#Josh Doyle

[timcurry-imgoinghomedotmp4]

pogging out of my fucking gourd over here, lads, the sondheim well has dragged me down further still. the new merrily is on broadway and tickets for the first cast are at $100 or so for February, which is still a slow fucking month at my job. let’s gooooooooo

[theaddictedwatcher]

Hello everyone!

The series I'm going to introduce to you today is very close to my heart, and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to tell you all about it. A science fiction series produced by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett for BBC America, its first season was released in 2013. It consists of five seasons of 10 episodes each, and last year saw the birth of its spin-off. Today, I'm going to talk to you about the Orphan Black series!

As always, let's start with a synopsis that's a little longer than usual: Sarah Manning, a young thief in her twenties, orphaned and penniless, witnesses the suicide of Detective Beth Childs, who looks exactly like her. She decides to assume her identity while erasing her own existence by pretending to have taken her own life. Sarah is also the mother of a little girl, Kira, who is being looked after by Sarah's adoptive mother, Mrs. S. The latter agrees to give her back to her on condition that Sarah can prove that she can be a worthy mother, by bringing in a sum of money to support them. Through Beth's investigations, Sarah learns that they are not just twins and that there are a number of them in North America and Europe. She meets Cosima Niehaus, a scientist specializing in genetics, and Alison Hendrix, a stay-at-home mom living in a comfortable suburb, whom she assists in learning more about their origins. In the course of her investigation, Sarah finds herself in the crossfire between two entities: the Dyad Institute, a powerful biotech consortium; and the Proletians, a sectarian movement convinced that they are abominations and which is behind the hunt for them. The two entities step up their hunt when they learn that Sarah, who has escaped their supervision, has a baby daughter - theoretically impossible since they are supposed to be sterile. Sarah, and those she now considers her sisters, are sometimes on the run from these organisms, sometimes fooled by their manipulations, all the while searching for their origins. And now, a short technical presentation: - Created by: Graeme Mason and John Fawcett - Music by: Trevor Yuile - Main cast: Tatiana Maslany, Jordan Gavaris, Dylan Bruce, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Kevin Hanchard, Michael Mando, Evelyne Brochu, Kristian Bruun, Ari Millen, Josh Vokey.

PRESENTATION

It's going to be pretty difficult to talk about the series without spoiling anything, so I apologize in advance for the slight spoilers present in this article. I'll try as far as possible to limit them or point them out if they're unavoidable, but the main spoiler I can't avoid is the main subject of the series.

As you'll have gathered from the summary, one of the main subjects of the series is human cloning. Indeed, Sarah, Beth, Cosima, Alison, and all the others - all played by Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk, Chronicle of the Living Dead, The Listener)- are not mere twins, but clones. That's why the Dyad Institute and the Proletians are looking for them, although they don't have the same intentions for them if they find them.

SPOILER + In the final episode of season 1, Cosima discovers that each clone has a different DNA tag based on ASCII-coded base pairs. In addition to the identification code, there is the text "This organism and its derived genetic material are restricted intellectual property." followed by a series of patent numbers. Sarah receives a photograph whose caption suggests that the cloning project that produced it was called "Project Leda". SPOILER END

But that's enough spoilers for now, we can finally start the analysis!

CASTING

At the end of the first season, ten clones of different nationalities and social backgrounds are revealed. Other clones gradually emerge in subsequent seasons. In episode 8 of season 2, Tony, a transgender clone, is introduced. All are played by Tatiana Maslany, who alone plays a good third of the show's characters. Often praised by the press for her acting and the complexity of her roles, it was several years before she received any awards for the series, much to the dismay of fans and the press who couldn't understand why.

In Tatiana Maslany's portrayal of the eight main clones, she was aided by Kathryn Alexandre (Darknet, Saving Hope, Designated Survivor), who acted as her understudy and acted in scenes where several clones interacted. Although she was not credited in the first season's episodes, she was present throughout the series. She doesn't appear on screen as the clones in any of the broadcast episodes, but motion capture and post-production compositing were used to replace her on-screen with Tatiana Maslany's performance. I'll come back a little later in the SPECIAL EFFECTS AND SHOOTING ANECDOTES section to explain how the footage was prepared to facilitate the work of the actresses and the editors. Tatiana Maslany said of Kathryn Alexandre's performance: "She's so incredible. She memorizes all the lines, all my blocks, all her blocks, my mannerisms, my impulses; she somehow memorizes it all and gives it back to me in a performance that I can build on." Kathryn Alexandre had worked as an actor's reader during the casting auditions for the initial production of Orphan Black. She then auditioned for the role of Tatiana Maslany's understudy and won the spot because the producers were looking for, in Kathryn Alexandre's words, "an actor rather than just an understudy".

KNOWN CLONES (SPOILER)

Throughout the series, each Project Leda clone has its own existence and therefore its own relationships. Early on in the series, we meet Alison Hendrix, mother of two and housewife, and her husband Donnie, as well as Cosima Niehaus, a scientist specializing in genetics. Both of them - played by Tatiana Maslany - and the relationships they develop over the series are key elements of the story.

We also encounter other cloning projects with Project Castor. It's revealed that the original samples from the Castor and Leda projects were brother and sister, making all clones genetic siblings. But there's an even stronger link between the two genomes: a single woman, Kendall Malone - played by Alison Steadman (The King's Man: First Mission)-, is in fact the original of both clone lines, as she is a human chimera. We later learn that, in addition to being the donor of the genomes' DNA, she is also the biological mother of Siobhan Sadler - played by Maria Doyle Kennedy (Conjuring 2: The Enfield Case, Outlander, The Tudors)- Sarah and Felix's adoptive mother and Kira's guardian.

Unlike the Project Leda clones, all Project Castor clones are aware of their cloned nature and have been raised together by Dr. Virginia Coady -played by Kyra Harper (Warehouse 13, The Dresden Files)- in a military setting.

As with Tatiana Maslany, Ari Millen (My Life with John F. Donovan, The Expanse), who plays the Project Castor clones, was supported by Nick Abraham as his understudy when necessary.

Other key clones in the story are also introduced in the course of the series, whether allied or not, but I've already told you a lot and wouldn't want to spoil the whole story for those of you who want to watch the series. I'll just end this part by pointing out that the final episode of the series gives us a glimpse of a worldwide count of 274 Leda clones…

OVERVIEW

I'd like to pay tribute to the titanic efforts of the production team, Tatiana Maslany, Ari Millen, and their understudies to achieve such fluidity in the transitions between the various shots and the many (very many!) roles played by the actors. On a personal note, I have to admit that, over and above the story and the investigative aspect, it was Tatiana Maslany's acting that won me over so quickly to the series. What a performance, to know how to nuance her acting to interpret seventeen characters and make them all different and identifiable. Of course, she didn't do it alone: the writing of the story, the artistic team, and the technical team all contributed to this success.

I'd also like to salute the work of Evelyne Brochu (Tom à la ferme, Café de Flore, Paris Police 1900), Jordan Gavaris (Degrassi: Nouvelle Génération, Take Two), and Kevin Hanchard (Suicide Squad, The Expanse, Hudson & Rex), who were great discoveries or rediscoveries for me, giving this series a warm, familiar feel.

The role played by Matt Frewer (Watchmen, Supernatural, Hercules) is also very important, bringing an extra shade of toxicity to this morally dubious universe.

THEMATICS

While we're on the subject of this series' morals, and in particular those of its characters, I'd like to take a moment to focus on certain themes that I feel the series highlights, to open up a dialogue in the viewer's mind about these subjects.

One of the first themes to emerge in the first few episodes is the questioning of patriarchy. Between Sarah's toxic relationship with her drug-dealing ex-partner Victor, and Beth's relationship with Paul, who not only is her partner but also spies on her for the Dyad Institute, the depictions of couple relationships in the very first episodes of the series are very much in favor of patriarchy. These are situations in which the man in the relationship tries to control his partner's every move, but also to control her mentally by exerting moral pressure. What's interesting for me, beyond this faithful depiction of toxic relationships, is that not only did they not stop at showing this pattern in couple relationships, they extended this possibility to professional and family relationships as well, and, throughout the series, deconstructed these patterns by allowing the female characters to free themselves from these holdings, albeit sometimes with very heavy blows, to regain their independence and find themselves again and not the version altered by the male figures in their environment.

What's more, the very existence of clones means that the series tackles the subject of the exploitation of the body, particularly the female body. SPOILER Between the fact that the stem DNA used to create the two clone families comes from one and the same woman, Kendall Malone, and the fact that they're looking for Sarah and Helena because they're the only two clones with the ability to give life (ndlr. Alison and Donnie's children are adopted), something that until now was not possible in experiments, the female body is used as a tool to satisfy unhealthy research carried out by scientists who have no respect for human existence as we know it. END SPOILER

The series is full of strong female characters, from the clones played by Tatiana Maslany to Mrs. S -Sarah and Felix's adoptive mother and Kira's caretaker played by Maria Doyle Kennedy - and Dr. Delphine Cormier - played by Evelyne Brochu - and it's a great way, in my opinion, of popularizing in viewers' minds that deconstructing patriarchy isn't a bad thing and won't lead to the end of the world, as some people seem to think… An evolution, be it moral, sociological, scientific, or other, is not necessarily a bad thing, but we must welcome it and try to understand it before directly considering it as a danger to be eradicated.

But beyond this aspect, for me, there's a real questioning of the capitalist world, which is ready to tolerate or even encourage any experiment as long as it's profitable. Long before Elon Musk and his Neuralink launched in 2016, the series had already understood and set out to denounce the potential excesses of technological developments in the medical field. I'm not saying that there aren't advantages to such advances, particularly if they help to improve or save lives, as long as they are governed by strict rules, particularly concerning experimentation, whether animal or human, as was the case with Project Dolly in Scotland in the late 90s, to which the very theme of the series refers.

For those of you who don't know, Project Dolly is a sheep famous for being the first mammal clone in history, obtained from the nucleus of the mammary gland of an adult sheep. The nucleus of this cell, containing the entire genetic make-up, is injected into the egg cell of another ewe, from which the original nucleus has been removed. In this way, the nuclear DNA of the first ewe replaces that of the second in the latter's egg cell. 277 egg cells are created, giving rise to around 30 embryos. Only one of these develops into an adult. For the first time, a viable being resulting from this cloning technique survives. Scottish scientists named the sheep "Dolly" after the American singer Dolly Parton, renowned for the generosity of her breasts because the cloning was carried out using mammary gland cells.

The media hype surrounding this project has given rise to the misconception that a clone is a carbon copy of another individual. The identity is that of the nuclear DNA, which implies that the clone is neither genetically identical to another individual, since the genetic heritage is made up of the nuclear DNA contained in the nucleus of the organism's cells and the mitochondrial DNA contained in the cytoplasm of the ovum (and therefore also in the enucleated ovum); nor an identical physiognomy as a result of the role of the environment in which the DNA is expressed, and even if a great resemblance exists, it is ultimately less than that which exists between homozygous twins.

Cloning from differentiated cells of an adult organism represents a major breakthrough in the scientific world. It proves that the regulation of gene expression is reversible, and opens the door to the production of transgenic animals (with extra genes, such as those encoding human proteins used for medical purposes) or animals with special qualities. This could be an interesting technique for safeguarding endangered species.

The same Scottish team cloned 13 ewes, including 4 in 2007 (Debbie, Denise, Diana and Daisy) from the mammary gland cell line that gave birth to Dolly 10 years earlier. Unlike Dolly, these ewes show no signs of accelerated aging. While less than 3% of cloned embryos were born healthy in 1996, this proportion has risen to over 20% for the cohort of ewes in 2016.

To my mind, the potential scientific aberrations of such discoveries are one of the things the series wants to warn us against, and it's all to its credit when we see in the media today all the madness that laboratories are capable of producing under cover of private funding… All progress is good to take as long as it's useful for improving the comfort of life for everyone, but also as long as it's accessible to all and not reserved for a privileged class who has the financial means to afford it. Here's a link to an article that goes into more depth about the biomedical criminality present in Orphan Black.

Finally, I'd also like to talk about representation in this series. With a predominantly female cast thanks to the various clones played by Tatiana Maslany, the series offers a very diverse range of female characters, but not only. It also offers a fine representation of LGBT characters that I won't name to keep you surprised. Whether it's several lesbian couples, gay encounters, or even a transgender character, the series gives pride of place to this community which, for once in a time, is represented outside the clichés. Indeed, they are portrayed as any heterosexual or cisgender person (cisgender: a person in agreement with his or her birth gender, the opposite of transgender) and it's refreshing not to find the scenarist facilities too often used or to have characters portrayed as excessive, "freaks". Whatever your sexual orientation or gender identity, everyone is entitled to self-respect, and it was a real balm for me at the time to see such characters on my screen.

PRODUCTION

Casting for the lead role was announced on September 17, 2012. Although Canadian actor Elliot Page was considered for the lead role, Susan and Sharon Forrest, in charge of casting the series, chose to give the role to another Canadian, Tatiana Maslany. The rest of the main cast was announced at the end of October 2012 as filming for the first season began in Toronto.

In March 2014, BBC Worldwide North America signed an agreement with Amazon for exclusive broadcast rights to the series on Amazon Prime Instant Video. The quality of the series, which is worth watching in one sitting, was cited as one of the main reasons for Amazon's interest. In April 2014, the airing of the first episode of the series' second season recorded a 91% audience increase in the 18-49 age group in cumulative TV broadcast audiences plus Amazon Prime Instant Video. In fact, this increase can be explained by the possibility of viewing the episode after it has been broadcast, which makes it easier for viewers to watch. This is the biggest increase for any first-run drama series on cable this season.

In April 2014, writer Stephen Hendricks sued the BBC and Temple Street for $5 million, alleging that they had stolen the idea for Orphan Black from him. He had submitted a script written in the late 1990s, entitled Double Double to Temple Street in 2004, who then considered and ultimately rejected it.

SPECIAL EFFECTS AND FILMING ANECDOTES

Scenes in which Tatiana Maslany has several simultaneous roles were filmed several times using carriage-mounted motion control cameras that reproduce the movement between each take. This device, the Technodolly, is referred to as the "Time Vampire" on the Orphan Black set because of the length of time several clone scenes take in the production schedule. In these scenes, Tatiana Maslany first plays the scene with her understudy Kathryn Alexandre in the alternate clone role, then alone in the same clone role, then alone in the alternate clone, then a fourth time with the scene filmed with just the camera movement for a background plate. Suspended tennis balls help the actress maintain appropriate sight lines. In post-production, Kathryn Alexandre and the tennis balls are replaced by Tatiana Maslany's footage from alternative shots, allowing for more action in the scenes where she interacts with herself. In the season 2 finale, when one scene required the presence of four different clones, two days of shooting and several additional body doubles were used to create the effect, and the post-production work of Geoff Scott and his team at Intelligent Creatures VFX would have taken hundreds of hours to complete.

Tatiana Maslany created different music playlists to help her distinguish the many clone personalities she embodies. She also used dance to develop the physicality of the characters, including their postures, gestures, and movements and drew on her experience in improvisation to develop the characters more fully.

The character of Cosima is named after science historian Cosima Herter, a friend of showrunner Graeme Manson, and a scientific consultant on the series. Cosima Herter works with the writers to ensure the plausibility of cloning and other scientific aspects of the series, as well as the complexity of the philosophical and ethical concerns it raises.

Make-up artist Stephen Lynch, hairstylist Sandy Sokolowski, and wardrobe supervisor Debra Hanson are instrumental in creating the visual differences needed to distinguish each clone. Indeed, their work is often used to develop the characters' personalities before lines of dialogue are even written. The screenwriters use the character of each personality as reflected in their physical appearances and clothing to refine the moods and nuances of the characters.

The drawings of Sarah's daughter Kira in the series are created by Sash Kosovic, a member of the art department.

In season 4, a reference to the scientific cloning of Dolly the sheep is made through a sheep's head mask worn by a character to keep his identity secret.

SHOOTING LOCATIONS

Orphan Black was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, but it's not specified whether the series was set in Canada. Graeme Manson said in 2014 that the setting was deliberately ambiguous: "It's supposed to be Generica. It's part of the price you pay for this kind of co-production.". John Fawcett agreed, saying "to be honest, we don't want to say we're American and alienate Canadians, or say we're Canadian and alienate Americans. The fact is, we're one big happy family. We're just a little further north than you are. Grantland's Tara Ariano argued that this ambiguity is "a bold new way for a producer to work within the restrictions of CanadaCon: place your show in Canada (technically), employ a Canadian crew, air it on a Canadian channel… and make room for recurring guest stars like Maria Doyle Kennedy… by casting a Canadian in nearly a dozen roles.".

But beyond that, the Canadian location was apparent through details such as Ontario license plates, Beth and Mrs. S.'s Ontario driver's licenses, the currency used, scripted references to the Ontario suburb of Scarborough and Toronto's Parkdale, and a plane ticket in the pilot episode identifying Toronto's Pearson International Airport. Bridgepoint Health and Toronto's Don Jail are stand-ins for the exterior of the Dyad Institute. Scenes set in the Scarborough suburb where Alison lives are actually shot in Markham, Ontario, a suburb immediately north of Scarborough. However, details are often deliberately obscured; American pronunciations of words like "lieutenant" are used.

The co-production also influenced another important aspect of the series: Sarah's British accent and origins. John Fawcett explained that BBC America had asked them to make the main character British, which she wasn't originally, to better match the BBC brand. John Fawcett, however, saw this directive as an advantage, as it made it easy to differentiate Sarah from the other clones and broaden the geographical scope of the series' plot.

OTHER MEDIA

COMICS

In July 2014, a comic book series published by IDW Publishing was announced. The series, whose first issue was released in February 2015, is co-written by series creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson. A new issue was published monthly until July 2015, when the last of the five contracted issues was published. The issues in order feature Sarah, Helena, Alison, Cosima, and Rachel.

The comic book miniseries was conceived as a way of conveying information about the clones' past and childhood without interrupting the fast-paced TV series. It is presented as an extended universe featuring off-screen events not shown in the episodes. The comics are directly linked to the events of the first season of the series, to anchor the comics in the already established universe. The mini-series offers audiences the opportunity to better understand the emotions, thoughts, and feelings underlying the characters in the TV series.

In August 2015, the comic's conclusion revealed another self-aware clone: Veera Suominen. She was thought to be one of the clones executed in Helsinki, but she survived. The next comic, Orphan Black: Helsinki, published in November 2015, expanded on her character.

AUDIO SERIES

In June 2019, a 10-episode audio series entitled Orphan Black: The Next Chapter was announced, with Tatiana Maslany reprising her role. Serving as an official continuation of the series, it takes place eight years after the series finale. Malka Older is the showrunner with Mishell Baker, Lindsay Smith, Heli Kennedy, Madeline Ashby, and E.C. Myers as writers.

The series is broadcast via the Serial Box platform and the first episode was made available on September 12, 2019. Since then it can be found on YouTube via the link above, or on Spotify and Audible.

A second season aired in October 2021, co-produced by Realm and AMC Networks, adding original cast members Jordan Gavaris, Kristian Bruun, and Evelyne Brochu to the cast.

MUSIC

In May 2015, two compilations of the series' soundtrack were released by Varèse Sarabande Records. These two compilations include music from seasons 1 and 2 with compositions made by Trevor Yuile for the series but also music made by other artists such as Tears For Fears and featured in Orphan Black.

The series' main theme, Theme From Orphan Black, is composed and performed by Two Fingers, a Brazilian musician-composer and producer of electronic music, and features on both compilations.

As usual, I'm also attaching the link to listen to the entire series soundtrack. Just as Tatiana Maslany has done to immerse herself in her characters, I find that the soundtrack not only perfectly reflects the different personalities of the clones, but also underlines every aspect of the plot's stakes.

SPIN-OFF

In March 2019, it was announced that a new series set in the Orphan Black universe was in development at AMC, to be produced by Temple Street Productions just as Orphan Black had been. In February 2022, it was announced that Anna Fishko would be the writer of this new story set thirty-seven years after the end of the original series.

Entitled Orphan Black: Echoes, the series follows Kira Manning -played by Keeley Hawes-, now an adult turned doctor, and her wife Eleanor -played by Rya Kihlstedt, as they try to help a woman named Lucy -played by Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones, Don't Trust the B*tch in Apartment 23)- who has become amnesiac following a surgery she underwent.

A ten-episode first season began its run in June 2024 and, so far, we don't know if the series will be renewed for a second season as Season 1 airs until the end of August in the US. Series creator Anna Fishko has revealed, however, that she has the entire storyline already planned and is ready to continue the project if the series' ratings allow. Only time will tell, then, whether we'll get the rest of this adventure... 

Returning from the original series are Jordan Gavaris who played Felix, Sarah's adoptive brother and therefore Kira's uncle, and Evelyne Brochu who played Dr. Delphine Cormier, Cosima's partner and genetic researcher. The original series theme composed by Two Fingers is also used as the closing credits for the spin-off.

CONCLUSION

And that's it for this series! Sorry again for the delay, it was a big piece for me to write. I hope you've enjoyed reading it all, and that I've succeeded in making you want to watch the series.

I'm aware that some of the scenes in the series may be difficult for some people to watch, because the subjects it tackles are very real, and I find it easy as a viewer to identify with some of the characters, or at least to sympathize with the ordeals they go through.

I really enjoyed discovering it when it first came out, and I hope I'll have the opportunity to watch it again with more experienced eyes, given the themes it tackles.

As for the comics, the spin-off, and the audio series, I haven't yet had the chance to delve into them, and although I'd like to, I'm afraid it would spoil my fond memories of the series. But never say never, so why not maybe one day...

On that note, I'll leave you after this far-too-long article!

As always, I wish you a wonderful week and good viewing, and I'll see you next time!

Eli

[thefirsthogokage]

For those of you wondering the amount of minimum writing staff WGA is asking for:

(click images for better quality)

(link to tweet) (link to article in the tweet)

This was a quote tweet of that:

(link to tweet)

(link to Merrill's tweet) (link to Jay's tweet)

(link to Josh's tweet) (link to Mark's tweet)

(Nora's tweet) (Jen's tweet) (Sarah's tweet)

HOLY SHIT THAT'S SMALL FOR SUCH AN INSANE SHOW! (Link to John's tweet)

(link to Lynelle's tweet) (link to Ryan's tweet)

[dorothy16]

.🪧 🪧 🪧 🪧 🪧

[ushkowitzdaily]

Jenna with the cast and crew of Glee at the SAG AFTRA and WGA Glee themed strike via Instagram

via Max Adler

via Iqbal Theba

via Michael Hitchcock

via Michael Macrae

via sarah_thurman

via darrencriss_fanss

[ljones41]

"LOST" Retrospect: "The Wrong Promise"

Following a re-watch of the "LOST" series finale, (6.17-6.18) "The End", I did this re-write of an old article about a scene between Kate Austen and Claire Littleton:

"LOST" RETROSPECT: "THE WRONG PROMISE"

While going over old "LOST" articles and forums, I had come across a post that asked members how they would have ended the series. After reading several other sites and articles, I had my answer. There were two things I would have changed. I would have included two other original characters in that final scene inside the afterlife church. And I would have removed one line from the transcript for the series finale, (6.17-6.18) "The End".

But I am here to discuss the second change. I wish that showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had not allowed Kate Austen to promise Claire Littleton that she would help raise the latter’s three-year-old son Aaron after reaching civilization. Following the demise of the Man in Black aka the Smoke Monster, Kate and fellow castaway James "Sawyer" Ford made their escape from the island, while the latter was crumbling. Dr. Jack Shephard and Desmond Hume had unplugged the island's electromagnetic energy in order to make the Smoke Monster mortal. Kate and Sawyer used Desmond's boat Elizabeth to travel to the nearby Hydra Island, where the patched up Ajira 316 plane awaited them. Near the shore of Hydra Island, Kate and Sawyer found Claire, distraught over being abandoned again. Kate convinced Claire to follow her and all three made it aboard the Ajira plane. During the flight away from the island, Claire had expressed her fear of being a bad mother to her son Aaron, whom she had not seen in three years. To reassure Claire, Kate promised to help the former raise her three year-old son. And here is where Lindelof and Cuse made their mistake.

Now, I realize that Kate was simply trying to assure an agitated Claire that everything would be all right, once the latter was reunited with Aaron. Especially since Claire had been stuck on the island for three years and had not seen her son. Yet, a part of me suspected there was more at play. Because as far as I am concerned, Kate’s promise to help raise Aaron struck me as the wrong one to make. Why? It was not possible for her to meet this promise.

In the Season Four episode (4.04) "Eggtown", Kate's attorney had made a deal with prosecutors to allow her to take a probation deal, instead of face more trials over other crimes like insurance fraud and bank robbery. He used Kate's reputation as one of the Oceanic Six - one of the few Oceanic survivors who managed to return to their respective countries back in January 2005 - as a reason they would find it difficult to convict her. Personally, I found this argument ridiculous, but Cuse and Lindelof allowed it to stick. The probation forced Kate to remain in the United States and California for at least ten years. When she had departed Los Angeles on the Ajira Flight 316 in Season Five's (5.06) "316", Kate had broken the terms of her ten-year probation after two years.

According to the show’s canon, the period between "316" and "The End" spanned roughly two weeks. Chances are, Kate had left the country under an assumed name. And since Ajira 316 had been missing for two weeks, I suspect a great deal of publicity would have generated from the plane's return to civilization. I would not be surprised if not long after her return to civilization or U.S. territory - the plane was originally destined for Guam Island, Kate ended up in prison for breaking her probation. And once the authorities also learned she had lied about being Aaron's biological mother, there is a chance they would have prosecuted her for the New Mexico bank robbery and other crimes. Worse, Kate's mother - if she was still alive - might consider testifying against Kate over Wayne Janssen's murder. After all, Kate had never been cleared or convicted for that crime.

Even if Kate had simply decided to follow Claire to Australia, I do not see the chances of her playing a future role in Aaron's life. One might consider the possibility of Kate moving to Australia after serving time in prison for breaking her probation. That is another possibility I do not see happening. Why do I have doubts about both possibilities? I doubt very much that the Australian government would have allowed Kate to re-enter the country. Before Oceanic 815 had departed Sydney, Australia; Kate had entered the country under a false name and as a fugitive from the law. Which means she had entered Australia illegally. I just cannot see the Australian immigration authorities allowing her to set foot on the country's soil again.

Also, why would Claire need Kate’s help in raising Aaron? Kate had left the three year-old in custody of his biological grandmother, Carole Littleton, less than a day before leaving the United States. Ms. Littleton had custody of Aaron by the end of the series. And to be honest, I believe she would be the best person to serve as Aaron’s guardian, considering the tenuous nature of Claire’s mental state in the series finale. I certainly cannot see Ms. Littleton allowing Kate, a criminal who had deliberately kept her grandson away from her for nearly three years, near Aaron while he remained a minor. In fact, I do not even see Claire allowing Kate to be anywhere near Aaron. Hell, I would never allow a child abductor with a series of crimes hovering around her, near my offspring again . . . even if that person had helped me get off the island.

All I can say is . . . what were Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof thinking when they had allowed Kate to make that promise to Claire in "The End"? They could have found another way for Kate to ease the young Australian woman’s fears other than with a promise she had very little chance of fulfilling. And for the past thirteen years, many "LOST" fans have automatically believed that Kate had helped Claire raise Aaron. Without Carole Littleton’s help. Now that I think about it . . . what were they thinking?

[denimbex1986]

'Alden Ehrenreich is being celebrated for giving one of the best performances in Oppenheimer. Portraying a nameless Senate aide to Robert Downey, Jr.'s Lewis Strauss, nobody went into the movie expecting him to shine as brightly as he does. He steals every scene he's in, as his naïveté and reactions to the horrors he's seeing mirror those of the audience. Not only that, but he gets to drop one of the film's best lines at the end. However, this isn't the first time the young actor has held his own amid a truly star-studded ensemble -- nor is it the best.

Ehrenreich plays a major role in the Coen Brothers' 2016 comedy Hail, Caesar!, which boasts Scarlett Johansson, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, and Josh Brolin. With an ensemble cast like this, excellent performances that make the most of their limited screen time are guaranteed. Yet, Ehrenreich, who was relatively unknown when he joined the project, kept audiences talking long after the film was released.

What Is Hail, Caesar! About?

Admittedly, Hail, Caesar! is a bit out there, even for the Coen Brothers, who have built their career on making odd films. It follows Josh Brolin's Eddie Mannix, a Hollywood "fixer," as he tries to manage the issues of a whole host of eccentric clients such as well-known film star Baird Whitlock (Clooney), highly regarded European director Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes), tempestuous leading lady DeeAnna Moran (Johansson), and, of course, resident singing cowboy Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich). Each comes with their own problems, and perhaps none are as problematic for Mannix as Doyle. Things go even more awry when Whitlock suddenly disappears at the hands of a group of screenwriters blacklisted by Hollywood, and Mannix has to find a way to get him back.

Hobie Doyle has built his career on Gene Autry-type Westerns, but suddenly, the studio casts him as the lead in a Jane Austen-esque comedy of manners, which goes terribly. Though Laurentz attempts to train the Western out of him, he can't seem to shake his accent or quirks, leading Laurentz to request his removal from the project entirely. Mannix convinces him to let Doyle stay, and after Doyle tells Mannix about how insecure he feels about taking on the role, Mannix tells him about Whitlock's kidnapping. Of course, Doyle ends up embroiled in the search for him, and Coen-typical hijinks ensue.

How Alden Ehrenreich Steals the Show in Hail, Caesar!

Ehrenreich's role in the film lends itself effortlessly to comedy, and luckily for him, he has impeccable comedic timing. He particularly stands out in a scene early in the film when Laurentz is trying to break his old habits, and he can't seem to get rid of his accent as he tries to deliver a line. They repeat it back and forth to each other in a gag that, if executed by anyone else, would get old quickly. However, it's a testament to Ehrenreich's acting prowess that he can seamlessly pull it off so early in his career, resulting in a scene that remains a standout throughout the film.

Not only that, but Ehrenreich carries much of the weight of the film on his back, which is very impressive for such a young actor. Doyle essentially takes on the entire case to find Whitlock himself -- and playing a role that large is a gamble for both the filmmakers and Ehrenreich himself, as they're placing the film's fate on one relatively unknown man. It would've been easy for the Coen Brothers to entrust that task to someone much more well-known (and they had their fair share of people to choose from). However, they choose Ehrenreich, and it pays off. He's the film's breakout star, just as he is in Oppenheimer, and arguably, he's even better in Hail, Caesar! for the incredible range he brings.'

[graphicpolicy]

IDW announces its new leadership team

IDW announces its new leadership team #comics #comicbooks

After the shocking announcement of massive layoffs including management and a delisting on the stock exchange, IDW Media Holdings, Inc. and its IDW Publishing unit, have announced this week its new strategic organizational restructuring, including the appointment of Davidi Jonas as CEO and Joshua Frankel as CDO, and the promotions of Mark Doyle and Tara McCrillis to Co-Publishers, Amber Huerta as…

[nezoid]

Happy 10th anniversary @orphanblack! 🧬♥️

Orphan Black at PaleyFest LA 2017 - March 23, 2017

[hopefullyitsextensivebule]

Everyone is talking about how fabulous Josh looks in the jumpsuits and matching sets, but can we give Amber ‘THE GOAT’ Doyle a fucking round of applause for bringing the suits to life??? The detail, the material, the fit??? Rent was fucking due for that bitch and I fucking salute you

🫡🫡🫡

[demonbarbers]

so high rn so sorry if this doesn’t make any sense i’m just so emotional about josh and annaleigh and this production so i’m gonna ramble a bit about what i love about it and them. ok. enjoy.

the thing about sweeney todd is that it’s mean. it’s a mean show. it ends on the cruel irony of 2 officers bursting in on toby slitting sweeney’s throat, surrounded by 2 other bodies and one in the oven; on johanna watching her father die holding her mother and not even knowing it. everyone is an abuser or abused, and there is no hope or redemption to be found. and it fucking rules! it just rules. it’s so fun to indulge in our basest pleasures for nearly 3 hours, delicately served to us by one of the greatest composers who’s ever lived.

and every major production takes the bile and cruelty inherent to the material and runs away with it. like- just look at this swedish production from 2006, directed by vernon mound. or the last time it was on broadway, directed by john doyle:

productions tend go smaller and nastier, more intimate, in keeping with the spirit of how sondheim originally conceived the piece. (side note: i LOVE when they do that. my ideal sweeney has buckets of blood and visera right in your face)

the original production of sweeney was MASSIVE, but that came from hal prince. hal couldn’t really get an emotional foothold on the material until he found within sweeney an extended metaphor for capitalism and the industrial revolution; people literally eating people and the machine of capitalism grinding everyone up. revivals also tend to seize on the brechtian class elements, like this absolutely gorgeous korean production from 2019 directed by eric schaeffer:

sondheim, meanwhile, always objected to readings of sweeney as brechtian- it was all a farce to him, just a good, nasty time at the theatre. he approached it as a horror fan who wanted to write some fucked up stuff, which is maybe now some of the best art is created. but hal made it into epic theatre.

(if u don’t know what epic theatre is or what brechtian means google will explain it better to u than my ridiculously stoned ass can rn but im just focusing on one aspect of it rn: the distancing effect. basically, emotionally distancing the audience from the characters and the material so that everyone is engaging with the work on an intellectual level as opposed to an emotional one)

obc sweeney is an alienating show. it’s so fun and brutal and deeply felt, but these characters are grotesque. they’re cartoonish in their cruelty. just look at their makeup! john doyle also embraces the distancing effect; his revival is actor-muso, so we’re pretty aware at all times we’re watching a show. it’s all so cold, and the only warmth to be found is in the humor. and it rules. it’s nasty. i love it. this is the show i fell in love with.

all these things have become inherent to sweeney over time, all teased out of the greatest broadway show to ever exist; visceral horror, cruelty, coldness, and class commentary.

but this revival is just.. it’s warm! it’s lush! it’s romantic! and i don’t mean that in the sense of lovett and sweeney (tho this is the warmest they’ve ever been towards each other in any major production i’ve seen). i mean that it gestures at and plays with romanticism.

my biggest critique of this production is, in doing away with the brechtian elements (sondheim just cheered), it also does away with overt class commentary. it’s all still there in the text- turpin is a corrupt judge, beadle is effectively a sheriff, sweeney and lovett are working class, the beggar woman is homeless- but as a director tommy kail seems… uninterested in any biting political commentary, to put it generously lmfao. and i hate so much how little of it there is to be found in this revival, bc you can still Do It without invoking brecht. but i’ve long made my peace with that. i wanna talk about what i love.

and what i really love and what kept me returning to it (beyond the fact that it’s sondheim, and it’s sweeney, and josh groban is so stupid fucking hot) is how human everyone is. the entire production, from the ground up, is built around taking these characters and their pain seriously.

the ensemble all have incredibly period accurate costumes, unique to each character they’ve crafted (fun fact even the swings have their own unique costume that’s only seen when they perform). gone is toby as a mentally disabled man child with an oedipal fixation on lovett. in gaten’s hands he’s a young teenager, aging out of being a cute urchin and just looking for a mother. in daniel’s hands he’s beaten down young man with a limp and a genuine love for lovett.

ruthie’s beggar woman has developed DID after a brutal rape and the trauma of institutionalization and homelessness. she’s not played for laughs, even if sometimes the audience chuckles, and she makes u feel guilty if you ever did laugh at her situation. daniel yearwood leans so far into anthony as a sweet guy completely unaware of the story he’s actually in to the point of comedy. maria is just a revelation as johanna, all nerve and tension and bloody nails from years of self-harm. it’s easy to lean into johanna as a princess track, but ~crazy~. and maria plays jo as mentally ill and traumatized from years of incesteous abuse, but it’s not a pastiche or a praody of it. jo feels human in a way i’ve never seen her depicted before. i love it. maria bilbao u have my heart forever for this.

and then josh and annaleigh…. ugh!!! annaleigh really captures the avarice at the heart of lovett, but still brings in enough genuine moments of humanity and compassion that you find yourself (like sweeney and toby) endeared to her. lovett is always cruel and can only love through manipulation, but annaleigh’s lovett is a woman who makes small concessions. bit by bit, piece by piece, she erodes whatever goodness she had inside her until nothing but her desire for sweeney is left. she’s a woman who’s used seduction to get her way, and it’s easy to envision that when lucy returned from turpin’s, she shamed her for “giving it away” without getting benjamin back. she’s a monster! and yet, when she dreams of a better life, you feel it. when she holds toby in her arms and cried at her perfect little life unraveling, you feel it. annaleigh makes you laugh so hard she gets under your skin and stays there, exactly how lovett seduces sweeney in ALP. and there it is- identification! the complete opposite of alienation. we’re in it with them.

and then there’s josh and his sweeney… i really feel like his sweeney is undervalued. annaleigh steals the show. she won the drama desk for a reason. it’s a legendary performance. but josh…. man. i just. i keep returning to josh’s open wound of a sweeney over and over again. i think he’s probably had this take bouncing around in his head for years. they smartly leaned away from sweeney as this embodiment of rage and physical menace, which surprised a lot of people. but instead leaned into sweeney’s grief in a way i haven’t seen any major production do. josh’s sweeney feels like a man who was put on this earth to be a father and a husband. there’s a buried sweetness to him and you can still see benjamin barker in him until the very end. i keep calling him “kendall roy sweeney” bc it’s the closest way i can covey to other ppl what josh is doing here. he’s all big sad eyes and suicidal ideation, tragedy and twitchy hands. he’s so deeply pathetic he just endears himself to you. i want sweeney to succeed more than ever before. even though he spends all of act 2 killing people and being a shit father and thus killing benjamin barker, i still find myself wanting him and lovett to get away with it. and when the reveal comes, and even worse the betrayal hits- that this woman who he let into his life and body and who, in some odd way, became a friend, lied to him this entire time- it hits like never before for me.

i just love it all so much. i’m so happy it exists, so happy this revival does something so new! sondheim has said sweeney todd is a show about obsession, and it is. this revival supposes: what is the difference between love and obsession? what if the two look the same?

i think often of this quote from luca guadagnino’s suspiria (a masterpiece btw): “Love and manipulation, they share houses very often. They are frequent bedfellows.”

to me, that’s this revival in a nutshell- the thin line between love and obsession, and all the blood spilled in between.

[phierecycled]

some people i can see making a gutenberg appearance at some point

LMM (he’s in literally everything)

rory o’malley

betsy wolfe

josh groban

annaleigh ashford

idina menzel

cborle (at least i hope)

phillipa soo

gavin creel

tina fey

nick kroll (free pr)

nathan lane (would be quite meta)

matthew broderick (see above)

matt doyle

laura benanti

[amymbona]

he's just preparing for a new role... and how did you guess? he really will play hercule poirot 🤯

josh is a secret fan of agatha christie! just don't tell anyone, it's a secret 🥸

HEAR ME OUT: Josh as Simon Doyle in Death on the Nile 😇😇😇😇😇😇😇

[lwfllygndrfld]

hello gay people. guess who's desperate for readers? this guy. totally stealing this from my friend @kyathedino's old post.

ANYWAYS. without further ado: here is 7 Witherbhrn After School News fanfics that i wrote you should read :))

first up is "lost in the woods [3 am, gone wrong, not clickbait]" by ChaoticSock. The Reporter sees a face outside her window and follows it.

this next rec is kind of a two parter? i have a series called "No Homo! (very homo)" that has "#HomosexualAndHomophobic" and "Dyce and His..... Buddy Josh".

"#HomosexualAndHomophobic"is a classic fic of two times Dyce didn't realize he was a boy kisser and the one time he has a realization.

"Dyce and His..... Buddy Josh" is a cute fall festival date fic between an original male character and Dyce! A certain sapphic couple may make an appearance...

fourth?? rec is "there is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin". It follows the theory of Alice Doyle being The Reporter and Robing Hoffman being Birdie. Taking place at the tail end of the homecoming episode, Alice finds she might have a date to homecoming after all. (it has two endings because i originally was going to write that hurt no comfort but ended up putting the og ending in a separate chapter so the girls could have a sweet ending)

"To Save Me From Tears, I'll Give It To Someone Special" is a Winter Holiday fic! It's focused mainly on The Reporter and Dyce's friendship woth snippets of other characters. very sweet and adorable.

"without a thought, without a voice, without a soul (don't let me die here)" is a fic I wrote set after Mrs. Calloway's house being set on fire. vaguely spoilery but like. eh. The Reporter, Dyce and Birdie are trying to figure out what happened to the Missing but will they regret what they find?

and finally! my most recent and the one im honestly most proud of!! "oh, lay my curses out to rest (make a mercy out of me)" It's six snapshots of Eva Sinanger's very tragic life. Extremely sad because it is canon compliant.

yeah uh, not a lot but i'm slowly writing more when i'm not grinding at work and all that. teehee. i also just realized how many of mine have some semblance of angst lmao

[bandy-draws]

@/ Power Rangers

Hire me

In order:

PR Magic Strike

Hannah Bowen

Will Corin

Jenna Wesley

Boston Wesley

AJ West

Theo Morgan

Autumn Chhotalal

Abigail "Abby" Leo

Maria Casher

Eliza Carson

Lucas Dixon

Percy Carson

PR Disaster Squad

Rory Calloway

JJ Webb

Yasmin Duncan

Charlie Wells

Spencer Hudson

Darbie Walton

Josh Pearce

Lillie Roades

PR Kinetic Court

Blaize Romaro

Iris McKeel

Anubis Martin

Rai Malik

Eos Hayes

Alizee "Liz" Reid

PR Time Rush

Agnes Sweet

Chester Murray

Charlie Byre

Jennette "Nettie" Weger

Wiley Twitchell

Francis "Fannie" Goodwynne

Lenore Adamsky

Enoch Morgan

Armitage "Tedge" Jarman

PR Supernova

Brynn Lancaster

Louis "Louie" Atkinson

Freddie Barker

Jay Doyle

Darren Costanza

Vera Shaw

Mira Osborn

PR Mythic Fury

Zachariah Knight

Michelle Howard

Aaron Colvin

Chelsea Laxton

John Peters

Cassandra McQuiston

Deborah King

PR Phantom Railway

Jeffrey Sergeant

Aliya Randall

Ellis Fox

Aditi Elliot

Dexter "Dex" Wynn

Sasha Blackwell

PR Gem Charge

Katie Hughes

Javari Cook

Sean Ward

Luis Escudero

Emma Hunt

William Hunt

Takaaki Kannō

Wăn Róng

Jacob Bishop

Eilane Kennedy

[sacredthethreadgvf]

Am I losing it or has Josh not worn this on stage yet ??

Also ahhhh this matches Jake’s suit 🥹

Creds to Amber Doyle on insta