#BUT then again i was always rooting for eva/vilde

[kiss2012]

sick about the skam remakes again...like i just want to be in a world where og skam had 6 seasons and then ended perfectly...eva for s1, noora for s2, isak for s3, sana for s4 (but Properly), vilde for s5, and jonas mahdi or magnus for the last season

[skamofcolor]

I don't completely hate, but have never been a fan of the Noora/William season on OG Skam. Is Skam Netherlands any good? Do they fix all the weird slightly abusive issues with William in Netherlands? I kinda wanna watch because I like the actress for Netherlands!Noora.

**Spoiler warning and mentions of sexual assault in this answer**

I would highly suggest watching both seasons of Skamnl if you haven’t already, but only if you’re okay watching things with sexual assault in them (if you’ve watched OG season 2 you already know about this storyline, and I would say NL makes it more explicit. They did add trigger warnings to those videos though after fans reached out to ask them to, in case you still want to watch but need to skip those clips). Both Suus de Nies (Isa / Dutch!Eva) and Zoë Love Smith (Liv / Dutch!Noora) are radiant mains and superb actresses, plus the supporting casts are so fun and bring a lot of emotionality to their roles. I think NL works because of it’s strong foundation (talking about the NL showrunners, not necessarily OG) and a dynamic cast.

In regards to Noah (Dutch!William) and Liv (aka, Noliv) in particular… (take this with a grain of salt because NL’s S2 isn’t over yet so we don’t know how well this analysis or opinion will hold up, particularly around Noah’s reaction to Morris (Dutch!Niko) assaulting Liv…)

I am an avid anti-William and anti-Noorhelm person, precisely because William reminded me of my abuser and I didn’t seen anything romantic about their storyline. One of the hard things about answering this question is that (and this is true of all the “Williams,”) is that they’re based on such an abusive creep that each remake would have to had changed the characterization and storyline from S1 to really make me enjoy the remake counterpart. I don’t think any remake has done this, to be frank; the baseline is so horrible, imo, that doing so might have actually been impossible. But that being said, I think Nl, Druck, and España changed enough aspects of their William so that they A) don’t remind me of my abuser and B) are actually a bit fun to watch. At this point I’m not a Noliv, Winterberg, or Norandro shipper but they’re tolerable enough for me that I’m not anti- like I am with Noorhelm and the others (at least when it comes to S2).

imo there are a few things that make NL S2 so much better than the OG, and a lot of it has to do with the framing of the story as more about Liv and her growth rather than like… William manipulating Noora and Noora… realizing William wasn’t all that bad? idk. Noliv is central, don’t get me wrong, but it almost feels like a secondary point, just one of many things going on in Liv’s life, as opposed to being the only thing that matters (as it often felt for me during Noora’s season, even with all the other stuff going on for her). For all intents and purposes, Noora’s season always felt like it was about William’s feelings and reactions, not about Noora’s - even her being sexually assaulted was framed as more about how William would react, and then, how he did react. It always felt like Noora was (I’m not talking about her sexual assault here) was a passive player in her own season, constantly gaslit and doing things because of William. Liv seems to have more agency in her own story - she does things because she wants to, even if she doesn’t want to admit it to herself yet.

So with this framing in mind, I think that there are a few major things that I would say make Noliv better than Noorhelm:

1) The acting. Sorry, it has to be said. I’m not sure who directed Josefine (Noora) to look constantly frightened and/or annoyed or who directed Thomas (William) to look like a serial killer but that really didn’t help. I’m not sure what people are talking about when they say Noorhelm has chemistry just because the two actors looks so flat and uncomfortable all the time in every scene, imo. It’s sad because generally Josefine lights up the screen and is great at microexpressions but she looks genuinely frightened or flat in most of the Noorhelm scene that are supposed to be “romantic.” Thomas either looks creepy or bored. In contrast, Zoë and Monk (Noah) I think bring really nuanced emotions to Noliv. Monk portrays someone who seems 50% serious, 50% laughing at everything in any given situation, and I think he brings something fun to Noah. Even in Noah’s creep moments (like when he keeps showing up at Liv’s place unannounced) Monk is so… charming in that role that it’s easy to forgot that this is like… something an actual stalker does and it’s not cute. Similarly, Zoë makes Liv look at Noah with a genuine fondness as their relationship grows, like “I can’t believe I actually like this dork.” Zoë portrays a host of emotions that make sense in the scenes, and is great at showing hints of emotions that Liv feels but doesn’t want to show.

2) Liv’s agency. So again, I always felt like in OG S2, things were happening to Noora or that she was pressured into things as opposed to her choosing to do things. I think NL made a few dialogue and timeline changes to make it seem like Liv had more choice than Noora did, imo. For example, when Liv asks Noah to stop contacting Engel, he says “sure, if you go on a date with me,” but it seems like a joke? And then… suddenly Liv and Noah are on a date AFSGRG it didn’t have the blackmailing/build up that the OG Noorhelm date had, imo. Or how Noah’s mom dies during the season (actually, during the first Noliv “date”/meeting/whatever), and the show doesn’t try to frame him as being!an asshole from that trauma? As opposed to William, who was an asshole because of the trauma of his sister being killed… offscreen…  years ago. But anyway in doing this, it’s Liv who decides to go to Noah’s house and stay over to comfort him, rather than Noora going to a party “for Vilde” and then staying over. There are a few other things but I always got the feeling (which is why it read like abusive) that William was always controlling and one step ahead of Noora. Liv and Noah seem like they’re much more even footing, oftentimes with Liv controlling the narrative.

3) Noah’s characterization. Look, I’m the first one to say being a ~sensitive artist~ doesn’t mean you can’t be a raging misogynist, and I think that’s true for Noah. A lot of his actions in S1 were rooted in misogyny and he never really made up for that. But at least Noah has a personality. And it’s not just being an artist hipster, I actually find him funny and occasionally thoughtful and he’s charming enough for Ralph to like him. I also think he’s more intuitive then William was, just in terms of how he responds to Liv’s reactions to him. It’s baseline empathy but he leaves when she asks him to, he seems to take her fears about their relationship seriously (instead of just rolling his eyes and telling her to get over it), he often waits for her to make the first move. It’s like… from the beginning we know he’s interested in Liv but a lot of the framing is that he’s not actively pursuing her or cross her boundaries - it’s her who comes to him, imo. I actually see redeemable qualities in Noah (again: with the caveat that the season isn’t over yet). I find him fun to watch and I actually smiled at a lot of the interactions between him and Liv. I even thought his reasoning for beating up that guy made sense (the OG bus fight parallel), and I was sympathetic to both his and Liv’s feelings about it. I also think it helps that none of the characters (and, dare I say the show itself) take Noah very seriously? LMAO I always felt like William was supposed to be like, this Unattainable God (ugh) but Noah is just… funny? Like during one of his slow-mos in S1 someone shoots a literal canon of glitter as he walks by! Or how the girl squad keeps calling him “wack painter kid” LOL. This again, has a lot to do with Monk’s humor coming through, but Noah isn’t overblown the way William was, imo. There’s no idol-worship happening behind the scenes…

So with all of this together I think they did manage to make Noliv better because it doesn’t feel abusive the way that Noorhelm does. In the beginning of S2 Noah is still creepy and the show seems to be framing it as cutesy which is my biggest issue with the ship (plus the Engel (Dutch!Vilde) and Noah S1 backstory). But so far, I think they’ve managed to make it something that’s at least a bit enjoyable for me and not downright hard to watch. This is just my opinion, though, if other abusive survivors feel differently they’re also entitled to their opinions! But if the sexual assault storyline won’t bother or trigger you, I would say give S2 a try. NL also isn’t geoblocked and the skamdutch team adds English subtitles right on the Youtube clips! So def watch it on their channel if you try it out.

- mod Jennifer

**NOTE: formatting should be fixed, ok to reblog now**

[oatmilkovich]

rules:

always repost the rules

answer the questions given to you by the one who tagged you!

give 11 questions

tag 11 people

tagged by @davidfors5, thank you lovely! <3

1. fave character from each remake and why? considering i’ve only seen druck and nl it their entirety i’ll only do those:

druck: matteo florenzi - i’ve truly never related to a character the way i have with matteo, the way he processes things and experiences things. I adore him and I think they did a wonderful job at making their isak original and authentic. also david, jonas and amira. 

nl: isa keijser - i love love love isa, i think she is a wonderful friend with a huge heart. i adored her season. 

2. fave musical moment?

from og skam - håper du har plass in the los losers scene druck - i love you too dun dun dun TAKE ME TO CHURCH (i love season three’s use of that song) or clean eyes or you’re somebody else skam nl - mysteries of love in the scene during s1 where they’re sitting on the roof and they start calling out kes’ name. 

3. if you could make your own season, who would it be about and what would happen?

i’d definitely love a season without a romance, i spent a lot of my years as a teenager feeling isolated by all the teenage romance i’d see on tv and not experience so i would love to give other kids a break from that. but also, maybe one that wasn’t set in high school, like i’d do one of like a gap year and someone figuring out what they want to do and take themselves. i think, cause i think a big thing is kids come out of school and they’re expected to know right away what they want to do so i think it would be interesting to give thought and space to people who don’t know what they want to do and know that not knowing is okay. 

4. rank the sanas ( I’m evil I know )

again, considering i’ve only seen druck and skam nl: 1. amira 2. imaan/esra (i love love love the new addition of esra in s2, i think it’s wonderful for the girls to have a mentor like ralph). 

5. fave season from each remake and why?

i’d have to go with season 3 for druck, obviously. i love that they switched things up and took the opportunity for trans rep instead of going with a white 25 yo model - some things could’ve been handled a lot better but experiencing the season was so special to me. matteo’s journey from how incredibly lonely and isolated he felt at the beginning of the season into blossoming into this open and proud and confident happy boy was practically magical to watch. i love david and lukas’ portrayal was phenomenal. it wasn’t just a season about a romantic love, but love for yourself, for your best friends, for your mother and learning that it is okay to breathe and take your time. 

and for skam nl, it’s definitely season one. i loved watching isa her friendships with the girls and seeing the really cool changes they made to the story. the scene were they all throw up after pizza? incredible, bonding, unique. isa’s nose piercing? brilliant fantastic.  

6. What’s your opinion on s2? what do you like and dislike the most? which remake made the best s2? (españa doesn’t count)

the best thing about season two is the music, the easter special episode and the girls supporting one another (at points). i despise william and the penetrator boys and i think season two flushes a lot of what season 1 noora stood for down the drain. william is horribly manipulative and it really really sucks the amount of people that think their relationship started in a healthy and cute way. too many scenes of them making out at random points for no reason. i hate the fact she ditches her friends at the end to go have sex. boo season 2. 

now, i was definitely impressed with the way that druck handled seasons 2. i thought chris veres brought a lot more to the table for alex’s character - he actually had some depth and wasn’t just a wooden asshole. i ended up rooting for mia and alex, which is definitely something i never thought i would do w/ a remade noorhelm. i was incredibly disappointed with how skam nl handled s2. i originally liked noah, i thought they had put a really interesting spin on his character but i can’t believe they kept the gross reaction in and the scene where she runs after him?? how?? in MY skam nl??? and then having liv turn up at his door in a wedding dress only for him to reject her and then let her cry and change his mind suddenly?? it made no sense and was just really humiliating. i ALSO disliked how the characters were still so young, liv was supposed to be 16 into 17? whereas druck made them older which i think makes more sense for the season 2 storyline overall. so in conclusion: i hate season 2 but druck remade season 2 the best. 

7. what representation would you like to see in Skam (other than more wlw)?

i would definitely love to see some more class representation - like looking at the working class and the less well off (kinda with how they were hinting at with vilde’s story) because all the of the characters seem to be in pretty good shape money wise and that aint realistic in this day and age. 

8 what country would you like to see a remake and why?

i’d love to see a remake in an eastern european country or south america. maybe like, russia. 

9. fave head canon?

i have a head canon that matteo works as a social worker in the future whilst david goes to film school and has a pretty successful career as an indie director.

10. sort characters into Hogwarts houses

this is painful ps these are all subject to change feel free to start up an actual discussion 

hufflepuff - carlos, vilde, sam, chris berg, even, possibly matteo? isa? hans, engel, janna  slytherin - isak, sana, amira, kiki possibly? matteo? gryffindor - isa? jonas augustin, abdi, hanna, alexander?, eva ravenclaw - noora, mia, liv, david?, esra, jonas noah vasquez 

squib - stefan

11. tell me your best crossover idea

that the boys on their roadtrip ended up in utrecht for skam nl s3 (kidding) but i would love it if there was just a moment of coexistence between the og and druck. i think skam nl handled it really well w/ eskild turning up and interacting with hans, that was fantastic. i would love eskild and hans to meet. 

i love this game but i’ve already done 11 questions and tagged 11 people and i have anxiety about irritating people so i won’t write any more <3

[time-to-go-97-blog]

Eva x Chris. Secrets.

Thanks so much for the prompt!!! Enjoy... 😊

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It was meant to be a secret. That much was agreed upon by the two of them, she had her reasons and he had his. She didn’t want people to think she was making a stupid mistake by trusting Penetrator Chris and he knew there was something different about Eva so wanted to preserve their relationship without the eyes of the spectators from school. It started off with hooking up, they both had felt something when they kissed at Halloween. So, they started texting back and forth, arranging to meet up one night where it all began. They’d kissed again that night but it was different, they were both coming out of relationships that had failed because of one another. Yet, they felt freer when they were with one another. After that, they kept arranging to meet up at places they knew they wouldn’t run into anyone else or at each other’s house where they continued hooking up. It was magical and it was secretive which made it that more thrilling. But then something changed; suddenly, it wasn’t just hooking up and leaving early then next morning, it was staying over for breakfast, enjoying a cup of coffee together that resulted in them parting ways without hooking up. It was a shoulder to lean on, someone they could rely on, someone they could trust. It turned from furtive kisses to late nights spent talking to each other before falling asleep. It turned from no strings attached to gradually developed feelings from both parties. Eva didn’t know how it happened, she remembers days spent thinking of Chris and Chris only, but she thought nothing of it. Chris knew that he was happier when Eva was around but he also thought nothing of it. So, they continued as usual, neither aware of the feelings the other person was harboring for them.

Surprisingly, Chris B was the first person to find out. It was a Tuesday and Chris had been relentlessly texting Eva all morning. Finally, he managed to track her down next to her locker and, luckily for him, she was alone. He gently pushes her into the nearest empty classroom, both keeping an eye out for anyone watching them. They enter the room and close the door behind them smiling at each other knowing they could spend the next five minutes making out heavily before they had to leave for class. They waste no time; he cups her face with his hands kissing her softly at first before they’re both overcome with burning desire making their kisses more aggressive. He lifts her up abruptly and places her on the nearest desk, sliding himself between her open legs; one hand on her thigh, the other under her shirt placed on her waist. Her left hand reaches up and gets entangled in his hair whereas her right-hand hooks around him and pulls him closer to her. He lets out a low groan as he starts to trail kisses along her jaw, she lets her head fall back granting him more access. They barely register the sound of the door opening until they hear an exaggerated cough which results in them pulling apart. Chris makes sure Eva is ok before he turns around to question the person who interrupted them; Eva peers over him shoulder and they’re both surprised to see Chris B stood with a smile on her face.

“well well well, what have we here,” her voice is dripping with smugness.

“We-we were just,” Eva stutters, trying to think of a plausible excuse.

“Oh please, you two were all over each other, it was pretty clear what you were doing,” replies Chris, saving her from the embarrassment of thinking of a bad lie. Chris stands in front of Eva with a sheepish grin. She looks directly at the both of them and boldly states, “it was pretty hot,” which causes Eva to cough violently and Chris to uncharacteristically cover his face with his hands.

“So,” Chris B decides to save them from their embarrassment, “who else knows about this little rendezvous?”

“Just you,” Eva replies, she looks over at Chris then back at Chris B, “and we, well we’re hoping we could keep it that way.”

“Sure guys, no problem. Next time, find a room that doesn’t have window in the door, that’s how I saw you.” Chris B turns to walk back out the door but stops last minute and turns back to the duo, “also remember kids; no glove, no love,” she winks and turns to leaves. Chris lets out a laugh, “I like her.” Eva just rests her forehead on his shoulder already exhausted with the day, yet a small smile plays at her lips.

Sana finds out next. Eva still isn’t sure how she knew to question Eva but Sana always seems to know everything, it was like a sixth sense. They were both sat on the window ledge at school. Eva’s favourite place at school. She liked looking outside at all the people living their lives unknowing that they were being watched momentarily. It made her feel calm and relaxed. Sana was sat opposite to her reading over some biology notes when she closed her book abruptly. She looks up and Eva instantly knows Sana wanted to talk about something. They both look out the huge windows and Eva tenses when she notices Chris’ walking past outside, her instant reaction is to smile, something which Sana realizes. It’s what she needed to question Eva further.

“You and Chris, what’s going on there?” Sana isn’t one for small talk, so she goes in with the main question straightaway.

“Oh, nothing really,” Eva tries to reply nonchalantly.

“Come on, Eva. Something’s going on. It’s obvious when you know what to look for. You want to keep it a secret, right?” Sana questions.

Eva thinks for a moment before deciding to tell Sana the truth, “Ok fine, yes we’re hooking up. But we want it to be secret so please don’t tell anyone.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. it’s not my secret to tell,” she reassures Eva. “Besides, this is really good for the bus.”

“Sana, I’m not doing it for the bus,” Eva laughs.

“Oh, so you actually have feelings for him,” Sana fires back.

“No,” Eva replies quickly, not yet coming to terms with her feelings for Chris

“Whatever you say. At least he’s better than Jonas,” Sana says with a roll of her eyes, “do you want to go get some lunch?” That’s the last they discuss Chris and Eva is grateful for it.

Vilde finds out whilst she was studying with Eva. They were sat in the common area at school working through their homework together; both had agreed to work on it at school. They’d been sat opposite each other for an hour when Vilde asked if she could use Eva’s phone calculator. Vilde’s phone was packed away in her bag and she couldn’t be bothered to go rooting around for it, it was easier to use Eva’s. Unfortunately for Eva, a minute after Vilde started using it, a series of texts from Chris rolled through. Vilde didn’t mean to read them but her eyes couldn’t help but divert to the banner at the top of the screen.

“Er, Eva?” Vilde questions hesitatingly.

“Yeah,” Eva replies without looking up, eyes furrowed at the question before her,

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to read them,” she starts, which causes Eva to look up. She starts to ramble, “you know how it is, my eyes just instinctively read them as they rolled on screen-”

“What was it,” Eva already knows she’s talking about a text, but she’s wondering who the sender was.

“It said Chris. Is there something you want to tell me? Like, what’s going on between you two? He mentioned something about meeting up tonight for just a movie. And then he sent a bunch of random emoji’s,” she questions, relaying the texts back to Eva.

Eva pinches the bridge of her nose, and thinks, you might as well tell her, she’s practically guessed it anyway.

“Well, we’re hooking up,” she starts, then as an afterthought adds, “secretly, so please don’t tell anyone.”

“What,” Vilde practically shouts causing a several people to look over. She lowers her voice and continues, “seriously, since when?”

“For a while now,” reveals Eva, feeling slightly bad for keeping such a huge secret from her friends, “it started as just hook ups at first but recently it’s turning into something more..” she trails off.

“Please, be careful, Eva. You know what the Penetrators are like,” Vilde replies before adding, “does he make you happy? Like, are you truly happy?”

Eva doesn’t even need to think about an answer, so immediately replies, “yes.” It’s firm and assertive which tells Vilde everything she needs to know. Eva starts to think of ways she can tell Chris that another person from her girl squad knows about them, knowing he’ll probably start laughing like he did when she told him Sana knows.

Surprisingly, Noora is the last person of her girl squad to find out. It’s a lazy Monday afternoon and they were sat in Eva’s room having just finished school. They’d made plans to relax for the evening, order some pizza and maybe watch some television shows. It was Noora’s idea but she also had other incentives. She was going to bring up Chris. It was an hour after they’d finished school. Eva was lounging on her bed and Noora was sat on her floor thinking of a way to approach the topic. She decided to just go for whatever seemed natural.

“Soooo,” Noora lets the word drag out, “you and Chris, huh?”

Eva sits up abruptly and faces Noora who has a smirk on her face. “How do you know?” questions Eva.

“I mean, I’ve had my suspicions for a while of course. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?” she starts, “but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure.”

“Well, it’s true. We’re hooking up. I’d tell you not to tell anyone but everyone else has sort of found out already,” Eva trails of feeling guilty that Noora was the last to know.

“I’m the last to know,” Noora questions, disbelieving.

“Sorry,” Eva replies, “everyone else kind of just found out accidentally. Chris walked in on us kissing at school,” Eva groans at the memory.

“Shut up,” replies Noora smoothly, smiling widely, “no, I’m happy for you.” She continues to stare at Eva for several minutes with a huge, slightly creepy smile on her face.

“Can you stop smiling like that, it’s weird,” Eva states bluntly, but Noora ignores her. Several more minutes’ pass and Noora is genuinely happy for Eva. She can tell that Chris has been good to Eva, as she’s been much happier recently.

“Seriously, stop it,” says Eva once more, “it’s weird,” she whines burying her head in her pillow.

“Just cause you’re in loooooove with him, Eva,” she says it jokingly, just to tease Eva a little. Instead Eva replies slowly, as if in realization;

“I-I suppose I am.” This shocks Noora, completely throwing her off. Eva takes this as her chance to walk upstairs, she reaches the door when Noora’s voice calls her, all humour having left her voice.

“Wait, Eva. Stop. Come back,” she chases Eva up the stairs. “Tell me more, I wanna know more. You can’t just leave it like that.” Eva just laughs in response, relieved that all her friends finally know about her and Chris.  

[2fiskekaker]

Why Skam means a lot to me

Skam is over. It has been a journey, an adventure. This is one of the most ambivalent feelings I have experienced in my years on this planet. I’m so thankful for everything. I’m so thankful that I discovered Skam 10 months ago and got to experience all these things. However, I’m also incredibly sad and it leaves a terrible void in my heart knowing that the last clip ever now has been released. 

It sounds weird but the release of season 3 is already an incredibly nostalgic feeling to me. Back then what feels like a hundred years ago, I didn’t know what this series would do to me, would mean to me. For the course of season 3, I dedicated my life to the show. All week I would spend an unhealthy amount of time doing Skam related stuff on the internet. By the end of the week, I would re-watch the clips in the full episode in an almost religious way. I would turn off my phone, dim all lights except a couple of candles and then watch the episode on the big screen with all my focus. 

Because of this I almost got annoyed by how my friends watched the show. They would watch an episode in the middle of being on their phone, while eating, doing other stuff, or right before going to work etc. This was so far from how I watched the show myself. I needed several hours afterwards to process and discuss the episode online. I think that this is related to how I felt (feel) deeply connected to Isak. I felt like I was Isak and that I could acquaint with his problems on a deeper level. So when my friends watched the show in a more superficial and entertaining manner (which is probably perfectly normal) I would get annoyed because I felt like it was my life and my problems. And by that, it felt like they didn’t care about my life or my problems, which probably isn’t true. I felt like everything was directed at me. I took it personally. 

Days went by with endless updates of the website hoping for an update. I used hours discussing and reading discussions in the Danish fan group “Kosegruppa DK”. I read analyses, theories, recaps, articles. I watched the news in Norwegian, I watched other tv shows from Norway. The real-time aspect made it real for me. I had to live Isak’s life as well as my own. I have felt hopeless, happy, relieved, hurt, angry, sad, in love. I had never been this paralysed by a tv-show before. A tv-show which paused my real life. Some people would probably suggest that I needed help when I say that nothing, nothing in my own life was more important to me than Skam was in the autumn of 2016. I spent time learning Norwegian, despite it being mutually intelligible with Danish, my native language. I listened to Norwegian radio, to train my understanding of spoken Norwegian. I read random news articles out loud to train speaking Norwegian. I borrowed a 600-page book about Norway and Denmark’s common past in history. I even looked up how to move to Norway and the requirements to obtain citizenship for citizens from the other Scandinavian countries. 

That is, I have been planning and living a life that wasn’t my own. Skam has made me realise a lot of things and has made me learn a lot about other people. I don’t think that any tv-show ever will be able to make me philosophise and think about my own life, and what is wrong about it, in the same way Skam has. This is, of course, being emphasised when I see the characters’ relationships. I know that I never will experience that type of love you do when you are a teenager. Time has simply gone by. I know that I won’t experience the freedom and unity of living with my friends in a commune. Both because of being too old, but also because I’m not even entirely sure that I have any friends that would want to do it with me. I know that I won’t experience having been growing up in a capital city with everything that comes with it. And lastly, I know that I won’t ever get a life where school is just a side-issue and the friends, drama, parties, and problems are the main focus. These are things that remind me of how my own life is and why I would rather have another, why I want to escape sometimes.

Of course, it’s not healthy to live in a parallel universe but Skam has relieved some of the pain of living, in a way that no other thing ever has, whatsoever. And when you get updates every single day during the season, then it’s just even easier to live through someone else. I feel like I probably wasn’t suitable to watch Skam in real-time, especially in season three, because of the fact that I invested myself so deeply. I adopted the show and integrated it in my own life in a way that made me mentally exhausted. The thing is that Skam’s realtime concept mimics the same brain functions that are responsible for the development of mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression occurs when the individual speculates for several hours each day for months. It’s not the negative thoughts themselves that create depression. It’s all the hours of handling and speculating about them that does. And this is exactly what the realtime experience of Skam recreated. Each day you spend hours thinking about the characters, discussing them online, reading about them, thinking about them etc. I spent at least 6 hours a day thinking about Skam which evidently made my mood drop, because all that thinking made me hate my own life.

But now it’s over. And as much as I adore all of the seasons, I will particularly miss Isak. I’m already tearing up just by the thought of having to let you go. When I realise you aren’t even real it causes me to shed actual tears. You feel so real and the boundaries of what is real and what is not have partially been erased. I believed every word you spoke, every face expressed, every feeling felt. I have laughed at every joke cracked and cried whenever things were too much. I feel like I’m saying goodbye to something important, something with great meaning, something real. It has been one hell of a ride and I’m beyond thankful for getting to follow you on this amazing journey. You have gone from a young insecure boy with incipient feelings that you didn’t know how to express and a difficult situation at home that you didn’t know how to handle, to a strong, clever, and brave young man that is capable of facing challenges as well as loving and be loved. You went from backstabbing your friends out of desperation and despair to someone who is there and stands up for their friends. We have had the delicate honour of following you through some of the most important moments of your life. The moments where you realised who you are. When you dared to be you and dared to be loved. When Even saved you and you saved him back. And all of this has been the most beautiful story ever told. Season three provoked feelings that I never thought I was capable of feeling from a TV show. It was a magical period of time now stored safely in the lands of nostalgia. You have meant more to me than most actual human beings in the real world do. I’m certain that there are next to no other fictional 18-year-old boys who has meant this much to the world. You will always have a special place in my heart and live on there for many years to come. I will love you. As a little brother. As a good friend. As someone I used to be. As who I am. Thank you Isak, you are absolutely beautiful. And thank you Julie Andem for creating an alternative and better world. Thank you for creating a world that I have been able to live in for the past 10 months and escape to when the real world became a little too much. The autumn of 2016 will forever be nostalgic and a sad yet happy memory of something incredible. 

The endings of season 3 and 4 respectively are masterpieces. For some reason, I didn’t have the highest expectations to the ending of season three, but the final week was beautiful and beyond satisfying. Isak and Even were together and were pretty public about it already back then. Sonja and Emma had accepted how things were. As this was before season four I also took note of the fact that Sana gave Isak a Christmas present. This was such a good parallel to the first couple of episodes in season three and showed what kind of friendship they had developed and symbolically the friendship between religions. Magnus and Vilde hooked up which we had been rooting for and provided some nice comic relief. If you think back, the whole of season three was unique in how little all of the other characters were involved. For the same reason, it was such a weird yet welcome feeling to finally see the girl group united again. This also applies to the end. The conversation between Isak and Eva. This might be one of my favourite things. I personally had hoped for just this to happen and when I saw Eva sit down next to Isak I screamed. Remember how we hadn’t seen Eva for so long at that time. This scene just made a complete circle of Isak and Eva’s friendship to me and was so important and beautiful. It completed Isak’s transformation. That’s why I was glad that Eva got to accompany Isak in finishing his season, even though many argued that it should be Even. But the vulnerable and beautiful parallel to season one was just too important. And last but now least we got the words “Alt er love” that reminded us how Isak and Even got each other in the end. When you look back this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but we have to remember how many of us were dissolved from the angst and we needed this as a reassurance that everything was going to be okay. This is why I love the ending of season three. It is happy, but not excessively happy in the Hollywood way. No loose ends. 

The ending of season four is for what it is, brilliantly solved by Julie Andem. I’m incredibly thankful for getting all these tiny little clips from all the other characters. It is, of course, bittersweet because we all wanted to see most of them in their own seasons. But sometimes you just have to stop while the going is good. I was devastated when I watched Vilde’s clip. The things she has to do with the finances, the medicine and so on is beyond what anyone should have to do while growing up and it tears my heart out. Not least when I think about what a beautiful season this could have become. Chris(tina)’s clip also surprised me. The comic relief was to be expected however this also showed us another side of her. The serious side of not feeling good enough around your friends, but also pressure around money. If we fast forward to the very final clip, I immediately started crying when Chris reached out to Vilde which I didn’t expect. Back to the week, I loved Even’s clip as well for obvious reasons. His story could be told so beautifully. We finally got to see that “everything isn’t always love” in the form of slurs which I think is important. “Kjære Sana”. This clip was just the essence of Skam. I think it was evident that nobody had the point of view, which really emphasised that the ending was near. My emotions already messed with my tear ducts when I saw the Oslo cinematography and the beautiful soundtrack. I love that Julie Andem included meta comments about Even working at kaffebrenneriet, she included stuff from a fan fiction, she included comments from different fan groups. William was smiling, Isak and Even were cute and looked like husbands, Sana looked gorgeous, there was soundtrack from season one, Eva and Jonas might end up together and the clip was released at the IRL time of sunset in Oslo. The fact that Jonas ended Skam, just pleases my brain in all ways imaginable. The circle is ultimately completed. He began Skam with a speech and ended it with one as well. As he spoke we switched to see a screen being filmed. We switched to our point of view. It was just so beautiful and his voice is perfect for emphasising the main points about how everything is not always what it seems. People and things change. Sometimes you have to feel what is right for you. People fight battles you know nothing about. Life is now. But what is most important is love.

[monstermonstre]

i feel like this season is basically just sana listening to white people's problems :/ and seems like julie decided that sana's muslim friends suddenly don't exist anymore! most of skamily only care about sana when she's with even/isak/any other white character and it just saddens me.

Bear in mind that I’m white so anything I will comment on this might be very wrong and you should go send asks to the POC and/or Muslim folks in this fandom instead.Personally, I thought it was very interesting to show Sana’s alienation. I thought it was interesting to show what POCs/Muslims must go through when surrounded by white people: the micro aggressions, the emotional labour they have to do for them, etc.I also feel that Sana is now trying to fit this idea her friends have of her and she’s trying to forget her own problems by trying to solve everyone else’s. She’s doing way too much: russebuss, trying to fix Noora’s love life, keeping secrets for Even, enduring Vildus, compartmentalising, etc.No one asks her how she is doing (and when they do, she dodges, and her dodging works too well and that must hurt): Isak asks about Mikael, Even asks about the boys, Noora asks very harmfully about her faith and Yousef, Vilde and Eva ask nothing, Chris has been in Berlin for way too long, Elias asks her about her hot friends...Yousef was taking an interest in her but now that she sees her crush on him cannot come to fruition, she dismisses him completely.Her mother is asking her about her life but she’s her mother and Sana has way too many secrets.I wonder if Jamilla and co. used to be her friends but they had a major fallout? Her prejudice around the girls (how she assumed they were the ones to graffiti her locker and then realises she was so very wrong) seems rooted in something deep. You don’t hate someone that much without sharing any history with them.When Sana arrived in SKAM, she seemed to have gotten here from nowhere and without any friends. Chris introduced her to the other girls and she made them her friends. We know nothing about who she used to hang out with before etc. Who she used to play basketball with.Could it be she had the fallout with Jamilla and co. just before season 1 and that’s why she kind of threw herself into the girl squad? The first potential friends she saw that were radically different from her previous friends.”Maybe with them I will fit.”As for when people care about Sana: obviously a lot of folks care more about the white characters in SKAM and that’s a problem.But as for caring about her interacting with other: SKAM builds its characters around their interactions with others. As I said before, the mains are always shown around other people much more than on their own. That’s how we get to understand their personality, see their heartaches, see them grow, etc. It might seem like we see less of Sana than we saw of Isak in s3 but Isak was also almost always with someone else around. The fact that the someone else was often Even and it was just the two of them made it look a bit more intimate...but Isak still was not alone.So yeah, I mean: what POCs/Muslims folks in the fandom are feeling re:this season is valid and more valid than anything I have to comment on the topic. Again you should go to them more than me to talk about how Sana is shown mostly around white people etc.But you asked me, for some reason (thank you tho! i don’t mean to be ungrateful!) and here’s my two (white) pence?