Rewrite An Ending Or Two

Legacies

Jujutsu Kaisen

Teen Wolf

ACOTAR/TOG

Merlin

Harry Potter

Game of Thrones/HOTD

Because if there’s one thing the show repeatedly bludgeoned over audience heads, it’s that when allowed the chance to make the right choice, Arthur always does. But in order for him to make that choice, he has to be allowed to make them in the first place—something Merlin, unfortunately, often took away from him. We see this with Morgause, with the Disir, with Dragoon even, and so many more that might’ve happened off screen. Arthur was willing to listen (or coerced into listening) but sometimes they didn’t even allow him that choice.

How could he, as king, make the extremely dangerous decision to repeal the ban on magic after 25 years of zealous persecution if no one will even grant him the dignity of having an honest-to-god, truthful, conversation?

Because you can’t just unban something like magic all wily-nily the way we do in fanfic! It has to make sense; it has to be logical and be allowed to carry the weight and political ramifications fanfics could simply skip over with enough time skips to the happy ever after. Magic was banned and persecuted for 25 years before Uther’s death at the hands of magic (accidental on Merlin’s part, but was Morgana’s doing). Arthur spent a large chunk of his adult life getting attacked and nearly murdered because of Uther’s sins, and even his ascension to ruling monarch was tainted by a magical attack. Camelot was subjugated by Morgana—who most knew as a nice, sweet girl until she went missing and came back an evil, murdering Witch.

Did y’all honestly think it was ever going to be that easy?!!!???

I think the fact that no one, not even Gwen, ever brought up repealing the ban legally and politically just shows that no one actually knew what that would entail. It was always about safety, about no longer having to fear being hunted down like an animal. It was freedom, in a sense, to be themselves without certain death. But if that were the case, what’s so different about that and Arthur’s short-lived reign?

Five years Arthur ruled as King, and do we ever see or hear about him hunting down or persecuting magical beings? I don’t mean people who committed crimes who so happen to have magic—those are just criminals and Arthur was allowed to deal with those as is his right. I meant actual innocent Druids and Sorcercers who were killed simply for having magic, because to be honest I don’t even remember seeing him arrest anyone without some kind of accusation of a crime. Not even Kara, who was executed for trying to assassinate Arthur and not because she happened to have magic!

And to top it all off, when was the last time Arthur was even allowed to make a knowledgeable, educated decision on something magic-related that wasn’t somewhat tainted or manipulated by Merlin (and Gaius and the damned dragon)? They wouldn’t even have an honest conversation with him about his mother, and frankly, Ygraine’s death was probably the easiest way to ease Arthur into accepting magic once and for all. Because he was willing to listen, you know? More than once, he gave the people he loved the chance to actually be truthful and no one ever took him up on it.

And sure, most were too scared of Uther or Arthur’s own reaction, but really, I think they were all just too scared to make the leap because what would they do if it turned out their preconceived notions of Arthur were all wrong? If in the end he cared more about being lied to for years and years and years, than he ever did them having magic? Maybe then they wouldn’t be able to convince themselves that it was all for the better that he didn’t know; maybe then they can just watch him make decisions blindly without all the information and perhaps choose wrong, and sigh to themselves asking why they were disappointed in the first place. Then the fault would be on Arthur for being his father’s son, and not on them, for making sure he’d never escape that role in the first place.

I just think it’s so interesting that anyone who ever met and got to know Arthur ended up respecting him and loving him, even. How even his enemies and foes could look at him and see someone who’d be a great king, someone they’d respect and follow and die for, all by being himself. It’s almost as if when you allow someone to make their own decisions or to interact with them beyond your own preconceived notions of what they would and could do, they might even surprise you. Even Mordred, after Kara, didn’t think Arthur was beyond saving. Beyond understanding. It was Morgana who wrote him off, even when Arthur himself never once did anything to her. Who would have loved her and protected her from Uther had he known.

Yes, Viserys was an idiot to remarry. No, it didn’t matter if he had married Laena—Corlys’ greed made Otto look like a saint. Unlike the book, Rhaenyra was old enough to be married off and have children of her own; remarrying with enough children to populate a new house was Viserys’ own greed and pride. Blame Viserys for Rhaenyra’s inevitable downfall

Yes, naming Aegon heir would’ve solved a lot of issues. Namely, the fact that literally no one would have contested that claim. Not even Rhaenyra, who spent her entire life up Aemma’s death as conveniently not-the-heir.

No, naming Rhaenyra queen and abdicating while he was alive would not have stopped the Dance, merely pushed it down a generation. Y’all seem to keep forgetting that Jace and Co are very obvious bastards; if not Aegon v Rhaenyra, it would be Aegon v Jace or Jace v Aegon the Younger v Jaehaerys

No, Jace’s reign was not secured or safe. Again —> very obviously a bastard, surrounded by what’s going to be dozens of white-haired sons and daughters. Ntm, I doubt the many lords would let him rest easy for it. A very harmful precedent there

No, Jace and Helaena would not have been enough. The claim to contest are Aegon and his brothers’, which still exist even if Helaena married Jace. Aegon and Baela would’ve been the better option, but that would only work if Baela were to inherit Driftmark—and we all know Rhaenyra would never allow it.

No, it really doesn’t matter that Aegon was a mediocre-to-bad king. Viserys was a shit king, Rhaenyra was a shit queen, Daemon would’ve been terrible—they all sucked. The Council matters way more than the king does, and the Black Council as it stands are all fucking morons. Jace has the most sense there and he’s 16; that’s how bad it is

Rhaenyra’s not exactly the pinnacle of genius. Girlie’s also stupid as fuck, because for someone who does want to rule and knows that her rule is constantly contested on, she decides to run away and do nothing for close to seven years. Might as well hangup the claim and the crown, for all the effort she placed into securing it. Which was basically none. Maybe start by not having such obvious bastards, or marrying the man you were named heir to keep away from the crown and producing even more bastards.

Always a debate around if Aerys chose Bloodraven simply because the dude was a medieval witch and already on the council to boot, or if it was a purposeful slight for Maekar’s hand in Baelor’s death. As if the two facts were mutually exclusive in any way lmao. Like, have we considered that Aerys, the man who went from 4th in line to king in 6 months, simply wanted someone to do the job for him, but may have also hated Maekar’s guts?

Dude named Aelora—a girl, and only his niece—as heir before Maekar ffs 😅.

But real talk. Someone was bound to hate Maekar, or at least heavily resented him, for Baelor’s death. We can spin it all we want about it being an accident, or Maekar being a (meh) good dad, but it doesn’t change the fact that Baelor died because of him. Most think Rhaegel would have understood, as a fellow father; Daeron II was awfully kind—he probably forgave Maekar too. But not everyone would have, and that’s only realistic. Maybe Aerys never did.

Or he simply never had time.

Can you imagine being Aerys? One day, two of your brothers go to a minor lord’s tourney in the middle of nowhere, and one of them ends up dead because the other one killed him. Your stupid littlest brother, with that PR nightmare of a son he never properly walloped upside the head, caused a massive scandal whose effect basically altered the course of the whole damn continent. Maekar couldn’t control any of his sons, and now Baelor—the perfect son, the darling crown prince, the reason your life is your own—is dead. And Aerion practically walks away scot-free (seriously? His punishment was exile to Essosi Ibiza? Get fucking real, Maekar).

Meanwhile, the heir apparent is now a kid (Valarr’s like 16-18ish?) without an heir of his own except his even younger brother. So you think you’re fine, for a time, because even if Valarr can’t have kids there’s no reason Matarys can’t. There’s no way you’ll ever be king, right?

Wrong.

Because then they both die. And then your dad dies. And now you are king. Fuck.

And all because your fuckass little brother couldn’t control his shitstain of a son for one goddamn day 💀.

It’s a wonder Aerys never strangled Maekar when he had the audacity to sulk over being skipped over as Hand.

And then of course, all of Aerys’ heirs die under extremely dubious and suspicious situations. Until the only choice is a little girl (Daenora was potentially as young as four) and bloody, fucking Maekar. Who happens to have four sons.

Thank you, anon 😭

Hello!

I’m currently revising the draft for chapter 8, so it’s definitely not abandoned! But, I was definitely a little too overconfident when initially outlining the chapter, and probably should’ve split it into at least two chapters due to its length, but that’s far too late now 😅.

I’m predicting the chapter to be around ~15k words when published, and once I can iron out a certain pesky part into sounding right.

Because on one hand, it completely washes his hands off having to actually deal with Langdon. If Langdon self-reported and Robby simply didn’t know, great! Al Hashimi can just talk to admin and it will get straightened out. But if it turns out he didn’t, and Langdon simply followed the steps Robby laid out for him, then he’s screwed. Whether or not he ends up punished even more is irrelevant because now it’ll be on Al Hashimi’s head, not Robby—who can’t live with the guilt of not reporting Langdon, yet can’t live with himself if he did.

If Al-Hashimi doesn’t report Langdon, then she joins the ever growing list of people who knew and covered it up. But if she does? Then she’ll have to reckon with upturning the entire ED. Because it’s not just Langdon getting axed—Robby, Dana, and Santos are screwed too. Sure, Garcia and Whitaker and most likely the nurses all knew too, but only the former 3 knew the details. And they all collectively agreed to keep it quiet.

The same can be said of Santos’ beef with Langdon, and y’all are always up his ass about his treatment of her!

If Langdon and Santos meeting, him yelling at and belittling her, is enough of a justifiable reason for the way she’s been acting this season, then I don’t see why Mel’s admiration of Frank is considered to be fake or forced.

He was nice to her in s1, and made her feel more welcomed than literally anyone else. Even if we ignore s2, the fact that she’s felt so unwelcome and lonely for the last ten months she’s still clinging to the man she knew for less than a day, is a bigger indicator of everyone else in the Pitt than Langdon himself lmao. And now in s2, Mel’s still lonely, her sister is starting to pull away, and Langdon’s back after ten months and still so nice to her. He still remembers the things she taught him or mentioned only once! He listens to her when everyone else ignores or walks away from her. He lets her be less than perfect, allows her to come to conclusions herself on the whys she’s upset with Becca, without once making her feel bad. Langdon was so good to her, she trusts him with her sister. Do you know what that does to someone? How can y’all hold his treatment of Santos as some kind of indicator of him as a person, but refuse to acknowledge the impact he made on Mel? Make it make sense!

If you diminish the good Langdon did for Mel, then I don’t see why we have to take Santos seriously. Especially now, when she’s double backed on herself bout being upset over Langdon the person, and not the theft.

They both only knew him for a day anyway.

And this isn’t about being a shipper (though I am a multishipper). You can read it as platonic or romantic and it wouldn’t matter. Too many of you are too comfortable either infantilizing a canon autistic character or villainizing an addict just to justify your distaste over a ship. Well, get the fuck over it! None of your faves bothered to try with Mel for ten whole fucking months. If Langdon’s got Mel in his corner just because of this, then good! Two nerdy lonely losers clinging together is hardly new.

Because Hagan was the physician in charge of treating the initial injury, and something must have gone terribly wrong in order for the benzos theft to occur in the first place. And given that 2x11 showed that the injury is still there and pretty bad, either Hagan severely underestimated the depth of the injury and that was what led to the events of s1, or he didn’t taper Langdon off well enough that he resorted to stealing benzos to treat the withdrawal symptoms.

Either way, Langdon’s treatment and initial exposure to opiates (?) clearly happened under the eye of a PTMC doctor. So the fact that this was just conveniently never brought up is a little strange. Like, why would a simple back injury warrant medication you could get addicted to and needed to taper from, unless the injury itself was significantly worse than expected? And if it was that bad of an injury, shouldn’t the hospital itself already be aware, given that Langdon would’ve been on leave?

Except, clearly Langdon was never on leave as they can’t afford his absence. And the injury itself never properly healed, either again because it was worse than they thought or it worsened because the medications he took numbed him from the pain.

Because what do you mean the diversion was left vague? If a doctor goes to rehab and was gone for ten months and an audit was done by the charge nurse, wouldn’t admin and HR know at minimum? Why would Robby hide the diversion but be comfortable discussing this with Al Hashimi? Langdon’s return is clearly on Robby, and Robby alone lmao.

Why have Al Hashimi, who has shown to be deeply empathetic and exist as a good foil to Robby, end up acting the exact same way Robby did when he found out? What kind of message are you trying to sell here? Why is the realism getting shit on just for drama purposes?

For someone who cares more about Langdon being asshole than he is an addict, Santos sure has a problem with the addict part. Why mention him relapsing, if the issue was the diversion hmm? Langdon could very well relapse and it could have nothing to do with the hospital. But Santos’ problem was the theft, and now his behavior, but brings up his inevitable relapse? From someone who just stole a scalpel from the hospital? Pick a fucking narrative already, this is getting old! It’s like they want langtos to be mirrors of each other but write it in a way the average audience can’t grasp without additional context.

And another thing: why is a huge chunk of this season’s context given in interviews? Why do we need to read articles and watch interviews to understand the characters and their motives this season, if we want a clearer picture as to what’s happening? We get mild allusions of Robby’s issues with Mohan being reflective of his own failure, but only confirmed in interviews. Santos and her actress claims that she was iced out over Langdon, but clearly nobody knew about the theft. And we don’t see any of that behavior on the show. Noah Wyle’s made it clear part of Robby’s issues with Langdon is his own inability to get better/get help, which is contrasted by Langdon getting help when others haven’t. But 12 episodes later and we haven’t seen any of that, or even knew to look for it if the interviews hadn’t come out early in the season.

So many important things are lost because The Pitt relies too much on external context to make their scenes flow well. But no show should do that because the average audience doesn’t care to do those research. Something has to change in the writing room s3, because this? Is not effective storytelling.

Another thing, and this is more me being annoyed than anything else: but if the show wants me to condemn Langdon that badly for being in so much pain he stole benzos to treat a reliance he developed under the care of a doctor in the same hospital, they would’ve actually tackled that storyline. Why is Hagan not mentioned at all? He was the doctor in charge of Langdon’s initial injury, so why isn’t he mentioned at all in the aftermath? Why do we now have scenes showing that Dana lets other nurses use her prescription medication, or imply she’s pocketing sedatives for emergencies. Santos literally took a scalpel on screen. It’s like they want us to condemn Langdon for how his case was handled, but also double down that this issue is not a personal failing but a reflection of the current state of healthcare.

(also known as the time Frank Langdon got divorced, and his lawyer made it everyone else’s problem)

*written in the tone of a crackfic narrator + outsider POV

Snippet #1

All will be fine, Dana thought to herself, one fine, sunny May morning. Six weeks out from the end of the residency year. Both R4s set to return as attendings, and three brilliant MS4s—practically homegrown with the amount of time they spent at the Pitt—beginning as interns. Robby was finally starting to get over his negative issues regarding a certain blue-eyed resident, and back to his other set of issues—the kind involving praising the man’s work like he was the second coming of medicine Jesus.

Seriously. Sugar would melt at the sight of those two hopping around each other like a bunch of high schoolers.

All is well, she chuckled to herself, as the day passed by with minimal fanfare.

Poor, stupid, optimistic Dana, she’ll think to herself later that same afternoon, watching the scene unfold with growing horror.

Because the Pitt was a self-sustaining system, both its own savior and damnation. Where every decision can make or break a whole year and all the people around it, like a figurative meteor dropped from the sky.

And nothing could have prepared them for the day a certain handsome blond lawyer came to their ED, declared Langdon a free (divorced) man, and planted a passionate kiss on his lips right in the middle of the Hub.

“Oh, this is not going to end well,” McKay groaned from her spot right next to Dana, eyes roaming a mile a minute.

For this little smooch happened during a lull. In Robby’s direct line of sight. While he had a steaming cup of coffee in hand.