#context clues

Based on context, we all know there’s a huge difference between:

“she could hear Azriel humming to himself. The rolling, wild melody of “Stone Mother” softly flowed off his lips, and she could have sworn even the shadows danced at the sound.”

and

“Azriel entered the warmth of the stairwell, and as he descended, he could have sworn a faint, beautiful singing followed him. Could have sworn his shadows sang in answer.”

In the first, Azriel’s shadows are dancing to his humming, which is a direct sound coming from him.

Samira’s storyline was not leading up to her leaving. It wasn’t.

She started the season with finding out her mom was selling their house and going on a year long trip, which is not just some random time frame. It means if Samira moves to Jersey, she will likely be alone for an extended period. It means moving to Jersey is now a choice that has no external pull or responsibility or loyalty to anyone but herself.

And herself clearly does not want Jersey or she would just start looking at apartments in Jersey.

But she doesn’t look for apartments in Jersey. She looks for last minute fellowship opportunities at PTMC.

If your intention is to have a character leave, why are you spending the bulk of their storyline working out ways to stay?

And you could say, it’s showing us all the reasons she’s not a good fit here.

Is it? Because for better or worse, Robby and Al-Hashimi have offered the same solution to the problem of “how can she stay?”

It may not necessarily be what she wants, but it is an option.

It’s also a clear set up for a potential future direction for her character development.

Writing is like a math problem you have to show your work on. You cannot get from point A to point B without it making sense, or it’s just poor writing.

And realism is a tool; it is a narrative guide. It is not an excuse to abandon storylines or character development.

At the end of the day, it is fiction. It is not reality. There are themes and motifs. There are choices made deliberately in order to move characters through a chosen narrative.

If I want someone to smash Robby’s bike, I make that happen. If I want to have multiple motorcycle accident patients, to mirror or foreshadow or whatever the fuck, I make that happen. Because it’s fiction.

Is it realistic for someone riding without a helmet to get a brain injury? Yes. Did it have to happen on this specific day with this specific character? No.

But it does. Because it’s fiction.

And fiction is controlled by the people writing the fiction.

So, no. Samira leaving is not logical. It is not obvious.

And neither was Collins.

It is, however, a pattern that is indicative of either an issue with the writing or an issue with production.

Somebody is not agreeing behind the scenes.

To the poster with an extremely expensive hobby

That they pay for

“Am I the asshole for throwing a birthday party for a pumpkin?”

“I share a porch with a woman who isn’t good about cleaning up after herself.”

At that point I was like ‘nope, not the asshole, she should have cleaned up her rotting pumpkin last Halloween and not left it out for a whole year omg’