You Can’t Tell Me It Wouldn’t Happen

the reveal that mizu is not only the ronin but also the bride is so well executed. the way she walks the line between man and woman, white and japanese, victor and victim... it's good fucking writing.

andrew has only ever hurt aaron once.

it was when they were both still in high school, the first year andrew was on his medication. he took a dose and fell asleep during a movie, out cold. aaron and nicky both let him sleep, and then nicky went to go start dinner while aaron woke andrew. he woke him by touching his shoulder, and andrew had him up and pinned against the wall before he fully registered it was aaron. hand around his brother's throat, nicky comes back in and freaks out (one of the first times this has happened, more than just a hit). andrew releases aaron and nicky asks him what the hell that was. andrew doesn't say anything before aaron interrupts him– nicky, it was my fault, he was asleep, i shouldn't've touched him, he didn't mean to do anything, it didn't even hurt, i promise. and andrew stops. stares at his brother because he has heard him say those exact words before, in a different house, bruised by a different hand– andrew, seriously, it's not a big deal, it didn't even hurt. it was my fault anyway, and she's drunk, she didn't mean it.

andrew doesn't say anything, but he hears it. he remembers. he never touches aaron again.

my favourite thing about the perfect court is how they are all parallels of each other - each person could have ended up like one of the others, but they didn’t.

neil could’ve ended up like jean, if his mother hadn’t taken him and run. neil could’ve ended up like riko, if he’d internalised his father’s abuse and tried to earn his affection instead of fearing it. if he’d tried to become someone his father would be proud of - like riko does - he would’ve become heartlessly violent. but he doesn’t.

jean could’ve been like neil, if he’d had just one family member care about him enough to run. he could’ve ended up like kevin, if he’d gone with him when kevin ran. he could’ve been like riko, if he’d taken everything that had been done to him and inflicted it on the world/people around him, but he doesn’t.

kevin could’ve ended up like riko, if he’d twisted tetsuji’s abuse enough to believe that the things he deserved were taken from him. he could’ve ended up like jean, if he’d refused to run after his hand was broken.

riko could’ve ended up like any of them. if an adult had cared about him enough to save him, he could’ve ended up like neil. if he’d hated his father instead of fighting for his attention, or if he internalised the abuse he faced instead of inflicting the same abuse on others, he’d have been more like jean or neil. if he’d accepted his place and decided to fight for the things he did have - exy, kevin - he’d have been more like kevin. but he doesn’t.

yes, their situations are largely shaped by the people around them - riko, jean, and kevin (until he learns about wymack) do not have an adult in their lives that cares about them enough to change their situation. but it’s also their individual responses to their abuse that shapes how they act. i’m not trying to say that people get to choose their trauma response, but it’s important that riko and neil parallel each other because we’re shown the could have beens. it shows you that it really only takes one person to change everything - mary taking neil and running is so so so important for how neil’s character and personality and trauma response turns out.

neil could’ve ended up like riko, but he doesn’t. riko could’ve ended up like neil, but he doesn’t.

Going to be thinking about this for years

my roman empire is that if clarke had gone back up to space in season 5 instead of echo, her and bellamy would’ve realised how in love they were and ended up together.

never getting over the fact that clarke thinks jasper died hating her, and he probably did.

when you read aftg from neil’s perspective you sort of get used to his fucked up logic but the moment you see him from jeans pov you’re like oh . he’s literally just a short little freak (affectionate)

this lyric but its edgar allan, usc, penn state, and then the foxes