he asked me to cover him

So, I thought about different ways I might’ve set up a third movie while changing as little as possible about the second, and this is one of them! It might be a little all over the place, but hear me out!

Alternate ending to TBP2-

(inspired by:

1: Finn asking the Grabber what he wanted and the Grabber responding “what I have always wanted with you,”

2: the Grabber’s line about having every right to defend himself when someone is trying to take away his power,

3: everyone kinda just… leaving Finn on his own to deal with the Grabber trying to choke him to death (like honestly wtf?? Playing to win is one thing, but fuckin’ hell),

and 4: my own personal desire to have the Grabber’s attention be on Finn more consistently than it was in the movie lmao. I love Gwen but after the scene where the Grabber showed her Hope’s death, the movie’s conflict felt more Gwen vs the Grabber rather than Finn vs the Grabber with Gwen caught in the middle, which felt much less… well. It felt like so much less, because Gwen hated the Grabber for hurting Finn and killing her mom, but the Grabber was largely ambivalent towards her outside of her potential as a way to hurt Finn and then as the most direct threat to his continued ability to hurt Finn. If the movie had leaned on that a bit more - Gwen as an obstacle rather than the goal, I love you murderously dangerously protective Gwendolyn Blake - then I think it would’ve felt less haphazard and underwhelming. It was a great movie, but there were parts in it that felt inconsistent to the characters as previously established. Or just inconsistent period lol)

-where, instead of switching things up and trying to kill Finn before killing Gwen, the Grabber takes Finn while everyone’s distracted by trying to get the dead kids out of the lake.

The Grabber can interact pretty strongly with the physical world, so what’s stopping him from knocking Finn out cold and dragging him somewhere else - an abandoned cabin, maybe - while figuring out a new plan of action? He can’t just kill his Finney, of course; he needs the boy to suffer first, and he needs to kill the pesky sister while Finney’s still alive to care.

If the dead Grabber’s power comes from the fear of his lost victims, then taking Finn makes sure that the rest of the Camp Alpine Crew can’t steal his power even if they dredge up the dead kids, and Finn - as a living victim and a cursed/gifted/psychic kid - might be an even stronger source. The Grabber retains his power, continues to torment Finn, and keeps fucking with anyone trying to find them.

Finn wakes up with a concussion in the middle of nowhere with the invisible source of his trauma as his only company. The Grabber can still only talk to him through phones and the like (not sure how the whole scene where Mando was talking to the Grabber over the radio worked, but at least we know that phones aren’t the only option lol), so if Finn doesn’t pick up, then the Grabber can’t speak to him, but he can still punish Finn for being naughty and ignoring him. Finn starts picking up after the first few beatings, because he might hate listening to the Grabber talk, but he doesn’t have a chance in hell to escape if the Grabber goes too far and breaks his leg or gives him another concussion. Escaping is hard enough as it is when he can’t see the Grabber, can’t tell when he is or isn’t being watched, and harder still when he doesn’t know where the fuck he is and can’t take the chance of going the wrong way in the freezing cold. He’s torn between hoping that the others will find him and knowing that he had to save himself at thirteen and that no one came to help him on the lake.

Gwen gets all of the dead kids’ bodies to the surface only to find both Finn and the Grabber gone, and suddenly she couldn’t care less about the boys being found or her dreams not being just dreams or how frustrating it’s been to try and get Finn to listen to her, because the worst part of her life just came back for round two and she knows now that her dreams didn’t help her find Finney or defeat the Grabber - they help her put dead kids to rest, and she’s torn between wishing that she could dream about Finn and being terrified that she’ll see him one night because the Grabber finally killed him.

The Grabber also still has his sights set on Gwen, naturally, but she’s his plan’s biggest hindrance: he needs to kill her in front of Finney, but she’s aware in her dreams now, so he can’t influence her like he did before. He has to be more crafty about it, figure out ways to set traps, to lure and manipulate. He still appears to Gwen in her dreams every now and then, and Gwen is relieved by the knowledge that the Grabber is there with her, in an environment where she has power and can fight back, instead of with Finn in the real world. Finn, on the other hand, is doing as much as he can to keep the Grabber from visiting Gwen, because he doesn’t know if the Grabber wants him to witness Gwen’s death or if he just wants him to know that Gwen died and that it was his fault. The Grabber is not forthcoming, because he’s an awful horrible person who loves watching Finney in distress.

Ernesto calls his family to let them know that he’s staying with Gwen because Finn’s missing again and she’s losing her mind over it. The Arellanos are very concerned for Finn and Gwen both, and Mrs. Arellano assures Ernesto that she’ll pray for them.

At first, Finn can’t see the Grabber, but the Grabber can still touch him. He’ll feel the Grabber brush his hair off of his forehead or cup his cheek or ruffle his hair, and he thinks he hates those more than the beatings.

The Grabber finds a handheld two-way radio (ranger cabin?) and is delighted that he doesn’t have to wait for Finn to pick up in order to talk to him anymore.

When Finn first wakes up, he’s dazed from the concussion, and the Grabber is so endeared by the nostalgia of it all. Finn stumbles around the cabin, trying to figure out where he is and what’s going on, and when he tries to open the door, the Grabber holds it shut. Finn tries and tries to open it, desperate and frantic, but he wears out before the Grabber does and collapses against the door, sliding down it to rest on the floor. The Grabber goes to the cabin’s disconnected phone and gets to watch Finney’s face as he finally, sluggishly puts the pieces together while the phone rings.

The first time Finn picks the phone up when the Grabber calls, the Grabber says, “Now this is more like it, isn’t it, Finney? There’s nothing quite like going back to your roots.”

The Grabber doesn’t need to eat, but Finn does, and the Grabber doesn’t trust Finney not to try and run while he’s out getting food for him. At first, he solves this problem by locking Finney in a closet or something while he goes and sets traps for poor unsuspecting rabbits and the like, but after finding the radio, the Grabber starts bringing Finn with him - after all, he shouldn’t have to do all the work around here, or maybe he just likes the idea of having Finney outside but still completely under his thumb. One such time, they see or hear other people. Finn freezes, mind racing, calculating, but the Grabber warns him that if those people see him, he’ll kill them slowly and won’t bring Finney any food until Finn finishes eating their corpses, and Finn is forced to hide and listen to the people get further and further away until their voices fade out completely.

This part also comes with the delightful concept of the Grabber teaching Finn survival skills, similar to how he’d teach the kids as a camp counselor, and Finn absolutely hating every second of it but still needing the Grabber’s help to stay alive, and therefore promising himself that, given the opportunity, he will do his very best to use everything the Grabber taught him to fuck him over. [For some reason this bullet point cuts off if I don’t add more to it :/]

The rest of the Camp Alpine Crew is way better prepared for the Grabber after the events at Lake Maru, and they all work together to make plans about what to do when the Grabber visits. Maybe they try to come up with ways to set traps (because, I mean, we still don't know how the Grabber travels from place to place. He was in two places at once when he was talking to Finn and making his first attempt on Gwen's life, and he vanished into the shadows afterwards, so I'm going to assume that he doesn't have to walk around everywhere like a living person) or to pry information out of the Grabber. Maybe they try to brainstorm ways for Gwen to turn the tables on the Grabber in her dreams, ways for Gwen to invade his environment rather than the other way around like it’s always been - anything to save Finn and stop the Grabber, once and for all.

Maybe after a little while, Finn and the Grabber start learning more about their respective abilities through each other- (which is an interesting thought! That the Grabber is such a powerful spirit not just because of his victims fueling him, but because he’s psychic at some level, too, seeing as he could also hear the phone in the first movie. I wonder if Finn or Gwen would be able to siphon power from other people’s emotions like the Grabber does, or if they’d have to kill people - claim their souls? - like he does. If so, I wonder if Finn could use the Grabber as a power source the same way the Grabber would be using him in this AU 🤔 him figuring that out might be a good climax moment, like Gwen taking control and exploding the phone booth in her dream. Anyways, sorry for the millionth tangent lol, back to the matter at hand) -and the Grabber gradually starts being able to manifest himself visually to Finn like Griffin did, which Finn of course hates, but he also likes knowing where the Grabber is - and, more specifically, where the Grabber isn’t. Of course, the Grabber can choose to be invisible again, but maybe if Finn can convince him that seeing him is worse for Finn than not seeing him, then the Grabber will choose to stay visible and unknowingly give Finn a fighting chance. The Grabber is, after all, canonically arrogant and chronically underestimates his targets. I mean, sure, he’s currently at like 9:2, but… those two Blake siblings really fucked him up lmao.

Finn escapes the cabin once, while the Grabber is visiting Gwen or something, but he doesn’t find his way to camp or reach any kind of help before collapsing. The Grabber finds him and drags him back to the cabin, and even though he’s definitely going to punish Finney later, once they reach the cabin, the Grabber bundles Finney in blankets and watches him sleep for a while.

“I forgot how sweet you can be when you’re not fighting,” he murmured, brushing a stray lock of hair out of his little Finney’s pale, exhausted face. “My naughty, naughty boy.” [Wtf? Ig it’s just the sub-bullet points in general that do that. Sorry lol]

Lots of comments from the Grabber about how different Finn is. Finn gets punished a lot more often than Finney ever did, because Finney asked questions and pressed and fished for information, but Finn talks back and swears and snaps at the Grabber all the time, throws things and breaks things and lashes out, starts bubbling with that quiet fury any time the Grabber starts talking about the dead boys but goes absolutely ballistic if the Grabber brings up Gwen or Robin or Bruce. Finn is bigger now, harder to overpower, but that just makes it all the more satisfying for the Grabber when he comes out on top. Finn should be too old for him to enjoy like this, but there’s just something so intoxicating about it, so much history and the fucked-up intimacy that comes from victimizing another person. Finn started drifting away from everyone in his life after escaping the Grabber, but the Grabber will always know him in ways no one else can, and they both know it, no matter how deep in his denial Finn tries to bury himself.

I’m gonna talk about Bravetown for a minute. I watched this for the first time when I was having a really bad day, and it quickly became my go-to comfort movie. Lucas does such a good job, and as a victim of abuse myself, I was able to connect with his character Josh in a way that I don’t often do. and the rest of the cast was absolutely amazing! looking at the limited tumblr content for Bravetown, I saw a lot of praise for Josh Duhamel? the actor that plays Alex? I’ll have to check out some more of his work sometime.

I do have to say, though, that I wish they’d done things a bit differently. this isn’t really the kind of movie to get a sequel or a tv show, so there’s a lot of stuff that was left unexplored. I agree wholeheartedly with @teamimprov’s post about it as well (I would link it but I have no earthly clue how, so sorry) – Josh did kind of end up seeming like a side character in his own movie. it started being more about Mary and her family’s problems than about Josh, and while I was glad to see Mary find some closure, it felt like it came at the expense of Josh’s development. and at the expense of further angst, which is a crime that cannot be forgiven. I thrive on angst.

list of things I loved + things I wanted below the cut

1: it was weird how pushy Josh was about Mary's and Alex's issues. like, boy, you just got to town? you just met these people? curiosity is a bitch, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was grasping for problems to focus on other than his own, but geez louise.

2: I would've reacted way worse than Mary did if someone kept pressing me about my traumatic experiences and mental health, so I take back what I said about her being bitchy at least most of the way. I do still think that the way she acted towards Josh before he started prodding her was uncalled for, and I get where she was coming from with how she felt about her mom, but I think her treatment of Annie went too far sometimes. Everything else made sense though.

-does that?! you can see the shock and horror in his eyes, and that tear and the blood on his face, and the little sob he lets out when he first sees the bodies - it all seems so real, and it’s amazing that there are people who can do that.

i’ve watched wolves, obviously, and i’ve also seen crush, bravetown, the x-men movies, and i’ve kinda-sorta watched dark hearts and sins of our youth? those last two were very disquieting and i share my amazon prime account with my sister, my parents, and my grandma, so i didn’t really want them to know i was looking at them. dark hearts i want to actually watch - i wasn’t all that interested in sins of our youth to begin with - but i don’t think i will unless i can find somewhere that i don’t share with my very judgmental grandmother and that doesn’t have 150 seconds of ads every fifteen minutes :)

and then! through the talented mr. till, i found jason trost, and !!!  i love his movies! they’re so unconventional and have so much personality, and if i had money i’d abso-fucking-lutely donate to his projects. i wish vacation 8 and where it never rains had been finished, i’d kill to see them. but i have seen wet and reckless and all superheroes must die, and holy fuckin hell they were great. i’ll keep the fact that i watched w&r secret and take it to my grave, at least from my family, but i rewatch both of these movies all the time.

i’m definitely going to be talking a lot more about these shows, but also if anyone knows where to watch monster trucks, kristy, the disappointments room, the curse of downers grove, paranoia, and/or son of the south, i’d be forever grateful if you shared.

additionally, i’m certainly not new to tumblr itself, but i’m obviously very new to posting on tumblr. and for the other posts i’ve been thinking on, i need to know the etiquette of photo/gif sharing. i already know i need to credit the person who i got the photos and/or gifs from, i wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise. but am i supposed to ask before i post? do i tag them in the post, give them the credit, and be done with it? does it vary from user to user? i feel really awkward asking and don’t expect much feedback, but i’d prefer to know these things before i start posting so that i don’t hurt anyone’s feelings or offend them by seeming like i’m taking their work as free real estate.