i want him to destroy me, your honor

It was so heartwarming to watch Noah speak to everyone after the Televerse panel. Each person had a story to share and he listened so patiently, holding their hands, looking into their eyes. He stayed the longest, getting to every person, even though security was trying to usher him to the HBO reception.

He was so sweet about my edits. Thankfully, my friend got it on video or else I wouldn’t remember much of the convo at all, on account of brain implosion.

confession gone wrong…

MY BROTHER IN CHRIST, IT'S THE NOAH WYLE SHOW. WATCH ANYTHING ELSE. LITERALLY ANY OTHER SHOW.

Don't waste your own energy or taint other's enjoyment. Just see yourself out.

Pope Cody has decided to start taking night classes to get his GED because he’s sick of Smurf making fun of his lack of education. He's not necessarily doing it in secret but he hasn't broadcasted anything to his family either. During the first class he squirms in his seat as the math instructor drones on, thinking about how much of a mistake this was. He’s just about to give up and leave when a young woman moves to the front of the classroom and introduces herself as the science instructor. You're not like the other teachers who seem worn and tired. You're bright and engaging and talking a lot with your hands in way Pope finds oddly charming. You're young, younger than Pope at least, and he can’t help but notice how pretty you are. You speak with so much enthusiasm that Pope can see other people sitting up straighter in their seats. You even asks the room a few questions which are met with some tentative mumbles and raised hands. The two instructors who go after you for the language arts and social studies seem all the more boring in comparison.

After all the instructors introduce themselves the math teacher explains the schedule: Math on Monday, Language Arts on Tuesday, Science on Wednesday, and Social Studies on Thursday. Fridays they hold a study hall led by each instructor in a rotation, each holding one study hall a month. As the math instructor goes over scheduling you stand and start passing around printed schedules with all this information on it, as well as each instructors email address. You give Pope a warm smile as you hand him the sheet, your fingers brushing for the briefest of moments. He quickly looks down trying to hide any reaction to your touch. The first night school meeting lasts a little less than an hour, you hold the door open for everyone as they shuffle out, offering little farewells to each person.

"See you Wednesday," you smile as Pope passes through the door but he drops his gaze to his boots as he exits the room.

The first Wednesday of the month Pope is buzzing. He drives a little too fast to Oceanside High School where the classes are held, going through yellow lights as if they're green. It's 5:45pm when he arrives and after a moment of deliberation he decided to go in early. He sees the light to the classroom is turned on as he approaches down the long, dark hallway. He lingers just past the threshold for a moment, you're sitting inside behind the big, wooden desk, you have on a little black vest, checkered pants, and bright red Mary Jane's. Your eyebrows are furrowed slightly and your foot bounces as you read over a paper in front of you with a green pen. Pope wonders what you're reading with such intensity and worries he might bother you if he goes in now. But just as he decides to back off and give you a minute his boot squeaks on the linoleum floor and you look up, right at him.

Pope is used to people reacting to him with fear so when you smile warmly, just like you did that first night, he's not really sure what to do.

"Hi!" You smile, "you can come in if you'd like. Early bird gets the- uh... pick of the seats," you scrunch your nose a little, like you're not sure why you said it like that. Pope just swallows a smile and walks into the room, sitting at a desk in the second row, right in front of you. You cap your pen and push the stack of papers you were pouring over to the side, introducing yourself.

"I'm Andrew," he says.

"It's nice to meet you, Andrew," you say and he loves the way his name sounds coming out of your mouth, "can I get your opinion on something?" you ask, doing the same little nose scrunch as before. God, that is adorable.

"Uh, sure," he says.

"Is it really lame if I ask everyone to make little name cards to put on the desk?" You say, your expression serious and contemplative, "I mean, I know we're all adults but I just hate to point at someone and be like 'you,' you know?"

"No, I-" Pope starts, stammer a little, utterly charmed by you, "I think it would be nice,"

"Ok," you say with a little smile, sitting up straighter in your chair, "I'll make one too,"

You bend over, grabbing a little stack of card stock from your bag and a small bundle of sharpies tied together with a rubber band. You and Pope stand at the same time, both taking a step towards each other.

"Oh," you say with a little laugh.

"Sorry," he says sheepishly as you hand him a marker and a card.

"No- no, you're fine," you say, backing towards your own seat, hip checking the desk by accident, "fuck-" your eyes go wide and your bring your hands up to your mouth like you'd just said something you shouldn't. You close you eyes, dropping your hands with a little laugh, "sorry, I spend all day with kids- I forget swearing isn't- yeah-"

"It's ok," Pope says, trying not to smile at you, "you a teacher?"

"Yeah, I teach here actually," you say, "science- well- obviously."

Pope only nods.

"What do you do during the daylight hours?" you say, writing your name down on your piece of card stock, "or- you don't have to say, if you don't want,"

"No- I-" he says, a small smile breaking through, "I work with my family. I do property management,"

"Is that nice? Working with your family?" You ask, sounding genuinely curious.

"Can be nice," Pope says, folding his little card stock with his name on it so it stands facing you. You seem utterly delighted at his little name card, folding yours so it stands the same way, "can also be... not nice,"

"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," you say, nodding, before your eyes go wide again, "not that you- I didn't mean you're unhappy- that's just- Tolstoy- Anna Karenina- have you read Anna Karenina?"

"No," Pope says. He doesn't think he's ever heard of it, or whoever Tolstoy is.

"That's ok," you say, "it's not gonna be on the test. I don't think. You'd have to check with Ellen- she's- uh- she's the language arts instructor- you don't have to check-"

As you adorably bumble another student walks into the room. You seem a little relieved to be saved from your little off-the-rails tangent, greeting the woman with the same enthusiasm you had used for Pope. He slumps down in his seat an almost imperceptible amount. You were just doing your job, being nice to him is just part of it. Slowly the room fills up, about fifteen people total.

"Ok," you clap your hands, standing at the front of the room, "I just want to start by saying that I'm so happy you're all here. Education, at any point in life, is a noble pursuit, and you should each feel proud of yourself for pursuing it no matter the reason. I'm sure you all have different goals, and just being here to pass the test is a perfectly appropriate one, but if I had my wish your main takeaways from this class isn't just learning what to think but how to think. You probably won't need to know about cell division in your daily lives but we can use the subjects we'll cover to explore reasoning, critical thinking, problem solving, and lots of other practical uses..."

You continue your spiel talking about homework and practice tests and the curriculum but Pope mind lingers on what you said first... the math teacher certainly didn't give an uplifting speech on the value of learning and education. And it was so clear to him how terribly earnest you were being. You said all that stuff because you really believe it. He wonders why you were here, teaching night school. Of course it wasn't lost on him that a public school teachers salary doesn't exactly provide the means for a life of luxury. Could you really be here for the simple reason that you love teaching?

Pope hopes to find out.

Shawn Hatosy Characters + Backwards Cap

because, congratulations, now all actors and producers are being asked about is robby's misogyny and the fandoms disproportionate reaction to a character leaving. they have to spend all their interview time talking about how robby is actually altered and suffering due to his mental health and that's why hes yelling, NOT because he hates women- when it should have been OBVIOUS. and it IS obvious to viewers with critical thinking. congratulations, now they're being asked about cast rotations on a show that they have ALWAYS been open about being one with a revolving door.

your lack of media literacy and inability to understand why a suicidal character might yell at those around him have stopped the cast from being able to spend precious interview time talking about doctors and nurses who are suffering, because it's now become more pertinent for you to need simple things spelled out to you like a baby. well fucking done.

they WANT to talk about what needs to change in the american system. they WANT to talk about specific patient stroylines like cancer, rape and insurance issues and how important it is to platform them. they WANT to have nuanced and in depth conversations about the impact of a broken system on worker's mental health. and you know what? they CANT. they can't spend even HALF as much time talking about this as they want because you guys have fixated on a minor character flaw added to make robby a realistic middle aged man, and now they need to keep repeating to you that that does NOT make him evil.

and because a lot of you guys are truly insufferable, you keep IGNORING IT. which means they have to say it AGAIN. which means they lose MORE valuable time platforming real issues to pander to your immense intellectual deficit. jesus fucking christ.

if you actually liked the show and respected its aims, you'd shut the fuck up and listen when people talk, or maybe you'd just do the bare minimum of putting your phone down when watching so you actually saw what was happening on the screen.

By implementing someone for three months but oking massive changes? They didn't call him for a meeting to discuss it, but rather they sent him a package saying "this is what we are doing."

Baran herself might wish to discuss with Robby, but upper absolutely does not. And i suspect by going over him they're actively hoping he doesn't come back after the three months. Or if he does, he will be so angry over changes he will quit.

But the thing is Robby is NOT incompetent at his job. There is a reason he was hired to be chief attending.

But he's also vocal, which presents a problem. It's easier to hire someone outside, who isn't as familiar with the system, who won't push back as much because they haven't realized upper won't bat for them yet either.

It is not uncommon for minorities (specifically women and POC) to be hired after white men and are championed as "the big fix" to an already failing company, because then if they also can't fix the broken system then they ALSO get blamed. Rinse repeat.