Ithan Holstrom Home Alone

Hardison will be taking photos whilst Elliot growls at him and Parker is fiddling with a lock so she sits still and stops trying to steal the Bobby pins from Elliot.

any time parker has a fancy little hairdo i just imagine her sitting on the ground in front of eliot while he works on it with a mouthful of bobby pins

“Be all the beautiful things you are, and be them without apology”

the vague sexuality of YD

I was thinking about Young Dracula and things I could talk about... so I took a look at the episodes and was once again reminded of how it really toed that line between being a children's show and something more. As a kid, you're not really noticing it, but as an adult... it makes you sad they couldn't openly do more stuff like:

I mean, it's seemingly apparent that Vlad and Ingrid are aware and unfazed by their parents' sex life. He walks in on this and is mildly annoyed because of the failed plan, and she's not bothered by having to photograph them (for blackmail purposes). Plus:

If this was a teen show, I wouldn't have batted an eye but the fact that I was in primary school watching these two casually discuss their parents having sex and then Vlad suggesting Magda had sex with Patrick and that's his baby, not their father's... it's a lot lmao.

It's not even that. There are moments throughout the entire show, like the Count pinching Mina's ass when he's in Eric's body, OR the "lock up your daughters" about Boris. There are so many, I'd be here all day. It's why I get ahead of myself, like in Season 3, I always expect Ingrid and Bertrand to just GO AT IT.

Like, what the fuck is this, CBBC? They have better tension than some couples in adult shows and I'm just supposed to forget about them? Without even one kiss scene? I was truly robbed. They kinda disintegrated in Season 4, but the enemies-who-fuck thing they had going on in Season 3 is unmatched. After losing Will, the love of her life, Ingrid deserved to have a hot thing with Bertrand, dammit!

I even read too much into scenes like this:

I can't have been the only one who thought (as wrong as it is because it's her father saying it) that Adze was going to enter the show and straight up seduce Vlad. How else is she supposed to "persuade" a blood-free, already-in-love guy to do whatever she wants? There's even a scene later that season where Ramanga encourages her to "play" with Vlad on the wedding night before killing him. What does that mean? Other than what I'm imagining? Torture? Because the implications kinda overpower that.

Vlad and Erin, after he bit her, was a trip too. They became a lot more... charged. Their exchange and back and forth when he calls her out on biting breathers and catches her with Bertrand...

It obviously doesn't scream "sexual tension". I don't think their relationship does in general, but with the extra vampirism involved and the possessiveness that comes with Vlad biting Erin and making her a vampire, and the "hatred" festering... it does create some, shall I say, questionable moments like the one above, where I'm like "am I supposed to be feeling like they'll start violently making out, where in the midst of it, Vlad is saying she is his and Erin is saying that she hates him".

Like, half of these two interactions was, yeah, about him being paranoid and pressured because of the peace treaty. But like I pointed out in that other scene, Vlad seems to grow even more irritated by finding her stood close to Bertrand, tucked away in Malik's room, all alone together. Hence why he's used the choice words of "cosy little chats" here, like an overly jealous, paranoid husband. It gave off the same vibes as him saying "I know you're into Malik, maybe you're with Bertrand too, since you hate me so much".

This scene also. It intrigued me because Vlad was showing that possessiveness for the first time. We've seen him get possessive over his title and status as the Chosen One and as the Count's favourite child, but never over a person, never over Erin. And I just loved it.

It showed the darkness and the sexuality of vampires, and how far Vlad is pushed into that when it came to the idea of losing Erin. I think, before, when he hadn't absorbed the evil reflections, he would have maybe scoffed at the idea of a macho showdown for a girl. But he's dead serious, taking in Bertrand's advice, like "yeah, if I kill Malik, it'll turn her on and she'll be all over me and I'll win her back".

It's all interesting, is all. I feel as though the vagueness of sexuality in YD served its purpose enough, but it would've been cool to have seen a more adult portrayal (like I always say) because of the lack of blood and gore, and the lack of open sexuality that naturally comes with being an immortal, supposedly evil supernatural creature. I always picture Ingrid and Bertrand getting hot and steamy, or Bad Vlad being caught in the bathroom with piles of bodies (which the Count and Renfield have to dispose of and come up with a cover story). Stuff to really make me believe they're adults and vampires.

ALL I KNOW IS PAIN

Leverage 2x4 - "The Fairy Godparents Job"

“women with their backs against a raging fire they escaped from” genre

Well that hurts

the lady at the grab-n-go actually missed having Vance there to play pinball. she missed how she would have to call the police every other day because Vance had fought someone. she missed hearing the swearing shed hear when he wouldn't beat his high score. once Vance went missing she put a 'out of order' sign on the pinball machine so no one would play it or beat the high score cus the machine was reserved for Vance and Vance only. she never got the machine changed as she would feel like it was disrespectful to Vance and wanted to keep some sort of memorabilia for everyone.

who is doing it like them

Anthony Lockwood my beloved

One of the things I love most about Lockwood is that he is the textbook example of the "one who is scared to love" but instead of being extremely cold and callous all the time like your normal tragic backstory male mc, he can't stop himself from loving.

The thing is, we know he tries. (See THB). He tries to keep everyone at a distance, tries to be cold and calculating, but he can't do it. He wants to be Sherlock Holmes, highly functioning sociopath, but he can't do it.

And it shows up in the smallest ways: how immediately understanding he is of Lucy when she doesn't want to explain what happened at Jacobs' even though he is interviewing her for a job. How he stood up for the bratty nightwatch kid when Ned was bullying him, simply because he didn't like watching someone smaller get picked on. Or when he mercifully changed the bet with Kipps, because at the end of the day it was a petty bet to begin with, and they had just been through so much together, and honestly it didn't matter anymore. There was no reason to humilate anyone. How he will always protect another agent, even if they are Fittes. Heck, he even stands up for the Fittes' agents, saying "they're just kids like us." It's the adults he has beef with.

Lucy mentions that any news of a death by ghost-touch weighs on Lockwood. He is incredibly patient with Danny Skinner and perturbed that a kid this young is in his living room alone.

All three of them think of Lucy as the one with the bleeding heart. She's a Listener, a feeler, the one who is most affected by the past suffering of the ghosts. But that's for the dead.

Lockwood is a bleeding heart for the living. He tries not to be. He hates it. Because caring means risking hurt. Caring means you can lose what you care about. But for as hard as he tries to pretend he doesn't, for as good as he is at acting like nothing can phase him, it does.

Lockwood is scared of loving. But he can't stop.

HELPPP