#spngate

Apparently these came from a leaker who was able to correctly name the run-times for the first 4 episodes, so the leaks are thought to be more "reputable," but I always take that with a grain of salt when it comes to leaks. That being said, I haven't seen the source they allegedly come from so I have no idea how reputable it is.

I have been through this before. I was here for spngate when fans took evidence from Misha being licensed to be in more episodes and the Spanish dub edit to mean that we got Dean's character arc of reciprocating feelings for Cas cut from the show. I was big into that theory then and Misha later came online to say that it was a rogue translator and that the final cut we saw was as it should have been. I'm not saying executives didn't get involved there either, but I'm just saying this is not my first rodeo with this type of speculation.

What I will say, is I do think the style of editing and narrative changed from V1 to V2. V1 felt more cohesive and had tighter narrative beats. This could have been for a lot of reasons, particularly I know the writer's strike impacted Stranger Things release and I'm sure that the final cuts were hard to make in a final season of a show as big as this. There might have been a number of factors that went into cutting out scenes, and the Duffers were working on the final edit into December, so it's very possible last minute changes were made. It's also possible scenes got moved into the finale cut since the run time of the finale is longer than that initial leak suggested. Whether changes were because of nefarious reasons like the executives forcing their hand, I don't know. But it isn't uncommon for scenes to be cut or rearranged in editing.

There were weird transitions, and especially how close Max and Will seemed, and Robin's sudden involvement in Mike's storyline seemed interesting choices for me personally, as well as the choice for Will's visions from Vecna to happen off screen. I would have liked more explanation for all of this.

But also, with a cast of so many people, trying to finalize each arc takes time, and while I didn't love that we barely got any Byler in V2, it does mean their plotline is wide open still and needs to be resolved, which will happen in the finale.

I think it's true that some of this is because we didn't necessarily get the scenes we wanted or expected. I personally didn't think Byler would happen before the finale because I know that Netflix and marketing need to keep viewership engaged until the last minute, so I was skeptical of theories about a Byler kiss in ep 7 anyway. It's possible that any changes made were to move Byler content to the finale so as not to alienate viewership. I sincerely hope that if cutgate is legit that it didn't mess with the storyline to the point where Byler doesn't happen. That would be a heavy narrative failing and would not achieve the feat the Duffers have repeatedly said they wanted in a Sixth Sense style plot twist. I don't think this is what happened, but I do sincerely believe that if Byler doesn't happen, it will be because of executives and not because of the storytellers themselves.

happy three years of marriage destiel

Fictional media is meant to be for the audience, which means for the characters, which doesn't mean for the meddling of tptb who think futzing with the script will make them more money or garner certain sponsors or not piss off a certain demographic (this is mostly a usamerican issue, obvs), or even for the creative minds behind the scenes who choose adventures on a whim without sense or reason other than shock-value, and who all the while are flippant with and dismissive of intriguing plot points and significant details because narrative cohesion means less than playing out their personal wayward fantasies on-screen.

Obviously, I'm bitter about this. I come from Supernatural fandom so I've experienced some of the worst of this shit.

But I'm not here to rant about all that. I'm just here to say:

When media lets you down - because the people behind the stories let down their characters for whatever reason - one thing will always remain true: fanfic will save you.

When a story no longer brings me joy I turn to fic to fix things, to find the stories that should've been put on-screen. It's not all gay porn on ao3 (though thankfully we do have that), it's fixing what should never have been broken in the first place. Yes, there are many new adventures to explore with AUs and the like, but there's something so special about taking canon and undoing the parts that caused damage to the characters and to their stories and in so doing caused damage to the audience, and setting things right - like setting a broken bone so it can heal properly without the festering pain of a carelessly bandaged break inflicted by being shoved from a height onto hard unforgiving ground without a care and with the insane expectance that things would carry on as they always had pre-break.

All this to say: it seems I've fallen for another show with an ensemble of characters whom I adore - and who are being repeatedly shoved off a ledge and left to bare wounds that viewers feel in their hearts and minds even as the characters are forced not to acknowledge these injuries and pretend everything is fine while redirecting focus and plot elsewhere.

So: I won't continue watching. But I will continue reading, and creating, and relishing the safe space that fandom fosters, especially when those who brought these stories to life won't.

And people actually dogpiled him like he wasn't about to get mega sued and having a breakdown.

THEN the WB wanted him to say he was BISEXUAL IN REAL LIFE FOR VIEWS on another show