#the scenes were done beautifully with love and affection by the creators... and the actors fondly talk about the experience

[21tailsofwoe]

“cry for the moon: side H” musings

so i watched the hunter side of identity v stage episode 3 “cry for the moon” and i would like to let out my thoughts because there are so many of them and i do not know any better way of coping with my feelings.

spoilers for the stage play under the cut:

simply said, this production was leagues above episode 1, which i also hold very close to heart so you can imagine what episode 3 did to me. i’ve loved mary ever since i started playing the game almost a year ago, and to learn that there’d be an entire stage play dedicated to her. and not to mention that cecile daigo would play her role, i was already sold.

putting her character against eli, whose character (at least in the stage) is supposed to be this calm, supportive, empathetic person, i’d keep thinking how they’d pull it off, how’d they frame mary’s backstory, how everything would work out in the manor...i had so many questions. in the end, i came out so thoroughly satisfied by this stage. in fact, my friend and i cried multiple times watching this. it affected us THAT much.

story:

the story is a little straight-forward. mary is a queen who was executed by her own people. from my understanding, they didn’t allude to the revolution or anything, simply the fact that mary grew up in royalty and luxury, was taught to be high-headed, and self-centered, maintain that elite image. and in following this way of life, she ended up being extremely lonely, till everyone around her betrayed her and she was left to be executed. in the manor, now that she’s dead, she’s still very stubbornly insists that everyone treat her like royalty, that everyone else in the manor is beneath her, just so she could justify the pain from the loneliness and betrayal she felt. eli shows up, reaches out, the concept of ‘skins’ in the game is very cleverly used as a plot device, and the stage ends with mary learning about the Power Of Friendship(TM). she also learns to accept herself as a person, not as a ‘concept.’

i feel like the motives of the hunter main character seemed a lot more fleshed out. the connection to the survivor main character was established in due time, and all the pieces started fitting together as the story went on, something i found a little lacking in the first stage. like i said, it’s straight-forward and easy to digest, but still ends up tugging at your heartstrings.

characters:

mary’s characterisation was phenomenal. i’ve always been bitter about the fact that the game straight up copy pasted marie antoinnette onto her, but in the stage the creative liberties were put on full display. she’s her own character, with abundant past trauma which makes her cold and unapproachable. she’s so protective of her world view that she’d lash out on anyone and everyone who dares to change it. being called a ‘hunter’ makes her snap, makes her pissed, because she’s a queen! she always has been! there’s no way she could be standing along with other people! that’s not what she’s learned in her life time!

eli doesn’t have a lot of character moments because this was the hunter side after all, but he’s the same as the first stage. sees a lonely, recluse person, and wants to reach out. though the creators have stated that each stage is a different manor, or a different story, they’ve stuck to this characterisation of eli and i love it.

while the other hunters also had their parts, the more prominent ones were luchino and joseph. and joseph. oh goodness. his transformation from the first stage to now was something i craved for. he’s joking around with the other hunters, the other hunters also clown him pretty bad. he has a soft spot for robbie. the back and forth he shares with luchino also filled my heart with so much love. and most importantly, he’s the one who tells mary to embrace the present as it is, because holding onto the past will not do much. he fits the gap between eli and mary perfectly, and moves the story in his own joseph way. seeing him actually move on from his past and live with a healthy mindset, something we’ll probably never see in the game...it destroyed something in me.

joseph’s character also emphasises that in the confusion of whatever the manor wants from them, the hunters at least have each other. it was a very nice touch.

acting, direction, dialogue:

this is the part where episode 3 completely overshadows episode 1. cecile daigo is the star of this stage. she has once again won my heart. when she’s being cold, you’ll feel a chill down your spine. when she’s angry, you’ll physically feel that tension. when she screams and cries, you’ll have your heart sink. her dialogue delivery in any given situation hit in all the right spots. i’m still scared to go rewatch the guillotine scene because it was so incredibly painful to watch the first time.

not only that, but the way they creatively used this open stage which made the play seem so much more idv-like. the way they would place eli on one end of the stage walking in one direction, and mary would be on the other side walking in the opposite direction. or when the lights would follow them around the stage as they sang their duet, OR OR OR the way the actor playing mary’s mirror image would sync perfectly with mary, or even the way eli talks to mary in a soft, calm manner, knowing that she’s going through something very traumatic. it was all so beautifully done. the dialogues themselves were so impactful, we had to rewind some scenes just to appreciate the words properly.

music, costumes, misc:

the music. GOD the music. not only the hunter song, but also the score in the play itself. the fairy-tale like song in the fake world. eli and mary’s duet song. it was all perfect. in the end when mary returns to all the hunters with a change of heart, and ‘acclamation’ plays in the background i actually got teary eyed lmao. just the timing of everything was so spot on.

the costumes, just like the previous stage, were also perfect. mary rocking bloodbath while bride eli mopes in the background. the other characters in their alternate clothing was. something.

also. norton in a tux. phenomenal.

my personal favourite part from the alternate world was the dance, where i lost my shit two times: one, when i saw 0.3 seconds of fiopat and two, when i saw xiefan fist bump.

ty for the fanservice idv stage play.

as a milf enjoyer, i would’ve appreciated more of marymichi but i think this one screen cap alone is enough to fuel me for the next ten years.

gotta appreciate michiko for taking the shot at the start of the play. she missed terribly, but she took a shot and that’s what matters. go get your girl, michiko.

my review could be very extremely biased, though. sorry for ending on this note LOL. i love identity v so so much and i’ve invested myself in these doll characters way too much, so actually getting to watch my favourite characters TALK to each other, be part of each other’s stories, it may have slightly skewed my perception of of the play. of course, it isn’t without faults, but to anyone who loves idv, who loves mary especially, this is a must watch. i genuinely mean the praises i’ve given to this stage play and i do not regret spending my money on this.

i’ll watch the survivor side and the comedy stages eventually and i don’t know if i’ll be making reviews for those but i just had to talk about the hunter side.

thank you so much to the creators of this stage, to all the wonderful talented actors, and a big thank you to the new writers. this was more than i could’ve asked for.

hoping for a stage 4 with mary’s return xx

[nomoregoldfish]

I Promised You The Moon rant

Just binged it and this was from the episode by episode reaction/discussion with my partner in crime @glossyboy.

First of all, Oab stole the show, singlehandedly, which he's not supposed to. I don't think anyone expected it including himself. In the very top post when I searched his name on tumblr, he said this lol

But the truth is he played one hell of "villain" that required a very nuanced performance and he delivered it in a believable and graceful manner. Jai became the catalyst of the entire season and his rather complicated relationship with Teh was the highlight of part 2.

EP 1

From the very beginning it's clear that part 2 is very much a Teh's story rather than a balanced story about two young people's journey as a couple in the next chapter of their lives. It makes me uncomfortable they made Oh-aew clingy and pessimistic without giving him any character development.

The best part is probably the opening scene where they went paper-rock-scissors to decide who's gonna buy condoms. It felt authentic, the expectation, the hesitation, the mischievous act, all fits their characters well. Other times ep 1 was more like two adult kids playing house, literally in an empty giant ass upper middle class apartment.

EP 2

It's great that they poked the femininity vs. masculinity issue through Oh-aew, but stopped right there at the surface. Missed a perfect opportunity to go head-to-head with the controversial topic, start a debate, crush the stigma of femininity, bring something new, be a real game changer of the BL genre, and most importantly give Oh-aew some concrete character development. Part 1 showed us a gay character that's very comfortable with his sexuality and femininity, that's almost revolutionary in Asia, not as a comic relief but a leading role. Oh-aew questioned his own sexual identity once in that bra wearing scene, it's straight out of comfort zone, BOLD, and transgressive. So I expected more from part 2.

That's it? And they're already sophomores? Can't believe Oh-aew's character has been marginalized like this. It's pathetic.

But I love the brutally honest conversation at the end where Teh vented his rage and despair regarding his frustration of acting. He was acting like a dick because he's disappointed, and scared. Teh again was not afraid of showing vulnerability, making the reconciliation very realistic and touching.

EP 3

Dare I say I freaking love ep 3! The unresolved (partially sexual, but not entirely) tension between Teh and Jai was over the roof! And the built-up to their kiss was very authentic, which paled Teh and Oh-aew's much sidelined storyline, including the long anticipated sex scene (still can't believe it happened right after Jai explicitly instructed Teh to do it after the two spent a whole night bonding, like wow! Totally TRANSGRESSIVE and to some extent, kinky.) Teh looked up to the senior, idolized him, wanted to be good for him and make him proud, thirsted for the validation from him, which was mixed with affections. The workshop diary was a brilliant idea to let them open up to each other and eventually bring them close. This was what a meaningful arc of a story looked like. By contrast, there isn't a single moment between Oh-aew and Teh in part 2 that made me go "Damn it's soooooo hot!"

I know Jai/Teh wasn't the endgame but I appreciate the storyline so much. It's a very bold move considering it broke the over-glorified "one true love in one's life" fantasy of its target audience, mostly young cis women. The popular narrative of "you can only love one person through your life/one true love" in romance fictions/chick flicks was totally smashed. And it wasn't written just to stir up things between Teh and Oh-aew, it wasn't a silly fling. Instead, it's meaningful, complicated, natural, and realistic, delivered by nuanced and excellent acting from two young actors. It's hilarious that fans hate Jai with a passion and call him names.

And big news, Jai is bi?! Bravo! He's radiating bi vibes since his first appearance.

I kind of gave up at this point, the season wouldn't do Oh-aew any justice. Like my partner in crime pointed out, the costume design literally threw some "incongruous female fashion pieces" on Oh-aew, made him dye his hair red, without...making any actual point of his personality or his character development. Wardrobe was supposed to make a point in storytelling. Yes, PP wearing pink is cute, and? There's nothing else for Oh-aew. Unfortunately he's reduced to this sulky, crying, and wronged partner in a failing relationship.

EP 4

Oab again was killing it. The tension between Jai and Teh...from the rehearsal in front of Oh-aew to the dressing room pep talk, was incredibly intense and hot AF.

Was it a manipulative relationship after all? Oab was so good at conveying a character with many faces. Jai's a mentor to Teh, also a good friend, their relationship was genuine. He's also ambitious with his own goals, he used, challenged, provoked Teh in a way that benefited them both. It made sense the title of part 2, I Promised You The Moon, was from Jai's script. He promised Teh what the junior wanted the most, a bright future in acting. Teh's unconventional and unspoken feelings for Jai was the best part of the entire season in terms of creative writing, it's complicated, fragile, delicate and completely heartbreaking.

The after talk in the hallway was so well-written. It's funny (Teh joking about playwrights always write about their EXs is gold), intimate yet meticulously controlled, no one lashed out or wept. Both knew what they signed up for and Jai particularly made it clear about his motive and the purpose of the "special workshop" beforehand (or right away.) Yet it's no one's fault that Teh got carried away. He's younger, he's immature, he's more into it, it's totally natural. It's so romantic when Teh's singing karaoke in the bar with Oh-aew, yet he couldn't help but desperately staring at Jai on the floor, knowing he and the man who just turned him down were never gonna happen, they were done, but he's still madly attracted to him and his talent. He fancied Jai, at least the idea of Jai, a playwright, a director, someone knew him better than himself. That hurt beautifully.

EP 5

Teh/Oh-aew endgame at this point was pretty meaningless. Oh-aew as a leading character never got any solid character development over a span of four years. What happened between Jai and Teh wasn't just "cheating", though they surely made it look that way, like Teh's empty promise of "I won't see him again after the show ends". No matter how Oh-aew and Teh eventually reconciled, there's no emotional connection, no sparkle anymore between the couple.

But I knew for a fact they had to. Otherwise it's too much of a risk financially for the series. The creators had to take the easy way out like most traditional romances—one of the most contrived and formulaic trope where the male leading character made a mistake (usually cheating) and realized he's wrong, he deeply hurt the female leading character (Oh-aew was merely a girl substitute in part 2), then he completely changed for hell knew what reasons, started doing every nicest thing in the world to try to "win" the female character back. It has been feeding the emotionally-deprived cis female readers/audience who are frustrated with heterosexual relationship irl for decades. The formula that made romance outsell other genres of fictions combined in the 60s and 70s still sells today, under the name of boys' love. It's pathetic to see Oh-aew confess to Bas that he always "lost" to Teh. Love shouldn't be some kind of game or competition, there isn't winner or loser in love. Love is spontaneous. Oh-aew didn't lose because Teh developed feelings for someone else, and he didn't win when Teh begged him for reconciliation. People change, people move on.

And as predicted, they went for it. The ending was so absurd and tedious.

Overall, Jai's probably the hardest villain to play, he needed to be REALLY GOOD to be "the bad guy", to make his role conceivable. Oab absolutely nailed it with his talent and experience. He's not even my type or extremely good looking yet I'm 100% SOLD. I immediately re-watched the scene of him kissing Teh back hungrily at the end of ep 3 like I used to re-watch Teh/Oh-aew's steamy make out session at the end of episode 3 part 1. Coincidence?

I like some parts of both seasons for the same reason, each challenged and tried to break some outdated/contrived narratives in the BL genre. Part 1 took on the sexuality taboo by showing two same sex characters sexually attracted to each other, no more "I'm not into boys, I just happened to fall for someone of the same gender" or "pure love" bullshit. By staying true to the characters' sexuality and actually showing it with explicit, intense (and beautifully shot) scenes, the gay characters were normalized. They weren't just pure and innocent, no one was. And it created two of most unconventional gay characters in Asian pop culture, Oh-aew, a beautiful boy who's very comfortable with his own sexuality and femininity, not passive at all, taking initiative to pursue what he wanted; and Teh, a sensitive, caring and vulnerable boy who cried a lot, he's confused but also sweet and brave.

Part 2 tackled the "You can only love one person through your life" trope with a very nuanced story of "cheating". Yet neither carried out what they started. Part 1 fell short of a revolutionary piece that stayed true to "adolescent sexual turmoil", dismissing bisexuality and becoming a typical unrealistic BL fantasy in the end. And Part 2, ugh, forced a "happy ending" that almost no one digs. I understand it's extremely difficult and risky to disrupt the established norms of a genre. But sometimes being transgressive and progressive could be the same thing. A story, an artwork, has to challenge something in order to create something new and compelling.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #369

Top Ten Favourite Things About Teen Titans Go!

One of the funny things about life is observing elements of circularity. For instance, nearly twenty years ago, my younger brother really got into the original Teen Titans cartoon, and I sort of got into it with him (having a brother ten years younger than yourself is very good for keeping your oar in with kids’ content when you’re supposed to be too old for that sort of thing; as a result, I got to thoroughly enjoy Justice League, Samurai Jack, Harry Potter and lots more stuff that may have otherwise passed me by). I knew who the Titans were but hadn’t read a lot of their comics; the cartoon was my introduction to most of those characters. It was really good, benefited from a tremendous theme tune, and – for its time – quietly revolutionary in how it incorporated anime aesthetics into a western cartoon. Plus it had a cracking voice cast, which – not that I knew it at the time – would become as synonymous with those characters as Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, and Kevin Conroy had done with cartoons I’d watched as a child.

(that’s Optimus, Megatron, and Batman, in case you’re wondering)

Anyway, here we are, eighteen-or-so years later, and Teen Titans is just a beloved long-gone cult classic but bizarre comedic spin-off Teen Titans Go! is a minor phenomenon. The same characters, the same actors, but wilder, weirder, funnier, crazier, way more violent, and – bizarrely – far more integrated into the wider DC Universe. And my kids – especially my eldest daughter – bloody love the show. It is huge in our house. We’ve seen the film, we listen to the songs, they draw their own comics, they roleplay the characters; we have a home-made Raven costume, for god’s sake. I have a six-year-old who knows who Tara Strong is. This is incredible.

As a result, I’ve seen an awful lot (not quite every episode) of Teen Titans Go!. It’s fortunate, then, that it’s fantastic, easily one of the best comic-book cartoon adaptations ever made. It’s not just how funny it is; it’s madcap and self-referential and full of many (many) MANY DC comics references. And great, great songs. And – like I said before – tremendous performances. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies is a great, great movie with great, great songs and many great, great gags, and it’s a mixed blessing that it ended up being released in what may well be Annus Mirabilis for superhero movies: it’s great that it’s mixing it up with Infinity War, Black Panther, and Spider-Verse, but I feel it got overshadowed a bit. Say what you will for the slightly more “serious” original Teen Titans series, but it was the barmy chibi-inspired stepchild that got a movie.

So this week, I’m celebrating what has become my second-favourite superhero cartoon of all time (after Batman: The Animated Series, natch). My ten favourite things about Teen Titans Go!. Enjoy!

The Songs: I tried to pick a song, or some reference or line or scene, but really it’s impossible. The songs are sublime. So great, in fact, that I’ll probably do another Top Ten at some point listing my favourite TTG songs. Really catchy, great lyrics, supremely diverse, and full of references not just to DC but to, well, everything. There’s a song about America that includes the line “Samuel L. Jackson on the stamp”, which makes no sense as far as I can figure, but is just wonderful.

Deep, Deep (DEEP) Cut DC References: it started with the Darkseid doll. A little plush Darkseid doll that’s always leaning against the couch. How cute, how funny; Darkseid, the literal embodiment of evil, but as an adorable snuggly. And then it got deeper, and weirder, and more wild. B’wana Beast. Alternate universe Robins. “That movie where their moms are both called Martha”. The Haunted Tank. The Haunted Tank! What kind of kids’ show references The Haunted Tank?! And then there’s the fact that The Comedian’s blood-stained smiley face badge is on display in the Batcave. Let’s go back over that one: there are Watchmen references in this cartoon for six-year-olds.

Batman and Gordon: the original Teen Titans cartoon pretty much never mentioned any aspect of the universe outside of the five characters, barring one fleeting visual reference to the Batcave and the episode where you meet the Doom Patrol. TTG has no qualms about explaining that, yes, Robin is Batman’s sidekick. So we see the Batcave, and Wayne Manor, and Alfred. But it’s Batman’s relationship with Gordon that’s golden. Not just stoic men’s men who diligently work alongside one another, never questioning, never needing to; no, they’re best mates, giggling schoolkids who want to shirk off all work and just sit in their PJs watching crap on the telly. Like a superheroic version of Beavis and Butt-Head, they’re often there, in the background, goofing off, playing games, undercutting the narrative. It’s such a perfect inversion of Batman’s usual persona and a great way of referencing – in supremely silly terms – the deep bond of affection between the two men in most Batman fiction. I especially like when Superman gives Gordon to Batman as a birthday present.

The Night Begins to Shine: I know I said I wouldn’t single out one song, but we do need to talk about The Night Begins to Shine. More than just a cool song in one episode, it blossomed into a whole weird parallel universe filled with bizarre references to ‘80s heavy metal and, well, Heavy Metal. Almost coming off like a primary school version of Mandy, the multi-part epic about Cyborg fighting a giant dragon in the “Night” universe, complete with cameos from people like CeeLo Green and Fall Out Boy (as Transformers!), is just a thing of absolute beauty. Truly, the level of reference and artistry on display in terms of writing, composition, and animation won’t be understood by the kids watching now until they’re quite a bit older. They’ll come back to this in ten, fifteen, twenty years and think “wow, now I see what they were doing; that’s so, so weird”.

The Holiday Mascots: belligerent Santa is the king (“you garbage kids!”), a fat psychopath trying to take over every other holiday, but let’s spare a thought for the other representations of holidays, too. The creepy Tooth Fairy, who eats teeth. The turkey from Thanksgiving who is horribly mutilated. Uncle Sam. And the Easter Bunny. Oh my god, the Easter Bunny. Genuinely unsettling. Words can’t describe. Seriously, check it out, it’s some Babadook-level freaky shit.

Raven’s Legs: a little bit worrying when you’ve got two kids under seven watching it, but the fact that Raven is not just hiding very, very sexy legs underneath her cloak, but is also capable of becoming an entirely other superhero who uses her legs as weapons, is very, very funny. Watching Beast Boy go full Tex Avery when he sees Raven’s legs is one of those gags that, I guess, works on different levels if you’re a child or an adult. Regardless, turning snarky sourpuss Raven into golden-costumed Lady Legasus is a nice move.

Breaking the Fourth Wall: they only really do this explicitly once or twice, I think, but overall the show is incredibly self-referential. From Control Freak trying to get them rebooted or cancelled, to jokes about the animation or the writing, it’s beautifully self-deprecating. This reaches its apex in the 200th episode specials, when the Titans journey into “our” world. It’s hilarious to see them interact with their own voice actors, but for me it’s the note-perfect representation of directing voice actors that’s really funny, almost as good as Toast of London in its depiction. Plus the gag about everyone who works on the show being ultimately replaceable. A scathing indictment of the animation industry, wrapped up in an animation; like The Simpsons in its heyday.

Genuinely Quite Upsetting Violence: I don’t think I’d ever seen a cartoon for small children before that quite regularly featured its main characters having their bones visibly broken. And by “visibly” I mean “cutting to an X-ray of their limb to show the bone shearing in half or crumpling to dust”. It’s almost rare for an episode to go by without one or more of the Titans experiencing life-altering injuries. I’m honestly not sure how they get away with it. but it is funny. Apex moment? Oh, undoubtedly them beating the shit out of Shia LaBeouf in the movie.

Real-World References: clearly the people who make Teen Titans Go! are in their late thirties or early forties; people who grew up in the ‘80s and absorbed ‘80s culture. People who liked Transformers and Star Wars and Back to the Future, who listened to rock music, who liked toys and videogames. They probably grew into teenagers who were fans of obscure animations, cult movies, sci-fi, fantasy, horror. They are, basically, me. I think I would get on quite well with the creators of TTG, based on the things they reference. But beyond cultural appropriation, it’s the references to daylight saving’s time, “shareconomics”, American politics and history, “The Man”, and more, that is so wild and weird to see in a cartoon for young kids. They handle these topics beautifully (I’m honestly not sure if my kids think the things the Titans are talking about are real or not), but as a grown-up it’s really funny to see these gags in a kids’ cartoon. I mean, the Titans fight the Illuminati in one episode. They reference “lizard men in Congress”. It’s bonkers.

Nicolas Cage: in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, Nicolas Cage plays Superman. That’s it. I mean, what more do you want? The guy whose whole career almost seems to have hinged on playing Superman finally gets to be Superman. The guy who was nearly – oh so nearly – Superman for Tim Burton is now, at last, Superman. The guy who named his kid Kal-El is now Superman. The guy who was namechecked in The Ultimates about eighteen years ago (“this guy wants to be a superhero almost as much as Nicolas Cage”) is now Superman. It’s such a meta-gag, such a high-level gag. Stunt casting taken to its nth degree. It’s even funnier than Billy Dee Williams playing Two-Face in LEGO Batman. And it got better – this part, I concede, beyond the purview of the TTG creators – because the same year he played Superman, Nicolas Cage also played (an alternate universe version of) Spider-Man in Into the Spider-Verse. And, as I alluded to above, starred in his own version of The Night Begins to Shine when he made Mandy. It all links!  

There we go. my favourite things. This was tough, I had to leave a lot out. I’m particularly saddened by not finding room for Cyborg’s tiny body made up of wires whenever he removes his head. And The Jeff; gutted I missed The Jeff. Or the episode that references all the movie incarnations of Batman, including a dumpster full of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin stuff (I’ll save my argument that TTG serves as an even better comic analysis and deconstruction of the meta-character of Batman, and of Robin, than the much-ballyhooed LEGO incarnations for another day). It’s really a great show. I love it to bits. Go watch it.

[teenwolfplus]

We find out that Derek is allegedly a mass murderer at the end of this episode. How prominent is that storyline going to be in the final season?

Jeff Davis: It is not a cameo. He comes back. He's got great scenes with JR Bourne, some good fighting stuff. It was really great to have Tyler Hoechin back on set. He was so enthusiastic to get back to the role and to please the fans with the return.

Derek is the last person you'd think of as a mass murderer. What made him the right person to put in the FBI's sights?

Davis: It was a way to connect his story with Stiles, actually. You'll have to wait a few episodes to see exactly why, but they come in together at a critical point in the season.

There's a certain section of Tumblr that's going to be really happy about that.

Davis: I know nothing about that. [laughs]

It was also teased at Comic-Con that Scott and Malia will have something going on this season. What made Scott and Malia seem like a natural choice at this point?

Davis: At a certain point in shows like this, you get together in the writers' room and you ask each other, "Who hasn't been with who?" and "Does everyone need a love interest?" You don't want to do that really. I hate that. I hate throwing people together. It has to be meaningful, so I said to the writers, "If we're really going to do this, it has to be meaningful. It has to feel right and if at any moment it doesn't feel right, we'll toss it out." We started to tease it a little bit. We talked to the actors themselves and asked, "Are you comfortable with this? Do you think this is a good idea?" Both Shelley and Tyler were up for it.

I really started to like where it went. We just kept building on it and building on it. It's not something that comes out of nowhere this season. There's a slow build to it. It was one of those things were we're in the final season and we said, "What do we want to do that we haven't done in this show? Even if it makes some people angry, how do we test ourselves as storytellers?"

What can you say about Lydia's journey this season, especially since Stiles is at the FBI?

Davis: There's moments where she's at a loss without Stiles. They all are. They have to get through a big part of the mystery and the challenge without him. There's that moment in the first episode where they say, "We almost lost him last time. Should we call him? Is this a good idea?" When he comes back into the story, it's a really nice moment. I hope people like it. I'm hoping it satisfies the fans.

Scott and Lydia make the choice to stay in Beacon Hills without a lot of hesitation. How is that choice going to affect their college prospects?

Davis: Oh, yeah. They definitely get their chance to leave by the end. It's funny, because their lives are turned upside down. There's a flash forward in the last episode that shows you where they are in the world.

Liam [Dylan Sprayberry] has a rough go of it in this first episode. What is his journey as a beta and trying to figure out how to be an alpha before Scott has to leave?

Davis: That's a real struggle for him, especially as his achilles heel starts to come back on him -- his anger issues, which is obviously a result of this new creature that's haunting Beacon Hills. [The creature] feeds off of fear and fear is connected to anger. He's going to struggle a bit. He's going to wonder can he do this without Scott?

What do you think Liam needs to learn to take over Scott's position as leader of the pack?

Davis: Confidence. There are moments in the season where Scott is there for him and where Mason, played beautifully by Khylin [Rambo] this season, really brings out another side to Liam.

Speaking of Mason, he's kind of the Stiles in his relationship with Liam. Stiles was very adamantly against becoming a supernatural person. What are Mason's feelings about that as more and more threats show up?

Davis: He has to think about his relationship as well. Mason is a protector. He wants in. He's not worried about being human. He's capable and proved his part. There's some good stuff between him and Theo (Cody Christian) actually later in the season where they're forced to team up together and they really don't like each other. Khylin did an absolutely great job this season. He's really grown as an actor and he's a favorite among the cast and crew. They love him.

Theo is still hanging around. What can you say about what's going on with him and his chances of earning some redemption with the McCall pack?

Davis: He's definitely working on redemption, but he's going to find it much harder than he thinks. He doesn't know how to do it. He's learning. He's going to stumble his way into it. He still has those selfish needs. There's a lot of conflict between him and Liam, actually. Cody and Dylan Sprayberry actually love working together. I think they have a lot of chemistry and we put them together several times. There's that great moment in the trailer where the elevator doors open and they're both snarling with glowing eyes. They just look good together. I think we'll have fun with that relationship.

Is it possible for Beacon Hills High to ever have a normal guidance counselor?

Davis: Probably not. I would say absolutely not.

[ethanalter]

‘Westworld’ Star and Fanboy Louis Herthum Also Can’t Wait for Season 2

Louis Herthum as Peter Abernathy in HBO’s Westworld. (Photo Credit: HBO)

The Westworld faithful will have to wait until 2018 to return to the titular theme park and its many labyrinthine storylines that encourage, nay demand, obsessive theorizing. But newly promoted series regular and self-professed fanboy Louis Herthum, who played Peter Abernathy — cyborg father to the show’s central host, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), in Season 1 — is going to get spoiled well ahead of the rest of us. The 60-year-old actor tells Yahoo TV that he’ll start shooting the HBO drama’s sophomore season next month, giving him a full year’s head start on learning Westworld‘s next round of secrets. “They’re ramping up right now,” he says, with pronounced excitement in his voice. “The actual shooting will start in mid-July. Where? I’m not sure about that. I shot in L.A. and Utah for Season 1, but who knows?”

Actually, Herthum knows quite a bit about Westworld. Maybe not Season 2, although, to be fair, he couldn’t share any answers now even if he had them. But over the course of our conversation, he reveals an in-depth knowledge of the ins and outs of the park’s first year, both in terms of what happened onscreen and the intense speculation going down off of it. Here’s Herthum on his favorite fan theories, as well as the hilarious story behind his full monty moment on the Westworld set.

I understand that there was a bit of a gap between filming the Westworld pilot and the rest of the series. Based on your material in the first episode, did you have a sense of what was in store? I really didn’t! After shooting the pilot, there was quite a number of months before we even went in to shoot Episode 2. Plus, there was no sense that I would even be back. When I was put in cold storage, it could’ve been the end for Peter. So I was obviously pretty thrilled when they started calling and having me come in for those little bits that were in several of the episodes. It looked to me like they were finding ways to keep me around, which I was thrilled about. And then, of course, in Episode 8 — it was originally shot for Episode 7, but ended up being in Episode 8 — Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) comes in and downloads me with all that data. I went up to [co-creator] Lisa Joy and gave her a hug, because they don’t do anything without a lot of forethought, so I knew that was an indication that Peter would be around. We shot seven, and then there was another five-month break before shooting the last three. So from the time of shooting the pilot until the time it aired was like 25 months. But it was well worth it.

When you’re on a show like this where there’s so much secrecy about plot twists, how do you talk to people in your life about it? Do you kind of just have to say, “I’m sorry, that’s off limits?” That or I’ll just avoid it completely. I’ll tell you a funny story: I got a script for the pilot, but never got any of the other scripts. When actors would report to their trailers, they’d have the sides for all the scenes that they’re shooting that day. So I would arrive, and the first thing I would do is read all the sides to try and gather any information I could. One of the days that I was there, they were shooting the scene where Bernard realizes that he’s a host. So I read that and realized Bernard was a host and had to keep it to myself for almost a year! I didn’t tell a living, breathing soul. I’m pretty good at keeping secrets.

Did learning secrets like that influence your performance at all? It didn’t affect me as a character, but of course it started wild speculation on my part about who else could be a host. Even Ford — is Ford a host? There’s speculation about that to this day. I’m such a fanboy of the show itself.

What’s your favorite fan theory that you read during the course of Season 1? There’s so many! There’s the obvious one about William and the Man in Black and, to be honest with you, that became clear at least to me pretty early on. Of course, I spoke to Jimmy Simpson on set, as well as Ed Harris, but we never spoke about that [storyline] at all. I’ll be honest with you: the first time I knew it with certainty, and this is not to say that everyone else didn’t as well, was the knife; when we saw William holding the knife that we had seen the Man in Black use throughout the show. That was very telling. So most of the theories I heard were right, but I know there were some that were really way out there.

I’ll say this: A lot of people seem to forget that Peter Abernathy was the first to utter, “These violent delights have violent ends,” which clearly is an audible trigger. My question is, how did I get that? Where did I come up with that? There haven’t been a lot of theories about that, and it intrigues me the most. Or why did the photograph of William’s fiancée trigger Peter to go bonkers? What’s your favorite crazy theory?

I’m partial to the one that insists Westworld is located on another planet. Yes! [Laughs] There’s that theory that one of the tablets said it’s the year 2052. I’m not sure if that’s enough time for us to get to another planet and completely colonize it, but that is a pretty good theory. Charlotte’s plan is that Peter is going to end up in the real world, and boy, I sure hope that happens! Because I would love to see what the real world is like in this time and space. A time where, as Ford says, all the diseases have been eradicated, and that we’re very close to bringing Lazarus back from his cave in the show. That should be interesting.

Peter Abernathy in Westworld. (Photo Credit: HBO)

Let’s talk about William’s photograph for a minute and the significance of it for Peter. As you said, it’s the thing that triggers him in the pilot. But did you have any idea of its significance when you initially filmed that scene? Nope! Nothing. And that wasn’t the same photograph. It’s not the same photograph that was used. This is not me really giving anything away that’s not already been discovered by extremely astute fans: there’s a little tiny corner of that photograph sticking out of the dirt when I first find it, and people have blown it up and realized that the little corner of the photograph shows a piece of the Golden Gate Bridge. So people were speculating wildly about why the picture was changed and the significance of it. It’s simply a matter of between the time we shot it and the time it aired, they decided to use a different picture! Or, a different location for the picture. So there’s no great mystery behind that. It was just a production choice.

I was given no reason whatsoever [for his reaction]. In other projects, I may have questions, like, “Why?” or, “I really need to know this,” but I just trusted them so implicitly. If I’d had any real issue, they would have been happy to tell me, but I tend to use the script as my blueprint. So, if it says, “This photograph makes Peter glitch and go kinda crazy,” it was easy for me to understand why. If you look at the Golden Gate Bridge, it’s clearly not anything that you would see in the world that I exist in. Peter’s not going to know it, so why should I? It almost helped, not knowing.

Let’s talk about that other chilling moment in the pilot, where Peter is put in cold storage. What was it like to shoot that sequence? Well, that was my very first scene to shoot! That was my “Welcome to Westworld” scene, so it will always have a special place in my heart. [Laughs] You know, it’s funny, because I’m pretty sure that Ben Barnes [who plays William’s soon-to-be brother-in-law, Logan] told me that one of his first scenes was an orgy scene. It’s sort of the way that the scheduling happened; nobody was trying to pull any unfair tricks. Lisa Joy actually apologized to me! It was very surreal, obviously. I’ve done scenes where I’ve had to be skimpily clad, but never full monty, and that was definitely a full monty situation.

Usually when you go to your trailer, your wardrobe is hanging there. In this case, the wardrobe was a device, this sort of bag, that helps you hide your manhood! That was sitting there, and I also had a robe and flip-flops. So I put my robe on, and put my “wardrobe” in my pocket and head off to makeup. Then, Timothy Lee DePriest, who plays Walter, came in and he’s got his bathrobe on. He asks me, “What is this?” and pulls out the bag. I said, “That’s your wardrobe for the scene. You put that over… you know.” And he goes: ���Well, that seems weird! Are you gonna use it?” I said, “Well, if you don’t, I won’t.” He said, “I’m not going to,” so I went, “Okay… let’s film!”

So for that scene of us walking into that mass of people, we were as naked as jaybirds. It was surreal, but I have to tell you, it was so professionally done. As soon as they said, “Cut,” someone was there with a bathrobe. When people ask me about shooting it, I say, “You know that dream we all have at some point in our life where you’re standing in front of a mob naked? I’ve had it!” [Laughs]

Herthum as Peter Abernathy and Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Abernathy in HBO’s Westworld. (Photo Credit: HBO)

Evan Rachel Wood’s performance is really something special to watch, particularly the way she cycles through the multiple personalities that exist inside Dolores. When you were performing with her, who did you feel you were sharing scenes with? Well, the scenes that I had with Evan were all in the pilot, so I’m mainly seeing the father and daughter thing, until I show her that picture. Then she goes, “It doesn’t look like anything to me,” so that’s where I see the “host” version of her. It’s such a thin line to walk, and she walks it beautifully. She’s an absolute joy to work with, I tell you. A brilliant actor.

Let’s jump ahead to the end of the season: Peter has been put on that train, carrying all that data. Were you pleased with that plot development? The part that’s exciting is that I thought we were going to pick up where we left off. But Jonah Nolan revealed at PaleyFest that we will not be picking up where we left off. So I have no idea what I’m going to be doing, whether it’s in the future or the past. Because, of course, during that diagnostic scene, we found out that I was the sheriff before I was Abernathy, and even before that, I was a professor. That, by the way, is who I was channeling when I was speaking Shakespeare to Ford and Bernard during that diagnostic scene. As I said earlier, I hope we see Peter out of the park, because I’m just dying to know what the real world is like and thinking about how much fun it would be to be a host in the real world. Added to that, the fact that Lee Sizemore [Westworld’s narrative director, played by Simon Quarterman] says that he gave Abernathy a “semblance of a personality.” I would imagine that means he’d be pretty challenged in his everyday abilities. But that may all be moot! We have no idea where we’re going to end up.

There are all sorts of different ways they can go with this: that teasing hint about “Samurai World” for example. I don’t know for a fact, but I have a feeling that we’re not gonna be seeing Samurai World this coming season. I think that was just a tease and an FYI that this arc is bigger than just Westworld.

As you said, the first season took a while to complete. Is there a feeling that everyone’s on the same page about how Season 2 is going to go? Absolutely. I think that the scope of this whole thing is so large. When you have minds like Lisa and Jonah, they go, “Oh, but what if we did this? What if we did that?” I think that’s what happened in the first season; I think the scope of it was so large and the potential was so readily recognized that they said, “No, we have to stop, take another look and do this.” I think the training wheels are off, if I can use that analogy, and I feel pretty sure the scripts are all done for the season, so I think it will go much more smoothly than the first season, but not quick. I mean, we still won’t air until 2018 at some point, but can you believe we’re already halfway through 2017?

Are there any actors that you’re particularly eager to share scenes with in Season 2? Well, I would love to work with Anthony Hopkins. I have no idea if he’s coming back or not, this season or later. I’ve been a big fan of Ed Harris’s work for a very long time. I got to work with Jeffrey Wright a little bit, of course. I could watch Jeffrey read the telephone book! I’ve been a fan of his since Basquiat so I would love to have more scenes with him. Obviously, Evan, but if I were to guess, I would say we probably won’t have much to do with each other [this season]. It would be wonderful to see these two come together again towards the end of the run. I’d love to work with Thandie Newton and also Leonardo Nam. We had one tiny scene together right before they put me in cold storage, and he is such a brilliant actor and such a nice man. I was able to work with James Marsden, but that scene did not make the final cut. In fact, I saw kind of a little piece of that scene that we shot show up as just a flash in Dolores’s mind. So I’m thinking that’s going to probably end up somewhere down the line!

The first season of Westworld is streaming on HBO Go and HBO Now.

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