#[class]

Yerin Ha really anchors it as Sophie Baek, and I adore the way Jess Brownell et al use her role as a POV character to introduce a whole expanded world & style of shooting that world, whilst still tying it into the Bridgerton style. It feels less like a “new world” and more like an extension of the world that we’ve just never seen before, still beautiful but also more grounded.

The way the background characters of the past 3 seasons become POV characters? GOD, it did something to me. Really highlighted the way servants are mostly furniture in the world of the upper class. Gorgeous work.

We finally get to see the Bridgertons as mostly spoiled and a bit useless, whilst remaining as loveable and complex as ever. Ben is WILDLY naïve about basically anything practical, and particularly about Sophie’s position in society. This is treated as his arc to overcome, alongside his own fundamental mismatch with the Expectations of Society (TM). Perfect use of the conventions of the romantic male lead to explore class themes.

The mistress issue is SO well done. The highlighting through Sophie’s backstory that being a mistress is a second-rate relationship that does not guarantee permanent safety for women or their children, versus the way it is presented to Ben by other rich men as a way to find genuine love without disappointing his mother. The scene where we get the big romantic swelling and confession of love, and then Ben asks Sophie to be his MISTRESS?! And he means it so sincerely, not having a clue how un-romantic that offer is? I love you Jess Brownell, this is wonderful narrative work.

Also, and this could easily be a whole post in itself: THE MAID WARS.

The whole team are exploring labour rights, consent and class issues with a far more unflinching approach than I expected. It’s still Brigerton — optimistic, tongue in cheek, fun, stylised and beautiful — but it’s also more mature, more grounded, and better for it.

og meme under the cut

I've thought about it a lot and it does add up in a horrifying sort of way.

There has been this lil thing needling my brain when consuming Warhammer content where I'm like...annoyed that nobody matters? That 95% of life in this universe is regarded as cheap and meaningless? That, unless you're part of this top echelon of humanity, you're basically on par with a mouse who's solely been bred into existence to feed a snake.

And I've known on an intellectual level it's a dumb thing to feel irked by--like it's a Grimdark setting, this is the whole deal--but I kept asking myself "why does this get under my skin?" and I think that quote perfectly explains why.

The British class system is so fucked and omnipresent that, like, yeah: for the vast majority of British history, most British citizens have been feeder mice and they're well aware of their place in the hierarchy. You aren't allowed to forget it. The aggessive classism is baked so deep into the culture that it becomes a sort of obvious, bland fact of life.

And America has it's own insane class issues and rampant inequality, but we also have the myth of the American Dream and a hyper-individualist culture counteracting it. So while you are almost certainly a feeder mouse, you're still raised to feel "I'm something, I'm important, the world just doesn't know it yet". A whole country of temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

So Warhammer represents the British class system turned up to 10000; most people are a speck floating by in the background of a story about bigger, grander characters and there's nothing they can really do about it. The random guardsman is never going to become a character as important as a fuckin Primarch, there's no narrative upward class mobility if you will.

But Dungeons and Dragons is almost always a story about a ragtag crew of random schmucks taking on Big Bads and defeating them, it's about equal opportunity heroism. You may be a rogue who started life as a pickpocket street urchin, but you and your friends still lay waste to an overpowered evil wizard using naught but wits and teamwork.

And it's embarrassing to admit, but my American brain worms start screaming when presented with such a British worldview because it makes it clear: I would not matter in this setting. If I existed in this universe, I'd be dead, enslaved, a servitor, working myself into an early grave in a hive world factory or cannon fodder because that's just how life is for 95% of humanity and there's no reason why I'd be the exception. And the fact is, as unpleasant as it is to acknowledge, my dogshit American main character syndrome ego does not like that.

My friend Fadel ( @fadel-dani ) relies on asking strangers for money in order to survive. It is an extremely vulnerable and precarious position for anyone to be in, even in otherwise stable conditions. But he does not have the privilege of living within otherwise stable conditions.

He is a young man with a chronic illness for which he cannot afford the medication.

He survived Israel bombing his family's house, leaving him homeless and severely injured.

Shrapnel is still deep in the tissue of his body, causing chronic pain, because the medical infrastructure in Gaza is decimated and he must travel outside the country to receive surgery as soon as possible.

The availability of food has dropped and the price of food has raised dramatically as the people of Gaza endure a genocidal famine.

During all of this, Fadel has spent his very limited energy building relationships with strangers in the hopes that enough of us can help him to raise the money he needs to get to a hospital for surgery and treatment. He got his campaign vetted by @gazavetters list (#197), @90-ghost, and @a-shade-of-blue to make sure that people would trust him.

He raised nearly 50% of his goal, only for GoFundMe to cruelly delete his fundraiser with no warning or explanation (something this company has done to many Palestinians trying to survive genocide) and he was forced to start over with a new campaign. Despite GoFundMe's deletion of his first campaign automatically returning all donations to the donors, most people who previously donated have not taken the time to send that money back to him.

Today as I write this (May 25, 2025) he has only raised 23% of his goal, just under half of where he had been a month ago when his previous campaign was deleted.

Please, please send some money to Fadel. Every campaign by someone surviving genocide is urgent, everyone is trying to escape to safety and avoid bombing. Fadel has been bombed already and desperately needs medical care for his injuries. He is a generous, compassionate young man, and I have no doubt in my mind that were positions reversed and you were in his place, he would help you to survive. Please offer him the same compassion.