This post starts out relatively coherent, then quickly goes downhill.

[whynot]

Do anyone of you read Fables? I'm near the end of the series and I have Thoughts about it. But first let's talk about TV.


Let's start with the Trans and how much I love them. I was kind of dreading this episode as much as I was looking forward to it 'cos 1) ~tiger mom~ ugh, 2) Dabb & Lofflin, but on the other hand we have OMG WOC REPRESENTATION and CAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSS, so I just wanted it to at least not suck but um WOW I ended up kind of loving it though. It wasn't perfect but I am kind of in love.

I'd like to recommend xenoamorist's meta on Asian stereotypes 'cos it articulates a lot of things that ring true for me, particularly the point that stereotypes "may not so much be a stereotype as it is one facet of a common story/pattern, the complexity of which needs to be explored more and deconstructed and reconstructed". One thing that I would like to add is that a stereotype like 'tiger mom' is basically the white gaze turned on ~*AZN*~ things, judging these things, and finding them wanting. When I see people try to debunk stereotypes, they usually flip the things instead of the gaze, which is a wrong-headed approach. Like, I don't need Kevin to be whatever the opposite of a nerd is. That is missing the point. That approach privileges the white gaze, and approves non-white things (East Asian values re: academia and hard work, in this case) by white standards. It's alienating. The gaze can be alienating, so don't forget to check that.

On a different note, another reason the Trans make me happy is that there are so few mother-son relationships that are portrayed as positive and close on TV (Jax-Gemma on SoA is the other one I can think of), so I hope Kevin and Linda continue with this. THOUGH OMG CHEKHOV'S CLUE ABOUT KEVIN'S DAD THO? A CLUE ABOUT KEVIN'S DAD BROUGHT UP IN THE FIRST ACT--!

I look forward to that.

I also like the part where anytime the Winchesters tried to separate them for their own good~, they were both like "LOL THAT'S CUTE THE WAY YOU THINK YOU CAN MAKE ME DO WHAT YOU WANT now sit down before I kick you in the face".

I <3 THE TRANS

YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I LIKE?

OH SHIT

HERE IT COMES

CAN'T HOLD IT BACK

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH

PEACH FUZZZZ

I PRAYED TO YOU

EVERY NIGHT!!!!!

I KNOWWWWWW

WE'RE GOING HOME

WEEEEEEEEE are going home

BUDDY I NEED YOU

I

NEED YOU

LET ME BOTTOM-LINE IT FOR YOU

I'M NOT LEAVING HERE WITHOUT YOU, UNDERSTAND?

UNDERSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND???

HOLY FUCK

HOLY

FUCK

WHEN THEY WRITE MY BIOGRAPHY, IT WILL BE TITLED "OUTSHIPPED BY CANON"!!!

omg do you remember the part where Cas was like "but if I go with you, the Leviathans will hunt you too" and Dean was all, "I DON'T CAAAAAAAAAAARE IF THE MOST TERRIBLE OF MONSTERS HUNT ME, Cas, as long we're together, ok" and Benny's just off to the side being all :| 'cos it's always awkward when the new boyfriend meets the ex, except Cas is not so ex because Dean BASICALLY SPENT ALL HIS TIME IN PURGATORY OBSESSED WITH FINDING HIM.

pls where is paper bag i can breathe into or maybe throw up into

I saw someone compare Dean's search for Cas to Cas's search for Dean in hell, Cas asking demons "WHERE'S THE RIGHTEOUS MAN?" before he kills them. But Cas didn't know Dean as DEAN then, just as the Righteous Man that he was to raise under heaven's orders. Dean, on the other hand, knows exactly who he's looking for. Who he's killing for. Who this stupid fucking navel-gazing fratricidal angel with TOO MANY FEELINGS and the wrong priorities is. He's the mantra that gets Dean through the day, "When I find Cas, it'll be okay," and, "When I find Cas, we'll go home," and it feeds into this myth of Castiel that he's nurtured in this place, because you always need hope, even when hope brings out your killing instinct and darker impulses to see itself fulfilled. So that's Dean on survival mode: hope, and the blood he's spilled for hope. Then he finds hope on the riverbank and hugs him and tell him he's got a nice beard. Business as yoosh.

GOOD THINGS DO HAPPEN, CAS. YOU DON'T BELIEVE YOU DESERVE TO BE SAVED?

I have been trying to write the reunion fic where Dean and Cas touch each other a lot but I don't even know what POV to commit to 'cos writing a Dean broken open with relief is appealing but so is Cas's disarmed rediscovery of Dean, BUT so is Benny's outsider POV of pre-Dean/Cas. Poke me in comments if you don't mind me word-vomiting at you about it, 'cos that helps. IDEK GUYS, YOU GUYS, DEAN HAD TO FIND CAS, TELL CAS DEAN NEEDS HIM, TELL HIM HE'S SET CAS APART, SO LET'S GO BACK TO THE START BECAUSE NOBODY SAID IT WAS EASY AND IT'S SUCH A SHAME FOR THEM TO PART!!! NO ONE EVER SAID IT WOULD BE THIS HAAAAARRRRRDDDDDD.

...sorry.

On another note, how sad is it for Dean that with both Cas and Sam, he went through all this crap to find them, but in the end they were both like, "No, I'm not coming with you and I didn't look for you," and he basically had to twist their arms?


Also, I wrote 8x02 episode tag. Here it is, all 350ish shippy gen words of it: He prays the way people use the telephone.

Comments

[mumblemutter]

I read Fables! You won't have much to discuss with me though, as I'm only almost done with Vol. 3? I liked the first two books, but this one got me absolutely hooked. I had to stop myself reading to go to sleep last night RIGHT AS THE WOODEN SOLDIERS MARCHED TOWARDS FABLETOWN, sldksl.

So, yes? But also, meep, there's like a million books yet to read.

[whynot]

Have you reached the storyline involving the Arabian fables? That's what I have Thoughts about, and also on how fairy tale land as a universe is laid out.

I REALLY ENJOY FABLES. I knew I would. I'm glad you're enjoying it too! DO YOU HAVE AS MANY FEELS ABOUT SNOW/BIGBY AS I DO?

[mumblemutter]

THERE ARE ARABIAN FABLES??? Dear Lord, Fabletown is even whiter than first season Storybrooke, FIRST! SEASON! STORYBROOKE! THERE WAS ONE NON-WHITE PERSON LIVING IN FIRST SEASON STORYBROOKE. Anyway, there's something in Vol. 4 (sorry, I meant 4) about the Adversary planning to invade some far-away fable places that he hasn't conquered yet, but other than that everything's still pretty firmly ~European.

Haha, Snow/Bigby gets me right where I live, it's kind of hilarious (see also). It's like all the wolfy fanfic tropes I love, but canon, WHATEVER THAT MEANS, and with pictures! (Much like Bo/Dyson; do you watch Lost Girl?) And now she's pregnant with his pups! Just, like, amazing. Willingham, what are you like! I've also developed a fondness for Boy Blue and I've enjoyed what little there has been so far of Rose Red running the farm. Um, I'm assuming there'll be changes to that arrangement, but anyway. You can tell me your thoughts if they don't spoil huge dramatic reveals, but other than that I'm pretty laid back. \o/

[whynot]

IT'S REALLY FUCKING WHITE. I couldn't not wonder as I read the early volumes, where are all the folk tales from non-European cultures because there should be a shit-ton of them? Do they live in distant lands in the same dimension? Or is this just a fairy tale land made by a European mind, so even the Arabian parts of it are rather weirdly orientalist? Like, maybe in another dimension there is a fairy tale land conceived by an Arabian mind, and in it the European parts are weird?

AHAHAHAHA FABLES!STEREK. Oh man XDDDD. I used to watch Lost Girl, and though I found it adorable, it failed to keep my interest for reasons that are mysterious to me. I'M A BO/LAUREN SHIPPER THOUGH, SRY2SAY. Boy Blue is great, he'll have an interesting arc upcoming.

[mumblemutter]

Oh my god I started reading "Arabian Nights (and Days)" and it's kind of... really incredibly racist? Like, I knew I had to brace myself for some iffiness when the blurb on the back included a "weapons of magical destruction" joke, but so far it's just islamophobic to an unapologetic degree, and I'm not sure if it's going to get better or worse? Mostly I'm just flummoxed this won awards.

So now I haven't touched the book in a while, but I also really wanted to read more about Mowgli? Because he's hot and was LITERALLY RAISED BY WOLVES, and you know I'm into that kind of thing. DILEMMA.

But also, what the fuck.

In Lost Girl news, I was so into the tension between Bo and Dyson and Lauren, and Lauren and Bo were totally hot together, but in the end I had to side with wolf boy. |o| We're just about to start watching season 2 though, so who knows.

[whynot]

I'm gonna try to venture into the Snow White in the Arabian homelands story again, give it a second go 'cos I hear Snow White is awesome in it. I WILL WAIT UNTIL I AM IN THE RIGHT ~MOOD.

There was not nearly as much Mowgli as I require.

I was trying to remember why Wolf Dude looks so familiar until I realized he played the gay musician who died of plague on Sexy Tudors. CANADA: a small world.

[miarrow]

Did Fables end? I need to catch up again, but I got way behind when I lost my job a couple years back.

[whynot]

I'm not sure! I have what I think might be most of them, but there are also a bunch of spin-offs. I've only read one Cinderella spin-off and I'm not sure where in the timeline it's set.

[miarrow]

Oh god, I own the Cindy spin-off (at least the first one). I HAD TO. Cindy might be my favorite character in that series. I've read pretty far, but I can't remember exactly where it left off. One of these days I shall own them all~

[whynot]

I KINDA SHIP CINDY/DOROTHY, NGL. Oh man, she is great, they are both great. My favorite character in the series is probably Snow, even if I quite dislike certain aspects of her arc, but man she is such THE QUEEN, I can't help myself.

Also, I keep expecting Morpheus to show up at some point. I know it's not in that 'verse (...right?) but still. XD

[miarrow]

SNOW. My heeeeeart. She's such a freaking perfect character.

You really have to read 1001 Nights of Snowfall, especially if you love Snow. Getting her backstory is AMAZING and it's just crazy good anyway (it's a Fables prequel tale).

[whynot]

I started reading 1001 Nights of Snowfall but the orientalism put me way off :-/ so I decided to skip it. I might have to give it another go now though, for love of Snow! :)))

[miarrow]

Yeah, I always have mixed feelings about how they handle their Asian/Middle-Eastern based Fables, but that one has it mostly as a framing device that kind of transfers in a better way (ties into an actual myth).

[callowyn]

TELL ME ABOUT THE BENNY/CAS UNDERTONES AS THEY HATCH A PLAN THAT WILL GET DEAN OUT ALIVE, TELL ME THE WAYS THEY DEVISE TO MAKE DEAN LET CASTIEL GO AND THE EAGERNESS BENNY CAN'T HIDE, TELL ME CASTIEL'S WORRIES ABOUT TRUSTING DEAN TO BENNY WEIGHED AGAINST THE NEED TO HAVE DEAN SAFE ON EARTH AGAIN

TELL ME WE'LL NEVER GET USED TO IT!!!!!!!

[whynot]

OK SO I USED TO HAVE A LITTLE HEADCANON THAT CAS AND BENNY MET BEFORE DEAN AND BENNY MET AND CAS MADE BENNY TAKE CARE OF DEAN 'COS CAS CAN'T ANYMORE, BUT IT CAN TOTALLY STILL WORK THAT CAS AND BENNY CONSPIRATORIALIZE to leave Cas behind, and I can't decide if I want Benny being a little YAY! about leaving Cas behind because he doesn't like Cas (for jealous reasons or otherwise) or if he's not bothered either way because he's a pragmatist. And Cas may not like Benny much either, but from what he's seen, he knows Benny will keep Dean safe (if only because Benny needs to escape in Dean's arm, though possibly also because of buttsex reasons) and that is the important thing right now, and what if they make this deal early in the game?? But as the days go byyyyyy, they develop a grudging respect of each other because they have a ~code.

I'M IN A COMMENT THREAD WITH A BEAUTIFUL CAPSLOCKER AND I WON'T TELL YOU THAT ILU BUT ILU

[animus_wyrmis]

I ALSO LOVE THE TRANS LIKE A LOT, SPN WHAT IS THIS, A WOMAN OF COLOR WHO IS AMAZING AND NOT EVIL AND HOPEFULLY STILL NOT DEAD? STARS IN MY EYES.

I love that we fiiiinally get a story about a mom on SPN, and LET'S JUST KEEP HER UNFRIDGED PLEASE, and omg Kevin, and just omg all around really. Is there a plot point behind Kevin's dad, do you think? That would be sweet because it would not just be random slut-shaming!

I like also that she turns down the angels, that she throws everything aside to go with Kevin.

[whynot]

I WAS SO RELIEVED THIS EPISODE DIDN'T SUCK

I WAS SO RELIEVED I LOVE KEVIN'S MOM AND ALSO RELIEVED AT BADASSIFIED KEVIN, so happy to adore this episode in general

IF ONLY LINDA WASN'T A SOULLESS VEGETABLE :(

PLS IS THERE FIC OF KEVIN TAKING LINDA ON THE RUN, and I kind of want the one where Sam manages to track them down and tries to help them out but Kevin is still pissed and Sam's like "I'm not here to make you come back with us" and then Sam and Kevin have several Moments because I ship it maybe

tranchester otp, what, and then later someone was talking at me about Dean/Linda, so THAT TOO.

Kevin's dad? Hey, did you know Linda's actress did the voice of Amy on Futurama? So until further notice, Kevin's dad is Kif. Yes.