#Dana is getting more development as a character rather than just being there to react to the other characters

[ciderjacks]

me watching the newest MQ episode: wow this is so good, really reminds me of why I love this show so much! And I love how the characters were written and developed here, it felt like whoever was writing and directing this ep really understands these characters and how to write them we—

*directed by Danny Pudi*

me: ohhhhhhh of course

[lollytea]

Unfortunately due to TOH being cut short by Disney a lot of character arcs and more storyline could not be fully fleshed out and finished as Dana had to wrap up everybody’s story in just a few episodes

I'm fully aware that Disney's intervention is responsible for a lot of the plotlines getting suffocated. Which is why I don't think it's fair to go harassing crew members with "why didn't THIS happen??" and all that, because nobody really knows what they endured working on those final episodes and how much they had to cut and rewrite. But from things Dana has said, it was likely a very stressful and exhausting experience. So I don't like to make assumptions about the crew being incompetent. Nobody knows how the season WOULD have turned out if they had been granted full creative freedom and breathing room to develop it to their hearts content.

However, me not directing personal ire towards the crew doesn't mean that I think that the show is immune to criticism. Its flawed. It might not be entirely the crew's fault but that doesn't mean we can't talk about how it's flawed. If anything, I think acknowledging and dissecting its weaknesses is a good learning opportunity for what we should consider when creating our own stories.

Season 3 is a bit of a mess. There's good stuff. There's some less than good stuff. I think ultimately, as a story about Luz, King and Eda, it knocks it out of the park. When they were left with no other option, they decided to prioritize the writing of their three protagonists and I think that was the correct choice.

But I've been thinking about the three specials and how they stand on their own, quality wise, and honestly, there's valid criticism to be said that is completely unrelated to the shortening.

Bear in mind that the crew has known since Follies that the show was getting cut short and they needed to start wrapping up loose ends. So it's not like they started writing Thanks to Them believing it was the first of 20+ more episodes. They knew that they were going to be writing a 40 minute special. So the execution had to be tight, concise and satisfying, right?

Well...it was....weird. Definitely fun. Good for fan service. The main hook was the witch kids navigating the human world in their dorky witchy way. And initially, that was enough. But once the novelty of that wears off and we focus on the plot of the special, what do we have left?

Thanks to Them is very guilty of lore baiting. Dropping in stuff that they know damn well that they're never going to elaborate on, leaving the audience with a feeling of intrigue that is never going to be satiated.

I personally think that is just bad writing. They knew they didn't have a full season 3 and rather than rewrite the means of which the hexsquads finds answers, they still made the choice to drop in what are most likely vague ideas from the initial draft.

I think, if they had no intention of developing it in future specials, there was no point to that scene of Masha telling the Wittebane story. It was just...filler. To stretch out the running time. Which is....kind of precious. Only 40 minutes. If you're obsessive enough about lore, you already knew the story from the Hollow Mind paintings. That scene was for casual viewers. Which is useless, because there's no point in casual viewers learning about Evelyn and Caleb because it never went anywhere.

Also. I personally think that if there was any value to learning the Wittebane lore without making it plot relevant, it would be for the sake of character development. We wanted to know how the kids would react to this knowledge.

Well how did they react?

*Shrug* They seemed a little unnerved but they kinda forgot about it the second they got off the hayride.

So what was the point of all that? What was the point?

Is it because we wanted "Goodbye, Evelyn," to be more of gut punch?

Was it worth it? Was "Goodbye, Evelyn" worth it? We know fucking nothing about Evelyn.

I think the rebus was a stupid and lazy means for the kids to discover Titan's blood. You introduce this mysterious object that was hidden under the floorboards and then you just use it as a plot device.

When the kids uncover the rebus and find the secret code inside, the viewer is not thinking about how it can be used as a means to an end (finding blood) The viewer is thinking "what the fuck is that thing and how did it get there and how did Flapjack know it was there?"

Questions that will not be answered <333

ALL IM SAYING is that I'm sure the crew could have come up with another way for the kids to have a Titan's blood treasure hunt. Maybe they could have dug a little more into the history of Gravesfield and follow leads on weird things happening on this one spot in the graveyard (which turns out to be because there's magical energy there, revealed when Luz realizes she can use glyphs)

I just think that if you're gonna leave the mystery box a mystery, you shouldn't have included it.

And I know. Its subtle storytelling. There's elements of what could have been a far more complex story and they're leaving hints of it here and there.

Well the thing about that is I think the hints are very unsatisfying and weaken the episode's plot significantly.

Also I don't think they should get to just pick and choose what parts of the lore are subtle and what parts are ham-fisted.

YES we are going to be reminded like three times that Flapjack is being secretive and hiding things from Hunter.

NO we are never going to get a payoff for that because he gets shanked and dies first.

BUT!! BUT!! If you squint, its IMPLIED that Flapjack belonged to Evelyn and blah blah blah

You don't get to rub things in the audience face and then choose to be all subtle about it at the last minute. Pick one or the other.

Anyway....I think they could have written Thanks to Them as more of an intriguing and suspenseful horror mystery where they spend forty minutes gathering clues and everything finally clicks together at the very end. That's not what we got.

We got a very weak attempt on the Hexsquad's part to be little detectives, but like a minute of screen time was devoted to them dicking around in a library, a costume shop, and a zoo.

I don't think we can blame the shortening for this.

[forestlingincorporated]

Tim Drake's Relationship To Wealth In New Earth

I’ve talked about the Drake’s wealth before, based on this slightly out of place scene in A Lonely Place of Dying where Tim zeros in on an Erte statue of Bruce’s, mentioning his father purchased a litho the year before. 

To summarize, this scene is establishing the wealth gap between the rich Drake family and the rich Wayne family. Tim is impressed with Bruce’s Erte statue, which suggests the Drakes can’t really reasonably afford one. While there are Erte lithographs more expensive than some Erte statues, I’ve only seen statues price down to about $1800, while I’ve seen lithos price in the hundreds. 

Basically, this implies the Drakes don’t have enough money to spend willynilly while also maintaining their prefered lifestyle. Based on other comic panels scattered around, I’d say the Drakes’ money primarily goes to real estate, travel, boarding schools, and staff. (We only see Mrs. Mac as far as I’m aware, unless you count their work assistant, but the Drakes will sometimes reference former staff, like an old driver mentioned in Robin #116.) 

Strictly speaking, Tim is only refered to as “new money” once, which interestingly occurs after the Drakes drop an economic bracket. [Robin #100] 

However, Jack specifically gives off the impression he’s probably new money. He prides himself on being a red blooded american man (read: “normal,” down to earth) and he’s blatantly incapable of playing politics. He’s not good at maintaining an image for reputation and status, and he doesn’t respect people that do. 

He’s also shows little interest in networking, allowing his insecurities to get in the way of what would appear to be a rather beneficial opportunity for his son and his business - developing and maintaining friendships with people like Bruce Wayne opens doors. 

Jack seems to view himself as seperate from what he sees as the uppity elite, but also sees himself as deserving of respect and status stemming from his wealth without the desire to actively cultivate it, all the while harboring some deep insecurities around the topic. This doesn’t garantee he was new money, but it does imply he doesn’t really fit in with the ins and outs of wealthy society the way someone like Bruce does. 

To be old money, Jack would have to have come from wealth, and we’re just not given that impression. We know very little about Tim’s ancestry, except that Jack’s father, Charles, was a teenaged soldier in World War II, but in general, other characters don’t react to the Drake name the way they react to the Wayne or Luthor or Queen names. Hell, Dinah Lance’s mother’s maiden name was Drake. 

We don’t really have anything to go off of if Janet was or wasn’t wealthy prior to her marriage to Jack, and if so, how much. 

When Jack’s bad investments cause the Drakes to “go broke” - as Jack refers to it - Tim describes their situation as going from “upper-upper-class” to “upper-middle” class, living off of the proceeds of the sales of their assets and Dana’s middle class job. Tim isn’t too bothered by this, having worked in war zones and areas of abject poverty, and doesn’t think very charitably about his dad acting like they’re starving. Neither does Dana for that matter, who understands they still have a very good life and is bearing the brunt of the work supporting their family and liquidating Jack’s assets. 

This is where Tim’s relationship to money gets interesting to me. Tim’s very comfortable with his living situation, but he becomes very AWARE of how expensive crime fighting is. He has an itemized list of how much EVERYTHING batman related costs. 

With Bruce out of the picture for an unknown length of time, Tim has a lot of financial anxiety. Steph, who grew up middle class (at least she is now, her mom being a nurse, living in a two story house - unclear on their financial situation when she was a small child), has much more of a “it’ll work itself out” attitude, while Tim can’t stop thinking about the logistics. 

This is honestly a very stark contrast to the fandom idea that Tim is of the “how much can a banana cost? $10?” persuation. 

Once Bruce is back and the monatary situation with Robin is solved, Tim is content to live an upper middle class life style. 

After Jack dies, however, Tim’s money situation becomes... fuzzy. 

Tim ends up reliant on Bruce’s money. They don’t really get into it, but as a child with no living relatives and Dana in a clinic, Tim SHOULD be in the foster system right now, without access to his inheritance. He’s comfortable making promises in Bruce’s name, but Tim’s reasons for not wanting Bruce to adopt him in the upcoming arc are... quesionable. They don’t really say WHY Tim doesn’t want Bruce to adopt him, nor do they explain HOW Tim pays for his hired fake uncle. Did he actively steal Bruce’s money, or was the deal access to Tim’s inheritance? Was this whole thing a ploy for Tim to gain access to his own inheritance and not rely on Bruce for everything? 

They don’t... talk about it. 

They especially don’t talk about it AFTER Bruce adopts Tim. He seems to foster him for a bit after “Uncle Eddie” bites it, Tim is living on the manor grounds, but his legal and financial status isn’t really brought up. Then Bruce adopts him, but money just kind of becomes a nonissue, we all just kinda assume Tim has access to Bruce’s money and call it a day. 

But I do think, when talking about Tim’s relationship to money, skipping over Tim’s temporary downward financial mobility over simplifies him. Tim is aware of the cost of things and the transience of wealth and status. There’s additional things we can speculate on, like if a young Tim had access to his parents’ money while they’re abroad, and what it would mean if he didn’t - my brain goes back to that anxiety about “re-supplying.” I can picture an 11-year-old Tim in worn out shoes counting down the days his parents pick him up from boarding school so he can ask to buy new ones - you know, things you need to shop for in person, rather than have something shipped to the school - but feeling like he can’t really complain because, well, his parents CAN afford to buy him nice things, he just has to wait. 

I think that’s just overall more interesting and unique to Tim, rather than the default Rich Kids Don’t Understand Money trope. 

[imagine-being-straight]

A Message to the TOH Fandom

I’m tired.

I feel like everyone in the fandom can agree that the TOH fandom overall has white favoritism. If you actively deny that we have a problem with white favoritism or are offended that I said this, look at yourself and other people who have been talking about this issue. Really look at yourself and ask why you are offended by what I said. Now back to the TOH fandom’s problem with white favoritism. It’s a huge problem and I don’t think people have realized how bad it’s gotten.

Luz and Amity

Do both of them have amazing content created about them? Yes, but if you look a bit closer to the contents of their contents you’ll see a clear disparity between the two. Luz is more likely to be in Lumity art (which itself isn't a problem), but the problem lies in that she is only there for Amity. Is there still content with her alone and highlighting her character? Of course there is, but for every content that exists for Luz solely, there are at least two others for Amity. Don’t get me wrong I love Amity as much as the next person, but she still is a side character. The Owl House focuses on Eda, King, and Luz mainly. They are the main characters.

When I first joined the TOH fandom, I noticed a lot of Amity focused content. A lot more so than I expected since she is a side character. I understand that a factor in her popularity is her crush on Luz and we’re all really excited for confirmed gay characters, but it doesn’t explain how popular she is. She appears in roughly half of season one’s episodes (I know she technically appears in 11 episodes, but some of her appearances are so minor you can easily forget they happened) compared to Luz being in all 18 episodes. Yes Luz isn’t always the focus of these episodes, but she still changes and develops as a character through most of them.

The reason I’m bringing all of this up is that Amity is white and Luz is a POC. Characters of color in the past have been overlooked and underappreciated in the past, not just in this fandom, but it still happens a lot here. Whether it’s conscious or not, we all have been affected by white favoritism and it is our responsibility to recognize it and change. The Owl House brings more than just gay representation: it brings an Afro-Latina Bisexual protaganist with two major side characters, Willow and Gus, being a mixed Asian-Black character and a Black character. You still think I’m full of shit saying there’s white favoritism in the TOH fandom? Well I’m just getting started here.

Willow, Gus, and Boscha

Boscha herself is an interesting character and I think people see a lot of potential for her character, but the problem is that she overshadows a lot of other characters who are much more important and relevant. Willow is a good example of someone who has been constantly overshadowed by Boscha. Most content I see of Willow is usually Boschlow content (I’m not approving or condemning Boschlow here, this is me just stating some facts) and it’s so unfair to Willow as a character. Willow is more than just Luz’s friend or a quiet girl and more people need to realize that. If you can analyze Boscha’s character in the three episodes she is in, you can do the same thing to Willow, who has been in 14 episodes (three more than Amity). There is no excuse for the lack of Willow content and the abundance of Boscha content.

The same thing can be applied to Gus. Sure he doesn’t get very much screen time, but it is still loads more than Boscha. I have seen barely any content about Gus and the few times I do, he is usually with a group and not alone. No one talks about him and I cannot express how underrated he truly is. If you want some funny content with him, play around with his interest in humans and how he has totally misinterpreted things we know as facts. If you want Gus angst, then write about how young he is and how he could be feeling inadequate despite being smart enough to skip two grades. Amity is seen by the fandom as a whole as being extremely smart, but the fact that Gus skipped two grades, a feat Amity has not done herself, truly showcases how smart Gus really is. It’s not that hard to make Gus content and everyone is just sleeping on him.

The fandom loves to attach itself to Boscha, who may I remind you is white. Willow and Gus, who have way more plot relevance and screen time, are constantly pushed aside for more and more Boscha content. Willow and Gus are beautifully written in the show, but most people overlook it for Boscha, who in the show has been fairly one note so far. If your only argument is that you want to show the background characters some love, then where is the Skara content? Skara has just as much screen time as Boscha, but I’ve seen very little content about her. I guarantee if Boscha was a POC she would have the same level of content as Skara, but since she is white she overshadows literally every other POC supporting character, including those who have had more screen time than her. Don’t even get me started on the Detention Track kids and Emira/Viney. This post is already long enough and I don’t need to make it any longer.

Camilia and Alador/Odelia Blight

Right here is the clearest example of the white favoritism of the TOH fandom. Alador and Odalia Blight have gotten so much content about them and we still haven’t seen their faces. You can easily find so much analysis on them and how their parenting must affect the Blight siblings. You can find so much content about them and we know literally nothing about them other than the fact that they’re abusive. I know Alador is set up to be less abusive than Odalia, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is still abusive to his kids. Whether he approved what was going on or not doesn’t matter because he was still complacent with what was happening.

Now let’s look at Camilia and all her content- oh wait there is basically none for her. All the Camilia content is basically nothing other than CamilEda content (again I’m not trying to bash or approve CamilEda, I’m just trying to state some facts). Camilia did make a mistake in setting Luz to the camp, but that does not make her a bad mother. People need to remember one bad action does not make a bad person. I think Dana herself said that Luz and Camilia do love each other, but they do have their differences, which makes things hard sometimes. Camilia truly does care about Luz and tries her best to do what‘s best for Luz and more people need to recognize it. There is so much untapped potential with Camilia’s character, like how she will react to Luz not coming home or what she will do to try to get Luz back. What if she sees all of the recordings Luz has made for her? How will she react? These are all things we can make content on, yet I see so many people sleeping on it.

Now when you compare how the fandom treats both Camilia and the Blight parents, there’s a clear bias in favor for the Blight parents. The Blight parents are given more attention and content despite having less actual screen time and being actual pieces of garbage. Camilia is shoved to the side despite there being plenty to analyze about her and her relationship with Luz. Camilia is also a good person, which is clearly different to the Blight parents. It’s never been a matter of which parent/child relationship is better because they’re both written very well, but rather the fact that Camilia gets shoved aside every time we talk about parent/child relationships. I mean when you look at it, Camilia and Luz’s relationship with each other is literally the Blight family’s dynamic, except the opposite. The only difference between the two families is that one has POCs and the other is white. And to no one’s surprise, the white family gets more attention and analysis than the POC’s family.

Statistics

If you’re still not convinced here's some cold hard evidence that white characters are more favored than POC characters. I’m going to be using AO3’s (archiveofourown) data on how many works a character is tagged in.

On AO3 at around 6:35 PM EST Oct 3, 2020, The Owl House had 1921 works. As we can see Luz is number one (as she should), Willow is number three, and Gus is number four. They’re ranked fairly high (which was a surprise to me), but when you look at how many works they’re actually in, the white favoritism becomes clear. Amity is tagged in around 1480 works and Willow and Gus each are in 730 and 610 respectively. Willow and Gus are in half the works Amity is. Somehow Willow appears in half the works Amity does even though Willow appears more than Amity in the show. Boscha also has 360 works with her in it, half of what Gus and Willow’s works despite being a very minor character who has appeared only a few times. What's worse is that Edric and Emira are literally 200 to 60 works away from Willow and Gus respectively. Edric and Emira, two white characters who have appeared in literally three episodes, but are tagged in nearly the same number of works as two main POC-supporting characters. Now maybe you’re like “Oh the Blight siblings are only so popular because of Lumity, this data is skewed” so the next picture is of all the characters with all of the romantic relationship tags excluded.

The data shows that the fandom favors the white characters so drastically that there is no excuse or other explanation for it. Lumity being popular doesn’t explain why Amity is still the third most written-about character, even with the Lumity tag being blocked. Quantity of episode appearances doesn't explain why Willow has less content about her because Willow appears in three more episodes than Amity does. The only explanation is white favoritism because the most popular characters are all white (with the exception of Luz, but that’s because she is the main character). Before you tell me “Oh it's because they’re more interesting or they have more potential” actually look and analyze the POC characters because they’re amazingly well written if you actually sit down and analyze them.

Why Calling Out White Favoritism Matters

Now you may be asking: why should I care? Well you should care because the fandom as a whole is literally favoring white characters over POC characters, which is low key racist. It makes people care less about POC characters and actual people which can lead to some internalized racism if not caught early enough. The Owl House tries very hard to highlight their POC characters and actively ignoring or dismissing them is disrespecting the show itself.

I feel like I should make it clear that I’m not shaming anyone who’s favorite character just happens to be white. What I’m doing here is being critical of whether or not a person likes a character because they are white (whether that decision is conscious or not). There is a clear difference between “Oh X is my favorite character, but I recognize the other characters are good in their own ways.” and “Oh I love X and only X. I will only use the other characters to further X’s character and completely ignore everyone else’s complexity”. Please take some time and think about why you like a character and see if you unconsciously love them because they are white. No one is immune to it and even I had to realize I was unconsciously favoring white characters while writing something The Owl House related.

The sad part about all of this is that it needs to be said that racism is bad. It needs to be said that white favoritism is extremely toxic and we should make sure we don’t actively take part or be complacent in it. I know for a fact that other POC have seen this white favoritism, but are too numb to say anything about this because they feel like their voices won’t change anything. The few people who have spoken out haven't been listened too. The fact that I had to step up and make this just to try to get people to listen and I might not even make a difference is so sad to me. The fact that I’m young makes me not numb to the white favoritism. The fact that I dealt with, for the first time, racism at the age of 14, which is extremely late for a POC. The fact that the only reason I can be mad about this is because I dealt with racism so late that I have energy to speak out against this and not be numb to this all. I hate that all of this exists and we all let this happen. We all let this problem fester and now it is now our responsibility to get our priorities straight and change. If we let this problem grow and grow, then in a few years this fandom will be a shell of what it once was.

“We can do this together.” -Luz Noceda

[tedturneriscrazy]

Okay, time for Hunting Palismen and a closer look at this Golden Guard fella! Unlike approximately 99% of the fandom I wasn't really taken with him right away. Will I change my mind with this episode? Only one way to find out!

Ah, the coven leaders are here! So are the Abomitons!

I see you, Rayne. You look...less than thrilled to be there.

Purification under the coven system, eh? Wonder if we'll learn more about how that's supposed to work.

Oh lawd time for the fandom to thirst over Handsome Sq-I mean the Abomination Coven head (who I've decided is totally Gavin's dad)

Utopia? Wow, this really is a cult, huh?

Kiki does not like GG

Nope, that transformation bit wasn't at all unsettling or terrifying. No sir.

Also, the way Belos was pounding on the pillars was quite...visceral.

How many of those masks does he go through on a regular basis?

Uncle? I knew they were related in some capacity!

A wild witch cursed Belos, I'm calling it

Hey, intro update for Eda, King, and Amity!

Echo mouse apparently does not give up all its secrets that easily

At least King isn't trying to eat it?

Loving Luz's face pressed up against the glass

Luz living up to her name at the mention of a magic staff, 'cause she's moving at light speed

Come, now, we all knew Amity wouldn't be in this one.

Yo, uh, Bump's kinda, uh...😳

HAIR

So Frewin was Bump's palisman the whole time, huh?

There's the Bat Queen! Makes sense she would be involved in the palisman adoption process.

"Your loss!" Tell her, Willow!

Clover! Loving this already.

Boscha stans getting some juice today, I see

The way the students are reacting to finding their palismen is really setting up the inevitable gut punch when Luz doesn't match with one.

Reestablish contact with the giraffes? Oh, Gus.

(Makes you wonder what the deal with giraffes is. Then again, maybe it's just a running joke at this point)

Ah, here's the windup

Okay, we're going with full-on existential crisis, then. Poor Luz.

Connecticut? No wonder Luz doesn't fit in back home! She lives in friggin Connecticut, of all places!

Disclaimer: I have never been to Connecticut. I've heard plenty of people weigh in on it, though, and the general consensus seems to be that there isn't much to it.

Eda's up to something...

That cardinal really wants to go somewhere

That outfit being sleepwear makes sense, actually.

You'd think GG could leverage his position to requisition those palismen rather than go in for a heist, but bureaucracy doesn't make for a compelling story, I guess

Whistling the opening theme. Cute.

Okay, the whole fire glyph thing was funny

I did not expect this show to channel Looney Tunes as much as it has, but I'm okay with it.

Nice, Luz! Also, maybe that'll teach GG to keep his ship clean.

I think weird hand dragon might be sufficient to stop you, yes?

An assassination attempt? Oh, Kiki, you rascal.

Kiki really does not like GG

SLAP

I'm convinced they specifically wrote that moment to be memed

Oh, they're giving off some real sibling energy, huh? I'm into it! Especially if it quashes the possibility of a love triangle.

This place seems a bit more rough and tumble than Bonesborough

I see that mlm date in the background! Very nice

GG may be older than Luz, but she is definitely the more mature one.

That said, he does have a point about her not always thinking things through.

Thus begins the Enemy Mine segment.

"Too slow" yup sibling energy intensifies

He seems quite interested in the glyphs

Okay, them nerding out over magic together is a) adorable, and b) a solid argument for his inevitable face turn

Wait, so is GG actually related to Belos, or was he a foundling? Somewhat ambiguous here, at least to me. Hopefully that's explored.

"At least you have your future figured out now." "At least you can figure out your own."

Cardinal's gonna be his palisman, isn't it?

Luz finds it cute despite herself

The whole sleep mist thing is a hell of a strategy to have in your back pocket. Luz being super smart yet again.

God help me if I'm ever at a point in my life where Luz tells me to my face that I'm not her friend. I don't think I could handle it.😢

Hunter? A little on the nose given the circumstances.

Also, goddamnit the episode title was foreshadowing his name the whole time

Oh hi, Kiki, still awake?

Ooh, well-animated fight sequence let's goooo

It's somehow reassuring that Luz is as weirded out by Hand Dragon as I am

Hand Dragon just follows the whistle? So much for loyalty.

Ah, there's Eda!

What did they get into?! Maybe supplemental materials could go into these offscreen adventures? Please, Disney?

Robbing a garden club to acquire some rare wood so your surrogate daughter can make her own staff? If that isn't love I don't know what is!

And loving the way Eda emphasizes that there's no rush on carving the palisman. Amazing family moment.

As a contrast: fuck you, Belos, you piece of shit

"Outbursts" riiiiight

Belos giving out some Shadow Weaver vibes with Hunter, ngl

Uh oh, Kiki suspects

Hope someone picks up that phone, because I called it!

(I know I write these after watching through once already, shh)

Well, considering the things that were revealed and developed, this was a surprisingly low-key episode! To be honest I kind of welcome that, considering how the previous episodes have been. That said, fairly solid overall, and I can see why Hunter is Dana's favorite. A less charitable summation of his character might be "What if Luz but white boy," but I think he has enough unique characteristics to stand out.

I'm also glad for the breather because I think Eda's Requiem is gonna hit pretty hard. Can't wait for that!

[thevalkirias]

Female adolescence and prestige dramas: the case of Sally Draper

The most famous dialogue in The Virgin Suicides – “you're not even old enough to know how bad life gets” / “obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl” – says a lot about the way society sees the anxieties carried by young girls growing up and building their identities around us. The afflictions that come with not only adolescence as a whole, but specifically female adolescence, which adds the burden of misogyny to the mix, including the misogyny ingrained in ourselves, seem to make teenage girls particularly interesting for the storytellers that aren’t actually talking about them, but about their parents. Dana Brody in Homeland, Grace Florrick in The Good Wife, Paige Jennings in The Americans, Sally Draper in Mad Men: these were all part of TV shows that dedicated plenty of screen time to the teenage daughters of their main characters, who were marines/ alleged terrorist agents, lawyers returning to work after stepping away to be full-time mothers, Soviet superspies by night and suburban parents by day, or sad and alcoholic ad men.

In the four shows the exact same premise can be found: raising children is hard, and it is potentially harder if you are a spy, or someone who turned against your own country, or a good wife whose husband was very publicly arrested for corruption, or perhaps just empty on the inside. When Dana Brody takes the more cliché path of the rebellious teen and has her “Dana does drugs!”, “Dana has a questionable boyfriend!”, “Dana hates her father!” moments, or when Grace Florrick – whose mother is firmly set on the agnostic-atheist territory – and Paige Jennings –- whose parents believe that religion is the opium of the people – decide to fully dedicate themselves to Christianity, it’s all done with a single goal: to make these girls a Problem for Their Parents. Consequently, they become insufferable and, above all, uninteresting from the point of view of the narrative, since all they do is disturb the main stories.

When Homeland tried to humanize Dana, exploring the consequences that being the daughter of a traitor, terrorist and national enemy brought to her life, adding up to the experience of being a girl coming of age, it was too late. Because after two years no one had learned to empathize with her and no one wanted to watch that plot unfolding, not on that show. By then Alex Gansa and his team of writers had already made Dana only a shadow of a character, completely one-dimensional, since she existed only so that Sergeant Nicholas Brody could react to her. Just like Grace existed to create drama in Alicia’s life, the working mom (and the truly excellent character, complex and well developed). It’s because she doesn’t fit in this common and cliché categorization, which can be so unfortunate (Dana could have been a great character), that Sally Draper is so special.

There is a fundamental difference between Sally and the three other girls, of course: when Mad Men began Kiernan Shipka was seven – in other words, Sally was still a child. Back then there was still not much for her to do, except showing her unconditional love for her mostly absent father who sometimes was there to tuck her in. She existed mainly to help us read Don as a pretty terrible father – this was, after all, the man who, scared by the possibility of everyone finding out he was a deserter who had taken a dead man’s identity, decides he should run away with his mistress and has to be reminded by her that he had children to raise. Don seems surprised when he’s reminded of the children, but he assures her he would provide for them, as if his relationship with his kids was nothing but a financial matter. Sally also existed, beyond Don’s universe, to show us the difficulties Betty Draper had with her role as a mother, even though she tried more than Don.

Sally’s first big moment, which showed Shipka’s precocious talent, came in season three, when Betty’s senile and ill father moves to the Draper residence, and Sally develops a close relationship with him. When her grandfather passes away, young Sally goes through her first experience of mourning and is unable to understand why the adults around her can sit at the kitchen table and laugh when her grandfather was never, ever coming back. A young Kiernan, then a ten year old, competently portrays the complicated feelings Sally had to experience so early. The situation is further complicated when Sally’s baby brother is born soon after, and Betty decides to name him after her late father: Gene. Sally then needs to deal not only with the natural feelings of jealousy awakened in a child by the arrival of a new baby who demands attention, but also with the fact that this baby receives the name and the room that belonged to the grandfather whom she liked so much, as if her parents were trying to exchange her Gene for another when he was no longer supposed to be there. This moment is also crucial in Don’s complexification as a father: he is the one who sits Gene and Sally on his lap and tells her that that’s only her little brother, just a baby, not her grandfather – he is the only person to tell her everything was going to be alright.

Sally never becomes insufferable because Matthew Weiner and his writers make the right decision of never writing her or her stories as a mere problem that Don had to deal with. On the contrary, the father-daughter relationship exists to add nuance to a character who was always rather complex. We’re talking about a man who was chronically unfaithful and addicted to extramarital adventures, but who, when Peggy suggests a campaign based on the sexualization of the female image, stating (not wrongly) that sex sells, suggests another path – one that is based on the “I love you, daddy” card he got from Sally and is sitting on his desk. What truly sells anything, he says, is to awaken some kind of feeling. This is a discussion he has within the scope of advertisement, but it’s also a discussion he has with himself, about being more than the standard executive who “likes short skirts”, as Peggy puts it (not necessarily wrongly), about not being the man who wouldn’t understand Frank O’Hara’s poetry, like the unknown man he sees at the bar reading Meditations in an Emergency assumes, or about not being just the man who can no longer have sex with his wife – everything that builds the context surrounding him in “For Those Who Think Young”, one of the many episodes that emphasize that Don has not been a young man in the margins of the system for a really long time.

In such a context it would be easy to say that Don simply did not care about Sally and would rather not have to deal with her and fully dedicate himself to his adventures – as it happened in the abhorrent episode when he has the children with him for the weekend after the divorce and decides to go on a date, leaving them with his neighbor. But that isn’t really true, and part of the problem comes from his own internal issues, including the fact that he never had any decent father figure: Don does not know how to be a good father. To the extent that he believes that a woman who has literally just met his daughter would be better at talking to her than he would. This is what makes the character so rich and fascinating. Even when Sally exists for her father to react to her, it’s done in a good way, adding complexity to him exactly because she isn’t a one-dimensional character who exists to create problems.

One of the most important moments in this relationship is season six’s “Favors”, when Sally catches her father and his neighbor and mistress in bed. The situation was not only uncomfortable, the way it would be for anyone, but Sally knew that the neighbor was the wife of a man whom Don called his friend, a man she had seen sincerely thanking her father when Don helps freeing his son from being recruited for war. Sally had gone through a lot because of her father, but this is the big moment of rupture between them. If we all eventually find out that our parents are as flawed and human as anyone else, and this is part of the process of growing up, Sally has to face the fact that her father is absurdly flawed and, more than that, is very, very distant from the heroic father figure she had idealized for so long simply because she spent most of the time very far away from him, but under the incessant scoldings from her mother. Mad Men chooses to explore the quite devastating effects of this rupture not only for Don, the main character, but also for Sally. This choice resulted in one of the girl’s most famous scenes, when Betty offers her a cigarette, saying Don surely would have offered her a beer by then, and Sally responds, cigarette in hand (a pose that mimicked Betty herself): “my father has never given me anything”. It was an obvious but powerful case of double meaning.

Beginning with Sally’s big moment in season three, and increasingly as she grew up, she was given her own plots in some of the episodes. Maybe the good response to this choice is related to Mad Men being essentially character-driven, to the inexistence of a bigger plot that lies beyond its characters; it was common for a myriad of them to be highlighted in different episodes. So, when season six came, we were given Sally’s boarding school plot, when she was finally free from the mother about whom she complained so much. Once there, Sally smokes, drinks and takes boys to the dorm illicitly, incited by her roommates. This could represent the establishment of Sally-the-rebel-girl, but it doesn’t. Because none of what happens there reflects on Don or Betty; those are not “Sally smokes! What now, Don Draper?” moments, but moments in which Sally is away from home for the first time and has to decide who she is and what she wants to do for herself. These small transgressions of the school’s code of conduct (sometimes of the law) don’t make Sally a “mean girl”, just like her increasing interactions, full of discreet flirtation, with the boys that cross her path don’t make them the absolute center of her life. All of this is part of Sally, but none of it defines her. She is not a girl-problem, neither is she daddy’s little girl.

“I’m so many people”, says Sally in the next season. In “A Day’s Work” she spends a day in the city to go to the funeral of her friend’s mother, but also to go shopping. Sally loses her wallet and has to resort to her father, the adult she had in New York. By then she and Don were speaking to each other again, after he told her his real story right after he was forced by his partners to take a compulsory leave of absence. But Sally did not know about the second part, and she finds out in the worst way: looking for her father at the office, sure he could only be there. In face of another gigantic lie, Sally is once again upset and responds to Don’s attempts at conversation with monosyllables. It’s only when he explains what was happening and that he was ashamed and did not know how to solve it – and she sees herself being treated as an adult and as an equal –, that they make it up. After this conversation she calls one of her school friends who had been in New York with her; the girl wants to talk about trivial things, on the same day they had been looking at the dead body of someone important to their friend. Sally cuts the conversation short impatiently and soon after tells her father that the funeral had been horrible, but she had only been there so she could go shopping later. Don says he doubted that, and it’s easy to see he was right. Sally seems to take what he says under consideration as well, declaring then that she was so many people.

Mad Men allows Sally Draper to be so many people, to be the version of herself she presents to her mother, to her father or to Megan, her stepmother. It allows her to be the version of herself she presents to Glen, her long-time neighbor, or the one she presents to her roommates and to the cute boy at the hall of the fancy building where Don lives. It allows her to worry about boots and sandals, but it also allows her to be affected by a funeral. The script allows her to be much more than a mere accessory in the stories of the grownups that surround her, who are traditionally considered more important and relevant. Matthew Weiner allows Sally to at last see her parents very clearly, showing a maturity that sometimes seems to surpass theirs. It’s notorious that she declares, right before leaving on a trip with other girls, that she hopes to be someone very different from her parents and that her dream is to live far away from them – in an episode in which both Betty and Don are ridiculously flattered by the attention they receive from their daughter’s teenage friends.

Eventually Sally is forced by the circumstances to go back home, because nothing in life is so simple, and in the final stretch of her story it becomes evident that she mimics many of Betty’s mannerisms and ways. But it is in the responsibility towards her brothers that she automatically takes on when it’s necessary to do so, it is in her understanding that if there is one person she cannot count on that person is her father, it is in her realizing that her mother’s cold and stoic ways do not signify she is not feeling pain, that Sally shows an admirable level of maturity. These are moments which show us that the little girl we saw growing up throughout seven seasons and ten years is someone who has the chance of being happier – and a better person – than her parents were. At the end of Mad Men, the story of Sally’s growth functions as a formidable bildungsroman: of a character who was complex, solid and well developed, who was way too many people to be the thorn in her parent’s side.

About the author

FERNANDA

Officially a translator and proofreader, Fernanda has a special love for literature and for this writing thing. A loyal follower of the uncool lifestyle, she doesn’t believe in guilty pleasures nor in the concept of liking something ironically.

This piece was originally published in Portuguese on August 23, 2017, as "Escrevendo a adolescência feminina nos dramas de prestígio: o caso de Sally Draper". Translated by the author.

[tedturneriscrazy]

Here's Eclipse Lake, an episode that has been highly anticipated! Will it top Knock, Knock, Knockin' On Hooty's Door?

I'll skip the pretense: No. It won't.

You'll see under the cut.

Hmm, that list of ingredients for the Grimwalker...I'll let other people theorize about this (like @sepublic ), but it sure looks like a thing

Guess the mysterious green goo won't cut it, huh?

Belos face reveal already?! Huh, didn't expect it so soon.

Oh, no, he's hot! (And I'm mad about it)

Still an ass, though

Now we know why Hunter was wearing a different outfit (because people fixated on that for some reason)

Amity with the clipboard gives me strong Dipper vibes

GHOST! My beloved!

I need a moment because CAT!

(Also, someone pointed out earlier that Ghost was based on Dana's cat, and that's super obvious in hindsight)

Raine?! Oh, wait, you mean rain. Sigh.

Eda gets training tips from DBZ confirmed

(Also Amity's face when reacting to Eda's explanation is priceless)

Oh God Eda's a weeb I need another moment

Damn, Amity just straight up calling Eda old

Oh, loopy Luz

(The abomination holding the tissue box is adorable for many reasons)

Yeah, don't want Luz to eat the McGuffin

I have several questions about those Tamagotchis that I'll refrain from listing here

Amity your Odalia is showing

Girlfriend counter: 1

(Yes I am introducing a counting gag, deal with it)

Was wondering if they were ever gonna reference the dissection incident. We've come a long way, baby!

Oh, so that's what everyone was looking at

Luz honey your enthusiasm is admirable but no

Luz burrito is quite cute, though

Girlfriend counter: 2

(Damn, still wild to think that that's the case)

Just occurred to me that "Boots" is probably shortened from "Bossyboots" from earlier

Guess the Luz hiss compilation needs to be updated again

Those tunnels ain't the only thing around here that's unstable, amirite?

Oops, guess Kiki was justified, after all

Maybe don't talk so loudly about your plans, dude

That is her son, get it right!

Serves you right for having that stupid strand of hair sticking out like that

Is this just the episode where everyone dunks on White Boy? Because I can totally get behind that.

Already mentioned this, but I am loving the parallels between Katara and Amity with that bottle of abomination goo. Insert obligatory "Two Nickels" meme here about Mae Whitman.

We really are just dunking on the white boy and I am living for it

Hooty had to get it from somewhere, I suppose

Nothing says mother-son bonding like shooting things at each other (see also: Separate Tides)

I'm sure the magic bouncing off the veins won't come into play later at all

Oh well, at least the echolocation looked cool

At this point Amity would kill Hunter for a Klondike bar

Wait why does Hooty need a chair

Willow with the galaxy brain ideas

"A bad but sad boy" Luz is a genius at succinctly summing people up

Kikimora continues to be unhinged. Ironically she's not wrong about Hunter.

Motherfucker stop acting like you know what that says

(Also, projecting much?)

Girlfriend counter: 3

Friendly reminder that Hunter is still an antagonist

Uh oh

UH OH

I know someone mentioned Willow having the brain cell, but honestly it seemed like Luz had it this whole time. And that's not good.

WHY IS FOOL'S BLOOD EVEN A THING

Aaaaand cue the getting screwed over

Further reminder that he's still an antagonist (Apparently there's a vocal segment who's Really Mad at him that seem to forget this fact)

You unhand Ghost right now!! And Amity too, I guess.

(I kid, she's literally my second favorite character)

For what she did to Raine it warms my heart to know Kiki has had zero peace of mind

Wait, the Abomatons are Transformers?! Okay, that's kind of awesome, actually. Alador might be a shit dad but he is a brilliant inventor.

Chucking kids off cliffs is a surpisingly common pastime in the Boiling Isles

Owlbert no!

Eda did spend literal decades fighting the Owl Beast within, so I guess she can't be blamed for not thinking to talk to it

Also hurry up guys I'm very concerned about Owlbert

Fuck yeah Harpy Milf!

Yay Ghost returns!

She's glad they're okay (I didn't need to take this, I just thought it was cute. Also this is surprisingly high quality considering I just took a photo of my TV screen)

Oh, so they do have video games in the Demon Realm. That or Luz introduced them.

Trailer shot!

Oh dear, we about to have a fight over the key

Wow, being so high ranking under Belos is really bad for mental health

Jesus Christ Belos what have you been putting in this poor kid's head?

Leave it to King to give radical recontextualizations

Amity, I'm glad you remembered/realized this about Luz, please don't let the sad white boy play you like that again

Also, I appreciate the gesture you're making, and it's a wonderful summary of your character development, but goddamnit he's gonna go for that key because he's STILL AN ANTAGONIST

"Being nice usually works for Luz!" A) Not always, and B) Amity I love you but Luz you are not. A valiant attempt nonetheless.

Ooh, cool fight scene!

Always lovely to see such superb animation

I was privately griping about not seeing Amity use magic for so long, and now I am fed

Don't think I didn't hear the glass breaking

Appreciate your ass from a hole in the ground, Golden Boy!

(jk I don't actually feel that strongly about him still. That kind of threat still isn't cool, though)

Oh so that's why it's the Common Mold!

It's kinda cute, actually. Or maybe it's just because it's Luz.

TIL Hooty is heat resistant

Apparently Owl Beast just wanted a snack

Girlfriend counter: 4

Also love how calling Amity her awesome girlfriend is literally the first thing Luz says to her upon returning.

Yesssss return the hug! You deserve it!

(I know there are higher quality versions of this screenshot, I just didn't feel like looking around)

King demands huggies, too! (And gets 'em)

Reminder that Amity is smart as hell. I knew that glass breaking indicated something!

So once again I've been had. I let the fandom trick me into thinking this episode would be way more intense. Guess that one screenshot was from the next episode.

Overall this was...fine. Some nice Lumity moments, Harpy Eda strutting her stuff, that gorgeously animated fight sequence; those were all lovely.

I do wish Willow and Gus had a bit more to do. And I'm still rather unenthusiastic about Hunter, to be honest. I've seen his type several times before, and the path they have for him is rather obvious. I may never share the fandom's love for him, and I guess I'll have to deal with that.

Anybody who says this was better than KKKOHD is a damn fool.

Mid season finale next week! I think Yesterday's Lie will finally bring the pain!

[tedturneriscrazy]

🎶Knock, Knock, Knockin' On Hooty's Door🎵

I wonder if anything will happen in this episode.🙂

(I say as if I didn't watch the episode twice before going to bed and writing this post)

I don't think I'll ever not be amused by the way Hooty just...does things with his face

Seems like he found a thesaurus at some point

Okay so it's canonically spelled "Hootsifer," good to know

Also, this is really all we get of Lilith, huh?

His little hoot/coo at Lilith's letter❤❤❤

To borrow a meme format: If I had a nickel for every time Alex Hirsch was involved in a show where one of the characters was experiencing pubescent voice cracks, I'd have two nickels, which isn't very much but it's weird that it happened twice

Eda's face🤣

As much as this bit is played for laughs, Eda's clearly still shaken by what happened last episode

Jeez, Luz, priorities /j

Pictured: Hooty

The way King talks about being pelleted implies this is something Hooty does on the regular

Hooty's plan to help King is literally a Buzzfeed quiz? Okay then

Betcha never expected lore from Hooty, eh?

"DO NOT INTERRUPT"

Officially a "type of worm"

The dance being a grievous insult wasn't exactly from nowhere, but still funny nonetheless

WE DON'T TALK ABOUT THE FUCKING COCCOON

Tiny Nose playing Switch definitely seems to be drawing from Dana's real life experiences

Wait, Hooty and Tiny Nose are friends?

Well shit, turns out she could use magic this whole time. Guess her going Super Saiyan wasn't just the power glyph.

I am extremely skeptical of your medical credentials, TN

I have so many questions about the methodology they used for the blood test(s)

I think Hooty may have misinterpreted what King was looking for

I'm still amazed at how King has had, and continues to have, moments in the show with some of the greatest emotional weight

Ooh, sound powers!

"IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CRUMBLE!!!"

It just occurred to me that that segment consisted mostly of Alex Hirsch talking to himself

Hello not-at-all obvious setup

Today I learned that Hooty is the baker of the house. Maybe he'd critique Amity's fairy pie.

Aaaaand there's the sleep inducing

Oh shit

In hindsight the Owl Beast being part of a dream sequence is rather obvious

Wow, Eda, tell us how you really feel about the Owl Beast

Oh we're just gonna ride aboard the Trauma Express today, huh?

Oh, I guess Lilith did make an appearance, after all

Damn, Gwen, not even looking

Oh shit dad issues

Sandy Cohen?! (To anyone who gets that reference, hi. How are your 30s treating you?)

Well, I know who Peter Gallagher voices now, anyway

Oh dear...

(Also, bright flashing lights triggering the curse? There's an epilepsy allegory in here somwhere)

Blood and eye injury? Gotta stretch that Y7 rating

Now we have some context for that look on Eda's face when Lilith mentioned their dad: good old fashioned guilt!

I desparately want to make a "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" joke, but I'm better than that

New memory! Raine!

Oh no...

I get the feeling I'll hate this part, too

They were exes!😢 Guess the fandom called that one

The reasoning for them being exes is understandable, all too real, and goddamn heartbreaking

That said, the fact they never stopped loving each other🥺😢😭

I do hope we can see Raine again under less...traumatic circumstances. Maybe that wedding that was mentioned?

Oh shit, are we getting into the Owl Beast's memories?!?! What a tweest!

Bet nobody expected Cloaked Moonface to show up in the frickin Hooty episode

(Also, holy shit I briefly forgot this was the Hooty episode)

Who is this mysterious cloaked figure? And why are they so tall and long?

So the curse was a sealed beast this whole time. Damn.

And it was just picked up as beach junk to sell as a trinket. So much for it being connected to Belos. (Not that people will stop trying to do so)

Who had "experiencing sympathy for the Owl Beast" on their Bingo cards for this episode? Yeah, me neither.

And here we have the necessary Eda coming to terms with her curse segment. More accurately, Eda and the curse coming to terms with each other.

Goddamnit why does it have to be cute

"It's like sandpaper" IT'S LIKE A CAT I FUCKING CAN'T

Insert Steamed Hams reference here to kill the mood

New transformation!

Oh no she's hot!

No, Hooty, you made it surprisingly much, much better!

She might have a problem pushing people away and holding onto guilt, but Eda always knows that she looks damn good

Oh right, Luz having girl problems. Fuck, so much is happening in this episode!

"Cotton-candy-haired Goddess" LUZ! 🤣

Attuned to other people's emotions = being a fucking creeper

Oh Luz, what happened to you back home?

Also, 99.999% certain Amity would love your cheesiness

That's...rather morbid, Hooty

So much lore development, including the fact the Owl House has a basement

Classic inanimate object silhouette fakeout gag. Subversion in 3...2...1...

There it is!

I can't imagine being pelleted is a fun experience.

Honestly I have so many questions about how Hooty got Amity there in the first place, but I'm not so sure I actually want to know the answers to any of them...

Cue much panicking

Wow, I'm really getting some Into the Bunker flashbacks

Oh this is gonna be amazing isn't it

I commend Luz for not actually dropping dead of embarrassment

Seriously, how can Hooty set all this up so fast yet not hold a pen?!?!?!

Poor Luz, she thinks this is destroying her chances

Meanwhile Amity is just "Oh, Titan, is this actually happening?!"

The way she's fixing her hair!❤

Goddamnit Luz let this play out, she's so clearly into this!

"Again?!" Okay who do I have to kill?

Luz is luzing it

Nooooooo....

JUST TALK FOR FUCK'S SAKE (aka how like 95% of issues in literally any plot could be solved)

Noooo Amity's so heartbroken right now💔

This isn't what either of them wanted!

To be fair, Hooty, Luz had a part in this too. Not that she can be blamed entirely. Poor thing clearly had some awful experiences back home...

Now Hooty is McFucking losing it

Why did I think he was gonna say "Looks like I'm gonna have to JUMP!" I think I've watched too much Homestar Runner (jk there's no such thing)

Those pulsating organs are still gross

Eda swooping in to save her son (No, really, he actually is now)

I'll say things get weird when Hooty gets upset!

Yes, King! Save them with your voice powers!

Damn that is some romantic lighting, and Luz is enjoying the eye candy (cotton candy, if you will)

Luz's reaction to Harpy!Eda is the family-friendly summation of how the fandom has reacted.

Hooty really just tearing up the landscape in remorse

Mother-daughter moment about love life!

I appreciate not just Eda's encouragement but her actually asking Luz what she wanted

God, Eda is best mom

Also, OH FUCK IS THIS HAPPENING?!

OH SHIT

THESE ADORABLY AWKWARD NERDS❤💜����

"I'm not as cool as you think" could be interpreted as self-deprecating, but here it seems...oddly reassuring?

The way Luz eloquently says how she wants Amity in her future...beautiful❤

Luz making some good faces

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

YOU CUTE DORKS I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

THERE IT IS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

LOOK HOW HAPPY SHE IS

WE WERE LOSING OUR SHIT OVER A PECK ON THE CHEEK THREE WEEKS AGO AND NOW LOOK WHERE WE ARE HOLY FUCK

Awkwardness is still there, but that's to be expected

BET Y'ALL DIDN'T EXPECT THAT TRAILER SHOT TO BE IN THE HOOTY EPISODE HUH

THE WAY LUZ RUBS AMITY'S HAND😭😭😭😭😭

(And yeah, it's gonna still be scary, but only because it promises to be so wonderful)

Let's give it up for Hootsifer, goddamn!

Let'a also appreciate just how fucking funny it is that Lumity becomes official in the Hooty episode

Fus ro WEH!

Hooty actually saying "Luz's new GF" out loud...

In just about any other show the love interests getting together would be a climax/culmination of the entire plot. Here? It's actually used to advance the plot, and that is brilliant!

Dana Terrace and the crew really just knocking it out of the park again and again, huh

"They're adorable, and deserve all the happiness!" Well said, Hootsifer. Well said.

Probably for the best they had Hooty promise that. As much as what happened/progressed, there was a lot of property damage.

OH SHIT ONCE AGAIN

King's dad/relative! And he's voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson!

GODDAMNIT HOOTY

Wow. Just...wow. This episode.

King has voice powers! Harpy!Eda! Lumity are girlfriends for real!!!!

How do you pack so much into a single episode?! And so expertly?!

I had my suspicions before, but this confirms it: The Owl House is the greatest show of all time.

And we have two episodes left until the hiatus! And 11 episodes in the season after that! What are we in for?!?!?!

I, for one, can't wait to find out!

[rndyounghowze]

An Interview With John D. Smitherman (Part 1/2)

By: Ricky Young-Howze

When you first walk up to the Broadway Theatre of Pitman in Pitman, NJ you look like you've gone back in time. Built in 1926 the palatial performance space looks like it should be either the home of flappers and men in suits dancing the Charleston or mothballs and cobwebs. Lovingly looked after by the owner and staff of the BTP (with the addition of all the new technical bells and whistles of a modern theater) this lovely building is the crown jewel of Pitman's downtown. But this wasn't always the case. Just seven years ago the theatre was on a much different path. They were looking for new leadership and they needed someone with a theatre pedigree almost as varied, if not as long as their venue, to take the helm. That just so happens to be the man who came up the stairs into the lobby to meet Dana and me. John D. Smitherman has done a little bit of everything in the theatre almost everywhere. We were graciously given the opportunity to meet with him to talk about his experience as Artistic Director over the past seven years and “My Broadway” his one man show debuting in three weeks.

The one thing I've learned over three years as a reviewer here is that there are two kinds of theatre people in New Jersey: the kind that you can never get to talk to you and the kind that can talk your ear off about anything you would ever want to know about theatre, local gossip, and the last show they saw. John happened to be part of the latter group but very quickly he honed in on one central theme: his tenure as a veteran of the stage and how he brought that experience to bear running a theatre company. The interview that follows took place across from a table in an upstairs rehearsal room down the street from the theater. It has been edited for clarity.

The first thing John talked about was a very personal subject: how his family reacted to him catching the acting bug. We could see him lean into us and this is where the next hour would disappear as he started to tell one story after another.

“I was still living at home during undergrad, my dad other than polite conversation did not talk to me for a solid year after I changed my degree. because you know he was concerned about you know ‘a music degree?!? What the? What are you going to do with that? You know a performance? What are you going to do?’ But then I started working for the local opera company and symphonies and stuff like that. My dad was a purchasing director at Memorial medical center and so I would go by there if I had a rehearsal in town. I would go by and visit him but basically eat free lunch at the hospital because the food was actually good at the cafeteria. And I remember walking in one day and this was after a year of my dad being obviously angry with my decision and a doctor came up to me a [said] ‘Hey aren't you Frank's boy’ I said ‘Yeah’. He goes ‘I hear you're uh doing Pagliacci this weekend.’ And that's how I knew that my dad was talking about it and was happy about it. Because it took me actually doing it. I know that makes sense as a parent…[I mean] I don't know if I want my kids to go into it because it's so much of a difficult and demanding and iffy profession.”

But he never stopped at just acting. Pretty soon he found he liked branching out.

“I always liked doing multiple things. I always liked just singing like in a concert or in a Cabaret type show like this coming up (His upcoming show, My Broadway). But I also liked playing characters. I liked comedy. And I eventually started liking directing and just things like that. A lot of different interests gave me more opportunities because you know the more you do the more you can do.”

This is how he describes an acting career that has taken him from Florida, Philly, the high seas of a cruise ship, and even Manhattan, to a home in Collingswood where he lives with his wife and two boys. Each thing he's done was a new interest that led to a new skill that led him further down the road. Later on he elaborates how he got to Pitman seven years ago. As he was trying to settle down into a nice neighborhood he got a call from a local theater he had never heard of even though it was really close by.

“When I got here it certainly was not like that (the way the theater is run today). When I got here it was basically a community theatre that was just friends family. Like the artistic director’s son was in all of the shows, or the daughter sometimes. And that’s why they brought me in. They wanted to improve the productions and become a professional theatre and so that’s where things went and changed. And the first thing I did was let people in Philadelphia know about the theatre. I didn’t know about it and I lived in Philly for a handful of years. And then we were going to have Asher so we decided to move to Collingswood which is right around the corner so we were there for about a year when they approached me about taking over. Well it started out as performing a show that was very similar to this [My Broadway] and during that it was to take over. And I mean that was the biggest thing. I never heard of it, my wife never heard of this place, and look at this place! Everyone and their brother should know about it.”

Dana chimed in that it seems so crazy that a lot of theater companies in NJ want to isolate themselves from these Metropolises around them. He latched right onto that.

“You draw from them. I remember working an outdoor theater in Beckley, West Virginia (see I told you he's been everywhere! I swore I was the only other person who’d heard of Beckley) , there’s nothing else around it and that was a 1,500 seat outdoor theatre and we were always packed for every show and I was thinking ‘Where are all these people coming from?’ They come in. You can get things from these other cities and Philadelphia is right there. People literally tell me that they prefer coming here because they would rather come here and park for free. They’ll pay that five dollars to come over the bridge but they get to park for free and they have these nice little restaurants and whatever and the shows, well they say they’re the same as at Walnut Street. We’re not. I can say that because our budget is a quarter of what Walnut Street’s budget is, they have a $50,000 dollar budget for the set alone and our entire production will be $50,000 but we try.

After trying as hard as he could to draw from the Philly crowd and let people know about this great area he started to see an effect on the downtown area.

“In the last five or so years I saw this town turn around, nothing against tattoo parlors and thrift stores because I like a good thrift store, but those kinda switched out and became boutiques and restaurants and that’s the sign of a good city that's starting to develop. I saw that happen over these last four or five years.”

But a theater company doesn't live on its audience alone. John had to also get actors into the area.

“I definitely dove right into the Philadelphia Theatre Alliance, which was even bigger than it is now than when I first got into it. They used to do all kinds of things and now they’re just kind of a bulletin board. But I would always put notices about auditions. ‘These are our shows’, ‘The largest professional regional theater in the area’, etc. And the actors slowly and surely started to come to the auditions and they would get cast and those people had the experience of their life and in a production that they were extremely proud of. And so then that person talked to this person and that person came to audition, etc. And after about five or six years, it took a long time, we now have this wonderful reputation and people like to come out here. We don’t pay well in comparison to some of these other theaters but they’re proud to be in the production. It’s something that they know is going to be a fun process. We try to make it as stress free as possible. I’m a fond believer of theater can be stress free as long as your production team is ahead of the game then you don’t have to have these last minute things that happen in tech week.

And the actors he gets can come from all over. But John is quick to emphasize that while they do have a small house that can house actors that come all they way from New York or across the country ninety percent of his casts come from Philadelphia and New Jersey.

That does mean that his most meaningful relationship isn't with the audience One of the biggest responsibilities of the artistic director is to be a mediator between the audience and the production team and even the owner. He’s noticed a key difference between the audiences of today and then dinner theater crowds of yesteryear.

And you'll have to wait until Part 2 to find out what it is. Check in tomorrow. But make sure you get your tickets for his one man show "My Broadway" now!