#spoiler: they’re in fact the epitome of ASSHOLE <3

[gizkasparadise]

kdrama rec: welcome to waikiki

master kdrama reclist Series: welcome to waikiki, laughter in waikiki, eulachacha waikiki, go go waikiki (there are like a thousand variants on the name) Episodes: 20 Genres: comedy, romance, slice-of-life, being a tired millennial, found family, friendship  Spoilers in the Review: for basic premise and otherwise marked Rank: 10/10!!! If You Like, You’ll Like: the Chaotic Good to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Chaotic Evil, it’s been compared to New Girl though i havent seen that show, age of youth/hello my twenties!, Friends but better like way better, my first first love but funnier, Concentrated Himbo Energy

“Gwaenchana, gwaenchana!”

PREMISE

the show opens and you’re like “ugh fuck is this going to be like The Hangover?” and, thankfully, the answer to that is no. 

dong gu, joon ki, and doo shik are long-time best friends who run a guest house/hostel called Waikiki. in addition to the guest house, they have dreams of making it in the film industry: dong gu as a director, joon ki as an actor, and doo shik as a writer. they’re barely getting by when one morning they wake up and there’s a baby hiding in a bunk bed.

the show’s a lot better than what im selling, but it follows these three, yoon nah, seo jin, and soo ah as they go through nonsense, love, and more nonsense

MAIN CHARACTERS

kang dong gu

my favorite character in the drama. a dude who never has anything go right for him, dong gu comes across as a grumpy tall boi and that’s because he is. the beginning of the drama sees him freshly dumped by his girlfriend of four years, soo ah. an aspiring director, he wants to make Filmes but in the meantime makes videos for baby birthday parties.

petty. p e t t y. p e t t y. p   e   t   t   y. i love him so much, like so so much. barfs on the first date, has a weakness for cute things, does not make flashy love confessions. single-minded with spite

lee joon ki

an aspiring actor, joon ki only gets extra/background roles without any lines. the most concentrated himbo energy in one person. in fact, probably accounts for at least 17% of all himbo energy in south korea. 

crazy positive. like all the time. will romantically shave your face and dress up as a pink octopus--not necessarily in that order. makes a situation go from 0 to 10 to 100. fakes his own death then blows his cover because he wants a hug really bad

bong doo shik

rounding out Those Three Guys, doo shik is an aspiring writer who also works a lot of part-time jobs. as he works on his Masterpiece, Bruce Lee Is the President, he gets roped into writing for the erotic film industry.

only owns sweat/tracksuits. has never had a girlfriend. sings sad songs with a hamster voice. smelly feet are a Trigger. stay at least 100 yards away

han yoon nah

the single mother to baby sol who stumbles into becoming a long-term resident of the guest house. clueless but well-meaning, she ends up working for waikiki and tries to pursue her dream of becoming a rapper. is quickly discouraged from this dream and tries to pursue Her Other Dream of becoming a professional baker.

tragic backstory so long the show had to finish it off-screen. sick beats. terrible present giver. so cute people almost die from it (people is dong gu)

kang seo jin / “chewbacca”

dong gu’s little sister and resident of waikiki. at the beginning of the drama, she’s graduated from college and is in the process of finding a job as a reporter. has the unfortunate nickname of “chewbacca” due to growing facial hair at an alarming rate (she has to shave 2x a day)

will slap you with a hunk of meat. will slap you with a car. will slap your body ever so far.

min soo ah

dong gu’s ex-girlfriend who ends up moving to the waikiki guest house for Reasons. formerly a model, soo ah tries her hand at fashion designing (results? mixed) and roping doo shik into creating an online shopping mall

makes babies cry. has clear political perspectives on THAAD. confesses feelings during an endoscopy. legend tbh

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

baby sol

the best actor on the show. the baby to end all babies. the epitome of babies. will watch the baby shark song over and over again. seems to know that her uncles and dad are complete buffoons.

son hyun joon

hot pastry daddy. 

rebecca

this car will kill us all.

REVIEW

drawbacks

the screenwriter seems to have a Weird Thing about girls farting. it only happens like 4 times throughout 20ish hours but it’s still really...something

i dont understand any other criticism of this show and i wont respond to it

reasons to watch

i fucking cackled from beginning to end on this one. like. gross, ugly, loud laughs that woke up my spouse at 3am. it’s legit the funniest kdrama i’ve seen 

the. ships. they’re all so amazing. there’s three main ones and they’re very distinct and heartwarming in different (and, in one case, very strange) ways. we got tall and small, grumpy and happy, friends to lovers, found family, sensual face shaving-

HERE’S MY FAVORITE: so the show sets up all these kdrama scenarios that im so tired of and then subverts or sidesteps them. for example:

The Ex-Girlfriend Moving In........has the male lead constantly yelling that he doesn’t like her anymore while low-key checking for the new love interest’s reactions to make sure she doesn’t believe he likes her. the ex-girlfriend also has zero interest in the male lead and gets along great with the New Love Interest

Oh My God She’s A Single Mother.....so don’t be an asshole to her (TAKE NOTES CAMELLIA)

spoiler A Friend Wants To Date A Friend’s Ex-Girlfriend..........literally no one cares. it is, in fact, not even brought up that the ex-girlfriend is an ex-girlfriend

spoiler the Rich Stable Man in the love triangle plans to confess his feelings....and tells the female lead to go after the guy she actually likes. he also helps the other side of the love triangle win a camera because his broke and he can’t afford a new one

spoiler The Baby’s Father Shows Up Wanting A Second Chance......and is told to leave 3 times then does. he doesn’t even get a name tag

it does play some relatively straight (ex: brother finding out about his sister and best friend dating and Not Taking It Well), but they’re done in an entertaining way and the melodrama throughout the story is really light/over quickly

so yeah. watch it

[blossom765]

I Don’t really like My Hero Acadamia

I can already hear the angry screaming. Let me just put this out there. I’m not attacking anyone who likes the show. I’m just stating my opinion because well that’s one of the functions of social media. Notice how i said i don’t like my hero acadmia. I’m not saying you shouldn’t like it, i’m just saying why i don’t like it. With that said, if you like the show and don’t want to get angry feel free to move along but, if you’re like me and don’t like the show feel free to stay. Now I've only seen season 1 and 2 and a little of 3. I’m not going to see the rest on the slight chance that i might like it. So with all that out of the way, let’s get into why i hate my hero academia.

My hero academia follows the story of Deku who became the world's greatest hero ( kind of a spoiler since he says that literally at the start of each episode). He was one of the minority who didn't have a quirk (superpower) in a world where most of the population has a power (useful or not). He's given a power by his hero All Might due mostly to luck (and a little to the creator either being to lazy or cowardly to think of something a little more interesting). Being a hero is also an occupation. And the show goes on to introduce it's characters and follows how they learn to be heroes in school UA and fight bad guys.Now, let's get into why My hero academia is a boring generic show that is been for some reason over hyped 

---Opening

I don't know why but, many people think that spoiling the show's ending of Deku becoming the world's greatest hero is somehow an interesting way to start a series. It might be different but that doesn't mean it's good. I'm sure the audience will obviously assume that the heroes will win but, spoiling the ending is not how you're going to make the viewer feel engaged. Let's take avatar the last airbender for example ( I don't usually like to compare shows but I just want to show how one show did showing their protagonist's destiny correctly and how the other didn't. In atla, Katara tells us about Aang and how he's the avatar and, the main thing, how she believes he can save the world even though he has a lot to learn. This tells us that he has flaws, how he has to work hard and the main thing how they believe he can win. They don't tell you the story of how he saved the world. You follow him on his journey to do it. A biography show often fails because you don't get the same vibe as being in the journey, interacting with the world, and being with the characters and seeing them as more like actual people instead of characters. You sacrifice that when you take the route of a story that just tells someone autobiography. By doing that, the viewer just feels like their just watching a story instead of engaging in it. A story's main function is to put the audience into a different world instead of showing a world. There's a difference. A good story can either force to engage in the story or it can fall flat on it's face and my hero academia has leaned towards the latter.WORLD-- So, the majority of the global population has quirks (which is probably just a way to make the something sound different without taking too much of a risk) and has shown, only through Deku though, that the minority, people who don't have powers are looked down upon. Most heroes are greedy and don't actually care much about saving lives and are just there for Fame and money. I don't have much to say about this other than predictable and lazy. It feels like the creator didn't spend longer than a few minutes creating this world. This is what I mean by generic. It's like the creator went people like superheros and magic and high school stories so I'll combine those. These might have been good ideas if the creator had brainstormed a little longer but he didn't so what we end up with is the epitome of generic.Speaking of ideas that could have been useful.

Being quirkless--

Deku is introduced as an underdog. He's bullied and treated like dirt because he has no powers but, if you thought he was going to be an inspiration to people who are born at a disadvantage in life you get to feel a slap of disappointment. He's ambushed by some glob villain and is rescued by his idol All Might which leads to him inheriting All Might's power. This effectively destroys a narrative that could have been different and inspiring. Instead of being a bad ass hero who has claimed the ladder and even surpassed people who were were already lucky with a quirk maybe a version of batman ( this show is already just a copy of shows and tropes so why couldn't they have actually copied something to make the show interesting) we are stuck with a protagonist who's success could only start if he's like everyone else. What makes this that much more stupid is that Deku is sub textually a disabled person. Someone who's at a disadvantage in life and born different from others and is bullied because of this difference. People with disabilities irl relate to this as they have had to go through life differently than people who weren't disabled. And it's not like no disabled character in a show has succeeded before. Take Toph for example. She's blind but is still talented and a respected bender also using her disability to her advantage by using seismic sense. Instead of doing something something that smart and creative, the creator decided to just make Deku not disabled, as if that's something possible for millions of people. It's not just disability, he can also be seen at a disadvantage because of his race. Obviously being quirkless isn't seen as a race but take the U.S. when African Americans were still seen as second class citizens. They were treated horribly for being black and people in power either treated them like that or they looked the other way when that happened ( Deku is bullied and treated like dirt because he was born quirkless and none of his idiot teachers seem to give a damn about his whole class bullying him). African Americans were always at a disadvantage, from living in poverty to segregation (Deku was at a complete disadvantage especially in the hero industry and wasn't even treated like a human being). So could African Americans suddenly change their race to White to get better lives? No. They had to protest and fight back against injustice to improve their lives. Deku doesn't get something this close to fighting against injustice and as someone who's aiming to be a hero, that's not a good sign. So, the only way that you can succeed is by changing your biology. Great my hero academia, great job.

All Might--

 yeah yeah he's the greatest hero in the world and his powers are just boiled down to really strong punches. He's introduced as a symbol of hope, peace, and justice probably because heroes and authority figures were incompetent before and after he showed. But, he's got a secret, he used to be quirkless but then he got a quick and he's actually got a very shrimpy body and he thinks if that gets out then people will lose faith in him being the thing that solves their problems. But that doesn’t even make any sense.. Like I guess it's a problem that his powers are depleting but did nobody think that this guy just can't go on forever? Are the heroes that unreliable to them? I just don't get it.

Hero industry--

Nearly all the heroes are greedy assholes who don't understand how important their job is. They are obsessed with fame and fortune and this gets to the point where todoroki's father abuses his wife and children because he's obsessed with one of them surpassing All Might. Like I get that some of them are assholes but the majority? Seriously? That few people put their lives at risk just to save other lives. They even put their loved ones at risk by not masking their identities like All Might’s master who had to send her son away because being with her was too dangerous. This might have been a point where more heroes should have realized the magnitude of their job the dangers they the people they know in and maybe secret identities are useful because they keep the people they care about out of harm's way. I find it very unlikely that all might master was the only one who had this problem but, since the Creator is the lazy kind of creator, no hero in the world goes through this problem and the majority of heroes are insufferable assholes.

Characters--

Deku- I haven't mentioned what a bland character he is. I'm all for perseverance and kindness but those aren't the only things that make a character. It's also their personality. Deku is just a good goody, no nuance, just that. You might be thinking that a nuance might come out of no where except it's actually weird that he isn't more of a grey area. He was bullied since he was young and given no hope of success. And the people who bullied him were all people who had quirks. That past should have an impact on him. A good example of a relatable and believable protagonist is Judy from Zootopia. Deku and her have lot in common. They're both hard working and perseverant and they reached their dreams despite their obstacles ( except Judy actually had to work through the obstacles instead of somehow changing the fact that she's a rabbit). But, one of the biggest differences is that Judy's incident with Gidean the fox wasn't forgotten or treated as a joke. She carried that into her adult life and when she met Nick she was suspicious but she worked through that. Deku is not given a journey that important. His past of being horribly bullied is written as a joke and doesn't have as serious of an impact as it should have. All we get is a protagonist that is only capable of doing good for everyone and that is just boring and unrealistic.

Bakugou- Now the biggest thing I don't understand is why we're rooting for the guy? Why is he working as a hero? Why is he not an antogonist? Even a secondary antagonist? Even as a child Bakugou was already an asshole that should have been arrested. He beats up another kid and Deku and it looked like he used more than punches: fucking explosions. Now they probably weren't that big but, they're still explosions and extremely dangerous and likely left severe marks and burns on the kids and nobody has arrested this crazy child yet. Going into middle school now. He's still a scum bag who is so egocentric, so crazy that he threatens Deku if he signs up for UA. He literally uses his explosion power right on his desk inches near Deku (and his idiot teacher does nothing) and threatens to blow his arm off when he puts his hand on his shoulder while it’s smoking. And tells him to jump off the roof and hope he gets born with a quirk in his next life and that is treated as a gag. I wish I was joking but apparently bullying is just that funny. You might think that it's just Deku trying to use humor to deal with this but show treats this like a joke too. With that suicide remark ending with a joke to Deku actually still friends with this asshole. I don't care if they're childhood friends he is fucking nuts and Deku has no reason to want to stay friends with him because all he has done is make his life miserable. I’ve been picked on before and it hurt so i can promise you that Bakugou not being made to suffer severe consequences and Deku wanting to be friends with him is just ridiculous unless Deku has a case of Stockholm Syndrome. Maybe actually treat him as what he is: a bully. Have him go through consequences or have Deku prove him wrong that he can become a hero even if he’s quirkless, like Judy did with Gidean. I forgave Gidean because Judy proved him wrong and he also grew up and knew that what he did was wrong but, we don’t get anything that smart or realistic, we get a bully who supposed to be treated as a good guy by the narrative. And this guy is going to be a hero. Yeah, Bakugou. The guy that wanted to beat the shit out of two kids when he was a kid, that told his childhood friend to go kill himself, that brutally attacked Deku in the first exercise that all might planned for them not because he was playing the role of villain but because he has a gigantic ego and he was angry. Who in God's name would ever trust the job of protecting life to him? He's not even doing it to protect people. He's just the younger version of todoroki's dad who just wants fame. He's an asshole. And when an asshole like him isn't made to suffer through the consequences, your whole pack of characters fail because they're just that: characters. You failed in the task of making them feel like people.

Uraraka-- The hetero normative love interest. Now i’m not saying this as a shipper or anything. I don’t ship anyone in this show. I’m saying this as a viewer who is just so bored of the cute nice girl x nice guy protagonist trope. Only reason Deku has a crush on her is because she’s cute and she’s the only girl that didn’t treat him like dirt and the only reason Uraraka likes him is because he nice and... inspiring, i guess. She’s teased that she likes him by Aoyama because apparently a boy and girl can’t just be good friends that admire (not romantic) each other as impressive people, they have to be in love. This causes her to get extremely flustered because i guess she’s never been teased like that but, whatever and goes on to future episodes with her being nervous around Deku. Soooooo, another cliché. I can’t realy say much about this because i don’t really expect much from shonen (and even shoujo) anime in terms of romance. So let’s move on to why she wants to be a hero. She wants it for the money to help her parents out with expenses. Sure she seems grounded and realistic and all that except there’s one massive flaw in that. When you work a job, especially a dangerous job, that you don’t enjoy it starts to drain the life out of you. Are heroes really the only occupation that are allowed to use powers. Like 80% of the GLOBAL population has quirks and you’re telling me they haven’t properly integrated quriks into the world. Take atla for example. In avatar, bending was a way of life, it made the world move and there were just as benders as there were non-benders. And you expect me to believe that with 80% of the population having a quirk, nobody decided that they might be useful, maybe help the economy. Anything,use your imagination. You might say that more jobs using quirks would put quirkless people at a disadvantage but, the thing is that they are already treated like dirt. And that could have lead to a whole new story, with a quirkless people demanding better treatment ( sorta like legend of korra with non-benders being oppressed by benders) maybe even taking inspiration from Deku who should have been the first hero without a quirk. Uraraka’s character is just a whole minefield. That’s all i can say.

Todoroki-- He’s the cliché cold cool guy. But, that cliché actually has some grounds. He and his mother ware abused by his father so, it makes sense that he’s like that. But, instead of maybe working towards something that makes more sense like i don’t know working in family services, fighting for laws to make heroes face consequences for their crimes, anything that would fir his character. He’s an abuse victim but, he working to become a hero and also working under his father as a sort of intern. Yeah... wait what? He wants to become his father’s occupation, which i’m not that mad at because he still has dreams, i guess, but he’s working with his abusive father and the childhood abuse is to be forgotten. He could have one of my favorites if they had taken his past remotely seriously and not just assumed that it’s okay to forget about abuse,work with the abuser, as long as the abuse victim is still a little angry. Like seriously creator, that is all kinds of fucked up. On a side note about Todoroki’s mom, who exactly sold her to todoroki’s dad. She calls her mom to tell her what she’s going through but, how would that make sense if her parents agreed to sell her. Did only relatives have a say in this and the parents consent doesn’t fucking matter? Like how does that make sense?

Mineta-- He’s a pervert who wants to be a hero to be popular with girls. All i can say is..WHY IS THIS PIG A GOOD GUY? If anything he’s just going to be a rapist not a hero. His sexual harassment is right up your face and you’re supposed to root for this guy. I’ve never liked fanservice because it’s insulting to so many different people on so many different levels (women are sex objects, gay people are bait, men are all disgusting and no body will care) but there comes a time when it gets ridiculous and wondering “where are the police?” and “where are the laws against rape and sexual harassment?”.For God’s sake, he tried to peep in the girls’ bath in front of everyone, nobody doing much to stop him, and the teacher suspected this, and what does he do?, he posts a kid as guard instead of expelling the pig. When your teacher, who’s also a hero, does not get obviously sexually harassing pig, you should already be asking yourself a lot of questions.

Asui-- She’s apparently a cinnamon role.You can sum up her character to that. I’m sorry but, i don’t understand everyone’s obsession with her. Sure, she’s cute and all that and she got some screen time in the internship episode but, being a cinnamon role is just that. It’s not important enough. If she had some more qualities, maybe a backstory, and if we know more about her resolve and dreams, maybe why she wants to be a hero then i guess her cuteness might have been icing on the cake but, it just falls flat because there’s just not much to talk about.

The rest of the characters are just pretty boring and i can’t really find much to say about them but i think you get my point on how i feel about them.

Narrative---

I’ve already said that the story follows how these kids become heroes. And now i’m going to say how boring that is. The story can be summed up to learning their future occupation and fighting some bad guys. I have no problem with the narrative itself, it’s just maybe they should have put more story into it other than learning how to become heroes. How about we see more stories about the characters, anything that doesn’t have to do studying to be a hero. Take atla for example. We know aang is working to learn the elements and defeat the fire lord but, how that differs from my hero is that the story often deviates from the plot allowing even more stories in, stories that some people will enjoy and other stories that other people will enjoy. We know the world is at war and we know aang is the avatar and what he’s working towards but, the show doesn’t dwell on that too much. It’s the right mix of new stories and interesting ideas while also having the main goal in mind. It might not be a good idea to compare my hero to atla but, i just want to show how one show showed it’s goal correctly and a how one didn’t. My hero falls towards the latter. The show can be summed up to studying to be a hero which doesn’t open the opportunities for more people to enjoy different stories.

I’m going to end with this. This show does not have anything to differentiate it from other superhero shows or give it depth. There a fuck ton of superhero shows out there and Tiger and Bunny was one of them that was different and did well. It gave it’s characters depth, put more stories in that weren’t summed up to just fighting bad guys, and it did something different by putting ads on heroes. My hero academia isn’t different. It’s genericand does nothing to sepereate itself from other shows. All I can say is that it’s cliché after cliché after  cliché..

  The End-

[bgwalthermart]

Skam — the Norwegian Drama that made be even more open-minded.

Skam — the Norwegian Drama that made be even more open-minded.

“Islam says what it always say. That all the people in this world are equal and that no person should be talked about behind their back, violated, judged or ridiculed. So if you hear anybody use religion to legitimise their hate, then don’t listen to them. Because hate does not come from religion, it comes from fear.” — Sana Bakkoush to Isak Valtersen

This. This drama is simply one of a kind. And I absolutely loved it. All 4 seasons. And every one of its’ episode. This drama was filmed in Norway and was only well-knowed in the Nordic countries until season 3, where it exploded into the international stage. For such a drama intended to young viewers, it has very deep contents which revolves around: identity, feminism, rape, belonging, self-confidence, homosexuality, mental illness, the Islamic religion, cyber-bullying, and forbidden love — all in 4 seasons of approximately 10–11 episodes each. As a teenager myself, I can relate so much to the main characters in all of the seasons. Literally.

Disclaimer: Possible spoilers ahead!

The 1st season revolves around Eva. And I have to admit that I didn’t really like her character. She was way too indecisive, controlling, insecure, and lonely. Additionally, she was a bit more slutty (yes) in the future seasons, which made me dislike her quite a bit. But, I realized. That…that I carry all of those qualities, too (except for the slutty part, no). She was easily the one I empathized with the most out of all the main characters. Eva was the epitome of a teenager. Her parents are usually not there with her, and when they are, there usually are events that causes misunderstandings between her and them. Her friends, well her old friends weren’t there anymore. She chosed her loved guy over her friends, which her friends dumped her for because they also liked him. They weren’t understanding to her. But the guy chose her, not them. She was then alone, then and there.

Fortunately for her, she found friends soon enough. Real friends. Friends that helped her know who she really is. Friends that helped her during her times of trouble. And friends, that she, too, will help in the future. In her season, I saw many events that were caused by two reasons.

Lack of communication. Lack of trust.

I learned that communication is vital. Whether it be to your friends, families, or your partner. You shouldn’t hide something. You should always ask when you doubt something. And most of all, you should trust your loved ones. And ask your loved ones to trust you, too. Trust is vital. And the world would be damned, if people would have absolutely no trust to other people.

“What is this bullshit about ‘what kind of person’ I am? Maybe I’m someone who gives up?! I don’t know! Why would I know what kind of person I am? Everyone is like, “What kind of person are you? You need to know who you are!” What a fucking cliche!”

Season 2 comes with the feminist, social justice warrior, individualist, and progressive: Noora. She is by far, my most favorite character in the series. As a feminist, individualist, and fellow progressive, I view her as my political sister. She also has the best quotes (on par with Sana, in my opinion) in the series. And the burns, oh dear. Just look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfnMnkRk9Ek

Don’t mess with Noora. Ever. But that’s just a façade. Only in the outside is she really cold. In the inside, she is very soft, insecure, brash, lonely, and irrational. Much like Eva, except she doesn’t show it. This becomes self-evident once she starts crushing on William. Eventually she accepts his love. And they turn out to be right for each other. But not without problems. This series has arguably the heaviest crime out of all the other series. Rape. Or rather, the thought of having been sexually violated. Even worse, the thought of having been sexually violated by her lover’s brother.

The most impressive thing about it is how she handled it. And how she trusted her friends to tell it to them, and how they helped her overcome it. In the end she wasn’t really sexually assaulted. And she also absolutely destroyed William’s brother. AND IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE ENCOUNTER YET, YOU WOULD SO LOVE THE REACTION ON HIS FACE. Totally.

“People experience horrible things everyday, and they still manage to be nice to others. Being an asshole is not something you’re born with, or something you become. It’s a choice.” — Noora to William

“Girls who call other girls slut have 90% more chance to get Chlamydia.” — Noora to Emma

“It’s interesting that you who describe yourself as a feminist, is calling others ‘slutty’. Chris doesn’t have that reputation because guys don’t go around calling other guys ‘sluts’. So if you think it’s unfair, you have to stop calling girls ‘sluts’.” — Noora to Vilde

“I don’t even know your name.” — Noora

“Call me what you want.” — William

“Yeah, but then…Then I choose to call you ‘asshole’.” — Noora to William

She also supported Sana in season 4 with Yousef a.k.a second best couple (next one is the best couple, for me anyways) and was literally fangirling over them. She’s definitely ‘best-girl’ — on par with Sana!

The 3rd season. I absolutely adored it. Isak and Even are definitely the best couple in the series. Their chemistry is off the charts. I absolutely loved every bit of them. As what what had made Skam famous, Isak is a homosexual. And Isak and Even are a homosexual couple. The story pretty much revolves around Isak’s coming out problems, Isak and Even’s relationship, and Even’s mental illness. I then started thinking. Isn’t Norway one of the most progressive countries when it comes to homosexuals? If so, then why is Isak having problems to come out? Well it seems that that stereotype doesn’t apply to every family living in progressive countries. You could have an accepting family and live in the Philippines (a country where homosexuality is merely tolerated, not so much accepted). And, you could live in Norway (a pioneer country in homosexual rights) and have a not-so-accepting family. And that’s exactly what happened to Isak.

Isak has a die-hard Christian-Catholic mother who sends him bible passages everyday via SMS about how homosexuality is a sin and how they will burn in hell. His father is more accepting, but he isn’t that much close to him either, because of the fact that his father seperated with his mother and thus caused the whole family to collapse. And as such, he has problems coming out to his friends and his school, too. Because of his problems with his family, he thinks that people would distance themselves from him once he comes out, so he stays in the closet and pretends to be straight by hooking up with women.

But that was not the case.

It was merely in his head; the fear of being rejected. I even laughed at the reaction of Jonas when Isak confessed to him that he was gay. He merely shrugged it off like it was normal. Well, it’s Norway after all, nothing unusual.

Now to the next topic. I won’t beat around the bush. Isak and Even ARE SO SWEET TOGETHER. They care for each other, they understand each other, they’re good for each other, and most of all, they love each other. And as the series progresses, they will find out more about each other — more about what they don’t want each other to find out — Isak having family problems and the fact that he hadn’t come out in school, yet; as well as the fact that he’s slowly becoming jealous of Even’s ex-girlfriend, and the fact that Even is bipolar.

But love… — this show thought me that if there’s one thing that could bypass anything — it’s love.

Isak and Even — Minute by minute…

Last, but not the least…

Obviously. The popular muslim girl living in a 90% non-religious country. She is easily the best girl in the series. Tough, and doesn’t take without giving back. Like Noora, she’s tough only on the outside, but actually quite soft in the inside. When it comes to friends, family, or loved ones. I absolutely sympathized with her, too. Being a muslim is Norway is not tough. Like in many european countries, there’s a lot of prejudice on being a muslim, especially a muslim woman since they’re more visible because of the fact that most of them wear the Hijab and some of them wear the Niqab. Most western europeans see ‘that’ as them being forced to wear it, rather than a choice (the Niqab and Burqa are debatable, though).

“Tough.”

But soft. At the same time.

What I absolutely liked about her are three things:

1.) Dedicated and serious about her religion, but not to the point of extremism. She doesn’t take every word of the Qu‘ran literally (such as homosexuality), but instead takes the values in it. She also doesn’t let her religion affect her social life as she has many Norwegian friends — most of whom have a religion (and tastes — such as drinking alcohol and hooking up) vastly antithesis from hers.

2.) A real friend. And a friend that doesn’t judge. And a friend ready to defend you. She’s all three of that. She’s one of the best of friends you could have.

3.) She isn’t perfect. And that’s what makes me relate to her. The Sana that always burns those who offend her or her friends; the Sana that has perfect grades and want to be a medical doctor in the future; the Sana that has all the wise teachings and quotes for her friends — that’s just all a piece of her. But as we progress in the series, we can see a different Sana — an insecure one, a confused, tired, and heartbroken one.

“War doesn’t start with violence. It starts with misunderstandings and prejudice.” — Sana to Noora

And of course a season can’t be finished without love. I found Yousef’s and Sana’s love story a bit rushed, and it was definitely a weak point in the series. But they were definitely still really sweet with each other.

Lessons:

I absolutely admired how the five friends managed to still be friends by the end of the series. They managed to overcome tough times — but that’s what friends are for, are they not? They’re supposed to be there for you during tough times whether it involves them or not. And if there’s one thing this series absolutely thought me, it’s that friends matter. Real ones. A lot.

Least to say, the main characters weren’t the only one that provided lessons. The supporting characters were special, too.

With Eskild about pride and that it’s not only about celebrating the present, but also the past and the future.

Or William with his obsession with Noora because he knows she loves him. And in the end, dedication truly does get what you want.

I learned a lot.

Not only experiences and funny moments. But also virtues and values that I may apply in real life.

Thank you, Skam — for opening not only my mind, but also my heart.

End.

[addictsitter]

the last scene of the best damn thing when they finally stop being idiots and get their shit together x)

okay this is going under a cut for length, so

After practice is over, he showers and gets dressed, pulling the newly-purchased skirt on over his tights and adjusting it until he isn’t quite so self-conscious about the length. He’s wearing his lucky t-shirt and another of Vas’s plaid shirts, one that Vas always gripes about whenever Josh wears it, even though he grins at Josh with that same soft, fond look he had when he said Josh looked good in the uniform. Josh crosses his fingers and hopes that he gets that look again this time.

In hindsight, I wish I’d edited this more. Some of this is making me cringe. Aside from that, you know how I am about clothes sharing with best friends and this is no exception. Josh has stolen half of Vas’s plaid shirts and Vas has stolen a large portion of Josh’s t-shirts. And Josh is kind of oblivious because it’s Vas’s default look but whatever.

It takes more effort than Josh cares to admit to walk out to the parking lot towards his truck, where he knows Vas is waiting. He’s right, and Vas grins at him when he walks over, the same grin Josh was hoping for. He tosses his backpack in the bed on autopilot and leans against the side of the truck with his arms crossed, trying to figure out how to say something without sounding as stupid as he feels.

Like I said, default look. Also Josh is bad at feelings, who’s surprised.

“I know you hate some of the dumb movie clichés,” Vas says, beating him to the punch for once. “I know this. You bitch every time we watch The Breakfast Club, whenever I try to put on Drive Me Crazy, even Pretty In Pink.”

Oh god, of course Vas has a speech planned. His best friend is a dweeb.

This didn’t manage to get mentioned earlier in the fic, but Vas loves high school movies. Especially the romcoms. Once Josh joined the squad, Bring It On ends up added to the rotation.

“Do you have a point, Vas, or are you just reminding me that I have plenty of ammunition to mock you with if I feel like it?” Vas glares at him and Josh just grins in response. He knows where this is going, but he’s going to give Vas shit every step of the way. It’s just who he is.

Best friends are assholes to each other. But you know this already. :P

“I think half the reason you hate The Breakfast Club is because you’re actually Bender.” Josh opens his mouth to reply and Vas keeps glaring at him, so he shuts up. “I’ll skip to the fucking end, güero, happy?”

1: Josh is Bender. At least in attitude. 2: Vas is So Done With His Shit. 3: This was going to be a Princess Bride reference but I couldn’t make it fit.

“Ecstatic,” Josh says, grin widening when Vas looks like he’s trying to not be nervous. Josh’s grin seems to annoy Vas, though, because he glares again.

Again, assholes.

“You talk first then, cabrón, since you can’t seem to shut up,” Vas says and Josh won’t back down from a challenge like that, damn it.

It’s referenced throughout the fic, but Josh’s thing is challenges. He doesn’t like backing down. Vas has despaired over this for years and the time Josh ate the bad cafeteria tacos and got food poisoning is a prime example of why.

“Te amo, Vas,” he says. Vas looks a little stunned. Whether that’s because Josh said it in Spanish or because he said it at all, Josh doesn’t know. He shakes it off after a minute and says it back and Josh feels something loosen in his chest. He reaches out and wraps his fingers around the collar of Vas’s soccer jersey, pulling him close enough for Josh to lean in and kiss him.

Fucking finally.

Again, fucking finally. I had Josh say it in Spanish more for emphasis than anything. And Josh has had this gigantic knot of worry that Vas would reject him that has been sorted and untangled. So now they get to be gross and sappy.

This time, when Vas’s hand ends up under Josh’s skirt, there’s not a knock to interrupt him, though the commentary from the peanut gallery is fucking annoying. He has no idea how the fuck they found out, but he’d love it if they could go away.

The answer is Billy. When Josh texted Billy that he was an idiot, Billy realized and gathered the gang so they could all watch them get their shit together. He even brought popcorn just to be an asshole.

“In public? Really?” He’s going to stab Billy with a pencil one of these days.

Billy will stab him first, this is a fact. Billy is also my favorite part of this fic because he and Josh are the epitome of the vitriolic best buds trope. They will threaten violence and insult each other and all of that, but it’s all meant in good fun and they are, legitimately, friends under it all. Josh is grating, though, so sometimes Billy wants to kill him.

But Josh doesn’t back down from a challenge, so he slides one hand under Vas’s jersey and the other into Vas’s hair and pulls, like he did back in the locker room. Vas’s groan is almost drowned out by the one from everyone else.

Vas: [heartily approves of this]

Everyone else: [groans of disgust]

“You don’t want to see it, fuck off,” Josh yells when he pulls away from Vas long enough to glare at everyone else, who all roll their eyes at him. At least they walk away afterward and leave him to go back to kissing Vas.

It was a group eyeroll in perfect unison and it was a beautiful moment and Josh can’t appreciate it because he wants to make out with his boyfriend. They do, however, acquiesce and leave. Mostly because Josh would bitch at them until they do.

(He needs new friends.)

He doesn’t but they’re gonna vote him off the island one of these days if he keeps being a little shit like that.

Spoiler: They still put up with his bullshit. Mostly bc they do like Vas and don’t want to lose Vas too. So.

Related to this: I really should do some of the other fic I’ve been planning in this verse. whoops.