#(granted half the story was 'spoiled' by my wife noticing a nice bit of acting

[taibhsearachd]

Okay, having finished Glass Onion, it is a masterpiece on par with Knives Out...

I will actually lose my shit if I don’t get a romcom fic of Benoit Blanc and what’s-his-name Hugh Grant.

[guylty]

My annual social media Lent is coming up. From Ash Wednesday I will abstain from Twitter for the next 6 and a half weeks (until Easter Sunday), allowing me to recalibrate a little and concentrate on other things. Such as my blog – or RAnet. That means I need blog fodder. Almost four weeks have passed since The Stranger launched on Netflix. Enough time to assume that most fans and readers have watched the show and will not be spoiled by the discussion of the show. Moreover, some more in-depth discussions have already started in the comments. Last weekend, for instance, we got into the intracacies of the “bar scene” in episode 4 of TS, talking about the casting, costuming and directing of that particular scene and how we, as women of a particular age reacted to that scene.

However, it would probably make more sense to start at the beginning. So anyone who’d like to discuss TS with me, you are welcome to write your observations, reactions and opinions in the comments. I know I am kind of launching into this without announcement. But by doing this episode by episode, I hope you can follow along and catch up with individual episode if need be. I’ll also try and summarise every episode at the beginning of each review post so we know what we are talking about. Hm, I may need to rewatch the show for that. The hardship!!! However, the discussion will probably focus on the plot… eh… Adam. Anyhow, I hope you’ll join me and share your thoughts either here – or your own blog, if you are blogging, too.

The Stranger – Episode 1 Recap

Prior to the trailer, TS starts with teenagers at a bonfire party, culminating in a naked boy escaping through the dark forest. The plot then begins with the Price boys driving in the car to the football club where younger son Ryan is trying out for the A team. While at the club, daddy Adam briefly speaks with his wife Corinne on the phone. She is away at a teachers’ conference while Adam looks after their sons. In the clubhouse, Adam is approached by “a stranger” who reveals a devastating secret to him: His wife faked her pregnancy a couple of years ago. He is shocked and disturbed.

Once back home after football training, Adam can’t resist checking the details the stranger passed on to him, and sure enough, his suspicions are confirmed – there is a credit card payment for a fishy website called Novelty Funsy, and the ultrasound scan of the miscarried baby does not quite match the ones of his two sons. Meanwhile, Adam’s elder son Thomas heads out to the bonfire party with his friends.

The next morning, police woman Johanna investigates a bizarre crime scene of a decapitated alpaca in the city centre. With her DS, she drives to a nearby alpaca farm to confirm where the animal came from. On their return trip their attention is attracted by some pieces of clothing in the forest. They follow the trail of clothes and find a naked body. The young man is still alive.

Adam meanwhile looks after his day job – he is the legal advisor to an obstinate tenant who refuses to move out of a house that has been earmarked for demolition. Upon his return, Corinne arrives back from her conference and Adam receives confirmation that the mysterious credit card payments are for a website that provides fake pregnancy products. He immediately confronts Corinne. She does neither deny nor explain why or what she did, only hinting that there is more to it than he thinks. The Prices spend the night in separate bedrooms.

The next morning Adam observes Corinne taking a phone call outside the house. She later suggests to Adam that they talk later that day after a school awards ceremony where she will explain all. However, Corinne never shows to the event. Adam receives a text message asking for some time apart.

The episode ends with Thomas revealing the decapitated alpaca head in his cupboard.

  Episode 1 – Discuss

So, first of all – I have watched the first episode about three and a half times. Twice on my own, once with hubster, and finally today a quick run-through for the sake of the recap where I fast forwarded through a lot of scenes, focussing on Adam mostly. I couldn’t help it… My first response to the show at the very first viewing was – WOW! I remember that I was fully engaged during every minute of it – even the scenes and story lines that Richard did not feature in. Granted, I was most interested  with the “grown-up” arcs, not least because anything involving drugs and other goings-on with teenagers makes *this* mama really worried. But having said that, I think the first episode was very effective in establishing the storylines and the characters. Hence the show spends most time following Adam (Richard Armitage) – as a father, as a lawyer and as a husband. Then there are the two police officers who also are presented as round characters – the middle-aged senior officer Johanna (Siobhan Finneran) approaching retirement who has just decided to split from her husband, and her much younger partner, a gay black man. Adam’s son Thomas also gets a good bit of screen time with his friends, making him more than just secondary. Other secondary characters include first and foremost Dervla Kirwan as Corinne, Stephen Rea as obstinate tenant Martin, and Jennifer Saunders as Johanna’s BFF Heidi.

So, the first watch was highly exciting and addictive, so much so that I basically binged the whole show. On second and subsequent views, I found the episode not quite as fast and exciting anymore – only natural, as a lot of time was actually spent setting up the characters and the various story lines: Johanna waking up in bed to her snoring husband; Johanna meeting Heidi in her café; observing the teenagers at their bonfire party; visiting Dante in hospital…

RA is the natural focal point from the get-go. Not only for fangirls, I might add. The show is really good at setting him up as the perfect family man who obviously has great rapport with his sons, both the “difficult” almost grown-up older son, but also the younger lad who needs a different kind of care than a young adult. I found the casting really great, with Thomas definitely matching the tall, dark, handsome vibes of TV-dad Richard, and younger boy Ryan more a mirror of his blond, curly-haired TV-mum. They all have great chemistry together, and found Misha Handley (Ryan) very natural and convincing. Jacob Dudman as Thomas was also great.

… really aged well… hehe

RA really shines in the confrontation scenes, both with the stranger and with his wife, when he has to convey both suppressed anger and outright fury at having been deceived. Both his major scenes with Corinne are very convincing, and I appreciated the decision to make Adam extremely angry, on the verge of volatile, when Corinne refuses to explain her actions. Adam’s anger is immediate, raw and confused and Armitage really draws the viewer on his side with his emotional outburst. So much so that I basically missed Dervla Kirwan’s nuanced acting in that scene. On second and subsequent viewings, once you know how the show ends and why she doesn’t want to talk immediately, you start to notice the little things: her refusal to talk has more to do with fear than with anger or denial. She is afraid of actually addressing the fact that the reason for her faked pregnancy will also bring another secret out in the open, and the subsequent discussion (which she had successfully avoided by faking the pregnancy in the first place) will now have to take place. What might have looked as callous or dismissive at first viewing, conveys much more detail the second time round: there is a sadness to Corinne that Kirwan expresses very subtly – in a slight pause, or the tiniest glance into the mid-distance. The same applies to their second and much calmer confrontation the next morning. What might have looked almost callous on first viewing, gains much more weight when you watch it with prior knowledge of the plot. When Adam says he has lost trust in her, Corinne replies “it hurts, doesn’t it?“. The question tag really stood out to me on first viewing. It confused me. Why is she phrasing it like that? It of course became clear in episode 4, but again, Kirwan really gave it a spin by loading it with subtle sadness that doesn’t only confuse the viewer but also Adam. Armitage here kept his response at just the right level of confusion without giving away how much Adam really recognises or understands what she was hinting at. RA reacts with great detail expressions. No words are needed. And in hindsight you can see how he begins to wonder whether she knows about his affair. Loved it.

Let’s talk a bit about Armitage’s look in this show. Such a spectacle!

Yes, I like details like that. The jury is still out on whether this is a prescription that Armitage wrote into the script himself 😂, or whether we just had a costume department that is on the ball. Yes, it’s time for the presbyopic lenses. Happens to most of us at around middle age. 🤓 I found it a lovely detail that makes Adam more relatable. Because – a dad bod he has not.

Even if he claims he does. I find this a rather attractive package for a middle aged family man. Also:

Bonus WRP. Needs no further elaboration

But to get back to the look and style – I enjoyed the casual style of Adam. Once again, it felt right – nothing too fancy, with windbreaker, jeans and shirts, and even a tracksuit at home, the perfect attire for a father of two (pre-) teen sons. I was surprised how good RA looked in other colours than just black and blue. The red polo shirt was very nice on him.

I can’t say I am as convinced of the costumes provided for Corinne. In fact, I think there were some rather sledge-hammer style decisions going on there, putting the wife and mother into rather dowdy, pale pink mom trousers and giving her a hole-pattern, fluffy knit jumper. Then there was that turquoise dress that went slightly longer than her knees – apparently the work wear for female teachers in English private schools, judging by an equally frumpy outfit for Corinne’s colleague and friend Vicky? (This observation I will come back to in a later post once we get to episode 4.) It just kind of made me think that Corinne was made to look older and less casual than her husband who even attends to his client in jeans and shirt…

Police officer Johanna Griffin OTOH looked *real* and great. (I kept double-taking because O’Brien’s severe look kept coming back to me.) And I loved Heidi’s funky style – very much the slightly crazy café-owner with a café as stylish as herself… And can we also mention the Price’s residence here? There were only quick first glimpses of their house – but oh, that stylist made it a gorgeous family home. The garden was beautiful but I can take it or leave it. Too much work – I don’t like to get my fingers dirty. But the dining area with the floor-to-ceiling windows and the sleek white kitchen? Big win, especially because it doesn’t look like a showroom but has photos on the fridge and a mess on the counters.

So episode 1 gets a big thumbs up from me – for introducing us to almost all the characters (some held back for more surprise later on) and establishing the plot. Yes, there is a lot going on here, which I haven’t even all mentioned in the recap: the stranger dropping her first bomb, the Price family life, the secret in Corinne’s past, the tenant who refuses to move out of his home, the colleague who has trouble with her pre-teen daughter, the teenagers who are partying under the influence of drugs, the mystery of the boy who was hunted through the forest, the curious story of the decapitated alpaca, an almost-comic police duo, a police officer who is splitting up with her hubby, her friend, the funky café owner, the gregarious neighbour, the busybody football trainer… Too much? I’d say a lot of it is deliberate overload to distract us, yet give us some extra info about the characters, their work, their life and their environment.

The strategy definitely works when you watch the show for the first time. You are busy dealing with Richard Armitage’s overwhelming handsomeness taking it all in. The questions only really pop up when you watch again.  Such as: When stoned Mike takes the alpaca for a walk into the city centre, why is there no CCTV footage? I mean, nowadays there is hardly *any* urban area that does *not* have CCTV on shops and banks or traffic spots. How come no one saw him decapitating the alpaca, in a city centre? And how did he manage to decapitate it anyway`- it’s hardly a one-chop job?Likewise and with hindsight we know now that Corinne’s text message was not sent by her at all: But how did the sender actually know the password to Corinne’s phone to send that message? I mean, don’t all people lock their phone with a password these days? Possibly nit-picking questions, but that’s the fun of it, isn’t it? You can enjoy a show immensely – and still want to pick a few holes into the plot just to see whether you are cleverer than the writer 😉.

There is probably so much more to discuss, but for the sake of getting the discussion started, here is the post. What is your take on the first episode of TS? Any agreements with me, or disagree? Other points of interest? Let me know in the comments!

Let’s Talk About… #TheStranger – Episode 1 My annual social media Lent is coming up. From Ash Wednesday I will abstain from Twitter for the next 6 and a half weeks (until Easter Sunday), allowing me to recalibrate a little and concentrate on other things.

[lilbreck]

AGoT Chapters 19 - 23

I know, it’s been a hot minute. But I’m reading again. Feel free to discuss anything with me if you agree or disagree, either way.

If you want to follow along, I'm tagging my ASoIaF reading as tonya rereads asoiaf.

Chapter 19: Jon II

I like how this establishes right away that Jon is excellent with a sword. I don’t remember if Jon keeps being this closed off an entitled or not. However, he seems to look down on everyone around him which might explain why they all quickly picked up on the “Lord Snow” bit and don’t hang out with him.

The more time he spent with them, the more Jon despised them.

Yeah, that feeling seems to be very much mutual here. However, I do like that we get another layer to it; that we see a hint that all this isolation and such is to cover how much he hates that no one told him what it would really be like and how abandoned he feels. Of course, would he have believed them? It’s hard to tell, though the fact that he quickly adapts to the truth that Tyrion gave him says he probably would.

Honestly… I kinda get why they have to almost brainwash people into abandoning all they knew before, but it seems so cruel and vicious. I have a lot of feelings on how Jon needed this experience, though. He needed to see that, though he was a bastard, he is spoiled and privileged. Everyone talk about how mean various characters must have been to Jon growing up, but he had it fucking easy for a bastard.

“They’re not my brothers,” Jon snapped. “They hate me because I’m better than they are.”

“No. They hate you because you act like you’re better than they are. They look at you and see a castle-bred bastard who thinks he’s a lordling.” The armorer leaned close. “You’re no lordling. Remember that. You’re a Snow, not a Stark. You’re a bastard and a bully.”

This right here. People talk about how [certain other Starks] are bullies, but Jon is a bully when he gets to the wall. He takes out all his anger, resentment, and frustration on those around him. As much as I detest bullies, I like this Jon better than the saint!Jon envisioned by some of fandom.

Also, as much as I detest Tyrion, I am grateful for the advise he gives Jon in this chapter. Also, I love that it’s not really the realization that he’s been a bully or Tyrion’s advise that changes how in interacts with the others on the Night Watch, it’s knowing Bran woke up. That really speaks, in my opinion, to the connection the Stark children share. Of course, you know, not everyone appreciates that people are laughing with Jon and not at him here, but… it is what it is.

Chapter 20: Eddard IV

Honestly, I find Ned’s chapters so fucking boring.  This did jump out to me, though:

What was it that Jon had said when they found the pups in the snow? Your children were meant to have these pups, my lord. And he had killed Sansa’s, and for what? Was it guilt he was feeling? Or fear? If the gods had sent these wolves, what folly had he done?

Also, Ned and Cat trust Petyr way too much. Especially Cat with how he ambushed her when she landed and was all up in her business. Honestly, I have little patience with the older set in these books. Does it show? Of course, me saying that now could have everything to do with me knowing how it ends up for them. Knowing what’s coming is a pain in the ass sometimes.

“My lady,” he said, turning to Catelyn, “there is nothing more you can do here. I want you to return to Winterfell at once. If there was one assassin, there could be others. Whoever ordered Bran’s death will learn soon enough that the boy still lives.”

Right here and there, knowing what they knew, Ned should have sent the girls back with his wife. Full stop. I swear, I can find a way to blame at least half of this book’s foolishness on how Ned and Cat coddled and then failed to protect their children. It may not all be fair, but I can still find a way. And he’s even talking about preparing for war! He should have snuck those girls out and sent them off with their mother.

Chapter 21: Tyrion III

There’s really not a lot to say about this chapter. I like Tyrion better in this one, probably because he isn’t talking about wanting to burn his family alive and assuming Jon felt the same. I also like that we got a glimpse of Jon getting along better with some of the other brothers. They’re just all really fucked because people put their unwanted up on the wall and forget all about the place and people there. Poor fucking Mormont.

So far, I like Tyrion’s chapter’s slightly more than Ned’s, but that’s not really a high bar.

Chapter 22: Arya II

Arya’s breaking my heart here.

Arya hated it. She hated the sounds of their voices now, the way they laughed, the stories they told. They’d been her friends, she’d felt safe around them, but now she knew that was a lie. They’d let the queen kill Lady, that was horrible enough, but then the Hound found Mycah. Jeyne Poole had told Arya that he’d cut him up in so many pieces that they’d given him back to the butcher in a bag, and at first the poor man had thought it was a pig they’d slaughtered. And no one had raised a voice or drawn a blade or anything, not Harwin who always talked so bold, or Alyn who was going to be a knight, or Jory who was captain of the guard. Not even her father.

I think this really shows what the South has to teach Arya. She had been coddled up North. There was a level of justice there that didn’t exist elsewhere (though may have only really existed at Winterfell, it’s hard to tell). It’s why she felt free to attack Joffrey. He was in the wrong and, in her eyes, it didn’t matter that he was a prince. In the South, of course, only the royal family’s justice matters. It’s why no one raised a hand to stop Lady or Mycah’s death.

What I do notice in Arya here, that seems to be missing in her father, is the ability to see the fault in those she loves. Ned still can’t bring himself to believe that his friend isn’t the man he’d like to believe he is. Arya even says here that even her father didn’t bother to speak out against it. Though, I notice that she says it’s the queen that killed Lady. While, yes, Cersei is why Lady was killed, Arya doesn’t seem quite ready to admit that her father played his part in Lady’s death. I just wish she could realize that, yes she may have had a hand in the events that lead to Lady and Mycah’s death, that the fault ultimately lays at the feet of the royal family and Sandor.

It’s my belief that, by the end of the series, Arya won’t be queen of the 7k or North, as some believe, but that she will be the one who reforms the justice system. Takes it out of the sole hands of the ruler, maybe. She’s beginning to see here that people just go along with what the king says, no matter how cruel, and that the smallfolk suffer. Granted, I think she’s got a long way to go (she’ll take a detour into vengeance city, but she’ll head back to justice after), but you can see where the spark of what I believe her endgame is gets started.

Honestly, I think at least half the problems between Arya and Sansa (aside from just normal sister issues when the sisters are so different) are because of the damn Septa. And, yes, part of me rages that Ned and Cat are trying to force Arya into a role she doesn’t want.

“I do not mean to frighten you, but neither will I lie to you. We have come to a dark dangerous place, child. This is not Winterfell. We have enemies who mean us ill. We cannot fight a war among ourselves. This willfulness of yours, the running off, the angry words, the disobedience … at home, these were only the summer games of a child. Here and now, with winter soon upon us, that is a different matter. It is time to begin growing up.”

Hey, Ned? Couple things I want to talk about. First, this isn’t your only daughter, you really should be having this talk with both of them. Second, you should have had this fucking talk back before Robert and the Lannisters assholes showed up in Winterfell. You fell down on the job, and now your fuck ups have a damn body count. Also, it’s about damn time that you noticed your younger daughter was willful and would probably be more inclined to learn all the shit you have the Septa shoving down her throat if you also allowed her to learn to fight like you do in this chapter.

It was the third time he had called her “boy.” “I’m a girl,” Arya objected.

“Boy, girl,” Syrio Forel said. “You are a sword, that is all.”

I can’t tell if this (him repeatedly calling her a boy and then a sword) is just coincidence, or if it’s a bit of foreshadowing of what she’ll have to go through, how she’ll have to nearly lose her identity. If not, it’s a nice little bit. I wonder if it was Ned’s deliberate choice to get her a teacher to show her a form of fighting better suited to her size and probably over-all body strength? If so, he’s earned some points back from me.

Chapter 23: Daenerys III

You know, reading this… Drogo’s definitely in line for the Vlad treatment. I just find it kind of odd that GRRM would write him being so considerate and very aware of her consent and waiting for it on their wedding night, and yet this:

Yet every night, some time before the dawn, Drogo would come to her tent and wake her in the dark, to ride her as relentlessly as he rode his stallion. He always took her from behind, Dothraki fashion, for which Dany was grateful; that way her lord husband could not see the tears that wet her face, and she could use her pillow to muffle her cries of pain.

I’m sure at least half the pain is from her saddle sores, but the other half is probably from her fuckboi husband riding her like a horse. What was GRRM thinking? I suppose we’re supposed to take comfort in the fact that she eventually finds pleasure in the sex during their trip, but… no. I can’t take comfort in that. She’s 14, he’s 30. And not a slight 30 either. He’s a large and brutal 30 and she’s a slight and delicate 14. Yeah, I’m going to have to mentally age up these younger characters to get through this.

Yet when she slept that night, she dreamt the dragon dream again. Viserys was not in it this time. There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black as night, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools of molten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hot jet. She could hear it singing to her. She opened her arms to the fire, embraced it, let it swallow her whole, let it cleanse her and temper her and scour her clean. She could feel her flesh sear and blacken and slough away, could feel her blood boil and turn to steam, and yet there was no pain. She felt strong and new and fierce.

As much as I talked about Arya’s recent chapter showing where I thought she would end up, this dream right here pretty much spells it out. It shows her embracing what it means to be a dragon, being “purified” by it (pure doesn’t always mean good and kind) and then after that she heals rather quickly. The dragon egg that Drogon will probably hatch from (IIRC) is the one she reaches out to feel, and it’s Drogon (as a representation of herself, or as itself) that is in her dream. I think right from her third chapter we get a hint that she’s never going to be a queen in peace. She’ll have at least one opportunity, but she ends up turning away from it, and I think that will be her last opportunity. She’s going to go full dragon, and I can’t wait to read from her POV as she does. It won’t be pretty, but it’s bound to be interesting.

You know, I love that Daenerys took away the power her brother had over her. She saw him for what he was and, in part due to her new status but also, I believe, in part due to the dragon dream, was able to let go of her fear of him. I admit, I cheered. When Jorah backs her and tells her the straight truth that the people aren’t begging for their return and she listens and understands the truth of what he says, it almost makes you have hope for her. There are parts of her that could be a good queen who reigns in peace. Her story wouldn’t be an interesting struggle if there weren’t.

I do like how her healing, taking away her brother’s power over her, and taking control of her sex life all tie in together. She’s taking control, and I do think it has a lot to do with embracing the dragon dream, even though she may not realize what the means. I was wrong before, she doesn’t turn 14 until the end of this chapter. And she’s pregnant. I can’t help but think what would have been if Robert hadn’t tried to have her killed. Would she have lived her life out with Drogo and however many children they had, and would the eggs have gone unhatched?