Mattyboy

Lit-crit profs used to think that gay stories would be inherently stories about people leading miserable lives, chasing the "love that dare not speak its name" and the best that could be hoped for was successfully hiding. And yes, stories like Matthew Shepard's needed (and need) to be told. But it's one of the really cool and positive things that the generation of writers since then have shown that there are some many more kinds of stories that can be told. HEA sometimes gets labelled as lightweight stuff, but it's also signposting the way to better human lives, and that's not lightweight at all.

Some more Aiden would be excellent

"Tyler wasn’t as tight as Doug had been." Well that's quite an interesting little tidbit! Yes, yes you do, Squirrel. and, yes, some A+ mothering from Anna there, with quite a high degree of difficulty

yeah Aiden's all a bit all over the place. But a night with Dustin and Doug sounds like a lot of fun.

This one? No. But I don't know why you'd pretend you don't like being on the border-line.

I love it when writers experiment with multiple perspectives, and also when they clear up exactly when it is by saying something like . . . This chapter corresponds with WAR 6.13 - The Kids Aren't Alright in Commencement. I may comment again after I read this, but I've already been made happy Also, "Knight takes Bishop" is a pretty great chapter title. I hope there's a sex scene.

This? Nothing's happened until now to get you there? It's extremely understandable why he's the way he is, but we know he's physically quite capable and strong, and he has a damaged and twisted soul. Sorry, came out swinging there . . . but Squirrel has done so much work establishing Dustin as a complex, wonderful, and deeply damaged character

"If you suffered in life and want other people to suffer as you did because 'you turned out fine,' you did not in fact turn out fine." Dan Swensen

Well, yes, but it was the orientation and explanation that Aiden needed to hear, using words that had already been uttered in the conversation. And it's great background for the "how is Brett friends with everyone?" thing we learned in Dustin's chapters

When I started that comment I thought I was just bantering with Summerabbacat, but it kinda grew into a full "artist's statement" thing

In chapter one is was Sabrina that kicked off events with her "intervention" So, Todd's art is based on stickers; adding something that changes the appearance and meaning of something a little (at the store) or a lot (the major art pieces), without changing its nature, and in the art (and the band-aid mural) inviting you to see or at least think about what lies underneath. The art stickers are two-sided and removable, so they can appear differently and have different meanings depending on where they are in the three-dimensional space that they're designed to be able to move around in. Todd made the gallery pieces, but everyone who peeled a sticker collectively made the final imago. So Todd is kind of a trickster figure- his art invites change; the grocery store stickers didn't make the changes their politics advertised, but they did change Todd (and probably also Damon, in the end). And Todd's stickery-trickster-trouble catalyzed change in Barrett and Anthony and Dillon, and looks like maybe even Mr Miller.

Even Billy's well-established incredibly bad impulsive decision-making doesn't really explain going over to Joey McKenzie's house. JFC If Dustin's gonna die horribly, I think I'm done with WAR. It was a ride, alright

Paula's club would never allow such a thing

Well, keeping his trap shut when he knows it's a matter of life and death for his friend is gonna be a bit of a challenge for our Billy. Figure Dustin has a 50/50 shot, maybe a little better.

Yeah I almost felt "good for Dustin" when he kicked Billy in the arm. They should all get their shit together, but Billy deserved that. Dustin may be saving Billy from the guilt he felt over his grandma's stroke and his Dad's stroke, by not getting murdered because Billy does some awful thing to he'll feel kinda bad about a bit later

Dustin's also facing the rumour that he broke Billy's arm, and Billy isn't being helpful at dispelling that. Billy knows darn well Dustin can't deal with extra.

Some of this might lead to some maturing. Jen's right about letting guilt build up, but Billy's done a lot of damage with this sudden emotional impulses, and maybe seeing that will lead to him actually starting to get a grip. Ugh, Paula decides that a good thing to do with a teenage boy who's clearly overwhelmed and upset is to tease him about bedwetting. You suck, Paula.

Really? I would blame Brett if that led to Dustin's death, or even a worsening of his already extremely crappy life. Dustin's done damage a few times telling his parents stuff they can't handle, but this doesn't qualify

I'm glad to hear you say that, there's actually a bunch of ways he could keep making things worse, but that would make for a very grim story arc.

I guess squirrel felt we needed to be hit over the head this episode, and maybe Billy will finally wise up a little. Looks like it only took about 10 minutes for Billy to go from "I care about Dustin, and if I reveal this secret, Frank or Max might murder him" to impulsive blab-blab-blab. I'm starting to find Billy inexcusably awful. Even if it's over-done hyperbole, after you generate the thought that someone might be killed if you don't keep your mouth shut, you ought to keep your goddam mouth shut. Good for Brett calling out him about the retard thing. Feels like this is the big turning point of this section

I have to say I'm not picking that up from Paula. She has all the flaws of the world's angry Karen's who need to dominate to bolster their social status. Only once has she not responded to Billy being upset with anything but anger. It's a common type that we used to excuse as "what Mama bears are like" but it's as toxic a form of behavior as Amanda's bullshit "I'm doing him a favor by being mean to him." Which is what made Dustin vulnerable to Mike.

George and Paula saying "they didn't care" if Billy got caught at school with gay porn was a complete and utter lie. C- parenting from Paula this week, but A management of her standing in the club networks.

Paula strikes with D- parenting again.

And Billy figuring that it'll be fine that their secret is locked away behind Brett's impulse-control skills.

George wanting to spend more time with Billy is pretty good Dad-ing, but exposing him to that crap from Nicholson is abusive. Why would you do that? I get that there's a parenting thing that it's character-building to torture your children, but George ought to know better.