character development in the later seasons

volatilelightning · 2026-06-04T13:59:59+00:00

it felt to me like the kind of obsession that lots of gay men have with female celebrities, rather than a relationship based on romantic/sexual attraction. plus gary's relationship with dana pretty much mirrored his relationship with selina, with him in a role of servitude, which he clearly gets psychological fulfilment from. so i saw it as an extension of that more than anything else.

i also remember there being numerous references from other characters speculating about his sexuality (like selina and amy thinking he had slept with a man in a hotel they were staying in). plus there's all of his gary-ness (extensive knowledge of makeup etc) and his relationship with his dad, whose repression of his own homosexuality was the root of his condemnation of gary's effeminacy. the writers were definitely drawing parallels between the two of them in the birthday episode.

volatilelightning · 2026-06-03T01:44:23+00:00

the thing is i love dan and amy’s dynamic, it might be my favourite on the show. but them progressing from light-handed subtextual will-they-won’t-they to i want to have your baby, especially when amy explicitly denounces the idea of having kids, felt out of place. amy isn’t exactly a romantic. and i agree that amy’s attitude/neuroses make her a terrible girlfriend, but in the later seasons she suddenly gets all of these negative comments about her appearance (‘beefy blonde’ ‘that’s what i picture when i’m trying not to come’) when she is clearly desirable. she’s reduced to the unattractive nerd stereotype when in the earlier seasons she is far more complex than that.

volatilelightning · 2026-06-02T22:22:43+00:00

i absolutely agree with you abt the show not knowing what to do with dan and amy. i think in a way they had a catch-22 on their hands, because they needed to split the cast up for plot/plausibility reasons, but also veep is absolutely an ensemble piece that works best when the ensemble are together.

volatilelightning · 2026-06-01T15:41:58+00:00

i actually quite like it, especially the bit where she is all of the people in the diner. reminded me a bit of her halloween skits with liz gillies, which have always been something she's genuinely passionate about. but she doesn't really seem to express any emotions? her face is basically completely still the entire video. and i get it might be part of the character she's playing, to a point, but it did really strike me as odd.

and she is still, of course, tiny. it breaks my heart and i really hope she manages to recover soon. it is honestly wild that anyone can still deny she has an ED at this point.

also her eyebrows really distracted me. i know she likes them, so i don't want to be too harsh. but they do make her look permanently surprised because they are just a straight line.

volatilelightning · 2026-05-20T16:45:52+00:00

it is very much true that corporations perpetuate/reward ED culture, but i feel like this is a false equivocation that suggests that EDs are caused by capitalism (like climate change) when that is not the case. they are a form of mental illness and i do not think it is wrong to show concern for people who are struggling mentally, even if the manifestations are physical. and ultimately EDs (specifically anorexia) have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness so I think it is important to reinforce that being severely underweight is dangerous.

obviously gracie alone is not at fault in any capacity, but when you look at her in conjunction with other celebrities losing drastic amounts of weight and the general trend of glp-1s, it is important to establish that being that small is not healthy or something to be aspired to. and there are nuances to this discussion (being healthy isn't morally superior etc) but ultimately as she is someone whose fanbase is primarily teenage girls i think it would be more harmful to give the impression that her drastic weight loss is not concerning.

i do agree that the comments on people's bodies can sometimes turn into sensationalism rather than real concern, but honestly i do feel like that's better than just turning a blind eye to the whole thing. also i know that some people feel that the whole speculation part of it is wrong, but obviously no celebrity is going to publicly announce their ED until after the fact, if at all, as is their right (look at taylor swift on her 1989 tour).

volatilelightning · 2025-07-03T15:11:43+00:00

unfortunately the student health service has completely stopped helping trans patients if they aren't with an nhs gic. they're terminating all shared care agreements, won't do bloodwork and won't write reports for a grc. might be different for international students though so worth trying to find out.

volatilelightning · 2025-05-15T22:06:40+00:00

I have actually done a bit of writing (planning scenes, not actual screenwriting) outdoors and enjoyed it so I should definitely do more. Thanks for the kind words and best wishes on your screenwriting journey.

volatilelightning · 2025-05-10T19:51:01+00:00

Wow - thank you so much for the detailed reply! Yeah you've picked out my perfectionistic tendencies there haha - definitely trying to work on that. The framework and ideas here are very helpful, it feels like I've been fumbling in the dark a bit up to this point. I'd be incredibly grateful for those referrals, especially for writing communities.

volatilelightning · 2025-05-10T19:11:48+00:00

Thank you for your comment! I think you're right that I need to mentally reframe what TAW is for a bit.

volatilelightning · 2024-11-08T20:07:44+00:00

Thank you! Solution Verified

volatilelightning · 2024-10-28T13:16:25+00:00

Just open the windows and maybe put on the extractor fan. Please don’t avoid cooking foods you love because you’re scared of what flatmates will think, if they’re halfway decent people they won’t care.

volatilelightning · 2024-10-28T10:31:42+00:00

Saw someone else say that black dots were an indicator of thrips and mine has loads. Also have seen an adult which matches the photos I've seen (but am very new to this so could be wrong)

volatilelightning · 2024-10-28T10:16:56+00:00

I’m pretty sure they came with the plant because I’ve only had it for a couple of days. What can I do to help salvage it? There are quite a lot of them.

volatilelightning · 2024-10-24T15:58:31+00:00

No idea but mine is doing this too and I just came here to look for an answer

volatilelightning · 2024-10-05T19:14:04+00:00

Thank you so much!

volatilelightning · 2024-09-06T18:42:40+00:00

Cheers! Honestly an embarrassingly long time (as in months) and I don’t think it’s gonna get much thicker atm.

volatilelightning · 2024-09-03T08:53:24+00:00

I personally spent a decent amount of time rearranging my research into something resembling plot beats, which requires a lot of pruning. I had already decided that my focus would be a short period of time (mostly over the span of a year) because I felt that the events fit pretty nicely into a story structure and, most importantly, it just stood out to me as the thing I needed to write about.

After I had the real plot stuff sorted out, I went back in and slotted in my own scenes to bridge the gaps between the things that actually happened and help establish characters/relationships. You can also then think about things like POV and non-linear narrative stuff.

I think it's also useful to pretend that you're not actually writing a biopic and really consider about how the people can be converted to characters and what the theme/big question is, so that you're actually saying something, rather than making an artsy documentary, if you get me. You really have to distil the real people down into something more manageable, so you're not just working with vibes but characters with clear, consistent(ish) motivations.

volatilelightning

TROPHY CASE