#but following the amsterdam episode everything SPIRALLED

[the5thcellar]

it's been more than a year and it's still incredible how ted lasso S3's ending made me lose all respect for Jason sudeikis as a showrunner/ writer.

it was clear from the onset - as audience and also as a writer myself - that the show was clearly paving the way towards a romantic resolution for Ted and Rebecca.... TOGETHER.

all those fucking hints about romcoms ... about finding love again in someone who KNOWS you and ACCEPTS you and adores you for who you are ... just paid absolute DUST.

what's even MORE embarrassing is the way JS keeps dating young model/influencers à la Rupert Mannion lmao ... all along we thought he was writing a self-insert TV show where he's the protagonist who gets the girl - and maybe that's still how he sees it - but it's become increasingly clear over the years that he's actually the villain ...

[loving-villanelle]

The interaction between Villaneve in Eve’s kitchen in 2x05 is one of my favorite scenes from the series because it is THE SCENE. There’s so much to unpack in that scene and it was done so brilliantly. Let’s break it down shall we?

Villanelle tells Eve she should be afraid of her after what Eve did to her the last time they were together (aka the oops I stabbed you, let me just pull that out after you literally just told me NOT to scene). Then Villanelle says, “You could’ve killed me” and Eve replies, “I know, I think about that all the time.” Now it’d be all too easy to assume that Eve thinks about it all the time because it was a moment where she almost took someone’s life, something that up to that point she hadn’t done before. But that statement goes much, much deeper than that.

Eve thinks about it all the time not just because she almost killed someone, but because she almost killed Villanelle. The moments following the stabbing are so obviously filled with regret. Eve immediately jumps into action and is trying to help Villanelle. The hope that Villanelle survived plays out in the early episodes of season 2, when Eve is constantly, desperately looking for information that proves that Villanelle is still alive. So when Eve says that she thinks about it all the time, she’s thinking about the fact that she almost lost her. And at her own hands at that. 

I think the most obvious, physical manifestation of that is the moment where Eve puts her hand on Villanelle’s face. She needs that confirmation that Villanelle is in fact, alive. That she’s really standing there, in her kitchen, living and breathing. So she reaches out and she touches her. It’s a slip in the facade that Eve has so carefully constructed. And it’s a pivotal one, because arguably their entire dynamic in the series shifts from that point on. 

Villanelle always looked at the stabbing as a confirmation of Eve’s feelings for her. “When you love someone, you will do crazy things.” But I think that her certainty of those feelings had been shaken when the Ghost had shown up and Eve seemed more interested in her than Villanelle. Villanelle truly began to believe that Eve didn’t care about her anymore. That maybe she had never cared about her, that really all she was interested in was tracking down female assassins. That was evident in the downward spiral she took after Eve failed to show up in Amsterdam. So Eve being that tender and intimate with Villanelle completely caught her off guard. I don’t know what exactly Villanelle expected when she went there that evening, but it’s clear that she was shaken by the turn of events. She had to shrug away from Eve’s touch simply to get her bearings again. Eve had already gained the upper hand on her once at Villanelle’s home in Paris, she wasn’t about to let it happen again.   

That’s why we see Villanelle get angry when Eve reveals that she had been the one to put the hit out on herself. Eve was so sure of Villanelle’s affection for her that she knew that Villanelle wouldn’t choose a quick, impersonal kill. She would want to see her. And Villanelle hated her for that. She hated that Eve was so sure of Villanelle’s feelings, while Villanelle was so unsure of what it was that Eve felt in return. So Villanelle attempts to reestablish her dominance. She pulls out the pills and silently waits as Eve takes them. She relishes in the fact that now, Eve is the one who is unsure. Are the pills poison? Is Villanelle really going to kill her or is this just another game? We obviously all know the answer since both Villanelle and Eve are still with us, but this scene so perfectly executes all of the complicated facets of their relationship and it ends so perfectly with Eve and Villanelle face to face, a knife between them in the exact same spot where Eve stabbed Villanelle not so long ago. And in that moment, Villanelle asks Eve to make her a promise, one that she fully expects her to keep. 

“Will you give me everything I want?”

“Yes.”

[youlooklikearealbabetoday]

i’ve been thinking quite a bit about these two moments and how they relate to the larger picture of the episode and this season’s overarching themes of binaries / contrasts and when they clash with one other and when they represent a reckoning of a true self, an existence of duality.

niko and konstantin consistently speak of this respective singularity in eve and villanelle. niko wants eve to ignore the professional drive and doesn’t connect the dots of how that fuels and fulfills her on a personal level. konstantin wants villanelle to ignore the personal, which is eve and her feelings for her, as he sees it as a distraction and most likely a failure on a professional level. funny thing is and what these two fail to recognize is that those facets of both eve and villanelle are irrevocably intertwined both within themselves and towards each other. the personal fuels the professional and vice versa, one cannot exist without the other. to dismiss one part is to dismiss all.

i also couldn’t help but think that culturally and historically the need to put women into easily consumable, single-celled descriptors: the virgin, the whore (oh hello creepy adulterer who got turned into bacon), et al. which then reminded me of all the angel references towards villanelle — woman with dying husband in the hospital, julien, the song that plays in the background while villanelle is crying — and in turn brought me back to the scene in the museum. 

‘the massacre of the innocents’ by cornelis cornelisz — herod, king of judea, learned that a child destined to become ‘king of the jews’ would be born in bethlehem, he ordered the slaughter of all boys under the age of two. the painter portrayed the massacre as a gruesome nightmare. horror follows upon horror: at lower left a soldier slits a child’s throat, while above them a woman gouges out a soldier’s eyes.

i don’t want to overthink this one but it’s certainly interesting that it’s the first painting konstantin brings villanelle to see. ‘this is great art. all of this is masterpieces.’ the ruthlessness and unquestioning loyalty depicted in the painting is something that perhaps konstantin is attempting to remold in villanelle. a certain loss of ‘innocence.’ not in the sense that she’s a nubile creature or unknown to the world’s horrors, but the child-like extreme confidence and literal, black and white view of the world and her place in it has evolved into something more by episode’s end. you see her start to question the purpose to the kills all while coping with heartbreak and the possibility that eve has supposedly given up on her. the control she’s held so tightly in both those realms has been visibly shaken.

the club scene representative of going inside villanelle’s mind and heart, an internal battle in finding this balance between these parts of herself. the duality between her feelings for eve: longing, desire, desperation, loss of control with the self-assuredness of a person who felt she has everything handled. all of those things exist simultaneously for her now. who is she really, what does she have left. there was something i was experiencing while first watching 2x04 i couldn’t quite put my finger on: a mixture of disorientation, an odd sense of floating and unease. in hindsight it feels right somehow for what was occurring – a spiraling sense of purpose, heartbreak and loss of control juxtaposed towards someone discovering more parts of herself.

‘the fall of man’ by cornelis cornelisz — in the left background we see god (a cloud with a human face and hands) cautioning adam and eve. they may eat the fruit of all of the trees, except the tree of ‘the knowledge of good and evil’. tempted by the serpent (with a human torso), adam and eve nevertheless eat the forbidden fruit, for which they were driven from paradise.

i know the apple has been picked apart in bunches already including by me BUT lol in the second narrative of genesis adam and eve receive the additional knowledge, but it gives them the ability to conjure negative and destructive concepts. does this sound familiar? one also can’t ignore the framing of the above shot with konstantin in focus in the foreground with the painting an looming presence behind him. god prophetically tells adam and eve what will be the consequences of their sin of disobeying — are konstantin and carolyn playing the role of god in their mutual attempts in keeping eve and villanelle apart, intentionally driving a wedge through subterfuge and misinformation (and maybe even cooperating in it)? carolyn tucking away villanelle’s postcard knowing it came from amsterdam and immediately making a call to AIVD which is the intelligence and security agency of the netherlands.... much to think about. in any case these outside forces are trying to box in and control eve and villanelle and to what ultimate end goal remains to be seen. it makes me think of a particular line from the upcoming episode with the ‘psychopaths’ powerpoint presentation ‘there’s no containing anyone like this for any length of time’ and not that i think eve will ever fully fall into the psychopathy scale, i do think that line’s sentiment applies to the both of them. 

‘do you like watching her or do you like being watched?’ -- ‘both.’ eve and villanelle are both the voyeur and subject. not just towards each other, but of themselves. the ending with eve looking at herself through a two-way mirror — that in of itself an object of watching and being watched — and we as an audience observing eve watch herself come more into who she is than we’ve ever seen before. and villanelle in the bathroom mirror, watching herself as she experiences the truest emotions she’s ever felt, all because of eve and how much she’s affected her in all areas of her life. a reflection of eve back towards herself.

i’m babbling at this point but thinking on this idea of a plausible coexistence of duality for them both and what emerald said of s2 “at what point do [eve / villanelle] meet?” ....is there a point they be together on an equal playing field in ways that are both a part of and outside mi6/assassin or mi6/hired by mi6 assassin. i will say we’re closer to that now more than ever with these recent developments as eve and villanelle become truer versions of themselves, of embracing these dualities that exist. as much as the slow burn makes me want to hurl myself off the nearest cliff, i also revel in it feeling like it has to be earned and bring something new to the table as individuals for the potential of them being together to feel like a journey towards the inevitable. as a mutual said to me they’re not the same people as when they last met and i’m foaming at the mouth to see how they might recognize that in one another when they come face-to-face once again.

[sarahreeese]

(Chicago) MED VS Med (ical show) #1

Maybe this will be a continuing series of posts, maybe not but I’m here to compare Chicago Med against other currently running medical shows (or recently concluded. Mostly I’m just cutting ER and previous out, but the Night Shift etc can still be included).

This round: Cardio Surgeon pays for patient’s surgery

Players: Chicago Med and New Amsterdam

In Chicago Med, series main Dr. Connor Rhodes is introduced to a patient via another lead Dr. Will Halstead. It’s important to note that Dr. Rhodes canonically comes from an extremely wealthy family. In the previous episode he purchases a Porsche to help him cope with a break up, this has also signaled a new change in him, a fresh start. The patient is a young comedian who is constantly feeling sick, but doesn’t have health insurance. She goes to Med for another injury and is diagnosed with a severe form of cancer. Dr. Halstead and Dr. Rhodes find out there is a surgery she can have that would give her a shot of winning, but it’s incredibly expensive. During this season the hospital was facing massive budget cuts, and so even though the two doctors believe they can have the hospital pay for it they are shut down by Ms. Goodwin, the director. The patient is supposed to be transferred, but then Connor says he’s “got this” and an anonymous donation is made that would fulfill the patient’s treatment.  Dr. Rhodes then drives off in his Porsche at the end of the episode.

In New Amsterdam, a series regular Dr. Floyd Reynolds has a regular patient who comes in with problems on her heart. They have a report and at the beginning of the storyline he promises her that they’d fix it today once and for all. Floyd believes that New Amsterdam, which has recently begun taking on any patient to and trying to improve their lives regardless of cost, will foot the bill like it has with other patients. Then the Chief of Medicine, Dr. Max Goodwin, who typically is very supportive of changing people’s lives regardless of cost is rushed into the Emergency Department. He’s unconscious and unable to approve the surgery. The hospital Dean, who is very concerned with the budget they currently have, tells Reynolds to send his patient home. Reynolds struggles with what to do, claiming that this is a life changing surgery. The next scene with him that we see is Dr. Reynolds in the middle of surgery on his patient. The Dean comes in and asks what he’s doing and Reynolds tells him what has been already placed in the patient and that she will be going home after one days rest “without a bill”. He goes on and explains that the hospital won’t handle it either and to send the bill to him. He says it very plainly while continuing to work. While most of Reynold’s background has not been discussed, he has discussed growing up poor, and getting into Yale only on a scholarship.

So after laying these out, it becomes evident for a few reasons that New Amsterdam pulled this idea off better than Chicago Med. 

The first has to do with the characters selected to do this with. Connor Rhodes is insanely wealthy. He has a large apartment, and a Land Rover as he “practical” car. His father is one of the richest men in Chicago and had at that time purchased a whole wing of a hospital. Money means very little to Connor Rhodes, emphasized by the fact he purchases a Porsche without even test driving it. He then get’s an extended shot, one that does not fit the typical Chicago Med cinematic style, of him driving his Porsche to work in the very episode this case takes place in. Whatever this girl’s payment was, would be very little to him, once again emphasized by the fact he didn’t even have to sell his brand new extremely expensive car to be able to afford the donation. 

On the contrary, Floyd Reynolds does not have that kind of money. While he is a Cardio Surgeon, he was recognized by Max for having significantly lower surgery rates than other cardio surgeon. This could indicate less promotions or bonuses based on surgical rates. We also know, that though he is head of the Cardio Surgical unit, he’s only been in that position for 3 weeks at this point. While he may be comfortable, it’s unlikely he’s accumulated a lot of wealth. Taking on a bill for a surgery will have a significant impact on his financial situation, yet he was fully willing to do it. 

Another misstep for Chicago Med was in their selection of patient. While the patient was endearing, funny, and immediately liked by both the audience and Connor, there was no specific reason that he’d have to help her over any other patient that came in without insurance. Yes the situation is heartbreaking, but Chicago Med has showcased other, sadder situations without Connor rushing in. It fit within his storyline for that one episode so they added it without there being any lead up or follow up over this new found philanthropic side. 

Though we spend very little time with Reynold’s patient, it is still much more believable that he’d step in and save her. She’s been his patient multiple times, she jokes about how bad she feels that he constantly has to keep fixing her up. He makes the promise that they’ll do this surgery today. It feels natural that Reynolds would be inspired to do this with this specific patient. This is a natural continuance of Reynolds learning to bend rules, and make bold choices that had been set up in the episodes prior. He wanted to do what Max would have done, and he did it. This is a triumph not only for the patient having her life changed, but one for Reynolds accomplishing something the viewer has been watching him learn. 

The last major reason Chicago Med didn’t have their moment work was the context of how the act was done. This includes what was said, the lead up in the episode to it, and the context of the episode. Connor had been dumped, and his girlfriend ran away without telling him. He was in somewhat of a spiral which ended with his purchase of the Porsche. This whole episode was supposed to be about Connor “moving on” from his ex and pouring himself into Med and his beginning descent into a “player” life style. Then he meets this patient and “takes care of it” and fixes the situation in a faux modest secret donation. It is the climax of the episode. This donation just feels liked forced drama and somewhat deus ex machina. It’s also supposed to show the audience was a good and humble guy Connor is. But it does the opposite. Everyone in that room knew it was Connor. He could have very easily said he’d take care of it, and there’d have been no panic/upsetting the patient. Everyone could have just started what was necessary to heal her. But none of this happens. It is purely a character moment for Connor, and one that has very little impact as he drives off in his Porsche at the end of the episode. 

The Porsche has been brought up a lot in this, but when looking at it in a more analytical/writer mind set, the Porsche is a symbol of his new found attitude, of getting rid of the hurt from his ex-girlfriend in an emotionally cheap and unfulfilling way. It signaled a change in the character, and one that was not for the better. The car was set up like an emotional crutch. It would have been so powerful to see him give that car up to heal someone else. A return to his character, and an acknowledgement that things can’t help you not feel sad, but actions that improve and save others might help. 

Once again New Amsterdam did the whole episode deftly. Reynolds paying for the patient was a blip that played in with everything going on in the show. Max is possibly dying, and all the characters have to reflect on the choices they’d make now, without Max backing them up. Do they stay the recklessly good, and hopeful doctors that Max has helped them be? Or fall back in line with the hospital first mindset. Reynold’s actions played perfectly into this theme and feel purposeful. He did this in a practical, logical choice for his patient. None of it was to make himself feel good or show anyone anything. It was quiet and sure footed and was done because he thought the patient should have a better life than the one she was living. It was a quiet victory for Reynolds that he was the man that Max had known he was. It’s not brought up again in the episode, but it didn’t need to be. It was something that only two characters know and that only two characters needed to know. 

So in my opinion New Amsterdam is the first winner of the the MED vs Med showdown. If you want to submit other shows and specific moments or themes to go up against Chicago Med or others shoot me an ask or message.