#actually the Grant and Henry stuff is probably a bit controversial too

[a4oreviewed]

S2E1: Starting Again

Fitting title, since I’m also starting this blog again. I’m also abandoning all attempts to Photoshop pictures to break up the walls of text, so I apologize in advance.

First off, just as a general note, I’d advise everyone against taking anything I say here with anything other than a massive grain of salt. I’m not a director, editor, actor, or writer. I am, however, extremely well-versed in all the different ways in which university can crush your soul and leave you an empty husk of a human being (and we’re heading into finals...), so I guess I am qualified in at least one respect.

Anyway, heading into the episode.

First of all, I’ll say it’s nice to see Dorothy and Connie again. Just doing a cursory glance around at the set, it looks incredible and also totally unrealistic, though granted, I’ve never been in a sorority house. I know it’s a plot point that it’s one of the biggest rooms, but it really does stretch credibility that this is student housing. Though I guess watching Dorothy and Connie cram into an overpriced shithole where you have to just learn to coexist with ladybugs that go through your window screen would be less fun and leave the very talented set people with very little to do.

Whoa, chat is very fast and difficult to keep up with. Still, it remains what I personally think is this show’s best innovation, even if it is a little hard to follow sometimes. What a brilliant way to get the audience voice in there and have a straight man (men? People?) in there to offset some of the more bizarre personalities in A4O.

Anyway, actual plot related stuff: Linnea Currie-Roberts is very convincing as a stressed out, exhausted university student running on fumes. I really feel for Connie. I’m exhausted and I don’t even have a job, let alone two. Dornie is obviously very cute. Very couple-y and mushy, but it is their home and they are adorable, so I guess they have every right to be.

Anyway, quick exposition: Treville and Portia are the only campaigns left, Dorothy is putting all her money on Treville, there’s going to be a party tonight, Henry came out, Alex is tutoring Connie so we can expect to see that friendship develop this season, Anne is Dorothy’s Big Sister (and thank God for chiefofmemes explaining WTF that is).

Enter Monty. I’m going to be a little controversial here because it seems like the fandom consensus is that people like her a lot, even if they’re a little skeptical of her motives. I’m going to throw my hat in the ring and say that after 12 episodes, I just find her annoying. I’ve heard the speculation that she’s on the spectrum (and A4O has neither confirmed nor denied). I mean, maybe. But most people I know on the spectrum who are living the kind of life Monty seemed to be living before moving to Dumas (i.e. in premed) are aware enough of social cues that they don’t act... like that. And I’m going to argue that there’s a difference between not understanding social cues and just being kind of generally clueless. I don’t think you can chalk up her looking under the desk for Connie to her being anything other than not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Which, to me at least, begs the question of why she was in premed. Anyway, this is more just a personal gripe. I find the character insufferable. It’s not the actress’ fault and a lot of people seem to love her. It’s probably just me.

Dorothy’s kind of a jerk to her. The Inseparables set her right and tell her to lay off. Still, Dorothy’s asking some solid questions. Did she transfer? And how does one manage to burn bridges thoroughly enough that your parents won’t even take you back? Gwenlyn Cumyn is great at being annoyed. I very much buy her frustration. Side note: why would you bring a shower curtain anywhere that isn’t a shower?

Not getting to see Monty’s big declaration leaves me with a little bit of a feeling of anticlimax, though I do understand how logistically difficult and impractical it would’ve been to get the old set back for a single scene and also, I don’t know, cut all the actresses’ hair, find all the old costumes, and try to make it look like nothing had changed. I understand that it’ll have to be relegated to the land of fanfiction but still, would’ve been a nice scene to get to watch. 

I know Dorothy’s arrogance with her explanation of why Connie chose her is being played for comedy, but her lack of humility does annoy me a little, though Cumyn does an awesome job at making it come across as likeable rather than insufferable. Speaking of Dorothy, I do hope we’ll get more detail on her home life this season. It feels like it’s brought up a lot for something we know almost nothing about.

OK, so Dorothy now launches into a description of how Connie is being Monty’s pity friend. She also explains how the photos were stolen from Monty’s phone by Miller. Though this doesn’t directly contradict last season’s canon, it feels a little like a retcon, since in S1 Connie makes it sound like Monty was very much a willing participant in the photo scandal. But whatever, as these things go, it’s relatively minor, and it’s a necessary evil to make the character even a little redeemable.

Tangent: I kind of don’t buy that Monty, now that we’ve met her, is a person who engages in sexting. But this line of thought got me wondering what the hell her “dirty talk” sounds like, and now I’m very uncomfortable thinking about this, and so I’m going to completely abandon this thought. Feel free to speculate about Monty and Connie sexting if you want to, though. It’s just leading me down some very strange avenues and so I, personally, will be pretending none of this occurred to me.

Enter Treville! She’s clearly having a rough day, but I’m excited to see her anyway. Enter Alex, Henry, and Portia! Happy to see them too, but I could’ve held off for a bit until we heard what was going on with Treville. But plot demands we don’t know yet, so heart to heart interruptus! 

Just to be clear, because I know I’m kind of critical here, I am glad to see A4O back and I do still like the show. I’m just being nitpicky.