#young and hungry 3x04

[abcfamilydaily]

[pynkhues]

So now that we know Kendall and Rava got married quite young (based on Roman's comment in 3x04 that Kendall's bachelor party was 15 years ago, meaning he was 24 or 25 when he got married) do you have any thoughts on how that might have affected Kendall and Stewy's relationship?

Yeah! It was great to get confirmation of that! I already figured they'd gotten married fairly young given Sophie and Iverson are both tweens as opposed to little kids. I think we're supposed to understand they've been separated for a while at the start of s1 too? I'd be curious as to what the timeline is for that specifically, because they imply I think that Rava left Kendall before he got sober, and he and Logan talk specifically about rehab as three years before the start of s1.

Three years isn't that long to be separated pre-divorce though either, especially if somone's like Kendall and doesn't really want to break up. My parents were separated for seven years before they got divorced, and a good friend of mine has been separated for eighteen months already without any plans to actually file yet.

It could be one of the things that was changed though post-pilot too? Shiv's letter in 3.03 certainly made it seem like Kendall's been in rehab a number of times instead of just the one big stint that seemed infered in Logan's dialogue in 1.01, and we got confirmation from both Roman and Connor that the letter was accurate after all.

That's all an aside though, haha.

Your question! Yeah! We know Kendall and Stewy went to both Buckley and Harvard together, and I imagine they both have their MBA's too, so I feel like they had to have been pretty entwined still when Rava entered the picture. I actually headcanon that Stewy introduced them, haha, especially given he's the one deployed by someone to ask Kendall if he and Rava are really separated in 1.03.

I tend to headcanon it as one of those complicated things where Stewy and Kendall had never really qualified what their hooking up meant or what their relationship was, and that it was probably always an unspoken thing that Kendall would be finding a woman his dad approved of and marrying her and that that would be that. It's the sort of thing I don't think Stewy probably cared that much about while they were both sleeping with other people and Kendall was getting way too intense about girls who were never going to pass the Logan Roy test, but I think things were different with Rava too.

I think Kendall really fell in love with her, and her him, and I think it probably stung Stewy, despite himself. Like - - he just figured they had more time than this, right? Who's dreaming of settling down with the chick you meet when you're 21? 22? But Rava's smart and beautiful and maybe Stewy wouldn't care if it didn't start to become apparent that Kendall was - - y'know, telling her stuff. Stuff he's never told anyone except Stewy, and maybe Stewy tried to create some distance, but Kendall latched on in that way he does whenever he feels someone trying to pull away, so maybe Stewy fucked him instead, and okay, that was fine, it was, until Kendall took Rava back to meet Logan, and the stamp of approval was clear even if Rava came back pissed off, and it was only after that that Kendall told him they couldn't anymore. Not now that Rava was the One.

And they're just so young still, and it doesn't matter, because Stewy's not exactly short on options, and it's better Kendall ends up with someone Stewy likes rather than some of the other girls Stewy's been forced to endure the company of, and things are good. They are, at least for a minute, but Kendall doesn't know how to be happy, and Stewy knows when he's self-sabotaging, but he's half-hearted in pushing him back to Rava because there's something to it. Something to the way being Kendall's person again feeds a part of him he didn't realise was still hungry, and besides, they're still young, right?

They're supposed to be having fun.

Stewy always knows how to help Kendall have fun.

(Right up until he doesn't).

[wecouldstillbegreat]

just watched this week’s veep and I am just so so bummed at how bad it is compared to the potential it had. Like Selina and Jonah being terrible was funny in earlier seasons because it was still clever and offset by great dynamics but now it’s just mean?? also they ruined amy and dan and I am v upset why would they bother showing him with Selina?? 😭

Because Mandel. 

This post sums it up perfectly. He will go for shock value at the expense of:

Good characterization that had been built up over the last 4 seasons

Treatment of female characters

Staying true to the original tone and Armando’s vision

His need for shock value was why I hated the pregnancy reveal. Because even though there was hope that they would finally go somewhere with the Dan x Amy relationship, there was no development leading up to it at all and it was exactly what he wanted because any development might have taken away from the ~surprise. Plus, he had no intention of ever developing them romantically. It came as a shock to Anna as well, since they revealed it to the cast at the table read.

I also hate how he reinterpreted small moments from the earlier seasons (it just hit me what Reid meant about taking things from the earlier seasons) like the conversation between Dan and Selina in 3x05, Fishing. When asked where the attraction came from, Mandel said, “If you look at the seven-year run of the show, that’s always something that’s been there, just in terms of how attractive both of them are.” The whole reason the scene in 3x05 works is because they came close but didn’t actually follow through. He also took that one look that Amy gave Dan in the bar in 4x04, Tehran, and turned it into years of Amy pining, when it had been Dan who had been the one to show that he cared by being nice to her multiple times throughout the series.

He completely crashed and burned a relationship that had been written before the series even began and had been building up for the last 8 years in 3 episodes. Same goes for the relationship between Selina and Amy that he completely destroyed. What happened to Selina crying and collapsing in Amy’s arms during election night, or Selina pulling her into the helicopter with her?

That scene felt like such a slap in the face. It was really visceral because Dan wasn’t wearing a shirt and usually when there’s a scene like that, they’re fully clothed. Maybe if they were, it wouldn’t have been as bad, even though it still would have been bad. We’ve gotten Dan with everyone except Amy. And they gave us that terrible scene between her and Buddy. I’ve said it before, but I’m kind of glad we didn’t get an actual nightcap between them because they probably would have written it as Dan being bored and underwhelmed and Amy not being good at sex. At least we haven’t seen any kisses or anything ~graphic like what we saw with Tom and Selina between Dan and anyone else. I think that would have made it so much worse than it already is.

The only thing that is comforting is that we got to see Dan finally be really sweet to her again in 7x03. I hate the circumstances surrounding that scene and episode, but I’m glad that there’s still that really tender moment between them. It’s one of the sweetest moments in the entire season so far. Everything else is just so vitriolic and mean, like you said. And I just hate the fact that we could have gotten that dynamic for the past three seasons instead of what they gave us.

I also hate his treatment of Amy and agree about the wasted potential for this episode. I feel bad for Anna because she was the first one cast in the show. Armando literally wrote the role for her, her character was originally called Anna. But then she was completely pushed to the sidelines when Mandel took over. I mentioned it before, but I think it’s very telling that Anna had to email him and the writers about her arc for this season. She said they were all on the same page, but somehow I’m not so sure. But even with her collaboration, I was not expecting her arc to take this turn at all.

I really wish that Dan and Amy would have a conversation about his firing because I’m sure Amy’s reaction would be similar to the one in 5x03, The Eagle, where she would just tell him how much of an idiot he is. And it would actually give them a chance to talk, and we would see their dynamic again. There’s a really good Dan x Amy fic I read that takes place right after Dan gets fired in 7x04 that covers this:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18572953

Dan and Amy were barely even in the episode. I genuinely feel like when they’re separated or when they don’t have as much screen time, like in 5x04, Mother it feels like something is missing. From season 1-4, they were in every single episode together and if they weren’t, they were interacting on some level like in 3x04, Clovis when they talked to each other on the phone. And then in season 6 we got nothing, except for a few scenes. And now that they’ve torpedoed their relationship, we might not get anything else other than 7x06 and 7x07.

I really hope that the scene in 7x06 is a good one. Every bts pic or still we’ve seen of Dan x Amy so far has turned out to be the opposite of what I imagined  in context. The rehearsal pic makes it look like there’s potential, but I don’t want to get my hopes up again.

And I see the direction that they’re going in, with the show slowly collapsing into nihilism. I just hate that that’s happening and the fact that he had to distort the essence of the show and all the characters to get there.

And if Amy is going to lose her conscience and Dan is going to lose the 5% that needs to be loved, then why can’t they just be power-hungry partners for life and leave it at that? Now they have to deal with her pregnancy and his young wife.

[mdwatchestv]

The Magicians 3x04: Be The Penny

HOLLLLAAA! Trust and believe baby we are living in glorious times. Kylie had her baby, the Eagles won a Super Bowl, and the full glory of the Magicians rains down upon us once more. This season has been fine and fun and good so far, my complaints have been mild and limited (rare for me). But last week's episode was everything that is AMAZING about the Magicians. My cup runneth over. During this episode I brainstormed so many great names for this post, but in the end I decided just to use the actual episode name, because like everything else this episode, it was amazing. Turns out professional television writers are cleverer than me! Who would have thought???

First of all I was right to be excited by Penny becoming stricken with invisibility, this character is never more enjoyable to me than when he is struggling, his particular brand of affronted indignation is delicious. I had been lukewarm on Penny in earlier seasons until he lost his hands, and reader, I fell in love with that wristy freak. Penny spends this episode popping in and out of his compatriots storylines, dropping by to offer a sarcastic comment, words of encouragement, or just a classic "what the fuck".

This was an episode of episodes, there was so much to like. Let's start small. After being stressed out by Alice's wardrobe for 29 episodes, she finally wore something I loved. Every victory is worth celebrating.

Now let's cut to the very best thing, Penny's new bff, and dedicated Magicians shipper Hyman Cooper. Penny discovers that he can be seen by another astral projector who similarly died while projecting out of his body. This ex-Brakebills student has been an invisible peeping tom at the school for the past 100 years. While it sounds skeezy on the surface, it becomes clear that what Hyman really is is a Magicians super-fan (okay and still a little skeezy). He's seen all the couples come and go, and he's still rooting for Julia and Quentin. A believer in the classics, gotta love that. He also teaches Penny how to project into inanimate objects, which he utilizes to zap into a penny (lol), the Mar-Golem (honestly forgot all about this amazing storyline), and finally the candle that set his own funeral pyre ablaze destroying his worldly body. I will be honest I understood almost none of the plot line surrounding the fire, the corpse eater, the freeing of souls etc. Penny’s body is gone now, I think that's all we need.

Meanwhile Julia, Q, and for some reason Dean Fogg, team up to find the next key at Brakebills. They discover Rupert Chatwin gave the key to his main squeeze, only for his paramour to be murdered by his horrible homophobic father. This all unfurled in about 20 seconds of screen time, Magicians! Following this lead, the threesome go to Jaime Ray Newman's, a descendant of Anti-Gay McGee, and probable owner of the key.  It is here we are reminded that Quentin did sleight-of-hand magic back in the day! Remember that! Remember that young man doing card tricks way back in episode one, a plot point abandoned almost immediately? So good to get back to our roots.  Oh also they find the key, Two keys now! Five more to go.

What else happened? Kady had a drug overdose, but was saved by Julia after she was given a warning from (presumably) the same spirit that inhabited the woman on the street in the previous episode. We know now that it was not that woman herself that was special, but rather there is a powerful force that can take possession of people and is looking out for Julia. We also learned this episode that taking over anything with a brain is difficult (thanks Hyman) so whatever this spirit/creature/magician is is very powerful indeed. That’s not the only thing following Julia, as her new key also reveals the presence of a pair of fairy stalkers! Between this new spirit, Hyman, and the fairies, Julia practically has a full invisible entourage. 

We also finally found out where Eliot and family have been all this time, off the grid and trapped in the Fountain World being chased by cannibals! Fun! Eliot uses his key to try and summon the smoke dragon the village leader (RIP) had been using to terrorize his flock. However instead of a scary monster, Eliot conjures up his horrifically emotionally abusive father! While enjoyable, I was a bit disappointed that this felt like a throwaway cast, or at least a missed opportunity. I was hoping for someone a bit more impressive and likely to recur as Eliot's dad, but this is the Magicians so a sudden flashy recast wouldn't necessarily feel out of place.

Eliot uses his key-dad as bait for the hungry cannibals, and is finally able to escape back to- where else- Brakebills! Our gang finally reunited, an exhausted Eliot picks up the newly found key, purported to show unseen things, and declares it must not work on him. Then, never having been reached with the news of his death, he casually greets the formerly-known-as-invisible Penny.

Guys I was screaming at this ending, screaming with sheer unadulterated delight. Because the Magicians always gives me a low grade joy buzz, it's sometimes hard to remember how high it can spike on the pure-delight-o-meter. Pretty high. I love you Magicians, can't wait to watch you tonight (or more realistically this weekend).

XO, MD