╰☆☆ вσяи ιи тнє ωяσиg єριѕσ∂є ☆☆

🤍 I’m tired.

I’m tired of being targeted because people assume everything I write comes from AI and not from me.

I’m Italian. English is not my native language. I don’t speak or write it perfectly—and I never claimed to. I write my thoughts in Italian, my own words, my own ideas… and then I use AI to translate them so I can share them with more people.

Is that really something to be judged or mocked for?

Because let me ask you this: would you be able to express yourself flawlessly in Italian without any help?

If you can—honestly, I admire you. Truly. 👏 But if not… then maybe you understand why I do what I do.

If translating my thoughts so I can be understood bothers you that much, I can just go back to writing only in Italian. But tell me—how is it fair to judge or insult someone for not speaking a language perfectly?

Second point: the “Buddie” topic.

I see them as a bromance. That’s it.

And here’s the thing: even though my Tumblr, IG, and feeds are FULL of Buddie content, I do not go under people’s posts to mock them, insult them, or invalidate their interpretations. Never.

I have a different opinion, and I express it respectfully. I thought that in a free space, it was okay to think differently—especially when you’re not attacking anyone else’s view.

If someone disagrees with me, they are more than free to: 👉 ignore me 👉 or share their perspective in a civil way

That’s how discussions work. There are always different perspectives, and everyone chooses the one they connect with.

But here’s what I don’t understand: if 98% of the fandom thinks one way… why does the remaining 2% have to stay silent?

Why can’t we simply coexist as two parts of the same fandom, loving the same show, even if we see things differently?

Because honestly?

I’m tired of being treated poorly by people who claim to stand for equality and inclusivity… and then do the exact opposite.

And no—I’m not generalizing. I know very well that this is just a small part of the fandom. Most people are kind, respectful, and thoughtful 🤍

But those few? They still hurt me.

Yes, I deleted their comments. But I still received them. And words… words can hurt more than anything else.

I’ve experienced bullying before. Real bullying. To the point where it affected me deeply.

And I won’t let anyone have that kind of power over me again. Not now. Not ever.

So please—

Let’s not turn something beautiful, like the love we all share for this show, into something that goes against everything it stands for.

We can love the same story… and still see it differently.

A Critical Retrospective On 9-1-1 Season 9: Too Much, Too Fast, Too Empty

Now that some time has passed since the Season 9 finale of 9-1-1, I feel like we finally have enough distance to look back at the season with a little more clarity.

This is not me standing on a pedestal claiming my opinion is the only correct one. It is simply my personal reading as someone who loves television, studied media communication, has spent years analyzing TV structure, and also writes stories — not only fanfiction, but original fiction as well.

So this is my retrospective on what, in my opinion, did not work in Season 9.

And spoiler alert: for me, the problem was never the lack of ideas.

It was the lack of structure.

The Space Event Felt Too Big for Its Own Good

Let’s start from the beginning: the big opening event.

Space.

I’ll be honest — when I first heard that 9-1-1 was doing a space-related emergency, my reaction was basically: what does space have to do with this show?

To be fair, they did manage to make it work better than I expected. It wasn’t completely absurd once the episodes actually unfolded. But emotionally, it never reached the same impact as previous big events like the tsunami, the earthquake, the cruise disaster, or even the bee-nado.

And honestly, maybe that is the sign that the show needs to stop trying to outdo itself every year.

Bigger does not always mean better.

Sometimes a more grounded episode, like “Under Pressure” back in Season 2, works better because the emotional stakes feel closer, more human, more connected to the characters. The space arc had spectacle, but not enough emotional weight.

The two things that truly worked for me were Athena’s inner confrontation with her younger self — that moment of grief, acceptance, and survival — and Harry realizing he wanted to become a firefighter.

Those were powerful.

The rest felt more expensive than necessary.

“Día de los Muertos” Was the Real Masterpiece of the Season

I know many people point to “Mother’s Boy” as the standout episode of the season, but for me, the real masterpiece was “Día de los Muertos.”

That episode was simple, delicate, and incredibly powerful.

Yes, it centered heavily on Eddie, but not only on Eddie. It was really about death, grief, faith, and the ways different people try to survive loss.

Eddie faces death through his grandmother’s passing and through a rediscovery of faith. Buck, meanwhile, still cannot fully accept Bobby’s death, and through helping the man in the attic, he almost receives a message telling him to keep going.

Everything in that episode had space to breathe.

Every emotional beat made sense.

It did not feel rushed. It did not feel forced. It did not feel like the show was throwing ideas at the wall just to see what stuck.

It was one of the few episodes this season that felt complete.

And I’m honestly glad Ryan Guzman keeps naming it as his favorite episode of the season, because to me, it absolutely deserves that recognition.

Hen’s Illness Arc Was a Mess

Then we get into one of the biggest narrative problems of the season: Hen’s illness storyline.

I hated how this was handled.

Not because Hen does not deserve a major storyline. She absolutely does. But this felt like the writers realized they needed to give her something dramatic and pulled out a very serious illness without giving it the time, weight, or realism it needed.

It was too big of a storyline to be handled so quickly and so cleanly.

Then the show seemed to realize it had gone too far and tried to walk it back by saying, basically, yes, she has to manage it, yes, stress matters, no, she is not magically healed.

But it felt like hearing nails on glass.

The one scene I truly loved was between Hen and her mother, when her mother reads from Hen’s old teenage diary. At first, Hen thinks it is some generic motivational quote, but then she realizes those were her own words.

That scene worked.

The image of Hen reading her own younger self and almost embracing that younger version of herself was genuinely moving. It also revealed something from her past — being hit by a stray bullet as a teenager — that could have deserved its own deeper exploration.

But again, the problem was the same: good idea, rushed execution.

“War” Could Have Been So Much Better

The episode “War” had potential.

The idea of a split within the 118 after Hen and Chimney’s conflict could have worked. Chimney still learning how to be captain could have been a rich emotional arc. Hen feeling betrayed could have been powerful.

Instead, it felt like a forced “Civil War” parody in 9-1-1 clothing.

And I don’t think Athena inserting herself into a 118 internal conflict made sense in the way it was written. It felt like one of those moments where characters were moved around not because it made emotional sense, but because the writers wanted a certain scene to happen.

That is one of the recurring issues this season.

Characters often did things because the plot needed them to, not because their history naturally led them there.

Abigail Had Potential — Then the Show Deflated It

The Abigail arc intrigued me at first.

There was something interesting there: this young woman who seemed innocent, maybe damaged, maybe dangerous, maybe not. At first, it felt like she could become a real threat, maybe even a stalker figure, someone who used her apparent vulnerability to get close to Eddie.

I honestly thought they might go darker with it.

Instead, the whole thing became much simpler: her father misunderstood the situation, believed Eddie was taking advantage of her, and everything was resolved too easily.

Again: good setup, weak payoff.

The same goes for Alex. I found that character incredibly underwhelming. Her police unit felt almost fictional to me, maybe because I’m Italian and I have no reference for that kind of department, but it felt strange and artificial.

And while I know some people were excited because the actress had played opposite Ryan Guzman before in another show, that chemistry did not automatically transfer here. Same actors do not mean same dynamic.

In 9-1-1, those characters had nothing truly meaningful between them.

“Going Once, Going Twice” Was a Festival of Missed Opportunities

The bachelor auction episode should have been fun.

It should have been chaotic, playful, character-driven, full of unexpected pairings and new dynamics.

Instead?

Eddie buys himself.

Harry gets bought by his mother.

Ravi gets bought by May despite the fact that they had barely been built as anything before that moment.

Buck with the older ladies was probably the only part that actually made me smile.

This episode had so much potential and wasted almost all of it.

A bachelor auction episode should create dynamics. It should shake things up. It should make characters interact in ways they normally would not.

Instead, it felt like the show had all the ingredients for a fun old-school TV episode and somehow forgot to cook the meal.

The Nashville Crossover Worked — But Made Nashville Look Weak

The crossover with 9-1-1: Nashville worked much better than the old Lone Star crossover, at least for me.

The interactions were fun, the emergency games were enjoyable, and the chemistry between the two worlds was more interesting than I expected.

But there was one problem: Nashville looked painfully inferior to Los Angeles.

Sometimes Buck and Eddie looked at the Nashville team like they were wondering whether these people had attended the same academy. The scene with Blue and the windshield was especially telling. Eddie basically had to correct him on something Harry, a probie, would have known how to do.

And yes, maybe that was intentional.

But if it was, it made the Nashville side look weak.

Harry and Blue are both “new,” but Harry feels much more prepared, more trained, and more credible. Blue feels like he benefits from being someone’s son, while Harry actually had to earn his place.

That contrast was interesting, but also a little brutal.

“Mother’s Boy” Was Good, But I Wanted More

“Mother’s Boy” was objectively a beautiful episode.

It felt different from classic 9-1-1, almost like another show entirely. The desert setting, the small-town atmosphere, the strange isolation — all of that worked.

But I think my expectations were too high.

I wanted more air. More tension. More psychological pressure.

The episode reminded me of older television episodes where two characters would leave the usual setting and go on a road trip that becomes emotionally transformative. Those episodes often took two parts, giving everything time to breathe.

Here, again, everything felt condensed.

I also wish the insinuations about Buck and Eddie had been sharper, more uncomfortable, more openly bigoted. Not because I wanted ugliness for the sake of ugliness, but because the story seemed to flirt with that tension without fully committing to it.

The best part, for me, was Buck’s captivity.

Especially the scenes where he repeats, “I’m Derek.” Those moments showed psychological fragility in a disturbing and effective way. I read that Tim Minear allegedly wanted to cut those scenes and Oliver Stark fought to keep them, and I’m glad he did.

Because those scenes mattered.

The problem is: the show did not follow through.

Buck’s Addiction Arc Was Resolved Way Too Fast

Buck went through a kidnapping, psychological manipulation, physical pain, and then addiction.

That is not one trauma.

That is a pileup.

And yet the show handled it as if he just needed a few days, some support, and a group hug.

I loved seeing the 118 surround him. I loved the sense of family. I loved the final tribute to Bobby.

But narratively?

It was too fast.

When Eddie had PTSD after being shot, the show took time. It gave him an actual arc. It let the trauma breathe.

Buck’s trauma should have been given that same space.

Instead, the addiction becomes less about the psychological consequences of captivity and more about pain medication. Which could still work, but then the show needed to explore that properly.

It did not.

It brushed past it.

And that was disappointing.

“Where There’s Smoke” Was Another Standout

“Where There’s Smoke” was one of the few late-season episodes that truly worked for me.

I loved the structure.

We begin with people angry at the 118, and we don’t understand why. Then the episode takes us back through the emergency, allowing us to discover the truth alongside the characters.

I love when a story does not let me guess everything immediately.

When the case revealed itself as human trafficking, I was genuinely intrigued. I watch a lot of Mexican television, and one of my favorite shows is Señora Acero, so this is a subject I’ve seen explored many times by stories told much closer to that reality.

And at first, I thought 9-1-1 was handling it surprisingly well.

Unfortunately, the follow-up destroyed that promise.

“I Got You Babe” and the Theo Problem

Then came “I Got You Babe,” and suddenly the human trafficking storyline was pushed aside so the show could introduce Theo.

I know a lot of people were excited because they saw Theo as a way to connect Buck and Eddie even more, but to me, this season repeatedly put Buck and Eddie into situations designed to make the fandom scream without actually giving those scenes emotional depth or real narrative consequences.

That is one of my biggest issues.

There was hype, but not enough substance.

In older seasons, Buck and Eddie had scenes that felt deeper, more meaningful, more naturally intimate as friends. This season gave them more “fandom fuel” but less emotional weight.

And I think the show lost something because of that.

Theo’s introduction also bothered me because of how Cameron and Connor were handled. Killing them felt like a shortcut. It felt like the story said: we no longer need these characters, so let’s remove them and give the child back to Buck.

There were more interesting ways to make Buck a father.

This felt cheap.

And once again, after everything Buck had already endured this season, the emotional consequences were barely explored.

“Hearts and Flowers” Is Where Everything Fell Apart

The finale, for me, is where the season fully collapsed.

The way the human trafficking case was connected to the Bratva made absolutely no sense to me.

I’m sorry, but no.

The Russian mafia being involved in weapons, drugs, corruption? Sure.

But the trafficking of Mexican migrants? That is cartel territory. Narcos territory. That is a whole different criminal ecosystem.

Bringing in the Bratva felt random, like the writers pulled the biggest scary criminal organization they could think of and threw it into the story without asking whether it actually made sense.

Then there is Eddie’s stabbing.

Why?

The attacker was there for Athena.

Why stab Eddie?

He had nothing to do with the plan. It created an unnecessary alarm. It served no real plot function. If Eddie had simply been trapped in the elevator alive and uninjured, almost nothing about the finale would have changed.

Even Ryan Guzman himself said he was frustrated because, once again, he was cut off from the major event and isolated from the main action.

And honestly, I agree with him.

The stabbing looked dramatic, but it meant very little.

Ravi and May Still Do Not Work for Me

Ravi and May made even less sense by the finale.

There was no real build-up. No actual development. No emotional progression.

May buys him at an auction, they sleep together, she ignores him, he keeps reaching out, she treats him badly, and then after a time jump they are apparently together.

That is not a romance arc.

That is a plot shortcut.

And the worst part is that May, who used to be one of my favorite female characters, felt almost unrecognizable this season. When Ryan Murphy wrote her younger, she felt mature, thoughtful, structured. Now, as an adult, she often felt written like a messy teenager with no direction.

The nursing turn also felt too abrupt.

She studies law for years, has one bad job interview, gets arrested five minutes later, and suddenly realizes she wants to be a nurse.

There might be a good story in there.

But the show did not write it.

It just jumped to the conclusion.

Athena Becoming a Detective Needed More Build-Up

Athena becoming a detective makes sense in theory.

I never believed she would actually retire. That was never believable to me.

But the timing was strange.

If this change had come directly after Bobby’s death, I would have understood it more. If the season had built toward it slowly, showing Athena losing faith in patrol work or needing a different kind of purpose, it could have worked beautifully.

Instead, it arrives suddenly.

And that matters because we have seen Athena turn down advancement before. She explained why she belonged on the street. So if the show wants to reverse that, it needs to earn it.

For me, it did not.

Buck Getting Theo Also Feels Too Easy

The final scenes with Buck and Theo raised even more questions.

After years of showing, through Hen and Karen, how difficult foster care and adoption can be, the show suddenly makes Buck’s situation look shockingly simple.

Buck is single.

He works 24-hour shifts.

He was struggling with addiction very recently.

Who takes care of Theo when he works? Maddie and Chimney? They also have demanding jobs and children.

I’m not saying Buck cannot be a father.

I’m saying the story needs to respect the reality it already spent years building.

And right now, it does not.

The Two Things I Truly Loved This Season

Despite everything, there are two things I genuinely loved.

The first is Bobby’s presence.

The show did not forget him. His absence mattered. His memory shaped the season. That was beautiful, because too often in TV, once a character dies, the story moves on too quickly.

The second is Harry.

I know not everyone loved his arc, but I did. I loved seeing him discover his vocation. I loved watching him slowly move from being Athena and Bobby’s son to becoming his own person inside the 118.

Harry felt like one of the few truly fresh elements of the season.

And unlike many other arcs, his actually made sense.

The Real Issue: Too Much, Too Fast, Too Messy

For me, Season 9 had three major problems.

First: it ignored or contradicted emotional foundations built in earlier seasons.

May and Eddie should have some kind of relationship after working together at dispatch. May and Buck should have some emotional connection through Bobby. Some characters acted like strangers when history says they should not.

Second: everything was rushed.

Hen’s illness. Buck’s addiction. Abigail. Theo. Athena’s career shift. May’s career shift. Eddie’s stabbing.

These are storylines that could each carry multiple episodes, maybe even whole arcs. Instead, they were often resolved in one or two episodes.

Third: some plots simply did not make sense.

The Bratva and the migrant trafficking storyline. Eddie’s stabbing. The speed of Buck’s custody situation. May and Ravi becoming a couple without real development.

There was potential everywhere.

But potential is not enough if the writing does not support it.

Final Thoughts

Season 9 felt like a show at a breaking point.

Not because there were no good episodes. There were. “Día de los Muertos” and “Where There’s Smoke” are proof that this show can still deliver something powerful.

But the season as a whole felt rushed, uneven, and often emotionally inconsistent.

And the danger now is that 9-1-1 may start losing more than just characters. It may start losing trust.

Buddie fans are a huge part of the fandom, yes, but they are not the entire fandom. Some viewers already left after Bobby’s death. Others may have stepped back after this finale. And if Season 10 continues this way, I honestly worry it could become the last one.

The show can still recover.

But it needs to slow down.

It needs to stop throwing bait without payoff.

It needs to respect its own history.

And above all, it needs to remember that 9-1-1 was never great because it was huge.

It was great because it made the emergency personal.

⚡ POWER RANGERS FAMILY TREE: LEGACY OF THE GRID ⚡

aka: my latest 2AM fandom meltdown.

After an unhealthy amount of rewatches, timeline spirals, continuity debates, and me staring at Ranger lore like Charlie Kelly with the conspiracy board… I finally did it.

I created a full Power Rangers genealogical / legacy tree connecting every season that shares direct narrative ties.

And honestly? The deeper I went, the more insane the franchise continuity became.

Inside the tree:

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Power Rangers Zeo

Power Rangers Turbo

Power Rangers in Space

Power Rangers Lost Galaxy

Dino-era connections

Once & Always

Because if there’s even ONE canonical connection, trust me… it’s going in the chart.

Legend:

🖤 Black lines → parent / child 💚 Green lines → siblings ❤️ Red lines → couples

Some connections were obvious.

Some required full “early-2000s-forum-theory” detective work.

And some are absolutely powered by my refusal to let continuity die.

But honestly? That’s what makes Power Rangers so special to me.

Under all the camp, explosions, Zords, and weekly chaos, this franchise has always been about legacy. Mentors becoming myths. Kids growing up. Generations carrying the Grid forward.

And mapping everything out made me weirdly emotional about how interconnected these stories actually are.

ALSO IMPORTANT:

The faces used for some characters are NOT the original actors — this is my personal recast / fancast version of the Ranger universe 👀✨

So if you see a character and go: “WAIT who did you cast for them???”

tell me in the comments and I’ll absolutely post the full image/version 🫶

Now I need to know:

Chapter 61: Under the Influence extract

By the time evening arrived, the sky had become a blanket of dark velvet devoid of stars, a silent omen that seemed reflected inside Asha's apartment.

White marble.

Recessed ambient lighting.

Scandinavian designer furniture that looked more like pieces of modern art than something meant to be lived with.

Everything about the young woman's apartment screamed success and obsessive control.

Ravi sat on the charcoal-gray leather couch, his hands clasped between his knees, his gaze fixed on nothing.

Dinner had passed without him truly noticing it.

He had eaten without tasting a single bite.

He had listened to Asha's voice—crystalline, bright, almost dizzying in its liveliness—without really registering any of it.

He felt hollow.

As though someone had drained every ounce of life from him and left behind only the weight of resignation.

It was the apathy of the condemned.

That numbness that comes right before accepting the inevitable.

Asha had disappeared several minutes earlier.

She had brushed her slender fingers across his shoulder and murmured a soft, "Wait for me here," in a tone that sounded equally like a promise and a threat.

He hadn't moved.

Hadn't wondered whether she was putting away the crystal wine glasses or freshening up.

He had simply remained there.

A pillar of salt in the desert of his own life.

Then the faint sound of bare feet crossing the expensive rug forced him to lift his head.

She had returned.

But little remained of the bright, romantic woman she'd been moments earlier beyond the aesthetic shell.

Her amber skin glowed beneath the warm lights.

She wore nothing but a set of black lace lingerie so delicate it looked like a shadow painted onto her body.

The balconette bra lifted her breasts with sculptural precision.

The high-cut panties accentuated the soft curve of her hips.

She was beautiful.

The kind of beautiful that should have stolen a man's breath.

Instead, all Ravi felt was a cold, creeping nausea.

She approached him with feline slowness, dark hair cascading over her bare shoulders.

"You're so tense," she murmured as she settled herself onto his lap.

The heat of her skin against his jeans felt like an unwanted electric shock.

"You look like a soldier waiting for his execution."

A smile.

"But tonight should be a celebration, don't you think?"

He didn't answer.

His eyes searched for an escape point somewhere beyond her shoulder.

His thoughts remained fixed on a single name he couldn't say aloud.

A name that made his heart slam against his ribs.

Rosario.

Asha noticed the distance.

Her smile never faltered.

But her eyes darkened.

Deepened.

She lifted one finger in a playful gesture.

"Wait a second."

A pause.

"Let's see if this helps loosen you up a little."

She reached toward the coffee table and picked up her phone.

She didn't open a photo gallery.

Or a playlist.

Instead, she turned the screen toward him.

And in that instant his breath stopped.

On the screen, grainy but unmistakable, was a window.

A window Ravi knew by heart.

Rosario's bedroom.

She was there.

Unaware.

Her back turned toward the camera.

She was undressing.

Slow movements born of evening exhaustion.

Loose hair spilling across her shoulder blades.

It was an image of absolute vulnerability.

Of violated intimacy.

Asha began playing with Ravi's curls, lazily wrapping them around her fingers while holding the phone in front of his horrified eyes with her other hand.

"By the way," she whispered against his ear, "if you're wondering... it's live."

Ravi jerked.

Trying to pull away.

But she pressed herself even closer, trapping him.

"You know..."

Her voice softened.

"I sent a friend to keep an eye on her."

A pause.

"Actually, he always keeps an eye on her."

Every word hit like a hammer.

"Every day."

"Every minute."

"When she goes to work."

"When she goes out with her brother."

"When she buys groceries."

Her fingernail traced his jawline, forcing him to keep looking at the screen.

Rosario had just sat down on the edge of her bed.

"It's a dangerous world, isn't it?" Asha continued.

"You know that better than I do."

A smile.

"Considering what you do for a living."

"One fire."

"One car accident."

"One unexpected event..."

She snapped her fingers.

The sound cracked through the silence of the penthouse like a gunshot.

"And life can end just like that."

Snap.

"In a single moment."

Then she became soft again.

Rubbing her nose against his neck.

"But it's also true that if you choose—completely of your own free will—to embrace this wonderful marriage we're going to have..."

Her voice melted into a purr.

"I'm sure she'll be perfectly fine."

A pause.

"She'll have a long life."

"A happy life."

"A safe life."

She smiled.

"Exactly like the one we're going to have together."

Rage hit Ravi like a tsunami.

He wanted to wrap his hands around her throat.

Wanted to scream.

Wanted to tear the apartment apart.

But the sight of Rosario on that screen—

so unaware,

so close to death without even realizing it—

broke his heart.

Asha wasn't merely manipulating his feelings.

She had her finger on a trigger pointed directly at the woman he loved.

And so he surrendered.

He felt his muscles give way.

His spine bend beneath the weight of the blackmail.

Asha sensed the collapse immediately.

With a triumphant smile, she tossed the phone onto the couch and pressed herself even tighter against him.

"Then it's settled!"

Her excitement burst forth instantly.

"Oh, Ravi, tomorrow we absolutely have to talk to your parents."

"I want to start setting dates."

"It's spring."

"The perfect season."

The words poured out of her in a torrent.

Flowers.

Venues.

Guest lists.

Powerful names she insisted had to attend.

"I was thinking..."

Her eyes lit up.

"We could have two ceremonies."

"One classic Western wedding."

"And then a traditional Indian one."

"Colors."

"Gold."

"Garlands."

She clasped her hands together.

"It would be the most beautiful thing in the world."

"Don't you think?"

Ravi heard none of it.

All he could see was that invisible crosshair aimed at Rosario's back.

"And then..." he interrupted.

His voice sounded hoarse.

Dead.

"You'll tell your friend to leave?"

Asha froze.

For a fraction of a second, pure irritation crossed her face.

She seemed genuinely offended that he would interrupt her ivory-tower fantasy with the reality of her blackmail.

"Seriously, Ravi?"

She rolled her eyes.

"We're talking about our future."

"I'm here like this for you."

"And you're still talking about her?"

The contempt was impossible to miss.

But she also understood something.

If she wanted what she wanted, she had to give him this victory.

She picked up the phone again and dialed a number.

She never said Nathan's name.

But her tone turned cold.

Authoritative.

"You can go home."

A pause.

"Yes."

"No need to follow her anymore."

"Not tonight."

"Not ever."

Her eyes never left Ravi's.

"We've reached an agreement."

She ended the call and tossed the phone onto the couch.

Then she took his hands.

Slowly.

Deliberately.

Placing them against her bare hips.

Forcing him to feel the warmth of her skin.

"I think it's time to celebrate."

Her smile softened.

"I promised myself I'd wait until our wedding night."

"Be a good girl."

She leaned closer.

"But honestly?"

"I don't feel like waiting."

Then she kissed him.

It was an invasive kiss.

Experienced.

Hungry.

Not seeking connection.

Seeking conquest.

Ravi tasted her expensive lipstick.

And felt a wave of revulsion.

Every part of him screamed no.

He didn't want to betray Rosario.

He didn't want his body responding to the woman who embodied everything he despised.

But the pain was too much.

The blackmail.

The loss of freedom.

The fear for Rosario's life.

Together they created a short circuit inside his mind.

To keep from going insane.

To keep from dying inside while Asha stripped him with impatient fingers—

Ravi did the only thing his survival instinct allowed him to do.

He closed his eyes.

And imagined that Asha's black orchid perfume was Rosario's simple soap scent.

He imagined those hands fumbling with his belt belonged to the only woman who had ever truly ignited him.

He imagined that flexible body pressed against his own was the only one he had ever genuinely desired.

When Asha pulled him toward the bedroom, he followed like an automaton.

But inside his mind the walls of the penthouse vanished.

Asha wasn't there.

The black lace wasn't there.

Instead there was the soft glow of a smaller apartment.

Poorer.

Realer.

The act that followed was intense.

Almost violent in its desperation.

Asha moaned beneath him, convinced she had finally shattered his resistance.

Convinced that his urgency was desire.

Desire for her.

For her beauty.

For her power.

She felt omnipotent as she clung to him, nails raking across his back, utterly certain she had made him hers forever.

She couldn't know that Ravi wasn't truly there.

Couldn't feel that every kiss he returned was meant for a ghost.

It was the deepest humiliation imaginable.

A metaphysical betrayal.

Making love to one woman while using her as the stand-in for another.

Ravi possessed her with desperate intensity.

Not because he loved her.

But because he was trying to protect Rosario in the only way he had left.

🌙 SAILOR MOON REIMAGINED: when mythology, cosmic empires, and magical girls collide - PART 5

EARTH: THE FORBIDDEN PLANET

For centuries, Earth was considered the Forbidden Planet by the Moon Galactic Empire. Primitive, unstable, incapable of elevating its collective consciousness, it was seen as a barbaric world — closer to oblivion than civilization. No official routes led to that planet, and anyone who dared approach it was driven away, sometimes punished. But every world, no matter how dark, hides a heart. And when Earth’s Crystal Seed awakened, its call became impossible to ignore.

The Galaxy Cauldron, divine source and creator of all things, did not choose a Sailor for Earth as it had for the other planets: it chose six guardians. Perhaps humanity was not yet ready to host a cosmic warrior within a single body. Or perhaps Earth needed to be understood from multiple perspectives. And so, the Rangers were chosen — living fragments of a destiny far greater than themselves.

The Red Fragment, symbol of leadership and fire, was found by Jason Scott: a former sports champion crushed beneath the weight of his own mistakes. The Blue Fragment, mind and knowledge, chose Billy Cranston: a silent genius with an extraordinary intellect and deep social difficulties. The Pink Fragment, courage and grace, awakened within Kimberly Hart: a wounded heart marked by betrayal and guilt. The Black Fragment, roots and resilience, bonded with Zack Taylor: a boy who used laughter as a shield and his love for his mother as his driving force. And finally, the Yellow Fragment, identity and truth, was entrusted to Trini Kwan: a restless nomad forever in conflict with those who were supposed to love her.

Later came Tommy Oliver, the Green Herald. He discovered his fragment in silence, during a moment of profound vulnerability. Unable to understand its true nature, he fell prey to the words of Queen Metaria, an ancient primordial entity capable of devouring entire star systems. She moved through the shadows, feeding on fractures of the soul, and saw Earth as an endless source of energy to consume.

For her purposes, Metaria awakened other Heralds.

The most dangerous was Queen Beryl, once known only as Esmeraude… beloved of Demand, now consumed by jealousy and rage. Then came Nehellenia, half-sister of Empress Theia, envious of her light and beauty. Imprisoned by her own parents after attempting to steal her sister’s identity and future, she was freed by Metaria in exchange for loyalty.

And so, the destinies of the Inner Senshi and the Rangers intertwined for the very first time.

The warriors of the Empire, guided by instinct and a higher mission, were sent to Earth to investigate the awakening of the terrestrial crystals. Their paths crossed with the teenagers of Angel Grove, and from an initial conflict, an alliance was eventually born.

Within the chaos of awakening, the truth revealed itself fragment by fragment: Earth was not a mistake of creation, but an enigma. And perhaps, precisely because it was imperfect, it was the place where hope could be reborn.

THE SHADOWS RANGERS

When the Galaxy Cauldron chose six young humans to receive the fragments of Earth’s Crystal Seed, it was not the only voice to awaken within the heart of the planet.

From the fractures of Earth’s soul — from pain, hatred, exclusion, and the hunger for power — six dark counterparts were born: the Shadows Rangers.

They were broken beings, survivors of ruined worlds or outcasts rejected by dominant systems. Their power was not a gift, but a reaction. They were not protectors… at least not at first.

Hidden on Earth for years, marginalized and unable to find their place, the six chosen girls were brought together when each discovered the fragment that transformed them into Shadows Rangers.

The Dark Red Fragment bonded with Galaxia, originally from the County of Mars, from Koronis, making her the leader of the group. Born during a war between rival clans, Galaxia learned to survive among ashes and corpses. Her fire does not burn — it consumes. Every strike of her sword drains the energy of others, leaving them hollow. Her rage toward those who speak of justice without understanding its price made her Jason Scott’s greatest threat. But she was also the first to realize that the true monsters often hide behind beautiful ideals.

The Dark Blue Fragment chose Viluy, brilliant daughter of Pallas in the County of Mercury. Raised among brilliant minds and cold hearts, Viluy was treated as an experiment rather than a person. Her mental and cybernetic abilities can invade minds, block synapses, and turn enemies into prisoners of their own memories. For Billy, she was like confronting a distorted reflection: both geniuses, both isolated. But while one sought connection, the other built walls. Until those walls finally collapsed.

From Saturn’s Trojan System, from a small colony on Calypso, came Tin Nyanko, bearer of the Dark Black Fragment. Elusive, sarcastic, untouchable, Nyanko can strike emotions like blades. Her shadow claws sever invisible bonds: trust, friendship, hope. She is doubt incarnate. For Zack, she became the ultimate test: how do you keep smiling in front of someone who knows every one of your insecurities? And yet, beneath her irony, Tin Nyanko hid a heart starving for acceptance.

Iron Mouse, born on the Bright Side of the Moon but raised among shame and exclusion, was chosen by the Dark White Fragment. Small, lively, but deadly, her ability to drain willpower and emotional bonds made her the perfect weapon. Yet behind her bites of light and poisonous whispers hid one desperate desire: to be seen, to be acknowledged. Kimberly listened to her, and for the first time, Iron Mouse chose not to hide behind chaos.

Mimete, from the County of Venus, raised on Ceres among glitter, lies, and illusion, received the Dark Yellow Fragment. A manipulator of emotions, she ruled over deception and illusion. She convinced Trini that she had been betrayed by her own friends, forcing her to face her demons alone. But through the chaos, the truth emerged: Mimete did not want to destroy — she wanted to be loved for who she truly was, not for the image she projected.

Finally came Tellu, from the County of Jupiter, from Leda, chosen by the Dark Green Fragment. A ruler of nature itself, she used plants to poison, roots to corrupt, and seeds to extinguish life. She saw humanity as nothing more than an infection to eradicate. For Tommy, survivor of Queen Metaria’s manipulation, Tellu represented nature’s blind vengeance against mankind. But through him, she discovered that Earth needed healing… not punishment.

The six Shadows Rangers first appeared as enemies, ready to destroy what the others had only just begun to build. But destiny, as always, had other plans.

Their bond with the Power Rangers — hostile, painful, imperfect — slowly transformed into an alliance. Not friends. Not rivals. But balance.

Earth, complicated and filled with endless shades of gray, needed them too.

Because light, in order to truly shine, needs its shadow.

🔥 Jason Scott x Kimberly Hart

Bound together by destiny and the fragments of Earth’s Crystal Seed, Jason and Kimberly represent two different kinds of fire: one burns through duty, the other through guilt.

He is the leader carrying the weight of every decision on his shoulders. She is the fragile warrior who learned how not to break.

They fought each other, supported each other, and eventually chose each other.

Between them, love begins as an alliance and grows into forgiveness. Neither of them is perfect, but together they create balance.

They are the heart and grace of the Rangers.

❄️ Saphir x Taylor Corbett

Silent, diplomatic, and strategic, Saphir finds in Taylor — Pink Galaxy Ranger and daughter of the legendary Leo — a counterpart who is impulsive yet clear-minded.

She is the flame of justice. He is the shadow of reflection.

They meet on the battlefield, challenge each other through glances alone, and respect one another without needing words.

Their love is born from silence and grows through loyalty.

Taylor teaches him the value of spontaneity. Saphir gives her the depth of time.

Together, they are a difficult but precious balance.

🐾 Zack Taylor x Tin Nyanko

Zack is a smile that heals. Tin Nyanko is a scratch that confuses.

Distrustful and sharp-tongued, she tries to keep him away with the cruelest sarcasm imaginable… but Zack knows how to see beyond masks.

Their relationship becomes a constant game of teasing, provocations, and stolen glances.

But when everything falls silent, the two share a deep loneliness neither of them can put into words.

Their love is unexpected, yet natural.

Tin Nyanko learns how to trust. Zack learns how to protect without suffocating.

🌕 Tommy Oliver x Moira

Tommy, the Green Ranger scarred by Queen Metaria’s manipulation, meets Moira, guardian of lunar matter and sensitive to buried truths.

Their relationship is born through visions, silence, and shared fears.

Both have survived pain, but in opposite ways: he searched for redemption, while she listened to the lies hidden within stone itself.

They understand each other deeply, without unnecessary words.

Moira helps him find stability. Tommy teaches her how to believe in light again.

Together, they become stronger than either of them could ever be alone.

🌊 Billy Cranston x Partenope

Billy, brilliant and introverted, feels comfortable only among numbers and silence.

Partenope, daughter of the sea and student of Athena, is calm, curious, and gentle.

Their love grows through shared knowledge and endless conversations about science and magic.

Partenope helps Billy accept his emotions. Billy shows her how powerful kindness can truly be.

They are two rare souls recognizing themselves within each other.

Together, they dance between logic and intuition.

🌿 Nicholas Vallerte x Berthier

Nicholas, Black Space Ranger and son of Carlos, is serious, calm, and deeply devoted to the cause.

Berthier, priestess of ice and silence, observes the world with the awkward detachment of someone who is both incredibly intelligent and painfully naïve.

Yet beneath the eccentric way they both view the world lies the same need: someone who does not make noise, but stays.

Nicholas sees within Berthier a quiet strength and endless curiosity. Berthier sees within him an anchor to reality.

They seek each other constantly, through a relationship built on glances and tiny gestures capable of warming even the coldest frost.

💗 Jonathan Corbett x Helena Vallerte

Two heirs to legends.

Jonathan, son of Leo and Kendrix, is the Red Galaxy Ranger. Helena, daughter of Carlos, is the Pink Space Ranger: brilliant, determined, impossible to ignore.

Between them exists respect, rivalry, and electric chemistry.

They have known each other for years, trained together, but only during a dangerous mission do they realize how perfectly they complete each other.

Jonathan is controlled fire. Helena is light that refuses to be tamed.

Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff)

Polaris (Lorna Dane)

"Leaning on found family"

"Athena’s detective journey"

"The Diaz family"

"Looking ahead to the future"

***

So, I'm not including the entire section regarding the sections above, but honestly, you can just read what he basically says in the interview. There's nothing particularly interesting there except that he essentially says there are scenes that intentionally mirror previous moments.

For example, he mentions that scene with Eddie and Chris during the tsunami, and that he kind of recreates it here with Buck and Theo.

Okay.

And he says he creates these parallels because there's so much canon material that it's impossible not to make connections and references where people can go, "Oh look, that's a callback."

The problem is that he only does this with Buck and Theo. 🙄

Because when it comes to Buck and Theo, he remembers absolutely everything from Season 1 onward.

But when it comes to everyone else? Nope.

He forgot that May was a 9-1-1 dispatcher.

He forgot that she had an incredibly important growth arc that came directly from the traumas she experienced.

He clearly doesn't care about her at all.

In fact, this season focuses heavily on Maddie—which, for the record, I have nothing against Maddie—but other characters are completely ignored.

I found that Anne, Chimney, May, and Ravi were very, very, very ignored this season.

In some cases, their stories were outright forgotten.

May more than anyone else.

Even Maddie's promotion is unclear.

Is it permanent?

Is it temporary?

And then there's the fact that it completely jumps over Josh.

I didn't like how Josh was treated at all.

He suddenly feels like Ravi.

Characters who get thrown in whenever the writers don't know what else to do.

And yet Josh, despite always being a secondary character, was given far more importance under Ryan Murphy.

He even got a storyline of his own.

I'll never forget the storyline where he got beaten up.

He went out with a guy—if I remember correctly—and then it turned out that guy was setting up dates with gay men only to attack them because he was homophobic.

That storyline was fantastic.

And yet even a minor character like Josh received meaningful attention.

The same way Sue did.

The entire episode where Sue gets hit by a car carries emotional and narrative weight.

Meanwhile Sue's stroke here feels purely structural.

Like it only exists to suddenly elevate Maddie.

It almost feels like an excuse to get rid of an older character they were tired of dealing with. 😒

That's the terrible thing Tim does.

When canon is convenient for him, he remembers it.

When the references involve Buck, he remembers everything and puts it all in.

When they involve characters he doesn't care about, he treats them like dogs.

Then we get to another huge problem.

The interviewer asks him about Eddie's faith and whether the stabbing was meant to symbolize some kind of miracle, considering he somehow survives and recovers.

And what does Tim do?

He starts explaining that disaster episodes cost less than standalone episodes.

🤦‍♀️

I genuinely think he has concentration problems.

He cannot answer a question.

He talks about something completely different.

Apparently Ryan Murphy has basically left the show in Tim Minear's hands since Season 2.

Before that, Ryan was probably more present as a supervisor.

Because honestly, I think there was consistency up until Seasons 5 and 6.

Then it slowly started falling apart.

Which is probably why Peter Krause left.

Because Tim Minear drove him away.

And if this keeps going, I think Ryan Guzman will be next.

So.

He's asked about Eddie's faith.

And instead we get a lecture about how it's more cost-effective to spread production costs across large two- or three-episode events.

What does that have to do with the question? 🤷‍♀️

Apparently all of that was leading to the point that when Eddie was introduced in Season 2, Tim already knew exactly what he wanted him to become.

Though clearly Eddie didn't become what Tim expected.

Because Ryan Guzman probably wasn't as moldable as Tim hoped.

Eventually the interviewer has to drag him back to the original question.

She asks whether there were alternatives to putting Eddie in the elevator.

Whether another character could've been used.

Basically she's trying to redirect him and say:

"Hey, I asked about Eddie getting stabbed in a church and whether that had spiritual significance."

Only then does he sort of wake up.

And then immediately starts talking about something else again. 😂

He starts talking about the Season 7 finale when Athena and Bobby's house burned down.

He says he always found that finale disappointing because everyone had something else to do instead of helping them.

So apparently he didn't want that to happen again.

And from what I understood, that meant Eddie had to end up alone.

Because if he'd been paired with Buck—which was apparently his dream scenario—then Hen would've been the third wheel.

And that would've been awkward.

Meanwhile he'd already decided to put Ravi and May together.

Because apparently if you keep throwing them together long enough, eventually people will believe there's a reason for the relationship.

Chimney and Hen were busy saving someone.

And then Tim apparently went:

"Wait... what do I do with Eddie?"

And because he had absolutely no idea what to do with him...

He stabbed him and locked him in an elevator. 😭

I'm serious.

According to Tim, it was basically a way to give Eddie something to do on screen that wasn't what everyone else was doing.

Because realistically only two people were needed to go downstairs and shut off the power.

And honestly?

If you think about it, almost nothing happens in that episode.

Which is why the episode is bad.

And I am genuinely stunned by how much he seems to diminish his own show.

He literally says the first cut was boring.

The thing is, Tim, the final cut is boring too.

And apparently his solution was:

"Let's stab Eddie."

😐

From everything he says in this interview—and I'm not even reposting the entire thing—it's obvious that he didn't know what he wanted to do.

And it shows.

You can absolutely tell he didn't know how to write that episode.

You can tell he didn't know what story he wanted to tell.

Because none of it makes sense.

He basically gives a recap of how the episode was originally written.

It already didn't make sense.

Apparently it was even worse before.

And honestly, I think the fact that Tim writes episodes, turns them in at the last second, rewrites them at the last second, edits them at the last second, and even oversees the final cuts himself...

I genuinely don't think he knows what he wants anymore.

And that confusion—which is obvious even in the interview itself—because I read his answers and half the time I get lost and don't even understand what he's trying to say...

I think that's exactly why this season doesn't work on any level.

If anything, the interview only increased my doubts.

The entire section where he explains how Heart and Flowers was written, reworked, fixed, expanded, changed, cut, edited, and assembled...

I understood nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

I don't understand what he's saying in the article.

I don't understand what the episode ended up being.

I don't understand what it was supposed to be.

All I know is that it's a disaster. 😩

A disaster just like most of the rest of the season, in my opinion.

It also bothers me that he keeps bringing up The Buddie System podcast.

I'm happy for the girls who run the podcast.

Apparently he listens to them constantly and values their opinions a lot.

Good for them.

But I also think it's extremely unfair to the rest of the audience that three people's opinions seem to matter while everyone else's doesn't.

Because he's not writing the show for them.

He's writing it for all of us.

I also didn't like the way he talked about the actors, or the children who played young Bobby.

They're little kids.

It's normal for them to react like kids.

There was no need to talk about them the way he did.

Honestly, I had completely forgotten Eddie even had sisters.

And at this point it wouldn't even make sense to introduce them.

You can't spend nine years never mentioning them—not even a casual line like:

"My sister called me."

Or:

"Hey Chris, your cousin did this."

Something.

Anything.

If you never mention them, never reference them, never acknowledge them...

You can't suddenly pull them out of a hat. 🤨

And as for May, honestly, at this point I would've made her a paramedic instead of a nurse.

It would've made more sense.

But since that's not what happened, we'll see how this develops on the medical side of things.

Although, truthfully?

After this interview, I don't really feel like continuing to watch the show anymore.

"Character relationships: new and old"

They really do make a cute couple. They’re about the two most beautiful people I think I’ve ever seen. I think they’re both unbelievably good-looking. And, yeah, so I like them together. It suddenly makes Ravi a more interesting character, and it makes May a more interesting character. But I think it benefits Ravi more in a way because often he’s there to round out something, which is why last year when Eddie went to El Paso, I just had a lot of fun writing Buck trying to buddy up with Ravi, trying to replace Eddie with Ravi, and Ravi’s just like, “Is there a camera on? Are you trying to punk me?”

"Buck’s next chapter"

Buck is not only going to have to learn how to be a parent, but also deal with the fact that he’s stepping into the role because of the death of his friends. Why do you think that this was the right time in terms of him being ready to start navigating what it means to be a parent? Obviously, he’s always been good with kids, but throwing him into this new role is very challenging. Where are you kind of hoping to start with that process next season?

***

I mean, the first person who tells me they loved how Ravi and May became a couple this season is genuinely going to make me lose my mind, especially when Tim Minear himself writes that he thinks they're such a great couple, mainly because only after putting them together did he finally make them interesting.

Are we serious?

Because I'd like to remind everyone that May Grant is Athena Grant's daughter, and before Harry became this important—because obviously he was younger in the past—May had entire episodes centered around her, or at least partially centered around her.

I'd like to remind everyone that May Day is one of the best episodes the show has ever done, where she is essentially one of the focal points of the episode, and her character was still young.

I keep saying this because nobody seems to remember her entire time working at the 9-1-1 call center.

In my opinion, that's one of the best seasons, and it's where she not only built her relationship with Bobby—because that was the season where their father-daughter relationship was born and became one of the cornerstones of what came later—but at the same time she also built a great relationship with Eddie.

A relationship that, honestly, I would have liked to see again today.

Because I don't find it believable that two people who worked together and had such a good relationship, even confiding in each other—there's literally a scene where she cries, opens up, and Eddie listens to her—would suddenly act like strangers.

When you open up to someone like that, you don't run into them later and pretend you don't know them.

Now, let's set aside the fact that I ship them as a couple.

Even just as a human relationship, it's unbelievable that they don't have one anymore.

Just like it's unbelievable that Ravi, who's been part of the show since Season 4—he first appeared in Jinx as a probie—has never gotten an Origins episode, never gotten anything that explores him, his story, or his past.

And yet somehow these two characters only became interesting once they were put together.

Without building absolutely anything.

In Going Once, Going Twice, the episode starts, and up until that point they have never spoken, never interacted, never had any meaningful connection whatsoever.

And suddenly a person you've known forever looks at you differently one morning, and two days later you're in bed together?

Come on, Tim.

Come on. Seriously.

Tim is an idiot, but honestly, the people who keep saying he did a good job and that May and Ravi are a great couple...

No offense, but what the hell show are you watching?

What the hell story are you watching?

Then we get to the section that's basically dedicated to what is being presented as the new Buck storyline.

I'm not including the entire interview because it's actually very long, but it's essentially focused on Buck's arc.

What makes me laugh about this interview—and I've noticed I'm not the only one noticing it, which makes me happy because otherwise I feel crazy—is that Tim gets asked one thing and answers something completely different.

I'll quote at least the first question because otherwise you won't understand what I'm talking about.

The journalist asks a question that is fundamentally about Buck becoming a father.

And Tim, as usual, gets asked one thing and answers another.

In Italy we have a saying that basically means answering something completely unrelated.

I genuinely don't understand why Tim Minear has such difficulty answering a question.

I hate it in real life too.

If I ask, "Black or white?" and someone starts telling me their life story—

"Well, you see, maybe, perhaps, I think..."

No.

Just tell me: black or white?

That's it.

Tim Minear does exactly the same thing and it drives me insane.

Because here too he's asked a question about Buck's role as a parent, and what does he do?

He starts talking about absolutely everything else.

Before eventually circling back to the original question and talking about Theo.

We're told—which I don't understand how it's relevant to the question—that Angela Bassett wasn't available for many scenes, so several of her scenes had to be filmed together at the last minute.

Including the fact that Athena gets shot.

So what am I supposed to understand from that?

That Athena got shot only because the actress wasn't available and they needed a reason to put her out of commission?

Because he literally says you can put her on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and use a stand-in and nobody notices.

Okay.

That's what I understood.

Presumably because she had already started filming American Horror Story.

But setting that aside...

Even the whole shooting storyline and Athena being shot ultimately had very little to do with the actual story.

And honestly, we kind of realized that.

Because much worse things have happened to Athena over the years.

So I found it pretty absurd that this was suddenly the thing that convinced her she wanted to become a detective.

Especially because she'd already been offered that opportunity in the past and turned it down.

She was confident in her choice.

If that realization was supposed to come now, then it would've made more sense after Bobby's death, once she actively returned to work.

Or in some completely different context.

Because honestly, yes, she got shot, but paradoxically it was less severe than other things she's been through.

Like when she was assaulted and beaten, which was a far more interesting and emotionally deep storyline.

So okay, I understand that this all came together because Angela wasn't available.

But that still doesn't answer the question about Theo.

And I didn't like that either because what Tim Minear basically makes us understand is that Theo's storyline was probably filler too.

Athena wasn't available for a certain narrative arc.

And honestly you can see it.

Theo's episode feels strange because it completely interrupts the immigrant storyline.

I expected that storyline to continue episode after episode.

Instead Theo's episode pauses it, and then it resumes at the end.

Yes, it's addressed, but very quickly and poorly.

So they needed something to fill an episode.

And of all the things they could've used, I think they picked the worst possible option.

Because you can't just throw Buck's fatherhood into the story like that.

Another thing I didn't like was his explanation that Theo was inserted as Buck's love interest.

Basically he says that they're at a point where they can't give Buck either a man or a woman.

Because if they give him a man, everyone will want either Tommy or Eddie.

And obviously Tommy isn't coming back.

And he's basically making it clear that Eddie isn't happening.

But apparently they can't give him a woman either because—even though Buck is bisexual—nobody wants to see Buck seriously involved with a woman.

According to Tim, people are okay with him sleeping with a woman for one night, but nothing beyond that.

So because he doesn't want to do either option—because he wants to keep one foot in twenty-seven different shoes and make everybody happy, which is impossible when you're running a TV show—he decided that giving Buck a child would become his love interest.

Basically Buck won't have anyone else anymore.

Maybe he'll hook up with someone occasionally.

But he won't have a real partner.

And that supposedly solves everything.

Everyone is happy without actually being happy.

Because this way people can imagine Buck ending up with Eddie because he needs help raising a child.

So you create Buddie without actually creating Buddie.

Making three people happy and frustrating everyone else.

Because apparently the rest of us viewers are idiots who are forced to watch fanfiction.

I write what I want to see myself.

I'm not demanding the show give it to me.

That's why the idea that Theo only exists for that purpose is terrible.

And he killed Theo's parents because he doesn't know how to write.

That's basically Tim Minear in a nutshell.

Then there's the whole thing where he says that Theo's placement with Buck is only temporary and that Buck hasn't adopted him.

Okay, great.

You've spent years showing us through Hen and Karen how complicated foster care and adoption are.

Perfect.

You've shown that.

But the show never actually says it.

It's another example of something Tim says they thought about but never included onscreen.

This season is full of that.

The number of times Tim Minear says there were scenes explaining things that got cut is unbelievable.

But if you cut the scenes and don't replace them with anything else—not even a line of dialogue—then how are viewers supposed to know?

When the social worker comes to Buck's house and he's signing paperwork, all you needed was one line.

Just one.

"Well, Mr. Buckley, for now we'll proceed this way and I'll let you know what the next steps are regarding the placement."

Done.

Four seconds.

And I would've understood everything.

Instead there was no clarity.

So naturally everyone reacted the same way:

Wait a second.

Hen and Karen spent years going through absolute hell because of foster care and adoption.

Ryan Murphy always showed those difficulties.

And then suddenly Tim resolves it in five seconds?

Or at least makes it look that way?

Because he doesn't give us the explanation.

He says the explanation exists.

But once again it's off-screen.

And since we're not inside your head, Tim, we can't know that.

So of course people criticize you.

Just do your job.

Please.

Honestly, I hope they fire him and let someone else handle Season 10.

White Queen (Emma Frost)

"The firefighter auction" - PART 3

Eddie wasn’t discovering that Chris was still at home until the end of act one, and I’m like, “We can’t do that. I think we have to reveal this right up front. I think it needs to be the end of the teaser,” which I think it is, because we’ve been off the air. It was a bit; it was kind of a mid-season finale, if I’m not mistaken. Everyone’s going to expect that we’re going to come back, and we’re going to be doing the Chris is missing episode, just like the Harry is missing episode, or the Maddie is missing episode, and I never wanted to do that.

So either they’re going to be really disappointed that, like, wah, wah, just kidding, he wasn’t really abducted. I think they’ll forgive it more if that card is turned over earlier. I don’t remember what I made the first act break, but as you can tell, I move things around in post all the time. It’s also been a challenge to find ways to incorporate May’s character, right? I wanted them both to be regulars, which they are. She’s wonderful, and she’s been around since the very beginning, and obviously, it’s easier to kind of get Harry into the action because I made him join the 118, which is the way to keep Athena having emotional stakes tied to the firehouse now that Bobby is no longer there. It was actually Corinne’s idea for May to pursue nursing.

She called me, and she’s like, “Here’s what I’m thinking.” She was very nervous. “What if she wanted to be a nurse and she could help people. It kind of goes back to the tsunami episode where she had to hold that woman’s neck.” I don’t know what she was expecting, but like, “I think that’s a great idea.” She’s like, “Really?” I’m like, “Yeah.” So we decided to go down that road, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of screen time on that until I kind of found a place to make a story about, what does May want to do in her future?

I’ve been trying to include Ravi more. I mean, because Eddie was busy with his Day of the Dead, Buck needed someone to have his séance scene with. I’m like, it should be Ravi, and for whatever reason, I’m like, “I think he has to show up dressed as Raggedy Andy.” Everyone in the room was just like, “What?” I’m like, “It’s just this image in my head of Buck opening the door, and there’s Ravi dressed as Raggedy Andy.” Anirudh did not want to do it.

Alayna, the costume designer, was like, “No, no, people are going to love this. It’s great.” She kind of talked him into it, and of course, you should do it, because it’s great. So I had these two characters that kind of get the short end of the stick, right? My feeling was like, I think they’d be a cute couple, and this would be a way to kind of fuel inject both of those characters by putting them together. So, that was the thinking there.

***

So we continue, because this is still part of that infamous answer about Ravi and May. 😂

And here, well, we're still talking about the fact that... this is all still tied to the scene where Chris disappears. It's still connected to the Abigail storyline, so even here he keeps explaining how this episode was probably very convoluted and how he ended up simplifying it and cleaning it up a bit.

And on that point, I actually agree with him, because when he explains how it was originally supposed to play out, it really would have been confusing. So then he explains how he fixed it.

Moving on, he finally gets to the question the interviewer had asked him what feels like an hour earlier.

So he finally gets to May and Ravi.

And he tells us that, obviously, the issue was: in the middle of all this chaos, how do I introduce May's character?

And he says that nowadays it's easier to have her interact with everyone than it was in the past because Harry is now part of the 118.

That's actually pretty interesting, because he also explains why Harry is now part of the 118. Apparently, it was created specifically so Athena could continue having a connection to the 118 without Bobby.

Otherwise, in some ways, it would have become more distant.

Sure, she knows Hen, who was her best friend, Chimney, and the others, but having her son working there creates a stronger connection.

It's a bit like when Bobby was there.

So that's apparently the real reason Harry became a firefighter, and honestly, I like that explanation.

But once again, he keeps talking about other topics because he still hasn't gotten to Ravi.

Even the fact that May ultimately pursues nursing happened because Corinne suggested it.

Corinne, I adore you. You know I love you. ❤️

At the end of the day, she's an actress, and as actors should, they suggest things that feel right for their characters.

But then it's up to you—the writers—to make it make sense.

Because you're the ones who had her spend a year at Dispatch after taking a gap year.

And then she suddenly decides to change direction.

Go back and watch Season 5 if I'm remembering correctly.

There's that conversation with Athena where it becomes clear that May chose law because Athena had studied law before becoming a police officer and never finished her degree.

But come on.

A girl who already had this desire to help people from the beginning, and who had already started realizing that during her time at Dispatch...

She doesn't throw away four years of college.

If I spent four years studying something and then went to my parents and said, "You know what? I never actually wanted to do this. I want to do something completely different," my parents would hang me from the nearest hook.

If this was something she felt from the beginning, then have her do one year of college and then say, "Mom, I'm trying, but I don't think law is for me."

Athena would probably tell her to do whatever she wants.

Maybe they didn't show that because, in my opinion, May is paying for college herself.

Athena would probably say, "You can waste as many years as you want."

But generally speaking, I find it to be wasted time.

The idea that a girl studies a subject for four years and then, after five minutes working with Gabby, suddenly realizes she doesn't like it and decides to go back to her original dream...

Considering how much Tim talks about how complicated timing was this season and how careful they had to be in telling stories properly...

This was handled terribly.

Corinne gave a good idea because she knows her character.

But it's the writers' fault that from Season 5 until now they completely forgot about May.

They kept having her study and pop up randomly every now and then without ever exploring the possibility that she might reach this realization earlier or through a different path.

So yes, Corinne was absolutely right to make that suggestion.

Because, in my opinion, she was drawing heavily from the tsunami episode that eventually led May to Dispatch.

Even back then, we understood that there was a direction there.

A path Ryan Murphy had already laid out.

Corinne remembered it.

Tim clearly didn't.

Because Ryan Murphy did an exceptional job with May Grant.

Tim Minear, meanwhile, never really considered her.

And then he tried to "fix" the character this season in a very clumsy way simply because Corinne reminded him what May's journey had always been.

Maybe it should have been done earlier.

And done better.

So yes, it was nice that they brought May back closer to her roots.

But it was done clumsily, in my opinion.

Then he says that at some point they wanted to include Ravi more because they felt this season...

And honestly, this part sounded a little stupid to me.

For example, he says that one way they included Ravi more was in the Día de los Muertos episode.

Buck was dealing with his issues, and they needed someone for the séance scene.

Okay.

So you're basically telling us Ravi is a filler character.

Whenever you need to fill a hole, you call Ravi.

I'm sorry, but that's exactly what that sounds like.

And then eventually—finally—we get there.

Guys, I got absolutely crucified.

Literally crucified.

The day after the episode aired where May and Ravi slept together.

I got destroyed when I said:

"I think this couple was thrown together because it feels like he doesn't know where to put Ravi, he doesn't know where to put May, so he puts them together and says problem solved."

Like, "I've got two characters left over. I don't know what the hell to do with either of them, so I put them together."

I got crucified for saying that.

And then in this interview, he basically says the exact same thing.

He says he had these two characters and didn't really know what to do with them.

Because he makes it very clear that if Corinne hadn't reminded him who May was and what her journey had been, he probably would have kept using her however he felt like.

At the same time, he says that he wanted Ravi to have a bigger presence this season.

And his idea of giving Ravi more presence was putting him in the séance scene with Buck so he'd have something to do.

With those two answers, Tim is basically telling us that he doesn't care about Ravi or May.

Because on one side, he needs the actress to remind him how to write her character.

And on the other side, he has a character who's been around since Season 4 and is treated like a gap-filler.

And then at some point he says, "I don't know what else to do with them."

So he puts them together.

And somehow that's supposed to be the solution.

Which is exactly what I said.

You didn't know what to do with them.

You threw them together hoping to create some hype.

Hoping something would come out of it.

Not because you genuinely wanted to build something meaningful between them.

But because you didn't know how else to make them stand out.

The only way was to create something that would make people say, "Aww, look, they're cute."

Basically, you had to rely on fanservice.

And I hate that.

If you like it, good for you.

I genuinely don't understand it.

Because if I were actually a fan of this pairing—as many people are—and if I had written fanfiction about them, as many people have because I've seen it on AO3, those people created storylines.

They created journeys.

They didn't just throw them together randomly the way he did.

So I hope those people are just as angry as I am.

I genuinely hope this becomes a couple that eventually gains some substance.

Even if I still don't like it, at least it would have a reason to exist.

Because right now it started badly, and it's hard to fix something after such a bad start.

Otherwise, I hope they don't have a future.

Because I want to see Ravi.

I want to see May.

I want to see their evolution.

I don't want to see them become relevant because they're pretending to be together.

Because objectively it feels like a couple he doesn't care about.

He gives them nothing.

There isn't a single truly deep or beautiful scene between them.

People say, "Look how sweet Ravi is. Look how supportive he is."

Yeah, because you see him sitting next to her in the hospital.

Or putting an arm around her shoulders.

But narratively speaking, that's not what I consider two people supporting each other or building something together.

Those are things that work in a show like Violetta or Il Mondo di Patty.

Not in 9-1-1.

Honestly, I find more depth, more chemistry, and more emotional development in Zed and Addison from Zombies.

And that's a movie series aimed at a younger audience.

Ravi and May shouldn't feel like a Disney Channel couple.

That's what I'm trying to say.

You expect a certain tone from Disney Channel.

You even wish there were more because you're older.

I ship Zed and Addison too. I'd love more kisses and more scenes.

But I understand the target audience doesn't allow for that.

In 9-1-1, though, finding a couple that feels equivalent to a Disney Channel pairing?

No.

Absolutely not.

It's ridiculous.

Truly ridiculous.

They built more emotional development for Zed and Addison than they did here.

And that's not normal considering the target audiences are supposed to be completely different.

Then you tell me there wasn't enough time.

Because we've understood that this is Tim's constant excuse throughout the interview:

There was never enough runtime.

Never enough minutes to properly develop certain storylines.

So many things had to be compressed.

Then don't do them.

And when I say "don't do them," I mean the expression we use in Italy:

Either do something properly or don't do it at all.

He chose to do it.

And he chose to do it badly.

You either take the time and find room for it, even if that means giving them small scenes over time.

Maybe not this season.

Maybe you slowly build them into Season 10.

Maybe that's when the relationship starts.

But no.

Because apparently the hype of Harry walking in and catching them together was too good to pass up.

Why?

Because it creates hype.

At this point, things are done because they create hype, not because they make sense or because they're well written.

No.

Take your time.

Build the relationship gradually.

"The firefighter auction" - PART 2

They don’t show up, and Hen was supposed to bid on Eddie, but she’s not there, so he texts Maddie. It was very convoluted. So I stripped all that stuff out, and also Eddie’s story with Abigail was not balanced correctly in the cut. It all was over way too quickly. So I just figured if I could pace out the Eddie thing and just have it culminate, and then make act six this fun act where there’s an auction, I think we’ll be okay, and that’s what we ended up doing. But when we were breaking that story, I’m like, all right, so we have to answer the questions.

It was Silas who pitched the firefighter auction, like, “That’s fun. The audience will love that.” And then, I’m trying to like, wedge it into this Fatal Attraction story, and it’s like, oh God, what have I done? I just dreaded the whole auction thing. I’m like, who’s going to bid on everybody? At one point, I’m like, “Can Buck just bid on Eddie?” And they’re like, you can’t do that, you’ll be queer-baiting. I’m like, fine.

It was originally going to be Alex. Alex was going to bid on Eddie. In fact, I brought her in thinking, maybe this is a potential love interest for Eddie, and I just didn’t see any chemistry there at all. So I pivoted. I mean, yeah, I brought her in early just to see if that character would work with him. I didn’t want to commit to it, and I just had to pivot. I’m like, who’s going to bid on Eddie? And then, Kristen had the idea, what if Eddie just bids on himself, because he doesn’t want to do this in the first place?

He even offers it at the beginning; he’s like, “What if I just write a check?” Which is what he ends up doing. Then, I’m like, but I do think that the knitting circle people need to buy Buck, and I think Athena probably has to bid on Harry. Actually, there was a lovely scene that I had to cut where Hen is practicing driving again after her illness, and Athena is there with a clipboard, helping her, and complaining that she never gets to see Harry.

So there was a little subplot in there of Athena trying to spend time with her son, but he leaves before she gets up; they just don’t see each other. She ends up bidding on him in order to have dinner with him, which would have been great, it’s just the episode was way too long, and to keep in any of that scene of Hen and Athena, I mean, that scene went on for three minutes, which doesn’t sound like it’s long, but that’s really long because the whole act of the show could be like five minutes long.

***

So the answer keeps going, because again, the original question was about May and Ravi... and he basically talks about everything except May and Ravi. 😅

Maybe he circles back to them at the very end, but for most of the answer he's talking about the charity auction episode.

And honestly, this is why I keep saying: sometimes it's worth paying attention not only to the answers, but also to the questions journalists are actually asking.

Because when someone asks you one thing and you answer something completely different, that's usually telling us something.

The question was specifically about May and Ravi.

Not about Hen.

Not about Karen.

Not about production logistics.

Not about episode length.

Just May and Ravi.

The question was entirely focused on them.

It's even highlighted in bold.

And yet he spends most of the answer talking about everything else. 🤨

He explains that the auction sequence was originally supposed to be much longer.

Apparently we were supposed to see Hen and Karen driving to the event.

We were supposed to see Eddie asking Hento bid on him.

Then Hen doesn't arrive, so somehow the responsibility gets passed to Maddie, and eventually that's how everything ends up playing out.

According to him, the whole sequence became too complicated, too convoluted, and they ended up cutting a lot of material.

Fine.

I understand that.

Production realities exist.

Episodes have time limits.

Things get cut.

I get it.

But here's the problem:

I still think the episode was handled terribly. 😬

I remember similar charity-auction episodes in One Tree Hill, and those episodes were genuinely fun.

They were entertaining.

They had energy.

They had chemistry.

They had payoff.

This one?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing worked for me.

I went into it with extremely high expectations and came out of it thinking:

"Oh... okay."

That was basically my reaction.

I felt absolutely nothing.

And that's probably the worst thing an episode can do.

Not make me angry.

Not make me sad.

Just leave me completely indifferent. 🤷‍♀️

Another thing that stood out to me was the discussion about who was supposed to bid on Eddie.

Apparently that became some huge behind-the-scenes issue.

At first it was supposed to be Hen.

Then it became Maddie.

Then, according to Tim, he suggested Buck.

And that's where things get really interesting.

Because apparently somebody pointed out that having Buck bid on Eddie could potentially be interpreted as queerbaiting.

And honestly?

This is where I genuinely don't understand how some fans aren't more frustrated.

Because personally, if I believed a show was intentionally teasing me with something it had no intention of delivering, I wouldn't celebrate it.

I'd be annoyed.

I'd feel manipulated.

I'd feel like I was being strung along.

And what makes it even stranger is that Tim himself essentially acknowledges that certain scenes can be interpreted that way.

Which means people aren't imagining it.

The possibility clearly exists.

And honestly, I don't like that at all.

Whether someone ships Buddie or not is irrelevant.

What bothers me is using suggestive moments purely as bait.

That doesn't feel respectful to the audience.

It feels cheap. 😕

Then there was apparently another idea involving Alex.

And honestly?

Thank God they dropped it.

Because whatever chemistry those actors may have had years ago in another project, I simply don't see it here.

Not at all.

So on that point, Tim, you absolutely made the right decision. 😂

Then we get to Eddie bidding on himself.

Which opens another question entirely.

Where exactly is Eddie getting all this money? 🤣

Apparently there was a deleted scene where he was supposed to buy a car for $700 and somehow ended up spending $7,000.

Then here he's bidding on himself and casually throwing around another thousand dollars.

At this point I'm starting to wonder if Eddie secretly owns several businesses we don't know about.

Because honestly?

Some of these financial details just stop making sense.

And yes, I know they're supposed to be jokes.

I know they're supposed to be funny.

But when details constantly stop making sense, eventually they start pulling me out of the story.

Even small inconsistencies can become frustrating when they pile up. 😅

Then we get Athena bidding on Harry.

And apparently the original idea was that she was tired of never seeing him because he's always busy.

So she basically "buys" her own son for the evening.

Which actually could have been pretty funny.

But again, the problem is execution.

If that's the joke, then let Athena make the joke.

Have her look around the room.

See all these girls bidding on Harry.

Turn to May and say something like:

"Nope. Absolutely not. I never see this kid anymore. I'm taking him home myself." 😂

Just one line.

One throwaway joke.

Something.

Anything.

Instead, because so much was cut, a lot of these moments simply don't land.

And that's really the core issue here.

The more Tim explains these scenes, the more I understand what they were supposed to be.

And that's not actually a compliment.

Because if I need a post-season interview to understand why scenes happened the way they did, then the storytelling itself failed somewhere along the way.

The audience shouldn't need supplementary materials to make basic character motivations clear.

Those things should already be present in the episode.

That's what storytelling is supposed to do.

And that's why this interview is honestly frustrating me more than helping me. 😭

Because so many moments that felt random while watching suddenly make sense once he explains them.

But that's exactly the problem.

They only make sense after he explains them.

For nine seasons, we never needed this level of clarification.

The show generally communicated its ideas clearly enough on its own.

Now it feels like we're constantly being told:

"Oh, well, there was a reason for that."

"Oh, well, there was a deleted scene."

"Oh, well, there was another explanation."

"Oh, well, this happened off-screen."

Okay...

But we didn't see any of that.

And if we didn't see it, then for the audience it effectively doesn't exist.

At least not in the way it should.

Honestly, the more I read this interview, the more I feel like the answers are creating bigger problems than the questions ever did. 😅

And that's probably not the reaction an interview is supposed to leave me with.

"The firefighter auction" - PART 1

Bringing up Abigail, a lot of fans felt like there was a connection between Abigail and Eddie with their faith, but also feeling repressed. Did you make that connection? Is that why you paired them for a storyline? Was there anything there in terms of why you thought Abigail would latch onto Eddie and why he would feel so protective and want to help her? Well, I mean, I brought her back specifically to service Eddie’s character, yes. Also, I don’t know; I just thought there was something kind of dangerous about it. We said she turned 18, but I just thought there was something kind of great and Lolita-ish about this young girl with raging hormones, who fixates on him. I mean, if you picked up that I was kind of going for a little sexual uncomfortability, then you would be correct.

We did get a new couple this year: May and Ravi, which fans really did want to see. What has it been like to see that relationship form, especially with the finale? I really love that May asked Ravi to go with her and how he was there to support and protect May throughout the whole thing. How did you go about finding that dynamic? Did you have any conversations with the actors? I did let them know. When we were breaking the auction stuff, which I just cursed myself for, that was another episode that was like 25 minutes over, and the auction went on for forever. It was also intercut with Hen on the road with Karen. It’s not intercut like that now. That’s not what you saw. But what it was originally was they’re on their way to the auction. I put in some loop lines to kind of fix the timeline, but they’re on their way to the auction.

***

So here we arrive at the section where Tim touches on what were, at least for me, some of the most delicate, contradictory, and problematic aspects of the season. 🤔

Starting with Abigail, I actually understand what he was trying to do.

I can see where he's coming from when he says he wanted to create something with a bit of a Lolita atmosphere.

Now, I've read Lolita, and it's actually one of my favorite novels—not because I enjoy what happens in it, but because it's an extraordinary study of a deeply disturbing and morally corrupt mindset.

Nabokov does something remarkable in that book.

You're supposed to feel uncomfortable.

You're supposed to feel disturbed.

And if you read Lolita and come away thinking the relationship is romantic or beautiful, then you've completely missed the point. 😬

So if Tim's goal was to create discomfort, then yes, I think he succeeded.

The difference, thankfully, is that Eddie is not Humbert Humbert.

This isn't a story about an adult man giving in to a teenager's obsession.

It's about a young girl becoming fixated on an adult man who, thankfully, never reciprocates any of it.

But the discomfort is still there.

She's very young.

He's considerably older.

Not nearly to the extent of Lolita, thankfully, but enough that the entire situation feels awkward, unsettling, and honestly pretty cringe at times. 😅

What made the storyline work, in my opinion, was something we all noticed immediately:

The actress was fantastic.

Especially considering she wasn't even a professional actress.

She sold every second of Abigail's fixation.

And perhaps more importantly, she finally gave Eddie something to do.

Because if I'm being honest, Eddie felt strangely sidelined this season.

He had incredible highs.

Día de los Muertos was phenomenal.

That's one of the few episodes where I genuinely felt his character moved forward.

Where something changed.

Where we learned something new.

Where his grief, his faith, and his connection to Bobby were explored in a meaningful way. ❤️

But outside of those moments?

There were entire stretches where Eddie was simply... there.

Present.

Participating.

Doing things.

But not really evolving.

Not really moving toward anything.

And that's why I think they should have pushed the Abigail storyline much further.

Instead, what happens?

We spend all this time building tension around her obsession, only to reveal that yes, she was obsessed—but no, she wasn't dangerous.

No, she wasn't truly a stalker.

No, she wasn't escalating toward something genuinely threatening.

Ultimately, the real threat was her father.

And this is where I think one of Tim's biggest recurring problems this season appears.

I honestly believe that every time he sat down to write, he was thinking:

"I don't want to do the cliché."

Which sounds great in theory.

For example:

With Mother's Boy: "I don't want to do the damsel-in-distress cliché."

With Buck's addiction: "I don't want to do the cliché where he hides it until everyone finds out."

With Abigail: "I don't want to do the cliché where the obsessed girl becomes a dangerous stalker."

Okay.

That's fair.

Avoiding clichés is generally a good thing.

But here's the problem:

If you're going to reject the cliché, you have to replace it with something equally compelling.

You can't simply avoid the expected outcome and then resolve everything in the easiest possible way.

Because that's what happened repeatedly this season.

The resolutions often felt rushed.

Simplified.

Almost afraid of their own dramatic potential.

It's like the show kept setting up fascinating possibilities and then immediately backing away from them. 🤷‍♀️

And then we get to the Bachelor Charity Auction storyline...

And honestly?

This part made me laugh. 😂

Because the interviewer asks Tim a pretty substantial question about May and Ravi.

A long question.

A detailed question.

The kind of question that basically says:

"Wow, you've finally created this new couple that so many fans wanted to see. What was it like building that relationship?"

And Tim's response is basically:

"Yeah, we told the actors about it."

And then he immediately starts talking about something else.

Hen.

Karen.

Episode length.

Production details.

Anything except May and Ravi.

Seriously.

It's like someone asks:

"Do you like the color blue?"

And you answer:

"Yeah, the sky is blue. Anyway, speaking of the ducks..." 😂

That's genuinely what it felt like.

The interviewer is clearly trying to discuss May and Ravi.

Tim acknowledges their existence for approximately five seconds and then completely pivots to an entirely different topic.

And honestly?

That stood out to me.

Because when creators are excited about a storyline, they usually talk about it.

They elaborate.

They explain.

They discuss the characters' chemistry.

Their development.

Their future.

Something.

Anything.

Here, though, the response felt incredibly brief and strangely detached.

Almost as if the relationship itself wasn't what interested him.

Which reinforces a criticism I've had all season:

May and Ravi feel less like a fully developed romance and more like a piece of fan service.

And that's unfortunate.

Because I actually think there was potential there.

There were interesting possibilities.

But potential requires investment.

It requires time.

It requires development.

And I just don't see evidence that the show has truly committed to doing that work.

At least not yet.

What frustrates me is that sometimes fandom discussions become so focused on one thing—usually Buddie—that everything else gets ignored.

And meanwhile there are genuine structural issues happening elsewhere in the show.

Storylines being rushed.

Characters being sidelined.

Relationships being introduced without enough development.

Narrative arcs that start strong and end abruptly.

Those things matter too.

And honestly, the way Tim answered that question only reinforced my suspicion that May and Ravi were introduced primarily because fans wanted them, rather than because the writers had a strong story they were passionate about telling.

Maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe Season 10 will prove me wrong.

I'd love that.

But based solely on this interview?

It genuinely felt like one of the clearest examples of fan service in the entire season.

So, just like I did with the previous sections, I'm not going to repost everything Tim says here. The three sections I'm talking about are "Putting Grief Front and Center", "Halloween Fun", and "Tales of a Giant Pumpkin". 🎃

The interview is incredibly long, so I'm only focusing on the parts that stood out to me.

What I found fascinating about this portion, though, is that Tim spends a huge amount of time talking about Halloween episodes. Honestly, I was shocked by how much of the interview was dedicated to them. 😅

We're talking about almost half the interview revolving around that subject alone.

And I think that's interesting because it highlights something we often forget as viewers.

We're usually focused on the personal storylines.

The relationships.

The character arcs.

The ships.

The emotional moments.

The things we're personally invested in.

But sometimes the things that are most difficult for the writers and producers are the exact things we barely think about.

Like Halloween episodes.

To me, they've always felt like those themed episodes that show up, have some fun, and then disappear. 👻

Apparently, though, they're often the episodes that cause the biggest headaches behind the scenes.

Tim makes it pretty clear that he's historically been somewhat dissatisfied with many of the Halloween episodes they've done.

And honestly?

I kind of understand why.

The challenge is that 9-1-1 isn't a supernatural show.

You can't fully commit to ghosts, demons, curses, or magic because that's simply not the genre.

Sure, we've seen things like Bobby appearing to Athena after his death, but that can easily be interpreted as Athena's grief and imagination rather than literal supernatural activity.

This isn't Ghost Whisperer.

This isn't School Spirits.

So you constantly have to walk a very delicate line.

And I actually think this year they finally found the right balance.

Because Día de los Muertos ended up being my favorite episode of the season—not just among the holiday-themed episodes, but honestly one of my favorite episodes overall. ❤️

Part of that might come from my European perspective.

Halloween has become popular here, but it isn't truly ours.

It's something we've adopted.

It's not deeply rooted in our culture the way it is in the United States.

So perhaps that's why Día de los Muertos resonated with me much more strongly.

In Italy, we also have All Souls' Day.

We remember the dead.

The difference is that we approach it in a much more solemn way.

One of the reasons I admire Mexican culture so much is because I love how Día de los Muertos honors the dead with joy, remembrance, celebration, and love.

In much of Europe, death is still approached with a heavier sense of mourning.

For example, on All Souls' Day, people traditionally visit cemeteries, bring chrysanthemums, and spend time honoring their loved ones who have passed away.

The following day is All Saints' Day, which is also a national holiday for us, with schools and many workplaces closed.

So growing up with that cultural perspective probably explains why Día de los Muertos spoke to me so deeply.

Because, at its core, it wasn't really about Halloween.

It was about faith.

It was about remembrance.

It was about grief.

And most importantly, it gave Eddie something he desperately needed.

Because Eddie wasn't there when Bobby died.

He never truly got his space to process that loss.

This episode finally gave him that space.

And honestly, Tim is absolutely right when he talks about that.

I think they did an exceptional job.

It also highlighted something else I really appreciated: the references.

Tim makes a great point when he says that one of the best ways to make a Halloween episode fun is through homage and references.

We had The Blob.

We had The Birds.

We had The Exorcist.

And every year they seem to find clever ways to weave those influences into the story.

I think that works really well.

That said, I do think there's another avenue they could explore more often.

Ambiguity.

The things left unsaid.

The question of whether something is truly supernatural or not.

One of the best examples of this isn't even a Halloween episode.

It's Jinx.

That episode never fully answers whether everything happening is genuinely bad luck or simply an extraordinary chain of coincidences.

And because it never gives a definitive answer, both the audience and the characters remain suspended in that uncertainty.

Everyone gets to interpret it differently.

That's what makes it fun.

Similarly, with Abigail's story, the audience initially thinks they might be dealing with an exorcism.

Then it turns out to be tetanus.

Or does it? 😏

That balance between rational explanations and lingering uncertainty is where 9-1-1 shines.

I think that's why those stories work so well.

The only thing I would have done differently—and I'll talk about this more in my Season 9 retrospective—is that I would have continued Abigail's storyline beyond the Halloween episode.

Because once you invoke The Exorcist, once you create all that atmosphere and mystery, it feels strange to simply let it end there.

Personally, I would have expanded that storyline.

And since we're talking about inspirations, I probably would have leaned into something closer to Orphan.

I think Abigail could have supported a much longer and more interesting arc.

Especially because the actress was phenomenal.

And apparently she's not even an established actress yet, which completely surprised me.

She was incredible. 👏

Honestly, out of all the guest performers we've seen recently, she impressed me the most.

And Tim clearly has a good eye for spotting talent.

He mentions Amy Adams appearing in Angel before she became famous.

Emma Stone had similar beginnings.

So perhaps he really does have a talent for recognizing future stars.

Because this actress absolutely stood out.

In fact, I think her performance was so strong that they could have gotten much more out of that character.

She's one of those villains—or maybe not quite villains—who leaves you wanting more.

And speaking of ambiguity, I actually found myself thinking about something I did in my own writing.

Yes, this is me shamelessly referencing myself. 😂

But it's interesting because I wrote it long before reading this interview.

In my current fanfiction, Unscheduled, there's a chapter called La Notte delle Masche ("The Night of the Witches"), and it plays with this exact same concept.

Throughout the night, the characters respond to several seemingly unrelated emergencies.

A fire.

A car accident.

A young woman attacked in an alley.

Nothing supernatural.

Nothing impossible.

And yet every woman they encounter behaves strangely.

They speak in riddles.

They read tarot cards.

They seem to know things they shouldn't know.

The final woman reveals three tarot cards—one for Buck, one for Eddie, and one for Hen.

At the time, her predictions seem cryptic and meaningless.

But many chapters later, those predictions actually come true.

The audience just doesn't realize it immediately because the clues are so vague.

Then suddenly an event happens and both the reader and the characters think:

"Wait a second..."

"I've heard this before."

That's the kind of ambiguity I love.

The same thing happens with the witches inspired by Agatha All Along.

They're not actually performing magic.

They're not casting spells.

They're simply strange enough that neither the characters nor the audience can decide whether they're genuine, delusional, fanatical, or something else entirely.

And I think that's where these themed episodes work best.

Right in that gray area.

The place where nobody knows for sure what's real.

Ultimately, I agree with Tim.

The episodes that should theoretically be the easiest and most fun are often the hardest to pull off.

Especially in a show like 9-1-1.

Because you always have to maintain balance.

You can't fully embrace fantasy.

You can't fully embrace horror.

You can't become Angel.

You can't become Dollhouse.

You have to remain grounded while still capturing the feeling of those genres.

And honestly, after hearing him talk about it, I think I have a greater appreciation for how difficult that really is.

Maybe as viewers we don't need to apologize. 😂

But I can certainly say it for myself:

Sometimes we don't realize how much work goes into creating the episodes we treat as simple little seasonal detours.

And when you look behind the curtain, there's actually an enormous amount of thought, planning, and effort involved.

🌙 SAILOR MOON REIMAGINED: when mythology, cosmic empires, and magical girls collide - PART 4

✧ MOON GALACTIC EMPIRE: THE MARQUISATES ✧

The Marquisates represent the borderlands of the Moon Galactic Empire. Stretching beyond the safest routes and the territories protected by the Inner Senshi, they are guarded by the Outer Senshi, warriors born to defend the Empire from external threats. If the Inner Senshi protect from within, the Outer Senshi stand as living walls against whatever arrives from the unknown. By their very nature, the Marquisates exist under harsher conditions and enjoy greater autonomy and freedom compared to the heart of the Empire.

Part I – Uranus

Ruled by Mnemosine and her daughter Skye, Sailor Uranus, the Marquisate of Uranus is an exclusively female nation. Every spring, the women of Uranus secretly travel to Neptune to mate with the Gargareans, a ritual that takes place in complete darkness. Female children are raised on Uranus, while male children are returned to their place of origin.

Uranus is an industrial superpower, a steampunk world where steam-powered machinery merges with retro-futuristic computer technology. Its inhabitants wear studded corsets, gas masks, and welding goggles. Though the planet appears anarchic and free, it is ruled by a strict code of honor founded on obedience and self-perfection.

Skye manipulates the winds and can transform herself into sand, controlling every grain of her own body. The talisman of Uranus is a sword capable of cutting through nearly anything and unleashing powerful energy attacks.

Part II – Neptune

Dominated by an ancient matriarchy, Neptune is the homeland of the Sirens, a bloodline that multiplies in great numbers. Every female daughter inherits mystical powers, while males are relegated to marginal roles. Sirens are obligated to choose strong partners in order to bear children, regardless of love. Female homosexuality is punished by death.

The planet is home to countless magical creatures and is divided into city-states locked in perpetual war against one another. There is no unified army. Among the sacred figures are the Hydra (wisdom), the Leviathan (prophet), and the Kraken (educator of the Oceanines).

The Marquises Oceanus and Tethys, parents of Calypso, Sailor Neptune, are close allies of the Empire. Calypso possesses the power to manipulate salt water, boil liquids — including blood — and enchant men with her singing voice. Her secret love affair with Skye defies the laws of her people. The talisman of Neptune’s warriors is a mirror capable of reflecting truth, the future, and identity itself.

Part III – Saturn

One of the richest and most technologically advanced planets, Saturn is organized into four castes: Sages, Scientists, Travelers, and Soldiers. Membership within a caste is hereditary and reflects the purity of the soul in previous lives. Achieving nirvana means breaking the cycle of reincarnation.

Rhea, raised as an orphan within the lowest caste, was chosen by the Galaxy Cauldron to become the Warrior of Death and Rebirth. She possesses destructive powers capable of annihilating entire star systems, but using them results in her own death, followed by rebirth.

Her weapon, the Silence Glaive, is tied to her ultimate attack, “Death Reborn Revolution.” She can also defend others through the “Silence Wall” and heal with a simple touch.

Part IV – Pluto

Pluto is divided into two kingdoms: the Above Ground, ruled by Marquis Jason and Marchioness Demeter alongside their children Pluto and Persephone, and the Under Ground, the anarchic realm of Hades. A prophecy foretold that the twin daughter of the Marquises would unite the two kingdoms. When Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, the seasons were born: autumn and winter mark her absence, while spring and summer mark her return.

Pluto, consumed by grief, fled to Earth, where he founded Troy and became a symbol of prosperity. Persephone became both a Sailor Senshi and Queen of the Underworld, uniting the realm of the dead with that of the living while still maintaining loving bonds with her family from the Above Ground.

“Mother’s Boy”

Can you tell me about filming that sequence with Eddie and Buck saving each other towards the end, and the significance of that overall? Well, shooting it, Jonathan Lawrence directed it, and did a fantastic job. He’s a guy that I grew up with, making Super 8 films with from the time we were about eight or ten. He’s now directed two episodes of the show. In terms of when I was writing it, I mean, this is what I generally try to do: I generally try not to have anyone be a damsel in distress.

Whether it’s Maddie or whoever it is, needs to aid in their own rescue. So once I sort of landed on the idea that Buck is willing to say, sacrifice himself, and “I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt him, just let him go,” they’re both kind of looking out for each other. But yeah, I try not to make those moments too complicated. First of all, you’re going to run out of time. It’s not going to be good. So you have to choreograph that very specifically on the page and really understand that there’s a couple of big moments here.

One is that she’s going to pull the gun on Eddie. Eddie’s going to disarm her. But then, the ex-husband is going to appear with a rifle, like a sniper across the way. I just made very sure to at least see the cattle prod once in the greenhouse. I think he takes it away and puts it down or something, but you remember that cattle prod, so that Buck can zap the guy with it. It was also important to me that I didn’t see Buck get out of his restraints, crawl up the hill, or something. That’s also a bit of a gamble, because people might feel like that’s a cheat, but I don’t think it plays that way at all.

When we pick back up, Buck insists that he’s fine, and Eddie’s trying to check in, see what’s going on, and make sure he’s going to therapy. Obviously, that leads us into the dependency storyline, but do you think they had a conversation about their different experiences in terms of what Buck went through and all that Eddie did to find him? They probably did, I would think. There was definitely, I don’t know what I say, like a three-or four-week time jump, so they probably did. On the other hand, they’re men, so maybe not.

***

So, I skipped the Missing Scene section because, honestly, I didn't find anything in Tim Minear's answers that made me want to comment either positively or negatively. 😅

I read it, thought "okay, fair enough," and moved on. Sometimes there simply isn't much to say.

Now, however, we arrive at what we all know is Tim's favorite episode—the one he personally handled himself. 👀

And honestly? I thought he'd have more to say about it.

Most of what he talks about are technical details, which I actually find really interesting. As someone who writes, I completely understand what he's talking about. I'm not comparing myself to him, obviously 😂, but because I'm just as obsessive about details in my own writing, I understand what it means to carefully place every piece in exactly the right position so that everything makes sense later on.

For example, when he explains having to make sure the stun baton was shown in her hand, then having her bring it into the greenhouse, then abandon it there, so that when Buck later uses it, the audience subconsciously remembers where it came from.

I get it.

I really do.

Because I do the exact same thing when I write. 😭

I make charts. I make timelines. I make notes. I constantly worry someone will read something and go, "Wait... where did that come from?"

So I try to make sure everything follows a logical sequence.

The funny thing is that when I'm the audience instead of the writer, I almost never notice those details because I'm too busy being emotionally invested in the scene itself. 😂

So part of me reads Tim explaining all of this and thinks:

"Wow, this poor man spent hours making sure everything was perfectly coherent..."

...and then I probably didn't even notice half of it.

Which honestly makes me feel guilty. 😅

So for this part I kind of just want to give him a hug and say:

"I understand exactly what you mean, and I'm sorry I probably missed all the hard work that went into making it feel seamless." ❤️

That said...

This brings me to something that's been driving me a little crazy lately—not just in 9-1-1, but in television in general.

Time.

The handling of time.

I struggle with it too in my own fanfiction.

I've been writing this giant 9-1-1 story for years now, covering almost three years of in-universe events, and it's difficult because I'm always worried that if I make a time jump without properly explaining it, readers will lose track of where the characters are emotionally.

In writing, it's easier.

You can simply write:

"Three weeks later."

"Six months later."

"A year passed."

Books give you tools to make those transitions clear.

Television doesn't really have that luxury.

Or at least not in the same way.

So this isn't really a criticism—it's more of a question.

Could there have been a better way to communicate it?

Because Tim says that between Mother's Boy and the next episode, around three or four weeks pass.

Almost a month.

And when I hear that, my immediate reaction is:

Wait.

So Buck spent an entire month dealing with the aftermath of being kidnapped...

...and we didn't see any of it? 😳

Tim even speculates that maybe Buck talked to Eddie about it during that time.

And that's exactly my problem.

Maybe he did.

But we didn't see it.

And I honestly think that's a missed opportunity.

Not just with Eddie.

With anyone.

I would have loved to see Buck processing what happened while the wounds were still fresh.

Did he have nightmares?

Did he struggle to sleep?

Did he keep replaying those moments in his head?

Did he feel angry?

Scared?

Ashamed?

How did he actually deal with it?

Because this circles back to what Tim said earlier about wanting to stop Buck's addiction before it escalated.

Okay.

That's fine.

I understand that creative choice.

But once again we're left with the same issue:

The aftermath is missing.

And the aftermath is often the most interesting part.

Tim isn't saying there were no consequences.

In fact, he seems to imply the exact opposite.

He seems to be saying those consequences existed.

That Buck and probably Eddie dealt with them.

That conversations happened.

That healing happened.

That emotional processing happened.

It just happened off-screen.

And that's where I struggle.

Because if the audience never sees those moments, then for all practical purposes they don't exist as part of the story.

A story isn't just the traumatic event and the resolution.

The story is everything in between.

The trauma.

The angst.

The recovery.

The conversations.

The vulnerability.

Those are the things that make us emotionally connect to the characters.

If you remove all of that and only show me the beginning and the end, you've removed half the story.

That's why so many people—including me—have described these storylines as rushed.

Because Tim now tells us:

"No, no, things happened in between."

Okay.

I believe you.

But if you don't show them to us, the final result still feels rushed.

It's a bit of a snake eating its own tail. 🐍

The audience says the story feels incomplete.

The response is that important developments happened off-screen.

But that's exactly why it feels incomplete.

Because we never got to experience those developments ourselves.

And honestly, that's what surprises me most.

Tim Minear isn't a rookie.

He's not inexperienced.

I've followed his work for years.

I watched his work on Angel, Dollhouse and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

He's an incredibly talented writer.

Which is exactly why some of these omissions surprise me.

Because the material he decided to leave off-screen could have generated entire episodes.

Entire character arcs.

Entire emotional journeys.

Buck's development would have carried so much more weight if we'd actually been allowed to watch him work through it.

And am I really the only one who wanted to see Buck and Eddie talk about this? 😭

Not necessarily romantically.

Just talk.

Help each other.

Support each other.

Have one of those quiet, intimate conversations built on trust and history.

The other day I rewatched the scene where Buck talks to Eddie about his panic attacks.

The scene where Eddie eventually realizes Ana might be the source of the problem.

Buck tells him:

"I thought you loved her."

And then Eddie starts trying to convince himself that Ana is good for him because she checks all the boxes.

And Buck immediately recognizes what he's doing.

Because Buck knows exactly what it's like to love someone more than they love you back.

That conversation was beautiful.

Not because it was romantic.

Because it was honest.

Because it was vulnerable.

Because it revealed something about both characters.

Those are the kinds of scenes I wish we'd gotten during those missing weeks.

Those are the conversations Ryan Murphy used to give us all the time.

And what's confusing to me is that Tim often talks about loving these characters—and especially loving Buck and Eddie's relationship—yet sometimes he seems less interested in writing those deeply emotional conversations than Ryan ever was.

Which leaves me genuinely confused. 😅

9-1-1 explores the high-pressure experiences of police officers, firefighters, and dispatchers, drawing from the real lives of first responders and the situations that they regularly face. Before the procedural drama returns for its tenth season, I spoke with co-creator, executive producer, writer, and showrunner Tim Minear about the season 9 finale, deleted scenes, “Mother’s Boy,” the holiday episodes, character dynamics, and much more.

What made you decide to lean more into the brotherly dynamic between Buck and Harry this season? I’ve really enjoyed their one-on-ones throughout and even having them paired in the finale. Part of it was it just makes sense. The more tortured answer would be, I wanted the characters to evidence a little piece of Bobby for each of them. And so for Buck, obviously, it’s Buck kind of stepping into that mentor role for Harry; he’s giving back what he was given. That’s why.

Even though Chimney now has this season of being a captain under his belt, are there any other obstacles, possibly parallels to Bobby, that you want him to face going forward? I don’t know yet. I mean, he’ll always be comparing himself. But I don’t want the show to kind of turn into a constant meditation on that particular loss. I felt like this season needed to be, for sure. But the capstone for me was the Buck rehab episode.

That was a beautiful episode. I mean, that may have been sort of the culmination of it, and I just wanted to make sure that the last couple of episodes weren’t just rehashing Bobby.

Yeah, I really liked that he went to Chimney and was actually seeking help rather than having it get to a place where he couldn’t backtrack, or someone caught him doing it. I avoid reading social media. I used to do that, and it was not good. But I know that there’s been some criticism that, oh, that just was so slapdash, it happened so quickly. Well, that was the whole idea for me because it’s so easy to get hooked on to something like that, which we say in the episodes, but I wanted to tell the story of somebody who nipped it in the bud.

***

So, Tim Minear's interview finally came out—the one I'd been waiting for with a lot of anticipation. 😅

I've been pretty critical of him lately, and honestly, I think that's because he made a lot of mistakes this season. My full retrospective article on Season 9 still isn't out yet, where I'll go into detail about everything I think went wrong, but while I'm waiting to publish that, I wanted to comment on this interview.

Will anyone care? Probably not. 😂

Am I doing it anyway? Absolutely.

Since I have a lot to say, I won't repost the entire interview. Instead, I'll take it piece by piece, posting his answers and then adding my thoughts underneath.

Starting with what he said about Buck and Harry, I actually agree with him on that point.

I do think he created a sort of brotherly relationship between them by building on the fact that Bobby was, in different ways, both a father figure and a mentor to each of them. Bobby entered Buck's life first, obviously, since Athena and Bobby got together later, so in a way it almost feels like Buck is the older brother and Harry is the younger one. 💙

I really like that dynamic.

Bobby becomes the bridge connecting two people who, in their own way, can almost be considered brothers.

What I hope for in the future is that this relationship gets explored even more, because I'm going to be honest: I really love the idea of Buck as a big brother figure.

We've never really seen that side of him before. He's always been Maddie's younger brother, and he's rarely been in a position where he had to mentor someone else. So this is a dynamic that genuinely excited me, and honestly, I wish we'd gotten even more of it. Hopefully Season 10 will continue developing that.

As for Bobby's death and moving forward from it, I have mixed feelings.

On one hand, I understand what Tim is saying. If Season 9 was focused on Bobby's loss and everyone processing their grief, then eventually you do have to move on. You can't mention Bobby in every single episode forever because it would become repetitive.

On that point, I actually agree with him.

Season 9 was right to keep Bobby's presence alive even after his death and show how deeply he impacted everyone around him.

Where I disagree is regarding Chimney.

And honestly, I already talked about this in my retrospective.

Because to me, that's a completely different issue.

Whether Bobby had died or simply retired, Chimney is still stepping into his position.

And from personal experience—I can say this because my dad was both a firefighter and a captain—I know firsthand that when leadership changes, teams don't magically adapt overnight.

The adjustment period is difficult for everyone.

It's difficult for the person stepping into the role.

It's difficult for the people who now have to relate to that person differently.

Being friends and coworkers is one thing.

Being the captain is something else entirely.

That's why I would have loved to see more of that transition—not just emotionally, but professionally.

Interestingly, the show spent more time exploring Maddie's leadership role at Dispatch, even though we still don't know if that's permanent or temporary.

Meanwhile Chimney officially took over Bobby's position, and yet we barely explored what that meant.

To me, that feels backwards.

I think there was definitely more story to tell there.

Now, this next part is where I feel personally called out. 😂

Tim mentioned that a lot of people criticized how he handled Buck's addiction storyline.

He even said he avoids reading social media because he knows people felt the arc was rushed and resolved too easily.

Well... I'm one of those people. 😅

And honestly, I don't find his explanation convincing.

I understand what he was trying to do.

He wanted to show Buck recognizing the problem early, asking for help himself, and stopping things before they spiraled completely out of control.

That's actually a really good idea.

In fact, even though I personally would have preferred a longer storyline, I can absolutely appreciate wanting to avoid the cliché of someone hiding their addiction for months until everyone eventually discovers it.

Having Buck self-report demonstrates growth.

It shows maturity.

It shows accountability.

That's great.

The problem isn't that decision.

The problem is everything that came after it.

Because asking for help and recovering are two completely different things.

One is the beginning of the journey.

The other is the journey itself.

And that's the part I feel the show skipped over.

In 9-1-1: Lone Star, Tim himself handled TK's addiction storyline, and he spent significantly more time exploring it.

He showed that recovery is complicated.

Messy.

Emotional.

Psychological.

Something that takes time.

Meanwhile, Buck's story ended up feeling like:

"I took too many painkillers."

"Okay, stop taking them."

"Problem solved."

And that's not what the story initially seemed to be about.

The way it was presented made it look like Buck was dealing with the psychological aftermath of the kidnapping and everything that happened to him.

But in the end, that aspect was barely explored.

So yes, I agree that Buck admitting he needed help was a fantastic choice.

But after he asked for help, I wanted to see the emotional journey.

I wanted to understand the trauma underneath it.

What was he trying to numb?

What was he afraid of?

What was he avoiding?

How was the kidnapping still affecting him?

How could the people around him help him heal?

Instead, the storyline was reduced almost entirely to:

"I took too many painkillers."

"I need help stopping."

And that's where, for me, it lost so much of its emotional potential.

The issue was never the premise.

The premise was actually excellent.

The issue was everything behind it that never got the time, depth, and psychological exploration it deserved.

And I think that's the criticism many viewers are trying to express.

Not that the idea was wrong.

But that there was so much more inside that story than what ultimately made it onto the screen. 💙

Well, personally I used AI simply to create images that visually summarize something I fully wrote myself 🥹✨ Because all the actual text you’re reading was completely written by me.

It’s basically the condensed version of a roleplay story I created and played for years with some of my friends — and honestly, not just for a short time either 😭💙

The roleplay was called Moonlight's Creed, and if I remember correctly, we played it from around 2018 to 2021, so it lasted for several years.

At its core, it was heavily inspired by ✨Sailor Moon✨ but mixed together with mythology, fantasy lore, and our own original worldbuilding.

What I eventually did was simply take all the worldbuilding, character histories, mythology, relationships, timelines, and lore we had created during those years of roleplay and turn them into written summaries to share online because honestly? The concept had become so beautiful and emotionally layered that I thought it would be really nice to share it with Tumblr and with other Sailor Moon fans 🥹🌙✨

The ONLY thing I created with AI were the images — things like visual family trees, symbolic illustrations, aesthetic summaries, that sort of thing.

And personally? I really don’t see anything wrong with that 🤷🏻‍♀️💙

I’m not one of those people who automatically hates AI no matter what. I dislike it when it replaces human creativity, imagination, or actual artistic effort. THAT is what bothers me.

But in this case, the creativity, the writing, the lore, the emotional depth, the characters, the storytelling… all of that came from me and my friends over years of roleplay. AI simply helped turn some of those ideas into visual references.

So to me, it’s no different than using a tool to visually support something deeply human that already existed ✨