Bit of a long winded rant about Martin Blackwood.
I really love seeing how much attention the fandom pays to Martin’s character. The fandom I was in before had a similar character (being sort of pathetic and skittish in the beginning, then becoming a complete badass especially when it came to protecting their partner) but the fandom NEVER seemed to stop seeing him as pathetic until years afterwards.
All that to say that I really enjoy getting a fresh off breath air with Martin. Bonus points since this may be the first time I’ve ever seen a character commonly depicted as overweight without falling into stereotypical archetypes. Depictions of him single-handedly has helped my own body image, and I’m sure it has for others too.
I really really love seeing a fat, underestimated character be treated with actual love and worthiness. I wish i could get my thoughts across clearer. It just makes me happy to see.
Martin Blackwood, they could never make me hate you ❤️
Like even in his most “pathetic” in S1-S2, if you’re really looking at him, he’s not just a pushover. In the earlier seasons, he’s:
- Breaking into dangerous situations just to prove to his (hot) boss that the statements are real.
- Basically Prentiss-proofed the Archives by hiding more extinguishers around and identified the best way to get them out when they start to burrow.
- Was upset with himself when he got separated from Jon and Tim because he couldn’t be there to protect them and was likely very upset by the scars they accrued when he got away without any damage.
- Telling Tim and Jon to get over themselves and talk to each other when they’re starting to fight, but doesn’t shy away from the fact that Jon is doing some scary shit and helps host an intervention that Jon did genuinely need (he’s not just being a simp for Jon this whole time, regardless of his feelings, he’s holding Jon accountable).
- Watching over Jon when the man’s at his worst mental state to make sure he’s not carving himself open with “bread knives”.
- When Jon is being chased by the Not!Them, he’s the one demanding to Tim that they go help. And when he sees Michael, he literally tries to rally Tim into beating him up two on one before Tim tells him not to by pointing out his knife hands.
He still has a lot of growing to do in those early seasons, but even then he is so, so much braver and more cunning than he even gives himself credit.
And when he’s at his most loved and cared for, he’s also shed a lot of his people pleasing tendencies. That’s the time where a lot of people would look at a person and go “Oh, you’re not doing my emotional labor for me anymore? Well, you’ve changed for the worst, I liked you better when you didn’t stick up for yourself”
But by S5 he’s just completely done playing nice and is frankly a bit of a bitch at times, and Jon fucking adores him for it. And that just means the world to me.
And then to add, l love Martin just getting to be fat and I almost never see him made into a stereotype over it. And even if there is a bit of it, when he’s characterized well, he uses the caricature of “big soft oaf that won’t hurt a fly” to his advantage, and I love that for him ❤️
Tl;Dr: hot Martin rights, give that man more knives, pls