#YEAH we DEFINITELY need to call JLD

[ryoalouette]

Inspired by this and this and this-

AKA

The Fentons in the Masterchef (or the likes) show.

Imagine how other chefs would be FREAKING TF OUT coz THE TURKEYS COME BACK TO LIFE??

[lovesigilss]

zatanna-maximoff: A very respectful counter argument, but Zatanna is actually a beacon of goodness. Like i get what you’re saying but Zee has maybe three major screwups, two of which are a result of identity crisis which is not indicative of her character. in regards to morality. Canonically speaking she’s very firmly a symbol of good and order, she’s so good in fact that two evil versions of her turned good. And in the first run of jld she went out of her way to defend enemies and their families.

I definitely agree that she should not be trying to save john and i think their relationship in general needs some serious work and some reworking. But their dynamic had never really been her trying to save him. It’s more her berating him when he does wrong. Which i also think is bad. But i think their dynamic has far better potential if she remains an icon of good magic. Very literally a yin yang dynamic, with her instances of mindwipes and her mistake in 7 soldiers.

Personally i think she and wanda have very little in common and handle morality differently. Not necessarily better than one another. Just different like with john which is why they work (sometimes) lol. I agree she needs more multilayered complexity but i think too often that translates to “make them meaner/less good”. Characters can be really good people and still have layers of complexity. I don’t think we should try to make her more like john or wanda but instead highlight her differences

Again very i hope to come off respectfully and sorry for writing you an essay. I just love talking about her and seeing all these ideas and discussing them cx you absolutely do not have to agree lol

@zatanna-maximoff : nah, i still wouldn’t call her that, just personally bc to me it gives her this weird...thing of being “pure”. and a human being and especially a woman who is an actual human being and not just a concept is not “pure”. and i just don’t like that or giving female characters those associations like they’re nuns of something. i see zee as a lot like buffy summers from buffy the vampire slayer so buffy is all of the things you’re mentioning but i would not call her “a beacon of goodness” or light or any of that stuff and you’re unfortunately not gonna move me from that position. i do not like referring to female characters in that way bc it comes w a lot of puritanical bullshit and i just don’t like it 🤷

and yes, you say that but a lot of people perceive the pairing that way unfortunately which i really, really hate and i think is super icky and i hope DC if not the fans can find a way to turn it away from that and i’ve never ever personally liked the berating dynamic either no. and i never said she wasn’t, thats why i perceive her as very buffy summers 🤷 and yin and yang follows that one has a little dark in them and another has a little light in them, so i am saying that we have to see that w zee, i don’t think we’re disagreeing here, we’re just disagreeing on how to address her character, which i said i am never moving on bc i think the concept is misogynistic and also it boxes in the character, i just don’t personally like it. 

and nope never wanted to make her meaner or less good just more buffy summers in her writing, thats about it :3 don’t want to make her more like john or wanda bc she’s her. :3

and oh no yeah you’re good i just think we agree but just have different perceptions in our heads in how to address the character which is cool and yeah me too! i looove meta haha

[safflowerseason]

veep rewatch - 3.03

Season Three, Episode Three - Alicia 

aka - The One with the Announcement 

Tracie Thoms is well cast in the role of Alicia. 

When Jonah runs across the street, you really get a sense of how ill-fitting his clothes are (and also how freakish they make him look as a result). His pants are at least two sizes too big. 

Amy back in a skirt suit very reminiscent of her S2 outfits. 

Love the behind-the-scenes quality of the scene in the Veep’s office, with Selina getting fitted while her staffers work on the speech. 

Sue: Ma’am, it's Amy. She sounds uncomfortable. Like she's with a member of the public.

And now Amy in a beautifully tailored purple dress! This is not my personal favorite shade of purple (I would have preferred something a few shades darker…this is a bit too “crayola” purple for me) but the dress is super cute and it looks wonderful on Anna Chlumsky and fits her like a glove. I adore the peplum detail on the skirt and the little sleeve flaps.

Selina in another black and red outfit, in yet another episode where she wrestles with what she can say publicly versus what she actually believes. Definitely a consistent fashion theme of S3 so far. 

Gary: It's like SNL is going back in time and abusing a child.

Love the ongoing balloon bit in this episode. 

Kent: We need to rewrite the speech! Dan: I can’t rewrite the rewrite, Kent. I'm still writing it! Kent: That’s the reality, Dan. If you don't like the reality, go live in Oregon and make quilts with my mother. She could use the help.

Dan/Amy parent!watch Amy: Do…do I take her hand?  Alicia: Yes, hold Miss Amy's hand. Mike: Amy was born to be with kids Amy: …Peeing is fun…!

Amy: Okay…great pee.  Dan: I wanna know who's responsible for that sketch, you cock…*sees Amy and Halo*…tail napkin. Yeah, you heard me! Doyle: Dan. Amy. Dan: Shit, I gotta go.  Amy: Senator Doyle.  Doyle: I have a meeting scheduled with the Vice President right now and it is "right now” right now. Amy: Dan, you take this…right now. Dan: What?!

I always thought this little tussle, as well as Dan and Amy’s very brief interactions with Halo, indicate that while parenting would have represented a chaotic (and comedic) learning curve for both of them…it’s not like they don’t grasp the basic reality of what it means to be responsible for another human being. Both of them willingly hold Halo’s hand. Dan cuts himself off in the middle of cursing out the SNL guy, Amy doesn’t really know what to say to a little girl but she still tries to make her feel comfortable…these are small things, but there’s an awareness, however limited, of what it means to manage small kids. Yes, Dan and Amy are dramatic and completely obsessed with their work and have limited emotional intelligence. But they are also technically functional adults who have a base level of propriety and social awareness. In contrast, during S7, Mandel’s attitude toward the idea of Dan and Amy as parents seemed to be that they would be practically criminally negligent, monstrous in their grotesque selfishness and sociopathy. Which, like, sure, I wouldn’t want Sex-Psychopath Dan anywhere near my daughter. But it doesn’t track with the earlier seasons of the show.

Ben: Because then they sound like they're the result of war. Kent: It’s the curse of the unintended narrative. Dan: Okay, but you still want military first?  Selina: Yes!  Dan: *grumbling* Yeah…I’ll just say them simultaneously.

The show never gets into it much, in either era—and it seems like BKD was always tragically doomed to be nothing more than a plot device—but there was always a little spark with Ben, Kent, and Dan’s dynamic. It’s not hard to imagine that the three of them, together, could have grown a very successful business in DC (…I have imagined it). Dan always works best around people who stomp on his ego and boss him around, which Ben and Kent certainly have no qualms about, but he’s also active and ambitious in a way that they aren’t, so they actually make a decent team. Also, Dan views Ben and Kent as men in a way he doesn't with Mike and Gary, which affects how he interacts with them. 

Doyle is a real dick in this episode. His presumption. It is so infuriating. It reminds me of all the male senators during the Kavanaugh hearings.

Selina: Seniors are the easy vote. Child care is a principle.  Ben: Ma’am, you have plenty of principles…you just gotta pick another one.

Dan: I don’t do offended…but I am affronted that you’d even think that.  A classic Dan line. 

Selina: I'll tell you what happens. They get bullied when they're little at school, and then they perpetuate the cycle by bullying me.

JLD’s face when she sees Catherine’s dress…masterful. 

Amy sends Gary a great “oh shit here it comes” look right after Selina starts to blow up at Catherine.

Also JLD’s fake laughing reaction to Doyle’s “L’il Selina” line. Brilliant.

Selina: So…I’m supposed to let a bunch of dead-eyed white guys shit all over absolutely everything that I stand for? An iconic line that is sadly even more applicable in 2020 than it was in 2014. 

Selina, in a rage: I have DECIDED that I'm going to LET them dictate to me. Because that is MY decision. Do you understand that? I am LETTING them do that! Get it?  Ben: Yes, ma’am. Selina: Right! But they do NOT own me!  Ben: They really don't, ma’am.  Selina: No, they don't! No, they don’t! *flings herself into the armchair*

Gary doesn’t do much in this episode, but he gets in some great little physical comedy bits, like trying to sneak Selina something to drink and then shying away. 

Mike calling Dee a “stupid cow” opens up such a dark crack into the normally sunny Mike. Matt Walsh really nails it, though, his own horror at his words…you really feel for him, even though it is a truly awful thing to say. I wonder if it’s a line they would have given to such a sympathetic character (for Veep, comparatively) in a post Me-Too world. Like, the audience just watched Mike get married! To Kathy Najimy!

Catherine: Amy, what the fuck is happening?! Is Mike on crank?! Amy: That’s actually the least of my worries right now. Your mom has gone quiet. 

Ben to Mike: You gotta go lower! You gotta go lower than the lowest lowlife. You gotta dig and dig and dig until you get to the point where you wish you were dead. Okay? And that's base camp.

Dan: Is there any way to snap her out of this Diving Bell and Butterfly shit? She should be rehearsing my speech right now. I mean…I am just impressed that Dan “only watches movies with Owen Wilson” Egan knows  about The Diving Bell and Butterfly.

Catherine: Your entire life has been leading up to this moment. And as a result of that, my entire life has been awful.  Sarah Sutherland’s delivery of this particular line is extra great…that little waver she puts on ‘awful.’ This whole monologue is so funny and spunky! 

All of the Selina/Dan interactions and miscommunications re: the speech and SNL once again foreshadow that their partnership is going to be a disaster. I appreciate how subtle the foreshadowing has been…while also undeniably consistent. 

I like that after an episode of being totally shit on by Doyle, Selina manages to get a win over him at the end, manipulating him in front of Alicia and Halo because of course he can’t say no in front of potential voters. Of course, she’s also manipulating them, but it’s a nice instance where Selina’s public machinations actually pay off for her. 

[safflowerseason]

veep rewatch - 2.06

Season Two, Episode Six - Andrew

aka - The One Where Amy Dates a Quaker 

All right, let’s just get this out in the open: DAN BASICALLY ASKS AMY OUT IN THIS EPISODE.

I go back and forth on whether or not this is a new thing he’s asking her to do. It’s reasonable to assume they’ve gotten “strategy drinks” before and Amy doesn’t act like the idea is a new one, but at the same time...this doesn’t seem like just a drink after work to blow off steam and talk about the future. Dan is asking her to do something alone after a formal evening event with alcohol that will presumably go late into the night. Hello. I don’t care if he doesn’t think of it as a date. It is fundamentally a date, the Dan-and-Amy version of a date, and the fact that he doesn’t call it a date only reinforces the fact that it means something. And then he acts like a complete dickhead the rest of the episode because she’s picked another man’s company over his. I don’t make the rules. It was a date. 

And the mysterious line: “You swore you were only going to date outside DC!” When would Amy have told him this?! Either we’re supposed to assume Amy’s opening up to Dan off-screen about her personal life (…no), or Dan’s throwing this little factoid at her from their pre-dating days, or…something else. A lot of fanfiction from when this season aired features the two of them hooking up off-screen, and while that’s a debatable interpretation of the canon, it would at least explain this weird interlude about Amy’s dating rules. Dan doesn’t even believe she has a date in the first place, and if they were having lots of cathartic after-work hate-sex, that might explain why. It also wouldn’t be hard to imagine Amy saying the thing about only dating outside DC if they were seeing each other more off-screen. Plus, Dan seems more okay with Amy dating someone else who is not DC related, and therefore not a threat to his monopolizing her time.

Then again…it could just be Dan being such a dick that he doesn’t believe anyone else wants Amy, even as he’s publicly asking her out in front of the entire office. 

Sue and Gary’s reactions to Dan and Amy in this scene basically confirm that everyone else on Selina’s team is fully aware of what’s going on between them.

Awww, and Amy is so smug at Dan’s obvious displeasure. She knows he’s jealous and she loves it. It’s so satisfying to see these two interact with each other on an even playing-field, not one tilted enormously and unrealistically in Dan’s favor. Also, Amy’s in a very plain black top and grey skirt—in stylistic terms, as pure a feminine mirror to Dan’s simple dark grey suit as it’s possible to be.

“Gary, deflower the room!”

Gary dragging Jonah out of Selina’s office doorway. “Okay, that’s actually a fire hazard.” 

Selina: He took me to Cap d’Antibes for the night… Gary: Yeah…they had crazy intercourse! JLD’s split-second delayed physical reaction to this line is perfect. 

Selina: Gary…you know my red thing?  Gary: Yeah Selina: Do you think that it shows enough skin?  Gary:…Yeah.  Selina: Okay, I’m going to be the sexiest woman to ever exude fiscal prudence. 

Dan’s jealous face! Also, he’s jealous of Ed, who is singularly unimpressive. 

Amy’s obviously not very *suave* around men she’s romantically interested in, for a variety of reasons, but I think her nervousness here is heightened by the fact that Ed is a NotDan! romantic option, considering how much time they’ve spent together this season. 

Love that little moment of Tony Hale, Reid Scott, and Matt Walsh all reacting to Amy’s “Andrew” laugh. Dan is normally so disdainful toward them both, it’s fun to see all three of them united in a moment of “traditional male confusion” at women. 

I think this is the first indication that Selina is taking anti-depressants.

Selina to Catherine, trying to sound hip: Don’t you think all your friends would call this an “epic succeed”?

David Pasquesi is so great in this role. 

Selina: Just give me five minutes, I just need to go talk to Andrew. Mary King: The ex? Three minutes.

I like how Mary King and Selina’s dialogue implies a kind of begrudging mutual understanding and respect. They don’t like each other, but they know what the other person has sacrificed to get there. 

Amy’s choice of dress is interesting…it’s not particularly attention-getting, even with the slight shimmer over the material. The neckline and the sleeves are still very professional.

And Ed actually goes in for a kiss! And Amy seems not thrown off by it! Maybe they’ve gone out before now because I can’t imagine Ed thinking this party is a good place to try and kiss Amy for the first time. The fact that they’ve kissed before must explain why Amy is so nervous earlier. Also, this is very quick work on Amy’s part. This episode can’t have happened more than a week after Helsinki, considering Dan mentions it early in the episode, and Ed’s already a presence. Obviously they knew each other already, but still.

Whatever Jonah means by the line “Does this mean you’re back on the market?”, it totally reinforces the idea that whenever Dan and Amy are in each other’s company, absolutely no one thinks she’s single. 

“Monsters. It’s like first Princess Diana, now this.” Gary’s response to one negative press article about Selina.

Amy’s red shirt is definitely eye-catching, but other than the color it does nothing for her in a traditionally feminine sense. The cut and style is almost masculine, especially around the collar and sleeves, and it’s so loose…not my favorite look on her. 

“Deal, boom. Party, boom. You are the boom-boom Veep.”

Let’s all take a moment to appreciate the hilarity that Selina turns into such an unstable basket-case around Andrew that her entire staff has to accompany her to a private family dinner.

If every dinner Catherine has shared with Selina and Andrew since their divorce (and probably before) has been as twisted as this one, no wonder Catherine is the way she is. It is truly demented.

Do we ever find out how recent their divorce is? We know they were divorced during her campaign, so they’ve been divorced at least since…2010? But I’m sure it’s earlier than that. I’ve always thought it was an interesting choice to make Selina a divorced woman, although I agree with it completely…Veep just wouldn’t work with a “Second Gentleman” hanging around. I feel like it’s a choice only a British showrunner would have been bold enough to make, though. Americans are generally far more puritanical about the personal lives of politicians than Europeans and an American showrunner might not have felt that it was “realistic” enough that a politician of Selina’s older generation could have made it as far as she did with a divorce hanging over her head. (Before anyone flames me: I have not researched the marital status of all the women serving as US Senators. It’s entirely possibly I am over-estimating how few divorces there are. But no woman who’s ever conducted a serious campaign for President has been divorced, that is for certain, and we know Selina was a serious primary contender.)

“So, Ed…Eddie. Who do you know? Do you know Ray McCaskill?” Dan’s version of dick-measuring.

“Well guess what, I work hard and I play hard, bitch, that’s my credo. I got that shit tattooed on my dick with room to spare.” 

The reveal that Mike’s been trapped in the car with Andrew, Selina, and Catherine is too funny. “Hey, Catherine…pretty nice cake you’ve got there.” Dead.