#new dynamics

I’m aware that this happened last night and not a lot of fans are happy about it. I’m not thrilled about the idea of Tim dating someone new either, but guess what? He’s allowed to because he isn’t in a relationship right now. Sure, he and Lucy have been flirting off and on, and there was the hug moment in 4x01 where things seemed to click for the both of them...but neither has made a clear move to propel their relationship forward beyond flirtation or this new partnership (sergeant/sergeant’s aide).

Awareness is not the same thing as action. You can be aware of something and still choose to do nothing about it - which is what I suspect Tim’s doing with his feelings about Lucy. I think he’s been aware of them more since 4x01 but he’s also the one IMO that’ll push them down, distract, deflect, etc. whatever it takes to not confront them head on right now. Why? Because he’s probably afraid for what could happen if he did take a chance right now in this moment. They’re still sorting things out: Lucy’s still got grief over Jackson, she wants to take this new aide position seriously, she’s got Tamara to help out. Tim’s focusing on his sergeant duties and assisting Grey, and so yeah, I’m sure it kinda surprised him when he saw pretty blonde Ashley while out w/Jerry in the parking lot.

I also think Tim made the first move to ask her out because she does look reminiscent of Isabel (his ex-wife). He’s comfortable with that (if that is a canon realization- for the sake of this, let’s say it is cause you really can’t deny the similar looks haha) - and he’s good with comfortable. I mean, hell, even Lucy knows this because she’s the one that said if she won the bet he’d have to “do something out of his comfort zone” of her choosing.

I also think Lucy’s more self-reflective than Tim is when it comes to her emotions. Sure, she may have just been hit in the face with her feelings in 4x01 like “holy sh!t I like this man as more than my former TO” but she is one to wear her heart on her sleeve, even when she doesn’t realize it. Y’all remember the pouting she did when Tim didn’t choose her originally as his gofer right? I think that even though Tim’s been aware of these feelings for longer, Lucy’s the one that’ll actually sort through them first.

Either way, it’s gonna take time. It’s gonna take patience on our part as fans as we watch these new dynamics play out. Maybe Lucy will be flirted with on the job too; maybe she’ll get asked out. Maybe we’ll get jealous Tim. Or, maybe we’ll get jealous Lucy in the next ep because it’s their UC op and they’ll still want a rematch on the bet...and maybe Tim will mention his date w/Ashley. IDK. (No I seriously don’t know I’m just speculating here!) — but my point is, we don’t know what’ll happen until it happens. We just have to wait and see.

I think Tim’s heart is always with Lucy, and I think that’ll become more evident as time goes on, especially if they both do end up involved with other people. Hell, they flirted in the roll call room again in this episode AND had a full on flirty “fight” about the bet throughout the entire ep too. Nolan and Nyla noticed. I’m sure Jerry had to notice (would’ve been funny to see his reaction; then maybe the daughter thing wouldn’t have happened at all..?!)

I digress.

Let me just leave y’all with this. ⤵️

PS: if you follow me on twitter then I said some of this on my personal account. But just my two cents. 🥴

Wow with a side of whoopee, that was a wonderful episode. An episode full of wondrous moments, is what that was. I latched onto this final sequence we got, because to me the entire episode is very... reflective of what love looks like, or can look like, or should look like. 

And they’re visually tied together through the characters holding hands, imagine that beauty!

There’s the very gentle thread through the ep of love and longing, with the local teens immediately establishing that these things will be ingredients of this episode’s narrative. 

Max and girl who has no name so I’ll call her Flowery Top Girl (notice the flowers are yellow) (and Max is wearing Dean’s red PLUS lumberjack trademark, if you wanna call it that) are sweet, and hesitant, and it’s very, very, very brand new, but the way there’s encouragement and quiet flirtation there makes the heart sing high notes of joy.

Then we get John and Mary, who gives us a love that’s full of familiarity and history and zero hesitation. That kiss as they’re reunited... Yeah, that’s what a no-nonsense reunion between people deeply in love looks like. (yeah I’m so not eyeballing you Dean) (not at all)

This rooted love is then subtly juxtaposed through the episode, but most notably this is brought to a head in the final sequence.

Cue: hand holding -->

(I get emotional) So, John has to go, and he knows he does, or else everyone else will fade away, because Mary won't have been brought back, and Dean and Sam won’t be themselves anymore. Neither will Cas be, and, of course, Jack doesn’t exist at all. High stakes that make it understandable that this is the right choice to make. They got to have one family dinner together. That’s more than they ever would’ve thought they’d get to have. (still blowing my mind a bit)

So, Mary takes John’s hand before he fades away, back into 2003.

Now, the fact that Cas is incredibly important to this narrative is established through dialogue, when Sam saying they don’t know what else has changed leading right into the discovering exactly what else - or who else - has changed: Cas. 

In this final sequence we get John and Mary holding hands and as John returns back to his time, we get a reminder of the fight scene with Cas -->

--> being righted. Cas is back and all is well with the world. (or so it’s implied)

Aw, Dean, you can’t seriously equate being “cool” with being wanted for assault, murder and theft, can you? Also, you look like a wannabe douche in that mugshot, trying so hard to be something you’re truly not. 

Thank goodness that mugshot is exchanged for this ^^^, where community, health and family is the focus.

And now we get the mirrored hand holding, via Max and Flowery Top Girl -->

--> it is such a wonderful moment and I love these girls. Max’s reaction is brilliant! Interesting that Max steals a car to try and impress Flowery Top Girl and is doing lots of things to show she’s interested, but it’s Flowery Top Girl (wearing a little heart on a chain around her neck no less) who makes the first move... And look at that very, very tall friend walking alongside them. :) #mini-tfw

Anyway, look what the above image fades into! 

Yup. It fades directly into Cas returning to the bunker. As himself. Our Cas. 

And here are the faces of those who hear him arrive back -->

Oh, darling Dean. 

There he is. Had to add him because oh, darling Cas. You’ve no clue what Dean just went through. Sam, too, yes, but please do note how Sam is never in focus throughout Dean’s entire exchange with Cas. That’s Dean’s moment. Of terror.

Wanna know what really gets to me with all this? The symbology that I see in these final images.

Because the love between the parents willingly gives way for the budding love between, well, who do we think Max and Flowery Top Girl echo, if we’re getting deep into it? Yes, Dean and Cas.

John and Mary’s hands clasp as John’s hand fades, while the episode ends on the mirror image of Flowery Top Girl taking Max’s hand and in so doing saying, yes, I like you too, this is a thing, I want to be with you.

There’s another possible foreshadowing here in how Mary lets John go, because it’s necessary, and the right thing to do.

See, I was speculating as the season began that Dean would need to let Cas go, but it seems it might actually be the opposite, which, essentially, means Dean letting Cas go at the same time, but Cas being the one having to truly accept Dean’s choice and the necessity of Dean following through on it.

My speculation was based in my feeling a need for these two men to go through this phase in how they relate themselves to one another, because so much of their story has been about the other, not exactly in a codependent way, but in a blinding way, where the absence of one means lack of an internal compass in the other. This is unhealthy. 

And what they need - what they’ve essentially always needed - is to engage in what Jung would call individuation - answering the questions who am I? and who do I want to be? for themselves - in order to be able to live, you know, a long and happy life together. 

So for Cas - and Sam, too, though coming at it from the codependency angle - to actually come to a point where they’ve shown Dean how they’ll fight for him only to, ultimately, getting to show him how they’ll stand by him, because they love him, respect him and support his choice in the moment of absolute necessity, then this will pave way for what I do hope will happen: 

Dean appearing to have to surrender to fate by putting himself in that box, but having gained so much self-knowledge during his journey from building the box to now getting ready to surrender, that he realises it’s so far from what he wants for himself that what he’s going to do is face Michael and cast him out.

And possibly trap Michael’s essence in that box, because hell, we got a full minute of welding!Dean and I can’t imagine they’d spend a whole episode on the construction of that box if it’s not actually going to prove useful somehow...

Anyway, sorry for attaching speculation to my meta, but it feels quite fitting, looking at the possible foreshadowing here of letting go of the person you love, but as the narrative hints, letting go in order to get to start fresh.

snippet from and then the dawn came (band of brothers fic), chapter 25

"Lieutenant." Mildred watched as Lieutenant Armstrong turned in her spot on the crate to look upwards at a man stood in the doorway. Sweaty, dark hair, and with a narrowed look in his eyes as they darted between Mildred and Rolande, his face smeared with paint and dirt and mud, and a weary look in his eyes, the man stood with stiff shoulders for a few moments, silent.

"What's this?" he asked, leaning up against the doorway, meeting Mildred's eyes for a moment before panning back over to look at Rolande again, before looking to Lieutenant Armstrong who ran a hand down her face and sighed, moving to her feet.

"Julienne and Rolande. With the Maquis." Lieutenant Armstrong said, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one side - she had been limping, Mildred noted, a lot, even if she seemed like she wasn't letting that on.

"The Ma….what?" the man said, before glancing quickly at them, "Uh, what was that, ma'am?"

With WFH, new dynamics at play in IT sector

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The work-from-home mode adopted by IT and ITeS companies since the imposition of the lockdown may bring in some new dimensions and dynamics into play, transforming the way the sector had been functioning all these years.

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