#stoptakenallthenames

[aarondinglestears]

What happened to 2014;Aaron? His face has changed. A lot. Is it the emotions his brain can't contain? What is it, Rachel? Is it black magic? Is it drugs?

LOL it’s danny miller’s fitness routine

[dxringred]

stoptakenallthenames replied to your post: i just wrote an entire alternate ending for emma’s...

*could you elaborate?* who would be the killer in your version & what way of storytelling would you use?

Well, first, I’ve got to make it clear that in my alternate version, the entire line-up of suspects is a red herring. None of them did it, they’re all just suspicious and in the line of fire in order to draw attention away from the actual killer. But there are still clues all throughout SSW pointing to who that person is.

So now, to be upfront: my “actual killer” is Harriet.

All through the week, she was in every episode, right in the middle of all the action/drama, and in the same location as 5/7 of the suspects. She was strongly connected to Emma - they liked each other, Emma respected her more than anyone else in that village, and they spent a lot of time together - she’s at the center of the village as the vicar, and she has a direct connection to all of the suspects bar Adam. (Laurel and Gabby are obvious; she’s dating Cain; Moira is figuratively her “rival” to put it banally; and the brothers are strongly linked to her through Emma.)

Honestly, all they had to do to make this work was swap Harriet with Moira and Ross. (And not leave Gabby out of the entire two-parter.) So, what happens is:

Gabby finds the letter. Hearing Ross approaching the church, she runs off with it, panics, and leaves it in the first place she can think of that doesn’t incriminate her. (Explaining how Adam gets it.)

Ross finds Isaac, but not the letter, and returns him to the hospital.

Emma goes up to the bridge of her own accord out of guilt, therefore nullifying the retcon that Emmerdale shoved down our throats, and keeping in her initial suicidal ideation/guilt. 

Harriet is driving around looking for Emma. (And Moira/Cain, who are also driving around. We’ve still got a lot of people driving around!)

Moira (who is with Cain; he still finds her, but before Emma falls) gets the call from Victoria about Isaac’s return, and heads to the hospital. Harriet gets the same call from Cain while they’re en route. 

From there on, you essentially just swap Moira out for Harriet, who sees Emma on the viaduct instead. She pulls over, makes her way up to the top, and proceeds to try and talk Emma down. It's Harriet, so it works, and it's 100% in character for Emma to listen to and trust her above virtually everyone else. There is no abrupt pancake-flip of Emma's personality (or Moira's, because she's not there) and the scene doesn't get ruined in the space of a second. 

Emma slips/trips/whatever trying to get down and, despite Harriet having a hold of her hand and trying to save her, falls anyway. 

What happens directly after Emma’s fall is iffy territory. For it to make sense, Harriet goes down to check on Emma, realizes she’s dead, and flees in a stunned panic after hearing the dogwalker. I already know it’s more likely she would call “999″ and hang around, but really you can’t know for certain what you (or anyone else) would do in that situation so it’s a debatable reaction. And, in the words of my good friend Kayla:

"There are always holes in whodunnits that are to shock you, and you have only one (1) hole and it can be explained away.” 

So, the twist is that nobody killed Emma (which I know many think is a cop-out), and that the person on the bridge was Harriet, who feels as though she may as well be a killer anyway.

In terms of execution, I would’ve still kept the flashbacks in, but there would’ve been a massive intervention in terms of all the narration. Everyone gets their own set of flashbacks (ruling them out one-by-one) explaining where they were and what they were doing on the day. By the end, the entire line-up has been shown to be not guilty. Then you get Harriet’s flashback, which starts as a culmination of all the times she appeared in everyone else’s (which is an “It’s been staring you in the face” moment) before going on to show where she ended up, and how.

Thursday ends with her finally going to the police station, well aware that she has to tell the truth and having finally properly come to terms with what happened etc. (Also, it would be within less than a week of Emma’s death because I wouldn’t put a random two month break in the middle of the damn storyline.) She confesses that she was on the viaduct, explains what happened, gets arrested, goes to trial and is eventually found not guilty.

Also, because Ross doesn’t haul Emma to the viaduct in this version, she’d have no bruises/marks indicating a struggle, bar one on her wrist from where Harriet gripped it so tightly while trying to save her, which would support Harriet’s version of events.

Katherine gets a chance to shine as an actress, Harriet finally gets a complex and well-written storyline showcasing her as a character, and (as Kayla pointed out to me) Harriet is a well-loved character, so you also get the suspense of waiting for the conclusion of the trial, and the relief of when she’s found not guilty.

So... yeah, that’s my alternate version of this storyline! I know the scenes directly after Emma’s fall are so-so, and aren’t going to please everyone, but Harriet fleeing the scene in a stunned panic isn’t the most implausible thing to happen in Emmerdale by a long, long, long shot. 

Everything else makes sense (though feel free to call out anything because there’s bound to be something I didn’t consider), there are no retcons, Gabby doesn’t disappear for the two-parter, Ross isn’t shoehorned into the bridge scene and, honestly, what we got was such a mess that anything would be miles better.

Thanks for coming to my long ass talk asdfghjk.

[bartsugsy]

Jesus was gay? Explains a lot

the only person he ever kissed in the bible was a man coincIDENCE I THINK NOT

[robertjacobsugdens]

Hello. May I ask why you find hilarious that exchange in the scrapyard? I am asking because I remember finding it weird, I think because of the wording mainly; well I'm not a native English speaker and some things strike me as funny and weird (when they're really not any of the above). Probably you found it hilarious for a completely different reason (story/character wise I assume).

Hi!!!

I wish there was a deep character/story reason for me finding that exchange as hilarious as I do, but there really isn’t, sadly. 

Like. “I don’t like you anymore and I definitely don’t fancy you” wow, Aaron, sick burn you got there. What are you? Five? What’s next pulling Robert’s hair? Telling him he’s a poopy head? (He is, but that’s an issue for another time.) 

AND THEN ROBERT IS LIKE “WOW, WAY HARSH TAI” looking all OFFENDED as if Aaron saying he doesn’t fancy him is the worst possible thing he could have said. 

I just. It’s SO deeply immature and in contrast with the situation and them as characters it’s incredibly funny to me.

[smittenwithsugden]

I resent scenes like this. Screaming, revealing personal shit in a public place like some nosey bitches who came from fucking caves. They are cringeworthy. I can stomach drama, angst whatever but this shit, screaming at the middle of the pub, fighting, grab each other, its so ridiculous and devaluate the characters in my eyes. I know its a soap and its dramatic. Its tacky and humiliating.

Like aaron seriously? He said right then and there that he knew that she is not a threat. Why? It was nessecary to that point? And robert grabing bex and yelling you are nothing. And then suddently everyone comes in as well. My eyes and ears were bleeding. God... I dont hate this Sl ,i dont hate bexs i hate ridiculous scenes like this one. That feels forced, ooc and cheap. Fuck my eyes

I agree. (Well, I do hate bex...but other than that, yes)

For me this episode did not happen, all that happened was everyone knowing now. I know it’s bad to close my eyes to this, but everything was just so badly written. And we shouldn’t kid ourselves, we will get badly written episodes again, a lot of them. And for me personally I just can’t stand to work myself up over every single one every time. I just don’t have the energy for it.

I obviously can’t quit them, I love my boys too much. So I will jsut take the facts out of the episode - everyone knows about the baby now, Aaron has a lot of thinking to do - and will move on and wait for the next episode.

[whitneydeans]

Wait a minute... Charity and crissie is a thing? I mean based on the narrative and Ed's point of view? Or wishful thinking? That could be interesting. From what i have heard charity is an unofficial bisexual character. And crissie... Well is a woman with a long list of men who broke her heart. I like the combo. But from what i see fans can come up with more interesting ideas than the actual writers so... Questionable

harold, they’re lesbians

[whimsywooo]

Lets forget how rediculous and desperate victoria seems. (Why the fuck she is obssessed with babies anyway?) lets ignore how she commanded robert to be the father and told aaron "thats all you got?" i mean men that was... Anyway the only way to save Aarons personality here is to show us that he is in denial because i know many of you dont want a breakup but fuck the boy has been through enough

HOLLLAAAAA BEAUTIFUL,

exactly … i mean it just almost seems like she’s living her ideas through rebecca and robert and it’s just not on. i just can’t take the choices being made for robert either !!

i mean with aaron i can see that he is being supportive and trying his best to be there for robert but this idea of literally being ignored by vic, his feelings almost overlooked by her is just not on at all …

honestly i am so with you here though, aaron has been through enough !!!

💗✨

[aarondinglestears]

If ppl want to genuinely enjoy the canon story the way it was/is told they have to realize/accept that it wasn't a cute, romantic love story. It is gritty, miserable, (unrequited even; at the beginning) depressing at best (even when they're officially together) based on manipulation, cheating, lies, manslaughter & the one of the two characters is the epitome of sociopathy. It ain't cute & Robert isn't a lost innocent boy. He is lost I give him that. But he is also malicious & Aaron 1/2

unfortunately for the romantic souls out there wasn't enough to "cure"him. Its a sad story overall & ppl will never fully like it & accept it the way it is. I missed your thoughts on the stories in my dash. Anyway cheers!!!       

shit i just wrote 4 dope paragraphs and accidentally deleted them. attempt #2.

I remember after the ONS having all these complicated thoughts and feelings, like I had been validated on one hand but disappointed on the other. Because I was still rooting for them as a couple even while being skeptical about their compatibility and healthiness, and I was trying to desperately to grasp onto the belief that Aaron was different, and special, and that not only had Robert changed for him, he changed because of him, was better overall, had learned to lead a life that was less manipulative, less toxic, etc., even independent of whether Aaron was around. But unfortunately Robert was (is!) still stuck in a phase where he depended on Aaron to be his savior, the cure to his flaws, and that wasn’t fair on Aaron. He didn’t deserve it and he especially didn’t need that burden. He wasn’t qualified to be that and tbh no romantic partner should be!

And I think that’s where the audience (me included) got lost amidst this narrative that we might have been projecting onto their story despite the show not entirely intending it (though they did muddle it with stuff like ssw and the wedding, which imo was done as audience appeasement). The cheating reveal made that a ton worse, because Aaron explicitly thought he should accept it, that him believing he deserved better was wrong (tying back into his traumas) ... and the shot of Robert cradling into Aaron says it all, really, about the ‘lost boy’ angle. Robert sees himself that way and he’s gotten Aaron to buy into it to an extent, too. He’d gotten Aaron backed into a corner where he believed this was something he had to forgive. And it took him months of trying to convince himself that was true until he was finally able to cut it off and face reality.

The show took Robert on this arc from ‘15-’16 where he found acceptance, someone he was deeply attracted to, and began to understand himself, by virtue of being with Aaron. He had a pseudo-redemption in chicken pt. 2 and the abuse sl merely so that the audience could stomach him being put back into a less objectively villainous light. But the purpose of all that - as *I* see it -- was not to write him as gearing up for a loving romance. It wasn’t to show that the two of them were destined for each other, and that they fixed each other. If anything, the opposite -- it was to show that even though they wanted to be together, they could still be dysfunctional, unhappy, treat each other like shit, and possibly even become worse versions of themselves in some ways. To me the most delusional way to think they would work as it stands would be to believe that the ~majesty/divinity of their love automatically solves or counteracts the parts that make them toxic, and justifies everything they’ve put each other through. It doesn’t have to be like that, and imo it’s more interesting to see it for what it is, as blunt and unromantic as it may be. I have a lot more fun watching them as two separate characters working toward/failing at partnership, rather than a whole that’s more important than the sum of its parts.