Rust and Ruin

The insane parallels of Barry consciously trying not to expose John to video games the glorify war and combat to the point where he doesn’t know they exist, to Barry then striding through a Walmart where he buys these assault weapons and carries them out in open sight among all these parents and children not even batting an eye at the sight while they continue their shopping, to Fuches shielding John’s eyes and telling him to look away so he does not have to see the horrors of death strewn around him (to perhaps spare him the way someone should have spared Barry himself), only for all of it to be undone in those final moments as that film both frames Barry as a hero on account of his actions (defending his family) and reveals that he’s been given honours while it’s Cousineau who’s in prison and John sits there, falling prey to the glorification of violence that the show has been critiquing all along. That everyone around him tried to avoid for so long.

Fuches being the only one to break the cycle and survive the whole series of events because he actually examined himself, saw the truth of who he was and what he’s done and then accepted and embraced it, before consciously choosing not to enact more violence (unless necessary) — to not push another “kid” into the violent path he’s sent so many others into, that he’s sent Barry into repeatedly — by both giving Hank an out if he were just to be honest with himself, and then shielding John with his own body before gently guiding him past the wounded bodies and into his father’s arms before acknowledging Barry one last time and disappearing into the night.

The Barry finale is just so… *clenches fist and screams into the void*

Bill Hader and Jack Quaid have a similar sort of energy and I just need to put this thought somewhere. Good night and god bless.

Just thinking about Oscar Isaac fighting for Finn and Poe to become canon and Bill Hader insisting that Richie be overtly gay in It Chapter 2. It’s all crumbs at the end of the day in terms of big blockbuster movies, but it’s worth a lot to have someone look at their character and go, “Yes. This makes sense for them. We need to make it clear, otherwise what are we even doing here?” It’s the bare minimum to understand the value of having aspects of someone’s identity represented on screen, but in 2020 even that remains too tall an ask? Fucking wild.

You’re braver than you think // You have bewitched me body and soul

Based on this.