Norm is absolutely one of my favourite characters in the Fallout universe. The fact he loves his family and wants what's best for them being what drives him to look for the truth of what has happened to them and why is fantastic. The ultimate difference between him and Chet, too, is a great show of his character. It began with him choosing to help his sister find their father and ends with him coming to the same realisation as she has – their father was not the man he said he was and much of their life has been a lie. Watching him decide to take the hunt for the truth into his own hands, even when it could be the end of him, is incredibly compelling.
What makes Norm so enjoyable to watch, too, is just how human he is. All of the characters in the show are that way, which is part of what makes it great (yes, even the ghouls as they were at one time human). The distress he feels at seeing what happened to Vault 32 being swept under the rug, and the anger he feels towards Betty and the others for doing it seemingly out of a desire for control and power more than anything else is tangible. The fact it drives him to take the risk of sneaking into Vault 31 shows his bold and couregous side, and also that it's driven by not only his own curiosities but his desire for the truth. It’s a great parallel trait he shares with Lucy and, as she comes to find out, their mother. The anger he feels towards his father and also the desperation he feels to survive are a great contrast of his truth seeking and his baser humanity.
All things considered, Norm's competing feelings of a desire for truth, a desire for safety, curiosity, and a love for his family are what make him a great character. The fact he shares those traits with Lucy but expresses them in different ways creates a strong parallel narrative for their characters, and also does a great job showing the two sides of courage. The fact neither he or Lucy are impervious or shy away from moments of weakness and subsiming emotion latch onto the naivety from their upbringing and also their humanity. With them both now having to reckon with the truth about their father, a reunion between them will I'm sure be great and also remind them that not all of their family members are bad. Reckoning with the truth about their mother and Lucy's love for her being what compelled her to end her suffering before breaking down at the gravity of it is another layer of complexity to their family dynamics that both of them will need time to sit with. The contrasting feelings of how they knew their father versus what they've come to learn about him serve well to separate them from others like Chet; where he, their cousin, chooses to remain wilfully ignorant, they chose to put aside their fears and look for a truth they knew was out there.
Chet is a coward because he chooses to ignore the truth he has seen with his own eyes.
Lucy is brave because she is willing to go to any and all lengths to find her father and is then willing to end the suffering her mother is under because of him; she is openly emotional and driven by that and the love she feels for her family and is horrified and shattered by her father being a different man than the one she had always known.
Norm is brave because he is willing to do anything for his sister and father and, when faced with the choice to stay in blissful ignorance, because he chooses to seek out the truth even when it could hurt him; he, too, doesn't shy away from the pain the truth about his father causes him and, like Lucy, has to learn to live with the competing memories of their father and the reality of who and what he is.
Hank is a coward because, while he goes to the extremes to attempt to preserve himself and his family, he refuses to accept the fact his actions have consequences for the way his children (and, previously, their mother) had seen him and instead tries to force things to go back to the way they were before his children could learn of his ability to be selfish.
And Rose was brave because she loved her children so much that she would and did do everything for them, even when she had to put her love for their father aside and risk herself so that she and her children could have a chance to live in truth rather than lies. Her children share that with her, even though they didn't know it, just as much as they share her love, empathy, and desire for the truth even when living in wilful ignorance could have been easier.
Tl;dr – the entire MacLean family being driven by love for each other but expressing it in different ways that ultimately drive them apart is not only great at showcasing the different sides of courage and cowardice but showing the way Lucy and Norm are so similar and are driven by their love for their family just as much as their desire for the truth and that neither Lucy or Norm shy away from their emotional and impulsive reactions to it presents them as not only fully human but two sides of the same coin; they are both couregous even though they take two different paths to the truth.
Thinking about Jake being 'hot for teacher' and realizing (after the fact, post-canon when he finds out about who Mav is for Rooster for real) that all the mannerisms he found hot in Rooster first time they met (and still are part of why he finds him attractive) are Maverick's mannerisms but inherited
(The way he moves his hips, the way he bops his head when he plays piano, the way he clenches his jaw when he's frustrated or angry, the way he raises his eyebrows and just-barely-there smirks when he flirts, the way humms instead of saying yeah, the way he ruffles his partner's Jake's hair when he's being fondly affectionate, the way he makes his french toast, putting it in the toaster before marinating, the way he bits down on his tongue when he's thinking about something complicated, even the way he clears his sweaty face with his shirt is exactly like Mav's - he takes it out from the side, not the front like everyone would; that's all Maverick but in Rooster's version)
[Maybe Jake even gets a second blast of surprise when he realizes the way Bradley wears his shirts unbutton on the top directly mimics the Iceman, the way the admiral scratches behind Maverick's ear directly mimics the way Bradley's done it to Jake countless times, the way he eats his ice cream - scoping it around the base, then taking the syrup or sprinkles, then coming back to the base, then to the top - they way plates his meals in three equal parts, veggies, meat, carbs; that's all Iceman]
God! Miller, just kiss me already! No, not like this! That, that… What? What does that mean? No, I didn’t… Nothing. I just, I didn’t mean it like that. I just, we can’t like that because that’s not… Do you know, like…? It’s very, like, you don’t… That’s not what it…
New Girl (2011 - 2018)
one of my favorite underrated iasip moments is when frank adds a random stop sign on a street as a “prank” and charlie is like “you created a four way intersection, if anything you made this road safer”
get ‘em mac <3
I miss early seasons of sunny.
And not really the type of jokes— I think dark humor is hilarious (duh) but some times they were a bit much. But I miss the dynamics. I feel like it’s even stretched up to s10 but the past few have felt so different. They felt out of character even though it’s still the same writers and the same characters and what not.
I guess I just miss when it seemed like The Gang actually cared about each other a bit. As much as they could, anyway. They’ve always been pieces of shut but they’ve always been each others pieces of shit, and it was special.
Even if they were doing something for their own gain, there was always a hint of them doing it for each other. Like, for example, Charlie Got M*lested. Dennis and Dee went full on private investigator, and sure they were only trying to “help” their their own ridiculous ego-centric/competitive reasons, but the factor the matter is they were still trying to help Charlie. In Charlie Has Cancer it seemed Dennis was truly concerned when Charlie told him, if not a bit uncomfortable. And I feel he only acted so weird because the way the Reynolds household worked when they were little. That’s a whole other post in itself, however.
In Dennis And Dee Get A New Dad, Charlie tagged along with Mac to visit his dad— and sure it was because the idea that Mac’s dad could be like a father figure to Charlie as well, but he was there to support Mac at the end of the day. As well as the fact they were so ready to beat the shit out of D&D’s biological dad for Frank.
In Dennis and Dee Go On Welfare, the twins hung out and acted like actual siblings. There was bickering and arguing sure, but that’s just how you act with your sibling. They hung out, they enjoyed each others presence, and it didn’t always have to be some huge joke about how everyone hates everyone.
Charlie Gets Crippled— when Dennis hit Charlie with his car it was real concern he had seeing Charlie in the hospital. As well as in Gun Fever when Dennis accidentally shoots him. You even see Dee talking to Colin about Charlie— letting him know Charlie’s okay. Like a friend does. Like you do when you care about someone. They even say they’ll help Charlie out with his rent!
There’s many more examples so I’ll just breeze through them here so this post doesn’t get too long. Dennis checking on Charlie and helping him write Dayman, Dennis knowing exactly how to calm Charlie down in The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition (and The Gang Goes to Hell), Sweet Dee Gives Birth, Dennis is a good brother. We see him being a good brother. And it’s not for any reason other than to care for Dee while she’s having her baby. Sweet Dee Has A Heart Attack, Dennis and Dee bond like actual brother and sister and he’s concerned about her well-being— actually concerned. In The Gang Wrestles For The Troops we see Charlie Dennis and Mac enjoying being together. We hear about them wrestling and having fun with one another and they stick together in those goofy fucking bird costumes. Macs Banging The Waitress: call it selfish desire or extreme attachment issues and an insane ego, but Dennis was troubled when Charlie and Mac agreed they were bffs and not him, he tried everything to get Charlie to change his mind. Charlie Kelly: King Of The Rats— I could write a whole essay on this episode alone. Dennis Dee and Mac went above and beyond for Charlie. Just to make his birthday special. Mac And Charlie Write A Movie: again, they just act like friends. Real friends. It’s obvious they cared for each other. In Charlie’s Mom Has Cancer they all try and figure out a way to help. And yeah there’s that whole subplot of Dennis not feeling anything, but I feel like that makes it matter more that he wanted to tag along to find a “cure”, whatever that cure may be.
And there’s so many more instances of them just…. Enjoying each others company. And I’m not saying it doesn’t happen anymore, I’m just saying it doesn’t happen nearly as often as it used to. It feels like now they’re just a group of ex-friends that all resent each other just below the surface. They had selfish reasoning, they always did, but they also cared about each other. The things they did, they did to try and benefit each other. And maybe it’s just because their characters are being flanderized, maybe I’m insane, I dunno. I just miss old Sunny.
it’s giving whatever the dragon and donkey had going on in the motion picture shrek (2021)
New Girl | Last Thanksgiving (S06, E07)
Just wondering, did anyone else think that this is what the psychic meant when she said that Rebecca was going to be a mother?
Guys, the annual recap is finally here!!
ruth ○ she/her ○ 20s ○ peace sign bisexual ○ never really knows what's happening ○ will probably figure it out someday ○ maybe ○ hopefully
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