The Franchise is an epic sci-fi fantasy debut novel by Thomas Elrod.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT
The Malicarn is a beloved, classic fantasy world brought to life on the big screen in a series of wildly successful blockbuster movies. Aside from a few paid actors, the films are almost entirely populated with characters that believe their sham fantasy lives are real.
When a fan-favorite actor starts to doubt the studio’s work, he decides that he’s going to free the population of the Malicarn. But bringing freedom to people who already believe they’re free won’t be as easy as he thinks.
Does an endgame with no kiss/sex/wedding count as explicit?
IMO yes, as long as it has equivalent or even more meaningful scenes that prove they ended up together in a romantic capacity, and happily ever after.
It's hard to pull, I give you that.
But it's also baffling to me that some ppl are still doubting Sydcarmy was canonized by Storer in S5.
I mean, we have his heart eyes when he looks at her as part of his family, cutting the cake for his "niece", figuratively taking the cake, btw.
We have him literally saying she's the real deal, and we all know he's not just talking about her cooking skills because he loves her, believes more in her than in himself, would jump in front of a fucking train for her, etc.
We have him literally hating sundays bc the restaurant was closed, even though he was already burnt out with the whole cheffing thing by then, or in the process of being burnt out. Yes, that could have also been his workaholism talking because we know that at that point he was already in a very dark place mentally and emotionally. Still, we also have him canonically being unable to move his cutting board away from her, constantly staring at her, doubting his own decision about retiring over and over, and postponing it as well, so he could continue helping her, not to mention he couldn't even bring himself to tell her about it, so she learned it through someone else. We have him literally giving her his most valued possession and emotional asset, the restaurant he inherited from his idol, which is the equivalent of ripping his own bleeding heart off his chest and giving it to her:
We have the multiple panic attacks, the mere thought of her helped him overcome.
I mean, it's a lot, but OK, SURE, sex is not on the list, a wedding is not on the list either, and YKW? A 💋 may or may not be on the list; truth is we don't know for sure, because Storer chose not to show us what they did after this embrace:
Source: livelovecaliforniadreams
It very well may have been on the list and it wouldn’t be a reach to assume so... considering the 😍 he ONLY had for Syd during Eva's birthday, and of course, this:
💬 1 🔁 5 ❤️ 23 · Not over yet · We are all seeing that they were about to kiss bc those were Storer’s exact instructions, guys. Why would h
And this: <*I no longer think Eva turned like 10. Upon further consideration, I changed my mind about the flashforward, and now I think it's still 2024 on the show's TL, just a few days/weeks after the 🌟 🌟, maybe shortly after Richie came back from Japan, which was gonna take approx a week.>
💬 3 🔁 5 ❤️ 26 · Pretty self-explanatory 💅 · This meta is dedicated to all the Clairmy stands that I blocked throughout the years. It's my
Now, I do understand the frustration of not being served a "conventionally apparent" endgame. God knows I wanted Sydcarmy sex scenes that were banned in some states, but you can't tell me it wasn't romantic anyway, you can't tell me it wasn't painfully obvious they love each other, and trust each other, which was indeed explicit, and that they would walk through fire for one another, you can't tell me that now they are Bears, because they are family-family, they won't be FOREVER, as Cicero told Tiff at her wedding on the dance floor, where Carmy was dancing with C but eating Syd alive with his eyes, also canon:
You can't tell me any of this.
Plus, he probably did not retire, because the happiest he's ever been was during that service with HER and with those ppl that he woulda driven crazy but that were lifting each other up because of HER and the love that she brought in and kept in that place, it certainly wasn't because of how he used to ran the place, he admitted and we all saw it.
Again, canon:
So, it's a puzzle, but all the pieces are there. It's canon. The kiss, sex and maybe upcoming wedding, or engagement could be there too, we don't know. Richie and Jess are together without any explicit romantic cliche other than looks and finger light touches. Storer wanted to convey that that was the way in which he was gonna be sending the endgame message, since S4, actually.
I heard it and saw it loud and clear. Because it was clearly mutual.
You do you, chefs, but we won.
Bonus track:
💬 1 🔁 2 ❤️ 23 · So wait up, you're telling me there's ppl who believe the C person was at the bday party bc she's endgame when SHE DIDN'T
