always be cool.

Pulling up this movie I completely expected to only encounter Sister Agnes as the one woman we see in the trailer, the conclave a space that has been kept from the female members of the church. Now, color me surprised when I started the movie and most of the establishing shots we got were focused on all the women working in the Vatican.

And it is such a deliberate choice, it does the film a disservice not to talk about it.

Because while Cardinal Lawrence is having his fifteenth breakdown during sequestering and Bellini finds the ambitious asshole within himself, Ray does all the leg work, and Bel---- we see the women work.

We see the kitchens, we see them cook, we see them stand aside. Most of the time when the Cardinals are conspiring it is the women who interrupt because they are busy working, walking, running errands.

And there is power in that.

I think it is very deliberate how often (and with such lingering gaze) the camera shows us the lives of the other half - partially to connect to the wider themes of the movie, on how Bellini asks for women to get more power but never thanks them, and how Benitez stumps them all by thanking the women preparing their meals when asked to say the prayer (considering his own probably tumultuous relationship to gender within the church).

But it also stands in direct opposition to a long tradition in story telling: servants don't exist. How often the heroes of a regency romance are "alone" because the two hand maidens and three maids don't really count.

Conclave doesn't do that.

It doesn't let us look away.

Between all the petty drama, the politics, and the real life consequences of the conclave, we never stop looking at the people doing all the work.

Yes, we follow the ups and downs of Lawrence and Co, but in doing so the movie reminds us again and again of the women working the kitchen.

Everything about this is perfect. The *ding* “FUCK!”. Callum still in his little American accent. Mwah.

IVE BEEN THINKING THINGS

• Gale is like two days away from 18 (poor baby has to spend his birthday in the capitol) and gets his name called

• john volunteers for him bc theyre best friends and he cant fathom watching gale die and he loves him. more than friends haha

• umm the game officials decide to just make them both play bc why not jt makes the games interesting so no one wins 😒

• gale is fucking livid. obviously. yells at john so sooo much and john just stands there and takes it. he's obviously not happy bc he didnt think his volunteering trick wouldnt work. butbhe doesnt regret it at all

• gale keeps asking him if hes insane like wtf are you doing you fuckung dumbass. and john accidentally lets it slip that hes in love with gale (bc gale wouldnt take the whole but were friends so john gets frustrated)

• gales dumbfounded. absolutely speechless. and still angry at john. hes so fucking mad bc now its even worse and wait what the hell did he just say he was in love with him???

• it drives them apart a bit, gale distincing himself and john letting him. theyre pitted against each other in the games yayy

• umm gale realizes he feels the same uh ohhh ok thats all i got.

Wow I was not expecting this much of a response! This is actually my newest idea I’ve just started plotting and we can all say thank you to @heretoobsessstuff for their tags on my post about “married at first sight” clegan

#Bucky was like I’ll tie that damn red string of fate around ur ankle myself if I have to

The premise being that red soulmate strings are attached to people’s wrists and are just wrapped there in a bracelet-type thing until they meet their soulmate, at which time the strings will unfurl and attach to each other. People can see their own soul-strings and their soulmate’s but no one else’s.

Bucky loves his soul-string and what it represents. He’s been tending to it his whole life, learning to love and be loved, which makes the cord stronger and more vibrant. He weaves it with his fingers and heart and hope, it sits in a beautiful braided cord around his wrist and he plays with it a lot.

Cue the first day of flight training when he’s getting settled in his room, waiting for his assigned roommate, when the door opens and suddenly Bucky’s soul-string jerks. It uncurls and soars across the room and Bucky’s heart soars with it. He whirls around to see a wide-eyed blond boy disheveled from travel and holding a single duffle bag, staring at Bucky’s cord as it dances toward him, and then Bucky sees it.

this but john and gale!! idc who’s who pls someone write a scene where they do this do u see my vision