kiarpennington

[kiarpennington]

Name a show you wished HADN’T gotten as many seasons as it did; I’ll go first. For me, that show is NBC’s Grimm! Let me know yours in the comments below!

[kiarpennington]

Creative Rant!

Couple of things to tack on: look, you can like what ya like—I don’t care and my disapproval of it doesn’t stop you from liking it—but telling people “don’t like it, don’t read it” or “just read older books then” in response to valid criticism of the serious issues in some of these books is just plain weird and it does make SOME of yall look like S.A./toxic behavior apologists. “It’s just fiction; the characters aren’t real”. Neither are the characters real in movies and tv but that doesn’t mean folk wanna see gratuitous S.A.in them just bc “it isn’t real”. Ya know what else isn’t real: the notion that toxic/abusive behavior written by women suddenly makes it pro feminist. What IS real are the issues of S.A./ toxic behavior and altho it may not affect everyone as propaganda, for some it does bc the romanticization of the issue is so vivid and repetitive in a lot of these stories. . “He’s mean to all other women except me bc he’s so in love with me”….No beloved, he’s a misogynist and your internalized misogyny as a writer and reader is showing. Art does indeed imitate life and writers DO have a responsibility to acknowledge and write accordingly. Or, at the very least, LABEL accordingly which goes beyond putting 20 trigger warnings in the book. Honestly, if you putting more than 5–at the max 10–trigger warnings in a book, that should be a hard stop, but I digress. A lot of these newer stories are either erotica or horror and should be sold as so and not solely romance. Lastly, a lot of yall simply DONT need to write in the genre ya like to read until ya TRULY understand it. I saw someone say the appeal of dark romance is bc girls want a fictional Ted Bundy cause it’s hot in fiction but scary in reality…..Ho is ya cool?? Are yall well?? That IS NOT the appeal of dark romance. Yes, it explores darker themes and the pull of the morally ambiguous side (think kinda like in a Star Wars sense and that allure). But an actual serial killer who brutalized women……And here in lies the problem: yall don’t understand the genre and wanna make up new criteria to justify some….honestly deeply depraved things that SHOULD be kept in ya private writings…Bottom line, media is MEANT to be critiqued and I shouldn’t have to suppress my opinions and thoughts on a piece of popular work bc liking it is “subjective” or questioning if it was appropriate to be written at all is “censorship”. How these stories are written and sold IS that deep and ya can’t say that reading only romance is valid and romance is a legitimate genre while also saying “it’s not that deep, it’s just a romance”…..These writings under the guise of “romance” and “dark romance” get their share of criticism and discussion, not bc they’re “women centered” and people wanna crap on things that most women like, but bc it IS a legitimate genre. Thanks for coming to my TED talk and let’s turn those thinking caps back on guys….😅

[kiarpennington]

I've tried to avoid discussing Claire Bear the White Savior this season, but this scene made that unavoidable.

They gave that man a whole heart attack and traumatized an already emotionally and financially struggling Sydney...just so that the bitch we don't like could listen and call her "stunning". I repeat: they inflicted unnecessary trauma on a Black family so the white girl could score some points with the audience.

Like, are you fucking kidding me???

Storer...Calo...we don't like Claire. We're never going to. In fact, we hate her now more than ever. We literally fast-forward through ALL her scenes. And is she even "Claire Bear" anymore now that Carmy has *loudly* proclaimed Sydney "THE Bear"?

[kiarpennington]

I think The Bear, and its treatment of Sydney in particular, is a prime example of how some racism can be completely unintentional and come from even the most well meaning people.

Because it's clear Chris Storer absolutely adores Ayo Edebiri, from the way he sought her out for Sydney after working with her on the Dickinson show (and completely changed the character of Sydney from what was written in the pilot script) and has taken her under his wing so he can teach her to direct. And he's also given her the opportunity to write, direct, and produce on the show which are opportunities no other cast member has gotten.

Yet it's been 4 seasons and Syd has not been fleshed out and developed the way other main characters have. And in season 4 there were two instances where she was used to prop up a White character or their storyline; first with Claire after Emmanuel's heart attack (as a doctor-y aside, not sure why Claire said Emmanuel had first degree heart block when that's not the same as a heart attack nor is it even a medical emergency? doesn't make sense that that's what happened so not sure what that was about) which is a scene clearly designed to endear the audience to her, then again when her and Carmy's long overdue conversation in the season 4 finale was used as a jumping off point for Carmy and Richie's conversation to work through their shared grief over Mikey, meaning Syd and Carmy couldn't continue their conversation after without Syd coming off like the asshole.

It's fucking frustrating

[kiarpennington]

you know a joke that never EVER gets old is when a character says smth like “I will NOT go to [place] and that is FINAL” and then it cuts to them in that place I eat that shit up every single time

[kiarpennington]

I don’t wanna be too delulu……but this was definitely a love confession 😭😭

i got shot a million times

[kiarpennington]

let me get this straight.

we got the fact that sydney lied saying she’d go to the original beef on sundays with her dad when they’re always closed on sundays just to work under carmy

the THOUGHT of sydney calming carmy down during a panic attack twice mind you when the thought of claire only made it worse

the iconic table scene in season two

the fact that CARMYS FIRST DISH was the best meal sydney had

burned himself out and put the restaurant in debt because he wanted to get a star FOR SYDNEY not for himself

carmy saying he liked this when it was literally just them in the kitchen in episode one mind you

him literally begging sydney to let him come to the hospital and that phone call in general

both the kid and donna’s crazy ass clocked sydcarmy and they didn’t even watch them interact

carmy literally sounding so sad with that “you didn’t talk to me all service” in episode ten

the fact that sydney knows she can run the bear herself with sugar and richie but she WANTS to work with carmy cried over the fact that he was leaving her

and yet they’re still pushing the claire and carmy narrative when every single action points to carmy and sydney right…right…

[kiarpennington]

No, but I could totally see this scene 😭😭

[kiarpennington]

I hate you all.

[kiarpennington]

Kia’s Commentary Rants: Here I give my commentary on NBC’s medical drama New Amsterdam and its failed attempt to character assassinate Helen Sharpe and Sharpwin. For full episode, check out the Kia’s Commentary podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube!

[kiarpennington]

People will be writing essays and analyses on Sinners in its regards to music, African American studies, Native American studies, colonization, religion and spirituality, and the diaspora for DECADES to come. And it’s all deserved because that movie was fucking amazing at touching every single one of those points.

Ryan Coogler, you’ve done it again king 🫶🏾

[kiarpennington]

Rewatching Smallville where Chole and Jimmy get married and….mane, Clark you something else….

Why him and Lois mid dance AND about to kiss and then here come Lana and Clark IMMEDIATELY steps from Lois to Lana. Like Lois IMMEDIATELY knows to take a back seat and walk away. I would grabbed a whole bottle of champagne too if I was Lois. Clark would NEVA get another chance at me….😭😭🥴

[kiarpennington]

Can I say…..I don’t care for the Zeek/Lacey romantic plot…..they keep pushing down on how much of a FAMILY they are….and Ik there are all kinds of found family but……they feel too much like….aw man, I hate myself for saying it but……siblings. I’m getting too much of a sibling vibe from them to root for them…😭😭

[kiarpennington]

Rewatched The Secret Circle for the first time in a long time and….

One: didn’t like it as much as I remember. Halfway thru, the plot split so much that it was kinda exhausting. There were times where the rest of the circle was moving on from being the Scooby gang (like when the girls had a Valentines sleep over) and then there’s Cassie and Adam who can’t take a break for a minute from the supernatural. And Cassie made so many stupid decisions. Ik she’s a teen, but still….😮‍💨🤦🏽‍♀️

Two: age and sex. Faye and Melissa start messing around with Lee and Callum and Diana starts messing around with Grant. These guys obviously look older than them….but the show doesn’t seem to care. Like, we don’t really address what year they’re in but we KNOW they’re high schoolers and these other guys…..don’t seem to be. But even Melissa and Nick having a friends with benefits was……look, don’t mind shows showing older high schoolers doing that but…..c’mon, PUT THESE KIDS IN COLLEGE. I mean they just out here with all types of freedom running around the town at all times of night. At least make it believable by putting them in a school setting that allows that much freedom.

Three: Cassie and Adam’s relationship wasn’t root-able to me. Didn’t root against it, but didn’t root for it. Didn’t really root for any couple like that.

Four: man I did not like how they treated Melissa at first. Glad when they finally started letting her do more, but damn I wish she was on her Bonnie Bennet type ish.

Five: altho the show wasn’t as interesting as I remember, that ending set up some good complexities. My only thing is….Diana, girl screw you🥴

Look, yes, that plot got all over the place before pulling back in. As a viewer, yeah I got tired. And I understand needing a break and wanting to flee for a few. But now Cassie and Diana have flipped with Cassie tryna keep the circle together and Diana wanting to be left alone. But Diana….you started this. You got all the others together and basically bullied us into binding the circle. Cassie tried to push her away for three to four straight episodes but Diana was persistent…….and now you think you can just…..walk away….Sure your world’s crashing…….take a number honey 🥴

Even tho the circle remained strong despite the bind (something Faye of all people had to remind them), I would have liked to see the circle coming back completely when Diana returns as well as Cassie and Diana’s other siblings and dark magic plot line

Boy that was longer than I intended lol. Guess I’ll give it a full ranting then. Overall, 6 1/2-7/10

[kiarpennington]

Rewatching Hart of Dixie again where Lavon and AnnaBeth fake date for that episode and Lemon is just so….ugh….if it had been HER idea to fake date Lavon she woulda been all over it. Just a hater! 😭😭😂

[kiarpennington]

28 Days of Black History: today we’re talking about the brave Little Rock Nine!

[kiarpennington]

28 Days of Black History: Today we’re talking about civil rights icon John Lewis!

Also, please pardon the few mishaps. My brain and my mouth were not in sync while I was filming this 😅