This Right Here Is One Of My Favorite Moments For The Dynamic Between Hardy And Ellie. Throughout The

The thing that is so exciting about the Thirteenth Doctor is the fact that she’s starting off with a clean slate. She’s excitable and childish and so much lighter than any of the other Doctors since the start of the 2005 series, and that’s because she can be. Doctors Nine through Eleven had their childish sides, yes, but there was so much darkness there behind their eyes and actions. So much pain. He was the last of the Time Lords. Until halfway through Eleven’s journey he believed that he had committed the most atrocious act of murder. But when Gallifrey was saved there was hope. Hope for the next day. Hope for the time when maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t be so alone anymore. Twelve started out colder and more aloof but by the end he’d thawed considerably and even told the Doctor he would become to ‘Work hard, run fast, and be kind’.

And she does, and she is. She doesn’t hold onto the burdens of the past. She’s not the murderer of her people. She’s not the last of the Time Lords. She’s lost her family, and there’s real sadness there when she talks about them to Yasmin and Ryan and Graham, but she’s learned how to build around the grief and carry them with her. There’s steel there in her when she’s facing evil, but that’s simply the Doctor shining through. 

She’s just brilliant.

'And there shall be a great cry in Egypt, such as never has been or ever will be again!'

Broadchurch is a story about mothers

Yes, it’s stated and shown that Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller are certainly the main characters, and Alec’s journey is certainly the most obvious storyline in the series, I won’t argue that.

But Broadchurch is a story about mothers.

The series opens up with a shot of Danny Latimer standing on the cliffs and then it cuts to Beth Latimer waking abruptly the next morning. Most of the first episode focuses on Beth and her journey finding Danny’s body, in fact, and her struggle trying to understand the loss of her son is a main focus of the first series. Several scenes in those episodes focus primarily on her:

(Realizing what “finding a body on the beach” might mean.)

(Opening of s1e2, when she’s folding Danny’s clothes.)

(S1e7. “I lay there thinking what would I go through to have him back? I’d be raped, I’d be tortured, I’d have a gang of men on me, I’d be left for dead if it meant [Danny] was safe.” This was Jodie Whittaker’s finest moment, in my opinion. She hits Beth’s desperation and agony right on the head.)

(And of course the moment when she tries to process the fact that it was Joe Miller who killed her son, and all of the fucked-up irony that comes with it.)

There are so many more moments when Beth is the prime example of the Mother Angle that Chibnall approaches but these were the moments when I think it was strongest.

Ellie is another example of mothers in this story. She’s constantly protective of Tom when Hardy pushes to speak to him and take part in the recreation. We all laugh at the moment when Ellie threatens to throw a cup of piss at her boss but the reason WHY she says it in the first place is the clue:

-”I’m his mum, I decide.”

-”Oh, so your commitment to this investigation stops outside these doors.”

Hardy tries to trump her authority over Tom. She explicitly states she doesn’t want her son to take part in the investigation in any way and Hardy keeps on pushing, even insulting her commitment as a police officer.

Don’t push the protective Mama Bear.

Favorite moment of Ellie as Protective-Mama-Bear is s1e8. It’s the moment that bothered me the most when Jocelyn Knight brings it up in s2.

Ellie does confront Joe as a wife, certainly, at the end of s1e8. But again it’s interesting to note exactly what it is that Joe asks that sets her off:

She’s in control enough to only scream at Joe from a distance in the beginning of this scene. It’s only when Joe requests to see Tom that she sets upon him uncontrollably.

Seriously, do not piss off the Protective Mama Bear.

S2 deals with Sandbrook more than it really deals with Broadchurch as a whole, I think, and it definitely focuses more on Alec as a character, but the theme of Mothers is still prevalent in the contrasting images of Cate Gillespie, a drunk and unable to cope with the loss of Pippa; Tess Henchard, Alec’s ex-wife who loves her daughter but is willing to keep her guilty actions a secret so that Daisy won’t hate her; Beth, focused so much on getting closure for Danny she almost forgets about her newborn child (until Mark’s actions shake her out of her obsessive need for ONLY Danny); and then finally Ellie again, warning Joe away from their sons with the threat of death if he dares show up around either Tom or Fred again. It will be very interesting to see what direction Chibnall will go with the Mothers theme in s3.

This is what happens when I watch Richard II while hyped up on too much coffee.

Radiation and its severity was still so wildly underestimated in 1986, but all I am currently doing watching this series is screaming at the screen at the firefighters and crew to just get out of there, literally run for their lives in the opposite direction. Holy crap, this series going to be hard to watch.

As a fan of Captain America, I enjoyed Civil War (the film). But I don't particularly care for it as a showing of who Cap is, or who Jack Kirby and Joe Simon intended him to be when they created him in the 1940s. I understand the Accords and I can understand the way differing opinions would divide the Avengers into taking sides on the issue 8n the film. But in the movie it was a very limited character scope. And I understand that too, you can't have a huge ensemble cast the size of what the comics boasted in one film. But the movie(s) focus a bit too much on Steve's relationship with Bucky, and by doing so I think for Civil War the filmmakers shot themselves in the foot a bit. Captain America has always stood for the American people. What the country is supposed to be rather than what people say it should be. You see time and time again in his very long comic book history that he hasn't always done what government officials want him to do. He's a physical representation of what America's best ideals are. He's always kept the "little guy" in mind. And that is portrayed beautifully in First Avenger and Winter Soldier. My problem with the movie Civil War is that it's too small. It features only the Avengers. In the comic books it's the whole Marvel universe. The Avengers, the X-men, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, etc. And they're all taking sides. Sue Storm and Reed Richards separate for a time because they support opposing sides of the issues the comic storyline takes. It's ugly and it's harsh seeing that happen but it's true to life. Families are torn apart by differing viewpoints. Friendships collapse. Tony and Steve case in point. They've been friends since the 60s, when Cap was introduced back into the comics with the Avengers. And in the comic storyline of Civil War, I'm not going to claim that either of them were wholly right or wrong when it came to their taking sides. Tony stood by the government. Steve didn't, believing that the American government would trample upon the rights of its citizens. And they fought. Badly. They both drew blood. Cap's concern has always been civilans. The people of America. And by having Steve focus so much on Bucky in Civil War, you lose a fundamental part of what was so important in the comic. Steve's confrontation with Tony in the movie takes place in a vacant, "safe" place for a fight between superheroes where minimum damage is done and the least amount of lives are lost. On the other hand you have the comic where that final confrontation between them takes place amidst dozens of other superheroes wreaking havoc in the streets of New York. People are hurt. People die. And when Steve has Tony pinned to the ground with the shield raised to deal the killing blow (and he was intending to kill Tony then) it wasn't his sense of honor or morals that stopped him. It was a group of firefighters and cops who tackled him and physically dragged him away from Tony. That shocks him back to his senses. He realizes that in his desire to "win" the debate who which side of the superhero community was right, he had (in)directly caused civilians to be hurt or killed. And he turns himself in and orders his team to stand down. That is what is lacking in the movie. That is what is so disappointing to me about CA:CW. For MCU Steve he doesn't see the repercussions of what his actions have caused because in the movie the fighting is contained. He doesn't have to deal with the idea that his own actions have led to civilian casualties. He never turns himself in because there is no moment where civilians physically intervene to stop him. MCU Steve still has the moral "high ground", when in contrast comic Steve realizes that fighting never brings anything but pain for the innocents caught in the crossfire. Captain America has always stood for the little guy. Please, let the MCU remember that in their next movie.

RED SKELTON’S CELLPHONE

i never talk about these things but i can’t remain silent.

i know tumblr doesn’t give a SHIT when things happen in countries outside the “most popular ones” (such as the usa & england). it’s true, don’t lie to me. y’all don’t give A FUCK. not every issue and problem in said countries gets the appropriate exposure but in general shit shows up on the news WORLD FREAKING  WIDE. you set up donations, you help out, your spread the word, you say “pray for x”……

southern europe is burning. 

my country is burning.

people are dying - at home, on the road, trying to run away, in their cars.

yesterday my country had 300 active fires.

people are losing EVERYTHING they own.

i have a friend that is on a train right now passing through places that have been burnt to the ground and she says the smoke is so intense it’s getting inside the train and she can barely breathe.

and yet, even though several people (myself included) have been trying to bring awareness to what has been happening in southern europe… what we get from most of you, those not part of the countries suffering, is silence. we don’t ask for money, we don’t ask for shit other than a reblog to spread awareness… something you can delete in 24/48hrs if you wish. 

i don’t know what to tell you. i’m angry. i’m frustrated. i’m disappointed. i feel like i’m screaming into the void. “a reblog does nothing” - you know that’s a damn lie, you know exposure always helps, you know people start paying attention when posts on social media become popular. my country in particular is a small one, we get ZERO exposure. y’all are only starting to figure out we even fucking exist bc of the shit we’ve been winning lately. 

but hell, if the EU doesn’t give a shit, why should some user on tumblr dot com?

again, i don’t know what to tell you so i’ll let the images speak for themselves: 

An image captured by a Nasa satellite shows a thick plume of smoke blowing southward from the Greek island of Chios over the island of Crete

Torneros de Jamuz, Spain

Duca, Croatia

A helicopter from Italy’s civil protection service drops water on a fire near the railway between Venice and Trieste

Residents take refuge on the beach as a wildfire burns on the mountain next to the village of Lithi, on the Greek island of Chios

Men gather cattle during a forest fire in Vieira de Leiria, Marinha Grande, Portugal.

Charred trees are seen on the hills above the Cloister of Thivaidas on Mount Athos, a World Heritage Site in Greece

Portugal

There's nothing I want to say, except that I love Martha Jones a lot.

“What General Lee’s feelings were I do not know. As he was a man of much dignity, with an impassible face, it was impossible to say whether he felt inwardly glad that the end had finally come, or felt sad over the result, and was too manly to show it. Whatever his feelings, they were entirely concealed from my observation; but my own feelings, which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse. I do not question, however, the sincerity of the great mass of those who were opposed to us.”

– Ulysses S. Grant, As Quoted in Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant