#kinda analysis?

so this is based on the ADA member going to the PM. Everyone I’ve seen is either saying that Dazai is going back or Tanizaki is going, which are both valid options, but I’d like to discuss the possibility of Atsushi going.

Hear me out here.

Atsushi is obviously physically strong, and Mori would no doubt appreciate having a Soukoku again. Now y’all might think “Just bring Dazai back, Dazai and Chuuya unstoppable!!” Which is valid, they were really good, and still are. But I’m gonna ignore that and go on reasons why Atsushi might get chosen.

He’s actually really smart. Most people gloss over this and paint him as a ‘silly lil soft boy who does no wrong and needs other peoples help to get though each day’ but he isn’t. He managed to guess what Naomi and Tanizaki did in their lives based just on how they look, and guessed roughly what Kunikida did previously just on his behaviour and appearance.

Next, he’s also obviously willing to hurt people IF NECESSARY. We see this in his fights with Akutagawa especially, but you can still see it in other places, however, he tries to ‘save’ characters that he could see changing for the better. Mori would probably be annoyed at this, but by prodding the trauma enough he would be able to force compliance from Atsushi.

Now, he is obviously like a glue, holding many members of the agency together, but not just the agency. He’s turned antagonistic characters into friends. Now this is relevant because of his bond with Kyouka and Lucy especially. It’d be something of a 3 for the price of 1 sorta thing. We see in beast that Kyouka escaped from the PM, only to return because of Atsushi, so she would probably do something like this again. Lucy would also follow Atsushi here, especially because she could still stay out of terrorism and murder in the PM. She could just be there as a sort of pick up after missions, keeping people in Anne’s room so they can recover.

the aforementioned bond with the rest of the ADA would also affect everyone else. Atsushi is loved and cherished by everyone in that agency, and everyone would be upset if he was forced to leave, therefore weakening morale in the ADA, and should the PM ever want to attack, the ADA wouldn’t want to attack Atsushi, should he be put on the attack team.

There ain't no gold in this river

That I've been washin' my hands in forever

I know there is hope in these waters

But I can't bring myself to swim

When I am drowning in this silence

Baby, let me in

Okay so first things first- LITERALLY no gold, like the Featheringtons are always struggling to stay part of the Ton, but Pen is like…extremely alone. She doesn’t have Felicity, she seems to have nobody but El and LBR that friendship was a little wonky from the beginning, and she certainly doesn’t have El at the end of season 2. I think this one is pretty self-explanatory tbh but like when Pen isn’t being picked on, how often do people actually talk to her? Not at her, but with her? I don’t actually know tbh, I’m willing to bet not a whole lot.

Go easy on me, baby

I was still a child

Didn't get the chance to

Feel the world around me

I had no time to choose

What I chose to do

So go easy on me

I MEAN COME ON DOESN’T THIS READ LIKE PEN BEGGING FORGIVENESS FOR THE MARINA SITUATION OR WHAT. I mean whatever you think of her actions she joined the Ton as a sheltered CHILD, and I don’t want to hear that she didn’t try because she did what she knew how and teenagers make mistakes and she’s already been punished enough- but that aside, she’s literally begging for him (or El, or Ton as a whole) to go easy on her, to recognise that she felt backed into a corner and that she was a stupid kid and kids make mistakes.

There ain't no room for things to change

When we are both so deeply stuck in our ways

You can't deny how hard I have tried

I changed who I was to put you both first

But now I give up

I think Col, Pen and El are some of the most stubborn creatures I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching lol I love them. Col and El are Bridgertons so of course they’re stubborn as mules, but it feels to me like Pen needs to be stubborn because that’s how she sticks up for herself, and she knows that she has to stand by the choices she makes for better or worse because nobody else will stand by her. Obviously not a healthy mindset, but hey that’s what GROWTH is for, baby.

And you can’t convince me that Pen has tried so hard for both Col and El- she tries her hardest to impress Colin constantly, to catch his eye, and the second El mentioned she disagreed with Whistledown she changed her whole style just to get El to like her again. TELL ME THAT ISNT TRYING- YOU CAN’T.

And whether her actions were right or not she definitely put them both first several times, ahead of herself and her own family. And Pen has to stop doing that, both for her own sake and because, well, it’s clearly not working in her favour lol. It’s like every time she tries she messes it up further and she’s beginning to accept that.

Go easy on me, baby

I was still a child

Didn't get the chance to

Feel the world around me

Had no time to choose

What I chose to do

So go easy on me

This is the same as the last chorus, but I think the tone changes because of the verses it’s sandwiched between. It’s less of a plea and more a request, it feels less desperate as she’s reaching peak honesty.

I had good intentions

And the highest hopes

But I know right now

That probably doesn't even show

And WHOOMP, HERE IT IS. The acknowledgment that even if her intentions were purely golden (or even mostly), that intention doesn’t equal impact. This would be Pen at the moment she realises that actually she has done a lot wrong, even if she believes it’s for the right reasons the impact it has had isn’t up to her, and she leads into the last chorus with this understanding.

Go easy on me, baby

I was still a child

I didn't get the chance to

Feel the world around me

I had no time to choose

What I chose to do

So go easy on me

And this final chorus isn’t about forgiveness, it’s about acceptance. Be angry with her, rage at her, but go easy on her. Don’t assume she’s a heartless villain or insipid wallflower, because it’s not just black and white. If you want to be upset with her, if you want to hate her, then fine- Pen accepts the good and bad parts of herself, and all the things she’s insecure about, and is saying to HERSELF to “go easy on me.”

Anyway if u want me I'm crying abt Stranger Things atm lol luv u all xoxo