I Just Watched Some Chaotic Moments From The Great British Bake Off And I Desperately, Desperately Want

walmart vs chanel

first of all none of us could afford hannibal’s therapy

Mad Men doesn't have a significant fandom because aside from the period setting there is almost nothing fantastical about it. No action, limited violence, mystery mostly cleared up within the first season, no overarching love story you're pushed to root for, the rich people use their money to live comfortable, pretty unremarkable lives, most of the action takes place inside on sets we're familiar with. So then what you're left with is the nuance of reality which uh, people don't like, especially when it results in them relating to people they saw do bad things. Obviously in fandom villains and antiheroes are often glorified (and/or blorbofied) but that usually comes with some trappings of separation from our reality.

People wonder why Mad Men never got the treatment Succession is getting. Ostensibly they're extremely similar, but Succession and its constantly changing scenery and helicopters and ease of access to influence over politics are much, much farther away to us than the time period of our parents and grandparents and the people who are our parents and grandparents. When you look at the way people talk about Mad Men characters, they are very afraid to come right out and say they like them. There's usually a justification and disclaimer coming with it that no one feels the need to apply to their enthusiastic comparisons of Tom Wambsgans to Princess Diana. People are afraid that if they just say they love Pete that denotes condoning his actions whereas it's implied you don't condone anything bad the Roy siblings do. And this is not a Pete defense post but he's outspokenly liberal and means it, yet people stay terrified of identifying with him because that might mean they're also capable of hurting people they care about in the fruitless search for finally getting something they really want, all at once. Identifying with the Roys mainly involves sympathizing with their reactions to things that have been done to them while eschewing thoughts of the harm they inflict, because they inflict harm on a scale you could never actually achieve.

As an aside I also think those of us that love Mad Men enough to rewatch and rewatch get hooked on it from the humor which is simply not going to hit for the average viewer, as harsh as that is to say. How often do you hear people who watched it as part of their golden age of television curriculum mention that it's funny? Usually doesn't come up

Steve makes one of those teacher tiktok accounts where he mostly talks about teaching and tips for learning and stuff, he also posts videos like

“You wonder what it’s like to be a teacher? I’m spending my evening doing seating arrangements, the trick is to not let people who have any kind of tension, are close friends, have a crush, lose concentration easily, sit close to each other… so basically I’m playing sudoko but I only have 1, 2s, and 3s… and also the numbers change daily..” you can see him looking down at something wrinkling his eyebrows and then nodding to himself and he’s like “I think I got it though”

the next day he duets it and it’s just him looking tired and in the background you can hear incoherent shouting, the caption just says ‘there’s apparently been a breakup’

for some reason there’s a comment by Eddie Munson, famous rockstar, that’s like “you should let it play out, drama is what high school is about” and Steve has just replied “this is why you repeated senior year twice” not acknowledging at all that this famous Grammy winner commented and everyone are just like ??? ?? what are you doing here ??? and why is this high school teacher roasting u ???

I have to say, the doll incident in the show is very much a symbol of the problems in Ned’s relationship with Sansa.

Ironically, since it was probably supposed to be a part of Ned being hurt by Sansa rather than her being hurt by him, it blatantly shows how little he cares for her.

If he’d taken even the slightest bit of interest in his kid, he would have already known she was no longer playing with dolls. He would have known how she spends her time(sadly, we didn’t get to see as much of Sansa in her element bc D&D are stupid), and he would have been more kind and careful with her. Instead, he basically ignores her, ignores her interests, ignores her passions, even when she’s basically standing in front of him, begging him to look at her.

The doll, when given to Sansa in this context, is as much an insult as it would have been if given to Arya. It’s a symbol of how little he actually cares for her.

Much is made of how Sansa keeps the doll and seems to value it, just as much is made of the way Ned chooses to renounce his honour, in order to protect her.

But when held in the context of their actual relationship, these two acts have a very different meaning.

Sansa keeps and values the doll because it’s literally the only thing Ned ever gave her. If he’d given her something else with any kind of emotional depth, the doll would not have held the importance it did.

Ned renouncing his honour, protecting Sansa, seems like love on the surface. Until you realize that it’s the only time he actually seems to show that he values her at all. And even at that point, I truly doubt he could tell us so much as her favourite colour.

after dealing with the tunnels, steve takes all the kids back to the byers house to wait for any news about will or el or the lab. he's finally crashing from the adrenaline rush, and the concussion is making itself known now full force.

he's pretty much dead to the world and collapsed on the couch. dustin and lucas are sticking close by, worried he's gonna just up and die on them when hopper finally makes it back.

steve is only hearing every other word when he finally gets jostled to sit up, and he feels rough hands on his face, trying to open his eyelid.

"look alive, harrington. you know where you are?"

steve grumbles, annoyed that he's being woken up like this, "yeah, yeah. i'm at the byers."

his head was gently placed back on the couch, "heard you got your bell rung by that hargrove prick."

steve sighed, deep and heavy, already feeling himself slipping away to dreamland, "better me than the kids. take a plate to the dome, any day. "

there was a snort somewhere in front of him and he felt a hand ruffle his hair, firm yet careful, "good boy, don't do it again."

it took a moment for the words to settle in his rattled brain, but as soon as hopper was walking away, steve was suddenly feeling very awake. a heat crept up his neck as a mortifying wave of arousal swam in his gut.

"good boy."

"good boy."

"good boy."

oh no.

--

years later, after starcourt and russians and dual confessions of being not-so-heterosexual, steve and robin became friends.

months after, when they sat around steve's empty mansion, drinking his dad's expensive liquor, robin had to ask, "how did you find out?"

"hmm?"

"how did you find out you were, y'know...whatever you are. swing for both teams and such?"

steve snorted, " 'and such' she says. i think we both need to be drunker for that conversation."

robin poked steve's side, "come oon, i told you my crush. throw me a bone here, steve-o."

he relented because, of course he would. he may have only known robin for less than a year, but it was scary just how much he was willing to show his true self to her so quickly.

"this stays in the room. you tell absolutely no one, or you'll wish you were sucked up by the giant flesh monster when you had the chance. "

she does some complicated hand sign to convey her loyalty and waits.

".........hopper said i was a good boy for protecting the kids, and i got a boner."

silence.

steve kept his eyes shut as the moment grew longer when he flinched at the slightest intake of breath from his best friend and prepared for the worst.

"man, the daddy issues run deep, huh?"

steve choked on saliva and hit her with a pillow, "THAT'S all you have to say!?"

robin was in tears, weakly defending herself against the pillow assault, "i'm sorry! mercy! it's just that it makes soooo much sense!"

steve didn't stop hitting her until they were both out of breath, laying next to each other and panting.

"i'm sorry your first man crush died."

steve hit her face with a pillow.

".......joyce is actually kind of hot so i get it--"

"SHUT UP!"

--

the very next year, after the murder of innocent teens, a manhunt, and the final battle won against the upside down, found steve sitting in eddie's lap.

after weeks of dancing around each other, cautiously flirting and yearning from afar, steve and eddie got their act together.

eddie dragged a hand up steve's neck and into his hair, his fingernails scraping softly against his scalp. it sent shivers down steve's spine, causing him to moan and let eddie slip through and suck on his tongue. steve bucked his hips up against eddie's in pleasure.

they separated, a string of saliva still attached to their lips that only broke when steve leaned forward and let his body sag completely onto eddie's. they stayed like that for a while, just listening to the other breathe, not wanting their little bubble to pop, and for reality to reach them.

eddie adjusted steve a bit, so he sat properly in his lap. steve, pliant and malleable, let it happen. it made eddie huff in amusement, nosing steve's temple and kissing his cheek, "you're such a good boy for me, aren't you."

steve immediately tensed and then let out a bark of laughter, "oh, thank god!"

eddie, rightfully confused, just blinked, "uhhh. mind sharing with the class what the fuck that was, harrington?"

steve just beamed, "i don't have daddy issues!"

"........WHAT?"

--

(after steve forced himself to explain his queer awakening, now embarrassed for speaking with no impulse control, eddie snickered uncontrollably into steve's chest. much to his chagrin.

once he calmed down, his smile turned devious and asked, "does this mean i'm gonna have to fight the chief for your affection? not sure i'm strong enough to do it, princess, i might have to forfeit."

steve struggled to suffocate him with a pillow, mostly because they were both laughing so hard.)

lots of artists can fill their work with aching homosexual tension, but no one else can make the impending sodomy look quite as classy and exquisitely dressed as Leyendecker can. God bless you, sir.

Geralt meets Jaskier and is like *sniff sniff* ‘yeah this guy’s part elf, I’m not going to comment on this because it’s a very personal thing to bring up in mixed company and also none of my business’ & never once questions that Jaskier knows this bcos like, that’s the kind of thing people know about themselves, right? and it’s a touchy sort of subject so it’s understandable that Jaskier doesn’t really talk about it, w/e

& then years later Yennefer comments on how improbably youthful Jaskier is and Geralt’s like ‘yeah he’s part elf’ (cause like, we’re all ambiguously-human friends here, nbd)

but Jaskier is like ‘what the fuck? are you talking about?? no I’m not???’ and Geralt is like ‘…..fuck.’