#I'm just saying that if a scene is SO POORLY WRITTEN that the actors have to say uh hold up maybe u shouldn't base ur characterization on i

[jonathanbyersphd]

I h8 u poorly written s3 car fight

[lemon-dokuro]

Yesterday, I watched Sound Holic's 2007 Touhou fan film, Touhou Project Side Story ~ Memory of Stars.

The plot is about Kaguya's father, the Moon's ruler, coming to take her and Eirin back. Makes heavy use of sci-fi aesthetics and is mostly set in space. Naturally, because it was released before Bogetsusho/Silent Sinner in Blue, all it had to go off of for the state of the Moon civilization and Kaguya's relationship to it were the 8th Touhou game and maybe Reisen's route/interactions in the 9th. It's a little interesting to see the creators' interpretation because of that, but... It was recieved very poorly by the japanese Touhou fandom in 2007 when it came out, you can even find comparisons to the infamous Cookie series. The reception is understandable — it really isn't good. I actually wouldn't call the story or the premise bad, they're just kitschy in a way characteristic of the otaku culture of its time, but they are ruined completely by the wonky presentation and especially the incomprehensible pacing. I don't want to recap it here because the anime isn't even that long or hard to find, but if I did, I'd have a fair bit of trouble. It feels like one of those 90s OVAs that tries to cram 4-6 volumes of a manga in about 40 minutes, so most things happen too fast to have an impact. There's a whole character that makes absolutely no sense because she has too little screen time and too little actually explained about her (Sphere Sieben, the redheaded space commander lady). Sakuya is there for a barely explained reason. Mokou comes out of nowhere in the middle (well, at least that had a point, ridiculous as it was). And considering this, bizzarely, the movie also has a lot of pointlessly drawn-out scenes where not much happens, like they were trying to pad out the runtime, even though there's a lot of substance they could have added. I have no idea what kind of constrains they were working with, but it's not like they couldn't have just written it more tightly. If not better, then, you know, at least. Even though I don't think the general premise and the story are bad per se, they are very unfitting for Touhou. The creators are obviously going for space opera aesthetics, which is a really weird fit for Touhou. They don't even really try to make it fit. Egregiously, Kaguya's presumably biological father, Luna Marius, has a sci-fi-ish western-style name for absolutely unexplained reasons. Of course, that kind of naming difference is not implausible at all, but it's a really weird creative choice, especially considering it's never adressed, not even in a throwaway line or anything. One could say it's emblematic of the work not compromising the conflicting aesthetics in any way. The visuals are often criticized for obvious reasons. They are great to me because I'm an oldschool doujin fetishist, but it's clearly all very stiff, mildly inconsistent, generally amareurish and feverishly oversaturated with bright flashing effects half the time. The backgrounds mostly consist of said effects. A lot of the animations are obviously reused. That being said, the original character designs are pretty well done. The bunny girl looks especially good, the artist absolutely nailed the early windows Touhou design style. Also, naturally, because Sound Holic is mainly a music circle, the soundtrack is decent. It's not remarkable, but there's nothing wrong with it, it's standard for 2007 Touhou arrange tracks. There's not much to say about the voice acting either — standard for doujin anime. The voice actors are inexplicably pretty well-known, but it's not that uncommon to see big names on the most random 2000s doujin projects. That's probably how these people become popular in the first place.

Well, what can I say overall. It's a weird little movie. I can't recommend it, but maybe you'll get a laugh out of it, or maybe you'll like the visuals as much as I did.

Also, that rabbit's names are both mochi types...

[xerith-42]

Some Slightly More Coherent Thoughts about Void Paradox

Riveting title, I know, but this is the quality content I'm sure... 50 of you signed up for? When the fuck...? How are there so many of you?? And in spite of that title, this post is still long as fuck

Anyways I finished Void Paradox and it sure made me feel a certain way. [Cut to footage of me literally screaming anytime Laurance showed emotion in the series]. Gotta say, as a long time Laurance fan, this is really nice to have. I've been going on my tirades about how Jess ruined Laurance for the sake of Aaron, and how Laurance never really bounced back from this character assassination, but I wasn't entirely right. He sort of bounced back?

Well, we got this. I still would have liked Laurance in Love-Love Paradise but I guess I'll take him in this series. And honestly, it's the best Laurance content I've gotten that isn't fan content since... well, since I first watched the show back in 2015 when I was a literal fetus. Every time after I've gone back and watched as Laurance got written poorly from honestly really early episodes sometimes (looking at you Episode 65), and had to deal with the unfortunate truth that he was essentially unimportant to the story Jess decided to tell with both her series, despite being the main character of one of them.

It's so refreshing to have quality Laurance content, and we got a variety of it in this show. He's so expressive, so alive, so emotional. I've always loved Laurance because surprise surprise, the men in my life weren't always the most emotionally vulnerable, so I latched onto fictional men who were as a coping mechanism! Yayyy! And Laurance has always been a very emotionally vulnerable character, at least in the beginning. It's part of the tragedy that is his character arc in Season 2. That Laurance is usually vulnerable, that he's the one who's always willing to talk about his emotions, but the calling is making it harder to open up, and the world has only become crueler to men like him who dare to feel too much.

Wow I just keep sliding into depressing content in this post, I'm trying to praise Laurance's writing in this series. Because it's good. I have my problems with Void Paradox as a whole, but as a showing for my favorite character in the entire Aphverse, a chance at redemption, it's fantastic. As I said Laurance is so expressive in this series, largely thanks to Sebastian Todd being an absolutely phenomenal voice actor who clearly knows and cares about this character. His performance is absolutely excellent and a great high note for this character to go off on.

I cannot emphasize how much I adore every little thing about Laurance's portrayal. The flirtiness, the smug bastard energy, the very sincere and open care, that one scene where he gets super embarrassed and then whimpers that I haven't listened to like eighteen times. The whole thing is great. His dynamic with this alternate version of Aphmau is so good, it's so great to see him bounce off of other characters. I just love it so much.

That scene where he realizes that he's in a similar scenario to the Nether and literally instantly jumps to "If it comes down to it, let me sacrifice myself," I SCREAMED AT THIS. The whole series whenever he angsts over his old world I scream, but that line really hit me. Fuck whatever you say about Laurmau in every universe, the universal truth of Laurmau, nay the universal truth of Laurance is this;

"I would sacrifice myself so you could live in every universe."

That's Laurance! That's Laurance with literally anyone you want!! This is the best characterization Laurance has ever gotten. It's consistent with his character, and I love the fact that Mod Aphmau doesn't even let him finish his consideration of self-sacrifice, she just shuts it down and it's a great contrast to what Laurance is used to. I adore how that's what he jumps to, I adore the fact that he's as clueless as I am about the lore this season, I love the rivals esque thing he's got going on with Jaiden, that was fun. Lotta potential there. This was just a good time. I cannot emphasize how delightful Laurance was in this series. How his delightful presence is the most enjoyable thing in the series, and a literal blessing unto us all.

Wasn't it nice to feel good about an Aphmau series for like.. two minutes. Anyways here's the part where I get a little salty with Jess, as per usual. I'm not going to go too in depth on my problems with Void Paradox as a story because it's mercifully short and a lot of my complaints did come from a standpoint of not knowing any of the lore of Mod Mod World which might have hindered my full ability to understand the larger story.

I can however get VERY salty about the fact that I didn't even know Void Paradox was a thing that had Laurance in it until 2024!! It came out in 2018! How did this happen? Well the answer is very simple, the cause is the bane of my very existence. My Street Season 6 When Angels Fall. [I am shaking with rage]

I know you've likely read how much I can tear into season 2 Episode 95, and oh my Irene can I tear into that episode, but there's a similar but differently visceral emotion When Angels Fall makes me feel. Let's call it a sort of divine rage. And now, I have one more reason to hate it. Because Void Paradox, a series with actual quality content, was released at the same time as whatever the fuck that was, meaning it never had a chance.

For a bit of personal context, I briefly became active in the Aphmau fanbase when this season came out and during the time leading up to it. I had seen every season of My Street, and despite not being the biggest fan of where Jess took the series, I liked a lot of the characters and was invested in where they would go from here. I was knee deep in the My Street trenches when the many many different bombs dropped. Melissa dying but then she didn't but maybe she did and I literally spent hours arguing with people on this, Ein is turning everyone evil, there's a doomsday device, forever potion nonsense is happening, Travis' dad is evil maybe, Aaron is going insane, the multiverse is falling apart, and then Jess just killed the best character in the entire series, dare I say the entire Aphverse, dare I say the entire universe of existence as we know it--

It was a lot. And in all the chaos Void Paradox just... came out. It came out right before episode 9 of When Angels Fall came out. And anyone else who was there during the war... they know what that episode did to us. What it did to me. I wasn't the same after that episode came out. I felt like I had lost a part of myself. Something I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to get back...

And as a result, I and a lot of people didn't see Void Paradox. Looking at the numbers, Void Paradox struggled to get above 1 million viewers for most episodes, while the lowest viewed episode of When Angels Fall sits at a cozy 2.9 million as an established series. Void Paradox is objectively better as a series and deserves to have a second season. We deserve to explore more of the weird ideas Jess clearly had while making it, we deserve to know if a cure can be found, and we, or maybe just me and I'm feeling selfish here, deserve to know if Laurance is okay.

Jess has already taken one comfort character away from me. I'll be damned if she takes another.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

So I was on the descendants subreddit and someone posted how young Ella’s actor was having a TikTok live and someone asked her if qoh had a salon on the isle, and she said yes. So that begs the question, why qoh is in Wonderland when A) she doesn’t exist, she’s all in Alice’s head and B) she’s the ruler of Wonderland when she was on the Isle running a hair salon in Return to the Isle novel.

The more confusing thing is that Young Ella’s actress said that Zellie is Rapunzel’s daughter not teen Rapunzel. Idk if you ask me, I’ll take a actor’s words with a grain of salt. If Disney plus say it’s teen Rapunzel and Morgan Dudley said she’s Rapunzel’s daughter, then someone’s misleading the people on who Zellie is. So because of this, I’m ignoring Zellie’s existence.

Aladdin and Jasmine serves no purpose in the movie and a RoR fan account on twitter said that the boy standing behind them during the scene is allegedly their son. Again, I’m ignoring his presence.

Honestly, this feels like a very poorly written fanfic that just got green lit and cash on a franchise that’s pretty much dead except on tumblr or sometimes twitter.

Please just know, anon, that when I read this for the first time...and second time...and third time...and so on...I reacted each time like this:

I...I...What??? Did anyone catch clips of her saying that or??? Because I feel I need to see this to believe it, because why confuse your audience this badly if true??? All I'm taking from this if again true, is that no one knows what they doing on Rise of Red- we were aware already lol- and that I guess Aziz may be making his return from the deleted pile. Also you don't even need Rise of Red to tell you Disney is trying to make cash of a franchise that should have ended after Descendants 3, just look at the Royal Wedding special where they even imply Carlos' is dead just to now continue with Descendants without having to worry about addressing Carlos.

[the-owl-tree]

What about My Pride? The uh YouTube series, I think the writer was problematic somehow but that might be a thing to mention and also I’d like to see your thoughts

It's on the list! My shorter, more concise thoughts are that while I appreciate it as very much a labor of love with some talented artists and voice actors on the team, the actual story and writing is disappointing, tone deaf, and downright infuriating at times.

I guess rattling off my issues (spoilers included):

I found the central handling of disability and Nothing's character to be poorly thought out. Needing multiple abled bodied characters to get her moving, it feels like there was little research done in trying to depict a character like her.

I hate that her name stays as "Nothing" and that an abled bodied lion lectures her about accepting it. Terribly thought out scene. I'm a she should've changed her name to Everything truther.

The central gay lion romance that the series is based off is pretty poorly written with very few sprinkles of endearing and fun moments between them unfortunately. Hover is...mean? She's a terrible partner and I was genuinely upset that her not sticking up for her girlfriend all because she missed idk a lion recital (something Hover?? canonically should not give a shit about???) was scummy. it would be one thing if Hover was meant to be in the wrong...but she's not depicted as that?

The two spend so much time apart, you start to get kind of annoyed at how much gay lions were part of the marketing and then the gay lions! weren't there!!

Didn't care for it!!

I actually liked the world and premise. I enjoy unfair and cruel societies, I like the idea of someone working to change the system (though I very rarely see the execution of that I like, very rarely will stories depict the actual necessary actions for confronting a society like this: tearing it down entirely and building something better).

I hate Feather. Them pulling their punch and not killing him was lame.

Nothing's brother being the twist villain should have been set up better, it doesn't hit the same way it could have had the series planted the seeds earlier on. We have no reason to understand why he would act this way, he was doing just fine better? Why not set up tensions when we meet the group of young male lions?

I don't like that the only real importance Nothing holds isn't because of something about her in the present, but the importance of her able bodied past life. Her ending with her wanting to die is...bleak because I don't believe she has recognized her own worth.

Poor handling of abuse. I disagree with the notion that trying to give depth to abusers is in itself apologia, but the show is trying to like....idk how to say this properly but it wants to "both sides" Nothing's mother's treatment of her, ya know? I found it really icky.

Uh I think I could say more but you'd have to give me a specific topic to bite onto or I'll keep meandering lol but I didn't care for the show but I do feel for fans of the show who are stuck on a cliffhanger. I hope the creator releases the rest of the story plan at the very least.

[e-s-willswriting]

So, You've Seen a Bad Play: An Essay

Yesterday I went to see a show.

It was a student production my friend was involved in. I’ve seen student productions in the past and overall, I have been very impressed with them. They’re a showcase for budding talent and intriguing ideas, even if aspects need to be refined. I can’t say any of the shows I’ve seen are bad (all that comes to mind was a production of Measure for Measure, but it was simply that I hadn’t studied the text itself. The production was great and had intriguing fight choreography).

Part of me felt I would do an actual review of the thing, but for the sake of privacy for those involved, I felt I’d rather not. But I still wanted to discuss it, nonetheless.

It was a small-scale production by someone who was not from an Arts and Humanities background, but a medical sciences background. I really respect when artists incorporate their studies and careers, even those unrelated to creative fields, into their work. In my student workshops I’d read one text about a pilot written by someone who was a trainee pilot, and another time I’d read a book that, even if I didn’t like the text, I loved the details that came from the writer being an archivist and imbuing that into the text. It adds a real richness to those aspects that can only be gained from hands on experience, and I love that. I feared that the work I was going to see might be too technical, that aspects may go over my head, but I hoped to go in and appreciate it even if I didn’t fully get it.

I didn’t get it.

But not for those reasons.

Let me set the scene. I’m sat in the back row on pretty standard fold-up chairs with limited visibility due to those in the front two rows, sipping a complimentary cider that came with the ticket I paid for (much needed). Tiny studio room. The writer gets up, only gives an epilepsy warning and promptly sits back down. I make a mental note of how unceremonious of a welcome that is, if you could call it one, but pass it off. Play begins.

In short, the next hour was an incredibly poorly written production. Character arcs were non-existent, things would be introduced then promptly dropped, they wanted to deal with too many environmental and political messages for an hour runtime and all of them fell flat, scenes were poorly established, and the messaging felt non-existent.

But it’s not like I can’t praise aspects of the show. The actors hard carried the production despite the abysmal script they had to work with. If I saw them in another production, I’m sure they could absolutely kill it. And there were interesting things that could have worked if fully incorporated. There was a musical accompaniment for one (1) scene that was very well done and pleasant to listen to and then she just sat in the corner quietly for the rest of the show not to be used again (like multiple aspects of the script, established and ditched). There was a cool little red beep under one of the characters’ tops to act as their heart. They really tried to do things with what little they had.

As a creative, it feels weird to be a critic. Especially one to a student production. I'm always having to clarify that I understand that making stuff is hard because I do it too. Perhaps I'm only harsh because I'm affirming to myself what I want to see out of my own works. I see a thing, I think ‘this could have been better’. and I think about how I'd apply those lessons to my works. It only comes from a deep love for the medium that my critiques are harsh. I’ll always look for good, even in things I don’t like (even if it’s just ‘I think the concept is cool’) because there’s very few things that are wholly bad. Hell, some terrible things can at least be entertaining, which I don’t deny this production was (if not for the reasons it intended). I am a firm believer that one of the worst things a story can be is boring.

I’m particularly harsh on this production because I sincerely believe it was AI-generated.

What doesn’t help is the show all but confirmed it, with an almost 5 minute long in-universe advert for a hospital. Multiple AI voices (man 1 to woman 2) saying effectively the same thing. All it served was to establish setting.

Here’s roughly how I would have done it, in about 30 seconds:

A man walks out in a white coat. He puts on blue gloves and a face mask, and hurriedly walks off stage as CHARACTER A walks on, nervously pacing the hall of the hospital.

There. Done.

Could my friend have told me it was AI-generated?  Sure. Thing is, they didn’t know for certain, only that they were paid to work in it (thank God) but thus under contractual obligation to finish the production for pay (they’re a uni student, any money’s good!) And by the time they’d told us to get tickets, they’d come to realize just how bad it would be, and it was too late at that point (student productions can be under tight time constraints).

Thing is, I believe one of the core issues of AI is consent, or lack thereof. I believe that as a consumer, I should have had the right to know what content was involved in this production, and it was up to the production itself to disclose that. Just as people deserve to know any potential content warnings and epilepsy warnings for a show and to make the educated choice to engage with that material as a consumer, I think they also deserve to know if a production uses (or is entirely made with) AI.

Sure it's not going to harm them if they're seeing it, but don't they deserve to know? Because what if next door, there's a small self-produced play written by humans that could change their lives and speak to their souls? Don't they deserve to know that it was made by a person, honestly produced by them?

Little on the webpage communicated that it was AI generated, and the text only appears as such now after I’ve seen the play. If I had known the play used AI, and seemingly was entirely written in it, I would have not paid to see this show. Simple as. I want to support shows written by people.

But now I must grapple with the fact that I paid money to see something made with a tool I have extreme ethical complaints against as an artist and consumer. I have seen one 15-minute play (Caryl Churchill’s What If If Only, a quarter of the runtime) and a free production by Mamoru Iriguchi (What You See/What You Don’t See) and I would much rather have paid the ticket price for those shows which I absolutely loved, than to have seen this seemingly AI production once.

And I think that’s why I wanted to write this blogpost. To remind people that as consumers, we deserve to know if a production uses AI machine learning software. We deserve informed choices. AI probably won't leave anytime soon and might significantly help certain sectors, but right now it’s a wild west and often not used for these purposes to sincerely help people and provide accurate information. And there are those that assume that it democratizes the writing process. On the surface, yes. My mum could put in a prompt and get a script. But the love of labour? No. Not now, not ever. AI devalues artistic processes, and it's insulting to a medium that's withstood all of human history to effectively be told that a robot can recreate it.

But no, it can't replicate heart. It can't replicate real human experience.

In a strange way, seeing this production is somewhat affirming. I struggle with writing. Sometimes it’s just the act of getting up to write after a long day or a late night. Other days it’s harder stages (editing for example). At some points it’s having the ideas and having little way to communicate them. At times it’s just the isolation of it all and the compulsion to just scroll through my phone- I’ve written best when I’m working with others at times, even if those people aren’t writers!

Writing for me has been a struggle, and it’s a struggle I’m still overcoming. I’m still discovering who I am as a writer, what works for me, what stuff I want to produce. And there’s those times when I manage a good session, or an idea burns in me like fuel, or I make people’s eyes light up with the stuff I’m producing. That’s when I know the reasons I struggle. It’s because I can’t suppress the urge to make stuff, and I don’t want to live a life I’d regret in not at least trying to make cool things.

I’ll probably make bad things. First drafts and such that aren’t good. I’ve made bad things in the past, absolutely!

But I chose that struggle.

And if this play can exist and be produced, then the only thing really holding me back is myself. Seeing things like this galvanizes me to push on and make the things I care about.

And I will them with my own hands.

[instantpansies]

In 1964, arguably the height of their career, the Beatles performed "Pyramus and Thisbe", the play-within-a-play from A Midsummer Night's Dream, for a television appearance. Having been obsessed with the Beatles for my entire life, I was ecstatic when at age 12 the recording appeared in my YouTube recommendations.

Around the same time, I was becoming obsessed with Shakespeare as well. Starting with Much Ado about Nothing, I had read most of the comedies and a good number of tragedies by the time I stumbled across "The Beatles Perform Shakespeare, in colour". Naturally, it immediately became my dream to perform in that play. I wasn't an actor yet, and while I was an okay public speaker I hadn't yet gone through the debate classes and persuasive essay presentations that would force me to get comfortable in front of a crowd. I watched the blurry footage of John and Paul mumbling through archaic lines in yarn wigs, and set my sights on memorizing the monologues.

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Pyramus and Thisbe is a play put on by the group of fools, who spend most of the story rehearsing before performing it in the final scenes of Midsummer's. It's poorly written, intentionally so, with the actors flubbing lines, speaking out of turn, and generally doing a bad job of presenting the story. Shakespeare means it to be a moment of comedy to wrap up the romantic drama of the rest of the story. Pyramus and Thisbe is also the myth that inspired Romeo and Juliet, with the plot following very similar beats.

I started acting in high school and it quickly became part of my identity. This isn't a unique experience by any means, but the freedom of being someone else was pretty meaningful for a queer kid who'd grown up in the only liberal family in our conservative christian homeschool co-op. I'd only acted for two years when the de facto leader of our troupe, my best friend, graduated, leaving me to fill the gap. Suddenly I'd become one of the most experienced actors in a group of freshman homeschoolers, most of whom had never stepped onstage.

Our director also ran a co-op of sorts of her own - not the one where I'd spent most of my primary educational career, but a sort of conglomerate of teachers and classes - and she wanted us to present a short play for the elementary classes' fall celebration. She asked for recommendations and I saw my chance, practically shining in the air before me.

Obviously I shouted out "Pyramus and Thisbe!" I gave my elevator pitch. Killed it. We got scripts the next week. Me and that little group of freshmen pulled ourselves together in about a month, and managed to present the archaic language comedically. If I do say so myself. We practiced just once a week, and my actors weren't quite sure what to do with their rather eccentric characters, and our lines weren't fully memorized until the week before, but we made it. We made it, and it was great.

I played Pyramus. I got to die dramatically in front of fifty kids I'd been working with for over a year, flounce around onstage with a plastic sword, and immerse myself in a scene I'd loved for years. It was, honestly, a high point of my high school career. I still have those lines memorized, I still go back to the photos and videos from that fall evening. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I don't really know what the point of this story is. I think it's funny, I guess, how Pyramus and Thisbe keeps popping up in my life. It connects to acting and classic literature and the Beatles and the summers of staying with my grandparents, holed up in their extra room, writing research papers and surfing the Internet. I don't know what it is about Pyramus and Thisbe, but it's important for one reason or another. I hope it shows up in my life again someday, but in the meantime, I'm done. And being done, thus Wall away doth go.

[endiness]

s4 of tua thoughts/review

~

to start with the (semi) positives…

overall, i found the season… entertaining. i'm not quite sure if i liked it per se, but i did find it entertaining and i wasn't that mad about it or how it all ended, or at least the concept of the ending.

i'm so glad that the show focused on klaus and allison's relationship and their relationship with claire. klaus's relationship with ben is by far my absolute favorite relationship in the entire show, but if the show wasn't really going to focus on them in the last season, then i'm glad klaus and allison's relationship really got the focus because their relationship is probably my second favorite.

also, lowkey love the idea of them living together especially with allison still being an actress. it is giving "this happened in a fanfic" vibes. same thing with klaus getting buried alive. like, thanks for the fanfic content 👍 and also thanks for the continued misfits parallels 👍

i loved klaus getting to blow up at everyone. and i also loved allison refusing to be seen as the bad guyTM.

i don't think robbie was given the best material to work with this season, but when he did get good material to work with, he really brought it. like, his acting in the scene with claire when he relapses was great.

the show had me shipping five and lila, negl 🤷‍♀️ (also, i have to say: i cannot take people who say that lila cheated on diego seriously. like, no nope nah. if you are stuck in what more or less constitutes as a pocket dimension for over half a decade facing the very real possibility that you will never escape from it, like. it ain't cheating at that point. sry not sry. it just isn't.)

i think the show ultimately focused way too much on gene and jean for such a short season, but i do have to hand it to the actors for doing a good job.

i thought the fight scenes were pretty good and tbh i really enjoyed just how brutal everyone got to be. like, diego jumping and spinning and manipulating the bullets is a classic. i think the way viktor's power displayed itself this season was cool. same with allison. s/o to klaus for finally getting to levitate, too.

now onto the negatives…

i did not care about, or like, jennifer at all. so the show wasting so much time on her was extremely annoying to me given that the season was so short. also, as someone who almost always absolutely despises "destined for each other" relationships because they are usually incredibly poorly written as writers generally tend to rely on that aspect of it instead of, y'know, actually bothering to develop their relationship… yeah, ben and jennifer's relationship did not escape my disdain. and i think it was such a waste of ben's character for him to have spent so much of his screen time on this completely brand new character and not with his family, which the show didn't do the best job of developing anyway given that this isn't og ben but sparrow ben.

also, i don't even understand the whole thing with jennifer anyway? like, why did reginald not just kill her from the beginning? wouldn't this have solved a bunch of problems? and why was everyone so obsessed with killing ben? didn't reginald say you had to kill one of the two vessels, meaning either ben or jennifer? like, just kill jennifer. literally who the fuck cares about her. 🙄

that klaus's storyline this season was being a hypochondriac, relapsing, sex trafficked, buried alive, and then erased from existence. nobody likes that. especially as most of those things weren't really treated that seriously by the narrative. like, klaus went through a massive amount of trauma in a very short amount of time (like he always does), he never got to deal with it (and while the show hasn't always been the best about addressing klaus's trauma, like! it definitely did a lot better in previous seasons!), and then he was just erased from existence. like wtf. also that klaus was 0% involved with the whole "reginald killed his ben" storyline. again, wtf. 🙃

i still cannot stand viktor 💅

i don't mind the concept of the "erase yourself from existence to save the world" ending, but i feel like overall the show did not do the best job in executing it. like, for one thing, if you're gonna go for that ending, i think it is an absolute must that things need to be character driven as opposed to plot driven. and this season was extremely plot driven. on top of that, i think the show introduced the whole idea way too late. like, things need to be building to that solution and not introduced at the last minute, basically. like, it should've been building to that solution since day one and not, like, what. 10-15 minutes before the end?

also, i feel like the whole thing was so unsatisfying for the characters? like, if you're going for that type of ending… it really only works if it feels like… things were resolved with the characters. and i don't really feel like that. like, i can kind of see it for allison because so much of allison's story was just trying to get claire back and with it ending with the way it did, claire was still alive which was ultimately allison's biggest goal. so i think for allison's story it can be satisfying. maybe not the best ending, but all things considered and taking every other character into account, i think that ending for her works better than everyone else. and i guess sort of the same thing with lila because a lot of her story was initially tied up with her family, too, and she ended up saving them. and kind of five in the sense that, idk, i guess he solved the problem that is the apocalypse, lol. (even though he was also trying to save his family and he didn't get to do that...)

but yeah, for everyone else? like, diego got erased knowing that his wife wanted a break and then cheated on him (i still think it's ridiculous to view it that way, like, as an audience member, but i think it's more understandable from diego's position, obviously, even if i was in the same position i'd be like fair enough tbh.) luther got erased kind of doing nothing all season? like, his story last season was very focused on sloan and that's where his story ended off and then the show just went with completely erasing her and that's that. 🙃 i already talked about klaus, but yeah. that he ends up getting erased after going through highly traumatic things that are never addressed. and, like, ben didn't even get to go out with his family?

just, overall, i don't think it was particularly satisfying for any of the characters because not a lot of the season was that character driven. (plus i think there's also stuff that just does not make sense with the ending. like, claire and lila's kids should not actually exist. allison was erased from the timeline as was lila and diego. their kids should just not exist. i don't care that they were in some kind of time travel subway. they should not exist. also, like, the actual problem was reginald releasing the merigold, so like. i think the focus should've been on stopping him from doing that in the past as opposed to like. we are kind of retroactively erasing ourselves from existence by letting this monster eat the merigold that made us in the first place.)

[destinyc1020]

I dont care about timothee tom comparisons thats whatever, but defending cherry is wild b/c take away the acting for a sec but from technical / filmmakers perspective, cherry was poorly edited with blatant mistakes, a movie that is visually bland with poor choices in terms of cinematography and choices that make no sense to the plot that ultimately is like take a step back and think of film as more than just actors on screen. Script that is littered with sterotypes. A movie that was supposed to cover a topic like the opiod crisis but never once does anything with it nor has any meaningful conversation about it. The first part talks about the linkage between us imperialism and ptsd only for the russos to completely drop the critique of the us military mid way through the film there is literallly a lack of cohesion of what it wants to say b/c the script is muddled and unfocused. No movie is perfect but if you are not even open to actual critiques of the film is wild, is film that has potential but its poorly constructed with numerous plot holes and under developed themes. Its style over substance in this case style lacked any thematic purpose rather its used to tell the audience " hey look we can make an independent film" and visual style is never justifeid. Acting is subjective but I tend to argue that cherry blurs more into the realm of overacting, a more talented director would tell tom to control and to hold some things rather than go all the way to 100

the last 30 minutes border more on parody rather than being an honest representation of someone who is a addicted to drugs struggling with ptsd and geographical/ socio economic displacement. The best scene was him in the hospital after that it blurs into over the top hyper realism and fouth wall breaking which tom struggles constantly throughout.

Like Im sorry why are unafraid to engage in critique, tom is a great actor but cherry was all over the place in terms of acting. Like whenever someone critques him you and your anons are quick to dismiss it and say can people think for themselves well here you go I thought for myself its so dismissive and condesending when you think people do have opinions.

Timmy tom comaparisons are dumb, they go after different roles, timmy has admittedly has had more critical success but as that anon said he knows what works for him.

Tom is a great actor and shines in alot of his movies but his films outside of his performance do have flaws and alot of them are technical such as poor visuals ( uncharted) and mistakes in the editing room ( infinity war, end game) under developed script ( TDATT).

This isnt reserved just for toms films but timmys films as well. You also undercut timmy, you said I want the person with range as in tom but literally timmy, austin, zendaya, florence , anya , keke palmer, kelvin harrison, daniel kuluyaa,dev patel like the list goes on of people with range, I dont understand what you mean when you say range like do you just watch tom holland films or something 😭😭😭 i dont know how you can convincingly say one actor as more range than another based on what. Lee, Elio wonka, paul, king henry, yule is a diverse subset of characters, in the same way that arvin, cherry, peter parker, billy elliott are diverse characters.

Wow...This was a LOT Anon. I see you've already written a dissertation, so I'm not going to add on to this by writing a dissertation of my own. I'll just pick from a few things here and there.

but defending cherry is wild b/c take away the acting for a sec but from technical / filmmakers perspective, cherry was poorly edited with blatant mistakes

What mistakes? Can you list examples?

a movie that is visually bland with poor choices in terms of cinematography

What do you mean by this?? And did it ever occur to you that maybe this might have been done on purpose? 🤔 The movie is about drug addiction after all. I also disagree that the entire movie was "visually bland". Some scenes, maybe?? But I think there were quite a few visually appealing and well-shot scenes in "Cherry". You might disagree, but I felt that these shots in particular were quite nice with the lighting (imo). The Cherry and Emily scenes in particular.

and choices that make no sense to the plot that ultimately is like take a step back and think of film as more than just actors on screen.

Again...if you provide some examples, maybe I can agree with you.

Look, I'm not saying "Cherry" was the best film ever made, but to say it was "horrendously awful" is a bit of a stretch to me.

Tom is a great actor and shines in alot of his movies but his films outside of his performance do have flaws and alot of them are technical such as poor visuals ( uncharted) and mistakes in the editing room ( infinity war, end game) under developed script ( TDATT).

And these might just be personal opinions? 🤷🏾‍♀️ But either way, what an actor has done in the past doesn't always equal what they will do in the future imo.

Maybe one day, a film that Tom does will live up to your expectations, but I just feel like you're being unnecessarily hard for no good reason.

You also undercut timmy, you said I want the person with range as in tom but literally timmy, austin, zendaya, florence , anya , keke palmer, kelvin harrison, daniel kuluyaa,dev patel like the list goes on of people with range,

Ummm....When have I EVER "undercut" Timmy (or any of these other actors you've mentioned above)??? 🥴 I've said plenty of times that Timmy (as well as the others you've mentioned) are great actors!

I dont understand what you mean when you say range like do you just watch tom holland films or something 😭😭😭

Okay, now I KNOW you're just trolling. 😒🙄 How many times have I talked about other movies and other actors here on my blog?? Like, literally ALL the time. I don't just watch "Tom Holland movies". 😒 If anything, I've been one who's always told fans to expand their film and actor horizons and appreciate a wide variety!

I've seen 98% of Tom's filmography though, so that's why I do feel like I have an honest view of his filmography overall.

i dont know how you can convincingly say one actor as more range than another based on what. Lee, Elio wonka, paul, king henry, yule is a diverse subset of characters, in the same way that arvin, cherry, peter parker, billy elliott are diverse characters.

Okay look, I know you're a huge Timmy fan and all, and that's okay! But I think you're misunderstanding what I meant. I didn't say "range", I said DIVERSITY of filmography. There's a difference! I never said Timmy doesn't have acting range. I just said that Tom has a more diverse filmography....and he DOES! That's just a fact.

[forkaround]

Playboyy Ep 5 Trash Watch Part 1

Have I done this for E1 - 4? No. But I don't think I can watch this show without making a post or it's a waste of an hour for me and as much as I want to watch this show I can't keep track of anything at all.

You know most of these actors remind me of Pat from Step by Step, especially the kids club. It's that same slack jawed, plump lips expression.

Wait wait wait this whole thing started because of a comment? A play? A dare? Dude what are guys doing out in the world. We need to keep all the boys under lock and key to make sure they don't hurt themselves.

Nuthyim is the username. The lead character is Nont, twin - Nant. You see the confusion.

Wait I thought this was about hitting on someone to get experience for a play, how did it end up in a red light scene with hoods over their heads??? Keep the boys home.

Why does Nant look like he is scamming people when asking for money?? Why doesn't he ask his dad?? Nont?? They are more likely to give money for mom. Unless it's not for mom in that case Nont being angry doesn't make sense. I feel like he didn't really have to do any of this. Even if it wasn't for mom, Asian families would do anything, anything to avoid a scandal. Okay, so while the characters might not get that the writer should. Otherwise it lacks logic as a story coz we are the audience, we have a birds eye view, it won't land for the audience.

So if Nont has revealed himself now, then what was the 'having sex with anything that moves'? Clearly not part of a plan to find his brother. It's the logic again. Not there.

I'm only 5 mins in and this looks more like a spectacle than a real examination of the story being told. I'm not new to crime dramas and I'm not new to sex worker protags so I know this is poorly written. Simple as that. Like the Soong kidnaps First opening. There for shock value only. This too.

Why didn't he tell them who the third guy is? I suppose since they already fought about Teena it's explainable. But like don't say three things and not show three things. It's incomplete. I'm having a Sheldon moment. Complete the sentence!

STOP SPEAKING ENGLISH. YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH! I imagine this is how Italian, French, Spanish speakers feel when someone butchers the language. I couldn't even understand it without the subs. Reminds me of House and Sheldon speaking Hindi.

Also do you feel guilty or not boy? That's your friend who is missing. You do like him right? Did the writer just really love that line?

You know I don't care that it's unsexy, I don't care it's weird, I won't care about the horrible pacing. This show is stupid. And that's where I draw the line. I watch Cdramas, I know pacing issues but never have they turned me off so much.

They are all overdramatic about their relationships and I'm left asking - why do you care??? Why do any of you care??? You clearly are unemotional enough when it was Nant, why do you care about these boys??? Where is the logic??

Are they all Mary Sues? Coz I can't see any other reason for these guys to be so crazy over these kids.

This show could have used color coding clothes. or the pair's name starting with the same letter.

Is Zoey the Mew of this group??? He feels like the Mew of this group.

And that's what I mean that this show is confusing. I had no idea why Zoey was angry with Captain until his friend explained it. Stilted af. It's like someone wrote scenes and forgot the flow.

You know we've seen shows like these. Rich kids being shitty isn't new. Gossip Girl made that a thing long before anyone else. For something small town there is Pretty Little Liars. They did shit to each other all the time. But they made sense. I should clarify - they made sense for what we knew of the characters without losing the pacing.

Anyone else feeling a distinct urge to slap the car boy?

I can't watch any more today. Buh-bye

[average-guy-reviews]

The Little Mermaid (2023)

"The youngest of King Triton's daughters, Ariel, is a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. Longing to find out more about the world beyond the sea, Ariel visits the surface and falls for the dashing Prince Eric. Following her heart, she makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, to experience life on land."

While I do enjoy a good Disney film, and I do regularly use their streaming service, I am far from a huge Disney fan. I find theirs, and others, needs for constant remakes or reboots irritating. Yet something about this one intrigued me from the get go. I can't remember when I last watch the animated version, and it's been well over 30 years since I read the original story. Yet here I was, happily sat front row for the Mouse's newest 'life-action' offering.

Up to this point, the live action remakes/reboots from the company have been spotty. Other than Cruella (and even that was close), I haven't enjoyed the remakes. I have just found them poorly made, badly written, or just NOT live action, Lion King I'm looking at you here....it was just differently animated. It wasn't 'live-action'. With this film though the House of Mouse may have bucked the trend.

With four perfectly cast actors in the main roles of Ariel, Triton, Eric, and Ursula, they have given us a live action adaptation that pays homage to the original yet feels fresh at the same time. It isn't a full shot for shot remake but when it was it was delightful and spoke perfectly to my inner child. The scene on the rock with the wave crashing behind Ariel legitimately had me giddily clapping my hands. Throughout the film there were several moments that sent a ripple of laughter through the audience, and at the end a good portion of the viewers were clapping. It is an entrancing movie that will reignite a sense of childlike wonder in your head, even if only while in the cinema.

Halle Bailey, as Ariel, was exquisite. Her voice is so beautiful, and the changes made to some of the songs she sang were smooth and fitted the film perfectly. Her Ariel was a strong yet naive young woman, and she was fabulous in a role that is so iconic to so many people. I really enjoyed her performance, and I look forward to whatever she does next.

Now I need to be honest here....when I first heard that Melissa Mccarthy was going to be in this film as Ursula, I was disappointed. I don't like her. I genuinely cannot think of a film of hers that I have sat through and enjoyed. She'll never read this, but I'd like to apologise to her now. I was wrong. You were perfectly cast as the vile sea witch, and I don't say that to be mean or sarcastic. She brought out the malevolence of one of the most putrid Disney villains in a perfect way that I just did not expect. She was brilliant, and her version of Poor Unfortunate Souls was perfectly pitched to highlight the two-faced vindictive nature of the character while still trying hard to elicit a little sympathy. It didn't work Melissa you were horrible. Thank you.

Eric, played by Jonah Hauer-King, could have been played by Harry Styles, and I have to thank the casting director for NOT doing that. Hauer-King's Prince is a man of the people that is loved and respected, as well as a man out of place looking for his own direction. It was a delightful performance and easily the most believable of the main four. As for King Triton? The big fish of the seas, the king of the underwater folks, and a tough grumpy fella with a little nugget of gold in his heart? I honestly cannot think of anyone else that would have fit it as well as Javier Bardem. Bravo, sir....

But it's not all seashells and shiny rocks. Some of the CGI was lacking, in design as well as quality.....to me at least. I totally understand why Flounder and Sebastian couldn't look like they did in the animation. They were going for a more realistic vibe, and that's great, but the artistic choices for these characters were not well made. I definitely think they could have put more effort, or thought, into them. The worst CGI 'culprit' for me was Ursula in her giant final form. It just didn't look good and, while it didn't pull me out of the story, it certainly didn't add any more depth to the big climactic scene.

Overall, this is a really solid release from Disney and, again for me, easily the best live action adaptation of an animated classic. It has its issues, but it's a decent movie that I genuinely found myself enjoying immensely. It's getting a solid 7/10 with a recommendation to everyone to give it a go. Hopefully Disney have turned a corner with these adaptations, but let's see what they do with the angry blue alien...

[adamwatchesmovies]

Cinderella and the Secret Prince (2018)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

There's something particularly devastating about watching a bad movie that could’ve been good if circumstances beyond the filmmaker’s control hadn’t mucked things up. Right before the end credits of Cinderella and the Hidden Prince, we see concept art of what the characters should’ve looked like. They look great. As good as anything Disney has put on-screen. I'm certain the voice actors saw these images and got all excited. I can picture the art director/character designer telling their friends and family about this animated fairy tale they were working on and then dying of shame once they saw the final product.

Ella “Cinderella” (voiced by Cassandra Morris) is forced by her wicked stepmother and step-sisters to work as a scullery maid in her own home. When her mouse friends Alex (Chris Niosi), Manny (R. Martin Klein) and Walt (Tony Azzolino) discover an apprentice fairy godmother in the woods (Crystal, voiced by Kirsten Day), Ella gets the chance to go to the royal ball and meets the kingdom's prince. Unfortunately, Olaf (Stephen Mendel) isn’t a prince at all. He’s a puppet of the Wicked Witch (Stephanie Sanditz), who has transformed the real prince into a mouse!

If you’ve had the misfortune of seeing 2012’s Cinderella 3D, this one’s cut from the same cloth. Ugly characters are REALLY ugly but not in an intentional way. The "handsome" prince has his eyes set just a bit too far apart, making him look like he’s a fish man. Cinderella’s mouse friends (well, two are mice, one’s a hamster) are hideous creatures whose size changes from scene to scene. At best, this looks like a bargain-bin knockoff of Tangled. Most of the time, it doesn’t even reach the level of Happily N’Ever After. Some assets were obviously taken from an animation library because you can see their cycles end in the middle of a scene.

Despite the lackluster visuals, you can picture the movie this could've been if it weren’t trying to tell the Cinderella story. When you think of the classic fairy tale, certain elements come to mind: a poor girl forced to do labor, a fairy godmother and most iconic of all… a crystal slipper left behind at midnight. That last one? not in this movie! Instead, we have a quest for a magic ring to restore the not-so-secret prince to his human form. This mission takes over the entire film, which would be fine if it was what we’d signed up for.

As Hoodwinked has taught us, all could've been forgiven if the writing had done some heavy lifting. At several points, it feels like there are scenes missing. One moment, Cinderella and her friends spot a colossal ice mountain all the way across the forest. Seconds later, they’re inside, exploring a cave that looks like it belongs to a completely different film. The characters are thin, unlikeable, or both. At several points, the story contradicts itself. We learn, for example, that the prince was turned into a mouse when he was five years old. When he’s restored to his true form, he suddenly knows how to ride a horse and is an expert swordsman. Did he master these skills when he was a toddler? Then there’s a reveal about the evil witch that makes no sense and an epic conclusion that raises far too many questions. It’s clear some people on the team were trying but they were outnumbered by people who just didn’t care.

You can appreciate a film wanting to take a familiar story in a new, fresh direction but good intentions don't mean anything if the end product is kind of ugly, often annoying and poorly written. Don’t get me started on the one musical number. It’s so bland and generic you'll forget the lyrics as soon as the following line begins. Even for little kids who don’t discriminate, Cinderella and the Secret Prince would be a hard sell. (May 7, 2021)

[deadendtracks]

This is not 100% related and I’m not the first anon who asked about Tommy/Grace, but I wonder how much of the fanon view of Grace as badass spy comes from the fact that it’s easier to pigeonhole a beautiful actress into what a trope than to actually look at the character’s upbringing/motivations/etc., and how much of the idea that Grace is boring is informed by Annabelle Wallis’s acting choices, which are not terrible but can sometimes come off a little bit stiffer than other actors on the show imo.

Yeah, definitely. And because it was a "brutal honesty" post and because her character is so sanitized in fandom, I was a bit harsh about her in my response. But absolutely it's easier to polish off the rough edges of what Grace actually says and does when she's played by a very pretty actress.

And yes, if I'm being honest, I do think that Annabelle Wallis contributes. I like her a lot in most of season 1 and 2, but she doesn't bring the depth and subtext to her character the way other actors do -- she's fine, but she's *just* fine. She doesn't give you a lot to work with as a fic writer. She was definitely best in s1 when she had some good stuff to dig into, which makes sense and I'm sympathetic to that.

In season 3 it seems clear she was very unhappy that her character was being killed off, and her acting was pretty bad for most of it. While there's not a ton of character development on the page in s3, what's on the page is more interesting than how she tended to deliver it, which was often very wooden or just off. She's not responding to her scene partner fully in many of those scenes, she's just reciting lines, and half the time the rhythm or intonation is wonky. And while I do feel for her (it must have sucked to have been written off!) it does make Grace come across pretty poorly in s3.

In comparison in s2 in her scene with Tommy at Ada's, you do get some sense of Grace's inner conflict about her husband, for example. Of course it's there in the lines and in the plot, obviously, but it's also there in the acting.

Some of my interpretation of Grace's character is from her actions and what she says, but some of it is in the acting and I'm never quite sure if that part was intentional -- the sort of surface level at which Annabelle Wallis plays her makes it seem like Grace *is* oblivious to things like the fact that she betrayed Tommy would actually have a deep impact on him. Etc. I have never seen her in anything else so I can't really judge, but I do incorporate *how* she played Grace with my understanding of Grace's character, for better or worse.

What I liked best about how she played Grace in s1 was how watchful and quiet she was. I do appreciate that, because another actress could have been too worried about being 'interesting' in a showy way, and it fit the character. I think she just doesn't bring a lot of subtext to her acting, maybe. Some actors come up with elaborate backstories for their characters that they incorporate into their performances; you get the sense she plays what was on the page. Which is fine, but sometimes I just wanted a bit more.

[hoghtastic]

Hey there! I remember that some had been discussing why most of the younger cast of vikings didn't really progress with their careers. I have just recently rewatched the whole show, and now with some time passed and not as much of a hype I personally felt like often the acting of them was honestly hideous. I noticed that especially with Marco, Ida, Georgia and yes also with Alex. Some of them clearly had some very good and memorable scenes but compared to what Travis did with his character I now understand that a lot of people abandoned or didn't like the show after Ragnars death. Yes, Ivar carried the show like a lot after that but I personally thing that the fact that Ivar just looked hot had a lot of saying with that. Because when I rewatched the show, I thought that with season 5 the story was more often written poorly then not! I know that they were young and didnt have that much experience, but honestly if that is their biggest advertisement for themselves I kinda understand it's hard for them to get new big jobs.

Just my 2 cents, sorry if most disagree, hope no one feels offended. Just thought to myself its almost a bit surprising how my own view changed with a bit of distance form the fandom and hypetrain.

Thank you so much for sharing your opinion, anon! 😊 It's a really interesting perspective, and it's totally understandable that with some time and distance our views on things will change.

If I may also add my two cents, from my experience talking to friends and acquaintances who also used to watch Vikings, people abandoning the show after Ragnar's death had nothing to do with the new actors' skills. They were just really attached to Ragnar as a character and felt really disappointed that they decided to kill the main character, so much that they didn't see a point in continuing to follow the story, as the sons' story wouldn't be the same without Ragnar. So some people gave up right away, not even giving the show and the new cast a chance. It also didn't help that, at the time, only seasons 1 to 5 were available on Netflix, and most people didn't feel like subscribing to another platform (Amazon Prime, if I'm not mistaken) to see the 6th and final season. And while I agree that sometimes the writing wasn't the best, we can't really blame the actors' skills for that either, as they try to do their best with what they're given, I believe. 😅

I also absolutely agree when you said that "they were young and didn't have that much experience", but being on Vikings was already a huge achievement and they could have worked on improving their skills after that. I can only comment about Alex, whose career I've been following the closest in comparison to the others you mentioned, but I'd say that the problem wasn't his performance in Vikings. He showed a huge potential and commitment to the character, even if he wasn't perfect. The problem was what he did after. It seemed to me (based on past interviews) that he got a little picky with which roles he'd accept, considering some smaller ones as some kind of "downgrade" after Vikings. He also didn't seem to have resumed his formal studies or any other kind of education that would help him improve as an actor. And in such a competitive field of work, where good big roles are somewhat scarce, I don't think those were very clever choices. But this is just my personal opinion, of course, and maybe he preferred to prioritize his mental health back then and is happy doing some lighter work nowadays. 😊

[charmingly-evil]

Hey again! Thanks for your reply. I’m sorry to hear life (and the show especially) are getting you down. I know TV should be enjoyable, so definitely take a break if you need it. I just went back to the episode because I’ve been wondering about why that scene was edited so poorly, and I’ve come up with a theory. The editor is actually listed in the credits at the beginning, which means he is “above the line” and basically knows what he is doing. TV shows have to go through multiple levels of approval. The first edit will be the editor’s cut, and then the director comes in and makes changes or not. For TV, it also has to go to the executive producer or show runners, the studio (Wolf Entertainment) and the network (NBC). My guess, and this is just a guess, is that the promo was how it was finished at the producer’s cut and probably the studio’s. They shot the same script multiple different ways and they landed on the hug vs the separation. I think that the network (or studio, but my feeling is network) came in last minute and said they wanted more tension in the scene. Between the two takes, the visual separation of them gives more uncertainty and means that they can drag out the incredible angst that these two actors create when they’re together. I think they figured the hug gave too much relief and comfort that they weren’t quite ready for. It shows me that they are hoping to be picked up for future seasons and that they don’t have to bring them together quite yet. I know it’s horrible what they did swapping the edits, but I think that is likely why everyone is being quiet, and why they’re trying to delete the promo online. We will see what Chris says on Monday, or if they totally ignore it. Obviously, if it was an NBC-level decision, then nobody will want to say anything against it. I hope this helps clarify a little or at least can help add to all the theories going out there. Try to take it easy and what I do is just try to take joy in what we do get. It’s very clear what Chris and Mariska want, and I do believe the writers are behind this. It’s just a lot of people have to weigh in for anything to make the airways, and it can cause a lot of confusion sometimes. It would be a groundbreaking thing, as we all know, to bring them together, so it really does look like they are trying to figure it out. My lack of faith lies with NBC, personally. I just hope they don’t bring them together only to tear them apart again later like so many of my other ships! Sorry, this was so long. I’m glad to help when I can 😊

Thank you so much for sharing! I love that you have this experience working in media to bring this perspective, what you're saying makes sense. I have no doubt that the network wants to continue the tension. And let's be honest, Mariska and Chris are carrying this show. I'm still not happy that they got rid of Amanda, and SVU isn't the same anymore. I do feel like they're dangling Bensler in front of us to get more views and another season, and it infuriates me. The thing is, I would love it if they got together by now, and we could have more episodes watching that relationship develop. I feel like by continuing the slow burn and the tension, it'll give them an excuse to not cast Mariska and Chris together for episodes to come. It just sucks :( Thank you for your kind words. I have taken some time out. My new job is quite stressful and I've had a recent injury :( And I can't escape into the world of SVU and Bensler like I once could (when I last burnt out in 2020 and first discovered SVU haha) The new episode did inspire me enough to write an SVU fic, I haven't written in ages! So I hope to get that one up tonight :)

[petalsmooth]

Last one has 15.1 million views and it was just a rehash of previous action of season 2 to advertise season 3. People were expecting new footage of season 3. The 12.6 and 15.4 m viewed reels ARE season 3 of Colin and Penelope. The 6.3m reel is just Nicola and Luke advertising their wedding contest. And that drew more than man reels in past with spoilers. Then we have the latest reel that mostly was a Kanthony reel. Francesca seen briefly, Penelope seen briefly, but it's essentially a Kanthony reel.

Now I say upfront I love just about all characters on the show and I plan to watch virtually everything and not just skip to a couple of characters. I don't mind scenes of everyone else. Although still not sold on Francesca I admit. I know all the actors are older, for most part, than their character ages but still having a hard time buying her as an 18 year old debutant. Eloise and Penelope were played by actresses clearly older but they acted younger and the costuming was made to kind of disguise them as women. Case in point Penelope's dresses that were designed with the bodice far higher than would be natural. Or Eloise stomping about throwing tantrums. Whereas they can't use the same tricks for Francesca because they start her out dressed nicely and supposedly ready for a husband.

Anyway I digress....So I have NO issues with the character scenes or showing them or other characters in the season. None.

I DO hold issues with their fanbase. That reel may get to 8m but it's looking like it will top out there for awhile. Meanwhile the couple they claimed was overshadowed by Kanthony and that no one had interest in well cleared 10mil on both their reels for the season and arguably is why the other 15m viewed reel had that many views too. As people thought would have footage of them.

These same people watched this reel and rather than be happy to see their couple married, then turned around and started attacking Polin again saying they had no chemistry and would be embarrassing to follow them. Completely delusional seeing as your couple isn't stacking up the same viewership in the reels.

First off if it were MY favorite couple and finally got to see them happy and married for first time in over two years, I wouldn't be thinking of another couple. Second off, I wouldn't be talking about how unpopular the other couple is when yours is not holding it's own on the view counter. Third...I still find it baffling they are so moronic they chose to create this toxicity in the fandom to begin with, because this show is not BUILT for shipper wars. Again...you get one seaon with your couple and then they move on! If your actors stick around you may be lucky to see them in smaller capacity but the idea it's a blasted competition was started by Kanthony fans. Fans who never DID overtake season 1 in views and early signs are NOT overtaking online releases of Polin clips from season 3. Given this REALITY I'm not sure where you get off even wanting to draw comparisions because they don't favor you at all in cold hard numbers so maybe Shut. Up.

Now. Having said that I DO hope season 3 rights some of the wrongs of season 4 for Kate and Anthony because the story poorly serviced them. Not because the Featherington's took up screentime, but because it was a stupidly manufactured triangle with the animosity between the two characters flimsy at best and Anthony really dragged most through the wringer by stringing along two sisters. As a fan of the actor, I'm hoping for some redemption in how written. His treatment of Francesca there was a start.