Critical Role Campaign 2 Episode 62 // Our Flag Means Death Episode 9
hello i think its been a few hours short of a full calendar year since ive posted any widofjord on here huh
a pirate’s life for you & me ☠
writing this at 4am bc i listened to his hands by blegh why the fuck was widofjord allowed to do that. like ik it couldn’t have been undeniable bc wf was never as widespread as a lot of other ships but also like what the FUCK. what was that scene when caleb gave him the glove of blasting after he cast off u’kotoa. what was that talking scene on the boat in 98. what was the first confrontation about fjords accent. WHAT in the living SHIT was the BLOOD PACT . they made a blood pact and then DIDNT ADDRESS IT EVER??? i’m so wild. was it never fleshed out because no one made obnoxious kissy noises about it. the pirate arc was so sexy and for WHAT
i don't think the beaujes thing is that deep. does cr's story feel incomplete and rushed? Absolutely. did it feel like they force fed ships? also yes. your criticisms are absolutely valid but having it focused on a singular ship is more telling about your where your strife with the show lies. i also feel it lacks nuance and feels very you vs the crew
bestie if u think my criticism of cr is only limited to 'beaujes' and not the overarching frustration I've had w them as liberals trying to handle an arc of political intrigue and systematic corruption and as white liberals are wont to do, FAILING SPECTACULARLY bc they don't even think to challenge the norm bc it accomodates them just fine so why would they? these are a bunch of privileged middle-aged white ppl playing a board game. the system suits them just fine and that's only the tip of the iceberg bc the narrative construct of the campaign is all over the place (if it exists at all), and if u haven't read or cared to read any of my arguments and just decided to come at me w this ask of "it's not that deep get over it"....... then u haven't been paying attention at all 💖
The way Critical Role handled both BeauYasha and BeauJester, and ShadowGhast/Blumentrio respectively, serve as a cautionary tale about what can go wrong when queer people let straight allies speak over us and tell our stories for us.
CR fell face first into basically every stereotypical pitfall that straight people fall into when they try to write/portray queer stories. For instance:
- MLM relationships being allowed to be emotionally intimate but almost never physically intimate.
- WLW relationships often being extremely physically intimate but almost never emotionally intimate. (After being together for months in real time, B and Y still *exclusively* communicate by slapping each other on the ass and flashing each other).
- Treating the specific people in queer relationships as interchangeable. (Beau literally saying her feelings for Jester “transferred” onto Yasha).
- Pairing-the-spares, or in other terms, only having exactly two gay characters, whose relationship goes severely underdeveloped because it is “assumed” they will get together from the moment they meet.
- Generally having a “heterocentric” focus/priority. This is most obvious in the way the cast, and by extension, the narrative, treats Astrid (who we’ve seen a lot of) VS how it treats Eadwulf (who we’ve barely seen) when they both played an equal part in Calebs life.
- “Lampshading” or hinting at queerness without ever confirming it. I.E. leaving room for plausible deniability. I remember this clearly being an issue with two NPCs early in the campaign, Dolan and Horace, who are implied to be married, though the word husband is never once spoken.
and very many more issues besides. Ultimately, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the character whos queerness is treated with the most respect (Caduceus) is the character being played by one of the few queer players.
if you dont mind explaining, why do you think liam shouldnt be the one playing caleb? no hate just genuinely curious, wondering if there is something i missed
his white liberal centrist democratic politics bleed into his character choices and he isn't good at seperating or acknowledging the flaws of his character w/o taking it as a personal insult. his lack of self-awareness is seen extremely in caleb wherein the political agendas etc he roots for. the assembly is not something to be 'fixed'. Trent is not a guy to be 'cooperated with.' liam doesn't understand trauma beyond using it simply for drama.
literally anyone else but a white liberal american can play caleb better given the plot and agency caleb could use to abolish the assembly entirely. but we instead get liam wanting to 'reform' it and have caleb become a part of it; be mad at NPCs for not wanting to join the same centrist agenda. trauma is not a drama. if ur gonna play a traumatized character the least u could do is know that 'cooperating' with that character's abuser is not in a character's best interests. he doesn't know to seperate the character from his person and participates in this weird parasocial relationship w the fandom and encourages it moreso, to boot.
rip to him but literally anybody else, who understands trauma and growth and regression could do it better. and nevermind the way he's got caleb being bisexual but only being 'seriously attracted' to women only (re: Astrid and Jester). and the men get only mentioned in talks and it's never really followed thru in game (Eodwulf, Essek). Caleb may be bi rep but he's in no way decent bi rep. Caleb may be rep for trauma and abuse but he's in no way decent rep for that either, considering how Liam treats all of that for dramatic applause instead of w serious consideration or thought. or how CR as a whole refuses to add content warnings to their triggering storylines. Caleb's backstory might be a discout ripoff of Carmen Sandiego's but he doesn't really do it very good either lol
Some ppl that I know and have seen, understand Caleb better. A Lot better than Liam does. They can definitely play Caleb better than Liam can. Caleb, being a liberal centrist after all thats happened? Talk abt a character truly wasted in Liam's hands, luv. ❤️
I know I've talked to death the fact FJ has brought out the worst in fjord and he's basically back to ep 1 toxic masculinity but oh man has it brought out the worst in Jester too
Like I always thought it felt so unfulfilled to Jester's character arc and Laura's push against ppl infantilizing Jester because that's basically what fjord is doing in this relationshop
But also Jester has relearning all of her toxic awful character traits of not knowing boundaries, idealized fjord in such an unhealthy manner and also just straight up equating stuff to her story books and like we are back to square one on all of these characters
What's the point of watching for 3 years and 1100+ for them to be their absolute worst selves again and to ignore any development they had or to acknowledge any of this behaviour has bad and damaging
it’s real beaujes shitpost hours
could you love two people at the same time?
could you live with yourself telling two lies?
i’m in love with a boy i know
comfort
i need you all to know fjord is absolutely wearing shorts rn
he…
Grog + “My buddy Pike”
the fill tool neglected fjords pants so i guess this is just how its gunna be
🎵 I was busy thinking about girls (girls) girls (girls) 🎵