my savior who came to ruin my life

the thought i keep coming back to with the finale, and this season in general, is a sense of… infestation, i guess is the best way to describe it. because for the first two seasons, iwtv was a work that— even with all its gothic/horror themes— seemed deeply compassionate at its core, and it remained devoted to beauty and love in a way that felt like a reprieve from (even a small rebellion against) the rising fascism of the culture surrounding it. and now it feels like the hatefulness it was pushing back against has infested it somehow, like a swarm of fuckin termites, which has not only ruined this season but also calls into question the structural soundness of what came before it. like, how did we even get here? was this sort of mean-spirited derision always just lying in wait? idk. i don’t want to make a bad season of tv deeper than it is, but it does feel like witnessing another loss in the cultural battle when a careful, compassionate work that ostensibly cared about the marginalised experiences it depicted becomes just another conduit for hatred toward vulnerable groups. what a fucking bummer, man

imagine a german going "haha we all have that friendship we remember with the stoicism of an operation barbarossa veteran" thats literally what that post and any other post deploying the 'vietnam vet' as an unermarkable comedy archetype sounds like if you know anything at all about the invasion of vietnam

wow babe you’re really good at staying up incredibly late and barely sleeping every night

I've kept poking around online for IWTV props details, and I saw one this morning that broke my heart. No visual but Pop Culture Weasel on Twitter noticed that someone in Dublin was selling off pieces from a larger auction lot, including "loads of handwritten notes that Claudia does for Louis during their travels, stuff like 'gone out looking for books, come find me when you wake' and bits in French about outdoor 'dining'" (source)