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I meant to bring this up a while ago (and forgot, as usual, somehow things like this always end up on Twt but not Tunglr) but,

I don’t think Father was talking out of his ass entirely when he said that if Yato fell into the Underworld, he’ll come save him (to which Yato rightfully responds that it wasn’t Father who rescued him, but Hiyori). 

I think this part in the manga is often overlooked because it’s a fairly short scene and is overshadowed by the semi-reveal of Father as Fujisaki but when asked by Mizuchi why Father didn’t rescue her and Yato in the Yomi arc, Father responds that “I didn’t have a choice, it was supposed to be my job, but so many things got in the way.”

What “things” Father was talking about is really vague and never brought up again. As we’ve seen, Father is a smart and cunning man - to think that he would send Mizuchi and Yato (his two best “tools” to spread discord) into Yomi and not have a plan to get them out of there or hoping that they would somehow get out themselves is, quite frankly, ridiculous, especially since it’s not like Father to leave things up to chance like that. 

I think the only answer here (that Father is purposefully being vague about) is that he literally could not call them out. For a soul call to be successful, it has to be performed by a living human (as seen w/ Kaya and Hiyori, the only two people in the series who have performed a Soul Call and succeeded). While the real Kouto Fujisaki is a living human, Father - who is currently inhabiting his body - is not living nor fully a human anymore. The fact that Father was unable to perform a Soul Call on Kaya in Chapter 106 despite trying seems to confirm those suspicions.

Bonus (vague) thoughts, possibly delulu, but that’s what I do here:

Piggybacking off Father trying to call Kaya back, we also now know that Father looked for her in the Near Shore, the Far Shore, and the Underworld,  presumably because he wasn’t able to call her back.

Somehow, this brings to mind two moments between Father and Yato:

Chapter 100, “Haven’t I literally gone to Hell (the Underworld) and back a thousand times for your sake ...?” (which, he literally did do for Kaya, he died and then came back for her sake),

And, of course, Chapter 102, “Even if you fell into the Underworld, I’ll come save you.” (Father likewise attempted to call Kaya back from the dead, and searched for her in the two Shores and in the Underworld.)

Don’t have anything conclusive to say in particular (yet), just thought this was interesting. Maybe the answer to “why would he be crying?” has been in front of us all along, LOL.

The welcoming and friendly and bright facade of "Mother" and the family she raised at the Hearth, whose cruelty was hidden just beneath the surface - raising children as brothers and sisters so that they might slaughter each other in the future for the title of "King",

Versus

Arlecchino as the "strict" and "unfeeling" and cold and emotionally distant Father, who teaches her children that they should rely on each other, love each other, cherish each other and their own lives, stand on their own two feet in the world. The names of Arlecchino's constellations - "You shall become a new member of our family / You shall love and protect each other henceforth / For alone, we are as good as dead / From this day on, we shall delight in new life together" - are her teachings to the children of the House (and her hopes, too - we shall delight in new life together).

And the warm gentleness in her voice when she begins speaking - "come with me" - that turns into cold monotone, "like a strict and unfeeling Father". You can literally hear the moment she creates the persona of that "cold", "unfeeling", "strict" Father, when she puts on her mask.

And that's not even getting into how it's also a continuation of this vicious cycle - "I will raise you as my child" - because while Arlecchino's House is certainly leagues better than Crucabena's, she is still raising soldiers and ultimately leading many of them to their deaths* (despite her best efforts, it seems), she is actively priming Lyney to be the next "King", and the throne of the "King" is upheld by much death and bloodshed.

*As an aside, I gotta wonder if Arlecchino's crimes were pardoned only in exchange for her becoming a Harbinger, so now she's locked into a job where she has to raise more child soldiers and send them to die, just like her siblings were sent to die. It would explain why Childe clocks her loyalty to the Tsaritsa as being very shaky (him being a Tsaritsa fanboy in the first place, anyway). But if she didn't become "King"... well, wouldn't that mean all her siblings' sacrifices would be in vain? That would be kinda fucked up innit.

A lot of what went on in S2E7 is building to what Eleven's motivation will be in S3.

It's important.

Shitting on El’s character and episode 2x07 in order to show how other characters are supposedly more important is lazy thinking. Try justifying how 2x07 isn’t important without diminishing El’s character OR sounding racist. Try it. If you want to shit on any character in this show, maybe pick on the ones who weren’t narratively important to s2. Like, um, idk, B*lly?

People care way too much about Eleven, Mike and Hopper but not nearly enough about Nancy, Karen and Joyce. All of the female characters on this show are great.

I just realized

The only time we see Nancy get a hug is when she hugs Mike, and then in s2 when Steve hugs her. Girl literally has gone 2 whole seasons without getting a genuine hug for emotional support. She just had to cry in the bathroom alone - which really was accurately representative of how she’s been emotionally closed off to those who could have supported her (including Jonathan), from both sides - her closing herself off and others being emotionally distant from her (Mike, Steve, and Jonathan).

Duffers please stop disappointing me completely and let Nancy and Joyce bond in s3. They both need it. They both have lost loved ones to the Upside Down. Care about your female characters just a little bit maybe.

I wanna hang this glorious post on my freaking walls! ❤️

15x04 Episode Review - What a Meta Rollercoaster THAT was!

Jensen Ackles directed this. Let that sink in before you read on. Because this means EVERYTHING.

Davy Perez said on Twitter that he had a lot of help with this episode from Bobo, Dabb, Meredith, Even from Jensen and Rob. Which seems pretty clear from me as I was blown away by what I consider a meta masterpiece.

There is a lot to unpack here so let me just jump straight in with my favourite part:

THE REDEEMED FANGIRL AND THE BRONLY GOD

In an episode directed by Jensen Ackles it both astonishes me and pleases me immensely that the strongest and most interesting plot didn’t involve the brothers. Every single scene with Becky and Chuck was a galaxy brain of meta and my head is still buzzing about it. 

**Meta Essay under the cut**

Keep reading

Willow the Swan

I'm gonna fly With the swans and show my beauty

Willow is introduced drinking a brand of vodka called The Six Swans. This is a reference to the fairy tale with the same name written by the Geimms Brothers.

This minor reference is interesting for 2 reasons:

It ties Willow and the Schnees in general to the Swans in alchemy

It works as its own allusion by combining itself with the mirror imagery the Schnee Family has

At its root the Six Swans is a story about family, parents trying to protect their children and siblings saving each other. It can easily be seen as a loose representation of Willow's abusive situation, of her fear for her kids' safety and of her passivity towards Jacques.

THE FAIRY TALE

The Six Swans is the story of a King forced to marry an Evil Witch. The Witch targets the King's 7 children (6 sons and 1 daughter) by transforming the sons into swans. In order to save them the sister is tasked with the trial to sew 6 shirts in the course of 6 years. Throughout these 6 years, though, she is not allowed to laugh or talk. While she is sewing, she is found by a King that marries her. Together they have 3 children, but the King's Evil Mother kidnaps them and blames the protagonists. The sister can't talk to defend herself and is sentenced to death by fire. However, the day of the execution is at the end of her 6 years of forced silence. Her brothers turned into Swans come flying, are freed and help their sister defending herself. As a result, the King's Evil Mother is burnt and the 7 siblings, the king and the 3 kids live happily ever after.

The Six Swans basically tells the same story twice. There are 2 families threathened by an Evil Parent and both times the Good Parent is really unable to protect the children. The protagonist as a Sister though is able to save her Brothers and this lets her overcome her passiveness, speak up and find her 3 Children again.

It is easy to see how the story can loosely apply to Willow's situation. She is a mother, who clearly loves her children, but she is unable to fight off Jacques effectively and her weakness leads to an unsafe place for the Schneeblings. All she can do is to task her own daughter with the duty to save both herself and her siblings:

Willow: You haven't come back to stay, have you?

Weiss: No.

Willow: Good.

Willow: No matter what happens, Weiss... please don't forget about your brother.

Weiss: Whitley wants nothing to do with me.

Willow: Of course not, you left him alone. With us.

In a sense, Willow herself has been turned into a swan and trapped into a glass cage:

WILLOW'S 2 MIRRORS

There's a part of me that's desperate for changes, Tired of being treated like a pawn But there's a part of me that stares back from inside the mirror Part of me that's scared I might be wrong That I can't be strong.

Like daughter, like mother. Just like Weiss, Willow too has been split in 2 by Jacques's evil mirror curse. This is made clear since her first appearance, where her 2 opposite mirrors are shown:

On the one hand she looks at her daughter's suffering through the bottle. That is symbolic of her passiveness and of how she seeked refuge into alcohol to try and escape her abuse. On the other hand she looks at herself and Weiss through the cameras she has hidden within the Schnee Mansion. This is a sign of action and hints that Willow has in herself the strength to fight back, but must find it.

Dark is when she is forced to choose who she wants to be:

Symbolically she steps in front of a mirror with her 2 sides just there for her to pick 1:

Will she choose the bottle (passiveness, silence)? Or will she choose the scroll (action, standing up)?

Luckily, she chooses the 2nd and breaks the mirror in the process:

This is also goodbye to her passive Swan form. She finally comes back into herself, as symbolized by her using her semblance to materialize a giant mama boar:

A FAMILY COMING TOGETHER

Once the Evil Witch is removed from the equation, the curse is lifted and we see both Whitley and Willow rapidly growing back into themselves.

Obviously, this is also thanks to the brave Sister who manages to defeat the Evil Parent and his evil magic:

I didn't forget you

Thanks to Weiss, the Swans can go back to being humans and the Schnees can be a family once again.

(On a side note, can we have more swans motifs for the Schnees, please? What about Swan Lake's motif for the Schnee Sisters, which gives context to Weiss's dancer's outfit and to Winter's storm of baby Nevermore? And Whitely would be a wonderful Ugly Ducklyn as he grows into himself)