world that she was so outside of in season 1. She’s definitely wearing fancier clothing (I want that blue coat). Is that a reach? Maybe.
I’m looking forward to this storyline about racism in the workplace with Daniel and Mia, I’m glad he’s getting something substantial to do. Alex promised him that promotion and then blew up the network her own way, and he turned down YDA after all that. He deserves a network that appreciates him.
Maggie’s exposé is going to cause a tsunami.
Who’s the new EP and what the fuck is Chip doing these days.
“This is a battle for the soul of the universe!” Cory in a leadership position at UBA, having toppled Fred, will be interesting. The chaotic king is vibrating at the head of the table but is he better off as vice-president, where he can slyly manipulate from below without all the power right in front of him? He’s begging Alex to come back so obviously things aren’t going exceptionally, but we already know that’s where he thrives, on the knife edge. I hope his relationship with Bradley doesn’t deteriorate too badly, their dynamic is so great. They should go for that carriage ride!
Ummm they’re covering COVID. If you must, I guess.
I see a Yanko but I don’t see a Claire and that doesn’t sit right with me.
