however, the narrative frames this as a choice borne not out of reasonable trepidation, but rather as one made from selfish cowardice. kip claims scott is forcing him back into the closet and even asks him what's the worst thing that could happen? about coming out, as if the answer to that isn't blatantly obvious: a hate crime? ilya accuses shane of all sorts of nonsense, from "not choosing him over hockey" to being selfish and naive (because somehow shane simultaneously is very aware of how much would go wrong if he and ilya came out publicly, but also has "no idea about the dark side of hockey". how does this incredible dissonance work? don't worry about it! rachel reid sure didn't! shane is an idiot when she wants him to be and a paranoid hyperaware selfish asshole when she wants that instead).

so like, of course she writes as though shane being upset about workplace harassment and discrimination is something that can be solved by ilya ~fixing~ shane's self-esteem with hot sex. it's the culmination of this entire victim-blamey attitude that systemic problems can be solved by #slaying hard enough and simply not caring what other people say. of course workplace discrimination and harassment will simply stop being an issue if you stop being a vulnerable target and remember that you're awesome, right? right? that's how this works? just don't let them get to you and they'll stop because they'll realize the error of their ways! it's foolproof.

sources: unknown // unknown // maplepecanpastry on tumblr // ashmanathletics on tiktok // i saw the tv glow (2024) // pray for me by kendrick lamar // unknown // what are you waiting for? by derald cannon jr. // unknown // unknown // drunk drivers/killer whales by car seat headrest // polekingrasputin on instagram

have you considered he uses sex and dominance as a way to feel comfortable and most like himself? that he uses it to reestablish his sense of confidence by going to a place that feels good in the most visceral/base level possible? that he goes to what feels truly and genuinely natural to soothe after a tough conversation/moment/emotion?

have you considered that him responding to shane's sincere offer to listen to ilya talk about his feelings to feel better after his father died with orders to initiate phone sex is actually him grounding himself via domming shane?

tags via @dwisp

so true!!!!! being emotionally vulnerable is hard for ilya! being open and leaving his underbelly exposed is hard! revealing that his father died, that he's clearly feeling Something but can't express it yet but would like to talk to someone that isn't his own internal dialogue is hard, confessing his feelings and his vulnerabilities and everything that hurts so so so so so so much is of course painfully hard.

and to gain power back after giving it up by doing something hard, to gain a sense of security, he'd like to dom shane and see his orders followed and fuck shane how he wants to fuck shane.

that doesn't mean he's avoiding anything using sex. he already did the hard thing! he already put in the #work of reaching out or having a hard convo or confessing something. now he's just doing one of his favourite things as #ALittleTreat to regulate

the narrative seems not only spiteful and uncompassionate to its own established characters and audience but almost apologetic for having demanded that viewers hold empathy for black leads during s1-s2, for asking them to center black characters as protagonists and care about their interiority- the brutalization and humiliation of jacob and delainey's characters isn't just the nonblack writers engaging in a gratuitous fantasy of torturing black bodies and "humbling" black characters who've reached too far above their station, but also a way to restore the status quo that asserts the "proper" role of blackness is to be a site of inherent pain and mortification. racist viewers who rejected the show when jacob was cast in 2021 or at any point during s1-s2 bc the idea of getting invested in messy black leads put them off can now comfortably tune back in, assured that the show will never ask them to care about a black person more than a white person or think a black person's material suffering could matter more than a nonblack person's feelings and reputation ever again. the cruelty is the point, in many ways.

(tags via @leblogestunmonstre) right like when you look at the roles jacob, delainey and assad are playing, they aren't continuations of where their arcs left off at the end of s2 as much as the show trying to redo the same character beats in s2 in a way that asks less empathy for black characters from the audience and is a lot blunter and more flanderized.

s2- louis is consumed by grief for claudia while being gaslit by armand in the present day, as armand destabilizes louis' perception of reality and what happened in paris to conceal his true involvement in the trial. claudia enters armand's employ as an actress while unaware of the true danger of the paris coven and armand's own capacity for antiblack violence. near the end of the season, louis and claudia are lynched in a humiliating public spectacle that it's later revealed armand directed.

s3- louis is consumed by grief for claudia while being gaslit by armand in the present day- except this time armand just gloats about how much he was gaslighting louis. regina enters armand's employ offscreen as part of armand's elaborate scheme to fuck with louis' head while unaware of armand's capacity for antiblack violence. near the end of the season, louis and regina are lynched in a humiliating public spectacle where armand just straight-up personally tortures them this time.

and even the main "original" plot of the season, present-day gabistat, is just a structural copy of the same way they added loumand to the present day in s1-s2-

in the book, the main narrator (louis in iwtv, lestat in tvl) talks about his story alone, after he's already parted ways with a past companion who only shows up in flashbacks (armand in iwtv, gabrielle in tvl). in the show, this companion is an active part of the present-day story, has the 2nd most screentime of the season and is portrayed as more of a sinister antagonist who has the material power in their relationship with the main narrator and manipulates him and his effort to tell his story (louis' interview, lestat's tour) for their own ends. in the final episode of the season, the main narrator realizes their companion is evil(tm) and rejects them.

Shane, who has only ever taken his mother as a date to every MLH function he's been invited to since he was a teenager: Do you think it's weird that my mother is so involved in my professional life?