Fictional Just Means More Fun

I know hes the bad guy but like Iook at him.

If we're supposed to be disgusted by Hugh Evans, casting did not get the note. Found needed to be more real about the word choices in their own scripts. He's in love with her. It's complicated, but he IS in love with Gabi. It's not their past, because it is active and ongoing.

I hear you, and I see you! There were so many promising dramatic elements where it could be dark and the show could go there - but then didn't? And there were also all the obvious fandom things - including more than one season official promos that pushed the idea of Gabi's relationship with Hugh/Sir being the hook - that could be a difficult but gutsy watch. The cast and showrunners loved seeing social media embrace their shippy bait, until they got nervous and started trying to preach on the message that Hugh is a bad man and he should not be allowed to date his victim. We knew that, but they are literally only capable of real intimacy together, slinging insults and picking apart their ulterior motives for trauma response.

There was so much care and thought put into having flashbacks with a teenage actress playing Gabi, and then having a grown up Gabi who devotes herself to saving people in a way she had to save herself and another little girl. They laid it out to be brutally dark and then tried to reel it back to be less about child abuse. You can't make an audience forget kidnapping two girls, the second one in an attempt to parentify the first unwilling girl!

As an aside, I did ship them in an unhealthy, get Gabi some justice and closure and break his heart way, because what other way is there? It was marketed as that show about the woman and her kidnapper who loved her more than anyone else. Did they think no one was going to ship the attractive and charismatic man with the attractive and charismatic woman, both of whom had some codependent, comorbid problematic history both personally and legally?

Found is one of those shows that failed to pick a lane. If it's dark, be dark. Don't try for comedy. Let the knocks bruise the audience, and let the inferences of sexual interest in a 20 year long stalking of a high school student by her teacher be awful. Or show how the world has changed and will punish those men who think being smart enough to figure out how to do something to a trusting person means they have earned that person in their life. Take that white cop FWB bit and make him lose his career over the real inadequacies of how policing treats missing persons without privilege and the means/access to hire Gabi's firm.

I made a crossword :)

https://crosstune.io/puzzles/98f09838-7566-4f90-9e6e-0963433af57b

Photographer Laurence Cendrowicz is responsible for this wonderful bts shot, as well as the one of Nicola as Penelope.

I could write a whole essay on it, but honestly I don't need to. Debling came into the picture in a serious way mid episode 3 (yes ik he's in ep 1 but that was brief and there wasn't any explicit indication he'd be a serious suitor, we just knew he would be from promo), Colin was dreaming about confessing his feelings to Penelope at the BEGINNING of episode 3, long before Stowell house. Also the willow tree scene, it's peak friends to lovers mutual pining and one of the most underrated scenes of s3.

Simply put, Debling wasn't the catalyst for Colin to realise his feelings for Pen, the kiss at the end of ep 2. You could also argue that the catalyst was Penelope helping him with his hand in ep 2 and the kiss was the final piece of the puzzle. Either way, his feelings were very much there before Debling. And him potentially proposing may have been the thing that got Colin to finally confess to Pen, but that wasn't because he didn't want to lose some sort of competition with Debling, it was because he realised that if he kept letting fear stop him from being honest about his feelings then both he and Penelope would end up with the wrong fates.

S1 Colin was selfish about his own emotional needs and blind to manipulation. He thinks too much of his emotional read and that he sees everything. S2 Colin was wounded, distrustful and doubtful to the point no woman could touch him and be believed. Emotions are not to be trusted. S3 Colin had spent enough time looking at the sincere expressions of women who proved they loved him to see that Pen clearly did - even if he wasn't sure it was romantic. The kiss just gave the opening to indicate she didn't only think of him like a pseudo-brother in her life. Debling added a ticking clock to it, but Pen's notion that she intended to marry was the setup. Colin believed anyone would be lucky to have her, so obviously her desire to marry will be successful. Then he panics, because it's looking successful.

Season one Colin was so painfully young, naive and arrogant in a way he recovered from rather like a life-saving surgery. He got engaged to literally the first young lady he spent time with alone who fluttered around him like he was a handsome gentleman she enjoyed. Marina barely had to trap him. It was terrifying. He was not paying attention to anything but what referred to his specific emotional needs he wanted to be addressed. It wasn't just unfair and unsuitable that she was pregnant and lying to him about motivations, but that he was marrying for ultimate convenience. They were both going to be so disappointed in a way that would last forever. Colin flirted with packs of women because he was perfectly conditioned to think he was special by his mother, and then because he had very high levels of emotional intimacy with his sisters and Pen. Add that dynamic (honest or not) to a woman his age who is single and flirting directly with him, and he's calling it love.

Season two Colin didn't know how he could be so wrong. He doesn't feel stupid or uninformed to the extent he could have been so vulnerable to what are pretty simplistic lies in hindsight. But he was handed what he wanted and he said yes very quickly. He was not discerning. He felt guilty because Marina was in a vulnerable, dangerous place. But it wasn't his solution to offer, or even his right to pretend to be her children's father. He was being given another man's place and had to examine why his own nature was so malleable it seemed reasonable even for a moment. He's still trying to prove himself but with smaller actions. He also undertakes to be patron to the Featherington's safety when Cousin Jack arrives, and takes initiative to catch him in his fraud. Colin knows he's not easily fooled anymore and his perceptions are valued.

Season three Colin is a three act play. He can read vibes very well and he knows there's something wrong between himself and Pen. But he's going to approach her like usual and ask. He's going to apologize and make amends. He's happy to see her. She's the highlight of his evenings. He's not looking to marry, and he's flirting with packs of women to signify none of it matters. But he wants Pen alone. The request for a kiss is a tipping point where his mild hope she might think to marry him if she trips over him often enough becomes a wild hope she could really be happy if he works very hard to please her. But he can't propose as an impulse because a no would kill him and he thinks it's important to be sure his feelings aren't just a crush. Debling's ep 3-4 courtship runs fast. The man is wasting no time and Colin is getting tongue-tied and messing up around Penelope. They're a little scandal and he can't keep away. He's afraid to be wrong about loving her, but he's willing to take the leap. The second half of season three has no lingering problem about marrying Penelope. That's what he's doing. It's just that he's aware he needs to be transparent about what he needs to thrive because he can't do a dishonest marriage. He is aware of his own needs and that genuine love will not be 100% confident but it will have a depth of other emotions that indicate the attachment is lasting.

Guides

How to make Crumbl Cookies!

How to bookbind!

How to pirate movies/shows

How to make frog plushies

How to make a Go-bag for emergencies

How to repair clothing

How to make different a03 kudos!

How to download videos/pictures/gifs from a website

How to make various chocolate desserts!

Tips and Tricks!

A03 formatting

Back stretches!

Depression tips

Adult cheat sheet

How to regulate and understand your emotions better

Disabling Windows 11 web search in search bar

Resources

Horror game recs!

Dca fic recs!

Hand references

Free Adobe photoshop

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Free spotify

Pirating sites

Artist resources pt 2

Helpful random sites

Homemaking, gardening, sustainability

Free libraries!

Making stuff and doing things (free book pdf)

Healthcare (medicine discount websites, guide on how to pay hospital bills)

🎶going to the chapel and we're gonna get married 🎶

I can love that person for wanting to give too much and also judge myself for naaaht writing that fanfiction even though I do technically have time right now.

Get turned into a card! I've been waiting a while for your askbox to open again! I hope you have an amazing day!

Polin Cultures Event started with a wholesome trend on twitter 🥹

I was delighted to everyone taking my bug polin on a little tour around the world, so I wanted to share it here as well. These posts had me giggling all day long 💖

I will leave the png pic below for anyone who wants to join this trend, the week just started after all (all I ask is to not use AI for it, other than that take poli wherever you want to go)

It’s the way Wentworth talks to Mrs. Musgrove about her dead son. He knows better than anyone that Dick Musgrove was a useless good-for-nothing, that it was a piece of “good fortune” for his family “to lose him before he reached his twentieth year.” His first reaction to Mrs. Musgrove talking about “poor Richard” to him is to laugh inwardly–but. Instead of laughing at her, he goes over and sits next to Mrs. Musgrove and speaks to her so kindly and patiently–“with so much sympathy and natural grace, as shewed the kindest consideration for all that was real and unabsurd in the parent’s feelings.”

Austen goes on for two paragraphs about how ridiculous Mrs. Musgrove looks while lamenting over her idiot son, and the entire time, Wentworth is keeping a completely straight face, focusing only on the fact that this woman is sincerely upset and he can relieve her feelings a little by showing compassion.