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wecantseeyou · 4 years ago

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a note on color - how line of duty series 6 uses wardrobe to frame narrative (pt 1)

author’s note: this began as a personal observation on the use of cool tones for AC-12 and warm tones in opposition to AC-12, and evolved into a spreadsheet tracking most every outfit 3 of the 4 leads wear in every episode (through 6).

Why Jo, Kate, and Steve?

Jo: This is ultimately a rumination on Jo and her character, and the non-textual ways the show indicates Jo’s feelings, actions, and allegiances.

Kate: Jo’s major emotional connection in the series. Kate’s wardrobe often mirrors Jo’s in both style and color, and Kate’s wardrobe also gives hints to Jo’s true identity, while also reminding the audience of her allegiance with AC-12 (in both principles and action)

Steve: As the face of AC-12 in many ways (especially in this season, whereas past seasons that would’ve been Kate), Steve’s wardrobe is the control. He is firmly planted as an anti-corruption officer, is an ally of Kate, and he acts as Jo’s foil.

Why not Hastings?: Lord knows I love Ted, but the man really only ever wears his uniform (which is an entirely different essay about his views of the police force, ‘bent coppers’, and the ‘bad apples’ view of addressing police misconduct)

Some of the colors folks wear are difficult to quantify - I note circumstances where a shirt or sweater could be interpreted as multiple colors, and some instances where I believe that open interpretation is intentional. To be incredibly simplistic for how I coded the colors, cool tones are the good guys, and warm tones are the bad guys. Where possible, I have included reference images for the outfits I’m discussing (low quality screencaps ahead).

It took me some time to choose the organization of this essay, but ultimately there’s only one way to really do it - scene to scene. So buckle in, cause this is a doozy. I’m posting just episode 1 today, and then plan to post analyses breaking down the other episodes through Saturday. Essay under the cut.

DISCLAIMER: I’m American, so there’s likely something about the UK that I miss here. Alas, we’ll persevere. I barely edited this because I’m no longer a student and don’t have that kind of time. Also, I already wrote one dissertation and I refused to admit I wrote another one.

METHODOLOGY

To kick off, I went through and looked at every outfit worn by Jo Davidson and Kate Fleming, and most worn by Steve Arnott, in series 6. Steve acts as my control because he begins and ends my sample as a working member of AC-12, which for the purposes of this narrative represents police who are not corrupt. He is exclusively shown in cool tones in every scene I discuss here. Kate serves to bridge that gap in analysis between Jo and Steve - she is anti-corruption through and through, but she is no longer a member of AC-12, and she also has a close relationship with Jo, which is clearly romantic in tone. Kate often wears cool tones and white, but the occasional brown, orange, and green pop up (hold that thought on green). Jo is my main focus of my analysis, because I believe her wardrobe is most clearly impacted by the struggle between internal desires and external pressures. She wears a range of colors, but most frequently it is a combination of warm and cool tones. For the purpose of this analysis, black is considered a warm tone, white is both cool and absent allegiance, and grey is considered a cool tone.

THESIS

Since the first episode of series 6, Line of Duty has used color to indicate that Jo Davidson is not bent by aligning her with the tone of AC-12 as a whole and Kate Fleming specifically. TL;DR: The show has used wardrobe to tell us that Jo is not (intentionally) bent from the beginning.

Jo isn’t ‘bent’ in that she doesn’t want to be corrupt, but she’s forced to be. Surrounded on all sides by the OCG because of her uncle/father, Tommy Hunter, Jo therefore has no choice but to follow OCG orders for fear for her life. The show works to show us this visually in a few ways. Cool tones, representing ‘justice’ through AC-12, are seen throughout her screen time, but they are often peppered with warm tones, representing corruption and the OCG. This is true of her wardrobe overall, but is perhaps most succinctly demonstrated in her apartment. Keep these thoughts in mind as I break down each outfit.

EPISODE 1

There are points where the wardrobe informs us of things that the text directly contradicts. For instance, in the opening scene of episode 1, Jo arrives at the Hill wearing a black coat over a dark grey turtleneck, and is shown talking to Lomax about a new lead in the Gail Vella murder investigation. She is then shown talking to Buckells about this lead, an unknown CHIS who claims to have spoken with a man named Ross Turner who claimed to have killed Gail. The interaction seems innocuous, and Buckells denies permission for a raid on Turner’s home, but look more carefully at the dialogue here. Jo is manipulating Buckells by presenting him with information about the source, including that he was a sex worker and speculating on his potential drug use. These two factors are what makes Buckells hesitate, and he ultimately stops the raid from being carried out that night.

While Jo in this scene seems to push Buckells to give permission for the operation, Jo’s dark wardrobe is telling the audience that something else is happening on another level here. We learn later that Jo would take advantage of Buckells baser instincts and desire for upward advancement in order to manipulate him, which is what she does in this scene. She specifically mentions the CHIS’s sex work and the potential drug use because she knows Buckells will worry about the reliability of the witness and want more to go off of, hence cancelling the operation. Jo’s dark clothes hint at her manipulation of Buckells while the audience is not yet clued in.

The next time we see Jo during the team briefing about Ross Turner is also the first time we get a hint at the fliration between her and Kate. Jo’s “dirty stop-out” line and Kate’s “glass houses, boss” response, coupled with Jo’s smile that she hides by looking down show a clear shift in tone. The black jacket is removed, and she’s wearing a grey turtleneck. Jo is slightly more at ease here, enjoying the easy banter. Meanwhile, Kate is wearing a cream/light brown sweater, our first visual clue of her separation from AC-12 and her connection to Jo.

Note here that Jo’s black jacket was on top of her grey turtleneck, and could be removed. The turtleneck, a very modest and in some ways restrictive top, also serves as an armor Jo wears to brace herself against her own actions.

When the operation to arrest Ross Turner is approved, Jo again dons a black jacket under her body armor, while Kate wears a green coat under her body armor. Jo putting on the black jacket is symbolic of how she is about to waylay the team with the staged armed robbery at the bookie, allowing time for the OCG to replace Owen Banks with Terry Boyle. Kate’s green coat is symbolic of her mixed allegiances between AC-12’s blue and Jo’s yellow.

Later, when debriefing the operation with Lomax and discussing the importance of learning the CHIS’s identity, Jo and Kate are back to the grey and cream sweaters they were wearing earlier. Their banter is also back with Kate’s “great minds” line, demonstrating their comfort and also telling the audience these two women are in sync with one another.

Immediately after this series of scenes, we see Steve for the first time. His first scene is at AC-12, wearing a grey suit, white shirt, and red tie, when he is notified that Farida Jatri is there to see him. We learn in the next scene, where Steve is in a blue suit with a blue shirt and blue tie, that Farida brought her concerns about Jo to AC-12, particularly about the odd armed robbery that Jo spotted. He asks Hastings for permission to look into it further, which is granted. The all blue outfit on Steve represents his desire to root out potential corruption in this complaint. He continues to wear this outfit for most of the episode when dealing with the investigation and MIT.

(Note: there’s an interlude scene here of the MIT crew in crime scene suits at Terry’s, but I’m not including that here.)

We next see Jo with Lomax, interrogating a frightened Terry Boyle, while Kate watches the video feed of the interview. Jo is wearing another grey turtleneck, but this time is wearing a grey jacket, while Kate watches on with a cream oversized sweater. The interview with Terry goes nowhere for the most part, as he refuses to comment, which seems to be to Jo’s relief. Kate, however, clearly isn’t done.

Donned in a green mockneck and navy suit, Kate visits the crime scene at Terry’s apartment again. This green top still aligns her with both AC-12 and Jo, but the navy suit serves as a reminder that she doesn’t think the MIT has the full story on Terry Boyle.

Later, we see Kate in the same outfit debriefing Jo on the new information at the crime scene, namely that there is no new information because it’s been wiped clean. Jo is wearing a grey suit jacket, brown sweater, and a white shirt. Both agree that Terry isn’t a solid suspect, and want the ID of the CHIS in order to confirm that he’s the man identified as Ross Turner. Jo’s layering here is interesting - cool tone, warm tone, cool tone. She agrees with Kate externally, she knows Terry is in the frame for Vella’s murder, and she doesn’t feel comfortable pursuing Terry as a suspect she knows is innocent.

They then visit the CHIS’s handler, who refuses to give up his informant’s ID, but reveals to Kate that he is concerned about the CHIS’s welfare. Kate is wearing a long navy coat, while Jo is wearing a long grey coat with a blue and orange scarf. Kate wants to know the CHIS’s ID to genuinely pursue justice, hence the blue, while Jo wants the CHIS’s ID for ostensibly the same reason, but for her, pursuing justice with the CHIS would also clear Terry’s name. Jo doesn’t want Terry to be punished because he’s innocent, but she also knows a negative ID on Terry will lead to trouble for her with the OCG.

We see Jo in the same outfit minus outerwear in the next few scenes - when she is called into Buckell’s office and convinces him to put pressure on for the CHIS’s ID (while Kate watches), and later when Kate informs her that there was a surveillance gap on Terry Boyle’s flat due to the wrong authority being sought. Jo pushes Buckells and manipulates him to reveal the CHIS’s ID, and also blames him for the gap that she’s responsible for, hence the warm coloring of her sweater. Kate, meanwhile, is showing her allegiance to Jo by telling her about the gaffe, the green of her shirt being the visual representation of that act.

Next we have a scene of Steve looking at CCTV of the armed robbery, and their suspicions are raised about the speed the convoy was traveling and the likelihood that Jo could have actually spotted it. Again, Steve is in an all blue outfit.

Back to our favorite murder investigators, Lomax, Jo, and Kate arrive on the scene of a murder victim which turns out to be their missing CHIS. Jo is dressed in a long grey coat, green sweater, and light blue shirt, while Kate is rocking a long navy coat, navy suit, and an orange and navy striped turtleneck. Later at MIT, Kate and Jo discuss the CHIS further, lamenting the loss of the only witness who could ID Terry as Ross Turner. Throughout this scene, Jatri is watching the two of them interact. Jatri then calls Steve, in a grey suit with a blue tie, and tells him she can no longer be an informant.

Round two of interviewing sweet Terry begins, with Jo in the same outfit and Kate watching on video, again in the same striped turtleneck. They all seem to think Terry is hiding something, but Kate seems taken aback at some of Jo’s lines of questioning (Vicky McClure, expert reactor) but is mostly saddened by Terry. Later, Steve meets with Kate outside of Hillside and they discuss his inquiry into Jo. She refuses to help, but gives him the name Carl Banks as someone to look into.

We then see Jo arrive at Farida’s house with a suitcase, moving out her final belongings after their breakup, where they have a row over Jo’s refusal to introduce Farida to her nonexistent family. After, Jo returns to her own apartment with its 18 dead bolts. Nearly the entire place is blue - the walls, the furniture, even the refrigerator. However, those warm tones pop up throughout - lemons on the counter, golden pillows in the living room, gold lights framing the picture of her mother. Jo at her heart is good and believes in justice, but she has been groomed and manipulated by the OCG into acting against her nature in the name of self-preservation. She is blue, but the pops of gold and yellow of the OCG catch the eye.

The following scene shows Jo getting chewed out by Buckells in the briefing room in full view of the rest of MIT, again in the green sweater and blue shirt. Kate looks on in concern, still wearing the orange and navy striped sweater. Buckells storms out, and Jo rushes into the hallway. Kate follows quickly behind, asking after Jo, who vents her frustrations with the pressure to charge Terry with murder because she knows it isn’t right and wants to find real justice for Gail. The color choices in this scene are clear. Kate is wearing orange and navy, highlighting both her connection to Jo and her pursuit of justice. Jo is wearing green, combining the blue of her heart and the pollution of OCG yellow, with a light blue shirt, again highlighting her true self and alignment with Kate.

This also highlights something we don’t learn until episode 6 - Jo wanted Kate on her team to keep her in check and be a barrier to the things the OCG was asking her to do. This includes the arrest of Terry Boyle. Jo specifically identifies several odd things about the recent evidence - and tells Kate that something doesn’t add up, essentially encouraging the DI to look into these inconsistencies further. This is her way of looking for help when she still feels trapped in many ways.

Of course, no analysis of this scene would be complete without mentioning the hand grab and subsequent hold. They’re gay, kids!

The final scene shows Jo watching as Terry Boyle is released and remanded to police bail, a look of relief on her face. Because yeah, she’s done a lot of bent things, but Jo isn’t bent.

And that’s where the episode wraps.

Stay tuned for more wardrobe analysis tomorrow!

#line of duty #jo davidson #kate fleming #steve arnott #lod spoilers #line of duty spoilers #flemson #kate x jo #so sorry to anyone who follows me for cr but I do love a good crime drama #anyways defund the police #this is fully unedited pursue with caution

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galemalio · 4 years ago

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Hazbin Hotel and Compulsive Representation

(aka my accumulated experience writing and researching about Hazbin Hotel characters as a fan and critic)

Date: September 17, 2020

This is going to be my last article for Hazbin Hotel for now. After that, I’m taking a long break from HH.

I Can’t Ignore My Own Research

I like Hazbin Hotel. But when people have criticism for it, I listen and try to understand why they have concerns about the cartoon that I like.

Mindful Consumption of Hazbin Hotel’s vodoo Content

When someone has concerns about Alastor being an example of Hollywood voodoo, I listened and did the work since I didn’t know what Hollywood voodoo was.

What I found out after writing the article? Alastor’s use of sacred symbols and inspiration of those symbols of an exclusive religion gave me the impression that Vp didn’t do her research beyond aesthetic.

Exploring Angel Dust’s Gay and Sex Worker Stereotypes

When someone said Angel Dust has a lot of stereotypes, I listened and did the work in order to understand where they are coming from.

What I found out after writing the article? The roots of Angel Dust’s stereotypes made me wonder if Vp really delved into what he will represent in media.

3 Examples of Racial Bias in Animation Storytelling

When someone didn’t like how Vaggie was treated in the pilot, I watched the episode again if what they are saying is true... and you know what? Vaggie deserved better.

(I’m also happy to announce that Medium has made this a Recommended article to their readers.)

What I found out after writing the article? The more prone-to-violence dark-skinned girl (Vaggie) to the light-skinned ingenue (Charlie) gave me an impression that Vp isn’t aware of the plight of dark-skinned women who aren’t allowed to be vulnerable and delicate as their white counterparts.

If a character is going to represent women of color, shouldn’t she have done research on their experiences? Or interview them?

How did it all come to this?

That’s when I realized Vp’s compulsive character building from Zoophobia may have seeped through into Hazbin Hotel.

Vp and her Artistic Compulsiveness

I have first read about Vp’s artistic compulsiveness from @zpredraws.

Their blog gives fair feedback and critique of Vp’s art works including Zoophobia and Hazbin Hotel.

Here is what they said about her artistic compulsiveness:

“Viv tends to exaggerate way too much in her designs that it causes a lot of anatomy problems, coupled with her habit of not reviewing her sketches, and sketching impulsively.”

This compulsiveness goes beyond sketching from what I have noticed in my research and writing:

Her habit of thinking character traits from the top of her head makes her dependent on stereotypes, tropes and her other preconceived biases with no to little effort of developing them.

Coupled with her habit of not reviewing sketches is parallel to her not reviewing the writing of her own characters.

Compulsive Representation

@zpredraws mentioned about her character representation in Zoophobia (paraphrased):

She wants a diverse representation of minor groups them adds them compulsively in the story. But because not much thought was given to them, there is not much passion felt for them either.

The characters then end up as token characters with no direction for their stories. Thus, nullifying the point of representing them.

@zpredraws also commented on her compulsive adding of characters (paraphrased):

She has a habit of compulsively adding a character because she liked an aspect of it from an animated film without developing it much.

This is a common mistake of young artists who haven’t matured enough into making a good story. But Vp has graduated years ago and still has this habit.

It’s okay to be inspired but they need to be developed enough to be unique.

With her habit on grabbing only the aesthetics but none of the histories beneath them (which I have observed in my research), the misrepresentation through characters in media continue:

Alastor being similar to Dr. Facilier whose personality traits are misconceptions on Vodou such as cannibalism.

Nifty being similar to the cute genki girl with the yellow-skinned othering of anti-East Asian propaganda and Asian house-keeper stereotype while being fluent in Japanese.

Mimzy having anti-Semite features and being money-greedy -a common antisemitic stereotype.

Vaggie’s valid anger being played as comedy as the aggressive angry Latina (which is a negative stereotype of dark-skinned women of color).

Angel Dust as a gay sex worker represented as a horny sex worker stereotype in and out of his profession.

However, Vp did say she developed Angel Dust the most, but for @zpredraws , she’s overdeveloping him.

“If Viv wants Angel to be a drag-queen, a gay pornstar, a mobster, a stripper, Angel will conform to that personality. Viv is focusing and developing Angel so much that she is actually over-developing him. Other characters are being under-developed, while Angel is getting more and more traits stacked onto him that nobody really knows what or who he is anymore..

Lastly, Angel Dust is here not so much for being the worst design in how aesthetically nice he looks, but it’s more of “What exactly is he anymore?” Angel doesn’t have a consistent design anymore, he can be whatever Viv wants him to be. Looking at the above, few people on first impression would know that is the same character. I just don’t know what Angel is anymore, and I think many fans have that same thought too.”

@zpredraws further advised:

Vibrant colors and drawing on impulse can only carry your art that far, and won’t be able to hide mistakes for long.

And I think it’s carrying over to the writing of her characters.

I understand that the pilot took three years to make and that a lot of work was done in it. But in that span, I have concluded in my research that most of the characters’ pre-story personality was compulsively done and not developed further beyond their stereotypes. More effort was put in their design.

As Youtube Staxlotl had noted, the art of Hazbin Hotel pilot took over its writing:

“I do hope if VivziePop decides to continue with the series, that she looks into putting a bit more effort into the writing and dialogue to make the plot more engaging, the characters and jokes more entertaining to watch. Because honestly, if you strip these characters of their amazing voice actors and replace them with mediocre ones, the show would be much, much more boring.”

Hope for Improvement

I hope Vp would hire the people her characters are supposed to represent (queer sex worker, dark-skinned Latina, etc.) as givers of feedback or at least put them in high positions in the creation of the episodes of HH. That is, if she truly wanted an adult comedy without sacrificing a thoughtful story on redemption and tangible character growth that speaks truly of the represented people’s experiences.

Not just make it up as they go along then pat themselves on the back when they get progressive points.

Because for now, the characters with their stereotypes are just continuing the misconceptions of the minorities that they’re supposed to represent. This can negatively affect real-life minorities on how other people perceive them.

I have read that Vp has driven away artists who wants to help her with her Zoophobia. I wished she wouldn’t drive away people who have valid criticisms whose intentions are to help improve the show.

Other Short Works:

The Intention vs Outcome of “Shipping ANYTHING You Want!”

How to avoid cultural appropriation and ableism in making Alastor content.

Angel Dust: Rooting for a Character Who Doesn’t Want to Grow… Yet

#hazbin hotel critical #original posts

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wtfevenismypage · 4 years ago

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Sinfully Sweet pt.3

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Summary:You shouldn’t be this addicted to him, but he was just so sinfully sweet.

Warnings: Cursing, wet dreams, mentions of sex

A/N: This series is being put on hiatus until i finish publishing a new series I’m working on, Love you all very much!

It took four days for you to want to get back to work, to want to be dancing again, but Jake and Renee kept you locked up in your house.

“Please?”

“No. Not until you get better.”

Jake said, pulling you into a warm hug. He always gave the warmest hugs when you were sick.

You spent your days binge watching random shows with episodes over an hour long, and hell you were getting bored.

You found that your mind frequently traveled to mystery man. You often thought of the way he fucked your throat shamelessly. Which made you have to fuck your wet cunt with a dildo.

Meanwhile “mystery man” found himself having the same issue.He couldn’t let go of the way your tight cunt squeezed his cock. It was so mesmerizing that he often got a small problem during cases.

He had returned to the club two days after that night, searching endlessly for you, but he then learnt from a co-worker you were sick and that you wouldn’t be back until next week.

He was disappointed, returning to work with a frown.

If only you could return to your job quickly, just to spend one more night with him, to let him fuck you senseless.

“Hey hun, a guy came in looking for you at the club today. Curly hair, super tall, skinny string bean looking dude?”

Renee said walking into your apartment, smirking at the smile that crept onto your face.

“You know him?”

“It’s the guy I told you about. The one that fucking made me cum so fucking hard? Dude, he was looking for me?”

She nods, patting you on the shoulder before heading over to your small kitchen and putting the instant ramen on the counter.

“Oop, do I sense a crush?”

“No, you sense a woman who wants more sex, and is happy that the man who gave her great sex is looking for her.”

Renee hums doubtfully, a knowing smirk on her face as you swiftly pass out on the couch.

A few days later, you decide you’re ready to return the next day. Apparently, mystery man had returned two more times since you fell under the weather, asking for you each time.

Oh how you missed mystery man and all of his lengthy greatness, the way he filled you up eagerly, or the way he literally made you black out from cumming so hard.

“You are way too excited to be dicked down by a stranger.”

“Whaaaaat? I mean come on, Jake gets way more excited when he gets clients.”

“Yeah, because Jake never gets clients.”

“Because women keep asking a gay man to fuck them!”

You both laugh at Jake’s voice from a separate room, Jake was more masculine which often attracted women to request him, but he always declined them.

“Hey, I live by the club owner’s motto, if you fucked them, they ain’t a stranger.”

Renee giggles, huddling closer to you on the small couch of yours.

“Well, you better go start getting ready, eat some protein. It’s good for you.”

You make your entrance the next day, excitedly dancing on the stage, the perfect vantage point to search for the man.

A sultry smirk was on your face as soon as you spotted him, locking your eyes with his lusty ones. You knew he was annoyed, you kept him waiting for a week just to see your body again, and now you return, teasing him with a lacy black set of panties and a bra.

Oh boy you were so giddy with anticipation of what he would do to you if he got the chance. This man was going to be the death of you.

Once the song ended, you winked at him in the crowd, giggling at the crimson red mess he became.

You stepped off of the stage, readjusting your thigh high lace stockings before motioning the man to follow you into your private room.

The bed is softer than usual under your ass, and you can’t stop the smile that fights its way onto your lips when you watch him enter.

“Hi there.”

You spoke with a blushy red face.

Dammit. Get it together!

“Hey, where have you been?”

“I had a cold, but I’m better now, I’m not sick I swear.”

He smiles, walking closer to you and resting a hand on your thigh. The way his fingers squeezed the fleshy skin sent shivers up your spine, smiling as he leaned down, pushing you onto the bed and resting his body between your legs.

“I can’t stop thinking about you. Can’t get you out of my mind.”

Your smile only grows as he begins kissing your neck.

“Shit...What’s... Name...”

You manage to moan out as his lips travel over your body.

“Spencer. Your co-worker told me your stage name is cherry right?”

You nod, feeling him rub his erection against your needy wet cunt.

“Please... Please Spencer... Fuck me.”

He couldn’t stop the moan the slipped out of his mouth, you were already so wet for him. He rolled his pants off eagerly, grabbing a condom from the bowl on the bedside table, rapidly rolling it onto his length before plunging deep into you.

But oh god.

The curtains fly open.

“Jesus Y/N!”

Taglist:

@pastathighs @blablasomethingblabla @101donuts @annestine @etherealgubler @boxofsparklingmuses @andiebeaword @spencerreidsthings @nightlygiggless @taekwinkle @sixx-sic-sixx @fixatedfandomhunter @marvels-gurl @hopebaker @wolfyfuzzbutt @thatsonezesty13 @addie5264 @rainsong01

#criminal minds #criminal minds fandom #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid #dr. spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fan fiction #spencer reid x y/n #aaron hotchner #emily prentiss #penelope garcia #derek morgan #jennifer jareau #luke alvez #david rossi

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coll2mitts · 3 years ago

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#78 8 Women (8 Femmes) (2002)

Prepare yourself for a good, old-fashioned murder mystery with 8 Femmes: All the different ways a woman can screw over a man.

This movie is an adaptation of a 1950s French play by Robert Thomas, and is spiritually equivalent to a sitcom bottle episode. The head of the household, Marcel, is killed in his sleep during a snowstorm so horrific that all means of escape have been eliminated, and calling for help is useless. Now the eight most important women in his life are tasked with the responsibility of deducing which one of them is a murderer.

Is it his invalid mother-in-law who recently moved into the house to be cared for?

Or his high-strung, hypochondriac, sister-in-law Augustine, who is overly concerned with everyone else’s actions?

Is it his fabulously dressed wife, Gaby, who strides to maintain a high level of wealth and decorum?

Maybe it’s Chanel, the housekeeper who has dutifully served the family for years, but has a secret gambling problem?

Or Louise, a recently hired young sexpot with a mysterious past?

It might be Catherine, his youngest daughter, who always has her nose in a book? Or perhaps his eldest daughter Suzon, who has recently returned from school for Christmas break several pounds heavier, but suspiciously vocal on how she’s maintained excellent grades?

Or perhaps is it his estranged sex-worker sister who is always asking for money?

As the story unfolds, the layers of these women are peeled back like onions. Their relationships with each other and Marcel eventually reveal themselves, as well as their personal motivations for his untimely demise.

I won’t divulge details of the plot, because I don’t want to spoil it. I think everyone should watch this movie and bask in its luxurious glory. The women start off as allies, but as time progresses, their behavior becomes increasingly unhinged. Even when their actions were abhorrent, I still rooted for them because the women in this movie are unbelievably charismatic and captivating actresses. Catherine Deneuve’s glamour just seeped out of her pores. The way she wears clothes gives me the yearning of a child wanting to put on their mother’s coat and shoes and prance around the house. Isabelle Huppert’s facial ticks and loud, sharp outbursts that cut her otherwise restrained persona were absolutely hilarious. Both Fanny Ardant and Emmanuelle Béart made me feel hot underneath the collar due to their effortless antagonization of Gaby. Virginie Ledoyen and Ludivine Sagnier made me annoyed with their characters in similar ways - Virginie with the feigned doe-eyed innocence of someone who is hiding a secret, and Ludivine as the whiny, outspoken younger sister who thinks she knows everything but knows nothing. Firmine Richard’s performance was both hilarious and heartbreaking, balancing the loneliness of feeling ostracized by the family she’s supported for years, but trying her best to stay out of the way and let these crazy ladies tear each other down. And last but not least, Danielle Darrieux’s exasperated reactions to everything that happens and everything she was accused of consistently cracked me up.

The songs in this musical are delightful, and didn’t feel out-of-place in an otherwise straightforward murder mystery. However, they are not original to the film, making this a dreaded jukebox musical. I was unfamiliar with the songs outside of the context of the movie, which made it easy to associate them with parts of the plot. Each woman has their own musical style that fits their character, and when their motivations were called into question, they burst into song to address it. The actresses all have fairly good singing voices, but what surprised me was how uncomfortable they looked during their musical performances.

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I’m fairly certain they didn’t rehearse the choreography much, as I noticed several of the actresses looking at each other for their next dance move. Virginie Ledoyen was the biggest culprit of this, with Catherine Deneuve as a close second, which really, really bummed me out. She is explosive while she’s acting, but you can kind of see the thoughts running through her head every time she had to move.

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In a similar vein, I really didn’t buy that Pierrette was an exotic dancer, because although Fanny Ardant perfectly embodied the sultry seductress, during her musical number she reminded me of a drunk aunt singing karaoke. When I think of burlesque, I think of Dita Von Teese, where clothes melt off of her like a magician’s sleight-of-hand card trick, not the strong and brazen removal of articles of clothing in this number.

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I don’t think these performances needed to be handled by musical theatre veterans, but maybe another day of rehearsals (or perhaps some liquid courage?) might have served them a little better. Not to put it all on the actresses, either, the choreography isn’t all that elegant to begin with. I’m just saying, when I was watching the musical numbers, I kept wondering if the actresses were reluctant to really lean into them because they were afraid to screw it up, or if they hadn’t had enough time to memorize the movements where they felt comfortable enough to make them their own. Based on the behind the scenes stuff I was able to watch, I’m leaning toward the latter. It’s a bad sign when the choreographer has to dance with them behind the camera to remind them of what they’re supposed to be doing.

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I had to purchase 8 Women on DVD for $10 because I couldn’t find it anywhere online with English subtitles, and despite my nitpicky quips, this film was worth the price of admission. I was along for the ride the entire time, and aside from the shocking ending that I think tried to venerate a dude who absolutely deserved to die, the story was interesting and captivating. If a campy and emotional whodunit story interspersed with musical respites sounds like your cup of tea, this is absolutely a must-see.

#100 best musical movies of all time rotten tomatoes #unwarranted opinion

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girlsgonemildblog · 4 years ago

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So Much is Happening All the Time - The Bachelor, Season 25, Week 5 Recap

Image from abc.com

Buckle up. This one’s a doozy. We begin the morning of the cocktail party and rose ceremony, the day after Katie snitched to Matt. Victoria says to Kit that the new girls have nothing to complain about because she “hasn’t even begun the hazing process yet,” and Kit laughs nervously because she is genuinely afraid for her life. I have no idea what Victoria is talking about because “hazing” is definitely not part of the show. This is The Bachelor, not the fifth choice sorority at a state school.

Meanwhile, fellow mean girls MJ and Anna discuss the rumor about Brittany, and MJ tells Anna that she “did the right thing”. I have no idea in what context MJ could mean that. Did Anna do the right thing when she spread a lie about someone being a sex worker behind their back? Or when she then confronted the girl about the rumor in front of the whole group, ensuring that anyone who hadn’t heard it yet, did now? Or maybe when she continued to make fun of the girl even when she knew it was a lie? Or perhaps when she still didn’t apologize for all of her shitty behavior? While Anna and Victoria are the main villains so far, MJ is right behind them. She becomes more prominent later in the episode, so here’s her picture. Please pretend you’re not super jealous of how gorgeous her hair is.

Image from abc.com

The cocktail party begins with Matt addressing the bullying and the rumor spreading, and the producers blessed us with a zoom-in on Anna’s “oh shit” face.

Photo from Twitter

Matt then asks to speak to Brittany privately, and Victoria immediately turns on the group and asks who snitched. Anna realizes that this is obviously about her and repeatedly insists that starting the rumor was “one single comment” and “out of her character,” but I find that hard to believe as we saw her make the comment multiple times over several days.

During Matt and Brittany’s conversation, he does a great job of listening and comforting her. He says he wants to make this a safe space for the girls, and I genuinely believe him; I just don’t think that’s possible. This is The Bachelor, for God’s sake.

Matt then takes Anna aside and gives her a chance to explain, but ultimately sends her home before the rose ceremony even happens. If I were him, I would’ve walked up to her on the couch, in front of everyone, and sent her home right then and there. No excuses, no apologies. Just, “Bye bitch. You’re out.” She leaves (without ever apologizing to Brittany) and says she’s going to go cry in the shower. Honestly, relatable.

In an effort to save themselves, all of the girls who bullied (MJ, Victoria, Serena C.) start denying that any bullying went on, and all the girls who silently watched the bullying start apologizing and saying they had no idea any of this was going on. Do these girls not know that there are cameras, and we watched them sit there and do nothing?

Victoria does apologize to Catalina but laughs through it and insists that it was just playful and not malicious. She actually has the gall to say, “I don’t think you were treated fairly,” as if she wasn’t the one mistreating them. We all heard your hazing comment, Vicky!

Matt wants to check on the other new girls, and while speaking to Ryan, she names names, specifically Victoria’s. She tearfully tells Matt that because she is a dancer, Victoria called her a hoe. In my opinion, “hoe” is not that bad a word. Like the slut-shaming aspect is terrible, but I just don’t feel like “hoe” carries much weight. If someone called me a hoe, I’d be mildly angry. I definitely wouldn’t cry about it.

Victoria, wearing a visible bra as well as granny panties with her slit dress

goes to defend herself to Matt. Matt, like an idiot, tells Victoria that Katie is the one who snitched. He then brings up the “hoe” comment, which she claims was taken out of context. He asks her what the context was, and she has no answer.

After their conversation, she goes outside to complain to the producers, within earshot of the other girls, about how she is “literally the only girl who can be his wife,” she’s the only intelligent one, and the rest of them (specifically Katie) are idiots, and how she’s so nice and the rest of them are fake and toxic. Trashing them all where they can hear you is a wild move when trying to prove you’re not a bully. She starts listing what she thinks are positive traits about her and includes “spoiled” in the list multiple times. She also asks, “does he want a wife who is creating drama all the time, or does he want me?”

Photo from imgur.com

The rose ceremony begins, and Matt gives the first roses to Ryan and Brittany, sending a clear message about the new girls vs. OG bullshit. The girls who get sent home are Lauren, Mari, Catalina, and (finally) Victoria. When it is her turn to say goodbye, she walks up to him and says she feels bad for him that he’s stuck with those girls instead of her for a wife. When he got home that night, Matt probably danced with joy.

The first date of the week is a one-on-one with Rachael, and he takes her shopping at a store in the resort. She gushes about him “getting” her all of these things. Before she goes all gold-digger, someone needs to tell her that he isn’t “getting” anything; the production company is definitely footing this bill. She returns to the house, arms piled over with shopping bags, and shows off everything she got, including Louboutins. Everyone is jealous. Everyone that is except socialite-Kit, who could not have looked less impressed. Girlie got her first Louboutins before she took her first step.

During their night-date, Rachael talks about having never been in love and says it’s because she struggles with confidence. Matt, who also doesn’t consider himself to have ever been in love, gives her the rose.

The next day brings a group date. After watching Rachael be gifted thousands of dollars worth of clothes, the rest of the girls get to spend their day shoveling animal shit on a farm. All of the girls complain about being not getting a one-on-one. I am so sick of people complaining about group dates every season. It’s part of the show that you signed up for. Shut the fuck up. Of course, maybe they had a point, proven by MJ trying to flirtily chase Matt with a broken egg, only to catch him full-on making out with Peiper. Yikes.

That night, Matt asks MJ what she thought about the bullying going on in the house. She tells him she was shocked even to learn that there was bullying going on. He responds by telling her that someone accused her of being a bully, and she gets real defensive real quick. She insists that she “leads by example,” which sounds like something a junior-high soccer coach said to her once. It also means absolutely nothing because you could also lead an angry mob to torch a house by being the first to light a match. When MJ rejoins the girls, she asks who said her name, and Jessenia, who looks 12 (as seen in the photo below), owns up to it. Thus begins the newest feud in the house.

Image from abc.com

Also during the group date, Abigail talks to Matt more about her hearing loss, and opens up about her father leaving after she got her hearing aid. Matt was also raised by a single mother, and relates to her in this way. Abigail gets the group date rose.

The final one-on-one date goes to Kit. When she gets a date card that implies they’ll be cooking on her date, she cries because she has spoken to Matt about how much cooking means to her. The date consists only of a night portion; Kit goes over to Matt’s house and they bake cookies together. Before she arrives, we see Matt cleaning his home so it’s nice for her, as well as checking his outfit because he knows she cares about fashion. Absolutely adorable.

When she arrives, he tells her that he believes in ordering dessert first, and I think I may be falling in love with Matt. She says how growing up with a famous and successful mom has put a lot of pressure on her, which is not something he, or most people, can relate to. They both talk about wanting to fast forward through the process and just be together outside of the show. They cuddle up on the couch and she gets the rose. Some people online think Kit seems braggy and pretentious, but I really like her. And I think you’d have to be an idiot to not realize that Matt really likes her as well.

The next morning as the women wait to get ready for the night, a date card arrives inviting MJ and Jessenia on a mini-two-on-one before the cocktail party. They ride over in complete silence, but when they arrive they break out in yelling. MJ insists she “preaches peace and harmony” or some bullshit, but the face she makes insists otherwise.

Photo from Twitter

The show leaves off on yet another cliff-hanger. My prediction is that Matt heard the yelling, sends MJ home on the spot and Jessenia home at a rose ceremony, if not that night then the next one.

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kalinara · 5 years ago

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It’s pretty interesting to rewatch episode 1 of the Witcher, now that I’ve seen the entire series, because I feel like my read of Geralt, and especially Geralt and Renfri has been influenced a lot by what’s established later.

I find myself noticing a lot more details this time around too. For example, I’d thought Geralt’s interaction with Marilka was kind of creepy/cute the first time I watched the episode. But now, I find myself noticing how genuinely amused he seems to be by her. As gruff and taciturn as he is, there are a few points where he actually seems to be almost smiling. And he’s responding to her!

And one thing I particularly love is how completely unphased he is by how she killed her dog. (Which is such an interesting parallel to what Stregobor says about Renfri!) Geralt doesn’t judge people for being ambitious and getting what they want. And Geralt, though he doesn’t seem to know quite how to express it, really does like people.

It occurs to me that there’s a really interesting parallel with how Geralt meets Stregobor and how he meets Yennefer. He meets Stregobor in a tower, using someone else’s name, in the midst of an illusion populated by naked women. He meets Yennefer in the mayor’s house, the unknown magician surrounded by an orgy.

But Yennefer, for all her faults, never tried to manipulate him into doing her dirty work. She tricked him and she mind-controlled him, she almost got him executed, but I feel like TO GERALT, there’s a difference in the way each character tries to use him.

It might simply be that Yennefer never tried to claim some kind of moral superiority. She wanted what she wanted. Stregobor on the other hand tried to explain how Geralt killing his enemy for him was actually a good and noble thing.

Geralt’s instant connection with Renfri makes more sense when we consider the later episodes too. (And I find it really interesting that there are folks who consider Yennefer/Geralt rushed, but don’t seem to have a problem with Renfri.) It isn’t just the whole “perceived as a monster” thing, though obviously that’s a part of it. There’s also the element of abandonment. At least if we take Stregobor at his word, he was supported by Renfri’s step-mother, who claimed to want to protect her own children. We don’t know where Renfri’s father was in all of this, but it seems clear he either wouldn’t or couldn’t protect her.

Renfri was abandoned. She found a new family in a group of violent people scorned and rejected by society. She became one of them and learned to inflict violence herself.

Is it any wonder then that the little boy abandoned to the Witchers wanted to so badly to save her? (And as I’ve said in my Yennefer/Geralt meta, I think this is perhaps the only other time that we see Geralt truly WANT anything.)

I feel like examining Geralt’s relationship to sex is a meta post in its own right. It interests me that the television series seems to present it more as an act of connection, for Geralt, than an act of release. Even with the sex worker, while obviously sexual acts had taken place, the focus seems far more on the communication afterward. I can’t (yet) speak to the books/games, so I don’t know if this aspect is unique to this particular incarnation of the character. At any rate, I don’t believe that Geralt thinks of Renfri as a lover, per se. And I don’t think he mourns her as one.

But she is his greatest failure. Or at least the one he dwells on the most. And the form of his regret is really interesting: he doesn’t seem to regret refusing to help her. We haven’t seen him interact with Stregobor since that episode, but even when they clashed over Renfri’s body, Geralt didn’t indicate a desire to kill him. His regret seems to be more based on the fact that he wasn’t able to reach her, and make her see what she was doing to herself.

That bit when she tells him that silver works on her and he snarls back that silver is for monsters is a quietly significant moment. He never once saw her (or Stregobor for that matter) as a monster. Sadly, Renfri turned herself into one. Or allowed Stregobor to turn her into one. Either way, she lost herself and Geralt had no choice but to defend himself or others.

And of course that leads to his stoning and expulsion. But as sensitive as he is about his new sobriquet, he doesn’t seem to be dwelling at all on yet another rejection. The name bothers him for the same reason he’d shut down when the sex worker asked about his scar. And it’s why he gave Renfri’s brooch to Foltest. He’s got one more chance to save a monster princess from herself. Another girl turned into a monster because of someone else’s violence. Another child raised in an environment of violence and loneliness.

Honestly, there’s a part of me that really resents those posts that say that the Witcher is enjoyable but neither coherent or good, because I think they’re very wrong. Sure, obviously, you can enjoy the Witcher as mindless fun entertainment and there’s nothing wrong with that, but there are also a lot of layers to the storytelling that are really interesting to examine if you are inclined to take a look.

#the witcher (netflix)#geralt of rivia #beautiful of face dumb of ass

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headachebrain · 4 years ago

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The Shows that Raised Me

When Netflix US announced on July 29th that they were bringing Moesha, Sister, Sister, The Parkers, One on One, Half and Half, The Game and Girlfriends to the streaming platform over the next few months, I let out a gasp that made everyone in my office turn to look at me. I had tears in my eyes before I even watched the video that featured so many of the beloved actors from each show - older, a little grey, a little chubby happily announcing their shows would be streaming. Black Twitter lit up. Within minutes each show was trending, even ‘OKAY NETFLIX’ was trending, a stamp of approval from Black Twitter. Because finally. Finally the shows that raised all us older Black millennials were coming to streaming. Moesha, Sister, Sister, The Parkers, One on One, Half and Half, The Game and Girlfriends are from the UPN, the WB, golden age of Black TV. The late 90’s and early 2000’s was peak Black TV. We been had Black TV.

I was in middle school and high school at that time. I was a shy, sad kid who came straight home after school, did my homework and then went to our TV room, set up the VCR and settled in to watch my shows. I’d tape episodes then watch them over and over and over again. I’d stand up and act out scenes. I never thought a Black girl couldn’t lead a TV show. I truly believed that I could be an actress one day because girls that looked like me were doing it. Thanks to the UPN/WB era of Black sitcoms, I grew up seeing myself reflected in the media. When kids at school were mean or I felt lonely, I could pop in one of my VHS tapes and suddenly I wasn’t alone anymore. I was laughing. I was learning. I felt like I was part of something. They were my culture. They defined what being Black was to me. All I wanted was to go to an American university, pledge a Black sorority, have a fine ass Black boyfriend and live the dream. Now that I’ve grown up and none of that has happened, I am realizing how much those sitcoms impacted my life.

The sitcoms taught me how to formulate a joke, structure a story. One of the first TV shows I wrote myself in to was Moesha, rewriting an episode changing Moesha’s brother to a sister that was me. At like twelve years old I sat in front of the TV basically transcribing dialogue in to my little notebook, then turning that dialogue in to a short story. Acting out scenes on my feet taught me how to pause at the punch line in a joke, which words to emphasize, even how to pull faces. I remember being at my grandma’s house just reciting lines from Black sitcoms in front of my grandma and my aunt, cracking them up, pretty much doing a stand up set. I learned that I loved making people laugh. I learned what made me laugh. I’d take lines from the shows and use them in my everyday life, making friends at school laugh. Even now, as a woman in her mid 30’s, I still find myself quoting lines from Moesha, Sister, Sister, One on One and The Parkers, making co-workers chuckle without them knowing I’m quoting twenty year old Black sitcoms. The best part is that the jokes hold up. Of course, the late 90’s/early 2000’s were a different time, there are homophobic, fatphobic, transphobic and sexist jokes that don’t fly today, but the lines that cracked me up when I was a teenager still make me laugh.

Seeing young Black people on screen showed me that our stories were valuable. It wasn’t enough to get on my feet and act out my shows, I wanted to be in the shows and the only way to do that was write stories.

I wrote stories putting myself in to situations that I wished desperately would happen to me when I got older, imagining beautiful Black boys wanted to date me, that I had a wonderful, loving group of girlfriends and an overprotective but supportive daddy. I was a kid that would sit in class and daydream, make up elaborate stories and scenarios. I’d craft my stories based on the shows, to this day I think I craft my stories based on these sitcoms. They taught me so much about life, about dating. I don’t date but to this day I can talk to women my age about dating because of what I learned at a young age from watching the WB and UPN. I watched Breanna and Arnez go from friends to more than friends on One on One. I watched Moesha deal with an overprotective (and looking back, problematic) daddy and date all different types of boys. The episode where Moesha got on the pill because she thought she wanted to have sex with her boyfriend was monumental for me. They even dedicated an entire episode of Teen Summit to it. I was the kid in grade nine who told a boy I had a huge crush on that he should use protection if he was gonna sleep with one of the popular girls. The episode of The Parkers about Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. taught my teenage Black Canadian ass so much about both of them, while cracking me up at the same time.

The major emotion I felt the day the Netflix news dropped (before I knew Netflix Canada wasn’t bringing the shows to our country, something I should have seen coming) was thankful. The WB/UPN merged in to the CW in 2006 and in the process they axed every Black show. And that was pretty much the end of Black sitcoms until recently. How lucky was I to grow up seeing Black girls that looked like me be cute, desired, be messy, make mistakes, get in to trouble, be loved, navigate adolescence and everything be wrapped up with a lesson and a laugh in 30 minutes? What a gift.

I can’t wait to sit and revisit these classic shows that were so critical to me growing up. It’s exciting to think of a new generation discovering them. Maybe they can impact a 12 year old Black girl in 2020 like they did for me in 1998.

#personal #essay #black tv #moesha #sister sister #the parkers #one on one #netflix #nostalgic #90's kid

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nellygwyn · 5 years ago

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Harlots Season 3, Episode 1 - Reaction, thoughts etc.

I am just gonna be as candid as possible about all this, and give you my honest thoughts (albeit borne out of a 3am migraine and period pains) about episode 1. I think I might break my thoughts down by storyline. Spoilers ahead:

• Charlotte Wells - So, initially, I was loving Charlotte. She was the Charlotte I know and love. Even when the Pincher storyline began to unfold and Isaac appeared in her life, I initially thought 'Charlotte is dealing with this in the Charlotte way. He's hateful to her so she laughs at him and plays him at his own stupid game.' Unfortunately, it appears that there is going to be some kind of romance between the two, or at least a sexual relationship, which began to unfold in the last part of the episode. This is a violent pimp, a class of people Charlotte has always hated, who lied to her, choked her and wants to bleed her dry. He threatened the girls in her house and then, he set fire to it, with Nancy and Fanny's baby inside. And this is supposed to be sexy? No. Like, I can't predict how this will ultimately end but I'm sorry, if the season finale isn't a shot of Isaac Pincher dead in the Thames, I really....really am disappointed they decided to sell this relationship as anything other than ooc for Charlotte and illogical. Also, can I just say that bawds and pimps worked with each other all the time? This is why Charlotte should never have BEEN a bawd. Bawds are not the pinnacle of feminism, they were often awful (and if not awful then morally grey) and pimps, that they often worked alongside, were worse. I don't think most of the bawds in the show are wholly bad but they were never wholly good either and presenting them as 'the sisterhood'...hello????

• Isabella - Now you guys know I do not like Isabella. I did like her and then at the end of Season 2, she threw Charlotte and other sex workers to the metaphorical wolves. However, S3 opens a year later and everything is...fine again, apparently? Charlotte forgives her, is probably even having sex with her sometimes. Even Nancy was nice to her, despite how much she riled against her at the end of S2. HOW IN THE HELL have we got here? Isabella's character has kind of done a complete 180 too. She's kind and mild. Maybe they want to make Fitzwells work as a ship but idk about my fellow bi girls or even lesbians out there....how do you feel about a bi woman throwing herself at a sexually perverse violent man and leaving a woman who is kind and affectionate to her in the dust? Is that portrayal something you want? Anyway, Isabella was okay in the episode, nothing super exciting. Sophia was BORING AS HELL and I do not DO NOT care about her elopement. Like...okay? This feels irrelevant and unnecessary?? Also, another historical note: Isabella wanted her friends to give money to Charlotte and her house, right? Their refusal obviously wasn't surprising to me, it was a massive risk on Isabella's part (ooc? Ooc) but when one of the women said 'You want us to give charity to harlots?' in a disgusted tone, I was just thinking like....that's exactly what you all already do. With the Magdalen Hospital and the Foundling Hospital. Late 18th century aristocrats were all about charity to sex workers. Not for the right reasons and not always in the most helpful ways but that was de rigueur. It wasn't the charity part that should've raised that lady's eyebrow, it was the fact Isabella was asking them to fund a brothel essentially.

• Emily Lacey - Her relationship with Hal Pincher is okay but like, again, he's a pimp, less violent than his brother but...birds of a feather flock together! I'm not really sure why she suddenly isn't very ambitious anymore but if she wants a lower middle class keeper? I support her. Also, lol, 'I wanna learn about commerce' as if 'commerce' wasn't also Georgian era slang for 'fucking.'

•Charles Quigley - I haven't forgotten how that little shit behaved at the end of Season 2 but I admit, I felt some sympathy with him or rather, pitied the fact that he was wallowing in his own sorrow. I wonder if he's left London for good...it did seem like they are trying to set up a romance between him and Fanny which...first of all, NO. Second of all, if he has to have a romance with someone that isn't Emily, why not Cherry? She adores him. But I feel as if she's used for comic relief a lot of the time, as if we're supposed to giggle at the fact that 1) a disabled sex worker exists, and 2) that she has quite a strong sexuality as well as having a disability. So maybe we won't see that, idk.

• Harriet - Harriet is based on a real person, a black woman who lived in Georgian London and decided to open a brothel populated purely with sex workers of colour. So I am glad they are finally getting into that storyline for her. We only met Rani properly, out of all her girls, and I adore her. Honestly, Harriet's storyline actually seems like it is gonna be great but also very minor, which is disappointing.

• Lydia - I hated the Bedlam storyline when it began and I am still unsure of it now. HOWEVER, since that's how things stand, I have to really praise Lesley Manville's acting power for making me root for Lydia and making me want her to be free again and bring a semblance of (evil) normality back to Covent Garden. What I REALLY hated was Catherine's intersecting storyline. Listen, lots of young girls got sent to Bedlam in the Georgian era but not usually for having sex with a servant. I know we often think of the past as being rife with doctors diagnosing sexually active women with hysteria and the like, but that wasn't really a thing at this point. In fact, attitudes towards the differences between men and women were just teetering on changing. Women were still seen as naturally hot blooded, men their prey at this point, and it wouldn't be until later on in the 18th century and into the 19th century that women were seen as naturally sexually modest and subservient and men, the hot blooded, libertine ones. It just feels...so dumb. I mean, I liked Catherine, I just want to know why that reason was used to chuck her in Bedlam. You know what might have actually been interesting? If she had some kind of depression or mental disability. Or even just for being a little weird, or non-conforming. They threw lower class women in for all those things and more.

• Lucy - One of the highlights of the episode, for me, was Lucy's storyline which intersects with new characters, Elizabeth Harvey and her son, Fredo (who is gorgeous and so foppish and ugh...it is a shame his character seems solely attracted to men because I...am a little bit in love). I was a little annoyed that Lucy wanting to be a bawd was presented as some kind of...regular ambition for a sex worker? As if being a bawd naturally followed being a courtesan. This isn't true. It's not like getting your undergraduate degree and then going to do your master's. Bawds were a very specific thing and most courtesan didn't want to essentially exploit women in that way. Anyway, after that fiasco, she does indeed go to buy a house and throws her lot in with Elizabeth and Fredo who want to open a mollyhouse. So, Lucy is a molly bawd now which to me, is a lot less awful than being a regular bawd. I'm excited to see where this goes, Elizabeth and Fredo were some WELCOME additions for me, along with Rani. Unfortunately, there were a lot of allusions to sodomy being a capital crime and Mrs May has a share in the house too so...I'm as worried about the outcome as I am excited to see mollyhouses explored.

All in all? I did enjoy the episode, perhaps because I was warned prior about some of the unsavoury things that happened and had time to prepare. I'm obviously very upset about the whole Charlotte and Isaac thing which does appear to be the dominant storyline, and that's not good. This season doesn't really understand what continuity is and Isabella walking into a gentleman's club to tell all the men there that she had a child out of wedlock made me laugh out loud because it was so absurd. Violet, Amelia, Florence and Justice Hunt have disappeared without a trace. Will and Jacob will be in the season but weren't in episode 1 (apparently they are in Scarborough, boxing, which....wig). BUT (and it's a very tentative 'but') this episode had enough small saving graces to spur me on to continue, if only to see Fredo say 'It's a hanging offence so it pays a lot, darling' again, and the gorgeous (GORGEOUS) costumes. Am I disappointed overall? Yeah. Do I think it is an irredeemable season? No, not yet. Watch this space.

#harlots spoilers #long post/#sorry it won't let me put this under the cut so.....sorry!!!

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pambradaza · 5 years ago

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Kung mas lalo kang humirap ngayon, sino ang sisisihin mo?

I’m not a fan of Filipino noon shows, but this episode really stuck with me. Vice Ganda here, rebukes Anne Curtis’ and a contestant’s argument that the poor remain poor because they are lazy. For him, especially as someone with the rags to riches narrative, his success does not discredit the hard work of farmers who are cheated by unfair pricing and monopoly in agribusiness. He also shared that in the past, he used to think the same way as well. However, he now realized that it is the people with leverage who are constraining others. Injustice and inequity is still prevalent as one can observe in the school setting, for example. The rich are typically labeled the brightest minds for they can afford private tutors and have access to the internet and academics materials. Although there is a right to education, many are still at a disadvantage due to the high cost of education.

WHAT. A. DRAG. I know, but I wanted to use this as an example in order for us to better understand the habitus of two different sides of the same coin. What has led me to my current disposition? What has led the Women of Buklod to theirs?

May naibinhi nga ba ang Binhi sa akin?

When I first signed up for LB01, I did not expect that I would be able to learn more than I already knew. Being a female, I have always thought that I’ve had a clear picture of the plight of women. I was, of course, proven wrong. One’s mere similarity with another does not immediately entail a clear understanding of another’s situation.

The women of Buklod ng Kababaihan were former sex workers in Olongapo. Sex tourism was prominent in their city, especially during the time of the U.S. military in the Subic Bay Naval Base. Its closure after the American Occupation, however, did not abolish the bars and clubs that have made their niche. Instead, only the clientele of the so-called Sin City changed.

Ate Jen (not real name), Ate Apple (not real name), to name a few, were strong women. Behind their smiles, however, are lingering stories of pain and abuse. Belonging mostly from the marginalized sectors, these women were the breadwinner in the family. Some of them were even sold by Mothers to the sex trafficking ring or were molested by their family members. Most of them, due to the violence and harassment experienced in their families, ran away. This is where the women were unfortunately reeled into sex work. Ate Apple, one of the oldest in the group, gave birth to a half-American who will never get to know his father. Ate Jen, the Buklod member I got to talk a lot with, shared that she made a round with all the abuses one could ever think about. Due to lacking educational attainment, Ate Jen and many others were unable to land on jobs that could satisfy the needs of everyone in the family. For Ate Jen, specifically, it meant going home and not being able to feed the mouths of her 6 children, her relatives, and her husband. Thus, she was pushed into the world of an “entertainer”. For some, however, sex work was a choice. It was a chance to explore their sexuality whilst earning income. Unfortunately, this entailed contracting sexually transmitted diseases, unfair treatment in the workplace, and abuse.

Raised by Catholic parents, Ate Jen was a devout Catholic. Thus, when she was finally able to liberate herself from the horrors of the growing sex industry, she vowed to give back to society. Along with many others, Ate Jen volunteers in the programs of Buklod ng Kababaihan in order to support sex workers and to help their families as well. Buklod ng Kababihan wants to highlight that there are other opportunities for women to earn money. At the same time, they understand the reasons for many to continue sex work. Thus, they want to protect the rights of sex workers as well. Roughly translated, I remember Ate Joy telling us that before she was aided by others, she lived a life in submission. Now, although barely scraping by, Ate Jen says she is the happiest she can ever be now that she spends her time with her children, works an honest job as a janitress, and helps other women through rallying and working for Buklod.

Pushed by their harsh environment to be tough and independent, these women are the epitome of true grit. They have learned their ways in order to survive. Cunning, bold, fearless – such words barely justify the strength of the women of Buklod. Seeing them laugh and stand proud, it makes one forget that once upon a time, these women felt that at a point in their lives, they were hopeless. With no authority figure to guide them and barely any support felt as a child, these women were forced into maturity at such a young age. This makes me ponder about the great class disparity here in the Philippines. Every night for nineteen years, I came home to loving parents and a hearty meal. Unknowingly, on the other side of the wall, there were families of a dozen sharing a cup of noodles to warm themselves as they slept at streets, with lampposts as their only light.

I have always labeled myself as belonging to the middle class or the comfortable living standard. I never appreciated what we had because I always thought that it was not enough. We weren’t rich. We just had enough to feed our mouths and pay our tuition. My parents grew up in poor families. My mom used to sell ice candy and banana cue when she was twelve. My father was a caretaker of houses every summer during his childhood to help his parents. Thus, I was shaped to think that I needed to work hard so that I may be able to repay my parents. Although my parents did a good job of alleviating our standard of living, some of my relatives weren’t fortunate enough. Thus, I was encouraged to study hard. Even my drive as a Management Engineering student is stirred by my hopes of a better future not only for my children but for my relatives as well. Although my parents grew up with parents of the working-class, perhaps the reason they have never raised a hand on my sister and I, or that they value education and hard worker, no matter what the cost, is attributed to their upbringing. Although I never got the chance to be close with my grandparents before their passing, I heard of their stories. They might be tough at times, but they worked hard for the future of my parents. Thus, I believe that my profound interest in socioeconomic issues or politics, in academics, and my self-direction and autonomy is a product of the structured and structuring structure of my habitus.

Although at some point, some women of Buklod shared the same story as my parents, my parents had different social capital. They were influenced by scholars in the family. My granddads were engineers and my grandma was a teacher. They were low in economic capital, yes, but the similarity in their demand and resource was offset by the great force backed by the environment. For my parents, they valued education and they wanted to be part of the corporate world or at least to move up from being blue-collared workers. Ate Jen and Ate Apple didn’t have that kind of support. In their respective fields, actors such as their families and friends played a role in their transformation, in the context of my parents, or preservation, in the situation of the sex workers, of their social hierarchy. Thus, my current disposition is brought about by the earned privilege I have as bestowed by my parents. For many others, however, the life they live today as a combination of the life they were born to and of the oppressive system of our society.

In the end, it all boils down to us as members of our society. Do we live for ourselves, or do we live for the greater good? If we all take our time to reflect and see the consequences of our actions, we will soon be able to realize that we are often clouded by notions of greed and thirst for greatness. When we soon stop ourselves from clinging to be the best among the rest, that is when we soon see that there need not be the best. What we need as a society is to be able to cater to each and every one. Perhaps, if we are open to such concept, then maybe the term marginalized will be nonexistent as well. In a documentary I have watched entitled “Walang Rape sa Bontoc”, I realized that if we are able to strengthen our ideals of equity and respect, then concepts such as the poor, violence, rape, abuse, discrimination, and many more, would never have been created or would have no use for at all. It is a long journey to such dream. Too idealistic would be a phrase for many. However, I do believe that no matter what the cost or no matter how long it takes, if we all see through our materialistic desires, we may be able to find ourselves as one with everybody else. This is what Binhi has made me see. I never thought that I’d ever quote Vice Ganda or use his philosophy for any circumstance at all, but truth be told, it is in our hands as people of privilege to help others to stand and grow as well.

#BinhiPaper #BuklodNgKababihan

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constantlyirksome · 5 years ago

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Pose 2x03: Love, Death, and Dorian Corey. (Review.)

Just as the House of Evangilista delved into real-world politics in the season premiere, this week on pose mother Elektra’s gruesome storyline mirrored a very real scandal. While the episode also included a much sweeter subplot (more on that in a sec, it gave me life!) the main thread involved the death of one of Elektra’s clients during their session. Scared of being charged with a crime that was in no way her fault, she takes some drastic measures to deal with the body.

The method’s Elektra and miss Candy use to seal and stowed the body come from real reports from the house of Dorian Corey, a ballroom era drag queen who found fame as one of the girls from Paris is Burning, giving the girls lessons on reading and shade. After her death a body was found in her closet, mummified and preserved. (Read the story here.) While there’s no way of knowing why Dorian did what she did, Elektra’s reasoning was pretty sound. She was a black trans woman, a sex worker, and if she were to be found with the body of a white CEO it’d be game over. It may be different if she actually caused the death, but she didn’t.

So it becomes a story about the vilification of trans women, and of black women, which is a real, current problem, so you could see why some people would be more sympathetic with Elektra. At first she goes to Blanca, a woman of strong moral character who as Candy puts it “believes that the right thing to do is the best thing to do.” She wants to call the cops. Elektra doesn’t, so she calls Miss Candy.

I love Candy, and I truly hate how some of the other characters treat her because she’s strong-willed or a little explosive. But the way she put her anger aside to help Elektra and Blanca is a beautiful thing. She enlists the help of Euphoria, a trans girl who’s had previous issues with the law, played by drag race alumn Peppermint. Euphoria puts the fear of Jesus into Elektra and convinces her to go to Ms. Orlando, the woman who gave Candy some shoddy butt implants last season. Ms. Orlando knows how to deal with situations like this, so they do, in a truly disturbing montage as they prep and stow a body to some catchy theme music.

It’s a sad look at how pressured these communities feel to stay out of the way of the law because the law just doesn’t work on their side. But it was a special thing to watch the three women work together and support each other. And Miss Orlando is hilarious so the story never got too grim.

The little moment between Elektra and Blanca, where Blanca pleads her mother to call the police, that’s very sweet as the two women clearly still have a lot of love for each other. Elektra also knows Blanca isn’t the type of girl who could suppress the guilt or horror of dealing with the body without it getting to her so she sends her to her room… In her own house. Because Elektra is iconic. She ends the episode with this powerful sentiment: “The game ain’t fair. We may cut each other up like a pack of alley cats but when the outside world tries to tear us down, this army closes ranks.” A REALLY good message to end pride month, it’s comforting knowing the community has that power to support each other when the world is against us.

Janet Mock, who wrote and directed this episode always gives such care and thought into every choice she makes for these characters. She wouldn’t have taken on something so heavy if it weren’t anchored in reality, and didn’t have the chance to send a positive overall message. With her at the helm, you know that the show is going to go down the right route.

The second story of the episode was much, much sweeter. Angel and Lil Papi have been circling each other, romantically, the last couple episodes and this episode they finally make it official! After a super cute kiss in the park, they set up a date. However, Angel gets an offer for a dream modeling job that clashed with the time they set up. A gorgeous montage of Angel posing and working it out is cut with a devastating photo of Papi in a tux, holding roses, waiting for her at a fancy restaurant. Now I’m not fully condoning her behavior, it was 1990 they didn’t have cell phones whatever. But as Papi says, later on, you can’t get mad at her for doing what she had to do to change her life in a way that didn’t seem possible. Still, Papi lets her know, in one of the most mature speeches I’ve ever heard a man give, that he isn’t playing. She’s his dream girl and is willing to shower her with unconditional love, and support, but sometimes she has to think of him too because he’s also a prize. And he is seriously, every episode his stock just keeps rising, he’s handsome, hard-working, compassionate and loyal. They could be the ultimate power couple if they sort some of the smaller things out. I am VERY excited to see them thrive.

#pose #pose fx #blanca evangelista #mj rodriguez #pray tell #billy porter #angel evangelista #indya moore #elektra #dominique jackson #lil papi #angel bismark curiel

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gingercullenboy · 6 years ago

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Movie Commentary Monday: Episode 1

Hello everyone and welcome to the very first episode of Movie Commentary Monday (or as i call MCM, which sounds ridiculous by the way) where I express my thoughts on a movie while desperately trying to be funny (and usually fail).

There will be dozens of side comments in brackets because I talk too much, sorry in advance.

This week’s movie is:

Isn’t It Romantic (2019)

Directed by: Todd Strauss-Schulson

Writing Credits: Erin Cardillo (screenplay&story), Dana Fox (screenplay) & Katie Silberman (screenplay)

Stars: Rebel Wilson, Liam Hemsworth, Adam Devine, Priyanka Chopra, Betty Gilpin, Brandon Scott Jones

Summary: A young woman disenchanted with love mysteriously finds herself trapped inside a romantic comedy.

(thanks IMDb)

Now, buckle up folks, it’s gonna be a loooooong ride. Let’s get down to business!

(this isn’t a Mulan reference)

Why is the Mom so bitter about happy endings? I bet she has seen things...

They don’t make movies for girls like us.

THIS!!! LINE!!! IS!!! SO!!! IMPORTANT!!!

That single sentence just basically summarized the entire history of Hollywood and you can’t argue with me on this. The evidence is there (sorry i’m bitter like mom) (i’m full of rage like younger john mulaney)

Natalie’s (Rebel Wilson) apartment is a mess and is so tiny, it’s like screaming YOUR FUTURE HOUSE at me, it’s unbelievable

Fucking finally, a realistic view of New York; smelly, crowded, and filth everywhere (not that i could ever know, i don’t live there but i’ve seen metropolitans before)

“STOP THE CART WITH YOUR BODY” WTFFF I’M CRYING THAT’S SO RUDE

Ok, Natalie’s a nobody at the workplace, even though she’s a fricking architect. UNREALISTIC TO ME

That co-worker and office manager can choke, that’s all I’m gonna say

Ohmygod, Whitney (Betty Gilpin) is so cute, I’ve seen her 10 secs in and I already love her (lovey dovey characters are always my faves)

JOSH (Adam Devine) IS AMAZING, ADORABLE DORK, PROTECT HIM AT ALL COSTS

LIAM HEMSWORTH’S AMERICAN ACCENT GOT ME SH00K!!! He just said “Goddamn it” and I am already hooked

Who puts whipped cream in a coffee? ME, BITCH

I PUT WHIPPED CREAM IN MY COFFEE BECAUSE BLACK COFFEE TASTES LIKE SHIT, SORRY THAT I’M NOT TOUGH AS YOU

Natalie says nice guy with a nice life and it... kinda bothers me. It’s a reaaaally generic expression and a bit insulting if you think about it bc if you don’t fit that person’s standards of being nice with having a nice life, it discourages you (in this case, you=man). So when Josh said “I’m a nice guy with a nice life” I thought ‘Of course you are’ bc he is in my standards. What I’m trying to say is that rom-coms have stereotypes on not only women but also men. Yes, it is sad.

Awwww Josh has a crush on Natalie *wipes happy tears* but she thinks he’s looking at the model billboard LMAO SAME, NAT

I’m so done (but it’s also so relatable, bc i’m like Nat but with less cynicism)

WHITNEY’S DESKTOP OMG

PAWSITIVE VIBES???? I WANNA MARRY HER SO WE CAN WATCH ROM-COMS WITH CATS ON OUR LAPS ALL DAY TOGETHER

Natalie was on the subway and a stranger waved at her. Then he tried to mug her. Then she knocked herself over. My mom always says don’t talk to strangers and I see why. I’m 22, if you’re wondering *clears throat* Moving on...

OH MY GOD SHE WOKE UP WITH THE MAKE-UP ON AND A NICELY DONE HAIR WITH FLOWERS AND STRAWBERRY DRINK ON THE SIDE, I CAN’T-

Oh, hello Mr. Morningstar... *wiggles eyebrows* (quick note, i don’t actually watch Lucifer but i really like Tom Ellis)

She just ripped her IV and blood didn’t spill everywhere, yeah this is a rom-com alright

She’s dressed from lost and found and she looks like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman-

NO WAIT, THE ENTIRE SETTING HAS CHANGED

HOLY SHIT ‘A THOUSAND MILES’ BY VANESSA CARLTON IS STARTED TO BE PLAYED BY A RANDOM GUY ON A BIKE AND HE PLAYS IT FROM THE STEREO ON HIS BIKE I’M CACKLING

ENTER LIAM, HE LOOKS SO GOOD I CAN’T EVEN DESCRIBE (i’m a thirsty hoe, your suspicions are correct)

What the fuck does beguiling mean? *checks dictionary* oh, okay *is weirded out now*

HE’S AUSSIE NOW, THEY’VE DONE IT, HE’S KEEPING THE ACCENT, AND I’M HAPPY AGAIN

...Birds form a heart while flying... Uhhh... Strawberries and champagne in the limo... Rich as fuck, my poor ass can’t relate

NATALIE’S STREET HAS CHANGED, TOO

He’s giving her flowers already? Ok- NO WAIT

HE JUST WROTE HIS NUMBER ON MULTIPLE FLOWER PETALS AND HANDED TO HER, IS HE FOR REAL LMAO

“But there’s only one of you, so...” Well, this doesn’t change the fact that there are millions of ways to order the numbers, you dumbass (why is he like this)

Her apartment... Every Millenials’ dream

And... A gay neighbor/best friend who acts like an over-feminine gay (which is also a stereotype)

So, I��ll count every rom-com trope I’ve seen in 22 mins *counts her fingers* So far, I have seven tropes

The Big Presentation (eight)

Unconventional workplace which looks like a Google office (nine)

Nat is the star architect now (ten)

Rival bitchy colleague (eleven) (WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE WHITNEY, THOUGH) (SHE’S MY SENSITIVE WIFE) (oh, she looks hot)

They gave like, four other tropes in two mins and it doesn’t feel like rushed at all *salutes respectively*

The setting change is so... Like, you cannot miss it, it’s sweet and makes you feel all giddy inside, it’s so lovely, so rom-com like (does that make sense to you?)

OH PRIYANKA, SHE JUST TURNED AND I’M LIKE “Oh I’m fucked”

“Josssssssh”

Natalie keeps falling (twelve)

“MY LIFE IS A ... ... ROMANTIC COMEDY!” “AND IT’S ... PG-13!″ EVERYONE STARTED DANCING BEHIND HER I’M HOLLERING

The subway map behind her is shaped in a heart, lovey dovey couples everywhere... And shE’S GONNA JUMP ONTO A TRAIN??? THIS GOT DARK ALL OF A SUDDEN

Officer Hansom *facepalms*

She threw the flower petals and guess what? THE NUMBERS FELL DOWN IN THE CORRECT ORDER, WHO COULD HAVE KNOWN HAHAHA (thirteen)

Y’ello

Y’ELLO

Y’E LL O

IS THIS HOW AUSSIES ANSWER THE PHONE, AUSSIE MUTUALS PLEASE RESPOND

BLAKE (Liam Hemsworth) IS SO ADORABLE I’M ROOTING FOR EVERYONE IN THIS MOVIE

Dress up montage... Yeah- Oh wait, they cut it out what the hell fvygbuhnj I WANT MY DRESS UP MONTAGE, GIVE IT TO MEEE

This is some fancy first date though... Also leaving 100 bucks tip doesn’t justify breaking in to a store I guess??? Seems like the law has no function in rom-coms lmao (fourteen)

BUTTER PECAN??? HOW OLD ARE YOU, 200 OR SOMETHING??? WHAT THE FUCK, MAN

The rain... You know what’s coming after- Ah, and they kissed *giggles uncontrollably* YES!!! (fifteen)

THEY CAN’T HAVE SEX BC IT’S PG-13 (liam’s abs, though) *bi scream*

Her apartment makes me cry, it’s so beautiful (ok i’ll stop counting from now on bc i cannot keep up anymore)

Also the romantic tension between Natalie and Josh................ I have no words

Isabella (Priyanka Chopra) calls Josh ‘Mush’ and it’s so f-king cringey, I swear to God sxrdctfvygu

STOP OVERSELLING NEW YORK, WE KNOW IT’S NOT THAT GOOD

I can talk about Blake for five hours, he’s so fucking funny lmao

Donny (Brandon Scott Jones) is such a gay sidekick, he comes out of nowhere and talks weirdly but he makes me laugh so I’ll give him a pass

NOW WE’RE GETTING SOMEWHERE, NATALIE’S GONNA STOP ISABELLA&JOSH’S WEDDING

That musical scene is everything, and Natalie hits that high note H AR D

GET IT, GIRL

Blake............ no-

I ROOTED FOR YOU, WE ALL ROOTED FOR YOU, HOW COULD YOU DO THAT-

Oh my, he’s a certified douchebag, I should’ve guessed, I’m so disappointed in myself

Unexpected wisdom coming from Donny who had no function to the story other than appearing beside Natalie at random times (again, rom-com trope)

BUT at least he made her realised who matters to her the most

Slow motion running!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her boobs are like sxrdctfvyg SHAKING AS SHE’S RUNNING ESXRDCTFVYB (as someone who has big breasts, i relate to that so hard)

“Yoga Ambassador. Yoga. Ambassador.” “Ambassadors are for countries, not for streching.” Dang, Nat!!!

She finally realised she loves herself! Awww, that’s so sweet and empowering and I can’t get enough of this!!!! Yes, to love someone else first you should love yourself!

Oh she crashed the car and went back to reality

Another hot doctor???? Wait, I’m confused- No, false alarm, she’s back and her real doctor is tired, is also swimming through lawsuits LMFAO

She pulled her IV and blood SPILLED EVERYWHERE AS IT SHOULD BE, THANK GOD

I’m glad that she’s happy with what she’s got and she didn’t decide to keep what she’s been doing but instead, tried to take care of herself, it’s such a good message to young girls and I cannot praise this enough

PLOT TWIST, DONNY IS ACTUALLY REALLY GAY AND HAS A BOYFRIEND AND IS ALSO A WEED DEALER OH MY FUCKING GOD I LOVE THE TWIST SO MUCH

Natalie!!! Is!!! Confident!!! Now!!! I’m literally living for this *throws hearts to the screen*

OH MY WIFE IS BACK, HI WHITNEY I LOVE YOU MY SWEET SUMMER WIFE I MISSED YOU

Nat stormed into that meeting and she’s. on. fireeee

Real Blake is as jerk as ever, no surprise

Using parking lots as metaphors would never cross my mind but ok I guess???

Fuck, he said “What does beguiling mean?” I’M LOST FOR WORDS, THIS MOVIE SXDCTFVYGU

JOSH HAS BEEN LOOKING AT NATALIE FOR THE WHOLE TIME, NOT THE SWIMSUIT MODEL, WHO COULD HAVE THOUGHT???

ps. me and probably everyone else except Nat lol

EVERYONE SINGS

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

I REPEAT, EVERYONE SINGS AND IT’S SO GOOD

LIAM PLAYS THE SAX HOLY SHIT HE’S SO HOT I’M GONNA FAINT

Priyanka with that rose.......... Consider me dead, thank you

“It’s hot as fuck” tcfyvgubh probably true

Overall, I would give this movie 7/10 because of the message. Plot is nicely done and I got see basically every single rom-com tropes. At total, I counted 23 tropes I guess? If I could look every minor detail, I would count more but I won’t get into it that much for now. (i’m running late to a meeting with friends so i have to cut short)

I loved the production design, setting felt like I’m in a classic rom-com movie and characters were written accordingly. Every actor in the movie has fit perfect to me. I especially loved Priyanka and Liam because 1) I’ve never seen any of her movies and 2) It’s been a long time since I watched a Liam Hemsworth movie (i only watched hunger games, so you think about it lmao)

I guess that’s about it! I have a list for the next weeks’ movies but if you have a request then tell me so, I will watch your recommendations first! I appreciate comments; if you have something to add, please do. I will read every single one of them.

See you next week!

#movie commentary #movie commentary monday #isn't it romantic #rebel wilson #liam hemsworth #adam devine #priyanka chopra #betty gilpin #brandon scott jones #todd strauss-schulson

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koganphrancis · 6 years ago

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Camless Episode 2 Recap

(I can’t give a credit to the gif maker because they deleted their post right after I saved this gif and before I could click back and get their Tumblr url, so, sorry! If anyone else would be interested in giffing this moment, please do-looks like there might almost be some butt crack in it for us, and that would officially make this the most interesting moment in the episode.)

Once again the best thing I can say about this episode is there was not even a whisper of a mention of Terror ;)

But the rest of the show-I really don’t recognize anything from what the show used to be. This is truly like a brand new Showtime show using some of the same actors from Shameless. No one reminds you of how their character used to be. They’re all like those Lego people Emmy’s always bragging about using when she directs episodes-plastic and stiff and lifeless.

Also, this episode had zero sex scenes, which must have been confusing to its core audience that keeps insisting the show is still worth watching. I’m sure they missed the tits.

Like last week, I’ll just run down the characters, if I can stay awake.

Frank. Ugh. They gave him this incredibly moronic scene in The Alibi where he rallies his fellow white men against “reverse racism” and you could see how hard Macy was working to try to grind out the lines, but it just stunk. I’m sure the showrunners think they’re coming up with cutting edge social commentary here, but they’re not. The audience has long been clued into the fact that Frank’s motivations behind his machinations are to serve one thing and one thing only, and that’s Frank himself. He will go whichever way the wind blows. If not being a Make Southside Great Again cretin would’ve got him some money in his pocket, he would’ve been making speeches against everything he was saying last night. Archie Bunker was an iconic character in the advancement of social progress because he did believe the shit he said, and the audience was in on the fact that he was dead wrong. When Frank says racist bullshit, it’s not “shameless” it’s not commentary, it’s a lazy fuck wanting something for nothing. It has nothing to do with improvement or education of the viewer. Shameless has this unrealistic view of itself being a show “about” something, and when it inevitably fails to hit the mark, they just guffaw and say we weren’t supposed to take it seriously, it’s just a comedy, it’s just Shameless. Well, you’ve cried wolf too many times and I can’t take anything you say as meaningful.

Also, this and almost every other storyline last night took the most laborious routes possible to get the characters to their next plot point. Frank only got involved in local politics because he needed beer money (what happened to his one beer a day with the new liver? Oh yeah, that was a different character on a different show). And why the fuck would the patrons of The Alibi put money into anything Frank’s going to be in charge of? Are they that stupid?

Fiona and Bored Their lack of chemistry continues to astound. Their conversations make no sense. Bored clearly doesn’t give a shit what Fiona does, so why does he insist on giving his opinion that, once it pisses her off, he just drops it? Why say anything to begin with? And I only watch their scenes once, so I might be wrong on this, but he leaves me with the impression that he squints every time he speaks. It’s as if he saw Dirty Harry at an early age and vowed to himself if he ever became an actor, his delivery of all his lines would be just like Clint growling out, “Do you feel lucky, punk? Do you?”

Anyway, Fiona’s circuitous route has her going to the Gallagher house to find shoes she left there when she moved into her own apartment. The fuck? You gotta try so hard as a writer these days to get any of the family together-it’s another piece of the “old” show that is missing more and more lately, and really ripping the show apart at its already weakened seams.

She has a big power meeting with a commercial real estate developer now that Ian’s bail money is burning a hole in her pocket. (And, the fuck? Ian turns down her offer to post bail so she figures he had his shot and if he changes his mind and wants-or worse yet NEEDS-to get out of jail he’s shit out of luck? They could’ve had her make sure he understood it was a one-time offer, but no.) Anyway, for said meeting, she’s wearing what looks like a kimono from a day spa and to complete the look she needs the pair of red fuck me pumps that she finds in a small box that looks like it’s only holding said pumps and one work boot. She left that behind? Couldn’t squeeze it into the new place?

When she arrives back home at the Gallagher house, she finds Liam sitting on the couch and asks him why he’s not at school. (Forget that, why isn’t SHE taking care of him, she’s his legal guardian!!!!) He tells her he got kicked out because of Frank, Fi asks what did he do, Liam says, “The moms”, clue laugh track that this show totally needs now. Fiona brings Liam along with her-he clues her in to how rich folk talk, and she tells the real estate guy Liam’s her intern, a prodigy, cue laugh track. She has a bullshit meeting with the guy, tries to throw her boyfriend’s name around to prove she has clout (and hey, he has a last name now! It’s Kellogg, but who will bother to remember that?), uses her patented Fiona looking at real estate phrase when she says a building he showed her has “good bones”. She’s so obviously bullshitting the guy and we can see her losing her money happening a mile away. She, however, thinks she’s playing the dick just right. There’s a scene towards the end where she’s begging to throw her $50K at him, but he says you need $100K to get in, and she says she has it??? I couldn’t be bothered to go back and watch it again to see if at any point she indicates where she’ll come up with twice the money she has, I’m just assuming she’s going to gamble the entire apartment building and lose it all. And that WILL be believable because she has no business experience that’s not straight out of fantasyland and the only thing that will bother me is they seem to be setting it up that Bored is right and she should listen to him like a good little woman.

Lip Lip’s storyline is no longer about Lip, it’s about all the people he keeps taking on as projects. Last night Xan abandoned the Ball twins she was babysitting to run off with a stolen wallet (what is it with this show thinking child endangerment is funny?). To nitpick-if Liam was supposed to be in school, shouldn’t Xan have been at hers too? Last week they made a point of saying she forged a note to her teacher to go to Brad’s wedding...

Anyway, since this new show thinks it’s normal for 24 year old guys to do nothing but parent kids that aren’t theirs and be a one man support system for their mentor and their sponsor (but not their brother), Lip’s taking on a new project, being the reluctant sponsor of a drug and alcohol addict who has an adorable baby. Lip tries telling Brad that “Gallaghers aren’t sponsors, they have sponsors” (I’m so sick of “Gallagher” pronouncements like that), but in the end, he can see the guy has no one, so he steps in. And if I could trust this show for one minute I’d be intrigued by this (it’s much more realistic than the whole Xan bullshit)-it’s interesting to think Lip can relate to the baby being with the dad while he was passed out for two solid days more than he relates to the dad-but I just feel like they’ll handle it badly and I’m not going to get attached to the baby or the dad.

Debbie She’s shrilly screaming for equal pay and equal rights, but I get the feeling all of that was her circuitous route to meeting this season’s love interest. It’ll be interesting to see if she keeps up her crusade or if all that’s forgotten once she’s getting sex.

We first see her rattling off statistics from computer print outs, which is a refreshing change from Ian memorizing the Bible overnight, but still. The stats she’s reading are unfair and horrific, but the people she’s telling them to are in no position to change things. Debbie takes her “cause” to job sites where again, she’s shouting into the void, since no women are working there and even if they were, what does she expect them to do? This whole “Norma Rae” thing makes no sense because licensed workers ARE unionized and if the jobs she’s visiting are using under the table workers, no one wants this loud mouth teenager and her baby carriage calling attention to it. What is she trying to accomplish?

So, like I said, all the screaming is probably just the set up to her meet cute with the chick she thought was a dude. Said chick comes to the Gallagher house (claiming she found it because Debbie was screaming her full name and saying she was a welder with a vagina-so good to know everyone in Chicago would know where that person lives...) and does the “big reveal” that she’s a woman. Debs/Emma is all, “Dafuuuuuck?” and Alex winds up asking her out for a drink. At home I’m thinking, “Aw, damn, Alex, you’re gonna get roofied!”

Carl Carl is moronic as fuck this week-more so than usual. He tries to see his local congressperson (who is secure in his seat and not running in the same election as Frank’s tampering with, I guess?) and is told by an assistant the list of things Carl will need to get a recommendation for West Point and to come back in 9 weeks. Carl totally ignores most of the list, the scholastic and athletic achievements-does he really think he’ll get in without it all? Can’t he just ask Ian what he’ll need to do? Oh wait, no one knows Ian-I’m thinking of that other show again.

He starts on a quest to find volunteer work (since court ordered post juvie hours don’t count-cue laugh track), and asks at the first place “if it pays”. Right there, he’s too stupid to get into any reputable school, why are people wasting their time with him?

He winds up working for a retired veterinarian who uses an unconventional but cheaper and effective way to euthanize dogs. The show goes totally off the rails, having Carl “rescue” them and taking them home to die a “natural” death in his basement instead. Is the writer so stupid she doesn’t know that that’s just forcing the dogs to live out their days in pain, or are we only supposed to think it’s Carl that is that stupid? Either way, why go there Shameless? Why drag innocent dogs into your “it’s Shameless!” world of the unfunny?

Kev and Vee Their painful role as the show’s family sitcom portion continues. (side note: I was cackling with glee when I heard Bob Saget will be making a guest appearance-I called that Full House vibe from the start!) They’re checking out preschools and the first place they go, the woman who runs it is dressed as a full on fairy princess. As if that wouldn’t be enough of a red flag to GTFO. When they hear the cost of tuition, K&V flip out. Because, ya know, they had no idea daycare/preschool was expensive? Have they been hit with the same stupid stick as Carl? They get a lead on a Catholic school that’s in their price range, but there’s only one spot! What to do? Easy, just tell their obviously not identical twin daughters that one of them always has to keep out of sight at school and that from now on, they’re both “Amy”. Cue laugh track.

Ian Oh man, why isn’t Cam gone already? This week starts with him performing the prison yard triple wedding. He’s speaking in the cadence and manner of a preacher, yet he’s only been to 2 weddings that he can recall? Does he watch You Tube videos of sermons now? It makes no sense! Anyway, a guard tells him he’s made bail, and all lame, choreographed hell breaks loose as the prisoners want “Father” Gallagher to finish the ceremony.

Next time we see him, he has at least half an inch more hair and he’s being released back into society, wearing the clothes he was arrested in 9 months ago. The handmade God Loves Fags T shirt is better than some of the things I’ve seen Cam wearing in real life lately, but I digress. Geneva is waiting for him and is jumping and yipping all over him like an overexcited puppy. He tries telling her, “I really wasn’t done in there-those guys need me.” She’s not listening as she tells him “so much exciting stuff has been happening” (off screen-there’s nothing exciting happening on the show itself)-”We have sponsorships now, we’re in 45 states, 1 mil strong on Insta, we’re getting some of the conversion centers closed down.” And, just, you lost me with the hyperbole. Say they’ve spread to 3 states or something believable, not almost the entire continental US. Anyway, she tells him they crowd sourced his bail and asks if he’s ready to face his public. He just looks dazed and confused. A little group is waiting for him behind a (as in one, solo) police barrier.

Next time we see him, he’s being delivered to the Church of Gay Jesus in a luxury SUV. People are waiting there to greet him too-some wearing unintentionally hilarious masks of Ian’s face-well, really GJ, but come on, that’s Cam!!!

Geneva asks him if he’s okay and he says “Yeah, just used to being in lock up.” Again, Cam’s not giving us much to work with, but I guess we’re supposed to see that he’s already overwhelmed and doesn’t want to be part of this anymore? Geneva introduces him to a bunch of workers for the GJ movement that have actual titles-they’re practically a corporation now, then drags him inside where he’s going to make a press statement and take selfies with donors that gave one thousand dollars or more for his bail. Ian looks down at the index cards with his statement and reads aloud, “My harrowing and abusive time in jail? Prison was inspiring...” Geneva is officially his new Terror and dismisses anything he has to say. She tells him to just emphasize his oppression as a gay man and the daily violence he endured.” Which, yes, hello, that actually WOULD be his experience in jail, but the show chose to make it cute and sweet. Grrrr.

Ian doesn’t have a reply to that, I guess, so he looks at a map on the wall with a bunch of pins in it and asks what it is. Geneva tells him it’s where they’ve blown up vans, and they’re going to do more in his name. He seems genuinely upset. Guess he’s missing out on the fact that he could meet more fireman if he keeps blowing up vans-opportunity missed, John Wells!!!

Another disciple comes up to Geneva with an old timey prison striped shirt for Ian to put on for his statement. Just like Jerome wore for so many scenes in Gotham. I don’t know if the show thinks it’s a clever nod to Cam’s other job every time they do something like this, but to me it just pulls me out of the story and I go off on a thought tangent yet again, thinking about how much more realistic Gotham had handled all Cam’s prison stuff. But I digress. Ian says, “Am I allowed to take a piss?” which, really? That’s how the kids talk these days? He wouldn’t say “go to the bathroom”? Whatever. He goes into the bathroom, stares at his reflection because that must be in his contract, stuffs the prison shirt into the trash, flips down the baby changing table, and uses it to escape out the window, flashing the camera a shot of those ugly ass blue shoes with the gold heel coverings.

In his final scene of the night, Ian is sitting in the dark in the Gallagher kitchen, undoubtedly thinking about the huge-probably life altering-mistake he made. I’m referring of course, to when TPTB at Gotham sold him on the “Jerome has an unknown twin!” storyline. Carl comes up from the basement and the two of them share the most awkward scene since the British version of “The Matches”, as told by Eddie Izzard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfw60qXtOH0 Oh look! He’s wearing a spa kimono-like garment too!

Anyway, Cameron and Ethan stiltedly say some lines as if neither of them has ever acted before, and Carl goes to make his escape quite rapidly, but not before we get proof (not that we needed any) that no one’s been visiting Ian in prison, and that when Fiona visited, she didn’t bother keeping him up on family news in the 9 MONTHS he’s been gone.

Ian: Who’s the girl in my bed? Carl: Peyton List? (I know I was confused-Lip’s been sleeping in Ian’s bed, Xan’s over in the corner where Carl and Kassidi-remember her? She’s dead now-slept.) Let me try again:

Carl: That’s Xan-Lip’s kid. Ian:... Doesn’t really react to that either. I HOPE what all this is driving at is that Ian doesn’t feel like he belongs anywhere anymore-he doesn’t want to be part of the huge nationwide movement that Gay Jesus has turned into, he shouldn’t want to be in jail/prison even if there will always be gay men there, he doesn’t belong at “home” where they don’t even have a bed for him and all the kids except Liam are out of the nest now. For Ian, home is not a place, it’s a caring, loving man with blue eyes and an ass that won’t quit...

#Recap #Season Nein Episode 2

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i-may-have-a-point · 7 years ago

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Review of 14x12 “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”

Incredibly long review - coming your way.

Let the battle begin. This episode opens with a montage of most of our attendings working on, or trying to decide, their project for the new surgical contest. Usually I concentrate on the voiceover, but this time I think both the voiceover and the lyrics of the song playing over the scenes are perfect for what is happening.

Jackson is concentrating on his spray-on skin project while his intern is concentrating on him. “I’ve got something that you want”

Bailey is struck with an idea while Amelia paces the floor of the hospital. “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”

Arizona is eating her feelings in bed and Meredith is staring, frustrated, at a model organ in her hand. “Easy for Thomas Edison to say. He had all the good ideas.”

But we see that not all the attendings are hard at work on this new contest as the camera focuses on April just waking up for the day. She sees a man’s leg in front of her and realizes, along with the audience, that she did not spend the night alone. “Ugh. Great,” she groans. “You’re like a schoolboy at the prom, and I’ve got something that you want.”

Vik slept over and that was not part of the deal. She, not go gently, wakes him up and kicks him out of her bed. “Choices Vik. Sex or sleep. You can’t have it all. Go.”

Based on the wine bottle and empty wine glasses on the night stands, it looks like drinking herself numb and having sex with Vik has become a regular thing for April. But it won’t happen again tonight because April has Harriet. Vik reminds her that she is supposed to post the contest rules, but she is unbothered by being late. “God is asleep at the wheel and humanity is locked in the trunk. They can wait for their damn rules.” That line gives us some insight into what April is thinking right now. God exists, but he isn’t controlling anything. He is just dragging us all blindly through this journey, but he isn’t helping or intervening. This makes sense based on everything April has gone through. There are only so many tragedies a person can experience before they start wondering why God isn’t doing anything to help. And sex with Vik is just a way to cover the pain. She doesn’t even want to have a conversation with him in public much less have feelings for him.

Unimportant thought: Can we get a scene of April in boy shorts in every episode?

The attendings wait impatiently for the contest rules and banter about their projects. Maggie and Amelia have ideas, Mer and Alex have nothing, and Jackson has it in his mind that he has already won with his project that creates spray-on skin. He is clearly proud of his idea and can’t wait to get to work on it. April finally strolls in, not giving a damn, with a hangover and some much-needed snark.

“Okay, but who’s judging this thing? Not just you, right?”

“It’s a world-class hospital and a multi-million-dollar contest. Of course, it’s not just me.”

April snapping back at Jackson gave me joy. Not gonna lie.

So, why didn’t anyone notice something was wrong with her? When does April Kepner ever come in late, with a messy bun, and a hangover? Why didn’t they say anything?

They aren’t supposed to. Yes, in reality her co-workers would probably at least ask if she’s okay, but this story isn’t close to over. It needs more time to develop and April has more darkness to explore. And they weren’t completely oblivious. Maggie and Amelia definitely gave her some looks, and Jackson intentionally looked back at her when he walked away. But they can chalk that up to April having a bad morning because the most important thing to all of them right now is getting started on their projects. (More on Jackson not noticing later…)

While April wants nothing to do with Vik in the daylight, he is following her through the hospital with coffee and making “I’ve seen you naked” eyes at her. In no way do I want this relationship to go anywhere other than bed buddies, but can I just say how happy it makes me that the two men April has been with are both incredibly good-looking? For a girl who grew up with the nickname Duckie, I could not be happier that these pretty boys trip over their own feet to make her happy.

April wasn’t expecting to find Arizona in the room she ducked into in order to escape Vik, but once she did, she tried to reach out to her. It’s been clear for several seasons now that Arizona wins the worst friend ever award, but this is up there for consideration of her worst moment yet. April put her feelings out there, she told Arizona she is struggling and making poor decisions, and not only did Arizona not listen to her, she shamed her. “This is not about you, April. Just stop talking.” April told her she is having sex with an intern and can’t sleep at night without at least a bottle of wine, and Arizona has zero reaction? I get that Arizona is into her research on maternal mortality at this point, but how can she be so self-absorbed to not hear one thing her supposed friend says to her? All she manages to do is break April more. April already knows that God isn’t listening to her, and now she knows her friends aren’t listening either. So, April further bottles up her feelings and her guilt - guilt that Arizona exacerbated by going on about Karin Taylor’s death.

Arizona has a small redeeming moment when she brings her proposal to April in the form of Karin’s death and tells April that it wasn’t her fault. April needs to hear this, although, she probably doesn’t believe it. Arizona goes on to tell April that this is what she wants to study. She wants to find out why women in America are dying at such high rates during child birth. April can connect to this proposal more than any of the others. Not only did Karin just die, but April herself almost died giving birth to Harriet. With tears in her eyes, April tells Arizona, “Put that in writing. Send it to me,” and we have no doubt that Arizona’s proposal will be accepted into the contest.

As much as I want to climb through the screen and scream at Arizona, this exchange is more than just Arizona being a crappy friend. It’s a message to the audience to pay attention. We all go through dark times in life. Usually we can recover on our own. But what if we can’t? What if someone in our life is depressed and spiraling and asking for help and we are completely missing the signs just like April’s friends are? There are always signs. Check on your loved ones. It could mean more than you know.

Arizona and Carina – Arizona is dealing with Karin’s death, and it is her conversation about this with Carina that inspires her project proposal. Carina, being from Italy, has never lost a mom, whereas Arizona has seen it happen over and over again. So, what is America doing differently than other countries? How does a country that is supposed to be one of the strongest in the world have such a high maternity mortality rate? While I have many issues with Arizona in this episode, I do love the idea of Grey’s addressing this topic. I don’t know that they will solve it because it is a complex, complicated problem, but I am excited to see what they do with it. Also, Arizona partnering with Carina makes sense, even if it is just a way to put them together romantically. Maybe Carina can offer some insight into what American hospitals are doing differently than Italian hospitals so that Arizona can try to make a difference.

Alex and Amelia – I like the pairing of Alex and Amelia for the surgical contest. It is unexpected. They decided to take on the near impossible task of removing the tumor from twelve-year-old Kimmie’s head. The tumor is too close to her speech center, so they decide to try to use ultrasound waves to match the tumors frequency and shatter it. Just like high frequency pitches shatter glass. That would get rid of the tumor and keep Kimmie’s ability to speak and sing intact. “It’s gonna happen, happen sometime, maybe this time, maybe this time, I’ll win.” Unfortunately, their proposal is not chosen to move forward in the contest. So that leaves Alex, Amelia, Sam, and Deluca without a medical study and Kimmie with a growing tumor in her head. I thought it was interesting that they allowed the audience to get attached to this patient and then chose not to pick Alex and Amelia. Clearly, this story isn’t over, but I am a little bummed that these two won’t be competing in the contest.

Mer and Jo – This may be an unpopular opinion, but I am not rooting for Meredith to win this award. She just won a Harper Avery. It’s time for one of the other surgeons to be recognized. To help Richard’s friend, Meredith comes up with the idea to generate functioning accessory livers. I’m not a doctor, but I do have some questions. Will these accessory livers all connect to one bile duct? They would have to, right? Would she have to reroute someone’s entire digestive system for these to work? Are they even going to be able to go forward with their project sign Meredith didn’t get the patent they need? Meredith certainly didn’t look so confident when they found out they got in to the contest. Also, I wonder if they are going to go any farther with the conversations they had about Jo sleepwalking and pinching herself.

Bailey and Glasses – I love Glasses. I just do. Watching him try to figure out if Bailey called him to her house to have sex was very George O’Malley. His face when she told him to get the measuring tape, latex gloves, and turkey baster was hilarious. I definitely want to see more of this pairing. But did Bailey’s proposal get in to the contest? We didn’t get an answer on that.

Webber and Maggie – I have wanted the show to explore the father/daughter relationship with these two since we found out that Maggie is Webber’s daughter. There have been episodes in the past where they touched on their connection, but I think this season has had several meaningful scenes showing these two growing closer and figuring out exactly who they are to each other. This episode heavily focused on building their relationship, which is interesting, considering the “are Jackson and Maggie related” debate. If they were really planning to go forward with J/M, why create a stronger familial bond between Webber and Maggie right now? If anything, wouldn’t they be doing the opposite? And not only do they have increased screen time together, but they also are forming bonds overly deeply emotional parts of their lives. Webber asked Maggie to help him take dance lessons so he could surprise Catherine for her birthday, but their scenes aren’t really about the lessons at all. The lessons remind Maggie of her parents which leads to her thinking of her mom. This gives Richard an opportunity to comfort her and remind her he is there for her. Later in the episode, they dance in silence while he just listens to her talk about missing her mom. The writers could have had Maggie confide in Jackson, Mer, or Amelia, but instead they chose Richard because the point of this it to strengthen their relationship. Maggie goes on to talk to him about her dating life. The information she offered may have been a bit TMI, but this scene still screams father/daughter moment. I also think that Maggie is Richard’s inspiration for his project. He created a pen that can identify cancer earlier. Sounds like something a father would do for his daughter. I am happy to see that Maggie is dating Clive. She has been entangled in triangles for far too long. She tells Richard that Clive is a good guy, and he really seems to be. They have decent chemistry, and he is interested in what she does. I don’t like how she ran out of the restaurant after he kissed her, though. She could have at least explained why she had to leave. I think she sabotages her own happiness. We have seen her hiding from men before. We saw her hiding her relationship with Deluca. It also seems as if she is looking for something wrong with Clive. She tells Jackson about her project and notes that he “just gets it,” which of course, is a reference to her having to explain her project to Clive. Maggie seeing this as a negative to dating Clive is a bit of a stretch. Most couples have different jobs and need to explain aspects of their work to each other. He may not completely understand what she does, but he cared and wanted to hear about it. That is what is important, and that is what Maggie should be focusing on. I hope they keep Clive around because I think this would be a way for the show to explore Maggie’s fear of commitment.

Jackson and Catherine – In my 14x03 review, when Harper Avery shows up at the hospital, I said that I thought Jackson was also going on a journey this season. Both he and April are looking for something they need – happiness, faith, answers, something to complete the emptiness. Recently, I went through and just watched Jackson’s scenes from all of season 14. Mixed in with all the other stories, it is hard to see Jackson’s journey, but in isolation, I think it is clearer. And I expect many of you to disagree with me on this, but I don’t think Jackson’s story this season is about Maggie at all. A lot of us saw April’s break coming. Her clues were fairly obvious. I am wondering how far back with are going to say this has been building. As I posted on Twitter with what April wrote in her red notebook, her break could be traced all the way back to her first episode. Or was it Samuel? Or the divorce? Or the confusion after Montana? And I am wondering if her telling Maggie she thought her and Jackson liked each other in 13x24 is part of her spiral into darkness. Nothing was there. J/M felt nothing. So was she feeling so bad about herself she created it in her head? But let’s look at Jackson’s journey this season. His signs are much more subtle but they are there I think. In 14x02 April tells him she is hurting. We have zero idea how he feels about this because he doesn’t speak. The next time we see him, Harper Avery is at the hospital telling him to get the wife and kid and meet him for dinner. Then he tells Jackson he is like his father. This scene didn’t seem to connect to 14x02 the first time I watched the episode but watching them consecutively they did connect. April moved out and then Harper comes in and reinforces what Jackson is already feeling. Jackson is not good enough. He lost his family and may be more like his father than he wants to admit. I think these comments from Harper may be what sends him into his own crisis. Then Harper dies and leaves him a ridiculous amount of money. Jackson has always been wealthy, but he also tried to distance himself from the Avery name and money. Just look at his reaction to April calling the plane in 13x16 his plane. He insists it is his family’s plane, not his. Now the Avery money is forced on him and he has no choice but to deal with it. The next several scenes of Jackson’s focus on him and the money. For example, we see Alex teasing him about how much he inherited after the funeral. At this point Jackson needs a new distraction from what is happening in his life, as well as some recognition for his talent, so he creates the surgical contest that he can compete in. Plus, if he can win and prove he is a successful doctor, then he MUST be less like his father. Robert ran from his family AND being a doctor. Then there is the dinner party. This is still mostly about Jackson getting this money and what he will do with it. Maggie has her rambling speech about the islands, but she also says something about it being scientifically proven that having too much money, or too many choices, can cause a person to be very stressed. I think that is significant after rewatching. I didn’t catch it the first time. (And up to this point we have had several hints that I pointed out in earlier reviews that J/M are not a thing to worry about, Jackson fixing Alex’s collar, Catherine calling Maggie his sister, etc. so while she is often with him, she doesn’t actually seem to be the focus of his story.) In the next episode, we see Jackson still focused on the money when he, on a whim, buys a boat and sports car. This seems OOC for Jackson, but it makes sense if he is in a crisis. We have the sister conversation on the boat, which I think is to highlight how confused Jackson is, and we also hear him literally say he isn’t happy because he can’t buy happiness. He then shows up drunk to the intern mixer, which is also seemingly OOC, but who else has been getting drunk lately? April. The other person in a crisis. At the mixer, he tells Bailey he is giving her the money to start the surgical competition. This is another way for him to focus on his career because, as he said, he is unhappy, and his career is something he can control right now. Winning this contest would make him feel less like Robert or less like he has failed. The 300th episode was mainly about Mer, but we did get those looks between Japril in the ER that show they still have a lot they need to say to each other but are unsure of what the other is thinking. The awful helicopter scene comes along. Jackson does try to connect with Maggie, probably because he is confused and needs support of some kind, but the universe intervenes and they are sprayed with blood. I definitely think it is significant that they keep getting stopped before anything can happen. They are also stopped in the locker room with the guy bringing the scrubs. And yes he did ask Maggie to go for a drink, but he also referenced his money in that exact conversation. This is another hint that everything he is doing is because he is confused and sad. 14x10 was mainly him reacting to the child who was shot, but the scene of Jackson and April standing outside the boy’s room in the ER is important. They both pause and look at each other, and again it is clear they both have things they want to say, but she gets paged away. It’s not that he doesn’t care about her. He does that side glance to check on her when she tells him about Matthew. But I don’t think he fully sees her pain because he has his own pain. I expect something to come from these looks and hints that Japril keep having. Omelia certainly isn’t glancing at each other across the ER, and that’s because the show really ended them. But I still say it’s fairly clear Japril isn’t over yet. Also, because so much of Jackson’s story has been about him not being able to buy happiness, wouldn’t it be something if the thing he did buy with the money, the surgical contest, led to his happiness? And not just professionally but true happiness. I don’t think it is random that April is running this contest that Jackson created with his money. He is seeking happiness and she is seeking faith and the thing that connects them right now is this contest. What are the odds that Jackson would give it to Bailey, who gave it to Webber, who gave it to April? That seems like more than a coincidence. This contest has brought Jackson some happiness already. It’s obvious that he is proud of his project to create spray on skin. He gloats about winning while the others are still scrambling for a proposal. Unfortunately, Catherine doesn’t see the merit of his idea. She pulls him into a meeting with Dr. Michelle Velez and, similarly to Arizona and April, Catherine shames him when he begins to talk about something important to him. “I’m actually pulling together a research project kind of similar right now. I’d love to tell you about it sometime.” But Catherine interrupts, “Jackson, she’s not here to work on your project. She’s here to pitch us one of her own.” This may seem insignificant, but this idea of Jackson not feeling good enough for his family goes all the way back to season six. In 6x14, he tells Lexie, “…my family is smart, driven, and crazy over-achievers. And they look like they're smart. They don't look like me, which has its perks. Except that my family treated me like I was pretty. They expected nothing from me, ever. Never pushed me, never thought to. So I had to push myself. Hard.” In many ways, Jackson’s family still treats him like the pretty one who isn’t capable of thinking for himself. Harper treated him like a child in 14x03, and Catherine does that in this episode as well. His ideas are not respected and he is belittled until he gives into what his family thinks. This is also why Dahlia, the intern, tells him how attractive he is. This just reinforces to Jackson the idea he has been fighting his whole life. He is not just a pretty face. He is smart and he is going to work his ass off to prove it. Dr. Velez wants Jackson to use a peritoneum to improve vaginoplasty surgeries. The surgery is a great idea, but is isn’t one Jackson is truly passionate about. Side note: The conversations Jackson and Catherine have about orgasms and genitals are great writing, but in the comedy, don’t miss that Catherine doesn’t accept Jackson turning down the proposal. As he walks away, she calls out, “Jackson Avery, you are such a disappointment!” As if he didn’t already feel that way already. Later she finds him again in the lab to try to talk him into accepting Velez’s proposal. He tells her he doesn’t have time because he is making skin. She scoffs at the idea and tells him he is years and millions of dollars in research away from making skin. She could not be less supportive of his idea. Instead she gives him all the statistics to back up the vaginoplasty surgery and belittles his, “Go on, make your little skin,” as if it means nothing. Watch his reaction. He tosses down his instruments and is visibly bothered by what she said to him. Jackson plans to go forward with his skin proposal, but everyone around him seems to be pushing him to do the vaginoplasty. Meredith cites statistics of how many people he would be helping in the trans community, Catherine has Dahlia type up a proposal and Dahlia says she thinks it’s a better idea. He has no support. Because the person who always believes in him and who never saw him as just a pretty face is April, and she doesn’t know he needs her. She is spiraling into darkness, while he is pretending to be happy. They just can’t reach each other. It’s “the space between” as Jesse said on his Instagram caption. And neither of them will be okay until they can close that space and help each other. That is where I believe we are heading. And before you hit up my inbox with, “But Maggie…” let me address the Maggie scene in this episode. That was not flirting or jealous. My brothers teased me about boys all the time. That was a friend/brother teasing and nothing more. Go back through the episode and watch scenes they are in together. When they are in a group at the beginning there are no looks across to each other, no smiles when the other one speaks. When they joke about Clive, there are no lingering looks of pining, and in the bar, when Catherine and Webber are dancing and celebrating their love, there are no glances in each other’s direction wishing that were them. Every scene they are in is either platonic conversation or them not acknowledging the other. They didn’t even show them congratulating each other on getting into the contest. But you know who we did get a reaction from regarding Jackson? April. As she is reading off the proposals to the board (who are all 95 for some reason?), she clearly reacts when reading Jackson’s name. I don’t think it is just because it made her think of him either. I think she knows him so well, that she is surprised at his proposal choice. She expected something different from him because she knows who he is and what his interests are. Her reaction is one of surprise and it was intentional. As the audience we were supposed to see her reaction because there is more to come with their story. Japril’s story is not over.

#grey's anatomy #14x12 #review #japril

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sarahreeese · 7 years ago

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The diversity issue One Chicago isn’t fixing any time soon

6 years on TV 15 seasons of all the One Chicago shows combined. 94 regular and recurring characters 2 specifically stated LGBTQ+ characters that were on for more than an episode. One who died due to man pain, and the other a manipulative awful girlfriend of said dead woman.

That’s about 2% of the characters on all of the shows.

Their only significant gay character died in 2014. That’s nearly 4 years without any kind of representation. When One Chicago was criticized for having a lack of racial diversity on their shows, they made Med, whose cast is nearly half people of color. (Though they don’t all get equal air time or story quality but that’s another post.) Justice took it one step further and had more people of color than white people. So they can take criticism and change tactics, they’ve shown that. So why not change this? They’ve had time, characters, and 2 shows to correct this glaring problem. Why haven’t they?

It wasn’t planned from the beginning/The characters haven’t shown any signs of being gay. Sexuality isn’t something that needs to be revealed right away, there are so many storylines especially in the field that these characters work in that would make for great drama AND great representation. Give me a fire fighter or a cop who is gay, and hides it from the team because they don’t want to be seen differently by their team. Or a new character who had a horrible experience with their old team or house or whatever, and decides to come out only after they trust people. Or we could just have a great storyline where someone is out and proud and everyone deals with it respectfully. As for trans characters, all of the above apply, but they could also have a doctor transitioning, and we see the medical storyline play out as well as the emotional one with the doctors. People discover these things about them later on in life, there is no reason any character couldn’t be made to have these thoughts and feelings. These storylines write themselves and are incredibly easy to weave into the shows naturally. You’re just being lazy One Chicago.

It doesn’t have network appeal/wouldn’t play well with the demo. There are currently about 36 regulars/recurring characters active in the One Chicago Universe. No one is being threatened by putting any LGBTQ+ characters into the storyline. Also if people aren’t exposed to this in television, how will they be introduced to these ideas if they don’t know anyone personally. Also queer people exist and watch this show. We want representation too. And 18-49 is definitely going to have some of us in it.

They’d have to bring in new characters in order to have LGBTQ+ ones. No, they wouldn’t. See the first mock question. But also in the past 2 seasons they have introduced about 7 recurring or main characters. All of them straight.

You don’t know if they’re straight, you’re assuming. Yeah, because that’s the intention that the shows are going for. In order for representation to exist there needs to be some sort of explicit statement or act to show it. Otherwise it doesn’t count.

It’s not realistic to the type of jobs. Really... There are no gay cops or firefighters, or doctors?

These shows are about the jobs not the personal lives. Sexuality and gender expression ARE NOT PERSONAL LIFE THINGS. It’s who someone is, and that’s One Chicago’s specialty. The characters stop them from being just like every other procedural on every other network. And if you have time to show us scenes of every other heterosexual couple you have time to show us queer ones.

Stop watching the show if you don’t like it. No. I love these characters and that’s why I want these shows to do better, and be better. I’d also love consistent writing, which I’m not going to get either, but I can still ask for it.

Now here’s a list of characters who could easily be either read as queer or could discover they were queer. (Also PS, I’ll be using gay in the colloquial manner as in Make this Character Gay, which also means like make them queer or any kind of LGBTQ)

Starting with the newest regular characters.

Ava Bekker: Definitely brought in to be the new lady Connor fucks, but hey you could make her Bi or Pan. She made a comment about liking dangerous men, does that mean she doesn’t like dangerous women? Make her gay 2K18. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see her not wooed by Connor’s charms and become Zanetti 2.0? She could use a great girlfriend, or non binary friend. Maybe a sweet smart bundle of anxiety who is a second year psychiatry resident? You could show possible anxiety she might have about coming out when she’s in line for a competitive position.

Hailey Upton: Possibly had an affair with that dude. Alright. Make her bi then. Or if she didn’t have that affair, make her gay. There’d probably be very positive feedback, and her character might be better received if it didn’t look like she was taking Erin’s place completely. She’s cool, and calm, and doesn’t do a million illegal things an episode like some other characters. Gay Icon 2K18. Make it happen PD.

Stella Kidd: She’s got a thing going with Severide. That’s great, you can be Bi and in a relationship with a dude. That’s what bi means. Have her talk about an ex who is not a dude. Or if you’re going to make Kelly find himself for the umpteenth time instead of getting them together, have Kidd find a nice not cis-guy to date.

Isidore Latham: Sure he had that mean sex worker trick him at the conference he went to with Connor, but we don’t know any indications of who he is interested in. Why not make him queer?

Looking at characters who have been around for a few seasons.

Sarah Reese: She comes from the east coast with a very wealthy mother and absent father. Her mother was never home, and we are shown her numerous confidence issues. If she was bi or pan, she would probably not express it because she wants to stay in the shadows. We can see that in the pastel neutral colors that she dresses in, and her over all demeanor. Show me a Sarah who falls for someone who she thinks she shouldn’t, and have her wrestle with those feelings and come out ahead of them. Then we can see her date a super intelligent and confident heart surgeon from South Africa. Sarah is also young and has super liberal leanings, making her the most obvious choice in Med.

Maggie Lockwood: We know next to nothing about Maggie. She’s an open book and has no restrictions put on her by previous statements. She’d be an excellent lesbian who is proud of her sexuality and is one of the most respected people in the ED.

Noah Sexton: Give me something that would make me stand Noah as a character. Show him dealing with his identity as a latino man from a religious background. It would be interesting and much better than his sexual harassment storyline we’re going with in this season.

April Sexton: Very similar to Noah with regards to being latina with a religious household, but she also has very strong desires to please her parents, and falling in love with someone who isn’t a man would be a challenge for her to over come.

Kelly Severide: I mean who says he hasn’t slept with someone who wasn’t a woman before. Again, he can be with Kidd or whoever else they want to put him with, and mention an ex-boyfriend. Or maybe he doesn’t mention it and it comes out and we see a respected queer lieutenant. And who wouldn’t want to see Taylor Kinney maybe make out with a dude?

Connor Rhodes: Bad boy who bucks familial conventions by being bi. It’s one of the reasons he ran off when he graduated school. Now he’s back in Chicago and is juggling his identity with the expectations of his family, name and this fellowship. Ava finds out he’s bi too, and they become ONLY friends. But good friends.

Kevin Atwater: You’ve given him 0 romantic options in the show in 5 seasons, while Ruzek has had 2 engagements...(different post...) Maybe it’s because he’s gay. He and Peter Stone had excellent chemistry on the Justice crossover, delve into that. Show this badass strong and sensitive guy with a great boyfriend.

Sylvie Brett: Maybe she ran away from her wedding for more than just cold feet about missing out on the world. Maybe she never acknowledged those feelings inside her and she wants to date someone other than a guy? I don’t know. Possibilities are open.

This is just a small amount of options. You could write a scenario for nearly every character in this universe. So why don’t they?

PS: I’m horrible at coming up with Trans and Ace/Aro head canons so if you have any please reblog and put them. I want to read them very badly. ALSO if you have any head canons about this reblog and put them. Let’s get diversity in fanon if we’ll never have it in canon.

Special shoutout to @lesbianhaileyupton, and @xelmanrique318 for bringing this up in the tags and causing me to get pissed enough about it to write this whole thing out. I reblogged their posts, and they’re 100% worth a read.

#chicago med #chicago pd #chicago fire #lgbtq #one chicago #all the characters #there's too many to tag

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