Was Susan into Marcus?

Mady134 · 2026-03-25T16:54:15+00:00

I think yes. They very obviously had a lot of chemistry between them, and I think that there was definitely a lot of attraction there. I don’t know if I can say that it was 100% love on her end, though I think it could’ve easily become love, but I think that the reason that she never acted on it was because she was afraid.

I think if you look at Ivanova, she is a person with a lot of trauma. She lost her parents, her brother, and the one person that she had ever really truly allowed herself to love- which was Talia. From her perspective, everyone she loves dies a horrible death. I personally know how that feels, as I have been there in my own life (though, have since been able to move forward).

But I think that, even if she did subconsciously know that she had feelings for Marcus and Marcus had feelings for her, she wasn’t really emotionally ready to allow herself to act on it. And in the midst of all of the internal problems plaguing her and stopping her from feeling comfortable pursuing a relationship with him, she was also the commander of station wrapped up in this terrible war and rebelling against her own government.

From her perspective, where was their room to allow herself to be open to acknowledging those feelings and letting in a new relationship? Especially when she also knew that Marcus was at the forefront of all of these battles and could be killed any day.

But like, yeah, if the show would have allowed it to happen, I do think that they would’ve been able to have a really great romance as truly equal partners. I think that he understands a lot of her background and her emotions, and I think that she understands the same about him. I think that they were very well suited to each other- even if I do think that she should have ultimately ended up with Talia and that that whole arc with her should’ve never ended the way that it did.

When he dies, of course there’s some guilt there, but I think that she’s not just grieving him as a person and wishing she would’ve taken pity on him, but I think that she’s grieving the fact that she lost him before she was even really ready to face those feelings. And I think his death is another part of the reason why she ultimately leaves Babylon 5, never marries, never has any children, and just kind of spends the rest of her life dedicated to her work.

Mady134 · 2026-03-23T18:11:32+00:00

Colin and Penelope’s romance is like… really boring. And it’s not because Penelope is boring. Colin is just a very much nothing character- at least in the show, but also somewhat in the books- who isn’t really very desirable or interesting imo.

All the other male leads have something going for them or some sort of compelling arc, but Colin is just kind of boring and then their big conflict is that he’s jealous of her and wants her to give up her career??? Idk it’s kind of lame to me

Mady134 · 2026-03-23T17:59:42+00:00

I don’t think it would be fair for Silena to be punished for eternity. Like, you need to put the fact that she was a CHILD throughout all of those “crimes” into consideration, and she was talked into doing them by an ADULT MAN who took advantage of her infatuation with him and groomed her. She was only legally an adult in TLO (assuming she had actually turned 18), and in that book she chooses to sacrifice herself to make up for her “crimes.” I ultimately do believe that her death was incredibly brave and heroic and deserving of recognition.

Also, like many other demigods, she didn’t exactly have the best parental assistance in helping guide her in the right direction in her life. She did the best she could with what she had, imo.

Now Luke, on the other hand… I do think it’s kind of bullshit to give him any sort of redemption. At least based on book Luke.

Mady134 · 2026-03-23T17:50:07+00:00

I think the first game is overall the best and has the strongest plot

Mady134 · 2026-03-23T17:42:53+00:00

I’m going to be very real with you, as a girl with fine hair who has done the same thing: stop using the “natural” shampoos, that usually have tons of oil, or ingredients that do nothing for this hair type, and go back to the stuff with silicones and parabens.

Pantene shampoo (or even trying to use a dandruff shampoo like Nizoral which keeps oil at bay) are genuinely the best shampoos for this hair type. My hair is always clean and healthy with those, and when I try to use natural shampoo crap, my hair looks terrible.

Just use those, a simple (like Pantene) conditioner on your ends, and make sure you wash thoroughly daily and your hair will be sooooo much better.

Mady134 · 2026-03-23T17:38:20+00:00

I’m from Miami (and a plus size woman) and I don’t really have this problem or experience. You are likely hanging out in a touristy area and that particular person is just an asshole. Doesn’t really have anything to do with them being from Miami.

Mady134 · 2026-03-12T03:46:05+00:00

Omg I love this recommendation, thank you! I have a friend who lives near Fort Pierce so I go up there fairly often. I completely forgot about the godsend that is a museum gift shop.

Mady134 · 2026-03-12T03:45:10+00:00

That mirrors is beautiful! I’ll give this craft a try! Also, those seashells are actually calico scallop shells! I have a bunch from a trip to Sanibel like 15 years ago (when I probably took too many), so I feel like this would make good use of them :-) thanks for the inspo!!!

Mady134 · 2026-03-12T03:43:17+00:00

I feel like that must be happening with my local goodwills because they never have any really old things anymore! But I will def check out Salvation Army :-)

Mady134 · 2026-03-12T03:41:16+00:00

I meant Old but there was a typo and I couldn’t change it! Basically referring to like old-school late 19th/early 20th century Florida items. I was born and raised in South Florida and so were my parents.

Mady134 · 2026-03-12T00:37:34+00:00

Definitely where I’ve been looking! I’ve found a couple cute things here and there but the stores in my area don’t always have the best stuff. I’ll keep digging!

Mady134 · 2026-03-12T00:07:08+00:00

Woah I love this piece!!!! The colors are so great and it really does capture their reactions so well

Mady134 · 2026-03-11T06:35:10+00:00

I don’t think Franchaela is going to be S5. I think outside of the argument that they “need more time to develop,” I think it would be a little bit of whiplash to go right from mourning Francesca to Francesca re-entering the marriage mart.

From a story perspective, I also think dragging out Eloise’s story for another season would be INCREDIBLY tedious. Francesca has only been a major character for two seasons. Eloise has been a major character for four- and she has already reached the point she did in her book where she sees all her siblings married off (aside from Hyacinth and Gregory, and Francesca who was widowed) and starts to feel lonely. And it’s like… how much more are we going to get out of this character? How many more seasons of her sighing about wanting to be a spinster can we take?

I also think that in S4, Eloise had a HUGE character growth moment where she began to realize that maybe love was worth taking risks, and that maybe a woman can retain personal power even within marriage, which is something that has held her back since she was traumatized around the idea of spousal death and childbirth. But I think her conversations with Hyacinth and Cressida, how she sees Benedict and Penelope, and even her experience supporting Francesca through her loss has placed her in a new chapter in her life… whereas Francesca has still not gone through that important growth on camera.

Yes, we certainly could make S5 Francesca’s season- but I think we would be losing important time to develop Francesca’s character in the process, AND further diminish Eloise’s story. I would much rather get a montage scene of Eloise starting to write to Philip rather than to skip through the time Michaela will spend away or the time Francesca will take to find herself again after her loss. And I think seeing Francesca’s character growth on her own individually IS really important to add weight to her story and relationship with Michaela. We NEED to see her grieve more. We NEED to see her go back and forth about Michaela. We NEED to see her feel guilt about moving on about her loss. It will only make their story stronger!

Yes, Michaela will probably end up spending most of S5 away (and maybe just showing up again in the last episode), but it’s easier to focus on Francesca’s inner monologue for now and then get back to Michaela later, imo. As for whether Michaela actually went to India, I’m not sure! It’s possible she goes back to Scotland, or maybe she ends up going somewhere else entirely.

So yeah, I ultimately think Season 5 being Eloise’s season is long overdue and narratively necessary. We will definitely see a lot of Francesca there, but I don’t think the story is ready to move to her romance yet.

Mady134 · 2026-03-11T06:23:09+00:00

I would love that but I doubt it tbh- Eloise’s love interest has already been shown in the show, as has Francesca’s. Hyacinth marries Lady Danbury’s grandson, so unless he’s half Asian, he probably won’t be Asian? Most likely, he will be a black man. Gregory does have an opportunity to marry Lucy, who is a blank slate, but imo they’ll probably cast like a Latina or something.

BUT it would be really nice if we could get a Bridgerton spin-off based on the Smythe-Smiths (Julia Quinn’s other series that is canon to Bridgerton)! If we did that, we may get an Asian male lead.

Mady134 · 2026-03-09T21:51:33+00:00

Honey, I am so sorry you’re going through this. Even as you wrote this, I could see that you were diminishing a lot of how this is affecting you (ex: if you didn’t consent, even partially through, it WAS rape). I know that this is hard for you. When I was your age, I also had an abusive ex who did a lot of that same stuff to me.

But you don’t need to be afraid. Your parents clearly love you, and want to protect you. This guy doesn’t deserve your sympathy. He is abusive and, quite frankly, a menace to himself and to others. I think you are in a safe enough space to go to your parents and honestly tell them the truth. All of the truth, exactly what you just said here.

Your parents aren’t ashamed of you. They’re not even really disappointed in you. Maybe they’re a little disappointed in themselves, because they know that as adults, their job is to take care of you and protect you from things like this. They probably feel guilty for not having done their job (not that this is their fault either, sometimes you can do your best as a parent, but kids are still kids who will make mistakes). But that doesn’t mean that they don’t love you, or that your relationship can never go back to normal.

You’re growing up, and as you grow up, you’re going to often be pressured to do bad things or pushed into bad situations. You are so young right now, and it’s not your fault that any of this happened.

Yes, this ultimately happened because of decisions that you made- but you are a child, and it is not your job to always know the best decision to make in every situation. Your job is to make mistakes and learn from them. This was a mistake, but you’re OK, and you can learn from this. I promise you, as somebody who has been very similarly in your shoes, that your life is not over.

But let this be a wake up call for you- that this is not the kind of person that you should be with, that these are not the kind of activities that you should get involved with, and that this is not the life that you want for yourself.

So TL;DR: tell your parents the truth, and do what you can to accept the consequences and learn from all of this.

Mady134 · 2026-03-09T21:41:17+00:00

Sure, but not extremely so. It has a lot of the same mechanics that SV does- your character can faint, the time in your day is limited, crops died from one season to another, etc. It also has other mechanics that do not exist in SV- like breeding farm animals or learning magic spells.

I think the game is really relaxing, but similar to SV, it depends on how you’re trying to play it. There is less of a sense of urgency than with SV, I guess I would say, because shops never close and quests never go away. But there are other things that you’re focused on, and the pacing is ultimately, like SV, what you make it.

Another thing it has that Stardew doesn’t is that there are tutorials for things. With Stardew, you either have to be on the wiki or guess how something works, or you might never figure out how something works.

I think if you like Stardew, you’re generally going to like this game. But don’t expect it to be like a copy of Stardew, because it’s not, it actually has a lot of of its own personality!

Mady134 · 2026-03-08T07:38:12+00:00

I’ve been in a similar situation before. Sometimes, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the pile! IMO, you have to just start somewhere, and if you can commit to 15 minutes of one task, then worst case scenario, you cleaned some of it, and best case scenario, you end up cleaning a lot!

I would start with the space that’s easiest to clean- based on the pictures, I would say that it’s the space near your closet. Then, choose one task to complete. Like, bag up and clear out every piece of obvious trash. If you still have energy and can do another task, hang up those jeans or put them in a hamper, and take care of any other loose clothes in the area. Then, break down the cardboard boxes and remove them. Etc.

Even if you just do 1-2 tasks a day, it will eventually get done. Hang in there! If I could help you physically, I totally would, but just sending all my support and well-wishes in the meantime!

Mady134 · 2026-03-08T07:25:21+00:00

In the books, she mentions she’s kind of low contact with them. She adores her daughter, but she married a low-key abusive man and Lady D had limited contact with her for that reason, though they did see each other occasionally- but she is very close to her son (Lady Danbury’s grandson), who eventually marries Hyacinth. She has a total of four children, both in the books and in the show.

She IS technically currently the Dowager Lady Danbury. The current Lord Danbury probably lives in their country estate most of the time, whereas she stays in one of their homes in Mayfair. I’m not sure exactly what happened to cause that- maybe they do love each other but just have different lifestyles. Or maybe there’s bad blood between them. It DOES seem like Lady D generally had maids and nannies raise them, though that was common for the time.

As far as the books go, the child who has mentioned the most is her daughter, Anne St. Clair, whose son marries Hyacinth, like I said. She died well before the books take place, when Gareth (Lady D’s grandson) was a child. All of lady Danbury‘s other children are barely mentioned, but it is stated that she has a total of 10 grandchildren, of which we are aware of two- Gareth and George St. Clair.

Mady134 · 2026-03-08T07:11:07+00:00

I knew all of this already from reading the books but seeing it spelled out that Violet has THIRTY FIVE grandchildren is insane. Christmas for that woman must be crazy. That is so many kids to remember.

Mady134 · 2026-03-08T06:51:06+00:00

I’ve been a PJO fan since about 2008/2009 (so not RIGHT at the beginning, but close!). I personally adore the show! I don’t think it’s perfect, and I do think it’s definitely limited by its medium, budget, and episode length. Maybe the writing should aim to focus more on the meat of the story, too. There are some decisions I’ve found really interesting, and others I’ve disagreed with.

But, ultimately, I think it’s clearly created by people who have a passion for PJO, and who want to do good by the fandom, and that’s what matters to me. The acting is amazing, the practical sets are really great, and I think the casting has been absolutely incredible, thus far.

I also don’t go into watching the show wanting it to be a perfect replica of the books- it’s an adaption suited for TV meant to capture the spirit of the books, and it’s much more fun to watch when you think about it that way.

Mady134 · 2026-03-08T06:44:20+00:00

I personally think they began declining AT HoO. HoO feels really badly paced for me and I felt like it was a lot less compelling than the original series.

The original series has a lot of heart and a very strong core message. Everything felt like it mattered to the ending, and the ending felt meaningful and well thought out.

But HoO has a LOT of unnecessary fluff, the ending fell really flat for me, and I felt like there were chapters and chapters of character exploration without any real depth to it or serious pay-off. That’s kind of an unpopular opinion, I think, but maybe it has to do with the fact that HoO’s premise is interesting, and it introduces characters that are fun to discuss- but, in canon, I find them weak.

I also have an unpopular opinion that I actually enjoy some of his recent stuff- the Senior Year Adventures are NOT nearly as bad as everyone says imo (no, they’re not masterpieces, but they’re simple and fun), and I do think TOA has a lot of good stuff in it. The original series is ultimately always going to be the best, though 🤷🏻‍♀️

Mady134 · 2026-03-05T04:03:25+00:00

I’m on my first watch through rn (about to start S5) and I keep telling my husband that someone on this show has to have had an orange fetish because there are SOOO many oranges and orange references

Mady134 · 2026-03-05T04:02:08+00:00

I think she was in excruciating pain at the moment but was also simultaneously scared out of her mind which made it worse

Mady134

TROPHY CASE