Cane23

Sigmund Freud wrote about mourning and melancholia, suggesting that melancholy can emerge when we experience loss that is not always fully conscious or easily defined (Freud, 1917). We may not only grieve people, but also lost versions of ourselves, lost futures, lost identities, and lost possibilities. This is why melancholy often appears at certain life stages, turning thirty, forty, fifty; changing careers; becoming a parent; leaving home; losing someone; ending a relationship; or even achieving something we worked for and realising it did not complete us in the way we expected. Melancholy asks questions that busyness allows us to avoid: · Is this the life I thought I would live? · Who am I becoming? · What have I lost along the way? · What really matters to me? · How do I want to live, knowing life is finite? These are not small questions; they are developmental questions. Carl Jung believed that the second half of life in particular often brings a more reflective and melancholic tone, as individuals begin to turn inward and ask deeper questions about meaning, purpose and identity (Jung, 1933). Rather than focusing purely on achievement and external success, the task becomes integration, making sense of one’s life, one’s choices, and oneself. Melancholy can therefore be understood not simply as sadness, but as a psychological signal that we are encountering depth, depth of time, depth of meaning, depth of self. Sean Kelly

A farewell doesn’t have to be long if it comes from the heart and carries the essence of emotion and honesty. May he rest in peace.

Thoroughly and absolutely well deserved! Bravo!

Who's with the baby - Charlie, Taine or Tylor? And who's the blondie?

Oh, wow... I hadn’t expected this... I mean, we know Taine is immortal, but I wasn’t aware he was unkillable! 😮 So, basically, over long distances... Charlie and Taine stay together?! Only if Tyler doesn’t become immortal somewhere along the way.

Hehehe, paradoxically, it’s basically the same God. 😂

"You think our gods care?" The man's smile returned. "Read the book." Gods’? That Saracen might want to reread his own book before saying that out loud.

And then there’s Max... I’m actually convinced he is in love with Daniel - but not in a possessive or declarative way. It’s there in those small, almost hidden moments... when he looks at himself in the mirror and says 'Mi sono innamorato' (Melancholia III), or when he nearly says something in the recent chapter and lets it dissolve instead of repeating it. Even structurally, the story treats “love” like something that slips out unintentionally (like with Alec’s “in love with paradox”), not something cleanly confessed. But even without those moments, his actions make it clear. The patience, the emotional labor, the way he stays present day after day - that’s not curiosity or charm or even generosity. That’s love. Story, actually, gives us the framework for understanding that, through Max’s own words. When he says the Romans understood that love isn’t a number but a meal - a table where different dishes coexist, some working together, some not...it reframes everything. Love doesn’t require choosing one center or creating a perfect harmony. It allows for plurality, even contradiction. Which is why, on Daniel’s “table,” there seems to be room for all of them. Nora, Alec, Max… each occupying a different place, a different function, not necessarily compatible, but still real. And maybe even Malik - but no longer as the central meal (force). More like a rare spice - something you can’t quite have again, not something that sustains you, but something whose trace still lingers and shapes the taste of everything else. So, from that perspective, Max isn’t competing - he’s simply one of the few characters who already understands the kind of emotional structure Daniel is living inside. Maybe we should expect a bit of a Roman Holiday next 😁

I don’t see Nora as being sidelined - she’s the one initiating all of this. Her shift actually begins earlier, when she’s reading Three Women. That feels like her first rupture - the moment she becomes aware that she wants something outside the script of their life. So, when she later suggests the threesome for her birthday, she’s already moving. She’s opening the door and even choosing the form that disruption will take. This also means Malik isn’t the origin of change, but something Nora selects. For Daniel, the encounter becomes this singular, almost mythic event - something that destabilizes him completely. But for Nora, it’s part of a longer, more conscious process. Though I understand @FanLit's 'wanting more for Nora' - I don’t read the current dynamic with Alec as Nora “losing out.” If anything, she’s still the architect. She invites Daniel back in, continues the “renovation,” and now, after many moments of being observational, he’s finally starting to participate. That feels less like collapse and more like integration. Which is also why I'm not sure that “GameChanger” (Malik) is still necessary. Necessary for what? If Malik represented rupture, something singular, then bringing him back risks diminishing that rather than completing it. Maybe his only remaining role would be to demystify himself - to show Daniel he’s not an irreplaceable axis, but something that can become a memory instead of a burden. So, what’s happening with Nora and Alec doesn’t feel like a substitute for Malik. It’s something different...not rupture, but incorporation - not obsession, but movement.

I’m wondering - is King Radoslav aware of the whole game... the plot to humiliate him and Wylan’s plan to thwart them?

Sounds like some digestive problem 😂

I have a feeling Charlie’s punishment is still ongoing - through suffering to redemption. It made him my favourite character… Hmm, who would’ve said that at the beginning?!

Well, who could complain? None of his muscles are actually his!

I expect something brain-made, not a muscle-made solution from Tyler! 😁

Unrequited love or repressed feelings? Oh, what a mess...

This is the first serious temptation for our heroes. Wylan, with his abilities, looks like a forerunner of modern intelligence.

The moment Alec said “Danny,” I gasped - I felt it in my chest.

Of course... But, what about feelings...?! Ever is too long for immortality.

Ok, but Charlie is very much interested in Taine and Taine is interested in both Charlie and Taylor...so, what they do - draw strows, alternate based on odd and even days...

The second book in the series delivers a fresh wave of adventures and memorable new characters. Outrageously funny, often to the point of pure absurdity, this is the kind of story you simply can’t put down until the very last page. Charlie, Taine, Tyler, Chloe, Matt, Simon, Mrs. Hartley, and the rest of the crew are back, this time facing dark and mischievous forces: witches determined to turn their town into a chaotic tangle of emotions and romantic disasters. Between a dangerously unpredictable espresso machine, a giant meatball, and other delightfully bizarre threats, the stakes are as ridiculous as they are entertaining. While our heroes may manage to survive with their bodies and souls intact, the real question lingers - what will become of their hearts?

This was a rather bittersweet ending. Are you ever going to resolve this triangle, or will they stay miserable forever? 🤔

This was very popular sitcom in ex yu...even today!😂 Oh, I like the comedy of errors...and irony in painting ignorance of the nobles...