something I like about Blue Sargent is that she’s so believably seventeen years old. she misses her mom and yearns to keep her friendships and also to pursue her future and grow. she insults her cousin to her face but loves and is very protective of her. she wears fingerless gloves to cemeteries to look cool even though she knows trying to look cool will bite her in the ass, she monologues about how if she opens her pink switchblade she’s sure she’ll cut herself as a sensible teen but also monologues about how she looves the idea of herself as a badass with a switchblade, and then she does indeed open it and cut herself and connects it to her emotional hurt. she’s both self-conscious and confident, and highly pretentious. She’s a one thousand year old condescending brat who wishes she was surrounded by fellow one thousand year old condescending brats at all times. she’s impulsive and idealistic and empathetic and sensible and stubborn and judgemental and curious and compassionate and playful and fiercely loving. she’s a fanciful sensible thing, she’s good but she’s not nice, she’s brave because she’s full of fear. I love her
I've been pondering the split fandom reaction to Helena Eagan trying to make sense of it all. On one side there is an understanding that all of the harm she has done is unacceptable and irreconcilable. On the other hand some people are intrigued and empathize with the misogyny and pressure she may face and how love and acceptance may be a salve to those issues.
A little bit of it is girlbossification and fandoms yearning and enjoyment of redemptive narratives but I also think the privilege of whiteness is also at play.
Helena Eagan is a rich white woman who benefits and aids in the oppression of the average laborer. And though she is a victim of misogyny and daddy issues she is still the heir to a major corporation. Parts of this fandom have twisted themselves into pretzels trying to justify why she is actually the victim and heroine of this story. And maybe they're right I have no idea what Dan Erickson has planned but the need to make her the central victim when she is facing the same facets and tools of oppressiveness that Devon and Natalie are doesn't make her particularly special.
It just means that she is in a world in which these systems and attitudes exist. It doesn't make her any more oppressed than any other woman who lives in this society. The thing that actually sets Helena Eagan apart is the power she holds as an Eagan and the harm she perpetuates and creates. Helena Eagan RAPED Mark S./Mark Scout. She took away Helly R's autonomy.
Why hasn't the same empathy been given to characters like Seth Milchick and Natalie Kalen. It's because they are not white. As the racial contours of this story continue to take shape I urge you to deconstruct where your biases lie and how they impact how you interact with the characters.
"the board is going to give him what he wants, including helly r" OUGHHHHHHH i am rooting for mark/helly but DAMN it is bone chilling to be confronted with helena realizing that when the elevator door opens she will be probably touched intimately by a man who is a total stranger. her body is a thing lumon is willing to give him and she has to sign over all her agency and ability to consent to helly r.
truly terrifying
i keep noticing most severance meta has a common appreciation towards helly's violence as a gateway to liberation (it's awesome, i agree!) but somehow all memes and conversation about dylan revolve around comic relief, his sigma grindset vibes in early season 1 (that are presented as a joke because haha, of course, he's fat, his outie doesn't win muscle shows, he thinks waffle parties are so cool, he thinks he's so great but the joke is that he's delusional)
but dylan also had a violent catalyst to class consciousness after the first blatant act of infantilization in defiant jazz, after he realized the shitty little office rewards were a bribe to keep him from finding out his outie has children, a family, and things he cares about that he's being denied. his outie severed because he can't hold down a job because of disabling mental illness, needs health insurance and wants to ease the financial load on his wife, who works night shifts. and you want him to get excited about two waffles?
dylan was radicalized through the you that you are right alongside mark. dylan chose to stay during the OTC against his start-of-the-season individualist characterization because he thought all of them deserved to know who they were. dylan asked for a portrait of all of MDR, knowing they might not come back, to keep him focused during the switch operation. dylan was the one to run after irving when he was clearly distressed (worried about financial insecurity, even subconsciously) and tried to keep him from committing suicide, he was the first person (and one of the very few so far) that acknowledged his relationship with burt as romantic and in a positive light. dylan requested the a funeral and gave an eulogy even when he wasn't sure he could trust helly (and it's helly's agreement that makes him trust her) and calling out how shitty mark was for not even acknowledging lumon killed irving because both mark and himself fucked up? dylan immediately worried about gretchen's happiness when they meet. dylan asked her if it was okay to hug, he acknowledged his outie's relationship with his wife and his own sadness about the situation without shifting the blame onto gretchen herself, and basked in the genuine love he got in return.
do you know how big these things are for someone with a history of relentless self deprecation for not being able to financially provide (in a show where family and material relations are constantly intertwined)? how it manifests in the way innie dylan engages with rewards as proof of accomplishment, how big it was when he noticed they are not?
a quick blue sketch sheet !!
I love how much Helly’s clothes have to say not just about her outie’s identity, but the origin of her rebellion as a whole.
Like… she breaks the dress code. Constantly. We know from The Lexington Letter that Lumon only allows white, black, navy, gray, and pastels. And what does Helly wear? Bright blues, green, orange, and at one point, even a dress that is unapologetically crayon-yellow.
For most of season one, the audience thinks this symbolizes Helly’s rebellious nature. Of course her outfits break the rules and stand out like a sore thumb in the muted halls of MDR — so does she! Helly is a new wild card spicing up the lives of her coworkers and shaking up the system. She doesn’t care a whit for Lumon and their stupid regulations, and her clothing reflects that.
But remember… Helly R. doesn’t dress herself.
Helena does.
If Helly could choose to break the dress code, she would — but she has no say in what she puts on every morning. It isn’t her who’s doing this. It’s Helena Eagan who wakes up and, every time she gets ready for work, purposefully dresses herself in ways contrary to her own father’s company.
Whatever her reasons, the point is this: the only reason Helly can unashamedly break the dress code is that no one has the guts to tell the CEO’s daughter to follow the rules. That rebellion, that defiant warmth? Only there because of privilege.
And isn’t that the point? Isn’t that so much of what Helly R.’s “moxie” is? Yes, she fights against MDR’s mistreatment and galvanizes the innies to revolution! Which is awesome! But a lot of it’s because when she first woke up on that table, something inside her went, “This isn’t right.
“This isn’t how people are supposed to treat me.”
It is SO deliciously ironic that almost every sliver, every atom of resistance Helly has against Lumon is an inversion from a sense of entitlement that they gave her in the first place. Helly R. goes to work with someone else’s power over her skin. It’s both the flaming crest of her defiance and a constant, quiet reminder that it is only there because she is not like the others. That she is only rebellious because on the outside… she is used to getting her way.
lowkey obsessed with my own blog. it has all my favorite things and all the opinions i agree with. best place on the internet maybe ever
So. I love every character in TRC, with all my heart and soul. And I love them with the understanding that these dynamics and nuances of their interactions speak to their larger character themes. All of the protagonists are teenagers who feel very out of control in their lives and utilize varying coping mechanisms to regain external control that compensates for their internalized panic. They are dumb and hormonal and they make stupid stupid decisions and they hurt each others feelings because they are seventeen and all of them are seriously traumatized and continue the trauma train through all books.
Now, this feels like a safe space for me to not only admit I love Adam (if you can't tell by now please inform me so I can rectify this immediately) and he could have become the villain like originally planned and I'd have been rooting for and justifying him the entire time. So take everything with a grain of salt that I'm someone who thinks all his actions track and make perfect sense, especially considering who he is how he was raised and how he internalizes the environment.
So when I say that I don't see much nuance in the Gansey vs Adam dynamic when it comes directly to money and Adam's home life I mean it. Like I can understand that Gansey is coming from a good place, he doesn't mean to be condescending, and in his head he just wants to protect and love his friends. And we can tell that Adam positively adores Gansey, like an outrageous amount. Multiple times Adam has cited he's incapable of saying no to him. So when he does that should matter.
A constant theme of Gansey's character, especially early on, is the idea he can't speak without offending others. He's quick to make a verbal misstep. He doesn't think all his words through and he easily hurts others. This isn't even about the "repugnant" scene (that alone would have been enough for me cut someone off, especially considering Adam had just lost his hearing because of his abuser), or about Gansey saying Adam is just as bad as his mother, or any other time Gansey makes a particularly cruel jab about Adam's abuse. There is nuance to it, and I'll never ever say I hate Gansey because you know it's all about intention and Adam responds because he isn't used to people caring for him or how to not take it as pity.
But how many times do we see Adam calmly explain (and less calmly as the point continues to be pushed) why he can't accept Gansey's assistance or his money? Multiple times to Gansey, by the way, and more to others. It's implied it's an ongoing conversation. And Gansey steps over the line several times. He does what he can get away with and then pushes over and over. And I fully understand the intention, I cannot stress that enough, and I know it's because Gansey loves him so so much. But even if you boil it down to money, I truly think that if someone says "hey don't do [this thing] it pushes my boundaries and I need to handle my life in my own way on my own terms.' then it should be respected. And Gansey tends to push these lines and assume he knows how to handle situations better than his friends because Gansey is a very rich teenager who makes poor decisions, especially regarding money. He does it with Ronan, too. And you can have all the good intention in the world and still do something shitty in the eyes of another person. I see a lot of people say Gansey did nothing wrong and Adam is being an asshole and that fundamentally makes no sense to me. Not even counting the shit Gansey says to him, but the general attitude towards money and the disregard for Adam's very clear boundaries are an issue. I'm surprised they're defending because "Gansey just wants to help!" I'm very weird about money and favours myself and have a hard time viewing acts of kindness as something I need to repay (I got in a fight with a friend for buying me a present when I explicitly said not to get me one, I have a list of drinks or snacks friends have gotten me so I can repay them, etc.) and when my friends cross those boundaries I get pissed. And my friends and I are in the same tax bracket. Blue behaves in a similar manner to Adam surrounding money, and doesn't get nearly as much vitriol over it (Blue in general gets overlooked by fans but I digress.) Nevermind that Adam is a person who thrives on the ability to make his own choices, and his agency and sense of control is vital for his survival.
I think every character is deeply flawed. Every one of them. Gansey's flaws are a huge part of his story, his constant need for control (all of their needs for control) and his tendency to try and fix other people's problems to distract from his own. And it's difficult to criticize because it comes from a good place. If it was anyone else, it'd be unforgivable. But it's Gansey. And he truly doesn't consider this condescending or disrespectful. But when it's regularly laid out and explained to him it's hard to give him a pass. He speaks on how he doesn't want to be judged for his money, but he will use his money when he needs to solve a problem. (He will hate himself for it, of course. But nonetheless.) Because it's the environment he was raised in and its hard to put himself in a place where he understands why that can be inappropriate.
This isn't like... a major hate train on Gansey. I love Gansey. I really do. But pretending like the dynamic between him and Adam isn't as equally (if not more so?) influenced by Gansey's pushing of those boundaries is a huge misreading and a disregard for how beautifully complex Gansey is written. This primarily springs from my own TRC annotations and some posts I've seen swirling around.
Adam Parrish communicating with Cabeswater
when i remember that no amount of waiting will make me brave and no amount of fear will keep me safe
edit: image description by voxratasma added to alt text
🌱she/her[ENG] Artist | 20 | 🇺🇸 This is a space for me to experiment with my art and express myself 🙇🏻♀️
95 posts