Xavier was truly considering just telling her that he was doing something else from the start, he was never walking the same path as the rest of the backtrackers.

But Mc notices that Xavier is struggling against something or maybe even gets scared of hearing the answer so she lets the situation slide.

How the “dead weight” the backtrackers are carrying around might be Xavier himself because he is not truly searching for a way to help Philos even though he does participate when the leads come to them. (Cause he is such a good captain ♥️)

And how when Hal writes this:

It means so many things at the same time, it could be talking about the ones that are trying to save Philos even when it means the destruction of earth. Or it might be talking about Xavier who truly doesnt mind Philos’ destruction if Mc can be saved if sacrifice can be avoided.

And even if he's a father you all should look back at 911 history and understand that it's so not surprising

I’m gonna say the same thing I’ve been saying for months: yall gotta stop reading so much into those interviews. Oliver quite literally cannot tell you that a reunion is coming. In terms of storytelling, that would be such a major spoiler that it would defeat the purpose of bothering to tell it at all.

They are so limited on what they can actually say versus what they can’t, and I have also done myself the favor of not reading most of the interviews anyway. The video ones where we can hear context? Sure. Because tone of voice does a LOT for understanding what someone is saying. The only one I watched this week was the one in which Oli stated that Buck has both personal and professional hurdles to overcome in the coming weeks.

Realistically, we’ve just opened the door for bucktommy again. The fight we all so desperately want still needs to happen. They still need to hash things out. They both presented themselves at that bar as having gotten on with their lives just fine, when we know the reality of it (for Buck at least and I’m sure also Tommy) is not the case. Literally one episode previous to this one, he was saying to Eddie that everything was right in his world until he and Tommy broke up.

I will also specify (because I’m assuming this is the interview you’re referring to based on the one quote I’ve seen), where some people are taking his “I don’t know, I don’t think so” as he’s not still in the same place, I read it as, he hasn’t moved on. You can still very much be in the same place emotionally about someone but believe they aren’t coming back to you/that things are over. That doesn’t actually mean that they are.

We know that 814/15 is coming. I know some people are assuming LFJr is only going to be in one of the episodes. I’ve assumed he’s going to be in both, in some form or another. And given the assumption that the story is going to be based on Birds of Prey, my own inclination is to believe that they’re using these episodes as a soft launch of “if we give this character more of a story, will people care?”. We, the bucktommy fandom, have wanted him to stick around for a while now, but from a storytelling standpoint, all TM&Co know is that when they broke up, it upset the fandom and GA alike. In a perfect world with endless money and time, the answer would be just to make more space on the show to tell Tommy’s story. But I think the latter half of this season really has to go to the point of showing their work and being able to go back to the network and say “this is the impact if we give him a bigger role”, regardless of whether RG stays or goes after this season.

Beyond that, I’ve personally questioned if we won’t see some form of (at the very least Maddie) Evan’s people kinda giving Tommy the cold shoulder for how he ended things. I don’t think it’s lost on anyone that Evan isn’t over him, and how much the break up hurt him. But I could very much see the narrative as “you left and hurt him needlessly” without the full context of the fact that while we know they love each other and want a future together, we don’t know that anyone else does because we haven’t seen Evan actually tell anyone about the context of the breakup. I’ve also wondered if we won’t see some version of Maddie seeing Tommy and coming to that conclusion herself, and that softening the edges a little.

Another thing I’ve wondered about, especially as we’re moving into the latter half of the season, is if we aren’t moving towards a version of events where Evan finally tells people he gets to make his own decisions, and maybe even tells the team off a little for checking out on Tommy. They’re all supposed to be his friends, right? And yet we know Eddie stopped calling him. I get the whole “Eddie was busy, had stuff going on” of it all… except we know that Evan wasn’t doing well following the break up and er can infer Tommy wasn’t with his “resisting the urge to call”… and you’re telling me Eddie could send a text? When we know for a fact that even Tommy was thinking about texting Evan, but was likely too scared? It says to me even more that the only time Eddie cares about a friendship is when he can gain something out of it.

Ultimately, I don’t actually know how we get to the reconciliation, but I have zero issue in believing it’s coming. I’ve watched way too many romcoms, procedurals, and second season breakup stories to know how this ends. And it doesn’t end with Tommy walking off our screens single. Yall have to let the story continue to be told. Everyone thought after 806 that these two were dead in the water, and yet Lou was back in 811.

has anyone else noticed the endings of the episodes matching up with their counterpart episodes from Blood and Sand (albeit with some differences)?

episode 1 ends with Spartacus/Achillia being bestowed with their gladiator name

episode 2 ends with Spartacus/Achillia proving themselves worthy in a ludus match (although Achillia won’t receive the sacramentum until ep 3)

episode 4 ends with Spartacus/Ashur getting back in the good graces of Batiatus/Gabinius after thwarting assassination attempts in the pit/at the market

episode 5 ends with Spartacus/Achillia, against long odds, igniting the crowd & winning in the arena against a big scary giant. along with episode 1, this callback felt the most on the nose

(i don’t immediately see an episode 3 connection, though maybe i’m missing something.)

and then!! i saw earlier in the week that episode 6 would be called “Empty Things,” like Blood and Sand episode 6 “Delicate Things” before it. and sure enough, the echoes are LOUD:

Achillia spends the episode in the medicus, as Crixus did

Korris & Opiter plan to ride off into the sunset together, just as Barca & Pietros did. uh oh.

rain!! as soon as it started raining halfway through the episode i had a pit in my stomach

sure enough, Opiter is killed — and i’m pretty sure we can assume Ashur manipulated that outcome just as he manipulated Barca’s end, with his boast to Proculus & then detaining Korris with the goat sacrifice to keep him away

so what does all this repetition mean? i’m sure some will look at this and jump to either “you’re reading too much into it” or “it’s lazy writing, they’re just trying to repeat what worked the first time around,” etc. but the “Empty Things” title is such a specific nod, i have trouble believing that! (plus, despite all the similarities i’ve outlined above, the two shows really are quite different in many ways! this is not, to my mind, a pointless rehash or cynical cash-in.)

i wonder if these echoes tie into the broader concepts of fate the show has always been preoccupied with (and House of Ashur seems even more gods-obsessed than its predecessor!). perhaps the point is that hubris & manipulation will ultimately always lead to the same end—or, as Viridia said in episode four, “what is choice when fate has final say, often leaving but fractured remnants in its wake?” [NOTE: i think i’ll use “but fractured remnants” as my tag for these inter-series echoes…]

i really love the feeling that the hand of fate is at work, that despite the fact that we’re in a new timeline, “uncoupled from history,” the past is still asserting itself, being reflected & refracted in this kind of sideways world.

so what might we expect to see in the coming weeks? while the episodes probably won’t match up precisely (for one thing, this season of House of Ashur only has 10 episodes to Blood and Sand’s 13), perhaps we can look to the past for clues. i certainly doubt the slaves are going to rebel & ashur is going to be murdered in the finale, but maybe a replay of the fight between Oenomaus and Ashur, this time with Korris?

according to the actors on actors interview he did with daniel craig he said that they both had a lot of one on one scenes (or something to that affect) while filming the movie, which implies that he’s the protagonist along with benoit blanc. however, that would deviate from the structure of always having a woman poc lead.

which reminds me how much rian johnson is a fan of agatha christie and she famously has a novel where the narrator is the murderer, and it would make sense that he would want to pay homage to it.

Most of this is spec, some of it is my writer brain, so with that what you will lmao.

With what the 911 on ABC posted on Instagram today, I think it’s fair enough to assume that the councilwoman who was the mother to that guy is about to get involved. That whole thing was kind of just brushed off, and the idea of revenge is being repeatedly being brought up (Amir, even the idea of Doug sort of enacting revenge on Chim while he’s hallucinating), along with the theme of loss and grief (Eddie’s current mess, Amir…again).

I’ve seen several theories saying that she would try to stop Hen and Karen from adopting Mara, and while I can see what they’re saying, I actually think it’s more along the lines of her preventing Hen from being interim captain.

We know something is going to happen to Bobby, with all the stills and bts in the hospital, including the one with the whiteboard that says “R. Nash” on it. And if Bobby can’t act as captain, the usual replacement is Hen, but if Hen is in the midst of this, and the entire 118 is caught up I think it’s plausible (especially with Ryan talking about how Eddie is “isolated” next season) that the councilwoman will basically fight to split them up, citing past cases and insinuating they are dangerous or unfit as a unit. The LAFD brass won’t want to get in a fight with city council and will separate them but won’t fire them. (A compromise they’ll think is good, but we know is terrible).

I personally think that Buck will be left at the 118. With Captain Gerrard. I really get the feeling that the councilwoman may know him and put him back in place there even in spite of his past.

Hey, hon!

I want to say killing him in ep 18 makes no sense, but it so absolutely does.

If we forget about everything happening before the confession scene in regard to Dean and Cas’ story, and look just at Cas’, it definitely looks like a proud ending, as well as something logical and valuable.

If we look at Dean’s arc, the angel’s death doesn’t go in vain, it serves its purpose - it’s the final push to help Dean overcome his anger and finally forget his old ways. It’s a moving force, which allows the growth of Dean happen. Without Cas’ confession and sacrifice, there’s just not enough fuel, not enough motivation for Dean to reconsider his choices.

In “Despair” (before the confession) he blames himself for the situation they found themselves in, he is angry, he is still feeding off his hatred. He’s even pissed at Cas at some point during his confession, because that’s a natural thing for old Dean to do - to meet everything that makes him uncomfortable with resistance.

If we forget all the context prebuilds of the past seasons, Castiel dying in episode “Despair” makes the most sense of any other possible way and time.

Him dying in the final, on other hand, is just cruel. For years Castiel has been the third main character of the show, not just a guest star, and killing him off in the final would be considered an ultimate slap in the face of the whole fandom.

“Good things do happen, guys, but only to Winchesters”. Just imagining and writing it down pisses me off.

For over a decade the show’s been teaching us that death is not the end, that there’s hope, that if you try hard enough, there’s always a way. So, I’m not buying Cas dying for good this time. Like, c’mon, has been to empty, bounced back twice, why not for the third time?

As you can see, I don’t believe the confession scene is the last time we see Castiel. I choose not to believe, because we have years of context and one season of the text screaming in our face that Dean and Cas’ story is important. We have episode 19 screaming that Dean is not done with Cas, he won’t simply let go, there are things unsaid, issues not addressed, and he won’t rest his head until it’s done.

“Cas, you got to bring him back.” Chuck won’t, Jack, too, but you, Dean-o, can.

I do believe we are getting Castiel back in the final, there’s like a million metas circling my dash these days proving it, thousands of specs on how and when exactly. The story needs him back, because it just makes no sense not to.

I’ve already addressed the issue once today, but it looks for me like Empty is the Big Bad this season, not Chuck.

See? Why put the black goo there, if it’s not the main storyline? Also, Dabb is taking care of the final (creator of Empty, as far as I know) and I believe he’s taking us back to the issue of “You make it loud”. And if Empty is back, how Cas not be?

Of course I can be wrong.

And god is my witness, I will be brokenhearted if Castiel is gone for good.

I will be pissed and I will probably never talk of Supernatural ever again, if they use the faith of fandom to keep their ratings high for another week (instead of choosing Destiel endgame which will write them into history) and ignore the perfect opportunity of sending the best possible message in the world - love always wins.

So, I cling to the only thing that makes sense to me, and I invite you to join me here, because -