#spoiler panic

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Wait so Aaron’s getting a letter?? Watch it be divorce confirmation because they don’t give a fuck about robron and never have

Right, this is the last ask I’m going to answer on this for now...

They were already getting a divorce. Aaron got the letter about it like two days after Robert was gone. He decided to go ahead with it in January. Getting a confirmation now, if that’s what it is, is just a continuation of that.

Whether we like it or not, none of that is some big signpost to say that they don’t care about Robron. They’ve been fairly respectful of Robert and robron, where Aaron is concerned anyway, this whole time. At some point the story HAS to move on. Ryan is not coming back at the moment. I hate it but it is what it is.

Does that mean I or any of us want to watch this?! No of course not. Even looking at spoilers or a shot of Aaron in the preview depresses me. That’s why we have the choice not to watch. But no one should really be upset with them for moving the story along. They can’t keep Aaron forever tethered to an off screen character. Not in this kind of show. This is a soap, a continuing drama. Clue’s in the name. Yes they could have given him Seb, and they should have, but that’s the only tether that would have worked. And even then they still would have gotten a divorce. (Plus with covid restrictions we’d never see Seb again anyway).

I just don’t understand the melodramatic outrage at the show. Not liking it because it’s sad or critiquing a writing choice is one thing but yelling about how it means they don’t care about Robron now (for all intents and purposes Robron is no more) or ever (how can you even say that when they got five years of solid content) is just...silly.

[flawswelove]

I have no panic about the spoilers... Like the only thing I don’t like is that when I see Aaron taking to another man I think about Robert all alone in his cell.

[iwillsendapostcard]

Today's spoilers have made me realise something about my relationship with the robron storyline, and I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar reaction. I only ever watched robron as a casual fan when I was home from uni and so I watched the affair era in a very patchwork way. I also wasn't keen on the affair at the time as I liked Chrissie too much. I started shipping the boys two weeks before SSW when excitement about that storyline spilled over onto another of my fandoms. This meant that I went back and watched the storyline from the beginning, two years of it, in the space of about 2 weeks. I could watch and enjoy the affair era this time knowing where we were ending up and I could watch the abuse sl knowing Gordon would be sent down. I knew at every point that the boys would get through, that the angst had a purpose, and could thus could enjoy it for what it was. The most frustrating thing with this sl, for me, has been the apparent lack of point to it. The new spoilers show that there is going to be more outcomes than we might have assumed. And what I have realised is that the reason I am so apprehensive and excited and worried is because this is the fist angst based story I have watched with the boys where I have been watching in real time, and not once the story has ended. My point here is that I think we need to be a little less hard on ourselves for feeling scared and untrusting about this new story due to the fact that the outcomes are still a very long way away and that for lots of people this is a somewhat new expeerience.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Danny has never been eloquent, bless his heart but his Robron love was still there. He desperately wants a story and at this point I don't think he cares what it is. And it kind of came across like that to me. But it actually made me more cringe about it because they're clearly going to play up the abuser, victim route again and the fact they're now doing it to Aaron Dingle is just tragic.

I liked the robron love still sort of seeping out. I actually appreciated they way he talked about Robert and their relationship for the most part. With the whole rock and anchor thing. Made a change from “two best friends who happen to be in a relationship”. Haha.

Maybe one day he can say that about Aaron and Ben and I can just laugh instead of facepalming. Haha.

I agree he definitely wants a story and screen time again. Can you blame him? It’s been a long time. And I’m kind of with him. I mean I would have given him more up to this point. I would have increased his character interactions. Let him be involved with his family in more meaningful ways. Like he could have been Belle’s affair guru confidante. Or he could have taken Vinny under his wing a little like he did with Gerry. He could have made friends with Matty or something. Or Billy. Or let Ellis exist again. Who knows. But eventually, I too would have given him a love interest again. It is inevitable so I’m not mad at them for trying even if I don’t like the set up.

But yeah, I’m not looking forward to them potentially playing up the abuser/victim thing. I think these producers have a huge problem with that in general and it sucks they’re doing it with Aaron considering all he’s been through.

At least Simon made Ben sound vaguely interesting in his interview. At least in his own right.

I don’t know, we shall see.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Really sad you're so excited about this sl :( would you have been if Ryan stayed and Danny left?

Stop. Just stop. How many times do we have to have this absurd conversation?!

Nowhere in anything I’ve written have I said I am excited to watch this. I’ve said I’m going to TRY and watch it and see how I feel. I’ve said that I’m not mad at the show for doing their job because Aaron moving on is inevitable. I’ve said I’m not mad at Danny for like...wanting to work. I said I was glad Danny and Simon both talked about Robron in their interviews. I said they promoted it better than Jane, which isn’t hard to do because she’s awful at it.

None of that screams “wow I’m so excited to watch this”. All of that says “hey maybe I could possibly tolerate my eyeballs viewing this while I watch the rest of this terrible show and hey, I do like Aaron better than Harriet.”

So please stop. You and all of the other anons who keep trying to convince me I’m excited for this are very annoying.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Why did you only start watching again when aaron was about to get a new LI?

Why are you so obsessed with my watching habits?

But for your information, since you’re so concerned:

- I never actually stopped watching Aaron scenes (other than that three weeks post Robert’s exit because I needed time to process). Granted he’s had about 5 total minutes of screen time since January other than the lockdown episode but I’ve still watched it all because for some reason I can’t not. And pretty much every time he was on, I said it felt weird or looked wrong or made me sad that he didn’t have his tall blonde accessory attached to his side, up to and including the last time he was on screen. So I have no idea how I’m actually going to feel when he pops up next week with this Ben stuff but odds are, it’s going to feel strange for me. 

- I only stopped watching the show because Aaron was barely on and the Malone stuff was so boring and I couldn’t deal with Wendy anymore etc and I would miss episodes and I just couldn’t bring myself to catch up anymore so I just read live blogging to stay in the loop. 

- I watched all of the lockdown episodes because I was curious to see how they would do them and because they were actually mostly about characters I liked. And I enjoyed them overall and it felt nice to enjoy the show again because I really hadn’t enjoyed it in a while, hence my stopping watching for a time. 

- I started watching full episodes again on July 24th. Yes that was after the Aaron stuff leaked but long before it was any kind of legitimate spoiler. Between the lockdown episodes and July 24th, I stated several times that I wished I could get back into the show because the lockdown episodes made me nostalgic but that nothing in the live blogging and spoilers about Malone and Harriet and Wendy and Bob and Luke and Vic was enticing me to watch at all. I’ve had some really slow days at work throughout this covid period and I was really bored one day so I thought, what the hell, let’s put it on and watch live. It was mostly terrible but Matty was on and I realized I kind of missed it even if it was awful. So I decided that if I happened to not have a work call at 2 o’clock on days that it was on, I would watch live if I felt like it. And it became a kind of habit again, a familiar terribleness. I had kind of missed complaining about it. 

- Because I’ve been watching the whole show again, when the Aaron spoilers became a reality, I decided that I would try and watch and see how I felt (like I’ve stated SEVERAL times already). I’m also capable of watching something I don’t really like and still shipping a ship I’ve shipped for the past 5 years. 

- It still hasn’t even aired yet and you people are already freaking out that I may watch this stupid storyline. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY YOU CARE SO MUCH. IT IS RIDICULOUS. ESPECIALLY SINCE I AM CLEARLY NOT A PERSON WHO IS SUPER EXCITED FOR IT. I HAVE CLEARLY CRITIQUED THE HELL OUT OF IT FROM THE MOMENT THE SPOILERS WERE LEAKED UNTIL NOW. SO WHAT IS YOUR DAMN DEAL WITH YELLING AT ME ABOUT IT???

- Even if I was looking forward to it, why does it even matter to you? I don’t have to justify my television habits to you. In any case, I am tagging everything so you do not need to see these posts as anything more than white boxes. You do not even need to follow me. If it’s my art you’re after, there are plenty of people who reblog it or you can find it in the tag. And if you don’t follow me and are just here to be obnoxious, and I don’t put it past you because if you did follow me you would know all of the above, then why the fuck are you here? 

- I really don’t understand this fear that I might watch a show I’ve been watching for five years and then some. It’s not going to change anything for you. 

Take a nap. 

[scrapyardboyfriends]

I dont know why, given the producers we're talking about, I even allowed myself a thought that they might do this even slightly well. The set up itself is problematic. The speed we knew it was happening at is ridiculous but the spoilers seem to confirm it's going to happen very quickly. Having Liv as his go for it tiger wingman is a whole other cringeworthy factor all by itself. Each spoiler makes it sound worse, not better. If it were any other producers you would think, oh they're rushing it because they want to tell a story they need them together to tell. But they pretty much said, this is it. This is the entire plan. It's horrifyingly bad.

I agree with you. I thought the interviews sold it better but then I read the more detailed spoilers and was kind of turned off again. I mean we don’t know if it will literally just be this week and then they’ll be dating. Because that would horrific storytelling wise. I would hope there’s at least a bit more time taken. But overall, I don’t have a ton of hope regarding it being a well told story. If they wanted to make this work even slightly, they’d let them take it slow. Use the time to build up Ben’s character first a bit. They’d let them both agree to get to know each other again first. Maybe Aaron brings up the fact that he always failed at taking it slow with Robert (yes I will always put a Robert mention in my versions) and he wants to try something different this time. Maybe they also decide to take it slow because Aaron is still getting over Robert in a sense and is still sort of working on being able to move on even though he knows he needs to try. And Ben needs more time to process and all that.

I don’t know, I’m not hopeful for it. And I hate Liv’s involvement. No matter what it is (unless she’s like ‘but Robert?!’) it’s going to annoy me. I think if it could all happen in a bubble it might be more tolerable but I’m not ready for any of his family to weigh in and be all “yay a new person!”.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Even with these producers there's still a part of me that's screaming there has to be more! There has to something they're not saying! But as horrible as it all sounds, I really think this is the story. This is it. One week set up and dating. All these people hanging their hat on DL saying it's one of the biggest storylines for autumn are grasping at straws. There is no there, there. This is it. When will they be fired??

I do wonder if/when Emmerdale will get a new producer. The last two changeovers happened because they wanted to move the current ED producer to Corrie and I can’t possibly see that happening with this team. And especially with three of them, I don’t know how we get rid of all three at once. I still think having three was one of their worst ideas. Jane has to go. She’s terrible. The other two it’s hard to say. But really I just want a fresh start and a fresh perspective so I want someone new. But I don’t feel like I see that happening through this covid filming stuff. I mean I know it’s probably more the crew that knows everything and so you could transition but I also think they probably don’t want to risk it right now. But I really really want them gone. I’m over their inability to tell a decent story. It’s not even just that I don’t like most of their story ideas, it’s that I don’t think they even know how to tell them at all.