#and she's been very clear that she wouldn't be able to afford her lifestyle if he didn't pay for things and i just

[hollyhomburg]

i know you’re working so hard on bily and there’s a lot to get done for the next few chapters (you’re doing so well mwah) but i was just wondering when the next one would be out?? <3

hopefully this weekend! i have the chapter almost entirely finished and the moodboard completed but...i have life events in the works. heres to hoping that i can like...pull it out in the next two days cuz otherwise we might be off schedule :(

[bigboxofbees]

Quicksand / Störst av allt

This is a swedish Netflix original series (the first one!) about a school shooting, so the following analysis/review will include discussions around that topic. There will also be some smaller spoilers (if you don't want those, you can stop reading after the second image. The show sets out to explore the main character's involvement in the shooting. A thing that makes this show interesting is the fact that Sweden has no history of this type of crime. It jumps between flashbacks to the present, the present being when she was found all the way to when the verdict was being read. I would like to mention that I would not recommend this show to anyone who feels like the topics of gun violence, suicide and sexual assault might be too much for you. They do show the shooting, there's mention of suicide and it has a rape scene.

In short terms, the show can be described as a Romeo and Juliet story. It's a whirlwind "love story" that ends in death. It's about two 17-yearold (later 18-yearold) teens, Maja and Sebastian (fun fact: the actor is a singer, he almost made it to eurovision), who've known eachother since they were children. Sebastian has been away for a year, he and Maja meet again on a night outside a night club. It's been made clear that Sebastian is the kind of guy who "can get any girl". He's rich and popular, yet suddenly only has eyes for Maja. She is your average girl, according to herself. Her family has money, but cannot afford the lavish lifestyle of Sebastian's family. It's the classic rich and troubled guy falls for the girl who doesn't see herself as special. Right after they met, Maja is going on a 3-week vacation to France with her family. Sebastian (and his father) meets up with Maja in France as a surprise, and this is where their love story begins.

Maja and Sebastian falls "in love" fast, it's unclear how long their "romance" lasted, but the timeline of the show seem to only stretch about a year. Although it is important to note, this timeperiod was very intense. They spent days (or possibly a week or two) alone on a luxury yacht the same week they met, Sebastian threw a huge party (drugs and alcohol included), she learned details about him and his family, they were in an accident and they went hunting with her grandfather (fun fact: my mother was in one of his movies in the 80s!).

A side character who's also of importance is Samir (fun fact: played by a former Youtube vlogger, whom I've seen live and he's fucking awesome, just putting it out there). Samir does not come from a family like Sebastian's. He does not understand what Maja sees in Sebastian, because to him Sebastian is nothing but a spoiled rich drug addict. However, he does seem to care about Maja, so perhaps his words come from a place of concern with a touch of jealousy. Sebastian seem to have made Samir his enemy, and there are definitely some racist remarks towards his parents who are immigrants from the middle east. Cheap shots indeed, but this shows that Sebastian is afraid of losing Maja to Samir; the intelligent son of immigrants who does well for himself, unlike Sebastian. He probably sees Samir as both above and below himself in a sense.

Another noteworthy character is Maja's best friend Amanda. Maja describes her as someone who "pities everyone, but equally pities herself", as "self-centered, but cares so much about everything". When Maja confesses that she may no longer be in love, Amanda (who's at least fairly aware about Sebastian's issues) says that "some people would've left him, but you aren't leaving him". She appears to be rather loyal to Sebastian, despite being friends with Maja first. Perhaps because she likes the perks of being that close to Sebastian and his way of life? However, when she learns more about what's going on the tone changes somewhat, she realizes things are bad.

Fast forward, Maja finally decides to break up with Sebastian. This is around the time when things are starting to really spiral out of control. Sebastian's father is not a great parent (I'm being generous here), an example of this would be when Sebastian is in the hospital and neither his father nor his brother comes to visit, they are on vacation. His mother is no longer in the picture, what happened to her is unknown, but there was a disturbing comment about her and his father clearly does not like her. This all becomes a lot for Sebastian, the disappointment, the drugs, the jealousy; his only escape was Maja, and she broke up with him. Maja feels even more responsibility over Sebastian, so she kind of stays with him. Maja can't bring herself to leave him, not even after he assaults her. In court she mentions that she "wishes he had hit her harder" so that she wouldn't feel so guilty about leaving him.

Maja is being detained for being suspected of murder, attempted murder and assisted murder. She is not completely innocent, that much is clear from the start, the question is what her involvement actually was. Maja doesn't seem to be able to picture herself a life after the shooting. When her legal team says "we all want you out of here" she responds with "out to where?". Perhaps she didn't plan that far, perhaps she doesn't feel like she has anything left or perhaps she didn't plan on making it out alive. What actually happened I won't spoil.

The scenes in the courtroom brings up a couple of interesting aspects of the trial. First we have witness tampering. The police didn't handle the main witness properly and therefor the witness' memories weren't clear. What this teaches us is that even if someone is not telling the truth, they may not be lying. Because by talking to other people, your memories can be altered, especially in situations like this. Another thing is the media, which played a role in the trial. As Maja's lawyer puts it: "She was already found guilty before we started". The media had been running stories about how horrible she was, which affected everyone in the courtroom. The last thing I wanted to bring up was victim blaming, we see the classics of "Did you say no? Did you report it?" and "Why didn't you leave?".

The show certainly sets out to humanize the people of the shooting, however, it does not try to romanticize the events nor their relationship. It starts out as this fantastical love story, but turns into a very toxic relationship and a downward spiral. If anything, it serves as a cautionary tale, because sometimes we can't save those we care about. Sometimes it's best to walk away.

As a final note, it does not however explain why it happened, we never got a clear motive. All we know is that the teacher had called for a meeting about Maja and Sebastian, and this is where it happened. But, perhaps, the lack of a motive is intended as a message. People do horrible things, maybe they don't always have a clear reasoning behind it; perhaps it was irratic and impulsive with no clear motive. But I would say that the shooting isn't the most central part of the show; it's their relationship. It's not a show about a school shooting, it's a show about how a relationship can turn toxic and spiral out of control.

I absolutely would recommend the show. It keeps you glued to the screen and you can easily watch it in a day (I did). It explores interesting topics and you're never quite sure whether or not you should be rooting for Maja until the very end.