Stefan and his no good very confusing emotions: a 3x12 meta type thing maybe
I was going to make a whole MS Paint thing (I even drew outlines and everything!) but then for some reason, I decided doing macros would be better?? Which is weird because I have never in my life decided to do a macro before. Maybe olga_keepout has been sublty inspiring me. Hopefully this will not be completely unfunny.
There's been a lot of talk lately about Stefan's humanity. What, if anything, is he feeling? Is the switch on or off? Is there a switch? And if so, does Stefan even have one? The big failure here, of course, is that we haven't had a Stefan focused episode since 3x03 and so mostly what we have are theories.
Mine is like this:
STEFAN IS LIKE THE BOY WHO STUCK HIS FINGER IN THE DUCK DIKE. Or in Buffy terms:
Buffy: Like that kid in the story, the boy that stuck his finger in the duck.
Angel: Dike. It's another word for dam.
Buffy: Oh. Okay, that story makes a lot more sense now.
Stefan's feelings are still there--because Stefan rips people apart and puts them back together again BECAUSE HE HAS NO SWITCH--but he's pushed all his feelings behind a dam and focused on one thing: revenge. But it's like using a finger to plug a dam: this isn't a fix. It won't make the feelings go away forever. And even one small move can lead to a flood.
I think Stefan's walls started breaking with that scene on the bridge with Elena in 3x11. (Well earlier than that tbh when Stefan admits to Katherine that he doesn't want to let his humanity back in - but at that point he actively chooses to repress his feelings in favour of REVENGE). Despite all his protests to the contrary, it was obvious that he DID care and, I think, that he knew deep down that he had crossed a serious bad, wrong line with Elena.
3x12, to me, was about just enough to tip the pressure between holding the dam of feelings at bay and letting them loose.
Basically it was like this:
IN THE END the result is this:
Okay well at least this:
STEFAN'S FEELINGS ARE A TRICKLING RIVER maybe to be a roaring river at some point in the future. I'm not really sure, I haven't thought this analogy all the way through yet.
IDK if this means that we've seen the end of douche!Stefan as we've come to know him (though I still think he'll be focused on ending Klaus), but we did see him and Elena start taking some small steps to reconciliation. I'm not really sure where I want the narrative to go with Stefan (tbh I just want a STEFAN episode, ANY kind of episode), but I wouldn't mind Stefan trying to deal with his feelings again and everything he's done to the people he cares about (re: mostly Elena).
For a more serious and substantial Stefan meta, I recommend softly_me's a certain kind of sadness: a Stefan meta-shaped thing. Everything she writes is just brilliance, okay.
There's been a lot of talk lately about Stefan's humanity. What, if anything, is he feeling? Is the switch on or off? Is there a switch? And if so, does Stefan even have one? The big failure here, of course, is that we haven't had a Stefan focused episode since 3x03 and so mostly what we have are theories.
Mine is like this:
STEFAN IS LIKE THE BOY WHO STUCK HIS FINGER IN THE DUCK DIKE. Or in Buffy terms:
Buffy: Like that kid in the story, the boy that stuck his finger in the duck.
Angel: Dike. It's another word for dam.
Buffy: Oh. Okay, that story makes a lot more sense now.
Stefan's feelings are still there--because Stefan rips people apart and puts them back together again BECAUSE HE HAS NO SWITCH--but he's pushed all his feelings behind a dam and focused on one thing: revenge. But it's like using a finger to plug a dam: this isn't a fix. It won't make the feelings go away forever. And even one small move can lead to a flood.
I think Stefan's walls started breaking with that scene on the bridge with Elena in 3x11. (Well earlier than that tbh when Stefan admits to Katherine that he doesn't want to let his humanity back in - but at that point he actively chooses to repress his feelings in favour of REVENGE). Despite all his protests to the contrary, it was obvious that he DID care and, I think, that he knew deep down that he had crossed a serious bad, wrong line with Elena.
3x12, to me, was about just enough to tip the pressure between holding the dam of feelings at bay and letting them loose.
Basically it was like this:
IN THE END the result is this:
Okay well at least this:
STEFAN'S FEELINGS ARE A TRICKLING RIVER maybe to be a roaring river at some point in the future. I'm not really sure, I haven't thought this analogy all the way through yet.
IDK if this means that we've seen the end of douche!Stefan as we've come to know him (though I still think he'll be focused on ending Klaus), but we did see him and Elena start taking some small steps to reconciliation. I'm not really sure where I want the narrative to go with Stefan (tbh I just want a STEFAN episode, ANY kind of episode), but I wouldn't mind Stefan trying to deal with his feelings again and everything he's done to the people he cares about (re: mostly Elena).
For a more serious and substantial Stefan meta, I recommend softly_me's a certain kind of sadness: a Stefan meta-shaped thing. Everything she writes is just brilliance, okay.