La… dee dah dah… DAY?!
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@wordsatstake
La… dee dah dah… DAY?!
Currently having the best night of my life because not only did I get to see TGWDLM on stage in person in London tonight, but the star of the show himself Jon Matteson noticed me on Twitter and Instagram?!?
I’m about to fucking pass out-
there, on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds
headless: a sleepy hollow story (2022) / ophelia, sir john everett millais
Behold Miss Holloway VS Wilbur Cross!
I’m not sure if I loooved this result, but here you go :D
via ❥ earthenfern
family 🫶
does he know?
Fishing cats are stocky, muscular nocturnal predators about twice the size of a domestic cat. Little studied and rarely seen, fishing cats lurk near the muddy shores of oxbow lakes, mangrove swamps, and tidal creeks in South and South East Asia where they dine on fish and crabs (or, failing that, anything smaller than them). The fishing cat is a fast and powerful swimmer and even has webbed paws!
Sadly, fishing cats are now endangered and the global population may have declined by around 30% in the years 2010–2015. The destruction of wetlands and persecution by local farmers and fisherman have driven them to extinction in many regions.
🐾 Portlympnepark on IG
Why Paul’s Fate in “Hey Melissa!” Hits So Hard: A Mirror of TGWDLM’s Tragic Ending
After enjoying the pro-shot for the reprise, I rewatched some Nightmare Time and the parallels of Paul’s tragic endings in the musical and “Hey Melissa!” stand out to me more than ever. But first I want to talk about the main thing that’s bugged me about the ending of HM (Paul from BF: “I don’t like it, and I’ll tell you why!”). fencecollapsed already wrote an absolutely brilliant post about all the flaws in the writing of the episode, and the amazing potential it had to explore themes of dehumanization, abusive relationships, and desperation for love. I think part of the difficulty for fans when interpreting the episode is how abruptly things change without foreshadowing and full explanations. Shock-value twists don’t properly explain what Melissa’s deal is (is she deluded, playing games, or a mixture of both? And how much does she care for Paul, in her own twisted way, if at all?) and why Paul makes the decision he does. My interpretation tries to work with the script as is, knowing that it’s flawed.
The ending of “Hey Melissa!” gives a lot of people major ick, but for me the worst part isn’t that Paul went back to Melissa and wanted to be her cat. The worst part is that he’s traumatized with Stockholm syndrome (probably concussed, so he has no ability to be making major decisions) and is essentially going back to his abuser and dooming himself to almost certain death. But as fencecollapsed’s other post reminded me, that episode’s ending couldn’t possibly last. Agent Freddie Biggs will track Paul and Melissa down easily, or Bill and co. at CCRP will be able to tell that something’s wrong, or Paul will get sick and die from malnourishment or Melissa’s abuse.
It’s not a sustainable, “safe sane and consensual” kinky relationship. In the first place, Paul couldn’t give proper consent with all those injuries and trauma, and secondly, he is not into it when he’s in his right mind. From the beginning, Paul doesn’t like being kidnapped, humiliated, and dehumanized. Melissa’s painful punishments with the taser, and her victims’ fear of her using it, are primarily how she maintains control. This is an obvious statement, but throughout the whole episode, Paul doesn’t give any indications of enjoying it. He’s trying to escape the entire episode. He’s miserable and feels helpless. Using the litter box, he seethes, “I hate this so much.” He’s said (well, his clone, who was very similar to him in many ways) in “Forever and Always” that he “[does] not like roleplay!” His turnabout at the end is a major character change. Where did it come from? Let’s just dismiss shock-value rushed writing for the moment. I think it’s three main things:
His physical injuries and confusion. At the end of the episode, Paul obviously isn’t in a healthy headspace. He’s suffering from several injuries and trauma by the time he wakes up in the hospital. When Freddie jokes, “I’d like to shake your paw,” Paul is extremely confused. At this point, he’s been dehumanized so much that maybe he’s starting to get used to it and believe it—which is such a compelling moment of horror in its own right! But that gets into the psychological reasons, which are my next points.
To fully blame Paul’s attitude change on brain damage, like the episode seems to want us to do, is boring and not thematically interesting. Like @fencecollapsed wrote, that explanation that the episode pushes is “lame and not compelling,” which is why I’m leaning into the psychological reasons more. I think those interpretations are a whole lot more interesting! Especially since HM’s ending has created an open debate for fans of whether Paul genuinely discovered an enjoyment of pet play “wink wink,” or if he is simply susceptible to being coerced into horrible versions of “happiness” if pushed far enough.
2. Plenty of others have pointed out the trauma bonding at play here. “A trauma bond is characterized by cycles of negative reinforcement interspersed with occasional bursts of positive reinforcement; this so-called intermittent reinforcement makes it very difficult to leave an abusive relationship.” This is especially evident in how Melissa switches back and forth between patronizing Paul with sweet talk and babying, to dehumanizing and hurting him with cruel sadism. If this aspect had been explored in the episode, it would have better explained the psychological manipulation that started to influence and gaslight Paul.
The victim of trauma bonding is “love-bombed and then devalued. There may be an extreme push-pull cycle.” Melissa inflicts Paul with painful punishments and humiliation, but in other moments she’s sickeningly sweet, seemingly caring, and affectionate toward Paul. After the head trauma, Paul gets confused about Melissa’s treatment of him. His need for love and safety gradually shifted into being associated with Melissa: "The cycle of trauma bonding includes repeated abuse with occasional moments of being 'loved' or 'saved.' The brain may latch onto the positive experience of relief and safety and aim to achieve it again during the next cycle of abuse." [x]
I'll further explain this theory, but I think Paul's low self-esteem could have muddled his thoughts about Melissa. Maybe he thinks, what’s so bad about his relationship with Melissa, anyway? Maybe it’s what he deserves, and the best he can get. He’s never felt like enough, but he’s enough for her like this, as her cat. Add in Paul being a bit touch-starved, and maybe the physical affection Melissa gives him and the intense attention (both negative and positive) feel close enough to love for Paul.
Let me explain a bit more and focus on Paul's likely self-esteem issues. This has always been an integral part of his character to me. If the episode had taken more time to explore this, it would have been so fascinating. Ultimately, I think this is the most intriguing and believable reason that Paul (after enough pressure and trauma) would have decided of his own free will to accept a toxic relationship and go back to Melissa:
3. Paul’s highly probable struggle with low self-esteem. We can see for ourselves that he’s a socially awkward guy with an anxious demeanor (and fans have varying readings of Paul being introverted or on the autistic spectrum). Paul grew up poor, poor enough that he went to Sycamore High School where everyone “hated themselves.” I argued in a recent post that Paul’s background of growing up poor significantly impacted his view of himself, how he prioritizes his needs, and made him set a low bar in life. His top priorities are safety and comfort, like Jon Matteson said last summer (at about 28:25 of his interview with Curt Mega). In my opinion, that’s because he didn’t grow up with financial security and the luxury to prioritize his emotional needs. That’s why he seems unambitious in life: his only goal was to get a job so he could feel safe (“I don’t know, I want what anybody wants: money, a house…” In the reprise, those two things are at the top of his list: basic survival needs). He grew up probably getting bullied and feeling ashamed of growing up poor. He had a job as a newspaper delivery boy, and this could’ve been to help make ends meet at home.
I think this impacted Paul to be the awkward guy we meet at the start of TGWDLM. He was on survival mode for so long focusing on his financial needs, he didn’t work on his personal relationships. His emotional connections with his friends/coworkers are shallow; he’s reluctant to commit to emotional demands, and he’s shy in talking to his crush. It’s because he yearns for Emma at the start of TGWDLM that we see most clearly that he wants and needs more out of life. “I’ve never been happy,” he sings, and when the Hive made him “let it out,” that was probably the first time that he revealed this suppressed idea to himself.
So imagine Paul, quietly unsatisfied in life but unable to quite put a name to it. There’s a part of him that needs an extra push, some help or guidance, something to get him to that next level to feel fulfilled. The conflict of the apocalypse in TGWDLM then gave him purpose: he was fighting against the Hive, perhaps fully appreciating his free will for the first time in his life (rather than just being a cog in a corporate machine), and developed deeper bonds with Emma and his friends. But by the end, Pokey disregarded any of Paul’s actual wants/needs and filled that void with song and purpose (robbing him of his free will, autonomy, and integrity in the process). In “Hey Melissa!,” Melissa’s drive is eerily similar to Pokey’s. For her pleasure and amusement, she forces her will on others, regardless of their feelings. She kidnaps Paul, forcing on him her desires to humiliate, control, emotionally manipulate, and inflict pain. She forces him into the role she wants him to play.
Sound familiar? Pokey and Melissa both sought to dehumanize Paul, rob him of his autonomy, and destroy his individuality. They brainwash him until he finally breaks and submits. All that’s left is obedience.
What’s especially so tragic about this is that Paul worked at CCRP for many years, just another cog in a corporate machine. He had a life full of obedience to his boss, financial demands, and social expectations. He got by having his financial needs met, but inside he quietly knew that he needed something more to feel fulfilled. By the end of TGWDLM, he loses his free will and he’s a cog in a whole new machine. He has no choice but to obey his new master, Pokey. And it’s the same at the end of “Hey Melissa!” It’s fitting that in the reprised version of the show, Melissa is in the group when the Hive sings: “We swear we will teach you, what it means to love/ What it means to obey, Paul!”
In TGWDLM, the last choice Paul makes is to blow up the meteor—we know he doesn’t want to be part of the Hive. Then he is infected. He’s mind-controlled by Pokey and coerced into the role of leading man. His fate is sealed: he's forced full of manic joy, in a world and role he hates but brainwashed to take part in, trapped in a musical forever.
In “Hey Melissa!,” the last lucid choice Paul makes is to try and escape Melissa’s apartment. He gets hit by a car and is brutally injured. He’s traumatized by Melissa’s intense, love-bombing, pain-inflicting affection. He’s trapped in the role of her cat, hating roleplay yet brainwashed into enjoying it. He’ll be her sweet kitty until it kills him.
“Don’t you want to see me happy, is it so tragically wrong?”
Paul is happy now. But how much of him is left?
Don't suppose you'd be willing to expand on the better written of Hey Melissa in your head? I love a good deconstruction of a flawed piece of media
yeah I can do that! I've talked a little about my thoughts in this old post, but I could definitely stand to expand on it more
So I think Hey Melissa has a GREAT concept, I like a lot of the ideas here, I like Melissa as a character I think she's a fun villain, and theoretically I like the concept of the ending. I like dehumanization horror and find it deeply compelling. I think the horror at the center, how both Paul and Ted in some way become how she treats them, accepting and living in it, can be extremely effective. Melissa's dynamic with Paul interests me, it's horrifying but there's a compulsion to it, an awful, sick indulgence. There's a reason I write Melissa's obsession with Paul in The Severed Floor like I do, there's something engaging in whatever the fuck this is. On a certain level it scratches an itch, this kind of thing IS up my alley.
I just think it was executed poorly!
I have four big issues with the story as is: I think the setup is convoluted. I think it relies too much on shallow shock value to function as an actually compelling story - it's very focused on the fact that the concept is fucked up and uncomfortable, and less on using it to really explore the characters in a meaningful way. I think Bill and Emma's roles in the story are useless and borderline insulting. And I think the ending is not built up to properly at all, it comes too far out of left field to work on a level beyond surface shock.
It feels like such a first draft of a story, a lot of these issues could possibly have been fixed if they did another go or two. It's a bonus story so I'd almost be inclined to be a little more forgiving, but yknow, this is on the same level of canon as the rest of the series right? I can be as harsh as I see fit <3
SO I'll go one at a time and explain my issues, and what changes I personally think could've made the story work better. And for the record I know some of these could fall into just a preference thing, I'm only human lmao but I think I'm being pretty fair and not trying to buy clothes at the soup store here.
This got long so I'm putting it under a cut lmao
I've been learning how to be a Real Man™ from this really good alpha male podcast it's got some great advice. It's called Rim Tim Timmy's funtime hour
I need to talk about Duke and Miss Holloway as like a #1 Holloduke fan but specifically the negative sides to their relationship bc Matt Lang reinforcing that Miss Holloway also drives Duke nuts and he gets annoyed with her because she’s difficult to deal with….we need to talk about that more. Because she is difficult to deal with. We sympathize with her of course, in general she is a good person who uses her powers to help people, but like most have said, she pretty much lacks patience and empathy at times and we don’t discuss enough on how that is on Dukes part. Like imagine witnessing the person you love die and then magically come back to life in the span of a very short time only for them to scold you, gloss it over, and tell you to focus back on the mission at hand. Imagine being constantly dismissed every time you’re rightfully concerned and worried about said person that you love, but they keep acting like everything’s not a big deal. Imagine feeling upset, heartbroken and played by this person, but still inviting them to your wedding because you care about them so much and want them to come, only for them to make fun of your fiancé and then turn the tables and get upset at you. Miss Holloway is stuck and doesn’t have any options, but in the same breath, the hard part is admitting that Duke also deserves better and he has a right to be upset and confused by her.
Kids are joining the hivemind ‼️‼️‼️
Parody of this one here lalala
Miss Holloween ⭐️
guess it's time to drop these
edit: these are not reprise spoilers, i drew them months ago! if they were spoilers i would have tagged :]
2026 vs 2018