#9.3 namacissi

[mentalcurls]

9.3 NAMACISSI

Oh God I LOVED this clip. I loved it so much. I could die for this clip. 

A few scattered thoughts I had while watching it (they might not be in chronological order cause I’m at work and I can’t do my usual watch-stop-write-rewatch thing, sorry.)

So without further ado:

Allow me to be bitter here for a second: this should have happened yesterday. If Martino wasn’t so infuriatingly stubborn in his ways, if his first instinct wasn’t to close in on himself despite seeing how good it was when he opened up to his friends last time, how much support he got, how much lighter he felt, this would have been yesterday and neither us nor him would have suffered as much. That being said of course I love Marti as he is, wouldn’t trade him for the world, so I accept his flaws and the pain they bring.

The boys going to the bathroom together, in a group. Discussing the love life of one of them in the school bathroom. Washing their hands together (actually, unfortunately it is noteworthy that they was their hands at all bc men are often disgusting). Another typically feminine trope subverted. (The only thing missing was one of them fixing their hair, but it wouldn’t have fit the feel of the scene, I think.)  Toxic masculinity thank u, next; LudoBesse and Skam Italia writers thank you, now more.

How blue is that scene? The bathroom is of course very blue, the tiles, the floor. The light is cold. Marti is wearing a blue jumper, Giovanni a blue shirt, Elia a blue track top.

(Luchino is wearing warm brown *insert “coincidence? I think not” gif here*)

We cannot be sure this is the same bathroom where 5.4 Pausa took place, but it is very clear that LudoBesse thinks not-so-positive conversations regarding mental health need to be had in bathrooms.

I couldn’t find any particular significance in the order the boys came out of the stalls, but I’m sure I’m gonna read some really interesting theories from you guys soon. Maybe worst to best at reading Marti? worst to best at giving advice?

Luca, knowing the pain of being half-naked in the cold for several hours from the previous weekend is Very Worried about Niccolò, his saviour from the ice prison/cabin,  running around naked in the cold

Giovanni and the others watching Martino struggle with the soap dispenser/faucet thing and Gio stepping in to help him and direct him elsewhere just like he does in the conversation when he points out Martino shouldn’t trust the Internet about medical stuff

Giovanni starting his line with “Comunque”. It’s something Giovanni did in 6.5 Effettivamente (and here’s a lovely post by @zkainaat about it) and I’m starting to feel things about it. We talked a fair bit about “Martinese” these last few days and we all agree that nobody speaks it better than Giovanni, we also know Giovanni has a Martino voice and this “comunque” thing also strikes me as something that’s Marti-and-Gio’s, something Giovanni does for Martino to put him at ease or something he picked up from him. 

But, even more interestingly, where does this “comunque” also crop up? In our beloved 8.1 Patatine e marmellata, during “Buon viaggio”, of course, with Niccolò singing “Amore mio, comunque vada”. Coincidence? Nico stumbling on a bit of Martinese by chance? Another thing LudoBesse & co. will exploit to make us all suffer? Just me being too obsessed?

Giovanni gives the best advice. I need a Giovanni for myself and I can only aspire to reach the same level of wisdom as Giovanni Mago dell’Amore Garau.

Apparently, it’s a well know fact at liceo Kennedy that the school psychologist is obsessed with celery and I love that. He’s the closest thing we have to the representation of the actual quirky, weird af professors that usually roam the corridors of every Italian high school, but especially (imho) of liceo classico.

So they go to see the psycologist, dr. Roberto Spera. Someone with an actual degree. Thank God. (From what I read online, in Skam og Isak only speaks to Magnus whose mum is bipolar, and that’s cute but it also seems too much of a coincidence. IDK I haven’t seen the og so I can’t tell if it felt realistic, but I definitely like that in Skam Italia the boysquad went to a professional.)

Oh, dr. Spera how I missed you.

Giovanni Garau and Roberto Spera doing the Lord’s work and spreading the Very Important Message that you should not a) believe everything that’s online; b) only look up things online without talking to experts or reading their book/articles/papers etc.; c) self diagnose- or diagnose someone else on the basis of something you read on Wikipedia or WebMD

NAMACISSI. Guys, we knew it was something significant! *pats the whole fandom on the back*

“Is it Buddhist?” no, honey, that’s namastè

Dr. Spera’s desk is blue, he’s wearing blue, but the walls are yellowish and the light is much warmer here than in the bathroom.

Martino tells him everything this time. About Niccolò, about the off-again, on-again they went through, about finally getting together and being finally happy until last Friday. 

I wonder how amny encouraging looks and nods Giovanni had to give him to make Marti spill all the tea.

I wonder how many times the boys cut in and how many times their eyes widened and their ears perked up because Martino said something they hadn’t heard about before.

Robert Spera, patron saint of debunking false information and asking the right questions. 

And the KING OF SHADE. He disses Trump and reads Maddalena for filth while also shading Martino (”Tre mesi...UNA LUMINARE!”). We stan.

 I nearly fell over laughing when he didn’t know what blocking meant and I love Luca for explaining and promising to teach him, I bet poor Roberto has given out his number to subscribe to something and now there are so many telemarketers calling and messaging him trying to sell him the weirdest things.

Bless Luchino. As I mentioned before, I knew what was going to happen in this clip and I loved the things they changed but I also lovelovelove that Luca still got to tell Marti not to believe Maddalena. He’s naive, he has acted plain dumb, he has been ignorant to the point of offense, he is not the most empatically aware, so it’s much more significant when he’s the one to point things out.

And of course I love the wording and I feel for the translators who have to deal with it. And I love that dr. Spera uses the same words (what else could we expect from the man who asked “E se il copilota è andato a pisciare?”)

Luca casually dropping “Ti ama” (He loves you) and “È innamorato di te” (He’s in love with you), nonchalantly, like he’s talking about the weather and my heart doing high kicks and backflips. Can’t even begin to think what Marti’s was doing.

the boysquad Can’t Deal™ with Martino, Gio facepalms, Elia looks away with the far away expression of a soldier who just came back home, Luchino goes for the classic “Ma che cazzo stai a di’?” (WTF are you saying?) hand gesture

dr Spera looks on, approving

“Te l’ho già detto che ti devi fidare degli amici” MARTINO GUARDAMI MARTINOOOOO

dr Spera slips up and talks about the last time he and Marti talked, but he notices his mistake right away and fixes it changing the subject (THAT HOW YOU AVOID  BLOWING A COVER, DO YOU HEAR ME 3.4!NICCOLÒ?)

I love that Roberto Spera has one (1) “experiment” that’s so versatile he can use it for all occasions

Luchino not being able to physically support Martino by himself during the experiment though (I desperately tried not to read into this, because I want it to be a thing done for shits and giggles, I want it to be just fun, but my mind keeps replaying “so are you like..transgender?” and “whe two gay men have sex one is the man and the other one is the woman?” and, yeah, on his own Luchino would not be able to support Martino in the metaphorical sense either)

anyways, I love i Contrabbandieri for going to the psychologist’s office all together, both to support Marti and because they’ve already adopted his boyfriend Niccolò and he’s not feeling well, which makes Martino not feel well either and they want to know why-how-when-how can we help

I wonder how Gio will feel when he’ll inevitably get out of Martino that he went to talk to dr. Spera before coming out to him, before talking to him. Will he be hurt that his friend didn’t feel like he could talk to him? Will he feel guilty? 

(Let’s not forget that afaik the boysquad still doesn’t know about Filippo. How will they all, especially Giovanni, take the fact that Martino told basically a stranger about Nico before telling them? I need fic explorations of the dynamics that all these characters will create)

Anyways, once again Martino exits dr. Spera’s office with an important life lesson, a new outlook on life and hope, as well as bruises from falling on his ass

(Giovanni and Elia in that position, laughing at their friend are giving me ~feelings~ I don’t know why)

Well, I guess that’s it. My inbox is open if there’s anything you want to discuss!

[shortcutohappiness]

these spot the difference games are getting harder

[mssilence]

Clip 9.3 - Namacissi

Okay so besides the fact that I loved today’s clip there is something that I noticed that I’d like to add.

See those holes in the stall? You can see them on multiple doors in this bathroom (if not all of them). Then Martino walks out and we see him struggling to open the faucet to wash his hands, to the point where Gio suggests just using the other one.

The boys then go to the school’s psychologist and he’s in this room:

Judging by the state of the walls this is without a doubt one of the worst spaces in the school, so we can infer the level of importance that is given to the figure of the phychologist and to mental health in general.

I always see people criticizing every little detail about this remake so I wanted to add something positive about it. It’s things like these that make me appreciate this series even more, since as an Italian student I can say that the majority of public schools here are exactly like this. These can seem like details but I really think they speak volumes about what is far from positive in our education system.

[martinoguardamimartino]

Clip 9.3 - Namacissi

L: Ma era nudo?

M: Nudo.

L: Nudo nudo?

M: Sì.

E: Ma soprattutto che cazzo ce facevate a Milano?

M: Fratè, a vedere un bar.

E: Un bar?

M: Sì.

G: Ma cos'è che ha esattamente?

M: Tipo un disturbo della personalità.

L: Cazzo! Pesante, eh?

E: Ma se non sai manco che è.

L: Perché te lo sai?

E: No, infatti sto zitto.

L: Te lo sai che cos'è?

G: No.

L: Ma che cos'è?

M: Regà, in realtà è pure una cosa grave. Cioè, in realtà ho letto su internet che la metà dei pazienti si suicida a 25 anni. Però era un sito di medicina, non capivo un cazzo.

G: Zí, usa questo.

M: Grazie.

G: Comunque, vedi, anch'io una volta, mi ricordo che mi usciva il sangue dalle gengive, ho controllato su internet, zí, c'avevo la leucemia. Poi sono andato dal mio medico e m'ha detto che non c'avevo niente.

L: Vabbè ma non ci sta lo psicologo a scuola?

E: Chi? Il disperato che se magna il sedano seduto sulle scale?

L: Namacissi. Cos'è? Tipo una cosa buddista?

R: Ma quale buddista? "Non. Andare. Mai. A. Controllare. I. Sintomi. Su. Internet." E questa è la prima cosa. E la seconda è: la persona è trattata?

M: Che ne so, l'ho scoperto tre giorni fa che era matto.

R: Ma che matto? È un disturbo di personalità borderline. Ci sono tante persone che vivono abbastanza normalmente. C'è anche chi diventa presidente degli Stati Uniti. Comunque a parte gli scherzi, si tratta di indovinare i farmaci, tutto lì, poi si può condurre una vita quasi normale.

E: Be', però vedi che...

G: Sì, no a sto punto puoi anche togliergli il blocco.

R: Quale blocco?

G: No è una...

L: È una funzione del telefono con il quale si possono bloccare i messaggi di alcune persone.

R: Davvero? È formidabile! Ma si può fare?

L: Certo certo.

R: E poi mi insegni?

L: Chiaro!

R: E tu perché l'hai bloccato?

M: Perché ho scoperto che stava con una ragazza e mi cercava solo quando c'aveva gli attacchi psicotici.

R: E questo quando lo hai capito?

M: Me l'ha detto lei, la ragazza.

R: La sua ragazza.

M: Sì, che ne so, studia medicina lei.

L: Ma sei scemo? Cioè tu pensi che lei ti dice che lui non ti ama, perché è medico e non perché magari è gelosa in culo, scusi il termine, e rosica che il suo ex ragazzo è innamorato di te? Mh?

R: Questa "gelosa in culo" da quanto starebbe studiando medicina scusa?

M: No, in realtà da tre mesi.

E: Come tre mesi?

R: Ah, tre mesi, una luminare, eh?

G: Parlaci.

R: Te l'ho già detto, no, che ti devi fidare degli amici? Te lo ricordi?

G: Ma quando?

R: Dai, forza, facciamo un esperimento! Dai, non c'ho tempo da perdere. In mezzo alla stanza, su, su, su. Sveglia, sveglia, sveglia.

L: Mi metto con lui?

R: Tu con lui, schiena contro schiena. E rilassatevi. Okay? Abbandonatevi.

E: Okay.

R: Appoggiatevi l'uno all'altro, fidatevi dell'altro. Io vado a prendere un caffè.

G: Tu stai comodo?

E: Io sto comodo. Come un caffè prof?

G: Ha detto cinque minuti, ha detto.

R: Rilassatevi.

M: Non tremare.

L: Okay. Sto per toppà.

M: Ma che cazzo, Lu. Ma tienimi no?

L: Eh, regà, non ce la faccio.

[shortcutohappiness]

he asc

but he also attac

[mentalcurls]

10. Perché mi hai fatto una cosa del genere?

My thoughts on this episode were all over the place, I can’t even find main themes to put in this little intro, so, fuck it! Get ready for me getting angry at least a couple of times because of men, as I’m wont to do, and have a look at the results of the Bechdel test for the episode at the end!

in the previous episode, I forgot to call attention to Eva taking charge of the situation when Alice goes after Laura: that’s the boss!Eva from Silvia’s party in S2, the same person we haven’t seen in a month, since the day Edoardo showed up at her house early for his date with Silvia; and here we see a version of her again, she’s a girl with a purpose and since Marti doesn’t answer her she’s gonna hunt him down

but why is Marti online?

ok so the day Marti’s dad leaves him and his mom is May 24th or 25th; the first night of proper, restful sleep we’re sure Marti gets is November 1st; five months and change of insomnia, caring for his depressed mom and bottling things up in general 💔

Gio is in red! again!

the stilted conversation between Eva and Gio, the pauses, it hurts to watch

especially because on top of the general awkwardness of being not-quite-exes and not on the best of terms (it’s quite possible this is the first time they’ve talked since ep. 8); the fact that we know Eva knows makes things even more painful to watch

and God, but Gio is honestly so caring: even here, while they’re in this weird limbo between being people with a friend in common, mostly-exes and fighting, he still asks Eva how she’s feeling, how things are with her and empathizes with her

and after Eva asks Gio to say hi to Marti for her, there’s a minute where she’s mulling, she’s about to say something and I’m dead with wanting to know what: is it something about them? Is it a “I’m working on what you told me, you were right”? Is it about Marti interfering with them and Alice? Or, even more painful, does she want to say something, but can’t find anything to say to Gio???

the most painful goodbye, aborted tries for a hug, then an embarrassed kiss on the cheek and Gio turning his back on Eva to go to Marti

oh, God. Gio turns his back on Eva to go to Marti.

did the school only let them use one bathroom for shooting?? or was it LudoBesse’s favorite, the only one that had the Light™? This is not only the same bathroom where Eva dragged Laura last episode, but the one in which Marti and Nico will have their secret rendezvous in 5.4 Pausa and where Marti will tell i Contrabbandieri about Milan in 9.3 Namacissi

oh, good, Silvia is on speaking terms with Eva again!

and Eva cried because of Silvia’s words, for fuck’s sake, but here she tells her they were not a big deal and I’m half thankful because look at how bad poor Silvia feels, you see it in her face; but I’m also half mad cause that wasn’t okay

and here we go! Silvia dropping the mask and admitting that for as much as she tries to live her fantasy of being well liked and dating Edo like Valentina in RPDR All Stars, she can’t delude herself enough to actually believe it: her insecurity runs so deep it makes my chest hurt

“It always ends with everyone hating me. I’m used to it.” WHO TOLD HER THEY HATED HER AND SHE WAS GOING TO BE HATED Francesca Mirabella, I’m looking at you, it might not have been you but you probably had something to do with it, she’s your sister ffs, why don’t you try to help her and lift her up??

Eva tries, she tries hard, but there’s only so much she can do, in part because she doesn’t know how, in part because it’s pretty late, in part because Silvia is spiraling and she won’t listen to her anyways

and Eva and Gio are alone again, good job universe: keep shoving them together and they’ll have to start talking again, now that things have died down and they’re calmer

Gio is in Middle earth: reddish-brown t-shirt, blue shirt on top, not quite of red zone but slowly going back to a more normal blue

Eva really really doesn’t want to fail: I wish we’d seen a glimpse of her family again, if she’s apologized to her mom and has explained and not failing any subjects is a way to prove her good will; if it is a way to apologize, to make up for the near-suspension and try and break down the barrier between them so she can talk and explain and maybe even ask for advice

safe subjects, common ground between Gio and Eva: the exam, Marti, their next class (still interspersed with those awkward silences)

things can’t keep going like that, they’ve been walking on eggshells around one another, they’re bound to break one at some point

except they don’t get to because Canegallo does it for them

and again, allow me to repeat how much of an asshole I think he is: he was walking by them, sure, but he simply had to keep his mouth shut and ignore them for things not to go south, instead he purposefully stirs shit; had it been Gio by himself would he have said anything? I don’t think so, he’s just trying to show Eva he’s over her, but catch her attention at the same time and pay her back for the story getting out by putting her in a difficult position with Gio; and he literally does it just for shits and giggles, since he surely never gave enough fucks about Alice to be upset now that she’s broken up with him, so even “revenge” is just a facade for the desire to cause drama

Gio is channeling his inner Elia and Eva is immediately on high alert, even before he shoves Federico

and everything was going decently, if not well, then motherfucking Canegallo had to open his whore mouth and also throw Gio on the floor and look, look at the look Giovanni gives Eva when she tries to calm him down, just before walking away from her: that look is saying it again “How could you kiss him? How can you like him and people like him and go out with them and kiss any of them?” (hard same tbh, Eva, how?)

so things went to shit again

oh look, it’s Alice, again… it’s like Eva’s a flame and they’re all like moths, jeez

at least Alice has finally broken things off with Canegallo for real and I’d like to thank not only God but also Jesus

and she’s proudly announcing she’s the one who dumped his sorry ass and that’s the best part for me, such a far call from last episode’s “I can’t dump him”

I have so many problems with the “alcoholic feminist night” for single girls who are angry with men Alice’s planning and with Eva’s interpretation of it as a lesbian thing and with them agreeing that homosexuality might prove to be a solution like OH. MY. GOD

so few words, so many wrong messages. These girls, honestly. Eleonora, magically appear and slap some sense into them please

aaaaaand the actual “girls only” night begins with a shot where there are five guys or so…so much for coherence

at least the girls seem to be having fun

Eleonora’s “Okay” is soooo unconvincing, I mean, yeah, you’re outvoted,ok, but at least take the defeat with some attempt at grace; especially given that when they’re recording the video she abandons all pretenses of still holding a grudge and smiles, jokes and happily invites Silvia with all the others

so, not only there are those boys from the first shot at the party, but also Marti Elia and Peccio are there. Again: wasn’t this GIRLS ONLY PARTY?

unless they’re following the girls to find out where they’re meeting, watching from afar like lurkers and waiting for their chance to slip in when the girls get drunker. Wouldn’t put it past them

some casual, subtle racism from Marti and Elia

ok so Peccio’s actual surname is Pecci, we’re one step closer to figuring out his name, and then he’ll officially have one before Mrs Rametta who’s 1543 times more important in the economy of the series LUDOBESSE GIVE MARTI’S MOM A NAME YOU COWARD

Marti’s boob comment. I just. Honey, why? Why make it somewhat sexual, why make Eva’s happiness about her appearance, specifically to an element of her appearance that is heavily objectified and sexualized by men and at the same time imply that it is frivolous to care about one’s appearance? (I have strong feelings about breasts and men’s/society’s attention to them)

so Marti’s reaction is: incredulous half-smile, uncomfortable wiggle, face going sad/disappointed purportedly because Gio didn’t tell him, fake ass happy comments

“I was happy to do it, I care about you two” yeah, Marti, how about we go once more and you at least try to put some feeling and conviction in it?

and in the most powerful power move Eva just laid down all her cards at once, then grabbed the table and fucking flipped it YAAASSS QUEEN

“Cause, you know, my relationship starts going to shit from that moment” EHM. Eva. Are you only lying to Martino to make him feel guiltier or are you lying to yourself as well?

MARTINOH GUARDAMI MARTINOH (I’ve been waiting ten episodes for this blessed moment of poetic cinema)

“C’mon Eva, you know fully well that I like you” and let me turn my question to you, Marti babe: are you only lying to get a believable alibi or are you lying to yourself as well?

and really, I want to know what’s in Marti’s head right now! He obviously had this excuse prepared so he either really thinks he really likes Eva and is completely unaware of his crush on Gio still, or he spent a long time trying to come up with a believable lie after he impulsively told Alice everything (I refuse to think he actually honestly premeditated it); or is he trying to convince himself he did it for Eva because he’s somewhat aware of his feeling for Gio but vehemently doesn’t want to accept them? As I type, I realize the third option is the most likely. Well, that throws me a bit, I’d always thought by this point Marti knew, I mean, the cabin

so that reframes the whole summer. It was the summer of acceptance for Marti. He makes peace with being gay, since he’s not fighting it still when he meets Nico, he accepts he likes Gio but nothing will ever come out of it, since in 1.2 Svegli he’s aware of his feelings, he accepts his dad won’t be coming back and he’s gonna have to care for his mom. What a summer.

and of course he did hurt when Eva came to him about Gio, of course he did, poor baby

Marti himself brings up the cabin, but really, even trying, in that conversation I can’t hear a lick of interest for Eva, and she probably didn’t either; how deeply in denial are you Marti?

Eva’s incredulity is heartbreaking, all her rage just goes right out of her

oooh, I hope I’m right about Marti not knowing his own feelings yet. Cause if Marti knows he’s into Gio and thinks of telling Eva he’s into here only as an excuse, it makes me so fucking angry? I just realized how fucking manipulative a move it is, not only because he tries to play into her feeling, but also just because it’s just such a sheerly ballsy move, one that yanks off the earth right under Eva’s feet and it is designed specifically so she’s gonna be shocked into letting go of her rightful anger and that’s such a fucking asshole move, I can’t even. Fuck.

so yeah, better convince myself Marti really believe he was into Eva at that point, even if it tilts my whole worldview for this show sideways

but Eva is so powerful walking away like that, despite the shock, despite asking for help to get down from the van, she radiates badassery and anger. And I thank God for that. If she’d been meek because she’s confused, if she hadn’t demanded to be helped like that it would have been so dismissive of her I would have probably cried actual tears

that poor girl, the friend-of-Alice’s whose party this was supposed to be. She doesn’t know these girls at all and now one of their friends got there blackout drunk and collapsed and her birthday celebration risks being shut down because they need to get medical help and that’s gonna bring a lot of questions about underage drinking, plus she’s worried, just out of basic decency and empathy, I mean, she might have alcohol poisoning or go into ethylic coma or die

and so we get to the parallel to catwalk in ep. 4 when the girls were going to Edoardo’s/Chicco Rodi’s (never quite figured that one out, I guess we’ll see next season)

but really, is that the best way to carry Silvia they could think of? Sana only holding her hand, while Eva (second shortest) carries the heaviest part of Silvia’s body her middle, by herself?

thank God for the Eleonora Savas and the Sana Allaguis of the world, ready to take charge of bad situations they’re in, to call for help even if others won’t admit to needing it and to get their hands dirty; honestly, boos to the Federicas of the world cause who cares about being grounded when there’s someone who’s fucking unconscious?

poor Sana, being looked at like she’s an alien just because she actually has hair like any normal human being (jk, it actually is a super sweet moment of girls bonding and supporting and lifting each other up)

yes to cuddly puppy piles in beds

aaaaand there goes the cliffhanger

I’d be super curious to know if for people who’d never seen any Skam before, Silvia being pregnant was actually believable? There was the unprotected sex, the mood swings, the puking... I felt it was pretty believable in Skam og when I watched it, but of course I having seen the og I’ve been spoiled how this ends, so I can’t gauge how convincing Skam Italia was (I feel like it wasn’t as convincing tbh but it might just be me knowing the truth, so) 🤷‍♀️

Bechdel test: this episode passes the test, because of the conversation around Silvia at Alice’s party. I think this might actually be the only conversation that happens fully on screen and is entirely devoid of any mention of any male character. In the conversation that have made other episodes pass the Bechdel test, there’s usually either some subtext, or a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it mention, or it’s a conversation that happens while we fade into a scene so we only hear the very last part of it, or the conversation veers into boy territory after a few lines. This is a welcome change.

This post is part of my complete series of meta about Skam Italia season 1.  If you’d like to read more of my thoughts about the other episodes, you can find the mastepost linked in the top bar on my blog under SKAMIT: EVA. Cheers!