#b99disc

i’ve thought a lot about it and i’m super biased because it’s my favourite show and i don’t think anything would stop me from watching it but yes of course i am.

first of all, as long as you engage critically with the show and recognise that it isn’t an accurate portrayal of the real world then its okay to watch it. news flash - sometimes its okay to watch a show that isn’t totally realistic, know and acknowledge that this is the case, and then switch off your brain and just enjoy it!! do we really believe that all crime stops on halloween for their heists? no, but we go along with it anyway.

which next point - its fictional. i don’t know when we started looking to a fictional show to be a moral compass but that’s wrong. of course there are bits that are uncomfortable and wrong (hello, gintars) but sometimes things can be just enjoyed as a form of escapism because if it were realistic then you may as well watch the news. 

They could’ve written it so that Jake actually did decide to go to therapy and was seeing a real therapist and just happened to mention something that he and his therapist had been talking about to Amy that would come in useful to her in the heist. 

Hey anon idk if you’re sending this to everyone or if you mixed me up with someone else. I haven’t made an edit since like February because I’m a very lazy person lmao. Just wanted to let you know in case you sent your message to the wrong person.

Half the reason the the proposal is so powerful is that it shocked you out of what is basically a cartoon to present a sincere real moment. But in general the last heist in particular re-iterated that everyone was on-board and consenting to the awfulness of heists. Sorry I just feel strongly Amy's comedic over-the-top 'bad' behaviour gets judged far more seriously than the other characters in a way that makes me uncomfortable 2/2

And me saying that is not refusing to be critical of the show or call it problematic (I happily do so) but the context of heists is just as vital for analysing a joke. Not fully taking that into account/acting like it is a normal episode is also refusing to critically engage in favour of offence when the clear joke is them all acting outrageously/and in none ok ways. Sometimes I think people forget these are comedy characters within a show of varying cartoonish levels not grounded fanfiction 2

I know that heists are not meant to be taken seriously. 

But the whole “heists are meant to be more outrageous than real-life” thing works to justify hiring a billion pizza delivery men to randomly flood a police precinct on one of the busiest days of the year, not to excuse actually problematic behavior. When you’re dealing with someone’s very real insecurities, there are some lines that cannot be crossed. We know that Jake has clearly done a lot of work on himself and dealing with his fears to get to where he is now, and the revelation that all of it could be “fake” would break him—there’s just no way around that. You can’t say “everything goes in a heist” and excuse behavior that would result in a very serious fight in any other situation—or at least, I can’t.

(7x02)

I want to preface this by saying that I was absolutely and completely against them even thinking about trying so early in the season and I was even more against the idea of a pregnancy scare, but although those things happened, this episode still managed to exceed my expectations tenfold. I loved 99 (heh) percent of it, and the stuff I didn’t was mostly due to me being a worrywart and not because there was something wrong with the ep. Let’s get started. 

First of all, can I just say how happy I am that Amy verbally said that “[they] agreed not to start trying for at least a year”? After what happened in a certain episode last season, I was convinced that the writers had no idea how to handle this storyline properly (more on that later), but the acknowledgment that Jake and Amy mutually agreed to a time frame and had every intention of sticking to it is a really important step in correcting those wrongs, and I’m really glad they chose to include a line about it not once, but twice.

I also loved seeing the Sleuth Sisters back on screen together! Rosa’s attempts at calming Amy down and helping her were absolutely hilarious (“you know hat keeps me relaxed? kicking stuff” / “glub glub glub…is this helping?” / etc) and the fact that Amy went to her for help made me so happy. I especially enjoyed the bit where they were sorting through the weird pregnancy tests from a bodega—especially because it parallels a similar conversation they had in Grey Star Mutual.

Lastly, the scene at the end between Jake and Amy was lovely and soft and nearly perfect in how it was written and executed (more on this later, too). The part when Amy told Jake about the pregnancy scare and then proceeded to—convincingly—pretend to be bummed until he brought up his feelings himself was excellent: it’s clear from the way they spoke and acted that neither was feeling any pressure to say something they didn’t truly believe, which is why the end result—Jake saying he’s ready to start Trying—is just about as good as it could have been. 

Miscellaneous stuff that made me grin: 

These two episodes were a clear return to the form/style of seasons 4-5, and I am here for it! 

I didn’t write much about the A-plot above, but it was good, clean comedy. Debbie is amazing, as were her interactions with Holt. The end scene between Jake and Holt was especially sweet, and I’m interested to see how their new dynamic progresses in the future. 

Jake, concerned about his finances (when he asked Charles to download that app)? Growth.

My remaining thoughts about this episode in the context of season 6 and what I think about what will happen going forward with regards to the themes and issues brought up in it are under the cut. The vast majority of them are not criticisms (of this episode), but they’re not exactly glowing reviews either, so proceed at your own risk.