Hell And Heaven Didnt Want Me So Here I Am

1. Does OP mention an obligation on victims to forgive abusers who have learned from their past actions?

2. Does OP mention any work on the part of victims to educate their abusers?

you know what we must do. it’s

time to get it on

i'm serious.

because every time i rewatch this episode i end up feeling like i'm losing my mind.

gwen's exile arc should have been one of the best storylines in the entire show. she's been betrayed. she's been publicly humiliated. she's lost her home. she's lost arthur. she's been forced into poverty. she's completely alone. and somehow she's still surviving.

THAT is interesting.

THAT is compelling.

THAT is a story.

instead the writers looked at all of that and went:

"okay but what if a creepy warlord wanted to fuck her?"

LIKE WHY?????

WHY WAS THAT NECESSARY?????

genuinely. explain it to me.

because every single thing helios does in this episode makes me want to throw my laptop across the room.

he sees a terrified woman surrounded by armed raiders and immediately decides she's too attractive to kill.

thanks writers.

then we get the harem outfit.

THE HAREM OUTFIT.

i'm sorry but who thought that was a good idea???

this is GWEN. the future queen of camelot. one of the strongest characters in the series. and the writers stick her in a cave dressed up for a villain's viewing pleasure.

what are we DOING???

and then helios spends the entire episode acting like he's entitled to her attention. private dinners. compliments. staring. commenting on her appearance. trying to get her alone. acting disappointed when she leaves. referring to her like a possession.

and i'm just sitting there thinking:

DO YOU PEOPLE HEAR YOURSELVES???

because the show seems weirdly determined to frame this as some kind of seductive villain dynamic when the actual reality is that gwen is a captive woman trying not to get murdered.

there is no romance here. there is no flirtation here. there is a terrified woman managing the ego of a dangerous man because she doesn't know what he'll do if she upsets him.

that's what you're watching.

and then the episode has the audacity to act like none of this matters.

THAT'S THE PART THAT MAKES ME INSANE.

because okay.

fine.

you wrote the creepy storyline.

i hate it.

but YOU wrote it.

SO DEAL WITH IT.

let gwen talk about it. let her be angry. let her tell arthur someone what happened. let somebody acknowledge how fucked up the situation was.

LET IT MATTER.

instead the show just shrugs.

gwen escapes.

arthur and gwen reunite.

roll credits.

EXCUSE ME???

HELLO???

WE'RE JUST MOVING ON???

the thing that kills me is that the writers accidentally created a much better story than the one they thought they were writing.

because gwen is incredible in this episode. she survives exile. she uncovers a conspiracy. she outsmarts her captors. she escapes. she risks her life trying to save camelot even after camelot abandoned her.

that's the story.

that's the badass story.

that's the story i wanted.

but every five minutes the episode interrupts itself to remind us that men find gwen attractive.

and honestly it says so much about the way the show sometimes treated female characters.

examples: