#no one compares to contrabbandieri

[jon-astronaut]

awwwww is that Luchino on Elia’s locksreen 🥺

[thehollowprince]

what do you like about the boys so much

It's not that I like them over everyone else or anything like that, I just don't loathe them the way a lot of others do. So far, they haven't really done anything to warrant the level of hostility against them.

Have they made sexist and homophobic remarks? Sure, but not any more than any of the other boy squads did. I mean, that was all a part of Yann's arc in SKAM France, apologizing to Lucas for all the gay jokes and making him feel like he couldn't tell his best friend about it. Magnus full on called Isak a fag at one point. And the contrabbandieri, loves of my life, even they royally forked up during Martino's season, or did everyone forget that they didn't even know the name of the Argentinean (Sofi) and referred to her only as that as they objectified her?

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but what I see when I browse the tags (stupid, I know), all I see is people comparing where the Broerrrs are now to where the other boy squads at the end of their season. We're only halfway through episode six. After this, there are four more full episodes ahead of us. Give them time to prove themselves.

I think a lot of it too, is that I feel like I have to defend them, because so many other people are hating on them. Does that make sense? Like, I feel the need to balance out the fandom discourse but playing the Devil's Advocate and defend the offending party.

[stevesnightmares]

Skamita.S02.E09.

I just watched the whole episode together and wow another 10/10

The first clip that we got was the one where he talked with Maddalena and oh god was that heartbreaking. I could feel Martino's pain and he was crying and all that he wanted was to know if Nico was alright and he wanted to see him. He kept asking Maddalena how he was and if he could see him. Really heartbreaking clip, I loved it. I loved that instead that on the phone we got a face to face conversation, it was even sadder like this.

Then we got the beautiful clip with Mamma Rametta (even tho that's not her surname). Federico acting, like in the last clip, was phenomenal. When he screams at his mum it felt so real and raw and you could hear that he was on the verge of crying. The fact that we got more interactions with the parents in skam italia is great, because that's how life is, and because I love seeing parent/child interactions. When Marti and his mum were both on the ground talking to each other was perfect, not only because she told him how important she is to him, not only because she told him that she doesn't care that he's gay, but also because the door between them kind of symbolises their relationship. They are connected anymore, they keep fighting, but even with "a door between them" they can still talk and get better, it doesn't have to be all bed, things can get better.

We then got the clip with the boys. And if a clip has I contrabbandieri in it it's already a good clip. As you know I love their relationship more than any other, and I love that Martino talks to them and tells them what is going on in his life. I love how supportive they are and how they are always trying to help. (A special mention to Elia that doesn't talk about things that he knows nothing about). I loved that they went to the phycologist, because it perpetuates the idea that it's normal to seek help from professionals because that's what they are here for. (Special mention to Luca that knows that Maddalena "ha solo la gelosia in culo"). And the exercise that they did was super cute. The whole clip was also a parallel with the one where he went there alone, while now he has his friends in who he can lean on.

We got the clip where he talks with his father on the phone and again, I have to applaud Federico for his acting. The clip was really sad because it feels like what Martino's father is saying is that it's not appropriate to be gay in front of a kid, and it's embarrassing if his son brings a boyfriend to a dinner with his new partner. And you could see how that fucking broke Martino, he was devastated by that.

And then we got the last clip. Firstly we have to applaud Skam Italia for being able to reinvent the show, not only this clip, and that's really evident in this episode , where basically all the clips were really different from the original while still maintaining the same plot line. We all know how important and iconic was the O Helga Natt in the original, it's one of my favourite scenes ever, and that's why I have really high expectations for this clip. I felt disappointed in the reunion moment because, emotionally, it wasn't as strong as original but that doesn't mean that it was. The clip was great and I loved it, I just prefer the original because I'm a sucker for pain. If I didn't have nothing to compare it to this clip would have been perfect, because it is. I just personally prefer how more dramatic the og clip was how much it made me feel. Also, I LOVED the beginning of the clip, I loved that Marti was watching his father being happy with his new family, that he isn't really a part of (yet, you never know what will happen). It was sad and beautiful. And the text that he recived from Nico was absolutely beautiful. I loved it to death. Perfect.

So yeah, in conclusion skam italia is great because it's able to change things and make them unique the show and not just a copy paste of another show.

[mentalcurls]

1.1 Illegale

I’ve hummed and hawed a lot over writing this post, for two reasons: there are somewhat unpopular opinions in it and this particular clip is so hard for me to watch, I literally always pause it at least five or six times to calm down. But I’d mentioned a couple of months ago that I would do something about to it and I don’t like to leave things like that hanging, plus I’m hoping to exorcise some of my negative feelings, so here we are. Listicle as usual.

the voicemails give me chills every single time and that’s all I’m going to say

right from the start the focus is on Emma, dancing with a friend

whose POV is the camera embodying? The first shot is a group of girls, then we have Edoardo, Federico and Chicco smoking and watching the girls, then the camera focuses on three specific and particularly noticeable girls: the girl with the silver sparkling top dancing with Emma, the dark haired girl with the black dress and bright lipstick and the blue-haired girl we will see at radio meetings later on; then there are some guys making a lantern fly, then Emma dancing with her friend, with a glimpse of Canegallo talking to Edoardo about either Emma herself or the friend, then there’s Silvia looking dejected. The obvious answer would be that it’s Silvia’s POV, but I actually think that at first the camera shows the guys’ POV, then switches to Silvia’s for at least two reasons: first of all, the camera changes position (you can see it from the fact that in the first shot we see her Emma is on the right while silver top girl is on the left, whereas later Emma is on the left and her friend is on the right); second, the first three girls stand out from the others because their clothing, makeup or hair is bright and designed to catch people’s attention and it’s not hard to tell that they are Edoardo’s and his friends’ type, while Emma is dressed in a completely different, sporty and casual, way, which is probably the thing that earned her the reputation as a bit of a “zecca” (as Marti describes her to his friends in the bathtub) and she definitely doesn’t fit the Villa guys’ aesthetic or tastes; on the other hand Emma has several characteristics that attract Silvia’s attention like a magnet. Emma is not trying hard at all but she exudes a natural air of coolness, she dances like she doesn’t have a care in the world and like no-one is watching her, she dresses like she wants and doesn’t care about fitting in but a lot of people like her anyways, she’s  beautiful even without much makeup and thin and graceful and genuinely having fun and the boys (Edoardo) are staring in her direction. And Silvia wants to be all of that, to have all of that. (Because that’s what her sister Francesca is like obvs)

so: guys’ POV first, Silvia’s second

I don’t even think Silvia putting down her cake is because of her issues with eating, a big part of it is probably that the cake literally turned sour to her

after putting the plate down, in fact, Silvia eats something else, so I don’t think she’s doing a Vilde S2 at this point

anyways, she goes to find her friends and when she manifests her worries, albeit in a pretty childish and petulant way, Sana and Fede dismiss her and laugh at her as their first reaction (Fede’s drunk so there’s that, but Sana 😕 girl 😕 did you forget what happened in June already? Bland reassurances that sound like platitudes won’t cut it with Silvia)

so Silvia goes in search of her more supportive friends, Eva and Ele, and that’s a smart move, except her wandering takes her right back to the starting point, looking at Edo from the other side of the room while he studiously avoids acknowledging her

bless Filippo Sava for pulling her out of her own head a bit

a Filippo Sava WITH NO LIP PIERCING

and like, Filippo is at his peak “uomo gay pride” here, but at the same time he lets his campiness and the excuse of a joke justify some unwanted touches that had my eyebrows raising when I saw the clip for the first time and has them raised still now

the way Edoardo summons Eleonora to his presence gets on my nerves; he’s being indifferent so they won’t get caught interacting, intellectually I know that, but that slight tilting of his chin just reads so fucking entitled

Skam Italia, don’t go breaking my heart by joking about Eleonora’s sexuality (especially after Mia has been confirmed bi in Druck) and with Eva there joking about being jealous I ALREADY KNOW THEY’D MAKE A PERFECT COUPLE OK?

and right then a wild Martino appears, wandering round the party like Bambi wanders in the woods

and Eva. She’s probably been sending Marti signals all summer, ever since she broke up with Gio and informed Marti of the fact in that expectant way at the end of the year party. I mean, he told her he likes her and she doesn’t want to believe that the porn Eleonora found on his phone really means what her friend thought it meant. And Marti’s cute, he’s a really good guy and he’s nice and they’ve been friends for a while so he knows her, he’s seen her at her lowest and stuck by her. She needs all of these things, after Gio, after the mess with Canegallo, she wants nice and familiar and steady. Except Marti keeps her at arm's length 99% of the time, barely answers her texts, never writes her first, is always too busy to hang out. Eva excuses him for a while: he doesn’t want to hurt Gio, fine, but it’s been a while now; his family situation is really complicated, that’s okay, maybe she could help, or a least distract him a bit every now and then. Then school starts so he’s busy with that. But after a whole summer and almost a month of school, well, message fucking received, dude. She’s gonna give him one last chance to show some real interest in her before she gives up and accepts he’s uninterested. And probably gay. Which is fine, by the way, she doesn’t mind or anything, but it means he lied to her. Again.

I don’t really get why Eva acts so over the top though. She acts like she’s drunk, throws herself at him. Why would Marti go for that? Is it a last resort, has Eva tried literally everything else she could think of? Does she think that by putting him on the spot, if he really likes her he’ll forget the potential hangups he has about Gio? Does she pretend to be drunk to give him an excuse of sorts? She must smell the weed on him when she hugs him, so if he wanted to make a move then they could plausibly say they both weren’t in their right mind, so as not to hurt Gio. But then, does she only want a hook up? With one of her best friends?

well, whatever her reasons are, it all fails and Marti rejects her. Which, I could have told her. Marti is nice, remember? He wouldn’t take advantage of a drunk girl, especially not when they’re friends. (Not like some other people who’d happily hook up with Argentina when she’s drunk, I’m looking at you ep.5!Contrabbandieri)

oh, but Eva’s “Yeah, yeah, go back to Gio, go” is so bitter! She’s defeated, Marti hasn’t proved her wrong, he actually confirmed her worst fears. So as hard as it is to face this fact, she has to conclude he did lie to her again, despite everything, and she feels like a fool for falling for it. What an asshole.

Marti answering the phone in a house that’s not even his kills me every time

and I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE SEE LUCHINO God, how time flies, it feels like he’s always been there

the boys start discussing girls. Marti’s descriptions of them are 100% non sexualized, non objectifying: Emma is tall and a bit of a “zecca” (I’m not super familiar with Roman slang, but Google tells me it is used for “radical chic” people who look a bit slovenly and like stoners, so not exactly flattering but at least it’s not sexual), Polidoro is the girl who got stuck in the elevator last year

on the other hand Elia, then Luca, then Giovanni immediately start judging the girls based on their attractiveness, the fuckability, their boobs. Standard sleazy teenagers.

and Marti goes straight into defense mode, starts saying he doesn’t like them and goes all the way back to the other hand of the spectrum from sleaze to fastidious with just a touch of misogyny

“busta di piscio” just hits me in my gut every single fricking time. I am Italian, but I’m not from Rome, so I’d never heard this particular slang terminology before Skam Italia, so I might be overreacting, except fuck you, it’s a horrible thing to say about someone, aside from the pure unpleasantness of being compared to urine, you’re dismissing someone as pure waste. So yeah, fuck you, Martino. Thank God you’ll grow up quite a bit over the course of the season.

anyways. The boys press Marti, backing him into a corner (even more of a corner than the literal one he’s already sitting in) waiting for him to talk about a girl he likes. And, obviously, Marti goes for the safest aka the most widely liked who’s also the most unreachable. Textbook. And he weathers his friends comments about being choosy and the jokes about Federica cause having that reputation is way easier than being known as the gay guy

honestly, you can feel his discomfort. Up until now the party has been one landmine after the other for Marti

also, Federica. She’s always Federicona for the guys, cause she’s not a size 38, and while in this clip they don’t explicitly touch on that, it’s a big part of why the guys joke about hooking up with her, cause she’s considered unattractive. The other reason is the whole on-going saga of her showing an open, uninhibited interest in Marti: she’s an outspoken, enterprising young woman who has no problem showing people what she wants and that makes the boys so uncomfortable, cause it means they’re not the “predators” in that scenario. The spoon thing might have been a bit over the top, but you can bet that if Nico had done that at some point over the next couple of episodes Marti would have been all over him, or that if Eva had done that for Gio it would have been considered a cute form of foreplay like Gio’s Instagram video with the tongue in S1, or if any other girl the boys deem fuckable had done it they’d be all over her

Elia wants 20 euros for both the weed and Fede’s gift, but Marti only ever gives him 5 euros which means he didn’t even give him the money for the gift

and Emma makes her grand entrance!

Gio looks stunned, either he really likes Emma or he’s worried she might somehow know about the way they’ve been talking about her

contrary to Skam og and Skam France, she’s alone, but just like in the other two versions Marti (/Isak/Lucas) takes charge of their interaction, except where his Norwegian and French counterparts are smooth and charming, he’s quite a bit of an asshole, displaying an incredible ability for humiliating jokes. This can’t even be considered pigtail pulling, this is straight up being shit

also, mansplaining! Emma’s not and idiot, if the other bathroom had been available she would have used it

the jerks! Jesus but they piss me off so bad. Gio, Elia and Luca laugh and joke with Marti at Emma’s expense, then they propose exchanging a basic thing like access to a private place to pee for occasions to be even creepier than they already are. Oh God, how I hate them right now

this is toxic masculinity. I Contrabbandieri are considered immune to it, but the most I feel comfortable saying is that they get better about it with time, when Marti’s hardships bring them together and change their perspectives a bit, but right now? The locker room talk, the considering girls as nothing more than their bodies, the mocking, the indirect fat-shaming, putting their “need” to keep the bathtub above Emma physiological needs

the thing is, Emma is so used to this kind of behaviour, she accepts it without question or reproach for the most part. She just laughs along with them, trying not to be difficult, to diffuse the situation; when she agrees to make out with one of them it she chooses the one who treated her the worst, because pigtail pulling means a boy likes you and just doesn’t know how to show it in a mature way, right? So she goes for Marti, even going as far as forgoing her physiological needs because she kisses him first, and she was willing to blow him first, before actually peeing, despite saying that she really had to go (and even then, she apparently pees with him in the room? what even); anyways, the point is that this whole thing is crazy sexist

the zipper sounds, oh, how it brings back far more pleasant memories

let us all not forget (and Silvia doesn’t let us forget) there was a sliding door between the washbasin + bathtub area and the toilet area so Emma could have peed without causing any trouble at all (she probably did, actually, since Marti was still in the room when she went) (I’m confused, was it all her elaborate plan to be alone with him? Had she even ever seen him before? And even if she liked him, why go for shim when he proves to be such a jerk to her? I can’t make sense of this)

Eva looks so lost! Apparently Marti hooked up with a girl who’s not her? So he’s not gay? But he still lied to her about liking her? Or maybe not, it was just a one time thing to distract himself from her? Because he really doesn’t want to upset Gio? So does she wait? Why isn’t he sending any kind of positive signal to her then?

i Contrabbandieri just assume Marti got laid, and like, came this fast? Is this the kind of faith they have in their friend? They just presume he has no stamina rather than think he didn’t get laid?

Edoardo Incanti is a mansplainer, would you look at that, such a surprise; the apparent helpfulness, the assumption that Eleonora is struggling with her lantern and that she’ll catch fire if left to her own devices make me catch fire cause I can’t stand these forms of benevolent-ish sexism

he literally tries to explain the UK to her when she’s the one who’s lived there for a month already!

Eleonora is smizing, what on earth

Edoardo really can’t take no for an answer huh?

oooh, i Contrabbandieri honestly think there are no other cops and they’ll be able to just slink away? Bless their hearts

they actually try to get the policeman to pity them by saying they weren’t invited to the party when he stops them! Bless their hearts super hard

I forgot to point it out, but there was the very first GioElia™ patented look when Covitti came in while they were in the bathroom, and right now we have a second one!

the biggest BLESS THEIR HEART award goes to the wild run from the police even though Marti’s ditched the weed

Gio hugging Marti always breaks my heart, mostly cause it’s pretty much the mirrored image of Eva hugging Marti when he went to get the beers, except she tried to kiss him when he didn’t want her to, whereas with Gio it’s just a grateful, friendly hug even though Marti would love for Gio to kiss him. In the immortal words of dr Roberto Spera, bella merda.

Ok that’s it! I’m stopping right her, I don’t think I can do the same thing I did for S1 with a full commentary of all the episodes (I mean, this is about four GDoc pages and we’re only halfway through the episode, can you imagine how much more I could write?). Still, I’m glad I managed to write down my thoughts on what bugs me so much about this clip. Talk to me via ask or comment if you have questions or disagree with me, I’m alway open to discussion!

[jon-astronaut]

Rank the scenes of the midseason reunion of the Isaks with their Evens, you know the one where the friends help out before (in some of them)

ahhh thank you so much for this ask!!!!! i am gonna love answering this ❤️

1. matteo and david.

so they take the first place not because i love matteo and david but because how different their reunion felt. it was more of an emotional one compared to the other remakes. their hug remains such a favourite scene for me. it was just what they needed at that point. also +1000 points for boy squad watching from the stairs.

2. isak and even.

them being the first one to start all these is always a plus for me. because they were the originals it feels so special and important. but still the way isak opened the door, even standing at the door in the most cool way. their making out. everything was perfect.

3. marti and nicco.

the fact that this was at bracciano, at the cabin is +100 points. the fact that nicco just hopped in his car and drove there +100 points. the fact that the contrabbandieri kicked themselves out so marti and nicco could do whatever they wanted +100 points. 

4. lucas and eliott.

the realist in me is like they had sex in school??? but the lover of cinema and xavier dolan movies in me is like yessss!! for that scene. maybe it’s not my favourite but the scene adds up with elu and skam france’s general tone so it’s good. and it’s shot well.

5. cris and joana.

i loved the acting and the general emotionallness of this. the way cris just started crying in to the kiss and the hug and the forehead touch and forehead kiss was just so nice.

6. robbe and sander.

it’s the one with the chernobyl line right? where robbe went to find sander? i hope so… anyway, robbe and sander had some messy plotlines leading up to that and it was just not sitting right with me hence the 6th spot. but the good parts were the kiss and the background and the hand holding.

i loved doing this too!!!!! thanks once again!!!!

send me skamverse rankings!!!

[mentalcurls]

Of frogs, princes and Martino Rametta

I know I’ve seen this mentioned somewhere, but I haven’t found any posts explicitly talking about this specific analogy in Skam Italia: the “Princess and the frog”/”Frog Prince” metaphor.

The fairytale tells of a princess who loses a golden ball in a pond. A talking frog helps her and retrieves the ball, but asks the princess to help lift a curse a witch put on him. To lift the curse, the princess has to kiss the frog. At first the princess refuses, then she concedes and kisses the frog, who then turns into a beautiful prince. The princess marries the prince and they live happily ever after.*

The parallels to Skam Italia are pretty easy to draw, except that instead of there being one shapeshifting character, there’s two: both Emma and Niccolò are the Frog Prince, with Emma being the “frog” part and Niccolò being the “prince” part of the character, althought the line between them is not always clean cut.

It all starts at Federica’s party. Martino tells Emma she looks like a frog. From then on the boys often call her “the frog” among themselves (I’m not gonna go on about how that’s offensive and sexist and a symptom of toxic masculinity today cause it’s not relevant to my point, but you bet your ass I have a separate post I’ll make about that). Martino even saves her contact under “Frog” on his phone at first, before changing it to her name.

Then Martino kisses “the frog” (actually Giovanni “makes” Emma kiss Martino). And just like in the fairytale, after the kiss, Niccolò materializes into Martino’s life basically out of thin air (I mean, it takes three days but it still counts), a real life prince charming (charming, such a fitting word for Niccolò, I feel, because he works very hard to be charming when he’s with people he wants to befriend, specifically Marti, cause he wants this boy to like him so much, but also i contrabbandieri for example). 

And again, when Martino kisses Emma for the second time on the couch at Silvia’s party, Niccolò is immediately by his side (I know that Niccolò was already at the party, his arrival was the very thing that prompted Marti to kiss Emma, but we see him on the other side of the room one minute, the next he’s at Marti’s side, interrupting the kiss. Woosh. Like magic).

Then Martino kisses Emma during Self Control and again, all of a sudden, for Marti there’s Niccolò and Niccolò only, the other people in the room, Eva, Maddalena, Emma-the-frog, they all magically disappear from his perception. And then we have the almost kiss in the alley among the trash cans. And then finally Martino gets to have his prince Niccolò for real on Halloween night. The “frog” disappears (kind of, for the most part, at least for a while) and (after much angst and many terrible things) Martino and Niccolò live happily ever after.

In the meantime, a couple of other things happen that are similar to the fairy tale, but where Niccolò plays the role of the “frog” more than of the “prince”: mainly, Martino “losing” the weed (the “golden ball”) at Federica’s party, asking Niccolò for help and Nico offering to give him some of his own; and Martino, after seeing Niccolò kiss Maddalena in 2.5 Tabasco, “retracting” from him (hey, clip 3.4 Argentina!), then “conceding” at Silvia’s party. 

On the other hand, Niccolò is very  “princely”, for example when he “rescues” Martino from the boring radio meeting, when he offers to help Martino with the weed, when he drives the bike to the pool (imagine if that was a horse or even a giraffe). Then there’s the whole doing romantic stuff thing, the clandestine meeting in the bathroom, the love notes, the impromptu trip to Milan even, running to Bracciano to be reunited with his beloved: that’s all very “fairytale prince charming” to me, a mix of Arthurian, Shakespearean and Romantic tropes.

There’s something else: the curse could also represent a metaphor for Niccolò’s BPD (comparing illnesses to curses is nothing new, think of  JKR, Remus Lupin, lycanthrophy and AIDS).  The princess/Martino doesn’t know about the curse/the MI until a big “change” happens in the Frog Prince (the shapeshifting/the episode in Milan). It “repels” the princess/Martino at first (I don’t mean that Martino is disgusted by Nico’s MI, just that it physically and emotionally pushes them apart, it creates a rift between them), but then they come to accept it and to “love” it as part of their Frog Prince. The princess’s kiss/love, affection and closeness “improve” the Frog Prince’s situation (I’m not trying to imply that being in a relationship with Marti miraculously cures Nico, just that they’re good for each other and in love, so they’re happy together). (Sorry about the overabundance of quotation marks and parenthesis, I struggled a lot with my wording here; I tried my best to clarify any potentially unfortunate expressions that the metaphor might cause and I am so so so sorry if I still offended anyone, please tell me and I’ll correct the post immediately.)

Finally, apparently Carl Jung did an analysis of the fairy tale and according to him it represents a girl’s initiation to womanhood, the passage from the phase in which boys are disgusting to the phase in which boys become attractive and girls start wanting husbands. Which fits with Martino’s story as well.

Basically, Ludogato Bessevico leaves nothing to chance and Martino is the protagonist of the fairy tale, Emma is “the frog” that when kissed disappears and Niccolò is the prince charming who gets to marry the protagonist.

*This is the most common version of the story as far as I know, especially when it’s told to kids; the original version as written by the Grimm brothers is of course more gruesome: there’s no kiss, first of all, because the frog needs to be slammed against a wall in disgust to go back to being a prince; the frog asks the princess to live, eat and sleep with her instead of a kiss, but it is really ugly so the princess doesn’t want to hold up her end of the deal; the king (the princess’s father) forces her to fulfill the promise she made, so the princess has to deal with the frog shadowing her, eating from her plate and sleeping on her pillow for three days and nights before she gets the prince and there’s a bit at the end about another guy that no-one really cares about. This version has a few interesting points of potential connection to Skam Italia too: the same action being repeated three times before the prince appears just like Martino kisses Emma three times before getting his prince, the fact that the frog spends time with the princess and eats with her (hi clip 1.5 Radio Osvaldo! hi clip 2.5 Tabasco!) and of course the sleeping in the same bed (hi clip 5.1 Nel mio letto!); finally, it could be argued that in some ways there’s a parallel between the king forcing his daughter to hold up her promise and Giovanni “making” Emma kiss Martino, though the situation is reversed and the reasoning is pretty contorted. I haven’t seen Disney’s “the Princess and the Frog”, shame on me, but I read on Wikipedia they changed the story quite a bit as well, so I have no idea if there’s stuff that might have been taken from that as well.

[mentalcurls]

On the boysquad as Marauders

Ok, but in the last few days I’ve seen  the first posts comparing i Contrabbandieri di Luchino to the Marauders and I get that it’s basically tradition to compare four element group friends to the Marauders, I get that it’s all fun and games and fandom stuff, but still, I’m like W H A T.

First of all, how dare y’all compare Luca Luchino Colosio to Peter Pettigrew??? No way guys, I’m terribly offended on his behalf. I mean, sure, come argue with me that in the group he’s the most awkward, the least successful with girls, the least good looking and those things are alla characteristics he shares with Hogwarts!Peter. He’s the butt of a lot of jokes, he’s the newest entry of the group, the one the guys welcomed later, he’s in a different class, but you cannot come here and tell me he’s got it in himself to turn on his friends ever in his life. He’d never be so jealous of them or feel so excluded that he’d go the bullies, whoever they might be in this instance, and let them sweep him up in their ideas or let them threaten him without going to his friends for help.

If I had to compare Luca to any Harry Potter character, it’d be Neville, 100%. He’s awkward and goofy now, but he’s got great lessons about friendship to teach and he’ll grow into himself and behead Nagini and pull a Matthew Lewis.

On top of this, I just can’t see the whole comparison between the two groups holding up well.

Martino and Giovanni are clearly the same kind of ride or die, blood pact friends at first sight James and Sirius are. But which of them is one and which is the other?

Marti has a difficult family situation, like Sirius, but he’s not as reckless as Sirius; besides, Sirius would have never done to Lily what Martino did to Eva. On the other hand, Martino is not James either, he’d never be the Quidditch champion with all the girls swooning over him, he’s alternative in his own words. I also expect that, this year at least, Marti’s grades wouldn’t be great, while Sirius and James both were top of their class. Above all, Martino doesn’t come across to me as the type to ever be able to try and charm McGonagall and mostly succeed, like we know Sirius and James do.

Giovanni is more athletic and definitely is popular with the ladies, like James. But he’s not the only child his parents dote on, he’s got some problems with his dad and he’d rather sleep at Martino’s than go home late. James brought home his best friend to live with him, probably in the middle of the night, and his parents didn’t bat an eyelash and welcomed Sirius as family. Can you spot the difference? On the other hand, Gio likes to have fun as much as Sirius does, he smoked seven joints in a row that one time Eva reminds him about when they fight in S1 and he’s the one who suggests they go to a party in ep. 5. I can’t see him bullying a Severus type of person, though, I think he’d be more the type to ignore the people he doesn’t like. He’s a “pals before gals” kind of guy, the same way I picture Sirius, but he’s also a great partner like James. Finally, Gio also has really high marks in school, but that means he could be either James or Sirius, who both excelled in academic.

When I think of sad, blue Martino who risks emargination because of his sexuality I’m 100% thinking of Remus, who hides his lycanthropy from his friends, who faces discrimination, who who is amazed by his friends acceptance when he finally tells them. Plus the whole werewolf/AIDS victim/LGBT person link JKR firmly denies, but fits perfectly nonetheless.

And when I think about mom friend Giovanni, who covers for Marti even when he doesn’t know why and isn’t forewarned, who tries to diffuse fights, who always makes sure to include everybody, I think of Remus.

But again, evidence is inconclusive here too. They can’t both be Remus.

And then we have Elia, extroverted, fun-loving, sporty, not very lucky with girls (especially Argentina) despite being a handsome guy. He’s loud, hotheaded, he lashes out and is quick with his fists. Elia who doesn’t really read between the lines, who recognizes the lies Martino tells but gets fed up with him, he doesn’t have the same patience Gio has. Elia who gets the weed for all of his friends, then runs first from the police when they get stopped because he doesn’t do well with authority. He’s also got a difficult family situation, since his parents split up. He often bands with Luca in opposition to the platonic soulmates Martino and Giovanni, but he’s also the one who makes the most jokes to Luchino’s expense.

What does that make him? The troublemaking Sirius friend, who provokes mischief and fights? Or the James friend, generous, only one girl truly in his head, half of the power couple? (Except that we just said he’s definitely not half of the power couple, so should he be the Remus of the group?)

Feel free to come talk to me about this, I’m happy to discuss all of this EXCEPT for the Luchino-Peter thing because I’ll never accept it.